Newbie Electroacoustic/Noise recommendations

[Robert G]

Hecker - Sun Pandamonium

Pita - Get Out

Oh fuck yes! and Schmickler 'Altars of Science'

Fenn O'Berg - Magic & Return is great too.

[snailed]

Burkhard Beins/Rowe Erstlive 01

ooh, forgot about this, this might be the best intro to EAI from this direction, at least on Erst.

This one is so direct. Wasn't the first one I heard, but It's certainly the one that really got me actively listening to/checking out other stuff - it kind of lifted the veil off this music for me when it first came out. Cosmos got me in deep and was another big "click", but Rowe/Beins led me to it.

[Matt Wuethrich]

I've been following (ok, I guess you could call it lurking, but that just sounds so sinister) this board for a few months and now seems as good a time as any to jump in. If you're looking for active electroacoustic/noise stuff, I'd try these:

Wiese/Yeh - Cincinnati: The short, sharp nature of the pieces are what sells it for me.

Rale - Whispering Gallery LP: was listening to this again last night and was really blown away by the amount of layers and how well they're blended without losing any sort of edge

Peter Kolovos - New Bodies LP: Sounds almost frighteningly intimate at the proper volume. You can practically touch the sounds.

Pedestrian Deposit - Austere CD: Haven't seen this one talked up very much, which is a pity.

Carlos Giffoni - Adult Life CD

Red Horse LP

Plenty more but these jump to mind right now.

[leroysghost]

Cremaster

[faster]

Cremaster

Good call. Especially Infra.

[jon abbey]

actually, the new Cremaster on Monotype might be better than Infra (although I haven't compared them directly), good recommendation.

[schiksalgemeinschaft]

Burkhard Beins/Rowe Erstlive 01

ooh, forgot about this, this might be the best intro to EAI from this direction, at least on Erst.

This one is so direct. Wasn't the first one I heard, but It's certainly the one that really got me actively listening to/checking out other stuff - it kind of lifted the veil off this music for me when it first came out. Cosmos got me in deep and was another big "click", but Rowe/Beins led me to it.

it worked for me too, get it, imo the most essential one listed yet.

[Coinage]

Thanks for all the recommendations guys, I'll investigate all of them but until then, a few comments.

To all the people who recommended Sheer Hellish Miasma, I liked the jackhammer aggression in this sample (and I know how you guys feel about MP3s of noise), but I had the problem of it being pretty much the same thing the whole time. Although that didn't seem to be as much of a problem in the Boomkat samples I found so maybe that's an atypical section?

Track 3 from Get Out is on Youtube, and I loved the melody and the noise breakdown of it, but it was the same melody for 10 minutes and at about 3/4 I was ready for it to end or move on. I know my standards of repetition border on unrealistic, especially for electronic music, but I work retail and listen to pop music all day, cut me some slack! The sample of Schmickler's Altars of Science on Dusted was good for the first minute or two but then I got bored again. This may be unfair, but based solely on the samples, it seemed that Peter Evans is doing on Nature/Culture what Greg Kelley did on Self-Hate Index, but a lot better. Magic and Return by Fenn O'Berg didn't do much for me. I really enjoyed some of the MP3s on GX Jupitter-Larsen's site, but In The Shade of Fire samples were just "so what? I can break glass for five minutes too..."

The samples of R/S -- One and Erstlive 01 are fantastic, though. I also enjoyed the Cremaster monotype samples. One album I forgot to mention that I thought the samples of were good was Rowe/Parker Dark Rags, which is a recommendation I pulled from that old EAI thread on Jazz Corner jon linked to from another thread that I've forgotten the name of. People at the time seemed to think it was great, I don't know if you still think that.I didn't know Tim Hodgekinson was in a band like Konk Pack! I'm not sure if it works for me though. Borbetomagus is interesting, not sure how I feel about them either though.

My first forays into this sort of music come to mind as good fledgling neubee starters,

Werner Dafeldecker/ Franz Hautzinger/ Sachiko_M/ John Tilbury - Absinth

and

BSC - Good

both are group improv on grob, and inhabit a pacing and coloration suited for the less than focussed attention that some other works would perhaps require.

Where does one even buy Grob albums? I couldn't find them anywhere. They even link to more than one defunct website on their ordering page.

Try also tracking down Jason Lascalleet & Nmperign 'Love me two times'

I finally got a hold of this and it is really, really great.

when yr ready for the high freqs: Sachiko M/Toshimaru Nakamura/Otomo Yoshihide Good Morning Good Night is one of the best expressions of that vibe.

and while yr on 2CD sets from Erstwhile -> Tilbury/Rowe Duos For Doris

Sorry, but Good Morning Good Night, at least based on the samples, is the exact opposite of what I'm looking for, except that I do like high frequencies. If you guys like Sachiko M, then I'm glad she can make a living doing what she does, but I don't want to listen to the same sine wave for 5 minutes. Duos for Doris sounds pretty good, though. The sample of love me two times was a neat sound, except that they were sort of playing the same thing the whole time. I liked it a lot more than I was expecting, considering their description as sparse improv, but I don't think I could make it through two albums of that.

[rainey]

BSC - Good

Where does one even buy Grob albums? I couldn't find them anywhere.

Good luck. You can get the new BSC either by Tweeting about it or liking it on Facebook:

http://bhobrainey.net/tft/index.php (for Tweeting)
http://bhobrainey.net/tft/fb/index.php (for Liking)

Try also tracking down Jason Lascalleet & Nmperign 'Love me two times'

The sample of love me two times was a neat sound, except that they were sort of playing the same thing the whole time. I liked it a lot more than I was expecting, considering their description as sparse improv, but I don't think I could make it through two albums of that.

It's an extremely varied 2CD set. Almost all the tracks are on Last.fm:

http://www.last.fm/music/nmperign%2B%25 ... et/+tracks

Since you're new here, I should add the disclaimer that I'm on these releases. The tracks should speak for themselves, though.

[Jesse]

I got Good when Nmperign played the End Times fest here [2006]; hard to locate, yes. Worth the trouble, though.
Bhob, my pal Davu Seru curated the Thanks Cash crew here. He's developed into a fine percussionist, if you haven't heard him.

[Damon_Smith]

Sorry, but Good Morning Good Night, at least based on the samples, is the exact opposite of what I'm looking for, except that I do like high frequencies.

I think Good Morning/Good Night is an absolute classic of EAI that has aged fine and is a must have. Am I the only one who thinks that?
The length is really part of the work in the way that it is in many of Feldman's composition and for as much as we all love Feldman few improv albums have dealt with that aspect as well this album and more so in the quartet with Rowe (another must own).
I can understand the reservations but this album can give you an incredible experience few others can if you let it.
Did Polwechsel get a mention yet? All albums are great, the first three are musts. I also love the Dafeldecker/Lang duo on Grob.

[Coinage]

Sorry man, I guess you didn't hear, last.fm yanked streaming out from under you, you can only do 30 seconds samples on demand now. But wait, ErstDist has it! Oh, and Forced Exposure does too. I guess I'll have to give up on Absinth, though. I'll definitely check out your new album though. And don't be sad if I don't like it, I always have the greatest respect for professional avant-garde musicians.

Sorry, but Good Morning Good Night, at least based on the samples, is the exact opposite of what I'm looking for, except that I do like high frequencies.

I think Good Morning/Good Night is an absolute classic of EAI that has aged fine and is a must have. Am I the only one who thinks that?
The length is really part of the work in the way that it is in many of Feldman's composition and for as much as we all love Feldman few improv albums have dealt with that aspect as well this album and more so in the quartet with Rowe (another must own).
I can understand the reservations but this album can give you an incredible experience few others can if you let it.
Did Polwechsel get a mention yet? All albums are great, the first three are musts. I also love the Dafeldecker/Lang duo on Grob.

No, I'm pretty sure almost everybody else here agrees with you. I'm just not sure I'm actually an EAI fan. I mentioned Polwechsel's Erst in the OP, although I misattributed it to Fennesz so maybe you missed that. And something is always worth mentioning again, I suppose.

[jon abbey]

I still have copies of that BSC disc on Grob in stock at ErstDist, as well as cheap prices on the Ersts you liked:

http://www.erstwhilerecords.com/distro.html

FWIW, it sounds like you don't really want noise, you want EAI. and I'd recommend listening to full records (or at least until you get sick of them or decide you love them). if you're going to make judgments based on MP3 snippets, that's of course your prerogative, but I'm not sure you should be sharing them publicly, even in a thread like this that you started. it's like passing judgment on a novel based on a smeared photocopy of the third chapter, really not very informed.

I have an EAI primer list here, updated through 2009:

http://erstwhilerecords.blogspot.com/20 ... rimer.html

and Robert K's is here:

http://www.spiralcage.com/blog/?p=575

check out some full records and tell us what you think.

[Damon_Smith]

No, I'm pretty sure almost everybody else here agrees with you. I'm just not sure I'm actually an EAI fan. I mentioned Polwechsel's Erst in the OP, although I misattributed it to Fennesz so maybe you missed that. And something is always worth mentioning again, I suppose.

I just think it does require experiencing the whole pieces a few times through. it isn't for every night but it is really something - I am just voting to give it a chance.

[faster]

Sure, but the OP wants to avoid minimalism and repetition. I'd mention GOD's Anti-Sex/Anti-Wiretapping--all electronic, active but not "noise," and not at all repetitive or minimalist.

[Damon_Smith]

Sure, but the OP wants to avoid minimalism and repetition. I'd mention GOD's Anti-Sex/Anti-Wiretapping--all electronic, active but not "noise," and not at all repetitive or minimalist.

Yeah, but I feel that album becomes huge and varied by the end. I can see hearing it both ways, though.

[rainey]

I'll definitely check out your new album though. And don't be sad if I don't like it, I always have the greatest respect for professional avant-garde musicians.

I'll try not to be sad!

That's a bummer about last.fm... Guess I'll have to start streaming the stuff from my server, again.

[(<oo>)]

Machine For Making Sense

[jcg]

on the samples, it seemed that Peter Evans is doing on Nature/Culture what Greg Kelley did on Self-Hate Index, but a lot better.

What? I really believe those guys (for whom I have the deepest respect) have a totally different approach/style/sound. The only thing they have in common is being able to put out outstanding solo trumpet albums but other than that... As Jon said you should try to give a listen to the full-length discs. This is especially important in Kelley's case as his stuff is really conceived as a whole sequence with a great timing and quite a good amount of subtle recording/editing trickery. Evans on the other hand is closer to virtuoso free improv and I feel it's easier to appreciate his music even with a snippet. In any case both discs come highly recommended. The Kelley solo disc on Rossbin is also extremely impressive...

[billygomberg]

Sorry, but Good Morning Good Night, at least based on the samples, is the exact opposite of what I'm looking for, except that I do like high frequencies.

I think Good Morning/Good Night is an absolute classic of EAI that has aged fine and is a must have. Am I the only one who thinks that?
The length is really part of the work in the way that it is in many of Feldman's composition and for as much as we all love Feldman few improv albums have dealt with that aspect as well this album and more so in the quartet with Rowe (another must own).
I can understand the reservations but this album can give you an incredible experience few others can if you let it.
Did Polwechsel get a mention yet? All albums are great, the first three are musts. I also love the Dafeldecker/Lang duo on Grob.

no yr not alone. I wouldn't have rec'd GM/GN if I didn't think it was a release that has held up over the years since its release, and, like Duos For Doris, Contact is a great album of extended themes and, yes, a Feldman-ish approach to duration and pacing. While the duration of these discs may not be for "newbies" - I think these albums are great introductions to "this music" b/c they contain top-shelf performances, great recordings, laser-focused aesthetics. I wouldn't recommend Contact (Rowe/Sachiko) as a "newbie" release - it is beautiful but very challenging (esp if you aren't into Sachiko so much).

I think that in "these genres", especially with 2CD sets (four I've mentioned in this thread), online samples (while a necessary courtesy) are only barely informative as to what you get.