Now: Small Cruel Party, "An Accident In Substance" 3CD set
Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2012 9:42 am
Now available:
Small Cruel Party
"An Accident In Substance"
3 CD box set
Harbinger Sound
Many years in the making, "An Accident In Substance" collects all of the 7-inch tracks and a huge number of compilation appearances of Key Ransone's legendary project Small Cruel Party. Like the pungent scent of a campfire or the complex flavor of a good, peaty single malt, Small Cruel Party's mix of environmental sounds, far-off voices, and "Cartridge Music"-like close manipulation of tiny sounds get into your sinuses, your hair, your jacket, melding into a location-specific surrealist vision that permeates the air around you. Fans of anything from Hum of the Druid to Yeast Culture to Id Battery to M. Behrens will find a lot to like here, and even old-school collectors of SCP work will likely find a few comp tracks here that they haven't heard before.
The set comes in a DVD-sized triple-fold digipak with a slipcase. Liner notes by Patrick Barber (Blowhole, Apraxia label) and a listing of the sources of all the tracks, as well as some of Key's drawings.
US folks who would like to order a copy can paypal $25 to usa.alap@gmail.com.
Copies are also available (or will be soon) from RRR, Self Abuse, Tedium House, Weirdo, End of An Ear, Misanthropic Agenda, Swill Radio, and Flipped Out Records. In Japan, Art-Into-Life will have copies soon as well.
UK, Europe, and other locations can contact world.alap@gmail.com to reserve a copy. Metamkine and others will have copies soon.
Tracklist:
A1 Even The Lives Of Our Grandfathers (Methods of Achieving Satisfaction in a Goal-Oriented Society [Apraxia])
A2 Some Movements (Nature Morte 2 [E’ostrate])
A3 Wind On Jets (“Anodyne Effect of Habit” 7-inch [Small Cruel Party])
A4 Every Force Evolves A Form (“Anodyne Effect of Habit” 7-inch [Small Cruel Party])
A5 Micromelistmata (“Anodyne Effect of Habit” 7-inch [Small Cruel Party])
A6 12 Breaths On Shore (“Seminal Brainpan” 7-inch [Dom America])
A7 Seminal Brainpan (“Seminal Brainpan” 7-inch [Dom America])
A8 Without Arms But With Some Kind Of Peculiar Attachment (Dedication-Zweite Auslese [Artware])
B1 Before The Dream (“Before the Dream” 7” [Drone])
B2 Of The Still Earth (“Before the Dream” 7” [Drone])
B3 Home Borders : Circling Outward Past Edge To Rest, Awaken (Shiroseasons [Shirocoal])
B4 Cold Hell (“The Subtle Body” 7-inch [Banned Production])
B5 This Moment (“The Subtle Body” 7-inch [Banned Production])
B6 Vasana (Noisenet #4 [NOISE])
B7 1860-xii-30 Birds Explore Trees 15-v-1960 (America The Beautiful [RRR])
B8 Notes On Use (Howard 31 [Artware])
B9 Double Entrance (Precipitation [Partial])
B10 Sister- Well - Brother (from split acetate 7” with Daniel Menche [MSBR])
C1 Red, Wide And Driving (Killing Me Softly With Noise [NOISE])
C2 7-1114/357-730 The Light Itself (Parasit [Ant-Zen])
C3 Iron Moment (Interference [23five])
C4 La Poussiere Des Murs Detruit Le Passe (Regeneration – Degenerescence [Kaon])
C5 For The Coil Of Copper Underwood (…And The Vultures Miss Nothing [Harbinger Sound])
C6 Second Honor : It's Forever Again (Links Outta Here [Generator Sound Art])
C7 To Have Been Seen (“To Have Been Seen” 1-sided 7-inch [Shirocoal])
C8 Ceremonies Of Memory I (“Ceremonies of Memory” 7” [Fylkingen Records])
C9 Ceromonies Of Memory II (“Ceremonies of Memory” 7” [Fylkingen Records])
C10 Objects As They Change (10 x 10 [Banned Production])
Liner notes:
“Listening to this retrospective set, I was reminded of the first time I saw Key Ransone of Small Cruel Party perform. Or, I should say, ‘heard,’ since the performers were hidden somewhere in the building, murmuring into microphones and making very strange sounds come out of the speakers. Compared to most of what I heard in warehouse shows like this one, the music of Small Cruel Party was fleshy, silly, and a little bit creepy. But I remember something serious happening too: a structure being built, and a context being created.
When I met Key, he was living with some other artists in an abandoned warehouse near downtown. He soon moved into his own flat, but I often think of that desolate warehouse setting when I heard his music. There was a rawness, a beauty to the place that I can hear in the way his pieces unfold. Some of this is my personal association, but it is also a reflection of the time and place. Key has performed his music all over the world and no longer lives in Seattle, but his music captures the essence of Seattle as a physical place as well as the working environment that it was in the early 1990s. There was stillness to the city, especially in winter: the low clouds and enveloping slow mist, the surrounding bodies of water, the mountains in the distance that occasionally emerged to remind us of the world beyond the city. Key’s music absorbed that world and processed it, much like he processed the sounds that make up the fabric of his music. Often, a Small Cruel Party piece is like a sculpture in progress: in the beginning, the materials are gathered and assembled; then, a base is laid, and a rough shape hewn; and finally, the completed structure reveals itself, glowing in the fog of sound. In other pieces, such as one of my favorites, “Even the Lives of Grandfathers,” the path is less linear, more like a lengthy explanation where the sheer repetition of sound creates a texture that slowly becomes its own context.
There is an aspect to Key’s music that cannot be included on these recordings, and that is the material manifestation of his performances. It’s not that the music is missing from these discs. The sound, by itself, cannot fully represent the live experience, where the sound sources – people, drums, wires – are visible, and we can observe the manipulations that are causing the sounds to occur. But that physical process is here, hidden somewhere in the music. Listen carefully, and you may find it.” - Patrick Barber (Blowhole; Apraxia Records)
All pieces presented in chronological order of composition; dates refer to year of release.
Remastered in Paris, Spring of 2007, by Laurent Gabiot, to whom grateful, sincere, and infinite thanks are rendered. Heartfelt appreciation for the support and kindness of all the people and labels who have supported this work.
This retrospective is dedicated to the memory of the very great Matt Sperry, musician and very real friend…
Small Cruel Party
"An Accident In Substance"
3 CD box set
Harbinger Sound
Many years in the making, "An Accident In Substance" collects all of the 7-inch tracks and a huge number of compilation appearances of Key Ransone's legendary project Small Cruel Party. Like the pungent scent of a campfire or the complex flavor of a good, peaty single malt, Small Cruel Party's mix of environmental sounds, far-off voices, and "Cartridge Music"-like close manipulation of tiny sounds get into your sinuses, your hair, your jacket, melding into a location-specific surrealist vision that permeates the air around you. Fans of anything from Hum of the Druid to Yeast Culture to Id Battery to M. Behrens will find a lot to like here, and even old-school collectors of SCP work will likely find a few comp tracks here that they haven't heard before.
The set comes in a DVD-sized triple-fold digipak with a slipcase. Liner notes by Patrick Barber (Blowhole, Apraxia label) and a listing of the sources of all the tracks, as well as some of Key's drawings.
US folks who would like to order a copy can paypal $25 to usa.alap@gmail.com.
Copies are also available (or will be soon) from RRR, Self Abuse, Tedium House, Weirdo, End of An Ear, Misanthropic Agenda, Swill Radio, and Flipped Out Records. In Japan, Art-Into-Life will have copies soon as well.
UK, Europe, and other locations can contact world.alap@gmail.com to reserve a copy. Metamkine and others will have copies soon.
Tracklist:
A1 Even The Lives Of Our Grandfathers (Methods of Achieving Satisfaction in a Goal-Oriented Society [Apraxia])
A2 Some Movements (Nature Morte 2 [E’ostrate])
A3 Wind On Jets (“Anodyne Effect of Habit” 7-inch [Small Cruel Party])
A4 Every Force Evolves A Form (“Anodyne Effect of Habit” 7-inch [Small Cruel Party])
A5 Micromelistmata (“Anodyne Effect of Habit” 7-inch [Small Cruel Party])
A6 12 Breaths On Shore (“Seminal Brainpan” 7-inch [Dom America])
A7 Seminal Brainpan (“Seminal Brainpan” 7-inch [Dom America])
A8 Without Arms But With Some Kind Of Peculiar Attachment (Dedication-Zweite Auslese [Artware])
B1 Before The Dream (“Before the Dream” 7” [Drone])
B2 Of The Still Earth (“Before the Dream” 7” [Drone])
B3 Home Borders : Circling Outward Past Edge To Rest, Awaken (Shiroseasons [Shirocoal])
B4 Cold Hell (“The Subtle Body” 7-inch [Banned Production])
B5 This Moment (“The Subtle Body” 7-inch [Banned Production])
B6 Vasana (Noisenet #4 [NOISE])
B7 1860-xii-30 Birds Explore Trees 15-v-1960 (America The Beautiful [RRR])
B8 Notes On Use (Howard 31 [Artware])
B9 Double Entrance (Precipitation [Partial])
B10 Sister- Well - Brother (from split acetate 7” with Daniel Menche [MSBR])
C1 Red, Wide And Driving (Killing Me Softly With Noise [NOISE])
C2 7-1114/357-730 The Light Itself (Parasit [Ant-Zen])
C3 Iron Moment (Interference [23five])
C4 La Poussiere Des Murs Detruit Le Passe (Regeneration – Degenerescence [Kaon])
C5 For The Coil Of Copper Underwood (…And The Vultures Miss Nothing [Harbinger Sound])
C6 Second Honor : It's Forever Again (Links Outta Here [Generator Sound Art])
C7 To Have Been Seen (“To Have Been Seen” 1-sided 7-inch [Shirocoal])
C8 Ceremonies Of Memory I (“Ceremonies of Memory” 7” [Fylkingen Records])
C9 Ceromonies Of Memory II (“Ceremonies of Memory” 7” [Fylkingen Records])
C10 Objects As They Change (10 x 10 [Banned Production])
Liner notes:
“Listening to this retrospective set, I was reminded of the first time I saw Key Ransone of Small Cruel Party perform. Or, I should say, ‘heard,’ since the performers were hidden somewhere in the building, murmuring into microphones and making very strange sounds come out of the speakers. Compared to most of what I heard in warehouse shows like this one, the music of Small Cruel Party was fleshy, silly, and a little bit creepy. But I remember something serious happening too: a structure being built, and a context being created.
When I met Key, he was living with some other artists in an abandoned warehouse near downtown. He soon moved into his own flat, but I often think of that desolate warehouse setting when I heard his music. There was a rawness, a beauty to the place that I can hear in the way his pieces unfold. Some of this is my personal association, but it is also a reflection of the time and place. Key has performed his music all over the world and no longer lives in Seattle, but his music captures the essence of Seattle as a physical place as well as the working environment that it was in the early 1990s. There was stillness to the city, especially in winter: the low clouds and enveloping slow mist, the surrounding bodies of water, the mountains in the distance that occasionally emerged to remind us of the world beyond the city. Key’s music absorbed that world and processed it, much like he processed the sounds that make up the fabric of his music. Often, a Small Cruel Party piece is like a sculpture in progress: in the beginning, the materials are gathered and assembled; then, a base is laid, and a rough shape hewn; and finally, the completed structure reveals itself, glowing in the fog of sound. In other pieces, such as one of my favorites, “Even the Lives of Grandfathers,” the path is less linear, more like a lengthy explanation where the sheer repetition of sound creates a texture that slowly becomes its own context.
There is an aspect to Key’s music that cannot be included on these recordings, and that is the material manifestation of his performances. It’s not that the music is missing from these discs. The sound, by itself, cannot fully represent the live experience, where the sound sources – people, drums, wires – are visible, and we can observe the manipulations that are causing the sounds to occur. But that physical process is here, hidden somewhere in the music. Listen carefully, and you may find it.” - Patrick Barber (Blowhole; Apraxia Records)
All pieces presented in chronological order of composition; dates refer to year of release.
Remastered in Paris, Spring of 2007, by Laurent Gabiot, to whom grateful, sincere, and infinite thanks are rendered. Heartfelt appreciation for the support and kindness of all the people and labels who have supported this work.
This retrospective is dedicated to the memory of the very great Matt Sperry, musician and very real friend…