new newbie guide to EAI

I dunno if people feel like recreating certain threads, but I guess this one was important for me, and it could be important for others as well, since there hardly is anything else available on the web. This discusses the nomenclatura, basic features, etc, but it doesn't really point out what records to listen to. For some reason I found this from the old thread on my hard drive, I don't remember who wrote it, I guess this deserves salvation. There were more subdivisions, don't remember how they were called.

Anyhow, this list is still too vast, so maybe people could post a list of 10 or so eai-and-related-favorites, maybe write something about it...


PRE-...

60's
Group Ongaku Music of Group Ongaku 1960-61
M.E.V. Spacecraft 1966
AMM AMMMusic (Matchless) 1967
AMM The Crypt (Matchless) 1968
Music Now Ensemble Silver Pyramid (Matchless) 1969
AMM The Aarhus sequences (disc 1 of Laminal) (Matchless) 1969

70's
Taj Mahal Travellers - July 15th 1972 (CBS/Sony)
Taj Mahal Travellers - August 1974
Takehisa Kosugi - Catch-Wave (CBS/Sony) 1975

80's
AMM The Great Hall (disc 2 of Laminal) (Matchless) 1982
AMM - Combine + Laminates + Treatise '84 (Matchless) 1984
AMM - The Inexhaustible Document (Matchless) 1987
Keith Rowe - A Dimension of Perfectly Ordinary Reality (Matchless ) 1989

Early/mid 90's
AMM Newfoundland (Matchless) 1992
AMM Live in Allentown USA (Matchless) 1994
Polwechsel Polwechsel (hat[now]ART) 1994
AMM Before driving to the chapel we took coffee with Rick and Jennifer Reed (Matchless) 1996
MIMEO Queue (Perdition plastics) 1997

-------

1998
Such The Issue at Hand (Matchless)
Sachiko M/Günter Müller/Otomo Yoshihide Filament 2 (for4ears)
Polwechsel 2 Polwechsel 2 (hat[now]ART)
Kurzmann/Fennesz/O'Rourke/Drumm/Siewert s/t (Orange Disc) (Charhizma)
Taku Sugimoto Opposite (Hat Hut, hatNOIR)
Toshimaru Nakamura, Tetuzi Akiyama and Taku Sugimoto The Improvisation Meeting at Bar Aoyama (Reset)

1999
Keith Rowe - Harsh (Grob)
Keith Rowe/Günter Müller/Taku Sugimoto The World Turned Upside Down (Erstwhile)
Otomo Yoshihide Cathode (Tzadik)
Sachiko M. Debris (F.M.N. Sound Factory)
Mongoose At Penguin House (Slub Music)
Otomo Yoshihide, Keith Rowe and TakuSugimoto Ajar (Alcohol)
Phil Durrant/Thomas Lehn/Radu Malfatti dach (Erstwhile)

2000
Andrea Neumann/Toshimaru Nakamura AT0N (Rossbin)
Keith Rowe/Burkhard Beins Grain (Zarek)
Toshimaru Nakamura/Sachiko M do (Erstwhile)
Günter Müller/Quan Ninh La Voyelle Liquide (Erstwhile)
Taku Sugimoto and Kevin Drumm Den (Sonoris)

2001
AMM Fine (Matchless)
Improvised music from Japan presents Improvised music from Japan 10CD Boxset (IMJ)
Toshimaru Nakamura/Tetuzi Akiyama Meeting at Off Site vol. 1 (IMJ)
Otomo Yoshihide Ensemble Cathode (IMJ)
Tetuzi Akiyama Relator (Slub)
Burkhard Stangl/Taku Sugimoto An old fashioned duet (Slub)
Taku Sugimoto/Burkhard Stangl/Christof Kurzmann in Tokyo: first concert, second take (Music Genera)
Keith Rowe 29 October 2001 (Sound 323)
Rhodri Davies Trem (Confront)
Keith Rowe/Toshimaru Nakamura Weather sky (Erstwhile)
Otomo Yoshihide Anode (Tzadik)
Filament 29092000 (Sat / Amoebic)
Annette Krebs Guitar Solo (Fringes)

2002
Dafeldecker/Hautzinger/Tilbury/Sachiko M Absinth (Grob)
John Butcher Invisible Ear (Fringes)
Kaffe Mathews/Andrea Neumann/Sachiko M In case of fire take the stairs (IMJ)
Toshimaru Nakamura/Tetuzi Akiyama Meeting at Off Site vol. 2 (IMJ)
Tetuzi Akiyama/Toshimaru Nakamura/Taku Sugimoto/Mark Wastell Foldings (Confront)
MIMEO/John Tilbury The Hands of Caravaggio (Erstwhile)
Cosmos Tears (Erstwhile)
Andrea Neumann/Burkhard Beins Lidingö (Erstwhile)
Various musicians AMPLIFY 2002: balance (7 CDs/1 DVD box set) (Erstwhile)
Sachiko M, and Sean Meehan s/t (no label)
Philip Samartzis and Sachiko M Artefac (Dorobo)
Otomo Yoshihide Taku Sugimoto and Sachiko M Les Hautes Solitudes--A Philippe Garrel Film: Imaginarry Soundtrack (Out One)
Otomo Yoshihide KeithRowe and Taku Sugimoto Ajar (Acohol)
Tetuzi Akiyama Résophonie (A Bruit Secret)
Broken consort Done (QuakeBasket)
Radian Rec.Extern (Thrill Jockey)

2003
Otomo Yoshihide/Park Je Chun/Mi Yeon Loose Community (IMJ)
Toshimaru Nakamura Side Guitar (IMJ)
Toshimaru Nakamura/Tetuzi Akiyama Meeting at Off Site vol. 3 (IMJ)
Joel Stern/Matt Davis Small Industry (L'Innomable)
John Tilbury Barcelona Piano Solo (Rossbin)
Sachiko M 1 : 2 (A Bruit Secret)
Keith Rowe/John Tilbury Duos for Doris (Erstwhile)
Martin Siewert/Martin Brandlmayr Too Beautiful to Burn (Erstwhile)
I.S.O. s/t (Sound Tectonics/YCAM)
Dion Workman Ching (Antiopic)
Trapist Highway My Friend (hatOLOGY)

2004
Anthony Guerra/Matt Earle In (L'Innomable)
Keith Rowe/Axel Dörner/Franz Hautzinger A View from the Window (Erstwhile)
Sachiko M/Toshimaru Nakamura/Otomo Yoshihide Good Morning Good Night (Erstwhile)
Keith Rowe/Burkhard Beins ErstLive 001 (Erstwhile)
Christian Fennesz/Sachiko M/Otomo Yoshihide/Peter Rehberg ErstLive 004 (Erstwhile)
Keith Rowe/Sachiko M/Toshimaru Nakamura/Otomo Yoshihide ErstLive 005 (Erstwhile)
Filament Filament BOX (F.M.N. Sound Factory)
MIMEO Lifting Concrete Lightly (Serpentine Gallery)
Martin Ng/Tetuzi Akiyama OIMACTA (IMJ)
The Sealed Knot Unwanted Object (Confront Collectors Series)
Radi Malfatti/Mattin White Noise (W.M.O/R)

2005
Four Gentlemen of the Guitar Cloud (Erstwhile)
John Tilbury/Marcus Schmickler [iVariety[/i] (A-Musik)
Sean Meehan Sectors (for Constant) (SoSEDITIONS)
Graham Halliwell Recorded Delivery (Confront Collectors Series)
GOD Anti-Sex/Anti-Wiretapping (Made in Taiwan) (Little Enjoyer/JYRK/GMBY)

2006
Klaus Filip/Toshimaru Nakamura Aluk (IMJ)
Keith Rowe/Toshimaru Nakamura Between (Erstwhile)
(N:Q) November Quebec (Esquilo)
Eddie Prevost Entelechy (Matcheless)
Taku Sugimoto/Taku Unami Tengu Et Kitsune (slub)


I'd add :

2007
Keith Rowe The Room (Erstwhile)
Graham Lambkin Salmon Run (Kye)
MIMEO Sight (Cathnor)
Sachiko M Salon de Sachiko (Hitorri/IMJ)

2008
The Magic I.D. till my breath gives out (Erstwhile)
Graham Lambkin/Jason Lescalleet The Breadwinner (Erstwhile)

I think that was written by Hatta.

I could easily replace a dozen from that list with a dozen releases from the past two years that I think are better....

Lets not start arguments so early in the nice shiny new forum though eh?!!!

[grisha]

PRE-...

60's

i'd add Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza

80's+Early/mid 90's

arguably something by Morphogenesis can be inserted here, and without a doubt Kevin Drumm's debut (as well as his second later on)

2007
Keith Rowe The Room (Erstwhile)
Graham Lambkin Salmon Run (Kye)
MIMEO Sight (Cathnor)
Sachiko M Salon de Sachiko (Hitorri/IMJ)

2008
The Magic I.D. till my breath gives out (Erstwhile)
Graham Lambkin/Jason Lescalleet The Breadwinner (Erstwhile)

i wouldn't classify anything with Lambkin as eai. but i'll add the Parks/Foster and Nakamura/English, for example. or R/S.

2006 looks pretty bad on that list imo. Ami Yoshida/Christof Kurzmann - A S O is better that Aluk quite easily (which i think is mediocre), nmperign/Jason Lescalleet - Love Me Two Times (these are the two that i consider more significant).

Too many albums missing from the 90's from Charhizma, Durian, Grob, Nurnichtnur, Random Acoustics, For4Ears, etc....
Who put this list together again??
Was this meant to a definitive, best-of-the-best list or just an indication of someone's personal favourites?

[grisha]

Too many albums missing from the 90's from Nurnichtnur

please name one.

PRE-...

60's

i'd add Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza

Absolutely. Gentle Fire are another 70's group worth paying heed to.

That 80's list seems a bit under developed to me, but it's too late for me to think of anything straight off the top of my head that should be there.

Too many albums missing from the 90's from Nurnichtnur

please name one.

look through their catalogue....there are plenty there....

Hatta (Robert) put that list together. I don't want to speak for him (I'm sure he'll find his way here soon) but he put it up as a starting point for discussion based on his own tastes, not as a definitive list. The picks from the most recent years will always be difficult as time hasn't had a chance to work its effect on recordings.

And if you asked Hatta today I'm sure Gentle Fire would find their way onto that list .

Aha - found Robert's reposted list at his blog. It comes with this introduction:

"One of my primary musical interests for the last few years have been in a genre that’s come to be called “eai”. Originally this stood for “electro-acoustic Improvisation” but has taken on a wider meaning then a literal take on those words would imply (however I think that the term does adequately describe the genre, but that’s another post). A post on the ihatemusic forum asking for “essentials” in the genre finally motivated to do something I’d been thinking about for a while - try to create a list of the albums that define this genre. Obviously somewhat tilting against windmills, especially as I certainly haven’t heard everything (however it isn’t an impossible task to hear nearly everything in this genre at this point in time) and furthermore a task open to endless criticism as peoples “favorites” may differ from what I think of as :”essential”. Taking this as a personal project though I think it is valuable and is well suited for blog posting. Here I can update, modify, expand and so on the list. One project I want to work on is the pre-history are especially links in modern composition. Anyway here it is, my list of the core EAI albums."

http://blog.spiralcage.com/?p=7

yeah, there are some holes there (the two Schnee recordings come to mind) and some I'd definitely drop, but not a bad starting point for discussion.

one "PRE..." that should definitely be added is the Cage/Tudor Variations II as reissued on the Edition RZ Tudor comp, very directly inspirational for Keith certainly.

are radian albums improv? they sounded composed to me. the list seems very non-discerning/weighed heavily towards erstwhile/IHM homogeny

[mudd]

yeah, radian is mostly composed work, though obviously some of the members improvise as well.

it's true but a little obvious that the list is fairly predictable for an IHM crowd, since it was generated by one of the more focused eai listeners on the board.

m

I think the original list is a great start, it never said it was a best of.

I think the original list is a great start, it never said it was a best of.

So why doesn't someone update/revise the original list then?

I think the original list is a great start, it never said it was a best of.

So why doesn't someone update/revise the original list then?

anyone who does it will have their own holes and biases. this thread is as good as any to bring up specific missing ones, or entries from the original list you think are awful.

I'd like to add Eliane Radigue's "Geelriandre". This composition someway anticipated EAI.

I think the original list is a great start, it never said it was a best of.

So why doesn't someone update/revise the original list then?

anyone who does it will have their own holes and biases. this thread is as good as any to bring up specific missing ones, or entries from the original list you think are awful.

Yeah, but getting an accurate overview of any movement is going to include hearing some awful works, right?

Yeah, but getting an accurate overview of any movement is going to include hearing some awful works, right?

I guess so, but those should be more variable, not part of a concrete list.