An’archives are pleased to announce the release of a self-titled album by Tori Kudo & 3C123. A reissue of a cassette that was originally released on Uramado in 2020, this is the first time this live session has appeared on vinyl. The performance, featuring Kudo on piano and 3C123 on clarinet, was recorded on October 18, 2009, at the Uramado venue in Shinjuku. A beautiful and quixotic forty-minute set, it reconnects both Kudo and 3C123 with various musical histories, including those of classical composition and free improvisation.

The performance documented on Tori Kudo & 3C123 is a curious one. While they both appear to slip into improvised ruminations at times, for the most part, Kudo performs pieces by Erik Satie on the piano, over which 3C123 teases an excoriating stream of improvisation from the clarinet. His playing here is wild in its poetry: sometimes lushly nestling alongside Satie’s melodies, elsewhere loosing Ayler-esque squalls from the instrument, it’s a bravura performance that is matched, in an indirect manner, by the poise and pacing of Kudo’s generous, fluent recital.

When asked about the thinking behind the performance documented here, Kudo explains by describing the historical juxtaposition of Satie with Takehisa Kosugi’s improvised violin as “an essence of the Japanese art of collective improvisation.” The playing here, as within Japanese collective improvisation, is about sitting ‘alongside’ each other, not necessarily in direct (or even indirect) reference, but rather sharing the space; “just being there together,” Kudo says, and letting go of the need for performers to engage in interplay.

Tori Kudo & 3C123 is certainly part of that tradition, and this is where its curious poetry resides; in that ‘third space’ that sits in between, but not directly connecting, the two performers. Kudo makes an analogy with Fluxus, which is appropriate. But you can also hear their shared history here, somehow, as Kudo and 3C123 have known each other since the eighties, when they shared a house in Kunitachi City, Tokyo. Their musical paths have been multiple – Kudo, of course, best known perhaps for his Maher Shalal Hash Baz ensemble; 3C123 as a member of Vedda Music Workshop, and with other Japanese musicians like Koichiro Watanabe.

It’s a lovely album that’s as mystifying as it is direct and beautiful.

Author: Tori Kudo & 3C123

Publisher: An’archives

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In 2004, 2/5BZ’s second vinyl EP which featured 3 tracks from his second appearance at Peel Session in 2004 (proposed early 2004, broadcasted in late 2004) together with 3 unreleased tracks has been released under his own label Gözel Records in 2006 and has beed re-pressed many times .
2/5BZ, aka Serhat Köksal, has worked as a multimedia artist with various releases in video, music, and literary formats since 1991 in Istanbul and performed live audiovisual performances under motto “NO Touristik NO Exotik” in 20 countries and 96 cities in clubs, festivals, squats, exhibitions and multimedia perforformances at well-known festivals such as Club Transmediale in Berlin, Sonic Acts in Amsterdam, Donau Festival .
2/5BZ had an interview with John Peel in 1994 for BBC world Service . ” Of all the music I heard in Turkey, I liked 2/5BZ best “, commented John Peel and aired his works two times at Peel Session in BBC Radio 1 with following announcement “ that track is from one of my favourites sessions of the recent past from 2/5BZ from Istanbul.No Touristik No Exotic it is called..” John Peel (2004)

A1 Militant Oriental (Peel Session II)
A2 Karabesk (Peel Session II)
A3 Öküz İstanbul (Peel Session II)
B1 Petrol Stress (Remake)
B2 Bbam (Electro Saz Baǧlama)
B3 Şaka Etmiyorum (Nurkish Dub)

Bass Guitar – Yahya Enis Akin (tracks: A1, B1)
Clarinet – Tim Hodgkinson (tracks: B1)
Other [Dub] – Abdurrahman Palay (tracks: A3, B3)
Producer, Tape, Electronics, Voice, Other [Electro Saz], Sampler – Serhat Köksal
Voice – Armarǧan Temizel (tracks: B1)
Voice, Other [Mauv] – Benek (5) (tracks: B2)

Author: 2/5 BZ

Publisher: Gözel Records

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Toyota Corona
3 LPs

was made during – and is the result of – confinement
it is a film without images, it is a home-made film,
and my home is Berlin,
it is the soundtrack of a period
during which some activities were stopped and in the silence left behind,
have given way to other sounds, other machines,
animals too,
many animals..
and then events, news,
in short a generalized feverishness.
And as it is written somewhere on the sleeve :
no story
no movie
no
credits
released May 30, 2023

master by rashad Becker
lacquer-mastercut by andreas (LUPO) Lubich
featurings: claudius, dorit Chrysler, thomas Jocher
label: Loud Loud

1. intro/nitropeu 00:54
2. restructured / part 1 01:28
3. restructured / part 2 (he wants, she doesn’t) 02:04
4. interlude – Martinville 1860 03:14
5. une taille 40 une taille 41 c’est moderne 02:12
6. snake Plissken 04:05
7. A4 02:39
8. underground nostalgia 05:45
9. does music imitate or speak to wolves? 03:37
10. [— _ _ [birds]] 02:48
11. skipping billie 03:12
12. exhale exhale 01:27
13. polyuréthane 02 13:09
14. polyuréthane 03 10:22
15. the comet Rosetta is speaking loud and clear to some frogs in India 05:50
16. A3 is twice a A4 05:18
17. Indiana Creek was full of indians 05:25
18. [— [birds]] 05:08
19. plane and drone [master and slave] 02:57

Author: Franck David

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Symphony #2 includes reworkings and remixes from Symphony #1 and new material composed while in residency at Hull Time Based Arts, UK 1999 and on tour 1999-2001.

Performance for fourteen dot matrix printers played by an orchestra of personal computers from the early nineties and conducted by a similarly obsolete file server, based on text files composed and orchestrated beforehand.

Track 12 (in keeping with the concept of the cd) is not simply an untitled track. The printers are not printing anything – the track simply consists of the amplified hum of all 14 printers, and then they are all manually switched off, one by one.
credits
released June 1, 2020

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LIMITED ART EDITION WITH ORIGINAL ART PRINT FROM NAN GOLDIN, SIGNED BY THE ARTIST 

Laura Poitras’ Oscar-nominated film »All the Beauty and the Bloodshed« is an epic, emotional and interconnected story about internationally renowned artist and activist Nan Goldin. Told through intimate interviews, photography, and footage, central to the story is her personal fight to hold the Sackler family accountable for the opioid crisis. The film cuts to the bone with its incandescent celebration of life and condemnation of those who threaten it. Art and activism are one and the same. 

Helping to interweave Goldin’s past and present, multi-disciplinary duo Soundwalk Collective soundtrack her personal and political struggles to sublime effect. The contemporary sonic arts platform of founder and artist Stephan Crasneanscki and producer Simone Merli, the pair work with a rotating constellation of artists and musicians, developing site-and-context-specific sound projects through which to examine conceptual, literary, or artistic themes. And for all the beauty and the bloodshed on show here, the duo strike the balance just right; their compositions in collaboration with Zacharias Falkenberg and Johannes Malfatti producing a trance that oscillates between grace and madness. 

Within the score, Crasneanscki draws connections with the life and work of German poet Friedrich Hölderlin, who was removed from society through confinement in institutions. In his last poems, written as fragments while he was plagued by mental illness, Hölderlin renders nature, in all its fragility and ephemerality. Similar themes merge in Laura’s portrait of Goldin and serve as an inspiration for the composition of the choral songs and cantus within the soundtrack. Through the repetition of words and the layering of voices, the lyric scansion operates like a language possessed, echoing various styles from sacred music to modern minimalist techniques. The music is characterised by quivering strings and swells, de-tuning and lingering, shifting around the surreal, and creating a spectrum of musical experience. Exerts of Nan’s narration are featured in two of the tracks, her powerful narration offering a more direct approach to the storytelling. 

In »All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,« Poitras shows protest is really Goldin’s great artwork: Her entire life had been leading to this moment of passionate expression, an inspired situationist gesture which fused the personal and the political. Art can change the world, which Poitras and Goldin tell us with powerful results. While there are multiple threads in this remarkable portrait which could have carried entire films, the soundtrack provides a sonic identity that helps keep track of proceedings. Utterly unique in their approach, Soundwalk Collective have delivered a gripping and thoughtful score, helping turn Goldin’s personal pain into culture-rattling impact.

A1 Half Of Life
A2 Schimmer Sanft Den Klang Des Tages
A3 The Land And The Sea
A4 Sisters I – Feat. Nan Goldin
A5 Des Geistes Werden
B1 Before The Light
B2 Witnesses
B3 Zeitgeist
B4 To Zimmer
B5 Sisters Ii – Feat. Nan Goldin

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»Chromacolor« is one of those records that immediately feels like home even though it is hard to locate stylistically. Written and recorded by Hanno Leichtmann in Berlin and Madeira between 2020 and 2022, it draws on rhythmic minimalism as a guiding principle and might call to mind organic, instrument-based ambient music, but also incorporates jazzy moments as well as Annie Garlids multi-layered vocals that permeate through these nine pieces.

The foundation for Leichtmann’s Chromacolor project was laid when the prolific Berlin-based producer, musician, and drummer borrowed a vibraphone and a Fender Rhodes from two friends. Combining their unique sonic affordances with those of a Guitaret, an electric lamellophone, he further expanded his sound palette by inviting other musicians—Anthea Caddy, Sabine Vogel, Tobias Delius, Els Vandeweyer, Sabine Ercklentz, Mike Majkowski, Andrei Ladeishchikov, Oona Farchy, Gonçalo Caboz as well as Rafael and Hugo Andrade—to play small but vital parts in the production of the album.

The opener »Kisses and Wine« masterfully sets the tone for an album that is as inviting as it is challenging. Working with relaxed repetitive rhythms, Garlid’s anthemic vocals and a sprinkle of saxophone and flute tones courtesy of Delius and Vogel, respectively, as well as tender piano notes played by Leichtmann, it evokes a lot with only few means: a certain melancholy, but also an elevated atmosphere that feels both exuberant and restrained. Leichtmann’s elegant study of the power of repetition, minute rhythmic shifts and subtle use of melodic and harmonic elements creates ambiguities and polyvalences like these throughout the entire record, up until its understated finale, aptly titled »A Beautiful Day«—a drone-jazz piece, if you will, both longing and joyful. As an album, »Chromacolor« is hard to pigeonhole, but rich and rewarding. All it takes is immersing yourself in it.

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arbitrary presents Dissolvè / Scillions by Antoine Hubineau. Derived from the same series of compositions, Dissolvè and Scillions are drawn from modular synthesizer recordings which have been reworked, treated and composed in the computer.

Dissolvè is a mosaic which is in constant motion. The inner details are guided by an outer structure which act as a kind of rhythmic subtraction. It is destabilised to the point where it fractures, from the macro to the micro level; abstracting a filigree from the original rhythm.

Scillions breaks an initial path into several directions which create new paths. Directional blur in harmonic motion makes it difficult to predict the outcomes. Contrary movements, synchronisation and desynchronisation build and break the relations between these new paths. Finally, altered versions of these new directions give some familiarity, while adding to the ambient disorder.

Based in Latillé (France), Antoine Hubineau works in the electronic music field, as a composer, musician, teacher and co-founder of the Sillages residency. His practice is focused on sound synthesis, which become alternately pseudo-acoustic instruments, abstract matter and surreal spaces. In his compositions, he makes the most of the cracks between free pulsation and collateral rhythms, between harmonic stability and sound spectrum tearings.

Written & produced by Antoine Hubineau, Saint-Etienne (France), 2020. Tombak recordings: thanks to Cinna Peyghamy. Mastered and cut by Kassian Troyer at D&M, Berlin. Cover artwork by Morgan Cuinet. Layout by Mads Emil Nielsen.

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“When asked what were my early influences in music, I get reminded of my teenage years in Parisian suburbs, simultaneously discovering from public libraries two important French record labels: OCORA and GRM. Then the roots of my interest in traditional music and electroacoustic experiments grew into doing it myself, recording ethnic minorities of the Zomian plateau of south-east Asia and composing a soundscape around it. This is what is happening here.” — Laurent Jeanneau aka Kink Gong

Kink Gong works with what is unknown to him, as an artist who’s attracted by beauty and strangeness. Like a stranger, he has been deeply curious about recording ethnic minority music isolated from dominating cultures within South-east Asia, thus working with musicians taking part in specific cultural communities to make almost 200 albums. Like an artist, he has been leaning towards strange marriages, building on these raw materials. They are lived moments that combine space, people and music, as if they were blocks made out of the same material.

— I
14 TUBES MOUTHORGAN PAKSE LAOS + BULANG LAWA 3 STRINGED LUTE (NIU TUI QIN) AND VOICE OF 2 OLD LAWA MEN + VOICES OF 3 AKHA WOMEN YUNNAN CHINA, FOREST LAO CAI HMONG WOMEN VOICES + ELECTRONIC MOUTHHARP (CHUNGJA) SAPA VIETNAM + BULANG LAWA MAN & DRUNK WIFE + ELECTRONIC MALIMBA TANZANIA + LUE WOMAN VOICE PHONGSALY LAOS + DONG PIPA 4 STRINGED LUTE GUIZHOU CHINA + LUE WOMAN VOICE NORTH VIETNAM + HMONG 6 TUBES MOUTHORGAN HA GIANG VIETNAM + YI NISU WOMAN VOICE + YI NISU SIXIAN 4 STRINGED LUTE YUNNAN CHINA

— II
BRAO WOMAN VOICE ATTAPEU LAOS + ELECTRONIC + METALLIC TOUPIE + UYGHUR DAP HAND PERCUSSION + BRAO MAN VOICE RATANAKIRI CAMBODIA + OIRAT MONGOLIAN MORIN KUR 2 STRINGED CELLO XINJIANG CHINA + 14 TUBES MOUTHORGAN IN BERLIN TEUFELBERG + SHUI MIAO WOMEN VOICES GUIZHOU CHINA + SANTOOR IRANIAN DULCIMER IN BERLIN + YI NUOSU WOMAN VOICE SICHUAN CHINA + ARAK 16 TUBES MOUTHORGAN SEKONG LAOS + TRIANG 5 WOMEN VOICES + BELLS SEKONG LAOS + ELECTRONIC + MIEN WOMEN VOICES SAPA VIETNAM

ALL RECORDED BY LAURENT JEANNEAU BETWEEN 2004 AND 2014 ON LOCATION IN

. SOME INSTRUMENTS (MOUTHORGANS & SANTOOR) PLAYED & PROCESSED & RECOMPOSED BY KINK GONG, 2016

LP COVER BOY ON THE ROCK TADLO LAOS, 2013

Mastered by Raschad Becker, Berlin
Cut by Frederic Alstadt, ANGSTROM STUDIO, Brussels
Artwork by João Basto

The edition of 300 copies are silkscreened and individually hand numbered

Silkscreened at Atelier Ice Screen, Brussels
Inside A4 risographed at Frau Steiner Studio, Brussels

Released June 18, 2021

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arbitrary presents Delirious Cartographies (arbitrary13) by composer, improviser and synthesist Richard Scott. Part of the Danish imprint’s Framework editions, this release includes three pieces on 12” vinyl and six printed drawings – as well as a text by Scott – published as a limited edition portfolio folder.

“These compositions capture aspects of my personal sonic experience of specific times and places. Extending beyond my usual work with analogue synthesizer, these pieces open the doors and windows to the outside world, incorporating field and live recordings made in various locations and situations. Rather than intending any clear sense of narrative, these are molecular dialogues between elements and geographies which do not necessarily share organic points of connection, other than my own incomplete experience and memory of them.”

The final piece 6 Graphic Etudes (included as digital prints) is intended as a set of visual / sonic sketches, each of which describes a discrete kind of movement or texture. These may have a variety of uses; as musical exercises, as scores, combined as parts of scores, or simply as stand-alone visual propositions / artworks.

The pieces were composed between 2017 and 2021 at Sound Anatomy, Berlin, Spektrum Berlin, EMS Stockholm, NOVARS, University of Manchester, the Electronic Music Studios, University of Huddersfield and in Boliqueime, Portugal.

As well as various microphones, hydrophones and recorders, the instruments used on this recording are mostly analogue and modular synthesizers: Hordijk Modular, Serge Modular, EMS Synthi A, various Eurorack modules, Buchla Thunder midi controller, Oberheim Xpander, Clavia Nord Micro Modular, CataRT and maxMSP, Rob Hordijk Blippoo box. On Thunder, actually bicycles… Axel Dörner plays a Holton Firebird trumpet with additional live-sampling via maxMSP and a controller interface developed by Sukandar Kartadinata.

Written & produced by Richard Scott. Drawings by Richard Scott. Graphic design by Mads Emil Nielsen. Mastered & cut by Kassian Troyer at D&M, Berlin. Thanks to Axel Dörner, Rob Hordijk, Beatriz Ferreyra, Ricardo Climent, David Berezan, Joseph Hyde, Richard Whalley, Pierre Alexandre Tremblay, Tim Scott, Andy Adkins, Electric Spring Festival, Sines & Squares Festival, Basic Electricity and Sound Anatomy.

Released 2 September 2022

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Special Green Edition LP

Kink Gong (aka Laurent Jeanneau) was born in France in 1965. 

He started making electronic music around 1995 in NYC, and in 1999 went to live with the Hadzas in Tanzania to record their music, since then he started to record the music of mostly endangered minorities in many different places, mostly in Southeast Asia. He lived in Indonesia, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, China, and many other places. He also composes electronic music that includes and transforms those recordings. With a huge catalog of his work, he released music from the label such as Sublime Frequencies, Akuphone, Discrepant, and more. 

This album is to celebrate the music I was involved in while living in Dali, Yunnan, China between 2006 and 2012. As usual with Kink Gong compositions, they contain all kinds of field recordings, mostly in Southern China, Laos, and Cambodia; local instruments that I play and electronic to melt them together, resulting in experimental soundscapes. Each element of the composition relates to this period with people (the dramatic voices of Hani or Yao singers) and spaces (park, jungle) and the long hours of creative enjoyment in our house by the Ear lake (Erhai) to put those elements together, using my neighbour (Li Daiguo)’s skill on pipa or new electronic toys I got around that time. 

Our son was born in Dali in 2008 and this LP is called Ji Sang (literally translated as Lucky Mulberry Tree) after his name. 

Side A 
– Fishermen Boats of Erhai Lake 
Electronic, Dali China 2010 + Punoy Mouthorgan, Laos 2010 + Khmu Man Voice, Phongsaly Laos 2010 + Metallic Boats on Erhai Lake, Dali China 2010 + Electronic, Dali China 2012 + Dong Niutuiqin + Woman’s Voice, Guizhou China 2012 + Electronic, Dali China 2011 + Hani Vocal Polyphony, Yunnan China 2011 + Chinese Pop Singer, Shanghai 2001 + 2 Yao Women’s Voices, + Frogs, Yunnan China 2011 

Side B 
– Morsing Bimo 
Morsing Indian Mouthharp, Chennai India 1997 + Nuosu Yi Bimo, Sichuan China 2010 + Electronic, Paris 2000 + Santur Persian Dulcimer, Berlin 2017 + Nuosu Koxian Multiblades Mouthharp, Sichuan China 2010 

– Pon Dao 
Flute Siem Reap, Cambodia 2003 + Electronic, Dali China 2008 + Mum 1 Stringed Bowed Instrument, Krung Ratanakiri Cambodia 2004 

– Chengdu Park 
Electronic, Dali China 2008 + Park in Chengdu, Sichuan China 2008 + Pipa by Li Daiguo, Dali China 2011 + Nyaheun Mouthorgan + Voice, Champasak Laos 2006 + Lisu Chibeu Guitar, Yunnan China 2012 

released December 2, 2022 

All music recorded & recomposed by Kink Gong 1997 – 2012 
Kink Gong plays Mouthharp, Mouthorgan, and Lisu Chibeu 
Mastered by Thomas Stadnicki 
Layout by 若潭 Ruò Tán

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