Akira Rabelais - Eisoptrophobia

From Allmusic.com : "An intellectual pioneer as much as anything else, Akira Rabelais issued forth musical creations and inventions from his perch at CalArts. Born and raised in South Texas, one of his childhood pastimes involved shooting metal plates with bb guns so that he could experience the unique sound that it caused. That fascination with sound, combined with a philosophical and literary bent (his favorite surreal and magical realist snippets of literature are on his website, www.akirarabelais.com) helped lay the path for the musical creations he has been issuing since 1990 -- he describes himself as a "composer writing software, not an engineer making music." The software that Rabelais made reference to in that quote, or at least the most famous among his inventions was the Argeïphontes Lyre. With functions like Eviscerator Reanimator, Time Domain Mutation, Morphological Disintegration, Verwechslung Kaffeetass and The Lobster Quadrille, the Lyre was a program that allowed the user to make a number of alterations to a piece of pre-recorded sound. The program quickly became a favorite of electronic music composers such as Terre Thaemitz and Scanner, who used it to create disorientating sound shifts. Rabelais' own cd, Elongated Pentagonal Pyramid (Ritornell, 1999) showed the stamp of the Lyre, with its multiple layers of gently wavering sound . Eisotrophobia followed in spring 2001."

"Eisoptrophobia" was released by Ritornell in 2001.

Get it here : Akira Rabelais - Eisoptrophobia

Meredith Monk - Dolmen Music

From Allmusic.com : "Meredith Monk has such a wonderful and unique vocal style that she is able to sing in complete abstraction (no known words or language for much of the album) yet maintain a very emotional and even sentimental quality in these abstractions, at times. Listeners who can get past just how unique and abstract her approach is will find immense joy and sadness deep within her pieces. On Dolmen Music, Monk wavers from being sad to the point of being quite morose (such as the tracks "Gotham Lullaby" and "The Tale") to being happy to the point of hysteria (as on "Traveling" and "Biography") without skipping a beat. Most of the musical accompaniment is minimalist (mainly piano with occasional, sparse percussion, guest vocalists also being prominent on the final six-part track "Dolmen Music"). This minimalist support only furthers Monk's vast vocal language as the prominent focus in the recordings. Listeners will also be very pleased to find that her wonderful voice is not crowded or overshadowed. A true original, Monk's work should be sought by anyone with an interest in vocal exploration."

"Dolmen Music" was released by ECM Records in 1981, then re-released by ECM New Series in 1994.

Get it here : Meredith Monk - Dolmen Music

Meredith Monk - Do You Be

From Allmusic.com : "This release features song excerpts from various long-form theater pieces, the first four coming from Meredith Monk's theater piece Acts From Under and Above, and these are the most jarring on the record. "Scared Song" features English lyrics, minimal accompaniment, and Monk singing harsh, abrasive "scared" sounds. Very unsettling -- and perhaps that is the intention. "Do You Be," a selection from her opera Vessel, features Monk solo on piano and voice with a shrill, piercing wail. Very satisfying. Additional selections from Vessel appear on Monk's 1992 recording Facing North. With one exception, the remaining tracks come from a Monk/Ping Chong science fiction epic opera called The Games, and these more diverse, more exploratory pieces really make the collection work as a recording. A casual listener unfamiliar with the theater pieces may well be put off by the abrasiveness of the first four tracks, which may unfortunately be enough to deter them from the remainder of the recording. But beyond some questionable programming choices, fans of her work will be delighted to see her continuing development as a recording artist."

"Do You Be" was released by ECM New Series in 1987.

Get it here : Meredith Monk - Do You Be

Meredith Monk - Our Lady Of Late

From Allmusic.com : "Singer, composer, filmmaker, and choreographer Meredith Monk is a pioneer in what is now called "extended vocal technique" and "interdisciplinary performance." Her early musical training included piano, some music theory, voice, and Dalcroze Eurythmics. The vocal arts have been an important part of her family's history: "I'm the fourth-generation singer in my family. I came from an Eastern European Jewish background, with my mom being a professional radio singer and jingle singer."

In 1964, Monk graduated from Sarah Lawrence College, where she studied composition with Ruth Lloyd and Glen Mack, voice with Vicki Starr, and vocal and chamber music with Meyer Kupferman; she also participated in opera workshops directed by Paul Ukena and Bessie Schoenberg. Dance was prominent in her studies as well. After college, Monk found herself neglecting her voice until one evening she sat at a piano and began vocalizing without words; she found the voice had "limitless colors and textures."

Between 1965 and 2010 she composed approximately 90 works, the apparent influences of which run the gamut of musical expression. "Bartók was someone I loved as a young woman, and also Stravinsky. And then I'm a person who loves music from the '20s and '30s, and there's a jazz singer that I love named Mildred Bailey." She also credits Janis Joplin and Joni Mitchell for providing her with meaningful examples of expressiveness. For Monk, linking her vocalizing to movement was a natural extension of the performance experience, "...doing the movement was a way of me finding my own territory, so to speak, of finding my own identity."

In 1968 Monk founded The House, a company dedicated to a interdisciplinary performance; ten years later she formed the Meredith Monk Vocal Ensemble to perform her vocal compositions. Most of her recordings are available on the ECM New Series. Monk's feature length film, Book of Days, aired on PBS, has appeared on international film festivals and was chosen for the 1991 Whitney Biennial. Her Atlas: an opera in three parts, which was commissioned by the Houston Grand Opera, The Walker Art Center, and The American Music Theater Festival, premiered in February 1991; a recording was released in January 1994.

A site-specific work, American Archeology #1: Roosevelt Island, was first performed in September 1994, and performances of Volcano Songs (a solo music/theater/dance work) were staged in New York City, the Portland Art Museum in Oregon, and Hancher Auditorium in Iowa City. Monk's 1998 musical theater piece, Magic Frequencies, toured the United States to critical acclaim; described as "a science-fiction chamber opera," this sparsely scored and sophisticated piece reveals Monk's lifelong fascination with, and investigation of, time travel and transformation. Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall was the site of a celebration of 40 years of Monk's performing in 2005. Songs of Ascension, another work with site-specific origins, was written in 2008 and released in 2011.

Monk has received numerous awards, including two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Brandeis Creative Arts Award, three Obies (including an award for Sustained Achievement), two Villager Awards, a Bessie for ASCAP Awards for Musical Composition, and the 1992 Dance Magazine Award. In 1995, Monk won a MacArthur "Genius" Award, and was inducted into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2006. Her 1991 film, Ellis Island, won the CINE Golden Eagle Award. Alan Kriegsman of the Washington Post, writes, "When the time comes, perhaps a hundred years from now, to tally up achievements in the performing arts during the last third of the [20th] century, one name that seems sure to loom large is that of Meredith Monk. In originality, in scope, in depth, there are few to rival her."

"Our Lady Of Late" was released by Minona Records in 1973, then re-released by Wergo in 1988.

Get it here : Meredith Monk - Our Lady Of Late

Agencement - Viosphere

From Discogs.com : "Hideaki Shimada was born in 1962 in Kanazawa, Japan. He has been involved in violin improvisation since 1980. In 1985 he started the solo project Agencement, in which he creates multi-layered violin improvisations and records them on magnetic tape. In his live performances he uses amplified violin and electronic equipment."

"Viosphere" was released by Pico in 1991.

Get it here : Agencement - Viosphere

Jim O'Rourke - Scend

From Discogs.com : "Born in 1969, composer/improviser/producer Jim O'Rourke has recorded as a member of the experimental rock groups Gastr Del Sol, The Red Krayola, Brise Glace and Yona Kit, recorded a number of his own albums of pop rock, guitar improvisation and musique-concrète compositions on the Drag City, Staalplaat, Extreme, Divided, Entenpfuhl and Metamkine labels, released collaborative recordings with Henry Kaiser, K.K. Null, Gunter Muller, Eddie Prevost, Evan Parker, Phill Niblock and Mats Gustafsson, and produced albums by Tony Conrad, Faust, Melt Banana and Space Streakings. Until recently O'Rourke was most active as a producer and member of Sonic Youth, but he left the band in late 2005. He has since issued some of his more experimental early pieces such as "6 Oscillators '87 / Guitar '88", and contributed to projects such as Diskaholics Anonymous Trio, among others."

"Scend" was released by Divided in 1992.

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Jim O'Rourke & SyllyK - Frontières ?

From Discogs.com : "Born in 1969, composer/improviser/producer Jim O'Rourke has recorded as a member of the experimental rock groups Gastr Del Sol, The Red Krayola, Brise Glace and Yona Kit, recorded a number of his own albums of pop rock, guitar improvisation and musique-concrète compositions on the Drag City, Staalplaat, Extreme, Divided, Entenpfuhl and Metamkine labels, released collaborative recordings with Henry Kaiser, K.K. Null, Gunter Muller, Eddie Prevost, Evan Parker, Phill Niblock and Mats Gustafsson, and produced albums by Tony Conrad, Faust, Melt Banana and Space Streakings. Until recently O'Rourke was most active as a producer and member of Sonic Youth, but he left the band in late 2005. He has since issued some of his more experimental early pieces such as "6 Oscillators '87 / Guitar '88", and contributed to projects such as Diskaholics Anonymous Trio, among others."

SyllyK is Eric La Casa and Sylvie Laroche.

Eric La Casa : "The propagation of sound in a locale is a complex vibratory / undulatory phenomenon which involves acoustic measurement just as much as it involves aesthetic appreciation. How to account for the size of things by their sonic properties? Beyond technical protocol, listening becomes tied up in the surfaces of the world. Recordings, sonic readings, open out into a musical form which reactivates a perception of that which surrounds us, whether visible or not; a reinjection. Thus, for fifteen years or so, my musical practice has been a series of experimentations / improvisations with this sonic locale. As it passes through my microphones, the site of the survey – everyday life – is transformed into a site of play. The dimensions of the real world generate sonic representations whose proportions found another perspective on the world."

"Frontières ?" was released by La Légende Des Voix in 1992.

Get it here : Jim O'Rourke & SyllyK - Frontières ?

Z'ev - 1968-1990 : One Foot In The Grave

From Discogs.com : "Conceptual artist, dancer, musician, scholar and poet, Stefan Weisser began playing the drums at age 4. Moving to New York City from San Francisco in 1979, and adopting the name Z'EV, his work with performance/noise percussion broke new ground and drew the attention of rock symphonist Glenn Branca, dancer Simone Forti, guitarist Rudolph Grey and just about everybody related to the downtown scene."

"1968-1990 : One Foot In The Grave" was released by Touch Records in 1991.

Get it here : Z'ev - 1968-1990 : One Foot In The Grave

Jo Truman - Sdreamings

Jo Truman, born Josephine Truman, is an Australian artist.

“Pin prick bursts of female voice, sudden odd harmonies, high pitched bubbles percolating through the ether. It’s a cat’s cradle of vocal sound.” (ARC vol. II)

For those who enjoy the work of Meredith Monk...

"Sdreamings" was commissioned by Horspiel (WDR, Koln, Germany) and it was released by Staalplaat in 1991.

Get it here : Jo Truman - Sdreamings