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trente oiseaux presents: Tori no Kaigi [ ichi ]      TOC094

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trente oiseaux presents: Tori no Kaigi [ ni ]      TOC095

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trente oiseaux presents: Tori no Kaigi [ san ]      TOC096

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trente oiseaux presents: Tori no Kaigi [ yon ]      TOC096

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Bernhard Günter  -  Buddha with the Sun Face / Buddha with the Moon Face      TOC091

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2008

Simon Whetham  -  Understory      TOC088

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Bernhard Günter  -  Écriture Automatique      TOC087

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Bernhard Günter  -  Détails Agrandis      TOC086

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Bernhard Günter  -  Lone Looper      TOC085

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Bernhard Günter  -  Brown, Blue, Brown on Blue [ For Mark Rothko ]      TOC084

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Bernhard Günter  -  Crossing the River ( Night Music )      TOC083

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Bernhard Günter  -   Oto Dake      TOC082

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Bernhard Günter  -   Univers Temporel Espoir      TOC081

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Bernhard Günter / Gary Smith / Michael Vorfeld  -  Mellom Paradis og Helleviga      TOC071

trente oiseaux releases - available as both web albums and CDs

Please note: CD sales have been suspended until further notice.

+minus   -   A Rainy Coran Verse [ UK Live ]   TOC043

+minus' second album presents 70 minutes of live recordings from three concerts in Norwich, Manchester, and London. I will not give a long description of the music here, let me just say that during my obligatory test listening to the just arrived CD, I could only think 'What a great record!' and smile a big smile. +minus managed to achieve the creation of a unique musical language and style ( no small feat in my humble opinion ), and was one of the most gratifying projects in my musical life...     Listen   Buy Net Album    Order CD

 

Reinhold Friedl/Bernhard Günter/Michael Vorfeld  -   Message Urgent    TOC042

For this release the widely respected improvisation duo of Reinhold Friedl, inside piano and Michael Vorfeld, percussion and stringed instruments is joined by Bernhard Günter on electric cellotar. Reinhold, Michael, and I first got together to play concert at the Podewil in Berlin in November 2003. After the sound check as our sole rehearsal we played a really intense set, and were astonished by how well our playing as a trio functioned.

We then spent the next day recording in the same space at the Podewil, a recording session that was both mentally and physically so intense it left us exhausted ( I still distinctly remember our hands trembling ). MESSAGE URGENT presents these recordings. This trio music is quite different from that of my trio +minus, it is quite dense ( at times almost orchestral ) and intense, albeit of very low volume ( please resist the temptation to turn the volume up ), constantly changing atmospheres and moods. The intensity of our session was very well captured by the recording.
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Bernhard Günter/Graham Halliwell/Mark Wastell - +minus [first meeting]    TOC041

As the title implies, +minus [first meeting] is the result of the first meeting of bernhard günter with Graham Halliwell, and Mark Wastell. It also implies that what was intended to be a recording project has become a band, Bernhard's first band since fifteen years, and named +minus:

Bernhard Günter: electric cellotar and composed basis tracks
Graham Halliwell: saxophone feedback
Mark Wastell: amplified textures, Nepalese prayer bowls and gong

+minus' music is improvised, but not completely: two of the four tracks on our first album use some of Bernhard's older, noise oriented pieces as their structural basis, while the two others are indeed freely improvised.     Listen    Buy Net Album    Order CD

 

Keith Berry -  The Golden Boat       TOC034

Keith Berry is a sound artist based in London. His 'The Golden Boat' consists of four pieces all very consistent in style and sound quality to the point that they form, a unified whole. Keith's work is extremely musical and beautiful, evolving at a slow pace, like the passing of clouds. It has a strong spatial quality, especially on headphones, and uses a variety of sound materials ranging from concrete to instrumental to electronic sound sources. 'The Golden Boat' is certainly one of trente oiseaux's highlights in 2003.     Listen    Buy Net Album    Order CD

 

Thomas Phillips -  On Dit       TOC033

"On Dit was created during the summer and autumn of 2002. These were my last months in the U.S. before relocating to Montreal. It was also a period of technological experimentation, as I had only recently acquired the programs with which On Dit was made. Conceptually, the piece had been with me for some time. The intention was to use a palette of both digital and organic sounds and to construct an extended track complete with individual though related "movements." I was aiming for a certain quietude, which I achieved in the first section, though as is often the case in art, the composition slowly developed of its own accord and became somewhat louder and more frenetic than anticipated. Perhaps the manifestation of an impending transition was escaping through the music." Thomas Phillips     Listen    Buy Net Album    Order CD

 

Kuwayama - Kijima  -  02.08.23       TOC032

Japanese Duo Kuwayama - Kijima have recorded their second release for trente oiseaux in an empty warehouse at Nagoya Port. The sound of crickets and waves picked up by microphones placed outside the building were transmitted into the space, where Kuwayama and Kijima played along with them, taking advantage of the natural reverb of the space, and changing their position in it while playing.

Compared to to Kuwayama - Kijima's first release on trente oiseaux, where cars going over a midnight highway bridge provided a very vivid ambiance, this recording's atmosphere is much quieter and more static, thus drawing more attention to the duo's excellent playing, and providing a kind of peaceful canvas if front of which they pursue their musical and sonic explorations. 02.08.23 is a record that asks the listener to pay close attention and to become immersed in the ongoing transformations of sounds and musical figures - when this attitude is taken, listening to the record is a very gratifying experience.     Listen   Buy Net Album   Order CD

 

Steve Roden  -  Resonant Cities       TOC031

Steve Roden composed Resonant Cities as a project for Kunst Radio Wien (Art Radio Vienna) using only field recordings of tiny details from cities all over the world. The following lines from a text Steve wrote about this work perfectly describe what it is about:

"... searching through my library of field recordings for material for this project, i realized that my visits to most cities are a kind of hunting activity to gather these inconsiderable audio things - and indeed as i listened, a lot of these sounds they conjured up some very strong memories of moments when i have been in a city yet felt outside of 'city', as though an intimate listening or sound making activity can completely take one outside of their immediate environment to a place where the sound one is listening to begins to define the parameters of space. even quiet sounds, if one listens closely and intimately can direct one's attention away from the existing 'scenery'..."    Listen    Buy Net Album    Order CD

 

Richard Chartier/Bernhard Günter/Steve Roden   -   [ For Morton Feldman ]     TOC024

"[ For Morton Feldman ] presents one piece each in homage to Morton Feldman by Richard Chartier, Steve Roden, and myself on the occasion of the fifteenth anniversary of his death in September 1987. I am amazed how well these pieces, in spite of being quite different in style, work together to constitute a whole. They also express the influence Morton Feldman's sublime works have had (and still have) on us in our personal ways of creating music.

Richard's HOW THINGS CHANGE is a rather intimate, pensive piece made of abstract electronic sounds and long stretches of silence, while Steve's STASIS is probably the most hypnotic and atmospheric set of slowly orbiting loops he has ever created. I, who like to say that the safest to expect from me is the unexpected, have composed a piece for winter rain, small brook, and sho, titled FUYU NO AME (FOR MORTON FELDMAN), a piece that belongs to what I have called my 'musique concrète, enhanced' strain of work, but sounds like nothing else I have composed." Bernhard Günter
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Kuwayama - Kijima  -  01.06.16       TOC023

"01.06.16 is trente oiseaux's second release of improvised instrumental music. Kuwayama Kiyoharu, cello, and Kijima Rina, violin, took their instruments to the bottom of a highway at midnight, and improvised along with the passing vehicles. Both are formidable players, and so well attuned to each other that their improvisations cannot be told from highly complex compositions. Like other improvising players, they have adopted the musical vocabulary and musical gestures of contemporary classical music, and are using them freely, but also draw from a great number of other influences, making their music very rich and inventive. The particular spatial impression created by cars going by is making their recordings an even more fascinating listening experience.Listen    Buy Net Album    Order CD

 

Bernhard Günter   -   Redshift : Abschied     TOC021

"REDSHIFT: I was making plans for a very different project in my mind when I came across a number of DAT tapes from my first sampling days in 1993, the time of 'Un peu de neige salie' - these tapes contained sounds I had not used back then, and that I could not at all remember the origins / sources of, but that sounded interesting. I thus started to work with them, without the slightest idea of what might be the result, and the piece kind of made itself - the result was a structure consisting of noise sounds to which I added a complementary micro-tonal structure of instrumental samples to form the whole. It is difficult to describe the result, but i think it is rather unique - when listened to at low or medium volume (as it's supposed to be), the sounds seem to come from a far distance, and create shifting impressions of space.

ABSCHIED: I composed 'Abschied' in memory of Erika Kedziora, my wife's aunt, who, after a long illness, passed away on July 28th, 2001 at age 70. She was a wonderful human being, friendly and open-minded, always wishing me luck for my concerts and success for my music. Heike and I were deeply shocked, and saddened to learn that she had finally lost the battle against her illness. May she rest in peace - we will remember her." Bernhard Günter
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Reinhold Friedl / Michael Vorfeld  -  Au Défaut du Silence     TOC016

Reinhold Friedl, piano, and Michael Vorfeld, percussion and stringed instruments, create music that transcends the boundaries of improvised and composed music, as well as those between instrumental and electro-acoustic music. Their pieces range from quiet, introspective, and sparse atmospheres to very dense, highly intense, and almost orchestral parts. This music is quite impressive, and arguably a new step ahead in improvised music. Releasing their excellent work both broadens trente oiseaux's spectrum of musical styles and hopefully introduce the artists' highly innovative approach to listeners outside the inner circles of improvised music.     Listen    Buy Net Album    Order CD

 

Bernhard Günter / Steve Roden   -   Japan       TOC015

"Originally intended to be sold exclusively at our concerts during our tour in Japan in November 2001, this split CD of Steve Roden and I has now been released on trente oiseaux, along with Steve's upcoming CD for our label, because we found ourselves too fond of the pieces it contains to limit it to its intended use. While the three pieces differ very much in style ( mine being made of noises exclusively, while the two by Steve are using concrete sounds ), they really work together very well." Bernhard Günter     Listen    Buy Net Album    Order CD

 

Bernhard Günter   -   Then, Silence       TOC011

"Then, Silence is dedicated to Morton Feldman and Luigi Nono. Then, Silence is dedicated to Morton Feldman and Luigi Nono. The experience of listening to their music has changed my understanding, my way of listening to, my thinking about, and my way of creating music so much that my own work would simply be unthinkable without theirs. Dedicating Then, Silence to them is my modest Thank You to Morton Feldman and Luigi Nono, expressing not only my admiration, but also the sadness their untimely parting causes me." Bernhard Günter     Listen    Buy Net Album    Order CD

 

Steve Roden   -   Four Possible Landscapes       TOC005

"I originally used the term "possible landscapes" to describe my performances - spaces created from spaces, relating to the specificity of location, yet trying to open this specificity up to abstraction. Although they use no "field recordings", i view these four works also as possible landscapes - perhaps tied more to the tradition of painting - where fuzzy edges and hues of color can lead one's mind to wander... " Steve Roden
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Bernhard Günter   -   Time, Dreaming Itself       TOC003

"This work's main aspects are, as its title suggests Time, and the notion of Slowness. Of complex harmonic design similar to "Brown, Blue, Brown on Blue ( For Mark Rothko )" the composition uses both instrumental images and elements of a more soundscape-type character, plus a non-tempered scale as the basis for the various transpositions of the sounds. Other than that, i think it speaks for itself.." Bernhard Günter     Listen    Buy Net Album    Order CD

 

Steve Roden   -   Crop Circles       Ad'OC0971

Steve Roden is a visual and sound artist from Los Angeles, known for his musical work under the name of "in be tween noise". Steve felt that this particular work, music for an installation he has done, was far enough from the music of "in be tween noise" to ask us to release it under his own name. It is a quiet soundscape, produced by using only a microphone and a speaker to create the sound material, and designed to fill the room at a moderate loudness to let the listener take a 42 minutes bath in a strange atmosphere, repetitive, but changing all the time.     Listen    Buy Net Album    Order CD

 

trente oiseaux releases - CDs

 

Johannes Heldén   -   Sketchbook       TOC025

"I'm very pleased to have been able to add this young Swedish artist's work to trente oiseaux's program for this year. Based on field recordings Johannes made while traveling from Sweden to Russia via Norway, Sketchbook is a quiet, moody work of great atmosphere and devoid of all pretension. In an essay I wrote for the Digital Narcis label's new website you will find the following statement:

"In my earlier days as an artist, I believed that there had to be something called 'Kunstwille' in German (i.e., the will to create art) and a specific gesture (I called 'the art gesture' in my own terminology) to turn a given material into a work of art. This can indeed bring about excellent results, but there is also an inherent danger in this when the will to create and the 'art gesture' become the masters, and artistic sensibility is lost.

Nowadays I have come to distrust the 'artness' in art, and feel that I should do without the 'will to create' and the 'art gesture' to create art just the same way one eats, sleeps and breathes. I'm thinking of the descriptions of Kendo practice Mishima Yukio has put in some of his works: the real master has to forget the sword, the enemy, the will to kill the enemy, and the wish to be a master."

I find that Johannes' work on Sketchbook is a perfect example of this 'artless' attitude, and this is what I like so much about it." Bernhard Günter

PS: The CD is in Mixed Media CD format and contains 17 photos taken by the artist on his above mentioned journey.     Listen     Order CD

 

Matt Shoemaker   -   Warung Elusion       TOC022

"Matt Shoemaker's music consists of an ever-changing, intricate web of sounds defining spaces in constant transformation. It is very detailed, very present. Transitions between soundscapes, sometimes very slow and very gradual, sometimes very surprising, keep his music going; often different strata of time are present simultaneously. Matt is a master in building and sustaining tension by means of changes in density of sounds and events, as well as by modifying the frequency range of the spectra used. Another interesting quality of his music is that it brings the abstractness of concrete sounds taken out of their context to consciousness." Bernhard Günter     Listen     Order CD

 

Richard Chartier   -   Decisive Forms       TOC013

"Decisive Forms is a very subtle, abstract work of great detail, a perfect object for contemplation that requires the listener's full attention. I find it extremely captivating to follow as it unfolds over time, to adjust my breathing to its slow pulse, and to be completely absorbed by the act of perception itself without thinking in form of interior comments, descriptions, or associations. Decisive Forms is another step forward Richard is taking from his fine work 'series' that has received one of the twelve Honorable Mentions of PRIX ARS ELECTRONICA 2001. I will not try to further describe Decisive Forms, but rather encourage you to go ahead and experience it yourself - the attention it requires is generously rewarded." Bernhard Günter     Listen    Order CD

 

Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson   -   Ship       TOC012

"Sigtryggur has created a wonderfully calm, very minimal, but also very detailed work. The compositional devices that structure the work are subtle, yet effective in making it a very rounded out listening experience. Sigtryggur has distilled an immensely personal musical statement from very reduced source material. The atmosphere of his work does indeed strongly remind me of my visit to Iceland, and its wonderful topography of absence." Bernhard Günter Listen    Order CD

 

Matt Shoemaker   -   Groundless       TOC004

"When Matt Shoemaker sent me a demo of Groundless , it was quite a revelation for me - "cinema-scope" being the first term flashing across my mind hearing it... He is a very original artist, using a very well integrated combination of concrete and electronic sounds for a 55 minutes long journey through ever changing soundscapes. Listening to it on headphones in the dark was an extraordinary experience for me, and i have to say that Matt's music is entertaining in the best possible sense of the term - it does not know a single minute of boredom." Bernhard Günter     Listen     Order CD

 

Reynols   -   Blank Tapes       TOC002

Reynols is a group of artists from Buenos Aires, Argentina, consisting of Miguel Tomasin, Robeto Conlazo, and Anla Courtis. Their work Blank Tapes is a piece in six parts, made from analog and digital treatments of a selection of blank tapes, dating from the years 1978-1999. Despite the minimal material, the six sections are constantly changing and shifting along their duration, covering a wide range of dynamics and frequencies, their overall characteristics varying on a scale from silent and contemplative to outright aggressive, and make this CD a very interesting listening experience.     Listen     Order CD

 

Hervé Castellani   -   Famme       TOC0981

Many listeners had been impressed by French composer Hervé Castellani's first release, a 3" cd on French label METAMKINE's reputed "Cinéma pour l'oreille" series, titled "deux silences". He has now composed a new piece, titled "Flamme" (English: "flame") - a deep-reaching soundscape, an authentic piece of art, taking repeated listening, revealing new aspects every time, and opening a great new world for your ears and mind to explore. The composer recommends medium to low volume listening.     Listen     Order CD