EMERGE – dispense

out now !

EMERGE – dispense
CD-R in cardboard sleeve (ltd.ed. 50 copies)
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original sounds by Niku Senpuki, Martyn Schmidt, Gerald Fiebig
originally released in 2012 as download-only
re-mastering, photography and design by EMERGE

This album by EMERGE offers an almost orchestral breadth of sonic textures unparalleled by his other work.The deep, resonant ruminations of the bass that are one of his trademarks are all there, but they are combined with fleeting fragments that almost sound like a folk song played far away on a mountaintop on the other side of a valley, swept away by the wind. The music definitely has a nocturnal feel about it, but is in no way “dark” ambient in the sense of oppressive or scary.

The colourfulness of this release may be due to the fact that EMERGE here combines source sounds from three Attenuation Circuit labelmates instead of just one source as on most of his other releases. Niku Senpuki, Martyn Schmidt, and Sustained Development have contributed some guitar, vocals, and field recordings – none of which are in the least bit recognisable, but they go a long way in enriching the frequency spectrum of this great composition by EMERGE.

https://emerge.bandcamp.com/album/dispense-2

 

EMERGE – live at echokammer

out now !

EMERGE – live at echokammer
CD-R in cardboard sleeve – (ltd.ed. 50 copies)
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live at Ganze Bäckerei, Augsburg, 01.11.14
recording by brezenstudio.com
mastering, photography and design by EMERGE

While EMERGE frequently works with – mostly female – singers to create source material for his works, this recording is very unusual as it exploits samples of speaking voices, combining them with sound objects with a metallic timbre.

The way in which the voices are cut and manipulated, erasing comprehensibility and instead using the speaking voice as a structural element of the composition, is very akin to experiments in radiophonic art, for example in Luc Ferrari’s work for radio. As such, this album documents an aspect of EMERGE’s artistic palette that has not been heard in recordings before.

File under: musique concrète, sound art

https://emerge.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-echokammer-14

 

EMERGE + SINTARI MIMITHE – kagome

out now !

EMERGE + SINTARI MIMITHE – kagome
CD-R in cardboard sleeve (ltd.ed. 50 copies)
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live at ac headquarter, Augsburg, 03.05.14
recording by Gerald Fiebig
mastering, photography and design by EMERGE

Recorded live in early 2014, this is one of EMERGE’s many collaborations with female vocalists. Sintari Mimithe’s spoken/breathed voice, with lyrics in Japanese, adds an unsettling intimacy to EMERGE’s austere sonic textures.

As the deep electronic sounds move across the sound field like gigantic plates of rough slate, the voice of Sintari Mimithe adds a more human scale in the higher register, like a narrator from outer space, watching and commeting on prehistoric times when huge tectonic movements created mountains.

File under: dark ambient, drone

https://emerge.bandcamp.com/album/kagome

 

RE-DRUM + EMERGE – persecutory delusion

RE-DRUM + EMERGE – persecutory delusion
CD-R in cardboard sleeve (ltd.ed. 50 copies)
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live @ NoiseAngriff #47, Berlin, 02.04.14
recording by fgnugn/Frank F.
mastering, photography and design by EMERGE

Although recorded at a concert series titled “NoiseAngriff” (noise attack) in Berlin, this live collaboration is actually a lot less harsh than one might expect. The paranoia suggested by the title might be felt in the dark ambient dronescapes, though.

In this slowly evolving set, the two performers connect to their roots in drone ambient, combining harmonic, yet vaguely ominous electronic textures with small concrete sounds. Over the course of some 45 minutes, Russian artist Re-Drum and his German colleague EMERGE create a vast expanse of sound through which they navigate with tentative movements, like ships in dark uncharted waters in the night.

File under: dark ambient

https://emerge.bandcamp.com/album/persecutory-delusion

 

EXEDO – vile

out now !

EXEDO – vile
CD-R in cardboard sleeve (ltd.ed. 50 copies)
download
 
live at our kitchen, Munich, 21.12.13 by EMERGE
recording by Gerald Fiebig
rework by EXEDO
mastering, photography and design by EMERGE
thanks to Franz
 
The title of this harsh noise album could be read as an anagram of “live,” as the whole audio on the release was created by shredding a live recording by EMERGE. It could also be read literally, though, as Exedo go out of their way to make it sound as crass as possible, with all the contempt for musicality that one can expect from a self-respecting harsh noise outfit.
 
Of all the noise releases on attenuation circuit, this must be one of the harshest – with the exception perhaps of the Rollator series that is specifically dedicated to noise. What makes this example of harsh noise wall interesting, though, is the use of sudden gaps in the noise. Contrasting extreme noise and total silence (with the listener’s ears still ringing) is a minimalistic but very effective strategy for keeping the listener on edge, waiting for the next dropout. Heavy listening indeed, but not boring.
 
File under: harsh noise
 

MARTWA NATURA – I

out now !
 
MARTWA NATURA – I
CD-R (ltd.ed. 33 copies)
download
 
Martyna Solecka: voice
EMERGE: voice samples, body sounds
 
recorded live for echokammer at Ganze Bäckerei, Augsburg, 02.01.16
echokammerkonzerte.wordpress.com
 
drawings by Martyna Solecka
recording, mastering and design by EMERGE
 
Martwa Natura (Polish for ‘still life’ in the artistic sense) is a collaborative project of visual artist/vocalist Martyna Solecka and composer/sound artist EMERGE. Restricting their sonic palette to the sounds of Martyna’s voice, both live and sampled by EMERGE, and body percussion sounds amplified with contact microphones, they manage to create an incredible richness of textures.
 
Thanks to the skilful use of effects, the live set recorded here evokes the sounds of a multitude of species: dolphins, bats, and vultures come to mind, and as Martyna’s melodic lines, oscillating between mourning and jubilation, clash against the rattling and hissing sounds created by EMERGE, all sorts of associative dramas unfold in the listener’s mind. This could be a sonic tale of travel through uncharted dangerous geographies near the heart of darkness, a story of war and destruction, or something else entirely. Anyway, the duo manage to balance repetition and change in a manner that is hard to find in electroacoustic improvisation, creating a measure of dramatic suspense and release that should be the envy of many composers.
 
File under: Electroacoustic music
 

GERALD FIEBIG / EMERGE vs. NYM – condensed endeavour

out now !

GERALD FIEBIG / EMERGE vs. NYM – condensed endeavour

CD-R in cardboard sleeve (ltd.ed. 50 copies)
download

live at CAIRO, Würzburg, 22.11.13
recording by Gerald Fiebig and EMERGE
recycling by NYM
mastering, photography and design by EMERGE
thanks to Christian and Taubenschlag crew

A live recording of a concert by EMERGE and Gerald Fiebig at Cairo in Würzburg, Germany, fell into the hands of the mysterious artist (pseudo-) NYM, who used the audio of the whole concert as raw material for creating one of his glacial, monochrome dronescapes.

Clocking in at more than 36 minutes, the composition by NYM rather expanded than condensed the musical endeavour by EMERGE and Fiebig on the Cairo stage, which was hosted by Würzburg’s experimental music series Taubenschlag. Aesthetically, if not temporally, the title is quite fitting as the slowly moving drones created by EMERGE and Fiebig were condensed into a kind of uber-drone, nothing but the infinite background hum of a pre-human or post-apocalyptic universe, with all colour/timbre drained from the sound source. This would make perfect theatre music for any Beckett performance, preferably of “Endgame.”

File under: drone, dark ambient

https://emerge.bandcamp.com/album/condensed-endeavour