*All prices are postage paid; for orders outside the U.S./Canada, the "World" option must be selected for each item.
$12ppd (USA/Canada)
$14ppd (World)
SEM-018 Work/Death - Tender Comrades CD
Providence, Rhode Island based Work/Death, operated by Scott Reber, is an intersection of musique concrete, electro-acoustic improv and composition, field recording, drone, harsh noise, physical performance, and the pop song. As the name suggests it is a labor of determination, focus, and quality accumulating over a lifetime. For the past 10 years he has synthesized sounds of the 20th century. His multimodal composition process navigates effortlessly between the intellectualist Avant Garde and the noise underground with its violent removal of musical structures. Paraphrasing Reber himself, "David Tudor or Alvin Lucier as prototype wall noise via early mapping of crunch, crumble, cracks, crackle, ruptures, space, and moving air that would later be central to The Rita, Macronympha."
Each Work/Death release, previously on labels such as Hospital, Monorail Trespassing, Ekhein, ect. gives the listener an entry point to his exploration of a time, location, frequency or state of anxiety. 'Tender Comrades' his first official full length is his strongest statement yet. Unapologetic harmonic/melodic moves surfacing through and being submerged by waves of white noise. 'Tender Comrades' is drenched in sweat, performed with piano, upright bass, guitar, machine, midi programming, cassette manipulation, synthesizer, his body, hiss, crackle, melody, hope and possibility. This is harsh noise composition, conceptual high volume, the aurality of negative space, the physicality of sound - filling rooms, bodies. Work/Death exemplifies the subtlety of pain and the intensity of tenderness. Garbage in. Garbage out.
Edition of 500: pro replicated compact discs housed in a deluxe full color digipak, shrink-wrapped.
$12ppd (USA/Canada)
$14ppd (World)
SEM-016 Cowards - Forgotten Resonance CD
New York City's Cowards , made up of Jesse Allen (The Cathode Terror Secretion, Migrations In Rust) and Nick Pace (Diaphragm) are part of the Red Light District collective, in which a handful of ambitious musicians explore a wide swath of what is known as modern noise; groups such as Yellow Tears, Halflings, The Cathode Terror Secretion, among others.
With their debut 'Forgotten Resonance' Cowards have stepped up the game in contemporary industrial/noise music. Equally informed by harsh noise, industrial, musique concrete, black/death metal, world/ethnic, ambient and classical music 'Forgotten Resonance' is an album that is both physically and emotionally engaging the whole way through. The compositions are are extremely sectional and linear, they rely heavily on tension and release. Heavy use of dynamics, thick clouds of natural and electronic sound, and dense tonal harmonic beds help to expose these emotions. A man looks at himself and he can see the apathy in his own life and his apathy towards the end times. This is music for the end times.
Edition of 300: pro replicated compact discs housed in a deluxe full color digipak, shrink-wrapped.
$6.50ppd (USA/Canada)
$8.50ppd (World)
SEM-012 Bowed Metal Music - untitled c65
Peter Warren and Matt Samolis have been working with their modified 'steel cellos' since 1997. Bowed Metal is the name of their duo work dedicated to the study and performance of acoustic drone music created by bowing cymbals and tuned steel rods.
The steel cello is a remarkably resonant and sympathetic assemblage of cymbals and tuned steel rods that, once set into vibration, produces a huge variety of subtly shifting timbres and harmonic intervals. Rich in enharmonic overtones, the evocative music occasionally sounds like it has been electronically modified. First release in over a decade, we are extremely proud to have these guys on the roster. For fans of Organum and Robert Rutman.
Original recordings made in 1997-1998 recorded direct to stereo DAT with XY configured mics.
Edition of 125: pro-dubbed on black Type II High Bias cassettes with 2-panel jcard, silkscreened shells & shrink-wrapping.
Asher Thal-Nir has been releasing his own blend of minimal drone music for about 5 years on labels such as conv, leerraum [ ], mystery sea, And/Oar and his own promising Sourdine imprint - his recent collaborative work with jason Kahn, which received critical acclaim, exposes Asher's strengths as a collaborator and improviser, it's under the guise of 'composer' however where we see Asher's true light shine through.
In a time of one chord organ drones, and feel good ambient music, what Asher brings to the plate is most refreshing to say the least. These are not mediative drones, on the contrary - these two side long interpolations are rather uncomfortable; there is a definite claustrophobic feeling to the music, brought in part by the controlled usage of airplane engine hum, feedback and clever use of field recordings. Tension seeps in and out at just the right times, the saturated tape hiss is constant, on what feels like the soundtrack to your miserable daily nine to five. On the surface static and constant, upon closer inspection one can see the mood shifts and dynamics for what they really are - a horrifying window into the end.
Edition of 100: pro-dubbed on green Type II High Bias cassettes with 2-panel jcard, silkscreened shells & shrink-wrapping.
SEM-004 Stillbirth / Prurient - The Mirror of Purification 7" split
The first in a new series of split releases on Semata, we are proud to present The Mirror of Purification. Those expecting brutal no-future power electronics will not find it here; instead, you'll find a work that will non doubtingly confound and bewilder - we wouldn't want it any other way. Both sides thematically linked from months of communication, what we have here are two artists stepping out of their comfort zones.
The first vinyl release for Stillbirth (Perispirit, ex-Craniopagus) this material is the unfolding progression from the last Hospital and Jugular Forest tapes. Complex guitar work, tape manipulation, shortwave radios and clever synth leads give 'The View Untangled' an almost musique concrete feel at times - melodies occasionally piercing through the static and blown out amplifier fog. A highly unique voice and one to watch out for.
Prurient's 'Where Secrets are Guarded' brings forth new techniques in the Prurient sound. Melodic vocals mix in with pitch shifted dialogue, spiraling synth lines and what sounds like small metal objects being joggled about or computer keyboards being typed on frenetically. Harmonic shapes take form within the electro-acoustic mist underlining this exceptional text. A work that deems repeat listening.
Two innovative artists at the top of their game, paving the way - there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Edition of 500: grey vinyl cut at 45 RPM with printed labels - Housed in a pro printed gluepocket sleeve. Artwork by Dominick Fernow.
More known for his percussion work in avant-metal unit Ehnahre, his deconstructed approach to the drums in The Epicureans and his electronic work in noise/drone champions Perispirit, Zerovinteum is Ricardo Donoso's debut solo release.
An homage to The Marvelous City and its duplicity, the music, although bright eyed and hopeful simultaneously treads with a sinister undercurrent of desolation and longing.
The title track was generated primarily with an electric guitar, along with some tapes, contact mics and analog synths. Hot and sunny tonal passages infiltrate the murk of tape hiss and ambiguous guitar resonance only to get lost again in the bleak New England winter - the sexuality of Carnaval.
The B side 'Plate Fourteen', is an experiment in minimalism - amplified cymbals shift to form micro-tonal structures of a doom laced angelic drone - the yearning for home.
Edition of 300: black vinyl with printed labels housed in a proprinted fold-over sleeve with double sided 6x4 insert.
Self-Hate Index is Greg Kelley's 4th "proper" solo CD and his first since 2005's I Don't Want To Live Forever. If we count 4 limited edition CDRs, a one-sided LP, and a cassette, we have a small body of work to dig into over the past decade ranging from synthesizer explorations, a couple of guitar freakouts, musique concrete experiments, and some 4 track experiments using electric fans, contact mics and cheap keyboards.
But what of the trumpet? Isn't that the instrument he's supposed to play? Of all the above-mentioned recordings, 5 of them feature barely any trumpet at all and 2 of them chop up the recordings to the point of non-recognition (recorded on microcassette?!). This basically leaves 2000's Trumpet CD and 2005's Uncomfortable one-sided LP as the sole representatives of this trumpet player's trumpeting in all its vulgar nudity.
Enter Self-Hate Index. Recorded this Spring in a proper studio environment on a proper recording medium (yes, Pro Tools was used - like the real musicians), this is Kelley's first recording in some time that features real-time recordings of one person in a room playing an instrument. Like Trumpet, there is some manipulation of the recording medium, awkward placement of mics, close-micing, the leaving on of an air conditioner, etc. But unlike Trumpet, this may be the first solo recording of Kelley's to bridge the (perceived?) gaps between the quiet micro-worlds of nmperign, the blazing feedback of Heathen Shame and the edited constructs of some of the previous solo recordings. Purely acoustic tracks mix it up with amp & distortion pedal workouts and curious inquiries regarding mic placement. But in the end, we have one person, with a trumpet, banging his head against the wall of what music is and what it expects of him.
edition of 500: full color jewel case with 4-panel booklet
$12ppd (USA/Canada)
$12ppd (USA/Canada)
$6.50ppd (USA/Canada)
$6.50ppd (USA/Canada)
$8ppd (USA/Canada)
$7ppd (USA/Canada)
$12ppd (USA/Canada)