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News
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NEW RELEASES NOW AVAILABLE
Two new double CDs from Cluster and Hototogisu are now available. Plus, we have a few rare and long out of print LP titles, some of which have been ebaying for quite a bit, back in stock at normal prices in extremely limited quantities.
We've also just received a small shipment of clear vinyl for the JD Emmanuel Wizards LP.
Back in stock in LTD quantities:
Skull Defekts "The Temple" 2LP $20
Deceh "Deceh" LP $20
Bardo Pond "Gazing At Shila" LP $14.99
Moon Phantoms "Moon Phantoms" LP $14.99
Alumbrados "Monochord" LP $14.99
NHK "Live In Paris" LP $15
Astro "Live At Muryoku Muzen Temple" LP $14
Gareth Davis & Stephen R Smith "Westering" LP $14
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NEW RELEASES NOW AVAILABLE
New LPs are now shipping from Eleh, Bitchin Bajas, JD Emmanuel, Guano Padano as well as Jozef Van Wissem's Ex Patris on CD & a 2CD tribute to The New Blockaders including tracks from Wolf Eyes, Aaron Dilloway, Z'ev, Jim O'Rourke, Thurston Moore, Prurient & many more...
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AUGUST 15, 2010: IMPORTANT IN THE COURTYARD
ISSUE Project Room in collaboration with Important Records presents Master Musicians of Bukkake, Jozef Van Wissem, Duane Pitre, Helena Espvall + Fursaxa, Arborea, Kouhei Matsunaga, The New Monuments, Cave, Chord and Diane Cluck. (more.....)
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VARIOUS ARTISTS: We Are All One In The Sun. A Tribute To Robbie Basho
Lots of great reviews coming in for this recent Important title paying homage to Robbie Basho. Compiled by Buck Curran. Click the link above for info on the record and for links to various press we've collected.
Also, we've got a new Important tee just in time for the hot weather. Just click on the image to the left to navigate to the apparel pages.
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MAIL ORDER BACKUP CAUSED BY STEEL DRUM BAND
No, seriously.
Many of you are still waiting for May mail order which were announced at the end of the month. One or two of you might still be waiting for your April order as well. We have been handling an unusually large volume of orders for our recent releases. This is a good thing, of course, but not when paired with an employee departure, illness & over 80 hours of assembly work.
In the midst of all of this Conal, your friendly mail order serviceman, left Important to join a steel drum band. We are very excited for him and he has been replaced by Maurice who has worked part time for Important since 2002. Maurice adores the label as much as I do and you're going to start getting orders faster than you have in the past. Who knows, maybe we'll even get a dedicated mail order phone line so you can check in on your order.
So, things are changing here for the better. Maurice has been working tirelessly for the last week to get this huge volume of orders shipped and we're almost done. All of the orders we're processing now were placed in the last few days.
So, if you're still waiting on a package it will be there very soon and if it isn't just email me.
Calypso be damned.
Best,
John, Maurice & Important Records |
April 2010 Releases Now Available:
OCEAN "Pantheon Of The Lesser" 2LP+2 ltd 500
NADJA "Thaumogenesis" 2LP & CD ltd 1000
ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE "In O To Infinity" 2LP ltd 1000
ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE "In O To Infinity" 2LP ltd 1000
THE SKULL DEFEKTS "Skull Cm Von Hausswolff....." LP ltd 500
VA- We Are One, In The Sun: Tribute To Robbie Basho CD
HENRY JACOBS "Wide Weird World Of Henry Jacobs" CD/DVD
HENRY JACOBS "Around The World WIth Henry Jacobs" 2xCD
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I Is For Important : http://sidebar.asthmatickitty.com/archives/4046
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JOZEF VAN WISSEM on NPR's Spinning On Air
Spinning On Air, April 11, 2010, 8-9 pm, WNYC FM 93.9 and wnyc.org
Jozef van Wissem
Dutch composer and performer Jozef van Wissem builds music with the sonorities of his unusual instrument: a 24-string Baroque lute. The instrument is old-style, but the music is modern, drawing on minimalism and trance music as well as the lute's roots to conjure a timeless experience.
Jozef van Wissem joins host David Garland to talk about and perform his music in the WNYC Studio.
view photos of the session
http://www.flickr.com/photos/spinningonair/sets/72157623796846680/show/
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ELEH - LOCATION MOMENTUM CD (Touch TO:80)
Eleh has been an enigma since the first record under that name was released in 2006. In numbered editions with letterpressed sleeves, usually on Important Records from the U.S.A., these vinyl-only releases were evidently a labour of love and attention. Further recordings have been released on the labels Taiga and Touch, making 11 vinyl editions in all.
Eleh began as long ago as 1999 as an exploration of analog synthesis, emphasising low frequency oscillation and resonant acoustic phenomenae. Eleh highlights the physical presence of sound as it has been inspired by the physical world. There is also something ‘cathedral-like’ and cosmos-inducing in the sound built.
Following the recent 12” release, “Observations and Momentum”, Eleh has chosen to release the first digital recordings on Touch – 'Location Momentum' is a set of five new recordings which will be made openly available on CD.
"The stuff that Eleh sets in motion from whatever electronic sound generators he/she deploys represents a measured and methodical paring away of all that might appear superfluous, baroque and rococo. Each of the tracks here consists of just a handful and discrete (and discreet) but highly charged sound events that emerge, overlap, recede and reverberate at critical frequencies over extended durations. At certain crucial points this approach serves as a formula for opening a portal what David Toop has referred to as the dark void, that spectral realm magicked into being (or exposed by) the drone, in which audio apparitions and chimeras dance through smoke and mirrors, suggesting the existence of occult planes and dimensions, multiple other realities, worlds within worlds." (Tony Herrington in The Wire)
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Available now directly from Important for $13.99
Or from the TouchShop
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We're starting 2010 with a stellar release date consisting of a Mouthus/Bulbs split 12", Neuter River LP(Jan St Werner from Mouse On Mars) and 4 records featuring incredible work of Japan's Kouhei Matsunaga.
Over the course of 2 LPs and 2 CDs Kouhei shares collaborates with Pan Sonic's Mika Vainio and Autechre's Sean Booth. When you get into these records you start to hear the reasons why Kouhei keeps such quality company. He's work inventively spans the breadth of electronic sounds. Kouhe's quietly been around for a while now (his first record came out in 1998 on Mille Plateaux and he hasn't released more than a handful of collaborative releases since) but during this time he's been working hard and these 4 records give him the attention he deserves.
Pick up all 4 Kouhei records for $50 and get a free LP/Tote bag designed by Kouhei
IMPREC255 Mouthus/Bulbs split LP
IMPREC268 Neuter River LP
IMPREC280 Kouhei Matsunaga/Mika Vainio split LP
IMPREC281 Kouhei Matsunaga/Sean Booth/Mika Vainio collaborative CD
IMPREC282 Kouhei Matsunaga solo CD
IMPREC283 NHK Special LP
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44/44 & 66/66 2009 HOLIDAY SALE IS CLOSED
After 48 hours and tons of orders we've run out of discs allotted to our 44/66 sale. If you have already placed an order it will be filled.
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Alessandro Steffana has posted a video of the Guano Padano recording session with the renowned whistler of the Morricone soundtracks. Click here to view.
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Brion Gysin's Dreamchine:
A very small number of Dreamachines are available for order within North America. More information can be found here.
In the next year Important will be issuing Music For Dream Machine, a 3 cd set, as well as an accompanying booklet including Dreamachine overview,physiologial effects and notes on binaural beats, plans, Gysin chronology, Interviews & references.
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NEW OCTOBER TITLES ON IMPORTANT AVAILABLE NOW:
GUANO PADANO Self Titled CD $11.99
HOLY SONS Criminals Return CD $11.99
WOOLEY/LYTTON/GRUBBS Seven Storey Mountain CD $11.99
MERZBOW Bird Series Vol 10 CD $11.99
MOUNTAINHOOD Arts & Crafts Series Vol 10 7" $10
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ELEH/NANA APRIL JUN split LP AVAILABLE NOW
($3 shipping domestic/$7 Canada/Mexico)
North America only. Overseas orders should be directed to Touch who will make this available on Nov 2 for mailorder. Beyond their reserved mailorder copies it is sold out at the source.
Important has 100 copies to offer.
From Touch:
About 18 months ago, we were advised of some interesting activity online concerning the nom de bruit of Swedish artist Christofer Lämgren, Nana April Jun; we didn’t know it at the time, because the authorship was something of a mystery. We produced a CD together, The Ontology of Noise in Feb 2009 [Touch # Tone 37], in which one track, particularly, stood out as being perfect for a vinyl edition.
In the same timeframe, the series of releases by Eleh on Important Records attracted our attention. These homages to La Monte Young, Pauline Oliveros and Charlemagne Palestine, vinyl-only limited editions stunned us with their acuity and passion for detail... There was something other in the sound. Eleh, also, is an artist who prefers the work to speak for itself, and has other ideas about noise. The digital is questioned by a commitment to a working practice based around analogue tone-generators and letterpress printed covers. The Important Records/Taiga releases are now sought after with a passion by anyone who recognises something truly special occuring. On this new record, Eleh develops the waveforms that the Important Records series started
The split vinyl format is a great meeting point for this idea of digital persona and analogue privacy. The effect, we hope, is for the vinyl to represent a digital question... That this LP summons up a universal sound and an intimate sphere of operations... Which is of course a continuing dilemma. Here is a great opportunity to hear Eleh and Nana April Jun at their finest.
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NEW ON IMPORTANT & LPs BACK IN STOCK
We've got a brand new full length from Dominique Leone. Abstract Expression is his sophomore release following his heavily acclaimed self titled debut full length. There's a couple new tote bags, a super limited double sided Conifer t-shirt (they broke up so we won't be getting any more) and the following out of print titles are back in stock on LP thanks to a small return from one of our distributors:
SKULL DEFEKTS The Temple imprec235
ELEH/PAULINE OLIVEROS imprec206
CITAY Little Kingdom imprec139
HOTOTOGISU Pale Fatal Sister imprec210
OCEAN/CONIFER split imprec144
XBXRX Sounds imprec166
BEEQUEEN Sandancing Demos imprec186
DAN FRIEL Ghost Town imprec187
GRAILS Take Refuge In Clean Living imprec190
TOM CARTER Shots At Infinity 2 imprec203
CONIFER Crown Fire imprec209
TECUMSEH Avalanche & Inundation imprec211
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GIFT CERTIFICATES AVAILABLE
Ask and you shall receive. We'll ship these little guys anywhere in the world just for you. More info here.
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OM Conference Live handmade LP $20
Some of the records we received originally were defective and the factory was nice enough to replace them. So, we've got 200 copies on gold vinyl housed in screen printed jackets designed by David D'Andrea. Check out the tour poster he designed over at the Monolith Press website.
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Domestic & European Cave tour dates have been posted to the Important site and to Cave's myspace page.
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ELEH "Homage To The Sine Wave" NOW AVAILABLE $20
($3 shipping domestic/$7 Canada/Mexico/$12 overseas)
We'll include Sine Wave One for the first 30 mailorder customers for free. This is a signed 3 color print limited to 50 copies.
Exclusive to Important mailorder customers is Sine Wave Two which you can add to your order for $10 extra. Sine Wave Two is a 3 color screen print hand numbered to 50 and signed.
We have a limited amount of copies of Eleh's brand new Homage To The Sine Wave available for Important mailorder customers. Like Homage To The Square Wave these are extremely deluxe. The jackets are letterpressed onto 100% post-consumer heavy duty stock, records are 200 gram virgin vinyl & the screen printed inserts are printed by Neil Burke @ Monoroid.
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NEW RELEASES FOR JUNE 2009: RISIL CD/LP, ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE CD/LP, TONGUES OF MOUNT MERU & MERZBOW
There's a bunch of new titles up on the site including Risil (members of Prefuse 73, Savath & Savallas, Tortoise, Hella, Battles, School Of Seven Bells), Acid Mothers Temple, Merzbow & Tongues Of Mount Meru (members of Jazzkammer and Thorns)
We've also got a new record bag design by Jake Blanchard (he did the Risil art) and the last copies of the acclaimed Cave record are still in stock.
The summer is still young @ Important. Look for the long delayed Om & Ocean vinyl in the next month or two plus the first full length LP from Deceh, more Merzbow, Eliane Radigue and a whole lot more.
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Twitter has been an amazing way to get micro-news out to followers of Important Records. You can always check this news page for the "big stuff" but the details are being taken care of on Twitter. |
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MERZBOW BOX NEWS
We've just started shipping the boxes this month. When you receive your box it will not have the painting inside of it. We are shipping the paintings later this summer. It takes Masami a long time to make each painting. |
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MAY RELEASES & HAND MADE ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE LP
Cave CD/LP/7", Bardo Pond, Alasehir, Alumbrados, Moon Phantoms, Bardo Pond tote bags, IMPREC240 t-shirts.... All these things are available now. Plus, we have 20 screen printed copies of the most recent Acid Mothers Temple Glorify Astrological Martyrdom LP. The regular edition is nearly sold out and we had 20 extra LPs around. Included are some LP label "coasters." Click the image to see a larger version. $20 each while supplies last. |
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Since we started offering the Rega P1 last year we've sold over a hundred turntables to extremely excited customers. Now we're offering the P2, P3 & a range of Rega cartridges. The P2 and P3 have the option of coming fitted with Rega cartridges and the P2 comes in a host of colors. More info on our Rega page. |
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APRIL RELEASES & HUGE SPRING SALE
The April rains are pouring down as I type this and now April will pour killer Important back catalog titles out of your speakers. Click here to see the Spring 2009 sale list. Bigger and better than our huge Winter sale. Also, we'll be prepared this time and your sale orders will ship a lot faster.
Don't let the sale blind you from this months new records from Emily Jane White, Merzbow, Acid Mothers Temple, Holy Sons, Steven R Smith/Gareth Davis and Pick Up (Beequeen). |
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WAREHOUSE FIND: MERZBOW MINAZO VOL 2 LP w/ screen printed jackets $20
As you can imagine the Important warehouse is deep and dense and occasionally things surface that we'd totally forgotten about. Recently, while reorganizing, we found a box of 32 Merzbow Minazo Vol 2 LPs without jackets. image
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IMPORTANT ON TWITTER & NEW RELEASES FROM ELEH, SKULL DEFEKTS, ANDREA PARKINS, JOZEF VAN WISSEM, MERZBOW
Subscribe to get up to date news, happenings, ideas, sounds & observations from the Important Records think tank. http://www.twitter.com/imprec
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FEB 2009: NEW JAZZ CDS, ELEH SHIRT, HOLY SONS SHIRTS, NEW IMPORTANT HOODIE
Available now:
13th Assembly "(un)sentimental" CD
If early reviews are to be believed the 13th Assembly's critical praise means this record is going to have a lot of impact. Featuring Taylor Ho Bynum, Jessica Pavone, Mary Halvorson (you may have just read about her in a feature in The Wire) and Tomas Fujiwara.
Flaherty/Yeh/Kelley "New York Nuts & Boston Baked Beans" CD
Violinist/vocalist C Spencer Yeh & unrivaled saxophone elder-titan Paul Flaherty
team up without the assistance of acclaimed drummer Chris Corsano for the first time.
Along for the jamz is bonkers Boston trumpeteer Greg Kelley.
Merzbow "13 Japanese Birds Volume Two: Fukuro" CD
Part two in the thirteen volume series for Feb 2009 release. |
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WHERE DO RECORDS COME FROM?
Have you ever wondered where your favorite records are given life? Click the image to the left for an illuminating photograph of the Important office and warehouse (aka warebarn). |
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MERZBOW BIRD BOX & SUBSCRIPTION PRE-ORDERS
The Merzbow "13 Japanese Birds" 13 CD subscription & bamboo box set is now available for pre-order
ABOUT THE CD SERIES:
Merzbow's 13 Japanese Birds is a 13 month/13 CD set that begins January 2009 and ends February 2010. These are pressed in a limited edition of 1000 and once they are sold out they will not be repressed. This series was inspired by Olivier Messaien's Catalogue D'Oiseaux.
ABOUT THE BAMBOO BOX:
These are hand crafted, numbered, screen printed and constructed of organic imported Moso bamboo. The box holds all 13 cds and they are painstakingly crafted, one a day, by a Massachusetts craftsman. When your box is ready we will ship it to you along with your CD for the month. Boxes will ship in the chronological order in which they are purchased. We expect to ship about 30 a month. Click on the image to view the assembly/materials slide show.
ABOUT THE PAINTINGS:
With the purchase of a bamboo box you have the option of including an original acrylic on bamboo painting by Masami Akita (Merzbow). His work can be seen on the cover of the LP released via Important titled Minazo 2. It's a little known fact that Masami Akita studied painting at Tamagawa University in Japan and has continued to produce paintings. These paintings are not available without the purchase of a bamboo box.
** due to the time required to produce each box (& the future collector value of the boxes ) we reserve the right, if neccessary, to limit the number of boxes per order **
SUBSCRIPTION COST:
USA
13 CDs & Monthly shipping total: $170 (cds $10 each/shipping $3 each month)
w/ bamboo box: $240 (shipping cost of the box is included in the price of the box.)
box with painting on bamboo by Masami Akita: $270
CANADA
13 CDs & Monthly shipping total: $182 (cds $10 each/shipping $4 each month)
w/ bamboo box: $252 (shipping cost of the box is included in the price of the box.)
box with painting on bamboo by Masami Akita: $282
OVERSEAS
13 CDs & Monthly shipping total: $195 (cds $10 each/shipping $5 each month)
w/ bamboo box: $265 (shipping cost of the box is included in the price of the box.)
box with painting on bamboo by Masami Akita: $295
This works out to the CDs being $10 each. Boxes are $70 and a box with a painting is $100
Paypal email address is imprec at importantrecords dot com
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NEW IMPORTANT HOODIES $15.99
Important Records logo hoodies now in stock. |
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MERZBOW "13 Japanese Birds" 13 CD SERIES & DELUXE BAMBOO BOX
We will be offering a subscription opportunity for the upcoming Merzbow "13 Japanese Birds" series. This is a 13 month/13 record set that begins January 2009 and ends February 2010. We're still working out the details of the subscription and building prototype's for the bamboo box.
The bamboo boxes are hand made in Massachusetts out of organically grown Moso bamboo. The boxes hold all 13 cds with a handy slide lid. Click on the image of the lid to enlarge. More details soon.
Boxes will ship in the order that they are purchased. Due to the time required to hand build each box it could take up to 2 months to ship your box. Available boxes will ship when we ship you your cds. |
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GRAILS/SILVER APPLES TOUR SHIRTS
Now available on the apparel page
Coming soon:
Strings Of Consciousness & Angel (members of Mum and Pan Sonic) CD
LSD March "Under Milk Wood" CD
Anahita "Matricaria" CD
Merzbow "13 Japanese Birds Volume One" CD |
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IMPREC200 - THIS TAPE IS SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT LOVE
Eight years ago I started Important Records in a small rented house on the ocean in New Hampshire. At the time there were plans for a Daniel Johnston 7" and I remember thinking that if Important could just make it to ten records it would be a success. Here we are many years later releasing IMPREC200 - a free CD collecting tracks from the last 100 Important releases including Grails, Dan Friel, Rivulets, Alessandro Stefana, Chieko Mori, Larsen, XXL, Julia Kent, Kurt Weisman, Christina Kubisch, Piano Magic & many more. A splendid Important mix-tape. Available soon with all orders and at finer record shops in your neighborhood and online. |
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OCEAN "MONUMENT/FORK LASHING EYE" SPECIAL EDITION $30
Hand printed by Ocean's Reuben Little @ his 23rd Parallel Press in Portland Maine. This special edition includes a letterpressed band framing the foil stamped cover artwork as well as cloudy red/blue translucent vinyl. Only 100 of these were made and we've got the last 30. They sold out over 2 years ago direct from the band. Only the special edition had the cloudy vinyl. |
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LOGO GRID HOODIES DESIGNED by IMPORTANT
Check out the apparel page for a new hoodie design printed on black, red & maroon just in time for the cold weather.
And by the way, we're selling tons of these Rega P1's to very excited listeners....
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OCEAN "Pantheon Of The Lesser" CD/LP November 11, 2008
Finally after nearly 3 years of work and anticipation Ocean's Pantheon Of The Lesser will be released on November 11, 2008. Ocean's debut release Here Where Nothing Grows quickly became Important's highest selling record as Ocean crossed the country and the records received tremendous commercial praise. In all possible ways Pantheon is and will be a bigger record.
Click to see images, hear sounds and read words:
http://importantrecords.com/ocean_lesser/
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Christina Kubisch
Electrical Drawings
Christina Kubisch is one of the pioneers of sound art, with numerous sound installations, performances and compositions to her credit, along with an extensive body of accompanying material that actually forms the springboard for her work. Included are drawings, visual musical scores and text and image sketches from the last 35 years, most of which have never before been shown.Topics treated include architecture, acoustics, the composition process, electronic sound generation, electro-magnetic induction, observations on the listener’s behavior, studies on light phenomena in connection with acoustics and the »beauty« of the drawing itself as basis for translating an abstract idea into a three-dimensional sound installation. Kubisch received the German Sound Art Award in 2008.
Flexcover with dustjacket
23 x 27 cm
176 pages
148 color and 53 b/w ills.
German/English
ISBN 978-3-86828-013-5
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OM LIVE IN JAPAN CD/LP on Important & GRAILS BTP CD repress (finally!)
In an interview with Om at ATP Brooklyn Vegan has broken the news that Important will be releasing Om's Live In Japan CD/LP in mid Feb. Stay tuned for details.
In related news Grails Black Tar Prophecies CD is finally back in stock.
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BASS COMMUNION/PIG LP slideshow
This one should finally be available late next week along with the Coil/TNB/Vortex Campaign LP. While you wait please enjoy this slideshow of the beatiful jackets printed by Neil Burke at Monoroid.
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