Eliane Radigue 1932-2026It's difficult to imagine anyone more central to Important Records than Eliane Radigue.
Eliane Radigue
January 24, 1932 - February 24, 2026
There's hardly an artist more central to Important Records than Madame Eliane Radigue who, sadly and triumphantly, has died at 94 years old. This news was announced today by her family.
It was a dream to start working with Eliane 20 years ago and over those 20 years we worked together (with a lot of help from Emmanuel Holterbach and a few others) we managed to produce multiple CD's, CD sets & records of her unreleased work. These releases were widely acclaimed and it was a joy to see her ascend to the giant she's now known to be.
The shock of this loss is strong despite the fact that I had been preparing myself for this for years after the painful loss of Pauline Oliveros. Rather than say much at this time I'd like to direct you to an interview I gave on the topic of Eliane Radigue.
Eliane Radigue. There is no other. Even sonic giants are human after all.
"1970 was an important year in Eliane Radigue's musical life since it was the year just before she acquired her ARP 2500 synthesizer. Since 1967, she had been using the feedback as a material; feedback from two tape recorders reworked through intensive studio techniques: slowing down, alteration, superimposition, montage.
"In 1970, the last year she dedicated to feedback, several milestone pieces saw the light of day: Omnht, a wonderful sound installation for three out-of-phase tape loops and wall-mounted loudspeakers; the theoretical setting of Labyrinthe Sonore (eventually premiered at Mills College in 1998 in collaboration with Pauline Oliveros, Maggie Payne and William Winant, among others); Opus 17, one of her first compositions in fixed duration (according to Rhys Chatham, a decisive piece that would change his own compositional career); and Vice-Versa, etc…, which appears to be her very last feedback loop composition.
"Vice-Versa, etc… was conceived as a sound installation setting similar to S=a=b=a+b. A single magnetic tape can be played at any speed, a stereo tape of which allows three playings: left channel alone, right channel alone, left and right channels together. These different channels can be overlapped/crossed over as much as possible, at any speed. Thus the piece reveals itself in its whole dimension, its infinite grace..........
"Back to music after three years of silence.... On the suggestion of Robert Ashley, Douglas Dunn commissioned this piece from Eliane Radigue for choreography. Only the first part of Triptych was staged at the premiere at the Dancehall/Theatre of Nancy on February 27, 1978.
"Recorded in the composer's studio in Paris.
"After the premiere of Adnos I in San Francisco in 1974, a group of French students introduced Eliane Radigue to Tibetan Buddhism. When she returned to Paris, she began to explore this spirituality in depth, which slowed her musical production up until 1978. Triptych marks her return to composition, and draws its inspiration from 'the spirit of the fundamental elements,' water, air, fire, earth.... Eliane Radigue likes to add that this has often been useful to her in her moments of research and transitions...........
Before the greatest detachment.
At the limit of the frontier space of the unconscious - tuned waves - 'consonant things vibrate together.'
Where does the change happen? In the inner field of perception or the exterior reality of moving things in the course of becoming.
And time is no longer an obstacle, but the means by which the possible is achieved."
~ Eliane Radigue - June 20, 1973
Transamorem - Transmortem was premiered on March 9, 1974 at The Kitchen in NYC, where the music programmer at the time was Rhys Chatham - this was right before his guitar phase. During this period, Transamorem - Transmortem was presented along with other compositions by Eliane Radigue in a linear mode of listening, although the piece had originally been conceived, during its composition, as a sound installation. Of course, both modes of listening are possible, and each works marvelously in its own way........
Eliane Radigue's complete Opus 17 (1970), her finest and final work created using feedback, is contained on this double CD. With Opus 17 Radigue perfected her slow mixing technique with sublime results. Imperceptible transformations envelop the attentive listener who is confronted with an immensely physical experience. Time is suspended in powerfully poetic and artful ways as Radigue masterfully sculpts the physical matter of sound using feedback for the last time. Opus 17 is an absolutely essential masterpiece in the realm of early electro-acoustic/drone/minimalist composition.
On December 11, 1980 Eliane Radigue performed live on KPFA. Her full performance is included here, remastered, on two compact discs. Upon hearing these performances for the first time in many years Radigue declared them to be the best versions she'd ever heard.
Included are full in-studio performances of Chry-ptus and the world premiere of parts one and three of Tryptych.
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John Chowning Stria LP - clear or black NYZ PRN2_M15t Tape
Dr. John Chowning (b. 1934) is a pioneering computer musician, composer and professor who, in 1967, discovered the FM synthesis algorithm. This breakthrough in electronic music allowed for simple, yet rich timbres described as sounding "real." With this discovery, Chowning composed singular, dramatic electronic music and changed the timbre of music forever.
Chowning utilized the potential of computers to synthesize sounds according to programmed instructions. The composer's use of his own FM algorithms, digital synthesis with computers and the new compositional concepts offered by a programmable musical structure combine to create some of the most original and unique electronic music ever created.
NYZ (David Burraston) presents this collection of generative music pieces carefully extracted from a PreenFM2 gifted to him by Aphex Twin. PRN2_M15t is being released at the same time as an LP titled Stria from Dr. John Chowning who invented the original FM synthesis algorithms which were sold to Yamaha and used in the creation of the DX series of keyboards. An interview with Chowning, is available here.
David Burraston is an award winning artist/scientist working in the areas of technology and electronic music, operating Noyzelab as an independent art/science music studio since 1981. Numerous research publications include a 2006 PhD thesis Generative Music & Cellular Automata, which developed and applied fundamental new concepts from generative music practice to a key problem in complex systems theory.
Lose yourself in the circuitry of the original 1965 Buchla 100 with NYZ (Dave Burraston) as he utilizes Barbara Hero's Lambdoma tuning theories to create two slow, deeply layered, subconscious, organic and meditative compositions.
The Buchla 100 experimental session begins with a documentary recording of the noise generators. Something I find endlessly fascinating is listening to different noise sources, so I always feel compelled to record them. The remaining tracks are sequenced by my MANIAC Cellular Automata sequencer. First up are three little sequenced ditties that also incorporate the ARP 2600 modular interconnected to the Buchla 100. After this is an ultra-minimal setup using MANIAC and the mind-numbingly rare Waveform Synthesizer Model 132 module. As far as I'm aware this is the only one of these modules that Buchla ever built! A truly unique module where you have 32 pots that setup the output waveform, and an FM input as well.. The last two tracks are a Cellular Automata / FM crossmod oscillator stereo setup, lots of crunchy high pitched stuff with some deep bass notes thrown in too :]
This split release between ELEH and NYZ (David Burraston) is packaged in a heavy duty sleeve printed on both sides of the packaging and utilizing metallic inks. This is a first edition of 500 copies and a brand new full length from NYZ is being released at the same time via Important Records.
In 2015 ELEH used analog based FM sythesis to ring 100 gongs in honor of Harry Bertoia's 100th birthday. This print, based on the original sleeve design, features 100 gongs designed by John Brien, also in honor of Bertoia's 100th birthday.
24" x 24"
The first edition of gold on black sold out quickly. This 2nd edition of gold on white was hand printed by Neil Burke/Monoroid using a metallic shimmer gold ink.
Much needed restock of this ELEH design based on the cover art for 100 Gongs For Arieto. Printed by Neil Burke/Monoroid using a water based golden shimmer ink for a comfortable feel.
Grateful Dead / John Oswald - Grayfolded - 3LP - Black or Clear Vinyl
Grateful Dead / John Oswald - Grayfolded - 3 Cassette Set
Grayfolded - Phil Zone - Waves Shirt
Grayfolded Text Logo Sunglasses - Black Wayfarer
Dark Star Dark Roast by Sound Coffee
Available directly from Imprec or from the artist's Bandcamp Allison Graves is a 20 year old singer, songwriter and naturalist from New England who has created a powerful, breathy debut that sounds aged and well loved, like an old home, with dogs barking in the background and kids playing in the yard. Allison Graves' rich sense of melody and harmony underscores the depth of the work.
Written and recorded across six months and two coasts, with a secondhand guitar and a broken laptop, I Still Look For The Mountains draws inspiration from many wells including Adrianne Lenker and Bon Iver. As if Graves' debut was a long lost reissue from Joe Boyd's Witchseason catalog, this album is also reminiscent of Nick Drake and Vashti Bunyan. Highly recommended to Imprec fans of Kurt Weisman, Diane Cluck, Kimya Dawson, Asa Irons/Swaan Miller.
JAD FAIR 7" & Papercut
50 unassembled copies, leftover from the 2004 release are now available for sale and each copy includes an original 2004 papercut by Jad Fair.
"It's a keeper on all known levels." ~ The Wire
Pauline Oliveros "Accordion & Voice" Shirt
100% cotton shirt by Gildan Softstyle
Printed by Neil Burke @ Monoroid
Harry Bertoia "Diamond Chairs 1968" Shirt
This three color print is based on Massimo Vignelli's 1968 Bertoia design for Knoll Furniture
100% cotton shirt by Bella Canvas
Printed by Neil Burke @ Monoroid
Caterina Barbieri "Patterns Of Consciousness" 2LP Caterina Barbieri "Born Again In The Voltage" LP
Pauline Oliveros"The Well & The Gentle" 2LP Razen "Postcards From Hereafter" CD Gregory Kramer "Veils Of Transformation" CD
Eliane Radigue "11 Dec 1980" 2CD Wanderwelle "All Hands Bury The Cliffs At Sea" LP PITRELEH"s/t" CASS
Michael Ranta "Transits: Volume 1" 2CD Harry Bertoia"Mechanization 1 & 2" LP
Alina KalanceaLetters Never Sent -CD William Trevaskis Hopes & Theory - Tape Atsuko Hatano - Insulated Paradise - Tape Quintron/NYZ - Weather Music - Tape
Stuart Dempster "Underground Overlays From The Cistern Chapel" 2LP Alvin Lucier"One Arm Bandits" CD Jose Orozco Mora "Sucesiones" CASS
Pauline Oliveros "The Well & The Gentle" 2LP Stuart Dempster "Underground Overlays From The Cistern Chapel" 2LP
Silver Apples & Makoto Kawabata "Mirage" LP Zak Riles "Earthwave" CASS Zak Riles "S/T" CD
Niels Lyhne Lokkegaard & Quatuor Bozzini"Colliding Bubbles" CD Stephen Ruppenthal & Gary Weisberg "Strange Times" CD Anthony Vine & Gareth Davis "Fluorescent Standard" CASS
Meredith Young-Sowers
Agartha: Personal Meditation Music
7CD Box & Booklet
RIYL: Eliane Radigue, Pauline Oliveros, Eleh, Duane Pitre, La Monte Young, Eno, Larajji, Iasos
Available via Imprec.com and Imprec.Bandcamp.com. If you purchase directly from Imprec simply request a download and we'll reply with a link.
"This astounding body of almost entirely unknown electronic music is an absolute revelation and blows the lid off of countless preconceptions relating to the music of the New Age movement, as it drenches the ear in truly engrossing sounds.”Sound Ohm
"It's easy to get distracted by the circumstances surrounding the release but the music remains engaging, immersive and even wise."Uncut
Agartha, Personal Meditation Music is a 7 CD boxed set, originally released on cassette in 1986, at the height of New Age, as an aid for meditation and alignment. Bringing to mind 20th century composers like Eliane Radigue, La Monte Young or even Brian Eno's Shutov Assembly, the time-stopping, enveloping, electronic music contained in this series sounds eerily modern, mysterious and moving. Characterized by deep analog drones, rising overtones, floating frequencies surfing on sine-waves and intervals with mystic modulation, this is truly moving, vibrational music.
In Agartha, the individual notes of each Harmonic Triad proceed in a fashion that is neither improvisational nor chance-based, nor is it generative. Instead the music flows outward as if being transmitted— or channeled — from a place outside human consciousness. There is a profound sense of cosmic depth expanding ever outward as the music fills the listener with waves of emotion, and a palpable somatic response is felt, although there are subtle differences with each unique Triad.
Each disc is individually packaged in original replica sleeves and housed in a heavy dutycardboard clamshell box. Digitized and remastered by Jessica Thompson. Liner notes include extensive instructions for use from the original text and an essay by library music scholar David Hollander.
The original edition of Agartha, Personal Meditation Music, featured one track 30 minute track per tape repeated on both sides. Subsequent editions had unique Side B tracks on all but two of the 7 volumes. We have included all tracks in this boxed set.
On this new LP Harry Bertoia shows why he may have been the first industrial musician. Bertoia often referred to his sound sculptures as a "collaboration with industry" and on this new LP Bertoia is intentionally creating heavy, rhythmic music he described as "mechanized," "mechanical" and "factory like."
This first edition is packaged in a full color sleeve with metallic inks. Mastered by Tom Eaton at Sounds & Substance.(continue)
Michael Ranta
Transits: Volume 1
2CD
American percussionist and composer Michael Ranta is a legendary figure who has worked with some of the most significant names of 20th century music but despite this and impressive body of work of his own, he has remained an obscure figure.
Important Records and is pleased to present Transits: Volume 1 the first in a series of releases by composer/percussionist Sarah Hennies documenting never before heard chamber works mostly composed in the 1970s while Ranta was living in Taiwan.
Based overseas since the late 60s, Ranta is known primarily as a percussionist who worked closely with Harry Partch, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Helmut Lachenmann, Toru Takemitsu and Jean-Claude Éloy but is also an accomplished artist himself with a vast body of work spanning improvisation, electronic music, and composition... (continue)
BOUSQUET
Florescere
LP
** Quintessential Imprec LP steeped in the sounds of the label **
Florescere by Jonathan Bousquet is a powerful debut exploring a tapestry of electronic textures, compositional structures, and themes. Produced and designed by John Brien, mastered by Tom Eaton at Sound & Substance, screen printed by Neil Burke at Monoroid - this is a quintessential Imprec release.Hand numbered edition of 300.
Japan's long running masters of psych/kosmische jamming return to Important Records for a vinyl outing featuring beloved original member Cotton Casino. This first edition is pressed in an edition of 500 copies.
Lee Ranaldo and Rob Menard have been friends and collaborators for years and this split cassette release on Important Records'Cassauna label amplifies their unique musical personalities and sonic compatibility. Both artists contributed over 30 minutes of music making this a pair of mini-albums on one tape.
For six voices, electromagnetic waves and electronics.
Commissioned by nyMusikk Trondheim 2022
100 copies are available on undyed natural color vinyl.
Christina Kubisch’s Stromsänger finds this legendary sound artist at the top of her game mixing electromagnetic wave recordings with a score for six voices, creating powerful results.
Stromsänger is based on a collaboration with the Norwegian vocal ensemble Trondheim Voices and on a special experience while researching and recording electromagnetic waves in the city of Trondheim (more.....).
Stephen Ruppenthal & Gary R. Weisberg
Strange Times
CD
Strange Times is a virtuosic realization of contemporary electroacoustic soundscapes composed and performed by Stephen Ruppenthal and Gary R. Weisberg. With masterful employment of electro-acoustic techniques and tools, including the original 70's Buchla Music Easel Ruppenthal used in the Electric Weasel Ensemble, these two artist create an essential, psychedelic, electro-acoustic experience.
Niels Lyhne Lokkegaard & Quatuor Bozzini
Colliding Bubbles
CD
Colliding Bubbles (surface tension and release) is a composition for string quartet and harmonica quartet, meaning that Quatuor Bozzini is playing string instruments while playing harmonicas.
Mirage is a cosmic collaboration between the Silver Apples and Makoto Kawabata of Japan's Acid Mothers Temple. Packaged in a deluxe jacket printed with metallic silver ink.
Dragonfly's First Flight, taking up the full side A, features Simeon Coxe and Kawabata Makoto jamming over familiar Silver Apples hypnotic rhythms. Fans of both groups will delight in the interplay between Simeon's keyboard and Makoto's drone guitar feedback soloing.
Side B ranges from free-form freakouts to ambient poetry readings by Simeon with Japanese translation spoken by Makoto. Future Reminiscence, which closes side B, is a song that sounds like a long-lost Silver Apples track.
Mirage is dedicated to the memory of Simeone Coxe who died September 8, 2020 while this project was being assembled.
Stuart Dempster
Underground Overlays From The Cistern Chapel
2LP
"This is where you have been forever and will always be forever."
Stuart Dempster, speaking about what it feels like to be in a cistern where time seems to stop.
Stuart Dempster created Underground Overlays From The Cistern Chapel in the same cistern where the legendary Deep Listening album was recorded. Reverberating with powerful, deep tones, this double LP is intended as a companion to the acclaimed Oliveros/Dempster/Panaiotis album Deep Listening.
Underground Overlays From The Cistern Chapel is one of the deepest drone albums ever recorded. Nine trombones, didjeridu and Tibetan bells fill the massive two million gallon cistern with dense sonic reverberations that are both haunting and healing.
Packaged in a heavy duty paper sleeve printed with metallic gold ink to match the Deep Listening design.
Pauline Oliveros
The Well & The Gentle
2LP
The Well & The Gentle, two of the major works of Pauline Oliveros, are presented here in a first time reissue on double vinyl in a gatefold sleeve with extensive liner notes.
If Oliveros had followed a more conventional path she may have, all social obstacles aside, been considered among the major composers of her time. However, Oliveros approached composition in a more egalitarian manner. She wrote music for musicians to interact with or, in the composers words, she wished to create "an inclusive and interdependent and unfolding world of relationships."
Oliveros' propensity towards inclusion is part of what makes this work so remarkably distinctive. The Well & The Gentleis carefully crafted, allowing performers to participate in the creation of the work. Players are asked to collaborate, focus, react and make imaginative choices. Only then can the performers "pass through stages of awakening to the possibilities inherent in making music, working together, leading to the essence of what can shape musical impulses and individual freedom simultaneously."
Unlike most major composers of the era, Oliveros' work focuses on collaboration and improvisation. For Oliveros, the processes involved in making music are as fundamental as the music itself. Oliveros creates, as Arthur Sabatini put it so eloquently in the liner notes,
"A world in which sound and the practices entailed in making music merge; become, at once, source and atmosphere, energy and essence, presence and dynamic."
Coil
Ape Of Naples
2LP
Red splatter vinyl version now available
** NEW **
5 panel embroidered hat (black)
** NEW **
5 panel embroidered hat (grey)
Black hats back in stock
PITRELEH
Pitreleh
Tape
** 2nd printing in blue cassette shells now available **
Cassette reissue of 2013's acclaimed Duane Pitre & ELEH duo recordings. The combination of these two distinct artists creates powerful music with a singular vision....
Alina Kalancea
Letters Never Sent
CD
Highly recommended to fans of Alessandro Cortini, Caterina Barbieri, Shasta Cults
"A slow building beauty of electronic soundscapes."
The Vinyl District
Alina Kalancea is a sonic alchemist who can warp and weave electronic signals into complex tapestries of synthesized analog timbre. These transportive environments were recorded using the artist's personal collection of historic Buchla electronic music instruments including Allen Strange's expanded Music Easel.
Letters Never Sent, Alina Kalancea's second full length for Imprec follows 2021's double LP titled Impedance and is being released at the same time as a new cassette titled Alchemy.
Alessandro Cortini
Forse 1-3
Shirt box
Limited edition reprint available in all sizes.
- 3 color screen printed t-shirts
- Packaged in a screen printed Forse box
Caterina Barbieri
Patterns Of Consciousness
2LP
yellow & black vinyl
2023 Repress
Caterina Barbieri
Born Again In The Voltage
LP
yellow or black vinyl
2023 Repress
Gregory Kramer
Veils Of Transformation 1972 - 1980
CD / Tape
Veils Of Transformation 1972 - 1980 is a collection of the earliest works of Gregory Kramer, one of the 20th century masters of textural electronic music. This collection is available on CD and cassette with liner notes from Gregory Kramer and Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, who first brought this fascinating work to the attention of Important Records.
“Greg is one of the pioneers of electronic music and these pieces are unique opportunities to discover how intricate and dynamic early synthesizers are.” Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith
Kramer developed a musical language focused on continuous transformation of timbre, yielding a continuity of attention. This musical language, formed of timbral change, is a compelling aesthetic in its own right and a source of meditative experience. The four works on this album share a deep sense of order derived not from organizing pitches or rhythms, but from the evolution of timbre itself.
Gregory Kramer (b. 1952) is a pioneering electronic composer, inventor, researcher, teacher and author. In 1975 he co-founded Electronic Musicmobile, a synthesizer ensemble later renamed Electronic Musicmobile, a series of synthesizer concerts in New York from which he formed the Electronic Art Ensemble, a highly regarded all electronic quartet. His work extended to developing synthesizers and related equipment. Kramer also co-founded the not-for-profit arts organization Harvestworks in New York City. He is recognized as the founding figure of the intensely cross-disciplinary field of data sonification. Since 1980, Kramer teaches Buddhist meditation.
Alessandro Cortini
Forse 1
2LP
Ltd. repress including 100 copies on red splatter vinyl
Alessandro Cortini
Forse 1
Print
4 color screen print. Designed, signed, numbered and titled by John Brien.
Measures: 24" x 24"
Edition: 50
Alessandro Cortini
Forse 3
2LP
Edition of 250 on RED VINYL.
2015 factory mis-press on red vinyl instead of purple vinyl.
Alessandro Cortini
Forse 1-4
4CD
Packaged in matte coated digipacks housed in a heavy duty tip-on style outer box.
2021 digital master by Stephan Mathieu.
Composed using only an original Buchla Music Easel, an incredibly rare electronic music instrument designed by Don Buchla, the Forse series features long, romantic compositions full of voluminous, bombastic tones and dripping with thick timbre.
Tod Dockstader
Aerial 2
2LP
Tod Dockstader'sAerial series, an electronic/drone masterpiece, is cherished among fans of the artist's work and this first volume is available in a double LP edition of 500 copies with 100 copies on clear vinyl exclusively for Imprec mailorder customers......
Harry Bertoia
Sonambient Tape Archive Logo
T-Shirt
Metallic shimmer print on a soft, slightly fitted shirt.
* 2022 Edition *
- 11 CD set adapted from 12 CD edition. All tracks included.
- Clamshell style box w/ single pocket disc sleeves similar to the Bertoia box
*2022 Edition Signed*
- Signed edition available. We will include a jewel box insert signed by Pauline from the original 2012 edition
* 2012 Edition Signed *
- 7 original boxes are still available signed by Pauline
ELEH Art Edition: Floating Frequencies/Intuitive Synthesis 1 - 3
3CD
Packaged in a metal box that includes 3 CDs and signed/numbered letterpress prints corresponding to each CD.
The first 15 copies are housed in a silver slip-sleeve and the remaining 35 are packaged in a gold slip-sleeve.
- Ltd. edition of 50
- Letterpress O-card sleeve
- 3 Letterpress prints corresponding to each CD. These prints are signed, titled and numbered
