Below you'll find pre-orders for an incredible batch of new releases from Imprec including the first ever LP reissuing of one of the major works of Pauline Oliveros: The Well & The Gentle.
You'll also notice that we're now offering "Supporter Packs." A supporter pack is an opportunity to support what we do here and get everything we're releasing.
As usual there are sample streams on the product pages and via Imprec Soundcloud.
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."
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.
Razen Postcards From Hereafter CD
“an intoxicating sauce of stark and tripped out ritual music... which conspires to keep listeners in a semi-permanent trance state” Julian Cope / Head Heritage
a heady brew of deep listening music that is almost medieval in mood and wholly reverential in technique” Edwin Pouncey / Wire Magazine
“Razen push the drone potential of medieval instruments like hurdy gurdy as well as shawm and recorders... into realms of total sensory overload” David Keenan / Volcanic Tongue
Razen's Postcards From Hereafter was recorded using a 17th century organ tuned at 398 Hz (meantone) in a Belgian cathedral erected in 1305. The ensemble explored, with rich results, the organ's strict and limiting tuning with an arrangement that included hurdy gurdy, recorders, chalumeau, violone and nyckelharpa.
The pieces on Postcards From Hereafter explore the crossover between this world and the next with improvised spiritual, religious music.
Brussels-based ensemble Razen use the unique timbral and drone characteristics of their chosen string and wind instruments in improvised, instinctive music that mixes pre-industrial, spectral and ethnic dreamtones with trance and medieval mysticism.
The group includes Brecht Ameel and Kim Delcour as well as Pieter Lenaerts on 5-string double bass and sarangi, Paul Garriau on hurdy-gurdy, David Poltrock on ondes-Marthenot, Berlinde Deman on serpent and Jean-Philippe Poncin on chalumeau and bass clarinet.
RIYL: Olivier Messiaen, Sun Ra, Popol Vuh
SUPPORTER PACK 2: March 2023 NEW RELEASES
"For the better part of two decades, the American imprint, Important Records, has occupied a crucial place in the landscape of ambitious and forward-thinking contemporary sound, offering a home to an incredibly diverse range of artists." Sound Ohm
Help support Imprec and Imprec artists with our support packs. Get all of our new releases and help us continue our search for unheard sounds past, present and future.
Pauline OliverosThe Well & The Gentle 2LP - clear or black RazenPostcards From Hereafter - CD Gregory KramerVeils Of Transformation 1972-1980 - CD or Tape
SUPPORTER PACK 1: February 2023 NEW RELEASES
"For the better part of two decades, the American imprint, Important Records, has occupied a crucial place in the landscape of ambitious and forward-thinking contemporary sound, offering a home to an incredibly diverse range of artists." Sound Ohm
Help support Imprec and Imprec artists with our support packs. Get all of our new releases and help us continue our search for unheard sounds past, present and future.
Wanderwelle All Hands Bury The Cliffs At Sea LP - clear or black PITRELEHPitreleh - Tape Eliane Radigue11 Dec 1980 - 2CD
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
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 Bundle CD, Shirt, Polaroid Pack, CDr
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Tony Rolando Shared System Tape
Shared System is Tony Rolando’s 2021 entry into the Make Noise Shared System series of releases that included Richard Devine, Alessandro Cortini, Robert AA Lowe, Keith Fullerton Whitman and Surachai. Despite the limited instrumentation, This Shared System cassette is another collection of Tony Rolando’s work that is familiar yet unique, catchy and hard to stop listening to.....
Larsen & Alessandro Sciaraffa Golden Leaf CD
Golden Leaf is the 19th album by the Italian experimental band Larsen here exploring free-form sounds and spatial dynamics by real-time composing and creating a sonic and social environment. It also confirms the love and interest the band has for collaborations as ongoing dialogues and portals to new paths......
Harry Bertoia Hints Of Things To Come CD
In 1970 Harry Bertoia had been developing his sonic sculptures for over ten years. He had only been composing/recording for two years and the four long pieces chosen for this CD find him starting to arrive at the sonic forms he had been searching for.
Hints Of Things To Come is one of the most unique and melodic pieces discovered so far in the Bertoia tape archive. In this piece we hear him slowly create and articulate a musical riff. Bertoia builds this phrase patiently until the composition reaches an intense climax where the riff is played heavily and distinctly......
Harry Bertoia No Date Tapes 2 Tape
No Date Tapes 2 is the second official cassette release from Harry Bertoia's tape archive and, like the first cassette, these recordings were chosen from a small collection of tapes in Bertoia's archive missing recording dates.
This cassette is packaged in a metallic shell and produced on super-ferrotape for incredible analog sound. First printing of 100 copies.
Harry Bertoia Sonambient Tape Archive Logo T-Shirt
Metallic shimmer print on a soft, slightly fitted shirt.
Harry Bertoia business card CDr
This 5 minute edit is excerpted from a recording Bertoia made on 8/29/71 and it has not been released in any other manner.
Bertoia's notes on this date indicate that he had recently brought new sculptures into the barn where he recorded his orchestra of Sonambient sculptures. Recordings of this type are rare and fascinating because they indicate moments of discovery when a new piece was examined to see if it could play along with the other sculptures in the barn.
These are the last of our Bertoia business card CDRs and they will not be reproduced. This one has different audio from the earlier business card CDRs. ......
Harry Bertoia Polaroids photo collection
- Letterpressed o-card slip sleeve & stand - Roughly 30 prints of Polaroids, taken by Harry Bertoia, of an assortment of his sculptures including many Sonambient pieces - display stand and letterpressed slip-sleeve are also included.
Due to the tedious nature of making these by hand it's unlikely there will be any more of these produced.
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Pauline Oliveros Accordion & Voice T-Shirts
Restocked in S, M, L, XL, XXL
* 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
Pauline Oliveros Accordion & Voice LP Pauline Oliveros' Accordion & Voice is available on LP for the first time since it was originally released in 1982. Cut at Golden and pressed at RTI for maximum fidelity. Clear vinyl limited to 200 copies exclusively for Imprec mailorder. (MORE)
Pauline Oliveros The Wanderer LP
Pauline Oliveros' Accordion & Voice is available on LP for the first time since it was originally released in 1982. Cut at Golden and pressed at RTI for maximum fidelity. Clear vinyl limited to 200 copies exclusively for Imprec mailorder. (MORE)
Pauline Oliveros Stuart Dempster Panaotis
Deep Listening
3rd Pressing Foggy clear vinyl exclusively for IMPREC mailorder
"Best new reissue. 9.2" Pitchfork
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Deep Listening, we offer you the definitive double LP combining the classic, complete original 1989 release with selected tracks from the Deep Listening Band’s 1991 album The Readymade Boomerang.
This elegant double LP is packaged in a gatefold sleeve with original and updated recollections from the performers, the recording engineer and a mesostic from John Cage, to which these recordings are inextricably linked.
Recorded in a cistern, this double LP reverberates with brilliant sonic clarity and masterfully improvised performances combining live electronics, vocals, trombone and accordion. Deep Listening is a classic in the fields of improvisation, minimalism, ambient/drone and modern classical.
Listen with attentiveness, listen while lying down, listen with headphones - as recording engineer Al Swanson entices the listener to become a virtual performer in selecting the many different ways to perceive these phenomenal tracks. Whatever you do, listen deeply.
Pauline Oliveros Stuart Dempster Panaotis
Deep Listening
CD & Tape now available
"Best new reissue. 9.2" Pitchfork
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Deep Listening, we offer you the definitive double LP combining the classic, complete original 1989 release with selected tracks from the Deep Listening Band’s 1991 album The Readymade Boomerang.
This elegant double LP is packaged in a gatefold sleeve with original and updated recollections from the performers, the recording engineer and a mesostic from John Cage, to which these recordings are inextricably linked.
Recorded in a cistern, this double LP reverberates with brilliant sonic clarity and masterfully improvised performances combining live electronics, vocals, trombone and accordion. Deep Listening is a classic in the fields of improvisation, minimalism, ambient/drone and modern classical.
Listen with attentiveness, listen while lying down, listen with headphones - as recording engineer Al Swanson entices the listener to become a virtual performer in selecting the many different ways to perceive these phenomenal tracks. Whatever you do, listen deeply.
Pauline Oliveros & Guy Klucevsek Sounding / Way Tape
The Sounding / Way concept was simple. Each artist would write a piece for two accordions and then they would perform them together. Thus, side A contains Guy Klucevsek's Tremolo No. 6 performed by Guy Klucevsek and Pauline Oliveros. Side B contains Pauline's composition The Tuning Meditation, also performed by both Pauline and Guy.
This is the second release in an on-going effort between Important Records and the Pauline Oliveros Trust to maintain and promote the music, philosophy and legacy of Pauline Oliveros.
Pauline Oliveros Tara's Room Tape
This exact replica cassette (originally released in 1987) features two long sides of infinite depth and sensitivity. Oliveros performs these pieces using a Just Intonation accordion and her Expanded Instrument System in order to bend both time and pitch.
"Both pieces are intended to aid the listener in times of spiritual change, but are just fine for 'everyday' use as well. Highly recommended." Charles S. Russell, Ear Magazine
IMPREC hats & sunglasses now available for the brighter months of the year.
IMPREC label group sticker pack!
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
ELEH Home Age 2 CD
Limited edition of 85 numbered copies packaged in a screen printed sleeve. Each package is unique.
ELEH Snoweight LP/CD/Tape
Recorded during two days of extreme weather, ELEH's Snoweight conveys the mesmerizing force of a winter storm with sonic realism and romanticism.
These two new compositions evoke both warm security and wild, blanketing intensity in ways that are both emotionally arresting and time stopping.
LP is packaged in a hand numbered edition of 305 copies with heavy duty jacket screen printed by Neil Burke at Monoroid.
ELEH / NYZ split 12"
LAST COPIES
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.
ELEH: This side is possibly the artist's most complicated electronic composition. It navigates myriad timbral, tuning and temporal processes while winding itself to completion. It was composed/constructed over a period of months in early 2019.
NYZ: Two crunchy microtonal drone meditations in mono, using techniques of digital FM and hybrid analogue/digital modular synthesis. FM60P::fbk1#03 is from a number of sessions recorded on my very battered SY99 recorded from 2013 to 2014. As the name suggests, this particular session revolved around using feedback in the FM algorithm. EML DRNPi was recorded as part of the 2015 Plum Island Sessions where I had a host of synths on loan from John Brien at Important Records. For this recording I used the EML ElectroComp 101 and my own 4 voice digital microtonal oscillator running a Lambdoma Matrix to make a hybrid analogue/digital system.
ELEH Polarizer PRE-ORDER BUNDLE:
You receive: 1. Polarizer I Tape 2. Polarizer II Tape 3. Polarizer t-shirt
Eleh's Polarizer is a two part series focused on the instant, simultaneous reality of the analog world.
Polarizer I and II can be played/mixed simultaneously.
ELEH 100 Gongs For Arieto
J D Emmanuel 3 Tape / Shirt bundle
Fans of deep, dark, minimal & meditative new age music on cassette will be chuffed to learn that IMPREC is reissuing three of J D Emmanuel's earliest releases on tape.
Rain Forest Music (1981), Wizards (1982) and Trance Formations 1: Ancient Minimal Meditations (1986) are all available for the first time in many years... (more)
JD Emmanuel Trance-Formations I: Ancient Minimal Meditations Tape
"If you have been wondering what all the fuss about 'private press new age' is, go here to find out. Your mind shall be subtly blown...." ~ Fader
Trance-Formations 1: Ancient Minimal Meditations (1986) was originally composed between 1981-1985 and released in 1986. These long, extended cyclic pieces were composed and recorded using delayed analog synthesizers and Emmanuel credits the inspiration of Terry Riley and Steve Reich for sending him in this musical direction. The release of this album followed his acclaimed Wizards (1982).
Recorded using three Sequential Circuits Pro-One synthesizers and a Yamaha SK-20 Poly-Synthesizer. 100% analog sound. Mastered by JD Emmanuel. (more)
J D Emmanuel Rain Forest Music Tape
On Rain Forest Music (1981)J D Emmanuel builds gentle, short cycles of notes into floating clouds of sound, mostly improvising around single chords. The "minimalism" in his music lies not in repetitive patterns that barely change but more in the spare arrangements that focus the listener while also taking them on a sonic journey.
A tape loop technique used by Brian Eno, Terry Riley, Robert Fripp (and likely many more) called Continuous Looping was used in the creation of this album and a loop diagram is included in the packaging.
"I originally designed this music to enhance relaxation and meditation, as a background for massage or for counseling to help a person relax and open up faster. Dr. Robert Pennington, PhD., a clinical psychologist and friend, was very interested in the idea of using music in this way. So he used the Rain Forest Music in his counseling sessions as background and noticed a marked difference in the quality of the patient's sessions. He continues to use this and similar music as a background for his counseling." J D Emmanuel. (more)
J D Emmanuel Wizards Tape
Fans of deep, dark, minimal & meditative new age music on cassette will be chuffed to learn that IMPREC is reissuing three of J D Emmanuel's earliest releases on tape. Rain Forest Music (1981), Wizards (1982) and Trance Formations 1: Ancient Minimal Meditations (1986) are all available for the first time in many years.
A bundle including a Wizards t-shirt and all 3 tapes is available exclusively for IMPREC mailorder.
"If you have been wondering what all the fuss about 'private press new age' is, go here to find out. Your mind shall be subtly blown...." ~ Fader
"Wizards was my first deep trance electronic music album. This album was inspired by Terry Riley , one of the earliest people ever to compose and perform long, extended, cyclic pieces in the electronic format. This music was composed and performed in '81 and '82.
"I consider this album my best work.
"The instrumentation is three Sequential Circuits PRO-1s, Crumar Traveler One and a Yamaha SK-20, all real time recording to a Teac 4-track reel-to-reel. I mixed the four tracks to a Teac A-7300 Master 2-Track tape recorder using a DeltaLab DL-2 to create the delay track. In 2006, I used a Tascam 34B 4-track to remaster all my master tapes to digital master of 196 KHz/24 bit .WAV files using Soundforge 8 software.
"The original Wizards LP was published in the Summer of 1982 with the black and white cover. The initial tracks had not names and were call Movements I-V. Several years later sales had slowed down, in an effort to improve sales we tried the color cover and I created names for each track, as shown on the samples." ~ J.D. Emmanuel (more)
J D Emmanuel Wizards LP
This record can be found in our Barn Sale collection. We're clearing space and raising money for renovations to our ware-barn by selling leftover records.
When we released Wizards in 2010 we were shorted covers by the factory and ended up with lots of leftovers. We have clear copies and black copies available in the following quantities:
Black vinyl/white sleeve: 50 copies Black vinyl/yellow sleeve: 9 copies Clear vinyl: 10 copies (more)
Wanderwelle Black Clouds Above The Bows CD
The Amsterdam-based collective Wanderwelle presents the first entry of their trilogy for Imprec, dedicated to telling the story of the climate crisis and its effects on coastal areas around the globe.
Black Clouds Above The Bows consists of electro-acoustic threnodies for an environment at risk. Wailing odes express and examine the destructive activity of intensifying storm systems that are enhanced by the climate crisis. First-hand experiences with coastal damage and meetings with local maritime experts on the subject inspired the artists to compose this album. (more)
Tony Rolando Breakin' Is A Memory LP
"A source of sonic emotional relief and enlightenment" Alessandro Cortini
Tony Rolando's debut "Breakin' Is A Memory" could be your soundtrack. This worldbuilding album of electronic music leaves room for the listener to make big personal connections through subtly complex music resembling a sonic mobile which, as it spins, reveals new forms and colors..
100 copies on clear vinyl exclusively for Imprec mailorder
Merzbow Merzbeat CD Material Action 2 N-A-M CD Merzbow Arcane Device CD
3 new CD's - Merzbeat 20th Anniversary - Material Action 2 N-A-M - only previously available in the Merzbox - Merzbow Arcane Device collaboration
These titles are also available in a Merzbundle including a Merzbeat t-shirt
Alessandro Cortini Forse 3 2LP
In 2015 we ordered purple vinyl but received red vinyl. This mis-press has been sitting in our warehouse and now we need the space. Your purchase will help support the renovation of the first floor of our ware-barn. Thank you!
Pin & Patch Set $10
- 1" limited edition V1.1 IMPREC Logo pin - enamel/metal
- 3" x 2.5" embroidered IMPREC patch
- Also available individually
Pin & Patch Set $8
- 1" x 1 3/4" limited edition Sonambient logo pin with Harry Bertoia's golden rods.
- 3" x 4.5" metallic Sonambient sticker included
Lambda Sond Waglands 1921 Tape
*Last copies of Lambda Sond's Chronological Compression II tape are avilable here * Shirt/tape bundle available
Lost amongst the overhyped hustle of the holidays is this quiet, intense and deeply personal new collection from Lambda Sond. Available on digital compact disc and analog cassette tape.
Waglands 1921 exists in a vacuum somewhere between Pauline Oliveros, spiritual jazz, analog drone & heavy new age. Unlike the first two Lambda Sond cassettes on the Cassauna label, (2011’s Chronological Compression & 2014’s Chronological Compression II) this work is characterized by unrepeated melodies, unforgettably understated harmonies, timeless drones and feelings made musical.
This poetic music contains vignettes of emotion, memory and melancholy that are as uplifting, hopeful and grounding as a deep breath. Waglands 1921 exists at the verge of inspiration where hesitation is withheld and truths are articulated once but felt forever.
Waglands 1921 is Lambda Sond’s first recording for IMPREC and their self titled album will be available in 2022.
Brian Thummler’s Ghost Birds combines piano improvisations and noise to create a uniquely compelling musical duality. These 7 pieces, selected by John Brien, are inspired by a lifetime of experience, art & poetry as well as Cage, Merzbow, Satie, Sun Ra.
Ghost Birds takes flight with experimental simplicity. The interaction of noise and piano, a synergy that also pushes and pulls, creates profound musical dimensions available to the attentive listener.
Ghost Birds was recorded in a studio and on an enclosed porch where an old, noisy out of tune upright grand piano lives. Traffic sounds seep in and plant themselves in the recording while the human soul empties into the piano.
Who is Brian Thummler? To quote the poet Lu Yu, he is “the old man who does as he pleases.”
This first edition of Ghost Birds is packaged in a handmade, letterpresses O card slip sleeve.
Printed on a soft, slightly fitted black t-shirt with water based white ink.
Alina Kalancea Impedance 2LP/CD
Alina Kalancea's essential new album Impedance is highly recommended to fans of Eleh, Caterina Barbieri, Shasta Cults, Jessica Ekomane, Eliane Radigue and Alessandro Cortini.
Impedance, an entirely instrumental album spanning 4 sides, contains powerful rhythmic sequences, heart beating frequencies and hypnotic loops that are paradoxically encapsulated in carefully crafted compositions which are full of secret passages and hidden doors. Kalancea's work creates ungraspable sonic experiences, which take us over, immersing us in powerful and mind altering soundscapes.
There's no quick payoff on Impedance. This is the sound of new, patient electronic music full of depth and substance.
Harry Bertoia Clear Sounds/Perfetta LP
Download available via Bandcamp
Gold vinyl was originally released as part of our Kickstarter campaign to digitize Bertoia's archive for a pledge of $100. For a limited time it's marked down to $50.
Harry Bertoia Experimental 1 / Mechanical 1 LP
This LP is cut straight from the original master tapes maintaining a straight analog signal path. The CD version contains a bonus track called Long Sounds....... (continued on website)
LIMITED RESTOCK - After years out of print we have a handfull of Eliane Radigue's crucial Vice Versa etc...Transamorem - Transmortem back in stock on CD.
