Off - Record label: May 2011

Saturday, 21 May 2011

ODG003 : Philippe Petit & Friends / Silk-Screened

Cover art by Kiekebiche

ODG003 : Philippe Petit & Friends / Silk Screened

"Silk-screened” documents another direction from French artist Philippe Petit, whose aim ito always surprise his listeners by releasing records which follow each other while not sounding the same.

For now he is taking us in a cinematic world of dense mixtures of acoustic instrumentation and digital filtering, swaying and unfolding in ways that blend together jazz, modern classical and post rock.

Pursuing a tradition he had started with his "Reciprocess" project, given away with The Wire magazine issue 301, Petit is benefiting from the talent of many of his friends-musicians without whom nothing could be possible and emphasising that according to him music is a collaborative affair.

Philippe Petit: see bio here.

philippe petit: processed acoustics/field recordings + electronics + turntables & glass manipulations + percussions

PHILIPPE PETIT is interested in soundtracks; even if he creates original music he'd rather be introduced as a "musical travel agent" than a composer.

PETIT uses a computer to build up electronic layers, process acoustic and field recordings. To second the machine he likes to move various glasses, or percussive objects, and take advantage of vinyl material to fondle released sounds.

A journalist for various magazines and radio as well as a musical activist, PETIT has celebrated his 25th year of sharing his musical passions as the man behind the cult labels Pandemonium Rdz. and BiP_HOp.

PETIT has assembled what people call a dream-team of collaborators, working with: Lydia Lunch, Foetus, Kumo, Scott McCloud (Girls Against Boys), Cosey Fanni Tutti, My Brightest Diamond, Sybarite, Pantaleimon, Graham Lewis (Wire), Barry Adamson, Scanner, Mira Calix, Kammerflimmer Kollektief, Guapo, Leafcutter John, Simon Fisher Turner, Justin Broadrick and many more...

Aside his solo works, PETIT is active in Strings Of Consciousness, does a duo with Lydia Lunch, and his collab with James Johnston (Gallon Drunk/Bad Seeds/Faust) just appeared on Dirter Promotions.

In the works are collabs with Eugene Robinson (Oxbow), Murcof, Simon Fisher Turner, Vultures and "Cordophony" gathering music whose sound comes from the vibrations of one or several strings.

www.bip-hop.com

Pandemonium records

COLLABORATORS:

Back in the late 70s Graham Massey founded Biting Tongues, one of the first No-Wave act on Factory Records. He then became famous for his Techno experiments under the 808 State moniker, which led him to second Bjork on her “Post” album. Graham is still one of the most renowned and active musicians in Manchester and works in Homelife and Toolshed.

http://www.myspace.com/grahammassey

Hervé Vincenti plays a Fender Jazzmaster and Gretsch guitar, developing graceful notes and varied melodies. Aside co-founding (w/ Philippe Petit) Strings Of Consciousness, Hervé was also a member of Foern-Set and had played with Luc Ferrari.

Jérome Paressant is a French musician who started playing Rock and then moved on to improv and Jazz territories, founded Abraxas Projekt and Downtao

http://jeromeparessant.com/

Andy Diagram paints soundscapes with his trumpet. He blends all sorts of colourful sounds, and then mixes them in his “echo chambers” along with the help of a harmonizer. In the last 20 years Andy's unique style has allowed him to join many bands such as Pere Ubu, Dislocation Dance, Pale Fountains, James, Honkies, Frank Black (Pixies), and permanently Spaceheads, and David Thomas' 2 Pale Boys.

http://www.myspace.com/adiagram

http://www.spaceheads.co.uk/

Oldman was created by Charles-Eric Charrier after his years touring and producing albums in the duo Man. Oldman has collaborated with many artists and musicians including Mathias Delplanque (LENA), Rob Mazurek, ABRAXAS PROJEKT, The Clogs... On this recording he is helped by Cyril Secq who is also known as Astrid and releases on Arbouse, Rémi Bellin and Ronan Benoit.

http://www.myspace.com/charlescoldman

Bela Emerson is an innovative and prolific performer of electric cello, electronics, tenor viol and musical saw, who creates passionate, evocative and spontaneous music of no definable genre. As well as collaborating widely with other musicians and artists, she has four solo releases (vinyl/CD); the latest one, "Hespera" appeared on BiP_HOp to great acclaim.

http://www.belaemerson.com

Belgian vibraphonist Els Vandeweyer began her musical career on the classical path, focusing on contemporary pieces and her works have been documented on various recordings.

http://www.myspace.com/elsvandeweyer

Perceval Bellone plays saxophone, clarinet and Tibetan bowls. He has studied electro-acoustic music, been active in improv scenes and managed to find a style both very personal and physical. He is an active member of Strings Of Consciousness.

http://www.myspace.com/percevalbellone

Raphaelle Rinaudo plays the harp, combing and messing up her strings cautiously knitting melodies that she later distorts by pulling the chords. The atmosphere thus carefully woven, cannot but convene the repressed temptation of the sirens’ song… Raphaelle also plays in the Pierre-Yves Macé ensemble whose albums have been released via Tzadik & Sub Rosa + is an active member of Strings Of Consciousness

It's been more than 25 years since Ulrike Haage had started the first European women's Jazz Orchester REICHLICH WEIBLICH and since then her piano has graced countless recordings.

http://www.myspace.com/ulrikehaage

Track listing:

01) The neon woman: Graham Massey: clarinet bass / Hervé Vincenti: guitar

02) Abraxas: Jérome Paressant: soprano + bass clarinets / guitar / electronics

03) A swirling mix of dystopia: Andy Diagram: trumpet / Charles-Eric Charrier : bass / Remi Bellin: guitar / Cyril Secq: guitar / Ronan Benoit: drums

04) Blossoming krokus: Bela Emerson: cello / Els Vandeweyer: vibraphone / Perceval Bellone: saxophone / Hervé Vincenti: oscillatin' bass

05) A swirling mix of utopia: Graham Massey: clarinet bass / Charles-Eric Charrier : bass / Remi Bellin: guitar / Cyril Secq: guitar / Ronan Benoit: drums

06) Do not follow your own shadow...: Raphaelle Rinaudeo: electric harp / Ulrike Haage: piano / Perceval Bellone: saxophone / Hervé Vincenti: oscillatin' bass + guitar

07) ... Beyond the mist: Raphaelle Rinaudeo: electric harp / Ulrike Haage: piano / Perceval Bellone: clarinet

ODG002 : Rob(U)Rang / Vol.1

Cover art by Kiekebiche

ODG002 : Rob(U)Rang - Vol.1

A 52 min track of cosmic electronic voodoo trance krautrock! This track was composed and produced by Gabriel Séverin (Babils, Gamial Trio, Jardin D'usure, Joint Between Ultraphonist, The,Joint Between, The, Logatomistes, Moonsanto, Silk Saw, Tremolo Dual, Tricot Trio,Ultraphonist, Uncotones: Discogs bio here).
He was then joined by Alinovsky (drums, mixing): Discogs bio here) and Gilles Mortiaux (Guitars: Discogs bio here).

Track listing:

1) Naka no Kami

ODG001 : Nervous Lovers / Corpses for the Discodawn

2009 SEES ANOTHER EXCLUSIVE DIGITAL ONLY SERIES:

The obvious reason to start a digital only series is to give a lot of people quick access to new and adventurous music - worldwide and without the usual time a physical release takes in production, planning, pressing and mailing, while also considering the fact that not everywhere in the world a good record shop supporting that type of music is available. The digital only series furthermore concentrates on home studio projects which might probably not tour. It will have complementary releases to physical releases, meaning bonus tracks or unreleased tracks that will not be on a physical release, but will only be on the digital one. Some of the music might eventually find a place on a physical cd, but as a single, Ep, or mini album.

sister + brother = musicmachine. the whole thing started in august 2004 due to blahblahblah and we both said tralalalala and then blahblahblah for some more trulalalala and then we finally discovered that via chachachacha that there could be blublablubla in a certain way to emphasize the structural/emotional fucking blahblahblah: "WHY DO WE KEEP ON SINGING THE SAME SONGS OVER AND OVER AGAIN?"

note: talent doesn´t grow in a garage or live inside your favourite drug or inside your new pants and surely your degenerated look-a-like friends are not a big source of inspiration either. get a life. grab you chance. do it. work for it. try hard. at least some geek will listen to you - in guatemala or on the orkney islands. have your 15 sec. of fame and die - you human moth.

all music written, arranged and produced by daniel vujanic (GEMA)

performed by NERVOUS LOVERS:

mariana vujanic: vocals.

daniel vujanic: guitars, bass, electronics, synths, percussion, piano,

found sounds, sampling, programming and vocals.

with special guests:

mike michal: vocals on "accidental erasure" and "parallel bedrooms"

heiner stilz: horns/reeds

goran palavestric: additional field recording on "escape to the swamp lodge"

emerald nutz: vocals on "rum pump theme"

kerstin griesshaber: vocals on "slumbaleph (dub)"

recorded, mixed and sequenced by daniel vujanic at the carcastlelab and

at the eparkII. more additional recordings from the highway to hell,

the rosenstrasse and the truemmermoloch, commited to hard-disk

by daniel vujanic/NERVOUS LOVERS. last but not least, niko lazarakopoulos

gets credit for recording some of the vocals at his studio landebahn.

a heartfelt "merci/hvala/dankeschoen/thank you" goes out to: our family, our friends, our guests, fidel and Alain Lefebvre.

"every point is light..."

Tracks listing:

1) at the witchdoctor ´s tourist-office

2) corpses for the discodawn

3) the long wait (forever)

4) accidental erasure? total devastation!

5) circuit breakers (droid version)

6) the splits

7) rum pump theme

8) parallel bedrooms

9) drainage communiqué

10) as long as the new credits pay the old debths

11) dumb cheerleader anthem

12) escape to the swamp lodge

13) slumbaleph (dub)

14) savagery & instruments

And on Bandcamp:

Sunday, 8 May 2011

ORT002-OUI023 : Giovanni Di Domenico - Arve Henriksen - Tatsuhisa Yamamoto / Clinamen

Cover art by Kiekebiche

ORT002-OUI023 : Giovanni Di Domenico - Arve Henriksen - Tatsuhisa Yamamoto / Clinamen

Arve Henriksen : Trumpet, Voice

Giovanni Di Domenico : Piano, Fender Rhodes, Electronics

Tatsuhisa Yamamoto : Drums, Percussions

Pianist/composer Giovanni Di Domenico formed this trio because of the extremely special quality of the sound he wanted to achieve within a musical group, and the choice of the musicians involved in it is extremely related to that special quality.

Clinamen, in ancient roman philosopher Lucretius’s ‘De Rerum Natura’, is the magic force that makes an atom to change direction during it’s fall and thus be able to hit other atoms and ‘create’ Energy and Life.It’s not a law, it happens by ‘chance’…

This new exploratory musical unit takes inspiration from Lucretius’s theory to create melodies and sound scapes, to play with the inner and most special matter of the “sound” of each and all of the 3 members. Di Domenico’s open compositions will be integrated by Henriksen’s and Yamamoto’s extreme transparent approach to their instrument, making them breath and have an extra special quality.

Giovanni Di Domenico :

Giovanni Di Domenico was born in Rome and since his birth has been

traveling and playing music.

This brought him to perform all over the world in very different contextes

and musical genres, from modern jazz to free improvisation and

experimental pop, collaborating with very many different musicians. Among

them are: Arve Henriksen, Akira Sakata, Jim O'Rourke, Fred Lomberg-

Holm, Tatsuya Nakamura, Tatsuhisa Yamamoto, Alexandra Grimal, Joao

Lobo, Toshimaru Nakamura.....just to name few.

He has released many albums under his name and in collaborations with

others.

His travels and music are not going to stop.....

Arve Henriksen :

Born in 1968 in Norway, he has since worked and played with all kind of musicians all over the world, from the typical Jazz scene and sound of ECM to synth pop of David Sylvian to rock band like Motorpsycho. He is most well know for his solo and Supersilent albums on Rune Grammofon.

Tatsuhisa Yamamoto:

Born on Oct 25, 1982, in Yamaguchi, Japan. Tatsuhisa is a pure acoustic drummer who plays primarily improvised music.

He has also collaborated with artists such as Otomo Yoshihide, Jim O'Rourke, Sachiko M, Seiichi Yamamoto (ex Boredoms), Keiji Haino, Makoto Kawabata(AcidMotherTemple)…

Recently he has been performing regularly with Jim O'Rourke, who started to play music again after seeing Tatsuhisa playing live.

Track listing :

1) Hyrje

2) Aide

3) Silence is Twice as Fast BackwardS

4) Nakizuni

5) Mask That Eats Water

6) Vatos

7) Idiot Glee

8) Aether Talk (for Joao)

9) Fanno il Deserto e lo chiamano Pace

10) Clinamen

Arve Henriksen

Giovanni Di Domenico

Tatsuhisa Yamamoto

Itunes, Spotify, etc.:

https://bfan.link/clinamen

And on Bandcamp:

OBX001 : The CK Theory

OBX001 : P.V.Presents / The CK Theory

As Pierre is producing, discovering or playing with so many bands and as he was coming every two weeks with something new for Off label boss Alain to listen to, he suggested him to direct an exclusive serie where he could share all this music with the rest of the world, and not only him.
This time, he came with 4 different projects almost at the same time.
It seemed then quite logical to issue a box with those releases as they had the signature, the producing, the composing or the love of the mentor of the series !

Pierre Vervloesem is born in 1964 and has never stopped playing bass or guitar since he is 17.
His masters are Zappa, Adrian Belew and Robert Fripp, and you can definitively hear their influences here and there on all the albums that he has recorded.He is always saying that he doesn’t like jazz though there is evidently touches of it everywhere. He is a huge fan of John Barry (he did an entire album of improbable covers : ‘Plays John Barry’) Stravinsky, PIL, Godley&Creme, XTC, This heat, Fantomas and Perez Prado.

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ORT001 : Caca /Sketches of Pain ( in OBX001 or available separately)

Caca is the new band of Pierre Vervloesem.
This new megalo delirious adventure is based on second degree, starting by the name of the band which, quoting Pierre, has nothing to do with scatology.
Here, he renews his taste for big formations like he did with X-Legged Saly or still does with Flat Earth Society.
With Caca, he signs a very interesting parody of Jazz working with two noisy quartets.
The first one being guitar, bass, drums and keyboard while the second being alto, tenor, baritone and bass saxes.
The composing is without concession, like a rock, sometime out of tune, but ultimately ultra melodic and reaching at times some of the best John Barry ambiances.
Most of the musicians on the album (and live) are coming from the Jazz scene, which is also kind of fun for Pierre.
The music is an heritage from the New-york scene from the 70-80ties but has an instant modern echo which makes you want to move your frets on it!

Track listing :

1 : Twist

2 : Brajil

3 : Abracadabra

4 : Sweet

5 : Wobbling

6 : Exposé

7 : Nancy

8 : Strav

9 : Zgrol

10 : Jelly

11 : Koyaanisqaqatsi

Bonus tracks Bandcamp release only:
12: Dick Dogs

And in Bandcamp:

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OPV003 : Codswallop / Grotesque ( in OBX001 or available separately)

Codswallop is the new concept of Pierre Vervloesem.

He wanted to record an album of songs for a change.

He spended a week composing the music and the basic trame of the voices, then

recorded the album with the help of faithful friends: Gilles Mortiaux on guitar, bass and

vocals, Didier Fontaine on drums and Joris Caluwaerts (Zita Swoon) on keyboards.

He then asked Richard Belgium to write the words and to sing on the album.

Richard is a singer and stage performer living in Belgium with Belgian and British

nationalities. He sings in French or English with equal sensuality and has been

performing since 1979 in many musical projects.

The music is a mixture of power pop, heavy rock and fun!

A bit like the Monty Pythons were singing on the Red Hot Chili Peppers 's music!

A review (in Dutch) from Holland:

"Het tweede album in de box is van Codswallop, wat iets als “onzin” in een Engels dialect betekent. Pierre Vervloesem bevindt zich hier in goed gezelschap van drummer Didier Fontaine (A Group), gitarist/bassist Gilles Mortiaux, toetsenist Joris Caluwaerts (Zita Swoon) en zanger Richard Belgium. Richard is al sinds eind jaren 70 actief en heeft ontzettend veel verschillende muziek gemaakt. Pierre wil met dit nieuwe project meer songgerichte muziek maken. Op hun cd Grotesque maken ze een uiterst interessante dwarsdoorsnede van de wave uit de jaren tachtig, jazz muziek, avant-garde, noise en pop. De donkere stem van Richard roept associaties op met Nick Cave, Front 242, Mike Patton en zelfs Joy Division. De energieke en alsmaar variërende muziek er omheen laveert tussen de genoemde genres en doet denken aan zowel de Talking Heads, PIL, This Heat, Tuxedomoon en The Birthday Party als Uz Jsme Doma, Red Hot Chili Peppers en dEUS (luister maar eens naar “Dread Deus Rictus”). Ook hier getuigt een sample van schreeuwende apen al van een hoop humor. De muziek is in de basis best duister, maar wordt door de heerlijk opzwepende percussie en levendige muziek nooit echt somber. De groep brengt een geweldige en bovenal eigenzinnige mix van uiteenlopende energieke muziekstukken. Het beklijvende geheel kruipt al snel diep onder je huid om niet snel meer los te laten. Wederom een voltreffer!"

Track listing :

1 : Brain la la losers

2 : Chapeau bas

3 : Codswallop

4 : Diehard Dummies

5 : Dread deus rictus

6 : French Paradox

7 : Get laid in Tubize tonight

8 : Swine cellar

9 : Gospel grievance guidance

10 : Fat Freddy
Bonus track Bandcamp only release:
11: Tendance 2014 (bonus track)

And in Bandcamp:

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OPV004 : The Claude Zac Ensemble / SSSHHHTTTTT ( in OBX001 or available separately)

Everything started as a joke when Claude Zac mailed some demos to Pierre Vervloesem.

Pierre loved what he heard instantly and proposed to Claude to record his music properly

in his Fiasco studio.

Claude then left Belgium for Chili where he worked for a year and had time to think over

to theses recorded songs.

Back to Brussels, he definitively wanted to perform live and hired Didier Fontaine on

drums. The later introduced him to the talented Eric Dory (guitars), Laurent Stelleman

(guitars) and Gilles Mortiaux (bass).

The dream of Claude to have an instrumental band with three guitars, a bass and a drum

became then a reality.

They started playing amazing live shows with a mixture of rockabilly/punk/rock frenzy:

four boys in a line fronting a 'muppet show' like drummer!

Being a proper band now, they went to re record all the songs.

The result is a 17 tracks album of Michel Magne meets The Residents meet some of the

best surf music and film music!

The album was recorded, produced, mixed and mastered by Pierre Vervloesem who's

happily presenting them in his P.V.Presents series.

Track listing :

1 : Subtract

2 : Casamance

3 : Cloques

4 : Bronze

5 : Hell of a night

6 : Fortuitous Hymn

7 : Rubella beach

8 : Italian bikers

9 : Ironmogerie

10 : Save me from Aldi

11 : Lovely life

12 : Les vacances de Mr. Ribot

13 : Dano the dum

14 : The taxi drive

15 : Shoelace

16 : Unauspicious Move

17 : Volkswagner

And on Bandcamp:

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OPV005 : John Koenig / John Koenig ( in OBX001 or available separately)

John Koenig (born April 13, 1950 in Budapest Hungary), is a composer and conductor

from a family of musicians. His father, Teodor Koenig was a pianist and a conductor while

his mother was a writer and composer.

After having been awarded first prizes for violin and composition at the National

Conservatory of Budapest, he arrived in Brussels in 1969 and continued his studies at

the Conservatoire de Bruxelles. From 1974, he made a number of international tours as

a concert violinist and began to devote himself more to composing.

In 1978, he received his first commission to write the soundtrack of Julien Landeau's film

" Voyage sidéral". John Koenig has since composed more than one hundred scores for

feature films and TV series, most of them never ever showed as they were all

unsuccessful or directly became cult movies.

As he signed a contract with a Hungarian label which made bankrupt in the mid 90ties,

most of his music is now impossible to find.

Since the mid 70ties, Pierre Vervloesem became a huge fan of his work and succeeded

in February 2010 to find a copy of one of his most famous score that was composed in

1999.

It was commissioned by the NASA for a feature documentary, but ultimately and like

most of his other scores, was replaced by the music of another composer.

It is a privilege for the label to finally give the place that John Koenig deserves and to

give people all over the world the chance to discover his fantastic music.

Pierre Vervloesem is happily presenting him in his P.V. Presents series.

Track listing

1: Walkathon

2: Africans on the moon

3: To drive a carrot

4: Gallbladder

5: Zinc wheels

6: Simple rites

7: War games

8: Funambulism

9: Rubber life

And in Bandcamp: