raised by small animals

zoltan korda - jungle book - 1942
(unidentified small animal)

visions obscurcies

ingenting kollektiva's fragments of night
now available from boomkat

**amazing album from this mysterious collective - an absolute must if you're into the haxan cloak, kreng, or indeed anything on the miasmah label. limited edition of 545 copies housed in gatefold jacket, includes a download code redeemable from the label** inspired and long-in-the-making side of dark, brooding neo-classical meditations housed in a gorgeous gatefold sleeve. ingenting kollktiva is comprised of tarrl lightowler, and matthew swiezynski, and was made as a homage to the films of ingmar bergman and sven nykvist - particularly their quality of light, sound, and atmosphere. 'fragments of night' is also a direct response to a number of recordings from 1969 - miles davis & teo macero's 'in a silent way' & 'bitches brew', and vashti bunyan's 'just another diamond day', to name just a few - and was recorded at the lightowler's barn during a christmas rainstorm in 2009. the result is a rich tapestry of sounds played out with bells, bowed tibetan prayer bowl, cello, field recordings, guitars, harmonium, nightingale device, portable 78 record player, psaltery, tenor sax and shakuhachi flute, later edited at studio oiseaux invisibles to create a stunning, haunting arrangement of sounds you never quite get the measure of. the recordings' sense of space is just astonishing and meticulously crafted, bringing to mind the darkened visions of the haxan cloak, infused with an unstable quality which means you never quite know where the recordings will take you next...

bordell et bordel

götz spielmann - revanche - 2008

classic drone series
sound, sound design, music in film




ending sound montage (birds, weather, etc)

bernhard bamberger - supervising sound editor
alexander koller - sound re-recording mixer
alexandra löwy - sound editor
max bauer - foley artist
normann büttner - foley recordist
heinz ebner - sound

chute d'eau - quand les rivières sont alimentées par la fonte des neiges

which he distorted by decorating with images (waterfall film)
(when the rivers are fed by the snowmelt)
(watch in a very dark space, as large as possible)

2012 version with refined images and sound, to be released soon with other films as ib006

which he distorted by decorating with images

matthew swiezynski - which he distorted by decorating with images (2007/2012)

mounds of shadows loomed here and there in the darkness

extremely lovely and beguiling release from the ingenting kollektiva, a quartet of apparently like-minded souls based in california and north carolina who have, for their debut long-player, crafted two slowly enveloping fog-drenched and lichen-covered aural landscapes. the liner notes to the album state that the collective's name is taken as an homage to director ingmar bergman and his longtime cinematographer, sven nykvist, and indeed the music here is evocative of one of bergman's beloved magic lanterns -- FULL OF SHADOWS AND FLICKERING AMBER HUES, GENTLY CYCLICAL REFRAINS REDOLENT OF HALF-FORGOTTEN MEMORIES. there's a long list of instruments and sounds that went into making this tapestry (bells, harmonium, old 78rpm classical records, etc.), but used and processed in a way that seems to completely de-familiarize them -- IMAGES ERASED TO FADED OUTLINES. it's possible that i'm the ideal listener for this album, as two of the collective's members have for several years run one of my favorite blogs on the internet, the art of memory, an impressively rich catalog of film stills and music recommendations whose tastes and interests nearly mirror that of my own, and which any of our customers should check out if they haven't. their unerring taste on the aforementioned blog is reflected here in the packaging for this album, a gorgeous gatefold LP featuring the photography of collective member tarrl lightowler. one of the best looking and sounding albums of the year so far for me, very highly recommended.
*digital download coupon comes with record* [mk] (released 2012)

~ michael klausman / other music

(title - madame bovary)
(images - en route to glühwein and spätzle at the neue gallerie)

l'union du percepteur et perçue

john cage at crown point press

where r=ryoanji

eninka 28

earth

- earth - extra-capsular extraction - sub pop records - 1991
- earth - earth 2 - special low frequency version - sub pop records - 1993
- earth - phase 3: thrones and dominions - sub pop records - 1995
- earth - sunn amps and smashed guitars live - blast first - 1995
- earth - pentastar: in the style of demons - sub pop records - 1996
- earth - hex; or printing in the infernal method - southern lord - 2005
- earth - legacy of dissolution - southern lord - 2005
- earth - hibernaculum - southern lord - 2007
- earth - live europe 2006 - southern lord - 2007
- earth - the bees made honey in the lion's skull - southern lord - 2008
- earth - "radio live" 2007-2008 - southern lord - 2008/2009
- earth - angels of darkness, demons of light i - southern lord - 2011
- earth - angels of darkness, demons of light ii - southern lord - 2012

plus rouge que le feu d'enfer

matthew swiezynski - forthcoming red camera film
to be released on oiseaux invisibles 2012

take me out tonight, take me anywhere, i don't care, i don't care, i don't care (forthcoming red camera film on invisible birds)

(forthcoming red camera film)

take me out tonight
where there's music and there's people
and they're young and alive

driving in your car
i never never want to go home
because i haven't got one anymore

take me out tonight
because i want to see people
and i want to see life

driving in your car
oh please don't drop me home
because it's not my home, it's their home
and i'm welcome no more

and if a double-decker bus
crashes in to us
to die by your side
is such a heavenly way to die
and if a ten ton truck
kills the both of us
to die by your side
well the pleasure, the privilege is mine

take me out tonight
take me anywhere, i don't care
i don't care, i don't care
and in the darkened underpass
i thought oh god, my chance has come at last
but then a strange fear gripped me
and i just couldn't ask

take me out tonight
oh take me anywhere, i don't care
i don't care, i don't care

driving in your car
i never never want to go home
because i haven't got one
no, i haven't got one

and if a double-decker bus
crashes in to us
to die by your side
is such a heavenly way to die
and if a ten ton truck
kills the both of us
to die by your side
well the pleasure, the privilege is mine

there is a light that never goes out
there is a light that never goes out
there is a light that never goes out
there is a light that never goes out
there is a light that never goes out
there is a light that never goes out
there is a light that never goes out
there is a light that never goes out

(many red films in progress by t. lightowler and m. swiezynski)

(access to the red camera was due to an hungarian-polish grant in the name of the great sexagenarian horn historian sir reginald frederick morley pegge)

haunting and haunted

ib004

'ingenting' translates from swedish as 'nothing', and this american collective draw inspiration from the cinematic master of nihilism, ingmar bergman, on their beautiful debut fragments of night. the two sprawling tracks dislocate the source material of guitar, bowls, psaltery, saxophone and field recordings through an organic crosshatching of delay and loop techniques. sombre melodies and sodden textures emerge out of their droning psychedelic improvisations as a sensible take on variation and repetition, coming to a comparatively violent climax at the end of side B with an abrasive arpeggio of tremolo-clipping violin scrapes. even with this crashing conclusion, the 'nothingness' which speaks through the recordings is not an existential hammer declaring the death of god, but RATHER SUBLTE AND POIGNANT EXPOSITION ON LONELINESS.

~ jim haynes (the wire - outer limits - march 2012)

*******

ingenting is swedish for 'nothing,' and this american collective (half living in california, the other in north carolina) pays homage to all of the varied meanings that ingmar bergman ascribes to the state of 'nothingness.' this certainly entails all of the dark and heavy aspects of bergman's nihilism and the long pregnant silences that are sporadically interrupted by dialogue; but they also dig into bergman's films finding poetry in such banal phrases as "i want nothing to eat." around this conceptual framework, ingenting kollektiva recorded their first album in "direct response to music recorded or released in 1969" from which they announce something akin to the nurse with wound list, with entries including holger czukay, amon duul, ornette coleman pentangle, king crimson, alan silva, etc. none of those artists mentioned seem to offer the construction of ingenting colletiva's darkly kaleidoscopic abstractions and acoustically driven drones; but the ghosts of those sounds certainly haunt the grooves of this record.

the two long-form pieces of fragments of night allude to more contemporary practitioners of the avant-drone, especially mirror, thuja, zoviet*france, and taj mahal travellers (to throw things somewhat near the 1969 year-zero mark). the instruments of the collective's choosing include harmonium, cello, guitar, flute, old 78s, psaltry, etc; and the collective deftly obscure those sources through interwoven harmonics, dense layering, and plenty of delay & reverb. the first side opens with gaping, deep thrums of low frequencies that ripples as if dialed into the reflective black ice from some distant moon around saturn. the plucked notes from the psaltry gracefully pulls back the gloom of that opening passage and sets off a slow-motion dissolve of foghorn bellows, come across somewhere between deathprod and caretaker. the flipside is more acoustically sourced, or at least the guitars and horns can be heard amidst the time-delay effects and tape-decay loops, from which melodies form through rasping tibetan bowls, guitars amass in dense vibrating chunks of space, and a rather dramatic crescendo of agitated violin scrapes builds to a crashing end of tense noise and drone. limited pressing in a gatefold sleeve, what else could you want from this fantastic record? oh yeah, there's a download code, too!

~ jim haynes (aquarius records)

*******

invisible birds arise

victoria, seaside
i watch float planes cross paths
a hummingbird hovers above a bush
its wings in figure eight motion
so i'm told and have been told
camera will not focus
microphone out of reach
a gift for mind
i surmise
otherwise invisible

one of two new releases this evening by the ever impressive invisible birds label. the one in question tonight is courtesy of ingenting kollektiva, a quartet made up matthew swiezynski (proprietor of the label) and the mysterious tarrl lightowler pair, who've chosen to keep nearly nonexistent profiles. before one even feasts their ears on the music of fragments of night, it can be rather enrapturing reading the album notes, which include a passage explaining that the band's name is an homage to ingmar bergman and sven nykvist, and that the music was partially recorded in a barn, while also being a direct response to music recorded and released in 1969; not the 1960's, we're talking one year here.

the specificity of it all shows an attention to detail that translates into the music. upon visiting the invisible birds website, one will notice a nearly indispensable reference guide to pertinent works of drone, field recording, classical, and jazz music. while it's clear the members of ingenting kollektiva have an appreciation for many musical styles, they choose to work more in the drone territory, bringing to mind a few names that appear regularly on those reference lists. don't get me wrong, as it's obvious that the band brought much of their own to this, i just can't help but hear a work that's in one way or another overly tangled up in reference. it could just be my incessant perusing of the lists, or perhaps that so much about this project seems to be about reference and/or homage. fortunately, it's not a feeling that's unshakable, and hasn't really affected my appreciation for the album.

"fragments .. A" sets the tone with a low-end wavering drone, prepping the listener for two expansive, slow-shifting sides of vinyl. while the music is made up of a myriad of instruments and sound devices, it sounds almost as if it could have been composed entirely with loops, and not just "loops" as its featured here among a list of 15 or so instruments. the rising and falling path of the music induces a meditative state on the listener, broken only by the end of the run-off groove, which is true for the work as a whole. field recordings, like that of birds are introduced and allotted enough time to mingle and run their course. i particularly like the midway point of side A that features some rustling and a repeated spring-loaded sound, which plays forward and then reverse in a cycle. i imagine some nifty analog tape work was needed to pull this portion off. there's much to like here and one needn't think twice before acquiring fragments of night for their late night drone fix.

~ adrian dziewanski (scrapyard forecast)

*******

i don't think i heard about ingenting kollektiva, which members include tarrl lightowler and matthew swiezynski.  matthew plays on side a and tarrl on side b. "the kollektiva seeks to issue recordings that are meditations on the quality of light, sound and atmosphere created by ingmar bergman and sven nykvist". you could expect them to release dvds which are promised for the future. here on LP, they play a variety of instruments, like bells, bowed tibetan prayer bowl, cello, field recordings, guitars, harmonium, loops, nightingale devise, portable 78 record player, psaltery, tenor sax and shakuhachi. i am not entirely sure if i would have been able to pick out all of these instruments on the two lenghty cuts on either side of the record. what it doesn't mention is - perhaps - the amount of processing that takes place on this record. everything seems melted and molted around some sort of treatment, acoustically (more on side b than on side a it seems) and electronically (vice versa obviously). obviously we are dealing here with highly atmospheric music, which fits the mirror tradition quite nice. atmospheric music but with a sharper edge, and a great sense of experimentalism. from the description one could think this more like wishy-washy new age type of music, but the darker textures of this record work quite nice. maybe indeed a great soundtrack to a bergman movie, overlooking some lakes in sweden and lots of silence among the actors. HAUNTING AND HAUNTED INDEED. i wonder what their own films be like. very nice.

~ frans de waard (vital weekly)

he came dancing across the water with his galleons and guns looking for the new world in that palace in the sun

tarrl lightowler & matthew swiezynski - spectral anaylsis loops : deep in the glowing - 2012

"i attempt to render sections from the spectral analysis of things, to show them in many aspects and permutations simultaneously: their relations, sequences and oppositions.
unfortunately i am unable to observe things from all sides... i consider my so-called abstraction and my actual ambiguity to be moments of realism."
from hugo huppert's (in the prayer-milll's rattling) : a visit with paul celan in the book translating tradition.

small fragments of time (kirchenmaus)

matthew swiezynski - images of heaven - 2007/2011,
it is something invisible - 2011
(excerpts)

classic drone series
sound, sound design, music in film

johannes d'église, matthew swiezynski - music, sound design

lind, raud, aastaajad : transparent light, the quality of silence

yannick dauby, john grzinich, murmer - lind, raud, aastaajad - invisible birds - 2012

new invisible birds double cd available now

north america $15.50 USD europe etc. $19.00 USD

invisible birds is very proud to announce the release of lind, raud, aastaajad, a 2 cd set of estonian recordings from three masters : yannick dauby, john grzinich, and murmer.

disc 1 - yannick dauby : lind, raud - songs of birds and metal, recorded in estonia in 2007.

disc 2 - yannick daubyy, john grzinich, and murmer : aastaajad - field recordings by john grzinich and murmer, electronic sounds by yannick dauby.
two tracks composed by john grzinich, two tracks composed by patrick mcginley (aka murmer).

yannick dauby mentions in his notes that, while in estonia, john grzinich guided him through some of his most favorite recording locations. it is in these locations where he feels the artist "becomes an instrument for the landscape".

the lind, raud, aastaajad recordings perfectly evoke the connection these three artists have to the landscape. in specified locations and seasons, they compose rich sounds from birds, metal, rain, snow, footsteps, melodious wind, water trickles, and more. the recordings subtly ensconce the listener in a sublime and poetic "view" of the landscape transforming itself.

birds for framework radio (2012.02.12)

a selection of bird related recordings curated by invisible birds

(matthew swiezynski and chief librarian sir arthur de eriomém)

on resonance : framework radio - show #362: 2012.02.12*

table of contents :

1. jonathan coleclough - from makruna minya - icr / siren records - 2004
track - makruna
2. dr. roger s. payne - from songs of the humpback whale (modifié par arthur de eriomém)
3. jean-claude roché - oiseaux du vénézuéla - edwards records - 1973 (w/ whale background)
4. thomas köner & yannick dauby from une topographie sonore: col de vence - mille plateaux - 2003
5. ingenting kollektiva - bird melody from side b of fragments of night looped - invisible birds - 2011
6. jean-claude roché - rossignols: a nocturne of nightingales - frémeaux & associés, 1993
track - a wood in the le de france
7. vikki jackman - whispering pages - faraway press - 2008
track - dreams
8. akio suzuki - odds and ends - hören - 2002
track - ta yu ta i #2 (birds and bird-like)
9. jonathan coleclough - from cake - siren records / robot records - 1998
10. douglas quin - antartica - miramar - 1998
tracks : wind harps from the taylor valley, canada glacier, and emperor penguins (ending : modifié par arthur de eriomém)
11. olivier messiaen's le chocard des alpes from catalogue d'oiseaux (modifié par arthur de eriomém)

(thank you to patrick mcginley for involving us in his framework radio)

spectral analysis loops : ingenting kollektiva fragments of night shipping now

2 spectral analysis loops for our new release *

finally available, after two years in the making (and three more months in limbo) : ingenting kollektiva's fragments of night, from oiseaux invisibles.

ingenting kollektiva is an homage to the films of ingmar bergman and sven nykvist.

the kollektiva recordings are meditations on the quality of light, sound, and atmosphere, as well as realizations of the various forms of "nothingness" captured by these swedish 2 masters.

christmas of 2009, the kollektiva found themselves surrounded with many recordings from the year 1969, including :

miles davis & teo macero's in a silent way, and bitches brew
john surman's way back when, and how many clouds can you see?, and extrapolation (with john mclauglin)
bert jansch's birthday blues
vashti bunyan's just another diamond day (recorded december 1969)
fairport convention's unhalfbricking
jan garbarek & terje rypdal's esoteric circle
king crimson's in the court of the crimson king
scott walker's scott walker 4
holger czukay's canaxis
(plus many more).

with this in mind, the kollektiva recorded some songs in the lightowlers' barn during a rainstorm, and later added recordings from northern california and los angeles. the editing process then became something similar to macero's work for miles davis.

the recording has been issued as a long play record with a gatefold sleeve and photographs by tarrl lightowler.

thanks so much to taylor deupree for making this such a beautiful recording.

america (mediamail) $20.00 USD america (ups or priority) $26.00 USD canada $25.00 USD rest of the world $30.00 USD

* spectral analysis loops : a collaboration between tarrl lightowler, matthew swiezynski and ingenting kollektiva : a forthcoming cd/dvd by invisible birds with extended versions from fragments of night

(also available from invisible birds is lind, raud, aastaajad, a memory entry coming soon)