Karlrecords

SARA PERSICO – Boundary

Format:Limited edition tape, 100 handnumbered items / download

Release date: march 10th 2023

After several years of intense performance activity, the Italian sound artist and vocalist SARA PERSICO releases her debut EP “Boundary”, to be followed by a full album.

Born and raised in Naples, Berlin-based sound artist / vocalist SARA PERSICO cut her teeth experimenting on the fringes of Naples’ fiery underground experimental/noise scene, developing a technique that would integrate her voice with analogue electronics, field recordings, and samples.
PERSICO holds a BA from the Conservatory of Napoli and a Master’s Degree from the Conservatory of Bologna and gained several residencies and scholarships like Temp Studio, Lisbon (2018), Amplify Berlin (2021), Sonoscopia, Porto (2022), Sardegna Teatro – V2 Unstable, Argentiera (2022). She presented her work in festival and events like Ballroom Blitz Beirut, CTM Festival, Ortigia Sound System Festival/Bosco Colto, Codex Club, Documenta Fifteen, Dancity Festival, Radical DB, Life Libertas Festival, among others.
As improviser and performer, she has collaborated with a wide spectrum of artists, joining EVELYN SAYLOR’s vocal ensemble for CATERINA BARBIERI’s acclaimed “light-years” show at Rewire Festival and London’s Southbank Centre, and worked on projects alongside THE EX’s ANDY
MOOR, TONY ELIEH (KARKHANA), LUDWIG WANDINGER, DIRAR KALASH, ELVIN BRANDHI, RECORDAT, and many others.
She’s also a fearless DJ who’s able to straddle vastly different worlds, offering just as much attention to abstract electronic sounds as she does bass-heavy club music, noise, and vocal experiments. She is currently a resident on Bethlehem’s Radio Alhara.
All this energy and experience radiates from her solo debut “Boundary”: PERSICO’s expressive vocals play a central role, but her command of precisely sculpted electronic textures and dynamic
rhythmic structures is just as crucial to the overall experience.
Deconstructed beats, experimental voice, harmonic music, distorted rhythms craft a dense introspective work that explores intimately the boundaries of the self. Identity rupture as a survival technique, a voice-research climax with an unconventional approach – multi-faceted ideas melt in a heavy-aesthetical 6 track solo EP that brings together different styles like noise and clubby sounds.

Tracklist:

1. Fugace
2. Boundary
3. Exit
4. Terra Mala
5. Under The Raw Light
6. Umbilical

Credits:
All tracks written by Sara Persico
Produced by Koenraad Ecker and Sara Persico
Mixed by Koenraad Ecker
Mastered by James Ginzburg
Baritone saxophone on Exit by Sofia Salvo
Artwork by Mothanna Hussein

PITA / FRIEDL – sam

Format: 2x 180gr LP /download

Release date: february 17th 2023

Electronic music legend and head of Editions Mego, Peter Rehberg, teams up with zeitkratzer mastermind Reinhold Friedl. 3 side-long pieces melting electronic / contemporary avantgarde. Uncompromising.

When Peter »Pita« Rehberg and Reinhold Friedl first met each other, they did not like each other »at all,« as Friedl emphasises with a hearty laugh. The two would however eventually bond over the years thanks to a mutual respect for each other’s music. In the summer of 2021, they entered the studio together for the first time. Their joint album for Berlin’s Karlrecords is a faithful document —no editing, no overdubs—of their improvisations during two recording sessions shortly before Rehberg’s sudden and untimely passing on July 22nd of that year. The three pieces see Rehberg
working with electronics and Friedl with his inside piano, proving that they had indeed managed to find a common ground—up to a point where it at times becomes hard to tell who plays what on this record.
Friedl ran into Rehberg in Zbigniew Karkowski’s tiny Tokyo apartment in 1999 while organising the first edition of the Off-ICMC that was set to take place in the following year. »I came uninvited and slept a night at Zbigeniew’s before Peter arrived and I had to move out,« remembers Friedl, who ended up inviting the Mego founder to perform at the Off-ICMC even though he found it hard to relate to his music. »We had very different backgrounds: he came from industrial and I had roots in classical music and improv, a high-brow prick!« After having met several times at different concerts without ever really speaking to each other in the following years, a concert in Vienna in the late 2010s marked a turning point in their relationship (or lack thereof). Playing their sets back to back and loving every second of what the other was doing, the two finally clicked on musical level.

»We met for dinner on each of the three following nights!,« remembers Friedl. The two would go on to become good friends, meeting regularly to discuss music and everything else while both were living in Vienna just a few minutes away from each other. Rehberg put out Friedl’s collaboration with Eryck Abecassis, »Animal Électrique« on his Editions Mego label in 2020 and eventually they entered the studio twice for sessions that were completely improvised with no prior preparation. »Caciara,« »Chiasso,« and »Clamore«—named retrospectively after three Italian words for »noise«—capture the spontaneity of two artists who had always been outliers in their respective fields finding a common ground in sprawling dynamics and sonic intensity as well as enabling each other to expand their individual sound palettes. »Peter gave me cover,« explains Friedl. »I had the feeling that I was able to do things I otherwise wouldn’t play.«
If there is one thing that united them, Friedl adds, it was listening, and throughout these roughly 64 minutes, you can indeed hear them listening closely to each other, giving each other space and reacting to what the other is doing. Even though they unfortunately never managed to get together
for a planned third session, these recordings—carefully mixed by Dirk Dresselhaus, but otherwise virtually untouched—perfectly encapsulate the energy unleashed by two free spirits coming together over a shared love for pushing the envelope of improvised noise music, unlocking the sensory potentials of it. It is quite fitting that this veritable onslaught of noise would end in the most understated way: »The computer says stop,« quips Rehberg. »That’s enough!« The rest is laughter.
(Kristoffer Cornils)

tracklist:
A Caciara [21:14]
B Chiasso [19:58]
C Clamore [23:01]

credits:
Peter Rehberg: electronics
Reinhold Friedl: inside piano
recorded july 2021 at Studio Aichhorn, Vienna
mixed by Dirk Dresselhaus at ZONE, Berlin
mastered & lacquer cut by Kassian Troyer at D&M, Berlin
cover concept by Thomas Herbst
layout by kaidoh

MARTINA BERTONI – Hypnagogia

Format: 180gr LP / limited edition tape, 50 handnumbered items /download

Release date: january 20th 2023

Cello player and electronic artist Martina Bertoni returns with her 2nd album for Karl: Hypnagogia delivers six new, masterfully crafted tracks between experimental ambient, drone and modern composition.

Cellist and composer Martina Bertoni started playing the cello at a very young age. Classically trained, her career further developed around experimental and film music, for which her cello has been featured in numerous records, works and soundtracks for films and series. After two EPs and her debut full length All The Ghosts Are Gone (2020), Bertoni joined the Karl roster where she released Music For Empty Flats in January 2021 to critical acclaim (a.o. one of the Top Ten drone albums of 2021 / Acloserlisten.com).
On her new album Hypnagogia she continues to explore the sonic possibilities of her cello which she uses as primary source for composition and sound processing through reverbs, feedbacks and sub-bass frequencies, thus crafting sonic sculptures, rich of atmospheres and frictions, fed by ambient as much as drone and modern composition.
In the words of Martina Bertoni:
„The six tracks that constitute Hypnagogia have been written during 2021 and partially inspired by the reading of Stanislaw Lem’s book Solaris. The title refers to a transitional state of consciousness from wakefulness to sleep, during which one might experience sensorial hallucinations and lucid dreaming, and can tap into the pristine structures of the subconscious.
Hypnagogia portraits an imaginary cosmic journey of the Self that crash ends into a blinding sun.”

Tracklist:

1. Inversion
2. Collided
3. From E To W
4. Orchid
5. Hemisphere
6. Your Sun

Credits:
Martina Bertoni: cello, electronics, voice
all music composed and produced by Martina Bertoni
mixed by Boris Wilsdorf at andereBaustelle Tonstudio, Berlin
mastered & cut by Ruy Mariné at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin
cover painting by Ted Berglund
artwork by kaidoh

from december – march, there’ll be a Karlrecords night at Arkaoda each month, starting december 11th with MimiCof & Schneider TM.

Here the program & Facebook events:

# dec 11th, 2022: MimiCof & Schneider TM

https://fb.me/e/36pKMBN0X

# jan 15th, 2023: hÄK/Danzeisen & Martina Bertoni

> release concert for Martina’s new album „Hypnagogia“

https://fb.me/e/2gG92qJkU

# feb 26th, 2023: Sara Persico & Giulio Aldinucci

> release concert for Sara’s EP „Boundary“ and Giulio’s first Berlin concert ever!

https://fb.me/e/2k1sNOWcD

# march 26th, 2023: Jasmine Guffond & Aidan Baker

https://fb.me/e/2plU2NuyL

zeitkratzer – James Tenney

Format: 180gr LP

Release date: november 4th 2022

By zkr director REINHOLD FRIEDL’s personal request now available on vinyl for the first time: zeitkratzer’s critically acclaimed interpretations of groundbreaking compositions by JAMES TENNEY.

JAMES TENNEY (1934 – 2006) was a composer, music theorist and pioneer especially in the field of microtonal music, being an influential part of the so-called New York avantgarde scene (CAGE, FELDMAN). Besides his compositonal work, TENNY was teacher at various universities with students like CHARLEMAGNE PALESTINE, CARL STONE or CATHERINE LAMB, and a close friend with ELIANE RADIGUE.
This album by zeitkratzer presents three compostions by TENNEY whose music has been part of zeitkratzer’s repertoire since their beginning:

# „Critical Band“ – TENNEY’s late classic – with maximum clarity and precision of bearing tone rhythms and microtonal tuning as light effect.

# the first recording of „Harmonium #2“.

Both works demonstrate the remarkable power and resplendent sharpness which TENNEY achieved with his microtonal settings.

# „Koan: Having Never Written A Note For Percussion“ (incl. in the download) is an orgiastic listening experience in the form of a huge crescendo on a tam-tam – from whispering to singing, culminating in shrill roaring and blustering – and it’s dark decay.
zeitkratzer’s approach to TENNEY’s music as a sensual sound adventure, finally available on vinyl!

Tracklist:
A. Critical Band,
B. Harmonium #2,
DL only track: Koan: Having Never Written A Note For Percussion

zeitkratzer:
Frank Gratkowski clarinet
Hayden Chisholm alto saxophone
Matt Davis trumpet
Hilary Jeffery trombone
Reinhold Friedl piano, e-bow
Maurice De Martin bowed marimba, tam-tam
Burkhard Schlothauer violin
Anton Lukoszevieze cello
Ulrich Phillipp double bass
Ralf Meinz sound

Credits:
recorded live at Philharmonie Luxembourg, October 3rd 2009
mixed and mastered by Ralf Meinz and Reinhold Friedl
produced by Burkhard Schlothauer
executive producer: Reinhold Friedl
vinyl cut by Kassian Troyer at D&M, Berlin

GIULIO ALDINUCCI – Real

Format: 180gr LP / limited edition tape, 50 handnumbered items /download

Release date: october 14th 2022

Italian sound artist GIULIO ALDINUCCI returns with his 4th album on KARL: “Real” is again a truly masterfully composed and sound-designed ambient masterpiece and a more than worthy follow-up to the critically acclaimed “Borders And Ruins” (2017), “Disappearing In A Mirror” (2018) and “Shards Of Distant Times” which all made it onto several year’s best lists.

With now his 4th album for Karl, the sound artist from Siena / IT has proved a steady and prolific artist on the label roster. And each time, GIULIO ALDINUCCI delivers a new ambient masterpiece that clearly carries his signature as composer / producer and yet reveals a slightly different approach to his modus operandi. ALDINUCCI’s massive layers of sound, built from field recordings and an array of electronic gear, blend droney ambient with heavenly voices / sacred music that create an atmosphere of a consolatory melancholy – alien, but with a graspable presence of human souls. And each album deals with a topic that ALDINUCCI came across in his observations of and reflections about today’s society.
In the words of GIULIO himself:
“The digital media we live with shape and define reality by filtering it, letting us run the risk of living without our personal and unique one. My new album expresses a need of something unmediated and authentic. “Real” is a reflection on the endless possibility of sonic transformation, the ability we have to create new realities transmuting the soundscape around us and the inner soundscape inside us, even only by imagining it. A (deep)real experience permeated by dreamy lyricism.”

Tracklist:
A1. Deep Space Shelter
A2. Come In Un Respiro
A3. As The Horizon Disappears
A4. Smoke Over The River
B1. Mythological Void
B2. Every Word, In Summer
B3. Hyperobject A
B4. Asymptotic Embrace

Credits:
all tracks composed and produced by Giulio Aldinucci
mastered & vinyl cut by Kassian Troyer at D&M, Berlin
artwork concept by Thomas Herbst
layout & design by kaidoh
cover photography by Giulio Aldinucci

zeitkratzer – Alvin Lucier

Format: 180gr LP

Release date: september 16th 2022

By zkr director REINHOLD FRIEDL’s personal request now available on vinyl for the first time: zeitkratzer’s critically acclaimed interpretations of compositions by ALVIN LUCIER.

ALVIN LUCIER (1931 – 2021) was one of the most influential American minimalists. Some call him „sound physician“ as his compositions are often based on acoustic research settings. His pieces tend to turn inside-out the properties of space and instruments: poems based on acoustic settings!
zeitkratzer worked with the composer in Dijon, France in 2008, and presented his music in various places. These recordings have been realized at Philharmonie Luxembourg that turned out to be the ideal space for this music.
On this album you can hear how LUCIER enables zeitkratzer to create sounds a lot of people have never heard before. Ringing overtones, a singing piano, a thrilling concert triangle, pencils on little objects, and how irritating a violoncello, a viola and a piano can sound together creating shifting sonic interferences. Sound phenomenology, evoking a sensual
listening experience.

Tracklist:
A1 Fideliotrio (1987) 12:10
A2 Violynn (2001) 9:50
B1 Music For Piano With Magnetic Strings (1995) 13:37
B2 Opera With Objects (1997) 10:59
Silver Streetcar For The Orchestra* (1988) 10:03
digital only, included in the download

zeitkratzer:

Burkhard Schlothauer: violin (A2), viola (A1), objects (B2)
Anton Lukoszevieze: violoncello (A1), objects (B2)
Ulrich Philipp: objects (B2)
Reinhold Friedl: piano (A1, B1), objects (B2)
Maurice de Martin: triangle (*), objects (B2)
Frank Gratkowski: objects (B2)
Hayden Chisholm: objects (B2)
Matt Davis: objects (B2)
Hilary Jeffery: objects (B2)
Ralf Meinz: sound

credits:
recorded live at Philharmonie Luxembourg, October 3, 2009 (A1, B1, B2, *)
and at GreenHouseStudios Schwielowsee, Germany, June 2010 (A2).
mixed and mastered by Ralf Meinz and Reinhold Friedl
produced by Reinhold Friedl
vinyl cut by Kassian Troyer at D&M, Berlin

KONSTRUKT & PETER BRÖTZMANN – Dolunay

Format: 2x 180gr LP / download

Release date: august 26th 2022

The ongoing series / tradition of a KONSTRUKT release in august this time returns to the early beginning: the overdue double vinyl reissue of the Turkish free-formers’ studio meeting with the German Free Jazz titan PETER BRÖTZMANN from 2008. Remastered by KASSIAN TROYER at D&M, Berlin.

As written in several info sheets before, the Istanbul-based collective led by multi-instrumentalist UMUT ÇAĞLAR (also member of KARKHANA) and reeds player KORHAN FUTACI has since its formation in 2008 created an impressive catalogue including collaborations / performances with significant musicians like KEIJI HAINO, JOE MCPHEE, WILLIAM PARKER, AKIRA SAKATA, MARSHALL ALLEN, EVAN PARKER, THURSTON MOORE, MICHAEL ZERANG, ALFRED HARTH or ALEXANDER HAWKINS – and PETER BRÖTZMANN. The German Free Jazz titan was invited to the Deneyevi Studio in the Turkish capital in november 2008 where they recorded „Dolunay“, an album that was released three years later on a small label in Turkey only. Back then a quartet with drums AND percussion, guitar, reeds but NO bass player, KONSTRUKT and their iconic guest took off on a session full of fire and fury: shrieking reeds, thundering drums andandand … Free Jazz of the wildest, most energetic and kathartic (afterwards) kind!
Just as they did a few months before (may 2011) in a former church as documented on „Eklisia Sunday“ and then once more in february 2014.

Remastered for vinyl, „Dolunay“ is now finally available as double LP and also via regular distribution – and shouldn’t be missing in any proper jazz collection!

tracklist:
A. Dolunay 10:26
Siyah 10:57
B. Kurtlar 10:16
C. Makinalı 13:18
D. Tepe 3:27
Nokta 9:18

musicians:
Korhan Argüden drums
Özün Usta percussion
Umut Çağlar guitar
Korhan Futacı tenor & baritone saxophone
Peter Brötzmann alto & tenor saxophone, clarinet

credits:
all music by Konstrukt & Peter Brötzmann
recorded by Ergin Özler & Taylan Özdemir at Deneyevi Studio, Istanbul on 13.11.2008
mixed by Tansu Kaner & Özün Usta
remastered & lacquer cut by Kassian Troyer at D&M, Berlin
woodcut by Peter Brötzmann
layout & design by kaidoh

MIMICOF – Distant Symphony

Format: 180gr LP / limited edition tape, 50 handnumbered items / download

Release date: june 11th 2022

New album by the Berlin-based musician, composer and producer MIDORI HIRANO aka MIMICOF, entirely recorded using the EMS SYNTHI100 at Electronic Studio Radio Belgrade during an artist residency: contemporary electronic music / ambient for the advanced listener.

Midori Hirano is a Japanese musician, composer and producer based in Berlin. She started learning the piano as a child and later studied classical piano at university. Therefore the music she releases under her own name is based on the use of piano, but yet experimental and an eclectic mixture of modern digital sounds with subtle electronic processing and field recordings. So far, Hirano released 7 solo albums under her civilian name on labels such as Sonic Pieces and DAUW.
Under the moniker MimiCof she explores the realm of more experimental music and detailed rhythmic patterns, combined with an idea of drawing melodic shapes and harmonies. As MimiCof she performed at prestigious festivals and events such as CTM, Heroines of Sound Festival, Boiler
Room Berlin and L.E.V. Festival, and was selected by Frank Bretschneider for the first volume of the “Sichten” compilation series on his raster label.

Besides producing her own works, Hirano has composed music for dance performances, video installations and films which have been screened at Berlin International Film Festival, Krakow Film Festival, SXSW Film Festival and HongKong International Film Festival (among others) and remixed tracks by artists including Rival Consoles, Foam And Sand aka Robot Koch, Liars and Pascal Schumacher.

While the last MimiCof album “Moon Synch” (2017, Alien Transistor) was recorded on the Buchla analogue modular Synthesizer at EMS Elektronmusikstudion in Stockholm, her latest effort “Distant Symphony” (the 4th as MimiCof) was created on a different synthesizer: the EMS SYNTHI 100 Synthesizer at Radio Belgrade. All sounds from this instrument were recorded as single sound samples at first, then mixed and modified into three long pieces of music, so that the audience can experience the machine’s uniqueness and versatility of sound. Hirano understands this work as a gesture of respect for the SYNTHI 100’s character: though a vintage instrument, it has never lost the beauty of its modern sound.

Tracklist:
A Distant Symphony I (17:07)
B Distant Symphony II (9:39)
Distant Symphony III (7:05)

Credits:
All tracks composed, recorded and mixed by Midori Hirano
Recorded at Electronic Studio Radio Belgrade during an artist residency between May 31st and
June 6th 2021, using the EMS SYNTHI100 synthesizer
Edited & mixed between June and September 2021 in Berlin
„Distant Symphony I“ was commissioned by Heroines of Sound Festival
Mastered and vinyl cut by Kassian Troyer at D&M, Berlin
Photographs taken by Midori Hirano at Electronic Studio Radio Belgrade
Cover Design by kaidoh

AN MOKU I STEFAN SCHMIDT – Zwischenraum

Format: Limited edition tape, 100 handnumbered items / download

Release date: may 13th 2022

the 2nd chapter “zwischenraum”of the “raum“-trilogy by dominik grenzler aka an moku and stefan schmidt. finely crafted ambient / soundscapes using stringed instruments, synthesizer, electronics and field recordings.

when dominik grenzler aka an moku, a sound artist and bass player based in zurich, approached stefan schmidt (guitarist, composer and improviser from baden-baden) with the idea of collaborating, it turned out the initial spark for a fruitful process and artistic exchange. within just a couple of weeks they not only managed to craft “raum” (the german word for room / space), the duo also realized there was still a plethora of ideas to explore and that this first album wouldn’t be their last – rather, they conceived a full “raum”-trilogy, named after and inspired by a sentence grenzler had read in david foster wallace’s unconventional bestseller novel “infinite jest”: “die echte welt ist nur ein raum.” (“the real world is just a room.”).
on “zwischenraum”, grenzler and schmidt continue their sonic trip into abstract voids, crafted by finely processed sounds of different origins like cello, field recordings and a vast array of electronic equipment. From the opener “yama” with its indian drone to the closer “sediment” the atmosphere is dark and alien, with references to hauntology and musique concrète, and yet organic, even harmonic. The future may be bleak, but there is still life.

the musicians::
dominik grenzler (born 1977) is a sound artist and bass guitar player with a spot for experimental and ambient soundscapes. In 2008, after years of playing e-bass in several bands or being hired for concert tours, he began with the initial recording sessions for an moku. the literal translation of
the japanese word “anmoku” is “tacit, unsaid, implicit” conveying that an idea or thought cannot be put into words but is subconsciously understood. inspired and animated, with this approach, dominik’s abstract, cinematic music gives the listener room for imagination and interpretation. his
approach to ambient is highly personal, as he manages to generate tension with a hidden musicality, drowned in a miasma of organic, yet manipulated sounds. dominik’s primary interests lie in simplicity, repetition and the relationship between sound and art.
privately, dominik grenzler lives and works in his adopted hometown of zurich where he co-owns a café with an artisan cake bakery section.
www.anmoku.net

stefan schmidt (born 1974) is a guitarist, composer, improviser and teacher. he gathered his first musical experiences as a member of various punk bands and later studied classical guitar at the hochschule für musik trossingen with professor andreas higi and at the conservatorio juan josé
castro in buenos aires with victor villadangos.
while early projects (e.g. farang) and several collaborations put focus on distorted sounds and rhythms, recent works center on slowly evolving structures, sound design and free improvisation, giving more emphasis on his main instrument, the classical guitar, and the exploration of other
stringed instruments such as tenor ukulele, fretless bass ukulele, fretless classical guitar, electric guitar, [d]ronin & ronin, stringed psalter, cello and baroque lute.
www.musicforoverexposedcelluloid.com

tracklist:

01 yama
02 reflektion
03 capgras syndrom
04 tagundnachtgleiche
05 rabenaas
06 schwere see
07 anywhere at the end of time
08 sediment

credits::
all tracks composed and produced by an moku and stefan schmidt
mastered by weldroid www.weldroid.net
cover artwork by stefan schmidt
synthesizer, tape recorder, electromagnetic microphones by an moku
field recordings, synthesizer, cello, fretless guitar by stefan schmidt
double bass on schwere see by adriano orrù