KARL celebrates its cat. no. KR050 and its 13th anniversary with a free download label compilation with selected tracks from albums released after PARAKUSTIKS #1 (KR015 , released in 2014).

Trackliste:

1 zeitkratzer & Keiji Haino – Unbegrenzt

2 Iannis Xenakis – Persepolis (Edit)

3 Hans Castrup – Die Klaviatur Des Quadrats #2

4 Nickolas Mohanna – Linear Scheme

5 Hanno Leichtmann – Run

6 Hanno Leichtmann – Flutes

7 Guy Reibel – Fluide

8 Nicolas Wiese – Cuck Rock

9 Laurent De Schepper Trio – Mytikas

10 Tellavision – Unimperative

11 Reinhold Friedl – John Cage: Complete Song Books #34

12 Reinhold Friedl – John Cage: Complete Song Books #28

13 Reinhold Friedl – John Cage: Complete Song Books #33

14 Fret – B14

15 R.A.N. – Sabah

16 Golden Diskó Ship – Abandoned Chinese Fishing Village

17 zeitkratzer, Svetlana Spajic, Dragana Tomić, Obrad Milić – The Battle At Mačkov Kamen

18 Audrey Chen – Heavy

19 Arovane, Porya Hatami – Becoming

20 Giulio Aldinucci – The Skype Cloud And Your Smile On The Left

21 Creta – Babe In The Egg Of Blue

22 Brian Harnetty – Judd

23 Saba Alizâdeh – Fluid

https://karlrecords.bandcamp.com/album/parakustiks-2

AIDAN BAKER I GARETH DAVIS – Invisible Cities IIG

Format: 180gr LP / download

Release date: january 24th 2020

AIDAN BAKER (NADJA, B/B/S) and bass clarinetist GARETH DAVIS continue their fruitful collaboration with „Invisible Cities II“ – five new tracks of finest ambient / chamber jazz / subtle drones of a highly meditative quality. Available as 180gr LP and download.

2 years ago, the Canadian guitar player AIDAN BAKER and clarinetist GARETH DAVIS from Belgium released their duo debut „Invisible Cities“ that surprised many by its quiet, even meditative quality. DAVIS had made himself a name in a wide range of fields, from the postrock of A-SUN AMISSA or OISEAUX-TEMPÊTE, new music (PETER ABLINGER, BERNHARD LANG), or experimentation with the likes of ELLIOTT SHARP, MERZBOW or SCANNER, while BAKER is mostly known for his drone / postmetal duo NADJA, but that‘s just one out of several steady projects (e.g.B/B/S with ANDREA BELFI and ERIK SKODVIN aka SVARTE GREINER) and a multitude of solo albums.
On „Invisible Cities“ the duo explored the calmer side of things – from chamber jazz to ambient / drone and back, giving much space and air to breathe to their respective instrument. Subtle guitar drones, sonore clarinet sounds, a sonic scenery of peacefullness and meditative introspection – all this you‘ll also find on the new album „Invisible Cities II“ which is an accomplished continuation and refinement of the duo‘s first collaborative effort from 2018.

Recorded between 2018 and 2019 in Berlin and Amsterdam, mastered and cut at D&M Berlin by KASSIAN TROYER. 

ULF STOLTERFOHT / IRIS DRÖGEKAMP / THOMAS WEBER & KAMMERFLIMMER KOLLEKTIEF – Ein Strumpf Wächst Durch Den Tisch 

Format: 180gr LP

Release date: 25.10.2019

An engaging and intriguing radio drama by the German poet ULF STOLTERFOHT (directed by IRIS DRÖGEKAMP and THOMAS WEBER) with music by the KAMMERFLIMMER KOLLEKTIEF.

Based on secret messages exchanged by imprisoned Red Army Faction (RAF) members like Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and the rest of the gang, through this radio drama by ULF STOLTERFOHT (winner of several literary prizes), the authors explore the power of names and denominations. Guests making surprise appearances are among others, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Herman Melville, and maybe even Rumpelstiltskin. The play unfolds in a highly unusual setting, weaving a tapestry of references.

The music for this radio play was created by KAMMERFLIMMER KOLLEKTIEF, in their unique and uncategorizable blend of sound drawing inspiration from jazz, folk and electronics.

music by Kammerflimmer Kollektief
(Heike Aumüller – harmonium, Christopher Brunner – drums, Johannes Frisch – double bass, Thomas Weber – electric guitar)
directed by Iris Drögekamp & Thomas Weber
cover photo by Heike Aumüller
mastered & cut by Rashad Becker at D&M, Berlin

G.A.M.S. feat. Felix Kubin  – Lalaland Symbiose + UNPROFESSIONAL RMX

Format: 7inch / download

Release date: september 27th 2019

2 exclusive tracks not contained on the self-titled G.A.M.S. album:
The Dadaist no-wave track „Lalaland Symbiose“ featuring FELIX KUBIN on vocals + a RMX by the Berlin based Italian producer UNPROFESSIONAL.

Cover by ANDREAS DIEFENBACH
Mastered & cut by RASHAD BECKER at D&M Berlin.

G.A.M.S. – dto.

Format: 180gr LP / download

Release date: september 27th 2019

The first album of the new duo G.A.M.S. (ANDI STECHER / drums and GUIDO MÖBIUS / feedback) with special appearances by MICK HARRIS (EX NAPALM DEATH, PAINKILLER, SCORN a.o.) and YUKO MATSUYAMA (HULA HUT & THE SEVEN SEAS).

Feedback leads a life of it’s own. It is an uncontrollable sonic accident, usually ear-numbingly loud but sometimes also delicately ethereal. The essence of feedback is being released from bonds, its path is always one of intensification and escape. Its a physical phenomenon and hard to predict.
The duo G.A.M.S. makes music on the edge of losing control. A restless drummer works his way through waves of feedback, which span the full spectrum of frequencies from pumping bass to the highest tones. With the pulse of the feedback ANDI STECHER’s drumming, at times feverish and driven, then distanced and abstract, creates polyrhythmic structures. What comes into being is a maelstrom of sound and rhythm – music beyond every style, the power of which lies in its rawness.
STECHER and MÖBIUS switch the roles of desired and undesired sound and thereby create pieces like archaic sculptures. Their music is raw and powerful, but can also be soft and etheric. Sometimes it feels like a delicate organic painting. But here’s one thing that G.A.M.S. music certainly isn’t – predictable. The duo uses freely improvised spaces and reacts to unplanned sonic events. And despite all it’s seeming randomness, G.A.M.S. still manage to compose clearly structured pieces and to reconstruct these in their live program.
Through a cut-up technique patterns of feedback sound fragments are juxtaposed and interlocked in varied combinations. These hypnotic loops move between rhythm and melodies, a web that is carried along by a driving drum set, accents of sub-bass and layers of feedback drones.
The playful drum style of ANDI STECHER is far from conventional rock drumming. Instead he experiments with various materials – for instance by preparing his cymbals with chains or putting different objects on the skin of his drums. He makes offbeat meters and complicated grooves sound easy and light. The same goes for changes in timing or dense textures comprising ghost notes. On the other hand he plays straight forward beats dynamically and with power.
STECHER’s partner in G.A.M.S. is GUIDO MÖBIUS who (with the help of a guitar amp, a microphone and effects) creates live feedbacks which can be massive and noisy but also fragile and gentle. Fleeting and concrete sounds join into dense textures. Feedback is never static rather always in a process of change.
Musical guests on the album are ex-NAPALM DEATH drummer and eletronic producer MICK HARRIS (SCORN, FRET) contributing drones and field recordings and the versatile singer YUKO MATSUYAMA (HULA HUT & THE SEVEN SEAS). 

all music played, produced and mixed by G.A.M.S.
G.A.M.S. are Andi Stecher (drums / percussion) & Guido Möbius (feedbacks)
cover artwork by Bruno Ferro Xavier da Silva
layout & design by kaidoh
drums recorded by Dirk Dresselhaus at ZONE, Berlin
mastered & cut by Rashad Becker at D&M, Berlin

Konstrukt + Ken Vandermark – Kozmik Bazaar

Format: 180gr LP

Release date: september 27th 2019

Turkish free jazzers KONSTRUKT continue their series of exciting collaborations with KEN VANDERMARK, one of the key figures of Chicago’s vivid jazz scene.

After 2 critically acclaimed albums with the Japanese avantgarde / noise icon KEIJI HAINO, KONSTRUKT return with a new inspiring collaborative mind: KEN VANDERMARK, who for three decades now has been a highly prolific musician in contemporary jazz and free
improvisation. With various groups like NRG ENSEMBLE, SPACEWAYS INC., THE VANDERMARK 5, MADE TO BREAK and his latest project MARKER or the PETER BRÖTZMANN CHICAGO TENTET (to name just a few) and various spontaneous collaborations the saxophone / clarinet player has created an impressive catalogue and performed / recorded with the who-is-who of today’s jazz / improv scene: PAAL NILSSEN-LOVE, HAMID DRAKE, FRED ANDERSON, PAUL LYTTON, JOE MORRIS THE EX, AXEL DÖRNER, MATS GUSTAFSSON, JOE MCPHEE, ZU, PETER BRÖTZMANN, PAUL LOVENS, LASSE MARHAUG, YAKUZA, KEVIN DRUMM, and many more. VANDERMARK’s enduring exploration and development of new paths in (free) jazz and improvisation not only made him a key figure of the vivid Chicago scene (since the days of AACM a hotspot for musical creativity), but also gained the him the reputated MAC ARTHUR FELLOWSHIP in 1999. In november 2018, KONSTRUKT (who themselves can look back on a long list of class A collaborators like JOE McPHEE, WILLIAM PARKER, AKIRA SAKATA, MARSHALL ALLEN, EVAN PARKER, THURSTON MOORE or ALEXANDER HAWKINS) met VANDERMARK in their homebase ISTANBUL for a recording session – a match made in heaven that all musicians involved are extremely happy with. The resulting album „Kozmik Bazaar“ starts with a reference to Ornette COLEMAN before turning more and more into a psychedelic trip that gpes way beyond the „jazz idiom“. But what else to expect from such a stellar constellation?

Credits:
Korhan Futacı: alto saxophone, instant loops, vocal
Umut Çağlar: electric guitar, synthesizer, gralla, guimbri
Apostolos Sideris: double bass
Berkan Tilavel: drums, electronic percussion
+
Ken Vandermark: tenor saxophone, clarinet
Recorded by Ozan Öner at Pür Recording Studio, Istanbul
Mixed by Korhan Futacı and Umut Çağlar
Mastered & cut by Rashad Becker at D&M, Berlin
Cover painting “Explosion” by Artur Trojanowski  

zeitkratzer – zeitkratzer performs songs from „Kraftwerk 2“ and „Kraftwerk“

Format: 180gr LP incl. insert

Release date: july 19th 2019

2nd volume of „modern composition supergroup“ (The Wire) ZEITKRATZER’s re-interpretations of early compositions by electronic pioneers KRAFTWERK.

In more than two decades ZEITKRATZER has created an astonishing broad catalogue from the obligatory (20th century avant-garde composers like CAGE or STOCKHAUSEN) to the unexpected (electronic artists such as CARSTEN NICOLAI, TERRE THAEMLITZ or underground experimentalists like THROBBING GRISTLE and KEIJI HAINO) – but hardly anyone was prepared for the ensemble’s choice of early KRAFTWERK pieces! When volume 1 was released in 2017, ZEITKRATZER founder and director REINHOLD FRIEDL announced that there’ll be a volume 2 of course – and here it is::
from the opening drony horns of „Harmonika“ to the subtle guitar of the album closer „Wellenlänge“, the 4 tracks own all the interpretatory and aesthetic acerbity the ensemble is known and praised for.
The first album made it immediately into “The Wire office ambience” playlist and to the
“Best of Bandcamp Contemporary Classical Releases”: “ZEITKRATZER’s interpretations are bouncy, horn-driven motorik grooves, static explorations of pointillistic overtones, breathy Zen-like meditations, and rollicking rhythms.” The Spanish Rockdelux concluded: “Keep close and be happy to get more!” Sonic Seducer attested ZEITKRATZER to “uncover unexpected potential. It’s a blessing that the next KRAFTWERK is already announced!”

And here it is! Now you can listen to all the music of the first two KRAFTWERK albums “as gloriously played as one could ever desire” (Vital Weekly).
Recorded live at HELLERAU – European Centre for the Arts, Dresden in january 2019, „zeitkratzer performs songs from the albums „Kraftwerk 2“ and „Kraftwerk“ “ delivers the compositions that were still missing to complete zeitkratzer’s stunning take on the early, hybrid kraut-esque electronic avantgarde albums “Kraftwerk” and “Kraftwerk 2”. Mission accomplished! A must-have. As German radio SWR agreed: “ZEITKRATZER is serious music turned from stiff to joy!” 

HÜMA UTKU – Gnosis

Format: 180gr LP / / download

Release date: july 5th 2019

Following last year‘s “Şeb-i Yelda” EP under the R.A.N. moniker, HÜMA UTKU delivers her debut full-length album under her own name „Gnosis“: a blend of abstract electronics and ritualistic throbbing beats with field recordings and ambience, available as LP and DL.

With “Şeb-i Yelda” (2018) HÜMA UTKU introduced her musical style to a broader audience – storytelling through elements of industrial, techno and abstract electronics, blending in field recordings and traditional instruments from the middle east. A sonic journey that now continues on „Gnosis“ that owns the signature sounds of the Istanbul born / Berlin based electronic artist and pushes them further. The Greek word „Gnosis“ meaning „knowledge reached through intuition and individual experience“ has been used throughout history by various schools of esotericism and thought, to signify gaining insight on workings of the universe. Coherently the album follows the hermit-like, truth-seeking traveller on a path through various times and geographies, through different forms of human experience. Merging field recordings that UTKU did in Greece, Egypt and Turkey with ambient soundscapes, abstract electronics and ritualistic throbbing beats, „Gnosis“ is an intense sonic travelogue where the storyline exceeds the borders any specific musical genre.

All tracks written and produced by Hüma Utku.
Tracks 2, 3 and 5 include samples of field recordings done by Hüma Utku.
Mastered by Rashad Becker at D&M, Berlin
Artwork & design by Cynthia-ël Hasbani

ERNSTALBRECHT STIEBLER / V.A. – Reworks

Format: 180gram LP incl. DL-code / download

Release date: may 24th 2019

FRANK BRETSCHNEIDER, BÉRANGÈRE MAXIMIN, JASMINE GUFFOND, PHONOSPHERE and KAMMERFLIMMER KOLLEKTIEF celebrate ERNSTALBRECHT STIEBLER’s 85th birthday with exclusive reworks of compositions by the German miminalist composer.

ERNSTALBRECHT STIEBLER (born march 29th 1934) is one of the first German composers involved with minimalism and ranks among the pioneers of reductive, repetitive, sound-oriented music. Although honored with several prizes (e.g. the “Bach-Preis der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg”), up to the current day only true connoisseurs of contemporary music are familiar with his oeuvre. On the occasion of his 85th anniversary this year, KARLRECORDS launches a series of albums with original pieces by STIEBLER who besides his compositional work served as director for new music at Hessischer Rundfunk for over 25 years (where he supervised recordings of MORTON FELDMAN, JOHN CAGE, ALVIN LUCIER, GIACINTO SCELSI a.o.) and published numerous essays in Musik-Konzepte, MusikTexte and other music journals. The new STIEBLER series, however, kicks off with “Reworks” – five artists from different musical backgrounds present their approach to and understanding of STIEBLER’s minimalist aesthetics for which he cites “sonority, rhythm, and duration“ as his three principal compositional concerns.

Tracklist & credits:

A1 FRANK BRETSCHNEIDER : Re-Mitteltoene
a re-interpretation of „Mitteltöne“ by Ernstalbrecht Stiebler
recorded 22. and 30.10.2018 in Berlin

A2 BÉRANGÈRE MAXIMIN : Innocence (for and after Ernstalbrecht Stiebler)
rework composed and mixed by B.M. at Home Sweet Home Studio, Paris, 2019.

B1 JASMINE GUFFOND : Remix Algorithm
recorded and produced by Jasmine Guffond and her MaxMSP patch, 2018

B2 PHONOSPHERE : Mit der Zeit im Atem schwebend
mixed by Werner Durand & Jens Strüver
at Haveli Studio, Berlin, fall 2018

B3 KAMMERFLIMMER KOLLEKTIEF : Morendo
Ernstalbrecht Stiebler, Sehr Langsam (2005 – 2006), Bozzini Quartet
expanded and edited by Thomas Weber
Studio Kinda Cloudy, Karlsruhe, december 2018
synthesizer: Heike Aumüller
drums: Christopher Brunner
double bass: Johannes Frisch 

mastered & cut by Rashad Becker at D&M, Berlin
cover photo by Thomas Herbst
layout & design by kaidoh

BRIAN HARNETTY – Shawnee, Ohio

Format: DVD-size digipak CD + 20pp booklet / download

Release date: april 26th 2019

“Shawnee, Ohio”, the first album by sonic ethnographer BRIAN HARNETTY on Karl, is an intriguing blend of archive recordings of interviews with residents of that small town and melancholic chamber-folk, performed by his ensemble which features a.o. ANNA ROBERTS-GEVALT (ANNA AND ELIZABETH) and PAUL DE JONG (THE BOOKS).

BRIAN HARNETTY (b. 1973) is an interdisciplinary artist working between music composition, sound, and socially engaged art. Rooted in sound archives and the communities connected to them, his body of work contends that the simple act of listening –– to people, places, and their pasts –– can transform our futures.
Both a 2018 A Blade of Grass Fellow for Contemplative Practice and a recipient of the 2016 Creative Capital Performing Arts Award, HARNETTY is deeply involved with local issues of Appalachia and the Midwest. He connects sound archives with performance, ecology, and place – an approach for which he was labelled a “sonic ethnographer”. Many of his pieces transform archival material –– including field recordings, transcriptions, and historic recordings –– into newly re-contextualized sound collages. For more than a decade, this has led to projects with archives such as the Berea College Appalachian Sound Archives in Kentucky, the Sun Ra / El Saturn Archives in Chicago, and the Anne Grimes Collection in the Library of Congress. HARNETTY has released four internationally acclaimed albums: “American Winter” (2007), “Silent City” (2009), “The Star-Faced One” (2013, MOJO Magazine’s Underground Album of the Year!), and “Rawhead & Bloodybones” (2015) on Dust-to-Digital, Atavistic, and Scioto Records, and collaborated with reputated musicians like WILL OLDHAM, ANNA ROBERTS-GEVALT (ANNA & ELIZABETH), FRED LONBERG-HOLM, and PAUL DE JONG (THE BOOKS).

In the words of BRIAN HARNETTY himself:

„Shawnee, Ohio“ is a sonic portrait––past and present, real and imagined––of a small Appalachian town in the United States. Shawnee emerged as a coal mining town in the 1870s. A century of decline forced businesses and people to leave, and today local residents fight to hold their buildings and community up amid a new “fracking” boom. Despite an uncertain future, these residents continue to work for environmental, economic, and cultural enrichment. Since 2010, I have been visiting and working in Shawnee. I have also been retracing the footsteps of my family, who immigrated there as Welsh coal miners in the nineteenth century.
“Shawnee, Ohio” focuses on eleven portraits of local residents recounting their lives, work, friendships, and deeds. They talk and sing of mining, disasters, underground fires, social life, protest, and hope. They include women and men, are black and white, and are across generations and centuries. Working directly with community members, I use archival samples of their voices and weave them together with my own ensemble, which features PAUL DE JONG (THE BOOKS) and ANNA ROBERTS-GEVALT (ANNA AND ELIZABETH). Past and present are tangled together in a haunting world of music, stories, and images.“ 

AROVANE + PORYA HATAMI – C.H.R.O.N.O.S.

Format: 180gr LP / download

Release date: april 26th 2019

On “C.H.R.O.N.O.S”, their 3rd album on KARL, AROVANE and PORYA HATAMI deliver five delicate ambient pieces, rich in textures and zen-like atmospheres.

After “Organism” (2017) and the musique concrete influenced “Organism_evolution” (2018) UWE ZAHN alias AROVANE and PORYA HATAMI continue their sonic explorations with “C.H.R.O.N.O.S.”, the fifth collaborational album by the German electronic producer and the Iranian sound artist. While the duo’s last album was a collection of 23 mostly short tracks, each an acribic examination of sounds that treated by techniques like modular synthesis, granular synthesis, spectral processing, granular synthesis, resynthesis and resonator / modal synthesis, ““C.H.R.O.N.O.S.” consists of five longer compositions that focus on creating a contemplative, zen-like atmosphere of subtle beauty. Rich in details, carefully sound-designed, AROVANE and PORYA HATAMI prove once more their top notch skills when it’s about creating state of the art contemporary ambient.

Quotes on previous albums:

# Organism (2017)

“an album of fleet, subtle beauty.” The Wire

“some of the subtlest, elusive material in either’s catalogue.” Boomkat

“a dark, mysterious, but extremely detailed sound – as alive and moving as nature’s finest organisms.” Ambientblog.net

# Organism_evolution (2018)

“Hypnotique.“ Silenceandsound.me

“a soulful high flight, as meaningful as the best works of Biosphere or Oval” Musiquemachine.com