The 60-inch (“Mikrophonie”) tam-tam is a large piece of metal, a proto-sculpture. Brancusi might have altered it: rounding and tapering the edges, making an oval instead of a circle, polishing the surface into smooth gold.

The tam-tam is also a vast sound landscape-an instrument that makes noise at the slightest provocation. A resonance is created just in the act of walking past the instrument or breathing on it … that is, if your ear (or a microphone) is close enough to hear it. Wherever it is touched with a bow or a hand, it responds with chaotic, unpredictable complexity, never producing the same sound twice.

I have attempted to work within the givens of this landscape, to allow some of its implicit contours to reveal themselves-by collecting sounds, giving them a duration, putting them into a clear structure, and cutting a path through them with pure tones.

Sleeping Muse is something like a four-part chorale of bowed sounds, with a melody made up of long sine tones buried in the sounds.The Endless Column is a collection of sixty extremely light, close recorded strikes, randomly ordered, but with a rising scale of sine tones mixed in, more or less within the central frequency range of the tam-tam (from 50 to 671 hz).

Sculpture for the Blind arranges eight layers of bowed sounds (which are then released) along a pattern of lengthening durations and combined with a sine tone trio, again woven into the sounds of the tam-tam.

Hearing Metal 1 is the product of close collaboration between composer and performer. The piece evolved as Greg made test recordings based on my suggestions and then sent them to me. As it happened we feel we fell into its world, in order to move it slightly towards our own.

Michael Pisaro

Yellow6 · Rothko · Landing - New Found Land

Yellow6/Rothko/Landing – New Found Land

(Music Fellowship)

New Found Land is part of a series of split CDs the Music Fellowship will be releasing. The idea is to take three different, but complementary, bands and give them each approximately twenty minutes a piece. The three bands chosen for this CD, first of all, are three of the best bands working today and are also perfectly matched.

The album starts with Yellow6′s “Marble#1,” which is a classic Yellow6 moment with delicately picked guitars supported by rich, but also somewhat cold drones. Yellow6′s music is soothing, but also unsettling, which is why it remains interesting in spite of the fact that the music maintains a remarkable consistency in tone. This music also feels like the realization or culmination of what Yellow6 has done up to this point, the newer Yellow6 heading into a somewhat different direction.

The five Yellow6 tracks are followed by Rothko’s “Halftones and Metatones,” which seem to deconstruct Yellow6′s section of the album to the bare essentials. Initially, the fact that the Rothko tracks were mostly abstract bass drones was somewhat disappointing since I am such a fan of the more melodic side of Rothko. Eventually, however, I was seduced by the warmth of his compositions. There is a depth to the writing that goes so far beyond an experimental exploration. The tones weave in and out through the faintest hint of melody so delicately, which gives the songs a sort of graceful majesty.

The Landing section begins with “Introduction To Clouds” (which some may recognize from their live shows) the sleepy haziness of which is directly contrasted by the straightforwardness of the next track, “Disappear.” This straightforwardness is deceptive, however, and as the delay builds “Dissapear” begins to disintegrate into drone—at which point the drums drop out and a guitar melody surfaces through the drone eventually overtaking the song. This is easily one of Landing’s best songs—a near perfect blending of the poppy and the abstract. Landing seem to have perfected (as seen on their album Seasons) the balance of the pop and the experimental, and these songs are excellent examples of that balance.

New Found Land achieves something that is rare in split releases: unity. Although there are three different bands, they are so well matched it still works as an album and doesn’t feel like a compilation. This, to me, is the strength of the release, it doesn’t neglect the album as a whole and the result is what, I’m confident will be one of the best releases of the year.

Don’t leave earth without this album!

12k Records

12k is an independent record label, based in Pound Ridge, New York, USA. It was founded on January 1, 1997 by Taylor Deupree. The label focuses on experimental electronic music, specifically on digital minimalism and contemporary forms; as of January 2007, it has released over 40 CDs and become one of the most respected experimental electronic labels in the world.

Line is a division of 12k: documenting compositional and installation work by international sound artists exploring the aesthetics of contemporary digital minimalism.

Happy is a division of 12k records, Taylor Deupree´s label. Now defunct. In early 2008 Taylor Deupree wrote in his blog that there’s no reason to have two separate labels as Happy’s sound merged with that of 12k.

The sublabel term. was founded in 2000 in the form of a netlabel, featuring MP3-only releases, available free of charge.

Taylor Deupree:

Taylor Deupree

Taylor Deupree (b. 1971) is a sound artist, graphic designer, and photographer residing in New York. On January 1st, 1997, he founded 12k, a record label that focuses on minimalism and contemporary musical forms. In 12k’s 10 years of existence Deupree has released over 40 CDs by a roster of international sound artists and has developed 12k into one of the most respected experimental electronic labels in the world.

In September 2000, Deupree and sound artist Richard Chartier formed LINE, a sublabel of 12k that curates its continuing documentation of compositional and installation work by composers exploring the aesthetics of contemporary and digital minimalism. In January 2002 (as a celebration of 12k’s fifth anniversary) Deupree launched term., an online series of MP3 releases.

While 12k’s emphasis lies not only in sound but also on design and presentation, term. exists entirely in the digital domain with no physical object or package. In September, 2003, Deupree started a 3rd record label called Happy to promote unconventional japanese pop. Happy was born from Deupree’s interest in Japanese pop and the fact that it is quite unknown outside of Japan.

Since 1993 Deupree has created critically acclaimed recordings for labels worldwide including Spekk, Plop, Noble (Japan), Ritornell/Mille Plateaux, Raster-Noton, Disko B (Germany), Sub Rosa (Belgium), Audio.NL (Netherlands), Room40 (Australia), Instinct Records, Caipirinha Music, Plastic City (USA), Dum (Finland), and of course 12k and LINE, among others. In January 1999, Deupree currated a compilation for New York’s Caipirinha Music label that he titled Microscopic Sound’s This release was among the first to gather together artists of this style and helped put a name to a then-rising genre of electronic music.

His solo works in recent years have explored a fusion of digital sound manipulation with organic and melodic textures that take influences from his interest in architecture, interior design, and photography. Themes of minimalism, stillness, atmosphere, nature, and imperfection prevade throughout his work . An intense passion for recording and studio technology creates a strong technological backdrop for all of his compositions.

Collaboration with other musicians is also a very important aspect of Deupree’s work. Working with other artists is a way to not only create unique works beyond his solo recordings but to also expand his own techniques and processes as a learning experience. Over record years he has collaborated with a wide variety of artists such as Christopher Willits (US, guitar), Kenneth Kirschner (US, Piano), Eisi (Japan, 3-piece acoustic ambient-rock band), Tetsu Inoue (US, sound artist), Frank Bretschneider (Germany, sound artist), and Richard Chartier (US, sound artist). Deupree feels the importance of collaborative work is to not layer two individual styles but to create a 3rd, fusion sound that incorporates the strengths of each collaborator yet sounds like a unique, 3rd identity.

Deupree continues to evolve his sound and approaches each project with a new direction and different process. Continued shifting and sound exploration is vital to his work. He has many recording and remixing accomplishments and a substantial, varied, discography formed over 14 years. His design and photography work has appeared on dozens of projects and record labels around the world and published in a number of books in Japan and the UK.