remembering George Harrison

ANDREAS BRANDAL, “Minus” (3″-cdr) now available

ANDREAS BRANDAL

“Minus” (KSE #179)

3″ cdr (hand-assembled, hand-numbered edition of 70 copies)

$5 ppd. anywhere, via paypal to django5722(at)yahoo(dot)com

KSE is proud to present a new 19-minute work in four parts from Norway’s ANDREAS BRANDAL, one of the most respected composers/sound designers on the international drone/harshnoise/ambient/electroacoustic music scene. Also working under the monikers Flesh Coffin, Lupus Golem, and Hour of the Wolf,  Mr. Brandal has issued dozens of albums on labels around the globe, two of my own favorites being “For Einer Nielsen” (on Dumpster Score) and “The Familiar Stranger” (on Small Doses).

Recorded especially for KSE, MINUS’s four drones are deep and cavernous, full of molten flow and swirling pools, but with lots of room to breathe, and having a three-dimensional quality because of percussion textures (of wood, of metal, of porcelain) which seem to occupy the foreground of each audio landscape. The listener can create his/her own mental images while bathing in the audio heavy-water—I imagine abandoned nuclear reactors, sandy winds blowing civilization’s junk across a desert, underground rivers of chemical waste, meditation in the midst of a strip-mining operation. MINUS doesn’t sound especially like any other Brandal release, showing again what a eclectic talent he is, always juxtaposing new elements, always creating new and different sound environments. Mr. Brandal will have copies available in a few weeks to sell at his European performances, but until then, and for those not lucky enough to catch him live, MINUS is available RIGHT NOW from KSE for $5 ppd. anywhere. Just paypal funds to django5722(at)yahoo(dot)com, and also drop us an e-mail to tell us you’ve ordered if you don’t mind.

KSE also has other recent mini-CDR releases available for $5 each:

#178 (3-inch CDR), RAMBUTAN, “Age of None.”

#176 (3-inch CDR), OPHIBRE, “St. Asphalt (Patron Saint of Army Ants).”

#170 (3-inch CDR). DEREK ROGERS, “Circum_Navigate.”

And we also have many chapbooks of contemporary poetry available…check the “AVAILABLE KSE CHAPBOOKS/CDR’s” page to your upper left.

We have had 175+ releases in just under five years, issued from here in San Antonio, Texas, but representing the work of artists from around the world.  Check the blog every week or two for new updates and info. Right now, however, score a copy of our new ANDREAS BRANDAL and RAMBUTAN mini cdr’s. Each is a limited edition of 70 numbered copies.

As always, thanks for your support of independent artists and small-presses and small-labels. KSE is in active opposition to the phony, laughable  “alternative” literary community and its butt-licking cliques (no one will ever be nominated for a meaningless “Pushcart Prize” by this publisher!), but we extend a hand of friendship to the independent, non-aligned small publisher who isn’t playing games.  Seek alliances, not followers! Our musical half has been getting great response, and we have a number of great releases planned for the coming months: full-length CDR’s of new material from the legendary German free-jazz pioneer ALFRED 23 HARTH (December 2010) and the premiere of a major new composition from Austin, TX-based composer-percussionist (and Weird Weeds member) NICK HENNIES (March 2011), along with a number of 3″ cdr’s at intervals along the way. Stay tuned…

JANDEK, “Toronto Sunday” 2-cd set (Corwood 0803)

JANDEK

“Toronto Sunday”

2-cd set, Corwood 0803

$12 US/$13 elsewhere

ordering info from www.corwoodindustries.com

Jandek: vocals, Korg synths

Nilan Perera (electric and acoustic guitars)

Rob Clutton (double bass)

Nick Fraser (percussion)

recorded 17 September 2006, Toronto, Ontario

The 2006 concert w/ Jandek on Korg synths, presumably the same show documented in the DUALITY OF SELF film. The Rep’s synth playing somewhat resembles his piano: wandering, haunting, a bit melancholy. The lyrics are poetic phenomenological observations w/ occasional Beckett-like questioning of existence and the nature of reality.

The mostly-spoken lyrics deal with “duality of self,” with a HE / I dichotomy, with deep existential concerns. The persona in the lyrics seems to have gone through some traumatic life event…perhaps surgery or a serious illness or accident (I’ve just listened to the album once and have no lyric printout)…and is wondering where he is/what he is/if he is. It’s as though there is a dialogue of sorts going on…despair and hope, life and death, lingering on the past and heading toward the future…and the synth work seems to echo/complement that dichotomy, that “duality of self.”

There has always been an important spiritual element to Jandek’s work. Once, when I had an opportunity to ask the Rep a question, I asked him about that, telling him that I really felt a sense of spiritual longing and a promise of spiritual joy in his lyrics, and he seemed happy that someone picked up on this aspect of his work and confirmed that those issues are important to him and to his work.

As I’m about 40 minutes into this album, it dawns on me what a “heavy” and important work this is. There is a somber undertone to a lot of the music, and Jandek is hitting the listener in the face with these life/death/meaning of life issues, and although much of the vocal is in the spoken-word vein, he fully inhabits the persona through which he is speaking, and the sense of discovery that the character is feeling comes through quite clear…and the qualities of fear and of yearning come through clearly also.

The trio backing Jandek are quite subtle and add a lot of shading and texture to the proceedings….the percussionist often functions the way Barry Altschul would when playing with pianist Paul Bley on a slow, languid piece, and the string playing of the bassist adds a human warmth and a chamber-music quality in sections. What an evening this must have been…I can’t wait for the film/video version of this show.

There’s no BS, no posing with a Jandek release (or concert), and how refreshing that is in this age (in the poetry world, that is, the world in which I work) of attitude over substance, of posing over content, of casual sloppiness over experiments in form and function. Simple packaging and presentation, 100% original and honest and unexpected content, completely UNRELIANT on anyone else’s work or aesthetic. What a privilege to experience this special, deeply meaningful and heartfelt performance. It’s an honor to live in a world where someone like Jandek releases albums like this…although it’s a shame that this music, which is actually VERY accessible, will reach hundreds or a few thousands instead of a wide audience.

An album I’ll treasure as long as I can hear, and which I’d remember vividly even if I lost my hearing.  A beautiful, essential release!!!

Get that check off to Corwood Industries today.

San Antonio Sky Songs spoken-word cdr reviewed at Volcanic Tongue

 

Bill Shute
San Antonio Sky Songs
Kendra Steiner Editions #171
CD-R
£6.99

First-ever full album of readings from Texan poet/critic Bill Shute, whose Kendra Steiner Editions has done more for living, breathing POETRY than any number of godforsaken writers workshops or poetry ‘slams’ over the past few years. Shute writes and champions poetry that is birthed in the gut as much as the brain and that comes out of the reality of lives lived more than banal academia or creative writing classes. Over the past five years or so he has written and published more than any other poet/writer I can think of, and when the time comes to take the temperature of samizdat post-Beat publishing, Kendra Steiner/Bill Shute will be one of the central players. This collection of readings, recorded in Austin Texas in July 2010 by Derek Rogers, covers material published between 2006-2009. Shute has a great voice and it’s a blast to listen to these poems that you know so well and hear the way the rhythm and pacing leaps off the page, adding a whole new level of visualisation to his already highly place/time specific writings. This one features “Four Texas Streams” (an early favourite), “Emergency”, “Pebbles, Screens, And Trombones”, “Acres”, “Suspension”, “Boss Man”, “Shore Access” and “Silhouettes”. Highly recommended!  

(David Keenan, Glasgow, Scotland—–2 October 2010)

Europe: 0rder from Volcanic Tongue (www.volcanictongue.co.uk)

cdr available in North America for $7 ppd. paypal to django5722(at)yahoo(dot)com.