“Conceived as the overture to my setting of part two of Kathleen Johnson’s text Brainchild for voice, electronics, and chamber group, the interactions of narrative suggestion, musical reference and personal meditation, despite any attempt to qualify them as an experience of listening, are exposed and left to the sensations of the listener to be deciphered. Like the character Brainchild, the music here weighs the implications of full disclosure and total knowledge against the security of hidden memory and factious representation. This overture is an attempt to evoke a world that reveals as much as it obscures through both prescience and pure discovery and exists between the two in a state of constant flux. The complete setting is intended for premiere in the fall of 2012.”
• Gregory Lenczycki (Los Angeles 2012)
Kathleen Johnson describes the project as follows:
“Brainchild is my nine-part, nine-year fiction based project. For each part, I am working with a different guest composer who will create a choral piece, setting my text to music. Several years from now, when all nine parts of the story have been written and performed, I plan to publish the text in book form, along with the accompanying scores, performance documentation and ephemera. The project is essentially a sci-fi inspired story about a girl named Brainchild who stumbles upon the abandoned structures of an ancient, presumably space-faring race. As she explores the ruin, Brainchild begins to realize that she is somehow connected to this race, that she is possibly a descendent. She struggles with whether she should reveal to the world what she has discovered, or whether she should instead keep her knowledge of this site and the ancient race secret in order to protect them. The story to date is about Brainchild slowly coming to terms with the fact that she is part of something much larger than herself.”
Special thanks to Xopher Davidson
Mastered by Mixture 151 (Castro Valley, CA)
“Carillon Air” is an amalgam of musique concrète, melody & whimsy all filtered thru Fennel’s unique sonic lens.
We’ve done a bit of housecleaning here at AoW and upgraded our streaming audio player which is now no longer Flash-based. Meaning: all our streaming audio files are HTML5 compatible & playable on your iPhone or iPad! Enjoy.
On Friday March 9th, AoW was the featured net label in focus on the “Fractal Meat on a Spongy Bone” radio show (NTS Radio) in the UK. The show highlighted AoW releases from: Jason Kahn, Sarah J. Ritch & Katherine Young. Special thanks to Graham Dunning for his support of Absence of Wax!
“Sleep Might Make Waiting Horses” is a hypnotic, cascading drone loop from London-based composer Ben Barrett.
Disquiet.com features “The Existence of The Light Part III” by Sol Rezza.
“All of our senses are a variety of touch. Therefore, since our soul cannot leave our inner self to go and touch the external objects, it needs for this objects to come and touch our soul, passing through our senses.”
“The Existence of The Light Part III” by sound artist Sol Rezza is part of a larger work which can be downloaded directly from the following website: light.radio-arte.com
Be sure to also check out a video for “The Existence of The Light” on Vimeo:
Absence of Wax is pleased to offer “Sofá Proceso,”a beautiful feedback-laced coda by composer Jonathan Castro.
Disquiet.com features “Recent Errors” by Phil Julian.
UK-based sound artist Phil Julian offers “Recent Errors”, a 20 minute sonic exploration of space, static, tension & release…
Wishing you all a very Happy 2012 on this, the official first year anniversary of AoW! You can look forward to many exciting releases in the months ahead. In the meantime, check out our Soundcloud page for a micro field recording for 1.1.12!
Sarah J. Ritch “16 Days” and Devin Sarno “first-impression” have been listed on the Acts of Silence “100 Notable Netlabel Releases of 2011” list…
As we approach the close of 2011, i wanted to reflect on this inaugural year at Absence of Wax, which has honestly been the one of the most rewarding and exciting creative endeavors i’ve had the pleasure of working on in quite some time. This is due in large part to some truly heart warming & altogether inspiring support from a host of musicians from all corners of the globe: California, New York, Minnesota, Maryland, Washington State, Illinois, Japan, Spain, Canada and Switzerland.
With this support, AoW managed over 20 digital track releases in 12 months, as well as an uber limited edition compilation CD that featured individual hand painted covers (from Britt Randle) & exclusive, one-of-a-kind polaroid photographs (from Claire Marie Vogel). *All proceeds from the sale of these CDs was donated to Creative Commons and the Internet Archive.
As the months have passed, the website’s visitor counts have grown and i’ve been incredibly encouraged by the kind words and general willingness from artists to participate in what i hope will continue to grow into a useful (and FREE) online resource for experimental sound.
It was my conscious intent to release at least one piece of music each month for this first year in an effort to establish the overall framework and tone of AoW. And while the release flow may or may not be quite as regular as that moving forward, you can be assured that my commitment & passion remains as steady.
In closing, just a reminder that this resource is completely and utterly a reflection of the vast experimental music community….so please feel free to reach out to me with any submissions and/or suggestions, as Absence of Wax would not exist without them.
Finally, if you are so inclined, feel free to donate via Pay Pal or purchase one of our t shirts as all revenue goes straight back into covering our hosting costs & is also donated to the organizations previously listed.
Sincere Thanks for everyone’s support!
“Structure For Mies” by composer John P. Hastings is a digital drone, with field recordings, based around the architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Hastings utilized a recording from the plaza of the Seagram Building in Manhattan and slowly orchestrated a drone using the proportions of that building and mapping it onto the overtone series. The resulting sonics create almost an aural edifice or structure.
Artwork by: Milligram-Office
Check out this review of Nobuto Suda “Day When Spirits of the Dead’s Wrap You and Me” at Disquiet.com.
Absence of Wax is supremely honored to present an E.P.’s worth of exclusive material from ZFCL. “životní vize” is comprised of 5 works, which is our weightiest offering yet (2 songs are streaming below). In addition, as a visual accompaniment to this E.P., is a teaser/trailer for a feature film coming from AoW in early 2012. (This trailer can also be viewed on the official AoW Vimeo page.)
Full 5 song EP is available as Download:
Download
Kyoto-based sound artist Nobuto Suda offers an immersive, meditative drone with “Day when spirits of the dead’s wraps you and me.”
Disquiet.com reviews “Portal #0″ by Soundmutations.
Absence of Wax is pleased to present the micro sound piece “Portal #0″ from Soundmutations.
Composed by Katherine Young.
Performed by Dan Peck (tuba) & Emily Manzo (Wurlitzer).
Recorded & mixed by Keith Parker & Katherine Young (2010).
