CD preorder and digital album are now available on Bandcamp and here on this website. (CD release date: October 3, 2021)
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Happy to reveal the final cover designs of the upcoming three new elsewhere titles, to be released in late September. CD preorders will start on Bandcamp and the elsewhere site in early September. Michael Pisaro-Liu - Tombstones (performed by Barbara Dang and Muzzix) (elsewhere 017) Tombstones is a collection of twenty songs composed by American composer Michael Pisaro-Liu between 2006 and 2010, journeying into experimental pop with pieces that are "experimental or indeterminate but still a song". Eleven of the songs were previously released on vinyl from Human Ear Music in 2012 (and on CD in 2013), with an ensemble of nine musicians including Julia Holter, Lisa Tolentino, Laura Steenberge, Tashi Wada and Cassia Streb. This disc features the same eleven songs under the artistic direction of the Lille-based pianist Barbara Dang. Dang and six members of the Muzzix collective (Yoann Bellefont, Ivann Cruz, Raphaël Godeau, Peter Orins, Christian Pruvost, Maryline Pruvost) recorded the pieces in June 2020, with Maryline Pruvost as the primary vocalist. While the 2013 ‘Tombstones’ release on Human Ear Music featured four different singers, and had experimental, impromptu arrangements, this new realization, with one main singer (Maryline Pruvost), is poetically nuanced, ethereal, pop-influenced chamber music. Mastered by Michael Pisaro-Liu. The cover painting was created by Athens-based painter Maria Filippakopoulou. Jordan Dykstra / Koen Nutters - In Better Shape Than You Found Me (elsewhere 018) In Better Shape Than You Found Me is a one-hour piece jointly composed and realized by American composer/violist Jordan Dykstra and Dutch composer/musician Koen Nutters in the year 2020. Dykstra plays viola, pitch pipe, crotales, piano EBow, electronic programming, field recordings, and Nutters delivers the piano programming and field recordings. The two bring together their sounds and structures in very organic ways, merging into a single, intriguing sound world. Mastered by Taku Unami, photography by David Sylvian. Guy Vandromme - Bruno Duplant: l'infini des possibles (12 études pour piano) (elsewhere 019-2)
l'infini des possibles is a set of twelve studies for solo piano, written by French composer Bruno Duplant in 2019. The score consists of lowercase letters (a, b, c, d, e, f, g) and spaces in between, which leaves the pianist an openness for interpretation and artistic determinations. The Belgian pianist/conductor Guy Vandromme intensely studied these 12 pieces via in-depth discussions with Duplant over two years, and realized them for this recording of a double CD in the spring of 2021, on a Steinway & Son C-Grand from 1896 at his home studio in Messelbroek. Mixed, mastered, cover art by Bruno Duplant. Hello, In order to help finance our upcoming release projects for this fall and next spring, we are going to offer 20% off everything on elsewhere, Erstwhile, Gravity Wave until August 31, both physical CDs and digital files. (promo code: 2021) You can get the discount deal both on this elsewhere website and the Erstwhile website, as well as our Bandcamp pages as below. (promo code: 2021) elsewheremusic.bandcamp.com erstwhilerecords.bandcamp.com michaelpisaro.bandcamp.com We are also offering some other good deals for all three labels we run, as well as the other labels we stock, via direct order at erstrecs(at)gmail.com including "10 for $70 (plus shipping) from selected 66 Erst single CDs" (see the photo below) and "Buy 5, Get 2 free" deals that we accept direct order. See the details here: www.erstwhilerecords.com/news We appreciate your very kind support of our labels, past and future, and hope you will be able to take advantage of one of these discount deals. It has been a very difficult time in two years everywhere in the world, and the challenging times are still continuing, but we hope you are all healthy and safe. Thanks for looking and hopefully participating! For European customers: Corticalart (ex Metamkine) has the two latest elsewhere CDs and most of the label's catalog in stock now!
www.corticalart.com/editeurlabel/elsewhere-us/ Two new elsewhere CDs are officially released today!
Anastassis Philippakopoulos / Jürg Frey - wind and light (elsewhere 015) Melaine Dalibert - night blossoms (elsewhere 016) CDs and digital albums are availavle at: elsewheremusic.bandcamp.com www.elsewheremusic.net/cd.html *For European customers, Soundohm will have the new CDs in stock by the end of June or early July. https://www.soundohm.com/label/elsewhere Happy to announce three of the upcoming releases to be out in autumn 2021. Michael Pisaro-Liu - Tombstones (performed by Barbara Dang and Muzzix - Peter Orins, Raphaël Godeau, Maryline Pruvost, Yoann Bellefont, Ivann Cruz, Christian Pruvost) (elsewhere 017) Tombstones is a collection of twenty songs composed by American composer Michael Pisaro-Liu between 2006 and 2010, journeying into experimental-pop with pieces that are "experimental or indeterminate but still a song". Eleven of the songs were previously released on vinyl from Human Ear Music in 2012 (and on CD in 2013), with an ensemble of nine musicians including Julia Holter, Lisa Tolentino, Laura Steenberge, Tashi Wada and Cassia Streb. This disc features the same eleven songs under the artistic direction of the Lille-based pianist Barbara Dang. Dang and six members of the Muzzix collective (Yoann Bellefont, Ivann Cruz, Raphaël Godeau, Peter Orins, Maryline Pruvost, Christian Pruvost) recorded the pieces in June 2020, with Maryline Pruvost as the primary vocalist. Jordan Dykstra / Koen Nutters - In Better Shape Than You Found Me (elsewhere 018) In Better Shape Than You Found Me is a one-hour-long piece co-composed by American composer/violist Jordan Dykstra and Dutch composer/musician Koen Nutters in 2020, performed and recorded by themselves (Dykstra on viola, pitch pipe, crotales, piano EBow, electronic programming, field recordings, and Nutters on piano programming, field recordings), and edited by Dykstra. Bruno Duplant - l'infini des possibles (12 études pour piano) (piano by Guy Vandromme) (elsewhere 019-2)
l'infini des possibles is a set of twelve studies for solo piano written by French composer Bruno Duplant in 2019. The score consists of lowercase letters (a, b, c, d, e, f, g) and spaces in between, which leaves the pianist an openness for interpretation and artistic determinations. The Belgian pianist/conductor Guy Vandromme had earnestly studied these 12 pieces via in-depth discussions with Duplant over two years, and realized them into this recording for a double CD in the spring of 2021, on a Steinway & Son C-Grand from 1896 at his home studio. Happy to reveal the final cover design of Melaine Dalibert - night blossoms (elsewhere 016) to be released in mid-June. 'night blossoms' consists of French composer/pianist Melaine Dalibert's six new algorithmic compositions from 2019-2021, including two pieces 'Yin' and 'Yang' to which David Sylvian contributed his sound work as well as his artwork on the cover. CD preorders are available on Bandcamp and the elsewhere site. Happy to reveal the final cover design of Anastassis Philippakopoulos / Jürg Frey - wind and light (elsewhere 015) to be released in mid-June. ‘wind and light’ is Greek composer Anastassis Philippakopoulos' second album on elsewhere music, consisting of his four solo clarinet pieces and three solo piano pieces. The clarinet pieces were performed by Swiss composer/clarinetist Jürg Frey, and the piano pieces were performed by Philippakopoulos himself, both recorded in Athens. Cover painting by Maria Filippakopoulou. 'wind and light' is dedicated to Antoine Beuger. CD preorders are available on Bandcamp and the elsewhere site. Michael Pisaro-Liu talked about his composition 'Barricades' (elsewhere 009) written for Shira Legmann (piano), in his interview with Håkon Stene in the Episode 6 of Soundmaking Podcast.
https://soundcloud.com/soundmaking_podcast/episode-6-pisaro-liu-f-barricades Hello,
After having my label elsewhere's catalog on streaming platforms for one year, I decided to pull the entire catalog (except a few exceptions) from streaming. I put the elsewhere catalog onto streaming platforms last year since some of the musicians on my label wanted that. They thought that this visibility was crucial for them to be invited to festivals or to get grants or awards, etc. I wanted to support these musicians and also I myself was rather optimistic about streaming then, which I thought could bring positive effects on my label and musicians through wider recognition. It might actually be true in some ways, but I think that the reality was much more harmful to a small (and relatively new) label like ours than I expected. The CD/digital sales of my label's catalog drastically dropped as soon as they appeared on streaming (especially the recent releases in 2020 which went streaming right after the release time.) Meanwhile, we've been getting a good amount of CD/digital orders for the latest two elsewhere releases (which are not on streaming) as well as our Erstwhile CDs (which are also not on streaming) throughout the year, so I don't think the drop in the CD sales was so connected to the pandemic time. I've been observing this phenomenon over the year, and it was quite depressing for me to see how streaming hurts a small label, especially since we pour our intense effort and time into each production to pursue the best possible results both in music and packaging. If my label had a much longer history with a more established fan base with over 100 titles on the catalog, probably streaming might not have hurt us as much as it did. I should've predicted this outcome from the very beginning. Thankfully, most of the musicians on my label have similar views as mine regarding streaming and are happy with this decision. Each release is different, though, and I may keep a few titles on streaming. Everything else has been pulled from all the streaming platforms this week except Bandcamp. Bandcamp is the only sincere platform that I feel truly cares about artists and labels instead of exploiting them (like Spotify), so I am happy that I can support Bandcamp as the sole streaming platform for my label from now on. For me, it is pretty depressing to know that festival organizers and grant committees these days are depending on such a shallow criterion to judge artists' values, casually checking out the artist's popularity on Spotify to decide who they want to invite or give grants, without caring about the poor sound quality of Spotify which is like watered-down cheap drinks rather than real music, instead of trying to check out more serious media like CDs or lossless digital at least. Maybe they are just too busy, but it's just laziness to me, lack of respect for music and art, giving priority to their own convenience without fully realizing that they are supporting a vicious cycle. Such a system is mainly based on strategy and politics on both organizer's and musician's ends, which to me doesn't feel so genuine from an artistic viewpoint. But sadly, this must be the reality that many musicians have to inhabit these days if they seek recognition. Jon and I may live in a different world from the majority, but we are proud of caring about the value of physical products that we can hold in our hands, which give us great satisfaction both visually and sonically. I am sorry if you are a streaming fan who enjoyed the elsewhere titles on streaming. But I had to make this decision to save my label's future, to keep elsewhere afloat without going out of business. I hope you will be able to understand that. In the meantime, the positive news is that we are now working on some exciting new projects for upcoming releases. They will not appear on streaming but hope you will enjoy them as CDs or digital albums. Thanks so much for reading this, and for your kind support for my label. Take care and stay safe to you all. - Yuko |
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