10-20 2010
December 30, 2010
A series of single-track, 10-to-20 minute MP3 releases originally unleashed throughout 2010. The tracks are mostly rough mixes, out-takes, live jams and other loose ends too intriguing to be left on the cutting room floor. The MP3s are high-quality but most of the tracks have not been professionally mastered.
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TOP FIVE MOST DOWNLOADED
VOLUME 12: Fieldhead – “reference line” (CSAF125DL) 10:00
From Last FM: “Fieldhead is P. Elam (formerly a resident of Leeds, UK, currently a resident of Vancouver, BC). Since 2008 he has produced ambient/electronic music that delights in tape hiss, geography, bleak landscapes and decaying analogue loops. He is also a full time member of Hood side project The Declining Winter and a part time member of Glissando’s Fleeting Glimpse Ensemble.” And according to the man himself: “‘reference line’ is a minimal, studio version of an improvised piece performed with Ora Cogan at Fake Jazz in Vancouver on September 1st 2010. As no recording was made of the performance, a recreation was made from memory.”
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VOLUME 5: r3vR3nd R-50n15X5 – “Untitled Live Improvisation Winter 2009” (CSAF118DL) 19:02
This track (sort of) documents a one-off improv meeting between Cregan Black, Gary McKendry and Richie Reynolds – all original members of Belfast dream-pop innovators Papa Sprain. The session produced a trippy free rock excursion that is bound to appeal to fans of both Papa Sprain’s song-based early work and the band’s more abstract late-period sound.
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VOLUME 8: Esperik Glare – “Frightful Telekinesis” (CSAF121DL) 10:01
A real psychedelic nightmare from Wyoming’s Charlie Martineau aka Esperik Glare. This might just be his most accomplished and affecting audio collage to date. It will definitely appeal to fans of Nurse with Wound.
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VOLUME 11: Not Me – “ntm (One Pad Mix)” (CSAF124DL) 14:55
A hypnotic dub-techno epic. Recorded live in one take, using a half-finished Max/MSP patch, with only minimal post-production. All glitches are… if not exactly intentional, certainly welcome. Produced by connect_icut.
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VOLUME 13: hmbkr – “Radio Majesty” (CSAF126DL) 17:19
Vancouver-based quartet hmbkr features Scant Intone and connect_icut alongside members of coin gutter and the infamous Ejaculation Death Rattle (aka EDR). The hmbkr sound is based around real-time digital signal processing, unconventional tuning systems (specifically, just intonation) and the primal vocal stylings of EDR’s Ross Birdwise. “Radio Majesty” is an edited version of an improvisation performed in private at Vancouver’s VIVO Media Arts Centre. It represents the public’s first opportunity to experience the magic of hmbkr!
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HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
VOLUME 9: Static Kitten & Scant Intone – “Brood” (CSAF122DL) 15:28
This is a particularly exciting release, not only because CSAF is delighted to be putting out a track featuring Vancouver-based digital electronica artist Constantine Katsiris – aka Scant Intone – but also because it is the first MP3 in the 10-20 2010 series to feature its own unique “cover” image (a photograph of the Danube River taken by Constantine). “Brood” is a live recording of a performance Static Kitten and Scant Intone did on June 3rd, 2008, as part of the V’Elak-Gala concert series at Brut Konzerthaus in Vienna, Austria. Special thanks to Peter Kutin.
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VOLUME 10: connect_icut – “Two Rios (Explosive Mix)” (CSAF123DL) 19:16
“Two Rios (Explosive Mix)” is an unedited recording of a rehearsal for connect_icut’s performance at the Vancouver Central Library as part of the Walk in Here/You Are installation. It began life as a purely generative piece, supplied for the installation (which also features audio from Loscil, Magneticring, Kellarissa, Circlesquare, Anju Singh and Brady Cranfield). The piece is very much sample-based and – as such – might be considered a sort of epilogue to Fourier’s Algorithm.
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VOLUME 14: connect_icut – “Garbo Sings” (CSAF127DL) 16:38
Like several of the 10-20 2010 releases, “Garbo Sings” is an outtake from Blonde Sound, a connect_icut album that, at the time of writing, is nearing completion. This one really showcases connect_icut’s increasingly structured approach and it was very, very nearly included on the album’s track-list. In the final analysis, though, it was just too damned epic to be kept within the confines of a mere long player. It had to be set free, online. Seriously, this is 17 minutes of huge!
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VOLUME 15: Not Me – “lss (Example)” (CSAF128DL) 11:04
As 2010 comes to an end, “lss (Example)” points to the future of CSAF, generally and Not Me, specifically. It’s taken from a demos album released to provide guidance to participants in the 2011 12s project, a series of “virtual 12-inch singles” featuring new remixes of Not Me material, from an as-yet-unspecified selection of artists. In and of itself, this is probably the deepest, darkest and most accomplished Not Me track so far, mixing elements of minimal techno, dubstep and glitch.
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VOLUME 16: Old Wyoming – “Your Violent Nature” (CSAF134DL) 11:59
Old Wyoming is the new project from Brad Lynham of Empty Love. “Your Violent Nature” is a truly serious piece of heavyweight analogue drone. Recorded and mixed on December 20th and 21st 2010, in Montreal.
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MORE GREAT STUFF!
VOLUME 1: connect_icut – “GS” (CSAF106DL) 17:10
An abandoned track from Blonde Sound, the current connect_icut album-in-progress, “GS” mixes cosmic synth action with glitchy textures and baffling cultural references.
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VOLUME 2: Not Me – “dbm (Instrumental Demo)” (CSAF107DL) 11:29
An instrumental mix of a track from the forthcoming Not Me album. Hopefully, this will have vocals one day. Interested singers and lyric writers should get in touch via the usual channels.
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VOLUME 3: Gunshae – “The Fires You Ran From” (CSAF110DL) 19:59
Beautifully cinematic track from this long-running Vancouver-based ambient electronica act. “For the creation of this invocation, Gunshae was Kuma, Rowan Lipkovits and Bruce Triggs. Originally recorded in the dark of night, December 4th, 2009, live on Accordion Noir on CFRO, 102.7 FM. Set alight, recovered and reintroduced at the Den Studios, January 2010.”
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VOLUME 4: connect_icut – “Betty & Veronica” (CSAF117DL) 11:25
Another outtake from the ongoing Blonde Sound sessions, this dreamy, melodic, minimalistic epic is basically a greatly expanded version of “Veronica Mars Season Two” from Let’s Hear it for the Vague Blur. Fans of Oren Ambarchi will enjoy this one.
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VOLUME 6: connect_icut – “Chrome Burner Holy Day” (CSAF119DL) 10:31
Another out-take from the Blonde Sound sessions and another demonstration of how rhythm is gradually infiltrating connect_icut music.
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VOLUME 7: Empty Love – “Sinking, Floating, Listlessly” (CSAF120DL) 13:21
Vancouver’s Empty Love drops another slab of his signature heavyweight analogue drone. “Sinking, Floating, Listlessly” is a live improvisation that was performed for a radio broadcast from the VIVO Media Arts Centre, as part of the Empty Love-curated Fake Sleep concert series.
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