Tag Archives: contemporary classical

Antonio Gallucci – Hope for Nothingness as Something (Dinzu Artefacts)

Posted by John Lithium on

Label Description:

A two-chapter suite for modular & FM synth, wind & string instruments, electronics, sound objects and field recordings. The work is structured as a two-chapter descent from concrete score to analog & digital abstraction. It begins with the tangible written material and human presence of the performers, which are systematically subjected to a process of erosion. The initial components are reduced to “digital dust” — meaningless data fragments — then recombined algorithmically. This process entirely empties the material of its original structure and meaning. The work culminates in a final, unreal space, becoming a meditation on the transformation of human intention into pure, post-human data.

The notion of Hope for Nothingness as Something is a radical philosophical pivot, shifting the focus of human aspiration from tangible acquisition to ultimate negation. There’s a profound psychological shift: the very concept we often fear or dismiss as empty can be re-framed as an object of desire, value, or ultimate meaning. This concept draws its discursive power from its inherent paradox: desiring an absence and treating that absence as the most valuable presence.

“Is nothingness the same as nothing? Everything evolves around that. Absolute discardment, because there is hope only where nothing is retained. The fullness of nothingness. That is the reason for the insistence on the zero point.”

– T. Adorno

All tracks composed, played, mixed and mastered by Antonio Gallucci @ Mercurial Studio in Pistoia (Italy) between May and October 2025.

Antonio Gallucci is a musician, sound engineer, and digital technology expert born and raised in South Italy. He lives and works in Tuscany. His works reveal a poetic and conceptual dimension that leverages the use of new and old technologies, found objects and sounds, and the extreme
manipulation of sources, within a reflective and conscious aural experience. Over the past 25 years, he has collaborated with museums, theaters, artists, and international record labels.

Cover art by Aaron Owens

Nils Frahm – Wintermusik (Erased Tapes)

Posted by John Lithium on

Label Description: Nils Frahm, born in 1982, had an early introduction to music. During his childhood he was taught to play piano by Nahum Brodski – a student of the last scholar of Tschaikowski. The three instrumentals, which make up his debut ‘Wintermusik’ are piano led pieces, coloured with occasional celeste and reed organ parts. The record’s equal measures of sorrowful refrains and uplifting passages, combined with a real intimacy that makes for an album you’ll want to return to again and again. The songs were originally intended as a Christmas present for friends and family, hence its winter release.

Foetus – Halt (Ectopic Ents)

Posted by John Lithium on

Label Description:

Foetus is one of the major musical projects of NYC composer JG Thirlwell.

HALT is the final Foetus album, and the first Foetus album in twelve years. It completes the cycle of an arc that began in 1981 with the first Foetus album DEAF.

Thirlwell worked on HALT on and off over a period of eight years. As with each album he has made, he wanted to reinvent the music, use new forms, innovate and introduce new surprising forms into his musical palette, at the same time as feeling like a leap forward.

HALT deals with themes of war, religion, disease, media, global warming, anxiety, hypocrisy, conspiracy, death and mortality, among other things. Dread is a leitmotif through many of the Foetus albums and this one is no exception.

HALT will be followed by its companion album, LEAK, in 2027.


COMPOSED, PRODUCED, PERFORMED AND RECORDED BY
JG THIRLWELL AT SELF IMMOLATION STUDIOS

MIXED AT SELF IMMOLATION STUDIOS AND CIRCULAR RUIN STUDIO
FINAL MIXES WITH BEN GREENBERG AT CIRCULAR RUIN STUDIO
DRUMS RECORDED AT 30 BELOW
ENGINEERED BY BRENT MCLACHLAN

SPECIAL GUESTS
LEAH ASHER (The Rhythm Method) VIOLIN ON 2, 11
JAKE BALDWIN TRUMPETS ON 3, 7, 10
BRIAN CHASE (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) DRUMS ON 1,3 ,8
TIMO ELLIS (Netherlands) GUITAR ON 3, 7
SIMON HANES (Tredici Bacci) BANJO ON 9, BASS ON 9, 11, ACOUSTIC GUITAR ON 9
BRENDON RANDALL MYERS (Dither) GUITAR ON 3, 4, 10
SAMI STEVENS VOCALS ON 3
LAURA WOLF ADDITIONAL VOICE ON 8

SLEEVE ARTWORK BY JG THIRLWELL

Symbion Project – TRYPTYCH (Speed Of Dark Music)

Posted by John Lithium on

“Through our eyes, the universe is perceiving itself. Through our ears, the universe is listening to its harmonies. We are the witnesses through which the universe becomes conscious of its glory, of its magnificence.”
~ Alan Watts

TRYPTYCH is the 12th Symbion Project album from electronic musician, composer, and producer Kasson Crooker. The three long-form songs seamlessly blend into each other and feature layers of lush strings and woodwinds, haunting sound design, French horns, percolating synthesizers, Japanese koto, and field recordings.

credits

released January 1, 2025

Composed, orchestrated, mixed, produced, and mastered by Kasson Crooker

French horns played by Gus Sebring (Boston Symphony Orchestra
Japanese koto performed by Kasson Crooker

Copyright and published by Speed of Dark Music 2025 (BMI)
Released on FOIL Imprints

JG Thirlwell – Archer Original Soundtrack Volume 1 (Iam8bit)

Posted by John Lithium on

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Label Description:

Archer Volume 1 is the long-awaited soundtrack album of JG Thirlwell‘s scores for the animated FX series Archer . Thirlwell created the musical score for season 7-14 of the series , from 2015-2023.

The album comprises 27 tracks and is drawn from seasons 7-9 of the show. It is released on maraschino red vinyl. The digital version of the album comprises 30 tracks.

Thirlwell joined the show in 2015 and was able to expand and build on the Archer universe with his musical stylings. The show won an Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Animated Program for season 7.