An unusual journey in abstract sonic narrative and environments from Portland's Dave Quam (FKA Massacooramaan, Modern Melodies) and Seoul's Joe Foster (English, Don Brown and Dan Reynolds), their four pieces using concrete & acousmatic sources, field recordings, enigmatic errata and instrumental elements presented as sentences in sound that imply and defy intention; gripping.
In Stock
Quantity in Basket: None
Log In to use our Wish List Shipping Weight: 2.00 units
Sample The Album:
Dave Quam-composer, performer
Joe Foster-composer, performer
Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.
Label: Sacred Realism
Catalog ID: SR012
Squidco Product Code: 30288
Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2021
Country: Germany
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded in Seoul, Sorth Korea, and and Portland, Oregon, USA, in 2020 by Joe Foster and Dave Quam. Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi.
"Conjure in your mind's ear a conference room with a reverberation time of 0.6 seconds. Now forget all that because The Mighty Cloud creates an entirely alien sense of time, both collapsing and expanding acoustic behavior until your conference room is a parking structure, your childhood bathroom, the Voynich Manuscript, a field. A remarkably poetic debut of subtlety and finesse, the sound-worlds meticulously fabricated by Portland's Dave Quam (FKA Massacooramaan, Modern Melodies) and Seoul's Joe Foster (English, Don Brown and Dan Reynolds) on Especially Songs chart a course through meaning that lures the traveler into not one but many places, lives, beings, composers, movies, rabbit holes of both rodent and Youtube, and then feed the resulting itinerary into a Boltzmann machine, emerging from the process with something akin to divinity: a rest-stop strange loop where nothing is where you expect to find it but everything is in its proper (poetic) place.
Exquisite, if inscrutable, extensions of the electro-acoustic canon, the four pieces constituting Especially Songs leave this writer feeling he can't get enough. I mean, gimme more painstakingly sculpted scavenged and generic sounds! Gimme life!"- Dick Stormm, April 2021
Artist Biographies
• Show Bio for Dave Quam Dave Quam (aka Desmond Barns, Massacooramaan) is a Portland, OR-based musician, multimedia artist and writer. ^ Hide Bio for Dave Quam • Show Bio for Joe Foster "Joe Foster was born in California in 1972, lives in Seoul, and plays improvised music. His main collaborators have been J.P. Jenkins, Bryan Eubanks, Bonnie Jones (as the duo English), Hong Chulki, Choi Joonyong, Ryu Hankil, and Kevin Parks, but that's really not all. He's been in the groups Super Unity, Peevish, Don Brown and Dan Reynolds, and English, and has released CDRs, CDs, a USB, online stuff, and a cassette." ^ Hide Bio for Joe Foster
11/29/2023
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
11/29/2023
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
Track Listing:
1. Hard Problems/Soft Promises 23:17
2. The Great Paris Concert 4:33
3. Gripe Water (Utah Jazz) 16:51
4. Serenity Knolls 13:21
Electro-Acoustic
Organized Sound and Sample Based Music
Field Recordings
Sound, Noise, &c.
Electroacoustic Composition
Duo Recordings
New in Experimental & Electronic Music
Search for other titles on the label:
Sacred Realism.
 | Meehan, Sean Magazine (Sacred Realism) |
| Working only with a cowbell from a charity shop in NYC, percussionist Sean Meehan, whose performances often take place in locations of unique resonant properties, discovered the Fort Jay powder magazine at Governor's Island--a compartment once used to store ammunition and explosives--using its sonic properties to capture these two recordings reflecting the original purpose of that space. | |
 | Ergun, Cenk Inseln (Sacred Realism) |
| A multi-channel sound work by Turkish-American composer Cenk Ergun, Cenk Ergün, first realized as an installation for six loudspeakers at Zionskirche, Berlin in March 2021 using the vocal work of UK countertenor Rupert Enticknap, who recorded long tones and melodic fragments that Ergün composed into works of dense choirs contrasted with periods of silence. | |
 | Eubanks, Bryan / Xavier Lopez Natural Realms (Sacred Realism) |
| These 2016 recording between Bryan Eubanks and Xavier Lopez demonstrate the analog networked sytem they developed, based on the harmonics of random feedback, using this information in real time to shape generative rhythms and other juxtapositions from soprano saxophone and percussion, in four recordings improvised live at Studio 8 bar in Berlin. | |
 | La Casa, Eric / Jean-Luc Guionnet / Arnau Horta / Seijiro Murayama / Michaele-Andrea Schatt Installations [CD + 24 page booklet] (Swarming) |
| A fascinating set of stereophonic electroacoustic compositions based on the recordings and mixes used for four sound installations in four galleries in France, impeccably captured and creatively edited: Eric La Casa & Jean-Luc Guionnet; Michaële-Andréa Schatt & Eric La Casa; Seijiro Murayama & Eric La Casa; and Arnau Horta & Eric La Casa. | |
 | Lamb, Catherine / Harmonic Space Orchestra Prisma Interius VII 7 VIII (Sacred Realism) |
| Two hauntingly beautiful works in microtonal composer and violist Catherine Lamb's "Prisma Interius" series, the first a duo with violinist Johnny Change and Xavier Lopez on the "secondary rainbow synthesizer", which channels the sound outside of the performance space as a generator of ambient sound; then a sextet of strings and winds with two secondary rainbow synthesizers. | |
 | Oceans Roar 1000 Drums [VINYL] (Sacred Realism) |
| Their first proper vinyl release since forming in 2008, this studio album recorded in Berlin finds Berlin saxophonist and electronic artist Bryan Eubanks, double bassist Andrew Lafkas, and NY drummer & cymbal player Tod Capp in an extended and dark improvisation, with Catherine Lamb's "secondary rainbow synthesizer" interacting and filtering their work as a 4th member. | |
 | Lafkas, Andrew Two Paths with Active Shadows Under Three Moons and Surveillance (Sacred Realism) |
| Composer Andrew Lafkas' large ensemble piece with performers including C. Spencer Yah, Ron Stabinsky, Barry Weisblat, Sean Meehan, Ben Owen, &c. is a meditative work intended for live performance, this album the 2nd of 3 performances, a brooding and resonant rendering of rich and subtle detail that evolves over 70 minutes, carrying its listeners in a profound revery. | |
 | Ablinger, Peter Augmented Study (2012) (Sacred Realism) |
| Austrian composer Peter Ablinger wrote this study, which is not intended for live performance, using a violin performing a slow glissando over one octave, here performed by violinist Johnny Chang, the recording then composed in the studio as a proportion canon, virtually layering 16 violins in a study displaying the harmonic interactions of that single glissando. | |
 | Filip, Klaus / Moe Kamura Passagein (Winds Measure) |
| ppooll sound artist Klaus Filip and Japanese experimental vocalist Moe Kamura (10Tet, Taku Sugimoto) in a two-part improvisation of electronic tones, textures, silence, and minimalist vocalization and utterance, Filip using a dynamic frequency palette inspiring Kamura's wordless expression; lowercase or Onkyo, a meditative and moody work. | |
 | Abecassis, Eryck / Francisco Meirino La Gueule Du Loup (Fragment Factory) |
| Recording at the GRM Studios, the French duo of Eryck Abecassis and Francisco Meirino (phroq) use unpatched modular sythesizers that they program during performance, adding a level of risk and unpredictability to their detailed and rich sonic conversation, informed by decades of research and performance that both musicians bring to this intensely interesting album. | |
 | Albro, Tim / Tyler Keen Summary Dismissal (ErstAEU) |
| A first-time collaboration between two American noise/sound artists, Tim Albro and Tyler Keen, using electronics, guitars and other lo- to medium-fi sounds and crackles to create well-paced stories in sound, apparently mysterious travelogues from city to city. | |
 | Steerage Entropy Is What The State Makes Of It (Caduc) |
| An album of tones and tonal environments from Barry Chabala and A.F. Jones, using guitars and effects to create slowly moving tones punctuated with unusual utterances of unknown origin; rich and curiously non-specific sound that lives in the back- and foreground. | |
Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought:
 | Cage, John / Apartment House Number Pieces [4-CD BOX SET] (Another Timbre) |
| A 4-disc box-set with a 44-page booklet of extensive notes, presenting John Cage's Number Pieces which he wrote in the last five years of his life, adapted for mid-size ensembles and performed by the London-based ensemble Apartment House, compositions 'Five' to 'Fourteen' along with alternative versions of three of the pieces; significant and essential. | |
 | Rivers, Sam Quartet (feat. Jerry Byrd / Rael Wesley Grant / Steve Ellington) Archive series. Volume 5 - Undulation (NoBusiness) |
| During the early 80s saxophonist and wind improviser Sam Rivers formed his quartet around electric instruments, with the core rhythm section of drummer Steve Ellington and electric bass guitarist Rael Wesley Grant, the other lead instrument on guitar during that time, sometimes with Kevin Eubanks, and on this previously unreleased, superb live performance in Florence, Italy, guitarist Jerry Byrd. | |
 | Sharp, Elliott IrRational Music [BOOK] (TerraNova Press) |
| An insightful look at the history of New York composer, saxophonist and guitarist Elliott Sharp, "Sixteen Pieces in the Shape of a Memoir" as Sharp looks back at his musical influences and approach to playing and composing, with observations on music, art, politics and technology, a fascinating set of essays from a vanguard artist's point of view. | |
 | Dulin, Tucker / Ben Owen Cat Guarding Geese (erstwhile) |
| An electroacoustic composition of environment & sound punctuated with subtle percussion and electronic interventions, developed from field recordings, performances on Roosevelt Island, and studio recordings in Brooklyn by the duo of Tucker Dulin on bells, bowl, can, cymbal, lentils, mallet & whistle and Ben Owen on paper mic, speaker boxes, op amps & cassette. | |
 | Smith, Linda Catlin / Apartment House Ballad (Another Timbre) |
| Two works from Canadian composer Linda Catlin Smith and performed by cellist Anton Lukoszevieze and pianist Kerry Yong: "Through the Low Hills" a piece for constrained variations like an object viewed from different angles as it is turned over; and "Ballad" a major work intended for performance that unfolds slowly, allowing for delicate melodic interaction. | |
 | Leith, Oliver Me Hollywood (Another Timbre) |
| Five chamber works written by composer UK Oliver Leith, the debut CD release from the creative music group Explore Ensemble including a piece they commissioned--Me Hollywood--, the compositions spanning four years of work and reflecting a sort of portrait of the composer as he experiments with unusual arrangements, sampling sounds, and new instruments. | |
 | Weeks, James Summer (Another Timbre) |
| Five chamber works from UK composer James Week performed by Explore Ensemble, developing works extending the poetic idea of a piece as an imaginary or remembered space by exploring combinations of instruments such as the mixed instrumental duos, the use of slow-moving or static background harmonics, and intimate instrumental idioms based on long, breath-length sounds. | |
 | Pateras, Anthony Pseudacusis (Bocian) |
| The title referring to a condition of aural hallucinations, Anthony Pateras' composition is a work of tense motion, dissonance and resolution, commissioned by the Musica Sanae project and performed at the 17th Sacrum Profanum Festival in Krakow, 2019, using a recording improvised and assembled in Australia with his tape septet that underpins the performances in concert with his live septet. | |
 | Grisey, Gerard / Iancu Dumitrescu / Niels Christian Rasmussen / Thanos Chrysakis / Salvatore Sciarrino / Lori Freedman / Tim Hodgkinson Music for Violas, Bass Clarinets & Flutes (Aural Terrains) |
| Compositions for violas, bass clarinets and flutes performed by Vincent Royer, Jill Valentine, Jason Alder, Chris Cundy, Tim Hodgkinson, Yoni Silver, Lori Freedman, Carla Rees, Karin de Fleyt, Thanos Chrysakis, Katrina Lauder, with compositions from Gerard Grisey, Iancu Dumitrescu, Thanos Chrysakis, Niels Rasmussen, Salvatore Sciarrino, Lori Freedman, and Tim Hodgkinson. | |
 | O'Rourke, Jim / Apartment House Best That You Do This For Me (Another Timbre) |
| The UK ensemble Apartment House commissioned this work from composer & experimenter Jim O'Rourke based on their performance of other O'Rourke works, here interpreting a new graphic score designed like a sonic mobile, creating a minimal yet episodic piece of flexible interpretation as the performers whistle, hum and quietly sing in combination with bowed harmonics. | |
 | Winter, Michael / Liminar Single Track (Another Timbre) |
| Working with Liminar, one of the premier new music ensembles in Mexico, German/US composer Michael Winter wrote this dynamic and extended work pursuing a method of enumerating all ways of articulating a 6-note chord with 7 instruments bound by certain constraints, using the computer science concept of "Gray Code" switches to create shifts within the piece's progressions. | |
 | Democ, Adrian / Apartment House Hlaholika (Another Timbre) |
| Commissioned by Another Timbre for the quarantine commissions series, Hlaholika was developed by composer Adrián Demoč for the Apartment House ensemble as a quintet of violin, double bass, clarinet, viola & piano, using the configurations for 3 other works performed here by Apartment House; plus a piece for an ensemble from the Janacek School of Music in the Czech Republic. | |
 | Beuger, Antoine / Apartment House Jankelevitch Sextets (Another Timbre) |
| The 4th album on Another Timbre from a series of pieces by composer Antoine Beuger, each acknowledging a cultural or intellectual figure, here titled for philosopher, musicologist, educator and one-time member of the French Resistance, Vladimir Jankélévitch, represented by Beuger in a large dramatic work performed by the Apartment House sextet. | |
 | Armstrong, Newton: Plus Minus Ensemble; Severine Ballon The Way To Go Out (Another Timbre) |
| Three minimal works for small ensemble incorporating electronics by Australian-born, UK-resident composer Newton Armstrong: 2 performed by the London-based Plus-Minus Ensemble directed by Mark Knoop as an acoustic quartet configuration and one as an electroacoustic quartet; and a solo work for multiple cello layers and resonance performed by Séverine Ballon. | |
