Kahn (American, living in Zurich) and Olive (Canadian, living in Japan) recorded these pieces while on tour in Japan in May 2014. This release features two unhurried explorations for radio, synthesizer, and mixing board (Kahn) and magnetic pickups (Olive). “Fukuoka,” presents a series of gradual unfurlings; pockets of pockmarked, dented and torn glass clusters, tumbling upon and over each other, perhaps briefly interlocking by way of some fragile barb, only to instantaneously break loose. “Osaka” is more comfortably structured, framed by a few small squalls abetting the range of synth and radio static; an instrumentation that resides between thin layers of shifting, jittery translucent timbres.Kahn and Olive both demonstrate exceptional attention to unrecognized sounds (see Kahn's ongoing Unheard Cities project), and one of the unique attributes of these pieces is their ability to make sounds whose sources, even with limited tools, aren't quite placeable. Their sound palette occasionally finds tension between understood words and speech as sound: hearing a sound that may or may not be speech, and speech that may or may not be understandable. They possess a unique resourcefulness on this release that makes it a surprising listen. --- Jason Kahn / analogue synthesizer, radio, mixing board, mixing, masteringTim Olive / magnetic pickups ---Mixed and mastered by Jason KahnArtwork, layout - E. Lindorff-ElleryPrinted by Fitzgerald Letterpress

Vancouver-based composer Joda Clément has been widely praised for qualities in his work that could be described as natural: unassuming complexity that elegantly reduces, and an indifference to overt emotional direction. I hope you like the universe brilliantly continues this path, as Clément blends field recordings, shifting synth textures, and instrumental performance. These pieces vividly suggest both exterior and interior environments and the boundaries between them, like peering through layers of windowpanes from inside a still room. Here, Clément’s work is both industrial and intriguingly human, hinting at people and actions that might create certain daytime and nighttime sound environments while resisting identification. --- Joda Clement / korg PS3200 and MS20, field recordings, harmonium, electromagnetic feedback ---Mastered by Joe PanznerArtwork and layout by E. Lindorff-ElleryPrinted by Fitzgerald Letterpress

On Hot Shaker Meet Lead Donut, Prants – the duo of Chris Cooper and Bhob Rainey – fan out beyond established positions as prankish, innovative improvisers. As ever, musical playfulness and seriousness coexist marvelously, but the fascinating atmosphere has mutated further beyond traditional instrumental performance. Squelchy synth madness, howling squeals, and minimal note-making are fastened onto recorded snippets and quietly drifting drones, built deceptively within the formality of collage. Embracing a structured impulsiveness, these pieces provide a jaggedly damaged new angle on the dynamic and textural extremes that have made the musicians’ work so engaging in the past. --- "Who is Prants? Is it a typo? Are we talking about Pants? But no, it’s no typo; it’s a duo, a collection of two humans doing a thing together! Prants features two TMT favorites, Bhob Rainey (of nmperign, The BSC, and so on) and Chris Cooper (Angst Hase Pfeffer Naser, Caroliner, Fat Worm of Error), making sounds together. They’ve got a new cassette containing the sounds they’ve made together and recorded, and it’s called Shaker Meet Lead Donut. It’s available now on Bandcamp and from Notice Recordings. Marked by what the press materials call a “structured impulsiveness,” the two sides of the limited tape (only 100 copies out there!) zip and buzz in all sorts of jagged directions. The second piece, entitled “Igotu Otius,” features contributions from Mary Lattimore and Jesse Sparhawk on harps, June Bender on viola, Eric Coyne on cello, and Matt Stein on contrabass. It also credits “various” with “dry ice.” I don’t know exactly how that works, but I’m into it. If you’re familiar with Rainey’s free-improv maybe-kinda-sorta-possibly jazz work or with Cooper’s sound-stacking whack-attacks, then you can probably form at least a tentative notion of what you’re in for, but no slouching!" - Tiny Mix Tapes --- Performed and mixed by Bhob Rainey and Chris CooperOn Igotu Otius you shall hearCello - Eric CoyneContrabass - Matt SteinHarp - Jesse Sparhawk, Mary LattimoreViola - June BenderDry Ice - VariousMastered by Bhob RaineyArtwork and layout by E. Lindorff-ElleryPrinted by Fitzgerald Letterpress

Since the mid-aughts, Chicago trio Haptic (Adam Sonderberg, Joseph Clayton Mills, and Steven Hess—this time around featuring Salvatore Dellaria and The Necks’ Tony Buck) has delivered riveting, meticulously controlled live sets, as well as a handful of releases mainly on the Entr’acte label, all of which reflect the group’s unique attitudes toward collaboration and structure. This release features material sourced from a variety of past recordings; they are without form and yet architectural, and just as uniquely engaging as the group’s previous work.From the perspective of Notice, Haptic’s mixture of the organic and the industrial has been profoundly influential, and could even be said to define a quintessential Chicago ethos channeled through dark ambience: roiling waves of density, structure, work, beauty, and oppression constantly overtaking each other. However, the final silence will always be present—and is expected—just like the spare, steady late-night call of a single circling black bird. --- "While Sonderberg has recently returned to Chicago and Haptic to the stage, neither was the case when they assembled Excess of Vision. They took leftover, previously unused recordings from throughout their existence, including some early improvisations with Necks drummer Tony Buck and  contributions from Salvatore Dellaria, and assembled them into a sonic comment upon their discontinuous state. On “So for the Remainder,” which takes up all of side one of this album length cassette, the long, slowly evolving tones that used to get Haptic rather reductively characterized as a drone outfit are once more presented. But they are layered, interleaved, and twisted together so that they interfere with each other and are in constant low-key flux.  Heard inattentively, it might seem that nothing is happening, but if you get close enough you’ll notice that the constancy is an illusion." - Bill Meyer, Dusted --- Performed by Steven Hess, Joseph Clayton Mills, and Adam Sonderberg with Tony Buck (I) and Salvatore Dellaria (II)Assembled by Mills/SonderbergMixed by SonderbegMastered by Tomas KorberArtwork and layout by E. Lindorff-Ellery

Samuel Rodgers (co-curator of Consumer Waste) pairs up with sound artist Jack Harris on two explorations of minimal performance and sound creation. Working in a semi-urban ambience—open windows, barking dogs, distant sirens—the duo suggest both a specific location and a generic one. Their previous work has explored tensions between analogue and digital processes; here, sounds remain mainly non-instrumental in source: amplified object manipulation, cable hum, and different types of feedback intrude upon room tone at various intervals, like heavy clusters of dry floating leaves settling on transparent pillows. These pieces blur definitions of action and performance, and call into contemplation the intention of sound-making and what defines its “success,” while repeatedly upending expectations about pace and content. --- "For me these works seem characterised by a growing tension, hinting at some kind of terror lying just under the mundane surfaces of our everyday lives, unnamed and just out of the reach of our comprehension. Or perhaps these are instead extremely focused works of art, Harris and Rodgers investigating the peculiar sonic properties of the non-instruments they’re deploying – and the spaces in which they’re deploying –  with the tension coming from the friction between the restraint of their near-silent playing and the potential for cathartic release from letting rip with some serious high-voltage noise." - We Need New Swords --- Performed by Samuel Rodgers and Jack HarrisRecorded, mixed, and mastered by Samuel RodgersArtwork, layout by E. Lindorff-Ellery

Upon seeing Ryan Jewell’s patient, rigorous and riveting performance at Chicago’s very first Neon Marshmallow festival, we were fascinated by his meticulous sonic explorations falling somewhere in-between percussion, minimalism and electronic composition. Several years on, Jewell, still based in Columbus, OH, has continued to build an impressive resume as a co-conspirator with all sorts of people. Populated by acoustic textures, percussion-based sonic events, and unconventionally performed sounds, the assuredly paced solo pieces in Radio: Vol. 2 reveal Jewell as the yin to the noisier side of the Ohio scene. "On the first track, "O-O" (recorded in 2010), the world is one of acid sizzles and a rough, rubbed sound that occasionally grows into quasi-vocal moans that remind me very much of the nocturnal, unconscious murmurings of Robert Ashley in his "Automatic Writing" and is similarly disturbing. It's not that shifts of focus don't occur; they do, but feel absolutely appropriate, like moving smoothly to an adjacent, related space, here one where the rubbing becomes more vivid and stone-like, achieving a fine, near-chaotic state, ending with a couple minutes of soft, brushy sound and a punctuative clunk. The second side of the cassette, "OO" (2009), sounds more purely percussive to me and is even more concentrated, Jewell producing, through rubbing both smooth and rough, wonderful nests of sounds existing somewhere between tones and rapid rhythms, rising periodically to a frightening wail. He spends the entire cut right in almost the same spot, not generating anything new or spectacular but, better, letting the richness of what he's initially discovered sink in. That's something I greatly appreciate, wish it happened more often. Excellent work, highly recommended." - Brian Olewnick --- Performed by Ryan Jewell. Mastered by Joe Panzner. Cover drawing by Virginia Lawrence, additional artwork and layout by E. Lindorff-Ellery.

Focusing on the electronic element from his live performances, Mueller uses snare drum, gongs, and tape to craft long-form minimalist drones that are constantly shifting and morphing even in their sameness. A companion to his The Whole LP (Type Records) and live performances that documents this extraordinary phase of his work. "Continuing down the path taken in other recent recordings of his, one that more or less parallels that trodden in recent years by Jason Kahn, Mueller works with steady rhythms, building dense layers of cymbals (played with either soft mallets or fingers) and drums (generally heard in roll patterns). The obsessive nature can yield handsome dividends when the elements lose their individuality and fuse into a storm of near-chaotic but always forward-propelled sound as is the case on the second and fourth tracks of this cassette release. More with this kind of release than many, one really would like to experience this music in a live setting so as to be immersed in the shimmering waves and beats. Still and all, very enjoyable at home." - Brian Olewnick --- Jon Mueller / percussion, tapes --- Artwork by E. Lindorff-ElleryPackaging concept by Travis Bird