Date: Thu, 11 Aug 1995 14:55:20 -0800 From: silent@SIRIUS.COM (Silent Records) SILENT RECORDS ASCII CATALOG -- <> Welcome to the Summer 1995 ASCII Catalog for Silent Records. As you will soon see, the roster of talented artists on Silent and its sublabels has grown immensely as Silent's timeless vision has expanded to embrace and absorb elements of many aural genres. What we offer to the worldwide network of audionauts is an uncompromising selection of music that will engage and educate you on any level, whether it be the liquid ambient of the Silent label, the hypnotic rhythms of Flask, the experimental frenzies of Furnace, or any of the territory between. The time is rapidly approaching when our catalog will no longer be available in its physical form, as we are continuing to move toward disseminating information about our releases electronically, instantly. This, our second ASCII catalog, is another step in the direction of making our music more accessible worldwide and serves to compliment our website with its comprehensiveness. In the future you will find full color cover art and 1 minute-long sound bites so that you can sample our releases before you buy. Please note that our web site is currently under construction so please pardon our appearance! But please feel free to visit it now...we have a sound bite by John Cage and our new summer 95 ASCII catalog available in the meantime. We should have the Silent web site back up and operational toward September or so. Our URL is http://www.iuma.com/silent Lastly is a disclaimer about the structure of this "catalog": our vision is not systematic or heirarchic; rather it is holistic, and is to be accessed through our senses, not by sole means of the rational mind. Likewise, the list of releases and descriptions you will be viewing fails to represent the macrocosm of our artists, but we have tried to structure by a few arbitrary means. A brief key: (1) **______** denotes a new release (2) <<______>> displays a musical genre when the title is in all caps (3) <_______> shows the title of a release (4) catalog numbers follow each release description. You can use these to order by phone or via post. Ordering information can be found at the end of this catalog. Enter and witness as Silent propels further into the frontier waves and particles of our sensual cosmos. Oh yeah, and don't forget to enjoy the music. <> **Spice Barons - ** As their first release since "Spice of God" on and their only full-lenth cd, the Barons assemble their disparate and advanced talents together to unleash an ambient salve upon the post-industrial world. From beginning to end, is a moon-walk, evoking motion without weight as you move through an ambient landscape that oscillates between soothing complacency and spiralling inspiration. **Arthur Dent and Deeper than Space - ** Turning their vision away from the techno/trance of and even the gorgeous ambient of DTS' and , the two collaborators in burrow deep into the minimal and frozen world of vast space. Reminiscent of in its ability to transmit the suprematist radiation that burns luminously without heat, is ice-olationist ambient and all of its stripped-down riches. It is the enactment of the very same theories of physics that postulate the absence of matter in favor of fields of energy and potential. **Vuemorph - ** Working under many other project guises and previously only releasing one track as Vuemorph entitled "Mindtime" on Silent's , Handrabur again dons the Voemorph cloak this time to create a full-length composition of patterned textures and floating substance. Indistinct and cyclical, is Dan Handrabur's emotional gesture that irrigates the senses with non-menacing cerebral pulses and melodies. **Alaura - ** The latest collaborative project of the once-core Psychic TV member Alaura is a documentation of text and context, one in which a two histories -- both of the San Francisco ambient scene and of an artist whose backgroud is so very complex as to be nearly untraceable -- are captured in the coruscate flash of this work. It is a record that meanders from deep-fathom synth washes to trance-like ritualistic rhythms, bolstering and transforming Alaura's Cosey-like oneiric vocals, while gesturing towards what once was -- and what may be. (SR9575) **Heavenly Music Corporation - ** Following two critically acclaimed releases, HMC's newest material recalls the more liquid state of and "Riding Windhorse (Buddhafields)," a track from In this realm where the organic meshes with the synthetic and waking thought morphs into a dream state, HMC describes its music as an environment and views its evolution within the ambient community as meta-designers who prefer "context" to "content." itself was inspired by the satellite-broadcast radio station in St. Giga, Japan, which transmits ambient music 24-hours a day in conjunction with the movement of the tides. (SR9571) >Heavenly Music Corporation - In an attempt to rekindle the psychedelic qualities inherent in ambient music, the Heavenly Music Corporation has re-invented itself as a 'tweaked' version of ambient for the second release, . Never satisfied with the narrow definitions of ambient, the Heavenly Music Corporation wants to keep ambient music in a progressive state of evolution. In its will to evolve, is a gentle kick against the aural amb-niotic sack that encloses us all. Drawing on influences from Aphex Twin, Ken Ishii, and Sun Electric, HMC invites you into their system, to explore, to dream, and to expand your consciousness. (SR9458) Heavenly Music Corporation - Originally created for the Space Age Lounge, a technomystical chill room in Goa, India, the Heavenly Music Corporation's first release is a tranquilizing hybrid of ambient ambient electronics and oscillating trance tones. With comparisons to the Orb, Brian Eno, and Tangerine Dream, quietly shatters the preconceptions of what ambient is supposed to be. HMC "revels in undulating synths and sheets of synth flowing over the brain." --Creem Magazine (SR9335) Psychic TV - Always in a state of flux, Psychic TV's extensive discography acts as a series of cultural signposts from the conception of industrial experimentation through psychedelic pop songs to acid house. is a mysterious and fantastic release of experimental ambience originally released incomplete with only two parts. This reissue contains the final movement inspired by the plight of two captive dolphins in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. (SR9332) Deeper Than Space - Earthrise was conceived and channeled by Adam Douglas (Deeper Than Space) after experiencing UFO sightings and alien contact during the summer of 1993. Perfect for the chill room or personal relaxation, Deeper Than Space has created an ambient epic of trance inducing bliss. " is a liberator, it has lifted you up, elevated your attitude and raised the ambient ante to new altitudes where whole lifetimes are packed into one single song." --Hypno. Be sure to look out for the soon-to-be-released , a full-length Flask CD release of reworkings of one of the most elusive and haunting tracks from . (SR9344) Cosmic Trigger - After 20 years of meditative mining, Tor Af Storvatten and Piitu Lintunen embarked on a spiritual quest through Northern wastelands and Norse mythologies that led them to Chalmers University in Gotenburg, Sweden. According to the liner notes, these two Nordic visionaries coincidentally met up with A.M. McKenzie (The Hafler Trio) and Zbigniew Karkowski, who were working in Chalmers and agreed to help record this album. Af Storvatten and Lintunen's research has led to this austere collection of shimmering ambience and profound ascesis that is capable of elevating one's state of being on all levels. (SR9345) Michael Mantra - After numerous cassette-only releases, Michael Mantra brings his "brain synchronization" techniques to compact disc. In utilizing recording techniques that help synchronize the frequencies of the left and right sides of the brain, Mantra creates a medium for electronic meditation for relaxation and improved health. Headphones necessary for full-effect. (SR9449) John C. Lilly - John C. Lilly is one of the most important trailblazers of fringe science as a neuro-scientist, the inventor of the isolation tank, an interspecies communicator, a psychedelic pioneer, and inspiration for "Altered States" and "Day of the Dolphin". His philosophical musings are presented here in his own voice over the breathtaking production from Yasuhiko Suga, Tetra Tanizaki, and Tetsuya Ishikawa, along side the luminous soundscapes by Spice Barons and Heavenly Music Corporation. "As there is so much to write on Lilly alone, the CD is something that is a must for those willing to open their minds to new ideas." --Net Magazine (SR9452) Various Artists - The title says it all, as an outstanding collection of tracks from Spice Barons, Patternclear, Hydrosphere, and Astralfish. Beatless swirls of euphoric sound stimulation hover above and ambient backdrop culled from the sounds of life. Kim Cascone (Heavenly Music Corporation), Don Falcone, and Paul Neyrick (all working with Thessalonians) have orchestrated this unhurried and beautiful disc that stimulates the landscape of the mind. (SR9454) Trancendental Anarchists - If you didn't get a chance to hear Trancendental Anarchists' track on From Here to Tranquility II, your next window of opportunity has arrived. Emerging from the Sydney underground in Australia, Trancendental Anarchists lull the listener into the mysterious dream like otherworld of the . Occasional rhythm tracks pulse along side trippy sound effects for a slow mystic journey of sound and imagination. (SR9462) <> Various Artists - delivers a fantastic mix of ambient music from some of San =46rancisco's greatest masters of sedation, including Psychic TV, Michael Mantra, The Heavenly Music Corporation, Space Time Continuum, and many more. "When the majority of 'ambient' material is lazily indulgent and ill-conceived, there is a clear need for music that is pursuitist, instead of escapist. To find it, you should start looking here." --Generator (SR9336) Various Artists - Proving true that the ambient movement has gained momentum beyond the chill room, picks up where volume one left off, presenting spacious ambient and trance tones from Pelican Daughters, Trancendental Anarchists, Air (Peter Namlook), Single Cell Orchestra, and many more! (SR9343) Various Artists - It's time for another journey From Here to Tranquility. Following in the brilliant series, Tranquility III will chill your soul with heavy ambient attitude. =46rom the entrancing sounds of Dialux Rouge and Ohmegatribe to the trance inductions of Anti House and Entrancing Iris. This CD will take you to tranquility and back again. "'s artists uphold the great tradition of conscious neurological experimentation with a nice variety of different percussion, thoughts, and transmissions." - XLR8R Magazine. (SR9460) Various Artists - The latest Tranquility transmission assembles the global ambient community in a single plush harbor of aural bliss. With artists from France, Japan, Italy, the UK, Los Angeles, and - of course - San Francisco, is not only a tour of ambient states, but also of styles ranging from ambient collages to trance to the ethereal ambience that are the trademark of the series. Some of the artists include: Makyo, Michel Redolfi, 23 Degrees, Fiorella Terenzi, Lightwave and more. (SR9473) <> PGR - Lost and forgotten tracks that have been gethering dust in PGR's tape vault. The material here runs the range from dark and brooding soundscapes that conjur up English Moors at night to the more experimental difficult material that PGR had been known for. Three of these tracks were supposed to come out on a Japanese PGR CD entitled "The Hole of Unknown Depth" but never saw the light of day. An interesting item for collectors and people interested in the historical roots of "isolationism." (SR9589) Arcane Device/PGR - Reconstructed noise through feedback and sampler techniques to amazingly subtle ends, PGR and Arcane Device have compiled a swirling collection of electronics. "I have rarely been as excited about a CD as the Arcane Device/PGR CD... Both Arcane Device and PGR have taken 'industrial' music out of the ghetto and given it fresh substance, new direction." (Edward Ka-Spel/_The Legendary Pink Dots_) (SR9009) PGR/Merzbow/Asmus Tietchens - Not unlike the Surrealist parlor game of exquisite corpse, is the end result of an uncharted collaboration between three prolific experimental sound artists. is a haunting trip into the internal combustion of modern industry as seen from the three cultural contexts of Japan, U.S., and Germany. (SR9114) John Cage would smile upon the intensity boiling through these five aural sculptures by Phauss, Zbigniew Karkowski, and Ulf Bilting. The harsh minimalism of Karkowski and Bilting's compositions counterpoint the subtle yet complex musique concrete delivered by Phauss. The result is a compelling conceptual play between sound and thought. (SR9217) PGR - As the last documentation of PGR, which has now evolved into the Heavenly Music Corporation, is an aural equivalent of alchemy, the transmutation of sound through light and dark forces. "PGR's Kim Cascone consistently creates distinctive and appealing ambient works. This disc, with its beautiful otherworldly sounds and interesting compositions, is no exception." --Option (SR9218) Arcane Device - The tenth and final report from David Meyers (Arcane Device) exemplifies the limitlessness of Arcane Device's feedback machines quietly running amok. i/e Magazine describes as "totally absorbing, with even more mysterious textures and sound flowing out from the moster cables and diodes of Meyer's humble bank of generators." (SR9331) Various Artists - =46eaturing many of the pioneers of Japanoise (Merzbow, Null, Violent Onsen Geisha, Solmania, and 19 other artists), demonstrates the flexibility of brute force as performed under the clever disguise of music. A guaranteed kick in the head compliments of The Land of the Rising Sun. On the Furnace imprint. (SR9342) Illusion of Safety - Dan Burke and Jim O'Rourke pool their talents as the sole members of Illusion of Safety, choosing familiar themes to the I.O.S. catalog. bitterly documents the absurdist American fascination with violence through harsh electronics and dark ambience. "Mr. Burke is really starting to explore the studio as a weapon to create frighteningly murky textures." --ND Magazine (SR9351) King Felix - King Felix, the self-proclaimed premier new music composer of Miami, has painted upon aural canvases void of size or shape, mixing ambient, experimental, and industrial genres onto his palette of noises for a vastly intriguing collection of songs. (SR9450) Phauss - As "a short history of acceleration and deceleration, of distortion and purification, and of autocratic ethnic and religious harmony", is a journey of reworked material from live performances. Phauss' minimalist experiments of ambient concrete display disturbingly subtle shifts, similar to the current work of the Hafler Trio (not surprising that the members of Phauss have worked with the Hafler Trio.) (SR9459) Jeff Grienke - Greinke's music is of ghosts, of shimmering reflections, and of ethereal radiance. creates mysterious aural images that as i/e Magazine noted, "react, collapse, fold inward, and arise gradually like a slowly-awakened phoenix." (SR9219) Jorge Reyes - This is a breakthrough release for Jorge Reyes as he has bridged the ancient shamanic elements of pre-historic culture and modern electronics. Reyes hosts a trance inducing ritualistic ceremony for the listener. His music is a timeless cultural imprint of a civilization near extinction. (SR9326) Solitaire - Solitaire is the collaborative project between the music ambient masters Steve Roach and Elmar Schulte. 's seven deep and languid compositions resonate from the Earth itself, swelling and sweeping through ancient landscapes; these are ambient tapestries for the mind's eye. "This is serious, important instrumental music, certainly worthy of deep listening" --Downbeat (SR9341) <> **Dreams Without Number - ** Fresh from collaborative work with Deeper Than Space's Adam Douglas, DWN's Darren Cutlip summons in a forge fiery enough to fuse together his own disparate influences (ranging from experimental noise to My Bloody Valentine and Coil) in series of heady atmopheric ambient swells. **Ambient Temple of Imagination - ** A 2 CD release which contains a bonus CD of a live performance by ATOI at the "Cool World" New Years Eve party here in San Francisco. Richard Sun and Seofon return again as A.T.O.I. to exhume the wisdom of the ancients and pass their apocryphal secrets into the eager and burning hearts of mortals. This double CD has two components: "Sonic Acupuncture," which is a continuation of and "Elusinia," which was recorded live at a performance in San Francisco. A devout believer in occult spirituality and non-western methods of mind expansion, Sun forges a portal through the aureole that envelops our cosmos into the eternal ecstasy of the divine. Be a part of it. Ambient Temple of Imagination - A.T.O.I. bring a spritual knowledge through magick, shamanism, and alchemy to a series of intense ritualistic ambient tracks. "A.T.O.I. have been responsible for some of the most innovative and successfully experimental ambient environments we've had the pleasure of experiencing." --Clublife (SR9466) Thessalonians - Thessalonians have woven an other worldly fabric with the threads of the present and past influences: ethnic, industrial, experimental, jazz, ambient, trance, and acid house. is a dynamic hybrid traveling from the landscapes of the Orb to the throbbing trance of Coil. "On ... we are given a glimpse of a new frontier unfolding in their music, where matters of the spirit are reflected in the manipulation of the machine." --CMJ (SR9334) Pelican Daughters - Hailing from the flourishing experimental sound scene in Sydney, Australia, the Pelican Daughters have brought to the U.S. a stunning hybrid of industrial dance, psychedelia, ethnic musics, and ambient noise. Their music exists without boundaries as P.D. member Andy Rantzen explains: "The goal of good music is always the same: to deny the existence of moral stricture and insist on the primacy of the most basic human feelings and fantasies." (SR9115) Pelican Daughters - Pelican Daughters speak without words exploring the Surreal world beyond articulation through a rich collage of ambient dub, psychedelia, and trance. Bliss also features chillingly beautiful reworkings of fellow Australians Wrong Kind of Stone Age. "This is definitely thinking person's ambient, extremely profitable for those willing to put forth the effort." --BAM Magazine (SR9456) <> Closedown - Experimental walls of guitars and distortion are decorated by bass, drums, and (surprise!) vocals. Mixed and produced by Kim Cascone of Heavenly Music Corporation. "Emerging from the gaping currents of pure-drenching spectral etherialism, Closedown's newest material will pin you down permanently with swelling whirlpools of brilliant sound." -BLOW Magazine. (SR9469) <> 23o - Quickly becomming an underground classic of the ambient dub scene, progresses from expansive waves of sound behind catchy melodic decorations into a classic ambient dub release of ethno beats and deep bass lines. (SR9467) <> **Ohmega Tribe - ** A configuration of Italy's Lost Legion Alien Collective, Ohmega Tribe produces hypnotic sounds and trans-dimensional rhythms that eloquently enlighten us to the true significance of the word trance. Employing a wide variety of ethnic voices and sounds within the system of western harmonic structure, Ohmega Tribe reconcile the timeless and the technological with a rare directness and simplicity. **Various Artists - ** Compilation featuring hypnotic ambient/trance from Italy. "Fluid, gaseous, aqueous, telekinetic and extra-sensorial, the Lost Legion Alien Collective works and creates with the same rhythm and movement of cloud formations and stalactites. It's and ever-mutating working process with an unerring, mathematical structure of absorption: digitized stream of consciousness through psychological osmosis and physical impulses." -Lost Legion Collective. (SR9470) Drome - is the first release from Drome, who apply the cyberactive manipulations of their alter-ego Some More Crime to a more techno mindset. Unhurried ambient passages of metallic melodies compete with dense industrial beats to form this eclectic and infectious release. (SR9224) Various Artists - Compiled by the DJ's at Toxikktrackks in Germany, is a well-engineered collection of cutting-edge dance tracks featuring stunning works by Horizon 222, Orange Sky, Cirrus Minor, Nonplace Urban Field, Cosmic Breeze, Mindope, and Brain Unlimited. "This CD provides an appealing mix of textures, timbres, rhythms, and vocal samples and supplies the subliminal under context of mystery which can make this type of music rewarding as a pure listening experience." --Option (SR9329) Various Artists - The brilliant follow up to the critically acclaimed compilation featuring Drome, Nuf, der Spyra, Alpine Vortex, Tapeworm, and Capslock. "This compilation is a completely consuming listening experience with intricate layers of sound and harmonies that weave absolutely beautiful textures. There are no disappointments on the disk, only discoveries." --Net Magazine. #3 on KSFR Santa Fe's "SUPER HOT ABSOLUTE BEST TOP FIVE" list. "The best compilation of ambient trance music to date. Not a bad cut on this CD." --Dwight Loop, DJ (SR9465) Various Artists - <199303> This "collection of technologically advanced trax", compiled by techno wizards Adam Douglas and Thad Jones, features the best techno/acid artists from the San Francisco Bay Area. From pounding break beats to bleepy acid trance, <199303> has been described by Generator as "the current soundtrack to urban western existence." On the Flask imprint. (SR9337) Earth to Infinity - Licensed from Source Records in Germany, is a brilliant ambient techno disc that floats from Orb-esque ambient soundscapes to Psychick Warrior ov Gaia styled trance progressions. This CD is limited edition, so grab them before they're gone or you'll be stuck with import prices! (SR9448) Various Artists - Created in the hi-tech computerland of Silicon Valley, Brilliance for a Better Future is a sign post in the technological continuum of "state of the art" sounds, resulting in an infectious collection of lo-fi intelligent techno. Shaping new sounds out of the old, Adam Douglas and Thad Jones have delved into the bedrooms and garages of the San Francisco Bay Area to expose the creative forces previously unheard. On the Flask imprint. (SR9455) <> **Various Artists - ** Compiled by Darryl Hell of Abstinence, the sampler introduces the new face of Silent's Furnace imprint; it is a hellish one indeed. With the likes of Institute of Technology, Abstinence, Industrial heads, Dismembered Quietly, ATD Convention, Pounce International, and Terminal Sect, Hell has assembled an aggressive lineup of hard-core, electro, ambient industrial, and sinister dance tracks that prove we are not in a post-industrial society. (SR9574) **ATD Convention - < Cyber Relations>** Out of the Canadian electro vanguard emerges ATD Convention to drill a view-hole into the psyche of cyber-psychosis and deliver a foretaste of a dark Baconian future where technology brutally dominates nature. Using cutting-edge production techniques in order to expose technology's own nightmarish viscera, ATD Convention pledges allegiance to the marginal, the prefabricated, the random and, ultimately, the experimental. **Industrial Heads - ** No more need to speculate about what today's industrialist will experience during the final seconds before death: records it and makes it accessible on a deceptively simple-looking 4 3/4" compact disc. The Norwegian sextet Industrial Heads hammer together slamming beats with the choked cries of the modern world and its machines in the tragic motion of a desperately outstretched arm. **Abstinence - ** Even with the recent explosion of artists on the Furnace sublabel under the aegis of Darryl Hell, Hell proves that he has not sqandered his own creative lifeblood elsewhere, but has saved his vision for . Again with Mike Roberts and John Bechdel, Hell surgically inserts cruel instrumentation and innovative samples into rhythmic spasms with a skill outdone only by his uncompromised will-to-experimentalism. Abstinence - Loathing the lack of experimentalism that U.S. industrial bands (actually just guitar bands with samplers) regurgitate, Abstinence unleashes a furious assault of pounding rhythms and sample ridden Surrealism with a unique assortment of power tools, metal percussion, and hand made instruments. Spearheaded by Darryl Hell and Mike Roberts with assistance from John Bechdel (of Prong, Killing Joke, Pigface, etc.), Abstinence's debut on the Furnace imprint reinvigorates the industrial genre with a blistering mix of experimentalism and electronics. (SR9440) <> Elliott Sharp - Melding shards of avant garde, jazz, mainstream pop, etc., Elliott Sharp has concocted a visceral combination between Russ Meyer's phobic visions of American sexuality and violence with 'Gulliver's Travels' in the land of the savage yahoos, resulting in a humorous and excoriating soundtrack to the American landscape. Features Samm Bennett, Eugene Chadbourne, and Anthony Coleman. (SR9220) Crawling With Tarts - Drawing upon sources ranging from geometrical compositional processes to memory theory, Crawling With Tarts continue to dodge musical categorization as they have done for years. Renowned for their unique sound that is profoundly conceived and executed with naive calculation, CWT shuttle back and forth between the art and the musical world with a worldly mixture of pop, avant garde, jazz, and the physics-based uncertainty principle. (SR9472) <> Various Artists - On April 16, 1943, Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann accidentally ingested a minuscule amount of a substance he was researching, and began experiencing strange hallucinations and visions that lasted several hours. The substance was LSD-25, and the experience was the world's first acid trip. Silent Records presents a double CD set celebrating the 50th anniversary of this momentous occasion that led to notable change in the artistic and spiritual arenas of western culture. features 22 visionary artists including Timothy Leary, Psychic TV, Hawkwind, Nurse With Wound, Pelican Daughters, etc. (SR9333) **COMING SOON FROM SILENT AND ASSOCIATED LABELS** CD's by Mariann K=E4fer, Operation : Mindwipe, Skozey Fetish, Syntax Error, Mantaray (Yokota), Dismembered Quietly, Hellscape II, From Here To Tranquility V (all female), Heavenly Music Corporation, a new Silent Compilation of core artists on the label and much much more! <> For information on obtaining these releases, email silent@sirius.com "The meta-designer creates context not content" -- Gene Youngblood