Live Improvisations

Slowscan’s latest, a stunning, remastered vinyl edition of Takehisa Kosugi’s New York, August 14, 1991 – expanded to include an entire second LP of recordings made by the composer with Ted Szànto in Amsterdam during 1979 – Bristles with energy, physicality, and immediacy, representing a highwater mark from one of the most important experimental composers of the last 100 years
The first LP in the collections captures the composer performing live in his apartment in New York, and represents one of only a handful of authorized recordings of its kind. Utilizing pre-recorded environmental sounds recorded in the city of Ferrara, in Italy, various noises, sounds from the actual performance [a plastic bottle in which a small microphone is installed for pick up voice & other sounds], electronics, and a time-delay machine and pitch shifter, the work channels Kosugi’s long-standing desire to realign and revitalize human sensibility by jolting the mind through the operations of chance and spontaneity. The result is a startlingly visionary body of sound that stretches across 2 sides, gathering intricate, environmental ambiances and captured sonic fragments, deftly manipulated and infiltrated by electronic pulses and various other interventions, toward an immersive and cohesive sonic environment, that drowns the ear in sheets of detail
The second LP in this collection comprised a never before released recording of a live improvisation made by Kosugi and the composer, Ted Szànto, entitled Unnamed Information (I, II, III), made in Amsterdam on June 12, 1979, that features Kosugi on violin & electronics and Szànto on tapes & electronics. Bordering on an ecstatic sonic assault of the highest order, the work’s 3 movements range from incredible arrangements of electronic noise and tonality to a stunning effort of vocalising musique concrete – all constructed with an incredible sense of immediacy and physicality – making the album easily one of the most noteworthy recordings from Kosugi to have emerged thus far