william basinski - is this the best ambient/drone stuff around or what?

gr8 editing npr

"an old pile of old recordings"

"he keep the loops running"

was listed in boomkat newsletter today, £299, free postage.

http://boomkat.com/vinyl/561223-william-basinski-the-disintegration-loops-deluxe-box-set

the frustrating thing, about being a record store that wanted to stock this, was that i placed a pre-order with a distributor. so it arrives and i'm trying to figure out what to price the damn thing at so that it's reasonably competitive, only to find that you can buy it direct from the label as a consumer for less than i paid for it wholesale. which is.. frustrating, wanting to be a retailed who carries something cool like this, but also being in a position where it's almost impossible to be competitive w/r/t pricing. meaning... i probably don't sell these things.

Just been listening to Radiolab's podcast (http://www.radiolab.org/2011/oct/04/) where they talk about the disintegration loops and interview WB himself. There's a little discussion about the relationship between the sounds on the tapes and the way in which the tape degrades; the decay parts of the chords decay first, the attack parts last. Do any of you have any idea why this might be?

i was just listening to that episode the other day! it's a great one. the only thing i could think of is that perhaps it has to do with the direction that the tape was looping. imagine a surface with a series of bumps. if you repeatedly ran your hand from right to left over the bumps, the bumps on the right might wear down faster than the ones on the left. maybe it's similar with the tape - with the attack on the left and the decay on the right.

in other personal listening relationship to william basinski news, i love disintegration loops, but i think i love melancholia and 92982 even more. what a guy!

new Basinski:

http://boomkat.com/cds/711685-william-basinski-nocturnes

Ausgezeichnet.

http://devonrecordclub.com/2013/10/16/william-basinski-the-disintegration-loops-round-55-robs-choice/

Roughly a dozen Basinski albums just showed up on Spotify--more or less his entire discography *except* for Disintegration Loops. http://open.spotify.com/artist/6u5axd0rpDsWSmzhFfb2VB

good spot, thank you -- i feel like the (unexpanded) loops used to be on there but i don't know if i trust that

yeah thanks - I have an "orphaned artists" playlist for ones like Basinski where the only things on Spotify were by accident as part of some other comp or soundtrack (i.e La Monte Young, Zoviet France, etc) - now I can take Basinski off that list.

https://24.media.tumblr.com/60a5c656311fc310e7d7cffaace5bbe6/tumblr_n1ujj93P1F1qzoue7o1_1280.jpg

I think this tweet was the highlight of the Oscars for me.

lol

is he producing new music these days? seems like the only things i've seen him release the past few years are reissues and reworkings of older pieces.

he's on bbc6 freak zone this week talking about stuff. probably these upcoming gigs.

http://www.factmag.com/2013/11/20/william-basinski-to-recreate-his-storied-arcadia-venue-in-east-london-recruits-charlemagne-palestine-and-rhys-chatham-for-shows/

(which start tonight)

Performing in Pasadena next month: http://axsfestival.org/2014/program/solunaris/

only really knowing basinski as the disintegration loops guy, this is somewhat surprising to see

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmL3NR9nrFI

i had a heavy phase with this guy years ago, i even got to do an amazing phone interview with him once...but for some reason, for the past year or so, i just haven't been able to get the same feeling out of his music. i still let it run when a track comes up in my sleep or writing playlist, and it's nice, but i don't know...i have some kind of mental blockage with it now. re: ambient, this also happened for me with stars of the lid, though eno, budd, gas, and ambient vangelis are still fine...

<3 this:

https://twitter.com/WilliamBasinski/status/628610802526752769

^ looking very debonair as usual btw, like some sort of parisian gangster mountie

London Gig

http://store.unionchapel.org.uk/events/23-feb-16-william-basinski---shadow-in-time-uk-premiere-union-chapel/

I'm going to try and use disintegration loops to get my toddler to go to sleep at night. Max Richter and Eluvium have failed. I'm counting on you William.

Should work like a charm. Some weeks last year during a distressing period my girlfriend used 92982 with great success.

http://www.mmlxii.com/products/576589-92982-2xlp

First great news of 2017: new album! http://p4k.in/1GqqFRZ

Looking forward to listening to this Friday.

Actually, check that. At work, at least during the inauguration, I'll have my Disintegration Loops playing in the background.

If U.S.A is still a thing when I get up on Saturday, I'll check the new one out...

Next month in Pasadena William Basinski is being honored at a benefit for Fulcrum Arts, and he and Lawrence English will perform their new Selva Oscura live for the first time.

Fulcrum (with which I’m involved) supports a lot of amazing artists including sound artists and experimental music. They’ll be presenting a new piece by Lawrence English later this year, for instance, also in LA.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fulcrum-arts-annual-benefit-honoring-william-basinski-and-ligo-caltech-tickets-51407507238

tonight in manchester was wonderful - and efficient! took to stage at 9pm sharp with nothing more than a laptop. 40 meditative minutes - no encore. and so down to earth for a chat afterwards!

The first version of the 'bored nightclub girl' meme I saw was a disintegration loops based one. That probably says more about me than anything else.

An entertaining short interview here.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/apr/10/music-william-basinski-interview-9-11-the-disintegration-loops

Ha, thanks for that. The new record is vintage stuff btw.

I somehow didn't know or had forgotten about his 9/11 beliefs.

In terms of his music, I'm quite out of the loop.

And now for something completely different

https://williambasinski.bandcamp.com/album/hymns-of-oblivion

… so he's been waiting for an apocalypse?

I rather like this! It's not nearly as apocalyptic once you're halfway through, bordering on hopeful towards the end.

kind of shocking to hear his voice! just getting started

I know right?! There's a hint of Michael Hutchence in there, which fits with it being recorded 30 years ago. Would like to hear what you make of it once you've listened all the way through.

tbh i don't see myself returning to it too often, but there are some really compelling tracks! probably unsurprisingly, i think i favor the songs with slower, sparser arrangements. in some ways it reminds me of dead can dance's Spleen and Ideal (referencing that particular one because it's the DCD album i'm most familiar with since it's the only LP of theirs i own so far)

"because", "the great warriors", and "the chemistry of life" were the ones that stood out to me on first listen

ok what the hell is going on

2020 is a very confusing year

https://sparkledivision.bandcamp.com/album/to-feel-embraced

Adds a bit of extra meaning to this twitter comment the other day in reply to The Quietus and Heather Leigh...

We are Sparkle Division! comin' through....thank you very much!) xoxox, you go girl! i love you!!!

— william basinski (@WilliamBasinski) July 24, 2020

Also, a few tracks in and this sounds great.

Ha, yeah, this is pretty mental considering the Basinski seal over it. I do like it! It half reminds me of Matthew Herbert's 'Goodbye Swingtime', which was 'cleaner' in its approach but came from an equally unusual suspect. This gets more choppy, glitchy and OPN-y as it continues.

I don’t know WB’s stuff but I’ll just leave this album by UK ambient drone master Sangam here: http://newmotion.ca/album/escapism-path

this Sparkle Division alb is really nice and features the late great Henry Grimes on the poignant Oh Henry. can't ask for more than that really.