Penultimate Press: Recent Episodes
Penultimate Press
Taken from the Penultimate Press cassette 'Astor' (PPCS4)
The fourth Astor outing presents itself as a limited cassette, intended to fill the vacuum prior to the next full length LP expected to hatch in the year of 2018. A self titled diary-esque offering, this collects recordings made in the UK and Europe throughout 2017 - from a toilet on a train in France to a piece played on Henning Christiansen’s piano on the island of Møn in Denmark. Here we embark on a journey of sound that travels through a vast terrain which holds itself together through the sheer audacity of outre elements and unusual construction. From organ jams to syncopated screams, from absolute beauty to unbridled terror, Astor takes a magnifying glass to reality and unfurls it as an uncanny audio essay.
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Op.192 UMWÄLZUNG - fluxorum organum 1990 EURASIENSTAB ist immernoch ANGELPUNKT is a previously unissued work by Henning Christiansen from 1990.
Around the formation of the European Union Henning approached his original Eurasienstab organ recordings from 1968 as a platform to remold a vast amount of audio he made over the subsequent years
This 2CD release comprises two different mixes of UMWÄLZUNG that were made for Werner Durand in 1990 to be used as backing tapes for a performance at Ballhaus Naunynstrasse in February 1990.
UMWÄLZUNG is unique in Henning’s output as it resides in a more contemporary landscape positioning itself more as a ‘mix’ than a stand alone recording. One which retains the skewered sensibility that only Henning could conjure.
The two hour long versions of UMWÄLZUNG are haunted with tape hiss, weird interference and a deeply melancholic aura that moves from the original Eurasienstab organ recordings through to the somewhat hysterical 180 Hammer Blows Against War Monkeys resulting in an epic and hypnotic excursion.
As unusual and inspired as the best of Henning’s works Penultimate Press, in full cooperation with the Henning Christiansen estate, is extremely proud to release this 2CD in a mini album gatefold sleeve in an edition of 500 copies.
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Taken from the album Rabbit Eclipse (PP19) CD/LP
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Rabbit Eclipse is the second full-length recording from the legendary Księżyc following on from their self titled debut from 1996.
The Moon never went away.
The 2013 the Penultimate Press re-issue of Księżyc’s timeless debut exposed the band to a large new audience resulting in a return to live performance and the subsequent development of new material.
Rabbit Eclipse was recorded in Warsaw throughout May to September 2015 within the idyllic Palladian palace Królikarnia (The Rabbit House). All original members gathered to conjure the peculiar hybrid of the the ancient and the contemporary unique to the band.
With more expanded forms, Rabbit Eclipse presents a rich and subtle environment of beguiling narratives hanging in suspended tension. This opens up an entire new phase in the cycle of the band where an enchanting discrete musical continuum of rich and subtle sound excursions are enveloped in a mysterious melancholia.
Rabbit Eclipse is another exemplary presentation from one of Poland’s most idiosyncratic and respected outfits.
Line up:
Agata Harz - vocals, objects Katarzyna Smoluk-Moczydłowska - vocals, keyboards, objects Lechosław Polak - accordion, keyboards, synthesizers Remigiusz Mazur Hanaj - tapes, hurdy-gurdy, violin Robert Niziński - clarinet, keyboards, objects Paweł Romańczuk - Fidel, Stössel-Laute, objects
Track listing:
- Kapkowa
- Mglista
- Flażoletowa
- Walczyk III
- Syreny