Improvised Music from Japan / Discography

Stephan Mathieu

The Sad Mac

(HEADZ, vector4/HEADZ 33) (Japan) (CD)

  1. Anakrousis (0:10)
    Features the OS of an Apple Lisa computer blended with music from Jacques Tati movies

  2. Theme for Oud Amelisweerd (17:35)
    Recorded live at Ex-Centris Cinema Center, Montreal, May 30, 2002
    Based on fragments of Handel's violin sonatas

  3. Nibbio (3:45)

  4. Smile (6:02)
    Features a pump organ playing a "motor's endless drone," and the reading of a fragment from Luigi Pulci's "Morgante a cura di Emilio Piccolo"

  5. Portrait of the Composer as Turbonegro (0:06)

  6. Tinfoil Star (4:08)
    Viola and Macintosh Classic II computer

  7. Luft von anderen Planeten (3:15)

  8. Imagination (5:20)

  9. Tinfoil Star (Recording Angels) (3:15)
    Re-recorded with an Edison Fireside phonograph (ca. 1909)

  10. icredevirrA (4:18)

  11. End Titles (150 pt) (0:21)
    Made with DiskWarrior and Adobe InDesign

Tracks 3, 4, and 10 are parts of "Un Oceano di Milione di Particelle," a soundtrack for an exhibition of Leonardo da Vinci works at the UNESCO Cultural Heritage Vöklinger Hütte, Germany. The pieces are presented here as stereo mixdowns from the original 5:4 surround files.
Track 6 is based on a composition for "Im wahrsten Sinne," a dance piece by Forschung bewegter Körper, Cologne.
Track 7 is based on Kerek Holzer's recordings for the Acoustic Spacelab Project, Latvia.

Stephan Mathieu: processing, drums, cymbals, hammered dulcimer (3), pump organ (4), piano (8)
Janek Schaefer: records (1)
Gabriele Sinzer: violin (2, 3, 10)
Rudolf Dawo: harpsichord (2, 3, 10)
Peter Sengotta: wind, cicadas (3)
Silvana Damiani: soprano (3)
Paolo Bettini: alto (3)
Silvio Ranieri: tenor (3)
Michele Paesaggio: bass (3)
Christof Werns: viola da gamba (3, 10)
Ewald Schlohmühl: viola (3, 10)
Paolo Bisanti: reading (4)
Andrea Gallo: lute (4)
Michael Weiss: bagpipes, hurdy-gurdy, ocarina (4)
Reginald Craw: horn (4)
Roswitha Thierié: viola (6)
Eva-Lucy Mathieu: radio, cooking, singing (7)
Derek Holzer: starfield recordings (7)
Bill Jarboe: voice (8)
Aleksander Kolkowski: stroh-viola, wax cylinder re-recording (9)

Recorded by Stephan Mathieu
Recorded and produced in Saarbrücken and Berlin between October 2001 and August 2004
Mastered by Henner Dondorf at Studio Andromeda
Includes liner notes by Atsushi Sasaki (in Japanese)

Released in December 2004