Label: Kairos 2024

Bernhard Lang's album Voice and Ensemble offers a sonic journey through three distinct compositions. In Das Hirn he juxtaposes a solo voice with a chamber ensemble, capturing the end-time force of Durrenmatt's text through intense recitation and dynamic structures. The Travel Agency is on Fire explores William S. Burroughs' cut-up experiments, referencing his innovative techniques in an electroacoustic piece enriched with synthesizers, samplers, and a processed electric guitar. In DW 16.4 'Songbook I.4,' Lang transforms pop songs into a shattered past using the cut-up/scrambler program Abulafia. Lyrics undergo fragmented reconstruction, accompanied by damaged beats and scratch loops, creating a distinctive sonic landscape.

Since 2003, Jean-Luc Hervé has produced a number of pieces, which he calls concert-installations and which stand at the edge of the concert hall and its exterior, or are frankly conceived for specific outdoor locations. His desire to confront an institutional space (the concert hall) with its public extension was influenced by his understanding of two aesthetic experiences. The first was his discovery of Japanese gardens in Kyoto, while in residence at Villa Kujoyama. “During my stay in Kyoto in 2001,” he writes, “I was struck by the relationship between art and nature in Japan, and more particularly by the way in which the highly constructed architectures of the gardens are conceived in relation to their natural surroundings.” Indeed, all the elements of the garden – stones, bushes, elements of the built environment – are placed according to the views they provide by framing the landscape, and the Japanese, to define this specific relationship, speak of capturing the landscape.

The cycle KHORA, featuring saxophone quartet and microtonal accordion, explores the dynamic interplay between sound, philosophy, and space. Inspired by Plato's Timaeus and Jacques Derrida's reinterpretation of Khora, the nine pieces challenge traditional notions of time and space. Performers from the SIGMA Project and accordionist Inaki Alberdi create a fluid, immersive experience that goes beyond linear hierarchies. Capturing the essence of an ever-changing world, the album reflects Ernst Bloch's idea that sound doesn't just fill but creates space. This musical odyssey, dedicated to the SIGMA Project and Inaki Alberdi, invites listeners to question time's linearity and embrace the transformative power within the music.

In the heart of 21st-century Japan, Yu Kuwabara emerges as a composer of remarkable versatility and resilience. Inspired by Japanese mythology, Buddhist chants, and Edo songs, Kuwabara explores the energy of the Japanese language through her compositions. Her works, such as Bai and Dharani and Toward the Brink of Water Or the Verge of Dusk, blend Western classical influences with traditional Japanese elements. Kuwabara's research in traditional arts fuels her innovative approach, capturing the fluidity of 'awai' - the in-between state of being.

Near Distant by Michelle Lou explores the intricate interplay of stasis, time and perception. Lou’s compositions challenge conventional interpretations, presenting music as a constantly evolving landscape. Through “static” or “stasis-variation” she reveals the complexity within seemingly unchanging sounds, inviting listeners to explore subtle transformations in pitch, timbre and dynamics. This album embodies Lou’s unique approach, emphasizing our active role in perceiving and transforming the infinite essence of music.

With "Distant Fragments", Camilo Mendez presents an album of solos and duos that showcase his most intimate and reflective works, creating a rich sound tapestry. While Mechanical Resonance I: Iridescent Resonance explores cloud luminescence through prepared violin and viola, Five Fragments deals with the themes of variation and polyphony. Cancion de la Distancia, on the other hand, reflects the fleeting nature of memory and time, inspired by Arturo’s poetry. Recorded by Roberto Alonso, Linus Fung, William Lane, Angus Lee and Charles Ng, this album offers a subtle and complex musical contemplation.

The group has described themselves as a “multilevel interrogative self-enlightenment organization”.

An unapologetically rowdy all-female rock band from the Pacific Northwest, Thunderpussy are a loud and proud quartet whose music combines a heavy dose of indie rock smarts and arena rock bombast with a dash of humor and plenty of showmanship. Thunderpussy were formed in Seattle, Washington in late 2013 by vocalist Molly Sides (formerly of This Bitch Don't Fall Off), guitarist Whitney Petty (a veteran of the Grizzled Mighty), Leah Julius (ex-Cumulus and Sundries), and drummer Lena Simon (also a member of La Luz and Kairos).

Zettalogue is a lively and upbeat collection of seven original pieces by jazz pianist/composer Ivo Neame and is his tenth album under his own name.

New release of all the "Series" for piano and soundtrack by polish pianist Malgorzata Walentynowicz on the Kairos Label. Autumn 2023.