[ear-subscribers] Gristleism + Alan Lomax in Haiti pre-order…

Like most people, I don't want to receive additional email...we all
get enough as it is. I try to keep this list to 1 email per week, but
I've also been told by folks that the "special" emails I send out,
notifying them of pre-orders and the like, are welcome because they
read those right away, whereas they don't always read the weekly
update immediately, and as a result can miss out on limited stuff. I
realize I can't please everyone, but I can make a valiant attempt to
reduce the potential level of annoyance.

So I will continue to send out periodic notifications such as this
one, but please note that these items will be in the next update, so
if you despise mid-week emails you can delete them and just go through
the update.

Throbbing Gristle - Gristleism (Red) CD [IR2009005R]    $25.50
Throbbing Gristle - Gristleism (Chrome) CD [IR2009005C]    $25.50
Throbbing Gristle - Gristleism (Black) CD [IR2009005B]    $25.50
(RELEASE DATE: 11-24-09)
Label: Industrial Records
Industrial Records Ltd. are pleased to announce the birth of
GRISTLEISM, the newest member of the Throbbing Gristle family. Bastard
offspring of now-famous ambient loop player the Buddha Machine,
GRISTLEISM is part industrial sound machine, part noise instrument.
Featuring 13 original and uncompromising loops, GRISTLEISM delivers a
mix of signature TG experimental noise, industrial drone, and classic
melodies and rhythms. Available in three colors -- black, chrome and
red -- the palm-sized unit (size: w67mm x h69mm x d35mm) features a
built-in speaker, volume control, pitch-shift control and loop
selector switch. Note: GRISTLEISM does not feature an audio output
socket or a DC power input socket. GRISTLEISM features more loops and
almost twice the frequency range of the Buddha Machine. GRISTLEISM is
powered by two AA batteries and is the world's first and only portable
TG aural exciter! GRISTLEISM was born from a collaboration between
Industrial Records, Throbbing Gristle and Christiaan Virant (the
creator of the original FM3 Buddha Machines) and is packaged in an
exquisite "Chinese paper-cut" wrapping, featuring a repeating TG logo
pattern, foil embossing and UV ink.
TRACKLISTING

Persuasion
Hamburger Lady
Twenty Jazz Funk Greats
Thank You Brian
Maggot Death
Rabbit Snare
Lyre Liar
Wimpy Bar
Sex String Theory
Heathen Earth
Industrial Intro
R & D
After After Cease To Exist
More loops and almost twice the frequency range of the original Buddha
Machines. "Perfect for those days when you need some background music
to go along with dissecting dead animals or staring at TV static." --
Pitchfork


Various Artists - Alan Lomax in Haiti CD [HR103]    $109.75
(RELEASE DATE: 11-17-09)
Label: Harte Recordings
Harte Recordings, together with the estate of Alan Lomax, and in
collaboration with The Library Of Congress and the The Association for
Cultural Equity, present ALAN LOMAX IN HAITI – a chronicle of Lomax’s
1936 Haitian recording expedition for the Library. This 10-CD box-set,
in the modern tradition of those lovingly created by Revenant and Dust-
To-Digital, is curated from over 50 hours of field recordings by the
pre-eminent Haitian scholar, Gage Averill. Besides the CD’s, the set
contains two books: Lomax’s Haitian field journal, carefully
transcribed and notated by his niece, Ellen Harold; and a hard-bound
set of liner notes and essays detailing and translating all the songs
in the set. The notes examine the historical context and social and
cultural relevance of the music. The set also includes the complete
black and white and color film footage that Alan and Elizabeth Lomax
shot in Haiti, and a facsimile of Lomax’s period map of Haiti covered
with his handwritten notes. The box set is a unique artifact,
presenting for the first time this important document of Haiti’s rich
cultural heritage captured in the field by the greatest musicologist
of the 20th century. Anna Lomax Wood, Lomax’s daughter, explains in
the notes: “…[W]e can now listen in to a pivotal era in Haiti’s
cultural history, when the country was throwing off U.S. imperialism
and embracing both its African roots and the coming influence of jazz
and African-American/Afro-Caribbean popular music and dance.” Lomax
and his then-newlywed wife Elizabeth (aged 20 and 19, respectfully)
worked in Haiti from December 1936 until April 1937, documenting music
and ritual at the behest of his colleague and friend, Zora Neale
Hurston, and under the auspices of the Library Of Congress. He
arrived just two years after the brutal 19-year occupation by the
United States Marines, when resentment against the U.S. ran high. The
Lomaxes were part of an influx of talented and highly distinguished
U.S. artists and anthropologists to whom Haitians opened their arms,
despite still-fresh memories of the military incursion. These U.S.
citizens were drawn to the island's distinctive culture, its striking
musical and visual arts, and its people--as well as by a fascination
with the sensationalist accounts of Vodou, the synchretistic local
religion that had risen out of religious beliefs and practices
originating in West Africa. In the course of his journey, Lomax
recorded more than fifty hours of music, made copious notes, diagrams
and drawings, and shot rare film footage. None of this material has
been available to the general public before. These were the early days
of field recording, and Alan recorded to aluminum disc (500 in all).
When Lomax revisited these recordings in the 1970s, he deemed them
unworthy of release due to the high level of sound distortion and
surface noise. So they sat, along with his notes and film footage, for
30 years until the sound quality could be miraculously improved
through current cutting edge technology. With recently- developed
equipment never used on sound recordings before, the Grammy-award
winning team at the Magic Shop in New York City were able to de-noise
and bring the recordings to clear and vibrant life. The results have
been thematically organized into ten volumes, each showcasing a
specific style of music that Lomax encountered. “Meringue” numbers
introduce the set’s first volume, combining early Ellington melodies
with Hoosier Hot Shot joyfulness and Sun Ra otherworldliness. The
sounds of Vodou worship are well represented and further illuminated
by color film footage on the next disc. The native Mardi Gras music is
collected on another, capturing a glorious, bombastic musical
tradition which would find its way to New Orleans and beyond. Lomax
recorded hours of an angelic but otherwise completely unknown singer
named Francilia, whose amazingly distinctive voice and style are heard
for the first time outside of Haiti on a volume devote entirely to
her. The set also contains a generous sampling of children’s songs and
performances of the “Troubadours,” small bands of musicians who walked
the streets of Port-au-Prince, much like the early cojunto groups of
Texas. Ludovic Lamothe, the famed Haitian classical pianist, was
recorded for the first time by Lomax playing the songs that his
international reputation would be built upon, as was Zora Neal
Hurston, singing songs from her youth. The final volume is filled with
the “Romances,” a now-extinct style of music brought to Haiti from
France during its period of colonization. All these musical styles and
others are thoroughly discussed in Gage Averill’s meticulously-
researched notes, while the making of and circumstances surrounding
the recordings are detailed in Lomax’s journal. In conjunction with
the release of the set, the Association for Cultural Equity will
repatriate the full 50-hour set of digitally restored, pre-mastered
and catalogued Lomax recordings to the Haitian people as part of its
Caribbean Repatriation Program and The Clinton Global Initiative For
Haiti. This set is produced by Anna Lomax Wood, Jeffery Greenberg and
David Katznelson. Contains: -10 CD’s of Music -Extremely Rare B/W &
Color footage on Disc 5 -2 Books – One is a Diary, the other is a Book
of the Recordings. -Map of Haiti in 1937 with Alan Lomax’s Writings -
Loose photos from Alan’s Trip