#arachnidiscs

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Arachnidiscs

BABEL ~ Thirteen Exquisite Corpses

“Consequences” is a great rainy-day game I remember playing with my grandparents. Following the same narrative formula, each person writes one line of a story, before passing the folded paper to their neighbour. The end result is an absurdist, comical tale, often mildly offensive to at least one person in the room. The visual equivalent, cadavre exquis, has been a favourite of surrealist artists…

November 2, 2019: a new episode of The Anatomy Lesson at 11pm EST on CFRC 101.9fm. A tribute to @arachnidiscs​ - 20 years, 200 releases, coming to an end in 2019 - ‘ Music For and By Weirdos’. Arachnidiscs was an important label to me back in 2012-2014, when I was still new in my role at @cfrcradio​ and searching out new independent Canadian to support my mandate at the radio station. Multi-faceted label head Jakob Rehlinger was very supportive and enthusiastic about getting music to our radio station, and I’m glad some people played it back then.  Tonight, I’ll play some music from the label’s history - mostly my personal favourites - and point you to this interview and this statement to learn more about the end days. Tune in at 101.9 on your FM dial, stream at http://audio.cfrc.ca:8000/listen.pls or listen to an archive here: https://www.mixcloud.com/cameronwillis1232/the-anatomy-lesson-november-2-2019/

BABEL - Release of the Spirit I 

“A collaborative work of 13 "improvised compositions" split into two suites. It was recorded under the ensemble name BABEL by bandleader and Arachnidiscs head, Jakob Rehlinger. Thirteen Exquisite Corpses was recorded using a modified version of the "exquisite corpse" collaborative technique usually employed in visual art or writing where each collaborator is only aware of the tail end of the previous collaborator's contribution. In this case each of the 8 collaborators improvised to a series of minimal synthesizer drones provided by Rehlinger, unaware of each others' addition, which Rehlinger then edited into cohesive works.”

Jakob Rehlinger ~ Powehi / Carl Oesterhelt ~ Eleven Pieces for Synthesizer

Modern synthesizers only emerged in the 1960s. Technological changes have been constant, as modular behemoths gave way to compact digital boxes or software packages. We should hesitate in calling this progress. Treating each new thing as an improvement means leaving technologies behind, the surface of their capabilities barely scratched. Thankfully, many musicians have continued to value tangible…

Richmond Avant Improv Collective ~ Lamentations

We love when labels put a little extra love into their releases.  Arachnidiscs offers Lamentations as a boxed set of “sound, vision and text,” including a set of photo cards and a series of short writings.  Then there is the CD, an often bizarre but intriguing take on the American South that trods back alleys and unlit fields.  One might call this an American Gothic release, bleeding hints of…

There’s a certain sadness to be felt on Sofandi, as we come to terms with the thought that this might be the last BABEL album.  Jakob Rehlinger claims to have said all he can say, and has tied the strings together on this album, incorporating influences from the past eighteen years.  But he’s gone on hiatus before, and the title is Icelandic for dormant, so one never knows; the moniker may once…

Secret Midnights is a lot of decadent realism produced by the plucking of guitar strings. It is an album composed of two previous releases, but the sounds and symptoms of listening are so alike, you’ll wonder why they weren’t packaged together like this before. For the hard of frowning and the lovers of love, all over the world!