SamadhiSound Catalogue

SS021: David Sylvian, Died in the Wool

Died in the Wool — variations on David Sylvian's 2009 release Manafon with the addition of 6 new pieces, including collaborations with acclaimed composer Dai Fujikura, producers Jan Bang and Erik Honoré and a stellar roster of contemporary musicians and improvisers.

SS020: David Sylvian, Sleepwalkers

David Sylvian's new compilation Sleepwalkers features his greatest collaborations from the ‘00s, including World Citizen with Ryuichi Sakamoto, the Nine Horses project, and the new song Five Lines, a collaboration with Dai Fujikura.

SS019: Akira Rabelais, Caduceus

On his samadisound debut, Spellewauerynsherde, Akira Rabelais crafted austere settings to found recordings of Icelandic songs of lament. His follow-up, Caduceus, is a different beast – a study of guitar and extreme distortion that’s both harsh and mesmerising. samadhisound founder David Sylvian describes it as “caustically romantic”: “Akira's recording presents you with an auditory experience quite unlike any other. It's by turns a brutal and discomforting ride. Outside of the full-on audio assault, there's unsettling disquiet in its quietude. Once heard it won't be forgotten and for those seeking out recorded music that is transformative, experiential, this material has that potency.”

SS018: Jan Bang, ...And Poppies From Kandahar

... And Poppies for Kandahar, Jan Bang’s first album under his own name, evokes a powerful sense of place – but it’s not a place you would recognize, or ever expect to find. A descendent of Jon Hassell’s “fourth world” concept, it sketches scenes of struggle and malice, in locales both primitive and urbane. As a producer, Bang stitches it together like a patchwork atlas and then makes the seams disappear: live recordings and studio constructions, old samples and new solos come together to form an exquisite whole.

SS017: Toshimaru Nakamura, Egrets

To fans of free improvisation and the Japanese onkyo, or noise scene, Toshimaru Nakamura needs no introduction; to newcomers, the name of his instrument – the no-input mixing board – may sound forbidding, as if its output would sound more machine than music. But for over a decade, Nakamura has cultivated a world of tones from this unlikely instrument, both harsh and mesmerizing, humanist and expansive – with something to lure in music fans of any stripe.

SS016: David Sylvian, Manafon

David Sylvian is a man apart. In a thirty-year career that spans the New Romantic movement, ambient works and progressive rock, and mature and esoteric pop, Sylvian has tested popular styles and bent them to his own vision. But the ‘00s have seen a more extreme side of his work. While 2003’s Blemish startled long-time fans with its emotional rigour, Sylvian has taken the next step with Manafon – a work of nuance and stern musicality, that is also intriguing, suspenseful, and horribly beautiful.

SOUND-DL004: Steve Jansen, The Occurence of Slope

the soundtrack for steve jansen's live dvd 'the occurrence of slope' is now available from the samadhi sound download store in both mp3 and flac formats.

SOUND-DL003: Steve Jansen, Slope Remixes

4 special remixes from Steve Jansen's 'Slope' album.
Radical remixes of 'Ballad Of A Deadman' and 'Cancelled Pieces' by Steve Jansen. A reworking of 'Conversation Over' by Tim Elsenburg aka Sweet Billy Pilgrim. An alternative mix of 'Ballad Of A Deadman' by David Picking aka Rhinoceros.

SS0013: Thomas Feiner & Anywhen, The Opiates - Revised

The Opiates opens like a journey: on “The Siren Songs,” an anxious orchestra buoys the captivating baritone of singer Thomas Feiner. This sets the tone for an album that’s stunning in its beauty – and that once lay on the brink of disaster. Whilst the album began as a group effort, the band dissolved in the two years it took to complete – leaving Feiner to finish the project alone.

SOUND-DL002: Steve Jansen, Swimming In Qualia (Ascent)

Steve Jansen's twenty four minute track 'Ascent' written for the Shoko Ise installation 'Swimming in Qualia'.
Offered in both mp3 and flac formats the download comes with cover artwork and credit sheet designed by Chris Bigg as well as specially designed wallpapers from Shoko Ise.

SS0012: Steve Jansen, Slope

Presenting Steve Jansen's new album, Slope. Tension underlies the crisp rhythms and intricate programming, while a collection of distinctive vocalists draw out the sentiment in his songwriting. As Jansen explains, "with this album I approached composition attempting to avoid chord and song structures and the usual familiar building blocks. instead I wanted to piece together unrelated sounds, music samples, rhythms and 'events' in an attempt to deviate from my own trappings as a musician."

The album features guest contributions from Tim Elsenburg, Thomas Feiner, Anja Garbarek, Nina Kinert, David Sylvian, Theo Travis and Joan Wasser (Joan As Policewoman). Presented as ever in a beautiful digipak with design by Chris Bigg.

The World is Everything tour brochure

This limited edition brochure which accompanies The World is Everything tour features a selection of photographs by David, many of which can be found elsewhere on this website, plus a sampler CD of material from the SamadhiSound label including a track from Steve Jansen's 'Slope' and two exclusive tracks by David. Available exclusively at venues during The World Is Everything tour.

SS0011: David Sylvian, When Loud Weather Buffeted Naoshima

A beautiful composition from David that was commissioned as an installation piece by the Naoshima Fukutake Art Museum Foundation on the island of Naoshima, Japan as part of the NAOSHIMA STANDARD 2 exhibition which ran from Oct 2006 to April 2007.

SOUND-DL001: Harold Budd, Perhaps

A beautiful live recording by Harold Budd performed as tribute to his late friend, and associate teacher at the then newly formed California Institute of Arts, Jim Tenney. The album, entitled 'Perhaps', was recorded live at CalArts in December 06, runs at an uninterrupted 70mins. Exclusively available as a Digital Download.

SS0010: Nine Horses, Money For All

Money For All is an extended play cd from David Sylvian, Steve Jansen, and Burnt Friedman's band 'Nine Horses'. It features two new tracks, 'Money For All' (the title of the ep), co-written by David and Burnt and 'Get the hell out' by Steve and David. The ep also features remixes and interpretations by Burnt of three tracks from the Nine Horses album 'Snow Borne Sorrow' (The Banality Of Evil, Wonderful World, and Serotonin) and alternative versions of the two new tracks plus the Japanese only released bonus track 'Birds Sing For Their Lives' with Stina Nordenstam.

SS009: David Toop, Sound Body

'Sound Body' by David Toop is an intricate work of enormous subtlety and power with contributions from a wonderful line up of musicians including Clive Bell, Haco, Angharad Davies, Rhodri Davies, Gunter Müller, Rafael Toral, and more.

SS008: Derek Bailey, To Play - The Blemish Sessions

David has just completed mixing and mastering the session that Derek Bailey recorded for the album 'Blemish'. It was to be the last solo studio session Derek recorded before the onset of illness. It's a remarkably intimate series of recordings with Derek performing at the peak of his powers. The album is titled 'To Play (The Blemish Sessions)'.

1. Play 1
2. Play 2
3. Play 3
4. Play 4
5. Play 5
6. Play 6
7. Play 7
8. Play 8

SS007: Nine Horses, Wonderful World

“Wonderful World” is the first single release to be taken from the acclaimed Nine Horses album "Snow Borne Sorrow". It features a previously unreleased composition, ‘When Monday Comes Around’, along with a radio edit of “Wonderful World”.

SS006: Nine Horses, Snow Borne Sorrow

Working under the group name of 'Nine Horses' 'Snow Borne Sorrow' is a collaboration between David Sylvian, his brother and frequent collaborator Steve Jansen and electronic composer / remixer Burnt Friedman.

SS005: David Sylvian, The Good Son vs The Only Daughter

On The Good Son vs. The Only Daughter Sylvian takes the Blemish recordings, and, in collaboration with a group of remixers including Ryoji Ikeda, Akira Rabelais, Burnt Friedman and Readymade FC, offers a set of radical re-workings of the originals, transforming them into yet unheard of delights.

SS004: Harold Budd, Avalon Sutra

Avalon Sutra is to be California-born American minimalist composer and pianist Harold Budd’s last recorded work. Avalon Sutra (released as a 2 disc set) is a suite of short, heartbreaking ambient pieces, featuring Budd’s delicate piano improvisations, lush string arrangements and warm electronic drones. The second disc (As Long As I Can Hold My Breath) features a startling remix by LA based electronic composer Akira Rabelais, sending Budd’s arrangements into Feldmanesque eternities of sound.

SS003: Akira Rabelais, Spellewauerynsherde

Spellewauerynsherde: Spell. Wavering. Shard. Spell as in speaking, incantation, a digitally constructed matrix of words and voices, summoning up a strange, distant past. Wavering: the shivering of those voices as they dissolve and recombine in Rabelais' rich filtering systems, turning into pulsating, frequency rich drones. Shard: fragments, of voices, of ideas, of memories, of the past, brought back to life again.

Spellewauerynsherde is built up from found sounds, field recordings of traditional Icelandic accapella lament songs recorded in the late 1960s or early 1970s on Ampex tapes and then forgotten about. After discovering the neglected tapes, cleaning them up and digitizing them for a library, Rabelais became fascinated with the heartbreaking sadness of the voices and began to think of them as source material for a series of compositions.

SS002: Sylvian / Sakamoto, World Citizen

Longtime friends and collaborators David Sylvian and Ryuichi Sakamoto released their latest work via David's Samadhisound label in April 2004.

There are five tracks included on the "World Citizen" EP, in a different running order and with completely different artwork to the package that was released late last year by Warner Music Japan. The final track of the CD features a remix by acclaimed remixer Ryoji Ikeda.

SS001: David Sylvian, Blemish

Recorded in February and March 2003, 'Blemish' has been hailed as a masterpiece by critics across the world.

Working primarily alone, Sylvian created an impromptu suite of songs for guitar, electronics and voice. The compositions were crafted from improvisational sessions by Sylvian and also by acclaimed guitarist Derek Bailey (on 3 tracks) which were captured live in the studio, resulting in an emotionally raw, minimal work, of immediacy and stark beauty.

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