'Pieces For A Condemned Piano'

We manufactured a strictly limited promotional run of 50 CDr copies of this www.darkwinter.com release. The disc was presented in a super jewel box and looked beautiful, unmentionably lovely. We mastered the audio ourselves. We gave some away to friends, fans, etc. 'Pieces for a Condemned Piano' and the artwork is all still available from dark winter to download for free. Just follow this link:

Download 'Pieces for a Condemned Piano' including artwork from www.darkwinter.com.

Tracklisting:

1. 'On The Dying Pathway' 07:26
2. 'The Final Stage of Trauma' 08:32
3. 'Exit' 28:12

One cold & bright August evening in the empty car park of a sleepy village pub, we discovered the condemned piano.

During the time we spent with the remains on that August evening, we gathered 13 samples using various field recording techniques. The wooden keys, stripped bare, had expanded in the rain and so playing the instrument in the usual fashion was out of the question. Instead, we forced the music from the strings in other ways.

We took these extracts back into Harmsway and spent the following months reducing, expanding, compressing, torturing, stretching, warping & beating this music from them. Presented here is our lament for that condemned piano.

The piano is no longer there. It now only exists in memory, in these photographs and in the music we have made. We have provided it with a proper interment and in return, it has given us is its most beautiful and poignant performance to date.

R e v i e w s

The Wire magazine reviewed 'Pieces for a Condemned Piano':

'These are pieces not just for, but formed from, a condemned piano. The members of Formication chanced one night upon a piano, left for dead in a pub car park. The instrument had already been ‘prepared’ by the effects of wind and rain, so that it’s swollen keys couldn’t be played in any standard way. As such, the sounds here are already those of an instrument being played against the grain of convention. Formication later worked and re-worked the recordings into ‘Pieces For A Condemned Piano’, processing the material so that at times it’s source is unrecognizable. The attack of strings being struck disappears into slow waves of pure reverberant texture.’

Alan Walker of Landschaft wrote these words:

"Recording review 07 June 2007, "Pieces for a Condemned Piano":

A 23 Skidoo / Chris and Cosey like collection of organic studies taken from recordings of a discarded piano. In Formication’s words "…we gathered 13 samples using various field recording techniques. The wooden keys, stripped bare, had swollen in the rain and so playing the instrument in the usual way was out of the question. Instead we forced the music from the strings in other ways."

Not a duff moment on this tightly controlled suite of work. The CD is packaged in a super jewel case, the Rolls Royce of packaging, with comprehensive sleeve notes and a photographic insert of the wonderful gilt piano frame. I put the CD on auto-loop and listened on headphones all morning, an experience I recommend. Pure brain food. The CD opens with "On the dying pathway", a short (7 mins) exposition; after dark a primitive machine creeps out of the shadows, finding the condemned piano, discovering primitive disjointed rhythm in the remnant parts. The best kind of sample based music is where you do not know it is sample based music, as exampled here. "The final Stage of Trauma" is distant ambience, insect skittering and a thick soupy reverberance, transitioning into a mournful loop of melody. This is a very well paced and structured chunk of mood music. 8 minutes of thought provoking sonic cotton wool. "Exit" is deep-sea reverberance, drifting through a kelp forest, a compelling little loop that stitches together a very insidious progression – the sort that systems music achieves – where the beginning is different to the end and you can’t quite work out how and where the changes happen. Distant bells and seductive metallic chimes underpin the piece. Shoals of fishes swim between the fronds. Surface, take breath of air."

Don Rosco from www.subvertcentral.com:

"This is some ambient. It’s important to remember, I think, that ambient shouldn't just be music without beats. Brian Eno sez: "Ambient Music must be able to accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular; it must be as ignorable as it is interesting."

Of course, it’s easy to do the ignorable part, but a good bit harder to do the interesting bit.

This track (Exit) really nails it. The first time I heard this track it was background music; the second time my ears pricked up every now and then; the third time, my eyes were closed, I stopped what I was doing and I went for the ride. It’s a long track, and is a bit reminiscent of William Basinski’s ‘Disintegration Loops’ - a ‘riff’ which ever so gradually morphs through time. I love that unchanging / changing thing.

It’s also licensed under Creative Commons, so share away. Thanks to Statto from Subvert Central for the tip."

We're proud to have 'Pieces for a Condemned Piano' tagged at last.fm as 'Prepared Piano' alongside Aphex Twin's 'Drukqs', John Cage & Ferrante & Teicher'!

Paul Potts has used two tracks from 'Pieces for a Condemned Piano' on his audio recordings of the works of William Hope Hodgson.

Thanks to Hemizen from artofthemix.org who used 'The Final Stage of Trauma' on his fine mixtape, 'Space Is The Place'.

Here is a babelfish translation of a review from 'ikEcht Gothic Reviews':

'And this way want gladly bring I once this plate under the attention. Brought out on the net label Dark winter in 2005, the tale (to see here) behind this plate is said on its gentle interesting. On a cold august evening, called in a not closer village, Kingsley found Ravenscroft and leaves Alec Bowman piano. The sounds which they have still can wring the studio vervolgens have been taken and process there to this plate. In three numbers, spread concerning three kwartier, they give their swan song for these piano. The first two numbers in itself already interesting ambient composities with quiet gepluk and gehamer on snaren have been woven doorheen. Afterwards the brilliant "Exit", a half hour follow lasting soundscape which acts on course by means of repetitieve hypnotising and your head continue hang, long after the number has expired. I guess you to this number with an ear-phone on and on high volume to listen. What a fantastic plate!'

KindaMuzik.net offer up this nice review of 'Pieces for a Condemned Piano':

'The British Formication make "creeped-out electronica, frozen ambience and sporadic wayward beats". There they are not in unique in, but it for free available and extremely spherical Pieces for a Condemned piano [ zip 64Mb ] are ambient such as hear and where Biosphere-fans terrible teneergeslagen become and depressed gladly of. Moreover there a terrible tale sits at the plate. The album has been, as it happens, made with a piano which Kingsley Ravenscroft and Alec Bowman in a left car park found. Because of rain, rusts, mos and putrefaction were no longer possible, and therefore normal game have them the sound which came still gesampled, for months on end these together published on the netlabel Dark treat winter to three spun out tracks, and (by means of project 76)'

This is the Project 76 review mentioned above:

'The free EP of Formication "Pieces called for a Condemned piano" is very well suitable for every those, however, ambient dark of a portie keeps, supported by stemmige pianomuziek. This type music can I from time up to time, however, appreciate, certainly during rainy days such as these. Download the complete album here or track for track here. The associated artwork find you here.'

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

	'Pieces For A Condemned Piano'	February 16, 2007

	We manufactured a strictly limited promotional run of 50 CDr copies of this www.darkwinter.com release. The disc was presented in a super jewel box and looked beautiful, unmentionably lovely. We mastered the audio ourselves. We gave some away to friends, fans, etc. 'Pieces for a Condemned Piano' and the artwork is all still available from dark winter to download for free. Just follow this link: Download 'Pieces for a Condemned Piano' including artwork from www.darkwinter.com. Tracklisting: 1. 'On The Dying Pathway' 07:26 2. 'The Final Stage of Trauma' 08:32 3. 'Exit' 28:12 One cold & bright August evening in the empty car park of a sleepy village pub, we discovered the condemned piano. During the time we spent with the remains on that August evening, we gathered 13 samples using various field recording techniques. The wooden keys, stripped bare, had expanded in the rain and so playing the instrument in the usual fashion was out of the question. Instead, we forced the music from the strings in other ways. We took these extracts back into Harmsway and spent the following months reducing, expanding, compressing, torturing, stretching, warping & beating this music from them. Presented here is our lament for that condemned piano. The piano is no longer there. It now only exists in memory, in these photographs and in the music we have made. We have provided it with a proper interment and in return, it has given us is its most beautiful and poignant performance to date. R e v i e w s The Wire magazine reviewed 'Pieces for a Condemned Piano': 'These are pieces not just for, but formed from, a condemned piano. The members of Formication chanced one night upon a piano, left for dead in a pub car park. The instrument had already been ‘prepared’ by the effects of wind and rain, so that it’s swollen keys couldn’t be played in any standard way. As such, the sounds here are already those of an instrument being played against the grain of convention. Formication later worked and re-worked the recordings into ‘Pieces For A Condemned Piano’, processing the material so that at times it’s source is unrecognizable. The attack of strings being struck disappears into slow waves of pure reverberant texture.’ ~ Alan Walker of Landschaft wrote these words: "Recording review 07 June 2007, "Pieces for a Condemned Piano": A 23 Skidoo / Chris and Cosey like collection of organic studies taken from recordings of a discarded piano. In Formication’s words "…we gathered 13 samples using various field recording techniques. The wooden keys, stripped bare, had swollen in the rain and so playing the instrument in the usual way was out of the question. Instead we forced the music from the strings in other ways." Not a duff moment on this tightly controlled suite of work. The CD is packaged in a super jewel case, the Rolls Royce of packaging, with comprehensive sleeve notes and a photographic insert of the wonderful gilt piano frame. I put the CD on auto-loop and listened on headphones all morning, an experience I recommend. Pure brain food. The CD opens with "On the dying pathway", a short (7 mins) exposition; after dark a primitive machine creeps out of the shadows, finding the condemned piano, discovering primitive disjointed rhythm in the remnant parts. The best kind of sample based music is where you do not know it is sample based music, as exampled here. "The final Stage of Trauma" is distant ambience, insect skittering and a thick soupy reverberance, transitioning into a mournful loop of melody. This is a very well paced and structured chunk of mood music. 8 minutes of thought provoking sonic cotton wool. "Exit" is deep-sea reverberance, drifting through a kelp forest, a compelling little loop that stitches together a very insidious progression – the sort that systems music achieves – where the beginning is different to the end and you can’t quite work out how and where the changes happen. Distant bells and seductive metallic chimes underpin the piece. Shoals of fishes swim between the fronds. Surface, take breath of air." ~ Don Rosco from www.subvertcentral.com: "This is some ambient. It’s important to remember, I think, that ambient shouldn't just be music without beats. Brian Eno sez: "Ambient Music must be able to accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular; it must be as ignorable as it is interesting." Of course, it’s easy to do the ignorable part, but a good bit harder to do the interesting bit. This track (Exit) really nails it. The first time I heard this track it was background music; the second time my ears pricked up every now and then; the third time, my eyes were closed, I stopped what I was doing and I went for the ride. It’s a long track, and is a bit reminiscent of William Basinski’s ‘Disintegration Loops’ - a ‘riff’ which ever so gradually morphs through time. I love that unchanging / changing thing. It’s also licensed under Creative Commons, so share away. Thanks to Statto from Subvert Central for the tip." ~ We're proud to have 'Pieces for a Condemned Piano' tagged at last.fm as 'Prepared Piano' alongside Aphex Twin's 'Drukqs', John Cage & Ferrante & Teicher'! ~ Paul Potts has used two tracks from 'Pieces for a Condemned Piano' on his audio recordings of the works of William Hope Hodgson. Read more about William Hope Hodgson here. ~ Thanks to Hemizen from artofthemix.org who used 'The Final Stage of Trauma' on his fine mixtape, 'Space Is The Place'. ~ Here is a babelfish translation of a review from 'ikEcht Gothic Reviews': 'And this way want gladly bring I once this plate under the attention. Brought out on the net label Dark winter in 2005, the tale (to see here) behind this plate is said on its gentle interesting. On a cold august evening, called in a not closer village, Kingsley found Ravenscroft and leaves Alec Bowman piano. The sounds which they have still can wring the studio vervolgens have been taken and process there to this plate. In three numbers, spread concerning three kwartier, they give their swan song for these piano. The first two numbers in itself already interesting ambient composities with quiet gepluk and gehamer on snaren have been woven doorheen. Afterwards the brilliant "Exit", a half hour follow lasting soundscape which acts on course by means of repetitieve hypnotising and your head continue hang, long after the number has expired. I guess you to this number with an ear-phone on and on high volume to listen. What a fantastic plate!' ~ KindaMuzik.net offer up this nice review of 'Pieces for a Condemned Piano': 'The British Formication make "creeped-out electronica, frozen ambience and sporadic wayward beats". There they are not in unique in, but it for free available and extremely spherical Pieces for a Condemned piano [ zip 64Mb ] are ambient such as hear and where Biosphere-fans terrible teneergeslagen become and depressed gladly of. Moreover there a terrible tale sits at the plate. The album has been, as it happens, made with a piano which Kingsley Ravenscroft and Alec Bowman in a left car park found. Because of rain, rusts, mos and putrefaction were no longer possible, and therefore normal game have them the sound which came still gesampled, for months on end these together published on the netlabel Dark treat winter to three spun out tracks, and (by means of project 76)' ~ This is the Project 76 review mentioned above: 'The free EP of Formication "Pieces called for a Condemned piano" is very well suitable for every those, however, ambient dark of a portie keeps, supported by stemmige pianomuziek. This type music can I from time up to time, however, appreciate, certainly during rainy days such as these. Download the complete album here or track for track here. The associated artwork find you here.' ~ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.