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The art edition is still available HERE


tracklist:
A. Aa Sschmmettrroossppecctivve (15:40)
B. Aa Sschmmettrroossppecctivve (17:39)

Release date: May 18, 2018
Digital transfer by Charlemagne Palestine and Lionel Hubert
Mastered by Jürgen De Blonde
Artwork by Charlemagne Palestine, 9 Headed Belgian God Bear, 2013
Photography by Philippe De Gobert © 2018
Design by Jeroen Wille

Composer, musician, visual artist and performer, Charlemagne Palestine is a legendary figure in the New York underground scene. At the piano or on his electronic oscillators, this outsider of skilful music experiments with the principles of resonance and repetition in a quest for the “golden sound”: the ultimate harmonic vibration. Based in Brussels for 20 years now, his iconic work consisting of teddy bears, divinities and other enchanting encounters is now exhibited in BOZAR (AA SSCHMMETTRROOSSPPECCTIVVE, 18 May – 26 August 2018). For the occasion, Charlemagne Palestine also presents two exceptional musical performances at the Kunstenfestivaldesarts.

Published on the occasion of Charlemagne’s AA-SSCHMMETTRROOSSPPECCTIVVE exhibition, audioMER. is proud to present historical piano recordings dating from circa 1974. They were played on a Bösendorfer model 220, regarded by some as the “Rolls Royce” of pianos, at Charlemagne’s 64 North Moore Street studio, Tribeca in New York.

The music here represents Charlemagne’s infamous “strumming” technique, which he describes himself in a 2002 interview with Perfect Sound Forever as follows: “My first piano music resembles impressionists like Debussy or Ravel but it’s played through four or five hours, including some little arpeggios and played over and over again in thousands of different ways… Later on, I began to see that I’d played the piano like a flamenco guitar, that many overtones could change and the music that came out had a density and verticality – thanks to the overtones – which was extraordinary.”

Together with the book this vinyl record celebrates the career of a prolific artist in word, image and sound. A result of an intense collaboration between the artist, BOZAR and MER. Paper Kunsthalle/audioMER. A limited edition (81 copies) of the record, which comes with a book and poster, will be available as well.