So, you could be an active listener of Merzbow, Wolf Eyes, Pan Sonic, and all of their off-shoots and justifiably consider yourself an enthusiast when it comes to noise or experimental electronic music. Unfortunately, Belgian label Sub Rosa has a different plan for your ego: that of rapid deflation, but in a way that simultaneously appeals to your masochism. Their Anthology of Noise & Electronic Music series garners your appreciation at the same time that it makes you keenly aware of unexplored corners, despite a diligence in keeping up with modern developments in the genre(s). First a-Chronology 1921-2001 arrived in 2002 with two discs (or three LPs) and a 52-page booklet inadvertently highlighting your ignorance. The five subsequent editions adhered to a similar, ambitious structure, and now, Sub Rosa will take things a step and a disc further with Seventh and Last a-Chronology 1930-2012, out… no time for anticipation-building! It’s out now, apparently.
In addition to the third disc in this final edition, the booklet is also about a third longer than previous editions, at 84 pages. Given the whole of this anthology series, which consists of 176 tracks and nearly 18 hours of sonic exhaustion, you might expect a little gloating on the part of its compilers — namely, Sub Rosa director Guy Marc Hinant. But that’s clearly not their style: “Our coverage is obviously incomplete, as there will be new emergences, through means unknown to us, from places we are unaware of.”
Get in touch with your own humility. Wait… who?
Seventh and Last a-Chronology 1930-2012 tracklisting:
Disc 1:
01. Henry Jacobs - Sonata for Loudspeakers (1953-4)
02. Tziga Vertov - Radio-ear Radio Pravda (1930)
03. Bebe & Louis Barron - Bells of Atlantis (1952)
04. Luciano Berio - Thema (Omaggio a Joyce) (1958)
05. Bülent Arel - Electronic Music (1961)
06. Don Preston - Analog Heaven #6 (1975)
07. Slawek Kwi + Siobhan McDonald - Lava Samples
08. Benjamin Thigpen - Thread0 (2011)
09. Helmut Schäfer - Infuse (2005-6)
10. Novi_sad - The insolence of a poppy (2011)
11. Saule - Paperfilm (2002)
12. E-L Scott de Martinville - Au clair de la lune (1860)
Disc 2:
01. John Oswald - Vertical Time
02. Israel Quellet Pour - percussion et saturation (2007)
03. Dennis Wong / Sin:Net - Decomposition
04. Alan Courtis - Mind Broncoespasmo
05. Fausto Romitelli - Trash TV Trance (2002)
06. Justin K. Broadrick - Guitar Three (1995)
07. Storm Bugs - Cash Wash/Eat good Beans (1980)
08. E.A.R. - Beyond the Pale (1992)
09. Henry Cow - From Trondheim (1976)
10. Osso Exotico - Rota de inverno (1994)
Disc 3:
01. Eugeniusz Rudnik - Collage (1965)
02. Eduardo Polonio - Transparencias (2011)
03. Cabaret Voltaire - Chance versus Causuality (1979)
04. Mika Vainio - Transformer in 7 (2011)
05. Alma Laprida + Juan Jose Calarco - Contorso (2011)
06. Klangkrieg - Korpus 1 (1996)
07. Gintas Kraptavicius - 4m (2011)
08. Warong Rachapreecha - Shambles (2012)
09. The New Blockaders - Blockade is Resistance (1983)
10. GX Jupitter-Larsen / The Haters - Fuechen (1985)
11. The Rita - Skate (2009)
12. To Die - Terhempas luka / Jurang nestapa (2011)
13. Agro / B. Spivey + R. Anderson - Only Those Who Attempt The Impossible Will Achieve The Absurd (1995)
14. Jamka - Wild Rosa Tree (2010)
15. Erin Sexton - Suspend / 2 Electromagnetic Amplifiers (2011)
16. Gustavo Serpa - Astro Metal (2008)
17. Anonymous - Untitled (unknown)
• Sub Rosa: http://www.subrosa.net
