WELCOME TO GOS'S HOME AT SOUNDCLICK!
Gears of Sand (GOS) is a limited CD-R label committed to issuing releases by artists for other artists. GOS thus encourages artists to spread their creative wings, to be less concerned by traditional genre driven expectations. GOS's founder, Ben Fleury-Steiner, envisions the label being a place for creating beautiful and wholly honest artistic statements. To that end, he plans all GOS releases to be presented in truly unique packaging. As a student of collage, Ben plans to contribute to the presentation of each release by challenging himself to turn the 2 millimeter space between a jewel case backing and the tray into a canvas for found objects. For example, GOS #1 "...To Reach the other Shore" (By Ben Fleury-Steiner) is packaged with dried flowers and incredibly detailed, beautiful 1mm thick Bali beads.
::committed to the artisit::
While GOS's unique packaging will be limited to 50 numbered releases, each contributor will receive 10 unnumbered copies and, because we are committed to putting the artist first, we are completely open to artists' re-releasing their GOS works as they see fit (e.g., self-releasing additional copies/alternate versions etc. etc.). In short, we hate the music business, don't care about making a dime, and thus want to empower totally uninhibited artistic expression!
::2004-2005 series::
Each year GOS will invite unique and talented artists to contribute to a new thematic series. The 2004-2005 series is based loosely around the imaginary of "Time." GOS seeks submissions addressing the imaginary that defy categories. As exploration in "sound poetics," GOS seeks submissions that suggest a story-- here a "timed" or "timeless" one-- without actually being a linear narrative. For example, we encourage submissions that combine "traditional" drone-making instruments (e.g., synths) and other instrumental drones combined or contrasted with odd-metered natural sounds.
GOS seeks to issue works of deep-layered-listening; sound projects that foster an endless experiential world for the listener. Sounds that suck the listener within and among many different aesthetic directions. GOS submissions should seek to be more than just exercises in "background" music--they should be dynamic landscapes of sonic absorption. It is our belief that all projects present a fluid and constantly shape shifting palette. We envision GOS listeners wanting to be immersed in the micro-details of sound.
We encourage projects that splash natural and contrasting sounds: A GOS release should free the listener from convention, instead providing an experience more spontaneous and ultimately inexplicable.
"What is fascinating about "time" as a thematic for soundscaping is the endless array of possibilities it presents to the artist. In the context of Western culture, "time" is a mandmade construct (e.g., 9-5 was created to impose order/dominance on the workforce). So, maybe the artist thinks sonically about "work"? By contrast, from an Eastern orthodoxy "time" just "is." (e.g., The sound of the tree blowing in the wind, the rain dropping on the ground, or the repeating sounds of a clock ticking, the sound of ocean waves crashing during high tide etc.)
"WHAT is time?" "HOW does time relate to the world?" "WHY does time matter to me?" If you go deep enough inward, you are likely to jar a whole bunch of interesting ideas to create a sound collage of time with..."As far as the thematic, GOS is NOT interested in traditional conceptual projects. That is to say, thematic pieces where there are well developed characters and linear story lines etc.
For GOS, the emphasis is on creating indescribable/heavily emotive places, textures, or atmospheres. Strangely enough, most sounds will ALREADY suggest a "somewhere." We often cannot resist visualizing sound. For example, the sound of the clock ticking may trigger visions of being back in school waiting for the bell to ring. Or the sound of a dog's bark may trigger images of running around outside with your own dog. The possibilities are wonderfully endless..." B. Fleury-Steiner
We look forward to hearing your work!
ARTISTS/CURRENT SERIES RELEASES:
::VOLUME I "THE TIME SERIES"::
::NOW AVAILABLE::
::GEARS OF SAND RELEASE #1 (VOLUME 1, NUMBER 1) ...TO REACH THE OTHER SHORE::
Ben Fleury-Steiner is a sound and found object artist,writer, and founder of GOS. His sounds might best be described as exercises in sound poetics. ...To Reach the other Shore combines traditional instrumental drones with extensive field recordings to create a thick and absorbing journey into the unspoken inertia of being. He also creates far darker and more organic works under his alias Paradin. Paradin's Flesh of Caverns is forthcoming on Daniel Croakert's wonderful
Mystery Sea label.
red moon echoes
glocio
kairos
khole & logia
...to whisper one thousand shimmering births
anemos
tzippor
shadows of a luminescent warmth
48 Minutes Total
::GEARS OF SAND RELEASE #2 THE SEED PROJECT::
Heath Yonaites & K.M.Krebs A journey into an inexplicable world of pre and post modern soundworlds. The start and
stop of a bell burries the listener deep into an almost monastic experience. And then, almost inexplicably, listener is shot onto a darker, sometimes modern (e.g., the sounds of shortwave radio and self-help tape) and then back to a sonic place that can only be described as absorbing. Both artists alternate the lead but are more than willing to go to the other side of each other's reality. The Seed Project is a groundbreaking work that is almost synergistic in its blending of sound sources. But,unlike many other works, the listener really feels connected to a whole that is truly greater than it's parts.
Heath Yonaite's sounds are immersions into the hidden properties of acoustic phenomenon. His projects can best be described as explorations that combine elements of electro-acoustics with traditional music, electronic, ambient and anything else that he feels fits the overarching aesthetic. Two of Heath's highly acclaimed recent releases are
'Abyssal Plain on Mystery Sea and Rim of the Sun on Triumvirate.
As both K.M. Krebs and 833-45-- the name that has become synonymous with a world of mesmeric radio transmissions, Krebs demonstrates a remarkable ability to sculpt the micro-details of sound. His exquisite The Light will Fill the Darkness and Obliterate It (Mystery Sea) is a sonic exploration of the connection between the moon and the ocean; placing an ear to the subtle sidereal movements of the inner waterways.
The Subjugation of Ghosts
Wherever My Feet Take Me
This Will Be A Lonely House
Cracks In The Earth
Haecceitism
Cutting Through Time
Unminding Mind
Some Forgotten Objects
Ones Who Are Called Stranglers
Foreign Scents sample
Maku-Mo-Zo
66 Minutes Total
::FORTHCOMING::
::GEARS OF SAND RELEASE #3 ONEIROMANCY::
K.M. Krebs tackles the idea of time vis-a-vis oneiromancy: the ability to see the future in one's dreams. This otherworldly excursion into watery limbo is a fascinating journey of ghostly hues and liquid immersions. Going beyond so called "dark ambient" cliches, Krebs demonstrates his mastery for subtle details and a patient combining of sound sources. A truly awe inspiring work of sound art.
Vapour of Immense Extent
(2 Minute Preview .wav)
The approach of rust
Emperor of cartography
Between the firmament and our earth
The evaporation of numberless subjects
In a warm room facing the south
Metallic kingdom
Moisture of metals
The testimony of the sea
Bruising of the serpent's head
Concealing the great stone
The seven canons
62 Minutes Total
::GEARS OF SAND RELEASE #4 CHROMA::
Ben Fleury-Steiner's sequel to "...To Reach the other Shore" begins in a strange, post-modern city-scape. The sounds of crystaline drones, field recordings of human utterances, cryptic narrators, subway trains, police cars, and tribal chants create a truly alternate-reality. A place that draws the listener in but leaves them without a compass to navigate the truly engrossing sound world that is Chroma.
Chanoch: Threadborn in my eye
(2 Minute Preview .wav)
Hayim: An unspoken domesticity
Moths in a Cube
Rodraya: Paper of Cells/Static quickens to a flicker
Om Phaedra: In cricumstance of weather/Connecting and Connected
Molad: The quotidian
Albah Neroh: A period without words
52 Minutes Total
