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Inlandish - Just Released 01/21/2008!
The US release of Inlandish is now available!
Released on July 15 by High Wire, the US version features subtly different cover art in the same beautiful 'digipak' case, and can be purchased at many retailers like Amazon, or direct from us at the link here (we also have a few of the original UK CD release, too!):
Order Inlandish now at timstory.com
The third collaboration between the krautrock legend Roedelius -
once of Cluster and Harmonia - and the American composer Tim
Story features the kind of instrumental music that tends to be
called "ambient" for want of a better name, yet this isn't music
that sits there in the background as you get on with your life.
This is music that makes you stop and listen. (From The London Times)
"For Ohio-based Tim Story, American neo-classical composer
and expert in synth-assisted exploration, the Lunz collaborative
project is a lifelong dream. His partner in the sublime is
Hans-Joachim Roedelius, the man behind Brian Eno favourites
Cluster and a musical maverick whom Story has longed to work
with ever since he first heard the cerebral, eerie,
proto-Aphex strains of Germany's Cluster in the '70s when all around
him was hairy, lairy rock 'n' roll.
'Rock 'n' roll was king and I was getting restless,' explains Story.
'Discovering this new German electronic music was a blast of fresh air
to the handful of us who managed to find it. As a friend of mine put it,
Cluster's music was like "some heavenly music except the primary instrument
appears to be a coffee percolator." What I was, and still am drawn to, is
that Roedelius has the most intuitive approach to music of anyone I've ever
met. Whether he's playing a translucent piano improv, or experimenting with
the most jagged, dense electronics, there's this undeniable humanity and
uniqueness to his work.'
The two first met when Story, traveling Europe to plug his first solo albums
in 1983 and still obsessed by his hero, 'made a point to swing through
Austria to meet him.' Story ended up staying with Roedelius for a week,
camping in the beautiful, forested area that would eventually give them
their collaborative name. Since that first meeting, the two have remained
close, exploring a kindred spirit for composing 'emotionally ambiguous'
soundscapes and for wine, something that delayed them actually working
together until 1996: 'Whenever we got together,' says Story, 'we were always
having too much fun to actually start!'
They finally got to it when Roedeluis and Cluster made their American
touring debut in 1996. First to come from this musical partnership was the
hallucinatory musique concrète of 'Persistence of Memory', followed by
acclaimed 2003 album 'Lunz'. It's 'Inlandish', though, that sees the two,
separated by 23-years and something called the Atlantic ocean, putting their
individual parts of the jigsaw together for what's easily their most
beguiling trip.
Describing the dream-inducing wash of sounds that is 'Inlandish', it is, at
first listen, perhaps easy to call it ambient. Roedelius suggests that we
should try a bit harder though: 'Ambient doesn't really express
'Inlandish''s complexity and beauty. 'Inlandish' is not easy to put in the
category of what ambient music normally appears as in the listeners ears.
Perhaps it's 'ambient at its best', but I would think it's a sort of new or
contemporary classical music.'
They began the album by spending 10 days together in Story's Toledo studio
laying down Roedelius's piano parts ('I'm just the piano-keyboard man,' says
Roedelius somewhat disingenuously). After that, Story spent five months
working on the tone of the record, adding the haunting twists and languid
yet euphoric whooshes. Of the two, Roedelius is usually considered the
groundbreaking electronicist but on 'Indlandish' it was Story who added the
electronic parts and all the arrangements (Oboe, cello...). The result is an
amalgam of pulsing, tinkling, voice-of-the-future sounds that touch on the
dreamy and beautiful but also something darker, more melancholy and deeply
existential. Says Story: 'Happy music always seems kind of dull and shallow
to me, so I'm always drawn back to something with a bit more mystery,
darkness or sadness. I'll take Bartok over Shostakovich, Boards Of Canada
over Franz Ferdinand…'
This also being the reason for Story 'electronically subverting acoustic
instruments like the cello,' or making electronic sounds feel organic,
challenging the listener to ask what's what and how it makes them feel. It's
something that Story takes from his love of Steve Reich and the great man's
use of 'repetition and shifting perspectives.' But however much 'Inlandish'
might sound like the soundtrack to a trip through the cosmos, this album is
immersive rather than passive, both unsettling and comforting. For
Roedelius, though, 'Inlandish' is simply a beautiful album that expresses
how much fun the two have had together: 'We took breaks to eat nice food and
to drink wine. We were also cooking together. I cooked my special French
fish soup, which I learned running an art bar with friends at a beach in
'Inlandish' sounds.'
Tim Story - biography
Tim Story, hailed as "a true artist in the electronic medium" (Victory Review, USA) and "a master of electronic chamber music" (CD Review, USA) has received worldwide acclaim for his haunting compositions which blend orchestral acoustic instruments and elegant electronics.
Tim's intensely personal style as a pianist, synthesist and composer developed from years of experimentation in his home studio, and a love of composition. Along with his self-taught, idiosyncratic approach to the piano, Story saw the great potential of the new breed of electronic music instruments that were evolving in the early 70's. This affinity for synthesizers, as well as electric guitars, tape loops and kitchen utensils, is evident in the early recordings. The careful juxtaposition of acoustic instruments with electronic textures, and an inventive approach to composition are common threads running through most of Story's work.
"I like to work with a finite palette of sounds and keep paring things down to a pure, though often ambiguous, expression. Simplicity shouldn't imply simplemindedness. I think of the deceptively simple, ironic pieces of Erik Satie, or the lovely yet challenging piano music of Debussy. The very best of these pieces appear so effortless and perfect that they seem as if they've existed forever..." Story also cites a diverse range of musical preferences including Bartok, Arvo Part, Miles Davis, Coltrane, Dwight Ashley, Can, Cluster and Robert Wyatt.
Tim's work has garnered an international reputation for its haunting elegance and meticulous compositional detail. When writing and recording, he often spends months carefully working and refining the shape of each composition until he achieves the desired emotional and intellectual effect. His seemingly simple pieces distill harmonic and melodic ideas that are often quite complex.
" ...a goal of mine is to get the listeners to put something of themselves into the music. I want to prod the listener to find his or her own feelings about a piece, even if those feelings are sometimes uncomfortable. As Charles Ives said, 'Beauty in music is too often confused with something that lets the ears lie back in an easy chair.' I like to think of good music as a sculpture or a Japanese garden, where you can never experience the whole from any one point. Music that insinuates, you must move through it, live with it for a while, before it yields its secrets." As Philadelphia's City Paper described it, "Story’s unsentimental blend of still-life piano and eerie synthetics conjures without explaining. His instrumental music comes at the listener subtly yet subversively...."
DISCOGRAPHY
1981
Threads
Originally recorded for Atem Records
Re-issued 1992 by Eurock Records (USA) - ECD 2008/CD
More info/order
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1982
In Another Country
Dubious Recordings (USA) - DC001/Cass
Uniton Records (Norway) - U009/LP
Re-issued in 1995 by Eurock Records (USA) - ECD 2012/CD
More info/order
This album from iTunes
1984
Untitled
Uniton Records (Norway) - U024/LP Cassette
Polydor (Japan) - 3112-56/CD LP
Re-issued 1988, Windham Hill/Lost Lake Arts (USA) - WD 0094/CD LP Cass
More info/order
This album from iTunes
1985
Three Feet From The Moon
Uniton Records - U027/LP Cass
Teichiku (Japan) - 30CP-148/CD
Re-issued in 1997 by Eurock Records (USA) - ECD 2014/CD
More info/order
This album from iTunes
1987
Wheat and Rust
Cicada Records (Norway) - C008/LP Cass CACD 03/CD
This album from iTunes
Glass Green
Windham Hill (USA) - WD 1061, 11124/CD LP Cass
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1988
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Read by Glenn Close, Music composed, arranged and performed by TS
Windham Hill/Rabbit Ears – WD 0711/CD LP Cass
1990
Of The Father’s Love Begotten, from A Winter's Solstice III
Traditional, arranged and performed by TS
Windham Hill - WH 1098/CD LP Cass
1991
Beguiled (Released 1992)
Hearts Of Space (USA) - HS11027/CD Cass
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A Desperate Serenity (Ashley/Story)
Multimood Records (Sweden)/CD
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1992
The Seed, from The Seed
Composed by John Kerr, arranged and performed by TS
Cue Records (Germany) - CUE 100/CD
Gymnopedie 1, from The Impressionists
Composed by Erik Satie, arranged and performed by TS
Windham Hill - 11116/CD Cass
This track from iTunes
1993
Asleep the Snow Came Flying, from A Winter's Solstice IV
Composed, arranged and performed by TS
Windham Hill – 11134/CD Cass
This track from iTunes
1994
In Search of Angels
Windham Hill (USA) - 01934 11153-2/CD Cass
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The Perfect Flaw
Hearts of Space (USA) - HS11045/CD Cass
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Siciliano, from The Bach Variations
Composed by J.S. Bach, arranged and performed by TS
Windham Hill (USA) - 01934 11150/CD Cass
1995
The Death of Ase, from The Romantics
Composed by Edvard Grieg, arranged and performed by TS
Windham Hill (USA) - 01934-11171/CD Cass
This track from iTunes
1996
Abridged (includes Drawn By Hand, previously unreleased)
Hearts of Space (USA) - HS11066/CD
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Adagio from Serenade 10 in B-flat, from A Different Mozart
Composed by W. A. Mozart, arranged and performed by TS
Imaginary Road (Polygram) (USA) - 314 534 065-2/CD Cass
1997
Drop (Ashley/Story)
Lektronic Soundscapes/CD
Re-issued 2005, Nepenthe Music (USA) - AMC05003/CD
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This album from iTunes
The Earth Lay White, from On A Winter’s Night
Composed, arranged and performed by TS
Imaginary Road (Polygram) (USA) - 314 536 143-2/CD Cass
In The Winter’s Pale, from A Winter’s Solstice VI
Composed, arranged and performed by TS
Windham Hill (USA) - 01934-11220/ CD Cass
This track from iTunes
1998
The Silver Swan, from A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Composed by Orlando Gibbons, arranged and performed by TS
Windham Hill (USA) - 01934-11216/CD Cass
This track from iTunes
Caranna, From Thanksgiving – A Windham Hill Collection
Composed, arranged and produced by TS
Windham Hill - 01934-11381/CD Cass
This track from iTunes
2000
Persistence of Memory (Story/Roedelius)
Seventh Chance, 2000
Limited edition, signed CD
Please check with me for availability
Prelude of the Heroic Gate of Heaven, from A Different Prelude
Composed by Erik Satie, arranged and performed by TS
Decca Records (USA) - 289 465 819/CD
2001
Shadowplay
Hearts of Space (USA) – 11403-2/CD
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When Comes December, from A Winter’s Solstice Silver Anniversary Edition
Composed, arranged and performed by TS
Windham Hill (USA) - 01934-11604-2/CD
2002
Lunz (Story/Roedelius)
Groenland (UK)/CD
Re-released in 2003 by Narada (USA)/CD
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It Came Upon the Midnight Clear, from A Windham Hill Christmas
Traditional, arranged and performed by TS
Windham Hill (USA)
This track from iTunes
2003
Largo, from Adagio
Composed by A. Vivaldi, arranged and performed by TS
Windham Hill (USA) /CD
Sanctus, from Prayer
Composed by Faure, arranged and performed by TS
Windham Hill (USA)/CD
This track from iTunes
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, from A Windham Hill Christmas II
Traditional, arranged and performed by TS
Windham Hill (USA)/CD
2004
Lunz Reinterpretations (Story/Roedelius/various artists)
Groenland (UK)/CD
2-cd set featuring original Lunz cd, and another full disc of remixes
Please check with me for availability
The Holly and the Ivy, from I’ll Be Home For Christmas
Traditional, arranged and performed by TS
Windham Hill (USA)/CD
This track from iTunes
2005
Caravan - Original Soundtrack
Nepenthe Music (USA) - AMC05004/CD
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Standing and Falling (Ashley/Story)
Nepenthe Music (USA) - AMC05007/CD
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The First Noel/What Is This Fragrance?, from Christmas Eve
Traditional, arranged and performed by TS
Windham Hill (USA)/CD
This track from iTunes
2006
buzzle
Barking Green (UK)/Nepenthe (US) - BGM00041/CD
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This album from iTunes
2008
Inlandish (Story/Roedelius)
Groenland (UK)/CD
High Wire (US)/CD
More info/order
This album from iTunes
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