That's fair to begin a New Year with a gift. 40 minutes available now to stream and download for free. This is a nice full live recording from The Rustle Of The Stars, including new songs.  It was recorded last November during our 'Silent Bells' Tour at Left Bank - St Margaret Of Antioch Church, Leeds, the place we recorded a part of our first album. Ouroboros. Something was in the air this night, and I guess it's still possible to feel it listening to this few weeks after... Thanks to the Silent Bells team, to Glissando,Fieldhead and to the beautifuls souls who were there with us.

Enjoy and share,
F. xo

Frédéric D. Oberland: gtr, pianet, glockenspiel, cymbals
Richard Knox: gtr
Angela Chan: viola, vocals
Lidwine: harp, bells, harmonium, vocals
Florence VJ Fawcett: cello, vocals
Elly May Irving: vocals
Recording and live sound by Tim Hay, Matt Clarke & Stuart Sutherland

MORE INFO:
The Rustle of the Stars
Gizeh Records

The Maya's schedule thankfully failed and this means that this is the season for an End of the Year Top List. Here is mine, 22 albums I enjoyed listening to this year, presented here in alphabetical order.
ENJOY and HAPPY 2013!
F. xx

ASTRÏD – High Blues - CD [Rune Grammofon]
BEAK - >> - 2xLP [Invada]
BERANGERE MAXIMIN - No One Is An Island - LP [Sub Rosa]
CAN - The Lost Tapes - 5xLP [Spoon Records]
CHRISTOPH BERG - Paraphrases - LP [Fac-ture]
DAVID LYNCH & ALAN R. SPLET - Eraserhead (OST reissue) -  LP+7" [Sacred Bones]
DIRTY THREE - Towards the Low Sun - LP [Drag City]
GLISSANDO - The World Without Us - LP [Gizeh Records]
GOSDPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR - Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! - LP+7" [Constellation]
JAMES BLACKSHAW - Love Is The Plan, The Plan Is Death - LP [Important Records]
JOZEF VAN WISSEM & JIM JARMUSH - The Mystery Of Heaven - LP [Sacred Bones]
JULIA KENT & BARBARA DE DOMINICIS - Parallel 41 - CD+DVD [Baskaru]
LE REVEIL DES TROPIQUES - Le Réveil Des Tropiques - 2xLP [Music Fear Satan]
LIDWINE - No Monkey - CD [Gizeh Records]
MAX RICHTER - Recomposed / Vivaldi: The Four Seasons - CD [Deutsche Grammophon]
NILS FRAHM - Screws - LP [Erased Tapes]
OM - Advaitic Songs - LP [Drag City]
SCOTT WALKER - Bish Bosch - 2xLP [4AD]
SIGUR ROS - Valtari - 2xLP [Parlophone]
SOAP & SKIN - Narrow - LP [Pias]
SWANS - The Seer - 3xLP [Young God Records]
TINDERSTICKS - The Something Rain - LP [Constellation]

In memory of Chris Marker (1921-2012), still frame extract from Sans Soleil, 1983.

Dear friends,

One year ago, in January 2012, I went to Greece for the first time with my friend Stephane C. to begin a new film / music related project (more news about this -check Oiseaux-Tempête website- will come soon...). 
We performed two concerts, one in Athens at Six Dogs and one in Thessaloniki at Protos Orofos. The idea was simple: a screening of photographic slideshows by Stéphane C. and Michaël Ackerman, and me improvising in front of these with the help of talented Greek musicians May Roosevelt, Mihalis Vrettas and Stavros Parginos. For each show the entrance was free, and the experience warm and cosy. I remember Thessaloniki quite well, the perfume of Tsipouro, the night lights of the Port, the old fort overlooking the City, the barking dogs, the smell of incense and the amazing food. It was an intense psychogeographical adventure. I remember the beautiful people we met there, Sotiris, Yiannis, Filiou, Tania, Eleni, the wild bunch at Point Blank and of course May and Mihalis. I miss you guys.

This was a very special moment and I'm so happy to see it released on Protos Orofos' fantastic annual compilation. You can listen to it on soundcloud and download it HERE for free. 

The cd was released in November 2012 and the 1000 copies were distributed for free. If you live outside Thessaloniki -and even outside Greece- and want to get it, send an e-mail to PROTOS OROFOS with your address and they will send it to you by post. I told you, those guys are great...

Merry X-Mas you all,
F. xo

Frédéric D. Oberland, May Roosevelt, Mihalis Vrettas
Performing in front of slideshows by Stéphane C. & Michael Ackerman
Live at Protos Orofos, Thessaloniki, January 7th 2012

Frédéric D. Oberland : electric guitar, bowed glockenspiel
May Roosevelt : theremin
Mihalis Vrettas : electric viola

MORE INFO:
Protos Orofos
Stéphane C.
Michaël Ackerman
May Roosevelt
Oiseaux-Tempête

This is a small film I did documenting the travels of The Rustle of the Stars as they performed shows across the UK and Europe in November 2012, with Richard Knox, Angela Chan, Lidwine, Florence VJ Fawcett and myself. The sound was recorded live at Sint-Elisabethkirk in Gent on the 24st of November 2012.

The tour is over now. Back home, happy sad, with great memories in our hearts. Warm thanks to all the lovely people we met and who helped us in so many ways during our trip: The Silent Bells II's team, David Armes, Paul Elam, Tim Hay, Eleanor Irving, Matt Clarke, Elaine Reynolds, Docteur Adams, the beautiful venues we've played, Salford Sacred Trinity Church, Left Bank Leeds, Cafe Oto, la Cave Aux Poètes, Nicolas & Ah Bon, Balades Sonores, l'Espace B., Seb Petit, Pierre et l'Emporium Galorium, le Planétarium d'Epinal, le festival GéNéRiQ, Laurent & Dürsten Recordings, Lydia Lunch & The Putan Club, Kris Bauwens, Sint-Elisabethkirk, etc.
You are wonderful.

By the way, The Rustle of the Stars have returned from their adventure and brought back a few unsold merch items. There is a very beautiful highly limited tour A3 PRINT and a brand new TOTE BAG with design by Two Ducks Disco. Both are available now over at the GIZEH STORE! 

MORE INFO:
The Rustle of the Stars
Gizeh Store

Happy to be part of this! 
After a four years process, Glissando's new album 'The World Without Us' is finally OUT on Gizeh Records as a beautiful 180g LP / digisleeve CD. It was nice to add few things and textures on these tracks at Magnum Diva Studio in Paris. After this recording experience, I recently joined my friends Elanor Irving & Richard Knox on stage as a Glissando's part-time live member during their last November UK tour (Sacred Trinity Church Manchester, Cafe Oto London, Left Bank Leeds). Those gigs were immensely powerful! 

GLISSANDO
'The World Without Us'
180g LP // digisleeve CD on GIZEH RECORDS
ORDER

"Well, it's great. One to burn a candle to." The 405
"A world with them is better than a world without." A Closer Listen
"If Górecki had been on 4AD. If This Mortal Coil had covered Thee Silver Mount Zion. This latest Glissando offering is one of those rare occasions where music becomes a portal – a window to other times, other worlds, other lives." [SIC] Magazine

TRACKLISTING:
Still (I)
The Long Lost
The World Without Us
Companion
Of Silence
For the Light
Embers
Still (II)

PERFORMERS: 
Elly May Irving (voice, piano) 
Richard Knox (gtr, organ, drones, field recordings, piano, voice, drums) 
Angela Chan (cello, viola, violin, glockenspiel, erhu) 
Lidwine (voice, harp) 
Frederic D. Oberland (reed organ, harmonium, bells, space echo, bowed pantophone, fender rhodes) 
Aaron Martin (cello, bowed banjo, bowl) 
Tim Hay (gtr, bass, voice) 
Paul Elam (gtr) 
Alistair Hay (drums)

Mastered by Nils Frahm

ARTWORK:
Photography / Layout / Design by Richard Knox & Kate Schofield

MORE INFO:
Glissando
Gizeh Records

'LE REVEIL DES TROPIQUES'
2xLP // 2xCD on MUSIC FEAR SATAN

FIRST PRESSING INFOS:
500 copies on gatefold VINYL 2xLP (300 copies on black, 200 copies on marble pink/marble light blue) / ORDER
1.000 copies on digisleeve 2xCD / ORDER

"Possédé, du free-rock qui fait sauter le compteur électrique. Orgiaque." Les Inrocks
“A monumental, epic soundtrack for the end of the world. Great class!” De Subjectivisten
"Le Réveil Des Tropiques is storm music, even without the storm." A Closer Listen

PERFORMERS:
Adrien Kanter: electric guitar, crackle box, synthetizer, voice
Frédéric D. Oberland: electric guitar, keyboards, alto sax, theremin
Stéphane Pigneul: electric bass, analog delay
Matthieu Philippe de L'Isle: synthetizer, tapes, percussion, voice
Arnaud Rhuth: drums

Recorded by Robin Fernette in La Barette
Mixed by Manu Ralambo in Montreuil /s Bois
Mastered by Mell Dettmer in Seattle 
Polaroïd SX-70 taken in Coney Island by Stephane C. 

MORE INFO:
Le Réveil Des Tropiques 
Music Fear Satan

We have begun recording our second album with producer Benoît Bel. This is happening at Mikrokosm Studios in Lyon for 4 or 5 sessions, regardless extra recordings and arrangements ; a long process for which could be a full FareWell Poetry double album. Pamela Maddaleno, italian filmmaker and photographer, has been following the whole thing. Her analog photographs and her studio videos exude the special relationship that we have shared with her since the recording session for 'Hoping For The Invisible To Ignite' in 2011.

MORE INFO:
FareWell Poetry
Mikrokosm Recording
Pamela Maddaleno

MORE INFO:
Thomas Humery
Jayne Amara Ross

Hi folks,

I'm happy to inaugurate the 2012's releases by a collaboration with my friend Bérangère Maximin. Our track is called 'How Warm is our Love' and is the opening piece of the stunning new Bérangère's album 'No One is an Island' alongside collaborations with Fennesz, Rhys Chatham & Richard Pinhas. 'No One is an Island' is out since March 7th on Sub Rosa (New Series Framework #11). You'd rather be quick to purchase one of these beautiful CD (limited to 500 copies) or LP (clear or black limited to 300)...

TRACKLISTING:
How Warm is our Love 08:55 - feat. Frédéric D. Oberland (gtr)
Un jour, mes restes au soleil 01:44
Knitting in the Air 06:28 - feat. Christian Fennesz (gtr)
Carnaval Cannibale 07:01 - feat. Richard Pinhas (gtr)
Bicéphale Ballade 09:02 - feat. Christian Fennesz (gtr)
Where the Skin meets the Bone 11:08 - feat. Rhys Chatham (trmpt)

"I eagerly seized the opportunity to work with these amazing four men. I loved that. Their wits and energies were just what I needed: a sonic journey that simultaneously develops intuition and teaches understanding, this among many other subtle effects. It certainly impacts on my way of listening, and therefore on the music I shall make in the future. My warm thanks go to them and also to those who not only offer drama, but who also can help keep on track and blossom." (BM). 

Deep thanks to Bérangère. No One is an Island, you're right.
F. xo

MORE INFO:
Sub Rosa
Bérangère Maximin

Dear all,
Last December FareWell Poetry played in Paris in the great venue Le Café de la Danse. It was a beautiful moment for us. 22 minutes extract of this show filmed by Le HibOO are now available on ARTE Live-Web. ENJOY.

Some nice words in French by ARTE Live-Web (English version on Fluid Radio):
"Le projet FareWell Poetry ressemble plus à un Think Tank qu’à un groupe de musique. D’ailleurs, le réduire à la musique serait rendre bien peu justice de l’espèce d’œuvre totale qu’est Hoping For The Invisible To Ignite. Réunion d’un pool transfrontalier de musiciens autour de la poètesse et vidéaste franco-australienne Jayne Amara Ross, FareWell Poetry dessine au fusain des ambiances crépusculaires, de longues volutes qui grimpent et explosent, et font pleuvoir du noir étincelant. Difficilement rangeable, FareWell Poetry évoque le psychédélisme noir du Velvet Underground de White Light/Wight Heat, mais sis sur une incroyable érudition instrumentale. On retrouve d’ailleurs quelques invités de marque (Gaspar Claus, notamment) allants et venants au cœur du projet."

MORE INFO:
liveweb.arte.tv

Dear folks,
The soundtrack I composed some months ago for the short film 'L'Annonciation' directed by David Bart & Laurence Balan just received the Sacem Award for the Best Original Soundtrack at Festival Côté Court, Pantin (FR), 2011!

L'ANNONCIATION
Experimental short film 14’14’’ / Super 8, 16mm & 35 mm / 2010
Directed by David Bart & Laurence Balan
Produced by Red Star Cinema / Sébastien de Fonséca with the support of the CNC and La Maison du Film Court
With Laetitia Spigarelli

Angel Gabriel appears to Mary and announces that she is to bear the Son of God, the Messiah. Here is both the mystery of the Incarnation and the Immaculate Conception. The angel then disappears, leaving Mary overwhelmed, submerged in her emotions. When the quotidian meets the supernatural: from the figurativeness of pictorial representation to cinematographic abstraction. 

Original soundtrack by Frédéric D. Oberland
Jean-Philippe Feiss : cello 
Hiroko Komiya : bells, chimes 
Frédéric D. Oberland : harmonium, electric guitar, kalimba, theremin, bowed glockenspiel, fender rhodes, electronics
 
Recorded & mixed at 'Magnum Diva' studio, Montmartre, Paris, by Frédéric D. Oberland between November & December 2009.

Dear friends,

2011 has been a great year for music lovers. Amongst several other beauties I have listened to, this is a personal selection of 27 records released these last twelve months which I played regularly on my turntable or through my headphones. These records blew me away, they made me sad, they kept me happy, they were beside me as I traveled, made love, walked, cooked or slept. They helped me to stay alive in more ways than one and I wanted to send my warm thanks to all the artists below.
I hope you'll enjoy these albums as much as I did.
Loads of love for 2012,
Be well, be crazy,
F. xx

In alphabetical order :

ARBOREA : 'Red Planet' CD - Strange Attractors Audio House
BARN OWL : 'Shadowland' EP & 'Lost In The Glare' LP - Thrill Jockey
BEN FROST & DANIEL BJARNASON : 'Solaris' CD - Bedroom Community
COLIN JOHNCO : 'Neo Love' Free Download - SuRRism Phonoetics
COLIN STETSON : 'New History Warfare Vol. 2 : Judges' LP - Constellation
DEAF CENTER : 'Owl Splinters' LP - Type
DUSTIN O'HALLORAN : 'Lumiere' LP - Fat Cat
EARTH : 'Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light I' 2xLP - Southern Lord
ESMERINE : 'La Lechuza' LP - Constellation
FAREWELL POETRY : 'Hoping For The Invisible To Ignite' LP+DVD - Gizeh Records
JOHANN JOHANNSSON : 'Miners Hymns' 2xLP - Fat Cat
JULIANNA BARWICK : 'The Magic Place' LP - Asthmatic Kitty
KOUYATE-NEERMAN : 'Skyscrapers And Deities' CD - No Format
LEONARDO ROSADO & BIRDS OF PASSAGE : 'Dear And Unfamiliar' LP - Denovali Records
MARISSA NADLER : 'Marissa Nadler' LP - Box Of Cedar Records
MATANA ROBERTS : 'COIN COIN Chapter One : Gens De Couleur Libres' LP - Constellation
PEDRO SOLER & GASPAR CLAUS : 'Barlande' CD - Infine
PETER BRODERICK : 'Music For Confluence' CD - Erased Tapes 
RICHARD KNOX & FREDERIC D. OBERLAND : 'The Rustle Of The Stars' LP - Gizeh
SLEEPING DOG : 'With Our Heads In The Clouds And Our Hearts In The Fields' LP - Gizeh 
TIM HECKER : 'Ravedeath 1972' 2xLP - Kranky
TINDERSTICKS : 'Claire Denis Film Scores 1996-2009' 5xLP - Constellation
VARIOUS ARTISTS : 'Kanshin' 2xCD - Hibernate Recordings / Fluid Audio / Facture
VARIOUS ARTISTS : 'Un Diable Sur Le Tympan - Live at Saint-Merry Church' Free DL - Facture 
WINTER FAMILY : 'Red Sugar' 2xLP - Sub Rosa / Alt.vinyl
XELA : 'Exorcism' Free DL - Type

 LP (LTD EDITION) | ORDER
 DOWNLOAD | ORDER

 ALL ORDERS RECEIVE A FREE DOWNLOAD 
 RELEASED: NOVEMBER 7th 2011 
 on GIZEH RECORDS

'In order to see this beauty, one must risk everything and perhaps be a little mad. Stunningly enunciated by Richard Knox & Frédéric D. Oberland's nuanced approach to songwriting.' 
THE SILENT BALLET 8/10

"An accomplished, evocative musical voyage through the vast arctic seas and beyond" 
ROCK-A-ROLLA

"Elegiac, achingly beautiful and every bit as stark as the polar landscape that inspired the recording'" 
WHISPERIN&HOLLERIN 9/10

"Sometimes bleak, sometimes discordant, but always powerful" 
FLUID RADIO

Charles Francis Hall died in 1871 during his attempt to reach the North Pole. In 2011, 'The Rustle of the Stars' album is now available for pre-order on Gizeh Records...

My dear friend Richard Knox (Glissando, A-Sun Amissa) and I started to record this new project a couple of months ago, between Leeds and Paris. We'd like to think of this album as a polar journey to the ends of the earth through the arctic sea. We kept in mind the first polar expeditions,  Edgar Allan Poe's Dream-Land, the ships trapped or crushed by ice, the point of no-return, the minds sinking, the attempt on the Pole ending in disaster, the quest of the Northwest Passage, Erebus & Terror, the Mercy Bay, Mangazeya, Charles Francis Hall, Beechey Island, the Midnight sun and the Polar night. 

Much thanks to the beautiful people who worked with us on this record: Angela Chan, Elly May Irving, Tim Hay, David Ramsay, Jayne Amara Ross, Matt Clark, and Lawrence English. 

The initial release will be on limited Edition (300 hand numbered), silver foiled text 180g 12" HEAVYWEIGHT VINYL. 
The package includes artwork postcard, a screenprint by the great Cameron Steward and a digital download code. 
I took the photograph for the cover. 

You can now listen to Sleeping Land (I) and an alternate ambient version of 'The Wreck of Hope' below,  both taken from the forthcoming album. Enjoy!

MORE INFO:
www.therustleofthestars.com
www.gizehrecords.com/gzh36.html

 LP+DVD (LTD EDITION) | BUY
 CD+DVD | BUY
 DOWNLOAD | BUY

  ALL ORDERS RECEIVE A FREE DOWNLOAD 
  RELEASED: SEPT 26th & OCT 3rd 2011 
  on GIZEH RECORDS

"This music is dangerous. Deep emotional wounds often need to be reopened and scarped in order to have a shot at healing.  Hoping for the Invisible to Ignite invites us to pass through the raging fire so that we might stand on the ravaged side, patting the flames on our singed clothes and glaring triumphantly at the monster that should have destroyed us. One of 2011's defining musical moments. Miss this at your peril." 
THE SILENT BALLET 9/10 (album of the month)

“Listening to Hoping for the Invisible to Ignite, one might also be reminded of The Velvet Underground performing at The Factory, with all of the visual spectacle attendant upon such a happening, as one more precursor to FareWell Poetry. One shouldn't make too much of such references, however, as the mesmerizing Hoping for the Invisible to Ignite is radically unlike the material others before them have issued” 
TEXTURA (album of the month)

"Assurément l’un des disques les plus addictifs de la rentrée. Toxique. "
LES INROCKS.COM 

"A fascinating journey. An arresting album, and one that only whets the appetite for their live shows."
ROCK-A-ROLLA

“More than mere music, ‘Hoping for the Invisible to Ignite’ is a truly breathtaking work”. 
WHISPERIN & HOLLERIN 9/10

“A distinctive identity in a somewhat crowded scene of post-rock/shoegaze/modern orchestral instrumentalists.” 
FLUID RADIO

I'm delighted to inaugurate this new blog section with this. We received some days ago the FareWell Poetry 'Hoping For The Invisible To Ignite' the LPs+DVDs and CDs+DVDs and they both look terrific! Thanks to Rich and to the whole Gizeh Records family and congratulations to David Bart for the graphic design and to Alice Lewis for her wonderful original drawings! Stunning work, guys.

This is released by Gizeh Records on the 26th of September (CD+DVD) and on the 03rd of October (LP+DVD) through Kompakt (worldwide distribution), Module & La Baleine (France), Southern Records Distributors (UK), Forced Exposure (US), etc. 

The vinyl is a limited Edition (500 hand numbered) DELUXE 12" + DVD. The package includes an 8 page booklet, a 12"x12" art print (drawing by Alice Lewis), a collection of small prints and a postcard. The DVD includes the Super 8/16mm black&white film 'As True As Troilus' by Jayne Amara Ross & a bonus live performance shot by Alain Grodard & Rod Maurice during the 'Festival des Nouveaux Arts Sacres' at Saint-Eustache Church in Paris. 

You can now order one of these through the Gizehstore. An instant exclusive download code of the album is included with the order!

Be (fare)well !

MORE INFO:
www.farewell-poetry.com
www.gizehrecords.com/gzh35.html