Erstwhile Records is an independent record label devoted to free improvisation; characteristic label artists include Keith Rowe, Günter Müller, Otomo Yoshihide, Voice Crack, Fennesz, Burkhard Stangl, Thomas Lehn. Erstwhile has gradually come to focus on a style of improvisation which could be called "post-AMM": slow-moving, often quite quiet, making use of computers and electronics in nonstadard ways (Sachiko M's use of "empty sampler," Toshimaru Nakamura's use of "no-input mixing board"), and even when acoustic instruments are used often defamiliarizing them by use of amplification and unorthodox techniques (trumpeters Matt Davis and Axel Dörner, for instance, sometimes blow their instruments through the valves). Sometimes the music can be conventionally beautiful--releases like Martin Siewert/Martin Brandlmayr's Too Beautiful to Burn or Christof Kurzmann/Burkhard Stangl's Schnee could well appeal to the more adventurous fan of modern pop music. At other times it can be demanding even for veteran listeners to avant-garde music: Good Morning, Good Night, for instance, by Otomo Yoshihide, Sachiko M and Toshimaru Nakamura, is 100 minutes of extremely high-pitched sine waves, blips, crackles and snatches of vinyl record static. The concept of an independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of one of the major record labels, which are generally defined to be the handful of media corporations which have recently dominated the recorded music industry in the West. ... Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any rules beyond the taste of the musicians involved, and not in any particular style. ... Keith Rowe is a British free improvisation guitarist. ... Günter Müller is a percussionist and drummer active primarily in free improvisation. ... Otomo Yoshihide (born August 1, 1959) is a Japanese experimental musician. ... Voice Crack was a Swiss electronic free improvisation group. ... Christian Fennesz (born December 25, 1962) is an Austrian musician who uses guitar and computer to create his electronic compositions. ... Thomas Lehn (born 1958)is a German-born piano and synthesizer player active in free improvisation and contemporary music. ... AMM is an important British free improvisation group, founded in London, England in 1965. ... Sachiko Matsubara, who usually records as Sachiko M, is a Japanese musician. ... Toshimaru Nakamura is a Japanese musician, active in free improvisation and Japanese onkyo. ...

The label's output is often controversial even among longstanding fans of free jazz and free improvisation, but the aesthetic has slowly found its own audience, though as yet there is not even an agreed-upon name for the genre ("laminal music," "granular music," "reductionism," "the new London silence," "Onkyo," "Berlin minimalism," are a few of the terms that have cropped up; for reasons of brevity "eai"--"electroacoustic improv"--seems to be winning out at present). Free jazz is a movement of jazz music characterized by diminished dependence on formal constraints. ...

Erstwhile was founded by Jon Abbey in 1999, and his (knowledgeable but highly opinionated) personality and tastes are as closely identified with the label. The music itself is part of an instantly recognizable, coherent packaging and aesthetic. Much of this is the responsibility of designer Friederike Paetzold, whose elegant packaging designs often entirely forgo details like artist's names, instrumentation and album titles in favour of striking minimalist images (often artworks by guitarist Keith Rowe, who is also a painter). 1999 is a common year starting on Friday Anno Domini (or the Current Era), and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... Keith Rowe is a British free improvisation guitarist. ...

Abbey has also organized the Amplify Festival, an annual series of live free improvisation concerts; a boxed set of recording from the 2002 event was released as AMPLIFY02: Balance; more recently, the results of the 2004 event have been emerging as separate releases under the subsidiary labelname ErstLive, notably a continuous four-hour concert by Otomo Yoshihide, Sachiko M, Toshimaru Nakamura and Keith Rowe (Erstlive 005). 2002(MMII) is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The most useful survey of the label's aesthetic and history up to 2002 remains Dan Warburton's review of AMPLIFY02: Balance.[1]

See also

• List of record labels
• List of independent record labels

The following is a partial list of record labels, both past and present. ... This is a list of record labels that are independent from the Big four record labels and typically specialize in different forms of indie rock, punk rock, and styles of alternative rock, electronica and hip-hop. ...

External link

• Official Site