Out of print
SORRY FOR LAUGHING Remember, You Are An Actor
Sorry For Laughing is a project by Gordon H. Whitlow who is also a member of legendary US avantgarde collective Biota, formerly Mnemonists or Mnemonist Orchestra. Their music is a mixture of modern classical, experimental sounds, noise, industrial, avangarde, songwriting and free jazz. Their releases were published by their own self-produced label Dys between 1981 and 1986. By 1985 the group had split off into separate groups for visual and audio work. From that time, Mnemonists operated only as a visual arts collective while the musical activity was taken over by a new group called Biota that featured a few of the musicians involved with Mnemonists as well as many new members.In 1986 Gordon H. Whitlow released a cassette under the name Sorry For Laughing: "The compositions stem from my beginning days with the avant-garde recording ensemble Biota, shortly after completion of the Bellowing Room LP." The album was re-issued on CD by Klanggalerie in 2018 and is still available. Recently, Gordon reactivated the project and changed it from a solo effort into a new supergroup: it now consist of himself, Edward Ka-Spel of Legendary Pink Dots fame, and Martyn Bates of Eyeless In Gaza. Also contributing is Denver guitarist Janet Feder, the Dots' Patrick Q.Wright and Biota's Tom Katsimpalis. Together, these musicians created an exceptional album of tender music where stunningly beautiful vocals float around ambient soundscapes and minimal classical music. Full tracklist: 1. Place 2. Milk Wood (Polly's Song) 3. Nothing For Everyone 4. Soul Wanderer 5. Mansions Of Rest 6. Dredging The Seas 7. Friends Forever 8. Mad Shadows (You Are An Actor) 9. Last Day Awake 10. Ravens Flying 11. Twist Ending/Shelf Isolation. Price: € 18,-/copy incl. worldwide shipping.
Les instruments nous guident et nous perdent, semant des pierres blanches aux éclats reposants, nourrie de country lumineuse et d’ambient-folk astrale, aspirant sur son passage les restes d un cosmos éclaté cherchant à fuir la laideur du monde, pour ressortir de l autre coté d un trou noir à la quiétude hypnotique. Avec ses orgues, son violon, ses guitares acoustiques et ses voix caressées, Remember You Are An Actor joue au funambule sur des fils tendus au dessus de ravins oniriques, paysages fragiles aux accidents souterrains, instants suspendus à des images fugaces de mirages aquarelles. Magique.
(Silence And Sound, August 2022)
Here we have a set of experimental songs with lots of guests like Martyn Bates, Edward Ka-Spel which are somewhat cross between a magical fantasy world turned into a alchemical musical ambience, classical sounds with a touch of new wave sound. All beautifully composed with a touch of elegance and a bit of theatricality especially when you cross the spoken word and the experimental background.
(Felt Hat, August 2022)
Album ni lahko poslušanje. Glavni trije so že vsi veterani, davno tega so dvignili roke nad glasbenim okusom množic. Raje zadovoljujejo lastno dušo, če jih sprejme še kdo, toliko bolje. Muzika se namreč ogiblje običajni logiki stopnjevanja in strukturiranja posameznih skladb, očitno so imeli posamezni člani kar veliko svobode pri svojih prispevkih. Izstopa sicer Gordon s svojimi godalnimi intervencijami in posegi na sintetizatorjih, a se večinoma giblje v liturgično ambientalnih vodah, s komaj kaj ritmičnih pospeškov. Skladbe se komaj premikajo, še oblika je večinoma abstraktna, podrejena razpoloženju in vsebinskim poudarkom.
(Rock Orobje, September 2022)
Sono composizioni eteree e sfuggenti, nemmeno circolari: aperte piuttosto, libere di vagare in una nube purpurea dal nulla al nulla, nascondendo o rivelando a seconda dell’estro del momento, narrando storie che sono estratti di stati d animo, pezzi di vite mischiate, racconti frammentari di paure e speranze.
Viola e violino, organo e hurdy-gurdy, kaen e banjo, effettistica assortita e rumori ambientali, fiati ed elettricità sparsa forniscono il substrato per un opera intensa, sfaccettata, a tratti toccante, altrove capace di rapire sulle ali di trame impalpabili.
(Music Map, September 2022)
First of all, it is necessary to follow the flow, the sounds, how they adapt to the voices and the intimate meaning of these. Message alias interpretation; it should be listened to like the pages of a book by Hesse or Castaneda, perhaps seeing oneself in Wenders Berlin. It sanctions the further expressionist cinematic and psychedelic ambient experience of Gordon Whitlow and Edward Ka-Spel of the Legendary Pink Dots, but in the precious adaptation of Martyn Bates, Patrick Q. Wright and Janet Feder.
(Rumore, September 2022)
Todos ellos cumplen solidariamente los designios de Gordon Whitlow, sobrevolando los campos del weird y el ambient folk, el spoken word, el minimalismo electrónico, la canción infantil y la música clásica, con espaciosidad cercana a la ingravidez en una obra sosegada, de clave menor, oscura y poética, donde también contribuye con su voz y pinturas –bastante desdibujadas en el libreto debido a las limitaciones del formato CD– el tenebroso Tom Katsimpalis, procedente de Biota.
(Roc Deluxe, September 2022)
This restless but quite gentle hike navigates freely between dreamy British folk-rock reinventions of supposedly ancient songs and spacious Americana songs, with poetic spoken words and unpredictable ambient sounds. This cycle of evocative songs is timeless and seduces the listener to lose its way within its beautiful, cosmic flower-power landscapes and images.
(Salt Peanuts, October 2022)
Sorry for Laughing seems to have tuned into the 19th century, but on a device that is getting cross-interference from a 21st-century avant-garde radio station. Theres something ominous, dark, and threatening in much of the album, but relentlessly fascinating, and islands of sweetness offer respite.
(Musically Speaking, October 2022)
More often, this is the combination of musical box like melodies, spoken or sung texts and complex musical arrangements all adding up to something more original.
(Audion, October 2022)
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