Constructive
Constructive

Constructive. An unspecified variety of music, sometimes with a visual counterpoint.

Constructive is the sister label to SN Variations.

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CN6     Triola    Scapegoat    2023    LP / CD / DL

Scapegoat is the new album by the prolific Tokyo-based composer & experimental string musician Atsuko Hatano aka Triola, an improvisational viola player who forms innovative compositions with contemporary classical arrangements and intricately constructed electronics. Although recorded as an instrumental opus, Scapegoat is described by Hatano as an ‘imaginary opera’, comprising eleven ‘scenes’ connected by one overarching drama, with a song or a poem scripted for each composition. Exploring the symbolism of light, space, and precious gemstones, as well as themes of solitude, memory, self-fulfilment, self-deception, rebirth and reinvention, Hatano masterfully shapes exquisite, free-flowing movements of strings and percussion, marked by subtle infiltrations of aleatoric electronics and found sound.

Design by Chris Bigg
Mastered by Joe Talia
Distributed by Kudos

Limited edition LP / Digital.
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Scapegoat front cover


CN5     Various Artists    Utopia or Oblivion    2023    DL / LP

Whether it is to be Utopia or Oblivion will be a touch-and-go relay race right up to the final moment. Humanity is in a final exam as to whether or not it might qualify for continuance in the Universe.” (Utopia Or Oblivion: The Prospects for Humanity R. Buckminster Fuller) Constructive are pleased to announce a a compilation of work by 10 artists inspired by and in response to the work of R. Buckminster Fuller, specifically from the essays Utopia Or Oblivion first published in 1963. Featuring Tujiko Noriko, Adam Janota Bjowski, Adrian Corker, Robert Lippok, No Home, Richard Skelton and Corey Fuller, Sylvia Kastel, Ale Hop and David Prior. R Buckminster Fuller was a polymath and futurist, a contemporary of John Cage and Isamu Noguchi amongst others, renowned for his comprehensive perspective on the world’s problems. There will also run a website which will serve as a focal point for a series of essays, articles, artists work and information resources that will be derived from the same broad remit offered to the musicians.

www.utopiaoroblivion.net

Design by Joe Gilmore
Mastered by Stephan Mathieu for Schwebung Mastering
Distributed by Kudos

Limited edition 12" / Digital out 4th November 2022.
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Utopia or Oblivion Front Cover


CN4     Adrian Corker    Re-works of Since It Turned Out Something Else    2022    12" / DL / NFT

Constructive are pleased to announce our fifth release, reworks by TIBSLC of Adrian Corker’s recent album ‘Since It Turned Out Something Else’. Having met earlier this year when TIBSLC played at an album launch in London for Jack Sheen at Cafe Oto, Corker asked if they would be interested in taking the tracks as raw material to create a new set of pieces. The original acoustic worlds of the tracks, a combination of contemporary composition and electroacoustic techniques , are transformed into complex ever shifting digital landscapes. Performances by players such as Aisha Orazabayeva, Tatsuhisa Yamamoto and Ligeti Quartet are dissolved into strata of sound with fragments appearing from time to time like hints of archaeological ruins.

Design by Joe Gilmore
Mastered by Graeme Durham at The Exchange
Distributed by Kudos

Limited edition 12" / Digital out 4th November 2022.
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Surge OST Front Cover


CN3     Tujiko Noriko & Paul Davies    Surge OST    2022    CD / DL

Constructive are proud to announce the release of the original soundtrack for the British film ‘Surge’ by Tujiko Noriko and Paul Davies. Directed by Aneil Karia and starring Ben Whishaw, the film is set in London over twenty-four hours and is a stripped back thriller about Joseph. A man who goes on a bold and reckless journey of self-liberation.

The album consists of sixteen tracks and presents the soundtrack in a non-conventional form. Sound design and composition are presented side by side as equal components in the score.

'Surge' is a Rooks Nest production with BBC Film and the BFI. 

Artwork by Joji Kayama
Mastered by Paul Davies

Surge OST Front Cover Surge OST Inside Cover


CN2     Takuma Watanabe    Delay x Takuma    2021    DL / 12"

Constructive is proud to present some radical reinterpretations of four tracks from Takuma Watanabe’s debut album ‘Last Afternoon’ by Vladislav Delay.

‘Clouds Fall x Tactile’. Like taking a widescreen trip through Takuma’s perfectly constructed digital worlds. Loops of conversations, sheared sounds and bursts of low-end frequencies fill the air. All underpinned by those unmistakable strings.

‘Text x Bruges’. Hyper chemistry of rhythmic urgency and Joan La Barbara’s vocals. Cut up and used as percussive ammunition.

Originals by Takuma Watanabe
Deconstructed by Vladislav Delay
Artwork by Joe Gilmore
Mastered by Joe Talia

Delay x Takuma Front Cover

CN1     Takuma Watanabe    Last Afternoon    2021    DL / CD / LP

The second release on Constructive is ‘Last Afternoon’ by Japanese composer Takuma Watanabe. Released in an edition of 300 clear vinyl and 200 CDs.

Having studied at Berklee College in the USA he is currently living in Japan where he composes for film using a string ensemble founded by himself.

This is Watanabe’s first full length artist album.

‘Last Afternoon’ features collaborations with American vocalist and composer Joan La Barbara known for her recorded works with John Cage, Morton Feldman, Robert Ashley and composer and software developer Akira Rabelais known for his collaborations with Bjork and David Sylvian.

String ensemble: Anzu Suhara (violin 1), Atsuko Hatano (violin 2), Naoko Kakutani (viola), Seigen Tokuzawa (cello), Hiroki Chiba (bass)

Mastered by Jim O'Rourke
Cover photo by Anders Edström
Wabi-Sabi by Akira Rabelais
Vocals on ‘Text’ by Joan La Barbara

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Last Afternoon Front Cover

SNTS1    Adrian Corker    Tin Star: Liverpool    2020    DL / LP

Adrian Corker’s score for ‘Tin Star: Liverpool’ gets a limited release on 300 neon yellow vinyl.

Working with a 12-piece string section as well as brass and percussion, Corker draws out a rich palette of volatile sonics. Analogue tape processing helps re-shape things further, slowing and stretching the sound giving rise to unusual shapes and colours. And woven amongst all this are field recordings by Corker and Chris Watson, recorded around Liverpool in 2019.

In addition to the field recordings, the ensembles were recorded in London and then replayed and re-recorded or ‘worldised’ (Walter Murch) in different buildings and outdoor locations in Liverpool adding new sound spaces onto the music.

This is the third and final chapter in the Tin Star story, and the third time Corker has worked with many of the same players.

Tin Star is a British television crime drama. Created by Rowan Joffe and broadcast on Sky Atlantic. Starring Tim Roth, Genevieve O’Reilly and Abigail Lawrie.

Performed by Orchestrate (Mica Levi / Bobby Krilc)
Field recording by Chris Watson
Tape processing by Lewis Durham
Mixed by David Prior
Design by Chris Bigg

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Tin Star: Liverpool Front Cover

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