Made To Measure Vol.1

Description

MADE TO MEASURE: a retrospective look. Launched by Crammed Discs in 1984, the MADE TO MEASURE series set out to present some of the most interesting instrumental music of the time. Thirty-five volumes were released during the first decade of the series, which welcomed a wide range of musical adventures, often exploring and blending chamber music, electronics, what was then called “new music” (minimalism and neo-classicism), experimental avant-rock, and various forms of sonic exploration. The series was named “Made To Measure” half-seriously, in order to give a semi-fictional guiding thread to what — like all of Crammed’s ventures, driven by the label’s irrepressible curiosity — was destined to become an inevitably eclectic collection. The idea was therefore this: these would be pieces of music created, or that could have been created, as soundtracks for other media (film, dance, theatre, video, fashion shows). Armed with a quote from painter Georges Braque as its motto (A lemon next to an orange ceases to be a lemon and the orange an orange to become fruits. Mathematicians follow this rule. So do we), as well as a unified visual presentation, featuring the near-systematic use of pre-existing works of art to illustrate the sleeves, we seem to have succeeded in creating and animating a collection that became emblematic, was followed by music lovers around the world, and enjoys cult status to this day. MADE TO MEASURE VOL.1: Released in 1984, the inaugural volume of the series included works created to serve as soundtracks for choreographic and theatrical performances, films, and a fashion exhibition. The album highlights unusual aspects of the output of these four artists, while also bearing witness to the thriving activity within the small community of musicians orbiting around Crammed Discs’ Brussels HQ, and the many collaborations that were beginning to emerge there. “THE MYTHICAL MADE TO MEASURE COLLECTION... AVANT-GARDE THAT KNOCKS YOU OUT” --- GONZAÏ ---. “Original compositions, often close to surrealism and Dadaism... This is indeed contemporary art, in the noblest sense of the term” --- Xsilence.net ---.