Xkatedral Anthology Series Ii

Description

XKatedral Anthology II is the second volume in a series of reissues dedicated to the music of composers affiliated with XKatedral, exploring ever-evolving sonorities and timbres. This double LP compiles pieces composed between 2018 and 2020. These works emphasize the use of synthetic sounds and algorithmic compositional languages as tools of precision in spectral exploration. Additionally, the electronic instrumentation of several tracks is enriched by acoustic instruments. This record is released concurrently with reissues of XKatedral Anthology volumes I and III. The first track on side A is "Music for Low Quartet" by Kali Malone. This is an adaptation of the composition "Rose Wreath Crown," originally released on The Sacrificial Code album in 2019. In this version, the music is written for two double basses played by Vilhelm Bromander and Zach Rowden, and sinusoidal electronic sounds performed by Kali Malone herself. This piece was recorded at EMS in 2019. Side A closes with "First Light" by Jessica Ekomane. This work of computer music focuses exclusively on digital sound, superimposing surgically precise synthetic textures into an otherworldly, dynamic framework. The music presented here is an adaptation of a piece initially commissioned by Semibreve in 2020. Side B features "Hands Melt In The Sun" by Mats Erlandsson. This composition is built from electronically tuned and processed zithers, as well as synthetically generated sounds arranged in a series of chord inversions over a sustained fundamental note. This music, written as a love letter to Stockholm's local drone tradition between 2008 and 2012, was composed and recorded in seven days during a residency at Ställbergs Gruva in Bergslagen, in the summer of 2018. The second part of the collection opens with "Rough Draft v.7" by Theodor Kentros. Kentros's compositional practice typically combines acoustic and electronic sources. In this piece, he shapes the sound of the Buchla 200 and a collection of recorded wind instruments into an incandescent sound mass. Originally, this music was presented as an immersive multichannel work, and even in its current stereo configuration, it retains some of that enveloping sense of depth. The second piece on side C, "Inertia," is by Wilma Hultén, making her disc debut here. An exclusively synthetic piece, "Inertia" uses the internal digital feedback of a closed synthetic system to manifest a harmonic field that swells and recedes throughout the piece, interspersed with small gestural elements. Side D of Anthology II concludes with "Dies Irae" by Maria W Horn for vocal quartet, tuned glasses, and synthesizers. "Dies Irae" uses a modified form of tonal harmonic langu