{"title":"Musica Elettronica Viva","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMusica Elettronica Viva (MEV) is a groundbreaking music collective that was formed in Rome in 1966. The group, consisting of Allan Bryant, Alvin Curran, Jon Phetteplace, Carol Plantamura, Frederic Rzewski, Richard Teitelbaum and Ivan Vandor, aimed to break free from the conventions of contemporary music and create an open and experimental sound.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMEV's unique approach involved using contact microphones on unconventional objects such as bed springs, glass sheets, tin cans, rubber bands, toy pianos and even sex vibrators. They also incorporated traditional instruments like trumpet, cello and saxophone alongside homemade synthesizers with dozens of oscillators.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe collective embraced improvisation and critical listening over written scores or leadership. Rehearsals and concerts were characterized by spontaneous combustion and continued until exhaustion. MEV believed they had reinvented music during this time of general euphoria but certainly rediscovered it. Their music could seamlessly transition between self-regenerating unity or irrevocable chaos - both considered valuable goals.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"spacecraft","title":"Spacecraft","description":"\u003cp\u003eMusica Elettronica Viva, or MEV for short, was formed in 1966 in Rome by Allan Bryant, Alvin Curran, Jon Phetteplace, Carol Plantamura, Frederic Rzweski, Richard Teitelbaum and Ivan Vandor. From the very beginning the group was based on musical freedom and the shunning of convention. Using contact microphones to record and manipulate sound wherever it could be found – from box springs to vibrators – and improvisationally combining those recordings with tenor sax, homemade synths and the very first Moog to trek cross the Atlantic, MEV made some of the most imaginative and abrasive sounds of the time.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRecorded in live performance at the Academy of Arts (Akademie der Künste) in Berlin on October 5, 1967, \u003ci\u003eSpacecraft\u003c\/i\u003e is made up of a single piece of the same name – a slow building, jarring and disquieting work that reveals the entire MEV ethos in its lone half hour. As group member Alvin Curran put it “The music could go anywhere, gliding into self-regenerating unity or lurching into irrevocable chaos - both were valuable goals. In the general euphoria of the times, MEV thought it had re-invented music; in any case it had certainly rediscovered it.” Our Swimmer is pleased to present this first ever vinyl issue of MEV’s \u003ci\u003eSpacecraft\u003c\/i\u003e, an early piece from the most free-spirited group of the 20th century avant-garde. Translucent green vinyl.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Our Swimmer","offers":[{"title":"Green | LP","offer_id":50482235244875,"sku":"1120964","price":34.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/7eebc50b-3283-49b7-8ab7-5e16acc329a2_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727550104"},{"product_id":"the-sound-pool-2","title":"The Sound Pool","description":"\u003cp\u003ePioneers of live electronics, found sound and urban environment-as-Instrument, Musica Elettronica viva created suites that were as imaginary as imaginative. Formed in Rome in the late 60s, the ever shifting collective Musica Elettronica Viva included such luminaries as Fred Rzewski, Alvin Curran and Richard Teitelbaum among others, and aimed to conduct the most radical experiments in sound possible. Although the above were primarily composers they were greatly inspired by avant-garde jazz titans such as Cecil Taylor and John Coltrane and were intent on drawing on any sound source, from keyboards and drums to cans and plates of glass. Like a volcanic eruption and ensuing lava flow The Sound Pool is a masterful electronic music opus that retains all the heat and light of the kind of performance associated with a stellar improviser. Constantly changing shape and density the music veers provocatively between the distinctive curls and squelches of synthesizers and the crash and stomp of household or industrial objects that are amplified and manipulated to conjure all the imagery of a marathon piece of physical theatre. This re-mastered version of \u003ci\u003eThe Sound Pool\u003c\/i\u003e confirms Musica Eletttronica Viva as one of the most original artists of the late 20th century. The ensemble blurred the boundary between electrics and acoustics and conventional and unconventional instruments to create something that still sounds as if it is on the cusp of the present and the future.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BYG","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":50490234503499,"sku":"2002086","price":15.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"LP - Black","offer_id":50490234831179,"sku":"2010165","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/5060767441305_3c19d60d_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727655460"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/collections\/test_2b9bd5bf_thumbnail_4096_de083a87-450c-4675-b9b4-4cd85a0257dd.jpg?v=1727550084","url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/collections\/musica-elettronica-viva.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}