{"title":"Kramer","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNew York based producer, composer, musician, and label owner. Kramer has had a diverse career in the music industry spanning several decades. From 1980 to 1994, he worked as a studio and touring musician. In the mid-80s to late 90s, he owned and operated recording studios in both New York and New Jersey. During this time, he also founded Shimmy Disc Records which was active until 2000.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn more recent years, Kramer has focused on CD mastering at Noise Miami studios since 2006. However, his passion for Shimmy Disc Records never waned and in 2020 it made a comeback through a partnership with Joyful Noise Recordings.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith a unique sound that combines elements of rock, experimental music, and indie pop, Kramer's work is often compared to artists such as Bongwater, Jad Fair, and Half Japanese among others. His contributions to the music industry have left an indelible mark on the alternative music scene.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"reverberations-of-non-stop-traffic-on-redding-road-3","title":"Reverberations of Non-Stop Traffic on Redding Road","description":"\u003cp\u003eRecommend if you like: Brian Eno, Harold Budd, Laraaji, Gavin Bryars, John Cage, Shazhad Ismaily, Low. R\u003ci\u003eeverberations of Non-Stop Traffic on Redding Road\u003c\/i\u003e is a duet in ambience by Pan American (Mark K. Nelson) and Kramer. This experimental record is 11 brief sojourns into the dream state, produced by Kramer (of Shimmy-Disc) and co-written with Mark K. Nelson (of Labradford, Anjou). This record is a brotherly and collaborative follow-up to Kramer's 2022 ambient excursions, \u003ci\u003eMusic For Films Edited By Moths\u003c\/i\u003e. On the making of this collaborative project, Mark K. Nelson said \"It was an honor to work with Kramer. That we came out of it with a great friendship and a record that's unique to each of our histories and music that we're proud to share is a privilege and a joy.\" As Kramer has described, the result of this record is a work that begs listeners, both animal and human, to allow these beautiful landscapes to sing and speak and weep for themselves. Simply put by Kramer, \"Please. Forget about words. Just Listen.\"\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Shimmy Disc","offers":[{"title":"Clear LP","offer_id":50400147013963,"sku":"2180375","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/Pan_American__Kramer_-_Reverberations_of_Non-Stop_Traf_4860138d_thumbnail_40.jpg?v=1726510723"},{"product_id":"nocturnes-5","title":"Nocturnes","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn 2022, the pandemic seemed to be receding to the point where artists could work together again, literally side by side. So, as a kind of 'follow-up' to my Joyful Noise 2020 Artist-in-Residence box set, I revisited the notion of a limited-edition vinyl box celebrating the joys of collaboration. i thought about it for a good long while, and eventually, it felt good. I then put the idea under a microscope and found that it felt even better when i minimised the project to six 33rpm EP's on 7\" vinyl. The borderless landscapes of audio art, tempered by the imaginations of the artists I chose to work with, then cast against the myriad infinities of mysteries betwixt those ageless, spinning rings...those rings that seem to sing, \"...listen to us...\" It all begins with imagery. Always. Let it be. If You fall in Love with the process, it's possible that the process will Love you back. The end results are important, but nothing is more important (to me) than the changes we experience as a result of the process. How are we different now, after the music is done? \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat has happened to us, because of these sounds we have made together, and these songs we have made? And, of equal importance... can the listener sense that something is happening o the artists as a result of their collaborations? And...can the listener experience some of that, too? RINGS OF SATURN won't change the world, but the words \u0026amp; music dervishing off these grooves accurately expresses the Love poured into the foundations beneath these Nocturnes (w\/ Britta Phillips) and Psalms (w\/ David Grubbs) and Preludes (w\/ Eerie Wanda) and Elegies (w\/ Jad Fair \u0026amp; Danielson) and Laments (w\/ Paul Leary) and Hymns (w\/ Rob Crow). working with others is my lifeblood. I am Nothing without them. TIME, with all its mysteries intact, and unfettered by borders, so that both the artists and the listeners can enter, in partnership, together. - Kramer, 2023\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Shimmy Disc","offers":[{"title":"7\"","offer_id":50424968380747,"sku":"2014428","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/Britta_Phillips__Kramer__Nocturnes_5551b30a_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726784895"},{"product_id":"psalms-2","title":"Psalms","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn 2022, the pandemic seemed to be receding to the point where artists could work together again, literally side by side. So, as a kind of 'follow-up' to my Joyful Noise 2020 Artist-in-Residence box set, I revisited the notion of a limited-edition vinyl box celebrating the joys of collaboration. i thought about it for a good long while, and eventually, it felt good. I then put the idea under a microscope and found that it felt even better when i minimised the project to six 33rpm EP's on 7\" vinyl. The borderless landscapes of audio art, tempered by the imaginations of the artists I chose to work with, then cast against the myriad infinities of mysteries betwixt those ageless, spinning rings...those rings that seem to sing, \"...listen to us...\" It all begins with imagery. Always. Let it be. If You fall in Love with the process, it's possible that the process will Love you back. The end results are important, but nothing is more important (to me) than the changes we experience as a result of the process. How are we different now, after the music is done? \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat has happened to us, because of these sounds we have made together, and these songs we have made? And, of equal importance... can the listener sense that something is happening o the artists as a result of their collaborations? And...can the listener experience some of that, too? RINGS OF SATURN won't change the world, but the words \u0026amp; music dervishing off these grooves accurately expresses the Love poured into the foundations beneath these Nocturnes (w\/ Britta Phillips) and Psalms (w\/ David Grubbs) and Preludes (w\/ Eerie Wanda) and Elegies (w\/ Jad Fair \u0026amp; Danielson) and Laments (w\/ Paul Leary) and Hymns (w\/ Rob Crow). working with others is my lifeblood. I am Nothing without them. TIME, with all its mysteries intact, and unfettered by borders, so that both the artists and the listeners can enter, in partnership, together. Kramer, 2023. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eTracklisting\u003c\/b\u003e: 1 Lendrick Muir Bible Study Weekend 2 Congree of Poodles\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Shimmy Disc","offers":[{"title":"7\"","offer_id":50466869838155,"sku":"2014440","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/David_Grubbs__Kramer__Psalms_980f6c5b_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727327078"},{"product_id":"laments-2","title":"Laments","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn 2022, the pandemic seemed to be receding to the point where artists could work together again, literally side by side. So, as a kind of 'follow-up' to my Joyful Noise 2020 Artist-in-Residence box set, I revisited the notion of a limited-edition vinyl box celebrating the joys of collaboration. i thought about it for a good long while, and eventually, It felt good. I then put the idea under a microscope and found that it felt even better when i minimized the project to six 33rpm EP's on 7\" vinyl.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Shimmy Disc","offers":[{"title":"7\"","offer_id":50482136645963,"sku":"2019821","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/Paul_Leary__Kramer__Laments_f8c4f991_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727549301"},{"product_id":"baptismal-2","title":"Baptismal","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe \u003ci\u003eBaptismal\u003c\/i\u003e project started out when Kramer invited me to collaborate with him on a project, and I tend to think in terms of what the listeners are open to hearing these days. In my mind was a recording that let the listeners leave the busy mind generated by mainstream media, so I came up with the idea of a baptism, immersive kind of LP in which the listener would Become totally present with the music. I suggested to Kramer the title \u003ci\u003eBaptismal\u003c\/i\u003e, and that the tracks would be called 'Gedunk', a comical reference to the idea of being immersed in water, my own baptism as a child in the Christian faith, the Baptist church. I started by sending Kramer several tracks of Zither-centric music in the length of individual LP sides. Kramer would complement the tracks with plush drones and return it to me. Then we would discuss. Soon we had enough material to move toward completing the album. I performed with piano keyboard, ZITHER and voice. We collaborated entirely by sending audio files back and forth via online transfer. We haven't had physical contact at all during the project, but it went smoothly with some minor suggestions to help us to shape up our navigation til we finally arrived. The album cover was suggested by Kramer, which I think is very appropriate.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Joyful Noise Recordings","offers":[{"title":"Clear LP","offer_id":50506691707211,"sku":"2022978","price":29.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/Laraaji__Kramer__Baptismal_31f5f151_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727827652"},{"product_id":"words-music-book-one","title":"Words and Music, Book One","description":"\u003cp\u003eSpoken word recordings from Gregory Corso, Tina May Hall, Sam Lipsyte, Christine Schutt, Gary Lutz, Allen Ginsberg, Dawn Raffel, Jason Schwartz, Kathryn Scanlan, Scott McClanahan, and Terry Southern. About 40 years ago, in a record shop on Long Island during a weekend visit there to see my parents, i found a double-LP that looked like something i should definitely buy. It was called \"BIG EGO\", by the The DIAL-a-POEM POETS. On the cover was a picture of John Giorno (a great poet Ed Sanders had turned me on to) on a NYC rooftop with Philip Glass, Meredith Monk, and two kids. It cost $2. I bought it and rushed back to my parents house, where i still had my old turntable in the basement, not far from my Jimi Hendrix and Zappa Crappa posters, and my framed portrait of John Cage. My copy of Eno's \"Discreet Music\" was still on the turntable, having been left there years before, when i'd fled Long Island for good. I lifted it from the platter, gently slid it back into its sleeve, like a priceless religious artifact, and put Side A of the Dial-a-Poem LP on. I almost lost my mind while listening to it. The next day i went back to the same record shop looking for more DIAL-A-POEM LP's. i found two. One had a long list of names on the back, some famous, and some i'd never heard of before. I bought both LP's, and an hour later, for the first time in my life, i was exposed to the art of Laurie Anderson, whom i'd never heard of before. This was 1978. Her contribution was a piece called \"Time To Go\". It changed my life. Or at least, that’s how I remember it. I was just a kid, so there were a lot of moments like that, around then. Nowadays, these moments can be had in seconds, with a click of the cursor. That evening, as i sat alone by my imaginary campfire (ie; that record player in my parents basement), i promised myself that someday, somehow, i would embark upon a WORDS \u0026amp; MUSIC project that might move people the same way i was moved when i first heard Laurie, and Robert Wilson \u0026amp; Christopher Knowles, and Burroughs, and Ginsberg, and Corso, and Anne Waldman, and John Ashbery, and the great Charles Olson, and so many others. Words, for the very first time, had wielded the same power as music. And it was visceral. Just like music. It ran deep. It was a FEELING. John Giorno died in 2019, but he kept poetry alive like nobody's business. I was lucky enough to have spent some time with him in the early 1980's, when i was briefly a member of The Fugs, and often found myself surrounded by those Ginsberg called, \"...the greatest minds of my generation\". Ed Sanders (who'd ushered me into that scene) once told me that when he came to NYC, it was easy to go to a cafe, or to St Marks Church, and hear Burroughs, Corso, Ginsberg, and all the greats, reading their poetry. He said that even if you were just a bum on the street, you could just walk right up to them, and start a conversation. They were totally accessible, if they were in the right mood at that particular moment. So i was shocked when Sanders 5 told me he didn't approach any of them, not even once, til he'd been going to their readings for nearly ten years. \"For almost a decade, I went to every reading, every lecture, every panel discussion. But I never went near them. Never approached them. Not even once\", Sanders told me. \"For ten years, all I did, was listen.\" It took me four decades, but ... better late than never. I finally made WORDS \u0026amp; MUSIC, Book One.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Shimmy Disc","offers":[{"title":"2LP - White","offer_id":50512333701451,"sku":"1135220","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/3f82b5d4-33e7-4f2c-a8db-5fa24615a671_thumbnail_4096.png?v=1727900109"},{"product_id":"and-the-wind-blew-it-all-away","title":"And The Wind Blew It All Away","description":"\u003cp\u003eKramer’s first solo LP since 1998’s \u003ci\u003eSongs From The Pink Death\u003c\/i\u003e. Celebrated as a collaborator, producer and champion for some of the most boundary-pushing artists of the post-punk era, the musical ringleader known as Kramer is emerging from a pandemic-year gestation period with his first solo collection of original songs since 1998. The 10-track \u003ci\u003eAnd the Wind Blew It All Away\u003c\/i\u003e is the culmination of Kramer’s 2020 stint as Artist-In-Residence for Indianapolis-based Joyful Noise Recordings and was mixed on a vintage tube console from the historic United Western Recorders studio in Hollywood.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eKramer – whose production credits also include Galaxie 500, Will Oldham, White Zombie, Low and Urge Overkill – performed all the instruments and vocals on the record, which features nine new songs and closes with a cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Winter Lady.” The album’s vibe is meditative and atmospheric, Kramer’s vocals ghostly but not unfriendly. Musically, it’s a gentle and magical mystery tour of simmering electric guitars, acoustic string instruments, organs, pianos and mellotrons, tape loops, reversed tracks, found sounds and a bare minimum of percussion. Lyrically, weather metaphors seem to represent personal, emotional entanglements. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn typically cryptic fashion, Kramer described the mood that fueled the writing and recording; “A terrifying wind is coming,” he said. “I recorded this LP as I wondered, through sound and song, if I’ll ever collaborate on making music with another artist by my side again, or live to see another New Year’s Eve, or ever hear my daughter’s voice again, or ever love again. Time will darken it. It always does... Do I really want to be the last man standing, in a wind like this one?” \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor fans of: Robert Wyatt, Galaxie 500, Low, Leonard Cohen, Nick Drake, Bongwater, Brian Eno, Will Oldham, Sufjan Stevens, Bon Iver, Elliott Smith, Ummagumma.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Shimmy Disc","offers":[{"title":"Grey | LP","offer_id":50522186383691,"sku":"1136449","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/c57691f6-52c4-4bf2-a3ea-0bd480251873_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1728000086"},{"product_id":"the-walk-2","title":"The Walk","description":"\u003cp\u003eDebut collaboration between two maverick composers. Kato Hideki has released music on Tzadik Records, Joyful Noise, Improvised Music (Japan), and Virgin UK, and also produced Bessie award-winning THEM. Kramer founded Shimmy-Disc, collaborating with artists including JD Pinkus (Butthole Surfers), Rob Crow (Pinback), and Pan-American, along with producing spoken word poetry from Allen Ginsberg and Edgar Allen Poe. Kato Hideki's Statement: \"The Walk is the first collaboration between me and my brother from another mother, Kramer. We started working together in the late summer in 2023, discussing the thematics and the sonic palette of the album. We shared strong connections with the writings by Robert Walser and Basho - both of them walked, dreamed, lived and died on the road. Ambient music was our natural plane for us to transduce the power of their literature into our music as signifiers. Neither of us imagined just to make 'another ambient record', nor a direct translation of their writings. My instinct was to use various modal colors with modulation - slow yet structured music that sounds deceivingly similar to ambient music. Kramer's genius was apparent to me: his ability to elaborate the music as a composer \/ musician with his keen ears; to frame the album conceptually, sonically and musically as a producer. What you hear in this album is a true collaboration between two artists who trusted each other to let the music transcend. Here you have it, enjoy YOUR walk - dream, live and die well!\" Kato Hideki - Brooklyn, NY on April 3rd, 2024. Kramer's Statement: \"Sometime in the latter 20th Century, I became aware of the art of The Brothers Quay, two American animators living in London and making the most beautiful works of art I'd ever experienced in cinema. I noted that some of their work was inspired by... 'the writings of Robert Walser'. Fast forward to 2024 and I have now read every word there was to read (translated into English) by this unique Swiss- German writer. I'd waited decades to find the right 'environment' in which to create music in dedication to this great prose writer and poet, and in 2023, I found that it was not 'the right environment' that I'd been waiting for, but rather, the right collaborator. Kato Hideki and his extraordinary work as composer for film, dance and just about every other creative discipline you can imagine, was equally as inspiring to me for this project as the words and worlds of Walser and Basho. Our journey in collaborative composition began all over the global map, but arrived at the same physical endpoint, and at the very same point in time. I'm not sure that I would even be interested in music at all, unless there were other artists to partner with as I worked. Working alone means Nothing to me. This months- long act of co-creation i have shared with Kato for \"THE WALK\" has made me as happy to be alive as Walser and Basho were so happy to be alive while on their walks, as evidenced by their extraordinary descriptive powers, knowing that the world around them - so simple yet so very complex - made life so wondrous, and so well worth the sometimes seemingly insurmountable struggles of finding a way to survive Today, so that we might try again Tomorrow.\" - Kramer\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Shimmy Disc","offers":[{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":50531175268683,"sku":"2213770","price":29.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/Kato_Hideki__Kramer_-_The_Walk_694ca854_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1728097000"},{"product_id":"music-for-films-edited-by-moths","title":"Music For Films Edited By Moths","description":"\u003cp\u003eA legendary indie audio artist blurring his lifelong attachments, from spontaneous composition (in the late 70's with John Zorn) to experimental rock (with Bongwater and other bands in the 80's) alongside his recent inquiries into the intricacies of ambient folk song-craft (with his most recent solo LP, \u003ci\u003eAnd The Wind Blew It All Away\u003c\/i\u003e), Kramer continues to explore the possibilities of shaping naturally occurring aural landscapes into intoxicatingly affecting music.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSound and language not just melody and ambient textures - has been his raw material for decades. He now juggles them more deftly than ever on his newest ambient opus. In the ten compositions that comprise this new LP, mournful at times yet mysteriously life-affirming and generous in their scope, Kramer sees films where there are none, and composes his accompanying ambient soundtracks in a state of interrupted grace. Words, text, complete screenplays, character arcs, shooting scripts and storyboards swirl through his head as he puts his imagery to sound, and the results evoke a world in which moths, drawn to the bright flickering lights of Cinema and the low humming lights of Dreams, in Kramer's own words, \"...might never die\". \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe LP's nature reveals an interior dialogue between musician and choice. Each piece represents Kramer's encounter with the blank canvas of silence that greets him as a composer. Embracing sounds as objects and instruments of Truth, the end result of his process is as much about what is absent and what has been removed or edited away than what is left in its wake as artefacts of emotion. These pieces are the Spring frost of lost imaginings, vanitas to broken connections, visions nearly unrecordable by the human eye. Kramer envisions a music that functions to stop time, as an event that always plays in the present and never needs a past to give it a reference point. It is music that communicates in the most intimate way possible, as intricately and as deeply as the way it blossoms and shifts and evades categorisation when exposed to thin air. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDrawn toward the light of a multitude of influences, we hear echoes of the feverishly frozen dreams of composers Morton Feldman, Terry Riley, Brian Eno and Arvo Part, melting alongside the surreal cinemas of David Lynch and The Brothers Quay, all parts converging to evoke a time and place that does not exist outside of the mind's eye of the listener. After making much of his career within the practically anonymous labours of an independent record producer Kramer's collaborations strive to give a purer vision to Art and a confidence in wandering without boundaries through each artist's ever-evolving intuitive processes.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRIYL: Morton Feldman, Terry Riley, Brain Eno, Arvo Part, David Lynch \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Shimmy Disc","offers":[{"title":"Clear | LP","offer_id":50531312697675,"sku":"1162116","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/6ffefcf9-58db-47a1-b78a-f48ca5df08fb_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1728103639"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/collections\/test_d0d43897_thumbnail_4096_865c1e24-74d6-4ed2-b38f-05a0b787b2cd.jpg?v=1726019848","url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/fr\/collections\/kramer.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}