BOX SET FEATURING OVER 50 MUTE ARTISTS PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE
We’re finally here - the official pre-order for STUMM433. As a thank-you for signing up to the mailing list (and your patience) we’re giving you a head start on pre-ordering the boxset. As an exclusive to this list, you will be able to pre-order the box-set from 3:30pm BST today. The vinyl box-set is limited to just 433 signed copies so be quick, full details below!
STUMM433 is the latest in the MUTE 4.0 (1978 > TOMORROW) series: a box set collating an unprecedented selection of Mute artists past, present and future, out on vinyl as a very limited box set edition of 433, signed by Daniel Miller as well as CD (both 5-piece collections, exclusive to Mute Bank), and to download and stream.
STUMM433 features a huge array – over 50 - of Mute artists including Depeche Mode, Yann Tiersen, Liars, Silicon Teens, Irmin Schmidt and many more, all presenting their own interpretation of one piece of music: John Cage’s game changing composition, 4’33”.
Vinyl Box Set, Limited to 433 copies: 5 x 180gm heavy weight clear vinyl Vinyl sleeved with white foil blocking outers 36 page 12" sized soft touch lamination booklet Black tin candles with the scent of silence Certificate of authenticity, numbered and signed by Daniel Miller Packaged in a unique frosted opal PVC case with 3mm walls
The Normal aka Daniel Miller - the artist that started Mute back in 1978 with the 7” single, ‘T.V.O.D.’ / ‘Warm Leatherette’ - has today shared his tribute to John Cage’s 4’33”. The first music released by The Normal on Mute since the debut 7”, Miller recorded his piece at a site in North London that will be familiar to fans of the label as the site of its foundation: 16 Decoy Avenue.
Listen to the track here: smarturl.it/STUMM433
Each artist has created a visual to accompany their performance and a selection of designers associated with Mute have contributed artwork inspired by 4’33”, including Simone Grant, who worked with Miller on a lot of the early Mute artwork, including The Normal, Fad Gadget and Depeche Mode; Steve Claydon, a member of Add N To (X) who designed for Goldfrapp; Slim Smith, who worked with Mute through the 1980s and 1990s; Malcolm Garrett, who designed the House of Illustrious box set for Vince Clarke and Martyn Ware and Anton Corbjin, who has worked closely with Mute on many campaigns since the early 1980s, including Depeche Mode, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and Fad Gadget.
Award-winning perfumer Joseph Quartana of Six Scents Parfums interprets John Cage's legendary minimalist composition with 4'33", a limited-edition set of black tin candles. Quartana imagined a flash of lightning in an old wooden theater as metaphor for the lingering afterglow of a scintillating concert performance in order to interpret the question: what is the scent of silence?
4’33” is among the most important of all contemporary music compositions. Composed and premiered in 1952, 4’33” is a piece for any instrument or combination of instruments. The score instructs the performer or performers not to play their instrument for the duration of the piece (generally four minutes and 33 seconds). As challenging and thought-provoking now as it was when it was premiered, 4’33” completely changed popular thinking on silence, sound, composition and listening.
Daniel Miller explains, “John Cage’s 4’33” has been present in my musical life for as long as I can remember as an important and inspiring composition. When the idea of every Mute artist doing their own interpretation of the piece came up during a conversation with Simon Fisher Turner, I immediately thought this was the perfect way to mark the label’s MUTE 4.0 (1978 > TOMORROW) series.”
Net profits from the release of the STUMM433 box-set will be split between the British Tinnitus Association and Music Minds Matter, charities chosen to honour Inspiral Carpets’ founding member Craig Gill who suffered from anxiety and depression as a result of his tinnitus in the years up to his untimely death. The box set will be released in May 2019 with more details being shared over the coming months.
Artists featured include: A Certain Ratio, A.C. Marias, ADULT., The Afghan Whigs, Alexander Balanescu, Barry Adamson, Ben Frost, Bruce Gilbert, Cabaret Voltaire, Carter Tutti Void, Chris Carter, Chris Liebing, Cold Specks, Daniel Blumberg, Danny Briottet, Depeche Mode, Duet Emmo, Echoboy, Einstürzende Neubauten, Erasure, Fad Gadget, Goldfrapp, He Said, Irmin Schmidt, Josh T. Pearson, K Á R Y Y N, Komputer, Laibach, Land Observations, Lee Ranaldo, Liars, Looper, Lost Under Heaven, Maps, Mark Stewart / Sonskrif / The New Banalist Orchestra, Michael Gira, Mick Harvey, Miranda Sex Garden, Moby, Modey Lemon, Mountaineers, New Order, Nitzer Ebb, NON / Boyd Rice, Nonpareils, The Normal, onDeadWaves, Phew, Pink Grease, Pole, Polly Scattergood, Richard Hawley, ShadowParty, Silicon Teens, Simon Fisher Turner and Edmund de Waal, The Warlocks, Wire, Yann Tiersen and Gareth Jones.
depe
Depeche Mode News
22 Sep 2019, 11:09
Country:
STUMM433
Mute • 2019
John Cage’s notorious “silent” piece 4:33 is an exercise in listening. But a compilation of covers—from New Order, Depeche Mode, and others—proves that interpreting it is not as easy as it might seem.
It’s been almost 70 years since John Cage debuted 4:33, his infamous silent piece, to a baffled crowd in Woodstock, New York. A lot of people left the concert pissed off. His friend and colleague Christian Woolf was mortified to have brought his mother, who dismissed it as “a schoolboy’s prank,” while Lou Harrison, another peer, said Cage’s work was “quite boring.” But in 2019, the hubbub having long since died down, the feeling is that someone had to do it. However grating it might have seemed, 4:33 remains arguably the 20th century’s most elegant artistic thought experiment. It’s a moon-landing-level gesture of the avant garde’s triumph over history. In a century obsessed with liberation, Cage deftly penned the ultimate musical permission slip.
Brazen and deceptively simple, 4:33 was a hit. Its premise can be explained in a single sentence and demands a reaction, which means it moved like wildfire through the public consciousness. While much of the century’s early modernism required an educated audience capable of following the unnerving destabilizations of dodecaphony and its attendant tone rows, hexachords, and aggregates, Cage’s silence hits you right between the eyes. 4:33 is a koan, a question without an answer. As Cage put it, “Silence is not acoustic. It is a change of mind.”
Of course, the thing about 4:33 is that it’s not really silent. In the absence of composed sounds, the world rushes in. Not only are the idyllic rustling leaves or the soft hiss of the wind part of the piece, but also the scoffing of peeved concertgoers and the slamming of doors as they storm out. 4:33 opens its borders to any sound or absence thereof and in this way it embodies a set of twin legacies: on the one hand, meditative submission to the world, and on the other, jarring provocation of its audience’s perception of music’s place within it.
Mute Records remains one of the great disciples of this second legacy. In the 1980s, label boss Daniel Miller cultivated a space where some of the most popular sounds of the era swam freely with the bleeding edge of punk and industrial music. Yazoo and Erasure found their footing as global superstars alongside Boyd Rice’s “Mode of Infection” and Throbbing Gristle’s “Maggot Death.” Echoing Cage’s embrace of the unknown, Miller said of electronic music, “You didn't have to learn any chords, just press down on the keyboard and an interesting sound would come out.” He described the Birthday Party as “not so much a band as an incendiary device.” A similar assessment could have been made about much of Cage’s work throughout the 1950s.
So it makes sense that Mute is releasing STUM433, a collection of “covers” of 4:33, as part of its MUTE 4.0 (1978 > Tomorrow) retrospective. As the label celebrates four decades of visionary work, a plan was formed to have every Mute artist record their own version of the piece. They were able to round up 58 of them, ranging from synth-pop icons New Order to dub-techno pioneer Pole. This is a testament to Miller’s acumen as a label boss. You might not think the musicians behind “Porcelain” or “People Are People” would be interested in a composer who spent time playing a cactus with a feather, but Moby and Depeche Mode both make an appearance. Plus, you know, it fits the label’s name.
It takes almost four and a half hours (though not quite four hours and 33 minutes) to get through STUM433, which means practically no one will hear it in full. And even if you make it to the end, will you ever truly hear it? Try focusing your full attention on 265 minutes of microphone hiss, light urban din, and intermittent nature sounds. It’s not easy. The album hovers, misty to the point of near-invisibility, with a number of interchangeable outdoor takes, some vacant rooms, and an odd cavernous reverberation. Occasionally someone gets clever, like when Michael Gira counts his way through the piece, but few dare to seriously run with Cage’s prompt.
STUM433 is a mammoth coffee-table book of a record, telegraphing astute cultural values and cool points without offering much actual art. But staging a team-building exercise for the label roster isn’t a crime, and the only people who will purchase the lavishly packaged set are those with a yen for sexy, rather pointless lifestyle accessories. So what the hell, go for it, right?
Maybe, maybe not. 4:33 gestated in Cage’s mind for at least 12 years before he wrote it. “I didn’t wish it to appear, even to me, as something easy to do or as a joke,” he once said, while pianist David Tudor, who premiered 4:33, described it as “one of the most intense listening experiences you can have.” So what exactly, for example, does Chris Liebing bring to the conversation? The techno producer is known for slamming it out on huge festival stages, presenting loopy synth lines and 909 snare rolls on an IMAX scale. His contribution to the compilation is a muffled roar, perhaps of a dancefloor heard through a dressing room wall. You may enjoy it, but the recording absolutely seems “easy to do.” The same applies for Goldfrapp, Nitzer Ebb, ADULT. and others across the collection. Regardless of your opinion of these artists, an interest in the avant garde doesn’t guarantee an intriguing point of view on its most iconic and vexing works. STUMM433 is a diversion, a far cry from Cage’s measured conviction. “I probably worked longer on my silent piece than I worked on any other,” he said. “I wanted to mean it utterly and be able to live with it.”
Cage never released a recording of 4:33, but its spirit haunts the halls. The last 70 years have been filled with music that deploys field recordings and nature sounds to transportive effect. A generation of composers embraced Cage’s fundamental ideas of letting go, ceding authority to process and space. More recently, YouTube has been populated with quasi-silences: extended videos that recreate the ambient hum of sci-fi environments as well as ASMR’s hushed, reverential banalities. As the years went on, Cage and his direct contemporaries often composed on the edge of silence, as if 4:33 had expanded into an ocean of emptiness, their sparse arrangements the dinghies keeping them afloat.
Maybe you just have to be there, and any attempt to capture the piece on tape will falter. Going through the set, I was reminded of a subway ride I once took. I had a handheld recorder and a set of headphones with me, and I decided to capture the sounds of the train. As I put on the headphones, I was enveloped in an astonishing world. All the sounds were the same, but the depth of field had changed—conversations seemed closer, the rattle of the ride more vibrant. I walked out on the street entranced by the tingling psychedelia of this same-but-different reality. It’s an experience anyone can try. But don’t expect it to last. When I got home and listened back, there was nothing particularly distinctive there. It just sounded like any other subway ride.
depe
Depeche Mode News
22 Sep 2019, 11:11
Country:
ADULT. Focus On John Cage's Legacy With New 4'33" Short Film "We left it up to the hums of the amps in the studio to do the work..."
Mute isn't so much a record label as the central point in a nervous system of artists, outsiders, vagabonds, and wayfaring strangers.
The label holds this gravitational pull, an ability to seek out and define artists who might otherwise drift endlessly through the inky cosmos.
New release 'STUMM443' lands with a hefty thump on October 4th, an ambitious, expertly designed box set featuring a raft of unheard material.
Contributors to the release include Yann Tiersen, Goldfrapp, Depeche Mode, Liars, Silicon Teens, Erasure, K Á R Y Y N, Irmin Schmidt and many more... although perhaps 'unheard' is the wrong word.
Deeply conceptual, 'STUMM433' essentially hinges on varying interpretations on John Cage's seminal work '4'33" - famously dominated by silence.
ADULT. are long-time friends of Mute, and immediately agreed to take part in the project, even shooting a short film to elaborate on their ideas.
The results are thrilling, a kind of 'Metal Machine Music' edition of '4'33"' that throbs with electricity. ADULT. comment...
Being asked to be involved with MUTE 4.0 (1978>TOMORROW) is an incredible honour, not only have we been countlessly inspired by Daniel Miller in every conceivable way, shape, and form over the past thirty years, but likewise have we been inspired by the work of John Cage.
From our 2013 record 'The Way Things Fall' (an album of total chance) to guest editing the critical journal Detroit Research, where we included a sheet of John Cage's score Aria which uses no musical notation, but instead colourful graphical lines and black squares.
To us Cage represents someone who pushed boundaries, fucked with formula, and opened the work up for chance. For our recreation of his monumental piece '4'33"', we left it up to the hums of the amps in the studio to do the work or not to do the work.
Tune in below.
Join us on the ad-free creative social network Vero, as we get under the skin of global cultural happenings. Follow Clash Magazine as we skip merrily between clubs, concerts, interviews and photo shoots. Get backstage sneak peeks, exclusive content and access to Clash Live events and a true view into our world as the fun and games unfold.
As you might remember, Mute Records is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year and, as part of that, have asked bands from its roster (past and present) to interpret John Cage’s famously entirely silent work 4’33”, each with its own visual accompaniment, for a box set titled STUMM433. Here’s a little more on Cage’s piece:
Composed and premiered in 1952, 4’33” is a piece for any instrument or combination of instruments. The score instructs the performer or performers not to play their instrument for the duration of the piece (generally four minutes and 33 seconds). As challenging and thought-provoking now as it was when it was premiered, 4’33” completely changed popular thinking on silence, sound, composition and listening.
Earlier this year, Laibach offered up their take on 4’33” and now, on John Cage’s birthday (he would’ve been 107 today), here’s Afghan Whigs‘ take, which was shot and recorded at The Moore Theatre in Seattle, WA on August 9, 2018. It was the band’s final rehearsal at the end of their tour in support of In Spades. Watch the video below.
Other artists who will interpret 4’33” for STUMM433 include Depeche Mode, New Order, Wire, Moby, Goldfrapp, Liars, Lee Ranaldo, Richard Hawley, Lost Under Heaven, Carter Tutti Void, ADULT., Cabaret Voltaire, Nitzer Ebb, Mick Harvey, A Certain Ratio, Einstürzende Neubauten, and more. STUMM433 will be out October 4 via Mute as a vinyl box set, limited to 433 copies, that comes with silence-scented candles and more. There’s a CD/DVD box, too. Pre-orders are being taken now.
Net profits from the release of the STUMM433 box set will be split between the British Tinnitus Association and Music Minds Matter, charities “chosen to honour Inspiral Carpets’ founding member Craig Gill who suffered from anxiety and depression as a result of his tinnitus in the years up to his untimely death.”
4'33" by The Afghan Whigs. Taken from the compilation STUMM433, released via Mute on 4th October.
depe
Depeche Mode - STUMM433 - MUTE RECORDS
22 Sep 2019, 11:22
Country:
Various Artists - STUMM433
Limited Edition Deluxe
5 x Vinyl Box Set
£220.00
Catalogue Number: STUMM433 Release Date: 25th October 2019
58 cover versions of John Cage's composition, 4’33”
Artists featured include: A Certain Ratio, A.C. Marias, ADULT., The Afghan Whigs, Alexander Balanescu, Barry Adamson, Ben Frost, Bruce Gilbert, Cabaret Voltaire, Carter Tutti Void, Chris Carter, Chris Liebing, Cold Specks, Daniel Blumberg, Danny Briottet, Depeche Mode, Duet Emmo, Echoboy, Einstürzende Neubauten, Erasure, Fad Gadget, Goldfrapp, He Said, Irmin Schmidt, Josh T. Pearson,
K Á R Y Y N, Komputer, Laibach, Land Observations, Lee Ranaldo, Liars, Looper, Lost Under Heaven, Maps, Mark Stewart / Sonskrif / The New Banalist Orchestra, Michael Gira, Mick Harvey, Miranda Sex Garden, Moby, Modey Lemon, Mountaineers, New Order, Nitzer Ebb, NON / Boyd Rice, Nonpareils, The Normal, onDeadWaves, Phew, Pink Grease, Pole, Polly Scattergood, Richard Hawley, ShadowParty, Silicon Teens, Simon Fisher Turner and Edmund de Waal, The Warlocks, Wire, Yann Tiersen and Gareth Jones.
5 x 180gm heavy weight clear vinyl Vinyl sleeved with white foil blocking outers 36 page 12" sized soft touch lamination booklet Candles with the scent of silence Certificate of authenticity, numbered and signed by Daniel Miller Packaged in a unique frosted opal PVC case with 3mm walls
Net profits from the release of STUMM433 will be split between the British Tinnitus Association and Music Minds Matter, charities chosen to honour Inspiral Carpets’ founding member Craig Gill who suffered from anxiety and depression as a result of his tinnitus in the years up to his untimely death.
Shipping Details:
Vinyl box sets will be dispatched on a tracked expedited service to ensure quick and safe delivery. Strictly limited to one copy per household. Orders for more than one copy per household will be cancelled.
This is a pre-order and will be dispatched in line with the release date. Orders are not part shipped so if you wish to order other items with a different release date we recommend placing a separate order.
Catalogue Number: CDSTUMM433 Release Date: 25th October 2019
58 cover versions of John Cage's composition, 4’33”
Artists featured include: A Certain Ratio, A.C. Marias, ADULT., The Afghan Whigs, Alexander Balanescu, Barry Adamson, Ben Frost, Bruce Gilbert, Cabaret Voltaire, Carter Tutti Void, Chris Carter, Chris Liebing, Cold Specks, Daniel Blumberg, Danny Briottet, Depeche Mode, Duet Emmo, Echoboy, Einstürzende Neubauten, Erasure, Fad Gadget, Goldfrapp, He Said, Irmin Schmidt, Josh T. Pearson,
K Á R Y Y N, Komputer, Laibach, Land Observations, Lee Ranaldo, Liars, Looper, Lost Under Heaven, Maps, Mark Stewart / Sonskrif / The New Banalist Orchestra, Michael Gira, Mick Harvey, Miranda Sex Garden, Moby, Modey Lemon, Mountaineers, New Order, Nitzer Ebb, NON / Boyd Rice, Nonpareils, The Normal, onDeadWaves, Phew, Pink Grease, Pole, Polly Scattergood, Richard Hawley, ShadowParty, Silicon Teens, Simon Fisher Turner and Edmund de Waal, The Warlocks, Wire, Yann Tiersen and Gareth Jones.
5 x CD 40+ page booklet 2 piece card box
Net profits from the release of STUMM433 will be split between the British Tinnitus Association and Music Minds Matter, charities chosen to honour Inspiral Carpets’ founding member Craig Gill who suffered from anxiety and depression as a result of his tinnitus in the years up to his untimely death.
This is a pre-order and will be dispatched in line with the release date. Orders are not part shipped so if you wish to order other items with a different release date we recommend placing a separate order.
1) 4'33" THE NORMAL 2) 4'33" Fad Gadget 3) 4'33" Silicon Teens 4) 4'33" Non / Boyd Rice 5) 4'33" Depeche Mode 6) 4'33" Duet Emmo 7) 4'33" Einstürzende Neubauten 8) 4'33" Bruce Gilbert 9) 4'33" Mark Stewart, Sonskrif & The New Banalist Orchestra 10) 4'33" Erasure 11) 4'33" He Said 12) 4'33" A.C. Marias
1) 4'33" WIRE 2) 4'33" Lai Bach 3) 4'33" Nitzer Ebb 4) 4'33" Michael Gira 5) 4'33" Simon Fisher Turner & Edmund de Waal 6) 4'33" Danny Briottet 7) 4'33" Barry Adams 8) 4'33" Miranda Sex Garden 9) 4'33" Alexander Balanescu 10) 4'33" Phew 11) 4'33" Moby 12) 4'33" Afghan wigs
1) 4'33" Pink Grease 2) 4'33" Modey Lemon 3) 4'33" Richard Hawley 4) 4'33" Maps 5) 4'33" Polly Scattergood 6) 4'33" Jan Tilsen & Gareth Jones 7) 4'33" Josh T. Pearson 8) 4'33" Carter Tutti Void 9) 4'33" COLD SPECKS 10) 4'33" Land Observations 11) 4'33" Ben Frost 12) 4'33" New order
1) 4'33" onDeadWaves 2) 4'33" Lost Under Heaven 3) 4'33" ADULT 4) 4'33" Lee Ranaldo 5) 4'33" Chris Carter 6) 4'33" Nonpareils 7) 4'33" DANIEL BLUMBERG 8) 4'33" ShadowParty 9) 4'33" Chris Liebing 10) 4'33" A Certain Ratio 11) 4'33" KÁRYYN
«Где бы мы ни были, в основном мы слышим шум» Джон Кейдж
Недавно Джозеф Куартана из Нью-Йорка, известный своими парфюмерными проектами Six Scents Parfums и Parfums Quartana, объявил о своем новом проекте. Проект называется STUMM 433 и реализован в сотрудничестве с британским музыкальным лейблом Mute. Он посвящен всемирно известной музыкальной композиции 4`33” Джона Кейджа, записанной в 1952 году.
Музыкальная часть проекта STUMM 433 содержит более 50 треков различных музыкантов и групп, сотрудничающих с MUTE Records, включая таких известных, как Ян Тьерсен, Barry Adamson, Moby, Einstürzende Neubauten, Goldfrapp, Depeche Mode, Liars, Silicon Teens, Erasure, K Á R Y Y N, Laibach, Ирмин Шмидт, New Order, Nitzer Ebb, New Order и других. Редко встретишь всех этих исполнителей на одном диске! Все они исполнили одну и ту же композицию 4`33”, которая представляет собой 4 минуты и 33 секунды тишины.
Кроме пяти виниловых пластинок, в набор, который поступит в продажу 4 октября 2019 года, входит буклет и ароматная свеча STUMM 433, чей аромат задуман Джозефом Куартаной и реализован парфюмером-химиком Марселой Олальде де Кастильо.
Мы задали несколько вопросов Джозефу относительно его замысла.
СЕРГЕЙ БОРИСОВ: Какова ваша собственная концепция шума и тишины? Выделяли ли вы для парфюмера какие-нибудь ноты или аккорды, которые воплощают идею композиции 4'33"? Должен ли этот аромат быть прозрачным или белым?
ДЖОЗЕФ: "Я не ограничивал себя концепцией шума настолько, насколько это возможно; музыкальная композиция 4'33" (или не-композиция?), по-видимому, основана на том, что Джон Кейдж был вдохновлен серией «Белая живопись» Роберта Раушенберга 1951 года, полотна которой были просто окрашены белой бытовой краской и предназначены для демонстрации изменений тени и света при их изменении в течение дня. Кейдж хотел создать музыкальный эквивалент и, увы, родилась самая минималистичная композиция в мире. Интересная идея, но, возможно, недостаточная, чтобы зажечь свечу воображения!
Поэтому, чтобы сделать еще один шаг вперед, я представил себе огромную вспышку человеческой молнии или ту творческую вспышку, когда великий исполнитель находится в лучах света на сцене и передает свою тонкую энергию (ки / чи / прана). Кроме того, для меня, эта ароматная композиция очищает все рецепторы, дает время для паузы, и поэтому последняя композиция, которая была исполнена до этого, истекает кровью или сияет зарницей во время того, как молчаливо исполняется 4'33", и в этом для меня больше смысла, и это именно то, на чем я сосредоточился.
Я буквально представил эту вспышку творческой энергии, выпущенную в пространство старого шекспировского деревянного театра, и хотел запечатлеть ее, и мы смогли воплотить её тремя основными нотами: озон, мускус и кедр, которые представляют молнию, человеческий фактор и пространство соответственно".
Думаю, что каждый человек представляет себе музыкальную и ароматную тишину по-своему. Помните, как появилась идея Escentric Molecules у Гезы Шона? Именно - как антитеза постоянному ольфакторному шуму, как кокон покоя и чистоты вокруг человека, как аура покоя.
Например, я представляю себе тишину как свежий ветер, или если нужно чем-то заполнить ветер, то белым сиянием мускуса, например, амбреттолида. А какой запах выражает идею тишины или является синонимом тишины для вас?
Ограниченное издание наборов из пяти виниловых пластинок, ароматных свечей и буклета, подписанное основателем MUTE Records Дэниелом Миллером, поступит в продажу 4 октября 2019 года. Предварительные заказы уже принимаются (smarturl.it/STUMM433).