Foom

CHATHAM, RHYS - Pythagorean Dreams

"Includes printed inner sleeves and download code. Rhys Chatham returns with his first solo album since 2013, the enchantingPythagorean Dream. Having studied under Terry Riley and La Monte Young (with whom he later went on to work), Chatham fused the overtone-drenched minimalism of John Cale and Tony Conrad with the relentless, elemental fury of the Ramones. It was an inspired amalgamation -- the textural intricacies of the avant-garde colliding with the visceral punch of electric guitar-slinging punk rock -- and with it Chatham created a new type of urban music. Raucous and ecstatic, this sound energized the New York Downtown scene throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s, prefigured the no wave movement, and cast a huge influence over the subsequent work of Chathams many protégés, including Glenn Branca and future members of Sonic Youth. Primarily focused on the electric guitar (but also featuring flute and a bit of trumpet) this recording is named after the Pythagorean guitar tuning it employs. The recording is a truly solo endeavor, composed, performed, produced, engineered, and mastered solely by Chatham. Chatham began to develop solos that he would play himself, choosing to incorporate the multi-second delay effect pioneered by Terry Riley with two Revox tape machines. Feeling that it tied in with his overall minimalist aesthetic and that the effect (which gives the impression that choirs and choirs of instruments are playing) was fitting as a succession to his 100-guitar idea, Chatham created and layered feedback loops of varying durations using Rileys method in order to create rich, overlapping layers that in practice transcend the limitations of their start and end points, blooming into free-flowing melodies in their own right. 'Part One' of Pythagorean Dream opens with a brief trumpet intro, followed by a guitar piece that implements a finger-picking technique (Chatham has long been a fan of this style; John Fahey was one of his teenage musical heroes), before moving to an EBow section and concluding with the fast tremolo flat-picking technique used in the context of his 100-guitar pieces. 'Part Two' is principally about Chathams return to the flute, the instrument that sparked his love of contemporary music before he experienced an early Ramones show at CBGB and began focusing on the electric guitar. Pythagorean Dream features Chatham on C, alto, and bass flutes. The recording is brought to a close with a final guitar piece." - Foom.

  • Sale
  • Regular price $25.00


After nearly a decade of false starts, multiple game plans veering off the rails, and a handful of shattered hopes and/or dreams, the odyssey is finally complete—the new Fusetron site is here.

This is the first phase of a multipart rollout that will span the next few months: the currently browsable stock includes miscellaneous new releases from the past 8+ months (we have a lot of catching up to do), plus approximately a third of our backstock. Note that we’ve reduced/slashed prices on many titles and will continue to do so in order to make room for new stock. We’ll also be expanding / tweaking / improving / debugging the site itself (for example, we still have work to do on the automated international postage system, not to mention the inevitable inventory discrepancies that come with transferring an ancient and massive database to a new system).

Over the next few months, as we take inventory, clean house, and delve into our storage, we will be uploading thousands of additional items, gradually, on a near-daily basis. This will include the majority of the LPs, as well as many titles, in all formats, once thought long-gone. Many currently “sold out” items are likely to resurface.

Finally, once our general backstock is up (probably in the next two or three months) we’ll begin making our extensive stockpile of rarities available online for the first time: tons of random out-of-print titles, "deadstock," warehouse finds, secondhand collectibles, etc., accumulated over the past few decades.

Frequent/returning customers will be getting early access to these items. Details to follow on how this will work (a priority mailing list? a 'frequent flyer'-like program?), but it will not be based on dollars spent. We want to reward those who consistently support us, especially in the discogs marketplace era (to those who show up trying to poach five copies of a one-off rarity, and nothing else, ever… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ).

So—we suggest you take some time to dig through the site—even we’ve been surprised by what’s been turning up, and there’s much more to come.
I understand these terms

Sale

Unavailable

Sold Out