Penultimate Press

GERNES, POUL - s/t

"Penultimate Press is proud to release a unique vinyl of the only known recordings by Danish artist Poul Gernes.

Poul Gernes only ever recorded just under 20 minutes of music. His entire musical production is therefore on this LP. The recording was done on a Tandberg Recorder at Poul Gernes house in the south of Sweden in 1969. He is playing an old harmonium salvaged from a local primary school. The result is an informal quasi_Ǭ_-drone work, which, along with the ambient sounds and domestic interference, comes across as a snapshot of the recording itself, a sonic Polaroid.\r\nPoul Gernes (1925_Ǭ_-1996) was one of the central figures in Danish art life during the latter half of the twentieth century. His experimental art holds a firm place on an international level and as one of the founders of the legendary Den Eksperimenterende Kunstskole (The Experimenting Art School) he has exerted considerable influence on a whole generation of artists who make up the Danish post war avant_Ǭ_ garde. His wide-ranging body of work is still a source of inspiration for younger generations of artists in Denmark and abroad.\r\nThis recording was initiated by John Hunov who was the chairman of Ung Dansk Kunst (Young Danish Art) an association for the presentation and publication of many Danish artists of the period. A series of cassettes were commissioned as a supply on demand service prompting Poul Gernes to instigate a musical work. \r\nThe recording was done during a prolific period of creativity and lingers in the current spirit of endless possibilities. The combination of an old harmonium and a tape recorder manifests a yet untried option: why not compose music as well? A childs voice, his daughter Ulrikka, is heard making small remarks and pointing out when the needle enters the red. This audial domestic background is too included as an incidental yet natural part of the work as Poul Gernes saw no limit between art and life.\r\nPoul Gernes major musical inspirations at the time were J.S. Bach, Terry Riley and Gregorian chant. An alleged encounter with John Cage and close collaborations with, for instance, composer and Fluxus artist Henning Christiansen are likely to have encouraged the musical endeavour. During the 1960s Poul Gernes also made a large number of happenings and performances, together with amongst others Per Kirkeby and Joseph Beuys.\r\nOriginally issued in a miniscule edition on cassette in 1969 this was re-issued in 1998 as a very limited edition CDR via John Nixons Document Records, Australia. This is the first vinyl issue of these recordings.

\r\n\r\nPoul Gernes comes as limited edition one sided lp of 400 copies. A beautiful etching of a Gernes painting appears on the b-side and all is packaged in a full colour sleeve retaining the nature of the recording itself. Also includes an insert with a list of Pouls hypothetical track titles." - Penultimate Press.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nFor more information on Poul Gernes: http://www.gernes.dk
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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.
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