Rome native Christian di Vito’s slowly coalescing plans to launch a label were accelerated by the onset of the pandemic in 2020, when he realised that global lockdowns seriously threatened the livelihoods of all sorts of musicians. Launched that June as a digital platform, Superpang quickly gained momentum with a steady stream of releases from across the experimental music spectrum, making no effort to differentiate between DIY noisemakers, contemporary classical ensembles, free jazz blowers, and post-techno explorers. The label recently dropped its first physical release – a collaboration between Mats Gustafsson and Tony Lugo released on vinyl that’s titled Vertical – but the bulk of the catalog continues to be digital, where a low overhead can more easily remunerate artists for their work. All of the label’s striking, minimal artwork is designed by Joe Gilmore.

John McCowen
“Robeson Formants”
From Robeson Formants

Can’t say for sure if the singular contrabass clarinetist John McCowen – a native of downstate Illinois now based in Reykjavik, Iceland – is paying tribute to the vocal timbre of Paul Robeson, but this 15 minute excursion suggests the richness of legendary singer’s voice. Extreme multiphonics produced by his reed instrument collide with sine tones – a kind of theoretical contextualisation of the frequencies inherent in the human voice – to produce an enveloping lone-form drone larded with microscopic detail. At a certain point it becomes difficult, if not unnecessary, to break down the component elements. It’s better to surrender to the undulating cycles of machine hums and the striated throbs of McCowen’s airstream.

Susana Santos Silva
“From The Ground Birds Are Born”
From From The Ground Birds Are Born

One of the most exciting things about the Superpang catalog is affording musicians the opportunity to share work that diverges from their usual practice. That’s certainly the case with this beguiling piece by the Stockholm based Portuguese trumpeter and improviser Susana Santos Silva, which toggles between serene organ drones and skittering electronics that become noisier and more agitated over time. I don’t know how devoted Silva is to pursue this kind of work, but even if it’s a one time digression, it’s lovely to be able to tap into these kinds of experiments.

Weston Olencki
“Vernon, LM”
From Verd Mont

Experimental composer and improviser Weston Olencki makes his conceptualism highly listenable on “Vernon, L.M.,” an old song from the Sacred Harp tradition translated through a mixture of pump organ, field recordings from an industrial gang saw recorded in a Vermont marble quarry, and software triggered by “handmade impulse responses of local barns, grain silos, train stations, discarded sheet metal, slate roof tiling, covered bridges, milk bottles, churches, beer tankers, frozen lakes, & more.” The work veers from meditative beauty to hypnotising noise. (The other piece on this recording, “Witched Windows,” also translates unconventional tape loop sources from around the state into a visceral collage potentially impacted by each tape spending three to eight months buried underground during the region’s rough winter months).

John Chantler
“Best To Let It All Burn”
From Best To Let It All Burn

As with the Silva piece, this new work from John Chantler feels like a new direction even if he continues using analog synthesizers. There’s a pulsating minimalism at the heart of this seductively hydroplaning piece, with a rapidly cycling pattern that holds even as the details surrounding it are in constant flux. The low-end churn is complemented by piano-like plinking, snapping, rubbery bass-like tones, and an elusive yet overarching ambient glow couched within a juddering pulse that makes the austerity feel generous rather than lean.

Eiko Ishibashi
“We Are Built”
From Orbit

Over the last couple of years Japan’s Eiko Ishibashi has produced a cornucopia of dazzling, complex music that collages disparate styles and approaches in singular fashion. Each new recording – including her dynamic soundtrack for the acclaimed film Drive My Car – feels like a journey taking the listener to unexplored corners of the world. She’s released a couple of titles for Superpang, but Orbit feels a bit anomalous amongst her recent output with its largely electronic thrust. “We Are Built” layers in some field recordings of voice and environment, but the piece is dominated by cycling, minimalist electronics that complement the mesmerising patterns of Terry Riley with dense electronic abstraction that glides and caresses those rhythmic forms like hot wax, dripping atop a sturdy armature.

Jasmine Guffond
“KM28/3rd September 2020”
From KM28/3rd September 2020

This concise piece, recorded during a brief respite from the pandemic lockdown in Berlin in late summer of 2020, feels like the perfect Superpang lifeline. “As for all live musicians, gigs for 2020 had either been cancelled or postponed till some undefinable future moment,” writes the Berlin-based Australian musician. “In September (briefly) venues in Berlin could reopen. I was excited to play live again, and after a little down time, try out some new ideas.” The piece was recorded with two overhead microphones, adding a nice grit to an all-electronic piece as coughing and seat-shifting interject the presence of listeners. The music starts out meditative, but there’s an encroaching uncertainty, aggression and turbulence that feels appropriate given the time and circumstances.

Read Peter Margasak's Unlimited Editions article in The Wire 458. Wire subscribers can also find the article online via the digital magazine archive.