released June 1, 2012

This record is a split release by Agnes Szelag and The Norman Conquest.
Both pieces were realized using only vintage analog synthesizers recorded to analog tape with many layers of multi-tracking. NADIR was created on an ARP Axxe, and ZENIT was made with a Sequential Circuits Pro One.

Composed and performed individually, these pieces are conceptually and tonally connected, but manifested individually unlike music from their collaboration as Dokuro.


NADIR and ZENIT inhabit two different realms of temporality.
- ZENIT sculpts time with textures hurtling your consciousness through the cosmos faster than the speed of light.
- NADIR invokes stillness seeping you in layers of cosmic dust; suspending time.
The experience can be furthered by playing both tracks simultaneously; creating a supernova of sound that swirls and bellows around you.

The digital version includes such wonderful goodies as the locked groove sound files for each side of the record as well as a combination of the two pieces for easy combined listening;

IT IS HIGHLY ENCOURAGED TO PLAY BOTH PIECES SIMULTANEOUSLY. THE DIGITAL VERSION WILL HELP YOU IN THAT.



Biographies :

THE NORMAN CONQUEST [TNC] (b. 1980, Tulsa, OK) is a composer, performer, and improviser of music influenced by the art of sound engineering. Feedback is a constant source of musical, psychological, and philosophical inspiration for TNC.

TNC spent his formative years in rural Kentucky exploring 4-track recording as a vehicle for his songs and sonic experiments. He honed his recording abilities at Middle Tennessee State University, from where he received his B.S. in 2003. TNC then received his M.F.A. from Mills College in 2006.

TNC performs as a sound manipulator and vocalist in Cosa Brava (with Fred Frith, Zeena Parkins, Carla Kihlstedt, & Matthias Bossi), Nuclear Times (with Quentin Sirjacq & Antoine Berthiaume), Dokuro (with Agnes Szelag), and in the post-metal band The Atomic Bomb Audition

As a recording engineer, some of the artists The Norman Conquest has worked with include Barn Owl (Thrill Jockey 2010), Ellen Fullman (Important 2010), Portraits (Jefre Cantu-Ledesma/Evan Caminiti/Jon Porras - Important 2012) or Keith Fullerton Whitman (Root Strata 2010), Elliott Sharp, Gregg Kowalsky...

More info : www.thenormanconquest.net


AGNES SZELAG is a sound artist and performer who composes music and designs video scores and installations. Transformation is often a theme in her work as she creates spaces that connect to tangible witht he intangible, interactive schemes that ride the line between compostion and improvisation.

Agnes has performed or collaborated with: Terry Riley, Fred Frith, James Tenney, Frances-Marie Uitti, Pauline Oliveros, Torben Ulrich, Henry Grimes, Jon Raskin, Phillip Greenlief, Miya Masaoka, Oakland Active Orchestra, and many others
She releases music as Evon, Myrmyr (with Marielle Jakobsons), and Dokuro on Under the Spire Recordings, Digitalis, Aphonia Recordings.

More info : www.agnesszelag.com



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SYNTHseries 020
2012