Penzias and Wilson releases a new single titled “Sonata Agita” on March 31, two years after its split debut with Empty Ensemble.

“Sonata Agita” takes on one of the most difficult modes in Western music: Locrian. Loosely based on the classical sonata form, the song straddles the recent and distant pasts with prepared pianos and electronic dance beats.

Visit the Penzias and Wilson site for more information.

Empty Ensemble returns with a new single on Jan. 27, 2023 titled “Black Transits.”

A piece of musique concrète, “Black Transits” crafts a three-part work with the urban environmental sounds of Seattle’s public transit system.

Visit the Empty Ensemble site for more information.

Eponymous 4 announced the release of a new single, “What I Deserve”, on Oct. 28, 2022. The single kicks off a reissue campaign in which Eponymous 4’s first four albums get a sonic overhaul.

“What I Deserve” appears on the album 健忘症 (Kenboushou). which will be the first album to be released in this campaign. The album is expected to arrive in late summer 2023.

Empty Ensemble returns with a new single on August 26, 2022 titled “Fanfare for Whatever (Orchestral Song No. 1)”.

The three-minute piece for virtual orchestra kicks off a new project named Orchestral Songs, which aims to adapt the form factors prevalent in popular music to classical music. The result is simply a record album, but one with scope of a unified, large-scale orchestral work.

Visit the Empty Ensemble site for more information on the new single.

Observant Records has made back catalog and exclusive releases of all artists on the label available to Bandcamp subscribers for just $12 per year. That’s $1 per month!

Yes, the full catalog of Eponymous 4, Empty Ensemble and now Penzias and Wilson can be accessed for the price of one album. And more exclusive releases are coming from all our artists.

The current subscription program for Eponymous 4 will end on May 1, and the Empty Ensemble subscription program has already been transferred to the label program.

Visit Bandcamp for more details and to sign up.

Penzias and Wilson announced the release of their debut single, “Rescue the Fly“, a cover of Empty Ensemble’s 弦楽四重奏曲其の一六番. The single is split with a remix of the original track and arrives March 26, 2021.

“Rescue the Fly” first appeared as a solo piano piece on NaSoPiAlMo 2006, an album recorded as part of National Solo Album Month. The pieces on the album were arranged for string quartet and became Empty Ensemble’s debut album. (NaSoPiAlMo 2006 is available as an exclusive for Empty Ensemble subscribers.)

Unlike the other tracks on the album, the sixth string quartet song hewed closer to pop music than classical music. So Penzias and Wilson gave it the full band treatment it deserved.

Penzias and Wilson is not a duo. In fact, it’s just another alias, as explained in the band’s bio:

What kind of music would a duo named “Penzias and Wilson” play? Not the scientists themselves, mind you. Just a pair of musicians, one named Penzias, the other Wilson.

That’s the question.

This project may not necessarily be the answer.