The Keystone Cut Ups, by People Like Us & Ergo Phizmiz. DVD, 7" and Digital Download available now!

We’re very pleased to announce the release on Illegal Art of a DVD, 7″ single and digital audio album!

When People Like Us & Ergo Phizmiz premiered The Keystone Cut Ups at the Berwick Film and Media Art Festival in 2010, it was met with praise and wonder. Invoking a dreamlike atmosphere from the pairing of surrealist avant-garde cinema and silent-era comedy films with the quirky, yet emotionally resonating soundtrack carved out a unique sector of musical entertainment. This project stands tall as a statement against an industry that often flounders in its own creative bankruptcy.

Until now, this experience has only been available to those fortunate enough to see it performed live. But this October, people all over the world can see what all the hype is about for themselves when Illegal Art releases The Keystone Cut Ups on DVD, as well as just the musical portion as a digital download and as a 7′ single.

BUY THE KEYSTONE CUT UPS DVD NOW
All prices below INCLUDE shipping within stated price.

UK ORDERS $13 

EUROPE ORDERS $14 

ELSEWHERE ORDERS $16 

The Keystone Cut Ups will play all regions, worldwide.

MOON MAGIC 7″ SINGLE by People Like Us & Ergo PhizmizAvailable to purchase from 13 October 2012

Actual release date: 13 November 2012Illegal Art IA702 http://www.illegalart.net

“Moon” and “Magic” is a AA side 7 inch single, also on the Illegal Art label. Both tracks are taken from The Keystone Cut Ups DVD.

DOWNLOAD THE KEYSTONE CUT UPS AUDIO IN MP3 OR FLAC FORMFrom the Illegal Art Shop

With this release, Illegal Art continues to embrace a pay-what-you-want business model for high-quality downloads. All label releases over the last five years have been issued (or reissued) under a the flexible payment system. People Like Us & Ergo Phizmiz also have a history of offering free downloads of entire projects, both new and old.

Ergo Phizmiz dates, mid 2012

June 6th - Release of Populista CD version of Robert Ashley's "Purposeful Lady Slow Afternoon".


June 15th - Release of "It's a Sin" single on Care in the Community 7"


July 1st - Release of FUNBAG #1 on Chinstrap.


July 27th - Solo performance on the Isle of Wight, for the Undecided Art Collective.


August 2nd - Preview of "Mike the Headless Chicken" at a secret location in Bridport, followed by the Chinstrap Marching Band through town, and IF: 2 with Greater Than or Equal To, Oblivian Substanshall, Elvis Herod and more at another secret location.


August 4th - Premiere of "Queen of Names" one man show, and premiere of Elvis Herod's "Mike the Headless Chicken" opera at Tete-a-Tete: The Opera Festival, Riverside Studios, London.


August 5th - Second performance of "Mike the Headless Chicken" at Tete-a-Tete: The Opera Festival, Riverside Studios, London. 


August 18th-22nd - Premiere of augmented theatre piece "Interzone: The Grinder" at Shoreditch Fringe Festival. Written by Ergo Phizmiz, produced by Joel Cahen.


September - Release of "Eleven Songs" LP & CD on Care in the Community Recordings.


September 5th - Premiere of Les Antliaclastes Marionettes "The Old Man of the Mountain" at Vidy Theatre, Lausanne.


October - Release of People Like Us & Ergo Phizmiz "The Keystone Cut-Ups" DVD on Illegal Art.


October 19th - premiere broadcast for Ergo Phizmiz's radiophonic ornithological kaleidoscope "Conversations With Birds" on Bayerischer Rundfunk.

New People Like Us & Ergo Phizmiz - from "The Keystone Cut Ups"

Ergo Phizmiz 2010 Retrospective

2010 has been a very busy year indeed in Phizmiz towers, so we thought it an opportune moment for a flashback...

"The Faust Cycle"

The year began with the release on Headphonica of "The Faust Cycle", Ergo's epic 15 hour adventure in sound, released under for free under a Creative Commons license. The album has now been downloaded by in excess of 5,000 listeners, and has been broadcast on stations across the globe. Although generally ignored by the conventional media, the enlightened blogosphere acclaimed the work wholeheartedly, with Continuo describing the piece as "the most ambitious music project conceived in the 21st century and certainly the only one able to change your listening habits." Download "The Faust Cycle" at Headphonica. This was shortly followed by a remix project "The Faust Re.Cycled", also available at Headphonica here.

"The Mourning Show"

The Mourning Show from Tête à Tête on Vimeo.

Ergo Phizmiz's opera about radio, magic, death and UK radio DJ Chris Evans was commissioned by and premiered at De Player in Rotterdam, with further performance in Nijmegen and Brussels. Vital Weekly described it as "an excellent opera which brought plunderphonics to a new level". The show received it's UK premiere in August, at Tete-a-Tete: The Opera Festival.

"Things To Do and Make"

Ergo's pop album was released on Care in the Community Recordings earlier in the year to widespread critical acclaim. Pennyblack Music said "The first major and mainstream Ergo Phizmiz album may be a small independent release, but this album goes to show how major record companies have lost touch completely. It's the kind of listening experience that will force you to shut down your mobile and close your Twitter and Facebook accounts." The album can be bought at the majority of music retailers online and in some shops, whatever they are....

"The Keystone Cut-Ups"

People Like Us & Ergo Phizmiz "Blue Moon" [2010] from Vicki WFMU on Vimeo.

The long running collaboration between Ergo Phizmiz & collagist People Like Us continued in the form of "The Keystone Cut-Ups", an A/V work playing with the relationships between early silent cinema and Surrealist cinema. The piece was commissioned by and premiered at Berwick Film & Media Festival, with further performances scheduled for 2011.

"Music For The Jilted Generation"

Continuing his long line of albums of cover versions of popular classics, the marvellous UpItUp Records released Ergo Phizmiz's retake for acoustic instruments of the entirety of The Prodigy's "Music For The Jilted Generation". This release also came with a handy zip file of all of Ergo's cover versions from 2003-2010, and you can grab it all, free, here.

"Collected Sound Installations"

Surrism-Phonoethics recently released Ergo Phizmiz's Collected Sound Installations from 2001-2010, 4.5 hours of Ergo's most experimental music including "Forest", "The Phantom Organ" and "Music For Squares and Spinning". You can grab that, for free, right here.

Chinstrap - The netlabel from Ergo Phizmiz

Since January Ergo has been running a free, Creative Commons netlabel. Now with 15 published releases, the label has put out work by artists including Oblivian Substanshall, Vulnavia Vanity, Angela Valid, The Travelling Mongoose, and The Superfools, including soundtracks, children's music, musique-concrete, sampling, improvisation, radio-art and songwriting. You can download all releases from the Chinstrap blog, which can also be accessed in one convenient list here.

And more ....

This year Ergo also ..... received a grant to produce a new work called "Fulcanelli's Shoes" which premieres in February 2011; played live shows across the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Spain; composed additional music for Frankie Boyle's "Tramadol Nights" on Channel 4; re-released remastered versions of archive pieces including "M: 1000 Year Mix" & "Cinemacollages"; a sound-installation for the Depozitory on the Isle of Wight; and received the Special Mention in composed radio for his work "Paul Klee, a Balloon, the Moon, Music and Me" at the Prix Italia. This year he has been written about in The Guardian, The Times, The Wire, and Mojo magazine, aswell as comprehensive interviews on Tokafi, Popshifter, and Intangible23.

The year ends with a Christmas Eve mix from Ergo Phizmiz on Tom Ravenscroft's BBC 6Music show, which you can find out all about here.

Wishing you all a marvellous end of the year, and a excellent next one....

"Magic", by People Like Us & Ergo Phizmiz, from "The Keystone Cut Ups"

"Magic" is an excerpt from "The Keystone Cut Ups", by People Like Us & Ergo Phizmiz from 2010.

"The Keystone Cut Ups" is a live A/V performance that combines video-collage with an original musical score, created using sampling and live instrumentation, to explore the aesthetic, contextual and stylistic relationships between early silent-comedy and early avant-garde cinema.

Further info: peoplelikeus.org/​2010/​the_keystone_cut_ups.html