This split release unites two female underground acts, both of whom have recently become pivotal parts of the contemporary electronic musical landscape in Japan. Hot on the heels of the acclaimed PAREDO EP compilation (TAL12), which has been released in May 2019 (and also includes contributions from Lena Willikens and Miki Yui), the SUPER MILD split album is the second outing by KOPY and TENTENKO on TAL. Their newest works punctuate their highly individual approaches to contemporary experimental dance music.
TENTENKO is a Tokyo-based electronic music producer. Her career began in 2013 when she joined the mainstream idol group BIS. Immediately after her departure from BIS in 2014 she commenced work on her solo project under her artist name TENTENKO. Since then she has radically reinvented her music away from glossy J-POP towards weird and industrial rooted dancefloor. TENTENKO first made a name for herself on the alternative Japanese music scene with a steady flow of live performances as well as collaborations with members of the legendary Japanese noise band HIJOKAIDAN.
For a few years now KOPY has been an unpredictable and charismatic part of the vital electronic music scene of Osaka. She has quickly garnered a reputation for creating her live sets exclusively with borrowed electronic equipment. Her name KOPY very much originates from this "concept". Apart from a few performances at Düsseldorfs famous nightspot SALON DES AMATEURS, she has been invited by LENA WILLIKENS to her showcase at the MEAKUSMA FESTIVAL in 2018. Her sinister dancefloor mystique is heavily steeped in the free spirited noise and rhythm cultures of her hometown.
Cerca:3 pi
japanese legendary jazz guitarist “ryo kawasaki”,some of his famous works are like mellow jazz fusion masterpiece “tarika blue”,dance jazz classic “trinkets&things”,cosmic new wave jazz “lucky lady”….
this album with his band “the golden dragon” is probably the best album for fans of wired jazz,brazilian,barealic music. japanese best digger “chee” picked up this album as his favorite album from japan on RA.
“little tree” is a first album that ryo kawasaki used self made guitar synthesizer.
this album is rich in variety, japanese brazilian jazz fusion classic “looking around you”,experimental guitar ambient “capricho arabe”,cosmic fusion “quasar infection”,barealic jazz masterpiece”you are the sun-light”,club jazz classic “little tree”,folky jazz vocal “jamiko”,a lot of great song on this album.
‘Green & Gold’ is the second collaborative release from Mr Key & Greenwood Sharps, the long awaited follow up to their
critically acclaimed 2015 album ‘Yesterday’s Futures’. The record was written and recorded between Greenwood Sharps’
cottage in the verdant English countryside and the off grid Finca in the foothills of the Andalusian Sierra Nevada, Spain where
Key is based.
The title has multiple meanings none of which are anything to do with weed or money. First and foremost, green and gold are
the colours which synesthete (a person who sees sound) Greenwood Sharps, composed the record in. It also alludes to the
dialogue between the green of the UK and the dusty gold of Andalucia which created the project. Finally green and gold speaks
of the dynamic between the sun and photosynthesising organisms, the driving force of life on earth.
‘Yesterday’s Futures’ took the listener on a meandering journey through a vast landscape of moods, sounds and ideas,
leading ultimately to redemption and the possibility of resolution. Thematically, ‘Green & Gold’ picks up where ‘Yesterday’s
Futures’ left off, but structurally it takes the opposite tack; an extended exploration of a single ubiquitous idea: universal love for
all things and all people and the challenge of maintaining these shiny ideals in day to day life, as our cynical side reasserts itself.
Key’s first output after an extended hiatus from releasing music makes it obvious that during this time he continued honing his
craft. The unique perspectives and disarming honesty which set him apart from his peers remain, but his technical prowess and
capacity to convey sentiment are notably enhanced. The same applies to Greenwood Sharps, who’s masterful production has
risen to new heights yet still maintains the rich and subtle sonic palette he has become known for.
Dropping alongside the EP is a short film featuring the works of long time collaborator Jamie Johnson, the man behind the
artwork for both ‘Green & Gold’ & ‘Yesterday’s Futures’. The short film is the visual counterpart to the EP and serves as the
perfect introduction to the world of ‘Green & Gold’ as it visually explores all the themes present in the music & provides a snap
shot of the incredible tracks on offer.
In a troubled and busy world, marred with anxieties and uncertainties, ‘Green & Gold’ comes as a breath of fresh air and offers some valuable food for thought for those searching for real heart felt substance rather than the sanitised, individualised &
commodified norm we have all become accustomed to.
Melodize is a brand new label that kicks off with a mighty EP from Beartrax that includes a remix from US house legend John Tejada. Beartrax has already rebased on Motek Music, Lost Diaries and Deeper Love and makes a real impression here.
The US house legend and Kompakt regular that is John Tejada opens the EP with the moody and synth laden Clarity remix. It is a roller that takes you deep and has lush chords stretching to the heavens. Clarity in original form is a tender, piano laden tune with a vulnerable vibe and deep, resonating bass. Last up is Haunted Chalice, a track with a rasping lead synth that mesmerises as the warm drums roll on below.
This is a classy EP to kick off this exciting new label
feedback so far:
- Animal Trainer - "Haunted Chalice sounds awesome!"
- Huxley - "Like the remix."
- Nick Warren - "A fine mix from John and Haunted has great charm."
- Jamie Jones- "Sounds cool, will give proper feedback if played."
- Joyce Muniz- "John Tejada remix is sweet!“
Time for the host to show up: HomeMadeZucchero co-founder Giesse gets in the game with a one track EP plus Demdike Stare's rmx able to fully scan one composition from two absolutely different perspectives. Main track Goji is a deep and overwhelming embrace among decadent IDM sounds, grooves oscillating between jungle and drum'n'bass, and rarefied atmospheres based on vague hip-hop reminiscences turned into echoing and saturnine shards.
The remix brought by Demdike Stare, strips the original piece to its bare bone by subtracting elements and shaping everything in three different blocks, working like independent acts that climax in a stunning drums maelstrom and resolves into a dramatic ending tending to a relentless sonic collapse.
LIMITED EDITION 500 ONLY COLOURED VINYL LP WITH DOWNLOAD CODE IN GLOSS FINISHED 350GSM BOARD SLEEVE
Way back in 2004, ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. released the CD only album 'Minstrel In The Galaxy' on Riot Season Records. The decision to make it CD only at the time was down to the epic title track being almost 42 minutes in length. Fast forward fifteen years and new technologies and we have the first ever vinyl release of this classic album, with a new edited especially for vinyl mix by main man Makoto Kawabata.
What we said back then ...
‘Minstrel In The Galaxy’ is the sound of the newly slimmed down four-piece AMT recorded in their smoke filled basement Studio in Nagoya during summer 2004. The sounds captured on these three tracks are the first post-Cotton Casino AMT workouts. The diminutive beer and cigarettes goddess has upped sticks and moved to the USA to start a new life and plan her solo career. We’ll miss her that’s for sure but we can’t worry about that now, AMT have another ten albums to lay down before New Year.
The AMT line up for this album features the core trio of Makoto Kawabata (Guitar), Atsushi Tsuyama (Monster Bass), Hiroshi Higashi (Guitar & effects) and new permanent drummer (and ex-Mainliner man) Hajime Koie (Drums). The free jazz style drumming from Hajime has helped give AMT their sense of improvisation back, most of their work is improvised and recorded live to tape which gives that great loose feel they have that takes them off on tangents and makes each new record that little bit different from the last. And with this new studio album I think we can safely say it’s something of a new direction.
They’re joined on this album by Japanese underground queens AFRIRAMPO, who’ve just finished a tour with Sonic Youth and look set for big things themselves in the near future. Musically this album is a slight departure for AMT, anyone buying it expecting a head-melting riff heavy record are going to be disappointed.
To these ears ‘Minstrel In The Galaxy’ sounds darker and more stripped down that any previous AMT release. The title track alone lasts a staggering 41 minutes, over the course of which the band take our heads in a few gentle directions before letting rip towards it’s crushing finale. For me it’s the gentle openings that make me tick, I love the way it rolls for what seems like ever just going round and round in your head. You almost expect it to explode way before it does and that my friends is the art of foreplay AMT style!
Adapted Vinyl was a UK based techno label active in the late 90’s that picked up regular DJ support from taste makers of the time ranging from Jeff Mills to Mr C.
This, the label’s 7th record disappeared before a public release when the Integrale Muzique distribution company went out of business in 2008, but now gets its first official release date after years of very limited availability
Label founder Suade is the artist behind this release and these days he is best known as a highly-sought-after mastering engineer working for artists like Dense & Pika, Paranoid London, Jamie Jones and Vitalic.
Focusing his energies into family life and the fine tuning of other peoples music it’s rare to see Suade’s own music on a new release, but this hasn’t stopped him from collaborating on original tracks with the likes of Magda and Radioactive Man in recent years.
The EP has four contrasting tracks all with different moods and tempos all blended with Techno’s classic motoric drive.
With it’s absence from the usual music marketplaces creating something of a mystery this record ended up receiving a new, unofficial name on Discogs - The Citadel EP which is a title taken from the broken-beat second track on the B side of the record.
The Citadel is just one of the highlights on this eclectic EP, as it’s a Latronic Notron sequencer workout that patiently deploys layered synths in ever-shifting cross-rhythms for a languid 5 minutes before its deep, underpinning bass arrives evoking desert travel and arrival.
Baikal, named after the huge freshwater lake in Russia, is another stretched out meditation on tone and harmony acting as a foil to the delicate and vibrant Latin American percussion that filters in and out through a massive stereo Moog Modular system creating an energetic yet static, ritualistic atmosphere.
Trajan - the most driving track on the EP, gives a nod to the Probe era Richie Hawtin sound with a touch of Drexciyan melodics with shuffled percussion and bleeps over a snaking TB303 shaped bassline where the classic Acid box is given the role of control sequencer only commanding the thick, dirty oscillators of the big Moog.
A1 track Felix is a contrast yet again. A big room melodic Techno piece with another massive bassline and an almost orchestral level of layering, building to nine counter-melodies in total before letting rip with a classic TB303 acid line that builds from the heart of the track.
Hollie Kenniff is a Canadian-American electronic musician. The Gathering Dawn is her debut solo album .
The album, which is her first ambient proclamation, displays a sprawling looseness in sharp contrast to her works as one half of Mint Julep with husband Keith Kenniff (Helios, Goldmund).
The Gathering Dawn wistfully utilizes glacial synths, blurred out guitars and Hollie's melancholic vocal plumes as a basis. The album finds Hollie effortlessly folding classic ambient motifs in with minimal modernist brushstrokes.
The Gathering Dawn will be out on November 15th on limited edition 180gm pink vinyl and compact disc.
Mecanica Popular is back 9 years after their LP “Neguentropia” and 4 years after Dead Cert reissued their first LP “”Que Sucede Con El Tiempo”
Mecánica Popular is ’s an experimental and industrial band formed in the late 70s by Luis Delgado (Finis Africae, Ishinohana...) and Eugenio Muñoz (Randomize), who rapidly gained cult status between the genre fans. The band experienced a renovated international success after their record "Que Sucede Con El Tiempo" (1984) was repressed in 2015 in Andy Votel and Demdike Stare's Dead Cert imprint.
Arriving 9 years after “Neguentropia”, “Estridentismo” is the group’s fourth record and the product of new material that was developed over the last 3 years.
“Estridentismo” is based on the avant-garde movement of the same name that was born in Mexico during the early 1920s (known as Stridentism in English). Each track uses this lens to explore a different thematic concept, from “Jouer Avec Schaeffer,” based on musical pioneer Pierre Schaefer, to “Mikado,” which draws inspiration from the sounds of Mikado steam locomotives.
Following the sound of their previous releases while also introducing elements that reflect their continued evolution, “Estridentismo” is a record that owes as much to the Industrial movement as it does to the work of early electronic pioneers.
Mecánica’s inventive style, and their blending of older techniques like tape manipulation with newer digital technology, allows the record to incorporate Industrial and experimental aesthetics to create a sound that plays with categories and ultimately creates its own.
The record has received praise from the press and artist alike, and it has been played by the likes of JASSS, Demdike Stare, Cera Khin and Ossia.
“Estridentismo” comes in a luxury vinyl edition with a printed inner sleeve full of text and pictures.
East Man returns with a four track EP that explores his own Hi Tek take on Grime, stripping everything down to the raw, bare essentials.
Opening the EP is Fight For A Cause, a rough a fuzzy sub bass driven exercise in beat science that draws as much upon Dancehall as it does Grime. The second track, Selector, is a straight up DJ tool, utilising an alternating 32 bar pattern interspersed with splashes of pirate radio chatter.
The flip side opens with the storming Bandit Country.
The subdued intro lulling you into a false sense of security before the beats and bass are unleashed in full attack mode, the relentless onslaught pausing only briefly midway for you to catch your breath before continuing on it's devastating path.
The closing track, Darkage, is an ominous brooding affair that those of you familiar with East Man's sets will know well.
A real head nodding roller, it's definitely one for the technical DJ's.
Lenny limbs looks on as the time for automation draws nearer. What is our fate you ask? - The robots are coming.
Banoffee Pies Records introduce the sixth insert to the original series with a mechanically inspired sample infused three track heavy weight. This record is for the dancefloor. Banoffee xx
- A1: Lentz 1 Mg (Viersen / D)
- A2: Grossenhainer Eu (Grossenhain/ D)
- A3: C.a.roscher Bo (Oberlausitz / D)
- A4: Henry Livesey Bo (Blackburn / Gb)
- A5: Lentz 2 Mg (Viersen / D
- A6: Saurer Mg ( Aarbon Ch)
- A7: Ruti / Łódź / Pl, 1892 Rec M.w
- A8: Saurer 400 Bo (Aarbon Ch & F)
- A9: Günne (Irmscher) Bo
- A10: Bändchen Mg (Jacquard F? Unbekannt)
- A11: Dornier Mg (Lindau / D)
- A12: Transmission / Bo
- A13: Elitex Jet Mg. (Cz)
- A14: Robert Hall Mg Solo (Bury / Gb)
- A15: Fred Greenwood Mechanical Works / (Łódź / Pl 1889) Rec M.w
- A16: Kleiner C.a.roscher Bo (Oberlausitz / D)
- A17: Jean Güsgen Bo (Dülken / D)
- A18: Grossenhainer Eu / Lower Floor (Grossenhain/ D)
- A19: Grossenhainer Eu (Grossenhain / D)
- A20: Grossenhainer Eu Lower Floor / Variation1 (Grossenhain/ D)
- A21: Looms/ Group* Łódź, Pl / Rec M.w
Editions Mego is proud to present the latest addition to the compelling discography of Thomas Brinkmann. Throughout his career Brinkmann has focussed on the human operating amongst industry alongside rhythms that manifest as a result of technological advancement. With this new release Brinkmann makes a u-turn, looking back to the early industrial age. Comprised of recordings of various looms, Raupenbahn investigates the sonic properties and consequences of the first automatic loom as constructed by Jacques de Vaucanson in 1745. Thomas Brinkmann once again adheres to his tendency for clarity and simplicity whilst further investigating not only the sound and rhythms of the machines (looms) but also what role they serve in society and what consequences they have on the environment. Raupenbahn presents 21 tracks in total, 11 feature on the vinyl, the remaining 10 as digital bonus tracks. The majority of recordings were undertaken by Brinkmann in 2017 with a Neumann KM 184 stereo set. Additional recordings were sourced with permission from Monika W. recs. from 2014 Central Museum of Textiles Łódź, Poland. Each piece presents a diversity of material which borders on the breathtaking and beautiful in richness and complexity. The various looms unravel rhythms and patterns unexpected from machines of the early industrial age.
The loom holds a significant role in shaping our world being the catalyst for Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine which, alongside the subsequent work of Byron's daughter Ada Lovelace, paved the way for modern computing. There is a linage of the loom that fits succinctly in Brinkmann's overall argument. Here we encounter a parallel between machine driven economies and the music that rose from such places, consider the Sheffield steel industries, the Manchester weaving industry or the Rhineland / Düsseldorf loom and machine industry. Is it a coincidence that the practice of such machines in the environment gave rise to today's predilection for electronic dance music, in pop, soundtracks, etc.
Raupenbahn features no treatment or processing and explicitly displays varying tempo and timbres which ascertain a wide range of acoustic structures. The artwork features Ingrid Wiener, Rosemarie Trockel and Alexandra Bircken, three different generations who would with ideas of fabric weaving, loming and the like. This exceptional release works on a number of levels alongside it's striking sonic palette.
i 9 Günne (Irmscher) BO Möhnesee / D
Cork native Colm K has been making waves on both the Irish and international scene since his selection for the Red Bull Music Academy in 2003. With releases on Bastard Jazz, r2, and his recent efforts on All City Records, First Word Records and Tiff's Joints, Colm K has earned his place on both critics' and fans' radars.
KFU(RN) sees Colm return to Tiff's Joints after 2018's Beginnings/Six Four Hundred with four of his heaviest dancefloor offerings yet, which have already picked up support and plays from the likes of Alexander Nut, Laurent Garnier, Detroit Swindle, Red Rack 'Em and more. One the A-side, Lady is a heavily swung uptempo house jam, built around a masterfully flipped vocal and piano line while "Apart" sees an ominous arpeggio dart between warping sub bass and gritty drums. On the B-Side, "KFU(RN)" delivers a riotously fun synth line backed up by a rock solid groove and "Diffraction" bounces from start to finish with a Mr. Fingers-esque bassline, driving the track forward and a celestial pad drifting in and out of the mix, bringing the EP to a close.
The Tokyo based producer Yoshinori Hayashi will release his new EP, ‘Y’, on November 8th via Smalltown Supersound. The EP will be his first release since his debut LP, Ambivalence, from last year which received a glowing 4.0 review from Resident Advisor.
Hayashi has studied under Japanese avant-classical composer Mica Nozawa. When not DJing, he works in a record store in Tokyo. Thus far, Hayashi has released a string of 12”s on labels including Going Good Records, Jinn Records, Lovers Rock, Gravity Grafittiand Moscoman’s Disco Halal. Previous work by Hayashi has been called “a complex patchwork of studio gear, live instruments, dusty jazz records and smartly cut library sounds, whose textures are soft and inviting. But its arrangements are constantly ruffled, squeezed, brushed and pinched—which is to say, nothing stays still for long” (Resident Advisor).
This is some serious top shelf material out of Baltimore and a certified masterclass in sweet symphonic soul. Optimistics was originally released in 1970 on Turbo and it’s every bit as essential as The Chi-Lites, The Delfonics and The Moments yet nowhere near as known. Those original copies are ridiculously rare and, of course, the prices are equally ridiculous.
Optimistics is a killer LP throughout, beloved of discerning hip-hop producers worldwide and routinely championed by the legendary Pete Rock. The genius George Kerr has handled the production on what is an album of beautiful, naïve soul for mind and body. It’s bursting with goodness and, like the best of its genre, it radiates a heart-breaking ambience that cuts right to the core.
The band of Billy, Harold, James, Charles and Jerome are described on the back cover as “five young, black knights who have embarked on a musical crusade and they're gonna slay a lot of dragons along the way”. We’re not entirely sure how many mythical serpents were dispatched during the making of this album but we can certainly attest to the sense of evangelical drive.
Evergreen opener “You Put Something New In My Life” is a heart-stopping ode to a transformative love. A ballad with spine-tingling chord changes and melodic switch-ups to spare, its sweeping strings and precise drums complement the falsetto delivery perfectly.
It’s followed by the equally beguiling “Let’s Love”. Another string-drenched harmony ballad, it revolves around delicate piano and distinctive guitar lines, crying out to be recontextualised by the best sampling technicians. Closing out the A side, the wonderfully restrained “Love Is God Almighty” is harp and horn-driven, barely-there soul from a higher plain. Heavenly.
Ushering in the flipside, “Should I Let Myself Go”, sampled recently by Knxwledge, is sensational guitar-soul with a yearning that could bring the most hardened soul to tears. It’s followed by the uptempo, Temptations-funk of “Man” and quietly-great “If I Could Influence Man”, where the competing vocals ride a chugging, funky breakbeat and delicious guitar licks. The refreshing, groovy “Say It Baby” is an appropriately positive, upward looking closer. Its sentiment and feel speaks directly to both the band name and the title of this, their only album. Truly optimistic.
The whole LP is a winning blend of slow, spine-tingling ballads and joyously upbeat tracks. It’s a case of A+ vocals, melodies and harmonies over beautiful playing and arrangements. It deserves to be canonical.
This fresh reissue has been mastered with the usual care by Simon Francis and cut by the legendary Pete Norman. The artwork has been lovingly reproduced by the Be With team.
Optimistics should be known to a much wider audience. We’ve hopefully gone some way towards rectifying that.
Blaue Blume are a Danish alternative art pop band with a deep connection to the romanticism of the early 80s UK scene. Referencing artists such as Talk Talk, The Smiths and Cocteau Twins, it's clear their influences are with the more sensitive, magical aspects of music - and the eternal questions of love, life and death. Following two singles (Lovable and Vanilla) the album Bell of Wool is finally with us. It’s suitably enchanting from start to finish. Two themes dominate Blaue Blume’s new album Bell Of Wool, darkness and adventure. With the record mostly made before singer Jonas Smith slipped into a depressive episode, the album’s lyrics and moods draw pictures of the darkness, anxiety and tension that would mark Smith’s depression. Sonically, the album sounds a distance away from anything they’ve done before. Indie and electro pop and rock are out, and instead the album is crafted from soft, glowing synthscapes, dawns and skies transformed into sounds. Even on hints of their older work, like on the acoustics of “Rain Rain”, the synthwork comes into the picture and swells the song into something bigger and more majestic. Opener “Swimmer” introduces the listener to the softness and subtlety of the new sound, whereas songs like “Morgensol” and “Bombard” show it at its biggest and more grand.
KiNK presents Home! This aptly titled EP is the debut release on the newborn label Sofia. Founded by Strahil Velchev and Konstantin Petrov, Sofia is not only the physical location where this music was made, the city where they met and developed as artists, but also a paradox that is reflected in the art and music that comes from the place. Beautiful and ugly at the same time, clean and dirty, brutal as well as romantic, it’s a place where aesthetically seemingly incompatible styles come together in a twisted, yet unifying form. The photographs for the sleeves are made by influential local selector DJ Valentine, effortlessly capturing the local reality.
Those pieces of a paradox also are reflected in the music. The typical fine-grit of KiNK’s production skills meets his love for the elements of surprise and the classic building blocks and plaster of house and techno to create something that is very much his own, while breathing the spirit of early days and pioneering times. Hinged just before and after peak time, the tracks on this EP are cohesive, made to last and rounded off by the contemplativeness of yet another collaboration with Rachel Row called „The Beauty“. The first of many to come. And as always: Remember the future!
One of the greatest enigmas of the music scene in mid to late 1970s Harare was The New Tutenkhamen, a band which played an eclectic brand of Zimbabwean township music combining
traditional rhythms and western influences. The band included some luminaries of Zimbabwean township music. Elisha Josamu was an alumnus of the fabulously-named Hallelujah Chicken Run Band (alongside Thomas Mapfumo), and Green Jangano’s long-running Harare Mambos, and would later form Two Plus Two with bassist Christopher “Chex” Tavengwa. Jethro Shasha played the drums, and would arguably become the New Tutenkhamen’s most famous export, making continental waves working with likes of Salif Keita. Paul Sekerani played the rhythm guitar, with Amos Chatyoka on the organ, while the enigmatic Maggie Mbuli provided vocals and F. Manda played the sax. The New Tutenkhamen recorded I Wish You Were Mine at Teal Records, produced by Crispen Matema, a talented jazz drummer in his own right who had played drums on the all-time classic Skokiaan, and had backed Louis Armstrong on his 1960 Rhodesia visit. Combining the
heavyweight producing talents of Matema and the writing chops of Josamu, The New Tutenkhamen band created an album howcasing various musical styles popular at the time. From the afro-jazz jam session aesthetics of “Tutenkhamen Theme”, “Big Brother alcom” and “Forever Together”, to the almost Van Morrison-sounding “Sunday Morning”; from the upbeat rock ballad “True Love”, to the funk-infused dance song “Togetherness”; from the bouncy jazz
exhortations to work hard in “Ane Nungo”, to the brassy, raunchy foot-stomper “Me & Dolly”. The title track “I Wish You Were Mine” is a ska-infused ballad that wouldn’t be out of place in post-war
Birmingham, while the star of the show is “Joburg Bound”, itself a fast-paced rock piece with Motown undertones and funky guitar lines. As a collective effort, I Wish You Were Mine provides a fascinating insight into a fraught time in Zimbabwe’s history, and the bands plying their trade through the turmoil, making music for young people, by young people.
2x12"
Milan Zaks' latest solo effort is coming out on Help Recordings.
Six compositions pressed onto two pieces of vinyl.
Assume your position, plug in or put on, play and await what could be described as the midday rebooting of your mental-balance. This work has not just one function. But it functions nevertheless. How? Find the time to time the find.
No one else will do it for you
71 minutes with full-on daydream catalysing, consciousness examining, sonic explorations that will take you in, out, to and through.
Recorded and produced in the Safe Studios during December '18 - March '19
Distributed by Triple Vision
Artwork by DJ C
Ross Ferraro is a seasoned producer from Australia that has been making waves as 1/2th of The Posse, - after a Posse remix on the Pulp side of things, Ross Ferraro now presents his first outing as Rosario on the Saft mothership. "Keep On EP" contains three originals and a remix by Adam Feingold's under his Ex-T moniker.
The title track is a breezy affair that combines crazed synth swirls with oddball disco FX and a tight section of drums which serves as the perfect opening track for this overall outgoing record.
"Ex-T's Phunqy Mix" starts off in a more timid way, but as the name suggests - quickly gets more extrovert and freakish. Vocals and experimental sounding blips and blops take over and cleverly come together in an original fashion.
"Lo" revolves around an tribal sounding chant, chord hits and an array of fx, and quickly becomes - while remaining quite stripped down - the most euphoric track in this collection. The chords sit beautifully with the bouncy drums and evolving arpeggiator that floats on top.
"Follow Me" is a silky smooth work with a soothing vocal and piano sample that work as the main sounds. Rosario is constantly altering the bass sound throughout this cut and creating a modern boogie ambience. The trance inducing synths suggest a relaxing evening atmosphere and cause for "Follow Me" to be the perfect farewell cut.
Our imprint marks its five years anniversary this year and to celebrate it’s offering up five special various artist packages across 2019 limited to 250 copies each, featuring material from the likes of Vid, The Mole, Cinthie, Shinichiro Yokota, San Proper, Akiko Kiyama, Com Sin aka Cosmin TRG, Subb-an and more..
Here though we see the focus on the core family as well as some new additions, celebrating the artists involved over the past five years and looking towards the future with some fresh, hotly tipped acts.
For the fourth installment in the series the label welcome’s Berlin’s queen of House Cinthie onto its roster with ‘6am’, as the name would suggest a heads down, emotive slice of House aimed at those special moments in the early hours of the dance floor, fusing a robust analogue drum workout with bright strings, jazzy piano lines and driving low-end.
Akiko Kiyama’s ‘Dirt Specks’ follows, a typically unique offering from the Tokyo based experimentalist, built around swirling bass notes, hypnotising processed vocals and glitched out percussion before label co-founder Red Pig Flower’s ‘Mental Adventure’ brings eastern-tinged plucked strings and vacillating atmospherics into the limelight alongside rounded subs and a bumpy rhythmic drive to create a smooth, hypnotic trip.
Sam went into an almost psychotic state when making music. He wasn’t himself. He was immersed in the creativity to such an extent that it was almost like a psychotic trance. Here’s an example. He found all this giant kelp down at Western Port bay and he would bathe himself in it for weeks. He would replenish the water and put salt in the bath, but leave the kelp in there. I used to ask Julie, his partner and wife, “How’s everything going?” and she’d say, “Just go and have a look at the bath.” - Tony Rogers
Sam Mallet could have pursued a career as a French literature professor in Paris, but decided his true calling was to remain in Australia, dedicate himself to his music and find the plateau; a word he used to describe the sensory worlds residing in music. Under the influence of Eno, Jon Hassell, Arvo Pärt, John Coltrane and Robert Fripp, Sam explored a wide variety of musical styles and put them to service soundtracking the time based works of his peers. He crafted spatial ambience, somber jazz, and drum computer driven rockers for short films and experimental video works, television shows (including the original Australian Wilfred series), feature films and live theatre. The avant garde Anthill Theatre, known for its departure from conventional staging practices and having a keen eye for talent, enlisted Mallet to provide soundtracks for approximately 40 productions throughout the 1980s and early 1990s.
Sadly, Sam passed away in 2014. A crucial piece of his legacy is undoubtedly the body of work he produced during his life, and the archive of recorded works is vast and deep. Sam seemingly saved everything, from fragments to finished pieces; and often repurposed previously released tracks by collaging them into new pieces. He self released a small number of cassettes and CDs from the mid 1980s onward, the contents of which were culled from soundtrack work and original pieces, but the majority of his music was experienced only within the ephemeral live performances.
Wetlands is the product of countless hours spent with this archive by Rowan Mason (Sanpo Disco/Recurring Dream) and Tony Remple (Musique Plastique), offering a dynamic survey of Sam’s work, and housed in a jacket evoking the minimal design and colour palette of his earliest cassette releases. Two selections of Sam Mallet’s music were featured on the compilation Midday Moon (also produced by Rowan), released last year by Bedroom Suck Records. Along with Left Ear Records’ Antipodean Anomalies, Midday Moon has served to highlight outlier musics and scenes from Australia and New Zealand, and Wetlands plunges deeper into the catalog of this obscure yet groundbreaking artist.
Industrial techno doom jazz meets Touareg percussion and mantric chanting
Soundway presents the unique results of a one-off 2018 meeting in Marrakech between Belgrade-based tribal/ techno/industrial outfit Tapan and the nomadic Touareg electrified desert-blues group Generation Taragalte.
Tapan is not an ordinary “techno” project, rather it escapes easy categorization. It is the Belgradebased production duo of 20/44 club resident Nebojša Bogdanović (Schwabe), and Goran Simonoski, a producer behind music projects such as Belgradeyard Sound System, Piece of Shh and more. Both have been active in the Belgrade music and nightlife scenes since the 1990s, and since 2015 have brought together their diverse musical experience under the collaborative moniker of Tapan.
While performing at the Atlas Electronic festival in Morocco in 2018, they encountered Generation Taragalte of southern Morocco, and recorded the initial music for the Atlas EP in an improvised studio on the festival grounds, followed by final production on returning to Belgrade. The result was the 4-track EP “Atlas”, a dark, desolate and potent collision of the electronic drone-jazz of Belgrade and the windswept, desiccated psych-guitar riffs of the Moroccan Sahara.
- A1: Next To Nothing Feat Ego Ella May And Emma-Jean Thackray
- A2: Sonnet 17 Feat Ego Ella May
- A3: Still Here
- A4: Somebody Else Feat Andrew Ashong
- A5: Tape Loop
- A6: Stack Feat Pie Eye Collective
- A7: Before The Sun Feat Ego Ella May
- B1: Step
- B2: Joyfulness Feat Alexa Harley
- B3: Circle
- B4 2: Minute Switch
- B5: Wall Street
- B6: Communication Control
Born and raised in South London, Hector Plimmer is a multi-faceted producer, composer and DJ whose sound is drenched in tribal rhythms and beautifully crafted bass. Influenced by beat-makers like Flying Lotus and Theo Parrish, but with the subtleties of the classic Metalheadz era drum and bass, his second album 'Next To Nothing' is released on 25th October 2019. The album features guests Ego Ella May, Emma-Jean Thackray, Andrew Ashong, Pie Eye Collective and Alexa Harley.
After featuring on Brownswood Bubblers 11, curated by Gilles Peterson, Hector proved his talent when he was selected as a winner of the PRS Steve Reid InNOVAtion award. At a performance at ‘Sounds Of The Universe’ Record store, Hector caught the attention of Albert's Favourites' label heads Adam Scrimshire & Dave Koor. A conversation was started which led to the transfer of almost a whole album's worth of material and resulted in his debut full length record ‘Sunshine’.
'Sunshine' was met with rapturous acclaim. The record went on to be awarded Gilles Peterson’s album of the week on his BBC 6 Music show and was championed by both Lauren Laverne and Tom Ravenscroft on the station as well as Jamie Cullum on BBC Radio 2. Its success on the airwaves transcended to streaming with the inclusion in the top 50 viral US chart on Spotify.
"This album has been a real labour of love. I spent the most part of a year trying to make music I thought would be fitting to follow my last album, whilst not actually knowing what that might sound like. 'Sunshine' had been received way more positively than I had anticipated and although praise is a lovely thing, it was the cause of much anxiety when the time came to start on this record. I put a lot of pressure on myself to produce music and kept going down routes that felt forced or just didn’t click for me, in hindsight I realise this was me making music not for myself, but for what I imagined other people might want to hear. In a way 'Next to Nothing' is my first real album, 'Sunshine' was more like a collection of four to five years worth of music compiled into the shape of one. This is my first dedicated attempt at creating a cohesive project, something that shows who I am right now and what got me here."
- Hector Plimmer
As a DJ Hector has a monthly slot on NTS radio. He has played alongside the likes of Gilles Peterson, Kutmah, Alexander Nut, MNDSGN, Onra, Dego, Kaidi, Max Graef & Glenn Astro; Hector finds himself in the good company of those talented selectors who play genres across the spectrum of Hip-hop, Beats, Funk, Soul, Disco, Afro-beat, House and Jazz.
After publishing in labels like Semantica, Hara, Stale or Jealous God, Irazu exposes his vulnerable flank in Hooded Records in a record with great healing power for the nightlife-damaged minds. The precious melodies and soothing titles Lavender Mist, Just Breathe, and the homonym Last Rays, manage to tame the Shimmering Substance(s) and to overflow the broken ravers souls with pure, uncut love, while freeing them from the fears and anxieties usually attached to the comedown of an over-extended, masochistic, polydrug fueled sesh. We could say that the work is seeded in a Burialesque music for after the rave kind of feeling, but its root rather emerges from Berlin’s spacious techno soil and the purest, uncut human emotions. The vinyl comes in a classic 4 tracker EP format and the digital adds on Bandcamp two ambient pieces making the whole thing a sort of lifejacket Mini-album for the sinners.
Detroit imprint My Baby returns with its third musical offering, a split release from two Motor City heavyweights, in the form of Rex Sepulveda and Acid Pimp.
This fledgling vinyl only label has got off to a superb start showcasing music from Detroit locals on its first two stellar Eps. With a focus on the underground sound of the city it resonates with global fans of quality house and techno and continues to do so here with four outstanding new tracks.
First up is Acid Pimp, a DJ & producer who has been an integral part of Detroit’s music scene since the early 90s. His distinct sound saw him release a string of classic twelves on the Cheshire imprint, whilst his DJing took him from the warehouse parties of the city to international clubs like Tresor. He founded the ‘Friction Detroit’ night in his home town, hosting the likes of Ben Sims, Regis and Chris Liebing, and he co-founded the M-Nus sub label D- Records with Richie Hawtin and two other friends. The first of his two offerings is the superb ‘Re-Ak-O-Pan’, seven minutes of intense, industrial tinged techno with taut drums working alongside panning synths and static machine noise to superb effect. This is complemented by the looped excellence of ‘Lupe 09’, a rolling groove that is sure to lock in any dancefloor.
The flipside sees another of Michigan’s sons in the shape of Rex Sepulveda. Rex has a musical history dating back to 90s, he was one of the aforementioned friends that launched D-Records with Acid Pimp and Richie Hawtin and has released original and remix material on a number of imprints. His first cut here is ‘Rex presents Dvda’ a deep, brooding affair populated by rubbery, acidic synths and razor-sharp percussion. This is a pure early-hours number that is sure to twist up the floor wherever it’s dropped. Closing the package we have ‘Rexie’s Orgasm’ a spacious, and understated track that perfectly captures the echoing sounds of a cavernous warehouse space.
This is a sterling package of quality underground sounds from the city that sparked the fire.
Luciano Berio/Pierre Boulez/Olivier Messiaen/Karlheinz Stockhausen
Serenata I / Sonatine / Cantéyodjayâ / Zeitmasze
The avant-garde composer and conductor Pierre Boulez was a titan of post-War experimental classical music. Born in the small cheesemaking town of Montrbrison in central France in 1925, Boulez studied at the Paris Conservatoire with the composer and organist Charles Messiaen and received private tuition from pianist Andrée Vaurabourg; after moving to the Marais district in 1945, he briefly studied with Schoenberg disciple, René Leibowitz, and further influence came from immersion in Balinese gamelan, Japanese classical music and African drumming, among other sources. Earning money by playing an early electronic keyboard called the ondes Martenot on theatre productions, Boulez soon became music director of the Renaud-Barrault theatre company (led by actor/direction Jean-Louis Barrault and his actor wife, Madeleine Renaud), leading to tours of Belgium, Switzerland, Britain and both North and South America. American composer John Cage became an ally, though they subsequently clashed over Cage’s commitment to the role of chance in his compositions, paving the way for an intense and lasting friendship with the German composer, Karlheinz Stockhausen, who arrived in Paris in 1952 to study with Messiaen. In July of that year, the pair attended the International Summer Course for New Music in Darmstadt, leading to contact with Italian composer Luciano Berio and other noteworthy figures. Then, in 1954, with backing from Barrault and Renaud, Boulez began staging a series of concerts of experimental music at the Petit Marigny theatre, titled Le Domaine musical. The pieces collected on this album are all taken from performances staged for the 1957 Domaine musical season, beginning with Berio’s “Serenata I,” conducted by Boulez, which debuted in Paris in March of that year; arranged for flute and fourteen instruments, Berio said that the idea behind the piece was for the solo flute to be confronted by continuously interchanging elements, rather than mere accompaniments or oppositions. Boulez’s own “Sonatine,” composed in 1946 for flute and piano, is a 12-tone piece that evidences Messiaen’s influence, with shades of Asian classical music in places; then, Stockhausen’s monumental “Zeitmasze” or “Time Measures,” a serial composition for five woodwinds, played in different combinations of tempos and speed, was partly inspired by Webern’s principles of homogenous and harmonic textures. Finally, Messiaen’s 1949 work “Cantéyodjayâ,” delivered by pianist Yvonne Loriod, takes it shape from the classical Hindu rhythms of ancient India, as with much of the composer’s oeuvre.
- A1: Coloratura Soprano Singer
- A2: Man Wiithout Larynx
- A3: Buccal Speech
- A4: Parabuccal Speech
- A5: Singing Voice
- A6: Glossopharngeal Speech
- A7: Frogsound
- A8: Esophageal Voice
- B1: Injection--Basic Sound Two Times
- B2: Basic Sound Of The Esophageal Voice
- B3: Basic Sound Of The Esophageal Voice, An Octave Lower
- B4: Esophageal Voice By Telephone
- B5: Singing Voice With Larynxphone
- B6: Pipa Di Tichioni
- B7: Western Electric
The larynx or voice box is a small organ located towards the top of the neck in humans and some other animals. Constructed largely of cartilage, it houses the vocal folds that allow for the manipulation of pitch and volume, which are essential for the phonation of spoken speech. It is also involved in bringing air to the lungs when we breathe and it protects the windpipe when we swallow. However, those unfortunate to experience the potentially fatal malignant tumours of laryngeal cancer will have their larynx removed, resulting in a traumatic loss of speech; thankfully, as this rare record issued by Smithsonian Folkways in 1964 demonstrates, removal of the larynx does not necessarily spell the end of speech for such blighted individuals. Instead, through developments in artificial voice creation, patients could learn to employ modes of vocal communication again. The album was recorded by physician Harm A. Drost at the Phonetic Laboratory of the Ear, Nose and Throat Dept of the University Hospital, Leiden, in the Netherlands, working under the direction of Professor H. A. E. van Dishoeck. As the advances were fairly new and surprisingly varied, Drost felt a phonograph album demonstrating the techniques would be useful for those in the field. The album thus features a narrator explaining aspects of several different techniques, followed by examples of patients employing them. Buccal speech (limited to certain consonants), parabuccal speech (collecting air in a space between the upper jaw and the cheek), glosso-pharyngeal speech (a method deemed obsolete where air is forced between the tongue and the palate), esophageal voice (made by reconditioning one’s esophagus via swallowing, suction or injection), various injection techniques and devices such as the larynxophone, pipa di tichioni and “western electric” are all explored here, along with other aspects of the larynx and its absence. Speech After The Removal Of The Larynx is definitely one of the strangest albums ever given a commercial release!
“This album will be part of the everlasting impact the Tribe collective had on our culture, on our hope and possibilities.” - Herb Boyd
Strut and Art Yard present the first compilation bringing together the modern era recordings of Tribe, Detroit’s acclaimed independent jazz collective.
Tribe began as a musical ensemble in 1971 co-founded by Saxophonist Wendell Harrison and trombonist Phil Ranelin that soon expanded into a broad amalgam including a live collective and independent record label. Ignored by the mainstream, many African American jazz artists in Detroit and across the US began creating their own small imprints and Tribe emerged alongside other cultural entities to express selfdetermination goals in the city: saxophonist Ernie Rodgers with his sessions at Rapa House; John and Leni Sinclair’s Artist Workshop; Bruce Millan’s Repertory Theater; the Hastings Jazz Experience and the Strata Corporation led by Kenny Cox. Harrison’s ideas of independence, self-determination and education were central to the Tribe ethos: “I might be possessed with a drive to get the knowledge out,” explained Harrison, “because I see this as sustaining the future of the jazz diaspora, the jazz tradition.” Tribe album releases like Harrison’s ‘An Evening With The Devil’ (1972) and Harrison and Ranelin’s ‘A Message From The Tribe’ (1973) became early ‘70s milestones in Detroit jazz.
In 1977, Harrison teamed up with pianist/composer Harold McKinney to form Rebirth Inc., aided by Detroit cultural warrior John Sinclair, a continuation of the Tribe community ethos. Musically, it formed a link with radio station WDET and began an outreach program to teach children and to publish Harrison’s jazz instruction books. Harrison continue to record extensively as a leader with his own labels, WenHa and Tribe, documenting the collective through sessions led by Phil Ranelin, Harold McKinney, Pamela Wise and more.
The ‘Hometown’ compilation places the spotlight on this later era of Tribe and Rebirth Inc., with rare and previously unreleased recordings from Harrison’s WenHa / Rebirth Studios and the SereNgeti Gallery And Cultural Center. Among many highlights, Harold McKinney and his “McKinfolk” family of musicians contribute the pulsing ‘Wide And Blue’ and dance celebration ‘Juba’; Phil Ranelin re-works his classic ‘He The One We All Knew’; Poet Mbiyu Chui (Williams Moore), pianist Pamela Wise and percussionist Djallo Djakate spark on the uncompromising ‘Ode To Black Mothers’ and the rallying cry of ‘Marcus Garvey’: “If we ever get together we will astound the world.” Harrison himself evokes the power and majesty of juju on ‘Conjure Man’.
‘Hometown’ comes as a 2LP gatefold and 1CD digipak fully remastered by Technology Works from the original session recordings. Both formats include exclusive sleeve notes by journalist Herb Boyd with rare photos from Wendell Harrison’s personal archive.
- A1: Manzanita - Mi Choza, Mi Chara Y Mi Mujer
- D1: Los Beta 5 - Modulo Lunar
- D2: Jose Y Sus Antillanos - Melodia Antilana
- D3: Los Ecos - Linda Mariposa
- D4: Los Illusionistas - Hola
- D5: Los Beta 5 - La Chichera
- D6: Los Demonias Del Mantaro - Peti Pan
- D7: Los Demonias Del Mantaro - Chichita
- D8: Chicita - Los Echos
- A2: Los Destellos - Boogaloo Del Perro
- A3: Los Orientales - El Dragon
- A4: Juanexo Y Su Combo - Ven A Bailar Con Juaneco
- A5: Los Ecos - Baila Flaquita Baila
- A6: Compay Quinto - La Rumba De Chinito
- A7: Los Pecos - Cumbia Para Un Viejito
- A8: Los Titanes - Linda Yolita
- A9: Los Orientales De Paramonga - Sabor A Cana
- B1: Los 5 Palomillas - Illimana
- B2: Los Ecos - Sos Peligro!
- B3: Los Mirlos - El Milagro Verde
- B4: El Monje Loco - La Papita
- B5: Juaneco Y Su Combo - Recordano A Facim
- B6: Los Girasoles - La Bocina
- B7: Los Xasamenos - Chachita
- B8: Los Yungas - El Pitito
- B9: Grupo Celeste - Sin Existo
- C1: Juaneco Y Su Combo - Selva, Selva
- C2: Los Orientales De Paramonga - El Trapiche
- C3: Grupo Celeste - Melodica Celeste
- C4: Los Santos - Saturno 2000
- C5: Los Illusionistas - Colegiala
- C6: Aniceto Y Sus Fabulosos - La Movedora
- C7: Los 5 Palomillas - El Chinchorrito
- C8: Los Mirlos - Llanto En La Selva
Second volume in VampiSoul's series focusing on Peruvian cumbia from the 60's and 70's. Beat and psychedelia mix with Andean and Amazonian folk to create pure tropical magic!
Mit ihrem sechsten Album kehren die Casady-Schwestern Bianca und Sierra zum bewährten Erfolgsrezept
ihrer früheren Releases zurück. Im Gegensatz zu den mehr psychedelisch-elektronischen Erkundungen der
beiden letzten Veröffentlichungen "Tales Of A Grass Widow" (2013) und "Grey Oceans" (2010), streift
"Heartache City" wieder durch staubig-poetische Gefühlswelten längst vergangener Tage. Ihren Anfang
nahmen die zehn Tracks von "Heartache City" wie gehabt im südfranzösischen Landgut der Casadys, wo
sich die beiden Geschwister ein lauschiges Studio eingerichtet haben. Dort sammelten sie Ideen und
schrieben Songs, die sie bei Gelegenheit mit minimalem Equipment, antiken Instrumenten und Vintage-
Spielzeug vertonten und ganz nostalgisch mit einem alten 4-Spurgerät aufnahmen, nur zu zweit, rein
akustisch und ohne digitalen Firlefanz. So entstanden relativ reduzierte Songs, die ihren Weg letztlich in
Argentinien in die Händen ihres Produzenten Nicolas Kalwillwith, und um eine Prise Buenos Aires
angereichert, ihren krönenden Abschluss fanden.
- 1: Something So Strong
- 2: Weather With You
- 3: It's Only Natural
- 4: Chocolate Cake
- 5: Fall At Your Feet
- 6: Distant Sun
- 7: Better Be Home Soon
- 8: Four Seasons In One Day
- 9: Don't Dream It's Over
- 10: Mean To Me
- 11: Locked Out
- 12: Don't Stop Now
- 13: Pineapple Head
- 14: Instinct
- 15: Fingers Of Love
- 16: Private Universe
- 17: Not The Girl You Think You Are
- 18: Nails In My Feet
- 19: Pour Le Monde
UMC are proud to present the first ever vinyl release of ‘The Very Very Best Of Crowded House‘! An institution in their homeland, a two-album wonder in the U.S., and, during the last half of their ten-year career, bona fide stars in the U.K. and most of Europe, Crowded House recorded some of the best pop music of the late ’80s and early ’90s. Leader Neil Finn’s carefully crafted songs, meticulous eye for lyrical detail, and gift for melody are matched by few other songwriters. The songs of Crowded House & Neil’s songwriting acclaim have been championed by the likes of Ariana Grande & Miley Cyrus, Chris Martin & Eddie Vedder & most recently Fleetwood Mac, for which Neil is currently the touring guitarist/vocalist. The 2010 chart-topping compilation features all the band’s major hits including ‘Fall At Your Feet’, ‘Weather With You‘ & ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’ plus many (many) more. The 19-track collection is cut across 2 x 180-gram black vinyl LPs featuring printed inners & essay. DL codes included.
I felt totally unrestrained making this album” says Lindstrøm about his 6th solo album On A Clear Day I Can See You Forever (a title inspired by the 1970’s musical On A Clear Day You Can See Forever starring Barbra Streisand). “I’ve listened to Robert Wyatt’s solo albums and his Matching Mole’s debutalbum a lot lately. It so effortless, fearless and free. And not insisting. I was very inspired by this” In the autumn of 2018, Lindstrøm composed a commissioned piece for Norway’s premiere art centre Henie Onstad Kunstsenter. Sketches from the three sold-out performances became the foundation for the new tracks. “I decided to keep some of the initial ideas and develop them further. All the songs are based on long one-take recordings”, says Lindstrøm “Also I’ve been very conscious about the music on the album not exceeding the length of the physical limitations of the vinyl-format, finding that 2 long tracks on each side were the perfect balance for this album” This is also the first time ever Lindstrøm has made an album entirely with hardware instead of computer-plugins. He utilised thirty plus synthesizers and drum-machines during his performance at Henie Onstad Kunstsenter. The experience inspired him to embrace a similar set-up when making the album. “The joy of making music on actual physical objects and devices makes a lot of sense to me now. After working on a computer for over 15 years, I don’t think I’ll ever look back” he says with an almost childlike excitement. It was the accessibility to his enviable collection of music gear – largely consisting of sought after synthesizers – that allowed Lindstrøm to experiment so freely with ideas and soundscapes. “The title track is a 10-minutes improvisation on the Moog Memorymoog. I liked the loose feel so I decided to keep everything unedited. The other tracks were written and arranged prior to the recordings. I then set up the instruments needed for my sessions, then recorded more or less everything in a single take. I’m really happy with the way this album came together.” Lindstrøm has cited classical music as an inspiration the last couple of years “I used to study classical music at school. Back then I was listening to a lot of Opera, orchestral music and solo music on the piano. Listening to classical music again has been a revisit to my childhood days, just like I did when I embraced the 80s in the early 2000s”
Once embracing the freedom and the joy of making music without inhibitions, immersing himself in to the physical realm of making music with hardware, Lindstrøm learned something new not only about music – but about himself.
“I guess I've been trying to re-educate myself”
Italian producer and Fine Human Records label head Dino Lenny lands on Crosstown Rebels for the first time this November, bringing his distinct and personal style to the label on the absorbing Doctor, also featuring a remix from Nuiton. The haunting, emotive vocals of Dino impress throughout on Doctor, chugging groove moves alongside waves of dark electronics and panic-struck, devilish synth. A track crafted to capture the inner workings of Lenny’s mind, transforming them into a hypnotic piece. Nuiton remixes Doctor on the reverse, adding energy to the original with skipping hats and quirky arrangements, building tension that reaches an intense jazzy crescendo of percussion and brass to leave you in a headspin. On the digital release a dub version loses the voice but retains the mysticism. With almost 30 years of releasing records under his belt, Dino Lenny has naturally built an incredible back catalogue of remixes and collaborations. He’s worked with some of the biggest names in the business, yet his productions retain a unique style that is all his own. A true lover of the 80s, when he needs that extra touch he will add his vocals to the music, always trying to deliver something original that will stand the test of time, often opting for imperfect unique experience over precise emotionless never-ending loops. Alongside this, he has remixed huge names like Missy Elliott and Timbaland and has collaborated with legends including Madonna, Wu-Tang Clan, Seth Troxler and Dixon. Lenny has been named as “a wizard of electronic music” by the Chemical Brothers, played live with Underworld, released music on the likes of Crosstown Rebels sister label Rebellion, Innervisions, Diynamic, Cocoon & Correspondant, and is currently signed to Ellum. Constantly evolving his sound, Dino is unpredictable & eclectic.
15 years ago in a basement in the Bronx, I attended a bunch of sessions with my long time collaborator and friend, Ray West. Ray is a lifelong DJ and home producer, and only in 2012 did he begin to release music via his well-respected underground label, Red Apples 45. He had a main studio but also this much smaller room in the back which I dubbed “Studio B” in the tradition of any multi-room recording facility who would have a second “B” or third “C” room, and the name stuck. Despite the much lower-level quality equipment in that room, like a Yamaha MiniDisc board burning mixes realtime to CD-R, there was a certain vibe to it that inspired creativity, and a simplicity that encouraged faster working methods. One of the groups that worked there was called Results. Their philosophy was whatever happened in the moment was meant to be on tape and they didn’t spend hours perfecting it. This is rather opposite to how I work in the studio and especially on my own material, of which I can be thorough to the point of finishing less than I’d like. Through working there I realized the potential of having a smaller, simpler second setup, one that was not related to my work as an engineer, or my artist career as a performing electronic musician and techno producer.
Fast forward to 2016 and I would have both a professional studio outside of the home and enough spare gear to make a smaller studio based around a 4-track cassette recorder in my living room. This was a place where I could make whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, without the disturbances of clients, the chaos of 30th St., or any genre restrictions that I might place on myself in the big studio. I spent some time tracking down a functioning Akai MG614, the holy grail of 4-track recorders. It’s a large machine, making even the MPC3000 look small on the table next to it. With no computer, things were focused. I went through a couple of variations of the setup in my living room beginning with an MPC1000, DSI Evolver, Sonic Potions LXR, Bastl Microgranny, and a variety of classic effects that I didn’t keep in the rack at Butcha Sound like the Yamaha SPX90 and Ensoniq DP-4, plus a bunch of pedals and eventually a Korg Karma keyboard. Then I had the good sense to bring home the Emu SP1200 I was borrowing from The Martinez Brothers. Eventually I brought home the MPC3000 as well. Another thing I kept connected was a Zoom field recorder that captured sirens, street noises, and me playing the upright piano in my apartment live to tape. Results. These recordings were made in Hell’s Kitchen from July 2016 - May 2017 with the window open and the sounds of my Manhattan block inspiring the takes. — Phil Moffa 2019
Hard-hitting Finnish trio Mopo celebrates their 10th anniversary with a special digi EP / 7" single on We Jazz Records featuring three new tracks. "A Night In Zetor" and "Jauzaa" show a new side of the beloved group with extended, slowly building sonic narratives. "Die Mopo" is an upbeat, acid-y slice of the trio's more electronic side. The release sees Mopo reach out for new worlds of sound and as such, it presents a fine culmination of the beloved band's ten years of friendship and music.
The 7" release comes in a picture sleeve with a "cut-out" Mopo 7-inch adapter.
Yellow Vinyl
Serotonin returns to revenge with Serotonin's Revenge 2, a four track compilation representing the depth and breath of what we live for.
While resting with his camel in the Taklamakan Desert in Xinjiang this summer, bpmf noticed a shiny object. He picked up a DAT labeled "Static Breaker - 1994". It contained some solid electro, including "Transmission Complete”. Who made this? Did it fall out of a UFO? We may never know. Look for more releases from this find coming from Serotonin Records in the future.
Hailing from Biella, Piedmont and now based in Milan, Kreggo is an eclectic and versatile artist. Defined by Juno as part of "the gum-under-the-schooldesk underground", he has been active since 2014. Along with being the brain behind the Art-Aud label and the cult Secret Rave series, he has released collaborations and projects for labels such as Lobster Theremin, Helena Hauff’s Return To Disorders, Super Rhythm Trax, FTP and Melodies Souterraines to name a few. For Serotonin, he delivers evolved, deep breaks with an edge of electro funk.
Siviyex is Toronto duo Castelvi (Bass Guitar, Vocals, Synths, Vocoder) and M. Gomes (Synthguitar, Programming). Their sound combines elements of Shoegaze, Electro, Italo and New Wave, with the conceptual influence of alternate dimensions, space, dreams and out-of-body experiences. The next wave sound of "Dreams in Wannex" is a definitive part of the world Serotonin envisions.
Schooled in dance culture since a young age, with influences and experiences ranging from rock to rave, London based Nexus 23 brings a "Vortex" of his stark, bass-heavy blend of electro and industrial sound to Serotonin records.
Also included on the vinyl version 4 loops from Serotonin in-house artists: John Selway, bpmf, Synapse and Pointsman.
Look for the digital release everywhere November 5th, 2019 and the vinyl wherever cutting edge records are sold.
Kerrie makes her debut for DBA with four tracks devised originally for her high impact live sets. Other than a cut on highly regarded London label I Love Acid's 10th anniversary comp Kerrie is a relative newcomer but the ten years she has put in honing her style immediately shine through in her music. The EP ranges from Before Calm's bug-eyed, angular swagger replete with a hair raising distorted hook, to Orb Weaver's peak time techno roll via Acid8 Slider which is one of the most original 303 tracks to come out of the UK in some time and Curveball, a bolshy electro leaning stepper.
Her influences range from current UK artists like Blawan to Japanese artists such as NHK yx Koyxen & Hiroaki Iizuka and pioneers like X101, Joey Beltram and Surgeon. The running thread in her taste is a penchant for high energy, raw banging grooves with a machine funk flavour, and a love of analog sound both as a producer and DJ. No doubt this stems from her time spent working at legendary Manchester shop Eastern Bloc Records where she joined in 2013 and has worked ever since. Honing her skills through her DJ residency for EBloc Kerrie has gone on to become a regularly booked act for the UKs most prestigious underground club nights. As a live performer she has also toured the UK since 2017 with the live show being met with high acclaim. Her live set for Freerotation 2019 has been one of the festival's most talked about debuts.
- A1: Geraldo Pino - Shake Hands
- A2: Sonny Okosunds Ozziddi - Dance Of The Elephants
- A3: The Wings - We'll Get Home
- A4: Alhaji (Chief) Prof. Kollington Ayinla - E Ye Ika Se
- B1: Colomach - Kassa Kpa Sama Kpa
- B2: Geraldo Pino - Heavy Heavy Heavy
- B3: Mfb - Beware
- B4: Tony Grey And The Ozimba Messengers - You Are The One
- C1: Sonny Okosuns - Oba Erediauwa I
- C2: The Wings - Single Boy
- C3: Geraldo Pino - Power To The People
- D1: Original Wings - Igba Alusi
- D2: Don Bruce And The Angels - Sugar Baby
- D3: Geraldo Pino - Africans Must Unite
Soul Jazz Records’ Nigeria Soul Power 70 album showcases the influence of funk, rock and disco on Nigerian music during the 1970s. Originally released as a now-long-out-of-print collectors’ 7” RSD box, this fully expanded album release now also includes extra tracks from Sonny Okosuns, Wings, Chief Kollington Ayinla and more. While for many people the fusion of funk and jazz music with Nigerian rhythms and aesthetics began with Fela Kuti and his afro-beat sound, in fact this can be traced further back to the phenomena of the 1960s Nigerian artists and house bands in nightclubs and hotels who interpreted US soul and pop music with a local flavour and none more so than Geraldo Pino, the ‘African James Brown’ who features heavily in this collection. Other similarly inspired Nigerian funk and soul artists featured here included Tony Grey and his Ozimba Messengers and Don Bruce and The Angels. Nigeria Soul Power 70 includes a number of tracks from the group Wings originally known as BAF (Biafran
Air Force) Wings, an army band formed during the Biafran civil war in Nigeria. The groups’ heavy mixture of funk, rock and African styles was popular among many Nigerian groups at the time.
Beneath the shadow of the few Nigerian artists who signed international recording deals in the 1970s – Fela Kuti, King Sunny Ade, Chief Ebenezer Obey – lies of vast wealth of largely undiscovered musical transmutation and cultural cross-pollination, and included here are heavy afro-funk/rock and disco tracks
from artists such as the legendary Sonny Okosuns as well as rare cuts from little-known outside of Nigeria - groups such as Colomach and MFB. Most of these obscure artists signed to major labels in Nigeria in the commercial slipstream that opened up as Philips, Decca and EMI tried to emulate the international
success of the big three international Nigerian artists. Finally featured here is Kollington Ayinla, one of the co-founders of Nigerian Fuji music, who gives us perhaps the heaviest of all tracks on this album. Ayinla is the great moderniser of the Fuji sound and in the late 1970s began adding Bata drums and synthesizers to his authentic music to create a powerful and heavy new fusion of traditional and modernist aesthetics, embracing both new technology and experimentation while rooted firmly in Nigerian historical lineage. Nigeria Soul Power 70 is released as a heavyweight gatefold double vinyl LP (+ free download code),
deluxe slipcase CD and digital album.
Electronic pioneers Rick Smith and Karl Hyde announce the conclusion of their groundbreaking fifty-two week DRIFT series: a new single, a new album and their biggest ever live headline shows
Released on October 25th 2019, the new album DRIFT SONGS marks the conclusion of their hugely ambitious 52-week DRIFT Series. During that period, music, film and text pieces are created and published every Thursday as part of the band’s on-going, very public recording process; a unique and visionary space Smith and Hyde have created for themselves to exist within. By the end of the DRIFT series, more new music and film will have been released by Underworld in its one-year duration than in the last fifteen years.
DRIFT SONGS expands and enhances a selection of the recordings the duo have released since they began their audio/visual experiment in November 2018. The album will be released as a single CD, double vinyl and crucially an all-encompassing box-set featuring the music, visuals and text pieces released throughout the entire 52-week DRIFT.
DRIFT SONGS is Underworld’s first album release since 2016’s Barbara, Barbara we face a shining future (“an album full of heart, soul and brilliant noise” The Observer ) and the first physically released music since 2018’s Q award winning collaboration with Iggy Pop, Teatime Dub Encounters (“Born of the friction from a restless need to create… others of their standing may choose the wallowing legacy of safety. These guys do not.” NME ).
Underworld are Rick Smith and Karl Hyde. The press say they are: “Electronic heroes” The Observer “Hugely ambitious and unimaginably relentless” Q “True mavericks” Prog “Thrillingly relevant” The Times “(Underworld) boast a breadth and attack largely lacking in contemporary laptop electronica ” The Guardian
“The Drift experience is one of a torrent of ideas, with its own internal logic… (where) instinct, experience and chance lead to a strange kind of harmony” Mojo
Although we have a new Rett I Fletta-12" by Christian ready to drop we just had to share this
piece of fine cheese with you. The trancey AND heavy original on the a-side and a slightly "discofied"but over the top version on B
and finally a little teaser-version towards the end. Something for everyone!
Yoshi Wada's Lament For The Rise And Fall Of The Elephantine Crocodile, originally released in 1982 on India Navigation, remains one of the most remarkable flowers to grow in the rarefied air of American minimalism – akin to Terry Riley's Reed Streams and Pauline Oliveros' Accordion & Voice, yet with a wild, liberated energy all of its own.
After graduating from Kyoto University of Fine Arts with a degree in sculpture, Wada moved to New York City in 1967 and quickly fell in with the community of artists known as Fluxus. In the early '70s, he began building his own instruments and writing musical compositions, studying with La Monte Young and Hindustani singer Pandit Pran Nath.
Recorded during an epic three-day session in an empty swimming pool in upstate New York, Wada's first album brings together two of the oldest drone instruments – the human voice and bagpipes – to simple and glorious effect. A visit to the Scottish Highlands spurred Wada's interest in bagpipes, which the composer integrated into these sparse, otherworldly sounds heard on Lament.
"That swimming pool was quite hallucinatory," recalls Wada. “It was another world. I felt it in terms of resonance. I slept in the pool, and whenever I moved, I woke up because of the reverberations.... The piece itself is an experiment with reeds and improvisational singing within the modal structure."
This first-time vinyl reissue is limited to 750 numbered copies. Comes with poster.
With a third album, ‘Return To Telepathic Heights’, released this year on Gerd Janson’s Running Back label, techno outlaw A Sagittariun returns to themes of a space western nature with a closing epilogue, ‘A Fistful of Bitcoins’.
An extended player that traverses Tucumcari, Vietnam’s Black River, and the ultimate, and final leg, of the journey; to Devils Tower in Wyoming.
Vital Sales Points:
- full picture sleeve, designed by Jonny O (Rocket Recordings/Goat)
- global PR and marketing campaign from Hype Filter
- last A Sagittairun album for Gerd Janson’s Running Back label received excellent reviews in Mixmag, DJ Mag, The Wire & more…
Selected DJ feedback:
Robag Whrume – Good one!
Shanti Celeste – love this!
Nick Höppner – Sounding great
Brendon Moeller – Dope AF!
Johanna Knutsson – Beautiful stuff
Ed Davenport – Some heavy stuff here, Road To Devils Tower is a special cut!
Bruce (Livity Sound) – Real digging the slow bits, proper gear!
John Osborn – The Sacred Chao is heaven!
Interstellar Funk – Really like ‘A Fistful Of Bitcoins’
Neil Barnes (Leftfield) – very nice and imaginative EP
Fabrice Lig – Really nice EP, love it
DJ Octopus – Great one!
Vincent Neumann – Ooh, so nice!
Ell Weston (Banoffe Pies) – Superb selection
Cormac – Black River is super nice
Cooper Saver – wow, love these
Bill Brewster – lot’s of nice gear on here, good work
96 Back (CPU) – wonderfully bleepy and dubby
Tensnake – lovely release
Kirsti (Null & Void) – So consistent, another great release from A Sagittariun
In order to celebrate 5 thrilling and inspiring years, we gathered well-known artists, Goldmin regulars and emerging talents. It was really important for us to express the elusive nature of the Goldmin sound, in the form of a compilation tracklisting. Over the past 5 years, we had the chance to meet most of these guys in person, follow their very own creative path, share ideas, thoughts and there's no doubt that they all had their part to play in crafting our sound. This intimate and stimulating kind of collaboration had to be expressed and there couldn't be a better way to capture what we've been busily working for, than a serie of Various Artists 12". What it comes down to is a quintessential, hard-to-follow Goldmin selection devoid of any specific standard or norm. And this whole compilation seems to reflect that non-septate artistic direction, this little something, which has grown throughout our whole catalogue, since the label's birth.That's why, picking these select few tracks, that could illustrate Goldmin Music's essential freedom was probably our toughest work yet. It was also important to pick only the most original and iconic tracks from each artist. In the end each track had to be their most Goldmin one and they all have been tried in all types of situations, in club at 1 and 5 AM, on the highway at night or even staring at the ceiling during a sleepless insomnia session. They all fullfilled their duty.
Deathprod, a.k.a. Helge Sten, has been deeply embedded in the Oslo music community for decades, but his brooding soundscapes and deliberate process make him seem sometimes like a phantom. Sten is a founding member of Supersilent, adding his sounds and treatments to the avant jazz leanings of that powerful collective, and he has collaborated with artists as diverse as Biosphere, and Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones.
But Occulting Disk is the first new Deathprod album in 15 years; his attention to detail is next level, and the darkly powerful soundscapes arch and swell like the shifting of the Earth’s tectonic plates. Raw, emotional, political and deliberate, this is ambient music with deep intention.
Fans of Arca, Oneohtrix Point Never, Tim Hecker, Steve Reich, Autechre, Swans, and GAS will all need this record – Deathprod makes some of the most powerful experimental ambient composition of our time. His last LP, Morals and Dogma, from 2004, was listed as one of Pitchfork’s top 50 ambient albums of all time. FACT calls Sten the “dark ambient master.” The New York Times said “Sten loves to summon up thick, often ominous clouds of sound, gesturing at everything from avant-garde composition to black metal without ever quite revealing his hand.”
This is a big release for Tectonic as label boss Pinch combines forces with Kahn to produce two killer rhythm tracks that meld deepness with futuristic dancehall powers. Normally this would be plenty to get excited about anyway - but if you then add the vocal talents of Killa P, Irah & Long Range - aka ‘Killa’s Army’ - there is even more reason! Dubstep meets grime meets dancehall, while Bristol meets Brixton.
All three MCs in Killa’s Army have their own, very distinctive but complimentary styles, bringing a hard, uncompromising vocal delivery to match Pinch & Kahn’s tough beats.
Long Range opens the track and sets pace, his rapid, agile lyrical flow bouncing off the distorted thumping of a darkside 142bpm dancehall-flavoured rhythm. Killa P unleashes the chorus with full force, then setting up the next verse. Irah drops it an octave and holds the mood with his unique tone and delivery. The track pulls back then for a moment, like a filmic interlude, before the General himself, Killa P comes in to finish off anyone who might try test, like an end of level boss. ‘Crossing The Line’ will be rattling out of speakers for many years to come, no doubt!
Flip the vinyl over and you’ll find another, instrumental track, from Pinch & Kahn. ‘Send Out’ is a dubstep banger that holds a deep mood whilst pushing the energy levels through the roof. A rhythm track that has been pulled up, wheeled; set dance floors ablaze with it’s almost heavy-metal levels of energy. An early version of ‘Send Out’ originally appeared as an exclusive track on Kahn & Neek’s Fabriclive mix but is now available properly for the first time.
* Emika releases a remix EP of her 6th studio album ‘Falling In Love With Sadness’, (Originally released on World Mental Health Day Oct 2018)
* The remix EP explores 4 sound worlds in electronic music today. Experimental bass music, hypnotic & dark techno, and electro.
About the remixers:
* Pinch, a pioneer of UK bass-driven music, is considered to be one of the most groundbreaking, explorative producers to emerge from the UK dubstep scene.
* Rising techno star Julia Govor is an artist doing things differently, paving her own way with her own label, receiving recognition from the global dance music scene.
* Rebekah needs no introduction, pioneering her own intense sound, now entering her 20th year in the business, she is a serious artist with some seriously heavy vibes.
* Underground Berlin talent Headless Horseman, all though shrouded in mystery, is in high demand world-wide to perform his unique live sets at some of the biggest clubs and festivals.
* Emika produced original album material with cult electro icon The Exaltics.
* Solid remixes from solid underground artists.
About the remixes:
* Pinch creates a seductive environment for a scene from which could have been from David Fincher's Fight Club, one which threatens to overload at any given time, but retains tension until the end.
* Julia’s mix transports us into the next part of our journey, beyond conflict and tension, she gives us the chance to breathe, open up, be free and to dance.
* Rebekah's remix brings us hurtling back down to Earth at a tremendous pace, with crystal clear drums that wake up the soul and synths that energize the mind, this version is more than a dark techno track, it has the spirit of a self-confident grown woman running through it.
* Headless Horseman brings Emika’s original into a beautiful new song space, revoicing the harmony and finding completely fresh chords and backing.
* The artwork hits the mark with a message important for Emika: Equality. With 3 female artists and 3 male artists all featured on the cover, this is a way in which Emika highlights her love for collaboration and sharing of the spot-light.
* Green coloured vinyl (1st edition) 500 copies pressed..
‘’We are moving into a new century where collaboration is going to bring music forwards and exclusivity is going to become a thing of the past.’’ - Emika
A mind-bending blend of modular synth performance, Anthony Baldino’s dynamic Twelve Twenty Two LP is a treat for all ears. Baldino’s transcendent album is available both digitally and on vinyl on Thursday, October 24 via MethLab Recordings.
“The record focuses heavily on the modular synth as a composition tool and instrument. I originally approached this as a collection of tracks that were recorded straight out of the machine with little to no editing. The work flow of generating a complex patch and then figuring out the overall arch and performance of the piece was really exciting. The Tip Top Audio Circadian Rhythms was a key compositional tool in this process and was used to organize the overall structure of these pieces. It wasn’t until I stumbled upon a patch, the opening synths in ‘Fading Quickly Now,’ that I went back to how I used to write and shifted to harvesting sounds and rhythms from the modular and arranging and editing them in the box. That patch was originally created for a different track on the album, which I’ll let you find, but IH ad accidentally changed the clock rate before tearing the patch down. Hearing it in that new way triggered a whole new thought process and emotional reaction for me.” - Anthony Baldino
Originally approached as a collection of tracks recorded straight out of Baldino’s machine with little editing, Twelve Twenty Two is a complex piece of thoughtful modular work. A truly stunning display of masterful sound design, Baldino’s sound resonates with listeners from first note to last. Existing in a unique space where ambient sounds meet vivacious bass, Baldino seemingly exists in an impressive league of his own, with Twelve Twenty Two standing apart powerfully from the masses. With an already powerful arsenal of artists and releases, MethLab Recordings adds a brilliant 10-track addition to their already wild playbook.
“From the beginning, it was important for me to keep this record musical and emotional and not just an exercise in technicality, so using both the modular and the computer to arrange felt really good both emotionally and sonically and created a different balance to the record that I really liked. Switching the process up a bit halfway through kept things interesting and I think the body of work really benefits from it. This record is split in half with performance based/straight out of the machine tracks and the other half organized in the box. But when listening back, the two approaches overlap so much that it’s hard to tell where one approach ends and the other begins.” - Anthony Baldino
About Anthony Baldino:
Born and raised in New York, Anthony Baldino is an LA-based composer and sound designer whose work spans an enormous range of production avenues. The likelihood that you haven’t heard his world is nearly impossible, with music and sound design in too many trailer campaigns to list, including Prometheus, Interstellar, Ex-Machina, Star Wars: Rogue One, and Avengers: Infinity War and End Game just to name a few. From there, his work ventures to the opposite pole of production with custom sound design based compositions for Dolby Labs mixed in Atmos, beautifully glitched out remixes, and continues on to mind-bending modular synthesizer performances.
With his debut artist release, he delivers a devastatingly beautiful album grounded in IDM that focuses on modular synthesizers/ While a vast amount of modular synth music is currently being released, this album goes far beyond the typical beeps and boops that one may expect when they hear “modular IDM record.” This record is as technical as it is emotive. Tasteful and incredibly detailed, Twelve Twenty Two bridges the gap between sound-design laden beats and cinematic motifs and ambiences. This record does not disappoint and is sure to become a favorite of electronic music fans.
The album opens up with a slowly unfolding melody that seems to be within grasp, but never actually repeats itself. Incredibly tasteful glitchy sound design leads us into a build that one would only expect to be in a movie, and then drops into a full-on sonic assault of impeccable drums and rich synths. From there, the record traverses a wide array of texture, time and technique. Closing with a track that makes you feel like you could actually reach out and touch the sound and float in its space, the sonic landscape created in Twelve Twenty Two is a true treat for ears.
Emotional Rescue again delves in the world of private pressings, with a reissue of British electronic pop meets proto-House duo 4AM. With copies of their self titled album now highly sought after, this timely reissue presents two of their songs as a stand alone 7".
Consisting of multi-instrumentalist Steve Kirby - piano, guitar, bass, programming - and vocalist Kevin Finch, 4AM came together after youths filled with a love of music. Following a string of band attempts, Steve dived in to the world of midi, allowing him to build a studio set up and play solo. A meeting with new work colleague Kevin quickly developed to joining forces to expand on his early demos.
Their melodic, dance-influenced pop draws on a love of Japan, OMD and The The, but also ECM jazz and a touch of "white boy soul". The TR-808 drum and hi-hats, string stabs and random acid squelches - although no TR-303 was used - highlights the influence the nascent House sounds emanating from the "second summer of love" of 1988 / 89 had in their music melting pot.
Over this, personal lyrics flow, full of honest emotions and a touch of youthful naivety thrown in - of relationships, love, sex and passions. Intended as a personal artifact, the original album was released in 1990 with no promotion or live shows and has taken until now, some 30 years, to find a cult audience. I want you with a Passion.
Neurot Recordings are proud to reissue the landmark collaboration Neurosis & Jarboe, which was originally released in 2003. This latest version is fully remastered and with entirely new artwork from Aaron Turner.
Very limited silver metallic and black swirl 2LP - Non-Returnable
Steve Von Till explains the idea behind the remastering; "Bob Weston (Chicago Mastering Service, and member of Shellac) worked closely with Noah on making these new versions sound as good as the possibly can. Noah has the most trained critical ear for fidelity out of all of us being an engineer himself. We recorded this ourselves with consumer level Pro Tools back then, in order to be able to experiment at home in getting different sounds and writing spontaneously. The technology has come a long way since then and we thought we could run it through better digital to analog conversion and trusted Bob Weston to be able to bring out the best in it....This new mastered version is a bit more open, with a better stereo image, and better final eq treatment."
He continues about the original artwork..."Aaron felt he could create something that would unify the energy of both Jarboe and Neurosis in an elegant manner. We let him do his thing and I think it definitely adds to mystery of the album and sets it apart from the rest of our catalog."
When two independent and distinct spheres overlap, the resulting ellipse tends to emphasise the most striking and powerful characteristics of each body. Such is the case with this particular collaboration between heavy music pioneers Neurosis and the multi-faceted performer Jarboe (who performed in Swans and who has collaborated with an array of people from Blixa Bargeld, J.G. Thirlwell, Attila Csihar, Bill Laswell, Merzbow, Justin K. Broadrick, Helen Money, Father Murphy, the list goes on...) The musicians pull from one another some of the most harrowing and unusual sounds ever heard from either artist at the time - a sentiment which also rings true to some 15 years later.
Neurosis & Jarboe opens with a high-pitched whirring sound winding up as Jason Roeder's ominous tom-drum beat and Noah Landis' slinking synth line writhe in unison until Jarboe drops in, drawling in her characteristic, corrupted Southern belle voice, "I tell ya, if God wants to take me, He will." From there on in, the album is a series of abrupt shifts and cleverly juxtaposed themes that flows in a rhythm of its own. The sinister and ethereal sounds, vocal coos and electro-pulses of "His Last Words" seem like the perfect soundtrack to a David Lynch film. On "Erase," song parts are dissected and grafted one atop the other, continually building tension as Jarboe wails and yelps with Banshee fervor.
The project began with the artists working in seclusion, recording the elements that would best highlight their own characteristic integrity and personality, rather than either attempting to mimic one another's familiar elements. As recorded ideas were passed back and forth, the collaboration proved to bring out the most unhinged and urgent talents of all those involved.
Throughout the album, that signature "Neurosis note" - the sound of something simultaneously recoiling and erupting, the apocalyptic tone announcing the birth of a new world - reaches its apex and becomes evermore icy and eviscerating. Guitarists Steve Von Till and Scott Kelly trim their tones for cleaner, chorus-drenched effects layered between the thunderous distortion blasts of bassist Dave Edwardson. Likewise, Jarboe's operatic wail and other vocal contortions sound perfectly suited to the eruptive emotional fray of the music.
The collaboration is a deeply textured mosaic that is a culmination of merged aesthetics from two major influences on free-thinking sounds. It unlocked the hidden potential of electronic music as a new force in heavy rock. At a time when groups like Oneida, Wolf Eyes and Black Dice were beginning to experiment with technology in making mind-numbing leaden electro-drone freed from any essence of "dance music," Neurosis & Jarboe redefined all notions of their past - and outlined the course of heavy music to come. It's interesting to look back through the lens of this release, and think about these ideas and concepts in the present.
Neurosis & Jarboe remains the meeting point of all art that takes us beyond ourselves.
- A1: Coyu Feat Lazarusman – You Don’t Know (Intro)
- A2: Coyu Feat Mike Leary – We All Try
- A3: Coyu – Out Of The Pain
- B1: Coyu Feat The Black 80S – The Three Chimney
- B2: Coyu Feat Thomas Gandey – 1+1 (Album Mix)
- B3: Coyu – Insania
- C1: Coyu & Moby – I May Be Dead, But One Day The World Will Be Beautiful Ag Ain
- C2: Coyu – Waking Up From Anxious Dreams (Metamorphosis)
- C3: Coyu – Dia Uno (The Beginning Of A New Era
- D1: Coyu - Volare
- D2: Coyu – Happiness? Go Ahead
- D3: Coyu – La Coherencia De No Ser Coherente
- E1: Coyu Feat The Horrorist – My First Pill
- E2: Coyu Feat Gabriella Vergilov – Unite
- F1: Coyu – Fear Is Gonna Be A Player In Your Life
- F2: Coyu – Wanna Do Right, Wanna Do Wrong
Influential Spanish artist Coyu is stepping out on his own Suara label with a long overdue debut album entitled ‘You Don’t Know’ that is going to shatter all conceptions about him. Due for release this September 23rd, the 16 track affair showcases his broad range and takes in collaborators like Moby, Lazarusman, The Horrorist, Thomas Gandey and many more.
Coyu quickly rose through the ranks to become one of the most prominent names in underground dance music. The Spanish man famous for his love of cats has established his Suara label as a go-to outlet for the most essential house and tech tracks, as well as releasing his own expressive grooves on Cocoon Recordings, Diynamic, Bedrock Records, Turbo Recordings and MORE. Now he really stretches his legs across a fantastic full length album that goes way beyond the dance floor and shows many new sides to his sound. The artist has been working on it since 2012 and aims to show people that whatever they think about him is wrong.
Says the artist himself, “the album is named ‘You Don't Know’ because many people have a preconceived idea of who I am. Until now, maybe I wasn't smart enough to show them my roots, what I love and what I can offer to the music. I'm not just a DJ or a producer who can play or make grooves – I love many different genres and many different kinds of music. With this album I want to change that preconception.”
The album kicks off with a dramatic spoken word from legendary vocalist Lazarusman before exploring low slung and sleazy grooves on ‘The Three Chimney’, floaty light melodic and dreamy house on ‘Out of The Pain’ and more club focussed but just as dreamy fair on ‘We All Try’ with Mike Leary.
Proving he can do everything from poolside gems to peak time techno, ‘Fear Is Gunna Be A Player In Your Life’ is one to get you in a trance with its sonar like synths and rolling deep space drums. Thomas Gandey aka Cagedbaby then steps up to guest on ‘1+1’ which is a hands in the air piano anthem to pump the party, and ‘Wanna Do Right, Wanna Do Wrong’ is a techno cut with brilliantly energetic drum programming and a big, perfectly placed vocal sample.
Switching up the vibe is ‘I May Be Dead, But One Day The World Will Be Beautiful Again’ with none other than dance legend Moby. It is a heavenly track with break beats, angelic melodies and a celestial feel that leaves you refreshed. The second half touches on raved-up drum & bass, gurgling minimal techno and harder techno with mind melting acid synths. The Horrorist contributes to the banging ‘My First Pill’, while the techno journey continues with ‘Unite’ featuring Gabriella Vergilov before the album finishes on the fluttering ambient track ‘Insania’, with mad church bells and manic percussion all bringing things to a close in style.
This is a broad, adventurous album that covers plenty of music ground and takes you on a true electronic trip from one of dance music’s most accomplished names.
The elusive Berlin label MASK are back with another anonymous release featuring four
analogue driven tracks entitled ‘Cliff’.
Known for being purveyors of mysterious yet exquisite hardware induced tracks, MASK continue to
hold up their reputation following on from ‘Hunter’ that picked up support from the likes of Laurent
Garnier, Elena Colombi, Machine Woman, Anastasia Kristensen and DJ Deep. ‘Cliff’ involves four
people live jamming on analogue equipment in a Berlin based studio.
A1 begins with crunchy drums fused with revolving, modulated synths and obscure elements that are
soaked in acid flavours before the A2 focuses on an electro-tinged sequence in harmony with ominous
atmospherics and eccentric oscillations.
On the flip, sweeping pads balanced with intense kicks and washing synths take the focus on the B1
until the B2 rounds off this magical EP with wavering compositions, hard-hitting percussion and
unsettling sound design keeping the atmosphere intense yet truly absorbing.
“This sound / synapse transposition is as haunting as it is beautiful—surely Grouper’s best.”—Tiny Mix Tapes
“If past Grouper releases have inhabited abyssal trenches and damp backwoods, here Harris takes us journeying across constellations and stars. Two of the most beguiling albums of the year, exquisitely realized and singularly evocative.” —The Quietus
“This music feels both spacey and expansive and also oddly intimate and grounded, the work of someone who has mastered her tools and knows how to get the most out of them.”—Pitchfork “Harris nds a way to dive deeper in simple and unassuming ways.”—NPR
“This sound / synapse transposition is as haunting as it is beautiful—surely Grouper’s best.”—Tiny Mix Tapes
“If past Grouper releases have inhabited abyssal trenches and damp backwoods, here Harris takes us journeying across constellations and stars. Two of the most beguiling albums of the year, exquisitely realized and singularly evocative.” —The Quietus
“This music feels both spacey and expansive and also oddly intimate and grounded, the work of someone who has mastered her tools and knows how to get the most out of them.”—Pitchfork “Harris nds a way to dive deeper in simple and unassuming ways.”—NPR
Captivity is the next highly anticipated extended EP by Kush Arora aka Only Now, following a triptych of self-released output in 2019. Continuing the project’s ever evolving engagement with themes of time and existence, Captivity encompasses versatile synthesis, mutant kuduro, widescreen sound design, turbulent cold fronts of power ambient and melodic undertones of black metal.
The product of a two-year period in which Arora was contending with transitional shifts in his personal life, Captivity is a culmination of what the project has explored both in a prolific run of recent material and as a whole, across several years of time dilating, mind altering music.
Although shaped by adversity and corresponding sentiments of angst and insignificance, Captivity is pitched at total transcendence. Adopting a meticulous approach to production, a methodology which opens up almost every element to transformation and deconstruction, Arora generates forms which possess a sense of pointillist precision, as well as a keen psychedelic potency.
Despite consistency with his earlier output as Only Now, Captivity is nevertheless an indication of Arora’s ability to challenge internal and external assumptions. The introduction of new hardware – namely, the Nord Drum 3P synthesizer – as well as the incorporation of far-flung atmospherics – closing track ‘Clock Lust’ features field recordings from a trip to Kyoto – delivers fresh enterprise and experimentation, contributing to the expansion of a sound signature which remains as unpredictable and compelling as ever.
With the eponymous opener, Arora combines fathomless underworlds and riotous breakbeats. On ‘Mutants’ a hyper-kinetic onslaught of percussion, low-end and stray cut-ups of noise break out, building to a panorama of thunderous industrial firmaments. ‘Perpetual Slaughter’ maintains momentum with icy, ricocheting FX and concussive, tribal drums, and then unexpectedly shifts into a poignant outro which brings to the fore the enduring influence of black metal on the project. ‘Bound 2’ is cut with relentless sub-bass and rapid syncopation, resembling an abstracted form of juke music, something that could feasibly have been masterminded by Autechre. With the LP’s finale, ‘Clock Lust’, Arora presents a finale of transfixing 3D ritualism, the lone toll of a bell ringing out into a mesmeric emptiness.
Together these form a complete statement from Arora, illustrating the fertile and open-ended territories the Only Now project has arrived at after promising outings on Infinite Machine and Discrepant imprint Sucata Tapes. With Captivity Arora delivers a substantial highpoint and a profound voyage into the world of Only Now.
Maybe it’s too much to ask for a moment of your attention. As we grow older and keep
diving into this era of information, disinformation, fake news and all that, we also tend to
take a step back and listen to the intents of those social media adverts that tell us to slow
down, breathe in, breathe out, enjoy everything around you a little bit. So, if it’s not too
much to ask, you can press play and start enjoying “D-A-D”. If you’re doing that, you can
even stop reading this, because you don’t need further instructions.
It’s the second time in less than two years that we release music from London based
Greek musician Tasos Stamou (Athens, 1978). The wordplay of “Musique Con Crète”
(CREP54, 2018) was a backdoor to an adventurous and ‘concrete’ experience with
sound. “D-A-D” follows up on that. Recorded between 2015-2018 as an homage to both
his Dad and the more commonly used tuning on the Greek Bouzouki, D-A-D, Stamou
delivers 40 minutes of music that explores ancient and modern languages, while crossing
his unique instrumentation with celebrations of new/old folk, field recordings and
electronics. In his music, there’s a constant flow of ideas that defy standard tonalities and
the conception of “traditional”.
Improvisation was the starting point for the creation of some of the nine pieces Tasos
Stamou wrote for “D-A-D”. The electronics often serve to interact with field recordings that
are wisely manipulated, while acoustic instruments, like a Bouzouki, build up the
connection with the tradition and the necessity to slow down.
With his unique atmospheres, Tasos is whispering some life hacks to build a better life.
Nowadays, it’s quite rare for a record to organize the way the listener wants to listen to
music, to sounds. “D-A-D” creates a beautiful systematization between old and new,
folk/traditional music and the technology in sound. There’s – still - some boldness in that.
All songs by Tasos Stamou
Mastered and Cut by Rashad Becker
ehind Dosage there is Sayoko, a Japanese woman living in Paris, who works with a rich, organic, yet destabilized musical style, but with a pulsating life that makes her pieces fascinating.
His songs - since they are songs here - on the edge of pop music, are made for re-listening; each passage revealing new secrets hidden in the complex mechanics of his compositions. Evidence is never at the rendezvous, and yet the pleasure of listening, the joy of being carried away by texts that border the surreal without ever complacent, grooves that always seem on the verge of "collapse without ever poking the nose, this pleasure and this joy, unique, do not leave us from one end to the other of this theory of the pink, UFO album, for those who seek this, and to surprise the others too.
Sayoko: voice, piano, bass, electronics;
Buz: battery; Franca Mai: poems;
Dirty_Pink: guitar;
Gaspar Claus: cello;
Vincent Epplay: electronics;
Nicolas Laffererie: guitar;
BN Würtz: electronics, bass, composition;
Simon Takahashi: electronics, composition
Soulful alert : the Mochi Men (Young Pulse & ATN) meets Brooklyn Funk Essentials, reviving a forgotten Franckie Knuckles gem in the best garage tradition ! After successfuly remixing on wax the new UK jazz funk sensation Resolution 88 and the top french
latin funk act Setenta, the french & fresh duet, Mochi Men, got the honors to work with the legendary acid jazz band, Brooklyn Funk Essentials. This 3rd release on Mochi Records, « Watcha
want from me », is a song formely co-written by House music icon Franckie Knuckles and Lati Kronlund of BFE, which has been re-recorded for the band latest album « Stay good ». Now given the Mochi treatment, the result is an epic and uplifting piece of authentic soulful house, promised to be a timeless club anthem, embellished with an extra Young Pulse dub track !
Beyond Compare is a low slung Nu Soul groove with Andres sun soaked vocals combining with a bumping bassline and infectious rhythm guitar, soothing brass and warm chords build to a piano crescendo with acid overtones to make this another brilliant Situation collaboration with Mr Espeut!
Sean McCabe is one of the leading Deep House producers in the UK and has lovingly remixed Beyond Compare and being as prolific as he is, he has given us 4 remixes and we love them all so much that we have decided to release a Sean McCabe remix 12” containing all 4 mixes!
The A Side provides us with his vocal mix which is beautiful Soulful deep house future classic with A2 being the instrumental for those that just want the groove. B1 is his stunning Vocal Reprise mix which strips things down a shade however don’t be deceived as the clever arranging with relentless piano takes you fully to the dancefloor. B2 brings you the Loose Dub where a driving sub b-line, deep chords and synth stabs framing the dubbed out vocals pushes us into some real deep house heaven.
orwegian techno institution Ploink launches annual series entitled Affinity with its debut release featuring names like Skatebård, HndS, Roeglin, Fraunhofer, and Priq. Based in Bergen, Ploink has been flying the flag for Norwegian techno for well over two decades, organising some of the country’s best events and festivals. Co-founded by Thomas Urv and Miss Mostly, the label was born five years ago and has since released music from an array of home-grown talent including Mental Overdrive, KSMISK, Prins Thomas, +plattform, Joaquin Ruiz, Christian Tilt, and more.
Launching the label’s new Affinity series, Berlina Für Techno’s Roeglin is first with “Norm” which opens with glitched stabs, vocals and a tight drum pattern. Picking up the pace, Fraunhofer- formerly known as Dortmund -returns to the label bringing a shuffling rhythm, crunchy cymbals and spacy synths in “Saturn”. Bergen dance music royalty Skatebård remixes “Wake Up” by London-based Scandinavian duo HndS, maintaining the energy with thumping bass and bouncing chords. Tying it all together, Norwegian producer and drummer Priq’s “Area” sweeps in with decayed keys, pulsing percussion and a gripping atmosphere.
The Last Day Of Pompeii is a compilation of hidden gems by Retina.it -most of them released via Chicago’s Hefty Records in early 2000- and few unreleased coming as a double EP. The records will have inserts presenting 2 halves of Karl Brullov painting from 1830 (that gives the name to the project). On the backside of the insert there will be anecdotes and pictures from the archives. Midgar want to pay tribute to the Pompeian duo, whose life has been entirely dedicated to music. Retina.it is respected by the likes of Frank Bretschneider, Olaf Bender, Donato Dozzy, John Hughes considered ‘big’ and ‘seniors’ of electronic music industry, but modern public is lacking informations about them. The project ‘The Last Day Of Pompeii’ talks about their origins, early history and relationship with Hefty Records.
The Last Day Of Pompeii is a compilation of hidden gems by Retina.it -most of them released via Chicago’s Hefty Records in early 2000- and few unreleased coming as a double EP. The records will have inserts presenting 2 halves of Karl Brullov painting from 1830 (that gives the name to the project). On the backside of the insert there will be anecdotes and pictures from the archives. Midgar want to pay tribute to the Pompeian duo, whose life has been entirely dedicated to music. Retina.it is respected by the likes of Frank Bretschneider, Olaf Bender, Donato Dozzy, John Hughes considered ‘big’ and ‘seniors’ of electronic music industry, but modern public is lacking informations about them. The project ‘The Last Day Of Pompeii’ talks about their origins, early history and relationship with Hefty Records.
The only cover tune on Carlton Jumel Smith's "1634 Lexington Ave." album is not really a cover at all, since it was first cut by Carlton himself already 10 years ago. The sultry 2009 edition of "I'd Better", that was put out on the short-lived UK Soulchoonz label, is a nice piece of programmed mid-tempo modern soul. The new version, now getting a 7" single treatment on Timmion, still sounds miles away from the polished earlier effort.
It starts off with a nice guitar led beat before settling into a sweet Tighten Up groove, a funky road which still has plenty curves to explore, even for Cold Diamond & Mink, who are certainly not lifting water from this particular well for the first time. What remains naturally is Carlton's ultra-soulful vocal performance, and a message of manning up to the max, staying true to your word in front of something divine.
It's not that often you hear a more recent version of a song sounding so that you would think it's the old version. Essentially, what you get is a beautiful piece of xover soul, with timeless swagger, and an instrumental with soulful legs of its own.
About The Word Collected Works
The Word is one of the better-kept secrets of 1980s Austrian disco music. Yet once you put the needle on this record, you notice that it sounds oddly familiar. The awe-inspiring signature piece “Lobster” has the same analogue, slow-moving aesthetic as Zenit’s timeless “Waiting” that was featured on Edition Hawara’s first release. The same goes for the three other wonderfully unconventional, proto-electronic songs: “Easy”, “All my life” and the eponymous “the word”. And there are even more commonalities with Zenit’s LP: The vocals are Linda Sharrock’s, who here teamed up with Karl “Charly” Ratzer and Peter Ponger, the twin brother of legendary Falco producer Robert Ponger. The result of this collaboration is, well, also quite legendary. How this kind of sound emerged in Vienna in 1984 is still a bit of a mystery, but clearly all the stars were aligned when Sharrock, Ratzer and Ponger were jamming in the studio. We at Edition Hawara are very proud to share this secret with you. Just as there are very few lobsters in landlocked Vienna, there are very few records like this
out there.
First full length album from rising UK jazz/soul/funk pianist. The follow up to his "Easter" EP which was brilliantly received across a broad range of music press, radio and tastemaker retailers. A 15 track album available on a 2LP black vinyl set and single CD. Collaborators include Keyon Harrold, Judi Jackson, Theo Croker, Ben Marc, Makaya McCraven, Luke Flowers and more. The album blends jazz/beats/funk with a hint of hip hop, grime and breaks.
Robotron successfully autonomized and has now breached the mainframe. This is its second offering for the ESP Institute. Side A’s Exodus picks up where the last 12” left off, the spoils of cybernetic war as scavenged by the now-defunct Xinner and translated by Robotron into machine dance music for a post-apocalyptic future. With only a select few analog machines with which to communicate, it manages to produce the most bombastic beat we’ve heard this side of the acid winter—a mighty compressor permeates all spare gaps in the waveform, as communicative bleeps and note-bending mechanics work in concert to assemble a highly dynamic composition— emboldening us with courage for a new age. On the flip side, Kamchatkan renders a sparse image of a only remaining organic life, found in the furthest Eastern reaches of the Asian continent, the Kamchatka peninsula. Here, Robotron experienced a metamorphosis, a collapse of its structured programming in which it became self-aware and transitioned from its quantitative agenda to a qualitative enlightenment. This breath of new life invigorated Robotron’s musical approach as heard in the aforementioned title, revealing an uncanny ability for humanistic percussion and lyrical Acid melodies. These two programs will conduct synchronized dances for the masses.
Limited edition (200 copies of orange transparent and 100 of yellow vinyl records with postcards-photos from Ms. Gia's family album)
Lua Preta is an Angolan/Polish duo consisting of vocalist/MC Ms. Gia of Angolan descent and experienced Polish DJ and producer Mentalcut. Together they bring the frenetic mixture of modern electronic music and African genres characteristic not only to Ms. Gia's native Angola but also to the whole continent - including kuduro, afrohouse, gqom and more.
'Polaquinha Preta' is a brand new EP by Lua Preta. With the music produced by Polish producer Mentalcut and vocals from Angolan Ms. Gia the release tells the story about Gia's childhood in Poland of the 80s and 90s and how she was seen as a foreign both here and back in Angola.
There are interesting guests on the record:
B4mba – Paris-based artist with roots in Senegal and Spain who raps both in French and Spanish. He's an author of the 'Baile Punk' EP in which he blends Latin American music with avant-garde electronic sound.
Isilda Viegas – Ms. Gia's mother hailing from Sao Tome e Principe. On the 'Polaquinha Preta' EP she's featured on 'Noemia' where she sings in forro language – a creole language native to her homeland. During colonial times Portuguese banned people from using forro. Currently only around 70 000 people use it.
Rafael Aragon – French DJ, producer and musician who has become one of the key players on the European global bass scene throughout the past ten years. In his music he relates to all the continents but especially to South America and Africa where his ancestors come from.
d B2 Noemia (Rafael Aragon Remix) feat. Isilda Viegas
Klein's offbeat singular vision continues to defy classification. Her acclaimed, self-released records – Lagata, Only and CC – along with Tommy for Hyperdub and her theatre musical Care, have allowed glimpses into Klein's uniquely spirally perspective on vocal abstraction, disarming experimentalism and pop culture wonderment. Yet these chapters have also served as masks to conceal the artist's own personal crises of self-belief, misrepresentation and belonging.
An 18-month writing process led to her new album Lifetime. It's an unexpectedly literal body of work which Klein compares to "giving someone your diary." Lifetime embraces the inevitable cycles of existence, phasing through moments of brutality, vulnerability, estrangement and unexpected fortitude. Lifetime embraces the inevitable cycles of existence, phasing through moments of brutality, vulnerability, estrangement and unexpected fortitude. Every sound in Lifetime is intentional, every influence—from 'King of Gospel Music' composer James Cleveland, to early 18th century tonalities in the b side, the work of 'race film' pioneer Spencer Williams, the residue of the religious experience is deeply personal. The 12 songs of the album are pieced together like a puzzle; seamless transitions connect each of its compositions in a reverse chronology, while every chord from every song is echoed someplace else.
What's been hinted at in Klein's live performances is now realised in full for Lifetime. Less vocal work allows her to be even more expressive, and in eschewing a tendency towards brief, truncated sketches, each song serves as its own long conversational piece, committed to realities of a lived experience. The artist who once grappled with self-doubt has set about breaking the cycle of insecurity for others like her, while mindfully chipping away at the conventions of classical music.
Like its artwork, Lifetime addresses intersecting life cycles: the inner and outer selves, hypermodernity versus history, living nightmares and dream states, while seeking the light and darkness in both. Part 1 opens with unmistakable Klein flourishes on the title track. Gusty pads, anxious, frayed-edge static arcs, and craters of deep negative space, all of which melt down to the clean slate of "Claim It," which is a tribute to embracing one's own blessings. "Listen And See As They Take" and "Silent" form their own microcosm, as the sound of crackling kindling burns backwards into imposing structures of distorted strings and disembodied marching drums, before returning to heat and ash again. "For What Worth", in collaboration with sound artist and saxophonist Matana Roberts, explores the kinship between two artists whose shared exploration of lineage leads them both toward uncharacteristically sweet clarity.
Part 2 is further steeped in black expressive styles of the past. "Enough is enough" links the Lifetime narrative to the broader diasporic black experience, inhabiting every chamber of a harmonica with ghostly notes of the present and past, as fragmented gospel chords reflect spiritual bonds between self and the divine. "We Are Almost There" begins the journey with nothing but the looped structures of multitude of voices. The drums and dischord of "Never Will I Disobey" wordlessly create the conditions for "Honour," a near 10-minute composition where crossed boundaries and crossed wires are exposed in real time, and sharp expressions of hurtfulness, accountability and corrupted expectations are rendered beautiful in representational form, via sustained synth tones which hum, jab and flit in natural disharmony. The interlude "Camelot Is Coming" draws on the choir tradition to prelude the spoken word recounts the cycles of trauma and death that form "99." Lifetime closes with the dystopian swirl of "Protect My Blood" a composition which details an excruciating rift, before blooming into serenity as it draws to a close.
Klein's Lifetime is laid bare, from the end to the beginning, and cycled over again. From her place within her family, to their place within her, to viewing the fragility of culture through the lens of memory. It's a lifetime, an embodiment of young livelihood, and an end as much it is a beginning.
Dan HabarNam returns to Chris Farrell's label with a follow up to last years acclaimed 'Draw Your Pattern' 12". Picking up where that left off 'Major Blinks' delves deeper into sub heavy techno with superb sound design and depth. On the flip 'The Source' transfixes with its eerie pads and broken drums. Another strong release from this label and another chapter in this unique Romanian artist's story.
***ULTRA RARE GERMAN BOOGIE-FUNK REISSUE***
Tyree Glenn Jr. is no new name in the Tramp family. He is featured on both "Can You Feel It" Modern Soul/Disco comps and not to forget the Tramp 45rpm single release of two LP-only tracks (check his James Brown cover of "Superbad"!).
"Jealous Love" and "Beautiful Woman" were originally released on a superrare german 33rpm single EP from 1984. The first 150 copies come with a picture sleeve, so those who purchase it quickly may be lucky and get one of those!
- A1: Delightful (Forty Five Ep)
- B1: This Feeling (Forty Five Ep)
- B2: Oasis (Forty Five Ep)
- C1: Freaky Dancin' (Freaky Dancin' Ep - Live)
- D1: The Egg (Freaky Dancin' Ep - Mix)
- D2: Freaky Dancin' (Freaky Dancin' Ep)
- E1: Tart Tart (Tart Tart Ep)
- F1: Little Matchstick Owen's Rap (Tart Tart Ep)
- G1: 24 Hour Party People
- H1: Yahoo
- H2: Wah Wah (Think Tank) (Think Tank)
ondon Records are to release Happy Mondays ‘The Early EPs’ on October 25, available digitally and as a 4 x 12” coloured vinyl box set. The release brings together the seminal Manchester band’s first four EPs – ‘Forty Five EP’ (1985), ‘Freaky Dancin/The Egg EP’ (1986), ‘Tart Tart EP’ (1987), and ‘24 Hour Party People’ (1987).
‘The Early EPs’, which have never before been available digitally, have been re-mastered from the original two-inch tapes held in the Factory/London Records archive. The artwork has been redrawn and digitised by original designers Central Station Design. The original Happy Mondays line-up will embark on a UK headline tour in late October, including London’s Roundhouse on October 31.
London Records will follow this release later this year with vinyl reissues of Happy Mondays first four albums - ‘Squirrel and G-man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out)’, ‘Bummed’, ‘Pills ’n’ Thrills and Bellyaches’ & ‘Yes Please!’ - later this year. None of these albums has been available on vinyl for over a decade.
‘The Early EPs’, which have never before been available digitally, have been re-mastered from the original two-inch tapes held in the Factory/London Records archive. The artwork has been redrawn and digitised by original designers Central Station Design. The original Happy Mondays line-up will embark on a UK headline tour later this month, including London’s Roundhouse on October 31.
London Records will follow this release later this year with vinyl reissues of Happy Mondays first four albums - ‘Squirrel and G-man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out)’, ‘Bummed’, ‘Pills ’n’ Thrills and Bellyaches’ & ‘Yes Please!’ - later this year. None of these albums has been available on vinyl for several years.
- A1: Wuvsbeatles(Intro)
- A2: C R.e.a.m
- A3: Gotyourmoney
- A4: Forgetmenot
- A5: Criminology
- A6: Uhhuh
- B1: Backinthegame
- B2: Damysteryofchessboxin
- B3: Daytona500
- B4: Labels
- B5: Smithbros
- B6: R E.c.room
- B7: Wuvsbeatles(Skit)
- C1: Mightyheathy
- C2: Clientelekidd
- C3: Cuttingitup
- C4: Releaseyodelf
- C5: Cityhigh
- C6: Run
- C7: Crossmyheart
- D1: Uzi(Pinkyring)
- D2: Bizarre
- D3: Slangeditorial
- D4: Savemedear
- D5: Themovement
- D6: Wutangcreamteamlineup
- D7: Wuvsbeatles(Outro)
Beatles songs (covers, originals and solo members) sampled and laced in beats for a remixes of Wu-Tang material (group and solo). This album was supported by Wu-Tang themselves and was bootlegged in 2013. The bootleg was less than perfect and the audio contained gaps between tracks, this version is presented true to the original as a continuous mix on each side.
The “Under Frustration” project takes stock of the contemporary Arab electronic scene, and highlights its astonishing diversity, by deconstructing Western clichés that are still fantasizing about a culturally homogenous Arab world.
In a context of post-revolutionary disillusion, this ambitious trilogy sets itself as a manifesto of a new, futuristic, underground wave that aims to uplift the Arab voice, once again. With this new release, Arabstazy allows the listener to walk among Shiite, Shaabi or Stambali lands - revealing new mystical sounds, reserved for trance ceremonies and ancestral rituals; all vivid in the eyes of the collective members, musicians, producers, videographers and photographers, nowadays, scattered between the United States, Tunisia, Germany, France, Sweden, Irak, Lebanon and Poland.
Vol2 includes unreleased tracks of Dj Haram, Praed, Hello Psychaleppo, Okydoki and many more.
Curated by Arabstazy, produced by Shouka, published by InFiné.
We love pop music. You’ve probably noticed. Witness our vinyl love-ins with Kylie, Róisín and Cassie if this has somehow passed you by. So when Lou Hayter (London-based musician, style-DJ to the stars, one of our besties) asked us to put her sumptuous funk-lite hit “Cherry On Top” on vinyl it felt like a neat fit. But this isn’t just any old Be With record. We decided such a monumental track would make the perfect inaugural release on Be Pop, our new, most likely sporadically active, side-label.
For those not paying attention in 2005, Lou Hayter was the keyboardist in Mercury nominated electro-pop outfit New Young Pony Club (who were a really good band, beyond the hype, and arguably a little ahead of their time) and she is currently one half of electronic duo Tomorrow’s World, a project with Air’s Jean-Benoît Dunckel. Her comeback single “Cherry On Top” originally appeared in late October 2018, but as a digital only concern. Unsurprisingly it caused a blog stir (Gorilla vs Bear correctly gushed) and what seemed like 6 Music’s entire roster of DJs had it on repeat.
But it’s not a proper single unless you can buy it in a record shop. So accordingly we’ve issued it as a full picture sleeve 12", pressed on white vinyl. And just to make certain, the instrumental and a cappella are on the flip. This is our homage to the classic dance/pop 12" singles of the late 80s and early 90s.
Riding an infectious sample of Marc Jordan’s yacht-rock classic “Generalities”, it’s a glistening, sun-soaked daydreamy jam, perfect for convertibles, pool parties, and roller-discos. It’s quite delicious. Whilst it’s pop without question, it wouldn’t be a Lou Hayter track without ice-cool nods to other magical genres; with Italo flecks and dream-pop vocals, this is cherry coloured funk indeed.
“Cherry On Top” screams “Mighty Summer Pop Radio Anthem”. We might have just missed the end of Summer 2019, but this 12" comes out just in time for every summer from now until the end of time.
One year after its release, Quartet Series proudly presents the remix EP of Nachtbraker's successful debut album When You Find a Stranger in the Alps. A collection of remixes by some serious talent. These three producers were carefully selected by Nachtbraker because of their impeccable reputation and ability to bring something unique to the world of music.
Humble Danish maestro Central (Help, Dekmantel) flips "Flambo" into a Jori Hulkkonen'esque summer anthem with a highly addictive bassline. Preacher of wonkiness Frits Wentink (Wolf, Heist, Bobby Donny) took "LOL" and brought it some serious keys on a solid breakbeat while maintaining its jolly character. Flipping the record, Nachtbraker brings us the evolution of "Just Doing My Thang" turning it into a quirky dance floor tune whilst also showcasing his ear for detail. Up and coming talent Nemo Vachez (Forest Ill, Opia Records, Rakya) dives deep into "Horsepony" as if he's cruising the depths of a rainforest in a submarine. His surreal dub mix is the perfect final track of this fine piece of wax
NO MORE don't need much of an introduction - the legendary Kiel-based (No)Wave / PostPunk band project took the worlds dancefloors by storm with the release of their seminal single "Suicide Commando" in 1981 which was later re-introduced to the Techno / Electro youth of the world, when Munich's DJ Hell famously reinterpreted the tune in 1998.
Still actively touring and releasing on a regular NO MORE are now making their debut on the freshly launched Intrauterin Recordings-offshoot EL CABALLO SEMENTAL..
The labels cat.no. 001 is a first time on vinyl release taken off NO MORE's "The Return Of The German Angst" digital mixtape and sees one of the bands hit tunes being reworked in a unique, highly captivating manner, pressed exclusively as a limited to 200 copies whitelabel edition on purple / violet vinyl.
"123456789 (baze.djunkiii + Herr Brandt Dream A Nudream Remix)" exceeds the bands natural musical realm by far and transfers the song into MoombahGoth / DubWave territories previously unheard of, not only for a classic band like NO MORE.. The rework picks up latest developments from the urban and bass music world whilst keeping the haunted vibe of the original songs chorus intact, slighty references NuBeat / PostPunk and Dub, adds lush, dreamy Cosmic guitar textures and even winks to the underground whistle and rave posse with a sweet as candy piano breakdown.
In their conjunctional remix work we see Intrauterin Recordings-founder baze.djunkiii, quality electronic music activist and prolific DJ for more than 20 years, and Herr Brandt, founding member of the classic German Wave / Indie / Alternative outfit The Convent as well as of the praised underground Synth Pop / Minimal Wave band Sonnenbrandt, effortlessly merge the best of two musical worlds to create something new and captivating, like they used to do on the decks with their former BETA-ZERFALL parties which were the main and initial reason the two of them and NO MORE came together in the first place.
a A- 123456789 BAZE.DJUNKIII + HERR BRANDT DREAM A NUDREAM REMIX
Autarkic describe himself as first and foremost a songwriter but he has also made a name for himself as an international DJ. Over the past three years the musician based In Tel Aviv has, with great success, played clubs throughout all of Europe. One extra memorable gig was on last year's edition of Convenanza in the amphitheatre in Sete, France. Rumour has it that the sea living mammals of the area flocked in large groups in the waters below during Autarkic's gig.
This 12'' record is his first release on Hoga Nord Rekords and the slightly psychedelic, sample- and synthesiser based club music that has become Autarkic's trademark sound is captured by an impeccable production. The music is playful, yet stripped down to the essentials and not overloaded. The vocal elements works more as percussive elements than the carrier of the storytelling in the music.
If you missed him live or just don't have the means to go see him, this record give a taste of Autarkic's hypnotic live performances!
- A1: Women's Love Rights
- A2: Wedlock Is A Padlock
- A3: I Don't Want Nothi' Old (But Money)
- A4: (Don't Be Sorry) Be Careful If You Can't Be Good
- A5: Love And Liberty
- A6: It's Not What You Fall For, It's What You Stand For
- B1: Since I Fell For You
- B2: Two Lovely Pillows
- B3: That's How Strong My Love Is
- B4: Her Picture Matches Mine
• Laura Lee signed to Hot Wax records in 1971, after five R&B hits on Chess. This album is her first recording for the ex Motown producers (Holland – Dozier- Holland) newly created label
• She debuted with ‘Wedlock is a Padlock‘ reached #37 in R&B charts but it was ‘Women’s Love Rights’ that become one of her biggest hits reaching #12 R&B/#36 Pop charts.
• Other highlights include soul ballad ‘Her Picture Matches Mine’ and the dance floor filler ‘I Don’t Want Nothing Old (But Money).
• Demon Music are proud to reissue this classic on 180g heavyweight vinyl with printed inner sleeve
The Small Faces are incredibly important to us here at Acid Jazz.
The epitome of mod style, with a love of great American soul music which they made their own, turning out some of the greatest records on God’s green earth. There’s also a personal connection as well with label founder Eddie Piller’s mum Fran being in charge of the original Small Faces fan club. So it is with pure delight and unadorned joy that we are releasing our exclusive EP ‘Four To The Floor’ In addition to their joyous and timeless songs the group also had a killer line in instrumental brilliance, channelling Booker T & The MGs through the explosive prism of mod and making us all dance. The four finest of these, ‘Grow Your Own’, ‘Almost Grown’, ‘Own Up Time’ and ‘Plum Nellie’ have been gathered together by Tosh Flood (Pugwash, The Divine Comedy) to create this killer EP.
Approved by surviving band member Kenney Jones (who also pens sleeve notes) and put together as part of Rob Caiger’s critically acclaimed Small Faces reissue series, ‘Four To The Floor’ has been mastered by Nick Robbins directly from the original Decca tapes with lacquers cut by Barry Grint at Alchemy Mastering - and sounds astounding! For this release we have revived our Rare Mod Series so the disc comes in a laminated flip-back sleeve, resplendent with a Tony Gale photo of the group in their prime 1966 glory. Kenney is available for selected interviews. The EP will be launched at the Modcast Weekender where Eddie Piller will be interviewing Kenney.
Here we are with our 12th vinyl release. We're really proud of our back catalogue, and even prouder to be able to add more to it. And what better way to expand our portfolio than by inviting yet another exciting artist to join our 12" club. And this artist is Ricky Force - a man who's seen it all in the more breakbeat-oriented face of drum & bass, pushing his trademark intricate percussion programming since 1999, releasing quality music on labels such as Reinforced, Repertoire, Omni Music, Pinecone Moonshine, DSCI4 or 117, and now finding home with us.
Without further ado, here's Ricky Force and his latest single - a pair of not your usual 170-BPM masterpieces leaning heavier towards roots vibes, jungle, halfstep, and dub (Ricky's from DUBlin, so it makes total sense). "Ecstasy" starts with a looped vocal bit that leads the listener on towards a thick bush overgrown with full-bodied kicks, sharp, frantic breaks, and a bassline composed of massively booming bits that are bound to keep you on your toes, especially if you have the chance to enjoy it on some proper soundsystem.
"Firehouse Dub" is, in turn, a solid halfstepper strongly rooted in jungle revivalism. It marches slowly and steadily, unfolding some interesting stories on the way - a series of thickly-arranged broken beats, a pack of blares, some vocal bits here and there. Put together, they create an amazing mixture of classic sounds organized up to modern-day standards with surgical precision only Ricky Force is capable of. A true feast for all those into the less polished and more true-school shades of drum & bass.
Green Marbled Vinyl
The deadly Spanish duo NX1 make their debut on Earwiggle with four sledgehammer statements of intent, on the simply titled "EW" EP. Raging bull techno is distilled through a variety of ingredients - distorted kicks, broken rhythms and carefully-edited grating synth sounds - mixed with a range of sinister acid lines and otherworldly atmospheres. For all types of spaces and occasions, pick your weapon (from EW 1-4) and get ready to dominate.
One of Italy's most revered producers on the global scene, Bottin is always ready with an invigorating palette of sounds and rhythms that stem from his endless thirst for invention. This new release continues that diverse legacy with Balearic-infused pair of Italo cuts. "Waterland," is a buoyant disco number. Its bass ebbs and flows with wave-like consistency, polyrhythmic drums percolate beneath, creating a type of suspended animation that propels motion with a tempered energy. The slow-burning crescendo of Respirare' begins with an airtight blend of tick-tock rhythm and minimal then the pace picks up and the synths pile on. Bottin takes the blissed-out enchantment of the Balearic and infuses it with the kinesis of Italo without the music losing its easy-breeze stride.
Southern Lord is proud to present reissues of the first two albums from iconic Portland-by-way-of-Nashville-based hardcore punk icons, From Ashes Rise.
Alongside related acts His Hero Is Gone and Tragedy, From Ashes Rise are one of the most iconic pioneer acts of the gloom-heavy American crust/hardcore sound born of the late 1990s.
Following their EPs on Clean Plate Records and Partners In Crime Records, the debut full-length Concrete & Steel was initially released through Feral Ward Records in 2000, followed by the release of their second album, Silence, through the same label later that same year.
Staples of the band’s catalogue, these two seminal LPs have not only stood the test of time, but lie as markers at the beginning of a now well-trodden path, making From Ashes Rise one of the founding acts of the sound so many modern acts continue to draw influence from.
The reissues of Concrete & Steel and Silence have been fully remastered by the band’s Brad Boatright at his revered Audiosiege in Portland, Oregon, the LP’s original covers formatted to tip-on jackets.
Southern Lord is proud to present reissues of the first two albums from iconic Portland-by-way-of-Nashville-based hardcore punk icons, From Ashes Rise.
Alongside related acts His Hero Is Gone and Tragedy, From Ashes Rise are one of the most iconic pioneer acts of the gloom-heavy American crust/hardcore sound born of the late 1990s.
Following their EPs on Clean Plate Records and Partners In Crime Records, the debut full-length Concrete & Steel was initially released through Feral Ward Records in 2000, followed by the release of their second album, Silence, through the same label later that same year.
Staples of the band’s catalogue, these two seminal LPs have not only stood the test of time, but lie as markers at the beginning of a now well-trodden path, making From Ashes Rise one of the founding acts of the sound so many modern acts continue to draw influence from.
The reissues of Concrete & Steel and Silence have been fully remastered by the band’s Brad Boatright at his revered Audiosiege in Portland, Oregon, the LP’s original covers formatted to tip-on jackets.
The re-launched Secretsundaze label continues to spread it's wings with the signing of Lisbon born, London based Silvestre.The push and pull of influences from his own and adopted countries have combined to find him a unique sound that embraces rap, R&B, reggaeton as well as breaks and woozy pads from UK hardcore and house. Mixing samples, his own voice and continuing the fusion of reggaeton and breakbeat/techno from previous releases, the Silvestre Is Boss EP aims for a hazy vibe.AAAs Silvestre explains: The pad and synth choices on this EP are picked specifically to sound dreamy, a dream where you arrive at the club but the party is already finished, which sucks." Silvestre began making his name in 2015 with his first release on the Diskotopia label from Tokyo and followed that up with appearances on Creme Organization and Paraiso. He then dropped the killer 'All The Things' EP of mid-tempo party bangers on his own Padre Himalaya label which reached the top 30 of Phonica's illustrious Singles of the Year list. The Silvestre Is Boss EP is his strongest work to date with 5 tracks of quality floor and headphone directed material that perfectly balances the need for playful melody and harmony with tough grooves and synthetic ambience. Drafted in on remix duty is Secretsundaze fave D.K. (Antinote records) who takes EP heater 'Fuego', dialling down the breakbeats for a smoother trip.
With SOUL FOOD II, KOGNITIF remains consistent with his previous release, and delivers once again, a high-powered Soul-Electro album.
The colorful, dancing universe of this beat-maker is filled with Hip-Hop, World Music and Jazz, mingled with Funky Trip-Hop beats.
This is food for the soul !
KOGNITIF is a self-taught musician and a Trip-Hop/Abstract Hip-hop producer.His music incorporates various influences and offers a plentiful Soul Groovy Funky Beats buffet.
After SOUL FOOD, his successful 3rd album, SOUL FOOD II comes as the second volume of a great collection with the same ingredients, but a different recipee.
KOGNITIF is now a major figure in the "à la française" Tip-Hop, in France and abroad.
DEAIK is SJ Tequilla’s third record on his own imprint Shot Of T.
A solo affair, where the Berlin based Japanese artist keeps on exploring a variation of different sounds on his new 12″. Thumping Acid, moody ambient, Acid house for a club night, and some more familiar mellow drum machine and melodic pieces.
SJ Tequilla’s most varied record to date. Also with an interesting approach to tempo, where each side shifts between 33-45 by preference of the listener. Essential Shot Of T!
Featuring work by a group of 7 international artists, poets, scientists and designers, this record offers a look at the concept of Transparency from a variety of cultural, creative and scientific perspectives. In conversation with Research of Waves curatorial team, 6 of the contributors synthesised their interpretation of the theme within a 5 minute long audio piece, many of them working within the medium for the first time. The front and back cover of the album are designed by graphic designer and digital artist Galina Kruzhilina, creating a visual response to the 6 sound pieces.
In late 1997, unsigned Melbourne producer Castel won a competition at a local club. The prize was certainly sought-after: a CD single release on leading local label DanceNet. That EP, “Estrel”, subsequently appeared in stores in 1998, but within two years Castel had packed away his Atari-ST, sold off his hardware and quit music for good.
Thanks to Echovolt Records, Castel’s story now has a happier ending. 22 years after it was recorded, the unfeasibly gorgeous “Estrel” is finally appearing on vinyl alongside original bonus cut “Me & You” and a trio of similarly impressive unreleased productions from the period.
“Estrel” is positivity personified – a melodious, morning-fresh blast of deep electro bliss rich in bustling drums, tuneful IDM style lead lines and darting, psychedelic electronics. It’s joined on side A by “Me & You”, a pitched-down chunk of hazy ‘90s electronica that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on one of Warp Records’ legendary Artificial Intelligence compilations.
On side B, Castel opens up his archive of unreleased recordings for the very first time. The rush-inducing, bass-heavy swirl of “Safer Somewhere” – one of the last tracks he ever recorded and reminiscent of some B12 recordings from the period – is followed by the intergalactic ambient brilliance of “Latch” and the lilting, sun-bright bliss of breakbeat-driven shuffler “16/11/1998”, whose combination of weighty bottom-end and layered electronics neatly sums up the unheralded qualities of Castel’s previously forgotten work.
The sought after LP from Zann ‘Strange Ways / Inside Jungle’ originally released as a private press in 1990 finally receives a full reissue.
Zann started life as a 7-member live band in 1982. Founder member Udo Winkler had been a part of New Wave & Post Punk band Konec touring extensively and releasing one LP on Polydor titled ‘Schrille Blitze’. Zann was an outlet for more experimental works heavily influenced by Brian Eno's collaborations with David Byrne and Jon Hassell, German bands like Embryo and Dissidenten, David Sylvian and middle & far eastern music.
In 1988 Udo and Hjalmer Karthaus built a small basement studio with a 4 track tape machine and musical experiments began in earnest. After the limitations of playing live it was an acoustic wonderland and they gave themselves no musical boundaries. The unlimited studio time meant they could pick up ideas and develop pieces gradually, friends would come to the studio to play and songs evolved from extensive jamming sessions. The resulting LP has Middle Eastern instrumentation at its core, particularly wind & string instruments such as the Tabla and Gong, and is a melting pot of influences incorporating elements of Ambient, Jazz and Folk with strong synth programming on a number of tracks. The band pressed up a handful of copies and sold them exclusively at record fairs in Germany and in the intervening years the LP has become highly sought after with copies changing hands for 150 Euros.
The LP has been fully remastered from the original DAT tapes with new full sleeve artwork from Bradley Pinkerton and is pressed on 180 Gram Vinyl.
From Far Out Recordings’ in-house producer, Daniel Maunick’s debut solo album Macumba Quebrada conjures scenes of collective hedonism from start to finish. Spanning Afro-Brazilian spiritual dance ceremonies, late-eighties Detroit techno parties and jungle and broken beat raves in nineties London, Maunick celebrates our instinctive, age-old desire to come together and lose our sense of self.
Daniel Maunick practically grew up behind the mixing desk. As the son of Brit-funk legend Jean-Paul ‘Bluey’ Maunick (of Incognito fame), he found himself immersed in music from an early age, and quickly became involved in London’s drum n’ bass, acid-jazz, house, broken beat and soul scenes, releasing his first production at the age of sixteen on Gilles Peterson and Norman Jay’s Talkin’ Loud label. Since then, he has produced albums by the likes of Azymuth, Marcos Valle, Terry Callier, Incognito, Ivan ‘Mamao’ Conti and Sabrina Malheiros.
Reflecting his dual residence between Rio de Janeiro and East London, Macumba Quebrada features deep house stompers and broken bangers littered with Brazilian rhythms - in the form of both dusty percussion and Maunick’s intricate drum programming. But the album sees Daniel draw inspiration from across the black music continuum, and the rich histories of communal celebration in Detroit techno, Chicago house, London D’n’B and New York disco. Bringing all this together in explosive peak-time club tracks, moments of eerie ambience, South American swing and tribal earthiness, Macumba Quebrada expands on Maunick’s recent vinyl-only EPs ‘A Vicious Circle’ and ‘Sombra Do Dragao’, with a 13-track double LP and 14-track CD and digital release.
Taking its title from a syncretism of South American spiritual practices, the cover art is photograph taken by acclaimed French photographer and self-taught ethnographer Pierre Verger, who travelled the world documenting civilizations that would soon be effaced by progress. Settling for good in Salvador, Brazil, Verger became initiated into the Candomblé religion, eventually officiating rituals and ceremonies within the community. Without having become an ordained priest, Daniel Maunick shares both Verger and Far Out Recordings’ love for Brazil: its people, its culture and its music.
"He's been producing Azymuth and all kinds of great musicians in Brazil, and finally his debut album is about to be released." Gilles Peterson (BBC 6 Music)
"This one is a good one. Thanks!" Derrick Carter
"Wow couple of killers on there so it sounds!! Thanks a lot" ?? San Soda
"He is always brilliant!" Voclov (Neroli)
"Energetic, summery and full of groove. "It's like Theo Parrish went to Brazil and never decided to come back." Errol (Touching Bass)
"Super dope release from Daniel! proper Venom / Viper Squad vibes!!" Pablo Valentino (MCDE/Faces Records)
"Organic and bumpy...healthy dance music!" Mad Mats (Local Talk)
"really diverse, great sound" Chris Todd (Crazy P)
"super dope" Nick Tyson (XOA)
"Keep em coming man! ... Nice one" Earl Jeffers
"Feeling this! As always with Mr Maunick." Opolopo
"Dirty Trix is real nice!" Jkriv (Razor N' Tape)
"This is great!" Danny MoodyManc
"He's right on the money with this one, isn't he? Deep, profoundly funky stuff that Larry Heard would be proud of. You can feel it!!!!" Mark Webster (BBC 5 LIVE)
"this is so dope" Alex Attias (Visions Recordings)
"Love these tracks" Serkan Cetin (SunSplash)
"Great release, I love It! I-Robots approved!" I-Robots
"This is excellent. Dirty Trix and Somra Do Dragao are the ones!" Dane (The Love Below)
- A1: Look What You Are Doing To Me (Feat Phonte)
- A2: Let Me Show Ya (Feat Paul Randolph)
- A3: I Can See (Feat Ben Westbeech)
- B1: Lie (Feat Thief)
- B2: Little Bird (Feat Jose James)
- B3: Rockin' You Eternally (Feat Leon Ware & Dwele)
- C1: So Far From Home (Feat Phonte)
- C2: What Do You Want? (Feat Joe Dukie)
- C3: Lucky Girl (Feat Paul Randolph)
- D1: Gafiera (Feat Pedro Martins & Azymuth)
- D2: Morning Scapes (Feat Bembe Segue)
- D3: Dial A Cliche (Feat Paul Randolph)
- E1: Little Bird (Instrumental)
- E2: Lucky Girl (Instrumental)
- E3: Gafiera (Instrumental)
- E4: Look What You're Doing To Me (Instrumental)
- F1: Lie (Instrumental Edit 2019)
- F2: Morning Scapes (Instrumental)
- F3: So Far From Home (Instrumental)
- F4: Rockin' You Eternally (Instrumental)
Very few albums manage to unveil their roots so honestly and at the same time succeed in creating something utterly distinct. "Of All The Things" from Jazzanova is one of these albums.
Originally released in 2008 on Universal, it now gets a luxurious reissue on Sonar Kollektiv as a 3LP with pop-up gatefold cover including previously unreleased instrumentals.
This format corresponds perfectly with the elegant opulence of the music that shines even brighter eleven years after its initial release. At no time is it unclear that this album is a deep bow to soul from the 1960s and 70s as well as genres like jazz, brazil and pop music in the vein of the early Beatles.
Along these lines, "Of All The Things" is meant to be perceived as a tribute to the music that Jazzanova has been honoring affectionately in their DJ sets and which has always had a decisive influence on their own productions.
At the same time, the Jazzanova guys have been successful in casually creating elaborate musical pieces which convey a deeply contemporary vibe - not least because of the multifarious references to electronic productions.
The path to this sophomore long player, which features the contribution of over 50 studio musicians, had been laid out beginning with Jazzanova's first album "In Between" from 2002.
- A1: Heavenly Tide
- A2: Tides
- A3: Petit Portrair
- A4: Dedicated To You
- A5: Unidentified Lovers
- A6: The Love We've Shared
- A7: Night Tide
- A8: Ground
- B1: Future Tides
- B1: Ancient Tide
- B2: Crown Of Thorns
- B3: I Love You
- B4: Handmade Paradise
- B5: Gloomy Points
- B6: Tomorrow
- B7: Standing Still
- C1: Suspension
- C2: Leap 4 Years Later
- C3: Vital Sign
- C4: Purple Tides
Music From Memory’s latest release is a reissue of the lost Art record ‘Marea/Tide’ from Italian Wave duo Alessandro Pizzin and Piergiuseppe Ciranna also know as ‘Ruins’.
Made to accompany and as a response to the works of painter ‘Luigi Viola’ the record was released limited to a run of 600 with original artworks by the painter included in the first 200 copies.
A number of special showcases were performed at various galleries by the duo alongside Viola’s work, with records being available solely at those events. Due to poor management and disagreements with the label who produced the record, 300 copies were held for many years in storage and then in fact later even destroyed, the record disappearing almost without a trace.
Finally now available again and with a bonus 7” including four beautiful unreleased tracks, the release is printed in colors true to the original work of Luigi Viola with insert.
360 degrees of freedom is overwhelming in music, and you need not truly begin to find freedom until you put yourself under extremely narrow constraints.” It was with this quote that Don Slepian laid the groundwork for over 40 years of musical output. Slepian’s work draws equally from the harmonic terrain he explored while performing with a Javanese gamelan ensemble, as well as his time spent building and modifying electronic audio equipment for studios and fellow musicians. Gravitating towards improvisation and experimentation, Slepian built a breathtaking sound-world that stretched the briefest of moments into an eternity of detail and depth. In 1980, Slepian self-released a series of cassette albums that built upon and perfected this practice, offering “New Music for Digital Orchestra”.
New Dawn is one of those albums - an enthralling example of New Age euphoria, and early-electronic
experimentation.
New Music For Digital Orchestra? An ironic subtitle for an album without any traces of digital technology found within. The instruments, tools, and recording techniques are entirely analog. A Korg PS3100, Mellotron voices, Mellotron flutes, analog tape echo and analog recorder were used to create both of the pieces found on New Dawn with both tracks being recorded live with no overdubs
Moon Diagrams is the solo recording project of Deerhunter co-founder and drummer Moses John Archuleta. Two years after his acclaimed debut album Lifetime Of Love, Archuleta returns with Trappy Bats, a mini-LP that interweaves three brilliant new Moon Diagrams tracks with radiant reworks from Shigeto, Angel Deradoorian and Jefre Cantu-Ledesma. Trappy Bats was largely recorded in a single night as a means to process the intense intersection of Archuleta’s social, political and personal hysteria. Having been arrested for an unremembered missed court date, Archuleta spent 24 hours in a holding cell, offering ample time to reflect on his life, the current state of the nation (the jail televisions were showing a constant feed of the then-active Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville) and the other inmates. Upon being released the next day, Archuleta found himself suffering from a bout of insomnia and feeling the need to process everything through music. Here, Archuleta is in his freest and most grateful state, channelling the turmoil and confusion he was experiencing into an unencumbered fit of creativity. It’s pure, unadulterated escapism with an even more callous palette of sounds than before, clearly split between two moods. On what you might call the ‘up’ side, the title track could be the sonic spawn of Not Waving and Terrence Dixon: a snarling mix of percussive clatter and washes of orchestral tones coalesce into a pulsating groove across its almost 12-minute runtime, the underlying ’80s aesthetic making it feel like a turbo-charged Shep Pettibone remix of New Order, looped to infinity. Detroit electronica don Shigeto goes even further and implodes the track into a kaleidoscope of bone-jarring, viscerally giddy dance music. Over on the ‘down’ side, ‘Wipeout’ is a slow-motion waltz of dusty piano and clattering percussion loops that coolly stumble along with the woozy, nocturnal flare of The Caretaker or Philip Jeck. The haunted reverie ventures even deeper with a beatifically electrified ambient re-imagination by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma. Daisychain’ goes almost completely off the grid, offering up a sweetly submerged slab of constantly evolving murkiness in the vein of Demdike Stare or a dosed Andy Stott. The sweet shuffle levitates even higher with a celestial re-interpretation by sonic visionary Angel Deradoorian, formerly of the Dirty Projectors. The end result is an extended traipse through Saturday evening fever-dream techno, Sunday morning cigarette jazz-pop and every blank thought in between.
Carla dal Forno announces her second full-length album, Look Up Sharp , on her own Kallista records.
Dal Forno beckons a bold new era in her peerless output pushing her dub-damaged DIY dispatches to the limits of flawless dream-pop. In a transformative move towards crystal clear vocals and sharpened production, Look Up Sharp is an evolutionary leap from the thick fog and pastoral stillness of her Blackest Ever Black missives, You Know What It’s Like (2016) and The Garden EP (2017). Three years since her plain-speaking debut album, the Melbourne-via-Berlin artist finds herself absorbed in London’s sprawling mess. The small-town dreams and inertia that preoccupied dal Forno’s first album have dissolved into the chaotic city, its shifting identities, far-flung surroundings and blank faces. Look Up Sharp is the story of this life in flux, longing for intimacy, falling short and embracing the unfamiliar. Dal Forno connects with kindred spirits and finds refuge in darkened alleys, secret gardens and wherever else she dares to look.
In her own territory between plaintive pop, folk and post-punk dal Forno conjures the ghosts of AC Marias, Virginia Astley and Broadcast through her brushwork of art-damaged fx and spectral atmospheres. The first half of the record is filled with dubbed-out humid bass lines, which tether stoned hazes of psychedelic synth work as on ‘Took A Long Time’ and ‘No Trace.’ These are contrasted with songs like ‘I’m Conscious and ‘So Much better’ that channel the lilting power of YMG and are clear sequels-in-waiting to dead-eyed classics like ‘Fast Moving Cars.’
The B-side begins with the feverish bass and meandering melody of ‘Don’t Follow Me,’ which takes The Cure’s ‘A Forest’ as its conceptual springboard. It’s the clearest lyrical example since ‘The Garden’ of dal Forno’s unmatched ability to unpick the masculine void of post-punk and new wave nostalgia to reflect contemporary nuance. Look Up Sharp reaches its satisfying conclusion with ‘Push On’ - dal Forno’s most explicit foray into an undiscovered trip hop universe between Massive Attack and Tracey Thorn. The album’s last gasp finds personal validation in fragility: ‘I push on / I’m the Place I’m Going,’ a self discovery lifted by reverberant broken beats and glass-blown vocals.
Adding further depth to Look Up Sharp are the instrumentals, which flow seamlessly between the vocal-led pieces. ‘Hype Sleep’ and ‘Heart of Hearts’ drink from the same stream as The Flying Lizard’s dubbed-out madness and the vivid purple sunsets of Eno’s Another Green World. While ‘Creep Out of Bed’ and ‘Leaving for Japan’ funnel the fourth-world psychedelia of Cyclobe’s industrial-folk into the vortex of Nico’s The Marble Index.
Conceived as a whole, Look Up Sharp is a singular prism in which light, sound and concept bend at all angles. A deeply personal but infinitely relatable album its many surfaces are complex but authentic, enduring but imperfect, hard-edged but delicate. A diamond. Look up sharp or you’ll miss it.
Crosstown Rebels welcome Tochno Techno label owner Yulia Niko to release her first full EP, Paradise, a captivating three track EP featuring jazz bossanova vocalist Sil Romero and Italian talent Cioz on remix duty. Opening track Caminando encapsulates Yulia’s inspiration from walking on the White Isle of Ibiza where she spent the last year living. The hypnotising deep house melody of swirly synth pads and Sil Romero’s beautiful dreamy vocals wash over skipping percussion in an emotive composition. Cioz puts his own melodic stamp on the remix, creating a progressive club piece with bright keys over a reshaped bass line. Paradise continues the warm, ethereal atmosphere of the EP, bongos dance on hats as lush, relaxing tones fade in and out. Russian-born DJ, producer and label owner, Yulia Niko learned her trade in the clubs of her hometown before moving to the US to work as a resident DJ at Verboten, Brooklyn and Heart in Miami. Now touring the world, she is based in Berlin and runs a vinyl only label, Tochno Techno. She has also released on other esteemed labels such as Get Physical Music, Nervous, Heisenberg, Natura Viva and Dee-P-erfect.
- A1: Pleasure Centre
- A2: In Plain Sight (Feat Ivar)
- A3: Soul Liberator (Feat Sanguita)
- B1: Don't Want This To Be Over (Feat Satchmode)
- B2: Sommeron (Feat Imugi)
- B3: Twilight (Feat Izo Fitzroy)
- B4: Echo Park
- C1: Same Blood (Feat The Palms)
- C2: Say The Word (Feat Nic Hanson)
- C3: 24Hr Fling (Feat Wolfgang Valbrun)
- C4: Sweet Time (Feat Izo Fitzroy)
- D1: Guilty Discomforts (Feat Wolfgang Valbrun)
- D2: Out In The Daylight (Feat Gavin Turek)
- D3: I Think (Feat Berenice Van Leer)
- D4: Naked (Feat Ivar & Berenice Van Leer)
Kraak & Smaak's 6th studio album - 'Pleasure Centre' is the culmination of two years hard work since their critically acclaimed 'Juicy Fruit' LP and their first Kraak & Smaak LP released on their own label – Boogie Angst. As expected it's a glorious record packed with future classics, flitting between funky dancefloor focused jams and more relaxed downtempo affairs.
The album has a definite US West Coast vibe to it and sees them fuse classic 70's and 80's yacht rock, dream pop, and indie influences in with their signature electronic funk sound. And this result is no mere accident or emulation… Working on the demos in their own studio before travelling to LA for a month last year to meet and work with featured artists, they stayed in Echo Park and recorded in local studios and sometimes even in the homes or backyards garages of their collaborators.
Hand- picking the best of the local talent: dance diva - Gavin Turek, indie upstarts - The Palms and dream pop dealer – Satchmode all contribute their talents to the cause.
The Dutchmen have earned a deserved reputation in particular for the A&R side of the industry, with both the discovery and collaboration of new rising acts high on their agenda. Previous successes include working with Parcels, Alxndr London (championed by Annie Mac) Eric Biddines (6Music playlisted) and Cleopold (signed to Nick Murphy fka Chet Faker's own label). And they continue to uncover hidden gems outside of LA on this record too...
Moon Boots collaborator – Nic Hanson, Jalapeno Records' gospel/soul powerhouse - Izo FitzRoy and soul man Wolfgang Valbrun (Ephemerals/Kungs), New Zealand's imugi and previous collaborator and soul songstress - Sanguita are accompanied by regular members of the Kraak & Smaak live band - IVAR and Berenice Van Leer across 15 fantastic new tracks.
'Pleasure Centre' is everything you'd want in an album and everything we've come to expect from these dance stalwarts – innovative, relevant, and modern tracks with great production and exciting guest features that are guaranteed to fire up your own pleasure centre!
k 11 Sweet Time (feat. Izo FitzRoy) clip
The highly anticipated album by Jay-Z's 4:44 soul hurricane Hannah Williams & the Affirmations produced by award-winning composer and multi-instrumentalist Shawn Lee.
Hannah Williams, the British soul hurricane who sensationally became part of Jay-Z's chart-topping 4:44 album, is primed and ready for her own national and international breakthrough.
Williams turned heads worldwide when the hip-hop superstar sampled her heart-stopping vocals on 'Late Nights & Heartbreak' for the title track, '4.44' on his 2017 album. Now Hannah and her exemplary, Bristol-based band the Affirmations deliver a definitive career statement with the drop-dead soulful new album 50 Foot Woman which will be released October 18th on the Milan based imprint Record Kicks.
The album captures all of the visceral power of the band's increasingly legendary live performances. Shades of classic Soul and Psychedelic Funk blend uniquely with modern-day flavours on a record destined to set the soul agenda for 2019 and far beyond. "I've never been as proud of anything in my entire career" says Hannah.
Born in High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, Williams'father was a musically gifted minister, and her mother let her join the church choir at the age of six. Hannah could read music before she could properly read words, and when she discovered soul by listening with her mum to Motown and Bill Withers, there was no turning back.
After a 2012 debut with her previous band the Tastemakers, it was 2016's Late Nights & Heartbreak that announced the arrival of Hannah Williams and the Affirmations. But little did she know that Jay-Z was listening. One day, at her then-day job running the music department at the University of Winchester, he sent her a text.
Once she'd established that it wasn't a wind-up, and summoned the courage to call him back, she learned that JayZ's producer, No I.D., had played him Hannah's track to inspire his response to Beyoncé's Lemonade, on which she sang of his infidelities.
Williams was as in the dark about how 'Late Nights & Heartbreak' would be used until 4:44 dropped. But the substantial sample of her voice opened doors she never dreamed of. "It was an incredible catalyst," she says, "as a change in our collective career, and getting a global audience. Suddenly, there were millions of predominantly American hip-hop fans listening to my voice, going 'Is this from the '60s? Is she dead?'"
What followed was a year of the band's widest-ever touring including an invitation to perform at Central Park Summer Stage NY, Toronto Jazz Festival and Brooklyn Bowl NY and expanded audiences in continental Europe where she and the Affirmations had already made a mark. Then came the burning determination to make the record of their lives. The captivating 50 Foot Woman is that album, produced by Shawn Lee, a respected presence on the funk/soul scene whose credits include Amy Winehouse, Lana Del Rey and Alicia Keys. Lee has released five solo albums as Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra on San Francisco label Ubiquity Records and is also one half of the cool melodic pop duo Young Gun Silver Fox.
Now the world will hear what the cognoscenti have known for a while: that Hannah Williams is the real deal, and sings from her very soul. "I feel like my performance comes from my solar plexus," she says. "The emotional side of it is so intrinsic; I can't take it away from what I do."
It's a strange new post-everything musical landscape we occupy.
The machines - you could argue - have been playing the humans for some time, and the conversation became pretty one-sided.
But you know, not everyone is singing from that hymn sheet. That Man Monkz enjoyed the apprenticeship at House PLC more than the opportunity to progress to middle management. Itchy musical feet meant extended exploration of fertile avenues of interest like the Madison Washington & Pan Amsterdam Hip Hop projects, meanwhile the pull of the 4/4 was never far from the studio door, and all accomplished with an assured versatility that shines.
Musical alliances formed in the disparate but related playgrounds of Detroit, Sheffield, Berkeley and Atlanta, all underpinned by an emphasis on seeking out collaborations and gigs, which represented a real exchange of energies, rather than a bank raid.
Letting things percolate in this more measured way means we've arrived here, a follow up of sorts to 2016's 'Columbusing'
This is Monkz allowing the ear ringing of gigs to feedback organically into bright dance floor flashes, which by virtue of their careful crafting are destined to last much longer.
On Zero Sum, we get a much greater economy of elements on the pared down dance floor ammo like 'Freaks N Prophets' & 'Chai Tea', a perfect counterpoint to beautifully realised pieces like 'Them Thangs feat Ms Fae' & 'After Dark with Nikki O' interspersed with funk-heavy workouts and sample jams like 'Easy Still', 'LvnLmtd' & the unashamedly KDJ influenced shamanism of 'WhatUthinkIDo'
It's a pick 'em and stick 'em ride of individual gems and a cohesive whole too. The opposite of thrown together, this has been worked and weathered, naturally. The House always wins, but sometimes...just sometimes.
Casino Times? aka Nicholas Church and Joseph Spencer
from London have been betting against the house for
close to 10 years already, winning big with releases on
Wolf Music, Needwant, Omena and their own Casino
Edits label. The pair also hosts the radio Show “What’s
My Derivative?” on Bloop Radio.
Since Mireia Record’s big cheeses RSS Disco have been keen to gamble with the Time’s
music, routinely lighting up dancefloors with it, a loose connection and mutual admiration
formed over the years and eventually lead to this fine record here.
RUSH & KAWAI
Casino Times demonstrate their cunning yet natural and flowing sound with two originals:
“Rush” and “Kawai”. Both tracks are a proper trip of its own, psychedelic pinball machines
that’ll catapult you to the further edges of the known sphere.
An arpeggiated melody line leads the “Rush”, while a rock solid foundation of hard hitting
drums keep you steady. The melody filters into acidic fringes and a strange voice guides the
traveler to the core of this outer-body experience.
By intertwining a pulsating E-Bass with sharp percussions and a brazen guitar chords,
“Kawai” steers the travels even further out of world’s reach. A whole ensemble of sirens and
vocal fragments warn of imminent rapture. After this, it’ll be hard to return to the mundane.New Release Information
KAWAI (Conga Fever’s Belgian Fries Remix)
Leading the string of three remixes is Mireia’s Conga Fever. Known by now for impeccable
and inspired productions he might just have outdone himself again with this interpretation
of “Kawai”.
Taking cues from Belgian New Beat while sounding unconditionally modern at the same
time, Conga Fever has crafted a bona fide festival anthem. After confidently building up
tension and taking his time in the breakdown, the remix manages to release an incredible
amount of energy. We’ve seen people out of their minds and literally stage dive to this one.
KAWAI (Rigopolar Remix)
A new face and dream cast to the label: Rigopolar aka Menio Brown. The Brooklyn-based
producer and DJ has been on our radar for some years with a string of captivating releases
for Tom Tom Disco, Nazca Records and an upcoming EP on Duro. Especially “Sun Of
Lemuria’s” hypnotic brittleness turned our heads.
Adding a new high point to his repertoire, Rigopolar’s take on “Kawai” is an expansive, dark
journey into the void. Powerful lasers and strobe lights appear to lead the way, emergency
broadcast voices beckon the dancers to the floor. The clobbering bassline and twitching
melody help to reach previously unseen heights.
RUSH (Filburt Remix)
Working his signature slow-burn magic on his remix of “Rush” is Filburt. More than happy to
welcome him back to the label. The O*RS label head, DJ and producer is responsible for
some of our favorite material in the past and does not disappoint with this remix either.
Lush pad sounds oppose salient drumming, slowly tightening the atmosphere while a robotic
voice evokes a melancholic mood. The whole night’s rooted on this fervid bassline and it’ll
carry you into next Monday
2024 Repress
ODD OKODDO is a Kenyan/German duo consisting of Olith Ratego and Sven Kacirek.
The two artists met in Kenya, about a decade ago, when Sven Kacirek was recording his "Kenya Sessions", an album that put Kacirek on the map of outernational producers. It was reviewed as a "World Music 2.0" (de:bug magazine), whose "fascination endures" (The Wire). Olith Ratego also made an appearance on the "Kenya Sessions”, on the track "Too Good To Be True".
The duo formed the project ODD OKODDO in 2018, with the two musicians joining their various talents which dovetail in perfection. Ratego writes the lyrics and vocal melodies while Kacirek composes, records and produces the arrangements of all nine songs on AUMA. They create a colourful, dynamic sound which is defined by both Ratego’s enormous vocal compass and range of timbres as well as Kacirek’s outstanding skills as a sensitive percussionist.
Olith Ratego sings in a musical style called "dodo", which originates from the shores of Lake Victoria in Kenya, high in pitch and soulfully expressive. He refers to his music as "dodo blues". His lyrics touch upon the topics of politics, family and of course: love. As a skilled luthier, Ratego builds his instruments himself, like the five-stringed Okodo which lends its name to the project.
Sven Kacirek is a multi-instrumentalist who has been commuting between Germany and Kenya for many years now. In the past he has closely collaborated with various international musicians, among them Nils Frahm and Shabaka Hutchings. Kacirek’s sound builds upon a powerful bass marimba which is present throughout the album. It sometimes invokes the sound of a tuned 808 kick-drum. He works with Kenyan an arsenal of percussion instruments as well as household objects and found materials. Kacirek has now settled into a signature sound which has been described as "thrilling and dizzyingly inventive" by the Australian Cyclic Defrost magazine.
The LP comes with a printed inner sleeve with liner notes by Tabu Osusa from the Nairobi based label Ketebul as well as explanations about the song lyrics.
- 1: I
- 2: Ii
- 3: Iii
- 4: Iv
- 5: V
- 6: Vi
- 7: Vii
- 8: Viii
- 9: Ix
- 10: X
Oscar- and Grammy-nominated composer, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Sufjan Stevens will release his acclaimed score for Justin Peck’s ballet TheDecalogue October 18 via his own label, AKR. Performed by the pianist Timo Andres, the recording is the first time the score, premiered during the NewYork City Ballet’s 2017 season, is available to the public.
The Decalogue is the third collaboration between NYCB Resident Choreographer Peck and Stevens, following 2012’s Year of theRabbit and 2014’s Everywhere We Go. The piece was widely praised upon its premiere; The New York Times lauded the “beauty and charm” of Peck’s choreography as well as Stevens’ “romantically modernist études.”
Brooklyn-based composer-pianist Timo Andres is a Nonesuch Records artist, who has written major works for the Boston Symphony, Carnegie Hall, the Barbican, the Takács Quartet, the Concertgebouw, and elsewhere. He performs regularly with Gabriel Kahane, and has frequently appeared with Philip Glass, Becca Stevens, Nadia Sirota, the Kronos Quartet, John Adams, Ted Hearne, and others. As a pianist, Timo has performed at Lincoln Center, for the NewYork Philharmonic, the LA Phil, at Wigmore Hall, for San Francisco Performances, and at (le) Poisson Rouge. Upcoming highlights include a curated program for the Cincinnati Symphony (featuring Dance Heginbotham and a performance of Andres’s cello concerto, Upstate Obscura), and a solo piano recital for Carnegie Hall. Previous work with Sufjan Stevens includes the orchestration of “Principia” for Justin Peck and the New York City Ballet.
- Nothing Is Safe
- He Dead (Feat. Ed Balloon)
- La Mala Ordina (With The Rita) (Feat. Elcamino & Benny The Butcher)
- Club Down (With Sarah Bernat)
- Run For Your Life (Feat. La Chat)
- The Show
- All In Your Head (Feat. Counterfeit Madison & Robyn Hood)
- Blood Of The Fang
- Story 7
- Attunement (With Pedestrian Deposit)
- Piano Burning
There Existed An Addiction To Blood" ist das insgesamt vierte Album von Clipping und ihr drittes für Sub Pop. Es ist der Nachfolger des von Kritikern und Publikum gleichermaßen gefeiertes Album ,Splendor And Misery" aus dem Jahr 2016. ,There Existed An Addiction To Blood" enthält die Singles ,Nothing Is Safe", ,Blood Of The Fang" und ,La Mala Ordina" (Feat. Benny The Butcher, Elcamino, The Rita), die von Clipping produziert, von Steve Kaplan gemischt und von Dave Cooley bei Elysium Masters in Los Angeles gemastert wurden. Das Album enthält auch Gastbeiträge von Ed Balloon, La Chat, Counterfeit Madison und Pedestrian Deposit. ,There Existed An Addiction To Blood" ist Clippings Interpretation eines neuen Rap-Splitter-Genres unter Zuhilfenahme ihrer einzigartigen Lupe. Clipping wenden sich auf dem neuen Werk intensiv dem Horrorcore zu, eines bewusst absurden und kreativ bedeutsamen Subgenres, das Mitte der 90er Jahre blühte. Einige der bemerkenswertesten Pioniere hießen Brotha Lynch Hung und Gravediggaz, aber es umfasst auch bahnbrechende Werke der Geto Boys, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony und die nahezu vollständigen Veröffentlichungen des klassischen ,Memphis cassette tape rap". Der wahrscheinlich subversivste und experimentellste Rap hat sich oft als ,Alternative" zu konventionellen Sounds präsentiert, aber Clipping verzerren das Ganze respektvoll in neue Konstellationen. ,There Existed An Addiction To Blood" absorbiert die hyper-gewaltigen Horror-Symboliken der Murder Dog-Ära, stellt sie aber in einem neuen Licht dar: immer noch dunkel getönt und düster, aber in einem seltsameren und lebendigeren Farbton. Wenn der traditionelle Horrorcore mit ,Blacula", dem populären Blaxploitationsfilm-Klassiker aus den frühen 70er Jahren, verwandt war, so ist das neue Output von Clipping analog zu ,Ganja & Hess", dem blutrünstigen Kultklassiker von 1973, der als unbesungenes Wahrzeichen des schwarzen Independent-Kinos gilt, dessen Score von Sam Waymon, Clipping als Inspiration zum Titel des Albums diente und auch Samples auf dem Track ,Blood Of The Fang" lieferte.ENG The science-fiction visionary Octavia Butler once declared that "there is nothing new under the sun, but there are new suns." The aphorism could apply to any art form where the basic contours are fixed, but the appetite for innovation remains infinite. Enter Clipping, flash fiction genre masters in a hip-hop world firmly rooted in memoir. If first person confessionals historically reign, the mid-city Los Angeles trio of rapper Daveed Diggs and producers William Hutson and Jonathan Snipes have spent the last half-decade terraforming their own patch of soil, replete with conceptual labyrinths and industrial chaos. They have conjured a mutant emanation of the future, built at odd angles atop the hallowed foundation of the past. Their third album for Sub Pop, There Existed an Addiction to Blood, finds them interpreting another rap splinter sect through their singular lens. This is Clipping's transmutation of horrorcore, a purposefully absurdist sub-genre that flourished in the mid-90s. If some of its most notable pioneers included Brotha Lynch Hung and Gravediggaz, it also encompasses seminal works from the Geto Boys, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, and the near-entirety of classic Memphis cassette tape rap. The most subversive and experimental rap has often presented itself as an "alternative" to conventional sounds, but Clipping respectfully warp them into new constellations. There Existed an Addiction to Blood absorbs the hyper-violent horror tropes of the Murder Dog era, but re-imagines them in a new light: still darkly-tinted and somber, but in a weirder and more vivid hue. The album contains interludes with hissing recordings of demonic invasions, and guest appearances from Griselda Gang's Benny the Butcher and Hypnotize Minds horror queen La Chat. Other tracks feature contributions from noise music legends The Rita and Pedestrian Deposit. It all ends with "Piano Burning," a performance of a piece written by the avant-garde composer Annea Lockwood. Yes, it is the sound of a piano burning. There Existed an Addiction to Blood fits neatly into the broader scope of the band's career, which has seen them expand from insular experimentalists into globally recognized artists. Since the release of their first album in 2013, Diggs has won a Tony and a Grammy (both for his acting/rapping work as Thomas Jefferson and Marquis de Lafayette in Hamilton), as well as co-written and starred in 2018's critically hailed Blindspotting, while Snipes and Hutson have scored numerous films and television shows. Clipping's last album, the 2016 afro-futurist dystopian space opus Splendor & Misery was recently named one of Pitchfork's Best Industrial Albums of All-Time. Commissioned for an episode of This American Life, their 2017 single "The Deep" became the inspiration for a novel of the same name, written by Rivers Solomon and published by Saga Press. But their latest masterwork embodies what the band had been building towards - a work that finds them without peer. This is experimental hip-hop built to bang in a post-apocalyptic club bursting with radiation. It's horrorcore that soaks up past blood and replants it into a different organism, undead but dangerously alive. It is a new sun, blindingly bright and built to burn your retinas.
Dutch techno duo D&S - or Dennis & Stephan to their parents - hail from Rotterdam and have a penchant for the classic sounds of Detroit. Their previous releases on SK Black, Orbis Records, Indigo Aera's AEX compilations, ARTS and Girada Unlimited have earned them support from the likes of Adam Beyer, Marco Bailey and Ilario Alicante, and this tasty new EP for Abstract Reasoning looks set to find similar favour.
The pitter-patter of classic drum machine hi-hats drive the title track along with swooping, filtered pads and gentle licks of acid, the track gradually evolving into a veritable bubble bath of 303 goodness and gated synth swells. Incidence continues the theme, with gentle cymbal rides splashing over continually evolving acid blips and bleeps while mystical waves of chord melody envelope your senses in a foggy haze.
The second half of the EP flips the script beautiful with two broken beat tracks that show they have a real prowess for melody as well as rhythm. Lost In Sequence's thumping kicks are punctuated by the rolling tribal percussive elements and looming, sorrowful pads. Intricate rhythms and beautiful use of reverb and other FX create a dreamy atmosphere throughout. Partisan sees a morphing, resonant synth motif pulse over another pleasingly thick kick rhythm, and swirling, ethereal layers of atmosphere. All in all it's a superb release that has something for the dancefloor as well as the home stereo.
Emotional Rescue returns to the music of British "pop" band Furniture, with an EP of the band's own extended versions, remixes and unreleased takes of their particular output.
Taken from three 12"s that followed When The Boom Was On (ERC072), the songs included cast a light on their development from 3 to 5 piece, adding Sally Still (bass) and Maya Gilder (keyboards) and the new male/female frontline. The subsequent broadening of their line-up and sound meant they could start to address the kind of pop music they wanted to play.
After the early releases garneered radio play and reviews, Furniture were launched into the melee of '80s pop. An anomaly, the band found they attracted a specific kind of "intense" follower, who were often beguiled by Furniture's freaky normality. This was addressed on the 1984 release, 'I Can't Crack'. A more urgent version of the sound Furniture had debuted with 'Why Are We In Love', the track, sung by Tim, was based around a sequencer-like rhythm played live by drummer Hamilton Lee, and a clarinet part played by Tim's brother, Larry Whelan. A mix of bleakness and euphoria, the song was and is a favourite of the band and considered one of their best self-productions, as well as becoming a latter day club play.
This is followed by the studio experiment 'Throw Away The Script', where the band wrestled with sequencers and synth-pop, but then countered it with a free-jazz sax solo. Found on the flip of the double A -side of 'Love Your Shoes' 12", this instrumental version too became an underground club hit, including a cult play at Fran Lenaer's influential Valencia club, Spook Factory. Played loud, the studio mastery, trickery and oft-accidental discoveries come to the fore, with tissue-damaging frequencies giving extra sound system shaking bottom end.
The B-side continues the band's love of making extended mixes with 'Dancing The Hard Bargain'. Co-produced with Tim Parry (formerly of Blue Zoo), they threw everything at these 12" versions. Able to relax and focus on the sounds they really liked, rather than the ones thought more commercial, this can be clearly heard on this compelling, percussive mix, a stop-start breakdown becoming a band hallmark.
To close this collection is the mammoth 'Bullet'. Again sung by Whelan, an edited version of which debuted on the 1986 Survival compilation of Furniture tracks called 'The Lovemongers', here this previously unreleased original take is centred on a mesmeric tape loop, live drums and a guest appearance by violinist Helena Bjorelius.
Vinyl only! For our third physical release, Colkin joins the House Running family with two detroit influenced house banger. 'Central 13' is a 90ties vibe track with grand-piano chords played underneath groovy 909 drums made for the dancefloor, while 'Gonna Be' with the lovely voice feature of Detroit's rising artist Javonntte also get's you back to the golden era of 90ties classic house. On the B face, Meemo ensure his soul mood with this 'Untitled' gem while Yoshiko Okabe leave towards a darke, based on strings samples and freaky sounds. Sure thing!
Luc Kheradmand, under his “nom de plume” Voiski, has created a gem of a record for ara, named At e Speed Of Love His highly distinctive sound is distilled into 5 stunning tracks which feel both analog and futuristic. Diverse yet coherent, the record is a fantastic blend of positive energies, unfolding and revealing its different faces as it progresses ; ecstatic at times, and moving at others. is is music with enough depth to project your own meaning and emotions.
Limited 12” Vinyl : Numbered edition of 500 . Handmade with love in Berlin
Each vinyl sleeve is individually painted with highly-pigmented acrylic, using a single-movement brush technic, on grey cardboard sleeves, protected by a high grade transparent outer sleeve Since releasing physical records is increasingly becoming an irrational choice, each ARA record is irrationally produced as an hand-made work of art.
Editions are individually numbered, recognisable as a part of a whole, while being slightly different by nature.
When we talk about Tullio de Piscopo (Naples, 1946) we’re talking of a living legend of drums, whose career dates back to 1969.
In 1971, tired of commuting from Naples to Milan, he moved to Milan for good, where he joined as a drummer the group of Gianni Basso and Oscar Valdambrini. Shortly thereafter, he recorded “Fastness” and “Coagulation”, his very first single on a 45 under the moniker of “Jujuy”, for Aldo Pagani’s label “Analogy”, with the catalogue number “TRE 0”.
Recorded in 1971, but only relesed in 1973, “Fastness” and “Coagulation” are two fully instrumental tracks for solo drums and percussions, catching the spirit of the very early Tullio De Piscopo, before he became the most requested italian drummer from 1974 on, starting an incredibly successfull career still going on.
Our detective work allowed us to unearth the actual multitracks analog master and we’re about to repress this absolute masterpiece for the very first time on a 12” format, as the original 45 now fetches a three-figures sum on the collectors market.
Die besten musikalischen Außenseiter sitzen nie lange still. Sie mutieren stetig, verwandeln sich in neue Formen und weigern sich, in Schubladen gesteckt zu werden. Floating Points hat so viele Gestalten, dass es ohnehin nicht einfach ist, ihn irgendwie einzuordnen. Da ist zum einen der Komponist, dessen Debütalbum „Elaenia“ im Jahr 2015 begeisterte Kritiken erhielt, darunter als Pitchforks „Best New Music“ und Resident Advisor's „Album of the Year“ - und ihn von den Tanzflächen auf die Festivalbühnen weltweit brachte. Dann ist da wiederum der Kurator, dessen Plattenlabels gefühlvolle neue Klänge in den Club gebracht haben, und der auf seinem geschätzten Imprint Melodies International alte Klänge wieder zum Vorschein gebracht hat. Ferner ist da der Traditionalist, der Disco-Typ, der Maschinenmusik macht, der Digger, der stets auf der Suche nach unentdeckten Edelsteinen zwecks Wiederveröffentlichung ist. Und dann ist da noch der DJ, dessen offener und zugleich mutiger Umgang mit dem Genre ihn einst ein 20-minütiges Instrumental des Spiritual-Jazz-Saxophonisten Pharoah Sanders im Berghain spielen ließ.
Nach der Veröffentlichung seiner Zusammenstellung von funkelnder, analoger Ambient- und Atmosphärenmusik für die geschätzte „Late Night Tales“-Reihe, stellt Floating Points' erstes Album seit vier Jahren, „Crush“, alles, was man über ihn zu wissen meint, wieder auf den Kopf. Nicht minder als ein knallender Donnerschlag elektronischen Experimentalismus’, dessen Titel auf den langsam überkochenden Schnellkochtopf anspielt, den die aktuelle politische Gemengelage in der Welt suggeriert, in der wir uns derzeit befinden. So hat Shepherd einige seiner bisher härtesten und treibendsten Tracks produziert, mit Blick auf die britische Bass-Szene (aus der er in den späten 2000er Jahren selbst hervorgegangen ist), wie beispielsweise die zuvor veröffentlichte markante Lead-Single „LesAlpx“ (Pitchforks „Best New Track“). Auf „Crush“ sind allerdings auch einige seiner ausdrucksstärksten Songs zu finden: seine charakteristische Melancholie ist in den erhabeneren, sanfteren Momenten des Albums oder im Buchla-Synthesizer zu finden, dessen unheimliche Modulation das Album prägt.
Sein neues Album fühlt sich augenblicklich an - und lebendig. Es ist der Klang der vielen Seiten von Floating Points, die schließlich miteinander verschmelzen. Es bezieht sich auf die „explosiven“ Momente während seiner Sets, die normalerweise auftreten, wenn er unerwartete Genres zusammenwirft, aus dem ganz einfachen Grund, weil er sich darüber freut, diese Platte „jetzt wirklich laut hören zu können“ und dann die Nadel aufsetzt. Es ist „genau wie das, was passiert, wenn man zu Hause mit seinen Freunden Musik spielt und diese sich überall im Raum ausbreitet.“, erklärt er.
Introspection Recordings is proud to present his new limited 300 copies series.
A four-track EP that practically oozes class, the debut offering from Italian label Introspection is nothing if not an auspicious one. Featuring four tracks from an evidently shrewdly chosen bunch of artists, Introspection001 takes on numerous different styles and sounds, with the end result one that's thoroughly uncompromising and always engaging throughout. Featuring the work of four Italian producers; E-dward!, Matthew Redden, Lorenzo Magnozzi and BCFHBH, it's a release that dazzles from start to finish.
We get going courtesy of Edoardo Scarpellini aka E-dward!'s 'Got It'. A firm fixture in discerning Italian circles, as a DJ he has played in practically all of his country's foremost nightspots, not least Cocoricò in Riccione, Spazio 900 in Roma as well as Tenax and Fortezza da Basso in Florence. Equally renowned as a producer, his sounds have brought him to a wide range of respected outlets, including Bosconi, Stardub and Apparel Music. A minimal track that's but a sum of a few parts, Scarpellini's contribution here is a dubby, weighty, emotional cut that's high on intensity throughout.
Next up is Matteo Salvadorini aka Matthew Redden. A native of Livorno, Redden's contribution here, the whimsical, curious strands of 'Melancholic Probe In A Sad Space' serves up a very different sound to what's come before. A nimble, microhouse-inspired cut that's both happy and sad while serving up a host of introspective vibes, Redden's contribution here is truly a joy to behold.
The B side kicks off courtesy of label owner Lorenzo Magnozzi and his track, the wonderful 'Acid Morning (Space Time)'. Another track on display here that's been suitably named, it's teeming with peak-time prowess, with its sporadic vocal stabs only adding to the sense of drama. A considerable move into a different sound sphere, it signals the EP's intentions with some prowess. Supported by a host of respected names such as Ricardo Villalobos, Dana Ruh, Raresh, Tobi Neumann and Nastia, his is a sound that defines categorisation but one that always follows a discerning script.
Born in Huntingdon in the UK but raised in Pisa, BCFHBH started his musical journey at the age of 11, meddling with his parent's vinyl collection, a move that would ultimately inspire a life-long love affair with all things electronic music. His deep house flavoured track, 'Kin' is a wonderfully deep number that harks back to the days when deep truly did mean deep. A classy, sophisticated and wonderfully restrained track, it signs off the release in some style.
With the ethos 'Quality House Music Never Betray', Eureka! is a driving force in the evolution of quality house music.
Produced by Pablo Valentino, founder of Faces Records with MCDE, this fifth release features collaborations with Kez YM and Simbad; a Eureka! debut... The A side kicks us off with 'Bananas', with its edgy house groove and up-tempo piano riff, followed by the more downtempo chillout jazzy track, 'Inspiracao'.
Side B's 'Space Tribe' brings our journey into the lo-fi, featuring the beautiful echoing synth sounds of veteran London producer, Simbad. ※Pablo Valentino - Space Tribe released digitally only.
*Artwork by Kouhei Asakura *Mastering by Hideo Kobayash
- A1: Ojard Et Jean Ray - Une Barque
- A2: Jackson And His Computer Band - Romantico
- A3: Fille Unique - Elle Rêve De Mars
- A4: Le Comte - Bye Bye
- B1: Krikor - Looker
- B2: Ashburn County - Ghosts In The Battlefields
- B3: Bun - Fatblwhut48
- C1: Trypheme - Pierre's Birthday
- C2: Destiino - Like Love
- C3: Felicia Atkinson - Amber's Desire
- C4: Pierre Rousseau - Anonyme
- D1: Villeneuve & Morando - Constant
- D2: Bambounou - Self Stockholm Syndrome
- D3: Iueke - Of The Dust
- D4: Smagghe & Cross - Ressac
While the first volume of Tigersushi's new compilation series showcased a rather cosmic and synth heavy side of all things ambient, this volume 2 goes in many new directions, with more experiments towards electro = acoustics and musique concrete, another side of ambient that has a long French lineage - the term Musique Concrete, a type of "acousmatic" music was invented by pioneer Pierre Schaeffer in 1948 who influenced numerous other French composers such as Pierre Henry, Laurent Bayle etc.
The album »Pillars of Salt« creates a space of freedom and activity in which Ozan Tekin shows his various skills as a keyboard player and producer, but also turns his innermost to the outside: Nothing sweet or narcissistic here. Three of the seven tracks were produced for the independent Turkish film »Tuzdan Kaide«, which had its premiere at Berlinale 2018. The surreal epos is transformed into a seductive hypnosis, not least thanks to Tekin’s music. Although just a few people have heard about Ozan Tekin before, the artist from Istanbul has already shown up in prestigious scenes: as the keyboarder of the Libyan disco star Ahmed Fakroun, as a part of Cologne’s nextbigthing Boddy and also under his singer-songwriter alias Seyrek Rifat.
Kangding Ray consistently fascinates the scene with his unique style that is bridging the dance floor and abstract electronic composition, talking equally to the mind and the body. His first record for Figure spans exactly that arc, introducing to the label something both for headphones as it is built for the big clubs.
The tracks on X13 feel as intimate as the artist‘s work on other long players but are focused clearly on impacting the physical realm. Teeming with ideas, he first lets his modular synths sway and turn loosely before switching it to a more bassy and propulsive approach on the flip. Balancing cinematic strings against stepping rhythms, the EP‘s closing track is another prime example of this producer‘s skill to craft something which holds up as an abstract piece of art as much as it does yield a lot of emotional tension.
Picnic Record's founder Captn K is back and while he was gone he got a 909, "What are you gonna do with your 909 Captn K?" – "Try doing a bit of house I guess." So with this release the West Australian producer lends his unique style to a bit of 90s inspired house.
Sometimes you just gotta get it off your chest, and with the world the way it is there's a fair bit to get angry about. On R U COOL? Captn K shakes his fist at the sky and gets old school with his 909 and trusty bass synth to let it all out. A rant filled bad-ass-belter that cranks you up and kicks out the bad vibes. It's funny but relatable. It's simple but it's big! Included is a dub version for the club when you want the wriggle without the rant.
On the flip we got Tonite We Flying, a sexy piano driven builder that launches into a vocal filled disco/house track. Amazing husky vocals from Captn k's mate, Britt Bro tell the story of a night out and the desire to be free. Chugging piano n bass, juicy synth swells n sweeps and funky percussion get jiggy with their long time pals, 909 kicks n claps! Together it creates an uplifting energy filled anthem that makes you want to soar into the night!
Let you ears and sub be the judge, chances are you'll find a place for this one in the crate at your next party.
O'Girl aka Ellinor Jackson is back once again on Borft! Her debut left me wanting for more. Like label boss Villa Abo said 'Sometimes you just feel right about it'. Although this 4-tracker is her second record out there the music is fully matured house goodness. Stabs and chords builds up a funky groove on a solid beat foundation in Corners Couch. Proper sunset/sundown dance music. Snap Happy dives right into filtered loopy loops and voice samples. It takes its time so you can get snug and cosy and then unleashes a percussion party right at the end so you'll be smile-dancing and sipping fizzy in no time. Shoddy Shoes is a straight up club joint. Dark wobbly techno bass moves dubby stabs forward while a mysterious mist floats on top. Some strong clap action keeps everything moving from side to side! The last track is a lush French Riviera happy moment. Warm pads, classic house piano and bass action all day long. Smiles everywhere and not a cloud in sight! - Sahpo Ripasso
- A1: Sarah Davachi - Untitled (Live In Portland - Excerpt)
- A2: Carlos Walker - Via Lactea
- A3: The Rationals - Glowin
- A4: William S Fischer - Chains
- B1: Max Roach - Equipoise
- B2: Abu Talib - Blood Of An American
- B3: Sweet & Innocent - Express Your Love
- B4: Robert Vanderbilt & The Foundation Of Souls - A Message Especially From God
- C1: A Message Especially From God - A Message Especially From God
- C2: Alain Bellaiche - Sun Blues
- C3: Alain Bellaiche - Sea Fluorescent
- C4: Kara-Lis Coverdale - Moments In Love (Excerpt)
- D1: Azimuth - The Tunnel
- D2: Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - Milk (Excerpt)
- D3: Toshimaru Nakamura - Nimb#59
- D4: Floating Points - The Sweet Time Suite (Part 1 - Opening - Exclusive Kenny Wheeler Cover Version)
- D5: Lauren Laverne - Ah! Why, Because The Dazzling Sun (Exclusive Spoken Word Piece)
Floating Points' personal collection of global soul, ambient, jazz and folk treasures form the latest in the warmly revered Late Night Tales series.
Sam Shepherd aka Floating Points' music taste is notoriously tricky to define, ranging from ethereal classical at one end to coruscating techno at the other, united only in a firm belief in the transcendental power of music to move hearts, minds and - yes - feet. Similarly, his production career has ranged from early experiments in dance music with breakout records such as the 'Shadows EP' and collaborating with legendary Gnawa master Mahmoud Guinia to his expansive album 'Elaenia', which met with critical acclaim upon its release in 2015.
This Late Night Tales excursion into the depths of the evening reflects his broad tastes. The globally-travelled producer has collected untold treasures on his travels from dusty stores in Brazil to market stalls near his hometown. There's the gorgeous 'Via Làctea', culled from Carlos Walker's debut album, Abu Talib's (Bobby Wright) plaintive 'Blood Of An American' and Robert Vanderbilt's gospel reworking of Manchild's 'Especially For You'. Raw soul and feeling oozing from each song's pores.
At the other end of the music scale are the modernists, such as Québécoise Kara-Lis Coverdale who weighs in with the indelible 'Moments In Love', Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith whose 'Milk' is an exercise in tranquility, while Sarah Davachi's meditative mix-opener offers respite from a weary world.
We have some exclusive tracks for Late Night Tales; alongside Davachi's offerings there is also Toshimaru Nakamura's 'Nimb #59', as well as the now traditional cover version. hepherd delved into his childhood
memory for this one, a track taken from the first album his parents bought him, Kenny Wheeler's 'Music For Large & Small Ensembles': Sam offers up his interpretation of 'Opening Part 1'. Wheeler also contributes horns to Azimuth
track The Tunnel, written and performed by Norma Winstone and John Taylor who, coincidentally, are the parents of Floating Points' drummer Leo Taylor. Closing the album, Lauren Laverne reads the suitably nocturnal poem 'Ah! Why, Because The Dazzling Sun' by Emily Brontë.
'I tried to find music that reflects the stillness of night. And because my musical interests lie all over the place, it's quite difficult to distil that notion down to just a few songs. I was quite keen to have some electronic music in there but I also really wanted to have some soul music mixed in, so I had to try and find a pathway between all of this different music.' - Sam Shepherd (Floating Points) March 2019
Director Amanda Kramer’s prompts for composer Ben Babbitt’s soundtrack to her enigmatic film Paris Window read like magnetic fridge poetry – “warped ambient bumper muzak tension” – but the results skew closer to some hypnagogic contemporary noir: lulling, low-lit, and laced with lingering dread. Electronics, strings, and percussion swoon and seethe in heady mirages of dreams and delirium, romance and menace. The narrative it accompanies is equally opaque and out of time: two eccentric siblings psychologically unravel through divergent fixations, one obsessed with the hypnotic infomercials of a mysterious self-help institute while the other falls in love with an ambiguous doppelganger.
Babbitt’s background scoring experiential video games (Kentucky Route Zero) and collaborating with exploratory songwriters (Angel Olsen, Weyes Blood, Eartheater) is evident in his versatility and finesse, flowing fluidly between minimal and maximal modes. Like all dynamic film music, the pieces weave a story of their own. Serene synthetic swells decay into murmuring television static and eerie vocal fragments; close-mic’d drones turn acidic then claustrophobic, mirroring sleep paralysis transformed into panic. Babbitt builds a window into a surreal world, seen through shadows and smeared, street-lit glass.
"Re-Calibrate", the companion piece to Donoso's 2018 acclaimed album "Calibrate" continues to obfuscate any clear definition of genre or style and continues to push his music into stranger, more complex and extreme territories. Equal parts tender and twisted, cynical and honest, beautiful and obnoxious, ‘Re_Calibrate’ shines through as a major point in the composer’s discography – and provides a glimpse into the new directions being taken. ‘Re_Calibrate’ is a challenging listen; void of any trendy tropes or appeal for consumers of watered down, homogenized and dogmatic electronic music.
“Quicksilver frequencies, gravelly formants and shimmering, mirage-like washes of tone. Sometimes his sounds feel like signals picked up by a radio telescope, or pure electricity poured through a sieve” Pitchfork
- A1: How Do You Like My New Dog_ (2019 Remaster)
- A2: Kaltes Klares Wasser (2019 Remaster)
- A3: Geh Duschen (2019 Remaster)
- A4: Zarah (2019 Remaster)
- A5: Pernod (2019 Remaster)
- B1: Your Turn To Run (2019 Remaster)
- B2: Thrash Me (2019 Remaster)
- B3: You You (2019 Remaster)
- B4: Kampfen Und Siegen (2019 Remaster)
- B5: Dabo (2019 Remaster)
- C1: Geld - Money (2019 Remaster)
- C2: Leidenschaft - Passion (2019 Remaster)
- C3: Eifersucht - Jealousy (2019 Remaster)
- C4: Einsam - Lonesome (2019 Remaster)
- C5: Macht - Power (2019 Remaster)
- D1: Tod - Death (2019 Remaster)
- D2: Mensch (2019 Remaster)
- D3: Slave (2019 Remaster)
- D4: Traum - Dream (2019 Remaster)
- D5: Gewissen (2019 Remaster)
2x12" Repress
January 1981 found Gudrun Gut and Bettina Koster in Christopher Franke’s Berlin-Spandau Studio recording their first Malaria! EP (Zensor Records). Christine Hahn of The Static with Glenn Branca and Barbara Ess, joined in from New York, and Manon P. Duursma fresh from Nina Hagen’s O.U.T. project and Susanne Kuhnke completed the Line-Up.
Malaria! started touring intensively soon after the release of their 12”, commencing with a concert with New Order at Brussel’s Ancienne Belgique, and going on from there to concerts with Siouxsie and the Banshees, Birthday Party, The Slits, The AuPairs, Raincoats, Nina Hagen, John Cale, Einstuerzende Neubauten. They played venues as diverse as the Mudd Club, Peppermint Lounge and Studio 54 in New York, the Documenta in Kassel, the Bat Cave in London, Les Bains Douche in Paris, Milky Way and Paradiso in Amsterdam, ICA in London, the Piazza Santa Maria Novella in Florence and Markthalle in Hamburg and naturally, again and again, at the SO36 in Berlin.
While touring, Malaria! used their time off to record in Studios in New York, London, Brussels, New Orleans, and in Berlin (How Do You Like My New Dog? 7”, Weisses Wasser 12”, New York Passage 12”, Revisited MC, Emotion Album). At the BBC studios in London Maida Vale Malaria recorded an Kit Jensen and a John Peel Session.
Malaria! took a break in 1984 - Bettina and Christine re-located to New York, and Gudrun and Manon stayed in Berlin to form, with Beate Bartel, Matador, but not before they recorded their Mini-Album, Beat the Distance. 1992 Gudrun, Bettina, Christine, and Manon met up in New Orleans with Jim Thirlwell (Foetus) to record Elation 12”. Elation was followed by Cheerio, Album, which again was recorded in Berlin.
Chicks on Speed did their own version of Malaria’s song, Kaltes Klares Wasser in 2001, and the Remix went into the German Top 10.
Malaria has been an instrumental part of Berlin Music History, as recently presented at the „Zurück zum Beton“ at Düsseldorf’s Kunstakademie, Kunsthalle Wien „Punk!“, „Geniale Dilletanten“ Goethe Institut, and in B-Movie.
BIBA KOPF 2019
The theme song for that great German road movie yet to be made, Malaria!’s 1981 single “How Do You Like My New Dog?” etched the E into the motion music of their soon-come debut album Emotion with its trail-out line “Immer vorwärts, nie zurück...”. Always forward, never back: from West Berlin to London, Paris, New York and Tokyo... from here, there and everywhere to eternity, the Autobahn goes on forever, with Malaria! at the wheel, spinning new moves from timelines crossed in records and songs right on the money evoking Zarah Leander, fighting the power, staring down Death, and a whole lot more. In all, one merry hell of a ride, and on the evidence of Compiled 2.0, it’s not over yet.
MARK REEDER 2019
"Even today, their originality in everything from sound to style, has proven just how relevant Malaria! are. In my opinion, their music has stood the test of time. To me, Emotion sounds as good today as it did when it was first released and it was a pleasure to revisit it. They might not have had any zillion selling albums, and their image might have been copied, while their sound could never be. They remain exclusively unique and their influence and legacy will reach far into the future. This band is both an inspiration and a statement and they prove what five very creative girls can achieve, if given the right support to allow them to evolve, and it is exactly that, which has made Malaria! Germany’s most successful and renowned, all-girl band...“
DIEDRICH DIEDERICHSEN 1991
"...Malaria! put across so many clear, manifest, attractive, certain, muscular, and harsh symbols, just as they refused - defying the customs intrinsic to these symbols and the worlds in which they circulate - to weave all these things into a readable, reproducible and manageable, generic text..."
This 4 track EP comes out of Ibiza Records archive vault's called Archives Vol 5 produced by Low Block Noise in 1991 & EOAD in 1993. Each of these tracks represents hardcore and merging of jungle breaks starting to come through in the early 90s.
A. Rave in the Bedroom - This track produced by L.N.B made in 1991 has some great piano stabs and had a sample taken from 'The Young Ones' bbc2 sitcom as back then it was all about the big samples being used.
AA. Its Not Big & Its Not Clever - This track from L.B.N made in 1992 and has a classic sample taken from Robin Williams 'Good Morning Vietnam' film. The track has strong jungle breaks that were now a dominating presence at that time in the scene.
AAA. Love The Feeling - This track produced by E.O.A.D made in 1993 is more hardcore with the piano stabs offering a ravey anthem feel representing the warehouse scene. Which was dying out and Jungle was becoming the more dominant force.
AAAA. This track produced by E.O.A.D also made in 1993 and is a remix of the original with the hardcore elements offering a more raving anthem feel representing the warehouse scene back then.
Kompakt welcomes veteran contemporary experimental producer Marcus Schmickler with the release of his spectacular noise/techno fused medallion entitled “Particle/Matter-Wave/Energy”. Marcus Schmickler’s fifty plus release discography is one of the most fascinating in his field. From his studies under Cologne based Stockhausen collaborator Johannes Fritsch to his releases through legendary imprints a-Musik, editionsMego and Mille Plateaux, over the years Schmickler has been behind innumerable collaborations and sonic explorations. Be it through his ground-breaking indie/electronic band Pluramon or through his releases that have included collaborations with musicians such as John Tilbury, Thomas Lehn, Julee Cruise or MIMEO he has even had his works being performed by ensemble recherche, musikFabrik or Paragon Ensemble. Beyond continuing to perform on the world stages, he authors theatre and film and currently teaches at Institut für Musik und Medien in Dusseldorf. This brings us to the release of "Particle/Matter-Wave/Energy" - a 37 minute long piece (split into 2 parts on the LP version) that explores the borders of a scientific universality of sonification towards something that becomes a singular experience – sound. The pieces’ foundational aim was to create an acoustic rendering of what it sounds like when two galaxies collide by gravitational forces. To avoid this one sheet getting lost in theory, the audible result of “Particle/Matter-Wave/Energy” is an incredibly, immersive work that is required listening from start to end. Contemporary experimental music and modern techno collide as waves of synths caress the listener through intense waves of frequency variables. The orchestral enormity of the piece is both discomforting yet embracing as the listener feels engulfed with it’s robotic caress.
Spread out over two 12"vinyls - this is the result from a two day recording session in Brussels by the duo of Beau Wanzer & Maoupa Mazzocchetti. 25 minutes of dance floor perversions that tackle an array of rhythmic forms. Sludgy synths, serrated percussion and viscous distortion goops over leviathan rhythms
Beau says, “We hooked everything up and just pushed play. We didn’t really discuss much about the process….it was very ‘spur of the moment’.” The equipment set up included a Roland TR-808, TR-606, SH-101, CR-78, CR-8000, two Syncussions and effects. Each EP contains 25 minutes of dance floor perversions that tackle an array of rhythmic forms. Sludgy synths, serrated percussion and viscous distortion goops over leviathan rhythms
Die Acid-House-Pioniere 808 State melden sich mit ihrem ersten neuen Album seit 2002 zurück. 808 State gehörten zu den wegweisenden Acts der Manchester-Rave-Szene und feierten mit dem zeitlosen Klassiker "Pacific State" ihren grössten kommerziellen Erfolg. Auf "Transmission Suite" kombinieren sie ihren typischen Electro-House-Sound mit der Industrial-Vergangenheit ihrer Heimatstadt und Einflüssen aus klassischem Detroit Techno zu einer futuristischen Electro-Vision.
Two dope Island Boogie tracks by Experience, an Afro Reggae group hailing from Germany. - Very nice steeldrumming in these tunes..
Experience’s “Share It With You” and “Happiness” can both be found on the private LP release “Oh! What A Feeling” from 1982. The group consisted of Anthony Flaverney from Trinidad, Curvin Murchant from Jamaica, Daniel Kofi Jefferson from Ghana and John Innies from Trinidad and was founded in Hamburg.
Anythony Flaverney, the lead singer on both songs, was active as songwriter and musician in Germany since the mid-1970s, most notably appearing on the Peter Herbolzheimer arranged “Caribbean Rock“ album by Malcolm's Locks (be sure to check their funk version of Bob Marley’s “Get Up Stand Up”!). Curvin Merchant, a highly respected drummer from Jamaica, settled in Germany around the same time. Before forming Experience, he was a member in several groups, including highly successful pop acts like Boney M. Later he became known as "Germany’s Grandfather of Roots Rock Reggae", among other things buildung up the "Reggae Center" in Hamburg. Flaverney and Merchant are joined by Daniel Jefferson on bass and John Innies on steel pan. The band existed for about 2 years, touring in Germany and Europe, unfortunately recording only one album which features a unique mix of Reggae and Funk.
The first track “Share It With You”, should give any serious music lover goose bumps. It was written by Flaverney and features a deep groove, steel drum solos and fantastic soulful vocals. It’s that type of tune you will play in a DJ set and people will come up to you and ask what it is. The single version is slightly edited.
Side B continues with Happiness, an equally great track with positive vibe and attitude, written by Flaverney and Jefferson. Again, the steel pan sounds give it that special compelling “Island” vibe from Trinidad.
The single is limited to 300 copies and comes in a beautiful picture sleeve showing part of the original artwork from the “Oh! What A Feeling” album.
Hand stamped white label, album sampler for forthcoming Richard Fearless album of the same title.
Atlas of Insanity’ is reactionary, big room techno from Richard Fearless; a pounding kick, death whip snares, and synth lines that drill into your core. This is raw, impulsive electronic body music made to loose your mind.
With ‘New Perspective’ Fearless delivers pure techno soul. With sonic leanings towards the North’s Bleep scene and minimalist techno pioneer Mika Vainio’s Philius and Ø alias.
“Dive / 4AM” is the latest outing from San Francisco Bay Area-based six-piece, The Seshen. The 7” outlines thesteps the group has made since their critically acclaimed sophomore album in 2016, both as a band and as individuals. “Since ‘Flames & Figures', a lot has been taking place both internally and externally. We were on tour for the last album when Trump was elected. There was an intense heaviness, a familiar one, one that extends generations and it just sunk in even further”, singer/lyricist Lalin St. Juste explains.
Side A opens with distorted four-to-the-floor chomper, “Dive”. Aggressive yet danceable, gritty but somehow unstoppable, “Dive” is inspired the profound need for change, catalysed through the somnambulant Larry Heard-esque bassline meshed to the warped tones of Lalin’s vocals. “The path towards my power, my strength, being okay with being unapologetic is just starting. I’m reclaiming what I have lost, reclaiming what has been passed down to me. The song is about the ground beginning to shake”, Lalin preaches.
While in contrast on side B, “4AM” untethers the listener by exploring a sense of spaciousness, flourishing the sparseness, distracting with moving snippets of delicate production. Lyrically tackling the insomniacs waking nightmare, “4AM” is about the witching hour, battling against oneself. "I was experiencing anxiety at night...where I would review all my actions and all the things I said throughout the day in search of something that I did wrong. At times it would keep me up, and I felt that I was at war with my mind.”
The Edwards Generation are a family group that was lead by the legendary Duke Record's Chuck 'Bullfight' Edwards. The group originated in Pittsburgh before moving to San Francisco in the mid 1970s. They self released a number of singles and an album called 'The Street Thang' during the '70s on Tight Records, which have all become highly sort after items. The Edwards Generation were a hard working band that recorded a number of self composed compositions that all remained unreleased until Cordial Recordings partnered the family to release the songs on vinyl, CD & digital. The album is a collection of uptempo dancefloor gems alongside the slower downtempo songs 'Dynasty' confirms that the The Edwards Family are highly talented songwriters and that the time is right for the songs to be heard.
"We Can Do Anything We Want Because They Say We Can't Afford The Police"
Talking Heads lost in Ancoats. Prince in a Berghaus. The Compass Point All-Stars meet the Piccadilly Gardens Spiceheads.
Welcome to the world of SEE THRU HANDS.
Here to bring salvation to a Broken Brexit Britain, See Thru Hands is a fresh band from Manchester with hooks for days and a SERIOUS live vibe. Their debut EP on Manchester legend RUF DUG's label RUF KUTZ - "The Hot City EP" - brings you two new songs backed with remixes tested on the world's best dance floors.
Opener HOT CITY's energetic punk/funk conveys a dark story of British city life outside the London bubble.
Our councils are fucked, our public services neutered and all anyone cares about is when Deliveroo is gonna be available in their neighbourhood. Throw away your post-apocalyptic fantasies because it's already like that - the only option is to dance. It's grim up north.
After dancing ur arse off and simultaneously coming to the realisation that we're all fucked pls don't worry - See Thru Hands are here to pick up your pieces with NOTHING TO LOSE, a whimsical modern pop banger with shades of New British House that will instil in you a sense of freedom and ease all your worries.
Yes we are all going to hell in a handcart but with See Thru Hands as our companions, I think it's all gonna be just fine.
The package comes backed with a pair of deadly remixes - boss man RUF DUG strips back Hot City to the bare bones, rigs up a couple of jazzy neon lights and a DMX drum machine and brings you his 'Metrolink Vibes In The Area' version, while young upstart METRODOME completes the all-Mancunian lineup on this record with a twisted Marmite 2-step interpretation that is either gonna make you buzz or spew. It's not for everyone.
(180gr vinyl) Polysom re-issue of Gilberto Gil rare 3rd album, and a key piece of the Tropicalia puzzle – one of the most wildly experimental albums from those years, and Gil's last before going into exile! Tracks include "Cerebro Eletronico", "Volks Volkswagen Blue", "Futurivel", and "2001", which was written by Tom Ze and Rita Lee – plus the wild cut "Objecto Semi-Identificado" with vocals by Gil!
PBR Streetgang return to their newly launched KURTZ imprint this October to deliver ‘Acid Tools’, accompanied by Wilde Renate residents Longhair on remix duties.
Founded in Leeds but now found touring the international scene week in, week out, Bonar Bradberry and Tom Thorpe, aka PBR Streetgang, have cemented their position as leading names within the current house and disco landscape via a slew of stand-out releases on imprints such as Skint, Crosstown Rebels and Futureboogie, plus appearances in 2019 alone at Glastonbury, Love International, Printworks and a summer residency at Pikes Ibiza to name just a few. Launched earlier this year, their new KURTZ imprint quickly found favour amongst a who’s who of the industry’s leading names, from Andrew Weatherall to Bicep, Hot Chip to Soul Clap, and here we see the duo step out again on home turf to deliver the second instalment as they reveal their Acid Tools’ EP, featuring three versions of the up-front ‘Ron’ - each of which have been doing damage in their sets across the summer months - backed by a remix from Wilde Renate residents Longhair.
Up first and delivering the ‘Full Fat’, version one sees Bradberry and Thorpe introduce punchy analogue percussion arrangements in tandem with a chunky, menacing acid line at the production’s core, whilst infectious vocal samples and hooks ebb in and out of the mix to guide the production as it chugs along, whilst the ‘Half Fat’ mix strips back the vocals to reveal a driving and warping journey across six-and-a-half minutes. Next up, Berlin duo Longhair’s remix welcomes a low-slung interpretation armed with delayed effects and sci-fi atmospherics to provide a combination of rich depth and space, before rounding out proceedings via the ‘Fully-Skimmed’ mix – a high-energy 909 fueled workout set to feature as a favourite for many across the months ahead.
Dynamic composer Neil Cowley is set to release solidly electronic club-focused track 'DFAM'.
Neil writes: "The latest challenge I’ve set myself in my studio has been to look at how I incorporate my signature instrument (the piano) into my electronic palette of sounds.
It’s a hell of a hooky riff to jump on and it means I can get away with playing it on an endless cycle.
"groove based hypnosis is definitely my favourite state of mind".
Sometimes in soul music history it has seemed that record producers couldn't get enough of a certain backing track, churning out singles after another, chasing for a hit that never came. The latter doesn't really apply to Pratt & Moody's "Lost Lost Lost", which just recently broke 1 million Youtube plays. While stacking up fame in the lowrider soul scene, this beat ballad also caught the ear of the West Coast record collector and dj Mike Noriega, who decided to write fresh lyrics to accompany its instrumental.
"Wondering" that came as a result was brought to life by the singer and industry insider Gerald McCauley, who turned his soul inside out for the performance. In the past McCauley has worked as a musician, A&R man for example in a project involving George Benson and Al Jarreau and even produced a book and documentary on the history of the Fender Rhodes electric piano. Here he slips comfortably into the Cold Diamond & Mink groove, squeezing every drop of heartache on tape.
This version continues the story of "Lost Lost Lost" so gracefully that one can only wonder, if there are more to come. Who will be the next poor soul to sink into this deceivingly blissful bed of roses, filled with piano, drums and slide guitar?
After writing pop-based music under the name Renkas, Sasha Renkas searched for a more carefree and direct approach to making and recording music. His project Antenna is the result of that. He gets his sounds from the unexpected errors and limitations of hardware equipment from the '80s and '90s. Under the Antenna moniker, Sasha has released EPs and singles on labels like Clone, Pinkman, and Beats in Space. This time, Antenna is back with a full-length album. He recorded hours of jams in his studio in Rotterdam and then took a small set-up to Kiev to edit and finish the tracks there. The result is 'Quiet fx', the first release on new label World Of Paint. On 'Quiet fx', Antenna offers melodic soft house tracks with touches of electro and uk breaks.
Leifur James released his debut album A Louder Silence in October 2018 on Late Night Tales original artist label Night Time Stories; home to Texan trio Khruangbin and the iconic Late Night Tales series. The record attracted immediate support from Pitchfork, KEXP, XLR8R, Mixmag 8/10, Future Music UK 9/10, Electronic Sound 9/10. In April 2019 ‘Wurlitzer’ was the first piece of music he revealed from a new creative period after those sessions. The video was created by animator/director Balázs Simon, premiering on Boiler Room and was nominated for the BMVA Berlin Music Video Awards in the experimental music category, airing at the British Film Insitute BFI Southbank London.
Now in September 2019 he has prepared a remix EP 12" of the debut album A Louder Silence, featuring a slew of the finest musicians in electronic music today. Blueberry Records founder FaltyDL aka Drew Lustman comes first with a deep, skipping 2-stepping reversion of Mumma Don’t Tell. Bruce coming off the back of his hugely well received debut album for Hessle Audio has a “resymph” of Osho in typical mind-bending austere electronic style. Whities producer and Tirzah/Mica Levi collaborator Coby Sey reconstructs Suns of Gold with his sampler, and also accompanying it, is Leifur’s own remix of suns of Gold.
Warehouse Find!
Flight Mode makes a welcome return to Delusions, this time joining forces with Joel Brittain to come up with another killer release in the form of Burn This. Those who caught his last one It’s So Nice last year will know the drill…. epic, rolling, dubbed-out loopy uptempo house based around a classic disco bassline which patiently builds, increasing in intensity Wild Pitch style. Burn This treads similar waters with subtle arpeggios floating around an incessant groove whilst layers of vocal pads build to a crescendo over a beautiful ten minute ride. Completely flipping the script we’ve got the man like Medlar stepping up for remix duties and delivering just the kind of bonkers reworking we were hoping for. Keeping the trippy vibe of the original in place but opting for a more drum machine-programmed groove Medlar’s remix turns the shuffle factor up to ten and adds a rude bassline and intense synths which make it a real ear worm. Finally, Flight Mode gives us his own Tricky Dub of Burn This which adds a straighter 4/4 vibe and goes heavier on the FX creating a perfectly bubbling track which seems to simmer without ever boiling over.
The always on-point and culturally significant Tuskegee Music is back with more essential music, this time from venerated American producer D’Marc Cantu. Over the course of a distinguished career, Cantu has contributed to everything from jackbeat to acid, house to techno on labels like Creme Organisation and Les Disques De La Mort. Always serving up raw-edged, uncompromising sounds, he does so again here on another standout EP. Opener ‘Beat The Move’ is an urgent, high tech piece of slick and supple acid house with 303 undulations, dark vocal loops and the sort of hammering drums that get the club locked right in.
The sublime ‘In The Forest’ is a tripped out bit of restless electro with skittish hits and rueful pads that gets right to your heart. Last of all is the militant, marching ‘A Narrow Connection’ which closes things out with crisp kicks and scintillating sheet metal drums that straighten your back and get you stomping.
These are utilitarian yet wonderfully unique club tracks from a real master of the form.
Albert Tales release their two debut singles as a double A-side funk 45". Based in Israel, Albert Tales are a neo-soul, funk and soul band. After developing a cult following in Tel-Aviv they were picked up by UK Label Freshly Squeezed - and shortly after attracting the attention of Craig Charles, Disco Freaks as well as gaining direct support from local DSP platforms such as Spotify Israel and Apple Israel. Although only their first ever release, the quality of the music and the noise building around them hints towards their future potential. Released as a dinked 7 inch and with limited supply - we hope to see this early product transition into a collectors item down the line. Albert Tales will be entering the european festival circuit next year with plans forming for the UK, Italy and surrounding nations.
Sonido Gallo Negro has been a mainstay of the current revival of tropical and psychedelic music throughout Central and South America since the first of their three albums was released in 2011. Hailing from Mexico City, a hub of cumbia, chicha, surf and garage music for over five decades, it's no wonder that SGN has such a wonderful and integrated blend of traditional styles that have travelled from the Caribbean, up the Andes, through the Amazon, around the shores of coastal Peru and back through Central America. SGN is part of a long line of artists in Mexico to make these cosmic connections found in the music's terrestrial path, yet are completely unique in their own mystical approach, both visually and sonically. As a hefty 9-piece orchestra, the band is quite capable of summoning a rich tapestry of sounds from an array of instruments of the psychedelic persuasion: farfisa, electric guitar, flute, theremin and, in the case of B-side Niño Perdido, accordion from master Colombian artist and NYCT alumnus, Carmelo Torres. It's the making of a swirling kaleidoscope of sounds and squiggles, all of which ride effortlessly over the fluid percussion and pace of those beloved Afro-Latin rhythms. In anticipation of their next full length release,Unknown Future, Names You Can Trust presents the first 7-inch 45 single to ever be released from SGN, a double-sided dose ofsonido psicodélico, spectacularly swirled into a perfect concoction of old meets new.
Fjordfunk is Jann Marius Dahle. He started releasing records back in 1998 and is part of the Norwegian disco scene. His earlier productions has gained the support of diverse people like Idjut Boys, Francois Kevorkian, Anu Pilai, Laurent Garnier, Andrew Weatherall, Headman, Michael Mayer, Steve Bug, Bjorn Torske, Prins Thomas and Tim Sweeney. This album is inspired by ambient, Detroit techno, disco, funk, rock, dub, jazz and latin. Already getting early support from the A love from outer space outfit of Sean Johnston and Andrew Weatherall. He's already booked to play at their Convenenza festival in France later tihs year where he will perform live with Amy Douglas(DFA).
After a string of succesful singles, “Deixa Musica A Tocar”, “So Vejo Voce”, “E A Felicidade” and the Dj Harvey supported “ Te Faz Bem” and “Serei Seu”, The Danish / Brazilian quartet constellation Copenema (Copenhagen / Ipanema = Copenema) are ready to release their debut album “Deixa Musica a Tocar”.
The album mixes European electronica influences with Brazilian songwriting style. The sound becomes unique and some would say Balearic.The albums leading single “Te Faz Bem” a funky downtempo track with live saxophone, flute and rhythm guitars and a baseline to die for has become somewhat a national Ibiza balearic anthem over the past years and spread worldwide especially due to the massive support from Djs incl from Harvey to Dj Pippi to Pete Tong. “Serei Seu” the second single another Ibiza fave is a funky party track that sounds like a modern Jorge Ben. The single “So Vejo Voce” is Stan Getz meets the beach vibes, “Festa De Relaxamento” an Alfredo fave is jazzy Brazilian funk vibes with heavy live drums and a bass line that wants you to move.
“Lullaby For Impanema” is sunset material. The bands first recording the 12 min beautiful jazzy cosmic downtempo Pat Metheny influenced and Leo Mas supported “Some Di Some Day” is pure bliss and a sunset fave amongst the Balearic community.
The album has three added bonus tracks (Vinyl Only) - Can’t Sleep and Nada Mais both recorded in a Music For Dreams writers camp recently and the 12 minute journey of Serei Seu by Danilo Braca
Inland is Vanessa Wagner’s continuation of the exploration of the minimalist composers register to complete the solo continuum of the Statea released in 2016 with the Mexican producer Murcof. Inland highlights a set of pieces, mostly rare or unavailable to date (Moondog, Nico Muhly, William Susman, Bryce Dessner, Gavin Bryars...) and some other well known (Philip Glass, Wim Mertens, Michael Nyman) that Vanessa Wagner performs with her classic pianist background and velvet sound.
Lucie Antunes is a French classically trained drummer and percussionist, inspired by the pioneers of minimalism. Her debut album SERGEÏ is a tour de force of eclectic music that leaves the listener amazed, almost hooked up in Lucie’s magnetic spiral of sounds. The eclecticism that pervades SERGEÏ is shown by Lucie ability to create labyrinths of sounds through the use of unconventional instruments such as marimba, vibraphones, celesta, tubular balls, glockenspiel and ondes Martenot.
Sergei is a statement of freedom. The same childish freedom that we run behind and that we desperately seek. Lucie, with SERGEÏ, achieves her freedom and builds on it, the artist that she is with no compromises but only with the determined ambition to break the boundaries, to shake genres and to make the eyes smile.
A double header from A Colourful Storm delivering Recept's sublime ode to Detroit, 'Quisite' alongside a previously unheard number by Tom Churchill, head of Headspace Recordings and Emoticon (home to Q Project, Russ Gabriel and Scape One). Our pick is 'Quisite': emotive, introspective dancefloor bomb which hasn't lost any charm since its 1998 release. Both tracks remastered in 2019 by Mike Grinser at Manmade Mastering, Berlin. Includes liner notes by Merrick Brown and Tom Churchill.
Bizz O.D. “House Of Domination” is her second 4 track e.p. on Temple Traxx.
Bizz O.D.’s trademark ruff Chicago acid stomps are ear bleeding love songs to a hedonistic lifestyle she is celebrating to this day.
Unique live and DJ sets make her one of New York greatest Wild Pitch producers.
Using only Casio RZ-1, Roland TB303 & TR808 and the legendary Emulator SP1200 drum-sampler prove that inspiration is what matters and love is what counts. A bit of rubber and domination does never hurt though. Bizz is in the House!
With its fourth catalogue number, Steinlach returns to the vinyl format with a remix EP. On board are international friends of the label, who layed hands on Wice's originals with outstanding re- interpretations. While the A-side contains two groovy and club-oriented remixes of "Just kiddin", the trippy flipside focuses on the second outcome of the label and refers to the two pieces "Absent" and "Hertz".
The record opens with a fast-paced and jacking "Just Kiddin" version by Deep'a and Biri. The two guys from Tel Aviv re-interprate the clubby aspect of the piece, furnish it with a portion of percussions and accompany it with a volatile beat. Discharging the track with a big bang, they're leaving the listener with no chance but to move energetically to the groove patterns while cherishing the original lead melody.
Just like Deep'a and Biri, Jon Hester bets on the energy and the recognition value of the original synth line. As typical for Jon, he gives a more Chicago-style housey and bouncy touch to the composition. The lead is getting chopped, re-interpreted and re-arranged into a new groove and melody pattern, sure to inspire the floor to shake and to catapult everyone around into a frisky dancing mood. Suddenly, the well-known arpeggio of the original comes in and makes for the climax of this brilliant remix.
With side B, the club aspect of the record might not be left behind, but moved into more stripped and trippy terrains. The B1 track is fashioned as a ruthless "Absent" version, unmistakably having Refracted's writing all over it. The smallest variations of the synth line, drones, and pads, without resorting to typical drum rack aspects, find their way deep inside the listener's head, and draw them into their subtle rhythm. The unapologetic roughness of the interpretation is striking and makes it a brilliant peaktime weapon.
Rounding up the whole EP, the last remix of the record is a wonderful re-interpretation by the talented Australian that is Mosam Howieson. He ministered to Wice's personal favourite piece and crafted a loving and deep version of "Hertz", which translates the magic of the original into own words and emotions, adds a subtle groove to it, then invites to listen more carefully. One quickly dives into a hopeful world in which a certain magic seems to be present, and where everything seems to be alright. Be it as a perfect last piece after a long fulfilling evening, or as the outstanding means to make the sun rise in the morning-Mosam's interpretation sure hits the spot.
Special thanks go out to our close friends Simon Sandleitner who is always in charge of the great artworks and Roger Reuter (Roger23) for having always an open ear, his helpful advises and his thought-out criticism.
“Having moved forwards emotionally from the wilds of dystopian stalking and associated hobbies, Madonnatron have instead been found frolicking through the green pastures of gangsta pimps, Hindu God wars, Cyber Men invasion, loveless nightclub hook-ups, modern Italian Nabokov, and revered screen goddess Elizabeth Taylor. Think of them as post-punk lab rats in the Secrets Of Nimh, feasting dubiously on back-dated episodes of Top Of The Pops. With notorious roaring guitars, chanting vocals and rabid drums they audibly glow in the dark, are strong-armed, and will probably bite you.”
Like their debut, which was released to much acclaim in July 2017, Musica Alla Puttanesca was produced by Liam D. May at Trashmouth Studios.
Their atmospheric, raw, and confrontational live shows carry a sonic force that by turns will make you weep, cross yourselves, and weep again. In the last couple of years, Madonnatron delivered a successful UK headline tour; supported The Moonlandingz,
































































































































































