No spot in music is immovable. No music can sit still but it’s hardly ver as true as it is for Dowdelin, a band that can’t be tied down to a single geography and genealogy. The creole language, Caribbean rhythms, urban energies, dazzling virtuosity, sensual electro: The group evolves in a unique place where genres and colors, heritage and audacity can merge.
From Karma Recordings comes their ninth EP. Another huge producer in Dead Dred brings his famous basslines and overhauls the track Tina by DJ Ande. Adding awesome brekbeats and you have a sure fire jungle anthem on your hands Oldskool style.
The second track on the A side is the creepy original Tina which builds to a scary crescendo. We are very proud to be introducing the first vinyl release from Dubious, an absolute jungle master and his track Iron Lung fits on this EP with ease.
Then last but not least we have an absolutely blinding Tina remix from the hardware extraordinaire 12Bit Jungle Out There who hails from down under. An absolutely brilliant 4 tracker not to be missed. Karma Recordings are going from strength to strength.
Pop/rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. is the lead & rhythm guitarist and songwriting member of the GRAMMY® and BRIT Awards-winning band The Strokes. He has released 4 solo albums to date, most recently the acclaimed “Francis Trouble” in 2018 which spawned the radio single “Far Away Truths”. In the 4 years, since then, The Strokes released their US Top 10 charting GRAMMY® nominated rock record “The New Abnormal” and toured the world extensively. Albert also began the songwriting process for his 5th solo album “Melodies on Hiatus”, a 19-track album, crafted in a most experimental style. Albert teamed up with his writing partner, Canadian songwriter, and poet Simon Wilcox (whom he never met during the process) and had lengthy conversations via the telephone; Simon would jot down notes from Albert’s stream of consciousness, and draft the lyrics on her typewriter, and drop them into his letterbox! Albert then added the lyrics to the melodies he had already crafted. The songwriting process became a long distant “anonymous love affair of ideas & lyrics.” The album covers themes of childhood, surviving adolescence, adulthood, vulnerability, fame, relationship with self and others, and is Albert’s “deconstructed broken down ego reaction” to “Francis Trouble.” The album also features songs with GoldLink, Matt Helders (of the Arctic Monkeys), Steve Stevens and Rainsford, and was mixed by Tony Hoffer (known for his work with Beck, Air, M83, The Kooks, Fitz and the Tantrums, Metric, Chromeo, etc.) and mastered by Dave Cooley at Elysian Masters (Paramore, Spoon, Tame Impala, Jimmy Eat World, Peanut Butter Wolfe).
Disco-Antistat Ultrasonic - The most thorough way to wash records!
Our record washing machine Disco-Antistat Ultrasonic combines over 40 years of experience in the pflege and cleaning of records with highly developed, state-of-the-art cleaning technology.
The combination of ultrasonic cleaning and our proven goat hair brush system ensures gentle, groove-deep cleaning of your records and an audible improvement in the sound image. During operation, the cleaningfluid is permanently clarified by a filter system and dirt particles are rausgefiltert to minimize impurities in the liquid and thus achieve the best possible cleaning result.
Through our special cleaner, the record is treated antistatically and thus permanently prevented from re-soiling by adhering dust. With only a few handgriffen our washer is ready for operation and the intuitive operability ensures optimal results from the first record!
The simple and intuitive handling as well as the operating elements reduced to the essentials enable best cleaning results from the first record.
The cleaning time can be conveniently adjusted to the degree of soiling of the record, supported by a functional display.
A clearly visible progress indicator provides information on the cleaning status at a glance.
After use, the gefilterte Reinigungsflüssigkeit can be conveniently filled back into the bottle at the touch of a button via a built-in pump.
The permanent filtering of the cleaner prevents the liquid from accumulating dirt. Thus, a consistent cleaning result is achieved.
Thanks to the innovative magnetic coupling, inserting and removing the record is simple and quick.
Driven by an electric motor, the record rotates evenly in the tank, whereby a homogeneous treatment with ultrasound is achieved.
Cleanliness you can hear! A powerful ultrasonic transducer generates so-called cavitation bubbles, which act directly on the dirt and remove it gently and effectively. The ultrasonic waves also reach places that are inaccessible to conventional cleaning methods and ensure cleanliness down to the depth of the groove. The loosened dirt particles are then wiped off on the soft goat hair brushes.
DE:
Automatische Ultraschall Plattenwaschmaschine
Disco-Antistat Ultrasonic – Die gründlichste Art der Schallplattenwäsche!
Unsere Schallplattenwaschmaschine Disco-Antistat Ultrasonic vereint über 40 Jahre Erfahrung in der Pflege und Reinigung von Schallplatten mit hochentwickelter, modernster Reinigungstechnik.
Die Kombination aus Ultraschallreinigung und unserem bewährten Bürstensystem aus Ziegenhaar sorgt für eine schonende, rillentiefe Reinigung Ihrer Schallplatten und einer hörbaren Verbesserung des Klangbildes. Während des Betriebs wird die Reinigungsflüssigkeit permanent durch ein Filtersystem geklärt und Schmutzpartikel herausgefiltert, um Verunreinigungen der Flüssigkeit zu minimieren und somit das bestmögliche Reinigungsergebnis zu erreichen.
Durch unseren speziellen Reiniger wird die Schallplatte antistatisch behandelt und so dauerhaft die erneute Verschmutzung durch anhaftenden Staub verhindert. Mit nur wenigen Handgriffen ist unser Waschgerät betriebsbereit und die intuitive Bedienbarkeit sorgt für optimale Resultate ab der ersten Platte!
Die einfache und intuitive Handhabung sowie die auf das wesentliche reduzierten Bedienelemente ermöglichen beste Reinigungsergebnisse ab der ersten Schallplatte.
Die Reinigungsdauer kann, unterstützt durch ein funktionales Display, bequem dem Verschmutzungsgrad der Schallplatte angepasst werden.
Eine gut sichtbare Fortschrittsanzeige informiert auf einen Blick über den Status der Reinigung.
Nach Gebrauch kann die gefilterte Reinigungsflüssigkeit auf Knopfdruck über eine eingebaute Pumpe bequem in die Flasche zurück gefüllt werden.
Durch die permanente Filterung des Reinigers wird verhindert, dass sich die Flüssigkeit mit Schmutz anreichert. Somit wird ein gleichbleibendes Reinigungsergebnis erzielt.
Das Einsetzen und Entnehmen der Schallplatte ist Dank der innovativen Magnetankopplung simpel und schnell erledigt.
Angetrieben von einem Elektromotor rotiert die Schallplatte gleichmäßig in der Wanne, wodurch eine homogene Behandlung mit Ultraschall erreicht wird
Sauberkeit, die man hören kann! Ein leistungsstarker Ultraschallschwinger erzeugt sogenannte Kavitationsblasen, die direkt an den Verschmutzungen wirken und diese schonend und effektiv ablösen. Die Ultraschallwellen erreichen auch Stellen, die für konventionelle Reinigungsverfahren nicht zugänglich sind und sorgen für Sauberkeit bis in die Tiefe der Rille. Anschließend werden die gelösten Schmutzpartikel an den weichen Ziegenhaarbürsten abgestreift.
The album and single news follows closely on the heels of Daudi’s recent tracks “oMo” and “Fool Me As Many Times As You Like” which have received high praise from the likes of Gilles Peterson on Worldwide FM and BBC 6 Music as well as Lauren Laverne, and have been featured in several Spotify editorial playlists including The Most Beautiful Songs in the World, The Other list, The Listening Post, and Fresh Finds. Having released just two independent EPs – “A Brief Introduction to Failure” and “The Lingering Effects of Disconnection” – to date, Daudi has toured with GoGo Penguin, Keaton Henson, and Portico Quartet, whilst also being a participant of the Red Bull Music Academy in Montreal 2016. He also received a standing ovation at this years The Great Escape Festival, and plays as a member of Do Nothing’s live band, who he is currently on tour with. Through his unique brand of modern albeit reverent folk, Daudi continues to offer his listeners a space for understanding and introspection. Deft, melancholic picking reminiscent of Nick Drake is tempered by contemporary percussion and instrumentation. Matsiko’s vocals derive their strength from their seeming fragility. With every song, his confessional lyrics cut to the marrow.
Merzbild Schwet, the second album opus released in 1980, is considered one of Nurse With Wound's major releases, and is part of the famous "Silver Edition" on Rotorelief Records, with a luxurious chrome-plated cover in double Gatefold sleeves, and sumptuous 200g vinyl discs issued in 300 copies on silver and black vinyl, and 700 copies on black vinyl.
The first track, Futurismo, begins with clanking rhythms, record skip clicks, and horn riffs before veering off into a crazed quilt of women singing, laughing, and talking in French. About halfway through, wild screeches of distortion disrupt the piece, and then more bizarre sounds take over before the piece ends with a collage of over modulated electronic hum and rambling piano. The other cut, Dada X, goes further into weirdness with lots of silences, creepy creaking noises, tones that build up and collapse, and scattered spoken word in French and English from Eve Libertine from the political punk band Crass, and the piece certainly lives up to the Dada of its title.
Swiss label Acquit welcomes back D'Funk for more of their no-frills techno. It's seductive stuff from the off with the opener 'In Your Hood' layers up mind-melting synth sequences with sleek beats. "Let's Play' is a more bulky cut with slamming drums and subtle percussive details then 'My Next Turn' pairs things back to rubbery drum loops and dubby chords that sound all gooey and gloopy. 'Glitch My Funk' picks things up with more taught kick drums that compel you to dance as the delicate cosmic vibes permeate the groove. 'Killing Me Deeply' is a nice raw analogue deep house closer that kicks like a mule.
“My introduction to “noise” came from a record shop in Lake Worth, Florida ran by a musician named Kenny 5. Kenny had left Detroit sometime in the mid nineties and had begun selling used records and CD’s from the downtown strip of this tiny southern Florida city in a humble shop sandwiched between a deli and a dog grooming business. Kenny previously was on labels like Amphetamine Reptile and timeSTEREO, and the records and videotapes that would be on repeat at his shop were a vast sonic expanse that spoke to the eclecticism of his experience as a touring musician participating and adjacent to American noise culture through the early to late 90’s. In 1998, I was eleven years old and I would order a pizza with him and watch VHS tapes of Japanese noise and deathmatch bootlegs, as well as any other sonic and subcultural rarities that far outstripped my age to comprehend (notably the RRR “Journey Into Pain” compilation and various Vanilla Tapes videos). This widecast net of information formed an introduction to a reality that did not fall deaf on me, but it took many years later for me to reorient the specific freedoms of what this dense and cathartic sound culture had imparted on my life and would continue onward to.
What does this have to do with this selection of choice recordings from the Secret Boyfriend catalog for the enmossed label? For the uninitiated, Secret Boyfriend is the long running moniker of Ryan Martin, North Carolina musician and label proprietor of the Hot Releases imprint. For over a decade from this writing I have watched Secret Boyfriend, and Hot Releases by extension as a curatorial and archival effort, embodying the multiplanal capacity that noise loosely functions from as an umbrella ideology and formalist avenue for sound creation. For anecdotal purposes, from (before) 2006 until roughly 2023 the East Coast of the United States showcased a vibrant network of eclectic regional festivals that saw wide swaths of artists addressing and negotiating the notion of what qualified “noise” from a conceptual and ideological perspective. Some festivals honed in on particularities in aesthetics and tropes, and others had a kind of “catch-all” implementation that allowed for a salvation of the sort of alienated and singular artistry that was amassing throughout these territories. While clear guidelines had been set from regional predecessors as to how noise with a capital “N” should maneuver, Secret Boyfriend is emblematic in the spirit of fluidity that was either implicitly coupled to the notion of the genre, or grew to evolve towards or devolve from.
Within Secret Boyfriend performances, I have seen and admired a mirroring from a ravenous appreciator of this culture at large back towards itself. Typical of a Secret Boyfriend set is an interchangeable narrative arc wherein blistering feedback laden scrap metal improvisations are forayed into naive ambient or “pop” songs, or skipping CDs, or mixer feedback play, or delayed Roland 707 drum workouts all at once and in a unique hegemony. Secret Boyfriend's stylistic mastery of each endeavor is at once an homage to a history of loving listening and enacting, while a brave step into the realm of actualizing the unique fluidity of his own practice. In performance and the action of network engagement, Secret Boyfriend operates a survey of that which he sought to hear and that which he cultivates around his work. His operations are mirrors, and the project (alongside his other peers) is a reflection on the ethos of his time.
Conversely his recording practice narrows in on these moments and allows for a different kind of intimacy or alienation for the non live listener. This record of selected “pop songs” (let's call them that) is particularly poignant at a time when the culture Martin mirrors is at a strange crossroads with itself. The aforementioned festival networks necessarily change and shift. The onlookers become the artists, the artists find new horizons, and the spaces for these cycles fade into locales of a distant memory. It seems, from my perspective, that audiences currently yearn for a more bottlenecked experience, searching for some ontologically vetted manifestation of an idea, of a sound and less for an experience that functions in opposition to our collective banalities. This makes sense in the face of general global catastrophism that plagues us. We need certainty of what something is somewhere, don’t we? Noise as an idea has expanded and contracted to so many iterations of itself it is hard to tell what it even is, and it is particularly difficult to identify in the absence of solid network activations a moment to reflect on its own complexities and nuances. In the face of so much change, I argue that the language of noise culture at large has on one hand become increasingly didactic and predictable, and laughably inclusive and non linear on the other. Probably has always been this way, but now we are in the midst of a moment of extreme access and indexicality, which somehow cauterizes expansion and naivety and chance.
This record highlights the Secret Boyfriend that obscures didacticism by highlighting output that opens up for more challenging catharsis and emotive signal processing. It provides an entry to the materialism of a cultural field full of ecstatic complexity and beautiful inconsistency. In these muted moments Secret Boyfriend has given us over his career we have an argument for evolving languages that further challenge our notions of what is supposed to happen and how it is supposed to be presented. In his more song oriented expansiveness, we can punctuate the ability to think in new modalities. Listening to these recordings reminds me of the polarity of sitting in the record store as a kid and understanding that His Name Is Alive is on 4AD and (gasp!) timeSTEREO. This trite early impression that nothing is really as different as our imaginations might want them to be, and that we can do whatever we want mostly within the creative realms we work through is an important filter to look through Secret Boyfriend as a project and a vessel. If we can achieve abandon and vulnerability through our artistic endeavors, then we have a sound model for, maybe, new potentialities. If that’s too much projection, or just complete liberal bullshit, I am fine with that. Secret Boyfriend's oeuvre at best offers us moments of reprieve to ponder these complexities, or at least a moment to zone out on a drive through North Carolina Highway 54.
You have one pocket of life that you must do whatever you want to inside of. Secret Boyfriend does it affectionately, in a variety of forms, and always with deep sentimentality. These recordings are a wonderful set of songs to begin further investigation from. Thank you Ryan for allowing as many avenues as possible to continue a broad cultural exchange and conversation that intersect and refract while being the kind of artist that is brave enough to not phone in the effort.”
"Sirene" is the second album of the duo composed by Stefano Ghittoni (TheDining Rooms, Le Petit) and Bruno Dorella (Ovo, Ronin, Sigillum S), following their 2019 release "Estatico."This composition explores a captivating territory where the artists has been working for many years, combining experimental techniques with inviting elements from different genres of popular and underground music.
The album starts with ethereal and ambient electroacoustic sounds, gradually incorporating subtle rhythms, arpeggiations, and slightly broken beats. It creates a moody and introspective sonic landscape that maintains a sense of abstraction. This is enhanced by the textural complexity derived from various sources such as samples, tape manipulations, field recordings, and unconventional sounds woven together with traditional instruments.
The album encompasses a range of electronic practices, psychedelic minimalism, and dense ambience, with a touch of shoegaze, resulting in a truly beautiful experience.
Super7’s latest Notorious B.I.G. ReAction Figure pays tribute to the hip-hop legend’s classic sense of style. This 3.75” scale articulated Biggie ReAction Figure features the legendary MC dressed in his iconic white suit and hat along with a gold-handled cane accessory. He may be gone, but his music and style will live on forever- and what better way to pay tribute to Big Poppa than by adding this Notorious B.I.G. ReAction Figure to your lineup of hip-hop heroes?
The Ghentian skyline has low peaks and hides its horrors in full view ~ walk streamside and you’ll quickly be confronted with façades that leer with their tales and secrets, the angels and demons that built this city holding up its mortar and stone in an inextricable embrace. It is within this incongruous backdrop that Benoît Monsieurs has fostered the Venediktos Tempelboom persona. Using the 12-string guitar as his main instrument, the self-taught musician creates passages that take fingerpicking Americana and Eastern transcendence into the Flanders fields, with winding compositions that distill the essence of giants like John Fahey, Robbie Basho and Jack Rose and folds them into the dark drone melancholia of Funeral Folk/KRAAK stalwarts like Silvester Anfang, Helvete and Ignatz. The results are ringing meditations of awe and terror, flamboyant and grotesque yet utterly mesmerizing in their unrooted sonic imagery.
In his debut LP, Syne Vuyle Hoeck, the Tempelboom amalgamates his influences - East, West and deep Flanders alike - into a flurry of acid-drenched tracks that spread out into a distinctive musical iconography. Each composition carries a facet, highlighting angel and demon in equal measure: the solemn opener “De woelige rit op een roze wolkje” is a threading of melodies that carry pensive heft and hopeful asides, as hints of ragtime buoyancy lead into sullen ruminations in a fully lucid change of course; “Ocharme Ochgod” is a sober penitence, slowly and almost imperceptibly building up into a tangle of lines that inexorably coil back into their brooding backbone; the echoing tape loop of “In Flock” reverberates and torments, steel sharpness and frayed magnetic disintegration finding improbable common ground; “El Contrario” swerves unforgivingly in an Eastern-infused openness reminiscent of Six Organs’ rawer days and unnervingly giving way to a forceful - dare we say upbeat - conclusion. And so one treks into the depths of the Tempelboomian universe, a place of high drama and low morals inhabited by a prankster creator who deploys euphoria and distress in equal measure. Just as the strings of his guitar are left to echo like sparkles in the dark, so his music lingers in the soil of our humanity, redolent of the kind of peace one can only make with the demons of the self.
After a kickass track on the newArray0 V/A, along with Nineties Entities, Binary Digit, MAURER and bell hooks, Silent Manifesto now returns with full length power, still advocating the power of the rave, the acid and the electro to cleanse the soul and start anew.
Yet, the journey is dark and difficult: meadows of technological ruins, rivers of benzodiazepine, mountains of self-contrition and guilt, these are but a few of the obstacles on this record, but do not fear, dear listener, as the fattest of the fattest kicks and the most sinuous bass lines will be your best allies.
Whether you want to dance, to reflect upon the past, the present, the future, to get fucked up in your apartment, this record is perfect for you.
Whether you are an electrohead, an urban pessismist, an optimist pastoral raver, a nostalgic of a future past, this record is also perfect for you.
Traders, cops, bankers, neo-liberalism enthusiasts, start-uppers, neophiles, technological believers, soldiers of power, authority, domination and progress, you can go fuck yourselves.
IT DEEL is the multi-year project of the Kleefstra Bros together with Popfabryk; production house for Frisian pop culture.
For IT DEEL III the Kleefstra Bros have entered into a collaboration with the Belgian multi-instrumentalist Karen Willems. Together they worked in the Thomaskerk in Katlijk on new material that was released on vinyl by Moving Furniture Records.
The Kleefstra Bros are poet Jan Kleefstra and guitarist Romke Kleefstra, both also members of Piiptsjilling, The Alvaret Ensemble, CMKK, Tsjinlûd and Kleefstra|Bakker|Kleefstra. Based on a deeply felt mission, the makers want to create awareness of the universal connection between people and nature and use the means available to them to this end: poetry and music.
The Belgian multi-instrumentalist Karen Willems is active in various fields. Started as a drummer in rock and pop groups such as Zita Swoon Group, Jan Swerts, Pascal Deweze, Yuko, Novastar, Mauro Pawlowski and others. With a number of musicians she built a tradition in improvised music and sound art. Just like the Kleefstra Bros, Karen Willems is intrigued by the forests, landscapes and nature that can be heard in her work.
Jack Adkins, the creative force behind the moniker Jamin’ Jack, has a multifaceted musical journey that began in the mid-'60s in Cincinnati. Initially cutting his musical teeth in garage bands like the Coachmen, Adkins would later embark on a decade-long journey as Jamin’ Jack, the One Man Band, from 1983 to 1993. A pivotal moment unfolded in the early '80s when, at the age of 36, Adkins walked into London Music studio in Tampa to record his debut LP, 'American Sunset.' This album, distinguished by its evocative portrayal of the West's decline, emerged as a defining piece in Adkins's musical repertoire. Its sonic landscape, characterized by guitars and drum machines, resonates with a familiar and poignant atmosphere. The subsequent decade witnessed Adkins assuming the persona of Jamin’ Jack, the One Man Band, embarking on an extensive ten-year tour. Adapting to a corporate presentation style, he not only refined his musical craft but also mastered the art of bantering and entertaining, overcoming his initial shyness. During this nomadic period, Adkins carried the master tapes of 'American Sunset' with him on the road. In a poetic expression of his transient lifestyle, he pressed LPs and tapes in Houston, selling them directly at various venues. The album, at its zenith, serves as a sonic backdrop to the lonesome and transient life on the road, encapsulating the essence of a nation seemingly heading into the sunset. 'American Sunset' stands as a must-listen for enthusiasts of Trans-era Neil Young and the dystopian vibes reminiscent of Repo Man, offering a captivating musical narrative that echoes the spirit of its time. Neofolk electronica? we're not sure, but its just amazing! Only 500 units of this 'sunset' coloured vinyl will ever exist. You waited 40 years for this anniversary meeting, so don't blow it, buy it!
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After two solid albums on Motema, both of which earned GRAMMY nominations, Gregory Porter made his Blue Note debut with Liquid Spirit in 2013. Recommencing with the water analogy that characterized his debut disc, Porter saw Liquid Spirit as a logical progression in his burgeoning discography as it touched on some of the same themes, particularly the highs and lows of romance, his childhood, and socio-political observations. The strength of Liquid Spirit lies in Porter's songs, based upon personal experiences with a relatable and emotional immediacy. Even more, his hooky melodies penetrate instantly.
Hailed by public and critics alike, Liquid Spirit won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album in 2014. Platinum in the UK and Germany, gold in France, the Netherlands and Austria, the album has sold over a million copies worldwide.
Marking the 10th anniversary of the album, Blue Note presents a special vinyl edition bringing together the original album on 2LP and a disc of bonus tracks and remixes, with 5 tracks available on vinyl for the first time.
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Veneer made an indelible mark in its understated, expressive brilliance and cemented José González as a meticulous sonic craftsman and songwriter of singular talent. It’s hard to believe an album recorded with the most basic equipment in a cramped Gothenburg flat could end up going platinum, not only in Sweden but also the UK, selling well over 1 million copies worldwide. It’s harder still when one acknowledges that, aside from one brief trumpet solo and the slightest hint of percussion, the record features just one hushed voice and the dexterous picking of an acoustic guitar’s nylon strings. But 2003’s Veneer was such an album, charting in several countries in the world, and eventually making Top 10 in the UK, thanks in part to its delicate, evocative cover of The Knife’s “Heartbeats”.
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Ein queerfeministischer Chor begeistert mit innovativen Performances und politischen Statements: der Wiener Schmusechor veröffentlicht Debüt-Live-Album mit 40-stimmigen Acapella-Versionen diverser Pop- und Indie-Hits
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Der Wiener Schmusechor, der wohl aufregendste Chor seit Erfindung der Mehrstimmigkeit, bringt endlich und erstmals Live-Aufnahmen seiner fulminanten Konzerte auf Tonträger heraus. Auf diesem finden sich raffinierte und berührende Arrangements von Songs diverser Künstler*innen wie Radiohead, Miley Cyrus, Woodkid oder Billie Eilish. Der Chor hat es geschafft, Chormusik neu zu definieren und auf die großen Bühnen des Landes zu bringen - facettenreich, genreübergreifend und frei von Konventionen. Durch Kooperationen mit Künstler*innen wie Mira Lu Kovacs, Efterklang oder Violetta Parisini, Ausflüge in die Performance- und Theaterwelt sowie sein allererstes queerfeministisches, in minutenschnelle ausverkauftes Neujahrskonzert ist der Schmusechor aus der österreichischen Musikszene nicht mehr wegzudenken. Auch im Jänner 2025 wird der Schmusechor als Gegenentwurf zum elitär-exklusiven, weiterhin cis-männlich dirigierten Neujahrskonzert der Wiener Symphoniker wieder eine Alternative bieten.
On October 18th, Nicolas Michaux will release his third album, titled Vitalisme. This album consists of twelve recordings made over the years on the Danish island of Samsø and at the Free House, the studio of Capitane Records in Brussels. Much like in his previous album Amour Colère, Michaux navigates between polarities in Vitalisme : dawn and dusk, birth and destruction, hope and cold lucidity, past and future. However, this time it is less about exploring the different poles of human experience and more about bringing them together at a precise point where life unfolds. Armed with impeccable writing in both French and English, Michaux traverses the familiar lands of inspired songwriters, addressing grand themes of timeless poetry as well as the empirical realities of the contemporary world: love, illness, war, wisdom, resurrection; but also climate change and class war
Over the past couple of years Acid Jazz have been re-issuing releases from the enigmatic 'Albarika Store' label, a goldmine in Afro cuts from Benin, West Africa. The latest instalment is the ultra-rare 'Ogassa Original (Vol. 1), the first LP from obscure but ultimately brilliant Porto Novo group, Ogassa from 1978. Like many Albarika releases, it was recorded at EMI Lagos, giving a depth and fidelity that stands out in the realm of Afro rarities. Reissued in full with the original artwork for the very first time, a must have for Afro collectors and completists alike.
For ALT014, Altered Circuits presents its first Various Artists release. In addition to the label's co-founder, three friends of the label appear on this heterogeneous, club-oriented 12''. Portal, with its breakbeat layered drum section and spartan bass hook, sounds like classic Innershades from the start. When the angular leads and slowly phased, ominous chords hit, we are reminded of the artist's fondness for the new beat genre and his ability to translate its tropes and conventions to the present. On Show You Love, Mr. Ho combines skippy two-step drums with an MS20 type of flat bass. After introducing a one-bar mid-bass arpeggiator, gently swelling pads, leisurely spread side riffs and reverb-drenched musings join, calibrating the vibe to lush and groovy. On the other side, Oshana treats groove as the focal point with her Hey Kiss Kiss contribution. Over its 6-minute course, the snappy 909 kick rarely relents while a bunch of often short, many a time looped sequences emerge and disappear, unfolding a hypnotic tapestry of textures. Rising talent Salomee closes the VA with Late Night Summer, a track capable of setting the floor in motion at any moment. It revolves around a portamento-heavy, neon-tinged lead that lingers long after the track ends and a sturdy, efficient one-note bass pulse.
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30D Records celebrates a decade of modern sonic exploration. Since its inception at the end of 2014, and initially taking inspiration from 40's & 50's science fiction culture, the label has been offering to listeners a vast array of genres, being experimental, creative and forward-thinking dance music its main mission.
For its 10th anniversary, the cutting-edge electronic music label very proudly announces five distinctive releases, each one across their respective sub-labels.
Denise Rabe, a regular face into our roster, is back to the label with a full release for the very first time. True to the meaning of the word in itself, Mastermind Ep is a highly clever and complex exercise of dark and oppressive but also psychedelic, magical and almost ritualistic broken-beat techno music, which defines Denise's own sound, and that clearly explains why she is becoming increasingly a key piece for the evolution and development of the current techno scene.
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It starts of with jacking proto ACID house song called Delayed Attraction. A song that would have made the kids crazy at the Music Box in the mid 80's. And are still as uplifting for all us house heds. The second song Tear Gas takes us back to Europe, with a slow Belgian beat that moves like a train and hits you straight in the chest, and on top of this a monotom synth pad on top of that it gives the song a some what a scary dream feeling. The third song Nasjiga is taking us further in to the complex dream but packaged in a Detroit electro vibe with sounds that makes me think of a hospital hart beat monitor but then mixed up with bit-crushd lo-fi dragon covers in a dubby inferno that keeps on building up without coming to a climax (in a good way). The forth song Verfolgung is a 8 minute stomping song that's starts of in a Burzum sounding flute but the quickly goes over to a freaky baseline that's sounds like its made out of a congas patch and a detuned bass on top of that. On top of that they put a march bands drum pattern that gives this song a freaky tivoli vibe and would be such a banger a the right time of a DJ set. /Jens W Limited numbered to 200x * Delayed Attraction - With a bumpy baseline that grooves, hard hits on the drum machine, this is are both funky and hypnotic. * Tear-Gas - A mid-tempo acid journey that blends funky drum patterns with psychedelic trance strings. Typical FRAK's acid-outed sound, with a hypnotic and thumping beat and bassline. * Nasjiga - The B-side kicks off with a deeply dubby and tribal vibe, with splashing hi-hats and echoed percussions. like the heartbeat of an underground train going of the rails. * Verfolgung - This track kicks hard with a marching beat that builds into a funky disco. It's playful yet progressive energy leaves you with a smile on your face and your feet moving on the dance floor. Honk Honk! // Dj Jespha Galore
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Tales From The Loop es el nuevo disco que firma el productor malagueño mess_ey. Se trata de un proyecto paralelo de Broken Lip conocido por ser el 50% de BSN Possee y ex-miembro de Califato 3/4.
El disco se define como un emotivo viaje lleno de melancolía en el que el artista se abraza a las luces y sombras del camino que tiene que recorrer en busca de su propia catarsis personal por la pérdida de Tina, una de las tres perras junto a Mesey y Tuerca que son fundamentales en su vida y a las que ha dedicado este trabajo.
Texto de Electrónica & Roll "Feel The Beat"
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On February 18th, Echo & The Bunnymen’s first best-of compilation Songs To Learn And Sing will be back on vinyl for the first time since its original release in 1985. The album is a comprehensive collection of the band’s first four albums, from their second single Rescue, to The Cutter and the anthemic The Killing Moon. It also includes Bring On The Dancing Horses, originally released in conjunction with Songs To Learn & Sing back in 1985. It arrives back on vinyl as Echo & The Bunnymen go back on tour to celebrate 40 years of magical songs throughout 2022.
ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN were formed in Liverpool in 1978 with Ian McCulloch on vocals and rhythm guitar, Will Sergeant on lead guitar and Les Pattinson on bass. They were soon joined by Pete De Freitas on drums and the rest, as they say, is history. By the time of Songs To Learn & Sing original release the band were a force to be reckoned with, pioneering the post-punk, new wave scene with four highly acclaimed studio albums.
From a club-friendly chrysalid onto deploying his wings as a full fledged pop artist in recent years, Saint Petersburgs Kito Jempere has enjoyed a journey unlike any other and his newest album, Part Time Chaos Part Time Calmness live-documents the chameleonic changes / game-changing paradox experienced this year between his life both as a musician and as a family man.
Better known for his work as a house producer which has earned him accolades from prominent dance music outlets throughout well over a decade of intense work both into and outwith the limelights, Kito has for all that never been focussed on writing solely discoid material, throwing as much effort over the years into multi-faceted parallel ventures, far and apart from strictly dance floor-oriented functionality. Yet, from this partition between various projects and mindsets, this is through a radical shift towards downtempo pop and out of the 4x4 loop that Kito got to fully assert himself as a musician, embracing the rejoicing variety of tone and mood of his tender loves, secret and not. The movie Ive never made but have the soundtrack for, Part Time Chaos Part Time Calmness is the fruit of change as much as change itself. A return to the simple means of his young self, his old trusty guitar from his late teens serving as the backbone to Killer Line and Love Myself But I Cant Make It Love, and the natural development to last years Green Monster, which
initiated these deep tectonic movements in Kitos approach to his art, PTCPTC is an intimate trip down the kaleidoscope of his present life. Joined up by an impressive cast of artists, including Jimi Tenor, Adam Evald and Hard Ton, Kito didnt just bin his old persona, he took it back to where it belongs. From the low-slung emotional folk of the opener, Killer Line, to the eerie flamenco-jazz hybrid Before Music Dies. via the broken soulfulness of Put Love Into Your Heart and anthemic 80s balearic breaks meets coastal synthwave vibe of Sounds of Love, the album pulsates with a refreshingly genre-unbound vision. To the naive, laid-back sonic bokeh of Footsteps,
succeeds the left-of-centre cinematic narrative of In The Countryside, which includes some fun nods to fictional brands taken from Tarantinos imaginarium (Red Apple cigarettes) or other movies like High Fidelity, after Nick Hornbys eponymous novel.
Freed from gridlocked programming and impersonal tropes, PTCPTC showcases a wide array of songs, beats, grooves old and new, some dating back to 2018 and improvised sessions with his 9-people Kito Jempere Band, all of which were finished within the same timeframe and with this all-inclusive momentum in mind. Through the epic synths of Absent Ascent. in revamping the universal classic Over The Rainbow with Celebrine, on the appeasing ballad Shorespotting feat. Evald or in the waves-ready closing cut Lovers, Jempere tells a tale of hard-earned emancipation and life-affirming freedom.
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From a club-friendly chrysalid onto deploying his wings as a full fledged pop artist in recent years, Saint Petersburgs Kito Jempere has enjoyed a journey unlike any other and his newest album, Part Time Chaos Part Time Calmness live-documents the chameleonic changes / game-changing paradox experienced this year between his life both as a musician and as a family man.
Better known for his work as a house producer which has earned him accolades from prominent dance music outlets throughout well over a decade of intense work both into and outwith the limelights, Kito has for all that never been focussed on writing solely discoid material, throwing as much effort over the years into multi-faceted parallel ventures, far and apart from strictly dance floor-oriented functionality. Yet, from this partition between various projects and mindsets, this is through a radical shift towards downtempo pop and out of the 4x4 loop that Kito got to fully assert himself as a musician, embracing the rejoicing variety of tone and mood of his tender loves, secret and not. The movie Ive never made but have the soundtrack for, Part Time Chaos Part Time Calmness is the fruit of change as much as change itself. A return to the simple means of his young self, his old trusty guitar from his late teens serving as the backbone to Killer Line and Love Myself But I Cant Make It Love, and the natural development to last years Green Monster, which
initiated these deep tectonic movements in Kitos approach to his art, PTCPTC is an intimate trip down the kaleidoscope of his present life. Joined up by an impressive cast of artists, including Jimi Tenor, Adam Evald and Hard Ton, Kito didnt just bin his old persona, he took it back to where it belongs. From the low-slung emotional folk of the opener, Killer Line, to the eerie flamenco-jazz hybrid Before Music Dies. via the broken soulfulness of Put Love Into Your Heart and anthemic 80s balearic breaks meets coastal synthwave vibe of Sounds of Love, the album pulsates with a refreshingly genre-unbound vision. To the naive, laid-back sonic bokeh of Footsteps,
succeeds the left-of-centre cinematic narrative of In The Countryside, which includes some fun nods to fictional brands taken from Tarantinos imaginarium (Red Apple cigarettes) or other movies like High Fidelity, after Nick Hornbys eponymous novel.
Freed from gridlocked programming and impersonal tropes, PTCPTC showcases a wide array of songs, beats, grooves old and new, some dating back to 2018 and improvised sessions with his 9-people Kito Jempere Band, all of which were finished within the same timeframe and with this all-inclusive momentum in mind. Through the epic synths of Absent Ascent. in revamping the universal classic Over The Rainbow with Celebrine, on the appeasing ballad Shorespotting feat. Evald or in the waves-ready closing cut Lovers, Jempere tells a tale of hard-earned emancipation and life-affirming freedom.
Sourcing rare records to reissue can involve meticulous research and years of digging, but then occasionally, Lady Luck smiles upon you. We probably would have never heard of the Medium Wave Band if Gary from Mr Bongo hadn't known Wolverhampton-based record dealer, Steve Ward. Whilst offering Gary some records for sale, he remembered he had a spare copy of an old 7" single that he thought Gary might like. Steve didn't know much about the release, and it had never sold on Discogs. Looking at the record itself, it was minimalist in appearance and information, there wasn't much to go on other than that it was from the Birmingham area. The mystery drew us in…
The A-side, 'So Tender’, is a late-night, jazzy slow-jam, with beautifully sultry, soulful female vocals which sounded vaguely familiar. On listening to the B side, 'Games (Instrumental)’, you are rewarded with a superb example of Britfunk / independent UK jazz-funk. The pulsating, bass-led dancefloor groove and sensibility is a sound reminiscent of productions usually found on labels such as Elite, but the 7” was not released on a label, it was a private press by the band themselves. So who are the enigmatic The Medium Wave Band?
After some fruitful internet digging and correspondence, we got the answers. The band lineup featured Elliot Browne on guitar (lead & rhythm), Ron Lyseight on guitar (rhythm), Andrew Proverbs on keyboards, Tony Peart on drums, Paul Snook on bass, Linton Levy on saxophone, and surprisingly, the beautiful vocals we had been enjoying were those of Jackie Graham, aka the hugely successful UK vocalist, Jaki Graham. Maybe best known for her pop hit with David Grant, 'Could It Be I'm Falling In Love', but also featuring on the cult classic track 'Fire In My Heart' by Escape From New York.
Influenced by artists and bands including George Benson, Ronnie Laws, Weather Report, George Duke, Azimuth and Chick Corea to name a few, the guys booked into a studio near the Botanical Gardens in Birmingham and recorded the two tracks that make up this 7”. Only 200 copies of the original 7" were ever pressed and were sold mostly in Birmingham at Summit Records by the band’s friend DJ Frenchi, as well as at live shows. Despite its limited distribution channels, the record received solid support from fans and those in the music industry, including Morgan Khan of the influential record label, Street Sounds. DJ and journalist, Lindsay Wesker, reviewed the release and this led to the band travelling to London for several radio interviews. They played live shows across the country, including at the prestigious Ronnie Scott's in London, and supported both Shakatak and Weapon of Peace in Birmingham.
Thanks to all those involved bringing this release into fruition and for solving the mystery behind a wonderful Britfunk and UK soul record that could have otherwise been lost in the mists of time.
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Shepdog returns with 2 brand new killer blends in his inimitable dancehall/hip hip style, both utilising the vocals of the legendary Native Tongues collective. First up, A Tribe Called Quest's most popular posse cut gets the soundclash treatment as Shep lines up a selection of classic riddims for the seasoned MCs to flow over, creating a devastating dancefloor weapon. On the flip, De La Soul's classic Buddy gets flipped in a dancehall style riding another instantly recognisable instrumental, giving a new vibe and energy to this well loved anthem.
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Compilation of 80s Turkish-Swiss band Café Türk, featuring selected works from their discography as well as previously unreleased recordings!
Café Türk's unrestrained sonic palette explores new wave, psych, disco and reggae with influences from Anatolia and Azerbaijan.2xLP includes a 4-page booklet with extensive liner notes and photos.
Café Türk are an inimitable Turkish-Swiss band formed in the 1980s, whose genre-bending sonic palette draws from Anatolia, the Caucasus and Western Europe. The group’s frantic trajectory connects Switzerland and the Turkish city of Kars with a background story as rich and unexpected as their sound. After three decades since they disbanded, Zel Zele Records have collaborated with Turkish crate-digger Grup Ses to give the music of Café Türk a new lease of life. This eponym compilation features original album tracks, singles and previously unreleased takes that trace the outline of the group’s history. From the rolling disco of the group’s debut recording “Haydi Yallah”; to the previously unreleased kosmiche of “Yıldızlar”, “Ali Baba From Istanbul”s Azeri grooves and German language vocals, to the psyched-out interpretation of Causaccian folk tune “Şamil”, Café Türk showcases the endless stream of ideas the band had during their time together between 1983 and 1989. Tracks come with an unrestrained spirit, weaving in the crackling energy of new wave, rock, disco and reggae with influences from Turkey and Azerbaijan.
This fascination in pulling different worlds together goes right back to the formative days of Metin Demiral, founder of Café Türk. Metin grew up in Kars, a provincial town in the Northeastern part of Turkey. Kars was once known for its multicultural communities; where you could hear locals speaking a range of languages, from Turkish to Azeri, Russian and Kurdish. In 1983 Café Türk won a contest set for Turkish groups based in Europe, organised by the label Türküola, home to Turkish stars like Cem Karaca, Selda Bağcan and Barış Manço. The resultant recording sessions gave birth to his new band and debut LP, Pizza Funghi. But Metin turned down Türküola’s offer to put the record out and instead self-pressed 1000 copies on his own Sound Concept label - driving as far as Berlin to sell them face-to-face to record shops. The record was picked up by a member of the German city of Nuremburg’s Cultural Department and soon Café Türk were invited to play for the local workers’ unions, many of whom represented immigrants from Turkey. These events only grew in popularity, the group ultimately spending five years touring similar shows in Europe, alongside more conventional tours and festivals. Metin had hoped to bring his new record to audiences in Turkey again, however, he found it impossible to get any of his songs played on state-sponsored radio, something he attributed to the infamously strict supervisory board of TRT, Turkey’s state-funded broadcaster. TRT tended to not accept songs that blended both western and traditional Turkish music in order to avoid “degenerating” Turkish folk music. Cafe Türk tried to fight this conservative mindset, but progressively resigned themselves to the political restrictions of the time
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Cuban music has a new global ambassador: Cimafunk. With a name and image that pays tribute to the Cimarrons – Cubans of African descent that resisted slavery – and music and showmanship that re-embodies funk legends from the last century, the medical-school student turned funk artist has developed into a musical force crafting the sonic future of the island and a global, cultural phenomenon that unites and celebrates blackness across borders, oceans and languages.
After the success of El Alimento, Cimafunk delves even further into his exploration of the intersections between funk and the sounds of the continent and gives us Pa' Tu Cuerpa (Mala Cabeza Records), his most polished and mature production to date. For this occasion, Cimafunk has summoned a constellation of extraordinary artists and musicians.
"Collaboration is something I really enjoy," he confesses. "This album has artists that I had always wanted to work with, of whom I am a fan and of whom I have a lot of influence from them." From the legendary touch of funk master George Clinton, who also appeared on Cimafunk’s last album, to the jazz mastery of top AfroCuban pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba, through the vibe of Colombian rockstars Monsieur Periné, to the Caribbean rhythms and melodies of Haitian producer Michael Brun, and the youthfulness from Havana’s urban street scene of Cuban newcomer Wampi, each guest works like a piece of clockwork in this masterpiece.
“Cuchi Cuchi” is the track that immediately takes you to the Cimafunk of 2024. Catchy, danceable and super funky, “Cuchi Cuchi,” which is a playful way to say “hooking up,” is a Cuba meets New Orleans mashup ready to explode when performed live. “It’s really funky and you can envision me on stage with my band and feel the way I dress, dance and live life just by playing the track,” says Cimafunk. “My musical director Dr. Zapa is the producer and he’s been with me since the beginning. ‘Cuchi Cuchi’ is Cimafunk & La Tribu after a few years of exploring the world thru festivals, venues, dressing rooms and parties.”
New Orleans – Cimafunk’s new home – jumps out track-after-track on “Pa’ tu cuerpa.” The explosive flow of New Orleans bounce-icon Big Freedia on “Pretty” and the unreplicated, powerful horns of Trombone Shorty on “I don’t care” highlight Cimafunk’s affinity with and full-on embrace of New Orleans music and culture. He’s now a regular performer at the New Orleans Jazz Festival and leads an annual New Orleans – Cuba festival and cultural exchange program, Getting Funky in Havana, that has brought New Orleans top artists and musicians to Cuba to perform for the Cuban people and do work in the schools. The result is a sonic experience as innovative as it is impossible to label; Caribbean but borderless, rooted in Havana but with echoes of Detroit funk and New Orleans bass, horns and street-corner vibes.
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Jacob Long’s fourth full-length for Kranky began as a notion to reimagine Earthen Sea as a “piano trio,” inspired by a year-long immersion in the ECM label catalog, but the compositions soon grew more complex.
Elements were chopped and resampled, then layered with bass, drums, percussion, and additional keys. The result is a fusion of live band acoustics and downtempo loops, sculpted into nine smoke-and-mirror dubs of fractured jazz, soft-focus noir, and trip-hop dust: Recollection.
Like the title implies, Long’s playing and production share a mood of pensive movement, shuffling and rippling like uncertain memories at strange hours.
From looming fog (“Present Day,” “Neon Ruins”) and shadowy breaks (“Another Space,” “Cloudy Vagueness”) to rosy glows (“Clear Photograph”) and smeared reverie (“White Sky”), Recollection deftly wields its palette of gradient color and subdued states of beauty.
His is a music of reduction and reflection, kinetic but oblique, attuned to the silhouettes of sound.
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Dance and drama began for Paulo Alvarado in 1992 when Sabrina Castillo, Bettina Barckhausen, Joam Solo, Xavier Pacheco, and Alfredo Porras invited him to create the music for their choreographic and theatrical productions as an ethereal actor who is not seen but heard; a sound that is not merely an occasion to "musicalize" the stage production; music that does not merely adorn or incidentally accompany the movement and text, but that acts.
This is how he soon had the opportunity to work on the stage production of Sophocles’ OEDIPUS REX (Edipo Rey), the first of several plays for which Alvarado composed music at the request of Luis Tuchán one of the revered theatrical directors from Guatemala. With him, they also worked on Shakespeare’s Macbeth, which carried the subtitle "Asesino del Sueño" (Sleep Murderer). Later, as an example of another area of action, and at the request of Dennis Leder one of Guatemala's leading artists from the past three decades and Ana Asturias who had worked with the Guatemalan Dance Company, he created the music for a dance-installation called, fittingly, "Lederana" mixing both words from their name. Around that time, he also began composing and presenting music for productions by Guatemalan authors, such as the drama by Rubén Nájera, "Sacra Conversación", directed by Joam Solo.
These pieces, contained on Side A of the album, represent only a very brief sample of an era immersed in theatre and other performative projects where more than forty theatrical and choreographic pieces where created in a span of three decades, and consist of his valuable contribution to the soundtrack of dramatic theater and contemporary dance in Guatemala.
Separately, the title piece of this album, ANTIGUA, found on Side B, was designed for the exhibition of
engravings, lithographs, and digital prints by Roberto Godoy, Antigua Estampa de la Vida Mía. It gathers musical extemporizations for the dance we invented at the moment of inaugurating the photographic exhibition by Rocío Villanueva, Los Mutantes de los Apegos; the fifth movement of my String Quartet No. 5 (version for six cellos); Exiliados en Tierra Propia(introduction to my song Púrpura de Vida y Sentimiento); and Las 56 (from the film Después del Fuego), dedicated to the young women wounded and killed on March 8, 2018, in a so-called "safe home" in Guatemala City. This LP unites many of Paulo's most experimental works and serve as a small tribute to his life, trajectory and to all those who, without reservation, dedicated and invested resources in his music catalogued by himself as one of the main ways to celebrate human life: art.
Vinyl-Reissue (180g) des 1994er-Albums der Hamburger Punk/Diskurs-Helden. Nach der sogenannten Wiedervereinigung 1990 häuften sich in den folgenden Jahren rechtsradikale Überfälle in Deutschland. Als Reaktion darauf veröffentlichte die Hamburger Punkband Die Goldenen Zitronen 1992 gemeinsam mit den Hip-Hop-Acts Easy Business und Eric IQ Gray die Maxisingle "80 Millionen Hooligans"/"Die Bürger von Hoyerswerda". Zwei Jahre später legten die Goldies nach: das Album "Das bisschen Totschlag" erschien - ein auf den Punkt gebrachter Lichtblick linker Kritik. Der lange nicht lieferbare Klassiker der Hamburger Punk/Diskurs-Helden erscheint 2011 endlich wieder auf Vinyl. Natürlich nicht als Schmalhans-Küchenkost, sondern auf dick geschnittenem 180-Gramm-Vinyl inklusive einer Zeitungsbeilage. Damit nicht genug, alle Songs wurden im Faust-Studio einem Remastering unterzogen: "Endlich auch mal Bässe. Herrlich."
The 1998 Norwegian Black Metal classic ‘Soulblight’ re-issued! “Soulblight” is a worthy contender for one of the best Black Metal albums of the 90’s! 1997’s “Witchcraft” wass a challenging album to follow up with its cult status as one of the greatest Black Metal releases owing to its complex compositions and intricate orchestration. Yet Obtained Enslavement did exactly that, as “Soulblight” is a very different release but it maintained the quality and musicianship the band made themselves known for with “Witchcraft”.
This release discards the openness and mystique of the orchestral arrangements in place of a more guitar and drum-oriented sound, but this works for the much darker and aggressive tone of “Soulblight”. The structure of the album is a highlight compared to its predecessor as it feels more conceptual and complete as a whole, rather than just a collection of songs.
This makes sense as the lyrics tell an epic tale of a great war against the ‘soulblight’, a story that can be followed through the music itself too, thus making it a conceptual album in many ways. Speaking of instrumental work, the iconic and untouchable classically influenced composition (it would be insulting to call it songwriting) of guitarists ‘Heks’ and ‘Døden’, with its weaving and developed melodies to the complex chord sequences and intricate structures, is still an aspect that is so unique to this band; the composers truly have a great understanding of music in its high-art form.
The performances delivered by the band are done with terrifying precision and clarity, unusual for the genre where commonly a ‘that will do’ attitude is employed; nowhere on this album can you hear sloppiness of any kind. Pest’s vocals are consistent and hair-raising, nothing about it sounds human and this works in favour of this otherworldly suite. Pytten has once again cemented himself as one of the greats in the Black Metal world and even just knowing this album was recorded in the infamous Grieghallen, adds to its grandeur and appeal. To conclude, “Soulblight” is a worthy contender for one of the best Black Metal albums of the 90’s. The world will likely never again see two Black Metal albums as perfect as “Soulblight” and “Witchcraft”, evil in its intent yet majestic and epic in its final form.
There's Nothing Wrong with Love is the second full-length album released by legendary indie rock band Built to Spill. It was originally released September 13, 1994 on the Up Records label. The line-up for the album was Doug Martsch, bassist Brett Nelson, and drummer Andy Capps, with Phil Ek producing. The album features the enduring singles "In the Morning," "Car," and "Distopian Dream Girl." There's Nothing Wrong with Love was wonderfully received by critics upon its release. It went on to earn "Best Albums of 90's" notices from the likes of Pitchfork, PASTE, SPIN, and has sold nearly 140k copies to date.
Pope Adrian 37th Psychristiatric is the third LP by RUDIMENTARY PENI. Recorded in 1992 but not released until 1995, it was the first music the band recorded after their already leftfield Cacophony album. It is an underrated and difficult masterpiece of truly outsider music. Full of harrowing and morbid songs based on repetition, repetition and repetition, pushing the listener into a trance like mood. Pope Adrian 37th Psychristiatric shows the most experimental side of RUDIMENTARY PENI testing the punk song concept, turning it into a mantra chant at times while sounding like only RUDIMENTARY PENI could. The album opens with lead track 'Pogo Pope', which sets the tone, with Blinko repeatedly singing 'Pogo Pope' ad nauseam, and the whole of the album has a continual loop of the phrase 'Popus Adrianus' running through its entirety. At the time Nick Blinko was experiencing severe delusions and believed that he was Pope Adrian the 37th and was detained in a psychiatric hospital under Section 3 of the 1983 Mental Health Act. The album is unhinged and challenging but 100% pure and idiosyncratic. This official reissue comes on a single sleeve with printed inner and 16 page booklet with Nick Blinko artwork and has been remastered from the original tapes by Arthur Rizk. Genre: Alternative / Punk