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ZEHRA is proud to present the debut album ISTEHLAL by the MOHAMAD ZATARI TRIO, consisting of musicians from Syria, Iran & India. The trio merges traditional Middle Eastern sounds with contemporary vibes incl. interpretations of Hossein Alizadeh & Riad Al-Sunbati classics.

In a contemporary globalised world where music has lost its borders and is fighting a constant – yet particular – stream of Western commodification, the Mohamad Zatari Trio stands out as an original cultural artefact, aiming at transcending the boundaries between different music worlds.
Founded in 2019 the ensemble had its first public appearance in 2020 at the Outernational Virtual Festival. Comprising the performers Sara Eslami (Iran) on tar, Avadhut Kasinadhuni (India / Romania) on tabla and Mohamad Zatari (Syria) on oud.
Their debut ISTEHLAL plunges into its own aesthetics, politics and sound intricacies and represents the combined efforts of three musicians hailing from different, yet deeply rooted cultures. Over the course of eleven songs, the album transcends stylistic, ideologic and
geographic boundaries and reflects on the human condition in an interconnected and interrelated technological world. The repertoire includes not only original compositions in different stylistics
but also rearranged traditional pieces by influential composers Riad Al Sunbati (Egypt) and Hossein Alizadeh (Iran).
The Mohamad Zatari Trio introduces itself as a strong new voice within a new generation of young musicians that carry the musical heritage of great masters like Ravi Shankar, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan or Zakir Hussain with a fresh and contemporary approach.

Mohamad Zatari is a composer and oud player from Aleppo, Syria, currently based in Bucharest, Romania. His artistic effort is devoted to deconstructing stereotypes and blending various musical genres. He has been taught traditional and regional music by Tarek Al-Sayed,
and has a Bachelor in classical composition at the National University of Music Bucharest (2021). His compositions were used for short films as well as educational courses. He performed in various ensembles and groups, in countries such as Syria, Romania, Hungary, Germany, Italy
and Austria.

Sara Eslami is an Iranian composer, tar and setar instrumentalist and improviser. She has a bachelor's in musical Performing at the Tehran University of Arts (2011).


Romanian/Indian Avadhut Kasinadhuni has a Master in Musical Performing / Violin at the National University of Music Bucharest (2022) and started studying tabla intermittently in India with Prof. Kamal Kant (2008) and Prof. Durjay Bhaumik (2017).

Credits:
Recorded by Alexandru Zaharencu at Avanpost media, Bucharest, Romania
on 29th & 30th January 2022
Mixed by Dirk Dresselhaus at ZONE, Berlin, Feb. 2022.
Mastering & lacquer cut by Anne Taegert at D&M.

Landing on Cosmocities right on cue for the summer season ahead, Japanese producer Masumi Nishimura alias Inner Science deals out a new entry into his shimmering, shape-shifting mindset. Flying us off to a soothingly dreamy and colourful headspace, bristling with vibrant sound design minutiae to wrap your ears around, Inner Science exhibits the elevating power of his music through three original joints, complemented by two exquisite remixes from multi-faceted British genius Joe Goddard and Giegling staple, Map.ache. The acid-infused glitter of “Unfold” paves the way with understated bravura; a piece of squelchy yet dazzling nature, organically making the rounds between propulsive club music territories and exotica-laced cascades of sound. “Quiet Track 3” follows a similar course with its phantasmagoric landslides of chimey melodies and driving bass traction on stealth mode, all scudding and mingling with haiku-esque spiritual balance, while “Never Fade Away” blows the winds of poetic transcendence through a finely engineered mix of forward-racing groove and a honey-dripping, rainbow-like shower of elementally lush textures and envelopes.

Flip it over and here’s Joe Goddard taking “End of the Beginning" for a slower, slightly less sign-busy jaunt across sun-soaked clearings and pastures. Laying further focus and emphasis on the synth work and build-up here, Goddard channels Inner Science's many facets and wildland-like exuberance through a more directed, further orchestrated pathway. Tackling “Momentary Spread”, map.ache treats us to a further dynamic, floor-friendly approach, routing its listener onto proper functional, gridlocked tracks. Bleached-out pads evaporating into aether as the bass etches into your mind with durable effect, it’s a proper oneiric roller that engulfs you down its gushing throat of faded escapism and brittle, post-discoid melancholy

* Hypnotic and seductive, Emika crafts Earthy Melodic Techno track 'Breath Cuts' using her breathy vocals, kick and devilish sub bass.

* Pleasure and pain, the euphoria Emika knows how to create sonically in order for her to lose her mind through the music and escape reality, composed and produced during the darkest chapter in her life, she mixes in the inevitable pain of a once locked-down Berlin.

* Breath Cuts is a journey-style dance track, for song-lovers or DJs that like to tell stories on their dance-floors. Emika reveals a poem in the middle of the song, a dream about being free again; 'I like to look out the window.. I like to imagine the clouds..'

* Norman Nodge, Berghain resident by night and lawyer by day, pulls out and enhances the lush ethereal vocal elements, remixing them further into an angel-like chorus, one can imagine the dancefloor in Berghain - people rushing from the sound while spirits float above them looking down.

* The two producers decided to provide listeners and DJs with a functional kick-less mix for advanced mixing pleasure.

The pandemic affected each of us in different ways. From colossal stars to complete unknowns, it up-ended our lives, and demolished our expectations.

Take Lil Skies. The Philly talent found himself back in his home city, completing a journey that began in pace on his 2017 mixtape ‘Life Of A Dark Rose’. Re-connecting with his roots – his moniker is a nod to his father, while 2019 debut album ‘Shelby’ named after his mother – he’s delivered some of his most potent, open material to date.

‘Unbothered’ is a tight, focussed return – a snappy 14 tracks, is exudes a sense of purpose, retaining the swagger of his debut while upping the word play. It’s an inward journey, one exemplified by those early viral singles ‘OK’ and ‘Havin’ My Way’ but it’s also lit up by some special guests.

Working with alacrity, Lil Skies built ‘Unbothered’ from a series of freestyles, yet every element on the album feels exact, placed with real precision. Using a mere three features – a trilogy that boasts Wiz Khalifa, Lil Durk, and Jodeci – the emphasis is placed on his vocals, on his ability to utilise the voice as an instrument.

‘Trust Nobody’ hinges on fragile paranoia, while ‘Riot’ bristles with a palpable sense of rage. An attempt to channel the repressed – and often extreme – emotions of the past 12 months, ‘Unbothered’ pitches a cool facade against a depth of feeling that often threatens to explode – just check out ‘Think Deep Don’t Sink’ for a mission statement.

Working within clear definitions, ‘Unbothered’ feels more distilled than Lil Skies’ previous work, the sound of someone choosing to work with what they know. Lyrically it’s marked by pain and redemption, lingering on messages of perseverance, and renewal. He may claim to be ‘Unbothered’, but the marks of the pandemic are there for all to see on a brave, at times powerful, new album

Sleight of The Third Eye' is the third release by Total Leatherette - made up of recordings from a two week residency at the CCA in Glasgow. The residency culminated in an 8 hour durational performance in the theatre of the CCA which we dedicated to Linda Di Franco’s Balearic hit ‘My Boss ‘, a segment of which is presented here for the first time.

The tape comes in a limited edition of 100 on Green Glitter Hub Tapes with a Risographed paper sleeve . Mastered for higher listening by Sam Smith.

Das Sony Classical-Debütalbum "Arctic" der international hochgelobten norwegischen Geigerin Eldbjørg Hemsing ist eine musikalische Reise durch die Arktis mit neuer Musik u.a. von den Star-Komponisten Jacob Shea ("The Blue Planet") von Bleeding Fingers Music und Frode Fjellheim ("Frozen"). Zusammen mit dem Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra zelebriert Eldbjørg Hemsing darauf die zerbrechliche und weithin unentdeckte Schönheit eines Ökosystems, das in einem beispiellosen Ausmaß vom Klimawandel bedroht ist. "Die Arktis wird oft als ein schroffer, unbewohnbarer Ort verkannt, dabei handelt es sich um eine Region von einmaliger Schönheit und voller Leben, die auf faszinierende Weise illustriert, wie alles in fragilen Kreisläufen zusammenhängt. 'Arctic' ist eine musikalische Reise durch diesen einmaligen, gefährdeten Naturraum", erklärt Eldbjørg Hemsing. "Ich möchte mit diesem Projekt den Menschen zeigen, wie großartig und schützenswert diese Landschaft ist und auf die Bedrohung durch den Klimawandel hinweisen, die Auswirkung auf uns alle hat." "Arctic" ist voller mitreißender Melodien und beeindruckenden orchestralen Klanglandschaften, die sich beim Anhören des Albums aufbauen, wie die atemberaubenden Lebensräume der Arktis im Lauf der Jahreszeiten. Für die musikalische Gestaltung ihres Albums hat die im norwegischen Valdres geborene Musikerin mit einer Vielzahl an Komponisten zusammengearbeitet und ein einmaliges Album kreiert, das amerikanische Filmmusik mit europäischer Klassik verbindet. So enthält "Arctic" neue Musik von den Filmkomponisten Jacob Shea von Bleeding fingers Music und Frode Fjellheim wie auch neue Arrangements von Melodien der Komponisten Selim Palmgren, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Henning Sommerro, Ola Gjeilo, Ole Bull, Edvard Grieg und James Newton Howard. Aufgenommen wurde das Album in Bodø innerhalb des norwegischen Polarkreises mit dem Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra. "Ich wollte einmalige, einprägsame Melodien mit einem malerischen orchestralen Klang verbinden, der dem großen Panorama der Arktis entspricht, um diese emotionale Geschichte zu erzählen. Entstanden ist eine sehr abwechslungsreiche Art Filmmusik für den Konzertsaal oder ein Soundtrack für eine innere Reise", sagt Eldbjørg Hemsing über die Musik von "Arctic". Das zentrale Werk des Albums ist die 20 Minuten lange "Arctic Suite" des amerikanischen Filmkomponisten Jacob Shea von Bleeding Fingers Music, der zusammen mit Hans Zimmer die millionenfach gespielte, ikonische Musik zu "The Blue Planet" geschrieben hat. In den sechs Teilen der "Arctic Suite" vertont Jacob Shea die einmaligen arktischen Naturphänomene und findet Melodien für "Frozen Worlds" im Winter, die "Aurora" in der Polarnacht oder den "Sunrise" in der Morgendämmerung des Polartages. Er gibt den Fischschwärmen im Malmström einen Klang in "Rush of Life" oder dem poetischen Pfeifen der "Polar Winds" und endet mit einem melancholischen Blick auf aktuelle Veränderungen in "Sea Ice Melting". Komponist Frode Fjellheim ist bekannt von seiner Arbeit zu "Frozen". Er entstammt den Samen, einem Volk, das bereits seit Jahrhunderten den europäischen Polarkreis bewohnt. Für seine Kompositionen "Under the Arctic Moon" und "The Return of the Sun" lässt er sich von den traditionellen Liedern der Samen, den "Joik", inspirieren. In "The Return of the Sun" singt er sogar eine dieser traditionellen Melodien. Die musikalische Reise durch die "Arctic" umfasst weitere neue und farbenfrohe Orchesterarrangements von Werken nordischer Komponisten wie das klangmalerische "Snowflakes" von Selim Palmgren, "Whispering" von Einojuhani Rautavaara, "Dawn" von Ola Gjeilo und "Vårsøg" von Henning Sommerro. "Vårsøg" ist eine bekannte Melodie in Norwegen und steht sinngemäß für die "Suche nach einem neuen Frühling". Das ursprünglich als Folk-Pop Song geschriebene Lied verkörpert damit die Hoffnung auf einen Neuanfang im Leben. Arrangeur Ben Palmer hat die Melodie in eine emotionale Hymne für Violine und Orchester gebettet.

‘Energy MC2’ began as an energetic bunch of 10 and 11year old neighborhood kids, who initially formed a band under the name of ‘Congressional Funk’. The founding members were Vincent Bonham, Opelton Parker (the brother of Ray Parker Jr) and brothers Ufuoma and Eric Wallace, with the later addition of Fred Gordon. Later becoming the backing band for local Detroit act Mad Dog & The Pups. Featuring on some of the ‘Pups’ earliest Magic City releases “Hep Squeeze” (MC-007) and the follow up release “Funky Monkey” (MC-009). A name-change to ‘The Soulful Hounds’ followed which they are credited as on the instrumental flipside of Mad Dog & The Pups vocal version of “Why Did You Leave Me Girl” Magic City (MC-012).

After leaving Magic City, the band went through several changes in both name and personnel, upon hiring bass player Ben "Rat Bass" Adkins, they adopted the name of his former band, ‘Energy’ to which they added Albert Einstein’s formula for special relativity (E=MC2) to finally became ‘Energy MC2’. As Energy MC2” they soon began seriously recording their own original material which included the two previously unissued 70’’s tracks “If You Break It” and “Other Side Of The Mirror” first released on Soul Junction in 2016. The group’s line up on these songs included Vincent Bonham, Ufuoma Akill-Wallace, Arnell Carmichael, Ernestro Wilson, Opelton Parker, Gordon Carlton, Eric Wallace, Leon Lopez, Marvin Carlton and Marlene Rice. A further unissued song the mellifluous ballad “Juliane” also the gained release on the ‘We Got A Sweet Thing Going On’ volume 2 SJCD 5011 cd compilation album.

During 1974 several members of the group boarded a Greyhound bus for Los Angeles. During their week long stay there under the supervision of Ray Parker Jr they recorded the two featured songs the mellifluous “You And Only You” and “Love To Make Love To You” featuring Arnell Carmichael on lead vocals with the session remaining unissued Energy MC2 returned to Detroit. Vincent Bonham and Arnell Carmichael in 1977 returned to L.A. to join

Ray Parker Jr and Jerry Knight to form the band ‘Raydio” later becoming Ray Parker Jr & Raydio when Jerry Knight left to go solo. Ray Parker later too chose to persue a solo career leading to him recording the title track of the box office hit movie “Ghostbusters” a song he will forever be remember for. During 2014 Arnell Carmichael, Vincent Bonham, James Carmichael and Giovanni Rogers revived ‘Raydio’ but only as a touring band. The remaining members of Energy MC2 all enjoyed successful careers as session and backing musicians with many major artists, The Four Tops, The Temptations, Areatha and Carolyn Franklyn, Michael Henderson, Cheryl Lynn, Bettye Lavette, and Parlet’ (part of the P-Funk family) that help George Clinton Land the Mothership!

After a year and a half writing and recording rock music, I needed to clear my head. I listened to and made music where things generally happen gradually rather than suddenly. I would set up patches on a Monomachine or Analog Four and listen to them, hearing one sound morph into others, making changes to a patch only after having listened for quite a while, gradually adding elements, and finally manipulating the sounds on the fly. All tracks were recorded live to CD burner, with no overdubs, and executed on one or two machines.

While I was almost exclusively listening to artists such as Chris Watson, Peter Rehberg, Bernard Parmegiani, CM Von Hausswolff, Jana Winderen, Oren Ambarchi, Hazard, Bruce Gilbert, Klara Lewis, Ryoji Ikeda, and so on, I was also inspired by my mental image of John Lennon's tape and mellotron experiments he made at home during his time in the Beatles, as well as events like the first minute of Bowie's Station To Station, ...And The Gods Made Love by Jimi Hendrix, the synths in the song Mass Production by Iggy Pop, and the general idea of Eno's initial concept of Ambient music.

Music being a solitary sculpture in sonic space was the main motivating thought. I was looking at pictures of sculptures and trying to make music that simultaneously conveyed both movement and stillness. I refrained from sudden musical changes, especially avoiding sequences of notes and rhythms. In fact, this music was made from sequences which never exceed a single note, many of these pieces being made on a single pattern. The movement which a good sculptor conveys when the shape of his medium meets the eyes of the viewer who walks around the piece, or the sun changes its position, are the kinds of movement which it was the role of the synth patches to communicate.

I've been listening to music like this since I was 13 or so, but I felt that making it was out of my reach because of the amount of restraint I imagined it required. Once I found myself making this music, it did not feel like a matter of restraint at all. I wanted to build a certain type of building, and hear certain types of movement, and I knew when it was complete. There was no place for sequences of notes and rhythms in my plans.

I also cannot overstate the role that being in my band played. I had previously spent 12 years programming and engineering my own music, and then spent a year and a half making music where my role was basically to write songs and play guitar. When the band's recording phase was completed, I needed to go back to my adopted language. I had done enough with chords, rhythms, notes, defined sections, sharp transitions, etc.. What I needed was to create music from the ground up with nothing but sound, and have that music reflect "being" rather than "doing". It was a therapeutic way of re-balancing myself, before and during my band's mixing process.

This music seeks to just exist, and is not attempting to manipulate or grab the listener in any way. I believe it works well if one listens loud and focuses on it, but also works well at soft volumes and in the background. It can compete with silence on silence's own terms, and it can also happily wipe silence out.

There are two versions of this album. The CD version is pronounced "two" and called : I I . This is the longer version. The vinyl version is pronounced "one", and called . I : This version is shorter, but contains one vinyl-only track. The reason the vinyl is shorter is that some of the tracks have sounds that can not be pressed on vinyl.

John Frusciante

Scaphandre' is the story of an image found in a lost time on the internet a few years ago. It inspired two sound pieces conceived so that one can dive into it as into the sea.
Once their composition was finished, I looked for the origin of this image. It is one of the very first submarine pictures in history, taken by Louis Boutan in 1893 in the bay of Banyuls-sur-Mer... my home town. The original photo as well as a fantastic series of archives documenting this event can be found at the Arago Laboratory, where I often went as a child, after school, amazed by what the researchers were showing me. They just had never told me this story.
This is how this record found its scenery.
Gaspar Claus


The two pieces Gaspar Claus brought together on Scaphandre form an abstract and mysterious B-side of Tancade, released in the fall of 2021. Both composed during the long, initial period of his first album's conception, this mini album's two episodes, each tinged with minimal and noisy abstractions, unfold more than 10 minutes of total immersion into the abyss of experimental music on the first, and drone for the second.

In their own way, these tracks are a form of raw, unadorned escape, a film negative of the cellist's surface creations, which we know are bathed in sunshine and fresh air.

'Inside' is a moment of distraction while Gaspar worked on a film soundtrack. The title took time to mature in the musician's head, abandoned then picked up again and modified until it found its signature progression of strings where time seems suspended. The reverberations dress its fourteen-minute sound canvas in a way that is reminiscent of endless, sub-marine darkness.

'Beyond' was recorded in three takes during a writing session for his first album with David Chalmin in the Basque Country. The post-production phase required a long process of refinement to obtain this invasive sound material that cuts the listener off from their real environment and films them with a hypnotic feeling of depths and apnea.

Taken in 1898 by Louis Boutan a few dozen kilometres from the beach of Tancade in Banyuls sur mer - Gaspar's family village - the photographs of Scaphandre seal the vinyl sleeve with a unique auditory experience presenting the submerged side of the cellist. Obscure, dense, haunting, excitingly weightless.

It is recognized today that these tutelary pieces for four pianos are among the most powerful in contemporary music,their impact is almost unparalleled. After the historical version recorded forty years ago, this one, featuring four of the greatest European performers, is now regaining its full power. High level recordings too.

There was some for John Cage, then came Christian Wolff, and finally Morton Feldman, from this school in New York. Only Julius Eastman remained outside the game, the last figure, the most solitary and enigmatic - undoubtedly also one of the most powerful, and it is this power that is revealed through these recordings. In the 1970s and 1980s, Eastman was one of the very few African-Americans to gain recognition in the New York avant-garde music scene. He was politically committed, a figure of queer culture and a solar and solitary poet whose melancholy influenced his genius as well as his tragic destiny : suffering from various addictions, declared missing, actually homeless. During Winter of 1981-82, he got deported from his apartment by the police, who destroyed most of what he owned - including scores and recordings. He was found dead in 1990, on the streets of Buffalo, after years of vagrancy.

The Performers Nicolas Horvath, pianist and electroacoustic composer Nicolas Horvath is known for his boundariesless musical explorations - he has collaborated with leading contemporary composers from around the world, including Alvin Lucier, Alvin Curran and Valentyn Silvestrov - the recordings of his complete works for piano by Phil Glass made a lasting impression. He has collaborated recently with Lustmord on the Deconstruction of November by Dennis Johnson (Sub Rosa SR502: The Fall).

Melaine Dalibert, a French composer and pianist, fascinated by natural phenomena which are both expected and unpredictable, Dalibert has developed his own algorithmic procedures of composition which contain the notion of stretched time evoking Morton Feldman, minimal and introspective, adopting a unique concept of fractal series.

Stephane Ginsburgh, a tireless surveyor of the repertoire but also explorer of new music, collaborated with composers such as Philippe Boesmans, Jean-Luc Fafchamps, Stefan Prins, Frederic Rzewski and Matthew Shlomowitz of whom he premiered works, as well as with choreographers such as Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker (Rosas) and recorded Feldman, Duchamp and Satie for Sub Rosa and the complete set of Prokofiev piano sonatas for Cypres. Wilhem Latchoumia, he embraces both new music and the classical repertoire with success and charisma. His two last recordings for La Dolce Volta (Prokofiev and de Falla) have been highly acclaimed by critics with a FFFF in Télérama. Winner of the Hewlett-Packard Foundation and the Montsalvatge International Piano Competition, he brilliantly won the First Prize in the 2006 Orléans International Piano Competition.

Recorded in just one day, Tripwire is the latest album from saxophonist and composer Will Vinson. Realising a long-held ambition to record a chord-less trio album, Vinson is joined here by bassist Matt Penman, one of today"s most adventurous bass players, and drummer Eric Harland, known for his impressive work with the world"s jazz luminaries. Special guest tenor saxophonist Melissa Aldana also joins for two tracks. The record captures the energy of returning to the studio and playing for the first time since the Covid-Pandemic lockdowns, and further cements Vinson"s reputation as a virtuosic risk-taking leader. Tripwire skilfully brings together Vinson"s vision of freedom and collaboration into a cohesive album that documents the highly charged reunification of musicians, masterfully captured during a one-off recording session.

For this uniquely personal retrospective spread over twelve vinyl discs, Sven Väth takes us back to the early days of his DJ career. On What I Used To Play we meet great pioneers of electronic music, gifted percussionists, obscure wave bands, and innovative producers of a bygone 'new electronic' era. Rough beats and irresistible grooves from the identification stage of house, techno, and acid remind us not just how far electronic music has evolved over the past four decades, but how great it was to dance to EBM, techno, and house for the very first time.

If there is one protagonist of the electronic music scene who has remained curious, innovative and at the very cutting edge of music for over four decades, it's Sven Väth. His multi-layered artist albums and Sound of the Season mix compilations have been defining the genre for over two decades, and even today, he is constantly on the lookout for the next top tune to add to the highlights of his next set. At least, that's the case when he's not producing them himself as an artist or remixer. "Actually, it's always been part of my DNA to think ahead," and nothing had been further from his mind than looking back at his past, but when in spring of 2020 the international DJ circuit had to be scaled down to virtually zero, the 'restless traveler' suddenly had time. Time to stop and reflect on "how it actually was back then, at the very beginning of my career..."

"It was a great trip and with every track, beautiful memories came flooding back".
In the London apartment, he had just moved into, Sven has set up a "little music room", where he cocooned himself for several days, "to look way back for the first time and review my musical journey through the eighties, so to speak."

The interim result was six thematically oriented playlists with a grand total of 120 tracks from 'early 80s' to 'Balearic late 80s', together with excursions into afrobeat, European new wave, and EBM sounds and a few epochal techno/house tracks from the USA in between. From these 'Best of Sven Väth's favorites', the project What I Used To Play crystallized. Sven remembers how the Cocoon team reacted to his proposal: "They found the idea of making a compilation out of it MEGA from the beginning and everyone said 'Sven, go for it', but then, of course, the work really started, namely, to clear the rights and to get clean sounding masters of the up to 40-year-old tracks. There was also disappointment, of course. We couldn't clear certain titles because the rights holders in the USA had fallen out with each other or simply disappeared from the scene. In short, it wasn't easy, but now I can safely say we got the most important tracks."

Finally, after two years of research, curation, design, and administrative fine-tuning, the "little retrospective" from 1981 to 1990 is available. The exquisitely packaged, and three-kilo heavy box set is not only physically impressive, WIUTP is also the definitive record of Sven Väth's musical development. On each of the twenty-four sides of vinyl, you can trace track by track, what influenced him during which phase, and how he took off as a DJ from his parents' Queen's Pub straight into the spotlight at Dorian Gray. There and at Vogue (later OMEN), Sven became the style-defining player in the DJ booth that he still is today.




1981 - 1990: Future Sounds of Now

In the early eighties, the crowd in clubs like Vogue and Dorian Gray danced to what nowadays we call 'dance classics' - mainly disco, funk, soul, and chart pop. It was up to a new generation of DJs, including Sven Väth, the youngest protagonist in the Rhine-Main area at the time, to create their own club-ready music mix. Good new tracks and potential floor-fillers were rarities that had to be sought out and found, in order to prove oneself worthy.
Without MP3s, internet streaming, or other digital download possibilities, music didn't just gravitate to the DJ, instead, it had to be tracked down. In well-stocked record stores in Frankfurt and Wiesbaden or even in Amsterdam, London, or New York, Sven and friends sourced the material for countless magical nights. On WIUTP we can follow Sven's very personal journey through this wild, innovative era in which synth-pop, funk, hip-hop, and disco were successively replaced as 'club music' by house, techno, acid, and breakbeat. By the end of the decade, it was clear to see that these once exotic 'fringe' phenomena would soon become 'mass' phenomena.



Early 80s

Dirty Talk by the Italian-American duo Klein & M.B.O. represents the most innovative phase of the Italo-disco genre in the early eighties like no other track. Mario Boncaldo (I) and Tony Carrasco relied entirely on the original synthetic drum and percussion sounds of the Roland TR-808, coupled with the raunchy vocals of Rossana Casale and guitar accents of Davide Piatto. Of course, other tracks from this period were also influential in style, most notably Unit by Logic System, which worked as the perfect soundtrack to the laser lighting system at the legendary Dorian Gray club. With stomping beats and robotic rap interludes, Bostich by Yello also belongs on Sven's eternal playlist - after all, it caught the attention of Afrikaa Bambaataa, who invited the Swiss duo to perform at the Roxy in New York in 1983.



EBM Wave - Mid 80s

From today's point of view, the almost ten-minute-long, downtempo track Giant by Matt Johnson's band project The The, would probably not be considered an obvious club classic. However, a closer (re)listen reveals the rhythmic intricacies of the percussion overdubs by JG Thirlwell (aka Foetus) on Johnson's composition, and it becomes clear why this exceptional piece of music is one of Sven's absolute favorites. Other classics from this phase include Kaw-Liga by the mysterious The Residents, the hypnotic-synthetic Our Darkness by Anne Clark (and David Harrow), and last but not least, the somber, monotonous anthem Where Are You? by 16Bit, one of Sven Väth's projects together with Michael Münzing, Luca Anzilotti from 1986.



US House - Late 80s

You certainly can't talk about Chicago house without mentioning Frankie Knuckles. The resident DJ at the Warehouse not only gave the name to an entire genre, but also produced epochal floor fillers on the Trax label like the timeless Your Love, sung (and moaned) by Jamie Principle. Acid house protagonists Phuture also hail from Chicago, and on We Are Phuture (also released on Trax) we hear the chirping acid sounds of the legendary Roland TB-303 in full effect. Another featured classic is No UFO's by Detroit's Model 500 aka Juan Atkins, who is rightly considered the 'Godfather of Techno' even if the genre-defining track from 1985 still breathes with the spirit of hip-hop and electro from the first breakdance era.





Afrobeat

Le Serpent, by Algerian-born Abdelmadjid Guemguem, is a track that sounds completely different from everything else on WIUTP. Made in 1978, it's a monumental, rousing groove created without bass or synths, just with five congas! Even though Guem sadly passed away in 2021, his immortal, acoustic beats are understood all over the world and will continue to enrich many thousands of DJ sets for years to come. Another classic that not only Sven appreciates beyond measure is Hugh Masekela's Don't Go Lose it, Baby. In addition to being one of the most important jazz pioneers, the trumpeter and freedom fighter from Johannesburg was very experimental, integrating electronic sounds into his music in later years, in a similar vein to Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock. Dutch jazz pianist Jasper van't Hof's afrobeat project Pili Pili has also aged well. The trance-like, almost sixteen-minute-long track of the same name, manages to fill a whole side on the seventh of twelve vinyl discs in the WIUTP box.



UK-US-Euro - Late 80s

Time for a change of scene, in the truest sense of the word, and from a musical perspective, this section is like landing on another planet. First up is Andrew Weatherall's classic remix of Primal Scream's Loaded, featuring the iconic Peter Fonda sample (lifted from the 1966 biker film Wild Angels) that came to personify the mood triggered by the British Second Summer of Love in the late eighties: "We wanna be free to do what we wanna do, and we wanna get loaded...". This period also saw the emergence of M/A/R/R/S whose only single, 1987's Pump Up The Volume, became a club classic with support from DJ legend CJ Mackintosh. In this most eclectic of sections, we also encounter New York house and reggae producer Bobby Konders and his seminal Nervous Acid.



Balearic - Late 80s

Those who know him, know that Sven had already lost his heart to the 'magic island' of Ibiza as a teenager, so with that in mind, the WIUTP project couldn't end without a Balearic chapter. Inspired by Manuel Göttsching's E2-E4, the immortal, eponymously titled Sueño Latino belongs in there without question. Equally popular on the island was, and still is Break 4 Love by Raze, which thinking about it, would also fit perfectly into the house chapter. Last, but not least, there's an overdue reunion with Sven Väth himself, in his role as frontman of the successful Frankfurt trio OFF. Together with Michael Münzing and Luca Anzilotti (later of Snap!) this 'Organization For Fun' created the off-the-wall club hit Electric Salsa in 1986 which incidentally turned into an international chart smash, putting Sven in the enviable position of having to decide between pop stardom and a DJ career. Well, we all know how that decision turned out and the rest, as they say, is history. A not insignificant part of his story is What I Used To Play. Enjoy!

Dunkelheit. FVNERALS haben mit ihrem dritten Album "Let the Earth Be Silent" ein Album erschaffen, das die Leere zwischen den Sternen und die Tiefe des Abgrunds in Klang verwandelt. Das Duo vertont die Stille nach der Vernichtung, die der Mensch über alles Leben dieser Erde und sich selbst bringt. Depression, Isolation und existenzielle Verzweiflung quellen aus jeder Note hervor. FVNERALS entstanden aus einer Begegnung von Sängerin und Bassistin Tiffany Ström mit dem Gitarristen und Songwriter Syd Scarlet im südenglischen Seebad Brighton im Jahr 2013. Durch die Bündelung ihrer kreativen Kräfte entstand ein finsteres Doom-Duo, das auch Ambient, Drone und eine Prise Post-Rock in ihren Sound einfließen lässt. Das Resultat ist ein besonders dunkles, cineastisches und schweres Klangbild. FVNERALS' erstes Lebenszeichen war die selbstveröffentlichte EP "The Hours" (2013). Im Sommer 2014 folgte das Debütalbum "The Light" und eine erste UK-Tour. Im Jahr 2015 kehrten FVNERALS mit der zweiten EP "The Path" zurück und zogen nach Glasgow, Schottland um, wo sie mit der Arbeit an ihrem zweiten Album begannen. Als "Wounds" im Jahr 2016 auf den Markt kam, folgten unermüdliche Live-Aktivitäten in ganz Europa, die erst aufgrund der Pandemie zunächst zum Erliegen kamen. "Let the Earth Be Silent" wirkt in jeder Hinsicht sogar noch schwärzer und pessimistischer als die Vorgänger. FVNERALS schenken uns mit jeder Note ihres dritten Albums verführerische Dunkelheit.

lack Splatter Vinyl

Dunkelheit. FVNERALS haben mit ihrem dritten Album "Let the Earth Be Silent" ein Album erschaffen, das die Leere zwischen den Sternen und die Tiefe des Abgrunds in Klang verwandelt. Das Duo vertont die Stille nach der Vernichtung, die der Mensch über alles Leben dieser Erde und sich selbst bringt. Depression, Isolation und existenzielle Verzweiflung quellen aus jeder Note hervor. FVNERALS entstanden aus einer Begegnung von Sängerin und Bassistin Tiffany Ström mit dem Gitarristen und Songwriter Syd Scarlet im südenglischen Seebad Brighton im Jahr 2013. Durch die Bündelung ihrer kreativen Kräfte entstand ein finsteres Doom-Duo, das auch Ambient, Drone und eine Prise Post-Rock in ihren Sound einfließen lässt. Das Resultat ist ein besonders dunkles, cineastisches und schweres Klangbild. FVNERALS' erstes Lebenszeichen war die selbstveröffentlichte EP "The Hours" (2013). Im Sommer 2014 folgte das Debütalbum "The Light" und eine erste UK-Tour. Im Jahr 2015 kehrten FVNERALS mit der zweiten EP "The Path" zurück und zogen nach Glasgow, Schottland um, wo sie mit der Arbeit an ihrem zweiten Album begannen. Als "Wounds" im Jahr 2016 auf den Markt kam, folgten unermüdliche Live-Aktivitäten in ganz Europa, die erst aufgrund der Pandemie zunächst zum Erliegen kamen. "Let the Earth Be Silent" wirkt in jeder Hinsicht sogar noch schwärzer und pessimistischer als die Vorgänger. FVNERALS schenken uns mit jeder Note ihres dritten Albums verführerische Dunkelheit.

Celebrating its one hundredth release, Black Truffle is honoured to present a major archival discovery: a stunning document of the only performance by the trio of Tony Conrad, Arnold Dreyblatt and Jim O’Rourke. Across a two-night programme organised by David Weinstein at legendary New York experimental venue Tonic in January 2001, Conrad, Dreyblatt and O’Rourke presented individual projects before performing a collaborative set each night, the first with members of Dreyblatt’s ensemble and the second the trio heard here. As Dreyblatt points out in the wonderfully informative and reflective liner notes written for this release, this was a collaboration across generations, reflecting the profound impact of Conrad’s pioneering minimalism on Dreyblatt and O’Rourke. Both Dreyblatt and O’Rourke came to this collaboration armed with a deep appreciation of Conrad’s music and the just intonation principles at its core, Dreyblatt having first encountered the incredible power of Conrad’s precisely tuned violin chords during his tenure as an archivist for La Monte Young in 1975, while O’Rourke had performed with Conrad in various settings since the mid-1990s (as well as admiring, reissuing, and performing Dreyblatt's music). The flyer for the concert promised ‘massive, ecstatic, pulsating overtones’, and the trio certainly delivered. From the moment this keening stream of bowed strings begins, it is clear, as Dreyblatt writes, that we are in ‘Tony’s sonic universe’, as massively amplified, slowly shifting combinations of precisely chosen pitches fill the room with complex beating patterns and ghostly difference tones. For more than twenty-five minutes, the music operates at a level of intensity comparable to classic recordings such as Conrad’s Four Violins, until the texture thins out slightly in the performance’s final quarter, allowing for the listener’s first recognition of the individual voices that make up this enormous, overwhelming harmonic edifice. The constant stream of bowed tones is broken by a beautifully rich pizzicato from Conrad on monochord, the sliding low tones and metallic shimmer of the other strings taking the set's final moments on an unexpected detour into spacious pastoral psychedelia.

Though produced by three individuals known for their own distinctive bodies of the work, this is egoless music, the perfect expression of Conrad's desire 'to move away from composing to listening', to 'working "on" the sound from "inside" the sound'. Historically important and overwhelming in sonic impact, this release also serves as a moving tribute to Tony Conrad from two musicians profoundly marked by the example set by his art and life.

Die Prägung als Künstler:in gelingt durch den Einsatz von satten Gitarren und einer modernen Interpretation von deutschsprachigem Alternative Rock. Das Album beschreibt einen Verarbeitungsprozess von intensiven Selbst- und Fremderfahrungen und wird zum namensgebenden Akt, der Pyrolyse: Hoher Druck trifft auf hohe Temperatur und führt zu einer Neuverteilung und -Verbindung der Moleküle. Im Mai 2023 ist AYMZ als Toursupport von YAENNIVER mit 9 Terminen auf Achse. Nun auch auf Vinyl erhältlich.

2012 album from the Italian/Norwegian Metal band. Mixing and mastering sessions featured Stefano "Saul" Morabito behind the knobs and Marchello Baltadjiev for the cover artwork. 11 tracks, 46 minutes of what can be easily defined as relentless death metal at its finest. The lyrical concept is based on John Carpenter's immortal masterstroke "They Live", dramatically relevant testimony of a dark era that never ended. credits

Romantik im inneren Zerwürfnis
Das Elektro-Duo Neon Neet vollzieht auf ihrem Debütalbum den Spagat zwischen grandiosem Songwriting und detailverliebtem Sounddesign. So ziehen sich Themen wie das Problem der Selbstoptimierung oder Beziehungen im virtuellen Zeitalter durch die Songs. 'Post-human' zeigt ein reifes Debüt welches sie doch verspielt der Hörer*Innenschaft nähert. Ein Angebot sich der Romantik des inneren Zerwürfnis hinzugeben.

Slegest hat - seit seiner Gründung durch Ex-Vreid-Gitarrist Ese im Jahr 2010 - raffinierten Heavy Metal mit musikalischen Wurzeln im Black Metal und klassischen Heavy Rock aus den 70er und 80er Jahren geliefert. 'Avstand' ist das vierte Album der Band. Inspiriert von Nietzsches 'Die Geburt der Tragödie' kreisen die Songs um das Ewige und Unendliche - gewissermaßen eine Sicht auf das Leben von innen heraus. Mit einer großartigen Mischung aus klassischem Heavy Metal, Rock'n'Roll und Black Metal ist 'Avstand' ein weiterer Geheimtipp im Nischenbereich ausgefallenerer Metal- und Rockmusik.

Als FVNERALS im Sommer 2014 ihr Debütalbum "The Light" vorstellten, begab sich das Duo auf eine musikalische Reise, die sie in eine immer tiefere Dunkelheit führen sollte. FVNERALS entstanden aus einer Begegnung von Sängerin und Bassistin Tiffany Ström mit dem Gitarristen und Songwriter Syd Scarlet im südenglischen Seebad Brighton im Jahr 2013. Durch die Bündelung ihrer kreativen Kräfte entstand ein finsteres Doom-Duo, das auch Ambient, Drone und eine Prise Post-Rock in ihren Sound einfließen lässt. Das Resultat ist ein besonders dunkles, cineastisches und schweres Klangbild. FVNERALS' erstes Lebenszeichen war die selbstveröffentlichte EP "The Hours" (2013). Im Sommer 2014 folgte das Debütalbum "The Light" und eine erste UK-Tour. Im Jahr 2015 kehrten FVNERALS mit der zweiten EP "The Path" zurück und zogen nach Glasgow, Schottland um, wo sie mit der Arbeit an ihrem zweiten Album begannen. Als "Wounds" im Jahr 2016 auf den Markt kam, folgten unermüdliche Live-Aktivitäten in ganz Europa, die erst aufgrund der Pandemie zunächst zum Erliegen kamen. "Let the Earth Be Silent" wirkt in jeder Hinsicht sogar noch schwärzer und pessimistischer als die Vorgänger. FVNERALS schenken ihren Hörern mit jeder Note ihres dritten Albums verführerische Dunkelheit.