What are the differences and similarities between human and artificial sound, between oscillations generated by vocal cords and synthesizer voices, voltage amplified by speakers? On Silencio, his latest album for Tresor Records, Moritz von Oswald works with a 16-voice choir to explore this concept.
Drawing from the ensemble works of long-standing inspirations Edgard Varèse, György Ligeti and Iannis Xenakis, von Oswald and Vocalconsort Berlin delve into the space between sounds, creating a deeply textured collection that shifts between light & ethereal and
dark & dissonant.
As masterfully demonstrated in the early work of von Oswald and Mark Ernestus’ influential Basic Channel project, repetition and reduction are key elements here, much in the tradition of techno and minimalism. The vast dynamism of the human voice adds to the
profound weight of electronics while offering up a rhythmic source and sonic noise palette unexplored in von Oswald’s repertoire. In Silencio, von Oswald dredges a dank murk, pulling clouds over a distant pulse. It hangs, ready to take on new forms.
The compositions were written in von Oswald’s Berlin studio on classic synthesizers, such as the EMS VCS3 & AKS, Prophet V, Oberheim 4-Voice and the Moog Model 15. These abstract recordings were transcribed to sheet music for choir by Berlin-based Finnish composer and pianist, Jarkko Riihimäki and performed by Vocalconsort Berlin in Ölberg church in the city’s Kreuzberg district, only few metres down the road from where Dubplates & Mastering and Hard Wax opened their doors for music enthusiasts for many years so long. The recordings of the choral versions were then incorporated into the synthesized parts of the album and brought into anew electronic context; in Silencio, the focus is not on using one means to imitate the other, but to sonically discuss the tensions and harmonies between the two worlds and create a dialogue between them.
The relationship between von Oswald and Tresor Records goes back thirty years, all the way to Blake Baxter’s Dream Sequence in 1991 - which von Oswald engineered alongside Thomas Fehlmann. The collaboration with Fehlmann lived on, seeing the duo team up as 3MB with Eddie Fowlkes or Juan Atkins. More recently, the Detroit-Berlin connection continued as Juan Atkins & Moritz von Oswald present Borderland.
For von Oswald, Tresor Records and also the participating guest musicians of the choir, this release brings together audiences from other musical areas, cross-pollinating; Silencio is an album that stands for itself beyond the musical genre boundaries.
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Originally released as a hand-numbered CD on New Year's Eve of 2004, Last Light captures Tor Lundvall 's hushed songcraft at its most ghostly and grayscale, stripped bare like branches bracing for winter. Initially conceived of as "a piano album with sparse electronics" (with the working title November), Lundvall's palette steadily expanded, incorporating synthesizer, samples, bass, metronomes, and his signature spectral vocals. A journal entry from the spring of 2002 proved formative to his evolving vision: "I remember watching the blueish-grey light shimmering outside and hearing distant sounds echoing far away, eventually sinking into silence and stillness." The album's 12 tracks are steeped in this sense of autumnal transience, of bearing witness to what fades. The music moves in whispered swells, between dirge, drift, and devotional. Synths chime like slow-tolling bells; percussion shuffles and shivers, icy and isolated; bass traces a low-lidded plod - it's a mode both austere and seductive, lulling the listener into its landscapes of deepening dusk. Lyrically, Lundvall's language skews observational and depressive ("through lace curtains / grey light falls / dark clouds gather / in my soul" ), with each song like a gauzy glimpse into a different tableau framing winter's descent: rust - colored leaves, frozen ponds, cold crescent moons. Lundvall has long considered Last Light a "personal favorite" in his discography, and it's easy to hear why. In texture, finesse, and pacing, it vividly evokes the rare mood of fragile, frosty pastoral noir depicted in his iconic oil paintings. His is an art of the half-seen and half-remembered, of fleeting figures, shapes and shadows, and gathering darkness. Of all that disappears, and the ghosts that never leave: "So I wait / as the years / slowly drain the magic and the light / and the girl / I never loved / haunts me through the dark roads of my life."
Zero Years Kid is the alter ego of Joachim Badenhorst, one of the most fascinating and adventurous Belgian jazz musicians from the last 2 decades. He plays with the international band Carate Urio Orchestra but also as musician with Naima Joris or Chantal Acda.
Zero Years Kid started of as a solo project, but has grown into a full and organic live band.
Badenhorst sees Zero Years Kid as a kindergarten to explore other ideas and interests besides of jazz. Together with Jan de Vroede, Lennart Heyndels and Erik Heestermans he brings a colorful amalgam of hip-hop, pop, dance and r&b with playful and poetic lyrics in his native language: Dutch. Next to his clarinet and sax he adds samples and electronica which results in a surprising fantasy world where it is wonderful to wander.
In 2019 debut album Ongerijmde Rijmen was released. Successor Geen Grenzen is ready and will be released on November 10th of this year on Klein. Geen Grenzen is an ode to breaking boundaries, to color outside the lines and to don’t get hung up on expectations.
The title track is a rework of No Limits by 2Unlimited. The song got translated, slowed-down and distorted to the universe of Zero Years Kid. The album is a poetic and humorous trip with a melancholic twist, and themes like the covid pandemic, intense arguments that are forgiven, writers-block, desire and love.
A thrilling immersion into FM synthesis and a puzzle of MIDI data, the Los Angeles based multi-instrumentalist Gregg Kowalsky returns to Mexican Summer with Eso Es, his sophomore outing for the label and first new music since 2017’s L'Orange L'Orange. Representing a significant creative leap for the veteran composer, Eso Es unfolds as a hypnotic journey into Kowalsky’s inner world, laced with a depth of emotiveness and vulnerability that’s rarely encountered in the electronic music realm. Raised in South Florida and trained at Mills College under Fred Frith and Pauline Oliveros, Kowalsky first came to prominence during the mid-2000s as a member of the thriving experimental music scene in the Bay Area, issuing a series of stunning albums on imprints like Kranky and Root Strata and contributing to a reinvigoration of American made Minimalist and electroacoustic music. In an addition to composing solo works, pieces for large ensembles, film soundtracks, dance performances, and site-specific installations over the past twenty years, during the 2010s Kowalsky concentrated his energies as one half of the critically acclaimed duo Date Palms, performing extensively and releasing three hypnotic albums, including 2011’s Honey Devash on Mexican Summer.
Böhm is no stranger to the electronic music scene as he has made quite a splash with his latest releases on Dolly, PARTOUT, M>O>S and Undersound Recordings. His newest outing on eudemonia acts as an ideal successor as he delivers a versatile EP with dreamy and old-school ravey moments resonating perfectly with each other.
Geordie Kieffer doesn’t f**k around. The impish, self-proclaimed “God Father of Agro Pop” writes hard core pop bangers that bark and bite, drawing influence from both his questionable past and the city-wide playground of his L.A. hometown. His sound is something novel: a sexy and comedic dark romp through Pop, Hip-Hop and Electro that dives head first into your brain and just won’t get out.
After the breakout of his first two singles, “Red Line” and “Swinger,” a sold-out headlining tour in Canada, he’s ready to drop his debut album, Just Kill Me Already, a heavy hitting and ferociously playful Alt Pop jamboree of self introspection and bravado. Like a charming outlaw dwelling on the outskirts of pop music, Geordie Kieffer is dangerous and oddly refreshing. His music will no doubt inspire fist fights and flirtation, anger and elation
9Million is a Toronto shoegaze band helmed by the multi instrumentalist, songwriter and producer Matthew Tomasi. Best known for his work with alt pop icons like Ethel Cain and Nicole Dollanganger, Tomasi has gained increased notoriety in recent years for his behind the scenes work as a producer and mix engineer, but he is also a tireless creator and songwriter himself; playing and contributing to the music of countless bands and independent artists. With 6 other members including Ace Mendoza (Lead Guitar, Vocals), Danielle Clark (Vocals), Lia Lepre (Keys), Jamie Fastlane (Bass), Brandon Santi (Drums), and Looch Man (Guitar, Vocals); Tomasi says 9million started out “as a creative outlet for myself to explore new sounds and ideas that I wasn’t touching on with any of my other projects or clients'', but quickly the project took on a collaborative spirit not unlike his hardcore band Friction.
The sound of 9million infuses a shoegaze / alt rock foundation with elements of brooding alternative pop, indie rock, and synthwave - resulting in something that recalls ahead of their time 90s bands like Hum and Failure while connecting that sound from the past to the modern world of post-Lana Del Rey slowcore pop sound that Tomasi traffics in on records like Preacher’s Daughter, Natural Born Losers,
and Married In Mount Airy. Featuring several new original songs and two covers, the mixtape explores more electronic elements and layers of vocal processing that, when paired with the fuzzed out rock sound of Between Us, present an exciting blend of styles the band is pulling from. As a whole, Gush is a loose yet emotionally hefty collection of songs that highlights Tomasi’s distinct approach to shoegaze while also capturing the unique dynamic and possibilities of this band as a whole.
In his “Pulse Music” compositions of the mid-1970s, composer John McGuire forged a unique interpretation of European serialism. A student of Karlheinz Stockhausen, Krzysztof Penderecki and Gottfried Michael Koenig, McGuire moved to Cologne, Germany in 1970, where he become associated with the world-leading Studio for Electronic Music at Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) in Cologne. Like Stockhausen, McGuire found his musical imagination both constrained and inspired by the technology that was available to him.
A conversation with sculptor Hans Karl Burgeff led McGuire to think beyond the horizon and into limitless space. For “Vanishing Points” (1985–1988), McGuire used an entirely digital set-up for the first time: a digital sequencer, eight Yamaha DX-7 synthesizers and a Studer 24-track digital tape recorder. The piece was conceived as a “sequel” to the Pulse Music series, but also a step forward from it. Whereas the Pulse Music pieces had employed steady streams of pulses, with Vanishing Points McGuire employed pulse layers that accelerate or decelerate against one another, vastly increasing the resulting rhythmic complexity.
McGuire's exploration of music technology continued in “A Cappella” (1990–1997), written for his wife, the soprano Beth Griffith, known for her recording of Morton Feldman’s “Three Voices” made in 1983. Using samples, he created a four-voice choir of voice samples and arranged them into interacting parts. The composition faced challenges due to the organic nature of the human voice compared to the precision of synthesized sounds. This process involved extensive editing and a negotiation between the "material" and the "original conception". This sort of negotiation applies as much to the composition of a single piece as it does to the work of two decades.
Berlin-based Swedish bassist and producer Petter Eldh returns with a new Koma Saxo album Post Koma, out on We Jazz Records, 10 November. The title Post Koma aptly describes the vibe of this one: The Koma Saxo sound continues its evolution, morphing into a holistic vision of jazz now and soon, where live instrumentation and repurposed sampling lose their boundaries.
Over the course of its three iterations (self-titled debut in 2019, LIVE in 2020, Koma West in 2022) Koma Saxo has sounded at times "liquid" and postproduced, at times raw and direct, at times acoustic and at other times oddly electronic (even while still being made with acoustic instruments). Post Koma is a culmination of this sonic study by Eldh, resulting in a music vision that never second-guesses throwing tasty hooks and everlasting melodies out the window after a mere bite of them. But fear not: there are even more new ideas just around the corner.
Eldh's compositions and ideas merge together in a way that just flows. There are quality musicians in the mix, including Koma Saxo live band members Sofia Jernberg, Jonas Kullhammar, Otis Sandsjö, Mikko Innanen, Maciej Obara and Christian Lillinger, but that's like saying that a cake includes flour and sugar. This music is not about playing, it's essentially about how the music is and how it takes its shape, so you quickly lose track of who did what, and that's all in the benefit of encountering this music as an entity that is constantly challenging itself while moving forward. The musicians are valued contributors, and an integral part of what's here, but this is far from traditional jazz playing where a band sits in a room playing takes after takes of compositions on sheet.
That being said, this is jazz to the fullest. That is, music that understands its past but always moves forward, and is never afraid of taking risks. Petter Eldh uses jazz as a starting point, not the end goal. This gives his music edge and mobility beyond what can be contained on one album. In a way, an album, then, becomes a snapshot of a creative process in constant flux and evolution.
Opening track "Koma" is literally drum & bass. It only consists of those two elements, yet what comes out of it is an open invite, a way of clearing your palette. It would be useless to describe individual tracks beyond that, but there's a strong sense of deliverance to the set. It feels like an ending, and also like a new beginning.
Berlin-based Swedish bassist and producer Petter Eldh returns with a new Koma Saxo album Post Koma, out on We Jazz Records, 10 November. The title Post Koma aptly describes the vibe of this one: The Koma Saxo sound continues its evolution, morphing into a holistic vision of jazz now and soon, where live instrumentation and repurposed sampling lose their boundaries.
Over the course of its three iterations (self-titled debut in 2019, LIVE in 2020, Koma West in 2022) Koma Saxo has sounded at times "liquid" and postproduced, at times raw and direct, at times acoustic and at other times oddly electronic (even while still being made with acoustic instruments). Post Koma is a culmination of this sonic study by Eldh, resulting in a music vision that never second-guesses throwing tasty hooks and everlasting melodies out the window after a mere bite of them. But fear not: there are even more new ideas just around the corner.
Eldh's compositions and ideas merge together in a way that just flows. There are quality musicians in the mix, including Koma Saxo live band members Sofia Jernberg, Jonas Kullhammar, Otis Sandsjö, Mikko Innanen, Maciej Obara and Christian Lillinger, but that's like saying that a cake includes flour and sugar. This music is not about playing, it's essentially about how the music is and how it takes its shape, so you quickly lose track of who did what, and that's all in the benefit of encountering this music as an entity that is constantly challenging itself while moving forward. The musicians are valued contributors, and an integral part of what's here, but this is far from traditional jazz playing where a band sits in a room playing takes after takes of compositions on sheet.
That being said, this is jazz to the fullest. That is, music that understands its past but always moves forward, and is never afraid of taking risks. Petter Eldh uses jazz as a starting point, not the end goal. This gives his music edge and mobility beyond what can be contained on one album. In a way, an album, then, becomes a snapshot of a creative process in constant flux and evolution.
Opening track "Koma" is literally drum & bass. It only consists of those two elements, yet what comes out of it is an open invite, a way of clearing your palette. It would be useless to describe individual tracks beyond that, but there's a strong sense of deliverance to the set. It feels like an ending, and also like a new beginning.
Beloved Polish downtempo / nu jazz masters Skalpel present an exquisite collection of the older Skalpel’s classics and some exclusive material performed live by a masterful 17-piece Big Band. Skalpel’s “Big Band Live” brings mellow, smoky vibes, hypnotic grooves and vibrant, occasionally blissful mood. Polish jazz at its best!
Skalpel is a nu-jazz classic. On their debut and sophomore albums “Skalpel” and “Konfusion” (Ninja Tune) they were able to resurrect the dusty spirit of the 60s & 70s jazz and reimagine it for the 21st century audiophiles. They created emotionally charged music, sophisticated in its structure. After ten years Skalpel returned in 2014 with “Transit” an album that segued from sample-based music into compositions created on virtual instruments. Their critically acclaimed 2020 album “Highlight” together with the follow-up: „Escape Remixes EP” (which included a remix by rising modern classical star Hania Rani and globally respected house duo Catz‘ N Dogz ) had almost 6 million streams on Spotify alone. Their last studio album „Origins” was an inspiring contemporary vision adapting various currents of electronica and dance music of the millennium era. The latest release earned them a „Polish Grammy” - Fryderyk Award.
The journey continues as Marcin Cichy and Igor Pudło present Skalpel Big Band. Patryk Pilasiewicz, composer and musician from Poznań, who is the originator of the idea, dissected and revised Skalpel’s music for a seventeen-person Big Band. The idea was to weave new, acoustic interpretation of Skalpel’s compositions with their original electronic sound.
Perth-born, Naarm-based duo Special Feelings, aka Naomi Robinson and Poli-Pearl, are stepping up on Bradley Zero’s Rhythm Section label with their first long player – released on November 10, 2023. Across its 9-tracks, Special Feelings combines the electrically improvisational feel of live performances, with snappy broken beat-esque percussions and house-inspired looping synth hooks. Tapping into the infectious collaborative spirit of Naarm’s jazz community, Special Feelings are joined by a crew of the city’s rising artists.
Early iterations of Special Feelings’ music drew on psychedelic sun-dappled rock, with Naomi playing guitar and singing alongside Poli-Pearl on the drums. Over the years, this has shapeshifted into Naomi on bass and rhythms, with Poli-Pearl helming synths and keys – rooted in the sounds of Perth’s and London’s jazz of the moment, intertwined with Brainfeeder-nodding electronica. Today, Special Feelings’ influences span from the deep grooves of Moodymann to the freewheeling horns of Emma Jean Thackray to the stepping drums of Kaidi Thatham, and beyond.
Both Naomi and Poli-Pearl are self-taught multi- instrumentalists and producers; Naomi got her start playing in high school dream pop bands, before moving to Naarm to immerse herself in its musical communities, and study classical guitar at the University of Melbourne.
‘Blind On A Galloping Horse’ serves as David Holmes’ first solo album since 2008’s ‘The Holy Pictures’. A 14-track interrogation of the last decade, time spent watching a decaying, fraying Britain visibly buckling in real time while tending to his own battles with mental health. Holmes’ soundtrack to this inquiry is at times claustrophobic, often euphoric, driven by the rattle and snap of analogue drum machines, wild oscillations of droning analogue synths and the voice of Raven Violet, which beguiles and commands in a way that could part oceans. On this album, there are songs of hope for an age of uncertainty; love songs to leap the barricades to and, on ‘Necessary Genius’, a comprehensive roll call of the great and good - those ‘dreamers, misfits, radicals, outcasts’ that we’ve lost and just a few who’ve managed to cling on in the churn of the 21st century. And there are elegiac electronics evocative of an endless Europe where pulsating, crackling rhythm tracks fuse with dreamlike textures and the underground pulse of psychedelic therapy to form something unique that feels nothing less than radical. CD in 4pp digisleeve with 8pp booklet. Double vinyl in 300gsm gatefold sleeve with reverse side print and 180gsm reverse side print inner sleeves.
- 1: Bob Marley & The Wailers - One Love
- 1: 2Horace Andy - Ain't No Sunshine
- 1: 3Barrington Levy - Under Mi Sensi
- 1: 4Alton Ellis - It's A Shame
- 1: 5Hollie Cook - Desdemona
- 1: 6Biga*Ranx - Beaucoup
- 1: 7Alborosie - No Cocaine
- 1: 8Lee "Scratch" Perry & The Upsetters - Soul Fire
- 1: 9Tiken Jah Fakoly Feat. Winston Mcanuff - I Can Hear
- 1: 0Black Uhuru - Leaving To Zion
- 1: Gregory Isaacs - Babylon Too Rough
- 1: 2Dillinger - Cool Operator
- 1: 3Jimmy Riley - Sexual Healing
- 2: 1Althea & Donna - Uptown Top Ranking
- 2: Johnny Osbourne - Jahoviah
- 2: 3Max Romeo - Material Man
- 2: 4Marcia Aitken - I'm Still In Love With You
- 2: 5Dennis Brown - Stop The Fussing & Fighting - Brother
- 2: 6Ini Kamoze - World A Music
- 2: 7Winston Mcanuff & Fixi - Garden Of Love
- 2: 8The Wailers - Get Up Stand Up (Dub)
- 2: 9Chaka Demus & Pliers - Murder She Wrote
- 2: 10Sly & Robbie - Inner City Blues
- 2: 11Soom T - Politic Man
- 2: 1Inna De Yard Feat. Keith & Tex - Down The Street
Als echtes kulturelles Referenzmedium vervollständigt Arte seine Vinyl-Sammlung mit einem neuen Band: Arte Reggae! Nach der Crème de la Crème des Jazz, des Soul und des Electro, finden Sie hier alle von Arte ausgewählten Reggae. Mit : Bob Marley & The Wailers, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Winston McAnuff, Tiken Jah Fakoly, Altha & Donna, Alborosie, Biga*Ranx...
A World Outside is a breakthrough album for composer-pianist Sophie Hutchings, seeing her expand into cinematic soundscapes with strings, electronics and vocals alongside her signature intimate solo piano sound. An avid surfer and deep lover of the outdoors Sophie draws inspiration from the land for her new album, and ventures to new horizons collaborating with indigenous singers, including the highly-respected Yolngu songman Rrawun Maymuru from Yirrkala (a remote community in Australia's Northern Territory).
In ¿Quién?, Sylvia Meyer combines music, image, sound and poetry. Her lyrics, so subtle, acquire a singular dimension. They grow and become an essential lyricism that vindicates art and music. Almost 30 years after her last album release, Sylvia Meyer released ¿Quién?, an album where everything happens between his piano and his voice. Its exquisiteness, sensitivity, luminosity, and refinement coexist with arranging complexity and virtuosic, achieving a unique texture and a voice that penetrates souls to nest there, and grow beauty. The musical atmospheres and the universes of beauty to which the songs that make up this album transport us rescue that sound so complete and, at the same time, so inevitably montevidean, which travels absolutely free. Meyer is one of the most important Uruguayan artists of the last four decades. Composer and owner of a unique and special voice. Everything that sighs fills it with beauty and mystery. His music manages to transcend the borders of cinema, theater, concerts and art. "Because a the music, the only thing that interests is music" repeats Sylvia Meyer
Malian and French pair Siraba unveil their much-anticipated self-titled debut LP on Damian Lazarus’ Secret Teachings label, a 10-track odyssey fusing Mali’s rich musical traditions with cutting-edge electronic music.
Malian hunter Boubacar Samake and Damien Vandesande, one half of the French electronic band dOP, have won plenty of plaudits for the early singles taken from their debut album as duo Siraba. Those singles, spanning across the summer months, have found the pair bring the traditional sound of the Wassoulou - a river valley of West Africa - to the electronic world after 20 years of friendship. The music comes with an important underlying message of love and respect and results in spellbinding tracks that move heart, body and soul, finding a perfect home on Secret Teachings - a left-of-centre alternative label to Lazarus’ celebrated and often more club- focused Crosstown Rebels. With the arrival of the full album, the pair exhibit and showcase the emotional breadth and depth of their music, with detailed explorations of organic textures and native sounds merged with future-focused ideas and concepts.
The title track opens with an atmospheric mix of spoken words and spine-tingling chords that bring rich Afro flavours, while ‘Dounoiia’ is a languid groove made from hand drums and pixelated synth leads that cast a fine spell. The slow-blooming ‘Bani’ brings rich Malian blues and melancholic horns, while ‘Komafly’ is a rich mix of acoustic strings and broken beats that transports you to a hot and dusty landscape. A vital component of the sounds of the Wassoulou, the indigenous stringed instrument the Ngoni features again on the rousing ‘Nanse’ as spiritual vocals sung in Bambara rouse the soul.
‘Djandjo’ is another rich infusion of Malian culture with simmering electronics to make for something both ancient sounding yet futuristic, and the hypnotic ‘Ngana Fôlly’ with its rich bass is a song ‘dedicated to those who fight for the well-being of their families, for unity... a song for the people who also fight a great disease, between life and death’. The sublime ‘Toro’ is a wavy groove perfect for sundown - a deep and inviting sound rich in soulful vocals and dreamy melodies, while ‘Tolonawoulile’ is driven by the intense strumming of the Ngoni with busy hand claps and hurried drums and last of all ‘Fo Te Mokobana’ sinks into a heart-warming slow groove with sweeping strings and Malian percussion all overlaid with impassioned vocals.
A rich listening experience, Siraba’s debut album is an immersive journey and absorbing dive into the minds of two artists breaking new grounds while spotlighting native traditions and musical techniques spanning hundreds of years.
Spirit of Sundaze Ensemble (SOSE) is the latest evolution from London based DJ / producer, label and party series Secretsundaze. Sitting at the intersection of live music and electronic music innovation, leading contemporary musicians reimagine, record and perform a selection of tracks which have been foundational across Secretsundaze’s 20+ year history, embracing a myriad of influences from Balearic to synth pop to Brit funk.
EP 1 opens with their first single, a re-imagination of Photek’s seminal ‘Mine to Give’. Featuring Wayne Snow on vocals and garnering wide support from the likes of BBC 6 Music heads Gilles Peterson and Nabihah Iqbal, through to NTS and Worldwide FM tastemakers including Zakia, Moxie and Colleen ‘Cosmo’ Murphy, the tempo is slowed and explored in a more synthy 80s production style.
Next is their take on Joyce Sims’ (RIP) ‘Come into My Life’, moving the original Mantronix production into a more contemporary UK / Street Soul / Balearic territory.
The B-side sees them take on beloved Phil Asher (RIP) production, Nathan Haines’ stunning ‘Earth is the Place’, a classic Secretsundaze record if ever there was one. Featuring the vocals of Cherise, the SOSE version is a dance floor ready update which will appeal to all lovers of proper deep, soulful-leaning house music, one for the heads.
Closing the record is a flip of Wbeeza’s ‘Coast Spotting’. Featuring synths from the excellent Hinako Omori, this one goes in with an extended late night transcendental electronic / jazz rework with the original’s looped lead line modulating throughout the piece.
Leading musicians feature on the record including Myele Manzanza (Theo Parrish, Sound Signature), Lewis Moody (Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange), Nikos Ziarkas (Theon Cross, Chelsea Carmichael), Oli Savill (Basement Jaxx), and Johnny Brierley (Fofoulah).
Following their debut sold out show at Southbank’s Centre Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Ensemble next take to the London stage at the iconic EartH Theatre, Dalston on September 21st for an EP launch party as well as a headline open-air concert at Las Dalias, Ibiza as part of Beat Hotel on September 30th.
All in all, an impressive debut showcasing the breadth and scope of this exciting new live project from Secretsundaze founder James Priestley, one to watch.
Novo Line – aka Berlin's algorave maestro Nat Fowler – delivers a noisy, ultramarine voyage into the depths of his archaic hardware. Clawing at the periphery between leftfield electronics and avant-garde pop, Zeit is an entirely new sonic universe, eerily familiar yet utterly uncharted. A visionary synthesist, Fowler is renowned for his productions that make use of mainly '80s equipment including vintage digital synths, discarded MIDI Hi-Tech, tape delay and even an ancient Atari ST computer. But, despite the aged technology, the result is far from nostalgic.
'Ain't That a Mess' slams in with Monica Kremidi's crooning à la Little Annie Anxiety with reeving car engines and guitar-rock static fed through a pan effect. Multilayered melodies soar on 'Stein', the pounding drums matched by gliding strings, crafting that holy grail of cavernous, booming textures and uplifting euphoria that mark out the most transcendent of rave tracks. The deceptively gentle opening bars of 'Morning Star' are interrupted by a viscously squelching bassline, Cass McCombs' vocals dancing deliciously with the raw beat.
Rejecting contemporary tech-fetishism, Novo Line has a near-supernatural ability to exorcise novel sequences, weaving together a record that speaks to the ghost in the machine.
Undo & Casiowaves return to Melodize with the ‘Casiobass’ EP backed with a remix from Nhar.
A long-time resident at Barcelona’s legendary Razzmatazz and label head of Factor City for two decades, Undo is a Spanish mainstay with countless releases that have garnered support from the likes of Andrew Weatherall, Roman Flugel and Erol Alkan. He teams up with fellow Spaniard and synth-pop wizard Casiowaves to return for their second collaborative release on Melodize after last year’s ‘Predict The Future’ EP.
The straight-forward ‘Casiobass’ kicks off with fizzing synth lines, chugging dark disco drums, a fat bass and
circling pads. ‘Overcruiser’ is a pumping, Italo-influenced cut with retro-future chords and a clean, cosmic feel, while ‘Something Blue’ layers up the crispy analogue drums with sonar pulses, deadpan cold wave vocals and majestic leads that bring color and vibrancy.
Drummer-turned electronic producer and live act Nhar, who boasts an impressive discography spanning two decades, makes his debut on the label with a remix of ‘Waves to Come’ that brings a widescreen serenity and calm to the original through pensive chord work and starry keys twinkling in the distance. The original then closes out with Balearic guitar licks, punchy drums, and rich bass for a fusion of retro sounds with futuristic sentiment. From the driving Casiobass to the Balearic, serene ‘Waves to Come,’ Undo & Casiowaves have served up offerings for all hours with the versatile ‘Casiobass’ EP.



















