Suche:florent

Malian music is arguably deeper, more sophisticated and lyrical than any other form of African music. Those of us deeply entranced by Malian culture, and, in particular, the immense hypnotic beauty of Malian music, have put together a selection of songs from across the country.

Compiled by Vik Sohonie & Dave 'Mr Bongo’ Buttle, the story of this release began in 2015 when Dave happened upon the Soul Bonanza blog. A treasure chest of rare finds from around the world! One mix in particular stood out and totally enthralled Dave - le monde à change: a tribute to mali 1970 - 1991. He already knew of Malian legends such as the Rail Band, Salif Keita, & Les Ambassadeurs du Motel de Bamako, but this mix was something else! Deep & culled from the collections of some of the heaviest African music collectors in the world; legends like Vik Sohonie, Hidehito Morimoto, Philippe Noel, Gregoire Villanova, and Rickard Masip. Dave immediately contacted Vik and a journey of discovery tracking down the rights-holders began. He also turned to the font of Malian music knowledge; Florent Mazzoleni. Florent has written the definitive book about Malian music – 'Musiques modernes et traditionnelles du Mali’. He proposed some incredible tracks to include and provided the back bone of the sleeve notes and photos that are used in the album. No Malian album would be complete without a striking front cover photo, and ours is sourced from the late great Malian photographer Malick Sidibé.

On this album you will find well-known artists sitting next to rarer discoveries. The Rail Band, who are one of the best known of all the big bands in Mali, gave us the stars Mory Kanté and Salif Keita. Les Amabassedeurs du Motel de Bamako were another big act that had Idrissa Soumaoro, Kanté Manfila, and for a while Salif Keita in their ranks. Sometimes Salif would play in both bands in one night, quite a feat considering the bands were fierce rivals. As an albino Salif has had to face considerable prejudice from society, focusing on his musical career to help overcome this.

A major discovery on the album has been Idrissa Soumaoro et L'Eclipse de L’Ija. L'Eclipse de l'Institut des Jeunes Aveugles was a Blind teenagers institute and their record was produced by the German association that took care of blind Malian teenagers in Bamako. It was never properly released commercially and was the first recordings by the legends of Malian music Idrissa Soumaoro, Amadou Bagayoko and Mariam Doumbia. Amadou & Mariam later got married and became household stars, including making an album with Manu Chao.

This album is a concerted global effort to showcase the most vital cornerstone of Malian culture in an attempt to preserve its reputation in the face of its current, grim reality. We hope our highlights of Mali's rich history of musical innovation will serve as a starting point for reclaiming an image tainted by unnecessary conflict. May peace and music return to Mali soon.

Beautiful Full Cover Art, Limited to 300 - Lumière Noire - The new label by Chloé!

Il Est Vilaine aren't from Brittany, but they sure are tricksters. The Francophiles among you might have caught on to the corny pun in their name (beating a certain presidential candidate to the punch all while turning the name of the pastoral Ile-et-Vilaine region into, literally, 'he's a nasty woman") but the real takeaway is that these born-and-bred Parisians don't take themselves too seriously - especially in an era in which there is much too much of that happening. It was in 2014 (and on Dialect Recordings) that Florent and Simon tossed their debut 12 into the ring, the rightfully named Scandale - a tight little bombshell released that roused the electronic music scene out of its complacent little catnap.So there we had it, two outcasts refusing to eat at the same table as the tech-house scene queens, serving up three whiplash-on-the-dancefloor cuts drenched in sweaty hedonistic disco and wrapped in a battered motorcycle jacket (with a gooey post-punk-pop core for good measure.) A clear mission statement right out of the gates, watermarked with mystical incantations and throbbing with rock 'n' roll's primitive drive. Everything and the kitchen sink, and a bag of chips - an invitation to just let lose that's even better than the sum of its parts. Moving on to this new platter. We set the scene: motorcycles blazing from the airport strip to the strip joint, our heroes traded their Oberkampf stomping grounds for a sleepless weekend of Spanish groupies, discount bikinis, whiskey and bukkake. And a creative spurt that left us with a mutant of a record, the sound of rock and techno crashing through a drum kit mid-coitus, interrupted by La French Chanson

De-Bons-en-Pierre is a project from Beau Wanzer & Maoupa Mazzocchetti. Beau Wanzer spends the majority of his days sifting through paraffin embedded animal tissues and reading old issues of Fangoria, occasionally breaking his monotonous routine to record in various fits and bursts. As well as solo material, he is also in numerous projects including Streetwalker, Mutant Beat Dance, Civil Duty, and Corporate Park. He's released on many labels including; Diagonal, L.I.E.S, Cititrax, Nation, Rush Hour, and Light Sounds Dark. Maoupa Mazzocchetti is the pseudonym of Florent Mazzocchetti, a French producer based in Brussels. Florent is strictly devoted to a DIY mentality around music production and his sound revives the electro-industrial aesthetic of the late 70s and early 80s. He's released notable productions on labels such as Unknown Precept, PRR! PRR!, Knekelhuis and Mannequin Records.

While Beau was visiting Brussels he stopped by Maoupa's house to jam for a bit. All songs were recorded on April 4, 2016 between 11:00am and 11:00pm, as single live takes.'Crepes' is a 6-track EP, titled so because they ate crepes the majority of the session. Beau says, "There was a bit of a language barrier. We'd mostly just laugh and nod when something sounded cool to us." The equipment set up included a Roland TR-808, TR-606, SH-101, CR-78, CR-8000, two Syncussions and effects. Over 23 minutes of garbles, sludgy synths and leviathan rhythms. Surfing the slippery slope between industrial and electro, but never quite falling in, just a dip of your pinky toe to to test the temperature.

All songs are mastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. Housed in a sewage green/blue jacket featuring a crepe-masked duo reminiscent of pulpy VHS covers. Designed by Eloise Leigh and Florent Mazzocchetti. Each copy includes a 2-sided postcard with a photo taken during the recording session.

With half a century of existence, Beninese band Poly-Rythmo can easily be considerate as legends of the African music alongside Sela Kuti and Tinariwen. Drawing their name from the extensive mix of influences that forged their sound (American soul and funk, Nigerian afrobeat, French chanson, Congolese rumba, etc.), they are known to be impressively productive as they released from 1969 to 1980 hundreds of EPs and dozens of albums. In 2014, orchestra conductor Florent Mazzoleni visited the band and decided to produce this new album recorded in the legendary African studio Satel. With its warm tone and mastery of rhythm variations, 'Madjafalao' ("watch out") will instantaneously become a classic of afrobeat and Poly-Rythmo will share their warm joie de vivre with thousands of people during their European tour starting in late October.