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Born and raised in Seoul, Didi Han's passion for the arts began in high school.

During her time at university, where she majored in art and textile design, Didi worked as a designer. Didi Han first began blurring the lines between the arts of fashion and music after working as a music director for fashion shows and selecting music during fashion week. It wasn't long after that, that Didi went to DJ academy to learn how to DJ, inspired by a performance from Nicolas Jaar.

After her success as a member of the "Deluxe Seoul” collective, with whom she played at multiple popular venues across Korea, Didi Han was asked to perform for the world-famous Boiler Room platform on two separate occasions, and later toured across Europe and Asia. While active as a DJ, Didi Han discovered a desire to create her own music. Her 2019 release Forest gave her fans a glimpse of exciting production activities to come, featuring a low-fi texture and the sound of a flugelhorn.

Wake Up is the first project from Didi Han on french label Roche Musique. The 5 track EP was completed after the Seoul based-producer's trip to Bali in 2020. Inspiration from the sounds heard and the experiences had in the warm sunlight and emerald ocean, are what influenced the chill house tracks. Here, Didi Han introduces a mellow and melodic debut-EP which features a lots of percussion. Wake Up mixes elements of hip hop, jazz and house, and features collaborations with established artists such as Wansun Kim, Lydia Lee, Nelick and fellow Korean producer, L-like.

Already keen on Roche Musique musical identity, she quite naturally decided to release her first project under the French label.

“We first met in 2018 while Roche Musique was touring in South Korea, we instantly matched around our vision of the club scene : fresh, bold and spontaneous! In 3 years we had time to build a genuine relationship.”

Record Kicks drops "Solid Ground", the explosive debut album by US band The Grease Traps, recorded at Kelly Finnigan' Transistor Sounds and mixed by Orgone's Sergio Rios.

Recorded between Kelly Finningn's Transistor Sound in San Francisco and Fifty Filth Studio in Oakland and mixed by Orgone' producer Sergio Rios and Kevin O' Dea, Record Kicks is proud to finally present Solid Ground, the long-awaited debut album by US very finest deep funk & soul outfit The Grease Traps. The album is set for worldwide release on November 5 on vinyl, CD and digital format. The band, based in Oakland, CA, is the latest addition to Milan-based Record Kicks roster. Active since 2002, with a 45 released on well-respected funk/soul label, Colemine Records, now, after six years spent working on the album's recording and mixing, they are ready to present their first full-length release Solid Ground on Record Kicks. The album is anticipated by the two killer funk singles "Bird of Paradise" and "More and More" on limited edition 45 vinyl.

As avid record collectors and fans of that old school analog sound, Solid Ground was recorded straight to 8-track tape on a Tascam 388, which also graces the cover art. Half of the tracks were recorded live at Transistor Sound Studio by soul crooner, Kelly Finnigan, and Ian McDonald where both Kelly and their band, Monophonics, have recorded their last few albums. The other half of the tunes were recorded by Kevin and Aaron at Fifty Filth Studio in Oakland, CA where the band also rehearses and mixed by analog-obsessive Orgone producer Sergio Rios. The album's original tunes draw from the Traps' various soul influences ranging from gritty funk ("Bird of Paradise" and "Hungry") to fuzzed-out psychedelic ("Residue") to sweet lowrider soul ("More and More"). The lyrics by lead singer The Gata also don't shy away from pressing issues of the day such as racism in America ("Roots") and finding hope in a world that seems pitted against you (the JB's style "Solid Ground"). The rare funk covers from the album provide a taste of the raw energy one would experience at a Grease Traps live show. The Traps also supplemented their sound with special guests including the Monophonics horns, background vocals from seasoned Bay Area vocalists, Sally Green and Bryan Dyer, as well as strings organized by Kansas City master viola player, Alyssa Bell.

The seed of The Grease Traps formed back in 2000 when keyboardist, Aaron Julin, answered an ad put out by guitarist, Kevin O'Dea, searching for players who were hip to the rare grooves laid down by Blue Note artists such as Grant Green and Lou Donaldson. They quickly formed Groovement, covering those same artists along with other jazz-funk staples. When their sax player and frontman moved away, they switched gears to form the band, Brown Baggin, getting into the harder funk of the JB's, the Meters, Kool & the Gang, and lesser known acts such as Mickey & the Soul Generation. They also started digging into the rare funk compilations put out by Keb Darge, Jazzman Gerald,and labels like Harmless, Ubiquity, Soul Jazz, and Now-Again. Modern day soul and funk outfits such as Breakestra, the Whitefield Brothers, and the Daptone/Soul Fire crews provided additional inspiration.

In 2005, while still playing with Brown Baggin yet fed up with juggling the schedules of seven band members, Aaron and Kevin put out an ad to find a bassist and drummer to jam with as a quartet. The first two cats to show up were bassist, Goopy Rossi, and drummer, Dave Brick. It was clear from the get-go that this rhythm section had great chemistry. Originally intended as a fun side project, the Traps quickly took priority as Brown Baggin dissolved. Performing as an instrumental quartet for a number of years, they eventually expanded their repertoire to include horns as well as that sharp-dressing soul brother, The Gata, on lead vocals. Over the years, they've shared the stage with acts such as Shuggie Otis, Robert Walter, Durand Jones, Monophonics, Neal Francis, and Jungle Fire.

Es kann schon einem ganz schön erdrückenden Rucksack gleichen, wenn man als blutjunge Newcomerin mit dem Debütalbum plötzlich ins Rampenlicht rückt, zur Stimme ihrer Generation und von Kritikern wie Fans gleichermaßen gefeiert wird, weltweit ausverkaufte Shows und auf immer größeren Festivals vor immer größeren Menschenmengen spielt. Lindsey Jordan ist es so ergangen und auch wenn sie auf ihrem 2018-Debütalbum Lush sang "I'm in full control / I'm not lost / Even when it's love / Even when it's not", brachte das Ende einer Beziehung sie letztlich an den Rand eines Nervenzusammenbruchs. Sie entschloss sich für einen 45-tägigen Rehab-Aufenthalt in Arizona und begann bereits dort, Songs für das Album zu schreiben, das nun unter dem Titel "Valentine" veröffentlicht wird. Mit ihrer gesundeten Seele und einer Grundidee des Albums zog es Jordan nach Durham im Staate North Carolina, wo sie sich mit Brad Cook (Bon Iver, Waxahatchee) Anfang 2021 in dessen kleinem Home Studio verkroch. U.a. mit dabei waren die langjährigen Bandmitgliedern Ray Brown und Alex Bass, sowie der Techniker Alex Farrar. Nachträglich wurden lediglich die Streicherarrangements in den Spacebomb Studios in Richmond aufgenommen. Es ist eine finstere Momentaufnahme ihrer dunklen Zeit geworden und gleichzeitig ein Abschluss, der die Tür zu diesem Lebensabschnitt endgültig zuschlägt.

German electro producer Martin Matiske has recently breathed new life into his Blackploid alias. The project's revival continues to bear fruit with the Strange Stars EP, Matiske's third Blackploid release of 2021 and second for Central Processing Unit after issuing March's Cosmic Traveler EP through the Sheffield label.

Blackploid's two CPU drops have more in common than just stargazing titles. Those who enjoyed Cosmic Traveler will find plenty to like again in these four tracks, with Matiske serving up another quartet of snappy machine-funk joints this time around. However, while there is certainly a throughline between Cosmic Traveler and Strange Stars, this EP also finds Blackploid pushing the envelope at points by taking risks with his synth tones which thrill and enliven the record.

In keeping with the cosmic theme of Blackploid's recent output, Strange Stars kicks off with 'Star Patrol'. While this opening cut is full of the same needle-gun basslines and dinky synths that characterised Cosmic Traveler, the drum programming eschews the broken beats favoured by many in the scene for a straight house/techno snap. It makes for a very groovy jam, one with Drexciya, Computer World-era Kraftwerk and a pinch of Space Dimension Controller in its mix.

Indeed, the only track on Strange Stars which skips along on a broken beat is second entry 'The Signal'. 'The Signal' also features some of Blackploid's most impressive electronics programming to date, announcing itself with a brilliantly unusual synth that sounds like an old video game unit which has just gained sentience. When this alien tone is combined with another precision-engineered bassline the track invokes the grizzly bangers of the L.I.E.S. label, though the keyboard stabs which enter periodically also hint to the funkier electro of, say, Egyptian Lover.

'The Unseen', the first B-side of Strange Stars, finds Blackploid bringing together many of the things which made the two previous tunes such standouts. A steady four-on-the-floor and a slightly haunted feel to the synth choices casts back to 'Star Patrol', but much like 'The Signal' this joint also features some rather weird tones which are a hair's breadth away from machine malfunction. It's a feeling which runs through to closing cut 'Light Corridor', a number where melodies and anti-melodies zip around an array of gurgling electronic cells.

Martin Matiske's fine run of Blackploid EPs continues with the intergalactic electro stylings of Strange Stars.

RIYL: Drexciya, Cardopusher, Legowelt, Beau Wanzer, Jensen Interceptor

The 11th release on BLKMARKET MUSIC comes from JLM Werx with 4 hard hitting electro-bass tracks.

The Russian born producer JLM Werx (aka Kiril Junolainen) is based between Turku (Finland) and St. Petersburg (Russia) and is a
man of many production aliases. He is the founder of four record labels Datarocket, Lasergum, Dvatri and Intraflex.

JLM Werx makes his label debut with his ‘Heartbeatz’ EP.

His 4 track EP features tracks A1 Heartbeat MC, A2 Telephone, B1 Total Zero, and B2 Just a Mirage.

Prepare to get taken into outer orbit and into another galaxy.

We are excited to welcome JLM Werx to the Blkmarket Music family.

All tracks written & produced by JLM WERX

ETCHING:
“Time is a heartbeat of the universe”

Built around the successes of his soundtracks and songs for the movies of Christophe Honoré, Alex Beaupain’s profile in the ‘chanson française’ landscape is quite unique. Beaupain alternates between soundtracks, songs he writes for others (mainly great French actresses) and his own solo albums.
In march 2021, Beaupain paid tribute to the late Serge Gainsbourg for the 30th anniversary of his passing during a special live on air event where he covered in full, with the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra, Gainsbourg’s penultimate shocking album from 1984 : Love On The Beat.
This experience led him directly in the studio with Saint DX as producer, the French American duet Faux Real singing backing vocals and a full string section to re-record this cult album with a 2021 twist. He had also dreamed of covering that particular album that had so much impact on him, musically and lyrically, when he first discovered it. The 80s funky sound of the record, produced by Billy Rush, was a new start for Gainsbourg and at the time, the lyrics schocked everyone but achieved to avoid any censorship.
“I was 10 when Love On The Beat was released in 1984. Covering the full album was an idea I always kept somewhere in my mind as I was fully aware of the long lasting impact this particular record had on all the teenagers at the time. This collection of songs is far from being the most covered or talked about works form Gainsbourg, but I’ve always had the feeling they were ‘mine’. That everything started there for me and that, one day or the other, I would have to come back to it.” (Alex Beaupain)

Known for his soothing trumpet work in German jazz group Fazer, Matthias Lindermayr is back on Squama with an all-new trio and his third album 'Triptych'.
With Philipp Schiepek on acoustic guitar and Simon Popp on percussion, the Munich-based musician created a forward-thinking record between jazz and contemporary classical, conceptually bold and utterly beautiful.
'Triptych' is a thrillingly quiet record. While the album's predecessor 'Newborn' (2018) featured a quintet, the rather unusual trio line-up on 'Triptych' gave Matthias more room to share the nuances of his playing.
His compositions, most written especially for this group, are of a noble simplicity allowing the musicians to focus more on interaction and sound.

Hungry for some modern melodic death metal with ridiculously catchy pop influences? Well, your dinner has just been served. This steaming nine-course setting is called "Origin" and it is honoringly brought into the table by the renowned Finnish heavy metal band Omnium Gatherum. Omnium Gatherum – OG for close friends – has been offering remarkable pieces of melodic death metal for already twenty-five shining years. While storming through these ferocious decades, Omnium Gatherum has convinced worldwide legions of heavy metal lovers by releasing unstoppable musical onslaughts and touring relentlessly all over the world. "Any sort of popularity hasn't come overnight for OG, and rising to that "next level" has sometimes taken a considerably long time, but one thing has been set in stone: progress has been inevitable. In other words: a lot of great things have happened along the way but the journey hasn't been the easiest one", says longtime singer Jukka Pelkonen. ... And recent times are no exception. Contrary to what you might think, we are not talking about a global scourge that gripped the entire world about a year and a half ago. "Although most of the things around "Origin" have been really good – we have never had so much time to compose and sharpen the material for instance –, there have been some serious roadblocks as well. This, of course, has not come as a big surprise as OG was not born under the happiest stars", laughs guitarist extraordinaire and the band founder Markus Vanhala. "Above all, our dear fans should know that since the previous studio effort "The Burning Cold" (2018), half of the band's line-up has changed. I would say quite surprisingly as we haven't really had any major problems, at least to my knowledge." "This internal turmoil lifted dark clouds into the band's vast sky and everything was falling apart... well, for a few hours at least. After that, as many times before, we decided to turn these difficulties into something better!" Before the arrival of "Origin", Omnium Gatherum's colourful discography features eight studio albums, but the newcomer does not pale in comparison. The truth is, in fact, quite the opposite... By the stylish, majestic and melodic splendor of "Origin", it really feels like the band's original style called AORDM – adult oriented death metal – has reached its peak. Well, so far... "Over the years, OG's material has been deliberately moving further away from the anxiety of the windy Northern shores and traditional melodeath's gloomy despair. These days our music is a powerful mixture of older deadly roots and newer AOR-vibes that you get while listening to Survivor and driving a Corvette along the sunny shores of Miami of us, we will not forget the original enthusiasm for playing heavy metal... And therefore we will never give up!"

Kingston Jamaica's well known and always forward operating Dancehall creators Equiknoxx in special collaboration with eclectic Twin Cities USA newcomers Feel Free Hi Fi. 4 tracks with 4 dub versions of experimental electronic dancehall.

The records come in double sided silkscreen printed DJ jackets, with Obi Strip style stickers and hand stamped white labels created and printed by Digital Sting.

To many, Equiknoxx needs little introduction. The musical collective of Gavsborg, Time Cow, Shanique Marie, Bobby Black Bird and Kemikal has been operating on an international level for many years now. Their debut, 2016’s Bird Sound Power was met with critical acclaim. Since then Equiknoxx has released two more full length albums, many singles, collaborations and have consistently performed around the globe

During the inception of Feel Free Hi Fi as a Sound System in the Twin Cities, Equiknoxx productions were in heavy rotation. Their distinct approach to Dancehall, Dub and Electronic music felt like a sound that Reed and Maxwell had been waiting to hear for a long time. The initial connection with Time Cow via social media soon turned into a regular correspondence, hang outs in NYC and this musical collaboration.

The record is simple in premise but dynamic in resulting sounds. The record features original rhythm offerings from Gavsborg, Time Cow and Feel Free Hi Fi (in collaboration with W. Statler of Free Music). All rhythms were swapped and dubbed, creating eight tracks in total. A release with a basis in international correspondence and similar interests in sonic exploration, we kept it fun, we kept it simple, but we think the rhythms and the dubs stand up quite nice.

Australia's biggest selling dance act and one of the most popular drum'n'bass acts of the early 21st century, Pendulum are an Australian group based in the United Kingdom. Formed in Perth in 2002, the group was originally comprised of producers Rob Swire and Gareth McGrillen, who worked in tandem with a local DJ named Paul "El Hornet" Harding. One of the team's initial releases, "Vault," became a sensation amid the drum'n'bass community in 2003, benefiting greatly from its high-profile placement at the beginning of J Majik's FabricLive mix album. In 2005, Pendulum made their full-length album debut, Hold Your Colour, featuring the singles "Tarantula" and "Slam."
Pendulum signed to Warner Music U.K. and made their major-label debut with 2007's "Granite," a Top 30 hit. Their second full-length album, In Silico (2008), spawned four singles, including U.K. Top Ten hit "Propane Nightmares". In Silico went on to reach platinum status in the U.K., as well as just missing out on the U.K. number one album chart spot. Their third album, Immersion, was released in 2010, and shot straight to the top of the U.K. albums chart. It featured collaborations with the Prodigy's Liam Howlett, Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson, and Swedish metallers In Flames. In support of the album, Pendulum embarked on a world tour, playing two sold-out shows at London's Wembley Arena and headline slots at some of the U.K.'s largest festivals.
At the end of 2011, Pendulum took a break from live performing, with Rob Swire and Gareth McGrillen focusing their energy on their side project, Knife Party. In 2018, Pendulum returned from a seven-year hiatus, with Rob Swire, Gareth McGrillen and Paul Harding currently touring as Pendulum - Trinity.

Named after the most notorious street gang of Victorian Liverpool,
'The High Rip' formed in 2017. Early gigs and rehearsal rooms were
located in that gang's old stomping ground and the synchronicity
was unavoidable. United by their shared love of post-punk and new
wave artists, their songs combine the high drama of Joy Division and the pop sensibility of XTC.
“This is Rock & Roll revitalised. It's easy to see this is no throw away pop crusade. Things that are
made into song are cared for, not just sang about. Their music is bigger than the band.”
Scene and Heard
"This is a record that sits perfectly between The Damned and Echo & The Bunnymen, The Adverts
and Gang of Four. This is a record everyone needs to listen to, so please go and check out Rule of
Four."
The Last Stop Sounds

What's the connection between one of the rarest and most in-demand gargae rock records of the 1960s and Christina Aguilera, and why is it coming to Acid Jazz?
For many years and many a bootleg the snarling imperious Stones or Yardbirds influenced groove of The Illusions 'City Of People' has been sought after and coveted by garage rock collectors. The Illusions released one single, on the tiny Michelle label and today any copies that appear easily sell for North of £1000.

So far, so typically Garage. However there is a backstory to the release that explains why the record never sold at the time of release. The record was produced by Bobby Marin, a Nuyorican, who at the time was stationed in Michigan on his National Service, and who would later go on to record some of the biggest names in Latin Music, first for the cult Speed label and then for United Artists and various of his own labels. In the early 2000s his 'I'll Be A Happy Man' was sampled by Christina Aguilera on her smash hit 'Ain't No Other Man'.
At the end of 2020 Bobby found the master tape of The Illusions single - including the Byrdsian B-side. This legal reissue a fresh mastering from those tapes, bringing out the intensity of the recording, and we have released it on a look-a-like Michelle label.

One Instrument welcomes the Australian sound artist and composer Felicity Mangan. Based in Berlin since 2008 she plays her found native Australian wildlife archive and other field recordings exploring the timbre and biorhythm of animal voices and field recordings to create minimal quasi-bioacoustic environments.

For the release on One Instrument the mouth organ is her instrument of choice. Felicity explores the resonance and pitch of the reeds within at the harmonica The Echo Harp of the brand M.Hohner. “Bell Metal Reeds” shows a committed and ambitious composition in each singular tone. The striking attention to detail and commitment to investigating tonal possibility characterizes throughout the whole body of work.

As an amateur player, through breath and minimal electronic music composition techniques she composed four beautiful organic ambient pieces within the parameters of the One Instrument concept.
Felicity breaths new life into the harmonica and meditates on a the single instrument where she takes extraordinary sounds out of. The Echo Harp that Felicity used was found on a flea market in Hamburg in February 2020. All tracks were composed during the severe lockdown in the Autumn of 2020 in Berlin.

Felicity Mangan is an Australian sound artist and composer based in Berlin, Germany since 2008. In different situations such as solo performance, collaborative projects with other musicians or installation, Felicity plays her field recording archive exploring timbres and biorhythmic patterns to create quasi-bioacoustic electronic music. Felicity has played in collaborative projects Native Instrument (Shelter Press, Entr’acte) presenting electro-acoustic bug beats with vocalist Stine Janvin.

Felicity has released solo publications on Longform Editions titled Stereo’frog’ic, a play on the word stereophonic – presenting a sound piece, crafted from found recordings of frogs, insects and other ‘vocal’ animals wavering about in a stereo field.

More recently a tape release titled Creepy Crawly on Slovakian label Mappa Editions. With the up and coming release Bell Metal Reeds on One Instrument, November 2021. Felicity has presented projects in many different settings from galleries, gardens, clubs, festivals and online platforms throughout Europe, including National Gallery Denmark, Technosphärenklänge CTM/HKW, Sonic Acts Academy and RIVERSSSOUNDS

The story of six soulmate musicians meeting at the intersection of classical composition, pop, electronic and minimal music begins in 2016 with their celebrated performance at the Cologne Philharmonie. After follow-up performances at the Bundeskunsthalle Bonn as well as the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, Gregor Schwellenbach, Daniel Brandt, John Kameel Farah, Paul Frick, Erol Sarp and Kai Schuhmacher made a guest appearance at the invitation of Radio Berlin Brandenburg in the iconic Haus des Rundfunks in Berlin's Westend on February 2, 2019. "Live im Haus des Rundfunks" documents the first half of this evening, in which the individual composer-pianists introduced themselves to the audience in solos, duos and trios. This carefully choreographed set served as an electrifying prelude to the grand finale, the 20-minute collective mantra of Steve Reich's 1973 composition Six Pianos, a studio recording of which has already been released on the 2016 record Steve Reich "Six Pianos" – Terry Riley "Keyboard Study #1" (FILM LP/CD 002).

Im Jahr 2016 beginnt die gemeinsame Geschichte der Pianisten Gregor Schwellenbach, Daniel Brandt, John Kameel Farah, Paul Frick, Erol Sarp und Kai Schuhmacher, sechs seelenverwandten Musikern, die sich zu einem Kollektiv an den Schnittstellen von klassischer Komposition, Pop, Elektronik und Minimal Music zusammengefunden haben. Nach gefeierten Auftritten in der Kölner Philharmonie (mit Hauschka, ohne Kai Schumacher), der Bundeskunsthalle Bonn sowie der Hamburger Elbphilharmonie gastierte das Projekt am Abend des 2. Februar 2019 auf Einladung des RBB im geschichtsträchtigen Haus des Rundfunks im Berliner Westend. Die damals entstandene Aufnahme des Konzerts im Großen Sendesaal bildet die Grundlage der nun vorliegenden Veröffentlichung. “Live im Haus des Rundfunks“ dokumentiert den ersten Teil des Abends, innerhalb dessen sich die einzelnen Pianisten solo, im Duo oder Trio, dem Publikum vorstellen. Dieser Part stellte das Vorspiel zum großen Finale dar, dem 20-minütigen, kollektiven Mantra von Steve Reich’s Komposition Six Pianos aus dem Jahr 1973. Eine Studioaufnahme hiervon wurde bereits auf der 2016 auf FILM erschienenen Schallplatte STEVE REICH "SIX PIANOS" - TERRY RILEY "KEYBOARD STUDY #1" (FILM LP/CD 002) veröffentlicht.

Aarhus (DK) based MØL blend swirling guitars and hissing vocals with the dreamy ambience of shoegaze to form a unique blend of soundscapes and crushing passages. Inspired by bands like My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Drop Nineteens, Lantlôs and Alcest, MØL released their self-titled debut EP back in 2014. A year later, the band had perfected their sound on their second EP "II", produced by Jacob Bredahl and released in 2015. Both EPs were very well received and drove them on to do some empathic live shows, which were praised by press and helped establishing a dedicated audience. In 2018, MØL made an international breakthrough signing with Holy Roar Records (UK) who released their debut album “JORD” to critical acclaim. Recorded at Grapehouse Studios and mixed and mastered by Chris Kreutzfeldt, “JORD” gained massive media acclaim turning MØL into one of the most talked about Danish metal newcomers in recent years. The album was also released as an instrumental version and in 2019, the band re-released their two first EPs, remastered for CD and vinyl. On November 5th, 2021, MØL now return with their second studio album, “DIORAMA”, the group’s first for Nuclear Blast Records. Recorded and mixed by Tue Madsen (Gojira, Meshuggah, Heaven Shall Burn), the band has successfully developed its captivating, aggressive sound even further. Brace yourself for a ferocious yet melodic blackgaze monument! Praise for ‘JORD’: “It’s epic and stirring stuff. Absolutely crushing” - Daniel P. Carter , BBC Radio1 Rock Show “JORD is one of the exhilarating blackgaze albums to drop in a long time” - Metal Hammer “JORD has received unanimous praise and has immediately seen them heralded as one of the greatest examples of the blackgaze movement” - The Independent UK “By far one of the genre’s most accomplished records” - KillYourStereo

Lists and nomations for “JORD” Metal Hammer - #12 on “The 50 Best Albums of 2018” Loudwire - #19 on “The 30 Best Metal Albums of 2018 Kerrang! - #17 on “The 50 Albums that Shook 2018” Kerrang! - Music video for Bruma on “The 12 Best Music Videos of 2018” The 405 - #20 on Top 50 Albums of 2018 Distorted Sound Magazine - #2 on “Top 20 Albums of the Year” WhatCulture - “10 Best New Heavy Metal of 2018” GAFFA Awards 2019 – Nominated for “Best Metal Album of the Year”

Night Divine is a series of hymns covered by Brian Fallon. This is a project he's been wanting to create for a long time, inspired by his time singing in the church choir as a child: “These are some of the very first sounds I remember hearing as a child. My mother used to sing these hymns everywhere she went. I felt it was time for me to join in.” He finally got the opportunity to make the intimate record during lockdown, with background vocals by his mother. The lead singer of beloved heartland-punk band The Gaslight Anthem, Brian Fallon stepped away from that sound and into a more soulful singer/songwriter territory on his third solo album, Local Honey. Produced by Grammy-award winning producer Peter Katis (The National, Frightened Rabbit, Death Cab for Cutie), the album debuted at #1 Americana/Folk Album Sales, #2 Current Rock Albums, #3 Americana/Folk Albums, and #9 LP Vinyl Sales. It was largely praised as one of his best works, with Rolling Stone saying “Local Honey is as warm and comforting as its title, full of hooks and narratives that draw you in” (Best Country & Americana Albums of 2020) and Kerrang saying “No matter what side of the genre he sets his mind to, Brian always delivers the goods” (Best Albums of 2020).

Simply calling Curtis Harding a soul man feels reductive. Harding's voice conveys pain, pleasure, longing, tenderness, sadness and strength-a full gamut of emotions. Today his voice takes on an optimistic lilt with his his new album, If Words Were Flowers. If Words Were Flowers is Harding's first new music since 2018, a follow up to his critically acclaimed 'Face Your Fears" album. It features songs like " Hopeful" , where Harding croons with devotion over a classic soul groove, textured with infectious horn playing, background singers and modern psychedelic flourishes. Harding fuels his psychedelic sound with the essence of Soul but isn't bound by it. Instead, his songs convey an eclectic blend of genres leaping from the many musical lives he has lived from following his evangelical Gospel-singing mother on tour around the country as a child to rapping in Atlanta, forming a garage band with The Black Lips' Cole Alexander to singing back-up for Cee Lo Green. Through these experiences he fully embraces life's darkest intricacies and conjures dynamic, addictive melodies.

The Black Keys release a special tenth anniversary edition of their landmark seventh studio. El Camino (10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) will be available in several formats including a Super Deluxe edition of five vinyl LPs or four CDs, featuring a remastered version of the original album, a previously unreleased Live in Portland, ME concert recording, a BBC Radio 1 Zane Lowe session from 2012, a 2011 Electro-Vox session, an extensive photo book, a limited-edition poster and lithograph, and a ‘new car scent’ air freshener. A three-LP edition, which includes the remastered album and the live recording, will also be available. The Super Deluxe version will also be available digitally.

El Camino was produced by Danger Mouse and The Black Keys and was recorded in the band’s then-new hometown of Nashville during the spring of 2011. The Black Keys won three awards at the 55th annual GRAMMY Awards for El Camino – Best Rock Performance, Best Rock Song, and Best Rock Album – among other worldwide accolades. In the UK, the band was nominated for a BRIT Award (Best International Group) and an NME Award (Best International Band). The week of release, the band performed on Saturday Night Live, The Colbert Report, and the Late Show with David Letterman, and later that year, went on to perform their first Madison Square Garden show.

Rolling Stone, which featured the band on their cover around the release, hailed El Camino for bringing ‘raw, riffed-out power back to pop’s lexicon,’ and called it ‘the Keys’ grandest pop gesture yet, augmenting dark-hearted fuzz blasts with sleekly sexy choruses and Seventies-glam flair.’ The Guardian said, ‘They sound like a band who think they've made the year's best rock'n'roll album, probably because that's exactly what they've done.’

In the newly written liner notes for El Camino (10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition), David Fricke says:

The story of the Black Keys' seventh album, named after an automobile, long out of fashion and featured nowhere in the artwork, begins on a sidewalk in the middle of a blizzard. On the afternoon of January 9, 2011, singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney stood on the pavement outside the Bowery Hotel in New York City, saw the weather turning vicious, looked at each other and came to the same decision: They had to get off the road.

The night before, the duo scored another first in a season getting crowded with them: The Black Keys' debut appearance on Saturday Night Live, performing ‘Howlin' for You’ and ‘Tighten Up’, the breakout singles from their latest release, Brothers. Two days earlier, Brothers – the Keys' first Top 5 album, released in May 2010 – became their first Gold record, passing a half-million in sales thanks to heavy FM rotation and a near-year of gigging, now set to run deep into 2011 including a prestige slot at Coachella and victory laps in Europe and Australia.

The Keys "tried to settle down" after cancelling the tour, Carney says. But that didn't last. "I said, 'We should just make another record.' And I asked Dan if we should get Danger Mouse" – the hip-hop and modern-rock producer, real name Brian Burton, who worked on the Keys' 2008 record, Attack & Release, and co-produced ‘Tighten Up’. Auerbach and Carney did not have any new songs, but as the drummer notes, "Most of our records – we don't have material when we start. Brothers was made up in the studio."

In the UK, the record gave the band their first top 10 hit, and in the US it debuted at #2 on the Billboard Top 200. The band was also the #1 most played artist at Alternative and AAA radio formats for 2012 in the US. The album’s first single, ‘Lonely Boy’: reached #1 on the Alternative and AAA charts; it also entered the top 10 at Rock radio. The second single, ‘Gold on the Ceiling’, also reached #1 on Alternative radio and the third single, ‘Little Black Submarines’, reached the top 3 at Alternative radio.

El Camino has been certified Double Platinum in the US; Platinum in the UK, Belgium, France, Ireland, and the Netherlands; Triple Platinum in Australia and New Zealand; Quadruple Platinum in Canada; and Gold in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Spain, and Switzerland. Of the album’s singles, ‘Lonely Boy’ was certified Double Platinum in the US, nine-times Platinum in Canada, Triple Platinum in Australia, Platinum in New Zealand, and Gold in Denmark and the UK. ‘Gold on the Ceiling’ was certified Platinum in the United States, Australia, and Canada. ‘Little Black Submarines’ was certified Platinum in the United States. The Black Keys also were nominated for an MTV European Music Award in 2012.

Recently, the band announced their World Tour of America. The Black Keys will perform three intimate shows in Oxford, MS, Athens, GA, and St Petersburg, FL, surrounding their September 25 headlining set at Pilgrimage Fest in Tennessee.

The Black Keys recently released their tenth studio album, Delta Kream, which was recorded at Easy Eye Sound studio in Nashville. The album takes its name from William Eggleston’s iconic Mississippi photograph that is on its cover.

Formed in Akron, Ohio in 2001, The Black Keys, who have been called ‘rock royalty’ by the Associated Press and ‘one of the best rock ‘n’ roll bands on the planet’ by Uncut, are guitarist/singer Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney. Cutting their teeth playing small clubs, the band have gone on to sell out arena tours and have released nine previous studio albums: their debut The Big Come Up (2002), followed by Thickfreakness (2003) and Rubber Factory (2004), along with their releases on Nonesuch Records, Magic Potion (2006), Attack & Release (2008), Brothers (2010), El Camino (2011), Turn Blue (2014) and, most recently, “Let’s Rock” (2019), plus and a tenth anniversary edition of Brothers (2020). The band has won six Grammy Awards and a BRIT and headlined festivals in North America, South America, Mexico, Australia, and Europe.

The Black Keys release a special tenth anniversary edition of their landmark seventh studio. El Camino (10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) will be available in several formats including a Super Deluxe edition of five vinyl LPs or four CDs, featuring a remastered version of the original album, a previously unreleased Live in Portland, ME concert recording, a BBC Radio 1 Zane Lowe session from 2012, a 2011 Electro-Vox session, an extensive photo book, a limited-edition poster and lithograph, and a ‘new car scent’ air freshener. A three-LP edition, which includes the remastered album and the live recording, will also be available. The Super Deluxe version will also be available digitally.

El Camino was produced by Danger Mouse and The Black Keys and was recorded in the band’s then-new hometown of Nashville during the spring of 2011. The Black Keys won three awards at the 55th annual GRAMMY Awards for El Camino – Best Rock Performance, Best Rock Song, and Best Rock Album – among other worldwide accolades. In the UK, the band was nominated for a BRIT Award (Best International Group) and an NME Award (Best International Band). The week of release, the band performed on Saturday Night Live, The Colbert Report, and the Late Show with David Letterman, and later that year, went on to perform their first Madison Square Garden show.

Rolling Stone, which featured the band on their cover around the release, hailed El Camino for bringing ‘raw, riffed-out power back to pop’s lexicon,’ and called it ‘the Keys’ grandest pop gesture yet, augmenting dark-hearted fuzz blasts with sleekly sexy choruses and Seventies-glam flair.’ The Guardian said, ‘They sound like a band who think they've made the year's best rock'n'roll album, probably because that's exactly what they've done.’

In the newly written liner notes for El Camino (10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition), David Fricke says:

The story of the Black Keys' seventh album, named after an automobile, long out of fashion and featured nowhere in the artwork, begins on a sidewalk in the middle of a blizzard. On the afternoon of January 9, 2011, singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney stood on the pavement outside the Bowery Hotel in New York City, saw the weather turning vicious, looked at each other and came to the same decision: They had to get off the road.

The night before, the duo scored another first in a season getting crowded with them: The Black Keys' debut appearance on Saturday Night Live, performing ‘Howlin' for You’ and ‘Tighten Up’, the breakout singles from their latest release, Brothers. Two days earlier, Brothers – the Keys' first Top 5 album, released in May 2010 – became their first Gold record, passing a half-million in sales thanks to heavy FM rotation and a near-year of gigging, now set to run deep into 2011 including a prestige slot at Coachella and victory laps in Europe and Australia.

The Keys "tried to settle down" after cancelling the tour, Carney says. But that didn't last. "I said, 'We should just make another record.' And I asked Dan if we should get Danger Mouse" – the hip-hop and modern-rock producer, real name Brian Burton, who worked on the Keys' 2008 record, Attack & Release, and co-produced ‘Tighten Up’. Auerbach and Carney did not have any new songs, but as the drummer notes, "Most of our records – we don't have material when we start. Brothers was made up in the studio."

In the UK, the record gave the band their first top 10 hit, and in the US it debuted at #2 on the Billboard Top 200. The band was also the #1 most played artist at Alternative and AAA radio formats for 2012 in the US. The album’s first single, ‘Lonely Boy’: reached #1 on the Alternative and AAA charts; it also entered the top 10 at Rock radio. The second single, ‘Gold on the Ceiling’, also reached #1 on Alternative radio and the third single, ‘Little Black Submarines’, reached the top 3 at Alternative radio.

El Camino has been certified Double Platinum in the US; Platinum in the UK, Belgium, France, Ireland, and the Netherlands; Triple Platinum in Australia and New Zealand; Quadruple Platinum in Canada; and Gold in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Spain, and Switzerland. Of the album’s singles, ‘Lonely Boy’ was certified Double Platinum in the US, nine-times Platinum in Canada, Triple Platinum in Australia, Platinum in New Zealand, and Gold in Denmark and the UK. ‘Gold on the Ceiling’ was certified Platinum in the United States, Australia, and Canada. ‘Little Black Submarines’ was certified Platinum in the United States. The Black Keys also were nominated for an MTV European Music Award in 2012.

Recently, the band announced their World Tour of America. The Black Keys will perform three intimate shows in Oxford, MS, Athens, GA, and St Petersburg, FL, surrounding their September 25 headlining set at Pilgrimage Fest in Tennessee.

The Black Keys recently released their tenth studio album, Delta Kream, which was recorded at Easy Eye Sound studio in Nashville. The album takes its name from William Eggleston’s iconic Mississippi photograph that is on its cover.

Formed in Akron, Ohio in 2001, The Black Keys, who have been called ‘rock royalty’ by the Associated Press and ‘one of the best rock ‘n’ roll bands on the planet’ by Uncut, are guitarist/singer Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney. Cutting their teeth playing small clubs, the band have gone on to sell out arena tours and have released nine previous studio albums: their debut The Big Come Up (2002), followed by Thickfreakness (2003) and Rubber Factory (2004), along with their releases on Nonesuch Records, Magic Potion (2006), Attack & Release (2008), Brothers (2010), El Camino (2011), Turn Blue (2014) and, most recently, “Let’s Rock” (2019), plus and a tenth anniversary edition of Brothers (2020). The band has won six Grammy Awards and a BRIT and headlined festivals in North America, South America, Mexico, Australia, and Europe.

This one is about the 14th district of Paris.
On the first side, you'll find a track by MLM which invites you to a minimal trip between the René Coty Street and the Montparnasse tower. The track name is a reference to a french poetic movement.
Next is L-e-o's track which takes you around the parisian "prison de la santé" in a very trippy way.

On the side B, you'll find Soufflé Caramel's track that brings you to the Alésia neighborhood and reminds us the early hours of Minimal music.
Then, the maestro Djebali pleases us with a reference to his now world-known Ideal Ghetto Touch.
Finally, the geniuses KERAW make you lose your head with this galactic jungle that will get you travelling around the famous Montsouris Park.
We hope you'll like it !

LMR003, 12", Paris 2021.
Master by SFX Mastering.

Es kann schon einem ganz schön erdrückenden Rucksack gleichen, wenn man als blutjunge Newcomerin mit dem Debütalbum plötzlich ins Rampenlicht rückt, zur Stimme ihrer Generation und von Kritikern wie Fans gleichermaßen gefeiert wird, weltweit ausverkaufte Shows und auf immer größeren Festivals vor immer größeren Menschenmengen spielt. Lindsey Jordan ist es so ergangen und auch wenn sie auf ihrem 2018-Debütalbum Lush sang "I'm in full control / I'm not lost / Even when it's love / Even when it's not", brachte das Ende einer Beziehung sie letztlich an den Rand eines Nervenzusammenbruchs. Sie entschloss sich für einen 45-tägigen Rehab-Aufenthalt in Arizona und begann bereits dort, Songs für das Album zu schreiben, das nun unter dem Titel "Valentine" veröffentlicht wird. Mit ihrer gesundeten Seele und einer Grundidee des Albums zog es Jordan nach Durham im Staate North Carolina, wo sie sich mit Brad Cook (Bon Iver, Waxahatchee) Anfang 2021 in dessen kleinem Home Studio verkroch. U.a. mit dabei waren die langjährigen Bandmitgliedern Ray Brown und Alex Bass, sowie der Techniker Alex Farrar. Nachträglich wurden lediglich die Streicherarrangements in den Spacebomb Studios in Richmond aufgenommen. Es ist eine finstere Momentaufnahme ihrer dunklen Zeit geworden und gleichzeitig ein Abschluss, der die Tür zu diesem Lebensabschnitt endgültig zuschlägt.

Haley Dahl, die seit ihrer Teenagerzeit als Sloppy Jane auftritt, ist neuerdings bei Phoebe Bridgers' Label Saddest Factory Records unter Vertrag. Phoebe und Haley sind schon seit Schulzeiten eng befreundet. Damals war Sloppy Jane eine Teen-Punkband. Die ersten Mitglieder waren Phoebe Bridgers am Bass, Sarah Cath an der Gitarre und Imogen Teasley-Vlautin am Schlagzeug. Heute hat die Band mehr als ein Dutzend Mitglieder und sich in ein Kammerpop-Projekt verwandelt. Für ihr neues Album "Madison" verbrachte Dahl drei Jahre damit, Höhlen zu erkunden, die ihre Vision für das Album einfangen könnten. Ihre Suche führte sie quer durch die USA, wobei sie sich mit der unterschiedlichen Akustik jeder Option beschäftigte, bevor sie bei den Lost World Caverns landete. Das Ergebnis ist ein wunderschönes, persönliches Werk, eine große Geste, ein kraftvolles Statement über obsessive Liebe und über das Hineinwachsen in sich selbst nach einer lebensverändernden Beziehung. Dahl und ihre 21 Bandkollegen nahmen Madison zwei Wochen lang jeden Tag von 15 Uhr bis 8:30 Uhr in den Höhlen auf. Um in die Höhle zu gelangen, mussten sie durch die Rückseite eines Geschenkeladens in einen langen Tunnel eindringen, wo sie über 200 Treppen zum Eingang hinuntergehen mussten. Dahl und Co. bewältigten diesen steilen Weg mit einem Klavier. Die Decke der Lost World Caverns ist riesig hoch und bildet eine perfekte Kuppel. Außerdem herrschte im Inneren eine Luftfeuchtigkeit von 98 Prozent, was sowohl zu einem hervorragenden Klang als auch zu Problemen mit der Stimmung und der Ausrüstung führte. Der Tontechniker Ryan Howe saß mit seinem Mischpult und seinem Computer im Subaru seiner Eltern oberhalb der Höhle und fädelte Kabel durch ein Loch im Boden bis zur Decke der Höhle. Auf dieses Album, das so vollständig realisiert und sorgfältig ausgeführt wurde, hat Dahl lange gewartet und auch als Musikerin viel gelernt: Für Madison lernte sie, wie man für Kammermusikinstrumente schreibt und brachte sich selbst das Klavierspielen bei. Die Platte lässt sich nur schwer kategorisieren. Es ist David Bowie wenn der Song "Crying" von Roy Orbison am Ende von Harmony Korines Film "Gummo" gespielt wird. Es ist My Chemical Romance trifft Sgt. Pepper. Courtney Love und Queen. Es ist ein riesiges, blumiges, samtiges Ding voller Spielzeugpferde und Stalagmiten. Er folgt einer großen Linie: einer großen Geste, die so groß ist, dass sie die ganze Erde bewegt. "I'm glad to live in a world where Haley Dahl wanting to go to a cave to make a record just makes sense. This is already a classic album." - Phoebe Bridgers

Three years after the platinum Effet Miroir (Mirror Effect), Zaz is about to release her fifth album. A record she began making during the spring 2020 lockdown.

After a frenzied decade of sold-out concerts, awards and prestigious collaborations (Quincy Jones, Charles Aznavour), it was after her last world tour which ended in the United States that Zaz refocused herself. For this album, recorded between Provence (Southern France), Brussels and Amsterdam’s area, Zaz worked with Dutch producer REYN (Vanessa Paradis, Stephan Eicher, Benjamin Biolay, Gaëtan Roussel…). “Imagine a world in tune with you”, advises Zaz in the first single. “When you see the state the world is in, it saddens me. What are we going to leave for our children?", asks the artist, who has always held deeply ingrained questions of education and environment. “It's sad, scary. But ‘Imagine’ is a song of hope", she explains, putting things into perspective.

Chicago singer, songwriter and pianist Neal Francis is ATO
Records’ newest signing, and today presents his new album, ‘In
Plain Sight’, the follow-up to Francis’s 2019 debut, ‘Changes’, a
New Orleans-R&B-leaning effort that landed on Best Of The
Year lists from the likes of KCRW, KEXP and The Current, and
saw him hailed as “the reincarnation of Allen Toussaint” by BBC
Radio 6.
 After returning home from touring on the back of ‘Changes’,
Francis went through a breakup and found himself living in a
church, where he ended up writing a series of new songs about
honesty and resilience. “I’m owning up to all my problems within
my relationships and my sobriety,” he says. “So much of it is
about coming to the understanding that I continue to suffer
because of those problems. It’s about acknowledging that and
putting it out in the open in order to mitigate the suffering and try
to work on it, instead of trying to hide everything.”
 Francis and his bandmates recorded In Plain Sight entirely on
tape - and mostly in that same church - and the resulting songs
are dreamlike and reflective, anchored in the rock and soul
sound that has led critics to compare him to legends like Allen
Toussaint and Dr. John. ‘In Plain Sight’ was mixed by the
Grammy-winning producer Dave Fridmann (The Flaming Lips,
Tame Impala, MGMT).
 “There are hints of ’70s Brit Rock (including a very visceral
touch of Elton John) as well as New Orleans jazz-funk, gospel
soul, and some lighthearted Randy Newman - and the
amalgamation felt like a time-stamped treasure,” wrote the
Chicago Sun-Times on his recent hometown performance at
Lollapalooza. Early 2022 will see Francis embark on his first
ever UK and European tour.
 LP pressed on Cherry Red vinyl and includes lyric insert with a
deluxe embossed vinyl jacket and custom inner sleeve. (Once
this pressing sells out, a standard black vinyl format -
ATO0577LP - on will become available.)

ATO Records and Prawn Songs are excited to
bring you a 10th Anniversary pressing of Primusʼ
2011 album ‘Green Naugahyde’.
 This new 2021 pressing comes in a deluxe
gatefold jacket (spot gloss and emboss) with newly
expanded artwork and includes two LPs on ghostly
green coloured vinyl plus digital download code.
 ‘Green Naugahyde’ was produced and engineered
by Les Claypool in his personal studio, Rancho
Relaxo in Northern California, and features
Claypool, long-time guitarist Larry LaLonde and
drummer Jay Lane.

Marooned at home during Melbourne's 2020 lockdown, with no bandmates in sight, Mark Monnone had no option but to take matters to his cassette 8-track and set to work on the follow-up to Monnone Alone (the quartet)'s 2019 powerpop tour de force Summer of the Mosquito. The former-Lucksmiths bassist then gave his home-recorded tapes to Gareth Parton (The Go! Team, Foals, Breeders) to mix the whole glorious mess into something worthy of human consumption. The resulting ten tracks on Stay Foggy bounce blindly from glum to whimsical, from blurred to razor-sharp, showcasing Monnone's disorientated hopes, dreams and lockdown inertia with an off-the-cuff beach party twist.

The American frontier: where burning skies meet sandblasted mesas. Where lost highways stretch into darkness and undisturbed deserts speak a language as ominous as it is otherworldly. This is the tableau of SPIRITWORLD. SPIRITWORLD is also the aural vision quest of Stu Folsom, a Las Vegas native who has taken the intensity of that blasted desert heat and given it voice, howling through the Slayer-like chug of his band’s Century Media debut, Pagan Rhythms. It was that purity of Folsom’s vision that immediately won SPIRITWORLD international acclaim on the limited 2020 self-release of Pagan Rhythms. Even the likes of Exodus/Slayer guitarist Gary Holt and Former Sepultura/current Soulfly leader Max Cavalera raved about the album on social media. Stu and SPIRITWORLD had staked their claim like firebrands and outlaws coming off the deadlands to shoot, ride and speak their truth. Pagan Rhythms is available as Ltd. 180g black Vinyl + CD and Art Print. This Vinyl-Edition features an alternative cover artwork which will be only available for the 1st pressing. Furthermore, the debut-album of SPIRITWORLD is available as Ltd.

Carwyn Ellis from Cardiff/Wales is a singer, songwriter, composer, arranger, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He fronts Colorama, formed the Welsh folk group Bendith and hosts a regular themed radio show on Soho Radio. In 2019, Ellis embarked on the first project under his own name, Carwyn Ellis & Rio 18. Sung in Welsh and recorded mainly in Rio de Janeiro, the album, "Joia!" was nominated for the Welsh Music Prize and followed by "Mas" in early 2020. The new album "Yn Rio" is a collection of new songs recorded in Cardiff together with The BBC National Orchestra Of Wales.

In 2017 Carwyn Ellis joined the touring line-up of The Pretenders. For Ellis, a record collector and fan of Brazilian music, the opportunity to tour South America would present opportunities he couldn't have possibly imagined when he accepted Chrissie Hynde's invitation. "The first place we went to was Rio and by the time I met Chrissie for breakfast the day after our gig, I already had a bag of albums I'd just bought. I'm sitting with her and she says, 'You should meet my mates, and do something in Welsh with them! Nobody's done a Welsh language album with Brazilian musicians?"

In 2018, when Alexandre Kassin, a leading light in that Brazilian scene announced a show in London, Hynde suggested that they see it. "I met him afterwards," Ellis recalls, "and we hit it off straight away." Within weeks, Ellis was on a plane to Rio with songs that would form the basis of the first album. This creative purple patch extended into another album released early in 2021 with Carwyn working once again with Kassin plus long-time friend Shawn Lee. The songs on "Mas" drew on the environmental threats that face both Wales and South America, spidering out around the central theme of water ("rains, no rain, droughts, rising seas and flooded valleys for corporate gain. We're screwed without it and screwed if there's too much").

With "Mas" recorded but weeks away from release, Ellis received a call from Gareth Iwan Jones, head producer of BBC Radio Cymru, offering a third album to be performed in March 2021. Ellis started to reflect upon the life-changing events triggered by his South American adventures. The Welsh word 'hiraeth' which describes the longing that Welsh people feel when they're far from home, was something that he was now beginning to feel for Rio de Janeiro: "'Yn Rio' is based around a day in Rio," he explains. "The events of 2020 influenced the record inasmuch as I wanted it to be a complete antidote to what was going on. If you couldn't go on holiday in real life, you could at least put this record on."

The first single "Olá!", incorporating Jorge Ben's spirit in the chorus and rhythmic breakdown, manages to sound languorous and euphoric. "Cariad, Cariad" was a Portuguese folk poem brought to Ellis' attention by Sonya from Quarteto em Cy and arranged by Christiaan Oyens. "Tristwch 20" is a nod to "Foot and Mouth 68" by Gorkys Zygotic Mynci from "The Blue Trees", 'one of the most beautiful albums of all time', while "Ynys Aur" is named after a 1929 book by Welsh missionary J. Luther Thomas written on returning from his travels to Papua New Guinea. With Kassin unable to participate, Ellis thanks him by translating his "A Paisagem Morta" to create "Y Bywyd Llonyd". For Carwyn Ellis "Yn Rio" is an extraordinary memorial to extraordinary times."There are some days so idyllic you just want tobe able to jump back into them at the touch of a button. That's what I was searching for when I was writing these songs."

After the huge northern hemisphere summer of 2019, filled with amazing events and awesome music, Avalon releases his long awaited second album 'RISE' to great critical acclaim.
Every track a story, every track a magical moment lifting dancefloors to new realms of psychedelia!
Set almost ten years apart from his classic debut album 'Distant Futures', Avalon has since climbed to dizzying heights to become one of the leading and most in-demand artists of the global Psychedelic Trance scene. Chart topping number ones have lined-up one after another between massive collaborations, two remix albums, three collaboration albums (as Killerwatts with Tristan and Future Frequency with Sonic Species) and a gigging schedule that has placed him at every major festival and music loving country possible.
'RISE' shares with us many solo productions, filled with the classic Avalon trademark elements that first garnered him so much success. Twisting and mixing-up his quintessential sounds with the newest and biggest production techniques, plus four amazing collaborations with friends and Psychedelic alumni; Tristan, Dickster, Ajja and Mad Maxx, ensured this album has become a force to be reckoned with!

'RISE' expresses an artist at full potential, utilising all he has learned from a deep dive into psychedelic music and taking things to the next level.

Get ready to Rise!!

We are very proud to now be able to offer this amazing album as a Special Limited Edition double Vinyl.

Das kanadische Ensemble BADBADNOTGOOD machte sich einen Namen als sie kurzerhand Jazz und HipHop miteinander verbanden - nun kehren sie mit ihrem Debüt auf XL Recordings zu ihren instrumentellen Anfängen zurück! Mit dem Talk Memory reflektieren sie die Geschichte und die Innovationen der Musiker und Komponisten, die sie auf dem Weg zum eigenen Sound beeinflussten. Die Band formte sich 2010 im Humber College Jazz Kurs in Toronto, das feste Trio-Line-Up mit Alexander Sowinski (Drums), Chester Hansen (Bass) und Leland Whitty (Gitarre und Holzbläser) existiert seit 2015. Für die drei ist ein Song ein lebender und atmender Organismus, der sich natürlich entwickelt und je nach Umgebung anders klingt. "Talk Memory" ist ein Album, das ganz in diesem Sinne entstanden ist und markiert auch einen Wechsel vom Ego hin zum Kollektiv, zur Balance und zur Harmonie. Es enthält musikalische Beiträge von Arthur Verocai, Karriem Riggins, Terrace Martin, Laraaji und der gefeierten Harfenistin Brandee Younger, die bereits mit Moses Sumney und Thundercat gearbeitet hat. Die Visuals entwarf Virgil Abloh mit seiner Designfirma Alaska-Alaska_äó, der auch das Albumcover gestaltet hat. "Talk Memory" ist ein Album, das betont, wie Musik als Konversation unabdingbar kollektiv und improvisiert sein muss. Es erinnert dabei an die typischen Momente einer Live Jazz- oder Soul-Show, in der der Frontmann jedes einzelne Bandmitglied vorstellt, um ihm/ihr den gebührenden Applaus zukommen zu lassen. Und so ist ein Album voller tiefer Zuneigung zur Musik und zur Community entstanden.

Pilgrimage of the Soul is the 11th studio album in the 22-year career of Japanese experimental rock legends, MONO. Recorded and mixed - cautiously, anxiously, yet optimistically - during the height of the COVID- 19 pandemic in the summer of 2020, Pilgrimage of the Soul is aptly named as it not only represents the peaks and valleys where MONO are now as they enter their thirddecade, but also charts their long, steady journey to this time and place. Continuing the subtle but profound creative progression in the MONO canon that began with Nowhere Now Here (2019), Pilgrimage of the Soul is the most dynamic MONO album to date (and that's saying a lot). But where MONO's foundation was built on the well-established interplay of whisper quiet and devastatingly loud, Pilgrimage of the Soul crafts its magic with mesmerizing new electronic instrumentation and textures, and - perhaps most notably - faster tempos that are clearly influenced by disco and techno. It all galvanizes as the most unexpected MONO album to date - replete with surprises and as awash in splendor as anything this band has ever done. MONO began in Japan at the end of the 20th Century as a young band equally inspired by thepioneers of moody experimental rock (My Bloody Valentine, Mogwai) and iconic Classicalcomposers (Beethoven, Morricone) who came be fore them. They have evolved into one of the most inspiring and influential experimental rock bands in their own right. It is only fitting that their evolution has come at the glacial, methodical pace that their patient music demands. MONO is a band who puts serious value in nuance, and offers signi ficant rewards for the wait. "glacial, metallic, all-consuming post-rock" - Stereogum ,Stunning, eloquent, emotionally gut-busting" - Pop Matters "it's the kind of album that's best played start to finish (and best played loudly), and that can truly suck you in and transport you to another world if you do so." - Brooklyn Vegan

Doppel-LP im Gatefold-Cover, recyceltes & zufällig gefärbtes Doppel-Vinyl, Müllsack-Innenhüllen und ein Coupon zum kostenlosen digitalen Download. Als Aesop Rock in den späten 90er Jahren mit Music For Earthworms und Appleseed debütierte, war auch Blockhead mit von der Partie, nicht nur als Produzent, sondern auch, um den Verkauf der CDRs an hungrige Hip-Hop-Fans zu koordinieren. Blockhead und Aesop setzten ihre Zusammenarbeit fort und schufen dabei eine beeindruckende Liste von Songs, darunter zwei von Aesops beliebtesten Liedern bis heute: "Daylight" und "None Shall Pass". In den letzten Jahren hatte Blockhead bei vielen von Aesops Solo-Veröffentlichungen und Gruppenprojekten Produktionen und Remixe beigesteuert, und Aesop im Gegenzug eine Handvoll Features bei Blockheads Soloprojekten, aber in all dieser Zeit haben Aesop und Block nie ein komplettes Album zusammen gemacht - bis jetzt! Garbology entstand im Laufe der Pandemie und auch zu der Zeit, in der Aesop den Tod eines engen Freundes im Januar 2020 verarbeitete. Anfangs gab es weder einen Plan für ein Album, aber es dauerte nicht lange, bis aus einem Song ein paar wurden, und dann eine Handvoll, bis schließlich ein Album geboren wurde. Garbology fängt den Soundtrack der heutigen Zeit ein, eine Momentaufnahme von Aes und Block, die sich - inmitten von weniger sozialen Interaktionen als üblich - entertainen wollen, "verankert in einem Gulasch aus Hüttenkoller, Angst, Wut und Langeweile", wie Aesop es beschreibt. Was den Titel des Albums angeht, erklärt Aesop: "Garbologie ist definiert als die Untersuchung des von einer Gesellschaft weggeworfenen Materials, um zu erfahren, was es über soziale oder kulturelle Muster verrät. Ich sehe viele Parallelen zwischen diesem Begriff und der Idee, nach einem Verlust oder einer Zeit intensiver Unruhe die Scherben aufzusammeln und zu sehen, was wirklich da ist. Es sind Informationen, die etwas darüber aussagen, wer ich bin, wer wir sind und wie wir vorankommen. Außerdem: in alter, oft vernachlässigter Musik aus einer anderen Zeit zu wühlen und diese mit einem Ohr zu durchforsten, das darauf eingestellt ist, diese Daten auf eine andere Weise aufzunehmen, als der durchschnittliche Hörer_ das ist genau das, was Tony tut. Geh die Informationen durch und sieh, was du findest."

Markus Pauli, Florian Sump und Lukas Nimscheck haben es getan! Ihr DEINE FREUNDE WEIHNACHTSALBUM liefert in 15 brandneuen Songs den perfekten audiovisuellen Schmuck für den familiären EndjahresWahnsinn, eine unterhaltsam-chaotische Platte mit ganz großen Gefühlen und unverwechselbarem Witz für
Familienmitglieder jeden Alters.
DEINE FREUNDE sehnen sich im Synthiepopsong „Wann wird’s mal wieder richtig Winter“ nach einer
guten Portion Schnee, stellen aber gleich danach fest, dass dank Klimawandel wohl nur ein „Ganz normaler
Sommertag“ auf sie warten wird.
„Wir wollten ein Album machen, dass nicht nur besinnlich, sondern auch unterhaltsam und lebensnah ist -
und unsere ganz persönliche Sicht auf Weihnachten zeigt!“ Und so besingen sie in „Die krassesten Schlitten“ den fahrbaren Untersatz des Weihnachtsmannes, verwandeln mit „Dieses Jahr schenken wir uns mal
nix“ einen klassischen Vorsatz in ein musikalisches Mahnmal. und thematisieren in „C64“ den immer noch
aktuellen Kampf um die Medienzeit zwischen Eltern und ihrer daddelgeilen Brut.
Doch auch echte Gefühle kommen nicht zu kurz. Und so schreiben die drei Hamburger auf ihren ”XXL
Wunschzettel” vor allem, was sie ihren jungen Hörern mitgeben wollen: Respekt, Nächstenliebe und Toleranz. „Weihnachten ist auch die Zeit des Sich-gegenseitig-Zuhörens, das ist heute wichtiger denn je.“
So wie hier müssen Weihnachtssongs in den 20ern klingen!
Das Album erscheint jetzt auch auf Vinyl!

Over the past decade or so, Chris Forsyth has produced a series of perennially year-end list haunting studio albums of expansive art-rock, from 2013’s Solar Motel to 2019’s All TimePresent , in the process becoming one of the leading lights of the so-called “indie jam” scene, musicians combining omnivorous influences with post-Dead sprawl.

These critically lauded albums have established Forsyth as one of today’s most unique and acclaimed guitar player/composers - a forward thinking classicist synthesizing cinematic expansiveness with a pithy lyricism and rhythmic directness that makes even his 20-minute workouts feel as clear, direct, and memorable as a 4-minute song.

Pitchfork has called his music “a near-perfect balance between 70s rock tradition and present day experimentation,” NPR Music named Forsyth “one of rock’s most lyrical guitar improvisors,” and the New York Times calls him “a scrappy and mystical historian… His music humanizes the element of control in rock classicism (and) turns it into a woolly but disciplined ritual.”

But the studio records are just the tip of the iceberg.

You see, in a live setting Forsyth’s music is never really finished.

He hasn’t had a fixed band in years and plays with a rotating cast of characters. Regulars in Forsyth’s bands have included bassists Doug McCombs (Tortoise) and Peter Kerlin (Sunwatchers), and drummer Ryan Jewell (Ryley Walker, too many others to mention), among others - basically, whoever is available for the given gig or tour.

These are not groups that rehearse, exactly. Operating more like a jazz band, Forsyth and his players treat the songs as frameworks that remain identifieable but morph based on who’s playing them, like weather to a landscape.

Embracing this flux has become a cornerstone of Forsyth’s live sets, rendering every performance special and thereby catching the attention of tapers from his home base in Philly to New York City, Chicago, and Minneapolis. In fact, most of his live performances over the last few years are recorded and posted on the Live Music Archive site.

But the taper recordings, though many are high quality and full of character, are not professionally recorded and mixed multi-tracks.

Which brings us to Peoples Motel Band , the new live LP culled from a set that Forsyth played with NY-based group Garcia Peoples as his band, and is self-releasing on his own Algorithm Free label in a limited pressing of 500 copies.

Recorded September 14, 2019 before a packed and enthusiastic hometown crowd at Johnny Brenda’s in Philadelphia, Peoples Motel Band catches Forsyth and Garcia Peoples (plus ubiquitous drummer Ryan Jewell) re-imagining songs from Forsyth’s last couple studio albums with improvisatory flair.

Forsyth and Garcia Peoples played a number of 2019 shows together, beginning with a semi-legendary jam set at Nublu in NYC in March, through a couple dates on Forsyth’s month-long weekly residency at Nublu in September and concluding with a five-date tour of the Northeast in December. The chemistry between the players is tangible.

As is often the case with Forsyth shows, the gloves come off quickly and the players attack the material - much of it so well-manicured and cleanly produced in the studio - like a bunch of racoons let loose in a Philadelphia pretzel factory.

Recorded and mixed with clarity by Forsyth’s longtime studio collaborator, engineer/producer Jeff Zeigler, the record puts the listener right in the sweaty club, highlighted by an incredible side-long take of the chooglin’ title track from 2017’s Dreaming in The Non-Dream LP (note multiple climaxes eliciting wild shouts and ecstatic screams from the assembled).

This is not the new Chris Forsyth album, exactly, but then again, it kinda is because whenever he sits down to play, something new comes out.

International power duo Dasom Baek (traditional Korean flutes) and Violeta García (cello) present their debut album. is the sound of two leading composers and improvisers pushing their instruments to the technical and creative limit, then beyond into places unnavigated, futuristic and often haunting.

Dasom and Violeta tussle with playful and at times brutal mastery between passages of sparse melody, acrobatic percussion and harmonic drift, while interjecting voices fracture and reassemble into intimate, improbable forms. It is hard to imagine an album more abundant in ideas and motifs, all atomised as soon as they are brought to life. The effect is a tapestry of rugged spirits - moving, and at times just plain beautiful.

Recommended for fans of Okkyung Lee, John Butcher, Messiaen, or Ernst Reijseger.

Dasom Baek is a composer, improviser and performer of traditional Korean instruments, mainly Daegeum, Sogeum. Dasom pursues ground-breaking and modern music rooted in traditional Korean instrumental performance. She is a Certified Master of Important Intangible Cultural Asset, no.45. She has achieved Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the Korea National University of Arts, and is currently undertaking a PhD course at Seoul National University. She has also represented Korea at the International Flute Festival. In 2019 she was selected as a fellow for the OMI Music residency in New York, collaborating with various genres of musicians from different countries. In 2020, she released her debut album, titled . In 2021 she was selected as a showcase artist at SXSW Festival.

Violeta García is a cellist, improviser and composer born in 1990 in San Nicolás de los Arroyos, Buenos Aires, Argentina. She studied at the Conservatory Astor Piazolla, and holds a degree in Composition from the Conservatory Manuel de Falla, with Ricardo Capellano. She also has a degree in Musical Arts, specialising in violoncello, from the Universidad Nacional of Arts (U.N.A).

Diving into the archives of Alter Ego - the experimental ensemble of Manuel Zurria, Paolo Ravaglia, Aldo Campagnari, Francesco Dillon, Oscar Pizzo, Fulvia Ricevuto, and Eugenio Vatta - Die Schachtel is thrilled to present Pranam - A(Round) Giacinto Scelsi, a never before released body of recordings interpreting the works of the legendary Italian composer Giacinto Scelsi, made with Matmos (Martin Schmidt and Drew Daniel) in 2005. Resting at the outer reaches of avant-garde chamber and electronic music - moving at a glacial pace of tightly wound energy - Pranam’s two sides radically rethink the terms electroacoustic music in ways that still feel radically ahead of their time, more than 15 years after they were first laid to tape.

A modular chamber ensemble with a pointedly anti-academic approach to music, over the course of its activities - running roughly between 1990 and 2010 - Alter Ego developed a devoted following among some of the most forward thinking voices in experimental music, all the while collaborating widely with artists spanning a vast range of practices and disciplines, including Robin Rimbaud, Philip Jeck, Pan Sonic, Matmos, Gavin Bryars, Andrew Hooker, William Basinski, David Moss, Alvin Curran, Terry Riley, and near countless number of others.

Alter Ego’s diverse activities can be understood as interventions with the disposition toward formality within contemporary chamber music, often pairing themselves with artists working well beyond their own context as a means to develop highly original interpretations of a specific composer’s work. In 2005, this process led them to invite Matmos, the American duo of Drew Daniel, Martin Schmidt - acclaimed for a body of visionary albums at the vanguard of electronic process and sampling - to collaborate on a series of interpretations of works by the legendary Italian composer Giacinto Scelsi.

Realized in collaboration with The Fondazione Isabella Scelsi, which holds Giacinto Scelsi’s archives, and performed at the Festival Roma Europa and the Festival Aeterforum during May of 2005, the album’s four works - Estratti dal Quartetto per archi n.3 (1963), Ko-Lho (1966), Riti: I Funerali di Carlo Magno A.D. 814 (1976), Aitsi (1974) - shift the boundaries of 20th Century chamber music toward markedly new and contemporary terms, incorporating everything from the sounds of the Revox tape machine that Scelsi used to record his own improvisations and processed electronics, to the plastic trumpets used by fans during football matches.

From intertwining, shifting lone-tones that render startling resonances and dissonances, to passages guided by a vast pallet of electronics and flurries of acoustic sounds, joined as a single ensemble, across the two sides of Pranam, Alter Ego and Matmos infuse these four works by Scelsi with humor and playfulness, while retaining all the urgency and rigour with which they were initially composed.

Delicate and meditative, while tightly wound and brooding, Pranam brings the works of Giacinto Scelsi to life in ways that almost no group ever has. Riveting and immersive from start to finish, Die Schachtel is thrilled to present these never before heard recordings from the archives of Alter Ego. Pranam is available on black vinyl, in a limited edition of 350 copies.

xe m1 Karn Evil 9 1st Impression, Pt. 2 (Live at the Albert Hall) [2017 - Remaster]
[xf] m2 Tarkus (I. Eruption II. Stones of Years III. Iconoclast) [Live at the Albert Hall] [2017 - Remaster]
[xg] m3 Knife Edge (Live at the Albert Hall) [2017 - Remaster]
[xh] n1 Paper Blood (Live at the Albert Hall) [2017 - Remaster]
[xi] n2 Romeo and Juliet (Live at the Albert Hall) [2017 - Remaster]
[xj] n3 Creole Dance (Live at the Albert Hall) [2017 - Remaster]
[xk] n4 Still... You Turn Me on (Live at the Albert Hall) [2017 - Remaster]
[xl] n5 Lucky Man (Live at the Albert Hall) [2017 - Remaster]
[xm] o1 Black Moon (Live at the Albert Hall) [2017 - Remaster]
[xn] o2 Pirates (Live at the Albert Hall) [2017 - Remaster]
[xo] p1 Finale (Medley) [I. Fanfare for the Common Man II. America III. Rondo] [Live at the Albert Hall] [20

Farewell covers a lot of ground across the span of its 26 songs and two-hour run time. Yet every moment is a reminder of why Minus the Bear were such an experiential live band. They were always pushing forward, evolving their sound, and finding new ways to balance brainy musicianship, pop worship, meditative sentimentality, and adrenalized fervor into their own signature concoction. Further bolstered by the mix of Matt Bayles and master job by Ed Brooks at Resonant Mastering, the album sounds like a fully immersive live experience. + RECORDED DURING MINUS THE BEAR'S 2018 FAREWELL TOUR + 2021 MARKS THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FORMATION OF MINUS THE BEAR + MIXED BY MATT BAYLES (SOUNDGARDEN, PEARL JAM, MASTODON, THE SWORD) + MASTERED BY ED BROOKS AT RESONANT MASTERING (R.E.M., DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE, FLEET FOXES) + FIRST AND ONLY OFFICIAL LIVE RELEASE FROM MINUS THE BEAR + RETAIL EXCLUSIVE VARIANT ON CUSTOM OPAQUE GREY VINYL LIMITED TO 1,900 COPIES + 3xLP PACKAGE COMES IN TRIPLE GATEFOLD SLEEVE WITH SPOT INKS + 3xLP PACkAGE INCLUDES PRINTED INNER SLEEVES WITH METALLIC SPOT INKS + 3xLP INCLUDES A DOWNLOAD COUPON

25 Sekunden Zeit zum Luftholen gönnen einem LYGO ganz am Anfang ihres neuen Albums, bevor "Schockstarre" losbricht, danach bleibt nicht mehr viel Zeit zum Atmen. Für 42 Minuten reißt "Lygophobie", das dritte Album des Bonner Trios, das inzwischen komplett in Köln lebt, mit. Aber es hätte ganz anders kommen können: Mit ihrer letzten Tour im September 2019 verkünden sie eine Pause auf unbestimmte Zeit - nicht etwa, weil sie sich auflösen wollen, nein, einfach um die letzten Jahre mal wirken zu lassen und Platz zu schaffen für den ganzen Kram, für den man sonst neben der Band kaum Zeit hat. Drummer Daniel nutzt die Auszeit, um sich ausgiebig mit Musikproduktion zu beschäftigen und ermöglicht es LYGO so, selbst Musik im Proberaum aufzunehmen. Neue Songs und Texte entstehen schneller denn je, denn im Jahr 2020 gibt es plötzlich wenig anderes zu tun, als zu schreiben. Die Songs des Albums entstehen letztendlich alle in einem 16qm großen Proberaum und werden auch dort aufgenommen. Wer schonmal einen LYGO-Song gehört hat, wird sich auf "Lygophobie" schnell zurecht finden. Hier muss auch nichts neu erfunden werden. Das Magische an Punkrock ist und bleibt doch, dass man auch mit nur einer Gitarre, Bass, Schlagzeug und klugen Texten diese große, komplexe Welt ein bisschen verständlicher machen kann. Wenn auch nur für drei Minuten am Stück. Doch natürlich haben LYGO seit "Schwerkraft" von 2018 auch Neues ausprobiert. In "Kommentarspalte" vertonen sie YouTube-Comments von Schlafgestörten und wagen Midtempo, in "Ufer" gibts endlich ein Gitarrensolo, "13 Stunden Schlaf" wird von einem Klavier eröffnet. "Lygophobie", das ist nicht etwa ein verunglücktes Wortspiel über die Angst vor sich selbst als Band. Es ist ein Begriff, über den LYGO zufällig stolperten: Es ist die übermäßige Angst vor der Dunkelheit. Und obwohl sich die Dunkelheit in all ihren Facetten durch das ganze Album zieht, ist "Lygophobie" alles andere als eine pessimistische Platte. Sie beschreibt eher den Weg zurück ins Licht, wie ihn auch die Artworks zum Album visualisieren. Das ist Punkrock, der so nonchalant zwischen AZ und Clubbühne reinknallt, dass man sich endlich wieder dran erinnert, warum einem diese Musik die Welt bedeutet. Die LP kommt mit schwarzem180 Gramm Vinyl, Gatefold Klappcover aus schwerem Coverkarton. Außerdem liegt der LP ein Download Code bei.

Diving into the archives of Alter Ego - the Italian experimental ensemble of Manuel Zurria, Paolo Ravaglia, Aldo Campagnari, Francesco Dillon, Oscar Pizzo, and Eugenio Vatta - Die Schachtel is thrilled to present Microwaves, a never before released body of recordings of works composed by Atli Ingólfsson, Giovanni Verrando, Yan Maresz, and Riccardo Nova, made with Pan Sonic (Mika Vainio and Ilpo Vaisanen) in 2005. Resting at the outer reaches of avant-garde chamber and electronic music, the LP’s blistering structures, tones, and textures - plowing forward with frenetic energy - remain radical and ahead of their time, more than 15 years after they were first laid to tape.

A modular chamber ensemble with a pointedly anti-academic approach to music, over the course of its activities - running roughly between 1990 and 2010 - Alter Ego developed a devoted following among some of the most forward thinking voices in experimental music, all the while collaborating widely with artists spanning a vast range of practices and disciplines, including Robin Rimbaud, Philip Jeck, Matmos, Gavin Bryars, Andrew Hooker, William Basinski, David Moss, Alvin Curran, Terry Riley, and near countless number of others.

Alter Ego’s diverse activities can be understood as interventions with the disposition toward formality within contemporary chamber music, often pairing themselves with artists working well beyond their own context as a means to develop highly original interpretations of a specific composer’s work. In 2004, this process led them to instigate a collaboration Pan Sonic, the Finnish duo of Mika Vainio and Ilpo Vaisanen, pioneers of a remarkably distinct form of rhythmic, experimental electronic music, and regarded by many as one of the most visionary and irreverent projects working in the field during the '90s and 2000s.

Initially conceived with Fausto Romitelli in 2004 before being sidelined by the composer’s untimely passing the following year, Microwaves acts, in part, a remembrance in sound, featuring four works by some of his closest friends, the composers Atli Ingólfsson, Giovanni Verrando, Yan Maresz, and Riccardo Nova. Each composition, Ingólfsson’s Snap, Verrando’s Harmonic Domains #3, Maresz’s Link, and Nova’s Thirteen13x8@Terror Generating Deity, have roots in a pallet of samples and fragments drawn by each composer from existing works by Pan Sonic. Upon completion, these compositions then entered into a collaborative process between Mika Vainio and Ilpo Vaisanen (Pan Sonic) and Alter Ego (Manuel Zurria, Paolo Ravaglia, Aldo Campagnari, Francesco Dillon, Oscar Pizzo, and Eugenio Vatta), and were performed collectively by both groups during an extensive tour that year.

Distinct and free-standing, while operating as a seamless whole, the four works encountered across the album’s two sides - built from the sounds of flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, electronics, and further treatments - present an engrossing intersection between electronic and acoustic sound that diverges from most standing conceptions of electroacoustic music. Each composer’s carefully rendered structures rise and fall within the startling, conversant interplay between the two groups, finding perfect balance - between the frenetic and restrained - in what can only be regarded as one of the most striking and singularly unique expressions of contemporary chamber music realized during the 2000s.

Vast in scope, visionary in concept and artistry, and sonically engrossing, Die Schachtel is thrilled to present these never before heard recordings from the archives of Alter Ego. Microwaves is available on black vinyl, in a limited edition of 350 copies.