Atmosphärischer Black Metal aus Sibirien – Klirrende Kälte, antike Rituale und finstere Wälder!
Atmosphärischer Black Metal aus der sibirischen Taiga – GRIMA vertonen klirrende Kälte, Rituale vergangener Zeiten und finstere, einsame Wälder in
atmosphärischem Gewandt. Mit ihrem neuen Album und Napalm Records-Debüt Nightside setzt die Band ein Ausrufezeichen als eine der
vielversprechendsten Hoffnungen im Black Metal!
Famed free jazz concert registration of an early New Direction for the Art performance. Recorded in 1971. Old-style Gatefold LP, with rare photographs & extensive liner notes by Alan Cummings.
The performance by Takayanagi Masayuki New Direction for the Art at the Gen’yasai festival on August 14, 1971 was an intense, bruising collision between the radical, anti-establishment politics of the period in Japan and the febrile avant-garde music that had begun to emerge a few years before. The ferocious performance that you can hear here was received with outright hostility by the audience, who responded first with catcalls and later with showers of debris that were hurled at the performers. Takayanagi though described the group’s performance to jazz magazine Swing Journal as a success, “an authentic and realistic depiction of the situation”.
In 1962, Takayanagi, bassist Kanai Hideto and painter Kageyama Isamu went on to form an AACM-style musicians’ collective called the New Century Music Research Institute. Every Friday, members gathered at Gin-Paris, a chanson bar in the fashionable Ginza district of Tokyo, to push the outer limits of jazz creativity.
But the pivotal moment for his music was the creation a new trio version of his New Directions group in August 1969, with the free bassist Yoshizawa Motoharu and a young drummer Toyozumi (Sabu) Yoshisaburō. Experiments eventually led to the creation of two basic frameworks for improvisation that Takayagi referred to as Mass Projection and Gradually Projection.
“La Grima” (tears), the piece that was played at the Gen’yasai festival, is a mass projection and listening to it, you can get a clear sense of what Takayanagi was aiming at. Mass projection involves a dense, speedy and chaotic colouring in of space that destroys the listener’s perception of time, and thus of musical development.
The ferocity of the performance of “La Grima” at the Gen’yasai Festival in Sanrizuka on August 14, 1971 was consciously grounded by Takayanagi in a particular historical moment, ripe with conflict and violence. A month after the festival, on September 16, three policemen would die during struggles at the site. This was the context that the three-day Gen’yasai Festival existed within. The line-up reflected the radical politics of the movement, with leading free jazz musicians like Takayanagi, Abe Kaoru, and Takagi Mototeru appearing alongside radical ur-punkers Zuno Keisatsu, heavy electric blues bands like Blues Creation, and Haino Keiji’s scream-jazz unit Lost Aaraaff.
New Direction for the Arts trio topped the bill on the opening day, playing an aggressive, uncompromising “mass projection” set of polyphonic improvisation. Alongside drummer Hiroshi Yamazaki and saxophonist Kenji Mori, Takayanagi soloed hard and continuously for forty minutes. This was performance as precisely calibrated metaphor: three musicians responding to the demands of the moment with instinctive force and fury, untethered by rules, leaderless yet not rudderless (the direction part of the group’s name was no accident). The piece was entitled La Grima – tears - and the fusion between the palpable anger of the performance and hopeless sadness of its title were also perfectly apt for the situation. This was a fight that the state was always going to win. Yet, by all accounts, the band’s set went down like a fart at a funeral. The band were showered with catcalls and debris throughout, and by chants of “go home” when the music finally came to an end.
However, looking back at the event in the year-end issue of Japan’s leading jazz magazine, Swing Journal, Takayanagi was surprisingly upbeat: New Directions brought a solid political consciousness to our performance and succeeded in an authentic and realistic depiction of the situation. But journalism revealed its superficiality in its inability to penetrate the core of the music. I don’t know much about anyone else, but we at least left behind a competent record.
It’s a fascinating statement in many ways. Perhaps on one-hand it can be read as stubborn, solipsistic and self-justifying, yet in conjunction with his statement in 1971 there are points that guide us towards an understanding of just what Takayanagi intended with his performance at the festival. As Kitazato Yoshiyuki has argued, it becomes an almost religious act, directed at the earth deities of the land. A union of anger, sorrow and malevolence that can be placed nowhere effective, all it can do is find expression and channeling. The forcible land seizures at Narita, the eviction of farmers from land that had been in families for generations, the destruction of communities: none of this can be prevented, not least by an artistic action. All that can be done is an attempt to mark the land itself, to soak it with the combined force of emotions and the volume of the performances, to bury something there that cannot be drowned out, even by the coming roar of jet engines.
R.A.N.D. Muzik Recordings welcomes Melbourne’s Willee to the label for his debut release, an EP of progressive house and breaks, true to the early 2000s sound.
Her New Knife ist eine Shoegaze-/Alternative-Band aus Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Zu den Mitgliedern der Gruppe gehören Edgar Atencio (Gitarre und Gesang), Ben Kachler (Gitarre), Carolina Schooley (Bass) und Elijah Ford (Schlagzeug). Die Band veröffentlichte letztes Jahr ,chrome is lullaby" über das einflussreiche Label Julia's War Recordings. Die EP besticht durch ihren rohen, verletzlichen Charme und bietet Fans von Shoegaze und Post-Punk eine tiefe Verbindung zu ihrem einzigartigen Sound. Nach einer einmaligen Björk-Coverversion (,Pagan Poetry") kehrt die Band nun mit einer 6-Song-Remix-EP zurück, die Remixe von TAGABOW, Sword II, Frost Children und anderen. Die physische Version der Veröffentlichung ,Chrome is Lullaby Deluxe" enthält auf Seite A die EP ,Chrome is Lullaby" und auf Seite B die entsprechenden Remixe.
Repress!
Next up on Accidental Jnr are 2 club ready tracks from Sydney producer Cassius Select that straddle genres somewhere between techno, bassline and hardcore. 90 is a gurgling brutal post-dubstep wobble fest at a house tempo whilst HERD offers up Select's trademark idiosyncratic vocal snippets wrapped up in most broken and shuffled of techno rhythm. Cassius Select lives in the undefined sonic boroughs of the hardcore continuum. His first EP explored the grittier end of techno under Australian label Hunter Gatherer followed by a 12" of unstable rhythm workouts under DJ Haus' UTTU label. The Toronto native is hell bent on inciting movement in the most unorthodox ways. Sonics crush genre-defining sounds into a pastiche of cryptic one liners and side eyes. Drums that invoke an impossible sense of swing and momentum. Most importantly Select's sound defines itself on the mission to deconstruct the world around him,to level out the playing field so everyone can have a bite. This year, Select joins with UK imprint Accidental Jr. to release a two-track fury of sound that snarls with every grimace.
2022 Repress
Dear Friends,
25 years of KOMPAKT is no reason to get hysterical. Then again, it's a nice occasion to have a laid back look at the situation in electronic music today. Minimal techno in all it's varieties is now established as the worlds best dance music, as you may know. So far, so good. What's next Nothing. Dance on!
I've gain two essential insights with the passage of time. First off, that music which over the years only knew 'faster, better, stronger' and 'forwards ever - backwards never' can constantly repeat, quote and loop itself without killing itself. A music that suspends the meaning of time and eventually can set a parallel, better universe of fantasy against the twisted grimaces of reality. Again and again.
And secondly, that getting older living in/with this music is a quite relative term to which ideally a serenity of age can ring a bell. This shows that 25 years after 1993 so many protagonists, enthusiasts, DJs, musicians, relentlessly rave fighters - with all personal advancement - are still there and still celebrate, play or produce this/theirs music; and compete themselves and their music just with that.
Two such heroes of the neat and tidy bass drum culture are with no doubt T.RAUMSCHMIERE aka MARCO HAAS and REINHARD VOIGT. From day one, those two figureheads have given live-techno the glam of stage-diving rock 'n' roll, long before vodka and beer prevailed as alternative lube for ecstatic dancefloors.
Even better they both now raise the glass at the longest techno-bar in the world named KOMPAKT EXTRA/SPEICHER. With DREI MILLIONEN KO¨LSCH, Reinhard Voigt continues to establish his savvy 'way into sound', which he's pursued for a few years now on his many releases. He's turning genre cliche´s into a very personal take with his defiant mix of the deepness of a lonesome cowboy and his implicit faith in the dancefloor and gives the music a very personal touch of ennnoblement of the faith in itself. Technos dignity shall be inviolable.
For me, AUGEN ZU by T.RAUMSCHMIERE is one of the most beautiful masterpieces of bass-heavy 'Umta Umta' techno. A few strikingly brilliant vocal lines from the master himself, put through the machines and combined with a relentlessly sequencer that says it all. This cheers my heart and we will always need such tracks to remind us of ourselves. And to forget about ourselves. Smash hits of unreason! Or the prettiest declaration of love to a music which gets its magical moments from what's happening between the bass drum-beats. But only by this when the bassdrum remains linear and will do so forever. Both Marco Haas and Reinhard Voigt know that. Because after techno comes always techno.
Wolfgang Voigt - May, 2018 Wolfgang Voigt - May, 2018
25 Jahre KOMPAKT sind kein Grund sich aufzuregen. Aber dennoch ein schöner Anlass, einen gelassenen Blick auf die Lage der elektronischen Musik zu werfen. Denn der globale Minimal-Techno, in seinen unterschiedlichen Spielarten, hat sich bekanntlich längst als beste Tanzmusik der Welt etabliert. Recht so. Was nun Gar nichts. Weitertanzen.
Zwei essentielle Erkenntnisse haben sich bei mir im Laufe der Zeit durchgesetzt: Erstens - dass eine Musik, die über Jahre nur ein »Höher, Schneller, Weiter« oder ein »Forwards Ever - Backwards Never« kannte, sich ständig wiederholen, selbst zitieren und loopen kann, ohne daran zu ersticken. Die Bedeutung von Zeit und Vergänglichkeit im besten Sinne außer Kraft setzen und der hässlichen Fratze der Realität eine parallele, bessere Welt der Fantasie entgegensetzen kann. Immer wieder.
Und zweitens: dass »Altern in/mit dieser Musik« ein sehr relativer Begriff ist, dem bestenfalls Altersgelassenheit etwas sagt, Alter. Das zeigt sich immer wieder im schönsten Sinne, wenn 25 Jahre nach 1993 so viele Akteure, Enthusiasten, DJs, Musikanten, unkaputtbare Kampfraver, bei aller persönlichen Weiterentwicklung, immer noch da sind und immer noch diese/ihre Musik abfeiern, auflegen oder eben produzieren und sich und ihr Tun auch nur daran messen lassen müssen.
Zwei solche Recken der gepflegten Bassdrumkultur sind zweifelsohne T.RAUMSCHMIERE aka MARCO HAAS und REINHARD VOIGT. Zwei Rampensäue der ersten Stunde, die Live-Techno den Glam des Rock'n'Roll Stagedivings gegeben haben, lange bevor Vodka und Bier sich als alternative Gleitmittel eines ektatischen Dancefloors in der Breite durchgesetzt hatten.
Umso schöner, dass sich eben diese Beiden mal wieder an der längsten Techno-Theke der Welt, genannt KOMPAKT EXTRA/SPEICHER über die beiden Seiten einer Schallplatte hinweg musikalisch zuprosten. Mit dem Track DREI MILLIONEN KÖLSCH setzt REINHARD VOIGT seinen smarten »way into sound« fort, den er schon seit ein paar Jahren auf diversen Veröffentlichungen konsequent verfolgt. Mit einer trotzigen Mischung aus lonesome cowboyhafter Deepness und dem unbedingten Bekenntnis zum Dancefloor schafft er es, den Klischees des Techno eine sehr persönliche Note der Veredelung des Glaubens an sich selbst zu geben. Die Würde des Techno ist unantastbar.
Der Track AUGEN ZU von T.RAUMSCHMIERE ist für mich eines der schönsten Meisterstücke in der Tradition des oktavbassgeschwängerten Umta-Umta Techno. Einige wenige markant brilliante Textzeilen, vom Meister selbst in deutscher Sprache durch die Maschinen geschickt, gepaart mit einem Sequenzer der keine Gefangenen macht, lassen keine Fragen offen. Da geht mir Herz und Rucksack auf. Solche Tracks werden wir immer brauchen, um uns an uns selbst zu erinnern. Um uns immer wieder selbst zu vergessen. Smash-Hits der Unvernunft! Oder die schönste Liebeserklärung an eine Musik, die ihre magischsten Momente immer aus dem gezogen hat, was zwischen den Bassdrumschlägen passiert. Das funktioniert aber nur, wenn die Bassdrum gerade ist und es für immer bleibt. Und Marco Haas und Reinhard Voigt wissen das. Denn nach Techno kommt immer noch Techno.
Wolfgang Voigt, Mai 2018
Zeitlose Eleganz: Klassik trifft Lounge – die ultimative Klavier-Entspannung
Diese LP interpretiert klassische Meisterwerke als raffinierten Lounge-Soundtrack neu und verbindet die zeitlose Romantik der Vergangenheit nahtlos mit der kontemplativen Ruhe der Gegenwart.
Von Debussys schimmerndem „Clair de lune” und der stillen Tiefe des langsamen Satzes aus Beethovens „Pathétique” über die introspektive Wärme von Brahms' "Intermezzo" bis hin zu Griegs „Notturno” fließt die Auswahl wie ein Late-Night-Gespräch. Populäre neoklassische Komponisten wie Joep Beving, Max Richter, Ludovico Einaudi, Jóhann Jóhannsson und Yann Tiersen steuern ihre hypnotischen, filmischen Texturen bei und schaffen eine Stimmung, die sowohl zutiefst entspannend als auch intellektuell fesselnd ist.
Limited to 250 copies !
The Deadheads had never had much luck with spaceships. Their first mission had ended in a catastrophic engine failure, leaving them adrift in deep space for weeks. This time, their craft was hardly more reassuring. A hodgepodge of outdated technology and shoddy repairs made it more of a floating death trap than a reliable cruiser. As they began their descent toward the strange planet, the hull creaked and rattled, sending a wave of dread through the crew.
"Hold on," Matt's voice crackled over the intercom, without much conviction, as if he himself doubted they would make it out alive. Outside, a thick, grayish atmosphere swirled ominously, while the planet's gravity became far stronger than anticipated.
“Fuck, we’re gonna burn at the entrance!” M yelled, his hands flailing on the console as sparks flew from the control panel. The ship’s sensors were completely jammed, and the navigation system flickered intermittently, like a dying light. Below, the planet’s surface was a tangle of lava rivers and jagged rock formations, the kind of place no sane person would ever land. But the Deadheads had never pretended to be. They lived in a state of constant emergency.
As the descent intensified, the alarms blared. On the bridge, the screens lit up with red warnings and flashing messages: "SYSTEM ERROR," "UNSTABLE TRAJECTORY," "SUIVITY SYSTEM COMPROMISED." The lines of code scrolled by too quickly to be read, while a mechanical voice repeated relentlessly: "Imminent impact. Structural integrity at twenty percent."
The once pristine shell of the vessel began to disintegrate, with shards of metal breaking away and disappearing into the atmosphere.
With a final, piercing screech, the ship crashed onto the planet's surface, sending up a cloud of dust and debris. The crew was violently thrown from their seats, stunned but barely alive. They struggled to their feet amidst the wreckage, the ship reduced to a charred shell around them.
"Well," M said, wiping the dirt off his suit with a grimace, "at least the air is breathable." Matt scanned the hostile expanse stretching before them and smiled slightly. "Perfect. Let's hope we have better luck with the planet than with our ships."
With that, the Deadheads gathered their equipment and headed into the unknown, while the remains of their ship slowly sank into the unstable soil of the planet.
Her New Knife ist eine Shoegaze-/Alternative-Band aus Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Zu den Mitgliedern der Gruppe gehören Edgar Atencio (Gitarre und Gesang), Ben Kachler (Gitarre), Carolina Schooley (Bass) und Elijah Ford (Schlagzeug). Die Band veröffentlichte letztes Jahr ,chrome is lullaby" über das einflussreiche Label Julia's War Recordings. Die EP besticht durch ihren rohen, verletzlichen Charme und bietet Fans von Shoegaze und Post-Punk eine tiefe Verbindung zu ihrem einzigartigen Sound. Nach einer einmaligen Björk-Coverversion (,Pagan Poetry") kehrt die Band nun mit einer 6-Song-Remix-EP zurück, die Remixe von TAGABOW, Sword II, Frost Children und anderen. Die physische Version der Veröffentlichung ,Chrome is Lullaby Deluxe" enthält auf Seite A die EP ,Chrome is Lullaby" und auf Seite B die entsprechenden Remixe.
Her New Knife ist eine Shoegaze-/Alternative-Band aus Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Zu den Mitgliedern der Gruppe gehören Edgar Atencio (Gitarre und Gesang), Ben Kachler (Gitarre), Carolina Schooley (Bass) und Elijah Ford (Schlagzeug). Die Band veröffentlichte letztes Jahr ,chrome is lullaby" über das einflussreiche Label Julia's War Recordings. Die EP besticht durch ihren rohen, verletzlichen Charme und bietet Fans von Shoegaze und Post-Punk eine tiefe Verbindung zu ihrem einzigartigen Sound. Nach einer einmaligen Björk-Coverversion (,Pagan Poetry") kehrt die Band nun mit einer 6-Song-Remix-EP zurück, die Remixe von TAGABOW, Sword II, Frost Children und anderen. Die physische Version der Veröffentlichung ,Chrome is Lullaby Deluxe" enthält auf Seite A die EP ,Chrome is Lullaby" und auf Seite B die entsprechenden Remixe.
Recently I was approached by my old friend Travis Millard to make some original music for Freedom Finger - a crazy space-shooter video game he had been developing with Jim Dirschberger and Wide Right Interactive game studio. I was able to land 6 instrumentals that pop up at various points throughout the gameplay.As the game was being rolled out, the idea arose to have me do 3 more tracks - this time fully fleshed out songs with lyrics mostly inspired by Freedom Finger's gameplay. These tracks would accompany some brand new levels that would be made available as downloadable content for the game.We have decided to release all of the music I have done for Freedom Finger as a 10" vinyl EP available through Rhymesayers Entertainment. This includes the 3 full length vocal tracks, as well as the 6 shorter beats that loop throughout the game. Some of these tracks also feature additional instrumentation from my friends and frequent collaborators, Grimace Federation.Furthermore, Jim has directed a video for the song Drums on the Wheel - featuring Freedom Finger gameplay, and some brand new visuals drawn by Travis and animated by Steven Gong.The game is an absolute blast, and I hope you enjoy this music. All relevant links below. <3Love,A.R.
Enjoy The Ride Records, in partnership with Paramount Pictures, proudly presents Novocaine (Music from the Motion Picture), featuring Music by Lorne Balfe and Andrew Kawczynski. Nathan Caine can't feel pain. When the girl of his dreams (Amber Midthunder) is kidnapped, everyman Nate (Jack Quaid) turns his inability to feel pain into an unexpected strength in his fight to get her back. Directed by Dan Berk and Robert Olsen, this action comedy will have you laughing (and grimacing) as we follow Nathan through the mishaps and adventures, in order to save Sherry. Balfe and Kawczynski have created an exciting and charged score that is a fantastic adventure, we hope you enjoy it as much as we do! Pressed on limited edition colored vinyl, Novocaine (Music from the Motion Picture) is limited to 1,200 copies across 5 exclusive variants.
C1 Killamangiro (Liverpool Sessions - Untitled)
C2 Ballad Of Grimaldi (Liverpool Sessions - Untitled)
C3 A Little Death Around The Eyes/Arcady (Acoustic Lullaby - Skag & Bone Mix)
C4 Monkey Casino (Pipey McGraw) (Liverpool Sessions - Untitled)
C5 Lady Don't Fall Backwards/Bollywood To Battersea (Shaken and Withdrawn Megamix)
D1 Do You Know Me? (I Don't Think So) (BabyShambles Sessions)
D2 Delivery (Stookie + Jim Bumfest Demos)
D3 Black Boy Lane (Liverpool Sessions - Untitled)
D4 East Of Eden (Acoustic Lullaby - Skag & Bone Mix)
D5 Love Rain O'er Me/The Saga (Liverpool Sessions - Untitled)
D6 New Love Grows On Trees (Acoustic Lullaby - Skag & Bone Mix)
D7 Hooloigans On E (The Sailor Sessions)
Nach zwei Jahren Solo-Tourneen präsentiert Yaron Herman sein neues Album. Er kehrt mit einem außergewöhnlichen Ensemble zurück und verbindet sich mit zwei der besten Saxophonisten der Welt: María Grand, ein aufsteigender, internationaler Star, und Alexandra Grimal, eine bedeutende Persönlichkeit der improvisierten Musik. Dieses Album nimmt uns mit auf die Suche nach Lyrik, Tiefe und Aufrichtigkeit, mit eleganten Melodien und kraftvollen Rhythmen, in einem Projekt, das sowohl spirituell als auch tief bewegend ist.
Als Yaron Herman mit der Arbeit an diesem Album begann, war das Erste, was ihm in den Sinn kam, die Melodie. Er habe in den letzten Jahren viel geschrieben, hauptsächlich in Notizbüchern, so der Künstler. Unterwegs oder zu Hause, alles von langen Zeilen bis zu kurzen Fragmenten. Mit der Zeit (und harter Arbeit) begannen diese "Motive" Gestalt anzunehmen und sich in "Lieder" zu verwandeln. Während er sie spielte und erkundete, was aus ihnen werden könnte, wurde klar, dass er nach einem Klang suchte, der nicht "nur" das Klavier war. Diese Melodien erforderten eine andere Stimme. Die Saxophonistinnen Maria Grand und Alexandra Grimal haben unterschiedliche Ansätze, doch beide haben eine geheimnisvolle, kraftvolle und lyrische Qualität, nach der gesucht wurde. Diese Qualitäten, kombiniert mit Haggai Cohen Milos wunderschönem Ton und rhythmischer Vielseitigkeit und dem Spiel und damit wertvollen Ideen von Herman's langjährigen musikalischen Bruders Ziv Ravitz während des gesamten Prozesses, ließen diese Lieder wirklich zum Leben erwachen. Im Studio hatte man das Glück, die Erfahrung und Perspektive des Produzenten Daniel Yvinec zu haben, der dazu ermutigte, die Musik weiter voranzutreiben und Risiken einzugehen. Improvisation: eine Suche nach dem Sweet Spot zwischen Freiheit und Zwang. Die Verspieltheit des Ganzen. Die Werkzeuge bereitstellen, aber nicht das endgültige Gebäude, die Leinwand bereitstellen, aber nicht vorschreiben, was darauf gemalt werden soll. So ist 'Radio Paradise' entstanden. Man ist im Studio auf den Titel gestoßen während einer Diskussion, wie sich Gegensätze ergänzen und wie die Rolle als Künstler darin besteht. Zu versuchen, das scheinbar Widersprüchliche in Einklang zu bringen. Den Raum zu finden, in dem Musik mühelos und aus dem Herzen fließt.
Nachdem Schiller mit den Releases von Sonne und Sonne (Chillout Edition) bereits sämtliche Fans begeistern konnte, machte Christopher von Deylen mit seinem im August 2013 erschienenen achten Studioalbum
Opus es sich zur Aufgabe, auf kunstvolle Weise klassische Melodien mit elektronischen Klängen zu verweben. So interpretiert er beispielsweise gemeinsam mit der renommierten Pianistin Hélène Grimaud, deren
Erfolgsweg von internationalen Triumphen gesäumt ist, Erik Saties „Gymnopädie No.1“, während die legendäre Sopranistin Anna Netrebko zum ersten Mal auf elektronische Musik trifft und meisterhaft Edvard
Griegs „Solveig‘s Song“ in die einladende, akustische Landschaft von Schiller hineinlegt.
Hinzu kommen altbekannte Melodien wie etwa die von Rachmaninoffs „Rhapsody On A Theme Of Paganini
op. 43“ oder Debussys „Reverie“.
Destroy All Neighbors is a twisted splatter-comedy about a deranged journey of self-discovery full of goopy practical FX, a well-known ensemble cast, and LOTS of blood. William Brown (Jonah Ray Rodrigues), is a neurotic, self-absorbed musician determined to finish his prog-rock magnum opus, facing a creative roadblock in the form of a noisy and grotesque neighbor named Vlad (Alex Winter).
He finally works up the nerve to demand that Vlad keep it down, and William inadvertently decapitates him. But, while attempting to cover up one murder, William's accidental reign of terror causes victims to pile up and become undead corpses who torment and create more bloody detours on his road to prog-rock Valhalla. The soundtrack is an infectious slice of progressive rock cues, EDM freakouts, 80’s synth pop and so much more by the brilliant Ryan Kattner & Brett Morris. Released in conjunction with SUB POP Records, and features an original song by MAN MAN, artwork by Johnny Dombrowski, and pressed on coloured vinyl.
Brussels based pianist Giovanni Di Domenicowas born in Rome in 1977. Majoring in 'jazz piano' at music school - he further built on an encyclopaedic technique; rhythm, harmony and tone are informed by non-western traditions yet equally sensitive to Debussy's "Préludes", Luciano Berio's "Sequenzas", to the 'ambi-ideation' heard in Borah Bergman's Soul Note recordings, Cecil Taylor's polissemic density, Paul Bley's bruised transparency and of course, the most radical manifestations stemming from the underworld of pop music, invariably tied together by his own original praxis.
A distinction - one would call it generational - he shares with many of the musicians he has crossed paths with recently, of which we could enumerate Nate Wooley, Chris Corsano, ArveHenriksen, Jim O'Rourke, Alexandra Grimal, Tetuzi Akiyama, João Lobo or Toshimaru Nakamura.
At the request of W.E.R.F. Records, Giovanni created an entirely new repertoire, teaming up with saxophonist Alexandra Grimal and drummer Eric Thielemans. This collaboration resulted in Echolalia, a suite consisting of three parts: Aoede, Melete, and Mneme. The music is captivating, adventurous, and above all, fascinating.
Sergej Rachmaninoff war ein russischer Komponist, Pianist und Dirigent, der für seine gefühlvolle und virtuose Musik bekannt ist. Zu seinen berühmtesten Werken gehören das 2. Klavierkonzert sowie die ergreifend schöne Rhapsodie über ein Thema von Paganini. Trotz persönlicher und politischer Umwälzungen, einschließlich der Emigration nach der Russischen Revolution, behielt Rachmaninoffs Musik ihren ursprünglichen Charakter.
Rachmaninoffs Kunst verkörpert den Höhepunkt der Spätromantik, indem sie technische Brillanz mit tiefer emotionaler Tiefe verbindet. Künstler:innen wie Hélène Grimaud, Nikolai Lugansky, Leif Ove Andsnes und André Previn, die auf dieser Doppel-LP zu hören sind, gehören zu den herausragenden Künstlern für dieses Repertoire.
3 years in the making and dynamic young ELECTRO SWING producer, New Zealand's ODD CHAP, finally presents his COLLABORATIONS album, available for the first time on Limited Edition green vinyl!
A 10 track album featuring an incredible selection of special guest vocalists including Little Violet, Elle & The Pocket Belles and Loredana Grimaudo (as well as one bonus track with Glenn Miller). What could have become an omni-shambles in less skilled hands has instead become a showcase for the distinctive and immediately recognisable production style of ODD CHAP.
Composer and musician Daniel Rafet Grima, offers a thematic release via Research Records titled 'You Are In the Embrace of The History'.
The double A side nods to ambient music, jazz and devotional musics in its arrangement and lyricism; penned as an act of faith in something other.
Research Records' 12" vinyl release of 'You Are In the Embrace of The History' will feature B side reworks by Iti (UK) and Kuniyuki Takahashi (Japan).
Rafet studied music from a young age. Tertiary education brought about further teachings in jazz. Growing up in the family village of Miniara (North Lebanon) saw to an inquiry into maqamat and traditional arabic musics post study. After composing for multiple ensembles and performing in various projects over the years, Rafet settles into his own artistry with this debut.
Placid aka Paul Wise is chief in command at ‘We’re Going Deep’ – an expanding online community and record label, born from lifelong affair with the many shades of electronic rhythm and obsession for collecting records since 1988. He’s spent the last 3 decades moving heads and feet at venues, parties and fields across the UK and beyond.
On a mission to share and release new music via his label, you’ll find only the best in Acid, Electro, IDM, Techno and Deep House for the dance floor, front room or your headphones making the cut. For the 10th and final edition of his much prized various artist series, he unearths more machine fuelled magic: offering another set of equally excellent music from stellar talent.
Starting the dance, Dutch maestro Boris Bunnik dons his Versalife mantle to opens with ‘Skirmish 101’. Setting the machines to cycle, Bunnik fires a hefty slab of bass to bring down the walls whilst pristine robot like rhythms set your body in motion, all enveloped with sparse synthesis and shimmering effects. Crashing the joint with ‘Acid Baby’ - The Acid Pimp drops a no holds barred, riotous 303 workout that’s nothing short of a tour de force in exorcising the power of Roland’s most celebrated silver box. Putting pedal to the metal with drums and reverb, a smiley face or grimace is guaranteed!
Longtime collaborators Jamie Anderson & Owain K reset the dial on the flip with ‘Basement Dub’, a house paced workout that glides at a steady pace. Evoking the spirit of Mood II Swing whilst immersed in the depths of an underwater realm. Ending on the upbeat note of Konerytmi’s ‘Aamunkoitto’, the Finnish producer reflects a breezy disposition with a joyful melody, step-to electro beat and rolling acid bassline – all perfectly balanced to keep your calm and head out in the right direction, a great way to sign off on this highly collectable series.
New Heaven, INTER ARMA’s latest album, is a compelling testament to perseverance, top to bottom. Its thicket of ever-dense layers of doom, death, and black metal occasionally let bits of light slip in, fleeting reminders to keep going amid the tumult. New Heaven marks a sharp turn for the band, showcasing some of the most extreme and angular songwriting INTER ARMA has ever laid bare. Known for their cinematic take on sludgy, extremely cavernous, and borderline psychedelic Metal, the Richmond band broadens their dynamics by seesawing between piledriving momentum and swirling oblivion. New Heaven crushers and conquers, and illustrates what INTER ARMA can truly be. Take the title track, with its hair-raising lead riff stemming from drummer/songwriter TJ Childers’ challenge to himself to write a nonsensically dissonant part that he ended up loving. The song spirals upward into a punishing Death-Metal march, Meanwhile, vocalist Mike Paparo’s stentorian bellows the bludgeon, above an impossibly complicated web of riffs and rhythms. From the get go, New Heaven and the opening title track eschews any restraint - INTER ARMA is completely unchained. Paparo’s keen and empathetic lyrics about innocent victims of war, addiction, and social apathy affirm that feeling, as a survivor grimaces at the carnage behind him and presses ahead best he can. “You stared into the brutish jaws of strife’s heartless device,” he growls into a chthonic blitz during “The Children the Bombs Overlooked,” a late-album powerhouse. “And you turned your back to hell.” That forward march out of madness is New Heaven in an armor-plated nutshell. Though this is indeed another INTER ARMA triumph, it is not a triumphant album, meant to offer some glib or naïve assurance that everything will be fine. What evidence is there for that, really, either on a record where friends are forced into submission, addiction, suicide, or retreat to a world where suffering remains the lingua franca? No, INTER ARMA and New Heaven are too realistic and experienced for that. This is, instead, a record about enduring brambles and curses and lasting long enough to make something profound, honest, and even affirming about it all every now and again—exactly as INTER ARMA has on New Heaven. FFO: Amenra, Neurosis, Full of Hell, Cult of Luna, Yob, Primitive Man, Thou, Ulcerate, Mastodon, The Body, Panopticon
After taking time out from working together to focus on separate musical projects, maverick composer Alan Roberts (Jim Noir) and crowd-rousing vocalist Leonore Wheatley (International Teachers of Pop / The Soundcarriers) have re-joined forces to introduce Co-Pilot. Each the other’s wing person, they’re plotting an escape through Manchester’s claustrophobic grey skies with the pencil case colour of a hand-sewn multi-coloured primary school patchwork quilt. “We are both the creators in charge of navigating Co-Pilot’s overall sound which changes from track to track,” Leonore hints at what to expect. “There are about 6 different genres on one album, it's a pick n mix record!”
Happy in the haze of many boozy hours the album was recorded over just a few months whilst holed up and hanging out in Al’s city centre Dookstereo studio. The former Mill allowed the pair to relax, laugh and create without constraint. Armed with their original demos and vocal recordings from Al’s flat, they’d nip by the offie to pick up some Dutch courage before setting to work: building arrangements from a drum beat and basic chord pattern, the pair were so in tune they rarely spoke, allowing only the music to lead the way. “We’d communicate through nods of agreement or grimaces of dismay,” Leonore recalls. “Using the instruments with Al in production mode, we let the sound dictate the process whilst being drunk enough to follow it.”
The sound of life coming full circle after honing their separate crafts, Leonore had previously played keys and vocals in Jim Noir’s live band before moving on to front International Teachers of Pop for two critically lauded albums of joyous dancefloor filling bangers - their self-titled debut (2019) and Pop Gossip (2020). During that time Al would further expand Jim Noir’s universe with AM Jazz, which was celebrated as the no.1 album in Piccadilly Records’ ‘End of Year Review’ (2020), followed by the Deep View Blue E.P. (2021) cementing his status as one of Manchester’s finest songwriters.
As Leonore added her vocal magic to Al’s early demos of what would eventually become Co-Pilot’s ‘Spring Beach’ and a crooked original version of closing track ‘Corner House’, the vibe was prophetic “like the ending of Grease as Danny and Sandy take flight through the clouds”, letting their imaginations fly. The songs were the catalyst to spark a new phase of the pair working together, picking up where they left off. “From messing about with sounds during rehearsals in the very beginning it was always clear we liked the combination of sounds we made,” Leonore recalls.
Powered by a ‘try anything’ approach, Co-Pilot blends the musical DNA of what you’ve come to expect from each of the pair’s previous flight paths. “Whatever is switched on or nearby gets used. There's no 'correct' for us. If it sounds good, record it,” Al tells. United through typically turbulent wonky pop and lurking samples, whether culled from 70s TV themes or recreations of past and found sounds (see Al’s 60s tropicalia guitar on ‘Brick’, or the innocent ‘Swim to Sweden’ which opens with an ice cream van jingle Al recorded from his bedroom window) their process offers up a bucket load of Easter eggs. The album even features snippets from dearly departed pal Batfinks whilst ‘Motosaka’ is perhaps the most expensive 2-minutes on the album, featuring a Columbia Records Japan-cleared sample of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s ‘Thousand Knives’. Its synth squelches and Tom Tom Club funk also received the blessing of Haroumi Hosono, Godfather of Japanese Electronica, who agreed to being sampled in an original version of the song. “We just kept listening back and hitting gold,” Al recalls. “I was thinking ‘yeah, not sure what this is but I like it! We were buzzing with what we had made.”
But the sound wouldn’t come without self-imposed instrumental challenges. Thanks to an old mellotron sample on ‘Move To It,’ the moog riff and nautical accordion breaks on ‘Swim To Sweden’ and the 6/8 and 7/8 jaunt of ‘Brick’, time signatures were lovingly skewed to create Co-Pilot’s unique mood. “It was a bastard getting the drums right,” Leonore reveals, “but I like the wonkiness”. Levelling up through the lyrics, the words of smoky and evocative ‘She Walks In Beauty’ are based on a Lord Byron poem, with the sentiment of remembering Leonore’s late grandparents. “I wanted to see how much I could get away with just singing on one note, and how I could harmonically change everything else around it vocally,” she says. Elsewhere ‘Can You See’ was written from the perspective of a concerned sister to a brother which tells of keeping someone safe. “The lyrics are quite metaphorical about day-to-day happenings, people loved and lost. Others are rhythmic nonsense! It’s up to the listener to figure out what’s true.”
It’s clear from Al’s productive production techniques and Leonore’s knack for vocals and lyricism, Co-Pilot’s course is engineered by two aeronautically adept sonic storytellers. “We share a pretty similar sense of humour,” Al tells, “It is funny listening to this quite serious album but knowing we were giggling as we recorded it all. It’s been great to have another brain to bounce off.” Their destination might be unknown, but the clouds are about to part for a sound that is light years ahead. “You'll like at least one song,” Leonore suggests, “and hopefully them all.”
Icelandic composer Högni"s score for the much-acclaimed Netflix"s series Katla will see its full release on July 28. The series takes place in Iceland, after the subglacial volcano Katla has been erupting constantly for a whole year, Gríma is still looking for her missing sister who disappeared the day the eruption started. As her hope of ever finding her body is fading, the residents of the surrounding area start to have visits from unexpected guests. There might be something hidden under the glacier no one could ever have foreseen. Speaking about the score, Högni says: "when I was asked by Baltasar Kormákur - the director and show creator - I started writing so when the filming was finished, I had already written a number of pieces for the show. As relatively in-experienced in the field I imagined that my work was finished and the rest was a matter of post-production and music editing. However it immediately became clear that my ambitions and the nature of the project called for second, third and fourth wind in order to fulfil the auditory architecture that needed to be built". Realising it was a monumental task, Högni kept a strict schedule every day, starting by writing and arranging in the morning, recording and mixing in the afternoon and presenting to the producer each evening. The score was recorded in Högni"s own studio, where him and his collaborators consisting of Tóti Gudnason, Inga Magnes, Petter Ekman, _órunn Osk and Sigurgeir found themselves working in a completely different way than they"ve done before, due to the nature of the project - "we worked the music out of my studio in Reykjavik, where a healthy number of musicians rotated through at the pace of an average ice cream parlour on a long summers evening in Reykjavik. The urgency of delivering cues and material left one in the state of instinctual execution at all hours without hesitation".
Icelandic composer Högni"s score for the much-acclaimed Netflix"s series Katla will see its full release on July 28. The series takes place in Iceland, after the subglacial volcano Katla has been erupting constantly for a whole year, Gríma is still looking for her missing sister who disappeared the day the eruption started. As her hope of ever finding her body is fading, the residents of the surrounding area start to have visits from unexpected guests. There might be something hidden under the glacier no one could ever have foreseen. Speaking about the score, Högni says: "when I was asked by Baltasar Kormákur - the director and show creator - I started writing so when the filming was finished, I had already written a number of pieces for the show. As relatively in-experienced in the field I imagined that my work was finished and the rest was a matter of post-production and music editing. However it immediately became clear that my ambitions and the nature of the project called for second, third and fourth wind in order to fulfil the auditory architecture that needed to be built". Realising it was a monumental task, Högni kept a strict schedule every day, starting by writing and arranging in the morning, recording and mixing in the afternoon and presenting to the producer each evening. The score was recorded in Högni"s own studio, where him and his collaborators consisting of Tóti Gudnason, Inga Magnes, Petter Ekman, _órunn Osk and Sigurgeir found themselves working in a completely different way than they"ve done before, due to the nature of the project - "we worked the music out of my studio in Reykjavik, where a healthy number of musicians rotated through at the pace of an average ice cream parlour on a long summers evening in Reykjavik. The urgency of delivering cues and material left one in the state of instinctual execution at all hours without hesitation".
In 2023 Deutsche Grammophon celebrates a wonderful milestone: its 125th birthday. To mark the occasion the Yellow Label makes a selection of LPs available on vinyl for the first time ever. Including legendary recordings by Daniil Trifonov, Hélène Grimaud, Hilary Hahn, Jan Lisiecki and many others. Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela celebrate the best in Latin American music, which “is all about dance, about rhythm” (Dudamel). “They set the concert hall afire with an enthusiastic fervor the likes of which none of us had ever witnessed from a symphony orchestra” (Los Angeles Times). Here is their recording – live, in concert, in Caracas – of the repertoire with which they’ve been thrilling audiences in around the world.
In 2023 Deutsche Grammophon celebrates a wonderful milestone: its 125th birthday. To mark the occasion the Yellow Label makes a selection of LPs available on vinyl for the first time ever. Including legendary recordings by Daniil Trifonov, Hélène Grimaud, Hilary Hahn, Jan Lisiecki and many others. Perahia's grandiose recording of Bach's French Suites is a true feast for music lovers and connoisseurs. Never has Bach sounded so natural and casual as in the hands of Perahia. The New York-born, multiple Grammy and Echo Klassik award winner has felt a close connection with Bach for decades. At the age of 15, a performance of the St. Matthew Passion made such an impression on him that it sparked a remarkable passion for the master of baroque music. Thanks to Perahia's intensive study of Bach's works, one can enjoy the enormous emotional range of the French suites from the very first minute: From bittersweet melancholy to exultant joy, Bach's masterpiece covers an incomparably rich spectrum of emotions. Due to Perahia's brilliant interpretation, this recording will certainly join the ranks of the most legendary contemporary piano recordings.
"In 2023 Deutsche Grammophon celebrates a wonderful milestone: its 125th birthday. To mark the occasion the Yellow Label makes a selection of LPs available on vinyl for the first time ever.
12 LPs for 12 months of celebrations. Including legendary recordings by Daniil Trifonov, Hélène Grimaud, Hilary Hahn, Jan Lisiecki and many others.About this release:
""The Berlin Recital"" sees pianist Yuja Wang take on works by late Romantic and 20thcentury composers. Recorded live in Berlin during a critically-acclaimed recital tour, the album features works by Rachmaninov, Scriabin, Ligeti, and Prokofiev."
"In 2023 Deutsche Grammophon celebrates a wonderful milestone: its 125th birthday. To mark the occasion the Yellow Label makes a selection of LPs available on vinyl for the first time ever.
12 LPs for 12 months of celebrations. Including legendary recordings by Daniil Trifonov, Hélène Grimaud, Hilary Hahn, Jan Lisiecki and many others. About this release:
The incredible Jan Lisiecki performs both cycles of Chopins virtuosic Etudes; among the most challenging and evocative pieces of all the works in the piano repertoire. This is the second Deutsche Grammophon release from the young Canadian pianist, and his first-ever studio recital album."
"In 2023 Deutsche Grammophon celebrates a wonderful milestone: its 125th birthday. To mark the occasion the Yellow Label makes a selection of LPs available on vinyl for the first time ever.
12 LPs for 12 months of celebrations. Including legendary recordings by Daniil Trifonov, Hélène Grimaud, Hilary Hahn, Jan Lisiecki and many others. About this release:
The live album from charismatic Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov's debut recital at Carnegie Hall in February, 2013."
The gentle music and quiet nostalgia of some of the most exquisitely beautiful poetry ever written flows through Hélène Grimaud’s latest album, a tribute to the Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov. Together with baritone Konstantin Krimmel, winner of the 2018 International Helmut Deutsch Lied Competition, Grimaud presented extracts from Silvestrov’s song-cycle Silent Songs at the Stienitzsee Turbine Hall near Berlin last August, in the presence of the octogenarian composer, who has lived in Berlin as an exile from his war-torn homeland since March 2022.
After the experience of Camizole, Dominique Grimaud began a new (and different) adventure in 1979 with Monique Alba. Alongside Gilbert Artman (Urban Sax), Guigou Chenevier (Etron Fou Leloublan), Jean-Pierre Grasset (Verto) and Cyril Lefebvre (Maajun), Vidéo-Aventures is composed of instrumentals capable of reconciliating Captain Beefheart, Henry Cow, Suicide and... John Barry. All with the backing of Rock In Opposition, which enabled this Musiques pour garçons et filles to become known worldwide.
“Let us enter your hearts”: is the request made by Vidéo-Aventures, and how can we refuse? Especially as Musiques pour garçons et filles, recorded by Dominique Grimaud and Monique Alba fifty years ago along with handpicked colleagues, is as fresh as ever.
1979: having improvised a huge amount (and how!) with Camizole, Grimaud tried his hand at composition and studio recording with Alba. Their first instrument was the AKS synthetiser, with which the duo recorded the instrumental tracks that were then offered to their comrades Guigou Chenevier (Etron Fou Leloublan), Gilbert Artman (Lard Free, Urban Sax), Jean-Pierre Grasset (Verto) and Cyril Lefebvre (Maajun).
At the end of the year, they all came into the studio for a week to record the eight tracks of this mini- album that Chris Cutler would issue a few months later on his label, Recommended. In France it was the beginning of the agitation around Rock In Opposition, to such a point that Musiques pour Garçons et Filles would rise to second place in the NME independent Charts. And this is hardly surprising...
For these instrumental miniatures (here with the bonus of rare archives, some of which are previously unpublished) are uncontrollable: electronics augmented by lap-steel guitar (“Tina”), cunning pop (“Zazou sur la piste”), mechanic sound (“Une vie modern”), street piano (« French Kiss »), disturbing atmospheres (“La ballade des cardiaques”) or something like a TV theme tune capable of adjusting all the colours (“Telstar”)... With such promising ingredients, why stop Vidéo-Aventures from entering?
Following the success of Aesop Rock's most recent solo album, Spirit World Field Guide, he returns to deliver the instrumental version of those interdimensional adventures. Aesop has long been celebrated for his talents as a lyricist, but he has continually grown and evolved as a producer as well. While the original Spirit World Field Guide was packed with insightful chapters of firsthand know-how into the terrain, wildlife, and social customs of our parallel universe, the Spirit World Field Guide Instrumentals not only set the tone but also provide the roadmap for you to take your own journey. Welcome to the Spirit World. Explore with intention. "He's never before been such a commanding presence behind the boards. The beats here are the best of his career, full of torque and life." - Pitchfork "The strongest collection of beats he's ever produced." - Passion of the Weiss Official instrumentals from Aesop Rock's critically acclaimed album, Spirit World Field Guide, available for the first time. Album produced entirely by Aesop Rock, except for "Sleeper Car" produced by Hanni El Khatib. Additional album instrumentation provided by Grimace Federation and Hanni El Khatib Vinyl packaging includes 12" matte gatefold jacket, printed record sleeves, and one each of transparent cloudy effect green/blue double-vinyl, plus free digital download card. Album artwork illustrated by renowned artist Justin "Coro" Kaufman
"The Bridge, penned in a year of global pandemic, showcases Sting’s prolific and diverse songwriting prowess, with this new set of songs representing styles and genres explored throughout his inimitable career.
All songs on The Bridge are produced by Sting and Martin Kierszenbaum, except “Loving You” produced by Sting, Maya Jane Coles and Martin Kierszenbaum. The album was mixed by 4-time GRAMMY award winner Robert Orton and engineered by GRAMMY-award winner Tony Lake and Donal Hodgson. The Bridge was mastered by Gene Grimaldi at Oasis Mastering.
The Bridge was released on the 19th Nov as a 1CD, deluxe 1CD (including poster), standard 1LP, and retailer exclusive 2LP. The Bridge is now to be released as a Super Deluxe Edition in 2LP and 2CD formats."
Alex the Fairy is an artist based in Berlin producing music with an emphasis on electronic and concrete methods. Alex the Fairy is also part of the 3Ddancer trio, a live act focusing on improvisation and expression using electronics.
Alex The Fairy writes: "I had sent The Tapeworm tracks before, but I was being difficult so was asked to send a new bunch, with a deadline. I sent the new bunch, a fairly odd collection expecting perhaps some of them to be combined with the older stuff but not seeing any coherence in them. I figured The Tapeworm would find at least something. To my surprise the suggestion that came back was exclusively the tracks I had sent the second time, and, re-listening through the tracks in this new order after returning from a Christmas dinner lying on the floor of my nephews bedroom gave them a completely new context. Despite them being quite varied in terms of age (one had been flung together a few days earlier on the train while another was approaching Schulreife) they seemed to meld together in such a way that I hardly recognised them…
Last year my grandmother died. My last grandparent. I had put off seeing her during corona, as I thought it best not to put her at risk and had almost left to visit her days before her death but had delayed my departure because of a medical appointment. My failure to her weighs heavy on my mind - fates grimacing grin: too little, too late. The approaching march of death, one generation closer was a confrontation I wasn't prepared for.
While clearing out her flat in the following weeks I had kept some of my grandfathers cassettes, live recordings of jazz greats, Pink Floyd, Sade and some classical among them, none originals, several presumably from the radio e.g. a church organ rendition of Bach. At the time I wasn't sure why I was hanging on to them, other than the urge to hoard, and that it felt wrong not at least to keep some. Half a year later, half way through mixing this cassette, suffering from my first bout of COVID, I had the insatiable urge to hook up the cassette player I had received from my grandfather after his death around nineteen years earlier and had been dragging along with me since. I stuck a cassette in only to immediately return to the safety of my covers. I began to work my way into what I had saved, hearing the fruits of my grandfathers labour decades before. It felt like quite an intimate interaction with someone I had long lost contact to/was long gone. Quite a wonderful thing, these time traveling cassettes.
I returned to the tracks to mix them shortly before my corona/cassette experience, with a new mixing console at hand. I had been looking for one for several years, but nothing had ever clicked, until I found this old broadcast desk 30 minutes from my place (it also coincided with a payment from a job the sum of which matched the price identically… fates return). Installing became a massive hassle and I doubted my decision continuously, but the further it was implemented the more it made sense. The first track I recorded with the mixer is on this cassette. Shortly before the mixing I was introduced to an Effektgerät by a friend, Rapha. Another good friend Art lent me their one, and I ended up using copious amounts of it throughout mixing, alongside my usual space creators. All the tracks on this release were mixed again on this mixer and are in a sense all a bit of a dub of the originals. I wouldn't have worked this way without the mixer, and the effect gave me a dimension I hadn't had before, so, from a technical perspective, the mixer and this effect define this release, giving it a coherence, at least for me. Emotionally of course the chaos and turbulence of the preceding year and my newfound appreciation for the medium give it a meaning I will struggle to formulate." – Alex The Fairy, Berlin, 9 May 2022
Tim Gane from Stereolab plus Jeremy Novak from Dymaxion. 10 instrumental tracks - two previously released as a limited edition mail order only 7"via Duophonic Super 45s. Ghost Power are Jeremy Novak Dymaxion and Timothy Gane Stereolab, Cavern of Anti-Matter and Turn On. Duophonic Super 45s have previously released music by both artists - Novak via a Dymaxion compilation album and 7", Gane via various Stereolab, Cavern of Anti-Matter and Turn On releases. Having previously released a limited edition 7" in 2020, Ghost Power by Ghost Power brings the two musicians together for a full length album. The tracks were recorded in Berlin and New York, both remotely and with Novak and Gane working together in each city. There are no plans to tour...
Binding a deep social and political conscious with rigorous musical experimentation, the Brussels based, Italian pianist, performer, composer, Giovanni Di Domenico, delivers Downtown Ethnic Music, the 4th instalment of Die Schachtel’s Decay Music series, focused on inspired contemporary experimental efforts in the ambient, ethereal, and emotively abstract music.
Over the last decade or so, Giovanni Di Domenico has carved a deep path through a diverse number of discrete fields within experimental music, working in various ensembles - Abschattungen, AufHeben, Bonjintan, Cement Shoes, Delivery Health, Going, etc. - as well as producing a discography of critically heralded solo efforts, and intimate collaborations with Jim O'Rourke, Tatsuhisa Yamamoto, Akira Sakata, Arve Henriksen, Tatsuhisa Yamamoto, Alexandra Grimal, Nate Wooley, Chris Corsano, and others.
Downtown Ethnic Music encounters Di Domenico reimagining the future of urban music, pluming the mysterious and emotive depths of self, to arrive at vision of sonorous utopia, radically divergent from those of the past. Hybridizing numerous forms of musical practice, while making a conceptual nod to Jon Hassell’s notion of the "fourth world”, as well as the cross-temporal transnationalism of Roberto Musci, Aktuala, Futuro Antico, and the Third Ear Band, Di Domenico’s vision of democracy - rendered through the creative metaphors of sound - is a true to life, bristling conflict, as open-ended as it is ordered, and as dramatic and tense as it is beautiful, playful, and refined.
A colorful tapestry of ideas, experiences, histories, and reference points, woven from a pallet of electronics, synthesis, and various acoustic sources - the intervening rhythms of drummer João Lobo, vocals by Pak Yan Lau and Patshiva CIE women choir, the horns of Ananta Roosens and Jordi Grognard etc. - across the length of Downtown Ethnic Music, the boundaries between idiom, expressive concept, collective, and individual blur, giving way to a visionary, forward-thinking rendering of electroacoustic music, that subtly reminds us of the social and political potential of art.
Seamlessly incorporating bubbling electronic abstraction, sprawling ambience and long tones, throbbing kosmische, acoustic free improvisation, and the human voice, Giovanni Di Domenico’s Downtown Ethnic Music represents a high-water mark in an already astounding career. Issued by Die Schachtel in a one-time edition of 250 copies, pressed to 180g marble vinyl and housed in a pro-printed inner sleeve and jacket, contained in a silk-screen PVC sleeve.
LTD. NEON PINK & NEON GREEN VINYL
The Impossible Kid, released in 2016 on Rhymesayers Entertainment, marked Indie-rap mainstay Aesop Rock's first solo venture since 2012's Skelethon. Aesop continued finding new ways to improve on the skills that have made him one of the kings of indie hip-hop. His creative process now includes a newfound willingness to open up about his personal life, going deep on topics like depression, his sometimes rocky relationship with his family, and the turbulent handful of years that culminated in Aesop leaving his adopted home of San Francisco to live in a barn out in the woods, where he recorded the foundations of The Impossible Kid. There's also moments of levity though, as Aesop taps into the funny side of his persona that he suppressed during the period where being taken as a serious lyricist was more of a priority. Like Skelethon, Aesop exercised complete creative control over every aspect of the album, from the production (which he handled himself, with instrumental help from Philly's Grimace Foundation) to conceptualizing the cover art by his friend Alex Pardee.
monstrously rare private pressing from 1973 originally on the deroy imprint, motiffe play twisted king crimson esque progressive rock with dark jazz elements, 99 were pressed with just a handful having hand drawn covers, record deals were offered but musical differences split the band, with the mighty Flux emerging jn the aftermath, before ace guitarist Grimaldi joined Argent to help craft their masterpiece 'Circus'. valued at £2000, this is the first fully authorised legal edition with all members consent and full history written by the band in the inner gatefold. The Gryphon image is also drawn by the band for the cover.
