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After two years since her debut full-length release, Grand River presents her second album “Blink A Few Times To Clear Your Eyes” on Editions Mego. The 8 track LP shows an evolution towards a more experimental side of the Dutch-Italian composer which is here superbly combined with her ability of creating melodies previously heard on her 2xLP “Pineapple”, released on Spazio Disponibile in 2018.

“Blink A Few Times To Clear Your Eyes” expresses how acoustic instruments can be perfectly merged with electronic and analog synthesizers to become one new organic whole. The composer, whose birth-name is Aimée Portioli, brings the listener along on her personal explorational journey of expressions within a certain genre. The title of the album indicates the desire to explore what is new and see what is around us from different perspectives.

The album opens with the track “Side Lengths”, a complex and dreamy sequence made with one of her favorite synthesizers, the Yamaha DX-7. From there we are brought from extended panoramic sound design and cinematic ambiences, back and forth to synthetic melodies, field recordings, strings and for the first time ever, Aimée’s own modified voice in the closing track “All There Now”.

Recorded primarily at her home base in Berlin, Grand River’s music is pure, magnificent and elegant which documents a solemn atemporal story where her experiences are translated into another language.

German funk stalwarts The Mighty Mocambos unleash another sample of their explosive live energy, a 7" of two brand new tunes recorded straight to 8-track tapeduring JAM PDM! Breakdance Battle at Fabrik Potsdam on February 1st 2020.

"Arabesque Breakin' Suite" on side A is an original instrumental medley written for the occasion and delivers the raw, heavyweight sound that has made The Mighty Mocambos a staple of b-boy battles the world over. Side B is a cover of the Axel F Theme from Beverly Hills Cop, taking the tune from 80s synth-heavy electro-pop to soulful, tropical-flavored b-boy funk.

In these peculiar times without concerts, these live recordings are a real labor of love that capture the special vibes of a Mighty Mocambos performance while remaining suitable for DJ-use and enjoyable to the dedicated listener.

The 45 comes in a beautiful picture sleeve - a reproduction of the tape box used for the recording with a b/w photo from the event.

2xLP: Gatefold, pressed on Gold Nugget vinyl


“I wanna thank me,” Snoop Dogg said as he accepted his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, “I wanna thank me for believing in me. I wanna thank me for doing all this hard work. I wanna thank me for having no days off.”

An Entertainment Icon, Snoop Dogg has reigned for more than two decades as an unparalleled force who has raised the bar as an entertainer and globally recognized innovator.  Snoop has released 19 studio albums, sold over 40-million albums worldwide, reached No. 1 countless times on Billboard charts internationally and received 20 GRAMMY® nominations. Snoop Dogg most recently released his highly praised and award-winning Gospel album, Bible of Love. He is currently working on his next studio album, I Wanna Thank Me, releasing this summer through EMPIRE.

In addition to his extensive work in music, Snoop Dogg has made his mark in the television and film space, including an Emmy Award nomination for his role as Executive Producer and Co-host of VH1’s hit show, Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner, Executive Producer of MTV’s Mary + Jane, Executive Producer and Host of TNT’s game show, Joker’s Wild and Executive Producer of acclaimed Netflix’s show, Coach Snoop.

After months in the making we would finally like to welcome Kiko Navarro into the Rocksteady Disco family with E-MA GIN (b/w Sex & Love Affair). Kiko is a man who really needs no introduction, so we're pretty excited to be bringing you two of his biggest previously unreleased dance floor bombs on a shiny sheet of black plastic.

The A-side holds "E-MA GIN", an uplifting jazz-fusion tinged afro-house joint with live drums and Kiko's notorious dancefloor drive and pulse. On the flip is "Sex & Love Affair", a peak hour disco/house bomb with even some hints of Moroder nestled in there. Both tracks have been tearing up dance floors until the pandemic hit, and they've been delighting chat rooms for our radio shows. It's the life-affirming and sensual music you've come to expect from Rocksteady Disco, now from our hermano Kiko Navarro.

Omena hits release no.30 and celebrates by bringing in Twovi aka Vito Loperfido to the family.

Vito released his first track, 'Giango' on Bosconi Records back in 2017 and followed up with 'In Memory of Love', on Chez Damier's Inner Balance, a release that showcased his talent for blending classic house with a fresh approach.
Fast forward 2020 and we got a new release 'Panama' ready.
These four tracks show why Vito is leading the wave of musical talent coming from Italy and he's not afraid of using inspiration from different sources.

The opening track Panama is an ode to a jazzy KDJ breeze while Santiago is a clever broken beat track with a few latin vibes sprinkled on top.

On the flip, Manchester producer Contours continue to turn music into gold with a singular remake of Panama.
It's a deep and rich version with his signature percussions included.
Last but not least Lima ends this fine EP, a track which takes us back to the golden days of Nuphonic.

New Finnish imprint VIENO, kicks off with 10 track compilation of Finnish ambient, electronica & experimental music. Selection draws an emotionally infused red line throughout.

Travelling starts with "Pumpuli". Beautiful soft opener for ears and other senses. However, more deeper agenda follows. For darker soul searching Roberto Rodriguez provides 80´s synth driven "Third Act" followed by techno producer Satoi´s melancholic journey "Unohda".
B-Side goes on with dubby triphop influnced "Heimo M" by Aleksi Myllykoski with Finnish saxosphone legend Tapani Rinne. Paving the way for young and gifted Sansibar´s spacey techno breathing "ISS". Last track of the compilation, ”Ukki”, is a very personal, intriguingly gloomy, yet unpolished piano composition dedicated for recently deceased great grandfather of the artist, Mierka.

”I was just asked what’s my reason to create VIENO and bring out this compilation just now? I’ve been exploring the Finnish urban music and club scene for more than two decades and I recognize the space and craving is now present. Now is the right time to recreate and bring life to this art of subtle melancholy we Finns have always carried deep in us. In a way i´m tryin´to awaken the emotional energy more than just to paint insipid and expectedly ear friendly, atmospheric soundscapes.” - Jaako Hurme

Maurizio one of the founding members of Concrete Records drops 2 original tracks that bring us into hypnotic landscapes full of deep groove and abstraction.

Ethereal and strong at the same time, this tracks are made for being played in the most disparate dj sets both as regular "dj tools" and as real killer tracks.

To confirm this, the two Tensal remixes lead the release to even more extreme territories, without however deforming the "mood" of the tracks.

A perfect match for a release that has a well-defined and very powerful sound.

Limited edition of 150 copies

This fifth record, On/Off, Bachar wanted to record it in his native Lebanon. More precisely in the main room of his family house, a stone house standing alone in the mountains north of Beirut.

In this big room there is all that’s needed: a piano, a chimney, the stove and some rare instruments who have been sleeping there for years, serving as decorations. For two whole weeks, Bachar welcomes, shapes and celebrates the urgency of creation. The recording takes place in decembre 2019, it’s rhythm follows that of the popular uprising which is shaking Lebanon since october.

In his own way, Bachar contributes to it - emotion is raw, his music is stripped down, just liked his country.

In the house, electricity goes on & off twice, a day. During the night, hostile and freezing, hyenas are heard; during the day, the birds whistle with serenity, and the light of day shines through the windows, each day slightly differently…

This constant duality becomes a source of inspiration for Bachar, obsessed as he is by this rustic environment which exacerbates the senses.

The record has 11 tracks, all written on the spot, as well as a duo recorded in 2017 with the french singer Christophe -Jnoun (unreleased up to now).

The first new material from the Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio in several years is coming in hot! They've been on the road for the last two years and just finished cutting their upcoming album for 2020 and plan on hitting the road again in a big way to support it. "Fo Sho" finds the trio right where they left off: super pocket funky organ jazz! Dig!

Missing Glastonbury this year?

It was a busy time - the massive touring schedule brought about by the success of Levelling The Land over the previous two years had cemented the Levellers as one of the most in demand bands in the country. They were rewarded with a slot on Glastonbury's main stage in June 1992.

Relive their electrifying performance on this CD, remastered by Jon Sevink. Released as a standalone album for the first time with fantastic new artwork designed by Jeremy.

(HET005.1 & HET005.2) HET returns with the Double E.P. actio I & II by hagen richter. He releases those 7 tracks on his own imprint.While HET005.1 – actio I reveals older projects, HET005.2 – actio II is settled to the latest stuff he’s been doing in his chambers. Reaching back to the approach on his prior E.P. (final chapter_HET003), each of the tracks on the two separate 12“ vinyls has its’ own tiny story to tell.An offer to carry on a little along the way. Distributed by ready made distribution – Mastering & Cut made by scapemastering‘s Stefan Betke – Artwork: OVL.

In the horror genre, sequels are perfunctory. As the insufferable film bro Randy explains in Scream 2, "There are certain rules that one must abide by in order to create a successful sequel. Number one: the body count is always bigger. Number two: the death scenes are always much more elaborate-more blood, more gore. Carnage candy. And number three: never, ever, under any circumstances, assume the killer is dead." Last Halloween, Los Angeles experimental rap mainstays Clipping ended their three-year silence with the horrorcore-inspired album There Existed an Addiction to Blood. This October, rapper Daveed Diggs, and producers Jonathan Snipes and William Hutson return with an even higher body count, more elaborate kills, and monsters that just won't stay dead. Visions of Bodies Being Burned is less a sequel than it is the second half of a planned diptych. It turns out, Clipping took to the thematic material of horrorcore like vampires to grave soil. Before the release of There Existed an Addiction to Blood, Clipping and Sub Pop Records divided the material up into two albums, designed to be released only months apart. However, a global pandemic and multiple cancelled tours pushed the release of the project's "part two" until the following Halloween season. Visions of Bodies Being Burned contains sixteen more scary stories disguised as rap songs, incorporating as much influence from Ernest Dickerson, Clive Barker, and Shirley Jackson as it does from Three 6 Mafia, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, and Brotha Lynch Hung. Clipping's angular, shattered interpretations of existing musical styles are always deferential, driven by fandom for the object of study rather than disdain for it. Clipping reimagine horrorcore-the purposely absurdist hip-hop subgenre that flourished in the 1990s-the way Jordan Peele does horror cinema: by twisting beloved tropes to make explicit their own radical politics of monstrosity, fear, and the uncanny. The album features a host of collaborators: Inglewood's Cam & China, fellow noise-rap pioneers Ho99o9, Tortoise guitar genius Jeff Parker, and experimental LA drummer Ted Byrnes. The final track, "Secret Piece," is a performance of a Yoko Ono text score from 1953 that instructs the players to "Decide on one note that you want to play/Play it with the following accompaniment: the woods from 5am to 8am in summer," and features nearly all of the musicians who appeared on both albums. Since their last album, Daveed Diggs-the group's Tony and Grammy Award-winning rapper-has starred in the TNT science fiction series, Snowpiercer, voiced a character in Pixar's Soul, and portrayed Frederick Douglass in Showtime's The Good Lord Bird. Writer Rivers Solomon's novella based on Clipping's Hugo-nominated song "The Deep" has been nominated for the Nebula, Hugo, and Locus Awards, and won the Lambda Literary Award for best LGBTQ SF/Fantasy/Horror novel. Clipping's song "Chapter 319"-a tribute to George Floyd (AKA Big Floyd) the former DJ-Screw affiliated rapper who was murdered by police officers in May of 2020-was released on Bandcamp on June 19th and raised over $20,000 for racial justice charities. A clip of the song also became a popular meme on TikTok, generating over 50,000 videos in which teenagers rapped the song's lyrics ("Donald Trump is a white supremacist, full stop_") directly into the frowning faces of their conservative parents. The band also contributed a Skinny Puppy-esque rework of J-Kwon's "Tipsy" to Save Stereogum: An '00s Covers Comp.

“Soul is My Salvation is a collection of dance friendly gospel songs. The mission is to simply uplift your spirit through music and word. Dance floor’s around the world mirror the reactions of Churches from the 70’s and 80’s when experiencing these recordings.” - Tone B. Nimble.

Released as a series of eight limited vinyl-only 45, when assembled together the covers reveal a beautiful design courtesy of designer Charlotte McCrae. A true collectors item.

Chapter 7 sees two prized cuts bursting with that unbridled gospel energy, Spiritual Souls 1982 number - ‘We Came To Show You The Way’ and Heaven’s Sound’s 1984 gem – ‘Fire’.

Played by: Tone B. Nimble, Greg Belson, Skymark, Darryn Jones, Sadar Bahar.

HET returns with the Double E.P. actio I & II by hagen richter. He releases those 7 tracks on his own imprint.While HET005.1 – actio I reveals older projects, HET005.2 – actio II is settled to the latest stuff he’s been doing in his chambers. Reaching back to the approach on his prior E.P. (final chapter_HET003), each of the tracks on the two separate 12“ vinyls has its’ own tiny story to tell.An offer to carry on a little along the way.

Repress / White Vinyl

French artist Franck Kartell returns with Alaska, his fourth full length release on UK imprint Bass Agenda Recordings. Critically acclaimed for his masterful blend of low bpm heavy beats and signature deep atmospheres Kartell moves from the fascination with the work of film maker Chris Marker's that powered his last two albums to the drama of Alaska. Like its geographical namesake the album spans ethereal beauty, drama, light and darkness and similarly provides a very individual landscape.

Green Vinyl

'2016 - My Generation”?: a momentous comeback for Mirwais, two decades on from his classic “Production” album.
It all started in 2016 with an idea Mirwais had for a music video to promote his upcoming single ?“2016 - My Generation”?.
The idea led Mirwais and co-founder of graphic design studio H5/creator of the Oscar-winning ?“Logorama”? animated short
Ludovic Houplain? ?to work together on a fascinating ten-minute short entitled “?My Generation?”.
Since its 2017 release, the film “?My Generation?”, produced and scored almost liturgically by Mirwais, made the rounds of
festivals, winning several prizes worldwide.
It presents itself as a backwards travelling shot during which all of our pop culture moment’s gimmicks collide at 100 km/h:
sex, the net, art, politics, sports, stocks, big pharma and big porno – from Hitler’s speeches to Trump’s contemporary
analogues.
Flash forward to 2020, and it is this very six-minute ?pop-litical ?critique of our era’s societal excesses that Mirwais chose
as the music video for his new single ?“2016 - My Generation”?, set to be released during the coming fall’s American
presidential election.
A sonic deflagration that heralds a new album from one of Madonna’s most iconic collaborators, succeeding, two decades
later, the now-classic ?“Production”?. A punchy, percussive single poised between hard techno and electronic disco,
sprinkled with choirs and distorted, psychedelic synths ?“2016 - My Generation”? is a dance floor-ready opus bearing
Mirwais’ inimitable signature. This way of mixing genres, of conjugating past and future, and of making pop experimental
and vice-versa, cements Mirwais’ reputation as one of times’ most singular composers.

12inch release of highly sought after Colored Music edits by Tokyo's, Chee Shimizu (Organic Music). The two cuts originally featured on the the bands seminal self titled album (from 1981) that remained a cult DJ secret weapon, for many years, all over the world. This heavy EP includes an alternative version of 'Heartbeat' that featured on the Japan only "Individual Beauty" LP of 2018 (also compiled by Shimizu)

After a prolific year 2019 with two OSTs and a side project with Anton Newcombe and Emmanuelle Seigner (L’Épée), The Liminañas are back with a new single exuding the summer heat and the beach sun, ‘Calentita’, which features Nuria, a Spanish friend on the band, on vocal.
This sole vinyl edition is limited and includes 2 remixes as well as an alternative version.

Limited

Geins't Naït returns to Offen, this time he enlists Scanner (living experimental electronics legend , Robin Rimbaud) to join him in his land of loop. These two veterans have clocked up many combined decades of experimentation between them, and this their first jointly composed material, has the feel of wisdom at work. It's a huge pleasure for Offen Music to release this special record.

Following their live performances at the latest two Dimension Festival Editions and vinyl releases on international labels such as Slices of a dog, Money Sex, Odd socks and Sorry For This featuring a remix by none other than mr. Marcellus Pittman, Nas1 are finally back on Bosconi Extra Virgin with a new album titled Polaris Time. It’s a multi colored sonic adventure, moving from their hip hop and detroit house roots to a new palette of sounds including afro percussions and fresher synth lines blended together into a unique electronic soundscape that creates exotic, psychedelic atmospheres and unconventional, raw midtempo dance-floor tracks. The Album begins with the enchanting ballad of “L’ isola di Serie B” , moving deeper with the spaced out vibe of Domino Skii , landing on the more tropical and frivolous scenarios of “Cicci Briucci” and on the laid-back interlude of “Il Sangue Non Serve A Niente”.
In the beginning of the flip side appears instead the jazzy and uplifting first cut named “Frigo Deca”, followed by the freaky jam of “Come Thru” and the adventurous balearic tune “Hector Savage” ending with the ethereal closing skit “Il Sangue Non Serve A Niente (outro)"
Fans of Kyle Hall, Theo Parrish as well as John Talabot or Nicola Cruz are warned, absolutely not to be missed if you have been following Nas1 music so far.

Two years in the making, Future Ruins, TOM And His Computer’s debut album, will be released on Trentemøller’s In My Room label in October 20th. As a 20 year veteran of the Copenhagen music scene, Thomas Bertelsen has been releasing music under the sobriquet of TOM And His Computer for five years, merging the newest technologies with the old, while squeezing fresh sounds out of equipment that’s not only obsolete, sometimes it’s barely functioning at all. “I switch back and forth between the digital and the analog worlds. I’ll utilize old guitar pedals as well as the newest software,” says Thomas Bertelsen, producer behind TOM And His Computer. “It’s never about the gear, though, but rather finding that one little sound that can trigger an idea for an entire track.” Future Ruins was also co-produced and mixed by Trentemøller. While previous offerings have taken listeners to the outer boundaries of what can be considered “electronic music,” including nods to dark wave, dream pop, krautrock and modern psych rock, Future Ruins presents those influences in a new way and represents a great leap forward for the Copenhagen based producer.
The result is a genre-less collection of songs showcasing TOM’s obsession with propelling sounds of the past into the present, and future, combining noise and edginess with his “commitment to fresh ideas with a clear sense of melodies,” according to Clash Magazine. “My tastes are eclectic and I like to flirt with many different sub genres,” says TOM. “The aim was to combine various styles while trying to maintain a common denominator,” which committing to a full-length offered as an opportunity.

Tape / Cassette

As one half of Phantom Horse, his long-serving electronic duo with Ulf Schütte, Niklas Dommaschk co-produces beautifully muted, Kraut-inspired jams that seem to soundtrack fictitious TV ads for wondrous imaginary household appliances, e.g. a calmly efficient, if slightly unsettling kitchen robot with an integrated lava lamp feature.

In contrast, Shapes cuts tracks down to size – nothing here is longer than five-and-a-half minutes. Also, Dommaschk has turned up the treble, the prominence of the higher frequency spectrum adding bite and menace to these deceptively simple synth polyrhythms.
Whereas opening track “Benzin” (German for “Petrol”) manages to conjure the paradoxical image of something or someone meandering with urgency, “Einzeller” (German for “single-celled organism”) channels a John-Carpenter-style pulse, complete with horror sound effects. “Interference” is a truly effective representation of the term, with piercing, but quiet tinnitus frequencies set above a beat as sparse as it is crunchy. “Two Stones”, by contrast, offers a kind of robotic wistfulness whereas closing piece “Energies of the mind” fizzes out like a jumble of toy keyboards attempting to score a science programme - and failing, but instead revealing some much grander emotional truth.

This is the sound of breaking some kind of inner lockdown, of turning inwards and then projecting parts of murky inner shadows outward, as well-defined and sometimes lurid shapes, individually clear, but still in the process of becoming organized into a complete whole. The unfinished is what excites us the most. May the shapes never find their slot in the jigsaw puzzle.

All songs by Niklas Dommaschk
Recorded between 2017 and 2020 in Berlin and Nijmegen
Mastering by Edgar Medina
Artwork by Daniel Castrejón

From their early days hosting parties in Oxford through to the huge success of their two-part ‘Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost’ album, Foals have consistently explored their interest in dance and electronica. Now the band chart the most essential remixes from their career so far as they share the new remix package ‘Collected Reworks Vol 1’.

The tracks featured on ‘Collected Reworks’, are a compilation from an eclectic range of artists who have uncovered new angles to Foals’ discography. It includes one of their earliest remixes, from Ewan Pearson who blends Balearic bliss into ‘Olympic Airways’, as well as Solumun’s huge version of ‘Late Night’, which has been viewed over 50 million times at YouTube. Another standout moment is Hot Chip’s inventive interpretation of ‘My Number’.

‘Collected Reworks Vol. 1’ has been launched with Hot Since 82’s brand new remix of ‘Into The Surf’. The tech house producer / DJ behind ‘Buggin’’ and ‘Restless’ subverts the track from its original desolate beauty into something fresh and invigorating. The relentless driving beat maximises its energy throughout its eight minute duration, while its progressive leanings are given some unexpected throwback flavour with ‘80s style sax.

Ai Aso’s immaculately crafted form of minimalist pop music skirts the edges of tensity with the manner and with the skill of a tight rope walker, calmly balancing repeatedly at every step, with a combination of surety and the risk of a slip, a fall, and an unknown uncoiling of events. Aso's capacity to capture, or inspire, the tension and attention from within the listener and observer are quite pronounced. At Aso's concert the performance constantly teeters near the brink, a sharpened awareness in the hall emerges from all observing, with the will of that most delicate balance. On “The Faintest Hint” she brings a meta level to the proceedings, the dream of a singer in a bright sunlit room in the centre of the density of the society, simply and precisely searching for single ideas, single tones, a sense of sensuality and even a dream of a grandeur (rock dream) emerge. A stillness prevails, even a sharp set of instances of dreaming, melancholia, nostalgia… or even saudade. The album was recorded, mixed & mastered by Soichiro Nakamura at Peace Music between 2018-2020. Atsuo and I joined these sessions as producers, and moreso as catalysts, yet also became the skeleton of a band on the album (with the tender touch). The legendary Japanese rock band Boris accompany Aso on two pieces. A faintest hint of sharpness and la tendresse féroce quickly erodes into a fine brief cloud of the purest crystalline dust.

–Stephen O'Malley, Stockholm June 2020

Repress

Vienna based artist jeånne maintaining ancient aesthetics on A side. fast pacing acid structures under aggressive beats, enveloped in melancholic strings and melodies.

DJ DISRESPECT aka Toni Moralez already proven his strong production skills on this and also other labels. He is now delivering two adrenaline kicking, schranz-like dancefloor destroyers out of the depths of Frankfurt am Main.

GES: Anthology of American Pop Music

Six great pop standards remembered: five pop songs are dissected by sampler, stretched, compressed, and re-collaged. In this way, their identity is lost. What remains is a vague concreteness: flashes of déjà vu and remote echoes that evoke the original.
GES (Gesellschaft zur Emanzipation des Samples)
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Active members: Helmut Schmidt, Jan Jelinek
Founded: 2009
Headquarters: Federal Court of Justice, Karlsruhe, Germany
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GES Glossary

Acoustic Surveillance Series

A 7-inch vinyl record series curated by GES focussing on historical methods of acoustic surveillance. Each record introduces a surveillance system from the past. Starting with Uguisubari in 2017, the series will continue with the release of Orecchio di Dionisio in 2021. GES is open to further suggestions on this subject.

Bundesgerichtshof (German Federal Court of Justice), Karlsruhe

“The use of audio samples as artistic practice may justify the infringement of copyright and intellectual property rights.” (ruling of the German Federal Court of Justice pertaining to Metall auf Metall II, 2016). The court is also the official headquarters of GES.
Circulations

What happens to copyright claims when music from a passing car is captured in a street recording? Is it legal to use this recording freely or is it necessary to obtain licensing rights? Circulations re-enacts this recording situation: audio players are placed in public spaces, where they reproduce the desired sample material. The acoustically choreographed space is then recorded, creating a field recording in which everyday noises circulate together with seemingly incidental music.

Emancipation of Sampling

Fuelled by its criminalization, the act of sampling existing recordings forfeited some of its artistic prestige (see Sampling). GES wishes to rehabilitate and re-emancipate the practice of sampling as a form of art in its own right. Strategy: 1. Name samples and sources explicitly. 2. Choose samples that are as popular and as recognizable as possible (Beatles, Carpenters, etc.). 3. The editing and manipulation of the sample must not compromise its recognizability (negotiable). 4. Use as many samples as possible. 5. Always name more sample sources than were actually used in the composition.

Field Recording

A compositional practice widely used in sound art and ethnomusicology that involves the recording of natural acoustical phenomena. Two additional requirements are usually imposed: The recording process should take place outside a studio environment, i.e. outdoors. And the person recording does not generate any of the acoustic material him/herself. GES expands this definition by introducing the concept of choreographed public space (see Circulations).

Gambling

An acoustic event favoured by GES, already used in numerous sound collages (must take place in public). The most popular option is thimblerig, a cup and ball gambling game commonly played in the street. Compositional instruction by GES: Place an audio playback device in the proximity of a thimblerigger. Play works for orchestra (by Debussy or Mahler). Move slowly towards the gamblers with a microphone.

Helmut Schmidt

Multiple identity and fictional character devised by GES. Figures variously within the semiotic system of GES as member, guest artist or public representative. Following the historical example of Subcommandante Marcos (EZLN).

Kraftwerk

The German band founded by electropop musicians Florian Schneider-Esleben and Ralf Hütter (a.k.a. Die Prozessoren) is the natural enemy of GES. Protected by computer-generated avatars, Kraftwerk operates a quote-hostile cultural hegemony. Their strategy: Install a special brand in the collective consciousness by means of a sophisticated system of quotations and references that may in turn not be quoted by anyone else. Other bands with such delusions of omnipotence: U2, Metallica.

Marcel Duchamp

As the inventor of the readymade, Duchamp may be viewed as a precursor to the art of sampling. However, the artist is appreciated above all for his sonorous qualities, as his vocal silence has often been sampled and processed. It was the inspiration for Jelinek's radio play Zwischen.

Orecchio di Dionisio

This 65-meter-deep limestone cave in the Sicilian town of Syracuse, carved out of a hillside in ancient times, has exceptional acoustics: A person standing at the cave entrance can hear every word whispered deep down inside it. The painter Michelangelo da Caravaggio gave it its name (The Ear of Dionysius) in 1608. The cave indeed resembles an ear and – according to Caravaggio – had a specific function: The tyrant Dionysius I imprisoned his political prisoners in the cave in order to spy on them. Orecchio di Dionisio will be featured in the Acoustic Surveillance Series in the near future.

Sampling

Compositional practice whereby recorded music is fragmented, turned into sound collages and transferred into different contexts of meaning. Since the advent of affordable sampling technology in the 1990s, the music industry has been trying to criminalize and/or promote the practice. Both strategies are driven by the same principle: Profit.

Uguisubari

Sound-making floorboards in Japanese temple and castle complexes, featured in the Acoustic Surveillance Series in 2017. In the Edo period, the “nightingale floor” (literal translation of uguisubari) was a popular acoustic warning system. The principle was straightforward: When someone stepped onto the boards, nails would rub against metal clamps beneath the floor, creating a tell-tale squeaky sound that was said to resemble the chirping of the Japanese nightingale.

Wind

A generator of acoustic events and an amplifier/transmitter of existing sounds. A meteorological form of energy appreciated by the GES on account of its unpredictability. A series about wind as an acoustic phenomenon is planned. Working title: Hotel Corridors.

Zwischen (Between)

Radio play by GES member Jan Jelinek based on recordings of various public interview situations. From the speech of the interviewees (all of them eloquent personalities) the pauses between coherent utterances were extracted and assembled. What we hear is an archaic body language: modes of breathing, word particles and onomatopoeic turmoil. A key question for GES: Which comes first, personal rights or artistic freedom? For Zwischen, Jelinek used only recordings by public figures that were already available to the public.

RICO PUESTEL debuts on his TIME IN THE SPECIAL PRACTICE OF RELATIVITY label with a mind-boggling journey of 41 minutes — split in two parts to fit on vinyl! HEPTAKAIDEKA is what it won't be and will be what it never was: Something from in-between worlds, a place beyond far beyond, where time dissolves into relativity...

Every modern electronic music presenter should be able to find joyful, elevated, convulsing or simply useful moments within the extent of this track that is designed to have its inherent connecting factors and starting points in place for every DJ set — letting it be just a few minutes, well-placed groove looping or bigger amounts of its entirety for diving into a long night, bringing it to an end or making it standing out in-between.

Starting off with a hazy half-grasp hint of what's to come, a mysteriously pervasive bionic loop emerges, slowly coalescing with a bone-dry groove on the rise. Taking up a first quadrant of the track, already gnawing into the long-term memory, it manages to gradually establish itself along the pathway while the "rhythmatics" endure some subtle layer-shifting with occult-like strings come sliding in from somewhere unknown like an admonitory subtext.

Being halfway through (and all the way in), everything smoothly crumbles down to its basic framework, still shaking off its own reminiscences while foregone vestiges almost perilously try to reassemble themselves. All of that leading to a clearly unforeseen yet fortunate drift into a 1980's-like synth peak time section after about 27 minutes being in that track, finally cherishing an evolving emotional felicity and the climax of its own being that tends to feel like an overarching salvation.

As everything being eventually finite, the track starts to bring to mind where it came from by assuredly falling back into a story told before with the well-established bionic loop that once used to run free, sounding somehow different and more tamed now. Ending with dignity, the consistently resurfaced admonitory strings lead the way to its conclusion and possibly new beginnings, solely leaving behind the heartbeat-like booming that carried it all, now fading away...

Coming into existence during a series of multiple productions of exuberant proportions with Rico making the studio his citadel-like stronghold, this is an extensive story of desires, instincts, pride, fall, mirth, solicitude, tension, détente and basically life itself while subtly yet versatilely entertaining on a dodgy yet accessible level throughout the wingspread of Techno, House, Minimal, Dub, Electronica and Ambient influences.

The CD version not only brings you the title track in the guise of its non-split completeness but eminently churns out the extra drumming dub treat DEKAEPTA for a pleasurable groove-delight as well as the trippy bonus beauty VOSEM' that transits as a precious component of infinity.

Retro future past explorer. Ultraromance, hazy desire, a whiff of nostalgia. Excitement, confusion, and disenchantment. Internalization leads to alienation. And the cognition that everything can turn into a straight up joke after a while. So »relax and implode«…

The second full-length album of Berlin musician and futurologist André Uhl invites the listener to a sonic adventure with high emotional impact. Eleven songs are carefully crafted like sculptures in a swampy landscape. Warm, gritty, and viscid, the unique sound aesthetic leads the path through the dusty twilight, breathing down your neck, providing comfort and disturbance at the same time.

The sound material was recorded in a church during André’s two months long artist residency in a monastery in Alsace, France, where a specific set of microphones was used to capture the unique reverb of the nave. Additional material was recorded in Philadelphia, New York and in André’s Berlin studio.

Field recordings play a central role in the album, defining the mood and building the rhythmic foundation for all the compositions. Other elements were produced with a wide range of different analog and digital instruments. A powerful lead of a Roland Jupiter 6, the warm organ of a Moog Opus 3, the quirkiness of a circuit-bent Casio PT10 – or the clicking of an electricity meter in an apartment. »Relax and Implode« by André Uhl will be released on 16 October 2020 on Martin Hossbach.

Trad Vibe records started in Paris in 2005 when two friends and open minded musicians decided to set up a label that would mainly focus on vinyl releases. In times when Serato and other midi controllers dominated the dj booths and when vinyl record sales were experiencing a major downturn, this endevour did not look like an easy bet . "Moar's Remixes", the label's first release allowed Trad Vibe to set foot in the business and to meet people like Grandmaster Dee Nasty, Cortex (Alain Mion), Raashan Ahmad, The Audible Doctor (NYC) amongst many others which resulted in fruitful collaborations."
Ten years and over thirty vinyl releases later we are poud to present you with this compilation that includes unreleased tracks and remixes by Dj Cam, 20syl (C2C/Hocus Pocus), Venice Beach, Lord Funk, Blanka (La fine Equipe / Juke Box Champions) as well as brand new tracks by artists we like among which LS Brigandes (NYC) feat Insight, Moar & Elodie Rama, Dj Suspect & Doc TMK, King Most (San Francisco) and Madjir."

Evolution is our main target and we hope that you will enjoy our new projects as much as we do."

Floxmade! Anglo-French binational FLOX has been sowing his Nu-Reggae seeds for years now in venues all around France, and a new genre has sprung up, somewhere between roots reggae and electro. Deeply influenced by the Jamaican Culture, from LKJ to The Police, to the more modern Fat Freddy’s Drop.

Two hot property New Zealanders under the guise Manuel Darquart take the WOLF reigns for their debut on the label. Drawing influence from classic Italian house labels such as Irma, Antima and Palmares (alongside having that South Pacific sea breeze ingrained in their souls), the duo let loose on a three track EP that could have easily been plucked straight out of a ‘90s Key Tronics Ensemble stash. WOLF mainstay Medlar completes the package with a percussive workout remix of ‘Parkour!’, dubbed, rerubbed and full of that timbale goodness.

With a string of releases on the likes of Coastal Haze, Childsplay and Infinite Pleasure, Manuel Darquart transport you to a distant island life where corona’s claws have yet to cause chaos. Opener ‘Keep It DXy’, sees sweeping pads caress the shores as bumping basslines mix with punchy stabs and dreamy toplines.

From the beach to the jungle, ‘Miranda’ is a stomp through the undergrowth, the tropical landscape calling out at every turn, as synth melodies dance around steamy bass arps and streams of percussive hits.

Flip it to the B for ‘Parkour’, a proto-house gem that captures that ‘80s feel with gated snares, thumping kicks and synths galore, before Medlar closes out the EP with a ripping whirlwind of percussion for his remix of ‘Parkour’.

Fragile X is an exciting new collaboration between vocalist Inga Schunn and producer Dylan Chase.

The group began in 2019 when Schunn posted an iPhone voice recording on Facebook in which she sang an acapella in her native German. Her friend Chase, who was recording and releasing at that time as Caffeine Worldwide, heard the 30-second clip and immediately asked Schunn, at that time only an acquaintance, if she might like to record something. Neither of them realised at the time that the first sessions would lead to a debut 4-track EP that capably references as many styles as most full-length albums from established artists, while also setting a blueprint for a project that could go anywhere from here.

The opening track alone, 'Lifetime', opens with a woozy blend of UKG rhythms and Royksopp synths, before giving way to Schunn's sedate rendition of Daniel Johnston's 'Some Things Last A Long Time'...basically the years 1990-2002 distilled into 5 furious minutes of 5am energy.

Across the whole release, Chase's productions show the same cinematic flair that made his previous releases on French Press Lounge, Third Try and Human Concrete Block must-haves for your late-night record bag.
A2 'Prix' with the kind of R&S attitude that would make forebears like LFO or Lone proud, could be the soundtrack for an illegal outback rave or a sunset drive over a Big Sur overpass.
The album closer, 'Fragile X Theme,” sounds something like if late 90's Bjork was commissioned to soundtrack the movie Hackers with Akai samplers on loan from the Hartnoll brothers.

The whole release may be overshadowed by the B1, 'Karaoke Girl', a track Schunn and Chase wrote in Mexico City in 2019 after a rough night at a Zona Rosa karaoke bar.
Opening with dripping synths as soft and inviting as the last drink before sunrise, Schunn tells a story of a woman who overstays her invite at an intimate birthday party between friends, taking the mic from the birthday girl and singing "Seal, Rush and Kate Bush" with a "death grip on the mic."
It's a bizarre, vivid song for such new artists to have come up with, and the lyrics are underpinned by Chase's equally adventurous combination of Nordic disco elements with heavily treated bursts of Japanese koto.
The Lifetime EP's title is a reference to the laborious process that it took to make the record, with multiple recording sessions across two countries followed by endless edits and a Covid 19 related vinyl slowdown bringing its release to a crawl.
The record itself is a fast-paced, dopamine rush debut that we are proud to share with you as both the culmination of a long process, and the beginning of a strange new story.

One of the most quietly influential underground artists of recent times, Yamaneko returns with Spirals Heaven Wide, his fourth full-length album. Since breaking through in 2014 with his cult debut album Pixel Wave Embrace, Yamaneko has been one of the key artists re-contextualising ambient music for a new generation, crafting fragile compositions that draw as much from the angular shapes of grime, techno and keygen music as they do the soothing soundscapes of new age cassettes, ambient records and video game soundtracks. Written during Yamaneko’s last winter in London before relocating to Tokyo, Spirals Heaven Wide is his longest and largest-sounding release to date, combining some of his most evocative long-form pieces with the kind of haunting miniatures that made his early music so distinctive. The majority of the tracks were written after Yamaneko's first run of audio-visual shows at the end of 2018, and so are rooted in the same kind of live workflow and production methods that he explored with those sets. As with last year’s Afterglow EP, Spirals Heaven Wide is underpinned by a underlying influence of euphoric dance music, with distant trance and hardcore signifiers - both key influences on Yamaneko from an early age - visible through the album’s thick blankets of wind and fog. These influences come fully to the forefront on ‘This Spring of Love' and 'Fall Control’, two of the most outright spine-tingling tracks Yamaneko has released to date. Elsewhere, the album explores his love of emo music’s bittersweet melancholy, a fascination with constellations and the cosmos and an increasing love of writing extended, long-form compositions: a side of Yamaneko first explored on 2017’s Spa Commissions collection and continued on his contribution to respected ambient series Longform Editions.

From 1963 to 2014: "Peace Chant - raw deep and spiritual jazz" exhibits 51 years of music. A well matched anthology with sounds to dive into, hard rhythms to dance to and vocals to meditate on.

The Tramp Records crew has compiled 9 tracks in nice order and dramaturgy. Some tunes you might have never heard before unless you own one of the rare original vintage vinyl records. Peace Chant is released on two separate LPs with own catalogue numbers and on one CD. Some songs I can't get out of my mind:

The previously unreleased "Don't Give Up Your Smile Today" is opening the compilation. It's from Das Goldene Zeitalter, a band that didn't survive - but whose members had a huge influence on German jazz, soul, afrobeat and funk within the last years merging into groups like The Poets of Rhythm, The Whitefiled Bros., and The Malcouns. Boris Geiger aka. Bo Baral sings a Pharoah Sanders like tune, his voice deeply resonating, the rhythm section heavily grooving.

After the first three woolly recorded tracks Walt Bolen's "Peace Chant" with its dry and funky sounds with flute, two guitars and percussion is quite a pleasure to listen to. Organ and voice are Bolen's who used to play the keys in San Fernando Valley church when he was a child. "Peace Chant" was recorded for his own Ar-Que label in 1972 and is one of the few cuts with him as a leader. He has played sessions and clubs for years and today he is sitting at the church organ again.

This publication's oldest recording dates back to 1963: "Mozambique" by Luna Brothers Trio, a Caribbean and hypnotic instrumental. For my jazz trained ears it is rather unusual that the güiro (the gherkin played with a stick) is being played throughout the entire song. Heavily laid back cowbell, concas and timbales and the slightly detuned piano are wonderful! "Mozambique" sounds like from another star but its origin is Los Angeles, where the brothers Fred and Ricardo Luna had their night club band. You could imagine a bast skirt strip and at the same time the great Raumpatrouille (Space Patrol) landing on German B&W TV screens in 1966.

Hozan Yamamoto recorded crime jazz with the Japanese bamboo flute shakuhachi. He belonged to Tony Scotts "Music for Zen Meditation" in 1964, played with Ravi Shankar, avant-garde jazz bassist Gary Peacock and appeared at Donaueschingen Festival for contemporary music. Tokio university's open minded lecturer recorded the funky and modal "Spotlight on Sapporo" in 1972.

Timeless periods of industrial rhythm: Diarmaid O Meara and Kucera collaborate to release ‘Shadowmen’ vinyl on Gobsmacked Records

Nightclubs around Europe are shut. Even in Berlin, the clubbing capital of the world, nightlife has been reduced to a simmer. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t have a good time and connect via timeless periods of electrifying and industrial rhythms”, said Irish producer and DJ Diarmaid O Meara. Together with long-time Gobsmacked techno stalwart Kucera, the two have dropped their latest vinyl ‘Shadowmen’.

The collaboration has derived from long sessions in the Gobsmacked cavern studios in Berlin. The result: A 12” that is laid out in the style of the perfect rave – with a breakbeat electronica entry that promotes procrastination, freakish, and intensely introverted thoughts created through pulsating rhythms and ghostly frequencies, industrial rave sounds for those moments of release.

Partying is a huge part of Berlin’s identity

By listening to the vinyl featuring a dark rhythm, it becomes obvious that the duo has been heavily influenced by underground techno nights in Berlin, and also regularly sharing the stage together at international events. With the pandemic-mandated closure of clubs stretching through the summer, however, playing gigs and festivals is no longer an option. Hence, illegal parties have sprung up to fill the gap and infuriated some public health officials and politicians, also in Berlin.

“Partying is still a huge part of the city’s identity”, continued Diarmaid O Meara who has been living in Berlin for over a decade and also organising parties all over the city. “Raves are a much-needed way to blow off steam after a period of isolation but we have to consider a more proactive approach, for instance district authorities making public spaces available to party organisers under conditions that ensure hygiene measures are maintained.”

Although there has been no shortage of digital music events either since the pandemic began, clubbing is more than just watching a DJ set. “Rather it’s about the unique space that’s created by artists and the crowd that are pulled together by music”, said Kucera who has been destroying dance floors across Europe with his live sets since 2004. “In times when people are still feeling more isolated than ever, our latest vinyl with the accompanying music video aims to bring a sense of connectedness and community during the lockdown.” The video imagery has been recorded live using Kuceras machine pattern triggering whilst performing the tracks live.

Unwavering dedication to the culture of counter-culture

The name ‘Shadowmen’ reflects the work both artists have contributed constantly and consistently to the scene over the past two decades with unwavering dedication to the culture of counter-culture. The artwork, in classic Gobsmacked style, comes with a tip of the cap to the global elite who have been successfully driving humanity off a cliff. “We’ve thrown a little apparent illuminati symbol in there for those who’ve been confined too long at home and on YouTube for the past 6 months”, said Diarmaid O Meara.

Both artists are working on a multitude of new tracks and events for the post-Covid era. Of particular interest is Kuceras live visual show for Gobsmacked, with visuals triggered from his machine live-set patterns. This is something he has been wanting to experiment with for a long time now and it started to take shape in the form of visual hallucinations of industrial areas and trains he had been filming while traveling across Europe before the world stopped functioning properly due to Covid-19. Diarmaid O Meara has quite a few tricks up his sleeve, including a new politically inspired alias, where both artists will take centre stage in some wacky antics.

Two versions of this much-loved gem (covered by Led Zeppelin and Roger Daltrey from The Who more recently), ‘As Long As I Have You’ was the

title track of Garnet Mimms’ first solo album from 1964 which made a brief appearance as a seven inch and now goes for £500.

The slightly longer ‘Single Version’ made it to demo-only in France in 1967 and is a super rare cut - an edited live version with brass courtesy of

The Senate that goes for around £400 if you can find a copy. Remastered here from the original sound source.

Untold’ is an experimental electronic LP from multi-disciplinary artist and author Sophia Loizou. Depicting a series of speculative sonic landscapes; animals, ocean waves and weather systems are abstracted into eco-centric cyber-dreams creating powerful ambient compositions that invite us to see the Earth through the eyes of others.

‘Untold’ is not about the natural or the technological but the relationships between the two; sonic textures, breaks and melodies are shaped by the dynamics of a lion’s roar or the rhythm of a dolphin’s echolocation emissions. “I didn’t want to make it human-centric,” explains Sophia. “I wanted to remove my compositional and structural domination, to find ways to make it about the symbiosis of systems I see in the world.”

‘Untold’ is part of a much bigger multi-disciplinary project that also includes a collection of poems with accompanying audio, artworks, an AV show and a lecture performance.

Mastered and cut by Matt Colton @ Metropolis.

The wide-spread admiration for Uijui’s production chops has been imminent for several years now, only stalled by the instant gratification of endless night outs, snooker and one or two shattered computer hard disks. He’s been crafting discreet and thoughtful, yet effective midnight sun house and heartfelt techno over the years concluding in a 3-track EP for Cold Blow.

We present to you our twelfth release on 7” format, a collaboration between Ojah, Chazbo & Yuuri Bamboo.

The A side contains the track “Resilience”, a melodica version over a 90’s inspired steppers riddim. The first verse is played by UK Dub legend Chazbo, while the second verse is played by Japanese melodica player Yuuri Bamboo, bringing to the table two unique and different yet complementary melodica styles.
On the B side we find a hypnotic and adventurous stripped-down dub version, reminiscent of those early morning dubs at a Shaka session, mixed live in analog by Ojah at his studio.

Limited edition of 350 copies, hand-stamped and hand-numbered, served in a thick custom reversed kraftliner sleeve.
Produced by Ojah, recorded at Alchemy Dubs Studio, London.
Melodica by Chazbo & Yuuri Bamboo, recorded at Roots Temple Studio, Japan.
Mixed & mastered by Oscar Pablos “Ojah" at Alchemy Dubs Studio, London, 2020.
Graphic design by Victor Castro.

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