Search:harmon

Extra Noir is a coldwave, minimal synth and post-punk soundtrack based in South Korea. This is the first of a series of compilations, featuring artists from the hosts' three most recent homes - Scotland, Korea and Texas. Available on digital and limited release vinyl. About the artists:
Aadm Our Hatley is a Texas-based multi-instrumentalist who has played in a long list of underground Austin acts, such as Red X Red M, Attack Formation, Those Peabodys and Bangaar. He currently plays guitar in Chamberlain Greene and drums in Boss Eye. Straddling the dank border between industrial and no wave, Glasgow duo Total Leatherette also brings pervy disco fetish to their sleazy brand of mutant music.
Kübler-Ross is one of the many aliases of Glasgow electronic producer / remixer Dave Clark. A versatile and prolific producer, Clark has worked with JD Twitch of Optimo as one half of the Optimo (Espacio) remix team, played guitar in Badalamentian blues band Big Ned, and has been recently recording synth-based solo tracks as Kübler-Ross.
Comprised of techno producer Seonggu de Kim and minimal ambient artist Eajik, Airy Textile is a synth duo originally based in Seoul, South Korea. Their contribution to Extra Noir Vol. 1 marks their first release on vinyl. Tengger are an electronic psychedelic duo from Seoul, South Korea, comprised of Itta (harmonium and vocals) and Marqido (modular synth).
Texan synth wizard Xander Harris is one of the most influential artists in the 'horror disco' genre, and has consistently delivered tense, garish and unflinching journeys into the darkest domains of dance music. This track, 'The Velvet Hand', is exclusive to Extra Noir Vol. 1. Pecht is the nom de plume of a Manchester-based solo artist who retreated to the wilds of northern Scotland after years in the London entertainment industry. His self-titled debut album was recorded during his exile on the north coast. 'unlock' is Pecht's first release on vinyl. Cucina Povera is the musical identity of Maria Rossi, a Glasgow musician and vocalist originally from Finland. She is a collaborator in Luxos with Daniel Magee of Lo Kindre, and a former DJ on Glasgow's Subcity Radio. Her debut LP, Hilja, was released in January 2018.

Faitiche releases the album Improvisations And Edits, Tokyo 26.09.2001 on vinyl for the first time. For the original 2002 CD on Soup-Disk and Sub Rosa (Audiosphere), Jan Jelinek and the Japanese trio Computer Soup (Satoru Hori - trumpet, Osamu Okubo - toys & electronics, Kei Ikeda - toys & electronics) presented eight tracks all recorded one afternoon in the trio's living room in Tokyo. They are excerpts from a joint group improvisation that subsequently underwent rudimentary editing, on which Jelinek and Computer Soup worked separately.

Jelinek met the three musicians at his first concert in Japan in 2001, at Tokyo's Yellow club, where Computer Soup performed as the support act. Delighted by their free improvisation on pocket-sized electronic toys, trumpet and oscillators, he arranged to meet Hori, Okubo and Ikeda a few days later for a session at their apartment. The resulting three-hour recording, made on their living room floor, formed the basis for Improvisations and Edits. A few days later, Jelinek returned to Berlin. Over the following months, they separately chose passages from the recording that were then edited and assembled into an album.

Formed in Tokyo in 1996 as a quintet (including Shusaku Hariya and Daisuke Oishi), Computer Soup began by performing with acoustic instruments on the streets of Shibuya. Ikeda und Okubo soon switched instruments, and from then on the group's minimalistic but densely woven sound was defined by electronic toys, oscillators and Satoru Hori's trumpet. Their first album was released in 1997 on the Japanese label Soup Disk. Eight further releases followed.

From the reviews of Improvisations and Edits, Tokyo 26.09.2001 in 2003:

"The mind-blowing first track Straight Life is perhaps the best example of what the album has to offer. Jelinek's trademark smears and washes occupy the midrange, like ghosted images of Joe Zawinul's electric piano floating quietly in the wind. DSP jazz modes are set against a walking bassline (possibly computer generated) and a gently tooted trumpet complete with Harmon mute, a dead ringer for Miles Davis' Prestige-era ballads. The effect is something like a three-dimensional film, with different realities on each layer, images of what jazz was manage to interact with a real-time demonstration of all it could be."
pitchfork, 2003

"Improvisations and Edits is a warm and mellow Ambient release with beautiful glitch fragments, static noise bursts and real trumpet intersections. However, there are times where it is the exact opposite, mainly effect-laden, overdriven and bouncy with a lack of melodies and focus, so be aware of these specific tracks."
ambientexotica, 2003

"Often deliciously dreamy and hazy, Improvisations and Edits is like listening to an exceptional instrumental jazz performance while half-conscious or under some sort of chemical influence. Computerised blips and bleeps, loops and treatments and murky sonic skips curl up around desolate horn notes and scattered instrumental noises that culminate in elegant music."
exclaim.ca, 2003

Mindblowing Afro-Soul music from Ivory Coast served up by Deke Tom Dollard, an obscure artist who only recorded two albums in 1979 and 1981 but who created an original funky fusion with Bété langage. A Selection of four amazing tracks recorded in Abidjan on two different records label called War Records and As Records.

The music here is a mixture of Funk with heavy basslines, traditional percussions, funky guitar riffs, nice horns section and lyrics in Beté. The song Demonde' is inspired by harmonies of the famous Dance to the Drummer Beat' by Herman Kelly.

Those two rare records were found by Afrobrazilero (aka Djamel Hammadi) and never appeared on the vinyl market. It's almost impossible to have infos about this singer and composer neither the musicians involved in the recording sessions. Most of the traces of the recording session were lost by the labels we licensed the tracks with.

Unique, pressed on a deluxe vinyl, remastered by The Carvery, this very Funky album is a must have for all the Afro Funk lovers!

The Fame-Beats' Davey Lane and Rusty Hopkinson are known to some as long time band mates in celebrated Australian rock-and-roll group You Am I. These two plucky charmers share a keen interest in Hamburg era British pop and it was on a stroll down the Reeperbahn that they decided to commit their love of all things BEAT to tape.

The Fame-Beats motor along a Cuban-heeled path from Merseybeat via the Medway, doffing their caps at favorite big-beat-acts, such as Bern Elliot & The Fenmen, The Milkshakes, Russ Kruger and of course that most Fab Four, along the way.

DON'T TELL NO LIES is the sad tale of a young man spurned told with the aid of chiming chords and soaring harmonies.

THE WATFORD STOMP is a reckless Cavern styled romp that demands you to DANCE.

A new duo launches by the name of Ghost Vision. Joining forces with an introspective, uplifting debut slice on Kompakt, the pair are two well-known figures Thomas Gandey aka Cagedbaby, member of Matom alongside Matt Edwards, and Daniel McLewin, half of UK-based production duo Psychemagik. Fruit of these blissful moments when no imaginary wall obstructs the vision and the stream of consciousness gives up to the entrancing magic of the creative flow, 'Saturnus' is an upright mano a mano between two musicians and their gear, unchained from all preconceptions and biases; real (machine) talk as the hip-hop heads would say.

Straight soul oration poured off the cosmic scapes generated by a good old Moog Voyager, '70s string machines', Oberheim OBXA, 303, Space Echo and the too little-known and equally little-used Korg Lambda, Ghost Vision's debut EP traverses remote kosmische-indebted expanses but hits close to the core with its deft mix of slow-burning spectral funk, textured outerspace pads and further stirring heart-searching harmonics. Subtly arranged yet leaving maximum room to the lively force of its original layout, it is a lovingly crafted piece of emotive and psychedelic magnitude that's seamlessly given birth to. Enter the greater deep and important world of Ghost Vision.

Synthek is quite simply a master of deep hypnotic abstract techno. The Berlin based Italian has made plenty of waves since his first vinyl releases back in 2010 and has gone on to secure residencies at Tresor. The Hidden Dimension sees Luca retrace his account of entering hidden dimensions in musical form. Breathe and Surrender starts off proceedings in ambient bliss, setting the tone perfectly for Process Recall to introduce percussion and bass into the flow, before Duality takes centre stage and shows off Synthek's impeccable production skills in creating a serious deep slice of hypnotism. Harmony then takes things back down to earth and wraps up the story with a calming presence.

· Bart Davenport's 7th album since his 2002 solo debut
· West Coast yacht rock meets '80s English pop
· Produced by L.A. Takedown's Aaron M. Olson
· Confirmed live dates in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, San Diego, Vida Festival (Spain)

Recorded in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, Blue Motel is the new album by Bart & The Bedazzled, a brand new musical enterprise by Bart Davenport and his seventh album proper since his solo breakout in 2002. Alluding to Los Angeles with the lights down, it's an amalgam sound of '80s English pop and West Coast yacht rock jams, sprinkled with cinematic flourishes clearly influenced by the understated production of L.A. Takedown's Aaron M. Olson. The jangly pop aesthetic, resplendent with choppy chorus tinted guitar, snappy snares, sax and bass is underlined with life trodden stories about day jobs, dating, financial insecurities, lost innocence and most prominently, time travel.

The album lives somewhere in an imagined past (or future) that is curiously both the 1960s and 1980s conveying the groups's nostalgia for a fantasy world with a cheeky cynicism, despite a perception of a world that is, for Bart, on the downfall. To that end, Davenport's songs are, as always, delivered with a happy and sad sensibility reminiscent of the great Burt Bacharach. From the surreal yet humorous 'The House That Built Itself' to the sad surf music of 'Halloween By The Sea' or the romantic L.A. noir of the title track, Blue Motel arrives with a spoonful of tears, a nod and a wink.

The Bedazzled band lineup, united by their love of the 'Elegant '80s', includes the guitar of Wayne Faler (Dream Boys), drums, percussion and beats by Andres Renteria (Jose Gonzales) and post-punk bass lines from Jessica Espeleta (L.A. Takedown). The four friends from Los Angeles, united in their affection for the more sophisticated sounds of English '80s groups like Prefab Sprout and Style Council give the setlist a more distinctively pop flavour compared to Bart's soulful last outing on his album Physical World, also released on Lovemonk. Blue Motel features regular appearances from female vocalist Nedelle Torrisi (Domino, Asthmatic Kitty) who notably adds the lush layers of harmony on 'The Amateurs'. Saxophonist Billy McShane is also featured on three songs with improvisations that evoke the scene of whales in outer space.

Producer Olson often incorporates soundtrack and avant-garde elements in his own work. His gift for song arrangement, understanding of the synth and penchant for subtlety all shine brightly on Blue Motel.

18 tracks of rare early Beatles material, including In Spite Of All The Danger' (the only song ever co-written by Paul McCartney & George Harrison) recorded in Liverpool in 1958 when the Beatles (along with John Lowe on piano & Colin Hanton on drums) were still known as the Quarrymen, a 1960 home recording of McCartney's Cayenne' (with Stuart Sutcliffe), Ain't She Sweet' recorded in Hamburg in 1961, Besame Mucho' featuring Pete Best on drums, The One After 909', and I Saw Her Standing There' recorded live at the Cavern Club in 1962, and much, much more!!

Cryovac Recordings enters a new sensible era of home grown production focusing on strong statements of personal style. Cryovac stresses a minimal approach to basic production with a simple soul to shape a tale of sound. The Broke Lighter E.P. is a versatile mix of characters that come together and combine their visions into one vista. This shared space of consciousness is translated to vinyl for your inspection. Cryovac Recordings continues to shine light on every corner of the Detroit Underground to expose a depth of talent that is overlooked.

The 19th edition of the Cryovac series is a moody stab at the heart of techno. It starts off with Disc Detroit's upliftingly melancholy 4/4 groover that transforms synth and turns percussion with a steady patience. Dutch Mike executes a smooth assault lead by a 303 harmony, backed by a heavy baseline and flanked by tricky programming that shifts cymbal formations. Vontell C. and his son Vontell F. sneak a dark vibe into the mix with a manic and excitable minimal ballad detuning and nodding out while detailing the burning of pretty things. Andy Garcia applies a minimalized Motown sound via strumming guitar, vintage vocals, and easy beat that rises and falls creating a serene phonic envirorment. Every track on the Broke Lighter is an opportunity to go in a new direction.

This August sees Stone Foundation release their fourth studio album 'A Life Unlimited' featuring ten new original recordings.

Last year's album 'To Find The Spirit' was easily their most successful seeing the band reach No. 33 in the Independent Charts, receive regular Radio 2 play, achieve glowing reviews in The Mirror, Scootering, R2, Jocks & Nerds magazine and saw the band tour Japan twice where the huge attendances helped secure them a recording contract with the prestigious P-Vine label and an appearance at Fuji Rocks festival.

'A Life Unlimited' features contributions from Graham Parker (The Night Teller), US soul stalwart Nolan Porter (Beverley), vocal harmony group The Four Perfections (Pushing Your Love) and Blow Monkeys frontman Doctor Robert
Howard (A Love Uprising). 'A Life Unlimited' sees Stone Foundation develop their unique style of soul, funk & jazz to a much broader scale. Horn driven arrangements add colour to an inspired display of songs that are unquestionably the group's strongest to date. Thought provoking lyrics and strong melodies sit upon a stylish musical bed.

The first single from the album 'Beverley' was the title music in the award winning (best film at the Portobello film awards & East End film festival ) Cass Pennant & Alexandra Thomas film of the same name starring Vicky McClure (this is England) and Laya Lewis (Skins)

Bergen is the next, and natural step in the expanding career of Dutch producer Tom Trago. The acclaimed producer behind Voyage Direct will release his fourth LP, with the label and crew he's built a close relationship with over the past ten years - Dekmantel. With a new studio and approach to music, Bergen is Trago sounding at his very finest, returning to his roots with a focussed, and dedicated production ethos.
.
'If you change your environment, your music will also change with you,' Trago reflects on the new album. A staple in the Amsterdam club scene, Tom Trago has been a familiar face at the Dekmantel events for over ten years. 'I was even playing Dekmantel parties, before they were even called Dekmantel,' he states. Tom Trago's collaboration with Dekmantel has allowed him the space to grow and finish his most accomplished, and honest album to date. Bergen is an LP that connects his legacy, family, and commitment to dance music in one resplendent package.


Having relocated from Amsterdam, Tom Trago set up his new studio in the coastal town of Bergen, located in the northern Netherlands. Recorded in his family house, with the sea at one side, and the countryside to the other, the resultant record is a craftful piece of art, full of space, and the classic machine-driven, house music aesthetic that has come to represent Trago's sound. Bergen was made with the aim of re-creating a global-music sound, along with the music that has influenced him throughout his life, with a new approach influenced by Trago's immediate natural environment. 'I would take long walks in-between tracks,' explains Tom about the music making process, "and the creative ideas would happen in the forest."

The spacey-passively-paced LP intro 'Bergen' was the first to be picked up by Dekmantel's Casper Tielrooij, who upon hearing the track stated - 'now we are talking album business'. Yet it was the electro- orientated 'Zeeweg' that became the template for the rest of the record. 'The LP was built around this track,' Trago states. The b-boy electro vibe, with its melodramatic synth melody was influenced by the road that leads to his scenic retreat - with slow, steady curves, and a gentle, upward trajectory, Zeeweg and its album namesake, twist and turn in fluid synchronicity. 'The Creation of Lalibela' plays on this world music vibe, with ethereal and fun key patterns, influenced by the work of Mulatu Astatke. 'Always be with you' is one of the LP's standout tracks, epitomising the new album's country settings, and featuring his girlfriend on vocals; it swings at a steady, up-beat pace, rich with harmony, colour and melody. Elsewhere on the album, Trago sticks to his dance floor roots, 'Faith Belongs to Us' is moulded in a Chicago-to- Amsterdam house style, while album closer 'Working Machines' plays with resonance and atmospherics, creating a moody, pulsing yet stylish rhythm.

Having been raised in a musically-driven, and open-spirited household in which the producer grew up learning the piano, it didn't take long for Tom Trago to be indoctrinated into the new school of Amsterdam producers. Studying at a private jazz school while still a teenager, Trago would eventually come to cross paths with the hip-hop loving Dutch duo Rednose Distrikt, who left a permanent imprint on his approach to music. 'They showed me a world of music making using the MPC,' Trago says. 15 years later, the Dutch producer still sticks to this template. Looking to recreate this production approach that influenced him from the very beginning, Trago stripped down his studio to a simple setup with just a few, key 'weapons of choice'. Removing the computer from the setup, the MPC 2000 XL once again became the heart of the music making process. Bergen's analogue tools lend to its organic sound, one honed and crafted by its natural surroundings, and matured approach by one of the Netherland's most accomplished producers.

Das Duo The Beat Escape nahm die neun Tracks in dessen Heimatstadt Montreal auf, bevor sich DJ/Produzent Jori Hulkkonen ans Mixing setzte. Das Ergebnis erscheint nun wie ein diffuser, fast schon psychedelischer Traum aus hypnotischen Beats, melancholischen Harmonien und hymnischen Gesängen, Electronic-Pop im Stile obskurer Minimal-Wave-Platten der 80er Jahre. Fans von John Maus, Cigarettes After Sex, Joy Division, The xx aufgepasst!

One of the earliest MC5 singles! Packaged in new envelope style sleeves, with rare unseen band photos! The Motor City 5 pressed on black vinyl at Third Man Pressing in the Motor City! Includes brand spankin' new liners by David Fricke of Rolling Stone, who says, "In a 1966 live recording, the MC5 played 'Looking at You' like Motown raga. At United Sound, the band hit the zigzag riff at light speed and stayed there, framed by searing lead guitar and explosive drumming. 'Borderline' was a frantic jigsaw of power-chord jolts and sheet-like harmonies detonated again, at the Grande, for the live recording of the MC5's first LP, Kick Out the Jams."

2018 marks our first step into album territory, releasing the sophomore album 'High life' of Heist's very own Detroit Swindle, to be released end of May. This single features the album cut 'Flavourism' with vocals from Seven Davis Jr. Here, the single is presented with remixes by the amazing Pépé Bradock and Boston-to-NYC house duo John Barera & Will Martin.
Flavourism is as much a throwback track to classic Detroit Swindle territory, as it is a look into their contemporary view on soulful deep house. The vibe is set by Seven Davis Jr.'s distinctive vocals, accompanied by warm 'side-chained' pads and a rubbery live synth-bassline. Fans of 'The Wrap Around' will definitely feel a nod to that 2012 classic with those Prophet pads. If you've seen their live performance with Seven Davis Jr. during Dour festival in 2015 or heard their remix for SDJ's track 'Friends' on Classic Music Company, you might already anticipate a collaboration that works like a charm.
When deciding on a remixer for this project, the boys wanted to do something special. Ask someone special. And so it happened that they asked Pépé Bradock: someone who stood at the root of European house music and has pioneered in the genre, carefully curating his own style into something that surpasses genres. Here, he delivers both a stunning and deep interpretation of the original, with added harmonies, a touch of lo-fi and his own signature electronics. On top comes the 'acapella', stripped from all percussion and leaving the vocal and all of Pépé's lovely weirdness.
The single further features US house duo John Barera & Will Martin, who have already released some amazing music on Dolly, or John's own ' Supply records'. Not surprisingly, they deliver a great clubby house cut with some Chicago flavour, dubbing and out the vocal to a basic mantra: 'I'll always keep'.
Keep an eye out for High Life out soon with more collaborations. For now, please enjoy Flavourism.
Best Regards,
Heist Recordings.

Here Appear is an invocation, a salutation, and a celebration — of past and perfect lives, forgotten and remembered, exchanged and borrowed. Eve Essex's solo debut is a multi-instrumental fea(s)t combining synthesizer, drum machine, alto saxophone, piccolo, electric organ/harpsichord, harmonica, slide whistle, bells, guitar pedals, and voice— composed, arranged, and performed by Essex herself. What began as an improv set at Berlin's Harlekin bar, developed over the past two years into a complete body of work evoking multiple time periods, genres, characters, and sonic landscapes. The seven tracks that make up Here Appear harness elements of classical, drone, avant-jazz, and distorted pop, coupled with an ambitious vocal delivery that draws on the phrasing and articulations of Essex's own woodwind playing, to create a quasi-narrative me´lange retaining the vulnerability of live performance. On the opening track Grind Away,' otherworldly harmonica strains set the stage for lyrics citing Chinese sci-fi novel The Third Body Problem as source material. Saxophone and piccolo interludes Immediate Communicator' and Colorless Stone' move between medieval-tinged melodic inventions and textural noise, recalling a Pharoah Sanders-influenced fever dream, while the linguistic abstractions of Russian conceptual poet Lev Rubinstein guide the looped, layered, and textured vocals of title track Here Appear.' The album closes with a languid take on Jacqueline Humbert & David Rosenboom's 1978 composition Clear Light' from My New Music, recently reissued by Unseen Worlds. Here Appear owes its minimal production to the conditions of its genesis, evidencing the restrained process of the solo artist, instrumentation is confined to what can be played simultaneously. True to the album's avant-garde roots, each song involves an element of improvisation, often taking the form of prompts or variations on a melody rather than explicit compositions. Even its most structured pieces make use of live-sampled loops, which inject a spirited unpredictability into the songwriting process and subsequent performance. Classically trained in bassoon at New England Conservatory before receiving a BFA in sculpture from RISD, Eve Essex has performed as a solo artist at Artists Space, Commend, Safe Gallery, Signal, Trans Pecos, and U.S. Blues, in New York, Harlekin/Mathew Gallery and StudioAcht in Berlin, and the PUFFERSS Festival in Providence, RI. In addition to her solo practice, Essex regularly performs as one half of Das Audit (with Craig Kalpakjian), as well as in trios Hesper (with James K and Via App) and HEVM (with MV Carbon and Hunter Hunt-Hendrix), and has collaborated extensively with Juan Antonio Olivares as installation/performance-art duo Essex Olivares. Prior to the LP release on Sky Walking (April, 20), Here Appear arrives via New York City-based label Soap Library on March 9, 2018 in both cassette and digital format, mastered by Helmut Erler at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin and recorded by Al Carlson at Gary's Electric, Brooklyn.

needs (not-for-profit) is a nonprofit record label & collective lovingly curated by Bobby Pleasure. We believe in people. The concept of the label is to use music as a medium to spread love, unity and the idea of giving back. Promoting harmony and togetherness rather than isolation and estrangement, each release and accompanying event will act as a support stream to various issues within society such as mental health, homelessness and equality. For the third release we have tracks from Lord Of The Isles, Mehmet Aslan, Petwo Evans, Bartellow & Nick Gynn. Five artists from different countries of the world who all have the needs factor, and have very kindly donated their music to the dancefloor.

Mouse on Mars' Andi Toma and Jan St. Werner return with their most
inventive album to date, Dimensional People. The electronic music pioneers
have been critically acclaimed for their playful and inventive sound and
production techniques on releases spanning from the early '90s to now. In
demand from a surprising array of artists their most recent contributions are
featured on the Grammy award winning album Sleep Well Beast by The
National.
The duo are joined on Dimensional People by an impressive list of guests
: Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), Aaron and Bryce Dessner (The National), Zach
Condon (Beirut), Spank Rock, Swamp Dogg, Eric D. Clarke, Lisa Hannigan,
Amanda Blank, Sam Amidon, Ensemble Musikfabrik, and about 20 more
musical collaborators. The cast of characters are as unique as they are vast,
clearly a rich quarry for the prodigious duo.
Dimensional People is by it's nature a collaborative album. Originally
premiering as a spatial composition using object-based mixing technology
playing with the possibilities of sonic design (4D Sound) and collective
musicianship, the recording expands upon these ideas. Dimensional People
expresses itself as a dynamic 50-piece orchestra, telling a story in sound.
Mouse on Mars offer sound as a means to encourage open-minded societies,
aided by cutting-edge technology including their own MoMinstruments
music software or a spatial mixing technique called object based mixing,
with which a spatial version of the work was created. It is a conceptual
puzzle composed around one harmonic spectrum within one rhythmic
scheme, mostly in the tempo of 145bpm (inspired by Chicago footwork,
so the dance oor is not entirely absent). Looking ahead, Dimensional
People will also be realized through installation, presenting the work as an
immersive listening experience, as well as performance.

Both D-Malice and Kid Fonque are well-established players in their native cities, both boasting long-term involvement and impressive credentials. After meeting in 2013 and nurturing a very natural and obvious predilection for golden era hip-hop, 90s R'n B, soul and trip hop they decided to pool their creative resources and rope in a wealth of talent from their combined networks under a new moniker. Enter rkls.

On this debut offering the pair have worked with LA's broken beat visionary Marc De Clive-Lowe, legendary emcees John Robinson and Kev Brown, dazzling new vocal and production talent from South Africa - Sio, Melo B Jones, Daev Martian and White Nite to name but a few.

This diverse list of guests flex their dexterity allowing the album to shift easily between ballads and more up-tempo beats effortlessly. Punctuated with spacey interludes, the resulting twelve tracks glisten with sumptuous textures, swelling harmonies and organic instrumentation. Familiar but fresh, rkls feels like you're meeting an old friend with enthralling new stories to tell.

The cornerstone track from Chloe´'s new album, an adventurously dark landscape dotted by Montreal rock band Suuns' singer Ben Shemie's vocals, Recall deserved this long-awaited quartet of astounding remixes, which serve as extensions of her latest full-length Endless Revisions' second single, released last October on Lumie`re Noire, the label founded by Chloe´.Moire´, Matthew Dear's latest signing to his Ghostly International label (which released the London artist's debut album in early 2017), retained a smattering of Ben's syllables, setting them to a captivating retro- futuristic remix that straddles two worlds, along the milestones of a restrained beat in a mesmerizingly ethereal and ghostly road trip that could last forever.German Crosstown Rebels signee Jonathan Kaspar's version is a more banging techno version, rounding out the EP's wide array of moods and genres. Over a formidably progressive build-up, the mood remains dark thanks to Ben's stretched-out vocals, and Recall's original universe is made more dynamic with a sped-up tempo, added percussions, and a concluding harmonisation finale that brings it all into the light. Douglas Greed, previously remixed Chloe´'s Driven (released on BPitch Control back in 2015,) similarly chops up the vocals, but takes them down a different road, reassembling the original's elements to create a different track, resulting in a fascinating free-form re-reading, an adroit upcycling, a long detour through the German producer's favoured poetic techno backroads - possibly inspired by the surroundings of Jena, Greed (a.k.a. Mario Wilms') hometown, and homebase of the Freude Am Tanzen label, the serious stable of geniuses directed by the incomparable Robag Wruhme.In a more motoric register, Autarkic's re-imagines Recall via a different narrative lens, re-populating and grounding it all at once. The Israeli Red Axes accomplice, who released an excellent debut album (I Love You Go Away) on Disco Halal last April, has a knack for propelling fanatics of rock urgency straight to the dancefloor. A gang of machines amplifies Shemie's voice, highlighting its minutiae of suffering and pleasure, leading the listener into dawn.

Wælder are moving between ambient, industrial and pop. Their rhythms and soundscapes of voices, obscure samples and distorted field-recordings build spaces of barren material and soft ground, which teem and crawl - strange and harmonious. To present their music live, Wælder are mixing analogue and digital effects with guitar, synthesizers, vocals and loops. Rhythms and atmospheres blur, dissolve and re-assemble. Their live shows are often framed by visuals, generated in collaboration with various visual artists.

Mannequin Records presents a trilogy of reissues from the avantgarde Italian-born producer Doris Norton, "Nortoncomputerforpeace" (1983), "Personal Computer" (1984, originally released by Durium Records), "Artificial Intellingence" (1985).Apple's first music "endorsement" and Roland affiliate, Doris Norton is one of the most important women pioneer in the use of synths and in the early electro / computer music. Norton is the wife of Antonio Bartoccetti, progressive rock guitarist, and mother of the musician and techno producer Rexanthony. As a teenager, she was drawn to medieval, Renaissance and Baroque music, not to mention quantum physics, differential equations, organic chemistry, the experimentalism of John Cage and animated movie soundtracks. Her love for modules and circuits found expression through the waves of an old harmonium, the frequencies of a Minimoog, a Roland System 100M, a Roland System 700 and the ARP 2500/2600.

In 1980, Norton began her solo career by recording at Fontana Studio 7, the Milan studio of the composer and musician Tito Fontana, resulting in the electronic opera "Under Ground". Norton became more prolific, continuing her adventures in experimental electronics and computer music with Parapsycho (1981), Raptus (1981), Nortoncomputerforpeace (1983), PC (1984) - whose album cover prominently features Apple's colored logo - and Artificial Intelligence (1985).

While the beat-oriented style of Norton's music aligns her with such global fellow-travelers as Yellow Magic Orchestra and Kraftwerk, her championing of the personal computer as a tool for self-sufficient musical creativity also connects her to more artsy musicians such as Pietro Grossi, Laurie Spiegel, and the League of Automatic Music Composers. Norton's predilection for the bright, glossy timbres of early digital instruments also recalls Hubert Bognermayr and Harald Zuschrader's bizarre 1982 one-off Erdenklang.

Later, her talent and expertise attracted the attention of IBM, who in 1986 named her as an official consultant. Already the reigning queen of the Italian electronic scene, she recorded two CDs for IBM: Automatic Feeling and The Double Side Of The Science. Influenced by her son, the musician and producer Rexanthony, Norton brought her fascination with the early days of techno into the 1990s, when she released three volumes of Techno Shock on Italian trance/hardcore label Sound Of The Bomb.

While her music remains largely out of print and inaccessible, Norton's early records have recently begun to receive the inevitable rediscovery treatment.

"In the late sixties I had already conceived computers as personal.' I have always trusted in the benefits of solitude, (being) alone means freedom... What's better than a personal' computer for materializing ideas, by oneself" (Doris Norton)

Tommy Mandel's Mello Magic' on Invisible City Editions is a compilation of personal synth-laden pop songs created between 1980-87 in NYC. BIG BIG TIP!
.
His professional work as a keyboardist and vocalist found him on stage and in the studio with many of the 80s greats from the Clash, Todd Rundgren, B-52s, Violent Femmes, The Ramones, Tina Turner, Mark Ronson, Dire Straits and Bryan Adams. While offstage and out of the major studio sessions, Tommy wrote in little books, made animation films and hooked up a massive amount of synthesizers, sequencers,microphones and recorded songs like diary entries. He self released almost 20 CDs, cassettes and one Self Titled 12' Ep. Each song selected here is stunningly simple, lush, desperate, playful, and harmonic, touching on disparate trangents like Brian Wilson, Egyptian Lover, Michael Shrieve,Holger Czukay, Ariel Pink, YMO, AOR FM West Coast Rock, Arthur Russell, Martin Denny, Peter Gordon, Drexciya, Prince and Private Issued New Age Boogie. Tommy recently jokingly coined his music corporate ambient' and and it all shouldn't work, but somehow he manages to effortlessly make each song a Tommy Mandel song - DIY, homespun,personal, stunning, and not too serious. This is perfect pop, charming, sincere, infectious and the work of a humble, good hearted, romantic savant. Tommy Mandel's Mello Magic' will be out on limited LP Vinyl release and available Spring 2018. Be sure to check his ambient new age LP from his cassette Music For Insomniacs'also out soon on ICE/Intelligent Instruments. Designed by Marko Vuleta-Djukanov. - Sesto F

"the remix ep for Deep88:

Molten Moods releases another finely curated various artists record with tracks by Skee Mask, Kessel Vale, Jonas Yamer and Konrad Wehrmeister. Kessel Vales opening track Voguing Geisha' is an unconventional breakbeat masterpiece following his sense of harmony and rhythm already shown through previous releases on Tanstaafl Records and Rhythm Nation. As the track unfolds it reveals musical storytelling by integrating a technoid polyrhythmic loop structure into melodic synth figures, slowly deconstructing in the end. Skee Mask collaborated with Molten Moods labelhead and Carl Gari member Jonas Yamer on Fanta Ocean', it being the first release ever outside of his Ilian Tape homebase. The outcome is a moody IDM piece with cinematic qualities, complex but soothing. The B-Side begins with Xenomorph' by Konrad Wehrmeister, who is known by his releases on Public Possession and SVS Records. This trancy yet distorted and detailed electro banger surely takes on the role of the records dancefloor highlight. The closing track Insgeheim' is delivered by Molten Moods head honcho Jonas Yamer. Here groovy kicks, distorted chords and a psychedelic pad are woven into one compelling 10 am techno track. The common thread of Molten Moods 4 is four young Munich artists going on a joint trip into idiosyncratic electronic music. The resulting tracks intertwine as one modern and diverse techno record. Out on 12 vinyl and wav by the end of March 2018. In the tradition of Molten Moods' cost-conscious design strategies by Paul Bernhard, the record comes with a xeroxed low budget sticker set.
Mastered by Manmade.

On 30thMarch, Wah Wah 45s will release ORANGE WHIP, the new album by their latest signing, Honeyfeet. The outfit, who have received praise from the likes of The Guardian, have also set festivals alight up and down the country with their unique melange of sounds.

For the last couple of years the Honeyfeet (who name from a line in the Blues Brothers film) have been a conduit for the ideas and expressions of an exotic mixture of Manchester based musicians. This genre-defying band incorporate styles including jazz, folk and hip hop into their music. Someone once called it Folk-Hop and Barrelhouse-pop, and that's just vague enough to make sense.

The band are fronted by Ríoghnach Connolly - also known for her work with Real World artists Afro Celt Sound System and The Breath - "a remarkable singer and flautist who...can ease from Irish traditional influences to soul" (The Guardian). The line up is completed by Rik Warren (vocals/harmonica), Gus Fairbairn (tenor sax), Biff Roxby (trombone/vocals), Ellis Davies (guitar), Lorien Edwards (bass guitar), John Ellis (keyboards) and David Schlechtriemen (drums).

ORANGE WHIP finds the band at their most incredibly diverse. Opening with recent single Sinner (received radio play from the likes of 6 Music and BBC Manchester), which showcases Ríoghnach's extraordinary agile and emotive voice, the album moves with dizzying swagger on songs covering a wide range of subjects. Quickball tells the story of being so infatuated with someone you want to eat them, while Whatever You Do addresses the fear-mongering of the press over folk-hop and oom-pah, and Demons deals with love and redemption on a blast of harmonica-driven country, sung by Rik Warren.

Rik also takes lead vocal on a re-working of Robert Johnson's Love in Vain, a song showing Honeyfeet's more reflective side, his Skip James-esque drawl bringing an eerie quality to the lyrics about a doomed relationship. The band reshape the progression too, swinging the tune slowly and creating a little underground blues club in the midst of the recording.

Elsewhere the band go all New Orleanian on Colonel Hathi's Trunk Juice, a sinister tale inspired by trombonist Biff Roxby's horn riff recalling one of the elephants of The Jungle Book. Further showcasing their virtuosity, on one of the album's best moments - especially the nuanced vocal performance by Ríoghnach, who was raised on Irish folk - on Hunt and Gather the band do their own take on prog-folk, with a flute and cello melody running alongside a brass counterpoint.

Ríoghnach turns in another incredible vocal on the album's final track - future single Meet Me On The Corner. With a pounding beat, it is one of the album's main highlights. Guitar and brass propels Ríoghnach to sing lyrics that could be straight out of the playground, but suggest something deeper, possibly mystical even, in it's demands for a dalliance on the street. It closes the album on a high note, for a band who have that rare ability to distil all their disparate influences, while always sounding like their unique selves.

ORANGE WHIP heralds the sound of a remarkable band going overground.

After hosting Farron to perform for a showcase in Matera, South Italy, and following a solid, immediate aural connection with the crew, XCPT now invites the Bavaria-based artist and Shaw Cuts shaolin master to submerse himself in his talent of wielding harmonious synths, championing percussion and corruptive basslines for the label's third release, 'Bistro Baggio'. The release offers three original cuts plus an interpretation of one of the tracks, 'Paneth', by label honcho Nothus, exploring calculated rhythms and sounds that delve into varying atmospheres and transporting you from a blacked-out club to a quaint starlit stream in the woods.

Tim (aka Jean Marie Tiam)and the sadly departed Maurice Foty who died in 2011. The musical cousins hails from Bafoussam in Cameroon. Their signature vocal harmony sound may be the first thing you hear, however they also have produced a host of funkiest African funk around. They sing in their native language Ngomâlah, as well as Duala and English.

We start the album off slowly with the scene-setting and largely instrumental "Douala By Night". Tight guitar and choppy clavi drive this song along. The groove is so deep even Missy Elliot couldn't resist a cheeky sample. "Funky Bafoussam" carries on the theme and expands it to include a kick-ass horn section. "More And More" is next and here the vocals burst forth over this up tempo punchy pop-funk track. With "Love Is Light" the pair show their versatility with a smooth English-sung soul ballad.

The hopelessly upbeat "Aie" is next with its earworm keyboard riff, slice guitar and catchy falsetto vocal. "Not So Bad" brings on the boogie. "I Love Yaounde" is a smooth swinging boogie-ballad with a killer chorus hook. "Eda" is a hit from early in their career. We close of the comp with the disco funk of "Funky Boogie Love" and synth grooves of "Eya Mba".

The songs on the comp represent only a 2 year period but some of the finest from the duo. These days Tim keeps the Tim and Foty flame alive. He currently lives between France and Cameroon. A musical flame that most definitely is burning bright.

Rudy returns to Faze Action Records with an all-new collection of atmospheric and evocative tropical sounds. Last August saw the release of the By Nature EP that encapsulated the steamy and exotic textures of the Balearic sound.
This time, Midnight Safari takes up where on the beaches of Formentera, where the last EP left us. This time setting sail on a Midnight Safari with Marimba's and chugging rhythms underpinning sophisticated Piano' melodies. Following this we drop anchor and appreciate the evening breeze of In The Air with its haunting 'Cello, endless drifting arpeggio's and tropical percussion with a hint of North Africa. Reach Backless points the way squarely to the dance floor with chunky drums and synth bass, synth hooks galore and that piano solo that launches into starry evening skies. It's back down to earth with the settled quiet bass guitar harmonics of Windchimes before heading into the more soulful and synth melodic territory of Solar Plex.

A mixture of live recording and studio post-production, 'On Jupiter' sounds unique to any other album Sun Ra made. The arkestra reflects a disco pulse right back on itself, and delivers one of the most cohesive albums of their career. The title track is a masterpiece of gentle atonal harmony, while 'UFO' pushes along at a cracking disco-ish pace with fierce brass and spacey dub effects. This a timeless Ra classic.

Next to the entire All is an astonishing work by Danish experimental sound quartet We like We, consisting of Katrine Grarup Elbo (violin), Josefine Opsahl (cello), Sara Nigard Rosendal (percussion) and Katinka Fogh Vindelev (voice).

Although classically trained, all four share a desire for exploring, experimenting and shaping a sound of their own, something which is truly present on this album. Both instrumentation and composition feel glued together with an abundant sense of playfulness and vision. The record starts with the beautiful I'm not for More which sets the tone for the 10 pieces, hurling you back and forth in a whirlwind of sound and musical intuitivity.

Genre bending as the record can be, it can be seen as somewhat of a contrasting work - as much of northern folk traditions as of an avant-classical work in the spirit of György Ligeti and Meredith Monk. Forest Sketches, as an example, starts with minimal woodblocks and percussive rattling while slow building violins, cello and vocals pull themselves in through the unknown before bursting into a Pagan sounding wormhole of screams and looped cellos. The piece ends with minimal vocal sound scapes fading away into almost pure silence. It could be mirrored with a merger of both the opening and closing scene of Kubrick's classic movie 2001 - creating the sense of beginning of humanity versus the far future, with abstractation and the unknown.

Next to the entire All is both a mind bending and grounded piece of work fitting naturally next to other Sonic Pieces releases such as Hauschka & Hildur Gudnadottir's Pan Tone or Christoph Berg's Conversations, while adding a northern minimalism. A record as hard to shake off as it is to describe.

Mr Bongo brings another Brazilian rarity to the masses with this sublime reissue of Tim Maia's Disco Club. Recorded in 1978, it's a latter-period gem from the larger than life legend, combining the glitz and glamour of disco's heyday with Maia's raw funk and soul roots.
When Maia first heard Little Richard as a teenager, he knew what kind of singer and artist he wanted to be. Five formative years spent in the US, where he ran wild in NYC and joined a
doo-wop group called the Ideals, did little to dampen his enthusiasm for black music.
Stirred by the civil rights movement in the US and driven by a punk spirit, Maia went on to blaze his own trail through the early 70s over the course of four successful albums for Polydor. Moving away from the straight MPB, Tropicalia and international rock dominating the airwaves, his sound represented a new black Brazilian consciousness. When he sang, he could be raspy and defiant one moment ... and then romantic and reflective the next. But always on a groove and with a hook. It was an irresistible combination.
Yet by 1977 he was bankrupt and in limbo having first joined a religious cult called Superior National and then alienated listeners with his first album sung entirely in English. To complicate matters further, Brazil was feeling the Saturday Night Fever. Gloria Gaynor, Chic and Kool & the Gang were dominating the charts and filling hotspots such as New York City Discotheque in Ipanema and Frenetic Dancing Days in the Gávea Mall.
Maia left his usual band and went into the legendary Estudios Level with a mighty ensemble of Rio's finest including Paulinha Braga on drums, Jamil Joanes on bass, Robson Jorge on clarinet, Hyldon De Souza on guitar, Sidinho on percussion, trombonists Edmundo Maciel and Darcy Seixas, and Juarez Assis on tenor sax.
Arranger and keyboardist Lincoln Olivetti was a crucial presence during these sessions. He added that all-important string flourish and brassy joy to the uptempo tracks while giving the
star enough room to express himself. The album kicks off with a trio of floor fillers: the exuberant party starter 'A Fim De Voltar', a sing-a-long anthem in 'Acenda O Farol' and the undeniably funky hit 'Sossego' (file that one next to Fatback).
But then Maia drops it down and gets existential on 'All I Want', questioning the meaning of happiness. He also shows his tender side on slow burners such as 'Murmúrio' (written by the great Cassiano) and 'Pais E Filhos', the latter featuring a supersoft bed of harmonies you can't help but lay down on. But the party ain't over and mid-tempo groover 'Juras' gets the feet moving again before 'Jhony' sends us swaying off into the night.
Maia's appetite for excess would eventually get the better of him. But Disco Club is the sound of an unpredictable genius on top form. Get ready for the time of your life.

Das dritte Album der in Berlin ansässigen Postrock-Band Cavern Of Anti-Matter der beiden Stereolab-Mitglieder Tim Gane (Frontmann) und Joe Dilworth (Drums) und des Synth-Spezialisten Holger Zapf erscheint ebenfalls auf dem eigenen Duophonic-Label. Auf "Hormone Lemonade" erzeugt das Trio aus modularen Synthesizern und selbstgebauten Drum-Machines hypnotische Soundstrukturen, die, angereichert mit minimalen Gitarrenmelodien und Live-Schlagzeug, ein reichhaltiges Gesamtwerk aus Experiment, Improvisation und Raffinesse ergeben.

Pressestimmen zum Vorgänger:
"A delightful head-trip." - Mixmag
"Their official debut is a whimsical, expansive set of cosmic post-krautrock groove." - Pitchfork
"An uber-compelling meld of Kraftwerk/Neu!/Harmonia and early techno." - Shindig!

After last year's stellar EP on L.I.E.S. Records, veteran, Brooklyn-based producer and DJ Jake Reif (Savage Hymn, Upsetting Keys) continues to make waves with his Device Control brand. The first side of the new "EP2" begins with Silhouettes: a robotic, techno-funk work out with a nasty kick drum, swirling modular sounds and a Timothy Leary inspired vocoded vocal. An instrumental version has been included for selectors who prefer tracks to songs.

On the flip, Joystuck continues the aural assault with a slightly more stripped-back approach. Hard-hitting metallic percussion and screaming, alien-esque synth bleeps are all that's necessary here to decimate a dance-floor. Finally, Divisive rounds out the EP with a stomping vengeance, its jacking claps and dissonant harmonics have been carefully designed to deliver a sonic gut-punch, taking no prisoners when played on a club system.

Artwork by TZU TING WANG, Layout/Concept by Fiona Luigi

5 years since Midnight Shift's first release in 2012, the label assembles a collective of artists, most of them are in advance of their full EPs releasing later.

Representing the sounds of the label is this manual of secret moves, up in the sleeves. The mystic motley crew also comprises the alternate sides of familiar faces — Amato (The Hacker), Terry Lamborgini (Marco Bernardi), INNYSTER (Seixlack), Hodge in a new formation with Gramrcy, and an electro moniker from an undisclosed artist: Thermocline. From abstract acrobatics to the abrasive and the ultimate gob smack to the floor — The Midnight Manual.

A side comes with Euralma 95 debut release. From a few and simple seeds of synthesis grooves eventually gear up to higher levels and explore alternate terrains of house and disco from east to west.Track is lead by a confident but disobedient psychedelic synth solo. Harmonies answer in form of rich fm synthesis which eventually becomes the paradise lost.

Snad aka Shyam Anand is an artist from Chicago of Indian descent. He just moved to Berlin. And this is his first release on Suol.His debut EP for us is a three-tracker and absolute quality. Its title 'Home Away From House' alludes to a musical career spanning three continents and to the 'most enlightened circles', as Snad puts it, 'who still travel the Silk Roads and who take their underground seriously -- wherever they call home'. What this means becomes apparent quickly as the title track drops us straight into a softly stabby, hypnotic little sequence on top of an elegantly subtle combination of a drum machine groove and synth bass. Things build up patiently with luscious delayed chords before rising strings transport us to a beautiful place where the Goa sun shines onto the streets of Chicago. Just like all tracks on the EP, 'Cut!!!' is purely instrumental but it doesn't need words to tell its story. Clever drum programming and cool reverbs are in perfect harmony with a melodic bass riff and a silky, modulating analogue lead that guides us to the end with a smile.

'Deep Looking', the EP's final track, has a solid groove at its centre and some delicious ear candy around it. Syncopated toms and claps join forces with a fast hi-hat pattern to provide plenty of momentum for this otherwise dreamily floating acid house number.

Quality is the key word from Copenhagen based Music For Dreams and here is another home run. Willie Graff splits his year between DJ residencies in New York and Ibiza. In this new outing with studio partner Darren Eboli, the influence is, as the title suggests, clearly NY-based. Over only four tracks, the pair manage to craft a stunningly comprehensive exploration of the essential elements of dance music.

Opening track "Love Flight" staggers into a lush string-driven groove that recalls the glory of Metro Area meets Wally Badarou vibes. Minimal yet playful, it lounges somewhere in the depths of the house tradition, calling on familiar sounds while throwing in odd details along the way (harmonicas). It takes both skill, devotion and a sense of humor to pull this track off, making for a strong opening. "Moon Tan" lingers on a metallic hook that drags you into a plethora of percussion followed by a rubbery soft baseline. Dubby key work would suggest this was a new wave band jamming at Compass Point, while the icy chill of the xylophone transports you into 80s italo territory.

"Second Sun" pulls out the bag of boogie tricks, relying on a firm but humble baseline and smattering drum machine claps. Nile Rodgers-style guitar licks guide us onwards into a well-orchestrated jam that builds up and breaks down with perfect timing while dreamy chords reach for the sky. "First Light" keeps the groove tight while dipping over towards more Balearic temperatures. Steeped in a watery atmosphere and gentle organic percussion, it focuses in on a trance-inducing arpeggio that lulls you in to the swaying Badarou-style synth swirls that intercept it.

Nat Birchall charts new paths toward spiritual communion, connecting jazz with classical Indian influences guided by the wistful flow of the harmonium.

Cosmic Language sees the UK-based saxophonist, composer and arranger return to Jazzman Records with a cross-cultural approach: an exploration of the parallel musical paths of jazz and Indian ragas. Here he takes influence from spiritual jazz forebears such as Alice Coltrane and Yusef Lateef and introduces the Indian harmonium to his band, where it takes the place of the piano. Making new connections to realise his transcendental ambitions, it's a logical next step in making music as spiritual cleanser.

The idea for the album was spawned from a one-off performance at a meditation centre, the Maharishi Golden Dome in West Lancashire. Seeking to bring a band set-up that was fitting to the quiet-minded setting, Birchall brought the harmonium with him. A small pump organ, it's an instrument he'd been in possession of for many years but hadn't previously used in his music. Building on the spiritual context of that show, and the associations of that instrument, it led naturally to the musical approach undertaken on the album.

Both the album and the show which preceded it were recorded with the same tight-knit group of players which have featured on Birchall's previous albums. All members of the group are part of the same like minded circle of Manchester-oriented jazz musicians, sharing stages and acquaintances with the likes of Matthew Halsall (a longtime collaborator with Birchall) and GoGo Penguin.

Birchall has always channeled wide-ranging ideas into music that's simple to understand, and this album is no exception. Album opener 'Man From Varanasi' is an ode to Bismillah Khan, one of Birchall's heroes of Indian music who hailed from the northern Indian city named in the title. It also sees him taking cues from the Indian raga tradition which, as with most other traditional Indian music, is a foundation which underpinned Khan's music.

Crucially, the ragas tap into the idea of of music as a means of spiritual release. As Birchall explains, "The whole act of making music is a spiritual experience. It's during performance and when playing music that I look for a kind of truth. It's with music where I find myself feel closest to attaining that 'enlightened' kind of feeling." "On rare occasions I've actually felt as though I was listening to the music being played rather than being involved in making it, almost like an out-of-body experience."

This natural feeling comes from Birchall's attitude toward jazz music. He sees it as an essential part of day-to-day life: instead of brightly-lit, occasional entertainment in lugubrious concert halls, he considers it an everyday, vital source of inspiration. At a moment where jazz-influenced music is undergoing creative renewal and wider appreciation, it's an important perspective that's found resonance elsewhere. His experiences and the world around him are filtered through his music, and he looks to have his music - be it live or on record - absorbed in the same quotidian way. "To me, it's an integral part of society, an everyday thing," he says. "You should hear the music every day."

Cut by CGB at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin, June 2017

Digital Transfer: Jonathan Fitoussi

Translations: Valérie Vivancos
Layout: Stephen O'Malley

Coordination GRM: Daniel Teruggi & François Bonnet
Executive Production: Peter Rehberg

Tremblement de terre très doux (1978), 28'14

climate 1 / transit 1 / landscape 1 / climat 2 / landscape 2 / transit 2 / landscape 3 (walking - jumping - sliding - flying) / climate 3 / landscape 4 / climate 4 - transit 3 / landscape 4, end.

The familiar generates the strange.

These rolls, these hums, these sudden rushes, this song, these peaceful circlings, these sudden outbursts, these returns to quiescence - what do they remind us of

This piece's trajectory could also be a representation of the dramatic unfolding of a day - of a life - from sunrise (climate 1) to night-time (landscape 4) via restless encounters, transitions (1 to 3) that announce the drama climaxing in landscape 3, before reaching its denouement in climate 4... A whole concrete 'story'.

The subterranean properties inherent to listening gently shift our ideas...

François Bayle

First performance: 19 March 1979 - Grand Auditorium of Radio-France,

Ina-GRM's Cycle Acousmatique. .

Toupie dans le ciel (1979), 21'

A wave is swaying on two minors thirds. This constantly uniform yet constantly varied swaying revolves in a swarm of sharp designs that blink on and off in a layer of growing density and mobility.

Distance, speed, pressure, density, temperature, colour, intensity, are the "themes" of the 27 short interconnected cells flowing together though this seemingly unified movement.

Occasionally, a breach in the texture reveals skyes dotted with little comets. In the centre, a slow gliding picks up the distant harmonics of a basic chord. Toward the end, this gliding returns with a fiery burst.

Fine lines and whirs are generated from the song of a spinning antique top.

To end on a lighter note the title Toupie dans le ciel - Spinning Top in the Sky reminds us of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds by The Beatles as well as Lucy, the oldest Australopithecine (3 million years), our African grandmother in the Erosphere...

The overall title Erosphere alludes to the desire inherent to the listening experience, and to the very primitive cues that sustain the auditory attention and are the basis of all musical pleasure.

François Bayle

First performance: 21 January 1980 - Grand Auditorium of Radio-France,

Ina-GRM's Cycle Acousmatique.

The Shadows is the new album from Leeds-based six-piece Tomorrow We Sail. Building on their debut release For Those Who Caught the Sun in Flight (Gizeh, 2014) over the course of three years, this new work combines perfectly the soaring atmospherics, gorgeously intertwined vocal harmonies and dramatic shifts in tone and dynamics that have come to characterise Tomorrow We Sail's sound. Yet, there is a new sense of urgency here. Very much an album of its time, The Shadows draws upon the same sense of connection to both past and present that defined its precursor but features storytelling that's even more defiant and deeply personal.
Like its predecessor, the record features seven songs but from the chiming guitars of opening track Side By Side it is clear that the stately pace of For Those Who Caught the Sun in Flight has made way for a far more dynamic and driving energy; perhaps best captured in the righteous anger of The Ghost of John Maynard Keynes. Tomorrow We Sail still invoke a keen sense of measured grace in their songwriting - from the sweeping, elegiac title track, through to the sparse, restrained, yet haunting beauty of Winifred and To Sleep. Urgent, yet assured, The Shadows demands your attention.

Die zweite Runde von Remixen zu dem selbst betitelten Album von Urbs ist eine fesselnde Zusammenstellung von zeitlosen HipHop sowie Downtempo Nummern.

Marc Mac: Gibt es zu dieser Person etwa noch was zu sagen Als Teil des UK Duos 4Hero hat er Musikgeschichte geschrieben und sein Visioneers Projekt setzte neue Standards in Sachen organischem HipHop. Sein Remix zu - Get Wid It featuring Tyna aus Neuseeland, besitzt alles, was man sich von diesem Musikgenie erwartet. Ein souliges, harmonisches Meisterwerk, welches auch auf einem seiner legendären Visioneers Alben hätte veröffentlicht werden können.

Peter Kruder hat als Teil von Kruder & Dorfmeister sowie mit seinem Projekt Peace Orchestra Musikgeschichte geschrieben. Sein Remix zu - Happy Days feat. Bagi und Sarah Ann ist eine Reise zurück zu seinen musikalischen Wurzeln, welche ihn berühmt gemacht haben - eine relaxte Downtempo-Nummer. Der Remix weckt Erinnerungen an die Zeit, als seine Musik Millionen von Menschen berührte.

Patrick Pulsinger ist der dritte im Bunde aus der Riege der Helden der 90s. Gemeinsam mit Sam Irl, seinem derzeitigen Komplizen, zeigen die beiden was herauskommen kann, wenn ein Studio-Zauberer mit Techno Wurzeln auf ein Musikgenie mit HipHop Wurzeln trifft. Ihr Remix zu - Code Of The Snake feat. Blabbwona ist eine trippige HipHop-Tech-Dub Nummer mit viel Bass und als solches absolut einzigartig.

Jstar aus London hat sich bereits einen Namen gemacht als Produzent von unzähligen Remixen und Edits auf seinem eigenem Label Jstar. Seine Spezialität sind Dub und Reggae Remixe von HipHop Classics. Er ist ein Großmeister des Digital Dancehall und transformierte den Golden Era Sound von - Why We feat Ward 21 (aus Kingston Jamaica) in etwas absolut Futuristisches.

Flip: Rapveteran von Texta aus Linz, der zuletzt durch sein Soloalbum auf dem New Yorker Raplabel Ill Adrenaline Records aufgefallen ist, bringt einen Remix zu - Holdin' Back feat Wordsworth. Mit einem genialem Chuck D Sample und einem funky Beat setzt dieser Remix Tanzflächen von Alaska bis Auckland in brannt.

Trishes: Last but not least: Moderator der legendären HipHop Radioshow Tribe Vibes auf FM4 und integraler Bestandteil der Wiener HipHop Szene. Für seinen Remix zu - Concussion feat BluRum13 von Oneself, setzte er auf einen heftigen Groove mit lauten Becken um einen Underwater-Funk-Beat zu kreieren und somit einen neuen Hintergrund für diese echt verrückte Geschichte zu gestalten.

Über das Album 'Urbs':
Ganze elf Jahre sind seit - Toujours Le Meme Film', dem letzten Album von Urbs vergangen. Auf Kruder & Dorfmeisters G-Stone Label lieferte der Wiener Musiker, DJ und Producer damals den Soundtrack zu einem fiktiven Film Noir, zog sich aber nach einer Europa-Tournee fast gänzlich aus der Öffentlichkeit zurück. Er sieht sein Schaffen nicht als Karriere, sondern als Teil seines Lebens, welches in den seltensten Fällen einer konkreten Planung unterliegt, und deshalb hat Urbs sich auch bewusst viel Zeit gelassen für sein aktuelles -unbetiteltes - Album.

Urbs: - Der Vorgänger "Toujours Le Meme Film" kam bei sehr vielen Leuten extrem gut an, und über die Jahre habe ich mitbekommen, daß es manchen Leuten richtig viel bedeutet. Das war eine gewisse Belastung, weil man diese Leute natürlich nicht enttäuschen will. Mittlerweile denke ich, daß genug Wasser die Donau runtergeflossen ist, um vielleicht den einen oder anderen mit etwas ganz Neuem zu überraschen. Die Leute, die mich kennen, wissen ja, daß ich im Grunde immer dopen HipHop produziert habe.'

Konsequenterweise handelt es sich diesmal nicht um ein Instrumental-Album sondern um eine Sammlung von 12 souligen HipHop Nummern, die mit handverlesenen Vokalisten der internationalen Rap-, Dancehall- und Soul-Szene aufwarten. Neben den New Yorkern Wordsworth von EMC sowie R.A. The Rugged Man, finden sich unter anderem Ward 21 aus Kingston, Jamaica, Voice Monet aus New Orleans, Blu Rum 13 von One Self aus Washington DC, als auch alte Weggefährten wie dem Wiener Skero oder dem Wahl-Münchner Blabbwona von Abstract Art auf dem Album.
Auf die Frage, wie es sich anfühlt, nach mehreren Instrumental-LPs erstmals ein Album mit Vokalisten aufzunehmen, erwidert Urbs mit einem Augenzwingern: - Generell war es für mich schwierig die Songs loszulassen und mich den MCs auszuliefern. Man verbringt viel Zeit mit einem Stück und baut eine gewisse Beziehung auf. Die Musik erzeugt Bilder im Kopf und hat oft eine schwer fassbare Bedeutung für den Producer. Dann geht ein MC drüber und es ist ein bisschen als würden die brutalen Freunde deines älteren Bruders dein Kinderzimmer verwüsten- in deiner Anwesenheit.'

Wieso das Album keinen Titel trägt, ist auch schnell beantwortet: - Dieses Album ist nun sozusagen meine Leistungsschau auf diesem Gebiet und durch den unendlich langen Reifeprozess, ist es auch schön intensiv eingekocht und auf dem Punkt. Deshalb auch keine Intros, keine Interludes, kein Titel, no Gimmicks, einfach 12 gute Songs - Punkt.'

Neben dem Album werden auch zwei EPs mit Remixes von Retrogott, Brenk Sinatra, Visoneers (Marc Mac von 4 Hero), Peter Kruder, Cookin' Soul, J*Star, Flip (Texta) und anderen veröffentlicht. Für das Artwork zeichnet DJ DSL verantwortlich.

Khalab has arrived OntheCorner with 'Zaire'.
'Zaire' is the beginning of a new narrative for the artist. In this first chapter Khalab creates urgent compositions with layers of sound from the past, present and future. 'Zaire' is underpinned by an intensely pounding heart of other-worldly percussion. The collaged loops frenetically jab in syncopation breaking off when the inherent swing casts its discrete groove to summon the dance. Unrelenting waves of synthlines, basslines and rhythm find harmony amongst the melodic chants and distortion.
Already making Gilles Peterson's 'All Winners' list on BBC 6 Music'Zaire' is a breathtaking nucleus for airwaves, dancefloors and, any digital devices masquerading as abeatbox. The tracks 'Aeh' and 'Night in the Jungle' are the vessel from which the heat of 'Zaire' steams. DJ Khalab has departed and with 'Zaire' Khalab has arrived On the Corner.
The two remixes on this EP offer magnified oppositions to the friction that Khalab seamlessly stiches into his tapestries of sound. The bass frequencies that Medlarbounces across his electro dirge, taking day into night, contrasts with the harmony and light of Will LV's journeying remix that drives through the troposphere.
'Zaire' is a prelude of the forthcoming 'Black Noise 2084' and the freeing of a narrative shackled in chains for centuries. Phrases of historic recordings collaged with future electronics and the analogue depth and artistic voices of the present makes this a ground breaking work of future music. The archive recordings bare a stark reminder of the need to face the barbaric recesses of modern human history. The many voices of Khalab's 'Black Noise 2084' are coming to be heard.

The second release on Sbire furthers the on-going collaboration between label co-founder Gaspard de La Montagne and Nathan Baumann. 'Spectres' is a bold, seductive and wonderfully-unhurried record which shows the breadth of the Sbire sound world.

The title track is orchestral and profoundly alluring, with an earworm bassline creeping out from behind the kick drum's refined thud. You're pulled further in by the lengthy intro of 'Aube', where floating pads, draw from the instrumental flair of classical music. Mid-way through they give way to a stripped-back bassline, exemplifying the nature of this collaboration.

B-side opener 'Masque' has harmonic beams of light swirling over its foundations. The melodies transfix and the drums keep time. 'Perspectives (1 & 2)' occupies a thin veil of haze, tempering the beat and bringing out the groove in the baggy percussion. In fitting style, it ends a record whose grace comes in the striking interactions between elements far-removed.

orrespondant welcome Berlin duo Hinode Having established themselves with a string of well received cuts on their own Science Fiction imprint, they were spotted by chance by label boss Jennifer Cardini on a recent record-shopping jaunt. With a raw, no-rules sense of machine funk running through everything they create, they're the perfect match for Correspondant and make their label debut with four numerical delights... 'I' lights the analog fire with raw sleaze and off-beat mischief. Unkempt and wily, it sets the tone for the entire EP: 'II' writhes snake-like with its slinky kicks and purring textures, 'III' slurs with bass groans and shakes with paranoid, alien melodies while 'IV' closes with much more of a tunnelling, sense-blurring experience. Total machine harmony, unbounded synthetic creativity, made to mix and wholly outer-planetary... Hinode and Correspondant are a match made in the stars.

Body Music Album Teaser is produced by a man who needs little introduction. Thomas P. Heckmann has flexed his prowess across all shades of electronic music, but it's his contributions to EBM-techno, acid, industrial, and experimental that has earned him his notoriety.

Heckmann has utilised 30 years worth of acquired knowledge to create a hard-hitting album and teaser which bears all the grit he is known for - harmonising analogue and digital wares to create an utterly immersive 14 track album. This 3 track teaser gives you a taste of what is to come.

Two Dutch institutions in Delsin and 2000 And One team up for a reissue of the 1994 EP Belongings. It was an early release on 2000 and One's influential 100% Pure label and found him in full on space-techno. The EP has been fully remastered and sounds as gloriously futuristic now as it did more than 20 years ago. 'It Belongs To Me (Version)' is an intergalactic techno track with pads drifting off to an infinite horizon as a soft acid line burrows into the big, icy hi hats and punting drums. It's perfectly spacious and sombre, while 'It Belongs To Me (Reprise)' is a much more downtempo and thoughtful version of the track where pained leads synths take the lead and the drums are off in the distance. It's the sound of resignation and dejection in techno form. 'Crystal' then layers in new age harmonies as classic dusty break beats do their dance below. Again the synths are smeared and grand in scale and the whole thing feels like a blissful rave comedown. Last of all, 'Bowed' is a happy and manic melodic track with warped bass and fluttering snares that carry you away to the stars.

Jan Ketel is back on Tieffrequent with his second solo EP. No razzmatazz, just pure deepness on 4 tracks combined with his passion for Soul and Hip Hop. Bliss!!
On the A-Side the - 30 Seconds Of Yeah EP flows in with a hopeful and wide opener called - Blue Horses . The use of a raw and steady bassline sourrounded by harmonic and melodic elements and the clearly structured drum arrangement makes it a deep going groover. The titletrack - 30 Seconds Of Yeah is a snotty rhythm based pattern with a puncturing bassguitar slap wrapped in a deep pad...but there's a lil' suprise...you will hear and see :-)
The B-side starts with - Come Home , a stomping beat with a coating chord sequence and some straight hidrum patterns. After the break it changes completely and wondrously transform into an emotional deephouse beauty. - Around Tha Corner represents a dusty sound without compromises. The bassline-kickdrum pattern and the repeating deepchord push it from start to finish...one for the basements.
Jan Ketel's - 30 Seconds Of Yeah EP tells little stories containing unexpected twists. It is a very musical record full of warm chords, versatile percussion and phat beats...but always focussed on the main aspects of deephouse music. Can you feel it

Justin Chapman (half of the Kemeticjust duo) is back with 'Stay My Way', his first release on Visions Recordings.

Inspired by a distant collaboration with Alex Attias, the Soul Original version features Chapman's signature vocal harmonies floating over Latin influenced house rhythm and melody to provide the motivation for feet and hips.

The Just One Remix pushes things into the realm of Broken beats with a hard swing on the drums, and a deep and jazzy bass walk that gives edge to the keys and vox melodies. Classic Just One here!Justin has produced records for Neroli, RushHOur, Sonar Kollektiv and some collaboration with Recloose for Planet E and Deetron for Music Man .

This single for Visions is a long overdue collaboration with an artist we wanted to work with since 2001 when Visions was based in London, so you can imagine how excited we are to take Justin on board and release this single.

Next up on Francis Harris's newly-founded record label Kingdoms comes something very special from Brooklyn-based film composer, songwriter, producer and performer Léah Lazonick. Movimenti della Luna D'Oro ('Movements of the Moon of Gold' translated from Italian) is a four-track EP from one of the most exciting musicians and performers around - a beautiful quartet of contemporary classical music with a twist. Lazonick is something of a polymath, having composed and conducted orchestral and electronic scores for short films and commercials as well as being a classically-trained pianist. Lazonick is also a connoisseur of analog synths and vintage drum machines, and will release a second EP focussing on these passions during the course of 2018. Here we are treated to three luscious works for piano and string quartet, written for a one-off performance at Studio OFF Interarts, an art gallery in Montreal. The piece was performed in a forest-like immersive environment, and was originally called In a Forest (A Piece in Three Movements). Lazonick performed the piano parts along with a string quartet she had assembled for the performance/recording. Lazonick explains: 'As opposed to most of the other songs/compositions I have written, I have no concrete sentimental story behind writing this piece. The motivation, inspiration and overall idea behind composing it was of a more technical nature; attempting to relay the music in my head at its purest form, without any compromises, by primarily making use of melodic and harmonic dissonances whilst still keeping the content captivating, musical and continuous.

Voda (water) the second part of his trilogy sees Aleksei Nikitin delving deep into Baltic seas. coming up again with chilled flows of acid on Vdaleke, the bubbly yet driving thump of subaqueous Place-holder; then he goes diving even further on the flip, cruising through underwater caves filled with ten-tacles of twisted, seductive electro, gnarly acid-techno, before finally emerging in Iskatel, ears still ringing with harmonies of shredded beauty.

B. Fleischmann, the longest-tenured solo artist on Morr Music, returns with indie-spirited, electronica-enhanced moments of bliss on his new album Stop Making Fans': Recorded with a little help from friends including vocalist Gloria Amesbauer, Markus Schneider (guitars), and Valentin Duit (drums), it's a two-part reflection on artistic self-reliance vs. fame-seeking conformism, another deeply personal, utterly idiosyncratic album by the Indietronic trailblazer.Stop it and just DO,' Sol LeWitt once wrote to sculptor Eva Hesse - and listening to B. Fleischmann's new album, he indeed does both: He slams on the brakes and stops looking at what anyone else is doing, stops pleasing, stops being restrained, and at the same time he floors the accelerator and delivers the kind of high-paced work that bursts at the seams with polyphonic energy and an urgency unique to his music.Arriving with interlocked bleeps, the hustle and bustle of an invisible grand station's atrium ( Here Comes The A Train'), Fleischmann's trademark vocals serve as a gentle reminder to resist the siren calls, to not trust the latest hype. Energy levels remain high throughout the first part of the LP - whether it's the mumbling, personal stocktaking of what feels like an underwater hymn ( There Is A Head'), the robotic, immodest pop tune It's Not Enough' (feat. Gloria Amesbauer) or the return to light-speed mode on Wakey Wakey' - the first half of this album is indeed all about letting off some steam.After the collected canter of 7-minute instrumental Hand In,' the multi-instrumentalist & his studio mates kick off the slower-paced part II with the title song: a note to self, a reminder to never buckle or water down an original vision... and indeed, it's a sonic tapestry that's impossible to compare or pigeonhole when he changes the rhythm in mid-track and turns yet another corner when you thought you had discovered a fixed pattern. That said, B. Fleischmann certainly knows how to orchestrate an entire funfair full of sonic attractions. Guest singer Gloria Amesbauer returns for soothing tunes The Pros of Your Children and "Hello Hello . B. Fleischmann guides us to his almost jazz-tinged Little Toy , and leaves behind an Endless Stunner — another typically dense and shape-shifting stream of harmonies that keeps winding its way until the very end of this album It's rare that an album is great because it does not live up to its title - but here's one. Stop Making Fans,' his first full-length release in five years, is another totally unique, and thus potentially fan-base enhancing release. But then again, it's always been like that: We're usually at our best when we care the least - look at the delightful ways of toddlers or really old people. That natural ease, those invisible shrugs of shoulders: it's what does the trick. And you can hear a lot of that on Stop Making Fans'.

The people at Antinote are always excited to introduce new names to its roster and Sign Libra, its latest addition, makes no exception to the rule.
.
Released under the moniker Sign Libra, Closer to the Equator is the work of Latvian artist and composer Agata Melnikova. Composed for a contemporary ballet at Latvian National Opera in Riga, the music on this record strongly relies on Melnikova's appreciation of BBC-produced nature documentaries. Projecting the life of each creature that inhabits the British TV-program into her very personal and highly synthetized world, Sign Libra lends these microscopic beings her own voice. Each song works like a musical tableau' in which the main protagonists - plants and animals - come on stage to play their part in a ballet carefully choreographed by the Latvian artist.

Sign Libra's mental and musical incarnations of the microcosm of the rainforest have something to do with Software's album populated by exotic insects and crawling plants, a Carnaval des Animaux' released on Sky by a MIDI-addicted Hector Berlioz. These microscopic beings incarnate themselves in resonated melodies that echo through a technicolour rainforest, while winds blow through holographic ferns, vines and palms.

Closer To The Equator synthesizes visions panning treetops as the sun's rays pierce through clouds nearby. Sign Libra takes you into a harmonic world that shines brightly wherever you stand, and offers a genuine synesthetic experience.

DRIVETRAIN (Detroit, USA) - One Love'
...we begin with Derrick Thompson's techno/house fusion of melodic stabs gliding over the effortless motion of a thunderous bass line, cemented by a magnetic vocal chant
DJ ROACH (Detroit, USA) - The Heads'
...new to Soiree, the Detroit hometown veteran introduces an aggressive labor of dirty, high-tech mechanics, with an endless campaign of twisted frequency assaults
RENNIE FOSTER (Vancouver, CANADA) - Infrastructure'
...electronic pulses penetrate from the start paving the way for a high voltage
excursion through peaks and valleys of a relentless robotic tribute to Detroit
NICOLAS FRANKEN (Liege, BELGIUM) - Pied Bot'
... atmospheric in cadence, this deep-tech debut cycles from harmonic euphoria to a dark percussive ensemble, orbiting in a balanced rhythm symmetry

Fausto Messina is a veteran dj and producer from Treviso, a small town on the plain between the Gulf of Venice and the Alps. Fausto has been releasing music for more than 10 years and 'Pica Pica' is his debut E.P. on Cadenza. In the track named 'Pica Pica' a recurrent evocative voluminous chord is convoyed by a classy powerful kick drum and an organic symphony of fluffy percussions and metallic bonks, with a triumphant layer of dense whistles and shimmering cymbals. The extremely intense vibrant rhythms of 'Idiophono' contrast with the gentle reverberating harmonies of an ensemble of struck idiophones, angelically flowing in the background of the track. The smooth magnetic flux of 'Planets Ballet' concludes the E.P. with high style. This jacky stride over a stack of steamy synthesisers and bubbly bleeps is a golden tune for a quivering late-night dance-floor.

A quartet of heavy reworks. Reginald Omas Mamode IV truly does what he does best, bringing a percussive, low-slung funk to one of the most ethereal and beautiful pieces of soul on the album, Sunshine. Glenn Astro, elevates Bossa B to a jostling, bouncing shuffler that eventually turns around and heads skyward with uplifting chords and irresistible bass.
Deoke heads into the darker regions of the original for his huge remix of Bossa B. Finally the ever exceptional Mr Beatnick simply took the stereo track for Kalimba 2 and edited it into a mind-opening dub. Handling bass and harmonics as only he can, a true highlight of this high quality remix package.

Going Good's first release of 2018 is indeed a very special one.

Cosmic Handshakes sees the pairing of 2 extremely talented Detroit natives - Blair French & Todd Modes - who take elements of Disco, Techno, Jazz, House, Afrobeat, Latin music, Dub and Electronics and filter them through their own unique view of dance music. Steeped in soul, live instrumentation, sampling and analogous alchemical studio processes, French & Modes give us an exhilarating and fresh take on the deepest smoked out, after hours sounds of the city of Detroit.

'In The Mist' is the duo's second release, following on from 2013's 'The Delicate Details', released on the M1 Sessions imprint. The last 2-3 years has seen the pair individually release music on a plethora of varied and esteemed global labels such as FIT Sounds, Claremont 56, Rocksteady Discos and more.


A compelling body of work from front to back, the tracks on 'In The Mist' work perfectly as a self contained home listener, or as we've found, just as well on a darkened dancefloor, leaving the choice up to you, the listener.

After numerous concerts and performances throughout the last years, Summe 1 is Andreas O. Hirsch's first release on makiphon. The album concentrates on peculiar soundscapes and drony pieces, carefully inter- woven by means of pitched harmonicas, electric guitars, mini fans, de- lays and the electric palm leaf, an electroacoustic invention of the artist. The eight titles evoke a space somewhere between interstellar geography (Maxwell Mountains - a plateau on planet Venus), abstract physics (Teilchenbeschleuniger), botanical scenery and animality: Kemeri 5 am features nocturnal crane calls that Hirsch recorded on a bike trip in a swamp near Riga while he was busy with decoding bird messages via morse code. Opossum Pravda is dedicated to the tenacious marsupial that likes to wander around at night and which is able to hang from trees by its tail. Kautschukwaage seems to suggest an exotic setting and provides a link to the rubber bands which one hears resonating in the miniature.
Sleeve designed by the artist. 300 copies. Mastered by Joseph Suchy.

Bucketround presents "Deep Encounters Vol.1" This will be a series where we can listen to the best producers in deep house music, this time we have on the vinyl to "Jesus Gonsev" (Trouble Kids/Spain) with his magnificent ""Terminal 5"" raising the essence of deep to a state of rhythmic beauty powerful chords.
On the same side is the unbreakable ""Tominori Hosoya"" (TH Pressing/Japan) with the strong and amazing ""Strider Practice"" unpredictable melodies in tune with your mind and with each beats. The B-side is impressive also with the track by "Allstarr Motomusic"(Deepart Sounds/Switzerland) ""Pulsate"" the best musical structure agreed with synthesizers drawn from a prodigious mind. Finally we have to "Manuel Costela" (Bucketround/Spain) with the latest work ""Mind Purveyor"" a composition taken from the soul of this great producer a track very focused on the dance floor and with some spectacular and harmonious changes.

Under the alias of Zanov we find the works of French electronic pioneer Pierre Salkazanov, who had started playing guitar in the 1960s in a Shadows styled band, Les Ambassadors. Instrumental rock was not enough for Salkazanov, he was always looking for evolution, so when a meeting with French synth player Serge Ramses (of "Secret" fame) got him into the world of synthesizers he just dived deep into the bourgeoning world of electronic music. He got himself an EMS VCS3 and started producing works into a 4-track Teac tape machine. French music was at its best, it was the time of Jean Michel Jarre, Didier Bocquet, Richard Pinhas and Heldon, Alain Meunier... Even Gong's Tim Blake was living in France at that time. By the time of his second LP, Moebius 256 301, issued also on Polydor in 1977, Zanov had already gathered a small collection of gear, including an ARP 2600 and an ARP sequencer, his old VCS3, an RMI Harmonic and a PS 3300. Again under the influence of both first and second generation of Berlin school musicians the LP will appeal to fans of Klaus Schulze or Tangerine Dream, but they will also find a big deal of Zanov's own personal sound on it, since as the musician himself reckons he had little contact with other peers of his generation, so besides a general love for the electronic gear used and the sounds you could make out of them the creative ideas behind his works were all his own. On his second album a richer sound is found, not only due to the use of the new gear, since some of its tracks where recorded using only his old EMS, but also due to his won experience after having taken his works to the life stages in the Golf Drouot boite, the Lase Olympia venue (on the basement of the famous Olympia), the Paris Planetarium or those for planned one month tour (of which in the end only four dates were accomplished).

Zanov's three albums met with unanimous critical acclaim for the sound quality as well as for the originality of this very personal universe.

Inspired by a longstanding respect for the pioneering sounds of Cluster, Neu!, Harmonia & John Foxx, the legendary K. Leimer fuses tape loops, Moog tones and a variety of real and imagined instruments into an immersive journey brimming with electronic emotion throughout this homage, 'Mitteltöner.'

A key figure in America's musical avant garde, Leimer's experiments with tape manipulation, fractal loops and textured ambience have been well documented in recent times, with RVNG and VOD both offering excellent and exhaustive retrospectives of the artist's seventies and eighties output. Tracing Leimer's discography from 1979's 'Translucent: / Memory' to 1983's 'Installation View', via the dislocated rhythms of the Savant project, these archival releases detail a move from the pastoral synthesis of kosmische into more angular, experimental territories. Simultaneously looking to the past and the future, this Origin Peoples release is both a return to Leimer's earliest stylistic explorations, and his first vinyl release of original work in twenty five years.

Oddly for such a sonic outlier, 'Mitteltöner' (midrange to non teutophones) takes its conceptual cues from the idea that the midrange contains all the core information. Over ten tracks, Leimer employs subtlety and skill to navigate the emotional depth of the kosmische genre while maintaining the focus and detail which has remained constant in his work.

Opener 'Dunne Luft' owes as much to post rock as krautrock, evolving from chiming harmonics and understated rhythms into an optimistic roar of motorik percussion and towering guitars. From there, 'Webermelodie' dives into crystalline calm, tracing delicate arps around a processed groove before 'Anode' sends us skywards, drifting through glistening piano refrains and hypnotic sequences. Te dramatic 'As Long Ago As This' glides through a deserted city of metal and glass leaving the measured ambience of 'Entferntemusik ' to close out the side in a swell of static.

Leimer shifts tone as we move onto the flip, segueing the stomping, cybernetic Sturm Und Drang of 'German Defaults' into the propulsive electronics of 'London Interiors', a dynamic sample-topped suite in the tradition of Bill Nelson. The addition of graceful piano motifs and swathes of hazy synthesis lends a tranquillity to the pulsating bass of 'Auf Einem Fahrrad', while 'SHM' marries soothing melody and crunching rhythm into a thoroughly medicated experience. Finally, 'Café Florian' pays homage to Schneider or Fricke with a euphoric fusion of metallic percussion and esoteric energies.

Far from a simple homage to the electronic idols of his youth, 'Mitteltöner' finds K. Leimer reimagining their nuanced sonic framework through a lifetime of musical experience and experimentation.

Blue fabric-covered deluxe replica gatefold with circle cut on the front and white hot stamp, printed paper inner-sleeve and black vinyl. includes CD (inserted in a clear pvc wallet) the new album! vinyl tracklisting : Side A: Sous le sable, Lasso, Fontaine de lait, Seeds, Les loups, Je ne mâche pas mes mots Side B : Twix, Nuit debout, Piscine, Fille à papa, Langue The internationally celebrated artist, award winning singer and composer Camille releases 'OUÏ' her fifth studio album and first for Because Music on June 2nd. Recorded over a year in La Chartreuse, a 14th century monastery-turned-artist's residence in Avignon, France 'OUÏ' is a cornucopia thrumming with folk, hymns, ballads, pop, lullabies and breathtaking a cappella. 'The story of the album is like this, moving from the arcane drums' - percussion is used throughout as the bedrock - 'to the treble and harmonics and light in my voice.' An instrument of exhilarating range and phenomenal power, Camille's voice provides all the vocal parts on 'OUÏ'. 'All the voices are telling a story,' she says, 'and I am all the voices. Co-produced by Camille with two of her longtime collaborators, composer and multi-instrumentalist Clement Ducol and sound and mixing engineer Maxime Leguil, and featuring the versatile Moog analogue synthesiser, 'OUÏ' is a work with a pulse. 'It really resonates,' says Camille, 'On some songs there are no drums, just this sub-bass like a kick drum, which leads the way and gives it a beat.' While she sets out to write politically charged songs inspired by drum-driven French traditional dances, that reflect upon the country's recent, tragic events, she was equally led to something peaceful, vowel-oriented and vibrational in her exploration of sound. The latter explains the album's title, 'Oui' - ooo...eee - a playfulness with sounds and language, a breaking free from its oft imposed restrictions.

Alan Abrahams aka Portable aka Bodycode is an artist very much defined by his past and his journey from South Africa to Paris via Berlin and Lisbon has seen him develop into a critically acclaimed producer, singer and video artist working with some of the biggest players in house and techno.Part of his constant drive to evolve and challenge himself, this autumn Abrahams launches new project RANGEr, teaming up with London label Waella's Choice for the debut release. The five tracks on Portable Presents RANGEr are a delicate mélange of jazz , soul and electronic and one of Abraham's most explicit nods to his South African roots.
On the A-side, the EP makes a steady start with 'Bazokonwaba' accompanied by a lullaby from South African a capella group Korus, hailing from the small township of Mbekweni in the Western Cape. They also feature heavily on the EP's most exuberant moment in 'Nomaliso' - already a favourite in Esa's recent Boiler Room - and the more languid B-side opener 'Indaba' with a choir of cowbells all harmonizing in unison. 'Reset' and 'Vessel' provide a self-reflective conclusion to the EP, holding their own as instrumentals with Cameroonian bass player Stan on bass and Parisian saxophonist Chisneg lending a hand on the latter. Early support from Tama Sumo, Lakuti, Gilles Peterson, Rinse FM, Esa, Stamp The Wax, Dimensions Recordings

Version Galore is a newly found label, deeply rooted in the music culture. We bring you the selected reworks / versions from the top producers in the game, showing lots of respect and care for the original, but elevating it's spirit and taking it somewhere else. It's all about the dialogue of cultures and the idealistic desire to pass the music legacy on! No half-measures, played-out tunes, lazy cuts, or boring "808-kick boosting" biz!

K2 is an alias of someone who you should be very familiar with by now, especially if interested in quality house music. No clues He the music legend from Baltimore, one of the most versatile and technically-gifted DJs on the scene, a master of CDJs, who singlehandedly restored public's interest in gospel music with his ultimate dance bomb "Work It Out". Still Hesitant Ok we'll help you - it's the one and only Karizma!

A-side is a pure fire-starter! One of those tunes that works perfectly in any surrounding, location, context, club. Here Karizma flips a version of a certain African-American work song, which catchy refrain just seem to resonate with anyone, while the rough dirty beats with the cheeky start/pause technique destroy the dance floor! Essential party tool!

On B-Side the maestro travels in time to grace us with a retro-futuristic workout on the edge of jazz-fusion / prog-rock & Italo-disco. "In Spite Of" is a peculiar, yet beautiful combination of hypnotic chord progressions, step-sequenced synthetic bass-lines, the virtuoso dialogue of electric guitar and electric violin (yes), spiced up with African percussion and forceful beats, all working together in harmony in accordance with the intricate time signature of the song! That's Karizma at his most Balearic!

The legendary Finnish pianist/composer Olli Ahvenlahti returns with his first new jazz album in 31 years! The new album "Thinking, Whistling" will be released 8 Dec by Helsinki's We Jazz Records.

The new record finds Ahvenlahti teaming up with the Jaska Lukkarinen Trio, one of the most highly-regarded ensembles in Finnish jazz. From funk-influenced acoustic jazz to heartfelt ballads, the band are delightfully in a world of their own, drawing from Ahvenlahti's effortless pianism and the trios natural swing.

As Ahvenlahti sums it up: "For me, jazz music has always been about three things: melody, harmony and rhythm."

Olli Ahvenlahti is one of the living legends in the Finnish jazz scene. His debut album was released in 1975 by the famed Love Records. DJs are likely to know him from such highly-regarded rare groove classics as "Grandma's Rockin' Chair" and "Countenance". The new album "Thinking, Whistling" presents Ahvenlahti's knack for writing catchy jazz music with a solid groove base, plus his more introspective side through the heartfelt ballads found on the new record.

Muscle and Mind is the return of Oscar Mulero to long plays, after Grey fades to Green and Black Propaganda. 'Muscle' and 'mind' may seem antagonistic terms in real life, but in terms of music they make sense together, especially when talking about techno.

The coalition of introspection and abstraction is not incompatible with the rough and the percussive, and this
album is a good example of this. The underlying message behind the title refers to the reflection of mental states in the body, the genesis of emotions where body and mind are managed by the sense of hearing.

Throughout these twelve tracks, one can dive into the musical world of this producer whose discourse mutates in every album, always intricate, always meticulous. Darkness acts as a thread and repetition as hypnotic therapy. But now, he sets his usual hard sound aside and looks for a much more cared for and precise sound , where there is room even for a harmony and musicality that go hand in hand with danceability.

The combination of atmospheres and rhythms is constant throughout the album. Each of the cuts has been prepared with few sonic elements. He takes elements away one by one, and keeps exclusively the necessary.

A record that has been developed during endless hours in airports and travelling, absorbing influences from all over the planet. Made in solitude but surrounded by people who don't know what you are really doing on that computer. To close the circle, the album was mixed in professional studio using solid state technology, which gives this work a unique warmth that cannot be achieved in a domestic environment.

Muscle and Mind will be released on vinyl and CD. The digital version will include extra tracks which will also be published in an EP. This will precede the album with edited tracks from the album and remixes by Stanislav Tolkachev and SHXCXCHCXSH.

Muscle and Mind is the return of Oscar Mulero to long plays, after Grey fades to Green and Black Propaganda. 'Muscle' and 'mind' may seem antagonistic terms in real life, but in terms of music they make sense together, especially when talking about techno.

The coalition of introspection and abstraction is not incompatible with the rough and the percussive, and this
album is a good example of this. The underlying message behind the title refers to the reflection of mental states in the body, the genesis of emotions where body and mind are managed by the sense of hearing.

Throughout these twelve tracks, one can dive into the musical world of this producer whose discourse mutates in every album, always intricate, always meticulous. Darkness acts as a thread and repetition as hypnotic therapy. But now, he sets his usual hard sound aside and looks for a much more cared for and precise sound , where there is room even for a harmony and musicality that go hand in hand with danceability.

The combination of atmospheres and rhythms is constant throughout the album. Each of the cuts has been prepared with few sonic elements. He takes elements away one by one, and keeps exclusively the necessary.

A record that has been developed during endless hours in airports and travelling, absorbing influences from all over the planet. Made in solitude but surrounded by people who don't know what you are really doing on that computer. To close the circle, the album was mixed in professional studio using solid state technology, which gives this work a unique warmth that cannot be achieved in a domestic environment.

Muscle and Mind will be released on vinyl and CD. The digital version will include extra tracks which will also be published in an EP. This will precede the album with edited tracks from the album and remixes by Stanislav Tolkachev and SHXCXCHCXSH.

The long established and critically acclaimed DJ-Kicks series kicks off 2017 with suitably accomplished DJ, producer, vocalist and instrumentalist Matthew Dear at the helm.A man of many musical hats, Texas born, Detroit raised Dear has a wide reaching discography that takes in face melting techno as Jabberjaw, dark avant-pop under his own name and intricate minimal as Audion.Often with a gothic slant and full of curiousness, his pensive but playful music is an intoxicating distillation of many different influences, often withhis own stylised vocals at the centre.

This Franco-Swiss trio is a three-headed beast, discharging a singular energy in which one may detect echoes of traditional music, saturated repetition, ethereal harmonics or imaginary choreographies.There are no starting points, no ending points, no standard form structures - these all disappear as the senses encounter the first shock waves. The music employs a rich timbral palette, combining long heavy descending harmonium sweeps, relentless percussion, and the ever more precise patterns and drones of the hurdy-gurdy.

*Partial Records celebrate their 50th 7' with an instrumental sound system stomper originally intended as a dubplate only but now released due to popular demand.
*The rhythm on `73 Salute' was originally the raw blueprint for Amelia Harmony's vocal cut `Fear and Love' that was released earlier on this year.
*Produced by Partial Records owner Liam Partial and mixed by veteran London-based dub producer Dougie Wardrop.

2024 Repress

Das 1973 von Neu!- und Cluster-Mitgliedern gegründete Trio markierte eine Wende im Krautrock: Weg von der Fusionitis, weg vom überambitionierten Gegniedel, weg von der Ironie, die allzu oft nur lausige Fähigkeiten kaschierte. Harmonia spielte seine impressionistischen Skizzen mit minimalistischem Gestus. Kein Text trübte den Sound, alles war repetitiv, friedlich atmosphärisch und irgendwie LoFi. Brian Eno hörte sich so tief rein in diese kitschlosen Versponnenheiten, dass er den Ambient erfinden konnte. Heute, nach 31 Jahren, klingt das etwas unfertig, vor allem die Ein- und Ausstiege, doch der naive Charme der Musik blieb erhalten. Das Album bildet den Auftakt einer Reihe von remasterten Neuauflagen legendärer Brain-Platten. Darunter auch "II" von Cluster. Hat Eno natürlich auch intensiv gehört.

Like a message in a bottle, carried round by the ocean streams for decades, Henrik Rylander's album 'Fran En Obestamd Plats I Rummet' has floated around in the space of Swedish underground music. Hoga Nord pulls the cork and unfolds the message that is a piece of music that was ahead of its time, sounding 'now' 20 years after its first release in the late nineties. This album is a well-kept secret even for the most initiated music lovers in Sweden! The music, influenced by Flying Saucer Attack and other reverb/distortion drenched acts from the early nineties, Harmonia and some of Kraftwerks earlier works and minimalism, still sounds fresh!

Rylander, a member of legendary acts such as Union Carbide Productions and The Skull Defekts, has been pushing the envelope for electronic music, varying between ambient and noise. Rylander's solo works could be described as sophisticated music and 'Fran En Obestamd Plats I Rummet' combines the sophisticated sides with his band oriented works that holds another kind of tension.

This record is the first release on the sub label 'Hoga Nord Arkiv' on which releases from the past, that hasn't got as much attention they deserve gets re-released in an appropriate context.

Written and recorded at Cats Abbey in November 2016 by Anthony Child and Daniel Bean.

Anthony and Daniel played the Buchla Music Easel, harmonium, shruti box, bass guitar, hurdy gurdy, symphonie, glockenspiel, hand bell, Electro Harmonix 45000, Strymon Blue Sky, Strymon DIG, and Roland RE 101 Space Echo.

Front cover image by Ali Wade

Rear cover image by Cathrin Queins

Design by SOMA

The title of the debut lp from The Transcendence Orchestra outlines the modus operandi of this pairing of Anthony Child and Daniel Bean. Recorded in a remote English rural setting over a period of 24 hours this is an apt location for a recording that eschews time and space in favour of methodological displacement and deep psychological navigation.

Modern Methods For Ancient Rituals is an experiment in acoustic and synthetic symbiosis which is deeply influenced by the atmosphere and acoustics of the rural location of Cats Abbey resulting in a set of recordings which can aid to the transformation of consciousness. Deploying a range of ancient and modern instruments and effects including Buchla Music Easel, harmonium, shruti box, bass guitar, hurdy gurdy, Electro Harmonix 45000, Strymon Blue Sky and Roland RE 101 Space Echo among others, Child and Bean conjure an audio experience which encapsulates elements of drone, trance, pulse, rhythm and melody subtly shifting all into a psychologically penetrating experience beyond the aesthetic and into the comforting unknown.

Purveyors of enigmatic dreamscapes and organic, danceable electronica, Leeds-based, electronic-soul quartet Noya Rao are set to release their debut album, Icaros, this November. Founded by producer Tom Henry (Cosima, Yellow Days) Noya Rao was originally conceived as a solo production project with a separate live band representation. Alongside bassist Jim Wiltshire and drummer Matt Davies, whom Tom had met playing in other bands within the Leeds music scene, the project grew to become a collaborative effort mixing Tom's production ideas with the attributes of Jim's unique bass synth lines and Matt's polyrhythmic beats. Their compositions drew on the influences of jazz, hip-hop and electronic music whilst incorporating the sounds of the bass-heavy-dub music synonymous with the Leeds music scene. Their sound really came into focus when they met vocalist Olivia Bhattacharjee who brought her gospel style and complex choral harmony to the band. Developing from raw, psychedelic improvisations, their sound became more defined and minimal, underpinned by live instrumentation and more structured song writing. This co-existing electronic and organic thread gives the band a strong identity and their powerful live show sets them apart from other producer-led bands. Matthew Halsall from Gondwana Records saw the band perform at an intimate show in Manchester in 2016 and blown away, signed the band on the spot.

Icaros takes the listener on a journey through the band's unique sound-world amplified by Tom Henry's bold and inventive production techniques. Sometimes fragile, sometimes raw and visceral the album opens with the ethereal Azimuth. It's contrasting sections and mysterious chords offer echoes of the band's instrumental beginnings whilst the repeated vocal harmony layers at the end demonstrate a signature feature of the new Noya Rao sound. Moments is the first tune they wrote together and reflects upon taking joy in the everyday: the opening womb-like chords are another distinct sound of the band. The gritty Golden Claw describes the effects of a manipulative heartbreaker, it's darker, more driving and has a ruder '80s flavour. Midas demonstrates the band's use of linear structural forms and complex rhythms influenced from around the globe. It tells the story of someone who, led by greed, made some regrettable decisions. The atmospheric Dreaming Part 1 and Part 2 are sumptuous dreamy soundscapes. They were born from the same epic improv-based writing sessions as Fly, which has a trippy disco vibe, offset with wonky chords and crunching vocal harmony. The hook-led I Feel points to future ventures for the band: mixing their electronic textures with a more formal song-writing approach. A sublime slice of dreamy space-jazz, Same Sun Will Rise, finds Olivia contemplating mankind's utter selfishness and a desire for change, "Over borders we've assigned, same sun will rise'. Minimal and spacious, This Time demonstrates the merging of ethereal edginess and delicate songwriting. It is this combined with their electronic and live approach and more than a hint of Leeds attitude that gives Noya Rao their unique sound.

'On Line': a collaborative album in parts, focused on themes of repetition, poly-metrics, transformation and abstraction. Volume 1 features contributions from Livity Sound protégé, Simo Cell, Berceuse Heroique regular, Don't DJ, and Wisdom Teeth label head, K-LONE. All of the tracks were written specifically for the project and in tandem, and all are connected by a constant pulse and communal headspace. The record opens with Simo Cell's 'Symmetry': a slow crescendo of whirring pads, melodic percs and dotted rhythms, all underpinned by thick slabs of sub-bass that, with each heavy hit, seem to collapse the track's atmosphere down and in on itself. Next, Don't DJ follows with the oblique, discordant chug of 'Übergang Zur Metrotram'. As with all of Florian's works, the track pulses with an organic, animal quality that completely belies its mechanical origins. Again, the track's space is filled with drifting pads and clanging chimes - but this time the atmosphere is close, discordant and chokingly dense. Last up, K-LONE clears the air with 'Woniso'. The track grows slowly out of a series of beautiful harmonic counterpoints - morphing patterns that come and go in the mix to reveal their individual colours and contours.

It's taken over two-decades - legendary UK Techno label Ferox enter their 24th year with a 4 trackerAfrom fellow Brit KIRK DEGIORGIO. Beholden looks both to the future with influences from Kirk's seminal MACHINE events which he hosts with Ben Sims, and the illustrious past of deep melodic UK Techno which he shares with Ferox owner Russ Gabriel. It continues a resurgence of lush, harmonic techno that once dominated the electronic music scene and which is now findingAa fresh, young audience. Expansive chords, delicate melodies and intricate grooves are once again on the cutting edge agenda.

needs is a not-for-profit record label & collective lovingly curated by Bobby Pleasure. We believe in people. The concept of the label is to use music as a medium to spread love, unity and the idea of giving back. Promoting harmony and togetherness rather than isolation and estrangement, each release and accompanying event will act as a support stream to various issues within society such as mental health, homelessness and equality. For the first release we have tracks from Hubie Davison, Johannes Albert, DJ Swagger and Bobby Pleasure. Four artists from different countries of the world who all have the needs factor, and have very kindly donated their music to the dancedloor.

150 white copies!! What's the best thing we can do What our heart tells us, so finally we do it. Enough! Music starts a vinyl only limited series with collected fine musicians. The first outstanding release is by label owner himself Danilo Schneider, he presents his EP Take A Breath. The deep passion and focus on excellent productions is the result on this first release here.'Solidly' and 'Sunday' are two tracks full of rhythmic elements, percussions and a groovy dub drive. This harmony between a straight kick and a deep bassline along side the melodic attitudes are balm for your soul. Stay tuned and follow us on a journey full of exciting releases.

We started with the principle - the cosmic idea that we were taught by our father from a very young age - that the stars and planets make a sound, that deep in outer space there is audible harmony.'With its cathedral-like, richly resonant acoustics, the new HBE album is a brilliant expression of this interplanetary principle. The album is by turns urgent and contemplative, funky and reflective, varied in its textures, but entirely of one piece. Underpinned by concepts of our earth's place in the cosmos, held in place by meditation, swirling with notions of history, science, theology, ancestry, there is a rich conceptual brew here. But always, what talks loudest is the music. The album rings with what back in the 1950s the jazz critic Whitney Balliet called the sound of surprise'. At a time when the phrase Spiritual Jazz threatens in some quarters to become a tired cliche, this is a record that makes you believe again in the genre's validity.

Talking to Cid, one of the Ensemble's two trombonists, one phrase recurs: back to the beginning'. We wanted to go back to the beginning, when we were kids, real young, and our father would wake us up at 5 AM to practice for two hours before breakfast.' One outcome - initially unplanned but subsequently embraced - is that unlike their two previous albums on Honest Jon's, this is an album without a drummer. When we started, as Wolf Pack, just brothers on the street with our horns, there wasn't a kit in sight.' Book Of Sound retains plenty of rhythmic heft, but the absence of a drummer opens up space for a notably varied instrumental palette. Acoustic guitar, piccolo, synthesiser, alto sax - none of them typical HBE Instruments - all have their place on the album. Most striking perhaps are the vocal lines that thread through the album and give it a palpable warmth. In Wolf Pack, we rapped and played, this time we took it a step further.'

Sessions were recorded in Brooklyn and Chicago, and brilliantly mixed at Abel Garibaldi's studio in the Loop ( Abel was like a musician on this record'), and it's the Hypnotic's hometown that permeates. For Cid this is a deeply Chicago record: it's got the vibe of the lake, the vibe of the prairies opening up to the west'. It also has the vibe of those Sun Ra Arkestra albums recorded in Chicago in the 1950s, and - of course - the Phil Cohran albums from the 1960s.

It's Phil Cohran (the father of all seven members of the Ensemble and their first teacher, and not just in music) who is the album's guiding spirit. For Cid it's a major regret that, in the months before their father's death early in 2017, Phil was not well enough to play on the album. He loved the whole idea, and we had the perfect place for his zither'. But Book Of Sound is a magnificent testament to their Cohran legacy. You know, it's tough trying to satisfy everybody with our music. It's hard enough satisfying ourselves, let alone the jazz scene, the hip hop guys, what have you. With this album we just dropped all that as a consideration, and tuned into deeper principles.'

Rauch is a sonic interpretation of the work of photographer Friederike von Rauch, composed collaboratively by Berlin-based producers Felix K, Marcel Dettmann, Sa Pa and Simon Hoffmann. Arranged and mixed by Marcel Dettmann, the recording stands in dialogue with von Rauch's architectural images of post-World War II European monasteries, including La Tourette by Le Corbusier and Iannis Xenakis near Lyon, Roosenberg Abbey near Ghent and Maria Regina Martyrum in Berlin. The images were first exhibited together with the music on this LP as part
of an installation for von Rauch's solo show insgeheim ('in secret'), held at the Goethe-Institut Paris during the international Paris Photo art fair in November 2017.
While the complimentary relationship between the sounds of Rauch ('smoke') and the images exhibited in Paris invites interpretation, both can also be experienced as separate artistic entities. On the 42-minute-long LP, drones, modulating harmonic soundscapes and implied rhythms maintain an abstract emotional core while occasionally taking on vaporous, amorphous qualities. Similarly, von Rauch's images - often borderline abstract in composition - resist being identified by location or spatial context. Nevertheless, they also hint at their spiritual origin.
Rauch is part of an ongoing artistic collaboration between Marcel Dettmann and Friederike von Rauch, which includes 2011's Ash installation and three photographic works for Dettmann releases on Ostgut Ton.
(de) Rauch, geschrieben und produziert im Kollektiv von den Berliner Producern Felix K., Marcel Dettmann, Sa Pa und Simon Hoffmann, zusammengestellt und abgemischt von Marcel Dettmann, ist als ku¨nstlerische Anna¨herung und Dialog zu den Fotografien von Friederike von Rauch zu verstehen. In ihrer Ausstellung insgeheim im Goethe-Institut Paris, anla¨sslich der Paris Photo 2017, zeigt die Ku¨nstlerin Arbeiten, die in verschiedenen Klo¨stern der Nachkriegsmoderne - von La Tourette von Le Corbusier entworfen u¨ber Roosenberg Abbey nahe Gent zur Klosterkirche Maria Regina Martyrum in Berlin - entstanden sind und klanglich untermalt werden durch die Musik von Rauch.
Die Musik und die Bilder menschenleerer Ra¨ume stehen in unmittelbarem Bezug zueinander, suchen die Auseinandersetzung durch Begleitung und Interpretation. So entstand die 42-minu¨tige Komposition modulierender Klangschleifen und angedeuteter Rhythmik, den Namen von Rauchs beim Worte nehmend, musikalisch abstrahierend und doch im Detail ergreifend. Die Arbeiten Friederike von Rauchs lassen dabei kaum Ru¨ckschlu¨sse zu, welcher Ort sich dem Betrachter offenbart, der ra¨umliche Kontext bleibt verborgen und dennoch transportieren die konzentrierten und beinahe abstrakten Kompositionen, etwas von ihrem spirituellen Ursprung.
Rauch ist auch die Fortsetzung der ku¨nstlerischen
Kollaboration zwischen Marcel Dettmann und
Friederike von Rauch. Die beiden in Berlin
lebenden Ku¨nstler arbeiten hier nach Ash (2011)
zum zweiten Mal an der Schnittstelle Fotografie-Musik, daru¨berhinaus pra¨gten Friederike von Rauchs Fotografien drei Dettmann-Vero¨ffentlichungen auf Ostgut Ton.