As a Dutch label, we're proud supporters of the homegrown sounds of guys like Nachtbraker, Frits Wentink and Fouk. Adding another Dutchie to our list of exquisite producers, we present you 'Pitto' with his debut on Heist Recordings. Pitto is a musically omnipotent creature, venturing into deep house with the underground hit 'Richklap' on Wolfskuil back in 2012 and dreamy electronic pop with his album 'Breaking up the Static' on Sonar Kollektiv and Virgin. He has also moved beyond producing his own music, running 'Studio Stekker'; a Dutch music festival that focused on freeform creative interactions between musicians where the artists performing on the festival locked themselves up a week in advance in Kytopia (Colin Benders' synth paradise) to make new music together. Through this, he's worked with people like Kyteman, Matthew Johnson, Sebastian Mullaert and Colin de la Plante, better known as 'The Mole', who is also present on Pitto's Heist debut with a remix.
The 'Late night studio moves' ep is one of varied styles, where Pitto's inspiration from African music, jazzy and soulful samples becomes evident. He finds his 'funk' in repetition, clever sample combinations and combining electronic and live elements in the most organic way.
'Late night studio moves' finds its basic groove in an African percussive loop. Over the 9:26 minutes, the track slowly adds elements, chopped African chants and piercing synth hits. It's all really dreamy and energetic at the same time, but it is when the bass and main keys kick in, that you really feel the euphoric vibe of the track. The Mole chose to remix this track and he turned it completely upside down, both in vibe and tempo. His version is an atmospheric and mesmerizing downtempo track, where the percussion works in an intoxicating way and bells, birds and chants move in and out of the spotlight.
Pitto's second original track on the ep is the mesmerizing 'Treat me like a fool'. 16th hi-hats, claps on the hats, and a chopped piano loop set the mood here, but it's the vocal that steals the show. A mantra like 'You love me' builds up and breaks down into 'you love me like an angel, but you treat me like a fool'. Each time, the track builds and builds, never quite giving in to a massive drop, but instead, focuses on the stripped back soul that is the heart of the track.
'Jazz kids' evolves around a jazzy bass loop and a set of quirky African percussive elements that you could imagine Henrik Schwarz making if he were in a more leftfield mood. A syncopated synth melody filters in and out throughout the track and a basic kick and hi-hat combo keeps the energy going strong on this on.
We're proud to bring you this deep, dreamy and provocative EP by Pitto and hope you'll enjoy it as much as we do.
WHITE RING mark a triumphant return with a brand new full-length Gate Of Grief, due out on Rocket Girl on 22 June 2018. Their debut album arrives a full eight years since their benchmark EP, Black Earth That Made Me, which sold out almost instantly, making their records some of the most highly sought after on the underground scene and earning them a cult following across the globe. Swerving from aggressively abrasive to beautifully ethereal, musically they draw from varied and challenging palette, whilst tackling themes of loss and acceptance due to struggles with drug addiction and existential dread on a broader scope.
WHITE RING were originally formed by Bryan Kurkimilis and Kendra Malia, before they were joined by Adina Viarengo, with Bryan and Adina currently touring as a duo. One of the most acclaimed proponents of the "Witch House" movement, WHITE RING blend heavy, distorted electronics with eerie, unsettling vocals. However, their new material, created over the course of seven years, pushes the boundaries further, subverting genre ideas and mashing them all together, with industrial, metal, rave, chopped and screwed, rap, grunge, neo folk, post punk and new wave all in the mix. As Bryan Kurkimilis explains; 'We treat our influences like tools to create a certain feeling. We are interested in covering more ground than sticking to a certain formula.'
Bryan and Kendra originally met on Myspace in 2006. At the time Bryan lived in New Orleans and Kendra was in New York, and they didn't even meet face-to-face until 2008 after they had already released a few singles. In 2010 they released the EP Black Earth That Made Me, which was a collection of songs that they mostly recorded before they met in person. The record confounded expectations by selling out immediately on pre-order, making it very rare and highly sought after, with copies going on Ebay for large sums. It was reissued by Rocket Girl in 2011 and still continues to sell in voluminous amounts.
They started playing live in 2009 and rapidly grew a reputation for their captivating performances, usually bringing their own lighting equipment and putting on a spectacular laser show. They have played for large crowds in their hometown of NYC and toured the UK in 2010 in support of their sold out split 7" with oOoOO, playing InTheCity and SWN festivals - which were their first shows outside of New York. They have since shared the stage with the likes of Cold Cave, araabMUZIK, Liturgy, Blank Dogs, Gatekeeper, Blondes, oOoOO, Clams Casino, and others.
They started recording Gate Of Grief in 2010, with the hope of exploring new musical territory, however they took a while to find their path. Bryan and Kendra had some tough personal battles to fight, a sense that pervades the whole album. Thematically it delves in to some pretty dark places whilst exploring the concept of time and what it does to people, relationships and society. As Bryan explains; 'There is a lot of tragedy in this album but there is also hope at the end of it.'
By 2016 pressure was building to finish recording, however due to Kendra's ill health, they needed to bring in someone new to assist with vocals. Fortunately they found Adina Viarengo, who had played in various bands and gave them the impetus needed to complete the album. Shortly after meeting in Brooklyn, Bryan and Adina moved to Joshua Tree, California to finish recording the album, before settling in Massachusetts. Her vocal style fitted in seamlessly with what Kendra had been doing, and although she sang on half the songs, it's almost impossible to tell who is singing on which track, thus making her the perfect addition to the band.
Gate of Grief can be considered the second part of Black Earth That Made Me, or rather, they are the first two chapters in an overarching trilogy about evolution. As Bryan explains; 'First you are born but then you realize what you are and what is against you and it's a flood of emotion that you can only hope to hold on for and let it pass.'
The album title, Gate of Grief, refers to the real gate between Africa and Saudi Arabia that is believed to be the spot where the first humans migrated out of Africa and went on to populate the rest of the world. The album art ties in with this concept, with an image depicting a group of settlers in the USA in early 1900 during a parade. They were actually from a cult in the early 1900s in Bryan's hometown of Fort Myers, Florida.
People of Earth proudly presents Warren Harris aka Hanna.
Blessing us with a 4 track EP titled "From the Dark Sky". Delivering his signature bass licks and providing us with a vocal track on top of it all in "Last Forever". Hints of jazz, gospel and straight deep house throughout the record, all beautiful, uplifting and full of purpose.
Music and Poetry of the Kesh is the documentation of an invented Pacific Coast peoples from a far distant time, and the soundtrack of famed science fiction author, Ursula K. Le Guin's Always Coming Home In the novel, the story of Stone Telling, a young woman of the Kesh, is woven within a larger anthropological folklore and fantasy. The ways of the Kesh were originally presented in 1985 as a five hundred plus page book accompanied with illustrations of instruments and tools, maps, a glossary of terms, recipes, poems, an alphabet (Le Guin's conlang, so she could write non-English lyrics), and with early editions, a cassette of field recordings' and indigenous song. Le Guin wanted to hear the people she'd imagined, she embarked on an elaborate process with her friend Todd Barton to invoke their spirit and tradition.
For Music and Poetry of the Kesh, the words and lyrics are attributed to Le Guin as composed by Barton, an Oregon-based musician, composer and Buchla synthesist (the two worked together previously on public radio projects). But the cassette notes credit the sounds and voices to the world of the Kesh, making origins ambiguous. For instance, The River Song' description reads, The prominent rhythm instrument is the doubure binga, a set of nine brass bowls struck with cloth-covered wooden mallets, here played by Ready.' According to writer and long-time friend of LeGuin, Moe Bowstern (who pens the liners for the Freedom To Spend edition of Kesh), Barton built and then taught himself to play several instruments of Le Guin's design, among them the seven-foot horn known to the Kesh as the Houmbúta and the Wéosai Medoud Teyahi bone flute.' Barton's crafting of original instruments lends an other-worldly texture to the recordings of the Kesh, not unlike fellow builders Bobby Brown and Lonnie Holley. Bowstern notes, Other musician / makers have crafted their own Kesh instruments after encountering the earlier cassette recordings that accompanied some editions of the book.' Both Barton and Le Guin are sensitive to the sovereignty of indigenous Californians and were careful not to trample the traditions of the Tolowa people who lived in the valley long before the Kesh. You research deeply, and then you bring your own voice to the table,' said Barton. Within the Kesh culture, the numbers four and five shape the lives, society and rituals. Barton composed loosely around these numbers, patiently listening to the land of Napa Valley for signs and audio signals from the natural elements. Todd incorporated ambient sounds of the creek by Le Guin's house and a campfire they built together. The songs of Kesh are joyful, soothing and meditative, while the instrumental works drift far past the imaginary lands. Heron Dance' is an uplifting first track, featuring a Wéosai Medoud Teyahi (made from a deer or lamb thigh bone with a cattail reed) and the great Houmbúta (used for theatre and ceremony). A Music of the Eighth House' sends gossamer waves of the faintest sounds to float on the wind.' Like the languages invented in the vocal work of Anna Homler, Meredith Monk, and Elizabeth Fraser, the Kesh songs and poems play with the shape of voice.
The Music and Poetry of the Kesh cassette was meant to accompany and enhance the experience of reading Always Coming Home. Presented in this edition as a long-playing album, where only traces of the book linger (the jacket offers some of Le Guin's illustration, and a letterpressed bookmark featuring the the narrative modes of western civilization and the Kesh valley is included), the music alone breaking the silence of what might be. It can transport—offering a landscape for imagining a future homecoming. One in which we are balanced, peaceful, and tend to the earth and its creatures. A line from the Sun Dance poem reminds us, We are nothing much without one another.' Freedom To Spend gives new life to the recordings of the Kesh people in the first ever vinyl edition of Music and Poetry of the Kesh, out on LP, and digital formats on March 23, 2018. The LP will include a deluxe spot printed jacket with illustrations from Always Coming Home, a facsimile of the original lyric sheet, liner notes by Moe Bowstern, multi-format digital download code and a limited edition bookmark letter pressed by Stumptown Printers in Portland, OR.
This past Monday, January 22, Ursula passed from this realm to another leaving a life spent building and exploring other worlds while challenging social concepts of the real word she inhabited.
Freedom To Spend had been working under Ursula's enthusiastic endorsement and with Todd Barton, her musical collaborator on Kesh, to give the music that accompanied her 1985 epoch a new life. With the Le Guin family's encouragement to move forward with our planned release, we are humbled to play this small role in sharing Ursula's work.
As Pete Swanson, one third of Freedom To Spend, stated, Ursula's legacy is her work which transformed the world, and this is another piece of the universe that her imagination birthed becoming real.' Listen to A Teaching Poem / Heron Dance' below.
Dark Matters label head Amirali returns with the expertly crafted Odyssey EP, employing his vital understanding of
space and texture to construct a highly emotive release featuring a remix from Fort Romeau. The three track
package is out digitally on May 14th followed by the vinyl release a few weeks later.
Leading on from his critically acclaimed discography and curatorial work with the inimitable Dark Matters imprint,
Amirali enters 2018 with grand plans for the future. He is currently conceptualising a live stage show whilst
continuing to provide a platform for all manner of weird and wonderful music.
'Odyssey' is a striking example of Amirali's penchant for songwriting, as well as a testament to his sonic identity,
merging memorable harmonies with heartfelt vocals and complex soundscapes. 'Hidden Past' veers more towards
the dancefloor, brandishing vast sonic explorations and levitating pads amongst detailed drum patterns. For the
'Hidden Past' remix, Fort Romeau mutates the delicacy of the original into a spaced out dose of peak time house,
gradually building rich harmonies around a fierce rhythmic motif.
On the creation of this forthcoming EP, Amirali states:
"Nothing is more important than my craft which is the main reason I'm here. There's no better satisfaction than to
create an amazing piece of music, that's my happiest point in life. I don't want my work to just be good or ok and that
takes a lot of effort and sacrifice in life. I got to a point where I said to myself I have to go and disappear for a while,
go be normal and do normal things. Instead of being on the road all the time, stay home, create an environment I
like to write music. There have been many experimentations involved in my upcoming material. I wanted to try and
push myself to the limit and I believe I've succeeded. For me, it's all about evolving and exploring areas I haven't
touched. That's why sometimes it takes a bit longer than expected, I don't just want to meet people's expectations,
sometimes I want to blow them away. There is so much music coming out week in and week out, the music is
evidently becoming more disposable and I would like to stay out of that chaos. When you stay true to your heart and
try to do something different you put yourself in an uncomfortable situation, that's when you grow as an artist and
also as a person, but the satisfaction you get when you finish a work cannot be put into words.
South African Mbaqanga And Bubblegum Instrumentals For The Dance-floor. First Time Available Outside South Africa. Cult Favorite Among Collectors. Follows The Successful Reissue Of bafana Bafana' Last Year. Professor Rhythm's 1991 Recording Professor 3 Is A Vivid Reflection Of Urban South Africa As Apartheid Was Ending. Thami Mdluli's Production Project Had Young And Old Dancing To A Sound That Sought To Unite Blacks Within Southern Africa. our Music Gave Hope To The Hopeless,' He Says. Mdluli's Third Instrumental Album (which Contains Some Background Vocals, To Be Exact), Portrays The Moment When The Dominant Mbaqanga And American R&b-based Bubblegum Sounds Being Produced In Johannesburg And Other Urban Centers Were Transforming Into House And Hip-hop-inspired Kwaito. The Pop Of The 80's And All That Went With It—from The Models Of Synths And Drum Machines To The Lyrical Style—gave Way To A Changing Melodic Emphasis And New, Much Slower Tempi Using A Completely Different Rhythmic Skeleton. Upbeat, Chipper Bubblegum, Often With Double-time Breakdowns And Upstroke Syncopations, Faded And The Sounds Began To More Closely Resemble Those Of Contemporary Black America—where Hip-hop Was Slowing Down And The Bass-lines And Melodies Were Getting Moodier, Darker In General. At The Same Time House Music Had Briefly Reached Mainstream Acceptance In The States And That Popularity Continued To Feed Into Awareness Overseas. These Two Influences Blended With The Burgeoning House Music Scenes In Johannesburg And Pretoria As Professor Rhythm 3 Was Being Produced In March 1991 (the Same Year Apartheid Ended). Mdluli Explains, we Were Influenced By Foreign Bands And So People Updated Their Sound.' According To Mdluli, The Evolving Sound Was Bolstered By Widening Availability Of House And Rap Records From Abroad While, Most Importantly, An Increasing Sense That Apartheid Might Soon Be Finished Was Met With A New Positivity Vibe Society. 1991, '92, '93... Mandela Was Released. People Were Upbeat, They Were Happy, The Music Was Good.' Professor 3 Came Out On Vinyl As The Lp Business Was Dying In South Africa And Sold Around 20,000 Copies. It Was Mainly Distributed On Tape, Which Sold Closer To 100,000. With The Help Of Engineer Fab Rosso, The Recording Features Backing Vocalists From Mango Groove. After Making A Half-dozen Records As Professor Rhythm, Mdluli Once Again Shifted His Focus Musically. By The Mid-90's He Had Veered Off Gospel Music— And Left Playing In Bands And Started Making His Own Solo Recordings. His Enormous Success In The Gospel Realm In The Years Since Is A Remarkable Story In Its Own Right, But For Now We Are Only Dancing.
A great compilation can open the gate to another world. Who knew that some of the most exciting Afro-funk records of all time were actually made in the small West African country of Benin Once Analog Africa released the first African Scream Contest in 2008, the proof was there for all to hear, gut-busting yelps, lethally well- drilled horn sections and irresistibly insistent rhythms added up to a record that took you into its own space with the same electrifying sureness as any favourite blues or soul or funk or punk sampler you might care to mention.
Ten years on, intrepid crate-digger Samy Ben Redjeb unveils a new treasure- trove of Vodoun-inspired Afrobeat heavy funk crossover greatness. Right from the laceratingly raw guitar fanfare which kicks o Les Sympathics' pile-driving opener, it's clear that African Scream Contest II is going to be every bit as joyous a voyage of discovery as its predecessor. And just as you're trying to get o the canvas after this one-punch knock out, an irresistible Afro-ska romp with a more than subliminal echo of the Batman theme puts you right back there. Ignace De Souza and the Melody Aces' Asaw Fofor" would've been a killer instrumental but once you've factored in the improbably-rich-to-the-point-of-being-Nat-King-Cole-influenced lead vocal, it's a total revelation.
The screaming does not stop there, in fact it's only just beginning. But the
strange thing about African Scream Contest II's celebration of unfettered Beninese creativity is that it would not have been possible without the assistance of a musician who had been trained by the Russian secret services to "search and destroy" enemies of the country's (then) Marxist-Leninist president Mathieu Kerekou.
Already familiar to fans of the first African Scream Contest as a mainstay of ruthlessly disciplined military band Les Volcans de la Capitale, Lokonon André vanished in a cloud of dust at Ben Redjeb's behest with a list of names and some petrol money, only to return a few days later having miraculously tracked down every single name he'd been given. The source of this Afrobeat bounty-hunter's impressive people-finding skills - his training with the KGB - highlights the tension between encroaching authoritarian politics and fearless expressions of personal creative freedom which is the back-story of so much great African music of the 60s and 70s. Happily, in this instance, Lokonon was tracking the artists down to oer them licensing deals, rather than to arrest them.
Where some purveyors of vintage African sounds seem to be strip-mining the
continent's musical heritage with no less rapacious intent than the mining companies and colonial authorities who previously extracted its mineral wealth, Samy Ben Redjeb's determination to track this amazing music to its human sources pays huge karmic dividends.
Like every other Analog Africa release, African Scream Contest II is illuminated by meticulously researched text and eortlessly fashion-forward photography supplied by the artists themselves. Looming large - alongside Lokonon André - in the cast of biopic-worthy characters to emerge from this seductive tropical miasma is visionary space-nerd Bernard Dohounso, who laid the foundations for Benin's vinyl predominance by importing and assembling the turntables that would play the products of his Bond villain-acronymed pressing plant SATEL, a factory that would revolutionise the music industry in the whole region.
The scene documented here couldn't have been born anywhere else but in the Benin Republic , and the prime reason for that is Vodoun. It's one of the world's most complex religions, involving the worship of some 250 divinities, where each divinity has its own specific set of rhythms, and the bands introduced on the African Scream Contest series and other compilations from that country were no less diverse than that army of dierent Gods. At once restless pioneers and masters of the art of modernising their own folklore, the mystic sound of Vodoun was their prime source of inspiration.
One especially irascible Vodoun-adept was Antoine Dougbe, who styled himself The devil's prime minister' while turning ancestral rhythms into satanically alluring modern beats. As Orchestre Poly-Rythmo songwriter Pynasco has observed sagely, Evil is not elsewhere, evil extends into the house'. And African Scream Contest II is a gloriously cinematic road-trip through an undiscovered realm of music lore whose familiarity is every bit as thrilling as its otherness.
A continuation of his kaleidoscopic sun-dappled cosmic-disco, Neon Leon was the much-loved CD-only sophomore album by Sorcerer. Just in time for Spring/Summer, we present the first ever vinyl issue, released as a deluxe double LP.
A perfectly formed suite of ten tracks featuring soft guitars, subtle synths and lightly grooving percussion, Neon Leon magically evokes that elusive summer feeling throughout. The guitar-driven "Algorhythm" serves as the album opener, blasting bold, sun-drenched jazz chords atop bright synths and groove-based drum programming. "Ride The Serpent" and "Distort Yourself" are guided by a more sultry, slo-mo disco impulse whilst the staggering "Chemise" and strident "Face It" merge 80s West Coast production sheen with Sorcerer's trademark laid back, gentle disco. "Raydio"'s undeniable head-nod groove adds a rare vocal to the proceedings, joyously combining with the bubbling cosmic funk.
Since its initial release in 2009, exceptional producers have created vibrant variations on the dreamy, dubby, melodic nu-disco theme. Happily, the emergence of such luminaries as Jex Opolis, Harvey Sutherland, Suzanne Kraft, Tornado Wallace et al has only served to make the master - Sorcerer - sound ever more brilliant and vital.
Utilising his array of guitars, drum machines, synths, and trusty MPC, the loved-up Sorcerer sound inspires halcyon memories of warm days, endless sunsets and pure youthful abandon. Influenced by surf, 80s dance pop, acid-R&B, space jazz, krautrock, disco, dub, and am radio gold, his music maps a tour through a uniquely Californian lifestyle. Yet when music so vividly captures a vibe and a feeling, it can make writing about it appear almost redundant. Instead, to glean the full colour of what your turntable will soon gratefully radiate, we prescribe the generous soundclips presented here.
And, for a unique insight into the process behind the wonderful sounds conjured up, here's Sorcerer himself:
"Neon Leon's is the name of a bar in a Elmore Leonard book I was reading on a vacation to Belize with my future wife. I was soaking up his brand of noir during the making of the songs on this record, along with another favorite Ross Macdonald. We were living in a small apartment in the Mission District of San Francisco where i had my own room to jam. It was painted Orange and Turquoise and was a very inspiring place to create and focus. I could walk out of my house to any number of hole in the wall bars where people were deejaying, hanging-out, and knew about me and my music.
After White Magic I developed more confidence in my style and process so I stuck with it and I believe it shows in the tunes I selected for the record. The sounds are rich and I dug deeper into sampling from obscure dollar records and getting looser musically. I made a handful of collage videos for the tracks at this time as well, which represent where my mind was at visually. In my mind it's Cosmic Funk that rules the day and I am thankful to have the opportunity to share it with the world again."
Lovingly remastered by the esteemed Simon Francis, cut reassuringly loud on to heavyweight double vinyl and presented in a deluxe gatefold jacket with freshly commissioned artwork throughout from original designer Rich Robinson, this limited edition of 500 copies is sure to fly.
WHEN YOU'VE FINISHED LOOKING AROUND THE WEBSITE, YOU CAN FIND US ON THESE SOCIAL CHANNELS
Comprised of Vancouver producers and multi-instrumentalists Nick Wisdom and Astrological, Canadian duo Potatohead People boast a number of noteworthy accolades thanks to a their signature sound drawing influences from 90's boom-bap, future soul, classic jazz, deep house and boogie/funk. Beginning with a series of EP's, including their landmark "Kosmichemusik" EP, Potatohead People's productions quickly made their way to artists like Illa J who tapped the duo to produce his now critically acclaimed self-titled album, as well as producers like Kaytranada (who co-produced Illa J's "Strippers" with the pair). Supporters such as Soulection, Nightmares on Wax, Pomo, DJ Spinna, Big Boi, and Phife Dawg have also played formidable roles in championing the sound of Potatohead People worldwide.
Now with three years since their last release, 2015's critically acclaimed debut album Big Luxury, Potatohead People are back their long awaited new album Nick & Astro's Guide To The Galaxy (due out May 11th via Brooklyn label Bastard Jazz) The record picks up right where the pair left off, showcasing a leap forward in production chops, musicality, and songwriting. The first single "Quest For Love" "with it's neck snapping drum break, lush rhodes chords, cosmic synths, guitar & horn flourishes and unexpected musical changeups bring in the hip-hop infected musicality the duo has become so loved for, while Nick & Astro collaborate vocally on top. "Morning Sun" featuring Danish vocalist (and Anderson.Paak collaborator) Nanna.B is in part a melancholy piece with knocking drums, an infectious bassline and a soulful, shimmering hook, while "Do My Thing" featuring Canadian singer Kapok and Illa J is a neck-snapping Hip-Hop joint perfect for the dancefloor. "Liftin' Up" featuring San Francisco's K-Maxx ventures into West Coast boogie territories, while the album's closer "Rituals" goes for a deeper more atmospheric electronic vibe.
On The 50th Anniversary Of The Band's Inception At An Event In Harlem, Ny To Commemorate Malcolm X's Birthday On 19 May 1968, Influential Spoken Word Artists, Poets And Commentators The Last Poets Are Set To Make A Glorious And Relevant Return With Their First Album In Over 20 Years, 'understand What Black Is'.
Produced By Ben Lamdin (nostaglia 77) And Brighton Legend Prince Fatty, Whose Speciality Is Traditional Reggae And Dub Production's, 'understand What Black Is' Is A Ten-track Album Which Speaks Of A Revolutionary Struggle Defined By Both Race And Identity, That Has Never Sounded More Relevant. Released On Studio Rockers, There Will Also Be An Accompanying Single Featuring Remixes Of The Title Track "understand What Black Is" By Mala (south London Collective Digital Mystikz) And Uk Dance Music Innovators Dego And Kaidi.
Since The Initial Line-up Of Dahveed Nelson, Gylan Kain And Felipe Luciano Formed In East Harlem's Marcus Garvey Park, The Last Poets Have Produced Under Various Guises Over The Subsequent Years. However, It Was Their Seminal Output, Namely 1970's 'the Last Poets' Under Both Umar Bin Hassan And Abiodun Oyewole That Secured Their Legacy, Becoming One Of The Most Important Influences In Early Hip Hop.
Throughout The Last 20 Years, The Band Have Remained Largely On Hiatus. But Their Influence Could Still Be Felt With Their Tracks Being Sampled By The Notorious B.i.g, Nwa, A Tribe Called Quest, Dr.dre And Snoop Dogg. Umar Has Recorded Various Solo Albums And Featured On Common And Kanye West's Grammy Nominated 'the Corner'. Abiodun Appeared On The Red Hot Organization's Album, Stolen Moments Which Was Named "album Of The Year" By Time. He Also Conducts Weekly Open House Poetry Readings, Where He Constructively Critiques Upcoming Poets, Helping To Nurture Them. He Has Also Conducted Classes At Columbia University, Where He Teaches Creative Writing.
The Inauguration Of Donald Trump As Us President In 2016 Inspired Hassan And Oyewole To Resurrect The Group To Create A Brand New Record, Modern And Edgy, And Deeply Relevant And Reflective Of Our Times.
Tracks On 'understand What Black Is' Include 'how Many Bullets', Which Bridles With Defiance As Oyewole Works Through A Litany Of Injustices Suffered By Black People In The Us: " You've Tried
To Blow My Brains Out With Bigotry, Chopped Off My Wings, So I Couldn't Fly Free, And Dared Me To Be Me, Took My Drum, Broke My Hands, Yanked My Roots Right Up Out Of The Land, And Riddled My Soul With Jesus" 'what I Want To See' Describes A Utopia - A Refuge From Hurt And Those Who'd Make "our Vision Blurred, And Our Faith Obscure", Whilst The Title Track 'understand What Black Is' Aims To Transcend Ethnicity: "understand What Black Is....it's The Source From Which All Things Come...black Is A Hero, Not A Villain."
The Album Even Takes Reference From Prince's 2003 Album Of Instrumentals, 'news', Which Hassan Drew Comparisons From With His Own Childhood Experiences: "that Poem Took Me About A Year To Write....i Just Kept Writing And Writing But Not Getting Too Far And Then I Heard That Album And The Musicianship Was Amazing. I Was Left Wondering If It Was Jazz, Classical, Rock Or Maybe Something New But All Those Images That I Write About Came To Me From Listening To That Album. I Loved Prince In That Movie Purple Rain Because My Father Was A Talented Musician But He Was Into Brutalising Mama At Times And In The Movie There's A Jerome And My Name Is Jerome, So It Was Like He Was Telling My Life Story As Well."
The Album Acts As A Body Of Work Between Individual Members Each Speaking Of Their Own Personal Journeys, But Feeding Into The Much Larger Narrative Of Struggle And Oppression, Alongside A Fervent Hunger For Social Change. These Are Struggles And Tests Of Personal Resolve That Have Directly Shaped And Moulded The Bands' Unique Sound Over The Course Of An Impressive 50 Years, And Their Powerful And Influential Commentary Remains As Relevant As Ever.
8th release from RBMB
Lil'dave is a Philadelphia-based audio tastemaker who has made a name for himself by exposing people to soulful music in all it's forms. As a DJ, he can easily whip the most mainstream crowd into a frenzy, but he is at his best when he digs deep into his crates for funky grooves, broken boogie, and thumping bass. When it comes to making music, lil'dave's productions draw from his hiphop roots, as well as his love of house, afrobeat, uk garage, salsa, jazz, synthesizers, and soul. He has released music as lil'dave, Illvibe Collective, and under his electronic alias, Osage.
Somewhere between electro soul and melodramatic pop. Music focused towards the youth set in some strange dream. Not sugarcoating anything.
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Aset was a collective founded by a group of individuals deeply involved in community improvement initiatives and the struggle for justice and equality. A project that would link motivated adults with talented young people in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.
The compilation takes songs from three released projects of Aset, and one semi-unreleased single. Latonya, a spunky 11 year old kid singing about divorce, love, and dancing. The poster child of Aset. Treo, a trio of high school gals in harmony singing about love and relationships. Whax, the high school boys who were a bit stranger, the silly side of Aset. All backed by The Aset Players.
Release comes housed in a newly designed jacket with inner sleeve containing info on the label/artists and an interview with the label director, Mba Mbulu.
After two big EP's, DJ/producer powerhouses Steffi and Martyn team up once again for their debut LP on 3024! Punchy, straight forward house and techno with a broken twist and beautiful layers of melodies and sound, dedicated to those who feel..
"When two of the best team up! Melodic techno at its best!"
Jonas Lion / Hello Play
"Wow! Very atmospheric sound! Great album!!! 5/5"
Mixmag
"Brilliance from two masters of the game."
XLR8R
"Has a rough-n-tumbling '90s romanticism that is really hard to capture in a lot of tracks nowadays - that's already an achievement but the tracks are also heartfelt bangers. Terrific LP!"
Mitch Strasnov / URB
"Coming out around my birthday, what a feast. It's You I See makes me wanna play all those old 808 State and Gerald singles again."
Rene Passet / DJBroadcast
"Very soulful and even spiritual, at a time music needs it most."
Matrixxman
"Legendary from the first listen. Five thumbs up. LOVE IT!!!"
Ambivalent / LA4A
"Very VERY VERY Cool release indeed. Quality music as always on 3024"
Laurent Garnier
"Its exactly how I imagined FSOL now, if they took a less arty route"
Kink
After the success of Gti008 8ball is back with another jungle excursion, although this time they have gone for the more smoother side of the genre. On the flip side is a complete reworking from the house legend that is MR G. After pumping the parts through his MPC, MR G has put a hard breaky house dub together, which should hit the mark with a lot of people.
8Ball's sound has been picking up momentum over the last year with a sell out cassette, vinyl EP and plenty of plays on soundcloud and other digital outlets.
Red hot drum lead track backed by boiling point late night to early morning long haul truck driving or dancing music. Shazam!
Vital Sales Points:
(Drum track playing loudly)
The saws and sines have aligned! It's HOW007 time.
The release in front of your face is called The 417. It is three songs by Daniel Savio released on 12" vinyl strictly limited to 200 copies + an everlasting (we'll see how that works out) digital version of those same songs.
This recording was conjured up on machinery people are known to touch and sell. MK1 menu diving desktop stuff. Stuff that is ten years old, stuff that may be older. Stuff that purrs, rocks, bounces and skates. Machine prototypes on trade show floors will not be able to make songs like these. Unless you would hand them to Daniel which would lead to all sorts of inconsistencies in time.
Last year Daniel Savio's "Race To The Bottom" and his "Plejjern från Plejaderna" album took Swedish house music by storm. It is now with great delight that we hand you this 12", acclaimed by well-informed DJs. Music centred around feelings for what is in front of our faces at the moment. HOW007, get in while you can.
Ukraine's living house legend SE62 debuts on Hot Haus - having previously released one of the biggest house tracks of recent times - True Force on My Love Is Underground back in 2013 - he returns to the classic house ingredients for this incredible 4 track EP!
Truly nuts and really kind of essential... the Starship Commander had his whole approach to the Synthesiser Voice technique. B-Boys/Girls delight. Check the instrumental cut, Mastership - a head nod synth voyage of the highest order. Limited copies. TIP!
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'How are you doing, Earthling' That's how Omer Coleman, Jr. addressed his public in the 80s, driving around Kansas City, Missouri in the electric space-car built especially for his alter ego Starship Commander Wooooo Wooooo.
Left Ear Records went back to Coleman's original master tapes for their vinyl reissue of the Commander's 1981 private press album Mastership, a lost electronic funk classic. Coleman performs in an alien voice that comes not from electronic filtering but from his own natural vocal distortions. This visitor from Mars wants people to be happy and, like his song goes, 'Laugh and Dance.' It's an endearing and very personal space-age funk that blends George Clinton and Kraftwerk in a vision of a better and happier world.
Born and raised in Kansas City, Coleman was musically inclined from an early age. His parents couldn't afford to buy him a real drum for orchestra, so he took up electrical wiring and wood shop instead, which fed his muse in a different direction. Omer built enormous speaker cabinets. In the late '70s he was a DJ, and ran a Mobile Disco business that took him across the country, hosting parties. After a trip to California, he came back to Kansas City inspired to dress up as Commander Wooooo Wooooo.
The future commander began working at the Armco Steel Mill in Kansas City when he was 18. He was inspired by older machinists who demanded perfection in their work and in their character. It was while he was working at the steel mill that Coleman came up with Starship Commander Wooooo Wooooo. One day coworker John Manley came up to Coleman with a vision of an electric car, and built it. His coworkers built all of his equipment, from lighting and fog machines to big steel eyeglasses. Coleman's sister, a seamstress, created his outfits.
Coleman started his own label in 1985 but took some time off from music to raise his children, and when they came of age his son recorded with Coleman as a gospel vocalist. When his son was killed in an auto accident in 2004, it took something out of him, and he stopped making music. But he's starting to get the feeling again.
Now 62, he's currently enjoying his retirement from a long stint with the IRS. The former Commander is in the middle of a house project where he's using metal ceiling tiles to line his walls. It's starting to look like a spaceship. Coleman promises, 'There is a real good possibility that we have not seen the last of Starship Commander Wooooo Wooooo!
Pat Padua'
Javonntte Detroit native producer is delivering here 4 tracks of house music for Attias brothers label. The a side contains 2 versions of a killer soulful vocal track « Searching « with his typical voice and repeating technique to get to a certain soul mantra in your head and certainly your legs ! On the flipside you have 2 rough and funky instrumental house nuggets . 2 tunes to make people dance . 2 rolling house numbers in the tradition of dirty Detroit underground dance tracks. I hope you'll enjoy as much as we do , its aimed to the dancefloor. Stay tuned we will also soon release a collaboration between Alex Attias and Javonntte
Includes 12' Vinyl and Deluxe CD album, 30 page hard back book
Now that I've been to Nashville,' Kylie Minogue says with audible affection, I understand. It's like some sort of musical ley-line...'
Golden, Kylie's fourteenth studio album, is the result of an intensive working trip to the home of Country music, a city whose influence lingered on long after the pop legend and her team returned to London to finish the record: We definitely brought a bit of Nashville back with us,' she states. The album is a vibrant hybrid, blending Kylie's familiar pop-dance sound with an unmistakeable Tennessee twang. It was Jamie Nelson, Kylie's long-serving A&R man, who first came up with the concept of incorporating a Country element' into Kylie's tried-and-trusted style. That idea sat there for a little while, with Minogue and her team initially unsure about how to bring it to life. Then, when Grammy-winning songwriter Amy Wadge's publisher suggested Kylie should come over to collaborate in Nashville, a city Kylie had previously never visited, something clicked. You know when you're so excited about something,' she recalls, that you repeat it an octave higher and double the decibels I was like that. 'Nashville! Yes! Of course I would!'. I hoped it would help the album to reveal itself. I thought 'If I don't get it in Nashville, I'm not going to get it anywhere.''
Kylie's Nashville trip involved working alongside two key writers, both with homes in the city. One was British-born songwriter Steve McEwan (whose credits include huge Country hits for Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney and Carrie Underwood), and the other was the aforementioned Amy Wadge, another Brit (best known for her mega-selling work with Ed Sheeran). It was then a truly international project: Golden was mainly created with African-German producer Sky Adams and a list of contributors including Jesse Frasure, Eg White, Jon Green, Biff Stannard, Samuel Dixon, Danny Shah and Lindsay Rimes, and there's a duet with English singer Jack Savoretti.
However, the album's agenda-setting lead single Dancing was, significantly, first demoed with Nathan Chapman, the man who guided Taylor Swift's transition from Country starlet to Pop megastar. If anyone knows how to mix those two genres, Chapman does. Nathan was the only actual Nashvillean I worked with. He's got a huge studio in his house, which is probably due to his success with Taylor... there's plenty of platinum discs of her, and others on his walls.' There's something of the spirit of Peggy Lee's Is That All There Is, of Dylan Thomas' Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night, even of Liza Minnelli's Cabaret about Dancing, a song which not only opens the album but sets out its stall, providing a microcosm of what is to come. You've got the lyrical edge, that Country feel, mixed with some sampling of the voice and electronic elements, so it does what it says on the label. And I love that it's called 'Dancing', it's immediately accessible and seemingly so obvious, but there's depth within the song.'
The experience of simply being in Nashville was an overwhelming one, before Kylie had even arrived. Once I knew I was going to Nashville, people talked about the place with such enthusiasm. They said without doubt I would love it and, I would come back with songs. They were sending lists of restaurants, coffee shops and bars. It really was a beautiful and genuine response and it felt like I was about to have a life changing experience and in a way, I did.' The reality came as something of a surprise, when she found a far more modern metropolis than the vintage one she'd envisaged. I thought it would be like New Orleans: little houses and bars, with music spilling out onto the street. It reminded me more of Melbourne: apartment blocks going up everywhere! The main strip, Broadway, where the honky tonk bars are, that's where the street was filled with music and it was just amazing.' Mainly, Minogue remembers the heat and humidity. It was 100 degrees. It was like it was raining with no rain.' She also relished the chance to wander around unrecognised, visit a few venerable music bars and soak in the atmosphere. I didn't get to the Grand Ole Opry or the music museums but I managed to go to a couple of the institutions there like The Bluebird Cafe and The Listening Room, and just by being there, through some kind of osmosis, you get this rejuvenated respect for The Song, and the writing of The Song. There's no hoo-hah around it. There's a singer-songwriter there, talking about the song and singing the song, to an audience who are there to listen. Although, I have to confess I was guilty of starting to clap too soon during a long pause at the end of one of the songs. The guy made a bit of a joke out of it and got a laugh from it, but I thought 'Of all people in the audience, no...''
It's probably no coincidence, therefore, that every track on Golden is a Kylie co-write, making it arguably her most personal album to date. The end of 2016 was not a good time for me,' she says, referring to well-documented personal upheavals, so when I started working on the album in 2017, it was, in many ways, a great escape. Making this album was a kind of saviour. I'd been through some turmoil and was quite fragile when I started work on it, but being able to express myself in the studio made quick work of regaining my sense of self. Writing about various aspects of my life, the highs and lows, with a real sense of knowing and of truth. And irony. And joy!'
The songwriting process allowed Kylie to get a few things out of her system. Initially, she admits, it was cathartic, but it also wasn't very good. I think I was writing too literally. But I reached a point where I was writing about the bigger-picture, and that was a breakthrough. It made way for songs like Stop Me From Falling and One Last Kiss. It also meant I had enough distance to write an autobiographical song, like A Lifetime To Repair, with a certain amount of humour. The countdown in that song: 'Six-five-four-three, too many times...'. I don't know if that will be a single, but I can just imagine a girl with framed pictures of past boyfriends, and kind of going 'Oh god, when am I going to get this right'' When she listens back to Golden, Kylie can vividly hear the Nashville in it. It is, she'll agree, probably the first time that a Kylie album has sounded like the place it was made. You wouldn't normally relate my songs to the cities. Can't Get You Out Of My Head sounds more like Outer Space than London. But Shelby '68, for example, was written in London but it was done with Nashville in mind. It's about my Dad's car, and my brother recorded Dad driving it! I don't think I'd have written a number of the songs, including Shelby '68 and Radio On without having had that Nashville experience.'
The latter, she says, is about music being the one to save you.' Throwing herself into the making of the record, she says, crystallised that idea. If there's one love that will always be there for you, it's music. Well, it is for me, anyway.' That song, in particular, carries nostalgic echoes of the golden age of Country, as heard through Medium Wave transistors and tinny home stereos in the distant past. Like any child of the Seventies, Kylie had a basic grounding in Country music, mainly absorbed from older family members. My Step-Grandfather was born in Kentucky and though he lived most of his adult life in Australia, he never stopped listening to his beloved Country artists.' If there's any classic Country singer whose imprint can be heard on Golden, it's Dolly Parton.
Kylie saw Dolly live for the first time at the end of 2016, at the Hollywood Bowl. It was like seeing the light,' she beams. It was incredible. Everyone, whether they know it or not, is a Dolly Parton fan. When I was in Nashville, I did pick up a T-shirt that said 'What Would Dolly Do' Maybe that should be my mantra.' And, whether consciously or otherwise, there's a timbre and trill to Kylie's vocals on Radio On that is distinctly Parton-esque. My delivery is quite different on this album,' she says. A lot of things are 'sung' less. The first time I did that was with Where The Wild Roses Grow. On the day I met Nick Cave, when I recorded my vocals, he said 'Just sing it less. Talk it through, tell the story.' This album wasn't quite to that extreme, but a lot of the songs were done in fewer takes, to just capture the moment and keep imperfections that add to the song. I remember on my last album, a lot of producers were trying to take out literally every vibrato they heard. And that's not natural to my voice. I mean, I can make myself sound like a robot, but it's nice to sound like a human!' Working within the Country genre also gave Kylie permission to write in the Nashville vernacular. Because we were going there, I wasn't afraid to have lines like 'When he's fallen off the wagon we'd still dance to our favourite slow song', 'Ten sheets to the wind, I was all confused', 'I'll take the ride if it's your rodeo'. The challenge of bringing a Country element to the album made the process feel very fresh to me, kind of like starting over. I started to look at writing a different way, singing a different way.'
If ever Kylie lost confidence in the Country-Pop concept, and found herself pondering This is great, but back in the real world - my real world - how will this work', Jamie Nelson was there to badger her into sticking to the path. We found a way to make it a hybrid with what we'll call my 'usual' sound. It had to stay 'pop' enough to stay authentic to me, but country enough to be a new sound for this album. The closer we zoomed in, and the more we honed it, I knew Jamie was right. We sacrificed good songs that weren't right for this album, because we wanted it to be as cohesive as possible. The songs that were hitting the mark were these ones, so we decided to be strong, and that's how we wrapped up the album. What he said, that stuck with me, was that 'I'd hate to get to the end of this and really wish we'd gone for it.'' Having worked with Kylie for so long, Nelson was able to put this latest shift of direction into perspective. He said 'You've traditionally done it throughout your career. You had your PWL time, then you did a complete turn when you went to deConstruction, then another complete turn with Spinning Around, and R&B dance-pop, and then another turn with Can't Get You Out Of My Head, icy synth-pop, and this is another one.' He was right. It felt like the right time to have a change sonically. New label, new stories to tell, and a new decade almost upon me.'
Kylie Minogue will, it's scarcely believable, turn 50 this year. This looming milestone is partly behind the album's title, and title track. I had this line that I wanted to use: 'We're not young, we're not old, we're golden' because I'm asked so often about being my age in this industry. This year, I'll be 50. And I get it, I get the interest, but I don't know how to answer it. And that line, for my personal satisfaction, says it as succinctly as possible. We can't be anyone else, we can't be younger or older than we are, we can only be ourselves. We're golden. And the album title, Golden, reflects all of this. I liked the idea of everyone being golden, shining in their own way. The sun shines in daylight, the moon shines in darkness. Wherever we are in life, we are still golden.' One of the album's shiniest moments is Raining Glitter, an exuberant banger which ventures closest to Kylie's traditional dance-pop comfort zone. Eg White, who is one of the producers and writers and a great character, was talking about disco one day. I said 'I love disco, but you know the brief.' We needed to be going down the Country lane, so to speak. But we managed to bring them both together. When I wrote it, I was thinking about the Jacksons video for Can You Feel It where they're sprinkling glitter over everyone. And I think there's a Donna Summer record that's got that feel to it. I think that's my job: I basically leave a trail of glitter after every show I do anyway.'
Kylie is looking forward to the challenge of incorporating the Golden material into her live shows. Mixing these songs in with my existing catalogue is going to be fun. And it could be fun to do some of those songs with just a guitar. It'll make my acoustic set interesting...'Her incredibly loyal fans - to whom one Golden song, Sincerely Yours, is intended as a love letter' - will, she believes, have no problem with her latest stylistic shift. My audience have been with me on the journey, so I shouldn't be afraid that they won't come with me on this part. I've had fun with it, and I'm sure they will too.'
The time spent making Golden has, Kylie says, been a time of creative and personal renewal. I've met some amazing people, truly inspiring writers and musicians. My passion for music has never gone away, but it's got bigger and stronger.' And if there's an overriding theme to the record, it is one of acceptance. We're all human and it's OK to make mistakes, get it wrong, to want to run, to want to belong, to love, to dream. To be ourselves.'
I was able to both lose and find myself whilst making this album.'
It was chance that brought about the release of One/Three, Dabrye's debut album. Early demos were tucked on the B side of a cassette Tadd Mullinix passed to Sam Valenti in 2000 while working at the Dubplate Pressure record shop in Ann Arbor. Mullinix had spent the late '90s producing jungle, techno, house, hip-hop and more using the All Sound Tracker software as a primary instrument. Each style pulled from a similar sound palette as Mullinix used limitations to define the contours of di-erent musical personalities. Dabrye was his hip-hop wildstyle, a captivating collage of sparse instrumentals inspired by the laid back vibes of midwestern hip-hop and east coast boom bap, the futuristic funk of Umma-era Jay Dee, and the calculated subtlety of Detroit dance music. Released in 2001 as the first in an intended trilogy, One/Three announced Dabrye's arrival with an unavoidable contribution to Detroit hip-hop. Ghostly International is reissuing the album in 2017 for the first time, including a long overdue vinyl edition.
On its release One/Three was the rare album that appealed to both fans of Slum Village's smooth yet rugged hip-hop and enthusiasts of the distinct American IDM released by labels like Schematic. Over the following decade, the inadvertent demo submission turned into a body of work that placed Dabrye alongside innovators such as Prefuse 73 amid the cannon of a new generation of producers. Today, One/Three remains a concise and intriguing study in instrumental hip-hop that helps join the dots between J Dilla and Flying Lotus.
One/Three is a record that says much with little. There are no obvious hip-hop tropes. Instead Mullinix captures the ingenious minimalism of '90s hip-hop instrumentals to build tracks both supple and hard, joyous and melancholy, full of sharply angled rhythms and warm rubbery basslines: 'The Lish' throws a sickly sweet saxophone against digitally fragmented melodies, 'How Many Times (with this)' draws you in with an irresistible, clipped guitar groove, the rhythmic stutter of 'Smoking The Edge' makes your head spin with pleasure. Playing with his inspirations, Mullinix injects omitted downbeats for imagined rhymes and repurposes the intricacy of ragga jungle for breakdowns.
But what really defines One/Three is the rhythmic sensibility and metric modulation of Detroit's school of hip-hop production, which Mullinix was a fervent student of. The beats feel like they're constantly escaping a rigid tempo grid even though they are, in fact, pretty tight. A lot of it is nuance,' Mullinix explains. I've been known to say that I'm not impressed by spectacle. I think that nuance is what really captivates people.'
If you like your beats with a dash of class, do not miss this. An essential purchase of the highest order.' -BBC
- First time all tracks from the original 2001 release appear on vinyl.
- Remastered by Daddy Kev
- Standard weight black vinyl is inserted in to 3.5mm matte finish vinyl jacket.
- Download card includes free download of the Payback EP
Alien Ensemble's trombone man Mathias Goetz caused quite a splash when he released his eponymous debut LP under his Le Millipede moniker back in 2015: The multi-instrumentalist's initial offering was clearly something else, impossible to grasp, a musical vessel beyond genre, beyond style or era, seemingly beyond space and time even, a vessel that carried an almost cosmic kind of song-craft - music with no fixed stamp of origin, though it did somehow feel like an Alien Transistor release. Followed by remix album Mirror Mirror, which comprised reworks by 1115, Protein, LeRoy, Olaf Opal, and Saroos, to name a few, it's now time for album #2: The Sun Has No Money.Let's face it: There's nothing as majestic as the sun. At least not in our world. If it runs out of juice one day, it's game over: The End. Light's out. For everyone. At that point, it wouldn't even matter if you're rich or poor. We're all equal under the sun. Same level. And yeah, this might not be major news, but then again... we're talking about the sun. The sun! Guess it's about time to acknowledge its power and superiority, right In fact, you can feel it on your bicycle: pedaling at night, when it's on duty in other hemispheres, and you're working hard at the dynamo, sweating, you can actually feel how powerful it is. In the end you get off the bike all recharged, a tune on your lips - and somehow feeling like a miniature version of the sun yourself. And whenever you feel like that, that's exactly the right moment to grab a melodica and get to work.Following an initial warm-up round sans electricity, this new album soon begins to glow: Mathias Goetz aka Le Millipede doesn't need pedals, he boosts circulation by single-handedly* playing tons and tons of different instruments - it actually feels like thousands, easily. And thus begins a show that has countless levels to it: There are various sonic illusions... and yet Le Millipede doesn't hide anything: He's also willing to show the inner workings, the actual recording process and everything else. In short: he goes meta. Makes songs about making songs. That's right: why not use all these beautiful means to address the issue of money It's not the sun that casts shadows, all it does is recharge, fuel: growth & thriving, that's the sun's area of responsibility. And yet there came a man whose plan was simple: steal the fruit from your garden, only to sell it right back to you, for money. We can hear the sea gulls crying in the distance, as somebody is throwing breadcrumbs up into the wind that carries their voices...It's not the sun that casts shadows - all it does is radiate light. And yet there came a time when someone blocked those rays of light. Now if you're some kind of Diogenes, you'll simply say, Move at least a little out of the sun.' But if you're a teacher, you'll maybe light up your pipe and use that to lighten up. What matters is that the percussion parts, in this case, resemble some serious musique concréte. The sun doesn't know shadows - all it knows, is itself. And yet somebody entered the picture and built an entire city. A city full of streets, so that houses can cast shadows into these avenues. Plus, there's music in the streets, music originally written inside the walls of said houses.One of those streets is known as the Tin Pan Alley: a place that got its name from a music writer who compared the sound of so many pianos to the banging of tin pans. That sound: that's one side of the road that is this album. Some of these melodies appear to be shadows of earlier tunes, dating back to, say, 1898 or even before that, melodies that were first registered in the Tin Pan Alley publishers' offices back in 1912 or 1917. We actually get to see this Alley at that point in time. We see the ropes, the workings. How things come together, the actual act of creation. Suddenly, we can hear the shadows!
Okay, so one side of this street is America. The US of A. The opposite side: Russia. And smack dab in the middle: Europe. A pothole in the center. All the back-and-forth that occurs between these two poles ultimately depends on the movement of the sun. Night and day, taking turns, commuting in and out of sight. We get to meet Prokofiew's and Scriabin's ghost, among other spirits, reframed and published by Le Millipede's own imaginary label imprint on the historic Tin Pan Alley. Indeed there are moments on this album when Le Millipede seems to be playing Scriabin's clavier a` lumie`res (tastiera per luce), when his performance seems to be based on synesthesia, a wild cross-pollination of colors and sounds. In case you didn't know this: In the States, Prokofiew goes by the name Brian Wilson, and Scriabin's also known as Sun Ra - yet another guy who's usually broke, but gets to spend a lot of time out in the sun. Together, these assorted protagonists ask the people of the Antilles for Mutabor dance-tokens and send postcards to Moondog in Germany, right back into the darkness. On the postcards you can see people dancing the Biguine...Firing foreign fossil fuels from all pipes (Brennelementsteuer!), Le Millipede controls the very center of this hustle and bustle: going as far as to employ some southern Chopped & Screwed styles, he's 100% current and zeitgeisty! Houston, we've got a problem: there's some kind of myriapod, centi- or millipede on the loose! Well, give me another sip of lean, sizzurp, dirty Sprite, and on goes the journey in the Pullman coach. Let's follow the sun! Keep on moving, keep things motorik! Here comes the Trans-Eureka-Express. Cherish the backpacking days! A piercing rhapsody of sound (bohrende Rhapsodie), we'll remember them fondly! And thus things move on, the sun, the days, the earth: rise, set, action, round and round... onwards eternally. The sun: the biggest loop known to mankind. As if it was some kind of sonic Rube Goldberg contraption, time seems to be stretching out while listening to that hmmm. After all: time is a lot (a lot!) more than just money. And yeah, the sun is the real big shot on (or rather: above) Planet Earth. Le Millipede's live line-up also includes Markus & Micha Acher (The Notwist etc.), Nico Sierig (Joasihno), and Manuela Rzytki (G. Rag & die Landlergschwister, Kamerakino etc.).
*sole exception: Evi Keglmaier (Zwirbeldirn, Hochzeitskapelle) plays the viola. Words/sun worship: Pico Be
People Places & Things is the single project of Manchester born & London based Mike Checuti. Mike grew listening to a heavy mixture of horror & film soundtracks an equal dose of the early electro via the legendary Spin Inn records & then the hedonistic sounds of The Hacienda & the more underground Thunderdome nightclub.
Mike was encouraged to press ahead with the project after a visit to Los Angeles & spending time in the studio with Atticus Ross (Gone Girl & The Social Network soundtrack composer).
Treating Patient A is the first in a trilogy of releases by People Places & Things each pulling from the above mentioned influences but each EP having it's own variation whilst keeping the references points clearly audible along with People Places & Things own take of these sounds at the forefront.
People Places & Things along with Gabe Guernsey of Factory Floor have recently just composed the soundtrack for the latest film for the forthcoming Adidas Spezial range which commemorates 30 years of Acid house.
Artwork for each 12" is designed by Andrew Jackson & each sleeve is individually hand printed thus having its own unique imprint and limited to only 200 copies.
The press & publicity for the release and project as while will be handled by 'The Rest is Noise'
It's the big 5! Berlin - Frankfurt based label House Is OK is celebrating its five-year long presence and has decided to mark that period with something special Label's story started with a sticker Homeboy printed in his former hometown, Zagreb, saying House Is OK'. Catchy, right It became an underground slogan of the local scene. It didn't take long for people to embrace the idea stating that it's OK to be into melodic, fresh, groovy yet, at times, a bit awkward dance music.
Just around the same time Homeboy's Frankfurt based bro's Oliver Achatz and Janis played with the idea of starting a record label. Guess what the logical choice for the name was
Ten records, dozens of original songs and remixes later House is OK continues to grow.
Literally. What was once a platform for the original three founders is now an international family affair supporting the talented artists from Frankfurt, Stockholm, Alexandria and Orlando. Nurturing the friendly approach this musical family continues to grow.
Looking back at the first five years, not only at the music that connected them all but at the bonds that deepened through the production process, House is OK crew wanted to take
create a proper reminder and thank the ones supporting them throughout the years. A double 12' pack titled Gemišt' seemed like a proper way to do that.
- Gemišt will be released as two separate EPs featuring the original music from Kornél Kovacs, Roman Flügel, Gavri & McQueen, TCB, House Of Life and the label makers themselves. Oliver and Janis deliver tracks under their known names, while Homeboy
introduces his new project with fellow Wilde Renate resident The Swift, called Longhair.
Croatian artist Ugruv Smek marks his yearlong collaboration with the label delivering yet another smashing artwork.
Mark the upcoming February when Gemišt part I' is to be released and while you're at it, move on to March just so you don't miss the Gemišt part II' release. And yeah, in case you're wondering - of course it's both 12' EP release and in digital format. House is OK's got you covered.
Label boss Nachtbraker is finally making his solo debut on Quartet Series after a successful EP last year on Heist Recordings. Widely known for exploring different sounds and angles with his productions, this record is the most club-orientated to date. Intricate ghetto house with a slight French touch to straight up 4x4 with a pinch of jacking flavour would be an accurate description of this release. The use of 90's hip hop samples within this auditory concoction successfully highlights Nachtbraker's excellent ear for detail and penchant for exciting, eclectic and downright weird changeovers. The main hitter taking over the full A side is the title track 'Small Towel People". An uplifting bass line accompanied by heated 909 percussion and a hypnotic thriving arp to seal the deal. On the flipside, you'll find 'Kippendijen' on the B1. A heavyweight in the house category, some glimpses of early days jacking house and a little French touch on the filter. Throw in a breakdown even Houdini wouldn't be able to handle and you'll find yourself putting this track on repeat. Then when the needle hits the B2 groove, 'Zomaar' kicks off with an energetic mpc style breakbeat before morphing into a deep jam of lush chords and a thrusting 4x4 beat. The track closes after switching back to the first part of the record and ends in a sublimely deep and dubby breakbeat.
It's the big 5! Berlin - Frankfurt based label House Is OK is celebrating its five-year long presence and has decided to mark that period with something special Label's story started with a sticker Homeboy printed in his former hometown, Zagreb, saying 'House Is OK'. Catchy, right It became an underground slogan of the local scene. It didn't take long for people to embrace the idea stating that it's OK to be into melodic, fresh, groovy yet, at times, a bit awkward dance music. Just around the same time Homeboy's Frankfurt based bro's Oliver Achatz and Janis played with the idea of starting a record label. Guess what the logical choice for the name was Ten records, dozens of original songs and remixes later House is OK continues to grow. Literally. What was once a platform for the original three founders is now an international family affair supporting the talented artists from Frankfurt, Stockholm, Alexandria and Orlando. Nurturing the friendly approach this musical family continues to grow. Looking back at the first five years, not only at the music that connected them all but at the bonds that deepened through the production process, House is OK crew wanted to take create a proper reminder and thank the ones supporting them throughout the years. A double 12' pack titled 'Gemišt' seemed like a proper way to do that. - Gemišt' will be released as two separate EPs featuring the original music from Kornél Kovacs, Roman Flügel, Gavri & McQueen, TCB, House Of Life and the label makers themselves. Oliver and Janis deliver tracks under their known names, while Homeboy introduces his new project with fellow Wilde Renate resident The Swift, called Longhair. Croatian artist Ugruv Smek marks his yearlong collaboration with the label delivering yet another smashing artwork.
Spin your ears back to 1989 and enjoy the debut album of Coldcut once again! The bouncy good-time cut-up party people got started with What's That Noise, a particularly lively swirl of breaks, acid house and hip-hop. The guest vocalists on the album includes Lisa Stansfield, Queen Latifah and Mark E. Smith. Reissued by Sony.
11 track album on standard black vinyl with download code insert
Moullinex is back with his finest album up to date, HYPERSEX, a collective love letter to club culture and its celebration of difference, freedom and love. In his third length, Moullinex reached out to several guest singers: Fritz Helder (Azari & III), Georgia Anne Muldrow (Flying Lotus, Mos Def), Iwona Skwarek (Rebeka), Best Youth, Marta Ren, Da Chick, UhAhUh and Tee Flowers, crafting a uniquely fresh piece that combines many of his musical influences, from the funk, groove and sunshine of his debut "Flora" to the psychedelia and tropicalia of 'Elsewhere'. Moullinex is the alter ego of the Portuguese producer and multiinstrumentalist Luis Clara Gomes. He's established himself as one of the leading artists in the modern disco scene, with several singles such as 'Take My Pain Away' and 'Maniac' ft. Peaches, and remixes of acts like Røyksopp, Cut Copy, Two Door Cinema Club and Grammyawarded artist RAC. The road to HYPERSEX has been paved by various singles and videos in 2017, expanding the spirit of collaboration to directors and visual artists, and gathered wide support from international tastemakers across the globe, including Vice, NPR, KCRW, Triple J, Majestic Casual, Les Inrockuptibles and Tsugi Mag. HYPERSEX is like Hypertext between humans, a system designed to multiply ideas and connections between people. The dance floor is the perfect medium.
Durban's 23 year-old producer Emo Kid has announced he is to release eight-track debut EP, 'Gqomtera', through Gqom Oh! on September 22nd. Although titled 'Gqomtera', which Emo Kid explains is a slang term he and others use for the music, the record actually explores Sgubhu — another strain of South African dance music that shares many stylistic parallels with Gqom, though is always written with a 4x4 beat. Like DJ Lag before him, an artist widely considered the king of Gqom, Emo Kid is also considered a pioneer in Durban; 'Some people call me the Sgubhu king, but I'm just happy they're enjoying my music', he says. Based in Inanda, in the Etafuleni area township in Durban, Emo Kid's house looks out over an area called Isandlwana — the spot where the Zulu army famously defeated the British Army in the Battle Of Isandlwana in 1879. It is from this backdrop that he has written the majority of his music over the last few years, including new record 'Gqomtera'. At eight tracks long, 'Gqomtera' provides a comprehensive overview of the Sgubhu sound, with the aim of taking the listener on their own 'Durban Journey'. 'I wanted to show the uniqueness of my own style which I would describe as more musical', Emo Kid explains, 'you can feel the music when you listen but it still hits hard with that Gqom flavour.' That Gqom flavour, powered by hard, fast, uncompromising drums, provides a solid core from which everything else functions. Bright, shimmering trance synths feature on 'Futuristic Gqom', while on 'Enkwarini' — 'another word for a party or fantastic get together' — vocalist Fawell skips over light, playful Sgubhu rhythms. There's also space for harder, deeper cuts like 'Ground Shaker', cut with a twinkling melody line, the charging pace and power of 'Insimbi Yase Dubane' and the anthemic 'Asbambeki' featuring local crew TLC Fam, translating loosely to being unstoppable; 'It means you can't catch us basically', Emo Kid says proudly, 'On the dance floor, you can't touch us, we're on fire.' Capturing the raw, street sounds of his city, Emo Kid is the latest Durban artist to take the music global and with 'Gqomtera', put Sgubhu firmly on the map.
'Girlfriends and other machines' is another distinctive work by mostly undiscovered berlin based artist rhytch displaying his unique dirty and soulful sound. The 6 track EP varies from edgy deep house to weirdo krautrock reminding one of the genreroots, while sounding like a legit fresh reinterpretation. The artists voice being revealed on most of the tracks is giving the listener a glimpse of who he is and adds some character traits to infamous rhytch. The EP gets completed by an outstanding Marbod Remix, which is going to make people snap with its flickering distorted 909 hats woven into one of his typical psychedelic housepads creating an irresistible groove and atmosphere. The EP being released on berlin underground imprint lofile records is a nice prospect of what is to expect of further releases and obviously a wise choice for label and artist which share the same hobbies - drinking and smoking.
Professor Rhythm is the production moniker of South African music man Thami Mdluli. Throughout the 1980's, Mdluli was member of chart-topping groups Taboo and CJB, playing bubblegum pop to stadiums. Mdluli became an in-demand producer for influential artists (like Sox and Sensations, among many others) and in-house producer for important record companies like Eric Frisch and Tusk. During the early '80s, Mdluli projects usually featured an instrumental dance track. These hot instrumentals became rather popular. Fans demanded to hear more of these backing tracks without vocals, he says, so Mdluli began to make solo instrumental albums in 1985 as Professor Rhythm. He got the name before the recordings began, from fans, and positive momentum from audiences and other musicians drove him to invest himself in a full-on solo project. It was the era just before the end of apartheid and house music hadn't taken over yet. There wasn't instrumental electronic music yet in South Afric a. As the '80s came to a close, that was about to change. Professor Rhythm productions mirror the evolution of dance music in South Africa. They grew out of the bubblegum mold - which itself stems from band's channeling influences like Kool & the Gang and the Commodores - into something based on music for the club. His early instrumental recordings First Time Around and Professor 3 mostly distilled R&B, mbaqanga and bubblegum grooves into vocal-less pieces for the dance floor. Musically, these were a success and commercially the albums all went gold. There were countless bubblegum albums flooding the marketplace, with nearly disposable vocalists backed by mostly similar-sounding rhythm tracks. Most of the lyrical content was light and apolitical. But the keyboards used formed the musical basis for what would come next. By the time Professor 4 and this recording Bafana Bafana - the name references South Africa's national soccer team - were released in the mid-1990s, k waito had fully emerged. Access to instruments and freedom of expression helped its rise in influence among youth. According to Mdluli, "Once Mandela was released from prison and people felt more free to express themselves and move around town, kwaito was becoming the thing." Lyrically, kwaito championed the local township lingo while adapting "international music," house music, into the local context. "International Music," as house music and early kwaito were interchangeably known, in many ways reflects the sounds coming from America. But South Africans made it their own. Today, the largest part of the music industry is occupied by house music and its relatives.
For his third release, VERTV returns by presenting the first EP of the new Icône serie that focus on showcasing local talents and friends from the label's circle, the songs are put together in order to create a coherent yet versatile DJ friendly EPs that can be as much appreciated as a whole than separately.Built as a crescendo, Icône 1 is a great summary of the label interests from Jazz (Rafiki's La Fourche), urban melancolia (Monomite's City Life), deep funkyness (label's cofounder Neue Grafik & Lieu Saint are making their first appearance on VERTV here with Moutons Electriques and Sale Paradis) to spontaneous straighter-to-the-face lo-fiesque house killers (Mad Rey's Travail de Porc).Icone #1 is a great panomara of what you could expect from the people from VERTV.
After making waves a few years back via his Potatohead People project (with AstroLogical) and co-producing Illa J's critically acclaimed self titled LP, Vancouver based playboy & producer Nick Wisdom steps out from behind the boards to deliver his first solo release for Bastard Jazz.
The "Intimate Strangers" EP mines deep into Nick's proclivities for disco, hip-hop, and house flavours. "Good Times" kicks things off with a snapping four on the floor, deep Rhodes chords and a rollicking bassline and vocals courtesy of Mr. Wisdom himself. "Feelin' Alright" heads into outerspace disco territory with cosmic synths, walking bass, and sultry vocals courtesy of Reva Devito (HW&W, Kaytranada). On the flipside "Don't Tell" brings in some 80s boogie vibes with downlow vocals from San Francisco's K-Maxx, while "Rock The Cash Bar" is an instrumental party rocking hip-hop jam sounding like a modern day Showbiz & AG.
Too many people sleep on Tougher Than Leather, Run-DMC's fourth album. But hear us out as we plead the case for this amazing LP. By 1988 there was a lot more competition in the rap game - Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions, Eric B. & Rakim, Ice-T and many more had given Hollis, Queens' prodigal sons lots of competition. But Joe, Darryl and Jay were still at the top of their game, and hip-hop fans should never let this classic - chiefly produced by their Queens neighbor, DJ and multi-instrumentalist Davy D(MX) - get lost in their crates. For starters, the album's first single, Run's House' b/w Beats To The Rhyme' is arguably the most powerful one-two punch of the trio's career, showing contenders to the rap throne that they could still destroy a beat, tag-teaming with power at any speed. Not to be lost in the shuffle, fans were also reminded on both sides that Jam-Master Jay remained one of the world's best DJs, flexing the pinnacle of what would be called turntablism' a decade later. Both songs show a musical telepathy between all three that has rarely been equaled. The second single, Mary, Mary,' driven by an infectious Monkees sample, took a different approach, shrewdly ensuring that pop fans who jumped on the Raising Hell bandwagon had something to chew on. But, like Walk This Way,' the song wasn't just bubblegum - there was an edge to it, and the lyrical gymnastics were very real. It wasn't selling out, it was allowing fans to buy in. Papa Crazy,' driven in concept and by a sample from the Temptations' Papa Was A Rolling Stone,' followed a similar pop-leaning path. Overall, the lyrical content on the album was a step up from the group's first three LPs. It's easy to infer, looking back, that they were feeling the heat from their younger competitors in the rap game. The genre was changing fast, and they were up to the challenge. On cuts like Radio Station' they bring substance to the grooves, by attacking Black Radio for its continual denigration of rap. Tougher Than Leather' reminds the world that they were still the Kings of Rock, with hard guitars to drive the point home. And They Call Us Run-DMC' and Soul To Rock And Roll' both bring things back to their early days, with sure-fire park jam rhymes and killer cuts. Tougher Than Leather, which went platinum up against a lot of competition, perfectly bookends the '80s output of one of the decade's most important groups. It encompasses the full range of the trio's capabilities, and reminds us that Run-DMC should never be forgotten as both pioneers and party-rockers. And so, we say, long live Joe, Darryl and Jay!
The Cryovac machine operates independently to service the world with an original strain of techno. Our people are pioneers of their own sound and seasoned veterans of its' cause. This cause is the basis for our action and the motivation for our vinyl. Cryovac believes the vinyl format is the truest way to take in our music, and this is why we take great care to personally craft our own plates and photograph our own art. The Cryovac approach and stance make it a true oddity in a world of commodities, and we hope you realize, feel, and respect our work.
Andy Vaz is a rebel from the city of Cologne. He is a creator of techno labels that follow their own path and challenge the standard dogma. His version of the techno sound has gone from stark and funky minimalism to synth cascades and housey feels. Andy Vaz is the perfect choice to collaborate with Andy Garcia. Garcia's brand crunchy soul tech mixed with vocal nonsense is the yin to Vaz's yang. These like minds share a name, a spirit, and a drive to keep moving forward no matter the cost.
Music has always coursed through Roman Lindau's blood. Even if he weren't the accomplished producer and respected DJ he is today, the German audiophile would still be spending all his money on the stuff; giving over all his time to the art form. ''I'm a music junkie. I need music to live'' he states matter-of-factly. ''For me it's the elixir of life.''
Good job, then, that he gets to spend his ..
Roman Lindau is a German techno DJ, artists and producer, as well as being a core member of the infamous Fachwerk Records from Berlin.
Music has always coursed through Roman's veins ever since he was a young boy so it is no suprise that he became the accomplished producer and highly respected DJ that he is today.
In the late 2000´s Lindau became active in the Berlin electronic music scene, beginning to play music in clubs as well as producing his own music. The first track he released in 2008 on his home label Fachwerk Records appeared in one the world famous Berghain Mix Compilations, mixed by Len Faki. Following from this Berghain invited Roman to contribute an exclusive Track for Ben Klock´s Berghain Mix in 2009. After this success the gates opened for him to play regularly as a DJ at Berghain.
At the same time he continued to work on music for Fachwerk Records. He produced dance floor smashers like ´Crasse´ in 2011 and ´Rave on´ in 2014, which were charted by the likes of Ben Klock, Sven Väth & Chris Liebing, afirming his deserved place amongst the techno elite.
More recently in 2015 the well known Victor Calderone from NYC invited Roman to release on his label Matter+.
The reason why Roman is such a great DJ is because of the fact he knows what the people want! ''I love to dance and that's very important: as DJ you need to feel what the crowd want so you can help them to party and have fun.'' Combining a varied selection of raw house and techno in his sets, recent bookings have taken Roman across the world; from the hallowed techno Mecca that is Berghain to dark underground clubs as part of the recent Fachwerk label tour. He has performed at every legendary Berlin venue, past and present from Tresor to Berghain, and it is this that gives Roman the edge above the rest. If you can do it there, you can do it anywhere! From 2014 Till the closing he was a resident DJ at Stattbad, one of Berlins findest adress for Electronic Music.
'Eagles & Butterflies has taken storm in electronic wonderland' - Boiler Room Arpeggiator was originally titled '14 minutes of Arps' and its exactly that. Its one of the simplest tracks I'v ever made with probably only 8 layers that your weaves in and out the whole way through, really love the subtleness of this track where at the same time it is also a beast! Oyeme is maybe the E&B sound people are familiar with, big marimba melodies, fat sub and rolling hats with a big break, love this one Prophet was originally just an experiment when i purchased a prophet 6, its a little crazy and pretty full on, love the funky bass in the one from the SH 101. All the parts for this where recorded in a few takes live and two whole track was made in 2 hours!
U.K.-born, L.A.-based producer/DJ, Chris Barratt - aka - Eagles & Butterflies breaks all boundaries across the electronic music spectrum. His productions flow seamlessly through Downtempo, Techno, House and beyond, with releases on Innervisions, Bedrock, Exit Strategy, Sapiens and his own imprint Art Imitating Life. From remixing Underworld, RY X, Agoria, Moby, Andhim and Ludovico Einaudi, Eagles & Butterflies is the newest toast of the underground. His live sets have electrified stages around the world at events such as Circoloco, Awakenings, Mosaic By Maceo, Coachella, Junction 2, Lightning In A Bottle, Sacred Ground, Secret Garden Party, Tomorrowland and many more. With support from dance music heavyweights such as Dixon, Ame, DJ Tennis, John Digweed, Maceo Plex, E&B was also named one of Mixmag's Breakthrough Acts this year, was featured numerous times in DJ Magazine and was plucked for a guest mix on Pete Tong's BBC Radio show. Upcoming releases on Agoria's fresh imprint Sapiens, Art Imitating Life 003, features on Nic Fanculli's debut LP, a collab with John Digweed and a remix for RY X, the Eagle has most certainly landed.
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children are laughing and playing in the back, a baby screams happily: handsome field recordings welcome the listener to the final chapter of fred p's fp-oner trilogy for mule musiq.
the opening tune is called smiles, so children's laughter fit the mode. the idea is that smiles and cries are natural for children and as they grow to adulthood the reality becomes more, therefore the duality of life itself is obvious in the mood of the song.
the new york city native that is working on his very own music for almost 20 years explains about the beginning of his new album that features eleven tunes for deep meditative club use and beyond.
it brings the listener house music full of cosmic realities, odd jazzing moments, japanese spoken word pop, synth spheres for ambient use and an overall outer-national atmosphere, that handsomely dances between roughness and subtle tuned in deepness.
i chose to base this project on numbers in order to impart a bit of depth and substance. 5, 6 and 7 have a meaning in both the literal and esoteric sense. we as a species are a combination of matter and energy, so it is a matter of relating the two in harmony.
my experience as an artist expresses this. it's like a testimony to the human condition and how we relate to treat and mistreat one another. this view is the base of a philosophy that is close to me, be-cause art imitates life.
so rather than doing a project that highlights ego posture, my intent is more about what can i give to the listener. as a human being, as an artist, what can i share it's a part of a philosophical tug of war that goes a lot deeper than the expectation of what one might think a dance album or rather an elec-tronic music album should be.
it's food for thought, not candy and a soft drink, but real substance that stays with you.he reveals about the profundity of his trilogy. at large it is a journey inward, compelling, mesmerising and en-chanting.
for the final chapter fred p mostly produced in his studio in berlin on various synths and with a bunch of mysterious samples, all later organized and programmed in ableton. this project has a beginning mid-dle and end. the record 5 was intended to introduce a meditative energy within a rhythmic construct as the number 5 represents the dynamic and unpredictable.
the whole album carries the energy of that ilk. the album 6 is of an earthly and more harmonious dis-cord. i attempt to bring the inner conflict in the form of natural unnaturalness. the raw energy of the search in this project i think is self explanatory, which is the point i believe to show how flawed one can be but express very specific themes honestly.
finally, with 7 my goal is to merge the two into balance, as one focused state of mind as 7 is the thinker beyond understanding or beyond the illusion. this is my hope people take away from this: a feeling of growth, optimism and positive energy. we are dealing with vibrations every person resonates with, so the idea is where do you want to take that
what do you want to do with that as an artist you can do some good or some harm. for me i choose to give the best that i can and i hope that the people that participate get a sense of that.' true words by a kind and gentle soul that loves to speak in music.
they explain much and then leave things in the dark too, as he basically says: let the music play. so listen deeply, open your doors of perception, dance the atomic mess around, stay small, be true and don't forget: fp oner's music is a traveling zone with a universal meaning. it can mean many things to different people. but thus is the purpose of art.
last year producer and dj eddie c released his third endless flight album 'on the shore'
- a compelling musical trip of drifting repetition in rhythm and melody.
now he drops a new ep, consisting of three new track and 'auf der ufer' - a tune he did with his norwegian buddy rune lindbaek, that is dancing a cosmic dance and that was never released on vinyl before.
the three other works are crossing different territories. the eight minutes meditation 'pumapunku' marries balearic flair with otherworldly synth-spheres.
the also epic 'inner piece' opens the house box with waving basslines, furious chord suspense and some unexpected breaks.
the final is marked by 'lonely without you'
- a funky blue tune that brings in some peoples potential unlimited vibes for endless autobahn rides.
another heartfelt arranged mix off instruments, synths, samples and drum machines by eddie c, the heartfelt canadian in berlin.