quête:i wolf

FAT hard techno to Trib sound... THICK Kick collection !

Utter presents Danny Wolfers' aka Legowelt's cult spywave album 'Schaduw Horizon' on vinyl for the first time. Initially released on CDR on Wolfers' Strange Life label back in 2008, this DX7-drenched soundtrack was influenced by real locations near Wolfers' coastal dune studio in The Hague.

Set in the depths of the cold war at an abandoned zoo, it scores the imaginary story of Percival, a NATO animal parapsychologist researching the extra-sensory powers of a Siamese cat and a chess-playing chimpanzee named Albert. After the Soviets discover the project, Percival's team members are assassinated one by one, forcing him and his animal friends to escape in a small sailboat towards a mysterious island...

The album has been remastered by Wolfers then transferred and cut by Helmut Erler at D&M. It is housed in a deluxe gatefold sleeve that opens to reveal detailed stories behind each track, while the entire back cover is a life-size chess board for any budding Alberts wishing to play a game. A special 'confidential documents' envelope completes the package and contains a map of the abandoned zoo, a top secret letter including coordinates of the locations featured in the story, DX7 schematics, foldable chess pieces and a 'Schaduw Horizon' sticker.

Appearing on Echovolt for the very first time, Vancouver-based producer Wolfey offers up a four-track excursion that draws direct inspiration from the often-rainy climate of his sleepy home city.

"Powell St. Blues" E.P. is a dance record of rare emotional depth that sees the Canadian bring out an impressive amount of warmth and soul from the machines he uses to make music. Drawing inspiration from early house and techno producers out of Chicago, NY and Detroit, Wolfey likes to work with a small selection of synthesizers, drum machines and outboard effects processors - only using the computer to record, edit and mix-down long multi-track takes and improvised jams. The resultant tracks bristle with vivid detail and texture while evoking distinctly hypnotic and alluring atmospheres.

Side A opener “Powell St. Blues” is a bittersweet melancholic chunk of deep house with spacey chords and subtle acid style motifs slowly undulating over dusty drum machine rhythms. Wolfey’s deep and emotive electro influences come to the fore on “No Fun City”, where tech-jazz style electric piano motifs, bleeping lead lines and dubby rhythmic delays dance around a tactile 808 groove. On languid B-side opener “Overcast”, aural storm clouds gather menacingly above a moody bassline and the crunchiest of machine rhythms. S.M.P (Slim Media Player) guests on the EP’s lusciously loved-up conclusion, “Southlands Transmission”, where morphing synth arpeggios, rich sunrise-ready chords and swinging skittering hi-hats recall the pitter-patter of rain on the windows of Wolfey’s Vancouver studio. It’s a fitting conclusion to an atmospheric, mood-enhancing EP.

"Auf dem schwarzen Kanal" ist eine der herausstechendsten und gesuchtesten Veröffentlichungen in Conrad Schnitzlers umfangreichem Katalog. 1980 als einzige von Schnitzlers Platten bei einem Majorlabel veröffentlicht, war diese Maxi und insbesondere das Titelstück ein Flirt mit dem zeitgleich aufkommenden experimentellen New Wave und klang dennoch so eigenwillig wie keine andere Musik zu jener Zeit. Die zusammen mit Wolfgang Seidel entstandenen und in Peter Baumanns Berliner Paragon Studio aufgenommen vier Tracks sind ein bissiger, dissonante Mutant Disco Trip, der bis heute nichts von seiner Faszination eingebüßt hat. Bureau B freut sich dieses lange vergriffene Werk endlich wieder verfügbar zu machen!

‘Life Guarding’ offers a first glance into an upcoming album by Wolfgang Tillmans. The song finds Tillmans in open waters, lyrically exploring wor(l)ds as they appear like undertows and tie in the listeners by his candid approach to accept whatever the drift throws at him and leaving him exposed at his most vulnerable. It seems no coincidence that the video Tillmans’ shot and directed for the song finds a similar approach to ‘liquidity’ in visual language. Shifting the lens between micro and macrocosms, collages of body parts, fruit and insects, we find him equally paying attention to the waves of the Atlantic Ocean as well as to the ’same’ water in the form of drops, evaporating on a hot kitchen plate. This current shape of ‘Life Guarding’, in equal measures upbeat and melancholic, emerged in sessions with Tillmans’ long term musical collaborators Tim Knapp and Jay Pluck in early 2019 at Trixx Studios in Berlin, that were further developed and produced by Tim Knapp and Bruno Breitzke. ‘Growing’ was originally part of Wolfgang Tillmans’ sound, light and video installation ‘South Tank’ at Tate Modern in 2017. This summer finally sees the independent release of this collaboration with the L.A.-based duo Wreck and Reference. The song also features excerpts of Fred Weyrich’s lyrics for German singer Alexandra’s 1968 hit ‘Sehnsucht’ (Longing). ‘Growing’ involved the band placing samples of Tillmans’ singing and spoken word over a kick drum-driven techno track made with synthesizers, acoustic drum recordings converted to digital drums, and noisy samples of jangling keys. ‘Wreck and Reference’ are an experimental music project from California by Felix Skinner and Ignat Frege. Drawing upon the blown-out intensity of black metal and noise rock, they eschew traditional guitar-centric instrumentation to construct songs with digital samples, drums, and voice. To date, the band has released four EPs and four full-length albums, and has contributed to the producti

These run of releases on ‘Existence Is Resistance’ comes from the Legendary Proto Garage Record Label ‘Same People’, and see’s Persian & Long time musical partner DJ Texsta, repressing some of their most pioneering UKG E.P.s

‘Kind of Tango’ is a kaleidoscope of shifting emotions. Wolfgang Haffner’s conception of tango has drama and propulsion in it but also melancholy and longing, with room for frenetic outbursts too. All this is unified by his inimitable groove and feel that commentators have called “an absolute dream,” “magical” and “profoundly relaxed.” Alongside trusted co-protagonists Christopher Dell and Lars Danielsson, he has two guests with him who defy all the clichés associated with tango: guitarist Ulf Wakenius cut his teeth musically in Oscar Peterson’s band and his Swedish heritage always shines through in his playing; Vincent Peirani is one of the leading innovators on the accordion and he finds new ways to define the instrument’s role in the tango. Also, young pianist Simon Oslender makes a first appearance with the band. Jazz and tango find a natural yet constantly shifting equilibrium - to be heard particularly effectively on ‘Close Your Eyes And Listen’ by Astor Piazzolla. In addition to compositions by Haffner himself and by his band members, pieces by the celebrated Argentinian bandoneon player and composer are the focal point of the album. Piazzolla’s innovations with the tango, such as bringing jazz into it, date from around 1955. Haffner and the tango
seem perfectly matched to each other. Tango is no longer a fixed style nowadays, it is above all an attitude to playing and an attitude to life. Wolfgang Haffner’s approach to tango is both authentic and new. It is his and his alone and it is irresistible.

Up next in the Omena remix series we got Dee Tree from Minsk and four sparkling and effortlessly soulful re-makes from FloFilz, Harry Wolfman, Saine and Lipski.
All bringing a beautiful and soulful touch to the bands soul-flecked originals.

Repress

MARA is the debutalbum of Munich-based jazz group FAZER. The young musicians combine African and Latin rhythms with dubby basslines and melancholic melodies. The unusual lineup with two drummers (Simon Popp, Sebastian Wolfgruber), bass (Martin Brugger), guitar (Paul Brändle) and trumpet (Matthias Lindermayr) leaves an open space for unfettered improvisation. Through the concept of repetition and finely measured dynamics, Fazer create a drawing energy that can be felt directly at their live shows and has been captured perfecty on this record.

A stunning 17-minute-drumming-trip from feathery spheres through bold grooves to a dense thundery finish by Simon Popp and Sebastian Wolfgruber, the two drummers known for channeling World Music, Afrobeat and Jazz drumming in solo projects and with Munich-based Jazz quintet Fazer.
The B-side holds a rework by fellow Munich producers Zenker Brothers. The Ilian Tape heads and notorious audiophiles put their drum machines aside and weaved the recordings with layers of mystic synths into a tingling organic IDM tune.

Re-Release

Black Truffle is honoured to present the premier recordings of two recent works by legendary American experimental composer Alvin Lucier. A friend and contemporary of pioneers like Robert Ashley, David Behrman, Gordon Mumma, and Christian Wolff, Lucier has been crafting elegant explorations of the behavior of sound in physical space since the 1960s. Lucier is perhaps best known for I Am Sitting in a Room (1970), in which he repeatedly re-recorded his own speaking voice being played back into a room until the room's resonant frequencies entirely obscure the spoken text. Beginning in the early 1970s, he has written a remarkable catalogue of instrumental works that focus on phenomena produced by the interference between closely tuned pitches, such as audible beating, often using pure electronic tones produced by oscillators in combination with single instruments.

Demonstrating the restless creative drive of an artist now in his 80s, the two recent works presented here both feature the electric guitar, an instrument Lucier has just recently begun to explore. In Criss-Cross, Lucier's first composition for electric guitars, two guitarists using e-bows sweep slowly up and down a single semitone, beginning at opposite ends of the pitch range. The piece is a model of simplicity, exemplifying Lucier's desire not to 'compose' in the conventional sense, but rather to eliminate everything that 'distracts from the acoustical unfolding of the idea'. In this immaculately controlled performance of Criss-Cross by Oren Ambarchi and Stephen O'Malley, (for whom the piece was written in 2013), a seemingly simple idea creates a rich array of sonic effects - not simply beating patterns, which gradually slow down as the two tones reach unison and accelerate as they move further apart, but also the remarkable phenomenon of sound waves spinning in elliptical patterns through space between the two guitar amps.

In the comparatively lush Hanover, Lucier draws inspiration from the beautiful photograph that provides the LP with its cover, an image of the Dartmouth Jazz Band taken in 1918 featuring Lucier's father on violin. Using the instrumentation present in the photograph, Lucier creates an unearthly sound world of sliding tones from violin, alto and tenor saxophones, piano, vibraphone (bowed) and three electric guitars (which take the place of the banjos present in the photograph). Waves of slow glissandi create thick, complex beating patterns, gently punctuated by repeated single notes from the piano. The result is a piece that, like much of Lucier's instrumental music, is simultaneously both unperturbably calm and constantly in motion.
Stunning LP design by Stephen O'Malley including an inner sleeve with a portrait of Alvin Lucier by Kris Serafin.
Criss-Cross' recorded at Studios Ina GRM, Paris by Francois Bonnet and mixed by Alvin Lucier. Hanover' recorded in Zurich and mixed by Alvin Lucier.
Mastered and cut by Rashad Becker at D&M Belin.
Criss-Cross' recorded at Studios Ina GRM, Paris by Francois Bonnet and mixed by Alvin Lucier. Hanover' recorded in Zurich and mixed by Alvin Lucier.
Mastered and cut by Rashad Becker at D&M Berlin.

A wicked triple gatefold album... anthologic of the underground hardstyle newslkool crossing the old school road and finally pushing a superb talented

Black Sheep – and their 1991 ‘A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing’ album - were definitely an outlier in the Native Tongues fold. They were raunchier and more playful than their peers which, given that those peers were A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul and Jungle Brothers, is really saying something.

‘Strobelite Honey’ catches that difference perfectly, leaning heavily on a pair of 1980 disco samples rather than the jazz of their brethren, and taking a somewhat less chivalrous approach to women. ‘Strobelite’s slender but fun narrative sees rapper Dres up in the club and fooled by the lights – approaching a girl he likes the look off but backing off when they reveal she’s not what he expected. Charmed, we’re sure.

Dres and his partner Mr. Lawnge were always willing to push boundaries, and that extends to the often confusing labelling of the various remixes of this choice single. 12”s dropped with the ‘No We Didn’t Mix’, ‘Yes We Did Mix’ and ‘Maybe We Did Mix’ (not to mention a separate 12” of House mixes).

The last and best of these accompanied the original version on the now-rare 1991 7”, as it does here. The ‘Maybe We Did Mix’ adds urgent horns - almost like the buzzing of a bee - and a new beat to completely reconfigure the sound into something much more of its era. It’s a reminder of when remixes were about much more than the same beat with different rappers.

"Civis Jams" ist eine brodelndes Werk aus schlummernden Strukturen und ruhigen, kraftvollen Songs. Die Vocals haften an den Rändern der Mixes, was ihnen einen intimen und zugleich kryptischen Klang verleiht. Dieses Gefühl wird nochmal verstärkt durch Darkstars nachtaktive Produktionsweise von Drums und Synths. Zu den Highlights gehören die Tracks "Wolf" in bester Mount Kimbie-Manier der "Cold Spring Fault Less Youth"-Phase sowie "Jam", ein potentieller Peaktime-Banger, den Darkstar aber sanft und mit der Schärfe eines Jai Paul interpretieren. Nach ihrem Hyperdub-Debüt "North" (2010) und den beiden Warp-Nachfolgern "News From Nowhere" (2013) und "Foam Island" (2015) haben Darkstar mit "Civic Jams" ein Album mit grandiosen Unterwasser-Nachtsongs erschaffen.

After he hit their sweet spot with a little 3/4 psychedelia on the ‘Kraut Jazz Futurism’ compilation, new Berlin based imprint Kryptox founded by the Gomma & Toy Tonics crew (yes, that new label dedicated to new jazz electronica phenomenas from the uprising German scene) do the sensible thing and tie down nomadic percussionist Niklas Wandt for his first ever solo EP. Anyone with a dancing shoe dipped in the underground will recognize the dungareed Berliner from collaborative outings with Bufi-body popper Wolf Muller, synth shaman Sascha Funke or his NDW dream team Neuzeitliche Bodenbeläge (whose funky bassman Timo Hein helps out here), and now he’s rolling (mostly) solo with four tracks of far out head music. Largely built around improvised drum jams recorded in Wandt’s rehearsal space in Berlin, the sounds on the EP mutated and matured before assuming their final form under the mix

Born in Paris, raised in Vienna, resident in Ibiza, saxophonist and composer Muriel Grossmann embodies the borderless, pan-continental energies of contemporary European jazz. Her music emerges from the lineage of European jazz that's absorbed the progressive music of Coltrane, Dolphy and Sanders. Today, she cites players such as Illinois Jacquet and Lester Young in the same breath as the masters of the avant-garde, and her playing marries the directness and eloquence of the older generation with the questing, spiritualised playing epitomised by Coltrane. The roster of musicians she has played with is long, and includes veteran European avant-gardists including Joachim and Rolf Kühn, Wolfgang Reisinger and Thomas Heidepriem, and she works tirelessly with contemporary groups and big bands across the continent.

Since her first recordings in the early 2000s, Grossmann has released a dozen albums as leader, featuring sounds ranging from hard-swinging modernist jams to free improvisation, expansive spiritual work to rhythm-focussed Afrocentrism. But at the centre of her work is a thread of pure and heartfelt spiritual music in the modal tradition defined by Coltrane and close collaborators like Pharoah Sanders and Alice Coltrane. You can't play this music successfully if you don't mean it – like the music of her contemporary Nat Birchall, Grossmann's engagement with the Coltrane tradition is sincere and deep. Her music resonates within the tradition – more than just a style, it adds a new chapter to the story of modal and spiritual jazz in Europe.

This Jazzman set draws a selection from her 2016 album Natural Time ('Your Pace', 'Peace For All') and from 2017's Momentum ('Elevation', 'Chant' and 'Rising'). Featuring her regular quartet of Radomir Milojkovic (guitar) Uros Stamenkovic (drums) and Gina Schwarz (bass), the music on Elevation is pure sound, soul and spirit!

- LP only with thick tip on sleeve- Download card included inside

"Timeless and innovative... a musical genius" Mike Gates, UK Vibe

"A listening experience akin to transcendence" Andrew Jones, Down Beat

"Vibrant, passionate, exhilarating. A monument of spiritual jazz" Mark Sarazzy, Impro Jazz

"A journey that takes off like missile, passes through meditation, reaches nirvana and ends with thanksgiving" Elliot Simon, NYC jazz records

"Timelessly beautiful" Christian Bakonyi, Concerto

On his third solo album, following the success of "Éternel été", the founder of the electro duo Nôze is exploring, through piano and synths, the encounter between poetry and song. In this new work he has set to music verses by William Shakespeare, Victor Hugo, Pablo Neruda and on three songs, those of the poet Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, a pioneer of romanticism who notably influenced Verlaine and Baudelaire.

But what does this Oh !, giving its title to Ezéchiel Pailhès' third solo album, stand for? Is it an Oh ! of surprise, admiration or pain? "It is rather the Oh ! found in romantic poetry" says the French composer and singer with his deep and sweet voice. "An interjection that refers to a form of lament", even though it can convey other emotions such as complaint, nostalgia, a sad delight or a longed-for solace.

In Tout va bien, his previous album released in 2017, Ezéchiel Pailhès had set two Shakespeare sonnets to music. One of them, "Eternal été" has become a great success, thanks to its lines tinged with spleen and bliss. "Poetry, and its musicality, have always been part of my universe. For this new album, I therefore wanted to explore further the adaptation of poems into songs. "Bien Certain" is, once again, taken from William Shakespeare. "Tu te rappelleras" comes from Pablo Neruda's collection La centaine d'amour. "Oh ! Pourquoi te cacher ?" is from Victor Hugo. As for "Sans l'oublier", "La sincère" and "J'avais froid", they were all written by Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, a 19th century French poetess, still fairly unknown".

With Oh !, Ezechiel Pailhès has become more of a singer than ever before, through seven songs and four instrumental compositions, with intimate and warm modulations, carried by hypnotic piano melodies, instruments with unusual timbre and a subtle electronic production that recalls his past productions with his former duo Nôze.

"I wanted to expand my music further into songs" Ezéchiel adds, "to work more with my voice as a solo instrument and to limit the overlapping of voices and choirs found in my previous records". Produced in his Montreuil home studio, Oh ! is nevertheless imbued with an emotion found in his previous albums, close to 'saudade' or a slight melancholy, sometimes enhanced by chosen texts that evoke the disappointment of love, the longing, the distance between two people, or even men's weakness. "These poems evoke themes that may seem far from the concerns of our times. Yet, they are timeless and eternal; they manage to convey emotions that can often be difficult to say or write."

Among the texts chosen for this new album, the verses of the poet Marceline Desbordes-Valmore (1786-1859) are on a par with William Shakespeare's sonnets or Pablo Neruda's poem found on the same record:

" Sans l'oublier, on peut fuir ce qu'on aime.
On peut bannir son nom de ses discours,
Et, de l'absence implorant le secours,
Se dérober à ce maître suprême,
Sans l'oublier ! "
(…)
" Sans oublier une voix triste et tendre,
Oh ! que de jours j'ai vus naître et finir !
Je la redoute encore dans l'avenir :
C'est une voix que l'on cesse d'entendre,
Sans l'oublier ! "
"Without forgetting, we can run away from what we love.
Banish their name from our conversations,
And, begging the absence for consolation,
Escape the grip of this supreme master,
Without forgetting! "
(…)
"Without forgetting a sad and gentle voice,
Oh, how many days have I seen rise and fall!
And still I fear from the future:
A voice that can no longer be heard,
Without forgetting! "

Although less known today than her male counterparts, Marceline Desbordes-Valmore marked her times and the Romantic movement through the quality of her texts and her formal inventions, which Balzac admired, and whose influence seems to have been decisive on Verlaine and Baudelaire.

"Marceline Desbordes-Valmore's poetry is highly musical," says Ezéchiel with admiration. "Her artistry with rhythm and repetition sounds very good and takes on a new dimension when set to music. She even meant for some of her texts to become songs"

French producer Najem Sworb re-joins Wolfskuil Records with ‘Pergelisol’ featuring remixes from Darko Esser and Doka’s collaborative project, The Leap.

Najem Sworb is an intriguing artist who’s been putting together absorbing techno productions for over ten years now which includes outings on labels such as Days Of Being Wild, Technorama, Clone Basement Series and Wolfskuil Records. ‘Pergelisol’ sees Najem return to Darko Esser’s exceptional Wolfskuil imprint following recent releases from Border One, Architectural, Physical Therapy, Ambivalent and Cadans and features remixes The Leap – a new live project from Dutch producers Darko Esser and Doka.

‘Sorl’ begins with rattling percussion enticing you from the start fused with angelic melodies and undulating euphoria while ‘Egilep’ taps into more of a heads-down kind of vibe featuring tough, modulated drums, robust synth shatters and pulsating bass stabs.

On the flip, The Leap offer up a remix of ‘Egilep’ which blends haunting undertones, airy pads and vibrant rhythms that shimmer throughout before their remix of ‘Sorl’ rounds off proceedings with wavering bleeps, clattering 909s claps and dreamy ambience in the distance allowing for a evocative atmosphere to finish.