quête:ko ta

Berlin electronic duo Donna Regina recorded two songs for the 10th edition of the Snowflakes Christmas Singles Club. In ‘Weihnachten Woanders’ (‘Christmas Somewhere Else’), singer Regina Janssen reflects on how it feels to spend Christmas away from home. Somewhere else, in a strange town where nobody knows your name and no one is waiting for you. You miss the familiar sounds of Christmas, like the child that sings ‘Stille Nacht’ and you dream of being home again. It’s a feeling many people can relate to. Especially this year, a year in which so many people were forced to flee from their homes. Günter Janssen, the other half of Donna Regina and Regina’s husband, lays down a minimalistic tapestry of synths and drum rolls. A loop of street sounds, a sample taken from sound artist Paula Schopf’s 2021 album ‘Especios En Soledad’, forces its way into the song, and in the end overpowers voice and other instruments. ‘Weihnachten Woanders’ very much captures the year 2022 and the worrying times we are living in, in both lyrics and music.

‘Christmas With You’, the B-side of the single, was originally written and recorded by Polish indie band Old Time Radio for their 2009 Christmas album 'Sketches For Another Christmas Songbook'. Donna Regina again goes for a minimalistic electronic sound, but also adds a certain melancholy to the song. Partly due to the synths that in places resemble the sound of an organ, an instrument that appeared on so many Christmas recordings from the 1950s and early 1960s. The love-hate relationship many people have with Christmas is perfectly laid down in the lyrics: “We watch the cartoons / We sing out of tune / Kiss by the fireplace / Listen to those horrible songs / Do we know / It’s Christmas time at all?”.

Regina and Donna Janssen debuted as Donna Regina in 1990 with the single 'Avec Le Temps' and released their debut album 'Lazing Away' in 1992 on Our Choice, a German sublabel of Rough Trade. In 1999, after four albums on Strange Ways Records, they signed to their current label Karaoke Kalk. Since then, they have released eight albums for the label. In 2015, Karaoke Kalk also released 'Dis Cover', a compilation of Donna Regina songs recorded by other artists like Dean & Britta, Bernard Burgalat, Mouse On Mars and many others. Donna Regina’s songs have been featured on compilations of labels like Rough Trade, Sonar Kollektiv, Klant Elektronik, Milan and Rolling Stone. Donna Regina was not Günther’s first band. In the early 1980s he was part of a Neue Deutsche Welle act with a very Christmas-related name: Heilige 3 Köninge ('Holy 3 Kings'). Their sole album, 1982's 'Zum Teufel Met Dem Kamel' has become very collectable. Günther was also featured as songwriter and musician on German singer Romie Singh's 1986 CBS album 'Masters' and later ventured into writing music for television and film. Regina Janssen also recorded as a vocalist with French musician Bertrand Burgalat, and sang several songs on his 2005 album ‘Portrait-Robot”.

GREY & BLACK SWIRL VINYL
Public Memory is a blend of damaged and dubbed out percussion, unfurling synths and sparse sampling all strung together by producer Robert Toher's spectral tenor. The project's sophomore LP, Demolition follows 2017's Veil of Counsel EP and 2016's Wuthering Drum LP with cinematic fortitude.While Public Memory's prominent krautrock and triphop rhythms are represented here, Demolition explores a greater range of tempos and an expanse of alien emotions with layers of electronic drums, live drums, Korg synths and samples from nature. Themes of rebirth and reflection imbue the album's atmosphere, rich in tape delay, spring reverb, and textures that conjure a sci fi and supernatural narrative.Toher's adept use of space and tension articulates the world of Demolition as eerie, emotive, and above all, narcotic.Each track is an existential procession. "Turning out the lights on your illusion," Toher sings to close the album, accepting that change is an inescapable condition of being.

Antares Flare is a rising jazz sextet based in Rotterdam that takes inspiration from South American magic realism, West-African traditional rhythms, and psychedelic atmospheric electronic sounds. The group consists of members from various places in the world, such as Italy, Slovenia, Malta, and the Netherlands, which shows in their worldly repertoire. Their debut album is a wonderful introduction to their refined sound, which is partially credited to the producer Anton de Bruin (Dragonfruit/Peter Somuah). This group is a good representation of the current wave of new jazz groups in the Netherlands. For fans of Christian aTunde Scott and KOKOROKO.

Wenn ,Black Stabat Mater" das Album ist, mit dem sich das HEDVIG MOLLESTAD TRIO auf neues Terrain wagt, dann ist ,Evil In Oslo" die Zusammenfassung der früheren Jahre, obwohl es tatsächlich auch eine klare Verbindung zwischen beiden Alben gibt. Während die neun Performances hier von den ersten drei Studioalben stammen, sind die meisten längere Workouts, die HEDVIG als selbstbewusste und talentierte Gitarristin zeigen. Aufgenommen in den Osloer Clubs ,John Dee" und ,Buckley's" ist ,Evil In Oslo" ein kraftvolles Livealbum, das sich auf ein hohes Level an musikalischem Können stützt und eine perfekte Balance zwischen Freiheit und Disziplin eingeht. Diese qualitativ hochwertigen Aufnahmen fangen sowohl die pure Energie als auch die kleinsten Details auf ganz großartige Art und Weise ein. Mit Linernotes von Richard Williams. ENG Reissued! If "Black Stabat Master" can be seen as moving into new terrains, then "Evil In Oslo" can serve as a summing up of the previous years, although there is also a clear link between the albums. While the nine live performances presented here all come from their first three studio albums, most are lenghty workouts again showing Hedvig as a very confident and accomplished solo guitarist. Recorded at Oslo clubs John Dee and Buckley's, "Evil In Oslo" is simply a kick ass live album (never thought we'd ever use that expression, but there you go), with a very high level of musicianship and a perfect balance between freedom and discipline. The hi-res recordings capture both the energy level and all the details in a marvellous way! Liner notes by Richard Williams.

Super deep n’ rolling ambient junglist mutations from hyped cloakroom attendent Florian T M Zeisig and mysterious XPQ? operator PVAS, uniting under the NUG moniker for a highly atmospheric session beamed directly from that short-lived, elusive sweetspot in the mid 90’s when Omni Trio and DJ Crystl collided with Mo Wax’s Some Scientific Abstract Type Shit! and Gescom’s Disengage, all red lights dappling thru a dense fog of smoke.

Rinsed out under the timeless influence of “bong & sterni” - who sound like a legendary Berlin ambient duo, but are just weed and beer - Zeisig and PVAS collide in midair for a stereo-swirled recollection taking us back to 1995 - that Autechre radio show on Kiss FM, peak Mo Wax, Kodwo Eshun’s ‘club trax’ column, just before everything went fully tasteful. Throwing links to more contemporary refractions found on various J. Albert workouts as much as Skee Mask’s most vapourised breaks, the NUG sound keeps toes and heads off the ‘floor with a rugged but lush suite of rave suspension systems making critical use of negative space and recoiling dub dynamics.

One for the early hours of the club, ‘Not Many People Here yet’ gives acres of room to bounce off the walls, while the ruder ‘Filthy Club’ sounds like the backroom heard from ceramic tiled bogs, and you’re already healthily zonked for the zombie float of ‘Is Under The Blanket.’ The radiant pads and swingeing breaks of ‘Morpheus’ dial up Skee Mask’s most pendulous rave visions, and ‘Napping Under God’ rolls out on 9 minutes of webbed breakbeat for the locked-in steppers, with Florian’s ambient texturing fully coming into effect on the blurry-eyed flex of ‘Lite.’

Re-mastered from the original master tapes.
180 gr vinyl pressed by Optimal in Germany using the Metal Mothers from Pallas.

Facsimile reissue using the original photo by Jean-Pierre Leloir.
Double insert using an original color photo by JP Leloir.
Each record has been visually checked to prevent defects.

Recorded October 22, 1958, Olympia hall, Paris.
Original LP issue: Brunswick 87 903.

“They’d been living in Europe for months. They’d appeared in Cannes and at Knokke (…) yet the only thing missing was the consecration that a great concert in Paris would bring. They won that last battle with astounding brio, in front of an audience of connoisseurs. There were many there who thought modern jazz had never been so well- served in Paris.” (Jazz Magazine). Hard bop had arrived! Hallelujah! On its first French appearance, in July ‘58 at the Cannes Festival – the first and only Cannes jazz festival – the Donald Byrd Quintet had brought the house down. Yet four of its five members were relatively unknown in France… The French knew that the leader had replaced Kenny Dorham in the Jazz Messengers, that Doug Watkins was the Messengers’ bassist, and that pianist Walter Davis Jr. was still only 18 when he’d played with Charlie Parker. As for Art Taylor, even if his name meant something to fans, it was still difficult for people to have a more precise idea of his musical qualities. Only Bobby Jaspar was well-known to Paris audiences, and the tour marked the return of the prodigal son, the musician who’d decided, after setting the Club St. Germain on fire, to try his luck in the States early in 1956 – J.J. Johnson had hired him, and then Miles Davis (for a short spell) before Donald Byrd brought him into the group he was taking to Europe. This new tour would climax at the Olympia theatre during one of the “Jazz Wednesdays” that were organised there, ever since the Jazz At Carnegie Hall” tour – Zoot Sims, JJ. Johnson, Lee Konitz, Phineas Newborn – had inaugurated the series a little earlier. Byrd and his band took pains not to disappoint a Paris audience they knew to be particularly fickle, and they astutely varied the public’s pleasures throughout the evening. The complicity that united the rhythm section – Walter Davis Jr., Doug Watkins and Art Taylor – was much in evidence on Ray’s Idea; mistrusting the traps of the spectacular at all costs, Donald Byrd, producing brilliant inventions on the trumpet, took the lion’s share of the honours on a theme that was then much in fashion, Dear Old Stockholm, adapted from a Swedish traditional song; on Flute Blues, Bobby Jaspar proved he was still a specialist on that instrument, and Paul’s Pal showed that, on tenor, the playing of Sonny Rollins hadn’t gone unnoticed. It must be said that it didn’t have much effect on the discreet lyricism underlying the choruses he played during his “St. Germain” period. The Olympia spectators weren’t sparing in their applause for the five musicians. How else could they have reacted, faced with the fire the band showed during a tune like The Blues Walk? It wouldn’t take much for us to applaud, too, even if it is fifty-five years later…
Text – Alain Tercinet

Wenn ,Black Stabat Mater" das Album ist, mit dem sich das HEDVIG MOLLESTAD TRIO auf neues Terrain wagt, dann ist ,Evil In Oslo" die Zusammenfassung der früheren Jahre, obwohl es tatsächlich auch eine klare Verbindung zwischen beiden Alben gibt. Während die neun Performances hier von den ersten drei Studioalben stammen, sind die meisten längere Workouts, die HEDVIG als selbstbewusste und talentierte Gitarristin zeigen. Aufgenommen in den Osloer Clubs ,John Dee" und ,Buckley's" ist ,Evil In Oslo" ein kraftvolles Livealbum, das sich auf ein hohes Level an musikalischem Können stützt und eine perfekte Balance zwischen Freiheit und Disziplin eingeht. Diese qualitativ hochwertigen Aufnahmen fangen sowohl die pure Energie als auch die kleinsten Details auf ganz großartige Art und Weise ein. Mit Linernotes von Richard Williams. ENG Reissued! If "Black Stabat Master" can be seen as moving into new terrains, then "Evil In Oslo" can serve as a summing up of the previous years, although there is also a clear link between the albums. While the nine live performances presented here all come from their first three studio albums, most are lenghty workouts again showing Hedvig as a very confident and accomplished solo guitarist. Recorded at Oslo clubs John Dee and Buckley's, "Evil In Oslo" is simply a kick ass live album (never thought we'd ever use that expression, but there you go), with a very high level of musicianship and a perfect balance between freedom and discipline. The hi-res recordings capture both the energy level and all the details in a marvellous way! Liner notes by Richard Williams.

Fleeting configurations of piano, wind, strings, synthetics, and field recordings, inspired by the Greek isles.
Previous albums adored by the likes of The Quietus, Exclaim, Drowned In Sound, etc.
For fans of Angelo Badalamenti & David Lynch soundtracks, Bohren & Der Club Of Gore, and Global Communication.
While on the island of Syros in the Aegean Sea for a film festival performance, Christina Vantzou experienced what she characterized as “a moment of focus”—a specific vision for the sprawl of raw recordings she’d been amassing for her fifth album. Upon relocating to the Cycladic island of Ano Koufonisi, she situated herself outside at a patio table with a laptop and headphones, taking brief breaks to swim, and began the “reductive process” of shaving and shaping the source material into uneasy but lyrical movements, alternately austere and adorned with strange inflections: glottal groaning, cavernous water, glittering eddies of modular synth, languorous silences. Mixing the pieces herself without outsourcing to an engineer compounded the intimacy and autobiographical dimension of the music; she refers to No5 as “almost like a first album.”
Drawing on sessions staged in February 2020, Vantzou’s editing instincts emphasize process and isolation, spotlighting resonance and restraint, liquidity and long tails. Fleeting configurations of piano, wind, strings, synthetics, and field recordings, these are spaces as much as compositions, surreal grottos of shifting light, suffused with a sense of invisible divinity. Although seventeen musicians appear on the record, the proceedings feel minimalist and malleable, sculpted from interstitial moments and oblique synchronicities. The definition of a composer as “one who joins things” is here both plumbed and proven; Vantzou describes No5 as “a letting go,” a place of “soft borders,” unfixed and undefinable.

Printed Sleeves - LTD

With precious Konik you'll get an Electro Techno master piece.
Kemi takes the second position here with No Beat, and a special Kick out from nowhere and an electro techno base totally shaking around and opening on an acid industrial feeling after the drop !

On the flip, FTR and Angi makes it with a light minimal lullaby ambiance... With, as usual... a fat kick for sound systems !
Resh G finishes the job with an Electro Techno/Disco banger.

Big !

In 2003, Pisco Crane assembled a six-piece band from motivated and talented like minds in the Kinshasa slums where he grew up. Pisco had been involved with a handful of local rap acts when he was younger, but after meeting legendary instrument builder Bebson De La Rue, he was inspired to follow a new path. He set about building instruments from the discarded trash that surrounded his city: bits of old computers or oil cans were fashioned into bass guitars and drums, and keyboards were bashed together using springs, metal pipes, and offcuts of tubing. If there was a core philosophy that guided Pisco at this stage in his journey, it was that everyone should have access to instruments, no matter where they come from or what their budget might be. And following in the footsteps of Bebson, Pisco locked into a Congolese tradition that touches on the eccentric genius of globally lauded artists like Konono Nº1 and Staff Benda Bilili. Over the years, Fulu Miziki's notoriety grew in the Kinshasa underground - their utopian vision of the future was infectious. Eventually, they were joined by performance artist, sculptor and fashion designer Lady Aisha, who offered the band unique colour and a soulful central focus. Influenced by Kinshasa's street performance scene, Aisha helped the band devise vivid masks and costumes that were as electric and singular as the instruments they played, and the scene was set. In 2020, as the world was plunged into lockdown, footage of Fulu Miziki went viral and their star began to grow exponentially, with a video of the band preforming the track 'Tikanga' racking up millions of views on Facebook. The band used this opportunity to work on documenting their sound, and shored up at the Nyege Nyege studios in Kampala for a year to assemble a definitive album. Recorded by HHY & The Macumbas' Jonathan Saldanha, this record captures the band's furiously innovative mixture of industrial sonics, spiritual jazz, punk, and Congolese soukous pressure. At their best, Fulu Miziki sound almost completely out of time, curving pounding rhythms around microtonal clanks, rousing chants and spiky sonics. On 'Mutangila', there's a hint of disco in the 4/4 stomp, but it's been shifted into a post-punk ritual, adorned with complex bell percussion and overlapping vocals. 'Congo' is even harder to define; electrified buzzes form a bassline, but it's the mindboggling rhythms that shuttle the track into psychedelic realms, led confidently by Lady Aisha's limber rhymes. Fulu positively slither on the sultry, industrial-influenced 'Sebe', while 'Tikanga' reminds of Congo's rumba-derived soukous traditions, materializing the sounds into the future with tight, pounding percussion and head-melting fx. The story of Fulu Miziki is sprawling and complex and constantly evolving, with various offshoots and band iterations. Two members left the band in 2016 to form KOKOKO! with French producer Débruit. Not long after they recorded this magnum opus album, several other original members left to form a similarly named outfit currently based in Europe. This other incarnation recently released an EP of electronic productions without the band founder Pisko Crane and lead vocalist Lady Aicha, on the UK based Moshi Moshi records. Pisco and Lady Aicha currently lead a different outfit in Kinshasa made up of completely new musicians. This full-length is the remaining proof of Fulu Mziki at their most vital and most complete - it won't be repeated - and can never be recreated. It's an essential portrait of one of the Democratic Republic of Congo's most innovative contemporary outfits, and some of the most surprising hybrid music you're likely to hear.

The Local Moon (East Berlin 1987/88) The name The Local Moon originated from an intimation by the oriental jester Nasreddin that every city had its own moon. This idea did not go without a certain local colour in the bipolar frontline city of Berlin; from an astropolitical view, its divided sky never saw a full moon, the light conditions were ideologically broken. From the black light of those years emerged The Local Moon. René Le Doil and Ronald Lippok took wings like two crows from a pigeon’s nest when quite suddenly in 1987 light entertainment permeated East Berlin’s Offground and the two musicians were hired for the New Romantic revue New Affair. Before that, Le Doil had been involved in the Stattgespräch fashion spectacle and in Allerleirauh, the “thing of light, space, sound and leather”. Lippok had been the drummer for Rosa Extra, one of the earliest punk rock bands in East Berlin. Together with his brother Robert, who had already come into the picture with an avant-punk project named after the Jules Verne novel Fünf Wochen im Ballon (Five Weeks in a Balloon), Ronald Lippok then founded the post-punk commune Ornament & Verbre- chen, for whom Le Doil would occasionally guest as an... more credits released July 20, 2022 Tape (Side A, B, C – Track #1 - #16) Music by The Local Moon, recorded in April 1987 René Le Doil: accordion, bass, guitar, keyboards, piano, voice Ronald Lippok: acoustic guitar, keyboards, percussion, voice Produced by The Local Moon Single (Side D – Track #17 - #19) Music by The Local Moon, recorded in May 1988 René Le Doil: keyboard Ronald Lippok: keyboard, voice Charlotte Jansen: oboe, voice Alex Wolf: percussion Bo Kondren: emax, traktor Detelf Pegelow: guitar Robert Lippok: clarinet, ethno brass Produced by Bo Kondren Recorded at Gunther Krex Studio Vinyl published by Henryk Gericke Texts and liner notes by Henryk Gericke Remastered by Calyx/ Bo Kondren Digital distribution via aufnahmeundwiedergabe.de

Strut present the first ever compilation of Balka Sound, bringing together their influential 1980s recordings. Hailing from Congo-Brazzaville and led by revered vocalist and ngonfi player, Nkibi "Lusialala" Albert, Balka Sound created their own unique musical world, re imagining traditional Congolese Balka rhythms with electric guitars, electric bass and drums, alongside the traditional 5-string ngonfi.

Wütrio is the first in a series of re-issue albums curated by legendary German DJ, producer and rare vinyl collector Rainer Trueby. 'Wütrio' is the critically-acclaimed album first released in 1987 on the Bremen based label, Thein Records . A label started by Friedrich Thein whose musical pedigree includes links to the world class and world famous Thein Brass instrument makers and retailers. 'Wütrio', the band, originally formed in the Bavarian city of Würzburg and went through line-up changes before recording this album with founding members Robert Schulte Hemming and Rudi Engel complemented by Wolfgang Pusching, Martin Kübert, Peter Wirth and the amazing vocal talents of Beate Kynast. The album is a work of art; Jazz it certainly is, but it is so much more than this one genre as it moves like a cabaret aboard the Trans-Europe Express travelling across genres and changing tracks as it picks up Samba, Jazz-Rock, Fusion, Electro-Funk and the New York Avant-Garde on its journey. From his time as one half of production duo 'A Forest Mighty Black', Rainer Trueby has been at the forefront of cutting edge Black music as creator, disseminator and curator. Previous releases through BBE include the must have 2020 compilation 'Soulgliding' and co-productions with DJ Kon on the 'Kon and the Gang' album from 2016. It is worth noting that it is Rainer himself who gave the name 'Soulgliding' to a genre of certain paced and soulful groove of music that now bears that name. His selection of the 'Wütrio' album to kick off a highly collectable series of re-issues is an inspired choice.

Where the Crawdads Sing (Dt.: Der Gesang der Flusskrebse) ein mit Spannung erwarteter neuer amerikanischer Krimi-Drama-Film, der auf dem gleichnamigen Bestseller von Delia Owens basiert. Regie führt Olivia
Newman nach einem Drehbuch von Lucy Alibar, produziert wird er von Reese Witherspoon. In den Hauptrollen spielen Daisy Edgar-Jones, Taylor John Smith, Harris Dickinson, Michael Hyatt, Sterling Macer, Jr.
und David Strathairn.
Der Soundtrack, der auch die neue Single ”Carolina” von Taylor Swift enthält, wurde von dem mit
dem Academy Award ausgezeichneten Filmkomponisten Mychael Danna komponiert, der für seine stimmungsvolle Verschmelzung nicht-westlicher Traditionen mit orchestraler und elektronischer Musik bekannt
ist. Er komponierte die transkulturell inspirierte Filmmusik für ”Life of Pi”, die 2013 mit dem Oscar und
dem Golden Globe ausgezeichnet wurde, sowie Filmmusik für Oscar-prämierte und Oscar-nominierte Filme
wie ”Exotica”, ”Moneyball”, ”Capote”, ”Little Miss Sunshine”, ”500 Days of Summer” und viele mehr.

Das südafrikanische Duo CONSTELLATIA taucht mit seinem eleganten und düsteren neuen Album „Magisterial Romance“ existentiell in die menschliche Natur ein - mit überlebensgroßen romantischen Kompositionen und gefühlvollen Ambiente, das ein Album erschafft, das ebenso kraftvoll und schön wie verletzlich und verheerend ist.

Das südafrikanische Duo CONSTELLATIA taucht mit seinem eleganten und düsteren neuen Album „Magisterial Romance“ existentiell in die menschliche Natur ein - mit überlebensgroßen romantischen Kompositionen und gefühlvollen Ambiente, das ein Album erschafft, das ebenso kraftvoll und schön wie verletzlich und verheerend ist.

STEPPENDOOM ist das spannende neue Projekt des in New York City und London lebenden italienisch-schweizerischen Toningenieurs, Sounddesigners, Komponisten und Multiinstrumentalisten Marc Urselli. Der Produzent hat herausragende Musiker aus dem Genre des Doom Metal und legendäre indigene Sänger aus aller Welt, die sich der uralten Tradition des Kehlgesangs widmen, eingeladen und zusammengebracht.
Zu den renommierten Künstlern, die dem Ruf des dreifachen Grammy-Preisträgers Marc Urselli gefolgt sind, zählen unter anderem aus dem Metal-Bereich Matt Pike (SLEEP, HIGH ON FIRE), Aaron Aedy (PARADISE LOST), Steve Von Till (NEUROSIS), Christopher Juul (HEILUNG), Dave Chandler (SAINT VITUS) und Scott "Wino" Weinrich (THE OBSESSED) und solche berühmten Meister des Kehlkopfgesangs wie das Alash Ensemble, Batzorig Vaanchig "Zorigoo", HUUN-HUUR-TU, Tanya Tagaq, Albert Kuvezin (YAT-KHA) und Alexey Tegin.
Die uralte Kunst des Gutturalen Gesangs lebt in den Grasländern, Tundren und in den Herzen der Menschen weiter, die in ihrer lokalen Umwelt in und mit der Natur leben. Der Heavy Metal entstand dagegen in Englands industriellem Herzen unter dem Schlagen von Stahlhämmern und dem Lärm des mechanisierten Abbaus von Kohle. Beide Musikstile haben jedoch eine tiefe Sehnsucht nach Freiheit und Menschenwürde gemeinsam.
Gängige literarische Floskeln, mit denen eine Fusion von Musik aus scheinbar gegensätzlichen Genres und Gruppen mit Schlagzeilen wie "Clash of Cultures" oder "Kollision der Welten " beschrieben werden, treffen auf Marc Ursellis STEPPENDOOM offensichtlich nicht zu. Dieses Fest der künstlerischen Einheit lässt sich vielmehr mit der Phrase "Wenn sich Welten vereinen" zusammenfassen.
Marc Urselli's STEPPENDOOM braucht am Anfang unvoreingenommene Ohren und einen offenen Geist, um Gehör zu finden. Obwohl das Album und seine Lieder eine gewisse Aufmerksamkeit und Zeit benötigen, um sich an die ungewohnten Klangwelten zu gewöhnen, offenbaren sie letztendlich eine atemberaubende Schönheit. Vor dem geistigen Auge schweben Adler über Städte, Steppenwinde erwecken Herzen und Geis, während sich Eis in arktische Tiere verwandelt und viele andere Wunder geschehen. Uralte Magie verbindet sich in diesen Songs mit moderner Energie und schafft etwas revolutionäres Neues, in dem eine der ältesten Ausdrucksformen der Menschheit enthalten ist: der Schrei nach Freiheit!

STEPPENDOOM ist das spannende neue Projekt des in New York City und London lebenden italienisch-schweizerischen Toningenieurs, Sounddesigners, Komponisten und Multiinstrumentalisten Marc Urselli. Der Produzent hat herausragende Musiker aus dem Genre des Doom Metal und legendäre indigene Sänger aus aller Welt, die sich der uralten Tradition des Kehlgesangs widmen, eingeladen und zusammengebracht.
Zu den renommierten Künstlern, die dem Ruf des dreifachen Grammy-Preisträgers Marc Urselli gefolgt sind, zählen unter anderem aus dem Metal-Bereich Matt Pike (SLEEP, HIGH ON FIRE), Aaron Aedy (PARADISE LOST), Steve Von Till (NEUROSIS), Christopher Juul (HEILUNG), Dave Chandler (SAINT VITUS) und Scott "Wino" Weinrich (THE OBSESSED) und solche berühmten Meister des Kehlkopfgesangs wie das Alash Ensemble, Batzorig Vaanchig "Zorigoo", HUUN-HUUR-TU, Tanya Tagaq, Albert Kuvezin (YAT-KHA) und Alexey Tegin.
Die uralte Kunst des Gutturalen Gesangs lebt in den Grasländern, Tundren und in den Herzen der Menschen weiter, die in ihrer lokalen Umwelt in und mit der Natur leben. Der Heavy Metal entstand dagegen in Englands industriellem Herzen unter dem Schlagen von Stahlhämmern und dem Lärm des mechanisierten Abbaus von Kohle. Beide Musikstile haben jedoch eine tiefe Sehnsucht nach Freiheit und Menschenwürde gemeinsam.
Gängige literarische Floskeln, mit denen eine Fusion von Musik aus scheinbar gegensätzlichen Genres und Gruppen mit Schlagzeilen wie "Clash of Cultures" oder "Kollision der Welten " beschrieben werden, treffen auf Marc Ursellis STEPPENDOOM offensichtlich nicht zu. Dieses Fest der künstlerischen Einheit lässt sich vielmehr mit der Phrase "Wenn sich Welten vereinen" zusammenfassen.
Marc Urselli's STEPPENDOOM braucht am Anfang unvoreingenommene Ohren und einen offenen Geist, um Gehör zu finden. Obwohl das Album und seine Lieder eine gewisse Aufmerksamkeit und Zeit benötigen, um sich an die ungewohnten Klangwelten zu gewöhnen, offenbaren sie letztendlich eine atemberaubende Schönheit. Vor dem geistigen Auge schweben Adler über Städte, Steppenwinde erwecken Herzen und Geis, während sich Eis in arktische Tiere verwandelt und viele andere Wunder geschehen. Uralte Magie verbindet sich in diesen Songs mit moderner Energie und schafft etwas revolutionäres Neues, in dem eine der ältesten Ausdrucksformen der Menschheit enthalten ist: der Schrei nach Freiheit!

STEPPENDOOM ist das spannende neue Projekt des in New York City und London lebenden italienisch-schweizerischen Toningenieurs, Sounddesigners, Komponisten und Multiinstrumentalisten Marc Urselli. Der Produzent hat herausragende Musiker aus dem Genre des Doom Metal und legendäre indigene Sänger aus aller Welt, die sich der uralten Tradition des Kehlgesangs widmen, eingeladen und zusammengebracht.
Zu den renommierten Künstlern, die dem Ruf des dreifachen Grammy-Preisträgers Marc Urselli gefolgt sind, zählen unter anderem aus dem Metal-Bereich Matt Pike (SLEEP, HIGH ON FIRE), Aaron Aedy (PARADISE LOST), Steve Von Till (NEUROSIS), Christopher Juul (HEILUNG), Dave Chandler (SAINT VITUS) und Scott "Wino" Weinrich (THE OBSESSED) und solche berühmten Meister des Kehlkopfgesangs wie das Alash Ensemble, Batzorig Vaanchig "Zorigoo", HUUN-HUUR-TU, Tanya Tagaq, Albert Kuvezin (YAT-KHA) und Alexey Tegin.
Die uralte Kunst des Gutturalen Gesangs lebt in den Grasländern, Tundren und in den Herzen der Menschen weiter, die in ihrer lokalen Umwelt in und mit der Natur leben. Der Heavy Metal entstand dagegen in Englands industriellem Herzen unter dem Schlagen von Stahlhämmern und dem Lärm des mechanisierten Abbaus von Kohle. Beide Musikstile haben jedoch eine tiefe Sehnsucht nach Freiheit und Menschenwürde gemeinsam.
Gängige literarische Floskeln, mit denen eine Fusion von Musik aus scheinbar gegensätzlichen Genres und Gruppen mit Schlagzeilen wie "Clash of Cultures" oder "Kollision der Welten " beschrieben werden, treffen auf Marc Ursellis STEPPENDOOM offensichtlich nicht zu. Dieses Fest der künstlerischen Einheit lässt sich vielmehr mit der Phrase "Wenn sich Welten vereinen" zusammenfassen.
Marc Urselli's STEPPENDOOM braucht am Anfang unvoreingenommene Ohren und einen offenen Geist, um Gehör zu finden. Obwohl das Album und seine Lieder eine gewisse Aufmerksamkeit und Zeit benötigen, um sich an die ungewohnten Klangwelten zu gewöhnen, offenbaren sie letztendlich eine atemberaubende Schönheit. Vor dem geistigen Auge schweben Adler über Städte, Steppenwinde erwecken Herzen und Geis, während sich Eis in arktische Tiere verwandelt und viele andere Wunder geschehen. Uralte Magie verbindet sich in diesen Songs mit moderner Energie und schafft etwas revolutionäres Neues, in dem eine der ältesten Ausdrucksformen der Menschheit enthalten ist: der Schrei nach Freiheit!

Das 2021 erschienene Dream Unending-Debütalbum "Tide Turns Eternal" stellte für Derrick Vella (Tomb Mold) und Justin DeTore (Innumerable Forms, Sumerlands) eine deutliche Veränderung ihrer musikalischen Ambitionen dar. Obwohl das Album fest im Death/Doom-Bereich angesiedelt war, zeichnete es sich durch eine weitaus höhere Zielsetzung und Progressivität aus und distanzierte sich damit von anderen Vertretern dieses Stils. Jetzt, nur ein Jahr später, kehrt die Band mit dem atemberaubenden "Song of Salvation" zurück und lässt diesem Erkundungseifer wesentlich mehr Raum, sich zu entfalten und zu glänzen.

Der 14-minütige Opener des Titeltracks beginnt wie ein morgendlicher Sonnenaufgang über einem ruhigen Meer, bevor er sich zu ätherischer Schwere steigert wie die reich strukturierten Wellen eines plötzlichen Meeressturms. Der Schwung des Songs zieht sich nie in mühsame Wiederholungen zurück, sondern öffnet immer wieder neue Türen, ebbt und fließt wie das Wasser eines Flusses aus seiner Quelle.

Wie ein einsamer Blick aus dem Fenster eines abgedunkelten Zimmers auf die nächtlichen Lichter der Stadt, so bietet "Secret Grief" die Gasttalente des Sängers Phil Swanson und Leila Abdul-Rauf an der Trompete, was die Bandbreite der beteiligten musikalischen Talente und die Tragweite der unverwechselbaren Erzählung von "Song of Salvation" noch weiter vergrößert.

Das ruhige Zwischenspiel "Murmur Of Voices" weicht dem beschwörenden "Unrequited", das mit einem einsamen Gitarrensolo beginnt, bevor es in eine treibende Nachmittagsträumerei und unterbewusste Meditation übergeht.

Schließlich kommt das epische Ende des Albums, der 16-minütige Abschluss 'Ecstatic Reign'. Es enthält die vielleicht schwersten Doom-Momente des Albums sowie die Rückkehr von "Tide Turns Eternal" mit den Gaststimmen McKenna Rae und Richard Poe. Tomb Mold-Schlagzeuger / Kehlkopf Max Klebanoff taucht ebenfalls auf und liefert sich ein beeindruckendes Vocal Battle mit DeTore. Die cineastische Vision des Albums und die akribische, farbenfrohe Detailtreue bringen diese fesselnde Reise zu ihrem dauerhaften Höhepunkt.

Nur ein Jahr nach "Tide Turns Eternal" bieten Dream Unending auf dem grenzenlosen Panorama von "Song of Salvation" eine fortgesetzte Abkehr von begrenzenden Genre-Normen - und gleichsam eine geschickte Neudefinition derselben.

- Decibel Magazine Album des Monats November 2022 Ausgabe
- Gastauftritte von Phil Swanson (Solemn Lament, ex-Sumerlands, ex-Hour of 13), Leila Abdul-Rauf (Vastum, Ionophore) und Max Klebanoff (Tomb Mold, Death Kneel)
- Die Vinyl-Edition enthält ein riesiges 24x36-Zoll-Poster
- Aufgenommen von Sean Pearson und Arthur Rizk. Gemischt und gemastert von Arthur Rizk (Gravesend, Daeva, Eternal Champion, Power Trip, Kreator).
- Wunderschönes Cover-Artwork von Benjamin A. Vierling (Joanna Newsom, Nightbringer, Aosoth)
- Hauptmitglieder sind Derrick Vella (Tomb Mold) und Justin DeTore (Innumerable Forms, Sumerlands, Solemn Lament)

- FFO: Anathema, Evoken, Tiamat, Opeth, Trouble, Blue Nile, Live, Alice In Chains, Kings X