Suche:like a tim

The Blind Date Party hosted by Bill Callahan and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy
and featuring AZITA, Matt Sweeney, Alasdair Roberts, Matt Kinsey,
Sean O’Hagan, Bill MacKay, George Xylouris, Dead Rider, David Pajo,
Mick Turner, Meg Baird, Ty Segall, Emmett Kelly, Cory Hanson, Six
Organs of Admittance, David Grubbs, Cassie Berman, Cooper Crain and
Sir Richard Bishop happened online in the autumn and winter of 2020 -
2021 but the party planning dated back to the spring of 2020.
 Stuck at home, with no gigs in the foreseeable future, Bill, Bonnie and
Drag City needed an outreach program to keep themselves busy, not to
mention sane. In the absence of any company or anything on the
calendar, playing songs they loved was an idea; playing with people they
loved, the desire. And making it fun - so pairing someone with someone
else having no say in the matter, the essence of the blind date, was the
plan. Favourite songs were chosen; players from around the Drag City
galaxy were messaged. Pretty soon, songs were flying back and forth -
music in the air.
 By autumn, the songs started to appear online: Bill and Bonnie singing a
song by someone they loved and admired; each song cut by another
artist they loved and admired, then sent to Bill and Bonnie to provide the
finishing touches. The spotlight pointed in every direction each week:
toward the singers and writers who’d originally played the songs (Yusuf
Islam, Hank Williams Jr., Dave Rich, The Other Years, Billie Eilish,
Steely Dan, Lou Reed, Bill Callahan, Jerry Jeff Walker, Robert Wyatt,
Lowell George, Johnnie Frierson, Air Supply, Will Oldham, Leonard
Cohen, David Berman, Iggy Pop and John Prine), toward their featured
collaborators, the artists whose artwork adorned each digital single and
videos made by still more collaborators.
 Like the best parties, it turned out to be everything and more than they’d
even hoped for. So many more people were involved in the process that
would on the page here. Suffice to say, making records over the years
has required a broad sense of community and an always-surprising mix
of independence and unity, inspiration and utility. Some of the best
memories are those where as many of our folks as possible were
together in one place at one time. The Blind Date Party was one of
these, maybe the most improbable one yet. It’s for everyone who’s here
and it’s in the name of everyone who’s gone but will never go and will
always live with us here. This album will too.

Blue Note founder Alfred Lion considered pianist Herbie Nichols to be a composer who was as original and important as Thelonious Monk. Little-known in his time, recognition has grown in recent years for Nichols’ unique compositions like “The Third World,” “2300 Skidoo,” and “Step Tempest” which were presented on The Prophetic Herbie Nichols, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 featuring Al McKibbon on bass and Art Blakeyon drums. The two 10” LPs are combined here onto a single 12” LP presented in a gatefold with the Vol. 1 cover on the front, the Vol. 2 cover on the back and liner notes on the inside. This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.

Blue Note founder Alfred Lion considered pianist Herbie Nichols to be a composer who was as original and important as Thelonious Monk. Little-known in his time, recognition has grown in recent years for Nichols’ unique compositions like “The Third World,” “2300 Skidoo,” and “Step Tempest” which were presented on The Prophetic Herbie Nichols, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 featuring Al McKibbon on bass and Art Blakeyon drums. The two 10” LPs are combined here onto a single 12” LP presented in a gatefold with the Vol. 1 cover on the front, the Vol. 2 cover on the back and liner notes on the inside. This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.

Bleach Lab have shared details of their second EP, ‘Nothing Feels Real’. The South London band made their return in July with single ‘Real Thing’, hinting that more music was to come. Receiving similar acclaim as the band’s debut EP, which saw them rise to prominence, ‘Real Thing’ received support from 6Music as well as the likes of Line of Best Fit (Song of the Day), DIY, Gigwise and many more.

Bleach Lab have shared details of their second EP, ‘Nothing Feels Real’. The South London band made their return in July with single ‘Real Thing’, hinting that more music was to come. Receiving similar acclaim as the band’s debut EP, which saw them rise to prominence, ‘Real Thing’ received support from 6Music as well as the likes of Line of Best Fit (Song of the Day), DIY, Gigwise and many more.

Mouth Congress – friends Paul Bellini and Scott Thompson of Kids In The Hall fame - wrote and recorded hundreds of songs in the ‘80s with - out ever putting out a proper release. Alongside various cohorts and conspirators, the band drew on their experiences as gay men to craft hilariously crude punk songs that run the gamut of strange characters and taboo subject matter. Their rag tag approach to songwriting blended various styles from noisy punk to lo-fi new wave and DIY disco, all with a very gay bent. Without trying, they were surprisingly cutting edge.

Mouth Congress did dozens of live shows through the mid-80s that gained a reputation for being theatrical, combining props, sets, multiple costume changes, unusual song choices, guest stars, and Scott’s stand-up comedy. In 1988, they recorded a 7-song demo tape. The tracks were recorded quickly, as the Kids in the Hall were about to go to New York City to develop their material. Then, caught up in the excitement of the Kids in the Hall being signed to television, Mouth Congress activities slowed to a crawl.

In 2011, Paul dug out an old VHS tape of one of the live shows. The sight of one of the Kids in the Hall covered in sweat, writhing on stage like Iggy Pop, was something he felt comedy fans might enjoy seeing. Naturally, Scott agreed and they uploaded everything - over 600 recordings - onto Bandcamp. One day in 2019, Mike Sniper of Captured Tracks stumbled upon the Bandcamp page, got in touch, and suggested assembling a compilation of the best recordings to be officially released for the very first time.
Waiting for Henry is a collection of 29 tracks over 2 LPs with a booklet of interviews and ephemera from one of the ‘80s
last queercore bands.

Who is Henry? We don’t really know, but we certainly hope he shows up soon.

La Maison's story is essentially an oral one, like for many bands in those years. Casual encounters, records found and exchanged, demos recorded at home, live club shows in a country that in those years was changing socially and culturally at the speed of light, and was molding itself at the rate of a fluid modernity. The tracks of this album, Collected Tape Experiments 1980-1984 tell the story of a world where synthesizers and drum machines coexist and replace traditional rock instruments. Where homemade overdubs broaden the spectrum of sonic possibilities and the "cut and paste" of tapes is done, literally, by hand. A world in which the first infatuations for wave and industrial are contaminated with no prejudice by the rhythms and sounds of funk and disco. A milestone for those who want to understand the vibrant landscape of Italian music of the eighties, many times too hectic and elusive to be captured in real time. Twenty one tracks on CD and twelve on vinyl, most of them never published before, see the light of day more than thirty years after their creation. - Livia Satriano

Repress

Second release on Nina Kraviz (pronounced 'trip') label is another double-EP compilation this time entitled 'De Niro Is Concerned'.

'The idea of this compiled album/concept compilation is about one of those moments when you suddenly realise that you can't continue as you did before and there is no way back. I was in a 4am facebook chat with Reynier (Deniro) and we both thought Robert De Niro might have had a moment like that. Most of the tracks in TRP002 are live recordings, which is a key part of the label's concept: to release music that is abstract and very specific in texture, yet very human, unplanned and organic, because I really believe in music that captures the emotional moment of when it was made." Nina Kraviz

Featuring a great introductory track from the Icelandic wunderkind Bjarki, a superb collaboration between Nina and the seminal Exos, the legendary Steve Stoll delivers a brilliant acid groover, two classic techno tracks from Amsterdam based Reiyner Hooft AKA Deniro, the wonderful trance induced 'L'Importance De Doute' by Parrish Smith, a slice of melancholic techno from Nikita Zabelin and a welcome re-release of the legendary, highly sought after secret weapon Barcode Population - Barcode Population (which will be on the vinyl only) . An eight-track no-holes barred barnstormer of a double-pack.. !!

Narrow Head’s debut full-length record Satisfac- tion is available once again on vinyl for the first time since its initial release in 2016. Reissued by Run For Cover, this version of the album includes updated album art and a limited color vinyl release. While the band offered a handful of one-off sin- gles and demos prior to Satisfaction’s release, this record offers a perfect introduction to the Houston band’s world.

Narrow Head’s debut full-length record Satisfac- tion is available once again on vinyl for the first time since its initial release in 2016. Reissued by Run For Cover, this version of the album includes updated album art and a limited color vinyl release. While the band offered a handful of one-off sin- gles and demos prior to Satisfaction’s release, this record offers a perfect introduction to the Houston band’s world.

‘The Centre is Everywhere’ is our first album. We created it in rather extraordinary circumstances, at a time when we were all slowly sinking into the banal dystopia of a pandemic-stricken world. Our lives, it felt, had slowed to a crawl. Normally we’re fuelled by our audiences, but touring was off the menu. So, we made this record. For us, it was personal.

In such an uncertain time, we wanted to play music that we loved. We ended up with a set of work written over a 120-year period – weightless and transcendent new music alongside Schoenberg’s anguished fin de siècle storytelling.

Edmund Finnis’ work in particular (the titular ‘The Centre is Everywhere’) is important to us. He’s a friend and a colleague, and it’s been a profound experience for us to live with this piece, to tour it, and to make the first ever recording. Somehow in the writing of it, Edmund seems to have prefigured the lack of certainty that has been one of the defining characteristics of this period. His music spins freely through time and space, wraithlike and beautiful.

Whilst recording both ‘Company’ by Philip Glass and ‘Transfigured Night’ by Arnold Schoenberg, we found ourselves drawn to a pervading sense of wildness and nature. The hypnotic rise and fall of the rhythms and textures in Glass’ quartet (presented here in an arrangement for string orchestra) feel quite separate to industrial, man-made structures and forms. Like Edmund’s work, these short movements feel out of time and cyclical, like eternally repeating tides or moon-phases.

Schoenberg’s masterpiece for string sextet opens on a moonlit forest scene, two lovers venturing through a bare, cold grove. We’ve tried to create a recording that paints the violent contrasts of this piece as vividly as possible, from the claustrophobic confessions that open the work through to the gleaming sound world of the second half. As the piece closes, our wooden, earthbound instruments seem to have been transmuted by the glamour and glow of Schoenberg’s music. We finish amongst the stars.

Headline performance at this summer's BBC Proms at the royal Albert Hall

‘Expressions of Interest’ is the debut album from Melbourne/Naarm post-punk group screensaver.

Sonically, the 10 track album is rich and detailed, and pays homage to its era of inspiration (late 70s-mid 80s post-punk and new wave) with gripping vocals, dissonant guitar, melodic basslines, washes of synths and motorik drumming. Engineered by Julian Cue alongside band member Chris Stephenson and recorded over multiple studio sessions between 2020-2021

The album opens with the ominously titled ‘Body Parts’, an immediately arresting song that showcases the bands penchant for blending classic post-punk elements, leaning into a sound somewhere between the Banshees and Protomartyr.

Maynard doubles down on these themes in the frenetic second track, ‘No Movement’. Guttural organ tones swim under overdriven guitar, jagged and intense. Additional textures and sound effects are used percussively to embellish the dynamics, creating a feverish atmosphere with some Martin Hannett like flourishes.

The album takes a surprising turn into electronic driven krautrock on track three with 'Buy, Sell, Trade' - a rollicking piece of danceable ephemera, dominated by swirling synth sounds and punctuated with electronics reminiscent of Sparks/Moroder collaborations. Chris Stephenson's masterful guitar work begins with Greg Sage-esque determination before a crescendo into a lush Frippertronics outro.

'MEDS' transports us back to the foundation established on 'Body Parts', a gothy piece, full of tribal toms and dirge-y synths. Industrial punk rock nearly swallowed whole by the keys in the middle and slowly building back to complimentary guitar and vocal hooks.

It's from this point in the album that the band let's their other influences rise to the surface, as they explore touches of EDM on 'Static State' - a brutal, death-disco style track, Krystal Maynard's lead synth and gloomy vocal complimenting the pounding drums and dub-esque bass line culminating in a track worthy of the dancefloor.


Opening side two we have 'Skin', beginning with a solid and simple backbeat, James Beck’s post-punk percussion provides a steady and minimal framework for the rest of the band to colour in with great depth and detail. Giles Fielke’s bass guitar wobbles brilliantly leading the verse melody, whilst Chris Stephenson’s guitar drives the chorus that folds neatly in on itself.

In ‘Attention Economy’, Krystal Maynard is flexible with her lyrical style, and knows how and when to lend her voice to the greater backdrop of the composition. ‘Attention Economy’ has an almost Kraftwerkian structure - repetitious, but engaging with its constant tom driven beat, lush synth lines and minimal bass tones.

Just when you thought things had slowed down, screensaver ramp things right back up again with ‘Overnight Low’ - a no holds barred thumper. Giles Fielke underpins the hard-edged sound with his bassline, keeping things smooth and tight. It brings to mind a hybrid of PiL’s ‘Annalisa’ and Wire’s ‘Two People In a Room.’

Before you can catch your breath, we have ‘Regular Hours’ - another industrial track, and perhaps the sister song to ‘Static State’ heard earlier on side one. Seething electronic drum samples cut through an abyss of growling synths, Giles Fielke hanging up the bass temporarily to accompany Krystal Maynard on synth duties.

The album closes with the fittingly titled ‘Soft Landing’, literally bringing the listener back down...softly. The song is heavy on atmos, and resembles the aesthetics previously encountered on ‘Attention Economy’ a few tracks earlier.

‘Expressions of Interest” was recorded at various locations across Melbourne, with a handful of songs being captured before the start of the Covid pandemic in January 2020. With the recording timeline being drastically altered, the band shifted focus to work on what would become their first single ‘Strange Anxiety’, throughout the first months of the Melbourne 2020 lockdown.

Third time’s a charm. Or a chant in this case.“Antologia De Música Atípica Portuguesa” is back.Following two sold out volumes, the unplanned trilogy comes to a close with chants and hymns whilst continuing to merge music genres and presenting them as a world building concept.

If the first two volumes were dedicated to work (“O Trabalho”) and regions (“Regiões”), it only made sense to close the trilogy with ceremonial music, connecting the real – each musicians’ creation – with a fantasied celebration of Portuguese folk, traditions, and ghost methods within these unusual anthems.

If you’ve listened to Niagara before, you probably felt this whole ceremonial thing going on. A perfect opener then, for this volume with Niagara’s deep dive into proto religious-ambient music with “Paulo, Apolo e Pedro”. It sets the tone for the next 35-minutes of ethereal like songs. Either you listen to musicians working within their natural habitat (João Pais Filipe or Filipe Felizardo) or feel them exploring new areas in their realm (Niagara, Joana Guerra or Serpente), this third volume manages to combine eight of the best underrated visionaries working in current day Portugal.

In the past, “Antologia da Música Atípica Portuguesa” created an imaginary folktale where current day creations could live with the idea of archive or fake-folk. This volume forgets the world building and actually lives in it. Because this is the real Portugal. This is our folk. These are our chants. Embrace the otherworldly.

50th Anniversary Re-Edition - Includes Original Releasesheet Inlay - Original Release: 1972 - 2021 Re-Cut carefully overseen by Manuel Göttsching

We proudly announce the authorised 50th Anniversary Edition 2021 of the 1972 Original release , one of the most important German Krautrock albums in a 2021 Re-Cut carefully overseen by Manuel Göttsching himself. As for the info we refer to Julian Cope´s review in his “Krautrocksampler” Book, Publisher : Head Heritage (1 Oct. 1995) : “Beware of Schwingungen!” That should be the large sticker on the front of all copies of this record. For it is dangerous to be casually introduced to something that is life-changing, as I found out to my cost when first listening to this record. It all starts fairly simply and without any cause for alarm - “Look at Your Sun” begins with a Doorsy lone groover guitar begins a pedestrian blues, beautiful. Then the most crushed voice, a cross between Johnny Rotten and Tiny Tim, preaches its way into the proceeds. God, it is beautiful - John L. repeats over and over, “We are all one, we are all one”, until a howling fuzztone solo guitar blows the whole onechord “Signed D.C.” ringing-cymbals torture to an end. And then the most far out track of all begins. This is called “Flower Must Die” and it is a free-rock giant that transcends everything else in its field (there are no contenders.) As I’ve written before, PIL sounds like this. John L. was John Lydon in a previous incarnation. After a slow weird build, a frantic streamlined one-chord mantra kicks in and it’s like the Stooges’ Funhouse period but in a Righteous Vision Zone that fucks them right off.

Mr Bongo is delighted to present a new and exciting collaborative project with Swedish label Piano Piano Records.

Hearing the Swedish outfit Sven Wunder for the first time is as refreshing as an ice-cold Limoncello after an Italian meal. One of those bands that feel instantly familiar like an old friend, yet simultaneously fresh and new. Straight away we fell in love with their sound and knew we had to work with them.

The first fruits of our partnership is a collector's edition 7”. We have selected two tracks of Turkish inspired funk goodness taken from their already cult-classic 2019 album, 'Doğu Çiçekleri (Eastern Flowers )'. Both instrumentals, 'Tulip' and 'Magnolia' could easily have come from a lost soundtrack to a psychedelic movie. With their beautiful, yet raw aesthetic, they will enthrall funk, B-Boy / Girls, and psychedelia fans alike.

Cut at the Timmion Records Cutting Lab in Finland.

Red & Yellow Vinyl

With its first track produced in early 2017 (that crowds worldwide were listening to already in 2018), the OBI THINE XI album by RICO PUESTEL took up the time of 4 years to become the wild-at-heart ride at hand.
The fantasy concept of OBI THINE XI (based on an anagram of the label name EXHIBITION) tells stories from a wonderous kind of holistic place in space with two dualistic layers and velocities of perception present:
On the one side of SPACE, the main plot is based on the idea of an exhibition-walkthrough, representing the culmination of the EXHIBITION label itself. Throughout these acts of promenading from exhibit to exhibit, the journey passes different angles of RICO PUESTEL's musical mindset from the uniquely designed depths of OBI XI or RITUALIST to the blunt uplifts like MODEST or ID (a cooperation with scene-bedrock Tom Wax), finally peaking with the retro-game styled melodies of THINE that close this primal arc.
On the other side of TIME, there's a 12“-exclusive mini-album within the album itself that pays tribute to the vinyl record (and all of its fans) with four tracks at the end of each side, telling tales at their own pace and reflecting their perspective on the main course of the album like reflective and feverish dreamscapes from places without any conception of time.
The union of both layers merges the dualism of space and time, demonstrating the wayward ideas and musical excesses of RICO PUESTEL when it comes to his grasp and definition of Techno music and beyond – you gotta say yes to this excess...

The Mighty Soulmates is a towering early 90s project from the legitimate super group of André Cymone (bass player with Prince), St. Paul Peterson (guitarist with The Family and Prince), Mic Murphy (of Sass and The System fame) and Gardner Cole (writer, producer and musician probably best known for his work with Madonna). The sound is a majestic blend of sophisticated funk, emotional R&B, New Jack Swing flava and slick deep soul.

These should-be legendary sessions have been almost a secret since they were recorded back in 1993. The first Be With knew about the project was whilst working with Mic on some Sass re-issues and he told us he had something else we might be interested in hearing.

Mic explained, “In the summer of 1993, Gardner Cole asked if I’d be interested in coming out to work with him, André, and St. Paul. So we all headed out to what can best be described as a fantasy music summer camp at Gardner’s house in Woodland Hills, California. We had all worked together in the past in some form or another so everyone was energized and enthused and excited to see what we could create together. St Paul and Andre had already begun some songwriting at Gardner’s well equipped home garage studio. The songs and ideas progressed quickly and some additional recording was completed at André Cymone’s studio in downtown LA. We ended up working on the project for about 6 months, off and on, until Gardner's house fell victim to the Northridge Earthquake in January 1994.”

There were some vague ideas at the time about turning the sessions into a finished record, but everyone went back to their day jobs and as St. Paul puts it: “for nearly 30 years it just sat there, marinating like a fine funk masterpiece. Everything has its right time and now just be the time”.

From all the tracks Mic sent over, we’ve cherry picked the absolute cream for a tight four track EP. In an alternate history all four for these would’ve been radio smashes. No doubt. But these songs never even reached a plugger. A mixture of beat ballads and uptempo non-hits, coming on like Al B Sure! or Babyface take on Shalamar or, dare we say it, The Purple One - maybe not so surprising given who’s playing!

The feel-good dancefloor dynamite of “I Wanna Be The One” is the explosive opening track. A piano-driven, groove-laden blast of yearning deep-pop, with perfectly delivered soulful vocals and an unmistakable “early 90s” sound. Indeed, fans of Eddie Chacon’s old group will dig this for days. “Back In The Day” has a timeless swing and swagger, the lyrics reminiscing about the halcyon streetlife of the Soulmates’ youth, about Curtis, Superfly and innocent days gone by, about hustling with friends. Yet more spine-tingling vocals over yet another perfectly produced musical backdrop. Stunning.

Opening side B, “Blue Tuesday” is the thrilling pinnacle of the EP, at least for us. It’s absolute soulful-pop perfection, and the one we’ve been asked about most after teasing this collection on our NTS show. A soaring beat ballad full of chiming guitars, gorgeous harmonising, falsetto “doo-doo-doo-doo do-do-do-do” backing vocals and a real steppers’ groove. Glide to this with your loved one at the next roller rink party.

Dramatic, purple-hued closer “Private Time” seems to predict the Timbaland-dominated sound of the mid-to-late 90s, all synthetic strings and squelchy, acidic-drum-machine soul. There’s even room for funky piano breaks, vocoder bridges and more cowbell than you can shake a cowbell at. You could just as easily hear Aaliyah vibing over this as much as Mic.

This EP represents the sound of four incredibly soulful, talented, and influential (soul)mates jamming together over one long hot summer and weaving pure sonic magic. André Cymone loved the “kinda pop, experimental exploration of sound and music. I think these songs make a statement. Not just because of the collection of talented musicians involved but the idea of musically branching out and experimenting; which is what I loved about the project and for people to hear and hopefully appreciate the artistic adventure this music takes, I think it’s a much needed breath of fresh air.” As Mic recalls, “it had the feeling of recovery in a circle with my dudes making music sitting around catching up on life - it felt like living a second childhood. We just wrote what we felt. I don’t remember ‘aiming’ at anything but a great song, melding all our different influences from throughout our lives. We had no restraints. For me personally, it was a time to make music and regroup. I call it the ‘Soulmate Experience’ because in many ways we are kindred souls as a band. We did have an amazing time making the record and so much fun together. Probably my best summer ever”.

The Mighty Soulmates EP has been mastered for vinyl by Simon Francis, cut by Pete Norman at Finyl Tweek and pressed at Record Industry. That early 90s gloss sounds spectacular, if we do say so ourselves.

And such a special record needed some truly almighty artwork, so thanks go to DJ Ruby Savage for directing us to London-based illustrator and designer River Cousin. This music needed something elegant and indulgent yet soulful and striking and something as simultaneously tongue-in-check and deadly-serious as the group’s name. The end result is as modern yet timeless as the music itself.

And these are just our four picks. There’s plenty more where this came from and Mic tells us he’s even picked the album title: “Earthquake Summer”.

The overall atmosphere and aura of You Are Here... I Am There points at the influences of American jazz musicians such as John Coltrane, Archie Shepp, and Charles Mingus. The record shows a strong tendency, however, towards a distinctive sound that was, at the time, new, embraced by musicians such as Jan Garbarek and Ian Carr. Above all, Tippett's compositional style bears traces of the artist's classical training, unveiled by his harmonic and dynamic awareness and careful balance between improvisation and composition. At the same time, in a reasonable dose, the sextet also captures the kind of spiritual aspect of American jazz, particularly powerfully displayed by Albert Ayler, John and Alice Coltrane, and Sun Ra.

Intercepts is a brand new sub-label from London's Frequency Domain.

Frequency Domain has soundtracked late-night astral travelling since 2015, releasing drone, ambient and offbeat electronics from the likes of Forest Drive West, Plant43, Datassette, Matt Whitehead, Anthony Child, Jo Johnson and Ali Wade.

Intercepts indulges the parent label's more unruly and percussive leanings with a series of EPs drawn up from an anonymous pool of Frequency Domain artists and newcomers. Intercepts releases are served two at a time, with two separate strands - X and Y - each exploring their own sonic trajectory.

The first 'Y' series EP delivers three tracks of urgent machine funk; a spannered slab of 170bpm Braindance hogs the A side, while two peak-time sci-fi electro cuts play out on the flip.

10Questions is a record label by Dam Swindle’s Lars Dales and graphic designer Bas Koopmans. After two prolific first releases, 10Questions drops another EP, this time by long time friend and synth wizard Lorenz Rhode. Lorenz finds himself exploring the depths of 80’s inspired Italo disco with a modern touch. Just how we like it.

The ‘Le Noir EP’ is spearheaded by two A sides of which title track ‘Le Noir’ is the first one. “Le Noir’ features the sensual vocals of ‘Margerita’ and is one of those tracks that we love instantly because of it’s strong theme and even stronger execution. Italo drama in optima forma. The chord progression on this track gets you hooked and never seems to end; a perfect example of why we call Lorenz the ‘synth wizard’.

The second A side ‘Yayoi’ is a track with a big nod to Lorenz’ memories of 8bit games and early days music programming. This track pulls you in from the start with an emotional theme but with the drop into bassline and percussion it’s clear this theme is not one to linger on. The addition of both claps and stabs add loads of energy on top making this track a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

The full B side is reserved for ‘Pan Di Stelle’ and is the exact counterpart of ‘Yayoi’. It starts of with an Italo inspired bassline and with the percussion on top, it immediately dictates the energy. Only after the two minute mark the spacey theme comes lurking around the corner and fits perfectly in it’s own sonic pocket. This track is a another example of Lorenz’ expertise in utilising vintage synths and why he has been immensely popular for his production and playing skills.

10Questions is a label build on the concept that the record and record sleeve are an integral part of the full experience of an EP. The artist is given a questionnaire and depending on his/her answers the artwork is made. This way the music and art co-exist in the same creative universe, that of the artist and the label alike.