Beats Vinyl New Releases - News

The overlap between the organic and the synthetic is Vlad Dobrovolski’s stomping ground. Digitally organised sounds melt into squalling melodies that grow and stretch over and under each other like the fractal leaves of a fern, spiraling inwards and outwards into a tesseract of connective tissue. “The more carefully you listen, the more you hear,” explains the Russian-born sound artist. “No two moments are exactly alike in nature. The song is always changing. I find myself listening in ways I never have before. The scale of my perception has changed. Small, subtle sounds have become singular events. The space around me seems larger than I had realized.”

“Natursymphony No.1 — Spring Music” compiles fleeting waves of thought and feeling into sonic networks that embody the sinew shared by a sprawling forest, the patchwork quilt of human memory, or the post-organic logic of digital collage. Rays of rising sun and fresh air buoy this audio landscape, brimming as it is with synthetic tones and bitcrushed rhythms emerging from surrounding computer caverns. Field recordings are organized in harmony with processed acoustic instrumentation; gongs, flutes, and distorted percussive rhythms.

Probing our consciousness – or perhaps self and spatial awareness – propel forward the seven opuses of “Natursymphony No.1”, like the experience of an awakening itself. Stemming from an awakening of sorts for the artist himself, suddenly alivened in his ability to perceive his surroundings and create musical ecosystems, the nature to be found in this music is a parallel reality in miniature, with its own dusks and dawns, its own blossoming and extinctions, all delicately nurtured by an artist stumbling into a creator role.

Over two decades, Vlad has explored improvised and generative music, sonic collage, and released solo music under a variety of monikers and in various collaborative projects — such as his cassette tape soundscaping duo with Vasiliy Stepanov, S A D. The “Natursymphony” series comes following his personal landmark album, “Non-Deterministic Polynomial Poems” (Klammklang). Vlad has also participated in residencies and performances throughout both Russia and Japan.

Mit dem 6-Tracker „Desire EP“ kehren Bob Moses zu ihren ursprünglichen Club-Wurzeln zurück!

Mit „Desire“ kehren Bob Moses zu ihren ursprünglichen Club-Wurzeln zurück. Eine prägende Zeit, in der sie ihre frühen Singles auf dem einflussreichen NYC-basierten Label Scissor & Thread veröffentlichten und in Clubs und Warehouses spielten.
Die Lead-Single "Desire" ist eine Zusammenarbeit mit dem Grammy-nominierten Produzenten ZHU. Die EP wurde von Mark Ralph (Daniel Avery, Dusky, Hot Chip, Georgia, etc.) abgemischt und soll als ein kontinuierlicher DJ Mix erlebt werden.

it's been a while since we decided to open and launch this new project, we were just waiting for the right moment, and maybe we waited too long. or maybe not. we were a little stucked by the indecision of when to put it out, how to contextualize, and all the usual "psychological" practices that one faces before starting a new journey. but ever since we received the masters of this wonderful concentrate of different minds, we have been looking forward to smashing it out. and whether it's the real right time or not, it's now finally here! the true meaning behind this capsule is not so definable in words, perhaps because it is an attempt to look back and forth at the same time, without getting lost in a one concrete definition. but when we got to the tracks, first individually, and then together, it came spontaneous to glimpse something new and unconventional as a whole. we are therefore proud to present another of our musical journeys, this time in certainly more experimental and odd territories. the sounds you hear can definitely be taken as the true manifesto of this new chapter. proto? post? everything in between. ENTER >

Veteran NYC based Scottish electronic musician Drew McDowall's latest work is his loftiest, most liturgical, and least industrial outing to date —and potentially the apex of his recent discography.Named after an ancient Greek word for votive offering, Agalmaexudes a hooded, devotional aura, creaking and keeling under vast rafters of stone, stained glass, and shredded wires. It's a music of majesty and mystery but also modernity, McDowall's refined modular system shape-shifting strings, piano, pipe organ, and choral masses into disorienting synthetic mirages of the sacred. He cites the intersection of “joy, terror, and the elegiac” as a centering inspiration –or, phrased more bluntly, “that 'what the fuck is going on' feeling.”



As a career collaborator himself, with stints in Coil, Psychic TV, and countless other shorter-lived partnerships, it's telling that McDowall chose this project to gather such an impressive spectrum of peers. Italian synthesist Caterina Barbieri, American drone organist Kali Malone, prolific multi-instrumentalistRobert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, operatic Humanbeast vocalist Maralie Armstrong-Rial, Saudi producer MSYLMA, and warped futurist beat-makers Bashar Suleiman and Elvin Brandhi cameo across the album's 42 minutes, contouring McDowall's nuanced negative spaces with shudders, shadows, and shivering flickers of serenity. Each of them shines in their spotlight, elevating these elusive alchemical states into surreal revelations of texture and transcendence.



McDowall's original working title for the record is revealing: Ritual Music.He speaks of his creative practice in ceremonial terms, negating binaries by seeking the middle path to anuminousequilibrium that erases the distinction between the inner and outer worlds.These compositions feel similarly processional and intuitive, at the crossroads of holiness and hallucination, the sacred vertigo of yawning naves rising into untouchable night skies. It's a vision of industrial music as enigma and invocation, cryptic hymnals of shroudedbeautysummoned in catacombs and crumbling cathedrals.



Despite its depths, Agalmais also an album of immediacy and emotion. Celestial laments of and for times of unrest and suffering. McDowall characterizes his initial intention for this music as an to attempt to convey experiences he felt incapable of putting into words: “To try and approach sublimity, or at least acknowledge it in some way.”Agalmamore than acknowledges the ineffable –it embodies it.

Veteran NYC based Scottish electronic musician Drew McDowall's latest work is his loftiest, most liturgical, and least industrial outing to date —and potentially the apex of his recent discography.Named after an ancient Greek word for votive offering, Agalmaexudes a hooded, devotional aura, creaking and keeling under vast rafters of stone, stained glass, and shredded wires. It's a music of majesty and mystery but also modernity, McDowall's refined modular system shape-shifting strings, piano, pipe organ, and choral masses into disorienting synthetic mirages of the sacred. He cites the intersection of “joy, terror, and the elegiac” as a centering inspiration –or, phrased more bluntly, “that 'what the fuck is going on' feeling.”



As a career collaborator himself, with stints in Coil, Psychic TV, and countless other shorter-lived partnerships, it's telling that McDowall chose this project to gather such an impressive spectrum of peers. Italian synthesist Caterina Barbieri, American drone organist Kali Malone, prolific multi-instrumentalistRobert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, operatic Humanbeast vocalist Maralie Armstrong-Rial, Saudi producer MSYLMA, and warped futurist beat-makers Bashar Suleiman and Elvin Brandhi cameo across the album's 42 minutes, contouring McDowall's nuanced negative spaces with shudders, shadows, and shivering flickers of serenity. Each of them shines in their spotlight, elevating these elusive alchemical states into surreal revelations of texture and transcendence.



McDowall's original working title for the record is revealing: Ritual Music.He speaks of his creative practice in ceremonial terms, negating binaries by seeking the middle path to anuminousequilibrium that erases the distinction between the inner and outer worlds.These compositions feel similarly processional and intuitive, at the crossroads of holiness and hallucination, the sacred vertigo of yawning naves rising into untouchable night skies. It's a vision of industrial music as enigma and invocation, cryptic hymnals of shroudedbeautysummoned in catacombs and crumbling cathedrals.



Despite its depths, Agalmais also an album of immediacy and emotion. Celestial laments of and for times of unrest and suffering. McDowall characterizes his initial intention for this music as an to attempt to convey experiences he felt incapable of putting into words: “To try and approach sublimity, or at least acknowledge it in some way.”Agalmamore than acknowledges the ineffable –it embodies it.

Suction Records presents the first new album since 2014 by the legendary, and somewhat underrated electronic project of Mark Van Hoen, Locust. The album is called "The Plaintive". When Suction was formed in 1997, we were deeply enthralled with the UK “listening” electronic scene, otherwise known as electronica or IDM, but besides the obvious icons - Aphex Twin, Autechre, and other luminaries of labels like Rephlex, Warp, and Skam Records - one of our heroes was the lesser known Locust, whose productions were murkier, more hypnotic, and deeply organic sounding. Those early Locust records - released via R&S/Apollo Records - were, and have remained, firm favourites. Pouring through the Locust album liner notes back in the ‘90s, it was the first time we’d ever read of a “techno” artist using modular synthesizers to make modern music.

Earlier this year, Locust released “The Plaintive” as a 15-track CD/digital album, part of Touched Music’s “Touched By Silence” boxset, and the CD was sold out in a matter of hours. Having heard Locust’s contribution to the set, we were immediately smitten with the material, which sounded very much unlike the Locust of old, yet absolutely complimentary to Van Hoen’s murky, analog-synth past. Produced intermittently over a 5-year period, the tracks were created with a largely-digital eurorack modular system, alongside a selection of analog synthesizers, notably a newly-acquired Prophet 12 polysynth. While tracks like “If You Knew” and “Out Here” are reminiscent of classic Locust, much of “The Plaintive” shows us a new side to Locust - melodic, playful, and melancholic, with clear nods to the melodic electronic sounds of early pioneers like Cluster, early-Kraftwerk, or even OMD’s late-70s output.

For Suction’s vinyl release of “The Plaintive”, we’ve chosen 10 highlights from the original 15-track digital release, housed in a stunning The Designers Republic LP jacket, and limited to 500 copies.

Suction Records presents the first new album since 2014 by the legendary, and somewhat underrated electronic project of Mark Van Hoen, Locust. The album is called "The Plaintive". When Suction was formed in 1997, we were deeply enthralled with the UK “listening” electronic scene, otherwise known as electronica or IDM, but besides the obvious icons - Aphex Twin, Autechre, and other luminaries of labels like Rephlex, Warp, and Skam Records - one of our heroes was the lesser known Locust, whose productions were murkier, more hypnotic, and deeply organic sounding. Those early Locust records - released via R&S/Apollo Records - were, and have remained, firm favourites. Pouring through the Locust album liner notes back in the ‘90s, it was the first time we’d ever read of a “techno” artist using modular synthesizers to make modern music.

Earlier this year, Locust released “The Plaintive” as a 15-track CD/digital album, part of Touched Music’s “Touched By Silence” boxset, and the CD was sold out in a matter of hours. Having heard Locust’s contribution to the set, we were immediately smitten with the material, which sounded very much unlike the Locust of old, yet absolutely complimentary to Van Hoen’s murky, analog-synth past. Produced intermittently over a 5-year period, the tracks were created with a largely-digital eurorack modular system, alongside a selection of analog synthesizers, notably a newly-acquired Prophet 12 polysynth. While tracks like “If You Knew” and “Out Here” are reminiscent of classic Locust, much of “The Plaintive” shows us a new side to Locust - melodic, playful, and melancholic, with clear nods to the melodic electronic sounds of early pioneers like Cluster, early-Kraftwerk, or even OMD’s late-70s output.

For Suction’s vinyl release of “The Plaintive”, we’ve chosen 10 highlights from the original 15-track digital release, housed in a stunning The Designers Republic LP jacket, and limited to 500 copies.

After his debut album for Discrepant (Papillon, 2013) and a couple of tapes for Dinzu Artefacts (Aqueducts, 2017) and Sucata tapes (Cercueill Flottant, 2019) Papillon aka Gonçalo F. Cardoso returns to the wax treatment for one last hurrah into the depths of tropical disquiet.

Taking liberties from Henri Charriere’s book sequel of the same name, Banco, the audio reader here dives straight up/down into a world of random dream logic. The same themes of Nightmare vs paradisiac dreams are present here yet with more nuance than the first volume. The adventure here is more subdued, less spiritual as most of it is lived outdoors, free from the states shackles of abuse. A lighter tone then, for what will probably be the last Papillon adventure. As with the first volume the album counts with contributions from fellow label artists, Mike Cooper, Cédric Stevens, David Daan and Yannick Dauby all feature in a way or another, raw or cooked into a boiling pot of irreverence.

All tracks were composed and edited by Gonçalo F Cardoso in the island of La Gomera, Lisbon and London between 2017-2019.

Composed & Performed by Gonçalo F. Cardoso with guest appearances by Mike Cooper, Yannick Dauby, David Naan and Cedric Stevens*

Special vinyl one time pressing to 300 copies
Mastered by Rashad Becker

Gosha Hniu - objects, toys, percussion, cries and whispers, marching band kazoo
Ran Nahmias - silent cello, theremin
Maya Pik - synths, melodica, rocking chair, flute (3)
Grundik Kasyansky - feedback synthesizer, objects
Amos Ungar - dulcimer, sampler
Tom Wheatley - double bass (1, 2, 6, 7)
Lior Lerman - cries and whispers (1, 5, 6)
Maria Blatstein - piano (2, 5)
Andrea Serafino - drums (1)
Yoni Silver - bass clarinet (1)
Radio interference (7) by Jonathan Shohet and Matthias Moos

Recorded in Cafe Oto Project Space in October 2017. Additional recordings throughout 2017-2019 in Givat Ha-Irusim, Israel and London, UK.

Artwork and inspiration by Danil Gertman. Lyrics are based on the poems by Arthur Molev. Recording, mix, mastering, design & production by Hniu.

Hugs to Ira Gluzman, Tsip Nahmias, David Pye, Zhenya Shmuter, Andrei Yusov, Tony Harris, Luba Tounkoun, Nigel Bewley, Artur Vidal, Joe Murray and Lee Etherington

Transversales Disques is very glad to announce the release of Nuits Blanches au
Studio 116, unreleased rarities from Ariel Kalma’s personal archives recorded in the
legendary GRM’s Studio 116 during the 70’s.
Born and raised in Paris, Ariel Kalma started playing the recorder and saxophone as a
youth. After successive studies of Computer Science, Music and Art in Paris he performed
in various concerts from middle-age music to free jazz duo. Ariel performed and recorded
with several bands (J. Higelin, R. Pinhas, NYL, G. Scornic, Baden Powell…).
After learning circular breathing on soprano sax, Ariel could include those endless notes
into his own long-delay-effect system, dual Revox set-up and two tape machines “chained”
together to form a long delay system.
In France during the mid-1970s, Kalma was staffed as a recording assistant at legendary
Groupe de Recherches Musicales (INA GRM) studios, where Ariel recorded some of his
compositions in the Studio 116; the same music “concrete” laboratory that spawned
masterpieces by members Luc Ferrari, Bernard Parmegiani…

A sort of slowly unfurling raga that plays tricks on your sense of depth and temporal perception, this stunning new album from long-string instrument master Ellen Fullman and cellist Theresa Wong has sent us into a light hypnotic trance with its slowly shifting tonal formations. Rarely is drone music so full of quietly cosmic eruptions - everything stays the same // nothing stays the same - pure aural alchemy.For the uninitiated - Fullman’s instrument consists of 70-foot-long metallic wires, anchored by a wooden resonator, across which she moves backwards and forwards with rosin-covered fingers to create an effect that’s been compared to the experience of standing inside an enormous grand piano. Developed in 1981, Fullman was in search of tonalities that couldn’t be achieved with traditional instruments - and her massively cumbersome instrument has been utilised to that effect ever since.
On Harbors, Inspired by the foggy San Francisco Bay, she’s joined by Cellist Theresa Wong to create elliptical tonal changes and anxiously resonant dissonance that feel like being stranded at the end of the earth. Wong is a Mills College alumnus who has developed highly individual playing techniques that take the cello into areas more closely rooted in the sounds of the natural world, always with a kind of theatrical dexterity.
Split into three movements, the piece is anchored by Fullman’s transfixing and slowly shifting drone, cut and overplayed with an orchestration of aberrant melodies and glistening atmospheres that are shimmering with life. It’s a fascinating addition to Fullman’s catalogue - at once disciplined but also quietly delirious in a way that’s pretty much impossible to describe. Anyway, there’s a video online of the pair of them checking test pressings of this album, gently swaying to the music. You can almost sense them both getting lost in their own mythical dimensions.

EP00001 is the first audio release from Matteo Zamagni's Seven Orbits project. 5 original tracks including a collaboration with Nervous Horizon's TSVI, plus remixes from 33EMYBW, Gooooose and Zaliva-D. Seven orbits is an audiovisual performance designed for immersive sensory experiences. It plays with the senses through vibration, light and sound to induce potential altered states with an emphasis on the transcendental and animistic connection with the natural world and the divine as can be found in past and present rituals around the world. The softwares used to create the experience communicate with each other so that the sound, played live on DAW, drive the real-time graphics as well as physical live elements; Further control of the experience is also achieved by using external physical interfaces.

Archival recordings made by Frak @ Studio Styrka - Johannishus - Sweden 1990-1991. Very experimental and playfull Electronic melodies strange rythms tapeloops and more... Edition 300x...

Repress!

'Then it was time for the man himself, Wolfgang Voigt. This, to put it simply, was a masterclass in ambient music. The sounds, beautiful; the transitions; perfect; the experience, unforgettable. The sound emanating from his quite simple set up filled up the church completely, in a room lit only by a few candles, his music shone through and brought everything to life. Everyone and everything became one with the music, moving with its ups and downs, delighting in it's near perfection. I went to this concert expecting something amazing, I got much more than that, an enthralling evening from start to finish'.

OMIC is a new side-project from Ian McDonnell - better know as electronic music producer and DJ Eomac - exploring the experimental, the unusual, the idiosyncratic side of his output. Inspired by the idea of 'outsider' music and explorative producers like Jim O'Rourke and Arthur Russell, OMIC approaches music without the constraints of genre and style or the 'dancefloor' considerations and conventions that are usually present in Ian's output. Off-key vocal experiments, downtempo electronica, ambient, noise, pop, techno - expect all, any and none of the above.

Formed by Swiss post-metal veterans from Knut and Abraham, strom|morts' goal is to compose music inspired by their Alpine environment and its weather, which glides over impassive mountains, evolving with the seasons. Such a landscape encourages deep listening – minimalist musics whose subtle evolutions reveal themselves over several minutes, disturbing the perception of time passing or even provoking, through deep and sustained concentration, a meditative state.

strom|morts write: "Clock Resistance is all about time and chaos, reflecting the behaviour of nature around us, embodying the cycles of life and death. The sinister yin yang of strom|morts symbolising the source and the end of everything we have known so far. Two drones were composed as an embodiment of this concept. This record was mainly made with modular synths for their flexibility, but you can hear here and there the ghost of a Moog Voyager. One drone is totally synced, the other one is free. One side's got a guitar, the other one is synths only. Achieving symmetry, the two drones have the same timing." –strom|morts, Conthey, Switzerland, 19 May 2020.

Gabie Strong is the founder of Crystalline Morphologies community imprint, dedicated to releasing experimental sound works by historically underserved Los Angeles women, queer and non-binary artists. She has been working in experimental music since the early 90s. The recordings on this cassette document a series of live performances from 2017-2019 in which the Los Angeles artist Gabie Strong asks, "What does the body sound like when it is making its own music?" A hard-of-hearing interdisciplinary artist, Strong asks us to consider that hearing is subjective, based on how the brain translates the reception of sound. Each track documents a performative questioning in which Strong suggests that being deaf is not living in silence, but rather it is navigating a highly complex and nuanced soundscape of noise that is audible only to the deaf body. For Strong, deafness comes from her own skull working against her, closing off external sounds and sending scrambled messages back to her consciousness. Captured at Ende Tymes 9 Festival of Noise and Experimental Liberation, Land and Sea Oakland, Volume at Coaxial and the Sagehen Creek Field Station Experimental Forest, Strong layers the kinetic sound of contact mics running over her body and through her hair, ambiguous vocal utterances and amplified guitar feedback to create a visceral soundscape of her body.

"This tape gathers a series of demos and live recordings of a short-lived Portuguese band from the 1980s: Os Senhores (1985-87, briefly resurrected in 1990).

Portugal was just beginning to open up to the international cultural scene back then; for a younger generation of creatives, this meant a visceral rejection of tradition ("Fado??? The past!"), and a thirsty embracing of whichever echoes made it from abroad, often in the shape of expensive import vinyl or hissy third or fourth-generation cassette dubs: from post-punk to post-modern, we all wanted to break from the old paradigm. And yet we were painfully blind to the fact that we were largely replicating another paradigm: we simply lacked the broader conceptual and contextual milieu in order to push things further beyond the peripheral or derivative.

A venue in Lisbon, Rock Rendez Vous, was congregating this younger generation through a series of rock marathons and competitions. We dutifully applied and stepped on stage for the first time ever in March 1986; track three of this tape begins with the first few seconds of such gig. A handful of gigs followed, and we recorded various sets of demos at Luís Carlos' Studio X in Porto.

Paradoxically, our objective lack of formal musical training and relative scarcity of musical skills provided us with a potential degree of freedom. And oh, we were free to be our vicarious selves: the female singer was a Siouxsie devotee, the male singer was heavily into Krautrock, the guitar player wanted to play the blues, the drummer just wanted to hit stuff. The bass player and the keyboard player held it together somehow. This seemingly impossible mix of aesthetics could have produced something special; instead, we tended to cancel each other out. We were just too often caught between the dilemma of pursuing said freedom (and risk illegibility, even to ourselves), and the desire to prove our worth within the familiar canons.

As a consequence, there is little of musical or aesthetic interest in these recordings: their value is essentially documentary, more of a snapshot of a given era. Yet their release provided us with an opportunity to revisit the source material and have a go at reconfiguring it into something else that, while remaining faithful to its original references, would make a somewhat better statement in itself.

We tried quite a few approaches, to no avail… some worked sonically but distanced themselves too much from the original, thus losing the plot; other attempts just seemed dragged down by the linearity of the original compositions.

In the end, we opted for a more straightforward approach in the re-working of the original sources: we had various recordings play simultaneously, without further tweaking. Whatever fell on top of whatever else, so it stayed.

In this way were able to preserve the original sonic, structural and contextual aspects of each recording, while somehow amplifying the tightrope of chaos/ineptitude we traversed throughout those two years. And just as decisively, through this process of superimposing, we were able to reveal a few odd juxtapositions that, had we had the vision back then, could have been infinitely more promising than the elusive post-something format we obsessively kept hunting down.

So what do you know: the first release by Os Senhores, over three decades after we split (and not very amicably, as rock and roll would have it). Hey, it took us slightly longer than originally expected. And we are all now back in touch: old age has its perks." – Heitor Alvelos, Porto, 16 March 2020

SUMMER OF SEVENTEEN are MONIKA KHOT (NORDRA, ZEN MOTHER), WILLIAM FOWLER COLLINS, DANIEL MENCHE, FAITH COLOCCIA (MAMIFFER), and AARON TURNER. (SUMAC, SPLIT CRANIUM).

Wildfires plagued Washington state during the summer of 2017, their smoke drifting westward toward the Seattle area and toxifying the air. Shortly before that trauma, MONIKA KHOT, WILLIAM FOWLER COLLINS, DANIEL MENCHE, FAITH COLOCCIA, and AARON TURNER had gathered at the latter two musicians' House Of Low Culture studio on idyllic Vashon Island with revered producer RANDALL DUNN. There they cut eight songs that capture the makeshift band's feelings of what COLOCCIA calls "a kind of doomsday lurking in the background." It's as if these highly attuned players had a premonition.

"Summer Of Seventeen" -which was edited and arranged by MONIKA KHOT, who records apocalyptic music solo as NORDRA and plays in the avant-rock band ZEN MOTHER—is a nuanced admixture of these musicians' sounds and a culmination of all of their previous collaborations. COLOCCIA and TURNER have created eldritch folk and chamber rock for over a decade in MAMIFFER while engaging in various solo and group projects that explore their profound spirituality in sound. MENCHE has been a fixture on the abstract composition scene for 31 years and COLLINS is a savvy explorer of drone and ambient forms. Their ephemeral summit meeting has yielded a masterwork for the ages.

A heaven/hell and beauty/beastliness dichotomy pervades the album—as if a titanic struggle was transpiring in that small studio. The fearsome trumpet fanfare that starts "Chorus Of The Innocents" heralds a baleful fate. With a subliminal industrial rhythm bristling beneath the eerie exhalations, the song submerges us in a slow-motion maelstrom, a horror-film facsimile of MILES DAVIS' "Bitches Brew". "Perceived Slight" threads death-metal screams through a stark, suspenseful atmosphere, with austere glints of guitar and beats like fists on a casket lid intensifying the dread.

Angelic chants and celestial drones perfume the air in several of the songs on "Summer Of Seventeen", countered with muted blast beats, serrated hums, jagged glitches, simulacra of grinding gears and lightning. It's as if no good deed goes unpunished. "Spirits Of Redeemer" could be an elegy for the human race while "Cultural Orphan" sounds like a symphony for a malfunctioning factory. The album ends with "Theatre Needs An Audience," a harrowing ballad somewhere between EINSTÜRZENDE NEUBAUTEN and MERZBOW; it's a savage rent in the space-time continuum.

"Thinking about this record now," COLOCCIA recalls, "it seems like we were all sort of anticipating something like this current pandemic happening, although we were thinking about it as fire in the hands of man (literal fire, and also gunfire) that would overturn the normal running of things and reveal the current false beliefs systems holding up most of America."

That grave aura infiltrates "Summer Of Seventeen", However, a hopefulness bubbles beneath the foreboding architecture of sound and noise summoned here. The bunker is the new penthouse.

-Dave Segal, April 2020

Sunquake is the first ever vinyl compilation of work by Désaccord Majeur, the alter ego of French artist Jérôme Mauduit who played a crucial role in Europe's post-industrial/ethno-ambient scene. Linking with figureheads Muslimgauze, O Yuki Conjugate and Rapoon (Zoviet France) via cassette compilations and seminal label Staalplaat, his music is played today by the likes of Vladimir Ivkovic, Elena Colombi and Interstellar Funk. Three carefully chosen cuts by the A Colourful Storm crew, properly cut and mastered at 45 rpm and housed in full-colour printed sleeve. with liner notes by Vladimir Ivkovic.

"“Als das Kind Kind war, wusste es nicht dass es Kind war” the opening words of “Himmel über Berlin (Wings of Desire)” by Wim Wenders are so incredibly simple and innocent that they strike you down like the most murderous thunderbolt: “When the child was a child, it didn’t realize it was a child”. Are these words the fantasies of an adult or are these words the adult cogitations of a child’s brain?

Birthportal's fourth installment comes courtesy of an enigmatic artist donning a novel alias. Noted as a versed producer and musician in their own right, and forming part of a certain well-established Austin-based electronic duo for the last 15 plus years-in this experimental EP they veer into more outright agressive dance floor territory using their production expertise to craft sonic projectiles that are as textured and nuanced as they are accurate and efficient for their context. This is a vinyl-only release, limited to 100 copies.

Portland and Beirut rub shoulders again as Beacon Sound and Ruptured reveal their second co-release, the new album by Lebanese ensemble Kinematik entitled Murur al-Kiram. Kinematik hails from the mountain village of Reyfoun. Formed in the summer of 2014, they recorded their debut album Ala' in the spring of 2017 and released it on Ruptured (RPTD 017CD/LP). The band is known for the elaborate visual setup of its live shows and has collaborated with a variety of different artists over the years in an effort to carefully craft each of its performances. Kinematik has toured extensively in Lebanon and Europe, re-scored Carl Theodor Dreyer's 1930's classic film Vampyr for the the 23rd European Film Festival in Beirut, and contributed soundtrack pieces for Lebanese filmmakers Ghassan Salhab's Une Rose Ouverte (2019) and Sarah Kaskas' Underdown. Murur al-Kiram uses electronics, intricate double-drumming, guitar, and bass to construct ambient soundscapes and hypnotic, propulsive rhythms -- conjuring the ghosts of a diminishing future as well as an unresolved past. Subtle in both angst and joy, the album celebrates small victories in the face of great defeats, echoing the band's conflicted mindset towards life in their country and community.

The record was recorded over a period of two months, and features Teddy Tawil joining the band as second drummer. Whereas Ala' saw Kinematik's four core musicians confining themselves to one instrument and/or role within the overall sonic construct of the band, these new compositions see each musician playing and equally at ease with several instruments, adding intensity, cohesiveness, and a sense of fluidity to the proceedings. The intent was to make a record that would sound like a single traveling shot, beginning with the musicians' childhood in their hometown, through their adult lives weighted down by the corruption and theft endemic to the Lebanese political system, until they are buried back in their place of birth. The salutary presence of Sary (newborn son of synth player Rudy Ghafari) that became the "raison d'être" of the record. Murur al-Kiram is the story of an important chapter in the band's history, one marked by uncertainty and hesitation, yet solid and vibrant in spite of the latter. With the recent mass protests against dire, still unresolved social conditions, a vision of a democratic and post-sectarian Lebanon has come into view. Recorded by Fadi Tabbal at Tunefork Studios in Beirut.

In August of 2016 Maria W Horn and Mats Erlandsson traveled to Balada in the Terres de I’Ebre region of Catalonia, Spain, for a two-week residency courtesy of the Eufonics festival in collaboration with EMS.

The geographical characteristics a visitor first encounters in the Terres de I’Ebre delta are defined by the development of industrial agriculture. Endless rice fields stretch through the flat landscape, framed by canals of water to sustain growth. Even the air is saturated with a vague scent of rice. This transmutation of the soil impacts the sonic environment, the buzzing of the irrigation system, the hypnotic constant chirping of crickets, the loud bang from the water pump that echoes through the delta at regular intervals.

Taking the opportunity to collaborate on a project specifically made within the context of the aural environment they found themselves in, and using the resources available to them, the pair decided to make
a musical work based entirely on field recorded material transformed through extensive digital editing and processing. Working quickly in the isolation offered by the residency they recorded found material at
night and spent the days shaping these recordings into four compositions that move on a dense continuum between drone, noise and generative music all imprinted with the textural characteristics of the immediate surroundings of that time and place.

Through the four compositions the work shows a sonic imprint of an environment shaped by human hands over an almost endless period of time, as heard through the ears of two transient visitors processing their sliver of time in the area as it was unfolding to them.

The resulting music was performed in concert during the Eufonics festival of 2016 and was originally released on cassette tape by XKatedral in 2017 under the moniker Dufwa. For this vinyl reissue in collaboration with Boomkat the material has been remixed by Erlandsson and Horn and remastered for vinyl by Daniel M Karlsson.

Vinyan (Thai for soul) is used to describe the intangible essence of something. The esoteric part that draws the line of one’s character, mystery, and spirit.

This cassette is a curated compilation of Vinyans bound in time and place and selected to form a continuity into a coherent whole. Re-contextualizing contemporary parallels between tribal elements, live instruments, drones and house themes; the ebb and flow between cosmic rhythms and eccentric landscapes drowning into a hypnotic blend. Psychonauts are invited into this warm and organic palette of sound textures from the East.

823 is a multifaceted Perth-based record label, fashion brand, and artistic community, founded by Australian producer and all-around creative, Ta-ku (846k monthly listeners on Spotify). With an ethos of attention to detail and appreciation for the everyday things in life, 823 doesn’t stick to any particular genre. 823’s releases include Cabu’s (800k Monthly Listeners on Spotify) “So Far To Go” EP, Ta-ku and matt mcwaters’s duo project “Black and White,” which featured Masego collaboration “Flight 99” (14 million streams on Spotify), their debut release with Australian producer and instrumentalist Kuzich, and multiple sold out clothing capsules. “All Things Considered Vol. 1” set off a collaborative series of curated compilations, featuring both budding and well-established artists around the world including Idealism, Wun Two, pastels, SwuM, Jinsang, Saltyyyy V, and more. “All Things Considered Vol. 2” sees the continuation of this project, this time in partnership with fellow Perth-based powerhouse, Butter Goods.

Butter Goods is a Perth clothing brand rooted in skating culture and style, but drawing inspiration from hip-hop, jazz, and music at large. Butter Goods has been featured in major publications, including GQ, Complex, and HYPEBEAST. They’ve collaborated on releases with Peanuts and Puma, and have reached international levels of popularity. Butter Goods co-founder Garth Mariano’s deep love for and eclectic tastes in music drive his creativity, and are front and center in his partnership with Ta-ku and 823 on “All Things Considered Vol 2,” where the two team up to curate a wide-ranging compilation.

Arriving on September 2nd, 2022, “All Things Considered Vol. 2” is an exploration of Ta-ku’s and Mariano’s extensive and often overlapping musical palettes in two parts. The record pays homage to the love of instrumental music and hidden gems of new school jazz and funk that act as a source of inspiration and nostalgia for the both of them. The collaboration brings together over a dozen producers and instrumentalists from Sydney to Chicago, including Jadu Jadu, Gnarly, Tenderlonius, silentjay, and more. Side A is curated by Ta-ku and 823. It’s as much a love letter to the past as it is a nod to the future of beat-making. Featuring sample heavy, drum looped beats, sprinkled with the occasional ear candy for the attentive listener, it presents cruisy soundscapes & easy listening. Side B is curated by Garth and Butter Goods. It’s a raw and eclectic companion to Side A, leaning heavily into the texture and grit of multi-layered jazz and funk-driven beats.

As with any 823 release, the project is as visual as it is sonic. The artwork and visualizers are a celebration of Garth’s love of thrift culture and old nature documentaries, fused with 823’s design aesthetic of bringing everyday inspirations to the forefront. CRT style visuals are paired with 90’s spin, slide and fade away transitions. When partnered with the music, each visualizer could easily work as the intro for an episode of a VHS series of nature docos.

1st single, “senzu bean,” arrives on July 7th and kicks off Side A, showcasing Ta-ku’s hip-hop-centric tastes. Sydney producer Jadu Jadu teams up with UK-based TAMBALA, apltn, and Makzo for a vibrant instrumental. From a head-nodding bassline beneath fuzzy synths, to soft horn licks sprinkled over electronic drums, “senzu bean” is sonically rich and multilayered.

2nd single, “Too Much” by UK producer saaaz arrives July 20th. It’s a moody and low-tempo beat that builds itself up over time, complete with cryptic vocal samples and syrupy drums and bass. Also off of 823’s Side A, “Too Much” maintains a laid-back hip-hop theme but with saaaz’s signature and definitive lo-fi twist.

3rd single, “Goodmorning” from Baro Sura and silentjay of Melbourne arrives August 3rd, kicking off Butter Good’s Side B. The track is bright from start to finish and is a sun-filled track perfect for closing out the summer with. Final single, “Fool’s Gold” by Los Angeles producer L.Dre arrives August 17th. The infinitely creative beatmaker layers soft hums and the sounds of crashing waves over crisp drums and an infectious bassline. Together, it makes for a beat that sounds like it was made outside, under the sun, and is best enjoyed in the same way.

Focus track, “Seventh Wonder” by Tenderlonius, comes off of Side B, and is a window into the ideas and palettes on both sides of the compilation. The beat slowly fades in, one sound at a time, until it reaches a full-fledged groove, soaked in synths, bass, and horns, that’s impossible not to move to.

On the whole, “All Things Considered Vol. 2” is a forward-focused, sonic journey into the minds behind two of today’s great creative brands, and is as artistically eclectic and varied as those minds are, and a proud follow-up to its first volume.

LP contains A2 poster on uncoated stock.

Dark Morph is a collaboration between sound and visual artists Carl Michael von Hausswolff and Jón Þór "Jónsi" Birgisson. Today they have announced a new release ‘Dark Morph II’, for release on May 1st via Pomperipossa Records – the Swedish record label led by von Hausswolff’s daughter, Anna von Hausswolff.

The release is dedicated to the oceans of planet earth and to the lifeforms that live in and around them, with the duo stating: “The exploitation of the oceans, in conjunction with the heavy pollution (from plastic waste to nuclear radio-activity) has to stop, and be replaced by collaborative manners co-operating with all life on or globe.”

Carl Michael von Hausswolff is a renowned artist, active in the art and music world with solo and collaborative projects for many years, and Jónsi’s work in the Icelandic group Sigur Rós, as well as his collaboration with composer Alex Somers, is recognised across the globe. Dark Morph formed when the two artists met aboard the M/Y Dardanella ship in Fiji invited by TBA21–Academy in 2018. The ship is a creative platform equipped with sound and video recording systems, and the result of the duo’s first voyage was released in May 2019 at the Biennale di Venezia. This second album consists of material recorded in Fiji and Tonga and was produced and mixed in GeeJam Studios in Jamaica in January 2019.

Re-release of the album which MARC WEISER (RECHENZENTRUM, zeitkratzer) and JÜRGEN HENDLMEIER (producer for THE FLAMING SIDEBURNS, THEE ULTRA BIMBOOS) created as ARURMUKHA. With the use of soundbites, field recordings, and stylistically diverse tracks, they reprocess the eviction of 13 squats on Mainzer Straße in Berlin-Friedrichshain in November 1990, forming it into an acoustic scenography in the style of the "Maifestspiele" by EINSTÜRZENDE NEUBAUTEN.

Re-release of the album which MARC WEISER (RECHENZENTRUM, zeitkratzer) and JÜRGEN HENDLMEIER (producer for THE FLAMING SIDEBURNS, THEE ULTRA BIMBOOS) created as ARURMUKHA. With the use of soundbites, field recordings, and stylistically diverse tracks, they reprocess the clearing of 13 squats on Mainzer Straße in Berlin-Friedrichshain in November 1990, forming it into an acoustic scenography in the style of the "Maifestspiele" by EINSTÜRZENDE NEUBAUTEN.

14.11.2020 marks the 30th anniversary of the clearing of 13 squats on Mainzer Straße in Berlin-Friedrichshain. The violent confrontation between the police and about 500 squatters, involving armored vehicles, helicopters, and 10 water cannons, was the biggest police operation in Berlin's post-war history, with 4000 officers deployed, and is deemed to be the last big "battle" of left-wing squatters in Germany. The insert for the LP provides a detailed chronicle of the events (taken from the book "Berlin Mainzer Straße: Wohnen ist wichtiger als das Gesetz Berlin Mainzer Straße: Housing is more important than the law", published in 1992 by Basis-Druck).

On the occasion of the anniversary, the Berlin label KARLRECORDS is making a contemporary document that has been out of print for more than 25 years available to the public again. The album "14.11.90" by internationally renowned electronic musician and co-founder of the CTM Festival MARC WEISER (RECHENZENTRUM, zeitkratzer a.o.) and JÜRGEN HENDLMEIER (producer for THE FLAMING SIDEBURNS, THEE ULTRA BIMBOOS a.o.) was originally released in 1993 as a vehicle for them to work through their personal experiences as contemporary witnesses of the eviction, on the label GOLDRAUSCH-TONTRÄGER, which was founded for the release. The project's name, ARURMUKHA – "avaricious demons", is a term from Vedic mythology, here alluding to the capitalist logic of exploitation guiding the West German corporations that bought out the former GDR after reunification.

Shunning the popular clichés of squatters, the duo processes original recordings of the clearing action, as well as material from radio and tv as their musical-textural starting points, composing them into a densely packed acoustic psychogram, recounting the events of the time with dramaturgic skill, in chronological sequence over the course of the two sides of the vinyl. Armed with a sampler as their main instrument they create an acoustic scenography which, as a sonification of memory, pits itself against oblivion. While constructed as a soundtrack, the heterogeneity of its styles gives the album the character of a compilation, aggregating drones, industrial, electronics, post punk, outsider music and political texts into an imaginary meta music film of resistance. The subject matter and music may suggest comparisons with EINSTÜRZENDE NEUBAUTEN's piece "Maifestspiele". The covers of the original edition at the time were individually designed by many different friends of the scene in the form of a "social sculpture" of the squatters' movement and comprised screen prints, collages, graphics, and photos. Selected for the re-edition of the LP: a picture by the Berlin photographer HARALD HAUSWALD, who is considered one of the most famous photo-chroniclers of the GDR and who also provided a collection of hand prints for the original.

Despite its age, the album is an alarmingly relevant one, with its contents not having lost any of their urgency. Especially in view of the displacement of affordable housing and free cultural spaces in metropolitan cities, "14.11.90" is a plea for creative resistance culture with the hope for change in the existing conditions.

Having played guitar with the likes of Iggy Pop, Arno and Alain Bashung, to name but a few, Geoffrey Burton's guitar wizardry is set firm in his love for minimalism, fragmented chords, and off-kilter melodies.

On 'Me Ta Podia' (Greek for By Foot), Burton explores his instrument and connects it to his inner world, easily managing to surpass merely showing off skills. Burton creates an atmosphere that is uniquely his own, at times making his guitar sound like anything but a guitar.

Save for two tracks, 'Kuhlmannlaan 8" and 'Bababachable', 'Me Ta podia' was recorded live without any overdubs. This way of working is becoming a staple in the Gong Ear label philosophy, steering their artists towards live in-studio recordings that capture the magic of the moment.

With the sleeve designed by Burton's wife Sarah Yu Zeebroek and typography by Gert Dooreman, Burton is set and ready to showcase his own music, under his own name, for the very first time.

"Lugar Alto's newest project is the idiosyncratic album MUMIA (portuguese for MUMMY). Never released before, it is a work that was originally recorded on cassette and combines elements of post-punk, industrial and ambient music.

Kodiak Bachine and Celso Alves formed the ephemeral and eponymous duo in 1988. The partnership resulted in a single recording derived from improvised sessions using minimal amounts of electronic equipment at Celso's country house, located in the interior of São Paulo.

Bachine was an important figure in the São Paulo underground. His most renowned project was the band Agentss from 1981, which also consisted of Miguel Barella, Eduardo Amarante, Elias Glik and Lyses Pupo (later replaced by Thomas Susemihl). In its brief duration, the band released only two seven inches that were considered seminal artifacts in the Brazilian post-punk scene: “Agentes / Angra” from 1982 and “Professor Digital / Cidade Industrial” from 1983. These two rare records are highly sought after by collectors and DJs from around the world for their inventiveness and originality.

Similar to Agentss, MUMIA brings with it extreme authenticity, managing to extrapolate the barriers of more traditional Brazilian music and interact with unorthodox elements. The lyrics are a mixture of Portuguese and English and it is still possible to identify picturesque fragments of Spanish, French and German. In addition, sonically, the record portrays aesthetics from the eighties and dialogues with themes relating to LSD. Another notable feature is the fixation on Egyptian post-mortem themes, providing a cinematic and lysergic experience of the desert landscapes from the African country.

It is a recording with comic passages which provokes an unpretentious reaction from the listener. However, it still has more ethereal and atmospheric moments, such as the opening song “Ave do Deserto”. In the final two tracks, it is possible to enjoy a darker MUMIA, which with “Massacre da Serra Elétrica I” and “Massacre da Serra Elétrica II”, provide a sound experience capable of accompanying intense scenes from the macabre productions by Tobe Hooper and George Romero.

The striking new artwork was created by the Sometimes Always studio, a partner of Lugar Alto and responsible for diverse graphic collaborations with artists, venues and parties in Brazil. The album, mastered by the prolific Arthur Joly, also has a booklet containing Kodiak’s texts in Portuguese and English, in addition to the lyrics, which serve as a logical exercise for further understanding of the album.

MUMIA was unearthed by the renowned Brazilian DJ Millos Kaiser, who in addition to kindly curating this album, put together the compilation “Onda de Amor: Synthesized Brazilian Hits That Never Were (1984-94)”, released by Soundway Records.

Now, after 32 years in its tomb, the MUMIA has risen and thanks to Lugar Alto it can finally be celebrated and appreciated."

These last 10 years, Valance Drakes (formerly known as MusSck) has recorded a lush bunch of albums and EP's, solo and in collaboration with various music artists. His solo works of surreal experimentalism, turntable styles and textured and layered sound sculptures have been released on Detroit Underground, Amek and M-Tronic. "Freedom Is Its Own Kind Of Salary" is his 4th solo album.

"The underground hasn’t the time for vocation to stay in the shadows as those need to give the message of an alternative as when the image becomes more important than the substance everything goes wrong. Valance Drakes is an experimental beatsmith from somewhere in Europe. His sounds usually incorporate field recordings, vinyl samples and software glitches."

John R Holmes debut release for Sores is an one hour long, lush and atmospheric journey with meditative organic textures, analog electronics and treated guitars rooted in Berlin-School masters such as Klaus Schulze and Edgar Froese.

Produziert und aufgenommen von Arca, definiert KiCk i eine neue Ära in der Multiplex-Welt der venezolanischen Künstlerin, Sängerin, DJ, Performerin und Komponistin. Mit Björk, Rosalía, Shygirl und SOPHIE hat Arca zum ersten Mal Kollaborateure in ihre Welt eingeladen. Zuvor produzierte sie für Björk, Kayne West und FKA twigs, komponierte Musik für das MoMA, erschuf gewaltige Noise-Skulpturen oder legte bei Festivals als DJ auf. Mit KiCk i wird nicht nur die Freude gefeiert, die Arca in ihrem Leben finden konnte, sondern auch der manchmal beschwerliche Weg, den sie dafür zurücklegen musste. Ihre Bemühungen, ihr venezolanisches Erbe und ihre trans-lateinamerikanische Identität zu versöhnen, entpuppen sich als Reggaetón und spanischem Pop. Aber KiCk i ist nicht nur eine Pop-Platte oder eine experimentelle Platte, oder auch nur eine Mischung aus beiden, sondern alles auf einmal - und noch so viel mehr. Je nachdem, wo man die Nadel aufsetzt, findet man Bubblegum, raue Geräusche, elektronische Psychedelia, Balladen, Knaller, Gelächter, Tränen, Leidenschaft und Glaubensäußerungen - Klänge und Ideen, die nicht einfach miteinander verschmelzen, sondern gleichzeitig in einer Quantenüberlagerung koexistieren. "Ich möchte nicht an ein Genre gebunden sein", erklärt Arca. "Ich will nicht als eine Sache abgestempelt werden." Wo sie jetzt ist, endet das Nicht-Binärsein nicht mit ihrer geschlechtlichen Identität. Es ist zu einer Denkweise geworden, bei der keine eine Sache nur eine Sache sein muss, bei der mehrere Bedeutungen, mehrere Realitäten in überlagertem Gleichgewicht koexistieren können. In diesem Raum zwischen den Staaten, in dem das eine Ding das andere ist, hat Arca ein riesiges Feld unerschlossener kreativer Kraft entdeckt.

Amidst her work with the primitive-futurist neo-psych outfit Zen Mother and as a touring member of Daughters, Monika Khot creates apocalyptic dirges combining modern classical explorations of electronic ambience with hardware-fueled industrial barrages under the name Nordra. The project has taken her across North America and Europe, performing in both the high-brow art world and in the underground rock trenches on tours with artists like SUMAC and Algiers. Nordra’s third full-length continues her penchant for chilling digital drones, thunderous clatter, polyphonic idiosyncrasies, and a search for a harmonious balance between wrangling sounds out of new technology while exerting an undeniable human presence over the machinery. This final factor was of particular importance to choreographer / multi-media artist Colemxn Pester, who enlisted Khot to score their modernist dance performance trilogy PYLON, which explores the themes of resilience in the age of technology, surveillance, and other man-made impositions on the human body. Nordra’s second outing, the commissioned score for PYLON II, was a hard-edged martial exercise— fitting for the dystopian nature of the series’ second installment. But for PYLON III, Pester was looking for the light at the end of the tunnel and requested that Khot instill her work with hope and calm in order to serve the utopian aims of the performance.

Despite this direction, Nordra’s latest offering retains a certain tension and power present in her early work. “All of the writing techniques I intended to use remained in place, but I think the emotional resonance of this piece of music changed over the course time,” Khot reflects. “I don’t think this piece embodies utopia or the shedding of a corrupted society at all even though that’s what I set out to do... there’s a dystopian destructive sound that I can’t shake just yet.” That unwavering sense of foreboding is evident from the first note of the record, a massive square-wave pulse that ushers in “Prologue.” But the musical embodiment of hope follows close behind with sublime electronic drones that continuously push and pull the composition between major and minor keys. Digital hisses, the clatter of machinery, and the doomsday clock-tick of the hi-hat nudge the tone back into dire settings while swells of pocket trumpet and ethereal choral vocals struggle to provide solace. The duality of hope and despair was perhaps inevitable given the climate around PYLON III’s creation, with Khot dealing with a close friend’s cancer diagnosis and Pester’s performance preparations interrupted by technical setbacks and injured dancers.

It’s impossible to convey resilience without also capturing hardship, and the album’s second track “Remembering” excels at communicating a sense of calm while some vestige of danger percolates beneath the surface. Khot’s dreamy wordless-vocals sit at the forefront of the piece while stuttering percussion and groaning drones bubble up from below like buried memories. On “Monologue On The Beach,” Khot uses sporadic guitar harmonics, fractured piano melodies, and soothing digital hums in a manner that feels spontaneous, fluid, and human, effectively creating an underlying sense of peace amidst disorder. This dichotomy between chaos and calm was one of the shared themes between Pester and Khot’s work, and it manifested in a variety of ways on PYLON III. One of the most obvious examples occurs on “Searching In Fields For Elements,” where Khot filters digital noise through a MIDI note interpreter and inserts the resulting melody as a sequence of synthesized bell notes. “I wanted to create an actor that represented this industrialization so you could see if you found it endearing or not,” Khot explains. Our response to these random elements opens up a dialogue about the will of the element. “Some days I’m an anarcho-primitivist and some days I’m curious about what the exploration of machine-learning has actually taught us about our own consciousness,” she continues. The notion that technology could accelerate our journey towards enlightenment is perhaps the most utopian vision one could have in our current age.

Ultimately, the music of PYLON III provides one context as backdrop to Pester’s multi-media performance, but it has its own life and own character when absorbed on its own. In terms of emotional timbre, it’s a departure for Khot, even if the instrumentation and hardware tonalities are consistent with her self-titled debut LP and PYLON II. “I don’t think I would write the music on this record with no context,” Khot says. “It is completely fueled, adapted, and created with thematic, visual, and choreographic content in mind.” And yet even without those components, the experience of listening to PYLON III is haunting, compelling, and ultimately redemptive.

ALBUM RELEASE
Pylon III
ARTISTS
Nordra 3
LABEL
Sige Records [43]
AVAILABLE FORMATS
SIGE 071 LP LP September 04, 2020
GENRES
Electronic Industrial

A lucid dream meeting of synth waves, aquatic jazz spirits and drum-triggered electronics.'Linha D'Água'translates as 'water lines', fitting for an album that traces boundaries between water and air through an echo chamber of dizzying oceanic layers and free flowing ideas.

This is not a record based on genres. It's an album that navigates through atmospheres, through explorations and discoveries, through curiosity and dialogue. The eight tracks were recorded in a single day in the studio, but it is the result of more than two years of collaborations.

Mauricio Takara and Carla Boregas are two towering figures of the Brazilian underground/experimental scene, where they provide the rhythm section for demented genre-bending trio Rakta. While that band is all ritual percussion and red-blooded passion, as a duo they're a blue-water flowing counterpoint. From the drums, Takara fires melodies and, with the synthesizer, Carla sculpts the sound. The result iscaught somewhere between abstract improvisation and propulsive rhythm. Each song's an organic layering of manipulated synthesizers and acoustic sounds; teasing new rhythms from the drum kit via MIDI (and a near-telekinetic bond between Carla and Mauricio).

Sometimes'Linha D'Água'driftsclosest to ambient music, as in the title track, in 'Mãe D'Ouro' and 'Bocca Chiusa'; sometimes it runs into free jazz, as in 'Traçado Entre Duas Linhas'. There are moments when Carla and Mauricio explore a universe of tension that comes closest to the cosmic music of 70s Germany, as in 'Rosa de Areia' and 'Constante de Distância'; in others they evoke the metallic sounds of Indonesian gamelan (on 'Execution').

Carla Boregas is a founding member of the band Rakta, which started in 2011. She co-founded Auta, a DIY space dedicated to adventurous music in São Paulo hosting artists like Feminine Hi-Fi and Deafkids. She is also part of the transdisciplinary duo Fronte Violeta.

Mauricio Takara also plays drums/percussion with the bands Hurtmold and São Paulo Underground (with trumpeter Rob Mazurek from Chicago). Takara has played with a dizzying array of improv / experimental / jazz figures such as Pharoah Sanders, Damo Suzuki, Yusef Lateef, Joe Lally (Fugazi), Naná Vasconcelos, Prefuse 73, Makoto Kawabata and more.

First Second Label drop their first 12' of the year from sub-tech stalwart and Woozy resident Sputnik One. Four tracks scaling intense percussive workouts and low end mutations. Early support from the likes of Ben UFO, re:ni, Peach & more.

Voiron debuts on Analogical Force with 'Drill'n'Voiron EP'. 5x Tracks where the 'fake Parisian' continues to blur the lines between genres through his own interpretation. Expect braindance blah blah blah inspired cuts so turn on those smoke machine and welcome to Voironland.