Suche:mach one

Audioslave may be one the rare cases of remnants of 2 great bands coming together and creating an even greater band. Consisting of three quarters of Rage Against The Machine plus former Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell, Audioslave came onto the music scene with a mix of 70's Zeppelin & Sabbath warped into the year 2000 and beyond. Having Chris Cornell as their leadsinger was producer Rick Rubin's idea and the band penned no less than 21 songs in a period of 19 days, jamming and rehearsing.
Their live debut was a David Letterman gig on the rooftop of the Ed Sullivan Theatre in New York, kicking off a successful world tour. Debut single 'Cochise' was a worldwide smash and the 2nd single 'Like a Stone' even topped that (certified Gold by the RIAA)! The album was certified Gold in the USA within a month after its release. 2 Audioslave albums followed, before the members parted ways to join their former bands.

Repress

Nina Kraviz' TRIP presents the debut album Am I Who I Am by Alina Izolenta and Kamil Ea, the duo more formally known as PTU. Across twelve tracks PTU cut and chop their way through frenetic marching drums and spiralling acid leads, awakening an army of malfunctioning robots as they go. Whilst Am I Who I Am boasts a vast spectrum of bizarre ideas - often introduced at high velocity - each one is executed with a skillful dose of restraint, summoning energy from microscopically detailed arrangements. From the angular maximalism of 'Castor & Pollux' to the eerie polyrhythms of 'After Cities' and the relentless hammer drills of 'Sirocco', PTU find life in the most extraordinary of places.

Returning for his third appearance on Frigio, Maurizio Martinucci (aka TeZ, Most Significant Beat and permanent member of Clock DVA since 2010) introduces one of his darkest works to date. Forged in his studio/lab in Amsterdam, the Italian artist casts three works of industrial paranoia with none other than Clock DVA delivering a very special remix.

The same intensity, the same fevered energy that permeated Dusk, is plain to hear in this production. Pulsating drums are pierced by metallic groans and choking voices for the alienating assault that is “Amna.” Clock DVA take on this factory floor demon, soothing and reworking the original. Keys cascade against throbbing basslines and stuttering rhythms, vocals by Adi Newton taking the form of a poem that circles and swoops in a track of brimming with a primal force. Stalking chords introduce “Dene.” A lancing beat lashes a lone string, static and resonance building as layers of machine noise make their inhuman presence known. The end comes from the hull of an abandoned ship, or so it sounds. Aquatic echo swirls around a spread of sunken snares, shrieks and slicing through the crash and squeal of wrought iron. Primordial music from the mind of Pragma.

Georgian artist Sophia Saze releases her debut two-part album 'Self' on Francis Harris' Kingdoms imprint, with part one dropping on cassette this June. "The record embodies my story of duality within the context of identity, insomuch as the idea that every person has a deeper layer we don't show on the surface."
Born in Tbilisi, Sophia Saze is the daughter of political refugees who's spent her life living in numerous different countries before eventually finding home in Brooklyn. Finding it difficult to find her own identity due to living a nomadic lifestyle, the classically trained musician became entangled with electronic music before becoming a key player within New York's nightlife scene and launching her Dusk & Haze imprint in 2017.
A reflection of her struggles throughout life, 'Self' is very much a memoir of the many different places she's lived during her journey, including Georgia, Russia, USA, France and Canada. Contrasting to her recent productions, which are geared more towards the dancefloor, her debut longplayer is downtempo and features a medley of musical influences - mixed in two parts and released as a concept album on cassette. Maintaining a sonically raw feel throughout, 'Self' draws the analogy of analog to modern day digital culture whilst also taking a stance against perfection, whether integrating the distance crackle of her machines or intentional off-beat piano notes in minor. Part One was conceived, for the most part, during a sleepless yet inspired 48-hour studio session. Processed field recordings accompany samples from her childhood, such as soviet cartoons and intimate VHS recordings of her family. The result is a well-seasoned and personal story portrayed in fourteen tracks mixed together.
"I feel the element of patience is somewhat of a lost commodity in our generation, particularly for albums. We're consumed by track to track interpretations and constantly searching for the next instant stimulation. With this record, I wanted to reiterate the idea that if you don't have the willingness to sit through the whole thing, then you're not stepping into it with the right mindset to begin with."
Every artist who collaborated on the record is handpicked, such as vocalist Ricardo Rivera. The final production was also mixed by Francis Harris himself. All of their involvement means they share a fragment of the concept.

Spearheaded by James Dean Brown (also known from Perlon's Narcotic Syntax) and Victor Sol, and featuring other rotating members, Hypnobeat is a true product of the open-ended spirit of DIY music that proliferated in the 1980s. The prescient project championed deft, machine-powered rhythm programming as its modus operandi long before the practice would become a dominant global cultural form. Since Hypnobeat was revived in 2012 with Helena Hauff joining JDB on stage for improvised live performances based on one 707 and three 808s, there have been a string of archival releases shining a light on the early and more recently recorded works of this forward-thinking venture.

This latest collection for Artificial Dance comprises three freshly unearthed iterations. Long-form A-side track 'Polychrome Desert' is a pure percussive exercise, programmed and recorded by JDB in 1986 with a chain of three 808s filling out a stereo panorama. The intention was to create a pure, meditative rhythm drawing on African influences and reinterpreted through what was then the music technology of the future. 'Spies In Malaysia' is a live recording from a concert Hypnobeat performed in 1985. Its lurid melodic passages and crunchy percussive blasts formed the closing track of the set, which was met with rapturous response. Recorded in the same year, 'Sumatra Railway' was the product of an impromptu session between JDB and Victor Sol. The song finds the pair exploring a more shadowy, surf-inspired sound, laden with echo and freewheeling through seven minutes of sun-kissed, subtly tropical subversion.

With each successive release, the plot surrounding Hypnobeat thickens in a tangle of 1/4' jack cables and ancient effect pedals. From its shifting line-up to the diverse sonic repertoire, it remains one of the wondrous plants of German electronic music in the pre-techno era.

Any historians keen on the subject of "French youth in the 1980s" are holding a treasure in their hands. As a true archaeologist of this decade dedicated to disposable culture, digger-in-chief Vidal Benjamin with his newest compilation, 'Pop Sympathie', offers them a unique journey in the heart of the cyclone of emotions that struck all teenagers during the first seven years of François Mitterrand's mandate. Fifteen musical nuggets, exhumed from the dungeons of history, each and every one of them teaching us about what really obsessed the youngsters at that exact moment, i.e. what happens when the city lights come on at dusk, when irrepressible urges that stir them to get lost even more appear until the end of the night.

The artists gathered here did not have the honour of breaking into the local charts, but they all individually reached for the sky. Each song of 'Pop Sympathie' tells more or less the same story: that of a girl who throws herself into the night like one immerses one's self into the void, who rushes into a one-night adventure to become a star. And too bad if in the early morning she finds herself back at square one. In all these miniature odysseys there is neon lights, lasers, smoke machines, broken glass on checkered tiles, strangers on leather benches, celebrities in the bathrooms, stolen kisses, alcohol, drugs and cigarettes, Polaroids, venetian blinds and radioactive tubes.

If the first opus of Vidal Benjamin, 'Disco Sympathie', focused on the funky mood of songs that could have been played at Le Palace, then 'Pop Sympathie' develops itself as the imaginary soundtrack of another nightclub, Les Bains-Douches, the capital’s epicenter of nocturnal drifts. So what do we listen to, blasé, at Bains-Douches? Mainly synthesizers. The child of punk and post punk, French New Wave celebrates the matrimony of machines and lolitas under the auspices of a retro trend that revisits the atomic age. Trying to surf on that wave and hit the charts, a bunch of producers (Stéphane Berlow, Laurent Stopnicki, Bernard "Black Devil" Fèvre, Johny Rech, Jean-Yves Joanny ...) will spot their talents amongst friends, in a travel agency or at the local bar. These virtual stars are called Cecilia, Laurent, Sonia, Janou, Fabienne, Anne, Arielle or Ronan, not even 20 years old, and often leaving just an overexposed photo and their first name on a single as the only memories of their swift passage in this particular musical story. It took all the love and sweet madness of Vidal Benjamin to bring them back in the light of day.

Clovis Goux

At the end of last year we quite enjoyed the little spat when Simon Cowell's chosen one, Joe... Something or other had his Christmas number one spot whipped away from under his nose by Rage Against The Machine. Still whilst we enjoyed the sight of the X Factor being given a bloody nose as much as anyone else, there was also an undercurrent of the ridiculous prejudice that ROCK = GOOD & MEANINGFULL whilst POP = CRAP & DISPOSABLE to the whole thing that we found less agreeable.

Here at Hot Pockets we have no truck with such orthodoxy, no, what we need is suite simply better pop music, made with all the passion and spirit of your finest indie troubadour but filtered through the prism of a 3 minute teenage symphony. Listen back to the likes of Roxy Music or Pet Shop Boys and you have music that is as equally up to the task of inspiring as it is of soundtracking a quick fumble on the dancefloor, that is the beauty of great pop music.

Thankfully for those of us that do like smart, clever pop that doesn't come hurtling off a production line but instead is crafted with much love and precision :Kinema: have arrived with their debut release a classic double A-side of pop perfection, Recreation/My Girls.

First up we have Recreation, a slow burning slice of South coast electro-soul inspired by an insatiable thirst for fun and those who would pass judgement on our basic human need for intoxication and ecstatic night time rituals. All in all a bonafide late night disco classic. Flip the virtual release over and you'll find the band's stunning cover version of Animal Collective's My Girls, a live favourite the track has already been the subject of a blogging frenzy when a demo leaked back in December. Finally available the whole world can now enjoy this smooth, autotuned refix of the indie classic.

The new pop revolution starts here

• Debut album by production whiz-kid Mantronix, one of the most important acts in the mid-80s hip-hop. Pioneers of drum machine, sample technology and art of the remix.
• Features NYC club anthems ‘Needle to the Groove’, Fresh Is The World’ and ‘Bassline’ (UK top 40 hit).
• This is raw hip-hop and electronic music of the highest calibre.
• Cult classic proudly reissued by Demon Records on 180gm heavyweight black vinyl with
printed inner sleeve.

Kapitan is Dori Sadovnik, half of the groundbreaking dancefloor-scorching duo Red Axes.

In his debut solo LP Alaska, Kapitan takes us on a journey into the deepest realms of his inner psyche. Through his modular synth experimentations, his analogue approach for synthesis and organic instruments he created an lp that is both personal and outgoing, fresh and nostalgic at the same time.

Weaving samples from his non-stop traveling schedule as half of one of todays top dance acts, playing guitars, drum machines and synthesizers, the album feels contem- porary and timeless, like it could have been written at anytime in the past 30 years and still feel relevant than ever, echoing Mort Garcon’s modular experimentations as well as early Air music.

Hailing from the heartland of British techno, Sheffield’s John Shima is one of the leading lights of UK electronics. His beautifully crafted sounds have graced a host of imprints including Distant Worlds, Exalt Records and, of course, FireScope. It is to the latter that Shima returns with his long awaiting debut album, The Lonely Machine.

John Shima is a master melody weaver, with this first LP attesting to his deftness of touch. Celestial chords and star gazing synthwork permeate this ten track odyssey. The musical heritage of Shima’s hometown, the elegance, majesty and subtlety of British electronics, is invoked from the needle drop. A range of influences come to the fore in this 2LP. Skirting around the edges of astral ambience and tonal texture are nods to industrial history, the rasp and resonance of rhythms in “Empires”, with the inspiration of Detroit surfacing in the future funk of “Phase Distortion” and “Linear.” Dreamscapes are painted in delicate hues, the fragile movements of “Accepting”, with brooding works adopting thicker basslines and ruffled notes as with “Distrust.” Nevertheless, it is the incandescent brightness of Lonely Machine that truly shines. Radiant pieces of elating electronics, complex and joyful compositions that chime with unbridled hope and open-hearted optimism.

banging Ganez techno... Best tuens from the Digital label pressed on wax for Vinyles lovers & Deejays ! Massive ! One of the best from the sery !

Launching the first of many solo vinyl releases, Inter Gritty and
Controlled Violence are proud to present: Laponia Space
Project. Drawing inspiration from various trips through
Finland’s Lapland region, as well as proximity to Sweden’s
Space Centre, Laponia Space Project perfectly represents the
expansive, awe-inspiring nature of its surrounds. Inter Gritty
has presented himself in a different light to the majority of his
catalogue, drawing on nimble, organic sounds in combination
with a lively rhythm section to embody Laponia Space
Project’s mood. With a classic 4-track E.P. format, each work
evokes a real sense of wonderment, as tracks like Sleepy Tree
and Cassiope integrate twinkling, hollow, and delicate
elements. Basslines bound up mountain ranges, synth pulses
reverberate through the treetops, and groovy percussion
captures the excitement and energy of the local scenery.
TR303 is a clear homage to the machine and the movement
that have shaped modern-day electronic music. And while it
will certainly make its way into the crates and folders of DJs
everywhere, it still manages to incorporate a sensation akin to
being sent out into the most unfamiliar of territories. To close
the E.P., Expo Line’s percussion shakes amongst airy pads and echoed pangs, as though one is shuffling onwards through the
forest.

XOA, led by London based producer and musician Nick Tyson, is setto
release debut album 'Way West' via Five Easy Pieces.
XOA means to look outwards; to draw inspiration from many
sources.'Way West' is alive withthis: steeped in the rich analogue sonics
of the past,the warmth of machines and influence fromthe sounds of
London's fervent musicscene.
Featuring a blend of contemporary electronic production and
liveinstrumentation, 70s Afrobeat inspired drums and cosmic melodies
are thrustintothe present day with strong cues from house and techno.
Three vocalists contribute across the album, with Tyson choosingto work
with singers he has apersonal admiration and friendship with. HollieCook,
known to many for her ethereal pop tingedreggae, delivers a
sumptuouscontribution on 'Heartland', adding a beautiful emotional
dimensionto the hornled track. Lulu Jones' vocals are treated more as a
sample for the garagetinged 'CallOn Me' and Ruby Wood, of Submotion
Orchestra, has worked with Tysonover a number ofprojects and their
shared love of 90s soul comes to the fore onthe laid back grooves and
sunkissed 'Only One Thing'.

All aboard the Beyond Paradise escape capsule, as they throw down with a four-track trip of cosmic chuggers from The Local Beatnik.

‘Mountain Walk’ opens up proceedings, a weighty chugfest that stomps through the undergrowth. Tripped out vocals, throbbing bass synths and mystic wobbles, all venturing out of the interstellar jungle. Turning the corner, psychedelic new wave guitars, entrancing drum loops and lustful French phrases meld together for ‘Eskase’, causing kaleidoscopic swirls as far as the eye can see.

Flip it to take a trip to the Far East for ‘Travel’, getting lost along the way and wandering into a parallel universe where sci-fi, synth wielding robots dominant the dancefloors, drum machines are fed acid and disorientated travellers are captured for their musical knowledge. Out of their grasp and heading to relative safety, you stumble across a delectable ‘Eastern Dish’. One fork full, then two, spiced just right and you’re hallucinating to the space-age synths and percussive treats that follow. Sitars flow with steelpans offering a suitably immersive closer for this standout E.P. from The Local Beatnik.

fter Liquid Liquid disbanded in 1985 I continued to record electronic music at my home studio inEdison,New Jerseybut I decided to mix the songs for "Concepts" at another studio so I could have another set of ears to help with the mixes. I was lucky when I looked in the local music ads that I to find Gabriel Farm Studios inPrinceton,New Jerseyowned and operated by Andy Gomory. Andy was a true talent, a keyboardist and arranger, we hit it off immediately. After he recorded my mixes we would record songs together. Andy played drum machines and keyboards while I played percussion, keyboards, & guitar and we both sang. When Andy and I parted ways in the late 1980's I decided to add both drums and percussion as well as overdubs from guest musicians many of which are included on this album. The albums timeframe ends in the year 2004. The later recordings have a jazz feel to it yet still had dance music elements mixed in. The title track "Primitive Substance" really sets the tone as you hear the great playing of Michael Gribbrook on Frugel horn/Trumpet and Gerry Carboy on bass. Also, my favorite song on the recording "Forgiveness" has David Axelrod (not the famous one) playing beautiful melodic bass guitar thru out.

Special thanks to Euan Fryer of "Athensof the North" for releasing this album. As I listened to the songs I decided to use for this recording it brought back memories of the hours spent adding the extra sounds and instruments to the point where I wanted to listen to them again and again to see what I missed hearing . Keep a close ear this might happen to you after hearing "Primitive Substance".

Thanks for listening!

Dennis Young/April 2019

U Know Me Records proudly presents a special album showcasing Polish drumming scene - each track was produced by a different drummer - these are their portraits.

official video promo: https://youtu.be/qxuTYjMRUMM

In the 21st century drummers imperceptibly switched from the background to the front line, despite popular music not exactly pandering to them. In the early days of rock culture this joke made the rounds "What's the last thing a drummer says in a band?" "Perhaps we could play one of my songs…?"
In popular music the drummer became the first to compete with machines. They were the first band members that consequently began disappearing, however, as contemporary electronic music took hold, they were also the first to return. First they were incorporated into compositions but gradually - took centre stage. Thanks partly to the ubiquitous culture of Hip Hop recognising the drummer's role as key in any recording, alongside the eclecticism of new music, which demanded fluid transitions between musical forms, a drummer's adaptive skills – as a trained multi instrumentalist – became truly impressive. This new generation of drummers seen on Polish stages today are exceptional even against the backdrop of today's unusually creative and well-educated music scene which rejects narrow minded or genre-centric views.

This album exhibits portraits from the cream of today's Polish drummers. Kovalevo Tone Bank by Michał Bryndal tags the 1980's, the era which began stealing drummers' bread. Incidentally, the heavy groove laid down by the artist references a hit by Wham!, the same hit in which the group decided to cut the drummer's part because he was late and replace him with a LinnDrumm machine. Hubert Zemler in The Life and Death of Ben Bekele and Łukasz Moskal in Father Sparrow show they've found themselves perfectly in close cooperation with electronic instruments.
Multifaceted improvisors - Qba Janicki (Kabina projekcyjna) and Jan Młynarski (Roj) - transform their drums kits into multifunctional devices capable of delivering wildly diverse palettes of sound. Rafał Dutkiewicz (Displaced) showcases drums as the lead instrument on a club track. Marcin Rak (Alpaka) does the same, but with the conventions of Funk and Hip Hop, whereas Krzysztof Dziedzic (Vagabonde) gravitates towards the edges of jazz. Each of them here is a leader and… plays one of their songs.

Bartek Chaciński
(translation: Sean Palmer)

With such a raft of quality music coming across the Summer from NuNorthern Soul, we thought we would put together an EP of some of the tracks featuring across the upcoming months...

We have taken our favourite tracks from various digital releases and present them on one vinyl 12" EP On the A side we take Nick J Smith's 'Waves Take Hold' from the Waves Take Control EP'
'Waves Take Hold', is a kaleidoscopic, life-affirming exercise in late 1980's style Italian Dream House, that's so warm and rush-inducing that it's likely to get the hairs on the back of your neck standing to attention.
Full of ricocheting drum machine hits, sun-bright lead lines, elongated chords and rich bass, it sounds like it was tailor-made to soundtrack sunrise in Rimini...

Bonnie & Klein 'Ocean Leap' taken from the Ocean Leap EP
There's a deeper and dreamier feel to the 'Ocean Leap' track, whose bubbly melodic motifs and synthesizer panpipe flourishes offer subtle nods towards 1980's Greek new age electronic composers such as Vangelis Katsoulis amd Dimitris Petsatakis.
Bonnie & Klein's synthesizer-heavy melodiousness comes accompanied by dub disco strength bass and undulating, off-kilter drums, but retains the rush-inducing bliss associated with the pioneering work of their Greek predecessors.

AA is given up to the 10 minute + track from Mirage: 'Endless Ocean' taken from their Reflections of the Sun EP.

'Endless Ocean' is a slowly building masterpiece. After a hushed, atmospheric opening, the track bubbles away on waves of hazy bongo beats, lapping water sounds and seductive chords before rushing skywards in a swarming swirl of trance-style synthesizer lead lines, echoing electronics and picturesque piano motifs.

Marco Passarani has been at it for over 25 yrs. Masterclass business from the Roman machine wizard - another special one for Dusseldorf's OFFEN. TIP!

Soft Machine is a surreal wander through the mystical sonic forest. A vision curated and designed by Chicago native Justin Aulis Long. A Cyclopian point of view while gazing through a wide lensed scope, which exists in the liminal spaces where light meets dark and angelic forces bath in the sludge and stardust of unfiltered eroticism.

Eye of the Minotaur - collage 001 is a collection of artists working in varying musical practices that are channeling the solitude of mutantness, strolling through the familiar yet unfamiliar halls of the uncanny, refusing ordinary structures of the mundane, grasping the cold humor of cynicism, basking in the dichotomy of cosmos and chaos, and invoking the energies of Eris and Eros.

Setting the ground is Ciarra Black, a Berlin based New Yorker who makes no apologies for her bare knuckled soundscapes. DuPont Street is a ritualistic unification of discordant entities that summons visions of Pazuzu (lord of the demons) and Inanna (goddess of love) fornicating beneath The Tree of Life. Razor edged synthesizers slice through the atmosphere with the precision of an avenging angel’s flaming sword, while a psychedelic drum code activates ritual movement of the body.

As the needle passes beyond the next threshold it is met by a towering totem, bristling with the illuminated light of the sonic astral plane. Erected from the foundational matter that birthed the Detroit electro punk sound, Eyes Up continues to add to the narrative that is drenched in deranged electronics intuitively mangled in a post punk tradition. Dystopian percussive rhythms generate an unorthodox domain where muffled utterances present an aural Rorschach test. Could this be the riddle of the Sphinx, or an ancient spectral being that possesses secret knowledge? Only its creator, Stallone the Reducer, holds the key.

Fixed at the axis of the journey, Perfect Headache Forever, a mystic operating within the DIY spaces of Chicago, levitates on a transcendental mass that is equally melancholic and optimistic. Her voice hosts a strength equal to a pantheon of titans. Armed with a magical electronic musical box, she weaves narratives that are prophetic. Itself Ecstatic is a voyage through a misty soundscape that begins at one point, but ends in a distant other, in accordance with a system of divination.

Gazing into the murky waters of the oracle’s cauldron, Circling Vultures, (a collaborative effort by Justin Aulis Long and Kenneth Zawacki) channel and evoke the spirits of Antonin Artaud and Geroges Bataille. The poet’s voice, engaged in an act of mutilation and self cannibalization, howls while projecting visions of sacred conspiracies, sensations of vertigo while peaking over the edge of the abyss, and the looming weight acquired from the solitude of the Minotaur alone, sitting silently at the center of the labyrinth. Accompanying the mystical bard’s verbal declaration is a triggered mechanized synth that roars with the vitality of Cold War era Wave music, which is then juxtaposed against applications of loose keyboard playing. The artist’s hand is revealed against the calculated actions of machines.

Bringing the document to its finale, Libby Del Barrio, a multi disciplinary artist based in San Antonio, performs a closing ritual in a manner that only she knows. Setting fire to the Elysium Fields while personified as Moze Pray, Del Barrio rejects plastic narratives that aim to pacify. No Tears, is an unapologetic account of life’s feedback loop around the Wheel of Fortune. Sacrificial actions through ceremonial performance reveals a gateway founded on truth and torment. Moze Pray’s ability to combine musical production, poetic vocalization and ritualistic body performance is charged by chaos and amalgamates into a product of pure expression that defies the rose colored filters aiming to conceal harsh realities.

Eno Williams, frontwoman of Ibibio Sound Machine, uses both English and the Nigerian language from which her band's name is derived for the dazzling new album Doko Mien. Long lauded for jubilant, explosive live shows, Ibibio Sound Machine fully capture that energy on Doko Mien, the followup to their Merge debut Uyai.
In a glowing piece in the New York Times, those songs were praised for following 'in the tradition of much African music, [making] themselves the conscience of a community.' By pulsing the mystic shapes of Williams' lines through further inventive, glittering collages of genre, Ibibio Sound Machine crack apart the horizon separating cultures, between nature and technology, between joy and pain, between tradition and future. That propensity for duality and paradox seems common in people whose lives span continents.

Williams was born in the UK, but grew up in Nigeria, always steeped in her family heritage. She obsessed over West African electronic music, highlife, and the like, but was equally empowered by Western genres such as post-punk, disco, and funk. The London octet have enveloped themselves in that maximalist quilt proudly since their 2013 formation. Though it can often bring with it news of stress and uncertainty, the modern world further brings all these disparate traditions into connection.
'Everyone has everything now,' says multi-instrumentalist Max Grunhard. 'Everyone has immediate access to every genre, picking things up from everywhere—like magpies.' And while they haven't suddenly left their African roots behind, Doko Mien does find increased representation of English lyrics in the ratio. By sharing more directly with more universal lyrics, the record feels more anthemic, reaching for grander heights.
'We wanted to give people a reason to sing along, to find their soundtrack every day,' Williams says. 'We wanted everyone to feel as if they're part of the music as well.'

Late album highlight 'Guess We Found a Way' addresses the change with a coy smile. 'Guess we found a way to speak to you/ Guess we found a way to say what's true/ To say what's real,' Williams coos over glistening chains of reverberant synth and diamond dust percussion, before returning to Ibibio in the chorus. Perhaps the best example of the group's ability to convey meaning across language and tradition, to blend past and future into a singular present comes on 'She Work Very Hard'. The traditional Ibibio folk tale bobs over the waves of tuned percussion, chunky synth, and pinprick highlife-esque guitar, while Jose Joyette's drums and Derrick McIntyre's bass funk groove bring everyone to the dance floor. 'These stories won't be forgotten. Feel the music: it speaks to everybody,' Williams says. 'We can travel back in time together, while convening on a futuristic, present tense. We hope that we can give people that reason to wake up, that one song to sing and dance and be happy.'

Doko Mien: Tell me everything. On their new album, Ibibio Sound Machine provide the perfect companion, ready to digest as much as possible and then further unfurl beauty and hope. They remember and honor the past and charge forward toward the future, all while intensely expanding the present.