quête:man make music

It is well known that talent never guarantees any success in the music industry. This sentence summarizes the story of The 9th Creation, one of the best soul, funk, disco and boogie band to make it out of Stockton, CA.

Founded by J.D. and A.D Burrise in 1970, the 9th Creation went on for almost two decades and released 3 albums and half a dozen singles that regularly flirted with the US Charts, getting them featured on Soul Train in 1975 and allowing them to tour North America and Japan a few times over. 9th Creation regularly shared the bill with Irma Thomas, James Brown, The Whispers, The Sylvers, The Main Ingredient, Con Funk Shun and many others.

The music that J.D, A.D Burrise and their 10-12 band members created was a perfect combination of West Coast raw soul, disco and funk that resulted in a religious fan following across the globe.
To this day, The 9th Creation has been sampled by Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth, Artifacts, Quasimoto, 3rd Bass, Basement Jaxx and many others.

9th Creation was undoubtedly one of the greatest funk band of the Seventies.

Past Due Records is proud to officially reissue the 9th Creation's essential full lengths and singles, carefully remastered and all in their original artworks. 'Mellow Music' is the most sought after 7' from 9th Creation. This single marks the band's new direction and was announcing an album that remained unreleased (more on that later). This single is a boogie funk gem and both tracks are pure monsters of heavy bass, synth, horns and massive vocals. A must have that'

Exactly a year on from 'Travel Light', we release the final single from Children of Zeus' debut album. A dinked 7" single, containing one of the stand-out tracks from the album, 'Hard Work', and a re-vocalled Lover's Rock version of 'The Heart Beat' (a demo version of which appeared on 'The Winter Tape' from Christmas 2018).

'Hard Work' is a term than can easily summarise the past twelve months in the life of Tyler Daley and Konny Kon. They've been busily touring Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Europe and the UK twice in that time, as well as rocking shows at countless festivals across the continent.

'Travel Light' was named "Album of the Year" by Complex Magazine, BBC 6 Music's Huey Morgan and Rinse FM's Jyoty, as well as taking 2nd place at the Worldwide Awards (for which their label First Word was named "Label of the Year") and numerous high-placing's from Fact, Mixmag, The Vinyl Factory, Juno, Bandcamp, Mi-Soul, Wordplay & Piccadilly Records, amongst numerous other notable selectors, blogs, tastemakers and musicians, with fans far & wide from Radio 1's Benji B to Chase & Status, Jazzy Jeff to Lily Allen, Stormzy to Goldie.

The depth of styles & genres included on 'Travel Light' confirmed that Tyler & Konny are not easy to put in a box. Their initial inspirations of Manchester pirate radio in the 80's/90's all make up to form the sonic tapestry of hip hop, soul, r&b, broken beat, jungle and, in this instance, reggae.

One of the album's biggest surprises was this now-anthemic track, 'Hard Work', which sees Tyler Daley effortlessly ride a one-drop riddim drenched in positivity, and is a highlight in their live sets, as anyone who's witnessed will testament to. Meanwhile, the flip-side transforms the quiet storm vibe of 'The Heart Beat' into a heavy, heavy dubwise track, creating an essential accompaniment and fitting sequel to the original lick.

Pressed on a limited edition rustic JA-style dinked 7", this one is, of course, essential for any discerning collector, fan and DJ. Released on First Word Records, July 12th 2019.

Shimza, one of South-Africa’s shining talents, makes his return to Cadenza with ‘Eminence’, a burning compound of profound percussions and late-night rapturing synths. This Gauteng-born artist is one of the most celebrated African electronic musicians and has garnered the reputation of the “Effect Master” and “Vinyl Assassin” for his technical prowess and intricate mixing abilities. The vibrating drums and persistent arpeggios of ‘Eminence’ make for a captivating peak-time anthem, offering the nostalgic essence of Detroit’s late-nineties splendour. As the EP journeys to ‘Dancefloor Keeper’, the slick trance-inspired stabs and permeating bassline expose its ominous nature as it swells to a seismic drop. On the B-side, Shimza expresses his creative flare with ‘Kunye’; a hypnotic cut that blends the spirit of futuristic synthwave with the soul of African tribalism. ‘Warrant For Arrest’ is a charged number, driven by a snappy compressed kick drum and chiming sequences. As its percussive forces fall away to the second break, a monstrous siren and obscure vocal cuts take focus, guiding it to its summit. The penultimate offering ‘MSC’, is a euphoric gem that flows with expressive phrases and evolving synth pads. The EP’s digital-only bonus track ‘Mirrors’ shuffles effortlessly with a funk-tinged riff, maintaining a high voltage pace, closing the EP in an emphatic manner. Shimza has been on a mission to make 2019 his biggest year to date. Launching his One Man Show concept in Soweto in 2009 to help raise funds for underprivileged children, the project has now matured into an annual event that draws in over 25,000 people each year, hosting some of the country’s most in-demand artists, such as AKA, Black Coffee and Black Motion. The show has seen international editions in France, Spain and Portugal and has helped position Shimza as one o

Check! Brand new EP by The Abstract Eye, the L.A.-based producer also known as GB (Gifted & Blessed), Frankie Reyes and a few other monikers, **Very LTD release !**

Although he is known to have an incredibly wide range of stylistic approaches, he is probably best known for the music he makes for the dance floor. His classic releases Cool Warm Divine (Valentine Connexion) and GB Presents: The Abstract Eye (Eglo) have solidified a unique analog electronic sound of his own as The Abstract Eye that he further explores and expands on in these six pieces. This record displays a diverse range of emotions, textures, rhythms and colors, sounding like it could have been made any time, past, present or future. While simultaneously staying open to the ever-changing world of music and also observing the current record industry in which many factors besides the quality of the music itself seem to take precedence, The Abstract Eye asks the question, what's real anymore? For him, it comes down to the feelings this music evokes. That is as real as it gets.

Club Soul are proud to present the first ever reissue of this cult album, now complete with the, previously unreleased, instrumental. It is presented on

180gm heavyweight audiophile vinyl in a single sleeve featuring a Club Soul insert with new sleeve notes.

Dancin’ joins a growing catalogue of premium music on the Club Soul imprint - including crossover hits compilation ‘Shades of Soul’, the ‘All-Dayer’ LP, and

newly compiled albums that celebrate the clubs of the original Northern Soul Scene - ‘The Scene Club’, ‘The Twisted Wheel’, ‘Wigan Casino Soul Club’,

‘Catacombs’ and the forthcoming ‘The Golden Torch’. To the pop buying public Van McCoy is known for his 1975 Grammy Award

chart-topper “The Hustle”, after which he sadly died of a heart attack in 1979 at the age of only 39. To rare soul fans Van McCoy is a hero: THE most prolific

writer and producer of Northern Soul of all time, working with a host of legendary artists including Kendra Spotswood (aka Sandi Sheldon) with whom he had

a five-year relationship. ‘Dancin’ ‘ was originally released by Shelby Singleton in 1976 on his SSS International label, although all the ten original songs were recorded much earlier,

circa 1968-69. With its kitsch cover and out-of-kilter track list, copies soon filtered through to the UK and into the hands of club DJ’s at Wigan Casino with

perhaps “Help Is On The Way” becoming the stand-out track. Richard Searling played the mid-tempo “Just Another Dress Rehearsal” in the latter days of

the club while an unreleased instrumental version of “Ain’t Got No Love” was played post-Wigan from a studio acetate.

Having just announced his first solo Ibiza residency, Dance or Die, Nic Fanciulli continues his impressive run of form with a long-awaited debut on Crosstown Rebels. Entitled Miracle (Body Rock), the two-track release includes a stunning remix from esteemed UK talent Paul Woolford.

Beginning things in fine form is Nic Fanciulli’s original Miracle (Body Rock). Whispering percussion combines with the subtle plucking of guitar strings, as echoing vocals are layered underneath soft,
moving pads to create a well-rounded, moving number. Paul Woolford’s Endless Bassline remix comes next. Stuttering hi-hats provide rhythm as the titular rolling bassline chugs on, whilst toneful piano keys merge with reverberating, soulful vocals. Unique, yet staying true to the original, the addition of distorted
claps helps create the perfect dancefloor cut; but it is the re-singing of classic Jomanda’s ‘Make My Body Rock’ vocals that links both tracks in a moving, emotive fashion.

A name synonymous with electronic music culture, Nic Fanciulli is a DJ, producer, festival curator and
label owner whose career has spanned two decades. It was in 2005 that Nic founded Saved Records, an
imprint that is now synonymous with releases from some of the scenes greatest, including Adam Beyer
and Hot Since 82. But it was his latest release on Rekids, titled Understand, that further cemented his
reputation as a standout music producer, with a clear-cut ear for the perfect dancefloor melody. Paul
Woolford is a veteran of the UK’s electronic music scene. A prolific producer who has used many
aliases, the British talent has recorded five Essential Mixes for Radio 1 as well as holding down a nine-
year residency at Space Ibiza. His recent releases demonstrate his continued talent for producing,
including You Already Know, Hang Up Your Hang Ups and Story of My Life on Hot Creations.

For their third release, P&F Recordings makes a departure from original compositions in favor of 4 beautiful down-tempo edits, by none other than modern day master of the craft: JAZ.

Known to many as perhaps the only Episcopal minister / DJ / digger, JAZ has had a prolific career of uncovering obscurities, distilling them down, and delivering them to the masses.

In an ode to the slower end of dance music, here we see JAZ survey four of his favorite 100bpm-ish cuts. Start the party, end the party, funk the party with these genre-bending, globe-travelling monsters.

7am. Tilburg. Black room. Strobe light. Dutch Soundsystem Wirwar. "Party Like It's '96" celebrates 23 years of musical debauchery, rinsing BPMs and battering bodies in forests, squats or wherever a PA system could be plugged in. Five tracks from five different aliases make up this descent into drum beat battery. Noses are up against sweat drenched wall from the needle drop, the thundering pace of Trippy D's maniacal offering being elbowed in the ribs by Bart Bral's nosebleed inducing "No Shit, Sherlock!" Distortion slices into squalid acid lines in the blazing "Water On Mars" by RAF before broken beats are blended and blitzed by Just So Nah. The night, or morning, comes to an end in Roel's nightmarish fairground ride. "Wurlitzer Express" minces chiptune cuteness with splintered snares, cracked kicks and mutated percussion to leave hearts, minds and souls thoroughly stained.

Founded in 1990 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Cold Front were what you'd call early adaptors, their music at the time of its inception an oddity. This fourpiece, consisting of spouses Ayanna and Cam Muata, Jon Jon Scott and Ron Clark, were far ahead of their time and faded just as rapidly as they entered the stage, only playing a handful of local shows in support of Nine Inch Nails, Meat Beat Manifesto and such, alongside several cameos during early house nights and techno events.

Though short lived, their music nevertheless speaks volumes. It's intriguing stuff, a magical association of sound reminiscent of Ron Hardy and Klein MBO. New Beat-like drum parts, overdubbed by politically engaged raps, basslines that would make The Cure proud, held together by freakout speaking in tongues vocal experiments while also showing an obvious parallel to the rise of triphop at the other side of the ocean.

Beyond the Beat will burst dancefloors soon. In collaboration with Paris' recordshop Dizonord, Knekelhuis will close the summer of 2019 with this amazing gem.

With more than 220 million cumulated streams in 2013, Poldoore is far to be unknown from international future-beat and hip-hop scenes. His new record, Mosaïc, comes back confirming to be the spearhead of a booming music genre, where beatmakers emerge from the shadows to the light, to assert themselves as artists in their own rights. Coming from Belgium, more precisely Louvain near Bruxelles, Thomas Schillebeeckx began to explore his parents record collection at age 5, when the family moved to the US. Since, the will to combine this musical heritage to his more modern surrounding sounds never left. Because Poldoore music has a credo: assembly the era with sampling, mixing the genres to create a new musical touch.

Since his beginning in 2013, with the album The Days Off, the young musician talents gave him the opportunity to perform for an international tour with famous venues such as Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Festival, Dour Festival, or the giant Tomorrowland. Everything you need to create a huge fanbase, one that never let you down through your musical evolutions. At this stage, Poldoore is already ahead of his time, playing a music focused on the future, making his place among lasting artists by getting to the top sales on Beatport. Six years after, he's still here, more than ever.
The following of his career brings him to Bulgaria, Spain, Turkey, Germany, Greece, and developing remixes for international artists such as Selah Sue, Wax Tailor, Declaime or Talib Kweli.
He is also nominated at the Red Bull Elektropedia Awards in Belgium, for both Album of the Year and Best Newcomer of the year, mostly thanks to the hit: the remix of the classic Fugees song, Fu-Gee-La. Everything to set the stage for his second album, The Days Off in 2016. The natural identity of Poldoore music rings out more than ever, and allows him to sign several projects and EPs on prestigious labels: Chinese Man Records, Nowadays, Cold Busted or Darker Than Wax.
His forthcoming album Mosaïc is a pure exploration of genres. The offbeat hip-hop, beautifully embodied by the track Lessons About Life, the electro-funk with Darts Is Not A Sport, his beloved jamaïcan sounds on A Brand New Day (featuring ASM and Balkan Bump), or the break-electronic on Solace. But it's mainly his unusual ability to give a second groove to 70s soul samples and epic strings, that makes this record truly essential. The whole tracklist is haunted, whether on the excellent Walking Through A Sunlit Forest or on Melatonin, last of the 13 tracks. Always seeking to marry different musical periods, always linking the past and the future. With Mosaïc, Poldoore is not only showing us his talent, but takes the listener through out Time. And isn't it what the music is supposed to do














 

Exactly three years after their debut release landed on Studio Barnhus,
MLiR are back with Trans-World Junktion, a summer-ready two-tracker
that packs enough musical twists and turns to put your favourite
quadruple 12-inch to shame. Half part awesome exotica, half vigourous
festival blitzin' from this Barcelona-based Swedish musical collective
fronted by Marco Gegenheimer and Einar Christoffersson. Artwork by
Studio Barnhus logo renderer and a/v show maker Leolyxxx.

New LP from French beat-makers La Fine Equipe featuring Illa J, T3, 20Syl, Mr J Medeiros, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Fakear ...

Let's be clear: La Fine Equipe is a band. The numerous hats wore by its four members are so various that it could mislead one's. Indeed, surrounding Blanka, oOgo, Chomsky and Mr. Gib, there are recording studios, collaborations, lives, side-projects... There is also and especially a whole universe built during the past ten years around their passion for beatmaking, embodied by the release of « 5th Season », new album.
So yes, La Fine Equipe is a band, but it's also much more than that.

Since their creation in 2006 and their first album « La Boulangerie » two years later, the four producers became inevitable when you think about a new scene breaking the barriers between musical genders. Hip Hop is at the heart of their craft, corner stone of their musical background and inspirations where the paths of J Dilla, Madlib, Flying Lotus, Kaytranada and the turntablists A-Trak, C2C and Birdy Nam Nam are crossing ways. Two things gather La Fine Equipe and those big names, the constant need of collaboration with other artists, and this thirst of discovery, main feature of the digger.

From 2008 to 2014, La Fine Equipe mastered its craft with the « Boulangerie », compilation gathering 34 beatmakers on 113 tracks. They also work on the creation of the label Nowadays Records (Fakear, Skence, Unno, Clément Bazin, Leska, Douchka...) and released more than 75 EPs and LPs in five years.
With an outrageous number of shows across the world, tour in Asia, South America, collaborations with several international artists... Their success changed the game: Whereas many producers coming from this environment where isolated, La Fine Equipe federated a growing scene and became its reference.
After years spent paving the way for other artists and creating a structure that could support the growth of a musical scene, they decided to go further and launch a new era with « 5th Season ».

Because the band works with eight hands and four brains, there's nothing surprising in the fact that the album sounds like a condensed of each and everyone inspirations and experiences, from hip hop and sampling, to electronica, jazz and Latinas inspirations. If homogeneity is the new trend, La Fine Equipe isn't ready to sacrifice its wishes to fit the mould.

« 5th Season » is also a glance at the world looking over our planet's current state, the cosmos, the vegetal and these things that are greater and stronger than us, and the things and behaviour that could led to our loss.
It's an almost apocalyptic vision of our future, but full of optimism at the same time. There is something solar and cinematographic in this album, a format that goes beyond the one chosen before, closer to playlist and compilations such as the three Boulangerie opuses remind us.

Loyal to their status of ambassadors, the four beatmakers keep on inviting other artists to complete their universe. Illa J and T3, respectively brother and partner (Slum Village) of the late J. Dilla, make the connection between a glorious past and the future embodied by La Fine Equipe on the track « The Source ». With « Aurora », it's the solemn and mystical voice of Madjo that take this electro-pop track to another level. The American rapper Mr. J. Medeiros on the boom bap anthem « What Eva », the Montrealer ZeFire on « Typical », each and every artists brings its stone to the edifice of « 5th Season », giving to the album a limitless and freed musical richness.

But to release an album isn't enough. In parallel, each member of La Fine Equipe continues to fulfil its multiples tasks and work on a new concept live show bringing a scenic and visual show in addition to their music. It is what the artists looking toward the future do, and La Fine Equipe is looking straight ahead.

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TRACK BY TRACK

AURORA (Ft. Madjo)
Already remixed by the quatuor on the beautiful track « Choose The Heart », it's Madjo's turn to be invited by La Fine Equipe for a collaboration. Her mystical voice, which fragility paradoxically seems to strengthen its power, turns the track into an epic pop anthem.

NOBU (Ft. Grems & 20syl)
The association of these three names seems obvious, like a family reunion. Grems did the visual of the anniversary box of La Boulangerie, 20syl (C2C, Hocus Pocus) was one of the beatmakers who took part in the project.
This time, the two big brothers are side by side behind the mic, for the first French speaking collaboration of La Fine Equipe.
On this trapy/footwork beat, the two rappers ring the alarm before it's too late to save our house, the earth.

THE SOURCE (Ft. T3 & Illa J)
In the family of Hip Hop jewels of 5th Season, here is one coming from the USA. Fans of J Dilla and Slum Village since the first hour, La Fine Equipe pays its respects to its influences by inviting T3 and Illa J. Respectively member of Slum Village and brother of the legendary Detroit producer, these two MCs build a bridge between the eras and let their sharpened flows confuse our perception of time.

5TH SEASON (Ft. Fakear)
A second collaboration with their little brother from the Nowadays Family, Fakear. Eponymous title, it represents the universe of both entities, true road trip through Fakearians melodies and La Fine Equipe's funk declined in five seasons.

TYPICAL BOY (Ft. ZeFire)
With « Typical Boy », La Fine Equipe express its love for House music with chopped rhythms and a heavy but swaying bass line. The freed track oscillate between power and lightness. A beat that quickly becomes ZeFire's playground. The Montreal singer, already heard on Her's tracks, brings a missing r'n'b touch to create the perfect chemistry.

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.

A Sagittariun’s third album chronicles the journey back to Telepathic Heights; an expedition that encounters many obstacles along the way. The feuding parties of the two planets make for a journey of determination and self-discovery for our techno lone ranger that will ultimately deliver him to the sacred site on which Telepathic Heights stands. Conceived as a space western soundtrack to the cinematic interpretation of this tale, Return To Telepathic Heights delivers ten chapters that journal the ultimate mission to reach the imposing tower of Telepathic Heights, where dream telepathy has become the primary communicative tool amongst its peaceful and harmonious community who have opted out of the planetary war that continues to rage, seemingly with no armistice anytime soon. The score fittingly winds its way through the trials and tribulations of this journey, blending minimal and harmonic rhythms, industrial funk, dreamy synthwave and transcendental techno into the rich tapestry of music that documents the ‘Return To Telepathic Heights’. The album features original artwork by Johnny Bruck, fully licensed, and taken from the legendary German science fiction novel series, ‘Perry Rhodan’, which ran weekly from the early 1960s, and was the most successful sci-fi book series ever written.

* Idealz EPs are few and far between, but when they arrive they are always unique. Once again, he brings an EP with a truly individual sound, and this time, its on clear orange vinyl! There is literally no one who shares Idealz's unique vision when it comes to making music, and this EP is no exception. All 4 tracks are is usual mix of drum'n'bass, hardcore, old skool and a kind of relentless wonder and experimentalism. You can never be 100% certain where a track is going to go, but you can be certain the bass will blow speakers and the journey will be marvelous. My personal favourite on the EP is "Gettin Warm" which I think is an exceptionally bold track that makes me want to leap about like a loony, but all 4 tunes are simply brilliant, with a level of style and class that makes Idealz....Idealz.

Club / DJ Support
Billy Bunter, the Fat Controller, Glowkid, Slipmatt, Dj Jedi, Dj Luna-C, Dj Brisk, Clayfighter, Jimni Cricket, Bustin, Sc@r, Doughboy, Saiyan, Dave Skywalker, Liquid, Hyper On Experience, Ant To Be, Ponder and many others

Black Truffle is honoured to announce the first ever vinyl reissue of David Rosenboom’s legendary Brainwave Music, originally released on A.R.C. Records in 1975 and here expanded to a double LP with the addition of over 40 minutes of contemporaneous material. Pioneer of live electronics, innovator in music education, collaborator with artists as diverse as Jon Hassell, Jacqueline Humbert, Terry Riley and Anthony Braxton, Rosenboom is renowned for his ground-breaking experiments with the use of brain biofeedback to control live electronic systems.

Each of the three pieces that make up the original Brainwave Music LP integrates biofeedback with musical technology in different ways. In the side-long opening piece “Portable Gold and Philosophers’ Stones”, four performers have electrodes and monitoring devices attached to their bodies to receive information about brainwaves, temperature, and galvanic skin response. This information is analysed and fed into a complex set of frequency dividers and filters, manned by Rosenboom, but essentially played by each of the performers through their psychophysiological responses to the situation. The result is a slowly unfolding web of filtered electronic tones over a tanpura-esque fundamental, possessing the unhurried, stately grandeur of an electronic raga. In “Chilean Drought”, three different variations of a text about a drought in Chile, each read by a different voice in a different style, are associated with the Beta, Alpha, and Theta brainwave bands. Alongside an insistent piano accompaniment, we hear a constantly shifting combination of the three vocal recordings controlled by the relative preponderance of each of the brainwave bands in the soloist whose brainwaves are being monitored. “Piano Etude I (Alpha)”, the earliest piece included here, is based on research into the link between Alpha brain wave production and the execution of repetitive motor tasks. As Rosenboom plays a very rapid, incessantly repeated pattern in both hands – deliberately designed to be difficult to execute without being in an alert, non-thinking state similar to that associated with strong Alpha brainwave production – two filters controlled by monitoring his brainwaves process the piano sound, moving gradually higher in frequency as the average Alpha amplitude increases, resulting in a hypnotic, constantly shifting blur of repeated notes reflected through the shimmering, watery lights of the filters. For this reissue, the original LP is supplemented with an additional LP containing an unreleased 1977 live recording of Rosenboom’s “On Being Invisible”, in which the composer himself performs on an array of electronics that are fed information from his brainwaves. Stretching out over 40 minutes, the piece begins in similar territory to “Portable Gold and Philosophers’ Stones” but eventually becomes far wilder, building up to pointillistic bleeps and dense layers of electronic fizz that unexpectedly cut to near-silence. As Rosenboom explains, the piece creates a situation in which the ‘performer’s active imaginative listening became one of the ways to play their instrument, as well as an active agent in how self-organizing musical forms might emerge.’ Enriched with archival images and new notes from the composer, this expanded reissue of Brainwave Music is essential listening for anyone interested in the history of live electronic music and alive to the possibilities it might still contain.

In her varied career that would combine art gallery installations, major film soundtrackings and commissions for Atari, Suzanne Ciani’s earliest experiments remain some of her most challenging, beguiling and timeless... Flowers Of Evil ticks all the above boxes and flicks switches that would power-up a new uncharted universe of her own musical modernité. Finders Keepers present the first-ever release of these vital archive recordings.

As a genuine vanguard of electronic music composition at the forefront of the modular synthesiser revolution in the late 1960s, Suzanne Ciani’s forward-thinking approach to new music would rarely look to the past for inspiration, which makes this unheard composition from 1969 a rare exception to the collective futurist vision of Ciani and synthesiser designer Don Buchla. In choosing to adapt the controversial prose of French poet Charles Baudelaire, Suzanne would join the ranks of ongoing generations of pioneering musicians like Olivier Messiaen, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Serge Gainsbourg, Etron Fou Leloublan, Celtic Frost and Marc Almond (not forgetting Star Trek’s William Shatner!), all equally inspired by the 19th century writer’s works of “modernité” (modernity), a self-coined term dedicated to capturing the fleeting, ephemeral experience of life in an urban metropolis, best exemplified in his symbolic, erotic and macabre ode to Parisian industrialisation, Les Fleurs du mal (Flowers Of Evil).

In her varied career that would combine art gallery installations, major film soundtrackings and commissions for Atari, Suzanne Ciani’s earliest experiments remain some of her most challenging, beguiling and timeless... Flowers Of Evil ticks all the above boxes and flicks switches that would power-up a new uncharted universe of her own musical modernité. For the many enthusiasts that have already drawn the parallels between Baudelaire’s writings and experimental/electronic music (a relationship rivalled only by the likes of J. G. Ballard and Aldous
Huxley) some might instantly recognise an unconscious sistership between this recording and another 1969 electronic adaptation of Flowers Of Evil by celebrated female electronic composer Ruth White. An interesting distinction of White’s excellent version of Flowers Of Evil (released via Limelight records, home to the likes of Fifty Foot Hose and Paul Bley) is that its dark tone generation and vocal manipulation was created with a Moog synthesiser, the commercially triumphant
rival to Suzanne and Don’s Buchla Systems (Buchla and Moog’s historic, simultaneous, neck-and-neck synth developments are well documented.) The fact that Ciani’s version was never intended for commercial release (not unlike her 1975 Buchla concerts, which could easily have taken Morton Subotnick’s Bull by the horns!) is also poetically reflective of the nature of Ciani and Buchla’s alternative perspective. The choice to present this extract from Flowers Of Evil in its intended French language further distances Ciani’s faithful reaction from some of its better-known variations. Having attempted to voice the poem herself, the multilingual Italian-American composer’s French accent did not meet her own standards, resulting in the request for a fellow unnamed French student who lived on campus at Mills College in Oakland to accurately verbalise the section of Baudelaire’s collection entitled Élévation.

Pelican, the instrumental quartet whose singular vision of heavy music eschews classification, have announced their first full length in six years, Nighttime Stories, is due June 7th via Southern Lord Recordings.

The eight-song set marks the band’s first release written front to back with guitarist Dallas Thomas, who took over guitar duties upon founding member Laurent Schroeder-Lebec’s departure in 2012. In the process of writing the album the quartet endured a slew of realisations, tragedies, and glimmers of optimism that guided the creative process to the most potent work of their nineteen-year career.

Though the new material veers towards the darker tone characteristic of Pelican’s early songwriting, it’s hard to imagine a previous incarnation of the band writing songs as meticulously crafted and detail-oriented as those within Nighttime Stories, where the compositions recall everything from the triumphant call-to-arms of classic Dischord, to the vicious troglodyte battery of the Melvins, to the dynamic interwoven melodies of bottom-heavy indie cult heroes Chavez.

Nighttime Stories was an album title initially proposed for Tusk, the hallucinatory art-grind band that included Pelican members Trevor Shelley de Brauw, Larry Herweg, and Schroeder-Lebec, in addition to vocalist Jody Minnoch. The writing of Nighttime Stories was instigated shortly after Minnoch’s unexpected death in 2014, and some of the dissonant viscera and dark psychedelic structures that were characteristic of Tusk’s sound began to unconsciously inform the album’s direction. In homage to their departed colleague, Pelican applied the previously discarded title and pulled many of the song titles from notes Minnoch had sent to inspire the direction of the unrealized album. As the writing of Nighttime Stories progressed Thomas also experienced a heavy loss with the passing of his father, to whom the album pays tribute on opening track “W.S.T.” (on which Dallas performed his guitar parts on his father’s Yamaha acoustic).
 
Pelican have always excelled at vacillating between the savage sounds of various niches of metal underground and the more delicate and nuanced sounds of Midwest’s cerebral indie community, proving that they can make either end of the spectrum more vibrant and compelling through the art of contrast. With Nighttime Stories, the pendulum has swung back to the angst and ire of their younger years while delivering it with the nuance and wisdom that’s come with nearly two decades of writing and performing. Pelican head out on a ten date US tour in June with more dates in the works for later in the year (see dates below).

"A manner or style, a frame of mind, thought or existence" (Mode).
"Intelligence quotient, the use of perception or awareness." (IQ).

Mode I/Q, the self-proclaimed unknown band, was a richly textured, bold project starting life in 1979 out the embers of punk and new wave resulting in a hypnotic convergence of love, the future, life and art.

Lucian and Nicolas, two creative spirits who viewed the world through their own prism, augmented by a moving cast of friends and acolytes, were together compelled to make great music. This was a concept from the heart, with transformativelive performances, channelling spaces into art "Mode" events orchestrated to bring about a full integration of site and sound.

Psychedelic, punk overtones. A funky electronic hybrid, mixing Kraftwerk with black music. Guitars delayed and twisted through echo boxes and micro synths. Casio and Commodores delivering the machine funk. CBGBs, Max's Kansas City and Danceteria - Mode I/Q played and much, much more.

Just 3 releases deep, 1984's mini LP Mind/Soul captures the band at their best. 6 songs to immerse, dance and shake the mind.