Search:materia

White Vinyl

Remastered reissue of Het Zweet's 1987 self-titled LP + a bonus LP, consisting of previously unreleased material.

Marien Van Oers work under the name Het Zweet (“The Sweat” in English) originally came out in the 1980s (specifically 1983-1988), but listening to the new reissue of this self-titled album from 1987 can feel like one is listening to something that’s both much more current and also much, much older than that. Van Oers, who passed away in 2013, made music that tended to get classed as “industrial”, and tracks here like the steady, clanging churn of “From the Lowland” or “On Earth” show why, but he was as or more inspired by tribal music intended to produce trance-like effects via rhythm and (percussive and vocal) repetition. Using instruments made by himself out of anything from shopping carts to cardboard tubes, the music of Het Zweet locks into grooves that somehow feel more elemental and physical than many of his contemporaries. It never quite feels like Van Oers is emulating or echoing the music of any particular region or tradition so much as trying to synthesize all the ones he’s heard into some sort of ur-pulse, an overtone so powerful as to compel the “Massive Trance” the title of the last song on the record evokes.

While the 1987 Het Zweet has four track titles per side, and on listening you can discern some segues and places where it feels like new movements do shift into place, it’s fitting to have this record on vinyl where the listener is encouraged to experience each side as one uninterrupted piece. The bonus material included on this reissue expands Het Zweet from one LP to two, the second LP consisting entirely of previously unreleased material. This bonus LP is sequenced similarly, with three untitled tracks and two live excerpts presented as side-long experiences that belie their disparate origins with a unity of sound and purpose. Van Oers’ percussive nous and distantly yelled chants certainly sound capable of working up a sweat in both the performer and any movement- minded listeners, but maybe the most striking thing about Het Zweet is how vital it still sounds, despite its age and relative obscurity.

"Born in Crystal Palace in 1995, Max moved to Brighton aged five and following his parents’ separation much of his youth was spent travelling between his parent’s homes on the coast and his nan in South East London.
A constant in his world of uncertainty was music. In part, this was thanks to his music obsessive father, who would expose him to an abundance of genres whenever he visited. Max soon developed an insatiable musical appetite of his own. The urgent poetry of Gil Scott-Heron resonated, as did Nick Drake’s intricate folk and the Beatles’ pristine pop. Bill Withers, Graham Coxon, Donny Hathaway and Jimi Hendrix also hit home. Max’s musical church has always been startlingly broad, counting funk, bossa nova, blues, jazz and rock and roll amongst its number and explains why many of these styles surface in his own material."

No global pandemic can dull the drive of musicians to create. At the onsetof the Covid-19 crisis artists everywhere found themselves ponderingwhat music making looks like under quarantine. In the absence of touringand in-person recording New York’s Ben Pirani and Evolfo - members ofwhom play in Ben’s backing band The Means Of Production - prove thespirit of collaboration can still flourish under social distancing with the helpof file sharing. And so the idea to exchange remixes of existing materialrevealed itself. Each musician recording their parts from home andzapping them across the city to be assembled. Peachy, from Evolfo’s 2017 LP Last Of The Acid Cowboys released onBrooklyn’s Royal Potato Family is given a solemn reharmonization byPirani. Jumping off with cacophonous strings and horns it then shifts to awinter’s day post-bop groove with Matt Gibbs original vocal swirlingabove. Cacophony returns and bookends the track leaving the listener toponder the poetic lyric. Try Love, from Ben Pirani’s 2018 Colemine LP How Do I Talk To MyBrother is stripped to it’s vital elements and built up again. Evolfo’sreimagining unfolds with a searing sunshine fuzz guitar. As the uniquegroove heats up Matt and Raff stack Ben’s original vocals getting to themessage of the tune we, together. After two big key changes the tunepours into a psychedelic zone’s unknown punctuated by sheets ofdelayed saxophone.

Valentina Goncharova's fundamental conceptual musical work released in full uncut form as part of Hidden Harmony Lost Tapes series (HHLTS01). Restored and mastered from the original 6.3 mm analog tapes. A large-scale work comprising eleven parts of varied, brooding, mystical reflection in which the author alters the instrumentation to fit both programmatic and musical character of each section.
Includes a 12-page booklet, which detailly explains the album's conceptual basis, background and creation context, and provides insights into unique sound recording and technical solutions adapted during the album recording in 1988. Created and written with direct involvement of V. Goncharova and I. Zubkov.

From the Liner notes:

"My task is to allow the listener to penetrate deeper into the music. The music is wholly improvisational. It has no concept in the rational sense of the word. It’s concept is purely intuitive. It presumes The Law of Analogies: “As above so below. Man is the same as the Universe. The Universe is the same as Man.” ("Emerald Tablet” by Hermes Trismegistus"). This intuition is a kind of rephrased logic which uses many more symbols which contain not only philosophical but also imaginative meanings/ visionary interpretations.

This music is a stream of consciousness in its purest form: not an imitation of a stream, as in the ‘suggestive poetry’ of the 20th century, but a stream where one flow is superimposed on another (a multilateral passage of recording). And, if we think this flow of music will be better understood under the influence of a verbal flow, then the verbal flow should also be more intuitive and associative, as objective for this short write-up you are currently reading.

Ocean did not appear within the coordinate system of logical scientific thinking of the last four centuries. It can be said that it is based on an intuitive concept of representations of the world which are captured in music figuratively. Similar to how myths were created in time immemorial with only partial support from verbal associations. Ocean is an experience of passing the Human Soul and Mind through the different states of the material world: birth, development, and achievement of perfection, transformation at the points of The Way and Silence, the manifestation of the harmony of the world (Om), which until then had remained in a latent state. It is averse to both mainstream contemporary physics and fringe scientific research. It exists outside their explanatory power.

Ocean is the source of all forms that can receive their life within time and space. Here it is. It has everything: beautiful and terrible, good and evil, self-sacrifice and betrayal. Boundless love and inspired creativity. But contact does not happen immediately. The memory of a bygone civilization is still fresh, and of the dearest things left with it."

Written, performed and produced by Valentina Goncharova
Composition A1 to C4 recorded in Kose subdistrict, Tallinn, Estonia (Recording period August-October 1988)
Composition D1 recorded in artist´s home studio in Lasnamäe subdistrict, Tallinn, Estonia (Recording period May 2021)

Dallas-born Roger Kynard Erickson, better known as Roky Erickson, is a legend of psychedelic music and culture. Playing piano at five years old and guitar at ten, he dropped out of high school in Austin shortly before graduating, since the school dress code demanded short hair. In 1965, his group, The Spades, made an impact with “We Sell Soul” and the following year, The 13 th Floor Elevators burst onto the scene with debut album The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13 th Floor Elevators, but the band’s non-conformist attitude and open endorsement of drugs such as marijuana and LSD put them in repeated conflict with the authorities. Then, in 1968, during a performance at the San Antonio edition of the World’s Fair, known as HemisFare, Erickson began speaking incomprehensible nonsense on stage, leading to a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia and confinement in a Houston psychiatric hospital, where he was forcibly given electroshock therapy. The following year, after being busted with a single joint, Erickson pleaded not guilty by means of insanity, leading to a 3-year stay in Rusk State Hospital, with further electroshock and Thorazine treatments. Following his release Erickson formed a group initially called Bleib Alien, which evidenced a more hard-rock orientation, later renamed The Aliens, though Erickson was also working with Austin’s The Explosives in the same era. Aliens material produced by Stu Cook of Creedence Clearwater Rival was issued by CBS and an independent, 415 Records. Then, in the early 1980s, Erickson became fixated with junk mail and unsolicited letters, writing to lawyers and celebrity figures on a regular basis; in 1985, solo mini-LP Clear Night For Love was produced at Music Tracks in Austin by bassist/guitarist Speedy Sparks, with former Joe “King” Carrasco and Delbert McClinton drummer, Ernie Durawa, plus Supernatural Family Band alumnus John Reed on guitar. Released by France’s New Rose label in small numbers, the release found Erickson back in semi-psychedelic/country rock mode on opening track “You Don’t Love Me Yet,” the plaintive “Starry Eyes” and the anthem-like title track, while “The Haunt” is more in swamp/horror rock vein and “Don’t Slander Me” has heavy blues leanings.

Tibor Kocsis doesn't take a minute to introduce himself on his first EP for 030303 records; he presents himself with a slap in your face from the very first second. Title track Delta Ophiuchi is heavy duty dancefloor material... reminiscing of the very best of K Alexi Shelby's early works, just a little more focused and to the point maybe - an instant rush and an instant classic! Second track Nekorb is a little sweeter and more for the after hours. The remaining 3 tracks keep that same flow; a wonderful blend of Chicago, psychedelic British acid house and electronic minimal wave.

The complete aural presence that is Oshkosh, Wisonsin's Cavernlight
returns with "As I Cast Ruin Upon the Lens That Reveals My Every Flaw ",
an all-encompassing journey that could very well be one of the best postmetal / sludge releases of the last 5 years
Recorded at Electrical Audio in Chicago and mixed Scott Evans (Kowloon Walled
City, Yautja, East of the Wall) and features the artwork of vocalist / guitarist Scott
Burns.

Coming 40 years after he first started performing in bands in his native North West of England, Butterfly Mind is the most surprising release yet from Tim Bowness. From the short, sharp shocks of Always The Stranger and Only A Fool to the long-form ambition of the sensuous Dark Nevada Dream, the cinematic Electro-Ballroom of Glitter Fades and the dystopian paranoia of Say Your Goodbyes Parts 1 and 2, Butterfly Mind delivers a thrilling fusion of Art Rock invention, Post-Punk energy and epic soulful ballads. Tim’s seventh solo album features the stellar rhythm section of Richard Jupp (in his first major session since leaving Elbow) and Nick Beggs alongside a spectacular guest list including Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull), Dave Formula (Magazine), Peter Hammill (Van Der Graaf Generator), Martha Goddard (The Hushtones), Gregory Spawton (Big Big Train), Mark Tranmer (The Montgolfier Brothers / GNAC), Saro Cosentino (Franco Battiato), Italian Jazz musician Nicola Alesini, US singer Devon Dunaway (Ganga), Stephen W Tayler (Kate Bush) and, marking his first studio work with Tim for nearly three decades, former No-Man violinist Ben Coleman. Produced by Tim Bowness and Brian Hulse (Plenty), the album was mixed and mastered by Steven Wilson. Available as Limited 2CD Edition (featuring alternate mixes and bonus material), and a Limited 180g LP + CD edition featuring special die-cut artwork by Carl Glover. Also available as Digital Album.

The dawn of Symphonic Therion glooming at the horizon, yet still drenched in Dark Metal execution! Though it was their fourth full-length, and we had been given a sampling of their symphonic/gothic direction with “Symphony Masses: Ho Drakon Ho Megas”, “Lepaca Kliffoth” might remain the most memorable masterpiece of the band’s career along the follow-up “Theli”. A transitional phase between the band’s Death Metal roots and the hybrid of symphonic, gothic metal which they would carry forward for the rest of their career. This is an extremely dark album. The band retains their fascination with obscure occult magick and prophecies within the lyrics, and the music revolves around killer mid-paced Metal riffs drenched in the vocal libations of Christofer Johnsson. The album starts off strongly with “The Wings of the Hydra”, and from there on the serpent has snaked about your spine. An addictive piece with an obvious Celtic Frost influence, chanting vocals, simple synth tones and arabesque guitar melodies which evoke the mythical age of the song’s namesake. The album’s ‘hit single’, “The Beauty in Black” is glorious and gothic, it uses a pair of operatic vocalists (male and female), a sort of predecessor to the revolving door of guest musicians the band would use on their later albums. Other excellent tracks include the charging “Riders of Theli”, the crushing doom of “Black” which would have fit almost perfectly on “Into the Pandemonium”. The rest of the album is equally dark and enchanting, with other standouts being the title track and “Evocation of Vovin”. Synthesizers, flutes multiple vocalists, and the core of the band are all clear and precise throughout, yet it still carries a very raw and dark, ominous tone to it which trumps the later studio efforts. This may not be quite as symphonic as many Therion fans demand of their material in recent years, but it clearly marks the point where this band transformed from a innovative Death Metal band into the Gods of Gothic Metal. There are very few parallels to something like this, and it belongs in the collection of any fan of quality Occult Metal.

Mekons + Freakwater = FREAKONS.Freakwater and the Mekons have
joined forces to sing songs about coal mining
FREAKONS, the eponymously-titled album on Fluff & Gravy Records , is the first
fruit of this visionary musical union.The Mekons and Freakwater have been
friends for decades, forged in the punk rock/ art school crucibles of late '70s
Leeds and mid '80s Louisville respectively. Both bands mined British folk and
American classic country music for three- chord songs whose lyrics fit the
nihilism or political rage or outlandish joy of the moment. Many of these songs
were about coal mining. Traditional songs about heroic union organizers, deadly
mine disasters, wailing orphans, or mining's grim history of economic and
ecological devastation fit seamlessly alongside each band's original material.
And so it is with FREAKONS.
Deep pit mines, strip mines, mountaintop removal, collapsing slag heaps. Deadly
work, poisoned water, and fantastic songs. Always fantastic songs. This is where
the FREAKONS were born, from the very bowels of the earth.
The Mekons' Jon Langford & Sally Timms and Freakwater's Janet Bean &
Catherine Irwin are joined here by the stellar string and vocal harmonies of Jean
Cook (Ida, Tara Jane O'Neil, Skull Orchard) and Anna Krippenstapel (The Other
Years, Joan Shelley, Freakwater), along with special guest, the beloved guitar
genius Jim Elkington (Jeff Tweedy, Richard Thompson, Eleventh Dream Day,
Horse's Ha, Skull Orchard, Freakwater, The Zincs).
Belgian painter Jo Clauwaert created the album's intricate gatefold cover. Images
from song lyrics and related history emerge and recede again in this gorgeously
illustrated artistic fever dream.The story of coal mining is one of ongoing pillage
and ecological devastation. It is also a story of heroic workers, struggling in
blighted circumstances to feed their families. The songs and the culture that have
risen from the mines deserve our attention. A portion of the profits from the
FREAKONS record will go to Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, a grassroots
organization dedicated to creating a better future for the Appalachian region.
Kentuckians For The Commonwealth (KFTC.ORG) works to end mountaintopremoval coal mining, and to promote political candidates who care about social,
environmental and economic justice and the transition to clean, renewable
resources

Last Night From Glasgow is thrilled to bring you the majestic "Mother
Natures Kitchen" from Kevin McDermott Orchestra on vinyl
Following his solo album, Suffocation Blues, Kevin McDermott formed the Kevin
McDermott Orchestra and began performing the material that would become
Mother Nature's Kitchen. McDermott distributed KMO demos to record
companies and they were soon signed to Island RecordsThe album - which
followed in 1989 was named byThe Sun Newspaper as being number 37 in the
list of "The best Scottish albums..ever"

"A collection of pieces about the discovery of sounds and sonic universes hidden in objects, places and within yourself." - Feldermelder & Julian Sartorius

Commissioned by the legendary concert venue Bad Bonn in Düdingen, Switzerland, and the KRAN project, 'Bonn Route' is a collaborative album by electronic musician Feldermelder and percussionist Julian Sartorius. A location- based sound walk that can be experienced both on-site in the village of Düdingen, and as a full-length album. The eleven tracks are a sonic homage to, and an artistic interpretation of, a small village in Switzerland's heartland.

Building on his practice of site-specific performances and percussive sound walks, Julian Sartorius captured sounds and patterns at eleven locations: the train station and cemetery, on the banks of a stream, on a bicycle path, and in an intimate cavern above the village's lake, amongst other locales. Sartorius documented the soundscape of the village in field recordings, recorded samples of objects and captured percussive patterns by playing on the architecture and vegetation found on-site.

Feldermelder then processed these recordings into eleven compositions, preserving the locations' acoustic identities, but expanding on Sartorius' material. Besides the bassline on 'Veloweg', Feldermelder used only sound reactive synthesis and resonators to create additional sounds, layers and tracks, thus multiplying the spectrum and rhythms of the original material. 'Bonn Route' is a musical journey rooted in the emittance of sound, and our resonation with the world around us.

Feldermelder is a Swiss musician, sound designer, producer and installation artist. He is co-founder of -OUS and part of the audiovisual collective Encor.studio. He has previously released several releases on -OUS, both solo and in collaboration with Sara Oswald.

Drummer, artist and percussionist Julian Sartorius' precise and multi-layered rhythmical patterns are keen excursions into the hidden tones of found objects and prepared instruments, bridging the gap between organic timbres and the vocabulary of (experimental) electronic music. He has previously released his album "Locked Grooves" on -OUS.

Vinyl mini-EP compilation with 5 songs, selected from the 80´s ex- jugoslavian / croatian Disco, New Wave & Electronic Synth Pop scene with mostly unreleased material from original studio & cassette tape, and private archives.
Denis & Denis is a croatian electropop music band from Rijeka, founded in 1982. The band released four studio albums.
Igor Savin is a very famous Disco & Electronic Synth Pop musician & producer, who released 7 albums and is involved in noumerous song compositions.
Davor Rocco is a croatian bass player, composer and producer & owner of Studio Rocco & Partner. He was part of the band "SPEKTAR", the band of which we have reissued an album in 2015.
Vinil Desant is the secret tip and a more unknown project by Ivica Druzak on Casio VL-1, Boss DR-55 & Zoran on guitar, recorded on Zoran's cassette player.

After an initial link up last summer, Altrimenti Records present four more remixes of cult Italian synth maestros Cabaret Du Ciel. Once again the focus is on experimentation, testing unusual crossovers between artists, eras and styles in pursuit of compelling new sounds.
The results across all four of these versions are distinct from each other, and distinct from wider trends in dance music.
First up, Benedek approaches 'Great Plains' as a low-tempo space-boogie excursion. Following in the wake of his releases on Leaving Records, L.I.E.S. and People's Potential Unlimited, the LA-based artist lays down thick slabs of Moog while retaining the ethereal swirl of the source material.
Rome's L.U.C.A. (aka Francesco De Bellis) has established his new wave-inspired sound on his own Edizioni Mondo label, not to mention working in other projects such as MAT101 and Jollymusic, and he brings a sprightly, motorik energy to 'Climatic Variation'.
Lorenzo Fortino's 'Suspacid Revisitation' version of 'Lakota' is aqueous and psychedelic, but remains elegant and understated in its execution. The emergent producer has already released on Wo-Land and most recently Miniera, and this remix ably embodies the entrancing qualities inherent in his sound.
The remix package concludes with a playful, leftfield electro diversion from elusive Montreal-based producers Sentena. Hailing from an emergent scene orbiting the Doo label and projects like SnP 500 and Fashion, their crooked take on machine music perfectly meets the adventurous aims of Altrimenti in testing out crossovers of styles and creative processes.

The Ice Warriors is the 39th story arc of the series Doctor Who consisting of 6 parts and ran in the 5th season. Parts 2 and 3 are considered lost and were animated for DVD release in 2013.

Plot: The TARDIS materializes on Earth, where humanity is fighting a new ice age. At Brittanicus Base, scientists are trying to use an ionic device to combat the advance of a glacier. When a giant humanoid creature is discovered nearby in the perpetual ice, additional complications arise as the ice warrior comes to life after thawing. It is the captain of a spaceship from Mars that crashed centuries ago. Varga also wants to revive his comrades and conquer Earth, since life is no longer possible on Mars. The Doctor and his companions must not only prevent Varga's plans but also save the base's crew from the approaching glacier....

On three LPs in a deluxe box set, fans can now relisten to the four surviving original TV episodes from 1967. The 140 gr. LPs come in the special color Molten Ice vinyl. Elaborately illustrated sleeves on top.

Hot on the heels of 001, Tonal Oceans proudly presents 6 carefully selected tracks from Nicole Skeltys' rather extensive catalog.

Compiling tracks from her Artificial alias, TNL-OCS002 consists of material which draws from her self-released 12"s, a long lost 7" lathe cut, as well as some CD-only material.

Being active since the 90's, Nicole has paved her way through many genres and moods, which together represent all things "Antipodean Electronica" excellently.
Also features a track from close friends Dark Network.

Das zweite Album der US Thrasher ATROPHY erstmals seit 1990 erhältlich als limitierter Vinyl LP Re-release!
Im Vergleich zum Debütalbum der Band, bietet "Violent By Nature" eine gewisse musikalische Weiterentwicklung, wobei das Material ein größeres Bewusstsein für Melodien und einen etwas weniger extremen Ansatz aufweist.

Das zweite Album der US Thrasher ATROPHY erstmals seit 1990 erhältlich als limitierter Vinyl LP Re-release!
Im Vergleich zum Debütalbum der Band, bietet "Violent By Nature" eine gewisse musikalische Weiterentwicklung, wobei das Material ein größeres Bewusstsein für Melodien und einen etwas weniger extremen Ansatz aufweist.

Das zweite Album der US Thrasher ATROPHY erstmals seit 1990 erhältlich als limitierter Vinyl LP Re-release!
Im Vergleich zum Debütalbum der Band, bietet "Violent By Nature" eine gewisse musikalische Weiterentwicklung, wobei das Material ein größeres Bewusstsein für Melodien und einen etwas weniger extremen Ansatz aufweist.

IATT is pleased to once again team up with Black Lion Records for the follow up to 2019's Nomenclature; our new full length album entitled Magnum Opus. We've meticulously crafted this album to leap from where Nomenclature left us thematically.
The listener is catapulted from the 1700s (Arsenic Ways) further back in time to a much darker, older world and the esoteric sciences of Alchemy. It was in this time man aimed to harness the world around him, bending the natural elements in a quest to obtain power, knowledge, control, and even immortality itself.
Alchemy was the key to unlocking the secrets of existence and elevating one's self to the pinnacle of enlightenment through transmutation and manipulation of the earthly elements. It was only through the process of Magnum Opus (the great work) that alchemists could harness the elementals in their purest form to create the Philosopher's Stone - the key to power, enlightenment, and immortality.
Just as in alchemy itself, creating this album has been a journey of transformation for us; a period of great growth as individuals and as a unit. It's through adversity, struggles, and the forging of the elements - of literal blood, sweat, and tears - we strive to transcend and elevate to our highest selves, "the great work", Magnum Opus.

Sound Like: (Immolation, Spawn of Possession, Death, Emperor, Obscura)

Clear Vinyl

Tacit Group is an audio-visual group founded in 2008 with a vision of creating new art for the 21st century. Based in Seoul but working globally, the group comprises composer Jaeho Chang and electronic musician Gazaebal(Lee Jinwon).

With audio-visual art as its core content, Tacit Group has expanded in a contemporary and experimental way in multimedia performances, interactive installations, and music installations. Representative works such as ‘Hun-Min-Jeong-Ak,’ ‘Game Over,’ ‘Morse ㅋung ㅋung,’ combine a systematic worldview weaved through intuitive materials and technology inspired by normal everyday activities such as games and text chatting. In particular, works that utilize the beauty and communica- tion power of characters are among their most striking.

“It’s like wind chimes,” says Tacit Group’s Jeaho Chang. “The creator makes the pipes, but the wind makes the music.” He’s talking about the algorithmic music that Tacit Group creates. Jaeho and Gazaebal create audio/visual systems using code that the pair work within to unleash their utterly compelling AV performances, each show, each track, as unique as a snowflake. The pair met at Korea National University of Arts in 2006. Jaeho Chang was a media installation artist and composer who’d studied classical composition in Korea and electronic music at Den Haag’s Conservatoire. Gazaebal, who’d moved to the US as a teen, had worked at the renowned Quad group studios as a sound engineer, recording acts including Rage Against The Machine, Wu Tang and Janet Jackson. Returning to Korea, he had found success as a K-Pop producer, (founding the act Banana Girl, and writing their No.1 Korean hit ‘Shake Your Ass’) and DJing under the moniker Gazaebal, before deciding to go ‘back to school’ to learn to create more challenging music.
The quiet and reserved Jae and the more outgoing Gazaebal bonded over a shared vision, forming Tacit Group in 2008. And until recently, everything they have done has been through the medium of their globally acclaimed live shows, playing all over the world from Lincoln Center in NY, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, MMCA (National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art) and Nam June Paik Art Center in Korea, Aarhus Festival in Denmark, Stereolux in France and NYU Abu Dhabi.

Each show an utterly unique and compelling event, a synthesis of music and visual art that has echoes of the concept of synesthesia: “we love the idea that the audience can ‘see’ the music.” says Gazaebal, “the way that you can hear a painting like Edvard Munch’s ‘The Scream’.” The frameworks and systems are created in advance using code such as C++ and max/M- SP(sometimes combined with analog and modular synthesizers), often growing out a of a simple idea (one of their first composi- tions, ‘Game Over’ explored the idea of a Tetris gameplay as a musical score) while on stage the pair react to the audience, creating new inputs and variables that can lead the performance in ways that are unexpected and even self sustaining - some of their installations could in theory continue to evolve and run on into infinity.

For Tacit Group, the process is as important as the outcome, and every bit as fascinating for the audience, who’ve been known to react like the crowd at a rock band gig to tracks / installations like ‘Hun-Min-Jeong-Ak’ which sees abstract geometric shapes based on the Korean alphabet evolve (through the process of live text interchanges between the pair) to become almost an immersive call and response.With that in mind, the duo have long been reluctant to commit to the idea of releasing via a ‘fixed medium’ it was actually the release of an acclaimed (and beautifully designed) book Tacit.print0_Anthology that convinced them to share their work more widely through an album.

Classic 2001 collection from Detroit's ADULT. 20th anniversary of the original release, 10th anniversary of the first vinyl pressing. Available for the first time in red & black marbled vinyl. "We've wanted to re-release this album for some time," says ADULT.'s Adam Lee Miller, "but we weren't ready until now. We have some new material in the pipeline, and we thought this would be a nice way to reintroduce ourselves." It is indeed a nice way for the hugely respected Detroit duo to herald their return to the world of music, especially for anyone who missed out on Resuscitation the first time around _ the album was never available digitally until the 2012 re-release and vinyl pressing on Ghostly International. The reissue thus presented the chance to own one of the more influential records of the early 2000s: either on double 12" LP or, for the first time, as a digital release. Now, in 2022, the vinyl is available for the first time in a new red and black marble colorway. When it first dropped in 2001, Resuscitation served as a de facto introduction to the duo, collecting a bunch of songs on CD that had only previously been available on hard-to-find singles and EPs. Eleven years later, it does the same thing, except this time around, we can see just how influential its creators' work has been _ and ADULT.'s music only sounds more remarkable with the benefit of hindsight. At the time, Resuscitation's combination of crisp beats, squelch-laden synths and Nicola Kuperus' detached monotone sounded like a broadcast from the future, steeped in the analog synth sounds of forebears like Kraftwerk but possessed of an ultramodern sheen all its own. The duo's visual aestheticwas just as important _ Kuperus' photography adorned all their album packaging (including this re-release), and their liveshows drew on a sense of what a reviewer once called "detached intrigue." Echoes of ADULT.'s aesthetic can be heard today in everythingfrom today's surfeit of analog synth-toting minimal wave bands to the highly stylized divas who dominate the pop charts. But really, in 2022 Resuscitation still sounds like no-one else.

Dark Entries presents a reissue of Shawn Pittman’s 1989 Dreams, an obscure and highly sought-after private press gem produced and written by Art Forest. An undersung figure in the development of the late 80’s Detroit techno sound, Forest collaborated with, produced, or penned material for many of the key players in the movement, including Inner City, Suburban Knight, and the Belleville Three themselves (on Kreem’s “Triangle of Love”). This reissue gives Forest’s own productions some shine while providing a thrill for both dancers and collectors.

Dreams features two songs, both written and produced by Art Forest and featuring Shawn Pittman on vocals. The A-side contains two mixes of “Dreams”, a smooth R&B/modern soul number driven by Pittman’s vocal. While the song is undeniably radio-friendly, it contains some of the hallmarks of the Detroit techno sound – sparse arrangement, lush reverb, and booming bass. On the B-side, we are treated to two different versions of the clubbier “I’m Losing Control”. The original mix leans towards boogie/freestyle, with syncopated 909 beats and sassy synth vamps, and wouldn’t sound out of place next to Forest’s work with Inner City. The Extended-Bass-ment Club Mix strips things down and dubs them out, leaving us with shards of bass synth, brooding strings, and Pittman’s vocals eerily warped to the edge of recognition; a perfect late-night warehouse anthem.

All songs were remastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios. The sleeve is a replica of the original cover art. Also included is a 2-sided postcard with lyrics and photos of Art.

FEAN II is the following of the first opus released on Moving Furniture Records in 2018, from some materials of the improvisatory collective FEAN based around Jan Kleefstra (voice, poems), Romke Kleefstra (guitar, bass and effects), Mariska Baars (vocals) and Rutger Zuydervelt (electronics) from Netherlands, joined by the Belgian musicians Annelies Monseré (church organ, keyboard), Sylvain Chauveau (tuned percussion, radio) and Joachim Badenhorst (acoustic and amplified clarinet, bass clarinet, saxophone). Like The Alvaret Ensemble, this project is the result of some improvisations in a Church. But at not the same place.

The FEAN project gets its inspiration from the ecological decay of peatland in the Dutch province Friesland and in other parts of Europe. Agriculture and peat extraction are threatening the landscape severely and with long term consequences. This forms the underlying thought for the improvised recording sessions, which were overseen by Jan Switters. Although the Piiptsjilling members are obviously used to perform and record together, adding the three Belgian guests (who didn’t play together before) added an extra dimension to the group’s dynamics, resulting in a concentrated yet playful series of improvisations, that were later mixed and edited for the project.

For laaps, that was an obvious choice to continue the exquisite corpse project with FEAN and a part of the same members than the first release, just before to move to the Spring season and some news bridges, colors and sounds imprints to come.

A spellbinding tribute from one multi-faceted artist to another. New York-based artist Aki Onda (b. 1967) conjured a transduction to the Korean multi-media pioneer Nam June Paik (1932-2006). Aki himself describes the project:

“Nam June’s Spirit Was Speaking to Me occurred purely by chance. In 2010, I was spending four days at Nam June Paik Art Center in South Korea for a series of performances and had plenty of free time to wander. The building was packed with Paik’s artwork and related material. I have always felt a close kinship with him as an artist, and so it was a great opportunity to immerse myself in his works and ephemera.

It was that night I made the first contact, via a hand-held radio in a hotel room in Seoul. It was literally out of the blue. Scanning through the stations, I stumbled upon what sounded like a submerged voice and I began to record it in fascination. I concluded this was Paik’s spirit reaching out to me.

The project continued to grow organically as I kept channeling Paik’s spirit over long distance and receiving cryptic broadcasts/messages. The series of séances, conducted in different cities across the globe, began in Seoul in 2010, and continued in Köln, Germany in 2012, Wrocław, Poland in 2013, and Lewisburg, USA in 2014. The original recordings were captured by the same radio which has a tape recorder, with almost no editing, save for some minimal slicing and mastering.

Paik is known for his association with shamanism, a practice that constantly surfaces in his works all through his career. In an interview, he stated “In Korea, diverse forms of shamanism are strongly remained. Even though I have created my work unconsciously, the most inspiring thing in my work came from Korean female shaman Mudang.” Paik himself was a master shaman and vividly used shaman rituals and symbols for staging his performances and installations.

These recordings also became a way for me to explore the mythic form of radio—a medium which is full of mysteries. The transmissions captured may be “secret broadcasts” on anonymous radio stations. There are in fact hundreds of those stations around the world, although the numbers dwindle as clandestine messages can now be sent via encrypted digital channels. Some of these stations were likely for military use or espionage or relics of the Cold War. But many others continue without apparent explanation. These are just some of the questions that remain unanswered.”

Commissioned in 2017 by documenta 14's radio program “Every Time A Ear di Soun,” these recordings were continually broadcast on eight radios stations around the world that year. Nam June’s Spirit is a beautifully formed homage, I cannot think of any other like it. An intimate, flickering language discovered through the air. The LP comes replete with a booklet of photographs of Paik on the set of Michael Snow’s unreleased film Rameau’s Nephew (1974).

Sean McCann, 2020
Aki Onda, 2017

20-page art booklet including rare photographs of Nam June Paik from the set of Michael Snow’s film Rameau’s Nephew (1974), two essays on radio-wave phenomenon (by Onda and Marcus Gammel), and a remembrance of Paik by Yuji Agematsu

Midnight Runners comes to Razor-N-Tape with a 12" of Southern Hemisphere disco gold!

Harry Septiandry has been gaining traction with standout releases on Darker Than Wax and Star Creature under his Munir alias, and for his RNT debut he serves up four extra special reworks of obscure disco from his native Indonesia.

The source material would stump even the most savvy of ears, but Harry finds the universal in these rare gems, augmenting the grooves and preserving just the right bit of camp for super sunny spin!

HAVEN return with another killer EP from Berlin duo New Frames - Mathis Mootz (aka The Panacea) and David Frisch. There's no messing around in their second release on the imprint, with the A1 track 'Clownhouse Reality' designed pummelling bodies with it's driving 4-4 rhythms, spiky synths and perfect techno sound design. The A2 continues this formula with 'Variation Is A Feature Not A Flaw' - where the huge pounding drums and rolling break samples interplay with wailing sound effects and a lively side-chained mid-range synth in another dance-floor burner.

The tempos increase on the flip with the B1 track, 'Proton Isospace', leading the charge with its sinister melodic stabs, rolling drum patterns, and creeping washes of mid-bass guaranteed to get feet moving. The B2 ends the record with a massive Manni Dee remix of New Frames modern classic 'Scatter' released on the first Sardonic Tonality compilation back in 2019. The UK producer proves his mettle in this re-imagining with colossal drum work, a monster rap line, and a cheeky half-time build up to close out another hefty offering from the HAVEN camp.

One of Europe's key figures in the drum and bass music scene of the 2000s - Sunchase - returns with his long-awaited album on Kashtan, a newly launched label from Ukraine, on 1st of December 2020.

Sunchase had numerous singles on such cult labels like Moving Shadow, Metalheadz and Hospital Records and after 10 years he finally returns to the LP format. His second album 'Timeline', just like the concept of the label, blurs the boundaries between genres of electronic music, and cannot be assigned to any particular style. The melancholic and abstract sounds give off a sense of reclusiveness, with dubstep and drum and bass rhythms peeking and sometimes breaking through to the surface, yet more often they go deeper, creating room for bass music, dub and even a slight touch of IDM, thus creating a very special state. The album as a whole appears as a voluminous, complete, and aesthetically established piece of work.

The releases of Kashtan will be executed in a rather unusual format: it will be a limited series of collectible packs, including a USB stick with music and additional multimedia content, as well as other materials. These packs can later be collected into a catalog. Also, the LP will be released digitally on Kashtan's Bandcamp page and all other known online stores.

Second Sub Pop album by acclaimed UK act TV Priest finds them building on the
post-punk of their early material and maturing into a powerhouse of tense, politically
caustic, and thoughtful rock music.
Without a brutal evaluation of their own becoming, TV Priest might have never made
their second album. Heralded as the next big thing in post-punk, they were
established as a bolshy, sharp-witted outfit, the kind that starts movements with their
political ire. There was of course truth in that, but it was a suit that quickly felt heavy
on its wearer’s shoulders, leaving little room for true vulnerability. “A lot of it did feel
like I was being really careful and a bit at arm's length,” says vocalist Charlie
Drinkwater. “I think maybe I was not fully aware of the role I was taking. I had to take
a step back and realize that what we were presenting was quite far away from the
opinion of myself that I had. Now, I just want to be honest.”
Having made music together since their teenage years, the London four-piece piqued
press attention in late 2019 with their first gig as a newly solidified group, a raucous
outing in the warehouse district of Hackney Wick. Debut single ‘House of York’
followed with a blistering critique of monarchist patriotism, and they were signed to
Sub Pop for their debut album. When ‘Uppers’ arrived in the height of a global
pandemic, it reaped praise from critics and fans alike for its “dystopian doublespeak,”
but the band - Drinkwater, guitarist Alex Sprogis, producer, bass and keys player Nic
Bueth and drummer Ed Kelland - were at home like the rest of us, drinking cups of
tea and marking time via government-sanctioned daily exercise. As such, the
personal and professional landmark of its release felt “both colossal and minuscule”
dampened by the inability to share it live. “It was a real gratification and really
cathartic, but on the other hand, it was really strange, and not great for my mental
health,” admits Drinkwater. “I wasn’t prepared, and I hadn’t necessarily expected it to
reach as many people as it did.”
As such, ‘My Other People’ maintains a strong sense of earth-rooted emotion, taking
advantage of the opportunity to physically connect. Using ‘Saintless’ (the closing
song from ‘Uppers’) as something of a starting point, Drinkwater set about crafting
lyrics that allowed him to articulate a deeper sense of personal truth, using music as
a vessel to communicate with his bandmates about his depleting mental health.
“Speaking very candidly, it was written at a time and a place where I was not, I would
say, particularly well,” he says. “There was a lot of things that had happened to
myself and my family that were quite troubling moments. Despite that I do think the
record has our most hopeful moments too; a lot of me trying to set myself reminders
for living, just everyday sentiments to try and get myself out of the space I was in.”
“It was a bit of a moment for all of us where we realised that we can make something
that, to us at least, feels truly beautiful,” agrees Bueth. “Brutality and frustration are
only a part of that puzzle, and despite a lot of us feeling quite disconnected at the
time, overwhelmingly beautiful things were also still happening.”
This tension between existential fear born from the constant uncertainties of life, and
an affirmative, cathartic urge to seize the moment, is central to ‘My Other People’, a
record that heals by providing space for recognition, a ground zero in which you’re
welcome to stay awhile but which ultimately only leads up and out. For TV Priest, it is
a follow-up that feels truly, properly them; free of bravado, unnecessary bluster or
any audience pressure to commit solely to their original sound.

"“The New Backwards” was conceived by Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson in 2007, revisiting stray tracks which hadn’t seemed to gel with the material he had chosen for the more somber “Ape of Naples” from 2005, COIL’s initial posthumous release, a sort of requiem and a kiss-goodbye to his then recently deceased partner John Balance.

Significantly different to its sister release, this album collects the brilliantly chaotic and outrageously rhythmic material from the original sessions for the album that was begun as early as 1993 and had originally been conceptualised as the follow-up to “Love’s Secret Domain”. These songs are as diverse and wild as the places they originated from, partly infamously spawned in Sharon Tate’s former home in the Hollywood Hills, the Nine Inch Nails home base in New Orleans and London’s Swanyard, remixed and restructured with the help of long-term friend Danny Hyde in Thailand, this collection has its own unique flow and an atmosphere not found on any other COIL release.

Both “AYOR” and “Backwards” had by the time the album was first released already become favourites in COIL’s manic live performances. Some of the other tracks had only leaked in demo versions and are here presented updated and polished as Christopherson and Hyde intended them to be heard. It is interesting to consider Balance’s vocal contributions, too. Whilst on the albums COIL did release at the time this material was first put aside (“Black Light District” and “ElpH”) his voice is all but absent, his vocal performances and his lyric writing here are arguably more closely indebted to the previous “Love’s Secret Domain” era, especially the epic “Copacaballa” is noteworthy in that respect.
The New Backwards” effectively became the final official COIL studio release of all new material whilst Peter was still alive and is here presented for the first time fully supervised by Danny Hyde, its co-creator.
The stunning cover uses a detail from artist Ian Johnstone’s “Cubic Raven” painting, licensed from the estate of IJ..

It is high time to rediscover this timeless album now!

Recorded at Swanyard, London and at Nothing Studios, New Orleans, 1996.
Thanks to everyone there, especially Trent Reznor who made it all possible.
Written & Produced by Coil & Danny Hyde.
Remixed by Peter Christopherson & Danny Hyde, Bangkok 2007.
For that session Coil were: Peter Christopherson, Jhonn Balance & Drew McDowall.
Mastered by Jessica Thompson.
Front artwork by Ian Johnstone.
Artwork licensed from The Estate of Ian Johnstone.
Layout Cold Graves and Oleg Galay."

"“The New Backwards” was conceived by Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson in 2007, revisiting stray tracks which hadn’t seemed to gel with the material he had chosen for the more somber “Ape of Naples” from 2005, COIL’s initial posthumous release, a sort of requiem and a kiss-goodbye to his then recently deceased partner John Balance.

Significantly different to its sister release, this album collects the brilliantly chaotic and outrageously rhythmic material from the original sessions for the album that was begun as early as 1993 and had originally been conceptualised as the follow-up to “Love’s Secret Domain”. These songs are as diverse and wild as the places they originated from, partly infamously spawned in Sharon Tate’s former home in the Hollywood Hills, the Nine Inch Nails home base in New Orleans and London’s Swanyard, remixed and restructured with the help of long-term friend Danny Hyde in Thailand, this collection has its own unique flow and an atmosphere not found on any other COIL release.

Both “AYOR” and “Backwards” had by the time the album was first released already become favourites in COIL’s manic live performances. Some of the other tracks had only leaked in demo versions and are here presented updated and polished as Christopherson and Hyde intended them to be heard. It is interesting to consider Balance’s vocal contributions, too. Whilst on the albums COIL did release at the time this material was first put aside (“Black Light District” and “ElpH”) his voice is all but absent, his vocal performances and his lyric writing here are arguably more closely indebted to the previous “Love’s Secret Domain” era, especially the epic “Copacaballa” is noteworthy in that respect.
The New Backwards” effectively became the final official COIL studio release of all new material whilst Peter was still alive and is here presented for the first time fully supervised by Danny Hyde, its co-creator.
The stunning cover uses a detail from artist Ian Johnstone’s “Cubic Raven” painting, licensed from the estate of IJ..

It is high time to rediscover this timeless album now!

Recorded at Swanyard, London and at Nothing Studios, New Orleans, 1996.
Thanks to everyone there, especially Trent Reznor who made it all possible.
Written & Produced by Coil & Danny Hyde.
Remixed by Peter Christopherson & Danny Hyde, Bangkok 2007.
For that session Coil were: Peter Christopherson, Jhonn Balance & Drew McDowall.
Mastered by Jessica Thompson.
Front artwork by Ian Johnstone.
Artwork licensed from The Estate of Ian Johnstone.
Layout Cold Graves and Oleg Galay."

Limited to 50 copies

Andrea Benedetti mixes the 90's Italian electronic continuum.
LYL's radio Vanishing Points show goes physical with two exclusive tapes.

The first tape, Intervallo, selected and mixed by Andrea Benedetti (New Acid Generation) pays homage to the 90's Italian electronic spectrum. Covering from 1993 till the turn of the millennium, the mix covers IDM and electro, exploring obscurities and rarely heard tracks from a sprawling, unique scene.

A key player as a producer, DJ and label owner, Andrea Benedetti was at the helm of Final Frontier, actively involved in the creation of a mass of classic material.

Nach dem Album "Rastakraut Pasta" (1980) ist "Material" das zweite Album der beiden Vorreiter der deutschen Elektronik- und Undergroundszene. Der Elektronikpionier Dieter Moebius (Kluster/Cluster, Harmonia) und der Produzent Conny Plank (NEU!, Kraftwerk, Harmonia, DAF) wagten sich auf "Material" sehr weit heraus aus der Harmonia-Welt einerseits und dem Popmusikkosmos andererseits. Erstaunlicherweise landen sie aber nicht etwa im luftleeren Raum, sondern behalten genügend Bodenhaftung. Die beiden schufen mit "Material" eine elektronische Musik, die in dieser grenzüberschreitenden Radikalität aus Deutschland kaum zu erwarten war, selbst nicht von Cluster oder Harmonia. Andererseits ist das Album aber auch kein Abklatsch der zur damaligen Zeit so wichtigen New-Wave- oder Industrial-Musik. "Material" ist im guten Sinn des Wortes stillos, das heißt, es läst sich keinem gängigen Genre zuordnen.

Kenn hat es wieder getan... Es würde Sinn machen, sein vorheriges Werk "Dancing with the Past" als das neue Anacrusis-Album zu bezeichnen und das nicht nur, weil das meiste darauf enthaltene Material mit der Absicht geschrieben wurde, ein Comeback zu feiern. Acht Jahre später meldet sich Mr. Nardi mit einem weiteren Epos zurück, das zwar eine Stunde kürzer ist als der Vorgänger, aber von der Qualität her "Trauma" atmet seinen Nacken. Die epische Länge beider Alben sollte den Hörer aber nicht zurückhalten, denn das hier ist wirklich fesselndes Material von Anfang bis Ende, dunkle Progressive/Thrash-Scheiben, die nichts von dem vermissen lassen, was das Repertoire von Anacrusis zu einem der beliebtesten in der Szene gemacht hat. "Trauma" ist dynamischer und ein bisschen weniger atmosphärisch, was an der geringeren Anzahl der Balladen liegt. Hier sind es nur drei, die sich jeweils einem bestimmten Segment zuwenden aus dem balladesken Bereich, ansonsten bestimmt eine brachiale Kombination aus Progressive und Thrash die Handlung, das schnellere Material pulverisiert, vielschichtige Thrasher voller voller inbrünstiger Tempowechsel und abrupter Stimmungswechsel. Das Herzstück des Albums ist die 11-minütige Odyssee "The Orphan", eine zusammenfassende Reise durch alle Ecken und Winkel des des Anacrusis-Katalogs, ein fesselndes Epos, wie es Anacrusis bzw. Nardi noch nie versucht haben.

Wir wollen glauben, dass die Anacrusis-Fans bereitwillig ins Nardi-Lager gewechselt sind, das in nicht allzu regelmäßiger Folge deftige Genüsse verspricht. Das ist auch gut so, solange er einen ganzen Vormittag füllen kann, wird er bei allen ganz oben auf der Liste stehen.

Für Fans von: Anacrusis, Nevermore, Atheist, Voivod, Forbidden, Control Denied

Mastered by Bernie Grundman from the Original Analog Master Tapes & Pressed at Gotta Groove!
Numbered Deluxe Laminated Gatefold Jackets!
Only 2500 Numbered Limited Edition Copies Worldwide!

John Coltrane returns to his roots using the Blues to explore the boundaries of Jazz! Features McCoy Tyner, Steve Davis and Elvin Jones! Recorded in 1960 during the My Favorite Things sessions, Coltrane Plays The Blues features "Blues To Bechet," "Blues To Elvin" and "Blues To You" in addition to three other tracks.

"Coltrane's sessions for Atlantic in late October 1960 were prolific, yielding the material for My Favorite Things, Coltrane Plays the Blues, and Coltrane's Sound. My Favorite Things was destined to be the most remembered and influential of these, and while Coltrane Plays the Blues is not as renowned or daring in material, it is still a powerful session. As for the phrase "plays the blues" in the title, that's not an indicator that the tunes are conventional blues (they aren't). It's more indicative of a bluesy sensibility, whether he is playing muscular saxophone or, on "Blues to Bechet" and "Mr. Syms," the more unusual sounding (at the time) soprano sax. Elvin Jones, who hadn't been in Coltrane's band long, really busts out on the quicker numbers, such as "Blues to You" and "Mr. Day." - Richie Unterberger


"The Coltrane Quartet, three-fourths complete at the time of this recording, had begun its historic rise and had also turned the corner in Coltrane's music, transitioning from the expressive verticality of Giant Steps to the more elongated, long-limbed lyricism that would define his role in the avant-garde. It can come as no surprise that to do so, he engaged the material he'd known longest and best - the blues." - Neil Tesser, author of The Playboy Guide To Jazz

Repress

Brainwaltzera's debut LP 'Poly-ana' follows quickly on the heels of the producer's Aescoba EP - also released this year via FILM. Across thirteen tracks of both previously released material and fresh excursions into the artist's world, Brainwaltzera explores sounds ranging from luscious, downtempo grooves and expertly reduced braindance cuts with nods to early 90's experimental IDM to harder, more caustic outings - all bound together by a recurring theme of otherworldly ambience. Taking its name from a variety of sources dear to the artist, including polyphonic analogue synthesizers and the Pol-lyanna Principle itself - a theory that suggests individuals recall pleasurable experience more acutely than displeasing ones - the title represents a meeting point in the artistic process between creative method and conceptual choices. Production techniques range from more traditional hardware synthesis to the incorporation of a modified dot matrix printer acting as a modulation source for MIDI parameters. Sample sources include VHS material from the produ-cer's own childhood and ambient Bullet Train samples from an on-the-fly production session traveling from Tokyo to Kyoto. According to the enigmatic producer, memory and its fundamental role in the human experience is one of the central themes of the record. While the artist's own experiences shaped the sound of the record, there is no attempt to impose them on the listener through blatant exposition.

"bit by bit" is the first full-length release from Toronto-based singer-songwriter Evan J Cartwright. This self produced album from the go-to drummer/collaborator (The Weather Station, U.S. Girls, Brodie West) presents a highly singular songwriting vision that combines existential lyrics with masterful musicianship. Steeped in jazz melodicism, Cartwright’s trumpet-like phrasing mixed with contemporary composition presents an eclectic art song performed by an artist that could perhaps be best described as a post-modern Chet Baker. Deep poetic observations on love and time paint an affecting picture of an artist reflecting on life’s universal truths. Visual in nature, "bit by bit" places its audience within a world of musical leitmotifs extracted from field recordings of bells and birdsong. Collected during years of touring, these sounds evoke extant spaces beyond that which the music inhabits. The use of this source material in its unaltered form evokes the feeling of a technicolour European film at one moment and then, as the extrapolated melodies are meticulously translated into electronic tone bank sequences, a modernist setting the next. One carillon melody is used as the basis for a wealth of the album’s musical material before its origin is finally revealed by the chiming of bells in the last seconds of the album. The result is a fragment of space between the constructed world of the musical compositions and the candid world of documentation, inviting the listener to ponder whether those two worlds are distinct or whether the songs and music are not simply “field recordings” themselves. Throughout "bit by bit" Cartwright drops staggering revelations hiding in plain prose that often involve the contemplation of time. In I Don’t Know he states “if I only trusted time / then I would wish it all away” and nearing the album’s end he opens impossibly blue with the phrase “the impossible truth of time”, playfully inserting a pregnant pause before the word time. A drummer’s fixation, to be certain, the album’s recurring theme of time is eclipsed only by Cartwright’s contemplation of human relationships. Here he elaborates on some of the album’s subjects: “Many of the lyrics circle, and try to give a name to the illegible space between human beings. “i DON’t know” celebrates the fact that we will never truly understand what love is. Its message is one of assurance. It says that we can never really touch love, and that is ok. “and you’ve got nobuddy” refers to life’s great tragedy: that we are unable to read each others’ experiences, and in reaction to this, we separate ourselves.” The entirety of "bit by bit" is a continuous work. There is seldom a clear demarcation of where one piece ends and another begins and when this does occur, it is done crudely, as if someone is flipping through a series of broadcasted channels. At times words are sliced right out of their lines and replaced by pure tones. This is both a comical interpretation of censorship and a reminder that there are things in life that will forever remain unseen and illegible. In fact, this statement lies at the centre of the LP and although hidden beauty does reveal itself through repeated listenings, "bit by bit’s" eccentric world remains just out of reach — an imaginary second story room viewed from a crowded city street.

Ted K. Kaczynski is notorious for both tragically murdering three people (and wounding an additional 23) via bombs sent in the mail and for his numerous writings on the evils of technology he composed during his primitive residency in the woods of Montana. Film director Tony Stone's choice to have the renowned electronic artist Blanck Mass score the film is somewhat ironic and creates an obvious tension perfect for the controversial and complex subject matter. 2020 saw the first Blanck Mass movie score, for the soundtrack to Nick Rowland's acclaimed cinematic debut Calm with Horses. This expansion into new areas of melodic composition and textural exploration won Blanck Mass many new fans, with the BBC's acknowledged number one film buff Mark Kermode proclaiming the work the soundtrack of the year. In 2021, Blanck Mass won the prestigious Ivor Novello Award for Best Original Film Score and has firmly established himself at the forefront of the latest wave of experimental soundscape wizards. Recording during lockdown at his studio in Edinburgh, Scotland, Blanck Mass's Ben Power was in the perfect setting for a musical piece intended to capture the isolation central to Kaczynski's story. Power was also working with a director in a time zone 10 hours behind and thus many sessions required working in the middle of the night, which added a fitting intensity to the composition process. He said of the project "I wanted it to feel like an `epic'" and drew on the legends Sergio Leone and Ennio Morricone for inspiration in encapsulating the energy of the perceived good vs. evil. The gentle madness of sound achieved is exquisite and slowly builds in intensity and desperation as the score moves along. Power is able to perfectly capture the complexity, the terror and the deep emotionality of the film while presenting an often breathtakingly beautiful and always masterful album that stands on its own as a work of art. For Fans of Tim Hecker, Oneohtrix Point Never, DJ Shadow, Coil, Arca, Andy Stott, Fuck Buttons.