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Dead Air is Marconi Union's tenth studio album of a career that began in 2002.

Starting with the following year's Under Wires And Searchlights, they've created an explorative body of instrumental work that's shifted between electronica, dub, minimalism, avant-jazz and ambient music. Along the way they've collaborated with the likes of Jah Wobble, remixed Max Richter and Vök and provided soundtracks for art installations and other visual media. They've also had their own music remixed by Biosphere and Japan's Steve Jansen, among others.

The new album offers ample evidence of a band in its prime. Marconi Union still sound vital and original, enthused by the possibilities that music has to offer. "We've never wanted to repeat ourselves," states Talbot. "We've made ten albums and have been going for 17 years, but it still feels fresh. That's been so important for us all the way through. We're looking to do new things all the time" co-founder Richard Talbot says.

Indeed, the exquisite Dead Air bears only a passing resemblance to its 2016 forerunner, Ghost Stations. The trio have dispensed with beats, brass and guest musicians this time around, opting instead for a more intimate and textural approach, a constantly evolving soundworld of tones and sensory impressions.

Dead Air also bears little resemblance to the trio's initial vision for it. "The album we set out to make had far more of a rhythmic element," explains Talbot, " but fairly late in the process, we decided to completely change direction." This is entirely in keeping with Marconi Union's guiding methodology. Ideas remain fluid throughout the writing process, until Talbot and bandmates Jamie Crossley and Duncan Meadows ultimately settle on what feels right to them.

As such, Dead Air is a sublime testament to their collective instinct.

Second phantasmagorical audio outing from former Seefeel andLoops Haunt members, Mark Clifford and Scott Gordon. 'Two' expands the duo's unique take on spectral synthesis incorporating a diverse amount of approaches to experimental sound. Twoexpoundsa hybrid mix of acoustic based audio design, ambient tonality, sound effects, music, abstraction and world's hybrid video game soundtrack.

There is something of an onomatopoeia quality to the release as the six tracks take on the character of their individual title. Silt, Dapple, Overcurve, Scutter, Strain and Plates appear as extremely well executed versions of the inferred intent of their namesake. This inquisitive approach will appeal to those interested in the more exploratory end of sound production providing hope as newly formed methods and colours are exposed from the duo's contemporary audio tactics.

Seasoned veterans can lie in a bed of laurels whereas 'Two' is an exemplary release revelling in the enthusiasm that comes from the joy of unabated exploration.

“Experimental trio Giraffe crystalize time on ‘Desert Haze’, their new LP on Marionette. Giraffe is the musical project of Sascha Demand (guitar), Jürgen Hall (keys), and Charly Schöppner (percussion). Sascha Demand is a composer that comes from a contemporary and improvised musical background, collaborating with the likes of Ensemble Integrales and Vinko Globokar. Jürgen Hall works in electroacoustic experimental projects, theatre and film scores, with releases on Staubgold and Edition Stora. Charly Schöppner is known for his popular music releases such as Boytronic on major production companies in the 1980´s and composes for theatre, dance, and film scores. With only a couple of releases to date on the wonderful Meakusma imprint as well as an EP on Marmo, little is known about Giraffe. After letting go of other artistic projects, the trio now focuses solely on Giraffe by continuously searching for and finding their own unique language.

Sascha, Jürgen and Charly have quite diverse musical backgrounds, though morphing into Giraffe they tower into one single composer. Their music is a critical statement, not in a political sense but rather an artistic one. Being mindful about what it means to create and how to position themselves as artists nowadays (without the constant hassle of being en vogue and short-lived trends) shaped their rather rare and stoic artistic stance. It is refreshingly honest to see their expression develop so naturally.

On Desert Haze, they’ve created a vibrant and minimalistic tribal sound that feels inspired by the Saharan traditional music of the Tuareg, Jazz, and German psychedelic krautrock. Giraffe themselves also list the radical music of the Viennese School (Schoenberg along with his pupils Berg and Webern) as well as the Köln School with its early electronic experiments as their main influence and inspiration. More precisely the composition process and the organization of musical material within space and time, where a conceptual and intellectual approach melds with an experimental yet expressive sound searching method.

Side A focuses on the trios studio work; it is built around tone color and pitch analysis of resonating prepared guitar sounds. Through a unique mixture of free improvisation and a serialism "rule set”, they develop instrumental layers and structures to form their tracks. Side B sees Giraffe playing more freely with a reduced setup - representative of what you may hear when listening to them live.
Desert Haze, along with its track-titles, showcases an almost mimetic approach to art. The haptic music grabs the listener not as a passive recipient but as an active resonant body to vibrate through. One can almost feel the Elements, pressure and heat forming a diamond, hypnotic overtones ringing through windy caves, shamanistic rhythms conjuring up mysterious and ancient landscapes - where the constant cycle of sedimentation and erosion reveals structures of fragile beauty - always gentle to the hand’s touch and the mind’s eye.”

Stroboscopic Artefacts releases ‘X – Ten Years Of Artefacts’, a 13-track album curated by Lucy, the nom de techno of Luca Mortellaro. It celebrates ten years of his label by boldly confirming its raison d’être: a continual redefinition of modern techno.

‘X – Ten Years Of Artefacts’ is a various artists album in which the label’s key artists respond to its tenth anniversary with fresh compositions. Artists with divergent perspectives and MOs are equally at home expressing themselves. These tracks’ timbres, tempos and moods differ greatly yet—somewhat improbably—they seem together, ideologically unified.

The album will be later complemented by a special remixes EP, with four new reworks of pivotal back catalogue material from the label (Donato Dozzy, Caterina Barbieri, Xhin and Klock). And from fall 2019, Lucy and an incredible cast of Stroboscopic Artefacts artists will begin an extended club tour to mark the anniversary.

On ‘X – Ten Years Of Artefacts’, Mortellaro features solo as Lucy, in collaboration with Rrose as Lotus Eater and together with Speedy J as Zeitgeber. (Rrose also appears alone with “The Myth of Purity.”) Shifted, Efdemin, L.B. Dub Corp (Luke Slater), James Ruskin, Denise Rabe, Adriana Lopez, Chevel, Alessandro Adriani and Serena Butler each feature, representing a group of singular artists whose relationships with the label range from years to months—Stroboscopic Artefacts’ past, present and future must exist simultaneously.

Back in September 2009, Lucy released “Why Don’t You Change/Dub Man Walking,” the first record from Stroboscopic Artefacts, which began a discography that, ten years later, is almost unparalleled in its ambition and vision. Put simply, Mortellaro wanted to create something that didn’t exist. Stroboscopic Artefacts would be respectful of, and indebted to, the great techno and electronic music artists of the past but would develop new paths forward for the label and the genre. The label refused to perpetuate the established dichotomies of electronic music — between the dance floor and home listening, between club music and experimental music, between the past and the future. It took risks knowing it wouldn’t always work. But within a year or so of the label’s inception, it was obvious Stroboscopic Artefacts’ approach had captured imaginations far beyond its Berlin base, showing us that the boundaries of techno are often constructs of limited imagination.

The label pursued constantly evolving methods of releasing music. It created concept-driven series like Monad, Stellate and Totem, establishing frameworks that would give freedom in limitation. Standout albums by Lucy, Xhin, Dadub, Zeitgeber, Chevel, Kangding Ray, Lotus Eater and Alessandro Adriani were deeply considered longform presentations.

With this new album, remix EP and tour, now is the moment for Stroboscopic Artefacts to look fondly at its past while drawing breath, reenergised, and hinting at new chapters.

MA comes from the Tokyo rap & hiphop scene, and throughout the years he evolved into a more noisy and experimental beat making. He blends ritualistic ancient Japanese lyrics and vocal methods, on music that he creates using also his voice or field recordings. The result is alienating, weird and haunting but at the same time fascinating and futuristic. MA's Beehayden is being remixed by Sugai Ken, another outstanding artist and performer from Japan. MA made his first short live performance at Dommune Tokyo in may 2019, revealing his craft and performative side.

The larynx or voice box is a small organ located towards the top of the neck in humans and some other animals. Constructed largely of cartilage, it houses the vocal folds that allow for the manipulation of pitch and volume, which are essential for the phonation of spoken speech. It is also involved in bringing air to the lungs when we breathe and it protects the windpipe when we swallow. However, those unfortunate to experience the potentially fatal malignant tumours of laryngeal cancer will have their larynx removed, resulting in a traumatic loss of speech; thankfully, as this rare record issued by Smithsonian Folkways in 1964 demonstrates, removal of the larynx does not necessarily spell the end of speech for such blighted individuals. Instead, through developments in artificial voice creation, patients could learn to employ modes of vocal communication again. The album was recorded by physician Harm A. Drost at the Phonetic Laboratory of the Ear, Nose and Throat Dept of the University Hospital, Leiden, in the Netherlands, working under the direction of Professor H. A. E. van Dishoeck. As the advances were fairly new and surprisingly varied, Drost felt a phonograph album demonstrating the techniques would be useful for those in the field. The album thus features a narrator explaining aspects of several different techniques, followed by examples of patients employing them. Buccal speech (limited to certain consonants), parabuccal speech (collecting air in a space between the upper jaw and the cheek), glosso-pharyngeal speech (a method deemed obsolete where air is forced between the tongue and the palate), esophageal voice (made by reconditioning one’s esophagus via swallowing, suction or injection), various injection techniques and devices such as the larynxophone, pipa di tichioni and “western electric” are all explored here, along with other aspects of the larynx and its absence. Speech After The Removal Of The Larynx is definitely one of the strangest albums ever given a commercial release!

15 years ago in a basement in the Bronx, I attended a bunch of sessions with my long time collaborator and friend, Ray West. Ray is a lifelong DJ and home producer, and only in 2012 did he begin to release music via his well-respected underground label, Red Apples 45. He had a main studio but also this much smaller room in the back which I dubbed “Studio B” in the tradition of any multi-room recording facility who would have a second “B” or third “C” room, and the name stuck. Despite the much lower-level quality equipment in that room, like a Yamaha MiniDisc board burning mixes realtime to CD-R, there was a certain vibe to it that inspired creativity, and a simplicity that encouraged faster working methods. One of the groups that worked there was called Results. Their philosophy was whatever happened in the moment was meant to be on tape and they didn’t spend hours perfecting it. This is rather opposite to how I work in the studio and especially on my own material, of which I can be thorough to the point of finishing less than I’d like. Through working there I realized the potential of having a smaller, simpler second setup, one that was not related to my work as an engineer, or my artist career as a performing electronic musician and techno producer.


Fast forward to 2016 and I would have both a professional studio outside of the home and enough spare gear to make a smaller studio based around a 4-track cassette recorder in my living room. This was a place where I could make whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, without the disturbances of clients, the chaos of 30th St., or any genre restrictions that I might place on myself in the big studio. I spent some time tracking down a functioning Akai MG614, the holy grail of 4-track recorders. It’s a large machine, making even the MPC3000 look small on the table next to it. With no computer, things were focused. I went through a couple of variations of the setup in my living room beginning with an MPC1000, DSI Evolver, Sonic Potions LXR, Bastl Microgranny, and a variety of classic effects that I didn’t keep in the rack at Butcha Sound like the Yamaha SPX90 and Ensoniq DP-4, plus a bunch of pedals and eventually a Korg Karma keyboard. Then I had the good sense to bring home the Emu SP1200 I was borrowing from The Martinez Brothers. Eventually I brought home the MPC3000 as well. Another thing I kept connected was a Zoom field recorder that captured sirens, street noises, and me playing the upright piano in my apartment live to tape. Results. These recordings were made in Hell’s Kitchen from July 2016 - May 2017 with the window open and the sounds of my Manhattan block inspiring the takes. — Phil Moffa 2019

A mind-bending blend of modular synth performance, Anthony Baldino’s dynamic Twelve Twenty Two LP is a treat for all ears. Baldino’s transcendent album is available both digitally and on vinyl on Thursday, October 24 via MethLab Recordings.

“The record focuses heavily on the modular synth as a composition tool and instrument. I originally approached this as a collection of tracks that were recorded straight out of the machine with little to no editing. The work flow of generating a complex patch and then figuring out the overall arch and performance of the piece was really exciting. The Tip Top Audio Circadian Rhythms was a key compositional tool in this process and was used to organize the overall structure of these pieces. It wasn’t until I stumbled upon a patch, the opening synths in ‘Fading Quickly Now,’ that I went back to how I used to write and shifted to harvesting sounds and rhythms from the modular and arranging and editing them in the box. That patch was originally created for a different track on the album, which I’ll let you find, but IH ad accidentally changed the clock rate before tearing the patch down. Hearing it in that new way triggered a whole new thought process and emotional reaction for me.” - Anthony Baldino

Originally approached as a collection of tracks recorded straight out of Baldino’s machine with little editing, Twelve Twenty Two is a complex piece of thoughtful modular work. A truly stunning display of masterful sound design, Baldino’s sound resonates with listeners from first note to last. Existing in a unique space where ambient sounds meet vivacious bass, Baldino seemingly exists in an impressive league of his own, with Twelve Twenty Two standing apart powerfully from the masses. With an already powerful arsenal of artists and releases, MethLab Recordings adds a brilliant 10-track addition to their already wild playbook.

“From the beginning, it was important for me to keep this record musical and emotional and not just an exercise in technicality, so using both the modular and the computer to arrange felt really good both emotionally and sonically and created a different balance to the record that I really liked. Switching the process up a bit halfway through kept things interesting and I think the body of work really benefits from it. This record is split in half with performance based/straight out of the machine tracks and the other half organized in the box. But when listening back, the two approaches overlap so much that it’s hard to tell where one approach ends and the other begins.” - Anthony Baldino


About Anthony Baldino:
Born and raised in New York, Anthony Baldino is an LA-based composer and sound designer whose work spans an enormous range of production avenues. The likelihood that you haven’t heard his world is nearly impossible, with music and sound design in too many trailer campaigns to list, including Prometheus, Interstellar, Ex-Machina, Star Wars: Rogue One, and Avengers: Infinity War and End Game just to name a few. From there, his work ventures to the opposite pole of production with custom sound design based compositions for Dolby Labs mixed in Atmos, beautifully glitched out remixes, and continues on to mind-bending modular synthesizer performances.

With his debut artist release, he delivers a devastatingly beautiful album grounded in IDM that focuses on modular synthesizers/ While a vast amount of modular synth music is currently being released, this album goes far beyond the typical beeps and boops that one may expect when they hear “modular IDM record.” This record is as technical as it is emotive. Tasteful and incredibly detailed, Twelve Twenty Two bridges the gap between sound-design laden beats and cinematic motifs and ambiences. This record does not disappoint and is sure to become a favorite of electronic music fans.

The album opens up with a slowly unfolding melody that seems to be within grasp, but never actually repeats itself. Incredibly tasteful glitchy sound design leads us into a build that one would only expect to be in a movie, and then drops into a full-on sonic assault of impeccable drums and rich synths. From there, the record traverses a wide array of texture, time and technique. Closing with a track that makes you feel like you could actually reach out and touch the sound and float in its space, the sonic landscape created in Twelve Twenty Two is a true treat for ears.

Captivity is the next highly anticipated extended EP by Kush Arora aka Only Now, following a triptych of self-released output in 2019. Continuing the project’s ever evolving engagement with themes of time and existence, Captivity encompasses versatile synthesis, mutant kuduro, widescreen sound design, turbulent cold fronts of power ambient and melodic undertones of black metal.

The product of a two-year period in which Arora was contending with transitional shifts in his personal life, Captivity is a culmination of what the project has explored both in a prolific run of recent material and as a whole, across several years of time dilating, mind altering music.
 
Although shaped by adversity and corresponding sentiments of angst and insignificance, Captivity is pitched at total transcendence. Adopting a meticulous approach to production, a methodology which opens up almost every element to transformation and deconstruction, Arora generates forms which possess a sense of pointillist precision, as well as a keen psychedelic potency.
 
Despite consistency with his earlier output as Only Now, Captivity is nevertheless an indication of Arora’s ability to challenge internal and external assumptions. The introduction of new hardware – namely, the Nord Drum 3P synthesizer – as well as the incorporation of far-flung atmospherics – closing track ‘Clock Lust’ features field recordings from a trip to Kyoto – delivers fresh enterprise and experimentation, contributing to the expansion of a sound signature which remains as unpredictable and compelling as ever.
 
With the eponymous opener, Arora combines fathomless underworlds and riotous breakbeats. On ‘Mutants’ a hyper-kinetic onslaught of percussion, low-end and stray cut-ups of noise break out, building to a panorama of thunderous industrial firmaments. ‘Perpetual Slaughter’ maintains momentum with icy, ricocheting FX and concussive, tribal drums, and then unexpectedly shifts into a poignant outro which brings to the fore the enduring influence of black metal on the project. ‘Bound 2’ is cut with relentless sub-bass and rapid syncopation, resembling an abstracted form of juke music, something that could feasibly have been masterminded by Autechre. With the LP’s finale, ‘Clock Lust’, Arora presents a finale of transfixing 3D ritualism, the lone toll of a bell ringing out into a mesmeric emptiness.
 
Together these form a complete statement from Arora, illustrating the fertile and open-ended territories the Only Now project has arrived at after promising outings on Infinite Machine and Discrepant imprint Sucata Tapes. With Captivity Arora delivers a substantial highpoint and a profound voyage into the world of Only Now.

In a world awash with negativity and fear, you are invited to climb aboard the Mocambo mothership where all colours and creeds are celebrated. The Mighty Mocambos have returned - stronger, tighter and hungrier than ever.
Carrying blistering funk lines in their fingers and worldly influences in their hearts, the unique and distinctive Mocambo sound is not one to be confused with retro bands trying to recapture an era. Eschewing traditional recording methods, this DIY crew are
committed to driving forwards, and 2066 sees them at the height of their powers, broadcasting a call for unity.
After reaching new audiences worldwide and earning critical praise for their two long players on Brooklyn's Big Crown Records in their tropical guise as Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band, the band have reassembled and refocused in their original form, the workhorses behind dozens of 45s on the Mocambo label and beyond. Crossing generations, this album introduces some of the world's youngest funk talent to step up and rub shoulders with soul and rap legends, soul sisters, an elder statesman composer/arranger and a brand new emerging artist out of New York.
___ As with all Mocambo releases, the two sides of the record have been meticulously sequenced by the
band. Side A welcomes us aboard with joyous instrumental stomper Preaching To The Choir, and a call to build bridges from Mocambo chanteuse and percussionist Nichola Richards, duetting with emerging raptalent,NewYorkMCJSwiss.B-girlsandb-boysarecalledtothedancefloorasS uperstradaand Concrete Stardust commence, all buzzing synth lines and relentless drums. New Jersey legend and Big Crown associate Mr Lee Fields is guest of honour for Where Do We Go From Here before a horn workout brings us to a close with Macumba. It's time for a breather.
The B side kicks off with the grand return of the Golden Girl of Funk, Gizelle Smith, a sister who's been busy taking on the world. Composer and presenter Peter Thomas narrates a Return To Space to mark the centenary of the debut of his score to sci-fi show Space Patrol, which first broadcast in 1966. We're back down to Earth and the mean streets for the furious drums and car chase workout of Golden Shadow. Today slows down the pace for a reflective ballad with Nichola front and centre - and here's the next generation: the Mocambo Kidz sing along to their parents' instrumentation for Here We Go, a new kids' block party anthem... with no sleep 'til bedtime. The album closer makes it clear that the Mocambos are nowhere near powering down as Ice T and Charlie F unk bring their A-game for an old school attack which, since you're up bouncing anyway, gives you no excuse not to flip the LP and drop the needle right back on to Side A. Onwards!
___ A summation of their journey so far and a celebration in anticipation of what's to come, the album is set
to take its place in a legacy of open minded, organically recorded music, showering listeners with the crew's maze of tantalising sounds pulled from funk, Afro, hip hop with cinematic composition and storytelling.
Agent J












l 12 Bounce That Ass (RMX) feat. Ice-T & Charlie Funk

What are the best non-physical landfills for discarded thought? Do waves transition between naturally occurring substrates and audio signals? Does adrenal fatigue and replenishment in the human brain relate to cycles of euphoria and dysphoria in music? What is the mental effect of visual versus aural repetition? Is all music fictional? Can the language of objects and memories impregnate sound? Are bodies out of fashion? What is the music production equivalent to a green screen in film? What is the best non-physical preservation method for sound? Is film editing a way of ordering memories? Is repetition therapeutic? Are all films fictional? Have physical forms slipped into obsolescence? Did Erik Satie have an anxiety disorder? Is background music parasympathetic? Are physical players more virtuosic than virtual instruments? Is thought finite? Is physical music a fetish? Is reality fictional? What is the most elegant way to float between corporeal and ethereal forms? Do memories deteriorate and fade like audio signals exposed to the elements? Can thought exist without the body?

SNK and Brave Wave Productions are proud to reveal their third collaboration : Generation Series 09 - PULSTAR for CD and vinyl.

Originally released for NEO GEO in 1995, 2D shooter PULSTAR became a cult classic among SNK fans, featuring fast-paced gameplay, graphics and music. The soundtrack is composed by ex-SNK composer Harumi Fujita.

PULSTAR The Definitive Soundtrack features the entirety of the original music remastered and restored to the highest possible quality, in collaboration and consultation with SNK and original composer Harumi Fujita. This re-release features both the Neo Geo AES and Neo Geo CD versions of the PULSTAR soundtrack, giving fans a choice of which arrangements to listen to.

PULSTAR The Definitive Soundtrack on CD and vinyl will feature a booklet containing artwork from the SNK archives, in addition to in-depth track-by-track liner notes written by composer Fujita herself. Fujita recalls her feelings on each song, detailing the methodology in which they were created and what inspired their direction, which includes historical events that occurred in Japan during the mid-1990s.

PULSTAR The Definitive Soundtrack features an exclusive cover drawn during the game’s development but has never been publicly revealed until now. Fans of the original package design will find it reproduced faithfully in the center gatefold.

The vinyl release will come on 2 LPs, with Disc 1 (Sides A and B) dedicated to the Neo Geo AES version and Disc 2 (Sides C and D) dedicated to the Neo Geo CD version.

©SNK CORPORATION. All rights reserved. Licensed for use by BRAVE WAVE PRODUCTIONS.

After a string of succesful singles, “Deixa Musica A Tocar”, “So Vejo Voce”, “E A Felicidade” and the Dj Harvey supported “ Te Faz Bem” and “Serei Seu”, The Danish / Brazilian quartet constellation Copenema (Copenhagen / Ipanema = Copenema) are ready to release their debut album “Deixa Musica a Tocar”.
The album mixes European electronica influences with Brazilian songwriting style. The sound becomes unique and some would say Balearic.The albums leading single “Te Faz Bem” a funky downtempo track with live saxophone, flute and rhythm guitars and a baseline to die for has become somewhat a national Ibiza balearic anthem over the past years and spread worldwide especially due to the massive support from Djs incl from Harvey to Dj Pippi to Pete Tong. “Serei Seu” the second single another Ibiza fave is a funky party track that sounds like a modern Jorge Ben. The single “So Vejo Voce” is Stan Getz meets the beach vibes, “Festa De Relaxamento” an Alfredo fave is jazzy Brazilian funk vibes with heavy live drums and a bass line that wants you to move.
“Lullaby For Impanema” is sunset material. The bands first recording the 12 min beautiful jazzy cosmic downtempo Pat Metheny influenced and Leo Mas supported “Some Di Some Day” is pure bliss and a sunset fave amongst the Balearic community.
The album has three added bonus tracks (Vinyl Only) - Can’t Sleep and Nada Mais both recorded in a Music For Dreams writers camp recently and the 12 minute journey of Serei Seu by Danilo Braca

Mais Alors !!?... c’est à l’envers is the first release of new French Label ICI BIENTÔT (Here Soon ...), launched by Paris Fleamarket’s Record Shop, Geminicricket. On the Menu... Suspended Time,
Unsung Heroes, Hidden Records and Next Door Marvels.
In 1983, NEF released their first and only album, Mais Alors !!?... c’est à l’envers. At that point, the band already had a long history, interwoven with that of various musical trends and alternative
movements from the late sixties to the early eighties. That’s certainly what makes this record so special and able to conciliate such different worlds as Electronic Prog, Film Score, New Wave …
The band’s destiny was most certainly tied to their native region, the South of France, an idyllic environment that attracted a number of musicians during the 1970s, allowing the group to attend many
concerts or share the bill with several groups that have gone on to become well known: Can, Ash Ra Tempel, Magma, Catherine Ribeiro, Zao, Chêne Noir, Art Zoyd …
Founded in 1975 by Richard Lorenzi, NEF started as a kind of Free Rock band with multiple influences, going from Prog to Musique Concrete, in which any method of making sound, any way of
bringing out sounds was good … 2 musicians and a photographer, full member of the band who was projecting slides over the music and influenced their dreamlike universe. In 1978, Vincent Tronc came on board with his keyboards and synths. While the group had been influenced by electroacoustic techniques until then, Vincent broadened NEF’s horizons, bringing in a host of new influences: Ash Ra Tempel, Kraftwerk, Klaus Schulze … the beginnings of electronic music. When the album is recorded in 1983, new directions were taken and changed NEF’s usual sound.
First, the idea of playing the accordion, clearly not a common thing and a new Drum Machine, the Roland CJ-5000. Pressed the day a figure of French Chanson died, NEF’s pressing is botched up, a
good part of the records were unusable since the records came out totally warped. Then, at the end of the eighties the small stock of remaining records is lost in the sadly famous flood of Nîmes. 2000
records had been pressed, but very few survived! All the more reason to reissue Mais Alors !!?... c’est à l’envers, an unsung record, free and multifaceted, a quirky and daring musical ovni, transcending eras and genres, between synthetic
Krautrock and Film Score, reminiscent of NEU! (with a red nose), François de Roubaix and Pascal Comelade.

rRoxymore's long-anticipated debut album, Face To Phase, was born of her annual creative hibernation practice. Whereas her previous appearances for Don't Be Afraid - Thoughts Of An Introvert, Parts 1 & 2 - revealed inner worlds of saturated colour and natural expressiveness, she retreated into her studio at the turn of winter 2018 occupied with the idea of dismantling the dancefloor-centric pressure paradigm.


The resulting album, Face to Phase, finds rRoxymore methodically and mindfully stripping back to fundamentals: rumbling minimalist dub, sparse polymetric drums, boldy unpredictable melodic narratives and subtleties which hover out-of-reach or disappear into vapour. Forged by the spirit of club music cultures, Face To Phase favours deep listening; resisting the temptation to reflect on the past or project towards the future, it's an album that is firmly rooted in the contemporary.


Sparked by her own archive of field recordings, and produced primarily but not exclusively in the box, Face To Phase adds several facets to rRoxymore's already wide repertoire. The pensive and beatless opener "Home Is Where The Music Is" was inspired by her longtime friend Planningtorock, while "Forward Flamingo" is a spiraling dream-state of house music dissociation; elsewhere "Energy Points" remains anchored to the ocean floor, radiating heavy dub waves, "Passages" is a ghoulish skeleton of UK break beats, "What's The Plan" closes the album in a blissfully blunted fashion, while twisting, shape-shifting rhythms push and pulse "PPS21" into series of ever-evolving shapes and forms.


Through and in between the eight songs of Face To Phase, rRoxymore fortifies her status as a seasoned artist, grounded by over a decade of live performance and touring, collaboration, composition and experimentation. With a new live performance collaboration with a percussionist set to debut the LP at Atonal on 1st September, rRoxymore is primed to expand her reputation even further as one of the most vital and distinctive artists on the fringes of contemporary club culture.

Trentemøller returns with his fifth studio album 'Obverse' in September 2019! Anders Trentemøller is a well-known multi-instrumentalist, but perhaps the one he’s most adept at is the studio itself. 'Obverse' is the result of him expanding that skill even further. 'Obverse' often feels like an instrumental album because it started life as one, the driving philosophy being “what if the pressure of having to perform these songs live is removed entirely?” Granting yourself the freedom to chase down every idea a studio offers comes with privileges. What happens when you reverse a synth part mid-verse? Why not send an entire track through a faulty distortion pedal? Inspiration reveals itself in a variety of forms and, before long, a simple chord progression contorts into something entirely new. It’s a work method that yielded great results for the legendary German Kosmiche/Motorik experimentalists of the 1970’s. Intentional or not, 'Obverse' embodies more than a little of that spirit without even a hint of pastiche.

So it only makes sense that 'Obverse' would stray from its original roadmap. In due time, half of the nascent compositions featured singers, including Lina Tullgren, Lisbet Fritze, and jennylee, of Warpaint, another band deeply influenced by dream pop. While 'Obverse' was born from a different work ethic than previous efforts, it also continues an arc that started in 2006. Each successive effort has represented a logical next step beyond the album before, and 'Obverse' absolutely picks up where Fixion left off.

For the past decade Trentemøller has been perfecting this form of sonic chiaroscuro to conjure up images of severe landscapes, and to mirror the Scandinavian climate, where half the year the sun barely sets, and the other it barely tops the horizon. While there has been a film noir element in his previous work, 'Obverse' is the first time each song has felt like a collection of pocket soundtracks.

By fusing together a love of dream pop, dark synth-based music, film scores, and a deep connection with the stark Nordic panoramas, Anders has created an inimitable language. Ultimately 'Obverse' resides in a genre all its own.

Netherlands-based LA producer, Diego Herrera returns to the Melbourne party
imprint, Animals Dancing for its seventh release; this time under his Suzanne Kraft
alias. Across three tracks, Herrera showcases his method in the madness, expertly
fusing glistening pads, warm synthesis, razor-sharp percussion & frenetic bass lines

FILE UNDER: jazz, modal jazz, spiritual jazz
- 2xLP gatefold- 180g pressing- free download card

With 20 years passing since his first foray into recorded jazz, Nat Birchall now ranks as one of the premier saxophonists of his generation. With several highly acclaimed albums in the locker, he now returns with his most ambitious project yet – a tribute to the legend that is Yusef Lateef.

"The Storyteller - A Musical Tribute to Yusef Lateef"

"When Jazzman Gerald first mentioned to me the idea of doing an album as a tribute to the jazz giant Dr Yusef A. Lateef, my first thought was "Where on earth do I start?" Lateef was such a colossus of music, and his scope so broad, that I couldn't hope to begin to cover his musical universe. He was a master of the tenor saxophone, a master of the flute, a master ballad player, a master blues player. Not to mention his skills as a composer and arranger and of course his exploration and use of musical methodology and instruments from all over the world."

"I've always been a great admirer of Lateef, and the challenge was intriguing, so I decided to give it go. We interpreted some of his own compositions (Brother John, Morning & Ching Miau) as well as some compositions by others that he made his own by careful arrangement and interpretation (Love Theme from Spartacus, Ringo Oiwake). I also wrote some original songs that, while certainly not written in his style, might be said to fall into his very broad approach to music making."

"I also wanted to utilise as many different instruments as possible, something I hadn't explored too much until this album. So it was a nice opportunity to finally get around to playing some of the many small instruments I've collected over the years; the Turkish zurna, the mbira from Zimbabwe, the balaphon from Mali and the arghul from Egypt. We have also tried to use varied time signatures in the music, so we have songs in 3/4, 5/4 and 7/4 time, as well as the standard 4/4."

"Ultimately the best music tells a story to the listener and takes them to places they might not have imagined themselves. Yusef Lateef certainly did that, and as such was a master storyteller."

Nat Birchall

On July 26th the top-ranking leftfield star Clark will release ‘Kiri Variations’, via his own label Throttle Records – and as always, he has musically metamorphosized into something fresh and new.

This album of plaintive beauty, eerie wyrd arcadian horror and childlike outsider music epitomises his constant ability to flip-the-script and coherently organise an abundance of new ideas.

Mysterious and morbidly beautiful pieces driven by piano, harpsichord, clarinet, strings, electronics and voice are interspersed with fabulously unusual and highly original curveballs:

Odd-in-a-brilliant-way, the faux naïve ‘Kiri’s Glee’, evokes traveling minstrels of yore accidentally eating the wrong ‘shrooms, and ‘Coffin Knocker’ has diffracted psych feel, like David Axelrod’s work with the Electric Prunes, but chopped, screwed and scorched.

‘Forebode Knocker’ is darkly funky, like the kind of lost diggers’ nugget unearthed and sampled by RZA, whilst the sonically-perfect ‘Primary Pluck’ unfurls exquisitely, swaying slowly ever forward like a funeral march.

‘Cannibal Homecoming’ is nothing short of Clark’s most song-based composition ever, featuring augmented human voice as evident elsewhere and also a fully-fledged vocal sung by him.

‘Kiri Variations’ started life as the score to the BAFTA-nominated TV program ‘Kiri’, but only a small (and highly effective) portion of the music recorded was used – intentionally sparingly – by director Euros Lyn. That first incarnation has since grown and morphed intosomething entirely of its own being; a proper artist album.

“In addition to my usual methods of controlled randomness and tangential ideas, the TV commission was a prominent spark for new approaches. It’s a great balancing contrast with the solipsistic studio album”, Clark explains.

The record allows simplicity and playfulness to shine through: “It’s a skeleton of an album, reduced to bare essentials, although it started out rather dense - the thing that takes time is making it succinct."explains Clark. “Certain parts are also what you could call anti muso – for example the recorder on ‘Kiri’s Glee’ is totally out of tune – but it sounds so colourful. I can’t resist the primary paint of acoustic instruments; it’s an antidote to frictionless digital music.

“In October 2018 we took several recordings in and around Eddie Prévost’s home village of Matching Tye in Essex, where he has been living for the past fifty years. The majority of the pieces that made it to this LP took place in All Saints Church, High Laver, the burial site of John Locke. This fact was notable in the choice of title for this set of recordings, and it seemed necessary to put forward Eddie’s own take on Locke that he offered in our correspondences:

“Scholars of Locke’s philosophy will be familiar with the idea of mixing labour with materials as a fore-running notion of possessive individualism and basis for private property. Such ‘mixing’ is a persuasive description of a creative act. But the theory is more worthy of a social dimension.” As for the individual titles for each of the studies on the LP, each takes ideas and elements from music past. For example, MaxPlus makes a nod towards bebop pioneering drummer Max Roach who offered an earlier hit-hat study. Eddie utilises such examples, offering further creative insights which can then be woven back into the common wealth of sound. The final track, returning to the bowed cymbal method of the first, was recorded outdoors on a breezy green, and is pictured on the back cover of the sleeve. It was an attempt to capture the playing in its ‘metamusical’ relationship with the untempered sounds of the external environment.

Eddie has written about Metamusic in his book The First Concert (Copula, 2011): invoking childlike ‘protomusical’ behaviour, or the sense of music that a person might possess before the inevitable influences come to play any role in their productive, and appreciative, musical development.

Ross Lambert provided a few words along side his cover drawing entitled ‘The Metamusician’: “The eyes would symbolise for me things like searching, examining, closeness or friendship I think; engagement with the world. Decisions in making the image were completely intuitive, this is just me looking for the meaning, post-analysing, post rationalising.””

- Daniel Kordik & Edward Lucas, March 2019