Search:minimal

With his surprising first solo album Edmund November, Edmund Lauret (Nordmann, Kosmo Sound, The Milk Factory) returns to his British roots and the music he grew up with. He also debuts as a singer. "I had been making solo songs for a while, but that process was accelerated during the corona period," he says. "I think there has always been a singer inside of me and now it has come out."

The idyllic setting of the southern English countryside where Edmund and his band recorded the album undoubtedly had an impact on the organic, vintage British character of the music.

The songs are open and expansive like the landscapes around the recording studio. The titles and lyrics also have an elusive character; Lauret prefers to leave them to the imagination of the listener.

What is also striking is that Edmund November is clearly influenced by music from the sixties and seventies, the songs Edmund grew up with. As a young guitarist, Edmund was enthralled by Jimi Hendrix, Donovan, early Pink Floyd and The Beatles.

His influences showed him how to master the balance between harmony and melody. This is how Lauret has always worked with his bands for the past fifteen years, and in that sense his solo work is no different.

Edmund November floats between psychedelic folk and melancholy pop. The songs were recorded live with minimal editing, which only adds to the liveliness of the record. Ten songs take the listener on a dreamy musical trip that showcases Edmund's singer-songwriter qualities.

Martina Berther and Philipp Schlotter are prolific in their respective ways, having been active in pop and jazz music, respectively, as well as playing in bands and exploring the outer fringes of sound art or composing music for film. Their first joint album »Matt« was recorded over the course of four days in a church in the Swiss village after which the album was named. Berther and Schlotter worked with the buildingʼs organ as well as synthesizers and electric bass to follow an experimental approach that oscillated between composition and free improvisation. The five pieces, recorded directly to tape by Flo Götte without any additional overdubs, are characterised by an intimacy and rawness that calls to mind the introspective atmosphere of Hallow Ground label mateʼs FUJI||||||||||TA or mastering engineer Lawrence Englishʼs latest album for the Swiss label. »Matt« is the result of two versatile composers and musicians executing minimalist ideas by giving them plenty of space to unfold.

The album opens with »Unruhe,« a composition that is based on the twelve-tone technique. Using a stopwatch to ensure the adherence to the pre-determined temporal intervals between the individual notes, Berther and Schlotter used the church organ and synthesizers for an ominous piece that traverses different moods and levels of intensity throughout its 14-minute run time. »LFO1« and »LFO2« are different variations of the same concept: Based on a synthesizer preset and structured by an organ drone, two tone generators slowly fall silent, resulting in elegiac pieces that call to mind the work of Éliane Radigue. »Frachter« and »Gallia« put more emphasis on percussive elements. Again working with organ as well as Bertherʼs prepared electric bass, this improvisation comprises interlocking textures that sound almost menacing on »Frachter,« while they create a very different atmosphere on »Gallia.« These notable discrepancies in sound and mood are even more astonishing if you consider that the two pieces are based on the exact same recording, played at different speeds.

As two variations on the same idea with very different results, these two pieces perfectly represent how the duo effectively creates emotionally affective sound worlds with very few means. Berther and Schlotterʼs conceptual minimalism yields rewarding, multi-faceted aesthetic results. »Matt« is an intimate album, marked by a sense of vividness and spontaneity, but also the product of compositional conciseness.

Artist unknown - 2 boys bootleg

You cannot pass up this absolute hit. A compelling catchy vocal on an iron beat that completely rocks the dance floor. Do not expect a dry kick but an energy that completely fills the room. Ideal ending if you want the tent to be on fire. As the track itself says, you will not be disappointed, on the contrary

Fred Hush - No way back

Very constructive violence with an incessant break that you do not expect.

Fred Hush - Momenstoch

You simply must have this DJ tool from Fred Hush in your arsenal. Minimalistic with an original sound
that is the steak of the record. It is exactly a futuristic old skool record.

Dreams are made and displaced on Mark Fell & Rian Treanor’s oneiric electro-acoustic inception 'Last Exit', borne from long days in the family garden, and assembled into a mesmerising masterpiece of minimalist modal rhythm and atmospheric exploration, into rapt smallsound detailing in breathtaking form. It’s a bit like listening to Virginia Astley’s ‘From Gardens Where We Feel Secure’, with washes of Autechre seeping into the mix from outside.

‘Last Exit…’ originally appeared in a different form as a cassette release for our Documenting Sound series in 2021, and was edited this year by Mark and Rian for this new expanded and altered edition, mastered by Rashad Becker. It renders a painterly,psychedelic, and diaristic depiction of sublime atmospheric tension, occasionally ruptured by their typical, asymmetric rhythm impulses in a form that rudely transcends their respective aesthetics. Across four parts, they kern, juxtapose and diffract synthesised percussion and field recordings into polymetric arrangements riddled with timbral nuance of a highly unpredictable nature.

While patently inflected with nods to Indonesian gamelan, Ugandan folk, Indian Carnatic classical, Morton Feldman-esque minimalism, free jazz improvisation and a sort of rhythmic cubism that speaks to their mutual, voracious listening habits and tastes, the results are arguably without direct compare. Attentive listeners will recognise, however, that ‘Last Exit’ effortlessly transcends their respective styles, achieving a new high watermark of imaginary future-hyperfolk expressed in a sort of personalised but highly relatable meta-musical language.

Seriously, they’re working beyond known conventions here; opening to a sublime frisson of Feldman-esque keys, birdsong and distant car engines, and closing to a combo of just-intoned drone and wafts of distant ballroom music. The 80 minutes in between feel like returning to a dream, with flashes of FM strings dabbed to sloshing rhythms and domestic detritus, tilting into a nervously tentative tension ruptured with abstract dance dynamism and angular free jazz ballistics.

The rejigged recordings also reflect the fidelity of memory recall, expressing an altered perspective on their time spent in the multigenerational family’s Rotherham garden during spring/summer 2020, replete with their mum/grandmother on piano and overheard singing and in convo, but now fraught with a more melancholic, distempered quality that makes for a genuinely unforgettable listening experience. A long-form isolationist fantasy, consider it crucial listening if yr into Robert Ashley's 'Automatic Writing', Graham Lambkin, Autechre or Nuno Canavarro.

Hovvdy's sophomore album, Cranberry, expands on a familiar texture, building off 2017 debute Taster's minimal complexity and covering new ground

Legendary 2010’s indie band Crocodiles’ guitarist Charles Rowell’s new synthpop-meets-gothic rock project. Think Nick Cave crooning over Martin Rev’s minimal electronics or The Lords of the New Church-era Stiv Bators jamming with Wayne Hussey and Douglas Pearce.

After relocating from New York to France, Charles Rowell began stuffing his suitcase with various synths and samplers while taking cheap bus rides to bordering countries.

While living out of a hotel in north east Paris, he played his demos for Third Coming Records who quickly released the Bad Trip EP in 2020. Concerts became more frequent after the pandemic, with the release of Spellwound and a few have become infamous with guitars smashed to pieces, broken glasses, unruly audience front flipping onto the stage.

With Paris providing the background and a scene of friends such as avant-garde drag artist Tuna Mess and industrial techno veteran Poison Point who pushed his creativity even further, Crush Of Souls constant spirit is that it remains unpredictable and thrives on collaboration.
This is even more true with his upcoming album (A)Void Love.

Written over a period of intense insomnia that coincided with a run of shows playing guitar for Australian legend Harry Howard, Crush Of Soul’s main man Charles Rowell finally found rest after writing and recording the last song entitled World of Fear. Six months prior he had quit his job as a chef, traveled east to Prague for inspiration and returned ragged and sleepless.
Rowell’s insistence on keeping the instrumentation simple and clean came from an arduous two years of literal blood, sweat and tears. Every bit of drama, eastern excursion and sleep psychosis can be found within the walls of (A)Void Love.

Acoustic guitars and dramatic synths provide a cold wilderness for the various rhythms to inhabit; touches of minimal electronics, cold wave and synth pop can be found while the song writing remains classic for lovers of Echo & the Bunnymen and Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds.

There’s always been a thread of synth-punk, death rock and DIY noise running through all of Charles’ projects (Crocodiles, ISSUE, Flowers of Evil), however Crush Of Souls pushes harder and further into the darkness with the new album ‘(A)Void Love’.

Schicksal is the alias of Rudi Huybrechts from Belgium. Heavily inspired by Front 242 first album “Geography”, DAF’s elektronische körpermusik “Alles Ist Gut” and of course Kraftwerk’s “Man Machine” and “Computer World”, Rudi bought his first Roland SH-101 synthesizer and started in 1982 with Schicksal to experiment with synths and drum computers. He spent lot of hours programming and composing on his bedroom and recording everything on a tape recorder. A selection of these old tracks are included on “Perpetuum Cycle I”. You can definitely feel the vibe of this period and the place where the songs were created: the old industrial town of Hoboken, the culmination of the cold war and the aim of a young musician to combine melody and harmony into minimal electronic music. Recommended for fans of Absolute Body Control, The Klinik, minimal-synth and early EBM

Max & Intro was a short-lived duo formed by Vincent Max and Intro Johnnie in Belgrade. In 1984 they composed “Ostavi Sve” (in English: “Leave Everything”), probably the greatest ex-Yugoslavian minimal synth song of all times with heavy rotation on radio and even TV appearances. It was a tribute to Fairlight synthesizers, in that time non affordable for these young musicians and became an obsession, especially for Max. In 1985 was published their first and only release “We Design The Future” including “Ostavi Sve” and the B-side “Beogradska Devojka”, another synth gem.

Bar Musica's fourth EP is a fascinating one from Jesse Marcell with a remix by Pier Bucci. El Calvario De Los Indecisos opens up with intense minimal sounds, relentless drum and bass loops tying your mind in knots. All manner of dark and grubby sounds and effects scuttle across the groove and make this a late night head wrecker.

Pier Bucci then steps up to smooth things out and layer in some more soft and soulful late night chords. It flip the cut into a more dreamy number for trance inducing late night sets.

Last of all, Marcell offers La Fe' with it's high tempo drums, pressurised kicks and sweeping sense of minimal tech funk really getting you deep in the groove. This is a superb offering from this vital label.

wAFF makes a triumphant return to Hot Creations after a seven-year hiatus with his three-track, groove-driven ‘Slapfunk EP’.

Since his first outing back in 2012, wAFF has been an integral part of the Hot Creations family, remixing various releases and dropping a total of four EPs - the last being ‘Sick Pleasure’ in 2016, which still stands today as a highlight in the label’s extensive catalogue. Marking a long-awaited return to Jamie Jones and Lee Foss’ beloved imprint after seven years, with material via renowned labels such as Solid Grooves, Cocoon, Desolat and his very own NATURE imprint over that period further establishing him as a leading name, he arrives fresh from his third Paradise show of the season ready to ignite dancefloors with a trio of irresistible beats on ‘Slapfunk’.

Title track ‘Slapfunk’ opens the release with shifting stabs, warping bass patterns and fizzing lead synths, steadily progressing into a menacing club-focused workout. Continuing his signature style, ‘Questions’ showcases a blend of pulsating beats synchronised with a warped vocal topline that enhances the allure. Finally, ‘Next Game’ delivers a punchy trip loaded with subtle minimal-leaning influences, combining chopped vocal snippets with slick, stripped-back percussion.

Pressed On Clear Vinyl! To celebrate the 25th Anniversary of UGK's first album, Get On Down goes the extra mile, presenting it for the first time ever on vinyl. AND 2LP clear vinyl at that, giving the strutting, funky grooves the chance to really stretch out on your system. Back in 1992, Southern hip-hop was still proving to the world that it could sustain a fan base that was chiefly raised on rap from New York and LA. The Geto Boys and 2 Live Crew had made strong cases by the earliest '90s, and Pimp C and Bun B were ready to make their own. Most of the trunk-bumping bass comes from drum programs and basic sampling on these tunes - in later years they would build their sound into something even fuller and deeper. Self-produced with additional work from Houston locals Bernie Bismark and Shetoro Henderson, the tracks here are minimal, slow and menacing, which matched their lyrical approach quite nicely. You can hear the beginnings of the group's true greatness in these early lyrical workouts - several taken from the regional cassette-only EP The Southern Way that got them signed to Jive - with tales of street hustles, relationships and self-reliance in a world stacked against them. They may have been done early-on, but that doesn't mean they aren't crucial to UGK's legacy - cases in point being the three singles: Something Good', a charismatic update to Bill Withers' Use Me Up', and Pocket Full Of Stones' (the latter featured on the Menace II Society soundtrack). Beyond the singles, deeper cuts like I'm So Bad,' Feels Like I'm The One Who's Doin' Dope' and Cramping My Style' made it clear to the world that this crew had the attitude and charisma to make even bigger waves in the years to come.

2023 Reissue

After releasing Undefined, Kazufumi Kodama and Babe Roots, the 4th release from a Japanese experimental dub label newdubhall welcomes the ever-evolving pioneer of minimal dub and dub techno Deadbeat, a solo project of Scott Monteith hailing from Canada. Side A 'Things Fall Apart' will feature a beatless dub ambient which shares a perspective of free jazz and 'Adieu Chez Cherie,’ an absolute knockdown four on the floor dub techno on the flip side. Though simple, both sides are layered with complexity, let yourself experience the profundity of newdubhall with this masterpiece.

When South Korean balearic prodigy Mogwaa came to MM Discos with an idea for his rst full-length album, we were a bit surprised.
He said, ‘I want to do an album of bossa tracks with synths, a drum machine and my guitar’. We obviously had to take him up
on that deal.

Fresh from the recent Bandcamp feature on his own brand of danceoor-ready modern boogie, Seungyoung Lee (aka Mogwaa)
arrives back on MM Discos with his - and our - rst full length exercise. With six tracks per side of 80s inuenced synth and bossa
badness, ‘Hazy Dreams’ is an exercise in simplicity, and more proof of the ever-expanding musical horizons of one of the scene’s
most virtuosic instrumentalists.

Pairing a sensitivity to the construction of ambient, funk, bossa and cassette-tape 80s experiments with his own cinematic subtlety,
‘Hazy Dreams’ takes a gentle, minimalistic approach, crafting its own escapist world that oers a welcome diversion from the
steady ow of busy balearica and downtempo.

Opening track ‘Full Bloom’ paints a picture of midsummer at dawn, some clear-skied island where lush vegetation climbs through
hibiscus gardens. ‘Nacimiento’ is an AOR/bossa crossover evoking West Coast yachting in full afternoon, and A3, ‘Soothing’, adds
a touch of wistfulness with reverb-doused guitars over meandering bass motifs.
The easy kick-and-snare combo of ‘Levitation’ sets the scene for a drum machine love aair, unrequited love on the rocks, and
‘Flashback’ plays with short delay trails and o-kilter melodic sequences, where you feel the soft presence of the nebula approaching
at the break of day. Closing out the A-side, ‘Dispatching’ reaches out even further into the imagined cosmos of Mogwaa’s
picture-perfect world, portraying an ambience at dusk, observing, calmy, as pued-up pink clouds melt into the evening canvas.
On the other side, Mogwaa explores quiet corners with ‘Illusions’, a slow meditation on the nature of simple presence, and ‘Echoes
of You’, a stream of subdued brush strokes that crescendo into higher frequencies on gently undulating pads. B3, ‘Moondance’,
ups the tempo and recalls classic Mogwaa with its sideways shue and starry melodic refrain, pivoting through folk-dance
moods and surprising chord changes.
Nearing the end of the album, ‘Footprints’ wades through tall grass in search of altered states, innite and hypnotic, changing
course only to crouch down and study the landscape, and B5, ‘It always comes and goes’, pictures the to-and-fro of jetstreams and
comets in the blinding midday sky. Finally we have the closing credits of ‘Swingin’ that looks o into the horizon, jaunty and exalted,
a guitar-led tribute to an easy-going world, and ultimately mindful of the power of dreams.
We’re humbled to have such a special record for our rst full-length release on the label.

The first installment from Luv On Wax features four pieces of finely tuned house and break music in physical form. Dreamy soundscapes, slick rhythms, and a fresh infusion of minimal flavor.

Unknown Assailant is a limited run vinyl only label shrouded in mystery. Each of the four tracks on this second release touches on a different style of techno/deep tech, ranging from the timeless sound of the Detroit inspired “Ancient Beauty” to the peak time energy and in-your-face style of “Rude Awakening”.

It also incorporates the dark and stripped-back minimal style of “Isolated Mechanics” plus the trippy atmosphere and dystopian vibe of “How Has It Come To This”.

Unknown Assailant is a secretive artist who lets the music do the talking, and all four of the tracks on this release are solo productions from the illusive producer. Striking from the shadows to showcase an eclectic range of dancefloor focused techno/deep tech that orientates around raw grooves with machine driven sounds, this vinyl only release cuts straight to the heart of the dancefloor.

This release is limited to a vinyl pressing of only 200 copies with the previous release picking up support by artists ranging from Gerd to Arnaud Le Texier.

Stark, cavernous and politically critical dub-poetry lands next on FELT in a vital sign-of-the-times fashion. Where much new music in our scene seems to act as a conduit for escapism, usually via melodic mind-balm or, if vocal at all, lyrical surrealism and ambiguity, the collaborative works of ELDON & Withdrawn take the left turn. The sound design perfectly fits into the FELT jigsaw puzzle: cold, slightly glitch-inspired, echo/reverb minimalism etc, but things are kicked up a stratosphere with the half dancehall-toasting, half scathing analysis of modern Britain coming straight from the mouth of ELDON.

Processed, enveloping kalimba notes shatter off into the distance in the opening moments of 'reGenaRation' before we're plunged into the depths. Bleeding into the title track, the A-side is all claustrophobic commentary on trickle down economics, overdrafts, killer shark metaphors and empire. Adam & Eve? Rewind and there's Shango, god of thunder and lightning. 5 rewinds later - still going. The B-side continues with equal strength, amazing wordplay and broken, industrial rhythms for a broken United Kingdom.

IYA SHILLELAGH is ELDON & Withdrawn

Recorded at Zig Zag Zig Studios

A2 co-produced by How-du

B1 co-produced by Shifting Borders

Mastered by GENG PTP

Design by Fergus Jones

California's Joe Babylon has been steering his own Roundabout Sounds through some lovely deep house waters over the last few years. Now the producer makes a big statement with his own debut album. He is something of a veteran having co-founded Plug Research back in 1994 and hosted underground events in Los Angeles during the mid '90s. Following on from outings alongside the likes of Rick Wilhite and Rondenion he now brings his own dusty, carefully disheveled house sounds to the fore. They have been crafted using an MPC which gives them their rough-edged appeal and they go from heads down back room joints to dubbed-out minimalism via dream late-night reveries. It makes for a fresh take on a tried and tested house template.

NOAR is a young collective of enthusiasts in electronic music from Dresden.

The aim is to bring locals from dresden and eastern germany on the screen of like minded people. The scene is bursting with talents and audiophiles of several generations and therefore we want to give these talents a platform and make their output accessible to like-minded people.

‘Clone Scratch’ by Friedrich Ernst comes with a distinct electro vibe for build ups in a club and vocals in dreamy watery manner reminds us what’s up to us.

‘locknr01’ by The Isolator gives us a cold industrial goosebumps. A whole factory is under pressure performing that straight electro tune while heavy strings foreshadow its collapse. Here and there screws turn out of the steel beams, soft like bubbles. You have to take cover to avoid being shot.

A3 by Anachronism follows straight up. ‘Lost Control by Distance’ shows us what unconsciousness feels like. In this breakbeat thunderstorm we are sitting in a crashing airplane not quite ready for what's coming next.

With ‘Establishment’ the thunderstorm lightens and suddenly soft sunrays from Planetary Secrets come through the cloud cover. You are dreaming with soft melodies warming up your face while your body is moving to uk influenced breakbeat.

The duo KAWA KAWA is making their release debut with B2. This track clearly serves you on peak times with lovely and rough vocals while its energy easily lets you understand what a desire means.

The EP is finished with a fast electro belter from Otis Key. With it’s minimalistic approach
‘Copy Natural Processes at the Nanoscale’ lets you dive into the grid of existence with your electron microscope. From time to time you can see light coming from underneath with cold strings layered between the rhythm.
Dude what if...Is it… the matrix?

The Keplar label presents the next instalment in a series of reissues from the catalogue of Sasu Ripatti’s seminal Vladislav Delay project. Originally released on Mille Plateaux, the vinyl edition of »Entain« from 2000 omitted two shorter tracks and included all others in an abridged form. With this reissue, the full album as it was pressed on CD is finally made available on vinyl. Besides a new remaster by Kassian Troyer, it was also given new cover artwork by Marc Hohmann that picks up on that of the »Whistleblower« reissue, released in early 2023 by Keplar. This serial visual approach highlights the conceptual continuity between those masterful explorations of the interplay between dub techniques, noise, and repetition.

Ripatti himself had reworked material from 1999’s »Ele« album for the release of »Entain,« which means that it can be considered the debut album proper of his Vladislav Delay project. It saw the Finnish artist aim more vigorously for abstraction than in his earlier releases as Vladislav Delay for labels such as Chain Reaction, which were collected on the iconic »Multila« compilation in 2000; another milestone from his back catalogue that has been reissued by Keplar in recent times. To mark this special occasion, »Multila« will be repressed by Keplar with a new artwork that matches the new design of »Whisteblower« and »Entain«.

»Multila« and »Entain« correspond with each other conceptually as much as they seem to differ on a musical level. The material on »Multila« was clearly indebted to the Berlin dub techno sound, marked by its grainy and at times abrasive sonic aesthetics. From the very first moments of the 22-minute long opener »Kohde« however, it becomes clear that »Entain« takes things further away from the dancefloor, aiming less for physical impact than for intellectual stimulation. A sort of electronic minimal music, it was primarily interested in letting discrete elements freely come into play with one another.

Much like »Multila,« however, »Entain« highlighted the subtle differences embedded in what only feels like repetitive music. Of course the massive bassline and ghostly dub riddims that permeate »Notke« as well as the deconstructed beat at the core of »Ele« still hint at Ripatti’s roots in beat-driven music. However, they also make his artistic transformation audible by turning their sources of inspirations into something entirely unheard of. »Entain« took the dub techno formula further than any other record before it—onwards into the realms of pure abstraction.

The elusive Hackney basement dweller Alpha Delta colloquially known as Alpha D drops his debutsingle “The Moat” as the very first 12” output on the mysterious new hybrid Berlin++Sydney based label Delphic Iris Records. The headline single inspired by a faithful rave session in Croatia whereAlpha D was simultaneously emotionally touched, scarred and sonically pummelled by kick drums ata wild and stormy Dimensions Festival.
This dark techno beast was the aggressive, distorted acid offspring of that faithful night ravingbetween the mud and tears of the crowd at the formidable Moat stage at Punta Christo. His OG Mixis classic 132bpm heavy pounding acid techno at its moodiest. In the Remix department we have support from the entire Delphic Iris Records crew on this one. Afitting introduction to the labels sound. Sydney based Drox of Analog Cabin fame has a low end electro bass bin rattler for us that delvesinto melancholic and psychedelic 303 territory, deep, minimal and functional a perfect mid setgroover in our opinion. Critical Automator takes us on a deep and elegant techno journey transcending both murky seasand lush hazy skies in his dub mix. Definitely dialled back from the OG mix but there is no shortage ofkick drum energy in this one. 16 Faces cooks up complex drum work and funk driven baselines in a hybrid 146 bpm number that’sa just a touch rave, grime and idm in his 5am mix. The off beat stabs and euphoric strings areplentiful, more than enough to get your through any wobbly kneed sunrise.