Search:minimal

Reissue of the very first Birds Of Passage album from 2010. Minimalistic Lo-Fi Shoegaze meets experimental pop with drone influences.

For someone who thinks it's difficult to describe music in general, it's even more difficult to describe the soundscapes of BIRDS OF PASSAGE. The influences of Alicia Merz - the girl behind BIRDS OF PASSAGE - are her memories, breathless-inspiring cold winds, the smell and atmosphere of a spring day, smoking cigarettes, sunshine and shadows. As a mixture of all these elements plus a minimalistic experimental instrumentation you as well can describe her music: sometimes shy, sometimes more energetic ( fantastic frown') but always intensely and extremly private. Listening to her debut record "Without The World" is like sharing one long day with Alicia and her thoughts in the diverse landscapes of her home country New Zealand.

Alicia doesn't need the orotund spectacle of a band to evoke emotions - with the help of different, in a minimalistic way, used instruments combined with field recordings, she doesn't create specific songs - she builds up a mood. There's no typical song structure, there's no melody to chase after - but there's a development which absorbs you and which makes you start to think about elements you block out in your everyday life.

Eduardo always delivers quality music, but this is a very special record, we can say that "this is a showcase of electronic music".

Four tracks with four different styles of electronica: deep and marvelous keys in 'Wondrous Punia', a mastely detroit house lesson in 'Knockout Sakshi', the minimal techno monster in 'Great Manojar', and the psichodelic electronic cult song 'Georgeous Shiama

76-79 And Vibration White Fingers. Two Different Names, Two Different Aliases, One Person Behind, Are Back Again With 4 Amazing Tracks From Techno To Minimal.

2x12"

Soma Are Proud To Present The Debut Album From One Of Techno's Most Prolific And Renowned Producers, Tensal. As One Half Of The Duo Exium, Hector Sandoval Has Already Carved Out A Career In Techno Spanning Over 20 Years, With Countless Release On Their Self-run Nheoma, Warm Up Recordings & Pole Group, To Name But A Few. In 2014, He Started The Tensal Project As An Outlet For His Own Productions Which Allowed Him The Scope Of Pursuing The More Direct And Minimalistic Approach With His Music And Also His Dj'ing. After Hooking Up With The Soma Camp In Early 2017 And Releasing A Collection Of Well-refined Singles, Tensal Delivers His Debut Album, Graphical. Searching To Go Beyond The Realm Of Standard Techno, Tensal Lends His Considerable Production Experience To This Project And Creates A Sophisticated And Immersive Album Experience That Flows Gracefully Between Idm And Techno.

With The More Stripped Back Approach At The Forefront Of The Project, Belga Gives Us An Insight Of What To Expect From The Album; A Refined Sequence And Melodic Element Build Gracefully And Hypnotically, Ending Abruptly To Leave You Wanting More. Santolaya Picks Things Up And Brings With It A More Pensive And Exploratory View Before The Droning And Atmospheric Roj0 Leans On A Decidedly More Experimental Side. Aimed At Bringing Tension To The Project, Convulsa's Waves Of Sub Bass And Syncopated Percussion Set The Tone For A Pulsing And Edgy Affair. Tensal Brings 4x4 Into Play With Polariex. Slow Paced Yet Staunch In It's Approach, A Gritty Synth Hook Stands As The Backbone. A More Hypnotic Approach On Egoaio Looks To Bring In The Standard Tensal Sound But As Always, New And Experimental Sounds Are At The Forefront. Closing Out The Album, The Focus Begins To Shift To A More Dance Floor Orientated Attitude. Zomb Is A Quintessential Dj Tool, Drawing On The Power Of Restraint, As Its Gradual Swells Create Perfect Cohesion Throughout. P R U V I 4 Continues The Ongoing Theme Of Tension As Multi Layered Hooks Surge Forth Against A Backdrop Of Forceful Drums And Undulating Noise. Tensal Ends His Debut Lp On A High With The Punishing Mimix. Pounding Kicks And Twisted, Tripped Out Synths Are Driven In Intensity With Chopping High Hats That Slice Through With Vigour.

With Graphical, Tensal Has Constructed A Body Of Work That Is More Than The Sum Of Its Parts; Easily And Intelligently Displaying His Production Prowess By Crafting A Sonically Accomplished Album.

Not Long After Recording Her 10th Album, Ruins, Liz Harris Traveled To Wyoming To Work On Art And Record Music. She Found Herself Drawn Towards The Pairing Of Skeletal Piano Phrasing With Spare, Rich Bursts Of Vocal Harmony.

A Series Of Stark Songs Emerged, Minimal And Vulnerable, Woven With Emotive Silences. Inspired By the Idea That Something Is Missing Or Cold,' The Pieces Float And Fade Like Vignettes, Implying As Much As They Reveal. She Describes Them As small Texts Hanging In Space,' Impressions Of Mortality, Melody, And The Unseen - Fleeting Beauty, Interrupted. Grid Of Points Stands As A Concise And Potently Poetic Addition To The Grouper Catalog.

From Liz Harris: Grid Of Points Is A Set Of Songs For Piano And Voice. I Wrote These Songs Over A Week And A Half, They Stopped Abruptly When I Was Interrupted By A High Fever. Though Brief, It Is Complete. The Intimacy And Abbreviation Of This Music Allude To An Essence That The Songs Lyrics Speak More Directly Of. The Space Left After Matter Has Departed, A Stage After The Characters Have Gone, The Hollow Of Some Central Column, Missing.

Mercury Music Prize album of the year 2014

Deluxe remastered gate-fold double-LP with three bonus tracks (black vinyl version).

Noted for their hypnotic melodies, visceral bass-lines and tidal rhythm, Manchester-based leftfield piano trio GoGo Penguin are pianist Chris Illingworth, bassist Nick Blacka and drummer Rob Turner. Their music has been described as acoustic-electronica but they draw equally on rock, jazz

and minimalism, game soundtracks and glitchy-electronica to create their unique music. They are now one of the most successful bands in contemporary music, topping the jazz charts globally and playingsold out shows around the world and have just announced their biggest tour yet including the Royal Albert Hall in London (Nov 12).

Originally released in March 2014, v2.0, was their breakthrough album and the first to feature the rebooted line-up with new bassist Nick Blacka, pianist Chris Illingworth and drummer Rob Turner. It was named a Mercury Prize album of the year 2014 alongside albums from Damon Albarn, Young Fathers and Jungle.

The extended version was first released on 2xLP for RSD 18 on clear vinyl. This version features the same extended tracklist on black vinyl.

Newly remastered for vinyl (by the original engineer)
2xLP deluxe gatefold edition.

v2.0 includes the hit singles, Hopopono, Garden Dog Barbecue and Kamaloka as well as the remarkable One Percent and live favourite To Drown in You. Included here for the first time is theincessant 'Break' featuring a killer groove that offers a notdto the one and only Squarepusher, 'Wash', a haunting slice of the band at their most ambient and the wonderful 'In Amber', the first track that the new line-up wrote completely together.

Fourth chapter of the Ministerium label featuring Copenhagen's very own Martinez with a very special from remix from minimal funk master Melchior Productions Ltd.

Some Years Ago An Album By Dutch Band Milligram Retreat (enfant19, 2011) Was Released On Enfant Terrible. The Album Got Raving Feedback From Press And Music Enthusiasts. Sadly
The Project Was Short Lived... But Straight After The Project Came To An End Maurice Hermes, The Mastermind Behind It, Started His Solo Project Called Neugeborene Nachtmusik. Now Is The Time To Pour His Debut Album Out Over You... An Album Simple Entitled neugeborene Nachtmusik' And Highly Awaited...

Residing In Berlin Neugeborene Nachtmusik Has Shaped His Music More And More These Past Few Years Into An Unique Style Of This Own... Some Results Of This Were Displayed Already On The Various Artists Releases Exploitation (et017, 2012), I Am Enfant Terrible (etx, 2014) And Post-everything (et034, 2014)...

This Album Is A Pitch Black Experience... A Shamanistic Ritual And A Dark Trip Which Takes You By The Hand And Leads You Beyond And Back... You Get Served Six Long Tracks With Effective Minimalism And Trance Indulging Sounds... Influences From Elektro, Techno, Industrial, Noise And (black) Metal Can Be Traced... The Album Is Diverse But Coherent In Displaying The Specific Personal Style Of Neugeborene Nachtmusik...

Since the early 1990s, keyboard player Jessica Lauren has been a familiar part of London's alternative music scene. Jessica's keyboard skills have augmented the live performances and studio recordings of world renowned artists such as Jean Carne, Tom Browne, Dexter Wansel and James Mason, Japan's United Future Organisation, and UK soul diva Juliet Roberts.

Her previous Freestyle album 'Jessica Lauren Four' (2012) highlighted Jessica's minimalist approach, something rare and refreshing in the jazz world: she instills her compositions and playing with a refined sense of space which makes her music as much about what she doesn't play as what she does.

The albums' opener - Kofi Nomad is a deeply percussive afrocentric epic, featuring the beautiful baritone saxaphone of Tamar 'Collocutor' Osborn, one of the most in demand woodwind players working today, underpinned by a powerful foundation of percussion courtesy of Richard látúndé Baker, Phillip Harper and drummer Cosimo Keita Cadore.

Jessicas' amazing skill for writing simple, understated yet superbly memorable and catchy hooks remains undiminished. Highlights in this new collection are almost too numerous to mention, but Amalfi is a breezy bossa, which conjures up images of easy living days and sun dappled Mediterranean coastlines, whilst the angular and brooding Simba Jike has something of an Eddie Harris style deep, dark groove over which Jessica riffs and solos beautifully on grand piano - and Tamar once again blows freely, whilst 'level' Neville Malcolms' upright bass figure roots the entire thing in a solid, almost primeval sound.

The albums closing statement Argentina is a masterpiece of pathos and perfectly demonstrates Jessicas' approach which is almost akin to a minimalist architecture style of composing and playing, such is the strength of its atmosphere and subtlety.

Wolkenbett EP is brought to you by Claude Steiner and Yannick Sardi. Together they form Elektro Baboushka, a music project born as a result of the duo's close friendship and joint discovery of electronic music. Inspired by bands like Yello, Kraftwerk, and Depeche Mode, Elektro Baboushka developed their own style: a blend of ambient and downbeat spiced with jazz grooves and minimal. Musically trained in guitar and piano, Claude plays the guitar and builds loops while Yannick accompanies him with vocals and keyboard. Wolkenbett EP features two massive originals and an intricately deep remix by Sleep is Commercial's Andrea Ferlin.

Lily presents Sul Tempo, the first and only album composed by Lorad group. A musical rendering of the contemporary work-day, jazzy, minimal, digital.

Sent from a nearby star system, from one world to ours. Wondering the streets with misguided importance. How du is new to our planet, but does not yet know why he is here, only that he must heal himself and all those he meets in order to find his home. An inherent feeling that he has arrived to protect and serve others from the deepest patterns of evil overwhelms him. Evil that spreads through the mind in conscious frequencies of the brain. Areas we call the Shadow Realms of oneself. Unable to communicate in the correct language his correspondence with Earth people can only be transmitted through sound and melody. Music is his language and his tool. This is the Landing.
Deep Garage with a minimal spin and a broken beat format. A story in sounds. Best served on the rocks. Shouts to the bristol crew. Banoffee x

Ryuji Takeuchi provides Instruments Of Discipline with an EP of noisy, hypnotic tracks, ranging from giddy, stomping, left-field techno to melancholic ambience; the EP's title 'One's Sentiment' provides a thoughtful angle to this at times cacophonous collection, for while they are bristling with noise there is something contemplative about the pieces, expressed in a way that suggests more than one thought trying to take life at the same moment, Ryuji finds space for conflicting voices both spatially and in terms of mood, the first three tracks, 'Ambivalence', 'Sadness' & 'Sorrow' crawl with competing elements, synth lines drool over and meld with throbbing kick patterns, anxiety & excitement are tightly wound in focus as tracks build and develop, leaving the listener to navigate these abstract planes, intoxicated; while the final track 'Regret' is a compelling piece of noisy, ambient minimalism that allows for an austere pause after the eruption of the initial works. It becomes evident that Ryuji's journey as a producer, through periods of hard-techno, deep-minimalism and the more abrasive ventures on HueHelix, has created a powerful and nuanced voice that is fully on display in 'One's Sentiment'.

Ryuji Takeuchi - Artist Bio

Ryuji Takeuchi (Local Sound Network / LSN, HueHelix) was born in Osaka, in the late 90s, he moved to the United States where he discovered Techno, House and Electro Music, influencing his desire to produce & DJ. His first wave of releases on LK Records, Arms, Mastertraxx, FK Records, SWR, Innervate, I.CNTRL, Impact Mechanics, Silent Steps, GSR & Brood Audio to name a few, were straight-up, hard techno,

In 2011, Ryuji started his own imprint, 'Local Sound Network / LSN', a platform for a new generation of both Japanese & global electronic music & later on, in collaboration with Tomohiko Sagae, Go Hiyama & Kazuya Kawakami, the label, 'HueHelix / HHX', developing further the voice of Japanese techno & experimental electronics, with a focus on distorted, industrial sounds.

In 2012, Ryuji launched the 'Local Sound Network Digital Solutions / LSNDS' series born from a desire to both discover and introduce a wider range of electronic music to the world.

Ryuji Takeuchi provides us with an EP of noisy, hypnotic tracks, ranging from giddy, stomping, left-field techno to melancholic ambience; the EP's title 'One's Sentiment' provides a thoughtful angle to this at times cacophonous collection, for while they are bristling with noise there is something contemplative about the pieces, expressed in a way that suggests more than one thought trying to take life at the same moment, Ryuji seems to find space for conflicting voices both spatially and in terms of mood, the first three tracks, 'Ambivalence', 'Sadness' & 'Sorrow' seem to crawl with competing elements, synth lines drool over and meld with throbbing kick patterns, anxiety & excitement are tightly wound in focus as tracks build and develop, leaving the listener to navigate these abstract planes, intoxicated; while the final track 'Regret' is a compelling piece of noisy, ambient minimalism that allows for a pause after the . It is testament to Ryuji's journey as a producer through periods of hard-techno, electronic minimalism

Next up on Tel-Aviv's Parallax Record is Matushka's debut ep 'Meta'.
Meta is a varied minimalist techno EP showing Matushka's range of production styles, with bits of braindance polyrhythms on top of industrial techno grooves, yet always understated and subtle in it's development.

Extra Noir is a coldwave, minimal synth and post-punk soundtrack based in South Korea. This is the first of a series of compilations, featuring artists from the hosts' three most recent homes - Scotland, Korea and Texas. Available on digital and limited release vinyl. About the artists:
Aadm Our Hatley is a Texas-based multi-instrumentalist who has played in a long list of underground Austin acts, such as Red X Red M, Attack Formation, Those Peabodys and Bangaar. He currently plays guitar in Chamberlain Greene and drums in Boss Eye. Straddling the dank border between industrial and no wave, Glasgow duo Total Leatherette also brings pervy disco fetish to their sleazy brand of mutant music.
Kübler-Ross is one of the many aliases of Glasgow electronic producer / remixer Dave Clark. A versatile and prolific producer, Clark has worked with JD Twitch of Optimo as one half of the Optimo (Espacio) remix team, played guitar in Badalamentian blues band Big Ned, and has been recently recording synth-based solo tracks as Kübler-Ross.
Comprised of techno producer Seonggu de Kim and minimal ambient artist Eajik, Airy Textile is a synth duo originally based in Seoul, South Korea. Their contribution to Extra Noir Vol. 1 marks their first release on vinyl. Tengger are an electronic psychedelic duo from Seoul, South Korea, comprised of Itta (harmonium and vocals) and Marqido (modular synth).
Texan synth wizard Xander Harris is one of the most influential artists in the 'horror disco' genre, and has consistently delivered tense, garish and unflinching journeys into the darkest domains of dance music. This track, 'The Velvet Hand', is exclusive to Extra Noir Vol. 1. Pecht is the nom de plume of a Manchester-based solo artist who retreated to the wilds of northern Scotland after years in the London entertainment industry. His self-titled debut album was recorded during his exile on the north coast. 'unlock' is Pecht's first release on vinyl. Cucina Povera is the musical identity of Maria Rossi, a Glasgow musician and vocalist originally from Finland. She is a collaborator in Luxos with Daniel Magee of Lo Kindre, and a former DJ on Glasgow's Subcity Radio. Her debut LP, Hilja, was released in January 2018.

Faitiche releases the album Improvisations And Edits, Tokyo 26.09.2001 on vinyl for the first time. For the original 2002 CD on Soup-Disk and Sub Rosa (Audiosphere), Jan Jelinek and the Japanese trio Computer Soup (Satoru Hori - trumpet, Osamu Okubo - toys & electronics, Kei Ikeda - toys & electronics) presented eight tracks all recorded one afternoon in the trio's living room in Tokyo. They are excerpts from a joint group improvisation that subsequently underwent rudimentary editing, on which Jelinek and Computer Soup worked separately.

Jelinek met the three musicians at his first concert in Japan in 2001, at Tokyo's Yellow club, where Computer Soup performed as the support act. Delighted by their free improvisation on pocket-sized electronic toys, trumpet and oscillators, he arranged to meet Hori, Okubo and Ikeda a few days later for a session at their apartment. The resulting three-hour recording, made on their living room floor, formed the basis for Improvisations and Edits. A few days later, Jelinek returned to Berlin. Over the following months, they separately chose passages from the recording that were then edited and assembled into an album.

Formed in Tokyo in 1996 as a quintet (including Shusaku Hariya and Daisuke Oishi), Computer Soup began by performing with acoustic instruments on the streets of Shibuya. Ikeda und Okubo soon switched instruments, and from then on the group's minimalistic but densely woven sound was defined by electronic toys, oscillators and Satoru Hori's trumpet. Their first album was released in 1997 on the Japanese label Soup Disk. Eight further releases followed.

From the reviews of Improvisations and Edits, Tokyo 26.09.2001 in 2003:

"The mind-blowing first track Straight Life is perhaps the best example of what the album has to offer. Jelinek's trademark smears and washes occupy the midrange, like ghosted images of Joe Zawinul's electric piano floating quietly in the wind. DSP jazz modes are set against a walking bassline (possibly computer generated) and a gently tooted trumpet complete with Harmon mute, a dead ringer for Miles Davis' Prestige-era ballads. The effect is something like a three-dimensional film, with different realities on each layer, images of what jazz was manage to interact with a real-time demonstration of all it could be."
pitchfork, 2003

"Improvisations and Edits is a warm and mellow Ambient release with beautiful glitch fragments, static noise bursts and real trumpet intersections. However, there are times where it is the exact opposite, mainly effect-laden, overdriven and bouncy with a lack of melodies and focus, so be aware of these specific tracks."
ambientexotica, 2003

"Often deliciously dreamy and hazy, Improvisations and Edits is like listening to an exceptional instrumental jazz performance while half-conscious or under some sort of chemical influence. Computerised blips and bleeps, loops and treatments and murky sonic skips curl up around desolate horn notes and scattered instrumental noises that culminate in elegant music."
exclaim.ca, 2003

Wave Stu might just be the Platonic ideal of icy, emotionally fraught synth-pop. On his debut release for Origin Peoples, Stockholm-based musician Michel Isorinne puts paragons of this style like Orchestral Manoeuvres In e Dark in his slipstream. Laced with spoken-word passages from films and television shows, Wave Stu weaves a loose tale about the nature of time, physics, and mortality that can be summarized by the key phrase, uttered by a woman scientist somewhere throughout the album, 'magic is in the molecules...'

Isorinne essentially creates introverted minimalist symphonies in which sprightly synth leads peacefully coexist with melancholy, drone-y undercurrents. Throughout the record, Isorinne's melodies bear a fruitful contrast between the morose and the jubilant. He repeatedly places exceptionally delicate and beautiful tunes amid subliminal waves of pensiveness. It truly is a masterly balancing act. e zenith of this approach is Side A's closing track, in which gorgeous countermelodies intertwine like lovers on a tropical beach while a pistoning rhythm pumps up the libido. It's instant paradisiacal bliss.

Side B contains Wave Stu 's most cheerful, uptempo track yet it never bursts into full-on euphoria. Elsewhere, Isorinne reverts back to more somber moods: an eerie, methodical chiller full of quiet wonderment and subdued sparkle reminiscent of Casino Versus Japan, Plone, and others of their gnomic ilk; a low-key anthem in which '70s Vangelis grandiosi meets the workmanlike bass-synth chug of Ulrich Schnauss; an elegiac piece that conjures an intimate majes ; a bass-heavy dirge festooned with forlorn wisps of melodiousness.

The complex, paradoxical happy/sad pendulum at the heart of Isorinne's music lends Wave Stu a tingly resonance that will reward repeat listens. Please welcome an extravagantly rich synth-pop classic.

Re-issue of forgotten minimal techno abstraction from Hamilton, Ontario. The unsung genius of Secret Werewolf is fully on display on this 1996 gem.
Rubbery and polymetric, akin in mood to Robert Hood/Metroplex productions of the same era, but full of eerie metallic timbres and flexing grooves which combine into a lysergic hypnosis unlike anything else from then or now.
A taste of the forthcoming Geej re-issue project surveying the Steel City Records catalogue, a wellspring of unsung, singular dance music that arose from the abandoned industrial spaces and uncompromising producers of the fertile but secluded techno zone of Hamilton, Ontario Canada circa 1995-1997.

First time pressed in over 20 years, vinyl only.

Orlando Voorn is back on Tarvisium Electronique with 'Secret Society,' a mysterious, obscure and psychedelic EP exuding the essence of Detroit techno. Side A of the vinyl features the title track in which Voorn melts the analogic rhythm with a spectral melodic pattern. Side B features two tracks; 'Playing for keeps,' a techno bolt of lightning bound straight for the dancefloor and 'Rush,' a track characterized by a mechanical, analogic and highly experimental sound.

To conclude the EP the label manager, Steve Lorenz, has composed a remix of 'Secret society' with an avant-garde fusion of minimal, acid and Detroit techno.