On ‘Fluorescent Standard,’ guitarist Anthony Vine and clarinetist Gareth Davis present two luminous and serene worlds of harmonic sound. The duo entwine sustained tones, glowing with the resonant hues of their instruments, into enveloping and expansive atmospheres. Clarinet sonorities, swelling guitar chords, and tumbling elegiac piano fragments drift quietly through time in elusive cycles that subtly change and expand with each return. Every vibration is interconnected, aligned and fused attentively, causing the instruments to dissolve into themselves and emit residual vibratory energies, like fluorescence. What emerges is a music that invites quiet contemplation and rewards deep listening. While Vine and Davis met through the world of modern classical music, ‘Fluorescent Standard’ finds itself in the realms of drone, ambient, and new age. The music is grounded in early minimalist aesthetics of composers like La Monte Young and Phill Niblock, but also shares the sensibilities of contemporary artists like Fennesz, Sarah Davachi, and Stars of the Lid.
Buscar:modern art
From the cold corners of the Canadian soil, Illect's Newselph returns with some fiery furnace baked heat in the form of a remix album. On If It Ain't Broke, Remix It, Newselph carries on tradition in the spirit of Hip Hop legends like Pete Rock, Erick Sermon and Buckwild in the sacred art of remixing and refixing. Like the boom baptists before him, Newselph's ear hears transmissions reserved for angels and dolphins. He takes tracks that in their original incarnations are perfectly fine, banging even, and gets all up in the inner workings of said slaps to create something entirely different. For his latest release, he mines his backyard and reworks ten tracks from his Illect labelmates. The lead single, Those Were The Days, features the UK's Kinetik and BREIS. Newselph turns breezy into bluesy, and the track morphs into a makeshift teleportation device to a simpler time when fat laces, arcade games and handwritten letters reigned supreme. The Flowers remix features Jurny Big and Brand Nubian's most recognisable voice, Sadat X. The two emcees come together to the world and the roles they play within it. Newselph's push-and-pull guitar groove would fit perfectly as the backdrop for a campfire convo filled with nostalgic stories and witty anecdotes. Things get deeper than Atlantis on Matters Of Man, where Newselph again links up with his man, Sareem Poems, and one-third of the Ugly Heroes crew, Chris Orrick. Serving up a healthy slice of adult contemporary musings, the two rhyme writers break down this thing called life with the kind of knowledge, wisdom and understanding that would make King Solomon chill. Like watery clay in the hands of Sam Wheat and Molly Jensen, Newselph scrapes and shapes a rubbery bassline, dreamy droplets of keys and pensive melodies into a reassuring ode of optimism. Other guest appearances on the album include Sivion, Sojourn, MidCentury Modern, Ozay Moore, Dre Murray, DJ Because and many more. Like the classic TV show The Wire, all the pieces matter, and the sum of parts come together seamlessly to form something more meaningful.
[h] 9. Matters of Man (Remix) [
- A1: Pushing Feat Derane Obika
- A2: Right Of Me Feat Derane Obika (On My Dace Side Version)
- A3: Back In The Underwater Feat Reiwa Pia
- A4: Walkin’ A Dream Feat Derane Obika
- A5: Hold The Line Feat Derane Obika
- A6: Cat With Camera
- B1: Fall Into The Flame Feat Derane Obika
- B2: I Am Believe Feat Derane Obika
- B3: Don’t You Worry Feat Derane Obika
- B4: Are U Ready? Feat Derane Obika
- B5: Watergate Feat Manuela Amalfitano
- B6: I Am Believe Feat Derane Obika (Dreamy Vibe)
The debut album by musician and producer GO.SOUL.MAP. is a little gem in which pop and soul intersect and the clichés between
mainstream and underground leap. A sexy and pensive nocturnal journey, immersed in thirteen songs between soft bass and space disco trips, with the voice of Londonbased Derane Obika of Living Sounds.
The selection of songs in this album were made with the hope to bring the listener to deep thought, the lyrics and melodies seamlessly
married to tracks that drive the listener's emotions.
Produced, written and performed by Derane and Salvo, they came together by chance and were inspired to make the album making
sure to balance the sound between the Lyrics, Melody and Music to insure that not only the songs are heard but the experience
remembered and both spirit and soul are touched.
The album is truly "Music From The Heart"
Behind the alias GO.SOUL.MAP. hides one of the most authentic and purest talents of the current Catania music scene. Of which,
moreover, under other guises and names, he has been an indispensable pillar for over a decade. An artist of immediate sensitivity, not only artistic. His training is fairly canonical: as a child, he studied piano. From there, as if following the movements of concentric circles, the passion for synths, drum machines, the world of samples and the recording studio. Above all, an uncommon ability to breathe in music. Accepted and found without prejudice, but always with the need to reveal a distinctive track, a signature. Touring between bars, streets, concerts and clubbing. An experience very consistent with the subject matter of this disc. Which is, in fact, the debut of a nonrookie. An ambitious record, because it possesses a sound that is as sexy as it is thoughtful and a writing style, exemplary, that lies on that borderline that, in the stereotype, defines underground and mainstream. Fields that instead it crosses naturally and between which it moves without any particular problems. After all, the music comes not from the malice of the intellect but from the nuances, tender or vehement, of naivety.
Peaceful Sound For Broken Minds is a pop record, pop soul, of modern urban pop. Yes, labels, even in the sense of tags, are definitely that. Of course, it is the way in which ideas are rendered that makes the difference. The record is about the need to find one's peace, but it is the fall that it shows and not the landing. With honesty and, above all, style. That is, mastery of means and an important file work with which to decline that therapeutic soul pain in which his songs are immersed.
We wait for hours more, the initial Fall Into The Flame and I Am Believe seem to tell us from there we move on. Hold The Line is where trip hop forgets itself, immersing itself, to the point of blurring, with the retro atmospheres of someone like Curtis Harding. Pushing has a space disco cadence that, more pronounced, we also find in the lunar expedition sound of Watergate. The exotic visions of Back In Underwater, between the stardust of Air and the innocence of Plone, become more jazzy in Cat With Camera. Just as in the urban streaks of Don't You Worry, which in upbeat mode would sound like a great reggae song, or Are U Ready, or in the disco funk of Right Of Me, the soulful accent of Derane Obika of Living Sounds emerges, a Londoner of Nigerian origin who grew up listening to gospel, Prince and Stevie Wonder, whose voice guides us through the songs of Peacefull Sound For Broken Minds. Which is a new point for that work of redefining the standards of pop today that Space Echo is doing. Throwing the clock overboard, because the time it wants to capture is nothing more than the movement of its hands.
- A1: Fred Und Luna - Intro (Future Sounds Of Kraut 2) (2 47) * Exclusive
- A2: Sankt Otten - Angekommen In Der Letzten Reihe (6 30)
- A3: Ghost Power - Vertical Section (2 14)
- A4: Fred Und Luna - Monotonikum (Edit) (4 46)
- A5: Formant B - Kater (Single Version) (4 24)
- B1: Thomas Fehlmann - Permanent Touch (3 23)
- B2: Roman Flügel - Rules (4 50)
- B3: Sordid Sound System - It's About Time (4 37)
- B4: I Cube - Basso (4:15) * Exclusive
- C1: Lucas Croon - Krautwickel (7 22) * Exclusive
- C2: Minami Deutsch - Your Pulse (5 22)
- C3: Gilgamesh Mata Hari Duo - Johan (4 46) * Exclusive
- D1: Kosmischer Läufer - Spargelspiegel (4 43) * Exclusive
- D2: Young Solo - Twin Shadow (3 51) * Exclusive
- D3: Schlammpeitziger - Runzreich (4 04) * Exclusive
- D4: Halwa - Schmetterling (5 45) * Exclusive
- D5: Fred Und Luna - Outro - Auf Wiederhören 2 (1 52) * Exclusive
Wir haben so großartiges Feedback zur Future Sounds Of Kraut Vol. 1 bekommen, also kommt hier Volume 2: 17 moderne Kraut-Elektronik-Tracks (9 davon exklusiv und vorher unveröffentlicht) inspiriert von Kraftwerk, Can, Neu!, Cluster, Harmonia, Klaus Schulze und vielen anderen. Kuratiert und zusammengestellt von Compost-Künstler Fred und Luna. Die Collage auf dem Cover wurde - wie schon auf Vol. 1 - exklusiv von der fantastischen Künstlerin Norika Nienstedt aus der Kraut-Metropole Düsseldorf gestaltet.
Gar nicht einfach oder im Grunde unmöglich, den Begriff "Kraut" stilistisch zu beschreiben. Dennoch begeben sich Compost Records und Fred und Luna auf eine Zeitreise, um die unterschiedlichen Elemente deutscher elektronischer Musik der 1970er- und 1980er-Jahre und ihre Auswirkungen auf die neuere deutsche und weltweite Musikszene zu entdecken.
Nach dem großen Erfolg von Volume 1 wurde umgehend ein Nachfolger gestartet, der stilistisch an seinen Vorgänger anknüpft und darüber hinaus - da dies eine der Grundideen der Reihe ist - das musikalische Spektrum Schritt für Schritt um neue krautige Elemente erweitert. Auf Volume 2 finden sich deshalb nun auch ein paar cluborientierte und experimentelle Tracks.
Compost und Fred und Luna wünschen viel Pläsier beim Krautifizieren!
Format: - Schwarze 2LP mit Content-Sticker inkl. 9 exklusiven/unveröffentlichten Tracks
DJ Quotes:
- "A great compilation with a unique approach!" - Hans Nieswandt
- "Amazing contributions from all the artist involved ! Love this album ! Thank you Fred & Luna !" - Peter Kruder
- "Very interesting compilation ... Great music" - Laurent Garnier
- "Superb in every way" - Nick Warren
For her first solo project, the French-Chilean singer Alsy has teamed up with producers Rose, Peter Dallas and Jimmy Whoo. Co- produced with Jimmy Whoo, this EP reflects the meeting of the two artists' worlds, between the nocturnal atmosphere of Motel Music and the sunny ambiance of the singer's South American influences.
With her project Candela, Alsy has imagined her own musical universe, intimate and deep, rich in the variety of her influences. The lyrics are passionate, the rhythms smooth and warm, and the project is a subtle mix of modernity and nostalgia, between steamy reggaeton, smooth synth pop and hypnotic electro.
The singer's smooth and bewitching voice is the hallmark of this debut EP, which takes us on a dreamy journey from Paris to Santiago, against a backdrop of rhythmic and atmospheric music.
LIMITED RED VINYL
Sheherazaad ist eine US-amerikanische Komponistin und Sängerin, derenzeitgenössische Folk-Pop-Synthese, produziertvon Arooj Aftab, einer neuen Welle der klanglichen Innovation aus der Diaspora Teil wird. In der modernen Welt ist Migration omnipräsent. Sie durchzieht sämtliche Lebens- und Alltagsbereiche, steckt oftmals verschlüsselt in unseren Gewohnheiten. Während unzählige Menschen sowohl mental als auch körperlich mit nie da gewesener Aggressivität die Globalisierung vorantreiben, werden einst stabile "Genres" und Identitäten jeder Art zerlegt - aufgespalten und abgeschafft, überflüssig gemacht und wieder neu geboren. Alles migriert, alles ist in Bewegung. In genau diesem fluktuierenden Feld findet Sheherazaad Inspirationen für ihre Songs. Ihr Minialbum Qasr entstand während einer Phase der familiären Entfremdung. Auch die Trauer über einen Todesfall in der Familie und die rassistische Polarisierung ihres Landes, das plötzlich kaum wieder zu erkennen war, prägten die Aufnahmen. Der Titel des Albums bedeutet auf Urdu (der Nationalsprache in Pakistan und einigen indischen Bundesstaaten) so viel wie "Burg" oder "Festung". Und tatsächlich ist Qasr ein Monument: Es verkörpert die Last der Vertreibung, die widersprüchlichen Sog- und Anziehungskräfte der Diaspora - und das schreckliche Problem der Auslöschung, des Vergessens der eigenen Wurzeln. Um genau diese Art der Erfahrung geht es, um die Gewalt, die Hysterie, auch um die Romantisierungen, die damit einhergehen, wenn Sheherazaad klanglich eintaucht in jenes In-Between - ins Reich des Dazwischen. Die Aufnahmen fanden im Herzen von Brooklyn im Glass Wall Studio statt. Die unbeschreibliche Energie der nächtlichen Sessions speiste sich dabei vor allem aus der einzigartigen (und einzigartig internationalen) Konstellation der Mitwirkenden: u.a. mit dabei waren auch Basma Edrees (Ägypten), Gilbert Mansour (Libanon) und Firas Zreik (Palästina); gemastert von Heba Kadry (Björk, Ryuichi Sakamoto). Auf Qasr lädt uns Sheherazaad in eine betörende und vollkommen neue Klangwelt ein: in ein Reich der Musik, das genau genommen noch gar nicht von dieser Welt zu sein scheint. Zugleich lässt sie die Fackel der nomadischen Erfahrung auflodern, gibt auch diesem Feuer einen sehr viel prominenteren Platz. Insgesamt entwirft die Künstlerin mit diesem betörenden Album ihre eigene Festung. Denn sie will auch uns dazu ermutigen, unsere eigenen Festungen, unsere eigenen klanglichen König:innen-Reiche und unmöglichen Traumwelten zu entwerfen
For the five members of Punchlove - multi-instrumentalists Jillian Olesen, Ethan Williams, Joey Machina, Ian Lange-McPherson, and visual artist Viz Wel - moving into a maze of a house in Brooklyn together was the transition that created the album they had been writing their whole lives. Quietly evolving from a bedroom project to a headlining live phenom, Punchlove has geared up a densely layered bed of emotionally serrated pain-pop songs that coalesce around a digitally-stimulated, emotional brand of modern neoshoegaze. Channels, out March 1st on Kanine Records, is an album of deeply prepared sounds, sharply honed instrumentals, and a band performing them that knows each other all the way through. Having met studying music technology in college, multiple members of Punchlove work mixing live bands at prominent NYC venues and in the studio. Using that expertise, the inhouse production, mixing, and recording is a palpable highlight; mastered by 2000s shoegaze stalwart Kurt Feldman (The Depreciation Guild), the record melds DIY recording and experimental sonic visions with studio quality. Punchlove is dedicated to pushing the envelope of experimental sonic practices in live performances, where they can be seen performing with real-time audio reactive analog visuals, executing real-time sampling and looping, self-mixing onstage, running radios and tape loops through effects, improvising, and playing guitar with everything from double bass bows to vibrators. In their home recording environment, experimentation is at the core of their creative process, where they integrate self-programmed digital signal processing systems, psychoacoustic phenomena, tailored feedback, elements of 3D audio, immersive field recording soundscapes, early electronic instruments, and experimental recording and mixing techniques into the greater backdrop of pop songwriting. FOR FANS OF: Radiohead, Wednesday, Hum, DIIV, my bloody valentine, The Smashing Pumpkins, bdrmm, A Place to Bury Strangers
Reissued for the first time on vinyl is ‘Taking All The Love I Can’ by Newark, New Jersey outfit The Chosen Few.
Initially released on Maple Records in 1971, their debut album boasts incredibly moody ‘Northern Soul’ and perfectly represents the golden age of New Jersey R&B.
The Chosen Few are swaggering with confidence throughout the LP and draw comparisons to fellow Maple artists Lee Moses and Gloria Barnes.
‘Taking All The Love I Can’ is a highly sought after record with original issues fetching upwards of $500 when found in the wild. On High Records is
thrilled to present this modern reissue which is remastered and pressed on audiophile virgin vinyl for music lovers worldwide.
Recorded, produced, and chiefly knob-twisted by Minus the Bear, Menos El Oso moves further into the band's forward-thinking, angular rock canon. Weaving through territories long established by 70's prog-rockers (Yes, Rush), '80s proto punks (Fugazi), and '90s art rock mind-fucks (Jawbox, Joan of Arc), Minus the Bear invokes the modern love affair between dance-driven strategy and lush, Upper Pacific sweater rock.
The cinematic opening track Inthenever starts off as a film >> somewhere on a desolate coast, where everything has already ceased. This is going to be an album with a story and depth, a fearless tour of the barren shores of our days // or is it possibly just a mirage conclusion of their razor-sharp sound brutalism? Tittingur's third album, Epiphany, is here, pounding with waves they had not done before.
It seems as though this dyad has disposed of all the genre confines that had locked them in, and have grasped the sound of new subject matters, for which the moniker of experimental techno is finally too narrow. With utter urgency and candid to their emblematic, thunderous sound, Dominik's and Matus's deafening mallets collide in beats which are now, more than ever, drenched in a mass of palpable gloom and anguish. As though we could touch the rising levels of the oceans, and smell the melting of the glaciers themselves.
In one way or another, the music of Tittingur has always been about nature, its fierce essence, and its stark contrast with the post-era that we have found ourselves living in. However, whereas before, it was the sound of old, weather-stained concrete, and the pounding of abandoned, overgrown buildings, now it is, unavoidably, their most direct and honest return to nature landscapes, and to human, age-old traditions, referenced in the Slovak folk motives, recordings and found sounds.
On Epiphany, Tittingur's sound becomes yet more abstract, in a sound world that is ambiguous but also unified, and works on its own. The duality of nature and technology, of inland human folklore and the trenches of deepest oceans, invite us to come closer and observe the volatile obliteration taking place. Can we even attempt to re-assess our position with nature, or is this whole experiment doomed to fail?
Unsurprisingly, in the echoes, all the ingredients of the classic Tittingur sound are still present, distilled into new forms >> the ever-present over-saturation, the exaggerated, maximalist approach and megalomania >> the sound of impending climate change, doom, and near-apocalyptic visions, the scent of borovička mixed with the wild North Sea, the agony of contemporary urban life, and the adventure of wilderness: ferocious synths, monumental beats, aggressive basslines and crumbling noise-scapes built of a found-sound, music concréte-like, collagist approach.
At moments, it seems the means have changed. Just until you realise that the sentences of this story are spoken in a new language. If you dive deep enough, and listen to the essence that the music of Tittingur articulates, it's surprisingly easy to understand >> although the notions and emotions are difficult to put into words. The profound narrative of Epiphany is that of an endless inner struggle of society, anxiety, crises, and ambiguously easy // difficult solutions in the post-modern global chaos. It is the calm before a storm. It is the storm. Is it the calm. It is all of it, in itself. credits
Complete with 10" vinyl record and booklet presenting Laurianne Bixhain's photographic work and text by Chloe Chignell.
Presented at the Mudam (Museum of Modern Art of Luxembourg) and initiated by a photographic exploration by Laurianne Bixhain, the work "The day begins with a loud boom" interrogates the manner and extent to which we are defined by our relationship to the physical environment, and the cultural import of the techniques of production. Its imagery follows the trajectories of the materials subjected to the processes of diamond cutting and automotive glassware fabrication, and presents the traces of human intervention of which those materials are both the object and the repository.
The interplay of its imagery, music and text constitutes a theatrical whole: both the staging of the text and the sonorities create an architectural space within which each constituent object is deployed. That spatiality is shared and complemented by the text’s sonorous and performative qualities. Likewise, the elements of texture and abstraction in the imagery invoke our sense of touch, as a means of material and spatial appreciation.
The succeeding reiterations of the ostinato the day begins with are treated graphically by its progressive effacement, evoking the tension in assembly line work between repetition and linearity, accumulation and exhaustion, trace and erasure. Such attrition is equally conveyed by the harsh, impassive, and architectural qualities of both the images and the music which accompany the text. The latter notably deploys a range of insidious effects, from the marriage of dissonance and unsettling rhythm evocative of the competing cycles of multiple industrial machines, to sensual and reassuring sonorities which are contaminated by their contrast with the harsh acoustic aesthetic elsewhere.
Following his blissfully abstract, piano-based collaborations with Harold Budd and Ruben Garcia over the last 20 years, The Arcades Project is John Foxx’s first solo piano album, released on vinyl for the first time. This latest work has a fresh sense of wonder, as if returning to the instrument after the raging analogue noise of his last major work, 2020’s Howl (by John Foxx And The Maths) necessitated a further retreat into quiet, minimal music. Reviews for The Arcades Project: “Delicate evocation of the ambience of a city’s galleried passages.’ Mojo 4 ****. 'This exquisite and refined solo piano work is a fine addition to a body of work made by an artist always investigating memory and imagination.’ The Quietus Album of the Month for April 2023. 'His most evocative music.’ Uncut Magazine 8/10. ‘Delicate, drifting and hypnotic.’ Record Collector 4 ****. ‘Unmissable’ Electronic Sound Magazine. 'Its minimalism is moving; its restraint rich in reverie. Foxx's 21st-century body of work grows ever more absorbing.’ Prog magazine. ‘An album that has the potential to be a classic of modern times and a reference point for classical ambient for years to come.’ Louder Than War. ‘Awed wonder . . . and frequently beautiful.’ Classic Pop. 'Foxx has created 12 stunning pieces of music . . . sparse, minimalistic, and extremely moving . . . It goes a long way in demonstrating just how much of a genius he is' Spill Magazine.
Jesse James returns to the Soul Junction roster with a new 45 that features his own unique interpretation of a classic song that is backed with one of the more popular songs from his 1990 “Looking Back” album now brought to you for the first time as a 45 release.
Beginning with the A-side, “Everybody’s Talking At Me” which is Jesse’s unique cover of the folk rock singer Fred Neil’s penned song “Everybody’s Talkin’”. Which although recorded by Neil originally, was made internationally famous by Harry Nilsson when used as part of the theme score for the acclaimed United Artists 1969 film “Midnight Cowboy”. The song has been much covered in the style of a ballad but Jesse’s version recorded under the production skills of close friend Willie Hoskins (Wilhos Productions and Boola Boola Records) is a great up-tempo piano driven version of the song. “Everybody’s Talking At Me” is yet another find from the unissued tapes from the self- financed sessions that Jesse recorded at the Searra Sound Studios in Berkley C.A during 1971 that also has brought us SJ543 “(The Girl In) Clinton Park” and SJ544 “If A Man Ever Loved A Woman (Baby I Love You)”.
While the b-side, features the much, admired modern soul favourite “You’re More Than A Friend Of Mine” which first gained a release on the 1990 ‘Looking Back’ album (Gunsmoke Records). “You’re More Than A Friend Of Mine” was up to that point a previously unissued mid 70’s recording produced by the late song writer /producer Ron Carson. Carson the original owner of the San Francisco Soul Clock Records label remains highly respected for his work with the hit group, ‘The Whispers’ (both on Soul Clock and some of their later Janus recordings). Carson had produced and co-wrote Jesse’s 1975, 20th Century Records release “If You Want A Love Affair/I Never Meant To Love Her” now regarded worldwide as Jesse’s signature song. Carson had a follow up release in the can, which never came to fruition due to Jesse and 20th Century parting company for the second time. Carson by then had moved on and was heavily involved in the production of the Janus distributed blackploitation album “Black Fist” for Happy Fox records. “Black Fist” was a various artists compilation which also featured the Jesse James composition “The Same Thing Happens (Part1 & 2)”. The shelved, proposed 20th Century follow up release would have been “Your More Than A Friend of Mine/I Don’t Want It To End” recorded during 1976. Carson had pitched the idea of a song in a similar vein to the Jackson Sisters 1973 Prophesy Records release “(Why Can’t We Be) More Than Friends” to the songs original songwriting team William Peele Jr and Warren Sams. They duly obliged, coming up with the aforementioned “Your More Than A Friend Of Mine”. Warren Sams along with his half-sister Christine Adams Tripp and their friend Rachel Sanders were none other than the respected vocal trio “Water & Power” who recorded the acclaimed 1975 album of the same name for Fantasy Records and a solitary 45 “Mr Weatherman/If You Don’t Want Me”.
Reissued on vinyl for the first time, Juno Reactor’s 1997 ‘Bible of Dreams’, also newly mastered and available of
double black vinyl.
‘Bible of Dreams’ was Juno Reactor's fourth album. It had a very different sound from the group's previous albums,
and moved away from the traditional dance beats by implementing tribal influences. The band collaborated with
Amampondo, a traditional South African percussion act, on the single ‘Conga Fury’. Watkins and Amampondo went on
a five-week tour of the US, opening for Moby.
Featuring music from the film soundtracks The Matrix Reloaded, Animatrix, Mortal Kombat Annihilation and Beowulf.
Composer, producer, musician and performer Ben Watkins is an essential innovator of modern electronic music and a
pioneer of Trance. Over the course of nearly 30 years, Watkins has created a unique driving fusion of electronica,
orchestral and global music executed on an epic & symphonic scale.
Juno Reactor was formed as an art project in 1990. Ben Watkins wanted to collaborate with other artists, producing
exciting projects that were not commercially driven. He wanted to create experimental music and non-musical
soundtracks that would work with installations, art pieces, and film projects.
As well as releasing a string of influential albums as Juno Reactor, Watkins’ tracks have been placed in numerous highprofile feature films, television programmes and computer games and Ben Watkins composed large sections of the
original score for the films The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, as well as composing the entire orchestral
score for Japanese anime feature film Brave Story.
Released in 1960, Giant Steps was a watershed album for John Coltrane, solidifying the saxophone legend's reputation as one of the most influential and innovative musicians in jazz history, as well as delivering jazz to an increasingly mainstream audience, while garnering significant critical acclaim.
Although this was John Coltrane's debut for Atlantic, he was concurrently performing and recording with Miles Davis. Within the space of less than three weeks, Coltrane would complete his work with Davis and company on another genre-defining disc, Kind of Blue, before commencing his efforts on this one.
Coltrane (tenor sax) is flanked here by essentially two different trios. Recording commenced in early May of 1959 with a pair of sessions that featured Tommy Flanagan (piano) and Art Taylor (drums), as well as Paul Chambers — who was the only bandmember other than Coltrane to have performed on every date. When recording resumed in December of that year, Wynton Kelly (piano) and Jimmy Cobb (drums) were instated — replicating the alternate non-Bill Evans lineup featured on "Freddie the Freeloader" on Kind of Blue, sans Miles Davis of course. At the heart of these recordings, however, is the laser-beam focus of Coltrane's tenor solos.
All seven pieces issued on the original Giant Steps are Coltrane compositions. He was, in essence, beginning to rewrite the jazz canon with material that would be centered on solos — enabling the solo to become infinitely more compelling. This would culminate in a frenetic performance style using melodic phrasing that noted jazz journalist Ira Gitler accurately dubbed "sheets of sound."
The Giant Steps chord progression consists of a distinctive set of chords that create key centers a major third apart. Jazz musicians ever since have used it as a practice piece, its difficult chord changes presenting a "kind of ultimate harmonic challenge", and serving as a gateway into modern jazz improvisation. Several pieces on this album went on to become jazz standards, most prominently "Naima" and "Giant Steps."
The Penguin Guide to Jazz selected this album as part of its suggested "Core Collection" calling it "Trane's first genuinely iconic record." In 2003, the album was ranked No. 102 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, 103 in a 2012 revised list, and 232 in a 2020 revised list.
Undeniable music perfection deserves definitive sound and top-notch packaging. This reissue was mastered directly from the original master tape by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound and cut at 45 RPM. Pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Quality Record Pressings, and housed in tip-on old style gatefold double pocket jackets with film lamination by Stoughton Printing.
Overall, Giant Steps is not only a critical triumph but also a defining moment in John Coltrane's career. Its innovative compositions, masterful performances, and profound influence on jazz make it an essential entry in Coltrane's discography and a timeless masterpiece in the history of the genre.
By welcoming the beauty of imperfection and simplicity, Sven Wunder applies the timeless wisdom of wabi sabi on this musical journey. What you can hear is filtered through Ukiyo-e (which translates as “pictures of the floating world”), which illustrates everyday life, as well as through Japonism, the study of Japanese art, and more specifically its influence on European works. The result is a surface that creates an illusion by sound. The infusion of Min’yō with jazz rock, this hazy scene evokes the landscape of Monet’s ”The Water Lily Pond”, which depicts the painter’s Giverny garden, with a Japanese bridge, bamboo, ginkgo trees and the reflection of the sky in the pond. This illusion constructs both time and space.
The surface of the music, like the canvas of the painting, invents a journey between now and then by interpreting the idiom of folkloric and western art instruments. In this composition, the sound of the Western concert flute, which stretches back to the Renaissance and Baroque periods, evokes the sound of the bamboo-flute (”shakuchachi”), which reached its peak during the Edo period. The guzheng, also known as the Chinese zither, with a more than 2,500 year history, joins traditional Japanese folk melodies with modern pop percussion and 20th century electronic instruments such as the Moog synthesizer, Wurlitzer electric piano and electric bass.
This is the illusion that celebrates the fleeting nature of all things. A journey. A deep inhale and a slow exhale. It has a mix of jazz (both funky and progressive), East Asian and South Asian sounds. The idea of fusing these styles and reframing them with the aesthetic of wabi sabi is to reconnect with nature and concentrate on asymmetries and emphasize ornamentation to generate new ways of looking at the world, here and now.
I am thrilled to share with you the upcoming release of Live Life and Tell Stories, the new album by Figub Brazlevic & John Robinson set to release in the spring of 2023. This album is a celebration of John Robinson's love for storytelling, which has been evident since he was a young child, and his passion for hearing epic storytelling from many of his favorite emcees of the golden era of hip hop.
The connection between Figub Brazlevic and John Robinson is far from a fly-by-night or simply another international internet collaboration. The two met in 2009 during Robinson’s first time touring in Germany, and shortly after, Figub remixed J.R.’s group Scienz Of Life’s Leviathan album for the love and respect of the music. The remixes, which have yet to be released, impressed J.R. and his SOL crew, and he knew he would work together in the future with Figub. That time has come, and the message is clear: Live Life and Tell Stories is a seamless blend of Robinson’s thought-provoking narratives and Brazlevic’s abstract jazzy boombap soundscapes.
This album promises to take listeners on a sonic journey of dope grooves and ill storytelling, where Robinson's unique storytelling abilities are masterfully interwoven with Brazlevic's jazzy, boombap beats. From start to finish, Live Life and Tell Stories is sure to captivate audiences and keep them grooving to its infectious beats.
In an era where the music industry is dominated by short-lived trends, it is refreshing to see two seasoned artists come together to create music that is both timeless and meaningful. This album is a perfect example of what can happen when artists come together to create something truly unique, and I can't wait for its release in the spring of 2023.
So mark your calendars, because Live Life and Tell Stories is set to release in the spring of 2023. This is an album you won't want to miss, so be sure to push play and let Figub Brazlevic & John Robinson take you on a sonic journey of dope grooves and ill storytelling. Let's go!
Neben ihrer Zusammenarbeit mit Modern Cosmology, dem unglaublichen What Will You Grow Now? aus dem letzten Jahr und ihren fortgesetzten Tourneen mit den neu formierten Stereolab ist Laetitia mit Rooting For Love solo plus The Choir zurück in der Welt und ruft uns erneut dazu auf, uns auf unsere innere Ausrichtung und unsere Herzenskraft zu besinnen, um besser gerüstet zu sein für das, was kommen wird. Das regelmäßige Auftauchen von The Choir während Rooting For Love erinnert daran, dass diese Musik von einem Volk in der kritischen Masse stammt, zusätzlich zu einer Entwicklung, die die reichen harmonischen Felder, in denen Laetitia spielt, weiter vertieft. Die diversen musikalischen Arrangements tragen dazu bei - Orgel, Synthesizern, Gitarre, Bass, Posaune, Schlagzeugprogrammierung, Vibraphon und Zither, die alle auf verschlungenen Pfaden von Akkord- und Tempowechseln arbeiten. Der melodische Funk des Bassisten Xavi Muñoz führt zu gelegentlichen Dancefloor-Vibes und No-Wave-Rockouts, während Hannes Plattemier und Emma Mario abwechselnd die Tracks abmischen und das Material mit Vibes, zusätzlichem Drum-Programming und Synthesizern zusammen mit einer talentierten Besetzung von Spielern und Sängern aus Laetitas Source Ensemble und darüber hinaus bereichern. Ob sie sich Laetitia Sadier nun von der eigenen Zen-Shiastu-Ausbildung oder von den Texten von Véronique Vincent (Texterin und Sängerin von Aksak Maboul und einst Leadsängerin der Honeymoon Killers) inspirieren lässt, immer stellt sie sich der Wahrheit, ohne mit der Wimper zu zucken. Die Schatten, aus welchem Stoff sie auch immer bestehen - individuelle und kollektive, gegenwärtige und uralte - müssen erkannt und anerkannt werden, denn je mehr wir in uns selbst heilen, desto ungeteilter werden wir angesichts der drohenden neofaschistischen/neoliberalen Narrative, die die inneren und äußeren Landschaften verschmutzen. Wie das Titelbild des Winterbaums, das sich in den Wortmustern von Rooting For Love widerspiegelt, behauptet Laetitia, dass die Art und Weise, wie wir die kommende Welt heilen, und was wir daraus machen, eine Ko-Kreation sein wird. Die Qualität unserer Vorstellungskraft, die Ausrichtung, die wir unseren Gedanken geben, und die Fähigkeit, uns selbst und der Welt Liebe zu bringen, sind ein erster Schritt.
"7 Estrelas | quem arrancou o céu?" ("7 Stars | Who ripped the sky down?") is the fourth album of the Sao Paulo-based artist Luiza Lian, and her third collaboration with French/Brazilian music producer Charles Tixier. Nearly five years after the celebrated "Azul Moderno", the duo returns to the scene they materialized before a period of darkness that rewrote Brazil's history. And this new visit pushes the boundaries even further with resources that the singer-songwriter had only started exploring on the previous record. The tracks, "Tecnicolor" (featuring the only guest appearance on the album, as Luiza is joined by singer Céu) and "Homenagem" (Homage), continue to explore this new horizon, which becomes increasingly bizarre and deceptive. In addition to layering noises and electronic elements over her musicality, Luiza also explores the range of her vocals by digitally distorting them. The first tracks are just the initial steps in this new work: a profound reflection on how we distort our lives based on false reflections we see both digitally in our use of social media and materially in an increasingly consumerist society. The new album recreates this artificial context in an almost caricatured way, deliberately exaggerated distortions to generate the estrangement we should feel towards the values we cherish and reject based on this false reality we force ourselves to believe in.
Black vinyl LP. Debut album by striking experimental duo featuring Aboriginal songman Fred Leone. Mixed by Jake Miller (Björk, Arca), mastered by Alex Wharton (The Beatles, MBV). RIYL: Autechre, Arca, Björk. Yirinda means 'Now' in Butchulla language. Australian duo Yirinda combine ancient Aboriginal language with sublime modern production. Fred Leone and Samuel Pankhurst's music invokes thousands of generations of story and culture, while emerging as something entirely new. Fred is one of three Butchulla songmen - a song and language custodian for the Butchulla people from the Fraser Coast region of Queensland, including K’gari (formerly known as Fraser Island). He sings the songs on this album in the endangered Butchulla language, now spoken by only a handful of people. Samuel is an internationally acclaimed contrabassist / producer known for his kaleidoscopic harmonies and polyrhythmic mastery. Their self-titled debut album was recorded in Brisbane by Samuel, then mixed in London by Jake Miller (Björk, Arca, Yves Tumor) and mastered at Abbey Road by Alex Wharton (The Beatles, My Bloody Valentine). The album sets Fred’s powerful vocals against striking experimental soundscapes, rich with strings, horns, double bass, synthesizer, piano and percussion. Every arrangement began with Fred's voice alone and from there sounds and systems were constructed. The result is otherworldly, a timeless art music outside Western convention. Yirinda have performed at the Australian Art Music Awards, Vivid Festival, Golden Plains, Dark Mofo, Supersense and elsewhere, and been covered by ABC Radio and NME Australia. Fred has toured Europe as a member of The Black Arm Band, and as a solo artist supporting Ash Grunwald. He founded Australia’s first Aboriginal hip hop label Impossible Odds in the late 2000s. Samuel has performed with the Brodsky Quartet and is a member of the Australian Art Orchestra. He has scored extensively for contemporary dance, and his studio work covers everything from the Bluey TV show to Hiatus Kaiyote




















