Acclaimed NY-based singer songwriter Jordan Lee aka Mutual
Benefit announces ‘Growing At The Edges’, on Transgressive
Records, his first record since 2019.
‘Growing at the Edges’ is sonically expansive, artfully blending
genres from country to classical with the help of multifaceted
co-producer Gabriel Birnbaum (Wilder Maker) and critically
acclaimed string arranger Concetta Abbate. The band,
alongside Lee and Birnbaum, was made up of Wilder Maker
members Sean Mullins (Andy Shauf) and Nick Jost (Baroness)
and features help from Jonnie Baker of Florist and Eva
Goodman of Nighttime among others.
“I approached ‘Growing at the Edges’ as an act of worldbuilding. It was a place we visited often over the past 5 years
collaging and sonically redecorating until it reflected the joy and
the pain of being human in a universe that will always be
changing. I wanted to make music that could simultaneously
mourn versions of the past but still find hope in the seedlings
which could, perhaps, bloom into better futures” - Jordan Lee
The album cover is a purposefully ‘unfinished’ weaving by fibre
artist Natalie Phillips.
“I had this theme for ‘Growing at the Edges’ where I was
thinking about the first little life forms that pop up after
something natural like winter or less natural like a disaster and
kind of channeling their spirit for the art and music. That got me
imagining one of Natalie’s beautiful weavings but in-process
with stray yarn and loom still visible. Incomplete yet still
beautiful. I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out.”
Mutual Benefit’s live shows are known for their rotating cast of
wide-ranging musicians leading to inspired interpretations of the
extensive catalogue on notable stages like MoMA’s sculpture
garden or UK’s Green Man Festival as well as the occasional
surprise park or basement show at home in Brooklyn.
Throughout the years Mutual Benefit has been in Album Of The
Year lists among Pitchfork and Stereogum, as well as Folk
Musician Of The Year by New York’s Village Voice.
Suche:night pitch
- A1: The Orielles - Beam/S (Space Afrika Remix)
- A2: Amber Arcades - Turning Light (Justin Robertson’s Deadstock 33’S Meditation)
- A3: Unloved - Number In My Phone (Black Science Orchestra Dub)
- B1: Confidence Man - Toy Boy (Raw Silk Instrumental Remix)
- B2: David Holmes & Raven Violet - It’s Over If We Run Out Of Love (Lovefingers & Heidi Lawden Low Tide Mix)
- B3: Baxter Dury - Miami (Pilooski Instrumental Dub)
- C1: Out Cold - Loving Arms (Hardway Brothers Remix)
- C2: Working Men’s Club - Cut (Mella Dee Spangled On The Terrace Dub)
- D1: Eyes Of Others - Safehouse (Decius Remix)
- D2: Katy J Pearson - Howl (Umlauts Remix)
- D3: Fran Lobo - All I Want (Tone Remix)
Heavenly Recordings release the next two volumes in their series of remixed classics and unreleased versions. ‘Heavenly Remixes 7 & 8’ sees the label going back into the archive, as well as picking off some more recent remixes, and both albums primarily feature either previously unreleased versions or re-workings available for the first time on vinyl and CD.
Heavenly have always seen immense value in the remix, a value way beyond what it might bring commercially. Since their first release in 1990 (where Andrew Weatherall overhauled a one-off single by club kids Sly and Lovechild) Heavenly remixes have been carefully curated and treated as a key part of the A&R process. It’s an opportunity to view an artist through a different prism, to play out a musical ‘what if’ scenario. It’s the kind of exploration that’s happened consistently through the thirty plus years the label has released music.
The ‘Heavenly remixes’ series continues to showcase the very best remixes, versions, meditations, re-rubs and dubs from all around the world of artists right across the roster of the country’s most exciting record label. In most cases, the albums offer the first physical release for a remix, elevating them from streaming playlists to their rightful, spiritual home on super heavy vinyl (or shiny, super-packed compact disc).
Heavenly remixes 7’ heads to Belfast, where David Holmes - a producer who first appeared on Heavenly in 1994 amping up the acid on Saint Etienne’s ‘Like A Motorway’ - appears as solo artist and as one third of Unloved, who get a lift right to the heart of a Vauxhall sweatbox by Horse Meat Disco. It draws a line between Amsterdam and Frankfurt as Ludwig A.F. amps up the electronics on Pip Blom’s ‘Keep It Together’. It stops off in a south London studio where super producer Dan Carey plays the desk with Toy, then relocates LA psych rock band Fever The Ghost to an Ibizan shoreline as the sun sets on the horizon. It cements Sheffield’s reputation as the home of modern British techno with the return of true originators Forgemasters. And it pitches up in front of a renegade soundsystem late night at Glastonbury as Erol Alkan’s mighty rework of Con Man gets its third rewind of the night.
‘Heavenly remixes 8’ opens with Space Afrika’s lush, ambient reimagining of the Orielles’ ‘BEAM/S’ before Justin Robertson stretches Amber Arcades’ ‘Turning Light’ into eight minutes of electronic dub. Elsewhere, Baxter Dury’s peerless ‘Miami’ becomes a string-laden electro skank in the hands of French producer Pilooski; Edinburgh’s bedroom techno genius Eyes of Others’ ‘Safehouse’ turns into an East End bathhouse courtesy of disco deviants Decius; Ashley Beedle’s Black Science Orchestra turns Unloved’s heartworn torch song into seven minutes of glimmering dreamlike percussive house and Katy J. Pearson’s freak flag is flown high thanks to The Umlauts’ throbbing filtered electro mix. It ends similarly to how it began as TONE takes
Fran Lobo’s ‘All I Want’ on a gorgeous slow motion spacewalk.
: Written and recorded in a series of bedroom studiosin England and France, London-based Gareth Donkin’s extraordinary debut, Welcome Home, showcases the 23-year-old’s stunning mix of instrumental virtuosity and emotional intuition, blending highly sophisticated melodic and harmonic craftsmanship with deeply moving lyrical explorations of longing, desire, and determination. The songs here draw on soul, funk, pop, yacht rock,hip-hop, jazz, and even bossa nova, hinting at times to everything from Michael Jackson and Bill Evans to George Benson and Jamiroquai, and Donkin’s performances are nothing short of mesmerizing, layering up instrument after instrument in the best one-man-band tradition of Prince or Stevie Wonder. The result is a moving work that’s equal parts brain and brawn, a masterful coming-of-age self-portrait from a young artist discovering himself—and his sound—one song at a time. Born with perfect pitch, Donkin was already fanatically obsessed with both jazz piano and drums before he turned twelve. In high school, he began DJing and teaching himself to record and sample, and by the time he headed to the Leeds College of Music to pursue a degree in production, he was already writing and recording his own material at home. His first single, “Catharsis,” would go on to rack up more than a million streams on Spotify, and a series of subsequent tracks would find similarly organic success and help land him a deal with the burgeoning drink sum wtr label.
We want to celebrate the 5th Volume of our best series "Raving Disorder" in a special way.
Our Boss D. Carbone choose 6 of his favorite Artists on the label to make a Collab with each one.
DSTM, d_b, Hypnoskull, Lucas Campagna, SDBX, and Valerio Innorta are the mans who joined the boss in this amazing feature it creates a don't-miss duty bomb for your night.
A1 Never Stop The Raveolution is a dark and heavy techno banger that takes the mentality of D. Carbone and DSTM and brings it furthermore in the Techno Revolution Aim.
A2 The boss meets the mysterious d_b again after their debuts on Green Fetish Records "The Bad Dance" is a groovy Banger singed by d_b himself accompanied by powerful kick and 90's groove with dystopian noises and bells deliver the Kaos.
A3 D. Carbone featuring one of the most underground legends in Techno Hypnoskull with "We are Stronger".
The track is a Hymn against capitalism, a selfish attitude, and all the bad things of the Modern Era.
Listen deep to it!
B1 Starts with "Social Pressure" along with boy Lucas Campagna who meets the boss to create an absurd heavy banger, dreamy, powerful, complex, and modern make this a don't-miss bomb in your collection.
B2 is "Pitch You Back" along with SDBX a truly hit played by D. Carbone in almost every set during last year, is the first of long series of heavy hitters by this duo who is already working on EP, since the first listen to this track will be unforgettable.
B3 "Push Your Back Spin" is the Collaboration with the Roman hardcore boy Valerio Innorta, as the title says this track will let your back spin a heavy dance, the track came out after last Valerio's release on Carbone Records and blends in a perfect way this new style with the D. Carbone powerful sound.
Don't miss this vinyl, limited to 300 Marbled blue.
Rave On!
Black Truffle is pleased to announce Tender Membranes, the label’s first release from Swedish-Finnish sound artist and electro-acoustic composer Marja Ahti. Active for a decade in the Finnish underground music scene, in recent years Ahti has developed a distinctive approach to patiently unfolding electro-acoustic constructions, documented on a string of solo releases and collaborative projects with Judith Hamann and her husband Niko-Matti Ahti. Working with concrete and instrumental sounds, field recordings, and electronics, Ahti favours neither disjunctive collage nor monolithic consistency; rather, her work is composed of organically unfolding sequences of details and textures, which, as she says, ‘can stretch out or cut fast as long as they have a sense of inner stillness’, a sense that she connects to moments of heightened attention in everyday life. Tender Membranes consists of four lengthy pieces, partly inspired by the image of the senses and mind as membranes allowing for the passage between inner and outer spaces, sensation and its causes, creating a world. Ahti’s unhurried pacing encourages this sense of listening as an opening or surrender to sound, which can often create the impression that the listener is moving through a space zooming in on details. The opening Shrine (Aether) exemplifies this aspect of Ahti’s approach: a bell clears the air with a single long tone, followed by the ambience of outdoor spaces, crackling electronics, an archival recording of a horsefly on a windowpane. Dozens of these moments, varying in length, density, and intensity, move past the listener’s attention, momentarily brought into focus then slipping away. Like those of the masters of the French musique concrète tradition, Ahti’s sounds are not often recognisable, though they might suggest proximity or distance, open environments or closed spaces, the urban or rural, day or night. In Ahti’s work, we do not encounter spectacular metamorphoses à la Parmegiani but rather a state of ambiguity where the listener is often unsure what is organic and what is inorganic, where the careful productions of the synthesizer might end and sounds discovered in the environment begin. What Ahti calls her ‘poetic way of experiencing and organising the familiar and the unfamiliar’ is sustained throughout Tender Membranes, but each piece has its own character. On Dust / Light, human presence is more overt, as what appear to be whispers, singing, and distant speech thread between high frequencies, untraceable drips and pops, and metallic shimmers. In all this there is a melody that you can sing and to which you may dance makes more prominent use of musical instruments, gaining a sombre beauty from half-buried piano chords and organ tones. On the closing Oh Fragrant Witness, a delicate cloud of subtly bending pitches is repeatedly disrupted by a resounding, almost ominous mass of low tones, at once a strange detour from much of what has gone before and an almost classical finale. Arriving in a sleeve reproducing contemporary Finnish photographer Sini Pelkki’s fragmented visions of the everyday, Tender Membranes is a balm to reawaken tired ears.
Dunkelgrünes Vinyl. Vor einigen Jahren, irgendwo in einem Tour Van in Idaho, wurde den Chastity Belt Mitgliedern Julia Shapiro, Gretchen Grimm, Lydia Lund und Annie Truscott zu langweilig und sie fanden eine recht ungewöhnliche Beschäftigung: Sie fingen an einander Komplimente zu machen, sehr detailliert und umfangreich. Das mögen wir an dir am Liebsten; Deshalb lieben wir dich. An dieses Bild denke ich die ganze Zeit, die Vier, wie sie sich den anderen gegenüber auf diese Weise offenbaren, freiwillig. Es fällt schwer sich vorzustellen, dass das andere Bands tun würden. Jenseits ihrer doch recht omnipräsenten Social Media Seiten mit tonnen von Duck Face Schnuten, der ,I don't care" Attitüde, liegt ganz am Grund eine Ehrlichkeit und Intimität als auch eine emotionale Brillanz, die alles was Chastity Belt kreieren, verschmelzen lässt. Simple ausgedrückt: Sie sind witzig aber auch in der Lage sehr verletzlich zu sein. Giant Vagina und Pussy Weed Beer, zwei Highlights ihres 2013er Debüts No Regerts, wurden prompt gefolgt von dem großartigen aber leicht zu übersehenden Happiness. Bei dem 2015er Time to Go Home habe ich ständig meine jüngere, unstetere Version vor Augen gehabt. Der kommende Juni markiert die Veröffentlichung von I Used to Spend So Much Time Alone, ihr drittes und bisher bestes Album. Mit dem Produzenten Matthew Simms (Wire) live im Juli 2016 in Portland / Oregon (Geburtsstätte einiger ihrer favorisierten Elliot Smith Alben) aufgenommen, ist es ein dunkles und ungewöhnlich schönes Set aus Moody Post Punk, dass die Gefühlsbreite der Band aus Seattle in vollem Ausmaß und nicht durch Humor gefiltert zeigt. Da ist keine Ironie im Titel: Bevor sie Chastity Belt gründete, sah sich Shapiro klar als einsamen Wolf. Das ist keine kleine Geste. Ich kann dieses Album so sehr nachempfinden wie in meinen 20ern: Das ist ein mutiges und oft berauschendes Gewirr aus gemischten Gefühlen und quälenden Melodien, die atemberaubende Angst (This Time of Night) mit schimmernder Erkenntnis (Different Now) und hauchdünner Ungewissheit (Stuck - geschrieben und gesungen von Grimm) verbindet. Es ist eine ernste Platte. Shapiro definiert es wahrscheinlich am besten selbst: ,I wanna be sincere." Als ich die Band frage, wie dieser Text hier werden soll, war ihr einziger Anspruch, dass er kurz, ehrlich und ohne Übertreibung sein soll, Als ich mehr erfahren will sagt Truscott: "Just say that we love each other. Because we do." So sind sie, deshalb liebe ich sie. - David Bevan (Pitchfork), Februar 2017
ANTI- Records is honored to share a never-before-heard album by Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse titled Bird Machine. Originally recorded in 2010 and mixed by Mark Hamilton (who also worked on It"s A Wonderful Life), Mark"s brother Matt notes "great care has been taken to archive and preserve Mark"s music.
We are very thankful for Mark and the beauty he brought to this world." Sparklehorse was an American indie rock band formed by singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mark Linkous in the mid-1990s.
Born on September 9, 1962, in Arlington, Virginia, Linkous began playing music as a teenager. Described as an artist who "compelled listeners to heed the beauty of darkness" by Pitchfork, Sparklehorse released many influential records, including the renowned albumsn Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot and Good Morning Spider in the "90s, It"s A Wonderful Life and Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain in the early aughts, and a collaborative album Dark Night of the Soul released in 2010.
Throughout his career Mark collaborated with thought provoking artists like Vic Chesnutt, Daniel Johnston, Tom Waits, Danger Mouse, and David Lynch.
While Mark recorded in various studios, collaborating with other musicians and producers, he did much of his work in his home studio, Static King, often playing and recording everything on his own. He was "very much kind of a working-class guy with a very poetic sensibility, who was drawn to artists like himself, who worked in isolation," said NPR Fresh Air"s Ken Tucker.
ANTI- Records is honored to share a never-before-heard album by Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse titled Bird Machine. Originally recorded in 2010 and mixed by Mark Hamilton (who also worked on It"s A Wonderful Life), Mark"s brother Matt notes "great care has been taken to archive and preserve Mark"s music.
We are very thankful for Mark and the beauty he brought to this world." Sparklehorse was an American indie rock band formed by singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mark Linkous in the mid-1990s.
Born on September 9, 1962, in Arlington, Virginia, Linkous began playing music as a teenager. Described as an artist who "compelled listeners to heed the beauty of darkness" by Pitchfork, Sparklehorse released many influential records, including the renowned albumsn Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot and Good Morning Spider in the "90s, It"s A Wonderful Life and Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain in the early aughts, and a collaborative album Dark Night of the Soul released in 2010.
Throughout his career Mark collaborated with thought provoking artists like Vic Chesnutt, Daniel Johnston, Tom Waits, Danger Mouse, and David Lynch.
While Mark recorded in various studios, collaborating with other musicians and producers, he did much of his work in his home studio, Static King, often playing and recording everything on his own. He was "very much kind of a working-class guy with a very poetic sensibility, who was drawn to artists like himself, who worked in isolation," said NPR Fresh Air"s Ken Tucker.
Available only n Germany!
ANTI- Records is honored to share a never-before-heard album by Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse titled Bird Machine. Originally recorded in 2010 and mixed by Mark Hamilton (who also worked on It"s A Wonderful Life), Mark"s brother Matt notes "great care has been taken to archive and preserve Mark"s music.
We are very thankful for Mark and the beauty he brought to this world." Sparklehorse was an American indie rock band formed by singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mark Linkous in the mid-1990s.
Born on September 9, 1962, in Arlington, Virginia, Linkous began playing music as a teenager. Described as an artist who "compelled listeners to heed the beauty of darkness" by Pitchfork, Sparklehorse released many influential records, including the renowned albumsn Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot and Good Morning Spider in the "90s, It"s A Wonderful Life and Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain in the early aughts, and a collaborative album Dark Night of the Soul released in 2010.
Throughout his career Mark collaborated with thought provoking artists like Vic Chesnutt, Daniel Johnston, Tom Waits, Danger Mouse, and David Lynch.
While Mark recorded in various studios, collaborating with other musicians and producers, he did much of his work in his home studio, Static King, often playing and recording everything on his own. He was "very much kind of a working-class guy with a very poetic sensibility, who was drawn to artists like himself, who worked in isolation," said NPR Fresh Air"s Ken Tucker.
Next Pressing on White Vinyl, single LP w/ printed inner sleeve + lyric insert and Download card. The Armed return with their first new album in over three years and Sargent House debut, ULTRAPOP. The album reaches the same extremities of sonic expression as the furthest depths of metal, noise, and otherwise "heavy" counterculture music subgenres but finds its foundation firmly in pop music and pop culture. As is always The Armed's mission, it seeks only to create the most intense experience possible, a magnification of all culture, beauty, and things. The band goes on to explain, "crafting vital art means presenting the audience with new and intriguing tensions-sonically, visually, conceptually. Over time and through use, those tensions become less novel and effective-and they become expectations. The concept of "subgenre" becomes almost the antithesis of vitality in art-itself a fetishization of expectation. ULTRAPOP seeks, in earnest, to create a truly new listener experience. It is an open rebellion against the culture of expectation in "heavy" music. It is a joyous, genderless, post-nihilist, anti-punk, razor-focused take on creating the most intense listener experience possible. It's the harshest, most beautiful, most hideous thing we could make." ULTRAPOP follows their recent contribution to the Cyberpunk 2077 soundtrack "Night City Aliens" and 2018's critically acclaimed album Only Love, which landed on 'Album of the Year' lists from The Atlantic, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Vice, Stereogum, and many more. The album was co-produced by the band's own Dan Greene in collaboration with Ben Chisholm (Chelsea Wolfe) and features contributions from Mark Lanegan, Troy Van Leeuwen (Queens of the Stone Age, A Perfect Circle), Ben Koller (Converge, Killer Be Killed, Mutoid Man) and many more. Kurt Ballou (Converge, High on Fire, Russian Circles) remains at the helm as executive producer.
Very limited Red Opaque vinyl. Single LP w/ printed inner sleeve + Download card. "a startling balance between chaos and structure, building up gorgeous torrents of sound that land with a crash" - THE NEW YORKER // A terrific blend of hardcore, punk, noise, and yes, pop. - INTERVIEW MAGAZINE // one of 2021's most thrilling listens. - STEREOGUM // What if Andy Warhol was really into Converge and CrossFit? That's the logline, as the now eight-piece band attempts to reflect pop music and pop culture through the heaviest, most swole lens possible. - PITCHFORK Best New Music // The Armed are set to release ULTRAPOP: Live at the Masonic Temple, an incredible live soundtrack from the band's narrative-driven concert film of the same name. The album and film were captured in the opulent chapels, imposing asylum rooms, full-size indoor handball courts, halls (and more) of the mysterious Masonic Temple of Detroit; a 550,000 square foot fortress in the heart of the city. ULTRAPOP: Live at the Masonic features breathtaking, hyperactive performances of tracks off The Armed's break-out album ULTRAPOP, selections from their second LP, Only Love, the CYBERPUNK 2077 single "Night City Aliens" and culminates in the ultimate catharsis with the entire collective converging for the devastating closer "On Jupiter." The Armed's latest album ULTRAPOP, released in April of 2021, received acclaim across the board, gaining the highly coveted Pitchfork Best New Music and praise from The New Yorker Magazine, Vulture, Stereogum, Revolver. AV Club, Fader, Bandcamp, Entertainment Weekly, Interview Magazine, and so much more. Reaching the same extremities of sonic expression as the furthest depths of metal, noise, and otherwise "heavy" counterculture music subgenres, it finds its foundation firmly in pop music and pop culture. A joyous, genderless, post-nihilist, anti-punk, razor-focused take on creating the most intense listening experience possible, and now with ULTRAPOP: Live At The Masonic, the most intense live experience possible.
Tomboy ist das vierte Soloalbum des amerikanischen Musikers Panda Bear (alias Noah Lennox), das am 4. April 2011 zunächst als Online-Stream und später auch physisch veröffentlicht wurde. Gemischt wurde es vom britischen Musiker Sonic Boom. Im Gegensatz zu den Sample-basierten Kompositionen des vorherigen Panda Bear-Albums Person Pitch (2007) wurde bei der Aufnahme von Tomboy ein reduzierter Sound verwendet, bei dem die Gitarre durch Korg M3-M Workstation-Module bearbeitet wurde.
- Conjuration ( Live ) ( 02:01 )
- Hell ( Live ) ( 04:26 )
- Nadja ( Live )( 02:57 )
- The Goat ( Live ) ( 01:08 )
- Marguerite & Gretchen ( Live ) ( 05:59 )
- Zuleika ( Live ) ( 04:17 )
- Il Giardino Di Monte Oliveto Maggiore ( Live ) ( 04:22 )
- Justine ( Live ) ( 03:39 )
- Of Menstrual Blood & Semen ( Live ) ( 06:08 )
- A Skin For Dancing In ( Live ) ( 07:04 )
- The Horns Of Baphomet ( Live ) ( 07:25 )
Decades Of Devil Worship
HIGHLIGHTING OVER 25 YEARS SINCE THE BIRTH OF THE UK EXTREME METAL GREATS, WITH A STORMING LIVE SATANIC ASSAULT OF CLASSICS FROM AKERCOCKE'S EARLY REPERTOIRE
Throughout the years, Akercocke has become known for its savage & prodigious
live work. And now, with a stunningly produced & meticulously delivered torrent of
high-octane blackened death metal captured live in at the Underworld in London
in 2007, Akercocke blast through a collection of tracks lifted from the classic
debut, 'Rape Of The Bastard Nazarene' & follow-up album 'The Goat Of Mendes'
for a night of pure satanic magic with 'Decades Of Devil Worship', a hellish &
eclectic journey through the ritualistic & the profane.
Towering above most nefarious contemporary noisemakers, London's Akercocke
erupted across the consciousness of the UK metal scene in the late '90's,
wielding a fiendishly inventive blend of death, black & progressive metal. Their
distinctive, smartly-dressed demeanour & eloquent preoccupation with all things
dark & Satanic marked them out both as ferociously individual artists &
enlightened students of the pitch-black sonic code. Immediately embraced by the
British faithful upon the release of debut album 'Rape Of The Bastard Nazarene',
Akercocke spent the following decade leading the creative charge for their entire
native scene.
Akercocke received widespread acclaim for follow- up album 'The Goat Of
Mendes' (Peaceville, 2001) & despite enjoying furious momentum over the
following years, the release of fifth album 'Antichrist' in 2007 signalled the end of
the first chapter of the Akercocke story, when the band retreated into the
shadows & remained dormant for the best part of a decade until a triumphant
return was marked with the stellar Peaceville return, 'Renaissance In Extremis',
released in 2017.
On June 16th, 2023, Steven Julien and Kyle Hall return with their first EP together in ten years, CROWN. The record follows earlier EPs the duo created under their former alias Funkinevil, 2013's Ignorant and 2012's Night/Dusk. The record once again brings together two artists from opposite sides of the pond—Julien hailing from London and Hall representing Detroit—with a shared love for soul in its purest essence.
Opening "Page 1", a pitched-down vocal by James Massiah pronounces, "My plan—won't let you take it from hand." That alone could be considered the nut graph of a record about taking ownership, created by two vanguards in the electronic music scene that, a decade ago, insisted on infusing their music with soul in a commercial club circuit lacking in it.
Assembled from a few years-worth of studio jams in Julien's studio, Crown dials up the staticky warmth present on earlier Funkinevil tracks like "Dusk" and "In The Grid." Across seven songs, Funkinevil shaves off some of their tougher elements, instead shooting for pastoral melodies and funky basslines, like on "Page 2", where Vicky Flint's flute flutters sleepily over breaks and a groovy Korg synthesizer. But the atmosphere on the EP is also grander than ever—on "Page 5," Cloud's wistful melisma soars over Flint's bleating saxophone and wandering sci-fi synths.
With all this attention to funky musicality, it's only fitting that two legends specializing in the craft would land on the B-side—Däm Funk revs up "Page 3" with a slamming kick and his unmistakable coolness, and Reggie B turns "Page 5" into a sludgy, jazzy dance party.
In the words of Julien, "I think a lot of people have forgotten about what this whole thing is about. Musically, artistry and everything. So I'm happy this is what we represent on this project."
Following the partnership between Altrimenti and Quindi for a suite of remixes of Cabaret du Ciel, the two Italian labels collaborate once again to explore three vivid versions of tracks from Woo's exquisite album Paradise In Pimlico. The verdant, delicate musicality of Woo's original material offers an abundance of riches for remixers, and the results are true to Altrimenti's stated purpose to explore and experiment in the fusion of different approaches to electronic music.
On the A side, Joseph Tagliabue offers up a snaking, psychedelically charged dancefloor vision of 'Cadenza d'Innocenza'. Milan-based Tagliabue has developed a potent sonic signature across releases for labels like Invisible Inc. and Sound Metaphors before starting his own Blue Sea Studio as an outlet for his expanding work into the field of contemporary soundtracks. That cinematic sensibility comes through in waves on this subtly trance-licked epic - a soaring set piece for the most dramatic of party situations.
On the B side, Leeway opens proceedings with his remix of 'Even More Notes'. As the founder of Wain Records and the Scram club night, the London-based producer is fostering a culture of leftfield dance music with an organic sensibility. On his interpretation of Woo, he offers up a more experimental, dub-informed strain of 4/4 club rhythms.
Completing the set, Other Lands & Linkwood join forces for their approach to 'Gold Star'. Other Lands is also known as Fudge Fingas, and alongside Linkwood he helped shape the warm, deeply rooted house sound of seminal label Firecracker Recordings. The duo's affinity for soulful musicianship and the disco roots of house music comes through in this spiralling, hazy rendition perfectly pitched at moments when a softer, more spiritual approach is needed without losing the guidance of an insistent groove.
Once again the overarching theme on this collection of remixes remains quality - a pursuit of meaningful expression, originality and open-hearted musicality. From the source material to the resulting remixes, the pursuit was a successful one.
RAMBADU - EN VIRON
Rambadu's latest release "EN VIRON" aims to make you see life in a new light. He experimented with a unique tuning that holds a closer connection with our environments. Each day we go through cycles and especially when we remove ourselves from urban areas; some of these natural patterns become very distinct.
"En Viron", in the late afternoon life is the most vibrant and lush. The sun is high in the sky and all plants emit a fluorescent green glow.
"Ruutan", as the sun sets the creatures of the night slowly take over, filling the calm darkness with high pitched rattling noises that keep dancing in our inner ears.
"Zaouia", when the morning comes the first birds will sing and almost sound like an alarm that announces a new sequence and day.
The sounds and colors of nature will always be present to guide us.
All sleeves are hand-made with love!
First LP from Donna Candy, the bass-vocal-drums trio trawled from the sub genres of experimental rock and busy pushing to the front of heavy music. Nu metal bass riffs, switch-pitched fuzz vocals and big, splashy drums layer over unsettling narratives and extreme loops to bring a bit of the pit to the dancefloor.
Begun as an off the cuff party band with the idea of finding a live sound that would fit between 4am trance sets, the trio soon found themselves addicted to the euphoric sludge they created. Swapping their usual guitar for a bass, JS Donny drives Donna Candy with simple riffs, split half clean and half shredded with Boris / Sunn O))) like distortion. Head-banging the whole way, they’ll switch speed or stop suddenly, bending and drawing out notes to ratchet things up for release. Nadja's vocals tear through the top layer - heavily processed and warped with weird imagery. Together there’s a feeling of what it might be like to see Sightings slowed by codeine but with Elvin Brandi on the mic.
Always set up facing each other, off stage and surrounded by the audience, Donna Candy encourage catharsis - reciprocally transforming energy between themselves and the crowd. They build a queer euphoria that pulls apart metal’s narrow dichotomy of nihilistic machismo vs. hyperfemininity, and begins to make the visceral faux-hybridity of nineties nu metal feel possible this time around. ‘Blooming’ brings us six offerings from the band on a four way split release that speaks for itself - once on board with the DC energy you’ll want to be a part of it.
The duo WILDES from the south of Germany, consisting of Jana Pantha and Jenny Tulipa, presents a musical mix of electro-synth-pop, post-punk and dark disco influences. After the release of their first EP “RAWWR” in 2021, their debut album entitled “KLISCHEE” will be released on 3 February 2023. Released via the Kommando 84 label, the album features 11 songs and a musical re-interpretation of German-language Neue Deutsche Welle sounds. The songs combine spoken word passages in which the singers combine a certain irony with word-playful rhymes. In addition to world-political, social issues, the songs revolve around the complexity of the new romance in love - between cosmos and stereo. The strong and experimentally avant-garde lyrics accompany the danceable pulse of the drum computer, melodic synth waves and the shimmering solos of the lead guitar.
The album “Klischee” begins with an electro-pop track that combines consistent grooves with atmo- spheric sound arrangements and a lead guitar that accompanies our journey to the moon. With the chorus’ high-pitched words, „Konsum - leg mich auf den Moon“ (“Consumption - put me on the Moon”), WILDES dryly yet humorously allude to a society that couldn’t fly “higher”.
The following cheeky song Leger in Schwarz combines impeccable post punk with influences from the NNDW scene. A short love story led by the electronic beat of the synthesizer makes the hearts of the night beat faster. With casual reduction, a guitar riff leads through the song. The guitar solo finally rounds off the plea about the longing for a good flirt.
Italo disco shimmers and pulsates on the driving song Capri. With lyrics like “Pack the boats - Vai a bordo”, Capri is a homage to the tried and tested Italo feeling with a cappucino on the terrazza, or indeed on the yacht with a view of the rocky walls of the island. An electric charge of sequencers and synth tracks acts here as a lightness of being in contrast to the porosity of the rock.
An electrifying electric guitar solo kicks off the fourth track with a mysterious invitation to Steig ein translated, get in. Hypnotised by the lights of the road, dazzled in the side mirror, a clearly repeating rhythm leads into the chorus and through the coming verses. English spoken-word lyrics add to the stoicism of the German language. The song’s great power ends with the line Lost in the dark, holding open the finale of the “Night Drive” encounter.
Digital and stereo on all channels, the distinctly tight and robust rhythm sounds in the song Apparat. A clear and simple synth melody is heard as a contrast and the electric bass gives the balance of the machine at points. Hiddenly, WILDES points here to the superior power that can control human action beyond all limits. A piece as a laudation to all the science fiction novels that play with the switching of the individual parts.
Side One of the vinyl is finalised by a song called La Grande Bellezza that motivates to dance and sing along. The punky pop craft lives through the recurring beat of the rhythm guitar. Here the focus is on the woman in all her facets. The great beauty, una donna, who can do everything as well as wanting everything and nothing...a strong woman who, however, also staggers and wants to jump off the cliff. Clearly and distinctly, the musical accompaniment of the drum machine and the accompanying synth melody reflect hidden parallel worlds and the ambiguity of character - of life? We get a desire for more and turn the round record.
The B side starts with a powerful guitar riff, complemented by a catchy and strong bassline that runs through the song. In this work, WILDES provocatively describes the West’s lust for the much-cov- eted Schwarzes Gold black gold. The song is reminiscent of the works of the band D.A.F. and thus ties in with the electronic punk sound spate.
The driving guitar riff joins in with the reduced synth bass sequence - the electro-pop song with the title Hitze (Heat) came onto the digital music market as the first single from the LP in the summer of 2022. Pulsatingly, the drum computer lets the beats vibrate to the rhythm of heated air. The duo po- etically describes heat with supercooled voices, a clarity in the sky that makes everything flow, that makes the breath dry. The work ends with a melodic synth solo.
Ich lad dich ein, I invite you - we have all said or heard this sentence before. A chance meeting of two people later leads to the altar in love. A far-reaching question that more or less arises in many love relationships at some point “Do you dare?” positions itself in lyrical contrast to the simple ques- tion in the refrain “Do you need sugar?”. WILDES plays with laconic poetry and, full of irony, makes the listeners think about living together. Krautrock contours are skilfully used in this piece. Reduced to the essentials, the chorus immediately sticks in the ear. A cheerful mix of steel drums and infec- tious solo.
Toccami - touch me! We sit on padded leather chairs - “you’re a rocket! Peng Puff Peng” - this song by the band WILDES joins experimental art-punk-pop, electronically with flowing synth waves we take off immediately. Melodically sung, lyrical layers of lyrics dance loosely light and gracefully in the ears of the viewer. The rhythmic beat visualises the feeling of floating in a spaceship. It’s love in the universe - “I love you, my darling” sounds tipsy in the beat-heavy disco refrain.
Hypnotically, WILDES launches into the final song of the entire LP. The title Zone takes us on a journey through time. Inspired by the film Stalker, we find ourselves in a science fiction setting that couldn’t be more present in today’s European events. The musicality of the electric guitar riffs ac- companied by simple new wave drums drives the listener into unknown realms.
Repetition and electronic synth sounds play a compositional role alongside rocking guitar riffs like their forerunners in the NDW scene. Lyrically, each song varies between pop-romantic and politically critical passages. Listeners start pondering about hedonistic life and its consequences. Sometimes it feels like listening to a Tarantino soundtrack in German, other times it feels like listening to an 80s track by a James Bond. Science fiction fantasies and reality add up in dadaistic theatricality to spir- ited synthpunk of the New German Wave from the South. Discoid beats and driving drums in digital are included.
Eric D. Johnson rarely lingers at one location too long. As a kid growing up in the Midwest, Johnson's family moved around a lot, but it wasn't until he became a touring musician years later that motion became a central part of his identity. That transient lifestyle stoked an enduring reverence for the world he watched pass by through a van window. A sense of place is a unifying theme he's revisited with Fruit Bats throughout its many lives. From the project's origins in the late '90s as a vehicle for Johnson's lo-fi tinkering to the more sonically ambitious work of recent years, Fruit Bats has often showcased love songs where people and locations meld into one. It's a loose song structure that navigates what he calls "the geography of the heart." "The songs exist in a world that you can sort of travel from one to another," says Johnson. "There are roads and rivers between these songs." Those pathways extend straight through the newest Fruit Bats album, aptly titled A River Running to Your Heart . Self-produced by Johnson_a first for Fruit Bats_with Jeremy Harris at Panoramic House just north of San Francisco, it's Fruit Bats' tenth full-length release and one that finds the project in the middle of a creative resurgence. After two decades of making music, hard-earned emotional maturity has seeped into Johnson's songs, resulting in a more complex sound that's connected with audiences like no other previous version of Fruit Bats. A River Running to Your Heart represents the fullest realization of that creative vision to date. It's a sonically diverse effort that largely explores the importance of what it means to be home, both physically and spiritually. And while that might seem like a peculiar focus for an artist who's constantly in motion, for Fruit Bats, home can take many forms_from the obvious to the obscure. Lead single "Rushin' River Valley" is a self-propelled love song written about Johnson's wife that clings to the borrowed imagery of the place where she grew up in northern California. Then, there's the gentle and unfussy acoustic ballad "We Used to Live Here," which looks back to a time of youthful promise and cheap rent. But the wistful "It All Comes Back" is perhaps the most stunning and surprising track on the album, Johnson's production skills on full display. Built upon intricate layers of synths, keyboards, and guitars, it's a pitch-perfect blend of tone and lyricism that taps into our shared apprehensions and hopes for a post-pandemic life. "We lost some time / But we can make it back / Let's take it easy on ourselves, okay?" sings a world-weary but ultimately reassuring Johnson in the song's opening lines. It's the kind of performance that makes you hope Fruit Bats stays in this one place, at least for a little while longer.
BLUE & BONE VINYL
Eric D. Johnson rarely lingers at one location too long. As a kid growing up in the Midwest, Johnson's family moved around a lot, but it wasn't until he became a touring musician years later that motion became a central part of his identity. That transient lifestyle stoked an enduring reverence for the world he watched pass by through a van window. A sense of place is a unifying theme he's revisited with Fruit Bats throughout its many lives. From the project's origins in the late '90s as a vehicle for Johnson's lo-fi tinkering to the more sonically ambitious work of recent years, Fruit Bats has often showcased love songs where people and locations meld into one. It's a loose song structure that navigates what he calls "the geography of the heart." "The songs exist in a world that you can sort of travel from one to another," says Johnson. "There are roads and rivers between these songs." Those pathways extend straight through the newest Fruit Bats album, aptly titled A River Running to Your Heart . Self-produced by Johnson_a first for Fruit Bats_with Jeremy Harris at Panoramic House just north of San Francisco, it's Fruit Bats' tenth full-length release and one that finds the project in the middle of a creative resurgence. After two decades of making music, hard-earned emotional maturity has seeped into Johnson's songs, resulting in a more complex sound that's connected with audiences like no other previous version of Fruit Bats. A River Running to Your Heart represents the fullest realization of that creative vision to date. It's a sonically diverse effort that largely explores the importance of what it means to be home, both physically and spiritually. And while that might seem like a peculiar focus for an artist who's constantly in motion, for Fruit Bats, home can take many forms_from the obvious to the obscure. Lead single "Rushin' River Valley" is a self-propelled love song written about Johnson's wife that clings to the borrowed imagery of the place where she grew up in northern California. Then, there's the gentle and unfussy acoustic ballad "We Used to Live Here," which looks back to a time of youthful promise and cheap rent. But the wistful "It All Comes Back" is perhaps the most stunning and surprising track on the album, Johnson's production skills on full display. Built upon intricate layers of synths, keyboards, and guitars, it's a pitch-perfect blend of tone and lyricism that taps into our shared apprehensions and hopes for a post-pandemic life. "We lost some time / But we can make it back / Let's take it easy on ourselves, okay?" sings a world-weary but ultimately reassuring Johnson in the song's opening lines. It's the kind of performance that makes you hope Fruit Bats stays in this one place, at least for a little while longer.




















