Yuzo Iwata has made one prior appearance to date on Pluie/Noire in 2018. This EP for Malin Genie's label finds him exploring further deep cover plains of expression through the medium of experimental house and techno, leading in with the rippling textures and haunting piano refrain of "Spoit."
The delicate gamelan chimes of "Mount Castle" that follow collide with rugged drum machine beats and artful sonic interference, while "Tiger" fuses jagged off-centre beats with gnarled acid lines and fluttering melodies lingering in the middle distance.
- Touch - seals the deal on this highly distinctive EP with a writing, organic mass of sound design strapped to a forthright four to the floor stomp.
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Club Internacional dig deep to launch their new global reissue series in style with two long lost cuts from Rio-based label Top Tape. First up is Jose da Silva aka Zeca Do Trombone.
A massively respected instrumentalist, he has worked his trade over the years with many of Brazil's leading artists such as Tim Maia, Milton Nascimento, Elizeth Cardoso, Beth Carvalo, Martino Da Vila, Gonzaguinha and Carlos Dafe amongst others.
He also produced a very much sought after LP in 1976 alongside Roberto Sax which was finally re-released this year on Mad About Records. Tema Do Brisa dates from a few years later in 1978 and is Zeca's only solo 45 single. Never released on digital and never reissued on vinyl before, it is with great pleasure that Club Internacional re-launch this psychedelic jazz and heavily funk influenced gem with its still stunningly fresh sounding drum patterns to a new generation of listeners. Fans of jazz, funk, rare groove and Brazilian music in general will appreciate the strong vibes of this original track and be delighted to finally have this record in their hands. The track represents a unique moment in the career of a great musician fully in control of his instrument and more than willing to test its musical boundaries. Zeca continues to play out as an artist regularly in Brasil right up to the present time.
On the flip side, Sambacanas, or Os Sambacanas as they were sometimes also known, were a group of Samba musicians recorded by the Sao Paulo based producer Julio Nagib.
Although they were mostly known for a samba covers LP entitled 'Sucessos Da Juventude Em Tempo De Samba' (re-released in the UK under the title 'Fly Me To Brazil'), this song, Panga, Danga, Panga, was the A side of their only 45 single release for Top Tape which came out in 1976. Again this track has never been re-released before in its 45 single version, and has not been made available digitally. A beautiful example of raw and simple Batucada-style Brazilian samba music infused with Latin funk vibes, it features excellent vocals and percussion including the berimbau and cuica. Club Internacional hopes you enjoy this journey back to rediscover these very different, but wonderful, long lost sounds of Brazil on this limited edition vinyl 45 pressing to add to your record collection. Each Club Internacional edition may take some time, but it will be worth the wait!
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The masters for this EP were long lost. These recordings have been made by Ron Wells using a high end LINN cartridge, restored digitally (clicks, noise, rumble) using Izotope RX by Robin at Music Preservation Society and Remastered by Subvert Central Mastering by Bob Macc.
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Adam X’s highly respected, deep, science fiction laden, Traversable Wormhole project celebrates its 10-year journey with a first full-length studio album titled Regions Of Time. Lying mostly dormant since 2012, with a cameo appearance on Hospital Record back in 2016 with two tracks, TW is now fully awoken from the long travel through the space-time continuum with eight new songs of thought-provoking, psychedelic, bass-heavy, galaxian techno.Adam X’s back catalog is, of course, vast, spanning over a period three decades under several aliases. The New York native recently released his devious escapade through rumbling EBM and industrial techno in the form of his full-length album Recon Mission, released under his Sonic Groove Imprint. With this project being under the Traversable Wormhole alias, be sure to expect a completely different facet to X’s repertoire of pounding excursions.
Step through the wormhole portal and take a deep cerebral mind trip into “Regions Of Time “
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The first set of remixes of Calm’s By Your Side got plenty of props for sound quality as well as their ability to get people grooving. Now the label serves up some more remixes, this time from legendary figures Mark Barrott (International Feel) and My Friend Dario.
Up first is Barrott, the long time slow motion master whose downtempo, ambient, new age and electronic fusions very much set out the Balearic template way back in the nineties. ‘Space Is My Place’ (Mark’s Re Imagination to the Sacred Heart Center) is an enchanting and tropical reworking with exotic percussion and liquid drums that gentle sway to and fro like a raft at sea. It’s another escapist, transportive track from Barrott that takes you to the other side of the world.
My Friend Dario returns to Hell Yeah after his exquisite Calamari Fritti EP late last year with more of his worldly infused sounds. His Etna Vision of ‘Shadows and Lights’ is a glistening affair with loosely jumbled drums and romantic keys that ring out into a balmy night sky. It’s musical and blissful as always with this artist.
Once again here Hell Yeah have come through with your most essential summer sounds.
Supported by Leo Mas, Chris Coco, Pete Gooding, Bobby Beige, Soft Rocks, Calm, Balearic Gabba Sound System, Phat Phil Cooper…
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Thousand Knives Of Ryuichi Sakamoto's Landmark First Solo Album From 1978 Issued On The Better Days Label And Featuring The Synth Classics "plastic Bamboo," "end Of Asia" & "thousand Knives" Is Reissued Outside Of Japan For The First Time In Decades.
Wewantsounds is proud to announce the release of Ryuichi Sakamoto's first solo album originally released in 1978 on the soughtafter Better Days label. Sakamoto was a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra at the time but the group hadn't released their first album yet. Featuring Sakamoto on a wide range of synthesizers and keyboards programmed by Hideki Matsutake, and accompanied by a few musicians including Haruomi Hosono and Pecker, "Thousand Knives" was a blueprint for the YMO sound and includes cult classics that were to become live favourites. Save for a small-scale release in 1982, this is the first time the album is being released on vinyl outside of Japan. Remastered from the original tapes by renowned producer and engineer Seigen Ono, the LP edition comes with original artwork including OBI and 4p insert with new introduction by Paul Bowler. 1978 was a key year for Japanese music. Haruomi Hosono, one of the country's most innovative musicians had just formed Yellow Magic Orchestra pursuing the sonic experimentation he had started with his solo album "Paraiso." The album, credited to "Harry Hosono and The Yellow Magic Band," had been recorded between December 77 and January 78 and featured both Ryuichi Sakamoto and Yukihiro Takahashi. Hosono quickly invited both musicians to form YMO but before the group could release their first album, Sakamoto entered the Nippon Columbia studios in April 1978 with a plan. Sakamoto had become an in-demand session musician after studying composition at the Tokyo University of Art and had played in many key albums of the time: Taeko Ohnuki's "Sunshower" and Tatsuro Yamashita "Spacy" to name just two famous albums. This led to an invitation by Hosono to feature on "Paraiso". A penchant for avant-garde and improvisation had gotten Sakamoto interested in Electronic Music early on and with “Thousand Knives”, he decided to get Hideki Matsutake on board as he had mastered the art of synth programming following a stint with Electronic Music pioneer Isao Tomita. “Thousand Knives” took several months to record as Sakamoto would be busy during the day with his session work and would only record at night. Named after Belgian-born poet Henri Michaux’s description of a mescaline experience, the album is a reflection on how synthesizer technology might come to change the face of music. The first side conceived as a long suite opens with the title track and a recitation of the Mao Zedong poem "Jinggang Mountain" filtered through a vocoder, before morphing into a mid-tempo synthpop instrumental. It is followed by "Island Of Woods", a ten minute track buzzing with insect-like synth sounds reminiscent of the tropical exotica of "Femme Fatale" on “Paraiso” (also featuring Sakamoto). Side one ends with "Grasshoppers," a beautiful acoustic piano melody underlined by a subtle synthesizer soundscape. Side two opens with "Das Neue Japanische Elektronische Volkslied," acknowledging the influence of the German sound spearheaded by Kraftwerk. The track features a mid-tempo metronomic beat skilfully intertwined with a Japanese folk sounding melody. The album ends with two catchy uptempo synthpop tunes in the form of "Plastic Bamboo" and "The End Of Asia," which both became staples of YMO’s and Sakamoto's live shows. Although "Thousand Knives" sold modestly upon release, it was hugely influential in setting the agenda for what was to follow. YMO's sound included various influences from its three members but there is no denying “Thousand Knives” paved the way for the group's Computer Music sound. Thousand Knives remains a fascinating insight into the making of a music revolution.
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Crepuscule presents The Scottish Affair (Part 2), a vibrant live album by iconic Scottish guitar group Josef K recorded at the historic Beursschouwburg arts centre in Brussels on 8 April 1981.
Pressed in a limited edition of 1000 copies in clear vinyl, the sleeve features original 1981 poster artwork by designer Jean-Francois Octave printed in black overlaid with metallic gold pantone. The inner bag includes period flyers and images, as well as quotes by Paul Haig, Malcolm Ross, Alan Horne, Michel Duval, Annik Honore, Allan Campbell and Bert Bertrand.
Best known for their association with Postcard Records, Josef K also recorded two singles for Belgian indie Les Disques du Crepuscule (Sorry For Laughing; The Missionary), and also taped studio album The Only Fun In Town in downtown Brussels. The group first performed in the city on New Year’s Eve 1980, playing a riotous show with Orange Juice and Marine at legendary warehouse venue Plan K, and resumed their ‘Scottish affair’ with Crepuscule the following April, cutting their album in a matter of days and performing at the Beursschouwburg as well as a small youth club in Lier three nights later.
At the Beurs show Jokay rattled off 10 songs in just half an hour, with journalist Bert Bertrand noting “several good reasons to get excited” about the visiting quartet. Adds guitarist Malcolm Ross: “We played four dates in Holland on our way to Brussels and then recorded the album in about five days. So we were pretty tight and Paul was in good voice.”
Recorded from the mixing desk, all 10 songs have now been newly re-mastered for issue as a vinyl only album, The Scottish Affair (Part 2).
TXLAX is Dave Aju’s first album in five years, and we couldn’t be more pleased to present it.
As always there is plenty of fresh genre-defying ideas in the music, but this time wrapped in a much more relaxed and focussed aesthetic - a fitting personal soundtrack for the homecom-ing theme of his move back to Los Angeles from Berlin, as the combined airport letters in the title suggest.
There is a sonic stylistic bridge of sorts between the sister cities on display as well, all im-bued with that inimitable combination of raw playfulness and warm refined soul as only Dave Aju does.
From the soaring West Coast future funk opener “Bird’s Eye”, the nautical disco-not-disco of tomorrow in “Out To C” and the bugged-out broken beat flavor of “Silverfish” to the slick me-lodic electro vibes of the title track, and gorgeous shuffling deep house closer “Yulia”, TXLAX is a masterwork filled with beauty, character, and detail that will reward many repeat listens. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
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"Reactions" is the debut album from First Tone, the musical partnership of New Orleans-based artists Turk Dietrich (Second Woman, Belong) and composer Duane Pitre (Important Records). While the project has been at work quietly sculpting their sound for years, "Reactions" is the first available set of recordings. Those familiar with the respective works of the two artists will be happy to find a collection of music that is very much of the duo, and yet totally unlike anything they've produced before.
Over six tracks, First Tone unfurl poignant, flickering compositional works that utilize pitch material that is tuned using the system known as Just Intonation (which Pitre has studied for nearly 15 years) in conjunction with various software and a single hardware synth. The result is a collection of music that is both organic and alien. Layers of tone and texture build and dissolve from the ultra minimal to the enormous, on occasion seamlessly blending the two. A wide array of striking timbres patiently wash over one another, at times sounding like organic instruments, at other times sounding completely otherworldly.
"Reactions" is a masterclass not only in sound design and dynamic range, but also in sonic depth. The album's approach to the usage of time and dynamics work together to create the perception of a three-dimensional spaciousness of sound. The holographic effects produced from the spaces between the album's sounds are mesmerizing, with discreet arrangements that demand repeat listens to fully absorb.
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‘Green & Gold’ is the second collaborative release from Mr Key & Greenwood Sharps, the long awaited follow up to their
critically acclaimed 2015 album ‘Yesterday’s Futures’. The record was written and recorded between Greenwood Sharps’
cottage in the verdant English countryside and the off grid Finca in the foothills of the Andalusian Sierra Nevada, Spain where
Key is based.
The title has multiple meanings none of which are anything to do with weed or money. First and foremost, green and gold are
the colours which synesthete (a person who sees sound) Greenwood Sharps, composed the record in. It also alludes to the
dialogue between the green of the UK and the dusty gold of Andalucia which created the project. Finally green and gold speaks
of the dynamic between the sun and photosynthesising organisms, the driving force of life on earth.
‘Yesterday’s Futures’ took the listener on a meandering journey through a vast landscape of moods, sounds and ideas,
leading ultimately to redemption and the possibility of resolution. Thematically, ‘Green & Gold’ picks up where ‘Yesterday’s
Futures’ left off, but structurally it takes the opposite tack; an extended exploration of a single ubiquitous idea: universal love for
all things and all people and the challenge of maintaining these shiny ideals in day to day life, as our cynical side reasserts itself.
Key’s first output after an extended hiatus from releasing music makes it obvious that during this time he continued honing his
craft. The unique perspectives and disarming honesty which set him apart from his peers remain, but his technical prowess and
capacity to convey sentiment are notably enhanced. The same applies to Greenwood Sharps, who’s masterful production has
risen to new heights yet still maintains the rich and subtle sonic palette he has become known for.
Dropping alongside the EP is a short film featuring the works of long time collaborator Jamie Johnson, the man behind the
artwork for both ‘Green & Gold’ & ‘Yesterday’s Futures’. The short film is the visual counterpart to the EP and serves as the
perfect introduction to the world of ‘Green & Gold’ as it visually explores all the themes present in the music & provides a snap
shot of the incredible tracks on offer.
In a troubled and busy world, marred with anxieties and uncertainties, ‘Green & Gold’ comes as a breath of fresh air and offers some valuable food for thought for those searching for real heart felt substance rather than the sanitised, individualised &
commodified norm we have all become accustomed to.
Adapted Vinyl was a UK based techno label active in the late 90’s that picked up regular DJ support from taste makers of the time ranging from Jeff Mills to Mr C.
This, the label’s 7th record disappeared before a public release when the Integrale Muzique distribution company went out of business in 2008, but now gets its first official release date after years of very limited availability
Label founder Suade is the artist behind this release and these days he is best known as a highly-sought-after mastering engineer working for artists like Dense & Pika, Paranoid London, Jamie Jones and Vitalic.
Focusing his energies into family life and the fine tuning of other peoples music it’s rare to see Suade’s own music on a new release, but this hasn’t stopped him from collaborating on original tracks with the likes of Magda and Radioactive Man in recent years.
The EP has four contrasting tracks all with different moods and tempos all blended with Techno’s classic motoric drive.
With it’s absence from the usual music marketplaces creating something of a mystery this record ended up receiving a new, unofficial name on Discogs - The Citadel EP which is a title taken from the broken-beat second track on the B side of the record.
The Citadel is just one of the highlights on this eclectic EP, as it’s a Latronic Notron sequencer workout that patiently deploys layered synths in ever-shifting cross-rhythms for a languid 5 minutes before its deep, underpinning bass arrives evoking desert travel and arrival.
Baikal, named after the huge freshwater lake in Russia, is another stretched out meditation on tone and harmony acting as a foil to the delicate and vibrant Latin American percussion that filters in and out through a massive stereo Moog Modular system creating an energetic yet static, ritualistic atmosphere.
Trajan - the most driving track on the EP, gives a nod to the Probe era Richie Hawtin sound with a touch of Drexciyan melodics with shuffled percussion and bleeps over a snaking TB303 shaped bassline where the classic Acid box is given the role of control sequencer only commanding the thick, dirty oscillators of the big Moog.
A1 track Felix is a contrast yet again. A big room melodic Techno piece with another massive bassline and an almost orchestral level of layering, building to nine counter-melodies in total before letting rip with a classic TB303 acid line that builds from the heart of the track.
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Side A: 'Vodou'. Head priest: Gran Sèvitè Jean-Daniel Lafontant. Vodou priests: Oungan Eddy Saint-Jean and Anperè Jean Céus. Vodou priestesses: Manbo Françoise Célestin, Manbo Christine Lamour, Manbo Marie-Marthe Similien and Manbo Jacqueline Thélus. Other participants: Ounsi and members of Sosyete Na-Ri-VéH. Percussionists: Ountògi and the drummers of The Sacred Temple Na-Ri-VéH 777. Side B: 'Rara'. All-female rara band: Forever Rara Fanm of Belair.
Grand Rue recordings made by AMé in front of the Atis Rezistans, Port-au-Prince on 21 December 2015, 4:54pm to 5:18pm. Vodou ceremony and all-female rara band recorded by AMé at Temple Na-Ri-VéH 777 in Port-au-Prince, 16 December 2015, 9pm to 1am. Edited by Philip Marshall with AMé in Cologne, 16 May 2016. Mastered by Zachary James Watkins at Stank House, 3 August 2016. Artwork by Stefan Fähler. AD&D by Don Wyrm.
With thanks to: Ghetto Biennale, Leah Gordon, Atis Rezistans, Gabriel Toso, the priests and priestesses, the members of the all-female rara band, the percussionists, Clocktower Radio and all the Haitian People.
An introduction to Vodou music and Rara, by Gabriel Toso:
"Tanbou prete pa janm fè bon dans" ("A borrowed drum never makes good dancing")
"Music is to Vodou what water is to our bodies or fire to our hearts: all embracing, all inflaming. The spirits of Vodou are called upon and energised by the inexhaustible rhythms of Africa. Brought by the slaves to the New World, and merged with indigenous and European traditions, their magical power is the soundtrack of Vodou itself, its life-force.
Dancing, singing, praying are all fundamental aspects of Vodou; but above all it is the drumming that plays a major role during the ceremonies, an invitation to the lwas (gods) to join and partake in the rituals. Like the heartbeat of an infant in its mother's womb or the vibrations of our planet, the percussions of the tanbou (drum) are at once instrument and creator. Different batteries of drums correspond to different rites, countless rhythms to a multitude of nations of laws. The drum is not only a musical instrument but a sacred object, an expression of the divine. Its sound guides the initiates to their appointment with the spirit world.
Rara festivals are yearly celebrations that begin following Carnival during the Catholic Lent season, when the activity of the Vodou temples is at its quietest. During those six weeks Rara bands parade for miles playing music, dancing, and performing rituals for Afro-Haitian laws, while wearing specific costumes and using a variety of musical instruments. Probably originated in Haiti during the colonial period, Rara bands and their vast repertoire of songs are both politically and socially engaging while keeping an amusing, irreverent, and at times risqué personality. Traditionally connected with a Vodou temple, Rara bands leave the ceremonial spaces to interact in the public sphere through parading, thus reminding both participants and spectators of the physical presence of the lwas." – Gabriel Toso, London, 3 November.
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This is some serious top shelf material out of Baltimore and a certified masterclass in sweet symphonic soul. Optimistics was originally released in 1970 on Turbo and it’s every bit as essential as The Chi-Lites, The Delfonics and The Moments yet nowhere near as known. Those original copies are ridiculously rare and, of course, the prices are equally ridiculous.
Optimistics is a killer LP throughout, beloved of discerning hip-hop producers worldwide and routinely championed by the legendary Pete Rock. The genius George Kerr has handled the production on what is an album of beautiful, naïve soul for mind and body. It’s bursting with goodness and, like the best of its genre, it radiates a heart-breaking ambience that cuts right to the core.
The band of Billy, Harold, James, Charles and Jerome are described on the back cover as “five young, black knights who have embarked on a musical crusade and they're gonna slay a lot of dragons along the way”. We’re not entirely sure how many mythical serpents were dispatched during the making of this album but we can certainly attest to the sense of evangelical drive.
Evergreen opener “You Put Something New In My Life” is a heart-stopping ode to a transformative love. A ballad with spine-tingling chord changes and melodic switch-ups to spare, its sweeping strings and precise drums complement the falsetto delivery perfectly.
It’s followed by the equally beguiling “Let’s Love”. Another string-drenched harmony ballad, it revolves around delicate piano and distinctive guitar lines, crying out to be recontextualised by the best sampling technicians. Closing out the A side, the wonderfully restrained “Love Is God Almighty” is harp and horn-driven, barely-there soul from a higher plain. Heavenly.
Ushering in the flipside, “Should I Let Myself Go”, sampled recently by Knxwledge, is sensational guitar-soul with a yearning that could bring the most hardened soul to tears. It’s followed by the uptempo, Temptations-funk of “Man” and quietly-great “If I Could Influence Man”, where the competing vocals ride a chugging, funky breakbeat and delicious guitar licks. The refreshing, groovy “Say It Baby” is an appropriately positive, upward looking closer. Its sentiment and feel speaks directly to both the band name and the title of this, their only album. Truly optimistic.
The whole LP is a winning blend of slow, spine-tingling ballads and joyously upbeat tracks. It’s a case of A+ vocals, melodies and harmonies over beautiful playing and arrangements. It deserves to be canonical.
This fresh reissue has been mastered with the usual care by Simon Francis and cut by the legendary Pete Norman. The artwork has been lovingly reproduced by the Be With team.
Optimistics should be known to a much wider audience. We’ve hopefully gone some way towards rectifying that.
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Funky soul-jazz organist Caesar Frazier crafted superior Hammond funk. 75, his second LP, is a rare gem. It’s comfortably his greatest artistic statement.
The follow-up to Hail Ceasar!, it’s a taut, grooving set that expands his sound and, put simply, it’s got better songs. The key elements of his debut album are all there – production from maestro Bob Porter, accompaniment from hip players (Bernard “Pretty” Purdie, Cornell Dupree, John Tropea) and arrangement from Horace Ott - but the overall sound is elevated. The tightly jamming, expressive jazz-funk makes for a richer, fuller, more satisfying experience.
75 is a mixture of hard-driving originals, deeply beautiful slower numbers to vary the tempo and a couple of classy covers. The crazy bombastic “Mighty Mouse” - a riot of horns, organ and in the pocket drums - became an acid jazz classic at Dingwalls and it’s easy to see (hear?) how. A blissed out, lushly instrumental take on Seals and Crofts’s “Summer Breeze” follows, perfect for those sunshine sets.
Side A closes with the heavenly “Sweet Children”. A loping, funky jazz masterpiece famously sampled by Kanye West for Common’s “Real People” from Be. It opens beautifully, with soaring sax and a funky horn section combining with weightless keyboard tones atop snapping drums. Unsurprisingly, the excellence endures right through to the end.
The B side opens with perhaps the album’s most famous track. "Funk It Down” contains the familiar “I can feel the funk” vocal refrain throughout. But it’s the gorgeous, insouciant bridge that you should all know and love, having been used as the hook for Gang Starr’s “Ex-Girl To Next Girl”. A great cover of Stevie Wonder's “Living for the City” comes next, with an unforgettable bass-line which anchors the entire heavy rhythm section workout. Dizzying organ, triumphant horns and sun-dappled guitar grooves combine to create “Walking On The Side”, rounding out a pretty smoking set.
This is one of those rare 70s funk-soul-jazz LPs on which a bad track cannot be found. It’s all essential. So of course finding original copies on vinyl at affordable prices has been tough for years.
Mastered brilliantly by Simon Francis, cut by Pete Norman and with painstakingly reproduced artwork by the Be With team, this fresh Be With reissue ensures this legendary LP now sounds, looks and feels as sensational as it should.
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Plants Dub is an art project of the homonym collective based in Lecce - Italy formed by Maria Teresa Santoro, art historian and light designer, Francesco Andriani De Vito aka Dubin dj and producer, and Andrea Presicce aka NoFinger Nails, dub master and producer. They work in Plants Dub project in a mutual exchange of skills so as to be able to research in a way where art and science has no borders. Plants Dub connects electronic music and bio-acoustic researches. Through samplings and synthesizers Plants Dub produces an inter-species communication in order to form a complete human-plant audio exchange. The album was composed using melodies generated by plants thanks to a special sound device that allowed the translation of the plants' electrical impulses into sound. Plant sounds were recorded between March 2018 and July 2019 in Salento. The musical production has followed a double register: in Acanthus Mollis, Morus and in Phoenix Canariensis the vegetable melodies overlap to specially composed dub rhythms, in Laurus Nobilis, Olea Europaea and in Quercus, the tree melodies are translated into ambient sounds.
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Handnumbered and limited to 299 copies. Early feedback from Luke Slater, Dj Bone, Black Madonna, Ø Phase, Cassegrain, etc..
Indigo Aera is proud to present a new release by none other than Sterac. This two tracker consists of two timeless Detroit rooted techno masterclasses which are a perfect fit for the Indigo philosophy: classic melodic techno music aimed at dancefloors.
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Schmer Records is proud to announce the upcoming EP from Liquid Asset. It is an entire rave on a 12 inch disk and has something for every stage. From the acid in your face of Wambulance to the bliss of Moon Beams ON Your Face. When not In Laboratory cooking up amazing tracks Liquid Asset is bringing them directly to your party. This EP also has the amazing Isabella providing an entire rave in a single remix. We're sure you'll enjoy playing it as much as we do releasing it.
Liquid Asset is the hardware techno project of Alene Marie, a Philadelphia-born,North Carolina-based producer with releases on New York Trax, Summer Isle, Primitive Languages, Jacktone, Acid Etch and now Schmer. A self-described nerd who started building electronics in 2010, she brings a scrappy, DIY sensibility honed in the noise / hardcore scene and hacker-spaces of Philly. Her punchy, loop-based and heavily rave-oriented mutations of classic dance cannon sounds, beamed out of a self-built rig of modified 303s, 909s, and 808s, have earned enthusiastic support from North American dance music underground institutions including Bossa Nova Civic Club, Hot Mass, and Sustain-Release.
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Neurot Recordings are proud to reissue the landmark collaboration Neurosis & Jarboe, which was originally released in 2003. This latest version is fully remastered and with entirely new artwork from Aaron Turner.
Very limited silver metallic and black swirl 2LP - Non-Returnable
Steve Von Till explains the idea behind the remastering; "Bob Weston (Chicago Mastering Service, and member of Shellac) worked closely with Noah on making these new versions sound as good as the possibly can. Noah has the most trained critical ear for fidelity out of all of us being an engineer himself. We recorded this ourselves with consumer level Pro Tools back then, in order to be able to experiment at home in getting different sounds and writing spontaneously. The technology has come a long way since then and we thought we could run it through better digital to analog conversion and trusted Bob Weston to be able to bring out the best in it....This new mastered version is a bit more open, with a better stereo image, and better final eq treatment."
He continues about the original artwork..."Aaron felt he could create something that would unify the energy of both Jarboe and Neurosis in an elegant manner. We let him do his thing and I think it definitely adds to mystery of the album and sets it apart from the rest of our catalog."
When two independent and distinct spheres overlap, the resulting ellipse tends to emphasise the most striking and powerful characteristics of each body. Such is the case with this particular collaboration between heavy music pioneers Neurosis and the multi-faceted performer Jarboe (who performed in Swans and who has collaborated with an array of people from Blixa Bargeld, J.G. Thirlwell, Attila Csihar, Bill Laswell, Merzbow, Justin K. Broadrick, Helen Money, Father Murphy, the list goes on...) The musicians pull from one another some of the most harrowing and unusual sounds ever heard from either artist at the time - a sentiment which also rings true to some 15 years later.
Neurosis & Jarboe opens with a high-pitched whirring sound winding up as Jason Roeder's ominous tom-drum beat and Noah Landis' slinking synth line writhe in unison until Jarboe drops in, drawling in her characteristic, corrupted Southern belle voice, "I tell ya, if God wants to take me, He will." From there on in, the album is a series of abrupt shifts and cleverly juxtaposed themes that flows in a rhythm of its own. The sinister and ethereal sounds, vocal coos and electro-pulses of "His Last Words" seem like the perfect soundtrack to a David Lynch film. On "Erase," song parts are dissected and grafted one atop the other, continually building tension as Jarboe wails and yelps with Banshee fervor.
The project began with the artists working in seclusion, recording the elements that would best highlight their own characteristic integrity and personality, rather than either attempting to mimic one another's familiar elements. As recorded ideas were passed back and forth, the collaboration proved to bring out the most unhinged and urgent talents of all those involved.
Throughout the album, that signature "Neurosis note" - the sound of something simultaneously recoiling and erupting, the apocalyptic tone announcing the birth of a new world - reaches its apex and becomes evermore icy and eviscerating. Guitarists Steve Von Till and Scott Kelly trim their tones for cleaner, chorus-drenched effects layered between the thunderous distortion blasts of bassist Dave Edwardson. Likewise, Jarboe's operatic wail and other vocal contortions sound perfectly suited to the eruptive emotional fray of the music.
The collaboration is a deeply textured mosaic that is a culmination of merged aesthetics from two major influences on free-thinking sounds. It unlocked the hidden potential of electronic music as a new force in heavy rock. At a time when groups like Oneida, Wolf Eyes and Black Dice were beginning to experiment with technology in making mind-numbing leaden electro-drone freed from any essence of "dance music," Neurosis & Jarboe redefined all notions of their past - and outlined the course of heavy music to come. It's interesting to look back through the lens of this release, and think about these ideas and concepts in the present.
Neurosis & Jarboe remains the meeting point of all art that takes us beyond ourselves.
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* The original sister label to Ram Records from the old Ram HQ studio in Essex, Liftin Spirit Records now celebrates it’s 25th year with a special ‘RELOADED’ limited vinyl series of remastered classics, alongside rare and previously unreleased tracks since the beginning in1992.
* DATs from artists such as Andy C, Ant Miles, Shimon, Joint Venture, Interrogator and Red One have been located in the archives. Also from the Ram & Liftin HQ came tracks for the Deep Seven label in 1993 and all these rare DAT masters have been located and now re-cut by Simon, the original Ram & Liftin vinyl masterer at ‘The Exchange’. Initially, Deep Seven remasters will present on a printed white label and unreleased tracks will have a black label.
* Our second release in the Deep Seven series comes from ‘Ironik’. An alias from Ant Miles in 1993 that produced two Hardcore tracks in the form of Believe In & 4 AM. Re-mastered from the original DAT and pressed on 180g vinyl.
Promotion across chosen internet websites and Hardcore 12” vinyl communities.
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Last delivered 6 years ago available to reorder, subject to availability
* The original sister label to Ram Records from the old Ram HQ studio in Essex, Liftin Spirit Records now celebrates it’s 25th year with a special ‘RELOADED’ limited vinyl series of remastered classics, alongside rare and previously unreleased tracks since the beginning in1992.
* DATs from artists such as Andy C, Ant Miles, Shimon, Joint Venture, Interrogator and Red One have been located in the archives. Also from the Ram & Liftin HQ came tracks for the Deep Seven label in 1993 and all these rare DAT masters have been located and now re-cut by Simon, the original Ram & Liftin vinyl masterer at ‘The Exchange’. Initially, Deep Seven remasters will present on a printed white label and unreleased tracks will have a black label.
* What can we say about Desired State? Their alter ego to Origin Unknown and an absolute force in the 90’s. Andy C & Ant Miles’s Hardcore roots grew into the emerging Jungle/Drum & Bass scene with huge success. Deep in the original RAM HQ archives was a DAT tape containing two tracks from 1992. Never before heard, let alone released, these breakbeat gems were created in the golden era of Hardcore. 27 years later they get a full master and release on Liftin Spirit Records, that are sure to please collectors of Oldskool Hardcore and early Jungle alike.
Promotion across chosen internet websites and Hardcore 12” vinyl communities.
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“This sound / synapse transposition is as haunting as it is beautiful—surely Grouper’s best.”—Tiny Mix Tapes
“If past Grouper releases have inhabited abyssal trenches and damp backwoods, here Harris takes us journeying across constellations and stars. Two of the most beguiling albums of the year, exquisitely realized and singularly evocative.” —The Quietus
“This music feels both spacey and expansive and also oddly intimate and grounded, the work of someone who has mastered her tools and knows how to get the most out of them.”—Pitchfork “Harris nds a way to dive deeper in simple and unassuming ways.”—NPR
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Captivity is the next highly anticipated extended EP by Kush Arora aka Only Now, following a triptych of self-released output in 2019. Continuing the project’s ever evolving engagement with themes of time and existence, Captivity encompasses versatile synthesis, mutant kuduro, widescreen sound design, turbulent cold fronts of power ambient and melodic undertones of black metal.
The product of a two-year period in which Arora was contending with transitional shifts in his personal life, Captivity is a culmination of what the project has explored both in a prolific run of recent material and as a whole, across several years of time dilating, mind altering music.
Although shaped by adversity and corresponding sentiments of angst and insignificance, Captivity is pitched at total transcendence. Adopting a meticulous approach to production, a methodology which opens up almost every element to transformation and deconstruction, Arora generates forms which possess a sense of pointillist precision, as well as a keen psychedelic potency.
Despite consistency with his earlier output as Only Now, Captivity is nevertheless an indication of Arora’s ability to challenge internal and external assumptions. The introduction of new hardware – namely, the Nord Drum 3P synthesizer – as well as the incorporation of far-flung atmospherics – closing track ‘Clock Lust’ features field recordings from a trip to Kyoto – delivers fresh enterprise and experimentation, contributing to the expansion of a sound signature which remains as unpredictable and compelling as ever.
With the eponymous opener, Arora combines fathomless underworlds and riotous breakbeats. On ‘Mutants’ a hyper-kinetic onslaught of percussion, low-end and stray cut-ups of noise break out, building to a panorama of thunderous industrial firmaments. ‘Perpetual Slaughter’ maintains momentum with icy, ricocheting FX and concussive, tribal drums, and then unexpectedly shifts into a poignant outro which brings to the fore the enduring influence of black metal on the project. ‘Bound 2’ is cut with relentless sub-bass and rapid syncopation, resembling an abstracted form of juke music, something that could feasibly have been masterminded by Autechre. With the LP’s finale, ‘Clock Lust’, Arora presents a finale of transfixing 3D ritualism, the lone toll of a bell ringing out into a mesmeric emptiness.
Together these form a complete statement from Arora, illustrating the fertile and open-ended territories the Only Now project has arrived at after promising outings on Infinite Machine and Discrepant imprint Sucata Tapes. With Captivity Arora delivers a substantial highpoint and a profound voyage into the world of Only Now.
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A mind-bending blend of modular synth performance, Anthony Baldino’s dynamic Twelve Twenty Two LP is a treat for all ears. Baldino’s transcendent album is available both digitally and on vinyl on Thursday, October 24 via MethLab Recordings.
“The record focuses heavily on the modular synth as a composition tool and instrument. I originally approached this as a collection of tracks that were recorded straight out of the machine with little to no editing. The work flow of generating a complex patch and then figuring out the overall arch and performance of the piece was really exciting. The Tip Top Audio Circadian Rhythms was a key compositional tool in this process and was used to organize the overall structure of these pieces. It wasn’t until I stumbled upon a patch, the opening synths in ‘Fading Quickly Now,’ that I went back to how I used to write and shifted to harvesting sounds and rhythms from the modular and arranging and editing them in the box. That patch was originally created for a different track on the album, which I’ll let you find, but IH ad accidentally changed the clock rate before tearing the patch down. Hearing it in that new way triggered a whole new thought process and emotional reaction for me.” - Anthony Baldino
Originally approached as a collection of tracks recorded straight out of Baldino’s machine with little editing, Twelve Twenty Two is a complex piece of thoughtful modular work. A truly stunning display of masterful sound design, Baldino’s sound resonates with listeners from first note to last. Existing in a unique space where ambient sounds meet vivacious bass, Baldino seemingly exists in an impressive league of his own, with Twelve Twenty Two standing apart powerfully from the masses. With an already powerful arsenal of artists and releases, MethLab Recordings adds a brilliant 10-track addition to their already wild playbook.
“From the beginning, it was important for me to keep this record musical and emotional and not just an exercise in technicality, so using both the modular and the computer to arrange felt really good both emotionally and sonically and created a different balance to the record that I really liked. Switching the process up a bit halfway through kept things interesting and I think the body of work really benefits from it. This record is split in half with performance based/straight out of the machine tracks and the other half organized in the box. But when listening back, the two approaches overlap so much that it’s hard to tell where one approach ends and the other begins.” - Anthony Baldino
About Anthony Baldino:
Born and raised in New York, Anthony Baldino is an LA-based composer and sound designer whose work spans an enormous range of production avenues. The likelihood that you haven’t heard his world is nearly impossible, with music and sound design in too many trailer campaigns to list, including Prometheus, Interstellar, Ex-Machina, Star Wars: Rogue One, and Avengers: Infinity War and End Game just to name a few. From there, his work ventures to the opposite pole of production with custom sound design based compositions for Dolby Labs mixed in Atmos, beautifully glitched out remixes, and continues on to mind-bending modular synthesizer performances.
With his debut artist release, he delivers a devastatingly beautiful album grounded in IDM that focuses on modular synthesizers/ While a vast amount of modular synth music is currently being released, this album goes far beyond the typical beeps and boops that one may expect when they hear “modular IDM record.” This record is as technical as it is emotive. Tasteful and incredibly detailed, Twelve Twenty Two bridges the gap between sound-design laden beats and cinematic motifs and ambiences. This record does not disappoint and is sure to become a favorite of electronic music fans.
The album opens up with a slowly unfolding melody that seems to be within grasp, but never actually repeats itself. Incredibly tasteful glitchy sound design leads us into a build that one would only expect to be in a movie, and then drops into a full-on sonic assault of impeccable drums and rich synths. From there, the record traverses a wide array of texture, time and technique. Closing with a track that makes you feel like you could actually reach out and touch the sound and float in its space, the sonic landscape created in Twelve Twenty Two is a true treat for ears.
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Maybe it’s too much to ask for a moment of your attention. As we grow older and keep
diving into this era of information, disinformation, fake news and all that, we also tend to
take a step back and listen to the intents of those social media adverts that tell us to slow
down, breathe in, breathe out, enjoy everything around you a little bit. So, if it’s not too
much to ask, you can press play and start enjoying “D-A-D”. If you’re doing that, you can
even stop reading this, because you don’t need further instructions.
It’s the second time in less than two years that we release music from London based
Greek musician Tasos Stamou (Athens, 1978). The wordplay of “Musique Con Crète”
(CREP54, 2018) was a backdoor to an adventurous and ‘concrete’ experience with
sound. “D-A-D” follows up on that. Recorded between 2015-2018 as an homage to both
his Dad and the more commonly used tuning on the Greek Bouzouki, D-A-D, Stamou
delivers 40 minutes of music that explores ancient and modern languages, while crossing
his unique instrumentation with celebrations of new/old folk, field recordings and
electronics. In his music, there’s a constant flow of ideas that defy standard tonalities and
the conception of “traditional”.
Improvisation was the starting point for the creation of some of the nine pieces Tasos
Stamou wrote for “D-A-D”. The electronics often serve to interact with field recordings that
are wisely manipulated, while acoustic instruments, like a Bouzouki, build up the
connection with the tradition and the necessity to slow down.
With his unique atmospheres, Tasos is whispering some life hacks to build a better life.
Nowadays, it’s quite rare for a record to organize the way the listener wants to listen to
music, to sounds. “D-A-D” creates a beautiful systematization between old and new,
folk/traditional music and the technology in sound. There’s – still - some boldness in that.
All songs by Tasos Stamou
Mastered and Cut by Rashad Becker
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Originally recorded in 1977 at Malaco Studios and Sound City this still relatively unknown modern soul dancer is ready to light up dance floors, with the smooth downtempo flip side perfect for the afters. Once a singer in the Earl White Revue, Rochelle had her moment on this beautiful crossover record. After talking to some of the top modern soul DJs across the world, this record still seemed illusive for the deepest of diggers.
The record has been remastered by Grammy nominated mastering house the Carvery.
Discs of Fun and Love is a reissue label run by DJs and diggers Miche (Spiritland’s programmer) and Frederika (a resident at Spiritland).
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Field Recordings, carefully chosen percussion, electronic spice and acoustic ingredients. This is the foundation for every recipe that Bolivian Belgian artist Suso Perez aka Susobrino creates. In 2018, he presented his debut EP “Mapajo” on Global Hybrid Records. Since then he has won several awards; the “Champion Sound Beat Battle” and “Most Promising Artist” at the Red Bull Elektropedia Awards of Belgium. He introduced his creations to numerous festivals in Belgium and abroad.
His new album “La Hoja de Eucalipto” brings alive a more energetic and aggressive part of Susobrino and presents a work focused on the ethnic and world sounds, mixing his masterful percussion with electronic beats to create a unique and distinctive sound. For fans of the organic electro-latino sound of Chancha Via Circuito, Nicola Cruz and Dengue Dengue Dengue.
In this album Susobrino created a story of 5 beings looking for answers in their individual lives.
The first track “La Hoja de Eucalipto” is the ceremony right before the journey. It’s a three part composition to set the tone of the entire album: question, answer and interpretation.
“Despertar” (wake up in spanish) is the realisation of the journey these beings are getting into. The guitar interprets the rain as a cleansing. A fresh breath in, breath out.
“La Marcha” is the physical start of a long journey. They will be walking for days, weeks or even months. The exciting, courageous travellers leave their families and friends towards unknown lands that they never dared to enter. Many days of walking pass and they reach a new habitat. A dense jungle.
“Dispersion”. This brings tension and fear out of the 5 travellers. A 6min long repetitive song that interprets walking in circles. Everyone gets separated from each other and they question with doubts of getting out of the unknown jungle. Eventually, the 5 beings survive the unknown jungle. Exhausted and lost, they keep walking with no idea where to go. That’s when they stumble upon “Polahimán”. A mysterious entity who’s very eager to help and knows exactly where they have to go. With riddles and poems, he gives them directions.
“El Desierto de Pazmancú” A new habitat. An endless dessert. Yet, the beings are refilled with courage, crossing the entire dessert. That’s where Polahimán is waiting for them.
“El Enfrentamiento de Polahimán”. This is the endboss; The Final Chapter. The 5 grown travellers find themselves in many challenges. This is where you, as a listener, can interpret if it’s a good or bad ending. Or an open ending?
Susobrino plays and records everything in his humble studio in Belgium. Percussion, quena (flutes), guitar, charrango, field recordings and a yamaha dx9.
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The legendary Disk Union Japan and180gpresent the best of today's Brazilian music!
An essential album from contemporary Brazil, Xenia's first solo effort pays tribute to the sounds of the black diaspora, masterfully blending soul music with jazz, samba, r&b and electronic flavors.
Latin Grammy nominated album
180gheavy vinyl, comes with download card
Xenia França is a singer from Bahia, Brazil. She has been nominated for the 2018 Latin Grammy for this debut album Xenia, and for the song "Pra que me Chamas?", a favorite among listeners. Part of an art scene concerned with reviving and disseminating the African-Brazilian culture, the singer became a reference of female empowerment and behavior, especially among black women.
Xenia has performed at major Brazilian festivals, such as Recbeat, Coala, Coma and Queremos, among others. In 2018 she took to Central Park's SummerStage Festival in NYC, and has also performed in Philadelphia and at the Pablo Toblón Theater, in Medellin, Colombia.
Her first solo effort here, "Xenia", is an essential album from contemporary Brazil, paying tribute to the sounds of the black diaspora, masterfully blending soul music with jazz, samba, r&b and electronic flavors, now available for the first time outside of Brazil!
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Robotron successfully autonomized and has now breached the mainframe. This is its second offering for the ESP Institute. Side A’s Exodus picks up where the last 12” left off, the spoils of cybernetic war as scavenged by the now-defunct Xinner and translated by Robotron into machine dance music for a post-apocalyptic future. With only a select few analog machines with which to communicate, it manages to produce the most bombastic beat we’ve heard this side of the acid winter—a mighty compressor permeates all spare gaps in the waveform, as communicative bleeps and note-bending mechanics work in concert to assemble a highly dynamic composition— emboldening us with courage for a new age. On the flip side, Kamchatkan renders a sparse image of a only remaining organic life, found in the furthest Eastern reaches of the Asian continent, the Kamchatka peninsula. Here, Robotron experienced a metamorphosis, a collapse of its structured programming in which it became self-aware and transitioned from its quantitative agenda to a qualitative enlightenment. This breath of new life invigorated Robotron’s musical approach as heard in the aforementioned title, revealing an uncanny ability for humanistic percussion and lyrical Acid melodies. These two programs will conduct synchronized dances for the masses.
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Klein's offbeat singular vision continues to defy classification. Her acclaimed, self-released records – Lagata, Only and CC – along with Tommy for Hyperdub and her theatre musical Care, have allowed glimpses into Klein's uniquely spirally perspective on vocal abstraction, disarming experimentalism and pop culture wonderment. Yet these chapters have also served as masks to conceal the artist's own personal crises of self-belief, misrepresentation and belonging.
An 18-month writing process led to her new album Lifetime. It's an unexpectedly literal body of work which Klein compares to "giving someone your diary." Lifetime embraces the inevitable cycles of existence, phasing through moments of brutality, vulnerability, estrangement and unexpected fortitude. Lifetime embraces the inevitable cycles of existence, phasing through moments of brutality, vulnerability, estrangement and unexpected fortitude. Every sound in Lifetime is intentional, every influence—from 'King of Gospel Music' composer James Cleveland, to early 18th century tonalities in the b side, the work of 'race film' pioneer Spencer Williams, the residue of the religious experience is deeply personal. The 12 songs of the album are pieced together like a puzzle; seamless transitions connect each of its compositions in a reverse chronology, while every chord from every song is echoed someplace else.
What's been hinted at in Klein's live performances is now realised in full for Lifetime. Less vocal work allows her to be even more expressive, and in eschewing a tendency towards brief, truncated sketches, each song serves as its own long conversational piece, committed to realities of a lived experience. The artist who once grappled with self-doubt has set about breaking the cycle of insecurity for others like her, while mindfully chipping away at the conventions of classical music.
Like its artwork, Lifetime addresses intersecting life cycles: the inner and outer selves, hypermodernity versus history, living nightmares and dream states, while seeking the light and darkness in both. Part 1 opens with unmistakable Klein flourishes on the title track. Gusty pads, anxious, frayed-edge static arcs, and craters of deep negative space, all of which melt down to the clean slate of "Claim It," which is a tribute to embracing one's own blessings. "Listen And See As They Take" and "Silent" form their own microcosm, as the sound of crackling kindling burns backwards into imposing structures of distorted strings and disembodied marching drums, before returning to heat and ash again. "For What Worth", in collaboration with sound artist and saxophonist Matana Roberts, explores the kinship between two artists whose shared exploration of lineage leads them both toward uncharacteristically sweet clarity.
Part 2 is further steeped in black expressive styles of the past. "Enough is enough" links the Lifetime narrative to the broader diasporic black experience, inhabiting every chamber of a harmonica with ghostly notes of the present and past, as fragmented gospel chords reflect spiritual bonds between self and the divine. "We Are Almost There" begins the journey with nothing but the looped structures of multitude of voices. The drums and dischord of "Never Will I Disobey" wordlessly create the conditions for "Honour," a near 10-minute composition where crossed boundaries and crossed wires are exposed in real time, and sharp expressions of hurtfulness, accountability and corrupted expectations are rendered beautiful in representational form, via sustained synth tones which hum, jab and flit in natural disharmony. The interlude "Camelot Is Coming" draws on the choir tradition to prelude the spoken word recounts the cycles of trauma and death that form "99." Lifetime closes with the dystopian swirl of "Protect My Blood" a composition which details an excruciating rift, before blooming into serenity as it draws to a close.
Klein's Lifetime is laid bare, from the end to the beginning, and cycled over again. From her place within her family, to their place within her, to viewing the fragility of culture through the lens of memory. It's a lifetime, an embodiment of young livelihood, and an end as much it is a beginning.
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ondon Records are to release Happy Mondays ‘The Early EPs’ on October 25, available digitally and as a 4 x 12” coloured vinyl box set. The release brings together the seminal Manchester band’s first four EPs – ‘Forty Five EP’ (1985), ‘Freaky Dancin/The Egg EP’ (1986), ‘Tart Tart EP’ (1987), and ‘24 Hour Party People’ (1987).
‘The Early EPs’, which have never before been available digitally, have been re-mastered from the original two-inch tapes held in the Factory/London Records archive. The artwork has been redrawn and digitised by original designers Central Station Design. The original Happy Mondays line-up will embark on a UK headline tour in late October, including London’s Roundhouse on October 31.
London Records will follow this release later this year with vinyl reissues of Happy Mondays first four albums - ‘Squirrel and G-man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out)’, ‘Bummed’, ‘Pills ’n’ Thrills and Bellyaches’ & ‘Yes Please!’ - later this year. None of these albums has been available on vinyl for over a decade.
‘The Early EPs’, which have never before been available digitally, have been re-mastered from the original two-inch tapes held in the Factory/London Records archive. The artwork has been redrawn and digitised by original designers Central Station Design. The original Happy Mondays line-up will embark on a UK headline tour later this month, including London’s Roundhouse on October 31.
London Records will follow this release later this year with vinyl reissues of Happy Mondays first four albums - ‘Squirrel and G-man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out)’, ‘Bummed’, ‘Pills ’n’ Thrills and Bellyaches’ & ‘Yes Please!’ - later this year. None of these albums has been available on vinyl for several years.
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Here we are with our 12th vinyl release. We're really proud of our back catalogue, and even prouder to be able to add more to it. And what better way to expand our portfolio than by inviting yet another exciting artist to join our 12" club. And this artist is Ricky Force - a man who's seen it all in the more breakbeat-oriented face of drum & bass, pushing his trademark intricate percussion programming since 1999, releasing quality music on labels such as Reinforced, Repertoire, Omni Music, Pinecone Moonshine, DSCI4 or 117, and now finding home with us.
Without further ado, here's Ricky Force and his latest single - a pair of not your usual 170-BPM masterpieces leaning heavier towards roots vibes, jungle, halfstep, and dub (Ricky's from DUBlin, so it makes total sense). "Ecstasy" starts with a looped vocal bit that leads the listener on towards a thick bush overgrown with full-bodied kicks, sharp, frantic breaks, and a bassline composed of massively booming bits that are bound to keep you on your toes, especially if you have the chance to enjoy it on some proper soundsystem.
"Firehouse Dub" is, in turn, a solid halfstepper strongly rooted in jungle revivalism. It marches slowly and steadily, unfolding some interesting stories on the way - a series of thickly-arranged broken beats, a pack of blares, some vocal bits here and there. Put together, they create an amazing mixture of classic sounds organized up to modern-day standards with surgical precision only Ricky Force is capable of. A true feast for all those into the less polished and more true-school shades of drum & bass.
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One of the key figures in the Austrian house scene is definitely Roman Rauch. The MPC wizard has released quality tracks on cult labels like Philpot, klamauk, Quintessentials, Dirt Crew and Faces Records during this decade.
After 3 remixes and a collaboration with Precious K as Twinpeaks, he will return this autumn on the Viennese based imprint fortunea with a 5 track ep, called Blackout.
The A-side features the title track and a remix by New York’s Let’s Play House chief Jacques Renault. Roman delivers here his typical signature sound of crackling, dustfilled funk and r&b samples in combination with weighty rhythm sections. Jacques’ take is from it’s mood similar. But what stands out here is the addition of congas and a heavy compressed and funky bassline, that puts the dancefloor into a tribal gathering.
The B-side starts in a low-key deep house direction with „Oh Yeah“. A smooth warm bass chimes together with psychedelic rhodes and twirling low-cutted synth progressions. In contrary to this, Janefondas member Precious K takes these elements and transforms them into 2 different versions. The „More Dips Remix“ is a garage influenced party grenade, while the digital exclusive „Rawmix“ turns this tune into an exuberant, dirty warehouse experiment.
The vinyl is limited to 300 copies. There will be no repress!
Mastering by Patrick Pulsinger.
Support by Laurence Guy, Krewcial, Tensnake, Franck Roger, Loz Goddard, Baldo, Orlando B, Nice 7, Severino Panzetta (Horse Meat Disco), Replika, Tim Toh, Drei Farben House, Michael Reinboth, Clandestino, OOFT!, Sean Brosnan, Lars Berenroth
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Acid techno masterpiece from Camera Security, the Techno project from Mingo ( from Acidolido and No Pizza Rave)... The Flip is nevertheless than Collision (OBS:CUR) with his techno project WAVEBNDR ! BLASTER !
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The Small Faces are incredibly important to us here at Acid Jazz.
The epitome of mod style, with a love of great American soul music which they made their own, turning out some of the greatest records on God’s green earth. There’s also a personal connection as well with label founder Eddie Piller’s mum Fran being in charge of the original Small Faces fan club. So it is with pure delight and unadorned joy that we are releasing our exclusive EP ‘Four To The Floor’ In addition to their joyous and timeless songs the group also had a killer line in instrumental brilliance, channelling Booker T & The MGs through the explosive prism of mod and making us all dance. The four finest of these, ‘Grow Your Own’, ‘Almost Grown’, ‘Own Up Time’ and ‘Plum Nellie’ have been gathered together by Tosh Flood (Pugwash, The Divine Comedy) to create this killer EP.
Approved by surviving band member Kenney Jones (who also pens sleeve notes) and put together as part of Rob Caiger’s critically acclaimed Small Faces reissue series, ‘Four To The Floor’ has been mastered by Nick Robbins directly from the original Decca tapes with lacquers cut by Barry Grint at Alchemy Mastering - and sounds astounding! For this release we have revived our Rare Mod Series so the disc comes in a laminated flip-back sleeve, resplendent with a Tony Gale photo of the group in their prime 1966 glory. Kenney is available for selected interviews. The EP will be launched at the Modcast Weekender where Eddie Piller will be interviewing Kenney.
After 10 vinyl releases exploring the leftfield side of electronic music, No Suit Records enters a new era with a new serie of Split EPs. Two artists per EP, offering a wider color palette, stretching styles and genres.
Cabasa is back on No Suit Records after the launch of a successful live act and many appearances in festivals and high profile clubs around Europe. On this release Cabasa navigates between luscious atmosphere, broken beats and polyrythmic patterns.
Crystal Clear is made of soft melodies and tickling bass —it is a reminiscence of the 00’s downtempo apogee and an invitation to accept your inner melancholy. More Than a Second is a slow awakening, a groggy musical move, a muffled request for a brighter future. Catching Fire Slowly is a contemplating ode, a call to take a deep breath and prepare yourself for the upcoming run.
Lost souls or flowers of hope, lurking into light and darkness, no one knows who Scaarlet are. The only certitude is that they always play with boundaries and enact performances between syncopated melodies, cut up sounds, wavy basslines and deep atmospheric sounds. They are back on No Suit Records and continue to develop their own intricate style, merging Drum’n’Bass and Techno influences into a politically and socially engaged music.
My Man translates the raw energy of riots and rebellion, powering a fusion of Drum’n’Bass and Techno. The River resumes some of the Yakusa women tattoos symbolism into a romantic pulsating 170ish bpm vibe. Advertising is an open critic of the fast fashion world and the supremacy of commercial communication, mixing polyrythm with a straight DnB kickdrum.
All tracks mastered by Pole at Scape Mastering in Berlin.
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Carla dal Forno announces her second full-length album, Look Up Sharp , on her own Kallista records.
Dal Forno beckons a bold new era in her peerless output pushing her dub-damaged DIY dispatches to the limits of flawless dream-pop. In a transformative move towards crystal clear vocals and sharpened production, Look Up Sharp is an evolutionary leap from the thick fog and pastoral stillness of her Blackest Ever Black missives, You Know What It’s Like (2016) and The Garden EP (2017). Three years since her plain-speaking debut album, the Melbourne-via-Berlin artist finds herself absorbed in London’s sprawling mess. The small-town dreams and inertia that preoccupied dal Forno’s first album have dissolved into the chaotic city, its shifting identities, far-flung surroundings and blank faces. Look Up Sharp is the story of this life in flux, longing for intimacy, falling short and embracing the unfamiliar. Dal Forno connects with kindred spirits and finds refuge in darkened alleys, secret gardens and wherever else she dares to look.
In her own territory between plaintive pop, folk and post-punk dal Forno conjures the ghosts of AC Marias, Virginia Astley and Broadcast through her brushwork of art-damaged fx and spectral atmospheres. The first half of the record is filled with dubbed-out humid bass lines, which tether stoned hazes of psychedelic synth work as on ‘Took A Long Time’ and ‘No Trace.’ These are contrasted with songs like ‘I’m Conscious and ‘So Much better’ that channel the lilting power of YMG and are clear sequels-in-waiting to dead-eyed classics like ‘Fast Moving Cars.’
The B-side begins with the feverish bass and meandering melody of ‘Don’t Follow Me,’ which takes The Cure’s ‘A Forest’ as its conceptual springboard. It’s the clearest lyrical example since ‘The Garden’ of dal Forno’s unmatched ability to unpick the masculine void of post-punk and new wave nostalgia to reflect contemporary nuance. Look Up Sharp reaches its satisfying conclusion with ‘Push On’ - dal Forno’s most explicit foray into an undiscovered trip hop universe between Massive Attack and Tracey Thorn. The album’s last gasp finds personal validation in fragility: ‘I push on / I’m the Place I’m Going,’ a self discovery lifted by reverberant broken beats and glass-blown vocals.
Adding further depth to Look Up Sharp are the instrumentals, which flow seamlessly between the vocal-led pieces. ‘Hype Sleep’ and ‘Heart of Hearts’ drink from the same stream as The Flying Lizard’s dubbed-out madness and the vivid purple sunsets of Eno’s Another Green World. While ‘Creep Out of Bed’ and ‘Leaving for Japan’ funnel the fourth-world psychedelia of Cyclobe’s industrial-folk into the vortex of Nico’s The Marble Index.
Conceived as a whole, Look Up Sharp is a singular prism in which light, sound and concept bend at all angles. A deeply personal but infinitely relatable album its many surfaces are complex but authentic, enduring but imperfect, hard-edged but delicate. A diamond. Look up sharp or you’ll miss it.
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With "Steamy!" Jukka Eskola Soul Trio reaches its second album on Timmion and delivers another sure-shot for the soul jazz thirsty masses. As with his first self titled debut, this troupe of premium Finnish jazzers turns all the relevant corner stones of soulful and progressive jazz, never running too far up the deep end, but always harnessed with expressive sensitivity and professional cool. It's like the 1960's and 1970's global jazz movement got condensed into a radiant ball of hipness, heady and completely unpretentious.
In addition to the two single releases "Tiny B" and "Stick Of A Branch" Soul Trio dip their groove jazz chops into numbers such as "Five On Three", the shuffling "Jongo Street" and the fatback funky "Steamy". There's also a strong strain of Brazil on several tracks from bossa nova to richly percussive rhythms. On the over 7 minute long "Smash" they mellow out into a beautiful mood that sounds like John Patton swinging with a bunch of European cats. There's even a few studio tricks that we'll leave for the listener to discover.
Calling the Soul Trio a group of virtuosic players is an understatement as all of them have been working at it on a professional level since the 1990's. Trumpetist Eskola and drummer Teppo Mäkynen were both a part of the Helsinki nu jazz movement of the time, which later evolved into the now iconic Five Corners Quintet, while organist Mikko Helevä has hammered his Hammond in underground Finnish jazz funk groups for as long as his two band mates. Together they cook up a stew, which is like a bowl of perfect bouillabaisse, rich with flavour and with nice bits to chew on.
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There Existed An Addiction To Blood" ist das insgesamt vierte Album von Clipping und ihr drittes für Sub Pop. Es ist der Nachfolger des von Kritikern und Publikum gleichermaßen gefeiertes Album ,Splendor And Misery" aus dem Jahr 2016. ,There Existed An Addiction To Blood" enthält die Singles ,Nothing Is Safe", ,Blood Of The Fang" und ,La Mala Ordina" (Feat. Benny The Butcher, Elcamino, The Rita), die von Clipping produziert, von Steve Kaplan gemischt und von Dave Cooley bei Elysium Masters in Los Angeles gemastert wurden. Das Album enthält auch Gastbeiträge von Ed Balloon, La Chat, Counterfeit Madison und Pedestrian Deposit. ,There Existed An Addiction To Blood" ist Clippings Interpretation eines neuen Rap-Splitter-Genres unter Zuhilfenahme ihrer einzigartigen Lupe. Clipping wenden sich auf dem neuen Werk intensiv dem Horrorcore zu, eines bewusst absurden und kreativ bedeutsamen Subgenres, das Mitte der 90er Jahre blühte. Einige der bemerkenswertesten Pioniere hießen Brotha Lynch Hung und Gravediggaz, aber es umfasst auch bahnbrechende Werke der Geto Boys, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony und die nahezu vollständigen Veröffentlichungen des klassischen ,Memphis cassette tape rap". Der wahrscheinlich subversivste und experimentellste Rap hat sich oft als ,Alternative" zu konventionellen Sounds präsentiert, aber Clipping verzerren das Ganze respektvoll in neue Konstellationen. ,There Existed An Addiction To Blood" absorbiert die hyper-gewaltigen Horror-Symboliken der Murder Dog-Ära, stellt sie aber in einem neuen Licht dar: immer noch dunkel getönt und düster, aber in einem seltsameren und lebendigeren Farbton. Wenn der traditionelle Horrorcore mit ,Blacula", dem populären Blaxploitationsfilm-Klassiker aus den frühen 70er Jahren, verwandt war, so ist das neue Output von Clipping analog zu ,Ganja & Hess", dem blutrünstigen Kultklassiker von 1973, der als unbesungenes Wahrzeichen des schwarzen Independent-Kinos gilt, dessen Score von Sam Waymon, Clipping als Inspiration zum Titel des Albums diente und auch Samples auf dem Track ,Blood Of The Fang" lieferte.ENG The science-fiction visionary Octavia Butler once declared that "there is nothing new under the sun, but there are new suns." The aphorism could apply to any art form where the basic contours are fixed, but the appetite for innovation remains infinite. Enter Clipping, flash fiction genre masters in a hip-hop world firmly rooted in memoir. If first person confessionals historically reign, the mid-city Los Angeles trio of rapper Daveed Diggs and producers William Hutson and Jonathan Snipes have spent the last half-decade terraforming their own patch of soil, replete with conceptual labyrinths and industrial chaos. They have conjured a mutant emanation of the future, built at odd angles atop the hallowed foundation of the past. Their third album for Sub Pop, There Existed an Addiction to Blood, finds them interpreting another rap splinter sect through their singular lens. This is Clipping's transmutation of horrorcore, a purposefully absurdist sub-genre that flourished in the mid-90s. If some of its most notable pioneers included Brotha Lynch Hung and Gravediggaz, it also encompasses seminal works from the Geto Boys, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, and the near-entirety of classic Memphis cassette tape rap. The most subversive and experimental rap has often presented itself as an "alternative" to conventional sounds, but Clipping respectfully warp them into new constellations. There Existed an Addiction to Blood absorbs the hyper-violent horror tropes of the Murder Dog era, but re-imagines them in a new light: still darkly-tinted and somber, but in a weirder and more vivid hue. The album contains interludes with hissing recordings of demonic invasions, and guest appearances from Griselda Gang's Benny the Butcher and Hypnotize Minds horror queen La Chat. Other tracks feature contributions from noise music legends The Rita and Pedestrian Deposit. It all ends with "Piano Burning," a performance of a piece written by the avant-garde composer Annea Lockwood. Yes, it is the sound of a piano burning. There Existed an Addiction to Blood fits neatly into the broader scope of the band's career, which has seen them expand from insular experimentalists into globally recognized artists. Since the release of their first album in 2013, Diggs has won a Tony and a Grammy (both for his acting/rapping work as Thomas Jefferson and Marquis de Lafayette in Hamilton), as well as co-written and starred in 2018's critically hailed Blindspotting, while Snipes and Hutson have scored numerous films and television shows. Clipping's last album, the 2016 afro-futurist dystopian space opus Splendor & Misery was recently named one of Pitchfork's Best Industrial Albums of All-Time. Commissioned for an episode of This American Life, their 2017 single "The Deep" became the inspiration for a novel of the same name, written by Rivers Solomon and published by Saga Press. But their latest masterwork embodies what the band had been building towards - a work that finds them without peer. This is experimental hip-hop built to bang in a post-apocalyptic club bursting with radiation. It's horrorcore that soaks up past blood and replants it into a different organism, undead but dangerously alive. It is a new sun, blindingly bright and built to burn your retinas.
Emotional Rescue returns to the music of British "pop" band Furniture, with an EP of the band's own extended versions, remixes and unreleased takes of their particular output.
Taken from three 12"s that followed When The Boom Was On (ERC072), the songs included cast a light on their development from 3 to 5 piece, adding Sally Still (bass) and Maya Gilder (keyboards) and the new male/female frontline. The subsequent broadening of their line-up and sound meant they could start to address the kind of pop music they wanted to play.
After the early releases garneered radio play and reviews, Furniture were launched into the melee of '80s pop. An anomaly, the band found they attracted a specific kind of "intense" follower, who were often beguiled by Furniture's freaky normality. This was addressed on the 1984 release, 'I Can't Crack'. A more urgent version of the sound Furniture had debuted with 'Why Are We In Love', the track, sung by Tim, was based around a sequencer-like rhythm played live by drummer Hamilton Lee, and a clarinet part played by Tim's brother, Larry Whelan. A mix of bleakness and euphoria, the song was and is a favourite of the band and considered one of their best self-productions, as well as becoming a latter day club play.
This is followed by the studio experiment 'Throw Away The Script', where the band wrestled with sequencers and synth-pop, but then countered it with a free-jazz sax solo. Found on the flip of the double A -side of 'Love Your Shoes' 12", this instrumental version too became an underground club hit, including a cult play at Fran Lenaer's influential Valencia club, Spook Factory. Played loud, the studio mastery, trickery and oft-accidental discoveries come to the fore, with tissue-damaging frequencies giving extra sound system shaking bottom end.
The B-side continues the band's love of making extended mixes with 'Dancing The Hard Bargain'. Co-produced with Tim Parry (formerly of Blue Zoo), they threw everything at these 12" versions. Able to relax and focus on the sounds they really liked, rather than the ones thought more commercial, this can be clearly heard on this compelling, percussive mix, a stop-start breakdown becoming a band hallmark.
To close this collection is the mammoth 'Bullet'. Again sung by Whelan, an edited version of which debuted on the 1986 Survival compilation of Furniture tracks called 'The Lovemongers', here this previously unreleased original take is centred on a mesmeric tape loop, live drums and a guest appearance by violinist Helena Bjorelius.
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