In 1997 and 1998, the late great Japanese composer, producer, and DJ Susumu Yokota released two of the most eclectic albums of his decades-long career, Fruits of The Room and Greenpeace. Recorded under his Stevia alias for Tokyo Techno pioneer DJ Miku’s Newstage Records/NS-COM, they were Yokota-san’s homage to the foundational days of club music in Japan.
This year, Glossy Mistakes are proud to present the first official vinyl editions of Fruits of The Room and Greenpeace, originally released on CD during the golden days of the format. Packaged in reimagined cover artwork created by the celebrated Japanese visual artist Masaho Anotani, these two albums perfectly capture the diversity at the heart of Yokota-san’s oeuvre. Across Greenpeace sees Yokota-san conjuring up a heady concoction of dusty loops, sampledelic breaks, kraut-rock and psychedelic downbeat. A remarkable listening experience based on the inspired era of a genius.
When Yokota-san wrote and produced the music on Fruits of The Room and Greenpeace in 1997, he was reflecting on the broader culture that surrounded dance music in Japan in the early to mid-nineties. It was an era when the psychedelic culture of late sixties America, the afterglow of UK acid house/rave, the new age movement and cyberpunk dovetailed together. Within DJ Miku and Yokota-san’s social circles, the thinking of Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs electrified the air.
By 1996, the moment, brilliant and blinding as it was, was over. “We all felt that the rave scene fizzled out,” DJ Miku says. As he puts it, there was a collective feeling around him that it had all become too much. From the calm that followed, DJ Miku, Yokota-san and their open-eared peers made the decision to switch tracks and start from scratch. DJ Miku believes that with his Stevia releases, Fruits of The Room and Greenpeace, Yokota-san wanted to express the sweet and sour nature of the passing of those wild early days and his wish for true peace. “At the time, we saw eye-to-eye, with an implicit understanding of each other,” he explains. “Even now, twenty-five years later, I am confident it was like that.”
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EALZ! Records & brand new label A.D.S team up to pay tribute to the mysterious bluesman and producer : Cleo Page.
Born in Louisiana, this L.A.-based musician worked with the great Johnny Otis, hang out on Central Avenue’s clubs and possibly jammed with top West Coast bluesmen like Jessie Allen, Pete “guitar” Lewis, Jimmy Nolen, Lafayette Thomas.
Curley Page for some, Sly Williams for others, difficult to follow his career and in definitive, little is known about him despite his “big deal” recently approved by blues specialists : Cleo Page IS the man who wrote and recorded the original Boot Hill, a blues classic covered many times up until now.
Cleo Page who lived in California since 14 years-old has been crossing Blues, Rhythm & Blues and proto-Rock'n'Roll in a personal way. He will run his own labels in the heart of Watts just after the 1965 riots. Those tragic events deeply influenced his laid-back groovy sounds, powerful guitar playing, organ-driven garage Blues with strong political and social messages. Somewhere between the first electric recordings of Howlin' Wolf and… Black Diamond Heavies!
You're about to discover 12 rare tracks probably recorded between late ‘60s and early ‘70s. This brand new release includes the ultra-rare track "Black Man part. 1 & 2".
Material reissued here for the first time in an arty/artisanal trifold Vinyl LP and a bonus Vinyl 7inch
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Belgian / New York supergroup Fievel Is Glauque comprises of jazz keyboard auteur Zach Phillips, angel-voiced singer / rapper Ma Clément, and whichever other virtuosic noodlers happen to be slumped about the place.
Their cult tape "God's Trashmen Sent to Right the Mess" is a sprawling epic of pop, hip-hop and country inspired jazz arrangements. 20 tracks that form a jenga tower of expertly placed jazz chords, interlocking, sliding and collapsing with a short and sharp punk sensibility - all recorded live to tape.
Recommended if you like Arthur Russell's heart-on-sleeve wonky horn arrangements, or the infectious home-made jazz-hop of Louis Cole. We've pressed 300 copies of "Trashmen" to vinyl, and we don't expect them to stick around for long.
By now counting more than four decades of constant activity, Pierre Bastien erected such a towering and influential body of work that any blurb attempt regarding his music could easily fall into redundancy. Not that his revolving soundworld, deeply personal and unique, has ever stalled into gimmick or self mimicry, being Bastien the tireless explorer whose vision can never be complete, only continuously redefined in a process of discovery equally playful and challenging. So, completely in touch with Discrepant's ethos.
Returning to the label after 2017 The Mecanocentric Worlds of Pierre Bastien, the french musician, composer and instrument builder, brings an array of instruments from different cartographies and legacies with the appropriately titled Sonic Folkways. Resorting to different types of horns, prepared trumpet, an army of percussion, from gongs and tambourine to castanets and maracas, violin and too many others to mention here, Bastien weaves together a highly textured and hypnotic mosaic that projects an exotica beamed from scraps of the future. 'Aha!' in the same interstellar wavelength as Sun Ra's cosmic tones, 'Moor's Room’ almost orchestral tapestry of small percussion and insects or the non-western strings and tunings salvaged from ancient alien ceremonies on 'Pan's Nap'.
In an era where so much ink has been shed about world building in experimental music, Bastien can actually claim that to himself. The otherworld is right here, indeed.
Es liegt in den Düsseldorfer Genen, dass Vibravoid Kunst vor Kommerz setzen. Sich auf den Aspekt beziehen, wie er 1967 im Creamcheese gelegt wurde. Deutschlands erste Psychedelic Diskothek, die mit Gerhard Richter, Joseph Beuys, Günther Ücker, Kraftwerk und NEU! die Düsseldorfer Blaupausen von Kunst und Pop Kultur schufen. Seit einigen Jahren haben Vibravoid die künstlerische Leitung des Creamcheese übernommen, das z.B. im Guggenheim Museum gewürdigt und in Zusammenarbeit mit H.A. Schult als großes Kunsthappening reanimiert wurde. Phasenvoind enthält zusätzlich ein glücklicher Weise erhaltenes Vibravoid Interview aus dem Jahr 1997, das aus erster hand ein heute unbekanntes Bild der 1990er Jahre zeichnet und für Musikhistoriker einen unschätzbaren Wert bietet. Ob Vinylschallplatten. Kraut und Psychedelic Rock, Theremin, Sitar, Light Show und der Underground - wer die Unsprünge der aktuellen Musikszene sucht wird sie hier finden_ und es mag viele überraschen, dass Begriffe wie ,Psych", Stoner oder Doom zu dieser Zeit noch keinerlei Relevanz besaßen und die Pionierleistungen von Vibravoid verdeutlichen.
„New Mythology“ ist das neue Album von Singer-Songwriter Nick Mulvey. Es handelt von unserer Zeit - dem Ende der einsamen Wölfe und dem Anfang eines kollektiven Erwachens - und verwebt die uralten Lehren des Buddhismus mit heilenden Melodien und Akkorden. Es bewegt sich weg von den vielfältigen Geschichten der Trennung und des Getrenntseins und hin zu neuen Geschichten - neu zumindest für die herrschende Kultur - des Miteinanders und der Verantwortlichkeit.
Während Nicks gefeiertes Debütalbum „First Mind“ für sich allein stand und ein fesselndes Werk war, das sowohl komplex als auch locker ist und verdientermaßen für den Mercury Music Prize 2014 nominiert wurde, stärkte das zweite Album „Wake Up Now“ seine Position als unverwechselbarer, einzigartiger britischer
Musiker. Seine Musik steht für sich allein und kennt kein Genre.
**180g heavyweight vinyl** Les Racines is the latest solo album from the eminent guitarist and songwriter Vieux Farka Touré, and his first for World Circuit Records. Known as the ‘Hendrix of the Sahara’, Vieux has released 4 critically acclaimed solo albums to date, extending the boundaries of traditional West African music into new and uncharted territory. He has also released audacious collaborations with the likes of Dave Matthews and jazz guitarist John Scofield, and albums with American singer-songwriter Julia Easterlin and Israeli singer-songwriter Idan Raichel. With Les Racines, which translates as ‘the roots’, Vieux documents a deep reconnection with the traditional Songhai music of northern Mali which is one of the traditions that has come to be known in the West as ‘Desert Blues’. Vieux’s roots run deeper than deep – he is the son of Ali Farka Touré, widely acclaimed as the finest guitarist Africa has ever produced. Recorded in Bamako in Vieux’s home studio, the timeless grooves of the album are steeped in the traditional music of West Africa. But the fire of Vieux’s guitar playing and the urgency of the messages in his songs add an entirely contemporary relevance. “We are nothing if we abandon respect for the past,” Vieux says. The resulting album, the most profound statement of his career to date, marks out Vieux as the great Ali Farka Touré’s rightful heir and a major artist in his own right. “Early in my career people asked why I wasn’t just following my father. But it was important for me to establish my own identity,” Vieux says. “Now people know what I can do, I can return to those roots with pride and I hope a certain authority.”
Delete My Feelings is The Let Go's debut EP on Chess Club Records. The mixtape features self-produced bangers 'Woke' and 'Vegas' as well as current single 'Last Year's Model Club', which features additional production from Oscar Scheller (PinkPantheress, Arlo Parks, Ashnikko). The Let Go are Cole and Scout, 19-year-old Washington natives who relocated to the UK to attend LIPA in Liverpool. They write and produce all their own work together, with influences ranging from The 1975 and Billy Joel to Brockhampton and Dominic Fike, drawing influence from bedroom pop, hip hop, punk, indie and everything in between to create their own unique sonic landscape made for the here and now. Since releasing 'Woke', The Let Go have been featured on BBC Radio 1 as Jack Saunders’ Next Wave, and in tastemaker publications like FADER, DORK, DIY, CLASH & on NME's playlists. The duo will be heading out on tour with The Night Cafe and Daisy Brain in February, and with packed rooms at Sound City and Live at Leeds festivals under their belts already, The Let Go are poised to become one of the most exciting new acts in the UK in 2022.
Delete My Feelings is The Let Go's debut EP on Chess Club Records. The mixtape features self-produced bangers 'Woke' and 'Vegas' as well as current single 'Last Year's Model Club', which features additional production from Oscar Scheller (PinkPantheress, Arlo Parks, Ashnikko). The Let Go are Cole and Scout, 19-year-old Washington natives who relocated to the UK to attend LIPA in Liverpool. They write and produce all their own work together, with influences ranging from The 1975 and Billy Joel to Brockhampton and Dominic Fike, drawing influence from bedroom pop, hip hop, punk, indie and everything in between to create their own unique sonic landscape made for the here and now. Since releasing 'Woke', The Let Go have been featured on BBC Radio 1 as Jack Saunders’ Next Wave, and in tastemaker publications like FADER, DORK, DIY, CLASH & on NME's playlists. The duo will be heading out on tour with The Night Cafe and Daisy Brain in February, and with packed rooms at Sound City and Live at Leeds festivals under their belts already, The Let Go are poised to become one of the most exciting new acts in the UK in 2022.
40-plus years since its original release, the pop-punk-new wave inventions of Anthony
Moore’s ‘Flying Doesn’t Help’ are freshly remastered, blasting the sparkling, angular
sounds into today with perfect vitality.
After spending the early years of the 1970s making experimental music first as a solo
artist, then with Slapp Happy and Henry Cow, 1976’s ‘OUT’ sessions had reinvigorated
Anthony’s youthful love of the naive pop melodies of pop radio, the undeniable excitement
of songs. While ‘OUT’ ultimately went unreleased at the time, the iconoclasm clouding the
late ’70s air was addictive and transformative for Anthony. England seemed to be roiled
as violently as it had been in counter-cultural days a decade earlier; the UK pop charts
breathlessly reflected the changing spectrum with equal parts aging hippie and prog
delicacies alongside new ascendant sounds: rough-hewn pub and punk rock, plus dub
reggae and disco and ska and Stiff and Krautrock. This proved to be an ideal environment
for Anthony to make records by exploring, as he puts it, the “deep connection between
minimalism, repetition, working with tape and celluloid and forming the modules of a
three-minute pop song.”
Caught up in a no-holds-barred era, Anthony was more than happy to play the out-of-hishead madman, raving through outrageous exchanges with the press, while ‘Judy Get
Down’ received Single Of The Week honours from the NME (with review penned by Brian
Eno). Represented by Blackhill Enterprises, Anthony did production work throughout
1978-1979, on Kevin Ayers’ ‘Rainbow Takeaway’, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band’s ‘Angel
Station’ and the first This Heat album, meanwhile cutting his own songs on a dead time
deal at Workhouse Studio with engineer / producer Laurie Latham. Through the wee
hours of countless nights, the two pieced together ‘Flying Doesn’t Help’, with a little help
from friends (an inspired bunch, including Bob Shilling, Charles Hayward, Chris Slade,
Robert Vogel, Festus, Matt Irving, Sam Harley, Bernie Clark, Edwin Cross and Martine
Moore on the telephone).
Building upon the axis of pop and experimental impulses that distinguished ‘OUT’, and
informed further by the raw sensibilities exploding everywhere, ‘Flying Doesn’t Help’
blasts out of the speakers with its own unique blend of sophistication and aggression,
Anthony’s keyboard flashes between arpeggiations and outright stabs among the noise of
slicing guitars, funk basslines and the reverbed blare of the drumkit. Opening with
Anthony’s greatest hit, ‘Judy Get Down’, and containing a noise-laden remake of the
Slapp Happy/Henry Cow number, ‘War’, among other delightful sweet-and-salty
confections, ‘Flying Doesn’t Help’ never stops moving, fuelled with raw outrage and dark
satirical intent, churning with the energy of next-gen types like Tubeway Army and DEVO,
while shimmering with the elegance of the still-challenging old guard types, like Cale and
Bowie.
Clearly, ‘Flying Doesn’t Help’ was steeped in the time, and the original release reflected a
deep mistrust of the corporation mindset. Information was a dubious concept, and
connections to any recognizable organization were seen as untrustworthy, so facts like
musician credits were left out of the package, and even Anthony’s name was altered (he
was credited as A. More on the album and Tony More on a single release). The label
name QUANGO was conceptual as well, standing for ‘Quasi Autonomous NonGovernmental Organization’; each record was sealed with red tape that the listener was
required to cut through in order to get to the music. Rather than recreate the conditions of
the original release of ‘Flying Doesn’t Help’, this reissue instead embraces the changed
environment of the current time and place: instead of no credits, now they are complete,
with Anthony’s full name restored and even the artwork subtly ‘relocated’ to reflect a new
set of relationships. All of which brings the forward-looking sounds of ‘Flying Doesn’t Help’
into the more independent-minded 21st Century syntax where it belongs.
Strictly limited to 10,000 numbered copies, pressed on MoFi SuperVinyl at RTI, and mastered from the original master tapes, Mobile Fidelity's ultra-hi-fi UltraDisc One-Step 180g 45RPM 2LP collector's edition enhances the blockbuster work for today – and the ages to come. Surpassing the sonics of any prior version, it peels away any remaining limitations to provide a transparent, lively, ultra-nuanced presentation of a record that won six Grammy Awards – including prizes for Album of the Year, Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, and Best Rock Song. The expanse and depth of the soundstage, fullness of tones, natural snap and extension of the guitar strings, realistic rise and decay of individual notes, and roll of Clapton's vocals all attain demonstration-grade levels.
Housed in a deluxe box, the UD1S Unplugged pressing features special foil-stamped jackets and faithful-to-the-original graphics that illuminate the splendor of the recording and the reissue's premium quality. No expense has been spared. Aurally and visually, this UD1S reissue exists as a curatorial artifact meant to be preserved, touched, and examined. It is made for discerning listeners that prize sound quality and production, and who desire to fully immerse themselves in the art – and everything involved with the album, from the images to the finishes.
Truly, everything about Unplugged matters. Having sold more than 10 million copies in the U.S. and more than 26 million copies worldwide, the 1992 work resonates with listeners of all generations and speaks a universal language. Recorded for MTV before a very small audience on January 16, 1992, the 14-track set became the signpost for future acoustic-based endeavours that witnessed artists of all stripes re-examining their catalogues and, in many instances, as Clapton does here, placing familiar originals in fresh contexts and unveiling spirited versions of cover material. Needless to say, Clapton's session turned MTV's series into can't-miss programming for which the likes of Rod Stewart, Tony Bennett, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and more would soon participate.
Kicking off his performance with a spirited instrumental to establish the mood, Clapton immediately wades into the style that originally caught his attention as a British teenager in the early 1960s: American blues. Backed by a superb band that includes guitarist Andy Fairweather Low, pianist Chuck Leavell, bassist Nathan East, and drummer Steve Ferrone, Slowhand delivers a rhythmic, toe-tapping rendition of Bo Diddley's "Before You Accuse Me" that announces he's come to reconnect with his muse. What follows over the course of nearly the next hour stirs the heart, shakes the soul, moves the mind, and invigorates the senses.
Of course, there's no talking about Unplugged without keying in on "Tears in Heaven," the striking ballad Clapton penned about the death of his four-year-old son. More emotional, direct, spare, and healing than the studio version released a year prior, it crackles with an intimacy, maturity, poignancy, honesty, sweetness, and integrity that inform the entire concert. Indeed, how Clapton frames other favorites here – transforming "Layla" into a relaxed, comfortable stroll and ruminating on the seasoned ripples flowing throughout "Old Love," for example – indicate both a creative rebirth and gleeful acceptance of the next phase of his career.
And that very direction (two of Clapton's next three albums would be all-blues projects) is what really makes Unplugged so indispensable. Equivalent in mastery if not in volume to the output that earned him his "God" nickname, interpretations of Jesse Fuller's "San Francisco Bay Blues" (complete with kazoo!), Big Bill Broonzy's "Hey Hey," Robert Johnson's "Walkin' Blues" and "Malted Milk," and Muddy Waters' "Rollin' & Tumblin'" showcase a learned professor in his element and all the wheels turning.
In every regard, Clapton's Unplugged session was appointment listening when it came out in August 1992. With the arrival of MoFi's UD1S pressing, that sensation is more urgent than before.
More About Mobile Fidelity UltraDisc One-Step and Why It Is Superior
Instead of utilizing the industry-standard three-step lacquer process, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab's new UltraDisc One-Step (UD1S) uses only one step, bypassing two processes of generational loss. While three-step processing is designed for optimum yield and efficiency, UD1S is created for the ultimate in sound quality. Just as Mobile Fidelity pioneered the UHQR (Ultra High-Quality Record) with JVC in the 1980s, UD1S again represents another state-of-the-art advance in the record-manufacturing process. MFSL engineers begin with the original master tapes and meticulously cut a set of lacquers. These lacquers are used to create a very fragile, pristine UD1S stamper called a "convert." Delicate "converts" are then formed into the actual record stampers, producing a final product that literally and figuratively brings you closer to the music. By skipping the additional steps of pulling another positive and an additional negative, as done in the three-step process used in standard pressings, UD1S produces a final LP with the lowest noise floor possible today. The removal of the additional two steps of generational loss in the plating process reveals tremendous amounts of extra musical detail and dynamics, which are otherwise lost due to the standard copying process. The exclusive nature of these very limited pressings guarantees that every UD1S pressing serves as an immaculate replica of the lacquer sourced directly from the original master tape. Every conceivable aspect of vinyl production is optimized to produce the most perfect record album available today.
MoFi SuperVinyl
Developed by NEOTECH and RTI, MoFi SuperVinyl is the most exacting-to-specification vinyl compound ever devised. Analog lovers have never seen (or heard) anything like it. Extraordinarily expensive and extremely painstaking to produce, the special proprietary compound addresses two specific areas of improvement: noise floor reduction and enhanced groove definition. The vinyl composition features a new carbonless dye (hold the disc up to the light and see) and produces the world's quietest surfaces. This high-definition formula also allows for the creation of cleaner grooves that are indistinguishable from the original lacquer. MoFi SuperVinyl provides the closest approximation of what the label's engineers hear in the mastering lab.
SACD
Mastered from the original master tapes, Mobile Fidelity's numbered hybrid SACD enhances the blockbuster work for today – and the ages to come. Peeling away remaining sonic limitations to provide a transparent, lively, ultra-nuanced presentation of a record that won six Grammy Awards (including prizes for Album of the Year, Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, and Best Rock Song), it places Clapton and company in your room. The expanse and depth of the soundstage, fullness of tones, natural snap and extension of the guitar strings, realistic rise and decay of individual notes, and roll of Clapton's vocals all attain demonstration-grade levels. A perennial audiophile favourite, Unplugged now tosses its hat into the ring as a demonstration disc.
The music world is most fortunate that the past two decades have witnessed the rediscovery of mind-opening music that went under-recognized when originally released, and the wellspring of musical content produced by a generation of brilliant musicians. One such musician was the late great drummer Steve Reid, whose reissued eclectic recordings on his own Mustevic Sound label gave his career a second wind.
Though teased on a well-received compilation, one Mustevic release never saw reissue: New Life Trio’s Visions Of The Third Eye, a tremendous collaborative effort between Reid, guitarist Brandon Ross and bassist David Wertman.
Due to overwhelming demand, Early Future Records and Finders Keepers Records are proud to announce a second limited edition pressing of the classic and final Mustevic recording. The release also includes a 20-page written zine featuring an in-depth testimonial and interview with Brandon Ross, and an explorative essay by Finders Keepers’ Andy Votel, as well as a wealth of archival photos, scores and reviews.
Reid’s long and varied career began in his native New York City, where he was involved early on as a member of the Apollo Theater House Band and the R&B scene of the 1960s, including recordings with Martha Reeves and James Brown. In the late 1960s, Reid spent three years in West Africa absorbing musical traditions and experimenting with artists such as Fela Kuti, Guy Warren and Randy Weston. After a stint in prison for dodging the draft as a conscientious objector, the drummer came out swinging in the 1970s. He worked regularly as a session and Broadway musician even while immersing himself into the jazz world, from the straight-ahead styles of Freddie Hubbard and Horace Silver to the otherworldly sounds of Sun Ra and Charles Tyler.
The do-it-yourself ethos of the New York Loft Scene inspired Reid to create his own label, Mustevic Sound, on which he began releasing his own recordings and those of a couple of friends. One of these trusted friends was David Wertman, a young bassist from New York who released his own Kara Suite on Mustevic in 1976.
New Life Trio’s story began when Wertman moved from New York to the more sedate but creatively vibrant town of Northampton, Massachusetts. Here Wertman met Brandon Ross, a young guitarist from New Jersey who had relocated there with his brother to join a coterie of New York expats who had found a comfortable, collaborative environment amidst the liberal college towns in the area, including avant-garde legends Archie Shepp and Marion Brown. Wertman and Ross became friends and began to perform together regularly, both formally and informally.
A string trio of Wertman, Ross and violinist Terry Jenoure was set to record, but Jenoure dropped out just prior to the date. This led Wertman to call his friend Steve Reid to come join the two at the Tin Pan Hollow Studios in Vermont to record what would become Visions Of The Third Eye on December 6, 1978. Originally conceived as an all-acoustic date, the recording would morph slightly when Ross added electric guitar muscle on a number of pieces. Reid would then take the helm and release the recording in 1980, giving a very auspicious birth to what has now become a classic spiritual jazz recording.
Fast forward to 1995…..New Life Trio gets a belated second wind from Stuart Baker’s inclusion of the Ross-voiced “Empty Streets” on his Universal Sounds of America compilation. The brief, haunting lead track just hinted at what the full Visions Of The Third Eye album had to offer. Audience awareness resulted in the pursuit of out-of-print original LPs, thus the rarity of Visions Of The Third Eye led to it becoming a kind of “holy grail” record for collectors of jazz and creative music. The album’s cover image was even incorporated into the cover of Freedom, Rhythm & Sound (SJB, 2009), a wonderful coffee table book presenting album covers from those revolutionary decades in Black creative music. The recording’s legend was cemented.
New Life Trio’s legend continues to grow partly due to the brevity of its existence. The triumvirate of Reid, Ross and Wertman would never work together again. Each member would continue along his own path, finding success in numerous projects. Reid’s career was reinvigorated with the reissue of the bulk of his Mustevic Sound recordings in the early 2000s, which led him to a rewarding partnership with Four Tet’s Kieran Hebden until Reid’s untimely passing in 2010. Wertman balanced life between Florida and Massachusetts as a regular in the local jazz scene, recording numerous projects with his wife, Lynne Meryl, before passing away in 2013. The fantastically creative Ross has remained active in the New York creative music scene with a number of projects, most notably with Henry Threadgill, Cassandra Wilson and Harriet Tubman, a wildly eclectic co-led band with underpinnings of rock, dub and free jazz.
Mondo, in partnership with Back Lot Music Wright, are proud to present the premiere physical release of Steven Price's electrifying score to LAST NIGHT IN SOHO, the latest film by Edgar Wright.
Edgar Wright wanted a score to soundtrack the two eras of Last Night in Soho and tie together the stories of these two very different young women. To achieve this, Wright turned once again to his now-regular composer, Academy Award® winner Steven Price, who successfully scored both Baby Driver and The World’s End.
While Price’s influences for the score included contemporary film music by the likes of Ennio Morricone and John Barry, a “’60s session band” sound with echoing fragments of dialogue add a different and sometimes subliminally sinister edge to the score. The sounds of ‘60s Soho blend into the present-day London scenes as Eloise is sucked further into the past. “The idea is that Sandie’s voice becomes part of the film, so you hear her siren song from the ‘60s coming through, and Anya became an intrinsic part of it… I was pleased that the lead actress is also the lead singer in the film score; the whole thing knitted together.”
The album also features songs performed by Anya Taylor-Joy, including the lead single from the film "Downtown (Downtempo Version)"
Peer through the windows of the sun-dappled homes in Sicily and you will be faced with a small, strange ceramic object adorning each hallway. It is a glistening pine cone standing upright – a pigna – the longstanding symbol of Sicilian openness and welcome hospitality.
The pigna is a delightfully unusual and yet apt symbol for the title of the third record from Benjamin Harris, AKA Yarni. Ever since his debut LP release in 2017, Yarni has established a following committed to his musical openness, an intuitive curiosity that has spanned everything from house and techno to cinematic ambience and Japanese percussion, as well as jazz horns and afrobeat fanfares. For Yarni, anything goes and everyone is welcome. Now, Pigna sees Yarni reach his fullest and most musically diverse expression, taking its name and ethos from Sicily, but finding a sonic home in the luscious orchestration of a new ensemble of musicians.
Here, at the helm of a nine-person ensemble, Yarni artfully pieces together live improvisations to create the warmth of a seasoned group performing deep within the groove. Opener “Midnight Getaway” places the listener squarely within the disco-funk of Daft Punk as Yarni’s top-line synth intersects with a rolling bassline and a lyrical flute solo from Rachel Shirley. This optimistic tone of sunlit spaciousness is then heightened on “Utopia”, as Yarni’s horn section comes to the fore to pay homage to the ineffable syncopations of Fela Kuti’s pioneering afrobeat.
Rather than scratch at the surface of these musical genres, Yarni’s attuned ear embodies the emotive essence of his various sounds by paying intimate attention to their creation. There is the punch of that afrobeat sax on “Utopia”; the rhythmic skitter of breakbeats on “The Astral”; the sludging thump of funk in the bassline on “Nova”. Collaborators are given free reign, too, to incorporate their own unique stylings into this remarkable whole, from vocalist Emily Marks’ languid tone on “In A Dream”, to saxophonist Jonoa’s innate swing on “Cherub”, and the metronomic movement of bassist Ally McMahon’s playing throughout.
Listening to Pigna is ultimately to find yourself squarely within the comforting embrace of Yarni’s musical mind. It is a truly LP experience – a record to be placed on the turntable’s platter and then left to play, allowing yourself an immersion in these journeying soundscapes. It is no wonder fellow sonic travellers such as the late Andrew Weatherall and DJ Harvey have been supporters of Yarni’s work, since here is a kindred spirit – an artist shaped in the form of radical openness, speaking the hospitable, universal language of beautiful music.
Peer through the windows of the sun-dappled homes in Sicily and you will be faced with a small, strange ceramic object adorning each hallway. It is a glistening pine cone standing upright – a pigna – the longstanding symbol of Sicilian openness and welcome hospitality.
The pigna is a delightfully unusual and yet apt symbol for the title of the third record from Benjamin Harris, AKA Yarni. Ever since his debut LP release in 2017, Yarni has established a following committed to his musical openness, an intuitive curiosity that has spanned everything from house and techno to cinematic ambience and Japanese percussion, as well as jazz horns and afrobeat fanfares. For Yarni, anything goes and everyone is welcome. Now, Pigna sees Yarni reach his fullest and most musically diverse expression, taking its name and ethos from Sicily, but finding a sonic home in the luscious orchestration of a new ensemble of musicians.
Here, at the helm of a nine-person ensemble, Yarni artfully pieces together live improvisations to create the warmth of a seasoned group performing deep within the groove. Opener “Midnight Getaway” places the listener squarely within the disco-funk of Daft Punk as Yarni’s top-line synth intersects with a rolling bassline and a lyrical flute solo from Rachel Shirley. This optimistic tone of sunlit spaciousness is then heightened on “Utopia”, as Yarni’s horn section comes to the fore to pay homage to the ineffable syncopations of Fela Kuti’s pioneering afrobeat.
Rather than scratch at the surface of these musical genres, Yarni’s attuned ear embodies the emotive essence of his various sounds by paying intimate attention to their creation. There is the punch of that afrobeat sax on “Utopia”; the rhythmic skitter of breakbeats on “The Astral”; the sludging thump of funk in the bassline on “Nova”. Collaborators are given free reign, too, to incorporate their own unique stylings into this remarkable whole, from vocalist Emily Marks’ languid tone on “In A Dream”, to saxophonist Jonoa’s innate swing on “Cherub”, and the metronomic movement of bassist Ally McMahon’s playing throughout.
Listening to Pigna is ultimately to find yourself squarely within the comforting embrace of Yarni’s musical mind. It is a truly LP experience – a record to be placed on the turntable’s platter and then left to play, allowing yourself an immersion in these journeying soundscapes. It is no wonder fellow sonic travellers such as the late Andrew Weatherall and DJ Harvey have been supporters of Yarni’s work, since here is a kindred spirit – an artist shaped in the form of radical openness, speaking the hospitable, universal language of beautiful music.
Markus Acher (best known as singer of The Notwist) typically produces his own music under the name Rayon – this time, however, is a different story. Using his real name, he sends a signal re: the circumstances he recorded the music in - at home in his old apartment in Munich, in a private setting, in a time when there was hardly anything else available. Accordingly, and rather fittingly, the four songs represent a bridge to the outside world: Acher tore the doors to his balcony wide open, inviting the outside in, capturing its sound on tape: rain falling, engine noise of passing cars. And at the same time the songs pushed outward, into that sphere that remained off-limits to us for some time (“Like a plane they can go everywhere”).
The four tracks - arranged for harmonium, acoustic guitar, banjo, glockenspiel, percussion, a children's harp and vocals - were released digitally in 2021 via the Japanese independent platform Minna Kikeru, run by Saya (member of the duo Tenniscoats and Markus Acher's bandmate in Spirit Fest), among others. For two songs of »Like A Plane«, Saya contributed vocal tracks as well.
»Like A Plane« now sees its vinyl release via Morr Music.
SUMMER OF SOUL (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) Original Motion Picture Soundtrack accompanies Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s directorial debut documentary SUMMER OF SOUL, which won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival. Like the documentary, most of the audio recordings that were recorded during the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival have not been heard for over 50 years, keeping this incredible event in America’s history lost – until now. The SUMMER OF SOUL (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is a joyous musical celebration and the rediscovery of a nearly erased historical event that celebrated Black culture, pride and unity. For the album, Questlove carefully selected 16 live renditions of jazz, blues, R&B, Latin, and soul classics performed over the course of The Harlem Cultural Festival in 1969 as chronicled by the film. Performers include The 5th Dimension, Gladys Knight & The Pips, B.B. King, Nina Simone, The Staple Singers, David Ruffin and Sly & The Family Stone! Extensive promo & marketing activity across all media outlets. The CD format was released in Jan. Standard black vinyl 17 track double LP in gatefold sleeve. Promo/marketing activity.
Solo bedroom-pop project of Michael Ramos (Flowertown, April Magazine, Hectorine). Mostly recorded between last Christmas and New Year's during a window of isolation at home, “Hey There Flower” preserves Tony Jay’s prowess at making beautifully eerie lo-fi pop; like a hazy memory where your favorite Sixties girl-group melody is perpetually slowed down. Without a band to practice with, Tony Jay recorded the music alone, but recruited a slew of friends to remotely record backing vocals: Karina Gill (Cindy), Griffin Jones (Galore), Kati Mashikian (Mister Baby), Alexis Harper (Al Harper), & Hannah Lew (Cold Beat). "Hey There Flower", the most recent release from the prolific and mysterious Tony Jay delivers real melodies -- both lacey with vocal harmonies and dusty with layered guitars -- as fans have come to expect. This release also carries forward and elaborates on Tony Jay's tradition of songs that express a kind of naked honesty about things we all know -- love and loneliness and all that -- while communicating at the same time a wry edge of skepticism, so that the songs are like coins spinning on edge before landing heads, tails, or lost under the couch. Tony Jay brings us into a nostalgia where we recognize moods from music of the past -- Marc Boland definitely comes to mind, as well as Velvet Underground of the Nico era, and Tony Jay even covers Francoise Hardy on this collection -- but the songs create a three dimensional space with what feels like a thousand layers so that instead of being thrown back in time, it's like stepping into a little world with its own laws of nature, of which the listener gets just a few hints. - Karina Gill, Cindy/Flowertown. “Hey There Flower” is introduced by thudding snare beats eliciting reverb-stained tattered noisy guitar scrapes, to weave abrasive shimmery emotive vibrations, imbued with shattered nostalgic dreams, lit by brittle yet dazzling forsaken keyboard flows, over submerged and distorted male vocal’s whispery deluge of obsessive longing, lonely melancholy, and dark desire to exude a hazy gritty concoction of awkward sadness and brooding unrest.” White Light // White Heat // “What Tony sketches are concise commentaries on love, loneliness and a few things in between. His mode of expression is sparse, intense, and captivating. The arrangements are invariably lo-fi and slow tempo, blanketed with a fuzzy hiss. And it only took one listen to decide that it is a very special album. It has a '60s feel, albeit washed in an eerie slowcore machine. An ace example is "September Skies", which could be the 1965 'last dance' at the prom for the introverted students.” - When You Motor Away
Debut album by Goatman, now repressed. A solo project by one of the mysterious members from the Swedish collective GOAT. Recorded in GOAT’s northern Swedish hometown of Korpilombolo In late 2017 - the 6 tracks on Rhythms reveal a true collision of African Rock, Jazz, Reggae, Gospel and Psych, but all put through the famous GOAT filters.
Now available at a much cheaper price. SOS JFK, the one and only album from folk two-piece The Children’s Hour, which featured Josephine Foster and Andy Bar. Initially released in 2003, the album introduced audiences to Foster’s enchanting vocals and poetic folk, which would be developed to staggering effect in her later solo recordings, such as the recently released critically acclaimed album Blood Rushing (Fire Records). The Children’s Hour were an acoustic duo comprised of members Andy Bar and Josephine Foster. The two friends first connected in 2000 in a short-lived rock trio called Golden Egg, and then on a lark formed the pop song-writing duo oriented toward more naïve themes. Foster was a recent opera school dropout and the band became a vehicle for her to explore singing in a non-operatic manner into a microphone and learn to play the guitar. Bar was finishing studies at the Art Institute of Chicago and was honing a personal and highly melodic fingerpicking style inspired by bossa nova in particular. They were heard performing in a Chicago dive bar and given a surprise invitation to make a studio recording (SOS JFK), which both found to be an extremely nerve-wrecking learning experience. Meanwhile fans of their music rose up from unexpected corners, even invited by the band Zwan to open all the shows of both bands´ maiden tour. Initially conceived of as a modest front porch collaboration and side project, the band did not withstand all the attention long. Bar and Foster took meandering paths in diverse directions, although the two remain stalwart pals and both continue to dedicate themselves to the muses.
ANATHEMA'S NIGHT OF ETHEREAL DOOM METAL MAGIC FROM
KRAKOW, POLAND, 1996, WITH A SELECTION OF CLASSICS FROM THEIR FIRST TWO ALBUMS - PRESENTED ON VINYL FOR THE FIRST TIME'A
Vision Of A Dying Embrace' contains a night of spellbinding Doom Metal from Anathema's live show in Krakow, Poland, in 1996 Whilst still reasonably early in the career of the band & with rhythm guitarist Vincent Cavanagh taking on vocal duties only relatively recently for the sublime 'The Silent Enigma' opus, the set contained a whole selection of now-established classics from Anathema's first two studio albums & 'Pentecost III' EP, with epics like 'A Dying Wish', 'Sleepless', & 'Mine is Yours' captured in their purest & rawest form in the live setting. Anathema has spent most of their career making music that defies description. As part of the "Peaceville three", along with Paradise Lost & My Dying Bride, Anathema have carved a strong legacy since their inception at the turn of the 1990's, to become a widely revered & respected band within both the metal world & beyond, as their sound & compositions progressed from doom/ death metal into more rock & progressive territory with each subsequent release, becoming one of the UK's most cherished & critically acclaimed rock bands. This edition of 'A Vision Of A Dying Embrace' is presented on the vinyl format for the first time & includes printed inner sleeve.
LIMITED WHITE VINYL EDITION OF THE 1992 DEBUT OF ATMOSPHERIC
DEATH/DOOM FROM THE DUTCH LEGENDS, MARKING THE ALBUM'S
30th ANNIVERSARY. The Gathering is a Dutch alternative rock band &
was founded in 1989 by brothers Hans & René Rutten & vocalist Bart
Smits
The early incarnation of the band featured a much more death & doom metalbased style than the more atmospheric rock & experimental music they became
known for over the years, having enjoyed a highly successful career globally over
a 20-year period. The band recorded 2 demos initially before making their studio
debut with 'Always…'. 'Always…' was The Gathering's debut full- length album.
Originally released in 1992 , it is a prime example of classic atmospheric death/
doom metal with brutal vocals & slow funereal riffing influenced by bands such as
Celtic Frost, as well as the implementation of keyboards to accentuate the dark
ambience. Now released on Peaceville for the first time, a track from the release
was even featured on an early Peaceville Records compilation, 'Volume 4', with
the track 'In Sickness & Health'.
Rock 'n' roll is often hard to define, or even to find, in these fractured
musical times - But to paraphrase an old saying, you know it when you
hear it - And you always hear it with The Wallflowers
Exit Wounds, which stays true to its title, is an album that is an ode to people -
individual and collective - that have, to put it mildly, been through some stuff. 'I
think everybody - no matter what side of the aisle you're on - wherever we're going
to next, we're all taking a lot of exit wounds with us,' says Jakob Dylan. 'Nobody is
the same as they were four years ago. That, to me, is what Exit Wounds signifies.'
To be sure, Exit Wounds is populated by scarred souls and the things they carry
with them. Those are your exit wounds. And right now, we're all swimming in
them. Pressed on Pink and Purple Splatter Color Vinyl.
Tony Joe White's, The Beginning was originally released on CD in 2001,
Stripped down and recorded without any bells and whistles, this is Tony
Joe recording himself playing his classic swamp blues sound
This album is regarded as the first album where Tony Joe controlled all elements
of the studio. Until 2020, Tony Joe White's 29th album had been long out of print.
New West Records released a limited edition color vinyl pressing that was the
first and only vinyl pressing of this record. This record was remastered and resequenced for that specific pressing. Due to popular demand, New West is
bringing this title back on vinyl and CD. The CD is packaged in a jewel case with a
booklet of lyrics and photos.
The Library Steps is a new pairing of an old rapper named Jesse
Dangerously and a young producer named Ambition
The duo is named in remembrance of the now demolished stone stairs of the
Halifax Memorial Library entrance, where among a loose and ragtag assortment
of the city's rappers they would gather across generations every Friday as the
doors locked, to freestyle, beatbox, and play tapes in a cipher called Public Rhyme
Distribution. Jesse and Ambition have been members of the Canada- wide
collective Backburner since 2001 and 2009 respectively, but only started making
songs as a rapper/producer duo in the spring of 2017. It took them more than a
decade of intention to pair off as a team. All of the beats and rhymes for Rap Dad,
Real Dad were created in the next few months as a time capsule of that season's
preoccupations. The beats are jazzy, soulful, and moody, with a prominent nod
factor, and the rhymes are confessional and witty, vulnerable and boastful,
intimate and intimidating. Under their fingernails, no microscope is needed to
detect the DNA of golden era rapper/producer teams like Pete Rock & CL Smooth,
Gang Starr, a gentler Beatnuts, or any group that was part of Native Tongues or
Hieroglyphics. Just as present are the influences of turn- of- the- century
underground boundary pushers like Sage Francis, Aesop Rock, MF DOOM, and
Buck 65, and for that matter, just about everyone who was on Roc-A-Fella at its
peak. Refracted here, those chosen ancestors and more recombinate into a hiphop that challenges, from unexpected angles, traditional modes and narratives of
masculinity. They are your rap dads, and they just may be your real dads, too.
Learning about what Deliluh has been through these past two years
brought the commands on a cassette player to mind: press rewind,
forward, play and eject The band, now a duo of Kyle Knapp and Julius Pedersen, relocated to Europe from their Toronto base with the ambition to plug into a continent that felt more cohesive in terms of a gig circuit and to map new spaces, both terrestrial and spiritual. This bold move came with several adjustments.
Fault Lines is also a European record in its making. It first took shape at a session in Copenhagen in January 2019 where the band, still a four piece, recorded the beds before heading out on tour. The plan was to take a post-tour break and track some ideas that could be worked on remotely until everyone got back together in the early summer. Then everything "kind of went sideways". Fault Lines stayed in an embryonic state for more than half a year, during which Deliluh reconfigured as a two piece. The lockdowns did, however, provide the time to rework material, or reposition ideas in line with the circumstances the pair found themselves in.
Julius Pedersen: "We did a lot of heavy lifting at home together in Berlin and Marseille, taking turns training back and forth, throwing shit at the wall and experimenting."
After all this upheaval, does Deliluh still dream of going to another place? Are places different and do they really have a bearing on the creative path? "There's always another place calling from beyond. Without it we would be stuck and hopeless
Since his debut with the "Darling Darling Darling"track, immediately spotted by the media as well as by electronic music lovers, Louis Warynski has continued to evolve a world that belongs to him alone, over the last ten years and eight albums.Like Lewis Caroll's universe, Chapelier Fou's music is multiple, simple and complex, serious and light, classic and modern. Louis Warynski's work is woven on a classical basis, but it is constantly disrupted by subtle electronic arrangements and rhythms, thus taking the tracks outside of all convention.We find in Chapelier Fou the facetiousness of French composers such as Erik Satie, François de Roubaix or Robert Cohen Solal, not hesitating to blend pop and concrete music, but also this formidable capacity to make serious what is not serious, and vice versa of course. His music, very much at home on screen as well as on stage, has everything that makes up the trait of genius composers: accessible in appearance and adaptable in all forms. This is how Chapelier Fou has performed on stage as a soloist, juggling between violin, guitar, keyboards and pedals, in trio, quartet and even in orchestral formation with the Orchestre National of Metz. Often described as "electronic chamber music", it was expected that one day Chapelier Fou would offer us a version of his music without a single electronic or electrified part. It is now done with this Ensemb7e who performed on the stage of L'Arsenal de Metz, broadcasted by Arte Concert. Chapelier Fou Ensemb7e has received direct support from a wide audience, but also from venues programmers where the septet has been performing since June 2021. Ensemb7e stands for a mainly wooden septet: violin, viola, cello, piano, clarinet and drums accompany the multi-instrumentalist composer. It's hard to resist such musical enthusiasm! The magic happens immediately because the re-reading of these little jewels in pop format gives a touching and fulfilling dimension to Chapelier Fou's work: even more dreamy versions, sometimes more mischievous, but the richness of the classical instruments and the obvious pleasure of the musicians in interpreting them give a new life to all these titles that have filled us with wonder. It therefore seemed obvious to us after listening to his Ensemb7e concerts that there was more than a concert to be recorded, but a real album to offer. A studio album, but with the energy and vitality of a live one, produced with the care and generosity of Thomas Poli (who has collaborated with Dominique A, Yann Tiersen and many others).
Joris Feiertag is a Dutch producer and drummer from the historic and culturally rich city of Utrecht. Having signed to Sonar Kollektiv in 2018, and released his debut long- playing record Time To Recover, and its subsequent remixes, two years later, he now brings us another side to his sound in the shape of the Dive mini LP. This new project sees the producer return to something like his musical roots, delving deeper into the use of synths and embracing more offbeat melodies.
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Bobby Oroza puts his desire for the profound on wax with his sophomore album Get On The Otherside. Musically, he has updated the formula we were introduced to on the first record. But lyrically, songs are bravely rooted in the more complicated, ubiquitous inner tangles of life like self-examination and coming to terms with the vastness of the human experience. With Coronavirus bringing the world to a halt, Bobby-a father and husband-had to do something. No tours to play or studio time to fill, Bobby found himself back in the construction yard, doing blue-collar work to provide for his family. "I was super grateful for the work-a lot of my colleagues didn't have an option like that," Bobby admits. More than a few personal hardships forced him to acknowledge and work through some brutal truths. And what came of it? Well, for one, this new record Get On The Otherside which pretty well describes what Bobby's been through: He had to demolish his ego, his old ways of thinking, and his tried approaches to anchor into a refreshed perspective with new understandings. As Bobby tells it, "I had to do some real self-searching, come to terms with what was wrong, and how much of it I was responsible for." So how does this translate to the new album? Moments of clarity as to where the real value in life lies on "I Got Love," encouraging numbers like the title track "The Otherside", and declarations of self actualization on "My Place, My Time." Even the more straightforward love songs are outside the box lyrically like "Sweet Agony" and "Loving Body." If you have never had the pleasure of catching one of Bobby's live shows you may have no idea that he is a maverick on the guitar. He lets us in on a little of that on "Passing Things" with a solo that possesses the same restrained and space that his lyrics do. As we'd expect, the songwriting still has that raw, direct edge to it. But an evolution has taken place. There are new points of view on familiar territory which in Bobby's words "For me to love, I needed to take a bigger view of love. One with less ego and more empathy" really hold true. The result is a record with Bobby's new found humility on full display and a message of encouragement to anyone who is struggling and can't see a way out. It still may be hard to nail down and define Bobby and his sound. He's no one thing more than the other. But what he's showing us now, on Get On The Otherside, is that we can also label him a soulful, philosophical optimist. Someone who can say a lot with a little, and who wants us all to know that it's us that has to do the hard lifting to truly live a life in love-both with the world and with yourself.
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Equipe de Foot is a French duo of singer-songwriters who record pop
songs and play them much louder on stage
Since their formation in 2015, Alex & Mike have played hundreds of gigs, from the
sweaty basements of their hometown of Bordeaux to the stages of nationally
renown festivals and European venues, making a solid name for their band, and
little by little becoming part of the new wave of French rock. Equipe de Foot now
admit that their flaws might be their greatest strength, and bring their love for
English and American indie pop music and production to the forefront in their
songs. For 'Geranium' they have chosen to work with producer and sound
engineer (and fellow Beatles fan) Johannes Buff (Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo,
The Drones, Dalek and other various amazing projects) at Shorebreaker studio in
Tarnos, France. A meaningful choice both in terms of technical and artistic skills,
Johannes was able to assemble Equipe de Foot's good old wall of guitars, as well
as reach the heart of their pop songs to make the whole thing gloriously shine,
without altering the charming homemade vibe emanating from their beloved
demos.
The album is a constant rollercoaster, alternating lo- fi ballads and powerful
anthems, but always with a twist, be it a pitched loop on a chorus or an auto
tuned solo trumpet at the end of a sad piano song.
ECHT! is an instrumental, futuristic four-piece inspired by the concepts absorbed in electronic music and musical production. Unquestionably the place where ECHT! really stand out, is on stage. Their live performance is a fusion between inventiveness and efficiency. Their setlist gathers original tracks but also covers that have always been part of the band's DNA.
Following on their debut album 'INWANE' released in 2021, ECHT! are now revealing two covers from producers they particularly love, 'MSMSMSM' by Sophie and 'The Goose That Got Away' by Objekt. ECHT! pay homage to the club culture with their own interpretation. While being faithful to the atmosphere and the sounds of the two original tracks, they add the organic energy that is typical of live music. Moreover, the live recording of the performances gives depth to the record. These two interpretations are the perfect representation of the band's broad influences from drum 'n' bass, trap, hip-hop, electronic music & jazz where energy and creativity are perfectly merged together.
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During the late 2010s, music lovers around the world began obsessively listening to increasingly esoteric albums on Youtube. More often than not, they’d leave the browser on autoplay. This was how Facundo Arena, the composer and producer behind The Kyoto Connection, discovered the technonaturalistic pleasures of Kankyō Ongaku (environmental music), a distinctly Japanese interpretation of European, British and American minimalist composition and ambient music. “It was a kind of algorithmic magic,” he says.
Upload by upload, the utopian music of Hiroshi Yoshimura and his 80s Japanese contemporaries transported Facundo back to his childhood. When he was five, his father placed him in karate lessons and began watching martial arts movies with him. From those early experiences, Facundo became fascinated Japanese history, tradition, and culture, particularly that of Kyoto - the cultural capital of Japan. Kankyō Ongaku reminded him of hearing the sounds of Japanese folkloric instruments as a young boy, and suddenly, the way the influence of Japan had manifested in his music made sense. “I had the sensation that for many years, I’d been doing something similar to the style,” he explains.
Inspired, Facundo used an iPad and an old Akai cassette deck to record Postcards, his homage to Japanese minimalism and Kankyō Ongaku. By this stage, he was twelve years deep with The Kyoto Connection, the musical project he launched in 2005 in his hometown of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Over that late 2000s and 2010s, Facundo, later on joined by collaborators Rodrigo Trado (drums), Jesica Rubino (violin) and Marian Benitez (vocals, now his wife), released numerous D.I.Y albums. Project by project, they followed the threads between 80s synth-pop, ambient, new age, house, techno and acoustic composition.
Postcards introduced The Kyoto Connection to listeners around the world and brought Facundo into our orbit. During Argentina’s covid lockdown, Facundo received a set of soundscapes recorded in Kyoto by the Japanese musician and sound designer Masafumi Komatsu. Over several insular months, he decorated them with synthesisers, samples and subtle rhythms, creating The Kyoto Connection’s next album, The Flower, The Bird and the Mountain to be released via Isle Of Jura offshoot Temples Of Jura.
Ostensibly made up of twelve distinct tracks, listening to The Flower, The Bird and the Mountain feels more akin to spending calm, meditative time in twelve specific environments. Although the foundations they rest on are recordings made in geographic locations around Kyoto, Facundo has yet to visit Japan. As a result, the landscapes he paints sit somewhere between fiction and fact, richly pictorial sonic imagination juxtaposed with echoes of reality. Regardless, as his bubbling melodies and glistening synthesisers glide against Masafumi Komatsu's recordings, Facundo guides us into a blissful zone of tranquillity well worth spending time within.
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HIGHLIGHTS! Acting as an artistic ambassador for Cuba, the Orquesta Revé made several tours abroad, traveling to Peru in 1971. This extremely scarce LP was recorded for MAG in Lima and comprises mostly Cuban songs -like the outstanding Vicente Rojas' original 'Mi Son Combinado'- and also a rare cover of Jorge Ben's 'Domingas'. Quite an invisible record even for hardcore collectors, and almost impossible to find in any condition, "De Habana a Lima" is now reissued for the first time. More: In 1956, the percussionist and composer from Guantanamo, Elio Revé, founded the orchestra popularly known as La Revé, which in the space of a few years became the Cuban music group par excellence for foreign audiences. Elio, dubbed the father of changüí for his seminal work on this genre, is also considered one of the forerunners of salsa music and his orchestra included musicians of the stature of vocalist Ibrahim Ferrer; pianists Chucho Valdés, César Pedroso and Juan Carlos Alfonso; and bass guitarist Juan Formell, who left the group in 1969 to form Los Van Van. Acting as an artistic ambassador for Cuba, the Orquesta Revé made several tours abroad in the seventies, traveling to countries such as Spain, Belgium and the People's Republic of Angola, and these journeys are well documented on the internet. However, little is known about their trip to Peru in 1971_ The local record label MAG quickly signed the Cuban groups that arrived in the Peruvian capital and that the head of the label, Manuel Guerrero, agreed to record. The La Revé LP was followed by a Los Compadres album the following year. "De Habana a Lima..." comprises a dozen songs labeled changüis, mostly written by Cuban composers, the exception being the closing track: 'Domingas', an original song by Brazilian artist Jorge Ben. In contrast, the album opens with the distinctly Cuban song 'Guajira guantanamera'.
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The inaugural 9128.live label release came from the UK's Jo Johnson and Hilary Robinson, featuring subtle, harmonic drones and manipulated piano, originally aired as part of the duo's set for the CALMA (Madrid) takeover on 9128.live, April 2020. Released digitally in 2020, the set is now available on 12" vinyl, split into two long-form compositions
Born in Marseille, Bonnie Li grew up in Hong Kong, began her adult life in
Paris and is now based in Berlin
She writes, composes and sings her melancholic and touching ‘Trip Pop’ in three
languages (English, French & Chinese Mandarin), giving her music a multi-lingual
cinematic experience.Described as "smoky Portishead-esque glittery Trip Hop" by
The Line of Best Fits and “Dark and Fascinating” by Rolling Stone Magazine.
„Watertown“ - das vergessene Sinatra-Meisterwerk!
Auf seinem mutigen Album aus dem Jahr 1970 war Frank Sinatra einmal nicht mit Swing oder Balladen aus dem American Songbook zu hören. Stattdessen schlüpfte er mit zehn Pop-Songs in die ungewöhnliche Rolle eines einfachen Mannes mit Kindern, dessen Frau ihn und die Kleinstadt Watertown verlassen hat.
Als „Watertown“ veröffentlicht wurde, waren weder die Fans noch die Kritiker auf diesen Richtungswechsel vorbereitet, das Album ging unter. Aber mit der Zeit hat es einen immer besseren Ruf gewonnen. 2007 beschrieb The Guardian es als „eines von seinen größten Meisterwerken“. Auf „Watertown“ bewegt sich Sinatra im Pop-Territorium von Kollegen wie Glen Campell oder Neil Diamond. Geschrieben und produziert wurde das Album von Bob Gaudio, einem der vier Mitglieder der legendären Pop-Band The Four Seasons.
Jetzt erscheint „Watertown“ als neu gemischte und remasterte Ausgabe, auf Vinyl in der Original-Albumsequenz und auf CD & digital mit fünf Bonustracks aus der Albumsession, zwei Radiospots sowie dem Titel „Lady Day“, der ursprünglich nicht Teil des „Watertown“-Konzepts war. Ein ausführliches Booklet mit Erinnerungen vieler Beteiligter und seltenen Fotos rundet die Veröffentlichung ab.
Oh my days, what can we say about this amazing EP that hasn’t been said before? Originally released on Remix Records in the mid 90’s, this EP has been lovingly remastered! No matter what way you look at it Rush Hour is an absolute anthem that has torn up dance floors for over 25 years now, with this new remaster, it will continue to do so for many years to come. Then on the other side is probably one of the most under played flip sides of all time, which is just criminal! Take Me Away is a great track that shows that not all happy hardcore was flying at warp factor cheese!
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For the label’s next release, the team at Leng Records has decided to offer-up something a little bit different: a 12” compilation of little-known and hard-to-find Balearic gems selected by friend of the label Paul Beckett.
Plucked from the dusty corners of his collection, the five tracks on show are quietly colourful, tactile and musically rich excursions that effortlessly blur the boundaries between genres and sound terrific blasting from speakers on a humid Mediterranean or Adriatic afternoon.
First up is Ray & John’s languid, subtly disco-tinged ‘Day By Day (Instrumental)’, which originally featured on the flipside of the Italian duo’s sole single from 1984. Rich in rubbery bass guitar, sequenced synth-bass, sharp disco guitar licks, Fairlight stabs, dreamy chords and occasional chanted vocals, it sounds like Please-era Pet Shop Boys reclining at a Rimini pool party after copious amounts of happy pills.
It’s followed by Angel’o’s ‘Angelo’, a turn-of-the-80s gem picked from the band’s long-forgotten album, Dream Machine. Marked out by warming electric piano motifs, squelchy synth-bass and hazy lead vocals, the track successfully mixes krautrock and space rock sounds with the then fresh sound of synth-pop.
Next up is All Trouvee’s ‘Darling’, a thoroughly overlooked 1987 single whose minimalistic sleeve artwork lists each of the now-classic – and then cutting edge – synthesizers used to make the sun-soaked blend of mid-80s synth disco, AOR pop and sunset-ready jazz-funk piano solos.
Equally as impactful is Angel’s ‘Tomorrow Night’, a classic – if little-known – chunk of glossy, laidback synth-pop from 1980 that sounds like something you’d hear on AM radio stations in the early hours of the morning. Its’ sound – all delay-laden Linn drums, synth-horns, Nile Rodgers style guitar licks and echoing lead lines – was actually far sighted for the time but would become more familiar to listeners as synth-pop boomed in the mid 1980s. Those who buy the digital version of the EP will also have access to a longer, club-style mix as well as the short version featured on the 12”.
Rounding off a fine package is ‘Feeling Action’ by Eggs Time, a deliciously warm and woozy chunk of fretless bass-sporting Italian pop/West Coast jazz-rock fusion plucked from a real since of buried treasure: an Italian compilation called – for reasons that aren’t clear – Moby Dick. There’s certainly a tinge of both yacht rock and blue-eyed soul about the track’s gorgeous blend of FM synth sounds, eyes-closed jazz guitar solos, unfussy beats and sweet female lead vocals. It provides a fittingly horizontal finish to a collection packed to the rafters with long-overlooked, sun-baked treats.
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Kavinsky is a zombie who came back from the dead after his Testarossa crashed in 1986.
His first song, "Testarossa Autodrive", was an instant success, and was followed by two singles. In 2007, he was chosen by Daft Punk to open their now legendary "Alive" tour.
In 2011, his track "Nightcall", produced with Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, became the theme song for the film "Drive", and consequently a worldwide success.
Kavinsky's first album, "Outrun", was released in 2013, followed by a collaboration with The Weeknd on the song "Odd Look".
In 2022, Kavinsky is back with "Reborn", his second album recorded at the famous Motorbass studio in Paris, due March 25th. "Renegade" which was recorded in collaboration with Victor Le Masne and Gaspard Augé (half of Justice) reinvents the French producer’s unique recipe: dark mood but with a thunderous groove. With a vocal assistance from Cautious Clay, « Renegade » announces one of this years’ most anticipated comebacks.