Buscar:populous

The wild lunar landscape of Lanzarote is the dreamy frame in which Populous paints his new album, “Isla diferente”.

An instrumental trip between cumbia and latin ambient music through the mysterious and magical landscape of Lanzarote, with some gloomy vocal interventions from Fuera (Italy), Javier Arce (Costa Rica), Eva de Marce (Mexico) and Esotérica Tropical (Puerto Rico).

An organic mixture of sweet ethereal melodies and experimental electronic sounds which the artist himself labeled as “latin ambient”.

Originally released on the Sprüngkartellwachs label (and highly sought after) now comes as a rerelease on Mat Carter’s own Varial label.

A four track track ep striding electro, techno, down beat and new wave flavours. ‘Raspmutal’ kicks things of with spaced out techno flair, offering a mutating analogue mover, constructed with large systems in mind. Driving dancefloor fodder laden with spiralling dub-wise effects. ‘Downturn’ follows with a finely tuned piece of liquid electro. Stripped down and turbo-charged this twists and turns through fragmented beats and lush melodies, creating a sublime and fluid mix.

‘Fullow Street’ is a bundle of down tempo leftfield beatism inspired by hot humid nights in huge cities. A blissed out journey through hazy hip-hop beats and lush, glistening electronics. ‘Process’ completes the ep with dancefloor delight that has more than a nod towards the timeless, analogue sounds of experimental new wave and electrodisco. Beats build into a shimmering eighties-tinged workout, with wave upon wave of gorgeous keys.

Prima uscita per Dischi Spranti. Otto artisti, otto stili, otto tracce inedite da parte di alcuni tra i migliori dj-producer del Salento. L’idea è quella del classico vinile d’ascolto: finito un lato, ci si alza dalla poltrona per continuare il viaggio, alzando magari anche il volume.

nagoyaka na kaze / 和やかな風 (quiet wind): a collection of forward-thinking electronic experiments sourced from central Japan - co-curated by Nagoya artist abentis for Facta & K-LONE’s Wisdom Teeth imprint.

The project profiles a close-knit community of music makers operating in and around the Japanese city of Nagoya: one of the country’s most populous and industrial cities, but one all too often overlooked in terms of its cultural significance.

Curated in close collaboration with local scene organiser Yuya Abe - aka abentis - the record seeks to capture the creative energy of a community of artists making hard-to-define, future-facing electronic music away from the clamour of the bigger cities. “In Nagoya, there’s a strong culture of supporting artists. Even if you pursue music in your own way, as long as it’s good, you’re encouraged to keep doing what you want”, explains abentis. “Within that environment, my generation has been able to freely bring in elements we like from all kinds of genres, combine them in our own way, and express ourselves individually. If you go to Tokyo or Osaka, that kind of freedom isn’t something you can take for granted.” Spiritually, Nagoya fits the mould of cultural hotbeds like Bristol, Detroit or Melbourne, showing that some of the most innovative creative communities form away from the glare of the capital cities. Like Detroit, Nagoya is principally known for being a major auto manufacturing hub, famous for being the home of Toyota Motors - but behind the scenes, it is quietly harbouring one of Japan’s most vibrant and forward-thinking electronic music scenes. “In a good way, Nagoya is a bit removed from the cutting edge, so you find people making all kinds of music”, explains Karnage. “If you’re making music, you feel like part of the crew, and people of different ages mix together without much hierarchy.” The city’s music scene is characterised by a freedom to mix genres and an open-door approach to creatives of all disciplines. The artists featured come from a diverse set of backgrounds, ranging from hip-hop to noise music, but have found a common collective identity in their omnivorous approach to genre. As such, the record moves fluidly between shimmering ambient and new age (Am Shhara, DHYAN, daiki hayakawa), psychedelic minimal house (Methodd, abentis), abstract, low-slung downtempo (baptisma, Nasty Soupman) and spaceage steppas (Karnage). “I’d say the way ambient, new age and that kind of sound design are blending nicely with dance music feels somewhat new”, says baptisma, the crew’s eldest member and de-facto scene leader. Responsible for bringing artists like Basic Channel, Mala and Jan Jelinek to the city, baptisma has been crucial in establishing underground electronic music in Nagoya since the 90s, and now helps cultivate the next generation of local talent. “Artists and DJs are seamlessly mixing ambient and new age with techno, house and bass music. I think that’s a really interesting development.” nagoyaka na kaze has its roots in a one-off event held in October 2024 as part of the 10 Years of Wisdom Teeth Japan tour. Curated by abentis in collaboration with Facta & K-LONE, the showcase featured live sets from eight artists based in and around Nagoya at one of the city’s key dance music hubs, Club JB’s. Each of the artists features again here, on record, presenting an original commission produced especially for the project. The record’s art direction was led by Yudai Osawa - in-house designer for Kankyō Records, the much-loved Tokyo record shop run by H. Takahashi - and features original photos by Hayato Watanabe.

Padang Moonrise is the story of modern Indonesian music
that emerged underneath the volcanoes of Java and
Sumatra. Java, the most populous island in the archipelago
of over 17,000 islands and 1300 distinct ethnic groups, and
its capital city Jakarta, was where most of the post-colonial
national identity, politics, administration and music production
was centred.
Traditional songs from Java, Sumatra, Bali and beyond were
re-imagined by a small group of state-sponsored musicians
that also composed and arranged new music. These songs
aimed at consolidating a geographically disparate country
with a new language and new ideas of national character.
This compilation brings together a handful of these recordings
that combine elements of regional popular music, Islamic
Gambus, Javanese & Balinese Gamelan and Kroncong, with
jazz, Afro-Latin music & instrumentation, and vocal harmonies
influenced by banned American doo-wop and rock & roll.
The results are a unique blend of styles that have remained
mostly insulated from the world outside of Indonesia until a
recent worldwide resurgence in the interest of recorded music
of all forms has shone a new light on these nearly forgotten
recordings.
27 tracks compiled by Miles Cleret, on double vinyl with bonus
7”, housed in gatefold sleeve with extended liner notes.

After a sold out 20 Anniversary 3XLP, Turntables on the Hudson returns with a diverse 3 X vinyl set that carries the Inside the Dance series (previously on WONDERWHEEL Recordings) to all new releases made between the international friends & family between 2020 - 2022. It was a call to action for inspiration, creation, motivation & moving your body in response to the depressing times of initial lockdown & continued music gathering closures during the pandemic. What we did instead was invested in music, art, collaborations, videos, remixes hoping to keep the spirits alive & inspiration high for each other. It’s now Spring of 2022 & we’re happy we did it all. Here’s the fruits of those seeds planted. Songs from artists across the sound spectrum from Morocco, Italy, USA, Spain, Argentina, Peru, UK, Montenegro, France, Belgium, Turkey, Dominican Republic, Niger & more. Almost all songs slightly edited to make sure we got enough output on each side of the record to mix the music in the clubs & on sound systems everywhere. Combining the singles artwork of Marcus (Tupi Lab) & the album LP vinyl art of Bodo (Marcial Arts), we have a very special limited edition 400 until pressing of this soon to be collectible. We hope you enjoy the collective effort that makes this look & sound so special. Ever since the party & label began in 1998, its mission was to shine the light on the underground international community making dance music & after 15 compilations, this is another proud example. Thanks for your continued support.

Remix album for Oké's Deserto featuring nine interpretations of tracks from the original with a focus on the dancefloor alongside some abstract beats and rap.

Oasi (Deserto Remixed) features two groups of transatlantic contributors: Shigeto, DJ Dez, and Sterling Toles from Detroit; Populous, Godblesscomputers, DJ Rocca, and Silvano Del Gado from Italy, all close friends of the band. The remixes are rounded off by two versions from the man behind Oké, Andrea Visani, under his Katzuma and King Dumitru aliases.

The library music, cosmic jazz, and afro-house vibes of the original are retooled into a variety of dancefloor friendly productions: Shigeto and Silvano Del Gado invoke the tribal spirits of 'Ochosi Ayilodà'; Dez turns 'Il Venditore di Elastici' into a warm and comfortable chugging groove; Populous zeroes in on peak time ecstasy with his take on 'Queens of the Supercolony'; Rocca injects electro funk into 'Tarantula'; and Katzuma keeps it slow and funky with his refixes of 'Tamahaq' and 'Sons of Cabila.'

Balancing all these are two mellower contributions, with Godblesscomputers flipping 'The Secret Baile of the Maharajas' into a laidback roller and Sterling Toles transforming 'Serir' into a haunting song of remembrance.

Released on single 12" vinyl with seven of the nine remixes (two edited for length) and artwork from Andrea Casciu.

In search of the sublime, contemporary electronic musician Steve Hauschildt has designed grids and panoramas of sound across multiple releases through the rise and dissolution of his former band, Emeralds, an American touchstone of 2000s home-recorded psychedelic noise music. Consistent with his solo work is Hauschildt's ability to coil his craft in precise, varied, and distinctly physical forms. Gently spinning arpeggios converse with post-industrial decay. Sonic bers sway like pendulums from static melancholy to motorik bliss. Dissolvi, the artist's rst full-length with Ghostly International, engages sublimation from an ontological perspective: by dissociating the self. Hauschildt steps out from the singular path, for the rst time in a traditional studio, to compose and arrange contributions from friends. As a result, his most collaborative work to date extends a vast, vibrating framework in which to consider the state of being.

The album's title — a reference to cupio dissolvi, the Latin phrase meaning "I wish to be dissolved" — needn't be taken one-dimensionally or as purely solipsistic. It does, however, serve an apt reference. Physiological phenomena are of interest to Hauschildt. These back-of-mind ruminations nd their way out. Songs are cerebral in orientation, but beyond explanation, the music is truly visceral.

Involuntary eye movement inspires the serene, sanguine-nearing-suspicious "Saccade." Hauschildt feathers soft percussion beneath the echoed refrains of Los Angeles musician Julianna Barwick, together shaping a svelte suggestion of the anxieties brought about by modern-day surveillance; if everyone is being watched constantly, there is no individual, no self, only a broadly monitored and clumsily cataloged populous. The work of Chicago poet Carl Sandburg comes to mind: 'I am the people—the mob—the crowd—the mass.' The individual dissolves into the taxonomic crowd.

Minimalist techno impulses provide a stylistic through-line for Dissolvi. Understated synth phrases and drum grooves take hold in selective moments, like synchronistic structures onto which nebulous mists, like the rapturous voice of Gabrielle Herbst aka GABI on "Syncope," cling to and cloud, producing a dazzling rift in consciousness. The 7-minute centerpiece "Alienself" reiterates this creative logic, burbling like an amorphous body of water on a low-gravity planet, on the verge of dissolving, but never fully dematerializing.

The album was constructed in Chicago (where Hauschildt now resides) and partially in New York. "Much of it was recorded in a windowless studio which removed elemental or seasonal references to time in the music," says Hauschildt. "The focus this time was on mixing the album and incorporating a broader set of instrumentation. I describe my compositional approach as being quasi-generative." Embracing new methods and philosophical curiosities, and in turn, expanding the range of his repertoire, Hauschildt proposes a fascinating and profoundly rich experience in listening, being, and deliquescing.