Suche:present sense

Do you remember the last time you were breathing consciously? Either way, you are likely doing it now. On his new album Observation of Breath« for the Swiss-based Hallow Ground label, Lawrence English worked exclusively with an organ for four compositions that are exercises in »maximal minimalism,« as their creator himself notes in a nod to Charlemagne Palestine, who coined this term. While it seems somewhat fitting that those four pieces based on a steady flow of air were conceived and recorded in a situation of accelerated standstill caused by a respiratory disease, the Room40 founder is not so much concerned with capturing the zeitgeist than rather incorporating the spirit of time itself. »It is a record about presence and patience,« he explains. Exploring the unique sonic affordances of a singular instrument, »Observation of Breath« is not only devoted to the durability of sound but also to its density. That it marks his debut on Hallow Ground after having shaped its sound by mastering most of the label’s releases in recent years is just as fitting then as its release following albums by Kali Malone and FUJI|||||||||||TA, whose innovative work with organ instruments have facilitated a rediscovery of their possibilities.English’s compositions however are neither directly indebted nor responding to these musicians. His exploration of the organ’s many facets started a decade ago when the composer was given access to an instrument built in 1889 that is presently housed at The Old Museum in Brisbane. After it had already played a crucial role on his seminal albums »Wilderness Of Mirrors« and »Cruel Optimism,« last year’s self-released »Lassitude« was the first record that English entirely composed and recorded with that instrument. »During the soft lockdowns, I spent many days playing to an empty concert hall, recording the pieces that became ›Lassitude‹ and then, this album,« says English in regards to an unfortunate situation that fortunately provided him with time and space—two major themes but also key qualities of the four new compositions. In this sense, he goes on, »Observation of Breath« resolves a number of the questions originally raised by »Lassitude.

2025 repress.

Rhythm Section International proudly presents it's 8th offering from local boys Chaos in the CBD. Born in New Zealand, but based in Peckham for the last few years (literally just around the corner from Henry Wu and Bradley Zero), these brothers have made a real mark on the scene here in London town and with their latest set of productions are set to take this message further afield.

Having already released internationally on labels such as ClekClekBoom (Paris), Hot Haus (London) and Amadeus (Montreal), the duo's approach to production has matured immeasurably in the last year, as is evident in the restrained potency and poetic subtlety on the 4 tracks across this accomplished EP, Midnight in Peckham.

Taking it's title from the locale the boys have come to know as home, the record channels a delicate late night energy - equally indebted to the hypnotic incantations of Ron Trent as it is to the hazy suburban atmospheres of Burial. These 4 classic cuts pay homage to deep house in it's truest sense - at once sublime, melancholy and meditative . Chaos in the CBD have clearly taken their cue from the mid-west masters of the genre but have not been afraid to let their own influences and environ creep in, and in doing so have created something that is unmistakablely London and infact, timeless.

Kontakt Records presents KNT-47 “Chromatic Noise”, a deep exploration of dub techno and dub-infused house from Canadian producer Matt Thibideau. Across three extended cuts, Thibideau sculpts spacious, analogue-leaning grooves where every element has room to breathe. Subtle saturation, soft tape hiss and finely tuned low-end weight create that unmistakable sense of depth, while shimmering chords and carefully placed delays drift in and out of the stereo field. The result is music that feels both hypnotic and alive, built for long blends, late sessions and sound systems that reward detail. “Chromatic Noise” sits comfortably in the Kontakt Records tradition: timeless dub aesthetics, modern production values and a focus on atmosphere over obvious peaks. It’s the kind of 12" that works just as well as a DJ tool as it does for attentive home listening – patient, understated and endlessly playable. Tiny shifts in texture, filter movement and echo tails keep the tension moving forward without ever breaking the spell.

WARNING celebrates 20 years of their groundbreaking album Watching from a Distance with a deluxe gatefold 2xLP/CD. Led by guitarist and vocalist Patrick Walker, every moment of WARNING's Watching from a Distance feels monumental; the album is widely considered to be one of the most emotionally-driven and profoundly Doom Metal records. From the onset, the album's eponymous opener crawls with a sombre melody that carries the emotional heft of WARNING's musings on love and longing. The band's classic track "Footprints" showcases Walker's ability to match his colossal riffs with a visceral, gut-wrenching vulnerability that was previously unheard of. Walker ruminates about his weakest moments; his vocal deliveries ranging from dejection to despair. The end result is truly "heavy" in every sense of the word - and a timeless take on the genre with thundering drums, lead-pipe backing bass, and swirling guitars. Fast-forward to the present day, and WARNING's introspective sensibilities resonate as hard as they ever have. Watching from a Distance showcases a band and moment in time that honed in on what "Doom" could really be. "I leave behind me the ruins Of the fortress I swore to defend I leave behind me foundations, I'll leave you a man I'll need you to mend And through all the battles around me I never believed I would fight, Yet here I stand a broken soldier, Shivering, naked, in your winter light" Short: WARNING celebrates 20 years of their groundbreaking album Watching from a Distance with a deluxe gatefold 2xLP/CD. FFO: Yob, My Dying Bride, Katatonia, Candlemass, Pallbearer, Pagan Altar, Khemmis

Zeitkratzer director Reinhold Friedl and his ensemble present new compositions, grounded on Domenico Scarlatti's piano sonata F-minor K.466. Commissioned by the dance company Rubato and dedicated to Mario Bertoncini (1932-2019).

Little is known about Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757). His music is, so to speak, left to its own devices: free, cheeky, playful, sonorous, surprising. Harmonically strolling again and again into unforeseen regions, the ear leads, not the theory; and also the fingers get their right: playful and haptic it goes. Scarlatti explained, "since nature has given me ten fingers and my instrument provides employment for all, I see no reason why I should not use all ten of them."

Freedom, friction and listening pleasure instead of convention: "He knew quite well that he had disregarded all the rules of composition in his piano pieces, but asked whether his deviation from the rules offended the ear? He believes there is almost no other rule than that of not offending the only sense whose object is music - the ear."

Reinhold Friedl applied this principle and composed the music for a choreography by dance company Rubato. Dance music drawn from Scarlatti, who was so inspired by dance music. The material of the piano sonata F-minor K.466 is twisted anew in all its richness, shifted back and forth, declined, frozen, noisified, sound structures extracted, floating. Those who know the sonata, will more than smell it’s shadows. Dedicated to Mario Bertoncini (Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza) who was particularly fond of K.466, on which all the music presented here is grounded.

"Wild flowers", Barbara Zubers had once called Scarlatti's music. Let them bloom.

NPVR is the avant garde duo made up of the late Peter Rehberg and Nik Void. Editions Mego is proud to present their second and final release. No this is not some kind of Beatles synthetic AI that raises the dead reconstructed recordings but rather a new album made by the humans and their machines.

The initial meeting of Rehberg and Void was in London in 2016 and despite or due to their mutual awkwardness found solace and compatibility in the fact that they both had a similar electronic modular set up, along with matching cases to transport all. The idea to collaborate was an obvious and organic process as a means to connect their individual gear together and observe the outcome. The fruits of these initial experiments, recorded in London, resulted in the playful experimentation of their acclaimed 2017 release 33 33 (eMego 251).

Now in 2024 Editions Mego presents the logically titled follow up, 33 34. These sessions were recorded six months after the initial recordings at Peter’s home in Vienna. This was planned out as a mirror city release to the original London recordings. With Peter having access to his full studio set up this time around we encounter a rich audio landscape which organically folds together a variety of musical genres blurring any distinction between these forms so the resulting music hovers as a new cloud of sound. Any musical form, be it industrial, electro-acoustic, ambient, drone and techno all coexist and melt into the other as the ensuing result unveils a hypnotic swarm of divergent sounds (music). When active there were no lines or contexts with NPVR, either between sound or genre within these recordings or live where NPVR were at home playing at a techno club one night and an avant garde venue the next.

The initial session of these recordings was edited by Rehberg and sent to Void to further develop. Over time the final versions were agreed on and then shelved as other outside projects took over. The awkwardness had been surmounted and the two had become close friends. NPVR performed at a range of venues such as Tresor, Sutton House, Corsica, Blitz, Paris GRM #Focus2, LEV Festival and Rigas Skanumezs Festival. Following Rehberg’s untimely passing Void had difficulty listening back to the sessions but eventually thought it fit to complete and release this album, of which even the artwork (like 33 33, an image from Zurich photographer, Georg Gatsas) had been decided upon prior to Rehberg parting ways.

There is an unmistakable joy to these recordings. One encounters an enthralling exploration of their chosen machines which conveys the excitement of what can be randomly conjured when people speak through such devices. There is no grand statement or argument here, just the sheer thrill of creation and the recorded results of random encounters. The art of collaboration was always a mainstay of Rehberg’s practice from the advent of the MEGO adventure. Rehberg & Bauer was an initial collaboration with former business partner Ramon Bauer. Even at this stage one can hear a relaxed sense of delight in the sheer discovery of sound.

A mix made for the Wire magazine following the release of 33 33 hints at the freedom that comes with endless urge for exploration and discovery. Abstract tracks from Z'EV. Jérôme Noetinger and Jung An Tagen are included alongside British stalwarts The Fall and New Order. There were no lines between pop / academic / underground or mainstream in Rehberg’s world. All of it sat at the same table. It is just matter in the atmosphere, like the diverse exploration found in these recordings that comprise 33 34.

Towards the end of his life Rehberg was obsessing over the immense output of the German ambient musician Pete Namlook. An artist renowned for not only his sprawling catalogue of ambient masterpieces but one who often said his main inspiration was nature. This is apt with regards to the work of NPVR which also aligns with such thought as the intertwining of the two individual artists and their machines results in a natural symbiotic flow, as it happens, just like in the world around us.

Brussels-based accordionist Suzan Peeters releases her debut album Cassotto on the Belgian label blickwinkel. With Cassotto, she opens a door into a hidden chamber of sound. The title refers to the “cassotto” — a small resonating chamber inside the accordion that warms, softens, and deepens its tone. Listening to this record feels as if you’ve stepped into that room yourself, enveloped in a world where intimacy and grandeur collide.

Although this is her first release, Peeters is already recognised as one of the most promising names in Belgium’s experimental music scene. Her distinctive live shows — from leading venues across Belgium to a packed Café Oto in London — have earned her a reputation for combining accordion, electronics and unconventional objects such as a massage board into a compelling whole where contrasts come together in an unexpected way. Cassotto captures this approach in recorded form, giving listeners the same sense of immediacy as her concerts, but framed within the intimate space suggested by the album’s title.

While the cassotto chamber naturally gives the accordion a soft and velvety voice, Peeters harnesses that warmth to explore extremes — from hushed detail to bold, expansive gestures that fill the room. As such, the album moves between the acoustic and the electronic, the tender and the abrasive, the static and the dynamic, the traditional and the experimental.

With Cassotto, Suzan Peeters presents a debut that places the accordion at the centre of an adventurous and contemporary sound world — one that invites to discover how far an accordion can reach when tradition and imagination intertwine.

Suzan Peeters (*1999) is a Belgian accordionist, composer, and experimentalist. She is constantly looking for new timbres and sound textures within the accordion, pushing its acoustic spectrum to its limits by manipulating the interplay between her body and the body of her instrument.
Suzan studied classical accordion at KASK & Conservatorium in Ghent and at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen. She is currently studying Live Electronics at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels.

»Hug of Gravity« is the second solo album by Raphael Loher and his first for Hallow Ground. The Swiss pianist and composer uses piano preparations, tape machines, and digital means to forge an aesthetic of playful reduction and rhythmic abstraction. The source material for these four sprawling pieces was culled from recordings of the artist performing the album’s predecessor, 2022’s »Keemuun.« Loher used them in a painstaking two-part working process to create an album that is both a product of and an ode to transformation, exploring themes of alternative temporalities and spatialities. »Hug of Gravity« oscillates between experimental electronic music, ambient, and minimal music and calls to mind the work of artists like William Basinski, Linda Catlin Smith, or label mate Andrius Arutiunian.

Loher laid the foundation for »Hug of Gravity« in 2020 with ten solo performances at his studio, during which he presented the pieces from his debut album. For these intimate concerts, he prepared the piano with modelling clay in order to move beyond the well-tempered tuning that dominates most of Western music. He then used a consecutive three-month residency in the Blenio Valley to refine the recordings. »I cut up and rearranged the material, then transferred the results—around 30 pieces—to a varispeed tape machine and then back to the computer. After that was done, I cut them up and rearranged them again,« he laughs. By radically reworking the material, he created an album that eschews traditional notions of time and space.

Loher points out the influence that his surroundings had on him. »The process created the music—and the place was essential to the process.« he says. He wandered through the mountains for up to nine or ten hours a day, which gave him a sense of what he calls expanded temporality. »Time just felt longer, my experiences seemed more diverse and nuanced, and it was as if I perceived my environment more clearly,« he explains. This shift in Loher’s perception of time and space—the latter also expressed in the album’s title—influenced his work with the varispeed tape machine. It allowed him to change the pitch of different recordings while layering them to let interference patterns emerge and emphasise the emotional qualities of the unconventional tunings he had used.

In this way, Loher constructed numerous interlocking narrative arcs throughout »Hug of Gravity,« an album that is ever-changing; an exercise in calm ecstasy that provides its audience with the feeling of being removed from conventional time and space. This approach is also reflected in the artwork for »Hug of Gravity,« which is based on drawings Loher made during his residency at Blenio Valley. Their fine hand-drawn lines run in parallel and let incidental patterns emerge, an effect that is only multiplied when the six different drawings that accompany each vinyl copy of the album are overlapping, forming ever-new visual constellations.

Hercules & Love Affair music has always been about folding past, present and future together – and never more so than in the latest phase, encapsulated by the track that launches things, “Someone Else is Calling.”

If the song-first, ultra-gothic mind-movie of the last H&LA album In Amber was partly motivated by Andy Butler falling out of love with dance culture, this new body of work – an EP titled Someone Else Is Calling – is an unabashed resurgence of the love affair. A co-production with London underground veteran and inspiration to Butler, Quinn Whalley of Paranoid London and Decius, the lead single is a surging, tactile acid track woven around the vocal of Icelandic icon Hips & Lips aka Elín Ey – who hits that new wave disco sweet spot between Grace Jones and Yazoo era Alison Moyet.

Elín’s lyrics work perfectly with the bodily momentum of the sounds, circling around themes of self-possession and the urge to move on to the next experience, the next sensation: hunger for reality. And this taps into Andy’s feelings on escaping New York and moving to Belgium, discovering that dance culture was anything but the hollowed-out, identikit-festival-lineup conveyor belt he’d feared, and still had plenty of outposts where it was still – as he’d first experience it as a teen – about the hot, sweaty reality of diverse people seeking communion, communication and heightened ways of being in the here and now.

The video, filmed by Tatsumi Milori couldn’t be a better expression of exactly this. A love letter to the strange and glorious party scene of Mexico City, it captures people who are both tapping into the eternal verities of those magical dancefloor communions, and thrilling – against all the odds of oppressive forces – at the sense of possibility in the flow of gender and sexuality in the present moment. It’s powered by innocence and experience as intertwined forces, and it amplifies the heartbeat of the song a thousandfold. There will be more, much more, to follow from the partnership of Andy, Elín and Quinn. It digs deeper still into the decades of dance and other underground cultures that feed into this modern moment – but this shining beacon should give you a pretty good hint.

Someone Else Is Calling will arrive on one of Los Angeles’s most exciting new independent labels and creative hubs, StrataSonic, on December 14. The lead single of the same name, along with the music video directed by Tatsumi Milori, is out now. This marks the first collaboration between Hercules & Love Affair and Stratasonic.

Kontakt Records presents KNT-47 “Chromatic Noise”, a deep exploration of dub techno and dub-infused house from Canadian producer Matt Thibideau. Across three extended cuts, Thibideau sculpts spacious, analogue-leaning grooves where every element has room to breathe. Subtle saturation, soft tape hiss and finely tuned low-end weight create that unmistakable sense of depth, while shimmering chords and carefully placed delays drift in and out of the stereo field. The result is music that feels both hypnotic and alive, built for long blends, late sessions and sound systems that reward detail. “Chromatic Noise” sits comfortably in the Kontakt Records tradition: timeless dub aesthetics, modern production values and a focus on atmosphere over obvious peaks. It’s the kind of 12" that works just as well as a DJ tool as it does for attentive home listening – patient, understated and endlessly playable. Tiny shifts in texture, filter movement and echo tails keep the tension moving forward without ever breaking the spell.

Kontakt Records presents KNT-47 “Chromatic Noise”, a deep exploration of dub techno and dub-infused house from Canadian producer Matt Thibideau. Across three extended cuts, Thibideau sculpts spacious, analogue-leaning grooves where every element has room to breathe. Subtle saturation, soft tape hiss and finely tuned low-end weight create that unmistakable sense of depth, while shimmering chords and carefully placed delays drift in and out of the stereo field. The result is music that feels both hypnotic and alive, built for long blends, late sessions and sound systems that reward detail. “Chromatic Noise” sits comfortably in the Kontakt Records tradition: timeless dub aesthetics, modern production values and a focus on atmosphere over obvious peaks. It’s the kind of 12" that works just as well as a DJ tool as it does for attentive home listening – patient, understated and endlessly playable. Tiny shifts in texture, filter movement and echo tails keep the tension moving forward without ever breaking the spell.

Metalheadz and Quartz present Interloper, a body of work years in the making that captures the evolution and persistence of a truly singular producer. Sparked by an invitation from Goldie in 2018, the project developed organically into a statement piece, shaped by shifting environments and a relentless drive to refine his craft. Quartz, also known as Elliot Garvey, has long stood apart from the noise. A Welsh producer with little interest in visibility or self-promotion, he has built a reputation on substance alone. Interloper reflects that focus: textured, brooding, and meticulously detailed, balancing grit and clarity while maintaining the looming tension that defines his sound. The album’s title hints at Garvey’s place within the culture - present but never fully belonging - and the music carries that same sense of quiet defiance. Intense without theatrics and deeply personal without pretence, Interloper is a record that doesn’t ask to be seen, only to be felt.

Metalheadz and Quartz present Interloper, a body of work years in the making that captures the evolution and persistence of a truly singular producer. Sparked by an invitation from Goldie in 2018, the project developed organically into a statement piece, shaped by shifting environments and a relentless drive to refine his craft. Quartz, also known as Elliot Garvey, has long stood apart from the noise. A Welsh producer with little interest in visibility or self-promotion, he has built a reputation on substance alone. Interloper reflects that focus: textured, brooding, and meticulously detailed, balancing grit and clarity while maintaining the looming tension that defines his sound. The album’s title hints at Garvey’s place within the culture - present but never fully belonging - and the music carries that same sense of quiet defiance. Intense without theatrics and deeply personal without pretence, Interloper is a record that doesn’t ask to be seen, only to be felt.





e B3. One Last Word ft. Selena Jones (Posthumous) Outro





e B3. One Last Word ft. Selena Jones (Posthumous) Outro





e B3. One Last Word ft. Selena Jones (Posthumous) Outro





[e] B3. One Last Word [ft. Selena Jones] (Posthumous) [Outro]





[e] B3. One Last Word [ft. Selena Jones] (Posthumous) [Outro]





[e] B3. One Last Word [ft. Selena Jones] (Posthumous) [Outro]





[e] B3. One Last Word [ft. Selena Jones] (Posthumous) [Outro]





[ft. Selena Jones] (Posthumous) [Outro]





[ft. Selena Jones] (Posthumous) [Outro]

Continuing the VA series with different artists from around the globe the fourth instalment has landed. The 9 track LP features already familiar to the label artists as well as many new faces unified by the idea of the love for the non-standard audio frequencies. With the dystopian artwork by the label’s visual guru Gkoner and the music by the nine talented artists the disc has obtain its shape. With the vast range of sound being present but all tied in the concept of the label’s musical ideology, the “Untitled IV” is born and armed for different settings where electronic music can be blasted loud on huge sound systems or in complete solitude does not matter at all. What matters is the love of music the listener brings making it all come together with a complete and fulfilled sense.

Recordings from the Åland Islands, the duo debut by synthesist Jeremiah Chiu and violist Marta Sofia Honer, is a truly unique series of pieces that marry acoustic and electronic sounds with field recordings, all captured on a trip to the titular Baltic archipelago.
By the time Åland Islands was released in 2022, Honer had already been working with Makaya McCraven and Daniel Villarreal, but this project brought her to the front as a lead artist. And Åland Islands was the label's first collaboration of any kind with Chiu, who has since released the solo outing In Electric Time and the genre-breaking debut of his co-led supergroup SML, in addition to a trio album with Honer and the late Ariel Kalma (2024's The Closest Thing to Silence).

Recordings from the Åland Islands is far more than its context within the world of IARC, however, and it’s certainly more than its context as a travel document. Here Chiu and Honer have created a new world out of an old one with work that sees them in dialogue with their own source material. Like early masterpieces by Franco Battiato or Alvin Lucier, Åland Islands repeatedly presents the listener with a palpable sense of place, only to pluck them up and drop them into an entirely new one.
“...so tranquil and beautiful...” – Jayson Greene, Pitchfork

Shogun Audio is extremely proud to present GLXY's second album, 'Form, Focus'. Unequivocally the most refined body of work to date from the ever-evolving drum & bass duo, this LP showcases GLXY at their irresistible best.
A decade on from the release of their debut single 'Small Talk/Trinity', GLXY have cemented themselves as one of liquid drum and bass’ most respected and prolific acts. With twelve EPs, a debut album in 2020, and collaborations with the likes of Alix Perez, Halogenix, Lenzman, Unglued, and Catching Cairo under their belt, 'Form, Focus' represents the next definitive milestone in an already heavyweight catalogue.
From beginning to end, the record distils everything that makes GLXY so special. Abundant with luscious sound design, soulful vocal features, and an unmistakable sense of groove and musicality. Featuring Charli Brix, DRS, Duskee, Eljé, Jords, Salo, and Verbz, the tracks flow seamlessly between deep, introspective liquid cuts and vibrant, club-ready rollers, painting a full picture of their artistry while pushing their sound into fresh, exciting spaces.
More than just a continuation, 'Form, Focus' feels like a statement: a decade of honing their craft distilled into a singular vision. It’s an album that reaffirms GLXY’s position at the cutting edge of the genre, while at the same time carving out their own unmistakable lane within it.

Sometimes, the most beautiful stories begin simply between friends, over laughter, late nights and shared music. That’s how the collaboration between Oscar and the Wolf and Roméo Elvis was born. What started as an unexpected jam session after dinner soon evolved into something much greater: a modern-day Romeo and Juliet where two distinct worlds, North and South, pop and rap, light and shadow, meet and merge effortlessly.

Their first collaboration, “Ceiling”, captures that magic: the perfect balance between intimacy and grandeur, where contrast becomes harmony. Premiered live before 100,000 people during Belgium’s National Day celebrations, the single immediately resonated, becoming a radio hit and surpassing one million streams within weeks.

Now, the duo present JARDIN, an eight-track EP arriving this December. Here, Oscar and the Wolf and Roméo Elvis push each other beyond their comfort zones, exploring new sonic landscapes and blending their unique identities into one sound. From the pulsating energy of “Crocodila” and “Je M’en Balec”, to the tender alternative rock ballad “Lose My Baby”, and the groove-driven “Chargé (Monet)” or the club-ready “Bon Sense”, JARDIN unfolds like a living garden, a vibrant space where every track blossoms into something new.

To celebrate the release, the duo will perform together for the first time on December 15 and 16 at Ancienne Belgique in Brussels. Both shows sold out within hours, a testament to the excitement surrounding this groundbreaking collaboration.

With JARDIN, Oscar and the Wolf and Roméo Elvis don’t just unite genres and languages; they build a bridge between regions, emotions and artistic worlds, a celebration of sound, connection and friendship.

TWINS from Dresden, Leipzig, and Berlin present their second album in a particularly antiquated format: the LP in the truest sense of the word. Eight songs that are actually one. Without noticeable boundaries. Musically fragmentary, yet consistent and coherent. An album from which no song can be easily extracted; at least not without partially losing its actual effect in the process of separation. All components of the album need each other in a certain way, and it is precisely this peculiarity that gives rise to its musically emancipated strength. "it"s_complicated" is an album like a strange, brittle radio play amidst idiosyncratic post-hardcore, math rock, screamo, noise, and indie elements. A journey of musical possibilities.

Ston Elaióna is John Also Bennett’s first album for Shelter Press since his 2019 solo debut Erg Herbe. The American born, Athens, Greece, based flautist, synthesist, and composer weaves a strikingly singular electroacoustic excursion for bass flute and Yamaha DX7ii, largely recorded in the golden haze of the early morning hours - bending time at the otherworldly juncture of consciousness and place. Translating from Greek as “in the olive grove”, Ston Elaióna is permeated with the ambiences of the ancient and present world, guided into form by a playfully rigorous approach to sound.
Initially emerging during the mid 2000s as part of Columbus, Ohio’s noise scene, before relocating to NYC around 2010, Bennett’s diverse activities picked up an increasing sense of pace over the following decade - performing and recording as a solo artist (JAB), with the trio Forma and with CV &JAB, his prolific duo with his partner Christina Vantzou, as well as playing in Jon Gibson’s ensemble among many other multifaceted collaborations. However, since 2020 the flautist and electroacoustic composer has existed in a semi nomadic state: drifting between Brooklyn, Brussels, extensive tours, and Greece, where he finally came to rest in Athens last year.

Drawing upon a carefully honed attentiveness to the environments and experiences of everyday life, Ston Elaióna is a suite of nine pieces (with an additional track exclusive to physical formats), many of them composed and played live as the early morning sun touched the Parthenon, in full view from Bennett’s studio window in Athens. Bennett’s refinement and restraint, honed over his years adrift, led him to adopt a limited palette focused on his primary instrument, the bass flute, and a Yamaha DX7ii synthesizer tuned to just intonation scales. Alongside a handful of other keyboards, digital oscillators triggered by his flute, and occasional field recordings, this simple palette is reflected by the deeply emotive sense of minimalism that permeates the album’s two sides. Following two solo albums defined by outward facing temperaments - 2022’s Out there in the middle of nowhere (Poole Music), which used a lap steel guitar and generative oscillators to evoke the surreal landscapes of the South Dakota badlands, and the largely synthetic atmospheres of the 2024 anthology Music For Save Rooms 1 & 2 (Editions Basilic) - the shift in Bennett’s worldly circumstances offered an intuitive return to the calm, inward states of creative exploration that have historically defined JAB’s sound. In parallel, context provided clear sources of inspiration for many of the album’s themes, as well as sources for some of its sounds. The aura of Greece, from the ancient to the present, from its stones and olive groves to its traffic, figures heavily across Ston Elaióna’s two sides. John Also Bennett’s Ston Elaióna forms an elegantly rigorous world of electroacoustic sonority, bridging the expanse of time with the immediacies of environment and happening in the here and now: a profound sonic mediation on the countless dimensions unlocked by life in Greece.