quête:ras range

The new album by Robert Piotrowicz does not fit any category. What this multicoloured electronic instrumentation aims to channel is the acoustic experience and energy of the performing musician. As a result of a wide range of creative means used, the narrative language of the compositions bursts withtension and mystery.

The album includes slow hypnotic passages of stone electronics (“To Fleh”), vigorous tempos and circular repetitions (“Euzo Found Gitar”), sprawling artificial soundscapes, back-to-origins ethnicity (ethnical subsoil and elements) liberated from any geographical identity (“Ocarina Wars”), as well as dreamlike minimalism with unpretentious cinematographic traits (“Flares Et Wasser Hole”). Some of these unusual melodic patterns may resemble the corporality of the animal throat rather than any human-created instrument (“Electros Spong”).

Although Euzebio was recorded with synths, the final shape of individual tracks and the album’s overall acoustic image go far beyond any electronic genre. The instruments have not become a goal in itself. They were merely a building block, a tool that helped achieve the album’s extended structure - a diverse whole with rich spatial features.

All sounds performed and recorded by Robert Piotrowicz on Buchla and Serge synthesizers at EMS Elektronmusikstudion in
Stockholm 2013/2014. composed, mixed and premastered by Robert Piotrowicz artwork and photos: Robert Piotrowicz design
and layout: Lasse Marhaug special thanks: Ocarina Jones and Tomasz Gil mastered and cut by Rashad Becker at D&M Berlin
Produced by Musica Genera

The Beartone label continues to make moves with a six superb release from the boss himself Bearface (A.K.A. Panasa from Afrobeat duo Bana Kuba). Renowned for his slick final house on a range of top labels, here he offers four more such cuts that will melt the mind.Opener Outers is a slippery and sleek number with icy hi hats and rugged basslines. It’s heady tackle that really gets under your skin.Veda ups the pace with more super well programmed drums and deft little hi hats and drum fills as well as some warped vocals that bring a brilliantly freaky feeling.Milenial then gets down and dirty, with kinetic kick drums and rasping synths, popping cow bells and a relentless sense of groove.Closing things out is Cause, a deep, bubbly number with underlapping bass, gloopy synths and a dry, catchy groove that gets you locked.All in all this is another first class EP.

Support from: Vlad Caia (SIT), Mahony, David Gtronic and Moskalus.

Hailing from the heartland of British techno, Sheffield’s John Shima is one of the leading lights of UK electronics. His beautifully crafted sounds have graced a host of imprints including Distant Worlds, Exalt Records and, of course, FireScope. It is to the latter that Shima returns with his long awaiting debut album, The Lonely Machine.

John Shima is a master melody weaver, with this first LP attesting to his deftness of touch. Celestial chords and star gazing synthwork permeate this ten track odyssey. The musical heritage of Shima’s hometown, the elegance, majesty and subtlety of British electronics, is invoked from the needle drop. A range of influences come to the fore in this 2LP. Skirting around the edges of astral ambience and tonal texture are nods to industrial history, the rasp and resonance of rhythms in “Empires”, with the inspiration of Detroit surfacing in the future funk of “Phase Distortion” and “Linear.” Dreamscapes are painted in delicate hues, the fragile movements of “Accepting”, with brooding works adopting thicker basslines and ruffled notes as with “Distrust.” Nevertheless, it is the incandescent brightness of Lonely Machine that truly shines. Radiant pieces of elating electronics, complex and joyful compositions that chime with unbridled hope and open-hearted optimism.

Dirty Games EP, is the second project from Jaja Saine and Leo “Love Tiger” Smith. The duo has been making their mark both as DJs and producers in the very competitive electronic music scene in Stockholm. Dirty Games EP 2019, is a wide range of tracks for various moods and settings. None of the tracks are alike, this EP definitely highlights the various elements and styles they have been influenced by as artists. The title track “Dirty Games” and “Moon Monster”being the tracks you just can’t help but dance to. Label info:"2MR is an electronic record label headed by Mike Simonetti (Troubleman Unltd), Adam Gerrard and Mike Sniper (Captured Tracks).

PAUL LABRECQUE (SUNBURNED HAND OF THE MAN) and GHAZI BARAKAT (PHAROAH CHROMIUM) present two epic cosmic, dystopian tracks where guitars, synths and traditional instruments blend into an anarchic sound system.

After excessive years in rock bands like THE GOLDEN SHOWERS or his solo project BOY FROM BRAZIL, time had come for the German-Palestinian artist GHAZI BARAKAT to develop a new aesthetic - the birth of his alias PHAROAH CHROMIUM where BARAKAT creates "meta-music for meta-people in a meta-world", or in other words:a mutoid blend of post-krautrock, psychedelism, free jazz, ancient rituals, science fiction and electronics. So far the Berlin based sonic performer released a couple of solo albums on labels like GRAUTAG or TAPEWORM and a triple LP with krautrock legend GÜNTER SCHICKERT. For his latest output he decided to simply use his civilian name BARAKAT, as does PAUL LaBRECQUE (SUNBURNED HAND OF THE MAN) who contributesguitar and synthesizer to the two side-long tracks. "Jajouka Pipe Dream" is a clear reference to the MASTER MUSICIANS OF JAJOUKA, with lots of flutes and percussion, a very rhythmical, ritualistic track, while "Planet R-101" turns out a spacey trip with elements of krautrock and Kosmische Musik / Berliner Schule.

What may sound contradictionary on paper functions perfectly on LP - freeform / free-floating music, absorbing and integrating a wide range of influences and inspirations, sounds and styles - and highly psychedelic!

Credits:

Ghazi Barakat: guembri, moog synthesizer, beats, Rauschpfeife

Paul LaBrecque: guitar, synthesizer

Mastered and cut by Rashad Becker at D&M, Berlin

Artwork + photography: Nicolas Moulin

Paul DeMarinis is a key figure in the history of electronic music since the 1970s. Collaborator with the likes of Robert Ashley, David Behrman, and David Tudor, DeMarinis is a pioneer in the development of gallery sound installation and digital music technologies. Black Truffle is thrilled to announce the release of a double-LP collection, selected in collaboration with the artist, focussing on DeMarinis's exploration of synthesized voice and the digital analysis and manipulation of speech sounds. Drawing together tracks dispersed on compilations along with a number of pieces previously unheard in any form, Songs Without Throats offers a revelatory look into DeMarinis's alternately accessible and uncompromising production between 1978 and 1995. Opening with a mesmerizing piece from 1978 pairing the voice and tamboura playing of Anne Klingensmith with strings of letters spat out by a Speak n' Spell to the accompaniment of the randomised melodic patterns of DeMarinis's homebuilt electronic instrument 'The Pygmy Gamelan', the record then dispenses with the live human voice in favour of its recorded and synthetic doubles. We follow DeMarinis's restless probing of the possibilities of new technologies, from the hacked Speak n' Spell (which gives us the austere 'Et Tu, Klaatu' 1979, another duet with Klingensmith, this time on bowed psaltery, in which the toy's synthetic voice is stretched into an alien song) through to the use of digital audio samples manipulated with home computer technology in the early 1990s (including a remarkable dream-like collage piece that weaves a rare recording of Stalin's voice and bird-like electronic twittering derived from its formant-glides into a rich tapestry of samples reflective of the dictator's musical life). In between we get a rich sampling of DeMarinis's signature work with speech melodies - usually unnoticed melodic inflections that lie within speech patterns - which he analyses and translates into synthesized musical accompaniment. These pieces draw on a wide variety of textual and vocal sources, which range from the hilarious to the menacing ('Cincinatti (1830-1850)' sets a detailed description of butchering techniques, for example) and an equally broad range of musical conceptions, combining elements as seemingly unlikely as Beethoven's Opus 31 pianos sonatas and the sounds of 80s synth pop. The results are an extraordinary combination of the alien and the familiar. As DeMarinis himself characterises his work with vocal synthesis, this is 'a kind of signal that simultaneously carried and obscured meaning and ideation, even as it created a sound world totally alien in esthetic'. Presented in a deluxe gatefold sleeve with archival images and liner notes by Paul DeMarinis. Design by Stephen O'Malley. Mastered and cut by Rashad Becker at D&M, Berlin

A generation younger than the founders of the Teklife crew, DJ Rashad and DJ Spinn, DJ Taye was originally a rapper and beat maker before hooking up with the collective and jumping into the world of footwork production and DJing.
However, it was Rashad's untimely passing in 2014 that was the unlikely catalyst for developing the sounds and ideas for this album. He says, "When Rashad passed away I felt inspired to continue evolving the music that I loved so much coming up in this world. So, I had to do something...make something brand new."

100% committed to pushing further the potential of the footwork template, Still Trippin' is ambitious in its range and scope. Taking two years to formulate, the record broadens the possibilities of the sound, forcing it to adapt to songwriting, and also revives Taye's talent for MCing and producing beats to which he can rap and sing. Furthermore Taye definitely ups the ante with his complex and precise drum programming, never losing sight of footwork's ability to confound. The album features a range of guests that span contemporary music, the eccentric, instructive rapping of Chuck Inglish of Detroit duo the Cool Kids is featured on 'Get It Jukin', Odile Myrtil, a young vocalist from Montreal, lends her smokey soul to 'Same Sound', Fabi Reyna, the editor of the celebrated women's guitar magazine She Shreds, sings and plays bass and rhythm guitar on 'I Don't Know' and Jersey club queen UNIIQU3 offers production and rapping on 'Gimme Some Mo'.Also, Teklife members DJ PayPal and DJ Manny assist on production, and DJ Lucky is a guest MC on 'Smokeout'. Taye is ambitious in his hopes for the album, "I took this as an opportunity to not have boundaries with footwork. Different approaches to our 'underground' sound to make it broader. It's only underground until it crosses that visible threshold.' This album brings all of this to the forefront.

The seminal 1994 double album by the original PAINKILLER line-up BILL LASWELL, JOHN ZORN and MICK HARRIS on vinyl for the first time! Avant-jazz, grindcore, dub and ambient melt into eerie tracks of haunting atmospheres.

When PAINKILLER started in 1991, their first two albums "Guts Of A Virgin" and "Buried Secrets" (both released on extreme metal label Earache) were heavy attacks blending grindcore and free jazz that brought together the musical backgrounds of the three protagonists: drummer MICK HARRIS had just left grindcore legend NAPALM DEATH, JOHN ZORN explored new extremities with his NAKED CITY project while BILL LASWELL had as a member of roaring free jazz quartet LAST EXIT ( PETER BRÖTZMANN / SONNY SHARROCK / RONALD SHANNON JACKSON) proven that he was not only a visionary producer but also an accomplished bassist. But it is their 1994 double album "Execution Ground" that remains the opus magnum of the brilliant trio: ZORN's unmistakable shrieking saxophone, HARRIS' pounding drums and LASWELL's growling sub-bass lines were given heavy mixing desk treatment, resulting in extended tracks that are no less intense than their early works but display the full range of the musicians' skills. Soaked with reverb and delay, avant-jazz, grindcore, dub and ambient melt into eerie tracks of haunting atmospheres - even more so in the ambient versions of disc 2. Mastered and cut by RASHAD BECKER at D&M Berlin, "Execution Ground" is now available on vinyl for the very first time as 2x 180gr LP incl. a download code and insert in a limited edition of 500 items.