Search:re direction

Sdban Records will reissue several installments of the legendary library series 'A Special Radio ~ TV Record' on vinyl. These were originally released on Belgian imprint 'Selection Records' between 1975 and 1981. N°15 in the series was the Belgian milestone jazz album 'Solis Lacus' released in 1975.

Solis Lacus is the cult group around renowned Belgian pianist Michel Herr, a pioneer of electric jazz in the 70's in Europe. Michel Herr rose to international prominence after winning the first prize at the jazz festival in Loosdrecht, The Netherlands, in 1971. He accompanied many European and American jazz stars on foreign tours and ran the group Jazztrack with saxophone player Wolfgang Engstfeld in Germany. At the same time, he set up his own band Solis Lacus, which consisted of Belgian musicians who had all made a name for themselves on the national jazz scene of the 1960s including Richard Rousselet and Bruno Castelluci both from Placebo. Inspired by the reigning jazz-rock sound of the day, Herr expanded his musical vocabulary and started to play electronic keyboards. Solis Lacus recorded its only album in the course of 1974 and 1975, before the members of the group headed in their own direction.

Solis Lacus is considered the European counterpart to sound experimentations of Herbie Hancock's Headhunters, or the best albums of the CTI label such as Freddie Hubbard. This is groundbreaking, experimental and funky jazz fusion!

It's pressed on red transparent recycled vinyl.

The feel good song "Everytime" from the album "Serendipity" by Lisa Decker & Japanese Jazz trio Nautilus gets the Pat Van Dyke treatment plus a special appearance by South Bronx born emcee John Robinson aka Lil Sci of the legendary east coast group ScienZ of Life who performed with the likes of The Roots, Common, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Run DMC and MF DOOM to name a few.

Multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer Pat Van Dyke from New Jersey is giving the song a totally new direction with playful horns and heavy bassline to get the soundsystems bumping.

2LP with a 4-page colour insert

As Guadeloupean vocalist and composer Marie-Line Dahomay writes in her liner notes to the compilation, gwoka is more than a style of music, it is “a way of living and thinking.” Rooted in the social, musical and ritual practices of enslaved African people and their descendants on Guadeloupe, gwoka has always sought to express the spirit of independence and resistance authentic to the island.Building on its traditional call-and-response form and the ideas of pivotal figures like Gérard Lockel and Christian Laviso, modern gwoka evolved throughout the second half of the twentieth century to include funk, jazz and electronic influences.

Defined by its propensity for innovation and experimentation, this compilation charts the most radical changes to modern gwoka, capturing a sensory riot of traditional répertoires, rhythms and makè techniques fused with genre-defying experimentation.Whether heard in the deeply cosmic, spiritual music of Dao, Freydy Doressamy and Gaoulé Mizik, or the jazz funk inflections of Gui Konket and Horizon, the music here is united by the feeling of santiman ka, crucial not only to gwoka music but the identity of Guadeloupe at large.

As co-curator Cédric Lassonde (Bueaty & The Beats) writes: “What unifies these selections is the depth of the compositions, the experimentation around the santiman ka, and the spirit of resistance and liberation against slavery, be it modern or ancestral. With a thirst for innovation typical of the island’s creole culture, the ka spirit is deeply rooted in collective history and in a quest for identity.”

Co-curator Brandon Hocura (Séance Centre) continues: “The creative energy of these musicians is powerful and demonstrates a universal pursuit of resistance, freedom and identity. Their voices are distinct, but the chorus rises high and carries their message far across the sea.”

Lèsprit Ka: New Directions in Gwoka Music from Guadeloupe 1981-2010 is the first compilation of its kind to bring the sound of modern gwoka to a wider audience, with many of the featured musicians still active today. Presented as a double LP, the release features a specially commissioned essay by Guadeloupean musician Marie-Line Dahomey, and extensive liner notes from Cédric Lassonde and Séance Centre’s Brandon Hocura.

True to the hybrid nature of the music, the compilation seeks not to provide a definitive sound, but express the variety of contemporary forms that have evolved from gwoka. Just as Guadeloupean trailblazers Kassav fused gwoka with funk and cadence to create zouk, so did the musicians on this collection push gwoka in new directions rarely heard beyond its shores.

In the words of Gérard Lockel, “gwoka is the soul of Guadeloupe”

“Boot licking, piss drinking, finger frigging, tit tweaking, love biting, arse licking, shit stabbing, motherfucking, spunk loving, ball busting, cock sucking, fist fucking, lip smacking, thirst quenching, cool living, ever giving…”

There’s no fairer introduction to ‘Fist’, Joshua James’ latest contribution to Phantasy, than to advise one simply to prepare themselves. Sampling iconic performance artist, club promoter and designer Leigh Bowery, James connects the expert dancefloor pressure he exacts each weekend as one of London’s best-loved club residents with the unapologetic, defiant legacy of a personal hero. None other than Peaches then takes up the remix mantle for ‘Fist’, intertwining the provocations of two radical performers and connecting three generations of underground queer culture in one sonic menage-a-trois, perhaps the straight-up rudest club record in recent memory.

On the original production, James shifts his sound in a heavier direction still since last summer’s euphoric Amber Rush, which was remixed by labelmate and friend Daniel Avery. A bouncing industrial tilt underscores the heavy-duty production, as Bowery, originally recording alongside Richard Torry in their band Minty, espouses a catalogue of sexual acts - some specialist, all sensational - as James pushes dancers further down into the belly of some revolting rave beast.

A multi-faceted match to Bowery themselves, Peaches continues a decades-long journey dedicated to genre and gender deconstruction with her wild and playful take on ‘Fist’. Dripping in cybernetic club juice, Peaches wraps herself around Bowery’s own teaches on the mic, easily matching his demands as she careens towards a system-rattling techno conclusion.

Hailing from Liege in Belgium, David Body has been put on our radar with releases on the fine Endless Music — but this EP for Exploited’s Black Jukebox series looks set to propel him to a new level.

‘I Bird You’ is a seriously charming affair, led by a colourful, sugary-sweet refrain that twinkles and sparkles in cute fashion. A warm deep house groove crafted through swirling Rhodes chords builds the vibe before the flowery melody explodes into life, pushing the track into an altogether more magical direction.

‘Jack Me Baby’ channels rubbery bass and a galloping house beat, with minor piano chords creating a dramatic feel as a classic vocal sample whoops away in delight. The enormous snare-rolled propelled build-up thrusts the track into overdrive, with a delightful, balmy synth line woven in to provide a mystical counterbalance.

‘The Talking Mouettes’ is a supremely feel-good slab of Balearic-tinged house, with choice piano chords cut up and cascading over a high-energy groove. Big squelchy melodic bass wiggles under the chords and shoulder-popping chime riff, with plenty of power and punch scattered throughout to keep the vibes rolling.

‘Endless Love’ is an absolute monster to close the EP, a soaring, triumphant electro beauty that overflows with euphoric melody and ecstatic, eyes-closed-and-rolling tingles. It just keeps building and building through layer upon layer of synth mastery to an explosive, epic climax.

Back in stock! Ghanaian Afro-Rock From Producer/Composer JJ Whitefield, Inspired By His Karl Hector & The Malcouns And Whitefield Brothers Projects JJ Whitefield, who in the early ‘90s revived the gritty, analogue Funk sounds of the ‘60s and ‘70s with his Poets Of Rhythm, has been working with Now-Again Records for over decade, releasing a flock of acclaimed projects with Karl Hector & The Malcouns, Whitefield Brothers, Rodinia and the Original Raw Soul anthology. He first started exploring African rhythms with the Whitefield Brothers in the late ‘90s, continuing in the ‘00s with Karl Hector & The Malcouns. He’s been instrumental in launching Ghanaian Afro Beat/Funk legend Ebo Taylor´s international career, decades after the maestro recorded the landmark albums that have inspired thousands. Whitefield recorded two new studio albums with Taylor and toured in his band between 2009 and 2013, where he met Taylor’s son Henry and percussionist/Singer Eric Owusu. The trio now front the Johnny! band and find inspiration not only in Ghana’s hypnotic grooves, but also the full frontal fuzz guitar assault heard on the legion of 70s Zambian Zamrock albums reissued by Now-Again. Indeed, Whitefield credits his tours with Zamrock godfathers Rikki Ililonga and WITCH’s Jagari Chanda as instrumental in creating the Johnny’s sonic backdrop. The band is rounded out by Turkish drummer Bernd Oezsevim (Woima Collective, Rodinia) and Indonesian bassist/multi instrumentalist Tomi Simatupang (Whitefield Brothers). This is what was oft-called “Afro Rock” at the core, with the possibilities to stretch out into swinging highlife, sweet soul or psychedelia . The results, point at a new direction for the music inspired by the Great Continent. One that takes a direction once mocked as derivative and asserts its importance on the globe’s current musical stage.

A new hub solely for the Icelandic talent’s unreleased material, BJARKI will also serve as a platform to launch a wealth of forthcoming audiovisual projects in the coming months, with the label logo designed by Paul Nicholson, NUMBER 3, and all artwork designed by Thomas Harrington Rawle - the creative behind the Care More project. Operating and creating its own storyline with every release, intertwining projects between Harrington Rawle and Bjarki across various mediums, the imprint will also drop a series of offshoot white label releases while being reactive and unveiling random drops across its upcoming schedule. Delivering his first solo release since ‘Oli Gumm’ on трип in 2018, late-February marks the first release on the new label as he unveils his four-track ‘I Wanna Go Home’ EP.

“I want to share more of my unreleased works, especially the tracks that I have created specifically for parties in each city I play. People impact my work a lot, and I would like to share this music directly before or after the show. I don’t see any other way than to set up my own channel or label where I can share all these ideas. Next year will be a lot about sharing stuff and being in direct contact with the audience.” - Bjarki

Opening the label with authority, ‘I Wanna Go Home’ welcomes a quartet of cuts showcasing the genre-spanning polymath at his best, delivering a medley of serious yet playful productions which arc back to previous material while also looking ahead to the future. A creative force with an unrelenting swathe of experimental ideas, influences and directions, this new eponymous imprint looks set to home some of Bjarki’s finest and most unpredictable material to date.

TRANSMISSION 2LP EDITION OF PORCUPINE TREE'S 1991 DEBUT
ALBUM
Having recently announced that Snapper Music will be representing
Porcupine Tree's Transmission label worldwide, new CD & LP reissues of
the band's extensive catalogue continue to roll out throughout 2021
Porcupine Tree's 1991 debut album 'On The Sunday Of Life' is an album that
stands up as a modern-day pop-psych classic.
With acid warped lyrics courtesy of Alan Duffy (the brains behind the late
lamented Imaginary Records label) the album is a surreal delight containing gems
such as "Jupiter Island" & "Linton Samuel Dawson" filled with quirky melodies,
effected vocals & trippy backwards guitar work. "Nine Cats", the undoubted
masterpiece of the album, is pure Edward Lear styled psychedelia.
'On The Sunday Of Life' also hints at the direction the band would later take with
more progressive influenced material such as the epic "Radioactive Toy".
Porcupine Tree released their last album, 'The Incident', in 2009, marking another
step forward in the incredible journey of the band that began as a solo studio
project created by Steven Wilson in the late eighties to a multi grammy nominated
act & one of the world's most revered live bands, selling out arenas across the
globe & wowing fans with their incredible performances.
"Refreshingly original – a wonderful musical adventure" Record Collector "A debut
disc of unearthly delights… deadly seducing stuff" NME 2LP 140g Gatefold
Edition

Limited Edition Vinyl LP – 1971 album cover, thick tip-on sleeve, 700 copies only

Finally putting an end to a long wait for library music lovers, Four Flies Records is proud to present the first reissue of Piero Umiliani's Paesaggi – a record that, despite remaining for many years pretty obscure compared to other titles in the maestro's discography, is now regarded by collectors and experts as the gold standard in Italian library music.

Originally released in two versions with different sleeves, the first on Liuto Records in 1971 and the second on Ciak Record in 1980, the album features tracks composed by the maestro himself (under his alias Zalla) and performed by the legendary super-group of Italian session players I Marc 4, this time with Angelo Baroncini instead of Carlo Pes on guitars (which probably explains the name being spelled with a 'k' instead of a 'c' on the album cover).

The Italian word paesaggi means "landscapes", and that is exactly what the music in the album has been designed to evoke – a journey of moods and emotions, through exotic and pastoral scenery, with loungey sounds that caress your ears like the song of an enchanted nightingale. Mysterious yet captivating soundscapes transport you to a faraway and peaceful place, possibly somewhere in rural Asia. While listening to the record, you'll feel as if you are sitting under a pavilion, right in the middle of a tea plantation, enjoying a freshly brewed green tea and watching the calm sunset.

In addition, Paesaggi is paradigmatic of Italian library music and its genre-defying nature. By using a multitude of instruments, such as flute, vibraphone, harpsichord, sitar, gong and others, it brings together a variety of arrangements, styles, and genres spanning from bossa nova to jazz, easy listening to psychedelic, Latin, exotica, and many more.

Under Umiliani's brilliant direction, the pianos and keyboard instruments of Antonello Vannucchi, the guitars of Angelo Baroncini, the bass of Maurizio Majorana, and the drums of Roberto Podio dance together and – enriched by other instruments played by top session musicians like Bruno Battisti D'Amario (sitar), Franco De Gemini (harmonica), or Franco Chiari (vibraphone) – create the sound that makes Paesaggi so unique.

With the honour of reissuing this masterpiece so many decades since its release comes a responsibility to do full justice to one of the greatest Italian composers of the 20th century and his now celebrated legacy. Four Flies have done their best to put out a record that replicates as closely as possible the value of the original as a cultural artefact, providing Italian library connoisseurs and novices alike with an exquisite sonic, and tactile, experience.

After their celestial Arcturian Corridors opened proceedings on Quindi, London-based brothers Clive and Mark Ives are back with a new record. When Woo first began recording at home in the early 70s, Clive and Mark were the embodiment of furtive genius. Since re-emerging in 2013, they've released scores of albums, collaborated with Seahawks, and have now struck up a productive relationship with Quindi.

On Paradise In Pimlico, you're hearing a very different sound to the one gently creaked out on early classics like Into The Heart Of Love. This is fulsome, contemporary production rich in detail and artful sound design, but crucially, Clive and Mark's gorgeously melodic approach remains open and inquisitive, even with the sheen and shimmer of modern studio techniques.

Woo sound more confident than ever in their composition, too. The crystalline, fragile tones of 'Cadenza D'Innocenza' glide through key changes that spell out an engrossing narrative, while the cascading melodies on 'Moment To Moment' pirouette across the space between notes with masterful poise. 'Paradise In Pimlico' is an illustrious suite of orchestral composition played out with the lightest touch, framed by the slightest of synthesized fauna and topped off with tender sax and flute. Album closer 'In Case Love Fails' takes on a subtly cinematic urgency with its undercurrents of walking bass and the strike of the string section (synthetic or otherwise).

There's space for markedly new approaches, too. The rhythm section on 'The Motorik Mirror' clunks and pops with a tactile, high-definition quality which teeters between electronic sculpture and clockwork, organic machination. The deft, lightly-brushed drums coursing through 'Even More Notes' see Clive and Mark step into a different mood, celebrating the beat as another fluid, tonally-rich texture in the mix and adding a smoky, jazzy hue to the Woo repertoire.

It's far from a drum-focused exercise though. At every turn, you're confronted with aching beauty and timbral surprises. If there's one constant throughout Paradise In Pimlico, it's the omnipresent chimes. These twinkling drops of light scattered throughout are something of a hallmark of Woo, ensuring the lilting, lullaby-like magic of their music persists whichever direction they head in.

Third album from North Carolina band who merges raw country with punk grit and pop sensibilities. "Straightforward, undiluted songs about shared hardships and unlikely victories that can bring even the most polarized people together. We are not responsible for other people’s behavior and sometimes we have more say in our own lives than we believe. The moment we realize this we start awkwardly constructing this cerebral bridge that's somewhat clunky and weird but it’s finally taking us in the direction we want to go. The songs on Nightroamer are beautiful, agonizing, magnetic, mischievous, indomitable pieces of the clunky and weird brain bridge to personal autonomy." —Sarah Shook

Jamie Paton, something of a veteran on the label, is once again exploring the inner realms of electronic music. This 7” is not a step in the wrong direction from his earlier high-quality standard; Paton’s crystal-clear sound cuts like surgical laser through a block of ice.

“Parabolas” and “Fleshed Out” are in all their static cold beauty, quite advanced compositions in regards to cooperating rhythm patterns; Paton knows his machines like his own children, giving them a proper playmate in his synthesiser-day care – a man-machine playground!

This release manifests Paton as a master of leftfield-half tempo house oriented-kosmische music.

4 Hands, an intimate and surreal musical conversation on the piano from German sound pioneer Hans-Joachim Roedelius and American composer Tim Story, is an example of all the warm yet otherworldly beauty that can come from approaching a shared love for a singular instrument from overlapping directions.

Recorded sequentially but on one and the same grand piano, Roedelius laid down a few impromptu piano études in May 2019 whilst visiting his transatlantic friend Story. Tim then learned all their intricate phrasings to add his own parts in the following months.

"Together we shaped the basic compositions, sometimes carefully preparing the piano with various materials (including my own hands), and Achim’s performances were committed to tape. I continued to compose and refine my parts in the following months. Because it was all recorded on the same piano, the result has a very appealing consistency of sound, and hopefully blurs our individual contributions into a single integrated voice,” Story explains.

4 Hands encapsulates rippling minimalistic patterns and delicate, ghostly interactions with surprising harmonic twists. Roedelius’ intuitive and instinctive approach based in improvisation, paired hand in hand with Story’s deliberate distilling of ideas over time, creates two sides of an engaging and thought provoking conversation that seems to evolve and deepen with each successive listen.

"4 Hands is not just a new album — the logical continuation of the long-standing friendship between two composers. It’s our tribute to awareness and listening, coaxing a new sound language from the endless possibilities of a single piano played by our four hands. For me, these pieces express a different kind of beauty, they evoke more than the sum of their parts, they are a wordless dialogue, a bridge across the great water that separates our cultures from one another. Allons enfants des deux patrie, haha!” adds Roedelius.

San Francisco Moog: 1968-72 documents a missing link in the history of electronic music, as well as the little-known moment when psychedelic music went electronic.

In 1968, Bay Area native Doug McKechnie got hold of one the very first modular Moog synthesizers ever made and began finding his own way to play it. Soon, he was hauling the finicky instrument around to perform improvised concerts at colleges and ballrooms, as well as an ill-fated appearance on the bill at Altamont. Many of the performances were recorded, and the surviving tapes—never before released—capture a free- flowing, transportive sound that fills in the gap between the austere mid-century academic avant garde and the expansive cosmic suites of Tangerine Dream and the rest of the Berlin School in the ‘70s.

This is not another corny old Moog record. San Francisco Moog sounds as fresh as anything by today’s analog-synth heads while bringing to life a lost moment in the development of the music.

All pieces were created improvisationally in an atmosphere of exploration and discovery on a Moog Modular Series III synthesizer and recorded live with no overdubbing to Ampex PR-10, Nagra 3, or TEAC four-channel recorders.

Produced by Doug McKechnie, Lee Gardner, and PJ Dorsey
Mastered by A.F Jones at Laminal Audio
Art direction by Frank Hamilton and Nolen Strals
Mandala art by Richard Winn Taylor

Modern Woman have announced details of their track ‘Juniper’ along with details of their debut EP ‘Dogs Fighting In My Dream’
out September 17th (digital, physical out Feb 25th) via End of the Road Records, the recently launched label arm of the British festival. The EP wasrecorded and mixed by Shuta Shinoda (Anna Meredith, Jehnny Beth, Hot Chip) and mastered by Jason Mitchell (PJ Harvey,Aldous Harding, Dry Cleaning).

London based Modern Woman began life as the songwriting project of Sophie Harris, a literature graduate who started playing
the songs solo at spoken word nights she ran. “I had a firm idea of the direction I wanted the project to go in, and I knew that
couldn’t be achieved without a full band.” Harris says speaking ofthe band’s beginnings. “It was important to me to keep the
tenderness and lyricism of folk music but blend this with heavier and weirder experimental elements.”

An introduction through a mutual friend led her to meeting David Denyer, an Anglo-German-Armenian composer by trade
whose interests include Merzbow records and building his own instruments and pedals. The two started playing together with
Denyer playing an array of homemade violins, synths, effects and percussion - including a battered wooden table with a metal
colander nailed into it and jagged remnants of cymbals that take a pummeling throughout the band’s live show. Explaining the
set up Denyer says; “We always talked about being influenced a lot by Tom Waits and there are lots of stories of him smashing
up doors and using it as percussion so we gave it a shot. Thecolander was Sophie’s idea. I love pasta though so it sits really
well with me.”

Reissue of The Rolf Kühn Group's funky 1975 fusion album 'Total Space',
featuring Joachim Kühn, Philip Catherine, Gerd Dudek, Albert
Mangelsdorff and Daniel Humair
For a German jazz musician to find international recognition as a major player
has been and remains a rarity. Clarinettist Rolf Kühn belongs to this elite class.
No one sounds like him on the clarinet; warm, round and masterful, his tone
remains unmistakable no matter what style he may be playing at any given
moment. His play resonates with a maturity and wisdom gathered from a long
and rich life of musical experiences. At MPS, Rolf Kühn was allowed free rein to
choose the team for the recordings and so he decided to get Wolfgang
Hirschmann on board, one of the most interesting sound engineers in jazz at that
time. Having a free jazz background, Kühn breaks out in a new direction towards
jazz fusion with this album.
"My recordings for the MPS label always benefited from an atmosphere of artistic
freedom, something that I am still thankful for. MPS was the first German record
company that recorded solely jazz and was open for experiments and new fields
of music. For "Total Space" I was allowed to try out new things like having two
drummers, Daniel Humair and Kaspar Winding and to invite completely
freethinking players like Albert Mangelsdorff or Gerd Dudek to the recording." -
Rolf Kühn, 2019

Reissue of Rolf Kühn's funky 1980 LP 'Cucu Ear', beside his brother
Joachim Kühn, who as always took the place at the keys, Rolf brought
together an illustrious group of musicians from a variety of backgrounds
for this record, including Alphonse Mouzon, Philip Catherine, Charlie
Mariano, Herb Geller and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen
For a German jazz musician to find international recognition as a major player
has been and remains a rarity. Clarinettist Rolf Kühn belongs to this elite class.
No one sounds like him on the clarinet; warm, round and masterful, his tone
remains unmistakable no matter what style he may be playing at any given
moment. His play resonates with a maturity and wisdom gathered from a long
and rich life of musical experiences.
"I have always had the desire to find unusual set-ups for my productions – like
working with musicians who come from very different genres such as classical
music, jazz fusion, pop, etc. But these trains of thought, which of course can be
very tempting, can never be implemented without a risk. In the case of "Cucu Ear"
for example Alphonse Mouzon and Niels- Henning Ørsted Pedersen played
together for the first time ever. With Niels and Alphonse, coming from such
different stylistic directions, the plan worked out so perfectly that they are among
my favorite rhythm groups today. Not least because of my brother Joachim, who
plays fantastic additional synthesizer solos in addition to his great piano playing.
These were two wonderful days in the studio and an unusual and extraordinary
session that is still today very special for me." - Rolf Kühn, 2019

The beauty of the sound: clear, transparent, precise, a work of art - and
that includes both the actual recording, and the subsequent production -
something that was already an essential difference in clarinettist,
composer and sound researcher, Rolf Kühn's musical concept
The pieces were recorded on separate sound tracks, in a stereo technique that
lends a visual sense to the music. In fact, there is a cinematic feel as sounds
project on the mind's eye. For this special, sensual production, Kühn has gathered
his Berlin trio around him - his "working band" with Christian Lillinger (drums),
Ronny Graupe (guitar) and Johannes Fink (bass). Their previous studio
recordings have had a sense of freedom about them that has indicated the
direction in which these musicians are heading. Theirs is a concentrated,
compact play that has moved further and further away from the delineation
between notated and improvised music. Duo and group improvisations flow
across the interstices between the sketched-out musical islands. On 'Stereo' Rolf
Kühn goes even one step further; he condenses the compositions, providing
accurate and concise sound ideas. The sound of 'Stereo' is reminiscent of the
Blue Note aesthetics of the 1960s, when the stereo sound was something
outrageously new and greatly enhanced the tonal possibilities of the recordings.

Bordello A Parigi is delighted to welcome back the triumvirate of Sergio Mesa (IAMNOTAROBOT), David Jornet (Strange2, AMPbEND) and vocalist Maia J. In 2020 the partnership, better known as Hypnotique, released the stunning 12” ‘La Pénombre’. Armed with four tracks of emotive synth-pop, the group returns with ‘Solitude’. Crisp beats and lovelorn lyrics characterise the title piece, a warbling melody weaving and winding its way through tear-streaked words. ‘Ce Monde’ takes a different direction. Keys are upbeat with just a touch of brooding while vocals are distant yet sensual. Maia J’s incredible vocal range comes to the fore on this record, nowhere more than in the deep and layered ‘Le Divan’. Drums scuttle and spike against flowing synthlines as lyrics smoulder with an inchoate intensity. The tone, and language, change for the finale. Arpeggiators rumble and the band shift to English for the elegance and energy of ‘Paralyzed’. Four beautifully crafted synth cuts from an incredibly talented trio.

12k is very happy to welcome Uwe Zahn, aka Arovane, to the roster. Arovane, a well-respected artist in the field, hailing from within the German countryside, has been active since the early 2000s beginning with releases on City Centre Offices and DIN in the heyday of the IDM and microsound years. He has since gone on to release work with n5MD, Pure Magnetik, and Strangely Isolated Place, among others. With Reihen he takes his characteristic pointillist synthetic structures and impeccable sound design and lays them in a web of fagility, decay and etherealism that feels like new a new direction for Zahn.