Italo-disco inspired house music, IN MY DREAMS is the latest single from New York/Moscow duo IPF aka INTERNETPOWERLIFTINGFEDERATION. A warm, galloping bass line fuses with razor-sharp synth stabs, creamy pads and late-80’s house drums. A dual-vocal exchange explores self-delusion, obsession and a single-sided relationship between girl and the boy who lives in her head. Melancholic yet pop-y, IN MY DREAMS wouldn’t be out of place in club run by Erasure, Depeche Mode or Human League at their most soulful and dancefloor-ready. In the spirit of classic 80’s dance music traditions, the original mix gets three additional reworks: a classic Electro version, a “big room” friendly HI-NRG version and stripped down version. This is the first release from New York city based label Daddy Issues, limited pressing 150 copies only.
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Life is but an Empty Dream is the seventh full length from long-form ambient composer OKADA.
By pressing play, Gregory Pappas, the man behind the moniker, requires your full attention. Waves of crashing sound swirl around viscus beats and cavernous staccato piano. Sound becomes broken to be reconstructed many times over. This is not the lovesick nor heartbroken OKADA we've witnessed before. This is a cathartic, disillusioned, OKADA, out the other side, worse for wear but building anew.
The proximal six-minute opening to the album expounds destruction and disintegration, chaos and rebirth. The eye of this storm then disseminates wide allowing a female vocal breath to imply "again." Have these destructive waves ultimately lead to pleasure? Or moments of rage that have eventually lead to acceptance? It is evident that there is a need, a yearning, an ache, that percolates to the surface on Life is but an Empty Dream. This, mind you, has all happened in the first ten minutes of the album.
Pappas, as with all OKADA albums, has put every fiber of his being into the creative process. Such focus and shroud that hangs over the album lead us to assume Pappas' is in an antithetical state than the one apparent on 2016's ode to the blossom- ing relationship Love Telepathic.
Life is but an Empty Dream features four long from tracks that effortlessly progress through extended vignettes encompassing ambient, post-industrial, chillwave and even IDM. Life is but an Empty Dream also has the distinction of being the first OKADA album to be pressed to vinyl and will be available on May 24th
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Almost four decades since it’s domestic release, Karen Marks’ 1981 single Cold Café has finally reaped it’s deserved international credit to become one of Australia’s most recognised minimal wave recordings. Efficient Space now showcases the Melbourne artist’s brief but entire discography, including two previously unheard demos, all produced with experimental synthesist Ash Wednesday (The Metronomes, Modern Jazz, Thealonian Music). A rarity in the then male dominated industry, Marks found her footing in music, first through rock journalism and then in band management. Formally of Adelaide, newly arrived synth-punks JAB (Johnny Crash, Ash Wednesday and Bodhan X) approached her for representation, subsequently contributing tracks to seminal 1978 snapshot Lethal Weapons and playing the Crystal Ballroom’s opening night. Wednesday and Crash would soon dissolve JAB, enlisting Mark Ferry and Sean Kelly to create Models. Still under Mark’s management, Models became one of the fastest rising new bands of the punk movement, playing to full houses of dedicated and frenzied fans everywhere. Sadly, internal frictions forced Wednesday and Marks to leave after two years, with Crash following three months later. Her creative relationship with Wednesday fortified with the co-production of his 1980 machine-pop prank Love By Numbers, her swooning chorus uplifting his deadpan count to 100, before the two collaborated on Marks’ own recording persona. Immortalised by the icy Oz wave of Cold Café, her Astor issued 7″ also boasted the caffeinated flip Won’t Wear It For Long - a should be hit with guitar from future Icehouse member Robert Kretschmer.
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In the lead up to part two of the highly anticipated Outro Tempo compilation, MFM drops this teaser EP with the never before heard cassette madness of São Paulo's Bruhahá Babélico and Individual Industry's ethereal electro pop on the flip.
Music From Memory announces a series of Brazilian releases for this Spring that pick up where their 2017 Outro Tempo compilation left off. Circling around the musical projects that emerged out of the art world in Brazilian cities during the late 1980s and 1990s, 'Outro Tempo II: Electronic and Contemporary Music from Brazil, 1984-1996' takes anotherdive into the depths of the Brazilian underworld, exploring the rhythms that lurk beneath the Ipanema sunset. It shines light on more illustrious unknowns and on the genre-defying music that maintained asymbiotic, yet uneasy, relationship with mainstream popular culture.
The sensitive mountain » (la montagne sensible) is the nickname Alain Bashung came up with for Arnaud Rebotini. At the height of his fame, after the success of Fantaisie Militaire in 1998, Bashung readily agreed to create an album with Rebotini. The two men didn’t know each other; their record label had introduced them. Bashung brought in “Mortel Battement” and “Nocturne,” two poems by Jean Tardieu, which he recited in a voice simultaneously warm and flat, and Arnaud produced an impressionist soundscape that ended with an apocalypse of metal. Bashung was so proud of their collaboration that he offered to give several interviews to promote the record. Today, listening back to this moving Léo Ferré influenced "talking singing" exercise, it’s hard not to hear the template for L'Imprudence, the album that Bashung went on to record with Rebotini two years later. In a similar way, the album Organique sparked a productive partnership between Rebotini and filmmaker Robin Campillo, which resulted in their being awarded a César for Best Original Music in 2018. The director, who trusted Rebotini to create the soundtracks for his films Eastern Boys and 120 Beats per Minute, never kept his love for the 2000 record a secret.
Yet it’s an understatement to say that when it was released, Organique was not in the spirit of times. That year was all about the French touch. The funky samples of Modjo’s “Lady” and Superfunk’s “Lucky Star” ruled the sweaty dancefloors. Although Rebotini was familiar with the electronic scene, he had something else in mind when he set about creating Organique. Under his own name or under the pseudonyms Aleph, Avalanche, Black Strobe, Maison Laffitte, and of course Zend Avesta, he had already released several quite bizarre and experimental techno, house, or jungle maxi singles on pioneering labels like P.O.F., Source, and Artefact, run by his friend Jérôme Mestre’s, whom he had met back when both were working as record salesmen at Rough Trade’s ephemeral Parisian store. It was at Artefact, still financed at the time by Barclay and Universal, that he naturally proposed this record project, which was a bit "different." It was his first real album.
Arnaud Rebotini has never hidden his love-hate relationship with the electronic scene. He’s a fan of rave music, Rex, and later Pulp, but he listens mostly to metal and contemporary music, mainly American minimalists such as Terry Riley, Philip Glass, Steve Reich. He wanted to mix this genre with a more French aesthetic inspired by Debussy, whose unconventionality fascinates him. From the first suspended guitar note of Organique, you can pick up another influence, possibly poppier. In the style of Mark Hollis, the erratic leader of Talk Talk, whose only solo album’s silences and dissonances left their mark two years earlier, we hear the fingers touching the keys of the clarinet on “Ondine.” The instruments have presence, character. Nothing is smooth. Everything is organic.
Although it’s sometimes labeled as electronica because of Rebotini’s career, there’s nothing digital about Organique. No "pro tools" editing or samples, only programmed drums and some synth layering. And his guest vocalists. Playing the role of electro producer, he invited Bashung, of course, to join him on the album, but also Roya Arab, who Rebotini first spotted while she was playing in Archive, and her sister Leila, Gus Gus alum Hafdis Huld, Kat Onoma’s Philippe Poirier on the “Samuel Hall” inspired track “Qu’est ce qui m’a pris,” and former KaS Product member Mona Soyoc.
The frustration of a tour where he had "little to do on stage," the desire to sing himself, and the creation of the Black Strobe project, a haunting mix of blues and rock, stopped Zend Avesta from putting out another album. Eighteen years later, the Organique we rediscover today has lost nothing of its strangeness, nor beauty. When it came out, Bashung said, "What is interesting for a musician is to feel that you have a piece of wasteland in front of you, something to clear.” That remains true today.
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"Incarcerated deejay touts Sikka Rymes as next big thing in dancehall" say the Jamaica Star headlines; referencing Vybz Kartel and Sikka's cousin Shawn Storm, all of Portmore's Gaza Nation dancehall royalty...........
So then we have Love Di People EP: Sikka's first solid gold release after strings of strictly Vevo hits ('Life of the Party', 'Nuh Change') lie between his previous hook up with producer Genesis Hull (on Duppy's 2016 Fresh Clipp'd). Genesis' prods are pure widescreeen sub-tension and speed - now of Mexico City, he carries Sikka's flow into gleaming new future chrome jobs of the dancehall chassie, the madness of 00s dancehall returns for global review. In This Time Of Many Dancehall Think-pieces: Live Long And Grow Strong.
The weight of two year's of Drive demos caused Miro Tape to spontaneously burst into the world on Bokeh last year, we told you it was just a mixtape - Love Di People is the first wax seal on the Bokeh x Duppy Gun relationship, and not the last one of 2019. Founded by Sun Araw and M. Geddes Gengras, Duppy Gun pairs under-cover West Coast producers with Jamaican vocalists like G Sudden, Early One & others from their island HQs in Portmore & Spanish Town.
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We Are Mattimatti. Two Mattis Living In Different Countries - Sweden (malmö) And Germany (berlin). We Travel Around The World Playing Music While Asking Ourselves, 'who Are We'. The Answer Seems To Change Just As Our Surroundings Do. But The Music Stays With Us And So Does The Friendship. It Is Cliché That It's Hard To Put A Label On Music. And To Say It Has Almost Become A Cliche Itself. But Whole Meaning Of Music Is To Listen To It And Create Your Own World By It. To Create One's Own World One Needs Space. Space That Is Not Interrupted By Either Style Or Defining Categories. Mattimatti Is An Attempt To Step Into That Space Creating Music That Is Solely Built On Improvisation. Our Music Is An Invitation To Places Not Yet Known, Where Rhythmic, Suggestive And Meditative Soundscapes Meet The Present Moment. Music Represents Many Things For Us. First Of All, It Is In-sync With Our Friendship, When The Relationship Is Stuck So Is Our Music. Our Music Is Therapy. We Need To Be Authentic With The Music In Order To Have A Real Friendship And The Other Way Around. As Friends And Musicians We Welcome The Unexpected. This Has Lead Us To Places Where We Never Would Have Ended Up In If It Weren't For The Music. In That Way, Music And Life Walk Hand In Hand. If We Dare To Be Real About It. We Are Living In A World Full Of Confusion When It Comes To Identity. It's Easy To Loose Yourself. All Of A Sudden You Are Standing There Playing Music But Missing The Music At The Same Time, Or Hanging Out With Your Best Friend While Missing The Friendship. We Are Trying To Stay Connected. It Is A Constant Task. We Lose It But Then We Find It Again, Just Like Everybody Else. Sometimes It Ends Up In Music For The Moment. Sometimes It Ends Up In The Shape Of A Record. We Met On The Streets Of Berlin In Spring 2013 While One Of Us Was Playing On The Streets. After We Played The First Time Together, There Was No Question That We Would Travel A Musical Journey Together From That Day. Mattimatti Was Initiated. On Our Quest We Began Playing Improvised Tunes On Sitar And Hang On The Street While Travelling Through Sweden And Germany. This Lead Us To Be Invited To Numerous Festivals All Over Europe While Constantly Developing Our Music And Sound. Since Then Our Set Has Added New Instruments Such As A Drum Kit With Hang, African Harps, Sitar, Guitar, Harmonica, Clarinet, Hank Drum And Vocals On Top Of It Extending The Sound With A Space Echo. The Long, Intimate Tunes That We Are Creating Have An Original Structure And Sound. There Is A Certain Present Resting In The Music Which Is Hard To Describe But Easy To Experience If You Listen To It. Our Live Concerts Have Been Dubbed Mythical, Hypnotic, Magic And Epic. Traveling Is Our Biggest Influence On Music. Mattimatti Are Now Both Based In Berlin & Malmoe And Work Together With The Contemporary Circus, Dance And Music Group - kollektiv Knaster .
Pig&Dan signal their first solo outing on Drumcode since 2016, with a stirring three-track work.
The duo stands as one of electronic music's most prolific artists, shapeshifting between different shades of house and techno over a 15+ year period, all the while displaying a startling breadth that's ensured their enduring demand. Their relationship with Adam Beyer has solidified over the years, first impressing with a debut EP 'Mexico' in 2016, before collaborating with the Swede himself in 2017 for the fantastic four-tracker 'Capsule', a notable highlight. With their contribution to last year's A-Sides compilation 'La Bruja' one of the strongest of the bunch, their return for a full-length EP is timely.
Title track 'Infinity' is rave-infused stadium techno crafted to perfection, driven by an undulating melodic lead that builds to a tension-packed break, before the chords re-appear and propel the track toward a trippy finale. Vocal cut 'Losing Part of Me' is momentous, with punchy bass and pin-sharp percussion juxtaposing superbly with the emotive vocal and laser-kissed melodic touches. The EP concludes with 'Plex', as a brooding melody line is paired with pumping percussion for an atmosphere-heavy finale.
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After a long wait, Melbourne's Public Opinion Afro Orchestra (The POAO) is set to release their second album, 'Naming & Blaming', a pulsing, percussive journey into classic afrobeat. Recorded by a 17 piece ensemble, led by fierce vocals and a howling horn section, it's a fitting 21st-century response to the world-shaking music of 1970s Nigeria. The result is true to the afrobeat blueprint of hypnotic, extended songs, improvisation and political comment but adds to the formula a host of pan-African influences and hip-hop elements that reflect the deep ranging roots of the band. As the title suggests, and in true afrobeat tradition, Naming & Blaming pulls no punches. It is an outspokenly political record, a cauldron of strong opinions where indignation and optimism coexist. Led by the vocals of MC One Sixth and singer Lamine Sonko, the critique of colonialism is applied to both the African and Australian experience, the battles of many cultures informing the group's ethos as does the importance of community and staying true to one's convictions. Uplifting visions of a brighter possible future as laid out in 'No Passport,' the album's rambunctious opening song, are balanced with honest reflections on injustice like guest Robbie Thorpe's take on Australia's chequered history in the title track.For the Naming & Blaming cover, the band was honoured to have the opportunity to work with one of the originators of the Afrobeat movement Lemi Ghariokwu, the legendary collage artist and illustrator responsible for all of Fela's most famous album covers of the 1970s. This relationship is what the POAO is all about, paying respects to the culture and keeping it alive and relevant in the 21st century. Over the last decade, The POAO have established themselves as a firm festival favourites with their contemporary approach to Afrobeat.
Swazi Gold have created a debut album that shimmers like the coast. There are six songs, two created by each member; through pure collaboration and participation. Swazi Gold are a true democracy.
Formed by the chief songwriters from Melbourne bands Crepes, Dreamin' Wild and Sagamore, this new band brings old friends together. Chris Jennings and Sam Cooper grew up in the Victorian coastal towns of Barwon Heads and Ocean Grove, while TimKarmouche was an inland man, hailing from Ballarat in the state's north-west
"We've been playing together for so long; in different mediums and in different bands. We've played our own key roles, but now we know what each other wants. Swazi Gold shows off our relationship from over the years, which is really cool," says guitarist and bassist Jennings.
Swazi Gold's other guitarist and bass player, Cooper, has a theory about the unifying power of their regional origins:
"It's this kind of small town thing where you strive to be different and creative. Because you're more isolated, you focus on your creativity and align yourself to similar people. I think growing up down the coast has meant I've continued to be drawn to people from other isolated places," he says.
It's this togetherness that's at the heart of Swazi Gold's debut album,Jehovah's Whispers.Recorded in a single weekend in 2017 at the Cooper's family home in Ocean Grove (affectionately termed the "Cooper Ranch")Jehovah's Whisperscaptures a musical intimacy and deep friendship between the three members.
"The bond with all the tracks on the album isn't necessarily lyrical, but it's 100% sonic. The simplicity of the instruments we use and the set-up we have is what's really rad," says Jennings.
"It's a fantasy of what we imagined Jehovah might be whispering in your ear," he adds, grinning.
Drawing from their collective love of African music, American funk, and quirky, melody-driven pop music, the album explores the space between conventional genres and styles of production.
"Using drum machines has made the song-writing process a lot quicker and opened up a whole new avenue stylistically.
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Syncope is concept EP, a mutant musical and visual project
initiated in 2018, promoting the inherent link between music and graphic design. It takes roots in Isaac Newton's Opticks treatise, which for the first time addresses a relationship between audible and visible. Syncope aims to explore the diversity and affinity of distinct phenomena such as frequencies, colors, synesthesia, polyrhythm ...Each exploration takes the form of a visual and musical narrative. This duality emerges on all visual and musical media, mixing plastic and technological elements, organic and synthetic, exploring the intimate relationship between man and machine. Dual nature also existing within the object, both a cover and a poster. A particular interest is giving to printing, using offset, with bronze and purple Pantone colors.This EP is the first object resulting from this project. Oil thief is an ambient track with synthetic and bestial sounds. Jungle is a rite of passage integrating African percussion and polyrhythms. Mengele Zoo close this EP with a progressive and psychedelic guitar slick.
Khaliphonic 11 Is A Truly Epic Release From One Of Our Most Prolific Artists, Brendon Moeller Aka Echologist, Aka Beat Pharmacy. In Just The Last Two Years, Moeller Has Released On Labels As Varied As Echocord, Silent Season, Kynant, And Rohs!, To Name Only The Most Well-known. Recognized Globally For A Singularly Organic And Dubwise Approach To Techno, We Are Proud To Have A Close Working Relationship With An Artist Who Coaxes Humanity And Warmth From Machines Like Few Others. The Dub Purpose Ep Is One Of His Finest Achievements.
As We Planned A Third Zamzam Release From Our Favorite Well Of Hardware Sonics, Four Tracks Emerged As Comprising A Set That Simply Did Not Want To Be Separated. The Four Tunes That Make Up This Ep Felt Like Chapters In A Single Gorgeous Narrative, And So A 12' Was Born.
We Asked Brendon How Dub Influences His Process, And What This Ep Specifically Is About. He Replied:
"dub Facilitates Whatever Vision I Have With Music, Which Is One Of The Reasons I Incorporate A Dub Approach In Everything I Do. Whether Infusing Nyabinghi Rhythms With Epic Strings, Roots Dub With Industrial Dread Or Grungy Modular Antics With Stepping Vibes, Dub Is The Glue That Keeps It Together. The Inspiration Behind These Tracks Are On-u Sound, Wordsound And Bill Laswell, Travellers Who Understood The Possibilities Of Dub."
The Dub Purpose Ep Does In Four Tunes What Many Lps Struggle To Do In Eight - It Builds A Cohesive Narrative Arc That Moves From Menace, To Exploration, Through Mystery, Closing With Beauty. And Just Wait Til You Hear It On A Proper Sound...
Alt. folker Will Oldham - better known as Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - is set to drop a joint record with gently psychedelic crew Trembling Bells
Just four years after their debut album Carbeth, Trembling Bells are amassing a formidable body of work at a startling velocity. Just twelve months after the release of their critically acclaimed third album The Constant Pageant, the Glasgow quartet return to share the billing with a similarly restless creative spirit. A few thousand miles separate Will Oldham and Trembling Bells' drummer and principal songwriter Alex Neilson, but their stories intersect as far back as 2005, when the young Leeds-raised Neilson found himself playing drums on Alasdair Roberts' No Earthly Man, with Oldham producing. In time, a friendship between mentor and student became one between two kindred musicians. Neilson augmented his work with free-psych-drone practitioners Directing Hand by playing with the Bonnie 'Prince' Billy band. The drummer's eagerness to experience new epiphanies yielded unforgettable memories. In Big Sur, he recalls, 'we took mushrooms at midnight, then visited a natural hot spring built into the dramatic cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The stars were as vivid as frozen fireworks.' All of which is worth dwelling on, because without that background of mutual openness and empathy, it's hard to imagine The Marble Downs existing.
Neilson recalls a conversation about a 'collaboration' in the summer of 2010, though stresses that it 'was nothing too formal at first'. By the end of that year, a limited-edition seven-inch New Year's Eve Is The Loneliest Night of the Year showed what an inspired match the vocals of Trembling Bells singer Lavinia Blackwall and Will Oldham made. The cut-glass precision of the classically-trained student of medieval music and the worldly, careworn tones of Oldham created an unlikely chemistry. It must have seemed that way to Neilson too. He set about assembling a cache of songs with the purpose of further harnessing that chemistry. The result is an album that has, once again, redrafted the boundaries of what Trembling Bells can achieve together. Indeed, genre-lines aren't terribly helpful this time around. Yes, Trembling Bells' love affair with traditional music remains a constant — most emphatically so on the unaccompanied Blackwall/Oldham two-hander, My Husband's Got No Courage In Him. Then there is Blackwall's musical setting of Dorothy Parker's poem Excursion Into Assonance — and the thorough-going new-found classicism of Neilson's increasingly assured songwriting. Albeit delivered with Trembling Bells' rain-lashed sense of abandon, Love Is A Velvet Noose sounds like a standard of sorts — a warped consequence of Neilson's increasing fascination with the songbooks of Cole Porter and Hoagy Carmichael. 'I'm not saying I stand any chance of emulating them,' he adds, 'but the appreciation is definitely there.'
The knowledge that Oldham and Blackwall would be sharing centre-stage on The Marble Downs gave Neilson extra impetus to flex his songwriting muscles. I Can Tell You're Leaving finds both vocalists on irresistible form, dissecting their dying relationship with no heed to the other's feelings. 'You treat me like a child,' sings Oldham. 'I need a man,' she responds, barely catching breath. 'Now like Merle Haggard, you'll see the fighting side of me,' he later promises. 'I guess that's one of the lighter moments on the album,' ponders Neilson, 'I was trying to get a Planet Waves-era Bob Dylan feel there, with the piano and walking bassline.'
Here and elsewhere, the band — Blackwall, Neilson, bassist Simon Shaw and guitarist Mike Hastings — has never sounded more psychically attuned to one-other. On the slow-reveal sonic establishing shot of I Made A Date (With An Open Vein), two minutes of manic modal chaos elapses before Oldham takes the narrative reins of a majestic call-and-response folk-rock epic. The electrifying free-folk portent of Riding — a revival of the Palace Brothers classic — is no less compelling, calling to mind the words of broadcaster Stuart Maconie when he praised Trembling Bells for their ability to invoke simultaneously 'the charm of folk music and the power of rock.' Ditto Ain't Nothing Wrong With A Little Longing, in which Neilson slams down a four-to-the-floor beat over a synergy of demonic krautrock keys and a dialogue between Oldham and Blackwall that scales Nancy & Lee levels of romantic intrigue.
With nine songs gone and one remaining, the album's sonic undulations find an arresting denouement in the form of an inspired cover. Adapted from Robin Gibb's 1970 solo masterpiece Robin's Reign, Lord Bless All sees Trembling Bells tease out the hymnal qualities of Gibb's original with a slow volcanic upswell which — on four minutes — explodes into heavy psychedelic technicolour. What pleases Alex Neilson when he listens back is 'a sense of a common vocabulary and identity being forged.' If, by that, he means that there isn't another band on the planet that quite sounds like Trembling Bells, it would be hard to disagree. The evidence is right here.
'I didn't know anything about Trembling Bells. I just heard them and was knocked out. I instantly became a fan.' Paul Weller
'Trembling Bells are my kind of band.' Joe Boyd
"Jesus fucking shit! These jamz claw so hard at the tatties below methinks the Lord misnamed them, having intended to say Trembling BALLS." Will Oldham
'A poetic incantation of British identity far brighter than Michael Gove's GCSE syllabus.' Stewart Lee
'This time, I'm attempting to reclaim the art of songwriting from the charity shop bargain bin.' Alex Neilson
'Best electronic live set i've seen in two years!' CHRIS CUSACK (BOOKER, BLOC GLASGOW)
Fresh and heady slice of cerebral techno and out-there electro flavours.
EXTERIOR is the artist moniker of Edinburgh producer Doug MacDonald. Exterior represents his transition to electronic music and an embrace of the dancefloor. Doug played hardcore and noise-rock for a long time before eventually abandoning collaboration, nostalgia and formulaic rebellion in favour of synthesis. What he gained on the way was an understanding of the power of live drumming and years of finely honed performance-skills, something of an aberration in dance music.
Exterior thus represents a convergence of disparate personal and musical pleasures. Accordingly Exterior draws on rhythmic mavericks as divergent as Fugazi//Battles//Swans as well as DJ Spoko//Clark//Hieroglyphic Being. In addition, there is a deep undercurrent of melody and texture, drawing on the likes of Burial//Miles Davis//Bjork. Eschewing the modern home computer in favour of an exclusively hardware based approach, Exterior espouses a physical relationship to what is at heart an abstract practice, composing electronic dance music.
Perhaps it's unsurprising, then, that one of the things which really sets Exterior apart is his intoxicating live show. He gets the crowd going every single time he performs, so infectious is his energy, as he throws shapes and struts his stuff behind the gear, clearly 100% in the moment and his element.
His debut EP 'Public Transport' was released on London/Barcelona-based Land Recordings earlier in 2018. Having made his international headlining debut in Berlin in September, more continental sorties are currently being arranged (see below).
This record represents a significant move forward in sophistication and club-readiness.
On remix duties, anonymous analogue techno lover DALI returns on the back of four slices of extended club gear released via two Hobbes Music 12"s (2017-18), boasting colour-themed, screen-printed sleeves and an uber-simple design for that evergreen minimal aesthetic with a hint of mystique. These gained excited support/plays from the likes of Ben UFO, Nina Kraviz, Daniel Avery, DJ Deep, Laurent Garnier, Avalon Emerson, Twitch, XDB, Bill Brewster, Bawrut, Tom Findlay (Groove Armada) and many more... Clocking in (again) at just over 9 minutes, her 'Collapsing Star' remix is another marathon-length effort and does exactly what it says on the tin. Setting the beats to classic electro, everything's pushed hard until it all seems ready to fall rapidly apart (and it very nearly does), before dissolving in a fiery sizzle: a more visceral, dance floor accompaniment to Exterior's heady affair.
Andrew Wasylyk is the alias of Scottish writer, producer and multi-instrumentalist, Andrew Mitchell.
In 2018, Andrew was extended a residency invite from arts centre and historic house, Hospitalfield, Arbroath, Scotland to create new music for their restored, 19th century, Erard Grecian harp.
During Wasylyk's five-month sojourn he created melodies and progressions echoing the building's unique relationship with the looming North Sea horizon. Using not only the harp, but the house's original grand piano, Andrew explored the Angus landscape and beyond, gathering field recordings on trips to neighbouring Seaton Cliffs and Bell Rock Lighthouse (the world's oldest surviving sea-washed lighthouse).
Winter slipped into spring, and harp-led compositions gave way to an ambitious third, full-length album, exploring a range of themes utilising a broad palette of instrumentation, including flugelhorn, euphonium, oboe, string trio, vintage synthesisers, drones and upright piano.
From the wandering, Bob James-esque, Fender Rhodes and shimmering strings in the study of coastal light, "(Welter) In The Haar", to the plaintive brass and farewell transmission blowing through, "Adrift Below A Constellation", punctuated by the fragility of Wasylyk's sole lead vocal of this collection - "The Paralian" (a dweller by the sea), is a conclusion embued with blue and golden melodies that land in a territory akin to experimentalists such as Robert Wyatt and Brian Eno. Through which, Wasylyk weaves the listener along a Modern-classical, Ambient and Jazz dream of Scotland's east coast.
Athens Of The North team were stunned by the luminous beauty and creativity at play in this work. Falling between genres and time, it stands next to 60s British Jazz, effortlessly blending notes of Library and soundtracks with dashes of British Folk.
For Phonica's landmark 25th main label release we present the latest 12' from Will Saul.
Will is known to many as the man behind Aus Music and prior to that Simple Records as well as an excellent recent mix for the highly respected DJ-Kicks series. If that wasn't enough to keep him busy he has produced a sizable back-catalogue for his own labels and the likes of Kompakt, Buzzin' Fly and Systematic.
Will's relationship with Phonica goes back a long time, as a core member of staff he worked in the shop in its early days and needless to say, we've been following his career since day one, so it feels right that he returns to Phonica, though this time as an artist on our main label.
A prolific producer, he's explored everything from Micro-House and Minimal Techno to Deep House and Acid. For the 'Lakeside EP', Will unleashes three peak-time House tracks, starting off with the anthemic 'For Joanie' and its heartfelt vocal loops, onto the uplifting and euphoric 'Drama' before rounding the record off with the late 80s electro-pop vibes of 'Never Enough'.
The blues roots grow surprisingly deep in the Finnish music scene. From this fertile ground rises singer Emilia Sisco, who debuts on Timmion with her phenomenal single "Don't Believe You Like That". With her strong background in fusing blues, r&b and jazz, Emilia apparently slips also nicely into the dark soulful grooves of Cold Diamond & Mink.
In "Don't Believe You Like That" Emilia sets herself into the role of a mistreated lover, who still tries to see a speck of hope in the doomed relationship. By dubbing herself, and accompanying the lyric with graceful harmonies, she succeeds in building a powerful beat ballad, that should appeal to the darker end of the dance floor.
There's a special lane in history for soul music this understated. It's cool and intimate at the same time, like there's something dangerous lurking under the surface. So roll up something nice, if that's your thing, and hop along for the ride.
Domestic Exile are proud to present the devastatingly deplorable and malevolent recordings (that are sure to corrode yet electrify your ears) by Glasgow's very own KLEFT.
KLEFT aka Vickie McDonald is rooted in and has actively propagated the underground DIY radical queer punk and feminist movement here in Glasgow. Their projects have included the skull crushing sludge doom of Cartilage, the unflinching and infamous multi- membered hard core stars that were DIVORCE and the sacrificial, druid drone glitch of MOURN. Alongside these projects they have uncompromisingly disrupted, motivated and facilitated collective endeavors to take down the capital power structure of the dominant system of patriarchal club venues and abhorrent fuckers in this town.
For this record 'H+ Sexualis', KLEFT explores the neo-modern space where flesh is left behind. Negotiating, analyzing and tearing to shreds the relationship and balance between flesh and technology. KLEFT's expansive and palpable sonic offerings delve into themes of transhumanism and body hacking and seep into our collective skin begging the question; can flesh ever be created digitally. Does a lack of physicality alienate human experience in a post transhumanism society Are we all destined to be skinless yet digitally connected Will the body become superfluous Toward "the utopian dream of the hope for a monstrous world without gender," as stated on Donna Haraway's essay ''A Cyborg Manifesto.'
From the opening track 'Ossein' the listener grasps a foreboding lethargic build up, lurking out of the spatial ritualistic shadows into a sea of suffocating nothingness. A void where there is no gravity. Skeletal and brittle shattering rhythms which echo DMZ / Skull Disco dubstep alongside the more frozen, glacial ominous explorations of grime are often felt proving KLEFT is an artist whose inspirations run deep and wide and generally exist in the darkest recesses of our subconscious. These fearful, disjointed rhythms are set against weightless atmospheric oscillated synths, as if roaming through bleakly opaque, claustrophobic narrow corridors on a first person survival horror video game such as Resident Evil.
Moving through to 'CMBR', KLEFT's dissonant, degrading soundscape ferociously ascends. The resilient kick drum is propulsive and pulverizing akin to 'ardcore tekno - or intense gabba if you have the guts to adjust the tempo up to +8 - aesthetics that overwhelm and agitate finally revealing it's grotesque biological / amorphous bio structure. Elevating the repetitive 4/4 kick to a destructive, distorted banger of a track as layers of converging atonal noise and sound design simultaneously further enhances the sense of imminent radioactive contamination.
Next is 'Writhe, Squirm, Broken' continuing the convulsive, nauseating permutations of the prior track but reconfigured like a mangled, gruesome Cronenberg-esque parasite that has infiltrated an open wound, excruciatingly feeding off of the inner anatomy of it's hosts body from within. Repulsively reformulating the shape and dimension. The intro is akin to a panic stricken bouncy ball contracting and expanding, the spring reverb building momentum and traveling further away in distance and speed.
'Hackfleisch Deluxe' is a muuurrderous stomper and is one of the more grime / bass orientated tracks that deconstructs and disrupts the tempo familiar to sub-low producers on Black Ops / Jon E Cash / DJ Dread D. The crawling, plummeting frequency of the synth is a nauseating rush of coagulating blood to the heed; a deep throbbing sensory depravation in sharp, paradoxical contrast with the driving harmony layered on top which proves to be infectiously addictive. Furthermore are splintering programmed vocal samples that gives a sense of artificial disorientation, mind over matter, a possible hint at our evolving sentient cognition within a nightmarish simulated, augmented reality
Second to last we have 'Keratin' which is filled with the near fatal dissolving thud of Djax-Up acid that gives the impression that you're a biologist peering through a microscope into a petrie dish and witnessing the rapid and furious genetic cellular replication of bacterial and viral organisms.
Culminating in 'Bruised and Bleeding Hands' where the squashed density of a deflated and depressurized helium filled balloon and elastic umbilical cords, barbed wire and copper wires grind n' coil around the lens of a zooming camera. Taking no prisoners, this is a punishing grime weapon. A phat, surgical kick drum bulldozes its way thru causing carnage, syncopated punching snares after every rave stab and dizzying third beat. It won't be long until ye hear this on Silver Drizzle's youtube channel in the near future.
This record transports us to the hyperkinetic mutation scene on the cult cyberpunk film Tetsuo The Iron Man where the organic flesh / mechanical rust of the Iron Man metamorphoses with the Metal Fetishist during the rebirth sequence and we say 'LONG LIVE THE NEW FLESH!''.
Welcome to the strange musical world of Tolley & Dara, an experimental duo whose incredible music held a marginal yet vital position on the fringe of the Australian music industry during the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Consisting of jazz bassist and synthesist David Tolley and percussionist Dure Dara, their union was a relationship of romance and intense creativity, a deep spiritual bond consecrated amidst banks of modular synthesizers and racks of exotic percussion instruments.
Recorded over a series of live performances in the spring of 1979, the music featured on Cutheart was edited and assembled from eight improvised pieces recorded at the Universal Theatre Melbourne. Comprised of analogue synthesizers and a vast array of tuned and non-tuned percussion, Tolley and Dara sculpted a cluster of electronic abstractions and organic splashes of Gamelan-influenced percussion; a dense otherworldly soundscape coloured with trance-like vocal scatting and deranged muttering.
Known for his bass playing on the classic Australian jazz-rock album Carlton Streets by The Brian Brown Quintet and also as a member of EX-, (the collaborative project with Daevid Allen from Soft Machine/Gong), Cutheart sees Tolley explore the outer realms of heady improvised electronic music.
While the music of Tolley & Dara exists in a sonic universe all of it's own, similarities could easily be drawn to another likeminded musical partnership, the American husband and wife duo Annette Peacock and Paul Bley. Cutheart is a pioneering recording of extended synthesiser and percussion technique from the Australian experimental underground.
Led By Nigel Ayers And Caroline K, The Band Was One Of The First To Use Tape Cutting, Avant-garde Art, And Underground Video Works To Create A Stage Experience That Was Being Cultivated By Like-minded Artists Like Throbbing Gristle, Spk And Cabaret Voltaire.
Originally Self Released In 1988 On Earthly Delights, Spiritflesh' Is A Masterpiece And A Major Reference For The Early Drone/dark Ambient Minds.
By The Time The Album Came Out, Nocturnal Emissions Had Already Produced Several Albums Of Electronic Music Which Varied From Noisy To Funky. Displaying His Usual Perversity, Nigel Chose To Ditch Electronic Dance Music Immediately Before The Acid House Revolution And Produce A Series Of Utterly Compelling Atmospheric Albums Which Are Often Referred To These Days As Being 'ambient Industrial'.
"spiritflesh" Was The First Offering By The New Shape Of Nocturnal Emissions. The Record 'came Out Of A Long, Hard Thinking, A Personal Examination Of My Own Motives For Working Within Music.' Nigel Ayers Played Church Harmonium, Chime And Music Box On The Record, And Used Samples Of Chimpanzees, Cattle, And African And European Wild Birds. While Generally Ambient, The Music Is Not Like Brian Eno's Work; It Is Atmospheric, But Impossible To Relegate To The Background.
'there's Always A Dangerous Intrusion Of The Real World Into Our Music,' Ayers Said. 'we're Looking Into The Relationship Between People And The Environment, The Kind Of Feedback Which Happens Between People And Locations. Underneath It All, This Planet Has Got Its Own Message.'
Raised in the outskirts of Paris, his career has embraced music, fashion and film and established Kiddy as a key figure in Paris's LGBTQ community and the voguing and ballroom scenes.
'One Trick Pony' sees Kiddy working with such talents as Rouge Mary (Hercules & Love Affair) Be Honest, Burn The House Down & One Friend and Crookers Dickmatized. Citing gospel and hip-hop, 90s Chicago and Detroit as influences,
Kiddy has delivered an album with house DNA at it's core whilst embracing a pop sensibility. It explores intimate, personal topics - unrequited love, paternal desertion and acceptance of one's body.
'I define myself as a house-music artist. Queer is limiting. My music reflects my everyday life. I talk about me and being black and gay. My songs are about love. They're not political, but my work is.
The lead single Dicktamized is about 'toxic relationships, the ones you know you would be best to remove yourself but you're almost hypnotised into thinking if the sex is good you should carry on.' 'It is taken from the soundtrack
of Gaspar Noe's latest and critically acclaimed movie 'Climax' premiered at this year's Cannes Film Festival and also featuring Kiddy. Kiddy Smile is supporting Beth Ditto around Europe from May to July 2018.
Born in Venezuela and based in Barcelona, Luis Garban aka Cardopusher has spent the last decade creating a wide variety of noisy dancefloor assaults. Although his roots lie in the breakcore scene, he's slowly gravitated toward a raw, electro-infused take on techno that is no less compelling. Along the way, he's released music via labels like Terminal Dusk, Murder Channel, Hyperdub, and Tigerbeat 6, and has also found the time to launch his own Classicworks imprint, which he continues to run alongside co-founder Nehuen. Cardopusher has also forged a relationship with German bass enthusiast Boys Noize, issuing a pair of EPs as well as two full length albums.
We are proud to present a new 6-track EP titled 'Muscle Memory' that takes the listener on a deep and gritty ride through his diverse sound, from techno to electro, acid, rave, and house. Luis is inspired by labels like Warp, Schematic, Planet Mu, Rephlex, as well as EBM and New Beat. Hard-smacking claps and raw TB-303 sequences merge with robotic vocals, solid and perfect for dark dance floors. The B-side features one track with haunting guest vocals by fellow Barcelona musician, Ivy Barkakati. Luis says the main themes of this EP are obscurity, desperation, confusion, nostalgia, escaping the world's indifference. All songs have been mastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios. Housed in a workout themed die-cut jacket designed by Eloise Leigh with raw acid-style mixed bold type and sporty graphics.
Limited edition release of 500 in a black sleeve, each with a unique, experimental numbered screen print, 30 cm x 60 cm, in collaboration with Studio Heretic.
In support of the release Daniel Avery will be playing Drone's take over of Tresor on December the 1st, joined by Richard Fearless, Errorbeauty and Drowned performing live.
PSSU are Richard Fearless and Daniel Avery. Long time friends, they first formed their relationship whilst working out of Andrew Weatherall's legendary 'Rotters Golf Club' where Fearless made 'Trans-Love Energies' and Avery did a lot of Drone Logic. The two are now studio neighbours in Leamouth on the River Thames. They were drawn to the collaboration by a mutual appreciation of the other's music.
'307309' is pure electro soul and, with 'Fabricated from Steel', PSSU deliver a techno monster. Both tracks were forged at the Metal Box, Drone's studio in East London
john Yancey' Is The Second Album Illa J Will Release On Jakarta Records, Following The Successful
Release Of Home Last Year. The Project Is The Second Collaboration With Los Angeles
Based Producer Calvin Valentine, Who Once Again Contributed All Of The Production For The Long
Player. While home' Was Largely Inspired By Illa's Native City Of Detroit, john Yancey' Now
Focuses On His Time In California.
(this Album Is) Definitely More Personal Than All Of My Projects, Nothing Specific, But I Basically
Talk About About The Ups And Downs Of All My Relationships Over The Past 10 Years, Still Grieving
About My Bro, Etc. This One Is Trippy Because The First Single Comes Out A Day Before My 32nd
Birthday And The Original Title Was 32 Because This Is A Special Year To Me Because My Brother Died
At That Age So It Had A Lot Of Meaning. But It Makes Sense That It Ended Up Being Called John
Yancey Because For So Long In My Career I Felt Like I Was Tryna Be Me And My Brother, And I'm Finally
At Peace, Like I'm Not J Dilla's Younger Brother Illa J, I'm James Younger Brother John.'
While The Story Of The Album Might Have Changed, There Are Certain Continuities As Well, Built
Around The Strong Foundation Of The Combination Of Illa's Voice And Calvin Valentine's Soulful
Sample Based Production. The Previous Album Already Saw Illa J Incorporate More Singing Into
His Raps And He Goes Down This Path Even Further: i Wanted To Emphasize The Singing But Use
More Of My Natural Singing Voice, As Well As Rap More Than On Home.' In Regards To The Music,
Calvin Wanted To Make The Project Sound a Bit More Polished Where Home Was Purposely
Rough Around The Edges.' Still, The Production Remains Soulful And Rich With Layers To Leave Things
Interesting For The Listener, The More Spins You Give The Record.
The Cover Was Created By Robert Winter, A Cologne Based Photographer Who Was Also Behind The
Visual Appearance Of Home.
Cómeme delivers to you one of the freshest rhythms of 2018, recorded in Johannesburg, the new residency for the renegades of the beat. This is 'Rain' - starring Matias Aguayo and the actress, dj and singer Ayanda Seoka aka Mujaji The Rain. She's resident at the legendary Bar Kitchener's all femme 'Pussy Party', a space for feminist / queer action and dancefloor joy, right in the centre of Joburg.
Cómeme has been since some time in a serious and passionate relationship with that city. Radio Cómeme transmitted shows from there with electronica legend Felix Laband, Mpumelelo Mkatha from BLK JKS, the queer performance duo Faka, Gqom pioneers RudeBoyz and also Kwaito's legacy keeper Spleef McZaul. Matias Aguayo ventured into a beautiful collaboration with DJ Spoko, released two years ago on this label.
'Rain' is a deeply rhythmical track, inspired by the grooves that converged when Cómeme swing crossed the paths with the syncopations people in Joburg were dancing to. It has become quite clear in the recent years that elegantly shuffled triplets are marking a way to the future in dance music, especially in the southern hemisphere, no matter if you're in Durban, Rio or Santiago.
On top of this modern groove we can hear Mujaji the Rain enjoying how she gets wet under a dark and tropical sky. Laughter, joy and ecstasy is what she emanates while hypnotically involving you into this atmosphere of dense drumming and trance. (side note: Cómeme has been consequently evading the description hypnotical in press releases but this time it was unavoidable).
For further jacking fun we generously included a 'Club Mix', including more drum frenzy towards the second half of the track, and a 'Just Drums Mix' for the skilful DJ.
Side B features the jam 'Serious', which comes along with another killer beat, reminiscent of Michael Jackson or Cheri. A late-night track in which Mujaji The Rain turns into a sensual but slightly annoying creature that doesn't want to leave the dancefloor. and for sure doesn't want to go home.
We added an instrumental version to this complexly arranged tracks, which feature pianos, strings, and heavy synth bass stabs.
All tracks on this 12' are written in a 6/8 signature, which some normative DJs might shy away from, but be safe: both tracks are in 120 bpm and carry the seal of official Cómeme dancefloor approval by the label's highly respected DJs.
Bruce - Aka Larry Mccarthy - Is Set To Release His Debut Album Sonder Somatic This October On Uk Imprint Hessle Audio. The Album Packs 11 Singular Uk Club Tracks That Evoke A Distinctly Emotive And Dense Energy, Channelling Detailed Sound Designs, Tangled Textures And Club Anthems For 2018 And Beyond.
The Record Is Deeply Varied In Styles, Ideas And Tempos, From The Tight Rhythmic Groove Of Album Opener 'elo' To The Weaponised Onslaught Of Ominous Club Cuts 'what' And 'cacao' - Through Drifting, Meditative Techno And The Skeletal Sound Design Of 'ore' And 'baychimo.' Each Track Shifts The Tonal Mood In Subtle And Distinct Ways, Whilst Retaining A Consistent Icy Sound Palette Infused With Colour And Human Warmth.
The Shapeshifting Hessle Audio Imprint Is Run By Pearson Sound, Ben Ufo And Pangaea. For Over Ten Years, Through Their Combined Tastes They Have Continued To Unravel And Explore The Edges Of Sounds And Ideas From The Wider Dance Music Scene, Across The Boundaries Of The Functional And The Experimental, With Consistently Innovative Results. As A Long Time Follower Of The Label, Bruce Wanted To Craft An Album That Continues Their Singular Attitude And Approach, Incorporating Vibes From Uk Soundsystem Music As Well As Music From His Home Town Of Bristol.
"from Being A Fan Of Their Work From The Very Beginning, It's Not Only The Music They Have Released That Has Informed My Taste/work, But Also The Journey They Have Formed Through The Application Of Their Attitude And Approach." - Bruce
Much Of Sonder Somatic Was Shaped By Bruce's Own Understanding Of Club Culture As A Whole, And Predominantly His Personal Relationship With It Both Professionally And Recreationally. The Album Was Partly Written As An Attempt To Capture That Rare Transformative Feeling That Can Cause You To Fully Lose Yourself In A Club Space, Disconnecting From Your Immediate Environment For A Short Time.
Sonder Somatic Follows Eps For Timedance, Livity Sound, Idle Hands And Hemlock, And Comes 4 Years After His Debut Ep 'not Stochastic' For Hessle Audio. The Album Pushes The Boundaries Of What Club Music Can Be Whilst Expertly Refining His Work As Both A Club Producer And An Experimental Sound Designer. With A Unique Sense Of Flair That Sets Him Apart, Sonder Somatic Is Set To Raise Bruce's Profile Across All Corners Of The Dance World.
For the 10th release label owner Barbara Preisinger is gathering seven unreleased tracks on two seperate 12inches, by previous Slices Of Life artists as well by producers who have a relationship to the label through frindship, events and personal support. Each track presents the personal unique style of it´s producer, but all have a feeling for warm sounding organic house grooves in common, what Slices Of Life stands for since the beginnings in 2009.
6 weeks after SOL10.1 hit the stores with contributions by THE MOLE, BAAZ, DANA RUH and JOHN TEJADA, the 2nd part of the SLICES OF LIFE compilation celebrating release number 10 is following: The A side of SOL10.2 is dedicated to the legendary Berlin producers and Dj duo CAB DRIVERS: - A Complex Situation' catches us with its irresistable swinging groove and filigrane synth lines. OSCAR SCHUBAQ, DJ, Producer and co-owner of the label Tardis Records, starts the B-side with - K-Beat', a rough jackin house tune, which takes a surprising turn to a sunny sounding swing during the 2nd part. The great finale of SOL10 comes from the parisian Deeply Rooted label owner and extensive vinyl collector DJ DEEP. With - Spices Of Life' he created a wonderful, atmospheric and deep piece of music carried by rolling basslines and playful melody fragments.
- Dj Deep and Cab Drivers has been worldwide very well known and respected producers, label owners and DJ´s with a large fanbase since the 90 ies. Osacr Schubaq is co-ownung the label Tardis together with Eli Verveine
- first 500 copies come in dark red printed sleeve
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Return of the UK producer Allen Saei aka Aubrey on the mighty Barba label is another bold statement in the discography of this well-versed artist. Building on the relationship with the Burek/Barba/Pomalo family established through remixes of Information Ghetto's "Inspiration" track (Burek 2013), DJ Stingray's "Communication System" (Barba 2015) and his solo "Clock Funk EP" (Barba 2017), for this record Aubrey presents us with a continuation of his previous Barba release, simplistically titled "Clock Funk 2" EP. As is to be expected from a guy who's been spending time in the studio for better part of the last three decades, this 12" is pure techno, in the best sense of the word. As mature and consistent as the previous record of the series, we have Aubrey building on that ground and expanding the range into more abrasive and rough on one side, and even more subtle and humane on the other. A1, titled "Clock Funk 2" is among the subtle ones. Beautiful cascading keys, glitchy synth bleeps and lead lines intertwine into a gorgeous composition grounded by a driving bassline and counterpinted with distorted ride cymbals. Uniquely sounding track which draws influences from many corners of the planet. A2, titled "Sel Moulo" sets a point for the other side of the spectrum. The heaviest and roughest, it locks the frame in which this EP works. Direct, abstract and firmly aimed towards the dancefloor, this cut is for the peak moment of the night when its combination of jacking beats and trippy leads will just push the craziness off the edge. B1, the most humane and gentle track on the EP, "Triads" is a perfect match for the A1 cut, although slower and calmer. Again, the similar approach is used, where the perfectly tuned combination of small synth and keys elements form a complex image which will stay ingrained into anyone's mind once you play it in the right moment. Again, it's hard not to reach for the word "beautiful" when describing this one. B2, Ghost Mist, is on the other hand a match for the heavy A2, but also not as intense. A repetitive affair, with abstract synth lines and disharmonic pads serving as an emotion injection just when they're needed. Common thread moving through all four cuts is an infectious groove intertwined with synth lines that would not be misplaced amongst the best examples of space-influenced techno music firmly grounded on the floor. All that, pressed onto a heavy duty 180 gram vinyl and beautifully packaged in an original artwork by local artist EmaEmaEma.
Mickey Pearce is back in business with 'One Hundred Smiles', a new album of swaggering UK club music experimentations, and a new label Box Of Toys.
His first album, 'Michael' (2016), saw him exploring new territory; crafting a strange and melancholic landscape of beatless textures and leftfield house and techno. Approached with a fresh perspective, 'One Hundred Smiles' slows the tempo and ups the collaboration.
'The last record was a reflection of my situation around that time. This one is like stepping out from under a cloud. It's about the joy of collaboration; meeting and working with new people. It's also about the ambiguity of smiles, and the complicated relationships we form.'
The album features appearances from rising UK talent Poté, Taiwanese vocalist Meuko Meuko and Greek electronic pioneer Lena Platonos.
'Poté is a crazy talent. We've done a bunch of sessions and made a load of tracks, two of which ended up here and one of which is going on his next record.
Meuko Meuko is an artist from Taiwan. We communicate entirely via Instagram. She'd send me translations of the lyrics in Instagram messages, but I'm still not sure if I've chopped them into any sort of sense. The instrumental was called 'Slime', and she misread that intentionally or unintentionally to mean 'smile' and sent me all these crazy lines about 'your lovely smile' and it was just perfect. I love her.
Lena Platonos is a legend, and someone I was honoured to work with. The day she told me she had been playing and enjoying the record around her friends was a good day.'
'One Hundred Smiles' is the first release on his own label Box Of Toys. The label is named the same as his 2017-2018 radio show series, which featured the album's guests as well as Randomer, Machine Woman, Airhead, The Maghreban and Object Blue.
'One Hundred Smiles' is released on LP and digital via Box Of Toys on 2nd November 2018.
In just a year of existence, Chloé's Lumière Noire has brought emerging artists and promising newcomers together - and this first compilation of 13 brand new tracks expands the roster, exposing the label's eclectic vision in full daylight. When Chloé talks about her label, she puts forward the fundamental values that informed her own musical journey, her trust in her own musical taste - and, of course, the predominance of human relationships: 'I followed
my bliss and only commissioned tracks from artists that I respect and whose music I love. That to me is Lumière Noire's musical palette.' With this 13- track, unmixed compilation, Chloé makes a case for a label aesthetic that is based in open-mindedness. Familiar, elemental Lumière Noire artists are represented, as are new faces, producing a kind of group photo presaging what's next for the fledgling label. Lyon's Markus Gibb leads the track listing with Kuru with a deep chiaroscuro matching the label's ethos, followed by other mainstays Il Est Vilaine's Farenheit 451, which evokes Ray Bradbury's retro-dystopic angst with the
band's usual electro-pop elegance. Sutja Gutierrez, who released in debut EP, The Legend of Time on Lumière Noire in April, pursues his electro Shamanism with the ceremonial Allodoxaphobia, while Iñigo Vontier (whose EP Aluxes came out on the label in late 2017) brings his C O N T R A project
online with track Taurus, a further development in voodoo house. Elsewhere, Suuns lead singer Ben Shemie, who lent his fascinating art-rock croon to Recall, a single from Chloé's Endless Revisions LP, contributes A Million Kinds, a synthy, psych-pop debut that is as brilliant as it is surprising. On to the freshman class: Dutch producer Drvg Cvltvre (who gets personal kudos
from Chloé with each new 12') brings the uncompromising dark electro of his hypnotic and claustrophobic Last Rites. Jonathan Fitoussi's airy, minimalistic Cercles Polaires brings the respite of his recent Versatile Espaces Timbrés LP (a collaboration with Clemens Hourrières): 'I met him at Xavier Veilhan's
Studio Venezia at the Venice Biennale. He's a great guy, and his universe is unique,' says Chloé. Benedikt Frey's deep techno track Iaon, is on par with his smash 2017 album, Artificial, out on ESP Institute. First-timers are also part of the recruits: Bajram Bili with the ten cerebral minutes of Restart, Théo Muller with the ultra-deep Douce Transe, and Lumi, a Basque band that fuses
electronic sounds with acoustic instruments, brings the ompilation to a close with a track commissioned by Chloé. These audacious choices are anchored down with the likes of Permanent Vacation pioneer Lauer's hooky, 80s-infused Pythor ('Just like him, I was a resident of the Robert Johnson, and he was a guest of mine at one of my Lumière Noire nights at the Rex. He is one of these people whose music I highly appreciate'); Aergeworc & Franck Agrario, half of English duo Swayzak David Brown's project, weaves an ethno* mood into Grace's techno. Bringing together different generations, genres, and styles That may not necessarily be Chloé's MO. She invokes a more arbitrary, personal logic: 'I like to mix of-the-moment tracks and more timeless one, but the rule is above all 'do I love this or not'. That was my ethos when I started Lumière Noire.' In that way, the label is definitely in keeping with its time
In July 2014, Jungle released their self-titled debut album. Featuring the singles 'Platoon', 'Busy Earnin'', 'Time', 'The Heat' and 'Julia', neo-soul classics all, it was the aspirational sound of young London, a soundtrack of escapism, an unmistakable Jungle sound and a unique, vivid, visual Jungle world. The whole thing was dreamed up by Josh 'J' Lloyd-Watson and Tom 'T' McFarland, a production and multi-instrumentalist duo who never expected to leave their bedroom studios, far less become the core of a talent-filled seven-strong collective that morphed into a killer live outfit. Cue online word-of-mouth and IRL buzz, rave reviews, a Mercury Music Prize nomination, songs of the summer (two summers, even), viral videos, Noel Gallagher declaring the album 'fucking amazing', half a million sales, burgeoning DJ careers, a global tour that lasted two solid years. It all just happened.
Today, Jungle announce news of the follow-up to that defining debut record. The album is titled For Ever and will be released on 14th September via XL Recordings. If Jungle's first album was their imaginary soundtrack to the places they had never been, For Ever is inspired by real life experiences of the places they'd dreamed of for so long. Swapping Shepherds Bush for the Hollywood Hills, J and T set up camp in Los Angeles to write and record the album. Over time however, their romanticization of The Californian Dream clashed with the reality of actually living it, the feeling of being adrift on the West Coast compounded by the collapse of long-term relationships. Returning home to London, they teamed up with highly regarded young producer Inflo where they sought to create a "post-apocalyptic radio station playing break up songs', whittling down loads of ideas this concept spawned into the core 13 tracks you have before you. That station and those songs and that journey are the sound of Jungle's second album For Ever. They had to go away to come home. And what J and T lost in love, they gained in music. For Ever is for real, deeper and higher, more intimate and more expansive, feelgood and, just occasionally, feelbad. It is, then, a proper second album.
AUDREY CHEN's long-awaited new solo album "Runt Vigor" is an adventurous sonic exploration of the voice, cello and analog electronics.
AUDREY CHEN began her relationship with sound through the cello and voice over 30 years ago and since the past 15 years, her predominant focus has been her solo work, joining together the extended and inherent vocabularies of the cello, voice and analog electronics.
More recently, she has begun to shift back towards the exploration of the voice as a primary instrument, delving even more deeply into her own version of narrative and non-linear storytelling. She derives her sound material in continuous process, championing the "in-between" and overlooked. Regardless of instrument, CHEN's mode of experimentation touches both the abstractly beautiful and the aggressively unsettling, creating a kind of curiously imagined architecture, non-prosaic song or ritual that reaches beyond gravity or language.
Recent projects, aside from performing solo, includeher long running voices duo with PHIL MINTON, duos HISS & VISCERA with modular synth player RICHARD SCOTT, BEAM SPLITTER with Norwegian trombonist HENRIK MUNKEBY NØRSTEBØ, and the "romantic noise duo" AFTERBURNER with DORON SADJA (electronics/light projection). Past projects include work with German conceptual artist JOHN BOCK, a duo with NYC abstract turntablist MARIA CHAVEZ, and a quartet with NATE WOOLEY, C. SPENCER YEH and TODD CARTER that released a LP on MONOTYPE. Hernew projects include a double duo/quartet with BEAM SPLITTER and STREIFENJUNKO's, EIVIND LØNNING and ESPEN REINERTSEN and MOPCUT with LUKAS KÖNIG and JULIEN DESPREZ.
Margot Records was born in 2006 in Riccione (Italy) from the stable relationship and friendship of the two musicians and djs Pepe and Giaga. They created it to make their music more freely, without impositions, with an own identity, fascinated on every kind of test.
Known for his strong live performances, swedish producer Celldˆd creates music for the body as well as the soul : his influences range from punk, industrial and dub music over to acid house, techno and EBM. That new five track banger EP is dealing with subjects such as sadism, masochism, unhealthy relationships, and the fact that the good never prevails. But if the world is going to hell, we can at least dance on the way down. Let us move, together. In darkness.
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Italian sound artist GIULIO ALDINUCCI drops his 2nd album on Karl: "Disappearing In A Mirror" is again a truly masterfully composed and sound-designed ambient masterpiece and a more than worthy follow-up to the critically acclaimed "Borders And Ruins" which made it onto several year's best lists for 2017.
Over the course of four solo albums on labels like DRONARIVM plus EPs and collaborative albums (a.o. with IAN HAWGOOD), GIULIO ALDINUCCI successively has been refining his skills as composer and sound designer. His elegant style which blends ambient and field recordings came to full impact on his 2017 album "Borders And Ruins" which gained the Italian sound artist a lot of critical praise and made it onto several year's best lists, a.o. ALDINUCCI's latest effort is again not only a musical masterpiece ofsublime beauty and sacral majesty, it also deals with philosophical concerns. Where "Borders ..." was areflection on the instability of borders - borders as an extreme attempt to discriminate and rationalize that turnsinto a source of chaos and cultural ruins on both sides - and their impact on the relationship between people and territory, "Disappearing In A Mirror" raises the very personal question of identity. In the words of ALDINUCCI himself:
" 'Disappearing In A Mirror' focuses on the fluidity of the identity concept, highlighting the harmonious coexistence of contradictory elements and the transitional features that characterize every transformation. It is a reflection on the current situation of change and disruption and at the same time it is a gaze into the human timeless soul and its inner soundscapes."
Those of you who have followed Lucky Brown's tireless efforts since joining the Tramp family in 2007 can hear without a doubt the progress he and his various ensembles have made in almost every musical aspect. His songwriting skills amazed us right from the start of our relationship. What deserves much more respect is that during the past years he has proved to be probably one of the most authentic and steady but at the same time most innovative creative minds on the contemporary funk scene. Sure, many of today's funk bands are able to deliver a two-and-a-half minute funk killer, what distinguishes Lucky Brown, however, is his ability to create compositions which also employ the idiom as a means to deliver an artistic message, a hard-to describe feeling, or a conscious concept, just like James Brown and Fela Kuti mastered in the 1970s. Furthermore, Lucky has developed his own trademark production and sound whose depth and honesty form a basis from which his work will ever remain timeless.
But that's nothing new as you can hear on both of his first two albums for Tamp ("Lucky Brown's Space Dream, 2011 and "Mystery Road", 2015) On "Mesquite Suite" he is forging new paths by soaking up musical styles from all over the world to infuse with his own totally unique way of producing. Perfect examples are the Mulatu Astatke-ish tracks "Pauraque" and "Mother Corn Stalk" with its distinctive New Orleans Swamp-Jazz flavor. Fans of the Menahan Street Band or El Michels Affair may see in "Taterbug" and "Estrellas De La Tierra" their favourite tracks. But it's the entirety which makes this album standout.
It has been Lucky Brown's aim to paint for the world a picture of the vernacular jazz that America's neighborhoods once crafted as their own homegrown cultural heritage. Lucky Brown's music is a rejection of the elitism, classism, and status of the music industrial complex and is an antitoxin to it's resultant homogeneity. He wants with his heart and his art to transmit an everyday people's sound, made by everyday people, dedicated to the upliftment of all people.
Tobias Kirmayer, August 2018
key-selling points:
- limited to 500 hand-numbered copies
- incl. full album download code
- double vinyl LP with deluxe gatefold cover
"The Room", Fenster's fourth album and their first release on Altin Village & Mine marks the beginning of a new chapter for the band. After releasing three albums, a feature length film, and touring extensively throughout Europe and North America since 2012, "The Room" serves as an entry point into their sonic evolution. The essential characteristic of the band is transformation - within and between genres, albums, and songs. Their sound is a window framing psychedelic, groovy, hypnogogic, playful pop.
Fenster is Elias Hock (Germany), Jonathan Jarzyna (Germany), Lucas Ufo (France) and JJ Weihl (USA). Their mission in creating this album was to compose and arrange every song together in a room. It is an experiment in collective creativity that pushed all of them to transcend their individuality and create something together which is greater than the sum of its parts.
The songs were tracked live in a house where the band ate, slept, and played together. Often the songs were recorded without implementing a click track. They were intent on finding and locking into a human groove—one open to imperfection—while still maintaining a tightness between them. They wanted to make the songs feel alive—as if the listener were present in the room with them in the moment of creation.
The album's title track "The Room" opens the record like a rollercoaster ride. There is a tension in the first bars that ties us to earth, a minimal riff that guides us to the first chorus where we feel we are slowly lifting into the air—and by the time we reach the second chorus it has exploded into a space far away from the planet's gravitational pull.
The band's use of juxtaposition is not just a way of channeling a vast library of musical genres and concepts, it is a means of expression. Combining tender pop melodies with kraut-beats, disco grooves and psychedelia frees the band from any one sound and creates a genre all its own.
This playfulness is especially vibrant in songs like "Rhythm A" and "HAHA lol" which deconstruct and fuse together disparate moments of explosive rock, tender harmonies, percussion made of splashing water, voices from a radio, and electric piano. Even "Feel Better", a sparkly pop ballad is cracked wide open by a long trippy interlude that appears unexpectedly within an otherwise classic structure.
The cover art, created by the band's own Lucas Ufo, invites us into a room in the shape of a human skull. If one looks "out" the window in the picture, one finds oneself looking in to an infinite portal of rooms within rooms. The record plays a lot with this idea of perception. In "HBW", the relationship between the bass and the drums creates the feeling of an infinity loop. The lyrics lend an enigmatic tint to the landscape of so called objective reality v. perceived reality: "I was a phase — you were going through — said I was the one but there is no one — there's only the sun — that gives shape to the moon"
The record starts with "The Room" and ends with "Two Doors". Maybe one door is an exit, and one leads to another room... who knows The song has something mysterious and expansive, like a digital ocean flooding the room, carrying everything away. The whole process of making a record is about capturing a moment in time. This is the record they made - in this point in time, all together, in a room. The last words of the record roll out with the waves: "What you leave behind for someone else to find — Two doors inside — neither one is right"
GIULIO ALDINUCCI is an Italian sound artist working in the fields of experimental electroacoustic music, field recording and ambient soundscape. Born 1981 in Siena, his catalogue comprises four solo albums on labels like DRONARIVM (CHIHEI HATAKEYAMA, AIDAN BAKER),TIME RELEASED SOUND or HOME NORMAL plus EPs and collaborative albums (a.o. with PLEQ). Furthermore , he wrote music for theatre, video art, documentaries and short movies and was awarded with an honourable mention at the 18th International Electroacoustic Composition Competition Música Viva 2017 for his composition "Mute Sirens". Together with ATTILIO NOVELLINO, ALDINUCCI launched the project "Postcards From Italy" which consists of an album published by OAK EDITIONS, live events (the first one took place at Cafe OTO, London) and an installation by AIPS collective & GIANMARCO DEL RE.
"Borders And Ruins", his first album for KARLRECORDS, is a reflection on the instability of borders - borders as an extreme attempt to discriminate and rationalize that turns into a source of chaos and cultural ruins on both sides - and their impact on the relationship between people and territory. It is also a sonic diary: a constantly mutating soundscape where electronic sounds and field recordings (taken during several travels around the continent) blend into an ambient masterpiece of sublime beauty and sacral majesty.
Mastered by Alexandr Vatagin
Vinyl cut by Rashad Becker at D&M, Berlin
Artwork by Joe Gilmore
Boredom, anxiety, pain killers and frustration make a heady mix for both reflection and action. For three weeks I stared out of the window of the tower block onto the tall brick towers of the old asylum chimneys. The past was a strange land suddenly out of reach, the present confusing and claustrophobic, the future something I could only visualise and idolise.
From the balmy Autumn day of my release a light was switched on, buzzing urgently like a neon street light on my path. Life took on new vigour and meaning. Pleasures starkly illuminated, annoyances inconsequential. Old work was re-examined and appreciated. Machines were treasured and connected. My basement filled with ever greater warmth and excitement.
The toy towns of our inner minds are constructed of a million tiny building blocks of experience. But there's a freedom that comes from realising what might have been. Peace in reflection, untethered from the everyday distraction and I take pleasure in the hum drum. Unhampered by trends, untethered to a scene, stripped back to essential carnal influences and desires. Who are we but the sum of our experience.
'Everything Is Quite Now' meanders through a reimagined landscape of personal history, releasing musical fragments to dri* amongst soaring treetops, hollowed lakes and labyrinthine concrete structures, liberated from genre and form - alive at last. In these great expanses, light and dark are presented not as polar opposites, but as a limitless, unified whole.
References to EBM and industrial techno manifest within the sporadic percussive framework whilst gauzy ambient backdrops form an entire world of their own, constructed from the gentle hiss of a looping tape, the booming caverns of a muffled kick, the vivid distortions of a crystalline synth. In the depths of a misty forest, warmth permeates, absorbing inside it all of the darkness, pain, romance and beauty from before.
Prequel Tapes is a work of deep synthesis. Fragments of melody and memory orchestrated into densely layered tapestries; a deeply emotional study on a life characterised by a shi*ing relationship to electronics. The pieces serve as a chronology of desire and reflection, reconciling a nascent passion for industrial music with a history in the club. Oscillating between utopian to claustrophobic, the evolving synth work, deep techno atmosphere and traces of clangorous energy of early European ambient and industrial tell a distinctly German tale, forged between the forest and the autobahn.
Released on Leeds Jazz & Soul labelATA Records, the debut LP fromThe Lewis Express takes the rich legacy of the soul-jazz outfits of the 1960s as the initial blueprint of their sound. Taking inspiration from the likes of Ramsey Lewis, Young-Holt, Eddie Cano, Ray Bryant and Cannonball Adderley, they present a collection of tracks that range from introspective spy film themes to burning Brazilian jazz.
Primarily based in Leeds, The Lewis Express is comprised of many of the musicians that have graced previous ATA releases: George Cooper, Piano (Abstract Orchestra) Neil Innes, Bass (The Sorcerers, The Magnificent Tape Band, Tony Burkill), Sam Hobbs, Drums (Dread Supreme, Tony Burkill, Matthew Bourne) and Pete Williams, Percussion (The Sorcerers, The Magnificent Tape Band, Tony Burkill). Recorded over an intense two-day session by the band of the same name, "The Lewis Express" is a nod to the classic soul jazz recordings of The Young Holt Trio / Young-Holt Unlimited and Ramsey Lewis, from who this group take their name. But, delivered with a distinctly European feel. As with many of the classic Ramsey Lewis cuts, this album was recorded live, capturing the rich inter-relationship between the players.
Kicking off the album isLove Can't Turn A Man, a slow burner that introduces the piano of George Cooper as he works over a rock solid backbeat.Cancao De Momentois an up-tempo Brazilian Workout in the style of Milton Banana with rhythmic piano punctuated by percussion.Brother Move Onis probably the most recognizable as being in the soul jazz vein, with nods to such classics as Ramsey Lewis'The 'In' CrowdandSoulful Strutby Young Holt Unlimited, particularly the latter. Moving intoHawkshaw Philly(their nod to session music legend and leader of The Mohawks, Alan Hawkshaw) the band create what sounds like a rare library cut.Theme From The Watcheris a nod to the cinematic soul-jazz of the 60s, conjuring up the sort of imagery that coincides with the black and white spy thrillers, espionage and intrigue.Last Man In The Chain Ganghas a very strong Ramsey Lewis feel and offers some of the most powerful piano playing of the whole album. The final track,Straight Seven Strut, is the only vocal track of the album. The staccato swing and French vocals lend it some of the qualities of 60s yé-yé music but with a far jazzier backbone, spiced with percussive handclaps.