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Woods 786 is back. The alter ego of Roberto Bosco returns with “Exploration 01”, a live jam recording split in two tracks performed with Elektron Analog 4 and Analog RYTM. Last Drop Records and Sonorous Waves' founder has been for years both a producer and a DJ with dates all around the world, now takes another step forward into ambient music. His hypnotic textures invite the listener to travel without moving. Mastered at Mixmastering Studio, the first joint effort between Souterraine.org and Envlp_Imprint, “Exploration 01” is a dreamy continuum of twenty-five minutes or a way to escape from everyday chaotic life. Synthesizers brings you the sound of outer space.

The two collaborators, known separately for contemporary electronic music & free clarinet experimentations team up to create the delirious trip, Footfalls.

Two scenes are presented here, seemingly taken from different sides of the same desolated seaside setting, loosly inspired by poet and novalist T.S Elliot and Samuel Becket. In Towards the Door, Gareth Davis´ bass clarinet breathes slow, wave-like tones that merge with the oft-rythmic electronic textures from his counterpart. A third of the way in, Robin Rimbaud´s synth erupts into a Blade Runner-esque epic harmonic section that disappears as suddenly as it arrives - leaving ripples of oscillation in its wake, slowly unfolding into the sound of waves, as it arrives back where it begun : as a full circle, drawn in echo´s of sound.

Smokefall begins with the words „Invisible choirs“, subtly spoken by a woman’s voice among a blurred distant conversation, as textural sound effects creep forwards to the point where a slow progressing but steady LFO rhythm enters. Water, metal & smoke are absorbed into a creeping tribal passage, acompanied by long clarinet tones. The piece expands further and further into a state of ecstatic harmonic noise that fulfills all parts of your body – if played loud. Both artists from here on move into full on crushing electronics, all while Rimbaud´s Kilpatrick Phenol synth drives the background with its pulses and repetative bassline. The piece has an ellipse like rotation that makes one feel a sort of blissful vertigo that reverberates in your mind after the piece has ended.

Footfalls is an euphoric trip from two artists that – although prolific - manages to arrive at the perfect meeting point to deliver two hard to shake pieces of dizzying electro-acoustic perfection.

Editions Mego is proud to present the latest addition to the compelling discography of Thomas Brinkmann. Throughout his career Brinkmann has focussed on the human operating amongst industry alongside rhythms that manifest as a result of technological advancement. With this new release Brinkmann makes a u-turn, looking back to the early industrial age. Comprised of recordings of various looms, Raupenbahn investigates the sonic properties and consequences of the first automatic loom as constructed by Jacques de Vaucanson in 1745. Thomas Brinkmann once again adheres to his tendency for clarity and simplicity whilst further investigating not only the sound and rhythms of the machines (looms) but also what role they serve in society and what consequences they have on the environment. Raupenbahn presents 21 tracks in total, 11 feature on the vinyl, the remaining 10 as digital bonus tracks. The majority of recordings were undertaken by Brinkmann in 2017 with a Neumann KM 184 stereo set. Additional recordings were sourced with permission from Monika W. recs. from 2014 Central Museum of Textiles Łódź, Poland. Each piece presents a diversity of material which borders on the breathtaking and beautiful in richness and complexity. The various looms unravel rhythms and patterns unexpected from machines of the early industrial age.

The loom holds a significant role in shaping our world being the catalyst for Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine which, alongside the subsequent work of Byron's daughter Ada Lovelace, paved the way for modern computing. There is a linage of the loom that fits succinctly in Brinkmann's overall argument. Here we encounter a parallel between machine driven economies and the music that rose from such places, consider the Sheffield steel industries, the Manchester weaving industry or the Rhineland / Düsseldorf loom and machine industry. Is it a coincidence that the practice of such machines in the environment gave rise to today's predilection for electronic dance music, in pop, soundtracks, etc.

Raupenbahn features no treatment or processing and explicitly displays varying tempo and timbres which ascertain a wide range of acoustic structures. The artwork features Ingrid Wiener, Rosemarie Trockel and Alexandra Bircken, three different generations who would with ideas of fabric weaving, loming and the like. This exceptional release works on a number of levels alongside it's striking sonic palette.


i 9 Günne (Irmscher) BO Möhnesee / D

Aaaron continues his journey through mystic synthesis with his 5th ep for connected , “Cosmic Soul”. It seems with each release he gathers more depth to his music and minimises his style and production to naked artwork in sound where each instrument has its space for the the listeners imagination. Abstract yet magnetic , tribal and futuristic. Sink in the shadows and rise on the waves.

1.COSMIC SOUL A rhythm section playing robotic funk against an esoteric drone meets a melancholic piano refrain and pleading vocal monotones that go dubwise. The landscape of the track rises and falls to a vocal and piano breakdown with electronic flutes piping in the distance , peppered with percussive stabs throughout as the emotive waves surge to find earth. Quite beautiful. 2.MERCY Synthetic textures reminiscent of Blade Runner 2049 form a backdrop for a skeletal drum figure, as soft Kraftwerk like notes filter in and out and a skinny sequencer drifts across the track like crosstown traffic. A vocoder pulse and dreamy synth horns hold the scene in the shade of a hot sunny day as the city flies by in stop motion. 3.ITS NOT OVER Imagine a classical symphony based on 2 or 3 chords , revolving and hypnotising by its simplicity and gradually rising in sonic temperature. Set against a drumscape of toms and unnaturally pitched and distorted snares and phasing plastic synth percussion like a drifting cloud of locusts. The vocal “Its not over between you and me” is haunting and irresistible and the song draws you in, mystified by its simplicity . Devoid of frills , cold and heartbroken yet the embers of passion still glow. Innocently executed , Aaaron at his futuristic high.

Returning to his original Electro disguise Electro Nation, Thomas P. Heckmann returns with fresh and brand new material after 20 years! All that you love in original funky Electro is there, Robot voices (done with an ultra rare Texas Instruments Magic Wand), fat Bass, spacey effects and smooth as silk pads ! Enjoy the ride and stay tuned for more to come !

Electrocute Soundplates was never gone, but waiting in dark shades of the distopian underground...

ubiyu launches their 1st EP out of Austin, Texas with a collaboration between Melodie & Robert Roman with remixes coming from Rowlanz and Halo Varga & Ra.Mod

Heady, deep dive into techno's more psychedelic spaces, true to form, "Dimensions Doors" EP kicks off with the rolling kicks of "Portal Opening", a trippy exploration of shifting ambiances and rhythmic noise, punctuated by a siren tone. AWB steps up with a broken beat remix of "Portal Opening", layering Clotur's ambiances over low-slung percussion. "Hyperspace Travel" brings up the energy with galloping kicks and rippling resonant synths. BLNDR follows up with a pounding remix, building Clotur's sweeping textures into trippy loops circling over a monolithic kick. "Irregular Frequencies" pulls even further into the portal, with a relentless, rubbery synth squelching along over driving, percussion. Clotur lays a gentle, but uneasy atmosphere over this trippy tool. He brings us back down with "Forbidden Level", another complex rhythmic track featuring glitchy percs and robotic warping over a tough low-end workout.

Factory Benelux is proud to present a deluxe 5 disc vinyl box set edition of Always Now, the debut album by cult Factory Records group Section 25, produced by legendary sonic architect Martin Hannett and sleeved by Peter Saville.
All tracks are newly re-mastered from the original quarter-inch tapes. The first 1000 copies of the box set are pressed in coloured vinyl: disc 1 (black); disc 2 (clear); disc 3 (yellow); disc 4 (red); disc 5 (silver). The outer case in printed in PMS 123 with spot varnish.
The 16 page booklet features unseen images by noted photographer Philippe Carly and texts by founder members Larry and Vin Cassidy. Also included is the first ever interview with guitarist Paul Wiggin, whose sudden departure in late 1981 saw Tony Wilson try (and fail) to recruit pre-Smiths teenager Johnny Marr as replacement.
Recorded as a trio at Pink Floyd’s Britannia Row studio in London in January 1981, Always Now combined austere post-punk rhythm and noise with elements of Can, Krautrock and modern psychedelia. Key tracks include Friendly Fires, Dirty Disco and New Horizon, along with C.P. (a collaboration with Hannett) and Hit (extensively sampled by Kanye West for the track F.M.L. on his 2016 album The Life of Pablo).
Disc 2 gathers together several non-album singles from 1980 and 1981, including Charnel Ground, Je Veux Ton Amour and debut EP Girls Don’t Count – the latter produced by mentors Rob Gretton and Ian Curtis (of Joy Division).
Disc 3 offers a complete live show professionally recorded at Groningen (Netherlands) on 26 October 1980, as part of a Factory package tour.
Disc 4 is part-improvised second studio album The Key of Dreams, recorded and produced by the band themselves a few months after Always Now, and released by Factory Benelux in June 1982.
Disc 5 consists of further experimental material recorded in 1981 and self-released on a cassette called Illuminus Illumina. This final disc closes with an extended (and previously unreleased) live encore jam recorded with all four members of New Order at Reading University on 8 May 1981.
“One of the best albums Britain's second city has unleashed” (Uncut);
“In 1980 their bass-driven mantras were thoughtlessly dismissed as second-rate Joy Division, but hindsight judges them more kindly. The wind-dried skeins of their blasted guitar harmonics and skimped electronics gauntly cling to the songs’ skeletal frames. With telltale titles like Babies in the Bardo their Buddhist interests hang heavy over these early stirrings. But, combining a bass-led drone with a characteristic groaning vocal, Charnel Ground succinctly pins down Section 25's pre-disco appeal” (The Wire)

incl. Download Code

San Francisco’s Honey Soundsystem Records returns with a new single this July, inaugurating a new collaborative guise from Juan Maclean and Kevin McHugh (aka La-4a / Ambivalent) entitled Longlost.

It is rare the combination of simple and catchy happen in dance music, but ‘Take 8’ is just that. A song so heartfelt and recognizable it demanded its own slab of wax, a true single! This expertly mixed and crafted house cut romances listeners into a catchy live piano ditty that seemingly could pleasurably repeat for days.

Inspired by the tracks lead melody, the label set up NYC classical Pianist and friend of Honey Soundsystem crew Kevin Devine on a blind date with the producers a new version. Kevin whipped up a compositional response to the original and he was recorded live on a Grand in La-4a’s studio. Finally, to make it a family affair, Taraval, known for his work of Four Tet’s TEXT, teams up with label co-founder Jackie House for a kraut-no take on the original, fusing vacillating resonant bleeps and robust drums with glimpses of the original’s ethereal sounds.

West Coast mainstay Dave Aju continues with his own varied style and pace, coming correct once again on Circus Company
with a truly special three-tracker of straight up dance floor bombs. This San Francisco DJ/producer is a master sampler, groove
innovator and jazz influenced artist who has been with this label for ten years. In that time, he has turned out plenty of timeless
LPs and EPs that have earned him a deserving reputation as a truly cultured craftsman.
Just in time for the warm summer months ahead, these pieces are fit for maximum daytime, nighttime, and after-hours pleasure
respectively. The releas kicks off with title track ‘Love In Zero Gravity’, one of those raw undefinable Dave Aju grooves, loaded
with soul and unique musicality. It builds in bass-heavy intensity, bright epic bursts and ecstatic waves like we've never heard
from him before. Next up the voodoo stylings continue on ‘Aubergine Dream’ but in a much deeper mode, where ultra-sweaty
basement funk collides with the darkest shades of purple imaginable, all laced-up with otherworldly lysergic lines. Finally,
‘Gatadu’ rounds things out with pure class, a bouncing robust house cut done-up with generous helpings of live percussion, rich
textures, and Aju's velvety vox - the perfect recipe to keep dancing long into Sunday's sun rays, all smiles and sing-a-long vibes
for the real heads and lovers. This is another superb offering from one of dance music’s most fascinating artists.

For the second release on the Galaxiid imprint, a label of electronic music archeology and quality, we are transported to the strange sonic world of an elusive 90s pioneer. Solar X's 1997 album X-Rated will be released for the first time on vinyl, as well as reissued digitally, with new artwork by the Japanese artist Keiichi Tanaami. Two worlds connecting sonically, visually and culturally.

Solar X enjoyed a burgeoning career in post-Perestroika Moscow making playful, low-tech electronica from Soviet analogue instruments, which he masterfully configured to forge animated compositions and dancefloor rarities. Fascinated by chaos and complexity, his music explores the ways in which our minds can be manipulated by structure - an endeavour quite plausibly linked to his other career as a lecturer and researcher of AI, information theory and cognitive science, his interest in which was in turn triggered by his young experiments in computer music.

Solar X gained international attention at a time when Russia was (quite unfairly) seen as a vacuum for electronic music, but was exploding in the period of piracy, poverty and freedom following the collapse of the USSR. Young Russians had benefited from the soviet education system and there was a strong DIY computer programming and music scene, fuelled by hackers, gear freaks and party animals. Viewed from today, the album is reborn at a time of further political and social strife, which many see as fuelling the huge creativity and radical thinking of modern Russia's young creatives.

X-Rated treats tempo and form as fluid concepts, administering sudden changes to its sonic landscape with disorienting effect, underlain with a subtle dose of humour and experimentation. Downtempo trip-hop sits alongside frenetic IDM and blistering electro, all bound together by peculiar melodic inflections and lively distortions. Warm, trippy harmonies and robotic synths are offset with angular drums, shifting erratically through moods and genres with cunning intent. Much like his contemporaries from the era, it's his ability to breathe life into a humble production setup that makes his music so compelling some twenty one years later.

The track titles are from a book of call girl cards in London phone booths, that reached the artist in Moscow in 1995. "I liked the titles from these cards, which were self-promoting and offering pleasure (e.g. "Mistress awaits you"). So, I thought since my tracks also offered some kind of pleasure, they might as well advertise this through their titles.'

Label head Nina Kraviz was introduced to the work of the 83 year old sensei Keiichi Tanaami by Ukawa Naoshiro, founder of Dommune in Tokyo, one of the brightest figureheads for the arts in Japan, responsible for the graphic design of the cover. In September 2017 Nina played for the opening of Tanaami-san's first exhibition in Moscow at Gary Tatintsian Gallery. Nina performed a live sound palette, to accompany the looping 7 minute animation, of experimental music from the Soviet Union, Russian pioneers of electronic music like Species Of Fishes and SolarX, Soviet-time pioneer Lev Termen, Kuryochin, avant-guard rock mixed with some Stockhausen and just pure abstract sounds, as well as treasured artists like Biogen.

Tanaami's illustrative work has strong sexual elements, so out of the five art pieces Nina selected and commissioned for Galaxiid, the first fits perfectly for 'X-rated'. The vertical line of text on the left is the traditional form for Japanese covers of foreign releases. The cover, together with the accompanying poster and sticker, are printed in Japan to ensure the highest print quality and purity of the colours.

Spencer Parker invites Swedish artist Billie Jo to Work Them Records with five driving techno cuts entitled 'The Ravenous' EP featuring a remix from Me Me Me boss Man Power.

Hailing from Stockholm, Billie Jo is a founding member of the .WAV collective and resident DJ at Gothenburg's Rottweiler when not performing at clubs like Tresor. She now joins Work Them Records, bringing an array of robust productions with her.

With its pounding drums and ghostly vocals, 'Erroneous' quickly sets the tone of the release, leading into 'Saturn' with its glassy textures and echoing effects. 'Ravenous' then takes us into murkier territories, generating a duskier aesthetic with its twisted sounds before British producer Man Power provides a vigorous reinterpretation under his newly minted MPX moniker, which focuses on raw club tracks, featuring hard stabs and acid licks.

With its saw-like lead and trippy atmospherics, 'Dir Vsseu' sounds like being pulled through a vortex, making way for the powerful 'Planet 9' which concludes the package with metallic elements and subtle pads.

Presenting 'Fire Zone'. Album written, produced & mixed by Zane Reynolds and pressed on 180g vinyl, by Ekster. Coming out May 2019, including poster 57x57cm artwork by the artist. Mastered & cut by Helmut Erler at Dubplates & Mastering.

The music of Zane Reynolds AKA SFV Acid celebrates lysergic life in small town America. His are urban hallucinations. Conceived in 'business parks, strip malls', in 'blue collar luxury'. On a diet of 'diner burgers'. From the self-released, hand-painted cassettes of his high school years, he has moved to work commissioned by locals 100% Silk, Japan`s Big Love, and Dutch imprint, BAKK. His latest long-player, Fire Zone, will be issued by Belgian label, Ekster.

The album continues to reference Zane's Los Angeles home, and in this case the devastation that rages there every Summer. The concept however, reaching away from the horror and flames, to offer an escape.

There are moments, interludes, that hint at, and hide, something darker. Where drone twists from tape hiss. Bends. Out of shape. Where chords distort. Their degraded edges disintegrating. Charred perhaps But Ai welcomes you to 'San Fernando Valley', and a low-riding 808 booms. Less L.A. More Overtown, or Liberty City. Its racing booty bass calmed by wind chimes. The rapid Electro-Funk clip countered by modal synths. Its sunny disposition reflecting the SFV climate.

Playful rhymes, fragmented dialogue, and answer phone messages, rub up against Rave sirens. Roland`s silver box squeezes out a Sci-Fi Jazz. Through ping-ponging percussion. Through a drum and bass battery. Punched by keys that wanna be horns. Rewinds that create a bin-blowing vacuum. Shore-line samples washing the more head-nodding tempos. Euphoria rising while a perfect beat pops and locks. (text: Robert Harris)

Compilation of work from the group, spanning 1986 to 1991.. Dub infused experimental tunes here!

Politico dub-collage practitioners Guerilla Welfare came from Edmonton, Alberta, coincidentally the birthplace of prophetic media sage Marshall McLuhan. Armed with vanguard ideas taken from Steve Reich, Fela Kuti, Robert Fripp and Material, the duo of Curtis Ruptash and Brian Schultze adopted the 'studio as instrument' mindset of Eno and King Tubby creating complex textural and polyrhythmic sonic insurgencies. They overdubbed drum computers, guitar, bass, noise-makers, mallet percussion, sitars, often accompanied by sampled vocals and found sound taken from TV. Their pan-global, multi-media palette supported zeitgeist commentary — often, with a healthy dose of gallows humour — on gender, power structures, and sexual and geopolitical tensions in the late 80s. Their DIY bunker studio experimentations align them with genre defying dub-infused outfits like African Head Charge, Dome, Lifetones, Naffi, Woo, Negativland and The Residents. The Nature of Human Nature captures Guerilla Welfare's most formidable output, compiling tracks selected from their entire discography (two LPs and a cassette collaboration with poet Mary Howes), all originally self-released from 1986 to 1991. Remastered from the original tapes.

Here is the debut release from this emerging London collective "Momenta", comprising of UK Garage pioneer DJ Fen (Love Bug), musician/ producer Tom Funk and former vocalist for Cinematic Orchestra, Niara Scarlett,
"Momenta" are certainly a musical force set to make waves with this soulful slice of London. The original RnB mix on Side A grooves with an old school vibe but yet with Neo- Soul elements and vocal textures reminiscent of the likes of Erikah Badu and Mary J Blige, delivered with precision and 21st century soul attitude. Broken Beat DJ and producer R. Frandinho features on the flip side with a broken beat mix phat enough kick up any dance floor in the "Bruk Step" scene.

A very limited press of 300 7 inch copies will go on sale in March, pre-order your copy to avoid any missing this one.

Mothball Record is proud to present the first collaborative EP from Betonkust & Eilandnet, made unironically for goths who like to dance.
Betonkust, who as well as receiving widespread recognition for his work with Palmbomen II on the 'Centre Parcs' album, has already several strong solo releases, often influenced by the Belgian New Beat scene. Eilandnet meanwhile has an extensive discography of quintessentially Dutch electro pop under the pseudonym 'Stippenlift' .

Most listeners will gravitate immediately to the tough and gritty electro opener 'Meaningless Sax' or the melancholic beauty of 'Ultra HD Game Water', but besides these two tracks is an EP of diverse material reflecting the artists' interests and obsessions (hinted at in the track titles).

This EP was recorded live in Betonkust's studio outside Amsterdam, in a single 14 hour session with no edits. In the words of the artists 'we recorded until we couldn't hit the right notes anymore'.

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

White Shadows In The South Seas is the title of a book written in 1919 by Frederick O'Brien as part of a trilogy he wrote based on his experiences living in the Pacific islands in the early part of the 20th century. His book was taken as the starting point for a film to be directed, initially, by Robert Flaherty (famous at the time for his groundbreaking documentary / fiction film Nanook Of The North) with W.S.Van Dyke as his support. The film, ultimately, apart from the title, had little to do with O'Brien's book and Flaherty left the film after a few months leaving Van Dyke to finish it.

I purchased O'Brien's book, along with many others, from Basement Books, a secondhand bookstore in Melbourne/Australia. Part of my 'Islomania' and on going fascination with all things Pacific. When I discovered there was a 1929 silent film based on the book I sought it out and started to present it as part of my 'Live Music/Silent films' repertoire. Tabu by Frederick Murnau, which coincidently also had Flaherty as co-director originally, was the first film I ever wrote / improvised a score for and presented as a live film/music performance. My repertoire extends to over 23 films now.

My eclectic and diverse musical and artistic interests extend into 'Hawaiian', 'Exotica', 'Ambient' and 'Electronic' Music. I have produced several volumes of so called 'Electronic, Ambient, Exotica' on CD and Vinyl, including Kiribati, Globe Notes, Rayon Hula ( on Vinyl, CD and digital format ) and most recently, New Globe Note on Vinyl and White Shadows In The South Seas on CD.
White Shadows In The South Seas features some of the music presented in my live screenings of the 1929 silent film.

The film is the story of Dr. Matthew Lloyd, an alcoholic doctor who is disgusted by the exploitation by white people of the natives on a Polynesian island. The natives dive for pearls, however, numerous accidents occur and one diver dies. In anger, Dr. Lloyd punches Sebastian, the employer. As revenge and to prevent further interruption of his activities, he tricks Dr. Lloyd onto a ship with a diseased crew (thinking they are ill) and his men rough him up and send the ship off into a storm. Dr. Lloyd survives and is washed ashore on an island where none of the natives have ever seen a white man before. Lloyd is rescued and ultimately falls in love with the chief's daughter, who is Taboo, hence Lloyd is prevented from pursuing his love for her. An incident occurs and a young boy is thought to have drowned but Lloyd is able to revive him, earning him points and permission with the chief's daughter. Lloyd begins to realise that the local islanders have no sense of the value of the black pearls which grow in abundance around their island and he starts to dive for them and collect them. One morning the white man Sebastian unexpectedly turns up on a scooner and starts to offer the islanders trade for their pearls. Llloyd tries to interrupt the encounter and is shot and dies. His wife and the islanders morn for his dead body and, symbolically, the passing of a way of life.

Mike Cooper plays - Electric and acoustic lap steel guitars / electronics / Zoom Sampletrack / Kaos Pad / Casio SK1 / Korg Drum Machine / Self Made Instruments.

It also features field recordings made on Pulau Ubin by Mike Cooper during a month as Artist In Residence for The Artist Village / Singapore.

I would like to acknowledge and thank Lawrence English (Room40 Records) for his assistance and encouragement with the original recordings and the CD version of White Shadows In The South Seas.

All music written and played by Mike Cooper PRS/MCPS - except Po Mahina (trad. Arr. Cooper) and Hilo Hanakahi (trad. Arr. Cooper)

Recorded and Mixed at the Steelworks in Rome 2012/2013.

A White Shadow In The South Seas
In February 2014 'A White Shadow In The South Seas' was the title of an audio-visual installation I made at the Teatro In Scatola in Rome, Italy, presented as part of a series of sound installations titled 'Visitazioni' produced by Proposte Sonore.

The essay below, as well as our collection of Hawaiian shirts, Exotica and Hawaiian vinyl records, was an inspiration for this installation.

'..the transformation and reconstitution of the souvenir commodity as an indigenous ethnic art form and a scarce relic of Hawai'i's romanticized past...' from - Clothing and Textile Reasearch Journal - From Kitsch to Chic by Marcia A. Morgado.

And....
Michael Thompson's Rubbish Theory (1979)
' ...a critical aspect of Western culture is the pre-disposition to see objects in terms of two overt categories: the transient and the durable. Objects identified as transient have finite life spans and lose value over time, whereas those identified as durable have infinite lives and over time increae in value....category assignments are arbitrary, but once assigned a category membership determines relative value. Fashion apparel-by defenition-is assigned to the transient category; paintings commonly are designated durables....how is it that transient objects.. ( e.g. Hawaiian shirts and vinyl records ) ..sometimes become durables.

Objects assigned to the rubbish category are largely invisible, have no value and, ideally, no life span. Fashion for example, no longer worn and relegated to the back of the wardrobe has fallen into the covert rubbish category. But rubbish can be rescued and transformed. Thompson says ' What I believe happens is a transient object gradually declining in value and in expected life span may slide across into rubbish. Here it exists in a timeless and valueless limbo where it has a chance to be re-discovered and be successfully transformed to a durable. Such transferes are radical: objects gradually slide from transcience to rubbish, but the transformation from rubbish to durable involves an all-or-nothing leap across two boundaries, that separating the worthless from the valuable and that between the covert and the overt. Things drift into obscurity but they leap into prominence.

The delightful consequence of this hypothesis is that in order to study the social control of value we must study rubbish.

The rubbish-to-durable transformation is accompanied by the development of highly specialized knowledge derived from the discovery of subtle variations and complex details that went unnoticed in the objects transient stage. The discoveries initiate renewed interest in the object and its market value begins to climb. As prices soar beyond the reach of ordinary people, the object becomes available only in high priced collectors' markets. Furthermore, as market values rise, the aesthetic value of the object undergoes a reassessment as well, and it becomes increasingly apparent that the objects intrinsic beauty has been overlooked. Ultimately the object is re -assigned as a durable and becomes recognized as a timeless classic.

Exotica, Ambience and Pacificism - A dialogue with Mike Cooper & Professor Philip Hayward Deputy Pro Vice Chancellor of Research Southern Cross University, Lismore, Australia.

After the solo album Paths Of The Errant Gaze in 2016 Reinier van Houdt returns to Hallow Ground with Igitur Carbon Copies - an album based on the unfinished gothic tale Igitur, a collection of texts that eventually was abandoned by its author Stéphane Mallarmé in 1869.

Connecting with Mallarmé's obsessions about chance and destiny, Igitur Carbon Copies is the fragmentation of all the roots that ran under its predecessor Paths Of The Errant Gaze and brings these to a provisional close: guided by David Tibet's voice reading the reworked text we descend through spheres of deserted anthems, disembodied voices, morse signals, crank calls, corroded tapes, radio statics, stones, while doing counting games. Here the acoustical spaces are manifold, blended or shifted in a heartbeat, where far and near, up and down are relative, where Riemann's god is pointless and angels are enjoying their space. Here perception is a vice that constantly hallucinates realities.

Reinier van Houdt started experimenting with taperecorders, radio's and objects at a young age. Later he studied piano at the Liszt Academy in Budapest and the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. He developed a fascination for all matters that defy notation: sound, timing, space, physicality, memory, noise, environment - points beyond composition, interpretation and improvisation. He has built himself an unusual repertoire that consistently resulted from personal quests; from composing with non-musical sources, from collaborations with composers and musicians, from research in archives or from unorthodox studies of classical music. He has collaborated with artists like Francisco López, Maria de Alvear, Robert Ashley, Luc Ferrari, Annea Lockwood, Alvin Curran, John Cage, Christian Marclay, Walter Marchetti, Charlemagne Palestine and joined the legendary outsider-collective Current 93 in 2012.

Moritz Simon Geist, media artist and robotic musician, publishes his first record. It is the world's first techno record played entirely by self-made futuristic robots. This is the 4-track EP to the following full-length album out 16. Nov. 2018. All of the sounds on his records are played by robots: small motors that beat on metal, futuristic 3D-printed robo-kalimbas, salvaged parts from old hard drives that click and cut. It took Geist several years to build, tweak, test and play all his DIY robotic instruments. His 'Sonic Robots' try to push the boundaries of the imaginable. He did so already in 2012 with his well-known oversized 808 robot - an iconic drum machine gotten real, 4 by 2 meter, filled with robotic parts which play the instruments live and in front of the audience. Now, Moritz Simon Geist goes even further to discover the unknown and futuristic world of techno robotics. For this quest he teamed up with the berlinian sound wizards from Mouse On Mars and dug deep in the history of mechanical music and experiments of early electronic music.

On the 4-track EP 'The Material Turn' Moritz Simon Geist turns materials into sounds. The opener 'Entropy' is a bassy club-track, played by futuristic bass-kalimbas, a psychedelic pattern of tonal glasses and pneumatic hi-hat patterns. It is core piece to this EP and is also featured in the main video. Even without a visual part, listening to his music, a sound world opens up which is unheard before: in definition, reference and organic nature. Geist: 'When you listen to robots playing, you realize, that they sound precise, but in contrast to digital sounds they transport an immense organic feeling. No beat is like the other, everything is played with actual acoustic physicality and thus actual error. On the same time, the repetitive nature of the robots make it perfect for playing electronic music. Its industrial and organic at the same time.' The second track 'Under Deconstruction' is a metal-on-metal slammer with a heavy beat played on a big sheets of metal. 'I often try to compose a track around one instrument', explains Geist, 'letting the sounds take a lot of room so they can stand out.' The B-side starts with 'Supercharged' - a heavy drone, reminding of the darked sides of music concrete. Here, tuned air fans, and a metallic percussion robot create the texture. 'Detok' closed the EP with an up-tempo club track, featuring complex rhythmic textures and well defined robotic percussion elements. What Moritz Simon Geist came up with is a stunning record of what is possible today - to explore the sound of mechanics that keep on filling our world. Geist creates a smashing soundtrack for both the precise automation and physical fragility that shapes today's society.

Silicone Soul welcome the return of old friend Justin Robertson as he brings his much- loved Deadstock 33s project back to Darkroom Dubs. Last spotted on the label only a matter of weeks ago with 'Infinite Interchange' on the 'Darkroom Dubs Presents Summer Love' collection, here he builds on the momentum with two more singular missions deep into the timeless analogue abyss. What's more, they come covered with a print of one of Justin's very own hand-drawn pieces. 'Dr. Spectro On The Frontier' marks the start of this new Deadstock trip. Celebrating the lesser spotted DC super villain who could control people's emotions with a brazen line or two of sinewy acid; what starts off dark and gnarly gradually unfolds into a much more emotional narrative. Watch out for the harmonic riff that rekindles feels of raving fields and a salvo of chords towards the climax that genuinely will control your emotions.'The Music Is Madness (To Those Who Cannot Hear It)', meanwhile, is more than just a poetic title. Already a summer anthem at A Love From Outer Space, it's a roomy, cosmic affair that's laced with layers of trippy textures and chugs at a cool 120. It's one of Justin's classic signature smouldering sessions; what ostensibly seems forlorn and introspective is actually coded with deep hope and positivity. You'd be mad not to hear it.You'd be mad not to stay tuned too... For the first time in Darkroom Dubs history, this release and all this year's vinyl dispatches will be released digitally as part of an end of year compilation, 'Tales From Underground Vol. 1' and will also feature an exclusive Silicone Soul remix of Rigopolar & Cannibal Ink's 'Thousand Years Before'. And to round the year off The long-awaited new single from Silicone Soul themselves.

Lucrecia Dalt's Anticlines is a volume of bodily and geological substrates within poetic theory and sound. It is a place where skins and minerals dissolve and commingle, where gaseous subterranean leaks inflate lungs, where brain cavities echo interplanetary waves bent from passing through atmospheres.

A former geotechnical engineer from Colombia currently residing in Berlin, Dalt's concern with boundaries and edges shape the lyrics and music of Anticlines, her sixth album. Paying careful attention to pace, breath, and texture, Dalt microtonally shifts the distance between speech and song while using traditional South American rhythms to support her contemporary electronic composition.

Lucrecia arrived at the atmosphere of Anticlines after several months of studying and creating new patches for the Clavia Nord Modular, forming a rhythmic feedback flow with it, a Moogerfooger MuRF, and her voice. The overall effect of cavernous space backdroping Dalt's intimate vocal phrasing rewards contemplation, supported in the physical formats of Anticlines by a lyric booklet documenting Lucrecia's collaboration with Australian artist Henry Andersen.

The album opens with Edge,' bordering on a pathological circlusion of self upon other. The lyrics depart from the Colombian myth of El Boraro, an Amazonian monster who turns its victims insides to pulp before sucking them dry and inflating their bodies like balloons to lifelessly float away. Tar' ponders human dependence on earth at the boundary of the heliopause, where to inhale might be like breathing tar. Dalt's distant and obscured vocals end with, we touched only as atmospheres touch.'

The sonic rise and fall of Analogue Mountains' is inspired by martian traces found in Antarctica embedded by meteorite ALH84001, suggesting that we might well be living in mountains transferred from Mars.' The steadily winding music on Concentric Nothings' descends with the lyrical exercise of dissolution let my touch be indistinct and instinctive.'

Interspersed with the lyrical pieces of Anticlines are instrumental interstitials that demonstrate preceding concepts — as if to say, this is what antiforms sound like, and this is what the universe's indifference sounds like.' Dalt's ongoing experiments with visual artist Regina de Miguel support these ideas, their practice allowing the objects of their attention to slip in and out of being.

Mystic of matter, Lucrecia Dalt has previously performed and worked with Julia Holter and Gudrun Gut, her slippery spoken word and performative nature recalling the work of Laurie Anderson, Robert Ashley, Asmus Tietchens, or Lena Platonos. While touching stones, The Thing by Dylan Trigg, Cascade Experiment by Alice Fulton, and Wretched of the Screen by Hito Steyerl are but a few formative scripts that support Dalt's exploration of the betwixt and between.

In preparing a live set for Anticlines, Dalt plans to stage an uninterrupted configuration, like a kind of alienated lecture, aiming for gestures that create tensions with non-existent objects.' Dalt intends to provide meaning and a place for the listener to meditate or relate to the concerns and ideas' she presents.

- Lucrecia Dalt is a Colombian recording artist, songwriter, and producer.
- After studying civil engineering in Colombia, Dalt worked at a geo-technical company for two years and has since lived in Barcelona and Berlin, where she currently resides.
- She has released five solo albums and has collaborated with musicians Julia Holter, Laurel Halo and Rashad Becker, to name a few.
- Dalt has composed for sound design installations and performance pieces for institutions such as the Santa Monica Art Centre, Reina Sofia Museum and the Maisterravalbuena gallery of Madrid, in collaboration with visual artist Regina de Miguel.
- Anticlines is Dalt's sixth solo record, and her first on RVNG Intl., following the release of 2015's Ou.
- Anticlines explores the boundaries and limitations of human consciousness. The album's poetic lyrics were written collaboratively between Dalt and Henry Andersen during a weekend in Brussels, Belgium.

From the remote township of Te Mata, in the rugged hills of New Zealand, comes a new imprint following in the tradition of mid-80s rub-a-dub from an often overlooked corner of dancehall culture.The brainchild of local farmer and radio personality Red Robin - alongside the deadly production duo Naram and Art - the first 12' features two heavy-like-lead riddims with discomix cuts from four unsung heroes of the 80s with conscious, street-level lyrics.
Side A finds legendary singer Winston 'Midnight Riders' Powell rise again on a synth-infused piece of classic rub-a-dub. Despite being his first release in decades, he delivers a cutting edge vocal from his Kingston 9 borough about life Outta Road in the Jamaican capital. He then crosses live to special agent Speng Bond for a deejay report on the current state of Britain in Dread Outta Road. With a more uptempo riddim, the flipside sees Toronto-based 80s star Steve Knight fire some timely shots at corrupt politicians with Dem a Fraud, before Los Angeles-based MC Tippa Lee comes correct with a self-affirming deejay cut on Salute the Veteran.
Both sides are served with one-away dub mixes from Naram and added textural touches from Disrupt. Six cuts on one record, strictly limited pressings.

Following on from the release of FBA21 Collected Works 1996 -2017, which was released November 2017 Matthew Puffett decided to wrap up the project, with a handpicked selection of artists to remix key tracks from the compilation. Amongst these figures are some significant influences on Puffett`s early years The set includes Kirk Degiorgio, whose reworking of 'Cross Dissolve' reimagines the track in full machine mode, serving up a slab of driving techno for the main room. A fan since the early 90s, Kirk and Matt have been in contact over the years, culminating to this powerful re-creation. Steven Rutter (B12) has also reworked 'Cross Dissolve', but in contrast to Degiorgio, Rutter's mix brings out an almost abstracted, ambient mood, a characteristically expressive and textured piece from one of the leading figures in UK electronica. Hardway Bros, Sean Johnston (Andy Weatherall's partner in 'A Love From Outer Space) tackles 'Mourning', a piece of melancholic euphoria. In typical Johnston style, Sean slows it all down, bringing it to a mid-tempo Balearic vibe. A big influence on Matthew in the 1990s, Lee Grainge used to work at the infamous Fat Cat records. A renowned arbiter of sounds, Grainge turned Matt onto countless records from Detroit and beyond, which was crucial in shaping FBA's sound. Here, he remixes 'Diagram', in a manner reminiscent of classic dub techno, Basic Channel. Another influence on FBA's sound is former Eevo Lute Muzique boss from Eindhoven, Stefan Robbers. FBA recorded a mini album for EevoNext in 2009, and the pair team up again here to reinvent 'Machines Can Help'.

Anklepants Introduces His Brand New Album For Detroit Undergroud, A Collection Of Ten Cuts, Made With His Very Own Arsenal Of Digital And Hardware Toys, Most Of Them Self Made And Customised For His Purposes. This Multi Faceted Artist Creates A Blend Of Twisted Ryhthms, Synthetic Melodies And Weird Textures And Noises, Yet Danceable Stuff But With Heavy Focus In Experimentation And Risk.

Pollen Opens The Release With A Weird Arabic Style Riff And Arpeggiated Clean Synths Over A Simple Beat, Until More Melodic Layers Complete The Equation.

Chowsey In Upstyled Onesy Minor Follows With Sampled And Morphed Traditional Instruments, Laying Over Destructed Beats And Rythms.

The Perfect Adult Man Relies On Atmospheric Stabs, Four Four Kick And Analogue Bubble Bassline, Dark, Grey And Melancholic.

'lé Cavé_isnt It Funny To Think Once Apon A Time People Thought The World Was Blue White Flat And Squaré' Is Made Of Twisted Samples, Asymetrical Grooves, Organic Instruments Decimated And Multiple Sound Layers.

808 Frapé Is An Homage To The Classic Drum Machine, Electro Shaped Drum Patterns, Floating Sounds And Crispy Metalic Glitches Dance With Random Sequences And Bleeps In A Robotic Exercise.

Reecard Farche The Torture Of Credo Mutwa And The Theft Of The Necklace Of Mysteries_noel Goes Again To Weird Random Bleepy Fields, Alien Grooves, Heavy Sound Processing And Glitched Details.

Industrial Kingpins Und Drachoen Is Dark, Obscure Number, Clear Rythms, Strings And Resonant Bassline Collide, The Groove Transforms To Broken Beats After The Break Bringing New Life To The Overall Feel.

Sharkblood, Sure The Sharks, Repeats This Phrase In Different Pitches Over A Solid Kick Pattern While More Vocal Layers Are Added Progressively In A Voice Madness.

Golife_refracto Relationé Again Plays With Samples In A Mad Style, Altering Every Parameter, Creating Granular Efects, Destroying The Audio Files Creating An Asymetric Tune.

Attila's Own Photos From The Shoot It's The Epilogue, In A Relaxed Mood, Sound Textures, Various String Samples Melting In Different Pitches And Crunchy Atmospheres.

Both D-Malice and Kid Fonque are well-established players in their native cities, both boasting long-term involvement and impressive credentials. After meeting in 2013 and nurturing a very natural and obvious predilection for golden era hip-hop, 90s R'n B, soul and trip hop they decided to pool their creative resources and rope in a wealth of talent from their combined networks under a new moniker. Enter rkls.

On this debut offering the pair have worked with LA's broken beat visionary Marc De Clive-Lowe, legendary emcees John Robinson and Kev Brown, dazzling new vocal and production talent from South Africa - Sio, Melo B Jones, Daev Martian and White Nite to name but a few.

This diverse list of guests flex their dexterity allowing the album to shift easily between ballads and more up-tempo beats effortlessly. Punctuated with spacey interludes, the resulting twelve tracks glisten with sumptuous textures, swelling harmonies and organic instrumentation. Familiar but fresh, rkls feels like you're meeting an old friend with enthralling new stories to tell.

Dark Entries present the debut album from Bézier titled 'Parler Musique'. Bézier is Taiwanese-American musician Robert Yang who is also part of the Honey Soundsystem crew. A multi-instrumentalist, Robert grew up in Southern California then planted his roots in San Francisco in 2005. Over the years in SF he has built an impressive analog synth-based studio, which also serves as the creative hub for his riveting live performances.

Parler Musique clocks in at over 52 minutes with 8 tracks are spread across four sides for maximum loudness. The album title is a French transliteration on the phrase Parlor Music' and is evening music for a meeting of minds in a drawing room or a literary salon. To 'talk about music', the actual translation of the title, the album is a hotbed of ideas. Different genres are crisscrossed: punk, synthpop, jungle, new romantic, industrial and new wave. Airy melodies, surging arpeggios and symphonic breakdowns counterpoint cold digital drum sounds to convey beauty within inescapable and impending daily processes. The track titles for 'Parler Musique' zoom in on Romantic preoccupations with mystery, unknowns, depths--where themes combine to form an occult revelatory experience.

All songs have been mixed by Mark Pistel (Meat Beat Manifesto, Consolidated) at Room 5, San Francisco and EQed for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios. The vinyl comes housed in a jacket featuring a surreal circuit board pattern with pink bubbles flickering on an abstract horizon of water designed by Eloise Leigh. Each copy includes a postcard risograph-printed in fluorescent pink and dark blue with Dadaist text by Justin Aulis Long.

Is the drum the successor of human sacrifice or does it still sound the command to kill' Adorno, Motifs (1951)

It was May 2017 when Earthboogie's debut release dropped on Leng. The soundsystem-loving East London duo rightly won praise for a fne EP that brilliantly joined the dots between all things intergalactic, terrestrial and tribal.
Having spent the last ten months recording their adventures, Izaak Gray and Nicola Robinson return with Silken Moon', the frst single from their forthcoming debut album, Human Call.
In typical fashion, Silken Moon' cannily combines musical elements from a myriad of styles - most notably Afro-disco, samba and mid-tempo Chicago house - to create a humid hybrid that defes easy categorization. There are bouncy organ riffs, undulating acid lines, clipped Afro-funk guitars, tons of tropical percussion and the chanted, carnival-friendly vocalizations of guest singer Nina Miranda.
The release comes backed with remixes from two members of the extended
Leng family: long-serving producer Felix Dickinson and Turkish rising star Ali Kuru. Dickinson sticks close to the original of Silken Moon' with a mix built around gently jacking machine drums and Earthboogie's sweaty guitar licks while Kuru takes Human Call' in an altogether more cosmic direction. Pushing the track's psychedelic TB-303 lines and tropical textures to the fore whilst
adding his own mind-altering electronics - most notably a fat new synth bassline - Kuru cleverly re-casts the track as a pulsating, late night throb-job.

Furcula is a collective work by composer Asger Baden and recording artist & actor Peder. Peder and Asger Baden work as film composers on a daily basis at their townhouse studio in central Copenhagen. They have worked for 'Breaking Bad", 'Beastie Boys", 'Wolfpack' amongst others. Whenever they have some time, they work on Furcula. The music is based on the acoustic colours of two very different rooms: The Village (large orchestral studio in Copenhagen) and Vor Frue Kirke - the biggest church in Denmark which features a reverb of over 7 seconds. All sounds, instruments and samples are recorded in these two rooms and used as samples in the studio to create the music. The result is the depth and contrast between the huge reverb and very close textures that feel as though they're right next to you, scratching your skin. The result is ghostly, dark, cinematic and beautiful. Art by Rob Sato. - Debut album as a collective by filmcomposers Asger Baden & Peder who has had music featured in Breakin Bad. - Peder has 4 solo albums under the belt released by Ubiquity records, Wordandsound, Fake Diamond and allways featured in Radio Nova. Featured artists like Oh Land, Coco (Quadron) Jonas Bjerre from MEW amongst others. - Asger Baden solo debuted with a classical album 2015 recorded in Prague and The Crooked Spoke in 2008. - 2/4 of danish group Cours Lapin - As cinematic as it gets.

Hopeton Brown, better known as Scientist, has been a pioneering figure in the world of dub for nearly 40 years. His early love of electronics proved fruitful when (still a teenager) he was hired at King Tubby's studio in Kingston. Brown quickly ascended the ranks and became heir to Tubby's throne, producing imaginative and technically impressive mixes that solidified his forward-looking nickname.

Introducing Scientist - The Best Dub Album In The World, his 1980 debut LP, lives up to its boastful title. Recorded with Sly & Robbie at Channel One Studio and mixed at King Tubby's, the album features hypnotic basslines, reverb-drenched keyboards, and fluid, start-stop rhythms. Opening track "Steppers," with its well-balanced phrasing and organic contours, shows Scientist's mastery of the studio-as-instrument concept. On "Scientific," the effects-laden guitars are stretched to their outer limit to create magnificent, spaced-out textures and muted tension. Introducing Scientist displays the talents of a man obsessed with every element of production, drawing out the very best of the dub form.

Nach zwei ausverkauften 7inch Singles, Festivalauftritten auf so ziemlich jedem namhaften deutschen Musikfestival und Opener-Slots für Bands wie Balthazar, Future Islands oder Battles veröffentlicht das Kölner Quartet Xul Zolar mit - Fear Talk am 19.01.2018 seine Debut LP

auf dem von der Band mit-gegründeten Label Asmara Records. Um diese Vision in die Realität umzusetzen hat sich die Band sowohl mit dem Kölner Produzenten Marvin Horsch (Woman, Keshavara) zusammengetan, als auch die Besetzung mit Dennis Enyan zum Quartett erweitert.

Vielleicht ist es kein Zufall, dass die Musik auf Fear Talk, dem Debütalbum der Kölner Band Xul Zolar eine gewisse malerische Qualität aufweist. Immerhin hat sich die Band nach einem Maler aus dem 20. Jahrhundert benannt, dem Argentinier Xul Solar (mit bürgerlichem Namen Oscar Agustín Alexander Schulz Solari).
Genau wie die Bilder der Impressionisten vermittelt ihre Musik ein Gefühl der Nostalgie und Unmittelbarkeit und versprüht eine Aura, die man romantisch nennen könnte. Trotz der deutlich hörbaren Einflüsse von Künstlern wie The Smiths, Talking Heads oder sogar Phil Collins, ist Fear Talk - das vom visionären Kölner Produzenten Marvin Horsch aufgenommen wurde - ein Album auf der Höhe der Zeit, wie der Einsatz stark prozessierter Vocals, an frühen Dubstep erinnernde Sub-Kick Samples und von Electronica beeinflussten Clicks-and-Cuts belegt. Das Alte wird verbogen, verformt und in etwas völlig Neues verwandelt.
Textlich kreist das Album um persönliche Themen wie Liebe und Verlust, wenngleich auf höchst abstrakte und metaphorische Weise. Doch das Persönliche ist immer schon politisch und findet niemals in Isolation des Individuums von seiner Umgebung statt. Dies spiegelt sich auch im Titel des Albums, Fear Talk, wieder, der sowohl als Anspielung auf die wachsende Unsicherheit einer Generation verstanden werden kann, als auch als Kommentar zu der weltweit um sich greifenden Panikmache durch Populisten und Demagogen, die der Zeit, in der Fear Talk entstanden ist, ihren düsteren Stempel aufgedrückt hat.
Fear Talk wurde im Sommer und Herbst 2016 von Marvin Horsch (Woman, Keshavara) im Gottesweg, Köln aufgenommen und produziert. Gemischt wurde das Album von Marius Bubat (Coma) und Jan-Philipp Janzen (Von Spar, Cologne Tape), gemastered von Robin Schmidt. Die Album PR übernimmt Nordic By Nature, Berlin. Das erste Video wird premiert von Intro.de.

"Happy Freedom Tour 2017
präsentiert von INTRO, DIFFUS Magazin & Musikbox
24.11.17 Köln, Arthefter
01.12.17 Essen, Hotel Shanghai
05.12.17 Hamburg, Über & gefährlich
06.12.17 Berlin, Kantine am Berghain
07.12.17 Leipzig, Kulturzentrum So&So
08.12.17 Stuttgart, Kellerclub
09.12.17 Frankfurt am Main, Lotte Lindenberg
Tour 2018 TBA

The superb 'Forbidden Planet' is a shiny early electro cut with a great funk bass line, a real instrumental groove and fantastic melodies that shimmer like a hot sun. It's filled with joy and sounds as fresh today as ever, the way it ducks and dives and offers real warmth.The Francisco Remix keeps the funk vibe but changes the groove to be a more Chicago house style cut. As such it has a rasping bassline, big drums and coarse percussion that make you want to jack.The masterful Ali Renault—a go-to disco and synth specialist who runs Cyber Dance Records, Human Shield Record Company and most recently his own Vivod imprint—then turns out a hypnotic version that is more driven and direct for the dance floor, with robotic bass and epic reflective synth lines. It's a cinematic track with great analogue textures that goes back to the future.The last original is the excellent 'Stay With Me', a cosmic love song with breezy trumpets and dreamy disco vibes as well as soulful vocals. Italo melodies and infectious percussion finish it off and make it an instant crowd pleaser.

Noplace is an improvised collaboration between Aidan Baker (Nadja / Caudal / B/B/S/), Simon Goff (Molecular, Bee & Flower) and Thor Harris (Swans, Shearwater, Thor & Friends).
Having known each other for a number of years and previously contributed to one another's recordings this trio finally came together as a whole on May 7th 2017 at Redrum Studios in Berlin. In a short, improvised session of just a few hours they set about laying down as much material as possible which was then subsequently edited and re-worked (without overdubs) to form this album.
The same evening the trio played together as part of a 9-piece Thor & Friends ensemble which also included Christopher Hefner (on musical saw) whose artwork graces the cover of the record and gave it its name.
Noplace is a hypnotic and deep listen. Kinetic rhythms pulsate throughout whilst the guitar and violin jostle and weave around the metronomic beats, creating a cathartic and all-encompassing experience. The very nature of the instrumental repetitions give it an immediate avant/krautrock feel but the whole record is coated in a wonderful psychedelic atmosphere that's both melodic, textured and innovative.
Without doubt a perfect marriage and the sum of its parts. You would be forgiven for thinking Noplace took years to craft but that's testament to three excellent musicians who have produced a real treat of a record. Broken down into seven pieces but very much best enjoyed as a thrilling whole, Noplace is a powerful and highly addictive album.

Bursting through the vapour trails of previous Solar Phenomena pilot Antonio Ruscito, London's Roberto is invited to the take the controls of the forward-thrusting new label's third adventure.

With turbine pads raising hairs at 20 paces, opening track 'Into The Blue' is an alluring statement. Adorned with breathing atmospherics and stately kicks, it builds perfectly on Roberto's previous work both on his own highly respected label Fossil Archives and other eminent imprints such as Emmanuel's Arts and Dehnert's Fachwerk as a fusion of contrasts and shades.

'DX Waves' takes us up a gear as it heads nose-first into a techno vortex. Relentless, driving and hypnotic, there's a pneumatic funk to the drums while the riff ripples and stimulates with a warmth and fluidity that instantly recalls the legacy of Motor City while remaining plotted to a path of its own.

This sense of unbridled drive and energy continues on Roberto's final original of the EP: 'Chord Recall'. Here the drums take more of a central position on the stage as the warped, melting tones and textures wrap themselves around the punctuated kicks and occasional deep-splash cymbals. Laced with a deep sense of space and a bewildering sensation of an unknown destination, it s another innovative voyage for Solar Phenomena that's brought home with an exciting revision conclusion from the one and only Peverelist.

A Bristol beat explorer who needs no introduction, Peverelist's take on 'Chord Recall' takes off where his recent album 'Tessellations' left us at the start of the summer. With his loose broken drum signature, Peverelist provides space for Roberto's original textured elements to take place at the centre of the stage and roam and evolve freely and hypnotically. A fitting end to another exceptional and innovative exploration, both Roberto's originals and Peverelist's remix set us up eagerly for the next Solar Phenomena chapter

This November will see Elia Perrone launch his new Jun'Ai imprint with his very own 'Flowers' EP, accompanied by a remix from Romanian minimal powerhouse Vid.

Tuscan producer and DJ Elia Perrone has long been one of the most respected figures in Italy's underground electronic music scene having co-founded the Klang Club in Arezzo which has seen him play alongside the likes of Simoncino, Juju & Jordash and Move D. Amongst this Elia, alongside brother and production partner heads up Unclear Records which plays host to their collaborative works as Easy To Remember as well as material from the likes of Baby Ford, Roman Fluegel, Christopher Rau and Dandy Jack amongst others.

Here though we see Elia turning a new chapter with the launch of his Jun'Ai imprint and taking the lead on the inaugural release is 'Flowers', a mind-altering slice of micro house fueled by pops, whirrs, clicks and sample cuts while fluttering atmospherics and bright string plucks ebb and flow throughout the murky depths of the composition. Vid aka Egal 3 steps up on remix duties to follow, delivering a straight edged take on things via crunchy organic percussion, billowing echoes of the original's atmospherics and a robust sub driven bass line.

Opening the flip side is 'Rain Smell', a slow brooding, hypnotic number employing dynamic string licks, modulating synth drones and bumpy 4/4 drums before 'Moshishi' closes out the package with airy ethereal textures, glitched out off-kilter percussion and rumbling low end tones.

Franco Battiato is often heralded as Italy's answer to Brian Eno. A quizzical composer/lyricist, Battiato turned pop music upside down in the early '70s with three classic LPs - Fetus, Pollution and Sulle Corde Di Aries - that formed a confluence of avant-folk sensibilities and analog electronics.

Pollution from 1972 is the captivating follow-up to Fetus. Like its predecessor, the album features Baroque textures, motorik rhythms, weird tape effects and Battiato's perfectly oblique vocals. Upon hearing Pollution, Frank Zappa joyfully proclaimed it "genius."

While Battiato's core group of collaborators remains largely the same as on his debut, this phenomenal band (joined by an eighteen-year-old Roberto Cacciapaglia on keys) appears even more in the foreground on Pollution. Out of the Ash Ra Tempel-like riffs and urgent guitar strumming emerge hypnotic grooves and cinematic flourishes, suggesting a futuristic meeting point between Stereolab and Ennio Morricone.

Dedicated to the Centro Internazionale Studi Magnetici, Pollution touches on themes of environmental catastrophe. Futurist allusions seep in through eccentric lyrics (at times sung backwards) about hydraulics, magnetic fields, etc., yet listeners don't need to speak the artist's language to grasp his melancholy vision. With Pollution, Battiato solidifies not only his cult figure status, but also many of his forward-thinking ideas on rock 'n' roll.

Superior Viaduct is honored to present the first-time domestic release of Pollution on vinyl. Reproducing the original gatefold jacket, this reissue is part of an archival series that chronicles Franco Battiato's masterful body of work from 1971 to 1978.

Having previously released on Z.I.P.P.O's Fides imprint, 3KZ now bring their powerful four tracker 'Not From Here' on Balans Records. 3KZ are Z.I.P.P.O and Kalean

The Dutch label Balans Records returns with it's twenty-first instalment to the series that have previously seen releases by Mike Parker, Drafted & ROD among others. This time Darko Esser's imprint presents a collaboration between Z.I.P.P.O and Kalean, under their 3KZ moniker. Having previously released on Z.I.P.P.O's Fides imprint, 3KZ now bring their powerful four tracker 'Not From Here' on Balans Records.

'Not From Here' opens the EP with its flowing grooves & eerie pads to create a beautiful techno track followed by 'Nature Of Motion' that offers an astral like immersion to the listener with its haunting melodic rhythms. On the flipside 'Circles' & 'Times' switch up the vibe in a more intense & playful mood, resulting in a finely balanced EP of atmospheric driving techno.

early supposrt
Luke Slater
'Great, thanks.'

James Ruskin
'Nature Of Motion for me, thanks!!'

Marcel Dettmann
'Thanks.'

Kristian / Ame
'Thanks.'

Rolando
'Wow killer stuff here, all tracks are dope!! Nature of Motion is my fav, great work!'

Dj Pete
'Great Italian Detroit techno.

Etapp Kyle

'Thanks.'



Sigha

'Lovely vibes, full of soul.'



Nuno dos Santos

'Beautiful release!! Love all tracks and thats pretty rare.'



Jeroen Search

'Go 3KZ go! A2 & B2 for me, very cool stuff!'



Ontal

'Thank you!'



Orde Meikle / Slam

'Thanks.'



Eric Cloutier

'Another beast of an EP from 3KZ & its always good to get a Balans promo.'



Kr!z

'Nice one, full support.'



Monika Kruse

'Great floating techno, love it!'



Arnaud Le Texier

'Not From Here & Circles for me, thanks.'



Jeff Rushin

'Cool release.'



Jeff Derringer

'I like it, good stuff!'



Mr. Jones

'Nice vibe on this EP. Like the energy and drive in Times.'



Leghau

'Great release. I really like A1, thank you.'



Robert Lamart

'Nice tracks, thanks!'



Angel Molina

'A side for me here. Great, timeless Mills-esque techno stuff, thanks.'



Mareena / Tresor

'Another winner by 3KZ, thanks guys. Holy shit, that ambient tune!!'



Phone

'Total support.'



Limo

'Love these guys, thanks.'



Joseph Capriati

'Downloading for Joseph Capriati, thanks!



Richie Hawtin

'Downloaded for Richie Hawtin.'

Until he was about 20, Texas-born Melvin Sparks was a rhythm & blues guitarist, backing Jackie Wilson, Curtis Mayfield and Marvin Gaye as a member of The Upsetters. But Sparks gave up his seat on The Upsetters' bus in New York City, where a chance introduction to George Benson led him to a place in soul jazz history. Melvin played and recorded with Lou Donaldson, Leon Spencer, Bernard Purdie, Jack McDuff, Jimmy McGriff, Idris Muhammad, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Charles Earland, Grover Washington Jr., Reuben Wilson and so many more. Even during the quietest years of soul-jazz Melvin stayed relevant through hip-hop and r&b, a quick search at WhoSampled turns up more than 150 samples of his funky chicken scratch. And Melvin's legacy is heard in contemporary soul/funk bands like The New Mastersounds, Soulive and The Greyboy Allstars, all of whom he also guested with several times before his early departure from this realm in 2011.

This release documents Melvin's final band just months before his death. Organist Beau Sasser and drummer Bill Carbone had been working with Sparks for several years, and, despite the power dynamic - they were in their early 30s, Melvin an elder-statesmen of the genre - the unit was sharp, relaxed and performed Melvin's music with a jovial spirit. The trio played the Burlington, VT club Nectar's regularly, but this night featured two "onlys." Per the recommendation of Nectar's agent they used the "Grippo Horns," the only time Sparks used a horn section in the last several years of his life, and they allowed a multitrack recording of the show. Both were strong decisions.

The tracks on this album, lovingly mixed by guitarist, producer and Melvin Sparks fan Eddie Roberts, demonstrate that Melvin played as well in the final months of his life as at any time. Sparks counts "Whip! Whop!" off at what he said The Upsetters called a "showtime tempo," and peppers it, as well as most of the album, with quotes from jazz standards, pop songs and cartoon themes, all woven effortlessly into the bebop-funk dialect he helped create. He unfolds amiable melodies, patiently and methodically, through his several-minute lead on "Breezin'." And Sparks is audibly uplifted by the Grippo Horns helping him perform his 1973 arrangement of "Ain't No Woman" for the first time in decades.

If Aphex Twin and Mike Dred had a kid, they would have called him Analogue Bipolar Boy for sure. Colin Q Smith belongs to the old guard of ravers who grew up to the U.K. and Belgium sound in the early 90's.
Follow up to his must have Tales From An Analogue Graveyard EP' on Acid Night label last year, Into Darkness EP' sees the London based don finding again another french im-print, New Flesh Records, to serve up six wild, untouchable, brutal, old school-acid-industrial songs of his trademark. From the sinister overture of the beat less Into Dark-ness Theme', to the analog madness of Entangled', passing through the evil vision of Sad Robot', ABB blends an obsessive use of analogue synths textures, fusing with his un-limited talent horrific sororities to merciless rhythm constructions.
Many tracks were buried deep in a safe located on a secret analogue graveyard a long long time ago only to be recently unearthed onto the world... The recordings using only old analogue synths and you will probably notice the difference! Not for the fainted hearts, Into Darkness EP' is no doubt one of New Flesh most savages and intense EP's to date. In the AFX vein! Hear it and fear it.