The NMB Allstars have been part of the SKAM family for nearly twenty years. Initially as DJs then as producers, they beguiled us with their dub-informed rhythms and caustic beats. When they first put their Bug EP together at the back end of 2001, we discussed what might come next – a plan for five 12” EPs before an album, not realising it would take fifteen eighteen years to get to number five... but, here it is, the 5th of 5, NMB005 the GazOhmEater EP.
The pattern of releases has played with titles and logos of UK nationalised industries – Bolton8 (002) referenced Altern-8 and the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive, NWH20 (003) North West Water. and Mancweb (004) drew on Manweb, a local electricity provider. For this final EP Acid and Gas are the go-to aesthetic narcotics. Along the way the 12” series had guest appearances from Meam, Made and Pendle Coven, part of the NMB extended crew.
These days neither of the two founder members locate themselves in urban situations, preferring to retreat to the hills spending hours on the moors of the Pennines. Even these landscapes are punctuated by infrastructure,
be it pylons, reservoirs or tunnels, and the resonant hums, filtered through peat bog and horizontal rain can be sensed in these new tracks put together slowly over the last seven years. NMB stated from the beginning that their “output was not controlled by time” - how right they were.... They have said the album should be ready in 2028.
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Black Truffle is honoured to announce the first ever vinyl reissue of David Rosenboom’s legendary Brainwave Music, originally released on A.R.C. Records in 1975 and here expanded to a double LP with the addition of over 40 minutes of contemporaneous material. Pioneer of live electronics, innovator in music education, collaborator with artists as diverse as Jon Hassell, Jacqueline Humbert, Terry Riley and Anthony Braxton, Rosenboom is renowned for his ground-breaking experiments with the use of brain biofeedback to control live electronic systems.
Each of the three pieces that make up the original Brainwave Music LP integrates biofeedback with musical technology in different ways. In the side-long opening piece “Portable Gold and Philosophers’ Stones”, four performers have electrodes and monitoring devices attached to their bodies to receive information about brainwaves, temperature, and galvanic skin response. This information is analysed and fed into a complex set of frequency dividers and filters, manned by Rosenboom, but essentially played by each of the performers through their psychophysiological responses to the situation. The result is a slowly unfolding web of filtered electronic tones over a tanpura-esque fundamental, possessing the unhurried, stately grandeur of an electronic raga. In “Chilean Drought”, three different variations of a text about a drought in Chile, each read by a different voice in a different style, are associated with the Beta, Alpha, and Theta brainwave bands. Alongside an insistent piano accompaniment, we hear a constantly shifting combination of the three vocal recordings controlled by the relative preponderance of each of the brainwave bands in the soloist whose brainwaves are being monitored. “Piano Etude I (Alpha)”, the earliest piece included here, is based on research into the link between Alpha brain wave production and the execution of repetitive motor tasks. As Rosenboom plays a very rapid, incessantly repeated pattern in both hands – deliberately designed to be difficult to execute without being in an alert, non-thinking state similar to that associated with strong Alpha brainwave production – two filters controlled by monitoring his brainwaves process the piano sound, moving gradually higher in frequency as the average Alpha amplitude increases, resulting in a hypnotic, constantly shifting blur of repeated notes reflected through the shimmering, watery lights of the filters. For this reissue, the original LP is supplemented with an additional LP containing an unreleased 1977 live recording of Rosenboom’s “On Being Invisible”, in which the composer himself performs on an array of electronics that are fed information from his brainwaves. Stretching out over 40 minutes, the piece begins in similar territory to “Portable Gold and Philosophers’ Stones” but eventually becomes far wilder, building up to pointillistic bleeps and dense layers of electronic fizz that unexpectedly cut to near-silence. As Rosenboom explains, the piece creates a situation in which the ‘performer’s active imaginative listening became one of the ways to play their instrument, as well as an active agent in how self-organizing musical forms might emerge.’ Enriched with archival images and new notes from the composer, this expanded reissue of Brainwave Music is essential listening for anyone interested in the history of live electronic music and alive to the possibilities it might still contain.
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Heavy heavy heavy gospel compilation.. Including a few tracks that are under the radar or recently discovered such as Harrison Jones - On that Other Shore, Converters, I've Been Converted and the super limited self-released 45 by Mr Jesse R. McGuire – Jesus Is On the Mainline. Only 50 copies were ever pressed... Also holds Paradise's brilliant "Keep the Fire.".. TIP!!
Although gospel and disco music seem like polar opposites—one is secular while the other has embraced a hedonistic culture—the marriage of the two genres has birthed the uplifting spirituality and dance floor thump found in gospel disco. By the mid-'70s many established and independent gospel artists started creating records with a tight four-on-the-floor beat that touched both churchgoers as well as patrons of the drug-fueled establishments of the '70s.
Cultures of Soul Records is proud to present the second installment of Greg Belson's Divine Disco. Belson is one of the world's leading authorities on the funky gospel sound; for this collection he dug deep into his crates to
undercover the rarest independent and private press gospel disco records ever recorded. Greg Belson's Divine Disco sound is one that's been heard around the world from his DJ appearances at Glastonbury's NYC Donwlow stage to LA's Funky Sole to soul nights across
Europe.
Many tracks are under the radar or recently discovered such as Harrison Jones - On that Other Shore, Converters, I've Been Converted and the super limited self-released 45 by Mr Jesse R. McGuire – Jesus Is On the Mainline. Only 50 copies were ever pressed. This volume even includes gospel disco from the UK with Paradise's brilliant "Keep the Fire." This compilation also includes remixes and edits by Steve Cobby (who was a member of Fila Brazillia) and the Divine Situation production duo of Greg Belson and Paulo Fulci.
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The record you are holding in your hands is a previously unheard masterpiece of Israeli multimedia artist Ami Shavit. As a professor of both philosophy and art and established kinetic artist in the 1970s Shavit was fascinated with new and interactive technologies. While mostly focusing on visual art and mixed-media installations, a trip to New York in 1972 introduced him to synthesizers and triggered his curiosity to do some explorations into the world of music or "sound" as he preferred to call it.
Ami's research was focused on the concept of meditative music that would help people to relax and create a cosy mood associated to the alpha brain waves and biofeedback. Before starting his artistic career, like all Israeli citizens, he had to serve in the army to his personal regret. Shavit had an operational position, which meant a high probability to get involved in a so called 'hot situation'. When in 1973 the Yom Kippur war broke out, Ami was enlisted again and got the unfortunate opportunity to encounter, in Hanoch Levin's words 'the dead'. Being an operation officer he was in charge of evacuating Israeli wounded officers from battlefields to hospitals. Some 6000 injured men passed through us during that war, he recalled one year later in a newspaper interview.
'I witnessed some sights that I can hardly forget. On the one hand I felt that as an artist I had to express the war events, on the other hand I felt that this is an almost impossible mission. Only Goya and Picasso, in his Guernica, addressed this topic successfully.'
Yom Kippur is the final and seminal of Shavit's sound experiments ever recorded and now finally available to the world. We believe that this is an extraordinary strong piece in which the hectic moods and terrific experiences of war are deeply transmitted to the listener. May all soldiers, who are often forced to go through traumatic experiences beyond their own will, find ways to artistically digest and process the unwanted memories.
Ami Shavit was born in 1934 in Tel Aviv-Jaffa. Known as visual artist, his work involves in creating virtual environments with optic and kinetic art, including structures worked by electricity, moving tubular configurations illuminated by colored lights. He published In Alpha Mood in 1977 on Amis records, his own record company, at 500 copies, republished by Finders Keepers Records in 2015 and Neural Oscillations And Alpha Rhythms in 2018. Yom Kippur is his ultime recordings.
Günter Schickert, four decades of multi-instrumental cosmic explorations, under Berlin's sky, above genres, and compromises.
It was memorable the time when I firstly listened to his debut LP of 1974, the monumental Samtvogel. It overwhelmed me with layers of echoing guitars roaring into space, causing a powerful release of dopamine spreading through my skin, in the way an Interstellar Overdrive', or a Richard D James Album would do. It was a proof of the divine to discover Günter Schickert, it is a profound honour today to present on Marmo his seventh album to date, Labyrinth, the first to be released on vinyl format since 1983`s Kinder In Der Wildnis.
Schickert's Samtvogel, self-published first, then licensed to Brain, equaled the imaginative leap and sonic power of the early Pink Floyd, Manuel Gottsching's Inventions For Electric Guitar or A.R. & Machines's Die Grüne Reise. What followed, from his second LP Überfällig on Sky Records to his collaborations with Klaus Schulze, Jochen Arbeit and Schneider TM, even if little acclaimed, spans a large spectrum of music styles, always through a distinctive and personal aesthetic, that is deeply linked to the one he firstly crafted back in '74, when Schickert pioneered the use of echo effects applied to guitar playing.
And now Labyrinth, a record that stands for versatility, where genres do not matter, soundscapes or life situations take over, song-writing emotions pop out, handing out a spectrum of surprises to the listener. You may find yourself flying low along steep cliffs and with a blink of eye you are thrown into a Middle Eastern scenery.
The album is divided into two parts, two different production bulks and periods of Günther Schickert's life. Side A features a selection of tracks recorded in 1996, appearing on the 2012 album HaHeHiHo, released via Pittsburgh based VCO Recordings, on a limited press of 100 units, tape format only. I felt that the visionary and emotional richness of these pieces deserved the vinyl format and a chance to reach to a wider audience.
The Raga-inspired Morning' opens Labyrinth with exotic charm and bitter-sweet nostalgia. Sieben' kicks off with the same guitar scales of the previous theme, before the motorised progressions of a Korg MS-20 synth surprisingly storm in, carrying along an intersecting multitude of filters and sharp guitar effects, flowing into an epic, paradisiac ending. Ninja Schwert' remains on astral dimensions, it is a struggle of cosmic forces, where the steady ride of a pounding beat gets embraced by different guitar layers and analogue electronic filtering. The side closes up with HaHeHiHo', a slow ballad featuring Mr. Schickert on vocals, guitar, bass guitar and drum machine - an example of simple, stripped down yet gifted songwriting that is capable to reach the heart of the listener.
Side B contains material produced between 2007 and today. The intricate, bewildering Tsunami' shows the multi-instrumental and recording abilities of Günter Schickert: a field-recorded storm with mesmerising powers, a peculiar progressive approach to guitar playing. Mysterious sinister spirits and sounds are emerging and the feeling of being lost in a pleasant trance arises. In contrast, Oase' muffles the intensity and jumps into a completely different soundscape, where in liaison with the sounds of a rolling drum tom and a desert-like trumpet, the microphone carefully captures the found sound tones of everyday-life objects and actions. Like HaHeHiHo on side A, Checking' represents the vocal gem of the B side, in a raw and direct way of songwriting like if Syd Barrett was his invisible helper. Palaver' (which means unnecessarily talk' in German) assembles different vocal recordings of Schickert into a bizarre free-style conversation through a mysterious language, where he attempts to emulate illiterate children conversating. The final track, Morning (Slide)', reprises the opening theme, this time solely performed through the caressing dilated sounds of Günter's slide guitar.
Life is simple. Sometimes you have some big idea, then you produce good music staff and this process needs no cooperation at all. It happens especially if your name is Jacek Sienkiewicz. Then You just make your very own EP with you original mixes only. Thi s is it, so simple.
What can you expect this time
You know, as usual on IDO label, carefully crafted, superior sound quality and music that every techno junkie can't miss.
How can we describe the music Is it this time a deep space journey or just long travel to land of ice and rocks Well. Maybe we'll leave all synesthetic experiences to you...
Some things, however, can be predicted. If you're familiar with Jacek's creations, listening the tracks from this EP will make on you at lest two impressions. First of all, you'll be charmed because you'll find the music here for which you love Jacek so much. Then another tracks and the second impression that will make you say out loud "Wow this is really Jacek's music". So, boys ang girls, isn't it a double win situation And for the end of this story we have a short advice related to experiencing this EP. Just play whole EP once and then... do it again.
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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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.
New collaborative album from two of the world's most revered sound artists. 'At its best, William Basinski's music inspires the sort of rapturous testimony usually reserved for peak experiences, cult leaders and the dead.' Pitchfork // 'Awe-inspiring: strange, elemental, and profound.' AllMusic // For over half a decade, William Basinski and Lawrence English have been in regular contact with one another. During that time their paths have crossed repeatedly in various cities; Zagreb, Los Angeles, Hobart and more, in a variety situations. It was from these chance encounters - and the strange familiar of lives lived in transit - that their first collaboration, Selva Oscura, was seeded. The phrase Selva Oscura draws its root from Dante's Inferno. Literally translated as 'twilight forest,' it metaphorically speaks to both those who find themselves on the unfamiliar path and more explicitly the nature of losing one's way in place and time. Each of the extended pieces on this record maps an acoustic topography that draws on the concept of drifting into the strange familiar. The works each dwell in an ever shifting, yet fundamentally constant state of unfolding. As one sound fades away, another is revealed in its place, creating a sense of an eternal reveal. Selva Oscura was recorded in Brisbane and Los Angeles simultaneously. The compositions were each created through a process of iteration and rearrangement that inverted the micro and macro characteristics of the raw sonic materials. Dynamics and density were chiselled with restraint and at other times intensely reductionist approaches to create a limitlessly deep, but open sound field - as rich as the suggested place from which its title is drawn.
Greg Belson is a veteran DJ and one of the premiere collectors of soul music worldwide. He's known as the go to authoritarian for Gospel Soul music, is the compiler of the Divine Disco series on Cultures of Soul and presents his radio broadcast Divine Chord Gospel Show on LA's creative hub.
and Paulo Fulci is a DJ and producer out of Bristol UK. His work as part of the Situation edit crew has been released and supported as part of the underground for many years....he now spends his days slangin' records, whilst honing his disco scalpel skills in the late twilight hours.Following on from their incendiary slab of two sided gospel goodness 'Born Again' & 'Soul Revival', the Divine Situation duo have crafted the next lot of bangin' spiritualized dancefloor destroyers for your record box.
Here we have an EP catering for several sides to your night. The lead off cut is the flat out roof raiser 'The Problem Solver'.....then it's boogified territory with 'Brand New Feelin', before they close out with the end of 'nighter, 'Try Love'.
Once again, Moton bringin' the heavyweight platters that matter!
The keeping of pets marks humans' attempt at taking possession of a part of reality that is not at his disposal. Dressing a piece of the real that lives according to entirely non-human rules and which only in the saddest case does not resist the discipline of the human symbolic order vehemently and in a sustained matter, is a violent act of protection. Because in the non-place of the real, all that which we are helpless in the face of looms: the non-logical and the nameless, the violence and the noise, yet also the unrestrained and unfiltered desire.The innocuous figure of the pet marks a gateway to an investigation of these eerie milieus, while electronic dance music lends itself to this investigation in an outstanding way. This constellation marks the subject of Column's 'Pets II.'
Column is the name of Cologne based renaissance man Jan Philipp Janzen, who, as chief emissary of Cologne's pop internationalism, has been playing the field in various functions for Von Spar, Cologne Tapes, Urlaub in Polen, Owen Pallett, Scout Niblett or The Field, and who has also, in one way or another, been involved in most relevant records coming out of Cologne for the past number of years. After his excellent solo debut 'Pets I' (Areal, 2016), Janzen presents another extraordinary record in 'Pets II,' perfectly complemented by another ghostly oil work of Burkhard Mönnich on the cover.Sonically, 'Pets II' marks a clear development for Column. In its exploration of the thresholds of the real, it sets two points of focus, corresponding with the split in sides A and B.
Side A, on which Janzen teams up with long-time friend myr. (PNN), explores the uncanny as a fissure of the symbolic order, and the subsequent breaking in of the real. It opens with two peaktime rockets that have their wooden, nether-regional groove narrated by grim, down-pitched vocals. The ethereal remix by Leibniz (hundert) seems to be observing the situation from a hiding place, and is the side's clandestine and no less dark closer.
Side B, for which Janzen invited studiomate Marvin Horsch (Dorfjungs/Beats in Space) along, delivers two swaying synthesizer workouts, the second of which, 'Molly and Swerve,' is directed firmly at the dancefloor again. What is at stake here is the transition between a free, undirected jouissance of the real and a more ordered becoming-lust. Here, as in Map.ache's (Kann/Giegling/Altin Village) remix which closes out 'Pets II,' it becomes clear what connections dance music can foster between a free, impersonal desire and the sphere of interpersonal wanting, but also the losses that are negotiated in it. Above all, however, it becomes evident what a courageous daring project 'Pets II' is in all of its conceptual and aesthetic determination; with Von Spar's standout 'Garzweiler' 12' (Altin Village & Mine, 2017), it documents a New Cologne Realism.
Thomas Fehlmann steps away as co-member of The Orb following two acclaimed full lengths on Kompakt (COW - 2016, Moonbuilding 2703 AD - 2015) and embarks back on his solo career with a career defining album 'Los Lagos' - from Detroit to Schaffel techno he conducts a broad spectrum of electronic music into a seamless flow.
Thomas Fehlmann has been active since the late 1970's from Palais Schaumburg, the Tresor defnining trio 3MB (with Moritz von Oswald and Juan Atkins), Ocean Club (together with Gudrun Gut) and of course The Orb.
Artwork direction and design by DESIGNERS REPUBLIC.
'Los Lagos' is Thomas Fehlmann's seventh solo full-length, his 4th for Kompakt following his Berlin inspired 2010 full length 'Gute Luft'. in the musician's own words it's about "checking the juice".
Establishing a picture of his current artistic condition, as suggested by the title - los lagos / die lage / the situation (literally translating to 'the lakes' but taking the meaning of 'wassup' in the context of a relaxed discussion between friends), the album refers to Fehlmann's "musical motivation, dreams and wishes" through the language of music exclusively: a way to "allow myself to techno" he says, "to techno as a means to deconstruct and rebuild again. Set up an area of tension, loose it in the flow of the grooves. Magnifying some detail out of proportion, regroup around that and slowly knit a texture. Expand."
"It was time to take a bend and head where the sun rises or sets, wherever my heart drives me." This is pretty much the kind of decision Thomas Fehlmann has made. 61 and shining, longstanding member of The Orb, multi-talented composer and boundless experimentalist, had to make in the twilight of his collaboration with Alex Paterson, eager to taste the flavours of the unknown on his own again. "It was the moment when felxibility would have become compromise'. Far from being the demise of their joint dream, this was bound to split it in two distinct, parallel fantasies - rich of their own singularity.
As goes with that essential love of his for the free-flowing nature of electronic music, a fascination born out of its "lack of borders", capable of "inventing, changing the emphasis, experimenting with an unpredictable outcome", 'Los Lagos' "freely connects disparate extremes. Art, disco, minimalism, schmalz, jazz and funk". As he likes to say, Fehlmann's head functions as a sampler, capturing elements and re-assembling them under his own embracing perspective ; not afraid to leap from a deep, dubbed-out hypnotism ('Window', 'Morrislouis', 'Freiluft') to the playfulness of '90s-style bleepy schaffel ('Tempelhof' featuring Max Loderbauer), through out-there, muscle-flexing dancefloor cuts ('Triggerism') onto the calmness of ambient ('Geworden').
In need to keep his inner balance in check, Fehlmann committed himself to "switch off the control" and follow his intuition, which isn't so much of an easy process as he also wanted to incorporate the side disturbances experienced: "it's a complex process of search and destroy to bring out a new beauty trying to expand my vocabulary". With 'Los Lagos', Fehlmann looked at finding "the structure that's surprising, disturbing and rewarding". The artwork for the record, courtesy of contemporary artist and friend Albert Oehlen whom he shares lots of artistic ambitions with, echoes the producer's "funky use of shape and space, sludge and clarity" like a second skin. A search for light and harmony that Fehlmann sums up eloquently: "Does your inner musical voice respond", that is the question. Then "doors open up in unexpected corners, rays of light appear; you follow through and you're in - in your oasis."
It is said that every generation casts its mind back to a previous era in times of crisis; the resources that will allow us to decode the questions of our moment may lie in the myths of another era.
Le Renard Bleu, the new musical and cinematic collaboration between Lafawndah and composer Midori Takada, and filmmakers Partel Oliva, takes a cross- generational echo as ground zero for recovering a crucial myth for uncertain times: the blue fox.
As transmitted by Takada, the fox appears in both ancient Senegalese and Japanese folktales as the trickster archetype; belonging both to the heavens and to the earth, the fox is the agent of chaotic good, shaking the world up when its energy has become stagnant. Above all else, the fox is famous for its cunning nature.
Renard Bleu marks the first new music released by Takada in nearly twenty years; it would be difficult to overstate the importance of her return to the public eye. Her first solo record, 1983's Through the Looking Glass, has been rediscovered and heralded as a lost classic; the influence of her percussion trio, the Mkwaju Ensemble, continues to permeate and inspire a new generation entranced by its lucid beauty, playfulness, and sensual patience. Takada has performed in numerous film score orchestras, including the ensemble for Akira Kurasawa's Dreams, coincidentally a key influence on Renard Bleu.
In the ensuing years, Takada has worked closely with theater group the Suzuki Company of Toga on productions of Electra and King Lear, an experience, she says, that allowed her to pursue 'a unity of music, body and space.' Recent live solo performances have evinced the depths of her exploration of all three.
Equally, it is Lafawndah's freedom of tone, decentralized maps of ancient and modern music cultures, and alloying of devotional intensity with modern songcraft casts her as a distinct relative of Midori Takada's.
Over the course of two EPs, self- directed music videos, and countless live performances, Lafawndah has drawn out an uncompromising exploration of how theater, situational intervention, and choreography can amplify the affective palate of forward pop music. One can trace the influence of artists such as Meredith Monk, Carlos Sara, and Andy Kaufman as much as musical antecedents AR Rahmann, Missy Elliott, or Geinoh Yamashirogumi.
It is in a mutual commitment to this unity that Lafawndah, Takada and Partel Oliva find fertile aesthetic common ground.
The music of Renard Bleu originated in Takada's preoccupation with the legend of the fox; after constructing a vivid instrumental composition dramatizing the spirit animal's journeys through waterphone, bells, marimba and various forms of drums, Lafawndah responded - in her inimitable mix of fairytale and undertow-- with melodies and lyrics capturing a dialogue between her and the fox himself. Eventually, the duo met in Tokyo for a week of communing with the material at Avaco Creative Studios, where new elements were composed on site.
Created in partnership with KENZO and premiered today via their channels, it was Partel Oliva who imagined a contemporary cinematic frame for the myth of the fox to re- appear, creating a hybrid of choreography and narrative around Takada and Lafawndah's performance of their joint composition (also titled Le Renard Bleu.) Returning to film in Japan for the third time, Partel Oliva's moving image work (Club Ark Eternal, The Pike and the Shield) has set the standard for and revolutionized the fashion art film. Their deployment of original music, dance, and a highly stylized mis en scene coalesces here in the casting of Los Angeles krump artist Qwenga as the eponymous fox, stalking the halls of the ancient Noh theater in which Takada and Lafawnda's performance takes place.
Why call up the myth of the fox now In Le Renard Bleu, Lafawndah and Takada's collapsing of distance between generations, styles, and milieus intimates that the relationship to time must be shaken. The future lies in fragments in the past; to remember is to recover it; the fox rises to thicken the plot.
originally released in 1990-with Liz Lamere - Never released on vinyl-
Born in Brooklyn, Alan Vega was reared on the rock 'n' roll sound of Elvis Presley and Roy Orbison, but originally struck out on a career as a visual artist and light sculptor, making pieces out of electronic debris. But on the occasion of seeing Iggy Pop fronting the Stooges at The Stooges at the New York State Pavilion in 1969 was an epiphany for Vega. It showed me you didn't have to do static artworks, you could create situations,' he said. That show was the first time in my life the audience and the stage merged into one." It was that eradication of barriers between the two that Vega took to heart.
Their first two albums, 1977's Suicide and their 1980 follow-up, remain two of the era's greatest touchstones, beacons for others seeking to transform their worlds with sound. And even during the group's hiatus through the 1980s, Vega continued to pursue his singular vision across an individualistic solo output. From his 1980 self-titled debut and rockabilly-infused albums like Saturn Strip, through bracing albums like Power On to Zero Hour and IT, Vega forged his own singular path.
For all the darkness and despair that encompasses this moment in our world - and despite his work being depicted as bleak and nihilistic - for Vega there was always a sense of hope and a place for dreams to become reality. People have always told me that my music is angry,' he said. To me, it was always just an energy. It was the way I perceived the world. The key Suicide song was 'Dream Baby Dream,' which was about the need to keep our dreams alive. I knew back then that something poisonous was encroaching on our lives, on all our freedoms.' He fought to his very last breath for that freedom.
originally released in 1993 - with Ric Ocasek & Liz Lamere-Never released on vinyl-
Born in Brooklyn, Alan Vega was reared on the rock 'n' roll sound of Elvis Presley and Roy Orbison, but originally struck out on a career as a visual artist and light sculptor, making pieces out of electronic debris. But on the occasion of seeing Iggy Pop fronting the Stooges at The Stooges at the New York State Pavilion in 1969 was an epiphany for Vega. It showed me you didn't have to do static artworks, you could create situations,' he said. That show was the first time in my life the audience and the stage merged into one." It was that eradication of barriers between the two that Vega took to heart.
Their first two albums, 1977's Suicide and their 1980 follow-up, remain two of the era's greatest touchstones, beacons for others seeking to transform their worlds with sound. And even during the group's hiatus through the 1980s, Vega continued to pursue his singular vision across an individualistic solo output. From his 1980 self-titled debut and rockabilly-infused albums like Saturn Strip, through bracing albums like Power On to Zero Hour and IT, Vega forged his own singular path.
For all the darkness and despair that encompasses this moment in our world - and despite his work being depicted as bleak and nihilistic - for Vega there was always a sense of hope and a place for dreams to become reality. People have always told me that my music is angry,' he said. To me, it was always just an energy. It was the way I perceived the world. The key Suicide song was 'Dream Baby Dream,' which was about the need to keep our dreams alive. I knew back then that something poisonous was encroaching on our lives, on all our freedoms.' He fought to his very last breath for that freedom.
IT'S TIME TO PAAAARTY! Why The Universe knows that Tramp is celebrating their 40th trip around the sun in 2018. And what about planet Earth Well... it is as blind as it is in so many other situations. Therefore, it is time to shine the light on Tramp for all of its unremitting efforts. As musical diversity is vanishing, especially in the field of African American music from the 1960s/70s, it is our duty to stop the extinction of threatened species of music in the same way an animal welfare activist would do anything to save a gorilla's life. Tramp Records keeps this beautiful heritage alive, every single day, again and again and again. So we are here wondering why Earth people and especially to those from our beloved home country, why why are you just sitting there, going about your life unaware of this historic event What a pity!
The announcement is especially striking when it comes to the prestigious "Movements" series. Like all its predecessors, this ninth volume contains Rare Groove nuggets recorded between the early 1960s and the late 1970s. The fact that only one of the songs appear anywhere else is a jaw-dropping phenomenon! The chronological track listing starts with two amazing cover versions: "Fever" by Gee Gee Shinn & the Boogie Kings and "I'm A Woman" by Connie Kaye Trio. Bus Brown, Earl Demus and Chuck Finney remain in the same direction although their contributions are slightly jazzier. Chick Willis' gut-wrenching "Sometime Soon" easily rivals James Brown's "It's A Man's World" and the recordings by Australia, J.R. and Joe Akens are beautiful examples of privately produced soul from the 1970s. The latin-soul of "Cho Cho San" by Hummingbird 4 heads the sound in another direction for the next three tunes, highlighted by one more stunning cover version, Oscar Brown Jr.'s "Brother, Where Are You". The album closes with some pre-disco tracks from The Counts, Reunion and Hot Cakes' dance floor bomb cover of "Harlem Shuffle".
Over a hundred great unknown songs have been re-released on the first eight volumes in the "Movements" series, the majority of which can not be found elsewhere, and Vol. 9 is no exception. The work of Germany's tiniest but grooviest record label is still incomprehensibly underestimated. We know you diggers, collectors, mavens, aficionados, fanatics, completists, enthusiasts, and just plain record geeks know what's up and we heartily salute you! Without your support there would be no Tramp Records. But now it's time for a broader cultural shift for good music and a sweeping move to uphold the legacy of the unsung heroes of funk and soul. Therefore, we humbly petition you: in 2018, Don't keep all this glory to yourself! Turn your friends and neighbors on! Thank you!
- the double vinyl LP comes with a full album download code
**INITIAL 400 LPs CONTAIN A BONUS 7" BY MEL-O-MADNEZZ**
IT'S TIME TO PAAAARTY! Why The Universe knows that Tramp is celebrating their 40th trip around the sun in 2018. And what about planet Earth Well... it is as blind as it is in so many other situations. Therefore, it is time to shine the light on Tramp for all of its unremitting efforts. As musical diversity is vanishing, especially in the field of African American music from the 1960s/70s, it is our duty to stop the extinction of threatened species of music in the same way an animal welfare activist would do anything to save a gorilla's life. Tramp Records keeps this beautiful heritage alive, every single day, again and again and again. So we are here wondering why Earth people and especially to those from our beloved home country, why why are you just sitting there, going about your life unaware of this historic event What a pity!
The announcement is especially striking when it comes to the prestigious "Movements" series. Like all its predecessors, this ninth volume contains Rare Groove nuggets recorded between the early 1960s and the late 1970s. The fact that only one of the songs appear anywhere else is a jaw-dropping phenomenon! The chronological track listing starts with two amazing cover versions: "Fever" by Gee Gee Shinn & the Boogie Kings and "I'm A Woman" by Connie Kaye Trio. Bus Brown, Earl Demus and Chuck Finney remain in the same direction although their contributions are slightly jazzier. Chick Willis' gut-wrenching "Sometime Soon" easily rivals James Brown's "It's A Man's World" and the recordings by Australia, J.R. and Joe Akens are beautiful examples of privately produced soul from the 1970s. The latin-soul of "Cho Cho San" by Hummingbird 4 heads the sound in another direction for the next three tunes, highlighted by one more stunning cover version, Oscar Brown Jr.'s "Brother, Where Are You". The album closes with some pre-disco tracks from the mid-to-late 1970s. Funk 7" collectors will freak out to finally get a chance to listen to Mel-O-Madnezz' superheavy "What You Getting High On" but will certainly also enjoy The Counts, Reunion and Hot Cakes' dance floor bomb cover of "Harlem Shuffle".
Over a hundred great unknown songs have been re-released on the first eight volumes in the "Movements" series, the majority of which can not be found elsewhere, and Vol. 9 is no exception. The work of Germany's tiniest but grooviest record label is still incomprehensibly underestimated. We know you diggers, collectors, mavens, aficionados, fanatics, completists, enthusiasts, and just plain record geeks know what's up and we heartily salute you! Without your support there would be no Tramp Records. But now it's time for a broader cultural shift for good music and a sweeping move to uphold the legacy of the unsung heroes of funk and soul. Therefore, we humbly petition you: in 2018, Don't keep all this glory to yourself! Turn your friends and neighbors on! Thank you!
- initial 400 LPs contain a bonus 7" by Mel-O-Madnezz ("What You Getting High On")
- the double vinyl LP comes with a full album download code
For the past four years Francesco Leali kept busy running Parachute alongside co-owners Manfredi Romano and Thomas Feriero, producing under different monikers and touring the globe as half of CW/A. Finally back as Clockwork, Leali reveals a five track EP featuring some of his rugged music to date. A briery shift into foggier territories where Leali explores layered sound-design and broken rhythms, something he had only hinted in his previous work.
'Online Entity' depicts Leali's hindrance with modern society's social networking obsession. 'In contrast to what these services were actually intended for', Leali explains, 'They seem to have impacted a lot of people negatively, resulting in unnecessary resentments, misinformation and feelings of proximity when these tools can easily alienate you from reality'.
'Constantly worrying about how you want people to perceive you is absurd already, but for many of us this constant sharing has become the only way to achieve happiness, to be satisfied. In an era where all of this is getting out of hand it's essential to remind yourself of the things that truly shape you as an individual. With
Online Entity I aimed for feelings of release, mutating resentments into something positive - more physical. I imagined it as a soundtrack to an escape from these very situations.'
The release showcases this approach with five club-ready numbers filled with calculated, pounding drums and gloomy atmospheres, with only rare glimpses of hope scattered throughout.
To round things up we mobilised fellow Parachute affiliate Ayarcana and Serbian Techno pro Lag who both deliver two startling interpretations of 'Escape Sequence' and 'Rumination'.
Third time is a charm. The Analogue Acid Project by Todd Osborn and Tadd Mullinix resulted in two records in 2005 and 2006 that excelled at the fabrication of gritty acid jak tracks
Now, Todd N Tadd alias TNT aka the dynamite duo finally returns.
Their third outing and first one on Running Back, is a detonative reunion of old and new friends. With two previously unreleased beat tracks on one side plus carefully tailored reissues of Hotness (from the blue record) and Beat This House (from the red record), you get a box of dynamite sticks in various sizes for different situations. More than ten years later and still as explosive. Fire in the hole!
Just in time for ADE, we are more than happy to present a new release by one of our main protagonists since our renaissance. Lehar has made a fascinating career in only two years, he is a key member in our label family as well as Diynamic and plays gigs around the world. His "White Diary EP" is his most unique release so far, with two original tracks by him and two dub versions by UK house legend Charles Webster.
"The Cave" is a very touching track which again shows Lehar's love for deep but popish moments in his music. Again, he has teamed up with L.A. singer Rush Midnight, who already lent his voice to "Number One Hero", which was released earlier this year on the Diynamic sub-imprint 2Diy4. An instrumental version is also available in the digital package.
The title track "The White Diary" is a demanding and hypnotic builder, which was already played often by Solomun during the summer. This is a next level Lehar track, signature sound structure combined with a highly effective arrangement. A winner for many situations.
Charles Webster has been a favourite of the Connaisseur label heads Alex Flitsch and Martin Henkel for ages. Requesting a remix by him has been on the Connaisseur bucket list since day one. He gave "The Cave" two different dub treatments, one
better than the other. His "Dub the First" already takes the original one foor deeper, making it very timeless and hypnotic. His "Dub the Second" takes it even deeper and is adding a proper portion of trippiness. Music for the guardians of the real stuff!
Virginia-born singer/songwriter Nicole Wray has everything you'd want in a singer: an infectious Jackson-5-family-member flare, a range like Aretha's, and a church upbringing that's brought a pure, healing texture to her voice. But the struggle she's been through has made her more than a singer. Nicole Wray is an artist. When talking about Queen Alone, her first solo album in some time, Nicole explains, It's a reflection of my soul. It's who I am today.' And aptly so. Nicole is writing and singing songs about her life. And yet to even start to know her soul, you have to go back to the beginning. Growing up in Portsmouth was tough at times for Nicole. However, at the age of fifteen, life opened up quickly when Missy Elliot paid a visit to Nicole's family home to audition her on the spot. Missy was there on the rumored strength and quality of her voice. Instantly blowing her away, she signed and left with Missy that night. Two years later, at age 17, she had a hit gold single off a solid debut album (Make It Hot). Suddenly she was part of a team that included late '90s R&B and rap royalty: Missy, Aaliyah, Ginuwine, Playa, Timbaland and Magoo. She made it, and fast. However, as rapidly as she achieved success, Nicole then found herself needing to re-make it. By late 2001, her time with Missy and company had run its course. They amicably parted ways and Nicole, once on top of the R&B world, was unsure of what was next. It was a very low, but important, point in her life. While neck-deep in this struggle, Damon Dash and Roc-A-Fella Records called. They signed an album deal and by 2004, in what was starting to be a pattern, just as things were looking up Roc-A-Fella suddenly (famously) split. Nicole found herself in a familiar situation. In 2013, Nicole paired up with London vocalist Terri Walker and released the album Lady. Once again, Nicole was tested. Terri parted ways with the group to pursue her own projects shortly after the album's release. Fast forward to now-the transformation from singer-for-hire to pure artist is evident in this new full-length solo release, Queen Alone. The record was written and recorded in 10 days at the legendary Diamond Mine Studios, in Queens NY with Leon Michels and Tom Brenneck handling production. Nicole says she is Singing out loud now-singing from the stomach.' Back in 1998 she was coached how to sing, and told to stay in a pocket that never let her show her range, power, and passion. Today, after stutter-stepping in and out of the industry, there is a new soul and substance to her songs-all of it from her life. They Don't Hang Around", tells the story of her post Roc-a-Fella days, Guilty", is about her brother's incarceration, Make Me Over" tells the relatable story of being broke with expensive taste, and 'Let It Go', a perfect way to end the record, is about the simple act of letting go and moving on. Almost echoing her new record, Nicole says, You have to go through something for it to be real.' She has been living with one foot in fame and the other in real life. The result is clear: she's feeling something real in her music again. And it's hard for us as listeners not to follow suit.
A collection of nine reworks crafted by fans and selected by Nils himself form the 'Screws Reworked' re-issue, also featuring his original 'Screws'. The 2012 album 'Screws' by Nils Frahm, was the result of inspiration from his fans and friends while he recovered from an unfortunate accident, which saw him fall from his bunk bed located directly above his studio, which resulted in a broken thumb.
These nine intimate recordings were offered to fans to download for free and in return fans thanked Nils by sending him their audio and visual reinterpretations. Fascinated by the results, Nils then publicly asked his fans to submit their reworks or any form of art that was inspired by the release and all these submissions have been collected since on a dedicated website: It gave birth to the 'Screws Reworked' project from which Nils selected nine reworks to feature on a special edition re-issue which also includes his original 'Screws'.
'Whenever you have to decide between two things, you end up favouring one over the other. In the case of this record, I had to choose nine out of hundreds of songs - but I didn't want to follow this logic, I didn't want the songs to compete against each other. I never liked music competitions, neither when I was a kid playing classical music contests nor today when the best album of 2015 is awarded.
Having been in the situation to pick my own tracks for my own records, I knew that the only way to manage this tough job is to concentrate on the cohesiveness of listening to the songs all together. Screws Reworked should sound like a record, not like a random collection of tracks.
The motivation to make such a record came with the release of Screws in 2012 as a gift to my listeners. I thought about it as a starting point for people to make their own interpretations of the songs. The feedback was overwhelming. A couple of months later, we counted over 300 contributions. Without going through a selection process, they were all available only online until now.
It seemed essential to make it a real record as I imagined how happy it must make those who would find their names - in most cases for the first time - on a real record.
Now is the time to thank you all for your numerous and beautiful contributions. In case you don't find your track here, please don't think it stands behind the others. This record means, in fact, that some of the most beautiful songs couldn't be included as they simply weren't 'good neighbours' and because there is only one rework for each of my original compositions.
However all of you opened your hearts and minds and shared your uniqueness with us and I feel incredibly blessed by each and every single rework of Screws. Thank you!' - Nils Frahm.
wight Sykes & Jahari 12" featuring two unreleased demos versions of 'Fire and Desire' and the remastered studio version of
Situations.' 30 years overdue!
Erlend Øye is a skinny nerd, but maybe that's what makes him a pop star. His huge thick spectacle-lenses act as an interface between his inner life and his numerous collaborators and fans. Erlend Øye is a travelling singer-songwriter, who has been making music in various constellations since the late nineties. He sang for Röyksopp, while his own bands are Kings of Convenience and The Whitest Boy Alive, who recently split up. A laid back, everyday vibe runs through Erlend Øye's music. Erlend is not larger than life, at the most his songs may be. The pop star from next-door doesn't make any drama, but leaves that to life itself. His relaxed, laid back sound opens your eyes and ears for places, situations and encounters. A certain mournfulness runs through the songs, although they deal with a longing for self-fulfilment. Erlend sings of loneliness, and in doing so, he creates a 'we'. Until now Erlend's projects have often been based on simple concepts - two guitars and two vocals with Kings of Convenience, and four instruments with The Whitest Boy Alive. With his new solo album he frees himself of these parameters; for the first time everything is possible, for the first time Erlend Øye stands alone. The songs on 'Legao' were arranged and recorded with the Icelandic reggae band Hjálmar.
The magic of 'Legao' lies in the fact that Erlend's vulnerable vocals and his sincere lyrics are supported by the elegance and consistency of the band. Today roughness is often used to counterbalance roughness, whereas on Legao a equilibrium is sought - and found. A simplicity, clarity and minimalism is created that is rarely found in pop music. Erlend Øye has grown up. He accomplishes nothing less than the step towards an independent, free-standing solo musician, who can perform in any constellation - with a band, orchestra or alone with a guitar.
