Simone De Kunovich
Mythical Figure
Use variably, whenever you need: D.J. at MainStage, High Profile Fashion Event, Underground
Basement Club, Balearic Terrace Situation.
Gifted selector. Room filling presence. Oversized packaging.
He (here) deals three cards.
“Flow My Tears“ High Roller Euro House
„Super Mana Drain“ OMG Modern High Energy
„Warp Lord“ Early Morning, Playful Dark Eternal Bliss
„He who masters the sound glows“
'Nothing left but silence' is Erik K Skodvin’s third solo album for Sonic Pieces and his most quiet to date. Subtitled as "Musical improvisations and quiet collages from the subconscious”, Skodvin reduces his instruments to guitar, reverb and amp - and creates a skeleton of eight hypnotic ragas that meanders in an eternal loop between ephemeral and singular.
Only on the horizon it’s possible to sense that Skodvin has also touched the neoclassical terrain in earlier productions - on Nothing left but silence, however, he acts as a twilight player who is not afraid of the coldness of endless space and who knows how to subjugate the shadowiness of the visible world. Carried by the noise of the amp and the occasional click of the effects pedals, a monolithic, reduced blues emerges, whose mediumistic quality nevertheless reveals that Skodvin's music always comes from the body - and as such is always searching for space. A space that - in this case - blends the vastness of the Norwegian steppe with the brittleness of American wasteland (as if Deathprod and Loren Connors were one and the same person), creating a persistent state between deceleration and absence of presence - that leads Skodvin ever closer to the inner essence of sound.
Initially recorded at Saal 3, Funkhaus, Berlin by Nils Frahm in 2015, the album has itself been subjected to silence as a forgotten relic, re-found and now released in a time where it might connect more with the contemporary state of mind. Welcome to the entrance to the periphery.
Die preisgekrönte, mehrfach mit Platin ausgezeichnete Band Thirty Seconds To Mars, bestehend aus den Brüdern Jared und Shannon Leto, veröffentlichen am 15.09. das mit Spannung erwartete sechste Studioalbum ”It’s The End Of The World But It’s A Beautiful Day”.
Mit ihrem Album betritt die Band neues klangliches Terrain, mit straff arrangierten, prägnanten Songs, die sich auf gefühlvollen, direkt aus dem Herzen kommenden Gesang konzentrieren. Die 11 Songs des Albums erforschen ein neues Kapitel der Gefühle der Brüder, während sie Trost in den elementaren Dingen finden:
Liebe, das Ergreifen des Augenblicks, Herzschmerz und letztendlich Transzendenz. Besonders herausragend ist die 1.Radiosingle ”Stuck”, wie auch die zweite Radiosingle ”Seasons”.
Anfang des Monats war die Band Headliner bei zwei ausverkauften offziellen Lollapalooza Aftershows im Chicagoer House of Blues, wo sie den IG ”Seasons” erstmals vorstellten. Außerdem kehrte die Band zum ersten Mal seit 2006 auf die Hauptbühne des Festivals zurück, die mit Spannung erwartet wurde. Forbes bezeichnete ihren Auftritt als ”visuelles Spektakel” mit ”einem Auftritt, der schwer zu toppen sein wird”, in Anspielung auf Jareds Sprung vom Dach der Bühne zu Beginn des Sets.
Auch für Deutschland ist eine grosse Tour geplant für Anfang 2024, das announcment folgt am 08.09.!
Scannoir & Sneaker, aka “GOTT”, explore, transform and mutate. This unique collaboration embodies the perfect symbiosis of passion. “Die Deutsch-Schweizerische Freundschaft” is still profound and continues to have an effect. Now the two exceptional artists present their latest work: GOTT – MUTATIO on the Zurich based label Mattoni Pazzi.
“Alles wird gut” was the motto of the occupied Wohlgroth-Areal in Zurich in 1993, where Sonic Violence was invited to the concert of their “Transfixion” album tour. Industrial beats, dark samples, guitar riffs and moshing punks dominated the scene. At the ticket booth there were CDs to take away: “Sonic Violence – Transfixion”!
A template that now, 30 years later, adorns this memory with the selected track “Malice” in a new guise. GOTT mutates the original into a dark hell ride.
Enter the realm of the Fields of the Nephilim! The guardian waits, a lifetime. Profound and melancholic, he is transformed by GOTT. Dark souls remain dark souls. Daringly and nevertheless tradition-consciously they march through the black terrain. Interwoven by GOTT, guarded by GOTT. Well – GOTT is the guard! Experience this unique metamorphosis with GOTT – MUTATIO.
Black Truffle is pleased to announce The Leisure Principle, a new solo LP from London-based bassist and sound artist Otto Willberg. A key player in the London underground, Willberg is often heard on acoustic and electric bass in free improv settings and bands with Laurie Tompkins (Yes Indeed) and Charles Hayward (Abstract Concrete), as well as the fractured No Wave unit Historically Fucked. His previous solo releases have ranged from extended technique double bass to explorations of the acoustics of a 19th century artillery fort. But nothing Willberg has committed to wax so far prepares a listener for The Leisure Principle, six unashamedly melodic improvisational workouts created almost entirely with heavily filtered bass harmonica and electric bass. On the opening ‘Reap What Thou Sow’, a single-note bass harmonica loop pulses along underneath a roaming bass solo, the side-chained envelope filtering (where the dynamic behaviour of the bass determines the filter for both bass and harmonica) fusing the two instruments into a single stream of burbling shifts in resonance. After several minutes of patient exploration of this low-end landscape, the music suddenly opens up in widescreen with the entrance of Sam Andreae’s graceful melodica chords, spreading out across the stereo field. From this epic opener, each of the remaining pieces goes on to explore a slightly different aspect of the terrain. On ‘Shadow Came into the Eyes as Earth Turned on its Axis’, a similarly buoyant harmonica bass line provides the foundation, but this time playing a soulful descending riff, its almost R&B feel abstracted and half-obscured by the filtering. On ‘Mollusk’, echoed bass arpeggios skitter between elegiac chords somewhat reminiscent of the opening of John Abercrombie’s ‘Timeless’, before settling into a hypnotic groove. On the record’s second half, Willberg pushes further into the possibilities of his idiosyncratic instrumentation. On ‘Wetter’, bass and harmonica come together into a monstrous, growling jaw harp; on ‘Had we but world enough and more time’, the subtly shifting pulsating patterns start to feel almost like a kind of evaporated, drum-less dub techno until an eruption of wheezing bass harmonica gives the piece a comically folkish turn. Willberg’s melodically inventive and virtuosic bass performance calls to mind any number of fusion touchstones, from Jaco Pastorius to Mark Egan’s singing tone in the early Pat Metheny Group—even Anthony Jackson’s work with Steve Kahn. But with its radically reduced instrumentation, The Leisure Principle is also an exercise in minimalism, and the absence of percussion gives even its funkiest moments a strangely abstracted quality. At times, its uncanny blend of the abstruse and the immediate suggests the fried pop experiments of David Rosenboom or the skewed but deeply musical DIY of 80s underground groups like De Fabriek. Both easy on the ear and profoundly strange, The Leisure Principle proudly takes its place among the most eccentric offerings on the Black Truffle menu.
You have said too much to a stranger in a bar bathroom; your back is killing you because of everything you haven’t said; you’ve overwatered your houseplants again. Small Million is here for you. Flowing from the collaboration of longtime creative partners Ryan Linder and Malachi Graham, the Portland-based indie pop outfit welds deeply affecting sonic production to smart lyrics about intuition and inhibition, losing control and ending up in unexpected places, being willing to fuck up, bodies hurt and bodies joyful.
The effect is both intimate and epic, delicate and fierce. Listen to it to ache, dance to it to heal. In the time since Small Million's last release, years of chronic pain have led lead vocalist and lyricist Malachi Graham to deep explorations of embodiment that have changed everything from her singing voice to her dance moves to her observation of human frailty. “There’s one side of chronic pain that leads you towards intuition, self-discovery, and listening closely to yourself. But it also means you end up sitting on the side of the room a lot, watching people and paying attention. Also you’re pissed,” notes Graham. Producer and instrumentalist Ryan Linder’s background as a filmmaker informs the textured richness and intelligent restraint of his song building. He approaches production with obsessive technical rigor that’s always in service of centering intense emotion.
Graham’s clear, unadulterated vocals breathe at the heart of Linder’s rich sonic terrain, drawing comparisons to The Cranberries and Florence + the Machine. Linder and Graham have been writing as a duo for a decade, but for their newest chapter they've expanded the band, enlisting Ben Tyler (Small Skies) on drums and Kale Chesney (Lo Pony) on bass and harmonies.
Small Million's evolution into a four-piece has expanded the band’s sound from their synth pop origins to encompass more organic, raw indie rock energy. Small Million has played with artists like Fakear, IDER, Hatchie, HÆLOS, Lo Moon, and Loch Lomond, and their tracks have been featured on compilations by Tender Loving Empire, PDX Pop Now!, and Vortex Music Magazine. They released their debut EP Before the Fall in June 2016, their follow-up, Young Fools, in Fall 2018, and singles “Saintly” and “Tarot” in 2019. Their newest music is dropping throughout 2022.
Vargmal Records continues to explore immersive, thought-provoking techno with an abstract spirit by presenting Corners EP from the emergent collaborative UK project Terrain. The Kosovo-based label was launched in 2022 with a considered balance of classic and contemporary techno, featuring Italian techno pioneer Leo Anibaldi and commissioning attendant remixes by contemporary Italian maestro Donato Dozzy.
Continuing the label's embrace of subliminal sounds for adventurous dance floors, Terrain deliver four tracks of snaking, subtle rhythms pivoting away from rigid structures towards a more fluid kind of techno. It's a sound the duo of Joe Baker and Voytek Stanley channeled on their debut release and they expand on the principles from that record in superlative style on Corners.
The EP opens up with the weighted pressure of 'Blind Spot', a dense workout pivoting on a fractured kick punching out underneath interwoven sheets of texture and atmosphere. 'Vintage' develops this theme with dubby chord washes which bloom out over the fine detail of the deceptively complex beat configuration. 'Corners' meanwhile adjusts the temperature from cooly meditative to subtly fierce accents Terrain edge into their sound.
It's an elegant fusion that remains at ease with the overall mood of the EP, but a noticeable shift in energy for the B side. 'Singularity' completes the picture with additional input from Localhost, welcoming layers of noisy melodics which sit comfortably on top of Terrain's dubby pulses. More open and searching than the introspection which holds sway elsewhere, it's a tonal shift that opens the sound of Terrain out and brings a sense of balance to their assured second record.
Vol.2[12,40 €]
Head hydro-tripper Black Eyes has risen from the depths of the deep to release his debut solo record Hydro-Trip vol 1. Fresh off the sea creature's back from co-producing the 'Planet People - Terra Firma EP' with synth botherer Reedale Rise which came out earlier this year. His solo endeavour takes us on a jazzier vibe yet still keeping true to the deep ways of the water. Lead track 'Understood Sea Being' plunges us on a rugged ride with deep Detroit chords and Black Eyes's own punk-like vocals throughout. 'Let's Get Deeper' slows the pace up with chopped up samples and introduces us to the classic hydro-trip sound we've grown to love down here in the underwater cities; it's deep and trippy. 'Scuba Lyfe' picks up the pace a bit but evolves into a low down dubby groove mixed with some hi-tek jazz. Asking Rolando (who we all know was part of the infamous Underground Resistance and Los Hermanos, as well being a Berghain resident DJ more recently) to come on board the subterranean vessel was an obvious choice for remix. He switches the gears and adds some fluid Detroit techno to finish off the EP. Berlin based Deskai masters the EP who also mastered the Planet People EP so you know what to sonically expect.
The fourth album from Australian metal masters, Parkway Drive. It was another creative leap forward for the chart-topping Australian band, "Atlas" boasts some of the most up front and confrontational material Parkway Drive has ever released, while at the same time taking several unexpected turns into lush sonic terrain, redefining their trademark sound while reinforcing their position as leaders in their field. the album includes the "Wild Eyes" which is a huge sing-a-long live anthem.
Questions will inevitably have to be asked here as to how / why Hooj have shamelessly broken the informal UN backed agreement to NOT REMIX / RE RELEASE C*F* D*L M*R, EVER AGAIN. But after the Hooj Catalogue owners cajoled the old A +R team into a Hooj Electronic Orchestra album in 2021, the then up and coming Borai + Denham Audio were enlisted for remixes, and fast forward a couple of years, the Bristol duo are smashing it in 2023, and vinyl does indeed beckon.
And with some justification it has to be said, as the Bristol duo took chunks of the original Wim Mertens melody and somehow still managed to drag it into new terrain, introducing rough breaks and hardcore sensibilities into proceedings, for the first time in the track's 30 + years journey.
On the B - side, another star turn from the early 90's get's the BDA treatment, as Transformer 2's Fruit of Love get's a more polished/ musical approach on the Audio Redux mix ( though with no compromise on bottom end / beats dynamics) , and Borai contributes a rolling, percussive 4/4 dub.
Following the success of their first EP "Through Walls", Golden Mean are back with Oumuamua set to be released in May 2023 on London label Jazz Re:Freshed.
Powerhouse drummer Jamie Murray now joins the lineup of Tom Driessler (Yussef Kamaal), Luke Wynter (Nubiyan Twist, Joe Armon-Jones) and Lyle Barton (Emma-Jean Thackray).
Prepare to embark on a journey of soaring melodies, driving grooves, prog-rock choruses, retro synths and free-wheeling improvisation, inspired by the legends of jazz & rock from the 70's until today.'
Men at Work already had an album in the Top Ten when the Australian ensemble released Cargo, which continued the momentum gained by its record-setting debut. As ambitious and even more diversified than its initial salvo, the 1983 effort firmly established the band as new-wave pioneers – a group whose goofy playfulness, sharp hooks, brass accents, and memorable choruses helped define the decade's landscape. Any doubts about Men at Work's quirky sensibility were promptly answered by the iconic cover art gracing this multi-platinum set.
Mastered on our world-renowned mastering system and pressed at RTI, this LP not only brings the artwork back into full-scale glory but also takes the enjoyably melodic pop-rock to new sonic heights courtesy of improved imaging, separation, and balance. Previously obscured details jump to the surface, and leader Colin Hay's unique voice takes on life-like dimensions that hover between the speakers.
While remaining true to the approach that garnered them a Grammy Award for Best New Artist, Men at Work expands the creative palette on Cargo by giving guitars a more prominent role and increasing the rhythmic textures. With the sweeping ballad "Overkill" and politically savvy cynicism of "It's a Mistake," the band furthered their radio domination and extended their run of Top 10 singles. A third hit, "Dr. Heckyll and Mr. Jive," cracked the Top 30. Well-tailored melodies and whimsical imagination definitely had a place in the public's consciousness, and no group understood this more.
As the final album captured by the original lineup, Cargo remains an indelible piece of the 1980s audio terrain and a reminder of the era's endless fun. Bolstered by lively saxophone solos, self-effacing humor, and instantly catchy refrains, the album is as good as excuse as any to turn on the stereo, sit down, forget your worries, and dance to leisurely pursuits so perfectly captured by this beloved group.
Cesaria Evora's album Voz d'Amor won a Grammy for Best Contemporary World Music Album in 2004. It features hit songs like "Jardim Prometido" and "Amdjer De Nos Terra." The album reached high positions on various European charts and peaked at #2 on the US Billboard World Albums Chart. It received Gold certifications in France, Poland, and Russia.
Voz d'Amor is the ninth album from the great Cape Verdean singer Cesaria Evora. It was awarded a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album in 2004 and received much appraisal.
The album was recorded with musicians led by pianist Fernando (Nando) Andrade who have backed Cesaria on stage since the start of 2000 and appeared on her previous album São Vicente di Longe. It features the popular songs “Jardim Prometido”, “Amdjer De Nos Terra” and “Velocidade”. Voz d'Amor made it to the charts of different European countries and peaked at #2 on the US Billboard World Albums Chart. The album received a Gold certification in France, Poland, and Russia.
Voz d'Amor is available as a 20th anniversary edition of 1000 individually numbered copies on gold and black marbled vinyl and includes an insert with lyrics.
Auf ihrer neuen EP „Sugar EP“ verbindet Tash Sultana kunstvoll Klänge ihrer früheren Werke („NOTION“, „Flow State“ und „Terra Firma“) und schafft somit einen ausgereiften musikalischen Ansatz. Tash verwebt diese Elemente gekonnt miteinander und vermittelt Lektionen aus gegenwärtigen Momenten. Mit ihrer einzigartigen Mischung aus musikalischem Talent und Introspektion wird Tash Sultana ihre Fans weiterhin fesseln und inspirieren und mit ihrer neuen EP eine transformative und tief bedeutsame Erfahrung liefern.
The collaboration between Klara Lewis and Nik Colk Void somehow seemed inevitable. Both artists having seen their releases published by Editions Mego, individually carving out idiosyncratic voices in the worlds of extreme, abstract electronic music. With Full-On, Lewis and Void explore and assimilate the very edge of their individual practice where a unique collaborative interface allows two voices to combine and morph into a third voice.
Lewis and Void play ping pong with the conversation of sounds, generating ideas and bouncing them off each other, simultaneously encouraging the other to go further with their ideas opening up an opportunity to engage with previously unexplored terrain. Guitars, synths, euro rack modular systems, voice, sampling and outboard processing are folded in a playful unification with a propensity to tease, explore and extract new ideas and shapes, sometimes brutal, sometimes playful.
Trust was also a compositional tool allowing instinct to freely move on any aspect of the sound and space. This sound/feeling/instinct/association let this wild and wonderful material grow organically into something new.
The result of this exploratory interplay are 17 intense miniatures reveling in the process of unadulterated experimentation and whimsical interplay, not just between the humans, but the machines themselves. United in an endless series of sonic U-turns, this daring duo intertwine pop and noise whilst also bringing together visions of tender techno and forthright ambient.
The various zones which manifest from all this reveals vocals shifting in mysterious ways, dust drenched beats churning limpidly and devilish string loops navigating a disorientating domain. The experience of listening to Full-On is to be confronted with a range of ideas resulting in a platter of emotions. A place where beauty and the beast collide with the impulsive and outright weird. What a wonderful world.
Dance music powerhouse Deeptrax follows up recent dispatches from Joey Anderson and Caim, with a label debut from fellow Dutch techno stalwart Robert Vosmeijer AKA De Sluwe Vos, who offers a 5-track collection that explores the depths of both music and sound.
Crafted during the pandemic, Vosmeijer, who had been experimenting with ambient music and sound design, found himself longing for the dancefloor and its ability to disconnect you from reality whilst reconnecting you with friends. As such he began digging into his record collection, absorbing sounds and reenergising his creative output.
"I loved making these records because it felt like I could express myself, within the 'De Sluwe Vos' project, again.”
The Patron Records boss’ new Terraforming EP opens with ‘Reeeese’, a heavyweight ode to the legendary bass sound that underpins the track with its thick layer of treacly warmth. Solar Prince turns our focus on percussion, with its xylophone melody dancing between vaporised synths and string-laced stabs, to create a soothing and yet urgent soundtrack.
On the flip, title track Terraforming, with its wonderful analogue crackles and hisses, lets the pulsing sub steal the show again as pressurised hats snappily punch holes in the atmosphere. Jupiter's Universe exudes a roughly cut techno 2step, layered with pulsing cosmic synths and bubbling melody.
Finally the EP is rounded off by Crawford. Another track that perfectly rides the intersection of music production and sound design. It’s cosmic keys and scything synths work almost at odds with the tribal roll of his drums, yet come together to create a mature and unique production.
Repress!
The Self Split EP features Kouhei Matsunaga at his chimeric best for Diagonal, delivering two jazzy, freehand concrète collabs with Japanese sound artist and Eartaker noise maker, Masayuki Imianishi, plus two dance-offs with himself as NHK yx koyxen and Speedy K.Gelling Kouhei's many sonic handles for a full spectrum showcase of style and pattern, the set is riddled with a singular mischievous genius at every fold and warp. The Texture Foggy pieces render a more reflective, cosmic aspect of Kouhei's character. Working with Masayuki Imianishi, he terraforms paper, radio, field recordings and synths into vivid alien ecologies of shimmering electronics and spheric melody with a highly visual quality that perhaps betrays Kouhei's talents as an illustrator. For virulent examples of Kouhei at the rave, NHK yx koyxen and Speedy K's Step Move #01 is quite possibly the wonkiest peaktime juggernaut of the year, and the acid wormhole of Early Mellow Darkness sounds like the bald - as in bad - acid offspring of Luke Slater and Ed Rush. Once again Kouhei makes us go mad at the rave, but this time with something to come home and melt into as well.
