quête:tex

Hybrid is a word used indiscriminately in our daily lives. This record isn't a hybrid; it's beyond hybrid, post-hybrid, so to speak. Does this phrase sound complicated to you, and are you never overly convinced by music theory and its caricatural aspect? Then forget what you’ve just read and listen to both sides of this record. You'll soon realise that these tracks are deliciously deft, drawing their essence from dub while leaving room for some skillful jazz writing. For those of you intrigued by melodies, the art of musique concrète or the exploration of dub music’s deviant angles, this record will easily find its place on your turntable.

The two sides of the record are cut with play, improvisation and effects, while leaving room for themes and ideas. If this record’s first chapter was born from a request to remix and pay homage to Jackie Mittoo, its themes tell another story. They have been declined and even reduced to an explosion point. The tracks are also driven by subtle details of musique concrète, giving the record the effect of an intimate musical production – but, above all, one of uncategorisable beauty.

In Androo’s case, this is hardly surprising. He is a craftsman who is unassailable in every respect, a poetic dynamiter and, for this reason, one of the most unpredictable musicians in Geneva (and beyond). His appetite for dynamite is perhaps an indication of his conception of music as, first and foremost, an experience. His highly personal and inventive tribute to figures from free jazz and contemporary music proves the point. But perhaps it is also an indication of his attachment to Jean-Luc Godard. You'd have to imagine Androo at his mixing desk without a pre-written script. The idea of editing infuses the record. The two sides are very much in this style and spirit: (un-)shot, meticulous, (ir-)reverent. In this respect, this record is a formidable proposition, and perhaps difficult to understand, but not striving to be understood.

Its combination of improvisation and composition is underpinned by a razor-sharp precision and dexterity that's hard to ignore, especially if you're curious about the art of sound mixing and the romantic accidents. It has a dexterity that transforms musical grids into romantic essays and sketches. A romanticism in which Androo takes us on a liberating musical experience that makes us forget the inertia of the ramping formatting of the record industry. In any case, this record is an invitation to (un-)think the category, and will delight any ear curious to wander into territories of intuition where the word hybrid no longer makes sense.

Text by Carl Åhnebrink

qebrus (pronounced Ké-brusse) was a project by Thomas Denis, an enigmatic French musician and producer born in 1981 and based in Caen, France, before his untimely passing in February of 2018. His undefinable otherworldly compositions and internet glitch trickery turned many heads catching the attention and support of esteemed artists such as Aphex Twin, Four Tet and Venetian Snares. The appeal of his music to other forward-pushing producers was emblematic of the uniqueness of his productions and led to collaborations with the likes of Tom Middleton, Otto Von Schirach and Mr Bill. His only release on Love Love Records, 'ᐔ ᐌ ᐂ ᐍ ᐚ', proved to be one his furthest reaching, originally released on CD during a flurry of musical productivity during 2017. Those 6 tracks of intricate extraterrestrial electronics now get the vinyl treatment, having been lovingly remastered or this reissue and pressed on green coloured wax.

The qebrus guise was that of an alien stranded on Earth and this concept was consistent throughout. The project gained notoriety almost exclusively on the internet, with many people's first experiences of his persona coming from the use of chaotic ASCII syntax in track titles which at the time 'broke' many of the websites he used to host his music. This theme of incomprehensibility extended to the sonic qualities of his music, foregoing any shred of familiar sounds in favour of an entirely electronically synthesised sound palate resulting in jarring and frenetic works full of near-imperceptible micro-details.

qebrus rarely performed live with one of the few occurrences being at an after-party following the now legendary Day For Night Festival 2016 in Austin, Texas where Aphex Twin played some of Qebrus' music to a crowd of 20,000 as Thomas watched on in what was undoubtedly an otherworldly experience for him.

Despite his vision being entirely self-driven without a care for popularity or recognition, there were many people across the globe that connected with the sheer weirdness of it all. 7 years on 'ᐔ ᐌ ᐂ ᐍ ᐚ' still sounds wholly futuristic and will likely remain so for centuries to come. In a time where it seems everything has already been done before Thomas leaves behind a legacy of an artist who was truly 'doing their own thing'.

Thomas is survived by his two children who will be receiving his proceeds from sales of this release.

“really alien sounding music”
Aphex Twin —

“Did you know that guy, Qebrus? He was on his own shit, he was making some really out there music, his music was incredible”
Venetian Snares —

“Listening to intelligent dance music producer Qebrus feels a lot like entering another dimension, his music stumbling its way through electronic chaos, leaving the listener unsure over what just happened.”
Thomas Hobbs — Crack Magazine

"In 1971, Dr Tree emerged as a highly innovative jazz-fusion ensemble from Auckland, formed by two of New Zealand's most seasoned session musicians, Frank Gibson Jr. and Murray McNabb - the pair had jammed together since grammar school. Drawing sizable crowds while working the Auckland circuit, the band caught the attention of EMI scout, Alan Galbraith, who wasted no time signing them up for an album. Galbraith, a trained musician and adventurous producer, brought in additional support from Julian Lee, an internationally acclaimed arranger and producer (who had recently returned to New Zealand after a decade Stateside on Frank Sinatra's insistence).

The album's an all-instrumental excursion into territory mapped out by the likes of Return To Forever, Weather Report and Tony Williams Lifetime - all acolytes of Miles Davis's late- 60s explorations. The session combines experimental studio techniques with blazing artistry, juxtapositioning trippy electronic textures and improvised jazz, creating a hypnotic kaleidoscope of sound."

Double LP featuring previously unreleased recordings and outtakes.
Restored and remastered at�Abbey Road Studios by Grammy award-winning engineer Sean Mage.
Heavyweight tip-on gatefold sleeve featuring archival band photography.
Restored and newly remastered at Abbey Road Studios.
Limited edition of 600 copies (300 in New Zealand, remaining 300 worldwide).

Finding herself in different emotional and physical spaces over the past years, The Hague-based Seina creates four ambiguous tracks for Juni, her debut EP out on Präsens Editionen. The material, which comfortably sits between ambient, glitch and noise, feels like a long-overdue update of Mille Plateaux and Raster-Noton's golden days. The result, however, is much richer in texture and much more sensual than these dinosaurs of electronic music.
On Juni, Seina, who has a background in electroacoustic music and live performance, layers a range of source material created with different means and techniques—from Supercollider-generated elements, to field recordings gathered in Finland, France and The Netherlands, to analog electronic instruments, digital feedback and manipulated human voices.
The EP, which is partly composed and partly improvised, does not point in one particular direction but in many at the same time, making it an immersive experience and, at the same, a bold debut.

* Edition of 100 copies
* Special artwork by Paris-based visual artist Caroline Ventura in custom snapbox
* Designed by Swiss graphic designers Denise Häberli & Alina Scharnhorst of INTR

Eine hochkarätige Mischung aus Queensrÿche, Solitude Aeturnus, Marillion, Ghost und My Dying Bride! Epischer als episch, mit einer sehr starken
Produktion und einfach wunderschön... Eines vorweg - in diesem Jahr wird mit ziemlicher Sicherheit kein Album an das Debütalbum von Aiwaz
emotional heranreichen. Und selbst in meinen jährlichen Umfragen der letzten zehn Jahre würde "Darrk... It Is!" verdammt oft ganz oben auf dem
Siegertreppchen gelandet. Da das nun geklärt ist, möchte ich Aiwaz beschreiben. Man nehme die tiefgründigsten musikalischen Momente von
Solitude Aeturnus, Wheel, Marillion und Warning's 'Footprints'-Song und füge dem Ganzen sensationelle Vocals hinzu, was natürlich an Wheel's letzte
Tour de Force "Preserved In Time" erinnert (natürlich singt Arkadius auf beiden Combos), aber noch einen Tick stärker ist, und obendrauf sechs
fantastische Texte, an denen offensichtlich jahrelang gearbeitet wurde - das Ergebnis ist ein bahnbrechendes Debüt für Genre-Fans, das hoffentlich
für Furore sorgen wird und bei allen geschmackssicheren Freunden epischer Musik am Ende des Jahres auf den vorderen Plätzen landen wird. Wer
einmal 'The Ghost That Once Was I', 'Garden of Despair' und meinen Favoriten 'When Judas Spins the Wheel' gehört hat, wird sie nie wieder
vergessen

In their first bout of new music since 2022"s critically celebrated Mondays at Enfield Tennis Academy, Jeff Parker and his ETA IVtet find themselves exploring the depths of improvised jazz grooves on The Way Out of Easy. Featuring long time members Anna Butterss (Jason Isbell, SML) on upright bass, Josh Johnson (Meshell Ndegeocello, SML) on saxophone, and Jay Bellerose (Elton John, Punch Brothers), the selections are honed and focused to bring the atmosphere of one specific night"s setlist. The delight of the space (now sadly defunct) helped Parker build a beautifully multi-textured, gently-shifting four-dimensional construction out of simple ideas.

Vom Wall Street Journal als "eine der faszinierendsten Sängerinnen der modernen Musik" beschrieben, hat die in New York geborene und in Tamil Nadu aufgewachsene Sängerin und Multi-Instrumentalistin GANAVYA Details zu ihrem neuen Album "Daughter of a Temple" veröffentlicht, das am 15. November 2024 erscheinen soll. Das Album folgt auf ihren Auftritt bei SAULTs umjubeltem Live-Debüt 2023 in London, bei dem, laut The Guardian, ihre "Stimme eine zarte emotionale Kraft hatte, die selbst Stoiker zu weinenden Wracks machen konnte." Für "Daughter of a Temple" lud ganavya über 30 Künstler*innen verschiedener Disziplinen zu einer rituellen Zusammenkunft nach Houston ein. Dementsprechend sind auf dem entstandenen Album zahlreiche Mitwirkende zu hören, darunter renommierte Musiker*innen wie esperanza spalding, Vijay Iyer, Shabaka Hutchings, Immanuel Wilkins und Peter Sellars. Die Ergebnisse, eine innovative und zutiefst bewegende Mischung aus spirituellem Jazz und südasiatischer geistlicher Musik, wurden zunächst von Ryan Renteria aufgenommen und dann 2024 von Nils Frahm im LEITER Studio in Berlin weiter bearbeitet und abgemischt. ganavya ist die Autorin und Sängerin des ersten tamilischen Textes, der mit einem Latin Grammy ausgezeichnet wurde, sie war Sängerin in Vijay Iyers Ritual Quartet und Solosängerin auf dem von Quincy Jones produzierten "Tocororo", das Platz 1 der Jazz-Charts erreichte. Ihr letztes Album, "like the sky I"ve been too quiet", hat sie mit Shabaka Hutchings aufgenommen und versammelt Gäste wie Floating Points, Tom Herbert, Carlos Niño und Leafcutter John.

Knapp vier Jahre nach ihrem Debut Patterns veröffentlicht Jenobi im Mai 2024 ihr zweites Album. Ein halbes Jahr lang schloss sich die in Hamburg lebende Musikerin Jenny Apelmo Mattsson in ihrem Studio ein und ließ für "Irregularity" 11 neue Songs entstehen, die sie nicht nur selbst geschrieben, sondern auch eigenständig aufgenommen und produziert hat.

Die bereits aus Patterns bekannte mystisch-skandinavische Melancholie trifft nun auf markante Beats, die zusammen mit der charakteristisch zarten Stimme eine ganz neue Dimension eröffnen. Außergewöhnliche, elektronische Elemente erinnern teilweise an Björk und The Knife, während selbstbewusster Sprechgesang zu lässigen Basslines eine Attitüde hervorbringen, die wir bei Künstlerinnen wie Rosalia und Noga Erez wiederfinden.
Irregularity steht dabei längst nicht nur für musikalische Innovation, sondern liefert auch eine starke Message, die Apelmo Mattsson nun aus ihrer Oase in die Welt heraustragen möchte. Viele Talfahrten und Herausforderungen prägten die 13-jährige Erfahrung als Musikerin, die sich stehts in einer männerdominierten Branche behaupten musste. Doch während Patterns destruktive Verhaltensmuster thematisiert, berichten die neuen Songs von einem neu erlangten Bewusstseinszustand und Stärke. Nach der Trauer kommt die Wut – das spiegelt sich in Texten, gespickt mit cleverironischem Humor, die ein bittersüßes Gefühl hinterlassen, dass sofort süchtig macht. So gelingt es Apelmo Mattsson patriarchalische Strukturen mit
einem selbstbewussten Schmunzeln zu kritisieren.

Since yeyeh brought them together in 2019 to record their first collaborative album, Swallow a Party, Oceanic and Greetje Bijma have become firm friends.

When they gathered in Studio Het Rode in Roderwolde for three days of improvised recordings based on existing ideas, Oceanic and Bijma set out to create music, through a mixture of voice and electronics, inspired by the mental sounds and images that appeared when they thought about the Wadden Sea’s celebrated landscapes. Extended improvisations were recorded, before Oceanic edited them down and they collaborated shaped the finished versions with added texture and structure.

Sykheljende Lûden (Frisian for “breathing sounds”), wears its central inspiration lightly, with many of Bijma’s startling and expressive vocalisations and Oceanic musical motifs subtly hinting at tidal flows, bird calls, and the comforting feeling of home that the environment stirs in both artists.

Dischi Fantom’s Sussurra Luce series, blurring the boundaries between text, music and voice, returns with their fifth instalment, an expanded version of Hanne Lippard’s “Talk Shop”. Sculpting a fascinating bridge between radically experimental sound practice, conceptual art, and sound poetry, across its two sides the Berlin based multidisciplinary artist taps an almost dada sensibility, delivering a suite of poems and texts where singular words and sentences are looped and repeated creating a sensory experience of the efficiency and stress found in our private as well as public life.

Roughly a year ago, we had the pleasure of exploring the first two releases from Dischi Fantom’s emerging Sussurra Luce series, Ginevra Bompiani, Caterina Barbieri, and Tomoko Sauvage’s “Il Calore Animale” and Francesco Cavaliere’s “Zoomachia Disc 1”. An extension of the Milan based cultural platform Fantom’s broad and diverse activities (exhibitions, installations, performances, etc.) across numerous artistic disciplines, the series, curated by Francesco Cavaliere and Massimo Torrigiani, delves into the “science of imagination”, working with contemporary authors to explore and blur the boundaries between text, music and voice. Now the brilliant series returns with its latest entry, the Berlin based multidisciplinary artist Hanne Lippard’s “Talk Shop”. Released in a limited edition of 200 copies and coming with an LP-sized booklet, it combines orality and textuality with the idea of loop and repetition to explore the notion of time, and it’s a stunning gesture of performative poetics that plums a startling range of subjects through its sonorous forms.

Working across the fields of text, vocal performance, sound installation, printed objects and sculpture, for more than a decade Hanne Lippard has deployed language as the raw material for her work. Working within a practice that rests at the juncture of the spoken and written word, drawing upon content appropriated from the public sphere (found text) intertwined with her own words, Lippard’s work investigates how the rise in digital communication and mediation reprograms our relationship to language, presenting the subsequent fragility of language - its flaws, oddities, and potential for misinterpretation - and its attempts to convey meaning and sense.

“Talk Shop”, the fifth instalment of Dischi Fantom’s Sussurra Luce series and Lippard’s third recorded release - building upon the ground of 2020's “Work”, issued by Collapsing Market, and 2021's “PigeonPostParis”, released by Boomkat Editions - began as a live performance. Combining orality and textuality with the idea of loop and repetition to explore the notion of time, its relationship with the world of work today, and its personification through the experience of the human body - anonymity as the spearhead of the digital economy - the conceptual underpinnings of the piece depart from the notion that the human voice has become commodified by the ubiquitous nature of contemporary productivity, and intertwined with the mechanics of capital - the voices of satnavs, smart speakers and voicemail systems - while the written word has become increasingly anonymous online.

Addressing vocal anonymity as a spearhead of the digital economy, Lippard’s “Talk Shop” - regarded by the artist as “a compilation of poems and texts where singular words and sentences are looped and repeated creating a sensory experience of the efficiency and stress found in our private as well as public life” - taps an almost dada sensibility through its unexpected layers of meanings drawn from a maximalized approach to the potential of the human voice, creating an engrossing and challenging listen from the first sounding to the last, that continues to reveal itself and unfold with every return.

Sculpting a fascinating bridge between radically experimental sound practice, conceptual art, and sound poetry, it culminates as one of the most strikingly singular creative gestures we’re likely to encounter this year. Highly recommended and not to be missed.

Hanne Lippard (Milton Keynes, 1984) explores the social forms that govern discourse. Her artistic practice, which mainly takes the form of reading and sound installations, investigates the voice as an instrument of emancipation and alienation in times of hyper-connectivity. By mixing personal thoughts and appropriating texts from advertising, slogans and newspaper articles, the text becomes a mix of private and public that regains inventiveness and authorship through the use of the voice, becoming a body of its own. Her recent artistic research has focused on the use of the female body as a container of sounds, on the conscious and unconscious automation of speech and language.

Liquor Talkin’ is the debut studio album from Texas-based country artist Don Louis. Born in Irving and raised on a 12-acre farm in Commerce, Texas, Don Louis learned the meaning of work early on. He grew up tending to livestock, singing along to George Strait and Al Green, and playing football. Done was an All-District defensive end for Commerce High School and played on scholarship at Ouachita Baptist and Southern Arkansas. He performed well at NFL combines, but an injury in 2020 changed everything and Don son found himself chasing his other childhood dream - being a professional singer. Don’s mix of Country, Rock, and Rhythm and Blues has been winning over loyal fans from the start. He’s shared the stage with acts such as Dylan Wheeler, and Don’s personality and gritty voice have also earned him a healthy following on Spotify and social media. Ask Don how he’s doing and he’ll often reply, "I'm blessed and highly favored!” That attitude says it all.

"Introspective Resolute is the 2nd full-length record from Austin-based Billy King & The Bad Bad Bad. Building off their penchant for muscular riffs and classic grooves, the band expands into deeper psych rock territory, marking a shift towards a more complex and rewarding sound. Billy King and The Bad Bad Bad are a psyched out rock band from Austin, Texas. The Austin Monthly once called them “Surf Rock From Hell” and the band doesn't disagree. They blend the spirit of hard rock rebellion with acid-laced beach parties with an anti-establishment attitude. Make no mistake, these mates are an American rock and roll band - with a Texas Twang, a monstrous sound, and third coast riffs."

Transcendental poetry meets Southern Nightmare Jazz on the third album by Alabama-based artist Johnny Coley Mister Sweet Whisper is the meeting of poet & artist Johnny Coley and the band Worst Spills, led by guitarist & arranger Joel Nelson. (Imagine "King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown," but more like "William Burroughs Meets Lounge Lizards in Ghost Swamp"). Joined by vibraphone player and recordist of the group, Jasper Lee, Mister Sweet Whisper centers Coley as a gifted writer and unique elder voice, supported by an eclectic cast of friends & collaborators. Tapping into French surrealism and transgressive American poets such as John Ashbery, the songs in Mister Sweet Whisper evolve, cinema-like, with Coley as an uninhibited, almost mystical, narrator. Textural, jazz-like playing complements Coley's decadent landscapes, which glide by like cigarette-inspired invocations. Echoing, and at times, dissonant notes of saxophone, crystalline tones of vibraphone, and jagged guitar arrangements punctuate Coley's dreamlike visions, populated by ballet dancers, haunting nightclubs, and ghostly car drivers. Wistful and expansive, the songs in Mister Sweet Whisper speak of Coley's talent and natural ability to channel his poetic world into songs. A remarkable follow-up to Coley's first two albums_Antique Sadness, from 2021, and Landscape Man, from 2022_which were praised as "exquisitely haunting, sublime, hilarious" and falling "somewhere between Robert Ashley, David Wojnarowicz, and Intersystems," Mister Sweet Whisper arrives in full form: unpredictable and brilliant. LP comes with a 4-page booklet featuring artwork and writing by Johnny. Pressed in black vinyl.

„Brighter days are up ahead“, verkündet Dwight Yoakam im Titeltrack seines neuen Albums Brighter Days, seiner ersten Veröffentlichung von neuem
Originalmaterial seit neun Jahren. Brighter Days wurde in den letzten drei Jahren geschrieben und aufgenommen und enthält 12 brandneue Songs,
die von Yoakam geschrieben bzw. mitgeschrieben wurden, sowie zwei scheinbar ungleiche Coverversionen von „Keep On The Sunny Side“ von der
Carter Family und „Bound Away“ von Cake, die kunstvoll und in dem unverwechselbaren Stil, der nur von Dwight Yoakam stammen kann, zu einem
Gesamtwerk verwoben wurden. Die mitreißende Leadsingle „I Don't Know How To Say Goodbye (Bang Bang Boom Boom)“ wurde von Yoakam
speziell für eine Zusammenarbeit mit dem selbsternannten Dwight Yoakam-Superfan Post Malone geschrieben.
Yoakam hat Brighter Days selbst produziert und dabei eine moderne Reverenz an die Geschichte der Country-Musik mit dem Pioniergeist des
kalifornischen Rock'n'Roll verbunden. Das Ergebnis ist eine Mischung aus handwerklichem Können und Unmittelbarkeit, die den typischen Dwight
Yoakam-Cool“ einfängt, der den zweifachen Grammy-Gewinner seit Beginn seiner legendären Karriere von seinen Country-Kollegen unterscheidet.
Wie üblich sind Yoakams Texte auf dem gesamten Album sowohl täuschend mühelos als auch ergreifend. Brighter Days wurde von dem
Weltklasse-Ingenieur Chris Lord-Alge abgemischt.

Blake Lee has always been fascinated by the unknown, and space, in its isolating, mysterious vastness, embodies this theme immaculately. The open void, captured so memorably by Stanley Kubrick in '2001: A Space Odyssey', is Blake's far-reaching canvas on 'No Sound In Space', a cinematic meditation on the cosmos that's painted in nuanced, emotionally sincere colors. The Los Angeles-based composer has been contemplating his full-length debut since 2021, using his guitar as a sonic paintbrush rather than find himself snared in its traditional aesthetic constraints. Transforming its characteristics with effects and subtle processes, he layers sustained tones and intimate improvisations, creating richly visual polychromatic utopias teeming with unknown life.

Since 2011, Blake has been most known for being the guitarist and a music director for Lana Del Rey, notching up three songwriting credits on her acclaimed ‘Ultraviolence’ full length. He sees his solo work is a form of escapism, a place where he can experiment and find comfort and catharsis outside of expectations and formal structure. The album was written instinctively, and Blake made sure he didn't force anything, letting go and getting out of his own way, listening intently as sounds and textures materialized organically. "I didn't want to ruin it by being a perfectionist," he laughs. And his collaboration with Kenyan sound artist KMRU, who runs the OFNOT label and contributes to two of the tracks on the album, occurred similarly organically.

Blake was moved to reach out to KMRU when he caught a performance of 'Natur' at Los Angeles' Zebulon in 2022, leading to a prolonged back-and-forth. They didn't meet in person until earlier this year, by which time they'd become firm friends, continuously sharing music and conversation. KMRU had lent a valuable ear to Blake, who sent early playlists of 'NSIS' that, over the months, slowly evolved into the finished album. It's the first release on OFNOT that's not by KMRU himself; the label emerged last year with the release of KMRU's own 'Dissolution Grip', and Blake's debut immediately expands its sonic universe. Alongside the playlists, Blake also provided KMRU with the tracks' raw stems, which KMRU began to edit and expand in his Berlin studio. 'Miura' and 'Waiting' are the result of this process, two sublime abstractions that augment Blake's dreamlike, euphoric tones with KMRU's pebbly distortions and booming low-end rumbles. And this same playful sense of freeness seeps into Blake's other compositions.

On the misty 'In A Cloud', he surrounds cascading string tones with soft-focus pads that swell until they're like crashing waves, and on the two 'Echoplexx' pieces, he uses delay and reverb to smudge his sounds until they're viscous residue, the harmonies obscured by whooshes of white noise and distant chimes. The mood is quieted somewhat on 'Moving Air', as Blake's swirling tones form half-heard lullabies, coalescing into a dense, melancholy crescendo, and he fills out the sound with reverberant airport recordings on 'Pan Am', letting pitchy My Bloody Valentine-esque drones warble beneath the transitory chatter. Each track melts into the next, forming a billowing, cryptic narrative that leaves more questions than answers. Blake is constantly searching, and fills his unoccupied space with warmth, perception and sensitivity.

Blake Lee has always been fascinated by the unknown, and space, in its isolating, mysterious vastness, embodies this theme immaculately. The open void, captured so memorably by Stanley Kubrick in '2001: A Space Odyssey', is Blake's far-reaching canvas on 'No Sound In Space', a cinematic meditation on the cosmos that's painted in nuanced, emotionally sincere colors. The Los Angeles-based composer has been contemplating his full-length debut since 2021, using his guitar as a sonic paintbrush rather than find himself snared in its traditional aesthetic constraints. Transforming its characteristics with effects and subtle processes, he layers sustained tones and intimate improvisations, creating richly visual polychromatic utopias teeming with unknown life.

Since 2011, Blake has been most known for being the guitarist and a music director for Lana Del Rey, notching up three songwriting credits on her acclaimed ‘Ultraviolence’ full length. He sees his solo work is a form of escapism, a place where he can experiment and find comfort and catharsis outside of expectations and formal structure. The album was written instinctively, and Blake made sure he didn't force anything, letting go and getting out of his own way, listening intently as sounds and textures materialized organically. "I didn't want to ruin it by being a perfectionist," he laughs. And his collaboration with Kenyan sound artist KMRU, who runs the OFNOT label and contributes to two of the tracks on the album, occurred similarly organically.

Blake was moved to reach out to KMRU when he caught a performance of 'Natur' at Los Angeles' Zebulon in 2022, leading to a prolonged back-and-forth. They didn't meet in person until earlier this year, by which time they'd become firm friends, continuously sharing music and conversation. KMRU had lent a valuable ear to Blake, who sent early playlists of 'NSIS' that, over the months, slowly evolved into the finished album. It's the first release on OFNOT that's not by KMRU himself; the label emerged last year with the release of KMRU's own 'Dissolution Grip', and Blake's debut immediately expands its sonic universe. Alongside the playlists, Blake also provided KMRU with the tracks' raw stems, which KMRU began to edit and expand in his Berlin studio. 'Miura' and 'Waiting' are the result of this process, two sublime abstractions that augment Blake's dreamlike, euphoric tones with KMRU's pebbly distortions and booming low-end rumbles. And this same playful sense of freeness seeps into Blake's other compositions.

On the misty 'In A Cloud', he surrounds cascading string tones with soft-focus pads that swell until they're like crashing waves, and on the two 'Echoplexx' pieces, he uses delay and reverb to smudge his sounds until they're viscous residue, the harmonies obscured by whooshes of white noise and distant chimes. The mood is quieted somewhat on 'Moving Air', as Blake's swirling tones form half-heard lullabies, coalescing into a dense, melancholy crescendo, and he fills out the sound with reverberant airport recordings on 'Pan Am', letting pitchy My Bloody Valentine-esque drones warble beneath the transitory chatter. Each track melts into the next, forming a billowing, cryptic narrative that leaves more questions than answers. Blake is constantly searching, and fills his unoccupied space with warmth, perception and sensitivity.

Exquisitely compiled by Discrepant head honcho Gonçalo F. Cardoso from three tapes released earlier this year by the tireless mind-body of Spencer Clark through his own Pacific City Sound Visions, 'This Year In Coconuts Vol. 2' is another revelation into the deeply personal soundworld of this true voyager of both ancient, present and forthcoming times. Coming from a truly singular artist, capable of conveying multiple visions into a labyrinthine-esque mythology all of his own, these seven tracks feel as much part of their original setting as connected pieces from this never ending and puzzling netherworld.

Dedicated to the Temple of Isis in Pompei and opening sides A and B, the two tracks from 'Tempio d'Iside' set up a scenario not far from a dream version of the Temple itself, made from crystal clear synth-lines and levitating ambiences, like drifting into ancient memories from days to come. Making up about half of the compilation, the four tracks from 'Kowloon Spider Temple' drip into a feverish mosaic of Clark's by now trademarked cascading rhythms, unhinged alien-vocal samples, phantasmic textures and sparkling synth harmonies projecting a catchy hypnotic oblivion filled with intrigue. The sole title track from 'From the Caves and Jungles of Apulia' tangentially reports back to some lower-fi recordings of the past, with its murkier sound inducing the feeling of willing confinement within such caves and jungles. A brilliant Year in Coconuts, indeed.
Mastered by Rasha

Lily Seabird is a perceptive songwriter who can channel moments when everything feels raw and overwhelming into something healing and galvanizing. With Alas, the Burlington, VT-based artist's sophomore album, she confronts grief with palpable clarity on tracks that careen from delicate folk to blistering indie rock. While it's her second LP, it serves as a proper introduction to an undeniable and idiosyncratic voice. "Alas, sounds way more like me," she says. "This is the album I wanted to make in the first place." Though Seabird is now known as a solo artist and collaborator in Burlington's vibrant music community as the bassist for Greg Freeman and other acts, her journey started in Pennsylvania when she picked up the saxophone as a kid. At 14, she learned guitar and started performing as Lily Seabird. After a brief stint in New York City playing in bands, she moved to Vermont, which has been her home since 2018. "When I came to Vermont, I was playing solo a lot but then I started a band with Greg Freeman," she says. "Since 2018, it's been me and Greg and a bunch of different casts of characters have been in the band since then it's an ever-evolving thing. It's just us playing my songs."The songs on Alas, came from a particularly unmoored period for Seabird. "I wrote this album in 2021 and 2022 on the road, trying to figure out who I am," she says. "A lot of them also deal with the time when my close friend passed away. The title Alas, meant a lot to her." Even if the songs don't always directly tackle this specific loss, there's a sense of mourning in how relationships change and dissolve. Take "Grace," a reflection on female friendship, which features the lines, "I hope she's happy now she should be 25 / She taught me something that I thought I'd always hide." Elsewhere, the knotty and unpredictable "Dirge" finds her singing, "I don't know if I believe in god / I don't know if I know how to go on." Seabird and Benny Yurco produced Alas, which was recorded at Burlington's Little Jamaica Studios with Freeman and drummer Zack James (Benny Yurco). It's a quietly expansive album full of subdued, organic textures and moods. Songs like "Cavity" are lush and inviting with silky guitar and Seabird's expressive saxophone playing. The 10 songs on Alas, stretch out and leave space for introspection and deep listening with some tracks taking nearly seven minutes to mesmerizingly unfold. It's a remarkably assured and vital statement from one of the most promising new songwriters alongside peers Merce Lemon, Squirrel Flower, and Allegra Krieger."The album is about loss, coming of age, and sadness but there are also all these moments where happiness takes over," says Seabird. "It can be two things at once: life isn't just pain and sadness, there's also joy. They can all exist at the same time. Alas, is an expression of grief but it's also for letting go."

Yemen Blues was founded in 2010 by the singer, multi-instrumentalist and extraordinary showman Ravid Kahalani. Their music is inspired by the culture of Yemen which is at the crossroads of the Arab world, East Africa and Jewish traditions. A culture that reconciles the learned and the popular and mystical experience. Connect these age-old and essential trances with the most contemporary energies of Blues, Funk and Rock; let it be played by extraordinary musicians.
High energy and profundity; freshness and mastery are all combined in the world of Yemen Blues. Shabazi - A Tribute to the Poet is a special project imagined by the group, setting the most beautiful texts of the greatest Yemeni poet of the 17th century Shalem Shabazi to 21st century music. The mix was done by Tamir Muskat (Balkan Beat Box and Gogol Bordello).

Originally released in June 2012 with only 100 copies, Marcello Napoletano's Private Collection 001 is now being reissued. This rare jam of raw house and analog grooves showcases his unique underground style, blending deep, gritty beats with classic analog textures. TIP!