Buscar:the dat project

We're thrilled to release two exciting electro tracks by Art P, as well as the classic minimal synthwave tune 'Der böse Osten' by related band project Die Synthetische Republik on this limited split 12".

The single kicks off with 'Genscher Pull and Push', an incredible and previously unreleased electro/wave/proto-techno tune from the P.A.P. archives, recorded in October 1982 with a political background. The song was only available on a demo cassette for a radio show and had been forgotten since then. Genscher was a long-time Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs and Vice Chancellor of Germany, who played a key role in a coalition change in September/October 1982, leading his party, the FDP, to leave the Helmut Schmidt cabinet with the SPD and continue with the opposition, the CDU/CSU. As a result, the German lyrics of the song shout 'bitte geh nach links / bitte geh nach rechts' ('please go to the left' - meaning the left-leaning SPD, and 'please go to the right' - meaning the right-leaning CDU), and so on.

Unfortunately, this track was never released, as the topic of the coalition change quickly became uninteresting and outdated. If it had been issued on vinyl in late 1982, it would probably be considered one of the first proto-techno tracks ever. With its driving and heavily-punching 808 rhythms, and the bending synth bass leads played on the Jupiter 4 synthesizer, it gives you a groove that owes as much to Kraftwerk's 'Computerwelt' album as it may rhythmically pre-date the sound of Detroit's Juan Atkins. The energetic German vocals are giving the track a unique Neue Deutsche Welle touch. They are heavily left/right panned to fit the political topic.

Next up on the Art P side is a remix of 'Polaroid', originally found on the No Message LP that we re-released last year. The track was recorded in 1985, and at that time, the duo of Frank Grotelüschen and Jens-Markus Wegener had become bored with the sound of the Roland 808 drum machine, so they made the track with a DrumTraks by Sequential Circuits. However, for this remix, DJ Scientist, the curator of this 12", wanted to recreate the typical electro-funk sound of the era and added 808 bass drums and claps. The track was also shortened to a more DJ-friendly arrangement. The result is a dancefloor delight for all lovers of classic electro and SVC-350 vocoder sounds!

Die Synthetische Republik was a project by Wegener of Art P and Olav Neander. The track 'Der böse Osten' can originally be found on the cassette album 'Faktor D', recorded in just two weeks on a Tascam Portastudio 245. The original recording sessions were pure fun but also rushed. Hence, none of the tracks was perfectly mixed. With digital technologies, we remastered 'Der böse Osten' to achieve the best possible result and are pleased to release this serious synth wave gem on a loud 12" for the first time as an exclusive extended mix.

The split 12" is released in a picture sleeve with a unique artwork on each side. It is limited to 500 copies.

Rich Aucoin is announcing his next album entitled Synthetic - The record is a rare Quadruple Album with its 4 seasons/LPs being staggered in 6 month intervals over the next 2 years

The album, which began at The National Music Centre in Calgary, Alberta in March 2020, houses one of the world's most extensive collections of rare and historic synthesizers. There, Aucoin was doing the Artist In Residence program and recorded 51 synthesizers to begin the project. The project was paused with the start of the pandemic and Aucoin shifted back into film scoring and worked
on the critically- acclaimed and short- listed New Yorker - Films of the Year documentary, No Ordinary Man, about the trans- masculine jazz musician Billy Tipton.This record is a good demonstration of Aucoin's scoring potential as well as it's a quadruple instrumental album; a huge contrast to United States, Aucoin's previous, and most vocal heavy album to date. Lyrics just take me so long to write that I just want to take a couple years to make other kinds of albums before going back to lyrical music as I can write instrumental music much faster. This first fulllength features Aucoin as the solo musician playing some 37 synthesizers including: Arp 2600s, the Supertramp owned Elka Rhapsody 610 String Machine, Formanta Polivoks, Novatron T550, Oxford Synthesizer Company Oscar, Selmer Clavioline CM 8 and the legendary TONTO which the first release off the record
was made on.

Tracks: Tonto / Hypernormalization / Algorithm / Future / Buchla / Esc / 456 /
Space Western / Return

Baby Buddha is David Javelosa and musical partner Charles Hornaday playing instruments and providing their own whacked-out vocals. Baby Buddha really was less of a band than a project; a side project in fact, for some members of another group, Los Microwaves. Baby Buddha would eventually record and release an album, 1981's provocatively-titled Music for Teenage Sex on Robbie Fields' L.A.-based Posh Boy label.

Happily, the project's guiding creative light, David Javelosa has recently seen to a vinyl reissue of the now-40-year-old record, mystifyingly retitled Music for Teenage Sects. Definitely among the stranger releases of the new wave era, Music for Teenage Sex/Sects could perhaps only have been created when and where it was made. But on the occasion of its 40th anniversary, the music sounds as weirdly wonderful as ever. "We Are Not" sounds like Human League stuck in a car with The Residents. And their cover of "All Shook Up" sounds like a musical kin to those inscrutable eyeball guys too; it wouldn't be out of place on Meet the Residents. "Little Things" is a house-of-mirrors, scary track, with spoken-word vocals by Los Microwaves' Meg Brazill and label head Fields.

The album cover is slightly different as well: it displays a bedroom scene like the original LP, but with the young female model absent. The new release (on Javelosa's own Hyperspace Communications label) is pressed on beautiful translucent blue vinyl and comes in a gatefold sleeve with a lively collage of photos, buttons, gig posters. Limited to 500 copies.This playfully titled release features David Javelosa (on synth and vocals) along with Meg Brazill (on bass and vocals) plus drummer Todd "Rosa" Rosencrans. Side One features five studio tracks, none of which were included on the band's 1981 Posh Boy LP, Life After Breakfast. Three of these tracks were recorded in '82; there's no information regarding the provenance of the other two songs. The records' second side collects five live recordings, capturing Los Microwaves onstage in New York City (The Peppermint Lounge) and Boston as well as at San Francisco's own I-Beam, a venue that often played host to the band. Those tracks date form roughly the same ear, 1980-83. Sonically the songs variously recall Blondie, Flying Lizards, Gang of Four and a far less dour Human League. Importantly, the band rocks, even when it's employing a spare drum kit, solid but elemental bass, and monophonic analog synthesizers. The stripped down aesthetics of the group – necessitated by its minimalist instrumental approach – are nonetheless thrilling. Even if you weren't there in 1980, this'll take you back.

repressed !

Some people are just not destined to have enough sleep.When you don't sleep enough the world appears to be a different place, compared to the way it is when the mind is fully rested. In such cases very different scenarios may occur.
Starting with a dreamy melody of Roma Zuckerman's 'Sleep not found', which inspired the entire 008 album, and ending with a thirteen minute live recording by a_000, the side project of Alex Backdrop, the entire record has a dreamy and tripped out flow. 008 continues the tradition of gatefold double EPs as conceptual album.All tracks are selected around a particular story, a trip, and presented as a continuous sonic landscape.All tracks are structured in a way that they can be mixed one with another an endless amount of times making a continuous loop, a trip, that needs only end when the party stops. Kraviz works without release dates or deadlines, enabling her to achieve a certain sound bank to shape the story, unmasking the thoughts and unravelling like a dream. A1. Roma Zuckerman - Sleep Not found (North Edit) Apart form the fact that he leaves in Krasnoyarsk in the middle of Russia, very little is known about Roma (short version of the name Roman). But listening to his music and engaging in random short conversations late at night makes it clear that there are really a lot of things going on Romas mind... Minimalistic yet emotionally complex, his music always stands out with it's murkiness and signature moodiness that Roma creates like nobody else.
A2. Deniro - G Deniro continues the record's journey with his new live cut that like pretty much everything he did so far is a beautiful sparse atmospheric groover. He says he wanted it to be angry and it its done with triggering synths from the tr909 and tr808.
B1. Maayan Nidam - Infinite Rattle
Maayan was born in Tel-Aviv. She does not like computers and prefers to record her music live using hardware only. In order to do so she built her incredible studio in Berlin where she recorded "Infinite Rattle'.There is much more to come from Maayan on
B2. Bbbbbb - Prins Polo Caramel milkshake.
Side project by Bjarki-bbbbbb. Like any other normal Icelander, Bjarki really likes ice cream. In Iceland they are absolutely crazy about it.They walk the streets, ice cream in hand, even when its freezing cold outside. But even more than that Icelanders like Milkshakes with all sorts of added cookies and candies. Bjarki's favourite is called Prince Polo after the name of a chocolate bar. He always believed Prins Polo was an Icelandic brand but a couple of months ago somebody proved him wrong.
C1. Exos- dub jazz
In Iceland Exos is a legend. Everybody knows him there. He's been playing incredibly powerful and technically advanced techno sets since the late 90s and releasing delicious dub techno on Icelandic label Thule. Nina always appreciated his subtler, dubbier side, and this short recording a the continuation of it.
C2. Maaayn Nidam - Justice for some
This second live recording was a perfect fit for this album. Maayan has managed to create a particular mysterious night time dreamer here. Sound wise it's even more unique. It took a few times to get the master right, because we wanted to keep the original breathing of the machine that has captured a seriously freaky vibe. Maayan has always been one of Nina's favourite DJs as they share a similar attitude towards music. But after this tune she has also reserved a place in Nina's collective of favourite producers. D1. A_000
This is a side project of Italian native Alessio Meneghello (Alan Backdrop) & Enrico Voltan. . A beautiful 13-minute sonic journey.

In the fight against Alzheimer’s, epilepsy, schizophrenia and other diseases characterized by an imbalance in neuronal activity, there are chemical weapons, such as those that try to prevent the protein fragments known as beta-amyloid plaques from developing in the
cerebral cortex , and physical, such as electrical stimulation that allow to restore the functionality of brain cells. This last resort, which has already been shown to be effective in modifying the activity of the cerebral cortex, is today a weapon of general intervention.

Converting it to precision requires the development of individualized and predictive brain models that allow identifying where and how much to stimulate each patient. To achieve this, an international European team is working on the creation of virtual replicas of the
most unknown organ in the body: the Neurotwin project.
According to recent research, the decrease in power in the neuronal oscillations of the gamma band of the cerebral cortex (a pattern whose frequency ranges between 20 and 50 Hertz) favors the development of protein fragments related to Alzheimer’s.
Transcranial application of weak electrical currents has proven to be an effective and painless way to modulate brain activity without side effects.

The objective is to create complete computational models of the brain with real data of living beings (human patients) and that allow to anticipate and specify the effects of noninvasive stimulation techniques on neurological mechanisms.

“Never turn your back on a friend.”
Alfred Hitchcock

Mastering – Eternal Midnight Mastering Studio
Cover Art – Nitasha Singh Brett
Visuals - Dietriamgle, Espii Studios, Irene Avellanal

Dutch Techno master Orlando Voorn has opened up his archive for the first of what will be an ongoing artist focused series brought to you by Above Board Projects. The compilation will be spread across 2 double 12" volumes and will feature tracks from many of Voorn's pseudonyms including; Fix, Baruka, The Ghetto Brothers, Mute & many more. With this initial release we are proud to introduce the lead-in sampler 12" for Voorn's forthcoming 2-part archival collection entitled 'Diligence'. Each track has been carefully selected and programmed in conjunction with Orlando Voorn and this 12" even features the unreleased and previously unheard gothic 1992 techno masterpiece 'DX Me Silly' which was very kindly excavated from the DAT archive specifically for this project. The 12" also features the classic sounds of Fix's 'Life Beyond The Clouds' featuring Detroit legend Blake Baxter. Orlando Voorn's association with Detroit has been long running since day one and some of the music contained within this compilation celebrates that while showcasing some of the more overlooked tracks from the man's more than extensive catalogue. In short, this is a must have for any serious Techno fan! All tracks fully licensed and remastered with the full permission of Orlando Voorn. Remastering and lacquers by Curvepusher. Compiled and directed by the Above Board Projects team. Design and layout by atelier Superplus. 2019

There is a certain type of weird effect that is generated by strange, repetitive loops. Ultrastation, the new project of Utrecht veterans Cosmic Force and Nuno Dos Santos, know this well.

The two have teamed up to deliver '4723 EP' and we couldn’t be more thrilled to have them on board, joining our Discos Atónicos family.

Expect four slabs of intergalactic pounding, cosmic modulations, deep resonances, repetitive bleeps and strange atmospheres: a kind of 'technoide soundtrack from outer space'.

Let's dance outside the laws of gravity.

Enzo Siragusa rounds off another incredible summer with a highly anticipated project, a collaborative FUSE EP with Martin Buttrich. Striking a perfect balance between Enzo's UK rave roots and Martin's matured finesse, the 'Three Squared' EP nestles neatly within FUSE's distinct sonic palette.

Part of the FUSE family from the very beginning and held in high regard by Enzo, the two solidified their watertight bond via the line ups and studio sessions they have enjoyed together over the years, a bond that shines throughout this release.

When Enzo produces music for his label he always has the FUSE dancefloor in mind, aiming to create those immersive experiences for the crowd that he had as a youngster, across many London raves in the mid 90's.

The 'Three Squared' EP deftly encapsulates this approach, from 'Dangerman', a track that melds Jungle's original elements with the sound of today's house scene, via 'Lifted Spirits' adorned with touches of old school Martin Buttrich, to the darker and engulfing 'Apache', a vinyl only exclusive for the wax heads.

This release also marks FUSE's largest London collaboration to date, as they take over Tobacco Dock's Car Park, where these tracks will be doing some serious damage. At this point the two collaborators will meet again, as Enzo invites Martin to play a live set.

Mighty Theodore and The Custodian Of Records have crafted the quintessential soundtrack for the bleakest of snow days with their new collaborative album, "The Colder It Gets". Bookended by the sound of howling winds, the project offers a hypnotic listening experience where the temperature seems to drop with every track. While the production is immersive, the only warmth to be found radiates from the crackle of Custodian’s vinyl samples. Theodore matches this atmosphere with layered lyricism that explores deep isolation and the struggle to trust that things can improve, though a faint sense of hope remains buried beneath the metaphorical drifts.
Releasing via URBNET this winter, the album invites listeners to bundle up and embrace the chill. The project is bolstered by an impressive lineup of guest features, including Lee Scott, Fat Ray, Thirstin' Howl The 3rd, and Farma G. Additionally, the release includes a thematic bonus track titled "Christmas Missed Us" featuring Von Pea. As the winter solstice arrives, prepare to get lost in a hip-hop experience that proves the music only gets better The Colder It Gets.

East London producer and DJ IZCO announces his debut solo studio album ‘POWERSCROFT’, set for release on 1st May via Brownswood Recordings. The album’s first single, ‘Strike a Pose’ featuring the vocals of Camille Munn offers an early glimpse into the project. To celebrate the release, he will go on a run of UK dates from March to May, culminating at London’s Jazz Cafe.
Named after the road where he grew up, ‘POWERSCROFT’ marks a defining new chapter for an artist who has spent the past decade shaping the sound of UK dance music. Drawing from jungle, broken beat, grime, garage, soul and dub, the album channels the energy of the dancefloor while remaining deeply rooted in memory, instinct and identity. It captures what it feels like to be inside IZCO’s world, where thoughts, memories and influences collide.

Hailing from East London, IZCO is a producer and DJ spearheading a new generation that is bringing soul back to the dancefloor. Shaped by the rich musical heritage of his hometown, he has developed a sound that feels familiar yet forward-looking, diverse yet distinctly his own. That sound has taken him across the globe, from New York to Tokyo, alongside standout sets at We Out Here, Outlook and Glastonbury.

IZCO began his journey making grime beats for local rappers including Capo Lee, Novelist and Reek0, before becoming a key figure in the UK’s evolving garage and dance music landscape. In 2018, he launched his long-running Rinse FM show and released his debut EP Tek 5, earning early underground acclaim. His production credits include PinkPantheress’ breakout track ‘Passion’, created alongside Jkarri, as well as collaborations and remixes for artists such as Katy B and Greentea Peng.
Beyond his solo work, IZCO is a label head, promoter and co-founder of the Brighter Days Family, a collective built on community, craft and cooperation. With ‘POWERSCROFT’, he steps fully into the spotlight, presenting his most personal and fully realised body of work to date. “This album is about channeling my true musical personality and character,” he says. “I’m marking a new chapter by paying tribute to my foundations.”

“Arde” is the creative peak of the Madrid-based experimental collective: 14 cinematic, hypnotic, and emotionally devastating songs that masterfully blend post-rock atmospheres, alt-folk introspection, traditional Spanish elements, and complex, often cathartic arrangements.
The album's UK connection is through Stuart David (Looper, Belle & Sebastian), who championed the band to Sub Pop, leading to their international breakthrough. On Metacritic, it holds a 77/100 score based on 6 reviews, with AllMusic praising its "spectacular balance of beauty and tension”. CMJ New Music Monthly highlighted it as "one of the brightest artistic lights in the diverse Iberian indie-pop scene".
Pitchfork awarded it a 9.3/10 in 2001—the highest score for any Spanish artist to date—describing it as “nothing short of elemental in its beauty”. The album also succeeded in France (PopLane, 2001), with strong coverage in Les Inrockuptibles, Magic!, Le Monde, and Libération. Migala shared stages with key acts like Smog (Bill Callahan), Mark Kozelek (Red House Painters), The Magnetic Fields, Damon & Naomi, and served as Will Oldham’s (Bonnie “Prince” Billy/Palace) backing band during his Spanish tour in 1998.
This new edition has been painstakingly remastered from the original Cubase projects (summer/fall 2000). Every track was exported individually and given a fresh, zero-compromise mastering. The result is a significantly clearer, more open, defined, and powerful sound — especially in the rhythmic foundation — while fully preserving the warm, organic lo-fi character of the original. An absolute must-have for indie, post-rock, alt-folk, and collector sections — a genuine classic that belongs in every serious record store and deserves rediscovery.

2026 Repress

Anenon's tenor saxophone breathes an emotive contemplation on loss, meshed with sustained piano and field recordings. 'Moons Melt Milk Light' is a hyper-personal statement contained in a visceral beauty.

LA native Anenon returns with a highly anticipated new album 'Moons Melt Milk Light' on Tonal Union, bearing his most personal, expressive, and arresting works to date. Anenon is the ongoing solo studio and live project of Brian Allen Simon, whom since 2010 has released multiple albums and EPs to critical acclaim, including the highly revered 'Tongue' (2018) and 'Petrol' (2016).

'Moons Melt Milk Light' is direct, efficient, and unwavering in its immediacy. Anenon departs from the electronics of previous works, and embarks on a reductive, almost entirely acoustic approach consisting of piano, tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, and field recordings. All of the music was improvised with everything recorded as either a first or second take with no edits. Any layering happened fast and in the moment, and yet the sonic architecture of the whole feels both planned and refined.

"I feel a kinetic and messy honesty that doesn't exist in any of the other music I've ever made. There is also a sense of being settled, of calm. There is no faking it here."

AFTER DARK is the latest project from French producer Onra, conceived as the soundtrack to an imagined late-night film. Entirely self-produced, the album continues the sophisticated R&B and Modern Soul direction explored since his 2010 classic Long Distance and 2018's accomplished Nobody Has To Know, focusing on late 80's / early 90's inspirations.

Structured like a film unfolding between dusk and dawn, After Dark moves through themes of intimacy, urban solitude, distance, and quiet indulgence. Analog synthesizers, tight drum programming, understated basslines, and selective live saxophone textures shape a cohesive body of work that favors mood and narrative over excess. The sequencing reinforces its cinematic intent, opening and closing with intro and outro pieces that frame the record as a cohesive night-time narrative album.

Over 20 years since emerging in the mid-2000s from the beat scene, Onra has steadily evolved from sample-based Hip-Hop production toward polished, song-oriented projects rooted in contemporary R&B and Funk. With After Dark, he delivers one of his most focused and refined statements to date: a mature, immersive album built for late hours, and attentive listening.

Call it soulful dream pop, proto-trip hop or downtempo jazz - "Tender Rain" is the follow-up LP to the successful "This Is" album and continues to deliver Ghia's unmistakable sonic magic. On this release, the band shares a selection of previously unreleased vocal songs alongside instrumental pieces, all carried by their trademark chilled and almost meditative atmosphere. Most of the recordings date from the early 1990s, while early demo versions of "New Love" and "Teardrops in Your Eyes" may reach back as far as the late 1980s.

The album opens with the title track "Tender Rain," where smooth vocal jazz harmonies merge effortlessly with soulful pop elements. The track originally appeared only on CD in 1993 on the small Mikado label run by renowned German guitarist Ulli Bögershausen. The band recalls that the piece was first pre-recorded using MIDI equipment and a Tascam 16-track recorder before being completed in the studio with drums by legendary drummer Mickie Stickdorn (Carsten Bohn's Bandstand, Cyklus, Elephant, Lake), percussion by Corinna Ludzuweit, and the final touch-Lisa Ohm's remarkable vocals.

At the time, Mikado was also looking for instrumental material for radio and synchronization use. They selected the track "Tropfstein" for a sampler CD and requested more pieces. In response, "und recken ihre schlanken Glieder" (roughly translated as "and stretching their slender limbs") was composed especially for the project, as Frank Simon remembers. Both tracks appeared on the now rare Mikado sampler CD under the alias z. Zt., short for "zur Zeit" ("at present" or "these days").

Several further pieces in a similar vein were created during this period, including the previously unissued "Auf unserm grünen Sofa," "Reise bei Nacht," and "Was ich Dir noch sagen wollte." These tracks are beautifully crafted downtempo pieces featuring smooth, jazzy piano lines combined with touches of ambient and New Age aesthetics. "Auf unserm grünen Sofa" stands out in particular and will likely resonate with all downtempo enthusiasts. Lutz Boberg recalls that many of these recordings were captured during a single afternoon in the studio, fueled by spontaneous ideas and creative momentum.

On tracks such as "Teardrops in Your Eyes," "New Love," and the haunting Dark Spirits Mix of Ghia's song "What's Your Voodoo?", singer Lisa Ohm delivers soulful pop performances with her clear and captivating voice. "Change Your Sex," the third track previously featured on the Mikado sampler, leans more toward late-1980s funk and was aimed at radio and DJs at the time. Its subject matter was relatively daring for the period, telling the story of someone contemplating a change of sex "to get rid of the troubles."

Together with "This Is" and "Curacao Blue", "Tender Rain" forms another essential chapter in the rediscovery of the band's work. More than thirty years after their creation, these recordings still sound strikingly fresh, reflecting a unique style that in many ways anticipated the rise of trip-hop in the early to mid-1990s.

Unreleased tracks not available until release date.

Trick Dice is the 2015 collaborative album from Richmond, Virginia rapper Nickelus F and producer Shawn Kemp AKA Lil Ugly Mane, widely regarded as one of the most enduring and understated releases of its era. The album captured a specific moment in underground hip-hop—unpolished, regional, and uncompromising—earning long-term respect from listeners, artists, and tastemakers alike. Over the last decade, Trick Dice has continued to circulate through word of mouth, remaining a reference point for fans of stripped-down, writer-focused rap.

This 10-year anniversary reissue presents Trick Dice in its most complete form to date. The standard edition is expanded into a double LP vinyl release and includes eight previously unreleased tracks recorded during the original sessions. The project has been newly prepared for vinyl to ensure fidelity and balance across the expanded track list.

- Nickelus F is a respected underground hip-hop artist with a decade-plus catalog and long-term credibility among tastemakers and peers

- Trick Dice is a collaborative album with producer Shawn Kemp AKA Lil Ugly Mane, marking a milestone project. It is a cult-favorite release with sustained organic demand.

- Expanded 2×LP vinyl edition including 8 previously unreleased tracks from the original recording era

- Bonus tracks curated and finalized specifically for this reissue

- Strong appeal to collectors and underground hip-hop audiences

After their recent LP Mirages (Kraak Records, 2025) with French turntablist Guilhem’All, the group continues to explore collaborations with artists and instruments from diverse musical traditions. Building on decades of uncompromising acoustic exploration, Razen delves deeper into their practice with five improvisational pieces that unfold slowly in time and space. The duo’s radical core - Brecht Ameel and Kim Delcour - finds in Van der Harst a longtime kindred spirit, united by the impact of sound, intonation, and the sheer joy of playing.

To be released on April 24 via VIERNULVIER Records, the artwork for Stained Glass Starling was created by American visual artist Robert Beatty (Oneohtrix Point Never, Christina Vantzou, The Weeknd, Tame Impala). The physical release comes with a 16-page booklet including artwork and an interview.

A long-standing artistic kinship lies at the heart of this project, with first encounters dating back to the early 2000s in Belgian musical improv theatre. Van der Harst’s lifelong experience in improvised music and music theatre, spanning back to the 1980s, combined with a vast arsenal of rare and historical instruments, opens new tonal territories within the Razen universe.

These explorations are not incidental: his family roots in the former Dutch East Indies — through his great-grandfather — provide a quiet backdrop to his enduring affinity for Asian musical traditions. Instruments such as erhu, Javanese kacapi, and others introduce timbres
that bring the music its most pronounced Asian inflections to date.

Yet despite this shift in colour, the underlying ethos remains unmistakably Razen. Working from sound rather than form, the ensemble approaches music as painters approach a canvas: adding layers, contrasts and shades with care. There is no soloist’s ego here; all voices are equal, echoing principles found in gamelan traditions.

Over the decades, Razen and Dick Van der Harst have crossed paths repeatedly, notably through cult theatre productions by Belgian theatre maker Eric De Volder, including Zwarte vogels in de bomen (2002) and Huis der Verborgen Muziekjes I–II (2000–2006). Recording an albumtogether had long been a shared aspiration — a wish that crystallised after a 2024 concert at Concertzaal Miry in Ghent, part of the Ruiskamer series by VIERNULVIER Art Centre.