Suche:the experience

The latest entry in An’archives’ ‘Free Wind Mood’ series, Ki is a trio that pits long-time collaborators Tamio Shiraishi (saxophone, voice) and Takahashi Michiko aka Mico (drums, voice, vocoder, melodica, piano, percussion) against drummer, percussionist and vocalist Fritz Welch. They each bring a wealth of experience, from Shiraishi’s early moves in the Japanese underground of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s – he was a founding member of Fushitsusha, and played with Taco and Machinegun Tango – to his legendary, late-night solo New York subway performances; he and Mico also spent some time playing with No Neck Blues Band, while Welch, currently based in Glasgow, has a long history taking in stints with Peeesseye, Lambs Gamble and FvRTvR.

Tearful Face Of My Cute Love (Is Begging To Me), named after a yakuza song, is Ki’s first LP, after CD-Rs on Chocolate Monk (Ki No Sei, 2009) and Unverified (Stops Dropping, 2010). Documenting two live performances from 2008, it’s a startling, wild freedom chase, each piece stretching languorously across one side of the vinyl, giving the trio maximum space to thunder their way through space and time. Their West Nile 2008 show, on side one, opens with a battery of drums, fierce and livid, before Shiraishi’s unmistakable and remarkable whinnying, high-zone tone slithers into earshot. The stage is set, the battle moves forward, yet there’s remarkable simpatico between the three players, with Mico and Welch volleying guttural vocal exhortations at each other. When it does offer respite – see the sudden swoop into near- silence at around 12:30– everything’s still tense; who knows what’s around the corner?

For all its fury, though, Tearful Face Of My Cute Love... is full of oddly lyrical moments, too – see the sweet melody that winds out, with gentle melancholy, near the very end of the West Nile performance. This lyricism also haunts the second side of the album, a performance from Glassland, Brooklyn, which seems more focused on the intersection of incidents, from clattering cymbals to ghostly swarms of sax scream, to dive-bombing spirals of vocoder. There’s an appealing sense of audio verité here, as though you’re in the room with the performers, shaken and stirred by every movement, lost in the interlocking maze they’re weaving in real time. It’s a bracing, thrilling document of very immediate, human music – of three bodies moving through the world, sounding their environment.


[a] a1 Tearful face of my cute love [is begging to me] (Side A)
[b] b1 Tearful face of my cute love [is begging to me] (Side B)

Elders is the debut release from Ensemble Nist-Nah, a nine-piece percussion group led by Nantes-based Australian drummer and percussionist Will Guthrie. The diverse group of French musicians that make up Ensemble Nist-Nah – whose collective experience encompasses traditional Gamelan performance, contemporary composition, noise, jazz, and everything in between – perform on drum kits, traditional and junk percussion, and a complete set of Javanese Gamelan instruments. Though building on the foundations of Guthrie’s solo work with Gamelan instruments (Nist-Nah, BT057) and primarily performing his compositions, Ensemble Nist-Nah is a collective endeavour, propelled by a breathtaking enthusiasm that has seen the ensemble manage to rehearse, perform, and even tour Europe during the Covid-19 pandemic.

From the first seconds of opening track ‘Geni / Tirta’, it becomes immediately obvious that this is no dry academic exercise or exotic indulgence. Rapid arpeggiated figures are propelled by manically busy kit drumming while slow-motion melodic lines float above. After a series of abrupt tempo changes and fragmented unison passages that crossbreed the rhythmic intensity of the Balinese Kecak with the joyride of an Ornette Coleman head, the music slows to a monumental groove, equal parts Javanese court music and Dark Magus. Another sequence of thrilling divagations leads us to the unexpected guest appearance of acclaimed vocalist Jessica Kenney, who elaborates a haunting Javanese Bedhaya across a spacious backdrop of massive gong hits, shimmering cymbals, rustling bells, and gritty textures.

The remaining pieces that make up Elders explore a dizzying variety of approaches, from the shifting rapid-fire muted textures of ‘Overtime’ to the ghostly bowed tones and ominous swells of the title piece (developed from a track on Guthrie’s solo Nist-Nah release), which gradually builds into waves of shuddering low resonance and asynchronous percussive clicks like a haunted clock mechanism. On the aptly titled ‘Rollin’, virtuosic twin drum kits criss-cross errant metallophone patterns in propulsive polyrhythms, while ‘Planeker’ manages to achieve a bizarrely effective fusion of Harry Partch and Autechre. Arriving bedecked in beautiful monochrome images of gongs drawn by ensemble member Charles Dubois, Elders is a feast for the ears: music that burrows deep into timbral and rhythmic possibility while possessing an intoxicating physicality and revelling in the joy of collective performance.

Immortal Onion have already built a strong position as one of the most interesting, new jazz projects from Poland. After two well received albums ("Ocelot of Salvation" in 2017 and "XD ExperienceDesign" in 2020) we've had the pleasure of presenting the new re- lease called "Screens" recorded at the initiative of the saxophonist Michał Jan Ciesielski.

The songs composed by Michał confirm, that jazz electronic fusion can be still fresh and thrilling. The album, where beside Michał, Tomir, Wojtek and Ziemowit, you will find many guest instrumentalists. Thus resulting in a step forward made by the still young musician from TriCity.

It is worth mentioning, the song entitled "ZOZI" is enriched with the string parts recorded by Ola Szymańska on violin (Alfah Femmes, Ralph Kamiński, The Fruitcakes) and Weronika Kulpa on cello. Also, you can hear the brass section consisting of David Lipka on trumpet (Zgniłość, Bizzarre Penguin) and Paweł Niewiadomski on trombone (Power of the Horns). In the composition called "OK Boomer" you can hear characteristic guitar soundscape recorded by Marcin Gałązka (Tymon Tymański).

The whole album was recorded and mixed by Michał Jan Ciesielski. Mastering was done by Michał "Eprom" Baj. Graphic design was created by Marta "Martiszu" Ludwiszewska, who, like no one else senses the crazy spirit of immortal onion.

“I am most excited, that they got out of their formula and invited Michał Jan on saxophone who perfectly complements the ideas of guys from the Immortal Onion.”
Hania Rani —

First volume – though the 2nd never happened – of this ongoing collaboration between post-punk stalwarts Cherry Red and home of the western dub On U Sound. Adrian Sherwood obviously sitting behind the desk and a cast of marvelous artist leading the way for a reggae renaissance. Stolen and contaminated songs, we may take this as a reference point for 12 unreleased tracks showing the best of the UK underground rhythms. A further development of the Jamaican heritage, with handmade electronics and a forward thinking production. Mothmen ‘Afghani Dub’ is one of the leading track here, with future members of Durutti Column and Simply Red on board, this is a mystical post-industrial trip through upbeat rhythms. Along the way you’ll find the over the top vocal performance of Judy Nylon – more akin to certain no wave expressionism – futuristic vibes from Sun Of Arqa, contribution from New age Steppers supergroup and Creation Rebel teaming up with the so-called Jamaican ‘Voice of Thunder’ Prince Far I. All in all a (natural) mystic experience.

Working with producer Paul Butler (The Bees, Micheal Kiwanuka, Caroline Rose, Hurray for the Riff Raff), Seratones have taken the invitation to knock at the door of the cosmos. A.J. Haynes's voice dances with soul-stirring devotion at the altar of Black Feminisms: weaving the words Toni Cade Bambara, Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis multiverse, echoes of bell hooks, and Audre Lorde's Power of the Erotic. With drummer Jesse Gabriel's machine- like precision and the
transcendental touches from guitarist Travis Stewart, the album oscillates between Alice Coltrane-inspired bliss & Giorgio Moroder's ecstatic release. Each song hovers and pulsates in the wide, dark matter'constellations guiding a journey through the subtle body, the vast fullness of the human experience and the irresistible potential of liberation.Packaging: CD Digipack

The word that jumps to mind when hearing Deanna Petcoff's music for the first time is “yearning”. A whirlwind of emotions, her debut record To Hell With You, I Love You is a reckoning with the loss of a relationship, documenting the aggressive highs and deeply emotional lows that come from falling out of love.

Recorded in Toronto over the course of a year spent in-and-out of lockdowns, she was able to look more closely at the nuances and minutiae of relationships and examine the ways in which they can either grow or falter. She writes about her frustrating experiences as a24-year old woman finding her voice and identity while navigating a never changing world, exploring the ins and outs of love and heartbreak with a grace and quick wit that belies her year. Her rich, textured voice juxtaposes her soft imagery and her vulnerable and starkly honest lyrics welcome us into a world where even a fleeting moment of emotion can become its own monument.

Based in Toronto, ON, Petcoff shaped her own unique brand of beautiful and confessional indie rock through years of devotion to music, sharing stage with the likes of Molly Burch, Tokyo Police Club, The Nude Party and many more. She excels with heart-on-her-sleeve-emotive lyricism that showcases her strength as a songwriter and a vocalist, and on To Hell With You, I Love You, she wanted to present “the whirlwind of emotions you have when you’re grieving a relationship, which can feel like the death of a part of you or what you thought your life was going to look like.” It’s an album that ebbs and flows with a confidence and an assuredness as she tackles the highs and lows of falling in and out of love, and everything in between.

Spectacular live recording from 1986 of two seminal figures of the Japanese avantgarde - Akira Sakata on saxophone and Takeo Moriyama on drums.

Mitochondria captures the reunion of the two free jazz masters, who started playing together in the Yosuke Yamashita Trio in 1972 until 1975. For both, the experience with the trio was an important step in the development of their own career and musicianship. The recordings are a remarkable performance in which each successfully highlights the essential elements of his playing while giving of room for the other musician.

Recorded at Kashiwa Church Chiba Pref. In Japan on 24 May 1986 by Yukio Tezuka on Sony stereo cassette recorder.

Mixed by Jim O’Rourke, Mastered by Martin Siewert. Graphic design/cover photo by Lasse Marhaug.
Liner notes by Kazue Yokoi.

Companion is proud to announce 'Chances', the debut album from Naarm based trio, Acopia due for release on 7th March, 2022. Acopia is the collaborative project of Kate Durman (Purient), Lachlan McGeehan (Liluzu) and Morgan Wright; an intimate excursion of ultra-emotive dream pop.

Written over the course of two years, 'Chances' serves as a shared confession of all three members' personal journeys. It captures the melancholy and mourning of breakups, the thrill of finding new love, and the experience of learning to love yourself just as others do. Delivered in a moment of new beginnings, the album offers both blissful hope and sonic escapism. It is a familiar plaintive and joyous journey - a heady swirl of emotion drawing us in, bleary-eyed and pensive.

"The follow-up to 2019’s critically acclaimed Mint Condition—hailed by Rolling Stone as a “gorgeous reflection on finding peace amid upheaval”—True North took shape from a deeply collaborative process between Spence and producer Jordan Lehning (Rodney Crowell, Andrew Combs). The album features 12 brand new songs written or co-written by Spence that explore the full spectrum of the human experience: love, growth, grief, and the endless complexities of human nature.
"

We navigate a delicate sonic grid, immersed in what could be compared to an Ocean Of Sound. But this is not functional listening, much less decorative. It's the mood of one person expressed through sound. Actual sensory / sensual experiences recorded on location and mixed into an intimate narrative featuring other, outer, field recordings, intense, celestial voices, Vera Dvale's original music, as well as compositions from other artists. A personal flow is communicated to the listener from a coast in the deep North, allowing the listener a trip of the imagination. From inner world to inner world via outside space.

2022 repress stickered sleeve

Yan Cook joins the Core of the label with a release that confirms one more time his amazing technical skills, Hammerhead is a non-stop heavy pounding release that showcases Yan experience. This is a sure-shot on any rave dancefloor.

The Line Is A Curve is about letting go. The core of the record is that the pressures we face do not always have to be heavy burdens, but can be reframed; the more pressure a person is under, the greater the possibility for release.

The album plays like a chronicle of pressures - the mind-numbing pursuit of a comfortable life, the eternal striving for more, the pressures of the city, the country, the times. The pressures of maintaining relationships, of battling illness, addiction, poor mental health, the vacuous life of our online selves. As we move through these chronicles though, the mood brightens. The musicality becomes more expansive as the lyrical horizon broadens and we glimpse coastlines, high streets, scrap yards, train stations in the rain; the entire album begins to let go. We encounter the contributions of artists who I love and admire, guest vocalists and instrumentalists, and so we defeat the sense of isolation felt in the opening track with a sense of deeply connected community. More Pressure, the penultimate song, is the essence of the whole album and the epiphany that leads to Grace, which is a prayer, a surrendering; ‘Please move me, please move through me, please unscrew me, please loosen me up.’ But once we get to the end of Grace, and the album, we loop back to the start – to ‘Kiss off the day with a mute mouth. Pass the commute like I can die faster than you.’ Because no matter how much a person grapples with, realises, deeply understands, about life and their place in it, we still wake up in the morning back to square one. Life isn’t solved the minute you figure something out about it. It’s a daily operation to increase your resilience, cultivate a deeper acceptance, let go of what’s chasing you and lean in to the pressures. It’s cyclical, as I believe all things are. And instead of trying to fight the cycles, this album asks us to surrender to them. To let go.

These general themes, of acceptance, resilience, surrender are also about where I’m at in my personal life, in my journey towards a greater acceptance of myself as an artist and as a human being. Being more honest with the world and my community about who I am and letting go of some heavy heavy shame, which is a glorious thing.

This album has a beautiful heart, there is so much love running through it and I can’t wait for people to experience it.

Our Starry Universe returns with it’s first release of 2022, the mesmerizing Mother Oak from Dan Wainwright & Elle Redding. The album is out on 12” vinyl and digital 22nd April.

An Acid House/Cosmic concept album featuring Elle’s spoken word on Dan’s production, Mother Oak is about the life cycle of an oak tree from the perspective of the tree. “As we dreamed up a rough outline of the story, the music was created to personify the seasons and the emotions that were to come through Elle’s words.” Says Dan.

It’s a deep listening experience. The kind of record one should listen to in one sitting on vinyl while you are staring at the lyrics on the back cover. “…it all just fell perfectly into place as Elle typed the story. It all came to life really quickly and was an emotional experience for me to enjoy something so beautiful as her creativity and it’s an honour to have that combined with mine.” Says Dan.

He continues… “We made an album that carries meaning and wisdom and at the same time conveys our wonder, awe and joy that we both experience by being in nature and feeling connected to the forever changing cycles of our planet.”

Dan Wainwright is a prolific producer in the underground with releases on Night Noise, Tici Taci, & Sprechen as well as a seemingly constant slate of releases on his own imprint Oddball Recordings.

BLIQ's latest instalment is by prolific Chicago artist Ike Release & long-standing label friend Iron Curtis on the remix duties. "111118 & Wmpwmp" are hardware driven, pitched-down jungle juxtapositions, instilled with soul. On the flip, Signal 2 Signal Remix by Iron Curtis on "Leisure Devices" triggers an electrified excursion into the old school, with the original score laying an immersive experience with emotions powered by the machines.

Clear Vinyl

Written and conceived by Stephan Crasneanscki, ‘LOVOTIC’ is a concept album by Soundwalk Collective, composed in collaboration with lauded actress and singer/songwriter Charlotte Gainsbourg. Featuring veteran techno stalwart AtomTM, rising singer/composer/performance artist Lyra Pramuk, celebrated actor Willem Dafoe, and writer/philosopher Paul B. Preciado, the album is released by the new Berlin-based Analogue Foundation.

Inspired by a relatively new field of research that seeks to explore and develop the possibilities of sexual and emotional relationships – and even love – between humans and robots, ‘LOVOTIC’ interrogates the impulses, ideas, and needs underlying this phenomenon. The project ventures into a future where sex, intimacy and desire are reformulated through the connection of humans, robotics, and artificial intelligence.

In an age of such hybrid entanglement with the machine, human identity requires the construction of new forms of intimacy, gender, and sexuality. At present, however, such technologies are primarily used to produce programs of limited sexual iterations that do not question the preformatted categories of gender and sexual orientation. In contrast, on ‘LOVOTIC’, Soundwalk Collective ask whether the future of sex and sexuality could instead be an exponentially expanding kaleidoscope. Where does the impulse of preference come from? What sets of words from our vocabulary can be communicated to the AI mind to generate a new identity for desire? Could the machine be another technology that brings us closer together?

Sonically ‘LOVOTIC’ is unidentifiable, artificial, and genuinely futuristic, occupying an amorphous androgynous netherworld at the borderlands between biotic and android. Traditional musical signposts are virtually non-existent, instead offering a mercurial, formless sound which mirrors the flourishing of gender fluidity it suggests could be on the horizon.

The production tangibly evokes the odd, rubbery textures of faux flesh, the slick virtual glide or glitchy mishaps of software, and the sleek shine of hardware. Gleaming sound design creates shard-like surfaces redolent of Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto’s ‘Glass’, the slippery stretched sonics Gabor Lazar, and the unsettling dark ambience of TOWERS and Hallmark ‘87.

At turns intimate and inviting, with whispering-in-your-ears ASMR vocals evoking blissful, heightened sexual states, within ‘LOVOTIC’ there’s optimism, but also unease; As well as the positive, it implies the negative ramifications of technology. At points a synthetic siren’s call appears to lure the listener to a darker place, with audio malfunctions suggesting dystopian science. Voices morph from gentle to distorted – a glitch in the system causing the mask to slip, like virtual lizards – ‘They Live’ or ‘V’ (?), for the metaverse age.

Here, Charlotte Gainsbourg invokes a being of unknown identity – an artificial eve, the oracle and the portal – speaking from an unspecified time in the future. The voices of AtomTM, Lyra Pramuk and Willem Dafoe weave in and out of Charlotte’s, often overlapping, merging into one another, expressing the entity of a being that’s ephemeral and in constant flux, oscillating between the natural and artificial. The record’s other bonafide singer, Lyra Pramuk’s delivery alternates between spoken word, operatics and partially- unintelligible language.

A multi-media project, ‘LOVOTIC’ also features the work of writer, philosopher and curator Paul B. Preciado – a leading thinker in the study of gender and body politics. Paul contributes a post-apocalyptic, quasi scientific and fictional text, which adds further fantasy, artistic and intellectual depth, augmenting the listener’s experience. Like all the best Sci Fi, his words seem prescient, describing what could become a likely reality in the future. Paul performs his written texts on the opening and closing tracks of the album; ‘The Age Of Mutation’ (in Spanish) and ‘Primate Love’ (in English).

Soundwalk Collective is an experimental sound collective helmed by Stephan Crasneanscki in collaboration with Simone Merli, which operates in a continuously rotating constellation of sound artists and musicians. The Collective’s approach to composition combines anthropology, ethnography, non-linear narrative, psycho- geography, the observation of nature, and explorations in recording and synthesis.

After meeting and working with Janko Nilovic - the extraordinary French library maestro - on a new album, while traveling and performing together around the world for almost 10 years, Igor Zhukovsky & Romeo Miussky - the multi-instrumentalist production duo, and rhythm core of The Soul Surfers - were inspired to make a record of free, spiritual, esoteric sounds which blended together on tape and made Sound Excitement happen.

Drawing on their experience as soundtrack composers and using heavyweight Soviet analog equipment, including a few vintage personal instruments belonging to some legends of the Soviet leftfield music scene, Igor & Romeo started experimenting with genre-blending music. The outcome of their recordings are a mixed bag of different moods and genres.

“It's something similar to a library record or more like a compilation of many different library records on one LP for a good decade if you know what I mean? It's the work which we're really excited about and excited to share with you! ...oh that's hell of a wordplay!"- I. Zhukovsky

Paris-based producer Alexandre Bazin returns to Umor Rex with another side to his music approach. If in Full Moon (Umor Rex 2016) he explored the analog electronic music merged with classical minimalism, in this new work, Bazin dives into totally rhythmic terrains while maintaining his devotion to electronic exploration and acoustic drums. Four Steps even rubs shoulders without discretion with techno music and the dancefloor, and retains his refined obsession with melody and structure.

In these pieces, Bazin lends space to electronic soundscapes, experimentation, and computer programming, everything derived from precise compositions. With melodies created with Buchla Music Easel, EMS Synthi, among other instruments, Four Steps –through the drone and ambient music– crosses roads with elegant and infinite techno loops. The album is a 4 track EP released in vinyl 12" in 45 rpm, finely mastered by John Tejada with a focal point in harmonics and dimension, offering an exquisite hi-fidelity experience even for the digital lossless audience.

Alexandre Bazin has been a member of the France GRM (Groupe de Recherches Musicales) since 2005.

Composed & mixed by Alexandre Bazin at Château Rouge. Drums in Four Steps III by François Desmoulins. Mastered by John Tejada in Sherman Oaks. Artwork & photos by Daniel Castrejón in Mexico City.

After a cameo appearance on the Spektrum compilation, DC Salas lands on TAU with his first full EP. The Belgian producer has been active for more than a decade and brings with him depth of experience and maturity, along with a clear understanding of the dance floor. His Time Well Spent EP showcases these core skills, along with his distinct flair and emotive nuance...

LP, 150 copies with screen printed artwork Behind Teahouse Radio is Pär Boström… a Swedish ambient musician, visual artist, label/publishing house owner. Together with his sister (also musical partner in crime) he runs the label/publishing house Hypnagoga Press. Most of his music projects are released on this label. But his work has also already found its way to well known labels such as Cyclic Law and Cryo Chamber. Teahouse Radio is one of the many projects by Pär Boström and most lo-fi and to my ears the most melancholy… and thus fitting Vrystaete very well… In 2018 the debut album (and only album so far) “Her Quiet Garden” was released on CD in an edition of 100 copies on Hypnagoga Press. Here (and below) you have a really nice video on the process of the music and artwork being created… The songs themselves were composed from 2004 onwards with intervals and recorded in a few days during late summer 2016. This 2LP vinyl edition of “Her Quiet Garden” captures the delicate, fragile and minimalist soundscapes very well… and features three additional pieces from the same sessions which were never released before… Expect acoustic instruments that are blended with electronic equipment, forming a sombre ambient music of tinkling tape loops and humming pedal drones… like Gurdjieff meets Eno in some sort of way… And… it is also a very personal album and any listener who sits back and pays true attention will witness and experience this. This is what the musician himself says about the album: An album about summer houses and winter towers, about the changing of weather. How one feeling changes to another. The loss of a loved cat. A real garden becoming an imaginary garden. Depression as a pond. Years of therapy and music as the main counterpoint. About escapism. Psychoses. A giant who walked in and out of the world, decorating it nicely. An aural tale. Half in water, another half in the northern woods. Childhood through nostalgic binoculars. A wardrobe to another place, a gentle knock on the door in the oak tree.