Cerca:the ocean

Repress

Reissue of the classic, Joey Beltram's Aonox LP.

Kitjen 006 is THE tropical cruise ship experience of the summer - brought to you by Amsterdam duo Beesmunt Soundsystem. Watch an umbrella appear in your glass as you play these 4 superbly crafted House cuts! Start sending automated out of office replies by simply scanning the cover with your mobile device! This record's official dress code is 'cannabis farmer at court hearing". Don't snooze!

the label say: What is soul really The answer to that is a various as the music that claims it. We here at WPH HQ do not know the answer either, but we do know an exceptional piece of music when we hear it. Enter Fabrice Lig, Belgian techno legend with his roots in our little country and his ears definitely in that place called Detroit.
Respected by his techno peers and his Detroit inspirations alike, Fabrice's music is always full of funk and emotion. These two qualities are very much in demand in WPH circles, so it was only a matter of time before Fabrice joined the family.
On 'Border 2 Border' Fabrice brings us two tracks, the title track funkin' and swingin' like nothing else and with a big dose of Motor City chords, making for a true mental dancefloor anthem. Word has it that label boss Red D wrote lyrics on the spot when he heard this one out loud...so who knows what's coming in the near future... On the flip side 'Ocean Rising' goes for arpegiatted bliss and a bass line to rumble you out of your bras or pants. Welcome to WPH Mr Lig!

Musically and emotionally, Superpitcher's third full-length studio album, The Golden Ravedays is a one sound autobiography that exhibits the skill, feeling and depth of style that the artist has honed over a period of twenty years, musically, and forty-plus-years, emotionally.

And full-length it is:

The Golden Ravedays is an epic album of 24 tracks that was released in January 2017 and is stretching over 12 respective chapter albums during a one-year period by record label, HippieDance.
We are thrilled to bring you the third chapter of The Golden Ravedays saga, released in March 2017.

Number 3 of the series introduces two further tracks of the haunting sound adventure that Superpitcher is taking his fans on during 2017.

Side A features 1984.

It has nothing to do with George Orwell's magnificent book but it could remind some of how the apocalypse might sound one day.

1984 is as sweet as the very first track, Little Raver, of The Golden Ravedays album but it stresses the fact that even though Superpitcher produces music mainly intended for the dance floor, he creates sound that is bordering on the shamanic.

1984 might as well be the meeting of a group of supersonic bottlenose whales that are overly excited to see each other after being separated by many an ocean and moon.

Side B of this edition brings us Pocket Love.

Or shall we rather say, Side B gifts us Pocket Love

Because we believe this is nothing other than a gift to us all.

Imagine looking into a kaleidoscope and turning the dial and experiencing all those colors as pockets of love rushing your way and exploding in satin wonderment the moment they past your eyes and ears. Imagine how it must sound like if all the e mails, tweets, facebook posts, instagrams, pinterests, grandma's postcards, text messages, letters on rice paper, hearts scratched into trees, declarations of eternal loyalty written in sand, phone calls and videos of the whole universe were all messages of love stuffed into pockets and sent to you.

Imagine the treasure you will receive!

Imagine being one big ear drum and listening to the very energy that this love exists of - imagine it and you will find yourself inside Pocket Love.

Phantom Forth were the brother sister team of Paul Luker (Guitar, Bass, Vocals), Debbie Luker (Drums, Guitar, Vocals) and Lorraine Steele (Keyboards, Percussion, Vocals). They formed in 1981 in Auckland, New Zealand. Paul began recording his own music after purchasing a 2-track from Oceania Sound. He formed a band with his flatmate and eventually met Lorraine through Debbie. With a shared love of Young Marble Giants and Cabaret Voltaire they started to rehearse at LAB Studio.

'The EEPP' was recorded in 1983 within a few weeks at Progressive Music Studios. Slated for release in February 1984, the mini-album finally appeared in November on Flying Nun Records. It contained seven moody sketches of Auckland. Their sound blends cold wave guitars, drum-machine propelled post-punk with female vocals. The core recording set up was a Casio-Tone VL, Boss DR-55 Dr. Rhythm, Roland TR-606 and an acoustic Yamaha bass. All original vinyl copies contained many clicks and pops and due to paper bits from previous jobs that pressing plant melted down. Included with this reissue are two early demos recorded at LAB in 1982, made prior to Lorraine joining the band, plus a recording from the Flying Nun live compilation 'The Last Rumba'.

All songs have been remastered from the original master tapes for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The vinyl comes housed in sleeve with original artwork collage designed by Paul Lurker. Each LP includes a two-sided 8.5x11 poster with notes and photos.

Zeal....Enthusiastic devotion to a cause, ideal, or goal. In our case devotion to deep, dubby, warm mirco grooves.

The label's first release comes from 'Monsieur Georget' which is an alternative alias for well-known French producer Chris Carrier, who many will recognise from his own label Adult Only Records, along with releases on other labels including Robsoul, One Records, OFF Recordings and Silver Network.

The release also features a remix from stellar German artist DeWalta, who along with a number of seminal releases on Meander, is a regular collaborator with Mike Shannon and boasts releases on other labels including Vakant, Haunt and Visionquest.

Track one titled Le Village Flottant' is the first of the three originals on the release. Setting the tone of what's to come, it has stripped back drums with delicate sprinkles of delay that are brought to life with a wonky lead synth and poignant piano stabs. The track fuses intricacy with dancefloor focused energy.

Second track called Mecrant Des Oceans' has gliding synths that line the back of the mix whilst the morphing tones and subtle squelch of an acid line provides the momentum. Murky and mysterious, there's a metallic ring to the percussion and it's a fine example of how less can often be so much more.

Third on the release is the DeWalta remix of Le Village Flottant' and keeping the originals ride, he adds his own dub Techno influence. With new synth parts he cuts the already stripped drums to a bare minimum, which gives his added synths plenty of room to breathe and creates a captivating ambience.

Finishing the EP is the third original track titled Picnic Dans Le Metro' and like the rest of this release, it twists and turns with rippling textures and deep atmospherics. Each drum hit is crafted with expert precision and every textured synth sound merges to create the perfect groove and mood.

Originally released in 2014, Luciano's 'The Great Amael' is an enchanting and endearing trip; a lo-fi bubbling groove and dusted Hammond organs that hustle along whilst live percussion cuts through the oceanic atmospherics. Two years on, and Cadenza Music call upon a brace of remixers to provide fresh and unique interpretations of this hidden gem in Luciano's catalogue. Having recently released his first album in over 10 years, Matthew Dear AKA Audion boldly steps up to the mantle and stamps his intelligent techno sound all over 'Amael' in the first of our remixes. Cutting a sprightly pace from the off, Audion melts stuttering sine waves and bulging tones over concrete beats, tweaking in the original organ riff and fathoms deep pads whilst adding additional vocal refrains as he playfully teases the arrangement before dropping a superb riff in his 'Backward Melody' Remix, which takes a most psychedelic and unexpected twist! Two other musical heavyweights collaborate on the second of the remixes; Phil Moffa and Seth Troxler are no studio strangers, having released a joint project on the British Hypercolour label last year, and remixed for Tiga a few months back. Their LSOS LOVE/GOD Remix builds from ambient beginnings, save for a rhythm carved out of spongy electronics, a sturdy beat kicking in and setting the controls destination unknown, as the duo steer through breathy vocal cuts and propelling bass, stripping the remix back before leaping back into hyperspace with some adventurous and dubbed out vibes, before coming back down for landing with those unmistakable pads from Luciano's original.

Remember how badly we wanted to join them and be part of those sea-faring adventures: Jack London’s The Sea-Wolf, classic TV shows based on his novel The Road, on Radu Toduran’s novels... back then, a couple decades ago, the titles of these shows alone were enough to trigger some strong gusts in our hearts, salty squalls perfect for imaginary downwind journeys we dreamed of with billowing sails. We wanted to cruise alongside albatrosses, seagulls, and fellow sailors. Floating high above a three-masted vessel, we watched our own adventures unfold far below, an imagined movie scene complete with a whole crew that worked the rigging, and all the rest. Cutting waves. Amidst the storm and stress of sounds hitting our eardrums far out in the ocean. Combined with the sounds of rotors, of tropics crossed, of marimbas and cabin wood pounded, of strange music spotted in the distance. And even though it was merely for an hour or two that we were rescued by that seal-hunting ship “Ghost,” as Jack London had it, plus, even worse, often found ourselves surrounded by villains: it was a great escape, for we’d successfully set sails – to new and exciting places.

Both around their own Weilheim shores and elsewhere, brothers Markus and Micha Acher have launched various musical vessels, bands and free-floating constellations over the past three decades – and yet: amid all these other speedboats and unlikely sonic barges, The Notwist has always remained the mother ship. This new album documents the latest live incarnation of this very band, which also features Andi Haberl, Max Punktezahl, Karl Ivar Refseth, and Cico Beck. Recorded on December 16, 2015 on the second of three consecutive, sold-out nights at UT Connewitz in Leipzig, Germany, "Superheroes, Ghost-Villains & Stuff" indeed feels like a first-hand live experience caught on triple vinyl. That’s why it’s the definitive album of The Notwist’s career.

Although there is one song that points to the early, “louder years” of The Notwist – “One Dark Love Poem” off the album Nook –, the rest of the night’s set sees the band perform all the major hits off Neon Golden, The Devil, You + Me, and Close To The Glass. However, these are different, organically enhanced versions, new interpretations and combinations that feel much more alive; thanks to Olaf Opal’s incredible mix, they sometimes even outshine the original studio recordings. Listening to "Superheroes, Ghost-Villains & Stuff" feels like watching these songs evolve and change, moving from one frame to the next, much like a baroque triptych.

What starts out like ‘wimmelbook’ imagery, the music soon folds and unfolds like a Moebius strip: Sans bottom or top, sans inside or outside, the inside becomes the outside and vice versa. It’s all about sonic interconnection, about music as entanglement, music as reconciliation. The rather majestic, cinematic (indie) pop and experimental, kraut- infused jazz, the spirit of the enlightenment and baroque playfulness, the traces of modernism and minimal music, dub leanings, hip-hop lessons, and even hints of house music: here is where they all come together, reconciled in a sound that’s both melancholy and romantic. And ultimately, the spirit of these songs is set free – and the band has released itself, is free at last.

As for the album title, it’s lifted from the song “Kong,” and encapsulates Markus Acher’s motto. Throughout the track, the water theme first appears as a dangerous threat: a force that’s strong enough to wash away an entire house; and yet the fluid state keeps transforming and eventually releases that sense of threat into something rather hopeful, a new musical beginning, a melodic departure that ultimately leads to euphoria and a renewed spirit of adventure. These are the strong gusts mentioned above, it’s the spirit of discovery, the urge to set sail together. The crew’s back at it, working the instruments, the rigging, with sails a- billow, launching the next voyage of discovery, assuming the East in the West and vice versa. And thus the adventure saga continues.

Pico Be (Das Weiße Pferd)

One month after the release of 981 Mb RSD EP, we are glad to introduce you to the new Molecule's album: 60° 43' Nord (Deluxe Edition). Some would associate the sounds of the waves to heat and relaxation and rest assured, we're part of them. That being so, some others visualize the sea as a wide playground from which they can pick up the echos to turn them into a deep sound. That is precisely the case of Molecule who decided to record the wild voices of the Atlantic Ocean aboard a 90 metres long fishing boat. The result is made of powerful and danceable techno beats ("8 ZL 40), tracks that will take you directly to the Atlantic's depths ("Abysses"), and harmonious moments of time off ("Le Jardin' or Soleil Bleu"). The whole of the tracks is captivating and flows naturally as we listen to it. You'll find the song Hébrides, present on the 981 Mb EP, as well as the original version of Rockall that you might have heard already as a live version. If you never had the chance to jump onto a 90 metres fishing boat, take your chance, Molecule is inviting you to get on his... The CD included in the LP version features the 10 tracks of the album.

Omena launches the X series.

As the name suggests, this is the first of ten limited releases planned. First out is Swedish producer Anders Hellberg with 'Fiction'.This is the sound of having a party inside a whale with a broken rainbow and three pyramids as bass bins.

Not too harsh or in-your-face, rather clean, crisp, and audible.
Two remixes courtesy of Bleak (Delsin/DRH/Naura).
200 Copies only

Solarism is the result of a common fascination for landscapes and a passion for contemplation.After two decades of an unbreakable friendship, we have finaly imaginated this protean entity to express what contemplation has offered us and how it connects us to the world, describing those experiences through music compositions, dj performances and welcoming other artists to release their art.After our strong FRANCK ROGER release TIGER IN THE HOOD, we are really happy to get one of our two label drivers, ARNO E. MATHIEU, back on Solarism. «The Earth Project » is dedicated to planet earth and Arno's feeling for nature, back in his childhood landscapes.A1 - TEARS OF THE WHALES is an epic, melodic and hypnotic trip, drived by a strong drum and bass-line groove. Directly inspired by the Whales journey, this tune evoke also how much this majestic animal have always been an example of a pacific force. Evolving in the deepness of the oceans and traveling all over the planet, whales are also a symbol of how nature suffers of the impact and polution of consumerism system.B1 - TERRA describs a melancolic and balearic long overview of Arno E. Mathieu's chilhood landscape with percussive grooves, strong melodic bass-line and anthemic synth gimics. This new Arno's track evolves in a tight structured arrangement evoking hills, lands and fields that inspired him for so long...

Bret Winans (aka CB-R & CB Radio) produces music out of a studio in Brooklyn. Using a variety of gear that has been amassed over the past decade, he's experimented with house, italo, techno and more. 2014 saw the release of CB-R's Inside Existence, an EP of dub techno and ambient textures that launched the S//P//A imprint. He's also appeared on the 100% Silk 2015 label comp, Sunset Silk, as CB Radio with the more italo leaning Pacific Ocean Blues.' With each release we're opened up to another side of the producer's world. Available on Full Color Jacket LP by New York based visual artist and musician Jay Goitia.

As our fifth elixir finally manifests, Fjader guides us through the misty ocean of the mind to find bliss of rainbow light.

Early support from Deepbass, Svreca, Antonio de Angelis, Arnaud le Texier, Stephanie Sykes, The Noisemaker, Vilix, Nihad Tule, Iori, Rasmus Hedlund, ASC, Periskop, Shaded Explorer, Antonio Vazquez, BLNDR, Jana Sleep and Luigi Tozzi to name a few.

"Rise Above is an album that fell through the cracks - in 1992, records by singer-songwriters were more likely to be ignored than they were 20 years before in the early 1970's or would be 20 years later in the early 2010's. It was certainly critically acclaimed but unnoticed by the world at large. Time, surely, for these dozen classic songs to be re-assessed. (Chris Coleman)

"Rise Above is a work of pensive autumnal fragility and of such high quality, that it would be a monumental injustice to halt the fresh flow of Epic's muse." (Melody Maker)

"one of the "10 Best Albums Of The Year" (Spin)

" a gem out of left field....a bounty of delightfully anachronistic rock tunes here, in league with the best of Alex Chilton." (Billboard)

"....it's even Mr Soundtracks' version of Dennis Wilson's "Pacific Ocean Blue". People will come across "Rise Above" in ten years' time and wonder where the hell it came from. For now, here's the out-of-the-blue album of 1992." ( Select magazine's Andrew Perry)
"...the lyrics are well-crafted, the musicianship's flawless, the production is beautiful (and) the songs are melodic and emotional." ( Dave Thompson in Alternative Press)

· Clasic debut album by Epic Soundtracks reissued on vinyl for the first time

· Collaborations by Lee Ranaldo and Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth), J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.) , Rowland S. Howard (The Birthday Party) and Martyn P Casey (The Bad Seeds)

· Insert with unseen pictures and liner notes by Chris Coleman

"Aquatic System"" is the second installment of the series, written and composed in two remote geographical places - namely at waters in Finland and Fuerteventura. Inspired by the complexity of water, its movement, various forms, inhabitants and hidden energy, the album was assembled mainly using synthesizers and processed field recordings of the ponds, streams, lakes and oceans of the different locations. With a vibrant story and conceptualization the focus lies in taking the listener on a observing, thoughtful and reflective journey through the aquatic system of our waters. Aquatic System opens with an impression of a frozen surface imagining icy and calm underwater movements underneath. Soon a slow process of melting begins and while the water starts to move in tiny streams of sound, small lifeforms evolve, curiously sending out small pulses in their flowing and constantly moving habitat. The aquatic nature awakens. Zooming out to larger waters high frequencies arise and colliding forms become audible. Larger marine life forms can be faintly heard when entering a much wilder environment, sensing sound-swirls of wind, foaming water tops and impressive large waves crashing on dark rocks. Finally ending at the shore, where the great ocean appears on the horizon, the environment is surrounded with moisture. From the calm reflective landscape derives an inward moment, recalling the organic and atmospheric quality of the sound journey. ""Aquatic System"" has been developed into an audiovisual performance together with visual artist Emilia Kwiatkowska and was performed several times in Spain and Finland, before the music has been finalized for the tracks.

Drum Island unveil their tenth release with an extraordinary EP from Norway's Klaus Lunde.

From Norway's oldest city Tonsberg comes the stargazing sounds of Klaus Lunde: an acclaimed and prolific electronic music composer, his array of releases under the Xerxes Music pseudonym explore a unique take on ambience and tonal electronica that's a mesmerising and accomplished body of work to be sure.

This, undoubtedly many people's first introduction to his work, is a perfectly pitched collection that highlights the familiar themes of the Xerxes work, but fits easily into the Drum Island blueprint of music for the midnight sun. On the Exerxes EP, we're treated to pulsating Balearic trance and zero gravity house before gliding into relaxed ambience, soothing New Age and horizontal night music.
We then dive further into the psychedelic ocean hidden below with truly tripped out Kosmiche vignettes of warping and spine-tingling odd-pop.
Guest vocals from fellow viking Marthe Borge-Lunde Pfirrmann (aka Phoenix) making this is a cinematic tour de force!
Limited Edition import vinyl - full picture sleeve - one press only.

Uber picked up this beautiful mellowed out pop song by Shining Bird for a vinyl release after becoming totally captivated by its warm laid back Balearic feel. Shining Bird hail from Austinmer a coastal town just south of Sydney, Australia. They are a collective of friends who got together over their love of the sea, Australian cinema, Dennis Wilson's "Pacific Ocean Blue" Lp and the great Australian poet Henry Lawson. The second track Stitzing/Wipeout is another great alternative pop song in the same vein as Destroyer with the song blending into a 5 min piece of psyched out ambient. On the flip side Coyote remix Distant Dreaming into a horizontal percussion led dubby contemplative trip with pitched down vocals and a throbbing bassline. Uber continuing its crusade of finding and releasing music that captures their Balearic ethos.

Mutual fans Sherard Ingram and Mariska Neerman join forces to present four essential tracks spanning the breadth of contemporary electro on this second release from Bleep43 Recordings. The first side sees Ingram exploring the edges of his famously unique blend of intricate yet relentless electronics, simultaneously touching on Autechre's metallic abstractions while sounding the depths of bubbling oceanic vents. Mariska answers with two tracks of melancholy machine music that embody her talent for melody and arrangement and promise to make their presence felt on dancefloors across the spectrum.

Scuba Death is Ricardo Donoso's alter ego. With more of a focus on analog sound, percussion, sampling, and location recordings, there is an organic undercurrent on Scuba Death recordings that isn't as prevalent in his solo work. This music is rich in atmosphere while still tethered to the deeper ideas that Donoso often explores in his work. Treatises on fear and death­anxiety, the underlining thematic framework for the project, run rampant throughout these claustrophobic electronic passages, and teeter on the edge of being oppressive. Nitrogen Narcosis marks the first full length and strongest statement in the Scuba Death repertoire after the privately issued, ruthless 'Demon Seed' twelve inch back in 2011. The album alternates between surprising lethargic dance inflections all nestled between 75 & 100 bpm, the normal resting heart rate for adults, and the more conceptual, numbness­inducing pieces like '50­-70 Meters' and 'Nociception.' Sequencing plays an integral role on Nitrogen Narcosis as the listener is suddenly thrust into the darkest reaches of the ocean after dark alley grooves are sucked into an aquatic abyss. For a project named after Donoso's near­drowning experience in the South Atlantic when he was younger, there's an impressive amount of reflection & vulnerability present - the field recordings that permeate throughout the album were captured at the same location the undertow caught hold of him that bright Summer day 20 years prior. An inner battle between paranoia and euphoria is played out in well­conceived, precision sonics on Nitrogen Narcosis as Donoso reminds us to look back, break through the surface and go deeper.

Late Night Tales welcomes back the cult figure and ultimate musical connoisseur, Bill Brewster to compile his second episode of the curated compilation series 'After Dark'. An obscure and timeless DJled journey which begins somewhere out in the near ocean, the waves are rolling and lolling gently into the shore, while a full moon shines on the surface. It's only faint, but somewhere nearby is the sound of bass, pulsing slowly, almost in time to the waves. Welcome back to 'After Dark: Nightshift'. Once again Bill Brewster comes armed with a sensitivity and sense of occasion that few other DJs possess. Delivering another batch of slow cooked musical stews, making sure the tempo stays nice and steady and the emphasis is on funk, soul, grits and corn fried chicken, Brewster has done so much digging, Late Night Tales had to hire a forklift truck and tractor. Among the unreleased nuggets, there's the Fernando mix of The Detachments; inordinate excitement about Gino Fontaine, a tune spotted a year ago but has languished in Andy Meecham's Stafford catacombs ever since. Also unearthed are some hitherto secret recordings between Robert Fripp and The Grid, and there are also some proper club faves here, too, like the daft but brilliant 'Mopedbart' by Hubbabubbaklubb and the luminous 'Boutade' by Mugwump, as well as killer oldies like Salsoul Invention and General Lee

Luciaen, AKA Lucien Nicolet, presents the second chapter in his Basaec series, with Origins. The new label from the Cadenza Records boss looks back to the roots of his production career, whilst presenting a wholefully futuristc take on electronic dance music. Origins (Wild Origins) leads release #2, a collosal twelve minute piece of neo-classical electronics. Waves of arpeggio synth dominate the beatless track, its mighty stabs and light percussion propelling the track along at great speed and urgency. The heads will no doubt hear inspirations from Detroit techno in here, but you can't put this piece in any genre box, rather it's a huge musical showcase from one of dance music's most enigmatic figures. The Great Amael finds Luciaen in more familiar territory, a lo-fi bubbling groove and dusted Hammond organs hustle along whilst the live percussions shine through. Energetic and infectious, the tone softens with the oceanic pads that provide its classic melody and threatens to envelope the listener in a wall of beautiful sound.

Hi5 is the latest prank from A Different Jimi, aka Jimi Siebels. It's is a bitchy chicago house smasher in a surprisingly refreshing kinship to New York's hard bop of the 1960s, without ever being in danger of becoming acid jazz. Because in order to create his own definition of jazz-infected-house, Jimi makes no use of already overstrained rare groove samples, but a classic range of instruments and musical friends who he invites to recording sessions in his studio. So we hear RVDS (It's / smallville) at the piano, Hayo Doin (Die Boys / Deichkind) on drums and last but not least DJ Björnski (dérive) on guitar. And yet everything comes together to be pushing electronic music. Hi5 is like the joy of a child over a bucket of water on a hot summer day. And after the refreshment the B side reveals a deep disco pearl in brilliance, plain beauty and a warm, vespertine elegance, that has been created due to the cooperation between a different Jimi and Björnski, the dérive label tycoon himself. 'Hi 5 & Sweet Fancy Moses' is a vinyl-become-south-sea-island in an ocean of tears of joy.

This is the year of Peder Mannerfelt's rebirth. After seven years he's laid The Subliminal Kid to rest. With this new 12", the chains have been locked in and the road map has been obliterated. EP1 is focused like a laser etching out intricate patterns in massive, humming machines. Mannerfelt's ideas have been reduced to a razor's edge and he balances these freeform compositions like a master.
This EP could be seen as a prelude to Peder Mannerfelt's debut album under his own name that will be released by Digitalis Industries in February and at the same time is the first part in a ongoing series of self released records by Mannerfelt.
Opener "Hook (end)" crashes like waves from a metallic ocean bearing down on the shore. The bass craters beneath, digging its way to the listener's core. Each idea is stripped down and simplified to the point of near exhaustion, resulting in tracks that are relentless and infecting. "Psalms and Songs and Voices" is propelled forward by crushing kick drums and rhythmic bass pounding. Somehow, though, Mannerfelt works unsuspecting hooks in between the peaks. It's incredible. "With Psalms and Songs and Praises," the final track on this 12", everything is pushed to the limit. This is absolute maximalism; an overload of the senses that cannot be escaped. It's the opposite of everything else on the EP, combining everything into a single, massive escape.
This is the sound of machines humming. This is the sound of the factory floor in rebellion. And yet, this is only the beginning; the first chapter of a novel yet to come. This is the sound of Peder Mannerfelt finding his voice.

So it seems that 2013 was the year Skudge team decided to camp by the pressing plant! The Skudge imprint is indeed growing along its artists as we're now ready to embrace longer formats, a testimony to the future and most than anything a continuous effort to grasp the present's relevancy.
After their wonderful EP from a year ago, the Fishermen are ready to take you on a diving trip with their very first album, an accomplishment in itself With 'Patterns and Paths', Thomas Jaldemark (YTA) and Martin Skoggehall (MRSK, Smell The Flesh) have crafted a rather mesmerizing story of abstract and figurative tropes altogether, and eerie is probably the best word to describe the general mood of this, but hard and raw eeriness! The affair starts with 'Green Horn', a gentle foreplay setting the tone for an imminent journey into the lightless abysses. 'Hope Is gone' further enhances the incoming grim turn of events in a coil-like fashion before 'Serpents' makes our feet and hips take over our fear of the unknown. The trance has indeed begun and we're soon entering a hidden warehouse rave cave of un-earthy shamanism, the unforgiving stomp of 'Get None'. 'Dyspnea' manages to find a path into deeper regions the groove shift towards a darker funk with 'Lost Teeth', a caribbean techno banger that'd wake any zombie in the making! 'The Four Skulls' suddenly hints of a safer journey with healing percs and melancholic pads, but 'Rise' soon shatters those false hopes with an evil lurking motoric groove. Then, you hit 'Scurvy' where the pace slows down a little only to introduce the seductive side of this gloomy adventure, a challenge to you feet inducing lascivious moves. Keeping you in trance, 'In Solitude' kind of combines both previous tracks strengths with an added Twin Peaks value. Now finally reaching the far bottom of the ocean, the mood gets even more claustrophobic with 'Sunken Mosque', the last stage of this trance before maybe getting back to the surface. Indeed, if 'Torments' might let you catch a breath of air, it is filled with minerals, the world above has changed, and you might very well feel safer back under the water, a reverse mirror to Mike Ink's old Gas project. While this tour guide concludes his narration, the Skudge camp proudly hopes to see you embark on it very soon!

Zadig is back on CRF with a 3 tracks project, telling us story's about forgotten cities, deep and dark oceans, insane planets and outer space machines ... a trip to Arkham asylum.

* Vinyl LP includes MP3 download for all tracks on the CD version *
C.K. Mann made his name as a virtuous guitar player in Ghana when he played with Moses Kweku Oppong in the Kakaikus Guitar Band in the early 60s. He then became the leader of the band Ocean's Strings until 1966. In 1968, he enjoyed a hit with the single 'Edina Benya'.
Mann was known for blending authentic African music with European influences. He was inspired by Latin American music and created a style all of his own. He became known as the 'King of Highlife' in Ghana in the 70's, when he released the record 'Nimpa Rebre' featuring vocals from Pat Thomas and Kofi Yankwon.
Funky Highlife came out of the Essiebons label run by Dick Essilfe Bondzie. According to Dick, this album could have been a massive hit in Ghana but the vinyl factories ran out of stock because of Ghana's economic downturn, so the demand for the record could not be met. The album is a fusion of highlife and soul. The best-known track 'Asafo beesuon' is a multi-layered, drum heavy, funk medley and is over 13 minutes long.

MAV is an oldtimer on the Fokuz imprint with his last release from back in 2006. That was a banger though, called Ocean Phantom. Now dutch synth master Mav is back on track with a collab with Syndrome's Krone to add some neuro bass lines to the matter.

From the 'whistle while you work' opening of 'Zimbabwe', the summer grooves of 'Tapioca' to the dramatic crescendo of 'Oceans', New Navy's debut 'Uluwatu' EP demonstrates the Australian bands powerful songwriting ability and consistent style.