Picture Vinyl "A balance between things that you know people will like and things that you think people will like" is what John Peel had to say on his BBC homepage about Apparat's music programming concept. Apparat then appeared at the Peel Session in May of 2004 substituting like with die for in JP's statement. Indeed, it's sad but true: John Peel passed away a few months later to a heart attack while vacationing in Peru. Apparat could only find a more fitting farewell mood with the rerecording of his session: a sonic dedication to the huge mentor John Peel from Shitkatapult and their people.
Apparat is known as a fluctuating mood-maker by way of his computer companion. In this case he leaves his garb behind. Apparat swings the composer's stick with emotion to give yearning its segway by conducting pieces of lonely melancholic beauty with godly discretion. New strings are thanks to the violin and cello of Kathrin Pfänder and Lisa Stepf aka Complexácord, whose soul-drenched expression lets your mind sway.
The trio harmonizes with dream-like perfection. It reminds one once again of the experimental modus operandi combining classical instruments with electronic music. Singer Raz Ohara and clarinet/sax player Hormel Eastwood find their chosen virtuous and emotional space on this promising cloud. What remains are warm dark drops of elegiac pop the pour down the back of your heart.
This Apparat John Peel Session was remastered by Bo Kondren at Calyx Studios in February 2019 incl. the digital bonus track - Komponent as Telefon Tel Aviv Remix.
The physical appears as picture disc featuring the wonderful original design by Hanna Zeckau & Carsten Aermes on vinyl.
The original release from 2005 (Strike 153) also contained more Remixes by Bus, Rechenzentrum and Apparat himself.
Suche:the oh no s
- A1: I Really Do
- A2: Za Za Za Zilda
- A3: Love’s Desire
- A4: New Land
- A5: Now I’m Sad
- A6: Give Me Love
- B1: Quabala
- B2: Oh Mariya
- B3: Your Life Will Burn
- B4: I Was Fooling
- B5: Before My Eyes Go Blind
- B6: Rolling Thunder
British blues-rock quartet Zior had their roots in the bourgeoning R&B scene that arose during the
late 1960s in the southeast coastal city of Southend; they built a strong reputation in live
performance, opting for ‘happenings’ in the style of Hawkwind and Pink Floyd that went beyond
mere musical events. By the time they recorded their self-titled debut album, issued on Larry Page’s
short-lived Nepentha label in 1971, they were clearly influenced by the emergent hard rock/
heavy metal scene of the West Midlands, drawing from Black Sabbath’s discordant riffs and occult
influences, along with shrill vocal attacks in Led Zeppelin mode; there were shades of Steppenwolf
and the odd Doors-sounding keyboard riff as well (and the Black Sabbath link was heightened
by an album design from Keith McMillan, who was responsible for Black Sabbath’s debut cover
too). The resultant Zior is a varied ride through different kinds of rock terrain, from blues rock to
hard rock and on to whimsical psychedelia and prog-rock, making it hard to classify. Though this
debut LP should have heralded a bright beginning, misfortune seemed to dog the band from the
start; other recordings were released under the name Monument, the band members listed under
aliases, and a second album, Every Inch A Man, was issued in Germany after Zior’s breakup in
1973, without the band’s knowledge or permission.
As a winemaker hailing from the Palatinate, Florian Hollerith understands a thing or two about vintage. It's something that also comes through when you sample his music - rich, full bodied with just the right level of acidity. 2018 was already a good year with Ohrenzirkus featuring on both Sven Väth's Sound of the 19th Season mix CD as well as this year's Dots and Pearls vol. 5 compilation. Florian certainly announced his arrival on the scene in style, so it's only fair that he gets the chance to demonstrate his full range of skills on his very own Cocoon Recordings release. 2019 however, has a darker, more complex flavour...
Florian certainly knows a hookline when he finds one. On the EP's title track Perlas, he's working from the inside out with complex layers creating a vortex of sound. This dense sonic mesh is playful yet dangerous, with ethereal voices and jagged chants adding to the disorientation of the opening exchanges until the congas and skipping bassline give us something to hold onto. The dance floor melts under our feet as a raw, tripped out groove takes hold before the bass suddenly morphs into a brassy acid line that spreads its wings and soars. It's music for the headstrong, a celebration of the timeless tribal ceremonies that have come to define us.
Love Summer adds a contemporary twist to the melodic joys that drenched the early nineties in pure ecstasy. The soulful vocals soothe the mind as horn stabs punctuate the sensual groove, generating power and passion in equal measures. It's a straightforward approach, revolving around a familiar yet eminently seductive riff that just keeps on rolling, propelled forward by the force of its own momentum. There's no need to fuss when you hit on a winning formula like this.
More retro futurism abounds on Electro Indianer as arpeggiated bleeps usher in another vast, sprawling soundscape designed to induce a collective trance on the dance floor. Whistling, circular effects wash back and forth increasing the tension notch by notch as we're led deeper into the wormhole. Finally, the track deconstructs slightly, creating enough space for classic Casio-style bleeps and percussion to embellish a beautiful blissed out ending that trails off into the sun rise, as ancient Native American pipes pick out a haunting melody in the distance.
The second Keep on Wankin EP continues Hell Yeah label boss Marco's on going quest for the perfect remixes. This time out he serves up the most Balearic Gabba influenced material yet and takes you on a trip to the clouds with Bjorn Torske and Fango both stepping up.
First up is Bjorn Torske's take on everybody's favourite Luminodisco tune 'Oh Mary.' It's an impossibly adventurous 11 minute epic with buoyant chords dancing over trilling guitars. Lush, multi-layered and brimming with musicality, this is the sort of dubbed out yet percussively lively masterpiece that will mark the high point of any set as it washes over you time and time again.
Then it's to Fango's chunky and spaced out take on Somerville & Wilson's 'Yantar.' It's been the final track of all recent Fango sets around the world for a while now and that won't change any time on thanks to the slow build to a colourful dub disco peak. It takes you ever higher on wandering lead synths as the fat drums pump away below. Essential stuff.
Press:
Resident Advisor New Tracks Review
"This unhurried, euphoric bit of cosmic disco will bowl over a daytime festival crowd in just about any country"
DJ Support:
Andrew Weatherall (A Love From Outer Space), Kolsch, DJ Tennis, Tim Sweeney (Beats In Space), Benjamin Frolich, Front De Caseaux, Gerd Janson...
* Mirae Arts presents Hush Residence. We are joined by old friends and new comrades from the Kantō underground.
* C-Kay is co-founder of the Tokyo-based collective Space Baghdad and resident DJ of Constant Value. C-Kay is typically busy shaking dance floors with her hypnotic DJ sets, but also producing music for experimental labels such as Subsist Records and Constant Value Records.
* Saraam is a Tokyo-based sound artist, performer, and DJ under the Constant Value banner. Saraam is also a resident of the yearly Tokyo Festival of Modular.
* Katsunori Sawa and Damaskin return to Mirae Arts in their usual noisy disguises.
* Hush Residence is a compilation featuring four experimental techno tracks from Katsunori Sawa, C-Kay, Damaskin, and Saraam. Mastered by James Plotkin.
* Artwork illustration is done by Sydney based architect, Patti Bai.
* Vinyl pressed at the highly reputable Gotta Groove Records, Cleveland, Ohio.
* Comes with polybag packaging
Deformer is known for breaking down musical barriers as well as crushing taboos and oh boy, are you in for a treat with this latest release. Musically Deformer reinvents his recognisable sound once again and it's no surprise that over the years many people consider Deformer a genre in itself. The record is fierce, it has dark humor, explicit content, original arrangements and the Deformer signature sound. What better to wrap this release with the bizarre artwork of famous Japanese manga artist Shintaro Kago. It's a match made in.. well, a horror hentai dungeon I suppose. I never knew that I would be comfortable in such a place, but all I can say is that I can't get enough of this record! Deformer has gained popularity in Japan in recent years and this is his tribute to his Japanese fans. Inspired by Japanese hentai Deformer introduced a new genre, sexually explicit Japanese Breakcore now known as: 'Bukkakecore'.
The vinyl release comes with a download code containing two bonus remixes by Japanese Hardcore heroes Myosuke and DJ Technorch.
[a] a1 Bukkakecore [Beat-Bukkake]
mule musiq's sub label studio mule has formed a group of shifting members and are now releasing a debut album with 8 tracks of reworked obscure japanese gems.
the album contains the three singles the group released so far, featuring miyako koda of the ex-perimental pop band dip in the pool -- whose "on retinae" was reissued by music from memory to great acclaim -- on vocals and mule musiq staple kuniyuki on production with direction by label head toshiya kawasaki.
one of them, "carnaval," is a cover of the japanese dance classic by taeko ohnuki, produced by ymo. "shinzo no tobira" is a remake of the track by mariah, a band led by sax player yasuaki shi-mizu, from their album utakata no hibi -- which was one of the reissues that sparked the global interest in obscure japanese music in the last few years. studio mule's version features japanese lyrics rewritten by miyako koda. "face to face" is a cover of the ambient pop gem from the ultra rare album desire by yumi murata of mariah -- an album visible cloaks is a fan of.
also included is a rework of "kagami no naka no jugatsu," a song by tamao koike produced by ymo, turned into a dubby balearic pop track -- dubbier than the version included on the yen label compi-lation -- sang by nanako sato, one of the artists enjoying some newfound success following a string of reissues stemming from the "city pop" revival craze. the oriental ambient pop "yugao" by singer songwriter mioko yamaguchi is covered by vocalist saho terao, whom some describe as this gen-eration's taeko ohnuki.
"the april fools" is a rework of yukihiro takahashi's track, which itself was also a cover of the origi-nal song by burt bacharach. this new version boasts a more experimental arrangement with nanako sato handling the vocals. ymo's "ballet," originally with vocals by yukihiro takahashi, was reconstructed into a dance floor-ready instrumental by kuniyuki. many say yoshiyuki ohsawa's "soshite bokuwa toho ni kureru" is one of the greatest songs of the '80s. the 12" dance version is reshaped here into a melancholic balearic house track.
the album cover is by the increasingly popular hotshot photographer kota shouji.
- A1: White Blindness
- A2: Appledore Fayre
- A3: Voyager
- B1: Lady Lovibonde/Goodwin Pavane
- B2: Lionel Mettle
- C1: Fanhare
- C2: I Was A Scientist (1892)
- C3: Did I Dream Pts. 1-4
- D1: The Terror Of Melton
- D2: The Ballade Of Layser Manne
- D3: Chromium Dioxide And The Crazy Data
- D4: Hanfare
- D5: Cold Blows The Whistle, Lonely Night
What kind of band would choose a double vinyl, gatefold LP for their first release The Hare and Hoofe. Their eponymous first release consists of two discs. Disc One rounds up their 'hits' so far - 2018's smash hit White Blindness, the space gregorian
chant that is Voyager, and the pastoral tale of Appledore Fayre. The second consists of their rock opera, The Terror of Melton. Time-travelling scientists. Giant laser-eyed robots. A rock opera to end all rock operas...
Pitched somewhere between The Who, The Stooges, ELO, Sparks, Pink Floyd, Voivod, Pete Townshend, Brainiac, Bowie and Judas Priest, The Terror of Melton is a headspinning,
ambitious journey. In turns stomping, tear-jerking, full-on rocking and dreamlike, it will transport you. Prog Magazine's Dom Lawson described it as 'absurdly entertaining and deliciously weird... An unmissable trip for fans of the fuzzy and farout'.
2018 saw the band recording a BBC6Music Marc Riley session before even releasing a physical record. In addition, they've had plays on Stuart Maconie's Freak Zone. The band have also gained a monstrously good live reputation, playing an instantly
legendary set at Hastings' Beatwave festival, as well as headlining Tannerfest, Pitch Fest, playing with Focus and The Fierce and The Dead, and the John Snow Society's annual celebration of the eminent epidemiologist.
Some describe them as 'educational psych', others prefer 'polytechnic beat', still more as 'a seventies garage band'. There's certainly primeval drums, fuzz bass, lashings of guitar and synth noises from another planet.
Formed from a gang of friends from Folkestone, Hoofe members have played in groups including The Heliocentrics, The Priscillas, Ye Nuns, Jail Cell Recipes, The Frank Sidebottom Oh Blimey Big Band, Chalet and Hyperglo.
doctor umezu diva is a japanese sax player kazutoki umezu's one off project which he invited two female artists, one is a legendary marimba player midori takada and one more is a vocalist&pianist and half of japanese newwave band colored music in the end of 80's.
this album was one of the best kept secret jazz album from japan. dubby from ondas tokyo(he compiled 'va/midnight in tokyo vol.2' on studio mule) brought me this record. it was really hard to find as the amount of copies has been very limited.
this album is a unique mixture of modern classical sound and avant-garde jazz which is kind of similar with strata east or nimbus.
For the 5th time now, Nemoy managed to convince actual
musicians to release something on his largely unsuccessful
label. And oh boy, are those some actual musicians this time!
Marlow and his partner in crime Rainer Trüby came up with a
lush, deep house stomper featuring a little vocal shred we all
think we know - but we really don't! They are not so much into
the obvious sample digs... Combined with some crazy hi hat
work and all the minor 9th chords you can possibly handle, - U
Know How I Feel' makes you feel like they really do know, how
you feel. Azaxx took all this and turned it into something
completely different. To be honest, he might just have created
an entirely new genre of soulful electronic dance music.
Outstanding drum programming and the exact right amount of
- when is that beat coming back again!' make his remix a very
unique ride. Nemoy made a version too. He challenged himself
to use the cheapest, most unintuitive and terrible synth you can
imagine for this. And he made it sound like a Million Dollar.
The shue on this one is a very weird animal - but also a very
uffy one. Go get it, before the others do! There are only 200
copies around!
Remix extravaganza ahead! What started as an attempt to transport Feater's brillant outsider pop 'Time Millionaire' (taken from the Socialo Blanco album) onto a dance floor with one or two remixes, ended up as a feast served on three different platters with some heavy hitters. First up, Pépé Bradock and Ricardo Villalobos are crossing their beams. Spread over two 12s, the masters of idiosyncrasies and splendid aural design, Bradock and Villalobos treat the voice of Vilja Larjosto with love and care and bring it into their respective universe during peak time: vocals, dubs, acapellas and bonus bits included. Expertly, tricky and inventive. Remix EP no. 3 merges different trajectories of UK dance music traditions (or Ireland for that matter). Man of the moment Krystal Klear takes the material down to love town: the sound of 1980s Island records meets NYC boogie and UK street soul sounds. Hessle Audio's Pangaea follows the other path: uptempo bass fun with a driving dub and an instrumental pass. Last but not least, Feater & Sam Irl themselves deliver a blissed out dub of the original. Oh, and if you have enough time, flip over to the 10 with an Aba Shanti-I approved UK reggae and lovers rock take on it by Blood Shanti.
Remix extravaganza ahead! What started as an attempt to transport Feater's brillant outsider pop 'Time Millionaire' (taken from the Socialo Blanco album) onto a dance floor with one or two remixes, ended up as a feast served on three different platters with some heavy hitters. First up, Pépé Bradock and Ricardo Villalobos are crossing their beams. Spread over two 12s, the masters of idiosyncrasies and splendid aural design, Bradock and Villalobos treat the voice of Vilja Larjosto with love and care and bring it into their respective universe during peak time: vocals, dubs, acapellas and bonus bits included. Expertly, tricky and inventive. Remix EP no. 3 merges different trajectories of UK dance music traditions (or Ireland for that matter). Man of the moment Krystal Klear takes the material down to love town: the sound of 1980s Island records meets NYC boogie and UK street soul sounds. Hessle Audio's Pangaea follows the other path: uptempo bass fun with a driving dub and an instrumental pass. Last but not least, Feater & Sam Irl themselves deliver a blissed out dub of the original. Oh, and if you have enough time, flip over to the 10 with an Aba Shanti-I approved UK reggae and lovers rock take on it by Blood Shanti.
- A1: Birth Of The Sparkchild (Ft. O. Watson & S. Novsky)
- A2: Schizophrenia (Ft. H. Feraud & J. Jt Thomas
- A3: We Play What We Want (Ft. The Insane Vocal Society, No Dfinition+Brother P.)
- A4: Bobby Sparks Sr.s Famous Chili (Ft. M. Miller, K. Anderson & M. Letteri)
- A5: The Comanche Are Coming (Ft. R. Sput Searight & Mononeon)
- B1: Girls From Tahiti (Interlude)
- B2: So Fine (Ft. J. Rob, I. Sharkey & E. Gales)
- B3: I Miss U (Ft. F. Mccomb)
- B4: Black Man Running From The Police (Ft. S. Novsky, M. Mitchell & T. Parsnow)
- B5: Stono River (Ft. L. Peterson & M. Simmons)
- C1: Lio Is Weird As Hell (Ft. M. Letteri & Mononeon)
- C2: All Mine (Ft. Mental Chaos & Damascus)
- C3: Lets Take A Journey (Ft. S. Novsky & G. Maret)
- C4: Too Late Now, Boss Man!(Interlude)(Ft. C.sweet Thang Sparks & B.r. Sparks S
- C5: Islam (Hadjdj From India) (Ft. S. Novsky & Dj Ernie G.)
- D1: Take It! (Ft. R. Hargrove & Rev. H.l. Stegar)
- D2: Zelin (Ft. D.g. Bonaventure & Y. Edorh)
- D3: Black Change (Ft. J. Rob, Verb & S. Carrol)
Bobby Sparks II ist vielen ein Begriff. Sei es als Keyboarder bei Snarky Puppy, Marcus Miller, Prince oder Liz Wright, Bobby hat überall markante musikalische Spuren hinterlassen. Und nun ist es endlich soweit: Mit "Schizophrenia - The Yang Project" steht Bobby Sparks Debutalbum (2CD Set) zur Veröffentlichung bei LEOPARD an. Es hat gedauert, um diese außergewöhnliche Sammlung unterschiedlichster Songs zu produziern. Aber es hat sich mehr als gelohnt: zeigt sich darin doch das breite musikalische Vokabular und der schier unerschöpfliche Schaffensdrang des Keyboarders. Vom slammenden Funk bis zu langsamen, groovigen Soul-Balladen und Streifzügen in die Genres Straight-ahead-Jazz, Fusion, Orchester- und Weltmusik: das sehr passend betitelte Album "Schizophrenia - The Yang Project" vereinigt eine Vielzahl verschiedener Musikstile in sich, ohne dabei das Gesamtbild aus den Augen zu lassen. Mit an Bord auf dieser außergewöhnlichen musikalischen Reise sind eine Reihe seiner alten Freunde aus Dallas, sowie viele Stars des Genres - etwa die Bassisten Marcus Miller, Pino Palladino, MonoNeon und Hadrien Feraud, der Trompeter Roy Hargrove, die Sänger Frank McComb und James - J. Rob' Robinson, Snarky Puppys Michael League und Jason - JT' Thomas, die Gitarristen Lucky Peterson und Eric Gales sowie die Drummer Mark Simmons, Brannen Temple und John - Li'l John' Roberts.
The Palm Trees Whistle In The Pink Meteor Shower. An Entanglement Of Nature's Mystical Tones Settle. Sonics Trigger Movement In The Oceans Crust While Giants
Filter The Earth's Waters, Thrusting The Waters With Their Gnarly Space Knobs. The Damsel In Distress Is A Hadronic Mechanical Design Like No Other, Moulded, Tested And Shaped By The Entheogen Melanges Of The Omegian Race. Many A
Cosmic Knight Whipped There Sword Out To Retrieve , But In Rightful And Aware Conquest The Dilation And Deja Vu Of Multidimensional Experiences Returned The Opal Tone To The Omega Men. The Midi Rain Will Dance , And The Grooving Aqua Orbs Of Life Will Continue On. - Eddie
It's safe to say that Detroit, a city steeped in economic, cultural and musical history, will soon weave its way into your soul should you spend any sustained time there. This rings all too true for Monty Luke. He has immersed himself in Detroit's scene since moving to the Motor City in 2008. His new eight track LP, released via Dogmatik, showcases the style of a new generation of Detroit producers carrying the beacon for a deep, Detroit sound that blends analogue weight and punchy drum programming together with masterful synth work and raw emotion.
Even at first glance the polarised artwork, an aerial map of Detroit, shows the more introspective nature of this Motor City ingrained release, with Luke purposefully steering away from writing club ready material. Introductory track 'City Lights' gives a first taste of this, combining swelling synths, dreamlike arps and crisp percussive hits. There's a real weight to the bass synth that compliments Abi B's soulful vocals all too well. 'Anton's Room' & 'Crime Wave' follow suit -the former with itslayered gritty bass, expansive stabs, glitchy bleeps and undulating arps and the latter creating a sonic swell between your ears manifested by a surging, panned arp, alongside sirens and punchy, gunshot like snares. Inspirations from Moodymann to Theo Parrish are clear to be seen in tracks like 'Move', taking a range of jazzy loops and samples and chopping them into a low slung, bouncing MPC laden jam.Progressing into the 2nd half of the album there's a transition from deep, Detroit house into harder hitting, electro territory. 'Willie Maze' with its killer drum programming, reverberating Rhodes and dynamic bass and 'Roja', combining emotive late-night chords and melancholic synth melodies, really honeinon that pensive, thought-provoking aesthetic. One of the highlights, 'Wasteland', is the best example of this transition -interlacing a commanding electro drum pattern with squelching, synth melodies and Serene Arena's introspective lyrics.
Then taking it full circle, closing track 'Block Is Hot (Black Hole Mix)' -co-produced by King Britt in Philadelphia (alongside City Lights, Crime Wave & Willie Maze), returns to the 4/4 path with a thumping party track, carrying through that raw nature emanating from the dark melodies and Monty's adlibbed vocals.
'Hard Work/ Not Hype' is a record flying the flag for those underground artists working tirelessly behind closed doors to produce material that's based on feeling, emotion and skill, rather than riding off the back of an inflated, socially constructed image. Monty Luke, as someone that follows that mantra, has been able toconstruct an album showcasing this, creating a real weight and depth to this release; it's raw, powerful and thought provoking, expertly capturing the soul of Detroit -the city that's had such a profound effect on him
DETROIT SWINDLE
Ouch that's HOT! Bring it on.
KRISTIAN RAEDLE/ INNERVISIONS
Yes please. Very nice.
AYBEE
Fanatastic Work Monty!!
ASHLEY BEEDLE
Thanks for sending over the Monty Luke album to listen too. It's a great
contemporary album with of course Detroit running through it's veins! It
really pulls you in and I think the arrangements and productions are great.
Fave tracks are City Lights, Roja, Willie Maze and Block Is Hot.
LAURENT GARNIER
Oh yes..This is so elegant and sexy. Love it Would love to play it
OSUNLADE
This one is a guilty pleasure vibe..hate that I love every song equally
Limited to 500 on gold vinyl WW!! Over two decades later, KRS One's debut solo album Return of the Boom Bap finally gets the reissue it deserves. Pressed for the first time on gold vinyl, this double LP not only includes a bonus 7' of Kenny Parker remixes, but also features the first-ever colour sleeve on a U.S. pressing. Stripping away the intricate production of the final Boogie Down Productions album, Sex and Violence, Return of the Boom Bap saw the already iconoclastic rapper return to the bare bones, gritty territory of his landmark masterpiece Criminal Minded. KRS-One's delivery, burned with a reinvigorated fury, spits out his rhymes with pummeling cadences and world-wise intelligence. Although the record isn't as focused on social activism and political protest as the latter Boogie Down albums, KRS-One never made his lyrics simplistic, nor did he turn his back on what could now be called prescient social commentary. The combination of raw beats and emotion-driven rhymes made Return of the Boom Bap a genuine comeback for KRS-One, one of the founding figures of modern hip-hop.
Genre: Electronic, World (Arabic). 180gram vinyl includes 12'x24' art print poster + 320kbps DL card. RIYL: Matar Mohammad, Pauline Oliveros, Nadah El Shazly, Lucrecia Dalt, Chino Amobi, Sote, Arca, Fatima Al Qadiri, Tacita Dean, Stan Brakhage. Jerusalem In My Heart (JIMH) returns with Daqa'iq Tudaiq, the third full-length album from the Montréal-Beirut contemporary Arabic audio-visual duo, following the acclaimed 2015 release If He Dies, If If I f If If If (ye ar-end li sts at The Wire (#39), The Quietus (#24) and A C loser Listen (Top 10), among other accolades).
Featuring voice, electronics, buzuk and other instrumentation from composer-producer Radwan Ghazi Moumneh (Matana Roberts, Suuns, Big Brave) and abetted by the 16mm analog film work of Charles-André Coderre in live performance, JIMH continues to expand the horizons of its profound conceptual and aesthetic engagement with Arabic/Middle-Eastern traditions. Daqa'i q Tudaiq translates as 'minutes that bother/oppress/harass'—which presumably needs no further explanation—and features two distinct album sides of music. Side One realizes a long-held dream of Moumneh's to record a modern orchestral version of the popular Egyptian classic 'Ya Garat Al Wadi' by the legendary composer Mohammad Abdel Wahab. JIMH assembled a 15-piece orchestra in Beirut, enlisting the celebrated Montréal-Cairo composer Sam Shalabi (Land Of Kush) as arranger and musical director for the session. Anchored by the stately hypnotic pace of mallet and percussion instruments (riq, santur, derbakeh, kanun), the piece unfolds with lush, languid, reverb-drenched manoeuvrings through virtuosic Maqam shifts (Oriental scales). Moumneh's melismatic lead vocals and electronic production sensibility pay homage to the genre's documented historical recording traditions, while pushing things subtly and respectfully into new territories of sonic distortion and noised, artefact-laden transmission.
The song's original title (with lyrics penned in 1928 by the poet Ahmad Shawqi) translates as 'Oh Neighbour Of The Valley', but JIMH takes a different line from the original lyric as the new title for its orchestral-electronic re-interpretation. 'Wa Ta'atalat Loughat Al Kalam' (' The Language Of Speech Has Broke Down') is an expression of wordless love and transcendent communication between two lovers' eyes in Shawqi's poem; JIMH re-titles the song with this line, exploding the sentiment with more complexity, tragedy and socio-political meaning - also prefiguring the formal aesthetic ruptures JIMH bring to the piece itself. Love in a time of politics, politics in a world conspiring against love, and the specificity of Arab diasporic experience in our brutish 21st century. Side Two comprises four tracks of non-ensemble 'solo' material by Moumneh which push rupture and decomposition/recomposition of tradition further into avant-garde territory - voice, buzuk and electronics take the lead on a suite of emotive and evocative songs, including the percussive loopdriven instrumental 'Bein Ithnein' ('Between Two' ) and the stunningly unsettling processed vocal track 'Thahab, Mish Roujou', Thahab' ('(The Act Of) Departing, Not Returning, Departing'). Daqa'iq Tudaiq is a masterful, mesmerizing artistic statement and confirms Jerusalem In My Heart as one of the most engaged and forward-looking avant-Arabic projects at work in contemporary music today. Thanks for listening.
The Seeds of Fulfillment by David Drazin (November 2018)
Andrew Venson founded Seeds of Fulfillment (SOF) in early 1978. In the 1960s he had played electric bass with Arthur Conley, and later the original Peaches and Herb. On the same bill with Big Brother and the Holding Company, he hung out backstage with Janis Joplin. Yes! Vince was hoping SOF would get all of us to the top. He composed three tunes for the band, and we always had a ball playing them.
Roger Myers is a marvelous drummer. We co-composed Namaste. Roger would settle on a drum pattern of four measures at a time that he wanted to keep, and I'd put chords and melody right on top of his pattern. When he layered a second drum pattern on top of the first one, we'd get two melodies at the same time. We thought we were going to collaborate on more songs this way, but it didn't happen.
Lee Savory is a very inventive jazz man. He's musically literate, and wrote excellent transpositions. I remember Lee's asking for my input while he was composing Tight Squeeze, but it was clear he had it down. Once when I was visiting a DJ who played the album in a local radio station, the total of checks next to Tight Squeeze for number of plays was by far the highest!
Randy Mather's sax playing always knocked me out. I could hardly wait to hear him solo. When he left SOF to go with Woody Herman's orchestra it was amazing, but true.
Jeanette Williams had recorded 45s for the Duke and Peacock label when she was 17 years old. Her powerful singing was incredible to me. When we needed an original for Jeanette, Vince composed it, and Roger's wife Linda wrote the lyrics.
In 1978 I was in my senior year at Ohio State University when I met Vince. He came into a bar called My Brother's Place where I was playing with a trumpet player named Bobby Alston. When I was a freshman at OSU I'd played in an off campus band called Akadama. Before that I played in my home town of Cleveland, Ohio in the Brush High School Stage Band and a jobbing band called The Midnight Combo.
Everyone in the band contributed something to Egg Cartons in a composition jam session. We rehearsed in Vince's basement, and he had covered the walls with egg cartons to make the room sound more like a recording studio. The Provider was inspired by Country Preacher by Joe Zawinul. In those days I especially admired the way Zawinul would get his soulful feelings across, but also loved Herbie Hancock and to a lesser degree Chick Corea too. It took two years (with a break of several months) for the band to conquer Self-Fulfilling Prophecy. It shows you what consideration and dedication is, that ultimately they felt it was worth learning.
We recorded at Fifth Floor Studios in Cincinnati, Ohio. While we were there I got to shake hands with Bootsy Collins, who was recording in the rooms downstairs at the same time. Years later, Fifth Floor burned down and all the master tapes were destroyed.
Tourist Kid's first release for Melody As Truth. Recorded in Perth and Melbourne between 2016 and 2017. Though the idea of movement between two places could be a somewhat romantic afterthought, a more palpable sense of dislocated unease creeps up on the listener throughout the album.
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On "Discourse II", stutters of digital trash segue seamlessly into a plateau of serene, glassy ambience - and on "Bacterial", the hiss and sting of rehashed foley seems to dance around a plaintive, oh-so delicate piano solo. These striking contrasts are deftly managed, playing upon notions of digital noise and ambient, while never feeling weighed down by the limits of reference or gesture. Indeed, numerous touchstones to Tourist Kid's earlier work - and to that of contemporaries - are synthesised and expanded upon to great detail and atmosphere. "Crude Tracer" sits in its own adeptly nuanced and assured space.
Tourist Kid's production encompasses all manner of tangible and otherworldly sounds as a vehicle to explore something far more intriguing than a simple instrumental fetish - so much so that the
overwhelming sting of blasted detritus or a broken and bent vocal is capable of eliciting such delicate impulses as glistening, heart-wrenching piano chords. It's a unique - and very special - kind of beauty that Tourist Kid gracefully achieves with "Crude Tracer'.




















