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2x12" 180g Black Vinyl

Pivotal UK producer Kirk Degiorgio returns to De:tuned for his first new and highly anticipated As One studio album in 15 years. "Communion" covers a broad sonic palette, ranging from jazz and hi-tech funk dancefloor beats to minor-chord symphonies, all coming together "As One". A trademark 90s electronica sound shifting between the mind, body and soul, produced and recorded with Kirk's 25 years of studio work experience.

Kevin Foakes (Openmind, DJ Food, Ninja Tune) created all the graphic work. Mastered by Matt Colton at Metropolis Mastering, pressed on 180 gr vinyl and a separate digital version will be available from the usual digital shops. Stay tuned!

Hailing from one of the world’s most famous harbours, Rotterdam, a true multicultural melting-pot, the music by 6-piece band called the Greyheads mirrors the daily life of this busy city. They approach jazz from a hip-hop point of view, or hip-hop from a jazz point of view, always carefully adding a perfect dose of other influences (all the members are heavily influenced by artists like Miles Davis, J Dilla, Herbie Hancock and Robert Glasper) with an exciting, groovy and vibrant tone.

After having self-released their debut EP "GREYHEADS × KYTOPIA" in 2017, they recently finished recording "HOMES", their first full length album.

Led by drummer Nello Biasini, this truly international band of like minded musicians was formed in 2016 and have since been busy creating their own, fresh and unique sound. Whether an intimate jazz club or the main stage of a big festival, they are all about creating a feel-good groovy vibe using live rlectronics, drum 'n bass, jazz, hip hop and pop fused together.

GreyHeads performed at NN North Sea Jazz 2019 and several other festivals such as So What's Next Festival, Jazz Delft Festival, Cutting Edge, ProJazz, Big Rivers Festival, as well as opening for the bands Moonchild and Knower.

'Homes' is a journey through space and time, travelling in opposite but jointed paths that lead to the places we call home. The concept of the record is to carry the listener to experience what every place and time can in any way, represent home, characterized by different atmospheres, sounds, images and sensations.

We’ve been waiting a while for this one… Dark Sky return after a brief hiatus with this incredible EP featuring band of the moment Afriquoi. Many of you will already know one particular tune here: ‘Cold Harbour’ used by Bonobo on his Fabric mix compilation back in January. This gem is now backed with three more blissful, vital fusions. All created with different members of the deeply-rooted London-based live band.


‘Valmer’ sets the tone with its chimes, bells and chants, featuring the drumming of percussionist Andre Marmot aka Minioca. It's measured, restrained and impossible not to get goosebumps to, a near-spiritual experience the deeper you get into the groove. Elsewhere ‘Love Walk’ takes a much more subdued sojourn into the cosmic dusk. Mid tempo and much more focused on the rich layers of atmospherics than the beats, this will disarm a crowd at 50 paces. Next our minds are altered by eight-minute synth-striking mystique marathon ‘Cambia’ featuring the Kora playing of Jally Kebba Susso. Finally, ‘Cold Harbour’, one of the highlights from Bonobo’s evergreen mix from the London club institution, the combination of those rattled strings, pregnant bass staccatos, rolling percussion and deep undulating bass make it one of the most versatile and touching tracks Dark Sky have given us so far. And that’s saying something.


Breaking the Dark Sky silence that’s been almost two years, the ‘Clod Harbour’ EP opens up a whole new page in the London act’s legacy. And there’s plenty more to come. Watch this space...

Klein's offbeat singular vision continues to defy classification. Her acclaimed, self-released records – Lagata, Only and CC – along with Tommy for Hyperdub and her theatre musical Care, have allowed glimpses into Klein's uniquely spirally perspective on vocal abstraction, disarming experimentalism and pop culture wonderment. Yet these chapters have also served as masks to conceal the artist's own personal crises of self-belief, misrepresentation and belonging.

An 18-month writing process led to her new album Lifetime. It's an unexpectedly literal body of work which Klein compares to "giving someone your diary." Lifetime embraces the inevitable cycles of existence, phasing through moments of brutality, vulnerability, estrangement and unexpected fortitude. Lifetime embraces the inevitable cycles of existence, phasing through moments of brutality, vulnerability, estrangement and unexpected fortitude. Every sound in Lifetime is intentional, every influence—from 'King of Gospel Music' composer James Cleveland, to early 18th century tonalities in the b side, the work of 'race film' pioneer Spencer Williams, the residue of the religious experience is deeply personal. The 12 songs of the album are pieced together like a puzzle; seamless transitions connect each of its compositions in a reverse chronology, while every chord from every song is echoed someplace else.

What's been hinted at in Klein's live performances is now realised in full for Lifetime. Less vocal work allows her to be even more expressive, and in eschewing a tendency towards brief, truncated sketches, each song serves as its own long conversational piece, committed to realities of a lived experience. The artist who once grappled with self-doubt has set about breaking the cycle of insecurity for others like her, while mindfully chipping away at the conventions of classical music.

Like its artwork, Lifetime addresses intersecting life cycles: the inner and outer selves, hypermodernity versus history, living nightmares and dream states, while seeking the light and darkness in both. Part 1 opens with unmistakable Klein flourishes on the title track. Gusty pads, anxious, frayed-edge static arcs, and craters of deep negative space, all of which melt down to the clean slate of "Claim It," which is a tribute to embracing one's own blessings. "Listen And See As They Take" and "Silent" form their own microcosm, as the sound of crackling kindling burns backwards into imposing structures of distorted strings and disembodied marching drums, before returning to heat and ash again. "For What Worth", in collaboration with sound artist and saxophonist Matana Roberts, explores the kinship between two artists whose shared exploration of lineage leads them both toward uncharacteristically sweet clarity.

Part 2 is further steeped in black expressive styles of the past. "Enough is enough" links the Lifetime narrative to the broader diasporic black experience, inhabiting every chamber of a harmonica with ghostly notes of the present and past, as fragmented gospel chords reflect spiritual bonds between self and the divine. "We Are Almost There" begins the journey with nothing but the looped structures of multitude of voices. The drums and dischord of "Never Will I Disobey" wordlessly create the conditions for "Honour," a near 10-minute composition where crossed boundaries and crossed wires are exposed in real time, and sharp expressions of hurtfulness, accountability and corrupted expectations are rendered beautiful in representational form, via sustained synth tones which hum, jab and flit in natural disharmony. The interlude "Camelot Is Coming" draws on the choir tradition to prelude the spoken word recounts the cycles of trauma and death that form "99." Lifetime closes with the dystopian swirl of "Protect My Blood" a composition which details an excruciating rift, before blooming into serenity as it draws to a close.

Klein's Lifetime is laid bare, from the end to the beginning, and cycled over again. From her place within her family, to their place within her, to viewing the fragility of culture through the lens of memory. It's a lifetime, an embodiment of young livelihood, and an end as much it is a beginning.

Casino Times? aka Nicholas Church and Joseph Spencer
from London have been betting against the house for
close to 10 years already, winning big with releases on
Wolf Music, Needwant, Omena and their own Casino
Edits label. The pair also hosts the radio Show “What’s
My Derivative?” on Bloop Radio.
Since Mireia Record’s big cheeses RSS Disco have been keen to gamble with the Time’s
music, routinely lighting up dancefloors with it, a loose connection and mutual admiration
formed over the years and eventually lead to this fine record here.
RUSH & KAWAI
Casino Times demonstrate their cunning yet natural and flowing sound with two originals:
“Rush” and “Kawai”. Both tracks are a proper trip of its own, psychedelic pinball machines
that’ll catapult you to the further edges of the known sphere.
An arpeggiated melody line leads the “Rush”, while a rock solid foundation of hard hitting
drums keep you steady. The melody filters into acidic fringes and a strange voice guides the
traveler to the core of this outer-body experience.
By intertwining a pulsating E-Bass with sharp percussions and a brazen guitar chords,
“Kawai” steers the travels even further out of world’s reach. A whole ensemble of sirens and
vocal fragments warn of imminent rapture. After this, it’ll be hard to return to the mundane.New Release Information
KAWAI (Conga Fever’s Belgian Fries Remix)
Leading the string of three remixes is Mireia’s Conga Fever. Known by now for impeccable
and inspired productions he might just have outdone himself again with this interpretation
of “Kawai”.
Taking cues from Belgian New Beat while sounding unconditionally modern at the same
time, Conga Fever has crafted a bona fide festival anthem. After confidently building up
tension and taking his time in the breakdown, the remix manages to release an incredible
amount of energy. We’ve seen people out of their minds and literally stage dive to this one.
KAWAI (Rigopolar Remix)
A new face and dream cast to the label: Rigopolar aka Menio Brown. The Brooklyn-based
producer and DJ has been on our radar for some years with a string of captivating releases
for Tom Tom Disco, Nazca Records and an upcoming EP on Duro. Especially “Sun Of
Lemuria’s” hypnotic brittleness turned our heads.
Adding a new high point to his repertoire, Rigopolar’s take on “Kawai” is an expansive, dark
journey into the void. Powerful lasers and strobe lights appear to lead the way, emergency
broadcast voices beckon the dancers to the floor. The clobbering bassline and twitching
melody help to reach previously unseen heights.
RUSH (Filburt Remix)
Working his signature slow-burn magic on his remix of “Rush” is Filburt. More than happy to
welcome him back to the label. The O*RS label head, DJ and producer is responsible for
some of our favorite material in the past and does not disappoint with this remix either.
Lush pad sounds oppose salient drumming, slowly tightening the atmosphere while a robotic
voice evokes a melancholic mood. The whole night’s rooted on this fervid bassline and it’ll
carry you into next Monday

Swedish composer and multimedia artist Marcus Fjellström's debut Miasmah release follows two critically acclaimed full length albums on Lampse (2006's 'Gebrauchsmusik' and 2005's 'Exercises In Estrangement'). In addition Marcus has had several commissioned works requested, leading to him working with, among others, the Swedish Royal Ballet, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, numerous ensembles, soloists and filmmakers including 'Salad Fingers' creator David Firth. Currently based in Berlin, Fjellström's compositions often combine aspects of modern classical composition and arrangement and more avant forms of music, be that acoustic or electronic.

'Schattenspieler' (which translates as 'Shadowplayer') takes the form of eleven compositions which explore ambience and melody, texture and silence. Haunting synth and orchestral instrument-based audio constructions, flowing from one moment to the next - the fleeting ghosts of Fjellström's melodies rise, only to be buried under a claustrophobic clutter of percussion and creaking background noise. These pieces do indeed feel like you're listening to something more implied than obviously stated, as if Fjellström wants only to expose us to the shadow of the music - the implication being perhaps a more terrifying experience than to be confronted outright…listen to 'Schattenspieler' and you may find your mind starts to play tricks on you…

The undeniably Angelo Badalamenti-esque descending synth strings of opening track 'The Disjointed', lay the foundations for Fjellström's 'Schattenspieler' album; music resting somewhere between the unsettling horror soundtracks of Jerry Goldsmith, the elevating melodies of Cliff Martinez, and the subtle audio constructions of Miasmah label mates Kreng and Jacaszek. Marcus' wide ranging abilities in composition and his willingness to let go of accepted form and function makes 'Schattenspieler' a perfect choice of release for the Miasmah label. The suspense laden 'Antichrist Architechture Management', with its harrowing and tense undertones, weaving synth lines and a wash of static hiss and flicker, is a particular standout track. Despite it's a strangely oppressive sound, shafts of light grace 'Schattenspieler'; pieces such as 'Untitled 090616' find gorgeous melodies are boxed in by unsettling arrangements and sparse background ambience. There is a coldness to many of these compositions - not without emotion, but somehow remorseless. 'Schattenspieler' is, for the main part, a defiantly bleak journey.

Vinyl edition ltd. to 300 copies, purple vinyl, incl. 8-page 12" booklet with drawings by Marcus Fjellström.

Sometimes you know it’s coming, sometimes it’s unexpected, but the time to hang your boots will always come. It’s better when you have total control, even better if you end up on a high (or on a low). After seven years of sonic interferences, calibrating the soundscape of field recordings and helping to recreate the old sounds of today, Gonzo is retiring from music. It’s a goodbye, yeah, and a well-crafted one.
But “Ruído(s)” doesn’t sound like an intentional one. You won’t listen to it on any of the thirteen tracks that scavenge for a solution in the space between ambient music and field recordings. You won’t feel it in the intense connection between human and natural sounds and how sometimes everything oscillates in opposite states of mind. You won’t even read it in the intense, but subtle, humor present in some of the pieces. You won’t, because it’s not an intentional goodbye. You only know it is, because you’re reading this.
What is it then? It’s a celebration of random sound. How can you experience something scholastic and, simultaneously, deeply hilarious? Just think about the amazing triad formed by “A Fuga dos Grilos”, “Degredado(s)” and “Cantiga Parva”. First, you’re blessed with six minutes that build up on the idea that sound can be an intense religious experience, echoes going back and forth to create a fantastic Boiler Room feeling (one populated with raving Gonzos doing dabs in front of the camera) that eventually ends up with a cinematic touch: someone saying the title of the song out loud. One second after we are into the Flying Lizards world, with two songs that shake any pretentious seriousness of the previous track.
Is it serious or not? It is. But it doesn’t have to be. In “Ruído(s)” Gonzo recounts pop/electronic history through field recordings and weird-soft beats. More than compiling his seven-year history, Gonzo is more worried to understand where he’s leaving his ideas, Caretaker style. Speaking of Caretaker, Leyland Kirby should think about reviving Caretaker and do a whole album around “Brilhante Cortejo”: it’s haunted ballroom in a ‘cracked’ nutshell.
As the album progresses and the need to revisit it grows, it becomes clearer(?) that “Ruído(s)” is more than an artist self-indulging on his work – in a very good manner. It’s also a condensed catalog of Portuguese music and its sounds, a circular trip down the memory lane of a forgotten country and its landscape. “Ruído(s)” is a goodbye to a country and its traditions. It does it without sulking but with the most respectful loud laugh - the Gonzo way.

rendon Moeller is an artist that needs no introduction. The South African born living in the US, like few of his generation constantly challenges himself with new concepts and ideas, has incorporated techno, dub, jazz, ambient, sound design, to his works throughout the years. Never chased the limelight, but instead the work, one idea after the next, one project after the other, restless. He has collaborated with labels like Echocord, Third Ear, Electric Deluxe, Prologue, Mord to name some. "Materialize" is his first work for Vibrant Music.
From his early days in various bands in the 80's and 90's, Brendon liked indie, shoegaze, ambient, moody, cinematic scapes.
With Materialize he came full circle, reaching out to his early influences, but with the knowledge and experience of many years of exploration of modular synths, to create a concept space that feels intimate, and at the same time vivid evoking visual imaging.
It explores the time space through a minimalist, stoic approach.
It tells the story of how we are all linked into this tree of music we call electronic music, wherever each one is coming from.
A celebration of life through the mind of one of today's scholars of electronic music.
A liberation from the strictness of tempo and metronomes, to reach to a more creative state.
Vibrant Music continuous the quest, to bring to you unique collaborations and sides of artists that we like.

It's a welcome change to see the dance music industry shift from a sausage fest to a decidedly more diverse scene of artists and DJs, one where challenging and marginalized voices can be heard.

MISS REPRESENTED has such a voice, raw and fearless, an educated woman of experience, who has lived her life on the dark side of Scotland's acid house scene, where she has found plenty of food for thought.

Co-produced by Thomas Von Party of Multi Culti, who enlisted the talents of Kris Baha and Matt Karmil to mix, and brought in the elusive UK-underground legend Johnny Aux to rough up the already rugged Crack That Habit into an extended house banger.

If there's one thing dance music is guilty of, it's escapism. A refusal to confront reality. None of that here. Calling out a culture of lies, empowering female sexuality, facing the perils of addiction, and speaking of the resilience of the human mind, this is heady stuff for the rawest of parties.

“The year is 1982. Rita Mitsouko has not yet recorded its eponymous debut album. The pile of ashes that once was Disco is still smoking on the field of Comiskey Park. New Wave is a phrase, Post-Punk Rock a thing. In France, young musicians dream of New York City – some with more devotion than others. Lapassenkoff are to early 1980’s downtown New-York what seminal New Wave act Marie Et Les Garçons (who met John Cale on their way to CBGB) are to the city’s musical scene in the late 1970’s: an unexpected cousin from Lyon.

Indeed, going through Shing ‘n’ Tsé! sometimes feel like an impromptu meeting between John Lurie and Tom Tom Club in the basement of some French record store. If we press pause for a minute, a question comes to mind: how on earth such a unique blend of funk, post-punk, jazz fusion & hip hop (!) – more easily associated with, say, The Mudd Club, than with Les pentes de la Croix-Rousse – made its way to the brains of three French musicians?

The answer probably lies in a Swiss chalet, some 40 kilometers away from Zurich. Sent there by the wise people from Mosquito (the label which also gave Ramuntcho Matta and Carte de Séjour the opportunity to record their first album), the band experiences Alpine ennui and mysterious neighbours (a certain Carlos Peron, for instance). That is probably during this stay in Swiss meadows that they opened a Pandora’s box called experimental music, leading them into recording the mind-blowing sample-based – and accidentally proto-everything – M Le Maudit,, that would later grace Belgian airwaves via the famous Liaisons Dangereuses radio show.

But if we’re looking for a bigger picture, M Le Maudit is just an example of how inventive their approach to music was. This compilation is a testimony of a decade-long feverish flirt between the Lyon trio and dance music. From the infectious electric boogie cuts Shing A Ling and Roadie to the somehow euro-house-fuelled Ma Poubelle Angelina, via many unclassifiable yet iconic songs like Bossi Le Bosseman or Fièvres, Frissons, the compilation demonstrates one thing: Lapassenkoff took the road less traveled by and contributed to a different history of French Pop music.”

Pierre-Arthur Michau.

"I love it. SO beautiful"
Josh Rosenthal [Tompkins Square]

Songs For A One-String Guitar is the debut instrumental acoustic guitar LP from Jonny Dillon. Better known for his analogue electronic music productions and all-hardware live sets under the ‘Automatic Tasty’ moniker [Lunar Disko, CPU, Wrong Island], Jonny’s records (bearing heavy acid and electro influences), along with live appearances at venues like Berlin’s Panorama Bar and Kiev’s Closer belie the fact that he has been quietly exploring the musical landscape of the guitar for nearly twenty years.

Recorded as a series of sketches over the last 10 years, Songs For A One-String Guitar represents a snapshot taken over a long exposure; one individual’s private response to a variety of currents and inspirations both musical and emotional. While informed in large measure by the world of Irish traditional music and song (of Sweeney’s Men, Planxty and Seán Garvey) along with that of primitivism and the American Spiritual (of John Fahey, Hank Williams and Mississippi John Hurt) these songs are equally a personal attempt to give expression to an inner landscape, from the experience of sorrow and loss to the promise of redemption and renewal.

The LP opens with ‘Turning Invisible In An Imaginary Rose Garden One-Evening’ a contemplative piece played in free-time; “I’ve been playing this piece for years, and it’s gone by so many different names in that time. It’s a sort of shoe-staring daydream, to my mind at least. I want people to disappear when they hear it, and think it suits the LP to open up slowly and reflectively”. While a contemplative strain underpins some of these songs, others are informed more directly by the experience of grief; “I wrote ‘A Requiem For Joe Dillon’ at the death of my uncle. He used play lots of wonderful songs of his own at family gatherings when I was a child, and while a very gifted and sensitive soul, was also troubled by his own demons. The last time I saw him alive was at my family home with my father; I was going out to see some friends and Joe called me back, gave me a hug and made the sign of the cross with his thumb on my forehead, to bless me. It still chokes me up when I think about it. A song of his ‘Light A Penny Candle’ I included to finish the piece in his honour.” A sense of longing and hope is present in other pieces; “Songs like ‘Again But With Feeling This Time’ and ‘Start Again (Carry On)’ come from a sort of hopeful yearning feeling which is always within me; a melancholic sort of joy in search of redemption. For me, music has the strange capacity to express contrary positions simultaneously; to console, redeem and offer transcendence while also expressing suffering and pain. I don’t know what any of this means, but feel as though I’m trying to find my way home by writing the same song over and over again.”

Songs For A One-String Guitar may seem to represent a departure for those who know Dillon for his electronic productions alone, though the reality is that these songs merely represent a new opening onto an old landscape; they are an invitation to more fully share in one individual’s yearning to find meaning through creative expression. “These songs are very personal to me, so there’s a certain nervousness in my seeing them released. I hope that they prove of some use, and that they do some small good to those who hear them.”

This the first release of this newly formed label, product of the studio collaboration between the experienced music duo.

A1 holds a special place since it was one of their first productions, defining their sound and workflow in the studio. Driving energy, crispy drum sounds and well crafted pads make this one a perfect track for the early morning hours. B1 is one of these tracks that stay glued in your mind and you can't stop humming their melody. Evolving basslines, forceful kick drums and an elegant lead make 'Backup' one to remember. B2 is showcasing the duos attention to detail when it comes to minimalism in music making. Few elements arranged in a way that make the track progress flawlessly to a proper mind bending groove.

Focus and hard work ethic are the key elements of this collaboration. During endless studio sessions the duo has defined their characteristic sound and more material will be coming out soon. Staying quiet. Working hard. Together

Consisting Neither Of One Lone Woman, Nor Hailing From Either The Eurasian Country Or The North American State, This Georgia Is In Fact Comprised Of Two Human Males Working Out Of China Town, N.y.c., Namely Brian Close And Justin Tripp. Together They Form A Creative Partnership Responsible For Not Just A Slew Of Output Upon Such Highly Regarded Imprints As Meakusma, Palto Flats And Emotional Response, But Also For A Kaleidoscopic Variety Of Multimedia Work With A Whole Host Of Clients, From The Corporate To The Counter Cultural. With An All Embracing, Freeform And In Some Ways Contradictory Approach To Production, Their Sound Is At Turns Stimulating, Terrifying, Comforting And Confounding. Separated From Any Visual Representation, The Audio On Its Own Becomes A Soundtrack For The Listeners' Own Intense Internal Projection Screen.

With 'time', Georgia's Vision Is Especially Well Realised As Here, In Collaboration With Fellow Intuitionists Firecracker Recordings, They Release Into This World An Album Which, With Any Luck, Shall Help You Unlock Your Inner Portals - Should They Need Assistance In That Regard Anyway. Unquantisable Polyrhythms Knock Against One Another In An Uncannily Externalised, Conflicting Collage Of Half Remembered Dance Ritual Memories. Fragmented Melodies, Disembodied Vocal Snippets, A Hint Of Ethnomusicality In Places All Give Deep Nods Simultaneously To Ancient Experience And To Post Human Intelligence, Condensing Past Present And Future Into One Eternal Instant.

'time' The Album Asks Us: What Happens When One Removes Ones Expectations Of Where In Time A Piece Of Music Or Art Must Sit And What Of Time Itself As A Construct, Now That We Have Myriad Ways Of Measuring It, Even At The Atomic Level; But Still Its Passing Is Completely Relative According To The Observer, And Indeed May All Be In Our Minds Anyway Equally, You Can Always Just Put It On - Again, And Again - Empty Your Mind Of Such Thoughts Completely, And Allow All Of Your Particles To Move Around Freely To This Joyful Noise... After All, That's The Point, Isn't It We're Gonna Have To Stop Asking Questions Eventually.

Considering He Was A Self Taught Pianist, Brian Auger's Progress Into The Heart Of The British Modern Jazz Scene Of The Late 1950's And Early 60's Was Particularly Impressive. He Gained Invaluable Experience The Hard Way, Paying His Dues At The Cottage Club, And The Original Ronnie Scotts On Gerrard Street, Working With Renowned Saxophonists Tommy Whittle, Dick Morrisey And Jimmy Skidmore - And Sessions In Smoky East End Pubs With His Friend, Arguably Britain's Greatest Jazz Saxophonist Tubby Hayes.

The Inclusion Of Several Of His Rare, Early 60's Piano Trio Tracks On Both Volumes Of 'back To The Beginning - The Brian Auger Anthology' Brought Long Overdue Attention To Brian's Early Jazz Career, Which Many Were Simply Unaware Of Prior To Their Release. The Enthusiastic Reaction To Those Tracks That Stuck In Brian's Mind, And Later, Fate Intervened, As He Himself Explains, "a Couple Of Years Later, Ken Greene, The Music Director Of Bogie's, Called And Told Me That He Was Starting A Project, To Whit, A Week At Bogie's With A Different Jazz Piano Trio Each Night".

The Material Brian Decided To Play Features Tracks From A Selection Of His Musical Influences, Heroes And Friends Including 'chelsea Bridge' By One Of His Favourite Composers, The Great Billy Strayhorn, Freddie Hubbard's Ever Green 'little Sunflower', The Much Loved Standard 'there Is No Greater Love' Which Brian Used To Play In His Original Early 60's Piano Trio, And His Own Composition Victor's Delight He Wrote A Tribute To The Great English Jazz Musician Victor Feldman Who He First Discovered Via His Tenure With The Cannonball Adderley Quintet.

Surprisingly, This Is Brian's Very First Jazz Piano Album Of His Illustrious And Award Winning Career, And Marks A Return To The Instrument And The Music That First Entranced And Enthralled Him As A Young Boy. His Musical Journey, Which Began In Austere Post War London, And On Which He Absorbed So Many Varied Styles Of Music, And Literally Took Him Around The World, Enrapturing Audiences Worldwide, Has Indeed Come Full Circle.

The fourth AF Trax release is a three-track EP from our long time ally The Fantastic Twins, who has the following to say about her EP:

This EP is a small collection of works I crafted over the past couple of years in the process of working on my live show. I have been performing versions of these tracks countless times and yet never played them twice the same way. To me, they have been material in constant motion, so shaping them into a 'finished' form was a risky challenge. Something I was also wary of - would it mean they would become set in stone Would it mean I'd have to somehow 'rationalise" the music - via the mind - as opposed to letting it run into the wildness of its physical live experiences

Whilst editing these tracks into a format that could be released, I realised that instead of shaping them into the mould my mind first intended to give them, I could in fact use the power they revealed each time I performed them to an audience and inject some of that energy - as much as it is possible to capture and recreate it in the studio - back into this EP. Then of course, it meant letting go on things I usually like to control more, and better.

But isn't it the power of music to let it take you where you didn't plan to go And how incomplete would the music be if our inspiration didn't feed off the collective experience of dancing to music together I've lost myself (and my twins) many times throughout the process - not only on German soil - I have sometimes landed in the wrong place, but I may have found one answer yet in the form of another question. Why are we here if we can't dance

That reminds me of the words of Pina Bausch 'Dance, dance or we are lost'. Lost in our internal struggles as individuals (or imaginary twins). Lost in a society where our relation to the other is often marked by fear, power or violence. We feel the need to resist. Yet nowadays, taking a political stance as an artist is too often being instrumentalised as another tactics or accessory to gather more popularity, reducing the political message to nothing else but a branding attempt. Isn't it anyway the power of capitalism to assimilate everything, even contradictory or once-upon-a-time subversive voices All to end up on a 'Rave' or 'Feminist' H&M t-shirt. Slogans that have been emptied of their initial force and substance, now replaced by their commercial value. I strongly doubt that more empty words poured in vain on social media will help us much. But, like Pina Bausch, like JD Twitch, I have always firmly believed in dancing as a physical, social and fundamental act that leads us to share a common space with others and embrace otherness. Standing together, dancing together when everything else forces us to divide.

A cat may have nine lives, but Peter Cat Recording Co. has a multitude of dimensions. Formed in New Delhi around 2010 by the crooner Suryakant Sawhney, it's a group that's mutated over time, shedding members and accruing more, always evolving musically with each album: from gypsy jazz to psychedelic cabaret; ballroom waltzes to epic space disco; bossa supernova to uneasy listening. What's more they play jajj, which you've almost certainly never heard of. 
'Gypsy jazz is the description we used around the time of our first album Cinema that we sound nothing like now,' says Sawhney, before adding: 'At the time I was really into Strauss.' 

Portrait of a Time 2010 - 2016 is the first taste many Europeans will have of this highly original, musically capricious and deeply inscrutable New Delhi four-piece. The compilation helps you get to know a band who are essentially unknowable, not that that will stop you from trying. Furthermore, in a capital city known for its mystery, madness and mayhem, Peter Cat Recording Co. is something of ananomaly there too. 

While Suryakant's crooning is spookily reminiscent of a hipster 50's Sinatra, it was more his intention to ape legendary Bollywood playback singers like Kishore Kumar, Mohammed Rafi and especially Hemant Kumar. There are diverse American influences in the mix too, including Sam Cooke, Etta James and even Tom Waits, and time spent in San Francisco studying film may have contributed to the cinematic melange. Thrown together it becomes something unique that equates less to a listening experience and more to an out-of-body experience. 

They were signed to new French record company Panache after label boss Alexandre Rabia was trawling through YouTube one day and happened upon their remarkable promo for 'Love Demons'. It's a mind-blowing eight minute epic featuring the desert, one camel, a movie theatre, swirly organs over coruscating beats, dancing girls, more police and a cavernous pit that then-bassist Rohan Kulshreshtha falls into. 

You can try to compartmentalize them all you want, but just when you think you've got them pegged, they will evolve and transmogrify and the description you have in your hand will slip through your fingers like sand. Who knows if Peter Cat Recording Co. has nine lives, but you can listen to a past life on Portrait of a Time, and a future incarnation - much of it recorded in Paris - will be available in the autumn. Just remember, unlike a cat, you'll never put them in a box. 

Alt. folker Will Oldham - better known as Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - is set to drop a joint record with gently psychedelic crew Trembling Bells

Just four years after their debut album Carbeth, Trembling Bells are amassing a formidable body of work at a startling velocity. Just twelve months after the release of their critically acclaimed third album The Constant Pageant, the Glasgow quartet return to share the billing with a similarly restless creative spirit. A few thousand miles separate Will Oldham and Trembling Bells' drummer and principal songwriter Alex Neilson, but their stories intersect as far back as 2005, when the young Leeds-raised Neilson found himself playing drums on Alasdair Roberts' No Earthly Man, with Oldham producing. In time, a friendship between mentor and student became one between two kindred musicians. Neilson augmented his work with free-psych-drone practitioners Directing Hand by playing with the Bonnie 'Prince' Billy band. The drummer's eagerness to experience new epiphanies yielded unforgettable memories. In Big Sur, he recalls, 'we took mushrooms at midnight, then visited a natural hot spring built into the dramatic cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The stars were as vivid as frozen fireworks.' All of which is worth dwelling on, because without that background of mutual openness and empathy, it's hard to imagine The Marble Downs existing.

Neilson recalls a conversation about a 'collaboration' in the summer of 2010, though stresses that it 'was nothing too formal at first'. By the end of that year, a limited-edition seven-inch New Year's Eve Is The Loneliest Night of the Year showed what an inspired match the vocals of Trembling Bells singer Lavinia Blackwall and Will Oldham made. The cut-glass precision of the classically-trained student of medieval music and the worldly, careworn tones of Oldham created an unlikely chemistry. It must have seemed that way to Neilson too. He set about assembling a cache of songs with the purpose of further harnessing that chemistry. The result is an album that has, once again, redrafted the boundaries of what Trembling Bells can achieve together. Indeed, genre-lines aren't terribly helpful this time around. Yes, Trembling Bells' love affair with traditional music remains a constant — most emphatically so on the unaccompanied Blackwall/Oldham two-hander, My Husband's Got No Courage In Him. Then there is Blackwall's musical setting of Dorothy Parker's poem Excursion Into Assonance — and the thorough-going new-found classicism of Neilson's increasingly assured songwriting. Albeit delivered with Trembling Bells' rain-lashed sense of abandon, Love Is A Velvet Noose sounds like a standard of sorts — a warped consequence of Neilson's increasing fascination with the songbooks of Cole Porter and Hoagy Carmichael. 'I'm not saying I stand any chance of emulating them,' he adds, 'but the appreciation is definitely there.'

The knowledge that Oldham and Blackwall would be sharing centre-stage on The Marble Downs gave Neilson extra impetus to flex his songwriting muscles. I Can Tell You're Leaving finds both vocalists on irresistible form, dissecting their dying relationship with no heed to the other's feelings. 'You treat me like a child,' sings Oldham. 'I need a man,' she responds, barely catching breath. 'Now like Merle Haggard, you'll see the fighting side of me,' he later promises. 'I guess that's one of the lighter moments on the album,' ponders Neilson, 'I was trying to get a Planet Waves-era Bob Dylan feel there, with the piano and walking bassline.'

Here and elsewhere, the band — Blackwall, Neilson, bassist Simon Shaw and guitarist Mike Hastings — has never sounded more psychically attuned to one-other. On the slow-reveal sonic establishing shot of I Made A Date (With An Open Vein), two minutes of manic modal chaos elapses before Oldham takes the narrative reins of a majestic call-and-response folk-rock epic. The electrifying free-folk portent of Riding — a revival of the Palace Brothers classic — is no less compelling, calling to mind the words of broadcaster Stuart Maconie when he praised Trembling Bells for their ability to invoke simultaneously 'the charm of folk music and the power of rock.' Ditto Ain't Nothing Wrong With A Little Longing, in which Neilson slams down a four-to-the-floor beat over a synergy of demonic krautrock keys and a dialogue between Oldham and Blackwall that scales Nancy & Lee levels of romantic intrigue.

With nine songs gone and one remaining, the album's sonic undulations find an arresting denouement in the form of an inspired cover. Adapted from Robin Gibb's 1970 solo masterpiece Robin's Reign, Lord Bless All sees Trembling Bells tease out the hymnal qualities of Gibb's original with a slow volcanic upswell which — on four minutes — explodes into heavy psychedelic technicolour. What pleases Alex Neilson when he listens back is 'a sense of a common vocabulary and identity being forged.' If, by that, he means that there isn't another band on the planet that quite sounds like Trembling Bells, it would be hard to disagree. The evidence is right here.

'I didn't know anything about Trembling Bells. I just heard them and was knocked out. I instantly became a fan.' Paul Weller

'Trembling Bells are my kind of band.' Joe Boyd

"Jesus fucking shit! These jamz claw so hard at the tatties below methinks the Lord misnamed them, having intended to say Trembling BALLS." Will Oldham

'A poetic incantation of British identity far brighter than Michael Gove's GCSE syllabus.' Stewart Lee

'This time, I'm attempting to reclaim the art of songwriting from the charity shop bargain bin.' Alex Neilson

Third LP of Cabaret Contemporain, French band (featuring Fabrizio Rat on keys) who use acoustic instruments (piano, guitar, bass, drums, contrabass) to produce a « hand-crafted » club music infused with techno. Inspired by Jeff Mills, Robert Hood or Drexciya, the five members already had a career on classical scene; their idea is not to replay classical techno tunes but to create a new path for the electronic music. 2 tracks featuring with the label boss, Arnaud Rebotini.

« Ballaro », which opens Cabaret Contemporain's third album, begins with light percussions, which seem to turn on themselves, while being conveyed by reverberations close to dub. After a few minutes of convolutions, the piece gets out of hand, transporting the listener into a rich form of pulsating trance, irrigated by a soaring melody and punctuated by persistent piano tones. « La selva »; more subdued, has the same energy, the track ending in an even more powerful way, a kind of paroxysm.

Finally, the strangest and most minimal « Cactus », features a singular groove, which evokes the most brutal house from Chicago, or the sometimes obsessive techno from Detroit. Just like other tracks such as « Transistor » or « TGV », fuelled by sweat and trance, Séquence Collective bears all the intensity of a techno cut for clubs' dancefloors. The only difference being that their music is not played with synths, drum machines or software, but with acoustic instruments. Dual curriculum The band is composed of five musicians and a sound engineer: Fabrizio Rat on piano, Giani Caserotto on guitar, Julien Loutelier on drums, Ronan Courty and Simon Drappier on double bass and of course Pierre Favrez on console. They are all in their thirties and met at the prestigious Paris Conservatoire in the late 2000s. However, all the musicians in the band have a double curriculum and navigate freely between the institutional realm and the underground or pop music scenes. Through classical or contemporary music, jazz and improvisation, rock and experimentation, they share a common passion for the original and futuristic techno of the 1990s, that of Jeff Mills, Robert Hood or Drexciya, which they have decided to reinvent and further in their own way. Not as a simple stylistic exercise practiced by virtuoso musicians, but rather as a new path for modern music, and for their generation. « The original idea » they say, « was to make club music by hand, like craftsmen. Like in the early days of jazz, our band managed to transform itself into a kind of dancing machine. Our music is therefore functional because it is danceable, but also mental and abstract, while offering several layers of listening. You can dance and play, have a purely physical and sensory connection to the music. But you can also immerse yourself in its listening, perceive refined harmonies or more complex rhythmic superpositions »

If the tones of Cabaret Contemporain are truly unique it is because each member of the band has developed a very personal approach through the use ''prepared'' instruments. The strings of their piano, guitar or double bass may recall strange machines with literally incredible sounds, obtained using objects such as chopsticks, clothes pegs, foil, hangers, a tiny pie mould or many other utensils from a DIY store. A collective energy

Cabaret Contemporain is first and foremost a live band that has been performing in venues and festivals since its inception in 2012 (Nuits Sonores, Siestes Electroniques, L'Aéronef, Le Trabendo, Philharmonie de Paris, Gaîté Lyrique, Rewire, Dancity, Barcelona Accio Musical...), both at traditional jazz and contemporary music venues, and more often at electro music hubs. When facing the audience, the band, which plays each of its sets in one go, without a break, shows an intense physical presence, which competes with the musical power of DJs who share the stage with them. Their performance, full of tension and repetition, which requires maximum concentration and a state close to trance from the musicians, is sometimes, according to them, « a mental journey and a mystic experience ». A dimension that brings to mind the historical techno culture and its dancers who, communicating on the dancefloor, were carried until the early hours of the morning by the power of the beat. An album inspired by the stage Since their beginnings, their compositions on record have drawn their energy directly from the practice of their concerts, whether referring to Terry Riley (2014) or Moondog (2015), an EP and an album dedicated to the repertoire of the two American artists, the original compositions of Cabaret Contemporain (2016) and Satellite EP (2017), as well as this new album. Séquence collective can be listened to as a condensed transcription of their inventions and their live experiments. The tracks, more than half of which were improvised during sessions held in the former Vogue studios near Paris, were recorded in live conditions, « like an old school rock band » they say. As usual, they invited a new musician to join them in the studio. After collaborating with Étienne Jaumet or Château-Flight, Arnaud Rebotini, César winner for best film music, added a welcome synth touch on two tracks (Pro- One, Prophet 600), which boosted the group's formidable collective energy. The album ends with « October Glide », again performed with Rebotini, a lyrical and lively track, built on a powerful and slow progression of timbres and percussions, which would ideally find its place at the core of a techno party « peak time »

Domestic Exile are proud to present the devastatingly deplorable and malevolent recordings (that are sure to corrode yet electrify your ears) by Glasgow's very own KLEFT.

KLEFT aka Vickie McDonald is rooted in and has actively propagated the underground DIY radical queer punk and feminist movement here in Glasgow. Their projects have included the skull crushing sludge doom of Cartilage, the unflinching and infamous multi- membered hard core stars that were DIVORCE and the sacrificial, druid drone glitch of MOURN. Alongside these projects they have uncompromisingly disrupted, motivated and facilitated collective endeavors to take down the capital power structure of the dominant system of patriarchal club venues and abhorrent fuckers in this town.

For this record 'H+ Sexualis', KLEFT explores the neo-modern space where flesh is left behind. Negotiating, analyzing and tearing to shreds the relationship and balance between flesh and technology. KLEFT's expansive and palpable sonic offerings delve into themes of transhumanism and body hacking and seep into our collective skin begging the question; can flesh ever be created digitally. Does a lack of physicality alienate human experience in a post transhumanism society Are we all destined to be skinless yet digitally connected Will the body become superfluous Toward "the utopian dream of the hope for a monstrous world without gender," as stated on Donna Haraway's essay ''A Cyborg Manifesto.'

From the opening track 'Ossein' the listener grasps a foreboding lethargic build up, lurking out of the spatial ritualistic shadows into a sea of suffocating nothingness. A void where there is no gravity. Skeletal and brittle shattering rhythms which echo DMZ / Skull Disco dubstep alongside the more frozen, glacial ominous explorations of grime are often felt proving KLEFT is an artist whose inspirations run deep and wide and generally exist in the darkest recesses of our subconscious. These fearful, disjointed rhythms are set against weightless atmospheric oscillated synths, as if roaming through bleakly opaque, claustrophobic narrow corridors on a first person survival horror video game such as Resident Evil.

Moving through to 'CMBR', KLEFT's dissonant, degrading soundscape ferociously ascends. The resilient kick drum is propulsive and pulverizing akin to 'ardcore tekno - or intense gabba if you have the guts to adjust the tempo up to +8 - aesthetics that overwhelm and agitate finally revealing it's grotesque biological / amorphous bio structure. Elevating the repetitive 4/4 kick to a destructive, distorted banger of a track as layers of converging atonal noise and sound design simultaneously further enhances the sense of imminent radioactive contamination.

Next is 'Writhe, Squirm, Broken' continuing the convulsive, nauseating permutations of the prior track but reconfigured like a mangled, gruesome Cronenberg-esque parasite that has infiltrated an open wound, excruciatingly feeding off of the inner anatomy of it's hosts body from within. Repulsively reformulating the shape and dimension. The intro is akin to a panic stricken bouncy ball contracting and expanding, the spring reverb building momentum and traveling further away in distance and speed.

'Hackfleisch Deluxe' is a muuurrderous stomper and is one of the more grime / bass orientated tracks that deconstructs and disrupts the tempo familiar to sub-low producers on Black Ops / Jon E Cash / DJ Dread D. The crawling, plummeting frequency of the synth is a nauseating rush of coagulating blood to the heed; a deep throbbing sensory depravation in sharp, paradoxical contrast with the driving harmony layered on top which proves to be infectiously addictive. Furthermore are splintering programmed vocal samples that gives a sense of artificial disorientation, mind over matter, a possible hint at our evolving sentient cognition within a nightmarish simulated, augmented reality

Second to last we have 'Keratin' which is filled with the near fatal dissolving thud of Djax-Up acid that gives the impression that you're a biologist peering through a microscope into a petrie dish and witnessing the rapid and furious genetic cellular replication of bacterial and viral organisms.

Culminating in 'Bruised and Bleeding Hands' where the squashed density of a deflated and depressurized helium filled balloon and elastic umbilical cords, barbed wire and copper wires grind n' coil around the lens of a zooming camera. Taking no prisoners, this is a punishing grime weapon. A phat, surgical kick drum bulldozes its way thru causing carnage, syncopated punching snares after every rave stab and dizzying third beat. It won't be long until ye hear this on Silver Drizzle's youtube channel in the near future.

This record transports us to the hyperkinetic mutation scene on the cult cyberpunk film Tetsuo The Iron Man where the organic flesh / mechanical rust of the Iron Man metamorphoses with the Metal Fetishist during the rebirth sequence and we say 'LONG LIVE THE NEW FLESH!''.

Led By Nigel Ayers And Caroline K, The Band Was One Of The First To Use Tape Cutting, Avant-garde Art, And Underground Video Works To Create A Stage Experience That Was Being Cultivated By Like-minded Artists Like Throbbing Gristle, Spk And Cabaret Voltaire.

Originally Self Released In 1988 On Earthly Delights, Spiritflesh' Is A Masterpiece And A Major Reference For The Early Drone/dark Ambient Minds.

By The Time The Album Came Out, Nocturnal Emissions Had Already Produced Several Albums Of Electronic Music Which Varied From Noisy To Funky. Displaying His Usual Perversity, Nigel Chose To Ditch Electronic Dance Music Immediately Before The Acid House Revolution And Produce A Series Of Utterly Compelling Atmospheric Albums Which Are Often Referred To These Days As Being 'ambient Industrial'.

"spiritflesh" Was The First Offering By The New Shape Of Nocturnal Emissions. The Record 'came Out Of A Long, Hard Thinking, A Personal Examination Of My Own Motives For Working Within Music.' Nigel Ayers Played Church Harmonium, Chime And Music Box On The Record, And Used Samples Of Chimpanzees, Cattle, And African And European Wild Birds. While Generally Ambient, The Music Is Not Like Brian Eno's Work; It Is Atmospheric, But Impossible To Relegate To The Background.

'there's Always A Dangerous Intrusion Of The Real World Into Our Music,' Ayers Said. 'we're Looking Into The Relationship Between People And The Environment, The Kind Of Feedback Which Happens Between People And Locations. Underneath It All, This Planet Has Got Its Own Message.'

All things come from and return to the same source - such is the theory of Monism; an ancient philosophy, but also accounting for the music of Jeroen Search. Dictated by an ethos of exclusively recording live takes and the only ever editing happening while a tune is being created, each finished track is imbued with that unique magic of the moment. Such too is the nature of Monism, Search's first LP in over two decades of electronic explorations and personal as well as artistic growth. As with any of his music that has been released so far, the tracks on here hold a timeless quality, existing within their own frame of reference than - that is their immediate experience. Across a carefully arranged course, the album naturally unravels its many ideas, ranging from moments of pensive ambient pieces to thick washes of dub echo and layers of modulated synths, all while providing an endless array of hypnotizing bare-bone grooves in the process. A true Figure mainstay, Jeroen Search upholds his artistic relevancy without any reinventing or switching up the formula - rather by simply keeping true to his accomplished craft.

The body never lies. Every dance is a graph of the heart. Nothing is more revealing than movement.

These are the words of Martha Graham, one of the greatest American dancers and choreographers of the 20th century. Massimiliano Pagliara might as well have them tattooed on his chest, close to his heart, being an accomplished dancer, too. He has studied contemporary dance in Milan and Berlin, and went on to dedicate his life to transforming experience into movement, be it musical, physical, or spiritual. Massimilano's message is clear: Don't stand still. Don't keep looking back. Know where you are coming from, but don't remain petrified by the past. Take a chance at Endless Change, instead. Move on! Just like Massimilano did.

Stemming from Lecce province, an area at the south-eastern-most tip of Italy, Massimilano has been based in Berlin for several years where he's been one of the main forces behind recombining the city's hardboiled techno scene with an often overlooked sensibility for the soft and the tender. Call it underground disco passion. Massimilano's last and sophomore album, With One Another, released in 2014, was about celebrating the joy of human encounters and in parts seemed like a big get-together with like-minded artists and friends (among them nd_baumecker, Lee Douglas, and Credit 00). The record quickly hit the number one spot in Groove magazine's album chart - and its creator hit the road.

Besides his busy DJ schedule and far from the usual club circuit routines, Massimilano dedicated himself to intense travelling and exploring the world anew. 'I felt like I have lived more than ever,' he states. 'Getting to discover all these beautiful places around the world and meeting so many lovely interesting people, has inspired me in many different ways. I feel enriched.'

The result of these experiences is Feel Live, Massimiliano's third full-length endeavour. It was recorded in several intimate, sometimes improvised studio settings between Los Angeles, Portland, and Massimiliano's homebase in Berlin as well as at airports and on intercontinental flights high up in the sky. Featuring vocals by Private Agenda, Peaking Lights, Kim Anh and instrumental contributions by Fort Romeau, Tim K, and Jules Etienne, Feel Live is Massimilano's most playful and imaginative work to date. It's as emotional as sensual, as vibrant as the first ray of light after a thunderstorm has cleared the air.

Is it awkward or odd to call this record jazzy Presumptuous to pinpoint its spacial, almost orchestral qualities Unfair on the ruling Cosmic powers to highlight its aspirations of founding a new land of Balearic Harmonia and getting down at a huge fertility rite with electro enthusiasts and house lovers Not one bit. Feel Live is pure grandeur and elegance. It feels like an eternal movement.

Martha Graham has dedicated her whole life to dancing. 'It's permitting life to use you in a very intense way,' she said. 'Sometimes it is not pleasant. Sometimes it is fearful. But nevertheless it is inevitable.' Massimilano couldn't agree more. His advice when facing the inevitable: 'Live what you are feeling, feel what you are experiencing, good or bad, it is an experience.'

Music Producer, Dj, Label Owner Of Volt Music And Creative Director Of Analog Room.

From Tehran To Dubai And Berlin To London Siamak Amidi A.k.a Skin Has Played It All With One Thing In Heart: Commitment To The Underground Scene And Music. It Was Exacttly This Very Commitment That Led Him To Creating Volt Music: A Vinyl Only Limited Record Label.

His Love Of All Things Underground Teamed Him Up With Like-minded People In Dubai Setting Up A Weekly Party Called Analog Room, A Night Like No Other In Dubai. As Creative Director And Booker For Analog Room Siamak Makes Sure The Party Is All About The Music And Allowing People To Let Their Hair Down And Have A Truly Underground Experience.
Siamak Has An Open Mind When It Comes To Music And Looks Out For New And Upcoming Talent All Over While Staying On Top Of The Game By Playing Venues All Over The World

Limited Edition. Triple Transparent Vinyl 180g Incl. Poster & Download Code. Box Will Be Opened For Shipping To Avoid Seam-split. Hinweis: Box Ist Verschweißt, Wird Aber Für Den Versand Geöffnet

On October 19th Kompakt presents a new LP and audiovisual venture by Danish producer Kasper Bjørke and close cohorts. Epic and in length but always captivating, 'The Fifty Eleven Project' is an entirely ambient concept album, that interprets and evokes the emotional rollercoaster Kasper experienced, from his cancer diagnosis and throughout the five years of regular check-ups. The week of album release marks his second anniversary of getting the all-clear.

The base of the album was composed on vintage analogue synthesizers, reverbs, echo and sequencers - using the computer solely as a recording device - by Kasper and synth wizard Claus Norreen, in the latter's Copenhagen studio.

The violins, violas and cellos are composed and played by the Italian composer Davide Rossi, who has also worked with Ennio Morricone, Jon Hopkins, Ro¨yksopp, The Verve and Goldfrapp.

The piano parts are composed and played by Danish musician Jakob Littauer (of Kompakt labelmates Jatoma) on an old upright piano in a studio, and on a Steinway Grand Piano in the concert hall at the Royal Danish Music Conservatorium. From Max Richter's 'SLEEP', Hannah Peel's 'Mary Casio: Journey To Cassiopeia', to much of Brian Eno's 'Music For Installations', 'The Fifty Eleven Project' continues in a rich vein of work by contemporary composers which explores a situation/condition, and is made with functionality and healing in mind.

The visual side of 'The Fifty Eleven Project' is made in collaboration with the culture laboratory Prxjects and acclaimed LA based artist/filmmaker/photographer Justin Tyler Close, who has created art films for each of the album's 11 tracks - plus one music video, including clips from all 11 films. The 11 films will be assimilated into a video exhibition at Klub in Copenhagen from 12th - 21st October. The ambition is that the installation will tour Europe and the US in 2019. Furnished in an exquisite fabric box, this 180 gram 3LP clear vinyl box is presented by cover art created by world-renowned artist Landon Metz, further cementing the release's multidisciplinary links to the art world.

Am 19. Oktober präsentiert Kompakt das neue Album und audiovisuelle Abenteuer von Kasper Bjørke und Freunden. - The Fifty Eleven Project' ist ein komplett ambientes Konzeptalbum, das die emotionale Achterbahn, die Kasper nach seiner Krebsdiagnose und während fünf Jahre regelmäßiger Untersuchungen erlebt hat, interpretiert und offenlegt. Die Woche der Veröffentlichung des Albums markiert den zweiten Jahrestag seit der Entwarnung.

Die Basis des Albums wurde von Kasper und synth wizard Claus Norreen in seinem Kopenhagener Studio auf analogen Vintage-Synthesizern, Reverbs, Echos und Sequencern komponiert - der Computer wurde ausschließlich als Aufnahmegerät gebraucht.

Die Geigen, Bratschen und Celli wurden vom italienischen Komponisten Davide Rossi komponiert und eingespielt, der auch mit Ennio Morricone, Jon Hopkins, Röyksopp, The Verve und Goldfrapp zusammengearbeitet hat.

Die Klavierparts wurden von dem dänischen Musiker Jakob Littauer (bekannt vom Kompakt-Projekt Jatoma) auf einem alten Klavier im Studio und auf einem Steinway-Flügel im Konzertsaal des Royal Danish Music Conservatorium komponiert und eingespielt.

Von Max Richters - SLEEP', Hannah Peels - Mary Casio: Journey To Cassiopeia' bis hin zu Brian Enos - Music For Installations' - - The Fifty Eleven Project' setzt die Arbeit zeitgenössischer Komponisten fort, die sich mit einer Situation/einem Zustand auseinandersetzten und die auf Funktionalität und Heilung ausgerichtet ist.

Die visuelle Seite von - The Fifty Eleven Project' entstand in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Kulturlabor Prxjects und dem renommierten Künstler/Filmemacher/Fotografen Justin Tyler Close aus LA, der für jeden der elf Tracks des Albums Kunstfilme erstellt hat - plus ein Musikvideo mit Clips von allen elf Filmen. Die elf Filme werden vom 12. bis 21. Oktober in einer Video-Ausstellung im Klub in Kopenhagen gezeigt. Ziel ist es, dass die Installation 2019 durch Europa und die USA tourt.

Verpackt in einer exquisiten Stoffbox, die vom weltberühmten Künstler Landon Metz entworfen ist, zementiert diese 180-Gramm schwere 3xLP-Klarsicht-Vinylbox seine multidisziplinäre Verbindung zur Kunstwelt.

Solipsism is an archival release of music from Mike Simonetti's
tenure as owner of Italians Do It Better Records, spanning from
2006-2013. During that time Mike wrote a lot of music. Some of it
was used for films, some for TV commercials, some for fashion
shows and he even released a record or two.
Influenced by the intersection of 80's arena rock bands like AC/DC and Judas Priest, glam rock/dance bands like Rockets and Supermax, and especially the underground Italian producer Piero Umiliani - the album is chock-full of atmospheric rock-inspired arpeggiated riffs. The mixture of metal and chugging dance music makes for a unique listening experience. Every song has a riff, every song is heavy and dense. Only one song goes above 118 BPM. These are heavy chuggers that make for a tense emotional experience that exceeds your standard, easy-to-write-off 'soundtrack' fare, mainly because it was never written with that in mind. It was meant to be a fist-pumping arena rock inspired thumper! You can hear that in the one two punch of 'A Prayer For War' into 'Illusions", which is an outtake from his "The Magician"
sessions. Other songs like 'Solipsism' showcase the airy melodies
of that were to come with his other project Pale Blue, but that is
not typical on this album. If you listen closely, you can hear how
Simonetti's music and dark vibes inspired his then label partner
Johnny Jewel to take his own bands Chromatics and Glass Candy in a different, more cinematic direction.
This was written and recorded years before the Drive soundtrack and all the hoopla around the sudden soundtrack resurgence. In
2011 Mike was asked to submit some songs for a soon to be
released Hollywood remake. He submitted most of the songs from this album, and they were slated for release on the soundtrack,
but the project fell apart, and the film went in a different direction
and changed producers. Soon after, because of all the drama and foolishness, he left Italians Do It Better to start over with 2MR and Pale Blue. This is the nail in the coffin. Godspeed.

Solipsism is an archival release of music from Mike Simonetti's
tenure as owner of Italians Do It Better Records, spanning from
2006-2013. During that time Mike wrote a lot of music. Some of it
was used for films, some for TV commercials, some for fashion
shows and he even released a record or two.
Influenced by the intersection of 80's arena rock bands like AC/DC and Judas Priest, glam rock/dance bands like Rockets and Supermax, and especially the underground Italian producer Piero Umiliani - the album is chock-full of atmospheric rock-inspired arpeggiated riffs. The mixture of metal and chugging dance music makes for a unique listening experience. Every song has a riff, every song is heavy and dense. Only one song goes above 118 BPM. These are heavy chuggers that make for a tense emotional experience that exceeds your standard, easy-to-write-off 'soundtrack' fare, mainly because it was never written with that in mind. It was meant to be a fist-pumping arena rock inspired thumper! You can hear that in the one two punch of 'A Prayer For War' into 'Illusions", which is an outtake from his "The Magician"
sessions. Other songs like 'Solipsism' showcase the airy melodies
of that were to come with his other project Pale Blue, but that is
not typical on this album. If you listen closely, you can hear how
Simonetti's music and dark vibes inspired his then label partner
Johnny Jewel to take his own bands Chromatics and Glass Candy in a different, more cinematic direction.
This was written and recorded years before the Drive soundtrack and all the hoopla around the sudden soundtrack resurgence. In
2011 Mike was asked to submit some songs for a soon to be
released Hollywood remake. He submitted most of the songs from this album, and they were slated for release on the soundtrack,
but the project fell apart, and the film went in a different direction
and changed producers. Soon after, because of all the drama and foolishness, he left Italians Do It Better to start over with 2MR and Pale Blue. This is the nail in the coffin. Godspeed.

Composer, filmmaker and photographer Phill Niblock is a true pillar of the New York avant-garde. In the past 50 years, he has curated over 1,000 performances at his Centre Street loft and steadfastly built a massive, multidisciplinary body of work. While his earliest musical compositions date back to 1968, Niblock waited until the early '80s to release any recordings. Nothin To Look At Just A Record, a powerful debut with densely layered trombones, would be the first to unfurl his unique approach to sound.

The second album and perhaps the most rare in Niblock's vast catalogue, 1984's Niblock For Celli / Celli Plays Niblock is a meeting of two great minds. Working with reed player Joseph Celli (a composer in his own right, who has collaborated with John Cage, Pauline Oliveros and Ornette Coleman), Niblock nimbly removes the breathing pauses from Celli's oboe and English horn to create seamless, enchanting drones.

Niblock insists that his music be played loud: only in this way can one experience the visceral ringing of these long instrumental tones through the speakers and their natural overtones generated by the room. Niblock For Celli remains deeply absorbing.

This first-time reissue is recommended for fans of Alvin Lucier, Yoshi Wada and Dome.

Children Of Tomorrow will celebrate soon its 10 years anniversary. The label was created by Emmanuel Ternois back in the day and being joined by Arnaud Le Texier in 2011. Since then they focused on Techno producing amazing artists, to name few: Terrence Dixon, Zadig, Tensal, Antigone, Oscar Mulero, Jonas Kopp, Samuli Kemppi etc... Children Of Tomorrow is now presenting the first album from Arnaud Le Texier. After almost 30 years Dj-ing around the world and almost 20 years producing. Signing many releases over the years and always busy delivering dance floor releases, it's been a long wait to finally get an album from ArnaudOn his first album we can feel that he wanted to tell a story and to express something deeper with his production experience. There is a different variety of Techno that stretches from ambient / broken beat / hypnotic / raw Techno along with subtles grooves, wondrous atmospheres & sonic textures. On A side the album opens with Dusk, an ambient atmospheric mid-tempo track with sonic sounds that is a perfect intro.Pattern 2 starts with drones and blip sounds and a broken beat groove follows with a pad that sounds like a voice coming from the space. The track ends with some modular click sounds that make the whole track clever. Followed by the album title Granular Therapy, a deep techno track with modular bass line and melancholic pad. A perfect track to play in after or to warm up a party.The B Side is more dedicated to the dance floor with Black Nympheas that is a proper dark modern techno with a grinding bass line and magic drones. A simple beat makes the track evolve in a nice way. Blade Pass frequency is 4/4 effective Techno with a 909 kick, a syncope acid bass line and a pad that sends you to another dimension. It is a powerful track but with a sense of deepness and sensibility that Arnaud can achieve sometimes. This side closes with Binary Sun Dawn which is an ambient track with melody that has a jazz feeling mixed with dark atmospheres, sonic drones and water drops. The C side opens with Mono Driver, a minimal track with a little synth that stays until the end repetitively until it makes you travel and lose your mind. Deep and dance floor at the same time.

Then Snapper is a more percussive track with some shinning bells and a grinding modular bass line.

The last track Virgo Consortium is a cosmic broken beat with dark atmospheric drone, simple bass and phasing efx. The D Side starts with Midi overdub which is a beauty. A mix between ambient and broken beat. The pad has the deepness that transports you somewhere else with an angel choir on top. The beat is spacial and groovy at the same time with smart high hats. This reminds Arnaud's past ambient production but with a modern approach. Surely a special track of the album.

Hideous Engine is more dance floor with metallic bass line and 4'4 beat going towards a sonic pad that closes the track.The last track Dawn is ambient with drones and blip sounds and an acid bass line modulate. A perfect end of the album.This album is an accomplished journey that makes you dance and travel from dusk till dawn. Arnaud Le Texier shows a coherent vision and illustrates his vast diversity in the techno world. Hopefully we won't have to wait 20 years to get another one.

Booty-shaking & mind-moving! The new S3A release specifically originated and is meant for the dancefloor, one dancefloor in particular to be precise. Taking experience from his alma-mater Rex-Club in Paris, S3A crafts a 4-track EP to honour this legendary venue in the heart of Parisian music history.
The label Times Are Ruff releases a steady stream of DJ-friendly tools and dancefloor ready house-tracks, with a hint to the past but never sounding dated.

On Respective Edges Of America — Oregon And Maine — Keith Kenniff Records Quiet Music At Night. 'when Things Are Calmer,' He Says. 'my Mind Is Less Distracted When I Know That Everything Is Dark Outside.' For Over A Decade, Such Has Been The Mode — Nocturnal, Unrushed, Using The Same Mini-cassette Recorder, "a Lovely Little Imperfect Way To Treat Sounds" — For One Of The Country's Most Understated Composers. Kenniff Has Housed Dozens Of Ambient Releases Under The Name Helios Since 2004, Alongside Post-classical Output As Goldmund, Shoegaze Pop With His Wife Hollie As Mint Julep, And Commissions For lm And Television. It Is A Reliably Transportive Body Of Work That's Earned Kenniff A Cult Following, And A Genuine Modesty That's Kept Him On The Fringes, Right Where He Prefers, In The Dark.

Kenniff Mostly Lets His Music Breathe Free Of Explanation, Open To Interpretation. As Listeners, We Follow Subtle Suggestions — The ery Sky On The Cover Of 2012's Moiety, The Countryside Daydream Of 2015's Yume — Extracting Meanings From Imagery And Inscriptions. Veriditas, The Sixth Helios Full-length, Shares Its Name With Twelfth-century Philosopher Hildegard Von Bingen's Notion Of "the Greening Power Of The Divine," The Term Derived From The Union Of Two Latin Words: Green And Truth. Bingen Saw The Abundance Of The Earth As Vitality To Be Cultivated, Interconnected With The Body And Spirit. Take The Concept In Concert With Veriditas' Vistas Of Sound, Gazing Beyond The Tree-lined Wonder On Its Artwork, And We Undoubtedly Recognize The Album's Rooting. Kenniff Elaborates, "while I'm Not A Very Spiritual Person As It Relates To A Religious Belief, I Do Feel An Overwhelming Connection Between The Aesthetics I nd Pleasing In My Experience Of Nature And My Experience Of Writing Music."

In search of the sublime, contemporary electronic musician Steve Hauschildt has designed grids and panoramas of sound across multiple releases through the rise and dissolution of his former band, Emeralds, an American touchstone of 2000s home-recorded psychedelic noise music. Consistent with his solo work is Hauschildt's ability to coil his craft in precise, varied, and distinctly physical forms. Gently spinning arpeggios converse with post-industrial decay. Sonic bers sway like pendulums from static melancholy to motorik bliss. Dissolvi, the artist's rst full-length with Ghostly International, engages sublimation from an ontological perspective: by dissociating the self. Hauschildt steps out from the singular path, for the rst time in a traditional studio, to compose and arrange contributions from friends. As a result, his most collaborative work to date extends a vast, vibrating framework in which to consider the state of being.

The album's title — a reference to cupio dissolvi, the Latin phrase meaning "I wish to be dissolved" — needn't be taken one-dimensionally or as purely solipsistic. It does, however, serve an apt reference. Physiological phenomena are of interest to Hauschildt. These back-of-mind ruminations nd their way out. Songs are cerebral in orientation, but beyond explanation, the music is truly visceral.

Involuntary eye movement inspires the serene, sanguine-nearing-suspicious "Saccade." Hauschildt feathers soft percussion beneath the echoed refrains of Los Angeles musician Julianna Barwick, together shaping a svelte suggestion of the anxieties brought about by modern-day surveillance; if everyone is being watched constantly, there is no individual, no self, only a broadly monitored and clumsily cataloged populous. The work of Chicago poet Carl Sandburg comes to mind: 'I am the people—the mob—the crowd—the mass.' The individual dissolves into the taxonomic crowd.

Minimalist techno impulses provide a stylistic through-line for Dissolvi. Understated synth phrases and drum grooves take hold in selective moments, like synchronistic structures onto which nebulous mists, like the rapturous voice of Gabrielle Herbst aka GABI on "Syncope," cling to and cloud, producing a dazzling rift in consciousness. The 7-minute centerpiece "Alienself" reiterates this creative logic, burbling like an amorphous body of water on a low-gravity planet, on the verge of dissolving, but never fully dematerializing.

The album was constructed in Chicago (where Hauschildt now resides) and partially in New York. "Much of it was recorded in a windowless studio which removed elemental or seasonal references to time in the music," says Hauschildt. "The focus this time was on mixing the album and incorporating a broader set of instrumentation. I describe my compositional approach as being quasi-generative." Embracing new methods and philosophical curiosities, and in turn, expanding the range of his repertoire, Hauschildt proposes a fascinating and profoundly rich experience in listening, being, and deliquescing.

It is said that every generation casts its mind back to a previous era in times of crisis; the resources that will allow us to decode the questions of our moment may lie in the myths of another era.

Le Renard Bleu, the new musical and cinematic collaboration between Lafawndah and composer Midori Takada, and filmmakers Partel Oliva, takes a cross- generational echo as ground zero for recovering a crucial myth for uncertain times: the blue fox.

As transmitted by Takada, the fox appears in both ancient Senegalese and Japanese folktales as the trickster archetype; belonging both to the heavens and to the earth, the fox is the agent of chaotic good, shaking the world up when its energy has become stagnant. Above all else, the fox is famous for its cunning nature.

Renard Bleu marks the first new music released by Takada in nearly twenty years; it would be difficult to overstate the importance of her return to the public eye. Her first solo record, 1983's Through the Looking Glass, has been rediscovered and heralded as a lost classic; the influence of her percussion trio, the Mkwaju Ensemble, continues to permeate and inspire a new generation entranced by its lucid beauty, playfulness, and sensual patience. Takada has performed in numerous film score orchestras, including the ensemble for Akira Kurasawa's Dreams, coincidentally a key influence on Renard Bleu.

In the ensuing years, Takada has worked closely with theater group the Suzuki Company of Toga on productions of Electra and King Lear, an experience, she says, that allowed her to pursue 'a unity of music, body and space.' Recent live solo performances have evinced the depths of her exploration of all three.

Equally, it is Lafawndah's freedom of tone, decentralized maps of ancient and modern music cultures, and alloying of devotional intensity with modern songcraft casts her as a distinct relative of Midori Takada's.

Over the course of two EPs, self- directed music videos, and countless live performances, Lafawndah has drawn out an uncompromising exploration of how theater, situational intervention, and choreography can amplify the affective palate of forward pop music. One can trace the influence of artists such as Meredith Monk, Carlos Sara, and Andy Kaufman as much as musical antecedents AR Rahmann, Missy Elliott, or Geinoh Yamashirogumi.

It is in a mutual commitment to this unity that Lafawndah, Takada and Partel Oliva find fertile aesthetic common ground.

The music of Renard Bleu originated in Takada's preoccupation with the legend of the fox; after constructing a vivid instrumental composition dramatizing the spirit animal's journeys through waterphone, bells, marimba and various forms of drums, Lafawndah responded - in her inimitable mix of fairytale and undertow-- with melodies and lyrics capturing a dialogue between her and the fox himself. Eventually, the duo met in Tokyo for a week of communing with the material at Avaco Creative Studios, where new elements were composed on site.

Created in partnership with KENZO and premiered today via their channels, it was Partel Oliva who imagined a contemporary cinematic frame for the myth of the fox to re- appear, creating a hybrid of choreography and narrative around Takada and Lafawndah's performance of their joint composition (also titled Le Renard Bleu.) Returning to film in Japan for the third time, Partel Oliva's moving image work (Club Ark Eternal, The Pike and the Shield) has set the standard for and revolutionized the fashion art film. Their deployment of original music, dance, and a highly stylized mis en scene coalesces here in the casting of Los Angeles krump artist Qwenga as the eponymous fox, stalking the halls of the ancient Noh theater in which Takada and Lafawnda's performance takes place.

Why call up the myth of the fox now In Le Renard Bleu, Lafawndah and Takada's collapsing of distance between generations, styles, and milieus intimates that the relationship to time must be shaken. The future lies in fragments in the past; to remember is to recover it; the fox rises to thicken the plot.

2x12" !

An der Grenze (ADG) is glad to introduce you to its 5th release "Talka" on 2 x 12" (ADG005) by Moscow- based composers, live performers & DJs OID & Anrilov, and revisited by Unbroken Dub.

Whereas OID, a versatile artist, has made a name for himself with releases on DJ Koze's PAMPA, Milnormodern and PNN, Anrilov releases here his first solo track. Unbroken Dub, for his part, already has a significant experience with multiple releases on Rawax as well as solo EPs on Delsin and Resonance Moscow, amongst others.

On vinyl 1, each artist presents his own version of "Talka". Whereas OID proposes a dark, mind-blowing and bewitching version, Anrilov opts for a rather cadenced, breakbeat and mystic one.

On vinyl 2, Unbroken Dub delivers two different interpretations of "Talka". On the A-side, his Refix is deep, linear and mystic whereas, on the B-side, his remix appears to be the best musical translation of his artist name: serene and dubby.

As naturally as X-Altera came to be, the music itself is a unique refraction of styles and bold, contradictory approaches. But it all blends together uncannily well—maybe because of the decades of production experience that went into it, or the holistic mindset Mullinix took from the beginning. The name itself reflects as much. "X-Altera references two things. It comes from Latin—ex altera—which means 'from or of the other side.' Which could be a metaphysical thing, or you could say it's jungle ethics brought into the techno world. And I spelled it this way as a reference to X-101 and X-102, the Underground Resistance project of Je- Mills, Mike Banks, and Robert Hood." Detroit meets London, deep techno meets drum & bass, old meets new—X-Altera unites these threads in order to take them in unknown directions.A fresh debut from one of the most vital electronic producers of the last 20 years, Tadd Mullinix (Dabrye, JTC, Charles Manier), who looks to the past of techno and jungle to find a new ways forward.

For A Long Time, Electronic Music Has Been Understood In Terms Of Sounds Rooted In Particular Places: The Styles Of House And Techno Inextricably Wedded To Detroit, Or The Early '90s Jungle Sound Which Carries Echoes Of London. But That's Something Which Is Changing - In Latin America More Than Anywhere Else. A New Project, Led By Gilles Peterson And Rum Maker Havana Club (that Created The Havana Cultura Platform In 2007 To Promote The Island's Contemporary Culture), Shines A Light On Cuba's Fast-mutating, Rhythmically-adventurous Underground. It's A Scene Where Old Ideas Are Transplanted Into New Contexts, And Like-minded Scenes Are Brought Together In New Dialogues.

Havana Cultura: ¡su´belo, Cuba! Showcases An Extended Network Of Like-minded, Forward-thinking Musicians Driving Cuba's Music Forward. Following Repeated Trips To Connect With Venues, Collectives And Djs, Peterson And Will Lv - One Half Of Lv, Who've Released On Hyperdub And Keysound Amongst Others - Linked Up With Dj Jigu¨e, A Much-respected Producer And Dj, Whose Guampara Label Has Charted New Directions For Cuban Music. He's Been Profiled By The Fader And Vice, And The Album Features His Extended Network Of Collaborators, Connecting Afro-cuban Traditions With Contemporary Movements And Ideas.

The Album Provides A Snapshot Of A Unique Club Culture That's Fast Evolving. On The One Hand, It's Indebted To Cuba's Unique Characteristics, Where Regularly-practised Traditions Are Coloured By Intermittently-experienced Cultures From Outside. On The Other, It's Part Of A Global Shift Toward De-centred Club Music, With Homegrown, Influence-grabbing Dance Cultures Tilting Attention From Club Culture's Traditional Epicentres. It Offers A New Side To Havana That's Firmly Rooted In Its Past.

3x12"

Listening back to Roman Poncet's first releases on Figure just a couple years ago, they already hinted at the producer's keen technical abilities and a knack for rich texturing, resulting in tracks that were
both carried by force and form. What he delivers now is an impressively mature debut album, ripe with personal creative realization.

On Gypsophila the French producer uses the extended format to slowly shape up a scenery of epic proportions where surprise and constant change lurk around every corner. A certain sense of
progression and evolution runs throughout Poncet's music; it invariably keeps one locked in, no matter for the opening drones of Do Not or the patiently growing Thick Vegetation, which fuses tribal
percussion and choral chants to showcase another of this LP's key features: its dense soundscape, which at once feels inherently electronic yet deeply organic, translating the abstract futuristic themes
of techno into something jam-packed and heady albeit steadily grounded - a listening experience that is as dreamy as it remains tangible.

This holds true for the highly atmospheric synth-lead pieces, such as the cinematic intro Hello You, the elevating arp-ride Epreuve or the suspended celestial groove of Atlas. But equally goes for the floorfocused
rhythms, like relentless steam engine-workout Piege or mid-album mind-trip In Aeternam. Adding even more variety and depth to the mix, the tidal title track is given its own side to explore the
sheer endless expanses of dub...
Bundling the complete range of his influences, Gypsophila marks the pinnacle of Roman Poncet's work to date. Covering a spectrum this broad in his very own way, the album proves as relevant for the
current club scene as it will be for repeated return visits.

A thrilling 9-song set, Murmurations is as perfectly pitched for headphones as it is for clubs, named after giant cloud formations of starlings and themed around the stunning emergent behaviors that appear within them. To mirror these movements in the sonic landscape and visuals of Murmurations, SMD's James Ford and Jas Shaw collaborated with the celebrated Hackney-based vocal collective The Deep Throat Choir, as well as creative directors Kazim Rashid of ENDLESSLOVESHOW (Aphex Twin, Flying Lotus, Hudson Mohawk) and Carri Munden.

Finding time in between Ford's work as a producer and Jas' club gigging last year, the duo arranged a session in Shaw's countryside studio. Via an introduction from a friend of Ford's wife, The Deep Throat Choir's director Luisa Gerstein and SMD began swapping some production and melodic ideas. They decided to bring the whole East London-based choir into the studio to experiment, and the results were intense. Jas says, 'Listening to them moving their voices around a tone, altering the timbre, making chords, was like working with an incredible new synthesiser.' Rashid and Munden explore related ideas centered on kinetic energy and communal movement throughout the visuals of Murmurations. Rashid says of the collaboration, 'We were both having discussions around the purity of collective human experience and how transcendental this can be. Techno and the dance-floor is one of the last true expressions of this euphoria.'

From the beat-less introduction 'Boids' onwards you can hear uncanny patterns and sounds rising up from the sea of voices -- not traditional chords or harmonies, but complex interference patterns that play tricks on the mind and merge perfectly with SMD's distinctive synth tonalities and instinctive dancefloor nous. At times you might hear hints of Bulgarian choral music, or Cocteau Twins, or avant-garde composers like Iannis Xenakis or Pauline Oliveiros - but really, thanks to the creative freedom of SMD's working methods, it is a sound completely of its own, something all too rare in an age of retro and reference.

Ford and Shaw still have the same love of pure sound, human harmonies and electronic possibilities that they did when they first met at university, and it's clear that their career path has allowed them to nurture this love and express it as vividly as ever before.

Her Majesty's Ship is proud to present 'This Never Happened', the latest album from hugely talented French-American singer and producer Yan Wagner.

This always inventive and off kilter artist has had many top releases on labels like Kitsune and has worked with the likes of the legendary Arnaud Rebotini and Etienne Daho. He also has a side project, The Populists, is producing the first album of Calypso Valois and wrote the soundtrack for the short film 'Victoria' by Mathilde Marc. Someone who plays events like SXSW and Montreux Jazz Festival, Wagner's playful disco-pop tunes always find their way into the emotions of those who hear them.

For his second album, the artist wondered what to do: surprise everyone with a selection of ballads or serve up the electronic sounds that defined his last effort Forty Eight Hours. The answer lies somewhere in between, with covers of Frank Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood mixed in with fresh and catchy disco production. Unlike the last record produced by Arnaud Rebotini, this record is producer by Yan himself with a triple objective: to favour the first takes, the heat of the sound and to reduce the post- production to a minimum. It makes for something authentic and real, and is an album of artistic self-questioning, tenacious dreaming and overcoming doubt.

Says the artist, "The songs on this record are a series of lies; views of the mind. 'This Never Happened' is a collection of stories that never happened. Ten tracks talking of vain loves, of nocturnal experiences and of life and truth, which are all so short.'

Starting with the retro synths and shiny arpeggios of the title track, ensuing cuts like 'Blacker' are real chuggers with almost de-humanised vocals over the robot beats. 'SlamDunk Cha-Cha' is descended from Bowie with its camp synth wiggles and sung- spoken vocals. Switching up the tempo, slower tracks like 'Grenades' are perfectly glowing and frazzled with their pixelated melodies and cold chords. More upbeat affairs like 'No Love' are like lighter and cheerier versions of Depeche Mode, and the Sinatra cover 'It Was A Very Good Year' is a stirring, synth heavy version that is every bit as tender as the original.

This is a fantastic album of timeless electronic songs and is sure to be one of the standout releases of the year.

Musique Pour La Danse takes a short break from reissuing rare and essential music to bring you a selection of four new and exclusive tracks from the French underground entitled Equipe de Danse. Curated by label co-manager Ed Isar, a DJ and promoter active in the Paris underground since more than a decade, this EP brings together different producers and styles, highlighting the diversity and the creativity currently flowing through the French scene and providing DJs and ravers with quality tunes to work with and dance to.

Automat - Disco Trax
Everyone has a story about how one electronic music experience changed their lives forever, for Ed it was seeing Automat live in Paris in 2006 when he was 18. Automat's Electrospectif LP is still one of the best and most underrated French electro albums of the 21st century. Hearing Disco Trax many years later and realizing this fast-paced banger never got pressed on vinyl was the spark that encouraged Ed to work on this EP. This is irresistible jakbeat with electro and italo influences, timeless and compelling.

Cuften - bgt55ujp0
Cuften is a unique artist from Normandy who prefers being called a musician rather than a producer: he creates and records all his music live on a 100% hardware setup with absolutely no computers involved. With IDM and acid influences as well as a passion for hardcore, his music bridges the gaps between Aphex Twin, Marc Acardipane and Legowelt. This track is a perfect introduction to his world where hard hitting kicks get bodies moving while acid madness gets minds melting and it's actually his first tune ever released on vinyl. Keep an eye out for Purusu, Cuften's own record label which he runs with the help of Ed, a strictly underground affair that is already gathering support from established DJs around the world.

Sina - Faith
This is the very first track by Sina pressed on vinyl and what a belter it is! He is part of the new wave of electronic music activists in Paris with his Subtyl parties that were among the first to encourage today's ravers to side-step the clubs and go party in warehouses half a decade ago. We immediately signed Faith upon hearing it for the first time, spellbound by pounding and dreamy atmosphere, full of dramatic and ecstatic moments. This track exists in a techno universe of its own, as gritty as it is melodic. It never fails to get a reaction from the crowds and has been a staple of Ed's peak time sets lately.

Raymond D Barre - I Don't Know Dave
He's an up and coming producer and live performer from Paris who released a great EP on Nocta Numerica in 2016 and has several projects in the works. Clocking at 108 BPM, this tune is the downtempo cut on the EP. Driven by an 808, structured by FM bass and embellished with some lovely acid touches, this track could be described as 21st century orientalist New Beat or perhaps Egyptian Lover on codeine. Either way, this nod to Belgian vibes and BPM did not go unnoticed by both label managers and this fun and quirky track is often the highlight of downtempo sets.

Points of interest
- Four essential and totally exclusive tracks outside the beaten path and the usual formulas, a great snapshot of the French underground in 2018
- Various Artists, different vibes, something for everyone
- A Musique Pour La Danse release (Frankie Bones, Orlando Voorn, Cron aka Todd Sines, Break The Limits aka Bay B Kane, ..), a label founded and curated by Olivier Ducret of Mental Groove (Miss Kittin, Orbe, Donato Dozzy, Brodinksi...) and Ed Isar (33RPM +8% and Radio Belleville in Paris), releasing forgotten and unforgettable dance music of yesterday and tomorrow.