Suche:themselves

Aggelos Baltas is a veteran of the global electronic music scene, responsible for a handful of celebrated EBM 12”s as Dream Weapons, and a particularly heady and open-ended brand of krautrock as Fantastikoi Hxoi. His newest project, Anatolian Weapons, was conceived as a way to bring together these two seemingly mismatched concepts, with the polyrhythmic percussion and wailing tones of Greek folk music serving as their unlikely bonding agent. His output garners praise particularly around the Golden Pudel scene, such as Vladimir Ivkovic, and Phuong Dan. Lena Willikens, from the same circle, included Baltas’ track “Disillusioned” on her Dekmantel Selectors compilation in 2018.

But where much of what Baltas has released as Anatolian Weapons is instantly recognizable as dance music, To The Mother Of Gods—Baltas’ debut album for Beats In Space—is something else entirely. Created in tandem with Greek folk musician Seirios Savvaidis, it is a work of simultaneous collaboration and subtraction whose meticulous construction becomes more apparent with every listen. An album-length exploration of what happens when the principles of dance music are applied to pre-digital musical modalities. It is a record of psychedelic folk music that has more in common with Kikagaku Moyo, Minami Deutsch, and the Habibi Funk label than it does with anything else Baltas has produced under any alias. It’s difficult to imagine this music in any kind of club setting.

And yet, it’s very much the work of a DJ. Baltas initially heard Savvaidis’ music through a friend, and was absolutely amazed. “It was his very esoteric, pagan [music and] beautiful lyrics that grabbed me,” he writes. Seirios is a composer and performer of traditional Greek folk music with a growing discography of regional psych-rock gems. Baltas reached out to collaborate and the seeds of To The Mother Of Gods were sown.

Savvidis contributed stems of ten songs, which Baltas deconstructs and rearranges with appreciation of the ancestry of their lineage and of the deceptively ancient eerie, droning qualities inherent in the style. Occasionally augmenting Savvaidis’ recordings with his own, Baltas treats these elements as if raw materials for an architectural process.

To The Mother Of Gods showcases Baltas’ arrangement skills. He treats Savvaidis’ songs as landscapes, filling them with slanted, droning light and setting the singer’s vocals in dead center. His years behind the decks have given him an intuitive understanding of dynamics—drums crest and recede like tides, snippets of bassline repeat and swirl. He knows how to entrance, and when to push the music from the head to the body. Opener “Taratchi Katarratchi” (“Stormy Cataract”) is sung as a spell to ward off the fear of death, but Baltas’ orchestration demonstrates that dancing is an equally effective way of dispelling the darkness. The beat he assembles from Savvaidis’ playing recalls the late-night ecstasies of Primal Scream circa Screamadelica.

To The Mother Of Gods is a reminder that folk music and dance music are both powered by their audience as much as the musicians themselves. Savvaidis’ lyrics echo pagan Greek themes, touching on what Baltas calls “the magic of nature.” At times, as on “Kalesma” (“Invitation”), this can feel incantatory. Savvaidis chisels his vocal melodies into hard, clipped syllables, their cadence recalling Gregorian chant, and yet Baltas cloaks these details in washes of distortion. “Ston Stavraito” (“In Stavraithos”) is delivered with a lamentive tenderness that Baltas swells into a prideful stomp, immersing Savvaidis in marching drums and distant vocals that form a resilient protest-song. To The Mother Of Gods is a testament to the ongoing and innate truth that music can take us beyond ourselves. That repetition and drone can shepherd us to a liminal space beyond thought and rationality, where the wall between perception and reality does not exist. Call it spirit, if you want, and watch as it courses its way through modern-day dance music, mid-century psych, and the ancient sounds of the anatol.

Anatolian Weapons’ To The Mother Of Gods will be available from Beats In Space on June 14, 2019 in limited vinyl and unlimited digital forms.

Artist Highlights
• Aggelos Baltas is an Athenian music producer creating and Djing under the monikers of Anatolian Weapons, Fantastikoi Hxoi, and Dream Weapons.
• The Anatolian Weapons moniker is an outlet for Baltas to explore global music—from African to Anatolian and Middle Eastern, while also incorporating sounds from his home country of Greece.

The runic inscriptions of the ARP 2600's circuit boards foretold the coming of "three explorers" who will reveal the ancient truths that lie within the pulsations of its ever-shifting squarewaves. The result of weeks of intense exploratory sessions in an NYC celestial echo chamber, this record documents the efforts of Tim Wheeler, David Kitt, and Conor Creaney to fathom and harness the sounds emitted by the ARP, Minimoog, CS60, and Jupiter 4 in a strictly live fashion. No overdubs or editing took place, just the sound that filled the room as the jams emerged. The results are two extended, hypnotic synth odysseys that unfurl organically as their melodic layers reveal themselves over time.

Side A 'Locked In' opens with tranquil, sparkling synth chimes that give way to a pulsating (but largely beatless) Krautrock-meets-dub groove, anchored by an insistent bassline a
nd interlocking layers of synth lines that unfurl over its 15 minutes. Side B ‘Locked Out’ takes us to the outer reaches of the cosmos with its quavering, otherworldly arpeggios and tempestuous asteroidal outbursts.

With more than 220 million cumulated streams in 2013, Poldoore is far to be unknown from international future-beat and hip-hop scenes. His new record, Mosaïc, comes back confirming to be the spearhead of a booming music genre, where beatmakers emerge from the shadows to the light, to assert themselves as artists in their own rights. Coming from Belgium, more precisely Louvain near Bruxelles, Thomas Schillebeeckx began to explore his parents record collection at age 5, when the family moved to the US. Since, the will to combine this musical heritage to his more modern surrounding sounds never left. Because Poldoore music has a credo: assembly the era with sampling, mixing the genres to create a new musical touch.

Since his beginning in 2013, with the album The Days Off, the young musician talents gave him the opportunity to perform for an international tour with famous venues such as Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Festival, Dour Festival, or the giant Tomorrowland. Everything you need to create a huge fanbase, one that never let you down through your musical evolutions. At this stage, Poldoore is already ahead of his time, playing a music focused on the future, making his place among lasting artists by getting to the top sales on Beatport. Six years after, he's still here, more than ever.
The following of his career brings him to Bulgaria, Spain, Turkey, Germany, Greece, and developing remixes for international artists such as Selah Sue, Wax Tailor, Declaime or Talib Kweli.
He is also nominated at the Red Bull Elektropedia Awards in Belgium, for both Album of the Year and Best Newcomer of the year, mostly thanks to the hit: the remix of the classic Fugees song, Fu-Gee-La. Everything to set the stage for his second album, The Days Off in 2016. The natural identity of Poldoore music rings out more than ever, and allows him to sign several projects and EPs on prestigious labels: Chinese Man Records, Nowadays, Cold Busted or Darker Than Wax.
His forthcoming album Mosaïc is a pure exploration of genres. The offbeat hip-hop, beautifully embodied by the track Lessons About Life, the electro-funk with Darts Is Not A Sport, his beloved jamaïcan sounds on A Brand New Day (featuring ASM and Balkan Bump), or the break-electronic on Solace. But it's mainly his unusual ability to give a second groove to 70s soul samples and epic strings, that makes this record truly essential. The whole tracklist is haunted, whether on the excellent Walking Through A Sunlit Forest or on Melatonin, last of the 13 tracks. Always seeking to marry different musical periods, always linking the past and the future. With Mosaïc, Poldoore is not only showing us his talent, but takes the listener through out Time. And isn't it what the music is supposed to do














 

ZamZam 72 comes from one of our favorite producers for the last few years, the elusive Andy Mac. Known in particular for his “Diving Bird” series, a buy-on-sight trilogy of 12”s on Bristol’s Idle Hands, the idiosyncratic producer also has releases on No Corner (in collaboration with Ossia), and the seminal Punch Drunk label. His unique style of chopped, techy, warm, pastoralist dubwise had us from the first, and the tunes he sent us flew through our A&R gauntlet with ease. His are records we return to again and again, revealing more subtlety with each listen, free from genre or tempo constraints.

“Dawner,” the first of two transmissions from Lands End, Cornwall, is a perfect encapsulation of the Andy Mac sound: melancholy yet uplifting, rooted in techno-steppers yet rough-hewn and organic, breezy yet piercingly introspective. Led by a staccato kick and insistent metallic snare, featuring a bubbling Hammond organ lead by Richard Blackbarrow of cult UK Rough Trade band “Bob,” this one shimmers with summer warmth, lens-flare refracting saturated side-light, made for dusk sessions and sunrise sets, preferably out of doors, far from any city.

Layered with field recordings of streams and sea, “Tawny Grammar” is an altogether deeper affair, a dark, hallucinatory journey into the power of repetition in a 140-ish style. Shaker, kick, and hi hat lay the foundation for a looping and loping Binghi drum and guitar chop that begin their journey hacking through a dense undergrowth of sound, only to find themselves ensnared in a web of backwards delays and psychotropic effects that suspend the unwary in a strange tension between minimal and claustrophobic… the dance’s dark beating heart.

London's Axe On Wax crew have proven themselves to be highly dependable purveyors of good vibes.
French producer JLMT lands their Axe On Wax White series with a Jack J-ish mellow jazzed out house vibe.
Ep includes remixes by Laurence Guy & Real J. Therapeutic, feel good breezy house just in time for summer!

Australian band Pleasure Symbols enter a new phase in 2019, physically and stylistically with the forthcoming release of their first full length record Closer and Closer Apart. Three years have passed since the release of their debut, self-titled EP through Avant!. The time away being a necessary moment of reflection and regeneration for singer, songwriter and bassist Jasmine Dunn. Joined by fellow musician Steven Schnorrer, the duo began the push towards a more 80’s inspired post-punk sound with a ‘pop noir’ twist. Deciding to record and produce the album themselves, gave the freedom to take time to grow and explore their new direction as a song writing duo. Despite current trends in popular music, Pleasure Symbols continues to focus on a more guitar based post punk, dream-pop sound, while slowly diverging from a previous minimal wave, synth based musical output. With themes of desire for desires sake and self confrontation, the new musical direction may seem initially harrowing, but look closer and you will see vulnerability and tenderness triumph over the struggle of the human experience.

U Know Me Records proudly presents a special album showcasing Polish drumming scene - each track was produced by a different drummer - these are their portraits.

official video promo: https://youtu.be/qxuTYjMRUMM

In the 21st century drummers imperceptibly switched from the background to the front line, despite popular music not exactly pandering to them. In the early days of rock culture this joke made the rounds "What's the last thing a drummer says in a band?" "Perhaps we could play one of my songs…?"
In popular music the drummer became the first to compete with machines. They were the first band members that consequently began disappearing, however, as contemporary electronic music took hold, they were also the first to return. First they were incorporated into compositions but gradually - took centre stage. Thanks partly to the ubiquitous culture of Hip Hop recognising the drummer's role as key in any recording, alongside the eclecticism of new music, which demanded fluid transitions between musical forms, a drummer's adaptive skills – as a trained multi instrumentalist – became truly impressive. This new generation of drummers seen on Polish stages today are exceptional even against the backdrop of today's unusually creative and well-educated music scene which rejects narrow minded or genre-centric views.

This album exhibits portraits from the cream of today's Polish drummers. Kovalevo Tone Bank by Michał Bryndal tags the 1980's, the era which began stealing drummers' bread. Incidentally, the heavy groove laid down by the artist references a hit by Wham!, the same hit in which the group decided to cut the drummer's part because he was late and replace him with a LinnDrumm machine. Hubert Zemler in The Life and Death of Ben Bekele and Łukasz Moskal in Father Sparrow show they've found themselves perfectly in close cooperation with electronic instruments.
Multifaceted improvisors - Qba Janicki (Kabina projekcyjna) and Jan Młynarski (Roj) - transform their drums kits into multifunctional devices capable of delivering wildly diverse palettes of sound. Rafał Dutkiewicz (Displaced) showcases drums as the lead instrument on a club track. Marcin Rak (Alpaka) does the same, but with the conventions of Funk and Hip Hop, whereas Krzysztof Dziedzic (Vagabonde) gravitates towards the edges of jazz. Each of them here is a leader and… plays one of their songs.

Bartek Chaciński
(translation: Sean Palmer)

Slagmann is the new collaboration between producer Talismann and music ensemble Slagwerk Den Haag. Their first album 'Krysalis' is an adventurous synthesis of hypnotizing rhythm patterns, organic soundscapes and captivating scenography - or, as the artists themselves like to call it, a "ritualistic experience." Sometimes dreamy and dark, euphoric and explosive at other times. This mesmerizing cross-pollination between ritualistic percussion and drum machines will lure you into the murkiest depths of electronica and classical minimal music. For the visual identity of 'Krysalis' Slagmann works together with visual artist Heleen Blanken. Who is responsible for the scenography of the live show and capturing the cover image.

In the previous reissues we talked so much about this fantastic piece and "Marie", a very cinematic and supportive song, that now it is appropriate to dwell on the re-visited version of Danilo Braca that extends beautifully on the AA side of this new remastered reprint. Danilo who lives in the big apple often frequents Ibiza, perhaps also for this he has been able to exalt the most rhythmic elements of "Shadows from Nowhere", putting the beautiful falsetto beats to excessive movements, just like the waves that wash themselves on the sandy beaches of the White Island. His teacher Mario Gentili from Layer Bows added a beautiful arrangement for the strings and his Italian-New York collaborator Alvise Marino spread some fragments of guitar powder on top. That's it. 9 minutes of pure bliss, but also of catchy rhythm!

An LP of tracks, taken from various cassette releases, by Belgian synthwave luminaries The Misz (Jan Van den Broeke and Dries Dekocker)! 600 copies on 180 grams vinyl.

The Misz formed in Gent in 1983 by Jan Van den Broeke and Dries Dekocker at a time when they had both just relocated from the country. They lived on the same street and collaborated freely with the limited equipment they had, which always centered around the Fostex 250 4-track tape recorder. They used an unknown monophonic synthesizer, casio synths, roland drum machines, hand drums and guitars through effects pedals, improvising with their voices and often and included friends for additional voices and sounds. They captured these sonic experiments and sometimes released them on cassette in editions of 100-200. They were also included on numerous cassette compilations throughout the 1980s on labels like Mad In Belgium, The Cassette Factory, 3RIO Tapes, Minimart production, Fraction Studio, Cauchy Productions, Home Product, R.R. products, ZNS Tapes, and Body Records. They described themselves as young, immature and bit strange yet totally bold and fearless. They sang about what surrounded them from world politics and environmental catastrophes to love and lust. The songs on The Lonely Crowd span from various cassette releases and have been remastered from their original reel to reel tapes.

Repress available in early May.

Faitiche releases a new collaboration between the Japanese sound artist ASUNA and Jan Jelinek: the album Signals Bulletin brings together joint improvisations and compositions made over a period of three years in Berlin, Kyoto and Kanazawa. ASUNA’s meandering organ drones merge with Jelinek’s pulsating synthesizer and field recording loops to create dense superclusters that span broad harmonic arcs.

"Watching the Japanese sound artist ASUNA playing the organ, some people might be surprised. ASUNA is no virtuoso flying over the keyboard in a rage. Instead, with the calm gestures of an office worker, he cuts strips of adhesive tape to the correct length before sticking them onto the keys of his instrument. In this way, large clusters of keys are held down, creating a dense and sustained range of frequencies, while the sound artist continually prepares further sets of keys or removes tape again. I have rarely seen a more convincing performance concept, with such a power to fascinate.

I first met ASUNA when we both gave a concert at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, his home city. He performed the organ drones as described above and I immediately knew I wanted to collaborate with him. Six years and five meetings later, we completed Signals Bulletin. The album includes both joint improvisations and compositions, recorded in Berlin, Kanazawa and Kyoto.

Whether using prepared organ, Casio keyboards or mechanical plastic toys, ASUNA creates rich textures of sound that barely change over long stretches of time. It is a music without breaks. For a while, I was unsure how my loops made using modular synthesizers and live sampling fitted here – until I realized the role I had to take in this duet: I would provide the rhythmically pulsating foundation over which his dense continuums could unfold.

The result is harmonically drifting superclusters that put us into a meditation-like state. It can perhaps be compared to Automatic Writing – a mode of creative expression floating somewhere between concentration and distraction. Both the structure of our pieces and our approach to our instruments allow a similar “absence”: we let the machines play and repeat themselves – while we, in a mild form of trance, adopt the role of observers, intervening only occasionally.

It is no coincidence that ASUNA owns a collection of Doodle Art – drawings jotted down during conversations or while talking on the phone. It is said that works made like this point to the unconscious and reveal pet motifs – because a doodler always inadvertently returns to his or her favourite themes. The artwork for Signals Bulletin features pictures from the collection, in this case sheets of paper from the pads provided in stationery shops to test out pens. The special quality of such doodles is that the jumble of drawings is the work of a collective whose individual members do not know each other. Layer by layer is added, by someone different each time – until it becomes a dense cluster of lines and symbols ..."

Jan Jelinek, Berlin 2018

There are few people across the globe, who will have not been touched by the work of Frankie Knuckles. Forever regarded as ‘The Godfather of House’ for his unrivalled contribution to the house music we know today; what started as an underground movement in Chicago has grown to international heights thanks to Frankie. His records earned him recognition on a global scale, allowing him to work with some of the globes biggest names including the likes of Diana Ross, Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson.

Five years ago, Frankie passed away in Chicago on 31st March 2014 leaving behind one of the greatest house music legacies spanning almost four decades. Now he is commemorated by long time writing and production partner Eric Kupper. Eric, himself a seasoned DJ producer and writer, has worked on over 116 Billboard #1 Dance Records and played a pivotal role in a many of Frankie’s productions. Having both worked together for many years they established themselves at ‘Director’s Cut’ from 2011 and set about producing original releases and remixes based on the classic ‘Def Mix’ sound while sharing equal credits for their creations.

Together they re-produced and re-purpose classic cuts for modern dancefloors, with reworks including tracks from Marshall Jefferson, Ashford & Simpson, Artful & Ridney and The Sunburst Band, alongside Frankie Knuckles originals. These releases have now been brought together by Eric to feature on special album called ‘The Directors Cut Collection’ on SoSure Music. It includes the Director’s Cut reworks of Frankie’s classic cuts such as ‘Your Love’ and ‘Take You There’ with Jamie Principle, alongside Frankie’s first #1 single - ‘The Whistle Song’ on which Eric shares writing credits.

Within a multitude of classic reworks, highlights include a previously unreleased version of Ashford & Simpson’s ‘Bourgie Bourgie’ and a huge Director’s Cut Retro Signature mix of Marshall Jefferson’s 'The House Music Anthem (Move Your Body)' featuring Curtis McClain.

The Director’s Cut Collection is a fitting tribute to commemorate the fifth anniversary of Frankie’s passing whilst giving Eric a platform to tell his side of the creative story. This album is to be released in collaboration with The Frankie Knuckles Foundation who work to continuing Frankie’s legacy well into the future.

Compilation from British post-punk/Futurist group Ghosts of Dance formed in North Devon in 1981.

The members were Yvette Norris (vocals), Kevin Maynard (drums), Daryl Hunt (bass), Mark Butcher (keyboards), and Pete Heaton (guitar). Ghosts of Dance took their name from the song 'Ghosts' by David Sylvian which appeared on the first Japan album. After playing an early gig in Barnstaple, a gentleman in the audience named Richard Newman expressed his interest to start a record label and release their music. Richard scheduled a recording session for the band at Otter Studios in Georgeham with producer Harry Williamson, son of Henry Williamson, member of progressive rock band Gong. The debut single ‘Ghosts of Dance’ was released in 1982 on Plastic Canvas Records to mixed reviews as it was very different from anything being released at the time.

This compilation includes their debut single along with 9 bonus tracks recorded between 1981 and 1983 on vinyl for the first time. The band call themselves “Vocal Trance Music” on the 7” sleeve credits and it’s accurate. Melancholic pop with gloomy atmosphere and dream-like melodies. The final track shows the band moving in a New Romantic direction with Mark taking over the main vocals. All songs have been remastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios. Each copy is housed in a jacket featuring original artwork by John Hurford and includes an insert with photos, lyrics and liner notes by Pete Heaton.

ORACULO RECORDS is proud to welcome the enfant terrible of Moscow dark techno scene OBER DADA and his partner in crime LERA FOER whom present themselves to the world with an outstanding EP full of dark energy to get in flames any dance floor. Electro and ebm fans will consider this one a truly holy grail. All tracks have been specially remastered for LONG CUT vinyl by Eric Van Wonterghem at Prodam Berlin.

Charlemagne Palestine's majestic 1976 work The Golden Mean, originally performed by Palestine on two pianos, is revisited here as The Goldennn Meeenn + Sheeenn, a new collaboration between Palestine and enigmatic musician Rrose.

March 2018: the Festival Variations in Nantes commissions Charlemagne Palestine to reinvent The Golden Mean for two pianists. Palestine chose Rrose to join him in this new rendition of the work. Together, they performed The Goldennn Meeenn + Sheeenn onstage at the main opera house in Nantes -- the sumptuous Théâtre Graslin – with extraordinary results.

The concept of the 'golden mean' goes back to the roots of mathematics, and ancient Greek philosophy. It is an important work in the Palestine mythos, embodying his total immersion in the power of the interval. "It's probably his most systematic work . . . a step-by-step journey through the intervals of the octave," says Rrose. "When we rehearsed it, we were noticing how each interval is like a universe of its own -- with its own history, emotions, and sonic qualities all mixed up together. Every time you move from one interval to the next, it feels like moving into another world."

"I love the interval," Palestine told me in a recent interview. "I love when it plays with itself. That's what I learned from organ musics too. You can just do an interval, and if they're just slightly out of tune with each other, then they shimmer . . . they play themselves. And it sounds like somebody's playing lots of notes. In your ear, it's like an aural phenomenon . . . that's my whole concept. I make something that then does itself somehow. It continues by itself. So I don't have to always be there. And that makes my music a little less egocentric. So there's more space. Also for the listener — the ear plays with these things, and you're not always being given orders. Your ear isn't given orders all the time of what to listen for."

Beautifully recorded, with mastering by Rashad Becker of Dubplates and Mastering, The Golden Mean + Sheeenn feels expansive, radiant and hypnotic, opening new ears to its enduring mystery.

Rrose adds this note to listeners: "Do not focus your attention on the notes being played, but on the ocean of overtones swimming, suspended, overhead, brushing against one another, kissing one another, melting into one another."

Alien Transistor and Tokyo-based label Afterhours release a vinyl-version of tenniscoats' masterpiece "music exists". It consists of 4 LPs, which will be released over the year, full of intimate, wonderful, psychedelic folk-music. With the fourth LP, there will be a strictly limited box available, either for putting in your already purchased other 3 records, or as the whole glorious 4-LP-package.

Tenniscoats have devoted followers allover the world, but their releases were always hard to find outside of Japan. Except for their album "Tokinouta", which saw a very limited run on vinyl, and the seminal "Two Sunsets", their collaboration with the Pastels (and a small handfull of 7"s ), there were never any vinyl-releases, and also the CDs were hard to get for any-one, who doesn't speak or read japanese.

So, this is the chance to dive deep into the beautiful, unique world of the tenniscoats and their opus magnum "music exists".

The Tenniscoats are a duo that have enjoyed a long career in the music scene of their home country of Japan. They have collaborated with unique artists from different backgrounds (Tape, Pastels, Pastacas and Jad Fair), while maintaining their own laid back approach and sound. Their songs are built primarily from guitar and vocals with lyrical themes focusing on everyday life. It could be their expansion on simplicity that has captivated music lovers of all ages throughout their existence.

While the aforementioned collaborations produced bold and sensitive experiences and results, it has taken Tenniscoats five years to release an entire studio album of their own. The wait has not been in vain, as four discs will be released consecutively beginning with 'Music Exists - disc 1'. Music Exists saw a previously limited release on the Tenniscoats' own majikick label.

'We started recording around January of 2013 with just the two of us in our 10 tatami-room in Tokyo we were using as a private studio. Arrangements were produced without computers by overdubbing on an analog console with mixing assistance provided by Saya. As we sent selected songs to be mastered by Yasushi Utsunomia, we were able to see the tracks grown into a full length album.'

What turned into a huge 4 disc project began in earnest three years ago. Tenniscoats wrote and recorded themselves using an analog console, a microphone, and what few instruments they had. As the project developed, they were surprised to find that they had amassed several albums' worth of material.

'We tried throwing up the ideas we had in the beginning and not put too much of our strength into playing in order to develop the ideas of each song. Utsunomia, who did the mastering was the first person to ever hear the material for this album outside of the band. We sent songs to him carefully choosing an order that we felt would not make him bored. Thanks to his distinctive way of mastering, we were inspired to go further and further into the process.'

2016 marks the Tenniscoats' 20th anniversary together. You could consider 'Music Exists' as a sort of compilation of material stemming from these years spent together. With their unique combination of melodies, unexaggerated arrangements, and detailed mastering, Alien Transistor are extremely delighted to make this recording available to the public!

In 2017 Blair French came out of hibernation to release contrasting but similarly sun-kissed EPs on Rocksteady Disco and Claremont 56.

Here, he returns to action with a scintillatingly sunny and sensual six-tracker on NuNorthern Soul that may well be his strongest release to date.

Given French's chameleon-like musical history, that's certainly a bold claim.
Over the years, he's been a member of a multitude of musical collectives - most notably Cosmic Handshakes and Formless Figures - established his own DIY record label (Fat Finger Cosmic) and released music that touches on a dizzying array of styles, from award-winning movie soundtracks and Afro-fired deep house, to skewed techno, blissful ambience and experimental hip-hop.

On Patio Pastel, French is in full on sand-between-the-toes Balearic mood, delivering a range of lucid, ear-pleasing compositions that will sashay their way into your consciousness.
Contrast, for example, the drowsy organs, glistening pedal steel and undulating hand percussion of opener 'Patio Pastel' with the Serge Gainsbourg style chanson-goes-tropical bliss of 'La Playa De Tercipelo', which features some deliciously breathy vocals from Stephanie Lyon.

Then there's 'Morning Sail', a sumptuously evocative soundscape rich in toasty, dub disco bass, shuffling percussion and lilting, Jonny Nash style guitar solos (see also the effortlessly horizontal Lounsbury Gardens'), and the kaleidoscopic, saucer-eyed Balearic pop brilliance of ;'Human Make Human', where new age synthesizer melodies and the fuzzy vocal refrain of Kasi Seguin gentle dances above an Afro-flecked, mid-tempo groove.

Throughout the EP, French mixes electronic and acoustic instrumentation, drawing together musical elements from a myriad of styles to create sumptuous new fusions.
It's particularly evident on superb closer 'Belle Isle Sunsets', where colourful synth motifs, eyes-closed guitar riffs and Mediterranean-warm chords wrap themselves around a gently pulsating, impressively layered groove.
Like the rest of the EP, it's perfectly pitched, expertly executed and wonderfully atmospheric.

With 2019 marking 50 years since David Bowie's first hit, Space Oddity, Parlophone is set to release a 7" vinyl singles box set of nine previously unreleased recordings* from the era during which Space Oddity was first conceived.The title 'Spying Through A Keyhole' is a lyric taken from the previously unknown song, Love All Around, and though most of the other titles are known, these versions have never been officially released until late last year. Most of the recordings are solo vocal and acoustic home demo performances, unless otherwise stated. 
The design of each single label is presented to reflect the way David sent many of his demos to publishers and record companies, featuring his own handwritten song titles on EMIDISC acetate labels. The singles themselves are all mono and play at 45 r.p.m.
 
Due to the nature of some of the solo home demos where Bowie accompanied himself on acoustic guitar, the recording quality isn't always of a usual studio fidelity. This is partly due to David's enthusiastic strumming hitting the red on a couple of the tracks, along with the limitations of the original recording equipment and tape degradation. However, the historical importance of these songs and the fact that the selections are from an archive of tracks cleared for release by Bowie, overrides this shortcoming.

Les Points Pay A Twisted Homage To The Early Foundations Of Electronic Music Where Hard To Get Tapes, Dystopia And The Sound Of The Wretched Worker Where Present In Genres Like Post-punk, Industrial, Minimal Synth, New Beat And Wave.

It's changing, the worker searched for post-leftist solutions and got lost.
Nine circles applauded the proletariat and imagined how a community
could be congregated, while screams of violence would be filtered by boiling blood.
Exploiters of labor either find themselves rotting away in a never ending icy rain or are dragging their selfish accumulations on their chests for eternity - while the worker slowly identifies himself as a counter-commodity. Algorhythms (fraud) always mislead - once the worker gets past them only Dis will be awaiting her/him.

Remix extravaganza ahead! What started as an attempt to transport Feater's brillant outsider pop 'Time Millionaire' (taken from the Socialo Blanco album) onto a dance floor with one or two remixes, ended up as a feast served on three different platters with some heavy hitters. First up, Pépé Bradock and Ricardo Villalobos are crossing their beams. Spread over two 12s, the masters of idiosyncrasies and splendid aural design, Bradock and Villalobos treat the voice of Vilja Larjosto with love and care and bring it into their respective universe during peak time: vocals, dubs, acapellas and bonus bits included. Expertly, tricky and inventive. Remix EP no. 3 merges different trajectories of UK dance music traditions (or Ireland for that matter). Man of the moment Krystal Klear takes the material down to love town: the sound of 1980s Island records meets NYC boogie and UK street soul sounds. Hessle Audio's Pangaea follows the other path: uptempo bass fun with a driving dub and an instrumental pass. Last but not least, Feater & Sam Irl themselves deliver a blissed out dub of the original. Oh, and if you have enough time, flip over to the 10 with an Aba Shanti-I approved UK reggae and lovers rock take on it by Blood Shanti.