Japanese vibraphonist and marimba player Masayoshi Fujita returns with Migratory, his masterful new solo album, where his sonic explorations into the unknown continue.
In 2019, after 13 years of living in Berlin, Fujita returned to his native Japan with his wife and their three children, fulfilling his life-long dream of living and composing music in the midst of nature. The family found their new home in the mountain hills along the coast of Kami-cho, Hyōgo, three hours west of Kyoto.
Once settled in, Fujita spent his time turning an old kindergarten into his own music studio, Kebi Bird Studio, which became the birthplace of Migratory. On his new album, the composer and producer masterfully reimagines and mesmerises with his trademark sounds of vibraphone, and resumes his experimentation with the marimba and synthesisers that he first incorporated on his 2021 album, Bird Ambience, which followed the release of his acclaimed vibraphone triptych: Stories (2012), Apologues (2015) and Book of Life (2018).
On Fujita’s ever-evolving list of collaborators, Migratory introduces vocals from Moor Mother on ‘Our Mother’s Lights’ and Hatis Noit on ‘Higurashi’, as well as shō and saxophone to its soundscapes. Whilst at a music residency in Stockholm in 2021, Fujita met Swedish shō player Mattias Hållsten. Although it was a brief encounter, the two musicians stayed in touch. During a visit to Japan, Hållsten stopped by the studio and played on three of the tracks, including the alluring album closer ‘Yodaka’, exceeding Fujita’s own expectations.
Thandii (aka Jessica Berry, Graham Godfrey) first made waves with their debut album A Beat To Make It Better in 2023. The album gained somewhat cult critical acclaim long after it’s release, with listeners luxuriating in the unusual sound collaged from offcuts of Soul, Lo-fi Hiphop & Psych. Thandii’s world comes bolstered by collaborations with esteemed artists such as Michael Kiwanuka, Inflo, SAULT, Joy Crookes, Jordan Rakei, and Little Simz. The duo’s sophomore offering comes in the form of two companion albums Dream With You & Come As You. The two albums make up a single conceptual statement celebrating dissonance, contradiction, polarity and opposition.
The pair believe that binary thinking has a lot to answer for in today’s world and is often used to divide us as a people. ‘We wanted to explore what it felt like to hold disparate notions in both hands whilst making the music. Starting with the title tracks, we explored the idea of unashamedly being your authentic self in every moment - this is admirable for those that can live their life in an uncompromising way. In contrast to that idea, we explored those moments where we perhaps wished we were more than our reality - a dreamed up, imagined self’. It’s no surprise that duality is central to what Thandii is all about with the pair co-writing, co-recording & co-producing from their seaside studio HaloHalo in Margate, Kent.
The albums each have a distinct flavour of their own. Dream With You is built on cassette-tape-driven lofi beats, art-pop melodies and soulful piano breaks. Whilst Come As You explores more experimental song-form that wouldn’t seem out of place on Tender Buttons - Broadcast or Dots And Loops - Stereolab. Jessica’s voice is the transcendent, ethereal form that shapeshifts between the realms of the two statements; dancing playfully through falsetto harmonies, confessional spoken word, detuned alter egos and haunting choirs.
Thandii (aka Jessica Berry, Graham Godfrey) first made waves with their debut album A Beat To Make It Better in 2023. The album gained somewhat cult critical acclaim long after its release, with listeners luxuriating in the unusual sound collaged from offcuts of Soul, Lo-fi Hiphop & Psych. Thandii’s world comes bolstered by collaborations with esteemed artists such as Michael Kiwanuka, Inflo, SAULT, Joy Crookes, Jordan Rakei, and Little Simz. The duo’s sophomore offering comes in the form of two companion albums Dream With You & Come As You. The two albums make up a single conceptual statement celebrating dissonance, contradiction, polarity and opposition.
The pair believe that binary thinking has a lot to answer for in today’s world and is often used to divide us as a people. ‘We wanted to explore what it felt like to hold disparate notions in both hands whilst making the music. Starting with the title tracks, we explored the idea of unashamedly being your authentic self in every moment - this is admirable for those that can live their life in an uncompromising way. In contrast to that idea, we explored those moments where we perhaps wished we were more than our reality - a dreamed up, imagined self’. It’s no surprise that duality is central to what Thandii is all about with the pair co-writing, co-recording & co-producing from their seaside studio HaloHalo in Margate, Kent.
The albums each have a distinct flavour of their own. Dream With You is built on cassette-tape-driven lofi beats, art-pop melodies and soulful piano breaks. Whilst Come As You explores more experimental song-form that wouldn’t seem out of place on Tender Buttons - Broadcast or Dots And Loops - Stereolab. Jessica’s voice is the transcendent, ethereal form that shapeshifts between the realms of the two statements; dancing playfully through falsetto harmonies, confessional spoken word, detuned alter egos and haunting choirs. Key collaborators on the albums include bass player Jonathan Harvey and pianist Steve Pringle, both members of Margate’s burgeoning Arts scene. Thandii escaped London nearly a decade ago, their sights set on creating a means for prolific expression, without the distractions that the city can bring. The albums find them in an exploratory stage, throwing paint at the canvas with joyful abandon, gifting themselves permission for uncensored expression. The LPs muse on relationships - romantic, platonic & familial - community, self-worth, self love, healing and boundaries, at times from differing perspectives. This contrast of opinion makes for rich listening throughout a vast emotional landscape
Isik Kural returns with Moon in Gemini, a luminous scrapbook of slow-flowing narratives couched in intuitive and symbolic storytelling. Bending a playful take on environmental music to the folk song form, Isik's vocals coo atop pastoral field notes, airy chamber instrumentation and archival recordings culled from a curious musical life. A tender pastiche coalesces across the suite of Moon in Gemini's fourteen pieces, and Isik invites the listener to daydream as-deep-as-possible. "The songs on Moon in Gemini don't mind being slower or taking their time to reach the listener," says Isik, who wanted the title to speak to the album's dreamy, liminal nature. "I enjoyed how the phrase could be used to describe an object, a time or a place simultaneously," he explains. Similarly and subsequently, these songs contain a multiplicity of sonic artifacts, moments and spaces that span Isik's rich musical career to date. With the bulk of the album realized between Amasya, Turkey and Isik's current home in Glasgow, in both domestic and studio recording environments, additional tracks unearthed from his personal recording archive lend their lush patina. The record emerged as a fertile space to reimagine a handful of previously unreleased songs and unfinished ideas spanning the past fifteen years of his life and work, including streetside sounds documented while growing up in Turkey and recordings made while studying music engineering in Miami, Helsinki and Glasgow. Looking to the more recent past, Isik found himself wanting to build upon some of the methodologies and textures explored on his 2022 album in february, seeking a newly intimate, vocal-forward sound. He points to the track "film festival" from that album as a door through which to enter Moon in Gemini, where sample-based arrangements are presented in the context of asymmetrical "build ups and progressions" and ambience and vocals intertwine. Inspired in part by listening to iconic, if not sometimes misunderstood, singers such as Nina Simone, Aldous Harding and Ed Droste of Grizzly Bear, Isik aimed to carve out a new space for his voice on Moon in Gemini, experimenting with novel recording and mixing techniques. Captured at his aunt's farmhouse in Amasya during an extended three week recording session, we find Isik's vocal high in the mix, front-and-center and on newly expressive terms. As a songwriter, Isik is an intuitive and playful lyricist who allows his deep love of literature to flow through his off-kilter texts. Here, echoes of Silvina Ocampo's poem "Dialogues of the Silence" reverberate from the margins of "Most Beautiful Imaginary Dialogues". Likewise, Elliott Smith and Virgina Astley shapeshift through "Behind the Flowerpots," some lines of which were based on misheard lyrics from Smith's "Stickman" and Astley's "Some Small Hope." Attuned to the magic of happy coincidences, other unexpected "themes and connections between tracks flourished" during the recording process, resulting in some songs being more "thematically and lyrically connected to each other compared to previous records." The duos "Prelude" and "Interlude" as well as "Grown One Iota" and "After a Rain" explore connected stories, while "Almost a Ghost" and "Behind the Flowerpots" serendipitously emerged out of a conversation with Stephanie "Spefy" Roxanne Ward, whose balmy vocals heard highlighting in february return and call out to Isik's in sweet dialogue. Plumbing these new potentials of structure and songwriting, Isik also developed a taste for an expanded sonic palette, one enriched by the lulling undertones of live woodwinds and strings. The resulting collaborations with flutist Tenzin Stephen, harpist Kirstin McCarlie and clarinet player Giulia Tamborino envelop the record in an altogether "dreamier sound," swaying pastel and awash in lunar light. Moon in Gemini, brimming with natural imagery and lullaby-inflected tones, tunes into states of being where the wonder filled sound of everyday is heard and felt, perfectly imperfect in its poetry; where the invisible steps forward; where dauntless ghosts wait around every corner and play enriches the soul; where bird song fills sun-soaked afternoons and carries us on its wings into each enchanted evening. Isik Kural's Moon in Gemini will be released on vinyl, Japanese import CD, and digital editions on September 6, 2024. On behalf of Isik and RVNG, a portion of the proceeds from this release will benefit Mor Çaty Women's Shelter Foundation, whose social work at their solidarity centers and shelters supports women building lives unhindered by gender-based discrimination and male violence under free and equal conditions.
On August 16, Toronto-based musician and producer David Psutka aka ACT! (fka Egyptrixx / Anamai / Ceramic TL) will release his latest project ‘Face to Face, Day by Day’ for his own Halocline Trance imprint.
This is is Psutka’s third album proper as ACT! following the release of the “sonic mixtape” ‘Universalist’ in 2018 and the augmented reality soundtrack ‘Grey Matter AR’ in 2021; a series of Snapchat filters created by artist Karen Vanderborght and soundtracked by ACT! which explored the poetic and existential potential of AR and social media.
“Aesthetic accidents in the periphery of the ‘work’ can be the message. In 2018, at an Egyptrixx concert at Bagni Misteriosi de Teatro Franco Parenti - a gorgeous, sprawling outdoor pool theatre in Milan - I had a clarifying moment. Gigs around then had mostly been in pummelling, dark music venues, so I wasn't prepared for this expansive space (and the thoughtful work of the organisers who had layered sheets of plastic film on the pool to parallel eco-materialist themes from a previous album). It was the midday soundcheck that struck me most - brittle digital sounds from the set echoed off the colonial Milanese facades and ricocheted down the Via Carlo Botta, pinging off buildings in the distance and clashing with the noise of traffic, tourists and whatever else. It was a strange, collisionist moment, and a reminder that my essential approach to music is, above all, a preoccupation with the materiality of sound.
Everything on Face to Face, Day by Day began as an improvisation. Openness to accidents and the emotional complexity that comes from centering them in composition has become important to my work, and helps the music go beyond the possibility of what is playable, imaginable. I also wanted to channel adventurous solo pop records of the 1970’s and 80’s, like Yasuaki Shimizu, Jon + Vangelis and Stevie Wonder. These came from an interesting era in commercial music as studio production techniques became increasingly formalised as compositional devices, like AMS RMX16 percussion sounds and early digital stereo effects.
Like many musicians, I’ve been travelling and performing less since the pandemic and as a result, have wanted studio sessions to feel more collaborative and improvisational. There were great writing and recording sessions for this album. Vox, synth, sax and guitar jams - much of what ended up on the record isn’t edited much, if at all. I jammed a sm57 into Colin Fisher’s sax bell and created feedback loops using various preamps and distortion units. The clunky sounds were sampled and used as percussion elements. I also had a great synth jam session with Jeremy Greenspan at Barton Building Studio in Hamilton, which was recorded by filmmaker Liz Adler.
I’ve had a few months to sit with this album and see clear throughlines connecting it to previous projects. There are aspects of the experiential and structuralist sound design ideas from the EGYPTRIXX records; and also some arrangement tricks borrowed from ANAMAI - specifically, the use of interruptionist sound events. Perhaps most of all, it feels connected to the Ceramic TL + Ipek Gorgun record ‘Perfect Lung’ and its splattered take on musical complexity. “ (David Psutka)
In addition to ACT!, Psutka has released music with numerous projects including Anamai, Egyptrixx and Ceramic TL, he has collaborated widely with artists such as Junior Boys, Ipek Gorgun, and Kuedo as well as Jessy Lanza (2016) and an official remix for Massive Attack’s ‘Hymn of the Big Wheel (2012). The contributions on this album, from Robin Dann and Ben Gunning, reflect the deeply collaborative nature of the Halocline Trance label and the Toronto creative scene more broadly.
Many of Psutka’s releases have received critical acclaim from media outlets such as Pitchfork, Exclaim, The Quietus and Resident Advisor. As a live performer, he has toured extensively including performing at Sonar Festival, Roskilde, Mutek, MOMA PS1 Warm-UP and CTM Festival. He’s also presented sound installations at various institutions such as Galeria Civica Commune di Modena, and Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO).
In 2015, Psutka launched Halocline Trance as a home for his various sound projects, events and collaborations. Now a creative collective and label, it has grown to include a diverse array of artists including Casey MQ, Xuan Ye, Myst Milano, Colin Fisher and others. The label is described as “genre-agnostic” and conceptually open, supporting work across a wide spectrum of creative fields including soundtrack recording, AR design and traditional artist albums. Their impeccable roster also includes, theorist/improviser Eldritch Priest, and AR/VR artist Karen Vanderborght. In recent years, Halocline Trance has established itself as a platform that facilitates many of Canada’s most exciting creative music projects. Many of the releases have received critical acclaim from outlets including Pitchfork, Exclaim, Bandcamp and Resident Advisor.
BASIC is a mind-meld between Chris Forsyth, his frequent running partner (and formidable 6-string thinker) Nick Millevoi, and Mikel Patrick Avery (Natural Information Society). "This Is BASIC", their debut album, is a complex and entrancing instrumental LP recasting forgotten scraps of guitar history into a moving mosaic of strings, skins and electronics. Taking inspiration (and their name) from the 1984 Robert Quine/Fred Maher album ("Basic"), Forsyth and Millevoi got together for a run of low-key jam sessions using an Alesis drum machine for rhythm tracks and forging a collaborative language from angular polyrhythms, pulsing baritone-guitar lines, and shimmering chorus-pedal washes (another stylistic nod, this time to the glistening post-punk of the Durutti Column and numerous 4AD bands). Avery was soon enlisted on drum kit_a setup that quickly morphed into a single drum, bell, and a bespoke electronics rig of his own creation. The trio quickly flowered into an improvisational swirl of disorienting electronics, hypnotic throb, and dense flanged-guitar harmonics: three unique voices spinning a complex conversation of textures and rhythms.
Lukas de Clerck brings us the ancient greek instrument, the aulos, of which his new interpretation of long form expression is coaxed forth on this tremendous recording. Lukas de Clerck explores a niche of archaeological research in music; the aulos is a historical Greek instrument that Lukas analyzed and reinterpreted by a luthier in modern times_navigating this impression as an artwork or living sculptural object, as there is an absence of historical partitions or written information about how to recreate technique on the instrument. Lukas de Clerck has interpreted information from the rare archaeological resources and visual art of the classical Greek period to recreate both playing technique and possible sound timbres with the instrument. With his contemporary approach to drone, post-minimalist music, and contemporary folk, we find a deeply satisfying and compelling, even playful set of songs, timbral exercises and compositions. An important document of new music meets contemporary archaemusicological research via Stephen O'Malley of SUNN O)))'s label Ideologic Organ. _ The telescopic aulos is speculative: might it have existed? It takes on features from the historical aulos, a double-reed instrument of which we know how it looked but little about what music was played on it or how it would have really sounded. It's an instrument without the limitations of canon or manual, providing creative freedom and awakening curiosity. The new instrument featured on this album is ancient and futuristic at once. The aulos has no tone holes; instead, each of the two tubes consists of three parts that can slide into each other. In this sense, the metal pipes bear a certain resemblance to the principle of a trombone. However, since both hands are already in use to hold both tubes, the sliding has to be done by way of gravity and the help of a «phorbeia», a leather mask which helps keep the reeds in place. The aulos's material is metal (instead of wood), which gives it a certain electronic allure and intensity, as well as a variety of sonic possibilities and textures. It produces overtones efficiently and allows them to play with their microtonality. The aulos Lukas plays on this recording was developed at Brasserie Atlas, a temporary occupation of a former brewery in the heart of Brussels where Lukas lives. It is quite a poetic coincidence that the birthplace of the instrument is named after the Greek titan condemned to carry the sky, while this instrument needs to be turned skywards to lower its pitch with the help of gravity. At Brasserie Atlas, Lukas has found collaborators who have shared in the process of building this new instrument: the collective Noir Métal has constructed the tubes, in this way becoming instrument builders; the phorbeia has been manufactured by Jot Fau; a former water reservoir in the vast cellar of the building carried the instruments' resonance for its first sounds. The place has left an imprint on this new instrument. With all of the telescopic aulos' layers, its sonic, musical and extra-musical components are still unfolding their potential as a medium for discovery and research, next to being an instrument of great musical potential. The music on The Telescopic Aulos of Atlas reflects this spirit. In several miniature pieces, it presents an encyclopaedia of musical possibilities that the instrument offers while keeping an intense and corporeal sonic specificity. The short pieces are studies that reflect on the sonic possibilities of this instrument that are yet to be explored. It meanders, searches and interacts with itself and the space. It needs to answer common expectations of old instruments being harmonious or pleasing. It transports a kind of experimental archaeology that, by formulating hypotheses in the present, allows us to reflect on what might have been in the past and simultaneously questions concepts of beauty, harmony or virtuosity. However, in the end, this instrument might have never existed before. -Julia Eckhardt
Der Samen für ELEPHANT TREE wurde im Jahr 2013 irgendwo in Londons modrigen Seitengassen in einem Proberaum gepflanzt. Dort wuchsen aus dem Bass von Jack Townley und Sam Harts Schlagzeug die ersten Töne des späteren "Attack of the Altaica" Demos hervor. Damit war der Song geradezu prädestiniert zum Eröffnungsstück der neuen Raritätensammlung "Handful of Ten". Die ansteckende Mischung aus warmem, zerschmelzendem Gitarren-Fuzz und hochfliegenden Gesangsharmonien des Demos führte schnell zu einem Plattenvertrag und bereits im September 2014 erschien das erste Album "Theia". Das Debütalbum wurde von Kritikern und Fans gleichermaßen hervorragend aufgenommen und dieser Meilenstein wird nun als Anniversary Edition neu aufgelegt. Eine Fülle von seltenen Fotos, Liner-Notes und Texten polieren das Artwork frisch auf. Die hart arbeitenden Engländer ruhten sich keineswegs auf ihren Lorbeeren aus, sondern legten im Jahr 2015 mit dem selbstbetitelten zweiten Langspieler "Elephant Tree" erfolgreich nach. Dagegen scheiterte ELEPHANT TREEs Versuch, mit einem Label näher der Heimat zu arbeiten, ohne eigenes Verschulden, an Problemen des neuen Partners. Dadurch erhielt das hoch gelobte "Habits" aus dem Jahr 2020 nicht die nötige anhaltende Unterstützung. ELEPHANT TREE veröffentlichen das gesuchte dritte Album zum zehnjährigen neu über Magnetic Eye, womit es endlich wieder verfügbar wird. Mit "Handful of Ten" blicken ELEPHANT TREE auf zehn aufregende Jahre zurück, die sie mit großartigen Stücken aus ihrem Archiv sowie neuen Tracks feiern. Langjährige Anhänger dürfen sich ebenso wie neue Freunde auf den einzigartigen melodischen Doom der Engländer freuen: nur Thriller, keine Filler!
ELEPHANT TREE legen eine bemerkenswerte Neuausgabe ihres hochgelobten Debütalbums "Theia" vor. Die Anniversary Edition dieses Meilensteins kommt mit einer Fülle von seltenen Fotos, Liner-Notes und Texten, die das Artwork frisch aufpolieren. ELEPHANT TREE wurden im Jahr 2013 irgendwo in Londons modrigen Seitengassen im Proberaum gezeugt. Dort entsprangen dem Bass von Jack Townley und Sam Harts Schlagzeug die ersten Töne des späteren "Attack of the Altaica" Demos. Damit war das Debüt zum Eröffnungsstück der neuen Raritätensammlung "Handful of Ten" geradezu prädestiniert. Die ansteckende Mischung aus warmem, schmelzendem Gitarren-Fuzz und hochfliegenden Gesangsharmonien auf "Attack of the Altaica" führte schnell zu einem Plattenvertrag und bereits im September 2014 erschien mit "Theia" das erfolgreiche erste Album. Die hart arbeitenden Engländer ruhten sich aber nicht auf ihren Lorbeeren aus und legten schon im Jahr 2015 das selbstbetitelte zweite Album "Elephant Tree" vor, das ebenfalls mit reichlich Applaus empfangen wurde. Mit dem dritten Langspieler "Habits" sollte der nächste große Schritt folgen, doch Pandemie und Schwierigkeiten ihres damaligen Labels machten den Engländern einen Strich durch die Rechnung. Dennoch blicken ELEPHANT TREE freudig auf zehn aufregende Jahre zurück und feiern diesen schönen Anlass mit den Wiederveröffentlichungen von "Habits" und "Theia" sowie mit großartigen Stücken aus ihrem Archiv und packenden neuen Tracks unter dem Titel "Handful of Ten".
2009 veröffentlichten Helvetets Port aus Göteborg ihr Debütalbum "Exodus To Hell" auf High Roller Records, ein Jahr später gefolgt von der EP "Man With The Chains". 2019 kam man mit dem Zweitling "From Life To Death" zurück, ehe die Welt durch die Pandemie zwischenzeitlich zum Erliegen kam.
Das brandneue Sudioalbum von Helvetets Port, "Warlords", geht nun als klare Steigerung gegenüber den ersten beiden Platten der Schweden durch. Die Musik von Helvetets Port ist absolut zeitlos - die Band hält sich zwar strikt an die Paradigmen des traditionellen Heavy Metal, ist aber stets um Eigenständigkeit bemüht.
2009 veröffentlichten Helvetets Port aus Göteborg ihr Debütalbum "Exodus To Hell" auf High Roller Records, ein Jahr später gefolgt von der EP "Man With The Chains". 2019 kam man mit dem Zweitling "From Life To Death" zurück, ehe die Welt durch die Pandemie zwischenzeitlich zum Erliegen kam.
Das brandneue Sudioalbum von Helvetets Port, "Warlords", geht nun als klare Steigerung gegenüber den ersten beiden Platten der Schweden durch. Die Musik von Helvetets Port ist absolut zeitlos - die Band hält sich zwar strikt an die Paradigmen des traditionellen Heavy Metal, ist aber stets um Eigenständigkeit bemüht.
MOVEMENTS Vol.12 – A bag full of rare rhythm & blues, mod-jazz, and mid 70s funk.
Side A starts with rhythm & blues from the 1960s. Most of the tracks were pulled from hopelessly obscure 7" singles. The only names of which some of you might be familiar with are most likely Mat Mathews and Lu Elliott. However, both original 45 RPM singles are pretty hard to find these days, especially in playable condition.
Side B is all about deepfunk this time. "Hipper Snapper " is a prime example of that genre. Some say its groove is reminiscent of Charles Wright's "Express Yourself. Agreed! The Villagers are responsible for the first 'aha' moment. Their (previously unreleased!) version of "Funky Broadway" would have certainly astounded even Dyke & The Blazers. Representing Germany on this volume: The Rippers, also called the "Offenburg Beatles"! Back in the USA, John Fogerty has probably never heard of this heavy school-funk cover of "Proud Mary". Drum breaks galore!
Side C begins with another German contribution. Saxophonist Gus Brendel delivers a mod-jazz belter of the highest order as do The Hornets. Definitely sure-shots for any dance floors! High time for 'aha' moment #2. Many bands have tried their hands on a cover version of the Nat Adderley jazz classic, incl. vibraphone player Bret Breitinger! The perfect choice to finish this side is Downtown Trio's smooth and groovy cover of Gershwin's "Summertime ".
Side D is reserved for proper 1970s funk. ONYX's "Break It Loose " has become a certified Rare Groove classic. Here you can enjoy it for the first time with the blessing of the band! Glenn Doughty and his Baltimore Colts Shake and Bake Band of the 70's is the first musical group consisting of former NFL All-Pro players that Tramp Records has partnered with in its history! Watch out, "Shake and Bake " will be re-released on a good old 45 RPM single, too!
Those of you who have been enjoying the detective work of the people behind the label over the past 21 years know that the Movements series can be easily considered as the flagship compilation series on Tramp. So, after having listened to the entire selection of this brand new volume we sincerely hope that we will have achieved our aim to surprise, delight, and enlighten you once again!
Key selling points:
- initial 400 LPs contain a bonus 7" of a SUPERRARE funk 45
- incl. full album download code
- deluxe double-gatefold LP with detailed liner notes & unseen photographs
- ALL but three songs appear on CD, LP & digital for the very first-time
ELEPHANT TREE machen ihr "verschollenes" drittes Album "Habits" (2020) endlich wieder verfügbar. Nach der Veröffentlichung von "Habits" geriet ihr damaliges Label in Schwierigkeiten, weshalb das von der Kritik hochgelobte Werk nicht die verdiente anhaltende Unterstützung erhielt. ELEPHANT TREE wurden im Jahr 2013 irgendwo in Londons modrigen Seitengassen im Proberaum gezeugt. Dort entsprangen dem Bass von Jack Townley und Sam Harts Schlagzeug die ersten Töne des späteren "Attack of the Altaica" Demos. Damit war das Debüt zum Eröffnungsstück der neuen Raritätensammlung "Handful of Ten" geradezu prädestiniert. Die ansteckende Mischung aus warmem, schmelzendem Gitarren-Fuzz und hochfliegenden Gesangsharmonien auf "Attack of the Altaica" führte schnell zu einem Plattenvertrag und bereits im September 2014 erschien das erste Album "Theia". Das Debütalbum wurde von Kritikern und Fans gleichermaßen hervorragend aufgenommen und dieser Meilenstein wird nun als Anniversary Edition neu aufgelegt. Eine Fülle von seltenen Fotos, Liner-Notes und Texten polieren das Artwork frisch auf. Die hart arbeitenden Engländer ruhten sich nicht auf ihren Lorbeeren aus und legten bereits im Jahr 2015 mit dem selbstbetitelten zweiten Album "Elephant Tree" einen Nachfolger vor. Mit "Habits" sollte der nächste große Schritt folgen, doch die Pandemie sowie Probleme ihres neuen Labels machten den Engländern einen Strich durch die Rechnung. Dennoch blicken ELEPHANT TREE freudig auf zehn aufregende Jahre zurück und feiern diesen schönen Anlass mit den Wiederveröffentlichungen von "Habits" und "Theia" sowie mit großartigen Stücken aus ihrem Archiv und packenden neuen Tracks unter dem Titel "Handful of Ten".
Gemeinsame Auftritte mit weltbekannten Gitarristen wie Jon Gomm, Joscho Stephan oder Peter Finger, sowie Engagements als Live-Bassistin bei Alli Neumann oder der Band AnnenMayKantereit. Mit letzterer spielt Chassée bis heute in ausverkauften Hallen in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz und veröffentlicht ihr 4. Studioalbum auf Roof Music!
'Attachment Theory' (VÖ: 06.09.24 via ROOF Records) ist das neue Album von Sophie Chassée. Insgesamt zehn Songs, die Herzensbrüche und kaputte Beziehungen verhandeln, als gäbe es da tatsächlich eine Theorie, eine Formel, um diesen verdammten Schmerz erträglicher zu machen. Und wenn es sie gibt, dann, das macht 'Attachment Theory' klar, muss diese Formel lauten: Gezupfte Gitarren a la Ben Howard, Tracy Chapman oder Andy McKee addiert mit einem wunderbar zarten, warmen Colbie-Caillat-Gesang und multipliziert mit großen Folk-Popmomenten, wie man sie noch aus frühen Taylor Swift-Songs kennt. Dazu Lyrics, die so klar alles 'Toxische' zurück in die Dunkelheit der Nacht singen, dass da nur noch Licht bleibt, etwa in 'What Fathers Do: Your words don’t met your actions/ You never heard of self reflection'. Mit 'Attachment Theory' erscheint nun bereits das vierte Studioalbum der Singer-Songwriterin. Da sind viele Genres, mit denen man Chassées Musik zu beschreiben versuchen könnte: Modern Fingerstyle, Folk oder Acoustic Pop. Vielleicht reicht es aber auch, diese Songs als das zu benennen, was sie sind: Große, ehrliche, tiefe Lieder. Solche, die die Landschaft vorbeiziehen lassen, Pflaster über die Wunden auf der Seele kleben – und die Hoffnung ein bisschen heller leuchten lassen.
arbitrary presents the second in a series of 10" vinyl remix collaboration releases by Danish musician Mads Emil Nielsen and Chromacolor.
Side A features Heartbeats, a composition Nielsen originally made for a radio soundtrack. The track is derived from loops and granulations of sine waves and pulses from Nielsen’s modular synth, which he later combined with recordings of synthesized bass and layers of organ-like tones.
On side B is a remix by German sound artist and producer Hanno Leichtmann under his Chromacolor moniker. As on the first split 10" (Constellation, 2022), Leichtmann worked with sounds from the original mix, combining it with his Hohner Guitaret, Fender Rhodes and Moog bass. Additional cello tones by Anthea Caddy and vocal contributions from Annie Garlid round out the remix.
Heartbeats written & produced by Mads Emil Nielsen in Copenhagen. Heartbeats / Chromacolor Remix written & produced by Hanno Leichtmann. with: Annie Garlid: voice, Anthea Caddy: cello.
Mastered and cut by Kassian Troyer at D&M, Berlin. Artwork by Karel Martens.
Canadian-currently-residing-in-Berlin and multi intstrumentalist Aidan Baker teamed up with Dutch demolition duo Dead Neanderthals late 2023 to work on the collaborative album entitled Cast Down and Hunted.
Cast Down and Hunted is an abstract affair. Angular and dark, droney and lush. Two lengthy tracks, Subterfuge and Paranoia, each fill one side of the LP, which will be released by the Dutch label Moving Furniture Records.
The artwork was made by Steven Kenny and the album layout was done by Rutger Zuydervelt (Machinefabriek).
The album was mixed and mastered by Marlon Wolterink at White Noise Studio.
ABOUT AIDEN BAKER
Aidan Baker is a classically-trained multi-instrumentalist focusing on the electric guitar as his primary instrument. Using prepared and alternate methods of playing the guitar, along with various electronic effects, Baker creates music which generally falls within the ambient/experimental genre but draws on influences from post-rock, shoegaze, electronica, neo-classical, and jazz.
A highly prolific artist, Baker has released numerous recorded works, both solo and with various group projects—most notably his dreamsludge duo, Nadja—and including collaborations with Tim Hecker, Carla Bozulich, Jussi Lehtisalo, and Andrea Belfi, among others—on such independent labels as Karlrecords, Gizeh Records, Important Records, and his own imprint, Broken Spine Productions. A frequent live performer, Baker has toured extensively around the world, including appearances at such international festivals as FIMAV, SXSW, Incubate, Unsound, Roadburn, and Mutek.
Originally from Toronto, Canada, Baker currently resides in Berlin, Germany.
ABOUT DEAD NEANDERTHALS
Dead Neanderthals have spent more than a decade putting together an eclectic and envious back catalogue that spans multiple genres – from free-jazz to grindcore to doom drone by way of psychedelia – and continuously throwing curve balls that defy expectations. You never know what you’ll get, but you know it’ll be heavy.
ABOUT MOVING FURNITURE RECORDS
Moving Furniture Records is a label based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands specialized in releasing experimental electronic music, run by Sietse van Erve, started in October 2008. We are mostly interested in drones, minimalist, microtonal and field-recordings music.
Moving Furniture Records has released music by both renowned, musicians such as Richard Chartier, BJNilsen, Jos Smolders, Gareth Davis & Merzbow and Machinefabriek, as (young) new talent such as Gagi Petrovic, Fani Konstantinidou, and Ryan van Haesendonck.
Aside from the regular releases Moving Furniture Records has two special series: Eliane Tapes: music inspired by and dedicated to the work of Éliane Radigue. Contemporary Series: contemporary music written for acoustic and electro-acoustic ensembles and solo artists.
Moving Furniture Records also organizes concerts in various venues in Amsterdam. For all our releases and more information
Label boss Ste Roberts makes his debut on his imprint Private Parts, and he has invited his favorite Dutch duo the Young Adults along for the ride. X-Change Of Parts Vol 1 brings one original track from each artist, and then remixed by each other. Kicking off the EP with the quirky and twisted minimal throbber of Brain Freeze. Fun and ideal to wig out any dancefloor in those early hours. Young Adults with a perfect remix, maintaining all the fun for a heads down shuffle. A cheeky toast-apella to round of the A. On The flip, you have Young Adults ramping up the tempo, and delivering some incredibly funky tech. This sounds like it could be 20 years old, timeless stuff. Rounding off the EP Ste Roberts twists things up with a pulsating bass heavy Electro remix.
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Kato Hideki's Statement: "The Walk is the first collaboration between me and my brother from another mother, Kramer. We started working together in the late summer in 2023, discussing the thematics and the sonic palette of the album. We shared strong connections with the writings by Robert Walser and Basho - both of them walked, dreamed, lived and died on the road. Ambient music was our natural plane for us to transduce the power of their literature into our music as signifiers. Neither of us imagined just to make 'another ambient record', nor a direct translation of their writings. My instinct was to use various modal colors with modulation - slow yet structured music that sounds deceivingly similar to ambient music. Kramer's genius was apparent to me: his ability to elaborate the music as a composer / musician with his keen ears; to frame the album conceptually, sonically and musically as a producer. What you hear in this album is a true collaboration between two artists who trusted each other to let the music transcend. Here you have it, enjoy YOUR walk - dream, live and die well!" Kato Hideki - Brooklyn, NY on April 3rd, 2024 Kramer's Statement: "Sometime in the latter 20th Century, I became aware of the art of The Brothers Quay, two American animators living in London and making the most beautiful works of art I'd ever experienced in cinema. I noted that some of their work was inspired by_ 'the writings of Robert Walser'. Fast forward to 2024 and I have now read every word there was to read (translated into English) by this unique Swiss-German writer. I'd waited decades to find the right 'environment' in which to create music in dedication to this great prose writer and poet, and in 2023, I found that it was not 'the right environment' that I'd been waiting for, but rather, the right collaborator. Kato Hideki and his extraordinary work as composer for film, dance and just about every other creative discipline you can imagine, was equally as inspiring to me for this project as the words and worlds of Walser and Basho. Our journey in collaborative composition began all over the global map, but arrived at the same physical endpoint, and at the very same point in time. I'm not sure that I would even be interested in music at all, unless there were other artists to partner with as I worked. Working alone means Nothing to me. This months-long act of co-creation i have shared with Kato for "THE WALK" has made me as happy to be alive as Walser and Basho were so happy to be alive while on their walks, as evidenced by their extraordinary descriptive powers, knowing that the world around them - so simple yet so very complex - made life so wondrous, and so well worth the sometimes seemingly insurmountable struggles of finding a way to survive Today, so that we might try again Tomorrow." - Kramer, April 9, 2024 (Asheville, NC)
Recorded in 2014, Mid-City Island is the first ever project to be released from Moses Sumney. Moses recorded the entire EP from his apartment in Mid-City, Los Angeles straight to cassette on a four-track recorder that TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek lent him. To mark the 10 year anniversary of Mid-City Island, Moses kept good on a promise he made to himself all those years ago, broke and starting out - that he would press it to vinyl in a decade. Reflecting back on that period, Moses says "Mid-City, Los Angeles was more of a concept than a place. Seemingly nobody had ever heard of it, and yet it was the geographic center of the city. Living there felt analogous to my disposition as a 'rising' Angeleno - highly visible and invisible at the same time. I sat on my bedroom floor and wrote 'Plastic.' Throughout his 10-year career, Moses Sumney has consistently evaded definition as an act of duty: technicolor self-directed videos and monochrome clothes; Art Rock and Black Classical; blowing into Fashion Weeks from a small town in North Carolina; seemingly infinite collaborators, but one staggering voice. Consistent across the worlds of music, fashion, and film is his assertion that the undefinable still exists and dwelling in it is an act of resistance.
"It's Love" war das erste von drei Alben von The Softies zwischen 1995 und 2000. Herzschmerz, Sehnsucht und ultimative Finesse wird zu Ultra-Pop, dem man sich nicht entziehen kann. Rose Melberg (Tiger Trap, Gaze, Go Sailor) und Jen Sbragia (All Girl Summer Fun Band) kreieren mit zwei Gitarren und zwei Stimmen Songs, die sich tief in dein Herz und deine Seele bohren - und die du nicht mehr loslassen willst. Die Musik von The Softies hat eine Kraft, die nicht nachlässt, und die Songs brechen über einen herein, pure Schönheit. Der hier enthaltene Song ,This House" wurde von Lil Peep für seinen Song ,Ghost Boy" gesampelt. Das Cover von "It's Love" wurde von dem weltberühmten Comiczeichner Adrian Tomine gestaltet.
Mit deutschen Texten und einem vielfältigen Mix aus Genres der härteren Musik sind Consvmer. einzigartig in ihrer Szene und liefern nun ihr neues Album “Seelenfrieden” ab. Die Wurzeln der Band reichen bis in ihre Grundschulzeit zurück, als die drei Gründungsmitglieder Daniel Fischer, Dennis Fischer und Dennis Ackermann ihre Leidenschaft für die Musik entdeckt haben. Sie bildeten Consvmer. in 2019 und in 2022 stoß Fabian Schuhmacher als Bassist dazu. Ihre gemeinsame Geschichte prägte den Musikstil von Consvmer., eine Mischung aus Progressive Meta, Beatdown und Metalcore. Die Band ist extrem gesellschaftskritisch und scheut sich nicht davor, auch die dunkelsten, unangenehmsten Themen in ihren Texten zu anzusprechen. Diese Band kennt keine Grenzen und ihre unvergleichbare Kreativität wird nicht nur in ihrer Musik, sondern auch in ihren eigens produzierten Musikvideos und Grafiken reflektiert. Mit ihrem sozialkritischen Bewusstsein und musikalischen Experimentierfreudigkeit haben Consvmer. sich trotz deutscher Texte auch international einen festen Platz in der Metal Szene erarbeitet. Aufgrund ihrer einmaligen Kombination aus eindringlichen Rhythmen, provokativen Themen und kreativer Unabhängigkeit ziehen Consvmer. nicht nur durch ihre Musik Aufmerksamkeit auf sich, sondern auch durch ihre Haltung und deren Ausdruck.
This is the second package of remixes for the hypnotic folk music of the Ainu a cappella group Marewrew. Ukouk Remixes Pt. 02 is dedicated to dub-infused remixes, featuring Elijah Minnelli and Peter Presto on a 7" single.
Elijah Minnelli is a producer of dub music. The London-based artist specialises in a fusion of folklore and dub, which he masterfully demonstrates on his latest release Perpetual Musket on the FatCat label. His remix of Marewrew's Uekap is a deep and breathing take on the mesmerising round singing vocals, dubbed in a live take through his mixing desk. The chopped vocals are used like percussion instruments. Elijah Minnelli has also contributed a moody DJ mix to the Pingipung podcast series, sharing some of his knowledge of pre-reggae roots music from the Caribbean and South America.
Pingipung founder Peter Presto remixes the same track, Uekap, with his unmistakable dubby playfulness. The vocals are merry, the groove stumbling and slow. The flute melody qualifies as a perfect stress antidote.
The electronic dub trio Cloud Management added their version of Honkaya to the digital package. There is an Andi Otto remix in the bundle, Hunpe Yan Na. The song is about a whale that has stranded ashore; Otto dubs the song with Heiko Gogolin’s bass clarinet, blown organ pipes and his cello. Finally, Californian folk wizard Contact Field Orchestra adds his atmospheric, haunted version of Etukuma Kara.
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If there's one musician in the last decade that you may hear in wildly diverse musical contexts it is Belgian electric bassist and sound sculptor Farida Amadou. Not only can you enjoy the unerringly skillful command she has over her instrument but also the transformative power to reinterpret and expand her material in spontaneous and unconventional ways.
Amadou is self-taught and radically aware of her idiosyncratic relationship with the bass guitar. She neither emulates the virtuosos of the electric bass, nor does she use the instrument as a pure sound generator that merely emits humming and feedback. She takes a completely independent and unique approach. This freedom enables her to create an overwhelming wall of sound, as well as simple, clear structures that are rhythmically concise yielding a wide associative space that lands somewhere between free jazz and noise.
Her work is often concentrated and circular where motifs are established and developed outward. It is an organic sound in the literal sense of the word, constantly in motion, yet resting in itself. The three solo pieces she has recorded for Week-End Records emphasize her impressive ability to ignite ecstasy from tranquility, to fan out a whole range of moods from a few potent ideas.
These attributes make her a musician who enriches every group she plays in, because she is present with her assured and crystallized sound but refrains from being domineering. However, her strengths are even more apparent when she plays solo: the contrasts between the dark, heavy clouds of sound and the rhythmic passages, and the transitions between movements which always sound "logical" yet surprising.
Her new solo album, "When It Rains It Pours" presents Amadou as an inspired improviser who follows her musical intuition and acumen to create a truly unique soundworld. Rarely has improvised music sounded so succinct and compelling.
Wenn es in den letzten zehn Jahren eine Musikerin gegeben hat, die man in den unterschiedlichsten musikalischen Kontexten immer wieder hören will: nicht weil sie eine passable Mitspielerin wäre, sondern weil sie diese Kontexte jedes Mal bereichert und auf spontane, unkonventionelle Weise erweitert, umdeutet, in neue transformiert, dann ist es die belgische E-Bassistin und Klangskulpteurin Farida Amadou.
Sie ist Autodidaktin - und sie versteht diese Selbstaneignung des Instruments radikal. Weder eifert sie den Virtuosen des E-Basses nach, noch verwendet sie das Instrument als reinen Klangerzeuger, der bloß Brummen und Feedbacks von sich gibt. Sie geht von einem völlig eigenständigen Ansatz aus. Der ermöglicht es ihr, eine überwältigende Wall of Sound zu kreieren genauso wie einfache, klare Strukturen, die rhythmisch prägnant sind und einen weiten Assoziationsraum zwischen Free Jazz und Noise eröffnen.
Ihre Musik ist konzentriert, hat einen langen Atem, kreist um Motive, entwickelt daraus neue Linien, die Amadou im Spiel weiterverfolgt. Es ist ein im Wortsinne organischer Sound, ständig in Bewegung, dabei in sich ruhend. Die Stücke, die sie für Week-End Records aufgenommen hat, unterstreichen ihre beeindruckende Fähigkeit, aus der Ruhe die Ekstase zu entfachen, aus wenigen Ideen eine ganze Palette an Stimmungen aufzufächern.
Das macht sie zu einer Musikerin, die jede Gruppe, in der sie spielt, bereichert, weil sie präsent ist, ohne zu dominieren, weil ihr Sound so prägnant ist, ohne die anderen zu übertönen. Im Solo treten die Stärken ihres Spiels aber noch stärker hervor: die Kontraste zwischen zwischen dunklen, schweren Klangwolken und den rhythmischen Passagen, vor allem die Übergänge, die immer „logisch“ klingen, aber zunächst unerwartet kommen und ihren eigenen Weg einschlagen. Ihr neues Solo-Album, “When It Rains It Pours” zeigt sie als inspirierte Improvisatorin, die sich nie bloß ihren Einfällen hingibt, sondern die Ideen zu Ende denkt, oder besser: spielt. Selten klang improvisierte Musik so kompakt und zwingend.
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Im neuesten Label-Spotlight der 'This Is'-Reihe - nach gefeierten Blicken auf Flying Dutchman und Fame - konzentrieren sich die Ace-Macher auf Goldwax, das seinen 60. Geburtstag feiert, und präsentieren die besten Aufnahmen, die während der kurzen Existenz des Soul-Labels entstanden sind.
Die Compilation rückt nicht nur James Carr ins Rampenlicht, sondern auch seinen wichtigen Labelkollegen Spencer Wiggins oder die wunderschönen Harmonien der Ovations. Diese drei Acts waren die tragenden Säulen von Goldwax und zeigen neben den Songschreiber-Talenten von George Jackson und Dan Greer, warum der Einfluss des Labels auch heute noch wichtig ist. Ein Katalog voller Juwelen, von den frühesten Aufnahmen des Hitmachers von 'Why Can't We Live Together', Timmy Thomas, bis hin zu selten aufgenommenen Künstlern wie Philip & The Faithfuls. Diese Zusammenstellung zeigt auch, wie stark die Club- und Studioszene in Memphis damals war, mit Aufnahmen von Willie Walker, Percy Milem, Barbara Perry, Gene 'Bowlegs' Miller und anderen, die zwar nur sporadisch Aufnahmen machten, aber beliebte Live-Performer waren. 'This is Goldwax' wird mit einem vollständig illustrierten Booklet mit Liner Notes von Dean Rudland geliefert. Eine perfekte Einführung in das Label zu Beginn seines siebten Jahrzehnts. Als Doppel-LP
Ace hat den Teppich ausgerollt, als es um die Neuauflage der Deluxe-Vinyl-Edition von The Seeds' gleichnamigem Debüt (HIQLP 129) sowie 'A Web Of Sound' (HIQLP 135) ging. Beide Alben enthalten nicht nur die Original Tracklistings, sondern auch eine zusätzliche LP mit Outtakes, alternativen Versionen und anderen Juwelen. -Ace freut sich nun, eine 2-LP-Deluxe-Edition des klassischen dritten Albums 'Future', anbieten zu können. Diese LP erschien ursprünglich 1967. Die erste LP präsentiert das Original-Stereo-Master von mit Titeln wie 'Out Of The Question', 'A Thousand Shadows' und 'Travel With Your Mind'. Die zweite LP enthält Bonustracks, alternative Takes und Mixe, die zeigen, dass der klassische Rock'n'Roll-Sound von Seeds unter den Overdubs genauso stark geblieben ist wie eh und je. 'Future' wird in einem dicken Hochglanz-Foldout geliefert und enthält außerdem ein achtseitiges, reich illustriertes Booklet mit Anmerkungen von Alec Palao.
Vor drei Jahren gelang Sara Bareilles mit dem Lied "Love Song" einer der Hits des Jahres. Monatelang hielt sich das Stück in den Single- und Airplay-Charts. Die Bilanz: Top 5 der US- und UK-Charts, Platz 13 in Deutschland, Doppelplatin in den USA. Das dazugehörige Album "Little Voice" wurde mit Gold ausgezeichnet. Es folgten zahlreiche Tourneen quer durch die Welt, u.a. mit Mika, Paolo Nutini und Maroon5.
Im Oktober 2010 hat Sara Bareilles ihr zweites Album "Kaleidoscope Heart" in den USA veröffentlicht und ist damit direkt auf Platz 1 der Billboard Charts eingestiegen. Mittlerweile hat sich das Album in den USA knapp 250.000 Mal verkauft und die erste Single-Auskopplung "King of Anything" hat bereits Gold-Status und wurde für einen Grammy nominiert.
Am 11. Februar 2011 erscheint das großartige Album "Kaleidoscope Heart" mit 2 Bonus-Tracks nun endlich auch in Deutschland, rechtzeitig zu ihrer Deutschlandtour zusammen mit Maroon 5.
Der von Neal Avron (Fall Out Boy u.a.) produzierte Longplayer vereint kraftvolle, soulige Popsongs mit intelligenten Texten und Arrangements und überzeugt nicht zuletzt durch Sara Bareilles' abwechslungsreiche Stimme auf ganzer Linie.
Repress of Still House Plants’ second LP FAST EDIT on frosted clear vinyl with microtene inners. Cultivated over the course of 2019, the album switches the combativeness of previous releases for bare intimacy. FAST EDIT is a palette of qualities and curdled headspaces. Now living far apart and coming together only for intense periods of shows and touring, the band have come to rely on an archive of mp3s (quick recall overtakes stable long-term memory). Written on mobile phones, dictaphones, and laptops, FAST EDIT cuts rehearsals and schemas with tight, raucous tracks. This is most tenderly at play on ‘Shy Song’ – a cut'n’chase piece, in which all sounds are ghosts of another. ‘PredikateD’ is a phone on the ground: the voice is air, the guitar and drums meld with the plywood and sand-bag structure, the seams exposed.
PM Warson returns with the new album "A Little More Time". Having established himself as "one of the leading lights on the modern-day R&B scene" (Shindig! magazine UK), his third long-player represents an expansion of his mid-century vision. Less a departure, more an arrival, the album moves beyond the R&B revivalism of his previous work, taking in a breadth of styles and moods within its distinctly '60s sonics.
Recorded at Lightship 95, London's floating analogue studio, the 10 original tracks combine the direct feel of live performance, alongside a developed songwriting and production approach. The album is led by the second single (following "Right Here, Last night") and title track "A Little More Time" setting the tone with a dose of sweeping vintage pop and uptown soul. "For this record I wanted to channel the sound I'd developed playing live with a band, while at the same time further exploring my songwriting. I allowed my wider influences to permeate a bit more and placed the vocal and lyric more forward in the songs" PM Warson says.
PM Warson is a UK musician, songwriter and producer. He emerged in 2021 with the album "True Story", after a series of DIY vinyl releases. Breakout single "(Don't) Hold Me Down" surfaced initially among soul collectors (with the original release clocking in at over $200 on collector sites), before finding a wider audience on European radio and streaming platforms.
With touring opportunities limited due to the ongoing pandemic travel restrictions, he turned his attention to a quick-fire follow-up. The lean, brooding "Dig Deep Repeat" was released in May 2022, led by the single "Leaving Here". Extensive tour and festival dates throughout Europe followed, where he gained a reputation as an impressive live act, performing alongside the likes of Cedric Burnside, Robert Finley, Nick Waterhouse and GA20.
After a run of dates in France, and an appearance at the legendary 100 Club in London, he set about working on new music during 2023. Having released the single "Right Here, Last Night" as a 7inch vinyl on his own Acid Jazz-distributed FYND marque, he teams up again with Légère Recordings for his third album, the expansive "A Little More Time".
Black Truffle is thrilled to present a Song for two Mothers / Occam IX the first ever solo release from Laetitia Sonami. Born in France in 1957, Sonami studied with Éliane Radigue in Paris before moving to California in 1978 to study electronic music at Mills College, going on to make important innovations in the field of live electronics interfaces and multi-media performance. Sonami is perhaps most closely associated with one of her inventions, the Lady’s Glove, an arm-length tailored glove fitted with movement sensors allowing the performer fluidly to control digital sound parameters and processing, as well as motors, lights and video playback. Having performed with the Lady’s Glove for 25 years, Sonami retired it in 2016, turning her attention to the interface/instrument heard and pictured here, the Spring Sprye.
In Sonami’s own description, “The Spring Spyre is composed of three thin springs that are attached to reverb tank pickups, mounted on a metal ring. The audio generated when the springs are touched, rubbed or struck is analyzed in Max/MSP. The extracted features are then used to train machine learning models in Wekinator and Rapidmax and control the audio synthesis in real time. We never actually hear the springs.” After decades of aversion to documenting her work on recordings, a Song for two Mothers / Occam IX treats listeners to two side-long performances with the Spring Spyre: the very first piece developed for the instrument and the most recent, the two contrasting remarkably in sound palette, energy and form. A Song for two Mothers (2023) spins an intricate web of rippling synthetic burbles, rapid sweeps and fizzing textures. Performed in real time with the sensitive and partly uncontrollable Spring Sprye ("a bit tyrannical," Sonami calls it), the music is delicate yet chaotic. Abrupt gestures hover against a backdrop of silence, "devoid of spatial or temporal direction". After several minutes, the sound-world becomes metallic and percussive, tapping and ticking in pointillistic flurries before a wavering harmonic cloud emerges, sprinkled with resonant drips and pops.
Occam IX is a radically different proposition. At the outset of Sonami’s exploration of the Spring Sprye, she asked her former teacher Éliane Radigue to compose a piece for it—and her: like all of Radigue’s work since she ceased working with analogue electronics at the beginning of the 21st century, Occam IX is written not only for an instrument but also for a particular performer. These scores are developed verbally, through meetings and conversations between performer and composer; each is grounded in an image (usually kept from listeners, to avoid influencing their experience); all magnify the subtlest acoustic phenomena and require great commitment and patience from the performer. Sonami’s is one of the few Occam pieces to make use of electronics, bringing it closer to Radigue’s famous longform pieces for ARP 2500. Beginning from a rumbling low tone, the listener is gradually immersed in slowly lapping waves of synthetic tones, eventually thinning out into delicate bell-like pings against a background of white noise, reminiscent of one of the most beautiful sections of Kyema from the Trilogie de la Morte.
Accompanied by notes from Sonami, her longtime collaborator Paul DeMarinis, and Radigue, and illustrated with scores, photographs and images of the Spring Spyre, a Song for two Mothers / Occam IX is an essential document celebrating an under-recognised pioneer of electronic music and performance.
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Cardinal Fuzz and Feeding Tube Records are proud to present to you the 2nd LP from TOMOYUKI TRIO (Tomoyuki Aoki, Mike Vest & Dave Sneddon) following their debut LP ‘Mars’ on the esteemed Riot Season Record Label. Tomoyuki Aoki is the founding member and lead guitarist of the legendary Tokyo Psych Monsters UP-TIGHT. Of all the Japanese psych-rock groups that emerged in the late nineties and early noughties, Up-Tight are the most reverent, the most directly plugged into the source, from their name (Velvet Underground) with knowing referential song titles like “Sweet Sister” to their extended heavy, dark black clad acid fried one chord psych melters -- we're talking bands like Fushitsusha, White Heaven, Kousokuya, Shizuka, and the grandaddies of 'em all, the deservedly-legendary, Les Rallizes Denudes. Shitsuren If anything has got an even heavier, dronier edge than what we heard on the last one. Super fuzzed guitars, sad ballads, grinding distorto epics and numbed, narcotic rhythms. This is one to play at maximum volume so that you can soak up its molten magik as over 2 sides of Shitsuren’s grueling guitar hypnotics you uncover the darker side of the ensembles personality to find them digging deep to drag the audience with them into the shadows of stoner psyche. If you can picture Okhami No Jikan, Asahito Nanjo. Musica Transonic & Toho Sara then you’re close to the outrageous levels of psychedelic excess captured here, a riotous concoction of ferociously brooding, locked down heavy bearing intensity of fierce/brutal speaker battering in the red levels.
Blue Glitter Vinyl. One Step Closer has always believed that hardcore is limitless. On All You Embrace, the band puts that theory into practice. Every release from the Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania band has seen them exploring the sonic overlaps of hardcore, emo, and '90s alternative rock without an iota of self-consciousness, or pretension, creeping into the mix. All You Embrace is a collection of 11 songs that show One Step Closer reaching for something deeply honest and, as always, authentic."I wanted to showcase One Step Closer in its fullest state," says vocalist Ryan Savitski. "Every single part of the band, I wanted it to be there. I wanted us to be 100% ourselves and be as authentic to our band as we could possibly be." For fans of their first EP From Me To You, there are songs like "Blur My Memory," which show the passionate melodic hardcore the band built its name on is still part of the program. But it's immediately followed by "The Gate," a song that taps into the expansive reaches the band hinted at on This Place You Know and put on full display with the powerful follow-up EP, Songs For The Willow. Every element of One Step Closer is on display throughout the record, as they expound upon every idea until each one has achieved its full potential. The result is a record that's bigger, catchier, and moodier than anything they've done before, while still feeling exactly like OSC.Taken in full, All You Embrace is the sound of One Step Closer honoring their past while building a future that looks more open, more creative, and more expansive. It's a place where records like Start Today, Diary, and Floral Green are all in conversation with one another. Even the album's cover art marks a new direction for the band - the dizzying, frigid blur of blues & blacks colliding is a painting of guitarist Ross Thompson spinning in place, evoking how it feels to listen to these eleven tracks about change, grief, anger and the growing up. One Step Closer feels like the next in a line of revered bands coming from the crescent-shaped depression of Wilkes-Barre - and All You Embrace is the perfect introduction to the most exciting version of the band to date.
Coming out on September 6th on Sharptone Records, Sundiver is Boston Manor’s fifth album and one that represents a glimmering dawn for the Blackpool five-piece. Grown from a seedbed of optimism and sobriety, the LP celebrates new beginnings, second chances and rebirth. With two members recently stepping into fatherhood, hope is baked into every note. “Datura came out of these really dark few years over the hangover of the pandemic,” Henry reflects. “I'd been struggling a lot with drinking and not taking care of myself and bad mental health and stuff. We wanted Sundiver to be the next morning of the following day.” He explains that it feels good this time round to write through the lens of positivity. “The themes began to emerge, of rebirth, spring, dawn, sunshine and then other elements just started to fit into that.” It was during the making of Sundiver that Henry found out he was going to be a dad. This album is a significant one for the band. Originally coming out of the emo and pop punk scene, they’ve explored sonics and genres throughout their career, taken risks and achieved more than they could ever had dreamed of. They’ve grown up as Boston Manor – their lives and the world changing around them. They’re now taking stock, at a crossroads of the band they were and the band they could be.
While writing the album, they revisited the bands that shaped them in the late 90s and early 00s. “I was listening to the music I loved when I was a teenager and I just thought, why don't we make music like our favourite bands?”, guitarist Mike Cuniff remembers with a smile. “So we brought our interests to the table that way. Y2K kind of vibe. There are elements of Deftones, there are elements of Portishead in there, some Garbage, The Cardigans.” He laughs and adds NSYNC to the list of inspirations. From this cocktail of classics comes a dynamic and ambitious record, rich with depth, groove and more hooks than Peter Pan’s nightmares. Lyrics that foxtrot from parallel universes to personal growth, vivid dreamscapes to raw grief. Individually they’re single strokes full of meaning and magic. Together they’re a landscape.
Container (out Feb 15th) is the first single and it’s them at their best – impassioned and infectious. “This song is about the stagnancy of life creeping up on you & how that can bring about change.,” Henry explains, citing Ocean Song by US band Daughters as an inspiration.
The concept of the butterfly effect is present on Sundiver – how small actions can lead to big changes. This is no clearer than on their second single, Sliding Doors (out April 5th). It has the golden sound of late 90s Lollapalooza rock – think Smashing Pumpkins - rebooted with crisp 2024 production and a potent heaviness. In the lyrics Henry wonders, what if?, pondering on what could be. The idea that there are infinite versions of you whose lives splinter off in different directions at every decision you make. That there’s another you out there somewhere right now reading this sentence, and another me writing it. “So much is down to chance and circumstance,” Henry says. “You might catch that train and your life totally changes. Or you might miss it and things stay the way they are.”
Heat Me Up (out May 30th) is defiant and victorious, the audio equivalent of quitting your shit job and driving into the hot summer sun with a head full of dreams. “The lyrics are about love and gratitude,” Henry shares. “Another theme on the record is just appreciating what you have. It’s about not taking for granted the things that you've been afforded.”
There was some natural magic in the creation of Sundiver. They worked with their usual producer, Larry Hibbitt, and engineer, Alex O’Donovan, but instead of recording in London again they ended up in the green pastures of Welwyn Garden City. “Because Larry lives out in the countryside now, it was a way different environment and way different experience recording this time,” Mike remembers. “That contributed a lot to the brighter sound of the record.” The daily barbecues they had during their recording sessions imbued the process with harmony – five old friends spending quality time together and making quality music.
However, the album is by no means one-note. Birthing this new world they’ve created wasn’t without it’s pain, and that can be heard in the heavier moments on Sundiver. What Is Taken Will Never Be Lost is the most-stripped back on the album, a slow rock number seasoned with the downtempo Portishead influence. The heartfelt lyrics are Henry’s way of processing the loss of his grandfather, who died in a hospice last year(?). “It was just fucking horrible. It was always cold when I went there and they were always trying to get rid of me. The song title, What Was Taken Can Ever Be Lost, is the idea of his memory fading at the time because of dementia.” Henry goes onto explain that shoeboxes of photographs, diaries and a legacy is what he’s left behind. “He lived a really rich life and it has really impacted me and my father. His legacy is etched into the fabric of history in a very small way.” This song continues the connection between his grandfather and the band, as his painted face is emblazoned on the cover of the very first Boston Manor EP, Driftwood. As well as emotionally heavy themes, there’s heaviness in the music of Sundiver too. The closing song, Oil In My Blood, descends into an intense shoegaze outro with Debbie Gough from Heriot screaming hellfire. It’s in moments like this that the band show us aggression and fury can be as much a part of positive change as quiet introspection. The last lyrics of the song, “It resets and starts again,” leaves us in contemplation as the final chord rings out.
Touring the US, Europe and Japan over the years makes for an impressive CV, but if you know anything about Boston Manor you’ll know that they’re all about their hometown. Their choice to work with Blackpool-based photographer Nick Barkworth is testament to that. They’ve been working with him since the pandemic. “He captures Blackpool in a light that really reflects the weirdness and quirkiness of the town,” Henry says.” He's got a really good way of presenting that.” For the Sundiver cover, Nick photographed a 30ft tall abstract glass sculpture made by the local artist John Ditchfield. A striking and bewitching monolith that’s familiar to them but unusual to most people. “It has such kind of a gravity and power to it,” Henry describes the sculpture which stands in a field just outside of the seaside town. “It reminds me of either an explosion or a star or a supernova. To me it represents new life, power and radiance.” Boston Manor have got a knack for that - connecting the otherworldly and the everyday, the stars and the streets.
They’re a band known for using their music to make bigger statements about society. This time round they’re harnessing the uplifting power of music, and the communion it creates, as an antidote to the daily doom and isolation. “It seems like absolute chaos out there at the moment,” Henry says. “You’ve got Gaza and Israel, you've got Russia, you've got the fact that 40% of the world is going to have an election this year and increasingly most governments are leaning very far to the Right. The internet is dividing everybody, people are getting poorer and more desperate. It's really, really scary.” They considered trying to tackle the weight of it all in their music. “We could’ve written Welcome to the Neighbourhood on steroids, where it's just absolute darkness and misery”. He’s referring to their 2018 concept album that deals with class, inequality and the bleaker side of Blackpool. “But I think it's really important to write something that people can be immersed in and find some sort of solace in. Somewhere they can escape to from the modern day pressures and everything that’s going on. We’re all in this together.”
This collection is reviving the most popular pieces from blockbuster movies by offering a fully fledged state-of-the-art orchestral sound. As the Original Soundtracks for many tracks are recorded in sound quality of the 50s/60s or even in mono – this recording brings a truly revolutionary listening experience to those pieces.
Damien Quintard, who took care of the mastering, co-founded with Brad Pitt “Miraval Studios” in 2021, a recording studio inside Chateau Miraval, bringing back to life the iconic “Studio Miraval”, considered in the 70s till the late 90s as one of the most prestigious studios in the world, recording acts such as Pink Floyd (The Wall), AC/DC, Rammstein, Sting, Muse among others.
Originally released in November 1984, Limahl’s debut solo album ‘Don’t Suppose’ is to be reissued on recycled lavender vinyl to celebrate its 40th anniversary. The album is probably best known for the aforementioned ‘Neverending Story’. As well as featuring in the film of the same name (which is being revived for the big screen once more), it more recently found a whole army of new fans when it appeared in the final episode of the third season of Stranger Things. Set in 1985, the song is sung by Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) and his long-distance girlfriend Suzie (Gabriella Pizzolo) as a way to reconnect after not seeing each other for some time. Following the season's release on July 4, 2019, interest in the track surged; viewership of the original music video had increased by 800% within a few days according to YouTube, while Spotify reported an 825% increase in stream requests for the song.
Further reflecting on the album Limahl goes on… “I can’t believe it’s been 40 years, yet sometimes it feels like yesterday! Looking back now, it's surreal to think that at just 24 years old, being born and raised on a Wigan council estate with no family connections in the music business, I was thrust into a whirlwind of travel and appearances to promote my music worldwide via TV, radio, and press—long before the internet.
“I’m excited to imagine where and how the song will continue its journey. It’s amazing that it still feels relevant 40 years on. I’m not too shy to say how immensely proud I am of its achievements.”
• The return of the award-winning 2009 release • Available on CD and limited-edition translucent red LP • On tour throughout 2024 Since 1999, the GRAMMY-nominated southern rock band NEEDTOBREATHE have quietly emerged as a dynamic force in music, from independently releasing their first album in 2001 to finding themselves playing arenas and receiving nominations for multiple Dove Awards, Grammys, and Billboard Music Awards. After releasing two successful albums, Daylight and The Heat, on Atlantic Records, the band their third album, The Outsiders, in 2009. The record quickly put them on the map, peaking at #20 on the Billboard 200 and at #2 on the Hot Christian Albums charts. The first single, “Lay ’Em Down,” reached #4 on the Hot Christian Songs chart, and other tracks crossed over to Triple A (“Something Beautiful” #12) and the Alternative charts (“Hurricane” #29). AllMusic gave the album four stars, claiming it “offers up another collection of sweeping, reverent rock songs [and] flirts with touches of roots rock and traditional gospel, from the title track's powerful Southern stomp to the sheer power of Bear Rinehart's voice." The Outsiders won the Dove Award for Rock/Contemporary Album Of The Year, and “Lay ’Em Down” landed honors as Rock/Contemporary Recorded Song Of The Year.
Two years later, the band would be on tour as the opening act for Taylor Swift’s Speak Now world tour, as well as performing alongside acts including Tim McGraw and Train. Since the release of this landmark album, NEEDTOBREATHE have reached arena-sized proportions, headlining iconic venues such as Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN, and four sold out shows at Red Rocks Amphitheaters in Morrison, CO. The band most recently performed at the 2024 CMA Awards in Austin, TX, with Jordan Davis, whom they also recorded an episode of CMT Crossroads with. Now, over fifteen years since The Outsiders was released and brought the band to greater heights, NEEDTOBREATHE are re-pressing the long sold-out record for the first time ever on translucent red vinyl.
Acclaimed folk-blues singer/songwriter Luke Winslow-King has recently inked a significant deal with the iconic Bloodshot records, coinciding with the label’s 30th anniversary, and marking a revival in the institution’s trailblazer history of outlaw country, folk roots, and rock n roll. To celebrate this exciting collaboration, Luke Winslow-King is set to embark on a midwest tour with guitar maestro Roberto Luti of Tuscany May 17 - June 1 of 2024. Tuscan Slide Guitar Maestro Roberto Luti is a founding member of the Playing For Change band and has collaborated with legends such as Taj Mahal, Keb Mo, Keith Richards, Ringo Starr, Dr. John and numerous others, accumulating over 100 million plays on YouTube. His unorthodox, angular and evocative slide guitar style is based on Mississippi and Chicago blues and is infused by soul and African roots traditions. Fans can expect the sincere and heartfelt roots blues stylings King has become known for, showcased alongside his continual artistic reinvention.
Rose Main Reading Room, the fourth full length by Peel Dream Magazine, is a lush, inviting headphones record; the kind of album made to accompany city bus rides and rainy-day solo trips to accidental destinations. The band, whose name nods to the BBC Radio 1 legend John Peel — arbiter of all things underground, quality, and (it must be said) "cool" — has since its inception been a genre-hopping experiment, jumping from motorik krautrock to shoegaze and space age pop, and their newest work is a perfect starting point for the uninitiated, beckoning toward a newfound romance and nostalgia with their catchiest collection of songs to date. Across its fifteen songs, Rose Main Reading Room ultimately proposes a world of marvels and compelling complexity: “Oblast” cheekily prods at mutually assured destruction; “Ocean Life” explores the infiniteness within ourselves; while “R.I.P. (Running in Place)” unpacks an all too familiar stagnation. It’s all part of, and crucial to, Rose Main Reading Room’s transportive power, ever reaching for the wonder and magic of the world we live in.
Rose Main Reading Room, the fourth full length by Peel Dream Magazine, is a lush, inviting headphones record; the kind of album made to accompany city bus rides and rainy-day solo trips to accidental destinations. The band, whose name nods to the BBC Radio 1 legend John Peel — arbiter of all things underground, quality, and (it must be said) "cool" — has since its inception been a genre-hopping experiment, jumping from motorik krautrock to shoegaze and space age pop, and their newest work is a perfect starting point for the uninitiated, beckoning toward a newfound romance and nostalgia with their catchiest collection of songs to date. Across its fifteen songs, Rose Main Reading Room ultimately proposes a world of marvels and compelling complexity: “Oblast” cheekily prods at mutually assured destruction; “Ocean Life” explores the infiniteness within ourselves; while “R.I.P. (Running in Place)” unpacks an all too familiar stagnation. It’s all part of, and crucial to, Rose Main Reading Room’s transportive power, ever reaching for the wonder and magic of the world we live in.
