Marijus Aleksa is a Lithuanian cross-genre drummer and music producer who has spent his last decade touring and in session with some of the contemporary jazz greats including Joe Armon- Jones, Ashley Henry, Bill Laurance, China Moses and many more. Manfredas is a key figure in Lithuanian electronic music community, internationally acclaimed club DJ, owner of Radio Vilnius, music producer and remixer on releases by Andrew Weatherall, Metronomy, Erol Alkan and more.
One thing that is written in stone even in these days of near endless uncertainty is that when Topical Disco unleashes one of their vinyl releases they are a no questions asked, must have. For a label which regularly dominates the top spot of the download charts they still consistently manage to up the ante for their vinyl drops. It’s no wonder at all that the previous editions have gone on to become collector’s editions, disappearing from the shelves as quickly as you can say here today, gone tomorrow.
Volume 24 easily keeps this incredible run of club vinyl masterpieces going strong. Packed across two side of black gold are tracks from newcomers and scene heavy hitters alike Toscana, Toby O’Conner, Charly Angelz and Frank Virgilio.
The mysterious Toscana leads the way with the wonderfully enigmatic ‘The Girl With The Red Hair’, a six and a half minute slice of pleasure packed Balearic disco. Incessant, warm and inviting it combines a divine groove heavy bassline, funky guitar licks and a subtle percussive backbone with a rather brilliant stand-out guitar solo. This is a track which is guaranteed to fill those summer dancefloors.
Next up is Toby O’Conner who is returning to Tropical Disco after his lauded ‘The Heist / 1920 EP’ with another high energy slice of disco goodness in the shape of ‘Cave Of Gold’. Again this is classic Tropical Disco, combing both live chops with jazz overtones as throbbing club ready drums provide the framework for a bubbling bassline, subtle keys and sax solo’s aplenty to weave their magic. Expect jazz inspired shapes to be thrown on dancefloors across the globe when this one drops.
Over on the flip is Charly Angelz, another artist who has been making a considerable swirl on the disco scene of late. ‘Mother Phunk’ is very aptly named with an absolute gem of a bassline front and centre as classic funk vocal chops, vibey pads and guitar stabs all combine perfectly with earworm strings for anther sure fire floor filler.
Closing the EP out is scene stalwart Frank Virgilio. Hailing from Napoli Frank has been behind a virtual disco smorgasbord over the five years including regular chart bothering appearances on Tropical disco. ‘What We Love’ tips its hat to the golden era of house music, think 90’s Soulfuric meets MAW. Vibes abound here from the classic drum sounds right through to the divine ethereal percussion which adds that touch of class. This is another track which will sound just perfect on the golden Isle this coming summer, did some-one say Ibizan boat party? We’re onboard!
Gold Vinyl
No binaries, no simple opposition. Either/or is subsumed by infinite relations and dizzying possibilities, by the perpetual crest of and/and. Freedom is the key to bring about all complex and incongruous multiplicities. Embodied, embedded, relational freedom is the key.
Mue is a duo based in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal composed of Catherine Debard and Léon Lo. Formed in the Spring of 2020, the electronic musical project merges two distinct practices and explores the way they interact with each other. Drawing on early-IDM, illbient, minimalism, and natural phenomena, the resulting real-time hardware improvisations weave asymmetric patterns, create spaces, and digest various sounds.
Recorded in 2020, Les vasières explores unsynchronized hardware electronic impro-visations where individual sonic elements come to life by creating new and complex layers and organizational logics — melodically and rhythmically modulating each other.
The French album title translates to “The mudflats.” Sounds from disparate sources form an aural silt that is brought to life by waxing and waning cycles, each improvi-sation presenting a new, different mudflat scenario.
Mue asked visual artist Katherine Melançon to create the album’s artwork, which was the artist’s first dive into compost as source material. The resulting image—an otherworldly organic smear, both intimate and alien — was incorporated into graphic designer Haley Parker’s montage, hard frames recalling the flatbed scanner used by Melançon, and branch-like typography nodding to the organic concerns of all the artists involved.
Waxwork Records in partnership with Back Lot Music is honored to release NOPE Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Michael Abels. Oscarr winner Jordan Peele disrupted and redefined modern horror with Get Out and then Us, he reimagines the summer movie with a new pop nightmare: the expansive horror epic, Nope. The film reunites Peele with Oscarr winner Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out, Judas and the Black Messiah), who is joined by Keke Palmer and Oscarr nominee Steven Yeun as residents in a lonely gulch of inland California who bear witness to an uncanny and chilling discovery. NOPE marks Abels' third feature film score with director Jordan Peele, having previously scored Peele's GET OUT and US. The album also features songs from the film, including a new version of Corey Hart's classic "Sunglasses at Night (Jean Jacket Mix)", Dionne Warwick's "Walk on By", The Lost Generation's "This is the Lost Generation", Exuma's "Exuma, the Obeah Man", and a never-before-released gem by a young Jodie Foster, "La Vie C'est Chouette" from the 1977 film MOI, FLEUR BLEUE. "NOPE is my most ambitious score to date," says Abels. "There are elements from the genres of sci-fi, action, horror, and westerns, but always through the tonal palette of Jordan Peele's unique vision. The lines between source music and score are blurred, as a good part of the score seems to be playing at the theme park, which is a key location in the story. The score is at times terrifying, yet also invokes the sense of awe and wonder that the characters feel as they realize what they are seeing. The film eventually becomes a grand adventure, and so the music expands into the larger-than-life scale we expect of a summer blockbuster." He goes on to say, "it was a joy to compose a score that encompassed such a broad range of genres and emotions, and I'm thrilled to have audiences experience all of them through this album." "Michael is one the most exciting composers working today - he has this amazing ability to create new sounds which was important for this film," Jordan Peele says. "He's able to play in the familiar and in the unfamiliar at the same time, so that helps give every film its own character, and he has an incredible mastery of so many different music genres." Abels is known for his genre-defying scores for the Jordan Peele films GET OUT and US, for which Abels won a World Soundtrack Award, the Jerry Goldsmith Award, a Critics Choice nomination, and multiple critics' awards. The hip-hop influenced score for US was short-listed for an Academy Awardr and was named "Score of the Decade" by The Wrap. Abels is also co-founder of the Composers Diversity Collective, an advocacy group to increase visibility of composers of color in film, gaming and streaming media. Waxwork Records is thrilled to present the official NOPE deluxe double LP soundtrack album. The package comes complete with 180-gram colored vinyl, quality packaging, original artwork by Ethan Mesa, heavyweight gatefold jacket with matte coating, a multi-page 12" x 12" booklet, liner notes, & more!
Ayahuasca: Music for Film, by Luis David Aguilar (1978-1983) compiles works by Luis David Aguilar, one of the most prolific composers of film scores in Peru. It shows the great versatility and avant-garde style that has distinguished his work. Luis David Aguilar (Arequipa, 1950) occupies a fundamental place in the history of film music in Peru, not only because of the prolific nature of his work (which also includes music for television and advertising), but because of the singular, experimental style found in many of his scores. Aguilar's music blends modern academic composition with the use of native instruments, synthesizers, sound collages and a diversity of resources, which identify him as a key figure to understand a period of Peruvian music marked by the imprint of the avant-garde and the use of native sounds, which developed during the late 70's and the early 80's. Aguilar belongs to the so called "Generation of the 70's", along with Peruvian composers such as Walter Casas, Seiji Asato and Aurelio Tello, who were then immersed in the languages of contemporary classical music. But he also shares the spirit of renewal of a generation of musicians who came from the world of jazz and electronic experimentation such as Manongo Mujica and Arturo Ruiz del Pozo. Ayahuasca is an album that collects pieces from 1978 to 1983 and offers an overview of the different musical paths that Aguilar followed during his career as a soundtrack composer. The album opens with music from the film El viento del ayahuasca The Wind of Ayahuasca (1983), by director Nora de Izcue, performed by the National Symphony Orchestra and Choir of Cuba under the baton of Luis David Aguilar, with Chucho Valdés on piano. Recorded at the ICAIC studios (Cuba), it is an ambitious orchestral and vocal composition, in which you can hear the beginning of the famous melody of "Mujer Hilandera" [Female Weaver], popularized by the Amazonian cumbia group Juaneco y su Combo, which serves as an introduction to the sound world of the jungle, a dense and hypnotic atmosphere that, without a doubt, places this work as one of the most important compositions of the author's repertoire. The next track is the music for the documentary Anónimo cotidiano [Anonymous Everyday] (1979), by director Jorge Rey, a unique experimental piece for synthesizers (played by Aguilar), drums and percussion (played by Manongo Mujica), with the addition of various Andean instruments (panpipes, charango, among others). It is a clear example of fusion of sound experimentation and timbres from the Andean world. And finally Los constructores [The Builders] (1978), by director José Carlos Huayhuaca, a salsa which incorporates unusual sounds of tubular bells and prepared pianos. Ayahuasca: Music for Film by Luis David Aguilar (1978-1983) is the second album by Aguilar released by Buh Records, following the celebrated Hombres de Viento/Venas de la Tierra (1978-1982), appeared in 2015. The album is published in vinyl format, in a limited edition of 300 copies, as part of the Essentials Sounds collection. It includes a booklet with notes by Luis David Aguilar. The audio has been remastered from the original reel tapes by Aldo Montalvo. The artwork and design is by About Studio.
Rui Fradinho has been DJing and record collecting since the age of 15, having played drums and keyboards on several different projects and starting his electronic music production journey in 2001, when he made his first ever original track – A Bright Future (release number 1 on the label).
Lover of music of all sorts, Rui’s musical base stems across different genres, including House, Drum N Bass, Hip Hop, Footwork, Bass Music, having more recently nurtured a deeper devoted passion for all things Jazz, Fusion and Broken Beat / Nu Jazz.
There are undeniable major influences from Jazz, Soul, Funk, Latin, African, Brazilian and Global music on his productions and Rui has released remixes for several artists on several labels such as Str4ta for Colin Curtis Presents, Nimbus Sextet for Acid Jazz, Luiz Gabriel Lopes for Da Lata Music, Momenta for Lazy Robot Records, Various artists for MJDC – Modern Jazz Dance Classics, David Borsu for Broadcite, Makala for Orrua Diskak and Ray Lugo for Ammonite Records.
Highlights of his DJ career include a 6 year residency at Sociedade Anonima club in Portugal, then Bicaense Café and Lux Club in Lisboa. Earlier in 2017, he did a stint on London’s Back2BackFM, playing at Dalston’s Club Makossa, the BBE Store in East London, closing the Chill Out Gardens stage in Portugal’s Boom Festival 2018, DJ’ed at Gilles Paterson’s first edition of We Out Here festival, currently guests at Birmingham’s Bruk Up Broken Beat night and opened the Portuguese festival LisbOn - Jardim Sonoro in 2022.
Many music fans will remember Jimmy Salcedo due to his wonderful work as arranger and producer with the duo Elia and Elizabeth in the early 70s. Their delicate songwriting acquired, after his treatment, a special Tropical aroma that even included the funk influences received by Salcedo at that time. He released with his band, La Onda Tres, a few LPs and singles that had a limited distribution, mainly in Colombia only. This anthology comprises a selection of songs that celebrate Salcedo's sound signature: a base of coastal funk with vocals and melodic bubblegum-bomb arrangements and hints of light psychedelia. Many of the compiled songs became popular radio hits in Colombia that Jimmy Salcedo and La Onda Tres recorded and arranged at the Zeida studios in Medellín. These recordings include Latin-jazz tracks ('Mira') with stunning percussion solos, songs recorded under a heavy Caribbean-soul influence ('Qué linda es Colombia!' and 'Lo mismo de siempre') 'Maranguango', an irresistible mix of Afrolatin percussion and catchy Tropical harmonies spiced up with moog keyboard sounds, fuzz and wah wah guitars and even touches of hammond, in a psychedelic funk style, an exhilarating moog driven instrumental with a heavy Afro-funk rhythm ('Moogambo') and revisited Latin classics ('Moliendo Café').
Scratch The Super Ape is the 1976 studio album by Lee Perry’s studio band The Upsetters. The lineup consisted of Boris Gardener on bass, Mikey Benbow on drums, Earl Smith on guitar, Keith Sterling on keys and the horn quartet Bobby Ellis, Dirty Harry, Herman Marquis, and Vin Gordon. The album is recorded at Lee Perry’s studio and is both composed and produced by him.
This edition of Scratch The Super Ape features the original Jamaican album cover and is available as a limited edition of 2000 individually numbered copies on orange coloured vinyl.
Orange Vinyl[24,79 €]
Svart Records proudly presents: Finnish prog-psych quintet Sammal sheds skin and changes into a power trio, new album announced Sammal have since their 2013 debut cemented their reputation as one of the leaders of the Fenno-Ugrian neoprogressive and psychedelic scene and also raised some waves internationally, performing at the well-respected Roadburn Festival in 2015 and garnering a series of raving reviews around the world of psychedelia and progressive rock fandom, such as “Truly amazing and otherworldy music” or “Earnest, vibrant music specked with impressive nuance”. A few years have passed since the successful Suuliekki album, and since then two of their five members have left the fold. Guitarist and songwriter Jura Salmi decided, however, that Sammal must continue in some form or another. “During the spring of 2020 I would spend time alone recording new demos with the guitar. The remaining three Sammal members had already decided that if the band was to continue, we would not seek another keyboard player.I had bought a guitar pedal that can simulate keyboard sounds and it opened a new world to me. I realized we can perform fine as a power trio without a bass or a keyboard player”, comments Jura Salmi. “Sammal has always been a melting pot of all music we like. If in the past we used to be heavily into bands lke Camel, Dungen and Opeth, when working on this album we’d liste to everything from Bo Hansson and Iron Butterfly to Type O Negative and Whitesnake”, laughs Salmi and continues, “We’d also pick the language of a song’s lyrics based on what we felt would fit the mood of the song. This album has songs in Finnish, Swedish and English.” Sammal’s unexpected prog-psych-boogie epic Aika laulaa will be released on November 18th on all platforms as well as on CD and LP.
Black Vinyl[24,79 €]
Svart Records proudly presents: Finnish prog-psych quintet Sammal sheds skin and changes into a power trio, new album announced Sammal have since their 2013 debut cemented their reputation as one of the leaders of the Fenno-Ugrian neoprogressive and psychedelic scene and also raised some waves internationally, performing at the well-respected Roadburn Festival in 2015 and garnering a series of raving reviews around the world of psychedelia and progressive rock fandom, such as “Truly amazing and otherworldy music” or “Earnest, vibrant music specked with impressive nuance”. A few years have passed since the successful Suuliekki album, and since then two of their five members have left the fold. Guitarist and songwriter Jura Salmi decided, however, that Sammal must continue in some form or another. “During the spring of 2020 I would spend time alone recording new demos with the guitar. The remaining three Sammal members had already decided that if the band was to continue, we would not seek another keyboard player.I had bought a guitar pedal that can simulate keyboard sounds and it opened a new world to me. I realized we can perform fine as a power trio without a bass or a keyboard player”, comments Jura Salmi. “Sammal has always been a melting pot of all music we like. If in the past we used to be heavily into bands lke Camel, Dungen and Opeth, when working on this album we’d liste to everything from Bo Hansson and Iron Butterfly to Type O Negative and Whitesnake”, laughs Salmi and continues, “We’d also pick the language of a song’s lyrics based on what we felt would fit the mood of the song. This album has songs in Finnish, Swedish and English.” Sammal’s unexpected prog-psych-boogie epic Aika laulaa will be released on November 18th on all platforms as well as on CD and LP.
Bongos, bouzouki and Farfisa organ galore ! The explosive cocktail of rock'n'roll and traditional Tsifteteli hailing from 1960's Greece is still alive thanks to Deli Teli : the Marseille-based quartet performs a string of forgotten hits that once set Athens on fire, with a contagious energy and a subtle dose of Mediterranean drama.
Half a century ago, while French seasiders would dance to « Yéyé » sounds and dig the Beatles or Pink Floyd, a whole other scene was happening further along the coastline. Notably, Greek artists were a huge influence beyond the Mediterranean cradle ; Aris San's version of « Boum Pam » (a.k.a. « Bros Gremos Kai Piso Rema »), brilliantly interpreted by Deli Teli on this record, was a n°1 hit from Southern Europe to the tip of India ! Far from being an exclusive Greek sound, Tsifteteli music has travelled through borders for centuries and means « double string » in Turkish. In the 1960's, it mixed with rock'n'roll, surf and Latin-american influences, and gave birth to the typical « Laïko » sound.
With their powerful electric bouzouki (Greek lute) and the distinctive sound of the Farfisa organ, Deli Teli have carved their style while digging through the incredible goldmine of the late 60's and early 70's Tsifteteli/Laïko singles. The 4 musicians met in 2019 with a burning desire to dive into electric sensations – bassist Christos Karypidis used to play oud and keyboardist Arthur Bacon played accordion in most of his former projects – and made the most of 2020's « lockdowns » by building their repertoire and thinking up Deli Teli.
On this mini-album, they also interpret Koko's « Chily Chily », a groovy belly-dance mover ; « Ekso Dertia Kai Kaïmi », an intoxicating and frenetic floor shaker ; « Tsiftetelli 1969 », a cool organ-lead surfing instrumental ; and 2 slightly freer and more psychedelic numbers, « Taksim Deli » (improvisation) and « Bournelis », a creative re-arrangement of 2 tracks by Leonardos Bournelis.
Deli Teli preach a collective, sensual and solar hip-wiggling across the continents and beyond ; they are ready to shake our minds and bodies until we all gel together... Join the « Tsifteteli Club » now !
• Sony Masterworks is happy to announce the vinyl release of the Netflix live-action series Cowboy Bebop which premiered in November 2021 and is available on Netflix.
• Yoko Kanno and the band SEATBELTS, the artists behind the music in the original anime series of Cowboy Bebop, have returned to bring their signature dynamic, jazzy sound to the Netflix live-action show. The resulting compositions are characters themselves - constant companions to the crew of the Bebop and brimming with just as much personality.
• Cowboy Bebop (Soundtrack from the Netflix Original Series) is a treat for Bebop fans in an additional way - it features over twenty new tracks only available on vinyl! This wide release is pressed on red marble vinyl discs in a gatefold jacket with printed inner sleeves.
• COWBOY BEBOP is an action-packed space Western about three bounty hunters, aka “cowboys,” all trying to outrun the past. As different as they are deadly, Spike Spiegel (John Cho), Jet Black (Mustafa Shakir), and Faye Valentine (Daniella Pineda) form a scrappy, snarky crew ready to hunt down the solar system’s most dangerous criminals — for the right price. But they can only kick and quip their way out of so many scuffles before their pasts finally catch up with them.
• Original anime series director Shinichirō Watanabe is a consultant on the series, and original composer Yoko Kanno returns for the live-action adaptation. The series also stars Alex Hassell and Elena Satine.
• Yoko Kanno is a Japanese composer, arranger and musician best known for her work on the soundtracks of anime films, television series, live-action films, video games, and advertisements. She has written scores for Cowboy Bebop and its live-action adaptation, Darker than Black, Macross Plus, Turn A Gundam, The Vision of Escaflowne, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Wolf's Rain, Kids on the Slope, Genesis of Aquarion and Terror in Resonance, and has worked with the directors Hirokazu Kore-eda, Yoshiyuki Tomino, Shinichirō Watanabe and Shōji Kawamori. Kanno has also composed music for pop artists Maaya Sakamoto and Kyōko Koizumi. She is also a keyboardist and is the frontwoman for the SEATBELTS, who perform many of Kanno's compositions and soundtracks.
Funkadelic’s eleventh studio LP, released in 1979, was more militant in tone than its predecessor 'One Nation Under A Groove' which described a Funk utopia. In contrast, ‘Uncle Jam Wants You’ stated mandate was to “rescue dance music from the blahs”. The album features a 15-minute version of what was to become the Funkadelic’s last hit single ‘(Not Just) Knee Deep’, an edited version of which made no.1 in the US R&B chart. This was Funkadelic’s first album since 1972 not to feature a cover design by artist Pedro Bell (although he did contribute the interior design). A reference to the “Uncle Sam Wants You!” US Army recruitment poster, the sleeve depicts George Clinton aka Dr Funkenstein in a Huey Newton Black Panthers pose. ‘Uncle Jam Wants You’ and Funkadelic-Parliament had a huge influence on Prince, The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Bill Laswell, Tupac Shakar, De La Soul and many more across all musical genres. George Clinton’s genius Funk & Style will continue to be an influence for many more years to come... FUNKADELIC Masterminded by the larger-than-life figure of George Clinton, Funkadelic was a key component of his influential P-Funk empire. Funkadelic’s unique combination of Rock, Psychedelia, R&B & Soul led to the band crossing over to the pop mainstream & gaining a vast international following, becoming one of the most important & influential groups in music. On 6 May 1997, Parliament / Funkadelic were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame by Prince. To commemorate six decades of thrilling & delighting fans, George Clinton returned to the stage in 2022 for a series of concerts. To celebrate, Charly have reissued Funkadelic’s classic four albums ‘Hardcore Jollies’; ‘One Nation Under A Groove’; ‘Uncle Jam Wants You’; & ‘The Electric Spanking Of War Babies’ (originally released by Warner Bros during a golden period for the band between 1976-1981). Each album will be available as deluxe gatefold Digi-Sleeve CDs in PVC wallets + obi-strip & facsimile-edition gatefold LPs on 180-gram black vinyl & limited edition 180-gram colored vinyl + 1970s-style obi-strip in a protective PVC sleeve. “They played a HUGE role in creating the future of music.” PRINCE
Florence Cats is a poet, visual artist, sound composer, performer and acupuncturist. Born in Vilvoorde (Belgium) in 1985, she is currently living and working where Brussels merges with the Sonian forest.
Florence Cats’ working process involves things about to appear or disappear, and echo one another : air, light, wind, tone, print, voice, water, color, dust, junk, rumor… She creates eclectic pieces related to travel, porosity, natural energies and celestial events. Each proposal is in tune to a context, a space, an environment.
Ys is a generous debut. Raw, courageous.
Sunken Cathedral is Florence interpreting Claude Debussy’s La Cathédrale Engloutie (trans. the Sunken Cathedral). The track reminds me of one of those fabled Charles Ives home recordings. Where he records himself on Speak-O-Phone - an old brand of recordable aluminium phonograph discs - while practicing and composing his music. But unlike Charles Ives treating these home recordings as personal sketches, Florence Cats shares her captured moments as compositions for the public.
Similar to the Speak-O-Phone recordings, we now meet the piano as a physical expression - not as an archetype. We are together with Florence in a room. The pedal. The keys. The hiss of the room. Learn, repeat.
Trough Florence’s hands and feet, La Cathédrale Engloutie is brought out of its pupa stage to become a presence. Instead of being grounded in luxurious concert halls or on high end recordings, the piece is now natural. Sunken Cathedral is a template, an affirmation for amateurs.
The piece was originally created for the group exhibition "Here Comes the Wave” at Project(ion) room, Brussels, February 2020.
In Fall Call, we find ourselves at QO2, a sound art initiative in Brussels. This piece was captured during a residency Florence took over the summer of 2022. We listen to the moment when a summer storm just washed the city.
Fall Call is a testament to Florence’s magical - humanistic way of playing her custom-made theremin. By pushing the controls of the instruments so high, her whole body starts to control the instrument - instead of just her hands. So when she walks around in the room, the instrument answers in full color.
And then, a phone-call. Giving it a bit of a Poulenc vibe.
For the last piece, Drop Out, we find ourselves in Florence’s apartment. When Florence opens the windows, the ambience of the surrounding Sonian Forest seeps in. This is an adorable moment. It predicts new beginnings. The smell of wet dirt and dripping leaves in the air. The poetry of rain.
Pianist, drummer, composer and producer Hamish Balfour presents jazz funk, soul and electronic music, bridging the gap from classic Blue Note to Warp via Sonar Kollektiv on Running Colours, his electrifying debut album for London's Shapes of Rhythm Records.
Praised by Jazzwise for hissolo flourishes and sidestepping harmonies, Hamish Balfour should be a recognisable face to jazz addicts. The go-to keys player has performed and recorded alongside American jazz drumming legend Harvey Mason, Tenderlonious, The Temptations, Odyssey, Faze Action, Yolanda Charles' Project PH, Bassically, Nim Quartet and Yam Who. Popping up not only in the credits of many sought-after albums, but also Channel 4, ITV and BBCprogrammes for his compositions on various shows.
Over the course of eleven tracks, Balfour folds in and explores his influences, with a wide yet highly cohesive and strong palette of sounds, whilst interacting with high caliber guest vocalists such as spoken word artist and broken beat icon, Lyric L(Seiji,Nathan Haines), London Elektricity and Hospital Records' star vocalist Elsa Esmeralda, award-winning and chart-storming singer-songwriter Belle Humble (Freestylers, Paloma Faith) and soul and house mainstay Andre Espeut (Afriquoi,Simbad,Faze Action).
Responsible for all piano, synths, percussion and production on the album, Balfour's musicality shines through, a reminder of how overdue this debut album as leader is. However, in addition to the incredible vocalists, he's joined by some of the UK's finest jazz musicians: James Copus (trumpet), Pete Matin (bass), Laurie Lowe and Saleem Raman (drums) and Rob Updegraff (guitar).
Elsa Esmeralda implores us 'not to be afraid' on lead single and title track Running Colours. A perfect invitation to get stuck into this many layered album. Balfour compliments Esmeralda's soothing vocals with delicate piano intro before Lowe's bruk-easque drums and lead an irresistible groove bedded in warm synths and guitar licks.
Yes or No showcases Loose Lips legend Lyric L contemplating the uncertainty of love over a swinging mid-tempo jazz funk boogie groove propelled by tight drums and Hammond chords, closing with a flying trumpet solo from Copus, weaving around Balfour's nimble keys.
Wealth, featuring singer/songwriter Belle Humble, displays incredible depth and restraint. Humble delivers the enticing vocal with ease, as it slides over the intricate webs of jazz fusion and electronics.
Mogul is arguably Running Colours' curveball. An eastern-inspired whirlwind of all manner of synths and twisting drums which constantly morph throughout. Guitars and trumpets take turns to solo on a track that feels like a series of questions that we never quite get answers to.
Balfour's ability to merge free wheeling jazz and fusion with timeless electronic production and soulful compositions is also apparent on instrumental pieces such as Reflector 28. Here, we find the musicians upbeat, uplifting, progressive and playful, showcasing the keys whilst the bass underpins the groove.
South Of The Sun is Running Colours' laid-back moment with Roy Ayers-type vibrations as bass and drums sit in the pocket (at least to begin with), whilst a Rhodes weaves its magic. Like many of the album's tracks we take a few twists and turns before returning to our main feel-good motif.
Hamish's long awaited debut is sure to exceed the expectations of those who know him already, whilst introducing a whole new audience to his wealth of talent and originality.
"Meat. The story needs meat. (And blood ... coagulated blood (Gore)). The substance we are seeking here lies beyond the bare bones of fact, thewhen and the where (founded in 1988, Mülheim an der Ruhr) or personneland instruments (a trio since 2016, built around keyboards, saxophone, bass & drums). The story is more than the sum of its facts. Mysteries may very well lurk here or there along the way. What keeps the final two foundermembers going after all this time Do Morten Gass and Robin Rodenberg have skeletons locked in their closets How dearly we would we love to know the answer to that one, alas the most beautiful puzzles tend to remain unsolved.Including their debut Gore Motel' (1994), BOHREN & DER CLUB OF GORE have amassed an impressive eight longplayers. Four album titles allude to the night - their debut was followed by Midnight Radio' (1995), Sunset Mission' (2000), and Black Earth' (2002), whilst the most recent instalment carried the name Piano Nights' (2014). The nocturnal quartet was punctuated by Geisterfaust' (2005), Dolores' (2008) and a mini-album entitled Beileid' (2011), adding rather eerie overtones to the after hours ambience. The BOHREN & DER CLUB OF GORE legend has grown stronger both at home and abroad with every record they have released and every show they have played. Strange as it may seem, there is a uniform consistency to their reception. Whatever the band does, critiques are unfailingly positive, yet repetitious. References, links and associations recur almost word for word. Consider the arrival of Christoph Clöser in 1997, by way of illustration. When he joined the group, his saxophone replaced the departing Reiner Henseleit's guitar as one of the defining instruments in the band. This was arguably the sharpest break in their sound to this day and a significant marker in terms of the band's reverence for Dutch instrumentalists GORE (the clue is in the name), whose repetitive riffs paved the way for how the guitar would be deployed in a post-everything future. Nevertheless, this fissure in the BOHREN continuum has barely merits a mention in the greater scheme of things. Similarly conspicious by their absence in the BOHREN chronicles are the numerous instruments which they added to the mix - vibraphone, organ, tuba, bass trombone to name just a few. The introduction of choirs at least had a clear visual impact. Since Thorsten Benning left at the end of 2015, the band has continued as a trio, sharing shifts on the drums (although they have equipped themselves with mechanical brushes). A decrease in personnel was conversely accompanied by quantum leaps forward in the group's musical development - or more precisely, minor adjustments triggered major effects. Such changes may not get any easier to spot in the future, such is the intensity of internal imagery sparked by the music, a maelstrom of distractions so powerful that its promises are too sweet and too dangerous in equal measure. The music of BOHREN & DER CLUB OF GORE opens up remarkable rooms of association, from a warm burrow to a pristine secret lodge, from a
dusky woodland tavern to a smoky quayside dive. Individual and collective floods of images rush forth irresistibly. Loneliness is not at all problematic: empty multi-storey car parks, nighttime drives, remote bridges to nowhere. All in your mind. This is the temptation, a sweet, guilt-free addiction. It's all in your mind - and only there. These sinister crackling songs are invitations to secrete oneself in darkness. With track titles such as 'Maximum Black', 'Zombies Never Die' or 'Dandys Lungern Durch Die Nacht', the mind wanders inexorably into filmic spaces.
Echoing the masters of midnight cinema, stories evolve all by themselves. As the American Film Noir Foundation observed so smartly: 'the vivid co-mingling of lost innocence, doomed romanticism, hard-edged cynicism, desperate desire, and shadowy sexuality.' Their definition of Film Noir serves just as well as an appraisal of the group, 'Bohren For Beginners'.
Which says it all really, doesn't it A final word of warning! Sources close to the band describe the double CD
released in October 2016 as a gateway drug to the Bohren universe. Enter at your own risk, some have never found their way out again."(by Lars Brinkmann)
Just a single album and a bunch of singles, rising star Linda Di Franco debuted in 1985 and left the scene all of a sudden in 1986. Her first album was a combined effort produced by Don Was (Blue Note’s Renaissance Music Man and previously leader of post disco combo Was Not Was), a gentle selection of soul-pop ballads and lushy synth arrangements. With leading single ‘My Boss’ the album shows an ethereal continuum with an excellent rendition of Burt Bacharach ‘The Look Of Love’. Recorded in London, Detroit and New York the Rise Of The Heart is definitely a keystone in the rising club culture revolution verging on the more existentialist pop aesthetic. RIYL: Sade, Lizzy Mercier Descloux, Carmel, Antena.
Belgian artist Melawati steps up to Ellum Audio with an arresting debut album, Artimia. Produced with an array of modified machines and modular synths, it is a testament to finding beauty in chaos.
Martijn Ravesloot aka Melawati makes music out of mistakes. He comes from an indie background but has always admired Aphex Twin while playing in bands such as The Subs and working in theatre. He has a love of experimenting with soundwaves that gives rise to his complex, experimental and improvised sounds. He first met Maceo Plex while jamming and that session turned into the track 'Daliah' which dropped on Ellum Audio and was remixed by Tale of Us.
After that, Melawati wrote this most absorbing and beautiful album during the pandemic in a dark studio attic in the heart of Brussels. He set about recording live experiments on analog synths and then deconstructed and reconstructed them into the tracks presented here. The angelic tones of guest vocalist Lisa Jane feature on two tracks though the pair have never met, and Melawati is now set to take his impressive live show to Tomorrowland. His life has changed since writing the album, he now has two children and lives on a farm, but the power of this music where organic and alien worlds intersect remains utterly compelling.
Opener 'I Just Want To Go Walking' pairs a heavenly vocal with celestial chords and a bustling broken beat that strikes a powerful emotional note right from the off. The excellent 'Riddles' showcases more majestic synth work and molten melodies that suspend you in mid-air while 'Slow Pulse' is an intense layering of drones and heavy drum tumbles that again offsets light and dark, tension and release. 'Red Herring' rests with beautifully pensive synth patterns that twinkle, warp and melt before your very ears and 'You And I' takes off on a rubbery groove overlaid with heart-aching keys and shimmering, wordless vocals. 'Somebody' is brain-soothing synth bliss with lush patterns and icy drums that gently unfold to get you in a trance and the gorgeous 'Radiate' then offers a widescreen and cosmic ambient interlude. The heartbroken synths of 'Let Your Love Wash Over Me' speak of the end of a cosmic love affair and 'Violent Thoughts' rebuilds on smooth arps and smeared pads over downtempo drums. The final trio of tracks offers rousing breakbeats on 'New White Noise', uplifting synth catharsis on 'Pain And Pressure' and a melancholic lullaby on 'Stellar'.
Artimia is a beautiful mix of harmony and dissonance, of real emotional power and improvised musical elegance.
Line-Up:
Neal Schon - Guitars, Keyboards & Background Vocals
Jonathan Cain - Keyboards & Background Vocals
Jason Deralta - Background Vocals
Arnel Pineda -Lead Vocals
Deen Castronovo - Lead Vocals on "After Glow"
Randy Jackson - Bass, Background Vocals
Narada Michael Walden - Drums & Background Vocals
