2010s 234 Items

A living room somewhere in southern Germany. Embroidery graces the walls, a veneer side table with little chrome feet stands in front of a beige velour sofa, a minibar awaits. Pride of place goes to the electric organ which majestically occupies the centre of the room, flanked by two oversized loudspeakers. Welcome to the world of OTTO. the two-man band are set to release their long-awaited debut album in 2019 on Bureau B. The eight tracks contain familiar OTTO ingredients, from organ sounds and rhythm presets to disco strings and the monophonic waves of a 1970s synthesizer. Arpeggio and Hohner notes add extra sharpness to the proceedings. Classics from their live repertoire sit alongside brand new numbers, invariably strange synthesizer compositions.

COMA’s new album, Voyage Voyage, casts a sweet and heavy-hearted hypnagogic glow that tells the story of these complicated moments through its complex web of sonics. Across ten pristine tracks, the pair meld piano, guitar, drums, synths and electronic flourishes to futuristic vocal harmonies that amp up the melancholic pop factor and capture life’s fleeting moments, moods and adventures. One of the album’s standout tracks, “Snurrebassen”, was written during a fishing trip to the Baltic Sea. Fusing a pop sensibility with dance music’s communal properties, the German duo of Georg Conrad and Marius Bubat create music rich in melody and often melancholy. COMA’s repertoire occupies an emotionally-driven corner of the electronic music spectrum, where dynamic soundscapes collide with honest lyrics. Having initially signed to Cologne’s electronic label Kompakt, COMA may have their roots firmly in the city’s fabled club scene, but their effervescent, groove-tipped synth-pop blurs boundaries and strays outside the lines. Their new home of City Slang (Caribou, Gold Panda, Tindersticks) is the perfect fit for their hypnotic brand of indie-electro. “We’ve never been ravers,'' says COMA’s Marius Bubat. “Although we have definitely been inspired by the energy of club music”

Her second full-length album, Look Up Sharp , on her own Kallista records. Look Up Sharp is an evolutionary leap from the thick fog and pastoral stillness of her Blackest Ever Black missives, You Know What It's Like (2016) and The Garden EP (2017). Three years since her plain-speaking debut album, the Melbourne-via-Berlin artist finds herself absorbed in London's sprawling mess. The small-town dreams and inertia that preoccupied dal Forno's first album have dissolved into the chaotic city, its shifting identities, far-flung surroundings and blank faces. Look Up Sharp is the story of this life in flux, longing for intimacy, falling short and embracing the unfamiliar. Dal Forno connects with kindred spirits and finds refuge in darkened alleys, secret gardens and wherever else she dares to look. In her own territory between plaintive pop, folk and post-punk dal Forno conjures the ghosts of AC Marias, Virginia Astley and Broadcast through her brushwork of art-damaged fx and spectral atmospheres. The first half of the record is filled with dubbed-out humid bass lines, which tether stoned hazes of psychedelic synth work as on 'Took A Long Time' and 'No Trace.' These contrast with songs like 'I'm Conscious and 'So Much better' that channel the lilting power of YMG and are clear sequels-in-waiting to dead-eyed classics like 'Fast Moving Cars.' The B-side begins with the feverish bass and meandering melody of 'Don't Follow Me,' which takes The Cure's 'A Forest' as its conceptual springboard. It's the clearest lyrical example since 'The Garden' of dal Forno's unmatched ability to unpick the masculine void of post-punk and new wave nostalgia to reflect contemporary nuance. Look Up Sharp reaches its satisfying conclusion with 'Push On' - dal Forno's most explicit foray into an undiscovered trip hop universe between Massive Attack and Tracey Thorn. The album's last gasp finds personal validation in fragility: 'I push on / I'm the Place I'm Going,' a self discovery lifted by reverberant broken beats and glass-blown...

Formed in Madrid in 1979. Influenced equally by Dadaism and Futurist ideas as by the contemporary sounds of bands such as DEVO, THROBBING GRISTLE or CABARET VOLTAIRE, they started creating their own brand of electronic music. Soon after the band won the third prize of a local Battle of The Bands show and were given a record deal as a prize that resulted in La Chica De Plexiglás 7" (Movieplay-1980) and La Vision 7" (Movieplay-1981) both of which were recorded at the same session with a third 7" recorded but not released at the time. Faced with the total lack of interest showed by the label and feeling alienated in a Music World which wasn't the one they dreamed of, they decided to do what dozens of their peers were doing worldwide; They started their own label, Discos Radioactivos Organizados (DRO) following the steps of Factory or Industrial Records. Faced with the exit of three members who left the band to form a more radical band (ESPLENDOR GEOMETRICO), AVIADOR DRO entered Doublewtronix studios to record Nuclear ,Sí, marking the birth of the Independent Music Industry in Spain. The four tracks on the EP became instant classics with Nuclear Sí being the absolute standout track, while Varsovia en Llamas, Sintonia Del Refugio Atomico and Godzilla were perfect nuggets of Synth-punk who remain amongst the greatest Spanish Pop songs ever. Originally hand-assembled, hand-coloured, self-released and distributed in the total DIY spirit, the first release of DRO remains a perfect example of what a bunch of teenagers can achieve armed with just their youthful energy and idealism. Nuclear, Si, was repressed three times and has been out of print since the early 80's.

Kindness returns with their third full length album titled "Something Like A War" set for release on 6 September, 2019. The album is a culmination of years spent collaborating with the likes of Robyn, Jazmine Sullivan, Seinabo Sey and Cosima among many others. Produced entirely by Bainbridge, the record is a collection of works representing a period of reflection and transformation over the course of 4 years following their second record "Otherness." Now based in London, the album was recorded in several locations, while Kindness was primarily based in New York during the writing and recording of the album. Following a series of select shows in June, Kindness will embark on a world tour in late 2019 with a new live band. Guest vocal features include Robyn, Jazmine Sullivan, Seinabo Sey, Bahamadia, Cosima, Nadia Nair and Alexandria among others.

The sound of Spirit was born out of falling in love with playing the piano again. About a year and a half ago, my girlfriend surprised me with a borrowed piano. It wasn’t in the best shape, but it made itself at home in my apartment and I started playing it every morning… just messing around at first, but it slowly became a morning ritual I couldn’t shake.

As our Secular Sabbath events developed and moved around the world, we were fortunate to be able to meet and experiment with some inspiring musicians. Out of these experiments, new ideas were born and turned into songs with artists like Thomas Bartlett and Ólafur Arnalds, whose musical genius now grace this record. When I worked with each of them, both happened to play 80’s era Yamaha pianos. At a certain point, I knew I needed to get one for myself:

the tone was speaking to me, through me. The first piano shop I wandered into in Koreatown, Los Angeles, and the first piano I see is an ’84 Yamaha U3 (a special edition hybrid!) It was the very piano I was looking for. It was fate.

My morning piano ritual met my new piano in my favorite studio. I made a rule for myself that I would start something brand new every day, work on that for 2 hours without judgement and just see what I came up with. Out of the many sketches, Spirit started to take shape: a collection of songs that I did alone in the studio with just a piano, intertwined
with collaborations with some of my favourite piano-based musicians. These are songs about love in my life, but also about the love for piano brought back into my life.