Downbeat | Electronica | Leftfield 196 Items

We have gathered again to present you a full body of work by Austin Bascom who goes under the moniker Abacus. The gentleman has created a lot of unique works for the people to enjoy starting from the 90’s and till this day. Recently the artist had a string of fantastic releases in our current years of 2020+ as well. This time he was kind enough to dedicate his time and effort to the dome of Sakskøbing. We witness the four deep cuts of house music in the way how deep house needs to be done in our honest opinion. Start of from “Chi-Town Stories” and the stories it brings to the ears and the mindset, straight after witnessing “Chillin’ Woman” with amazing vocals by Mz. Mosea which has been recorded in 1994, then bringing in the “Mourning Sun” and to conclude wrapping yourself under a warm blanket of “Hyggë”. I hope this work of soul and passion will bring you nice feelings as it did to us. Don’t forget to tell your loved ones that you love them. Thank you, Abacus for the emotion you have given to all of us listeners and music lovers.

Albert Alan Owen was born in Wales in 1948 to parents of Welsh and Latvian heritage. His family later moved to Zimbabwe, where his father took up a teaching position. There, Owen was deeply influenced by local music and culture, while also exploring American RnB and jazz. It was during this period that he became acutely aware of the harsh inequalities under British colonial rule, which instilled in him a lifelong aversion to discrimination and racism.

In 1967, Owen returned to Europe to pursue his studies and enrolled at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He went on to spend time in Paris, studying composition with the eminent Nadia Boulanger and piano under Jacques Février, a favorite pianist of Ravel’s and Poulenc’s. Owen's focus shifted almost entirely to composition, and the acquisition of a Fender Rhodes electric piano marked the beginning of a divorce from his classical Western training. This transition allowed him to merge his passion for African and African-American music with the impressionistic styles of Ravel and Debussy while exploring the innovative realm of electroacoustic composition. These formative experiences framed Owen’s career as a composer and educator at the Royal Academy of Music and London’s Working Men’s College. He eventually returned to Wales, where he continues to reside. In 1979, 29-year-old Albert Alan Owen released “Keyboards & Strings”, a light magical chamber music masterpiece. Transcending the formal conventions of its era, “Keyboard & Strings” is an acoustic and electric piano piece, where the violin is met by synths and electronics.

As is often the case in Albert Alan Owen’s most intimate works, there is a sense of ethereal beauty that emerges from the music, akin to the emotional state one might experience while contemplating a Félix Vallotton landscape or the unfathomable mystery of dawn’s first light. Quiet, profound, and immersive, “Keyboard & Strings” stands out as an electronic-age tone poem, a rare gem that transcends time and place.

»Therapy« is a new experimental electronic music album by Alexandre Bazin that explores musical reasearch on the edge of ambient music, with a reminder of classical music. His instrumental music revolves around sonic textures, saturations, feedback, allowing new fragments to emerge to create melodies, timbres and tone colors. The saturated sounds recall the presence of the electric guitar, encompassing orchestral materials and acoustic instruments which are the basis of this album, with the exception of the first two tracks, which are solo synthesizer pieces, the first one that opens the album is a solo by Synthi A, and the second by Buchla Music easel.

Alicia is a DJ, producer and musician making deeply rhythmic, off-kilter dance music inspired by a love of club culture and the avant-garde. This mixtape delves into deeper worlds of spaced out hazy trips through dubwise ambient & downtempo niceness.

"Det Foranderlige Instrument" music for 24 Yamaha Dx-7 synthesizers by Danish composer, musician and teacher Anders P Jensen. Departing from its iconic 80s pop sound, Anders P Jensen breathes new life into the Dx-7, leveraging complex instrument preparations inspired by musical luminaries like Harry Partch and Björk, resulting in mesmerizing electronic symphony across 12 movements, where the instrument evolves autonomously, challenging conventional notions of composition. Besides Anders P Jensen on synthesizers, the album also features Zhang Yu on guzheng. "Study No. 11" is composed by Conlon Nancarrow, here arranged for the Dx-7s. "Det Foranderlige Instrument" which translates as "The Ever Changing Instrument" is Anders P Jensen second release on Escho.

Explore the sonic landscapes of Trobollowitsch's latest vinyl release, where trumpet strains intertwine with resonant energies, able to fold, deform, and compress time and space so deftly that one has the impression of hearing echoes of distant worlds and times - 'everything everywhere all at once.'

‘Drones In The Air’ finds Hargreaves deep in a new phase of vibrational investigation where the sentimentality of prior eras gives way to more abstract conceptual processes. Utilising a bunch of oscillators and the Lyra-8, an “organismic analog synthesiser”, plus pedals, Hargreaves works within just intonation tuning systems - or more precisely “intuitive intonation” - to just-about harness a microtonal flux of clashing, beating frequencies, but the project is more about ceding a certain amount of freedom to the machines and allowing aural alchemy to occur, prompting a spectrum of harmonic colours and rich timbral overtones distinguished from previous tape loop-based works. Comparative to “Glenn Branca’s micro-tonal workouts if he had worked with oscillators instead of guitars”, the result also variously evoke mysteries of The Conet Project, the oceanic feel of Éliane Radigue compositions, and early ambient works by Terre Thaemlitz in their sound sensitivity and scope. In ‘The Sun is Afraid’ he mesmerises with glistening microtones that develop a coarser traction, interrupted by shortwave radio comms and resolving into phantasmic noise gauze that speaks to his long-standing fascinations with entropic decay and the sounds between sounds. ‘Your Hands Are Shaking’ follows with a stealthier approach to coaxing a hallucinatory drone mass inflated by ether voices and thickening up into a sinister gloam redolent of NWW’s ’Soliloquy for Lilith’.

Air is the central element in Antonina Nowacka's third solo album Sylphine Soporifera. The title names an imaginary species and the land they inhabit, inspired by the unreal desert landscape of Paracas and the undulating tree-less hills of the Outer Hebrides, and comes from the writings of Rudolf Steiner, who describes creatures called Sylphs as the spirits of the air, and the Latin word sopor which means deep sleep.

As with all her releases, Nowacka's other-worldly vocals coming as if from beyond the veil, at once haunting, alien and utterly entrancing. "The voice is the most beautiful and resonating instrument,” she says. “When I sing I feel I create a field in between myself and the air in front of me," she explains. "It is not just that I'm singing – something in the space in front of me is happening, and I merge with this sphere.”

She conjures and is inspired by open environments and infinite landscapes: places full of light and air, manifested here in the sound of ocarinas from Budrio in Italy, whistles from Mexico, simple bamboo flutes from Nepal, alongside tremulous zithers, synthetic Hawaiian sounds from a vintage organ and the uncanny wind instrument presets from a 90s synth.

Nowacka’s first album was informed by vocal sketches made in caves in Indonesia, later recorded at a fortress in Poland; she studied Hindustani music in India with vocalist Shashwati Mandal, fell in love with early Cumbia in Mexico and Peru, and has more recently found inspiration in the landscapes of Italy. Hers is a new New Age soundworld that finds its origins everywhere and nowhere. Sylphine Soporifera gathers these sounds, visions and experiences into an album permeated with a sense of hope and fulfilment, that feels like sitting in an enlivening white beam of afternoon sunlight, as dustmotes swirl in the stillness.

At1980 are back with another immense release that may be there best yet. Featuring the melodically additive anthems "Back to Me" and "Pieces of Me", Forget to Remember is album that promises to keep you pressing that replay button and belting your heart out. This is a must listen for all synth lovers and AOR enthusiasts. Enjoy.

At1980 are back with another immense release that may be there best yet. Featuring the melodically additive anthems "Back to Me" and "Pieces of Me", Forget to Remember is album that promises to keep you pressing that replay button and belting your heart out. This is a must listen for all synth lovers and AOR enthusiasts. Enjoy.

After some time we are very excited to announce our new EP by French pals Atomic Moog. With amazing releases on Lowless, Monument & Delsin we are huge fans of their music and their approach to production and feel they are a strong fit for what Appian is all about :) On show here are warm, heavily textured cerebral journeys densely packed with analogue atmosphere and feeling - with Dub at its core. We think they have created something very special. Hope you ENJOY : )

Timeless cuts to suit all intimate dance floors.

Kata No Wadachi is the latest album by Banetoriko, the solo noise project of Tamaki Ueda. Her first release both on An’archives and on vinyl, it follows several albums for the Neurec imprint – 2017’s Beside the Sluice and 2022’s Yorioto Hogiokuri – and several other cassettes and CD-Rs. With Kata No Wadachi, the Banetoriko world, inspired by the Yokai (“strange apparitions” – supernatural figures, ghosts, spirits) of Japanese folklore, is at its most resonant yet.

Recorded across 2022 and 2023, the three tracks on Kata No Wadachi have Ueda performing in a particularly elevated manner. Her sound is highly tactile and grittily sensuous, the better to capture the ritualistic repetitions, and hypnotic methodologies, core to Banetoriko. The scrape and scratch of Ueda’s self-made metal instrument, the Banetek, gives these improvisations a unique throb, even as their mood, of introverted focus and elaboration of minutiae, gestures towards broader histories of noise and abstract art. Kata No Wadachi evokes, to some degree, the urban ritual noise of the likes of The New Blockaders, Organum, or Ferial Confine; elsewhere, the abraded, rough-housing textures bring to mind the eighties tape works of Hands To and John Hudak.

Ueda embraces the dream evocation that’s possible when loops of blurred texture collide with the gnaw and groan of energised metal, while mantric, dissociated vocals, and the oppressive weight of deep breath, gather around these compositions like a ghost’s shroud. While she’s been making noise for some time, since the nineties, Banetoriko was formalised as a project in 2011, while Ueda lived in Los Angeles. Relocating to Osaka in 2021, she’s carved out an utterly unique space for herself in Japanese noise, and her music contains an absolutely elemental vibration. Framed beautifully with poetic liner notes by Aurélien Rossanino, Kata No Wadachi is an oppressive, yet quixotically blissful trip.

The mighty Becker & Mukai return with a tidal wave of sonic highways with new album Spirit Only, this time travelling outside of their East London studio bunker to Japanese mountains, with pit stops in Mali and Trinidad & Tobago.

Experimenting between balearic, indie dance, psychedelic, folk and electronica, Spirit Only is a complete body of work, confident and unashamed.

Realistic IX, the third full-length by the duo of Michael Jones and Turk Dietrich aka Belong, is both an expansion and excavation of their signature acid-washed songcraft.

Bleached guitars, metronomic drums, and buried voices rev, swirl, and seethe across shifting gradients of haze and hypnosis, alternately driving and diffuse. Melodies surge closer to the surface, flexing their form before resubmerging into quickening currents of feedback. Elsewhere the elements dissipate into a dusk of murk and microtonalities, electricity liberated back into infinite night.

Although it’s been thirteen years since Belong’s prior Kranky offering, Common Era, none of the duo’s rare synergy has decayed in the interim. Jones and Dietrich’s commitment to oblique states of motorik drone and liminal emotion continues to evolve and unfold, increasingly tactile and unreal, an alluring glow glimpsed through fogged windows at witching hours.

"Step into the enigmatic realm of ‘Funest Human Nature’, an audacious collaboration between avant-garde luminaries Jac Berrocal, Pascal Comelade, and Vincent Epplay. In this mesmerizing sonic odyssey, the boundaries of experimental music are shattered as Berrocal's haunting trumpet, Comelade's whimsical piano, and Epplay's immersive soundscapes converge to create a kaleidoscope of textures and emotions. A journey through the depths of the human psyche, where surrealism meets primal instincts and the absurd dances with the profound. The trio's fearless exploration of sound, inviting listeners to unravel the mysteries of the human condition through an eclectic tapestry of sonic experimentation. From the eerie whispers of forgotten dreams to the jubilant cacophony of uninhibited joy, 'Funest Human Nature' is a testament to the boundless possibilities of artistic collaboration. Embrace the unexpected, embrace the sublime, and immerse yourself in the haunting beauty of this extraordinary musical venture." Pascal Comelade, born in Montpellier, France in 1955, is a prolific Catalan musician and composer known for his distinctive blend of minimalism, surrealism, and musical primitivism. He started his music career in the mid-1970s and has since created a unique sound using toy instruments, pianos, and traditional ensembles. Comelade's work is characterized by its eclectic influences, ranging from rock and folk to classical and avant-garde. He has collaborated with various artists, including PJ Harvey and Robert Wyatt. Over the decades, Comelade has built a cult following with his unconventional approach to music and his impressive discography that spans numerous albums and soundtracks. Jac Berrocal, born in 1946 in Saint-Jean d'Angély, France, is a pioneering avant-garde trumpeter and composer known for his fusion of jazz, rock, and experimental music. His career, which began in the early 1970s, is marked by innovative albums like "Musiq Musik" and extensive collaborations with artists from Nurse With Wound to Vince Taylor. Berrocal is celebrated for his theatrical live performances, which often incorporate elements of poetry and drama. His work continues to defy conventional music boundaries, maintaining a cult following and influencing diverse musical genres. Through his distinctive approach, Berrocal has carved out a niche in the avant-garde music scene, continuously exploring the intersections of sound, performance, and art. Vincent Epplay, born in 1964 in France, is an innovative sound artist and musician known for his work in creating immersive audiovisual environments. His artistic approach often involves the manipulation of sound to explore its interaction with space and audience perception. Epplay's works are characterized by a keen interest in the experimental music tradition, incorporating elements of chance and the use of unconventional sound sources. He has collaborated extensively with other artists, including Jac Berrocal and David Fenech, contributing to a dynamic and exploratory sound art scene. Through installations, performances, and recordings, Epplay continually challenges and expands the boundaries of auditory and visual experiences.

French saxophonist Musina Ebobissé unveils Armaun, his third release under the Blendreed name. Armaun – Ambient Resistance Music Against Urban Noise – takes a stand against the interference of invasive irritants with sublime slow motion music. Its four pieces evoke an ecstatic peace, allowing both artist and listener to breathe deeply. As the compositions unfold, each exhalation resonates at the frequency of the human mind in repose.

Layers of treated and reverberant saxophone fuse into a hypnagogic whole, as elongated melodies interact with their own fragmented and transformed echoes. In a semi dream state, existence is experienced at a languid pace, as each phrase decays into a haze of crosscurrents.

If Armaun recalls the fourth world music of Jon Hassell and Eno, it equally finds oblique kinship with André 3000's "New Blue Sun". Likewise, it shares essential DNA with vaporwave and the tape-loop experiments of Terry Riley. Conceived as a confluence of acoustic and electronic elements, Blendreed explores the intersection of jazz, ambient, post-rock and experimental music.

This is work of exquisite beauty with a direct function. It provides an antidote to the bombardment of our senses. After unhooking your mind from temporal entanglements, Armaun will absorb your soul.

First new album in 3 years from Bruno Pronsato, fusing experimental tunings with his signature percussive workouts

Originally released on Firstcask Records in 2003. A selection of my styles and ideas at the time, ranging from drum n bass, ambient, acid etc etc

Christina Kubisch’s »Stromsänger« finds the sound artist at the top of her game mixing electromagnetic wave recordings with a score for six voices, creating powerful results. »Stromsänger« is based on a collaboration with the Norwegian vocal ensemble Trondheim Voices and on a special experience while researching and recording electromagnetic waves in the city of Trondheim.

Radical renditions of works by Larry Polansky and Christopher Trapanido, by Liesa Van der Aa and Tom Pauwels. The reworks do not distort the more upbeat rhythm and tradition of folk songs, but rather reveal and highlight the essence of hard lives, imposed choices - choices that were illusions in the first place - and the difficult times and conditions they have always depicted

Church Andrews and Matt Davies weave intricate patterns from Fibonacci sequences on new mini-album, Yucca. Producer and composer Church Andrews (aka Kirk Barley) and drummer Matt Davies return to explore the outer limits of rhythm on a six-track suite that is at once angular and fluid, natural and systematic. Drawn to the restrictions of working solely with one synth and live drums, the pair found creativity in limitation, developing a compositional dialogue between the sonic timbres of Kirk’s productions and Matt’s percussive practice. Evoking the primitive yet complex form of the plant from which it takes its name, Yucca features tracks that are built around rhythmic ratios of the Fibonacci sequence. Mirroring spiral patterns exhibited in nature, each track evolves like a cellular structure of its own, from the livewire syntax of ‘Chirp’ and the deconstructed ebb and flow of ‘Ferns’, to the mini-album’s title track, where crisp grooves flit between modulated electronics like fireflies. “I’ve always been inspired by music that is complex without sounding complex,” Matt explains. He maintains a sense of bounce amid the intricate phrasing and cites drummers Roy Haynes and his grandson Marcus Gilmore as inspirations, alongside sabar drummers from Senegal and Mridangam drumming of South India. With a shared background in hip-hop and the swung beats of J Dilla and Flying Lotus, Kirk Barley and Matt Davies were also inspired by the minimalism of Terry Riley and the sparse palette of dub techno. Written and recorded in Lewisham in the spring and summer of 2023, Yucca follows the release of Axis in 2022, with the duo having also performed at festivals such as Rewire and Waking Life, and recorded live sessions for Fact magazine and Worldwide FM. The third release on Yorkshire-based Odda Recordings, following Kirk Barley’s Marionette and Flaer’s Preludes, Yucca confirms the label’s reputation for championing music on the unstable ground between the organic and the synthetic.

Dalton Alexander is a multi-instrumentalist, field recordist & songwriter from Whitehorse in Yukon, Canada. "Almost Home If I'm Still Alive" is his proper debut album. Recorded in forests, fields, backyards, streets, and rooms between 2016 - 2023.

Satis was composed as a soundtrack to 2023 video documents of the Prize of the Slovak Chamber of Architects for Architecture CE ZA AR.

Pitched Peach's inaugural release marks a significant homage to the Bay Area's musical legacy, featuring five tracks from Darwin Chamber, the alter-ego of Mark Greenfield.

Chamber's contributions have been instrumental in shaping the distinctive sound of the ambient house/trip-hop and breakbeat movement that originated in San Francisco during the 1990s. His work offers listeners a timeless experience that represents the essence of electronic music's history. This EP encapsulates the playfulness we seek both as a listening experience and to burn the dance floor, setting the stage for an electrifying future of releases on the label. All tracks have been remastered for the occasion!

Electronic music composer David Morley returns to De:tuned with the live recorded 'Fashion' EP. In the early 90s Belgian fashion designer Dirk Bikkembergs reached out to David Morley to ask if he could create a special piece of music for the Paris Fashion Week. The 'Fashion - Show' DAT tape recording radiates the energy of David's thrilling live performance and captures an exciting synergy of art and music during an era that shaped an entire generation.

Kevin Foakes (Openmind, DJ Food, Ninja Tune) created all the graphic work. Mastered by Matt Colton at Metropolis. A separate digital release will also be available at the usual digital shops. Stay tuned!

Limited run in Grey marbled vinyl

Electronic music composer David Morley returns to De:tuned with the live recorded 'Fashion' EP. In the early 90s Belgian fashion designer Dirk Bikkembergs reached out to David Morley to ask if he could create a special piece of music for the Paris Fashion Week. The 'Fashion - Show' DAT tape recording radiates the energy of David's thrilling live performance and captures an exciting synergy of art and music during an era that shaped an entire generation.

Kevin Foakes (Openmind, DJ Food, Ninja Tune) created all the graphic work. Mastered by Matt Colton at Metropolis. A separate digital release will also be available at the usual digital shops. Stay tuned!

Reveries is Zach Frizzell, Marc Ertel and Damien Duque’s first album for over three years, and follows the success of their debut Liberamente. Together, the trio craft delicately textured and slowly unfurling sonic vistas, occupying a unique aural domain that lies between guitar-driven drone music and modern classical compositions.With their individual projects they are incredibly prolific, but Dawn Chorus releases are few and far between and Reveries represents a refined evolution, leaning more heavily toward string-based arrangements and compositional virtuosity. It is the very essence of what they are calling “dronegaze”, pushing the boundaries of the ambient genre while embracing a profound auditory expression. According to the trio, the six, long tracks on Reveries are “heavily reliant on improvisation, intuition, and allowing the compositions to exist in their own moment; the aim was a feeling of fluidity and a sense that every instrument has its place and purpose”. And they’re right. The opening title track emerges quietly in a swirl of strings; lead single ‘Deus’ eases its fittingly reverent grain into a glorious minor-key immensity; ‘Cadere’ pulls together a cast of orchestral instruments into a comforting devotional; ‘Somnium’ plays out in diffuse, shimmering melodic rounds; ‘Vale’ blossoms from a pair of sparse, alternating chord swells; and ‘Aufero’ is the perfect coda that reprises the low-end rumble of the album’s overture before being swept away on a sea of dissonance. “We live in an era of infinite distraction,” says Zach Frizzell, “where often the most valuable thing you can find is a respite for the soul.” How right he is. This, truly, is music from a higher place.

Introducing De Mond's debut LP, 'Glow.' Stijn Wybouw (also known as Kramp) and Arno de Bock (who provided drums for Hermann among other projects) throw you into a maelstrom of bold sounds and rhythms. From squiggly synth bursts to kaleidoscopic loops, they push the outer parameters of 21st-century musical art.

Beatmaker and insatiable digger since his very first sample picked from Ennio Morricone’s discography, Degiheugi has never stopped exploring dusty vinyl records and the depths of the web in search of unnoticed sonic gems. True soundtracks of imaginary films, his 8 powerfully cinematic albums possess an undeniable evocative force. Perhaps a consequence of the admiration the producer holds for film music composers such as Lalo Shiffrin, Francis Lai, Cal Tjader, or François de Roubaix. These were all alchemists who unabashedly mixed jazz, funk, pop, or classical ingredients. The Degiheugi Orchestra adventure emerged as an obvious choice for the French artist. Indeed, his abstract instrumental hip-hop has always mingled with orchestral sounds: classy strings, vibrant brass, and swirling flutes blend with the vintage beats and samples of this artisan with immediately identifiable groove. More than just a blend of genres or a literal transposition of the digger-beatmaker’s music, this electro-symphonic odyssey offers a reinterpretation, live and orchestral. Entrusted to Sébastien Blanchon, musician (Le Peuple de l'herbe, L'Entourloop...) and mad composer of both hip-hop and symphonic music, the arrangements merge classical orchestra and machines into a single organic whole. The aim? Broadening the scope to enter a new dimension! On stage, 17 musicians weave a large-format setting, offering Degiheugi, the "sound director," a unique opportunity to tell his stories in an XXL format. To engrave this fabulous journey on record, 13 tracks including the essentials "Favelas" and "What Do You Expect from Me?" as well as a new title "Happiness Everywhere" were recorded in studio in their orchestral version. From June 7, 2024, the audience will be able to enjoy this sublime album mixed and mastered by Blanka (La Fine Équipe) and illustrated with a new cover by the Spanish artist Dulk, who has been accompanying Degiheugi since his album "Endless Smile.”

Their newest release “For Barney, Who Was A Bad Dog, But A Good Boy, And Very Much Loved” comes from Brooklyn-based Dekalb Works (debut ‘Duologue’ on Where To Now? Records), the collaborative project of Austin Peru (Vision Fortune) & Daniel Creahan (Sweat Equity / Alien D).

The release summarizes a series of experimentations between live performance contexts and sample-heavy collage work. Since starting their residency on Radio alHara, Dekalb Works found themselves drawn to the act of performing, whether as a live act or DJing, and the space between these two often overly rigid modes.

“For Barney…” draws heavily on the sonic palette of American country and western music, treated through the lens of heavy studio processing and the production techniques of dub, ambient, and trip-hop. Recording hours-long live improvisations with guitar, piano, or drum machines and samplers, they pillaged these sessions as source material. Whereas previous work focused on the voice and the interaction of text, voice and music, these recordings pulled from the sounds of musicians playing together in a room. The arrangement process remains the same, chopping and manipulating small samples and momentary gestures into dense, rhythmic collages.

Demeters Döttrar is the new trio of Ida Skibsted Cramer, Charlott Malmenholt and Astrid Øster Mortensen. Søndag I Spejlet was mainly recorded in Gamlestaden, Gothenburg between 2022 and 2023 and consists of 8 tracks that lies somewhere in between 90's lo-fi experimental bedroom music and brash text-sound compositions channeled through the ever-inspiring cassette underground.

Listening to Demeters Döttrar is like stepping into a parallel universe; a tiny unexplored corner with paper-thin walls or a very delicate bubble that is about to burst any moment. The instrumentation is sparse and mainly consists of guitar, vocals, prepared tapes and occasional harmonica. The recurrence of rain in different forms throughout the recording almost functions as a percussive backbone at times, the one thing except for the sound of the actual room that sort of keeps it all together.

With one foot in Sweden and one foot in Denmark, the group is utilizing both countries' language in an uncompromising and peculiarly alluring way. The almost brutal intimacy brings the more mellow Deux Filles moments to mind, though music wise this owes more to Un, early Charalambides and at times groups like Dadamah. A daring, major statement and one of the most beautiful, strange and other-worldly debut albums we heard in quite a while.

Mastered by Lasse Marhaug. Gloss laminated covers, comes with insert. Edition of 500 copies.

Hand-numbered edition, 250 copies signed by Wolfgang Müller, with download code.

Die Tödliche Doris were always an outlier, a performance art / music project that originally surfaced in early 80s Berlin, on the outer reaches of the post punk / new wave scene that included acts like Einstuzende Neubauten (Collapsing New Buildings) and Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft.

Inspired by post-structuralism and modern / post-modern philosophers, they deconstructed the accepted popular format of both the mainstream and the underground with their second release, "Chöre & Soli". To confound the vinyl obsessives of the day, what appeared to be an LP box-set, in fact contained eight tiny plastic toy-records, with their own player. Each disc contained 20 seconds of low grade sound. "We want to become the most independent band of all independent bands–even independent from a usual record player." Wolfgang Müller stated "But also independent from music reviews and critics, which want to put you in her sound- and identity-system."

Kashual Plastik take up Müller's dogma and re-present it for our times, where these issues seem only more compounded. Once again to flummox their audience, old and new, the tape comes as a kit of separate parts with assembly tool - a mini screwdriver. You can listen with the download code as you work. Now that's what I call outsourcing.

The Kashual Plastik tape, digitally enhanced, features contemporary producers including, among others: Aaron Dilloway, Brandstifter, T.V.S.T., Hugo Capablanca, ML, Beau Wanzer, Nika Son, Laura Not, or Saskia Lavaux. They followed a call from the modern-day social network spheres, where Die Tödliche Doris asked the world to reshuffle some old original tape recordings. Out of the millions of submissions, Doris selected works that together shape the Doris of today for a brief moment of time.

Dottie Doppler is a three-headed entity. When she comes to life, she manipulates modular synthesizers, and throws acoustic waves in every directions, with textures that rub, pulsations that bounce, coil and weave together. Then emerge stimulating ballets for tremulous electrons, punkoid nanoparticles that are thrilled to escape from the silence of printed circuits. In her sonic playground, Dottie plays with her world of very little troublemakers she invites to dance, intertwine and resonate together, tearing through the ether with their dazzles. Dances that fréquences critiques is proud to present for the first time, on vinyl and digitals. Dottie Doppler is made up of three members who have already performed under the names of Blason (on the program of the forthcoming Présences électroniques, organized by INA Grm), Napalm Jazz (soon to celebrate its 25th anniversary with a french tour), as well as A/n/t/i/o/p/e, Ero Babaa, Blase of 69, Oïmiakon, Bison Skull Mountain, etc., and whose recordings can be found on top-quality labels, such as Scum Yr Earth, Tanzprocesz, Vice de forme, Galerie Pache, Notype, Decimation sociale, among others.

“Featuring appearances from: Special Guest DJ, Ben Bondy, Hysterical Love Project and some other people we can't name for legal reasons"

The holographic swarm that is Downstairs People returns with their latest collection of subconscious songwriting. Simply titled ‘DSP’, Downstairs People’s sophomore album expands on their surreal horoscope of Top 40 musings, with nine works that explore the altered states of pop.

DSP reimagines the FM radio spectrum with distorted hooks, sour candy production and cascading vocal harmonies with no lyrics. Sung to us in an unknown language, it’s an archive of warped transmissions from beyond our solar system, conveniently recorded and presented as a flat, spinning monolith.

A brief history of having no time, and an ode to the subversive power of pop music.

Dylan Henner (AD 93, Phantom Limb) returns to Dauw with 'Performs Raymond Scott’s Soothing Sounds for Baby’, a new album where he reinterprets a selection of Raymond Scott’s iconic work originally released in 1962. Artwork is provided by Skrew Studio in reference to the original releases.

The contributions of Raymond Scott to our world are immeasurable and pioneering, and his records still sound totally unique. But one could say that, viewed through the lens of what we now understand to be "ambient" music, the meaning of his compositions have changed since their inception. Now, we (mistakenly or not) see them as archival or documentarian pieces preserving an era of early electronic music and the capabilities and limitations of the technology of its time. It has become an artefact, a means to an end. So, with huge reverence to Scott's foresight and genius, Dylan Henner wanted to recontextualise those same ideas into the mindset and studio of a musician in 2024, to create a version of what Scott left us that corresponds with Henner's own perception of this music's purpose: soothing baby. He returned to the original records only once or twice, transcribing melodies and taking notes on timbre, before setting off his own journey.

“I didn't want to take too much from Scott or his music, as it is untouchable, both creatively and culturally. But I wanted to offer my baby (and any babies whose parents play this record) something soothing and meaningful of my own.” Dylan Henner

Crescendo' is the captivating result of a collaboration between the Swedish producers Emil Holmström and Peter Wikström, who form the duo Ecovillage, and a multi-talented cast of musicians all of whom share a passion for improvisation and experimentation.

Recorded between 2019 and 2022 in Los Angeles and Umeå, Sweden, the sessions were designed to explore the possibilities of creating a sonic environment that blends jazz and ambient to create something altogether fresh, vibrant and immersive.

‘We always wanted to create something new and original, something that would challenge us during the recording and also evolve our listeners. We also tried to break away from the conventions and expectations of ambient music’.

The album consists of ten tracks, each with its own mood and style. Some songs are uplifting and energetic, while others are mellow and dreamy. The vocals range from soft whispers to powerful chants, adding texture and emotion to the music.

‘Crescendo is an album that invites the listener to immerse themselves in a rich and diverse musical landscape that reflects the vision and spirit that we had during the recording process’.

Composed, mixed and produced by Emil Holmström & Peter Wikström

Featuring Jonas Knutsson, Laraaji, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Green-House, Brothertiger, Kenji Kihara, Botany, Nightlands, nubo, Nat Birchall, Oceananda, Sharananda, Thore Pfeiffer, Annie Barker and Joseph Shabason

Recorded in Austin, Berlin, Los Angeles, Manchester, Mainz, New York, Philadelphia, Tokyo and Umeå

In meteorology, the word Norther refers to a cold wind that blows down from the north. For Liverpool’s Ex-Easter Island Head, it’s also an apt title for the strange and multi-faceted sound of their new album that now descends upon the world at large: ever shifting, a multiplicity of sounds both acoustic and manipulated, and yet one that still moves as part of a single mighty breeze. At times it might recall the experiments of Rhys Chatham and Glenn Branca, the widescreen beauty of The Necks, the relentless experimentation of Arnold Dreyblatt or the boundary-pushing roster of Kompakt Records, yet ultimately this is music that has no direct compare. Each of its six pieces demonstrates a different creative process. On blossoming opener ‘Weather’, whirring motors dance fairy-like atop strings and drums; on the dizzying ‘Magnetic Language’ voices are played back through phones and amplified through pickups made of magnets wrapped in copper wire; the title of ‘Golden Bridges’ refers to the brass rods the band shift beneath the strings of their guitar. All, however, tap to one degree or another into that abiding theme of the weather. Norther is Ex-Easter Island Head’s first studio album since 2016, a time spent on collaborations and one-off performances with everyone from classical musicians and fellow experimentalists to schoolchildren. “All of the projects we were involved in between 2016 and 2024 have expanded the boundaries of what we do by exposing us to a huge variety of instruments, personalities and ways of working. It's really allowed us to see the purity of making music with a four-piece group,” says the band’s Benjamin D. Duvall. That status as a quartet is a new one, with the addition of longstanding friend and collaborator Andrew PM Hunt. Having a member of the band handling recording and mixing helped them push further and further into sonic territory that until Norther remained entirely unexplored – not just by Ex-Easter Island Head, but by any other band on earth.

With his new instrumental album Ventas Rumba, the French composer (and singer) returns to his signature instrument, the piano, blending it with warm synth tones. This album represents a "return to his roots ", allowing Ezéchiel Pailhès to reinvent himself in a seamless way while still exploring ballads and ritornellos, halfway between light-heartedness and melancholy. Ezéchiel Pailhès has been meaning to write a solo piano album for as long as he can remember. Hardly surprising, of course, for this academically-trained pianist, brought up on classical music and then studied jazz. Yet, since his 2001 debut with the electro-pop duo Nôze, and his subsequent four albums, the artist had constantly postponed this project that was so close to his heart. Then in 2022, just as he was getting ready to start producing an album of new songs, this long-standing aim finally materialized.
The melodies he wrote seemed to stand on their own naturally, spurring him on to compose this series of fourteen tracks, recorded in sessions split between France and Latvia.
A new piano: the Una Corda
Ezéchiel wanted this project dedicated to the piano to begin a new narrative, to explore new instrumental terrain and new tones, something far removed from the familiar piano he has been playing all his life. He opted for the Una Corda piano, designed by David Klavins, a groundbreaking instrument builder renowned for his distinctive pianos with vertical shapes and frames.

The Una Corda, created in 2014, is an upright piano with a single string per note (unlike three strings on traditional pianos). Enticed by the "crystalline and unique" tones of this instrument, which is hard to find in France, Ezéchiel travelled to Kuldiga, Latvia (where David Klavins set up his workshops and studios), to record the first part of the album. Although the title of the album may initially conjure up images of a distant, sensual dance, the reality is quite different. Ventas Rumba indeed refers to the waterfall and rapids (in Latvian: rumba) of the river Ventas, which runs near this small village in the western part of the country. Ezéchiel chose to blur the lines, as the sound and musicality of the title likely evoke both his short stay in the Baltic country, and also a form of distant exotic imagery perfectly in tune with his own mischievous wit. Tracks as short stories

Back in France, Ezéchiel enhanced the first tracks recorded in Kuldiga with subtle synth tone layers, and added other tracks composed and recorded at his Montreuil studio. The album reflects a deliberate and sensitive orchestration of piano, synth keyboards and digital effects, as he puts it: "playing to erase the differences between the tones of the various instruments", as if each instrument's texture echoed the others. According to Ezéchiel, you can listen to Ventas Rumba as you would leaf through "a collection of short stories", through compositions that rarely exceed three minutes and evoke figures of movement, lightness, curves or modulation, such as "La ligne", "La valse des singes" or "Fly Finger". Others more seriously relate to a kind of spirituality, which quietly infuses such different tracks as "Ferveur", "Éclair" and "Louanges". Ezéchiel adds: “I’m by no means religious, but I like what God has managed to get musicians to achieve (laughs)". "Louanges", for instance, despite its electronic edge, "refers to Olivier Messiaen, a very devout composer who I greatly admire". Other tracks are directly inspired by the classical music he listens to on a daily basis. For example, Chopin's “8th Nocturne” formed the backdrop of “Pianovado”. Likewise, the harmonic structure of Beethoven's “Waldstein Sonata No. 21” inspired “Opus 53”. Aside from these multiple references and inspirations, which quickly recede behind a style that is uniquely his, Ezéchiel Pailhès keeps exploring ideas already found on his first solo albums, this time in an instrumental format, undoubtedly purer, fostering an imaginary world that evokes the shapes and themes of ballads, ritornellos, light-heartedness, passing time, reverie or a universal subdued melancholy.

Ambient? Sí. But also, a musing on transcendence. So lay down and close your eyes because, on this one, our querida joya @eezzmmeerraallddaa wonders what we all wonder every now and then: good old 'What happens when we die?' We sort of know the drill: the cling, the not wanting to go, the inevitable... the heartbreaking nostalgia of parting ways with this world... and also, the chance to end the pain. Then comes the grief: bye-bye sweetness, chao joy, adiós tenderness... then -¡ayayay! the terror, the slow fade-out, the nothingness. At last, that sparkle in the dark edge of the hiss shows us the way to the ultimate surrender, to then become a garden in the void, and finally return to mamá amor as big beautiful rainbows. This is Ruido y Flor, the first offering of Ambie—Tón: our brave new venture into the heart of the haze

If you can judge an artist's quality by the company they keep, then FaltyDL is up there with the best of them. The label history of the producer known to his friends as Drew Lustman reads like a "who's who" of 21st century electronic music imprints - Ninja Tune, Unknown to the Unknown, Planet Mu, Studio Barnhus, the list goes on.
WithIn the Wake of Wolves, we can now add Central Processing Unit to this illustrious roster. The Sheffield label joins the party at a notable juncture - while FaltyDL has kept up an impressive clip of releases throughout his career,In the Wake of Wolvesis both the NYC-based producer's first LP for two years and his first full-length release away from his own Blueberry Records for almost a decade.
In the Wake of Wolvesproves to be both a great match for CPU and also further evidence of the label's burgeoning sonic palette. While CPU has built its reputation on top quality electro joints, recent releases have delivered adventurous electronica experiments (Proswell'sPeople Are Giving And Receiving Thanks At Incredible Speeds), hard-wired breakbeat techno (Baby T'sI Against I) and golden-age synth explorations (twenty-fifth anniversary reissues of Bochum Welt'sDesktop RoboticsandFeelings on a Screen, both of which first emerged via the legendary Rephlex Records).In the Wake of Wolvestakes things further still - this is a brilliantly genre-voracious record, one which marries the rhythmic cut-and-thrust that we have long known FaltyDL for with all manner of adventurous stylistic choices.
Those familiar with the FaltyDL experience will recognise the trademark blend of synthetic grit and harmonious softness in album opener 'I Need You'. This could pass for Four Tet or even Hannah Diamond at points, the steady build of pulsing synths and looped vocals recalling a more mysterious version of the PC Music sound. 'I Need You' stands shoulder-to-shoulder with any of FaltyDL's other great atmospheric album openers - no small feat given the competition. 'Further', the following number, is yin to 'I Need You's yang. This is a pulsating track which gleefully skitters between machine-funk, tubing darkside bass and breakcore-adjacent drum programming, all of which is peppered with some genuinely beautiful work in the higher synths.
'Further' sets the scene for several of the more club-facing cuts here. 'Minds Protection' similarly features all manner of strange percussive sounds to surprise the ear, and it also boasts a thrilling mid-section in which the bottom falls out the track to incorporate a short snippet of blown-out junglism. With its tunnelling low-end and clattering drums, 'Full Spectrum' kicks off a delightful run of grime-influenced joints which take cues from Mr. Mitch, Logos and many of those other producers who took the Eski sound to exciting new places in the 2010s. 'Forget Me Not', the album's longest track which is placed three spots from the end, feels like the record's climactic point - a pitter-patter post-house joint that has a hint of Caribou in its DNA, it'll take the clubs by storm.
But as much as FaltyDL may consistently bring the heat in terms of the beat programming, the thing which has long marked Lustman out as a special talent is the musicality of his compositions. No matter how much drums clatter or bass bangs, FaltyDL always hooks the ear back in with a sonorous synth or pleasing nugget of melody. Nowhere is this more apparent than onIn the Wake of Wolves' more weightless numbers, each startling in their prettiness. 'Half Spectrum' is a new-era beat track packed full of ear candy; the keening keys of 'GasGas' are potent with feeling; and on the album's closer, the evocatively-titled 'Mila Stans In A Meadow For The First Time Eating Strawberries', we get a gorgeous synth vignette that joins the dots between the modern mastery of Yung Sherman and the most emotionally affecting moments of Aphex's Twin's catalogue.
At once wistful and hopeful, archival and futuristic, FaltyDL's brilliantly unpredictableIn the Wake of Wolvesis a feather in the cap for both this seasoned producer and the Central Processing Unit label.
Riyl: AFX, Bochum Welt, Mark Fell, Mrs Jynx, Boards of Canada

Directions Out Of Town is the latest and teased as (possibly) the last LP by DIY electronic abstract pop wizard Finlay Shakespeare.

Directions Out Of Town is a fierce mix of headstrong pop bangers. Fact. There is simply no one else traversing the field that Shakespeare is exploring. It can be lonely in the desert, Simon says. Lyrically, Directions Out Of Town is dealing with loss; personally, geographically, politically, culturally - a general decay of everything.

This new record is heavily inspired by structural film where the results unravel a method where metaphor is removed from the act of sound synthesis, production and mix of the tracks. Fiercely independent and brimming with integrity this is a deeply effective journey through machines of the human experience.

The track titles are telling: ‘Away’, ‘Get’, ‘Direction’, ‘I go for a walk’, etc. This is sentiment via complex synthesis wrung through patterns of pop. One also finds ways out that only turn out to be false/untrue. “I essentially don’t know where I belong any more. This record is the precursor to that.”

What is ostensibly an electro pop record reveals a multitude of layers and depth as one man and his machines wrestle with the reality of this tangled matrix. If the charts had brains this would be album of the year.

Finlay Shakespeare is an electronic musician working in the UK. His fascination for synthesized sound was born out of his parents’ record collection, leading him to explore the electronic music of decades past throughout his teenage years. While starting to write and record his own tracks, he also began learning analogue electronics, which led him to design and build his own equipment. To date, he has released work on Editions Mego, Superpang, and his own Goto Records.