2010s 216 Items

The crossover between electronic music and classical composition has never been in more vibrant and dynamic health. Multifarious musician Emika explores this fertile ground on her ambitious new opus 'Melanfonie': her first orchestral composition, some four years in the making.
Funded by a hugely successful Kickstarter campaign that exceeded its target by an impressive €25,000.
While many rebel from their classical training never to return to it explicitly, Emika has always been attracted to the potential and freedoms offered by the symphony form. As well as taking inspiration from her electronic music background in composing the music itself, Emika also applied some of production and playback principles from that realm to create a piece whose every element has been carefully considered.
Emika is on a quest to try and change what we mean when we talk about ‘classical music’. For her, the magic of the ‘genre’ is about the instruments themselves and more importantly the people who play them; not the restricting traditions and conventions of the classical world itself. I want to change the face of classical music and give it a more honest and real image. It is time we had something other than pomp and circumstance and avant-garde squeaks and pops.”

Yes, double stars do exist. They are a reality. They appear in the firmament – sometimes as an optical and sometimes as a physical phenomenon. Two celestial bodies, working in relation to each other, circling around each other, responding to each other.

Clouds Clouds Clouds. With a weightiness the color of amethyst. Light on the horizon. A sun. No point, no pane, no space, no rainbow. A stripe. A circular course. A bee loop. Honey-colored amber. Words. Our glistening white glider jumps through with ease.

Björk presents a strings version of her highly-acclaimed eighth studio studio album Vulnicura, officially titled Vulnicura Strings. The original version of Vulnicura layered the boom and crack of electronic beats with an intense vocal melody and incredible string arrangements by Björk which have been performed live with a fifteen chair orchestra. The new version is musically wholly comprised of strings, with new violin solos by Una Sveinbjarnardóttir and strings recorded by a Viola Organista. Björk used the only Viola Organista in the world to perform some of the arrangements; an instrument which was designed originally by Leonardo Da Vinci but not built until after his lifetime. The instrument uses a friction belt to vibrate individual strings (similar to a violin), with the strings selected by pressing keys on the keyboard (similar to an organ). The instrument was recorded in Krakow, Poland by it's constructor Slawomir Zubrzycki and here is where the album reached completion.

The title of Hannah Georgas' third album is a tribute to her beloved grandmother. Produced by Graham Walsh (Holy Fuck).

Part of a series of single-sided etched translucent 12” records, each with their own unique etching and die-cut ‘Vulnicura’ wound sleeves, designed by M/M, Paris.“Lotic is the one of the first musicians Alejandro introduced me to in Autumn 2013 with piles of enthusiasm: I got immediately obsessed enjoying how always total nature he was!! The most clublike flamboyant anthems of his always seem like shrieks of beasts, dark insects and pagan birds displaying their feathers in a territorial way: a colourful celebration!! The reason why I asked him to do ‘Notget’ was there are certain suspension-like elastic gravitydefying beat structures that him and Alejandro share (each in their total idiosyncratic way though) that Notget has and I had a gut feeling he would take further. Which he did.” - Björk. “When Björk sent over the original track to review late last year, I couldn't believe how well she had intuited that ‘Notget’ was the perfect selection for me. Perhaps it was a bit of coincidence, but I was very much still tending to the scars left from my previous relationship while at the same time nurturing my current one. ‘Notget’ is both the mourning and the eulogy; I knew this meant remixing the song would be difficult, both technically and emotionally. In the end, I felt I had to attempt to amplify both the desperation the song expresses as well as the inspired, reminiscent joy.” – Lotic

Part of a series of single-sided etched translucent 12” records, each with their own unique etching and die-cut ‘Vulnicura’ wound sleeves, designed by M/M, Paris. “Mica is someone I have been following growing since 2008, like a proud aunt, I might even have been at her first concert? Sooo exciting to witness her grow into a full on composer and carry the weight of such things as ‘Under The Skin’... And I still adore her upbeat stuff withTirzah too !!!” - Björk. “I did a karaoke version more than a remix, because I love her string arrangements
and thought it would be an opportunity to draw attention to them. I hope Björk isn’t
offended that I took her voice out, [but] you can hear it in your head - or sing
along.” - Mica Levi

Part of a series of single-sided etched translucent 12” records, each with their own unique etching and die-cut ‘Vulnicura’ wound sleeves, designed by M/M, Paris. “Krampfhaft is someone I have been listening to for few years adoring his hyperbeauty, orchid techno I nickname it in the
vein of plaid and others: brave enough to take joy on in the often rather apocalyptic
environment of electronic music” - Björk. “I was very honoured to be part of this, although it was a pretty daunting task to
rework a song with such an intimate topic! As the original is very stripped down, all
I could think of doing was adding in [even more] tension and drama. So I layered the
whole track on to a bed of heavily compressed cloth movement and gradually built up
the tension from there.” - Kramphaft

Second release single of the new album “Love Letters” including the well-received Jacques Lu Cont Remix!

In May of 1966, the unknown singer Jack Wood recorded two songs at Great Lakes Studio in Sparta, Michigan. These unique, otherworldly songs “Born to Wander” and “So Sad” would be self-released by Wood on his own Lawrence Records imprint in an edition of 100 copies. Going nowhere and being quickly forgotten, it would take Wood ten years to pay back the $250 he borrowed for the entire endeavor. Fast-forward to the 21st century and the deepest of record collectors are intrinsically moved by the power behind Wood’s single, vacillating between Northern Soul, garage, big band and country music all within the same song. An unexpected placement in a major ad campaign for Bacardi Rum was a major boon for the burgeoning awareness of these timeless songs.

Third Man Records is proud to reissue “Born to Wander” and “So Sad” as part of its return to Detroit.

Watch the Barcardi commercial: https://youtu.be/Ogs6uD4xlNY

Manufacturer: United Record Pressing

TRACK LISTING:
A. Born to Wander
B. So Sad

The modernist Dreampop of Magic Island’s Wasted Dawn was catalyzed and nurtured by Berlin. The predominant Casio keyboard was found in the street, the project itself developed under the influence of a close circle of Berlin-based artists and friends, including Touchy Mob and Montreal’s Sean Nicholas Savage, while the compositions strongly reflect both the complex and most simplistic day-to-day emotions, events and surrounding environment. That particular magic has proven charming to many, as this year Magic Island has played at Fusion Festival, Torstraßen festival, C/O Pop Festival, at The Lab Magazine’s Regenerate event series, as well as opening for Fenster (Morr Music), Ballet School (Bella Union), Hundred Waters (OWSLA), Soft Metals (Captured Tracks) and Teen Daze.