Downbeat | Electronica | Leftfield 396 Items

In a city famed for its disparate and varied musical excellence, the Detroit-based alignment of feted electronic artist and producer Shigeto aka Zach Saginaw and rapidly rising Bruiser Brigade member ZelooperZ is an entirely natural thing. Introduced by mutual friends in the city, an instant bond was formed, and ZGTO was born. A Piece Of The Geto is out August 4th on Ghostly International, with a limited edition vinyl pressing by Third Man Records.

For Shigeto, this is the first time he's musically stepped out of the box of a solo artist and worked with a vocalist on a project. There is a ''less is more'' philosophy with the production where the vocals of ZelooperZ are seamlessly interlaced into the fabric of the beats. It's minimal in a sense, but the emotion felt through the words of ZelooperZ makes the songs as a whole intense and heavy with sentiment.

Back in! We are very happy to present our first album on Ilian Tape. At the beginning of 2014 we moved our two separate bedroom studios into one and soon after started working on the album. All the tracks were made in about 6 months in our new Ilian Tape Space Studio in Munich. The time felt right to focus on this adventure, but without any pressure. Therefore the process became very natural and we felt free to go wherever the vibe led us. Our intention was to create a very personal and honest sound without any limitations or guidelines. It’s a reflection of all the years we’ve been growing up, working, traveling and playing together and it means a lot to us. But enough said music is not supposed to be described with words, so sit back, close your eyes, light one up and turn up the speakers!

A life is A Billion Heartbeats', continues Yannis Kyriakides & Andy Moor's exploration and mining of the rich and mysterious terrain of Greek Rebetika music from early 20th century. Their first release of this project (simply entitled 'Rebetika') was for the most part taken from a live recording at the CCA, Glasgow in 2006. For that, Yannis had created processed versions of Andy's favourite Rebetika tunes which served as a matrix or palette onto which both musicians then improvised using electric guitar, live sampling and electronics.

Left Ear are re-introducing another ten lost tracks from Nicholas Georgieff and Virgil Work, St Louis' basement electronics duo Workdub.

The release spans material from 1989-95 and includes recordings from their sole LP and both cassette albums. Workdub’s music hardly fits into a vacuum and some might even say it’s otherworldly. Tracks like “Reach for the Stars” and “Lunar Module” reflect dreams of space-age exploration, all the while their investigation into drum machines, synthesizers, samples and digital fx’s matched with their organic live instrumentation work to create a unique atmospheric dubbed out sound.

Mister Mellow moves further away from the synthesizer-heavy sounds of the recent Washed Out releases and more band-driven sound of his work on iconic labels Sub Pop in America, and Domino in Europe. On Mister Mellow, Greene draws from the experimental collage techniques of musique concrète and plunderphonics artists such as The Residents. Combining styles as diverse as free jazz, house, hip-hop and psych together with interlude-esque voiceover samples, often pulled from anonymous YouTube vlogs, he creates a busy, chaotic, and caricaturish mix that mirrors the claustrophobic, hyper-stimulated psyche so familiar to young adults.

As he continues to carve out his innovative sonic identity, influenced by the world around him but unafraid to buck trends, it’s fitting that Greene has partnered with legendary hip hop label Stones Throw Records, long a home for beat-loving musical rebels. His approach to releasing music is every bit as individual, too: in an environment where compiling singles into an album format or working with a single video director are the norm, Greene has chosen to commission eleven different artists to bring the visual aspect of his fully-realised album project to life.

On Mister Mellow, Washed Out steers clear of emotion to empathise with the minutiae of the world around him. “I’ve been much less interested in sentimentality and emotion for the past couple of years,” says Greene, “In some ways, I think its a reaction against getting older and having more responsibilities. Maybe I’m just nostalgic for a time in my life where I could just relax and block out the world for a moment.” Though Mister Mellow is an intensely personal album, its ideas and observations speak to the lived experience of so many young adults, an experience that we come to see as both funny and sad.

2018 repress of the debut full length LP from Spencer Doran and Ryan Carlile's Visible Cloaks project. Initially recorded in 2013 and issued on cassette by Sun Ark in 2014 (as Cloaks), this first offering uses conceptual processes to weave many of the same threads as their later work; synthetic FM tones, tuned mallet percussion, and electronically modulated voice, all arranged in a gossamer web, spun with neon electronics. On this release the duo set off on the sonic journey they are still on today, refracting their influences through East<>West feedback loops, augmenting traditions with technology. Remastered 45rpm DMM version with additional surprises!

Mexican rock had a strong renaissance in the eighties, when most bands, majorly coming from the prog scene, turned to Spanish language again. One of the big acts from that era was Jorge Reyes' led Chac Mool. Chac Mool counted on its ranks with Carlos Alvarado, who was an accomplished musician on its own and who would record one of the most interesting electronic prog albums of the era, on which Reyes also collaborated. Originally released on mexican private label Momia in 1980. Carlos Alvarado's Via Lactea (Milky Way) is now reissued on vinyl 35 years later. Eurock was especially interested in electronic Cosmic Music exploring both the inner and outer spaces of sound and consciousness. Of all the great music I had heard from Germany’s Klaus Schulze to Tangerine Dream & Spain’s own Neuronium, the album by Carlos stood apart from the rest. The Wah Wah reissue, made under license from and with the help of Carlos Alvarado himself, comes with remastered sound and will include one bonus track not on the original LP. Like the original, it will be housed on a flapped envelope style cover, this time in luxury silk screened metallic copper cardboard. Features are a colour insert with photos and notes, plus a bonus Momia sticker based on the one given on the original release. This is a limited edition, only 500 copies pressed.