Folk 194 Items

Berlin producer Robot Koch is back for his third full length release, “The Other Side”.

Although Robot Koch has an international reputation as being “One of Europe's finest producers of the beat generation“ (Low End Theory), he is much more than just a beatmaker… “(Post)-dubstep infused Electronic Hip Hop“ is far too constrained a label to understand what this producer is all about. Instead of following the sound of his previous albums “Death Star Droid” (“Essential listening” – Bobby Friction BBC) and “Songs For Trees and Cyborgs“ (“Music for a modern age that has rarely sounded so good” – Boomkat), Koch takes the genre defying ingredients from these previous records to another level. There still are some of those “Galactic ten ton beats and space age melodies“ (Dazed and Confused) that made the previous albums staple drops in the playlists of Mary Anne Hobbs, Starkey, Daedelus and Gaslamp Killer to name a few, but there is a new dimension to Koch's production and songwriting that didn’t show on his previous records.

The cinematic vibe of tracks like “Nitesky”, the quirky and moody feel of “Bugs” and the electricity of “Tapedeck” show how Koch more than ever manages to create intimate and timeless pieces of music that are soulful, deep, mysterious and that will appeal to fans of cutting edge Electronica and modern pop music alike. This is the most personal record of Robot Koch to date. Instead of going for big name features Koch teamed up with lesser know artists like Kansas based vocal talent John LaMonica, long time friend and theatre composer Nielson and mexican singer/songwriter Graciela Maria to find the right voices for his compositions. John LaMonica infuses his whimsical and heartfelt melodies that breathe an air of darkness and nostalgia with Koch's fresh and forward thinking instrumentals to create something that fans of Radiohead, The XX and Jamie Lidell should not sleep on.

After the release of the John Robinson collaboration album (“Robot Robinson” – Project Mooncircle) earlier this year, it seems surprising how extensive Robert’s output is, but don’t be mistaken, this album is a longer term project than just releasing the songs Koch made in the last year. Some of the songs found on “The Other Side” were made seven years ago.

In the native tongue of the South American tribe Mapuche, there exists the word ‘MENOKO’. Deep within the Andean Forests there are sacred places, springs of purity known as Menokos. Hidden and untouched by man or animal, they are whispered, home of virgin water. Womb of the natural cycle from which plants and herbs of extraordinary medicinal abilities are nurtured.

Barrio Lindo feels a strong bond to the native tribes of his Argentinian home. Ancestral cultures are of great importance, providing a wealth of inspiration. An instrument maker by trade, using his bare hands he constructs many ethnical instruments like Andean flutes, African harps, string instruments from India and so on. This fascination with indigenous sounds is reflected within his music and themes with the use of samples and tribal instrumentation. While understanding his work is far from that of the native cultures, he finds ways to incorporate these influences through fusions of sounds. Drawing a parallel, worlds both old and new align.

‘Menoko’ comes on limited purple double vinyl (including download code) as well as a limited handmade and handpainted purple cassette edition (including download code).

Limited edition for Record Store Day 2014

Berlin producer Robot Koch is back for his third full length release, “The Other Side”.

Although Robot Koch has an international reputation as being “One of Europe's finest producers of the beat generation“ (Low End Theory), he is much more than just a beatmaker… “(Post)-dubstep infused Electronic Hip Hop“ is far too constrained a label to understand what this producer is all about. Instead of following the sound of his previous albums “Death Star Droid” (“Essential listening” – Bobby Friction BBC) and “Songs For Trees and Cyborgs“ (“Music for a modern age that has rarely sounded so good” – Boomkat), Koch takes the genre defying ingredients from these previous records to another level. There still are some of those “Galactic ten ton beats and space age melodies“ (Dazed and Confused) that made the previous albums staple drops in the playlists of Mary Anne Hobbs, Starkey, Daedelus and Gaslamp Killer to name a few, but there is a new dimension to Koch's production and songwriting that didn’t show on his previous records.

The cinematic vibe of tracks like “Nitesky”, the quirky and moody feel of “Bugs” and the electricity of “Tapedeck” show how Koch more than ever manages to create intimate and timeless pieces of music that are soulful, deep, mysterious and that will appeal to fans of cutting edge Electronica and modern pop music alike. This is the most personal record of Robot Koch to date. Instead of going for big name features Koch teamed up with lesser know artists like Kansas based vocal talent John LaMonica, long time friend and theatre composer Nielson and mexican singer/songwriter Graciela Maria to find the right voices for his compositions. John LaMonica infuses his whimsical and heartfelt melodies that breathe an air of darkness and nostalgia with Koch's fresh and forward thinking instrumentals to create something that fans of Radiohead, The XX and Jamie Lidell should not sleep on.

After the release of the John Robinson collaboration album (“Robot Robinson” – Project Mooncircle) earlier this year, it seems surprising how extensive Robert’s output is, but don’t be mistaken, this album is a longer term project than just releasing the songs Koch made in the last year. Some of the songs found on “The Other Side” were made seven years ago.

Two raw and unmixed songs from Wind’s Poem were transferred from the original analog tape masters into the ProTools HDX system at Owl Lodge. The studio is situated in the woods near Olympia, WA and is the headquarters of Wolves in the Throne Room. A single vocal track from “Lost Wisdom" was layered with newly recorded digital synths and a heavy bass from a vintage Korg MS-20. Wisps of the original organ and guitar appear in a heavily processed form. “Mouth of Sky” was created using techniques inspired by Lee Perry. In this case, the original tracks were routed to a variety of analog and digital FX units via the faders on the studio’s Harrison PP1 console. The mix was performed in real time.

Limited edition for Record Store Day 2018!

Limited edition for Schwarzer Freitag Record Store Day 2018! Only 1 per customer!

Another friday dedicated to the black gold!

"Charlotte's Amigo is unhinged, but I mean that in the nicest possible way. The cowpunk-tinged hardrockabilly trio is open-hearted, joyous and wickedly funny, yet its superbly crafted melodic rock 'n' roll rides a streak of giddy mania." Creative Loafing Amigo is a rock and roll band. This might sound quaint or even a little passé but its an entirely apt and appropriate description. Amigo is a guitar, a bass, a drum set and buckets full of songs and its members share a proud and unrepentant belief in rock & rolls divine promise and power to shake audience and band alike to their core. The Charlotte, NC-based trio, comprised of guitarist Slade Baird, bassist Thomas Alverson and drummer Adam Phillips, has been putting rubber to road in senses both theoretical and literal since their inception in 2012, developing their keen sense of harmony and interplay, honing their songwriting chops and developing an absolutely white-hot live show which has become the main vehicle for their brand of rock and roll evangelism.

Hans Albers was a German actor and singer.
He was the biggest male movie star in
Germany between 1930 and 1945 and one
of the most popular German actors of the
twentieth century. Today his music is still
widely known in modern Germany, even
among young people. His most famous
song by far is “Auf der Reeperbahn nachts
um halb eins”, (“On the Reeperbahn at
Half Past Midnight”) which has become
one of the best known songs about
Hamburg and an unofficial anthem of the
colourful neighbourhood of St. Pauli. The
Hans-Albers-Platz, one block south of the
Reeperbahn, has a statue of Hans Albers.
The LP contains 2 bonus tracks.

The first new release exclusively via TAD from Boomarm Nation, who welcomes Tunisian producer Lokal Affair to their family. His debut Seremunia EP, 3 tracks of deep percussive jams, is inspired by life in the Sahara desert, evening fire rituals, and ecstatic drumming styles from across the globe. Lush, mid-tempo spiritual sounds for your sound system. Lokal Affair AKA Malek Midouni is a Tunisian born musician currently living in Lyon, France. As a bonus the label commissioned an incredible thundering remix of the percussion heavy tune “Goumari” from good brother Alter Echo

"These sounds are accidents. There was intent only in so far as a simple idea, which is really around bringing together factions and forces in Iranian, Islamic culture, under one roof, to have them play nice together, to co-exist, float as one and to complete each other, in order to tell a story called Ta Tash, which is Farsi for To The End. There's definitely elements of devotional sounds that we weave into the tracks. Stories of the past. But whether this is devotional music, at large, I don't know about that. Like, you're not going to be hearing Vivid Persian Dreams blasting in a mosque anytime soon. But maybe devotional in a more personal sense. It captures the essence of a sentiment during the brutal 8-year war between Iran-Iraq. It is also defensive, and perhaps in response to existing in the US over the past 7 years. But also because of it. Therein lies the beauty of this country. Today, let's talk about this. Glass half full. This country. This beautiful, incredible, fucked up country. The artwork is part of an edited collection of images pulled together from the years of the Iran-Iraq war. A collection of 15 works of art titled Postcards from the Outer Boroughs. Some of these images belonged to our family, others we found by forming a dialogue with the actual men who fought in battle with our family members. Men who remember those last, precious moments of the lives of our loved ones. We were curious to somehow learn more about that moment from those who served. These Postcards are the culmination of the hard work and imagination of Ghalamdar, a wonderful Iranian visual artist based in the UK. In them, we explored how we could modify these quintessentially Iranian motifs to lift the weight of emotion, the weight of innocence, of loss, of blind faith, to the end? How do we connect an Iran of the past, Iran of the books, to the Iran of today? After all, we are of the same blood. As a by-product of mixing media, mixing contexts, we attempt to playfully bridge this gap, if ever so slightly." - Saint Abdullah

Berlin producer Robot Koch is back for his third full length release, “The Other Side”.

Although Robot Koch has an international reputation as being “One of Europe's finest producers of the beat generation“ (Low End Theory), he is much more than just a beatmaker… “(Post)-dubstep infused Electronic Hip Hop“ is far too constrained a label to understand what this producer is all about. Instead of following the sound of his previous albums “Death Star Droid” (“Essential listening” – Bobby Friction BBC) and “Songs For Trees and Cyborgs“ (“Music for a modern age that has rarely sounded so good” – Boomkat), Koch takes the genre defying ingredients from these previous records to another level. There still are some of those “Galactic ten ton beats and space age melodies“ (Dazed and Confused) that made the previous albums staple drops in the playlists of Mary Anne Hobbs, Starkey, Daedelus and Gaslamp Killer to name a few, but there is a new dimension to Koch's production and songwriting that didn’t show on his previous records.

The cinematic vibe of tracks like “Nitesky”, the quirky and moody feel of “Bugs” and the electricity of “Tapedeck” show how Koch more than ever manages to create intimate and timeless pieces of music that are soulful, deep, mysterious and that will appeal to fans of cutting edge Electronica and modern pop music alike. This is the most personal record of Robot Koch to date. Instead of going for big name features Koch teamed up with lesser know artists like Kansas based vocal talent John LaMonica, long time friend and theatre composer Nielson and mexican singer/songwriter Graciela Maria to find the right voices for his compositions. John LaMonica infuses his whimsical and heartfelt melodies that breathe an air of darkness and nostalgia with Koch's fresh and forward thinking instrumentals to create something that fans of Radiohead, The XX and Jamie Lidell should not sleep on.

After the release of the John Robinson collaboration album (“Robot Robinson” – Project Mooncircle) earlier this year, it seems surprising how extensive Robert’s output is, but don’t be mistaken, this album is a longer term project than just releasing the songs Koch made in the last year. Some of the songs found on “The Other Side” were made seven years ago.

Saigon Supersound Continues… to present more interesting tunes of a musical era that has long been obscured. With the well-received Volume 1, we are very delighted to dig deeper and share with you the beautiful music of a short but significant period in Vietnam‘s history.
Much like the country itself, the music of Vietnam has endured many twists. As the result of the Geneva Accords in 1954, Vietnam was divided into two. From the North, the Nationalist forces fought to reunite Vietnam as a Communist State, while the American troops backed the government of the South. This caused a mass migration of Northerners to the South, which includes many Tân Nhạc (Modern Music) singers and songwriters. Often characterized by its emotive, poetic and prolific personality, Tân Nhạc continued to freely develop in the South and progressively vacating from the influences of its main inspiration, French music. In the North, the Resistance music, or the so-called Nhạc Đỏ (Red Music), which promoted socialism, patriotism and anti-capitalism was the only genre allowed on national radio. Tân Nhạc was something new to the South Vietnamese repertoire. Between 1954–1960, the theme of hometown (quê hương) was a main inspiration for many songwriters such as Hoàng Thi Thơ, Lam Phương and Nguyễn Hữu Thiết. The 9th title of the compilation, “Thôn Trăng Mở Hội Trăng Tròn” showcases a variety of images that were often described in this genre: the harvest moon, playful children, old mother…
Every recording made in this era is then an organic combination of human experiences, communications and uniqueness. In 1965, the first American troop landed in Vietnam, bringing with them the musical influences of the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis Presley… The Vietnamese people quickly integrated it into the repertoire with hope to further diversify the music of Vietnam. Constantly changing and learning from different cultures, the modern music of Vietnam cuts a window into the soul of a Vietnamese person and the country’s history as a whole. With that, we hope that Saigon Supersound Volume 2 would take you on a trip back to the unique atmosphere of Saigon through the many different palettes of music that this beautiful place offers.

Minneapolis/St. Paul, May 1960: a young Bob Dylan, still known as Robert Zimmerman and not yet even 19 years old, decides to drop out of college to move to New York City and pursue a career in folk music. That same month he plays a small gathering at Karen Wallace's apartment in St. Paul - Karen's sister, Terri, was an early fan and supporter of Dylan's - mostly covering American folk and blues standards, which he'd become obsessed with since starting at the University. Still a few years before his self-titled debut, this tape is one of the earliest documents of early Dylan, and since Karen Wallace attempted to sell the tape for $10,000 in the 1970s and subsequently disappeared along with the tape, its life is another great story in the history of Bob Dylan, one of the most enigmatic and idiosyncratic celebrities of the 20th Century.

A muezzin without borders, Cyril Yeterian came to the disheveled world through Mama Rosin, a three-piece that stirred the ghosts of the rogue bayou, the clammy Mardi Gras of some electric Louisiana. Soon, the world fell in love with their flair. Within the same space-time, Cyril Bondi hit the road. Diatribes, La Tène, Insub Meta Orchestra, the most adventurous projects of the Geneva scene all had a bone to pick with this percussionist in search of unheard beats. A single word, a single cry can say a lot, as long as it is soulful. The sound of a duo reduced to its simplest expression - rhythm, a riff, a voice - can bear within itself an infinitely luxuriant musical organism - the double helix of DNA. Cyril Cyril, so real, so rich.

Composed and produced by Mari Sekina, Lena Willikens
Mastered by Takuto Kuratani (Ruv Bytes)
Publisher: Eel's Bed Music / Golfen & Reiten (c)＆(p) 2018 EM Records
Special thanks: Tomoe Ura, Thomas Venker / Slave To The Rythm Unlimited

O YAMA O explores a certain domestic and democratic quality of everyday life, born through associations to folk music of Japan and a folding of myth, tradition, and routine; the non-spectacular and the sublime.

Formed of musician and artist Rie Nakajima and Cafe OTO co-founder Keiko Yamamoto, the group has performed since 2014 at venues and festivals such as noshowspace, Ikon Gallery, Wysing Arts Centre, Supernormal, Borealis Festival, Mayhem, and allEars Festival.

Nakajima’s performance often focuses on the use of found and kinetic objects, using modest items such as rice bowls, toys, clockwork, balloons and small motors as instruments to create a “micro orchestra”. Elements are layered into impressive and immersive atmospheres. Yamamoto alternatively floats and charges through this with body and voice; chanting, incanting, thundering, whispering, stamping on the floor.

Their debut album consolidates their musical conversations into keenly paced studio music, the duo working with additional instrumentation and a resolved focus on melody to provide vivid portraits of folkloric Japan in song.

They move between pop and the philosophical, defined by the overall space afforded to texture and movement. In small, delicate sound an intimate musical climate is established that reflects on life, telling stories of improvised clockwork, whispered dreams, small movements of the hand and the rhythm to be found in the shuffle of a deck of cards.
Grandly theatric and dramatic flourishes add solidity to these illustrations, operas driven by the swooping energy and power of Yamamoto’s voice can be playful or emotionally charged, particularly when the duo arrange themselves in ensemble with violinist Billy Steiger and percussionist Marie Roux. Production by David Cunningham creates the shadowy presence of a leftfield Flying Lizards dubwise depth that adds subtle strangeness to the atmosphere. The result is something raw, full-bodied; full of energy, grace and mystery.

Seven songs by Rully Shabara and Wukir Suryadi, rootsily mystical and vividly al fresco, spiralling from peripheral sites beside rubbish dumps and rice fields, into a busy market at the heart of Yogyakarta, from dawn till dusk.

12 great songs recorded by 2 of Cajun music's finest & most unusual artists. Originally released on 78 in the late 20s, these fragile & dignified
performances feature French vocals accompanied by guitar or fiddle (sometimes both). Impeccable ballads & breakdowns

The Invisible World Of Beautify Junkyards is Lisbon band Beautify Junkyards’s third album and effortlessly blend their love of English Acid Folk and Brazilian Tropicalia. In a collection of songs that conjure up a warm and verdant faerie world, delicate acoustic guitars evoke an autumnal England suffused with Iberian heat by other- worldly voices; the ethereal lilt of João Branco Kyron and the warm languor of Rita Vian (a voice redolent of Gal Costa or Os Mutantes’ Rita Lee.)

The production is tempered with a haunted electronic palette that anchors the band squarely in the world of Ghost Box. But more than this, Beautify Junkyards’ sheer song writing talent, production skill and performance virtuosity grant them a place amongst the great outside-of-time bands like Broadcast or The High Llamas.

In 2012, the band’s eponymous first album set out their stall, with a collection of cover versions; mainly of classics of the British Acid-Folk period, but also taking in Tropicalia and German Kosmiche. The album was a hit in Portugal and picked up for airplay in the UK on BBC Radio 2 & 6 Music. Their version of Kraftwerk’s Radioactivity was included on DJ Food’s Krafwerk Kover Kollection.

Their second album in 2015, The Beast Shouted Love, carried their influences forward with original songs and cemented a style that is at once traditional, experimental and exotic. In 2016 the band debuted on Ghost Box with a single as part of the label's Other Voices Series.

Packaging: The lavish packaging on all formats is designed by Julian House with artwork that attempts to capture the band’s love of the Czech New-Wave and the twilight worlds of WB Yeats. The heavyweight vinyl LP includes a free download card.

Stunning LP fusing far-eastern field-recordings with modern electronic production techniques - a true Sound Voyage! This time as repressed basic editon without the golden bagde!

“Whistle Down the Wind” is the final studio album by American folk singer and musician Joan Baez, her first studio album in almost a decade. The album features songs written by such composers as Tom Waits, Josh Ritter and Mary Chapin Carpenter. Joe Henry produced the album.

Discrepant proudly presents the Vinyl edition of Lebanese trio Malayeen. Malayeen is the project of Lebanese musicians Raed Yassin (Keyboards, Turntables & Electronics), Charbel Haber (Electric Guitar & Electronics) and Khaled Yassine (Darbouka, Percussion). Born from Yassin and Haber's love for the music of quintessential Egyptian guitarist Omar Khorshid, Malayeen disassembles and re-configures the work and style of the iconic guitarist innovative take on Arabic music. The final result makes for an original and unique update of Khorshid & belly dancing inspired songs from the past.

In the native tongue of the South American tribe Mapuche, there exists the word ‘MENOKO’. Deep within the Andean Forests there are sacred places, springs of purity known as Menokos. Hidden and untouched by man or animal, they are whispered, home of virgin water. Womb of the natural cycle from which plants and herbs of extraordinary medicinal abilities are nurtured.

Barrio Lindo feels a strong bond to the native tribes of his Argentinian home. Ancestral cultures are of great importance, providing a wealth of inspiration. An instrument maker by trade, using his bare hands he constructs many ethnical instruments like Andean flutes, African harps, string instruments from India and so on. This fascination with indigenous sounds is reflected within his music and themes with the use of samples and tribal instrumentation. While understanding his work is far from that of the native cultures, he finds ways to incorporate these influences through fusions of sounds. Drawing a parallel, worlds both old and new align.

‘Menoko’ comes on limited purple double vinyl (including download code).

Berlin producer Robot Koch is back for his third full length release, “The Other Side”.

Although Robot Koch has an international reputation as being “One of Europe's finest producers of the beat generation“ (Low End Theory), he is much more than just a beatmaker… “(Post)-dubstep infused Electronic Hip Hop“ is far too constrained a label to understand what this producer is all about. Instead of following the sound of his previous albums “Death Star Droid” (“Essential listening” – Bobby Friction BBC) and “Songs For Trees and Cyborgs“ (“Music for a modern age that has rarely sounded so good” – Boomkat), Koch takes the genre defying ingredients from these previous records to another level. There still are some of those “Galactic ten ton beats and space age melodies“ (Dazed and Confused) that made the previous albums staple drops in the playlists of Mary Anne Hobbs, Starkey, Daedelus and Gaslamp Killer to name a few, but there is a new dimension to Koch's production and songwriting that didn’t show on his previous records.

The cinematic vibe of tracks like “Nitesky”, the quirky and moody feel of “Bugs” and the electricity of “Tapedeck” show how Koch more than ever manages to create intimate and timeless pieces of music that are soulful, deep, mysterious and that will appeal to fans of cutting edge Electronica and modern pop music alike. This is the most personal record of Robot Koch to date. Instead of going for big name features Koch teamed up with lesser know artists like Kansas based vocal talent John LaMonica, long time friend and theatre composer Nielson and mexican singer/songwriter Graciela Maria to find the right voices for his compositions. John LaMonica infuses his whimsical and heartfelt melodies that breathe an air of darkness and nostalgia with Koch's fresh and forward thinking instrumentals to create something that fans of Radiohead, The XX and Jamie Lidell should not sleep on.

After the release of the John Robinson collaboration album (“Robot Robinson” – Project Mooncircle) earlier this year, it seems surprising how extensive Robert’s output is, but don’t be mistaken, this album is a longer term project than just releasing the songs Koch made in the last year. Some of the songs found on “The Other Side” were made seven years ago.

Kassa belongs to the long tradition of melancholy raconteurs with a decided gift of gab. And the unique embrace of his deep voice heightens the emotion generated by the hum of his lyrics. For Ethiopians he is, along with the other great traditional voices of the post-war period such as Assèfa Abatè, Fréw Haylou, Asnaqètch Wèrqu or Kètèma Mèkonnen, a perfect example of the culture of the word: poetry and freedom of expression, with an impressive verve that hits the mark, quiet vehemence and merciless loquacity, lovelorn despair and self-deprecation. It must be underscored – to invoke some notion of a virtual scale of values – without exaggerating that there is a certain similarity between Ethiopians’ perception of Kassa Tèssèma’s “music” and the rapture Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou’s piano playing inspires in non-Ethiopian audiences. Each in his own way, both these artists are able to captivate their listeners. Music that demands to be listened to.

Emotional Rescue celebrates its 10th Anniversary with a repress of one of its most cherished reissues, in the first ever collection of works from Spanish song writer Javier Bergia. As a member of Finas Africae his name is finally coming to prominence, now with this selection of his music from 1985 to today, the depths of his acoustic, folk and balearic writing can be heard. Born in Madrid to a family steeped in both classical and Spanish traditional music, Javier 's mastery of guitar, percussion, voice, poetry and composition is drawn from both this grounding and upon his lifelong musical inquisitiveness'. Since 1980 he has been an integral part of the ancient music group 'Atrium Musicae', while in 1984 he founded, with Juan Alberto Arteche and Luis Delgado, the groundbreaking group 'Finis Africae' as a sonic investigation into a fusion of diverse ethnic musical forms incorporating both indigenous instruments and electronic elements. As a solo artist, his career blossomed when, in 1985, he recorded his first LP, the acclaimed 'Recoletos' and with Luis Delgado he recorded the now classic album 'La Fl or De Piedra' under the name Ishinohana Erc025). Today Javier is active, participating in the Sephardic music groups 'Halilem' and 'Alquibla', as well as diverse alternative chamber music groups, as well as working around as composer, arranger and producer and appears regularly with Manolo HH on Radio Nacional de Espana.

Praised on first release as a 'wonderfully romantic piece of folk-pop' (The Times), possessing 'a startling and sublime new sound' (The Quietus, 5 stars), St Peter features guest appearances from folk legend Judy Collins alongside indie icons Howe Gelb, Jason Victor and Steve Shelley.

Originally released by Wounded Wolf Press as a limited release (only 100 cassettes were made) back in 2016, "Loopworks" compiles Turkish visual and sound artist Koray Kantarcioglu's (Ankara, 1982) loop based work composed of samples taken from Turkish records released in 60's and 70's as source material. "Loopworks"
impacts almost instantly mainly because it shows some familiarity with the recent work of Leyland Kirby as The Caretaker, particularly with the "haunted ballroom" effect. Koray explores the usage and the dynamic of these sounds as ambient music for different scenarios as well as the importance of a newfound life with the raw
material he used to create these songs. The source material appears as enigmatic as
these new sounds and activate a sense of discovery and constant wonder throughout
"Loopworks". With the vinyl release of "Loopworks" we continue to manifest the
importance of showing how technology and geography create different and original
approaches to the standard western interpretation of field recordings and sound
manipulation. Koray Kantarcioglu's work here is a strong manifestation of that and
how "haunted music" can express a myriad of feelings and sensations. "Loopworks"
has a tremendous vision of the metamorphosis that's been occurring in ambient music
during the last decade. Sometimes it's dreamy and calm as aquarium music is
("500606" or "22 47 91 Take 1"); surprising and infinite as "263 Loop", one of the few
tracks with a voice, in this case a mysterious and transcendental one; or part of a John
Carpenter & David Lynch film yet to be made ("Organ Extract KP 001"). A fantastic
voyage, from earth to space, through time or simply as the most beautiful and peaceful
dive into the ocean. Old music transformed into something new, unique. That's
special.

“Kizaki Ondo” is a folk song from Nitta Kizaki town in Gunma, north of Tokyo. Played annually by local performers at the Bon-Odori traditional summer dance festival, it features unabashed lyrics about prostitution along with a rhythmic drive sure to appeal to fans of contemporary electronic genres as well as aficionados of traditional musics. The first track is a wildly echoing vocal version recorded in 1980, redolent of humid summer nights; the second track, recorded in 1981, is an instrumental version, both by the Kizaki Ondo Preservation Society. The other two tracks are extensions of tradition, with Tokyo-based producer Clark Naito’s 2018 revisions of “Kizaki Ondo”, providing trap-inspired interpretations, with a vocal version using the original lyrics, along with a sweet instrumental take. This release, the third edition of the EM Records Japanese folklore series, directed by Riyo Mountains, is available on LP & CD, with English lyrics and notes, and rare photos. Evocative cover art by Shinsuke Takagi (Soi48).