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Flautist Johanna Orellana teams up with Carmen Villain for a collection of horizontal, pastoral field recordings and close mic-ed flute sounds that zero in on the instrument’s unstable resonance and levitational magic. There’s no cringe virtuoso business or fourth world firewalking here - just sonic purity, sublime minimalism and the precise capture of time, place and poetry. You might have come across Johanna Orellana before if you’ve listened to Carmen Villain’s music (or seen her perform live), and Villain appears here in a producer’s role, using her engineering expertise to impart a level of restraint and sonic fidelity that’s quite startling. There are only really two central elements to the album: environmental recordings and flute. There’s no psychedelic delay, no cavernous reverb; no audible treatments at all - Orellana and Villain instead force us to consider the flute and its musical lineage. ‘El Jardín I’ introduces the instrument as a physical conduit; Orellana allows her breath to distort the sound - the padded pat pat of the keys forms a kind of rhythm, closely recorded so it’s amplified and jarring, linking to primal wind instruments like conch shells, bamboo flutes and wooden whistles. Recalling the way in which Debit interfaced with the ancient world using AI- assisted tech on last year’s ‘The Long Count’, Orellana uses a comparatively modern contemporary transverse flute, an instrument with roots that stretch back through the baroque era, into Medieval Europe, back to the Byzantine era and into Asia. The component that connects the instruments and eras is breath, and its amplification and modification through differently shaped pipes and vessels. Orellana lets the environment sing: insects, rushing water and zephyr-like winds form a stage that presents her mortal energy, suggesting a harmony between our use of breath and its environmental ubiquitousness. Her technique is steeped in folk history and decouples itself from expectation by rooting itself in nature. It allows her to bridge the gap between equal temperament and less ordered (less commercially-focused) microtonality without overstating the concept. Other sounds waft in from the sidelines; what might be an Indian bansuri, stray notes, a gust of air. There’s a link to the foundational new age recordings that Joanna Brouk made with Maggi Payne back in 1980, but Orelanna also absorbs the outdoor folk magic of Fonal or Stroom, and the improvisational grist of Bendik Giske or legendary US horn duo Nmperign

After a year and a half writing and recording rock music, I needed to clear my head. I listened to and made music where things generally happen gradually rather than suddenly. I would set up patches on a Monomachine or Analog Four and listen to them, hearing one sound morph into others, making changes to a patch only after having listened for quite a while, gradually adding elements, and finally manipulating the sounds on the fly. All tracks were recorded live to CD burner, with no overdubs, and executed on one or two machines.

While I was almost exclusively listening to artists such as Chris Watson, Peter Rehberg, Bernard Parmegiani, CM Von Hausswolff, Jana Winderen, Oren Ambarchi, Hazard, Bruce Gilbert, Klara Lewis, Ryoji Ikeda, and so on, I was also inspired by my mental image of John Lennon's tape and mellotron experiments he made at home during his time in the Beatles, as well as events like the first minute of Bowie's Station To Station, ...And The Gods Made Love by Jimi Hendrix, the synths in the song Mass Production by Iggy Pop, and the general idea of Eno's initial concept of Ambient music.

Music being a solitary sculpture in sonic space was the main motivating thought. I was looking at pictures of sculptures and trying to make music that simultaneously conveyed both movement and stillness. I refrained from sudden musical changes, especially avoiding sequences of notes and rhythms. In fact, this music was made from sequences which never exceed a single note, many of these pieces being made on a single pattern. The movement which a good sculptor conveys when the shape of his medium meets the eyes of the viewer who walks around the piece, or the sun changes its position, are the kinds of movement which it was the role of the synth patches to communicate.

I've been listening to music like this since I was 13 or so, but I felt that making it was out of my reach because of the amount of restraint I imagined it required. Once I found myself making this music, it did not feel like a matter of restraint at all. I wanted to build a certain type of building, and hear certain types of movement, and I knew when it was complete. There was no place for sequences of notes and rhythms in my plans.

I also cannot overstate the role that being in my band played. I had previously spent 12 years programming and engineering my own music, and then spent a year and a half making music where my role was basically to write songs and play guitar. When the band's recording phase was completed, I needed to go back to my adopted language. I had done enough with chords, rhythms, notes, defined sections, sharp transitions, etc.. What I needed was to create music from the ground up with nothing but sound, and have that music reflect "being" rather than "doing". It was a therapeutic way of re-balancing myself, before and during my band's mixing process.

This music seeks to just exist, and is not attempting to manipulate or grab the listener in any way. I believe it works well if one listens loud and focuses on it, but also works well at soft volumes and in the background. It can compete with silence on silence's own terms, and it can also happily wipe silence out.

There are two versions of this album. The CD version is pronounced "two" and called : I I . This is the longer version. The vinyl version is pronounced "one", and called . I : This version is shorter, but contains one vinyl-only track. The reason the vinyl is shorter is that some of the tracks have sounds that can not be pressed on vinyl.

In 2021 Nijs and Smolders started a series of free improvisations. Each came from a different background (see bio’s) and wanted to explore musical horizons that they were not used to. As a next step they decided to record an album of composed tracks. The experimental platform shifted from long improv sessions to composition and structure, with the work of Delaere as a source of inspiration. The material of his work, the unevenness, the detail of pigments clashing, superimposing on the canvas served as a metaphor and inspiration for sonic canvases that they constructed.

The result has become a record full of surprises. Rhythm, drone, dynamics, timbre, notes, tones, all have been thrown in the tumble dryer and during the process many times led the two musicians towards an outcome they couldn’t have possibly foreseen. But here we are. Our own experience is that the music works best when it’s played loud. Crank up the level of your amp and dive into these 35 minutes of colorful sounds.

With each successive release, the world of the Budapest based trio Jü seems to become exponentially larger and encompass an ever expanding range of vibrant and startling influences. The title of their latest reflects the basic fact that this is their third outing as a band and also the tripartite nature of the collective trio. But it also harkens to something mystical and elusive about the number three, a quality of arcane mystery reflected in the number's vital importance in cultures across the globe. That essential fact, rather than any specific meaning, may get at the heart of why the members of Jü - guitarist Adám Mészáros bassist Ern? Hock, and drummer András Halmos opted for the title. More than anything, their music reflects a core drive to explore traditions and ideas from farflung corners of the world, returning with a vital and pulse-quickening sound accented by countless disparate influences yet singularly possessing its own boldly uncategorizable voice.On III that sound is marked by the now - familiar whirlwind of blistering rock, dizzying prog, ferocious free jazz, mesmerizing ambient textures and alluring Eastern European rhythms. This time out, a strong influence from Southeast Asia bleeds its own way into the mix, particularly the gamelan music of Indonesia and the ecstatic devotional songs of India. The mysticism and spiritual intensity of this music melds with the band's immersive potency to conjure an overwhelming sound of compelling complexity and breathtaking vigor. The hybrid sounds become all the richer throughout III with the addition of two special guests, both of whom join the trio on several tracks. Vocalist Dóra Gy?rfi is a Hungarian singer who works primarily in the context of gamelan and wayang groups in Java. Master electronic musician Bálint Bolcsó is a regular collaborator who also joined the band for its previous release,Summa, and adds a limitless array of possibilities to the band's palette.

Gal (Juju) and Jordan (Jordash) return home to the Dekmantel stable for their fourth LP. It’s their most complete record to date. A series of purpose-written compositions, that highlight their maturity as musicians, and adept dexterity in the studio.

Without the pairing of Juju & Jordash, there would be no Dekmantel. The duo are an integral part of the label’s history, dating back to 2009 when they where they were the first act to release on the imprint. The two vagabonds can often be found performing live at various outdoor festivals and renowned clubs around the globe, jamming away behind a tabletop of buttons, knobs, synths, and drum machines - like a retro, control-station from Star Trek - albeit one that hums along with the jazz-centric, discordant house, and techno whirrings played by the musicians.

Nowadays Juju & Jordash have evolved far beyond their ’oddball house’ moniker. Their freestyle approach to performance, and immaculate refined sounds have became somewhat more defined, in a style that’s unique, yet elaborate, with a sense of otherworldliness, not only befit for the dancefloor, but otherwise transcendental moments. Following on from their previous LP, 2014’s Clean-Cut, a record of primal, forward thinking, variations from the studio, Sis-boom-bah is an album steeped in studio traditionalism, with a direction towards composition. “We wanted the focus of this album to be the music and not necessarily the process, so we made sure to perfect the performances before shifting the focus on to the production,” states Jordash about the record. Recorded over the space of a few, intense weeks, and built upon years of improvised live shows in front of thousands of listeners, Sis-boom-bah was written around grooves written by Juju on the guitar, and Jordash on the Rhodes. It was the first album the duo have written using such an approach, and solely produced and mixed by Jordash in Amsterdam over the course of a year, making it their most authentic record to date.

Sis-boom-bah’s diverse, spiritual nature is built around Juju & Jordash's use of polyrhythms. The percussive sequenced grooves, and rhythmic backbone was generated using the Yamaha DX7, along with the Roland TR606 drum machine. This approach to rhythm can be heard from the outset within the very first track ‘Herkie’, an ephemeral, yet tribal approach to minimalist funk. The spirituality flows throughout the record, where it sounds like the duo have brought along the nature with them from the foresty raves. In actually fact, the background noise comes courtesy of “noise generators from two separate synthesizers, each with its own filter slowly opening and closing so it kinda sounds like waves or wind.” There are also nods towards their acid influences, with some surefire slices of house music too. Sis-boom-bah is still very much a Juju & Jordash record, yet it's one with a greater depth, musically and stylistically. As electronic music albums go, you'll be hard pushed to find one more complete. "People should listen to this on a loud and clear sound-system," explains Jordash, "high on life, in their own special safe place."

Black Truffle is pleased to announce World in World, the latest solo offering from prolific Berlin-based guitarist-composer Julia Reidy. Where the recent trilogy of LP releases – brace, brace (Slip, 2019), In Real Life (Black Truffle, 2019), and Vanish (Editions Mego, 2020) – focussed on increasingly lush electronic settings for Reidy’s propulsive fingerpicking and auto-tuned vocals, arranged into wide-ranging side-long epics, World in World finds Reidy refocusing on the core elements of their approach while simultaneously pushing into challenging new areas. Comprising nine pieces ranging between two and seven minutes in length, the album’s opening title track promptly introduces the distinctive palette of just-intoned electric guitars, subtle electronic processing, and voice that is rigorously explored throughout. Where much of Reidy’s guitar work on previous recordings explored rapidly pulsed cycling figures, here notes often hang in the air in a more spacious, lyrical fashion. The elasticity of rhythm and non-linear repetition of pitches initially suggests improvisation until the listener becomes aware of the precise arrangements of spatialised lines. At times, World in World suggests classic bedroom electric guitar works of the 1990s such as Loren Connors’ Airs or Roy Montgomery’s Scenes from the South Island; like those works, Reidy’s possesses a wonderfully live ambience, with frequent pedal clicks adding to the music’s powerful sense of intimacy. In Reidy’s case, however, the yearning, melancholic mood of Connors or Montgomery is tempered by the unorthodox guitar tuning, which at points produces a unique and uncomfortable effect somewhere between the hyper-precision of Harry Partch or Lou Harrison and Jandek’s slack-stringed descent into the void. While World in World plots out its terrain with a bold single-mindedness that allows some pieces to appear almost as variations on a common theme, subtle changes in emphasis distinguish each track. Tactile percussive interjections skitter across the tremolo tones of ‘Paradise in Unrecognisable Colours’, while ‘Ajar’ ramps up the role played by the electronics, with glitching pitch-shifted and back-masked textures threaded through the guitars and thickly harmonised vocal layers. Ranging from autotuned melodic lines to buried murmurs, Reidy’s voice is a frequent presence throughout these nine pieces, at times creating the impression that a more conventional series of songs lurks underneath the chiming microtonal guitars. On the stunning ‘Poised’, whispers and distant, ghostly wails surround the layers of guitars, at times suggesting the foggiest outer reaches of Liz Harris’ Grouper. Both rigorously experimental and emotive, World in World is undoubtedly Julia Reidy’s finest work yet.

Since his Beat Diary debut (a 12xLP box set comprising 365 beats recorded daily over the course of a year), Julian Sartorius has immersed himself in unique and ambitious projects - trekking the path not travelled to arrive at rhythmic life forms through found objects and prepared instruments. Equally as mighty are his two other escapades, the most recent being Locked Grooves - 112 beats cut as endless loops on vinyl spanning 56 dense 1.8 second compositions per side. Preceding that is his auditory hike into the mountains (Hidden Tracks: Basel - Genève), wading through and playing the landscapes around him like a lithophone.

While Julian’s previous releases focus on innovative and conceptual approaches to realizing an album, his new venture on Marionette (titled Mux) is a culmination of all his efforts thus far to mimic a synthesizer and drum machine. This seemingly impossible feat challenges Julian to experiment and develop a musical language that bridges the gap between organic timbres and electronic music. When listening to Mux, one might simply forget that the seemingly electronic sounds are only constructed organically via hand movements. The common thread in all his works thus far is that the drums are treated as resonant bodies - free to flow and form rhythm and harmony in spacetime.

This is Julian’s second outing for the label, the first being (the long out of print) Sulla Pelle with Valentina Magaletti in 2019. Other collaborations include prolific artists such as Matthew Herbert, Sylvie Courvoisier, Gyda Valtysdottir, Dimlite, Shahzad Ismaily and Dan Carey (Speedy Wunderground).

All music by Julian Sartorius Mixed by Julian Sartorius and Jonas Cslovjecsek at Studio Suze, Biel Mastered and cut by Noel Summerville Artwork by Scott Daniel Ellison

Kasra V’s Hyperdelic EP, his first release on Radiant Records, showcases the producer’s attentive ear for textural and rhythmic play. His last EP from 2018, Akasa, was a collection of dreamy, break-driven pieces, and a more ambient collaboration with Dopplereffekt; timbre and meticulously tuned sonics were also in focus then, but we now hear a reduction of form, and with it, a saturation of style. “Voice note to self” kicks off the EP with a boom-bap drum loop. The rhythm continues as percussive elements are added and removed, adhering to the groove and its growing complexity. A warm bassline chugs along, pitched vocals mumble into the static, and an ascendant pad begins to give the track a gorgeous depth: a horizon. Following is a remix of the same track by Byron B. Yeates and Roza Terenzi, adapting certain samples from Kasra V’s production and looping them up to a brisk 142 BPM. As can be expected from these two, the kick’s punchy 4/4 structure is buttressed by crisp percussion and clever, unexpected rhythms. On the B-side, “Vesper” takes us back to downtempo. Bumping on at around 80 BPM, Kasra V builds upon a drum-machine loop with processed percussion samples: a snare-roll one could hear in a jungle track, chopped claps panning across the break, and so on. And the slow, warm gurgle of an 808 comes in just at the point of fracture, holding it all together. “Night Prime” extends the EP’s principle of a drum loop serving as the skeleton – with greater drama, somehow. Like in “Voice note to self”, we hear vocal samples, but here they swerve in and out of clarity; we break into unexpected moments of silence, and the loop restarts; 3 minutes in, a huge, minor piano chord breaks upon the track like dusk. “Warm up great” closes the EP with the blend of left-field groove and dissonance one might associate with Future Sound of London or early work of The Chemical Brothers. The textures and tunings of each sample are so dense, so delicious, Kasra V lets us savour them for the last 20 seconds of the EP, lost in the reverb of a singly struck piano key

The follow-up to Kee Avil's acclaimed 2022 debut Crease: "A stunning debut" (The Quietus); "A whiplash style of uninhibited exploration" (The Wire); "Kee Avil's debut is a force" (Foxy Digitalis); "A work of Frankensteinian wonder" (Electronic Sound); "A tightly coiled, finely wrought vision of avant-pop" (Exclaim); "A debut of fiendish creativity" (Bandcamp Album Of The Day / Albums Of The Year) Kee Avil's music is both adventurous and intimate, intellectually challenging and emotionally resonant. The Montréal guitarist and producer's 2022 debut LP Crease garnered plaudits from outlets like The Wire, The Quietus, Mojo and Foxy Digitalis, picking up a Canadian Juno Award nomination and Bandcamp Album Of The Day and Albums Of The Year along the way. Its intricate construction, unnerving atmospheres, and knife-edge take on avant-pop prompted comparisons to early PJ Harvey, This Heat, and Gazelle Twin. A remix EP with work by claire rousay, Ami Dang, Cecile Believe, and Pelada brought collaborative perspectives to four Crease tracks, offering new pathways within those songs. With Spine, Kee Avil strips back her heavily textured compositions, opening up a much rawer sound. She calls it folk… and while traditionalists might scoff, this is urgent music that reflects the precarity of modern life, as well as the jarring mixture of electronic and real-world interactions that have become the fabric of our day-to-day experiences. There's a hypnotic post-punk somnambulance to it all, using the repetition and fracturing of melodic phrases interwoven with delicate electronics to create curious and persistent hooks. While not a concept album, themes of time's passage, remembrance, and decay crop up across multiple tracks. Each track intentionally only has four elements - guitar, electronics, and two other instruments, with Kee's voice and guitar pushed to the front. Within this minimalist framework, the juxtaposition of beauty and discomfort that is key to the Kee Avil sound stands out in skin-prickling relief. "We're shaped by many versions of ourselves," says Avil. "I was looking back at these versions of myself and what could have been, what didn't end up being and what did end up being, and going back like that through time. Seeing the future, the past." Spine was written in Kee Avil's home studio after a lapse in writing while touring Crease and working on other projects. She is a well-known and respected member of the Montréal experimental scene, and formerly ran Concrete Sound Studio with Zach Scholes, who continues to work with her as a producer on Spine. Compared to the three years that went into making her debut, Spine emerged in a matter of months - a process that may also be a factor in its intensity and sharpness: "This record was much harder, like it was really discovering everything from scratch." In her desire to not simply replicate or extend the sound of Crease, she felt she had to rip up the rule book, write in a different way, and pare back songs against her usual instincts. Sometimes, when we work against our ingrained habits, we get to the core of who we really are. Spine is an exercise in that process. Without over-intellectualizing or being didactic, it hits immediately and emotionally, especially if you are a person who has spent much time in the process of self-examination. Kee's voice hisses, whispers, and chants; her guitar bends and rings; electronics skitter and crackle; violin creaks like a door in the wind. There is something so evocative about the atmospheres she creates that it's easy to overlay one's own feelings onto her work, but to do that wholly would be to overlook one of the most important things about Spine: Kee Avil's clear and thoughtful vision. This isn't just the next step forward in her artistic trajectory; it's a stunner of a record that stands on its own, a bracing and thrilling listen that has much to reveal about the contradictions inherent in being human. - jj skolnik

Audio visual sculptor Kero operates the multidisciplinary arts collective Detroit Underground record label and continues to produce bit crushed experimental electronic music with over two decades under his belt. Demo Vectors showcases Kero's sonic range—bouncing back and forth between IDM fractures, broken electro shapes and an all around low-end forcefield. Splicing machined modular tunes with syncopated rhythms and Detroit-inspired slivers, Kero's fingerprints can be found on imprints like Blueprint, Wild oats, Ghostly International, Shitkatapult, Semantica, Touchin' Bass, BPitch Control, and many others. Using different studio setups from 1998 to 2021, Demo Vectors culminated from many different locations including Detroit, Windsor, Barcelona, Berlin and Los Angeles and reveals Kero's curriculum vitae packaged in a 60 minute robust collection. The downtempo groove of "abstr_b&b" offers a classic bricolage of collapsed mechanical percussion straight from the foundry as the definitive sound design and glitchy bits of "bliss" take shape. Fluid robotics and bass jabs progress on "groundzeroback" pushing each pixel to their breaking point. You'll also find stark industrial elements on tracks like "PREFREAK.EPS" and spastic acid on "comoffice-1" displaying the wide angle lens Kero employs to capture improvised dark drill'n bass techniques with a Squarepusher sheen. From the slow burning "pill'lathe2" humming its way across laid back digitized acrobatics to the aptly titled "color_cub" that clicks, cuts and collects subtle low frequency modulations, Demo Vectors is a tightly compacted and forward thinking IDM album. Sandblasted electronics mixed with shattered glass and corrosive blips'n bleeps, Demo Vectors acts as Kero's raison d'etre as each piece eclipses itself.

This split release unites two female underground acts, both of whom have recently become pivotal parts of the contemporary electronic musical landscape in Japan. Hot on the heels of the acclaimed PAREDO EP compilation (TAL12), which has been released in May 2019 (and also includes contributions from Lena Willikens and Miki Yui), the SUPER MILD split album is the second outing by KOPY and TENTENKO on TAL. Their newest works punctuate their highly individual approaches to contemporary experimental dance music.

TENTENKO is a Tokyo-based electronic music producer. Her career began in 2013 when she joined the mainstream idol group BIS. Immediately after her departure from BIS in 2014 she commenced work on her solo project under her artist name TENTENKO. Since then she has radically reinvented her music away from glossy J-POP towards weird and industrial rooted dancefloor. TENTENKO first made a name for herself on the alternative Japanese music scene with a steady flow of live performances as well as collaborations with members of the legendary Japanese noise band HIJOKAIDAN.

For a few years now KOPY has been an unpredictable and charismatic part of the vital electronic music scene of Osaka. She has quickly garnered a reputation for creating her live sets exclusively with borrowed electronic equipment. Her name KOPY very much originates from this "concept". Apart from a few performances at Düsseldorfs famous nightspot SALON DES AMATEURS, she has been invited by LENA WILLIKENS to her showcase at the MEAKUSMA FESTIVAL in 2018. Her sinister dancefloor mystique is heavily steeped in the free spirited noise and rhythm cultures of her hometown.

Kundan Lal is a highly understated artist. Little is known about his background, though some refer to him as Kunsaf Halil, his personal life remains largely a mystery.

Gathering a cult following amongst people like Den Sorte Skole or DJ Marcelle with his previous releases, he is now set to sail new shores. There is a sense of wanderlust as he opens his box of field recordings, collected on his many travels. From the buzzing streets of Alexandria, early sunday markets in Tafraoute or a crackling bonfire down by the banks of the river Ganges. Each track takes you places.

Kundan's second album is a captivating blend of dubby beats, collages, and exotic instrumentation. Drawing from classic tools like the Roland 808, SC7 and the famous Space Echo, Kundan has created a unique and minimalistic sound that is sure to captivate listeners. At once nostalgic and experimental, "Power of Ra" is a must-listen for both electronic music purists and fans of adventurous soundscapes.

Compelled to work from home on his computer during lockdown, Kundan dusted his pawnshop e-piano, downloaded some orchestral soundkits and started to digitize almost forgotten field recordings. The "Power of Ra“ came to him.

“Illgrimage” is a good example of his approach. Combining atmospheric soundscapes with swirling strings, trombones and pianos. Echoes of birds and children playing in the streets. A small town filled with life and a theremin leading the way while you hear the faint yet powerful words of Greta Thunberg saying: "Imagine...“

“Raqaqa,” a powerful orchestral journey with a hip-hop edge. Tinkling chimes add a groovy vibe, while lush layers of wind instruments weave a masterful soundscape. It’s the slow-burning intensity of this track that pulls you in.

"Nasi Chip" is a signature song that exemplifies Kundan Lal’s musical prowess. An engaging beat coupled with chopped up vocals, 8-bit synth melodies and an arpeggiated piano provide an energetic atmosphere that is both cunning and unique.

”Cen" lures you into the egyptian realm. A Harmonium slithers serpent like around a pounding beat.Horns gently swaying to the rhythm of the desert.

It is hard to put your finger on his style or genre. You can feel Kundan Lal‘s DIY spirit in his production, carving his own ethnic genre. For enthusiasts of Roberto Musci or Muslimgauze, this avant-garde album is one for your collection. Keep your senses open and let the Power of Ra pass you to another world.

Artists Kyoko Takenaka + Tomoki Sanders team with In Sheep’s Clothing Hi-Fi & Pure Person Press to release their breathtaking debut record as Planet Q.

Gatefold Single LP w/ OBI & Insert

To explore and absorb Planet Q, the new record by artists Kyoko Takenaka + Tomoki Sanders, is to become untethered from structural expectations, to reside in a realm where genre vanishes and a profound musical space remains, where the absence of gravity causes curious things to occur.

It’s a spot where handclaps may not move in time, where sonic gurgles of unknown origin offer texture, where a deep, hooky rhythm can propel a groove into the stratosphere.

At various times the tracks move like Dilla pieces, at others like Terry Riley explorations, like Flying Lotus or Milford Graves or Alice Coltrane meditations. But every time you think you’ve got the sound figured out, it hits from another angle. Though a brief missive at 33 minutes, you exit Planet Q as if leaving an utterly alien spot.

Setting: In 2021, during the covid lockdown in America, Takenaka and Sanders were both living in Tokyo without any gigs or work to be found back home. They met at a mutual friend’s cafe in the Higashi-Koenji neighborhood, and the connection was immediate. “The chances of us meeting not only someone else of the diaspora when the borders are closed, but also queer and non-binary, and also a musician? Pretty slim, and pretty fateful,” Takenaka says.

In early 2022, the Omicron variant prompted a new round of isolation. Returning to New York, they united with kindred musicians by going to private jam sessions, but at the time those evenings didn't tap the magic they were seeking. They decided to quarantine and create together. Takenaka was living alone at the time so they invited Sanders to crash there. Says Takenaka, “We made rice, ate natto, meditated and made music for seven days straight.”

That they would create something masterful does seem somehow predestined. Sanders’ late father is the brilliant composer and saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, their mother a life-long music fanatic who nurtured the same. The younger Sanders, who grew up in New York and Tokyo, has been playing music – drums, saxophone, clarinet, piano – and absorbing profound sound since they had baby teeth. Takenaka is a first-generation Nikkei Japanese American actor, butoh dancer and filmmaker who also grew up with music; their father was a jazz pianist, and by age 7 they were already singing at jam sessions in Boston. Planet Q is Takenaka and Sanders’ debut musical collaboration.

That week together in isolation was pretty ritualized. Their aim, Takenaka says, was to create “a really beautiful, secluded safe space for ourselves as qtpoc folx – a planet where we both belong – and to make music as we created the space. Basking in it. Being inside it.”

They quickly fell into a daily routine that commenced with an improvised spoken meditation, tidbits of which made it onto the record. The layout of Takenaka’s apartment – an open kitchen looking out on the living room – afforded them the chance to mix rituals. They prepped meals and sampled parts of the process. Cooking rice, making curry, eating natto – the sounds simmer throughout Planet Q. Dancing and calligraphy also informed the compositions. Takenaka calls it “embodying the process, the textures.”

Tomoki says, “Before Hip hop, in my dad’s age, the saxophone was where the rapper, or the electric guitar spotlighted. It was only $500 to buy a saxophone in the 50’s...now its anywhere from $3000-$10,000. However, we fortunately are in a current time to have a whole studio literally in our laptops – and you can get a $50 midi device from a music store or online. Time of technology has advanced the music, the sound, the production – I’m challenged to reimagine things in ways never been thought before.”

Though each piece has distinct traits, Planet Q feels more like a suite of tracks, a gathering of waveforms that, despite their differences, when woven together create an utterly striking piece. The intention-setting opening piece was born through their improvised morning meditations. Tomoki uses bells their father gifted them.

“‘My Sweet, My Tender, My Loving, Home’ is dedicated to my dad and his metaphysical and galactic sounds, that is grounding,” Tomoki says. “Every intention I put into the style of music or energy comes from him and the ancestors, or god, ‘subconsciously’ – being a continuation of his DNA but in a completely different generation and time; me matching his point of view in spirituality and raising a level of self-consciousness.”

Borders blur. Rhythms lope and gallop. “竹” is a beat-driven rush featuring Takenaka on guitar. When Sanders grabs their tenor saxophone for “Grow,” the result vibes like a funky film-noir soundtrack, with Takenaka reciting the title.

Their tools: bells, electric guitar, piano, shakers, saxophone, African thumb piano, flute, keyboard, drum programming and voice. Most importantly, Planet Q is the sound of two devoted artists committing in full to exploring the mystic, hellbent on mastering the ways that two mortals can, with focus, desire and ancestral guidance, unite in music to create something that transcends the here-and-now.

La Monte Young was born in Bern, Idaho in 1935. He began his music studies in Los Angeles and later Berkeley, California before relocating to New York City in 1960, where he became a primary influence on Minimalism, the Fluxus movement and performance art through his legendary compositions of extended time durations and the development of just intonation and rational number based tuning systems. With wife and collaborator, artist Marian Zazeela, they would formulate the composite sound environments of the Dream House, which continues to this day. Seeing reissue for the first time since its initial 1969 release, Young and Zazeela's first full-length album is often referred to as "The Black Record" due to Zazeela's stunning cover design, complete with the composer's liner notes in elegant hand-lettered script. Side one was recorded in 1969 (on the date and time indicated by the title) at the gallery of Heiner Friedrich in Munich, where Young and Zazeela premiered their Dream House sound and light installation. Featuring Young and Zazeela's voices against a sine wave drone, the recording is a section of the longer composition Map of 49's Dream the Two Systems of Eleven Sets of Galactic Intervals Ornamental Lightyears Tracery (begun in 1966 as a sub-section of the even larger work The Tortoise, His Dreams and Journeys, which was begun in 1964 with Young group The Theatre of Eternal Music). According to Young, the raga-like melodic phrases of his voice were heavily influenced by his future teacher, the Hindustani singer Pandit Pran Nath. Side two, recorded in Young and Zazeela's NYC studio in 1964, is a section of the longer composition Studies in the Bowed Disc. This composition is an extended, highly abstract noise piece for bowed gong (gifted by sculptor Robert Morris). The liner notes explain that the live performance can be heard at 33 and 1/3 RPM, but may also be played at any slower speed down to 8 and 1/3 RPM for turntables with this capacity.

Arriving two years after his last full-length effort ("Jallalla"), Lagartijeando (aka Mati Zundel) once again returns to Wonderwheel with an expansive new album, "La Tercera Vision." A maturation of the Lagartijeando sound, "La Tercera Vision" ("the third vision") sees the Argentinian wade into uncharted, if sonically familiar waters, bridging his Andean inspired electronic-folk with psychedelic ambience, West African instrumentation, and even a few moments of pop melodies. The beauty of Lagartijeando's work is its ability to marry seemingly unrelated styles and sounds to something seamless and wholly original.

"Isla de Sol," the opening track, introduces the album with a taste of Mati's classic sound: Andean pan flute, the familiar chugging rhythm of a cumbia beat, luscious string arrangements, and a sampled vocal. Moving on, "Mano de Fatima" (the project's second single) sees a fusion of traditional Moroccan Gnawa instrumentation with digital cumbia rhythms, featuring the work of Khalil Mounji on vocals and guembri (aka sintir, the three-stringed, skin-covered lute used in Gnawa music). Eva de Marce - a singer-songwriter-producer based in Madrid - takes centre-stage on "Tierra Natal," with her vocals coming through in a rich whisper, singing a melody reminiscent of a lullaby.

At the album's halfway mark, Lagartijeando introduces a new direction for his sound with "Onda," a collaboration with the Brazilian artist Tagua Tagua. An earworm of a melody is sung over a joyous beat that nods to pop sensibilities while being satisfyingly infused with Zundel's sonic DNA. It's a gem of a tune that suggests an exciting new sound for the Argentinian. A few more collaborations close out the album, two with Mexican singer-songwriter Madeleine Bachan Kaur ("Crepúsculo" & "La Montaña Sagrada"), "Magaleña" with Javier Arce, and the album closer "Ware" featuring Sajra. Also included in the album is "Sideral Cumbia," the first single released earlier this Summer, which has seen extensive press and radio support from the likes of Vice / Noisey, Electronic Groove, Sounds And Colours, Kcrw ("Today's Top Tune" & "Morning Becomes Eclectic"), and Kexp, as well as landing a spot on Spotify's "Fresh Dance" playlist.

Lagartijeando is the name of producer, musician and DJ Mati Zundel. Strongly influenced by his travels throughout Latin America, Mati's signature psychedelic dance tracks latch onto everything from traditional folk sounds from the Bolivian altiplano to the jungle beats of Brazil. Mati hypnotically fuses his traditional influences (with an emphasis on shaman chant and charango loops) with contemporary electronic beats, creating a sound that once left NPR speechless.

For their 45th Band Anniversary the Iconic duo is still grooving and back with FOREVERGREEN
With Laid Back's 12 favourite songs of all time in a brand new recorded Laid Back cover version,
incl. "All You Need is Love", "House of The Rising Sun", "My Generation", "Gloria". "Whiter Shade Of Pale"
and so many more.

Formed in the 1979, the duo is still grooving at their studio in Vesterbro, Copenhagen.
Laid Back gained their first international major break through in the 80's with Sunshine Reggae and White Horse. The dualism and originality of the two songs has left a worldwide and everlasting reputation of their music. The 3rd evergreen from their hand was made in 1990 named Bakerman altogether with a music video by Lars Von Trier.
More recently, the two members have co-founded their own record company, Brother Music, which has released Laid Back Albums "Cosyland", the chill out album "Cosmic Vibes" and the recent two Studio Albums "Uptimistic Music" and "Road to Fame".

For their 45th Band Anniversary the Iconic duo is back with FOREVERGREEN! A stunning, simply Irresistable album meeting again the Band and (more than) 45 Year of music history. With Laid Back's favourite songs of all time in a Laid Back cover version!!

Since relocating to Brazil some years back, Needs Music co-founder Lars Bartkuhn has returned to his long-held love of musical improvisation. Although it’s a product of his jazz roots and classical training, the German producer has constantly found new ways to apply it to his work in the sphere of electronic music.

‘Dystopia’, his first solo album for almost nine years, was born out of two interlinked ideas: a desire to create improvised music without the aid of computer sequencers or an electronic drum set, and a deeply held love of storytelling through sound. Bartkuhn set to work improvising with modular synthesizers, acoustic instruments and hand percussion, later adding light-touch overdubs to a handful of pieces. When he listened back to the recordings, an aural narrative emerged, and you’ll hear it if you listen to the album from start to finish, as is intended.

As you’d expect from a musician and composer of Bartkuhn’s undoubted ability, ‘Dystopia’ is a stunning album – an undulating, expansive ambient journey packed with emotional resonance. While Bartkuhn naturally sees it as a logical progression of his previous ambient-leaning work with Kabuki as The First Minute of a New Day (and particularly their self-titled 2020 album Séance Centre), ‘Dystopia’ also features subtle nods to many of his long-held musical loves, including John Hassell’s ‘fourth world’ recordings, the impossible-to-pigeonhole 1970s catalogue of deep jazz imprint ECM, and the far-sighted American minimalism of Terry Riley and Steve Reich.

The album’s emotional depth is evident early on, with the slow-burn title track – all bubbling electronics, billowing chords, clarinet-style notes and gently strummed guitars offering the most melancholic and bittersweet of openings. The becalmed ‘A Drop Of Water In The Ocean’ follows, with discordant aural textures and hand percussion mimicking the rolling ocean, before ‘Largo (Calm Before The Storm)’ hints at unsettling times ahead.

‘Water and Warm Air’, the only track on the album whose starting point was not Bartkuhn’s cherished modular set-up, bleeps and bubbles across the sound space, adding a starry and otherworldly slant to proceedings, while ‘Disembodied Journey (Parts 1, 2 and 3)’ is a sublime, slowly unfurling journey in three movements – all Tangerine Dream style synthesizer motifs, Pat Metheny-esque guitars and jazz-fusion instrumentation.

So the album continues, with the poignant warmth and looped motifs of ‘Still Existing’ and the sparse, dubbed-out minimalism of ‘Do You Know How To Get Out?’ – a kind of 21st century jazz-fusionist’s take on sparse electronic hypnotism – giving wat to closing cut ‘Into The Waves’, a gentle combination of undulating electronic arpeggios and echoing instrumentation that offers a hopeful and undeniably picturesque conclusion.

Fittingly, the album cover features a painting by the late Dutch artist Franz Deckwitz (1934-94), whose images of alien landscapes were used by Phillips on a series of music concrete compilations. The image featured on the cover of ‘Dystopia’, depicting a deep blue ocean and shoreline, was painted by Deckwitz in Amsterdam in the late 1970s and inspired by a trip to the island of Ponza, Italy.

Matt Anniss

Back in 2016, Lars Bartkuhn was on a quest to expand his musical horizons. Inspired by the idea of the desert as a transformative place – an alien environment whose combination of vastness and beauty challenges those lost within it to first find themselves before they can find a way out – he loaded up his sampler with sub-Saharan samples and set about making two 12” singles, ‘Nomad’ and ‘Massai’, which subsequently appeared on Utopia Records.

Following completion of work on his 2023 album Dystopia, a conceptual ambient meditation built around electronic and acoustic improvisations, the German musician and producer decided to return to the core ideas that inspired those two 12” singles. Once again, he wanted to challenge himself, explore the more exotic side of his musical influences, and discover a course through the musical desert to ultimately become a better musician, producer, and composer.

The result is Nomad, an album that not only brings together two sides of his work – the immersive ambient explorations at the heart of Dystopia, and the club-focused rhythms that marked out his early career deep house explorations – but also draws on a familiar palette of influences, from Latin jazz-fusion and the deep jazz brilliance of ECM Records releases, to the ‘fourth world’ works of Jon Hassell and the African music that had initially inspired the ‘Nomad’ and ‘Massai’ singles.

Searching from the start for a more ‘analogue’ sound – hand percussion, kalimba, piano, voice, bass guitar, acoustic and electric guitars, alongside the modular synth sounds that were such a part of Dystopia – Bartkuhn combined improvisational and traditional composition techniques, painstaking editing, tweaking and reworking tracks over an extended period.

Added to impeccable sound design – even the more dancefloor-focussed excursions are optimised for headphone listening – the results are startling, even by Bartkuhn’s impressively high standards.

There are, of course, radically reworked versions of previous singles – a sun-kissed, Brazilian jazz-fusion informed re-invention of ‘Transcend’ (where Bartkuhn offers nods to another musical hero, Pat Metheny), an expansive, solo-laden take on ‘Nomad’ and a ambient inspired re-recording of ‘Massai’ – plus the kaleidoscopic brilliance of 2021’s ‘Every Morning I Meditate’, but far more never-before-heard highlights.

There’s the 6/8 time, Latin-tinged sunshine of ‘Back To My Innerself’, a track built on organic performances that were improvised straight into the sequencer; the meandering, densely layered sound world that is ‘Flame’ (a tribute to ECM recordings of the 1970s); the lightly techno-influenced fourth world futurism of ‘Ghibliman’; the organic deep house bliss of ‘African Skies’, where Bartkuhn’s vocalisations come to the fore; and the slow-motion ambient house of ‘First Kalimba’.

Nomad, then, is an album that effortlessly showcases Bartkuhn’s unique musical personality and ability to craft warm, colourful sound worlds – some rhythmic, others not so much – while neatly sidestepping categorization. It could well be his strongest and most personal musical statement yet.

(comes with a poster) The Klein blue horizon, gliding seagulls, a ferry purring between two languid islands, dotted with ultra-white villages and ancient ruins... These idyllic visions run through Glika, the ultimate musical project of Les Cyclades. An exciting electronic odyssey from West to East, from Belgian effervescence to Greek mysticism.

In 2020, confined to the neighborhoods of Yser and Mystère in Brussels, Alex and Ludo dream of Greek islands, of scorching sun on their skin, of salty baths, chilled ouzo and braised octopus. But everywhere, time stands still. Must one necessarily move to travel? To levitate? In the absence of Elsewhere, the Franco-Canadian duo will compose the imaginary soundtrack to their escape.

Glika (which means "sweet" in Greek) perfectly synthesizes the musical influences of Les Cyclades: a cosmic saxophone inherited from Alex’s dub and free jazz past, an architect-pastry chef-botanist from Normandy, and Ludo’s "Balearic" tracks, a musician-performer-wine lover who frequented his first raves in 1995 in Houston, Texas.

From a hedonistic encounter on a friendly terrace in the 19th arrondissement of Paris to their chosen exile in Brussels, these hypersensitive jacks-of-all-trades first danced and mixed records. Before creating their own phantasmagorical sonic territories, where cinema and poetry meet more or less human voices, brass instruments, synthesizers and analogue drum machines.

A searing fragment of Greek filmmaker Theo Angelopoulos's "Eternity and a Day" preludes Glika. Then, on Yser Mystère - the names of the two stations on tram 51 that physically linked Alex and Ludo's psyches during the lockdown - Alex's astral sax balances out the industrial mechanics of a locomotive, against a backdrop of urban soundscapes.

And then a rising bpm dominates Alocasia, with its deep and sensual light foot. So sunny. From one track to another, there are interludes influenced by Xenakis, Vangelis and Jean-Michel Jarre. Seminal heroes of the Cyclades... But soon, the duo unleash hostilities at the helm of Epigone, their meta-techno anthem. "I know", "You know", echoes Alex.

Laughs of friends, "mouth noises," and "bizarre rhythms" still dominate Parc Fou, while Dram eyes the minimalist techno of Detroit. So dear to Ludo's heart... And what about Pame, that post-modern Greek epic.Or Glossa, a timeless track that finishes with a fascinating - because diffracted - elegance, this multi-sensory journey through Les Cyclades. Let's close our eyes. Silencio! Hay Banda!

By Eléonore Colin, journalist (and friend!!)

On their debut LP “Pome”, Liai has given us a stunning work of expertly crafted rhythmic ambience, inspired by the intimacy and solitude of the midwestern countryside. Having grown up in rural Missouri, Liai channels the mixed feelings that can accompany solo contemplation in nature - expansiveness, sentimentality, vulnerability and eeriness. This deeply personal set of tracks took 3 years to make, revealed in the precision of sound design and use of space. The work feels at once familiar and organic, yet technical and futuristic, almost alien - a product of digital melodies, granular processing and frequent sampling of their own previous works. Bio: By way of rural Missouri to Chicago to New York, Liai melds sonic elements of each city from pastoral, expansive drones to Chicago experimentalism and the rhythmic ambient that’s arriving on both coasts of the US. With two albums forthcoming, their work marks the meeting point of experimental sound design with emotional pop-like melodies.

The 2015 edition of Winnipeg’s send + receive festival, focussed on rhythm, turned out to be a generative meeting of minds. There, Mark Fell encountered the music of Will Guthrie, a meeting that was eventually to result in the frenetic acoustic drumkit and digital synthesis pairing heard on Infoldings and Diffractions (2020). At the same festival, Limpe Fuchs first heard and appreciated the music of Mark Fell, planting the seed of a collaboration that came to fruition when Fell (along with his son Rian Treanor) visited Fuchs at her home in Peterskirchen, Germany in September 2022. Black Truffle is pleased to announce the release of the results of this extensive session in the audacious form of a triple LP, housing over two hours of music across its six sides. The collaboration might appear unlikely: what common ground could exist between Fuchs, classically trained pianist, legend of improvised music, instrument builder and sound sculptor active since the 1960s, whose group Anima Sound connected the dots between free jazz, krautrock and ritual, and Fell, proponent of radical computer music, known for his bracingly austere productions that twist remnants of club music into algorithmic stutters? For all their seeming disparity in technology, approach and background, the music on Dessogia/Queetch/Fauch makes it immediately evident the pair share a great deal in their essentially percussive approach and ability to, in Fuch’s phrase, ‘establish silence’. Recording at her home studio, Fuchs had the use of her entire array of instruments, found, invented, and traditional, and treats the listener to some that don’t often make their way to concerts, including extensive passages performed (with Gundis Stalleicher) on pieces of wooden parquetry. Alongside metallic, wooden and skin percussion of all kinds, sounded and struck in every conceivable way, we also hear bamboo flute, viola, and Fuchs’ distinctive free-form vocalisations. Fell also stretched himself, with his contributions ranging from characteristically fizzing pitched percussive pops to swarms of sliding tones and abstract digital noise. Showing both remarkable restraint and improvisational freedom, much of the music consists of duets between a single percussion instrument and a distinctive mode of digital sound, often lingering in one timbral-rhythmic space for minutes at a time. Improvisational forward momentum coexists with a free-floating, wandering quality. On opener ‘Dessogia I’, the shimmering almost-gilssandi tones of Fuchs’ enormous set of microtonally tuned metal tubes ripples across Fell’s rubbery pulse, which moves up the frequency spectrum as Fuchs becomes more animated and switches to horn. At some points, as on the metallic chiming tones that open ‘Fauch I’, only the unexpected dynamic behaviour of Fell’s sounds distinguish them from Fuchs’ acoustic instruments. At others, like on ‘Queetch Iii’, the waves of sliding tones and noise textures are bracingly synthetic, joined by piercing squeaks and scrapes from Fuchs’ metal objects. Epic in scope, immersing the listener in an entirely distinctive world of sounds, and thrillingly bold in its melding of the most ancient musical procedures with cutting edge technologies, Dessogia/Queetch/Fauch is an unexpected major statement from two of the great mavericks of contemporary music.

2022 repress

Acid bass, slow funk and cosmic energy make for a mind expanding trip in the Liquid Canoe.
Load up on edibles, make it a macro-dose and let the music lead the way.
Whether you’re hard at work on a Hamburg allotment, basking in the heat of a Balinese beach or enjoying the cool waters of the Salish Sea, remember that the same sky stretches over all of us.
And if you forget your finger for a minute and soak in the heavenly beauty instead, you might just catch the cosmic vibrations of Liquid Canoe, the latest members of the Growing Bin family.
A loose ensemble, Liquid Canoe is the brainchild of Wolfgang Matthes, a lost Angelino who’s swapped the rush and push of a mega city for the space of the Pacific Northwest - and listening to this eight track offering, you’ll realise that space is the place. Armed with an array of vintage synths and programmed rhythms, Wolfgang sketched out a slew of inter dimensional transmissions, inspired by the commune electronics and space rock of 70s Germany and inhabited by the spirit of the boogie. Inviting friends to drop by and lend their own instrumental skill, Wolfgang quickly turned Liquid Canoe into a true collaboration. Finalised in a converted stable on Galiano Island, the LP is a perfect marriage of the electronic and organic, shimmering arps and spheric synth bass intertwined with American primitive guitar, nuanced hand percussion and glassy chimes. As this mind expanding collection stretches out towards infinity, you’ll hear Floyd-ian funk, cosmic dub, tangerine daydreams and micro-dosed ambience, all imbued with the memories of New York lofts, Bay Area warehouses, skyscraping pines or the world wide web of fungi. Liquid Canoe taking you on an oarsome trip.

Limited Edition of 100 copies of clear vinyl with pink & sea blue splatters. Only at HHV!

His name may not be instantly familiar, but Hideki Matsutake has had a huge influence over Electronic music. Starting his career as the assistant of Japanese Electronic Music master Isao Tomita in the early 70s, he went on to work with Ryuichi Sakamoto and then Yellow Magic Orchestra as their keyboard programmer and unofficial fourth member. In 1981 he started his own Logic System project recording "Venus" that year in Los Angeles with Don Grusin, Nathan East and Michael Boddicker, brilliantly mixing Synth Funk, Ambient and Boogie with a touch of Fusion Jazz predating Vaporwave by a mere 30 years. Wewantsounds is delighted to reissue this visionary album, which
comes remastered from the original tapes and features Pater Sato stunning artwork including the rare beautiful 8-page insert with an exclusive interview of Hideki Matsutake by Hashim Kotaro Bharoocha.
The early 80s were prolific for Hideki Matsutake. As the go-to keyboard programmer for the tokyo music scene, he worked on Akiko Yano's "Gohan Ga Dekitayo", YMO's "BGM", Ryuichi Sakamoto's "B-2 Unit", Mkwaju Ensemble's "Mkwaju" and found time to record two Logic System albums in 1981. While the first album, "Logic" had a harder techno feel, the second one "Venus" was different affair. Recorded in Los Angeles at the new state of the art Yamaha Studio, it was loosely themed on the Greek goddess Venus and had a funkier more organic sound. For the album Matsutake had asked a handful of American musicians to provide songs he would then add his synth magic touch to. Michael Boddicker, Don Grusin, Nathan East and Roger Powell duly complied and also played on the album.

The updated sound was achieved by switching from the Moog III to the E-mu modular System (which Matsutake brought over to LA) and other synths like the Prophet 5, the Roland MC-8 and TR 808 and the Yamaha GS-1, a forerunner of the DX7.

The result is an amazing futuristic mix of electronic music and early 80s funk, announcing many genres to come, from techno and house to French electro and Vaporwave. From the breezy ambient synth of "I Love You" to the city pop edge of "Be Yourself" (originally written by Nathan East for Debra Laws) and the vocoder-led Daft Punk-ish "Take A Chance", Venus is a fascinating album that both pushes the boundaries of electronic music and is yet strangely accessible and beautiful.

The other key elements of Venus is the artwork designed by Japanese legendary illustrator Pater Sato. Sato had started in Japan in the early 70s doing many album covers for Japanese artists including Tatsuro Yamashita's cult Spacy LP before moving to New York in 1979 to pursue a career in fashion and advertising. His airbrush style became hugely influential over the years and in 2018, Stella McCartney dedicated a whole Men’s collection based on his Venus. Star make up artist Pat McGrath also regularly posts his artwork to her 3 million fans on her instagram.

The original album came with a beautiful 8-panel insert illustrated by Sato which Wewantsounds has reproduced on this deluxe reissue also featuring remastered sound, OBI strip and a second insert featuring credits and line up plus liner notes by Hashim Bharoocha. The notes will feature an exclusive interview with Hideki Matsutake reminiscing about the making of this visionary album which Wewantsounds is delighted to reissue.

Legendary New York band M'lumbo distil experiences from their pre-pandemic shamanic travels into their stunning new album The Summer Of Endless Levitation. The eight-track vinyl LP is an avant-garde take on folk music informed by painter and sculptor Jean Hans Arp's 'Biomorphic' works and it serves as a sonic renewal of self. The cult M'lumbo collective has been a legendary and groundbreaking act since first forming in the mid-80s. They cross genre boundaries as they draw on jazz, world, electronic, rock and experimental music that escapes the commercial world and take you into another realm entirely. There is no limit to their sound; each member brings their own cultural background to the mix, making the band all the more unique. As the coronavirus pandemic struck, three members of the band Rob Ray Flatow, Paul-Alexandre Meurens and Brian O'Neill under-took a regimen of shamanic traveling in New York City. The experiences led them to spontaneously compose and perform a suite of pieces, informed and inspired by Jean Hans Arp's works but also by the feelings of isolation and indefinite exile yet to come in their urban environment. Compared to the works they have done as part of the larger M'lumbo band, this album is a more modest and naive affair that is "a vehicle for the renewal of feeling using only a few instruments - acoustic and electric guitar, keyboard, flute, small percussion, kalimba and clarinet - and locating a sense of both the deep sadness and uplifting powers of reverie." 'There Are No Words' kicks off with heavenly chords and organic percussion that recalls the jungle jazz of Don Cherry, then 'Shoreline' is a five-minute dub with percolating rhythms and new age melodies before the soul-soothing acoustic guitar of 'The Afternoon Levitation' blisses you out on a sunny day. The perfectly entitled 'Swoon' is another gloriously uplifting piece of musical spirituality that fuses the electronic and synthetic with the ancient and ritualistic. There is more jungle jazz, big-band horn work and cosmic synth modulations of 'Open The Heavens' while 'Quanta' is a shuffling, jumbled mix of radiant chords, wigged-out electronic lines and celestial charm. 'Planetfall' goes from free-form jazz to double-time techno and back to cathartic ambient. The final trio of tracks conjures up everything from the transcendental jazz of Alice Coltrane to the cinematic downtempo of Calm.

Makèz have come a long way since they first sneaked into Amsterdam’s studio 80 at the age of 17 to hand over their demos to Dam Swindle. Those demos led to their debut EP ‘Different planets’ on Heist in 2019 which gained major support from artists like Seth Troxler and Chez Damier. Quickly after, they signed two records on New York based label Let’s Play House. Fast forward two years, and here we are: the release of their debut album “City of all”. “City of all” shows an admirable level of sophistication and matureness and effortlessly bridges genres across its 13 tracks. You can feel the amount of thought that has been put into this record, with songs happily blending into each other as Makèz submerge themselves in their concept of accidental encounters, inclusiveness and what it means to live in a city like Amsterdam. On “City of all”, Makèz bring together all the musical influences they’ve picked up in their life as music fans, clubbers and art students. The jazz-funk of opening track “The entrance” feels breezy, casual almost, like the freeform rhythms that are played in a jazz club during soundcheck. That energy also oozes from “Not so different”, which features the smooth vocals of Lyma. There’s a hint of the house-meets-R’n B vibe that made Anderson .Paak the star that he is now. The song is brilliantly funky and shows the songwriting and arrangement talent of Makèz, who cleverly use pop & soul cues to create one of the album’s highlights.

Mali Hayes has been simmering to the surface for a while now. Emerging from a Manchester jazz community that's enjoying its own renaissance away from the much-reported on London scene, the vocalist and songwriter's bittersweet neo-soul sound is trans-Atlantic – think initial progenitors such as Erkyah Badu, D'Angelo and Jill Scott – but is rooted in Manchester's mixed communities and the different walks of life she encounters.
Forgive You / Come Closer – owes itself to Gilles Peterson and Brownswood Music's Future Bubblers programme, when Hayes met producers Cult Architect and Medikul while part of the mentorship scheme. Airplay from Gemma Bradley, Victoria Jane & Mo Ayoub on Radio 1, Jamz Supernova & Gilles Peterson on BBC Radio 6, Victoria Jane on BBC Introducing, Jamz Supernova on Selector Radio. Features in Clash Magazines 'Next Wave' playlist and Spotify's 'Rhythm & Groove by DJ Taro' playlist.
The two tracks come out as part of a new series of 7" releases from Manchester institution Band on the Wall and their new label Band on the Wall Recordings. Based out of the iconic music venue, charity and cultural hub, the label builds on a successful compilation released to raise funds during the Covid-19 pandemic

Solo debut by multi-instrumentalist Manuel Chittka. The Love-Songs, Jungstötter and Pantha du Prince associated drummer creates two compositions of intimate beauty. Eigenmoden is both, rhythm-based, and at the same time softly swayed by modular electronics. Making this release a personal and contrasting accentuation of contemporary Minimalism, Ambient and Jazz. The music was recorded in Hamburg-Altona and Berlin-Marzahn and mastered by Italian film composer Giuseppe Ielasi.

„A layered electro-percussive music that is supposed to flow in a tangible pulse and combines moving textures with detailed events. Mostly tuned metal percussion instruments like gongs, cymbals, or metallophones ring and sizzle together and unfold both meditative and noisy.“ Manuel Chittka

A bit more than half a decade on from his widely acclaimed debut Vanishing Points from 2018, Swiss guitarist, composer, and improv musician Manuel Troller releases his new record Halcyon Future. A rhythmically dense and ambiguous, yet joyful ride for unstable times, a plea for warmth and hopeful resistance.

Troller’s mode of incorporating, zooming in, and expanding on small elements from improvised sessions creates a multilayered work of driving rhythms and abstract, vibrating textures. Opening with Halcyon Future I’s distinctive open pulse, this first piece guides us through subtle harmonic shifts that are almost unrecognizable as they take place over extended time, overlapping and creating a sense of ambiguity until the piece reaches an almost optimistic level with Mario Hänni’s unexpected introduction of driving acoustic drums. Relentlessly and with increasing excitement, heavy electronic 80s bass drums and an armada of layered hi-hats push them on, leading to the all-incorporating melodic finale.

The two long pieces Halcyon Future I and Halcyon Future II focus on forward momentum. In between them stands DNA, a purposely directionless contemplation on emotion as such. It is raw, naked, and confrontational, with a tender and subtly changing chord progression creating intimacy and proximity, abstraction and warmth, like a beautifully vibrant hologram for the listener to walk around in.

The B-side with its 20-minute Halcyon Future II features playful futuristic guitars, enhancing and challenging the stereo image that Troller is already well-known for. As it’s given time to develop and take root, the ever-varying guitar interactions densify and the staccato patterns jump out of the speakers with joy, creating excitement and building momentum. Compared to Side A, things turn to a slightly more complex rhythmical, melodic, and harmonic feel here. There are easy references, such as Manuel Göttsching’s E2-e4 or Pat Metheny performing Steve Reich’s Electric Counterpoint, but Troller goes a different and very much more concrete way. Although the piece has been recorded in various places and through a long process of overdubbing, there is an astonishingly strong live feel to it, from beginning to the end, from the slow rise to the full spectrum and the almost krautrock-like finale. Improvisers Hans Koch on soprano saxophone and Michael Flury on heavily fuzzed trombone join in, while Troller and Mario Hänni on many guitars, bass, drum machines, and acoustic drums provide a joyous driving entity, not giving up until it all breaks down again. There is overkill and brute force, though never without depth and a vision of future.

In the musical scope of Halcyon Future, there is no need for an absolute definition of things. A continuously changing interpretation of repetitive and variable elements fading in and out of focus tells a story of an excited sense of acceptance. Feelings of transcendence stem from Troller’s layering of constantly shifting rhythmic structures with unforeseen improvised harmonic changes. Drum machine parts overlayed with acoustic drums shift between musical modes, anchoring the album on the verge of a jazz-influenced, motorik, post-ECM balearic plateau. Abstract textural elements gently swirl around and behind all that is rhythm, providing a submissive counterpoint. As with much of Troller’s work, Halcyon Future is an album that unfolds slowly, revealing more of its richness, detail, and subtle beauty at each listen.

Halcyon Future is a joint release by three:four records and meakusma.

Maribou State announce their new album “Kingdoms In Colour”, via Ninja Tune’s Counter Records imprint, their first full-length since 2015’s breakthrough debut album “Portraits”. The record features new single ‘Feel Good’ - a collaboration born of their friendship with Houston-based trio Khruangbin and a shared love of breakbeats, vintage surf riffs and a common desire to explore worldwide music cultures. "Sometimes a chance meeting plants the seed for something bigger,” say Khruangbin. “Such was the case when we met Maribou State at KOKO a couple of years ago. We are very happy to be involved in this project. And we ‘feel good’ already.”

The band continue their long standing relationship with Holly Walker who has previously vocalled fan favourites such as ‘Midas’, ‘Steal’ and ‘Tongue’. Also featured on the record is recent single ‘Turnmills’ - named after the legendary London club which closed its doors in 2008 - the release was accompanied by a sold-out ‘all-night’ DJ set at Corsica Studios raising money and awareness for the The Night Time Industries Association's #SaveNightlife campaign to protect the UK’s most vulnerable music venues from closure.

Today they also announce a new headline UK tour this Autumn. Returning with a 5-piece band, they play at London’s iconic Roundhouse on the 18th October. Ahead of this they will also embark on a string of European festival dates which include a headline show at Sonar By Day, Parklife Festival, Roskilde, Pukkelpop Festival, Nova Batida and recently DJ’d after Flying Lotus at All Points East festival in London.

Beginning life in 2011 as a project between Chris Davids and Liam Ivory, Maribou State had released a string of EP’s and singles before the arrival of debut album “Portraits” propelled them to the world stage. Spawning a live show that took them around the globe and included standout festival performances at Glastonbury, Bestival, a headline slot at Secret Garden party; a 32-date European tour with two sold-out London shows including the legendary KOKO; plus dates throughout Asia, Australia and America. They received radio support from the likes of Annie Mac, Zane Lowe and Gilles Peterson, addition to the BBC 6 Music A-list, a 5-show BBC Radio 1 Residency, a slot on the legendary BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix and performed a session Live from Maida Vale. Critical support came from the likes of The Guardian, I-D magazine and Vogue, with the album amassing over 80 million streams to date and drawing comparisons to acts such as The XX, James Blake & Mount Kimbie, as well earning them plaudits from the likes of DJ Koze and Bonobo.

This incredible success that followed the release of “Portraits” took Chris and Liam quite by surprise, “It was like Christmas every day” laughs Liam, “stuff like doing a show in Bangalore and having a crowd come and see us who knew the music and would sing all the words. It was an incredible experience”.

After more than a year of touring they returned to the UK to begin work on new material, but relocating their studio from The Shack - their home-built studio at the back of Liam’s garden in Hertfordshire - to a new base in London found them struggling to find their creative flow. The solution was to start looking outward and back over their journey of the past two years. They began making regular excursions out of the city, setting up a temporary studio space for weeks at a time, they started to piece together a “sonic collage” - drawing on ideas that were written while touring in places like India, and on field recordings from Asia, Australia, Morocco, America and beyond - the result of which is the stunning "Kingdoms In Colour”.

“The first album felt quite insular for us” says Chris, "not just in sound, but literally that it was all written in The Shack. We always had a bigger idea of what we wanted it to be, we wanted to create something that was palpable, that could in some way transport you to another country or another place entirely in your mind”. “The idea with Maribou State was always to draw on influences from different parts of the world” continues Liam "by traveling, sampling, recording, we wanted to create this all encompassing thing. Which is what this second record has ended up being for us”.

A decade on from that stunning ‘P.A./Hard Love’ album that firmly placed Rosenfeld’s avant-dub fascinations on our map, the NYC-based sound artist releases these immersive recordings of her and two revered drummers interpreting scores generated by SuperCollider, which were then reworked by Rosenfeld, cut to dubplate, and played back in the hallowed arts space of MoMA P.S.1. With her last few releases, Rosenfeld has averted her gaze towards the fuzzy boundary between the avant garde and popular music, most notably covering Christina Aguilera and György Ligeti on 2021’s genius ‘Teenage Lontano’. Here, she takes a step further into febrile abstraction, using dubplates fed through a SuperCollider algorithm to reduce the data into a “proper” composition, with Eli Keszler joining Greg Fox on percussion and Rosenfeld further editing the material for release. Over 5 pieces the trio smartly short-circuit distinctions between free jazz, musique concrète, and dub- as-method, manifesting a masterful grasp of music’s spatio-temporal metaphysics on a remarkably wide and awning sound stage that benefits from detailed stereo dynamics. It starts tentatively with insectoid percussion appearing to scuttle the walls while phantasmic creatures growl and click from the rafters, and really comes into its own with bat-like zaps that feel out the room’s architecture on ‘Carys’. At its mid-way point, the percussion recedes to leave the artist’s voice swept in bleeps and crackle that slosh into the gyre of the sub-heavy, Gamelan-like ‘Solace’, before concluding with the seat-edge tension of Fox & Keszler’s gripping drums, spun out with Rosenfeld’s electronics like a real-time diffusion of a Parmegiani piece.

Musical maverick Mark de Clive-Lowe returns to his roots with a new electro-acoustic record ‘Dreamweavers’, displaying his talent as a pianist and composer in partnership with creative collaborators bass player Andrea Lombardini and drummer Tommaso Cappellato. The two Italians have been a consistent presence on Mark de Clive-Lowe’s European tours for several years now, and it was during a road trip from Italy to Switzerland that Lombardini and Cappellato envisioned producing an MdCL album themselves. ‘Dreamweavers’ reflects on and celebrates the sounds that de Clive-Lowe grew up loving and finding inspiration in – from Sakamoto’s meditative melancholy and Ahmad Jamal’s soulful playfulness, to the rhythms of broken beat, boom bap and global rhythms. With the Italian rhythm section in empathetic support from start to finish both in their playing and producing, de Clive-Lowe embraces new found freedoms on ‘Dreamweavers’.

“Have you ever really loved a human? Have you ever come across the wisest of them? They will slip right through your fingers, leaving the most unimaginable impression.”

Jupiter’s Purse is the debut EP by Dallas, Texas-based artist Mattie on Leaving Records. Produced in conjunction with fellow Dallasite Black Taffy, Jupiter’s Purse is an expansive and unique work of experimental soul. Featuring 2021’s lauded single “Human Thing,” Jupiter’s Purse broadens a window into the fresh and exciting vision of Mattie. Explaining the EP’s theme, Mattie states, “I’m very fond of the planet Jupiter in the astrological sense because Jupiter represents expansion. It also represents the planet that takes everything that it is that we desire to see for ourselves in this life and it expands it, right? I was inspired to call it Jupiter’s Purse because it also reminded me of a female womb in a sense, the incubation process that happens within the womb, and kind of the purse being the womb of Jupiter. And the planet is basically holding our things and incubating them until it’s time to expand them.”

Of collaborating with Black Taffy, Mattie says, “I felt like his melody and my pen, and the voice that was coming through me and what really wanted to be said through the lyrics, it’s like they just found a home together. And it was so effortless to really just kind of dance with his melodies and write these lyrics and these stories. So that’s basically how we kind of started working together, and yeah, I think we made a baby. A studio baby.” The EP’s five cohesive tracks loosely follow the story of a narrator named Mhuv. Mattie states, “It’s really a story of myself as Mhuv, and how it’s felt for me to be at times identified with the body as a person, and then other times being able to observe the body, and know myself as that as well, and what that has felt like, kind of being in this sense of duality. Jupiter’s Purse is basically a vocal representation of a lot of duality that I experienced. In coming to know my true self, that duality kind of came more to the forefront, so I started to write from that, and to really understand the power in the duality, while returning back to myself as source.”

Director Tramaine Townsend provides visuals for the project. Mattie states, “I wanted it to be clean but experimental, experimental and also clean. I wanted it to have that two-fold. I’ve been listening to a lot of recordings from Virgil Abloh, and he inspired me this year to really appreciate the duality that’s in my work. And even in the visuals, the cleanliness of it, but the experimental aspect. The purist meeting the tourist. The purist being that classic approach to visuals, which I appreciate Tramaine for, and then also allowing me as the tourist, the one that is experimental and that wants to have a different experience… Once you see it, you’ll see the beauty, the continuity of what we’re trying to say.”

Mattie concludes, “I feel like what I realized is that there’s a home in me that is comfortable no matter where I’m at. And my life is based on finding that and remembering that home within myself. And so my focus on the external things, even though I keep them up and I maintain the physical things, but I realize that my only purpose, if there was one, is to really remember myself, as if to remember that home within myself, so that I can be comfortable no matter where I’m at. And my music is an expansion of that, that surrender to that aspect of this experience which is to come home and find that home within myself. The music is about going through what it feels like when you are on the path to remembering yourself. What it feels like, that oiliness, that stickiness, that bulldozer, the big explosions, the feeling of ground zero, the feeling of heightened senses, the feeling of being a giant but then also you feel like you are David, and there’s a Goliath. I plan on moving through, which is why the character’s name is Mhuv in Jupiter’s Purse, because I see ourselves, everyone on the planet, moving through these spaces and them not being intended to be a sticking point for us. And so Jupiter’s Purse is what I would call maybe a gateway, a womb to the other side. Jupiter is going to expand this project, because that’s what Jupiter does, and has blessed this project already, so I know Jupiter’s going to expand it to be another side of this, where we won’t be speaking from duality, but we’ll be speaking from our natural state as wholeness.”

Minor Science aka UK-born, Berlin-based musician Angus Finlayson pushes forward his vision of ambient music as neither static vista or merely mood-setting atmosphere, but rather a dynamic matrix of textures, sensations, and even rhythms. He makes his Balmat debut with Absent Friends Vol. III, the third installment in a shape-shifting series across a variety of formats and platforms. The first two Absent Friends--a 2014 set for Blowing Up the Workshop, and a 2017 cassette and web player for Whities (now AD93)--were hybrid affairs, part DJ mix and part collage, mostly featuring music made by other people. Then, in 2020-21, Finlayson developed the project into a live show of his own material. Armed with hundreds of bespoke stems created in his studio--idiosyncratic FX chains, feedback loops through cheap rack gear, heavily post-processed field recordings, found voices, etc.--he would improvise on four CDJs, mixer, FX, and live synths, extending techniques he learned as a club DJ into a live context, accompanied by visuals by Stockholm-based artist Paul Witherden. Absent Friends Vol. III is an album of studio versions of the music developed for the live show. But in Minor Science's world, even a category as simple as "studio versions" is slightly opaque. "Most of these tracks weren't 'composed' in the studio," Finlayson explains: "The sounds started out as stems and source material for the live show, and might not have been intended to go together--but then through performance, they settled into shapes that worked. I then recreated those performances in the studio." That organic process of ideation and realization might help explain the unusual coherence of the album, in which sounds and textures flow seamlessly from one to the next, sometimes seeming to stand still, and sometimes looping back. There are virtually no melodies, few recognizable motifs or riffs, yet the eight-track album nevertheless moves with a distinctive logic and a determined sense of purpose, from the frozen-in-time shimmer of the opening "Introduction" through the early cuts' studies of space and light; from the seemingly autobiographical "Summer Diary" through the rushing trance (yes, trance) arpeggios of "Contingency" and on to the dulcet denouement of the closing "Gather Your Party (Dispersed Mix)."

Mischa Blanos is part of the cult Romanian Formation Amorf (together with Christi Cons and Vlad Caia) which tours all over the world as a headliner of the “ro-minimal” scene. - The blend of electronic music and academic piano training is not new, but few artists have expertise on both musical fronts. The result is an album with a unique organic groove. - Technically Mischa is an outstanding pianist (with several piano prizes). His perfect knowledge of his piano, which he also uses as a rhythm box, allows him to improvise/jam, which gives “City Jungle” a certain “Jazz” dimension. - City Jungle is his first album (after two EPS for InFiné)

Reissue of Feu! by Rotorelief Records on vinyl LP and CD - April 2024.Industrial Punk, Noise'n'Roll Featuring Jac Berrocal.

"this Record WAS Invented IN TEN Days. When Nagi BAZ Offered TO LET US USE HIS Studio FOR A Week, WE HAD Just Finished RecordING Doctor Chance 93.

THE Plan WAS Immediately TO PAY A Sort OF Tribute TO MY Writer Friend Jean-françois Charpin (1957-1987), AN Accomplice OF THE SEX Pistols, WHO HAD Initiated THE Chalet DU LAC Concert IN September 1976, Before Creating THE Excellent AND Fleeting Avant-garde Magazine Grabuge IN 1978 (two Issues Published).

WE Spent A Whole WeekEND With Jack Belsen Laying THE Foundations OF SIX Tracks From Machine Matrices, Looping Rhythms, While I Wrote AT Full Speed ON THE TYPEWriter. ON Monday I Finished Formatting THE RAW Lyrics While Belsen RecordED THE Rhythms. THE Next DAY, IT WAS MY Turn TO Record THE Vocals AS ONE - Then JAC Berrocal AND Little Drake Played Their Instrumental Parts.

TWO Days OF Mixing Later, IT WAS Finished. THE Following Monday, Nagi BAZ Left HIS Record Label. After Thirty Years, THE Reissue OF FEU! (augmented BY Genotype From Messagero Killer BOY, RecordED Just Before I Left FOR Chile IN 1994) TurnS OUT TO BE A Double Eulogy FOR J.-F. Charpin, BUT Also FOR Jack Belsen, WHO WAS Abruptly Snatched From Life FOR ONE Awful Season, Between Late Spring 2018 AND HIS Death ON 7 December THE Following Year. -"

F. J. Ossang (mkb Fraction Provisoire) - Paris, 11 January 2023

Exquisitely compiled by Discrepant head honcho Gonçalo F. Cardoso from three tapes released earlier this year by the tireless mind-body of Spencer Clark through his own Pacific City Sound Visions, 'This Year In Coconuts Vol. 2' is another revelation into the deeply personal soundworld of this true voyager of both ancient, present and forthcoming times. Com-ing from a truly singular artist, capable of conveying multiple visions into a labyrinthine-esque mythology all of his own, these seven tracks feel as much part of their original setting as connected pieces from this never ending and puzzling netherworld.

Dedicated to the Temple of Isis in Pompei and opening sides A and B, the two tracks from 'Tempio d'Iside' set up a sce-nario not far from a dream version of the Temple itself, made from crystal clear synth-lines and levitating ambiences, like drifting into ancient memories from days to come. Making up about half of the compilation, the four tracks from 'Kowloon Spider Temple' drip into a feverish mosaic of Clark's by now trademarked cascading rhythms, unhinged alien-vocal sam-ples, phantasmic textures and sparkling synth harmonies projecting a catchy hypnotic oblivion filled with intrigue. The sole title track from 'From the Caves and Jungles of Apulia' tangentially reports back to some lower-fi recordings of the past, with its murkier sound inducing the feeling of willing confinement within such caves and jungles. A brilliant Year in Coconuts, indeed.

LP version comes with 1 random Carl & TJ Comic Board (out of 5 different boards) + 1 Pack of Stickers
Each comic board is into 200 copies.
Three years after his last album 'I Need Space', Mounika. is back on his favorite playground: electronic music, which arouses his curiosity since his beginnings. He is now ready to unveil 'Don't Look At Me', a new opus that takes us, by other paths, to his unique universe. Recorded during the confinement in the intimacy of his home studio, the French artist reveals little by little another facet of his artistic personality, more raw and affirmed, without totally abandoning the cottony sounds already proposed on titles like 'Cut My Hair' (diamond single) or 'Tender Love' (gold single). We discover sensitive compositions, still inspired by his love for trip-hop, piano and artists who made his musical culture during his youth: Moby, Ratatat, Air or Bonobo. After all, a Mounika. album without a tribute to these figures is not really an album...
But something new was needed to distinguish this opus from the previous ones. From the very first tracks, we can clearly feel this need for exploration that has always guided the French producer. 'BonXair' or 'Nomadics' take us, for example, in a more straight electronic, more heady than usual. In the same spirit, the rhythms close to the deep house of a track like 'See You Dancing In The Dark' offer to the album a new direction, and yet is quite representative of the work undertaken by Mounika. these last years.
In this new record that will also satisfy the fans of the first hour (a sample loop well felt, as on 'Little Love' or 'I Looked Into Her Eyes', always makes its effect), the French artist has also opened to collaborations of choice. Mounika. works on the heart, and thus wished to welcome those who have particularly marked him during his more or less recent discoveries. The American artist Roland Faunte lends his voice to the effective 'Little Love', while Ural Thomas & The Pain (discovered notably on the series 'It's Bruno') takes care of the chorus of 'I Looked Into Her Eyes'. The British rapper Lord Apex delivers a spellbinding performance on 'Memories'.
Finally, if you listen carefully, you can even hear Mounika. singing on some tracks... like '20' or 'Don't Smoke'. Put together, these appearances perfectly complement the energy transcribed by Mounika. throughout 'Don't Look At Me'.
And what could be better than an amazing graphic universe to open the doors of this album like no other? Meet Carl & TJ, two cartoonish characters created in collaboration with Berlin-based artist Joe Taylor, who take care of guiding the listener through this new adventure. One is dreamy and contemplative, the other asks himself a lot of questions... and between them, they form a colorful duet illustrating with tenderness the universal emotions that punctuate this third opus, and that Mounika. will notably defend in the first part of Wax Tailor's French tour starting next April.
The successive pianos composing the productions of 'When In My Heart In Your Heart' then 'Outro' come, at the end of the record, to conclude the setting in orbit proposed by this 'Don't Look At Me'. One more step in the sensory journey that Mounika. is committed, from the intimacy of her room to the international success, to build relentlessly.

"This music unites our common love for the essence of music, which contains harmonic structures and emotionality without borders." — Musique Infinie

Musique Infinie, the new duo consisting of Noémi Büchi and Feldermelder, is rooted in a shared desire to intertwine two composing veins, and to merge them into a new, massive core. While Büchi combined her background in classical and electro-acoustic music with a bold approach to composition on her highly acclaimed debut album 'Matter' (-ous, 2022), multi-disciplinary musician and artist Feldermelder has been expanding his artistic practice into unexplored realms for over 20 years. Mutually, they've challenged themselves to fully engage on an artistic exploration aimed at making use of the elementary forces that unfold between them.

Their debut album, simply titled 'I', is a musical hybridization. The compositions make use of simple motives that are radically transformed by expanding them into intricate structures and fantastic layerings. The overcoming of genres with eclectic elements from classical music, jazz, film music and traditional music, combined with the vocabulary of experimental electronic music, complete the vertical plunge into this thickness. The emerging pieces lead into a paradoxical world, both disturbing and euphoric. Pieces that don't give in to calculations and expectations, but progress through ruptures and repetitions. The richness of the compositions and their analog, acoustic and orchestral character reflect the density of the world with its violence, its decadence, its fragility, but also its power, its ingenuity and its beauty.

Composer and sound artist Noémi Büchi creates electronic, symphonic maximalism. Her music is defined by a delicate synthesis of textural rhythms and electroacoustic-orchestral abstraction. She explores the potential of consonance and dissonance, contrasts rhythmic physicality with disruption and playfully emphasizes irregularities, creating an expansive listening experience marked by detail and elevation.

Feldermelder is a polymathic creative whose artistry spans composition, sound design, installation and code. He is co-founder of -ous Records and an active member of Encor.studio, a collective specialising in creating immersive audio-visual installations. Through his work, he explores the idea of secrecy and its impact on our lives, using music and sound to create a thought-provoking and immersive experience for his audience.

India Lo-Fi Abuse was recorded in 1998, some tracks are "pure" Muslimgauze and some are re-mixs of tracks from Systemwide's "Sirius" CD (see also Systemwide meets Muslimgauze "at the City of the Dead" 12"). Nearly all of the tracks have hand percussion in varying tempos and intensities and at least 1/2 make use of electronic noise surges. The sound is very crisp and clean, extremely well produced, recorded and nicely varied throughout the length of the disc. Some track by track comments: "Antalya" is obviously from the same sessions as "Fakir Sind" seeing as it shares the same hand percussion sound, whistles, vocal wailing, cut-ups and delays. "Valencia Flames" sounds like a Systemwide remix. A dub bass line, hi-hat and background vocal of some sort are all obliterated by numerous delays, starts, stops and re-starts with an unpredictable nature in these cut-up tracks. "Al Souk Dub" injects background voices, market sounds and drones into the cut-up mix of slow hand percussion playing. "Catacomb Dub" and the final two tracks make use of twinkling synth waves, presumably a Systemwide sound source. "Dust of Saqqara" has a heavy pulsating electronic sound wave over an old beat box rhythm. "Android Cleaver" is brutal (as is "Nommos' Afterburn") hand percussion, jabs of noise and an oft repeated, unintelligible vocal sample. Yes, India Lo-Fi Abuse is yet another great Muslimgauze release, grab it! - Brainwashed.com

India Lo-Fi Abuse was recorded in 1998, some tracks are "pure" Muslimgauze and some are re-mixs of tracks from Systemwide's "Sirius" CD (see also Systemwide meets Muslimgauze "at the City of the Dead" 12"). Nearly all of the tracks have hand percussion in varying tempos and intensities and at least 1/2 make use of electronic noise surges. The sound is very crisp and clean, extremely well produced, recorded and nicely varied throughout the length of the disc. Some track by track comments: "Antalya" is obviously from the same sessions as "Fakir Sind" seeing as it shares the same hand percussion sound, whistles, vocal wailing, cut-ups and delays. "Valencia Flames" sounds like a Systemwide remix. A dub bass line, hi-hat and background vocal of some sort are all obliterated by numerous delays, starts, stops and re-starts with an unpredictable nature in these cut-up tracks. "Al Souk Dub" injects background voices, market sounds and drones into the cut-up mix of slow hand percussion playing. "Catacomb Dub" and the final two tracks make use of twinkling synth waves, presumably a Systemwide sound source. "Dust of Saqqara" has a heavy pulsating electronic sound wave over an old beat box rhythm. "Android Cleaver" is brutal (as is "Nommos' Afterburn") hand percussion, jabs of noise and an oft repeated, unintelligible vocal sample. Yes, India Lo-Fi Abuse is yet another great Muslimgauze release, grab it! - Brainwashed.com

Brilliantly remastered picture LP / LP / CD with new stunning artwork!

A1 taken from VA – 110 Below – No Sleeve Notes Required (110 Below, 1995) A2 taken from VA – Assemblage Volume Two (Extreme, 1996) A3 taken from Nonplace Urban Field – Golden Star (Incoming!, 1996) B1 taken from VA – Le Sacre Du Printemps (Gonzo Circus, 1994) B2 taken from VA – X-X Section (Extreme, 1991) B3 taken from VA – Directions 2 (Direction Music, 1989)

An Other Voices Records / Kontakt Audio Co-operation Release

Compiled by Terry Bennett and Oleg Galay Re-mastered by Višeslav Laboš Artwork by Oleg Galay

Brilliantly remastered picture LP / LP / CD with new stunning artwork!

A1 taken from VA – 110 Below – No Sleeve Notes Required (110 Below, 1995) A2 taken from VA – Assemblage Volume Two (Extreme, 1996) A3 taken from Nonplace Urban Field – Golden Star (Incoming!, 1996) B1 taken from VA – Le Sacre Du Printemps (Gonzo Circus, 1994) B2 taken from VA – X-X Section (Extreme, 1991) B3 taken from VA – Directions 2 (Direction Music, 1989)

An Other Voices Records / Kontakt Audio Co-operation Release

Compiled by Terry Bennett and Oleg Galay Re-mastered by Višeslav Laboš Artwork by Oleg Galay

The second part of the famous collaboration between two UK based electronic pioneers: John Bolloten aka The Rootsman and Bryn Jones aka Muslimgauze. For this album the original The Rootsman material from his albums “Into The Light” and “52 Days to Timbuktu” was remixed and deconstructed by Muslimgauze. As always with Bryn Jones, all material is inspired by Arab culture. We hear distorted dub rhythms, sawn-off loops, traditional music, male and female voices and then distorted rhythms again. Closing your eyes, you can find yourself in the middle of an eastern city, walk along its noisy streets, admire the ancient architecture. This noise can tell amazing stories!

Piano Day 2021 sees Nils Frahm surprise the world with his Erased Tapes debut. Wait, what? How? Anyone who has seen the trail blazing sonic pioneer live will know Nils likes to deadpan a joke. Graz is in fact the first studio album he recorded for the label back in 2009, that somehow remained a secret… until now. Nils Frahm has quietly changed the musical landscape, reincarnating the centuries old figure of a pianist-composer for a new generation of music fans. As Nils’ word-of-mouth popularity grew and grew, so did the pop-culture profile of his instrument. He founded Piano Day with a team of like-minded friends in 2015 to help that process, some years releasing an album of piano recordings to celebrate one of humankind’s greatest inventions. Graz is one such record; an unheard snapshot of a young Nils recorded at Mumuth, the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, in 2009 as part of the thesis Conversations for Piano and Room produced by Thomas Geiger, which received an award in the Classical Surround Recording category at the 127th AES Convention in New York. Whilst at the time it was decided to keep the grand piano recordings from the Graz sessions locked away and instead focus on his close mic’ed, dampened piano explorations which would become his acclaimed studio album Felt in 2011, two of the pieces — most notably Hammers — lived on as part of his live set, and were expanded on and re-recorded as part of his breakthrough 2013 record Spaces (a collage of field recordings from concerts which broke the Fourth Wall and included audience coughs). Over his mercurial career, Nils has pushed and pulled at the boundaries and parameters of his prolific work like that. He’s physically changed his piano (the softened prepared strings of Felt) played with a modified body (Screws recorded with 9 fingers and a broken thumb) played with scale (Solo recorded on the 3.7 metre high Klavins M370) and with the different layers of formats (last year’s Tripping with Nils Frahm nested his studio setup inside a live performance, concert film and live album). Now with Graz he has found the final frontier for play: time itself and his own discography. Graz is a moment of time at the very beginning of Nils’ quiet revolution. The essential genius is already evident; the harmonic language of classical, and the immediacy of jazz. Nils seems to pull down each idea moment by moment, gently, to not scare away the muse. He describes: “sometimes when you hear a piano, you might think it’s a conversation between a woman and a man. At the same time, it can hint at shapes of the universe and describe how a black hole looks. You can make

Berlin-based contemporary composer Nils Frahm has built a steady reputation for his intimate, poignant piano recordings, yet they only reveal a fragment of what to expect from a Frahm concert. The artist’s heart lies in improvisation, in the magic of a moment where, inspired by the space and the audience, his fingers create new compositions loosely based around his familiar melodies.

Spaces is an ode to the joy of live performance. It expresses Frahm’s love for experimentation and answers the call from his fans for a record that truly reflects what they witness during his concerts. Breaking the convention of a traditional live release, the album was recorded over the course of two years in different locations and on various media, including old portable reel-to-reel recorders and cassette decks. These moments were later pieced together in his Durton Studio for what Frahm refers to as a collage of field recordings rather than a live album.

Spaces includes surprises such as the sound of a toilet brush banging on piano strings to create a dub-sounding track. The decision to select takes that include the sounds of people coughing and cell phones ringing make clear that his audience is an integral part of every performance

In 2020, electronic musician Nina Pixel was offered a track on a compilation album of songs from the Liptov region. What started as a rearrangement of a single folk song eventually grew in scope and size, eventually becoming a series of releases. Titled Ancestral Archaeology, the series counts two self-released EPs, an audiovisual show in co-operation with Adrián Kriška, and now, after two years, a double LP published by Weltschmerzen. In this definitive form of an album, Ancestral Archaeology reveals itself as a musical reimagination of traditional historical Slovak culture at large.

Nina Pixel averts the perils of lapsing into inauthentic fakelore by building her music with, rather than on, the ethnographic riches of Slovakia. With the eagerness of a genuine archeological prospector, Ancestral Archaeology invokes the always present but seldom perceived linchpins of folklore culture: the desperate clinging to the memory of pre-Christian paganism and witchcraft, songs with narratives of beautiful innate wyrdness that is utterly unfit for mass culture, and superstition as the most serious longing for the balance between sense and irrationality.
If we acknowledge the truism of folklore as the shared way of expression in rural society, the techno music on Ancestral Archeology proposes that, in the urban society of ours, this role is served by raves. The argument isn't as much declared as it's implied // in music and in the spoken-word lyrics that are rife with historical and contemporary sources. An 18th-century recipe by the writer and priest Juraj Fándly proposes snorting the grounded flowers of the medicinal weed Valerian as a way of curing bad vision. "It is a proven remedy!" we are repeatedly assured, and it's not hard imagining Fándly and his parishioners, strung out on Valerian, moving almost involuntarily to the rhythms of their era just as we can move to Ancestral Archeology.

Nina Pixel is a Slovak music artist based in Berlin. Lyrics are inspired by Slovak folklore traditions, songs and shared beliefs.

Manifestation tools: cello, overtone flute koncovka, fujara, gong, metal bowls, sheep bell, field recordings of Slovak forests, Andreas's tom and various drum machines.

Voice samples:
Sutartinės (A Goddess comes from within the Earth)
Funeral Lament, recorded in Vernár 1973 (Puhpowee)
Panoráma Ľudovej Kultúry; Liptov (Pohár viny, 13th Month)

Hay-making Songs; Selec, Kysuce, Terchová (It Felt Like I Suppose to Follow It, Zmrzlí,Dialogické vyvolávania)

Italian duo Not Me But Us release their debut album Two via Sonic Cathedral on March 22. It’s a stunning record and proof that when two very different musicians meet it’s always possible for magic to happen.

This is very much the case with Bruno Bavota (the acclaimed Naples-based pianist and composer) and Fabrizio Somma (an electronic producer who releases music under the moniker K-Conjog) and their new collaboration. It blends both of their influences with added echoes of ambient, techno, 2000s club culture, post-classical and vague hints of post-rock, forming a soundtrack of their musical union.

‘Interlocking Mechanics’ was the first song they wrote and when, according to Bruno, it became clear that “all the sounds were in the right place”. So, instead than the rather cold and functional implication of the title, this slowly building beauty is actually the sound of something coming to life. The closing track, the elegiac ‘Us’, was the second piece of music they made, and is a similarly perfect mix of their styles. “It’s a nice combination and the good thing is that it’s a really new way to make music for the both of us,” says Bruno. “It’s hard to say how we came up with it together or who does what. We both believe that we’ve a common feeling about how to look for pure and sincere emotions.”

He’s right, despite the wordless nature of the eight tracks here, they are a testament to their ability to translate raw emotion into a musical journey, forging a connection that goes beyond sound. It takes us from the ambience of opener ‘No Words’, via the floaty ‘Inner Space’ and the B. Fleischmann-inspired ‘Buildings’ to the hymnal ‘In A Box’, the darker and more mysterious ‘Nocturnal Humans’ and the single ‘When We See’ which combines ethereal synths with skittering beats to great effect. It’s called Two, simply because it is just the two of them.

The series of seemingly random events that finally pushed them together in the “fragmented” Naples music scene and then led them to working with Sonic Cathedral simply adds to the record’s gravitas.

Back at the start of 2020 as the Covid pandemic tore through Italy, Bruno locked down at home in Naples and made music. In addition to his usual piano-based pieces, he experimented with electronics and the result – released the following year by the Brooklyn-based label Temporary Residence as For Apartments: Songs & Loops – was one of the records that soundtracked my grief after losing my mum. We got talking on Instagram and Bruno sent me some tracks by a new project.

The collaboration with Fabrizio had come about because a local promoter had essentially forced then to work together for an event on the island of Procida in November 2022 as part of its celebrations as Italian Capital of Culture. They got on well and, while they were there, on a wall, saw a sign that read “not me but us”. Several months of music-making and Mario Kart later, here they are, making up for lost time. “Here in Naples, 20 years ago, it was difficult to find someone who I could talk to about certain records,” concludes Fabrizio. “What we heard back then is in our music now and I’m convinced that this is only the beginning of a journey and we don’t know yet where it will take us.”

Step into the shadowy realms of sound with Nothing But Heart's latest instrumental 7" vinyl single, "Suburban Vanguard." This haunting release features two tracks that echo the eerie dance between reality and the spectral echoes of a digital age.

The title track, "Suburban Vanguard," unfolds like a melancholic journey through fog-laden streets, where whispers of the past entwine with the pulse of a restless present. Its intricate layers and brooding rhythms conjure an atmosphere of introspection, inviting listeners to navigate the labyrinth of their own thoughts.

On the B-side, "Every Dream Is Shot By Daylight" plunges deeper into the human psyche, reflecting the weight of unfulfilled aspirations. This composition resonates with a haunting urgency, evoking the fleeting nature of existence and the shadows that linger just beyond perception.

Together, these tracks reveal Nothing But Heart's mastery in weaving electronic and ambient elements into a rich tapestry of sound, reminiscent of a dark, swirling mist. "Suburban Vanguard" transcends mere music; it serves as a mirror to the complexities and uncertainties of modern life.

Guaranteed anthem for the introspective dancefloors, with heavy dubbed out breakbeat rhythms under trance inducing didgeridoo sounds. A side takes you on trip spanning over 12 minutes starting with faster paced floor action that gracefully fades into a half tempo section – two for one – flipping over to the the B side with two more versions of “Older Brother from the Rock”, the Tribal Om Mix and the Om Beats - something for everyone. Seriously remastered and re-cut for maximum dancefloor presence. Huge on proper sound systems.

Black Truffle is pleased to make Oren Ambarchi’s Grapes from The Estate available once more on vinyl. Originally released on CD on Touch in 2004 and reissued on Southern Lord as a limited double LP in 2006 during Ambarchi’s tenure as a member of Sunn O))), Grapes from the Estate was a landmark release for Ambarchi, seeing him expand his sonic palette beyond the clipped, bass-heavy electric guitar tones he was known for at that point. Incorporating subtle layers of strings, keyboards, percussion over a bedrock of his signature guitar tones, in retrospect this album can be seen as the beginning of a broadening and evolution in Ambarchi’s work that would lead to his acclaimed, densely layered epics for Editions Mego, Quixotism (2014) and Hubris (2016). Beginning with the shuddering pure tones of opener ‘Corkscrew’, which looks back to previous guitar-only releases such as Suspension (2001), the album’s next two pieces show a progressive broadening of the instrumental palette and a corresponding move away from textural abstraction and sustained tones towards more traditional notions of musicality. This reached its high point on the album’s third piece, the fifteen-minute long ‘Remedios The Beauty’, where guitars, both acoustic and electric, strings, piano, and bells build from a murmur to an interlockinging web of repeating melodic patterns over gently swinging brushed snare and cymbals. The epic closer, ‘Stars Aligned, Webs Spun’, returns us to a space populated only by the electric guitar, but unlike everything Ambarchi had produced up until this point in his career, the piece has a liquid, psychedelic edge that looks forward to the shimmering harmonics of his more recent work. As Brendan Walls wrote at the time of the original release, this is ‘another outpouring of personal, intimate and enduring music from Oren Ambarchi’. Presented in a stunning gatefold sleeve featuring the original artwork and design by Jon Wozencroft. Redesigned by Stephen O’Malley Remastered and cut by Rashad Becker at D&M, Berlin.