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Definitive career-spanning anthology
Includes previously unreleased tracks, inspired collaborations, and material from Leslie’s groundbreaking 1990 solo debut, Witch
Featuring musical contributions from Jon Hassell, Helen Terry, Jah Wobble, Renegade Soundwave’s Karl Bonnie, Christophe Van Huffel, Jay Glass Dubs, Mari G. Mooney, and Diamond Version, amongst others
Newly remastered by the GRAMMY®-nominated engineer John Baldwin
24-page booklet featuring a new, extensive interview with Leslie and liner notes by acclaimed author, critic and compilation co-producer Wyndham Wallace, along with an essay by award-winning writer and scholar Louis Chude-Sokei
Cover collage by renowned British artist Linder, featuring photography by Mondino, and design by designer Christopher Shannon
Picture shows a mock up. The actual records are unique and will differ.

“The definition of a hidden gem” – John Peel

“The world seems finally to be catching up to Leslie Winer, whose startling intelligence and singular vision shine through her copious recording life.” – Max Richter

“She might just be the coolest woman on the planet!” – Boy George

Light in the Attic is ecstatic to announce When I Hit You—You’ll Feel It: a 16-track anthology that celebrates the extraordinary work of musician, poet, and author, Leslie Winer. When I Hit You—You’ll Feel It spans Winer’s three-decade-long musical career: from her groundbreaking solo work in the early ‘90s to her latest inspired projects. Featuring musical contributions from Jon Hassell, Helen Terry, Jah Wobble, Renegade Soundwave’s Karl Bonnie, and others, the collection also spotlights Winer’s diverse collaborations, and unearths previously-unreleased recordings.

Newly remastered by the GRAMMY®-nominated engineer John Baldwin, When I Hit You—You’ll Feel It will be available in multiple special 2xLP editions, on CD, and across digital platforms. The album includes a new interview with Winer, captured by the compilation’s co-producer, acclaimed author and critic Wyndham Wallace. Rounding out the package is an insightful essay by the award-winning writer and scholar Louis Chude-Sokei and an original cover collage by the renowned British photographer and artist, Linder, featuring photography by Mondino, and design by designer Christopher Shannon.

MORE ABOUT LESLIE WINER….

Musician, poet, iconoclast, model, artist, enigma. Leslie Winer is many things.

Born to a teenage mother and sold for $10,000 in a black market adoption when she was just hours old, Winer has always lived an uncommon life. She grew up in Boston with a voracious appetite for music and the written word and embraced the city’s lively jazz and folk scene in the ‘70s. Moving to New York for art school, she gravitated towards a vibrant crowd of intellectuals, artists, and radical thinkers—or perhaps they gravitated towards her.

There, Winer formed an unlikely friendship with writer and artist William S. Burroughs and lived on-and-off with Jean-Michel Basquiat. In London, where Winer began her musical ventures in earnest, she was a regular at Leigh Bowery’s underground club Taboo, where she met many of her collaborators, including filmmaker John Maybury, Kevin Mooney (of Adam and the Ants), and Boy George, who once declared that Winer “might just be the coolest woman on the planet!”

Winer’s striking looks also attracted fashion designers and photographers. Throughout the early ‘80s, she was an in-demand model—appearing in campaigns for Valentino, Christian Dior, and Yohji Yamamoto, and serving as a muse for a young Jean-Paul Gaultier, who later dubbed Winer “the first androgynous model.” She posed for Helmut Newton, Irving Penn, and Pierre et Gilles, and graced the covers of The Face, French and Italian editions of Vogue, and Mademoiselle.

But music was Winer’s true passion and, at the turn of the ‘90s, she would unknowingly help invent the massively popular genre known today as trip-hop.

On her debut, Witch, Winer masterfully blended the uninhibited sampling of early hip-hop with dancehall basslines and programmed beats, while weaving mesmerizing—and coolly-detached—spoken-word vocals into her ambient tracks. It was unorthodox in the most delicious ways.

The album was a bold experiment by the self-taught artist, who enlisted a number of talented musicians in the sessions, including Culture Club’s Helen Terry, Karl Bonnie of Renegade Soundwave, former Public Image Ltd. bassist Jah Wobble, and Kevin Mooney, as well as Marco Pirroni and Matthew Ashman (both of Adam and the Ants, among other acts).

While Witch was finished in 1990, it wouldn’t be released for three years, due to the whims of Winer’s label. In the meantime, several tracks made their way out into the world as early as June 1990, thanks to BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel, who later referred to Witch as “the definition of a hidden gem.”

Opening with the laid-back dub beats and soft, sing-songy chorus of “He Was,” Witch features such highlights as the up-tempo “Skin,” the hypnotic, bass-heavy “The Boy Who Used 2 Whistle,” and the album’s closer, “Dream 1,” in which waves of reverb-soaked vocals bounce from one ear the other.

While sonically, Winer was breaking new ground, she was also bringing a fresh, incendiary take on what it means to be a woman in the music business, as embodied by her composition “N1 Ear,” in which she delivers a scorching, feminist manifesto, borrowed from the Women’s Liberation Broadsheet: “If I get raped it must be my fault / And if get bashed I must’ve provoked it / And if I raise my voice I’m a nagging bitch / And if I like fucking I’m a whore…And if I ask my doctor too many questions I’m neurotic and need pills / Because I still can’t get a safe birth control while some fucker’s roaming the moon.”

Winer had every right to vent her frustrations as a woman in music. Despite her fierce demeanor and steadfast focus, she was consistently disregarded and typecast by the industry. Many of her early collaborators failed to credit her work, while others simply overlooked her influence. Witch, for example, was so delayed that by the time the album saw the light of day (released under the pseudonym “©”), trip-hop was gaining mainstream traction via acts like Portishead, Massive Attack, and Madonna. Although Winer eventually gained wider acknowledgment (prompting the NME to give her the dubious distinction of “The Grandmother of Trip-Hop”), Witch initially went sorely unnoticed.

Following the disappearance of Witch, Winer continued to record, undeterred by the elusive nature of mainstream success in the modern music business. Her network of inspired collaborators continued to grow and expand, yet her influence remained largely a secret except to those in the know, such as Grace Jones and Sinead O’Connor, who would cover her songs.

Today, Winer stays busy on new musical projects in the French countryside, where she has spent the past two decades raising her five daughters. A prolific writer, she has also published two collections of poetry and oversees the literary estate of Herbert Huncke, a defining member of the Beat Generation.

In the modern era, one is hard-pressed to find an artist who continues to push the creative envelope as much as Winer does. And yet, three decades after her revolutionary debut, her work remains just as startling and fresh.

Winer’s influence might best be summed by the award-winning composer Max Richter, who offered the following thoughts to Wyndham Wallace for his extensive liner notes: “The world seems finally to be catching up to Leslie Winer, whose startling intelligence and singular vision shine through her copious recording life. A visionary commentator on the relationship between individuals and society in the mould of Blake or Woolf, Leslie Winer knows things that the culture at large just doesn’t understand yet, and she has never been afraid to let us know that.”

Referencing the cult alien sitcom from the turn of the 80s, ‘Mork Calling Orson’ is Jehst’s sixth album reaching a typically supreme standard of syllables and similes bearing a red-eyed hue.

Featuring the tracks ‘Daily Planet’, ‘One Horse Town’, ‘Wild Herb’ and ‘Autumn Nights’, and with Confucius MC, Eva Lazarus, Lee Scott, CW Jones and SINDYSMAN guesting, Jehst continues to unlock his superpower of making the melancholic incisively slice through all before him.

His partiality for provocative references to the fore, and sloganeering that “you hear the voice of God when I rock the mic”, “Jehst for president” and “I’m Nas in that ‘Illmatic’ phase” without either irony or pretence, ‘Mork Calling Orson’ begins as drowsy, clouded and dry-mouthed, occasionally letting light peer through the curtains, otherwise at peace with self-imposed exile (“ain’t no sunshine, regardless of climate change”). Nostalgic soundbites are interspersed with namechecks of Audio Two, Vanilla Ice, Daley Thompson, Mayor Quimby and Aloe Blacc, and Keor Meteor and Beat Butcha provide subtleties of assistance on production.

The classically 90s, NYC beats of ‘Footsteps’, and ‘Lonely World’ mutedly following its lead, have Jehst rising up, alert to self-examination and the outside world. Returning to familiar sticky green comforts on the G-funked ‘Wild Herb’, is a trigger for the album to find strength and leave its shell, with the subsequent ‘Doctor’ and soft rock lineage of ‘Daily Planet’ and ‘Flight to L.A.’ allowing for streams of consciousness and the sort of word association and reactions to reality that have been Jehst’s hallmark for decades.

The lullaby of ‘One Horse Town’ is the album’s centrepiece, gently ascending and fighting any previous pessimism, before Jehst retreats behind the ‘Front Door’ and on the graceful ‘Skyline’; a fractured soul conflicting his previous status of “mentally irate, physically primate”, stays eloquently, edgily tack-sharp to the last.

Produced by Sonnyjim (1/2/12) Jehst (3/5/6/11) Sam Zircon (4) Mr Brown (7) Beat Butcha (8) Keor Meteor (9) Taharka (10)

Décalé. and Bongo Joe Records present an all new compilation placing the spotlight on the Swiss experimental and electronic scene of the ‘80s and the early ‘90s. The compilation Intenta assembles under-appreciated gems, sought-after titles and newly mixed versions. It places leftfield synth-pop next to otherworldly jazz, and joins the dots between lyrical post-punk excursions and proto-house experimentation.

The compilation covers a period of transition: When songs mutated into sounds. When synthesizers and samplers became the règle du jeu in DIY music-making. When a politicized youth movement slowly gave way to the hedonistic embrace of techno culture in Switzerland. Intenta mines the outer fringes of a scene yet to be. Many of these experimenters were pretty much on their own. Often the only way you would get in touch was at the local synth dealer.

A spirit of bold improvisation inhabited studios between Geneva and St. Gallen: these artists were articulating pop sensibilities (Air Project, Sky Bird, D-Sire, Peter Philippe Weiss), entering computer worlds (Claudine Chirac, Olivier Rogg, Carlos Perón), exploring exotic shores (Andreas Hofer, Bells of Kyoto, Fizzè), building future discothèques (Aborted at Line 6, Carol Rich, UnknownmiX) or finding glacial bliss (Dressed Up Animals, Elephant Château, I Suonatori).

The compilation was put together by Matthias Orsett and Maxi Fischer. Intenta unfolds as a sonic story that is laid-back yet energetic, sultry yet daring. The two crate diggers set out to meet with many of the artists arrayed here. Memories were shared, wine bottles opened. There were moments of sadness: Karl Lienert Löwenherz (Dressed Up Animals) and Claudius Scholer (Sky Bird) passed away during the making of this project. What remains of this journey into the backrooms of Swiss popular culture, is Intenta. If you listen closely, it will reveal a nation on the move. Beyond the Matterhorn, there is sweetness and light.

Compilation, concept and production by
Maxi Fischer & Matthias Orsett
Artistic supervision by Cyril Yeterian
Analog mastering by Tim Stollenwerk
Vinyl cut by Adi Flück
Editorial by Bjørn Schaeffner
Drawings and layout by David Mamie
Typeface (Office Grotesk) by Chi-Long Trieu
Leaflet design by Yanis Carnal
The gatefold cover illustration is the music sheet of ‘Mondtanz” by
Karl Lienert Löwenherz from Dressed Up Animals
Courtesy of the artist’s family

Kontakt Audio and Infinite Fog Productions proudly present the 25-th anniversary reissue of the one of most unique albums on avantgarde/neoclassic music – Ihor Tsymbrovsky – Come, Angel.

Recorded in 1995 in Ukraine and released in 1996 just as a small run on cassette on Polish label Koka Records, the album without any promotion little by little became legendary and madly wanted by many fans all around the world. And from the first seconds, you can hear why it is so. Pretty hard to explain what songs play Ihor, moreover that would be senseless. “Come, Angel” is one of those albums which are so unique that takes you in a vacuum of verbal forms in an attempt to describe the record. In a few words, this is definitely very intimate and deeply emotional music with an absolutely incredible voice. The first associations could forward you to Antony Hegarty from Antony And The Johnsons, Marc Almond, Arthur Russell, Baby Dee, Bjork. Experienced listener familiar with these great artist knows that all of them are inimitable and Ihor Tsymbrovsky is totally inimitable as well.

In 2016 well-known German label Offen Music published 3 tracks from the album “Come, Angel” which brought a lot of attention to Ihor’s music. This time we’re excited to announce the first full album reissue on CD, Double vinyl, and tapes. Beside the full version of the album, you’ll find an exclusive bonus song from the cult compilation “Music The World Does Not See” – Nefryt Records 2000.

~

“For me, music is a certain way of cultural survival. Here I do not set myself theoretical problems or experiments. The connotations of life are important: rhythms, melodies, their connection with language, poetry, real life, virtual or imaginary space. It is very important to me how the recitation of work sounds, how consonant and vowel sounds dissolve in singing, how they combine musically. I understand sound space as a field of my interpretations, preferences, priorities, and I do not use direct imitation. If I hear a melody or a musical phrase, and it is fixed in my memory, later I extract it in my own interpretation, as already formed by this field. In art, the goal is in the work itself, not outside it. For me, the expression “To be is to create a new reality” is another winged reality.” – Ihor Tsymbrovsky

~~

“Tsymbrovsky – an architect, musician, a poet, an artist; one of the most underestimated musicians in Ukraine’s artistic world. Many critics pulled their hair out trying to get to the bottom of Tsymbrovsky’s music. It has been inspired by jazz, minimal, modern, ethnic, and meditation music. Tsymbrovsky is not a virtuoso, however, he creates whole worlds with his astonishing falsetto. Although Cymbrovsky’s music is simple it is made of many elements. Filled with magic and unusual sensitivity and warmth it can be therapeutic for the listener. This is that kind of music, which can be listened to many times – in a different way each time.” – Koka Records.

~~~

“Igor Tsymbrovsky’s only album “Come Angel” (1995) still remains perhaps the most bizarre phenomenon in Ukrainian music since independence. The story of its author is a vivid example of cultural amnesia. In the pre-Internet era, Tsymbrovsky was a prominent figure in the Ukrainian underground, performed on the “Red Route”, went on tour in Germany. However, he left a minimum of evidence of his activity and became a silent legend for a few. We talked to Igor to find out where he came from and where he was going.

The album “Come Angel” is eight compositions performed with a falsetto to the accompaniment of a piano. (Tsymbrovsky’s falsetto is a legacy of the Lviv Dudaryk choir, where he sang as a child.) It would seem that it could be easier. But, despite such ascetic tools, Tsymbrovsky managed to create a phenomenon unique to Ukrainian culture. Some people compare him to Benjamin Clementine and Anthony Hegarty, but no comparison will be exhaustive. The lyrics of the songs attract special attention: two of them were written by Tsymbrovsky himself, the others demonstrate his remarkable literary knowledge. Here and Guillaume Apollinaire, and Mikhaijl Semenko, and even less obvious poets, such as Mykola Vorobyov or Jozsef Attila.

The young performer’s first performance took place in 1987 in the club of the Forestry Institute. It is quite symbolic that this room used to be a Jesuit church because such a chamber environment suits his songs about angels much better than the noise of big festivals. However, there were also many festivals in Tsymbrovsky’s career: in 1989, Chorna Rada and Chervona Ruta, in 1991, Kharkiv’s Nova Scena and Ukrainian Nights in Gdansk, Alternativa in Lviv. Ihor calls his first performances musical performances and notes that they sounded completely different. Unfortunately, we will never know exactly how.” – Amnesia

~~~~

“The magicians at Dusseldorf’s Offen Music pluck a madly beguiling pearl of late-night songcraft by Ukraine’s Ihor Tsymbrovsky to follow their vital releases by Toresch and Rex Ilusivii. Come Angel was first recorded in Lviv, Ukraine, in 1995, and issued on cassette by Poland’s Koka Records in 1996. There appears to be no prior mention of the release or artist on the internet and quite how it came into of Offen Music possession is not disclosed, and that only ratchets the record’s enigma to astonishing degrees once you’ve heard the music. In a quivering, high register, androgynous trill, Ihor Tsymbrovsky beckons heavenly beings in the remarkable A-side Come, Angel against a swirling backdrop of phasing, subtly delayed organ. It was recorded in one take (this is the 2nd version), and, if we’re not mistaken, you can hear the keys being pressed rhythmically in the background, which seems to be the song’s only tangible connection to this mortal world as Ihor vaults octaves high and close-in-the-mix with the sort of alien, dreamlike vocal that requires pinching oneself to make sure you’re awake. Spellbinding is definitely the word. On the other side he (we’re assured it is a ‘he’ in the promo text) sets two poems by Mykola Vorobyov and Mykhal Semenko, respectively, to emphatic piano keys, this time more shy of FX save for some delay, placing that willowing, avian vocal at a dreamy arms reach in Roses for the Poet, and with a sort of liturgical dark jazz feel, sorta like Lewis repenting his sins as a castrato monk, in the spare atmosphere in By the Sea. This is gold-seal business, we tell ya. Clock the clips and clear some swooning room.” – Boomkat

credits: Music By – Ihor Tsymbrovsky Lyrics By: Ihor Tsymbrovsky (tracks: C2, D1) Atilla Joszef (tracks: B1) Mychajl Semenko (tracks: B2, C1,C3, D2) Mykoła Worobjow (tracks: A1,A2) Engineer – Edward Hryhorjew Remastering – Ihor Tsymbrovsky

Rodion-Ladislau Rosca spent his lifetime creating music that was ambitious, groundbreaking and innovative. He was a pioneering composer, a talented multi-instrumentalist and producer. He pushed musical boundaries to their limits. This he did as a solo artist and with his group Rodion G.A.

Cheb Terro vs DJ Die Soon features Cheb Terro's posthumous vocals on Die Soon's beats; a work that was finished one day before Terro's tragic passing. Starting somewhere in the last quarter of 2020, having approached Daisuke Imamura aka DJ Die Soon for a release, and just heard about Cheb Terro's work with his Toxic Club, Drowned By Locals made the hook up that would result in a match made in the Underplanet, as Terro would describe it.

Hailing from the city of Sousse in Tunisia, the site of the worst of several Jihadist attacks in recent years, Cheb Terro's writings and delivery embody the violence stemming from the frustration shared by Tunisia's new generation; and reflect sadness, rebellion and an obsession with death.

Rayen Hermassi, aka Cheb Terro, was a multifaceted artist; writer, rapper, video editor, designer and founder of Toxic Club, the first Tunisian movement to merge horrorcore, hip hop, hardcore punk, Memphis gangster rap, devil shyt, vaporware, tinged with occult elements taken from the country's mystic past.

Daisuke Imamura is a Berlin-based artist born in Japan. His releases include 'Kappa Slap' [Morphine Records], in which Die Soon collaborates with Ecko Bazz, Infinite Livez, MC Yallah, Lord Spikeheart from Duma, and MA; and his latest production for Sekelembele split with Swordman Kitala [Hakuna Kulala].

In commemoration of the too-soon departed Rayen Hermassi, Cheb Terro vs DJ Die Soon is planned to release on March 25th, 2022, the day of Rayen's passing, on digital and vinyl - Mastered by Rashad Becker.

Rayen Hermassi's share of proceeds will go to his family.

released March 25, 2022

Music and cover art by Daisuke Imamura
Vocals and lyrics by Rayen Hermassi
Mastered by Rashad Becker

Dbl10lp

Patrick Clarke | The Quietus | The Quietus Albums Of The Year So Far Chart 2022
https://thequietus.com/articles/31727-the-quietus-best-albums-mid-2022
Matador Recommends | Playlist by Matador Records
https://spoti.fi/3yayJRC
Zoe Camp | Bandcamp Daily | Essential Releases
https://bit.ly/3FXDbGV
Emna Maaref | Ma3azef |شب تيرو ودي جاي داي سون(Cheb Terro Vs DJ Die Soon) Review
https://bit.ly/3sKA7Za
Toxic Club | Nika7 Official Video Premiere
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYUHaC2KoDw
Noel Gardner | The Wire — Issue 458 | Cheb Terro Vs DJ Die Soon Album Review
https://bit.ly/3loBBUO
Gonzo (circus) — Mind The Gap 154 | Cheb Terro Vs DJ Die Soon - Pine Review
https://www.gonzocircus.com/mind-the-gap-154/
Clot Magazine | Underplanet Official Video Premiere
https://bit.ly/39xZGWK
Nyshka Chandran | Resident Advisor | Cheb Terro vs DJ Die Soon - Abtal AL Digital Single Review
https://ra.co/reviews/34696
Ransom Note | Posthumous record from Cheb Terro alongside DJ DIE Soon set for release
https://bit.ly/3yJDpjn
Tom Ravenscroft | BBC Radio 6 Music
https://bbc.in/3G4JpVl

Cheb Terro vs DJ Die Soon features Cheb Terro's posthumous vocals on Die Soon's beats; a work that was finished one day before Terro's tragic passing. Starting somewhere in the last quarter of 2020, having approached Daisuke Imamura aka DJ Die Soon for a release, and just heard about Cheb Terro's work with his Toxic Club, Drowned By Locals made the hook up that would result in a match made in the Underplanet, as Terro would describe it.

Hailing from the city of Sousse in Tunisia, the site of the worst of several Jihadist attacks in recent years, Cheb Terro's writings and delivery embody the violence stemming from the frustration shared by Tunisia's new generation; and reflect sadness, rebellion and an obsession with death.

Rayen Hermassi, aka Cheb Terro, was a multifaceted artist; writer, rapper, video editor, designer and founder of Toxic Club, the first Tunisian movement to merge horrorcore, hip hop, hardcore punk, Memphis gangster rap, devil shyt, vaporware, tinged with occult elements taken from the country's mystic past.

Daisuke Imamura is a Berlin-based artist born in Japan. His releases include 'Kappa Slap' [Morphine Records], in which Die Soon collaborates with Ecko Bazz, Infinite Livez, MC Yallah, Lord Spikeheart from Duma, and MA; and his latest production for Sekelembele split with Swordman Kitala [Hakuna Kulala].

In commemoration of the too-soon departed Rayen Hermassi, Cheb Terro vs DJ Die Soon is planned to release on March 25th, 2022, the day of Rayen's passing, on digital and vinyl - Mastered by Rashad Becker.

Rayen Hermassi's share of proceeds will go to his family.

released March 25, 2022

Music and cover art by Daisuke Imamura
Vocals and lyrics by Rayen Hermassi
Mastered by Rashad Becker

Dbl10lp

Patrick Clarke | The Quietus | The Quietus Albums Of The Year So Far Chart 2022
https://thequietus.com/articles/31727-the-quietus-best-albums-mid-2022
Matador Recommends | Playlist by Matador Records
https://spoti.fi/3yayJRC
Zoe Camp | Bandcamp Daily | Essential Releases
https://bit.ly/3FXDbGV
Emna Maaref | Ma3azef |شب تيرو ودي جاي داي سون(Cheb Terro Vs DJ Die Soon) Review
https://bit.ly/3sKA7Za
Toxic Club | Nika7 Official Video Premiere
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYUHaC2KoDw
Noel Gardner | The Wire — Issue 458 | Cheb Terro Vs DJ Die Soon Album Review
https://bit.ly/3loBBUO
Gonzo (circus) — Mind The Gap 154 | Cheb Terro Vs DJ Die Soon - Pine Review
https://www.gonzocircus.com/mind-the-gap-154/
Clot Magazine | Underplanet Official Video Premiere
https://bit.ly/39xZGWK
Nyshka Chandran | Resident Advisor | Cheb Terro vs DJ Die Soon - Abtal AL Digital Single Review
https://ra.co/reviews/34696
Ransom Note | Posthumous record from Cheb Terro alongside DJ DIE Soon set for release
https://bit.ly/3yJDpjn
Tom Ravenscroft | BBC Radio 6 Music
https://bbc.in/3G4JpVl

When Dreijer and Sims were approached a decade ago by the Special Friends of the Earth
organisation to work on music with a steelpan from Trinidadian legend Ellie Mannette, they were
determined to approach the instrument with sensitivity in order to avoid awkward fetishisation,
highlighting the drum’s characteristic timbre rather than its expected application.
The duo spent years working with different techniques - playing the pan using droplets of water
and ball bearings, for example, until they’d developed a way of bringing its softer, more unfamiliar
textures to the surface. Just as Helge Sten created rare magic from an array of Harry Partch’s
custom-made instruments on last year’s ‘Sow Your Gold...’, Dreijer and Sims dissolve familiar
sounds into a bubbling pool of rich, queered harmonies and unstable rhythms.
Opening track ‘Liten Karin’ is probably the duo’s most radical statement, a reinterpretation of a
Medieval Swedish folk song that features Sims on vocals, singing over a patter of metal pans in
slightly broken Swedish. Working with a Trinidadian instrument but looking critically rather than
resting on romanticised aesthetics, they arrive on a sound that’s mournful but not self-indulgently
so, bringing out fragile beauty not restricted by Western temperament.
From here the music only gets more pointed and involving: the lengthy ‘Hybrid Fruit’ picks up on
the loose thread of 20th century minimalism (think Steve Reich or Midori Takada) using repetition
to accent the drum’s ornate mutability. When things appear to evolve into techno-warped
arpeggios, it takes a minute to realise it’s not synths we’re hearing but processed metallophone
scrapes, like some organic approximation of the Berlin school’s psychedelic cosmic electronics.
But it’s when Sims and Dreijer veer off course that things go fully transcendent; on ‘A Vessel of
Clay’, they reduce the sound of the steel drum to an icy crackle, letting bouncing ball bearings set a
loose pace. It’s not a million miles from Mark Fell’s collaboration with Portugal’s Drumming Grupo
de Percussão ‘Intra’, fracturing percussion into glittering mosaics that reflect technology without
being controlled by it.
The album peaks with ‘Across This Mud’, a noisy electro-acoustic workout that closes ‘Souvenir’ in
fittingly dissonant style. The first track Dreijer and Sims wrote for the album, it’s a fanged exercise
that satisfyingly explodes into ear-crippling distortion. One thing’s for certain - it ain’t calypso.

Limited grey vinyl.A more than timely reissue of Southern Lord's very first release. This is an awesome runic doom bauer of a record. Featuring Stephen O'Malley, Greg Anderson and a then 17 year old nordic vocalist, Runhild Gammelsæter. Thorr's Hammer was active only for six weeks during which it played two gigs and recorded a demo and "Dommedagsnatt". The band disbanded after Runhild's return to Oslo, Norway. Burning Witch was formed fromthe ashes of Thorr's Hammer and Runhild has currently teamed up with James Plotkin (Khanate) to form Khlyst. Long out of print and released on 180g black vinyl with new art work in a gatefold sleeve. Thorr's Hammer features Stephen O'Malley, Greg Anderson (Sunn0))), Burning Witch) and Runhild Gammelsæter (Khlyst).

One of the most brilliant albums of Esplendor Geométrico's first decade. Limited to 500 numbered copies.Live in Utrecht is considered a masterpiece of Esplendor Geométrico, the cult pioneers of industrial rhythms, and the best example of the energy of EG's live performances in the eighties. Recorded 25th November 1989 in the Cultural Centre EKKO, Utrecht - Holland, with a superb sound quality. Produced for the program De Bovenbouw/Nos-Radio, Hilversum, Holland. First released by Discos E.G. in 1990 and sold out on vinyl for 30 years! Except "Signos de energía" (a faster version than the one in Mekano Turbo album) the rest of the tracks were completely new at the moment this wonderful record was released. A special edition that comes, additionally, with an extra LP with seven tracks from the late 80's that were originally released on cassette: four tracks are from 1987, the other three are from the studio sessions of Mekano Turbo (1988) but not included on that album.All tracks written and played by Arturo Lanz and Gabriel RiazaSide A, Side B, and tracks C1 & C2: Recorded November 25, 1989 in the Cultural Center EKKO, Utrecht (Holland). Produced by Michael Fahres and Piet Hein van de Poel for the program De Bevenbouw-Nos Radio, Hilversum (Holland). Side D: Recorded live in Tolosa and Madrid (1987). Venecia I, Venecia II, Venecia III. Recorded March 1989 in Pradillo Studio (Madrid)Design: Juan Carlos SastreRemastered (2020) by Saverio Evangelista & Luca Spagnoletti.

ber mich macht’s traurig ("But It Makes Me Sad") is Kai Althoff’s first regular release after several records as Fanal and before with his band Workshop. The music for the double album was recorded by Kai Althoff between 2016 and 2019 with numerous instruments - including synthesizers and various flutes, guitars and African drums, rattles, cymbals, ratchets and Japanese string instruments.

"Nobody had to bear this music, neither was it thought out by anyone, played by none, nor dedicated to someone. Also, one no longer is, and therefore this utterance generates itself and is music to nobody’s ears.

Organizing the entombed power structures, paving alongside the most beautiful nettle-seamed trickle of remembered civilization on one’s own authority, which eventually gives in to its assumption; its mouth pasted (over) with the dried-up vomit of its intentions, never to open again. It carries this desparate melancholy, always ready to ridicule all of its (own) forms, to get to the bottom of all matter. Poking in the flesh of doggedly pursued gnosis with fingers, with weary despisement, deflating to crinkly tissue after life’s bloating :Oh, seriously! How could I be sad, the way they carry themselves and sing as they do that Alas, those whose fingers these are, just take those flutes and instruments! —- in liberation without the Idol, to no longer play something." A.M.

Electronic are proud to present the release of their self-titled album. Pressed on 180g black vinyl, this reissue features the black cover on vinyl for the very first time, which was first used on the CD version released in 1994.

Electronic were the coming together of Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr in 1987. This was the year of the sudden and wholly unexpected demise of The Smiths, who imploded in July after Marr left the group. Two months later, midway through a North American tour, Bernard Sumner shocked his bandmates by announcing that he planned to take time out from New Order.

Marr and Sumner had met in 1984 when Marr added guitar to Atom Rock by Quando Quango, an electro-dance track co-produced by Sumner. Marr sums up their coming together for Electronic; ‘We were two musicians who wanted to get away from the suffocating politics of the band. At the same time, it was OK for duos and DJs and non-groups to make records, and that really appealed to Bernard and me.”

The project was a joyous Venn Diagram of Sumner and Marr’s influences. Although ostensibly coming from different disciplines, the experimental dance-pop of New Order and the fullbodied jangle of The Smiths, their common interests were many: dance music, a good tune and pushing musical boundaries. At the time of release (May 1991), ‘Electronic’ was met with huge acclaim and stands up as one of the most important electronica albums of all time.

Billy Bultheel & Alexander Iezzi aka 33’s killer debut LP of sharp cuts between hardcore rave, DIY classical chamber music, Trance arps and performance art punk - think a Duma throwdown with Diamanda Galas and yr halfway there.

Pitting Anne Imhof-collaborator Billy Bultheel in a ravenous session with Iezzi and a host of input from Naked, Dylan Kerr, Ivan Cheng, and Patrick Belaga; ’33-69’ stages an opulent complex of numerological enigmas and swarming spirits unbound from tradition. Disrupting disciplines and paradigms in each cut, they enact a ravishing rush of dancefloor drama and tormented cabaret that feels like the 1920’s rushing into the 2020’s, resulting in a time-sick and urgent avalanche of ideas from Leider or Baroque barbed in noise and hardcore rave alacrity, like a performance art piece held in the midst of Berghain or Kit Kat club’s most spangled, gloriously messy moments.

As the first C.A.N.V.A.S. release of 2022, ’33-69’ builds on the sprawling ideas and feelings outlined by Olan Monk, Lugh, Elvin Branhdi, Michael Speers and Alpha Maid since 2018 with a strident confidence that meets the new decade head-on, face-first, as it gets to grips with new cultural schisms and energies. Tearing out with the shearing digital noise and soaring elegance of Ivan Cheng’s vox on ‘369’, it prangs out between machine-gunned trance techno in ‘Fireworks’ to operatic pipe organ and string processional ‘Sexus’ starring countertenor Steve Katona (collaborator of Pan Daijing and specialist in Bach recitals), beside an extraordinary mauling of industrial and BM ritualism on ‘The knife’ featuring a feral Naked in its seat-edge first half.

The second half slips below the belt with a virulent thrust in the panel-beating techno tribalism of ‘Pigeons’, and hinges around brusque techno triplets with the cabaret keys and Italianate trance motifs of ‘Sirens’, before PAN’s cellist-composer Patrick Balaga helps pull it back from the brink in ‘Thomas The Obscure’, lending a fine temper to the crazed/reflective narrative before it launches in a full out techno assault on ‘Heaven’s blade’ and the smoky, distorted growl of ’Speed and beer’ makes perhaps the most unhinged and ultimately moving use of a brass section you’ll likely hear for time.

Stunning.

This highly anticipated LP release is the second installment in GeG's playlist album series, following "Mellow Mellow ～ GeG's Playlist vol.1～," which includes the smash hit "Merry Go Round feat. Basi, Tsubaki, Vigorman, Wilywnka" that has amassed over 60 million streaming plays. As the title suggests, the overarching theme of this album is "mellow." However, "Mellow Mellow ～GeG's Playlist vol.2～" introduces a new "danceable" element as its additional focus.

A standout track exemplifying this is "eden feat. Nishina, Tsubaki." This track, created in collaboration with rapper Tsubaki, who previously featured on "Merry Go Round," and the rapidly rising new-generation musician にしな, is marked by its up-tempo beat and enchanting soundscapes, vividly showcasing GeG's latest "mellow & danceable" style.

Across all 10 tracks, this album features a diverse array of rappers and singers sharing their verses over tracks that boast a somewhat ephemeral and emotional sound. This ambitious and lavishly produced work is one that only GeG could bring to life!

Outsider ambient soundscape by two musicians from the Paris alternative : Désiré Bonaventure & Zach. An enchanted yet psychedelic dream-like ballad recorded in one take in an ephemeral delirium; borrowing from dub, drone, IDM & techno, reflecting singular inter-worlds and inviting us to join them.

Rue des Garderies is a distillate produced by the spontaneous collaboration of Désiré Bonaventure and Zach, two musicians evolving in the Parisian alternative scenes and so named in homage to a high-place of local other-music Rue des Gardes - now bygone - where this improvisation was conceived. Used to exorcising time and space with the multidisciplinary collective †een▲ge g☺d, Zach has also been evolving for over 15 years in various frequencies - beatmaking, mastering where Désiré Bonaventure is a member of the duo Euphonic Alliances Ltd. and R.A.F. Soundsystem.

Rue des Garderies was recorded in one take, using samplers and effects, in a hail of cables, eyes closed in a delirium that accompanied the dawn, in preparation for another present. Here Désiré and Zach explore the in-between worlds (musical, but not only), immersing themselves in their cracks, their folds and their emanations, and trying to recount us.

From this material they mould a new alchemy lasting over a hundred minutes like a long journey into psychedelia, borrowing from various currents (ambient, drone, IDM, dub techno, the English electronic scene of the 1990s), rich in organic and analogue textures that superimpose, stretch, fold and expand.

The result is a grand and ethereal fresco, with shifting colours and textures, invoking astral projections and sporadic rhythms; a whole other world, populated by shapes, hues and new lives, forming a complex but enchanting sound essay.

Rue des Garderies is an ephemeral harmony, born of a fragile chaos that accompanies moments of existence; a dance without tangible movement.

'An album such as this obviously owes a lot to the atmosphere in which it was recorded, which we can imagine was magical. We know it took place in Fromentel, Normandy, in a farm converted into a studio by the producer Jacques Denjean, known for his work with Dionne Warwick or Françoise Hardy as well as having been a member of the Double Six. It was also at Fromentel, that Denjean would record two fantastic albums with Albert Marcoeur. When Emmanuelle Parrenin followed in his footsteps a year later she was in good company: the sound engineer at the studio was her partner and therefore uniquely capable (we imagine) of creating an adequate soundscape for her delicate universe. What is more, five years previously, Bruno Menny, the sound engineer partner, recorded his first and only album, but what an album: in electroacoustic terms we can hear things which make him appear as the spiritual son of his mentor Iannis Xenakis!

What makes Maison Rose unique is exactly this fusion between the two conceptions of Emmanuelle Parrenin and Bruno Menny, creating a perfect marriage of tradition and experimentation. The tradition comes from the songs collected by Emmanuelle Parrenin in rural areas, in a similar vein to the work carried out by Alan Lomax and Shirley Collins. The experimentation is in the sound captured by Bruno Menny, who both arranged and recorded the album. This is not to forget those who came with their guitar (Denis Gasser), or their lyrics (no less a figure than Jean-Claude Vannier). On the one hand we have the humble and non-demonstrative singing, with melodies which remind us of songs we would sing to calm a child's nightmares, and on the other hand a pronounced rhythmic intensity at certain points, such as on "Topaze" where the drums in particular evoke the Motorik of krautrock legends Faust.

A real haven of peace, Maison Rose is enchanting with its aura of mystery and spirituality, with soft, gentle songs which seem both ancestral and futurist. Originally published by Ballon Noir in 1977, this album follows on from other folk marvels such as Le Galant Noyé from the pre-Mélusine period. On the subject of Maison Rose, if we had to risk a few comparisons we would mention Vashti Bunyan, Linda Perhacs, Joanna Newsom, Collie Ryan, Shirley Collins, Trees Community, Sourdeline and Véronique Chalot as those which spring spontaneously to mind. But this is too reductive for the timeless singularity of Emmanuelle Parrenin: because Maison Rose was recorded in 1977, in the midst of the punk revolution.'

Exclusive artwork by Charles Berberian. Additional 7’’ contains 2 unreleased tracks. Pressed on 180g ultra clear vinyl. Licensed from Emmanuelle Parrenin.

140g black vinyl housed in a glossy sleeve with artwork printed inside and out, 4 page A4 booklet featuring a score of album track ‘Birth’. Download code included. Fresh from the release earlier this year of his compilation of lambent, analogous ambient and atmospheric music for the esteemed Late Night Tales compilation series, Floating Points’ first album in four years, Crush, twists whatever you think you know about him on its head again. A tempestuous blast of electronic experimentalism whose title alludes to the pressure-cooker of the current environment we find ourselves in. As a result, Shepherd has made some of his heaviest, most propulsive tracks yet, nodding to the UK bass scene he emerged from in the late 2000s, such as the dystopian low-end bounce of previously shared striking lead single ‘LesAlpx’ (Pitchfork’s ‘Best New Track’), but there are also some of his most expressive songs on Crush: his signature melancholia is there in the album’s sublime mellower moments or in the Buchla synthesizer, whose eerie modulation haunts the album.

Are you sitting comfortably? Artificial Intelligence is for long journeys, quiet nights and club drowsy dawns. Listen with an open mind.

Back in 1992 when Warp released the Artificial Intelligence compilation it almost instantly changed both the course of Warp as a label and arguably what many would consider club music as an entity to be. Artificial Intelligence came housed inside a prog rock styled gatefold sleeve depicting a cover image of a robot blowing smoke rings whilst reclining on an armchair. Its extra long rolling papers and tin of tobacco just out of reach, whilst a high-end stereo plays out the sounds of Kraftwerk's Autobahn and Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon, their LP sleeves lay strewn across the floor. This image along with the above text that as printed on the sleeve acted as a guide for the listener on how to best experience this new mode of techno music, one that was designed for those nights when your body stays in but your mind steps out.

Having been in operation for three years by the time they compiled and released the Artificial Intelligence compilation, Warp had already proved itself as a worthy force within the world of quickfire 12 singles of acid house and the emerging hardcore scene. Starting as a predominant pusher of the new bleep 'n' bass sounds of their hometown Sheffield, Warp had enjoyed success with early anthemic singles from artists such as Nightmares on Wax, LFO & Richard H. Kirk's Sweet Exorcist project. These building blocks laid the foundations for what many would go on to define as the Warp sound but it was 1992's Artificial Intelligence compilation that cemented their place in music history.

Artificial Intelligence was notable for early appearances by people who went on to become pioneers of the hypnotic groove for both Warp and electronic music in its entirety. Artists such as The Black Dog/Plaid whose melancholic contribution The Clan (produced under the alias I.A.O.) bears long drawn out strings combine perfectly with the tear-drenched techno of Carl Craig with the trend for looped breakbeats to create a track that still resonates deeply every time it is played. Looking further out than most, B12's Telefone 529 with its recording of an automated incorrect phone number message carries an air of nostalgic puzzlement, while Preminition transports a diva vocal and hardcore piano roll into a zero-gravity soundtrack of space. Autechre's Crystel and The Egg offers the first steps towards the path of abstract oblivion that they would go on to travel throughout the post-AI years. Both pieces focus an acidic gurgle around some cut up vocals, its timeframe existing perfectly within a distinct hip-hop cylinder that brilliantly displays their roots within b-boy culture.

Aphex Twin appears under his alias The Dice Man, opening up the operation with a track that would become an alias in itself, Polygon Window in many ways formed the core sound of the Artificial Intelligence compilation and subsequent album series that followed it. Rolling post-acid dynamics, a strong knowledge of breakbeat techno and some serious subs keep the track in a full forward motion, Polygon Window still stands out as one of the most unbeatable techno tracks within Warp's discography. Elsewhere, chief ambient technologist Dr Alex Paterson put forward a four-minute cosmic ambient piece akin to his work as the central figure of which The Orb revolves around. Whilst Richie Hawtin made an appearance with his euphoric almost gabba track Spiritual High, produced under the name Up! his fellow Plus 8 producer Speedy J stepped in with De-Orbit, a track that you could say on reflection, almost helped shape the early steps towards what would turn into the deeper recesses of liquid drum & bass.

Warp co-founder Steve Beckett was quoted around the time of the Artificial Intelligence compilations release in 1992 as saying you started to hear tracks by B12 and Plaid and Speedy J that just didn't fit into any category, B-sides and last tracks on EPs. We just realised that they weren't meant for 12-inches, it was just that this was the only outlet for that kind of music. We realised you could make a really good album out of it. You could sit down and listen to it like you would a Kraftwerk or Pink Floyd album. That's why we put those sleeves on the cover of Artificial Intelligence - to get it into people's heads that you weren't supposed to dance to it!. This train of thought led to Warp putting together one of the most forward-thinking compilations to appear within the early 90s post-acid explosion, and many others tried to copy the formula but arguably no imprint ever came close to topping or even releasing anything that stands tall alongside Artificial Intelligence for its undeniably experimental, yet sheer futuristic scope and vision.

Listening back now, 30 years since its original release, it's striking how contemporary and fresh the music of Artificial Intelligence still sounds. While many tracks from those days still and will forever sound brilliant, many AI contemporary compilations have taken on the sheen of a more retro and throwback feel. When digested with a knowledge of what has been made within the last quarter of a century, the tracks that form Artificial Intelligence still carry a strong, almost outside of time feeling that's influence shines as strongly today as it did 30 years ago. A timeless record that will continue to point the way forward for electronic music for many years yet to come.

Love International and Test Pressing commemorate yet another cracking festival with the latest instalment in their collaborative compilation series for their LIXTP label. For The Sound Of Love International #006 chosen Jay Donaldson aka Palms Trax as their selector.

The Berlin-based Brit launched his career in 2013 with releases on various labels which led to headline slots and globetrotting gigs from South America to Australia. He’s a regular at Love International, having spun at the first one in 2015, playing at Barbarella’s for an RA event.

The scope of this new record reflects the eclecticism of Donaldson’s DJ sets and his long-running ‘Cooking With Palms Trax’ NTS radio show and parties. Comprising of cuts collected on his worldwide trips, it’s a magical mind-blowing selection. Jumping between generations and genres, yet all coming together as a wonderful whole. As document it definitely demonstrates the joys of real record shops and physical digging.



The album opens with Linda Waterfall’s Clarity. A fabulous flight of late 1970s spiritual jazz-influenced folk from the late Seattle-based singer / songwriter, who released her debut on Windham Hill, and studied transcendental mediation under the Indian guru, Baba Hari Dass.

Sebastian’s Follow My Heart is a soulful soft rocker, a sax-y seduction theme. Its very European protagonist trying to entice you into a romantic liaison, and promising the time of your life.

On Did It Have To Be Me, glorious gospel choir-like backing lifts Frank E. Jeffries Jr.’s cool croon, and the spirits of anyone lucky enough to be listening.

Two tracks travel from `90s South Africa. El Pedro’s La Luna is a pumping piece of S.A. bubblegum, that’s strangely partly sung in Spanish and whose echoed snares mimic flamenco handclaps. Tropical, a little zouk-y and more mid-tempo kwaito, Novidade’s Masingita features great guitar picking and warm, welcoming group vocals.

Dieta Berliner & Jean Baptiste’s Paula & Kaspar transports us back to Berlin and forwards to 2012. A B-side secret weapon from Dieta’s short-lived Pakalolo City Records, this is a cowbell-led hypnotic head nodding chug, with a swaying sing-along melody and highlife-like licks hidden way down deep in the mix.

Culled from a cult Canadian 45 Angelo Mallia’s Hideaway is cute, catchy tumbling TR-808- driven synth-pop.

A piece of plugged-in Belgian `80s prog-rock, Zardoz’s brilliant Brasilia Drums pits its titular percussion against big cosmic synths, and segues into a new age-y journey.

Danish keyboard virtuoso Gert Thrue shows off his chops on I Play The Body Electronic. For nearly ten minutes switching between Hammond organ and Moog. Feeding everything through psychedelic phasing effects, and overdubbing some fab Fender Rhodes. A true emotional epic, the sonic auteur clearly got lost in its groove.

In Trance 95 might be one of the better known acts here, since the Athens-based duo’s work has been collected on Veronica Vasicka’s Minimal Wave, and in the 2010s they also supported Depeche Mode. Their 1991 single, Warm Nights Driving On Wet Streets, is chunky chill out room gear. Downtempo techno, with moody minor chords, that’s actually a tender love song.

Frenchman Alain Salvati is behind Flayer’s Wanna Get Back Your Love, which first appeared in 1983, oddly on an Italian 12. Rediscovered at the turn of the millennium it’s become a bona fide modern Balearic anthem.

The closing cut, Jeancky’s Variations Sur Protestation, kind of brings the album, musically, full circle. Returning to the late `70s with campfire congas, bongos, and gentle acoustic strumming. Saxophone and vibes taking it in turns to serenade the soothing mantra-like vocal.

The majority of the tracks included were self-released / privately pressed and in many cases the often mysterious artists’ only recorded outings. So, in putting this together Palms Trax has pulled a lot of talented people out of obscurity. No doubt exposing some holy grails and upsetting a few dealers, while making the dreams of folks who love good music come true. Full of excellent, eccentric finds, it’s a blissful collection that’ll fill floors and catch heads’ attention.

The initial seed for this project was planted in 2020 when Nicolás Jaar wrote the song “Piedras” for a
concert at the Museum of Memory & Human Rights in Santiago, Chile, which commemorates the
victims of human rights violations during the military dictatorship led by Augusto Pinochet between
1973 and 1990. Between 2022-2023 it took on a new form as a radio play entitled 'Archivos de Radio
Piedras', which was shared on a dedicated Telegram channel. In 2024, the play was converted into a
24 channel installation at the University Museum of Mexico City (MUAC), where it was exhibited for 5
months.

Piedras 1 and 2 is a collection of the tracks featured within the play, all new music by Jaar, but partly
presented within the play as the music of Salinas Hasbún (the name a composite homage to Jaar's
grandmothers, Graciela Salinas and Miriam Hasbún).

The play follows two friends mourning the disappearance of Salinas Hasbún, a musician and writer
who vanished in the early 2020s. Although they live in a future where technology is advanced, they
resort to DIY radio methods because the anonymous group “Las 0cho” has launched a worldwide
attack on undersea internet cables, causing a global internet blackout.

The play's central theme revolves around the idea that truths, memories and identities speak from the
cracks (“rasgaduras”), or the "in-between" spaces ("en el entre"). This concept is supported by the
way much of the narration unfolds - in the liminal spaces between radio frequencies. The instability
and transitory nature of a constantly shifting radio dial becomes not just a metaphor but the structure
of the play itself. It’s in these moments of noise, static and interference that the deeper revelations of
the story emerge. This disjointed, ever-changing medium mirrors the way memory and trauma
operate within the play - non-linear, slipping through the gaps, found in fragments or ordinary
moments, rather than direct transmissions of “official” historical accounts.

This notion reaches its climax at the end of the narrative, when a text is discovered in which Salinas
speaks of finding a new number in a small pond in a cave mentioned in the first episodes of the radio
play. This pond, inside the “cochlea of the world”, is seen as a way to introduce real-life randomness
to computation. Embodied in the salt lakes of northern Chile, home to the world’s oldest bacteria, this
randomness disrupts the rigid order of binary code, paving the way for a transformation of digital life.

29 Speedway is a record label and performance series based in Brooklyn, NY featuring forward-thinking improvisational music and live multimedia. Founded in 2020 by Ben Shirken a.k.a. Ex Wiish (‘Shards Of Axel’, Incienso 2023), 29S serves as a platform for artists exploring the fringes of interdisciplinary art and music. Hosting D.I.Y-guerrilla style sound and performance art concerts at Pioneer Works (nyc), Public Records, and in Europe in partnership with Index Records, they have worked with artists such as James Hoff, J. Albert, Yolabmi, Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, AceMo, Flora Yin Wong, Nexcyia, Young Boy Dancing Group, Umfang, Color Plus, Poncili Creación, Special Guest DJ, Arushi Jain, Drumloop, Isabella Koen, Ben Bondy, Kamran Sadeghi, Yawning Portal, James K., Syndey Spann, Debit, Pent and many others.

Resident Advisor called their most recent compilation record ‘Channel Plus’ “one of the most stunning documents of the ‘modern ambient-techno movement pioneered by labels such as Motion Ward and West Mineral’, with a focus on New York as well as a global outreach that encompasses chilled-out trap, electro, downtempo and even early '00s electroacoustic music”. Their debut solo artist release from J. Albert and Will August Park, entitled “Flat Earth” (2023), was based on free improvisation and ambient jazz, receiving praise from Philip Sherburne, Shawn Reynaldo, and was included in RYMs top EPs of the year. 29S has been written about on ID, Bandcamp Daily: Best Ambient, Boomkat, Paper Mag, Artnet, Dazed, Clot Mag, Nina Protocol, and Document Journal.

The newest release from 29 Speedway, UltraBody, is a compilation record featuring the music of Jake Muir, Pent & Dylan Kerr, Nexcyia & Mu Tate, James K, Flora Yin-Wong, Ex Wiish & Dorothy Carlos, Kamran Sadeghi, Tati au Miel, James Hoff, Eric Frye, Muein and Maxwell Sterling. The record is emblematic of the artists who have performed at 29 Speedway shows in New York and Europe during the past two years, and is the third in a series released by the label.

The record was born out of a desire to investiage how the self, spirituality, and language are intertwined with the intervention of subjectivity by new technologies. With increasingly sophisticated tech, and the supposed ability to remake the world and ourselves, what differentiates our individual discretion from the will imposed upon us by software? Quoting Walter Chaw from his piece on David Cronenberg’s Videodrome, “Decades of rampant, unregulated and ill-considered technological leaps have begun to evolve, to mutate, humans at a biological level”. This haphazard acceleration towards a techno-utopic transformation of humanity has faulted, and as William Gibson put it, is leading us to live in a “half assed singularity”. In this reality, artistic processes are influenced by excessive access to computational tools and assistance, but not utterly controlled.

This in-between state of dominion is explored in 29 Speedway: UltraBody. “Incoherences” samples the utterances of Dylan Kerr’s voice processed between Pent’s percolated glazes, muddying the gulf between vaporous ambient and reflexive sound design. The voice on James Hoff’s “A... ...Cha.... A... I feel l” was created by trying to get voice cloning technology to sing a gps data stream, the music an extrapolation from an earworm he got stuck in his head while shopping in Kyoto. On “Plogue Chain”, Eric Frye’s most speculative sci-fi observations spiral into a glazed pool of digital cacophony, while Kamran Sadeghi’s “Formula Fiction” is an experiment in (un)controlled generativity. Incorporating minimal pings from a 3D simulation scene based on gravitational interaction, cello bits evolve on “Assimilation”, a collaboration between Ex Wiish & Dorothy Carlos.

On UltraBody, sound has no separate existence from space.

180g Vinyl. This summer, Samuel van Dijk (also known as Mohlao and VC-118A) takes up his Multicast Dynamics alias for his fifth album on Denovali. Once again this storytelling artist sets out to remove you from reality and sink you deep into his Lost World. You arrive long after humans have left, but why? That is for you to find out.Multicast Dynamics albums are always absorbing and journeying affairs that are as immersive as a film or evocative as an audio book. Since 2015, long players like Aquatic System, Outer Envelopes and Continental Ruins have explored forgotten utopias and unexplored oceanic abysses with a documentary maker's attention to detail and narrative, and Lost World continues in this fine tradition.This is a mysterious album that wants you to engage not only with the music, but with what it means. Where it takes you. What happened before it started and what will happen long after it ends. How did you get here? Where will you go? Listening to it is like tuning into a world that already exists, somewhere, like some distant sci-fi reality turned underwater ruin that has a million stories to tell if only you can find them. It's an isolated world that is somehow alive with microbial life, crumbling architecture and radioactive energy that leaves you with a thousand questions as you descend ever deeper in search of some form of truth.Track titles are subtle signposts along the way, while the music is like sonic poetry: expressive and beautiful, yet open to wide interpretation and always rather mysterious. It is music that fits perfectly with our visual world in the way the artist places sounds in specific places in the sonic field. You are the central character as the action moves, pans and unfolds around you in a 360 degree spatial field rather than on a linear plane. Lost World, then, is a voyage to a distant reality that awaits your own endless exploration.

Coming from a diverse background of equal amounts hip hop and rock, the producer behind the alias of nrl:ndr got into dance music late in his musical career. After playing in kraut-oriented bands like So Many Mammals, parts of that group reformed into the live techno outfit Tren Né, with the goal of fusing techno elements with live drums. Playing for illegal raves with a punk-like energy, nrl:ndr has cemented his relationship with his machines in service of the dance floor.

But his solo debut on blundar is quite far removed from that scene. To understand this music, one should be aware of the conditions under which it was manufactured. Reluctant to consider himself an artist in the traditional sense, nrl:ndr makes his music free of anticipation and without apparent goals. To glean into this outré musical space is like putting one's ear to the boarded up windows of the photograph that adorn the front sleeve.

The album makes extensive use of the Roland Jv-2080, a sample-based synth rack from 1996 with a distinctly clean sound. Our producer dives deep into the expansion cards (labeled after genres like “Hip Hop” and “World”) for curious and sometimes cheesy samples. But he also forces the Jv-2080 to do things which are not its forte, like the arduous task of programming decent kick drums.

Another technique that is testament to his experimental view on music making, is the idea of using sketches of unfinished tracks with different time signatures, and mash them together into something new - of which the results of one of these experiments can be heard on the closing track and its bilingual conversation between ambient and tribal.

Full of stunted rhythms and eerie melodies, the unclassifiable nature of the music of nrl:ndr lies somewhere in the vicinity of IDM, classical avant garde and private press synth. From the epic opening track - echoing the post-kraut drumming style of Michael Shrieve - to juggling with chopped up vocal samples and treading into almost trap-like territories on A4, he crosses into a multitude of genres without getting his hands too dirty with nostalgia.

The Aloof formed in 1990 and forged a reputation as one of the hardest working bands around. While other acts incorporated an electronica into a general rock sound in the early ‘90s, The Aloof were always a pioneering electronic act. Touring alongside the likes of Massive Attack and Leftfield, they released three albums with Warner’s EastWest label: Cover The Crime (1994), Sinking (1996) and Seeking Pleasure (1998). After parting ways with Warner, they were in charge of their own destiny, and formed their own ‘Screaming Target’ label as they set about making a new record.

The resultant album ‘This Constant Chase For Thrills’ has established a reputation as a cult classic, but internal struggles and the wider pressure of the industry meant it didn’t get the coverage it deserved. Despite this, ‘So Good’ became a radio hit after featuring on the US version of Queer As Folk, and remains a fan-favourite. In anticipation of the release, it has finally issued as a single, setting the tone for the full reissue of the LP on Acid Jazz Records.

Defined by a positive DIY spirit as the band moved on their own, This Constant Chase For Thrills, has an Ibiza and Balearic feel, alongside its dark, moody and atmospheric moments. Aside from ‘So Good’ – described as ‘a dark cloud being lifted’ by founding member Dean Thatcher – there is the late night intensity of ‘Doing It For Money’, describing the need to make ends meet in difficult circumstances, which gained attraction when first released. Meanwhile, closing tune ‘Painted Face’ is arguably the album’s standout, infused with wide-eyed psychadelia and open adventure.

“I think ‘Constant Chase For Thrills’ was a return to form for The Aloof and I’m really chuffed this album is going to see the light of day properly and finally get the exposure it deserves” - Dean Thatcher, The Aloof.

White 140 G Vinyl, 33 rpm, printed 3mm spine Sleeve made of recyclable Bagasse carboard (made of sugar cane,linen & hemp) , black dust inner, cello, 60mm circle front sticker. E.VAX - the project of Ratatat’s Evan Mast - announces his new, self-titled album via Because Music,. Performing as half of Ratatat for more than the last decade, Mast’s music has reached an enormous audience with its bombastic merge of rock and electronic music, as well as through his parallel work as a hip-hop producer for artists such as Kanye West, Kid Cudi, and Jay-Z . His new solo album, E.VAX is a collection of instrumental songs, dolloped with moments of exploratory dialogue, disembodied moments that are equally disorienting and moving. The throughline between the songs on his new album is not a certain signature sound, but Mast’s feel as a producer. Though one song may lean heavier on snappy drums and another on the coo of an organ, they all share a similar sensibility. The songs are sincere, playful, inviting, curious, and contemplative—all characteristics of Mast himself. For this album, Mast loosened his attitude towards production, looking to capture some of the excitement of creation. He recorded at home, and then midway through the pandemic he spent time in Montana, recording in a friend’s art gallery. The blank space and isolation after so much studio time in close quarters allowed for a new looseness. He’d play songs at the wrong speed to see how it changed what he heard, or deliberately leave a melody untouched for months and then improvise over it after playing it anew for the first time. Unable to get lost in real life, he got lost in music. “I used to be way more precious,” Mast says about the album.

Vol.2 reverses the perspective and presents Hungarianized tracks originally by AG. Geige, founded in 1986 and who shared A.E. Bizottság’s gesamtkunstwerk aspirations.

Új Bála, Prell, Rozi Mákó and Committee represent the current Hungarian electronic music scene. They are joined by Sickratman, a Zappaesque rapper with roots in prog-meets-worldbeat.

His adaptation of AG. Geige hit “Fischleim“ (fish glue) resounds in a drum ́n ́bass-Killerremix by LXC.

The highlight of this German-Hungarian cooperation is Chemnitz-raised producer Karl Marx Stadt’s AG. Geige variations featuring two A.E. Bizottság vocalists - László feLugossy and Kokó –

performing the lyrics in Hungarian translation.

The cover artwork painting on Vol.2 is by Anton Garber, singer of Puff who are featured on Vol.1. The 12-page booklet includes texts by Frank Apunkt Schneider and Krisztián Puskár.

The tracks by Felix Kubin, Puff, Karl Marx Stadt and Új Bála are accompanied by very eye-catching videos. The Új Bála clip is a recut of the original AG. Geige video by Ina and Jan Kummer.

Ba(a)d Schandau Express is the final product of the EU project "One Million Steps Over the Border", in which Alexander Pehlemann participated, who runs Edition Iron Curtain Radio as an extension of his activities as Zonic,

which include various Zonic special books on subculture behind the Iron Curtain. Zonic, on the other hand, founded in 1993 as a fanzine for "cultural fringe views & moments of involvement" and meanwhile a presentation

and publication platform, celebrates its XXX anniversary in 2023 and especially the special aspect of exploring Eastern European subcultures.

Wave to Mikey, the fourth album from the Los Angeles-based actor, musician and photographer Danny Lane is a nocturnal, neon-lit ode to the friendships that shape us. “I made this album for my friend Mikey from back home,” Danny explains. “We were pretty much inseparable for a large part of our lives, and our musical and social minds were always in sync in a special way. Then with age, we drifted apart, especially since I moved to Los Angeles. This album is just a little wave hello to an old friend and a kindred spirit.”

Equal parts avant-garde composition, instrumental city-pop, ambient, Kankyō Ongaku (environmental music) and Fourth World music, Wave to Mikey is an impressionistic and reflective cycle of eleven richly detailed memory portraits. Throughout the album, the influence of Jon Hassell, Arthur Russell, Hiroshi Yoshimura and Yellow Magic Orchestra hangs in the air like late-night mist, adding character but never overshadowing the rhythmic ambience of Danny’s musical visions.

Wave To Mikey began as a series of sketches on analog synthesisers, guitar, sample and found percussion sketches, initially recorded in Danny’s home studio. Once he’d located the vibe, Danny called on his friends E Talley II, Solange collaborator John Carroll Kirby and Destroyer session musician Joseph Shabason, who respectively added flute, spiritual synth textures and saxophone to the record.

For Glossy Mistakes founder Mario G.R., who originally discovered Danny through his photography, Wave To Mikey captures a vivid feeling of melancholy and peace. “He's able to encapsulate emotions in a very straightforward way, either in his portrait or songs,” Mario says. “I think that's a kind of virtue or skill given to talented artists, no matter the field.”

Born and raised in Staten Island, New York, Danny began playing music with his friends when he was thirteen, before putting that passion on pause to study Fine Arts (Theatre) at Rider University in Lawrence Township in pursuit of an acting career. Acting led him to photography, after playing a photographer in a film, he was inspired to pursue the medium. Danny began shooting photos on film for magazines and lifestyle brands, spent a stint living in New York’s Chinatown neighbourhood, and eventually relocated to Los Angeles in 2017.

Four years ago, Danny started recording and releasing music under his own name, leading to the trilogy of releases that preceded Wave To Mikey, How To Empty A Cup (2019), Memory Record (2019) and Caput (2021). Over the course of these releases, he’s revealed himself to be a sophisticated composer and producer with a studied ear from years spent digging through record bins for ambient, experimental, new age, jazz and electronica records from around the globe, with a particular emphasis on Japan.

“Music is something that’s always been involuntary for me,” Danny reflects. “It’s unconditional, always there. It’s something I just have to do. I’ve taken breaks and it’s always gloomy when I’m not playing. I just want to get better and better and understand more and more.”

Here at Glossy Mistakes, Wave To Mikey marks our second contemporary album release, following on from Evenings by Japanese composer Metoronori. We’re proud to be able to present Danny, Metoronori and other modern musicians' work alongside reissues of classic works from Stevia aka Susumu Yokota, Akira Ito, Yuji Toriyama & Ken Morimura, and Takashi Kokubo.

Mastered by Damian Schwartz, Wave To Mikey will be released on Vinyl LP Glossy Mistakes on June 27 2022. Besides the regular black vinyl, a limited clear vinyl will be available in an edition of 100 copies. Both editions come packaged with original cover art photography shot by Danny.

Following highly praised releases by Hermeto Pascoal & Grupo, Leonardo Marques, Xenia Franca, Moons, and Gus Levy, 180g and the legendary Disk Union continue to explore the best of today's Brazilian music scene with this wonderful album by Bruna Mendez. A chill, mellow and futuristic musical masterpiece with funky and electronic flavours, Corpo Possível leads the way to the new era of Brazilian R&B.

Bruna Mendez is a female singer/songwriter from the inland city of Goiânia, Brazil. Originally a lyricist, she began her musical career in 2008 to express herself as a musician, joining several bands in Rio as well as in her hometown Goiânia. After releasing her debut EP "Pra Ela" in 2014, Bruna released her debut solo album "O Mesmo Mar Que Nega a Terra Cede à Sua Calma" in 2016, which received critical acclaim in Brazil.

After this first album, Bruna also finds interest in electronic sounds and textures, and starts incorporating these elements into her music. Her second album here, "Corpo Possivel", is the result of such an encounter between electronic beats, addictive melodies and a band and musicians playing a tight and propulsive sound. All of this makes Corpo Possivel an album standing out in today's Brazilian music scene, where many extraordinary talents are produced. 180g and Disk Union are proud to release Corpo Possivel for the first time outside of Brazil. This is an essential LP by an artist promised to a bright future on the Brazilian and international scenes.

This album comes on 180g vinyl format.

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Credits:

- Recorded in Curitiba / PR / Brazil, between April and July of 2019 by Pedro Soares (jack) at Chucreza Beats, Guigo Berger at Rec'n'Roll, Tiago Brandão at Voxdei, Vinicius Braganholo at Nico's Studio; in Goiânia / GO by Braz Neme at UpMusic, and in Lisboa / Portugal by João de Carvalho at The LX Sound.

- Produced by Gianlucca Azevedo (jan) - Co-produced by Machado (tracks A3 and B1), Pedro Soares (jack - tracks A4 and B2) and Lucas Romero (track B3)

- Voices: Bruna Mendez, Lilian Soares, Layane Soares and Machado - Guitars: Bruna Mendez and Gianlucca Azevedo - Bass: Machado, Leomaristi dos Santos, Rayssa Almeida, Nikko Novak and Gianlucca Azevedo - Saxophone: Gianlucca Azevedo - Drums: Pedro Soares, Eli Lage and Jean Ramos - Vocal Producers: Lilian Soares and Gianlucca Azevedo

- Edit: Bruna Mendez, Gianlucca Azevedo and Amadeus Marchi - Post-production by Bruna Mendez - Mixed by Guigo Berger at Rec'n'Roll Studio (Curitiba / PR) - Mastered by Anderson Guerra at Bunker Analog (Belo Horizonte / MG)

- Art direction: Junior Ribeiro and Bruna Mendez - Album cover photo by Junior Ribeiro - Graphic design: Félix B. Perini - LP additional design by Nicolas Kerembellec (nker.fr)

- Executive Producer: Cecília Brito - LP vinyl production by Greg Gouty (180g) and Yusuke Erikawa (Disk Union)

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180gdulp06 - Manufactured and distributed by 180g in collaboration with Disk Union Japan, under license from Bruna Mendez.

Edition of 200, printed sleeve. This album started as a laying-to-rest of the old Mxlx sound, all the big synths and noises. Wanted to move on. What happened in reality was something else. i just started recording the vocals and we got burgled, they took my laptop, with all the music on it. I was devastated. I found it by googling my phone, and along with some help, away from the dirty dirty cops, I managed to get it back. Finishing the thing was revenge enough. It's a big one for me. I sincerely hope it hits you as hard as it all hit me. Peace. Mxlx xx xx

A monumental debut work for Shelter Press, ‘Death Star’ is something of a definitive statement or magnum opus in the explorative oeuvre of NYC artist/composer Marina Rosenfeld - a big Riyl Iancu Dumitrescu, Lea Bertucci, Jakob Ullmann, Okkyung Lee, Maryanne Amacher. Marina first grabbed our attention with the uncannily echoic industro-dub environs of ‘P.A./Hard Love’ in 2016 (a real precursor to Jay Glass Dubs we reckon), before showing a quieter, more sensitive side in her collaboration with Ben Vida ‘Feel Anything’. Now on ‘Death Star’ she places deeply uncanny sensibilities to stunning use across an album focussed on the microphone as a listening device and instrument - a sort of mechanical ear/eye - with impressively elusive/illusive results. The original recordings come from an installation - a plexiglas orb housing seven microphones - that picked up and fed back samples of visitors to an exhibition at Portikus gallery, Frankfurt. Marina’s album reworks those recordings with fragments of piano played into the same system or orb of mics, generating utterly enchanted ethereal spaces that speak to the listener’s atavistic responses to echoic space and acoustic phenomena. In four movements Marina grows the source material from liminal, plasmic and dreamlike as she begins to feel out the work’s scope in ‘Death Star’, all quite polite but edged with a menace that gets more complex, with a chamber ensemble playing back notation of the original location recordings in more atonal and aggressive iterations re-amped thru banks of speakers to edge on KTL’s electro-acoustic doom or Iancu and Ana-Maria Avram’s spectralist music. So good this.

Gatefold Sleeve / 180g Vinyl

Returning to the well of Roger Doyle once again, his “Babel” project spans a decade of composition work before its’ initial release in 1999 as a 5CD set. Over 100 pieces and almost 50 collaborators it marks a journey through a virtual tower of Babel with each piece corresponding to a room within an imagined giant tower city. For the 25th Anniversary vinyl edition Doyle has revisited it- remastering it and providing its first vinyl edit - 80 minutes spread across two 180gm LP’s - rounding out the package with extended liner notes and a download code to the full 6 hours.

We’ve previously explored Roger’s Operating Theatre days and the idea for this project came in the early nineteen eighties while Doyle was heavily involved with the experimental theatre group. Working with emerging technologies and across a variety of genres he realised that he would be unlikely to achieve an overarching compositional style. Instead deciding to make a virtue out of the fact that he composed so schizophrenically, he wished to create a musical alphabet out of short abstract sounds with these sounds being analogous to phonemes in speech. With Blade Runner and sci-fi embedded in the zeitgeist of the times he came to the idea of the Tower of Babel as both a futuristic skyscraper and also an embodiment of language.

In the spring of 1990 Babel was finally begun and kept growing until it reached over 6 hours of music and was released in 1999.A large-scale musical structure making use of many technologies and music languages, with each piece of music being thought of as a 'room' or place within an enormous tower city. Each track in the main section corresponds to a virtual sonic architecture. The pieces are divided into two kinds: aural representations of actual spaces like The Dressing Room, The Stairwell and Mr. Brady's Room alongside internalised dream spaces like the Room Of Rhetoric, the Spirit Levels and the Mansard childhood memory room. Listeners can navigate their way differently through this virtual building at each hearing. As a supplement to the Babel Tower Kbbl - the fictitious radio station – broadcasts a number of shows. Each has its own style and atmosphere. Collaborating with DJs, actors, writers and singers, Kbbl is made to sound like a real radio station with ads, traffic reports and phone-ins.

Examples of the connections within the project can be found via the architecture were the saxophonist in the off-stage dressing room is rehearsing for her solo in the concert-hall (heard in Pagoda Charm) or the room off the stairwell, where the sounds of piano lessons and apartment life can be heard and the apartment where a muffled Kbbl can be overheard At a molecular level The Iron Language Alphabet is a sound alphabet containing tiny fragments of sound representing letters or characters of an alien alphabet. This sound alphabet can be heard scattered through other pieces like The Room of Rhetoric, Pagoda Charm and in Kbbl in Johnny’s Body at 002. Other molecular scatterings can be found in Cantilena where two songs sung by Operating Theatre’s Elena Lopez in Kbbl are exploded and re-arranged to form new entities.

Doyle’s Babel celebrates language - a slight variation on the Biblical morality tale - and musical expression in all its variety.

Horros, the third album by Finnish sonic voyagers Virta, is set to be released on Svart Records on October 6th

With Horros, Virta build on and take into new terrain the questing, jazz-tinged electroacoustic adventures of their last album, December 2016’s Hurmos, and its predecessor, their November 2012 debut Tales From Deep Waters. Still recognisable as who they were, the Virta of 2023 now delves further than ever before into their inner world to craft their most affecting, most atmospheric and most cinematic music to date.

Even so, Horros does not need to be accompanied by images – it envelops so much that signposts are unnecessary. The music itself is the guide through this sound world.

The creators of this environment are Antti Hevosmaa (electronics, flugelhorn, trumpet, vocals), Erik Fräki (electronics, drums, percussion, vocals) and Heikki Selamo (bass, electronics, guitar, lap steel, vocals). Together as Virta – which translates from Finnish as electricity, energy or stream – the trio were acclaimed as a “cornerstone of Finnish experimental music” by Finnish daily by newspaper Savon Sanomat in 2016. Horros will ensure this status becomes the case internationally. Beyond Finland, Virta already have dedicated listeners in Canada, France, Germany, Poland, the United States and the UK.

Reflecting on Horros, Antti says “We’ve always made music we want to listen to ourselves. We’ve asked what is the sound we want to listen to? We are digging deeper now, with new elements – more vocals. Lyrics too, which we haven’t done before.” Without sacrificing who they are, Virta now have a wider scope than ever.

“A key idea with Virta is to make the music you hear in your head and share it with people,” adds Heikki.

“Yes, to share what is in our heads,” agrees Erik. “But also, it becomes live music, that’s the point – to make music we share, to make connections.”

Practically, some things have changed. Erik and Heikki are supplementing their traditional instruments with more electronic gear than before. The band formed in Kuopio and had moved to capital city Helsinki. Nowadays, they are dispersed across Finland. Nonetheless, they remain creatively and spiritually united as Virta.

Coming together on Horros, Antti, Erik and Heikki have fashioned an album with a flow, which, although not explicitly stated, has a narrative drive. “It is as if you are arriving on a strange planet,” explains Erik. “It is quite solitary at first. The opening track ‘Aelita’ feels like entering some kind of unfamiliar atmosphere which you come through to see a landscape. Then, with ‘Tunneli’, exploring begins. It’s quite chaotic, you don’t know where you are. With ‘Sola’, the landscape starts to open up a little. When the album’s second side is reached, the mood is warmer, you understand where you are.” The album’s cover image portrays how the seemingly impenetrable atmosphere appears on reaching this world.

The Finnish-language lyrics and title reflect this voyage of discovery. Horros translates as hibernation – which has two meanings: Virta have reawakened, and the album’s journey is an awakening too. The opening track “Aelita” asks “Ei kai oo valoo ilman varjoo?” – “I guess there’s no light without a shadow?” The album ends with “Aamu”: “Hei aamu, Tummuu, Yön kaipuu” – “Hey morning, Getting dark, Longing for the night.” This place has become somewhere comfort can be found, where the coming of night presents no anxieties.

When they began composing what became Horros in early 2020, Virta already had the rough drafts of some of the building blocks. Elements of “Aelita” had been performed during a live performance film soundtrack project. “Toukokuu” grew from improvisations Erik and Heikki had undertaken in 2018. Virta had performed for weekly live streams in 2019, some themes from which also fed into Horros.

And although Virta did not discuss the music they were currently listening to – in the past, they would say “hey, have you heard this?” to each other – when they began recording at Erik’s summer cottage in the middle of 2020, there were some subliminal, long bedded-in touchstones: the original animé film of Ghost In The Shell and its soundtrack, seminal Finnish cross-genre outfits Nuspirit Helsinki and RinneRadio, the pioneering 3D video game Metroid Prime and the earlier role-playing video game Chrono Trigger. Mostly, the trio talked about immersion in music and sound.

Once they had assembled, they spent two weeks recording Erik’s drums and Heikki’s guitars live. All the while, Antti worked out where to play and sing. Then his contributions were recorded as Erik finished his drum tracks. What was captured was shaped and reshaped – Erik says “we all threw ideas in to help the music find its final form.”

“There were happy accidents which ended up on the album in post-production,” adds Heikki.

Antti stresses that “It’s organic, we wake music together as a band. We started making music in 2011 and we already knew each other before then – the music comes from all three of us, Virta is never the one person.”

Such empathy means that when Horros is played live, room is there for improvisation. “We may expand the sonic palette live, stretch out,” reveals Antti. “We might do some jamming to fit the ambience of the show.” The journey taken by the album is not over.

Horros is more than an album for Virta. It is also an expedition into fresh territory for Antti Hevosmaa, Erik Fräki and Heikki Selamo – creatively, musically and metaphorically. The spell it casts instantly captivates. Once this world is entered, it is not possible to depart.

Schnieke is rich and fruitful, yet carries a sadness within. A 5-string violin charts its melodious journey from Istanbul to Belin, accompanied by electronics, breakbeats, live drums and percussions. An authentic oriental funky mood keeps you in a trance or gets your body moving tribally…

This is Schnieke, a.k.a. Özgür Akgül, with his first studio album Hediye, or Gift. The album is intended as a gift to Özgür's grandmother, Hadiye, who was very important to him and to whom he dedicates a song. But his debut album will also come as a gift to anyone interested in how a sophisticated musical sensibility brings together electronic elements with stringed instruments of all kinds. Özgür plays the violins himself, as well as the analogue synths and drum machines. Guest musicians include Hasan Gözetlik (trumpet and trombone), Göksun Çavdar (saxophone), Korhan Erol (electric guitar and bass), Burhan Hasdemir and Baris Güney (live percussion), Zafer Tunç Resuloglu (live drums), John Gürtler (church organ) and the Istanbul Strings, Turkey’s most vibrant string ensemble.

Their diverse influences create a wide emotional range on Hediye - sometimes dark and melancholic, sometimes wild, groovy and danceable, somewhere between jazz, dub and electro, each song surprising in its own way. Despite the variety of the individual songs, a captivating pulse runs like a thread through Schnieke's first album. Incidentally, Özgür came up with the band name during a night out in a bar, when a friend explained to him what Berlin slang he absolutely had to know. He liked the sound of the word ‘schnieke’ – it means something approximating ‘snazzy’ - and perhaps he secretly also wanted to flatter himself a little! Well, shouldn't we all do that much more often?

Hediye consists of eight tracks, three of which are traditional: Aman Doktor comes from Istanbul, Özgür's birthplace, and is a homage to his own origins. Kadioglu comes from the Aegean region and features the zeybek dance form which, despite its ‘standardisation’ in recent times, still summons up the ecstasy, inspired improvisation and musical finesse of its historical roots. The other five tracks are Özgür's own compositions, with Pasali providing the soundtrack for the 2010 Turkish feature film Memleket Meselesi. Creating compositions for film has been Özgür’s primary passion since his time as a student at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. You can hear that in his music, because on his debut album Özgür does completely without vocal support, the instrumental depth stands for itself, and, in the style of The Cinematic Orchestra, space is created for us to develop our own images while listening – it is a soundtrack for the film we want to make of it.

After the 2021 Re-Release of “Schwingungen” (MG.ART612) we proudly announce “Seven Up” as Part 2 of the authorised 50th Anniversary “A.R.T.” Re-Edition Series. “Seven Up” is the third studio album by Ash Ra Tempel and their only album recorded in collaboration with American Ph.D. in psychology, Dr. Timothy Leary. The Coverart for “Seven Up” was designed by famous Swiss Artist Walter Wegmüller. Recorded in August 1972 at Sinus Studio in Berne, Switzerland, remixed September 1972 at Dierks Studios in Stommeln, Germany.

First release in spring 1973 by OHR Musik - the first release on the new sub-label "Kosmische Kuriere", Kat-Nr. KK 58001. We release “Seven Up” in a Re-Cut carefully overseen by Manuel Göttsching himself, on September 9th 2022, also being Manuel Göttsching´s 70th Birthday. Our Edition features the full original text for the “7 levels of consciousness” by Timothy Leary in English, i.e. “Instruction Manual for Pleasure Panel” plus a previously unreleased glimpse view of the original scripts incl. notes and mark ups as well as partly unreleased photos from the recording session.

As for the music itself we again refer to Julian Cope´s review and remarks from his book “Krautrocksampler” (published by Head Heritage, 1st ed. 1995): “When the Leary Mob met the Kaiser Gang, the sparks flew ever Up-wards. 7up is a stone classic in every way. Yes, it is unlikely to find Timothy Leary singing lead vocal in a cosmic group, but even weirder that he chose to sing a wild yelping freaked out blues ! Manuel Göttsching and Hartmut Enke had begun their careers in The Steeple Chase Blues Band back in the mid-'60ies, and they quickly felt their way through what Barritt and Leary were aiming for. They reconciled it all as a kind of West Coast chordless psychedelia, where blues riffs sparkle out of nowhere and the sheer weight of synthesizers renders everything with an unreal Pere Ubu/early Roxy Music quality. The greatness of Ash Ra Tempel burned so brightly on 7Up that there is really nothing else like it.

Hartmut Enke and Manuel Gottsching here returned to their riffy roots. It can hardly be called a retro act, though, as the context of music is everything. And with Dierks at the controls, even the New Kids on the Block would have sounded psychedelic. 7Up is like a late night radio show glimpsed through a shattered tuner where all but the most truly dangerous sounds have been allowed to stay, to drift and to dance around the performers. The result is an extreme gem, a flash of hysterical white lightning, and a pre-punk Technicolour yawn in the grandest of traditions. In typical Ash Ra Tempel style, the record is divided into two pieces, “Space” and "Time”. Within this, though, Timothy Leary’s ideas are allowed to free-flow and the two sides are therefore divided into mini-songs all segued together. The highlight of Side 1 is “Power Drive”, a West Coast burn-up that transcends any W. Coast music I ever did hear. Leary and Barritt present the greatest twin-vocal of all time, coming on like Jagger and Morrison but too caught up in their own maelstrom to be anything less than Heralds of the Punkfuture still five years away. In chaos it was conceived and in chaos it was recorded. Yet Dieter Dierks, the great Aural Architect of the Cosmic Couriers, turned 7Up into a personal triumph and a Kosmische dream.”

Ash Ra Tempel – “Seven Up”
TIMOTHY LEARY - voice
BRIAN BARRITT - voice
MICKY DUWE - voice & flute
LIZ ELLIOTT - voice
BETTINA HOHLS - voice
PORTIA NKOMO - voice
HARTMUT "HAWK" ENKE - bass, guitar & electronics
MANUEL GÖTTSCHING - guitar & electronics
STEVE A. - organ & electronics
DIETMAR BURMEISTER - drums
TOMMY ENGEL - drums
DIETER DIERKS - synthesizer & Radio Downtown

"Art is awe, art is mystery expressed," writes Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith. "Art is somatic, even if it is experienced cerebrally. It is felt." The central mysteries of Smith's ninth studio album, Let's Turn it Into Sound, have to do with perception, expression, and communication: How can we communicate when spoken language is inadequate? How do we understand what it is we're feeling? How do we translate our experience of the world into something that someone else can understand? For Smith, a self-described "feeler," the answers are inspired by compound words in non-English languages, translation, sculptural fashion, dance, butoh, wushu shaolin, and other forms of sensory and somatic experience. Just like fashion uses lines, shapes, colors, textures, and silhouettes to communicate on a sensual level separate from the conscious mind, Let's Turn it Into Sound strives to use sound to communicate what words alone cannot. "The album is a puzzle," Smith says. "[It] is a symbol of receiving a compound of a ton of feelings from going out into a situation, and the song titles are instructions to breaking apart the feelings and understanding them." The energized "Is it Me or is it You" comes from traversing the gaps between how you see yourself and how another might see you, through a filter of their own projections. The hushed sense of revelation that brackets "There is Something" refers to the feeling of walking into a room and being subconsciously aware of the dynamic present. All the while, Smith interprets these feelings through sound. This auditory interpretation process, driven by earnest curiosity, led Smith to record some thoughts and questions that popped up along the journey in Somatic Hearing_a booklet which accompanies the album. Over three frenzied months, recording alone in her home studio, Smith allowed herself to pursue new experiments to accompany her usual toolkit of modular, analogue, and rare synthesizers (including her signature Buchla), orchestral sounds, and the voice. She created a new vocal processing technique, and gave herself permission to pursue a pacing that felt intuitive, rather one that followed typical song structures. She walked around in the windiest season with a subwoofer backpack and an umbrella, listening to the low end of the album amidst 60mph gusts. She listened to herself, and, in doing so, to an inner community which suddenly opened to her. Underlying the album is a dynamic relationship between what Smith describes as six distinct voices, each a multifaceted storyteller. By acknowledging these characters, she was acknowledging her whole being: the woven plurality of self, the complex process of noticing and resolving inner conflicts, and the joy of finding harmony in flux. "I started to feel so embodied by all of these characters. This is all the felt, unsaid stuff [my inner community] wants to communicate but it doesn't have the English language as its form of communication, and so [this album was a form of] giving space to let it talk and not judge it and just let it play." By not adhering to expected song structures, each song feels even more like a conversation, with each character getting to express themselves in full.

Director David Lynch once said "I long for a kind of quiet where I can just drift and dream. I always say getting inspiration is like fishing. If you're quiet and sitting there and you have the right bait, you're going to catch a fish eventually. Ideas are sort of like that. You never know when they're going to hit you." Inspired by this quote in both name and spirit, Hollie Kenniff's The Quiet Drift is an ambient gallery of cloudlike synths, seraphic strings, echoing guitars, and other celestial textures guided to cohesion by Hollie's own wordless singing. Though the album certainly creates (and originates from) the kind of space where Lynch's proverbial "fish" can be caught, The Quiet Drift is a fitting title for Hollie's own history, both recent and distant. During the course of the album's creation, Hollie and her family moved cross-country from an island in Washington state, to an island in Maine before ultimately relocating to Canada. "As a child I visited Ontario year-round," she explains in her own words. She continues "More than any other landscape, I think the lake, rivers, and woods there left the most enduring impression on me. The landscape and pace of life of these places will always stay with me." But the reverberant spaces Hollie crafts need no physical headquarters. Instead of conjuring views of nature at the ground level, her sound more readily evokes a top-down perspective, with the distinct features of the land shrinking underfoot as the listener becomes untethered from geography altogether. The Quiet Drift belongs more to the liminal spaces between life and afterlife, memory and fantasy, landscape and dreamscape, than any mappable locale. Describing her formative years, Hollie says "As a dual US/Canadian citizen who spent my childhood in a rural town-- one that I haven't returned to in many years - I have a sense of not entirely belonging anywhere. When I was a teenager my close friends were male musicians, so I was also an outsider to the degree that they were wild and anarchic in a way that I wasn't. I was a quiet book reader and avid music listener who enjoyed being around a creative group. I was also a radio DJ for alternative and punk music throughout high school." In this light, The Quiet Drift attests that creativity is placeless, and calls into question the stereotype of artists as scene-centric city dwellers. Having come of age in the absence of metropolitan sensory overload, Hollie learned to spot the muse in nature, and within herself, instead of the echo chamber of a frenzied peer group. On The Quiet Drift Hollie Kenniff wholly escapes from such pop-culture feedback loops into transcendent, shimmering realms, and she brings the listener along with her. In this age in which we have all been called to reevaluate our relationship to indoor spaces, and seek refuge in the great outdoors, The Quiet Drift provides an apt soundtrack for such rebalancing.

There are songs that have been so entwined in shared public consciousness that they barely exist in their original form, viewed as phantasms, haunting the architecture of modern life in the background of adverts, movies, hotel lobbies. Hoff describes this phenomenon as not unlike the "tinnitus effect" in movies - listeners don't hear the compositions themselves, just their overfamiliar pitches. For his Shelter Press debut, he attempts to hack away the flesh from a few of those canonised themes in order to unleash dark spirits inside. "Scratch any pop song hard enough and you'll find sadness underneath it." he explains in the accompanying press release. There's an air of immediacy to each of the four pieces that sounds faintly tranquillising and his choice of instrumentation is similarly near-field: canned orchestral swoops and plasticky flourishes that grate against high-pitched synths and crumbled digital detritus, to remind us that we're fully at the mercy of apps, ads and hypnotic algorithmic propaganda.

From what we can surmise, 'Eulogy for a Dead Jerk' is Hoff's vaporisation of David Bowie's 'Space Oddity', a shimmer of woodwind, piano punctuations and occasional glitches. There's none of the original track's theremin-laced stargazing, but Hoff digs out the message from deep inside, one of isolation and dislocation. Lou Reed's 'Perfect Day' meanwhile is simmered into Satie-like slo-mo piano motifs and reverberating pads on 'Everything You Want Less Time' - an almost lackadaisical redux that's fittingly casual for a song that's been used on countless TV shows, movies and adverts. Reed dismissed the interpretation that the song was about his relationship with addiction, but in Hoff's hands its eerie mundanity feels claustrophobic, narcotic and nauseatingly repetitive.

Madonna’s ‘Into the Groove' is almost unrecognisable on 'The Lowest Form of Getting High'. The driving disco-cum-electro pop thrust and the double-tracked vocal melodies are gone, replaced by rainy, operatic woodwind swells and unsettling, buzzing drones. Hoff saves his most effervescent alteration for last, bending the faintest traces of Blondie's 'Heart of Glass' around mangled sonic outcroppings. There's barely anything of Debbie Harry's iconic delivery, just billowing harmonies and occasional flaws that draw a rough outline without filling in any of the gaps. It's a statement on cultural churn, but also a wry wink that acknowledges the popularity of Paulstretch ambient gear - the kind of YouTube-friendly slowed down pop revisionism that's morphed peppy radio-friendly commercial hits into sleeping aids. Hoff takes Eno's original concept for Ambient music and makes wallpaper out of tracks we're all supposed to know inside-out, filling a dry, digital space with cryptic patterns. It's a sad statement, but a vital one.

Artificial Dance is very happy to announce the full archival compilation of work by Richard Zeilstra A.K.A. Genetic Factor. Recorded in different parts of the world, at different times - we hope this will give the world a glimmer of the mind of Genetic Factor. A mind that has been behind a variety of very influential operations during the years; including a string of radio programmes (Radionome & Spleen a.o.), working at Boudisque and running Barcelona’s first compact disc store!

A double disc affair housed in a deluxe gatefold sleeve that is only bleak in comparison with the musics featured on the discs. With songs taken from a wealth of recordings (and we’re only touching the surface!) that were safely locked in the Lab’s vaults.

The songs featured are not an attempt of making a coherent ‘album’ but much more trials of interpretation of his world into ‘music’. His strong believe in non-musicianship makes it more thrilling than conventional musics, yet these recordings are not result of amateurism - they form a consistent reality of what excites him. Take a dive in the realm of the Genetic Factor…

"My debut album "Leidenzwang" is the consequence of boundless obsession" apostrophizes Kenji Araki with stoic calm. An obsession in the most positive as well as in the most negative of all senses, involving a wide variety of media. Kenji, in his early 20s, is known to be a digital and interdisciplinary artist from Austria with roots in Japan whose work is primarily influenced by the deconstruction of music and contemporary art.
"Leidenzwang" (in English: Suffering compulsion) is confrontation. Confrontation with the world. Confrontation with oneself. A confrontation that can be productive and cathartic. However, until Kenji Araki was able to get into this pattern of thinking, it was necessary in the process of creation to leave his very own sanctuary which he cultivated over the years. Escapism in the rear-view mirror of the past. "Leidenzwang" as a natural hybrid of passion (probably the most beautiful feeling a creatively active person can experience) and dangerous self-flagellation plus constant unrest. The result and musical core of Kenji Araki's debut album is an experimental, emotional post-club exploration with pop sensibility that deliberately ignores genre boundaries.
12 tracks spread over 50 minutes in fast forward: It starts with the adequate intro "Avant" - a primal scream. Next with "Matter" where Kenji collaborates with Thomas Mertlseder and constructs the sound world of a dark fashion film. Emotional highlights for the vividly vibrating club floor as well as for the digital terminals of Planet Earth delivers "Nabelschnurtanz" with its amalgamation of human sound waves. Followed by "Gel & Gewalt" - a combination of 90s Grunge, IDM and exponential rhythms - the fierce "sinew" with its distorted double bass recordings and "Monomythz" which is Kenji's interpretation of a club banger with a combination of 2000s Eurodance aesthetic and hypermodern off kilter beats.
A moment to take a breath is offered by the spherical track "Milieu" which was written during an emotional low and thus naturally has a dark note. At position 8 is "lluviácida" - inspired by the "rave scene" observed from afar. Closely followed by the album's title number "Leidenzwang" with its granularized piano melodies while nature sounds can be heard in the background.
The album finale is formed by the polyrhythmic fireworks "Deathless Mess", the piece "Isan 世襲" (in Japanese heritage) which symbolizes the own inner turmoil and at the same time acoustically illustrates the relationship to his origin. And the conclusion is marked by the heartbreaking "Au-Dèla" as the epitome of a closer. Kenji Araki: The time is now.

“Whether it is traditional or contemporary, we need to be authentic,” says Gözen Atila who performs as Anadol. “I don't claim that I am authentic, but this is what I want to achieve.”

A sense of authentic exploration, introspection and celebration coats every inch of Anadol’s latest album. After 2019’s Uzun Havalar, the Turkish artist returns with an album that continues to explore a variety of deeply embedded musical traditions while also hurtling into new terrain.

The music and influences - as well as the history, culture and geography behind them - that make up Atila as an artist all coalesce to create something entirely new. The result is something that is simultaneously exploring history and tradition, while harnessing innovative modern sounds and techniques. “If there is any tradition I am somehow connected to, or influenced by, then it’s multi- genres,” she says. “Such as Turkish Pop and Arabesk music from this country where I grew up. There is a connection to Folk and also French pop or Flamenco, Middle Eastern melodies and orchestration, Greek adaptations, Kenny G. solos, American guitars.”

This can be heard on Felicita, not in as much as you can link up the influences directly but in the way it glides across genres, eschewing convention and predictability along the way, to result in a kaleidoscopic experience. For the album, Atila found a talented roster of Jazz musicians in Istanbul who she recorded on top of her synth productions and field recordings. Soon enough saxophone, drums and strings began to stack up against preset drum loops from vintage organs. It’s a record where woozy psychedelic excursions bleed into dreamy synth lines, immersive ambience and the occasionally disconcerting yet incredibly tactile use of field recordings.

If it’s an album that feels like it travels through a variety of feelings, then it’s because the concept is loosely rooted in such a journey. Felicita translates as “happiness” and this album is something that explores the complexities of such an emotion. “I did not name the album like this because I just wanted to call it happiness,” Atila says. “A song like ‘Felicita Lale’ is a sad and confused song about a female character who can't get out of bed. It’s a funny rumination, in her thoughts, saying to get up and lie down repeatedly. At some point the lyrics say: "hep agla, felicita", meaning: "Cry all the time, Felicita". Like she is talking to happiness itself and telling it to cry. So it is not about happiness, it is more about the concept of happiness which can be very sad.”

Perila (Aleksandra Zakharenko) left her native Russia six years ago, landing in Berlin. Finding her place almost immediately - first at Berlin Community Radio and through that amongst a group of like-minded creative individuals (including her current flatmates Special Guest DJ and exael) - she started a regular practice of working on an expressionistic "sonic diary" of field recordings and electronic sound research for her own pleasure. When the opportunity arose to create her own podcast series, WET (or Weird Erotic Tension) was born. Upon hearing her evocative and atmospheric music layered with friends Nat Marcus and Inger Wold Lund's erotic spoken word poetry, Sferic Records asked to release it, and Perila - a project name originally used for her BCR show - truly came to be. Aleksandra, who was raised in St. Petersburg, has been involved in music since childhood thanks to her melomaniac father. She's been both drummer and singer in local bands in Russia, and is also the co-founder of radio.syg.ma - one of the first online stations in Russian focusing on experimental sounds - but Perila is something else entirely. You could loosely describe it as ambient, but her soundworld is so specific and transportative, filled with detail and movement, it's more akin to hauntological musique concrète, touched by song. Her fascination with voice and language - she studied English literature at university - is still evident, although that's now her voice, her texts, her crooning you can hear on the Everything Is Already There cassette (Boomkat Editions, 2020), her processed breaths on the Meta Door L cassette (Paralaxe Editions, 2020). The Wire Magazine got it right when they said about Irer Dent that, "Sensuality is presented as a secret pass to a higher consciousness." For her debut album, How Much Time it is Between You and Me?, released via Smalltown Supersound on June 11th, Aleksandra takes inspiration from the concept of time, which she felt keenly during the pandemic. Recorded primarily in September 2020 in a rural village in France - her only travel during the first year of the pandemic period - surrounded by mountains but otherwise alone with no internet, her perception of time there differed immensely. She describes the trip as, "an immersive experience into self," viewed through a "silence prism" where everyday sounds usually ignored felt amplified. While her work has always dealt in intimacy - be it the private thrills of WET or the audible closeness of our surroundings - the organic response and consistent feedback she gets for Perila made Aleksandra recognize a longing, a need for it in today's world. Intent on creating work based in honesty and tenderness, Perila's practice also explores how we feel music and emotion throughout the body and how sound can help to release it. How does the sound enter a body and travel through it? Where does movement start? How do you reach and unblock emotional clusters with the help of sound and deep listening of the body responses? Aleksandra likes to describe her music and performances as trips - thick narratives drifting along sound to get closer to self. Let Perila guide you through this journey.

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

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

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

A pure journey inward into the headspace of an artist, that reveals his gaze at the earth-ly zones he walks in: “Song for Joni”, the new album by Japanese musician Shunji Mori, brings pure natural music full of artificial nuances who create in conversation with ana-logue tones a new kind of musical nature, loaded with vibrant seasons, unknown to us, the unwise humans. moreover, the album is a fine continuation of Japan’s rich ambient leaning music traditions, carrying them into Lorren Connor’s like pending guitar galaxies.

In the 1990s Tokyo based Mori was part of the trip hop, nu-jazz, deep house, and down-tempo duo natural calamity, releasing a string of albums and EP’s on labels like legend-ary London based imprint Nuphonic, Japanese Idyllic Records or Down 2 Earth Record-ings.

In 2003 he launched the instrumental guitar duo Gabby & Lopez with his buddy Masayuki Ishii. Together they created three albums and performed live. Additionally, Mori plays improvisational concerts with Japanese musician, multi-instrumentalist, and stage direc-tor Daiho Soga and finds time to invent his very own, charismatic guitar music.

His solo work now finally gets introduced with a full-length album for Studio Mule, con-sisting of recent and a decade ago compositions, all merely recorded with the electric guitar, pedals, and field recordings.

In the center of “Song for Joni” is the guitar, spreading longing, drifting melodies. Free floating, yet deeply felt compositions, performed in an accurate journey music style. around the string notes, ambient landscapes soar and vanish.

In some moments, the guitar works like a slow-mo yacht rock lead, flying speed less over and under imaginative sonic clouds. Then, Mori’s music distributes psychedelic ef-fects in the tradition of krautrock legends like Günter Schickert, just without the echo fuzz.

Additionally, in warm vibrating seconds, his creations remind on the calm flashes in the musical work of English photographer, musician, and artist designer Steve Hiett, while Mori’s ambient spheres come close to the magic vibe of records like “Pier & Loft” by his fellow countryman Hiroshi Yoshimura.

A mixture, that transports considerate listeners into the meditative world of Shunji Mori, a calm island of bliss, made for all those that follow the heedful path of life.

"Art is awe, art is mystery expressed," writes Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith. "Art is somatic, even if it is experienced cerebrally. It is felt." The central mysteries of Smith's ninth studio album, Let's Turn it Into Sound, have to do with perception, expression, and communication: How can we communicate when spoken language is inadequate? How do we understand what it is we're feeling? How do we translate our experience of the world into something that someone else can understand? For Smith, a self-described "feeler," the answers are inspired by compound words in non-English languages, translation, sculptural fashion, dance, butoh, wushu shaolin, and other forms of sensory and somatic experience. Just like fashion uses lines, shapes, colors, textures, and silhouettes to communicate on a sensual level separate from the conscious mind, Let's Turn it Into Sound strives to use sound to communicate what words alone cannot. "The album is a puzzle," Smith says. "[It] is a symbol of receiving a compound of a ton of feelings from going out into a situation, and the song titles are instructions to breaking apart the feelings and understanding them." The energized "Is it Me or is it You" comes from traversing the gaps between how you see yourself and how another might see you, through a filter of their own projections. The hushed sense of revelation that brackets "There is Something" refers to the feeling of walking into a room and being subconsciously aware of the dynamic present. All the while, Smith interprets these feelings through sound. This auditory interpretation process, driven by earnest curiosity, led Smith to record some thoughts and questions that popped up along the journey in Somatic Hearing_a booklet which accompanies the album. Over three frenzied months, recording alone in her home studio, Smith allowed herself to pursue new experiments to accompany her usual toolkit of modular, analogue, and rare synthesizers (including her signature Buchla), orchestral sounds, and the voice. She created a new vocal processing technique, and gave herself permission to pursue a pacing that felt intuitive, rather one that followed typical song structures. She walked around in the windiest season with a subwoofer backpack and an umbrella, listening to the low end of the album amidst 60mph gusts. She listened to herself, and, in doing so, to an inner community which suddenly opened to her. Underlying the album is a dynamic relationship between what Smith describes as six distinct voices, each a multifaceted storyteller. By acknowledging these characters, she was acknowledging her whole being: the woven plurality of self, the complex process of noticing and resolving inner conflicts, and the joy of finding harmony in flux. "I started to feel so embodied by all of these characters. This is all the felt, unsaid stuff [my inner community] wants to communicate but it doesn't have the English language as its form of communication, and so [this album was a form of] giving space to let it talk and not judge it and just let it play." By not adhering to expected song structures, each song feels even more like a conversation, with each character getting to express themselves in full.

The Original Soundtrack for the contemporary dance Co. LA Sonrisa DE CAÍN's show Hu•mano.

"Best known for the acclaimed 'Ibers' album, Jorge Gavaldá (1960) is a composer and performer from Elche. He studied music with the Municipal Band and the Conservatory of the city and in a self-taught way, and has composed symphonic works and nearly a hundred of soundtracks for theatre, dance, cinema, radio and television. Gavaldá has also developed the soundscapes techniques in the processed guitar field, performed at events like Cannes Film Festival and collaborated with artists such as the pianist Agustí Fernàndez or the composer Pep Llopis. There are many awards received over the years. In this new album Jorge has used unprocessed & processed/synthesized guitar, with vocals, rhythm programming, sampling and keyboards. This work received the ‘Scenic Arts Prize of the Generalitat Valenciana 1999 for the Best Musical Composition' and now is publised by Discómanos in a 180g vinyl limited edition of 200 copies, numbered and signed by the author, and remastered from the original 1998 recording. Liner notes by Pep Llopis. The album artwork oil paintings by Francis Morell."

To celebrate the 90th anniversary of Luc Ferrari's birth Transversales Disques is very glad to announce the release of Photophonie, unpublished archives, spanning 1973-1992, revelatory collection of commercial, commission and secret music by electroacoustic music pioneer Luc Ferrari.
« Photophonie » (1989) / Music for the photographic exhibition of Alain Willaume.
« Il était une fois » (1973) / Commissioned by the G.M.E.B.
« Trans-Voices » (1992) / Curated by the American Center, Paris.
« Leica » - (1977) / Advertising for the Leica camera.
Affiliated with French Radio’s Groupe de Musique Concrète, co-founder of the GRM with Pierre Schaeffer in 1958, Luc Ferrari (1929-2005), major figure of musique concrète and electroacoustic music, broke away to pave his own path of individualistic expressions of minimalist music, musical theater, field recordings, orchestral music and soundtracks…

‘Demos/sketches/interludes from the hinterland between records. Drum machines and single take vocal sketches tied together with downtime synth experiments and recordings of local disappearing areas.’ True as it is, Jabu’s strap-line is a somewhat understated take on what also proved to be a transformative experience for them. The follow-up record to their 2020 sophomore LP ‘Sweet Company’ (and the ensuing ‘Versions’), ‘Boiling Wells’ weaves a smudged, group -mind spell. Originally released earlier this year without fanfare as a digital-only release, it now receives the proper release attention it deserves, issued in a neatly packaged vinyl edition of 300 copies. Dreamlike, woozy, raw and in dub, the album documents a blossoming process, and encapsulates a fragment in time - holed up in the country, soaking up the atmosphere in collective isolation, creatively embracing the limitations of a small recording set-up, and finding a new way to work as a band. “My mum had gone away so we’d decided to take the mixing desk and a couple of drum machines out to her house and set it up in the front room. We did it a couple of times to get the bulk of the tunes on 'Boiling Wells' done, one in summer and one boozy one around Christmas. I think we all immediately enjoyed working that way, sat around all together, more of an immediate thing. Jas started to play a lot more guitar, her and Al would write lyrics on the fly or be programming a drum beat in or something. We were all switching around and getting ideas down really quickly, not worrying too much if they were good or not. The music was limited by the stuff we had there, I didn’t bring a big desk so we only had six channels or so, and everything was basically just recorded in as a stereo take so we were more or less stuck with it after we’d laid it down - which was nice too. I don’t think we would’ve changed them anyway; it was the sound of the room and of us doing it together in the moment that was really important.” There has always been a collaborative heart to Jabu, though its nature has shifted and morphed over time. In their earliest incarnation, in after-school jams, Alex Rendall would rap over Amos Childs’ beats, but by the time they began releasing music in 2012, Al had found his singing voice – a sweet, soulful counterpoint to Amos’ increasingly dub-wise, experimental backing. Both are founder members of Bristol’s Young Echo, a collective of friends and musicians first operating loosely together on radio shows, artistic collaborations and events, and later on, running a record label. As expansive as their original remit was, Young Echo has steadily evolved since featuring in The Wire’s 2013 cover feature on Bristol’s new school of post-dubstep bass music. Of late, Seb (aka Vessel) has been working with violinist Rakhi Singh on string arrangements for Jabu, and the upcoming residency at Bermondsey’s MOT will showcase relative newcomers Birthmark and Intel Mercenary alongside the regular crew. Jabu’s debut album proper, ‘Sleep Heavy’, arrived in 2017 courtesy of Blackest Ever Black. A sublime, focused meditation on grief and loss written largely by Amos and Al, it marked the debut of Jasmine Butt (aka Guest), adding a further layer of vocal texture to their palette. ‘Sweet Company’, their first album written as a trio (released via their own do you have peace? label), drifted into lighter, more ethereal introspection. Featuring guest appearances by Sunun and Daniela Dyson, remixes by Equiknoxx’s Time Cow and Young Echo ‘s Ossia teased out the inherent pop and dub sensibilities respectively. Recent times have also seen remixes by kindred spirits Seekers International and Jay Glass Dubs, and a collaboration with the renowned T.S. Eliot Prize-winning dub Poet and musician Roger Robinson on a pair of plaintive, aching 7” singles. Jabu’s broad raft of inspirations can be experienced first -hand on their monthly NTS Radio show ‘Music 4 Lovers’, co -hosted by long-time friend and soul afficionado Andy Payback. A celebration of the endless tapestry of interrelated musical connections, it runs parallel to Jabu’s own reinterpretation of their influences. For ‘Boiling Wells’, Amos remembers a diet of “A.R. Kane, Cocteau Twins, DJ Screw, Southern/Memphis rap mixtapes, early 90’s jungle, Karen Dalton, Sybille Baier, Vashti Bunyan, Svitlana Nianio, a lot of soul, Armand Hammer & Alchemist, Grouper, Bobby Caldwell. Jazz was a constant, Japanese, Polish, Latin, American…”. And from those diverse strands, something new and singular has formed, to line up alongside them. ‘Boiling Wells (Demos ‘19-’22)’ is released by UK newcomer Six of Swords in a limited vinyl edition of 300 copies, pressed on black vinyl housed in full colour 270 gsm matt varnish sleeve and black paper inner, with full download coupon

London based composer, multi-instrumentalist and producer Akusmi announces 'Lines', an exhilarating new collection of works born from the desire to take where the acclaimed debut album 'Fleeting Future' left off - in search of new forms.

" 'Secant', I must have listened to this tune 3 times in a row, this one soundtracked my night drive through the winding roads" - Benji B, BBC Radio 1

'Lines' is presented as a Limited edition clear vinyl (500 copies only worldwide), printed in heavy-weight reverse board sleeve with a hand-numbered edition sticker. The vinyl edition also features 'Oblique' (A2), an exclusive version for the vinyl format, plus the now revered 'Longing for Tomorrow' - (Brandt Brauer Frick Remix), previously unreleased physically and now pressed on vinyl format, ending side B. The cover artwork features another collaboration with Dutch visual artist Sigrid Calon and design by label founder Adam Heron.

Formed with a sense of urgency and a reductive approach 'Lines' is almost entirely comprised of alto saxophone, clarinet and piano with embellishments of ambience and minimal percussive elements. Recorded in full at his home studio in London, Pascal Bideau speaks about the process:

"I wanted to go a bit more a bit more horizontal and ambient, work with layers of lines, might they be dotted or straight, and leave them to unfold and see where they would take me."

Akusmi uniquely finds the spaces in between experimental jazz, crossover classical and ambient music.

Second in a series of music library releases, with future volumes produced by DJ Muggs, J-Zone, and Karriem Riggins, among others. These will be released on the first Friday of each month.

Madlib Invazion Music Library Series was created by Madlib and Egon to give their creative friends a chance to stretch out and indulge in whatever type of music they wanted. This music was created for easy, one-stop clearance in film and television synchronization usage and for sampling. Multi-track files are available upon request for key projects. You can also enjoy these albums in the way that many do with the best of the best vintage library catalogs – listen, ponder, repeat.

Dancing On Waves Working his mellow magic on the Growing Bin, Sorcerer entertains your inner child with eight tracks of instrumental west coast pop suitable for dancing, dreaming and surfing a wave or two. While Basso sat in a Teutonic treehouse, feeding his head with the sounds of the woodland, Dan Judd danced on the sands of San Francisco’s Baker Beach. Stretching between them, like the world’s longest tin can radio, was the Dream Chimney. This legendary forum, run by Ryan Bishop, better known as The Beat Broker, helped to launch a thousand labels, and the Growing Bin is one of them - all hail the Chim! Here, Dan, naturally mystic in his Sorcerer guise, satisfies all our sensory needs with a Kinder Surprise of sweet melodies, coastal cool and playful rhythms inspired by his children’s earliest responses to music. Following his feelings and avoiding overthinking, he creates open, enticing and accessible cuts; each living and breathing that mellow magic you only get on the West Coast.

Music From Memory are excited to introduce another new group for 2021, this time presenting the self-titled debut album from Loveshadow. Currently based in San Francisco, the duo of Anya and Izaak initially met whilst working in an Oakland cafe in 2016. The two Californians quickly bonded over a track by the ’80s disco band Aurra which was playing over the radio and almost immediately their separate journeys in music became interwoven. They soon began to write music and creating their own work would become a way for the pair to get closer to the sound they were searching for, as well as enabling them to discover the healing power of making and listening to music. ‘Loveshadow’ was recorded predominantly in the Bay Area between 2017-2020 as well as whilst traveling to NYC, Chicago and around Portland. Having released previously as the outfit ‘S Transporter’ alongside Detroit friend Ryan Spencer, Loveshadow is formed of Anya as singer and song writer alongside Izaak on synthesizers, bass and percussion. This eight track album is the duo’s first release; exploring emotive Pop and DIY Funk leanings it stands as a joyful homage to the music they bond over, as well as an ode to their own love and friendship.

180 gram vinyl

Not many acts who continue for a few albums get a chance to go back and take care of what they might see in retrospect as mistakes or tentative starts — but there are always glorious exceptions. Thus the course of events that led to the Croatian surf-rock quartet The Bambi Molesters rerecording their 1997 debut Dumb Loud Hollow Twang in a ‘deluxe’ edition, with special guests, bonus tracks and more besides.

What might have seemed a quixotic exercise gets explained in the liner notes — the album’s original run, though popular in surf-rock obsessive circles, had not resulted in a reprint, while the group’s growing popularity resulted in further demand and attention for the start. The band themselves felt the debut was far too rushed — it was literally recorded in three hours as a one-take rip with instrument leakage and bad mixing ruining the impact — so with more time to spare and a chance to flesh out the sound, the result was 2003’s Deluxe.

The quartet’s command of the surf vernacular is unparalleled — guitarists Dalibor Pavicić and Dinko Tomljanović have the reverb down and rhythm section Lada and Hrvoje Zaborac shift between mania and moodout with ease. The guest musicians add just the right touches — keep an ear out for Neven Franges’s piano on the late-night menace of “Pearl Divin’”, as well as on the smoky Eurospy vibe of “Sun Stroke” and a trumpet/sax duo on a variety of songs adding some further sting.

If the overall effect is pleasantly reverential rather than a striking new reworking of surf and garage roots, it’s still a solid result that works beyond mere genre exercise. The bonus tracks are all covers, and winners they are — the Molesters collaborator in the Strange project, Chris Eckman, adds whispering menace to “Restless”, the album’s sole vocal track. Best song title of the bunch — “Beach Murder Mystery.” (Ned Ragget, All Music Guide, 2005)

Nothin’ dumb about this one! The Bambi Molesters hail from Sisak, Croatia, and they play a slightly dark brand of traditional instrumental surf music. They’re all about subtlety. Lead guitarist Dalibor Pavicić lays back in the mix, painting the sound with dreamy apparitions of melody and tone. How much of this was always part of their formula, and how much producer Phil Dirt created at the console, I don’t know, but either way they’re onto something good here.

All fifteen tunes were written by Pavicić and guitarist Dinko Tomljanović, and that’s surprising enough for such a young band, but on top of that, all fifteen are exquisitely crafted and fully realized. “Sun Stroke” is one of the most beautiful surf tunes of the year, filled with passion and power and delivered with a delicate touch. If you fancy a twist of spy in your surf, “Beach Murder Mystery” is the bomb. By the way, if you’re voting for great titles of the year, you may want to consider “Standing on the Nose in a Stylish Manner”, which also happens to be a killer surf tune. So add Croatia to your surf scene map and keep an eye on The Bambi Molesters, because they’ve officially taken their place in the book of who’s who. (DJ Johnson, Cosmik Debris, 1998)

A stunningly good set of tracks from the only surf band in Croatia. Their writing is melodic, pristine, well structured, and unique. I find their slower material to be the best, with its stellar beauty and delicate balance between lead and rhythm. I’ve been communicating with the band for about a year, and earlier this year, they asked me to produce their album. I was honored. They laid down 16 track ADAT in Croatia, and mailed them to me in the US. I mixed them here, and mastered them as well. Based on the DAT I’d received late last year, I was expecting good tracks. I was not prepared for just how good they’d turn out to be. This will be a classic of the future. (Phil Dirt, DJ KFJC)

Dancing Bear Band Information (from 2005)

Formed in 1995 under the influence of 60’s garage and surf classics, the Croatia based band The Bambi Molesters won sympathies of rock critics and underground rock audience with their first album “Dumb Loud Hollow Twang” which was released in 1997. Since then they have been playing regularly in Croatia and all over Europe and their fiery and energetic live performances have helped to build their reputation as one of the finest and most original contemporary instrumental bands.

In 1999 the band signed the record deal with Dancing Bear. They released their second album called “Intensity”. The same LP was also released in Germany on Kamikaze Records. Both “Intensity” and “Dumb Loud Hollow Twang” gained positive reviews in the music press and were nominated in various categories of the Croatian music award.

In December 2001 The Bambi Molesters released their 3rd CD “Sonic Bullets: 13 from the Hip” (the LP version is from 2003) with the following guests: Peter Buck (REM), Scott McCaughey (Minus Five, REM touring band), Chris Eckman (The Walkabouts), Terry Lee Hale and Eduardo “Speedo” Martinez (The Flaming Sideburns). Just like the previous one, the new The Bambi Molesters album was published by the Croatian record label Dancing Bear. The CD got excellent reviews in various magazines (Mojo, Uncut, Pitchfork, ...) and received the Croatian journalist award for the best album of the year 2001.

In June 2002 “Sonic Bullets: 13 from the Hip” was licensed by ACE Records and was released on their Big Beat label.

The Bambi Molesters’ songs are regularly played on American (KFJC, KFAI, KXLU, WREK, WHUS) and British (BBC RADIO 1 in London) radio stations. The song “C Alpha E” was included in the movie called “The Treat” by Jonathan Gems (screenwriter for “Mars Attacks” and “1984”). Their music can also be heard in videos (“Cross Cuts” for Tonix Pictures and Dragonfly BMX video). Three songs from the first LP are included in the movie “Barabe” (Viba film, Slovenia). During the last couple of years the band has played more than 100 gigs and supported well known acts including The Cramps, REM, Chrome Cranks, Man or Astroman,...

In July 2003 the band played as a support at the R.E.M. European tour. The Bambi Molesters played at three gigs in front of 50000 people altogether.

In June 2004, together with The Walkabouts singer Chris Eckman they formed The Strange. Their debut album “Nights of Forgotten Films” is out on Dancing Bear.

Planet Mu owner Mike Paradinas (a.k.a. µ-Ziq) wraps up 2022 with his 3rd release of new material this year. ‘Hello’ is the mirror image of the ‘Goodbye EP’. The intensity is heightened, the breaks more manic and melodies inhabit every corner. The material is the final chapter of the ‘Magic Pony Ride’ material and even includes another version of that track. 'Iggy’s Song’ has a slowed down sample of Mike’s son screaming, ‘Ávila’ is an ode to his father’s hometown in Spain and ‘Green Chaos’ even includes a nod to RP Boo. On Side B things get more interesting. ‘Pyramidal Mind Dispersion’ slows things down while amping up the tension, Modulating Angel is at drum & bass tempo but with a choir of angels from hell in the background, while the final two tracks recall the experimentation and melodies of Lunatic Harness.

With 10 years in the 'biz' firmly under his belt, Jiah Wells is poised to release the first full-length LP of his Galtier project, Pulchra Es Elementis. Whilst Galtier is arguably one of the originators of the percussive style that would eventually fall under the Hard Drum label, the heightened theatrics of his recent output have seen him channel Blade Runner-styled sonics and move further away from absolute club functionality. Whilst Galtier's output often seems to soundtrack hypothetical, off-planet words, Pulchra Es Elementis turns the focus inwards: towards Wells' own emotional constellation, his evolving spirituality and his attempts to tap into planes of existence beyond the tangible. The album's Latin title translates to 'Elements are Beautiful' and encapsulates the artist's belief that there is grace in all of life's aspects; pushing past what we deem as good or bad, minuscule or massive.

Pulchra Es Elementis begins with Crystalised Larva, a brooding opener of breathy pad synths and expansive kick drums which reverberate through the mix as if the hits originate from the bottom of a valley. There's an indistinct sense of tension on this track, in part due to a central melody, which never resolves but only descends lower in pitch. This tension turns to explorative wonder on Wilfull Saviour, where a mirage of musical ideas come in and out of focus. Although the sonic worlds Galtier explores are internal to him, Wilfull Saviour still possesses that sense of a cosmic journey we've come to expect from Wells; an ardent fan of dystopian films and literature.

Continuing this emotional odyssey, Bruised, But Not Broken sees the artist push deeper into the psychological undergrowth; its murky tonality juxtaposes crisp, Reggaeton-inspired drum patterns with a heavily compressed one-note synth line that modulates wildly - cutting through the mix like a nagging thought that won't leave your mind. Next up is U Were, U Are & What U Will Be, one of the more club-ready tracks of the LP, which gets us moving with a snarling bassline and layers upon layers of percussive hits and inflections.

At Pulchra Es Elementis' mid-point is the LP's title track, a drumless interlude where blissful, shimmering synths create a patchwork of intensities. Galtier's approach to songwriting shines through here; ignoring musical pragmatics, he opts to feel his way through his compositions without knowing where they might end up. Following on from that weightless breather, Phantasiai turns up the freneticism with its head-spinning mix of drum programming and a glitched-out synth line that yo-yos up and down octaves. Things get even more furious on the Superficie-featuring Cavernam, a hollow Hard Drum banger inspired by Eskibeat sensibilities and designed to create a sense of self-implosion.

The album's penultimate track, (U Are) Beautiful, is a tale of two halves: beginning with a moment of serenity as synthesizers swell like an ocean tide before evolving into a marching crescendo of raw energy. Rounding off the album, Shine Forth hurtles through pacey drum work and all manner of strange zaps and klaxons before giving way to a final dose of nebulous ambience.

A musical journey unlike any other 'club music' albums, Pulchra Es Elementis is an LP that demands to be consumed in one sitting. Reflecting on his place within the universe and the musical landscape, the album could be viewed as a musical exorcism which sees Galtier working through and shedding huge chunks of his ego that stuck to him out of fear of the unknown. Pulchra Es Elementis begins on an insecure, overwhelming or, even, existential note before rounding off with a related sense of vastness seen with new, more positive eyes. It's a voyage we hope you will join him on.

One of life's most difficult arts is learning to let go. You can try to cling to control in the face of a turbulent world, but the only constant we can count on is change—the tendrils of cleansing fire wiping away the old, new life springing forth from the dust and ash. So what's the point? Give yourself over to the depths. Surrender to the flow. G.S. Schray's new solo album The Changing Account is an appropriate soundtrack for learning to cope with a world we can't count on. Each piece is full of elliptical melodies that swirl with the unstable logic of dreams. Flurries of piano, guitar lines, and other more alien instrumentation shimmer delicately, but before they coalesce into familiar shapes or rhythms they change, then change, then change again. Listening is a bit like falling asleep on a long road—with each passing song you're waking up somewhere new, trying to get your bearings in another strange world. How did I get here? Where are we going? It doesn't matter. Close your eyes, drift away again.

12th Isle revisit the various artist compilation format first explored with 2019’s ‘Inkosi’ and assemble a veritable mixtape of sorts unfolding across six tracks aimed with the club in mind. Echo Party get things started with a dub heavy, studio alchemy excercise in discipline that appears in an extended mix to the original form on Murray Collier (Dip Friso) & Hannan Jones’s self-released Cd-r. Italian newcomer Guizzi features with a thunderous downtempo excursion with tight conga percussion in a DK/RAMZi vein that feels very at home on the label. Der Opium Queen pulls off a propulsive, video game OST style dancefloor hit that brings to mind that Les Aeroplanes project on Jamal Moss’s Mathematics label from way back when whilst on the Side B a freak-folk skit from Memotone sits next to heads-down motorik from Lo Kindre and a bleep-infused dub techno piece by Toronto via Bangladesh real one Raf Reza. More V/A's to come.

“Composed during one of London's endless dark and locked down winters, Fever Dreams is a fantastical, speculative take on high density living. From dark, mouldy rooms, subterranean depths, symbiosis and multi-species entanglements, it cloaks itself in the claustrophobia, excitement and despair of living in a metropolis. It is a work which both celebrates and fears the weeds, spores, vermin and grime of London. The dark fantasies, frustrations, and utopian aspirations of its urban survivors. Frozen plastic bags, cramped living quarters, the kindness of strangers, the desperate unfairness of who gets what and when. Almost getting there but not quite. Being overcome by emotion for no reason. Unexpectedly moved, inexplicably destroyed. The never still, forever unfolding moments which comprise living on top of each other. Sinking and swimming; together/apart.” - Kate Carr

A smouldering, sunken sound from Kate Carr on her album for Mana, exploring a latent and inward pressure from a mix of field recordings; gongs; underwater reverberations; flickers of static and electricity; found reel-to-reel choral recordings, played forward and backward. The result is a gothic dub and dark ambience that hangs heavily in the air, a narrative of middle spaces and dense environments where noise and muffled secrets bleed through the thin plasterboard from the next room over.

Texturally and emotionally it's a potent mix of insulated hope and gritty reality, holding a microphone to space and sound that the mind might otherwise blot out. Multi-species, metal, organic, and digital, dirty, self-built gathering ground, with towering verticals, deep subterranean depths, and gritty layers of lived-in grime, watery and terrestrial, human and non-human pressed together.

Limited to 500 copies on black bio vinyl.

The now iconic ‘Live from Studio S2’ memorizing performance gets a sought after limited BioVinyl Edition and features all four tracks from the session. First premiered on the Gondwana Records YouTube channel on Sunday March 28th 2021, it has since become a global success reaching a near 7 million views and counting and has earned Rani many more devoted fans. "At the beginning of February 2021, I was invited by the Berlinale Film Festival to record a live set as a part of the EFM sessions which became the motivation to document this live performance. I thought that bringing back my piano and equipment to the hall where I first recorded my live session videos for my debut album 'Esja' would be a nice idea and the right cinematic choice. This time, I wanted to use not only an upright piano, but also a grand piano and some other keyboards including a Prophet 08 synthesizer and a Roland stage piano. Studio S2 is one of the recording studios inside the Polish Radio building in Warsaw and used primarily for recording classical and film music. The hall is fully covered with light wood, which reminds me of other Radio Studios all around the world – like Funkhaus in Berlin. It felt very special to be in the hall again where we recorded the music video for "Glass", one of my most liked videos. There is a kind of intimacy when playing the little piano in this huge and also very high venue. I decided to rearrange some of my favourite songs, which I have been performing live for years. The set starts with 'Hawaii Oslo', which is built on a piano loop, followed by 'Glass' with a new intro and outro and closing with 'Leaving' and 'Buka' – this time accompanied with new layers which change the mood and rhythmic pattern of both songs".

The sea has long been central to Japanese culture, symbolizing both sustenance and spiritual
depth. Charles A.D.'s Deep Diver draws inspiration from this, channeling the ancient traditions
of diving and fishing into his music. Historically, the sea has influenced everything from Shinto
rituals to the livelihoods of coastal communities. In Deep Diver, this reverence flows through
aquatic soundscapes, where rhythmic waves of 90s house and Detroit techno meet Japanese
minimal production techniques, New Age and Pacific Jazz. Like the tides, the album ebbs and
flows, creating a serene yet dynamic homage to the timeless connection between Japan and
the sea.
The opening track 'Deep Diver' plunges into the depths, its abstract sound design capturing the
sensation of deep-sea propulsion. Rhythmic bubbles pulse gently alongside slow-moving
chords, creating an otherworldly atmosphere. The textures are lush yet restrained, setting a
tranquil stage that pulls the listener into a submerged world. 'Underwater Ruins' builds on this
aquatic theme, introducing rhythmic layers and bass-heavy notes reminiscent of mid-90s
Japanese ambient techno. The smooth, melodic flow nods to pioneers like Mr.YT and Susumu
Yokota, while subtly incorporating the Detroit techno influence through soulful, deep basslines.
The track feels like a fusion of ambient and techno, balancing serene tones with a rolling
groove, emblematic of Japanese techno soul. As the album progresses into 'Bubble Ring', it
becomes clear that Charles A.D. is a master of minimalism. The production is timeless, leaning
on analog techniques where echo-drenched chords and carefully layered soundscapes take on
an addictive, hypnotic quality. The simplicity of the composition is deceptive, as each element
carries weight, drawing the listener deeper into the rhythm and space between the notes.
'Merperson' is where organic rhythms truly come into play. Charles A.D. gently evolves the
patterns, allowing each percussive hit to flow naturally into the next. Soothing melodies emerge
from within the track’s structure, eventually reaching an emotional peak without ever feeling
forced. The organic nature of the arrangement creates an effortless progression that feels
deeply connected to the natural movement of water.Starting the second half with 'Deep Exploration', the theme of underwater excursions becomes
even more pronounced. Light, steady drumming anchors the track, allowing the melodic layers
to develop gradually. It unfolds with a calm, measured pace, before ending softly, almost as if
the sounds are drifting off into the oceanic depths. 'Diffuse Reflection' stands out as the most
dub house-influenced on the album, with rolling rhythms and hypnotic elements reminiscent of
Maurizio's deep, pulsing sound. Yet here, the production feels submerged, with aquatic effects
swirling around the rhythmic core, blending dub house with a fluid, oceanic touch. 'Traitors'
delves even deeper into dub-inspired territory. Deep, resonant bass hits combine with wooden
drums, while static-like sounds evoke the image of a radio tuning through static to find clarity.
Chords shimmer briefly before fading back into the liquid depths, evoking the ebb and flow of
the tide. The final track on Deep Diver 'Levitation', is a fitting conclusion, as the rhythms merge
and overlap like waves gently lapping the shore. The minimalistic arrangement allows each
element to blend effortlessly into the next, creating a sense of unity and closure. The sounds
move with the gentle grace of water, ending the album in a way that feels both complete and
open-ended, like the infinite motion of the sea.

'We are extremely happy to present to you the second volume of the explosive collaboration between two legendary collectives of the ecstatic music underground.

In 2017 Kawabata Makoto and his Acid Mothers Temple embarked on an extensive tour of South America. During the tour they carved out time to record and play shows with Argentine 'disembodied' music provocateurs Reynols and the results of these improvised sessions are a unique and exhilarating leap into the infinite...ecstatic, shamanic, truly free psychedelic music, beyond language and beyond all rational thought.'

"Viva Acid Mothers Reynols!" The Wire

"These are the tunes to get your soul flowing!" Anti: Music Review

"where rock’n’roll meets the outer space" aLive Reports

Mild High Club founder Alexander Brettin grew up playing flute in the school band and majoring in jazz studies in Chicago. In 2012, a visit to Los Angeles allowed him to connect with the Stones Throw crew. Within a year, after passing the early demos of what would become Timeline onto Peanut Butter Wolf, Brettin made the move out west.

“The difference between Timeline and Skiptracing is detail,” Brettin said. “I was stubborn with the process for Timeline, it took almost three years to let go of it.” On Timeline, Brettin resorted to vague lyrics so as to highlight the music itself. But for Skiptracing there’s both a heightened thematic aspect as well as more complex musical arrangements encasing it. In Brettin’s estimation, the album’s story arc is that of a “private investigator attempting to trace the steps of the sound and the spirit of American music.”

And in investigating the spirit of American music, Mild High Club re-imagine AM radio hits as blasting in from a parallel universe, the sound of early 70s LA in a smog of sativa. If Todd Rundgren was the primary touchstone for Timeline, Brettin and band now look to the wry, trenchant wit of Steely Dan, gazing deep into the dark underbelly of sun-bright L.A. and coming away with catchy songs underpinned by slippery jazz phrasings.

Dig deeper into the lyrics and imagery and that detective story slowly emerges. But it’s no simple whodunit? Instead, think The Long Goodbye, The Late Show, Chinatown, Night Moves or any early 70s inversion of the detective noir genre, where the gumshoe protagonist ultimately winds up investigating himself, navel-gazing so as to solve the ultimate mystery. Skiptracing is Philip Marlowe driving around LA listening to Caetano Veloso or that deleted scene in John Cassavetes’s The Killing of a Chinese Bookie where Cosmo Vitelli reads Cosmic Trigger.

In crafting Skiptracing, Mild High Club have made an album that strikes a balance between the known and unknown aspects of art and creation. While Brettin sought to have complete control over the creation of the previous album, in opening up and allowing these creative variables in, he learned a valuable lesson that lies at the heart of Skiptracing itself: “When you wish upon the unknown, you might be surprised by the rewards.”

The Soninke collective consciousness finds its origins in a founding myth, a blood pact: the legend of Biida and the decadence of the empire of Ghana or Wagadu (evoked by Léopold Sédar Senghor as a land of plenty in his poem Le Kaya Magan). From the 3rd century AD, gathered in the region of Sahel, on the edge of the Sahara desert, the Soninko ruled over their kingdom and its capital Kumbi Saleh. According to folklore, they were blessed with abundant rain and nuggets of gold could be picked directly from the ground. They owed this prosperity to a providential but cruel protector: the Wagadu Biida, a seven-headed serpent who lived at the bottom of the Kumbi well. Every year, as a reward for his favours, the Biida demanded an offering: the life of the most beautiful virgin woman in the community. Sacrifices took place for generations, until the 13th century AD, when fate chose Siya Yatabéré, Maamadi Sehedunxote's sweetheart... Centuries later in 1977, Gaye Mody Camara, a young Soninke raised in Mali's Kayes region, settled in France to found his own empire. Initially selling wax, kola nuts and other goods in his Parisian outlets, he rapidly started distributing cassette tapes and eventually producing a multitude of recordings for his own label: Camara Production. Crossing paths and collaborating over the next four decades with legendary artists, griots and industry moguls like Boncana Maïga, Jean-Philippe Rykiel, Ganda Fadiga, Diaby Doua or Ibrahima Sylla, Camara became one of the great independent music producers of his generation, and a pilar of the Parisian Soninke diaspora. Released in close collaboration with Gaye Camara and with the assistance of Daouda N'diaye, one of A.P.S' (Association pour la Promotion de la langue et de la culture Soninké) historical members, this selection of songs and accompanying notes aim to shed a light on an intricate culture and its modern music, injustifiably unknown outside of West Africa and the various Soninko diasporas around the world. From Malian Zouk to Mauritanian Reggae and other psychedelic groovers originally released on cassettes or digitally, we have given the utmost attention to bringing this music to a new format. It has been carefully remastered and pressed on a couple of 180g vinyls, with riso printed liner notes.