Latency News

Latency presents Nexus, the new solo album by virtuoso Iranian percussionist Mohammad Reza Mortazavi, out October 4 on vinyl and digital. Covert art by Jordan Belson.

Mohammad Reza Mortazavi (b. 1979, Iran) is known for his groundbreaking work with the tombak and daf, traditional Persian drums that he has radically redefined through new playing techniques and extended vocabulary. Mortazavi began playing the tombak at the age of six. By nine, he had already outpaced his teacher and won Iran’s national tombak competition - a distinction he would earn six more times. By his early twenties, he was widely regarded as one of the foremost players of the instrument. Since then, his music has continued to evolve, embracing new forms and vocabularies beyond tradition.

Following his acclaimed 2019 release Ritme Jaavdanegi, Nexus marks Mortazavi’s return to Latency with a full-length album recorded entirely in Berlin. The record introduces new elements into his sound: voice, effects, and treatments never before used in his discography. These experiments serve not as departures but as further extensions of his ongoing exploration of rhythm, resonance, and transformation. The album opens with Zendegi (“Life”), a piece inspired by the chant “Woman, Life, Freedom.” Mortazavi broke down its underlying rhythm and used it to build a new compositional structure, offered as a gesture to his homeland and beyond. Nexus refers to a point of connection or intersection, a meeting place where different energies, times, and spaces converge and transform.

Written and composed by Nidia and Valentina Magaletti.
Edited, mixed and produced by Tom Halstead (Raime).
Marimba, percussion, drums, synth and flute by Valentina Magaletti.
Mastering by Kassian Troyer at Dubplates & Mastering.
Cover srt by Daniel Shea.
Design by Johannes Schnatmann.

Latency presents the first-ever arrangements of iconic Ethiopian composer Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru"s music for piano and strings, honoring her desire to broaden the interpretation of her work beyond the piano. Led by pianist, composer, and Emahoy"s close friend Maya Dunietz, a nine-piece string ensemble performed her compositions during two tribute concerts at the Bourse de Commerce in Paris, in April 2024. This album celebrates the centenary of Emahoy"s birth and commemorates the first anniversary of her passing.

Latency presents "És pregunta", the second album from Catalan vocal duo Tarta Relena. Founded by Helena Ros Redon and Marta Torrella i Martínez, Tarta Relena explores the rich vocal traditions of the Mediterranean, singing in languages such as Classical Greek, Italian, Spanish, Latin, Catalan, Ladino, and more.

"Following the resonating success of their initial collaboration, the TLF Trio—comprising Danish cellist Cæcilie Trier (CTM), pianist Jakob Littauer, and guitarist Mads Kristian Frøslev—reunites on Latency with electronic music legend Moritz von Oswald for the follow-up to their debut album, 'Sweet Harmony.'

TLF Trio, along with Moritz von Oswald, once again delves into the realm of chamber music, this time with two new songs further exploring the intricate acoustic dynamics of their instruments with electronics. As the second instalment in this musical journey, 'New Songs & Variations' builds upon the minimalistic, sculptural, and narrative qualities of its predecessor, weaving a tapestry of expressive and plural voices.

Moritz von Oswald, a central figure in the electronic music scene since the early '90s, brings his wealth of experience to the project, reinterpreting two of TLF Trio's previous works. From his early days as a classical percussionist to groundbreaking collaborations in the techno sphere, von Oswald's influence has left an indelible mark. His role in co-founding Basic Channel/Rhythm & Sound and contributions to the Berlin-Detroit-Chicago axis have defined various strains of modern music.

'New Songs & Variations' not only captures the rich history and influence of Moritz von Oswald but also showcases his ongoing exploration into classical, experimental, and improvisational contexts. From recomposing Ravel and Mussorgsky’s music for Deutsche Grammophon to acclaimed collaborations with jazz trumpeter Nils Petter Molvær, composer Laurel Halo, or Afrobeat pioneer Tony Allen, von Oswald's versatility continues to evolve.

TLF Trio and Moritz von Oswald invite listeners to embark on a sonic journey that bridges the past and the present, mirroring the transformative essence of Louise Lawler's distorted image, which graces its cover—a testament to the delicate fluidity and shape-shifting nature of the music contained within.

Compossed by Moritz von Oswald, Cæcilie Trier, Claus Haxholm (beat on Chrome), Jakob Littauer and Mads Kristian Frøslev.
Mastered by Kassian Troyer at Dubplates & Mastering.
Artwork by Louise Lawler. Formica (adjusted to fit, distorted for the times, slippery slope 2), 2011/2012/2015/2017. Courtesy the artist and Sprüth Magers. As adjusted for Latency.

“After a banner year that witnessed Lafawndah release her first album Ancestor Boy, the debut of her soundsystem Fara Fara, and further incursions into film, contemporary art and fashion, the ceaseless artist returns with another plot twist: The Fifth Season.

Inspired by her encounter with author NK Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy, Lafawndah both pays homage to and extends further the elemental, emotionally charged myths of Jemisin’s books. These are stories where a broken heart can tear apart a continent. In contrast to the precision- tuned industrial productions of Ancestor Boy, The Fifth Season breathes a different kind of volatility. Inviting a new degree of spontaneity and freedom into her process, Lafawndah’s collaborators - Theon Cross (tuba), Nathaniel Cross (trombone), Valentina Magaletti (percussions), and Nick Weiss (keyboards) - encircle her confrontational character studies with iridescent, cinematic chamber-bass moves.

These are torch songs for when it rains ash, creation ballads for when the earth turns inside out. Ghosts of Art Ensemble of Chicago and Rahsaan Roland Kirk color the air, yet Lafawndah’s mastery of pop songcraft, vocal production and razor-honed clarity of purpose cut through. In addition to the Lafawndah originals, The Fifth Season features interpretations of hybrid-folk godfather Beverly Glenn Copeland’s “Don’t Despair” and acid-impressionist prodigy Lili Boulanger’s “Old Buddhist Prayer.” Album highlight “You, at the End” deploys a poem by poet-performer Kae Tempest to aching, rift-tearing ends, and french dream-trap wraith Lala &ce features on “Le Malentendu”.

The Fifth Season anchors Lafawndah as a descendent of forebearers Brigitte Fontaine and Scott Walker - a born theatric whose acid humor warps the sub-continental undertow of her emotive storytelling. Lafawndah’s elementalism on The Fifth Season finds her imagination more agile than ever, and recent live shows have evinced a drive to push these compositions further out, deeper, and more aflame.”

“Mohammad Reza Mortazavi is a virtuoso percussionist known for playing traditional Persian instruments such as the tombak and daf. After developing more than thirty new striking techniques and progressing to be one of the most prominent players in Iran, Mortazavi travelled to Germany, eventually settling in Berlin to record and perform regular concerts the world over. His acclaimed performances have taken in venues such as Berlin Philharmonie and Sydney Opera House. In recent years, he has been embraced by the experimental electronic music community, collaborating with Burnt Friedman, Fis and Mark Fell.

Ritme Jaavdanegi is Mortazavi’s sixth LP, and his first one available on vinyl. The album came together from recordings made in Berlin in June 2019, inspired by Mortazavi’s vivid reminiscence about profound experiences he had listening to music as a child. As he drifted in this time-slipping reverie, the phrase ‘ritme jaavdanegi’ or ‘rhythm of eternity’ came to mind, and he found the phrase itself to match the 11/8 metre he was striving for. As such, all eight pieces on this album adhere to this time signature, which in itself harks back to the Aksak, a rhythmic pattern based on the alteration of binary and ternary quantities executed in a fast tempo, intrinsic to traditional music from Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan and the Balkans.

In the same way these non-standard folk rhythms started to impact on Western music in the early 20th Century, so now you can hear an ever-increasing embrace of polyrhythms and metres that break away from the dominant 4/4 ideology. What’s most striking about Ritme Jaavdanegi, perceived through a lens of modern Western experimental music, is how Mortazavi’s virtuosic playing rivals the intensely programmed dynamics of electronica. His rapid, needlepoint drum hits bend their tonality in incredibly musical ways, but there is still an underlying focus on cyclical repetition that encourages the same ancient transcendental quality that so many contemporary artists strive for.”

“Le Lisse et le Strié is a new work by french composer François J. Bonnet, released under his project name Kassel Jaeger. Based in Paris, Bonnet is the Director of INA GRM. He is also a writer and theoretician (The Order of Sounds, a sonorous Archipelago and The Infra-World have been published in english by Urbanomic). As a musician, Bonnet has been collaborating with artists such as Stephen O’Malley, Oren Ambarchi or Jim O’Rourke and most of his recent work has been published by Editions Mego.

Le Lisse et le Strié has been conceived as an exploration of the two antagonist concepts of “smooth” and “striated”, applied to the realm of electroacoustic sounds. If the “smooth” is linked to “nomos” as an open space of organic distribution, the “striated”, on the contrary, is associated to “logos”, as an enclosed space defined by a grid.

Elaborating a dialogue between these aspects, Kassel Jaeger draws here an intermediary space where pulsations become textures and layers, and where rhythmic elements are found in the qualities and bodies of sounds instead of being functionnalised, pre-determined sound objects, abstracted and frozen onto a temporal grid. The concept of “striated” is made audible only through the sonic landscape it inhabits, like the stripes of the camouflage fur of wild animals only exist as such in the woods and long grass, disappearing into a potentially uselessness in a desert plain.”

Martina Lussi's second album fuses together disparate sound sources with a disorienting
quality that reflects the modern climate of dispersion and distraction. The Lucerne, Switzerland- based sound artist released her debut album 'Selected Ambient' on Hallow Ground in 2017, and now comes to Latency with a bold new set of themes and processes.

The range of tools at her disposal spans field recordings, processed instrumentation, synthesised elements and snatches of human expression. The guitar is a recurring figure, subjected to a variety of treatments from heavy, sustained distortion to clean, pealing notes. Elsewhere the sound of sports crowds and choral singing merge, and patient beds of drones and noise melt into the sounds of industry and mechanics. The track titles manifest as a compositional game of deception complete with innuendos, empty phrases and claims - flirtations with perfume names and ironic assertions.

From the volatile geopolitical climate to the changing nature of music consumption in the face of streaming and digital access, 'Diffusion is a Force' is a reflection on fractured times where familiar modes and models change their meaning with the ever-quickening pace of communication.

What works reliably is to know the raw silk, hold the uncut wood. Need little. Want less. For- get the rules. Be untroubled.Laurel Halo presents six instrumental pieces that form a meditative, cinematic listening ex- perience. Inspired by recent film score work for Metahaven and Ursula Le Guin's translation of the Tao Te Ching. Featuring cello work by Oliver Coates and percussion by Eli Keszler.Working in abstraction leads to a deeper lon- ging for touch and closeness.The tactile sen- sation of struck organ keys and bowed strings, wood and felt on drum heads. Smoke and dirt and stone. Febrile and tactile, hairy and hissy. A clover of highway onramps, a continuous flow, like old leaves melting on their way down a stream at the back of a house. Constant contradiction, the truth's nowhere.

Latency 009, from Tokyo: four eerie, multi-rhythmic, bass-heavy excursions, with roots in abstract hip hop and the classic d&b of Photek and Source Direct.

Following up 'Drawn With Shadow Pens' on Spectrum Spools, Belgian sound artist Yves De Mey returns with 'Bleak Comfort', his third solo full-length. Geared towards serving up an intense musical experience, the album deconstructs regular club music to highlight some of its key elements in a transformative way.

An album about absence, malfunction and disorientation, 'Bleak Comfort' is equally packed with floor-functional material and left-of-centre electronics. By turn sizzling and spherical, convulsive and atmospheric, Yves De Mey ushers his listener in a hypnotic kaleidoscope of sounds, providing a fascinating picture of his ever dynamic grammar at variable scales and tempos.