quête:acceptance

WHITE RING mark a triumphant return with a brand new full-length Gate Of Grief, due out on Rocket Girl on 22 June 2018. Their debut album arrives a full eight years since their benchmark EP, Black Earth That Made Me, which sold out almost instantly, making their records some of the most highly sought after on the underground scene and earning them a cult following across the globe. Swerving from aggressively abrasive to beautifully ethereal, musically they draw from varied and challenging palette, whilst tackling themes of loss and acceptance due to struggles with drug addiction and existential dread on a broader scope.

WHITE RING were originally formed by Bryan Kurkimilis and Kendra Malia, before they were joined by Adina Viarengo, with Bryan and Adina currently touring as a duo. One of the most acclaimed proponents of the "Witch House" movement, WHITE RING blend heavy, distorted electronics with eerie, unsettling vocals. However, their new material, created over the course of seven years, pushes the boundaries further, subverting genre ideas and mashing them all together, with industrial, metal, rave, chopped and screwed, rap, grunge, neo folk, post punk and new wave all in the mix. As Bryan Kurkimilis explains; 'We treat our influences like tools to create a certain feeling. We are interested in covering more ground than sticking to a certain formula.'
Bryan and Kendra originally met on Myspace in 2006. At the time Bryan lived in New Orleans and Kendra was in New York, and they didn't even meet face-to-face until 2008 after they had already released a few singles. In 2010 they released the EP Black Earth That Made Me, which was a collection of songs that they mostly recorded before they met in person. The record confounded expectations by selling out immediately on pre-order, making it very rare and highly sought after, with copies going on Ebay for large sums. It was reissued by Rocket Girl in 2011 and still continues to sell in voluminous amounts.

They started playing live in 2009 and rapidly grew a reputation for their captivating performances, usually bringing their own lighting equipment and putting on a spectacular laser show. They have played for large crowds in their hometown of NYC and toured the UK in 2010 in support of their sold out split 7" with oOoOO, playing InTheCity and SWN festivals - which were their first shows outside of New York. They have since shared the stage with the likes of Cold Cave, araabMUZIK, Liturgy, Blank Dogs, Gatekeeper, Blondes, oOoOO, Clams Casino, and others.  
They started recording Gate Of Grief in 2010, with the hope of exploring new musical territory, however they took a while to find their path. Bryan and Kendra had some tough personal battles to fight, a sense that pervades the whole album. Thematically it delves in to some pretty dark places whilst exploring the concept of time and what it does to people, relationships and society. As Bryan explains; 'There is a lot of tragedy in this album but there is also hope at the end of it.'
By 2016 pressure was building to finish recording, however due to Kendra's ill health, they needed to bring in someone new to assist with vocals. Fortunately they found Adina Viarengo, who had played in various bands and gave them the impetus needed to complete the album. Shortly after meeting in Brooklyn, Bryan and Adina moved to Joshua Tree, California to finish recording the album, before settling in Massachusetts. Her vocal style fitted in seamlessly with what Kendra had been doing, and although she sang on half the songs, it's almost impossible to tell who is singing on which track, thus making her the perfect addition to the band.
Gate of Grief can be considered the second part of Black Earth That Made Me, or rather, they are the first two chapters in an overarching trilogy about evolution. As Bryan explains; 'First you are born but then you realize what you are and what is against you and it's a flood of emotion that you can only hope to hold on for and let it pass.'
The album title, Gate of Grief, refers to the real gate between Africa and Saudi Arabia that is believed to be the spot where the first humans migrated out of Africa and went on to populate the rest of the world. The album art ties in with this concept, with an image depicting a group of settlers in the USA in early 1900 during a parade. They were actually from a cult in the early 1900s in Bryan's hometown of Fort Myers, Florida.













M 13) Burn It Down

South African Mbaqanga And Bubblegum Instrumentals For The Dance-floor. First Time Available Outside South Africa. Cult Favorite Among Collectors. Follows The Successful Reissue Of bafana Bafana' Last Year. Professor Rhythm's 1991 Recording Professor 3 Is A Vivid Reflection Of Urban South Africa As Apartheid Was Ending. Thami Mdluli's Production Project Had Young And Old Dancing To A Sound That Sought To Unite Blacks Within Southern Africa. our Music Gave Hope To The Hopeless,' He Says. Mdluli's Third Instrumental Album (which Contains Some Background Vocals, To Be Exact), Portrays The Moment When The Dominant Mbaqanga And American R&b-based Bubblegum Sounds Being Produced In Johannesburg And Other Urban Centers Were Transforming Into House And Hip-hop-inspired Kwaito. The Pop Of The 80's And All That Went With It—from The Models Of Synths And Drum Machines To The Lyrical Style—gave Way To A Changing Melodic Emphasis And New, Much Slower Tempi Using A Completely Different Rhythmic Skeleton. Upbeat, Chipper Bubblegum, Often With Double-time Breakdowns And Upstroke Syncopations, Faded And The Sounds Began To More Closely Resemble Those Of Contemporary Black America—where Hip-hop Was Slowing Down And The Bass-lines And Melodies Were Getting Moodier, Darker In General. At The Same Time House Music Had Briefly Reached Mainstream Acceptance In The States And That Popularity Continued To Feed Into Awareness Overseas. These Two Influences Blended With The Burgeoning House Music Scenes In Johannesburg And Pretoria As Professor Rhythm 3 Was Being Produced In March 1991 (the Same Year Apartheid Ended). Mdluli Explains, we Were Influenced By Foreign Bands And So People Updated Their Sound.' According To Mdluli, The Evolving Sound Was Bolstered By Widening Availability Of House And Rap Records From Abroad While, Most Importantly, An Increasing Sense That Apartheid Might Soon Be Finished Was Met With A New Positivity Vibe Society. 1991, '92, '93... Mandela Was Released. People Were Upbeat, They Were Happy, The Music Was Good.' Professor 3 Came Out On Vinyl As The Lp Business Was Dying In South Africa And Sold Around 20,000 Copies. It Was Mainly Distributed On Tape, Which Sold Closer To 100,000. With The Help Of Engineer Fab Rosso, The Recording Features Backing Vocalists From Mango Groove. After Making A Half-dozen Records As Professor Rhythm, Mdluli Once Again Shifted His Focus Musically. By The Mid-90's He Had Veered Off Gospel Music— And Left Playing In Bands And Started Making His Own Solo Recordings. His Enormous Success In The Gospel Realm In The Years Since Is A Remarkable Story In Its Own Right, But For Now We Are Only Dancing.

Limited Edition Clear Vinyl

Includes 12' Vinyl and Deluxe CD album, 30 page hard back book

Now that I've been to Nashville,' Kylie Minogue says with audible affection, I understand. It's like some sort of musical ley-line...'

Golden, Kylie's fourteenth studio album, is the result of an intensive working trip to the home of Country music, a city whose influence lingered on long after the pop legend and her team returned to London to finish the record: We definitely brought a bit of Nashville back with us,' she states. The album is a vibrant hybrid, blending Kylie's familiar pop-dance sound with an unmistakeable Tennessee twang. It was Jamie Nelson, Kylie's long-serving A&R man, who first came up with the concept of incorporating a Country element' into Kylie's tried-and-trusted style. That idea sat there for a little while, with Minogue and her team initially unsure about how to bring it to life. Then, when Grammy-winning songwriter Amy Wadge's publisher suggested Kylie should come over to collaborate in Nashville, a city Kylie had previously never visited, something clicked. You know when you're so excited about something,' she recalls, that you repeat it an octave higher and double the decibels I was like that. 'Nashville! Yes! Of course I would!'. I hoped it would help the album to reveal itself. I thought 'If I don't get it in Nashville, I'm not going to get it anywhere.''

Kylie's Nashville trip involved working alongside two key writers, both with homes in the city. One was British-born songwriter Steve McEwan (whose credits include huge Country hits for Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney and Carrie Underwood), and the other was the aforementioned Amy Wadge, another Brit (best known for her mega-selling work with Ed Sheeran). It was then a truly international project: Golden was mainly created with African-German producer Sky Adams and a list of contributors including Jesse Frasure, Eg White, Jon Green, Biff Stannard, Samuel Dixon, Danny Shah and Lindsay Rimes, and there's a duet with English singer Jack Savoretti.

However, the album's agenda-setting lead single Dancing was, significantly, first demoed with Nathan Chapman, the man who guided Taylor Swift's transition from Country starlet to Pop megastar. If anyone knows how to mix those two genres, Chapman does. Nathan was the only actual Nashvillean I worked with. He's got a huge studio in his house, which is probably due to his success with Taylor... there's plenty of platinum discs of her, and others on his walls.' There's something of the spirit of Peggy Lee's Is That All There Is, of Dylan Thomas' Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night, even of Liza Minnelli's Cabaret about Dancing, a song which not only opens the album but sets out its stall, providing a microcosm of what is to come. You've got the lyrical edge, that Country feel, mixed with some sampling of the voice and electronic elements, so it does what it says on the label. And I love that it's called 'Dancing', it's immediately accessible and seemingly so obvious, but there's depth within the song.'

The experience of simply being in Nashville was an overwhelming one, before Kylie had even arrived. Once I knew I was going to Nashville, people talked about the place with such enthusiasm. They said without doubt I would love it and, I would come back with songs. They were sending lists of restaurants, coffee shops and bars. It really was a beautiful and genuine response and it felt like I was about to have a life changing experience and in a way, I did.' The reality came as something of a surprise, when she found a far more modern metropolis than the vintage one she'd envisaged. I thought it would be like New Orleans: little houses and bars, with music spilling out onto the street. It reminded me more of Melbourne: apartment blocks going up everywhere! The main strip, Broadway, where the honky tonk bars are, that's where the street was filled with music and it was just amazing.' Mainly, Minogue remembers the heat and humidity. It was 100 degrees. It was like it was raining with no rain.' She also relished the chance to wander around unrecognised, visit a few venerable music bars and soak in the atmosphere. I didn't get to the Grand Ole Opry or the music museums but I managed to go to a couple of the institutions there like The Bluebird Cafe and The Listening Room, and just by being there, through some kind of osmosis, you get this rejuvenated respect for The Song, and the writing of The Song. There's no hoo-hah around it. There's a singer-songwriter there, talking about the song and singing the song, to an audience who are there to listen. Although, I have to confess I was guilty of starting to clap too soon during a long pause at the end of one of the songs. The guy made a bit of a joke out of it and got a laugh from it, but I thought 'Of all people in the audience, no...''

It's probably no coincidence, therefore, that every track on Golden is a Kylie co-write, making it arguably her most personal album to date. The end of 2016 was not a good time for me,' she says, referring to well-documented personal upheavals, so when I started working on the album in 2017, it was, in many ways, a great escape. Making this album was a kind of saviour. I'd been through some turmoil and was quite fragile when I started work on it, but being able to express myself in the studio made quick work of regaining my sense of self. Writing about various aspects of my life, the highs and lows, with a real sense of knowing and of truth. And irony. And joy!'

The songwriting process allowed Kylie to get a few things out of her system. Initially, she admits, it was cathartic, but it also wasn't very good. I think I was writing too literally. But I reached a point where I was writing about the bigger-picture, and that was a breakthrough. It made way for songs like Stop Me From Falling and One Last Kiss. It also meant I had enough distance to write an autobiographical song, like A Lifetime To Repair, with a certain amount of humour. The countdown in that song: 'Six-five-four-three, too many times...'. I don't know if that will be a single, but I can just imagine a girl with framed pictures of past boyfriends, and kind of going 'Oh god, when am I going to get this right'' When she listens back to Golden, Kylie can vividly hear the Nashville in it. It is, she'll agree, probably the first time that a Kylie album has sounded like the place it was made. You wouldn't normally relate my songs to the cities. Can't Get You Out Of My Head sounds more like Outer Space than London. But Shelby '68, for example, was written in London but it was done with Nashville in mind. It's about my Dad's car, and my brother recorded Dad driving it! I don't think I'd have written a number of the songs, including Shelby '68 and Radio On without having had that Nashville experience.'

The latter, she says, is about music being the one to save you.' Throwing herself into the making of the record, she says, crystallised that idea. If there's one love that will always be there for you, it's music. Well, it is for me, anyway.' That song, in particular, carries nostalgic echoes of the golden age of Country, as heard through Medium Wave transistors and tinny home stereos in the distant past. Like any child of the Seventies, Kylie had a basic grounding in Country music, mainly absorbed from older family members. My Step-Grandfather was born in Kentucky and though he lived most of his adult life in Australia, he never stopped listening to his beloved Country artists.' If there's any classic Country singer whose imprint can be heard on Golden, it's Dolly Parton.

Kylie saw Dolly live for the first time at the end of 2016, at the Hollywood Bowl. It was like seeing the light,' she beams. It was incredible. Everyone, whether they know it or not, is a Dolly Parton fan. When I was in Nashville, I did pick up a T-shirt that said 'What Would Dolly Do' Maybe that should be my mantra.' And, whether consciously or otherwise, there's a timbre and trill to Kylie's vocals on Radio On that is distinctly Parton-esque. My delivery is quite different on this album,' she says. A lot of things are 'sung' less. The first time I did that was with Where The Wild Roses Grow. On the day I met Nick Cave, when I recorded my vocals, he said 'Just sing it less. Talk it through, tell the story.' This album wasn't quite to that extreme, but a lot of the songs were done in fewer takes, to just capture the moment and keep imperfections that add to the song. I remember on my last album, a lot of producers were trying to take out literally every vibrato they heard. And that's not natural to my voice. I mean, I can make myself sound like a robot, but it's nice to sound like a human!' Working within the Country genre also gave Kylie permission to write in the Nashville vernacular. Because we were going there, I wasn't afraid to have lines like 'When he's fallen off the wagon we'd still dance to our favourite slow song', 'Ten sheets to the wind, I was all confused', 'I'll take the ride if it's your rodeo'. The challenge of bringing a Country element to the album made the process feel very fresh to me, kind of like starting over. I started to look at writing a different way, singing a different way.'

If ever Kylie lost confidence in the Country-Pop concept, and found herself pondering This is great, but back in the real world - my real world - how will this work', Jamie Nelson was there to badger her into sticking to the path. We found a way to make it a hybrid with what we'll call my 'usual' sound. It had to stay 'pop' enough to stay authentic to me, but country enough to be a new sound for this album. The closer we zoomed in, and the more we honed it, I knew Jamie was right. We sacrificed good songs that weren't right for this album, because we wanted it to be as cohesive as possible. The songs that were hitting the mark were these ones, so we decided to be strong, and that's how we wrapped up the album. What he said, that stuck with me, was that 'I'd hate to get to the end of this and really wish we'd gone for it.'' Having worked with Kylie for so long, Nelson was able to put this latest shift of direction into perspective. He said 'You've traditionally done it throughout your career. You had your PWL time, then you did a complete turn when you went to deConstruction, then another complete turn with Spinning Around, and R&B dance-pop, and then another turn with Can't Get You Out Of My Head, icy synth-pop, and this is another one.' He was right. It felt like the right time to have a change sonically. New label, new stories to tell, and a new decade almost upon me.'

Kylie Minogue will, it's scarcely believable, turn 50 this year. This looming milestone is partly behind the album's title, and title track. I had this line that I wanted to use: 'We're not young, we're not old, we're golden' because I'm asked so often about being my age in this industry. This year, I'll be 50. And I get it, I get the interest, but I don't know how to answer it. And that line, for my personal satisfaction, says it as succinctly as possible. We can't be anyone else, we can't be younger or older than we are, we can only be ourselves. We're golden. And the album title, Golden, reflects all of this. I liked the idea of everyone being golden, shining in their own way. The sun shines in daylight, the moon shines in darkness. Wherever we are in life, we are still golden.' One of the album's shiniest moments is Raining Glitter, an exuberant banger which ventures closest to Kylie's traditional dance-pop comfort zone. Eg White, who is one of the producers and writers and a great character, was talking about disco one day. I said 'I love disco, but you know the brief.' We needed to be going down the Country lane, so to speak. But we managed to bring them both together. When I wrote it, I was thinking about the Jacksons video for Can You Feel It where they're sprinkling glitter over everyone. And I think there's a Donna Summer record that's got that feel to it. I think that's my job: I basically leave a trail of glitter after every show I do anyway.'

Kylie is looking forward to the challenge of incorporating the Golden material into her live shows. Mixing these songs in with my existing catalogue is going to be fun. And it could be fun to do some of those songs with just a guitar. It'll make my acoustic set interesting...'Her incredibly loyal fans - to whom one Golden song, Sincerely Yours, is intended as a love letter' - will, she believes, have no problem with her latest stylistic shift. My audience have been with me on the journey, so I shouldn't be afraid that they won't come with me on this part. I've had fun with it, and I'm sure they will too.'

The time spent making Golden has, Kylie says, been a time of creative and personal renewal. I've met some amazing people, truly inspiring writers and musicians. My passion for music has never gone away, but it's got bigger and stronger.' And if there's an overriding theme to the record, it is one of acceptance. We're all human and it's OK to make mistakes, get it wrong, to want to run, to want to belong, to love, to dream. To be ourselves.'

I was able to both lose and find myself whilst making this album.'

BLIND DELON debuted back in 2016 with 'Edouard EP'. After a sold out and a lot of love and great acceptance of specialized press the french duo presents 4 new remixes of the main track 'Edouard' signed by Kareem, Synths Versus Me, I Hate Models and Violet Poison. 'EDOUARD REMIXED' will be presented on 12 EP format and produced in a ONE-OFF truly limited edition of 300 copies lacquered pressed on 180 gr. high quality solid black vinyl. All tracks have been specially mastered and remastered for LONG CUT vinyl by Eric Van Wonterghem.

An Australian classic rereleased for the first time ever. Born in 1993 when euphoria was still cool Sweetness and Light is the original rave anthem. Dreamy and breakbeaty this has aged like your best bottle of wine. Brought to you by icons of the scene Itch-E & Scratch-E AKA Paul Mac and Andy Rantzen, between them they have remixed the likes of INXS, Severed Heads, LCD Soundsystem, Kylie Minogue, The Presets and Sia.
In 1994 it came 21st in Triple J's Hottest 100 followed by the honours of an ARIA award for Best Dance Release in 1995. In his infamous acceptance speech Paul Mac announced "We'd like to thank all of Sydney's ecstasy dealers, without whom this award would not be possible".
On the b-side we have Motorik's newest festival act For Life remixing Sweetness into 21st century tempos. Perfect to break between your house and techno this 130bpm heavy hitter blew off the dust from the original to shine again.
Brought to you by your favourite party techno label Motorik who cares more about concept then a budget, this is an opportunity which couldn't be passed down. Sweetness and Light represented warehouse culture in the 90s, it was the resistance to authority, the acceptance of all and the beginning of underground dance music as we know it today.

DJ and producer, co-founder of the legendary London club night Lost, Steve Bicknell returns to the fray with a brilliant new 12", 'Modes of Thought'. Comprising three full tracks and six locked grooves, the record represents the debut release on Bicknell's brand new label, 6dimensions. Art by Harumasa Kono.

Throughout his career, Steve Bicknell has retained a true groundedness, with everything he's stood behind being indelibly marked by a progressive and uncompromising attitude. Sticking firm to ideals and principles, he has remained connected to the roots of techno, eschewing the mainstream to follow an unswerving, singular vision, guided by a deep and enduring devotion to the music that inspires him and a desire to present it in the purest way possible.

Stepping out here with new material and a new venture, Bicknell's trademark raw, minimal aesthetics and conceptual underpinning have clearly been retained. He describes new release 'modes of thought' as being founded upon "the awareness of thought processes, understanding the connection between the heart and the brain through vibrations that are created via the blood-stream." Essential floor gear, 'modes of thought' introduces three tracks of taught, lean minimal techno before handing creativity over to the DJ with the inclusion of six locked groove loops.

Lean and precise, with a beautifully controlled pallette, wide dynamics and rich level of sonic detail, the record flies out of the blocks with the pumping 'harmonious balance', described by its creator as a "reflection on hatred and furthering an understanding of hate and how acceptance induces balance". Continuing to unpack the work, 'the moment I stopped' is described as "a realisation of the importance of self-preservation to balance yourself in order to take care of others close to you"; whilst on the flip, 'messenger molecules' depicts "the flow of blood and how it feeds the brain of feelings through coded information".

**LP + Download - Bonus track 'Three Tears' on download***Natalie Mering, the being behind Weyes Blood, embeds her sublime song in a harmonic gauze of arpeggiated piano, acoustic guitar, druggy horns, & outer space electronics. Propulsive, spare drums carry us across the album's course. There is a faded California beauty to Front Row. A gentle honesty that recalls the finest folk music made on the West Coast of the '70s. The hue hangs in the sweet-spooky harmonies, the pulsing sway of the vibrato & the ecstatic chord resolves. But this beauty is scratched with shadow, with dark foreboding, alienation, & acceptance of change. Love & loss balance together in suspended alchemy, as the earthiness of the singer-songwriter tradition wears digital sounds like feathers in its hair. Mering, together with co-producer Chris Cohen contrasts live band intimacy with the post-modern electric sheen of A.M. radio atmospherics. The experimental flourishes sparkle amid the succinct, thoughtful arrangements.The closeness of this record - how personal, alone, & frank it feels - conceals its aspirations to the outside, to the "Earth" of its title. Weyes Blood harbors devastating weight while also universalizing the strange ways of identity & relationships. These are not typical love songs or protest songs -- they are painful, poignant riddles that celebrate the ambiguity of love & affirm the conflict of harmonious life within a disharmonic world.

You can call them a »supergroup«, but Moderat understands that it's the »group« aspect that makes them interesting.

Gernot Bronsert, Sebastian Szary (aka Modeselektor) and Sascha Ring (aka Apparat) have been working together as a trio almost as long as their two separate projects have existed. We've seen their collaboration grow from »laptop boy-band,« (as Ring playfully puts it) in 2003—with computers synched using software Ring himself had written, because at the time, »there was just no live performance software around.«

Ring confesses that Moderat wasn't »really meant to be a recording act ,« with Bronsert agreeing that, »it was really just about fun.« This maybe explains the six-year break that followed Moderat's first EP before they finally returned in 2009 with their selftitled debut album. Intent on creating something that contrasted with their own projects, the group started the cycle which blossoms on their second album, aptly titled II, culminating now in the trilogy's completion, III. Whereas I was the combination of two separate entities, II brought the members closer together, and in III, the final chapter in the trilogy, Moderat sounds like one band.

Both Szary and Ring will tell you that Moderat moved progressively from making tracks towards a more traditional writing approach of making songs - a process more fully realized on III. That's partly why the vocals have become more prominent. Mostly, you hear Ring singing (there are no guests this time), as he so often does as Apparat, but listen closely to »Ghostmother« to hear Bronsert and Szary backing him up. Stepping out of their comfort zone is the kind of thing that helped create their interplay between pop and electronics; doing it right won them the Resident Advisor Best Live Act honor as early as 2009, and they continue to gain popularity while remaining independent and underground.

Szary describes the idea behind Moderat as, »imagin(ing) yourself sitting in the cinema and watching a movie with an incredible soundtrack.« This is true with Moderat in general, but III in particular pairs an emotional pull with sensual imagery, creating dynamic sound and depth with lyrics such as »the calming scent of lavender fills the air,« or »burning bridges light my way.« You'd have
to ask them whether they're intending to manipulate the listener in the same way that John Williams or Hans Zimmer might with traditional orchestras.

One of the best parts of Moderat is their use of electronics to achieve orchestral diversity. They update the songwriting tradition with an intriguing palette, borne of careful attention and skill, informed by their »experiences with sounds of nearly 25 years of suband club culture.«
Let's not forget that these three were brought together by Berlin's now legendary rave scene. With this as their common foundation as individuals, III signifies Moderat's maturation in modern pop — an achievement shared under their collective belt.

Bronsert explains that, »the new album isn't based on jams. We went into the studio and knew exactly what we needed to do.« This is reflected in the sophisticated themes explored in the music. Take »Ghostmother,« which ponders inner peace, acceptance, fear of the unknown and how facing that fear often reveals something not so scary. Or »Running,« which is about being part of a mass that constantly needs to move to function, but doesn't have the power to decide the direction of motion. Or how about the wisdom of »Reminder,« which recognizes the world for its flaws and our role we've each played in that, but choosing to act differently and light the way to something better.

Given that, it's a bit of an understatement when Bronsert says, »I'd say our music has definitely matured.« Successful in their own endeavors, now they've mastered the »group«. It doesn't mean the end of Moderat, but it does mean they'll have to find something else to excel in.

Over the past few decades, there has been a seismic shift in Brazil's musical landscape. A plethora of varying musical undergrounds has developed across the nation. While Rio and São Paulo have been overwhelmed with networks of talented musicians for a long time, creative life is now bursting all over the country. Amplificador exists to document and propagate the wonderfully diverse music currently blossoming from Brazil's vivacious and geographically varied musical undergrounds. Presenting an up-to date insight into Brazilian music, this compilation draws together some of the components of 'Novíssima Música Brasileira' (brand new Brazilian music), ranging from afro-grooves to rock, to modern samba and MPB. The music reaches back across Brazil's incredibly rich musical and cultural traditions, while also taking in influence from other movements around the globe.



Having begun life in 2012 as a Brazilian music blog run by Marcelo Monteiro, Eduardo Rodrigues, Mateus Campos, and Ricardo Calazans, the aim of Amplificador is to document and propel to wider audiences, Brazilian music of the '00s and '10s generation. This is a task made more significant by obvious changes in the way music is consumed. 'People are no longer obliged to listen to what the radio and TV are presenting. There is a whole new generation that wants to listen to new bands and new sounds and we try to connect those bands with other bands, producers, fans and even the mainstream.' These changes in technology and the way music is discovered and shared have developed parallel to the proliferation of these emerging scenes. The ostensible decentralization of the music industry means the promoting and filtering work of journalists and blogs, like Amplificador, have become increasingly important, as people try to keep up with the tsunami of new music and media flooding the country on a daily basis.



Marcelo uses the example of the Mangue Beat movement to explain a trend in contemporary Brazilian music that looks both inwards, to Brazil's own musical traditions and outwards, to movements around the world to create a novel, localised identity: 'The 90's Pernambuco art-social movement was inspired by Coco, Maracatu and Forró all mixed with modern riffs and grooves. The mythical

revolutionary Chico Science, his Nação Zumbi, Mundo Livre, Siba, and many others do this blend perfectly. There are also the references to the older generations and masters - Gil, Caetano, Luiz Gonzaga, João Gilberto, Tim Maia, Jorge Benjor - as a constant inspiration for all bands.' This is very much the case for the Brazilian artists of today.



Music is unquestionably informed by place. Brazil has always been famed for its regional differences in this sense. Indeed there are still pronounced variations between the scenes of Rio, Sao Paulo, Natal, Goiânia, Belo Horizonte and Belém for example, there are also great divergences within cities and while technology has brought changes to the way musical influences are shared, there are cultural differences, rooted in folkloric traditions, that aren't going away. Expressing his appreciation for this fact, while highlighting the potential of Brazil's spread of musical flavours, Marcelo explains that 'what we have now is new ingredients to make an even better mixture.'

This compilation heavily features music from a scene in Brazil's current musical make-up, which draws inspiration from African music, particularly Afro-beat music. Abayomy Afrobeat Orchestra from Rio formed because of their shared love of the music of Fela Kuti, uniting initially in 2009 for a jam session in his honour. But what sets Abayomy apart from other groups of a similar nature, is the fact that their sound also brings with it the songs and rhythms of candomblé. In this sense, Abayomy was the first band of its kind. The thirteen members of the orchestra have a palpable current of Rio's musical heritage - its rhythms and culture - running through them. So while their sound is distinctly African, it is also inherently Brazilian. Similarly, Zebrabeat Afro-Amazônia Orquestra draw upon traditional guitarradas and carimbos from the state of Pará and fuse these with the poly-rhythms of Afrobeat to create another regional hybrid, which stays true to both its Amazonian and African roots, yet which results in a very fresh, Brazilian sound. From Belo Horizonte (capital of Minas Gerais), Iconilli are another key band on Brazil's Afro-groove scene. With influences as varied as funk, jazz and psychedelic rock, congado, mining harmonies, maracatu, coco, ijexá, carimbó, Iconilli somehow manage to balance all of these sounds in such a way that makes it impossible to pin them down. From the Northeastern city of Joao Pessao, Parayba, Burro Morto's pshychadelic afro sound leans more towards rock and funk influences, with hint of regional Brazilian rhythms such as frevo and forro. They add another flavour to the Brazilian afro-groove scene: just one of the many exciting facets of Novíssima Música Brasileira.



While African-inspired music features heavily on the compilation, it is just one of the many styles within. Ive Seixas has a fresh approach to MPB, based on traditional rhythms and instrumentation, punctuated by a pop sensibility, coupled with a powerful female vocal. As an artist she is a product of a 'Do It Yourself' outlook to creativity, taken from her love of rock growing up. In 2013 she embarked on a project of street performance: wandering, like a lonely troubadour with just her guitar. Ive and her project began to gain notoriety and shortly after, her first EP was recorded, featuring some important names of South Rio's underground scene. 'Cervejas Populares' taken from the EP, is a beautiful, sombre piece of modern Brazilian pop, with a traditional samba rhythm. Another artist of the new MPB scene is Fabricio, from the city of Vitoria, who's 'Feito Tamborim' melds rock and funk and is also clearly reminiscent of the old Brazilian masters. It's an appreciation for the national musical heritage, alongside a keen ear for melody and an acceptance of foreign influences that results in these promising new sounds of Brazilian MPB.

Sao Paulo's super group of the underground 'Passo Torto' have been at the helm of an emerging scene in the city: an innovative approach to samba which draws in and experiments with afro grooves, jazz melodies and rock structures. Their sound is naturally very Brazilian, but the nylon twang of Faira Lima Pra Ca, interspersed with ominous strings and light rolling percussion, seems reminiscent of Captain Beefheart or Tom Waits, as the band lament their frustrations with their native city through their music.



The Future of Novíssima Música Brasileira looks very bright. The main challenge (and purpose of this album) is to get the music beyond Brazil's underground and into view of international audiences. In the last 10 years this goal has become somewhat more attainable, as the Brazilian government has begun to see the internationalisation of the nation's culture as a strategic objective, with public projects gaining increased investment and backing. The continuing project of Amplificador is to reinforce this international bridge by writing, filtering and promoting the scene as a whole. There is a wealth of great music currently blooming in Brazil and using new media tools, Marcelo and the team, alongside many others, will passionately continue to get the voices of Brazil's underground heard.

This EP was made during a period where my whole outlook on everything was transforming. The Voidloss project started as an investigation, I was conducting a lot of research and study on the mind, the occult, on different thought modes, and the Voidloss project represented this. The idea was about a leap in to the void. A leap of abandonment into the dark, with total acceptance, total commitment. The idea was to lose myself to the void. This was mainly a spiritual journey for me, and could be best explained by 3 things, the void of Miyamoto Musashi from Go Rin No Sho, The concept of the Tao from the writings of Lao Tzu, and the concept of the abyss from the works of Aleister Crowley. Part of this journey deep inside the self was frightening and horrific, the total loss of self, of all identity and ego, and part of it was beautiful and enlightening. I wanted the music to reflect this, and I wanted the music to change as I changed, as I went to and through all these interesting places. In essence this was about freedom. So fast forward some years and I felt I had sharpened my mind quite effectively, the music had twisted and changed and flowed with me. At the point I began making the music for this EP, I had grown quite angry with the amount of conformity I was perceiving in life. Politically, socially, musically, there was this drive of conformity in the world. I think part of it, and only a part, comes from the prevalence of social media, the need to belong and to be liked, the idea of judging yourself and your works through the perception of others. Musically I felt that within techno there was a tendency for the music to fit within a set of confines dictated by fashion and hype, and this was reducing the diversity of the music, it seemed also that the practices of commercial music were seeping in to techno as the music became more popular. Hype and business driven decisions, brand building and so on. I always felt techno was more about art, and I began to get frustrated. Equally I felt that politically there was less and less choice, as all decisions seemed to lead to the same outcomes. I became more interested in the concept of anarchism, of the idea that government was no longer needed. I have always in my life had a drive to question everything. I've always been 'naughty' and rebellious and done things my way, to my advantage or my disadvantage, I could never accept being anything other than myself all the way. If everyone walks in one direction, I will walk the other way, even if it takes me over the edge of a precipice, just to see what is there. All this stuff influences my music, and during the period of making this EP I was angry, kicking against the things I no longer liked or wanted, screaming dissent. There is a lot of anger and rage, and of course rebellion. I wanted the music to capture that unbridled fury you have when you are in your late teens, when you just start learning about yourself and you start rebelling and questioning things around the time the world is really pushing you to conform. I was soundtracking my own philosophical riot. Previous to this my Voidloss stuff had been more introverted, more pensive and melancholy, more self destructive, more cerebral. For this new music I wanted something more immediate but without being too obvious. In terms of the choices I made I still leaned more towards broken rhythms for beat structure. I find it very difficult to do anything interesting with 4x4 kicks any more, it's too rigid for me, it limits my freedom. I like the looseness you get from more 'drummer' like beats, I guess probably because I have been playing drums all my life. The challenge is to get the same rolling power from broken rhythms as you get from 4 to the floor. It's not easy, there is a ridiculous amount of trial and error and the rejection percentage is high. I also was trying to use less 'synthy' sounds. I wanted to try to take a more acousmatic approach to sound design. With the current modular synth revival in techno I was hearing a lot of 'old' synth sounds re-emerging, and this didn't seem like a progression to me. I wanted to make sounds that were hard to source for the listener, where they weren't sure if it was synth or real world sample, digital or analogue. This involved a lot of experimentation. My process involved a lot of field recording, especially with contact microphones, which open up a whole new world of interesting sounds. You are effectively recording sounds through objects in the environment, 'hearing' the world as these objects hear them, I was using guitars, feedback loops, handmade instruments as well. So I was combining this with different synthesis, granular synthesis, sample synthesis, physical modelling, FM synthesis and of course analogue. Everything was reprocessed and re-synthesised, I tried hard to obscure the source and make something new as much as possible. The stuff on this EP was part of my live PA for some time, so as I learned how the music worked live I could go back and make changes, sometimes the environment I was playing in transformed the sound as well, and so I would try to go back an incorporate this in to the music. For remixes I wanted to choose artists that I respected for their vision as well as for their output, so my list of people I wanted was extremely short. Inigo Kennedy has always been an artist I have respected greatly. His music has always been unique to himself, he remains outside of fashions and trends even though his name has become very big recently. He takes risks with his work, experimenting and exploring, yet remaining relevant to the club, and just tirelessly forging ahead, seemingly for the sake of art above all else. And he's just a really nice guy to deal with. His remix is everything I expected it to be in that it is the unexpected. Regis is another artist who forges his own path in music, you cant really even begin to discuss the avantgarde in techno without including his name, he is one of the foundation stones for artistry and the outsider mentality in techno. His music is always unique to his own vision, and along with it comes an interesting artistic philosophy taking in situationism, post punk and industrial ideology and a good dose of tricksterism ala PT Barnum, all of which comes out in his music and the way it is presented. The man is a truly singular force and it is an honour to have him on this record. Overall the concept here is that of rebellion and dissent. Of asking questions, following your own path, of maintaining some place in yourself that burns like a forest fire.

Whether or not I have succeeded I guess is down to the listener, I'm never happy with my music, I keep wanting to move forwards, or somewhere else, and am constantly trying and failing to capture some essence of perfection. But like Bukowski said
'It's the only good fight there is'