Buscar:electro minimal

Recorded in 1991 by the quintet of vocalist Billie Ray Martin and Birmingham-based electronic musicians Brian Nordhoff, Joe Stevens, Les Fleming and Roberto Cimarosti, Electribal Soul was conceived as the sequel to the band’s 1990 debut album, Electribal Memories.
Electribal Memories had yielded the hits ‘Talking With Myself’ and ‘Tell Me When The Fever Ended’ and pushed Electribe 101 to the forefront of a crossover electronic scene that fused dance music with pop savvy. They were snapped up by Phonogram, managed by Tom Watkins and hailed as “the next band to meet the Queen” by i-D. The band took the coveted support slot for Depeche Mode on their epochal World Violation tour and supported Erasure at Milton Keynes Bowl. Seen as the next big thing, everything pointed toward enduring critical success for Electribe 101, and the band settled into putting their second album together.
“There was a degree of confidence among us when we came to write the second album,” recalls Billie Ray Martin. “To me, the songs we put down sound like some of our finest moments.” More immediately lush and warm than the dancefloor-friendly structures of Electribal Memories, the clue to the sound of Electribal Soul lies in the second word in its title: soul. Songs like the aching sensuality of opening track ‘Insatiable Love’ or the emboldened defiance of ‘Moving Downtown’ showcase Billie Ray Martin’s distinctive vocal range as it moves from haunting quiet to dramatic, euphoric rapture. Lyrics from ‘Moving Downtown’ had found their way into ‘Pimps, Pushers, Prostitutes’ by S’Express, and the song would appear as ‘Running Around Town’ on Martin’s 1996 solo album. The strikingproduction on the version of the song presented on Electribal Soul suggests classic late sixties soul influences, such as those of legendary Motown producer Norman Whitfield, with the long shadow cast by Kraftwerk never being far away.
‘Deadline For My Memories’, the song that provided the title for Martin’s first solo album, was originally intended for the second Electribe 101 album. Its lyrics document a sense of freedom and liberation from the darkness of a bad relationship, accompanied by jazzy piano and organ sounds over a quiet rhythm and discrete electronics. In contrast, ‘A Sigh Won’t Do’ finds Martin in soothing vocal mode, despite its devastating message about the final ending of a strained relationship, her lyrics framed by restrained and subtle beats and sounds.
To spend time with Martin’s voice on Electribal Soul is to find yourself moved deep into the ordinarily impenetrable emotional corners of your own psyche. “I was into big ballads at the time and listening to all kinds of US and UK singers, and I was also young enough to want to prove myself as a belter of ballads,” explains Martin of the classic soul edge the album showcased.
Electribal Soul heads into darker territory with ‘Hands Up And Amen’. Originally written by Martin in Berlin in the period before moving to London and forming Electribe 101, the song was then perfected and enhanced by the band’s production nous. ‘Hands Up And Amen’ savagely documents the mugging of a woman in Queens, NY at gunpoint, only to resolve itself with a middle section that nods reverently toward gospel tradition. The song coalesces around a regimented break and burbling synths, finally ending with layers of urgent synth sounds.
Meanwhile, a cover of Throbbing Gristle’s ‘Persuasion’ takes us into a seedy world of sexual coercion and creepy infatuation, predating Martin’s chilling version of the track with progressive house unit Spooky two years later. Supported by a minimal, nagging rhythm and barely-fluctuating sounds, Electribe 101’s take on ‘Persuasion’ makes for uneasy listening, even though Martin manages to inject a sort of twisted sympathy for the protagonist as the song progresses.
That Electribe 101 were as comfortable offering complicated, nuanced tracks like ‘Persuasion’ alongside pop house bangers like ‘Space Oasis’ – written by Billie Ray Martin with Martin King before Electribe 101 was formed – is testament to the way the band wove their way effortlessly through electronic music reference points. Framed by light, jazzy piano melodies and string sounds, the energy of ‘Space Oasis’ soars so high that it could easily reach the moon, while highlighting how well-suited Martin’s voice has always been to club music. We hear the same reminder of her dance music credentials on ‘True Memories Of My World’, finding her describing a Hollywood actress who reflects on being used by directors to sell her ‘tears’.
Hooking up with the Birmingham-based Nordhoff, Stevens, Fleming and Cimarosti after placing a Melody Maker ad in 1988 (“Soul rebel seeks musicians – genius only”), it was clear that Martin had found a group that recognised the unique power and importance of her voice. Having worked with genres as diverse as reggae, rock and R&B, the four producers proved to be perfect collaborators, presenting carefully-sculpted backdrops that emphasised the towering emotional dexterity of her voice.
“Listening back to these tracks now, I was reminded of what a bunch of great musicians they were,” says Martin. “They had a rule that if a part still sounded good after a day or two then it could stay. If it bothered the vocals, it would go.” Even more so than on Electribal Memories, Electribal Soul places Martin at the captivating centre of these pieces, surrounding her voice with everything from dubby rhythms to chunky R&B beats to nascent trip hop breaks; wiry, acid-hued synths uncoil gently without ever dominating, while horn samples and lush, disco-inflected strings provide a rich, naturalistic accompaniment for Martin’s emotional outpourings.
The band finished mixing the album at London’s Olympic Studios in 1991. They were assisted by Apollo 440’s Howard Gray on production duties for ‘Deadline For My Memories’, ‘Insatiable Love’ and ‘Space Oasis’, with Gray supported by talented engineer Al Stone. Pre-release promo tapes were issued and an enthusiastic energy started to build around the band’s anticipated second album.
It was not meant to be. Against a backdrop of a worsening relationship with Tom Watkins, and a disinterested Phonogram, instead of receiving a positive reaction to the new tracks, Electribe 101 were swiftly dropped by their label. Electribal Soul languished, unreleased, and the band yielded to pressures that had been building and split up. After collaborating with Spooky and The Grid, Billie Ray Martin went on to release her seminal debut solo album in 1996, with it securing the era-defining hit ‘Your Loving Arms’, while the other group members continued to work together as The Groove Corporation.
Thirty years after the songs were recorded, we’re now finally able to hear what the second and final chapter of Electribe 101’s story sounded like. Electribal Soul shows that the band had really only just got started when they dropped their first album in 1990. Heard only by a select and privileged few, what followed elevated the band’s music to a completely new level, making Electribal Soul musical buried treasure of the most precious and rare variety.
Electribal Soul will be released on LP, CD and digital formats on 18th February 2022 through Electribal Records. The physical formats include extensive liner notes from Billie Ray Martin, and the album sleeve features unseen archive photographs by Lewis Mulatero from the original 1990 sessions with the band that were never used in the sleeve designs for Electribal Memories.

France pianist Vanessa Wagner continues her exploration of the minimalist repertoire by introducing her audience to pieces, many rare or unpublished, by acclaimed composers, young pianists, and genre-bending personalities from the ambient and electronic scenes. In France or even Europe, Vanessa Wagner is practically the only "classical" pianist to tackle this contemporary and timeless repertoire. Study of The Invisible features interpretations of pieces by a spectrum of composers that includes Suzanne Ciani, Harold Budd, David Lang, Bryce Dessner and Phillip Glass.

Described by Le Monde as ‘the most delightfully singular pianist of her generation’, and by Libération as ‘one of the most curious and captivating pianists on the French scene, Vanessa Wagner is able to balance parallel careers. As well as performing a classic solo, chamber and concert repertoire on stages all over the world, through her output on InFiné she is continuously exploring paths that are equally personal, but perhaps more intimate. Study Of The Invisible sees her breaking new ground in a musical tradition, in a way that no other ‘classical’ pianist in France and Europe currently does. Often described as ‘minimalist’, it’s a musical tradition that covers a multitude of singular styles and musical personalities and that spans generations.

Study Of The Invisible seeks out the mysterious world that lives behind the score, the imperceptible links that unite these silences and harmonies, but also the inner resources that this music can bring to light. With this record and this journey, whose apparent melancholy ultimately proves to be powerfully comforting, Vanessa Wagner continues to give a new scale to a music which proves to be above all radiant and luminous.

*are Vinyl exclusive tracks

Tape

Lucia H. Chung is a Taiwanese experimental artist based in London. She performs and releases music under the alias 'en creux'.

Under this alias, Lucia is interested in the underlying structures of what we call noise and is examining the effects of human interventions into its complex web of tones. Repetition and chance operations are fundamental to Lucia‘s music. It is not built on the dionysian maximalism and symbolic harshness of lots of noise artists; catharsis is not reached via an explosion of sound, but via concentration on sound phenomena and small changes, which, not unlike some minimal disco night your usual mind-altering drone ritual, sucks you in more with every tiny alteration. This music is as intense as it is sensitive.

„The Liberated Mind“, in Lucia‘s own words, „is a sort of split release between two no-input configurations“. For „Wyldside“, she tuned two different feedback mixers with identical routings as close possible, as much as tuning is possible at all on these highly volatile instruments. „The two channels naturally phased in and out from each other. I guess the process was actually akin to Steve Reich's tape techniques on Come Out and It's Gonna Rain. The whole release extrapolated from that point onwards...“ Finding and replicating similar routings/settings on no input mixing desks is the nightmare of every control freak and a task doomed to failure, but in letting go and embracing these failures, patterns emerge. And thanks to Lucia‘s careful work, these patterns become hypnotic as she carves out the essence of each feedback loop, or, as she puts it: „Actually, I did remember the setting for the final track „Earthrise“, but for whatever reasons, I just cannot reproduce the sounds and it's forever lost (at least for this point in time, maybe when the conditions are primed again for the machine, the same sounds will emerge again...). I guess that's really the essences of improvised NIMB setup. Every single sound was the effect of the previous iteration and the cause of the next iteration... (Wait... isn't it just like a Blockchain? Ha!)“

A collection of no-input studio sessions improvised with Mackie 1202-VLZ Pro, TAPCO MIX260FX, MXR Phase 90 and Electro-Harmonix Bad Stone Phase Shifter. All tracks recorded live, no overdubs. Recorded in London in February 2020. Mastered by causeandcondition

Lucia also works as independent curator, producer and broadcaster at Happened. Check out Lucia‘s other albums on Hard Return, Falt and SM-LL.

Previous album released on Dead Oceans. Previous album was a collaboration with Brian Eno. Past press coverage from Pitchfork, SPIN, The Guardian, Drowned in Sound, Dusted, The Quietus, and many more. Since the release of his last album 2017’s Finding Shore, a collaboration with Brian Eno pianist and singer-songwriter Tom Rogerson’s life has undergone a number of dramatic transformations. While writing his new album Retreat to Bliss, Rogerson had a child, lost a parent, and received his own diagnosis of a rare form of blood cancer. The new decade brought him from Berlin to the Suffolk of his childhood, composing profound pieces of minimal songwriting in the church next to his parents’ home. Rogerson studied composition at the Royal Academy of Music under mentors like Harrison Birtwistle, and he made his live debut as an improvising pianist in 2002, before releasing an improvised record with Reid Anderson (Bad Plus) and Mike Lewis (Happy Apple, Bon Iver) in 2004. He formed the band Three Trapped Tigers in 2007, expertly blending elements of electronic, jazz and noise rock into a cohesive whole. The band earned a reputation for innovative live shows and went on to perform and collaborate with artists like Brian Eno, Deftones, and the Dillinger Escape Plan. It was working with Eno, another Suffolk native, that eventually led Rogerson back to his roots and back to a place where he could write Retreat to Bliss, his solo debut album. “All my life, the piano has been my constant companion, my confessor, my best friend, and my worst enemy,” Rogerson explains. “I’ve always written music on and for the piano, but it felt too personal, too private to release.” Indeed, listening to Retreat to Bliss feels almost like eavesdropping, as though you’re crouched in the belfry of a Suffolk church, bearing witness to a form of musical bloodletting. For the first time in his noteworthy career, Rogerson has combined masterful piano playing and subtle electronics with the texture of his own voice, an attempt to express deeply private emotions that were difficult to articulate using instrumental music alone. “The last few years have brought some struggle, some joy, and a lot of change. My response has been to retreat to what I trust the most: the piano, my voice, and the landscape I grew up in. That’s how the album got its title, and how I came to be ready finally to release a solo record.” The eleven tracks that make up Retreat to Bliss were recorded by Leo Abrahams (Brian Eno, David Byrne, Grace Jones) over the course of just a few days, a process that emphasized spontaneity and the artist’s own commitment to improvisation. Secular yet devotional, intensely personal yet profound, the experience of listening to Retreat to Bliss seems to evade characterization. It’s physical and emotional, a glimpse into the mind of an artist who has chosen exposure over withdrawal, who uses his command of the piano to chart an unflinching path forward, never looking back. UK press campaign by Someone Great. Press Quotes "A meeting of minds that is full of rewarding surprises, challenging and surprising one another, and their listeners, with music that feels alive and wondrous…” Pitchfork // "Both mournful and dazzlingly optimistic, a taste of the conflict found so ofen in nature and reflected so elegantly across the course of the record.” The Line of Best Fit // "Many avant-garde instrumental albums exist to craf a mood; Rogerson and Eno merge these moods, sounds and themes together efortlessly and radiantly on Finding Shore” Exclaim // Track List 01 Descent 02 Oath 03 Buried Deep 04 Toumani 05 Drone Finder part 2 06 Chant 07 Rapture 1 08 Open Out Span Wide View 09 A Clearing 10 Retreat To 11 Coda

Colorado-based RUMTUM (aka John Hastings), an acclaimed visual artist and up-and-coming producer returns to Bastard Jazz with his first full-length offering: "Isles In Indigo." Arriving after a slew of successful singles (many of which can be found on the album) and EPs, "Isles In Indigo" both stays true to his established sound, and expands on the artistic vision; a luscious combination of aquatic ambient, lo-fi hip-hop, and mellow, melodic electronic, the record traverses the depths of the ocean to the outer reaches of the cosmos.

New offerings on the album include "Lost My Heart In Space" - an ethereal, downtempo cut - "Half Set Valley," which explores instrumental lo-fi replete with distant, chopped and edited spoken word samples, "Coastal Ruins" with nods to breakbeat, "Mystic Symbols," a trippy minimal track, and the album closer, "Commit Way," which journeys from washed-out ambient to spacey hip-hop. Of course the LP also includes many RUMTUM mainstay singles, including "Shade Fader," "Tropic Air," and "Borealis."

Electronic producer and instrumental enthusiast RUMTUM has a unique approach to crafting his melodic melodies. May it be his love for native spirits, mystic symbols or even sea life, sampling the natural world plays the biggest part in the dynamics of his writing. Ambient loops and saturated synth lines set the tone while the bass and drums do most of the story telling.

"Isles In Indigo" is a stunning freshman release from a budding artist on the rise. Stay tuned for the physical LP arriving March 2022, complete with an original art insert.

Minimal Wave presents The Complete Collection 1980-1988, a five LP box set by the highly lauded French group Martin Dupont. The band formed in Marseille in 1980 and consisted of Alain Seghir, Brigitte Balian, Beverley Jane Crew, and Catherine Loy. They were immensely talented with a rare dynamic between them that was likely inspired by a combination of their magnetic personalities, creative vision and and the home studio where they recorded. The music they made was colorful, enthusiastic and delicate, but also melancholy and mysterious. A mixture of hot and cold, light and dark. They made electronic music that incorporated guitars and clarinets and are described by many as a New Wave band yet they truly transcended genres. They had some mainstream success finding themselves opening for bands like The Lotus Eaters, The Lounge Lizards and Siouxsie and the Banshees, without any intention of ever being a commercial enterprise. In Beverley Jane Crew’s words, “the songs just tumbled out in a completely organic and spontaneous way and as soon as they were recorded on the four track, they were shared with friends on tapes, openly and excitedly.”

They released three studio albums: Just Because, Sleep Is A Luxury and Hot Paradox, one cassette entitled Inédits 1981-1983 and one 7” single entitled Your Passion. In 2008, Minimal Wave released a compilation of selected tracks entitled Lost And Late. Now one decade later, MW releases its first box set for this phenomenal band.

The Complete Collection 1980-1988 consists of all of Martin Dupont’s recorded material to date in the form of five 180 gram vinyl LPs and spans 60 songs recorded between 1980 and 1988. Along with the five LPs, the box contains a 12 page LP-sized full color booklet featuring previously unpublished photographs of the band, their history, and select song lyrics. The box itself is bound in platinum grey linen, with black foil type and both booklet and box are designed by NYC based artist Peter Miles. All five LPs are pressed on black 180 gram vinyl and feature the original artwork of the French artist Yves Cheynet.

Soft piano notes kiss trippy electronic tones: “Kossaiko”, the only collaborative record that japanese piano player Saiko Tsukamoto and globally known electronic producer Kuniyuki Takahashi ever produced, is an unmissable profound soft classic music burner.

Together they composed and produced an eight-chapter strong deeply absorbing narrative, whose enthralling story arc dives profound into authentic drama zones, that sound like they jumped right out of a Claude Sautet movie.

Originally released in 2007 as cd only, the perfectly put together longplayer now enters the world for the first time in a vinyl edition that is tragically hip. deeply starry-eyed composi-tions full of minimalistic piano melodies that creep, twist, and dance around unobtrusive electronic notes who never call the tune, but always elevate the spectacle into higher elec-tronic spheres.

In the center of each between five- and nine-minutes long composition is the piano play of Saiko, gently hitting the keys, giving space to each note to vibrate in an endless “Pauline Oli-Veros” way, drifting until the very last sound vanish. around them, Kuniyuki plays his charming electronic tricks, opening the space for tones that sometimes pulsate, sometimes flow the ambient way.

Furthermore, occasionally a guitar notes pop up or accordion melodies cover the sorcery with a severely romantic veil.

Modern classical music, that has no fear of electronic meltdowns, that embraces digital tones while staying organic in its very inner circle.

A wise man once said: when words leave off, music begins. Those who fall for the eight poems of Saikoss will lose their speech and in return get pleased all agitations of their soul.

Tape

Alexandre Bazin's second album for Cassauna is a compelling minimal/experimental/electronic album consisting of one piece separated into several movements for the purpose of stronger narrative and aesthetic coherence. The album explores the concept of percussion and resonance through the spectrum of electronic frequencies and densities with a plunge into the sound.

Percussion-Resonance makes use of a new alphabet, a simple vocabulary in order to create innovative and personal music, with a clear and emotional subject. Structured architectural sequences give way to the experimental. Different climaxes punctuate the work in order to keep grabbing the listener’s attention.The record title tackles the theme of musique concrète developed by French composer Pierre Schaeffer as well a nod to Bernard Parmegiani’s De Natura Sonorum

Alexandre Bazin is a member of the Groupe de Recherches Musicales better known as the GRM, for which he writes documentaries about music for Radio France.

He is passionate about experimental music and more specifically the electronic music created by Bernard Parmegiani, Iannis Xenakis, Pan Sonic, Fennesz, Alva Noto and Ryoji Ikeda. His music is distributed by Important Records / Cassauna, Umor Rex Records and played at the Moogfest festival in the USA.

Fiat Lux is the debut album by Tarta Relena, a Barcelona-based project featuring Marta Torrella and Helena Ros. The group approaches the oral traditions of the Mediterranean from a contemporary perspective using a unique combination of ancient vocal melodies and subtle electronic textures.

Tarta Relena’s inspiration for Fiat Lux comes from historical characters, such as the Virgin Mary and Hildegard of Bingen, and timeless verses that deal with the cyclic nature of the human experience: “E suïcidi i el cant” (1) is an adaptation of a traditional poem by Pashtun women in Afghanistan; “Esta montanya d’enfrente” (3) is a traditional Sephardic song; “Safo” (9) is based on the love poems by Sappho of Lesbos.
Singing in Catalan, Spanish, Greek, Latin, English, and even Sephardi, the language of Hispanic jews, Tarta Relena explore a complex array of Latin cultures through the simplicity of voice. They draw from vocal techniques that range from flamenco to jazz, introducing elements of electronic music to redefine the melodies.
In January 2019, Tarta Relena released their first EP, Ora Pro Nobis: eight a cappella songs with minimal electronics. In April 2020, they released their second EP, Intercede Pro Nobis: a five-song dialogue between voice and electronics.
Fiat Lux expands on past experimentations, moving away from organic harmonies to embrace digital textures and distortions. The musical production of Juan Luis Batalla and Òscar Garrobé is remnant of Holly Herndon or Eartheater.
Tarta Relena have perhaps been best described by Pitchfork in their review of Pack Pro Nobis: “Tarta Relena is a celebration of musical exchange. At a time of rising nationalisms across Europe, Tarta Relena’s songs are a testament both to the porousness of borders and the ideas that unite disparate cultures, running beneath the centuries like a pedal tone”.

10th anniversary reissue of this rhythmically churning one-man-band monster of an album, recorded in a single inspired studio session & originally released in 2012 on Editions Mego.

From the original Editions Mego press release:

“For anyone who still associates Oren Ambarchi exclusively with the clipped, bass-heavy tones of solo electric guitar works such as Suspension, this rhythmically churning one-man-band monster of an album-length piece might seem to come out of nowhere. However, listeners who have followed the breadth of his work for the last few years (solo and in projects with collaborators from Jim O’Rourke to Stephen O’Malley and Keith Rowe to Keiji Haino) will have noted how Ambarchi has allowed increasingly clear traces of his enthusiasms as a music listener (for classic rock, minimal techno and 70’s fusion, among other areas) to surface in his performances and recordings, all the time filtering them through his signature long-form structures and psychoacoustic sonics.

Recorded in a single inspired studio session, Sagittarian Domain displaces Ambarchi’s trademark guitar sound from the centre of the mix, its presence felt only as an occasional ghostly reverberated shimmer. Endlessly pulsating guitar and bass lines sit alongside electronic percussion and thundering motorik drumming (familiar from his work with Keiji Haino) at the core of the piece, locking into a voodoo groove like Faust covering a 70’s cop show theme. The work is founded on hypnotic almost-repetition, the accents of the drum hits and interlocking bass and guitar lines shifting almost imperceptibly back and forwards over the beat as they undergo gradual transformations of timbre. Cut-up and phase-shifted strings enter around the half-way mark like an abstracted memory of the eastern-tinged fusion of the Mahavishnu Orchestra’s classic Visions of the Emerald Beyond, before returning for an extended, stark yet affecting come-down coda, equal parts Gavin Bryars and Purple Rain.

While Sagittarian Domain contains traces of a diversity of influences, it mines all of them to uncover something that is clearly an extension of Ambarchi’s own investigations up to this point, exhibiting the same care for micro-detail and surrender to the physicality of sound that are present in all of his work, extending them in new ways to repetition, pulse and rhythm”.

Scott Walker, PJ Harvey, Coil, Matmos, Autechre & Pan Daijing. 180g LP with inner, 12”x24”poster + DL card. The Debut Full-Length By Montréal Producer Kee Avil, The Project Led By Avant/Improv Guitarist Vicky Mettler, Also Known As A Member Of Sam Shalabi’s Land Of Kush And As Co-Founder Of Concrete Sound Montréal. Advance Single “See, My Shadow” Premiered By Mary Ann Hobbs On BBC6 And Picked Up By Music & Riots, Backseat Mafia, Aural Aggravation, Etc In Dec 2021. Kee Avil, a project led by Montréal producer and guitarist Vicky Mettler: a singular expression of fractured dream logic concretized in chiselled postpunk guitar, sinuous low-end electronics, a panoply of organic and digital samples creating alternately twitchy and propulsive rhythm, and the anxious intimacy of her finely wrought lyricism and vocals. Bound by an outstanding production sensibility throughout, Crease unfolds one oblique earworm hook after another, with compositional innovation anchored to an inscrutable and compelling voice across 10 songs of tremendous and imaginative sonic detail. Kee Avil brings a contemporary electroacoustic sensibility to bear on traditions and conventions of pop, postpunk, electronic and sound-art songwriting, where touchstones range from Scott Walker and Coil to Fiona Apple, (early) PJ Harvey and (later) Juana Molina to Eartheater, Pan Daijing and Smerz; or Grouper produced by Autechre. Her unconventional alloys also conjure the guitar-inflected deconstructions of Gastr del Sol and the crystalline micro-worlds of Bjork, Matmos and Rashad Becker. Crease is one of those debut records that excites a wide range of peerless references precisely because it's so compelling in its own idiosyncratic authority, originality and execution. Each song on Crease is its own sculpture, meticulously assembled to resemble disassembly: “each of these worlds was built without consideration for the other; it felt impossible to me, once I would enter the atmosphere of a song, to try to start another until that idea was finished.” The album nonetheless unfolds in impressive holistic integration through a palette of textures and techniques deployed in recurring but continually refracted ways. Alongside her superb austere guitar work stitched into electro-industrial, dark-ambient and minimal-techno soundworlds, it’s her voice and lyrics confidential, hermetic, implacable that provide the galvanizing, always captivating through-line. Her more compositional, exacting, (de)constructed musical identity was first unveiled with the self-titled Kee Avil EP (Black Bough Records) and further honed by pre-pandemic tours sharing stages with Pere Ubu, Marc Ribot and Bill Orcut among others. Woodshedding since then, Crease presents a quantum leap in Kee Avil's exploration of studio-based experimentation, arrangement and production, signaling the arrival of a brilliantly genre-melding, refined and assiduous new voice in avant-garde songcraft.

A holy grail of French classic new wave! Thierry Müller, who initiated the French RUTH project, is not at his first try when the album POLAROID/ROMAN/PHOTO including the eponymous title track is released in 1985, but already a known name in underground experimental/electronic music with ARCANE, ILITCH (albums "Periodmindtrouble", "10 Suicides") as well as the more punky RUTH M.ELLIYERI (cult track "Mescalito"). Together with Philippe Doray, quite a big name of French experimental music at the times, Müller started RUTH. As early as 1982, a first instrumental version of the track Polaroïd/Roman/Photo is out under the name of the project RUTH. "I wanted to write a piece to make the girls dance and make fun of the boys. I plugged a small handmade clock on my Farfisa organ as a sequencer. I had a small Roland synth-guitar, I put the organ in it and that's how it started." Next came Frédérique Lapierre, who contributed original vocals on the track in 1984 as well as wrote lyrics and sung two more album tracks. Thierry asks some friends to write texts for the album and then recording tracks with Phillipe as well as Frédérique. But when the sessions are over, both musicians are not too happy with the results of the Polaroïd/Roman/Photo version: according to them, it lacks "flamboyance". They decide then to record a new female voice with a professional singer (Frédérique Cambon), sound engineer Patrick Chevalot offers to mix the track "so that it blows out". The whole album was finally released in 1985 with Paris Album, a small independant label, barely selling 50 copies in 1985, despite its eponymous title as a potential success. A first limited CD version was issued in 2001 via Fractal, but In 2004, DJs Marc Colin and Ivan Smagghe discover the track Polaroïd/Roman/Photo and decide to exhume it from oblvion. They released it on a compilation called So Young but so cold (Tigersushi) and then with Born Bad records on the BIPPP compilation in 2008. Thanks to them, the track (remixed and released via Aufnahme & Wiedergabe) and the album (reissued in 2008 (CD) via Infrastition and 2010 (LP) via Angular) started a new life, now back in print via BORN BAD RECORDS! + 12 pages booklet (Iiner notes UK + french) + Download code RIYL: Cold, Minimal & New Wave, Dark Dance, Elektro

blue Marbled Vinyl Repress

Med School Music veteran Bop launches his own label "Microfunk Music". The first release contains 4 minimalistic tunes, starting from the chill autonomic moods and the lovely nostalgic arpeggio of "Telescope" written by Bop and Synkro, moving to Nuage's fragile synths and luscious summer vocals, followed by a warm analogue bass in "Endless Green". In addition to these beautiful sounds, Microfunk Crew includes the more energetic, fit for the dance floor drum&bass with strong juke and ambient influences of "Crab Nebula". The EP is perfectly completed by Dissident with his kind and even slightly infantile soundscapes in "Design Yourself". This vinyl record is a great introduction to the label's unique sound. Each song has its own character and tells a specific story; however the wholepiece sounds very organic and will definitely appeal to the intelligent electronic music fans.

Comet Records presents Afro Rhythms Vol. 2, the first repress of Comet’s singles and Remixes from 2009 – 2017 with floor filler tracks from Tony Allen Afrobeat pioneer 'African Man" remix by Ricardo Villalobos & Max Loderbauer along with the afro deep house reedit of "Cotton’s Field" by French producer Jeff Sharel, the "Awakening" remix from Krazy Baldhead, former artist of Ed Banger and producer of electro malian band Donso and finally Africaine 808 to end this Afro Rhythms comp with their stunning remix of Afrobeat classic tune "Afrodiscobeat". A proper trawl through the vaults of Comet Records.

**LTD BLACK AND RED MARBLE**

As humans, we are aware of our inner beast and should therefore be able to control it. We understand our hard-wired primal urges and why they exist in an evolutional sense. We understand the relationship between mind and body. Highly evolved and intelligent, we should be able to recognize these genetic hangovers and control them as a means to act positively and move forward as a compassion-ate species. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Recent global events have proven this. The human race is consuming itself.

World Eater, the new album by Benjamin John Power's Blanck Mass project, is a reaction to this. There is an underlying violence and anger throughout the record, even though some of these tracks are the closest Power has ever come to writing, in his words, actual love songs.'

Maybe subconsciously this was some kind of countermeasure to restore some personal balance,' Power explains.

On World Eater, Power further perfects the propulsive, engrossing electronic music he has created throughout his impressive decade-plus career, both under the Blanck Mass moniker and as one-half of Fuck Buttons, as he elaborates upon the sound of 2015's brilliant double album Dumb Flesh. As massive as the sonic world of the new record often feels, its greatest achievement is in its maximization of a limited set of tools, a restriction intentionally set by Power himself.

As an exercise in better understanding myself musically, I found myself using an increasingly restricted palette during the World Eater creative process. Evoking these intense emotions using minimal components really put me outside of my comfort zone and was unlike the process I am used to. Feeling exposed shone a new light on this particular snapshot. I feel enriched for doing so.'

(A) 1. John Doe's Carnival of Error
(B) 2. Rhesus Negative
(C) 3. Please
(D) 4. The Rat
(E) 5. Silent Treatment
(F) 6. Minnesota / Eas Fors / Naked
(G) 7. Hive Mind

A homage to the wildlife and mountain people of Benedicte Maurseth’s home area in Hardanger. The acclaimed and innovative visionary musician Benedicte Maurseth is coming forth with the wonderful all-consuming album Hárr. The sound of her magic Hardanger fiddle is woven seamlessly together with that of birds and the other musicians’ musical impressions. Always moving forward with a steely calm disposition, the record draws you into a world where one feels to be one with nature, wandering over a mountain plateau. Benedicte was raised in Maurset in Eidfjord – near Hardangervidda National Park – and has hiked through the mountains her whole life, clearly laying the foundation for this musical expedition. As traditional folk musicians have always been, Maurseth is open to contemporary influences from interactive art and music styles. The work Hárr oscillates between Norwegian folk tunes, free improvised music, American minimalism, and extensive use of musique concrète. In the tracks you will also hear natural soundscapes via the shufflings of reindeer, reindeer herders, birds and insects all recorded in Hardangervidda. Benedicte Maurseth: Hardanger fiddle Mats Eilertsen: contrabass, electronics Håkon Stene: vibraphone, percussion, electronics Guests: Jørgen Træen: electronics Rolf-Erik Nystrøm: saxophone Stein Urheim: langeleik, harmonica, electronics, samples, percussion

These two pieces, recorded in sessions in Ghent, Belgium and Hamburg, Germany, represent the first musical collaboration between long-time friends U. Schütte (half of the German duo Phantom Horse, with several releases on Umor Rex) and G. Steenkiste (aka Hellvete). In this work, two specific traditions of the avant garde of modern electronic music of the meet elegantly: the systematic, evolutionary and minimal construction of harmonic and solemn forms, with the patience and aesthetics of long durations ––where small changes take time but are always punctual and precise. U. Schütte & G. Steenkiste built a beautiful meeting between electric and acoustic music, basically carried out with a harmonium, a shruti box and modular synthesizers. Beauty is in the details and what Schütte and Steenkiste do here is to cover two long landscapes with well-consolidated details that invite contemplation and moments of extreme sensory relaxation. You have to give yourself a space to listen and see through sound, and these two long pieces are a rare and perfect opportunity to do so.

Recorded by G. Steenkiste and U. Schütte in December 2020 in Sint-Denijs & Hamburg. Mastered by Edgar Medina. Photos & design by Daniel Castrejón.

"Lloyd Stellar X The Droid - Rise of theAMachines is an exciting debut collaboration between Erik Griffioen & Ben Evans.AAn impressive maxi EP, loaded with cutting edge electro brimmingAwith musicality, sound design and expert production.A

Kicking off the release comes theAtitle track 'Rise Of The Machines', this quirky yet nuanced excursion sets the pace, allowing it's nifty ricocheting sequences, slick 808s, and tripped out ear candy to hit the clubs. 'Prisoners features a wiggly bass led jam, plastered with synths and finished with a dash of vocoded vocals. TheAduos ability to illustrate a dense sonic picture is evident once again on 'Cell Block' as intricate razor sharp drum programming holds the ship steady while ominous synths let the head wander before rich melancholic pads blast a sense of perspective and emotive depth.A
A
Onto the flip side - 'Room And Pillar'Agrabs the bull by the horns with a tough and aggressive bass line driven banger. Shrieking, twisted synth lines and FX are shattered across the track, keeping tension levels peaking, while TR808 rhythms cut through with military precision. Contrasting A'The Neutral Zone' sucks us into a deep atmospheric orbit of blissful yet inquisitive FM synthesis, distant emotive pads, fortified by warm stately bass tones. ARounding off the EP 'Coming Home' exhibits electro minimalism at its finest. An entangled, ever evolving musical conversation between bass and upper register synths leads, filled with a sense of hope and optimism, assisted by meticulous programmed electro drums, reminiscent of the best of Schatraxx.A

The second Be With foray into the archives of revered German library institution Selected Sound is one of our favourites, Sound Inventions from Klaus Weiss Rhythm And Sounds, originally released in 1979.

From the notoriously strong mind of Niagara drummer / library-funk overlord Klaus Weiss, Sound Inventions is loaded with tripped out studio funk-freakery, mad samples and swaggering abstract funk grooves. From dramatic deep disco with dark Italo/Moroder leanings to heavy German funk breaks, this is absolutely sensational. Absolute synth-and-string-drenched magic.

Born in 1942 in Gevelsberg, Germany, Klaus Weiss began his career as a jazz drummer at sixteen (with a group called the Jazzopators) before working with the internationally successful 60s groups the Klaus Doldinger Quartet and the Erwin Lehn Big Band. In 1965 he formed his own trio, the first of many groups to bear his name, and as his renown as a bandleader grew over the next decade it naturally lead to working in production music.

About as cult as it gets when it comes to library music legends (German or otherwise), he produced essential records on German library labels Coloursound, Selected Sound and Sonoton, as well as making two essential entries in the Conroy catalogue. Collections of music in the trademark Klaus Weiss sound of electronics unsurprisingly built on top of sometimes funky, sometimes frenetic, but always hard-hitting drums.

Sound Inventions is one of those library records with a hefty track list, 22 in total, but they’re all pretty stunning. That’s not something you can often say and picking out the highlights is almost impossible. If pushed, we’d steer you towards the tough teutonic funk of “Drumcrazy”, the by turns juddering and sweeping majesty of the title track “Sound Inventions”, the aquatic serenity of “Glide”, the elegant strut of “Greenwich Street”, the muted, eerie cosmic-funk of “Air Space”, the squelchy acid-clavs of “Rhythm Function”, the calming, melodic “Waves”, the stuttering proto-Timbaland sensation that is “Rainbows” and the percussive funk-fuelled workout of “A Few Cuts”. Phew. Heavy indeed!

Founded in the late 60s by German composer and musician Klaus Netzle, Selected Sound began as a production music company specialising in jazz, orchestral and electronic recordings. You can’t miss those early LPs in their iconic glossy metallic copper sleeves with minimal German typography. Serious, classy stuff.

This re-issue of Sound Inventions has been mastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis from audio from the original tapes. Richard Robinson has handled reproducing the glossy metallic (iconic) original Selected Sound sleeve. Essential.

More from mystery artist Surrogate, reportedly a veteran Detroit-based techno producer operating under a new alias for the first time in 20 years. As with the publicity-shy artist's recent debut on Misstress Recordings, the four cuts showcased on this EP combine crunchy, distorted and sometimes extremely lo-fi techno and electro beats with dubbed-out electronics, deep space motifs and subtle nods towards vintage rave culture. There's much to admire throughout, from the soul-flecked deep techno crunchiness of 'Poison' and hypnotic, early morning brilliance of 'LX', to the fractured techno minimalism of closing cut 'Moderno'.

Jessy Lanza has always made music that perfectly suits the mood - whether it's the heads-down trance of the dancefloor or that hazy, post-club bliss. It's no surprise for an artist that takes electronic music's most intoxicating sensibilities and effortlessly reimagines them as experimental pop and R&B. The Canadian singer, producer and DJ from Hamilton, Ontario, has trodden an inspiring path which led to 2013's boldly minimalist debut Pull My Hair Back, released on revered UK label Hyperdub. Gorgeously complex follow-ups Oh No - shortlisted for Canada's prestigious Polaris Prize - and 2020's All the Time crowned her as a singular talent in the left-of-pop sphere. It's with this genre-bending approach that Jessy Lanza presents her entry for the DJ-Kicks series - a sprawling, club-indebted odyssey that draws you in closer and closer with each listen. Recorded this summer, the mix is an incisive snapshot of her emotional landscape during the past 18 months. In 2020, with nothing but a van, a few personal belongings and her musical gear, Lanza and her partner relocated from New York City to the Bay Area to ride out the pandemic. A change of scenery, buoyed by the slower pace of their new home, gave her a fresh perspective during a worldwide screeching halt. Jessy Lanza's DJ-Kicks mix also arrives as a divine stroke of timing. As the world slowly starts to re-open, it's a portal into the ecstatic energy of the dancefloor; an emblem of genuine healing - both personal and communal - that transports listeners to a state of pure euphoria.

Nikki Nair is fast becoming one of the most diverse and forward-thinking artists in electronic music, flying the flag for increasingly hybridized methods and doing it your own way. His sound is inimitable and cannot be defined; readily bottling a multitude of emotions in a relatively short space of time.

Nikki’s meteoric rise has come in the form of eclectic releases like his ‘More is Different’ EP on Dirtybird to the downright filthy and party-starting ‘Trying To’ on Bristol’s Scuffed Recordings - Influenced by anything from Detroit techno, to lush ambient soundscapes and Florida breaks. The Knoxville born, Atlanta based producer continues his journey through shape shifting universes on his debut for Lobster Theremin, with five different but equally impressive tracks.

‘ Shufflin’ kick starts the EP in Nikki’s signature, unpredictable style; as squelchy bass-lines growl at heavily swung drums and low pitched vocal loops, before ‘WWC’ - an off-kilter minimal stepper, walks the tight-rope between entropy and synchronized dance.

‘ ‘I Can’t Stop’ meanders from kinky bass & breaks, to deconstructed dubstep and trap; causing more facial expressions in six minutes than ever thought possible. Nair’s hybridized methods continue to shine through in ‘Yoland And His Tortoise’ - a trippy and colourful dream told through nuance in sound. The EP then closes off with the laid-back grooves of ‘Urquoise’ - a hypnotising ritual best practiced in nature.

An outstanding raga-like drone lp with a distinctive cosmic vibe, Futuro Antico was a short living collaboration between the two italian Walter Maioli (Aktuala), Riccardo Sinigaglia and Gabin Dabiré (from Burkina Faso). The synthesis between ancient, ethnic and analog electronic music is just perfect, the minimalist repetition with slight changes gives associations of a slow growth; cyclic repetition gives the listener an opportunity to discover the sounds, to meditate, to go into the music, join the same journey trough ancient, primitive cultures and modern electronic soundscapes.Originally released in 1980, the sound is completly analog and warm, this reissue maintain the first tape artwork + info and photos.

Robert Stillman's much-loved, homespun collection of Fender Rhodes improvisations receives the vinyl treatment from Kit Records.

Recorded to tape in the solitude of Robert's Kent studio, PORTALS is truly a candid window into the trance-like process of making: melodies, ideas and themes are added folded, concealed and revealed like layers of paper and paint, combining to form an intimately transportive sonic mural.

Most startling are the shifting voices of the Rhodes - from careening, glassy pads to strident basslines, curveball jazz breakdowns or kaleidoscopic marimba flutter. Keys players take note: PORTALS is a masterclass in restricted virtuosity. Quite how so many worlds are conjured from one instrument across the 35 minute duration of this record, we're not sure.

Recommended if you like Beverly Glenn-Copeland, Arthur Russell, Kali Malone. This vinyl edition of Portals features a previously unreleased track, 'PORTAL 8'.

Robert Stillman is a composer and multi-instrumentalist from the northeast United States. His music juxtaposes the archaic with the futuristic, incorporating influences of Jazz, Minimalism, American Folk music, and experimental electronic music to create a sound described by the Guardian as "lending an avant-garde shimmer to pre-modern American sounds."

German multi-instrumentalist and producer, The Micronaut has made a name for himself through his richly textured and enthusiastic compositions. His 2016 album, "Forms" has been described as a true melting pot of sounds and it caught the attention of the electronic music scene with its very playful and original amalgamation of rhythms and samples. Last year, The Micronaut released Olympia (Summer Games) - an album that continued to draw on his elaborate production style as well as on the values of camaraderie and solidarity of the Olympic Games. Continuing on this Olympic journey, the German producer now releases the second part to the project, Winter Games, containing a fresh twelve tracks that capture the essence of winter sports. Winter Games is an eclectic ride, but far from chaotic; transitions are fluid, the momentum uninterrupted and the direction cohesive. Behind the music's energetic flow are sophisticated arrangements and quasi-scientific constructions which crush stylistic boundaries and give birth to a new collage-based genre of music. The music is all the more impressive considering that every sound contained therein is crafted by The Micronaut himself, who has been called a one-man-orchestra for exactly that reason. In the EDM-influenced track Bobsleigh, which contains samples from a DJ describing the state of his own profession, The Micronaut seems to be drawing a line between what he's doing, a true Olympic feat in some regards, to a lot of the lazy productions around today. 'He thinks it's cool to just play with an iPod or a USB stick,' we hear a voice say over a hyper-synthetic beat. It's The Micronaut's critical statement on the superficialness that much of dance music has come down to, "Of course there are exceptions, but unfortunately there are only a few," he notes. At times, Summer Games veers towards techno and at others it seems to be inspired by electro-pop. Towards the end of the album, 'Curling' is a refreshing vocal piece filled with warm chord progressions. "Bernhardt's vocals are really touching, they give warmth to the minimalistic structure of the song," says the Micronaut. The track offers a comforting counterpoint to the high-energy feelings of competitiveness present in the rest of the album with lush pulsating synths and a laid-back groove. "Every time, when I wanted to continue working on "Curling" I was afraid of destroying its very fragile initial structure, but in the end, I think it worked," adds the producer.

After more than a year of strengthening our bodies through workout, our poetic endeavors via the discovery of our inner worlds, and also the life of plants and mushrooms, insects, arachnids, birds and wild mammals, after a year and a half that saw us in lockdown, shattered around the planet, after one a and a half year in which we deepened our production skills and also the meaningfulness of our work, Cómeme returns to a new planet with new music.

The beginning is this unique collaboration between Medellín based musician and DJ Julianna, and Matias Aguayo aka “The Don” himself.

In this deep therapeutical exploration of rhythm and sound, these artists established a magical dialogue on distance, leading up to this EP called “Que si el mundo”, roughly translated: “What if the world”.

Between soulful industrial expressions, emotional breakdowns but also discoveries free of any grids and algorithms, Julianna and Aguayo have created a beautiful piece of work, intense as the movements that we had to experience mentally and economically. “Que si el mundo” is state of the art electronic music of today, a work that is both introspective but also extremely open to the outside world and the universe. Compositions reminiscent of Coil, Angelo Badalamenti, Closer Musik, Steve Pointdexter or Mark Broom, shaped this EP that can be considered a short album in its conceptual layout and narrative. Let’s dive into it...

A1. Hiedra
One of the more danceable tunes, ideal for both a sensual warmup or the very late night to the rising sun sensitivity, is polyrhythmical melancholy and hypnotic inevitability, slow dance, deep trance.

A2. Primer Paso
A fat, slick and modern synth sequence, accompanied by heavy drumming and celestial drops that seem to fall onto the body of the listener or dancer, this post EBM stomper is a manifestation of elegant minimalism and reason. As if Liaisons Dangereuses reincarnated in a cloudy forest, to then pause towards the end of the track, with sentimental and gloomy synth chords that open the view towards the horizon.

B1. Que Si El Mundo
The title track keeps up the more melodic approach - somewhere between ambient, avant- garde and late night jazz. Morphing melodies that are both disturbing and soothing at a time encounter smooth free jazz drumming with drums that seem to have travelled from the sixties to today’s world.

B2. Bajo Tierra
This track continues the deep drumming experience that this record means, between laid back rides and intense taikoesque drumming. Distorted dark pads and subterranean choirs build up to a heavy sadness and intensity. Again, a therapeutical track to send those demons fly.

B3. Micelio
A more hopeful conclusion of the EP is “Micelio”. Open chords, soothing and melancholic, spread over profound drum grooves of champed and house. Nothing seems as it was before. A new life has begun.

The highly anticipated debut album from Franco American conductor/composer/arranger. Uèle Lamore specializes mixing orchestral and acoustic textures with modular, electronic and synthetic elements. Not just affiliated to classical music, she likes to dive into the fields of composition and arranging through many musical styles: electro, new wave, rock, techno, minimal, neo-soul and many more that are left to explore leaving an infinite range of possibilities. The ten album tracks were composed and produced by Uèle Lamore herself and include 3 features from English speaking artists including Gracy Hopkins, who featured on the critically acclaimed The First Tree. Previous collaborations include Radiohead, Frank Ocean, Jonny Greenwood, Steve Reich, Terry Riley, Thom Yorke, Mica Levi, Beck and many more. Promo/marketing activity.

Aussie producer Captn K is dishing up another great slice. This time Marvin Gaye's Get It On goes from slow sex chant to upbeat sex bomb. It still maintains its smoothness with joyess synth stabs and a grooving electro 808 breakbeat. I Need Some Loving with a repative sample and hook has no kick and just begs to be slipped under some minimal beats. Side B sports Captn k's signature style in the form of an 8min dream wrapped in vinyl. It Will Take An Eternity To Break Us is littered with uplifting vox samples and the most gorgeous pads, you will lose time listening to this one.

Whereas many electronic producers aim at being the most prolific in their genre, or the most extreme, Lucy and Rrose have wisely chosen to be the most consistently curiosity-provoking representatives of their craft.


Whereas many electronic producers aim at being the most prolific in their genre, or the most extreme, Lucy and Rrose have wisely chosen to be the most consistently curiosity-provoking representatives of their craft. Their decision to team up as a production duo for the newest Stroboscopic Artefacts EP may have seemed inevitable, given their shared responsibility for shifting techno's focus towards the facilitation of profound psycho-acoustic effects. And yet, even those who saw this coming will still be in for a wild ride.

Lucy's skill as a studio technician - displayed capably over his trilogy of full-length albums - has always been enhanced by his skill as a storyteller and as an artist with reverence towards myths and the pull of the unknown. This sonic personality is a perfect complement to the scientific severity of Rrose, for whom the electronic pulse beat and subsonic massage permit entry to a febrile psychic landscape whose contents are never entirely what the individual listener might expect or be prepared for.

As with both of the artists' solo offerings, these recordings feel as much like the branching off point for new creative acts rather than as objects to be passively enjoyed. As such, the opening "Chloroform" is a somewhat ironic title for a piece that is anything but anesthetic: at high volumes, its monstrous low-end surge and prickly, scintillating sonic ephemera are very likely to bring attention to otherwise imperceptible phenomena. "Peeling" continues in this style with a more urgent tempo, developing its own cascade of sensory impressions from seemingly unstable deep-bass loops, injections of intentional surface noise, and pitch-shifted / harmonizer-effected phantom phrases.

"Stained Glass," maybe the most straight-ahead piece on the record, is still a potent distortion of the mundane primed with shivering bell tones, tamed feedback and hints of speaker cones fraying. The climactic "Foil Gardens" is an elegant study in harmonics whose time-dissolving ability nods to the works of composers like Charlemagne Palestine or Eliane Radigue, without being a pure homage to either. The undertow of distortion beneath the glistening tone waves, in particular, provides a distinct update to the legacy of so-called
tonal 'minimalism'.

The end result here is a record that feels uncannily lifelike: an organism that always seems on the verge of a heuristic breakthrough, and whose full potential may not even be known by its creators.

Words by Thomas Bey William Bailey

A variety of ambient and experimental cuts to be found here. A re-release of sorts, all original tracks were done by Enitokwa (Takashi Hasegawa) as rehearsal for a live performance at Tokyo - Batofar Festival in Paris in 2001 and were released on a limited CDR "promo." in 2002. All 8 tracks were recorded and mixed live in one sitting, and have been remastered, given names and pressed on heavy vinyl with a beautiful cover design by Berlin artist Nik Patrick.

The sample sources were largely inspired by records that Takashi listened to in High School - and feature two hugely well known British hands (one of whom have just reformed and have a new album out…), some old Jazz, Bossa Nova and Hawaiian records, as well as samples from ambient legends Deep Forest and Brian Eno. The result is an earthly nostalgic feel with deep moods to match the times we are living in.

The first track ‘Pop’ bursts into life with an etherial presence. ‘Ssab’ and ‘Chinese Girl Goes to Hawaiii’ have a rather filmic quality to them, whilst ‘Resonating’ seems to float over the wreckage of human activity, a post apocalyptic vision of Planet Earth. ‘Liquid Sky’ is a minimal groove which could be a sonic report from an eerie space station, which is itself a remix of Dub Sonic aka Takehito Nakazeto’s ‘Donigma Dub’.

‘Hope on Hop’ will appeal to today’s generation with its Techno and D’n’B influences, and features voices taken from Wim Wender’s ‘Paris Texas’. Track 7, ‘Mingos’ turns Gal Costa’s voice into a soaring atmospheric haze of digital memory, and the track ‘Holy Spiral’ is a combination of this one and ‘Resonating’, an ascendent 12 minute march to the release’s final close.



Takashi Hasegawa is a respected DJ, producer and live performer who plays live electronic and DJ sets regularly today in venues and festivals across Japan. He has been producing house, techno, experimental and ambient music since the 90’s - spending some of that time in the United States, including working in the music scene in the New York, before returning to Japan working as a sound engineer, A&R and producer for the famous Tokyo-based record label Club Yellow. Now based in Osaka-Fukuoka, Takashi’s music is still resonating with fellow music lovers around the world.



Now, 20 years on from its creation, this music is rediscovered and given a wider audience. The sound on ’Re-Promo’ interestingly gives an insight into the music Enitokwa is currently working on - reflecting the cyclical nature of creative output - and represents a slight departure from the swirling delicate ambient textures that you can hear in o.n.s.a and on the intricate and more musical 2069, released in 2017 and 2016 respectively.



Each track has a video accompaniment to be released in various media outlets, the label head Tom Ransom having partnered with diverse artists in Colombia, Denmark, Japan, Poland, France, Britain and China to create a wide range of visual outputs.



The release also sees two digital only remixes, one coming from London and Wigan’s enigmatic Isherwood (Edward Regan), and the other from Mat Fink - a unique DJ and up and coming producer raised in Pittsburgh and Berlin. Watch out for these…



Machines used:



Yamaha SU700

Sequential Circuits Pro One

Roland TR909

Roland TR808,

TC Electric D-Two

MAM RS3

Pedals



Remastering and additional audio treatment by Kabamix (LMD) on Dec.4.2017.

Dedicated to Takehito Nakazato (SONIC PLATE)

Darwin Grosse debuts on One Instrument with the album “Fresco”, solely created on the Korg ARP 2600 FS, a remake of the classic semi-modular synth of the 70’s. He states that he loves the ARP 2600 not for its complexity, but for the purity of its sound, and this can very well be heard in this wonderful dreamy ambient electronica release.

All of the tracks were created using a hand-written script on the monome norns hardware device and were recorded in a single session, with errors and recorder glitches embraced as part of the performance.

Each track reveals Darwin’s harmonic and melodic sensibilities, his love of lush reverb and passion for the beautiful tone of the Korg Arp 2600.

“Fresco” is an elegant undertaking to be listened to from beginning to end. The 8-part, 30 minute work is an ideal example of how warm minimalism and thick melodic soundscapes are combined, becoming a graceful richly textured trip.

Minimal Wave presents an exquisite 7" EP release by Martin Lloyd entitled "L'Amant Electronique". Martin is mainly known for his Oppenheimer Analysis (Minimal Wave) and Analysis (Survival Records) projects, yet through the years he recorded over two dozen tracks on his own, most of which never saw the light of day. The four selected tracks were recorded between 1980 and 1984 in his own "Feedback Studios" in Battersea , London. Martin Lloyd delivers vocals via the vocoder and carefully layers synth melodies which range from upbeat and danceable, to what could be the soundtrack to a 1981 post-apocalyptic science fiction film. The record is pressed on white vinyl with a heavy black jacket (spot gloss) and is limited to 999 hand-numbered copies.

The second and, as later would turn out, also the last release in Heinrich Tillack's critically acclaimed Tick Trax-series. The first Tick Trax-release by this talented producer from Braunschweig (Germany) was released as Volume 1 on U-TRAX in 1994 (cat. no.: 13 UTR SYS 1). It was a very successful record, however a bit too 'rough' for U-TRAX. Therefore, Volume II is launched on the U-TRAX sublabel Phoq U Phonogrammen, that has a more raw approach to techno, acid and electro.

Heinrich is a bit of an enigma. Having released some 12"s on Detroit's Plus 8 Records (as Sysex), Force Inc. Music Works (as Absolute) and Disko B (as Festival) and his own label Jakpot (both as Festival, as well as Co-Jack, together with Olivier Bondzio aka Hardfloor), he more or less disappeared from the face of the earth. It is said that he is a developer of children's apps for mobile phones nowadays.

This second Tick Trax release has 6 tracks, all in the distinctive raw Chicago-style that Heinrich uses only in his Tick Trax-identity. For minimalists, the CR-78 orientated beats on 'Samba Track' (from '93!) will be the track to go for. For heavy pounding floor fillers you can rely on 'Heavy Weight Track' and 'Super Heavy Weight Track'. Our personal favorite is 'Rush Track', another minimal track, but heavy and dark at the same time. The power is the drive in this one!

Original release date: October 1995.

“In the early 2000s, Tokyo's SuperDeluxe was a meeting point for many experimental musicians, both international and Japanese. This duo sprung from a live collaboration at the venue in 2006, where Machida was experimenting with processed steel pan and Lyall was largely performing using a tabletop guitar setup with a range of electronics. Many subsequent encounters were heavily experimental, ranging from densely layered noise music to sound collage.

Through the years, the collaboration shifted to a more tonal approach, with standard tunings and stronger compositional elements. Both musicians have a deep interest in traditional improvisational forms, so there was a natural evolution towards structural ideas—based on minimal scalar patterns—as the sound became more acoustic. The most recent instrumentation explores the unusual combination of steel pan, slit drums and banjo, while also delving deeper into the characteristics of the instruments themselves.”

"(…) Pak Yan Lau, one of the most original pianists of the new European creative scene, has the ability to build complex formal architectures starting from minimal materials – insistent rhythms, barely hinted melodies, electronic effects as evocative as they are mysterious. Darin Gray uses his long experience as the backbone of many improvisational groups with a painstaking work on timbre and a deep and multiform sound, providing a solid support to extemporary creations that have the solidity of pondered compositions. The music of the duo develops on wide structural strings, elegantly combining the continuous surprise of free improvisation with the material suggestions of electroacoustic experimentation, in a game of references and narrative developments almost cinematic, which tell a fascinating sound world, strangely familiar yet constantly new and surprising."
(Nicola Negri, Centro d’Arte Padova, Italy)

‘Expressions of Interest’ is the debut album from Melbourne/Naarm post-punk group screensaver.

Sonically, the 10 track album is rich and detailed, and pays homage to its era of inspiration (late 70s-mid 80s post-punk and new wave) with gripping vocals, dissonant guitar, melodic basslines, washes of synths and motorik drumming. Engineered by Julian Cue alongside band member Chris Stephenson and recorded over multiple studio sessions between 2020-2021

The album opens with the ominously titled ‘Body Parts’, an immediately arresting song that showcases the bands penchant for blending classic post-punk elements, leaning into a sound somewhere between the Banshees and Protomartyr.

Maynard doubles down on these themes in the frenetic second track, ‘No Movement’. Guttural organ tones swim under overdriven guitar, jagged and intense. Additional textures and sound effects are used percussively to embellish the dynamics, creating a feverish atmosphere with some Martin Hannett like flourishes.

The album takes a surprising turn into electronic driven krautrock on track three with 'Buy, Sell, Trade' - a rollicking piece of danceable ephemera, dominated by swirling synth sounds and punctuated with electronics reminiscent of Sparks/Moroder collaborations. Chris Stephenson's masterful guitar work begins with Greg Sage-esque determination before a crescendo into a lush Frippertronics outro.

'MEDS' transports us back to the foundation established on 'Body Parts', a gothy piece, full of tribal toms and dirge-y synths. Industrial punk rock nearly swallowed whole by the keys in the middle and slowly building back to complimentary guitar and vocal hooks.

It's from this point in the album that the band let's their other influences rise to the surface, as they explore touches of EDM on 'Static State' - a brutal, death-disco style track, Krystal Maynard's lead synth and gloomy vocal complimenting the pounding drums and dub-esque bass line culminating in a track worthy of the dancefloor.


Opening side two we have 'Skin', beginning with a solid and simple backbeat, James Beck’s post-punk percussion provides a steady and minimal framework for the rest of the band to colour in with great depth and detail. Giles Fielke’s bass guitar wobbles brilliantly leading the verse melody, whilst Chris Stephenson’s guitar drives the chorus that folds neatly in on itself.

In ‘Attention Economy’, Krystal Maynard is flexible with her lyrical style, and knows how and when to lend her voice to the greater backdrop of the composition. ‘Attention Economy’ has an almost Kraftwerkian structure - repetitious, but engaging with its constant tom driven beat, lush synth lines and minimal bass tones.

Just when you thought things had slowed down, screensaver ramp things right back up again with ‘Overnight Low’ - a no holds barred thumper. Giles Fielke underpins the hard-edged sound with his bassline, keeping things smooth and tight. It brings to mind a hybrid of PiL’s ‘Annalisa’ and Wire’s ‘Two People In a Room.’

Before you can catch your breath, we have ‘Regular Hours’ - another industrial track, and perhaps the sister song to ‘Static State’ heard earlier on side one. Seething electronic drum samples cut through an abyss of growling synths, Giles Fielke hanging up the bass temporarily to accompany Krystal Maynard on synth duties.

The album closes with the fittingly titled ‘Soft Landing’, literally bringing the listener back down...softly. The song is heavy on atmos, and resembles the aesthetics previously encountered on ‘Attention Economy’ a few tracks earlier.

‘Expressions of Interest” was recorded at various locations across Melbourne, with a handful of songs being captured before the start of the Covid pandemic in January 2020. With the recording timeline being drastically altered, the band shifted focus to work on what would become their first single ‘Strange Anxiety’, throughout the first months of the Melbourne 2020 lockdown.

Sturdy electro thumpery from Konery TMI, served up in five portions across what will surely prove a highly delectable EP for fans of the genre. Opening track 'Nauhuri' and 'Automaa' are both full of grace and gorgeous, effortless glide, while 'Lumivyory' alters the mood somewhat to get down and dirty with some thoroughly filthy acid squelch filth. 'Polaaritahti' takes its cue from the more minimal 80s sounds of Egyptian Lover or Hashim, before we draw to a close with the more serene and soothing 'Mustikka'.

Minimal Wave presents a reissue of the seminal first album from Swiss Wavers, Guyer's Connection. Tibor Csébits and Philippe Alioth formed Guyer''s Connection in Basel, Switzerland when they were only 14 and 15 years old. At the time they were in a new wave rock band called 'Kurtzschluss' which they decided to break from in order to make purely electronic music. They began with two synthesizers, a drum machine, a 4-track tape recorder and a multitude of ideas. They channeled their unique and humorous vision into their first album, entitled Portrait which they produced themselves and self-released in 1983. Over the years, the album became a highly sought after minimal synth cult classic. It stands alone as one of the strongest examples of Swiss Minimal Wave, and probably the only one that is in Baseldytsch.

Fine Place is a new duo comprising Frankie Rose (Vivian Girls, Crystal Stilts, Dum Dum Girls) and Matthew Hord (Running, Pop. 1280, Brandy). Based in Brooklyn, NYC together they’ve crafted a crystalline full length of nocturnal, electronic pop music that charts a way out the post-global, cyberpunk dystopian environment it was crafted in. Their debut album This New Heaven drenches minimalist song structures in post-industrial washes of sixstring delay and gothic post-punk synths. Presiding over it is the most evocative, emotive vocal performance Frankie
Rose has committed to tape to date.

Following Hord’s relocation from Chicago, the pair wanted to explore new avenues apart from their respective bands or solo projects. “The sound we were going for was an attempt to capture the dystopian feel of New York during a period of desertion by the wealthy. It was produced in a time-frame saturated in both uncertainty and serenity, and the soundscapes we created felt fitting and almost organic as a response to our surroundings. The title also reflects this in an arguably literal, maybe even satirical way.” Sonically, Fine Place references the pioneering mid-to-late 80s pioneers of icy melodrama The Cure and Cocteau Twins, while reflecting both the individuals’; music trajectories thus far. Modular synthesis triggers rhythm boxes and fluttery arps chirp around clanging 808-patterning as Rose’s reverb-laden vocal layering envelops the remaining headroom. The result is massive; a towering, shadowy music that embraces darkness while offering Rose’s bright vocal as chinks of light in the cracks; the production filling the head space of the beholder with preternatural imagery and emotional resonances that are real but not quite defined.

The title song propels forth out of the fog, scintillating with delayed guitar before the reverb-immersed vocal injects the human drama. The chorus constantly teases a big release but holds back creating a taut, dynamic tension. Cover Blind’s slow march makes full use of Rose’s layered vocal sinking and emerging from Hord’s bank of synths. Stand out It’s Your House is pure honey pouring from the speaker on a bank of of arps and near-hymnal vocal layering, a syrupy light offering in the mist. It’s an emotive highlight that only increases as the album progresses; Impressions Of Me is the Lynchian ballad that glides onward into the sunset. The album finishes on a choice re-interpretation of the 1989 track The Party Is Over by Belgian group Adult Fantasies, one of the great over-looked ballads of the era given an almost ecclesiastical makeover by Matthew Hord and Frankie Rose in 2021.

Says Hord: “This record was an incredibly challenging endeavor to make, as I had just come home from a European tour with another music project and wanted to invest into and focus on this collaboration with Frankie. I essentially reimagined how to approach writing basic sequences with the synthesizers I had been rehearsing and performing with for months prior to make something more accessible and pop- like for Frankie to build upon. Frankie is an unsung hero when it comes to mixing, and she was constantly mixing down and processing elements of the tracks to create different atmospheres as we forged forward with every song.”

This New Heaven is an ecstasy of sorts, a half-dream in the border between sleep and daylight.

Simon Lovermann's debut album "Handwerke - Songs for my fathers" is focused around the piano, both as a harmonic and a percussive instrument. It is influenced by Jazz, Electronica, Hip Hop and Minimal Music. The beats are created with the piano and are enriched with body-percussion and beatbox to create an idiosyncratic atmosphere and distinctive sound.

The album deals with the personal story of the artist. Simon's biological father, Robert, was a Jazz musician and died before his birth. Simon was raised by his father Christian. This album is therefore a vividly emotional way for him to explore topics like death, fatherhood, family, identity and belonging.

"Handwerke" comes with a special artwork and cover design, featuring contributions by 16 artists printed on individual postcards and assembled in a 20-page booklet.

The release is a collaboration of Der Greif and Squama Recordings.