quête:kingdom

Debut album from the multi-instrumentalist Solomon Citron
300 copies pressed
For fans of Adrian Younge, Tommy Guerro, soundtracks, library music, funk
Solomon Citron's debut, a non-existing cinematic movie soundtrack called; "Kampu-China".

On the 4th January,KingUnderground Records are releasing "Kampu-China" on a 6 track vinyl EP, streaming and download.

Solomon Citron was born in Rostov-on-Don in the south of Russia. He's a professional musician and talented multi-instrumentalist.

Paying homage to his childhood memories of 70s action movies, he decided to create a soundtrack for "Kampu-China" - a fabricated, fictional movie. Behind the closed door of his home studio in Russia, Solomon composed the soundtrack in just two weeks, using only his imagination and the make-believe storyline as his inspiration.


The film is set on an imaginary world, where the mythical country Kampu-China lies. Shootout scenes, kung-fu fighting, crime pursuits, betrayal and revenge make this movie a classical action movie of the 1970s.

The soundtrack was composed using 3 instruments; guitar, bass and drums which has captured the sound and atmosphere of that era of movies.

Solomon grew up listening to hard-core metal and punk rock, as he got older he delved into all sorts of indie music and these days is a big fan of "old school" hip hop which all helped influence "Kampu-China".

Kingdoms welcomes Finnish composer, producer, visual artist and filmmaker Hannu Karjalainen. His recording career now spans over a decade, beginning under the pseudonym Hannu and later under his full name for 'A Handful Of Dust Is A Desert' on Karaoke Kalk. Now, this seven track mini album on Francis Harris' Kingdoms sees Karjalainen continue his explorations in new directions - touching on field recordings, soundscapes and esoteric instrumentation to build a truly meditative and moving record. 'Drift' begins with 'Sermon to the Birds', featuring beautiful plucked strings and ambient atmospheres, before 'Carnivorous Flower' casts us into enormous otherworldly dronescapes. 'Untitled #34' brings about a beat of sorts, but deeply deconstructed to a crawl, allowing acres of space between the hits and sub bass pulses. 'Sunless' is, conversely, a ray of light - bright, weightless pads provide the feeling of being completely cut adrift. Segueing into 'Nightfall', the tones become a little duskier and more intense, building throughout the track. 'That Obscure Object' is another trip into the space, as white noise and fragments of melody intersect. The album ends with 'The Nile' - a treated piano plays a haunting melodic sequence, seemingly suspended in air. It's a beautiful, emotional conclusion to an album that encourages the listener to take the time to experience its many pleasures.

The Limiñanas are a couple and a band. They have produced records in their own garage in Cabestany located in the south of France for about ten years. They played in Australia, the US and toured Europe regularly. United Kingdom included. The first opus of the now series 'I have trouble in mind' was released on the initiative of Bill and Lisa Roe (iconic label 'trouble in mind") in the US in 2014. It combines all the 45t , unreleased songs recorded by the couple for 'Mojo magazine", tribute to Beach Boys, fanzines, micro labels. All the titles which were difficult to find and that fans were looking for. And now, here it is: I ve got trouble in mind vol 2. The Limiñanas now work mainly with the European label 'Because music". Thanks to their common forces, 3 albums were released. «Traité de guitarre Triolectique» with Pascal Comelade, 'Malamore", which was a tribute to Dino Risi and in 2018 'Shadow People' in the company of the American psychedelic pope Anton Newcombe. Marie and Lio work a lot, they record all the time and love 45t, maxi's and still collaborate with small labels from around the world for specific projects like the traditional song of Christmas 'Convenanza 'from Andrew Weatherall. In this second opus some covers of their favorite titles will be available. The lords of the new church 'Russia"n roulette", 'two sisters' from the Kinks which is the first song recorded with Anton and remixed by the American producer of the first White Stripes album Jim Diamond. 'Live will Tell' from Polnareff, a tribute to 'Suicide' recorded in Australia from the live version of the band and many others. The artwork was designed by Elric Duffau, as for the first volume. Small bonus: the two album covers placed side by side complement each other for a single piece.

- Spectral Decay' is a collection of musical reflections about the paradoxical contemporary state of humankind, whereas its own technological, social, cultural and economical development seems to entrench the possible points of a structura downfall. The narrative of - Spectral Decay' starts with heavy, mesmerizing industrial vibes. Due to the notable sound design techniques of Japanese artist Tetsumasa, his hefty piece - Nex' evolves into a harsh but still amazingly cinematical music sculpture.
Subsequent mid-tempo composition - Onzour Shayatini' by Meer dynamically follows the dark, experimental path of drone and noisy structures. Violent accents smoothly lead to the deconstruction of drum & bass patterns and turn into strident 90s metal riffs. The track progressively penetrates obscure subterranean abysses and becomes a perfect introduction to the next theme by Yuji Kondo - - Hades'. In Greek mythology Hades was the ancient god of the underground kingdoms, darkness, death and metals. Therefore, Kondo's music piece turns into an infernal portrayal of the underworld where tenebrous layers of bass frequencies, raw textures and Drexciyan sounds build up an enormous and lasting tension.
Side B begins with the track - Anthropocene' produced by Arboretum co-founder - Mogano. The whole composition refers to the present geological epoch we live in, characterized by environmental pollutions, depletion of fossil fuels and accelerated urbaniza- tion of the world. It is a deeply conceptual soundscape of a powerful system, that incorporates both - the destructive forces of technology and the infinite energy of the whole universe, that interweave in a devilish dance of post-techno, breakbeat and dub tones.
Thereafter, ~Raw in his piece - Poly Bios' pictures the interference of human structures in the nature. Creating a mosaic from indus- trial and tribal, organic sounds, he tells a mystical story of fear, hope, escape and primeval instincts.
The narration concludes with an atmospheric composition of NWRMNTC - solo project of Ana Quiroga from experimental ambient duet LCC. - Beyond' is a boundless, spectral reflection on collective human consciousness, where haunting vocals evoke a recon- dite, ineffable pain, leaving the listeners in a profoundly meditative state.
Laura Polan´ska

'Bound to shake your walls and rattle your windows' Max Reinhardt, BBC RADIO 3 "The first bit of evidence that Elizabeth Bernholz's next album Pastoral - due out in September - could be her best to date". THE QUIETUS "Will likely be one of the year's very best records.' CLASH 'What species is this What century' Forged in a rural idyll in Middle-England, the new album Pastoral, by Gazelle Twin, exhumes England's rotten past, and shines a torch over its ever-darkening present. Told through a troupe of multi-gender voices, in vernaculars old and new; from the shrill echo of folksong to tabloid-tinged jaunts, the artist aka Elizabeth Bernholz, presents the notion that 'there is horror in every idyll, and danger lurking beyond the 'quaint' '. The village square - once host to centuries of public torture - becomes a floral framed postcard, dolled-up for the Summer Fête. A sunny, afternoon walk over the hills unsettles a cloud of angry flies feeding from unidentifiable remains. Bigoted vitriol gently murmurs amidst tearoom chatter, as the neatly framed pastoral picture dissolves into a solemn ennui. Four years in the making, amidst life-changing events, including a move far out of the city, Pastoral will be the first major release by the artist since her widely acclaimed LP UNFLESH (2014, Anti-Ghost Moon Ray) and is seamlessly on-theme, together with Bernholz's J.G. Ballard-inspired A/V show 'Kingdom Come' (soundtrack released November 2017, Anti-Ghost Moon Ray) - a fascism-infused hellscape, this time set in deepest Old England. As its sole creator, Gazelle Twin 'The Composer, Musician and Producer' has crafted an album overflowing with a frenzy of traditional and contemporary musical tropes; from early music instrumentation - the harpsichord and the humble recorder, fed through myriad electronics - to the compelling, ritualistic application of found sample-looping. Beyond Bernholz's signature choral-infusions, here reverberating like a warped Sunday Service, there are even shades of '90s house and the once-thriving rural rave scene, albeit recalled as a watery, second-hand memory. In its consummation it is an album that feels pan-century, even pan-species. Set against a verdant backdrop of hedgerows and steeples, Gazelle Twin 'The Artist and Performer', constructs an eccentric and commanding visual embodiment of all-of-the-above - a costume fit for a court Jester of the 21st Century. The colours of Neo-Nationalism. Coke cans, and DANGER. 'It' (not 'she') hints at folkloric traditions with a footy mascot twist. The 'Ye Olde' and 'The Everyman' of the English cliché. Brandishing a sneer and a hobby horse. A riddle and a recorder. A jeer and a square dance in red, Adidas Gazelle's, and a mad, fixed GRIN - first glimpsed in the single, 'Hobby Horse' (22 June, Anti-Ghost Moon Ray). A deranged, absurd reflection of deranged and absurd times.

'Bound to shake your walls and rattle your windows' Max Reinhardt, BBC RADIO 3 "The first bit of evidence that Elizabeth Bernholz's next album Pastoral - due out in September - could be her best to date". THE QUIETUS "Will likely be one of the year's very best records.' CLASH 'What species is this What century' Forged in a rural idyll in Middle-England, the new album Pastoral, by Gazelle Twin, exhumes England's rotten past, and shines a torch over its ever-darkening present. Told through a troupe of multi-gender voices, in vernaculars old and new; from the shrill echo of folksong to tabloid-tinged jaunts, the artist aka Elizabeth Bernholz, presents the notion that 'there is horror in every idyll, and danger lurking beyond the 'quaint' '. The village square - once host to centuries of public torture - becomes a floral framed postcard, dolled-up for the Summer Fête. A sunny, afternoon walk over the hills unsettles a cloud of angry flies feeding from unidentifiable remains. Bigoted vitriol gently murmurs amidst tearoom chatter, as the neatly framed pastoral picture dissolves into a solemn ennui. Four years in the making, amidst life-changing events, including a move far out of the city, Pastoral will be the first major release by the artist since her widely acclaimed LP UNFLESH (2014, Anti-Ghost Moon Ray) and is seamlessly on-theme, together with Bernholz's J.G. Ballard-inspired A/V show 'Kingdom Come' (soundtrack released November 2017, Anti-Ghost Moon Ray) - a fascism-infused hellscape, this time set in deepest Old England. As its sole creator, Gazelle Twin 'The Composer, Musician and Producer' has crafted an album overflowing with a frenzy of traditional and contemporary musical tropes; from early music instrumentation - the harpsichord and the humble recorder, fed through myriad electronics - to the compelling, ritualistic application of found sample-looping. Beyond Bernholz's signature choral-infusions, here reverberating like a warped Sunday Service, there are even shades of '90s house and the once-thriving rural rave scene, albeit recalled as a watery, second-hand memory. In its consummation it is an album that feels pan-century, even pan-species. Set against a verdant backdrop of hedgerows and steeples, Gazelle Twin 'The Artist and Performer', constructs an eccentric and commanding visual embodiment of all-of-the-above - a costume fit for a court Jester of the 21st Century. The colours of Neo-Nationalism. Coke cans, and DANGER. 'It' (not 'she') hints at folkloric traditions with a footy mascot twist. The 'Ye Olde' and 'The Everyman' of the English cliché. Brandishing a sneer and a hobby horse. A riddle and a recorder. A jeer and a square dance in red, Adidas Gazelle's, and a mad, fixed GRIN - first glimpsed in the single, 'Hobby Horse' (22 June, Anti-Ghost Moon Ray). A deranged, absurd reflection of deranged and absurd times.

Building on the already incredible collection of music so far released on Francis Harris' Kingdoms imprint, Emil Abramyan returns with the stunning 'Movement' album. Abramyan is a Brooklyn based composer, musician, and producer, whose work traverses various styles and disciplines. In this release Emil shares his unique perspective by bringing together his conservatory training as a cellist and his love of electronic music and sound design. Having played the cello on every Francis Harris album, Abramyan now expands his repertoire by playing every instrument, including cello, piano, and electronics. Beginning with 'Flightplan', the album lifts off in sublime fashion. Brooding cellos combine with pianos before subtle rhythms unfold and introduce themselves. 'Winter's' skittering rhythm is combined with pizzicato melodies, clicks and modular synth flurries. Showcasing his versatility, 'Foolky' is a more dance floor oriented cut - a highly percussive groove unfolds and carries along a variety of instrumentation. 4_24 also makes use of shuffling, percussive grooves layered with drone sounds, and more of Abramyan's signature cello.'Fever' sees the brooklynite heading in a more obviously ambient direction, building atmosphere with a mixture of close mic'd experimentation, and beautiful choral fragments.Rounding off this release, label boss Francis Harris reworks 'Flightplan', finding new nuances in the sublime atmosphere, and slowly building up to a subtle, understated groove that takes the track to a different place entirely.

Francis Harris' exceptional run of releases for his own labels Scissors & Thread and Kingdoms now extends to this perfectly formed EP for hafendisko, which sees him rework some of hfn music's finest moments of the last two years. Harris, the Brooklynite whose feel for subtlety and space seems to infuse all his work, takes on three of the Hamburg label's cannon - kicked off with Kasper Bjørke's 'Cloud 9', featuring Urdur. Here Harris deconstructs the original and reforms it into a some quite removed from its origins - shuffling drum machines bring about a Kraftwerkesque feel, before beautiful tones and atmospheres reveal themselves. The track seems to develop along two paths simultaneously, somehow creating a truly affecting piece of leftfield electronica.

Null + Void's huge Dave Gahan-featuring-track 'Where I Wait' has been heavily remixed over the past months, but also gets the Harris treatment. Completely flipped form the original, this is a haunting remix with tough and funky underbelly, utilizing Gahan's vocals only sparingly.

Danish alt-pop trio ticktock have their single 'Hatefuck' refixed also, and Harris zones in on the glitchy vibe and adds layers of claustrophobic depth to the production.

Fresh on Francis Harris' Kingdoms imprint comes Rasmus Juncker's 'Ophold' - six tracks of sublime atmospheres and textures. The Danish musician, sound composer and DJ fits perfectly with the label's aesthetic, joining the dots between ambient, leftfield electronica and modern classical.

Juncker has a background in studying jazz drumming and has been playing improvised music within the jazz domain for many years. He also started to DJ at the age of 14 and was introduced to the world of electronic music production at the same time.

When Rasmus started to think about his debut album he spent several months trying to find his own way to combine his favourite musical influences, improvisation, electronics and classical music. 'Almost a year later', Juncker says, "I went to a sensory deprivation floating tank in Copenhagen while researching for another performance and while I was lying there, floating in the water, deprived from most of my senses, I got the idea to do something drastic in my musical process. Philosophers like Immanuel Kant describe this deprived state as a mental 'Cesura', which became some sort of guideline for the album."

So Juncker decided to start working on the album by leaving the process as well as the final result completely open. 'I wanted to create sounds and music that I had no idea what they would sound like, but would feel like a mental 'Cesura', an 'Ophold' (in Danish)' he states.

He invited musicians, one after the other, to his studio. "I had an electronic musician to improvise patterns and new interesting sounds based on my experience in the deprivation tank. I chose some of the takes and some weeks later I invited a jazz guitarist to listen and improvise on top of what he heard. Then a classical string quartet and a double bass player came to my studio months later, and finally I recorded myself on percussion and drums.

Throughout the recording process I've been experimenting with special microphones in various setups, used noises from the recordings and the room became absolutely essential for the pieces." Juncker states.

"The material I used was all first take improvision which I arranged, layered and edited into compositions. The final pieces were mixed by Andreas Pallisgaard with the same improvised and experimental approach of the recording and the production. None of the musician met each other, but their sounds developed into something completely fantastic I think. The presence of the acoustic instruments and the depth and complexity of the synthesized layers gave some kind of an indescribable sounding music from another galaxy.

Track by track:

'Norddrum' starts proceedings - ethereal, grainy sounds merge and disassociate, as a distant rhythm gradually finds its way to the fore.

The second track, 'Sora' , clocking in at under 2 minutes, is an interlude full of strings, pads, and percussive hits, rich in feeling. This strong sense of sound design and seemingly disparate sounds woven together into a whole carries through into 'Eksotisk Tirsdag' - the strings, plucked instruments and electronics harking back to 4th world adventurers like Jon Hassel and Brian Eno.

'Cyklus' dives into drone textures, pulsing and modulating to create an unearthly soundtrack.

'Havekunst' is another 2 minutes interlude, this time bringing a fully charged rhythmic barrage to the front.

'Cesura', the final track is in essence the EP's centerpiece - a sprawling 8 minute journey that traverses tense, fibrous sections and on into pulsing modular passages, before opening up into glorious moments of wonder and brightness. It's a hugely bold yet fragile endeavour, in line with the whole release.

Fresh on Francis Harris' Kingdoms imprint comes Adamo Golán's seven track LP, 'Exile And The New'. Golán is the alter ego of British-German artist Laurens A. Schmidt, who has been pursuing a more club-focused techno project, while developing an ever deeper fascination with experimental music, ambient and film scores. Drawing influence from his adopted homes Berlin and currently London, the 26-year-old has been uncompromisingly trying to develop his own musical voice.

'Exile And The New' expresses this ongoing pursuit and, being the first full-length and first ever release by Adamo Golán, marks the start of his most personal project to-date. Stretching over seven tracks, it touches upon a diverse set of sceneries, moods, and emotions whilst a distinctive sound design gives the work a subtle framework and guiding thread.

'Fis' starts the proceedings, introducing drones and field recordings and enveloping the listener in Golán's distinct sound world. 'Just Friends' merges distant snapshots of disembodied vocals with granular sound design and a sense of both space and creeping claustrophobia simultaneously. It's an approach the young producer has mastered - 'Replica' maintains an ambience of the deeply personal and a wider, hazy focus, realised via exquisite melodic fragments against a backdrop of pads and chiming electronics. Title track 'Exile And The New' unfolds around another cinematic world scored via a single stringed instrument, static interference and oceans of space. 'Lie to Me' brings a piano refrain to the fore, wrapped in luscious ambience and more fragments of a conversation heard through the rain. 'Then Rely On Me' slowly develops out of a haunting atmosphere and finds an uneasy but strangely beautiful flow, before 'The Hungry Years' closes out the album as it started - floating in space.

The 26-year-old artist sees the album as a journey that should captivate but never impose itself on the listener. It´s a gracious and neighborly invitation to dive in, get lost and explore its facets and peculiarities

Originally from the United Kingdom, funky soul-jazz veterans The New Mastersounds have been touring USA, Europe and Japan for over a decade and return here with their twelfth studio album, recorded in New Orleans and Denver and featuring a slew of musical guests.

"Renewable Energy" expands on the NMS template while still providing plenty of the band's trademark sounds. Guitarist Eddie Roberts, drummer Simon Allen, bassist Pete Shand and keyboardist Joe Tatton are joined on this 11-track effort by a number of guests: Sam Bell, one of the founding members of NMS precursor The Mastersounds who also guested on two previous NMS albums, plays percussion on most of the tracks. Mike Olmos and Joe Cohen of the West Coast Horns once again provide added horn action as they did on "Made For Pleasure" from 2015, while Adryon de León from LA band Orgone contributes vocals on "Gonna Be Just Me". Uptempo numbers "Tantalus" and "Yokacoka" see the band flexing their playing chops over a tightly-wound rhythm, while "Green Was Beautiful" and "Groovin On The Groomers" are toe-tapping slabs of soul jazz. The band's cover of James Gang's "Funk 49" takes the album in a fuzzed-out psych-rock direction with Eddie singing the lead, while the moody Hancock-esque inflections of "Stash" and the sweet mellow vibes of "Swimming With My Fishies" add the final brushstrokes of colour to the canvas.

Next up on Francis Harris's newly-founded record label Kingdoms comes something very special from Brooklyn-based film composer, songwriter, producer and performer Léah Lazonick. Movimenti della Luna D'Oro ('Movements of the Moon of Gold' translated from Italian) is a four-track EP from one of the most exciting musicians and performers around - a beautiful quartet of contemporary classical music with a twist. Lazonick is something of a polymath, having composed and conducted orchestral and electronic scores for short films and commercials as well as being a classically-trained pianist. Lazonick is also a connoisseur of analog synths and vintage drum machines, and will release a second EP focussing on these passions during the course of 2018. Here we are treated to three luscious works for piano and string quartet, written for a one-off performance at Studio OFF Interarts, an art gallery in Montreal. The piece was performed in a forest-like immersive environment, and was originally called In a Forest (A Piece in Three Movements). Lazonick performed the piano parts along with a string quartet she had assembled for the performance/recording. Lazonick explains: 'As opposed to most of the other songs/compositions I have written, I have no concrete sentimental story behind writing this piece. The motivation, inspiration and overall idea behind composing it was of a more technical nature; attempting to relay the music in my head at its purest form, without any compromises, by primarily making use of melodic and harmonic dissonances whilst still keeping the content captivating, musical and continuous.

Apart from their own works composers, musicians and producers Brandon Wolcott and Emil Abramyan already had a joint release with YouAndTheSpace Between, the opener on the Don't Break My Love release on Nicolas Jaar's Clown & Sunset label in 2012. In the same year the two have approached by theater artists Michael Silverstone and Abigail Browde of 600 Highwaymen to compose music for a new work of live performance called The Record. Aside from a simple series of prompts and directions, the music was composed independently of the choreography. Drawing from backgrounds in theatrical sound design, classical composition and experimental electronic music, Brandon Wolcott and Emil Abramyan sought to create a diverse tapestry of sound, striving for a dynamic emotional arc that might elude a sense of genre or recognizable form. The music is performed live, with Emil on cello and structured into six songs on the Mini-LP Music of The Record to be released at the end of November 2017. Brandon Wolcott is a Brooklyn based sound artist, composer and theatrical sound designer. His work has been heard at venues including The Pubic Theater, Lincoln Center, Park Avenue Armory, Mass Moca, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and Centre Pompidou. He has released music with Wolf + Lamb Music, Archipel Records and Nicolas Jaar's Other People. His dance-music project Smirk, has been presented at venues and festivals around the world, including Communiky, Mutek, Save, Dispatch, and UnSound.

On October, 20, 2017, ambient shoegaze duo Aris Kindt launch the new Kingdoms imprint with their second album, Swann and Odette. Picking up where their first record (2015's Floods) leaves off, Swann and Odette is an evolutionary leap forward for the duo. The sonic palette is deeper, the grooves more sparse and the melodies are given more room to seep deep within a mix so expansive it feels almost tactile. This is heady, opulent stuff. The album is immaculately produced and cunningly arranged to sidestep easy classification while not sacrificing accessibility and authentic feeling. Aris Kindt is the collaborative project of Gabe Hedrick and Francis Harris (Scissor and Thread). Harris has previously released the albums Leland (2012) and Minutes of Sleep (2014), both of which have been lauded for (their) extensive use of live instruments, a contrasting feature to his work done before' (last.fm, 2016). Building on this approach, Hedrick adds his own sonic signature in effects-laden layers of electric guitar and modular synthesizer. Collectively, the album swells and reverberates to create a seamless interplay of synths and instrumentation cast loose from their origins and awash in oceanic delay.

Deconstructed royal-court music from the forgotten kingdoms of the Buganda, reconstructed electronic wedding music, fluorescent pink African pop, crunched 8-bit drum machines and a 10-foot long monster xylophone are just a few of the many sounds of Ennanga Vision.

This post-modern African soundtrack follows London producer Jesse Hackett's heady musical journey into the heart of Uganda - recording with chief collaborator, multi instrumentalist and singer Albert Ssempeke and featuring assorted vocal legends from the north of the country. The music blends a fully electronic sensibility with unusual, hand-crafted, African one-string fiddles, a 200-year-old harp and an enormous, group-played xylophone. It mixes traditional Ugandan folk songs and modern pop forms into a new PLASTIC ORGANIC VISION.

Hackett is influenced as much by the music of the African continent as he is by European electronic compositions and soundtrack scores. The sounds of hauntingly-dark vocoded vocals, crushed electronics, and poly-rhythmic drum machines sit alongside chiming African fiddles, rippling harps and children's laughter. He is a member of Owiny Sigoma band having sung on and co-written a lot of their work spanning three albums. He is also touring keyboard player for the Gorillaz and has released records on Stones Throw, Honest Jon's and DEEK Recordings, to name a few.

Albert Ssempeke is the son of a prestigious royal court musician who played in the days of the old Buganda kingdom - one of more than twenty five musical siblings, Albert is simultaneously an educator, performer and preservationist of this intricate and complex traditional form of music. Here he plays over ten traditional Ugandan instruments including Amadinada (xylophone), Ngindidi (fiddle), Endongo (harp), Ennanga (flute) and many more

Deconstructed royal-court music from the forgotten kingdoms of the Buganda, reconstructed electronic wedding music, fluorescent pink African pop, crunched 8-bit drum machines and a 10-foot long monster xylophone are just a few of the many sounds of Ennanga Vision. This post-modern African soundtrack follows London producer Jesse Hackett's heady musical journey into the heart of Uganda - recording with chief collaborator, multi instrumentalist and singer Albert Ssempeke and featuring assorted vocal legends from the north of the country. The music blends a fully electronic sensibility with unusual, hand-crafted, African one-string fiddles, a 200-year-old harp and an enormous, group-played xylophone. It mixes traditional Ugandan folk songs and modern pop forms into a new PLASTIC ORGANIC VISION.
Hackett is influenced as much by the music of the African continent as he is by European electronic compositions and soundtrack scores. The sounds of hauntingly-dark vocoded vocals, crushed electronics, and poly-rhythmic drum machines sit alongside chiming African fiddles, rippling harps and children's laughter. He is a member of Owiny Sigoma band having sung on and co-written a lot of their work spanning three albums. He is also touring keyboard player for the Gorillaz and has released records on Stones Throw, Honest Jon's and DEEK Recordings, to name a few. Albert Ssempeke is the son of a prestigious royal court musician who played in the days of the old Buganda kingdom - one of more than twenty five musical siblings, Albert is simultaneously an educator, performer and preservationist of this intricate and complex traditional form of music. Here he plays over ten traditional Ugandan instruments including Amadinada (xylophone), Ngindidi (fiddle), Endongo (harp), Ennanga (flute) and many more

2LP in gatefold with liner notes. 180gr vinyl. Download code included. A new, twenty-track compilation focussing on a twenty-year period (1950-1970) of modern jazz in the little kingdom, featuring the leading players from that era.

Due to the absence of its main players during the heydays of modern jazz, Belgium will not be remembered for a unique jazz sound or an extensive discography. However, the little country produced a number of highly talented musicians who played lead roles on the international jazz scene.
'Let's Get Swinging: Modern Jazz in Belgium 1950-1970' retraces their steps and presents some of their finest works, including guitarist Philip Catherine, saxophonist Jack Sels, multi-instrumentalist Jacques Pelzer and vibraphone player, percussionist and vocalist 'Fats' Sadi Lallemand.^

Breakbeat Paradise Recordings has teamed up with The Chosen Few Records to proudly presents the latest escapade of TURNTILL & MERLIN: "BREAK A DAY". This tune is dedicated to all the b-boys and other funkateers worldwide that love the drumsound and the funk. The MCs on the song are DOPPIA ERRE from Apulia, Italy and SKY 189 from Capetown, South Africa.

Both are true Hip Hop heads that love the art of breaking! In the hook you hear the sweet, catchy voices of Stella Baraldo and Dominique Bouvier. A real powerful b-boy anthem and club joint alike, which is interpreted in five additional versions on a six track 12" vinyl release.

Guests on the A-Side are DJ KID STRETCH (Greece), FUNKY BOOGIE BROTHERS (Belarus) who is giving the tune a new flow in the oldskool b-boy direction. On the flip side we have invited some of the very best from the Ghetto-Funk scene to give the tunes an injection of electro vibes and big basslines. For this job we called upon the dream team DUBRA X ARTEO (Latvia) and ghetto funk superstar B-SIDE (United Kingdom) who are always armed to the teeth with big beats and electro basslines. Last but not least we sent for a true veteran and pioneer in the Nu Funk scene QUINCY JOINTZ (Germany) to do his thing on the electro side of this vinyl release.

The funky beats and breaks has once again brought people together from all over the world to collaborate on this big release that not only tips the hat to the b-boy community but also pushes the limit to the new eras of funk music. Something we share the vision for and feel strongly about on both Breakbeat Paradise Recordings and at The Chosen Few Records.

Stirred up from deep within, from an abstract spiral of sound and movement, from a sensation of time and space absolving and converging at once, the Black Flower musicians have molded a tangible matter: the album Artifacts. Their second full album sounds international and ageless. Eastern influences, Ethiodub and jazz effortlessly merge. Fantasy and reality seem to fuse. In a word: nourishment for body and soul.

"Psyche-delicious and accessible 20th century Ethiodubjazz. As if John Zorn put on Fela Kuti's shoes and imbibed Mulatu Astatke's whirls."

Piloted by saxophonist /flutist /composer Nathan Daems (Ragini Trio, Dijf Sanders, Antwerp Gipsy-Ska Orkestra), this instrumental band aims for originality. Fellow musicians and 'brothers down the road' are Jon Birdsong (dEUS, Beck, Calexico) on cornet, Simon Segers (Absynthe Minded, De Beren Gieren, Stadt) at the drums, Filip Vandebril (Lady Linn, The Valerie Solanas, Antwerp Gipsy-Ska Orkestra) at the bass and Wouter Haest (Los Callejeros, Voodoo Boogie) playing keys.

For many of us, the Ethiopian aspect once made known to the world by Mulatu Astatke will stand out. Still, Black Flower further adds oriental scales, Afrobeat à la Fela Kuti, jazz in a John Zorn way and varied western music traditions such as rock and dub. The resulting melting pot is undoubtedly inspired by Nathan's distant travels and the multifariously colorful city of Brussels.

...Pretty legit if you ask me - LeFto, Studio Brussel

After their well-received debut album Abyssinia Afterlife (2014, W.E.R.F. / Zephyrus Records) that created an atmosphere of mythical figures and psychedelia, Black Flower now reflects on ancient and modern cultures. The album title Artifacts refers to centuries-old fragile objects or tools that empowered the development of human culture. The world today would look entirely different without those artifacts. The seemingly brittle suddenly becomes a powerful welding cornerstone. Add the musicians' personal musical backgrounds and the result is an album with an ageless mystique. Artifacts is the synthesis of different cultures, of the past and present, and personal and collective memories. It is the soundtrack to modern reality, based on the elements that connect us.

Brilliant - Gilles Peterson, BBC Radio 6

One of Belgium's Best Bands of these past years (...) Black Flower does not simply play a tune, they always groove! - Kurt Overbergh, Ancienne Belgique

Uncomplicated originality, plenty of space for fantasy and an organic tone: those are the ingredients for Black Flower to lay claim to an age-old human ritual: dancing! Still, Black Flower also stands out in various other settings. Their audience at a jazz club will have felt exalted, their audience at a late-night show will not have resisted dancing. The band wields influence over their surroundings in a way only heart-and-soul musicians can. This mastery has repeatedly taken them to United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands and Germany.

Tresor is proud to welcome Mønic to its catalogue.

Head of Osiris Music, Mønic is an accomplished producer based in the United Kingdom. His style can be dened as raw yet exceptionally rened, allowing for a certain industrial
inspiration to ooze from his productions and outstanding sound design.

'Parsons Hill' opens with tumultuous percussions that continue to escalate throughout the track as an eerie looming synth dances above the kicks.

Alternatively, 'Morse' reveals another side of the artist with a more serene attitude. Here, static passes through a magnetic eld with a constant palpitating bass. 'Hollow Victory' opens with thunderous clangs and a urry of ominous chimes that echo through the darkness swirling above a pulsating heartbeat.

Maeve label honcho The Drifter and co-emperor of the Permanent Vacation kingdom, Benjamin Fröhlich, team up for some rascal business.

LP pressed on 180gm vinyl; sleeve printed in three Pantone colours; includes free MP3 download. Featuring all-new material and recorded in the band's isolated studio on the edge of the Essex marshes, the album ebbs and flows in mood like the nearby Blackwater estuary. Working with a palette of vintage drum machines, analogue synths, textural samples, acoustic recordings, electric bass & heavily treated guitar, the songs were born out of captured live studio performances. Cooper & Hammond then rewired their initial sketches through a series of hands-on, lo-fi effects chains, blurring the edges between acoustic & electronic elements. The result is an organic, playful feel; leaving the music room to breathe and carrying distinct echoes of the band's previous work. BIOGRAPHY Ultramarine are the London/Essex-based duo of Ian Cooper & Paul Hammond. Formed in 1989, the band's early records were released by the seminal Belgian label Les Disques du Crépuscule. Ultramarine released five albums during the 1990s including the highly-acclaimed ambient techno/house classic Every Man And Woman Is A Star (Rough Trade, 1992); United Kingdoms (Blanco Y Negro, 1993), featuring writing collaborations with Robert Wyatt; and Bel Air (Blanco Y Negro, 1995). After a prolific decade, including full American and European tours with Björk and Orbital, Ultramarine went on a long sabbatical following the release of their fifth album A User's Guide (New Electronica, 1998). After a 13-year absence they resurfaced with two new singles in late 2011 on Real Soon and WNCL Recordings, fully rested and ready for action.