Beats News

LP There's been an air of hypnagogic mystery surrounding Acid Test's sublabel Avenue 66 from the start. Joey Anderson's oblique, Prince-inspired incantation "Above The Cherry Moon" set the tone for a label that's sound that has found beauty in the furthest recesses of the dance floor, in the murkiest decay of kick drums and rave stabs. Fitting then, that the first album on the imprint comes from Trux, an artist who has chosen to reveal nearly nothing about themselves. Following a cult classic mini-LP for Office Recordings, "Orbiter" bears out the anonymous producer as a master of liminal, conceptual dance music. "Orbiter's" ten tracks have a vaporous, shape-shifting quality, threatening to topple over into full-on kick drum bliss or vanish into ambience. Opener, "With It," moves from heady ambient rush to skeletal piano, while "Blinko" and "Roy's Garage" spell out a hazy memoriam for the UK continuum. Forlorn pianos ring out amongst the field recordings, excitable toms and jungle bass all softened in the enveloping gauze. "Orbiter" positions Trux as an unknown auteur who puts evocative world of tone and echo into dizzying motion, content to watch from the wings.

Luciano e Valerio, Giacomo e Michele: Odeon are the union of two couples of Roman brothers who are not easily defined. Take the mellow melodies of Talk Talk and the celestial guitar riffs of Cocteau Twins bound together with some heavy Goblin-inspired bassline and you'll be close to picturing Odeon's signature sound. Drawing from '70 Italian B-Movies' soundtracks, psychedelic rock and early 80s new wave, and combining analog synths, dreamy guitars, melancholy vocoder and drum machine-driven percussion, Odeon put together a debut album that sounds fresh and classic at the same time. Ethereal and mesmerizing, Galaxies is the perfect soundtrack for a sonic journey through dying stars and forbidden planets.

Boris Bunnik is no stranger in the worl d of electronic music. He released several albums and ep's under a variety of monikers since 2007 on labels like Delsin, Shipwrec, Frustrated Funk and his own Transcendent imprint. Fauxpas Musik welcomes him for a new project called Severnaya. Originally hailing from the Island of Terschelling, the most Northern and remote part of the Netherlands he now made a piece of music dedicated to this special place. Severnaya means north in Russian and refers to the bright frozen landscapes of the northern archipels. Boris often plays with the influences and elements of ambient in his music. If we have to believe the man himself, Polar Skies is his most personal sound trajectory to come from his mind. Drum programming is scarce and what remains is a lush and profound listening experience floating on scapes and melodies. We clearly hear his roots and intentions represented in the airy, tranquil sound design of this new album project. Things sound spacious, and life is at ease in these melancholic compositions. Crispy crackling percussions and icey pads place you in the midst of a resonant arctic landscape. You can hear influences drawn from producers like Biosphere, Pub, Brian Eno but we also hear more contemporary influences from modern day film composition but most of all we here Boris his own signature. The tracks were composed over a couple of years (2015-2017) in a more contemplative mindset. At some point this selection formed a consistent piece of music and as a result you hear his most personal and fragile works to date. Fauxpas Musik is proud to release this new project in 2018. written and produced by Boris Bunnik aka Conforce at the PasadenaOceanlab Studios Special thanks to family, friends and Fauxpas

This is the remix edition of Dino Sabatini's recent second album "Omonimo" (April 2016, Outis Music).Like the recent album, this EP "Concentrica" features renowned Italian veteran pianist/accordionist Antonello Salis on the tracks "If" and "It All Ends Here", albeit here in different versions. Out of these two tracks the former is on "Concentrica" reworked by Dino Sabatini and the latter in a collaborative live variation between Salis and Dino Sabatini. Simultaneously with the announcement of "Concentrica" was it announced that Dino and Antonello are launching their new live project: Dino Sabatini & Antonello Salis present 'Electronic Opera Concentrica'. Howie B is veteran producer mainly known as a purveyor of early trip hop, having produced cuts from Tricky's debut album, Björk's "Post" and "Homogenic" as well as other major like U2.
After inaugurating the 'Opera' sub-series of his Outis Music label with the sublime 'Omonimo' double LP this April, Dino Sabatini has invited some choice allies to help define the vocabulary and expand the vision of the new imprint. The aforementioned album, which wove together Sabatini's atmospheric conjuring skill with the piano flourishes of Antonello Salis, already exhibits the label's commitment to dismantling the 'either-or' logic of contemporary genres by successfully merging a variety of supposedly irreconcilable styles, talents, and worldviews (e.g. both mythological and the technological perspectives). The follow-up EP, 'Concentrica', draws on the material from 'Omonimo' and delivers it into the hands of additional remixers in order to continue the Outis Opera voyage.

Just as magnified record grooves reveal dust constellations and lunar landscapes, so too does Godblesscomputers' third album. 'Solchi' is a deep search into previous moments in Lorenzo Nada's lifetime, influenced by the presence and power of music. His process began with the recovery of some old cassettes, mixtapes nearly forgotten, audio recording of voices from his childhood, and lots of dusty jazz, soul, and hip-hop records. As the starting point of this travel merge with its end, past and present combine to form GBC's current sound. Warm electronic production rooted by grooving bass lines form the core of a kaleidoscope of sixteen tracks, colored by synthesizers, guitar echoes, scratches, samples, fading voices and kalimba. The album is a collection of sixteen stories, sixteen soundscapes; each of them GBC's tribute to the path taken thus far, an homage to his love for music. The recording and studio work took place over a year, with the adding and subtracting of many elements.

Eitan Reiter is proud to announce the release of his latest album, Give It Life, on Guy J's Armadillo Records. With a dedicated and ever-growing fan base who have been captivated by his ever evolving sound across the years, Reiter has a varied and vital discography. As Eitan Ratier, he puts out techno on labels like Minus, Traum and Praxxiz, and has released an excellent house and techno album on Mule Musiq with Sebastian Mullaert, as well as solo effort Place I Miss That I Haven't Been To released on Aleph Zero in 2010. As such, he producers everything from minimal to psychedelic chill out to downtempo, also works as part of groups like Loud, and makes music for film and TV. This standout new album brings techno together with dark avant pop, proper songwriting and inventive studio trickery. It was made partly on the road between gigs around the globe, as well as in four different studios and various other places like a farm in South Africa, a bench in New York, or just a hotel room in Tokyo or Mexico.It is a coherent album that is not bound by any self imposed rules and has come together naturally and organically. It features a number of collaborations, singers and instrumentalists and and even finds the artist letting himself sing and play guitar. It also comes with some great videos for the tracks and has spawned a brand new live show with Nimrod Gorovich and Barak Rosen. Kicking off with 'Choices', a tender mood is set with carefully treated vocals and slow, sombre drums and chords. From there, the melancholic 'All That I Know' has more pained chords laid over bustling, broken kick drums and 'Fade Away' is an ethereal downtempo number coated in echo and reverb that makes it a hugely resonant track. The likes of 'Other Kind of Illusion' are brilliantly original tracks with gorgeous chords and guitars over pressurised thudding kicks, 'Avoid' is a modern day love song without the cheese with sweeping emotions and intimate whispered vocals and big splashes of drums, then things play out through the fractured keys and pixelated synths of electronic masterpiece 'Let It Out' and tripped out beats of 'The Black White Read' before ending on the lonely and insular chords and heavy hearted drums of 'You Are (The One)'. This is another essential album from a talented artist who has many different musical tricks up his sleeve and more than enough skills to carry them off. It is artistic, original and thoroughly absorbing from start to finish.

This is a vinyl release of the debut album from 2007 (Ubiquity Records) celebrating a 10 year anniversary
I'm kinda like a blond (less good looking) Vincent Gallo, but with self-irony.

Necessary first vinyl edition of Hollywood Medieval, the debut album of psychogeographic dramaturgy by Manchester-born soundtrack composer, Maxwell Sterling. It was initially issued
as a digital release on LA-based Memory No.36 Recordings in 2016 to a round of acclaim from Fact Magazine and The Wire and has now been re-mastered by Matt Colton for this vinyl edition.
It sounds as plasticky sensuous as it should, and arguably looks worthy of a wall or pedestal in a Bel-Air or Moss Side pad thanks to its striking bespoke cover art collage by radical feminist and
Manchester punk legend, Linder (Sterling), aka Maxwell's mum.
Hollywood Medieval is an album about the glaring disparities and elaborate, underlying convolutions the composer observed and felt while working as a nanny for wealthy parents during his film composition studies at UCLA in the early part of the 2010s. Using an augmented palette of classic DX7 and Juno 60 synths along with a severely warped bank of library samples and iPhone recordings, it spells out a queasily evocative simulacra of the city in flux, animating a sort of Ballardian tableaux that's hyper-descriptive in its rendering of the hazy, dosed-up, and often
delirious transitions between Hollywood's glamour and grime, using LA's gurning facades and ostentatious wealth as prompts for a richly visual side of sawn-off emotive signposts and jazz-
taut turns of phrase that vividly etch on the memory in neon freehand.
From the dizzying sugar rush of the opening sequence, Hollywood Medieval I, to its spiralling counterpoint in Hollywood Medieval II, the album is an inception-like concerto, with Maxwell smartly subverting the film score composer's role by placing the music centre stage and allowing the narration to be carried by virtuosic flourishes owing to the artist's classical and jazz music
schooling,
In a sense, Hollywood Medieval resonates with the way Sam Kidel subverted the nature of ambient music on Disruptive Muzak (RAVE014), and offers an alternative, lucid view of the hazy LA offered by Delroy Edwards' Teenage Tapes (RAVE005), and likewise, works like a present diagnosis of the dystopian future worlds dreamed up in The Sprawl's dystopian, widescreen visions on EP1
(RAVE013), effectively broadening and illuminating The Death of Rave's own sonic hauntology.

The night is what makes a big city come to life. Right after sundown, the hectic buzzing of downtown makes way for adventure playgrounds, bathed in neon light, revealing their countless chances and opportunities. It's when you'll find the subway spitting out it's purpose seeking passengers by the minute. A coming and going of restless people passing through. All it takes is a few hours, before the sunrise makes it all disappear. Mental Bend captures the magic of that very moment in their dreamy soundtracks. If you close your eyes, you can see blurry pictures passing in slow motion, accompanied by their atmospheric songs. Grainy black and white snapshots, fragments of memories lighting up somewhere in the farthest corner of the cortex. 'One Step' is the Berlin-based indietronica duo's visually vivid debut album, released on Enfant Fenou. Mental Bend are all about letting go. Sissip (voc/synth/bass) and Hendrik Havekost (beats/production) know how to trust their instincts, crafting their hypnotic signature sound, somewhere in between electronica, ambient and dream pop. Before founding the band in 2013, the two were already shaping their skills in all kinds of different formations and styles of music. As soon as they got together, they had a viral mini hit with their song 'Take My Hand', praised on various tastemaker blogs and generating over 100.000 likes on Soundcloud in no time. The band's first long play record 'One Step' is all about important experiences and decisions, small as well as big steps, all a part of making progress, which in the end can even be life changing. It was a step, that recently got Mental Bend their record deal on Mo's Ferry's sub label 'Enfant Fenou'.

Clear & Solid Purple Mixed Vinyl
Five different moods from five different minds. The first various artist compilation features five gems that will provide pleasure infinitely!

The Golden Ravedays Collection Box Set
The limited edition box set that celebrates the complete journey of The Golden Ravedays by Superpitcher is now for sale.

Only 150 copies are available and each includes all 12 chapter LPs that features two tracks each (24 tracks in total), plus a signed poster and a sweeping 36 page booklet that brings the beautiful saga of this heroic album in picture.

The International Feel label is a favourite of all musical persuasions. It's carefree grooves have been supported by the likes of Gilles Peterson through to i-ÚD magazine. Spearheaded by Mark Barrott for the last seven years, it has both broken new artists such as Len Leise and resurrected legends such as Jose Padilla, while successfully bringing Balearic back into the world's consciousness in the process.

The title track is an elegant wash of synths and percussion, creating an emotional texture in its rhythm and serenity in its simplicity. 'Tago Mago' creates more action through its dense percussion and temporal melodies, all set upon the subtle field recordings that Barrott has become infamous for. Through these he manages to create a new landscape within our own senses, using sounds of the island, his rural habitat in Ibiza is reimagined in our mind's eye to create the ultimate utopia.

Barrott's second album as Sketches From An Island is due for release July 2016

Beautiful ambient journeys by S.A.M. Limited Edition.

Following a limited tape release for Ecstatic, Berlin's Nat Fowler renders his meticulous Novoline for its second full-length release, a killer marriage of automated EBM and unexpected midi disruptions, continuing a lifelong quest for esoteric knowledge and a love of archaic computer hardware.
Modelled on re-appropriated software, run on two separate Atari ST's, Movements is the compelling result of obtuse production technique and painstaking trial and error; basically experimentation at the service of discovering a sound that really sounds unlike anything else out there. As he explains:
'I like the idea of using restrictions in order to find and push boundaries, from limiting which octaves I use to how many notes at a time. I use the only PC capable of MIDI that had no
multitasking, so communication is immediate, a direct mechanical communication from my fingers to the sounds is created. I feel lucky because technology has accelerated so fast since the
first digital synthesisers and PCs that nothing since the early 1980s has been really pushed to its limits.
In that sense, he can be placed in a small category of operators - including The Automatics Group, Dave Noyze, Lorenzo Senni and V/Vm among them - who persistently gnaw at the boundary
between dance-pop and avant-electronics, and with all of whom he shares a capacity for hearing the poetry of singular frequencies, unique pitch combinations and the strange electronic timbres just waiting to be be born from overlooked, outmoded equipment.
Whilst at times it may recall the saltiest digital tone and gait of early Chicago house and Belgian new beat, there's a futuristic funk and idiosyncratic ambiguity to Movement that entirely
belongs to Novo Line; whether bubbling up the mutant dembow lacquer of opener, The Movement
1, radiating form the tightly-bound, curdled funk of Hot Piece, or jabbing like a bag of cyborg slow house cats in The Movement 2, it really does make for one of the year's finest and most addictive
dancefloor mutations, bar none.

The next signing of Forbidden Colours are modular nerds Kino Internacional and Borja Pin eiro from Reykjavik606 who always challenge the fine line between music-making and story-telling.
For A1 - "Everything Happens For A Reason" the duo join forces with the maestro Odei Astibia on the drums, where they jam on the infamous Mecca Studios for a really beautiful mind trip.
On the flip side "Lake Nakaumi" leads listeners to some lonely scenario where the modular and pads travel together on the same wagon.
Forbidden Colours called Basque techno leader Kastil for a remix who recorded a 7 minutes straight and trippy techno.
My love wears forbidden colours My life believes
My love wears forbidden colours My life believes in you once again

Seahawks chart a course for the outer realms of consciousness where sea meets sky and sky meets space.

Two tracks new to vinyl from their esteemed 'Escape Hatch' album and three inspired remixes, 37 minutes of overlapping dream states and mantric resonance.

Setting sail with the wondrous 'Valparaiso', the siren like voice of Ed Macfarlane (Friendly Fires) calls the dancers to the beach, it's silken glide so smooth some have asked if it's Sade!

Nick Mackrory creates an alternative cosmos that is even more blissed, like a lost Lucio Battisti gem sparkling in the sun. (Nick was responsible for the lush 'Elle Dit' released on the Music For Dreams label not so long ago).

Picking up the pace disco viking Marius Circus enters the arena to create a woozy acid fever dream that throbs and pulses in a most heavenly way. Perfect for full moon beach jams and horizontal home hangs alike.

On the flip 'Starways' is without a doubt one of Seahawks finest creations, over 12 minutes of tropical kosmische odyssey that resolves into a glistening pool of crystal electronics, aquatic horns and celestial strings. A tonic for the mind and the body.

At the close of day Len Leise blesses us with a hazed subtropical jam where vapour tones float on an ancient ocean of bliss as organic beats massage the stress away.

An antidote to all that is dark and dismal in these fractured times.

Artwork is a specially commissioned airbrush work by Mervyn Beaver.

winter, or a time which represents that season, in a metropole that appears to be moscow. the visitor is taking metro no. 6 at leninsky prospect as he is on his way to the ballroom close to gorky park. the air is icy, the sky is grey. a cat, previously hidden among the dirty snow, is crossing his way. the closer he gets to his destination, the clearer he can hear music, music that reminds him of future days.
the dimly lit room is only sparsely filled. on stage a graceful singer, capturing the room with her presence. captive voices merge with chords played on yet unknown instruments - machine rhythms cycle in 3/4 time. the vigorous peasant dancers, following an instinctive knowledge of the weight of fall, utilize their surplus energy to press all their strength into the proper beat of the measure, thus intensifying their personal enjoyment in dancing. here, in the transhuman ballroom, time stands still and values are being dissolved by numeric progressions. spiritually allied, the visitor, the singer and the peasant dancers short-circuit the present moment while the last falling snow slowly turns into rain.
with »walzerzyklus«, atomTM returns to raster to complete his series that has once begun with »liedgut« and continued with »winterreise«. the 7 tracks, created in collaboration with russian singer lisokot, are subdivided into 3 pieces of 2 minutes each and 4 pieces of 3 minutes each, intentionally reflecting the 3/4 time of a classic waltz.
throughout the release, lisokot's delicate vocals are put into different relations to atomTM's rather cool machine music, either complementing or contrasting each other. in the same line, the 3 shorter 'leitmotifs' provide the main theme that is taken up repeatedly in the course of the release.
»walzerzyklus« will be released on CD and as special, laser-engraved vinyl edition limited to 300 copies.

Last years SVS residency took place in Budapest at 4DSOUND's 'Spatial Sound Institute', where SVS artists from LA, NY, Osaka, Seoul, Berlin, London,Tel Aviv and Munich worked for 10 days preparing a showcase on the 4DSOUND system.During rehersals for the Showcase, Bartellow alias Beni Brachtel met Grun alias Daichi Furukawa During three long nightshifts, the tracks emerged out of a continuous great vibe. Always joined by several artists from the SVS family, it became the soundtrack for a very special event. First pressing comes with limited 24'x36' sized hand folded poster and silver sticker. - Beni San and Daichi San will play a release tour through Japan in April.-Exclusives sales on April 1st at the independent label market in London-Early support by Renaat from R&S and confirmed reviews on Tsugi, Thump + more to come

LIMITED EDITION VINYL features white scratch-off ink and a 25 cent piece cased in a plastic outer sleeve. Each copy will be unique, as the quarter will move around the plastic sleeve in transit creating its own pattern. This is intentional, so any scratches that appear on the front cover when the vinyl arrives is a result of this. Sirens is the highly anticipated second full-length LP from Nicholas Jaar, the Chilean-born electronic music producer, mixing engineer and DJ, which comes out on October 14, 2016 via Other People/Kobalt. A prolific artist with a wide palette of talents, Jaar spent his teenage years in dance music circles in New York City, where he now resides. In 2011, he released his debut album, the critically-acclaimed Space is Only Noise. In 2012, he was contributed to BBC Radio 1's prestigious 'Essential Mix' series, winning 'Essential Mix of the Year'. In 2013, Matador released the debut album from Darkside, Jaar's project with his friend Dave Harrington. The band toured the record with a giant, rotating circular mirror, with key performances at Primavera Sound and Coachella. Other notable projects by Jaar include From Scratch, a live concept first developed for MOMA PS1, Pomegranates, an ambient record and alternate soundtrack to the Armenian film The Colour of Pomegranates, and the original soundtrack for´Dheepan, a thriller by the French filmmaker Jacque Audiard about a family of Sri Lankan refugees living in the suburbs of Paris. Dheepan won the Palme D'Or at Cannes in 2015. Jaar is the founder of the New York based imprint Other People, releasing music and spoken word by a diverse group of artists ranging from Lydia lunch to Ezekiel Honig.

Hello! Here are the Phaserboys with their full Debut on Aiwo rec. and they show up with a full equiped dance floor record including Love Mission Disco Adventures and Sequenced Breakbeat Dream Dance - be fast and take the ICE as long as you can - Winter is coming! *All rec. at Aiwo Railway-View Studios Ddorf

he Copenhagen based pop wonders Blaue Blume return with a new EP - 'Sobs'. The band formed around 6 years ago in a provincial Danish town, drawn to each other's love for rich, playful music. Blaue Blume (blue flower) is the epitome of a romantic band, their songs are brimming with love and yearning. Now 'Sobs', the follow up to their 'Syzygy' album in 2015, continues to build their reputation as a best kept secret, about to find a whole new audience of devotees. All four tracks for the EP were recorded in late 2016 in a three story villa, formerly owned by a religious cult. The band used the weird space away from the city to create a framework for the lyrics and the music. The band explains: 'Blaue Blume has been our band for about 6 years. In a bigger provincial town we started playing right out of highschool. At the moment we live in Copenhagen and every day we play, write and work on sounds. It's sort of become a life project. In our heads we make music that is playful, rich in detail and popish or somewhat smiling. For some beautifully inexplicable reason we ended up doing music together. In a way it seems sacred or at least meaningful. Macabre is a happy song about being afraid of dying. Some of us find that even the best life can be lonely sometimes. We found it interesting to address this taboo within the frame of a song that people could potentially dance or sing along to.

Released by Butter Sessions and Noise In My Head who are also known for their offshoot Efficient Space (Sky Girl, etc) - All Exclusive Tracks! Scratching the surface of Australia's independent electronic massive, Butter Sessions and Noise In My Head finally compile the second volume of Domestic Documents. Featuring all exclusive tracks, Perth godfather Ewan Jansen joins new WA blood Phil Stroud and Senate, respectively making hectic percussion tracks and hell bent techno, as Newcastle transplant Roman Nails emerges with his squelching one take tape experiments. Meanwhile in Melbourne, Fia Fiell's ambient mind maze and Butter Sessions alumni Booshank target the cerebral cortex, Hotrod goes full turbo and live/DJ wingmen Miris and Norachi share the same side of their vinyl debuts (alongside the freakishly underrated Colours of Infinity - aka Kloke). Kangaroo Skull and Cale Sexton fly the flag for Temporal Cast, the latter on a calming club collab with Sleep D. - Liner notes from Ivan Smagghe and artwork from Misha Hollenbach (Perks and Mini) - Features many rarities reissued for the first time ever (Karen Marks' most wanted Australian cold wave single last sold for 290€ while Once traded for 170€) - All tracks officially licensed, sourcing original masters when available - Includes digital download

Autotomy is a collaboration between Belgium's Sleeperhold Publications, Brooklyn-based musician Patricia (Max Ravitz) and the Dutch artist Louis Reith. This output is the result of a long process of contemplation, discussion and elimination which gave us a record that encapsulates both Patricia's sense for hardware production and dance floor rawness. Describing this release is not a simple task. So we'll just tell it like it is: it's a record that slows down and, in this process, reveals its mystery. Referencing the title of this release, wunderkind Max Ravitz seems to provide the listener with the possibility of transformation, a way to shed part of your own being.When running though the tracks, one discovers the essentials of Patricia's sound architecture: the presence of lightness, of longing, mixed with the ability to deny it in the next instant. Sonically, there's a careful balance in these productions that belies their fundamental function as body music. It's ambient yet danceable, approachable despite it's often deconstructed layout, and ultimately warm and inviting.The entire record is made using Ravitz collection of hardware, which gives it its uncompromising texture. The presence of kicks, beats and soundscapes does not originate from a clean digital source but from a physical action, an excerpt of movement, a tick of the human hand. It is floating versus rhythmical movement, visceral versus strict. But above all, it is alive.The artwork used for Autotomy's sleeve design and the etching on the B-side was provided by Louis Reith. (All three tracks feature on the record's A-side.) Just as Patricia, Reith tries to resist technology in favour of physical and craft-based media, though the contrast between digital and analog is always present.Dutch artist Louis Reith produces works through a variety of different media, ranging from collages to wood sculptures, to paper objects and ink on paper works, always keeping an interest in simple abstract shapes and their combination. With an interest in materiality Louis resurrects found footage and creates new landscapes of shape and color, celebrating the human hand at work. Deliberate compositions form an illegible visual language where hidden words are portrayed as abstract sculptures.Reith also co-runs Jordskred, an independent publishing company worth checking out.Ravitz certainly is unstoppable and releases in a relentless and uncompromising fashion.Besides many collaborative projects with an array of artists (released under monikers such as Masks, Pulpo, Inhalants, DSR.MR...) he's released music on labels like Opal Tapes, L.I.E.S., Russian Torrent Versions, Ghostly Intl.,... 2017 has been quite a year for him so far. He not only founded his own imprint, Active Cultures, but also released a triple LP. Ghostly Intl. describes the release as a 'kaleidoscopic, a multi-faceted techno trip' and we couldn't agree more.

LP + mp3

Mamie's Records is the new project of troublemakers La Mamie's. The crew of Djs, well known for throwing wild parties in Paris and its suburbs, top-quality sets, and their dedication to the Macki Music Festival, have decided to launch their own record label. Kodäma is a music duo formed in 2014 by Kiala Ogawa (singer and composer originally from Japan and Congo) and by T-time (bassist and composer). The word «kodama», meaning «echo» in Japanese, also refers to spirits conveyed by trees and forests. According to the legends, these spirits are responsible for the the phenomenon in which the mountains echo. Kodäma's universe is very linked to Kiala's cultural sphere with, as a major source of inspiration, her childhood's memories from the Japanese countryside. Kodäma is a subtle combination of electronic and acoustic sounds with Kiala's captivating voice, blending English and Japanese. From this mixture of sounds emerges a spiritual, experimental music marked by their own neo soul groove or future jazz

Alter is the new album from Belgium-based double bass player and electronic producer Otto Lindholm.
Divided into four colour-inspired, long-form movements, Alter takes off from Lindholm's previous work - a self-titled album released in 2015 on Icarus Records, and pushes the already abundant palette of sounds even further. This new work is more brooding and hypnotic. A deep, resonating bass is present - hinting at the likes of Greek, chamber-doom merchants Mohammad but perhaps with more attention placed upon textures and melody.
The record moves at a funereal pace and opener Fauve hits abyssal depths from the outset. A bowed melody is coaxed through the throbbing bass with dissonant harmonics drawing you in and holding you close. The ghostly beginnings of Alyscamps create an overwhelmingly tense atmosphere where acoustic and electronic elements collide and evolve into a heaving, ceremonious drone. Shafts of light emerge through the fog but the tone remains a haunted one. Closer, Heliotrope, strikes a more hopeful note. A lighter, more open feel emerges - bringing to mind early work of The Rachels or perhaps Deaf Center.
Alter is a triumphant record in its entirety. Seamlessly moving from light to shade and back again, experimenting in heavy atmosphere and ultimately drawing you into its deep and mysterious world.
Some words from Otto Lindhom on the album:
My original idea was to work on the melody and the play of the arco, looking for expressive music from this combination. To do it, I first decided to work on 'modes' and their specific color. With these modes I could work on tensions, frictions and color shading. Working on the melody aspect, I was looking to go beyond the romantic, easy listening or sentimentalizing, trying to suggest more than an expression of concrete emotions.
Naturally, a kind of impressionist, musical approach appeared to me where I could simply develop and enhance the music I was playing/writing. With my daughter about to born and my strong wish to record new music, this spurred me to work efficiently. I had no time or space for deviations, forcing me to sculpt the music as it came out, enjoying and contemplating a sort of rawness in my play and direction.'

(en) On September 11th, 2015 the audience of the stunning 'Rotor' concert series witnessed the first live appearance of John Gürtler and Phillip Sollmann underneath a highway bridge in Offenbach, Germany. Hosted by International Music Institute Darmstadt alongside Institut für Klangforschung Offenbach and HfMDK Frankfurt, the newly formed duo performed an aural conversation on stage within the incredible architectural environment. A year later, an extract of these live recordings became part of the Sky Walking Label compilation '41'36' that now leads to the debut album of Sollmann & Gürtler 'Gegen Die Zeit'.
Phillip Sollmann and John Gürtler met as studio neighbors in the complex 'The Meadow', rebuilt in 2011 in Berlin Wedding. Exchanging ideas and instrumental advice ever since, they soon became collaborators. An acoustic version by John Gürtler for Sollmann's scientific Techno project Efdemin was the first result of their exchange.

Besides his futuristic techno productions, Phillip Sollmann is best known for his sound installations and performances including work on the Harry Partch Instruments, the Helmholtz Double Sirene and Bertoia's sound sculptures. First shown at Volksbühne Berlin in February, the show Monophonie will travel to Bochum in September as part of the Ruhrtriiiennale. Along with Konrad Sprenger (Pan / Choose) Sollmann is currently working on a unique modified Modular Organ System consisting of 93 church organ pipes that has been shown Kestnergesellschaft Hannover and Mathew Gallery Berlin - the headquarter of Sky Walking Records.
The multi instrumentalist and singer John Gürtler co- founded the studio collective Paradox Paradise. The composer is mainly writing and improvising film scores, ranging from electronica to songs and orchestral works. Gürtler has won multiple awards, including Best Song in a Film in 2014 and Best Documentary Score 2015 for Above and Below. The former free-jazz saxophonist returns to his roots as an experimental improviser and producer with the newly formed Sollmann & Gürtler.
As the record's title indicates, time seems to vaporize. While Sollmann's ring modulated electric guitar acts mainly as a fragile, percussive voice - Gürtler answers with dense and drifting modal atmospheres. A variety of reed instruments are sent through a cluster of electronic filters and devices.
With - Gegen Die Zeit', the Sky Walking imprint starts a series of releases that are focussed on spontaneous music and live recordings. Artists such as the improvisation group 'Schluss' and Golden Pudel Club's Nika Son will continue the program.
(de) Am elften September 2015 erlebte das Publikum der Konzertserie die erste Live Show des Duos John Gürtler und Phillip Sollmann unter einer Autobahnbrücke in Offenbach. Präsentiert von dem International Music Institute Darmstadt in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Institut für Klangforschung Offenbach und der HfMDK Frankfurt, wurde man Zeuge einer einzigartigen auralen Konversation innerhalb dieses überwältigenden Settings. Ein Jahr später fand sich ein Fragment der Aufnahme des Brückenkonzerts auf der Sky Walking Label compilation '41'36' und nun erscheint das erste Album der beiden Musiker.
Phillip Sollmann und John Gürtler treffen sich 2011 im gerade fertiggestellten Studio Komplex 'The Meadow', in Berlin Wedding. Seitdem herrscht ein reger Austausch an Ideen und ihre Zusammenarbeit beginnt ganz pragmatisch mit einem Experimental Remix, einer akustischen Version von John Gürtler für Sollmann's Techno Projekt Efdemin, veröffentlicht anlässlich einer Reihe von Remixen auf Dial Records.
Neben seinen Techno Produktionen ist Phillip Sollmann bekannt durch seine Sound Installationen und Performances, wie die Arbeit an den Harry Partch Instrumente, der Helmholtz Double Sirene und Bertoia's Sound Skulpturen. Erstmals an der Volksbühne Berlin zu sehen (Februar 2017), wird seine Show Monophonie in Bochum anlässlich der Ruhrtriiiennale präsentiert. Mit Konrad Sprenger (Pan / Choose) arbeitet Sollmann zur Zeit an einem einzigartigen Modular Organ System das in der Kestnergesellschaft Hannover und Mathew Gallery Berlin - dem Headquarter von Sky Walking Records zu hören war.
Der Multi Instrumentalist und Sänger John Gürtler ist Mitbegründer des Studio Kollectivs Paradox Paradise. Der Komponist schreibt und improvisiert hauptsächlich Filmmusik, von Electronica über Songs So Orchester Werken. Gürtler hat damit schon einige Preise gewonnen, unter anderem Bester Song in einem Film 2014 und Best er Dokumentarfilm Soundtrack 2015 für Above and Below. Der ehemalige former free-jazz Saxophonist findet nun zurück zu seinen experimentellen Wurzeln mit dem Improvisations Projekt

Sollmann & Gürtler.
Wie der Titel des Debut Albums 'Gegen Die Zeit' andeutet scheint sich die Zeit beim Spiel der beiden Klangforscher aufzulösen. Während Sollmanns ring modulated electric guitar hauptsächlich als fragile, perkussive Stimme agiert, antwortet Gürtler mit dichten modalen Athmosphähren. Eine Auswahl von Reed Instrumenten wird durch einen Cluster von elektronischen Filtern und Geräten geschickt.
Mit - Gegen Die Zeit' startet das Sky Walking Label eine Serie von Veröffentlichungen, die sich auf Spontane Musik und Improvisation konzentrieren. Als nächstes in Planung sind Releases der MusikerInnen 'Schluss' und Nika Son, die beide aus dem experimentelleren Umfeld des Golden Pudel Clubs in Hamburg bekannt sind.

* 'Brokenchord is set to release his second LP Endless Transmissions via Bristol based label Black Acre on Friday 29th September.

* Ernestas Kaušylas aka Brokenchord is a music producer and composer born and raised in Utena, a small industrial town in Lithuania. Kaušylas was quickly picked up by Black Acre, releasing both a 7inch single and an EP, after an exclusive mix of his was aired on BBC Radio One's Experimental Showhosted Mary Anne Hobbs in 2010.

* Endless Transmissions is the brainchild of Kaušylas who single handily (bar two tracks) wrote and performed the entire album. The only collaboration was with jazz drummer, Augustas Baronas, who he encouraged to play as mechanically as possible. The LP pays homage to creativity and the ability to push the limits of technology with the physicalness of a human body. Kaušylas explains 'machines that mimic human grooves is boring but the other way around it becomes quiet interesting'.

* With nods to the likes of Bonobo, Radiohead and Illum Sphere within the LP, Brokenchord also has an exquisite cinematic quality to his production stating 'Endless Transmission is a movie painted with sound'.

* His previous accomplishments include; his track Lowe featuring in the Radiohead office chart in 2011, which received an invitation to remix Give up the Ghost, from frontman and personal hero Thom Yorke, which was included in the remix album compilation King of Limbs.

* n 2014, he composed music for Danish Theatre group Hotel Pro Forma spectacle, winning the prestigious Lithuanian Golden Cross Of Stage Theatre Award. Since then he has supported Bonobo's North Borders Tour in Latvia and Lithuania and radio hosts such as Mary Anne Hobbs, Gilles Peterson and Stuart Maconie have aired his music.

* The talented polymath currently resides in The Hague while he finishes his Bachelor of Music studies at the Institute Of Sonology.'

Field Records welcomes a new name into the fold with its next EP. That name is Kiyoko, and it pertains to the UK duo of Jack Lever and Joe McBride. After albums and EPs on Auxiliary and Samurai Horo, they now offer up four more ambient electronic cuts that again suspend you in a blissful sonic world.

ltd to 300 copies.

After putting the band on the map with their first EP two years ago, the band Feathered sun has grown into a life of it's own. The more live sets they have played, the better they have defined their style. They are spearheading a brand of sound healing music' abstractly narrative, always poetic, sometimes flirting with darkness but always perfectly produced to carry the audience into their own world. Feathered Sun are the collaborative experiment of Nu, Jo.Ke, Raz Ohara, Chris Schwarzwaelder, Iannis Ritter and Acid Pauli Johannes Laumer. Each have active and flourishing solo artist careers, albeit still have time to collaborate with one another. The six-strong collective are a close-knit troupe who are primarily based in Berlin and Lima, Peru. Live improvisation is ultimately what brought the Feathered Sun project to life - they are open about their laidback, impromptu approach and this is apparent throughout this EP. Side A was primarily crafted in Peru by Chris Schwarzwaelder and Jo.Ke with Raz Ohara's mesmerising vocals. The end material was then sent to Nu in Berlin who crafted two tracks out of it. The 'Bulbo' EP shows a willingness to explore different approaches within the collective and the music showcases their long-standing affiliation. It is a downtempo EP that has immaculate instrumentation, dreamy pads and brooding vocals throughout. This is intertwined with organic sounds and moody atmospheric melodies, gives the release a timeless and emotive ambience.




Schwarzwalder - Ocean Tree

Following the 20th anniversary - Monika Werkstatt album which features collaborations from all of the current artists on Moabit and monika, Gudrun Gut's monika enterprise now takes the collaborative process a step further with a collection of remixes taken from the werkstatt album.

The opening track on the single is a truly Nordic co-production with Charlotte Bendiks from Tromsø, Norway, remixing Finnish artist based in Berlin Islaja. Islaja's tracks are ever shrouded in a bizarre sense of mystery and Bendiks remix of Sappho's Gifts accentuates the surreal essence of this piece.

Blindholes by Columbian-artist-in-Berlin Lucrecia Dalt was the first track from the Monika Werkstatt album to be released as a preview and Romanian producer and DJ Borusiade harnesses its groove turning it into a hypnotic industrial stomper.

The B-side starts with LA producer Nite Jewel's utterly funky take on Barbara Morgenstern's song Grow. Suitably for Morgenstern, Nite Jewel turns this tune into next level pop including disco cowbells and the grooviest of synth licks. A feelgood track if ever there was one - ideal for house parties, or just dancing round the house on your own!

London-born, Berlin-based artist Perera Elsewhere (signed to FoF music in Los Angeles) a.k.a Sasha Perera (ex-Jahcoozi/ Bpitch Ctrl/ Kitty Yo) develops Love Parade founder Danielle de Picciotto's Desert Fruit into a doom-drenched piece of beat poetry layered with rich synth textures, emotionality and Morricone-esque melodics.

Closing the 12' is another Los Angeles producer, Daedelus (Brainfeeder/ Anticon), who's take on Sonae's Between Two Worlds is a luscious retro-futurist synth escapade traversing the fields of wonky, dreamwave and chill-out.

The Berlin-Los Angeles connection is a much loved theme for the monika label. This 12' draws on that theme by recruiting Djs and producers based in both cities to remix tracks from - Monika Werkstatt . In so doing it takes the collaborations started on Werkstatt to the next level. It's a truly international affair, bringing yet more diversity to already very diverse source material. (Dirk Markham)

Gatefold 2x180gr heavy weight vinyl. It's warm and widescreen music for the days when you need musical sunshine. Or as original Café Del Mar's José Padilla, has it: 'This is what I call Balearic.'

Optimo Music presents "Miracle Steps (Music from the Fourth World 1983 - 2017)", a 2 x LP compilation of Fourth World music compiled by JD Twitch & Fergus Clark. Also available as a digital release.
This compilation had been on the label's to do list for ages but it was only when Twitch and Glasgow's Fergus Clark started crossing swords over what actually constituted Fourth World music that the project really got going. Twitch decided that co-compiling the release with someone who had a slightly different take on things might make for a more interesting finished product, and so it came to pass that a cohesively thrilling compilation quickly materialised as each of them drew from a wealth of different artists and eras.
For the uninitiated, here's an extract from Fergus Clark's sleeve notes honing in on how the term Fourth World (an idea conjured up by Jon Hassell in the early 80s) might be defined -
'What we have attempted to gather across this compilation is a body of work which we feel directly resonates with both the literal definition of 'Fourth World' music and indeed our own interpretation of this unique sonic vision; from the work of the late Jorge Reyes, a Mexican musician who combined pre-hispanic instruments with synthesisers and digital sampling, through to the work of organic ambient ensemble O Yuki Conjugate. There are tracks which utilise custom, home-made instruments and there are tracks built from scratch using the latest in digital technology, but the undercurrent tying each piece together is this deeply personal feeling of intrigue and mysterious elation. Strange and unparalleled, this feeling manages to eschew geographic borders and rigid genre movements in favour of something which manages to evoke an inner sanctum, a musical private place for both reflection and assessment. This is music grounded in nor the past nor the present, music which manages to sound futuristic yet remarkably nostalgic. '
JD Twitch is one half of Glasgow's Optimo (Espacio) and runs the Optimo Music and Optimo Trax labels.
Fergus Clark is a writer, occasional DJ and avid music fan. He is a founding member of the music and art collective 12th Isle.
The 2 x LP version will be housed in a gatefold sleeve designed by the redoubtable Glasgow based visual artists Al White & Jamie Johnson.

An album by Roman Flügel is always a sensation. That holds true for his countless monikers and collaborations as it does for his 2011 Dial debut Fatty Folders. Being the first of its kind under his civic name, the long over-due association of Hamburg's cerebral label and its group of off-centre house and techno individuals with Frankfurt's favorite electronic music producer for the thinking man and woman, proved to be a seminal one.

Now, that sort of Happiness Is Happening again. Roman Flügel's follow up on Dial takes off, where Fatty Folders landed: on a runway that acknowledges the roots of house and techno as well as its fruits, but leads to a different location. Exempt from the burden that a concept album can lay on its author, Flügel seems not to be concerned with the current trends, retro fashion or a pre-conceived topic. Free-wheeling and with a freshness akin to morning dew, he rather takes us by the hand and through ten tracks that sometimes feel like songs without a voice.

Having said that, the strongest point of Happiness Is Happening is that it has a voice. The voice of a maker who is not afraid to mix joy and pain, ambient textures with remnants dance floor euphoria, quiet spaces and loud places. So you have an almost Depeche-Mode-like ballad that the "Friendship Song" is, next to the techno city ghost story of "Occult Levitation". Slow-motion robot disco ("Wilkie") appears as much at home here as the bulky "Stuffy" or the sudden impact in "We Have A Nice Life". That list goes on and on. The most startling fact about Roman Flügel's tour de force is that its sum is as great as its parts. Nothing feels superfluous, ill-paced or forced here. Its a condensate of a life that has been spent in techno, house and its various mutations and archetypes with a sensibility for pop music, a consciousness of indie culture and an affinity for the avant-garde as such.

Happiness Is Happening is like a concept album without a concept. A testament to the fact that the concept of an album that works within the realms and boundaries of "electronic (dance) music" can be so much more than a loose collection of 12-inches or just an exercise in style: it can be, after all, a piece of art and at its best comparable to a successful singer-songwriter album without words. Especially, when the creator of all his seems to be truly comfortable with himself and at his best. Then, Happiness Is Happening, indeed. GERD JANSON

Following their much-acclaimed surprise debut album VERMONT from 2014, Motor City Drum Ensemble's Danilo Plessow and Innervisions' Marcus Worgull reunite for more synth daydreaming on the suitably titled II'. The new outing continues where the first full-length left off, strolling further down the luminous and undulating path that the duo turned into, influenced in equal measures by kosmische, krautrock, minimal wave and synth soundtracks.
This latest batch of instrumental cuts opens with the strictly balearic vibe of NORDERNEY, a softly swinging, light-footed recording with a keen sense for structure. Featuring a guest performance from Robbert Van Der Bildt (aka Kaap) on guitar, it's a telling starting point for the album that - similar to Vermont's self-titled debut - successfully navigates between economic, careful studio arrangements and playful, incidental exploration further pushing into jam session territory. Van Der Bildt's guitar returns on the plucky, curious UFER, where Vermont showcase a renewed sense for jazz-like improvisation - same as on the cuts DSCHUNA, CHANANG and WENIK, which also include contributions from Dermot O'Mahony and Tadhg Murphy on strings.
Still, Vermont's synth contraptions remain the album's main attraction, with the extensive array of gear encompassing an entire panopticon of analog bling - from Arp Oddysey and Moog Prodigy to Fender Rhodes, Juno and Prophet, list-studying gear heads will find lots to drool upon. Consequently, tracks like CHEMTRAILS, UNRUH or GEBIRGE err on the machine side of things, expertly interweaving arpeggiated sequences for maximum atmospheric effect. Foreboding, slightly menacing synth motives as on SKORBUT or CHEMTRAILS are perfectly balanced with the casual ambient of HALLO VON DER ANDEREN SEITE and the nostalgic warmth of DEMUT - while the gentle push of the masterful KI-BOU even carries a whiff of classic deep house, linking the Vermont project to Plessow and Worgull's main careers as dance floor movers and shakers.
Continually intriguing, immersive and texturally rich, each one of Vermont's new pieces betray the experience, precision and determination of the producers involved - while opening up Worgull and Plessow'a vocabulary for patient experimentation and subtle discoveries. A musical treat for synth aficionados - and everyone else, if you ask us.

Sound Mirror presents the debut release of another new talent from the Orson Wells clique. Hailing from the deeper westside of Frankfurt (South Hessia), please welcome: Gerait, head honcho of Bockenheim Housenation. Sweet ambient sounds slide into an epic deep house stomper on side A, followed by an atmospheric and lush minimal synth disco track on B1, plus a bass heavy, slightly eery and sort of tribal rhythm track on B2. Another great eclectic and well rounded 12 EP.

* Over the past six years, Dimensions has become a leading name in the underground, with its festival, International Series, DJ Directory and Dimensions Soundsystem. Now, Dimensions extends its influence with the start of its label - Dimensions Recordings. The label launches with a 12-track compilation across three separate discs. 'An Introduction' makes a huge statement in setting out the label's intent and breadth. With artists established and new stepping up to present 12 exclusive tracks.

* Dimensions Recordings explores its darker side on An Introduction Part 3 with intergalactic oddities and twisted techno constructions, the release is definitely ones for the late hours. 'Crosstalk' from gear heads London Modular Alliance opens; a squelching, electro, hardware excursion demonstrating a small snippet of what's to come from the talented trio. Next, French artist, Upwellings steps up to demonstrate his purist approach as he unites elements of dub and techno to create the beautifully spacey 'Soft Shadows'. The third offering comes courtesy of Fachwerk label boss and prolific techno artist, Mike Dehnert; who presents raw but melodic track in 'Tokio,'which maintains his minimal and stripped back aesthetic beautifully. Chicago's Steven Tang in his Obsolete Music Technology rounds off the release with 'Comb Freq,' a devastatingly powerful mix of acidic, bleeping dance floor energy!

Two years on from the release of his debut album called 'Natureboy', Dario Rojo Guerra, aka Natureboy Flako, is back with a new six-song Mini Album EP on Five Easy Pieces.

Two years on from the release of his debut album called 'Natureboy', Dario Rojo Guerra, aka Natureboy Flako, is back with a new six-song EP on Five Easy Pieces. 'Natureboy Flako' is a self-titled collection of music culled from over 200 recording sessions since Guerra moved from London to Berlin in late 2015. It's the first work that unites the artistic identity of Flako with that of the Natureboy persona at the heart of his debut album, and is the debut for a new artist name: Natureboy Flako. Moving away from the live instrumentation of his debut LP, 'Natureboy Flako' is the most electronic-sounding record he's made, using old analogue equipment such as Korg's MS-20, ARP Odyssey and Roland's SH-2000 synthesisers, as well as new instruments such as Arturia's MiniBrute. Where previous songs relied on overdubs, most of these songs were recorded in one take, with little overdubbing, making it his most live record to date. As with 2015's album 'Natureboy', the six-song EP sees Guerra searching for musical balance. Both sides of the record offer contrasting energies, with the A-side featuring some of the heaviest tracks he's made and the cinematic B-side made up of more reflective compositions. However, both sides are equally propulsive, with driving arpeggios forming the backbone of much of the EP.