Beats News

Gap/ Void is the first collaborative full-length album by Automatisme (the Canadian musician and conceptual artist William Jourdain) and Swiss field recordist, ambient musician, visual artist and writer/academic Stefan Paulus. Jourdain and Paulus first met through shared projects with Mille Plateaux/Force Inc, each contributing to the Ultrablack Of Music anthology and Paulus going on to make several videos for Automatisme tracks issued by the two labels. In early 2021, Paulus approached Jourdain with a proposal based on his field recordings made during numerous mountain expeditions in the Swiss Alps, the Caucasus, and north of the Arctic Circle _ documenting stormy weather, high alpine winds, avalanches, and sounds emanating from glaciers and from the insides of crevices and caves. Paulus created ambient noisescapes from these recordings by splicing and folding them into hundreds of layers of sound: an analog to the geological strata of their geographic sources. The resulting audio mixes, compounding a multiplicity of spatio-temporal excursions, were then further encased in drones using the natural tone series (the traditional zäuerli or wordless yodels of northeastern Switzerland), the monotonic standing drone of Lamonte Young's Dream Syndicate, and the mass chords of early 1970s Kosmische Musik as points of reference. Paulus sent these extended ambient/noise pieces to Jourdain as source material for the latter's bespoke Automatisme techniques, where variable tempo and glitch systems forge more overt minimal techno/IDM works. Gap/Void leads with five rhythmic tracks (cut to 33rpm LP) that feature Automatisme's trademark interstitial digital synthesis and elastic/erratic signal processing, in combination with his own crate-digging `expeditions' through obscure 1970s-80s disco 12-inches, deconstructing their scores and structures to bring these microsamples and sensibilities back to bear on Paulus' deterritorialized sedimental source material…

Debut album by electronic producer BABii co-produced by Adrian Sherwood (On-U-Sound system). BABii produces incredibly forward thinking electro tinged pop/R&B which features skittering beats and incredibly thick, layered synths with heavy bass with a semi industrial feel to them. The lyrics are dark yet the vocals are sweet. Despite its incredible pop hooks the whole LP drips with an undercurrent of darkness. BABii wowed SXSW this year playing 8 shows in 7 days and being compared to everyone from Grimes to FKA Twigs and while those comparisons give you a jumping off point they also feel lazy as BABii definitely inhabits her own unique world and Death Waltz Originals are very excited to give you your first dive into it.

Barbara Proksch (born 1943 in Berlin, living in Salching, Lower Bavaria) is a German visual artist. After having studied Lettering and Illustration, she first worked in graphic design and theatrical painting before in 1982 deciding to become a freelance artist, concerning herself mainly with drawing. Her works are characterized by her long lasting fascination for letters and geometrical figures and often incorporate signs, characters and writing as well as calligraphic elements. Another thread of influence stems from her background in theatrical painting: the physical aspects and the body language of painting which come to the fore when working on huge canvas with large brushes and litres of paint. From the beginning, a further aspect has drawn her attention, namely the sounds that occur while drawing and writing, and the way they influence the resulting work. She noticed that the sounds made by the tools she uses feed back into her drawing process, and that just like speech and writing – in a linguistic sense – cannot be decoupled from each other, drawing and listening cannot either: Eye and ear become partners, drawing becomes a performance with the specific tools and materials used as musical instruments.

This observation has led to the development of her group of works called OPTO_PHON, a name which, from the 1990s onwards, Proksch uses for performances that draw upon this synaesthetic process: Usually, Proksch works on large sheets of paper, mounted like drumheads and tackled with various tools (scrapers, brushes, pens, knives, twigs, etc.), the sounds amplified through contact microphones. The early OPTO_PHON performances were made with herself standing in front of the paper sheets, visible to the audience while drawing. Later, she decided to stand in the back of the paper with a spotlight behind her, so that light shines through it when it is cut and ripped.

Side A of this LP contains excerpts from OPTO_PHON performances, the first made in a church in Cheb, Czechia, in 2003, led by the strong echo emerging in the hall, the others recorded in her studio. They are contrasted on side B with a very different performance that is, however, conceptually related to OPTO_PHON: While travelling on the Trans-Siberian Railway, Proksch experienced a similar synaesthetic process while listening to the repetitive rattling of the train and watching the landscape passing by. In 2010, this experience was transformed into a sound piece for amplified sewing machine.

Edition of 300 in full color sleeve with printed inner sleeve and insert, containing images of optophonic tools and drawings, and extensive liner notes.

With a back catalogue that spans half a dozen studio LPs as Boom Bip,
plus another two as one half of electronic pop duo Neon Neon, Bryan
Hollon has already made a name for himself as a Mercury prizenominated producer and multi-instrumentalist
Equally impressive are the credits to Warpaint drummer Stella Mozgawa's name;
she's contributed percussion to albums by Kurt Vile, Cate le Bon, Courtney
Barnett, Sharon Van Etten, and Kim Gordon, among others. But as improvisational
techno duo Belief, the pair make music that harkens back to '90s acts like LFO
and 808 State – artists that indelibly, but near-anonymously, altered club and rave
culture, mostly identifiable by clean, bold logos on 12" sleeves. Without being
derivative of the era, they add their own instincts and experiences to grace the
musical universe with new answers to the question: What Would Mark Bell Do?
Hollon met Mozgawa just after she joined Warpaint, when Boom Bip shared a
rehearsal space in Echo Park with the band. The two quickly bonded over a love
of early Warp Records, drum breaks, acid house, and Y2K- era rave flyers. They
swapped playlists and ideas when Mozgawa played drums for Neon Neon's 2013
West Coast tour, but due to busy schedules, it would be another three years
before they packed every piece of gear they collectively owned into Eric
Wareheim's Absolutely Studios for an initial jam session. Instinctively playing to
each other's strengths and whims – and recording the session to build on later –
allowed Mozgawa to explore a style of music she'd long considered a dark art,
and pushed Hollon, known for his meticulous planning in previous work, to be
more spontaneous.
It was all in good fun – early shows billed the pair as 'Beef' with a comedic wink
to its pulsating minimalism. But as the two began committing themselves to
finalizing and recording more soulful, enigmatic tracks, the reverent nature of
what they were doing began to emerge: while Belief pays homage to the pioneers
of techno, the project is born out of an oddly divine foresight Mozgawa and
Hollon share, the synergy of two devout tastemakers building a shrine to inner
peace and outward pleasure

Producer and multi-instrumentalist Ben Marc, who's emerged as a key figure of London's cutting edge jazz scene, has just announced his debut full length, a follow up to last September's widely acclaimed Breathe Suite EP (heralded by NPR, Pitchfork, The Wire, The Guardian, and more)

Glass Effect is an assured and accomplished 13-track realization of a singular vision that unifies a multitudinous profusion of influences (free-jazz, broken beat, hip-hop, electronica and beyond) into a sublime whole, underscoring the evolution of his quest for a distinctive sound: lambent, low-key, and yet dizzyingly intricate.


It's a rare talent that can link Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood, Ethio-jazz pioneer Mulatu Astatke, Afrofuturists Sun Ra Arkestra, and grime legend Dizzee Rascal, but Marc has long blurred musical worlds and criss-crossed boundaries. One of the reasons that he started writing Glass Effect, says Marc, was going to nightclubs in Ibiza and experiencing the heady sun- dappled euphoria of a summery dancefloor, as well as the beat-driven production of artists like Four Tet, Bonobo, Machinedrum, DJ Shadow, and Madlib.

Rising star in the Bristol dubstep scene, Bengal Sound delivers two dance floor cuts on K-LONE’s label Wych. The EP follows his self-released cassette ‘Culture Clash’, blending crackly Bollywood samples with 808s, and his killer 12” with White Peach ‘Wushu Hand’.

It’s almost four years since their last opus - two years since the most-recent run
of live shows. Now, Bitchin Bajas return from whatever kind of rare ether they
occupy when they’re at home, bearing the riches of the whole cosmos in their
hands. And strictly OG as well - on cassette only.
 ‘Switched On Ra’ is the outcome of a typical Bajas exercise: pouring some out
for the pioneers that came before (as they’ve done with Bitchitronics and their
participation in the annual Chicago performance of ‘In C’ over the years). It’s a
nice way to get a flow - they play a little of themselves, then some for the
pioneers, then a little more for the band. Before long, they’re playing with the
inspirations twined, as they can only come from within.
 For ‘Switched On Ra’, this meant a deep delve into the song-book of one of their
soul-predecessors, Sun Ra, whose music is literally written in the Bajas DNA.
Digging into this music sounded wild on paper: the drone synth group taking on
the Arkestra harmonies and Ra’s loose grooves? The trick was to get that sense
of rhythm to translate across the spectrum from Ra to Bajas, in a way that
worked for them both.
 Their rearrangements of the tunes went good - up and down the EQ band, they
were finding the round sounds and jagged edges that brought Ra’s music into
their own thing. Then at the last minute, there was another twist - why not pay
tribute to the Queen herself, and think of the arrangements with a Wendy Carlos
vibe? A little side homage? After all, ‘Switched on Bach’ was visionary, bringing
analogue synths from the outside all the way into the mainstream in the late 60s -
and this take on Ra is meant to take him to new ears everywhere.
 Sun Ra of course was his own kind of original keyboard visionary, using electric
keyboards in the late 40s and 50s to fill a role in jazz that had traditionally been
played on acoustic piano only. Once he’d done so, he took his writing in
directions inspired by the electricity, places no one had thought to go before
then.
 Bitchin Bajas have been content to dominate in a microtonal world, usually
without a single chord to be found anywhere. But here, they step up righteously,
their vibe triangulated as they bring Ra’s music forward with some Wendy C
style, making an unexpected space for all to thrive. There’s a real feeling of joy
as these collected signals bounce off the tape and through the speakers into
your space.
 To get this unique colloid exactly right, Bitchin Bajas used nineteen different
keyboards. They abstained from deploying their arsenal of reed and woodwind
instruments: everything had to be on the keys. This meant Yamahas, Rolands,
Korgs, Casios, a MicroMoog and of course their trusty Ace Tone organ. They
even broke out the Crumar DS-2, to have some of Ra’s chosen tone in the mix.
Then Jayve Montgomery added an EWI as a solo voice on a few tunes, just to
get some air-blown signal (and a natural shout out to EWI master Marshall Allen)
in there, after all. It felt like somewhere in the universe, Ra was decreeing it.

In analog video technology, a “black burst” is a reference signal for synchronizing video sources: an imageless video pulse in the nanosecond range, during which the video image remains dark. Darkness also reigns in the sound world of Black Burst Sound Generator, a project by Brigitta Bödenauer and Susanna Gartmayer, whose initials add up to BBSG. It is a darkness that stretches out around us as the brittle electronic sound impulses by Brigitta Bödenauer resound and fade, while brightly illuminated abstract sound figures of the contralto-clarinet of Susanna Gartmayer push in and out of the center again and again.

Cool and precise rhythmic structures from Brigitta Bödenauer’s laptop counteract the organically pulsating outbursts of Susanna Gartmayer’s clarinet. Bödenauer’s electronics are straightforward and dry, one could say harsh, at the same time intense and driving. The sounds she creates remain unvoiced for long stretches and consist mostly of creaking, pulsating and popping and noise. The organic playing by Susanna Gartmayer, on the other hand, is more harmonious and full, imparts a charged liveliness to the coolness of the scene, but also remains rudimentary and eruptive. In the course of the album the two components evolve side by side. From their complementary interaction extensive and energetic polyrhythmic structures are born, resulting in an organic whole that is difficult to escape.

Brigitta Bödenauer and Susanna Gartmayer started their collaboration in 2012 and have since delighted their audience with the precise interplay of clarinet and computer music. Over the past eight years, the two have developed a unique program that plays musically with elements of electro, IDM, field recordings, industrial, drone, dark ambient and the special sound possibilities of the contralto clarinet. The present album is a testimony to this collaboration. Reduced beats, abstract sounds and slowly developing drones come together to form a complex dramaturgy. Black Burst Sound Generator is a multi-layered work that reveals further zones of its immense and vast dark sound space with each repeated listening.

“Good evening Black Buddha” is Black Jesus eXperience’s seventh studio album. Inspired by the land we live on and the connection to all that have gone before and will follow, inspired by the multicultural power of our community, inspired by the paradox of the story of the Black Buddha. From the perversity of the pandemic and its imposition of separation comes "Good Evening Black Buddha", celebrating togetherness. Darkness is light.

At the heart of Black Jesus eXperience’s inspiration is Ethiopian/Australian singer Enushu Taye. Enushu’s openness and poetic insight, delivered with unique beauty in her own Amharic tongue, lie at the core of "Good Evening Black Buddha" and all that Black Jesus eXperience (BJX) do. MC Mista Monk (Liam Monkhouse) compliments and contrasts with rhymes and flow born of Africa and outback Australia. BJX are joined by their great friends powerhouse singer Vida-Sunshyne, and crystalline new voice Gracie Sinclair.

The songs on “Good Evening Black Buddha” rove from the lightness of touch of a trio to BJX’s full fourteen piece polyrhythmic, polymetric, polytonal Ethiofunk juggernaut with six-piece horn arrangements. Soloists include living national treasure Bob Sedergreen on keyboards, Peter Harper on saxophone, Ian Dixon on trumpet, Zac Lister guitar, Larry Crestani guitar and his own invention ‘kraartar’, over the deep grooves of Richard Rose bass, James Davies kit, and Kahan Harper percussion. Black Jesus eXperience is also proud to be joined by our friends conga player Louis Poblete, kraar and masinko virtuoso Endalkachew Yenehun, proud Kuku Nyunkal man and master yiki yiki (dijeridu) player Sean Ryan.

Double Vinyl | Red & Black Marble | 45 RPMA virtuoso, known for boundary-pushing production (often fusing traditional hip-hop drum programming with sampling and live music) and thoughtful lyrics, Black Milk is respected across the industry for his unique sound, consistency and innovation. Returning to the scene amidst a turbulent political climate, the Detroit-born rapper/producer announces FEVER, his upcoming studio album.Black Milk's sixth solo rap album, and his first since 2014's If There's a Hell Below, FEVER combines pointed and topical lyrics and brilliant musicianship, including percussion from all-star musicians Chris “Daddy” Dave (D'Angelo, Adele, Justin Bieber) and Daru Jones (Jack White), bass by long-time collaborator Malik Hunter, and keys and guitar/bass from newcomers Ian Fink and Sasha Kashperko, respectively. Black Milk evolves his production style of fusing electronic, soul, rock and other soundscapes with electronic programming and live music, a method he began experimenting with on his 2010 release Album of the Year. A cohesive 12-track project, listening to FEVER evokes the feeling of scrolling through an endless news feed, finding Black Milk reporting and commenting on the world's problems with empathy, clarity, and wit. Additional vocals from Dwele, Aaron "Ab" Abernathy, and Sudie (a producer / vocalist signed to Black Milk’s Computer Ugly label) serve to juxtapose Black’s heavy lyrical content with airy vibes. FEVER releases via Mass Appeal Records and Computer Ugly.

The music of Black To Comm is as powerfully intoxicating as it is subtly unnerving. The solo project of shapeshifting German producer and sound artist Marc Richter, his mastery of sonic manipulation is matched only by his astounding clarity of vision.

Following the acclaimed ‘Seven Horses For Seven Kings’ released just a year ago, ‘Oocyte Oil & Stolen Androgens’ applies Richter’s wild imagination to an exploration of the human voice, standing as some of his most immediate and affecting music to date.

Each of his phantasmagoric works is meticulously constructed from an omnivorous array of smudged samples and other sonic detritus, painstakingly collected by Richter from across the history of recorded music or his immediate environment and altered into beguiling new shapes. Sound sources seem tantalizingly familiar and yet often just out of reach, flickering at the edges of the subconscious.

Available on CD, translucent green vinyl and black vinyl. All vinyl packaged with digital download card.

In this post-industrial, post-enlightenment religion of ourselves, we have manifested a serpent of consumerism which now coils back upon us. It seduces us with our own bait as we betray the better instincts of our nature and the future of our own world. We throw ourselves out of our own garden. We poison ourselves to the edges of an endless sleep.

Animated Violence Mild was written throughout 2018, at Blanck Mass’ studio outside of Edinburgh. These eight tracks are the diary of a year of work steeped in honing craft, self-discovery, and grief - the latter of which reared its head at the final hurdle of producing this record and created a whole separate narrative: grief, both for what I have lost personally, but also in a global sense, for what we as a species have lost and handed over to our blood-sucking counterpart, consumerism, only to be ravaged by it.

I believe that many of us have willfully allowed our survival instinct to become engulfed by the snake we birthed. Animated — brought to life by humankind. Violent — insurmountable and wild beyond our control. Mild — delicious.

Ted K. Kaczynski is notorious for both tragically murdering three people (and wounding an additional 23) via bombs sent in the mail and for his numerous writings on the evils of technology he composed during his primitive residency in the woods of Montana. Film director Tony Stone's choice to have the renowned electronic artist Blanck Mass score the film is somewhat ironic and creates an obvious tension perfect for the controversial and complex subject matter. 2020 saw the first Blanck Mass movie score, for the soundtrack to Nick Rowland's acclaimed cinematic debut Calm with Horses. This expansion into new areas of melodic composition and textural exploration won Blanck Mass many new fans, with the BBC's acknowledged number one film buff Mark Kermode proclaiming the work the soundtrack of the year. In 2021, Blanck Mass won the prestigious Ivor Novello Award for Best Original Film Score and has firmly established himself at the forefront of the latest wave of experimental soundscape wizards. Recording during lockdown at his studio in Edinburgh, Scotland, Blanck Mass's Ben Power was in the perfect setting for a musical piece intended to capture the isolation central to Kaczynski's story. Power was also working with a director in a time zone 10 hours behind and thus many sessions required working in the middle of the night, which added a fitting intensity to the composition process. He said of the project "I wanted it to feel like an `epic'" and drew on the legends Sergio Leone and Ennio Morricone for inspiration in encapsulating the energy of the perceived good vs. evil. The gentle madness of sound achieved is exquisite and slowly builds in intensity and desperation as the score moves along. Power is able to perfectly capture the complexity, the terror and the deep emotionality of the film while presenting an often breathtakingly beautiful and always masterful album that stands on its own as a work of art. For Fans of Tim Hecker, Oneohtrix Point Never, DJ Shadow, Coil, Arca, Andy Stott, Fuck Buttons.

Following 2018's 'Brilliant Pebbles'—swiftly snapped up by Howie B's legendary Pussyfoot label for their much-lauded relaunch compilation 'Space is the Plaice'—Hong Kong trio Blood Wine or Honey return with TOMORROW; a spirited, gleamingly reflective and instantly engaging future classic. It arrives alongside a rash of remixes from the BWoH vaults, created by an idiosyncratic pack of veteran producers, underground mischief-makers and in-house tinkerers.

Loosely referencing Ian Dury's 'Reasons to be Cheerful Part 3', Herbie Flowers' slap-back picked bass, Ethiopic jazz abstractions and a certain Chow Yun-fat classic, TOMORROW is a rhythm-heavy, mantric tropical ritual dressed up in smooth city lights. Evoking super-bright LEDs drenched in monsoon madness and otherworld longing, the track's glacial cool melts into dance-floor heat with de-tuned drums, loved-up sax, big-mood vocals and dream-like synths.

Then there are the quartet of genre spanning remixes. There is ‘Undying Overrated (Biggabush remix)’ with Biggabush’s trademark dub-expressionism, giving the surreal lyrics space and pinpointing pops, echoes and off-beat piano before erupting into a heavy heavy dub-club future-stepper. ‘Orwellian Woman (Medlar remix)’ where Medlar creates a synchro-synth-clap deep disco abstract banger. In ‘Peak Helium IV (Fancy Cat remix)’ the enigmatic Fancy Cat recalls Moodymann's avant-house auras and Blake Baxter's techno spirit. ‘Tomorrow (#normal remix)’ has skewed vocal clips and shimmering atmospherics kick into huge drums, flipping the rhythm of the title track inside-out, along with bass weight and sampled snatches of vocal and sax refrain. And finally in ‘Loosefoot (#normal remix) the usually anthemic Loosefoot is transformed into a slow-burning spartan salutation with minimalist echoing

Sci-Fi Lullabies is my homage and love affair to intelligent and thought provoking science fiction and genre literature. I tried to capture a sense of place in each track and make each one feel as if it was it's own world in an alternate universe. I dove deep into the modular and analog synths to get a real high fidelity otherworldly sense of sound design and interest".

Bluetech returns to his roots with an album of delicate and intricate downtempo music. Realized with a collection of analog synths and modular explorations, Sci-Fi lullabies hearkens back to the early Bluetech albums like Prima Materia and Elementary Particles with its hyper detailed and evolving production acumen.

Evoking a classic era of electronic music and realized in an analog domain brings a particular warmth and sense of nostalgia to the tracks, dancing between melodic idm, expansive downtempo and lush ambient worlds.

Created as an homage to science fiction and magical realist literature, Sci-Fi Lullabies establishes eight otherworlds for listeners to explore with open eye dreaming.

Internationally recognised touring music producer Bluetech has released over 27 album/EP and is a master of analogue/modular sound synthesis. His passion for sound design and cutting edge audio exploration shows in all he touches and transcends the constructs normally associated with an ‘electronic artist’. With a unique and modern palette of electronica and dubwise music, Liquid Sound Design was the perfect home for this dub influenced remix album.

Birthed from Arizona’s regaled Ascetic House collective, Body of Light is a dark synth-pop outfit comprised of young brothers Andrew and Alexander Jarson. What began as a vehicle for their exploration of noise and sound during their early teens has evolved into an established production over the last decade, as Body of Light continues to carve out their own style of complex, structured, and moving dancefloor electronics.

Their music is not only individually personal, but drawn from experiences shared between the two brothers – and calls on elements of new wave, freestyle, goth, and techno to create timeless and singular tracks without fear of trend or passing fashion.

On their third album Time to Kill, Body of Light refines their brand of cold and driving synth pop with a bold pallet of sounds and a focus on uncharted technique and purpose. Like the pale digital stare of the modern devices surrounding our daily lives, the album weaves stories of love and obsession in an era of technical bondage and fleeting exhilaration. Written over a period of intense and profound change, Time to Kill stands as a startling reminder of how important our existence truly is. Haunting keys, swelling pads, and punching rhythms score their work as Alex Jarson presents an alluring and romantic dialogue with confident projection. The title single “Time to Kill” kicks off the album with a merciless signature beat, complimented by distorted sample patterns against an infectious, moving bass groove

Great electro dub LP, with lots of suppa sweat instrumental tracks.. Special summer vibes!

In early 2018, Nathan Jenkins returned from the coast of Arrábida to his new home studio in a cottage tucked behind the grand hotel setting of Wim Wenders’ Lisbon Story. Breaking for lunches under a Datura tree in the garden and a far cry from the Finsbury Park basement flat he rented the previous year, a set of recordings followed that galvanised into an EP - ‘We Had A Good Time’. Music informed by out-of-town trips in a 1987 Renault 9 Super, Pitchfork attributed “remarkable healing powers” to lead song ‘Hula’.

After leaving London for a spell in Portugal, Nathan lost his taste for the night life and drew a line under a long-running NTS radio show. Much of the time spent abroad was dedicated to a longstanding collaboration with Westerman, whose album they recorded in a remote part of the Algarve countryside in 2019. Nathan’s own discography opened in 2007 with ‘Pet Sounds: In The Key Of Dee’, before pivoting in a more electronic direction via ‘Get Familiar’ and ‘Young Heartache’. From the sampledelia of 2011’s ‘Too Right’, the new wave and rave of ‘Say Arr Ee’ to the Robert Wyatt-influenced ‘Love Me Oh Please Love Me’, he’s mapped a deliberately peculiar path. 2015’s ‘Rooster’ was Eno & Byrne’s ‘Bush Of Ghosts’ given a shangaan-electro lick and clip. While Nathan’s partnership with fellow out-there pop auteur Jesse Hackett, as Blludd Relations, staggered like a half-cut Prince.

Collaged, rhythmic alternatives. Syncopated avant-garde sambas. Off kilter Sci-Fi jazz. Think Asha Putli in the spot at the Star Wars cantina. Arty, angular. Rich, but uncluttered. Frenetic, electric, blurring the boundaries between what is sampled, what is played. Nathan’s is a wilfully weird Pop, showcased in 2016 on his album ‘Loop The Loop’. Wayward but woven with hooks that come out of nowhere. Lyrical, often beautiful, solos on violin, oboe and desiccated guitars. Songs that demonstrate a nose-thumbing playfulness, a refusal to sit still. Where there’s always the urge to interrupt a carnival beat with a burst of galloping horse hooves. Or juxtapose ambient chords with a kazoo.

A roll call of Nathan’s broader musical adventures encompasses work with Paul Epworth, Sampha, Westerman and Nilüfer Yanya. Commissioned remixes reach from Dita Von Teese to Model 500, Tricky, Todd Terje and Lee “Scratch” Perry. Solo efforts gracing labels Honest Jon’s, R&S, Young Turks, Whities and The Trilogy Tapes. ‘Blue Pedro’, on the latter, making it into Crack Mag’s Top 100 Tracks Of The Decade.

In 2012 Nathan started his own label, DEEK Recordings, assuming the role of inhouse producer to collaborators. The imprint’s tagline and aesthetic - Pop, not slop! - is illustrated by an ongoing playlist of the same name and further explored in a series of compilations where Nathan and friends cover and reinterpret unsung ‘unclassics’ from alt. country to obscure 80s European arthouse scores, bouncing between Captain Beefheart, The Pixies, Sade and Mazzy Starr. DEEK’s roster is equally eccentric, non-linear and pop-literate. Laura Groves and Nautic - the realization and crystallization of a shared love for the Cocteau Twins.

12” pressed on crystal clear vinyl.

Nearly all of my recorded music is pieced together from organized edits of various improvisations of some sort, via a composition process that generally involves cut/paste and superimposing those to a point of precision. Over time I’ve been curious about what gets lost in that process, in terms of representing how things develop over time and spontaneity. In 2016, I found myself with a 20-minute improvisation that felt distinguished in it's raw form, mistakes and all. It felt like a more guttural, gritty approach that represents how I actually “play” as an instrumentalist, which is something I’ve consciously downplayed in previous work out of preference for spatial and environmental elements. I sat on the piece for a while, then a year and a half later, when a second improvisation materialized that felt familial to the first, it seemed that a work had completed itself. Voice Damage is a bit of an exposure of the exploratory aspects of my process, where I’m not really thinking in terms of music composition or preconception, just playing in the moment as an instrumentalist. - Byron Westbrook 2019

"This 3LP set contains a selection of seven early works by American composer Carl Stone, all previously unpublished except for "Shing Kee," which appeared on the 1992 New Albion CD release, Mom's. Notorious, formerly elusive recordings like "Sukothai," "Shibucho," and "Dong Il Jang" exemplify how Stone masterfully guided his art through the transition period when New Music exited the loft scene of the 1970s for a stab at commercial presence in the 1980s, satisfying both impulses by fusing his compositional ambition with systems of live performance that were simultaneously pop savvy, commercial suicide, and technologically and aesthetically forward thinking. His live performance practice, documented here in a carefully restored archival recording of "Kuk Il Kwan" at The Kitchen in 1981, has merged seamlessly with today's computer-driven methods. The earliest works of this collection, "LIM" and "Chao Praya," realized on the Buchla 200, date to the early 1970s while Stone was a student of James Tenney and Morton Subotnick at CalArts, a rare glimpse of Stone working with purely electronic source material. Liner notes by Carl Stone, Jonathan Gold, Richard Gehr, and Marc Weidenbaum accompany on a gatefold sleeve. Download card is included with a digital-only bonus track, "Unthaitled" from 1978. Mastered and cut by Rashad Becker.

"Of the serious composers to come out of 1980s California, Carl Stone is the one who has always performed in nightclubs as well as concert halls, for spiky-haired punks as well as the Ph.D-and-ponytail set - his brand of electro-acoustic bricolage was probably better known among jazz musicians than it was to the blue-haired Monday Evening Concerts crowd." - Jonathan Gold, from the liner notes

Wire Magazine #1 Archive Release of 2016

Textura #1 Reissue of 2016

"Stone's Electronic Music From the Seventies and Eighties is a missing link, not only in the history of avant-garde and electronic music, but within the entire body of arranged sound (popular or otherwise)." - The Hum

While developing my last film about the elephant graveyard myth, I tried to imagine what that jungle and landscape that protected it might sound like. To do this, I created a series of soundscapes, atmospheres to help me understand that park, to imagine it; I tried to place it in the near future, around 2046. All the sounds that make up those sound compositions come from my references throughout the project, and from the atmospheres and radiofrequencies captured during the filming in Sri Lanka; the deep jungles and magical places that helped me undertake that journey. When I finally finished editing the film itself, I decided to rework those sessions, to create an album that would recap that entire imaginary world I had created. The album is a way of inviting audiences to undertake that journey.

Carlos Casas, 2019

While developing my last film about the elephant graveyard myth, I tried to imagine what that jungle and landscape that protected it might sound like. To do this, I created a series of soundscapes, atmospheres to help me understand that park, to imagine it; I tried to place it in the near future, around 2046. All the sounds that make up those sound compositions come from my references throughout the project, and from the atmospheres and radiofrequencies captured during the filming in Sri Lanka; the deep jungles and magical places that helped me undertake that journey. When I finally finished editing the film itself, I decided to rework those sessions, to create an album that would recap that entire imaginary world I had created. The album is a way of inviting audiences to undertake that journey.

Carlos Casas, 2019

Casi is a singer of Welsh and Irish inheritance whose remarkable voice moves effortlessly from the melancholic to the uplifting. First radio play on Radio 1 on 17th February! Limited 10" (250) with Tarot Card. “an otherworldly talent” – Clash, “rousing arena pop” – Dazed, “turning daydreams into gold” – Noisey

The new solo album from Cate Brooks is a bright and bold collection of corporate electronica, partly inspired by commercial and TV music of the early to mid 1980s. It captures a moment in time where analogue technologies are just about giving way to computers and digital media.

Brooks is a prolific and accomplished composer and on Prismatics she brings to bear a deep experience and understanding of electronic musical equipment. As well as a seasoned production engineer she is an expert on early analogue synthesizers, so called West Coast systems like Buchla, early digital computer

systems like the Synclavier and contemporary modular systems.

Biog:

Cate Brooks is a solo electronic music artist working under her own name and several pseudonyms. She has released albums on Clay Pipe Music, on her own Café Kaput label and on Ghost Box Records as The Advisory Circle. She is part of The Pattern Forms along with Ed Macfarlane and Edd Gibson of Friendly Fires. She has also worked with vocalist Tim Felton as Hintermass, and with Belbury Poly and John Foxx she is part of The Belbury Circle supergroup.

Phonetic script: Xièxie
Chinese characters: 谢谢
谢谢 ( xiexie / xièxie ) is composed of these characters: 谢 (xie) , 谢 (xie)
English translation: thank you, thanks
to say | to thank | literally means 'thanks'. 'Thank you' in Chinese would be xièxie nĭ (if you thank an individual), or xièxie nĭmen (to say thank you to a group of people).

- Chinese -> English Dictionary


A week before leaving, I bought a dictionary and phrasebook.

Covered in rain, during the days and even the nights, Shanghai was lit in a glow, a mist turning to a constant grey fog. Buildings lined with neon and lcd screens flashed, and from around corners and behind buildings, the night was illuminated much the same as the day. Cars separated the classes, their horns voices punctuating the streets, as pedestrians in groups loosely scattered the streets, talking and walking on speakerphone.

Standing by the metro escalators, there in the square with the overhanging trees of a park, there is construction all around. The buildings seem to be climbing into the darkness at... more

Cemento Atlantico is the first recording project by the Italian DJ/producer Alessandro “ToffoloMuzik” Zoffoli, conceived between 2020 and 2021, in an orphaned silence from wandering and social sharing due to the lockdown in this Pandemic era. To be released on vinyl, CD and all digital platforms starting from July 29th, 2021 via Bronson Recordings, the album Rotte Interrotte was born from the need to translate the travel experiences of recent years into music: Morocco, Vietnam, Peru, Cambodia, Colombia, India, Guatemala, Myanmar. At the edge of the world. The sound that fills everyday life is often seen as a foregone background, in reality all its connotations can be explored and ordered to create a melody. Without a shadow of a doubt, the threshold of auditory attention rises by being sent, immersed in cultures and countries other than your own. Among those coordinates, Cemento Atlantico has kidnapped fragments, samples and field recordings from nature, history, road and sacred places. Emotions engraved in the mind with occasional recording means, subsequently manipulated through electronics and rhythmic construction creating a truly unique and contemporary sound and of cultural melting-pot. Zoffoli has written and produced the record (then mastered by Giovanni Versari), also taking care of its artwork. Cemento Atlantico’s logo is made up of the initials “C” and “A”: “The letter ‘A’ indicates the first Ocean I crossed, the Atlantic one, while the letter” C “- represented by a crescent Moon, with no political or religious reference – symbolizes rebirth, the growth of a project or the advent of a new life in many ancient and modern cultures“. Trip hop, dubstep and chillout are intertwined with world music and ethnic elements, as if the starting point was Bristol, rather than Cesenatico, and the arrival point was all to be soundtracked, all to be explored. Following the first extract Umm Bulgares, the new singles taken from the album are Beat ’em Bang, Amazonienne, Blade Runner Zero and El congreso de los Fantasmas. More than an album, Rotte Interrotte is a casket of stories set in time with your eyes closed, in the deep belief that through sound you can imagine the world without seeing it.

Inner islander Sean Conrad started his splinter ambient endeavor Channelers to make what he calls “essentialized sounds:” loose liquid states of intentional non-intentionality and letting go, conjured with keyboards, bowed guitar, flute, and voice. For Being, his latest, began in 2016 as a series of sessions all sharing this title, as an experiment to “steer my subconscious mind.” Each emerged patiently, from a place of intuition and experiential listening, eventually totaling roughly 40 pieces. Next Conrad cut them down, looping sections through FX and layering in minimal whispers of electric and acoustic textures, seeking to evoke “the simplest conceivable state: being.”

From the chiming horizon infinity of “Tune In” to the stardust planetarium glow of “Through And Through,” the album achieves a unique synergy of naturalist wonder and subliminal bliss, effectively disappearing within its own subdued cyclical serenities. It’s music as refracted light, clouds spilling down peaks to the sea, the molecular resonance swirling inside every cell. Tellingly, Conrad cites the “reclamation of time” as a key Channelers motive, which suits these elusive levitational mandalas, where minutes contain multitudes, time unfolds, and being becomes a shining path. Mastered at The Gentle Ways. Design by Sean Conrad.

We used to enjoy presenting Chapelier Fou's work using the idea of music in the form of a treasure hunt. However, while the phrase in itself it still just as relevant today, we would never have imagined that it would become such an integral part of one of his albums. Or two of his albums to be perfectly exact - Méridiens and Parallèles. Two records with twelve songs each which answer each other back in the form of anagrams. They are like the two sides of the same planet - similar but simultaneously so different. They need to be discovered one after the other taking the time necessary to travel through the sound territories produced by his imagination. The starting point is a sombre night in Uqbar… Chapelier Fou's opening reference to Borgès was obviously not made by chance. He subsequently confided in us the objective of his diptych, namely to combine reality with fiction to question certainties and our relationships with the imaginary sphere. He has continued with his traditional classical-contemporary electronic approach which, although now known to a wide audience, has the advantage of opening up a whole range of possibilities right up to the infinite scale. Moving away from an "État Nain" (Dwarf State) to take refuge on an asteroid...Throughout Méridiens, each composition can be seen as a universe in itself or a specific landscape with its own temporality. Proof of this is the introduction to the chamber music format composed for and performed by only strings which can only be given the date we want to give it. This is "État Nain" in which violins are played like guitars. In some parts we find the spirit of the Penguin Cafe Orchestra and the idea of cheering up classical instruments and not taking everything too seriously. In other parts, we find something close to a mischievous and childish unplugged grunge anthem that could be from the French series Les Shadoks. This mischievous view of things is shown to full effect in Am Scharchtensee. The introduction shows Chapelier Fou's whole classical universe and mastery of orchestration in which "modular" electronics provide a subtle and discreet backdrop. Then, the record suddenly switches to a surrealist dialogue between these classical sounds and modular synthesizers with the flavour of the German pioneers Kluster/Harmonia to name but one example. Timelessness and imaginary places. La vie de cocagne confirms this choice of total freedom. It's traditional music with old sounds, a kind of forgotten bourrée (old French dance) in which electronic sounds disturb the established order and thus reach another musical dimension. Le méridien du Péricarde followed by Désert de Sonora push this idea of a trompe l'oreille and a hall of mirrors even further. The latter track ends almost like a catchy 80s melody and we can no longer find any logical meaning. We let ourselves be carried away by this profusion of madness and are a little amazed by this mastery of sound, composition and space. It sometimes all seems like a succession of conjuring tricks. Chapelier Fou takes not being serious very seriously indeed. The end song Everest trail is the perfect conclusion, a deadpan track in which the primary aspect of a totally classical melody in all its straightness is underpinned by a permanent exchange of electronic tweets which mocks the main musical posture. This impertinence harks back to Pierre Schaeffer who directed the ORTF's very serious experimental department in another era and allowed the development of Jacques Rouxel's series Les Shadoks thus introducing the general public to the notion of concrete music. This is also perhaps why Louis Warynski's stage name is French – because he has opted to use his French musical heritage. Thus the first singles selected from this album, Constantinople with its groovy and jazzy allure and Le Triangle des Bermudes evoke composers like Michel Magne or Michel Colombier both of whom have totally open minds and consider all music to have the same importance, namely that of sound. In absolutely all the tracks that make up Méridiens, you will find at least one detail - a pattern, melody, sometimes a simple sound - that will draw you back to explore it a little more. And the words are carefully weighed for sure. It's quite simple. This is undoubtedly his most hypnotizing and catchy album. Chapelier Fou has become a complete master of his own universe. He draws the start and finish lines himself and no one can follow him in a field that now belongs to him alone. Composed imaginary spheres, illustrated territories...Music is just as meaningful as the more visual arts. Therefore the artwork of Méridiens had to project each of the twelve tracks considered individually and not just the whole album as such. Chapelier Fou therefore asked his old friend the contemporary artist Corentin Grossman to create twelve windows to represent glimpses of the twelve worlds composed for the record. Windows or mirrors when it comes to that? You can never be sure of anything...Space OK. But what about time? The years go by and sometimes we forget that fact. But a simple glance back is often enough to gently touch the time that has passed. It is over 10 years since his first official record and he has been composing, recording and sharing his music for almost 20 years. 20 years is a long time. It makes some people look old while others fall into reassuring but sterile nostalgia. Chapelier Fou, on the other hand, has released his most ambitious project and tried to take a higher view of his discography that was itself nevertheless irreproachable. Although the journey is over we can see Parallèles universes on the horizon. Chapelier Fou has announced 12 additional tracks which are like echoes of the compositions on Méridiens' and will be released on the album Parallèles next spring. They are neither twins nor opposites – they are instead totally original new compositions which go further in exploring a universe which is already richly abundant.

Christian Naujoks' work has been heard and seen in a wide range of contexts, from nightclubs to concert halls, art venues and the theatre. He released three solo albums on Berlin-based label Dial Records. After his critically-acclaimed album "Wave" (2016), which has been praised as a contemporary masterpiece of ambient romance and "the most exquisitely melancholy thing he's done yet" (Pitchfork), followed by numerous collaborative projects with performance artist Ei Arakawa, filmmaker Loretta Fahrenholz and composer Ari Benjamin Meyers, among others, Christian Naujoks is back with a new record produced during his exhibition "Soft Mouth Data Service" at Galerie Max Mayer in Düsseldorf.

Jeju is a volcanic island in the East China Sea somewhere between Japan and Shanghai, south of the Korean peninsula. After a long period of being an autonomous and matriarchal society, it nowadays belongs to South Korea. Women play an important role on the island and enjoy a special status. This matriarchal tradition among other things manifestates in the culture of the legendary Haenyeo – female divers for shellfish, octopus, fish et al. Two years ago, Setaik Yim invited Christophe Piette to this island to film the paintings of Myonghi, a South Korean visual artist. She paints beautiful works exploring the hidden dimensions within nature. Her work is much loved both inside and outside the artworld.

Next to his 8mm and 16mm cameras, Christophe Piette brought with him a handheld Olympus sound recorder that he used as a sort of 'travel log' and expanded a film beyond the screen. With his particular ear (and eye) for detail and humanity, he registers an organic sound world in six chapters. Creating a 'Deep Listening' experience where normal everyday sounds receive mystical connotations. The album is an interesting self-portrait of the sensible artist with an idiosyncratic attention for particular facets and situations, tangible directly in these moments when the artist records himself while being in conversation… “qu'est-ce que tu écoutes là?”.

Did you ever see Pedro Costa’s Casa De Lava? In this film, a dramatic story unfolds to the backdrop of Mount Fogo (lit. Fire Mountain), an active volcano in Cabo Verde. This volcano is a classic “absent” personage which is abundantly present. There’s not necessarily anthropomorphism at play, but one surely feels a manifestation and a devastating influence throughout the whole of the movie. A hissing and seductive company. During the course of Christophe Piette's album we hear the dormant volcano Mount Hallasan (lit. “high enough to haul the universe”), Jeju’s centre and origin. The inhabitants of Jeju deem this mountain with mystical qualities, where Gods and spirits dwell. The mountain is the core of Jeju’s ecology, and its presence is heard all over the island, and throughout this collection of composed sound.

As being fond of the volcanic island myself, I love how the impressions we hear on this CD perfectly constitute that specific small world. A world that’s equally tragic, problematic, and balanced. Something else coming to mind is Walter Marchetti’s Perpetuum Mobile (1981), a 'serenade' of a motorway in dialogue with a pond of frogs. Christophe Piette shares a similar attention for the everyday sound, where a passing truck, a random conversation, indeed frogs croaking, a dinner conversation, airport atmospheres, a bus ride, light restaurant jazz, and a band practice by the people of Doksu village are all having their status inside a certain reality; a reality that is now preserved for eternity.

In my personal trade, and in the development of the Edições CN catalogue, Christophe Piette was and is of great influence. His concepts enter my mind quiet regularly, and live on in the many books, films, drinks and music he recommends me to explore. Needless to say we’re over the moon to present to you this work.

This is the third chapter in the Edições CN “artist in situ” series - after the first two entries by Spencer Clark and Gonçalo F Cardoso which received many praise in many press… . Enjoy x

The Japanese-born duo Miho Hatori and Yuka Honda relocated to New York and christened themselves with the band name Cibo Matto, which is Italian for “crazy food”. The band teamed up with drummer Sean Lennon, percussionist Duma Love and drummer Timo Ellis for their second studio album Stereo Type A, which was originally released in 1999. It was the last album before the group disbanded a few years later, until their 2011 reunion. With this album Cibo Matto received praise for combining styles and genres such as heavy metal, pop and hip hop, while the album was also described by critics as “eclectic, hot and funky”. It was the band’s way of breaking down stereotypes.

Clap! Clap!'s beats are as indebted to the Inuit tribes of Alaska as they do the Staccato footwork of Chicago and LA's low-end theory. Cristiano's music features traditional Italian folk rhythms and melodies mixed with a global harvest of found-sounds smashed through an electronic beat machine mindstate. With all these disparate influences it would be easy to lose form and style but our fully-fledged Jazz practitioner adds his own unique gait to each track. The Simple EP is a return to the basics for Clap! Clap! Brave and exciting music for your carnival.

South London’s Touching Bass is proud to be collaborating with Melbourne label, Wondercore Island, to present its first move into label territory — the debut album from Hiatus Kaiyote drummer and self-taught, multi-instrumental producer, Clever Austin. Much like his Grammy-nominated work for HK, Pareidolia is a genre-bending sonic and emotive pilgrimage with virtuosic, percussive groove at its core. Conceived via countless nights in his home studio, it dreamily roams across 18 tracks which slowly unravel with the cinematic feel of a movie; all mixed and self-produced over a period of two years. Guest appearances are spontaneous, late night drop-ins, cross town musical crossovers and moments of respect paid to established and emerging innovators. Touching Bass are proud to be the first UK label to introduce the mesmeric talents of Texas native, Jon Bap on first single “Blue Tongue”. Elsewhere, fresh from her well-received 2018 release on Brainfeeder, Georgia Anne Muldrow blesses “You Are All You Need” with her mercurial voice. Closer to home, Cazeusx O.S.L.O’s baritone spoken word grounds “Mothership Strip” and Brisbane-born multidisciplinary artist, Laneous (aka Lachlan Mitchell) croons on “Catapult”. As with most organic collaborations, the label connection was a result of sheer serendipity. Touching Bass founder, Errol, has been following Clever Austin and the Wondercore Island mixtape series since 2013. But it took until 2018 — during their debut Australia/Japan tour — for him and Alex Rita to make their own way to Melbourne. One night, following on from a Touching Bass event, the pair got involved in a late night jam session at Clever Austin’s studio with Lori, Silent Jay and Mandarin Dreams’ Kuzich. “We were all bigging up and sharing music made by friends in our respective homelands but when Perrin started playing his own project, everyone was just in silence. He’d crafted something that was equal parts peculiar, innovative and so beautiful that it brought us to tears. That’s when we knew it was special.” Pareidolia further cements a trans-global cultural exchange between the soulful sounds emanating from Melbourne and London. "Channelling the spirit of Sun Ra, Digable Planets and Dilla across 12 tracks of jazzy beats, spoken word and soul...expect the collection to further confirm Touching Bass as London’s modern day Soulquarians." — The Vinyl Factory “Touching Bass may very well be one of the last bastions of a bygone era where community and feeling remain at the centre of everything they offer...the next step in the evolutionary chain of spaces like Plastic People.” — TRENCH Magazine.South London’s Touching Bass is proud to be collaborating with Melbourne label, Wondercore Island, to present its first move into label territory — the debut album from Hiatus Kaiyote drummer and self-taught, multi-instrumental producer, Clever Austin. Much like his Grammy-nominated work for HK, Pareidolia is a genre-bending sonic and emotive pilgrimage with virtuosic, percussive groove at its core. Conceived via countless nights in his home studio, it dreamily roams across 18 tracks which slowly unravel with the cinematic feel of a movie; all mixed and self-produced over a period of two years. Guest appearances are spontaneous, late night drop-ins, cross town musical crossovers and moments of respect paid to established and emerging innovators. Touching Bass are proud to be the first UK label to introduce the mesmeric talents of Texas native, Jon Bap on first single “Blue Tongue”. Elsewhere, fresh from her well-received 2018 release on Brainfeeder, Georgia Anne Muldrow blesses “You Are All You Need” with her mercurial voice. Closer to home, Cazeusx O.S.L.O’s baritone spoken word grounds “Mothership Strip” and Brisbane-born multidisciplinary artist, Laneous (aka Lachlan Mitchell) croons on “Catapult”. As with most organic collaborations, the label connection was a result of sheer serendipity. Touching Bass founder, Errol, has been following Clever Austin and the Wondercore Island mixtape series since 2013. But it took until 2018 — during their debut Australia/Japan tour — for him and Alex Rita to make their own way to Melbourne. One night, following on from a Touching Bass event, the pair got involved in a late night jam session at Clever Austin’s studio with Lori, Silent Jay and Mandarin Dreams’ Kuzich. “We were all bigging up and sharing music made by friends in our respective homelands but when Perrin started playing his own project, everyone was just in silence. He’d crafted something that was equal parts peculiar, innovative and so beautiful that it brought us to tears. That’s when we knew it was special.” Pareidolia further cements a trans-global cultural exchange between the soulful sounds emanating from Melbourne and London. "Channelling the spirit of Sun Ra, Digable Planets and Dilla across 12 tracks of jazzy beats, spoken word and soul...expect the collection to further confirm Touching Bass as London’s modern day Soulquarians." — The Vinyl Factory “Touching Bass may very well be one of the last bastions of a bygone era where community and feeling remain at the centre of everything they offer...the next step in the evolutionary chain of spaces like Plastic People.” — TRENCH Magazine.

Before clipping. signed to Sub Pop; before their frontman DAVEED DIGGS went to Broadway and won a Grammy and got nominated for a Tony; before they even blew up for their mixtape midcity, they released 100 copies of a cassette called face. The title track has long been a live favorite, showing off Diggs’ rapping skills at a speed unmatched by even most of his own tracks. Seven tracks on the vinyl with an additional three songs on the download. Features guest appearances from JPEGMAFIA, YOUTH CODE, DURAN DURAN DURAN, FOOT VILLAGE, SIGNOR BENEDICK THE MOOR and FLANCH.

Before clipping. signed to Sub Pop; before their frontman DAVEED DIGGS went to Broadway and won a Grammy and got nominated for a Tony; before they even blew up for their mixtape midcity, they released 100 copies of a cassette called face. The title track has long been a live favorite, showing off Diggs’ rapping skills at a speed unmatched by even most of his own tracks. Seven tracks on the vinyl with an additional three songs on the download. Features guest appearances from JPEGMAFIA, YOUTH CODE, DURAN DURAN DURAN, FOOT VILLAGE, SIGNOR BENEDICK THE MOOR and FLANCH.

CM von Hausswolff pays tribute to writer Ira Cohen and musician Angus MacLise in this piece recorded in Kirtipur, Nepal.