Beats News

Roots In Heaven is a Berlin-based act that could very easily capitalize on his past accomplishments within the world of intrepid electronic music. As a label owner, resident DJ at cutting-edge clubs, and accomplished solo artist behind a number of conceptually unique full-length albums, the conceiver of this project won't likely need any introduction to the intrepid fans of electronic music. As an extension of this artist's already solid commitment to deep sound, Roots in Heaven represents a new voyage without the help of biographical cues to his listeners: hidden behind an evocative mesh mask lined with obsidian feathers, Roots in Heaven ignores the need to provide 'social proof' or self-justification. He communicates purely through the language of concentrated sensory impression, for which reason he has titled his debut, 'Petites Madeleines,' after one of the most memorable descriptive sequences in literary history (the famous meditation on the madeleine from Proust's À la recherche du temps perdu). As a prelude to the first full-length, Roots In Heaven has issued an untitled EP as a resounding 'shot across the bow'. However, this record is no half-conceived experiment to see what works and what doesn't, nor does it even feel like an 'EP' (in the traditional meaning of being a précis whose full report is available elsewhere). Attentive listening to its contents can cause a kind of time dilation, and a mysterious feeling of entering a world where familiar dualities (nature vs. technology, action vs. contemplation) are replaced by a feeling of total immanence. The A-side, 'Sang des Betes", accomplishes this with cascading, viscous layers of electronic tones that narrow and widen, rise and fall like the breath of some ancient entity. Periodically, bright flashes of tone arc across the horizon of the sound space, emphatically present but also elusive.

Line Explorations present its first release - a compilation consisting of six tracks by six national artists, producing under the names of T'iwu, HTL, PX, emme, AMSH and Mensaje Sanador, serving as a sampler for what's to come in the future on the label and the sounds the label will evoke such as techno, IDM, ambient, noise, drone and experimental vibrations from the further avant-garde,

The first track focuses on growing an organic and everyday sonic scape with the use of chords and melodies filled with light touch - reminiscent of clear skies and sunshine - which creates an ambient feel similar to that of daily vibrations of life as presented and explored by T'iwu.

HTL enhances the depth of the reflections of today's emotions one can feel by delving deeper into everyday surroundings and exploring the noise/drone side of the ambient musical styles by mixing melodic elements with the out of the ordinary effects which shock and ululate while shaping the musical texture into a darker and deeper atmosphere.

The following track, by PX, elevates the atmosphere into a more jovial soundscape full of '80's inspired electronica and sci-fi soundtracks. The beat rolls off and twists in a funky groove helping develop a danceable pace for the release.

On top of that, emme presents the fourth track - in the shape of techno meets breaks - where more classical elements of industrially influenced electronic music can be traced from yesteryears. The sounds engulf in warmly distorted melodic strings while flowing over and under the rhythmic structure.

In contrast, AMSH's ''Subway'' presents a downpour of heavy sounds, such as noise influenced synths and delayed infected percussion, along with field recording of trains help envision the movement of a manmade machine and its flow through the undergrounds of today's world.

The final piece, of the label's initial release, comes in the shape of a Mensaje Sanador or healing message. The track takes on the elements of the three titles that have preceded it and explores further the dynamics between current and classical sounds of the electronic dance music genres by delving deeper into sound synthesis, melodies and rhythm as to help one submerge further into exploring such sounds, their history and the future to come.

'Jacking industrial knees-up meets formal idiosyncrasy in this banging collaboration between Deapmash and Aquarian, with massive kicks, quaking breakbeats and soaring atmospherics.'

- Coming off Transmission, Death in Vegas's critically acclaimed 6th album which saw the band collaborating with Sasha Grey, are three unique remixes by Silent Servant and Rudolf Klorzeiger.

- Silent Servant delivers two stunning mixes of You Disco I Freak. In his first remix he elevates the discordant melody in You Disco I Freak and adds a sense of menace with a new sequence, taking the track in a more sinister direction. With his second version, he takes the heat up a notch with a brutal workout synonymous with his signature abrasive sound.

- Dopplereffekt, Drexciya, Arpanet, Der Zyklus, Japanese Telecom, Heinrich Mueller, Rudolf Klorzeiger: Death in Vegas are huge fans of Gerald Donald in all his forms. He choose to 'reproduce' Metal Box, keeping certain elements of the original field recordings, the sounds of the Steel Factory opposite Drone's studio, the incessant drones from the planes landing at City Airport and the dial tones of the studio's VHF radio and layered over these with his own sonic tapestry.

Beautifully Eerie 12-string Guitar, Synth And Autotune Studies Played With A Rare, Tempered Intensity And Grace. It's A Highly Unusual Disruption Of Classic Takoma/fingerstyle With Electronic Drone And Found Sounds, At Different Points Reminding Us Of Everything From Hope Sandoval To Late Period Talk Talk, Jim O'rourke, Tashi Wada Group And Of Course John Fahey, While Ultimately Sounding Like None Of Them.

With An Uncanny, Even Unsettling Ability To Hold Her Listener's Ear-gaze, Julia's Follow-up To 2017's 'dawning On' Finds The Berlin-based Aussie Continue To Recontextualise Her Instrument With Elegant Precision To Yield A Sublime Tension Between Her Heavy-lidded Vocals And Iridescent Strings.

In Julia's Remarkable 14 Minute Opener 'of Neither', Strings Fluidly Cascade From Her Fingertips Into An Amniotic Soundsphere Of Field Recordings And Gently Fleeting Synth Figures. When Combined With The Deep Dreaming Texture Of Her Autotuned Vocals And Wind-blown Harmonica, The Effect Recalls A Sort Of Midnight Tuareg Blues Half-remembered From A Fevered Sleep. It's Deeply Beautiful Stuff, Periodically Fading Into And Out Of The Light, Only To Return With More Intense Inflection And Density, Yet Ever More Spaced Out, Leading To The Internal Pocket Of 'lament' And Its Achingly Coaxed Secrets.

With Recipients Suitably Defocussed And In Pliable State, Julia Takes The Whole Other Side To Play On That Line Between Organic And Processed Material, Slipping From Noirish, Filmic Intrigue Into The Middle Distance Where Her Rustic Coruscations Twirl In A Set Dance With Their Spectral Reflections, Rendering A Shimmering, Introspective And Highly Individual Solo Dialogue.

Chemistry between individuals is an amorphous and elusive notion. It is usually seen as something that occurs between two people who are sharing a physical space, with access to each other's body language and energy. However, modern technology has provided many other opportunities for chemistry to blossom and be explored and this record is just one example of that: Vent is proud to present Kina, a double LP of musical collaborations between MAYa and Tolga Baklacioglu.

Tolga Baklacioglu is an associate professor in aeronautical engineering. He is also a musician. For several years, he has been steadily building a body of work that explores the outer boundaries where techno and abstract textures merge and blur. In 2014, Tolga created a label, VENT, as a platform for his explorations and those of likeminded travelers within this sonic realm.

MAYa Hardinge works in film. She is also a musician. She has collaborated with numerous artists. Beginning in 2008, She released 4 EPs under her solo guise MAYa. Considering her background in film, it comes as no surprise that her work has a strong visual element. Pre- dating Beyonce´'s Lemonade by many years, her last two EPs were visual albums made in

collaboration with various directors.

It makes total sense that MAYa and Tolga should have made an album together. Their interests and backgrounds overlap and diverge meaningfully in a way that has all the hallmarks of good musical chemistry. There is however one unusual element to their collaboration: they have never met. Tolga lives in Eskisehir (Turkey) and MAYa lives in New York City.



Always on the look out for inspiration and new collaborators, Tolga stumbled across MAYa's videos online. What he saw and heard inspired him to reach out and contact her. After some correspondence they decided to experiment with the prospect of making music together. Perhaps deprived of the traditional notions of chemistry defined by proximity, they found inspiration across time and space in the name of exploration and discovery. Tolga began by sending MAYa files of beats and ambiance. Upon finding the ones that spoke to her, MAYa went to work disassembling, adding, subtracting and rearranging. MAYa's work would then go back to Tolga, a world away, for further input and then back again. In this way each track was painstakingly constructed and a true chemistry was born. One built on sensitivity, support and honest artistic communication. In a word: LISTENING.

The songs cover a broad spectrum of topics, from the deeply personal feelings and experiences, to world events, and the fundamental aspects of life and death. Kina is a document of two artists from different backgrounds and their shared visions of the interplay

between one's private microcosm and the global macrocosm of our time; a testament to the fact that, for all its vastness and diversity, this world offers inspiration and potential collaboration around every corner. The music contained within has traveled around the world many times before reaching your ears. As MAYa and Tolga have done before, it is now your turn to LISTEN.

In this compelling debut release, NETSH takes the listener on a one-way trip to his world with his own unique take on acid, braindance, electro, jungle and even a dash of hardcore. Frenzied breakbeats, thick and melodic 303 sequences, ass-shaking drum programming along with deep and lush pads are the constant on this record, coherent and diverse a the same time, which tells a lot about the young producer's musical maturity.

'Wino go full Zeppelin! Inspired by a recent trip to New Orleans and the deep South, Davy & Co. wrangle sliding basses and pumping organs into 20 minute rock n' roll-on odyssey. Chugging locomotives fall into an infinite groove on the A side, while the B takes the underneath perspecitve- rattling out subdued sub bass frequencies. Full sleeve artwork by (the legend) The Germ . Mastered by the Bastard."

Das technisch versierte Naturtalent Leafcutter John (Planet Mu, Staubgold)präsentiert sich mit seinem siebten Album auf Border Community in Höchstform. "Yes! Come Parade With Us" ist ein kleines, perfektes, freudiges, utopisches Folk-Electronica-Kunstwerk, erstellt aus mehrschichtigen, gefühlvoll-modularen Synths, gelegentlichen Drum-Features (von Tom Skinner/Hello Skinny und Sebastian Rochford/Polar Bear) und Field Recordings, aufgenommen im Sommer 2017 auf einem 60-Meilen-Spaziergang entlang der Norfolk-Küste. Limitierte Formate.

Devendra Banhart presents a very unique & precious compilation featuring his best friends never heard before demos. Among them some of the yesterday and today's most talented musicians and singers of the folk-pop-experimental scene. This handprinted album comes randomly in six different colored cardboard featuring one of six Devendra's drawing. Check!

A haunting collection of experimental music by the celebrated electronic artist and sound designer, 'Refraction' continues Caminiti's exploratory path of deconstructed electronic sounds and structures as showcased on his last album (2017's 'Toxic City'), presenting four new pieces created on a Make Noise modular synthesizer with an emphasis on tranquil atmospheres and dub-influenced production.

This Make Noise Records release was Mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri at Black Knoll Studios.

Pressed to 12" Clear (140gm) vinyl and inserted into a black inner dust sleeve
and Matte Jacket featuring artwork by Sean Curtis Patrick.

This release is pressed in an edition of 500.

'With Ela's music I feel emotional, engaged... I can't help but feel she's always looking for a sense of belonging and it
seems to inform all the music that she makes. Glasgow must have more of that belonging feeling than most
cities because she's spent the most time here, an exotic bird in a rainy city she maybe finds a lttle bit of comfort in. It's
a pleasure to have her here, in this awful time to be living in Britain, her illuminations feel important and hopeful. A
stubborn light; someone making great timeless music out of the humdrum of the everyday.' - Stephen Pastel
Movies For Ears is a retrospective collection of works by Polish-born, Glasgow-based artist Ela Orleans which
navigates almost two decades of songwriting in the heart of the global pop underground. This remastered collection casts
an ear over what Orleans might call the 'pop sensibility' within her back catalogue. Released previously on a number of
small DIY labels, Orleans' music coincided with the explosion of auto-didactic musicians finding their voice in the age of
the blogosphere, artists emboldened by the democratisation of music-making afforded by the internet. From the outset,
Orleans' childhood studying formal music mixed with cut-up techniques, sampling, sound-art and experimentation to
create a distinctive signature cloaked in an innate melancholy and playfulness. Fully remastered by James Plotkin,
featuring extensive sleeve-notes and rare photos from Orleans' archive, Movies For Ears presents an appraisal of the
musician's work, painting a portrait of an artist with an uncanny ability to evoke emotions and ghosts of memories in the
listener.
Each song pulls sunshine from its surroundings, moments of pleasure plucked from eulogies. The Season employs a
hypnotic loop with Orleans's prophetic voice heralding the season we're doomed to repeat. In fact the singer is often cast
as the changing protagonist in her songs: on Walkingman, a hazy ballad heavy with ennui, the narrator is laden with the
world's weight, forever pacing a groundhog day world blank, a pissed-off actor in a Kafka-esque melodrama. On Light At
Dawn we're in a seedy kitsch bar-room go-go scene, a ghostly rock'roll romance with shimmering percussion, poledancing
in a Lynchian half-dream. Movies For Ears' moods straddle memory and fantasy: scratchily invoking halfremembered
exotica, the flickering shadows of europhile cinemas screens, a delicately woven world anchored in Orleans
existential meditations on longing, intimacy, solitude and the search for love. These rich textures in every song don't
overpower some crystalised moments of emotion however: on In Spring Orleans sings simply 'I have been happy two
weeks together,' summarizing that feeling of elation when emerging from a depression, a long winter. It's a moment that
perfectly illustrates the lightness of touch and clarity in the singer's voice.
The power of the loop and Orleans' weaving songwriting that breaks its spell is illustrated perfectly by I Know. Over an
aching chord progression, the vocal takes flight into bittersweet loneliness, Pachelbel's Canon played at a wedding where
only one person shows up. The repeated refrain 'I know, I know' ascends to the heavens as the chords descend to the
dumps and the listener is left in the middle, happy but not knowing why, maybe a little changed, two weeks together. On
Movies For Ears, Ela Orleans lets us into a secret: the rare moments of joy to be found in the joins of the loop, the spaces
between things, the spring after the winter are the moments that last after the day has faded.

Dutch label Field Records is back with another special album project, this time from Japanese producer ENA aka Yu Asaeda. Bridge is an introspective soundtrack for a documentary also called Bridge - out this Spring - which is about the Dejima bridge, a reconstructed symbol of the Dutch-Japanese trading history in Nagasaki, Japan. The album finds the producer stepping outside of his usual remit of dark ambient and experimental music, and instead comprises ten shorter tracks that touch on abstract and rhythmic sounds that define the essence of Japanese culture. Although he has worked with the director before, this is ENA's first Original Sound Track and finds him freely inspired by the movie and heading in exciting and unknown directions. Hugely atmospheric throughout, there is hypnotic repetition of sounds, strange audio design and a mixture of melancholic moods with more dreamy synths. Sometimes gloopy rhythms gently ripple beneath soothing harmonies and at others times a micro-rhythm appears through the constantly shifting and evolving found sound loops. It's a compelling and unusual album that seamlessly mixes human emotions with a mechanical sense of industry.

Dj feedback:

Mano le Tough (Permanent Vacation): "Amazing sound"

Inverted Audio: "Subconsciously affecting, emotionally invigorating work here. Loving this."

DJ Mag LA: "This album shows that the of ENA sounds are an overflowing line that perfectly combines human emotions. Feel is the perfect word to define the entire album."

Samuli Kemppi (Deep Space Helsinki): "Really really good album. Thank you."

Eric Cloutier (The Bunker NY): "absolutely brilliant."


Philip Sherburne (Pitchfork): "Really interesting stuff here, looking forward to delving into it."

Amandra (Semantica): "Love it ! Thx"

Nihad Tule (Sloboda): "perfect cinematic scapes, thanks!"

Breach (Aus Music): "super enjoyable on a lot of levels and so warm. "

Jonas Kopp (Tresor): "love it ! thanks."

Mosca (Not So Much): "First two tracks are enough for me to know I'm into this"

Fugal (BleeD): "<3"

natural/electronic.system. (Tikita): "This is a great release. Thanks!!"

Roger Gerressen (Yoyaku / Sushitech): "lovely"

Maarten Mittendorff (Indigo Aera): "Amazing all over!!! <3 ENA... really out of the box organic evolving music. Big up Field for releasing this beautifull music!"

Albert van Abbe (VANABBE / No Comment): "This is just great! Suburb travel music, thanks!"

Simo Cell (Livity Sound): "Yes this is brilliant ! "

Efdemin (Dial): "Great textures and sounds. Really interesting work!"

Clouds (Electric Deluxe): "wow this is dope!"

Zadig (Construct Re-Form): "Need to check quietly but i know i already love it. Beautiful ... Thanks !! "

Voiski (Super95): "really beautiful bridge music "

In a dream hook-up for Diagonal, Jim O'Rourke reimagines material from the vaults of Alessio Natalizia AKA Not Waving and turns in a magisterial kosmiche synth-scape, backed with a
sprawling slab of mazy rhythmic brilliance. O'Rourke has been a long-time admirer of Not Waving, and what started out as more of straight remix project quickly turned into a collaboration-at-
a-distance, with Natalizia sending extra material and pushing O'Rourke to stray as far from the original material as possible.
In both parts, he does him proud. 'Side A' renders an original chromatic synth knot into a spiralling, heavenly superstructure worthy of comparison with Popol Vuh, before the flip envelopes listeners in a hyper-baroque rave hall of mirrors — all iridescent arps and irregular, automated pulses that refract palatial imaginary spaces.
O'Rourke is, of course, a huge hero to Natalizia and the label, for his work with Sonic Youth, his countless collaborations with everyone from Keiji Haino to Tony Conrad, and the breath-taking
breadth of his solo material. It's something of a coup/blessing/honour, therefore, for Diagonal to
present this release with art/packaging from Guy Featherstone that does justice to this meeting of minds.

Announcing a reissue of The Oh Sees - The Cool Death of Island Raiders
We here at Castle Face are not afraid to get our shins dirty mucking around in the stacks and we're well aware of an out-of-press gap of Oh Sees releases right before 2006 when we started the label with Sucks Blood. We're rectifying that and first among these is The Cool Death of Island Raiders, a particularly dusty gem that we think merits another look. Kicking off the record with what should have been the hit of the summer that year but for the hard C in the title, "The Gilded Cunt" seems to clearly preface Oh Sees' later psych skewed pop sensibilities. At the time it was an obvious jam and I recall being floored by its shuffling beauty. Chirping birds, gently lapping tempos and the nascent harmonization of Bridgid Dawson and Dwyer detail what I consider to be a definitive highlight of their early quiet period of the band. The tree hangs heavy with Patrick Mullins' handiwork, manning the musical saw, drums, and an assortment of home made electronics. It seemed a bit radical to be so quiet about it but the tunes are total earworms among the assorted drones, cut up bits of tape noise, and mellow front porch vibes, and the whole thing hangs together in a lovely hand-made way, helped in no small part by Dave Sitek's production (he would later work on Master's Bedroom as well). 'We flew Brigid out a fresh woman and literally sent her home on a plane with a trash bag of her clothes' says John. Evidently the whole record was accidentally erased at some point right around when the photo on the back of the jacket was taken, which makes it all the more remarkable that the result sounds so casually and confidently careworn. .

Next in UT's reissue and remastered back catalogue series, their first studio album "Conviction", originally released in 1986.
The 2019 remastered reissue of CONVICTION will include song lyrics, photos of the band and an introduction by Stewart Lee. The CD will add Ut's previously unreleased 7' single 'Ampheta Speak / While I Wait', recorded for Charles Ball's Lust/Unlust label in 1980. A CD booklet will feature the poster for the original 7' release and some of the cover artwork.
First 500 LP will come with Stewart Lee introduction as a printed insert.

Radical rock group UT was founded by Nina Canal, Jacqui Ham and Sally Young in 1978. Originated in the downtown NYC No Wave scene and inheritors of the collision between rock, free jazz and the avant-garde, Ut exploded the rigidity of conventional rock, constructing songs through collective improvisation, swapping instruments and rotating the role of singer/director.
Migrating to London in 1981, Ut played with bands like The Fall and The Birthday Party and released music on its own label Out Records, including Live at The Venue in 1982, the Ut EP in 1984, the Confidential 12' in 1985 and the LP Conviction in 1986. Ut became a favourite of BBC's John Peel and recorded sessions for his show in '84, '85 and '87. Joining forces with Blast First in 1987, they released the live compilation album Early Live Life and then the highly critically acclaimed In Gut's House in 1988, which made the year's NME 'Top 50 Albums'. The album Griller followed in 1989, engineered by label mate Steve Albini, who shared Ut's raw aesthetic and captured the band's vibrant intensity.Ut disbanded in 1990, but began performing again in 2010. Ut are now reissuing their entire remastered catalogue on Out Records through Forte Distribution. The reissues have so far included the Ut and Confidential 12' EPs in November 2017, Ut Live at The Venue in April 2018 and Early Live Life in November 2018. Other upcoming reissues will include their studio albums In Gut's House and Griller.

Jan St. Werneris A Critically Acclaimed And Internationally Recognized Sound Innovator. In A Myriad Of Ways, As A Solo Artist, A Collaborator, Through His Group Mouse On Mars, As A Producer , Or As A Course Instructor At Mit, Werner Has Challenged Traditional Approaches To Creating And Experiencing Music. The Sixth Installment Of His Fiepblatter Catalogue Series, Glottal Wolpertinger, Endeavors To Transcribe The Phenomenon Of Sound As Anarchic And Highly Sensitive Material. His Multilayered Presentation Of The Project Highlights The Ways In Which Sound And Music Can uctuate And Morph Depending On Context. In Keeping With The Series' Collaborative Nature, The Pieces Include Contributions From Guitarists Aaron & Bryce Dessner Of The National, Who Werner Also Collaborated With On Mouse On Mars' Dimensional People, And The National's Sleep Well Beast. Glottal Wolpertinger Was Initially Conceived As A Radio Installation For Documenta 14 With Each Of The Tracks Broadcasting Individually Over The Course Of Ten Weeks And Culminating In A Convergence Of All Eight Tracks At A Performance In Athens. The Pieces Consist Of Microtonally Tuned Feedback, Multispectral Drones Which Werner Modulated And Fltered With A Purposeful, And Indeed Vocalized, Emphasis Given To The Different Frequencies And Textures Used. Glottal Wolpertinger's Incarnation As A Recording Is No Less Potent Than Its Preceding Forms, But Serves As A Continuation Of The Project's Evolution As A Distinct Listening Experience.

Partners is a collaborative project between Femke Fredrix and James de Graef. Brought together by a keen interest for the ever-evolving marriage between electronic
music and visual arts, they decided to combine their strengths to realize a shared vision. Or as they call it themselves: 'providing a suitable backdrop for spastic movement'. Partners' debut project is some form of hybrid as it searches to balance between being a
film and an album. The inspiration for this collaborative effort started from their cat carrying the same name as the title of the album: 'faust'. While you can listen to
the music without watching the film, the whole production process of both was completely intertwined.
Faust tries to reflect upon how we as humans perceive, treat and care for animals. From common domesticated animals through plush teddies to cattle, we have almost daily interactions with all of them. Faust tries to question how we interact with these
creatures and how we treat one animal different from the other. Without treading into the ever-stereotyped world of vegan activism, this project raises interesting questions on our
daily interactions with the other souls inhabiting this earth. Working on this serious matter, Partners never lose sight of their quirky sense of humor, both through their
usage of samples and in the employment of bizarre little scenes.
Their music often draws many influences from the hardcore continuum defined by Simon Reynolds whilst still treading beyond the harshness of many club tracks and showing a
more soft and gentle side. They vary between genresdepending on what they want to tell. If you listen to the album on its own, it almost feels like the rough cut of a film, without losing any consistency. Expect to hear anything between trip hop and hardcore breaks.
Montage:
MONTAGE (French for the editing process of a film) is a Brussels based label/collective.
Inspired by the editing process of documentary film, in which you have to make both
bold and sensitive choices, we aim to release a wide variety of music that feels 'edited',
that tells a story. Drifting in and out of the wide spectrum club culture has to offer; edited
music brings emotion and ecstasy both to the dance floor and your living room.

Second vinyl release from the Berlin based Jazz-O-Tech Records.
* Jazz-O-Tech is proud to announce the second chapter of its limited edition vinyl release "White Gardenia": a format that combines deep tech electronic grooves with the mystic, intense and intricate atmospheres of jazz music.
* The A side of the compilation starts with "Eshe" a track by the dutch producer Duke Zilla, a perfect opener for the vinyl with its funky, dreamy, and tribadelic vibes, followed by "Modal Miles" by the Italian trumpet player Cesare Dell'Anna (remixed by DN3), a cool deep tech track full of smoky jazz quotes of the almighty Miles Davis himself. "Dick Dunker" by the Berlin Based duo Flat Maze closes the first half, and it's a great example of what we call Techno-Jazz the perfect mix between cutting hedge techno sounds and experimental jazz piano.
* The B side is meditative and musically very dense, with the talented duo of newcomers Key Clef on synths and Riccardo Nebbiosi on sax presenting 'Angel Walk to the Sea' a beautiful trip into a poetic and progressive territory, which smoothly leads to the intricate and experimental fluid jazz grooves of "Story telling" by the Italian electronic jazz band Gamapawa, which closes the compilation.
* Jazz-O-Tech is a record label based in Berlin and Milan which has the ambition of creating a new music movement that merges Techno with Jazz, tradition with modernity, improvisation and experimentation, and takes the listeners on an emotional, futuristic and intense musical journey.

South Cali classmates AFK and Bludwork come from oceans apart -South Korea and Georgia, respectively - but their intertwined social /sonic chemistry are proof that true vibe unions transcend geography.

The pair initially bonded over teacher pranks and 420 habits before rendezvousing off campus to link rigs and jam live electronics, eventually culminating in the six smog-smeared low-key bangers comprising their vinyl debut, Loyalty N Service.

Alternately coastal and concrete, the songs slide between smoky sunset house ('Akina Memory,' 'That Pain') and funked up warehouse bass ('No Equal,' 'Searchin'), tag-teaming melody, MIDI, and drum machinery into compelling composites of Pacific motion and emotion.

Blud is blunt about their bond: 'AFK is one of my most cherished friends; I'd do anything for this guy.' This is music from the heart and for the heads, pensive and propulsive, loose and liquid, raw and rising. 'One of our biggest inspirations is the Rush Hour films. We're the best Black and Asian duo since those guys.'

On March 29, Eric Copeland delivers Trogg Modal Vol. 2, the counterpart to last October's Vol. 1. The former Black Dice member's 'Freakbeat 4/4' agenda gets further refined here - Vol. 2 is more laid-back than the first, but still highly danceable. Self-described as 'late Night Flight proto tekno,' the tracks pulse with thick layers of percussion, melodic fever dreams, and riffs wrung through a taffy puller. Eric's textured, off-the-cuff approach to dance music adds a refreshing element of spontaneity and 'jamming' to a climate of uncanny smoothness and polish.

Where Vol. 1 was composed of 'rippers,' Vol. 2 travels at its own pace, continuing to showcase Eric's ability to recontextualize 4/4 tracks as psychedelic contortions, from the squelchy vibrations of 'BS Dropout' to the blithe, video arcade soundtrack 'High Score Zed.' Taken together, the two volumes of Trogg Modal showcase the versatility of one of the most continuously exciting experimental artists of the past twenty years - arriving in 2019 with his mischievous sense of adventure firmly intact.

After a pleasing start to the New Year, 2 same night sell outs on lathe cut 45s and a single afternoon sell out of the recent Gabe Knox LP, Polytechnic Youth continue their relentless release schedule with 2 more awesome full lengths. In their own ways, both totally unique but very much befitting the tried and trusted synth / electronic PY blueprint.

First up is the fabulous 'Where comes the Dark' debut full length from shadowy, underground producer The Slow Engineer. 'An album of sculpted synthsonics and Eldritch electronics originally released on a limited run, blink and you'll miss it cassette which sold out in 24 hrs. Heavy on basslines, with driving rhythms and tweaked synthesisers, it's a record which openly acknowledges it's nod to horror scores and the work of the Radiophonic Workshop whilst pulling off something uniquely and freshly new, with an assembled array of wayward equipment stored at his Analogue Hades base.'

British horror actor Laurence R. Harvey adds suitably menacing narration in places, and across 10 fabulous tracks this is a richly, deliciously diverse electronic record which comes hugely recommended to fans of John Carpenter, not to mention label mates The Heartwood Institute and Dream Division.

A one time pressing of 300, destined to sell out pretty swiftly.....

Midday Moon is a survey of ambient and experimental music that emerged from Australia and New Zealand between 1980 and 1995. These recordings are sourced from a rich variety of micro-labels, private pressings, theatre soundtracks and artists' personal archives. Curated by Melbourne based DJ and archivalist, Sanpo Disco (a.k.a Rowan Mason), the collection delves deep into the world of outsider music that emerged in Australia and New Zealand in the latter half of the twentieth century, as synthesisers and early workstations began to enter the consumer marketplace. The record is an odyssey in itself, a journey that takes listeners into the unsung world of Australian new age composers. There are stories abound within this volume, from the mysterious disappearance of Helen-Ripley Marshall after the release of her 1988 album 'Green Chaos', to the journey of American-born, Perth based blues/rock guitarist John Heussenstamm, who unexpectedly turned his finger to 'ambient' music in the late 80's; and again from Melbourne based Ros Bandt, who made a series of recordings exploring the resonance of a hollow concrete cylinder 5 stories beneath busy Collins Street in Melbourne's CBD. Compiled by Sanpo Disco / Mastered by Mikey Young . '(Ambient music is) a surrounding influence that induces calm and a space to think... it can accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular.' - Brian Eno / 'A richer and more diverse ambient genre began to form. Music that crafts a unique cultural geography of landscapes and atmospheres: real and imagined, natural and man-made. Some artists turned their attention to the singular acoustic ecologies of overlooked spaces around the country. Others fostered interests in non-Western music cultures and instruments. The common thread is their use of new technologies to conjure interior and exterior regions, through acoustic and synthesised sounds.' - Sanpo Disco

All Tracks Written And Produced By Varuna.

The Idealist has a lifelong background in out there electronic music and has been suffering just as long from a deep dub passion, which has been present in his works with outfits as Saturn and the Sun, The Skull Defekts, Orchestra of Constant Distress, and numerous collabs. But the dub has never been in full focus. Not until now. Two cuts recorded at the Gothenburg Sound Experiment; "Inner Space Dub" which is a sick, capturing thing and the flipside, "The Fire of Moses Dub" which features vocal by the legendary Genesis Breyer P-Orridge of Psychic TV and Throbbing Gristle. Dub music as close to the late 70's industrial music scene as classic Jamaican stuff which the Idealist loves to the bone. Passionate, honest music which pays tribute to its influences but also succeeds to look forward into the eternal future.

Welcome to a time of global sousvelliance and psychophysical burnout _
Welcome to an inconsistent present that calls for schizophrenic rhythms and mutable harmonies _
Welcome to a future that doesn't need you anymore _
Welcome to your world _
Welcome to End2End _

Het Interstedelijk Harmoniumverbond (The Intercity Harmonium Alliance) is the collaborative construction carrying Glen Steenkiste, Brecht Ameel, David Edren and Steve Marreyt on their quest for yet undiscovered dimensions of drone. Each member resides in one of the Flemish province capital cities (Brussels, Ghent, Antwerp and Bruges), they all play harmonium and share the genuine interest for temporality in music. Initiated from Steenkiste's idea to expand the solo harmonium of Hellvete into a more dialectic and immersive format, this new league had its premiere on Eastern Daze V festival in November 2018.

The release is an uncompromised gesture claiming one of today's main scarcities: the liberated and emancipated attention. The drone sound has a rare capacity to reflect upon the most delicate patterns of the human experience of time, hitting straight to its core: duration. Long, layered tones of four harmoniums stretch from past towards future, and from emotionally charged warmth of an ensemble to the coldness of post-human electronics. They trigger an uninterrupted flow of music and call for an intensified and extended ritual of contemplative listening on multiple levels. In regard to that, the recording process was carried out with an ambition to capture both micro sounds and detailed textures from each of the harmoniums, as well as the surround sound blended through the acoustics of space. The record comes with the extensive liner notes by the renowned essayist Sven Vitse (in Dutch).

Recording and mixing: Jürgen De Blonde
Mastered by: Christophe Albertijn
Photography: Krysztoff Dorion
Design: Ruttens-Wille
Tekst: Sven Vitse
Distribution: N.E.W.S.
Thanks to Kraak & Vooruit

Fourth release by Japanese artist Kosei Fukuda from his own platform. Great atmospheric sound scape with Japanese precision. Minimalistic Experimental IDM Techno. Including one Digital Bonus.

Theres always something up with The Germans. An elusive quintet whose music has been balancing between pleasantly mundane and absolute racket since 2002. 4 years after the release of their instant cult classic 'Are Animals Different', followed by an equally legendary tour, the new chapter is upon us. On their new album 'Sexuality' (Unday Records), the band challenge the cult of celebrity and self-promotion by displaying their ugly as well as their sexy. The tone is confusingly kinky. Raw, at times uncomfortable and even abrasive, but also sultry, sweaty and exotic. Sexuality quoi, captured on tape, undisguised, by producer Micha Volders (Meteor Musik). Primitive percussion, tatty guitars, a lewd Hammond and many other instruments play a major role in this hot mush of psych, easy-listening, Flemish polyphony and cocktail jazz. Blixa Bargeld meets Tito Puente (and they end up in bed together). The Germans are (in random order of sexyness): Jakob Ampe, Vincent Cauwels, Lennert Jacobs, Timothy Jacobs en Boris Zeebroek.

Clear vinyl in gatefold sleeve, including
the album on cd format.On their new
album 'Sexuality', the band challenge
the cult of celebrity and selfpromotion by displaying their ugly as
well as their sexy. The tone is
confusingly kinky.

Incredibly unique concept album from the one and only, Tom Ze´. As featured in
Rolling Stone magazine's 100 Greatest Brazilian Albums of all-time list (2007).

One of Ze's finest albums in our opinion, originally released by Continental
Brazil in 1976 - a tough one to find at a good price in its original form now.

'Estudando do Samba' (or 'Studying The Samba') is a post-Tropicalia studio
experimentation laiden with layers of hypnotic percussion, effects & samples
that deconstructs the 'samba' form. Recorded during what was arguably his most
creative period.

David Byrne found the record in Rio in the late 90's and included several songs
on his Tom Ze collection for Luaka Bop a few years later. At that time Tom was
not recording or touring much; playing low-key shows in Sao Paulo and
contemplating a move back to Irara´ to work at a service station owned by one of
his cousins. Byrne's project helped to reignite his career and he hasn't looked
back since.

Official Mr Bongo reissue. Licensed courtesy of Warner Music UK Ltd.

Helado Negro returns with This Is How You Smile, an album that freely flickers between clarity and obscurity, past and present geographies, bright and unhurried seasons. Miami-born, New York-based artist Roberto Carlos Lange embraces a personal and universal exploration of aura - seen, felt, emitted - on his sixth album and second for RVNG Intl. Helado

Negro's 2016 album Private Energy, re-released as Private Energy (Expanded) in 2017, is an urgent affirmation of self-love and solidarity driven by Lange's personal response to sanctioned violence towards people of color. The widely embraced album furthered the artist's visibility beyond a community of fans long established through a rigorous recording and touring career, with moments like 'Young, Latin and Proud' and 'It's My Brown Skin' aligning with a larger social demand for basic rights amongst marginalized people and the universal imperative to love, be loved, and thrive.

This Is How You Smile's opener 'Please Won't Please,' a call back to Private Energy, finds vitality in turning the privacy dial further inward. Setting the scene with a spare drumbeat that moves the music forward in a more maligned than militant march, Lange's voice tenderly permits himself weariness: 'We light ourselves on fire, just to see if anyone believes.' Something must be reserved, 'will anyone rescue what's left of me.' Diving into glimmering spirals, the remainder of the album takes leave of the broader 'we' and mines intimate pairings - siblings, parent / child relationships, partnership, and old friends. The story of This Is How You Smile includes a jaunty, head-nodding walk with his brother on hot pavement to the community pool of his childhood neighborhood in Florida. Such days end with a welcome fatigue and chlorine blurred reveries in 'Seen My Aura.' The confidence and security of youth, moves away from family, across years and regions, to a bleak winter of 'Imagining What to Do,' and loving partners deciding to make each other smile, while waiting for the sun to return.

This Is How You Smile derives from Jamaica Kincaid's 'Girl,' a story she wrote in the form of a mother's sole, complicated, but loving voice, speaking a 'How to' litany of advice ranging from domestic chores to what a daughter, an immigrant and young woman of color, must do to protect herself in a world that was not designed by or for her. This is how joy, or its visage, at turns comforts, constricts, or becomes armor.

Contemplating a parental voice, or its absence, becomes a question of where one may choose to return or depart. The lyrics of 'Running,' seem to retrace the cyclical path of pop's familiar obsessions, addressing the unrequited, fickle, or feared lover, 'I feel you in my mind, all the time... you got me running, running...' Instead, the repetition of fleeing breaks with a languid laugh of recognition, that the lives of those who came before are within one's own, even when we diverge, 'I see you in my hands... just like you.' The song may also be read beyond seeing the humanity of self and parent, to the ever more visible global failures of patriarchal structures, and those moments when one sees their traces in self and those dear. Lange describes the album as the soundtrack of a person approaching you, slowly, for 40 minutes. In 'Fantasma Vaga,' one of the first songs he wrote that set his approach for the album, a ghost wanders in from the low end, building a fuller form with each shaking step. Whirring, stops and starts of an eco espectral, may be musician trying to imitate, synthesize, the sound of a haunting, or a ghost itself trying to render the human voice. Lange often visualizes meeting strange beings, the odd encounters that occur in the creative process, a sound form of manipulation, in which who, or what is changing whom, becomes unclear. This Is How You Smile invites listeners on a walk through the changing colors of early mornings and evenings, writing, recording, or hearing a friend, a figure emerges, and there you are. The album will be released across various formats on March 9, 2019, with Helado Negro ever present on stages around the world in support.

Chances are if you are reading this, you are probably already familiar with Dinosaur L's Go Bang' and danced countless times to Loose Joints' "It's All Over My Face". A prolific musician, Arthur Russell produced an abundant amount of recordings over the course of his career. Although a classically trained cellist, he released a number of successful underground dance hits under various monikers and collaborations. As a solo artist however, his inability to complete projects resulted in a limited amount of official releases, World of Echo (1986) being his only full-length solo effort to see release in his lifetime. After releasing a number of Club singles on labels like West End & Sire, Russell went on to form Sleeping Bag Records with Will Socolov as an outlet for a sound not as restrictive as his "disco" material. The initial concept was that Russell would provide the musical direction while Socolov handled the business side. The label had huge success early on with Class Action's Weekend' remixed by Larry Levan, and Russell's seminal Go Bang,' credited to Dinosaur L and remixed by Francois Kevorkian. Although Russell and Socolov shared a lot of musical common ground, the difference in vision began to show. Russell's avant-garde sensibilities and perfectionism were not compatible with an industry standard to release singles in quick succession, and his "work in progress" approach began to be financially draining, ultimately resulting in the dissolution of their partnership around 1983. With Arthur's departure, Sleeping Bag moved away from the experimental and towards a successful hip-hop route with the growing involvement of Kurtis Mantronik and leading to propel the careers of artists like Todd Terry, Just-Ice and EPMD. By the mid-80s, Russell's health began to deteriorate after contracting HIV. Although the business partnership did not work out, Socolov and Russell maintained their friendship. Aware of the time he had left, Russell reached out to Socolov to record what was to become Indian Ocean, his last release on Sleeping Bag and the last great collaboration between Arthur and his old friend Walter Gibbons. Unlike the rest of Russell's Dance collaborations, School Bell/Treehouse' is very intimate composition, putting to the forefront all the elements that defined him musically, with his own voice and cello as the anchors to a piece that keeps growing in intensity, melding the tribal rhythms of Mustafa Ahmed's conga with percussions that sound like distorted drum machines. There is a lot of beauty in this piece, with Peter Zummo's melancholic trombone lines and Arthur's keyboard playing. Adequately "mixed with love" by Walter Gibbons, "School Bell/Treehouse" really synthesizes the energy and soundscapes of Arthur's dancefloor.

I'd Rather Be Lucky Than Good is a new recording collaboration of Sam Ashley and Werner Durand. Sam Ashley's mystic parables mbued with benevolent humor are drawn from a lifelong pursuit of a present-day shamanism. Werner Durand's wind work on invented and traditional instruments stems from the minimalist tradition, routed through his unique study of obscure world musics.The two artists first met in Berlin in 1984 while Sam was touring Atalanta with Robert Ashley's opera company, with whom he was a principle vocalist for many years. Sam Ashley's work has appeared on other Unseen Worlds releases (J. Jasmine: My New Music) and in solo and collaborative performances alongside "Blue" Gene Tyranny and other artists across the world.Werner Durand, also active since the late Seventies, performs music for saxophones, Iranian ney, and self-made wind instruments. He is a linchpin figure in the experimental music scene in Germany and abroad following formative studies with Ariel Kalma and Gilbert Artman in Paris, Indian Classical Music with Kamalesh Maitra, and Iranian Ney with Ali Reza Asgharia. He has worked notably with David Behrman (Music From Memory), Arnold Dreyblatt (Animal Magnetism), Muslimgauze, Henning Christiansen, Catherine Christer Hennix, David Toop, and Amelia Cuni.

Tape / Cassette

Outernational free jazz madness from Lisbon trip Alförjs. It could as well be an ethnographic soundtrack from another planet as the trio of Mestre André (saxophone, electronics), Bernardo Álvares (contrabass) and Raphael Soares (drums) dwelve deep into the outer realms of what jazz/electronics music can sound like.

Urban shamanism, magical practices and ancient/future world views collide in unsuspecting ways on this out there tape.

An unique sound from an unique trio, 'Alförjs has a very special place among what is out there of more intriguing and radical in this final stretch of the 21st century's second decade.'

Banha da Cobra is a project of Lisbon based artists Mestre André (laptop) and Carlos Godinho (objects).
Stream of research and electroacoustic sound intervention, Banha da Cobra starts from the sonic imaginary of handcrafted, ritualistic and traditional activities and landscapes. The compositions are made as sound ruins, based on an ecology between the sustainability of the sound nature of the found - structures, places, objects, etc. - and their appropriation and transformation. The collecting inherent in this project of archaeological character is complemented with processes of alchemical manipulation like musical creation in real time.
On Mãe D'Água, Banha da Cobra present a live recording of their concert/performance on a 4x4 channels system at Mãe d'Água, 21st of September 2018 within the context of Lisboa Soa festival.
Mãe D'Água (Mother of Water) is an old water reservoir located in the center of Lisbon. It used to be the main reservoir for Lisbon being fed by a massive 19th Century aqueduct.

Closing our unoficial New Weird Portugal tape batch on Sucata Tapes is Eosin aka Diana Combo with a mixtape of crackling and droney vinyl mixed with Field recordings recorded outdoors on a later summer afternoon in Alentejo. In Diana's own words:

''This piece was made during a residency in Elvas (Alentejo, Portugal), in the context of the first edition of the festival A Salto, in July 2016. Each one of the invited artists for this residency was given a specific place where to develop a work to be presented during the festival.
I spent a week at Fábrica Frutas Doces, a small 'factory" dedicated to the preparation and confection of prunes and plums in syrup. Some families have been linked to this sector of activity for several generations, as is the case of Luís Silveirinha family, the current owners at that time.
Frutas Doces isn't the only factory of this kind but it is the only one operating exclusively in an artisan way.
There, Luís and his only employee (back in the day the team of workers was larger) were cooking the plums, adding fire to the already high summer temperatures of around 40 degrees Celsius. This has to be done when the plums are collected, preserving the fruits at their best, so there is no escape from hell. 
I recorded bits of our exchange of words while they were doing their job. At home, I worked with a collection of vinyl records and made a composition using ones and the others.
It was like I was creating the tone, a certain voice of the space, a construction that becomes a new reality of it. Like a register of its possible soundtrack, one which means from the space and is crystalized by the manipulation I make over my perceptions of that place during that period.
At the same time, I joined Beniko, a visual artist, for the creation of her performance to be presented as the opening of A Salto, and one thing influenced and inspired the other.
The piece I have made was presented as a live composition using the pre-recorded bits, at the terrace of the Fábrica in a late afternoon that was surprisingly mild.

I decided to name the recording of this piece For Beniko, as she was an inspiration and remains as a beautiful memory of the time spent in Elvas.

Listening to the piece is a way to go back in time, relocate there and remember the period of its creation. Sounds can bring images, other sounds, feelings, smells and taste to memory in a way that is so acute and live, even when the material that documents that certain reality is a construction of it, quite afar from its figurative or realistic representation.''
Diana Combo, January 2018

New from Sucata Tapes (Discrepant), comes a new project by Berlin-based artists Pedro Silva (turntable percussion) and Stefan Brunner (guitar and field recordings).
The Hour of the Wolf is an improvisational piece based on an associative storyline, written by Stefan Brunner and divided into 8 chapters. We invite you to look at the score http://hourofthewolf.org while you play this tape.

Recorded live @ Ausland Berlin.