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Nils Frahm veröffentlicht heute seine brandneue 5-Track-EP Encores 1.Nils Frahm hat die letzten zwei Jahre damit verbracht, sich sein neues Studio im Funkhaus Berlin zu bauen und dort Aufnahmen zu machen: In diesem Rahmen entstand nicht nur sein zuletzt veröffentlichtes, international gefeiertes siebtes Album All Melody, sondern obendrein etliche weitere Tracks, von denen fünf ab heute als - erste Zugabe erscheinen: die EP Encores 1.

Aus insgesamt 60 ersten Ideen und Songskizzen habe er schließlich jene 12 ausgewählt, die auf dem Album All Melody versammelt sind, was bedeutet, dass ein Vierfaches davon zunächst in der Schublade bleiben sollte: - Die Idee zu den Encores hatten wir dabei genau genommen schon vor All Melody: Nämlich drei Veröffentlichungen zu machen, von denen jede ihren eigenen musikalischen Stil hat und ihr eigenes Thema. Wir dachten dabei zunächst an ein Triple-Album.

Doch dann wurde All Melody immer größer und verdrängte diese ersten Konzeptideen , so Frahm. Als eine Art begleitender Anhang zu All Melody gedacht, wobei sich zum Beispiel das Stück - The Dane auf der aktuellen Welttournee bereits als absolutes Live-Highlight entpuppt hat, konzentriert sich Encores 1 durchweg auf akustische Aufnahmen mit zwei Instrumenten: (Solo-)Klavier und Harmonium. -

Ich glaube, man kann die Idee der Encores mit klanglichen Inseln vergleichen, die All Melody erweitern , sagt Nils Frahm weiter - und deutet damit an, dass die Geschichte von All Melody womöglich noch längst nicht zu Ende erzählt ist ...

Following the release of Encores 1 on June 1st, Nils Frahm releases of Encores 2, the second in a series of EPs following the release of the universally acclaimed album, All Melody, released in January of this year.

While Encores 1 focused on an acoustic pallet of sounds with just a solo piano and harmonium, Encores 2 explores a more ambient landscape from the All Melody sessions, the pinnacle of which is the astral 12 minute showpiece Spells. Recorded through an amplified stone well Frahm found on Mallorca, Encores 2 is at once unique but familiar; orbiting the universe of All Melody while inhabiting its own world.

'The idea behind Encores is one we had from before All Melody; to separate releases each with their own distinct musical style and theme, perhaps even as a triple album. But All Melody became larger than itself and took over any initial concepts. I think the idea of Encores is like musical islands that compliment All Melody'

Nils Frahm wraps up an exultant year with two shows at London's Hammersmith Apollo on December 4th and 5th, followed by a sold out four night residency where it all began at Funkhaus Berlin, December 11th-14th. The All Melody world tour continues apace in 2019 across Europe and the US, for all dates and tickets.

Belgium-based Composer Christina Vantzou's Fourth Full-length For Kranky Ventures Further Into The Uniquely Elusive And Evocative Mode Of Ambient Classical Minimalism Which Has Become Her Signature: A Fragile Synthesis Of Contemplative Drift, Heady Silences, And Muted Dissonance. In Regards To The New Album She Speaks Of Focusing Particular Attention On The Effects Of The Recordings On The Body, And Of 'directing Sound Perception Into An Inner Space.'
No. 4 Took Shape Across Roughly Two Years, Incorporating A Diverse Array Of Musical And Conceptual Collaborators, Including Fellow Kranky Artists Steve Hauschildt And John Also Bennett (of Forma) As Well As Angel Deradoorian (ex-dirty Projectors), Clarice Jensen, Beatrijs De Klerck, And Members Of Belgium's Echo Collective. During The Creation Process Vantzou Wanted To 'blur Lines Of Hierarchy,' And Thus Allowed All Ensemble Members And Technical Assistants To Add Or Delete Elements. Despite Such A Spectrum Of Input The Eleven Tracks Feel Distinctly Cohesive, Weaving Elegant Textures And Resonant Open Spaces Within A Twilit Landscape Of Eclectic Instrumentation: Piano, Harp, Vibraphone, Voice, Strings, Marimba, Synthesizers, Gong, And Bells.
Vantzou Describes The Recording Process As One Of Prepared Spontaneity: That Is, 'having Plenty Of Ideas Ready To Explore Going Into The Session, But With Enough Time To Depart From Those Ideas And See What Happens.' This Mindset Of Premeditated Exploration Informs The Album's Emotive Textural Intuition, With Hushed Drones And Delicate Gestures Eliding In The Periphery Of The Mix. She Cites Sleep And 'the Loosening Of Time' As Two Formative Practices In Her Private And Professional Life, Which Manifests In The Quietly Hallucinatory Properties Of Vantzou's Music. No. 4 Feels Both Endless And Ephemeral, Immersive And Immaterial. It's A Music Of Horizon Lines And Half-light, Mapped With Feeling And Foresight.
Recorded In New York City And Brussels. Mixed In Berlin.
A Portion Of This Work Was Funded By A Generous Grant From The Flemish Community In Belgium.

Steve Reich's Drumming is regarded as one of the most important musical works of the last century. Distilled through his studies of African percussion in Ghana during 1970 and Balinese gamelan music, Reich revolutionized our understanding of polyrhythms, sculpting a new sonic territory to illuminate the radical potential of Minimalism.Divided into four sections, performed without pause, Drumming is written for eight small tuned drums, three marimbas, three glockenspiels, piccolo and voice. The singers recite melodic patterns that mimic the sounds of the instruments, gradually rising to the surface and then fading out. The overall effect can be transfixing - pulling listeners into the rhythm and possessing a raw immediacy, directness and energy.The premier performances of Drumming took place in December 1971 in New York City - first at The Museum of Modern Art, then at Brooklyn Academy of Music and finally at Town Hall where this recording was made - and featured the composer along with a cast of longtime collaborators including Art Murphy, Steve Chambers, Russ Hartenberger, James Preiss, Jon Gibson, Joan La Barbara, Judy Sherman, Jay Clayton, Ben Harms, Gary Burke, Frank Maefsky and James Ogden.Originally released in 1972 by gallerist John Gibson in a small private edition, Drumming represents the culmination of Reich's investigation into rhythmic phase relationships and its early realization captures a remarkably organic feel, especially compared to the more widely known version on Deutsche Grammophon from 1974.This first-time vinyl reissue and first-time CD release has been carefully remastered from the original master tapes.

Like a blast of wind, lost in some forgotten place, Headflush is filled to the brim with emptiness. Recorded in a single afternoon in Brooklyn, New York Leila Bordreuil's debut album, a collection of unprocessed amplified cello works, explore the limits of tonal perception. The hushed stereophonics of the album could leave the listener wondering if they were perhaps listening to amplified smoke; twisting, turning, and dancing in some strange light. Adrift and strikingly original, Headflush is the sound of the artist hidden in sound, absent in a bleak bliss.

Leila Bordreuil is a Brooklyn-based cellist, composer, and sound-artist from France. She accesses concepts as diverse as jazz, contemporary classical, noise, and experimental traditions but adheres to her own vision of sound. The New York Times has described her work as "steadily scathing music, favoring long and corrosive atonalities". Driven by a fierce interest in pure sound and inherent texture, Bordreuil challenges conventional cello practice through extreme extended techniques and amplification methods. Her composed works frequently incorporate sound-spatialization by way of site-specific pieces and multichannel installations.

WRWTFWW Records is blissful to announce the expanded reissue of one of the most fascinating Japanese ambient/environmental albums ever made, NOVA + 4 by Yutaka Hirose. The double LP includes the album known as Soundscape 2: Nova, sourced from its original masters, as well as 50 minutes of never-released-before recordings. It comes in a beautiful gatefold sleeve, packed with liner notes from the artist in English and Japanese. NOVA + 4 is also available on double digipack CD.

Initially released in 1986 as part of the Soundscape series* commissioned by Misawa Home Corporation for use in their prefabricated houses, Yutaka Hirose's NOVA has grown to become a mythical piece of the Japanese minimalist/ambient/environmental scene of the eighties. Initiated around the enchanting landscapes of the two first tracks recorded for the project, "Nova" and "Epilogue", Yutaka Hirose's magnum opus serenely blends vintage synth with nature sounds, exploring soothing palettes and organic backdrops. For "Slow Sky", Hirose explains he "went for a pointillism-like sound, and tried to express a scenery of awakening, where the portal of a heart is opening up", while on "Humming The Sea", he "tried to compose a kind of music that expresses the daily, lazy life of child-like innocence in a summer vacation in some small town."

The bonus LP gathers four long unreleased pieces created around the same period of time for installations, described by Yutaka Hirose as "not music per se but rather sound sculptures", and including the haunting "Shadow Of A Water Droplet" which was recorded for an Ikebana exhibition.

All in all, NOVA + 4 is a transcendent experience of nature in the urban context, an oeuvre which, much like Midori Takada's Through The Looking Glass or Satoshi Ashikawa's Still Way, holds the power to appease the soul in turbulent times. As one inspired YouTube commenter once said when describing Yutaka Hirose's masterstroke: "I can't tell if the birds are singing inside or outside! Thank you!"

*The Soundscape series also includes Hiroshi Yoshimura's Surround album.

23 minute drone piece. Another stunning extraction from the REX ILLUSIVII archive.
Previously Unreleased. 1 sided with embossed insert. Very limited. Essential.

Omena travels south of the Mediterranean Sea, antique maps and compass in hand, for the release of Parviz's Zerzura EP.

An expedition to the eponymous mythical oasis, west of the Nile river, stirring "the passion of men", as St-Exupery would put it.
Four songs of romance and reverie, taking you through a dizzying jazz journey, full of twists and turns; starting with emboldened trumpets, only to end on a handful of quaint piano notes.
As dusk settles upon the dunes, the mirage has now vanished, and the forlorn hope turns into a soul-searching journey.

Le Raccourci is a welcome introduction to the world of modern classical identity Sebastian Gandera. The impressionist landscapes of a sensitive soul self-reflecting, these miniature compositions alternate across a rudimentary set up of piano, field recorder, sampler and four track. Melancholic utterings hastily captured some 100km east of Paris. Classically trained by the same teacher as his parents, Gandera first began recording in the confines of his university dorm room, inspired by a C60 from friend and future collaborator Bernard Odot (A Gethsémani). Humbly existing without sparing a thought to music industry or career, Gandera's personal effects surfaced via the European and US cassette networks from 1988 to 1994. Impressively accomplished for the DIY scene they orbited, these tapes were issued in scant quantities, rendering his pieces as private secrets shared and duplicated in small concentric circles. Aside from a sole, avowedly traumatic performance, the material was never shared in a live context.

“While he was still just a young adolescent who had perfected his drum technique under the benevolent wing of Kenny Clarke, the Club Saint-Germain liked to present Jacques Thollot as a prodigy capable of holding his own with the famous jazz musicians who came through Paris. It was there that Eric Dolphy immediately noticed him, and from René Thomas to Walt Dickerson, everyone wanted to work with him.

However, it was during the 1960s, first with Jef Gilson then François Tusques, Barney Wilen, Joachim Kühn and Steve Lacy, that the decisive encounters occurred. Without forgetting that he joined, in 1968, one of Don Cherry’s groups, went on tour with them and came back transformed. That being said, to present Jacques Thollot as an in-demand virtuoso who could adapt to any circumstances would be to ignore both his demanding compositions and his complete freedom from stylistic boundaries.

To prove the point, and although he had already featured on some cult albums (Our Meanings And Our Feelings by Michel Portal, Monkey-PockieBoo by Sonny Sharrock), the first album under his own name, recorded in 1971 for producer Gérard Terronès, who gave him free rein, would turn out to be an unexpected, unclassifiable and astounding work. Entitled "Quand le son devient aigu, jeter la girafe à la mer", (when the sound gets high-pitched, throw the giraffe into the sea) it is an extraordinary sonic collage, created from discrete re-recordings and using just a handful of instruments including drums and piano. The result is a miracle, though the economy of means the production technique succeeds in putting the spotlight on the oddly elaborate compositions under an enigmatic but well-chosen title, borrowed from poet Henri Michaux. It puts into words the mysteries of a fragile melancholic universe which can be compared to another album by an iconoclastic drummer: The End Of An Ear by Robert Wyatt. The difference being the highly personal elements which shine through the French musician’s album, clearly drawn from listening intently to classics from Debussy, Ravel and Barraqué (whom he knew), a seam which he would continue to mine on his equally excellent following albums Watch Devil Go and Cinq Hops.

Yes, it is true that Jacques Thollot recorded rarely under his own name (five albums during his lifetime), but what marvellous albums they are!”

Contemporary genius James Ferraro pushes his hybrid style to beautiful effect with a 62 minute
opus striking an elegiac nerve of brilliantly slippery soundtrack music that short circuits the
difference between Philip Glass’ music for ‘Koyaanisqatsi’, the kind of schlocky tones you might
expect on a Graham Hancock video about ancient civilisations and some Hans Zimmer score for a
wide-eyed Spielberg epic, as if re-imagined by 0PN and Kara-Lis Coverdale.
The piece breaks down into 11 parts, conducting a spellbinding traverse from the primal,
metallic noise and buoyant chorale of ‘Embryo’ to the bittersweet curdle of ’Xerces Blau’, taking
in spectacular FM synthesis sound designs with the transitions between ‘Omega Generation’
and ‘Cyber Seed’ or the perceptive depth to ‘Recycled Sky that show off an enhanced grasp of
production nous, all while still allowing for that Mona Lisa smirk to his sound with the title and
EDM nods in ‘Malign Blossom’.
As ever with Ferraro, though, not all is quite what it seems. He somehow manages to highlight an
ambiguity between the objective reality and its mediated, subjective reflection, with a music that
speaks to the impending, heightening drama of the situation, but also the saccharine melodrama
of weepy emoji-adorned social media statuses (#Attenborough) and the well-meaning but
ultimately piecemeal measures taken to avoid the inevitable

* With ‘CHORDS’, the Stockholm-based musician and composer Ellen Arkbro returns to Subtext, following her acclaimed debut album ‘For Organ and Brass’.

* This new longplayer sees Arkbro adopt a more minimalist approach, focusing on the immediate qualities of sound and elegantly expanding the tonal capacities of acoustic instruments using precise, subtle synthesis.

* Composed of a carefully selected combination of tones, ‘CHORDS’ stretches, extends and obscures the timbral character of the instruments it is performed on.

* Across both tracks, Arkbro examines the sonic materiality and harmonic quality of chords. She considers how the compositions occupy space rather than time – transposing theoretical possibilities into the phenomenal realm.

* As a part of Arkbro’s systematic investigation of harmonic sound, ‘CHORDS’ proffers a divergence from conventional ways of listening. This work allows for a form of listening which goes beyond the mere reception of outer stimuli in letting the listener experience their role as active, and as embodying the sound itself. Space rather than time becomes the primary locus of listening as subtle movement of head and body reveals the inner complexities of ‘CHORDS’.

* ‘CHORDS for organ’ was first envisaged in Stockholm’s brutalist Västerort Church. With an interest in tuned intervals and chords, Arkbro sought out particular harmonicities before synthetically supplying additional harmonic content and texture. To pure fifths and octaves she adds synthesised natural sevenths and thirds, creating a heightened sense of harmonic stability.

* While this incarnation of ‘CHORDS for organ’ was recorded in Malmö’s St. John’s Church, this work is site-specific, requiring Arkbro to seek out appropriate chordal orchestrations in registers and tunings on each respective instrument, when performing live.

* ‘CHORDS for organ’ has been adapted and performed in Martin Luther Kirche in Dresden, Civico Tempio Di San Sebastiano in Milan, First Unitarian Church in Brooklyn, Lutherse Kerk in Den Haag and Sint-Jan de Doperkerk in Leuven.

* In the corresponding ‘CHORDS for guitar’ Arkbro applies her process to a more widely accessible instrument. Employing a fine-tuned Karplus-Strong synthesis, she supplements additional tones to create a harmonically controlled blend of the acoustic and the synthetic.

* ‘CHORDS for guitar’ places the listener at the center of a cyclically repeating complex of harmonic strings in wave-like motion. Attention is synchronously fixed with the sound as this chordal harmony rises, vibrates, and purrs away, before rising again.
* As she transposes these ideas across organ and guitar, Arkbro teases out their affinities and dissimilarities, and, in doing so, effectively highlights the harmonic character of the work as a whole.

* In Arkbro’s words: “I listen to these chords with an interest in them as complete events in themselves and without any particular attention to their sequential occurrence. To me, chords with a high degree of harmonic clarity display diamond-like qualities. There is sense of geometric complexity to the experience – both in very concrete terms, with regards to the ways in which these chords merge with acoustic space, but also on a more subtle level, on which harmony almost feels like space, and where the manifold ways of hearing these sounds spontaneously translates into modes of spatial awareness.”

* About the artist

* Ellen Arkbro is a composer and sound artist working with intervallic harmony in a context of high degree precision tuning. Her work includes long duration compositions for traditional acoustic instruments as well as for algorithmic sound synthesis.

* Arkbro’s music is heavily informed by her studies in intonation with La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela in New York, and with Marc Sabat in Berlin. She studied composition at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and at Universität Der Künste in Berlin.

* ‘For Organ and Brass’ presented recordings of her compositions for renaissance organ, horn, trombone and microtonal tuba. It was praised by The Wire, Tiny Mix Tapes, Stray Landings and XLR8R.

* Since the release of ‘For Organ and Brass’, Arkbro has been developing new work for harmonic wave-field synthesis at New York’s world-renowned Experimental Media and Performing Arts Centre.

* She has also performed her work for acoustic instruments and synthetic tones at prestigious venues, institutions and festivals internationally, realizing site-specific adaptations in Milan, Paris, New York, San Fransisco, Dresden, Copenhagen, Budapest, The Hague and Leuven.

* Arkbro and Sarah Davachi performed their adaptation of a piece by the 17th century composer William Lawes for two organ players at the Third Edition festival in Stockholm.

* Most recently, legendary pianists Mats Persson and Kristine Scholz commissioned a work from Arkbro for precision-tuned clavichord and hammarklaver, which debuted at their studio in Stockholm.

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

The mysterious Teisco LP is perhaps the most bizarre artefact to emerge from the phenomenal world of Italian Library music. Originally scored for a 1978 RAI television documentary, the album titled Tuscan Castle and Country Seat conforms to nothing you know or understand about library music. Studying composition under maestro A.R Luciani, the young Teisco composed innovative home studio recordings that parallel the outsider technique of French soundtrack composer Francois De Roubaix. With little resemblance to the standard cues usually found on library music LPs, this is stoned underground psychedelic music of the most eccentric kind. Imagine lyrical Moog oscillations drifting loosely over baroque and hallucinogenic atmospheres, or alternatively, think the DIY guitar jamming of the Velvet Underground and Dream Syndicate mixed with the electronics of some lesser-known Krautrock band. Wherever this recording sits among the dusty shelves of forgotten stock music, it is highly personal, deeply rewarding and without a doubt the most mind-blowing library record you will hear this year. This record is soon to be an outsider classic.

Tim’s trash-opera ‘Time With People’ continues to be
performed around the world, past champions of which include
Object Collection, a.pe.ri.od.ic, Edges, and NEC, and he is a
co-curator of London’s longstanding ‘Music We’d Like To Hear’
series. Despite decades of fiercely independent production,
this is his only piece conceived of first and foremost as an
album.
'Pleasure Island' [SLP053] is available from 23rd May 2019 on
LP and download. Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi. Artwork by
Rick Pushinsky. Distributed by Boomkat.


'Pleasure Island' is British composer Tim Parkinson’s
disquieting and joyous Slip debut: play time in end times.
Titled after the Disney adaptation of ‘Paese dei balocchi’ (or
the Land of Toys) in Carlo Collodi’s ‘The Adventures of
Pinocchio’ (1883), 'Pleasure Island' is a metaphysical
playground of organic and digital cohabitation, its inhabitants
pacified by toys and comforts.
Alongside Dawn Bothwell, Suze Whaites, Laurie Tompkins, and
Francesca Fargion, Parkinson exerts an uncannily emotional
pull from an unlikely but potent alliance of ultra-minimal
aesthetics, dead-beat drums, junk electronics, and mechanised
mantras.
Voices are hemmed in by electronic sound. People buffeted
around by machines.
Words surrounded by garlands of digital
interference. Time repackaged as countdown.

LP comes pressed on 180 gram vinyl.

On 29th March, Reclaimed Records are proud to present pianist and composer Taz Modi's elegant debut solo album 'Reclaimed Goods', which brings to light his love for contemporary composition – something which may come as a surprise to fans of soulful dance music heavyweights Submotion Orchestra, and jazz trumpeter Matthew Halsall's Gondwana Orchestra - for both of whom Modi plays keys/piano. Whilst also gaining further demand as a musician, including for A-list studio and live work for funk 'n' soul legends Dennis Coffey and Fred Wesley, plus beatmaker heroes DJ Shadow and Mr. Scruff, Modi has been discreetly pursuing an additional passion during down-time for years – and his prolonged, patient crafting shows in the record's tasteful and beautiful spirit.

Calling to mind the piano music of Cage, Frahm, Hauchska, Sakamoto and Aphex Twin, 'Reclaimed Goods' is a graceful affair, in which lush strings and gently pulsing rhythmic flutters sit alongside prepared and plaintive piano, with the tunes ranging from sparse beauty to weightier moments of electronic rhythms. This allows the music to appeal equally to fans of heavier electronic acts such as Cinematic Orchestra and Bonobo, to devotees of ambient and contemporary classical music, as well as those familiar with Modi's work with both Submotion Orchestra and Matthew Halsall.



Positive review by John Lewis for the Guardian's contemporary music album of the month section: 'An even more effective exploration of solo piano territory comes from British pianist Taz Modi; best known for his work in various jazz and funk ensembles, his solo debut Reclaimed Goods features a host of introspective instrumentals that are reminiscent, variously, of Ryuichi Sakamoto (Libra), Nils Frahm (Time to Practise, Crystalline) and Hauschka (Ethical Tourist).

Featured in Music Week's Tastemaker section, 15th April 2019 with Haydon Spenceley: 'Listen to it; it'll lift you high above our care-worn world to a place of safety and grace'.

First single 'Ethical Tourist' featured as a premiere on 18 Feb 2019

Second single 'Crystalline' premiered on Boiler Room's 4:3 video channel, 12 Mar 2019

'A kaleidoscopic album that seductively pulls you in and leaves you curious about the inspiration behind the songs' - AAA Music

Positive review on Magazine Sixty

Support on Soho Radio, Dom Servini

Played on Worldwide FM, April 3, Gondwana Records show

Featured on Bleep's Spotify playlist 'For Your Ears and For Your Head', April 2019

Played by Mischa Kreiskott, NDR Radio Germany, ndr.de

Worldwide FM's Gondwana Records show on May 1 featured an interview with Taz Modi, along with multiple tracks from the album.



Musicians:

Taz Modi – piano, keyboards/electronics, arrangement and production

Natalie Purton – violin + viola

Liz Hanks – cello

Margit van der Zwan – cello

Seb Hankins and Jon Scott – drums

HATEAU: O you singer, solitary, singing by yourself—projecting me;
O solitary me, listening—nevermore shall I cease perpetuating you;
Never more shall I escape, never more the reverberations,
Never more the cries of unsatisfied love be absent from me,
Never again leave me to be the peaceful child I was before what there, in the night,
By the sea, under the yellow and sagging moon,
The messenger there arous’d—the fire, the sweet hell within,
The unknown want, the destiny of me. O give me the clew! (it lurks in the night here somewhere,) O if I am to have so much, let me have more!

Alt-rock icon Josephine Wiggs is best known as bassist in The Breeders, rising to superstardom in the '90s and continuing to draw crowds and critical acclaim in the wake of their 2018 album All Nerve.
But over the years, Wiggs has released several of her own albums, all of which delightfully defy genre. Her new solo record, We Fall, is both a departure and a distillation of an enduring personal aesthetic: moody and spare but also melodic, at once contemporary and nostalgic.
Some influences are clear: We Fall is reminiscent of the experimentalism of Brian Eno's Another Green World and recalls the delicate, languid minimalism of Harold Budd. The album's classical inflections, sharpened by a dialog with electronic elements, evoke Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto. This is an album of juxtapositions: minimalist at moments, richly layered in others; ambient while also sharply focused; melancholy yet resolute.
There's something both dreamy and scientific about We Fall. Wiggs, an enthusiastic amateur mycologist, has an impressive collection of mushrooms she's photographed in her travels. We Fall could be the soundtrack to what can't be captured in a single photo—the growth and decay of miraculous creatures that a less astute and sensitive eye might overlook entirely.
Composed, performed and recorded by Wiggs, with drums and electronics by her longtime friend and collaborator Jon Mattock (Spacemen 3, Spirit , We Fall is a lyrical, bucolic album with an undercurrent of disquiet. Think of a wintertime walk in the woods as dusk falls too soon. True to the classic album form, the 10 almost entirely instrumental tracks on We Fall form a compelling whole: a crystalline meditation on paths not taken and words unspoken, an elegy for moments lost and last embraces.
JOSEPHINE WIGGS BIO
Josephine Wiggs grew up in an unconventional family north of London. Returning home from a summer holiday with a donkey riding in the back of the family's 1927 Rolls Royce was not considered at all bizarre. Wiggs studied cello as a child, segued from college in London to undertake a master's degree in Philosophy, and then, in a move few would have predicted, joined a rock band.
After making three albums with The Perfect Disaster (1987-1990), Wiggs left to join Kim Deal (Pixies), Tanya Donelly (Throwing Muses), and Britt Walford (Slint) in forming indie supergroup The Breeders, whose debut album Pod came out in 1990. Following a shift in line-up—with Kelley Deal on guitar and new drummer Jim Macpherson—The Breeders released Last Splash in 1993; with its hit single 'Cannonball' and 'Divine Hammer,' they became alternative rock superstars.
During the same period, Wiggs released two lower-key albums with Jon Mattock (Spacemen 3, Spiritualized): Nude Nudes (1992) under the name Honey Tongue, and Bon Bon Lifestyle (1996) using the moniker The Josephine Wiggs Experience. She also recorded and produced Klassics with a K (1996), the beloved and only album by the Kostars (Luscious Jackson's Jill Cunniff and Vivian Trimble). During a brief run of shows, Wiggs joined the band on drums, showing her range of musical ability.
In the late '90s Wiggs collaborated with Vivian Trimble as Dusty Trails, whose eponymous 2000 album is an homage to neo-noir soundtracks, spaghetti westerns, and Gallic pop. Time Out described it as 'one of the most subtly suggestive, understatedly elegant...things likely to have caressed your cochlea in years.'
Allusions in Dusty Trails to film music foreshadowed the next stage of Wiggs's career, writing scores for feature and documentary films—from Happy Accidents by Brad Anderson in 1999 to Appropriate Behaviour by Desiree Akhavan in 2014. Her new album We Fall began as a suite of short pieces for the documentary film Built on Narrow Land. Wiggs has also composed and recorded music to accompany live performance and short films by the acclaimed Brazilian choreographers chameckilerner.
In 2013, following the 20th anniversary of Last Splash, the classic lineup of The Breeders reunited for a world tour. Five years later in 2018 they released All Nerve, with Wiggs co-writing two songs and singing lead on the standout track 'Metagoth.' We Fall, Josephine Wiggs' third album of her own design and ninth album in a career spanning three decades, will be released on vinyl and available for download and streaming on April 12, 2019 by Sound of Sinners.

The title of this new album by Vanessa Wagner refers to John Cage's Imaginary Landscape (1939), one of the first works to use electronic devices. After all, when Cage wrote his manifesto The Future of Music in the late 1930s, he already knew that the merging of written and electronic music would bear exquisite fruits. The album is the lone protuberance from 2016 album Statea, on which Wagner, alongside producer Murcof (she on the piano, him manning the machines), reinterpreted pieces from the fathers of minimalism: Arvo Pärt, Philip Glass, Morton Feldman, Erik Satie, or John Cage. The same secret conversation between the artist, the piano, and contemporary music is now continuing on Inland. Making more with less, the album turns long harmonies into multicolored prisms, miniature detailed embroidery, sighs and breaths, syncopated or restrained chants. In this brave new world, sounds exist for themselves, and silence comes to life. While the repertoire remains in the minimalistic vein, it gives priority to living composers, of which almost all are still active.

Romolo Grano (composer) and Gianni Oddi (arranger and conductor) join forces for a trippy and funky journey exploring both the heart of Africa, and its deepest mysteries.
Originally composed for an Italian TV Documentary in 1975 and released on a very rare and sought after 7-inch on the Ricordi Label (SRL 10781), this score finally shines again in a new guise thanks to a collaboration between Four Flies Records and the renowned music publisher Flipper Music.
Besides the two tracks pressed on the original 45, we present here for the first time three new cuts that were recently discovered in the archives. Edda Dell'Orso lends her voice on the leading track "Kukumbe" with her unique scat style, but also sings on "Kilimangiaro" – a dreamy cinematic number spiced with cosmic electronics, and presented here as a double version; the newest powered by the spoken words of an unidentified Italian actress. The biggest surprise is "Nairobi", a wonderful mid-tempo track with a groovy bassline similar to "Kukumbe" – a gem we've missed for way too long. And what about "Wayombe"? A lovely afro-funk downtempo cut driven by the great Oscar Valdambrini's trumpet, in the style of Gianni Oddi's most wanted, like "Ho incontrato un'ombra" and "Dreamin'". An unmissable beauty for any serious DJ/collector.








[d] 4. Kilimangiaro (Spoken Alt. Take) [feat. Gianni Oddi & Edda Dell'Orso]

A new Four Flies 45s series, properly designed for DJs, producers, and worldwide music lovers, and focused on the very best Italian library grooves from the golden age, finally released on 7-inch vinyl for the very first time. This first batch was made possible by a collaboration with our friends at Flipper Music, which gave us complete access to eight killer gems that will surely burn your dancefloor, selected from the most sought after CANOPO/DENEB/FLOWER/NUOVA IDEA/OCTOPUS albums.
Here we have two crazy rhythmic cuts by Paolo Ferrara, sourced from the super-rare library LP, "Ritmico", on Flower Records. AFROTHEME is a deep afro-jazz funky track with powerful bass lines, hot percussion, and psychedelic wah-wah guitars. PERCUSSION BLUES, on the flip side, blends African and Brazilian sounds with a unique samba groove, and a Fender Rhodes which is the icing on the cake.

A new Four Flies 45s series, properly designed for DJs, producers, and worldwide music lovers, and focused on the very best Italian library grooves from the golden age, finally released on 7-inch vinyl for the very first time. This first batch was made possible by a collaboration with our friends at Flipper Music, which gave us complete access to eight killer gems that will surely burn your dancefloor, selected from the most sought after CANOPO/DENEB/FLOWER/NUOVA IDEA/OCTOPUS albums.
Here we have two great tracks full of crazy breaks and ready to sample. BATERASSO by Daniela Casa is a drum & bass funk banger… a pure gem enhanced with insane hand clapping. On the flip side is CANOTTAGGIO by Remigio Ducros – the best funk tune from the LO SPORT double LP – an enthralling and totally infectious beat.

A new Four Flies 45s series, properly designed for DJs, producers, and worldwide music lovers, and focused on the very best Italian library grooves from the golden age, finally released on 7-inch vinyl for the very first time. This first batch was made possible by a collaboration with our friends at Flipper Music, which gave us complete access to eight killer gems that will surely burn your dancefloor, selected from the most sought after CANOPO/DENEB/FLOWER/NUOVA IDEA/OCTOPUS albums.
This last episode starts with the wildest track off the legendary "Bass Modulations" LP from Octopus Records, PROPERLY, by bass player and composer Piero Montanari. This is an afro-rock banger with amazing percussion, drum breaks, and fuzz guitars. On the other side we present ACROMATIC, by drummer ROBERTO CONRADO – a funky mid-tempo number driven by guitar riffs and a wonderful prog flute solo. Two terrific beats targeted for your psychedelic dancefloor.

A new Four Flies 45s series, properly designed for DJs, producers, and worldwide music lovers, and focused on the very best Italian library grooves from the golden age, finally released on 7-inch vinyl for the very first time. This first batch was made possible by a collaboration with our friends at Flipper Music, which gave us complete access to eight killer gems that will surely burn your dancefloor, selected from the most sought after DENEB/FLIRT/FLOWER/NUOVA IDEA/UNION albums.
Here we have the ultimate Italian library breakbeat: wicked synths, and cosmic electronic effects, marks the experimental hip hop beats of RULLIO by Ugo Busoni, sourced from the "Valvole" LP on the Nuova Idea label. On the flip side, one will find another rhythmic banger, VIOLENZA by Gerardo Iacoucci, taken from "L'Avventura N. 2″ – a psychedelic b-boy break with heavy bassline and percussive piano, echoing an urban soundscape full of drama and suspense.

Charlemagne Palestine's majestic 1976 work The Golden Mean, originally performed by Palestine on two pianos, is revisited here as The Goldennn Meeenn + Sheeenn, a new collaboration between Palestine and enigmatic musician Rrose.

March 2018: the Festival Variations in Nantes commissions Charlemagne Palestine to reinvent The Golden Mean for two pianists. Palestine chose Rrose to join him in this new rendition of the work. Together, they performed The Goldennn Meeenn + Sheeenn onstage at the main opera house in Nantes -- the sumptuous Théâtre Graslin – with extraordinary results.

The concept of the 'golden mean' goes back to the roots of mathematics, and ancient Greek philosophy. It is an important work in the Palestine mythos, embodying his total immersion in the power of the interval. "It's probably his most systematic work . . . a step-by-step journey through the intervals of the octave," says Rrose. "When we rehearsed it, we were noticing how each interval is like a universe of its own -- with its own history, emotions, and sonic qualities all mixed up together. Every time you move from one interval to the next, it feels like moving into another world."

"I love the interval," Palestine told me in a recent interview. "I love when it plays with itself. That's what I learned from organ musics too. You can just do an interval, and if they're just slightly out of tune with each other, then they shimmer . . . they play themselves. And it sounds like somebody's playing lots of notes. In your ear, it's like an aural phenomenon . . . that's my whole concept. I make something that then does itself somehow. It continues by itself. So I don't have to always be there. And that makes my music a little less egocentric. So there's more space. Also for the listener — the ear plays with these things, and you're not always being given orders. Your ear isn't given orders all the time of what to listen for."

Beautifully recorded, with mastering by Rashad Becker of Dubplates and Mastering, The Golden Mean + Sheeenn feels expansive, radiant and hypnotic, opening new ears to its enduring mystery.

Rrose adds this note to listeners: "Do not focus your attention on the notes being played, but on the ocean of overtones swimming, suspended, overhead, brushing against one another, kissing one another, melting into one another."

We discovered the church in Kyjatice three years ago during our irregular wanderings across southern Slovakia. We were completely enchanted by this well hidden medieval building standing over the village, surrounded by sunny fields and dense forests. We asked ourselves how we could bring life again to the church, how we could fill it with sound which would not interrupt the contemplative character of that specific environment.

The result should have been the sound intervention which would awaken and reveal every corner inside of the church. Just for a moment, we wanted to caress all the monumental fresco paintings, creaking wooden benches, pipes of howling organ, hand painted ceiling and carved saints by sound which could release them from the long guarded and abandoned silence.

In the two compositions for vibraphone she wrote for mappa editions, Sarah Hennies analyses the psychoacustic dimensions of space. Sisters is a sonic exploration which opens the space between the rough walls of the church, an infinite pulse penetrating into every crinkle, hole and fold. In the sense of her quote "When you pulse one note on a vibraphone for 20 minutes, why do you need to do anything else?", we witness the fullness of one single tone, disappearing resonances and gentle changes, which reveal various performative, spatial, psychic and listening situations.

Sisters was a challenge for Lenka Novosedlíková, who is slovak composer, performer and organizer. Novosedlíková is well known distinctive figure of the youngest composers generation in Slovakia. She moves across contemporary composition and interpretation (percussion instruments), improv or electronic music projects. She is member of Cluster Ensemble which is renowned Slovak ensemble with many international achievements.

The church in Kyjatice is a sacred place of mappa editions. It blesses all our activities. It's a place of inevitable distance from our everyday life. Here we find distance from our everyday lives.

By buying a vinyl you contribute to better accessibility and maintenance of this significant Roman-gothic monument with valuable fresco decorations.

Deaf Center's second album Owl Splinters from 2011 gets a lavish re-packaging as a gatefold 2LP. It includes the Svarte Greiner re-interpretation album Twin as well as new cover-art with photos by cinematographer Joshua Zucker-Pluda.

Owl Splinters was originally released 6 years after DC's debut Pale Ravine. In contrast to their previous work, it was recorded in a studio setting (Nils Frahm's Durton studio, to be exact), and the lo-fidelity, haphazard techniques of their early recordings where all but gone. With the benefit of high-end engineering and analogue equipment, Erik K Skodvin and Otto A Totland's murky compositions were transformed from sketches into glorious widescreen spectacles. 8 years later the album sounds as moving, beautiful and obscure as it did back then.

Twin is a 40 minute interpretation of Owl Splinters by Erik K Skodvin under his Svarte Greiner alias. The record takes the long-form, ghostly sections of it's parent album and expands them into crushing drone epics. The two parts are cut into four sections, pieced together by used and unused material from the recording session. It first appeared in form of an accompaniement CD that came with the initial 100 LPs of Owl Splinters. This is the first time Twin appears on vinyl.

Cut Off is the result of a dialog between the photographer Dmitri Markov and the composer / musician Aries Mond initiated by IIKKI, between October 2017 and December 2018. The complete project works in two separate physical imprints: a book and a disc (vinyl or cd).

After his first works based on field recording, Aries Mond has started to work with music instruments in 2012. Mostly focused on piano. His first album has been released on eilean rec. in 2018 and Cut Off is his second album. Aries Mond also composes music for contemporary theatre. He lives in southern of France, in the Pyrénées.

Dmitri Markov is a russian documental photographer, social worker, volunteer and journalist from Pskov. His only camera is an iPhone, with a sharp eye he documents life in the ex-URSS without any artifice. His works are simply some everyday life’s scenes with a particular sense of beauty and a wonderful talent. He has been laureate from many international competitions. Cut Off is his second book.

"I like traveling around the country and taking pictures of ordinary lives of ordinary people. It is sad to hear people say that I capture the seamy side. I don’t see anything horrible in these pictures of mine. They are not just 'social photography', as many people see them, they are my personal encounters and scenes. Every added picture is like another chapter in my own history. And when I get asked why I go after 'life’s unpleasant side', I reply: 'Because I’m part of it.'"

Fine Art Book, Ltd. to 500 copies: Hardcover book printed on Munken Print White main 1.8 115g/m2 // 96 pages, 24cm x 22cm, 54 photos // Logo, slot and circle embossed // Matt laminate soft touch finish + selective varnish // Hand-numbered, hand-stamped

Deaf Center's second album Owl Splinters from 2011 gets a lavish re-packaging as a gatefold 2LP. It includes the Svarte Greiner re-interpretation album Twin as well as new cover-art with photos by cinematographer Joshua Zucker-Pluda.

Owl Splinters was originally released 6 years after DC's debut Pale Ravine. In contrast to their previous work, it was recorded in a studio setting (Nils Frahm's Durton studio, to be exact), and the lo-fidelity, haphazard techniques of their early recordings where all but gone. With the benefit of high-end engineering and analogue equipment, Erik K Skodvin and Otto A Totland's murky compositions were transformed from sketches into glorious widescreen spectacles. 8 years later the album sounds as moving, beautiful and obscure as it did back then.

Twin is a 40 minute interpretation of Owl Splinters by Erik K Skodvin under his Svarte Greiner alias. The record takes the long-form, ghostly sections of it's parent album and expands them into crushing drone epics. The two parts are cut into four sections, pieced together by used and unused material from the recording session. It first appeared in form of an accompaniement CD that came with the initial 100 LPs of Owl Splinters. This is the first time Twin appears on vinyl.

Maryanne Amacher (1938 - 2009) was a composer of large-scale fixed-duration sound
installations and a highly original thinker in the areas of perception, sound spatialization, creative
intelligence, and aural architecture. She is frequently cited as a pioneer of what has come to
be called “sound art,” although her thought and creative practice consistently challenge key
assumptions about the capacities and limitations of the genre.
Amacher’s work anticipates some of the most important developments in network culture, media
arts, acoustic ecology, and sound studies, yet due to its expansive interdisciplinary nature it
has rarely been documented. Following two CDs for Tzadik and her inclusion in the monumental
collection OHM: The Early Gurus Of Electronic Music (1948-1980), this publication of Amacher’s
1991 piece Petra marks her first commercially available instrumental work as well as the first time
her music has ever been available on vinyl.
Petra was originally commissioned for the ISCM World Music Days in Switzerland. Written for two
pianos, the piece is a unique example of Amacher’s late work, a direct extension of her working
methodologies for electronic composition taken into an acoustic realm that alludes to the music
of Giacinto Scelsi and Galina Ustvolskaya. Petra is a sweeping, durational work based on both
Amacher’s impressions of the church in Boswil where the piece was premiered and science-
fiction writer Greg Bear’s short story of the same name, in which gargoyles come to life and breed
with humans in a post-apocalyptic Notre Dame.
This solemn interpretation of Petra was recorded at its 2017 American premiere at New York’s St.
Peter’s Episcopal Church with pianists Marianne Schroeder, who originally performed the piece
alongside Amacher in 1991, and Stefan Tcherepnin, who performed it alongside Schroeder in
2012 at Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin. Weighing tranquilizing passages of glacially-paced serenity
against stretches of dilapidated, jagged dissonance, the recording illuminates a crucial node in the
constellation of Amacher’s enigmatic oeuvre.

Unique, engrossing room recordings of Kaliff pipe organ dirges played by composer, sound technician and multi-instrumentalist Kali Malone, released earlier on in the year on a super limited
tape run and now finally pressed up on vinyl for wider public consumption. Very little we've heard in 2018 has affected us as much as this elusive, magical record.
In four pieces recorded at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, it's the characteristics of the room itself that add a crucial dimension to these pieces, sounding worlds away from the
cavernous reverb associated with church acoustics. Instead, these dry recordings bring out all the fragile warmth and intimacy that's rarely associated with this multi-faceted, sacred instrument.
Removed from its traditional, godly environment - the effect is startling.
The magick also lies in Kali's capacity to produce rich, swirling, gaseous overtones. There's a preternatural sensitivity toward these peripheral sounds, coaxing intoxicating spectrums of
quivering hi-register fluctuations and sonorous bass at a pace that draws the listener in and seems to reduce everything around to a meditative serenity.
Organ Dirges stands in a line of records borne out of serendipity rather than any planned, grandiose gesture. Recorded more or less off the cuff over just a few days onto a portable zoom, it's a testament to Kali's compositional instinct that these 4 pieces sound so resolved and purposeful. Every small detail sounds intentional without being controlled, right down to the almost unbearably moving disintegration at the very end of closing piece 'Fifth Worship', like a slow descent into darkness.
It's interesting to note that Organ Dirges was first played at a huge iron mine, the acoustics once again altering the perception of these alchemical pieces. Indeed, we can attest to the contrasting
experience we've had playing this record in different spaces - on headphones, quietly at night in small rooms, loud on monitors in large spaces - always revealing something new, always transporting us somewhere else.

When Theodore Adorno opposed the new musical paths heard in concerto rooms, in his 'Philosophy of Modern Music', to those of mass culture, he did not anticipated that from this antagonism would emerge artist that, from the new resources of the so called classical music, would produce a sound capable to encompass and instruct itself through the musical scenario consumed by the masses. The XXI century music is born with the sign of the harmonization of these two tendencies that the former century insisted in separate and oppose. Among the artists in the threshold of the millennium, Vitor Araujo is one of those capable of articulate the Brazilian and world- wide classical music avant-garde with the undisputable artistic conquests of experimental-pop music of his time. A lot of this is due to the formality of his musical studies. In his childhood years, the prospect of a concert pianist career was pervading. This took him to the study of the compositional skeleton of the great masters from Bach to Ba´rtok, making it possible an intimate proximity with the noted production of music and its formal structures. Later, this experience was of great value for a singular contact with the universe of avant-garde jazz and also with acts from experimental scenario at the turn of the millennium - especially electronic music. All this background did not take place apart of the cultural universe in which he was living in. Herewith his diverse musical formation, the forms of urban, popular and folk music, related to his hometown (one of the greatest focal points that congregates the indigenous, European and afro-descent people in Brazil) and the rest of the country, pervaded the aesthetic formation of the artist. This is verified even in his first works, in his debut album 'Toc' (2008) and 'A/B' (2012). Now, in his third album, the traditional cadomble´ rythms reveal the perfect harmony between his influences both classical and electronic. The sources bequeathed by Heitor Villa-Lobos and the instrumental slope of his spiritual disciple Tom Jobim; the timbre and acoustic experiments of Gyorgy Ligeti; the cyclic narrative possibilities opened by Steve Reich; the remodeling of sound manipulation tools by Karlheinz Stockhausen; are related not only to the vanguard of electronic music but even to the rhythmic and vocal expressions of Brazilian music - not letting this last one being used as in the fetishism ethnic so appealing to the so called 'world music', but thinning it and merging it with the main forming elements of the album s´ atmosphere, hosting carefully the ancestry of Brazilian music in the sound universe of the XXI century. It is not possible in this work, called 'Levaguia~ Tere^', to trace a final frontier between the classical and popular experiences, among the track list or even internally in the tracks. In terms of genre, the album could even be classified as eletro-acoustic, since this compositional school operates easily with organic and synthetic instrumentation. However, the great orchestral writing, the heavy percussion element, the instrumentation and counterpoint elements, the harmonies and vocal arrangements, and the thematic and phraseology marks of the composer wouldn t´ be designated to justice by this genre denomination. For the same reasons, the elements of electronic music, that subvert and act over the acoustically recorded material - such as in the eletro-acoustic music - are mostly ordered by the pop music model, and not the classical ones, this last one not antagonizing the first. Thus, 'Levaguia~ Tere^' is inserted in a disruptive way in the phonographic industry s´ current streams. In concatenating regional styles with contemporary art, makes his country represented without sacrificing his most genuine roots. It is possible to risk saying that this language and sound aesthetic hybridism born in 'Levaguia~ Tere^' seems to yearn the utopia designed by Alex Ross in his 2004 article 'Bjo¨rk's Saga'. The utopia 'of a future world in which the ideologies, teleologies, style wars, and subdivisions that have so defined music in the past hundred years slip away. Music is restored to its original bliss, free both of the fear of pretension that limits popular music and of the fear of vulgarity that limits classical music. The creative artist once more moves along an unbroken continuum, from folk to art and back again.'

Si´lvio Moreira M.A. in Philosophy, Professor of Aesthetics at the Faculdade Souza Lima & Berklee College of Music

Esencia is proud to present Forgotten Ones, the new album from London based quintet Culross Close. The album opens with 'Fractured', a cosmic musing carried delicately by electric piano and decorated with a synthesized dalliance. The album then cruises into 'Forgotten Ones', a spiritual made potent by their choral-esque vocals by far their most accomplished piece to date.

'Acceptance' finds the quintet in familiar hip-hop territory, carving out a top tier groove with a recurring piano motif of the highest order. Their vocals, this time more chant than choral makes for a brilliant 5-minute mantra.

'Mood' is a stark contrast to anything else on the album, an acidic and rugged illustration of the group's present state. 'The Tiniest Lights Still Shine' is a syncopated excursion in 5/4 time. With an electrifying percussion solo, this will be the song that finds its way onto the dance-floor. 'Healing' is a percussion heavy journey, draped in synthesizers and style, embodying elements of 70's fusion and bossa-nova, a perfect closer to the album.

1 x LP Full Colour Sleeve, shrinkwrapped

If 2018's WOLFEP046 touched on the burgeoning talent of rising Portuguese star Pedro, this 2019 follow-up delves deep into the accomplished head that rests on those youthful shoulders.

Opening the EP, 'She is' gives a taste of the path Pedro takes with this record. A ten-minute twisting trip, that moves and melds modern jazz leanings with a rugged aesthetic. Off kilter sax flurries, at times gleaming, at others melting, open up the distorted dreams of Pedro's world, as a metronomic double bass attempts to steady the ship. Metallic rides and abrupt percussive hits contrast with the sustained piano chords, further foraging down his surrealist sidewalk.

Take to the flip to find the waltzing 'Faces sob o sol'. A beatless contemporary jazz piece in 3/4 time, where deft piano melodies dance around a looped up, muted guitar phrase and twanging riffs. A simplicity born from only a handful of layers, that in turn creates a free-flowing fluidity through this jazz rabbit hole.

The most club ready of the cuts, 'Alef' rolls around next, where a funked out bass and psychedelic strummings, marry with crisp cymbals and polished piano playing. Pedro's dream inducing trip still takes its hold though, with distorted, panning, hallucinogenic vocal cries swelling across the airwaves.

Stepping up to close out the EP, Moomin flips 'Faces sob o sol' on its head, laying a rough and ready, liquid DnB rhythm as the basis alongside adding delicate arps and sweeping, atmospheric pads that follow Pedro's original. As hypnotising as its forebearer, but with an ethereal dancefloor orientated radiance.

With hundreds of new producers cropping up, week by week, it's rare to be challenged by something of such high quality from an up-and-coming artist. And with jazz finding a new lease of life across the UK, Pedro's latest output will be sure to find a home on these shores.

"Someway Still I Do" is a record enriched by the immediacy of pop, the quality of the arrangements, timeless music that echoes the glory of unforgettable soundtracks, the finest orchestral jazz and the great adult pop productions of the past. Today in 2019, exactly 10 years after its first release on CD, Magnanini's record is reissued on a special 2-LP version with two brand new tracks included on side D: "Cried For You" features once again Cousteau's singer Liam McKahey at the mic, while "Morning Light" is accompanied by Elisa Aramonte's smooth vocals, a new talent joining Magnanini's project "Someway Still I Do".

Corey Fuller Is One Half Of The Duo Illuha On 12k And Break Is His Frst Solo Recording For 12k. A Crashing Wave, The Breaking Dawn, An Impact, The Crushing Of Emotional Spirit... The Breaking Of A Storm. These Are All Relevant Ideas Behind His Choice Of A Title For This Highly Emotional Abum. Fuller Has Addressed The Universality Of Human Struggle Without Going Into Specifcs Of His Own Personal Waves. The Ideas That We As Humans All Share Many Of The Same Diffculties Is Both A Launching Point And A Message He Wishes To Share With Break — The Catharsis.
While Illuha's Music Is Known For Its Attention To Small Sounds And Light Textures, Break, While Equally As Fragile, Sees Fuller Working With Much Heavier Elements. Still Highly Melodic, The Work Pulls And Churns Between Harmony And Tension, Weight And Air, The Crash Of A Wave, The Pull Of The Undertoe. The Album Is Focused Intensely On Melody And Harmony, Progressions More Carefully Composed Than The Serendipitous Found Sound Of His Work With Illuha.
The Piano Is Often At The Center Of These Songs, An Instrument (his Own) That Has Become Much An Extension Of His Own Body. His Own Voice Plays An Important Role As Well, Sometimes Lyrically Ethereal And Sometimes Just A Breath Signifying The Ever-fragile Thread Of Life. Beautifully Recorded
In His Tokyo Studio, The Sounds Are Captured With All Of Their Inherent Physical Faws. As Fuller Himself States About The Piano Being recorded In A Way That You Can Hear The Bones, Like An Open Ribcage, Moving Contorting...' Everything On Break Is There For A Reason, Not Just The Sound And Soul Of The Piano But The Electronic Elements As Well, Rattling Bass Tones And Dramatic, Emotional Waves Of Synthesizer Rising And Dissolving.
If A Single Word Can Be Used To Describe Break It Is Physical. From The Instruments And Techniques Used To Produce The Album To The Concepts Of Vulnerability Of The Human Body. Break Is An Emotional Riptide Where Violence And Rest Struggle To Be The Last Voice.


i) Adrift
ii) Asunder
iii) Aground

Both Stephen Vitiello and Taylor Deupree are seasoned collaborators. Each new collaboration is a new context, a new conversation and a unique opportunity to learn. Vitiello has worked with musicians such as Scanner, Steve Roden, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Machinefabriek. As an artist often
represented in galleries and large scale sound installations he has also had the frequent opportunity to work with visual artists from the likes of Tony Oursler to Julie Mehretu and Joan Jonas. Deupree has a long history of collaboration including early works with Christopher Willits and Richard Chartier as well as Marcus Fischer, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Bon Iver's S. Carey. Fridman Variations is Vitiello and Deupree's third release
together and continues their tradition of exploring their unique form of experimental improvisation.
Stemming from a live performance at NYC's Fridman Gallery, Fridman Variations was co-produced by the gallery and will remain as part of the gallery's publications. Fridman Gallery is a visual exhibition space that also boasts a unique dedication to experimental music through their annual New Ear Festival, at which Vitiello and Deupree performed and recorded the main piece for this album.
Side A of Fridman Variations is the live recording, edited for vinyl while side B contains two pieces made with some of the same source material as the live performance and intended to be related, but entirely new, works. Guitar, modular synthesizer and a small tape synthesizer are at the heart of these songs. The improved layers draw on buried melodies and hint of feld recordings and found textures. Not overly melodic, not
overly noisy, Vitiello and Deupree like to fnd the edge between the pretty and the obscure, often suggesting more than laying their intentions bare. This type of sound is one that the duo often explores as an opportunity for Deupree to adventure beyond his melodic comfort zone and for Vitiello to work and experiment with new instruments and how they interact with his signature guitar.
One of the biggest inspirations to the artists for this work was the hushed and dreamy state of the audience during the performance. The late-night ambience added to the immersive quality of the surround speakers and helped to channel creativity and a sense of sharing
Both artists feel that recording live performances is an opportunity to capture a unique moment that simply won't happen again. Despite a performance's faws or imperfections the energy and interaction is a special moment in time for the performers and audience. The opportunity to not only document it for the listeners who were present but also to be able to share the moment with those who weren't there is a positive one.
To further be able to expand on the ideas in the controlled studio environment serves to enrich the experience and further the communication.

- 180 GRAM AUDIOPHILE VINYL
- BRAND NEW 2019 NEO-CLASSICAL ALBUM
- PRINTED INNERSLEEVE
- LIMITED EDITION OF 500 INDIVIDUALLY NUMBERED COPIES ON TRANSPARENT VINYL

Fermata, Pieter de Graaf's debut project and the birth of a new talent in the neo-classical world. 'Filmic,' he replies when asked about the direction he had in his head, and there's an epic grandeur to many of the tracks. 'I have always written music' de Graaf explains, 'but with Fermata I felt that I could do so much more than just being a pianist, so I thought: 'Why shouldn't I try' The songs aren't 'written' in any traditional sense; instead he plays and improvise segments, records them, and listens back over and over before deciding what to use, what to discard, and what to embellish. No stone is left unturned in being guided by what the song requires - he has travelled North to record a church organ, wrote a score for a choir of four sopranos, and enlisted the help of friends and colleagues at Kytopia, the music collective in Utrecht that houses his studio.

It can take a while for an artist to find their true calling. For Pieter de Graaf, he's been searching since he sat next to his father, aged five, and watched him play the classics and the classical. He later immersed himself in the world of jazz, dedicating hours to practice, and studying at the Conservatory of Rotterdam. Several years spent touring with various bands, friends, and hip hop groups including The Kyteman Orchestra taught him an invaluable lesson, something that has informed his new project right from the start. His influences - Miles Davis, Nils Frahm, Rachmaninov, Bach, Herbie Hancock, and above all Keith Jarrett - allowed him to combine easy melodies with more virtuoso passages without losing the meaning, or the essence, of each song.

Fermata is available as a limited edition of 500 individually numbered copies on transparent vinyl.

On March 15th Erased Tapes presents the invigorating and powerful debut solo album Lines of Sight by Australian-born, Liverpool-based composer, saxophonist and founder of Immix Ensemble, Daniel Thorne. Deeply moving, full of otherworldly beauty and rapture, the album is alive, throbbing like a circulatory system, colourful and glowing. It literally dazzles - effectively capturing what the birth (or death) of a planet might sound like.

In Daniel's own words, 'Thematically, this music was inspired by birds-eye aerial images and the idea of perspective - how something incredibly complex like a river or the surface of the ocean is reduced to a simple line or shape when viewed from the heavens. The line between natural and man-made becomes increasingly blurred.'

Every strand is fresh, vital and purposeful. The description 'seamless' might suggest a smooth, bland fusion, but here elements overlap in intermittent, undulating layers of mesh. Avant-garde, noise, electronics, ecclesiastical, classical, a touch of jazz and traces of Wyatt-style contemporary folk come together, each occupying their own space while acquiescing with the whole.

'Several compositions are derived from ratios and processes, and are highly calculated, while others evolved in a much more organic way. I wanted to create music that blurred lines between acoustic and electronic, organic and synthetic, composition and improvisation.
I've long been a fan of studio-based composition, but have always found the infinite possibilities on offer daunting and, often, a stumbling block. To get around this I set myself a challenge of limiting myself to the physical instruments in my possession - a few different saxophones and a bass synth, with no more than four tracks to record them,' he adds.

Lines of Sight follows Thorne's work as artistic director of the acclaimed, collaboration-focussed group Immix Ensemble. Together with experimental electronic artist Vessel, he co-wrote Transition released on Erased Tapes in 2016, described by BBC Radio 6's Mary Anne Hobbs as 'a remarkable new piece of music'. More recently, he worked with acclaimed modular synth wizard Luke Abbott, to create a four-part suite, which was premiered live in June 2017. Immix Ensemble have also performed special live commissions with Kelly Lee Owens, Dialect, Jane Weaver and Bill Ryder-Jones, among others.

Prior to leaving Australia, Daniel was fortunate to work with some of the country's leading new music ensembles as both a composer and performer, receiving commissions from the TURA New Music Festival and the Australia Council, as well as being appointed as Composer in Residence at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. In the UK he was the recipient of the prestigious Dankworth Prize for Jazz Composition, and also undertook a residency at Metal Liverpool, which provided him with the time and space to create Immix.

As the first track under Thorne's own name, 'Iroise' was recorded for the Erased Tapes 10th anniversary release 1+1=X, alongside works by Nils Frahm, Penguin Cafe, A Winged Victory For The Sullen and Rival Consoles. He also recently remixed Manu Delago, known as the live percussionist for Björk and Ólafur Arnalds. After a first solo performance at Sea Change Festival 2018, the new year will see Daniel tour across Europe, promoting the forthcoming release of Lines of Sight.