Buscar:pyramid

This month has seen Liam Gallagher make a typically full-throttle return. Super intimate sold-out show at Hackney Round Chapel? Biblical. Premiere and release of the long-awaited ‘As It Was’ documentary? Completed. Featured on the cover of Q, who described him as “rock’s finest frontman”? Naturally.



Liam wrote lead single ‘Shockwave’ with two of the key collaborators behind the all-conquering ‘As You Were’ album: Andrew Wyatt, who won the Academy Award for Best Original Song as co-writer of ‘Shallow’ from the film ‘A Star Is Born’, and the multiple Grammy-winner Greg Kurstin who also produced the track. It was recorded in Los Angeles.



Liam Gallagher’s debut solo album ‘As You Were’ was a critical and commercial smash. It debuted at #1, out-selling the rest of the Top 10 in the process, and was soon certified Platinum. Liam was back where he belonged, selling out huge outdoor shows and earning major awards from Q, NME and GQ.



More details regarding ‘Why Me? Why Not.’ will be revealed imminently. “It’s a better record than As You Were,” promises Liam. “Which is saying something, as that was epic, wasn’t it?”



Liam’s next double-bill of huge UK shows comes at the end of the month. He’ll play a sold-out Eden Sessions show on the 26th before hitting Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage on the 29th.

Gilles Aiken is not short of space in which to express his distinctive ideas about fusing dancefloor minimalism with a global palette. While his more streamlined house and techno fare is generally released under his Edward alias, Desert Sky has carried some of his wilder ideas with stunning results. The first few releases came shrouded in mystery on a self-titled label, but since then Desert Sky has landed on Assemble Music and Baby Ford's iconic PAL SL. Aiken returns to the latter now with a hefty album project that gives Desert Sky the appropriate room to breathe, and Aiken sounds free spirited and expressive through every inch of tumbling percussion, deft handclaps, spooked out textures and more besides. It's a heady trip through dusty samples configured in fresh, invigorating ways, ranking among the strongest artistic statements Aiken has made to date thanks to its worldly inspiration and otherworldly end results.

In an era of boundless self promotion, anonymity is a rare and precious thing. Listening to Trevor Jackson's NTS show one night we heard a glorious piece of music by something called Elite Beat. A quick search found 10 years worth of recorded material but not a single photo or youtube clip. They had made a record with Niger born guitarist Mdou Moctar but were based in Portland, Oregon. More questions than answers but we knew we had just heard one helluva cosmic link up!

We still don't know what they look like but we can tell you Elite Beat is a 6 piece ensemble now in their 12th year as a musical collective. Their sound is non prescribed rhythm music with an emphasis on live playing, free form expression and dubbing techniques. Players who have absorbed the plethora of global grooves from dub, Ethiopoques and Tuareg guitar music (probably the odd Dead bootleg too). They aren't retromaniacs or here to revive a genre. Just some cats from Oregon talking that universal language, fueled by laugher and a vision of the eternal.

"By The Light Of The Pyramids" and "Postcards From Gortupal" are their latest and greatest offerings, birthed out of live sessions.

*The vinyl versions are shorter edits of the original / digital to preserve sound quality.

'Quasi' is Ariwo's second album, after the release of
their first self-titled album in 2017:
Despite Ariwo's diverse mix of musicians
(Cuba/Iran/Canada/UK) their music doesn't belong to any specific genre. In
''Quasi', Ariwo use the building blocks of deep bass, afro-Cuban polyrhythms,
carnival melody and immersive live electronics as a starting point to engage
with key players on London's jazz scene.

The result is a hypnotic journey for the listener from techno
to avant-garde jazz via West Africa and the Caribbean. 'Quasi' aims to mirror
the evolved direction of Ariwo's live set, which after extensive touring over
the past three years has gradually become more stripped back and club-oriented.
Many of the building blocks for this album started life as improvisations in
live sets and have been developed into full tracks on 'Quasi'.
The album features guest appearances from MOBO winning saxophonist
Binker Golding (Binker & Moses) and acclaimed UK keys player Joe Armon-Jones
(keys). Cuban trumpet players Thommy Lowry Garcia and Yelfris Valdes also
feature on the album, bringing carnival melodies that interweave through the
percussion and electronics.

Ariwo have used songs from 'Quasi' to create the music
for 'Portals' - a tour of Carlos Acosta's new contemporary dance company
'Acosta Danza' in Havana.

Grammy-nominated Ostinato Records presents "Abu Obaida Hassan & His Tambour: The Shaigiya Sound of Sudan" in a gatefold LP packaging with vintage photos and authentic Sudanese designs.
A complex blend of Arab melodies, Nubian rhythms, and signature Sudanese call and response by a legend of Shaigiya music from nothern Sudan.

Abu Obaida Hassan and the wonders of his five-string tambour remained largely a mystery. In the early 2000's, a prominent Sudanese newspaper declared him dead. Internet forums confirmed his passing. Many in Khartoum, Sudan's capital, said he had indeed died.
But rumors that he was still alive persisted.

What was always certain is Abu Obaida Hassan's mercurial talent.
His command of a modified tambour, backed by a chorus and two drummers, unleashed swirling melodies alongside complex Nubian rhythms and hypnotic Sudanese call and response. His bands roster constantly changed, but he remained at the helm, playing for sold out shows in cities across the country and capturing the dancefloors and youth of 1970's and 80's Sudan. This is a rich, raw example of the human experience with sound from northern Sudan, an ancient part of the world, and the birthplace of civilization. Music like this isn't mastered overnight.

The Ostinato team first came across Abu Obaida's recordings in 2011, finding scratchy bits and pieces along the years. We traveled to Sudan in 2016 to find the clues to piece together the Abu Obaida Hassan puzzle. Through some extensive detective work with our man in Khartoum, Ahmed Asysouti, and a generous dose of good fortune, we tracked Abu Obaida to the rural outskirts of Omdurman, the old capital just across the White Nile from Khartoum. Age has taken its toll, but he remains full of life and music, ready to jointly curate a selection of his eight best cuts. He has written over 100 songs, only 30 were recorded.

Abu Obaida comes from the Shaigiya people, whose culture is spread around the ancient city of Merowe, home of traditional Nubian culture, where pyramids older than those in Egypt still stand. They trace their entire lineage to one man, Shaig, who migrated from the Arabian peninsula in the 15th century. An endlessly rhythmic syncretism between Arab and Nubian styles, Abu Obaida's Shaigiya music was an in demand party affair in an era when a vibrant nightlife and roving sound systems were a staple of life in Sudan.

It was music for a modern era, and Abu Obaida, at just 19, rebelliously abandoned traditional Shaigiya music traditions, pioneering a new sound by adding an extra string to his tambour and electrifying an instrument adored across East Africa. The result was complexity in simplicity and a hyper-talented artist who mirrors the story of Sudan's highs and lows, from the leading tambour maestro of the hour to such obscurity on the fringes that he was believed dead. "They killed me!", he likes to joke.

Abu Obaida Hassan, his music and the musical traditions of the Shaigiya remain alive and kicking. A culmination of a 7-year journey — from first hearing Abu Obaida's distinct sound, found only in Sudan, to finding the man — has produced the first global release of Shaigiya music and is just the beginning of Ostinato's immersion into Sudan, with a full compilation of the lavish musical history of one the most diverse countries in Africa due later this year. All brought to you by the Grammy-nominated team behind last year's "Sweet As Broken Dates."

Strut presents the brand new album from cosmic jazz travellers The Pyramids, led by saxophonist Idris Ackamoor, 'An Angel Fell'. I wanted to use folklore, fantasy and drama as a warning bell,' explains Ackamoor. The songs explore global themes that are important to me and to us all: the rise of catastrophic climate change and our lack of concern for our planet, loss of innocence and separation... but positive themes too, the healing power of music, collective action and the simple beauty of nature.' Produced by Malcolm Catto of The Heliocentrics, the album was recorded during an intense week at Quatermass studios in London and is one of the deepest, richest works yet from a band reaching their highest creative peak since the early '70s. Some of the many highlights include the poignant title track depicting a fallen angel in purgatory, outrage and grief on the powerful, hard hitting 'Soliloquy For Michael Brown' and the lilting, beautiful album closer, 'Sunset'.

The Pyramids originally came together in 1972 at Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio where teachers included renowned pianist, Cecil Taylor. After forming in Paris and embarking on a cultural odyssey' across Africa, the group recorded three independent albums, 'Lalibela' (1973), 'King Of Kings' (1974) and 'Birth / Speed / Merging' (1976) and became renowned for their striking live shows, mixing percussive, spiritual and space-age jazz with performance theatre and dance. After migrating to San Francisco, they disbanded in 1977. 35 years later, the band reunited in 2012 following growing demand for their music from vinyl collectors. German label Disko B released the freeform album 'Otherwordly' and in 2016, they released their first album for Strut, the acclaimed 'We Be All Africans'.

'An Angel Fell' is released on Strut on 11th May 2018 and features full hand-painted artwork by Lewis Heriz.

New concept album by leading cosmic jazz collective exploring global apocalypse, climate change and the healing power of music
Produced by Malcolm Catto of The Heliocentrics - Superb cover painting by Lewis Heriz
Full priority worldwide PR campaign and marketing
Release supported by major European tour dates in May and key Summer festivals

Grammy-winning singing sensation Gregory Porter - one of the most successful jazz artists of his generation - is back with a new album, 'Nat King Cole & Me', to be released on Decca/Blue Note on 27th October. It is a deeply personal tribute to Nat King Cole - the legendary crooner who ignited Gregory's love of music. It's only natural that I go to the root of my inspiration and where I come from. And that root would be my mother and gospel music and Nat King Cole,' he says.

Recorded at London's AIR Studios, the 12-track album features some of Gregory's favourite Nat King Cole tunes including 'Smile', 'L-O-V-E' and 'Nature Boy'. There is also a Nat-inspired arrangement of Gregory's own song 'When Love Was King', originally released on his million-selling hit album, 'Liquid Spirit'.

For Gregory Porter, the influence of Nat King Cole on his life and music runs deep, a through-line that reaches back into some of his earliest childhood memories, and culminates in the release of his new album 'Nat King Cole & Me'. Gregory explains, At five or six years old, Nat's music filled a void in me. My father wasn't in my life and wasn't showing interest in me or raising me and Nat's words were the life lessons, words of wisdom and fatherly advice I needed.'

Gregory's love for Nat's music blossomed so much that he wrote a semi-autobiographical musical, also called 'Nat King Cole & Me', which premiered in 2004. After the play, I felt a lighter feeling about my father and a deeper appreciation for both my mother and the great music of Nat King Cole,' says Gregory. He also found his voice through his own songwriting - It wasn't until I wrote the musical that I was fit to call myself a songwriter. Before that, I would write different poems but they had no music.'

'Nat King Cole & Me' is the follow-up to his Grammy-winning albums 'Liquid Spirit' (2013) and 'Take Me to the Alley' (2016). 'Liquid Spirit' took Gregory from being the biggest name on the jazz scene to being one of the most sought-after singers around today, performing sell-out shows across the UK and being invited to perform on high profile TV programmes including The Graham Norton Show, Strictly Come Dancing and the BBC Music Awards. He has become an adopted national treasure in the UK, having sung for the Queen multiple times, as well as major music festivals including Glastonbury, where he performed on the Pyramid Stage alongside the likes of Muse, Adele and Coldplay. Gregory's ability to transcend genres even extends to his surprise dance hit 'Liquid Spirit Claptone Remix' which became one of the most popular tracks in Ibiza.

After winning over audiences with his rich and soulful voice, there can be no better time for Gregory to return to the music which first inspired him to become a singer. On Nat's legacy and influence Gregory affirms, He was one of a kind. He left such great music - such beautiful things to listen to that you can't help but be influenced by that extraordinary timbre, style, and ultimate cool.'

This single is from the forthcoming album Third World Pyramid' which will be released in October 2016 . The B side Playtime' is exclusive to this release ,recorded in March 2016 in Anton's studio in Berlin . The band start their 2nd part of their European Tour starting in August (dates are below) .This single brings the traditional Brian Jonestown Massacre sound mixed with eastern influences & bringing it up to date with the benefit of all the additional weirdness that's been discovered in the past 40 years.Two dozen band members later and numerous ups and downs' (some have been famously sensationalized in the media ), the one thing that has always remained consistent for this psychedelic collective, is front man Mr. Anton Alfred Newcombe

lvin Toffler was overwhelmed. When in the morning of October 4th, 1988-it was his 60th birthday-he was starring with a still somewhat absent look into a bowl of cornflakes, he thought that in the surface structure of the yellowish shimmering milk which was making an emulsion with the maple syrup and slowly but irreversibly corroding the crunchy crystals on the flakes, he could see through a window into a timeless dimension. Toffler, who at that time had reached the peak of his fames as a future scientist, was sustainably disturbed from his peek into this extra temporary peephole. In none of his books-'Future Shock' had just been released with yet another edition featuring a proud printed note on the book cover stating 'more than 5 million copies in print'-did he ever mention this occurrence. Even after his death in June 2016, no note on this incident could ever be found in his estate. The 'flake dimension' as Toffler called it in notes which were later shredded remains a secret of opaque, hard-to-grasp radiant power.

Maybe it's too simple to describe 'Pneumatics' as a creation coming from this cornflake world Without doubt. Are there any more precise terms or instruments to determine the multifacetedness and beyond-timeliness of the 'Pneumatics' soundscape There are still unknown. 'Pneumatics' is, after releases at Innervisions, Die Orakel und his own label Sound Mirror, the debut album of Orson Wells (as long as you don't count in 'Jupiter' - Wells's first LP which was released in 2014 with 48 copies on cassette-have fun digging for rarities and bargains!).
Perhaps Wells, known in Frankfurt under his real name Lennard Poschmann and as an employee at the record store Tactile, is only a messenger. Or a psychic. The sound manifesto that he apparently transmits from Toffler's secret dimension tells of a city of upside down pyramids ('Tianon'), of passes into the land of the five elements ('Multipass') and dead straight four-to-the-floor lines which appear bended within the spherical dimension (''Geodesic'). These beats are right on the heels of the ones of Intersteller Fugitives; the strings sound like that at any moment a vocal sample edited by Moodyman could warp over through the Cornflake wormhole. Pneumatics is the science of all technological applications powered by condensed and often by quite heated air. It is a matter of mechanics, compression, jackhammer, ramblings, high pressure levels, valves for blowing of steam. On 'Pneumatics' it's all about this. And more. Orson Wells's album gets to the point of the post-retro futuristic state of the dancefloors of the house and techno clubs of this planet. It is like a peek into another dimension, right on the golden cut of spacetime geometry.

12" with printed sleeve, Artwork by Albrecht Gaebel

DJ bwin follow up Leibniz's inaugural release for the newly-founded hundert imprint with a three-track EP. »Trinity« draws on feverish breakbeats, hardcore influences and about 2,3 gigatonnes of bass. Having released a split EP with DJ OK on Ireland's First Second Label, »Trinity« sees the production duo venture into the realm of the ancient and the mystical, the inexplicable and the possibly made-up. Conceived as a triangle with one foot deep in the past and the other one in a future yet to explore, »Trinity« points all gunfingaz to the startling revelation that, hey, we're all living in a computer simulation anyhow. Informed by the ancient knowledge of the Dubstep elders and Jungle's relentless search for a grain of truth amongst the lies fed to us by the Lo-Fi House empire, DJ bwin bring together the unholy trinity of paranoid hoover chords, melancholic textures and piercing synth notes for an EP that henceforth shall be known as »banging atmospheric Hardcore Continuum derivatives for late-night hours«. This is not a pyramid scheme - or is it

(2x 180 gr LP in a gatefold sleeve with download card) The debut album of Talamanca System, aka Gerd Janson + Mark Barrott + Philipp Lauer. Their past is your future!

On the white island, between Ibiza Town and the infamous fish shack high up on a rock next to a bird sanctuary, you will find the beach of Talamanca. Plagued by too much seaweed, anchored middle-class yachts and joggers, it is also surprisingly the spiritual home of a correspondent post-Balearic group. As luck would have it, a remix request by Mark Barrott bedded the International Feel boss in a trio with Philipp Lauer and Gerd Janson, alias Tuff City Kids. A highly sought-after 12-inch later ("Balanzat"), as well as fantasies of getting together to work on more material, led to a fruitful and effortless studio session on the non-Balearic outskirts of Frankfurt am Main.

The outcome of that meeting forms the homonymous debut album of Talamanca System. A documented vision, or a sunburned imagination of a day and night spent on said island, during a moment in time that probably never was or will be. Still summed up best by dungarees, long hair, yellow sunglasses, espadrilles or that famous picture of people grouped around roofless Amnesia's pyramid well, it is the food of the Balearic gods. But, dear nostalgia, stop right here! Even though Talamanca's debut flies the Balearic flag, it is not about turning back the clock, but rather about a past that could be the future. Dusted, danceable, driving, dreamy and dapper at the same time, this is an album for the club, the car, the beach, the (coke)float and the fountain.

Coined by the colourful and respective talents of the three individuals behind Talamanca, you will hear nine tracks ranging from up to downtempo, piano house smashers that would have deserved the prefix Italo-, percussion rituals captured by a group of Zoo animals on the loose, soundtracks for dusk and dawn, hushed vocals, rites of ambient passages, powerful synth ballads and vamp choirs. If this album were a car, it would be a Citroen 2CV remade by Tesla.

We've said it before and we'll say it again: their past is your future!

Repress

Peter Zummo (born 1948) is an American composer and musician. He plays the trombone, valve trombone, euphonium, synthesizer, other electronic instruments, and also sings. He is associated with the postminimalist and Downtown aesthetics, and he describes his music as "minimalism plus a whole lot more." He's well-known for his work with Arthur Russell.
"In this project for Optimo, the listener can hear that my musical food pyramid has musicians at top, or maybe they are at the bottom. In any case, they are important. That is why, from track to track, I selected
segments in which one player or another is featured in the take. Some may think that we musicians do multiple takes to get the perfect performance, but I like to find the special interactions lurking in each excursion. Different players came forward in each of the takes, which were recorded in the studios Seaside Lounge and Headroom, in Brooklyn, and live in performances at Cube Cinema, in Bristol, U.K., as well as in Long Island City and on Staten Island, New York.
In order to escape the tyranny of the lyric, I am exploring in this release the possibilities of nonsensical and non-emotional lyrics. These kinds of lyrics bring the singing voices into the mix without an overweening message. The tracks include open-form compositions in which the duration was not specified."

Omena launches the X series.

As the name suggests, this is the first of ten limited releases planned. First out is Swedish producer Anders Hellberg with 'Fiction'.This is the sound of having a party inside a whale with a broken rainbow and three pyramids as bass bins.

Not too harsh or in-your-face, rather clean, crisp, and audible.
Two remixes courtesy of Bleak (Delsin/DRH/Naura).
200 Copies only

Supporting Jesus & Marychain in Cardiff on 22nd February.2015 sees the return of Welsh psychedelicists White Noise Sound. This single is taken from their second album 'Like a Pyramid of Fire' out in April 2015.After honing their craft across the UK and through Europe - with the likes of Super Furry Animals, The Warlocks, Spectrum, Mark Gardener (Ride) and members of Spacemen 3, Spiritualized and The Brian Jonestown Massacre - WNS completed their debut album in 2010 with the assistance of Pete Kember (Spacemen 3 / Spectrum / E.A.R) and magician Cian Ciaran (Super Furry Animals). Released by cult California based label Alive Records (whose back-catalogue includes releases from The Black Keys, Beachwood Sparks, Iggy Pop and James Williamson and The Soledad Brothers) in 2010 (US) / 2011 (UK), the eponymous debut was greeted with widespread critical acclaim and WNS toured through Europe in its support. 'Like a Pyramid of Fire' sees the band take their trademark wall of sound - at once relentlessly pulsating and blissed-out - and conjure from it a sonic palette with range and depth. WNS worked closely with producer / DJ Phil Kieran and again with Cian Ciaran and the result is a metronomic and hypnotic onslaught of melody, groove and exploration which goes beyond the standard tropes of psychedelia.
White Noise Sound will be playing a special London show as part of the Convergence Festival on Monday 16th March 2005 (with label mates Eat Lights Become Lights and guest DJs Andrew Weatherall and Ben Osborne)

Who said that pyramids are the only good things in Egypt !
Let's not forget the Zahrans brothers teaming up for the first time on Brown Eyed Boyz for an EP .
Alexander Maier (Compost/Buzzin Fly) & Kashawar on remix duties ...