Buscar:sō percussion

Offering a three track EP on Token, emblematic UK producer James Ruskin proves his capability and linear focus once again through 'From the Ashes'. Looking past trends to create a lasting record rich in texture and thick with impact, the project affirms what the scene has already known to be true about his work for the past 25 years.

Setting his intentions from the A1, Ruskin wastes no time by creating an intimidating introduction. Saturated percussion and stuttering keys whip through a 4 minute masterclass of sound system focused production. Adventurous in structure, Ruskin remains unquestionably in control of a bursting, almost chaotic track. 'From the Ashes 2' picks up what was left off, containing a hard-set groove with hi hats slithering in progressively from the stereo image to slightly destabilize an impressive club-heavy tool. With intricate work being done in the ambience, the EP's hard hitting second track booms through a cavernous acoustic, giving the record not only body, but dimension. Switching up the rhythm and focusing on more mental synth work for the third act, Ruskin quickly and mercilessly rips through his work with a shrill pad, creating overwhelming tension to be released in the first third of the recording. He brings a dosed dissonance between his elements, reflective of the qualities of vintage techno with today's capabilities and arrangement. Pushing intensity through waves, Ruskin leaves us in anticipation of a fourth track that is never given.

Since relocating to Brazil some years back, Needs Music co-founder Lars Bartkuhn has returned to his long-held love of musical improvisation. Although it’s a product of his jazz roots and classical training, the German producer has constantly found new ways to apply it to his work in the sphere of electronic music.

‘Dystopia’, his first solo album for almost nine years, was born out of two interlinked ideas: a desire to create improvised music without the aid of computer sequencers or an electronic drum set, and a deeply held love of storytelling through sound. Bartkuhn set to work improvising with modular synthesizers, acoustic instruments and hand percussion, later adding light-touch overdubs to a handful of pieces. When he listened back to the recordings, an aural narrative emerged, and you’ll hear it if you listen to the album from start to finish, as is intended.

As you’d expect from a musician and composer of Bartkuhn’s undoubted ability, ‘Dystopia’ is a stunning album – an undulating, expansive ambient journey packed with emotional resonance. While Bartkuhn naturally sees it as a logical progression of his previous ambient-leaning work with Kabuki as The First Minute of a New Day (and particularly their self-titled 2020 album Séance Centre), ‘Dystopia’ also features subtle nods to many of his long-held musical loves, including John Hassell’s ‘fourth world’ recordings, the impossible-to-pigeonhole 1970s catalogue of deep jazz imprint ECM, and the far-sighted American minimalism of Terry Riley and Steve Reich.

The album’s emotional depth is evident early on, with the slow-burn title track – all bubbling electronics, billowing chords, clarinet-style notes and gently strummed guitars offering the most melancholic and bittersweet of openings. The becalmed ‘A Drop Of Water In The Ocean’ follows, with discordant aural textures and hand percussion mimicking the rolling ocean, before ‘Largo (Calm Before The Storm)’ hints at unsettling times ahead.

‘Water and Warm Air’, the only track on the album whose starting point was not Bartkuhn’s cherished modular set-up, bleeps and bubbles across the sound space, adding a starry and otherworldly slant to proceedings, while ‘Disembodied Journey (Parts 1, 2 and 3)’ is a sublime, slowly unfurling journey in three movements – all Tangerine Dream style synthesizer motifs, Pat Metheny-esque guitars and jazz-fusion instrumentation.

So the album continues, with the poignant warmth and looped motifs of ‘Still Existing’ and the sparse, dubbed-out minimalism of ‘Do You Know How To Get Out?’ – a kind of 21st century jazz-fusionist’s take on sparse electronic hypnotism – giving wat to closing cut ‘Into The Waves’, a gentle combination of undulating electronic arpeggios and echoing instrumentation that offers a hopeful and undeniably picturesque conclusion.

Fittingly, the album cover features a painting by the late Dutch artist Franz Deckwitz (1934-94), whose images of alien landscapes were used by Phillips on a series of music concrete compilations. The image featured on the cover of ‘Dystopia’, depicting a deep blue ocean and shoreline, was painted by Deckwitz in Amsterdam in the late 1970s and inspired by a trip to the island of Ponza, Italy.

Matt Anniss

Cavernous, mystical beat tribalism from the GT zone; loose yet conscious-minded dub-wise runnings land on planet Earth. Murderous tempos create fiery, twisted percussion dances, lifted and buried in blazing licks of dabbed bass-weight. 808 moves left to right, upside down, with a melodic, hypnosis-minded sway. DEEP transforms waves of metallic drum machines, isolated melodies, and wooden beats into rooted sonic spiritualism recalling distant, future bygone eras. Hand made cover artwork.

In hand-stamped, paper taped sleeve.

Originally released as a digital single only available through Jungle Fire's Bandcamp page in the summer of 2020, their version of the Ray Barretto Latin Funk classic "Together" was put out in support of Black Lives Matter and acknowledgment that African culture has been the backbone, soul and spirit of societal fabric since the dawn of humanity. A song whose message and spirit always united and ignited the audience, it was a much-needed offering to fans at a time of escalated urgency in the sociopolitical climate. Now in 2023, F-Spot Records is proud to announce its official vinyl release alongside a previously unreleased track, "Movin' On" (originally recorded by Ray Camacho), on the flip. Often performing "Together" during their live shows as an instrumental interlude, it was only right to do the song justice by inviting long-time collaborator and frequent F-Spot featured singer Jamie Allensworth to join on lead vocals. Performing as a guest with the band numerous times and being a part of So-Cal's funk and soul community ranging from Orgone, Night Owls, and Mestizo Beat, Allensworth delivers a high-energy performance that keeps up with Jungle Fire's signature sound of blazing percussion, heavy beats, and fuzzed out guitars. On side B Allensworth is featured again, stepping up the energy even more into the full-on Latin Funk party, "Movin' On." Cut at a faster tempo and more drive than the original, Jungle Fire is the only group we can think of that can deliver this kind of performance, matched with Allensworth's gritty yet soulful lead, to bring you two sides of serious heat that the band has consistently brought over the past decade.

It’s back to the heart of disco with the next release — our sixtieth! — in Most Excellent Unlimited’s long-running series of collaborations with master editor Danny Krivit, this installment on long-play 12-inch vinyl.

Our A-side features the work of Euro-disco maestro Alec Constandinos, whose symphonic suites and long form arrangements for stars like Cerrone and Don Ray made him an essential ingredient on many a glittering dancefloor in the late ’70s. Love & Kisses was one of his earliest disco projects, and one of his most popular. Their song (the “band” was a studio fabrication of Constandinos) “I Found Love” stretches across the entire side of an LP in its original form, but for discerning disc jockeys who leaned towards the funkier side of the spectrum, the percussion and bass breakdown is where it’s at. And if you are a long-time follower of Mr. K, it will come as no surprise that it is here that he focuses his metaphoric razor on the iconic breakdown, and we are left with a tough, driving track that will suit throwback sets as well as slot nicely into modern uptempo programming. As an added bonus, stick around to the very end when Krivit lets the song’s memorable acapella sample (“And I suppose you thought it was all over??”) finish it out.

It simply does not get much bigger than Donna Summer in the world of disco. Her song “Heaven Knows,” a duet with Brooklyn Dreams singer “Bean” Esposito, is one of the many gems in her catalog, and one that still evokes powerful reactions in heads, both old and new. Produced by the dream team of Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, the power and groove are propulsive and indisputable. Krivit begins with an extended "Mac Arthur Park" horn crescendo that teases the emotion before introducing a newly stripped down singalong verses and chorus of “Heaven Knows”. As the song progresses, a fabulous building effect until the end, a six-minute run through the clouds, enveloped in the ecstasy of that same horn crescendo. A sudden finale, fading into the ether, takes us out and leaves the listener (and DJ) with an open path of which musical road to take next, a master’s touch from an editor who excels at his craft.

Ghost Producer aka Badawi (aka Raz Mesinai aka Bilal ibn Yakub al-Badawi) is a prolific producer and artist who has been on the forefront of underground experimental jazz and electronic music scenes around the world for over thirty years, with a catalog of albums on labels as ROIR, Asphodel and Tzadik under various monikers dating back to the late 1980s.

Ghost Producer released his first albums starting in the late 80’s under the monikers Psy Co. and Ruff Riddim Productions, selling his cassette tapes in NYC. He produced, on average, at least one album per week since 1988 until today. One of the twenty or so monikers was Badawi, later being signed to ROIR Records and releasing the seminal experimental dub, punk albums »Bedouin Sound Clash« and later »The Heretic of Ether« on Asphodel. Spending time as a child between Occupied Jerusalem, the West Bank (Balata) and New York City (Rock Steady Park) during the height of the B-Boy era in the 70s and 80s informed Ghost Producer’s singular sound of heavy driving Sufi rhythms, sonic experiments, percussion, piano playing and sound design which has connected him to a wide variety of artists ranging from Maryanne Amacher to John Zorn, to added elements of darkness to music by such artists as Hanz Zimmer (Black Hawk Down) and rappers Danny Brown (Pneumonia) and Skepta and Double D (Don) among many others.

At age 14, Ghost Producer was discovered by visionary jazz and rock musician, Juma Sultan (Jimi Hendrix) whom later trusted Ghost Producer with producing the archive of over 2000 hours from recordings from »Studio We« and the Free Jazz Loft Movement in NYC in the 60s and 70s. As a composer, he has worked with Kronos Quartet and has had premiers at Carnegie Hall (Cross Fader, The Echo of Decay) and Lincoln Center (String Quartet For Four Turntables). In addition, Ghost Producer has released several albums on John Zorn’s Tzadik label, where he explored producing to the books of Franz Kafka (Before The Law, Resurrections for Goat Skin, Cyborg Acoustics)

As a composer for film, he coined the term »score design» to describe his work in conceiving and producing scores for films with particularly demanding needs, working on such films as A Late Quartet (director Yaron Zilberman composer: Angelo Badalamenti), The Fountain, Black Swan and The Wrestler (Darren Aronofsky/Clint Mansel), Black Hawk Down (Ridley Scott/Hans Zimmer) and many more. In 2014, he was awarded as a fellow in the Sundance Composers Lab.

In 2015, Ghost Producer formed the Underground Producers Alliance, a unique program for developing producers, performers and composers, with co-founders Scotty Hard (Wu Tang Clan, Medeski Martin and Wood, De La Soul), HPrizm aka High Priest (Anti Pop Consortium), Honeychild Coleman (the 1865, The Slits) and Prince Paul (Jungle Brothers, De La Soul), where Ghost Producer produces entire albums with student participation in his master course.

This album, »The Book of Jinn«, is one of many productions done within the course, featuring players/mentors Juma Sultan (percussion), Chandenie (voice) and Shahzad Ismaily (electric bass), with additional student participation from Adam Culbert and Jonah Sollins (aka Goodnight 1500) on synths and percussion as well, then all remixed and rearranged by Badawi into what you hear here, The Book of Jinn.

The new album from hip-hop duo Atmosphere, So Many Other Realities Exist Simultaneously, opens with veteran rapper Slug and seasoned producer Ant taking a gentler approach. A departure from the brute intros of earlier works, the lead-off track “Okay” sounds focused on comforting and reassuring the listener, as if informed by fatherhood and implicit duty. With Slug rapping over one of the most twinkling productions Ant has released, the song lays the groundwork for an album-length exercise in fumbling consciousness without setting a precedent for how they intend to navigate it. Yet, as gently as the album begins, there’s an unmistakable sense of unease from the onset that continues to evolve throughout the project, as Slug and Ant weave the listener through indistinct themes of insomnia and woe.

From the subtle panic at the heart of songs like “Dotted Lines,” to the overt anxiety of songs like “In My Head,” the tension seems to cede and swell, but just as the tears begin to well, they seem to find resolve again through songs like “Still Life,” whose hopeful outlook undercuts the tensity of the album. Meanwhile, the rhythms on So Many Other Realities are some of the most inventive of Ant’s career. The playful percussion on “In My Head” acts as a nice counterweight to the roiling writing, while the drum patterns on “Holding My Breath” and “Bigger Pictures” allow Slug to play with his
flow to emphasize the anxiety driving the record.

Where previous records in this most recent act of Atmosphere’s career have been focused on emphasizing the parts of life that carry the most meaning—family, brotherhood, purpose—So Many Other Realities is an almost unnerving excavation of paranoia that can be grafted onto the general malaise of a pandemic weary society full of civil unrest. The tension of these songs is palpable, but the album’s mere presence is a testament to the hope that has to underpin even the most stressed out songs. Regardless of when the curtains might close, the music goes on.

180g Black Vinyl. Limited to 100 Copies

Formed in Cardiff, Sock make guitar-driven alternative rock, taking inspiration from psychedelic music. Known for their creative melodic arrangements and blending of genres, the band describe their music as “a rather progressive affair”.

Following on from the bands debut album ‘Fresh Bits’, in 2018, this is Sock’s much anticipated self-titled follow up. The album features Jacob on Rhythm Guitar & Vocals, Billy on Lead Guitar, Sam on Bass & Keys, and Simon on Drums & Percussion. Produced by the band, the album was recorded during the pandemic and sees the music move into a heavier and more refined sound.

We at Real Gone Music
were so knocked out by The
Skipper and The Skipper
at Home, the two Black
Jazz-label releases we put
out from Henry Franklin,
that we hunted down the
rights to his next record,
Tribal Dance, recorded in
1977 for the little-known
Catalyst label. You will find
many of the same players
that made Franklin’s two Black Jazz albums so intense
and enjoyable, including saxophonist Charles Owens,
trombonist Al Hall, Jr., and guitarist Kenneth Climax,
along with West Coast jazz stalwarts like percussionist
Sonship and pianist Dwight Dickerson. As the title
indicates, Tribal Dance leans a little more spiritual, but
without losing the pulsing drive of its predecessors
(and how could it, with The Skipper
at the helm on bass!). Never before
reissued on vinyl, with original
gatefold artwork intact…and pressed
at Gotta Groove Records where we
made the Black Jazz records!

Over a decade since its inception, Wave Temples continues to refine and refract the project’s visionary mythopoetic exotica. Panama Shift presents a 20-track kaleidoscopic star map inspired by “the euphoric cults, both then and now, that come and go in the vast ritual of night.” Bleached keys, devotional synth, and driftwood percussion align in minimalist vignettes shaded by tape hiss and field recordings of streams, waves, wind, and birds.
Dedicated to the late Japanese-born American anthropologist Yosihiko H. Sinoto (whose portrait graces the cover), famed for his excavations throughout the Pacific and French Polynesia, the album embodies a similarly voyaging spirit: “chasing ancient mysteries… and rekindling with the esoteric journey of the human spirit.” This is music of forgotten shores, sea air, and saltwater shrines, echoing in shells scattered across the altars of Atlantis.

Das Solo Debütalbum einer der wohl einflussreichsten, innovativsten und produktivsten Schlagzeuger zeitgenössischer Musik.

Die 13 Stücke umfassende Sammlung ist das Ergebnis einer 40-jährigen Karriere, in der Lombardo als Mitbegründer von Slayer bekannt wurde, zwei GRAMMY-Awards erhielt und sein Repertoire über alle Genres hinweg erweiterte. Der in Havanna geborene Lombardo arbeitete unter anderem mit Mike Patton und Fantômas zusammen, dem von der Kritik verehrten John Zorn, dem experimentellen Hip-Hop-Künstler DJ Spooky und den wiederauferstandenen Punk-Ikonen The Misfits.

Der Aufnahmeprozess für das filmmusikähnliche 'drum album' hatte ein einfaches Mantra: Schlagzeug musste Schlagzeug sein. Das Anfang 2022 von Lombardos Sohn David A. Lombardo abgemischte, selbst produzierte Album enthält eine große Konzert-Bass Drum, eine Pauke, einen Flügel und eine Schar von Shakern, Maracas, chinesischen und symphonischen Gongs, indianischen Trommeln, Congas, Timbales, Bongos, Batás, Holzblöcken, Djembes, Ibos, Darbukas, Octobans, Cajóns und Becken.

Das Solo Debütalbum einer der wohl einflussreichsten, innovativsten und produktivsten Schlagzeuger zeitgenössischer Musik.

Die 13 Stücke umfassende Sammlung ist das Ergebnis einer 40-jährigen Karriere, in der Lombardo als Mitbegründer von Slayer bekannt wurde, zwei GRAMMY-Awards erhielt und sein Repertoire über alle Genres hinweg erweiterte. Der in Havanna geborene Lombardo arbeitete unter anderem mit Mike Patton und Fantômas zusammen, dem von der Kritik verehrten John Zorn, dem experimentellen Hip-Hop-Künstler DJ Spooky und den wiederauferstandenen Punk-Ikonen The Misfits.

Der Aufnahmeprozess für das filmmusikähnliche 'drum album' hatte ein einfaches Mantra: Schlagzeug musste Schlagzeug sein. Das Anfang 2022 von Lombardos Sohn David A. Lombardo abgemischte, selbst produzierte Album enthält eine große Konzert-Bass Drum, eine Pauke, einen Flügel und eine Schar von Shakern, Maracas, chinesischen und symphonischen Gongs, indianischen Trommeln, Congas, Timbales, Bongos, Batás, Holzblöcken, Djembes, Ibos, Darbukas, Octobans, Cajóns und Becken.

Berlins ASEC liefert hier vier verschiedene Tracks ab. Seine kreative Kraft wird vom Dancefloor angetrieben, behält aber seine persönliche Perspektive bei. Von universellen Emotionen durchdrungen kam die Inspiration für diese Veröffentlichung aus "der Idee, Entscheidungen zu treffen, die unumkehrbar sind, und dem Gewicht, das damit
einhergehen kann. Die Unentschlossenheit, die Angst und die Endgültigkeit von schwierigen Entscheidungen"

Berlin-based artist ASEC steps up for the latest release from BPitch. A creative force who is driven by the dance floor, while also maintaining his own personal perspective, ASEC delivers four distinct cuts. Swathed in universally relatable emotion, the inspiration for this release came from “the idea of making decisions that are irreversible and the weight that can come with that. The indecision, the fear and the finality of making difficult choices”. ‘Crossing The Rubicon’ sets the EP off to a galloping start with a contagious rhythm and an unsettling melody. It’s dark, yet utterly danceable, striking a delicate balance between beats and atmospherics. The title track follows, with ASEC’s penchant for modular synths giving the cut plenty of flavour and character. Propelled by snub-nosed kicks and shifting percussion, this is a deep dive into the mind of a considered artist. Next up it’s ‘Our Light In Momentary Troubles’, a dense composition with thick solid low end frequencies dancing side by side with a gnarly analogue riff. Finally ‘Bleep Test (Tool Mix)’ closes the EP, utilising the power of repetition to ensnare the listener. An utterly hypnotic cut that will keep you hooked to the very end...

Harmony Rec. has closed one chapter and is boldly opening another with its next release, HARMONY011. This latest offering not only presents a fresh redesign of their upcoming vinyl releases with an added screen-printed PVC sleeve but also introduces a new artist hailing from the collective's hometown of Prague.

Trevor Linde (@trvlnd), a member of the Polygon crew responsible for some of the most vibrant events in Prague from 2013 to 2016, has honed his sound design skills and perfected heart-stopping live performances ranging from cinematic ambient to techno. His latest EP, "Whispering Thru The Mask," showcases three indisputable techno compositions with characteristic rigidity and tripping percussions that will make your head spin.

In addition to Linde's tracks, two of the EP's offerings have been expertly revised by Harmony's own Shoal. These versions submerge the listener into an even deeper mood than the original mixes.

"Westerman — the London-born, Athens-based pop maverick — has returned with his new album, ‘An Inbuilt Fault’.

The album's nine songs took shape throughout the depths of the pandemic and soundtrack Westerman’s reckoning with two years of intense isolation, loneliness, heartbreak, and dread. The phrase “an inbuilt fault” itself is an examination of the inherent and innate flaws that make us human – a visceral response to Westerman’s disillusionment with AI and social media during this time period.

Through it all, the album is visceral and live-sounding, full of the sound of breath and the idiosyncratic gestures of acoustic instruments. It creates a spatial feeling, sounding like musicians assembled in a room, passing evolving ideas back and forth. Co-produced with producer and percussionist James Krivchenia (Big Thief), and featuring an extended crew of Los Angeles associates, 'An Inbuilt Fault' exhibits music that is heavier and more sonically daring than Westerman’s previous releases, and it is the most adventurous and unselfconscious songwriting of Will Westerman’s career.

‘An Inbuilt Fault’ follows Westerman’s acclaimed 2020 debut ‘Your Hero Is Not Dead,’ a graceful and self-reflective project which earned him a spot as one of the most talked about new artists of the year thanks to profiles from Pitchfork (‘Rising’), Stereogum (‘Artist To Watch’), and Rolling Stone (‘Artist You Need To Know’)."

At only 19 years old, Dar Es Salaam's DJ Travella represents a new wave of singeli producers who are driving Tanzania's breakneck dance sound into fresh, innovative spaces. Unaffiliated with any of the well-known studios like Sisso and Pamoja, Hamadi Hassani's music points singeli's fusion of taraab and techno towards the stars, locating a cyber-singeli style that's dense, kinetic and unashamedly sexy. Hassani started producing at 15, and a few years later his debut is a jagged set of hi-nrg dance music that pulls influence from across the globe, folding together elements of dembow, rave, R&B, and trap. But nothing's straightforward: opening track 'Crazy Beat Music Umeme 2' juxtaposes grinding 200bpm rhythmic intensity with urgent plucked strings, sounding like Timbaland conjuring a Thunderdome soundtrack for a Tanzanian street party. 'Crazy Beat Music Umeme 4' is even more barbed, with neon rave synths and hand-jammed percussion that's one part 808 Mafia and one part DJ Diaki. On 'London Bandcamp', Travella meshes hi-speed singeli backbeats with downtempo dembow kicks, squeezing out unexpected sleaze in the process, while on 'London Uwoteeee' there's an almost romantic sparkle, with ethereal vocals draped across woodblock cracks and whistles. But Travella sounds most nimble when giving the nod to Atlanta, and his merging of earworm synth hooks and neck-snapping East African rhythms on tracks like 'London Jomon Beat' will leave no doubt that the young producer is capable of bending singeli completely to his will.

Tor.Ma in Dub’s bass-quaking Terra and it’s fierce flipside Terra Dub drop on 7” this May 5th.

Terra’s pulsating bassline is complemented by sparse tribal percussion and disembodied vocals, creating a grounded and meditative vibe.

Terra Dub is straighter and heavier, with a punchy bass and a relentless steppers rhythm, guaranteed to lively up the dancefloor.

Both tracks are taken from the Solve et Coagula album, which focused on alchemy and transformation, with the elements presented in pairs. Downbeat dubs morph into uptempo steppers, all crafted with the unique blend of roots and psychedelia that are the hallmarks of the Mexico-based producer’s style.

"Akuphone is proud to present the Jerusalem-based improvisational trio Leviot and its hypnotizing debut album. Leviot (Hebrew for “Lionesses”) is a brainchild of multi-faceted musician and composer Yael Lavie, who’s joined by classically trained percussionist and music teacher Cnaan Canetti, and synth enthusiast Yishay Seroussi. The project is a result of Lavie’s ongoing explorations beyond the restraints of classical kanun playing and fascination with electronic sound and modern composition. Initially started following her experience performing and recording with Spiritczualic Enhancement Center, in Leviot, Yael gives up rehearsed pieces in favour of improvised sets, based on virtuous interpretation by Cnaan and Yishay. The three have been active since 2019, playing their immersive shows in a wide variety of settings, venues and festivals. The trio’s debut release is a live session, recorded in late 2020 at Mazkeka Studios (Jerusalem) for the lockdown edition of the annual Zikuk Festival. It’s a meditative improv piece in five parts that combines and melts boundaries between the traditional and the experimental, the primal and the futuristic. With setup as the foundation of the piece and Lavie’s graphic score as the road map, Leviot takes off on a cosmic journey between deep drones, whispering chimes, mesmerizing Arab melodies, pulsating rhythms and iridescent ambient patterns."

Edmony Krater grew up on the side of Morne Rouge in Sainte-Rose, north of Guadeloupe. His mother sang in church, but Edmony was drawn to the sound of Gwo Ka, which was frowned upon but very present in ceremonies or funeral vigils.

As both a fashion designer for the theater and a musician (percussion, trumpet, vocals) in the group Gwakasonné, formed by Robert Oumaou and Georges Troupé, Edmony left Guadeloupe in 1983 to settle in mainland France just after recording their first album.

Upon his arrival in Paris, with the desire to give his own version of Gwo Ka, he founded the group Zepiss with Eddy Lebouin, Freddy Tisseur, Philippe Augusty, and Rico Toto and immediately recorded a first album, Natibel.

In a singular way, Natibel perpetuates Gwo Ka Modèn, a movement initiated by the iconic jazz guitarist Gérard Lockel, who was the first to theorize and politicize this music previously transmitted only orally. In just six tracks, Natibel combines the sophistication and roughness of its root music, as Gwo Ka combines an intense rhythmic section with intoxicating melodies.

In the tradition of other Gwo Ka musicians who took the music further such as Guy Conquet, Fabriano Fuzion, Gwakasonné, Erick Cosaque, and above all legendary drummer Marcel Lollia aka Vélo, Edmony Krater and his group Zepiss have contributed to preserving its heritage and bringing an obvious touch of modernity.

Tom Zé and Faust collide in Domenico Lancellotti's "machine samba"

Domenico Lancellotti's SRAMBA reaches back to the roots of samba whilst completely revamping its blueprint, indoctrinating guitar and percussion-led rhythms with analogue synthesisers, courtesy of album producer Ricardo Dias Gomes.

The majority of SRAMBA was recorded over two months in The Cave - Domenico's home studio in Lisbon, the city both Brazilian ex-pats reside in, where the arrival of a couple of Russian-designed synths purchased by Ricardo influenced the direction of their initial experimentation: "Ricardo had these instruments, modular machines" remembers Domenico, "and I had my guitar, some percussion instruments. On the first day we started making sounds and recording them, and songs started to appear, sambas started to appear."

The son of a renowned samba songwriter, at home Domenico would watch his father play and compose. At parties, the adults would hand his father a tamborim (a small tambourine) and ask him to play along. "I grew up inside samba, it's my roots", he says. "For me, everything is samba, I bring it into whatever style of music I am making".

Domenico and Ricardo instantly saw how the synthesisers were not at odds with the sambas they were playing, instead they had a similar sound to its typical percussion instruments (ganza, repinique, surdo, tarol). What's more, they saw a connection with roots samba, the samba that existed before bossa nova and samba jazz came along. This was rhythmic samba, with grooves that could go on ad infinitum. "It's samba de clave, geometrically structured" says Domenico. "It's ostinato samba", adds Ricardo.

"Diga" is a great example of what their proposal is capable of, as what begins as a glitchy machine whirring into action soon turns into a glorious samba in which the gurgles and scratchy beats coming from the analogue equipment only add to the arrangement. Likewise, on "Tá Brabo" it's an aching melody from one of the synths that gives the guitar rhythm its needed counterpoint, and shows how the duo's greatest accomplishment is not in invention alone, but in creating a great samba album. It's an album that can go from the opening track "Ere" with its reverberant bass thud, mantra-like vocals and staccato rhythms to the string-accompanied "Nada Sera de Outra Maneira", a swooning samba that pays tribute to the Brazilian ensemble Tamba Trio, who along with Tom Zé's Estudando O Samba, Domenico names as the biggest influence on their treatment of samba.

Other important reference points are made clear on "Um Abraço No Faust". One of three instrumentals on the album its title riffs off a JoãoGilberto song, "Um Abraço no Bonfá", but whereas JoãoGilberto was giving a hug (um abraço) to bossa nova guitarist Luiz Bonfá, Domenico and Ricardo are giving theirs to the German avant-gardists Faust. "Quem Samba", with its horn section and dramatic melody give a whiff of Domenico's Italian ancestry, while "Descomunal" is devoid of rhythm whatsoever, guest vocalist Tori singing over a bed of electronic drums, cello and swirling synths, that highlights the duo's unwillingness to stick to a particular formula.

Both Domenico Lancellotti and Ricardo Dias Gomes are revered names within Brazilian music over the past 20 years. As a member of the +2's, with Moreno Veloso and Kassin, Domenico released a trio of albums on Luaka Bop in the early 00s that pioneered a new Rio samba sound with elements of funk and psychedelia. With Veloso and Kassin he would later form Orquestra Imperial, a big band intent on reviving ballroom (gafieira) samba, and that has worked with guest vocalists such as Seu Jorge, Elza Soares and Ed Motta. SRAMBA is his fourth solo album. Multi-instrumentalist Ricardo Dias Gomes first came to notice as a member of Caetano Veloso's band Cê which helped reinvigorate Caetano's career with a sound influenced by British new wave. As well as collaborations with Lucas Santtana, Negro Leo and Thiago Nassif, and work with his own group Do Amor, he has released a series of acclaimed solo albums that reveal a restless music-maker.

SRAMBA is a glorious showcase of the duo's style, uniting Domenico's playful lyrics and rhythmic, samba-rooted songs with with Ricardo's assured accompaniment of unorthodox textures and instrumentations. It may be a new language for samba, machine samba (samba de máquina), but as Domenico says, "samba da máquina is samba".

Mint Condition would like to dedicate this release to the life of Nathan Coles, who sadly passed away on February 12th 2023. A true tech-house originator and underground party starter, his productions laid down a blueprint for the tech-house sound that has become a global phenomena today. A much lauded DJ & producer, he graced the decks of the best clubs globally. As well as his solo productions, Nathan had multiple collaborative projects, Housey Doingz, Mashupheadz, Two Right Wrongans, Get F@cked, to name but a few, that saw him tackle tech-house, deep house, breaks and electro with such skillful aplomb.

The now highly sought after original appeared on Wiggle in 2000, and for this release Nathan teams up with his longtime Wiggle partner, and legend of the scene, Terry Francis for 2 fierce tech-house jams under their 'Delinquents' alias. A-Side 'Disc' opens with heavy kicks and speaker rattling percussion.The hypnotic 303-line builds, layered synths add to the tension, then comes the drop where infectious chord stabs enter the fray. B-Side - 'Funktional' takes a more stripped back approach, the bass line and percussion delivers a groove capable of destroying any discerning dancefloor. Darker acid and synths riffs build around the melody to deliver a bass heavy roller of the highest order that sounds as fresh, exciting & relevant today as it did over 2 decades ago.

This slab of wax is an essential and key release in the evolution of the UK underground that we hope celebrates Nathan's dedication, musical vision and positive energy. His unique talent leaves behind a legacy that populates legendary labels such as Wiggle, Surreal, The End, Eukahouse, Swag, Eye 4 Sound, 10 Kilo and Plastic City. 'Discfunktional' has been legitimately re-released with the full involvement of Terry Francis and Nathan Coles, lovingly remastered by London's Curve Pusher from the original sources especially for Mint Condition. 100% legit, licensed and released. Dug, remastered, repackaged and brought to you by the caring folks at your favourite reissue label - Mint Condition!

Born from the party of the same name held at Manchester’s storied White Hotel, the increasingly essential Bakk Heia label has consistently put out thrilling 12”s from co-founders schuttle and low-key cult favourit Jorg Kuning since 2019.

Stepping up for the imprint’s sixth release, schuttle brings four tripped-out cuts of contemporary dance music, showcasing his production chops across four stellar tracks, already getting an airing from Ben UFO on the Hessle Audio Rinse FM show, as well as support from Joe Delon, Kiernan Laveaux, Om Unit, K Means, Barker, Pariah & Terry Francis.

“schuttle’s latest offering begins with ‘Shadout’. Fractured celestial voices materialize from a mist of frosted percussion while a merciful kickdrum splutters above the surface, bringing with it the viscous, swampy murk. ‘Souvlaki’ follows with playful impish chatter that stumbles over the moss-covered bassline, whilst cascading snare hits tumble down abandoned wells, a gentle guiding presence through the forest.

‘Swords Dance’ is a 10-minute display of cosmic glory, where conventional momentum is abandoned in favour of complete ecstatic, unbridled chaos. After the dust settles on this fiendish bacchanalia, ‘Junkman’ creeps into the fore. Caustic mire oozes into focus, mist rising sluggishly from the reeds while an elemental pad sweeps across the terrain.”

Magic Source invites you to a journey to the obscure side of disco music.

Led by producer & notorious tape operator Björn Wagner (of Mighty Mocambos, Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band and Mocambo Records), the group follows up on their rootsy cosmic debut LP Earthrising and last year's EP Riviera Drive, whose stunning flute jazz cover of “Genius of Love” is also featured on this longplayer.

Further exploring the more unusual facets of disco in its otherworldly and international stylings, Voyage Spectral travels through a wide musical scope, ranging from “lost” tropical grooves, Mediterranean funk, outernational boogie, to cosmic sci-fi soundtracks. All 100% organic - created by real musicians with real vintage instruments, captured on 16-track analog tape.

An all-star cast of musicians invites you to a fantasy trip where angelic voices blend with spaced-out synths, ethnic string instruments interplay with sharp horn lines while the rhythm section is holding down a polyrhythmic puzzle of guitars, clavinets, B-3, drums and percussions.

London’s own Trev appeared on our first release, Body Music Vol 1, as well as other key releases on CoOp Presents and Local Talk. We’ve been fans from the start and, after Trev joined the family, his music went from strength to strength. It was already out-of-this-world production, with serious attention to detail, and this EP is nothing short of excellent! He told us 'there’s no hiding that this EP is, in essence, a long love letter to Brazil', but that it’s also written to 'Iran, London, Lisbon, Japan, probably more - too many to remember!'. Trev described his process as 'listening, learning, combining my favourite elements of all this music that has brought me so much joy over the years'. Right on!

This EP is fresh, different and sonically on point. It’s Bruk, it’s Brazilian, it’s Bass, it’s… all-round-really-good dance music! Trev is a real modern musician, an awesome keys player as well as a producer. He understands the importance of musicality and originality, together with weighty beats and bass, working just as well on the dance floor as they do at a house party… or dinner party, for that matter!

'Nightjar', the title track, draws you in with hypnotic plucks like crickets on a hot summer’s night. Eerie pads float in building tension before the beat drops - Pandeiro and Caxixi serving broken-beat with the kick - pumping the sonic palette and pumping the dancefloor. Deep sinister chords pulse in and out, percussive melodies bring love from the middle east, and we reach a beautiful jazz-harmony break - then it’s straight back to the body movement - this time letting loose with the cowbells and the shakers. Think Brazil, think Persia, think Jazz, think dance-floor, it’s all in there!

'Late Flip' pulls us into a more ethereal intro, with the Koto and skate sounds laying our dream scene. Morphing out of flutes, modular synth plucks pay tribute to the sounds of Lisbon as we drop - a rolling broken beat punch, playful Rhodes and distant vocal chops ring out with the Koto dripping in warm echoes. A truly amazing composition and arrangement that leaves you wanting more!

'Beijo' is one of our faves on this EP. We’re straight in with a kiss - MWAH! - a classic Baile rhythm gets a warm Bruk embrace. It’s passionate and dark and tells a story as old as history. Get lost in the movements between drums and percussion, in the flutes and cicadas, until the organ bass calls it - time to get moving. This really is Trev’s signature dance floor style. A banger with a naughty-yet-subtle bassline, and its own game of perspective - feel this rhythm in more ways than one. Vocal chops and Tamborim place São Paulo’s influence front and centre.

'Grey' takes us on a dusty House/Bruk journey with filtering chords that grow patiently until the beat drops - getting your feet moving and neck bopping! Burning slow, Trev is playful with the harmony, keeping the fun with a roller of a bassline that pulls it all together. It’s a six-and-a-half-minute rich musical journey that feels more like half that time!?

Complete your Dance Regular Vinyl collection with this absolute killer EP from the one called Trev.

Portuguese techno figurehead Lewis Fautzi returns to Soma with the Properties Specifications EP. A mainstay on the Soma roster for 10 years, Fautzi has progressed through the global ranks to become one of techno's most recognisable acts. A consistent and competent producer, Fautzi's sound has evolved through the years yet remains modern and as on point as ever.

Density is a visceral yet hypnotic opener, its subtle drive is pushed via its instantly building, electric synth hook. Severity continues down a dark and hypnotic patch as polyrhythmic percussion guides a pulsating and incessant groove. Malleability once again displays Fautzi's control over specific elements, each grafting over the other to create new depths of rhythm throughout the track. Tension closes out the EP but does so in emphatic form. The most driving track on the release, thumping low end and crisp percussion are backed with twisted synths and dark atmospheres that swell throughout.

Tape

The music of Melati ESP aka Melati Malay is a euphoric vision of megacity rhythm and rainforest escape, club breaks and weightless pop, mapping new dreams from the sound of futures passed: hipernatural.

Drawing on the music era of her teenage years growing up in Jakarta – Javanese radio Dangdut, gamelan cassettes, Moving Shadow-era liquid jungle, Japanese chill-out, etc. – as well as her current work in progressive percussion trio Asa Tone, Malay’s solo debut is boldly borderless, bridging worlds and wavelengths into a richly imagined hybrid synthetic utopia.

hipernatural is momentous linguistically, too, as Malay’s first foray into singing in Indonesian, the language of her youth. She characterizes her lyrical mode as “abstract, and a bit broken,” an intuitive collage of diaristic emotion and oblique poetry (“plant me in fleeting twilight / missing home, where is home? / I am another you”). Her voice serves as its own versatile instrument, alternately intimate and alien, sensual and sacred, shaded with the haze of hidden heavens.

Co-produced with long-time collaborator Kaazi (100% Silk, Asa Tone), the album’s 12 tracks are cohesive but eclectic, threading through temple bass music, cyber siren techno, Stereolab drum n bass, new age downtempo, and dial-up rave reveries, flecked with tactile fragments of offworld dialogue, computer hum, bubbling water, and beyond.

Malay’s technique of sampling and processing her voice into an electronic palette which she then performs on generative instruments gives the songs a bewitching artificial intelligence elegance, exquisite but uncanny. Hers is a hybridity both organic and hypermodern, deeply personal yet globally sourced – YouTube rips, nature tapes, cheap sample packs, club bootlegs. hipernatural champions a dynamic new language at the axis of then and now, of east and west

Der Soundtrack des Jagex Audio Teams zur jüngsten Ausgabe des erfolgreichen Massen-Mehrspieler-Online-Rollenspiels 'RuneScape: Elder God Wars Dungeon' (2021). Deluxe Edition mit 11 speziell für 180g Vinyl gemasterten Tracks auf orange-klarem und grün-klarem Doppelvinyl mit Wolkeneffekt im luxuriösen Gatefold. Die Musik ist abwechselnd donnernd und eindringlich, mit engelsgleichen und dämonischen Chorpassagen, stampfenden Percussions, mitreißenden Orchesterpassagen und schweren Rockriffs. Mit Vocals von Julie Elven (Horizon Zero Dawn, Forbidden West) und Eric Holloway (Doom Eternal).

When David Drucker of Painted Faces begins to write and record, every dumb sign, bad horror movie, seemingly innocuous turn of phrase, petty embarrassment, transcendent joke, and musical
influence are drawn together like iron filings to a magnet.
What results is a document of a particular point in time for the artist. There are infectiously haunting hooks and raw atonal passages, cheap synths (and as time goes on less cheap ones), simple but effective chords, ramshackle percussion (a plastic toy maraca passed among audience members that refuses to die), and a host of other elements that all add up to something very special and deeply personal.

It’s a portrait of the artist as a freak.
On his latest album, Normal Street, the story continues. The title track opens with a nebulous cloud of beeps and squeals which slowly give way to more solid melodic form. Drucker, always searching for ever
freakier and liberated pastures, walks a particularly unique line between unpredictably risky experimentation and skillful songcraft. It’s this interplay hat makes Painted Faces truly original and exciting.
What “works” is totally relative, and through his long honed practice of trying things, he has created his own sonic vocabulary.

Normal Street is a fractured collection of songs, sounds, ideas, sometimes brief and other times delicately sustained; its stream of consciousness mischievousness bringing to mind Zappa and the
Mothers filtered through the angst of bedroom pop and tape label minimalism.

Brazilian singer, guitarist and actor Seu Jorge returns with an intimate and stripped back session and album, a collaboration with his close friend and kindred spirit Rogê, for new UK based, direct-to-disc record label, Night Dreamer.

Recorded and cut direct-to-disc on Thursday 22nd & Friday 23rd August 2019 at Artone Studio, Haarlem, The Netherlands. Brazilian singer, guitarist and actor Seu Jorge turns to brother-in-arms Rogê, for their first ever album recording, celebrating 25 years of friendship and companionship as part of the latest instalment on UK based, direct-to-disc record label, Night Dreamer.

From concept to completion in four days, the Night Dreamer session commits a lifetime of collaboration and companionship to record for the first time, encapsulated by ‘Caminhão’ - the first song the duo ever wrote together 25 years ago.

Similar to his breakout album and Bowie homage, The Life Aquatic Studio Sessions, the new record is stripped back and raw but with an altogether different ambition - to create a 'classic Brazilian record'. Featuring both Seu Jorge and Rogê on guitar and vocals it also enlists the additional talents of two of Brazil’s most sought-after percussionists, Peu Meurray and Pretinho da Serrinha.

The seven original compositions recall the pairs plaintive and idiosyncratic melancholy and draws on the likes of Brazilian greats like Milton Nascimento, Gilberto Gil and orge Ben.

From Rio De Janeiro in Brazil, Jorge’s success has been witnessed by close friend Rogê – a story which has seen Jorge go from humble beginnings in Rio to working with the likes of Beck and Bowie, and starring in major film and television productions. Well known for his acting roles in,

City of God and the current Netflix hit series Irmandade (Brotherhood), it was Wes Anderson’s A Life Aquatic film that global audiences first saw Jorge on the screen performing as a troubadour strumming Portuguese-language covers of David Bowie classics. All in all, Seu Jorge has been a pioneering force in revitalising Brazilian popular music across the globe.

A songwriter, composer and musician in his own right, Rogê has received a Latin Grammy Nomination for ‘Na Veia’, his collaboration with samba legend Arlindo Cruz. With a strong catalogue of 7 albums and countless collaborations with Brazilian and international producers, Rogê represents the new generation of artists of the Brazilian Popular Music movement and has been instrumental in the pair building an archive of unrealised songs, sketches and ideas, some of which ultimately comprise the backbone of this session.

Like eavesdropping on a campfire session, the one-take direct-to-vinyl process at Artone captures the intensity of the duo’s relationship, setting the conditions for an extraordinarily intimate recording.

First ever repress since 2017!

The second release from MIC comes from Ladies As Pimps - LAPS for short - an anarchic Glasgow duo formed by Lady Two Collars of Golden Teacher and Sue Zuki from Organs Of Love.

Their duets take centre stage on Who Me: the vocal performances range from the stretched, soulful projections of Ode To Daughter to the lawless, clipped, sweet & sour, spat-not-spoken word of Edges.

Spirited percussion scatters in all directions and bass is smothered in tape delay, as the duo beat their way through dub, r'n'b, house, and way beyond, circling around acts like Madam X, The Bug, Stuart Argabright and Francois K, mashing absurdity with dread.

Recorded at Green Door studios in Glasgow (where the two met) and layered with the analogue production techniques learned on the first youth unemployment programme there, the energy and charisma of these recordings promise a pretty unique live show when they support Princess Nokia later this year.

Supported by Ben UFO, DJ Moxie, Pitchfork.

Following their much loved NTS radio shows and parties of the same name, the highly rated DJ/producers re:ni and Laksa have announced a brand new label, also called RE:LAX.

On ‘Body Score’ Laksa continues to traverse the same 150bpm territory as his releases for Hessle Audio and Timedance, but here we also find influences from his job as a social worker.

Chiseling bass weight, swung beats/loops and FX into new shapes with confident hands, ‘Body Score’ conjures mental images that’re equal parts wild humid rainforest and dystopian industrial complex.

‘Soulz’ sets the agenda from the outset; Featuring pumelling gut-punch bass and frenetic percussion, this tightly-wound ball of energy takes you deep into a dank cerebral vortex.

Acknowledging the darkside of life – 'Bodies' samples the psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk.

Like an ancient ritual, ‘Mind’ evokes scenes of drummers whipping dancers up into a frenzied higher spiritual state, and with its huge snare adding head-cracking accents, the unstoppable momentum thunders along ‘til the very last bar.

Early support from the likes of Pearson Sound, Zenker Brothers, Darwin and Om Unit.

Mammal Hands announce spell-binding new album 'Gift from the Trees', their fifth studio album, pointing to subtle shifts and exciting new departures for the unique trio
"We're at a point now where playing and writing together can sometimes feel almost telepathic, that as individuals we can tune in to a collective resonance..."
Mammal Hands fifth album 'Gift from the Trees' offers a fresh perspective on the unique trio's singular music. The first to be recorded in a residential studio, the band enjoyed the opportunity to go late into the night searching for a deeper, more organic experience, closer to both their writing process but also their trance-like live performances. While some of the music was pre-composed and had even been performed live, the band also enjoyed the opportunity to improvise ideas in the studio. Drummer Jesse Barrett explains:
We wanted to have a more immersive experience that felt closer to our writing process. One thing that was really important to us was feeling free to jam out ideas as they came to us. We're at a point now where playing and writing together can sometimes feel almost telepathic, that as individuals we can tune in to a collective resonance and just follow that thread where it wants to go. Sometimes it's something as simple as a rhythmic, textural flow, like in Sleeping Bear.
There was also a conscious decision to move away from the sound and ambiance of the recording studio, with the band opting to engineer the record with their go-to live engineer Benjamin Capp before mixing the sessions with Greg Freeman in Berlin. The idea was to try and capture more of the energy of the band's captivating shows, saxophonist Jordan Smart explains:
Considering the group of tracks we had, it made sense to try and capture this process as organically and honestly as possible, and so a change in studio environment felt like the right move to us. Some of the tracks have a raw joy and energy that came with being able to play together again after a long period of time of having been apart, and capture that feeling of just being happy to be in a room with our instruments altogether again.
Whereas for pianist Nick Smart there was also the chance to really go deep into the band's music:
The new studio environment really opened us up to different ways of working and thinking because we could record at any hour of the day or night. I think this allowed us much more freedom to try unusual ideas and push elements of the music to extremes because we had the time to really focus in on the detail and work on things without time pressure. With some tracks, we were trying to find the boundaries of our playing ability and push beyond that point. With others, it was just getting into the right mindset and putting as much energy and emotion into the take as possible.'
The Welsh environment outside the studio doors seeped into the music presented on Gift from the Trees, with two recording sessions (one in winter and one in the spring) bringing different moods: one bleak and wintery, the other more hopeful and bright – an energy that permeates through tracks such as Kernel and Dimu.
Gift from the Trees opens with wonderfully elevating The Spinner which grew from one of Nick's piano parts and was developed and arranged into a complete tune without losing the feeling of constant flow and motion. It is almost like a dance, with the interaction of different melody parts and the doubling of certain parts melding together and fitting into the overall energetic flow, while Jesse's drums are both floating and deeply melodic. Riser aims to capture the band's raw energy and intriguingly is influenced by both breaks and modern drum production but also minimalist classical composition. Nightingale features the band at their most delicate and lyrical – a band favourite it draws heavily on modern folk with a beautifully realised melody that came unforced to pianist Nick Smart before being jammed out together. It was recorded early one morning, bringing an extra light and brightness to this beautiful performance.
Another album highlight is Dimu which utilises one of drummer Jesse Barret's favourite rhythmic devices from the Tabla repertoire and draws inspiration from Indian, Greek and Arabic music as well as modern folk arrangements. Dimu starts with saxophone over a bed of drones and percussion and moves through many different sections that frame and present the melodies in unique ways. The beguiling, intimate Deep within Mountains aims to place you in the room with the band as they play; it was recorded late at night to capture a dreamlike, liminal ambiance. The piano solo really reflects this mood and energy while the tenor is some of the softest and closest on the recording. Elsewhere, the remarkable Labyrinth started with what Nick describes as "some weird recording on my phone from a soundcheck, where Jordan was playing some crazy sounding bass clarinet part and I quickly recorded him", giving birth to a captivating, complex slice of propulsive 'almost' contemporary classical that like so much of the music on Gift from the Trees really couldn't be any other band than Mammal Hands.
Finally, the album draws to a close with the glorious Sleeping Bear, a tune that was wholly improvised in the studio. Nick and Jesse entered a simple but 'weird' locked groove and Jordan improvises melodies over the top. The track came about without any planning or thought; it was one of those special things that came by surprise and the band felt offered the perfect ending to their latest gift to us all: a deeply enthralling album that captures so much of what makes Mammal Hands a special band while mapping out new routes and paths for their beautiful, beguiling music.

First release on the new french label Disques de la Spirale, featuring an experimental motorik-kraut-dub infused, semi-improvised live act built by Tamara Goukassova, Axel Larsen & Théo Delaunay (Panoptique, Succhiamo, Violent Quand on Aime, Radiante Pourpre..) from Simple Music Experience ; featuring Maoupa Mazzocchetti, Fiesta en el Vacío, Ventre de Biche, Kyle Knapp (Deliluh) …
For fans of Faust, Tomaga, Tony Conrad...


French non-jazz trio overflowed by Simple Music Experience’s funders Tamara Goukassova, Théo Delaunay & Alexandre Larcier, offering a 40mn of non-simple music madness, and navigating between a dozen of etiquettes from undecided space rock to motorik-infused-dub, medieval folk, cartoon trance; everything under the seal of psychedelia and half-improvisation.
Built from drums, violin, springs, samples, reiterations, overdubs, trumpets, synths, distortions; and the appearances of L. Cedrón (Fiesta en el Vacío), L. Retraite (Ventre de Biche), K. Knapp (Deliluh), F. Mazzocchetti (Maoupa Mazzocchetti).

Chimera embraced by three members of the Simple Music Experience label, also (co-) liable at one point for the acts of Axel Larsen, (The) Simplists, Violent Quand On Aime, Constance Chlore, T. Goukassova, Radiante Pourpre, Succhiamo or Panoptique; Parasite Jazz emerged in 2016 in the smoke of a suspicious performance on Simple Music TV. An improvised and protean artifact at birth, the project settled down at the end of 2020 as a trio (Axel Larsen, Constance Chlore, Tamara Goukassova) in Marseille, then as a sextet during the Illusio festival in the summer of 2021. A series of concerts with a shifting line-up followed - Kyle Knapp, Luca Retraite and Luna Cedrón sometimes appeared and with them, spontaneous incandescences. This first series of collective hallucinations took the form of an album during a perilous recording at Grrrnd Zero (Lyon) in October 2021, and is completed by live recordings gleaned over the course of the summer episodes.

All tracks are composed and performed by Parasite Jazz:
Alexandre Larcier: bands, FX, springs
Tamara Goukassova: violin
Théo Delaunay: drums, percussion, synthesizer, tapes

Florent Mazzocchetti: trumpet on "Carton Jazz" and "Alarm Twist" (sampled)
Luca Retraite: bass on “Terciopelo” and guitar on “Alarm Twist”
Luna Cedron: vocals on “Terciopelo”
Kyle Knapp: lap steel on “Terciopelo” and “Untitled live at Gigors”
Around Function: Sketches, band lettering

Recorded and mixed by Théo Delaunay at Grrrnd Zero (Lyon) and l'Embobineuse (Marseille) except "Terciopelo" recorded at Illusio (Pradelles) and "Untitled live at Gigors" at La Sye Electric (Gigors-et-Lozeron).

Mastering: Rupert Clerveaux
Cover: Diane Malatesta
Design: Alan Briand
Parasite Jazz thanks: Quentin Mosko, the Groovedge/Illusio crew, Théo & Clyde, Maoupa Mazzocchetti, the 3 jokers Luna Luca and Kyle, Grrrnd & the Embobineuse.

The second in Jazz Room's occasional Pure Latin releases this Underground Masterpiece first emerged in 1980 and is an outstanding example of the Classic Era Nu Yorican El Barrio Underground Sound! If you dig the Tata Vasquez LP on Jazz Room then this is for you.

Featuring the Afro-Cubano Salsaero Jazz Heavyweights of the day including Chocolate Armenteros, Jose Mangual, Mauricio Smith and Orestes Vilato and a huge seven man Percussion Section it really blasts out the Afro-Latin message.

A part history of the Afro-Cuban Music Journey from the Hinterlands of Cuba via Havana and eventually arriving in Jazz Age New York it is a welcome addition to the Jazz Room Catalogue (as well as being Jazz Room Head Honcho's favourite albums).

Floor filler cuts for Latin Lovers with "Esa Brujeria" always turning up the heat.

"The Concert" is the first discographic collaboration between percussionist Alexandre Babel and visual artist Latifa Echakhch. The record is intimately linked to the eponymous exhibition presented at the Swiss Pavilion during the 59th Venice Art Bienniale.

For her exhibition in the Swiss Pavilion, Latifa Echakhch created an orchestrated and enveloping experience, a rhythmic and spatial proposal that allowed the visitor a complete perception of time and of his own body. What is the origin of rhythm? How does the body perceive time? How does the mind rearrange it? Can we substitute one perception for another, the visual for the sound? Can fragments of memory go back in time and recreate a different story?

Her proposal entered a dialogue with the building around it, designed by Bruno Giacometti. The artist revisited its architectural programme as well as the prototypical progression of these exhibition spaces, originally defined for the display of classical art. She appropriated the entirety of the spaces, simultaneously exploring continuity, movement and sequence. Their relationship to light, and the different sounds that emerge from them. Yet the exhibition was entirely silent and the musical composition "The Concert" functions as its sound rendering, by following a similar path.

This one-sided vinyl is a complementary and inseparable partner piece to the exhibition and its eponymous catalogue, the latter having been published in April 2022 by Sternberg Press. The music features field recordings made at the Swiss Pavilion itself as well as pre-recorded percussion sounds and significant contributions by the Berlin-based musicians Jon Heilbronn, Rebecca Lenton, Theo Nabicht, Nikolaus Schlierf.

The record, available only after the closing of Latifa Echakhch’s exhibition offers a concluding phase to the project. The resonance of its sensory score. It reactivates the experience of the physical journey of the installation, without imposing itself as a transcription or an illustration. Through texture, temporality and its totality, the record stands as a resonance of the rhythms that have structured the pavilion, the harmonies that have composed it and the sounds that have inhabited it.

Latifa Echakhch Lives and works in Vevey, Switzerland. She graduated from the École nationale supérieure d’arts in Cergy-Pontoise and the École nationale des beaux-arts in Lyon. Galleries representing her include kamel mennour (Paris and London), kaufmann repetto (Milan and New York), Dvir Gallery (Tel Aviv/Brussels) and Pace (New York). She took part in the main exhibition of the Venice Biennale Arte in 2011 and was awarded the prix Marcel-Duchamp in 2013 and the Zurich Art Prize in 2015. Through her interdisciplinary installations, Latifa Echakhch is recognized for the fine balance between forcefulness and fragility of her visual language, inserting surrealist and conceptual elements, and her use of symbols that–in her own words–are both "political and poetic".

Alexandre Babel Lives and works in Berlin. He is a drummer, composer, and curator. His projects redefine the boundaries of musical convention, confounding listener expectations in the conquest of new contexts. Babel has been the artistic director of the contemporary percussion group Eklekto 2013–2022. In 2020, the monographic Festival Les Amplitudes in La Chaux-de-Fonds focused on Babel’s compositional and curatorial work. He is a laureate of the Swiss Music Prize from the Federal Office of Culture 2021.

2023 Repress

it was in february 2015 when japanese producer and sound designer kuniyuki takahashi, sometimes known as koss, releases with the ep 'newwave project '2' a record, that tapped some roots of his musical education: new wave, german electro punk from bands like a daf, ebm from acts like front 242 as well as industrial music.

styles, about kuniyuki claims that they are his 'favourite music'. now, nearly two years after his first newwave project ep, he drops an album that is leaning towards his musical love from the past. compared to his former work, that was rooted in worlds of classic, jazz, house, ambient, and electronic song-writing, his new tunes are full of melodic drifts and rhythmical shifts.

as usual all is loaded with tones and rhythms straight from the heart that filter and modulate human emotions without losing their natural source. to get a sound that is fresh but still leaning to the 1980ees, he used some old synthesisers like a roland jupiter 8, a juno 60, a korg ms 20, an old tape echo machine but also new instruments like the roland aira. furthermore, his modular synthesizers talk too.

instead of having a masterplan, kuniyuki just made sound, drifted on his machines and moved into a territory, that his far away from his former sound. also the use sampled voices and other alienated sound sources of unknown origin inject his new tunes otherworldly atmospheres.

his skills as a fine instrumentalist is evidence as kuniyuki also played the piano, percussions or flute, if he felt their warm sound is needed for his freely grooving tracks. some dance in a house or techno outfits.

other slam like a mix of funk and ebm. tunes like 'puzzle' or 'body signal' are twisted treasures that bemuse deeply. in-between you hear the echoes of cosmic spheres, the darkness of the cold war days and some bewitching tribal jungle vibes. a new, moving, unorthodox and yet catchy side of kuniyuki takahashi.

it is not totally novel to him, as he already released some industrial, ebm and electronic with the project drp in 1990 on the belgium label body records. but for his listeners, that know him for detailed house, jazz and classic or that love him as a man of collaborations who already worked together with artists like innervisions jazz house heavyweight henrik schwarz, the famous japanese pianist fumio itabashi or the british synth-pop protest spoken word icon anne clark, the 'newwave project' sheds a light on a different artistic side of kuniyuki takahashi.

it is diversified, has many rhythmical and atmospheric turns but stays stirring and compelling in all twelve tracks. a true new wave, formed, played in and envisioned with a view on the past that was filtered through the now while feeling the future. the cover art work comes from the swiss artist augustin rebetez - a man who also loves to generate unknown poetic universes in his drawings, sculptures, videos and installations.

The inaugural 2023 vinyl release Neapolitan Soul Records comes with a new EP produced by Neapolitan Soul.
On side A "JUST BREATHE ON ME" an elegantly deep track, with an energetic afro disco groove, rich percussion and an "underground" atmosphere with an old school Moog melody.

On side B, the Neapolitan producer in collaboration with the London dj/producer Ace Shyllon remixes the track "SEE MY LOVE", which, as the title suggests, voice, groove, synth and pads merge into a sensual and incisive groove suitable for the "underground" dancefloor more demanding.

An essential and perfect EP to create a warm and deep trip for a unique atmosphere on the dancefloor for all deep house lovers.

Multidisciplinary artists Lex Rütten and Jana Kerima Stolzer alias A2iCE & BO3 are the faces behind Paryìa records’ fourth release – further manifesting Paryìa's role as a genre-bending entity while also expanding the artist’s respective portfolio. The debut EP Extracted Soil unites four enthralling tracks with broken beats and evocative percussions as the common denominator, including a remix by Mor Elian. With this release Paryìa brings together sound, art and physical elements, conceptually working around the artist's exhibitions, combining different formats and creating space to break out of conventions and experiment freely.

Oceans flow through the center of Cinder Well's music and 'Cadence', the
new album from Amelia Baker's experimental folk project,drifts between
two far-flung seas: the hazy California coast where she grew up, and the
wind-torn swells of Western Ireland that she's come to love
Written soon after the release of 2020's acclaimed 'No Summer', Baker returned
to her hometown in central California to record at Harlan Steinberger's nearby
Hen House Studios in Venice Beach. Inspired by this new setting, Baker expanded
Cinder Well's sound to include percussion, provided by her old friend Phillip
Rogers (Haley Heynderickx), as well as trance electric guitar and expansive string
parts courtesy of Cormac MacDiarmada (Lankum). The doom folk and traditional
Irish influences of 'No Summer' are still present but often give way to a more
optimistic and relaxed atmosphere that nods to LA's mythical Laurel Canyon
years. Across nine epic tracks, Baker treads a sonic and lyrical path between the
two coastal towns she calls home, her transcendental voice given new wings by
the record's sweeping arrangements. "Overgrown" is the first major key Cinder
Well song in nearly a decade while the uneasy and pulsating title track is a love
letter to the self for our darkest days. Fittingly, Baker opens 'Cadence' with a song
about selkies-- seals that turn human on land. More than just a bit of folklore,
shapeshifting selkies are a metaphor for Baker herself: a songwriter tied to the
ebb and flow of the ocean (and humanity's) currents, whether they be half a world
away or a few steps from home.

An onslaught of determined rhythms interlace in a glorious cacophony for the dance floor on Kim Dürbeck's latest. The Norwegian/Vietnamese artist unleashes a formidable din of percussion across six new pieces for Lek records.

A club record that takes furtive glances at the experimental, Lek003 is hardly an exercise in restraint as it carves its way through jungle and drum n bass to find its place on today's impetuous DJ booth where a new youthful energy has seen tempos reach heady heights.

As ever Dürbeck's Vietnamese heritage is strong as he weaves esoteric textures through the tapestry of monstrous kick drums and snares. The record eschews the conformity of a four to the floor, for something more assertive. From the familiar Amen constructions of a track like "Phu Yen Flow" to the more extreme outer edges of IDM with a track like "Wipeout", each track utilises the break beat in different adaptations throughout.

At the other end of the spectrum, Patås tames of "Nuoc Mam is my holy water" for a more tempered version and lets our head up for air, before Dürbeck brings the ruckus with his army of irreverent drum machines. There is no quarter given with perfunctory designs on the dance floor and the club context.