Valentino Mora returns to Spazio Disponibile with his first full-length ‘Underwater’. A mesmerizing listening trip over the course of eight tracks taking you into his deep sea world of dark minimalism and eerie drone rhythm structures.
11001 Records is a Berlin-based record label focused on techno, ambient, experimental and other forms of abstract visions. Co-founder of Teufelsberg Domecast, a sound installation podcast series with ambient experimental live performances using the dome at the top of Teufelsberg as a natural parabolic reverb. In ‘Dimensional Perception’, each song revolves around an object in outer space.
Have you ever wondered what King Crimson or Emerson, Lake & Palmer would have sounded like, had they originated from behind the Iron Curtain?
This may sound like the usual hype promoters write to draw attention, but click on the audio files from this album’s track-list and listen closely. “Amintiri din viitor” [Memories from the Future] will take you back to a time when progressive music was truly forward looking, experimental, and original. The band Experimental Q was formed in the early 1970s, by a group of music students from the Gheorghe Dima Conservatory, in Cluj (Romania). Eugen Tunaru (keyboards), Valentin Farcaș (guitar), Nicolae Bucaciuc (bass), and Nicolae Delioran (drums) were joined by Gheorghe Marcovici (flute), and this line-up recorded a series of songs and compositions for radio and TV, without ever releasing any album on Electrecord, the sole record company in Romania at that time.
Their music was mostly instrumental and featured titles that touched upon intergalactic, or art themes. The band members may have been music students, but while their education was classical, their inspiration drew from pop music’s avantgarde. Prog and jazz-rock fans might find influences and echoes of bands that were carving out new paths in the unexplored music jungle of the late 1960s and early 1970s: King Crimson, The Nice, Jethro Tull, ELP, VDGG. After a few listens, however, it will dawn upon the listener that this music was more than just an East European response to the Western hype of the day. Facing the prejudice of their professors, the skepticism of some of their peers, as well as the numerous material drawbacks and technological limitations, Experimental Q improvised not only musically. In the end, they made their own instruments and adapted what they could get their hands on, to create some of the most intriguing music made on the Eastern side of the Iron Curtain.
“Amintiri din viitor” opens the first chapter in this still untold story of one of Romania’s best hidden music secrets. With the approval of and collaboration from the remaining band members, this project features restored and remastered audio, original artwork, as well as an in-depth essay about the band and its musical output in the socialist historical context, with exclusive photos and memorabilia.
This project is curated by Claudiu Oancea (artwork, liner notes), Adrian Matala (co-producer) and Remus Miron (restored, remastered audio and producer).
Far Out Recordings presents Mora!, and for the first time ever on vinyl Mora! II. Mexican-American percussionist and former member of the Sun Ra Arkestra, Francisco Mora Catlett originally recorded and released his debut solo LP as a private press in 1987, but the sequel he recorded over the course of the next few years with an expanded Detroit jazz brass section was shelved for decades to follow. A pan-American melting pot of hypnotic afro-cuban rhythms, frenetic batucadas and fiery sambas, Mora I & II are holy grails of latin jazz, masterminded by an unsung hero of the genre.
Kumasi, New Orleans’ own 14-piece Afrobeat orchestra, is back with their third LP and first live record. After two private-press releases, Kumasi is presenting Live at Marigny Studios to an international audience for the first time via Hiatt dB’s New Orleans-based Mystery Zone Records. Live at Marigny Studios, features 4 original compositions: jazz-centric interpretations of Fela’s classic form that incorporate rhythms and sentiments from New Orleans and the surrounding Afro-diaspora, namely Cuba, Haiti, and Brazil. It’s a bold effort that perfectly captures the infectious mix of heavy rhythms, spontaneous, improvisatory musicianship, and inclusive, participatory style that characterize Kumasi as a group, as well as Afrobeat as a whole.
Soil Records presents the third volume of Tears For Fears cassette compilation. The release includes 22 tracks from the likes of Adrian Marth, Anatolian Weapons, Chino, Crossover Network, Fragedis, Le Chocolat Noir, Ober Dada & Lera Foer, Sons Of Traders, Violet Poison and many more.
Schrödinger’s Box found a true audio delinquent when they discovered Rapha. Resident at Alphabet Club in Tel Aviv, this is a musician who creates tracks with a punk attitude and a painted acid smile. The co-founder of Chateau Royal arrives with four blistering numbers for our box. After the pounding percussion and 303 smears of “Ivanka”, this sidewinder synthesist unfurls the brooding darkness that is “Transform.” Lighter tones pierce the gloom in the carefully crafted “Visionia” before The Exaltics lands for some deep and dreamy electro with an incredible remake of “Voyager101.” Rapha’s original of “Voyager101” closes the 12”. Rasping rhythm patterns cut a path for rich dauby analogue bars in this stripped-back, late-night close.
BT57 sees Markus Gebauer AKA Interviews making his debut on Brokntoys. Having left a lasting impression with his previous efforts on labels Ortloff and Bitterfeld, here the Berlin-based producer showcases his throbbing blend of Italo, EBM and electro on a 4 track EP designed for primetime club action.
Producer and DJ from Strasbourg, France – Itako’s anachronistic influences combine a wide range of sounds from the 80’s to the early 00′, from industrial to disco & trance to new beat. Itako presents a 5 tracks EP of raw and unadulterated electro for his debut on Lone Romantic titled ‘Ligotage EP’.
Dark Entries is again presenting an essential classic: the Chicago house anthem Essence of a Dream, by Risqué III. K’Alexi Shelby’s illustrious career has included releases on legendary labels such as Trax, DJ International, and Transmat, as well as collaborations with high profile artists such as Marshall Jefferson and Pet Shop Boys. But his musical journey began at the young age of 12, when he befriended Ron Hardy and Frankie Knuckles while frequenting the Music Box and Warehouse. In 1987, Shelby’s first solo release, Risqué III’s “Essence of a Dream” b/w “Risqué Madness,” was to be cemented in Chicago dance history. He was accompanied in the studio by his cousin and production mentor, Mr. Lee. The tracks effortlessly propulsive house rhythms (courtesy of the Roland TR-727, TR-707, and TR-909), salsa-inflected bassline, and oneiric strings fuse magnificently with K’Alexi’s steamy, Prince-esque verse.
Ambroise Boret is a French engineer, mixer and producer located in Paris who released material under various guises from the nineties through to the early 2000’s. Here we see his Continental moniker brough back into the limelight, highlighting a selection of material from the Pushin’ It Up EP on Alliance Records. Up first is ‘Flying Dub’, as the name would suggest a dub-infused excursion through gliding chord sequences, snaking bass licks and bright string sequences while swinging analogue drums dynamically evolve throughout. ‘Way U Jack’ follows, introducing a more Chicago leaning attitude rhythmically alongside low-pitched vocal murmurs, fluttering dub chords and a bumpy bass line. Title-track ‘Whispers’ follows on the b-side next, employing ethereal atmospherics, flute like synth melodies, organ bass tones and crunchy, shuffled percussion. Rounding out the EP Cosmin TRG reworks ‘Whispers’, offering a contemporary twist on the original with intricately programmed drums, subtly nuanced introductions of the originals atmospherics, winding low-end pulsations and an overall ornate, dynamic feel.
Takeshi Kouzuki returns to Alley Version label for sharing with the brothera duo FLML, the split mini-LP “Tracks From The Alley”. Takeshi Kouzuki keeps crossing old school house with his recognizable classy signature. The warm but hitting acid of “福”, opens the Takeshi Kouzuki’s side, while in the second track “1986” deep-and-dark synthetic magic atmospheres are driven by the beating of the twins TR707 and TR727 drum machines. “Yellowacid” burns in its acid-jackin’ madness. Opening FLML’s side “Hot Spread” is obscure jackin’ techno mechanical psychedelia, the following “Jack That Strings” is a pure raw windy city deep‘n’acid track. In the closing “Does Mean It’s You” a freaky FM synth melody is driven by the pulsing of liquid and creepy analog synths and drums, while an 8-bit sampled Andy Warhol’s speaking fragment marks the space, until dies in a delay feedback.
Two classic Finnish acid house remixes from year 2004 by Jori Hulkkonen. Where the A-side’s remix of unreleased Acid Kings track makes Jori’s rapping sound as embedded as resonance in a silver case – the flip side is deep, driving, juxtaposing pop and underground in a way Manchester’s dance scene was famous for in the hayday-80’s. What’s that sound so fresh and wicked..?
”Think Again is about reviewing the plan. It’s about taking inventory, reorganizing, restocking, doing away with and adding what’s needed. It’s a project about transition – in body and soul” – Millsart
Although now based in Berlin, Subradeon began their career in home city Naples. The Neopolitan twosome specialises in a brand of techno that combines the crunchy, full-throttle techno sounds of their native Italy with a soulful musicality that deftly draws on classic house and Motor City techno sounds. It’s an ear-catching and entertaining formula that delivers more hits than misses. For proof, check out the pair’s latest EP, and in particular bouncy, sun-splashed opener ‘We Are Resilient’ and the stab-happy joy that is retro-futurist anthem ‘Don’t Fake The Funk’. Subradeon’s love of combining cheery, looped riffs and heavy grooves is further explored on ‘Wisdom’, which is then given a more dubbed-out, late-night re-fit by Underground Resistance crew-member Rolando.
Keith Tucker and Gerald Donald of Dopplereffekt finally got together. The combination of these two musicians has created a bombardment of funk as only Keith Tucker and Dopplereffekt can bring. That unearthly eerie funk and strings from other worlds. That snappy intelligent funk that Detroit so heavily influenced and unleashed to the universe.
Jordan GCZ takes our minds raving along psychotropic wallpapered hallways of sound with this tight set of emotive belters for Rush Hour. The Juju & jordash / Magic Mountain High keyboard maestro leaves the noodles at home for this EP. After cooking up the hooky, Acid dipped title track, he turns the heat up high over three 90s style techno cuts.
The Hipodrome Of Music 