Piero Umiliani – L’uomo elettronico [FLIES50]

UMILIANI, Piero - L'uomo Elettronico: Cosmic Electronic Environments from an Italian Synth Music Maestro 1972-1983

Four Flies Records continues to explore the vast archives of synthesizer-loving cult Italian composer Piero Umiliani. This fine compilation focuses on the more cosmic and intergalactic side of his electronic work, drawing together a mixture of classic cuts, overlooked gems and previously unreleased material recorded between 1972 and ’83. There’s plenty of highlights to be found amongst the 16 tracks on show, with our picks including the echoing melodic motifs, spacey flourishes and chugging low-end of ‘Soundmaker Blues’, the deep space creepiness of ‘Fruitori’, the intergalactic minimalism of ‘Batticuori’, the Cold War-era spookiness of ‘Apocalisse Atomica’, and the gently funky ‘Eliogabulous’.

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Piero Umiliani – L’uomo elettronico [FLIES50]

Teaspoon & The Waves – Teaspoon & The Waves [MRBLP225]

TEASPOON & THE WAVES - Teaspoon & The Waves (reissue)

Official replica re-issue of a South African jazz-funk rarity from Teaspoon & The Waves. Released in 1977 on Soul Jazz Pop, a subsidiary label of Mavuthela Music Company / Gallo, Teaspoon & The Waves’ self-titled album is an absolute masterpiece. Best known for the song ‘Oh Yeh Soweto’, which is an astonishing adaptation of Lamont Dozier’s anthem ‘Going Back to My Roots’, this track has become a contemporary underground club classic in recent times and has been featured in sets from a cross-section of DJs.  ‘Saturday Express’ is a jazz-funk/disco stomper which will soon be lighting up dancefloors again. ‘Wind and Fire’ is true afro-jazz-funk excellence, with great spacey synths and reggae-inspired guitar grooves riding throughout. The opener, ‘Friday Night’, also has a slightly reggae-tinged tropical groove, whilst ‘Got Me Tight’ finishes off the session with a feel-good jazz-funk workout that features cool, quirky, Patrick Adams-esque synths.

vinyl / CD

Teaspoon & The Waves – Teaspoon & The Waves [MRBLP225]

Juju – Live At 131 Prince Street [STRUT250LP]

JUJU - Live At 131 Prince Street

Strut continue their in-depth archive reissues from the Black Fire label with a definitive edition of JuJu’s ‘Live At 131 Prince Street’, recorded in 1973 at Ornette Coleman’s gallery in New York. After forming in San Francisco while working on the Marvin X theatre piece ‘The Resurrection of the Dead’, JuJu began to hone their uncompromising fusion of Afro-Latin rhythms with free and spiritual jazz before signing to Strata-East for the ‘A Message From Mozambique’ album in 1972.

vinyl / CD

Juju – Live At 131 Prince Street [STRUT250LP]

Kenny Larkin – Azimuth (Expanded Edition) [ART2021-1]

LARKIN, Kenny - Azimuth (Expanded Edition)

A staggering collection Detroit techno-soul music, beamed directly into your consciousness from 1994. Kenny Larkin is one of a handful of artists from the city whose original and unique sonic output has helped shape and advance techno as an art form and as a serious musical movement across the world and it’s galaxies beyond, a formidable DJ and producer whose music continues to push the envelope today. ‘Azimuth’ gives us what would be Larkin’s first full length offering, and across 11 tracks of blistering hi-tech machine funk, ambient, soul drenched rhythms and futurist club music he deftly crafted a classic. Originally released on Warp Records, ‘Azimuth’ is a record that effortlessly sounds like it came to earth yesterday while being 25 years old, a true Detroit classic that still makes waves across the planet today.

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Kenny Larkin – Azimuth (Expanded Edition) [ART2021-1]

Uf0 – Arp Better Than Line [AS003]

UF0 - Arp Better Than Line

The third output from the Altered States label, the Furthur Electronix off shoot label, is an expansive double pack of electro psychedelia by Uf0 aka Sergio Garcia from Spain. Over the four sides, the somewhat-elusive Ibizan artist takes you on a journey through mind-bending oscillations, crisp drum programming and creeping euphoria. It flickers seamlessly between retro braindance and cinematic futurism; between rave cuts and gently simmering ambience (‘Yeh Premoh’); or between lightning-fast propulsion and sedate wandering. Uf0 excels on each individual track and with the album format as a whole, providing all the ingredients for a captivating and transportive listen from back to front.

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Uf0 – Arp Better Than Line [AS003]

Byard Lancaster – My Pure Joy [STRUT240]

LANCASTER, Byard - My Pure Joy

Lancaster had initially cut his musical teeth with the avant-garde on New York’s Lower East Side in the 1960s and in Paris during the ‘70s but, throughout his career, his path was built around community engagement, positivity and “the Philly jazz sound, Germantown style.” He became an ambassador for the music of the City Of Brotherly Love, starting his own Dogtown label, helping launch the Philly Jazz imprint and campaigning tirelessly to improve the circumstances of the city’s street musicians. Lancaster’s sessions for Black Fire were planned following a gig at Caverns Jazz Club in Washington DC. “Jimmy Gray of Black Fire and I originally met during the ‘riotous blisters’ of the late Sixties there,” explained Lancaster. “We became the best of friends.” Backed by a band of Philly musicians including percussionist Keno Speller and Baba Robert Crowder (drummer for Olatunji and Art Blakey), the album also featured the Drummers From Ibadan led by Tunde Kuboye, another influential figure dedicated to community jazz with whom Lancaster had bonded while teaching in Lagos. The result was a free-flowing set of spirituality and positivity, built around full band groove workouts, solo pieces and heavy African roots. “We had big fun documenting this music,” remembered Lancaster. The message of the album remains as relevant today as ever, “I dedicate this album to all African Americans in the USA. To the youth, I ask ‘What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?’”

vinyl / CD

Byard Lancaster – My Pure Joy [STRUT240]

CV Vision – Tropical [SONLP005]

You could think of the collection of tracks here as a library record of sorts, and each track inhabits its own universe. Tropical fits various moods and situations, and it could soundtrack any number of activities at home or on a dancefloor – whether real, imaginary, or hallucinated. Strangely enough, it sounds like it could have been constructed from obscure Italian library breaks, when instead every instrument has been played and panned, several times over, across magnetic tape. The genesis of many of these tracks began when CV Vision moved to Berlin in 2014. His flat had a small chamber where he could fit a drum set, so he treated the walls with foam, and in true DIY style, dived headfirst into recording these tracks. It was the natural next step on an audio adventure that first began when CV Vision picked up the guitar in his teens, and a couple years later started recording with friends in his home town of Bayreuth. Fast forward ten years and here is his debut – a culmination of practising chops and learning instruments, mastering recording techniques and fine-tuning the CV Vision sound. It’s a sound that condenses elements of acid rock, psych soul, library funk and new wave oddities into a movie soundtrack for your mind. It’s a journey from ‘60s west coast LSD-drenched excursions to ‘80s synth and post-punk mutations. Tropical is a plunge into another time, another music you can simply swim around in and explore.

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CV Vision – Tropical [SONLP005]

The Paradox – Counter Active [AX096]

When a spark ignites between two musicians, the state of flow can be achieved. Usually, a fleeting sensation, but when captured, it is an unstoppable force. The coming together of Jeff Mills and Jean-Philippe Dary came from a collaborative project with the late great Tony Allen and created chemistry instantly. Both being cognizant of the skilled innate improvisation that was happening in small jam sessions, they conceived the concept for their collaborative project: The Paradox. They believed that this uncompromising freedom and the manifestation of new ideas allowed them to reach a higher level of spiritual consciousness within their work. Recorded in real-time; these compositions reflect captured spontaneous actions which concede honesty and truth.

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The Paradox – Counter Active [AX096]

Psyclones – Tape Music 1980 – 1984 [NB005]

PSYCLONES - Tape Music 1980-1984

Since the early 1980s the Eureka, California based duo Psyclones freak out in music. As one of the most long-standing DIY duos, Brian Ladd and Julie Frith created a body of work, that flirts with Ambient, experimental industrial sounds, New Wave, Post-Punk, Synth-Pop, and all that electric jazz. Besides a few hard-to-find vinyl releases, they published their music regularly via cassette tapes on labels like their own imprint Ladd-Frith or other famed 1980’s underground tape labels like Cause And Effect from Indianapolis, legendary San Francisco based Subterranean Records, Sound of Pig from New York, Insane Music from Belgium or the Spanish label Auxilio De Cientos to name but a few. Now, Notte Brigante is dropping “Tape Music 1980 – 1984”, a detailed compiled sampler on Psyclones early output, that was scattered over diverse tape releases. A nine tracks long trip into the work of a highly underrated band, that never lost their drive to explore new avenues in sound.

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Psyclones – Tape Music 1980 – 1984 [NB005]

Plugpoint Music – Last Chance [MW076]

Minimal Wave present the reissue of a rare self-released record by Plugpoint Music called ‘Last Chance’. Plugpoint Music was the minimal synth project of Reiner Ossmann, who recorded the 12 songs on this album in his home studio in Germany in 1987 and released them as an edition of 200 copies. This gem of a record was never properly distributed and so essentially disappeared until it began circulating amongst various collectors during the last 15 years. It’s a true minimal synth classic in all of its eccentricity and lack of self-consciousness.

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Plugpoint Music – Last Chance [MW076]

Benedek – Mr. Goods LP [LIES162]

LA’s Benedek delivers a killer old school house LP influenced by 78th Street era Beltram, Latin freestyle dubs and WBMX drum tracks. This is street beat at it’s finest and Benedek executes with precision. Classy and catchy, with a knack for melody yet still grimey as hell and full of beats you can mix. Primetime ”86 mix show material brought to life in the present tense, carrying on with tradition while flipping it upside down.

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Benedek – Mr. Goods LP [LIES162]

Work Money Death – The Space in Which the Uncontrollable Unknown Resides, Can Be the Place from Which Creation Arises [ATALP022]

A transcendental journey that takes in meditative musical mantras, sprawling tenor sax improvisation and mesmeric percussion, the new album by Work Money Death, titled ”The Space In Which The Uncontrollable Unknown Resides Can Be The Place From Which Creation Arises”. Originally conceived as a large scale group performance of a single extended piece the album was written by Tony Burkill and bassist Neil Innes through a series of extended improvisations similar to the extended meditation sessions that both musicians practice. These sessions enabled a state of flow through which Tony’s compositional approach to improvisation yielded meaningful melodic fragments that would be returned to and developed in a way similar to someone returning to the mantra. Also featuring on the record are drummer Sam Hobbs, pianist Adam Fairhall percussionist Pete Williams.

vinyl / CD

Work Money Death – The Space in Which the Uncontrollable Unknown Resides, Can Be the Place from Which Creation Arises [ATALP022]

Elite Beat – Selected Rhythms Vol. 2 [RESEARCH010]

Research Records continue their voyage into Elite Beat’s extraordinary back catalogue with their second compilation Selected Rhythms Vol. 2. The chosen tracks are lifted from the Portland collective’s three-part cassette series Casual Rhythms; a treasure chest of meditative and genre-defying instrumentals where percussion and dub accents prevail. Remastered for the first time on vinyl, Selected Rhythms Vol. 2 adds to the immersive and interstellar tapestry of Elite Beat. The compilation delves deep into the healing and hypnosis that characterizes the collective.

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Elite Beat – Selected Rhythms Vol. 2 [RESEARCH010]

Dickie Smabers – Jammed From The Fist [UTTU109]

Danny Wolfers dons his Dickie Smabers alias on his return to UTTU for his 7th release on the label – low-slung-house grooves rub shoulders with robotronik-jakbeat over 2 slabs of electronxxx straight outta The Hague.

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Dickie Smabers – Jammed From The Fist [UTTU109]

Tatat – VHS [PHXS14]

The new Phormix Tapes release comes from a Greek artist based in Trikala, Tatat. With retro sensibilities, complementing it with some mid- to -late ’80s sonic influence. Everything is written live, with hardware synths, drum machines and pedals, out in one channel. The album consists of 10 inner emotional musical vignettes which meant to catalyze a wave in sense of nostalgic enchantment that synthwave die-hards will love.

Tatat – VHS [PHXS14]

Alina Kalancea – Impedance [IMPREC491]

KALANCEA, Alina - Impedance

Alina Kalancea’s Impedance is an entirely instrumental album spanning four sides, contains powerful rhythmic sequences, heart-beating frequencies and hypnotic loops that are paradoxically encapsulated in carefully crafted compositions which are full of secret passages and hidden doors. Kalancea’s work creates ungraspable sonic experiences, which overtakes you, immersing its listeners in powerful and mind-altering soundscapes. There’s no quick payoff on Impedance. This is the sound of new, patient electronic music, full of depth and substance. Alina Kalancea is a Romanian sound artist and composer based in Modena, Italy. She has studied sound design and synthesis with Enrico Cossimi and collaborated with producer Alex Gamez, and artists Julia Kent and Raven Bush.

vinyl / CD

Alina Kalancea – Impedance [IMPREC491]

Wolfgang Voigt – Rückverzauberung Exhibition [AI-22]

Long-time AI associate Wolfgang Voigt returns to the London label with his newalbum – Rückverzauberung Exhibition. The Exhibition reimagines the concept with renewed purpose, opening the gates to deliver an arresting 60-minute journey into the underworld. Dense soundscapes mutate with alchemic fluidity, unravelling with vast symphonic counterpoints and synesthetic textures. Intoxicating in its Mephistolean dissonances and ambitious sonic structure, the sprawling ”Rückverzauberung” itself becomes a nebulous organism shrouded in the seeping mist of the unknown.

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Wolfgang Voigt – Rückverzauberung Exhibition [AI-22]

XDB – Inspiron [DIALLP044]

XDB - Inspiron

For almost three decades now Kosta Athanassiadis aka XDB has been involved in the constantly changing world of dance music. His curiosity and dedication to electronic music spiral deep into the depth of House Music and Techno and where ever he appears he generously shares his unique knowledge in this field with equally dedicated crowds. Now he presents “Inspiron” actually his debut album, coming out on Dial.

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XDB – Inspiron [DIALLP044]

Transient Visitor – TV1 [SUBEX00024]

TRANSIENT VISITOR - TV1

Transient Visitor are Alex Cargill and Martin Jensen. Formed in March 2020 when most of Europe was deep in lockdown due to Covid-19, Alex and Martin decided that the music should still flow, thus forming Transient Visitor and setting out on a mission to record a collaborative album together-apart in Kent, UK, and Luxembourg on the continent. TV1 is the first instalment from this process. Eight tracks unlocked and now being released into an uncertain world in the humble hope that it might help bring smiles to ears. TV1 is dedicated to Ray Cargill (1951-2020), Alex’s father who sadly fell victim to Covid-19 and passed away earlier in the year.

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Transient Visitor – TV1 [SUBEX00024]