The Zenker Brothers present their second album “Cosmic Transmission”. In their own words: “In another time it felt like, only an unpredictable extreme event could change the way we choose to live together. Now it feels so crazy, it can be overwhelming, but always remember we are just a tiny micro spaceship traveling through a gigantic universe. When nothing is safe, all is possible. We are one – one love. M&D”
Strange anomalies are scattered throughout the world. Things that could not possibly belong to the time period or place in which they were found. These so called out of place artifacts baffle historians & archaeologists up until today and have inspired producers Vril & Rødhåd to write a collaborative concept album. As a result the two producers got together in the studio with the idea to subvert the expectations of their previous work. They experimented over two sessions in 2018 and 2019, resulting in a record showcasing a different palette of sounds and tempo. The album is suited for deep listening and exploring aforementioned concepts or introspection in general. A mystic tone is set from the start, and grips the listener throughout the whole run time. Each track encapsulates this notion in its own unique form, blending sonic ambience and complex beats that reaches spectral heights. Both producer’s styles shine individually, but the collaboration achieves something greater than the sum of its parts.
Euan Dalgarno follows up his debut on Modern Obscure Music with Nfutures. The Scottish producer presents an album that has been inspired by modern-day classical music, but also informed by forward-thinking electronic music. Nfutures builds on Dalgarno’s previous release on the label, but also enters previously uncharted waters. It is an eleven-track album of mainly probing strings and piano-led compositions. Hel is a real standout with its calming keys and taut strings. Earhorns (for 3 Pianos) is an exciting composition, where the stars really are those pianos. The title track, Nfutures, ends proceedings beautifully with an epic piece that features levitating strings, bright-eyed keys and synthetic waves.
Byron The Aquarius is no stranger to true music fans. Early 2020 he gathered his friend musicians in Atlanta for a few day session at Patchwerk Studios under Jeff Mills’ supervision. The result is a fantastic mix between Soulful House and Jazz Music with a touch of Blues.
“The overall goal was to create something that bared the traits and signs that would catch the attention of a music lover. Someone that has danced themselves into a relationship with music that is unconditional and undeniable”. – Jeff Mills
The multi-instrumentalist Jack Wyllie (Portico Quartet/Szun Waves) presents his new project Paradise Cinema. It was recorded in Dakar, Senegal in collaboration with mbalax percussionists Khadim Mbaye (saba drums) and Tons Sambe (tama drums). The impressionistic and dream-like quality of ‘Paradise Cinema’ is a stunningly effective realisation of Wyllie’s experience, in ahypnagogic state of aural consciousness. Atmospherically ‘Paradise Cinema’ is vaporous and enigmatic, but also percussive; existing in a paradoxical sound-space that’s amorphous,yet still purposeful, serene, but propulsive and aesthetically sharp. Khadim Mbaye and Tons Sambe, provide the rhythmic backbone of the record. There are traditional elements of mbalax rhythm, but it is often deconstructed or played at tempos outside of the tradition, so while it hints at a location it occupies a space outside of any specific region. ‘Paradise Cinema’ is also informed by notions of hauntology – a philosophical concept originating in the work of French philosopher Jacques Derrida– on possible futures that were never realised andhow directions taken in the past can haunt the present. On the album’s title Wyllie comments, ”there are a handful of old cinemas in Dakar – these big modernist buildings dotted around the city built around independence. They’re old and derelict now, but feel to me like monuments to that period, when the city was flooded with utopian ideas about its potential futures.” As such it sits closely to 4thworld music – situated in an imagined culture and time that never came to pass. And while it contains rhythmic references to Senegal it combines these elements with ambient and minimalist music to produce a sound that sits outside of any tradition.
The Heliocentrics, the UK’s cosmic, psychedelic-funk ensemble issue their second album on maverick producer Madlib’s label, Madlib Invazion. Drawing equally from the funk universe of James Brown, the disorienting asymmetry of Sun Ra, the cinematic scope of Ennio Morricone, the sublime fusion of David Axelrod, Pierre Henry’s turned-on musique concrète, and Can’s beat-heavy Krautrock, they have – regardless of the label on which they’ve released their music – pointed the way towards a brand new kind of psychedelia, one that could only come from a band of accomplished musicians who were also obsessive music fans. It’s only six months since The Heliocentrics released their last album, ‘Infinity of Now’, but boy how the world has changed since then. To reflect that, this new collection of songs is more intense, dark, paranoid, uncertain and, well, angry. It makes for a typically out there record that pulls together disparate worlds and defies familiar conventions. There are moments of sweetness and light such as “Space Cake” but also pixelated realms of jazz complexity that glisten and glean. This is an album that will lead you to strange, thought provoking places, but will also greatly reward any time you spend there.
NEP was a loose multimedia collective formed in 1982 Zagreb, ex-Yugoslavia. The founder Dejan Krsic collaborated with various artists in a quest of re-thinking the stale concepts of art history, position of the author and the barriers between pop and elitist high culture. Heavily influenced by Walter Benjamin and Andy Warhol in theory and Brian Eno and Kraftwerk in music, Krsic created NEP as an umbrella term (meaning Nova Evropa or New Europe) of diverse rule-breaking activities, covering graphic design, music, photography, video, news-media and theoretical work. Musically NEP focused on experiments in ambient and tape-music, self-released and hard to find compilation tapes like “The Cassette Played Poptones” (1988). Deeply immersed in pop-culture, politics and art theory Krsic’s search for perfect pop music. For the first time Fox & His Friends team compiles best cuts from unreleased and rare NEP tapes, covering the period from 1985 to 1989 on POP NOT POP abum.
Continue reading “NEP – Pop Not Pop (Songs For New Europe 1985-1989) [FOX005LP]”
Free Range are back with their second outing for Osàre editions. ‘Camry Horses’ is a mesmerising dive into the brutal pop-tinged electronics of the duo, taking the mutant surrealism of their first release on the label a step further. Deliciously droning, Matt Weiner and Ernestas Sadau warp melancholic synth over a stomping-techno pulse in ‘Jet Lag is Calling.’ ‘Thunder God’ predicts transmogrifying weather patterns, while ‘Liquid Latex’ casts a touch of dominatrix energy, all powered by hypnotic dancefloor occultism.
The multi-media project Kraftwerk was started in Düsseldorf, Germany 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. They set up their electronic Kling Klang Studio where they conceived and produced all Kraftwerk albums. Kraftwerk created the soundtrack for the digital age of the 21st century. Their compositions, using innovative techniques, electronic sounds and synthetic voices combined with computerised rhythms, had a major musical influence on Electro, Hip Hop, Techno and Synth-Pop.
The multi-media project Kraftwerk was started in Düsseldorf, Germany 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. They set up their electronic Kling Klang Studio where they conceived and produced all Kraftwerk albums. Kraftwerk created the soundtrack for the digital age of the 21st century. Their compositions, using innovative techniques, electronic sounds and synthetic voices combined with computerised rhythms, had a major musical influence on Electro, Hip Hop, Techno and Synth-Pop.
The multi-media project Kraftwerk was started in Düsseldorf, Germany 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. They set up their electronic Kling Klang Studio where they conceived and produced all Kraftwerk albums. Kraftwerk created the soundtrack for the digital age of the 21st century. Their compositions, using innovative techniques, electronic sounds and synthetic voices combined with computerised rhythms, had a major musical influence on Electro, Hip Hop, Techno and Synth-Pop.
The multi-media project Kraftwerk was started in Düsseldorf, Germany 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. They set up their electronic Kling Klang Studio where they conceived and produced all Kraftwerk albums. Kraftwerk created the soundtrack for the digital age of the 21st century. Their compositions, using innovative techniques, electronic sounds and synthetic voices combined with computerised rhythms, had a major musical influence on Electro, Hip Hop, Techno and Synth-Pop.
Legowelt has been a key figure in the Dutch electronic music scene since the early nineties, steadily releasing timeless music that merges the pioneering sounds of Detroit and Chicago with idiosyncratic sci-fi fascinations. “Unconditional Contours” captures Legowelt’s stint at the Swiss Museum for Electronic Music Instruments (SMEM), after he was invited to be the first artist in residence at the institution’s “Playroom” project. Legowelt visited SMEM in Fribourg, Switzerland, in early 2019 to explore the collection and record music. Possessing an extensive collection of synthesizers himself, he used hand-picked synthesizers from the museum’s archive: the rare Farfisa Synthorchestra, the EVS-1 Evolution, the “shittiest rompler ever made”, amongst many others. The 10-track album “Unconditional Contours” is both a probe into the vast collection of SMEM, and a display of Legowelt’s well established compositional qualities. Leaving ample space for new sounds to unfold, Legowelt invokes gentle trips, brooding excursions, bleep heavy soundscapes, and reimagined elements of dance music classicism. SMEM and -OUS are launching the “smem+ous” series to document the “Playroom” residencies. A limited edition of this album was already sent out to early supporters of the “Playroom”. Founded in 2016 and based on a collection of more than 5000 synthesizers, organs, drum machines and effects that had been collected over a 35 year period by Klemens Niklaus Trenkle, SMEM offers residencies, studio sessions, talks and workshops.
“When I first saw this collection, I was truly flabbergasted. Endless rows of synthesisers – some so obscure I had not ever seen nor heard of them. This place will probably turn into the world’s most magical place for synths.” – Legowelt
KMRU is the moniker of Joseph Kamaru, a sound artist, and producer based in Nairobi. One of the leading exponents of the burgeoning experimental music scene in Nairobi and beyond he was listed by Resident Advisor as one of ’15 East African Artists You Need To Hear’ in 2018 and is a regular performer at the fabled Nyegenyege Festival having also presented live performances at CTM festival and Gamma Festival. Peel is KMRU’s first release for Editions Mego. exquisite mix of field recordings and electronics unravelling at a repetitive and leisurely pace to expose a rich tapestry of sound that has been revered for it’s ability to cross borders with the sheer undertow of emotional content. The subtle calming atmosphere within Peel belies the compositional prowess as layers of delicate sounds wrap around each other creating a hybrid new form ambient musics both captivating through it’s textural depth and kaleidoscopic patterns. The track titles lend themselves to the themes and mood set within: Why are you here, Well, Solace, Klang, Insubstantial and the title track. This is a deep heartfelt journey with a new strong voice being expressed through the means of organically presented electronic ambient sounds, one which reveals further layers on repeat listens.
Long-time Muslimgauze fans with keen eyes and/or photographic memories may immediately notice something about the newly unearthed Sadaams Children album; with some slight orthographic differences, it just about shares a name with a short track from the classic Narcotic (Staalplaat, 1997; the similarity and the difference is pretty much expected from someone who both liked to reuse names and didn’t care for consistency in spelling as Bryn Jones did). While none of the four lengthy tracks found on Sadaams Children actually sound like sparse, clean string sounds of Narcotic’s ”Saddams Children”, three of them never previously heard extended versions of tracks previously found on that release – well, one is both an extended and truncated version, but such are the idiosyncrasies and joys of the ever-complex Muslimgauze oeuvre.
Introducing C.P.I. an almost forgotten project from Capablanca & Marc Piñol granted a full album release via John Talabot’s Hivern Discs. Emerging in 2014 with a rare 7″ release, Alianza follows a brace of EPs spread across a four year peroid, with this album diving deep into the submersive ambient realms of analogue, machine made music. Full of tension, lo-fi industrialisms and atmospheres that play with themes of giallo italo (“Osera”), and winds of the new age in “Islaalsl”, find spiritual spoken word in both “Rasa” and “Epileg”, with the latter drifting unnoticed into a haunted cathedral of choirs. For lovers of ambient 4th world music, dub techno noise-floor, crackle and pop (“I/O”) and epic space western drone (“Sol”), C.P.I. have arrived.
What beats an arpeggiated bass line over a teutonic 90 bpm kick and snare with eerie distorted vocals? I’ve been looking for years and I still don’t know if anything hits that sweet spot quite as well. John Carpenter esque Horror soundtrack synths creep along reverb drenched industrial drums, splattered with existential dread and spectral chants. Ryan is known for various monikers such as PC World / To Live & Die in Rayleigh (some of which are lined up for future Beat Concern drops) and his Club Mutante night which brings together the world of live techno, Industrial, EBM and noise. Punk ethics standing alongside dance floor machine funk. A Civil Terror.
Mannequin and Platform 23 Records reissue what is considered to many the most complete album by perennial anarcho-outsiders Bourbonese Qualk. The last recorded album at their South London squat, The Ambulance Station on the Old Kent Road, and again released on their own Recloose Organisation, saw the band develop further beyond the limits of the post-punk / industrial scene where genres increasingly became redundant. Ethno, jazz, funk and EBM are all buried deep in the album as it seeks independence. The title, a critique of the Labour movements ineffective and limited call to arms against the prevailing Thatcherism of the mid-80s, encapsulates this wider oeuvre. From opening Return To Order, the acoustic gloom is offset by tight musicianship and countering melody. The switch of Outcry precedes psychedelic anthem, Boggy Creek, with its VU remembrance. Blighted pulses Confrontation, Xenophobia, Backlash and closer, Insurrection, sense the darkness, but the ground has shifted forwards with the legendary 1.51 minutes of man’n’ machine that is Lies, the enwrapping symphonic dub vocal of Born Left Hearted and incongruously pretty, Is It As It Was?
Trends come and go as we have seen, unlike many, Brooklyn-born Adam X isn’t one to follow trends, but rather set them. Now entering his 30th year of DJing and 25th year running his Sonic Groove label much of the world of dance music has come full circle since Adam started back in 1990. With that said there was no better time to explore his vast back catalog then the present as it’s all the more relevant right now. As many younger contemporary techno djs have taken to the faster, harder, stronger route as of late, this was par for the course back in 1992, where this compilation begins. What we have here is a collection of formative psychedelic acid tracks specifically made for the raves that were happening all over the world at the time. Many of the tracks here had previously appeared on cutting edge labels such as Direct Drive, Drop Bass Network and Magnetic North, who were all spearheading the sound at the time, we also get two unreleased cuts from the vaults, plus a rare collab with Thomas Heckmann. Back then the goal was simple- to push the limits of this fresh sound, and see how far they could actually go with their 303s; this music now filling warehouses and clubs worldwide. The eleven tracks on this record undoubtedly take rave-extremity to new heights whilst keeping the integrity (and brutality) of the music intact and the crowd in a frenzy.
