Dimitris Petsetakis – On Shores [ITL011]

June 16, 2019June 13, 2019 hipodromealbum, ambient, dimitris petsetakis, experimental, into the light recordsLeave a comment

Into The Light Records has worked with the Greek composer Dimitris Petsetakis to compile a follow-up album that takes an even deeper dive into his archive of previously unreleased material. Like its predecessor, “On Shores” draws on music recorded in the 1980s and early ’90s. It contains just two previous released tracks, the humid ‘Clearance (Part 2)’ and poignant ‘On Endless Shores’, both of which first featured on Petsetakis’s cult 1991 album Missing Links. “On Shores” offers another unparalleled insight into the picturesque and atmospheric soundscapes created in the Piraeus-based composer’s basement studio using a mixture of electronic and acoustic instruments, a wide range of global influences and a keen interest in both minimalism and new age ambience. Listeners will encounter a range of stunningly beautiful and beguiling compositions, from the creepy, slow-burn exoticism of ‘Pythia’s Dance’ and rhythmic, otherworldly escapism of ‘Violated Asylum’, to the gentle bliss of ‘Like a Knife’ and sun-bright joy of ‘Nearxi (Minimal Marimba Edit)’.

Gene On Earth – Local Fuzz [LD004]

June 12, 2019June 11, 2019 hipodromealbum, deep house, gene on earth, limousine dreamLeave a comment

Straight outta nowhere we have a new massive Gene On Earth album!

The Bees – She’s A Witch [AAFS042]

June 9, 2019October 13, 2022 hipodromeafrican, afrobeat, afrosynth records, album, disco, re-release, reissue, the beesLeave a comment

Little-known trio The Bees put out only one full album, 1988’s She’s A Witch (Tikoloshi). Its six tracks all offer dancefloor-ready, distinctively South African grooves that show how bubblegum in the late 80s embraced house music. Produced by Steve Cooks, who would go on to work with heavyweights Senyaka, Spokes H and Umoja in the years that followed. Searing vocals and percussive synth basslines are best on ‘Hlabalaza’ (already a DJ favourite) and the title track, it lyrics telling the spooky tale of an evil woman who rules the night – ‘Tikoloshi’ being the mischievous creature of Zulu folklore (usually a man) who is still widely blamed for all manner of mysterious happenings in the middle of the night.

Jason Letkiewicz – The Reflecting Pool [ITLINTL03]

June 2, 2019May 31, 2019 hipodromealbum, ambient, electro, experimental, into the light records, jason letkiewiczLeave a comment

Over the last decade, we’ve come accustomed to Jason Letkiewicz releasing material under a dizzying array of aliases, each utilized to explore a different side of his multi-faceted musical persona. Now, some 14 years after he made his recording debut, Letkiewicz has joined forces with Into The Light Records to release his first album under his real name. ‘The Reflecting Pool’ sees Letkiewicz exploring the uncomplicated and uncluttered in the pursuit of pure aural beauty. The album is stripped back, quiet, melodious is drawing more on Letkiewicz’s love of crystalline ambient, slow burn synthesizer soundscapes, early ’80s library music and the kind of obscure electronic new age music. The set’s 12 tracks gently ebb and flow, with Letkiewicz making great use of dusty old drum machines, effects units and a range of vintage analogue and digital synthesizers. With ‘The Reflecting Pool’, Letkiewicz has provided us with a much-needed dose of stress-free musical escapism, at the same time offering hope that in these troubling times, love may still save the day.

Rhythmic Theory – Mechanised Dreaming [CRLP14]

June 2, 2019July 8, 2020 hipodromealbum, ambient, creme organization, drone, experimental, rhythmic theoryLeave a comment

Bristol based Rhythmic Theory, known for working the dark and mysterious edges of bass heavy techno and drum & bass, returns to Creme Organization. After his first work for the label in 2017 he now brings a fulsome nine track mini-LP ‘Mechanised Dreaming’, exploring the dark corners of ambient and synth based intrigue. Atmospheric sound design is at the fore here, with cinematic soundscapes crafted from broad synth smears and plenty of subtle little motifs. The music paints pictures of a metropolis during the dead of night, or a former industrial factory reduced to a hall of echoes and shadows. There is subtle tension built from sustained chords and plenty of suggestion of weird lifeforms in the icy ticks and scuttling footsteps of thew a-side. Side b is less dark and dank, with slightly brighter synths and wider horizons all explored. This is a truly immersive and emotive listen that always keeps you absorbed.

Kyriakos Sfetsas – Greek Fusion Orchestra Vol. 2 [TBLP023]

June 1, 2019May 30, 2019 hipodromealbum, greek fusion orchestra, jazz, kyriakos sfetsas, teranga beatLeave a comment

Teranga Beat presents Vol.2 of Kyriakos Sfetsas’ 1976 ”Greek Fusion Orchestra” project. Sfetsas’ vision behind the formation of GFO, was to create a piece of work that would expand the boundaries of Greek traditional music. The result was a Progressive-Jazz Fusion masterpiece comprising complex and intriguing compositions, performed by Athens’ best musicians of the day. Following the success of Vol.1, Vol.2 is still reflective of his ambition of bringing together progressive jazz and traditional music, but it does so in a different manner. Although the element of traditional music remains present, it does not provide the compositional foundation for the songs (e.g. most pieces are no longer based exclusively on traditional musical forms). More jazzy and more complex than Vol.1, Vol.2 has a darker feeling, presenting Sfetsas not only as a musical experimentalist, but also as a demanding and distinctive composer, who truly puts his musicians through the test.

Medline & Stéphane Carricondo – A Quest Called Tribe [MBLP05]

June 1, 2019May 31, 2019 hipodromealbum, funk, hip-hop, jazz, medline, my bags, stephane carricondoLeave a comment

“A Quest Called Tribe” begins with a series of portraits drawn by Stéphane Carricondo in 2017 dedicated to Hip-Hop legends. As close partner in art Medline proposed to create a soundtrack for them, and first interpreting ATCQ’s classics with elements of the past, present and future. The best way to materialize this multidimensional tribute was obviously a vinyl. And it’s the one we unveil today. On the visual side, ATCQ’s portraits are composing the front cover and, assembled into a great scene, are printed on a colorful A2 poster. Stéphane Carricondo’s natural lines are highlighting each member’s soul map. The alchemy of the dark ink on emptiness gives to them an impressive sparkle of life. On the musical side, the classic themes are transformed into a polymorphic fusion, were jazz, funk and soul from the original sample sources converse with Tribe’s characteristic beats. Medline added a hint of his magic, unique rhythms, improvisations, arrangements, original orchestration and inspired melodies. The album is an ode to the band that marked both artist’s life and mind. A cultural print and school of sound that designed Hip-Hop foundations. With a blooming expression Medline and Stéphane Carricondo are going to the roots of ATCQ in a quest for the tribe.

Dennis Young – Primitive Substance [AOTNLP026]

June 1, 2019May 31, 2019 hipodromealbum, athens of the north, dennis young, experimental, funk, jazzLeave a comment

Dennis Young is best known as the marimba player and percussionist for Liquid Liquid. After Liquid Liquid disbanded in 1985 he continued to record electronic music. He composes his own music, which combines influences from rock, jazz, dance, electronic and world music while incorporating unique rhythms and colorful musical textures. The “Primitive Substance” album’s timeframe ends in the year 2004 and the recordings have a jazz feel to it, yet still had dance music elements mixed in.

Alan Parker / John Cameron – Afro Rock [BEWITH058LP]

May 26, 2019May 23, 2019 hipodromealan parker, album, be with records, funk, jazz, john cameron, kpm, re-release, reissueLeave a comment

‘Afro Rock’ was recorded at Morgan Studios by John Cameron and Alan Parker in London in 1973 as a collection of stripped-down African rhythms, virtuoso jazz instrumentation, fuzzed up wah wah guitars and spaced out library breaks. The percussion is effortlessly funky, and those flutes so melodic, it’s as if the LP was crafted with the beat lovers of the future firmly in mind. As Cameron himself described it in Unusual Sounds, this is “heavy duty drum-and-bass salsa music”.

Gruppo D’Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza – Niente [ROMA111LP]

May 19, 2019May 17, 2019 hipodromealbum, ennio morricone, experimental, funk, gruppo d'improvvisazione nuova consonanza, jazz, re-release, reissue, the roundtableLeave a comment

Founded in Rome in 1964, ‘Il Gruppo D’Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza’ was a collective of noted and noteworthy composers who challenged the very structure and performance of music itself. Today the most celebrated of its members is the renowned film composer Ennio Morricone but each contributor has an intriguing history in Italian music. Drawing on Jazz, Serialism, Musique Concrete and other extended techniques, the group performed on many of Morricone’s experimental soundtracks of the 1970s including, A Quiet Place In The Country and Gli Occhi Freddi Della Paura). The collective improvised live (according to strict exercises) and in the studio (recording for RCA, Deutsche Grammaphon, General Music and others). In 1970 ‘Il Gruppo’ (as ‘The Group’) recorded The Feed-back (for RCA Italy), an insane amalgam of avant-improvisation and motorik Krautrock-influenced beats that understandably has become one of the most collectable ‘Library Music’ related LPs ever issued. In 1971 ‘Il Gruppo’ returned to the studio to record a sequel. This is that record. For reasons unknown Niente was never originally issued but one listen will convince that not only is it the sequel to one of the most sought after LPs of all time, but it is also by far its superior. Brain melting jams collide with unhinged intensity in a hothouse of Italian avant-improv. You have been warned.

Terkel Nørgaard – With Ralph Alessi [WJLP12]

May 19, 2019November 7, 2020 hipodromealbum, jazz, ralph alessi, terkel nørgaard, we jazz recordsLeave a comment

Danish drummer Terkel Nørgaard presents his trio consisting of some of the key players in the Copenhagen scene and American star trumpeter Ralph Alessi on the lineup. Not merely a ”feature”, Alessi and the Danes form a coherent band unit capable of producing memorable and highly inspired contemporary jazz which links to the Nordic tradition of dynamic sound ranging from delicate minimalism to powerful avantgarde eruptions. The album Terkel Nørgaard ”With Ralph Alessi” is released by Helsinki’s We Jazz Records. On the new album, the Danish trio plus Alessi achieve something that can always be regarded a remarkable feat. They deliver a highly inspired set of music which links the album onto the ever-evolving lineage of jazz music, and at the same time introduce a new band capable of stunning the listener in the here and now.

Giovanni Damico – The Boogie Tracks [SC1215]

May 18, 2019April 13, 2022 hipodromealbum, disco, funk, giovanni damico, star creatureLeave a comment

Star Creature continuing it’s pursuit of bold LP’s, this time teaming up with Italian disco don, Giovanni Damico. With recent major dance floor releases on Lumberjacks In Hell & Kalakuta Soul, Damico shifts gears to his Italian roots to give us a modern funk twist on Italo & space time boogie.

Artefakt – Monsoon [SEM107]

May 17, 2019May 19, 2019 hipodromealbum, artefakt, deep techno, minimal techno, nick lapien, robin koek, semantica records, technoLeave a comment

Artefakt returns to Semantica to present their second album entitled “Monsoon”. It would be fair to say that Artefakt have not succumbed to the pitfalls of “difficult second album syndrome”. In fact, “Monsoon” is arguably an even stronger and more entertaining set than their lauded 2017 debut on Delsin, “Kinship”. Its genius lies in the Dutch duo’s ability to craft atmospheric, dancefloor-ready techno cuts that prioritize mood and melody as much as bustling beats and rhythmic intensity. While their inherent grasp of atmosphere is best personified by the album’s opening and closing ambient cuts, it can also be heard in the broken techno hypnotism of “Inverted Forest”, the trance-influenced grooves and dreamy electronics of “Monsoon” and the yearning, early morning throb of “Vertigo”.

Alessandro Adriani – Morphic Dreams [SALP008]

May 16, 2019May 15, 2019 hipodromealbum, alessandro adriani, experimental, industrial, shawn o'sullivan, simon crab, stroboscopic artefacts, technoLeave a comment

Mannequin boss Alessandro Adriani returns with his second full-length, ‘Morphic Dreams’, this time on Stroboscopic Artefacts. Throughout eleven cuts painstakingly executed but lacking not an iota of the fresh, spontaneous oomph that made his sound stand out of the crowd of techno producers to have emerged over the past decade, Adriani lays the foundations to a suspended sound imaginarium, governed by its own rules and principles of gravity. Revolving around the notions of sublimation and quest for inner balance, ‘Morphic Dreams’ is comprised of four distinct sequences, conceived and designed as reflections of four mental states, each of them linked to the four alchemical elements – i.e. Water, Earth, Air and Fire.

Slagmann – Krysalis [TALISMANN007]

May 12, 2019May 9, 2019 hipodromealbum, experimental, slagmann, slagwerk den haag, talismannLeave a comment

Slagmann is the new collaboration between producer Talismann and music ensemble Slagwerk Den Haag. Their first album ‘Krysalis’ is an adventurous synthesis of hypnotizing rhythm patterns, organic soundscapes and captivating scenography – or, as the artists themselves like to call it, a “ritualistic experience.” Sometimes dreamy and dark, euphoric and explosive at other times. This mesmerizing cross-pollination between ritualistic percussion and drum machines will lure you into the murkiest depths of electronica and classical minimal music. For the visual identity of ‘Krysalis’ Slagmann works together with visual artist Heleen Blanken. Who is responsible for the scenography of the live show and capturing the cover image.

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Avina Vishnu – Transforma [WEME313.19]

May 12, 2019May 9, 2019 hipodromeaina, album, ambient, avina vishnu, detroit, experimental, heinrich mueller, weme records, weme313Leave a comment

Advanced soundscapes from Avina Vishnu which is a project by Heinrich Mueller aka Gerald Donald and Aina. Their release Transforma is a conceptual project that is focusing on a unification between the natural world and the artificial space of electronic music. It attempts to immerse the listener within a three dimensional sound environment that is exploring the natural physics of music and yet create a contrast between these two worlds.

Scenes de la Bohème – Standing In the Rain [MW070Y]

May 7, 2019February 16, 2022 hipodromealbum, anthony waites, minimal wave records, scene de la boheme, synth pop, synth waveLeave a comment

Minimal Wave is releasing a newly mastered compilation of 6 tracks made by Scene de la Bohème (aka Anthony Waites), entitled ‘Standing in the Rain’. Scenes de la Bohème was formed by Anthony Waites in London, in 1981 with an innate desire to create poetic, subversive pop music. Without any intention of ever signing to a record label, he self-released one untitled 7” single in 1982, an edition of 150 copies, with money funded to him by his parents for his 21st birthday. He often used borrowed synthesizers to record his music in various bedroom studios and friends’ houses supplemented by his beloved cherry red Hagstrom guitar. This release includes 2 tracks that come off his sought-after untitled 7″ from 1982 and 4 are previously unreleased.

The Misz – The Lonely Crowd [MW069]

May 7, 2019February 16, 2022 hipodromealbum, dries dekocker, jan van den broeke, minimal synth, minimal wave records, synth pop, synth wave, the miszLeave a comment

The Misz formed in Gent in 1983 by Jan Van den Broeke and Dries Dekocker at a time when they had both just relocated from the country. They lived on the same street and collaborated freely with the limited equipment they had, which always centered around the Fostex 250 4-track tape recorder. They used an unknown monophonic synthesizer, casio synths, roland drum machines, hand drums and guitars through effects pedals, improvising with their voices and often and included friends for additional voices and sounds. They captured these sonic experiments and sometimes released them on cassette in editions of 100-200. They described themselves as young, immature and bit strange yet totally bold and fearless. They sang about what surrounded them from world politics and environmental catastrophes to love and lust.

L/F/D/M – Dream Bleeds [CITI026]

May 4, 2019February 16, 2022 hipodromealbum, cititrax, electro, industrial, l/f/d/m, minimal wave records, richard smith, technoLeave a comment

Cititrax presents ‘Dream Bleeds’, a new vinyl release by Brighton, UK based producer L/F/D/M aka Richard Smith. ‘Dream Bleeds’ overflows with body jerking industrial, raw acid/techno, and hints of the warehouse sound of the late ‘90s and the caustic spirit of EBM. Richard Smith says about ‘Dream Bleeds’, “attaching meaning to songs is often arbitrary but when the visceral feeling of music, particularly instrumental body music, is laid bare, the interaction is immediate and physical. These tracks thread together; each starting point completely open, each new step informed by the last. I find it interesting that the process is the same but the outcome somewhat unexpected; shaped by emotion, inspiration or even constraints of time, they evolve as they do in that time. They reach a different end point due to that evolution of circumstance.”

Eko Kuango – Eko Kuango [LVLP-1702]

April 28, 2019August 30, 2023 hipodromeafrican, album, denis mpunga, eko kuango, jazz, libreville records, outernationalLeave a comment

Belgium based composer, poet and multi-instrumentalist Denis Mpunga formed Eko Kuango in the early ’80s. A unique fusion of African rhythms, jazz, subtle synth arrangements with an eastern flavour; they managed to introduce a strong sense of poetry – both musically and lyrically. The band garnered a reasonable following from numerous concerts played during their career, but remained little known except by a few music aficionados around the globe. Eko Kuango only released 4 tracks in the form of an EP in 1986, the band recorded one year later a studio album with the help of renowned sound engineer Arnould Massart which until now remained totally unreleased. Now with a newfound interest in their work, Libreville Records offers in this edition both the 4 tracks from the original EP and the tracks from the session of the ‘lost’ album.