Cosmin TRG – Fractal Poetry MIX 03
ambient
Constantine – Hades [BDNLP003V]
The expression of two years’ field recording on the Greek islands of Kalymnos and Lesbos — deep inside a network of caves, and in the teeth of torrential winter storms — with added strings, grand piano, live drumming and orchestral percussion, in its confluence of ‘modern classical, metallic drone, dark ambient, and fuzz’. Guided by Steve Reich, Mika Vainio and Henri Bergson, haunted and spurred by the refugee crisis.
Jorge Velez – The Saturn Star [UTTER4]
Utter presents ‘The Saturn Star’, a score to an imaginary film by music producer and visual artist Jorge Velez. Inspired by The Third Ear Band, late-period Coil, Carlos Peron’s lurid soundtracks and European folk music, Velez’s score accompanies the evocative tale of a 16th-century physician-alchemist hunted down by The Inquisition in western Europe. Velez purposefully limited the amount of equipment he used to create a cohesive sonic environment, this time restricting himself to a Korg MonoPoly and Prophet 6. The music flowed quickly, with the entire project recorded and mixed within two weeks. The resulting work veers from moments of unsettling intensity to blissful beauty, underpinned by a lingering sense of mystery and paranoia.
VA – A Short Illness From Which He Never Recovered [BLACKEST077]
There’s no denying that Blackest Ever Black has released some stellar music over the last decade, so it’s rather fitting that the London imprint’s final release is arguably one of its strongest for some time. To say goodbye, label boss Kiran Sande has put together a superb collection of poignant explorations of ambient, electronica and lo-fi pop that includes a swathe of label debuts. A compilation of new and recent music, either previously unreleased or until now unavailable on vinyl, by Bridget Hayden, Carla dal Forno, Lightning In A Twilight Hour, Scythe, Jam Money, Ian Martin, Unchained, The Fulmars, Hypnotic Sleep and Brainman.
Gavilán Rayna Russom – The Envoy [ELP047]
Transdisciplinary NYC artist Gavilán Rayna Russom beautifully comes into her own with a distinguished solo debut album statement including the voice of Cosey Fanni Tutti and brass arrangements by downtown legend Peter Zummo. After decades exploring her sonic personality in various projects inspired by her deep immersion in NYC’s club and avant-garde scenes, Rayna uses ‘The Envoy’ as a vessel to firm up and convey her personal conclusions on intersections of gender and electronic music.
E.R.P. – FR014X [FR014X]
Under the E.R.P. alias, Gerard Hanson has been making some of the finest intergalactic electro known to humankind since the tail end of the 1990s. His catalogue is meaty and some of his older, out-of-press records are now frustratingly hard to find – hence this tidy double-pack from Frustrated Funk. It includes all three tracks from Hanson’s 2007 label debut, “Vox Automaton” – the body-popping brilliance of the title track, the Drexciya style underwater trip of “Nerve Play” and the deep electro lusciousness of “Parfume Persuasion” – as well as the trio of cuts originally released on the “Alsoran” from the same years. These are arguably even better, with the melodious, cinematic and futuristic title track, and wonderfully poignant “Irma” standing out.
Konduku – White Heron [NOUSLP003]
In 2018 Konduku took everyone by surprise with his debut called Kiran. It doesn’t happen all too often a new artist emerges with such a developed and distinctive sound, delivering an album as debut. Now, a year and three EPs later, Nous’klaer Audio is thrilled to present his followup: White Heron. His singular sound of odd-groove based techno has aged into a sound that’s more mature yet still very playful. Konduku further refined his sound of snappy polyrhythmic blips by using a controlled sound palette focusing on the tensions in-between. Starting with the mesmerizing depth of Kenar to the stripped down halfstepper Hermitage, and from the synthetic beat patterns of Kobalt to the colorful dream fields of Belki – White Heron is an album designed to listen from start to finish, but more than anything else meant for the club.
Bartosz Kruczynski – Selected Media 2016-2018 [ERS040]
Emotional Response presents a special project, a collection of music from Bartosz Kruczynski, recorded for “Selected Media” and presented here as a time-piece of his continuing works. Kruczynski returns to the ambient and ethereal – plus a touch of dub techno – to showcase his expansive collaborative work with Polish studio, TVP Culture. Given free artistic license, the 15 ‘short form’ recordings included here were for programming, in the main, on modern Polish Art including the likes of Magdalena Abakanowicz, Miroslaw Balka and Tadeusz Kantor, as well as some international aspects for Enrico Prampolini, Ai Weiwei and Monica Bonvicini.
Intrepid Soul – Warmth [TGPLP003]
Soulful vibes for emotional listeners. A collection of laidback tunes, combining field recordings with analog synths in a unique blend of ambient music and dub techno, with a psychedelic twist. Written during the spring of 2019, this 6 track LP reflects on the rebirth of nature and the need for spending time outdoors, with friends, lovers or one’s own self.
Donato Dozzy – 12H [P036]
12H is a two hours long summa of the very best material produced for the eponymous sound installation, specifically designed by Donato for the Music Bridge – Armando Trovajoli in Rome under the curation of MAXXI Director Bartolomeo Pietromarchi. The original piece translated in music the architecture of the bridge and its surrounding life, layering samples and field recordings in the language Donato knows best: the repetition, rhythm and harmony of different building blocks. The work was originally reproduced by 24 speakers spread along the bridge colonnade, escorting the visitor through different musical places in their crossing. It now takes its final stereo form in this continuous mix version: a dense, enthralling flow akin to Tiber’s murky waters. The original installation was set up by sound engineer Giuseppe Tillieci / Neel, a frequent collaborator of Dozzy in the “Voices from the Lake” project, with Funktion One support.
O Yuki Conjugate – Into Dark Water [ERC080]
Emotional Rescue reissue ‘Into Dark Water’, the second album from UK post-industrial ambient pioneers O Yuki Conjugate (OYC).
The willfully obscure OYC formed in Nottingham in 1982 and have had a sporadic career on the outskirts of musical culture ever since. Initially associated with the early 80s post-industrial scene OYC quietly forged their own brand of ambient music at a time when it was distinctly unfashionable to do so. ‘Into Dark Water’ was recorded in 1986 over four days in an eight-track garage studio in Nottingham. Produced and engineered by John Kaukis, the result was a blend of flutes, percussion, electronics and loops that focused their sound and became for many the definitive OYC album. Originally released in 1987 on the Leeds-based Final Image label, ‘Into Dark Water’ quickly sold out and has been highly sought after ever since. The re-issue, featuring a lovingly recreated sleeve, makes a vinyl version of this classic available again for the first time in over 30 years.
Giraffe – Desert Haze [MARIONETTE012]
Experimental trio Giraffe crystalize time on ‘Desert Haze’, their new LP on Marionette. Giraffe is the musical project of Sascha Demand (guitar), Jürgen Hall (keys), and Charly Schöppner (percussion). They have quite diverse musical backgrounds, though morphing into Giraffe they tower into one single composer. Their music is a critical statement, not in a political sense but rather an artistic one. Being mindful about what it means to create and how to position themselves as artists nowadays (without the constant hassle of being en vogue and short-lived trends) shaped their rather rare and stoic artistic stance. It is refreshingly honest to see their expression develop so naturally. On Desert Haze, they’ve created a vibrant and minimalistic tribal sound that feels inspired by the Saharan traditional music of the Tuareg, Jazz, and German psychedelic krautrock.
Retina.it – The Last Day Of Pompeii [MDGEM02.1/MDGEM02.2]
‘The Last Day Of Pompeii’ is a compilation of hidden gems by Retina.it -most of them released via Chicago’s Hefty Records in early 2000- and few unreleased coming as a double EP. The records will have inserts presenting 2 halves of Karl Brullov painting from 1830 (that gives the name to the project). On the backside of the insert there will be anecdotes and pictures from the archives. Midgar want to pay tribute to the Pompeian duo, whose life has been entirely dedicated to music. The project ‘The Last Day Of Pompeii’ talks about their origins, early history and relationship with Hefty Records.
Solitary Dancer – Rites Of Passage [PPLP01]
‘Rites Of Passage’ traditionally refer to rituals distinguishing movements from one period of life to the next. Solitary Dancer’s debut LP evokes a retrospective of these experiences, organized into four acts: coming into being, detachment, liminality, and re-incorporation of the self. This narrative calls for a self-exploration of moral corruption, loss of innocence, social rebellion, and societal disillusionment.
Ruins – Marea / Tide: Sound & Image Research Volume One [MFM043]
Music From Memory’s latest release is a reissue of the lost Art record ‘Marea / Tide’ from Italian Wave duo Alessandro Pizzin and Piergiuseppe Ciranna also know as ‘Ruins’. Made to accompany and as a response to the works of painter ‘Luigi Viola’ the record was released limited to a run of 600 with original artworks by the painter included in the first 200 copies. A number of special showcases were performed at various galleries by the duo alongside Viola’s work, with records being available solely at those events. Due to poor management and disagreements with the label who produced the record, 300 copies were held for many years in storage and then in fact later even destroyed, the record disappearing almost without a trace. Finally now available again and with a bonus 7” including four beautiful unreleased tracks, the release is printed in colors true to the original work of Luigi Viola with insert.
Suzanne Ciani – Dekmantel Podcast 250
Massimo Carozzi – Night Shift [YER036]
Massimo Carozzi is a sound recordist, sound designer and musician based in Bologna, Italy. Since 1994 he has looked into relations between sound and image, sound and script, sound and literature, sound and space. Massimo Carozzi has created sound design for theatre, documentaries, short films, installations. As a musician he collaborated both in studio and on stage with various musicians and sound artists such as Andrea Belfi, Stefano Pilia, Margareth Kammerer, Valerio Tricoli, Claudio Rocchetti, Luciano Maggiore, Sinistri, 3/4HadBeenEliminated, Starfuckers. In September 2000 he founded the group ZimmerFrei whose artistic practice ranges from video art to documentary films, sound and environmental installations, as well as photography, performances, workshops and public art projects
Steve Moore – Untitled [LIES134]
NYC Synth master Steve Moore makes a welcome return to L.I.E.S. with his first EP on the label since 2012. Through these four tracks Moore creates a world with simplistic stripped down beauty, often using one synth and a drum machine to effectively construct alternate realities, as heard on the opener Broken Kills. This continues on the b-side opener Eigengrau, while Future 86 and Future 99 take a more dramatic komische influenced soaring arpeggiated approach.
John Di Stefano – For The Moment [CC003]
Concentric Circles presents ”For the Moment”, which features tracks from some of Di Stefano’s early cassette releases, as well as a number of unheard explorations of Indian polyrhythms from the early 90s. Di Stefano’s prescient and unique work will appeal to fans of Cybe, Joel Graham, UnknownmiX, Zru Vogue, and provides a fascinating view of the 80s US electronic underground. American-born, Japan-based composer John Di Stefano self-released a number of cassettes as part of the 80s DIY underground on his own imprint Oktron Produktions, including Klang’s Drift, a collaboration with Joel Graham. Living in San Francisco, Di Stefano had access to multiple University electronic music studios, where he had an impressive array of synthesizers at his fingertips, including both Buchla and Serge modular systems. Combining his knowledge of modular synthesis with a background in percussion, his early releases were a uniquely human approach to electroacoustic music, with flourishes of post punk in the mix. Di Stefano developed an interest in world music, studying Indian music theory and tabla, and after an extended trip to Indonesia in the mid 80s, he was particularly drawn to Javanese gamelan music. Future recordings would forever be indebted to the sounds he heard during those travels.
Lost Souls Of Saturn – Lost Souls Of Saturn [RS1909]
R&S present the eponymous, debut, full length album transmission from Lost Souls Of Saturn, an epic in scope, time and space, multidimensional mind trip. This ambient house masterpiece combines flavours gathered from across the galaxy, stewing them up into a delicious primordial soup. Old sci-fi soundtracks, acid, free jazz, avant garde, musique concrete, world music and more all whirl around an underground-dance-music axis. Primarily Lost Souls Of Saturn are Seth Troxler and Phil Moffa, plus further opaque participants congregating to combine music, imagery, and storytelling into an inextricably linked whole, all wrapped-up in a philosophy of their own making.
The Hipodrome Of Music 