Ebi was a pseudonym used by Susumu Yokota who was a Japanese techno and ambient composer, producer and house music DJ. Transmigration presents now a one double LP of 2 previously re-issued EPs by the Japanese artist. This is Susumu Yokota’s vision of techno – house, lovingly collected in collaboration with Space Teddy and the Yokota family.
Assortment of 3 trippy chugger downtempo would-be-cosmic-hole anthems beautifully produced by Parisian scene Don Yousef Debbihi. Coming in through the clutch for this summers’ hopeful re-openings with Rec23 – what could have been the soundtrack to a new Akira sequel. Following with a never ending tribal K-hole trip. Ending with a beautiful atmospheric excursion on the B side, perfect for cleansing and setting up a dancefloor.
What better way to celebrate 100 releases than with a handmade box containing soul expanding music!? Höga Nord Rekords have reached an important goal and releases a rare box set containing all 12” from the HNRUK-series plus a new record from Birds, unique for this box. Except Birds, this compilation includes Dark Strands, High Boys, Vox Low, Timothy J. Fairplay, Fontän, Bird Of Paradise, Mythologen, Jamie Paton and Frak. This exclusive handmade box made in Norrmalms kartongfabrik in Stockholm, is a celebration to the Scandinavian Bronze age. You’ll find rock carvings like those on the artwork scattered over the land but mostly near Gothenburg, home of Höga Nord Rekords on the Swedish west coast. Archaeological evidence proves similarities in ornaments and pictures between the Nordic and European Bronze age, just like you find common features in the music released on our label. Though the acts in this compilation box come from all over Europe and beyond, they stem from an obscured and mysterious common source of escapism, purity and creativity.
Shifted offers the latest distillation of his trademark sound. Guy Brewer’s fourth studio album and the first to arrive on his own Avian imprint, “Constant Blue Light”, explores new avenues in caustic minimalism. Eschewing the booming effervescence of his own more plosive dance floor material – Shifted takes a no less nuanced, but decidedly more introspective angle on this new LP. At the centre of Brewer’s practice as an artist, there has always been a sense of dedication to the refinement of a singular idea. In some ways “Constant Blue Light” represents a move closer to the apex of this approach. A continued exploration from a focused and diligent artist that provides yet another fully formed and beautifully articulated component to his own discography and that of the Avian label.
Compilation of all new productions from a wealth of international talent, put together by Knekelhuis.
Label Text “This is a story of friendship, about how it grows stronger through the years. But it’s just as much about fledgling togetherness and shared art in times of crisis. The result is an introspective document of contemporary music, in spirit of Eno and Hassell. A space where we embrace our differences and speak the language of collectivity together, where we reflect, adapt and value each artist’s contribution equally. To witness a multitude of cultural backgrounds that speak one like-minded language. Soothing and illuminating. And felt like…”
The LP contains original compositions by Ryuichi Sakamoto, Pascal Comelade, Laurie Spiegel, Lyra Pramuk, Chassol, Nicolas Godin and Pierre Rousseau, Pedro Vian and Pierre Bastien, Visible Cloaks, Kelman Duran, Raul Refree, Lucrecia Dalt, Lafawndah. ‘PRSNT’ is a unique global artistic project combining the input of artists across the worlds of music, video and written word which acts as a statement on how we, as consumers, engage with music in the 21 st century. The concept was devised by Created By Us and the Barcelona-based label Modern Obscure Music. They read a study which identified that the overwhelming volume of instantly accessible information online is shortening attention spans and altering how audiences engage with music digitally. Their curiosity about the state of online consumption developed further on discovering that around a third of all listeners using digital platforms skip to the next track, within the first 30 seconds of playing. Each musician was given a fascinating challenge to create engaging compositions with real artistic merit, inside the confines of this shortened span. Akin to Brian Eno’s famous Windows 95 start-up music, the time constraints are crucial, and the compositions are deceptively complex and more substantial than expectations of their nano nature would suggest. ‘PRSNT’ acts as a critique of flighty feed culture, but is simultaneously constructive, providing something which is either proposed solution or “if you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em” resignation. Every artist has interpreted the brief differently, resulting in an intriguing blueprint for the potential future of digital music. Could abbreviated micro compositions satisfy, inspire and nourish like their longer counterparts? They certainly take up much less of listeners’ busy lives, which are often spent tackling ever-increasing workloads.
In the beginning, there was just a box of tapes and “Fate’s Gentle Hand.” It was the autumn of 2010, and an anonymous figure known only as the Head Technician, an employee of Pye Corner Audio Transcription Services (“Magnetically aligning ferrous particles since 1970”), found himself at an auction in the village of Coldred, pop. 110. He was on the hunt for tobacco pipes when he chanced across a trio of boxes listed in the auction catalog, which described their contents only as “archived magnetic recordings.” The sole bidder, he won the lot, and upon receipt of his purchase took possession of an unspecified number of mouldering cassettes and ¼” reel-to-reel tapes. The collection contained no identifying information save for a single phrase scrawled on each box: “Black Mill Sessions.” And so, armed with razors, eyedroppers, and a bevy of solid-state circuitry, the Head Technician sat down at his machines and got to work. Now, Lapsus presents Black Mill Tapes Volume 5: The Lost Tapes. The musical landscape has changed considerably in the past decade, but what is remarkable about the Black Mills Tapes material is that it hasn’t aged a day; its retro-futurist transmissions sound just as mysteriously compelling as they did the first time around. While they purport to faithfully transcribe the sound of yesterday’s technology, they end up being something more: a record of what we wish the past sounded like—a rickety tape transfer of desire itself, spooled and boxed, just awaiting discovery.
Second Circle return with a special one-off album of music by Belgian producer soFa, German musician Houschyar and the legendary Turkish drummer and percussionist Okay Temiz. “Şelale” is the result of a string of sessions that began in Istanbul during 2018, when soFa spontaneously teamed up with friend Houschyar for a series of smoky jams in the young producer’s 5th floor apartment. They would meet again a few months later, with a plan to finish the EP, and whilst having lunch, the two decided to pay a spontaneous visit to Okay Temiz, with whom soFa had worked previously. In this latest collaboration, Okay Temiz weaves his percussive magic through six diverse psychedelic synthesizer and drum computer jams, alongside two exciting young producers.
Born and raised in Indonesia, Omar Joesoef built this EP with samples of old records of ethnic music that he has found in an abandoned radio station on Java island. Named Lokananta, it is one of the first radios setting up in Indonesia in the 50’s. The recordings in Omar’s EP come from rituals and meditative chants of one of the last tribes still living in the ancient way, completely disconnected from the modern world.
Dutch psych-musicians Jacco Gardner and Nic Mauskovic create a new take on no-wave, post-disco with their debut LP as Bruxas, Muscle Memory. It’s their third work for the Dekmantel label, following up earlier EPs Mas Profundo (2017) and Sirocco (2018). Immersing themselves in a world of bohemian synth, the duo ex periment with vintage machines and cosmic effects, swimming in rhythmic grooves and psychedelic tones. It’s a style that reflects their respective musical backgrounds, and long partnership, one in which that has strengthened their collaborative, musical muscle memory.
Dino Sabatini arrives on Delsin’s Mantis series with a charged, imposing statement of meditative techno. Sabatini has been at the forefront of the deep techno scene since the mid 00s, cultivating a sound with his own Outis Music which acknowledges the structures of club music while reaching beyond obvious drama and brute force, offering something more subliminal instead. On Mantis 06, Sabatini blurs the lines between organic and electronic percussion as he doubles down on steadfast rhythms executed with delicacy and impact in equal measure.
Platform 23 presents “It Was”, a collection of tracks from Colin Potter, chosen from his 1989 cassettes Recent History Volumes 1 & 2. After a burst of activity, mainly on his ICR label, from 1980 – 82, the tapes were the first released music in seven years and highlighted the intervening period. While much of his earlier recordings have now been reissued by Dark Entries, Deep Distance and Sacred Summits, It Was covers the period where Potter recordings were limited while working as an engineer at his IC Studio, and pre-date his work with Nurse With Wound. The ambience and guitar of The French Polisher leads to Diary Of A Nobody, an embodiment of Potter, sequencers and guitar against submerged, metallic percussion rising. Dense, claustrophobia follows in Solidarity At Wujeck Colliery towards the guitar refrains of Persistence. Side two starts with Green Fields, where plucked guitars are surrounded and consumed by arpeggios. Propulsion without percussion, the layers of arps shift and redefine before the scatter of Saw with reversed synths and guitar acting as counterbalance. Nine Months, a possible centerpiece, has an autumnal atmosphere; crashing cymbals and ambulant guitar, leading to the closing Ships That Pass In The Night, a hazy drift of slowly sequenced synths & primitive voice samples.
Dekmantel once again teams up with RE:VIVE, the cultural initiative setup by the The Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision, to pair modern electronic talent with Dutch archival footage. The third EP in the Scores series sees Interstellar Funk and Italian producer Guenter Råler create innovative, modular soundscapes to the graceful visual arts unearthed from the EYE Filmmuseum archives.
Amsterdam, 1982. Smoke fills the streets, squatters clash violently with the police, uprising is in the air. In this disorderly mess, the worlds of activism, art, fashion, and nightlife converged into an explosion of creativity. Amidst all of this Electric Party, the brainchild of René van Rijn, released the ‘Work’ tape on Amsterdam label Fetisj, now a cult cassette for the few who remember. Forty years ago they created this unique blend of no wave, mutant disco, funk, and experimental music. This record consists of 3 of the best tracks from the ‘Work’ tape and 6 unreleased tracks from forgotten cassette tapes, all remastered and restored where necessary. Among them the unreleased anthem ‘Caribe’, which was recorded in Spain as the opening track for a Spanish discotheque in 1987.
Celestial Electronics Vol. 1 Rozselini (Roz Selini) is an ambient experimental compilation, taking into account the rapidly changing ways of experiencing sounds and music, the consequences Body and space refer to vital and interrelated dimensions in the experience of sounds.
O Yuki Conjugate return to Utter for the vinyl version of their most recent album. ‘Sleepwalker’ documents O Yuki Conjugate’s 2017-2019 live shows but also doubles as the soundtrack to a film of the same name by founder member Andrew Hulme. The music and images were conceived together and the resulting album comprises 10 tracks taken from 24 live performances in nine countries across Europe. ‘Sleepwalker’ captures OYC’s current musical direction, a blend of plangent keyboards, abstract guitars and electronic rhythms, presented in OYC’s inimical style.
Originally released on CD in 1999, Astral Industries present a first vinyl issue of Monolake’s much-loved ‘Gobi’, licensed from Imbalance Computer Music. Set to the backdrop of the Gobi desert in eastern Asia, two shimmering vistas plunge the listener into a vast and deeply hypnotic nocturnal soundscape. The perennial hiss and rattle of insects float along the fresh night air in soft waves. The desert thrives with quiet activity as a westerly wind skitters across moonlit dunes, granulated folds dancing like sheets of thin silk. Tectonic plates murmur beneath the shower of stars overhead, their millennial cycles whispering of aeons past. Vividly textured and enticingly synthetic in its sound design, Gobi succeeds as a stunning piece of minimalism.
Inspired from Romanian cultural heritage, be it film, dance or musical instruments, Folclor Abstract is a glance back to the roots in search of a meaningful future. The first track is inspired from the soundtrack composed by Cornelia Tăutu for the Romanian historical adventure film “Buzduganul cu trei peceți” (1977). The film presents a politicized version of the events that led in 1600 to the unification of the three Romanian countries, in the aftermath of a victorious battle against the Ottoman invasion (Călugăreni, 1595). Dance your way through as the story unfolds. Dans cu balans is the result of a personal fascination for the cimbalom, an instrument of high versatility, frequently used in the Romanian fiddle music. In contrast to orchestral performances, which adhere to the composer’s notes to reproduce a work faithfully, fiddling is also open to improvisation and tends to produce rhythms that focus on dancing, with associated quick note changes. Searching for inspiration within Romanian folklore, I found Ivan Braga who was on his own pursuit of cultural heritage, experimenting with a variety of traditional instruments and rhythms from different regions of the country. Doba lu’ Braga is Ivan’s modern take on Romanian drum patterns performed on a traditional Moldavian drum (dobă) with an uplifting twist and arrangement for the dancefloor experience. Reverie is an expression of the creator’s state of mind. Lost in thought, stolen by imagination, haunted by memories, liberated by dreams
Swaying & icy electronic dub compilation straight from Delodio Studio Sessions. Programmed and produced by F.M. Cut and compiled by Fa_Fane.
The Hipodrome Of Music 