New entries - OUT OF PRINT!

New entries

Don Cherry, Don Cherry Trio, Okay Temiz, Johnny Dyani : Live In Paris 1971 (The ORTF Recordings) - LP (Caz Plak, 2023)

Licensed from BYG Records France. Re-mastered from original material at BYG Records France’s vault. The album cover features a 70mm analogue photograph of Château de Versailles by Erinc Guzel. It comes with liner notes in both French and English, and it’s hand-numbered with a limited run of 1,000 copies. Re-mastered in ?stanbul by Mert Üçer / Caz Plak is thrilled to announce the global release of "Don Cherry Trio - The ORTF Recordings Paris 1971," a vinyl LP that captures the legendary jazz musician Don Cherry in a sublime performance with his long-time Don Cherry Trio members: Turkish drummer Okay Temiz and South African bassist Johnny Dyani / Recorded at the iconic ORTF studios (Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française)for the Sound and Vision program in Paris in 1971, this remarkable LP features one of the paramount Jazz figures of all time, Don Cherry, interpreting Turkish rhythms. This release serves as the sequel to Okay Temiz's magnum opus, 'Okay Temiz's Oriental Wind at Montreux Jazz Festival 1982' LP, released worldwide by Caz Plak in 2022, and is the second chapter of Caz Plak's 'Turkish Jazz Trilogy'. "Don Cherry Trio - The ORTF Recordings Paris 1971" LP is particularly significant as it predates Don Cherry's groundbreaking "Organic Music Society" album from 1973, in which Okay Temiz also performed

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€ 29

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Wally Badarou : Colors Of Silence - LP (Be With, 2023)

Synth pioneer and musical polymath, Wally Badarou is a genius. A vinyl version of his majestic Colors Of Silence has been craved by the Balearic cognoscenti ever since its low-key 2001 release. Colors Of Silence is ostensibly a new age album. As ever though, Wally's sophisticated synth textures and expressive keyboard runs are so full of character, so full of life, that this work of art transcends any easy genre categorization. It sounds like A.r.t. Wilson or Suzanne Kraft, with traces of CFCF and Jonny Nash / But it was made a good decade earlier than the work of these modern giants. It's understandable why Colors Of Silence remains somewhat of a lost gem. Over the years, it has become a true cult record for the ambient/Balearic heads. There can be few artists more under-appreciated given their vast influence than Wally Badarou. His solo work practically defined the sound of the Balearic DJs of the 1980s, and thus the more sophisticated sound of dance culture thereafter. A synth specialist, Badarou was the long-time associate of Level 42 / He was one of the Compass Point All Stars (with Sly and Robbie, Barry Reynolds, Mikey Chung, and Uziah "Sticky" Thompson), the in-house recording team of Compass Point Studios responsible for a series of albums in the 1980s recorded by Grace Jones, Tom Tom Club, Mick Jagger, Black Uhuru, Gwen Guthrie, Jimmy Cliff and Gregory Isaacs. Badarou's keyboard playing could also be heard on albums by Robert Palmer, Marianne Faithfull, Herbie Hancock, M (Pop Muzik), Talking Heads, Manu Dibango, and Miriam Makeba. He also produced Fela Kuti. Meticulously remastered and cut by both Simon Francis and Cicely Balston respectively, it has been pressed to the highest possible quality at Record Industry in Holland

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€ 29

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The Cinematic Orchestra : Man With A Movie Camera - 2xLP (Ninja Tune, 2023)

20th anniversary edition, limited ashen and pewter grey 140g vinyl. Housed in a rigid tip-on foiled, embossed and debossed gatefold sleeve with new liner notes and updated artwork. Black paper inners and unseen session photography presented on a 12” double sided art card insert. As part of the film festival celebrations of Porto being the European City of Culture in 2001, Jason Swinscoe of The Cinematic Orchestra was commissioned to score a soundtrack to a silent movie as a one-off performance. The film was Dziga Vertov's ‘Man With A Movie Camera,’ a 1929 early documentary cinema film from the Soviet Union, and hailed by many including The British Film Institute to be one of the greatest films of all time, nearly 100 years on from its creation. The performance took place in the historic Coliseu Porto, and ended with a standing ovation of 3,500 people / The Cinematic Orchestra have since toured the show internationally over the years, including performances at The Barbican in London, NYC’s Winter Garden at WTC, and Sydney Opera House. The band was in the process of writing “Every Day” when the film commission occurred, which had a formative influence on “Man With A Movie Camera”. Certain tracks that made it onto “Every Day” in other forms were written specifically for the score or were already in development, which allowed Swinscoe and the band to remold motifs to the film's unfolding narrative. The title 'Every Day' was based on the narrative in the film, which portrays a day in the life of an idealised Soviet society, beginning with people waking up, moving through various workplace environments, and into leisure time & activities / “Man With A Movie Camera” was eventually recorded and released in 2003. it was met with much acclaim. The Guardian gave it 4/5 and said “You can perform an autopsy on the jazz instruments, DJ Shadow-like grooves and repeating chord sequences, yet come away scratching your head as to how, in such simple combinations, they make such heartfelt music.” The Independent on Sunday continued, “It stands alone, proud and complete.” And dance magazines also showered it with praise such as DJ Magazine, “The genius, a word not to be used lightly, of The Cinematic Orchestra seemingly knows no bounds.”

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€ 39

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Model 500 : Starlight - 12" (Metroplex, 2023)

Essential techno masterpiece! The long-awaited reissue of M024: Model 500's eternal techno meditation "Starlight", a mid-90s collaboration with dub techno maestro Moritz von Oswald of Basic Channel, Maurizio, and Rhythm & Sound fame / Remastered from original tapes and sounding super fresh

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€ 16

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Miradasvacas : Of No Fixed Abode - LP (12th Isle, 2023)

'Of No Fixed Abode' gathers fragmented recordings by the Madrid duo of Pablo Mirón and Juan Vacas, the multi-disciplinary artists behind the collective Real No Real (realnoreal.org) and Ediciones Fontenebro label. Working with field recordings, found materials, instruments such as Violin and Harmonica and by manipulating old radios, turntables and reel to reels the pair have been performing across the world of late taking their collage style process with them. 'Of No Fixed Abode' uses cross-continental sound diaries from the 2019-2022 period and has been central to shows at venues and festivals around Europe and South America / Contributing to the wider field of post-fluxus 'broken music', the duality of natural sound and decaying, processed tape loops along with gentle instrumentation across the record follows in the footsteps of the Dieter Roth school, Anne Gillis, Leyland Kirby or Henry Krutzen yet is anchored in a charming restraint in which each element seems to fall into place perfectly. Miradasvacas have a long history with presenting experimental music through shows on Madrid's Radio Relativa, concerts and gatherings across the city and self-published mixtapes and sound art, though debut here on 12th Isle with their first proper album. Far-flung gallery sonics at their finest

€ 26

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Jorn Ebner : Perifaerye - LP (Gruenrekorder, 2023)

Perifaerye is a multi-part work of art comprising of 18 soundscapes, 36 digital drawings and 24 writings. Perifaerye is at once a record release, a book, a website; in the autumn of 2023 a series of playlists were published on billboards, linking the online soundscapes to the real-life physical realm. This publication is an artistic hybrid: a vinyl record / book combining sound, image and text / The 18 audio works condense the sounds of the urban periphery into a sonic cartography. In Hamburg-Eidelstedt, people live in smaller detached houses and in larger apartment blocks. New housing estates have been developed recently in direct neighbourhood to the motorway, and currently in the district centre; a district where post-war housing estates and architectural remnants from a village past co-exist. Even meadows and fields, surrounded by the noise of motorways and other traffic, aeroplanes (the airport is close by) and railways (passenger and und freight trains, long distance, regional and local services). This collection of soundscapes – each a short composition on its own – presents a sonic portrait of a contemporary urban area / In the spring 2023, Jorn Ebner recorded the urban spaces of the Hamburg district of Eidelstedt. For each audio piece there is an image. The artist’s writings reflect and accompany the creative process. For this book and record, Sebastian Kokus and Thomas Korf created a very haptic design. Each part of the whole can be experienced as a single piece: the A2-sized poster is part of the outer sleeve; the booklet presents image and text (German only); the record is visible through the holes in the inner and outer sleeves and forms part of the cover. The work was funded by the Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg, Behörde für Kultur und Medien

€ 19

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Pali Meursault, Thomas Tilly : melt* - LP (Fragments Editions, 2023)

In 2020, Pali Meursault and Thomas Tilly collaborated to create 'Radio Glaces', a fourteen-part sound collection featuring recordings of glaciers in the Alps and testimonies from people who have a close relationship with this environment: glaciologists, geomorphologists, hut wardens, mountaineers and high-mountain guides / As a continuation of this first project, 'Melt*' was a series of improvised performances by the duo of sound artists, playing back the sounds and vibrations of the glaciers as they conducted a microphonic auscultation of the crevasses, rimayes and torrents of the Oisans mountain range / The outcome of a research project that began over three years ago and is still ongoing, Melt* is based on the recording of a concert at GMEA (Albi) in early 2023, and is available as a vinyl record published by Fragment Editions

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€ 22

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Pointe du Lac : Les siphonophores des eaux froides et profondes de l'Arctique - LP (Hands in the Dark, 2023)

Named after a metro station located in East Paris, Pointe du Lac originated in 2014 as the brainchild of analogue gear enthusiast Julien Lheuillier, joined shortly after by multi-instrumentalist Richard Francés, followed by Quentin Rollet on saxophone a few years down the line. Les siphonophores des eaux froides et profondes de l'Arctique (“Siphonophores of the cold, deep Arctic waters”) is the project’s third studio album, the first one written as a three-piece as well as their first release on Hands in the Dark / Like the organisms the album title refers to, Pointe du Lac’s music is highly polymorphic and complex, using a subtle and distinctive blend of Electronica, Krautrock, Jazz and Kosmische as vessels for the band’s fantastic instrumental imaginary voyages. Compared to previous albums and EPs -which tended to suggest cosmic odysseys- this new cinematic outing is diving deep and intends to shed light on fascinating, mysterious and diverse creatures and their habitats. Supported by (paradoxically) warm and impeccable sonic forms, the exploration turns out to be an unsurprisingly expansive one, yet accessible and oddly familiar sounding. There is a sense of assurance and serenity in the French trio’s latest offering, the musicians mastery and open-ended approach to free ambient music lets their ideas flow and never stagnate. The narrative of this expedition is one that will be remembered long after the listening finishes

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€ 22

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Martin Glass : Magic Mountain - LP (Glossy Mistakes, 2023)

Magic Mountain is the third full-length album from the itinerant American businessman, composer, and producer Martin Glass. Inspired by German electronic music pioneer Edgar Froese, Vangelis, early Warp Records releases, The Orb and The Future Sound of London, the album is a Fellinian memory maze of new age wellness culture, mid-20th century Hollywood glitz, exhaustion, dreams, fantasy, desire and listless ennui. The less sense it makes, the more we can't stop listening to it / Drawing from the impressionistic recollections of an unreliable narrator with an ever-loosening relationship with time and space, Magic Mountain tells the story of Martin’s feverish stay in a celebrity health resort in the hills beyond Hollywood. Over the course of thirteen evocatively titled tracks, the album unfolds like a half-remembered dream of a place somehow lost and imagined but not beyond our reach. Expressed through sweeping, retrofuturistic synthesisers, haunted old-time melodies, grainy samples and the occasional gently lulling rhythm, it plugs directly into emotion and pleasure, calling the listener to fall into the fantasy / When he released his first album, 2017’s The Pacific Visions of Martin Glass, Martin was in exile in Taiwan, working on a big deal that never quite closed. There, he fell under the spell of 80s Japanese city-pop and Kanky? Ongaku (environmental music) and drank deeply from their wellsprings before summoning up his own fourth-world fever dream for the digital era. Two years later, his second album, 21 Commissions for Business, found him dividing his time between California’s Esalen Institute and Forest Gate in East London while crafting miniature sonic business IDs, customer-hold music and bespoke office atmosphere pieces for a glorious but fading future. With the release of Magic Mountain, Glossy Mistakes is very pleased to present the latest captivating chapter in Martin’s surrealist story in a limited edition of 300 vinyl LPs and digital formats

€ 22

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Stevia, Susumu Yokota : Greenpeace - 2x12" (Glossy Mistakes, 2022)

In 1997 and 1998, the late great Japanese composer, producer, and DJ Susumu Yokota released two of the most eclectic albums of his decades-long career, Fruits of The Room and Greenpeace. Recorded under his Stevia alias for Tokyo Techno pioneer DJ Miku’s Newstage Records/NS-COM, they were Yokota-san’s homage to the foundational days of club music in Japan. This year, Glossy Mistakes are proud to present the first official vinyl editions of Fruits of The Room and Greenpeace, originally released on CD during the golden days of the format. Packaged in reimagined cover artwork created by the celebrated Japanese visual artist Masaho Anotani, these two albums perfectly capture the diversity at the heart of Yokota-san’s oeuvre. Across Greenpeace sees Yokota-san conjuring up a heady concoction of dusty loops, sampledelic breaks, kraut-rock and psychedelic downbeat. A remarkable listening experience based on the inspired era of a genius / When Yokota-san wrote and produced the music on Fruits of The Room and Greenpeace in 1997, he was reflecting on the broader culture that surrounded dance music in Japan in the early to mid-nineties. It was an era when the psychedelic culture of late sixties America, the afterglow of UK acid house/rave, the new age movement and cyberpunk dovetailed together. Within DJ Miku and Yokota-san’s social circles, the thinking of Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs electrified the air / By 1996, the moment, brilliant and blinding as it was, was over. “We all felt that the rave scene fizzled out,” DJ Miku says. As he puts it, there was a collective feeling around him that it had all become too much. From the calm that followed, DJ Miku, Yokota-san and their open-eared peers made the decision to switch tracks and start from scratch. DJ Miku believes that with his Stevia releases, Fruits of The Room and Greenpeace, Yokota-san wanted to express the sweet and sour nature of the passing of those wild early days and his wish for true peace. “At the time, we saw eye-to-eye, with an implicit understanding of each other,” he explains. “Even now, twenty-five years later, I am confident it was like that.”

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€ 26

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Finis Africae : El Pulso De La Madera - 2xLP (Glossy Mistakes, 2023)

Compilation, previously unreleased work from Finis Africae together with the reissue of their first album "Prima Travesía". A deep trip of the roots of organic ambient with the seminal Spanish band. "Pulso de la Madera" comes as the definitive official reissue of the first album by the legendary band, along with previously unreleased remastered material, on a double LP with extensive liner notes and previously unseen pictures of the band. Essential to revisit the work of a band that inspired fourth world and organic ambient as we know it today; these tunes sound immersive and still contemporary / On their short but influential career, Finis Africae proposed an informal and decentralized model of creativity that was decades ahead of current practices linked to technological advances; they explored unknown worlds and imagined landscapes of the “fourth world” apart from their present; they neither affirmed nor denied any of the labels they were to assign to them (“New Age”, “ethnic music”, “world music”, etc.); they recreated, used, and nourished foreign cultures without fear / And most importantly - they shaped a sound “finis”. Your own space. Where there were no rules. A dimension in which the collective was submerged in long sessions of improvisation; where they could be goblins and magical entities; a place where they could imagine scales and structures unreal; where they could play any instrument in the known world; where they could tour the Mediterranean, Africa, and the Middle East in a blink of an eye; where they could be themselves without caring about anything that happened outside. The unreleased tracks come as a careful selection of a deep-dive over hundred tracks and demos, compiled by Urba and Glossy Mario. The license comes from Juan Alberto Arteche's family

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€ 26

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Inheritance : Frames // Saturate - LP (Weltschmerzen, 2023)

Somebody somewhere once said that music doesn't mean anything; it is meaningful. The Czecho-slovakian instrumental trio, Inheritance, invites you to rediscover their sonic journey with the reissue of their previous EPs, "Frames" (2014) and "Saturate" (2016), now elegantly entwined into a single captivating package released for the first time on vinyl, on Weltschmerzen. Comprising of the trio Jakub Volovar (guitar), Alex Strapkova (piano), and Peter Kusnirik (drums), Inheritance was active in the mid 2010s in Brno, later unfortunately disbanding due to own personal pursuits / Frames // Saturate embodies the melancholic and melodic tension characteristic of contemporary post-rock, complemented by the whimsy of piano-led instrumentals with a tint of indie-playfulness and a very slight yet powerful grain of sludge heaviness that can be traced back to Volovar's and Kusnirik's earlier post-metal project, Dawn to Come. "Frames // Saturate" is first and foremost a compact sonic voyage. Volovar's evocative yet precise guitar work builds complex yet airy scaffolding, while Strapkova’s piano melodies create a tapestry of moods around it. Both EPs showcase Strapkova’s piano prowess, transforming each composition into a living organism. Kusnirik's drumming then acts as the steady pulse, guiding you through. These songs encapsulate the kind of mutualism and appreciation for (musical) interdependence that you can only develop throughout the years of practice and playing live / You can hear how much fun it was for the band to play these songs, and that sense of joy translates directly into your own listening experience. It's the kind of music that makes you pick up an air guitar, (piano, or drums) - and sometimes everything all at once. It is music serious and poetic, yet fun and moving and complex at the same time

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€ 25

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Sam Dunscombe : Two Forests / Oceanic - LP (Black Truffle, 2023)

Following on from the psychoacoustic concrète of Outside Ludlow / Desert Disco LP (BT075), Sam Dunscombe returns to Black Truffle with Two Forests / Oceanic. Dunscombe has been active in recent years on multiple fronts, including as a key member of the Berlin community of Just Intonation researchers and practitioners; working with composers like Taku Sugimoto, Mary Jane Leach, and Anthony Pateras; and the release of Horatiu Radulescu - Plasmatic Music vol. 1 (the result of many years performance research into the thought and music of this seminal Romanian spectralist). In parallel with these activities, Dunscombe has been deeply involved in research on the role of music in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, prompting these two side long pieces, composed using field recordings and digital synthesis / As Dunscombe explains in the accompanying liner notes, music plays a key role in psychedelic-assisted therapy, yet it is often restricted to stock forms of New Age, ambient and electronica. Taking seriously the potential for spatio-environmental sonic experiences to add to the therapeutic process, these two pieces are intended to suggest how ‘a music-as-environment approach may help to add options to the therapist’s toolbox’

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€ 22

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Soema Montenegro : Circulo Radiante - LP (Mais Um Discos, 2023)

Argentine folk/experimental artist Soema Montenegro describes album Círculo Radiante, as an “embrace of territory”; an encompassing sonic ode to Latin American sounds, landscapes, and people, which is released on October 19th 2023 by Mais Um / Montenegro was born in the outskirts of Buenos Aires in 1979, growing up between the countryside and the jungles, sparking a lifelong fascination between the connection of music and place. Known as the “shaman-poet”, she channels her voice into chant-like sounds that bestow respect to nature, echoing the traditions of ancestral communities. A budding musicologist who researches the use of song and vocal gestures in Latin America, she has achieved world-wide critical acclaim with her own unique style. She has toured global stages and was the subject of a 2010 documentary by renowned French filmmaker Vincent Moon / Her fifth full-length album, Circulo Radiante is a remarkable evolution of Montenegro’s work, coupling the modernity of electro-instrumentalisation with her own raw, ancestral approach to composition. Working alongside producer Leo Martinelli (Tremor), an artist who has ingeniously connected Latin American folk and modern electronica, Círculo Radiante reveals a new chapter to Montenegro’s writing capabilities and vocal mastery, yet never betrays her innate connection to land, place, and people

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€ 25

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Don Leisure, Amanda Whiting : Beyond the Midnight Sun - LP (First Word, 2023)

'Beyond The Midnight Sun' expands upon ground first explored on Don Leisure's track 'All Praises Due', which also featured Amanda (with Angel Bat Dawid), and featured on his previous album 'Shaboo Strikes Back'. This is a full-length project that these two formidable Welsh artists have collaborated on together. To bring you up to speed, Cardiff DJ and beat-maker Don Leisure has been twice nominated for the Welsh Music Prize, with the afore-mentioned album 'Shaboo Strikes Back', and a previous project, 'Steel Zakusi'. As well as being 50% of Darkhouse Family with Earl Jeffers, he's released music under various monikers on labels such as Metalheadz, International Anthem, Fat City, Earnest Endeavours, Group BraCil and on Rough Trade with another regular collaborator, Gruff Rhys. Other collabs have included Charlotte Church, Om'Mas Keith, DJ Spinna and First Word label-mate Tyler Daley (Children of Zeus) / His DJ portfolio includes sets for BBC 6 Music, NTS, Rinse FM, Solid Steel, Boxout FM (India), The Jazz Cafe, Fabric and Boiler Room, while previous support has come from Lauren Laverne, Tom Ravenscroft, Huw Stephens, Lefto, Rob Da Bank, Huey Morgan, Jon1st, Om Unit, Kid Fonque, Mr Thing and many more. His album 'Shaboo' was named "the best album of its kind since J Dilla's 'Donuts'" by Piccadilly Records / Joining him throughout this project, we have the pleasure of welcoming the phenomenal talents of highly-acclaimed harpist Amanda Whiting to the First Word label. A virtuoso in her field, this classically trained musician quickly established herself as an essential player in the UK jazz scene, carving her unique sound following the paths forged by Ashby and Coltrane. She's toured extensively with her own band, as well as with Matthew Halsall, Chip Wickham, DJ Yoda and Rebecca Vasmant, whilst previously releasing three solo albums on Jazzman Records, and a remix project for Scrimshire's Albert's Favourites imprint. Along the way, there's been a nomination for 'Instrumentalist of the Year' from Jazz FM and she's garnered the support of DJs such as Radio 2's Jamie Cullum ("highly recommended") and 6 Music's Cerys Matthews ("my highlight of the Cheltenham Jazz festival 2023")

€ 19

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Rhys Chatham, Martin Bouch, Gregory Reeve, Phill Niblock : Boston III / Tenor / Index - LP (Alga Marghen, 2023)

Alga Marghen returns with what might just be their most historically significant release to date, “Boston Tenor Index”, comprising three, never before released compositions - “Index”, from 1969; and “Tenor” and “Boston III”, both from 1972 - by Phill Niblock, that represent some the earliest works in his catalogue to have ever appeared. Truly stunning in audio terms, and an absolute revelation toward understanding how Niblock arrived where he did a few short years down the road, it’s easily one of the best things we’ve heard all year / Over the course of nearly three decades of activity, the Italian imprint, Alga Marghen, has continuously cast light into the shadows of historical sound practice, offering particular focus to underappreciated artefacts at the juncture of visual art, sound-art, experimental music, and sound-poetry. With each subsequent release, the label has helped to reform our understanding of the 20th century, and the voices that made it what it was / Over the years, they’ve brought forth an unprecedented range of early and archival material by seminal composers like Charlemagne Palestine, Walter Marchetti, Philip Corner, Henri Chopin, Robert Ashley, David Behrman, Max Neuhaus, Eliane Radigue, and numerous others. While surprising to think, until now they have yet to touch upon the towering legacy of Phill Niblock. Their latest LP, “Boston Tenor Index”, takes a deep dive into some of the earliest work ever released by the American composer, comprising never before released works three works in his catalogue, “Index”, from 1969; and “Tenor” and “Boston III”, both from 1972. Creatively striking, while casting crucial light on Niblock’s beginnings as a composer, it’s a truly remarkable body of sound and easily among the most important archival releases that we’ve encountered so far this

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€ 22

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Aldo Clementi : Collage - LP (Alga Marghen, 2023)

Alga Marghen proudly presents the previously unreleased “Collage 2” and “Collage 3 (Dies irae)” for magnetic tape, both realised at the Studio di Fonologia Musicale RAI in Milan with the technical collaboration of Marino Zuccheri. These pieces are precious testimonials to Aldo Clementi’s intense and ongoing interest in electronic music in the 1960s. “Collage”, presents some of the most extreme musics ever issued by the label, at the same level as Robert Ashley's “Wolfman”, Max Neuhaus' “Fontana-Mix Feed” or Philip Corner's “Oracle”. Representing an entirely singular sound and approach to tape music that was unique to Clementi alone, once again Alga Marghen has cracked it wide open and rewritten our understanding of the history of sound

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€ 22

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Evan Parker : Collective Calls (Urban) (Two Microphones) - LP (Otoroku, 2023)

LP reissue of Collective Calls, the first duo LP from Evan Parker and percussionist Paul Lytton. Mythically alluded to as ‘An Improvised Urban Psychodrama In Eight Parts”, Collective Calls utilises electronics, pre-records and homemade instruments to wryly in/act self investigation. Having just recorded the cliff jumping Music Improvisation Company with Derek Bailey, Christine Jeffrey, Hugh Davies and Jamie Muir, Parker was at the point where [he] was thinking, ‘what’s the next thing?’ On Collective Calls, only the 5th release to appear on the newly minted Incus label, percussionist Paul Lytton arrives with an arsenal of sound making sources to push Parker into ever new territory / Recorded in the loft of The Standard Essenco Co on Southwark Street by Bob Woolford (Topography of the Lungs, AMM The Crypt), Collective Calls has more in common with noise or music concrete than with jazz; sitting comfortably alongside Italian messrs Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza or the husband-wife duo of Anima Sound. According to Martin Davidson, it was a Folkways record called Sounds of the Junkyard that Lytton was obsessed with around the time of this release - its track titles like “Steel Saw Cutting Channel Iron in Two Places” working to give you a good idea of the atmosphere of Collective Calls

€ 25

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Evan Parker, George Lewis : From Saxophone & Trombone - LP (Otoroku, 2023)

First vinyl re-issue of Evan Parker’s duo with George Lewis. Transferred from the original masters, we discovered that the original Incus LP was cut at the wrong speed - and so, we present the first vinyl issue of the correct masters, or ‘mastas’ as Adam Skeaping, legendary engineer who is also responsible for Six of One and Compatibles, fondly calls them / Skeaping, always working with the latest in recording technology for the time, has a knack for gaining access to remarkable spaces. Good spaces that were cheap because no one else had discovered them. The Art Workers Guild is a Georgian Hall in Bloomsbury, London, with lofty ceilings and hard wooden floors. It’s the perfect room to exercise an instrument to its full length, to ‘run the full length of the staircase’ in Parker's words. Two bells to ring off the floor and remain in dextrous, airy resonance. Recorded at 30ips on enormous reels, the recording captures all the fine filigree detail so celebrated on Parker’s later ‘Six of One’, though here we are treated to tenor as well as soprano, plus, of course, George Lewis’ trombone / Parker and Lewis first met at Moers festival, Lewis having just played excerpts of Coltrane’s ‘Giant Steps’ with Anthony Braxton. Living in Paris, it wasn’t so hard for a young Parker to invite him for a session on his new imprint, Incus. Though having been part of the AACM, toured with Count Basie and made records for Black Saint, this would be Lewis’ first foray into British improv, excited by the idea the Bailey and Parker were attempting to open up the notion of improvisation to include “the freshness of the immediate encounter”

€ 25

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Evan Parker, Derek Bailey, Han Bennink : The Topography of the Lungs - LP (Otoroku, 2023)

2023 repress of the OTOROKU re-issue of the legendary English free improvisation LP 'The Topography of The Lungs' by Evan Parker, Derek Bailey and Han Bennink. This was Evan Parker’s first recording as a "leader" and was the first release on Incus, the label Parker founded with guitarist Derek Bailey and drummer Tony Oxley / This re-issue has been produced from an original vinyl pressing from Evan's archives - carefully transcribed and restored by Andreas [LUPO] Lubich at Calyx in Berlin and features the original liner notes from Parker along with updated notes penned in 2014 / "To talk further of the music we play is difficult. It’s criteria for success exist, but are elusive and indefinable beyond the intuitive level. We operate without rules (pre-composed material) or well-defined code of behaviour (fixed tempi, tonalities, serial structures etc.), and yet are able to distinguish success from failure." - From Evan Parker’s original liner notes (1970)

€ 25

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Musique Infinie : I - LP (-ous, 2023)

Musique Infinie, the new duo consisting of Noémi Büchi and Feldermelder, is rooted in a shared desire to intertwine two composing veins, and to merge them into a new, massive core. While Büchi combined her background in classical and electro-acoustic music with a bold approach to composition on her highly acclaimed debut album 'Matter' (-OUS, 2022), multi-disciplinary musician and artist Feldermelder has been expanding his artistic practice into unexplored realms for over 20 years. Mutually, they've challenged themselves to fully engage on an artistic exploration aimed at making use of the elementary forces that unfold between them / Their debut album, simply titled 'I', is a musical hybridization. The compositions make use of simple motives that are radically transformed by expanding them into intricate structures and fantastic layerings. The overcoming of genres with eclectic elements from classical music, jazz, film music and traditional music, combined with the vocabulary of experimental electronic music, complete the vertical plunge into this thickness. The emerging pieces lead into a paradoxical world, both disturbing and euphoric. Pieces that don't give in to calculations and expectations, but progress through ruptures and repetitions. The richness of the compositions and their analog, acoustic and orchestral character reflect the density of the world with its violence, its decadence, its fragility, but also its power, its ingenuity and its beauty / Composer and sound artist Noémi Büchi creates electronic, symphonic maximalism. Her music is defined by a delicate synthesis of textural rhythms and electroacoustic-orchestral abstraction. She explores the potential of consonance and dissonance, contrasts rhythmic physicality with disruption and playfully emphasizes irregularities, creating an expansive listening experience marked by detail and elevation. Feldermelder is a polymathic creative whose artistry spans composition, sound design, installation and code. He is co-founder of -OUS Records and an active member of Encor.studio, a collective specialising in creating immersive audio-visual installations. Through his work, he explores the idea of secrecy and its impact on our lives, using music and sound to create a thought-provoking and immersive experience for his audience

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€ 19

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Etron Fou Le Loublan : Les Trois Fou's Perdégagnent (Au Pays Des...) - LP (Replica, 2014)

Second album by Etron Fou Leloublan, the mythic avant-rock / rock-in-opposition incredible trio, that happily destroys all rock structures and performs a delirious music, full of humour and rhythm. Etron Fou Leloublan had definitely moved up a notch with this release and things would actually get even better with the next release! Still, this album, originally published in 1979 is quite a juicy steak that will take quite some time to devour with the end results exceeding beyong the initial anticipations

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€ 16

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Etron Fou Le Loublan : Les Poumons Gonflés - LP (Replica, 2023)

Etron Fou Leloublan is a mythic Seventies underground French band created by Chris Chanet (Aka Eulalie Ruynat, saxophone and vocals), Guigou Chenevier (Drums) and Ferdinand Richard (Bass & guitar). This leader of the French underground shows his sense of humour and derision on a deliciously weird music. This incredible trio happily destroys all rock structures and performs a delirious music, full of humour, of rhythm, close to Captain Beefheart's, Albert Marcoeur and ZNR. This unique music can only be described like the weirdest meeting of Bourvil and Captain Beefheart... It's then not surprising that Etron Fou Leloublan became the French representative in Chris Cutler’s Rock in Opposition movement ! "Batelages" was originally issued in November 1976, and "Les Trois Fou's Perdégagnent - Au Pays Des..." the year after. Francis Grand (Saxophone) replaces Chris Chanet at this occasion. "Les Poumons Gonflés" dates back from 1982, and was produced by Fred Frith (Henry Cow)

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€ 16

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Julian Sartorius, Ensemble This | Ensemble That : RLLRLRLLRRLRLRLRLLRLRLR - LP (-ous, 2023)

With ‘RLLRLRLLRRLRLRLRLLRLRLR’, Swiss drummer and sound artist Julian Sartorius presents his third album in three years. Together with ‘Ensemble This | Ensemble That’ Sartorius has created a mesmerizing 39-minute percussion album that conclusively expands his artistic output. For the first time, an ensemble plays an idea conceived by Sartorius, while he assumes the role of an interactive conductor, manipulating the sounds made / Sartorius is known for his fluid and versatile solo performances in which he continually modulates the sound of his instruments, adding objects and progressively unfolding his sound world. The idea of expanding this practice was already gestating when ‘Ensemble This | Ensemble That’ invited him for a collaboration. Together with the drummers and percussionists Brian Archinal, Victor Barceló, Miguel Angel Garcia Martin and Bastian Pfefferli the concept was further explored, elaborated upon in detail, and finally realized / ‘RLLRLRLLRRLRLRLRLLRLRLR’ is both title and score for the ensemble’s four percussionists. The pattern, consisting of 23 individual beats, is played continuously by the ensemble while Sartorius gradually makes alterations to the instruments played. The result is a piece that has a sustained rhythmic flow yet is perpetually changing. Sartorius’ interventions and the precise musicality of the ensemble allows the listener to discover an expansive array of moods and intensities

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€ 22

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Biosphere : Inland Delta - 2xLP (Biophon, 2023)

Norwegian ambient mainstay Biosphere returns once again for another breathtaking release of environmental ambience entitled Inland Delta. Built up from some improvisational sessions on a suite of vintage synths and keys recorded between 2022 and 2023, Biosphere loops and reconfigures these patches (as is his signature style) into aching and expansive movements. With this slightly more musical approach comes track titles and a thematic tie-in that skews away from abstraction in favour of cohesion, especially on tunes like the opening ‘Surface Tension’ and ‘Random Walk’

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€ 26

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Various Artists : Cire Noire - LP (Sähkö Recordings, 2023)

CIRE NOIR is a compilation of contemporary electronic sounds by parallel thinking agents from Europe and US

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€ 22

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Biosphere : Inland Delta - CD (Biophon, 2023)

Biosphere is the main recording name of Geir Jenssen, a Norwegian musician who has released a notable catalogue of ambient electronic music. He is well known for his works on ambient techno and arctic themed pieces, his use of music loops, and peculiar samples from sci-fi sources. His 1997 album Substrata was voted by the users of the Hyperreal website in 2001 as the best all-time classic ambient album. Inland Delta contains nine new musical pieces recorded from 2022 to 2023, featuring mainly improvised performances on newly restored vintage keyboards

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€ 16

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Adela Mede : Ne Lepj a Viragra - LP (Warm Winters Ltd., 2023)

A year and a half has passed since Slovak-Hungarian artist Adela Mede self-released her debut album ‘Szabadsag’. Its liner notes described it as “a navigation”, a search through “the personal, familial, cultural, folkloric and geographic of her past and present.” Her second album, ‘Ne Lépj a Viragra’ no longer searches; here, she puts down roots and delves deeper into the earthy reality of her home, Central Europe. Mede sings in three languages with newfound conviction and grace – this is an album of profound faith and confidence in the potential of this fertile soil / Composed and recorded during the last 18 months in Bratislava, Slovakia – a city where three countries meet, where the East and the West collide – 'Ne Lépj a Virarga' translates to “don't step on the flower”. Its themes – budding potential, recognizing the beauty in the ordinary, solidarity, turning despair into hope – emerged through Mede's wholehearted involvement with her community, teaching singing to both children and adults, and various grassroots volunteering initiatives. It features collaborations with local artists, Mede's singing students, as well as fellow Eastern European contemporary artists Martyna Basta and Wojciech Rusin / Adela Mede embellishes carefully crafted songs with minimalist and folklore influences, but also embraces more experimental approaches. The result is a collection of quite varied yet consistent pieces which highlight Mede's proficiency as a singer, arranger, producer and improviser. It is a grounded, confident next step for the Bratislava-based artist. Whether her vocals are naked, heavily processed, warped and reversed, or looped and layered; whether the production is sparse and minimalist or overwhelming and swampy; none of that changes the fact that the gentle tentativeness of her debut is gone. This is “Central European music”, at its most striking and meaningful: patient, determined, embracing both complexity and possibility

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€ 22

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Makoto Nomura : Memusica - CD (MSCTY_EDN, 2023)

This album bares the fruits of Japanese composer Makoto Nomura's visit to a research retreat at Tokyo University's Institute of Industrial Science: Memu Earth Lab, during december 2020. Together with Nick Luscombe and James Greer from MSCTY, the group explored the sonic landscape of Memu, through field recording and improvised musical events at numerous locations / Upon returning to his home studio, Makoto then wrote and recorded a series of piano pieces, inspired by his memories of Memu. Makoto Nomura, born Nagoya 1968, is one of Japan's most active composers. His work has segued from music to visual art and performng art, seemlessly diversifyong between concert music, exhibtion work, field recording, theatre music and historically important research. The CD is strictly limited edition of 300 copies Worldwide, and is MSCTY_EDN's third in a series of collectables

€ 16

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Matthew Philip Hopkins : Coupla Triples - LP (Holidays, 2023)

Coupla Triples is a collection of two recordings made by MP Hopkins in 2014. The first piece, Spins, Groans, Tones, was previously self-released as part of a CDR/chapbook edition, while the second piece Waves, Feedback, Thoughts, has remained unreleased until now. Both pieces were created using a simple compositional method, in which random word prompts were selected from a list of sounds and ‘interpreted’ in an immediate manner with only basic recording equipment - a microphone, a tape loop, a voice recorder and an amp. Three sounds, twice. Arranged carelessly but carefully. A coupla triples, nothing fancy / Recorded and mixed on the land of the Gadigal people, Sydney, 2014. MP Hopkins is a sound artist and musician working on Wangal land in Sydney, Australia. He uses voice, feedback, recording/playback devices, and text scores within different acoustic environments, which are deconstructed and presented to the listener in delicate and degraded ways

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€ 19

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Jackie O Motherfucker : Smiles - 2xLP (Castel Sotterra, 2023)

Double LP version of "Smiles" pressed on black vinyl. Includes 8-page booklet printed on yellow Fedrigoni Sirio paper. Recorded live on April 28, 2014 at Outside Inside Studio, Montebelluna. Alan Zignoto: bass. Dave Easlick: drums. Tom Greenwood: guitar, vocals. Jeffrey Alexander: synth, chalumeau. Michael Whittaker: saxophone, flute, trombone. Dave Siebert: violin, lap steel. Mixed and mastered by Matt Bordin. Photos by Lorenzo Ferraro

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€ 24

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Matt Bordin : Same - LP (Castel Sotterra, 2023)

Includes four pictures by Matta Rosso printed on Favini Crush Mais paper. Recorded on September 6, 2021 at Outside Inside Studio, Volpago del Montello. Giovanni Di Domenico: electric & acoustic piano, electronics, percussion. Riccardo Marogna: tenor saxophone, clarinet, live electronics, percussion. Matt Bordin: tape loops, synth, electronics, lap steel guitar, soprano sax, percussions. Mixed and mastered by Matt Bordin. Pictures by Marta Ross

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€ 22

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Henning Christiansen : Mediterranean Music Water - LP (Holidays, 2023)

Screen-printed sleeve, 16 page booklet. “Mediterranean Music Water (Mare nostrum in moedium terrae) op. 203”, a never before issued tape composition, belongs to a body of work embarked upon during the 1980s and 90s connected to Sicily, the other most notable and available being “Op. 201 L’Essere Umano Errabando, La Voca Errabando”, issued by The Henning Christiansen Archive in 2020. These works were an extension of Ursula and Henning Christiansen’s meeting and befriending the Sicily based couple Carlo Quartucci and Carla Tatò, with whom they regularly visited and collaborated / Like its predecessor, the aforementioned Op. 201, “Mediterranean Music Water op. 203” is a conceptualization of abstract theatricality at the connection of place and its relationship to the sea. Performed by Ursula Reuter Christiansen and Henning Christiansen and recorded at a small performing arts theatre in Erice, Sicily – Teatro Gebel Hamed – during December of 1991, the abstract for this work reads: “In the morning (after the storm), on the beach. The sea has thrown some things on the beach. Blue light – some mist? On the ground. Ursula’s slides on the wall. Henning is rolling from the background of the stage slowly, very slowly, towards, in a fish net. I come in looking for the things the sea has left and discover him. I roll him out of the net, he’s nearly dead, and try to get life in him. Light in the background in rainbow colours. Ursula wears a partlett dress, as a siren.” / These images lay a foundation and context for the sounds that emerge over the album’s two sides, a fascinating conjunction between the power of water and the human spirit. Through the processing of heavy delay and reverb, we encounter the howling utterances of violin tones, vocalizations, and countless unplayable instrumental and non-instrumental sound sources, gathering in a vast and sprawling serious of sonorous expanses that seem to echo the power, movements, and myths tied to the Mediterranean

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€ 19

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Andrea Penso : Ad Invisibilia - LP (Holidays, 2023)

Making the invisible visible? Circumscribing the incorporeal ? Through the contemplation of sound, in sound. Are these sounds spiritual exercises? Are they perhaps prayers? / “Ad Invisibilia” seems to connect to the current of what we could define as “mystical minimalism”, of recordings released in Italy between the 70s and 80s, works such as “Motore Immobile” by Giusto Pio, “M.lle le Gladiator” by Franco Battiano, “Antico Adagio” by Lino Capra Vaccina or the very first compositions by Alvin Curran from the period in which he was close to Giacinto Scelsi / “Ad Invisibilia” was composed and recorded in numerous villages across the expanse of Italy - (Rocca Malatina in the Apennine Mountains; Ostuni in the deep south, close to the sea; Traversella, Chiara and Fondo in Val Chiusella, a valley about 1,000 meters above sea level in the north-western Alps - between 2014 and 2020

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€ 26

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Henning Christiansen : Schafe Statt Geigen / "Verena" Vogelzymphon - LP (Holidays, 2023)

Repress including 20 page photographic book. Henning Christiansen was an incongruous mirror for the paradoxes of 20th century creative practice. He gave his context what it demanded - visionary and singular work, but was so radical that almost no one knew what to do with him, forcing him into the position of an outsider. Of all the composers working within the cradle of Fluxus, his work falls among the closest to its primary intent, destroying hierarchy, orthodoxy, and categorization - dissembling long cemented ideas about what music was understood to be - a truth, crystallized through the purity of ideas, which threads its way across the two releases in our hands / Schafe statt Geigen (Sheep instead of Violins) and “Verena” Vogelzymphon (Bird Symphony) were composed in 1988 and 1990, first appearing as a tiny CD gallery edition issued by Bernd Klüser. Both works, each occupying a single of this LP edition, extend from one of Christiansen’s long standing conceptual strategies - deploying recordings of animals as stand-ins for musical instruments, cows (with dogs) and birds respectively. While each work allows these source to take the natural lead, at times masquerading as field recordings, both feature subtle tonal and electronic interventions by the composer, creating strange and brilliant compositions which shift the terms and subjects of music as they were long understood / Brilliant and beautiful challenges to the ear and mind, laying out of reach for decades, this stunning LP, issued in a limited edition of 500 copies, comes with a 20-page photographic booklet. Essential for any fan of avant-garde practice, artist music, and experimental sound. Accompanied by a twenty page booklet featuring drawings and texts by Henning Christiansen, as well as pictures by René Block. Translation from German by Michael Muennich. The sound installation Schafe statt Geigen is owned by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Roskilde, Denmark. "Verena" Vogelzymphon op. 194 (1990) is dedicated to Verena and Bernd Klüser on the occasion of their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. Text by Robert Musil: Nachlass zu Lebzeiten (Posthumous Papers of a Living Author, 1936). Lacquer cut at SST, Frankfurt am Main. Cover artwork by Henning Christiansen, 1985

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€ 19

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Jarett Kobek : Equinox of the Gods: The Kenneth Anger Files (selected & assembled by Jarett Kobek) - MC+Book (Purge, 2023)

Handnumbered + handmade in an edition of 66 copies only; bound papers 466pp+ w/audio cassette tape. How biographies could be collected and transmitted: Equinox... is a tribute; a binder-curio covering Kenneth Anger’s life and work, decade by decade, through newspaper + magazine clippings, interview extracts, legal documents, and other ecstatic truths and profound undoings. The narrative is in your hands. (Also includes audio cassette tape of two hours duration)

€ 59

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Alva Noto : HYbr:ID II - 2xLP (Noton, 2023)

HYbr:ID Vol. 2 is the second installment of Alva Noto’sHYbr:IDseries initiated in 2021. The new album captures the music commissioned to score RichardSiegal's Ectopia performed in 2021 by Tanztheater Pina Bausch with Shooting into the Corner (2008-09) by Anish Kapoor. Building upon the captivating blend of immersive dub and electronica from the first installment, HYbr:ID Vol. 2 takes the listener on a journey into the realm of intricately manipulated digital production. These ten compositions delve into infinity, drawing inspiration from resonance and elasticity, concepts rooted in Minkowski's four-dimensional spacetime model / Throughout the album, Carsten Nicolai summons precise rhythmic patterns that gracefully hover, reminiscent of celestial bodies orbiting in perfect cosmic unison. The sonic landscape gradually unfolds with somber and brooding tones, incorporating spacious sound design, ethereal atmospheres, and cascading metallic percussions. These elements are delicately crafted with artistic finesse, set against a backdrop of expansive dub textures. At times, the music takes unforeseen turns, as melancholic chords skitter and meander through a digital haze, evoking an atmosphere of introspection and emotion. The ten compositions are accompanied by graphic notations informed by the album’s sonic and acoustic codes

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€ 26

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Sven Torstenson : Drugs - LP (Sonoton, Be With, 2023)

Sven Torstenson's notorious Drugs is a loopdigga's fever dream, bursting with breaks for days and featuring possibly the most iconic cover of all library music's cult classics. First released in 1980, it's now a hyper-rare and seriously sought-after electronic album full of experimental soundscapes and samples just waiting to be flipped. It's both terrifying and terrifyingly good. So much so, it's been brilliantly sampled by Kendrick Lamar and Chance The Rapper / The sleeve describes Drugs as containing "the newest dimensions of electronic sounds. Dramatic underscores for all problems of today's life and society, at the border between reality and delusion." That's pretty spot-on. The fast moving "Euphoria" is an incredible, unignorable opener. It's loaded with disorientating effects and really needs to be heard to be believed. It's followed by the gorgeous "Soft Hallucinations", containing quiet, meditative and beautiful sounds - as the title suggests. One listen and you'll want to live in the warm embrace of this beatless, harmonic gem. Sinister squelchy synth stabs don't distract from the sheer beauty of the track's main (gentle) thrust. They only serve to elevate its trippy magic

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€ 22

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Blue Lake : Sun Arcs - LP (Tonal Union, 2023)

Black vinyl repress. Beyond a select few, I’d imagine that Blue Lake's Stikling album from last year was for most listeners the first introduction to Jason Dungan's skillfully poised and emotionally redolent music. The audience has certainly expanded since then, including a surprise nomination for album of the year at the Danish Music Awards. On Sun Arcs, album number four for Dungan under the Blue Lake moniker, his ambition has notably increased too. The homemade 48 string zither prevalent on Stikling is present here also, but it's by no means the centrepoint, intersecting now with more ornate arrangements which make greater use of guitars, clarinets and drum machines / Comparisons to Michael O'Shea do still feel relevant in parts, though the tone is notably more idyllic and blissful, as if directly influenced by the good vibrations sent his way by the reception to Stikling. Like with the last LP, Sun Arcs was recorded in the rural Swedish town of Andersabo, which if this music is anything to judge by, must be bordering on utopic. Did Dungan find The Garden!? It's impossible to ignore the good natured quality of this music - like with, say, Steve Gunn - the inherent graciousness uninhibited and radiant. Dungan is enjoying himself and the opportunity to do so, and it's hard to read Sun Arcs as anything else other than an invitation for you to do so, too. Finally, some good news

€ 22

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Akusmi : Lines - LP (Tonal Union, 2023)

Clear vinyl, printed in heavy-weight reverse board sleeve, and shipping in outer PVC protective sleeve with hand-numbered edition sticker. London based composer, multi-instrumentalist and producer Akusmi announces ‘Lines’, an exhilarating new collection of works born from the desire to take where the acclaimed debut album ‘Fleeting Future’ left off — in search of a new forms / Formed with a sense of urgency and a reductive approach ‘Lines’ is almost entirely comprised of alto saxophone, clarinet and piano with embellishments of ambience and minimal percussive elements. Recorded in full at his home studio in London / “I wanted to go a bit more a bit more horizontal and ambient, work with layers of lines, might they be dotted or straight, and leave them to unfold and see where they would take me.”

€ 22

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Valentina Magaletti : La Tempesta Colorata - LP (A Colourful Storm, 2023)

"La Tempesta Colorata" was recorded at Cafe Oto in October 2021. With a full drum set, a handful of additional small instruments and a delay pedal, Valentina Magaletti somehow captures a full spectrum of sound, employing only minor additional elements to flesh out her sound. From the dewdrop swagger of the opening minutes, through rolling tom-led seismic activity - complete with customary screams - and into echoing industrial dub-improv experimentation, she's able to assemble her rhythms with metronomic accuracy, but with enough space in the gaps to enhance inherent human qualities - a far cry from fully electronic studio productions / It’s a spellbinding display of polymetric complexities where no two seconds repeat themselves, persistently pulling patterns apart and restitching them in diffractive slow-fast-slow temporalities that arc from showers of cascading hi-hats, to pugilistic breaks, to an unexpected trough of Twin Peaks-y drones around the mid-section, only to climb out of it via icicles of melodic chimes and into more humid areas of her imagination, ultimately shoring up in pitch black zones

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€ 19

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Alva Noto : HYbr:ID II - CD (Noton, 2023)

HYbr:ID Vol. 2 is the second installment of Alva Noto’sHYbr:IDseries initiated in 2021. The new album captures the music commissioned to score RichardSiegal's Ectopia performed in 2021 by Tanztheater Pina Bausch with Shooting into the Corner (2008-09) by Anish Kapoor. Building upon the captivating blend of immersive dub and electronica from the first installment, HYbr:ID Vol. 2 takes the listener on a journey into the realm of intricately manipulated digital production. These ten compositions delve into infinity, drawing inspiration from resonance and elasticity, concepts rooted in Minkowski's four-dimensional spacetime model / Throughout the album, Carsten Nicolai summons precise rhythmic patterns that gracefully hover, reminiscent of celestial bodies orbiting in perfect cosmic unison. The sonic landscape gradually unfolds with somber and brooding tones, incorporating spacious sound design, ethereal atmospheres, and cascading metallic percussions. These elements are delicately crafted with artistic finesse, set against a backdrop of expansive dub textures. At times, the music takes unforeseen turns, as melancholic chords skitter and meander through a digital haze, evoking an atmosphere of introspection and emotion. The ten compositions are accompanied by graphic notations informed by the album’s sonic and acoustic codes

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€ 16

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Etnobotanika : Lesne Duchy - 2xLP (The Very Polish Cut-Outs, Superkasety, 2023)

Approximately three years after the release of their debut album, Etnobotanika are back. Le?ne Duchy is yet another joint release from the Silesian duo, coming out on the collaborative efforts of Superkasety Records and The Very Polish Cut Outs. These are still the sounds of a dusty old cassette, however this time the digging didn't take place in the allotment gardens, but rather somewhere in the woods, within a thick layer of moss. Hauntology and nostalgia still play important roles yet they are no longer in the foreground. Certain associations with primordial magic, wild backwoods and unspeakable mysteries come to the fore / The ambience encapsulated in these tropes is the key to understanding this album. One can, of course, mention that sonically the producers are once again flirting with dubtechno, ambient and sampled collages, but all these genre clichés are only tools resulting from the individual inspirations and experiences of Alergeek and Uwdar (i.e. the two halves of Etnobotanika), and are meant to build the right mood, not to put Le?ne Duchy into the tight framework of, say, club music or trip-hop. If this album is to be pinned down to anything, it is probably library music. The 80 minutes of music spanning two vinyl records and a chunk of cassette tape make for quite a long record, Etnobotanika however make sure there is absolutely no dullness, precisely thanks to the variety of moods

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€ 29

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Jean-Michel Jarre : Les granges brûlées (bande originale du film) - LP (Transversales Disques, 2023)

Transversales proudly presents the first LP reissue of “Les granges brûlées”, original soundtrack written and performed by Jean-Michel Jarre shortly after his work experience at G.R.M (Groupe de Recherches Musicales) / Probably one the first ever electronic music score, recorded with very scanty means: a VCS3 synthesizer, a Farsifa organ and three synchronized Revox tape recorders. Director Jean Chapot, who understood immediately the interest in the gap between this hyper classical rural thriller and this groundbreaking music, let Jarre absolutely free to compose. Built up around several melodic leitmotifs, the score of “Les granges brûlées” allowed Jarre to pursue his personal research: to bridge the gap between experimental music and pop music. Bonus Track “Happiness Is a Sad Song” composed during Jarre's time at the G.R.M. in 1971 / “Aphex Twin told me once that the original soundtrack of “Les granges brûlées” was one of his favorite records” Jean-Michel Jarre

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€ 26

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Dasha Rush : Contemplating - LP (Raster-Noton, 2023)

Immerse yourself in the ethereal sonic voyage with Dasha Rush's latest electronic music masterpiece, »Contemplating«. This ambient album takes listeners on a transcendental journey through ethereal landscapes and immersive textures. The album's title perfectly encapsulates its essence. From the very first note, »Contemplating« captivates with its intricate layers of atmospheric harmonies, meticulously weaving together a tapestry of minimalistic sonic elements. As the ethereal soundscape unfolds, listeners are invited to embrace the moment of stillness in a realm where emotions and thoughts intertwine, creating a sonic experience that is both introspective and otherworldly

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€ 21

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Giovanni Di Domenico : Superlike - LP (Black Sweat, 2023)

Giovanni Di Domenico has now achieved a personal and unmistakable style within contemporary minimalism. His music always expresses a state of concentration, of recollection and contemplation toward a focal node. Repetition is experienced as alchemical state, as truth contained in the small nuances of change, in a crescendo that never reaches a climax. The atmosphere is intuition and is made up of a few compositional touches. To compose is to make synthesis, to unearth purity, simplicity and exactness / This new work for solo piano is almost an imaginary novel…the notes seem to tell of deserted streets, lonely walks in the night or runs down stairs. In this sense the musician is the writer of silence and the fleeting moment. And so, amid slow chords like Chopin or Satie, moods oscillate between brio and allegro, evoking the lightness of love, greater sadness and melancholy, as well as more restless and agitated ostinatos, the product of a more cathartic worldview

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€ 22

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Michael Atherton : Windshift - LP (Infinite Expanse, 2023)

Michael Atherton is a writer, composer and educator from Sydney, Australia. Originally born in Liverpool, England, to Welsh-Irish and German parents, his family later migrated to Australia in 1965. Moving to the suburbs in La Perouse, he grew up in a mixed, multicultural community, where he fostered friendships with existing indigenous members and Iberian migrants. His formative migrant experience and his curiosity about vernacular, as well as notated music, led him to study music formally where he was attracted to ethnomusicology. From a self-taught guitarist to an accomplished multi-instrumentalist, Michael’s recorded output spans many different genres and styles – he was a member of the Renaissance Players, an early music group; Sirocco, a pioneering cross-cultural folk group; and Southern Crossings, an innovative ethno-classical ensemble / By 1990, he had moved beyond his earlier musical endeavours, and away from Australia, with ‘Windshift’ seeing him draw on resources from the Asia-Pacific and Europe. With an impressive arsenal of instruments, such as the didjeridu, hurdy gurdy, kulintang, saron and jaw harp, to name but a few, Michael adds intense colour to the recordings using samplers, synths and modulating effects. Recently remastered by fellow Australian-based musician and engineer, Mikey Young, and visually re-imagined by Glasgow-based artist, Jamie Johnson, ‘Windshift’ is now presented once again by Infinite Expanse with a first-time reissue on vinyl

€ 25

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Bidai : Biarrezgaur - LP (Hegoa, 2023)

Biarrezgaur (not tomorrow, today) is a blissful and misty set of guitar tones entangled with effects and reverberation. Dreamy and reflective proto-blues-folk sketches that suggest a sense of matured serenity that only comes with years of practice. Spontaneous, gentle and free-flowing in equal parts, Biarrezgaur is a perfect autumnal recipe for those looking in the direction of Six Organs of Admittance, Loren Connors with Alan Licht, or even Robbie Basho or Albert Gimenez if you listen to the closing track Itzulera / Bidai (Trip) is the new collaborative project between two emblematic figures of the rich Basque musical heritage, Xabi Strubell & Mikel Vega. It took more than 30 years for their paths to cross, but we are very pleased they finally did in 2022. Entirely improvised with two guitars and effects, it was recorded at Bonberenea, the independent and self-funded cultural hub housed in an abandoned warehouse in Tolosa (in the valley of the river Oria) / Xabi is a writer, poet and musician from Hondarribia, a fishing village on the border with France. He started his career as a member of Dut, the seminal Post Hardcore band that any Basque kid growing in the 90’s and interested in feedback and distorted guitars will sorely remember, still a cult these days. He formed Zura in 2005, a solo mature project focusing on acoustic guitar. Mikel is an accomplished musician and all-around cultural activist from Bilbao. Has collaborated in numerous projects (Conteiner, Killerkume, Loan, Orbain Unit) and more recently with Miguel A. Garcia (also a member of Dopelganger, Heg008) and Joseba Agirrezabalaga (Lepok, Urpa i Musell beginning of 2023)

€ 23

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Dopelganger : Sainen Hildo - LP (Hegoa, 2023)

Dopelganger is the project in collaboration between classically trained accordion player and singer Garazi Navas (Usansolo, Bizkaia-Biscay, 1995) and Miguel A. Garcia (Vitoria-Gasteiz), an artist living in Bilbao with an extensive career in the fields of experimental music and sound art. Sainen Hildo is an album based on Miguel’s original compositions, recomposed and rearranged for accordion and voice by the two composers. Using the natural resonance and harmonics of these two instruments to influence their introspective interactions, resulting in evolving drones and tones and puzzling percussive outbursts. Unusual and at times unsettling, they manage to create a calibrated, deep and complex exploratory universe of ambience and drone where listening becomes a ritual. Highest recommendation for fans of Pauline Oliveros, Eliane Radigue or Phill Niblock / Garazi Navas was classically trained at Musikene School of Music in San Sebastian with a masters in traditional music, Garazi, is a restless accordionist who, despite her young age, has taken part in a multitude of projects in theater, poetry, ballet, art installations and even playing with the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra. Her works are a personal interpretation of the close relationship which she feels exists between cutting-edge and traditional music / Miguel A. Garci?a has performed extensively in Europe, America and Asia, both as a solo artist, improvising and in multiple ensembles. He has collaborated with dozens of artists (Al Karpenter, Jean Luc Guionnet, Se?bastien Branche...) in studio and live, and appeared in more than a hundred albums. At the same time, he is organizer and curator of events, being founder of Club Le Larraskito, director of Zarata Fest, and part of the coordination of the cycle Hotsetan at Azkuna Zentroa itself. Acrylic painting on heavyweight paper by Maite Mugerza Ronse. Limited edition of 300 black vinyl LP’s housed in a coloured matt laminated cover

€ 23

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Francis Plagne : Into Closed Air - LP (Bison, 2023)

With Into Closed Air, Francis Plagne returns to the songcraft that’s been the bedrock of his music since his debut, 2006’s Idle Bones. Since then, Plagne’s music has see-sawed between a particular, parsed kind of art song and explorations of home-made musique concrete - though to see these as distinct practices understates Plagne’s capacity to layer and fuse these two tranches of his music making. This capacity has reached its deepest articulation yet on Into Closed Air / For those who’ve been following Plagne’s music over the past two decades, through nine albums on labels like Black Truffle, Penultimate Press and Horn Of Plenty, or on his concurrent collaborations with Andrew Chalk, crys cole, James Rushford and Joe Talia (in Food Court), and Julian Williams (in The Inevitable Orbit), this won’t necessarily be a huge surprise. What is remarkable about Into Closed Air, however, is its duality of summation and variation, the way it ties a bow around the music Plagne has already made and suggests new ways forward

€ 22

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Johannes Björk : Johannes Björk - LP (Infinite Expanse, 2023)

Johannes Björk is a musician and literary critic based in Gothenburg. His music combines drones, pop melodies and field recordings to produce refined sketches rather than fully formed songs – resembling slowly refurnished interiors, rather than scenes with a clearly discernible subject. Originally released in a mini-edition of 12 copies for a show in Stockholm earlier on in the year, it is now presented in an expanded LP form with two tracks added in, and another two re-recorded / Accompanied in parts by renowned and emerging Swedish writers – such as Siri Ahmed Backström, Johan Jönson and Johanna Sköldbäck Martell – the music offers an electro-acoustic shelter, which houses both luminous and gloomy textures. Whilst the album shares an atmosphere with the emerging years of the Gothenburg scene to some extent, the songwriting bears witness to a production that treats lo-fi elements as integrated parts of the soundscape, though not in a way that overpowers the recording. For his debut solo album, Johannes carves out a landscape where pulsating drones form the background for the perfect melody, where field recordings and noise co-exist with harmonical dyads, and the feeling of an assuasive epiphany flow out of an ever-looming tragedy

€ 25

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Klaus Wiese : Baraka - LP (Black Sweat, 2023)

After his participation in a masterpiece such as Popol Vuh's Hosianna Mantra, in the early 1980s Klaus Wiese produced a series of seminal works in the field of ambient-drone and healing music. The first of these, Baraka, was released on tape by Acquamarin in 1981, and already contained all the aspects of his future research into the mysticism of sound / Wiese shares the path with other German explorers such as Hamel, Fricke, Micus or Deuter, but he focuses his attention on the most essential nature of sounds, on their acoustic purity, which is always infinite spiral, vortex of frequencies and cosmic bath. It takes only a few means (zither, tampoura, cybals, singing bowls) to reach the absolute through vibration. Like the archaic mood of a great universal harmony, the sound suggests a complete state of otherworldly meditation, an enveloping cloud of peace in the eternity of the present. The musician is only the one who distributes and directs the thickenings of ethereal matter, microtonal agglomerates, cascades of celestial harmonics and emotional floods, petals and stems of devotion

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€ 19

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Nicole Lachartre : Mundus - 3xLP (Metaphon, 2023)

Second edition housed in 7,5mm sealed slipcase sleeve + 12 page booklet with text and track info by Vincent de Roguin and Mark Harwood, archive notes by Lachartre and a rare portrait from 1969 / First ever release of female French composer, musicologist and writer Nicole Lachartre (1934-1991). This 3LP set comprises most of her electronic and concrete music compositions recorded in the 60’s and 70’s, all previously unreleased. Lachartre had a classical formation, studied with a.o. Darius Milhaud, Iannis Xenakis and Michel Philippot. Her broad formation and interest as well as her profound commitment and singular vision created a solitary voice even within the field of electronic and concrete music, strangely enough unheard till this day. Her first tape composition from 1968 was recorded in Pierre Henry’s Apsome studio and most of her other electronic and electro-acoustic compositions included in this box set were recorded at the IPEM in Ghent

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€ 38

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Mark Glynne, Bart Zwier : Home Comfort - LP (La Scie Dorée, 2023)

Very pleased and grateful to announce this ‘Home Comfort’ reissue by Mark Glynne and Bart Zwier, originally self-released in 1980. Maybe a bit of an unexpected title to appear in the LSD catalog but my love for this album goes back to my late teenage years and has had an addictive effect since, like a spleen infused magnet. With this album Glynne and Zwier (†), based in the Netherlands and connected to the Ultra scene, drew an insular blend of intimate post-punk and chamber (bedroom) songs with surreal scenic reflections. Probably its naked singularity defying categorization has left it so unnoticed, even 43 years after the making. It also features a reciting Marlène Dumas still quite unknown at the time. With biggest gratitude to Mark Glynne who instantly felt confident with my proposal to reissue this silent witness of lasting beauty / My long-time Japanese friend You Ishihara (White Heaven, The Stars) who bought the LP when it came out in 1980 still considers it as one of his all-time favourites. This is what he writes about ‘Home Comfort’: / “Resignation and fear in a desolate mental landscape. This album, which exists like a shelter for those who have quietly escaped through the backdoor of the world, vividly reflects the inner depths of the devastated Amsterdam of the early 80's. A beautiful and sad, unmistakable masterpiece.”

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€ 19

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Pinkcourtesyphone : Shouting At Nuance - 2xLP (Helen Scarsdale Agency, 2022)

Pinkcourtesyphone is the pseudonym for the Los Angeles based minimalist Richard Chartier. Under this moniker, Chartier indulges in an emotional torpor through his hauntological compositions for forgotten dreams with an opiated grandeur and subtle application of certain nostalgic camp. Shouting At Nuance glances back to Chartier’s earliest works that were recorded onto tape, with allusions to decay as an unrecognizable reconstruction of past works, whereby his ghostly ambience becomes a dub of itself, echoing back a dispersion of drift and drone into a feedback loop of disintegrated memo / Shouting At Nuance was originally published as part of the instantly out of print On Corrosion - a 10 cassette anthology from 2019 that was housed in a handcrafted wooden box and featuring full albums from Kleistwahr, Neutral, Pinkcourtesyphone, Alice Kemp, She Spread Sorrow, G*Park, Relay For Death, Francisco Meirino, Fossil Aerosol Mining Project, and Himukalt. The collection also stood as the 50th release for the Helen Scarsdale Agency, an imprint founded in 2003 and dedicated to post-industrial research, recombinant noise, surrealist demolition, existential vacancy and then some / This double LP edition, mastered for vinyl by James Plotkin, also contains the complementary material from Something You Are Or Something You Do, a cassette originally published by The Tapeworm in 2017

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€ 29

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Jeff Surak : All Those Born Must Die - MC (Helen Scarsdale Agency, 2021)

The investigative sound artist Jeff Surak is quick to point out that this title should not be interpreted in a negative sense. Merely a neutral observation. In fact, themes of detached inquest about disintegration have been quite welcome here at the Helen Scarsdale Agency. Surak has been a fixture within the experimental community for many years, curating the sonic circuits festival, programming for Rhizomedc, and running his own Zeromoon label. His own work manifests non-linear narratives through lo-fi techniques and archaic technologies / For all those born must die, we are introduced to a quarrelsome transmission of distorted sine waves that rapidly descends and crashes into a splatter of retrograde drum programming, think Dome 3 or those highly fetishized synth work-outs from vanity records. Rhythms gallop surge forward amongst seering blast of mid-range white noise. This is an electronic album of analogue synthesis. Yes, it very much is; but to these ears, the impetus is a dada deconstruction on post-punk. Radiantly neon tones, klanging electric ululations, stabs of jagged arpeggio, and mercurial ambience slide and slip through these off-kilter, radioactively unstable tracks, all of which belies Surak's sophisticated application of recursive melody and rhythm / Consider Conrad Schnitzler '80s constructs, Bruce Gilbert's divergent experimentation, those tolerance records on vanity, and then, John Cage's imaginary landscape for a proper amount of radiophonic patina. Together such would land somewhere close to Jeff Surak's all those born must die

€ 14

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Murmer : Tether - LP (Helen Scarsdale Agency, 2023)

Murmer is the long-standing project of American/Estonian field recordist and composer Patrick McGinley, and with Tether, the Helen Scarsdale Agency welcomes murmer back to our roster, over a decade since he graced us with his last production for the agency. His field recordings often center upon the amplification and activation of resonance from a particular space, landscape, or object. such sounds emerge from a condition as being fleeting, inconsequential, or ephemeral and explode into that which is alien, sublime, and profound. Here lies the tremendous prowess of the contact microphone, as wielded by an accomplished musician! the source material cited by mcginley includes cables, fences, wires, and vents / There is a heft to many of these sounds as heard throughout all of "taevast" with deep throbbing pulsations from arctic wind generating subharmonic patterns upon thick high-tension wires. Elsewhere the subtle dissonance from a rasping cooling fan blooms into a brooding ambience that is sublimely rich in its metallic timbres and complex reverberations. McGinley has long been an exemplary artist in the field of phonography even as he is less prolific than others. On Tether, he has produced a majestic if occasionally foreboding work on par with the mythic wire recordings of Alan Lamb, Jacob Kirkegaard's haunted resonance from Chernobyl, and much of the touch catalogue for that matter!

€ 23

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She Spread Sorrow : Orchid Seeds - LP (Helen Scarsdale Agency, 2023)

She Spread Sorrow is the work of italian industrialist Alice Kundalini. In her sparse and grimly atmospheric applications of noise, tone, and electronic sequencing, She Spread Sorrow expresses a volatile emotional core that speaks to abuse and repression with an unblinking candidness / Orchid Seeds was originally published as part of the instantly out of print on corrosion - a 10 cassette anthology from 2019 that was housed in a handcrafted wooden box and featuring full albums from Kleistwahr, Neutral, Pinkcourtesyphone, Alice Kemp, She Spread Sorrow, G*park, Relay For Death, Francisco Meirino, Fossil Aerosol Mining Project, and Himukalt. the collection also stood as the 50th release for the Helen Scarsdale Agency, an imprint founded in 2003 and dedicated to post-industrial research, recombinant noise, surrealist demolition, existential vacancy and then some / Kundalini’s signature whispered vocals once again beckons her audience closer on Orchid Seeds. Kundalini states that the album, “is about 5 different women of my family. Each track is about one of them with their difficult story and strengths. My family is totally destroyed now, no relation between anyone, but in the past there was a strong tradition of women with interesting personalities.” This sibilant allegorical history comes into focus amidst a claustrophobic and cinematic pall of dark ambient blight and death industrial torpor

€ 23

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Vertonen : Einige Schadstoffe - MC (Helen Scarsdale Agency, 2023)

In Einige Schadstoffe, we have quite the potent homage to the classic era of industrial noise. Think TG’s second annual report, Come's I’m Jack, MB’s Symphony For A Genocide, and even Nord's Ego Trip. The sentiment linking all of these records is a clinical detachment in the production and broadcast of scalding tone, sickly rhythm, and unclean readymades, emerging through the spectacle of the human conditions of alienation, paranoia, and cruelty. Ultimately, such works are intended as critiques by way of gonzo journalism, where the intent is not always what it seems / Vertonen - the longstanding project of veteran chicago avant-noise technician Blake Edwards - masterfully recapitulates these strategies and affects, both aesthetically and materially. On Einige Schadstoffe, Edwards transmits feverish arppegiations cascading through nervous distortion, followed by plodding rhythms and dead-toned electronics that gird case studies on living monstrosities. There is also a rather clever, if oblique and almost oulipian framework to the album. Plenty of breadcrumbs have been laid as to the nature of edwards' puzzle, and we have already said too much about that

€ 14

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Hauras : Pervades - MC (Helen Scarsdale Agency, 2023)

Head to the western neighborhoods of San Francisco, and the city becomes a very quiet place after midnight. By 3am, one can almost hear the fog spilling past the sodium lights that illuminate a lonesome street corner at Judah and 15th. Whatever soundtracks that emerge from that time and that place inevitably embody that nocturnal atmosphere, a narcoleptic weariness, a waking dream of the insomniac. Such is the psychogeographical realm as channeled through sound for hauras, the obliquely musical concern for san franciscan Howard Ryan / In Pervades, Hauras returns to the fragments of guitar warbling through chains of echo and flange, his basinski-esque loops of crushingly sad ambient melody, his evp impressionistic vocals, and his curious interruptions from scanner radio. More than before, he expresses a confidence in his oblique craftsmanship that allows him to push the sounds to include a very compelling drum machine plus guitar noise track in "stellaged." Rchard Youngs, Gate, and Graham Lambkin all come to mind, as does the terminally obscure project Dial (JacquiHam's post-ut band of similarly late nite expressionism) / Pervades concludes a trilogy of recordings made during the pandemic era, that also includes in these coming days (2020) and the glare of the nave (2021)

€ 14

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False Maria : False Maria - 2xMC Box (Helen Scarsdale Agency, 2023)

If the white male hegemonic forces truly want to find a threat in queer, non-gender conforming art and music, that threat is manifest in False Maria. Heresies, transgressions, psychic self-immolation, and sexual deviance run amok with the litany of confessionals told by this unlikely proposition. According to False Maria, "this is the sound of addictions battled, abuse endured and lovers lost." Two entities exist with False Maria: the Los Angeles creature of the night Jhane P (she/her) and the mercurial Tomasz C (they/them) from the UK. For the past several years, their transcontinental conjurings have resulted in a steady stream of splits and self-released short-runs, all on cassette / Compositionally, False Maria leans into seasick tape loops and samples that ooze out of the more monstrous forms of Premature Ejaculation or even the Los Angeles Free Music Society (i.e. Solid Eye, Le Forte Four) with Jhane's vocal recitations of sex crimes and trauma leading the dance. With their eponymous debut for the Helen Scarsdale Agency, False Maria presents an opus of untidy, post-industrial malaise across this sprawling double cassette album. In comparison to their first fruits, this body of work shows a tremendous leap in production value with adventurous drum and synth programming that seeks to pull blood from the air with a sonic alchemy adjacent to Coil / The pulsing slink from "NHI : No Humans Involved" finds Jhane's vocals entwined with those of Himukalt's Ester Kärkkäinen, the Vegas death-industrialist cast from an equally tragic history of sexual anguish. By contrast, the albums' finale "Mixed Signals : An End" is strangely playful piece of percolating electronics. Yet, the rest of the album plunges into what they have self-prescribed as "uncomfortable electronics" - the lurch and crawl of the "Cherry Sundae" (which is not about the ice cream dessert, mind you), the sidereal crescendos of "Was It A Life : Patterns", and the menstrual divinations of "Her Blood : Communion." This is an album not recommended for all, but to those with a predilection for Zos Kia, Johanna Went, Dilloway-era Wolf Eyes, and the aforementioned Premature Ejaculation might find majesty within all of the grotesqueries. Additional instrumentation by Meet On Titan, Ester Kärkkäinen and Sean Ragon. Mastered by Grant Richardson

€ 23

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Jo Montgomerie : From Industry Home - MC (Helen Scarsdale Agency, 2022)

An elegant decay amassed from the sounds of detritus. That may be an apt introduction to the work of Jo Montgomerie. Of course, the Helen Scarsdale Agency has a long standing infatuation with disintegrated sound in various forms. So, it makes perfect sense we should publish her work! That said, Montgomerie has a fascinating strategy to her long-form smears of blackened mascara ambient and smoldered noise. As a teenager she was a classically trained musician with an eye towards a career as a concert pianist; but a bad audition may have closed that door yet it opened another in her career in sound design, foley work, and post-production / It may be of note to some, that she was an uncredited soul responsible for thousands upon thousands of audio clips rendered for boomkat during a lengthy tenure at that institution. These forms of production and editing necessitate a flawlessness which also hides the process entirely; and montgomerie began to ruminate on that which was left on the cutting room floor (or the digital version of such a space). And thus, she took these unwanted sounds, telescoped them into sinewy drones, forced them to collapse in a crucible of noise, and even rarified their essence into fluid harmonic tones / The source material to much of her work is the urban landscape of her manchester home, but she also will recontextualize traditional instruments and even the creaks, groans, and snaps of her own body. Amidst the thickets of details, obfuscating noise, and thrumming din, the original sounds are dissolved with new layers and accretions become audible. They still address a heavy melancholy augmented through a dilated sense of time. From industry home becomes a tantalizing, uncanny album of the once familiar, adjacent to those Heemann / Chalk productions as Mirror and the environmental abstractions of Jana Winderen

€ 14

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Pauline Anna Strom : Spectre - LP (Rvng Intl., 2023)

Spectre is the third album by the late West Coast composer, healer, and medium Pauline Anna Strom. First released in 1984, the album finds Strom exploring the darker corridors of human mythology under the influence of vampiric lore, evoking a hushed gothic solitude and showcasing her breathtaking dexterity of sound design. Despite its shadowy hues, Spectre offers generous glimpses of a vivid light that could only have come from a heart wide open to the cosmos. Restored and mixed from the original reels by Marta Salogni, and newly remastered, this is the album’s first ever official reissue, and the definitive edition of a visionary statement

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€ 25

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Pauline Anna Strom : Trans-Millenia Music - LP (Rvng Intl., 2023)

Trans-Millenia Consort is the near mythical debut album by the late West Coast composer, healer, and medium Pauline Anna Strom. First released in 1982, the album is a bold and beautiful evocation of a life that exists between and beyond time. Evoking ancient rituals and primordial futures, the music of Trans-Millenia Consort glows with a strange iridescence; its pulsing embryonic waveforms flutter and drift, tones fall like raindrops of the long-ago, and melodies shimmer and dance across the ages like fireflies of a lost world. Restored and mixed from the original reels by Marta Salogni, and newly remastered, this is the album’s first ever official reissue, and the definitive edition of a visionary statement

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Pauline Anna Strom : Echoes, Spaces, Lines - 4xLP Box (Rvng Intl., 2023)

Echoes, Spaces, Lines collects Trans-Millenia Consort, Plot Zero, and Spectre, the first three albums by the late West Coast composer, healer, and medium Pauline Anna Strom. Exploring all corners of the multiverse through transpersonal form and freedom, Strom’s first three albums share a singular sensibility, different streams flowing from the same oracular font. Echoes, Spaces, Lines establishes Strom’s rightful place in the canon of great synthesists. Restored and mixed from the original reels by Marta Salogni, newly remastered, and adding Oceans of Tears, a fully realized but previously unreleased album exclusive to the physical editions of this box set, these are the first official reissues and the definitive encapsulation of Pauline Anna Strom’s prolific and visionary early work. This four LP box set includes a 12-page booklet containing liner notes, an unearthed interview with Strom, and unseen ephemera

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€ 79

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Pauline Anna Strom : Plot Zero - LP (Rvng Intl., 2023)

Plot Zero is the second album by the late West Coast composer, healer, and medium Pauline Anna Strom. First released in 1983, Strom envisioned the album as a “mind trip without chemicals,” utilizing boundless imagination to cover a canvas with brilliant synthesized shapes and tones. The pieces on Plot Zero flow freely and infinitely, evoking a transportative momentum with Strom’s distinctive synthesizers soaring across infinite horizons into vast, colorful nebulas. Restored and mixed from the original reels by Marta Salogni, and newly remastered, this is the album’s first ever official reissue, and the definitive edition of a visionary statement

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€ 25

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John McGuire : Vanishing Points / A Cappella - LP (Unseen Worlds, 2023)

In his “Pulse Music” compositions of the mid-1970s, composer John McGuire forged a unique interpretation of European serialism. A student of Karlheinz Stockhausen, Krzysztof Penderecki and Gottfried Michael Koenig, McGuire moved to Cologne, Germany in 1970, where he become associated with the world-leading Studio for Electronic Music at Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) in Cologne. Like Stockhausen, McGuire found his musical imagination both constrained and inspired by the technology that was available to him / A conversation with sculptor Hans Karl Burgeff led McGuire to think beyond the horizon and into limitless space. For “Vanishing Points” (1985–1988), McGuire used an entirely digital set-up for the first time: a digital sequencer, eight Yamaha DX-7 synthesizers and a Studer 24-track digital tape recorder. The piece was conceived as a “sequel” to the Pulse Music series, but also a step forward from it. Whereas the Pulse Music pieces had employed steady streams of pulses, with Vanishing Points McGuire employed pulse layers that accelerate or decelerate against one another, vastly increasing the resulting rhythmic complexity / McGuire's exploration of music technology continued in “A Cappella” (1990–1997), written for his wife, the soprano Beth Griffith, known for her recording of Morton Feldman’s “Three Voices” made in 1983. Using samples, he created a four-voice choir of voice samples and arranged them into interacting parts. The composition faced challenges due to the organic nature of the human voice compared to the precision of synthesized sounds. This process involved extensive editing and a negotiation between the "material" and the "original conception". This sort of negotiation applies as much to the composition of a single piece as it does to the work of two decades

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€ 26

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Jezz Woodroffe : Wonders Of The Underwater World (Soundtrack From The Film) - LP (Trunk, 2023)

"Sublime electronic underwater score from 1981 by former member of Black Sabbath. Comes with unique blank seascape sleeve with sticker sheet to make your own underwater scene sleeve. How super fucking cool is that? As underwater albums go, this is the very peak. Made using the best cutting edge synth tech of the day... the result is a sublime wash of underwater ambience, emotions and more / IT GETS NO BETTER. Since I started collecting records I have been slightly obsessed with underwater music. I could analyze this in many ways but the most obvious starting point for me was the weekly dose of Sunday afternoon TV onboard the Calypso with Jacques Cousteau throughout the 1970s. My collection of underwater LPs and singles is now extensive -- in the hundreds I reckon. But in amongst it all is only one underwater soundtrack from the UK. And this is it. It took me an age to track down Jezz, but I did. And now you don't have to take an age to track down an original super rare copy of the 1981 pressing / These days when there are so may represses, rediscoveries and reissues, I thought we'd make this stand out a little more, so I decided to take us all back to my childhood 1970s when I used to get a little 'Action Transfer' set on very special occasions, and stick the little transfers of scuba divers, fish and mini subs all over a small paper underwater landscape. Sadly we couldn't get classic rub down Letraset style transfers but I think Kev (DJ Food) has done a miraculous job in creating a modern version. So sit back (mess about with the stickers) and wonder at the beautiful, submersive electronic sounds created by Jezz all those years ago. Dive in, the water is lovely." --Jonny Trunk, 2023

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€ 29

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Fields Of The Nephilim : The Nephilim - 2xLP (Beggars Arkive, 2023)

Beggars Arkive are happy to announce a vinyl reissue, out October 6th, of their second album The Nephilim, released 35 years ago by Situation Two/Beggars Banquet in 1988, and not pressed on vinyl since then. The album is pressed on golden brown vinyl and is expanded to a double LP. The album contains their epic, legendary track “Moonchild” plus three bonus tracks / Formed in 1984, Fields of the Nephilim is the creation of vocalist and front man Carl McCoy. Highly influential, especially in the world of goth, but also within the metal and electronic genres, their legacy endures to this day. You can hear their influence on bands like Swans, Godspeed! You Black Emperor, Explosions In The Sky, Wolves in The Throne Room, Behemoth and more. Beggars Arkive are happy to announce a vinyl reissue, out October 20th, of their second album The Nephilim, released 35 years ago by Situation Two/Beggars Banquet in 1988, and not pressed on vinyl since then. The album is pressed on golden brown vinyl and is expanded to a double LP. The album contains their epic, legendary track “Moonchild” plus three bonus tracks / The Nephilim was recorded in a former courthouse in the Somerset countryside where defendants who were sentenced to death were hung. “Moonchild” is the band’s best known song due to it reaching #28 in the UK single charts, and LouderSound called it a classic and said that it “perfectly encapsulates this era of the band and it has some nifty guitar work, great bass lines from Tony Pettitt, Nod’s stellar drumming and McCoy’s distinctive vocals.” The song is named after a novel by Aleister Crowley, and there are several other nods to Crowley throughout The Nephilim. In a 2013 remembrance of the album, PopMatters said “The band’s sophomore effort, regarded not only as its best work but also as one of the UK goth scene’s masterpieces, is a seamless, hour-long trek into a surreal land populated by chiming guitars, hypnotic bass, found samples, and McCoy’s storytelling.”

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€ 36

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Timelash : Feral Lands & Forbidden Cities - LP (Aguirre, 2023)

Recorded in Brussels in 2019, Feral Lands and Forbidden Cities is Timelash's second delivery of a 4 album projected series. In their debut, A Morphology of Wonders (Aguirre Records, 2021), the duet formed by Embassador Dulgoon (Nonlocal Society, Archimboldos) and Corum (Psychic Sounds) revealed a unique musical journey that unfolds and expands like a cluster of organic matters and mechanical dialogues lit by iridescent fluorescences. Timelash's musical proposal is firmly rooted in retrofuturism, reminding us of exotic and library music artists such as Martin Denny, Egisto Macchi, Bernard Fèvre, and Eric Vann, reaching up to Mark Dwane's cinematic soundscapes, or Constance Demby's Novus Magnificat / Feral Lands and Forbidden Cities digs precisely into what the title indicates: civilizations not yet explored, untraceable ruins, and the unknown. Digital synthesizers, samplers, flutes, percussion pads, and effects are assembled as stirring sprouts of life and evolutionary dream cycles. Spacecraft bustles, strange body noises, tolling bells, plasticine murmurs, and boiling potions ring under harmonic synth soulful crescendos, building up a sense of both machinery and wonder; the emotional significance that the mechanical contains / The tactile quality of detail and the flourishing motifs join and bloom in poignant, even epic manners, as in "Outside Grottos of Time". A mood more dizzying and suspenseful speeds up "Sandrunner's Pass" until the puzzling closing track "Shadows of the Skyfish" wraps it all up. Chromatic glares, mechanical abstractions, and multicolored visions emerge like fumes radiating from electric dreams; melodic layers drift, rise, and finally lay down subtly. There's a feeling of mystery and motion in several directions, sometimes even simultaneous, although limited, all of them equally full of meaning, since this is a coherent musical tale

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€ 19

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Amelia Cuni, Werner Durand, Uli Hohmann : Clearing - LP (Aguirre, 2023)

In addition to the unique musical proposals and the large body of work that they have developed separately, Amelia Cuni and Werner Durand have been performing together as a duo as well as in collaborations (Tonaliens, Born of Six) for more than 20 years. Fusing her Indian Raga singing in the Dhrupad style with his minimalist and experimental approach, they have expanded the reach of their soundworlds as well as proposed new paths for contemporary music. In this occasion, Uli Hohmann joins them in a range of hand drums from the Middle East and North Africa, plus a dulcimer-sounding hammered guitar. Durand's various self-made wind instruments, soprano sax, and blown kalimba shine along with Cuni's astounding vocals, which are sometimes sung through a mirliton (a medieval type of kazoo). Clearing is the trio's first published recording

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€ 19

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Ordeal : Vätterns Pärla - LP (Aguirre, 2023)

As an important agent of Gothenburg’s underground scene, Dan Johansson has been a member of several experimental harsh noise projects such as Sewer Election, and lo-fi indie folk bands like Enhet För Fri Musik and Amateur Hour. Ordeal is his latest solo output, and might as well be ashes stuck in the blast furnace's edges of his last longing career. Not by means of summing up genres or as a culmination of his musical development, but as a profound music piece weaved in his own household / With not much more than a synthesizer, Vätterns Pärla is built by trembling, dissonant drones stained in feedback and reverberation, thickly textured by the no-fi quality of the recording, depicting a menacing atmosphere congested with heavy fumes. In Johansson's words, Ordeal "takes inspiration from the early 80’s albums of Maurizio Bianchi, filtered through a Gothenburgian no-fi bleakness. It’s an album for inner voyage, childhood memories, and places that now lost purpose and meaning” / There's certainly intimacy and nostalgia, yet a claustrophobic, hypnotic ambiance wraps it all up in a contained and narrow space. Emphasis is put on texture rather than on detail, on color rather than on progression, on suspense rather than on conclusion. Tension varies stiffly, sometimes a drone layer dismantles and the mood seems to filter, but ragged edges are never polished. We can feel the walls and the air, which although tarnished, can be breathed in somehow. It's as if waking up in a dark room and having to recognize it with our ears and tact, testing its dimensions and its surface. The stillness in the chamber is like the stillness between gasps of storms

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€ 19

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Natural Wonder Beauty Concept : Natural Wonder Beauty Concept - LP (Mexican Summer, 2023)

Ana Roxanne and DJ Python (Brian Piñeyro) met in New York City in the winter of 2020. They’d respectively put out critically acclaimed albums but due to extenuating global circumstances, the real-world implications of those records were yet to be seen. Ana’s debut LP, Because of a Flower, released in fall 2020, trades in both ethereality and directness, stretching timeless pop and R&B forms into shimmering ambient magic. When the Bay Area-born, Mills-trained artist sings, on record or live, time slows down and we enter a languorous yet ecstatic present. The second album from Queens-based deep reggaeton innovator DJ Python, Mas Amable, also subverts easy temporality / Released in spring 2020, Mas Amable floats in liminal space—not quite a dance record, a downtempo record, nor an ambient record—unfurling at a wistful pace, naturally suited for a strange period when each day felt the same yet wildly different. Well-loved albums aside, no one was playing shows, and a general listlessness and disconnection prevailed. Roxanne had recently moved to New York, and while the pair had previously interacted online and expressed admiration with each others’ work, they were now able to meet in person for the first time / A quiet understanding developed between the two artists on their initial hangs – they drove around the outskirts of NYC, listening to Telegram by Björk, HTRK, Portishead, all manner of melancholy acoustic indie songs. They pulled over in Filipino neighborhoods to eat. Periods of volubility were punctuated by silence, laughter interspersed with wide-eyed pondering. For Brian and Ana, studio experimentation was the instinctive extension of a friendship finding its feet

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€ 23

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Julee Cruise : Floating Into The Night - LP (Sacred Bones, 2023)

Julee Cruise’s 1989 album Floating Into the Night is a hauntingly beautiful, critically ac-claimed work that showcases her unique vocal style and the atmospheric, dreamlike music of composer Angelo Badalamenti. The album was produced by Badalamenti and David Lynch, who had previously worked together on the soundtrack for Lynch’s film Blue Velvet. Today in the wake of both Julee Cruise and Angelo Badalamenti’s passing its important to honor their musical legacy and contribution to both the sonic and cinematic landscapes. The album is widely regarded as a masterpiece, a definitive moment in the development of the Dream Pop genre, and the unofficial soundtrack to the cult classic television show Twin Peaks. And while the album’s best known song may be the show’s iconic theme song ”Falling,” it also contains many of Cruise’s most beloved hits including “Rockin’ Back Inside My Heart” and “The Nightingale.” / Each of the album’s 10 tracks showcase Cruise’s ethereal vocals, which have often been described as “angelic” and “otherworldly,” gliding over Badalamenti’s lush, cinematic ar-rangements, perfectly complementing his combination of retro styles and modern ambience.Her lyrics often touch on themes of love, longing, and loss, adding an emotional depth to the already evocative music. Floating Into the Night was a critical and commercial success, receiving widespread praise for its innovative sound and moody, atmospheric vibe. It remains a beloved classic of thedream pop and indie rock genres, and a must-listen for fans of Lynch’s cinematic work andexperimental music in general / This magical genre defining and era defying opus has continued throughout time to enchant new audiences and reveal new layers of cultural significance. The music’s juxta-position between soothing and somber, which have always paired particularly well with Lynch’s psychedelically saccharine worlds filled with underbellies of vast darkness, perfectly straddles the razors edge of humanity, an edge that has become increasingly precarious in modern times. The album is at once a gorgeous romantic narcotic and a bottomless container for fear and sadness

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€ 26

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Agitation Free : Malesch - LP (HiD, 2012)

Their debut, pensive and relaxed. A masterpiece, originally released on Vertigo. A vinyl re-release of the debut-album by legendary krautrock avant garde band Agitation Free. "Not willing to compromise, and heavily into the avant-garde (many members studied with the influential Thomas Kessler) it took a long while until Agitation Free got an album out / By that time they had developed a cosmic styled rock with a strong ethnic element. Although in the spirit of Ash Ra Tempel and Pink Floyd, they had their own individual identity, with a largely improvised music that was predominantly instrumental, featuring lots of electronics, keyboards and dual guitars, and a great flair for invention. Malesch documents their trip to North Africa and the Middle East, blending location recordings together with their own compositions and improvisations, and is still quite a unique experience even today, combining cosmic, avant-garde and ethnic musics with great invention." -- The Crack in the Cosmic Egg

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€ 25

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Hamza El Din : Al Oud - LP (Real Gone Music, 2023)

Clear vinyl. It’s fair to say that what Ravi Shankar did for the sitar, Hamza El Din did for the oud (the short-necked Arabian lute): bringing a little-known instrument to the attention of the West and popularizing it. Indeed, he ended up playing oud with everybody from the Grateful Dead to the Kronos Quartet to his one-time roommate Sandy Bull. But El Din’s gifts went beyond that of an oud virtuoso; he was also an accomplished singer and composer, and you will hear all of those talents on full display on this seminal album, released on Vanguard in 1965 soon after his star-making appearance at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival that attracted the attention of Bob Dylan and Joan Baez / Meditative, mesmerizing, and haunting, Al Oud features nine original compositions based on Nubian folk traditions; at first it’s the exotic sound of the oud that draws you in, but it’s the rhythmic pulse of the music and the expressive quality of El Din’s voice that keeps you riveted. Our first-ever American LP reissue of this classic record comes in a clear vinyl pressing limited to 900 copies, complete with original artwork featuring liner notes by Jamal Mohammed Ahmed, at the time Sudan’s Ambassador to the United Nations. A richly rewarding listen

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€ 36

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Oneohtrix Point Never : Again - 2xLP (Warp, 2023)

Oneohtrix Point Never, AKA Daniel Lopatin, has announced his new album Again, set for release September 29 via Warp. In Lopatin’s words the album is in part “a speculative autobiography,” a transmission, a spellbound backwash of digital languages and sonic paranoias, what’s remembered and what’s forgotten, all presented in OPN’s trademark melodic touch. Much like 2015’s Garden of Delete, Again germinated as a collaboration between Lopatin’s current and younger selves— this time, a meditation on his musical identity during young adulthood from the perspective of middle age. From there, Lopatin decoupled from the concept, and allowed the album to grow into a ‘illogical period piece’ where memory and fantasy converge to form something entirely new. The album imagines what might have been, as the musician made his music through space and time. Which decisions foreclosed some realities? What might those other worlds have sounded like? / The album’s artwork features an original sculpture by Matias Falkbakken, conceptualized in concert with Lopatin and photographed by Vegard Kleven. Design and packaging was developed by Memory, a newly formed collaboration between Lopatin and Online Ceramics (Elijah Funk & Alix Ross) / Again follows in the wake of OPN’s numerous critically acclaimed albums, including his most recent, 2020’s eponymous Magic Oneohtrix Point Never, on which he turned the dial towards his own inner frequencies, drawing from the origins of OPN as a means to discover a new found sense of levity and spirit during tumultuous times

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€ 36

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Agitation Free : 2nd - LP (HiD, 2012)

Agitation Free's 2nd stands as one of Germany's finest instrumental rock albums of the 1970s and a classic for fans of progressive rock and Krautrock. Despite the fact that the group had problems keeping its cohesion at the time, these troubles never affect the music. 2nd presented a daring blend of Krautrock-type extended jams, laid-back attitude, and experimentation. The music remains very psychedelic in nature, more early Can than Faust / The presence of acoustic guitars and bouzouki emphasizes the easygoing nature of the music, along with Stefan Diez's elegant guitar soloing, while occasional free-form passages keep things on the edge. The opener, "First Communication," is pure Krautrock and the hardest-driving tune. It belongs on every anthology of German rock. Michael Hoenig's synthesizer experiment "Dialogue and Random" provides an interlude before the two-part "Laila" kicks in. The latter juxtaposes prog rock and fusion jazz sections with beautiful audacity / Side B of the original LP is a lot quieter. Birds chirp at the beginning of "In the Silence of the Morning Sunrise" and the pastoral mood carries over to the nine-minute "A Quiet Walk." "Haunted Island" ends with a mid-tempo rock number featuring a recitation of Edgar Allan Poe's "Dreamland." Filled with Mellotron and guitar jamming, it has often been hailed as a highlight by prog rock fans who had a hard time digesting the less immediate material, but it's actually weaker than what came before it -- without lessening the appeal of this album

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€ 23

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Kathy Acker, Nox : Love, Emily - LP (Slow Moves, 2023)

Originally released in a long sold-out edition of 50 cassette tapes, Love, Emily (Acte 3) was the third and final album of Michel Henritzi’s industrial label AKT Production. Recorded in a Paris studio in 1987, this 25-minute collage of spoken word and noise saturations intersects two radical voices from literature and experimental music of the time: American author Kathy Acker reading excerpts from her book My Death My Life by Pier Paolo Pasolini, and Nox, mainstay of the French noise and industrial scene. Pulled from oblivion, restored and remastered for vinyl by Slow Moves, this archive gem crosses the clashing worlds of poetry and industrial music, melding Acker’s thought-provoking words to absolute and inflexible industrial sounds / A lot of it is noise, but a lot of it is also play; research for a new mystique, generating unusual forms and unknown languages. Published in a limited edition of 400 copies, this vinyl also comes with a long printed panel of previously unpublished photographs and letters from Kathy Acker, tracing the background exchanges that led to the collaboration between the groundbreaking writer, Henritzi and Nox, a poster of Kathy Acker with french translations and a download code featuring both music and extra archival material (interview and articles)

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€ 23

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Jon Wesseltoft, Niklas Adam : Signs and Accuracy - 2xMC Box (Coherent States, 2023)

"Signs and Accuracy" is the first collaborative work between Jon Wesseltoft and Niklas Adam and the austere title sets the mood from the start. The composition process as well as the interaction between the two artists, constitutes something new for both of them. The signs possess accuracy; they are a unified whole, materialized and executed within a singular and unexplored surrounding space / "Signs and Accuracy", out now on Coherent States, is music bordering between concrete weirdness and arrhythmic convulsions on electronics, computers and synths. Intricate combinations of form, at times minimal and other times filled with a sense of an implacable bleed-through to the boundaries of the contextual space, are projected through a succession of gradual and abrupt transitions thus giving form to the main core of this work as well as its varying dimensions. An eccentric mash up of broken rhythms, weird chocked electronics, computer programmed gamelan and gagaku meditation, steady tones, delightful serenity, borderline tension, esoteric noise bits and abrupt arrhythmic mash ups you can dance to with a broken leg. Imagine Autechre deciding to go Sissy Spacek on Radio Format. The entirety of "Signs and Accuracy" is framed by Paul van Trigt's collages / Jon Wesseltoft is a versatile electronics composer and musician based in Oslo, and have worked with noise, electro-acoustics, improvisation and experimental sound-work for over 20 years. Jon is besides doing solo and the odd collaborative work, a member of the long form project Tongues Of Mount Meru (with Lasse Marhaug) and harsh noise duo Maranata (with Dag Stiberg). Niklas Adam is a Danish artist, composer, recordist, performer and computer programmer. Adam has worked with stage art for a decade, where in addition to music the focus has been on developing choreography for robotic sculptures. Sound, movement, time and space are his main occupations

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€ 22

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Derek Bailey, Paul Motian : Duo in Concert - LP (Frozen Reeds, 2023)

Frozen Reeds is proud to present the only recorded duo playing of two legendary musical figures. Derek Bailey and Paul Motian – two longstanding pioneers of distinct strains of improvised music – came together for a brief period of collaboration in the early 1990s. Tapes of their two known live performances (one at Groningen’s JazzMarathon festival in the Netherlands, the other a year later at New Music Cafe, NYC) were recently unearthed in the Incus archives, and their contents will surprise and delight fans of both supremely idiosyncratic musicians. The Groningen concert (1990) is released on vinyl, while the New York date (1991) is included with the digital download, free of charge for all purchasers. A conversation between Bill Frisell and Henry Kaiser on Bailey, Motian, their intertwined backgrounds, and the significance of these recordings is included as sleeve-note insert / Each player bringing decades of crucial experience to their encounters – with histories taking in vast swathes of the development of jazz and free improvisation – these fleeting shared moments provide some of the most riveting playing in the career of either. There is precious little recorded evidence of Motian as a free improviser, but his mastery is beyond any doubt in these recordings. From knife-edge precision to textural haze, Motian’s palette is astounding, but perhaps even more impressive is his confidence in the non-idiomatic conversation itself. Pushing far beyond the established vocabulary of free percussion, his playing allows a measured degree of repetition to take form, giving rise to almost song-like structures. The covert influence of the drummer’s work on the post-rock genre (just taking its first nascent steps in the early 1990s) is made overt here / In turn, Bailey allows some of his most unashamedly melodic passages to unfold without a mote of his trademark contrariness or antagonism. Patterns that would be acerbically disrupted elsewhere are allowed to settle, with variations of note and timbre introduced more gradually than is typical of his playing. When forceful changes in dynamics or tone do arrive, they do so in such close tandem with Motian’s rhythmic and textural transitions as to beggar belief. The guitarist’s duos with percussionists (Jamie Muir, Han Bennink, John Stevens…) arguably provide some of the highlights of his discography. ‘Duo in Concert’ represents a strong addition to the list. An elegant sense of construction pervades the sets, as the duo ably fulfil the promise of free improvisation: carving out hugely compelling, expertly balanced, and thrillingly paced music as if from thin air

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€ 26

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Livskraft : Livskraft - LP (Förlag För Fri Musik, 2023)

Livskraft contains at least one member from Järnakollektivet and was apparently recorded at a meditation workshop outside of Järna earlier this year. Three long, repetetive chants, all featuring teacher Shakti Khalsingha. Transcendental, irresistible and beautiful

€ 22

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Fysisk Fostran : Räkenskapens Dag - LP (Fördämning Arkiv, 2023)

A small chunk of early 80's Swedish DIY underground history from the legendary but rarely heard Fysisk Fostran. Based in the small town of Stenungsund north of Gothenburg and roughly active between 1980 and 1984, the group released a few cassettes as well as a fabled 7" that due to mysterious complications only exist as a testpressing in 4 copies. Fysisk Fostran were inspired by the early UK industrial sound as well as post-punk and synth music, this combined with the young age of the bandmembers and general small town boredom resulted in a rather unhinged and wild sound. While comparisons at times could be made with other early Swedish industrial/cassette culture freaks like Enhänta Bödlar, Engürdetz or En Halvkokt I Folie, one could argue that Fysisk Fostran stood out thanks to their obstinate will to rock out in the midst of all the rudimentary, electronic experimentations. The crude fidelity of their recordings only adds to the utterly bizarre atmosphere / The LP compiles the tracks from the 7" as well as choice cuts from the cassette releases, stuff so scarce that it barely existed even back then. Original sources transfered and mastered for vinyl by Linus at Elementstudion during 2023. The LP comes with an insert featuring liner notes by Marko Gillingsmark of Levande Begravd. Cover jackets stamped with the same stamp used for the 7" sleeve back in 1984

€ 22

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Rian Treanor, Mark Fell : Last Exit - 2x12" (Boomkat Editions, 2023)

Dreams are made and displaced on Mark Fell & Rian Treanor’s oneiric electro-acoustic inception 'Last Exit', borne from long days in the family garden, and assembled into a mesmerising masterpiece of minimalist modal rhythm and atmospheric exploration, into rapt smallsound detailing in breathtaking form. It’s a bit like listening to Virginia Astley’s ‘From Gardens Where We Feel Secure’, with washes of Autechre seeping into the mix from outside. ‘Last Exit…’ originally appeared in a different form as a cassette release for our Documenting Sound series in 2021, and was edited this year by Mark and Rian for this new expanded and altered edition, mastered by Rashad Becker / It renders a painterly, psychedelic, and diaristic depiction of sublime atmospheric tension, occasionally ruptured by their typical, asymmetric rhythm impulses in a form that rudely transcends their respective aesthetics. Across four parts, they kern, juxtapose and diffract synthesised percussion and field recordings into polymetric arrangements riddled with timbral nuance of a highly unpredictable nature. While patently inflected with nods to Indonesian gamelan, Ugandan folk, Indian Carnatic classical, Morton Feldman-esque minimalism, free jazz improvisation and a sort of rhythmic cubism that speaks to their mutual, voracious listening habits and tastes, the results are arguably without direct compare. Attentive listeners will recognise, however, that ‘Last Exit’ effortlessly transcends their respective styles, achieving a new high watermark of imaginary future-hyperfolk expressed in a sort of personalised but highly relatable meta-musical language / Seriously, they’re working beyond known conventions here; opening to a sublime frisson of Feldman-esque keys, birdsong and distant car engines, and closing to a combo of just-intoned drone and wafts of distant ballroom music. The 80 minutes in between feel like returning to a dream, with flashes of FM strings dabbed to sloshing rhythms and domestic detritus, tilting into a nervously tentative tension ruptured with abstract dance dynamism and angular free jazz ballistics. The rejigged recordings also reflect the fidelity of memory recall, expressing an altered perspective on their time spent in the multigenerational family’s Rotherham garden during spring/summer 2020, replete with their mum/grandmother on piano and overheard singing and in convo, but now fraught with a more melancholic, distempered quality that makes for a genuinely unforgettable listening experience

€ 33

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Malayeen : Self Titled - LP (Discrepant, 2023)

Discrepant proudly re-presents the Vinyl edition of Lebanese trio Malayeen. Malayeen is the project of Lebanese musicians Raed Yassin (Keyboards, Turntables & Electronics), Charbel Haber (Electric Guitar & Electronics) and Khaled Yassine (Darbouka, Percussion). Born from Yassin and Haber’s love for the music of quintessential Egyptian guitarist Omar Khorshid, Malayeen disassembles and re-configures the work and style of the iconic guitarist innovative take on Arabic music / The final result makes for an original and unique update of Khorshid & belly dancing inspired songs from the past. Over the course of 7 compositions, appropriately named after Khorshid and famous belly dancers from the Arabic diaspora, the three musicians’ varied backgrounds and techniques collide and coalesce in an experimental yet magical fashion, not actually playing Khorshid’s music, but inspiring themselves from the cult guitarist’s genius to create something completely new, modern and unexpected / A unique LP featuring the combined talents by key players of the Lebanese avant garde. The Malayeen LP edition is released by Discrepant in collaboration with Lebanese exploratory label Annihaya effectively combining East and West musical strains of thought as well as conclusively deconstructing and displacing this particular form of “popular” music

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€ 22

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SG : For Lovers Only / Rain Suite - LP (Faitiche, 2023)

SG is none other than Andrew Pekler returning to faitiche with an album of sentimental guitar escapism. For Lovers Only / Rain Suite features ten tracks made using only an electric guitar and a handful of effects pedals (plus some additional recordings of rain) and finds Pekler once again attempting to reconicile his tendencies towards kitsch, experimentation and minimalism / What does Pekler's pseudonym SG stand for? Sentimental Guitar? Sound Gallery? Shy Guy? Sad Gnosis? Saudade Glamour? Soft Goth? We don't know, but we asked notorious Chicago romantic Sam Prekop for his take on the album – his reply: / It’s a wonder where the rivers go and far, how fast or slow. Just seconds to remember, who can forget, when you are lost. I think to recount every step, in both hands, eyes open, the clouds unfold, one two three. Every other step, just as well. Where the moss is soft, you know strong. How many hours, days? I could have been careful, did I forget? Never mind. Waking up, in these arms, where the rivers go, slow. One two three, one two three

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€ 22

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Sonic Youth, Jim O'Rourke : Invito Al Cielo - LP (Sonic Youth Records, 2023)

For the third of Sonic Youth's sound experiment series, they teamed up with legendary nosie-nik Jim O'Rourke. Building on the ideas from the brilliant extended version of "The Diamond Sea" (from Washing Machine); the series explores the (mostly) instrumental side of the band. Though sold as an EP, the three tracks on the CD version of clock in at just over 56 minutes, and can sit quite comfortably with any of SY's best work / The title track opens the record with over 20 minutes of drenching feedback, saxophone tints, and cut-up television dialogue suggesting the soundtrack to a film-noir set in an industrial wasteland. The comparatively short (at 6 minutes) "Hungara Vivo" is the middle track of this extraordinarily strong trio and is the band's first true "ambient" soundscape: even the master himself, Brian Eno, might be a little envious. The closer, "Radio-Amatoroj," is a 29-minute mediation that structurally recalls "Hyperstation" from the seminal Daydream Nation album. Though this record, and indeed the series to which it belongs, is not aimed at fans of the band's more pop-oriented material, as a whole, it is easily the best work they have done in years. All text written in Esperanto. Eye-fucking cover art

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€ 22

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Vladislav Delay : Multila - 2xLP (Keplar, 2023)

Multila was the third album by Finnish producer Sasu Ripatti under the moniker Vladislav Delay. It compiles the Huone and Ranta 12" EPs Ripatti released on Basic Channel's Chain Reaction label in 1999 and 2000. The album features six hauntingly murky dub ambient tracks and the impressive 22-minute techno odyssey "Huone." More than 20 years after its original release as a full-length CD album (Chain Reaction), these iconic recordings of modern electronic music are now available again as a double vinyl edition, featuring a revised artwork by Marc Hohmann that matches the new design of the Whisteblower and Entain reissues

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€ 26

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Martin Dupont : Hot Paradox - LP (Minimal Wave, 2023)

We are honored to present the first vinyl LP reissue of French legends Martin Dupont’s seminal album from 1987, ‘Hot Paradox’. Martin Dupont was originally founded by Alain Seghir in Marseille in 1980. He enlisted numerous collaborators throughout the years, including Beverley Jane Crew, Brigitte Balian, and Catherine Loy / Martin Dupont was immensely talented with a rare dynamic between its varying members that was likely inspired by a combination of their magnetic personalities, creative vision, and the home studio where they recorded. Their music was colorful, enthusiastic, delicate, melancholy, and mysterious. A mixture of hot and cold, light and dark. They created electronic music that incorporated guitars, clarinets, and saxophones and is described by many as New Wave yet truly transcended genres. Aside from having been released as part of ‘The Complete Collection: 1980-1988’ 5-LP box set, the ‘Hot Paradox’ album hasn’t been available on vinyl since 1987. It is one of Martin Dupont’s most exquisite albums, illustrating the band’s mastery of synthesizer work, drum programming, and vocal duets / The album is vibrant and emotive, simultaneously somber and bright, theatrical and danceable. It is an essential album in the French cold wave, new wave, and minimal synth scenes, and in recent years, has finally received the recognition it deserves beyond any musical categorization. The Hot Paradox album reissue is pressed on 180-gram black vinyl, is accompanied by the original insert/lyrics sheet, and is housed in a heavy-weight sleeve featuring art by Yves Cheynet. The Hot Paradox LP is now available for pre-order with a release date of October 10th, 2023. After remaining under the radar for 35 years, Martin Dupont reformed in 2022 and returned to the stage in 2023 with a US tour and the Kintsugi album. The band continues to tour Europe and record new material in their new studio in France

€ 29

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Erik Enocksson : Räkna Evighet som - LP (Irrlicht, iDEAL, 2023)

Clear vinyl. “Räkna evighet som intet” is an electroacoustic composition in two movements and as much an incantation as it is a process of mourning embodied in an aesthetic structure. Throughout the piece Enocksson weaves taut strings, tense static and veils of feedback with fragmented voices, all the while extracting verses from acclaimed Swedish poet Lotta Lotass into emotional chorales on the impermanence of life. Merging the geist of Enocksson’s prior work – the industrial doom of "Apan" and the organic choral ambience of "Man tänker sitt" – into a new, more complex composition; "Räkna evighet som intet" is a shelter and a song, crafted in the hope of warding off the gloom of loss through a very simple message: You are not alone

€ 26

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Andrzej Korzynski : Third Part Of The Night - 10" (Finders Keepers, 2023)

As one of the most triumphant and beguiling directorial debut features to emerge from the fruitful Polish New Wave, Andrzej Zulawski's 1971 film Third Part Of The Night not only earned the 30 year old filmmaker a place next to other radical Polish directors such as Polanski, Skolimowski and Has, but also galvanised a creative bond with long running collaborator and composer Andrzej Korzynski, providing fans of foreign abstract/suspense cinema with a potent creative fusion to match those of Polanki/Komeda, Fellini/Rota and Argento/Goblin, amongst others / Quite simply one of the heaviest psych rock film soundtracks of all time Andrzej Korzynski's short and unreleased score matched the blueprint that adorned the drawing boards of conceptual French jazz orch rock composers like Jean-Claude Vannier, Francois De Roubaix and Alain Gourageur, creating a soundtrack that unknowingly begs comparison to Masahiko Satô’s Belladonna Of Sadness and Billy Green’s Stone. As one of the first progressive pop writers to come out of the vibrant (but carefully scrutinised) Polish beat scene with his bands Ricecar and later Arplife (and composing for national heroes such as Czeslaw Niemen, Niebiesko-Czarni and Test) Korzynski’s growing passion for conceptual rock and jazz music soon lead to instrumental composition and soundtrack scores / His cinematic debuts scoring two consecutive transitional new wave films for Andrzej Wajda (in collaboration with the radical Polski pop groups Trubadurzy and Grupa ABC) also provided Korzynski with another significant cinematic muse in that of the stunning actress Malgorzata Braunek with whom they would both eventually achieve their finest performances under the direction of the ravenous first timer Zulawski. Third Part Of The Night (1971) perhaps epitomises that triangular on-screen unison in its vibrant youth and feeds it through a hallucinogenic mangle finding astonishing beauty (within a repulsive synopsis) against a bleak and shattered backdrop and accompanied by progressive, psychedelic orchestral rock music - elements which would intensify for all three creatives with the next film, Diabel, which was banned by the Polish government the following year until 1988

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Anthony Pateras, Stephen O'Malley : Sept Duos Pour Guitare Acoustique & Piano Préparé - LP+12" (Shelter Press, 2023)

Etching on fourth side housed in printed heavyweight inner and outer sleeves. Mastered by Stephan Mathieu, Artwork by María Jesús Valenzuela Vittini, design by Bartolomé Sanson. Sept duos pour guitar acoustique et piano préparé is the second duo recording from Stephen O’Malley and Anthony Pateras. Their first together, Rêve Noir (2018), took an electro-acoustic scalpel to a 2011 duo concert for electric guitar and piano, using Revox and digital treatments to twist and smear gig documentation into ghostly echoes and fractured drones / Here, in contrast, the music is entirely acoustic and presented as it was performed, without overdubs. Both players’ choices of instruments are notable: this is O’Malley’s most extensive recording on steel string acoustic guitar (playing an instrument whose previous owners include Marissa Nadler and Glenn Jones) and Pateras return to the prepared piano, which he has rarely employed in recent years, after spending much of the first decade of the 21st century exploring its possibilities. Recorded during O’Malley’s residency at La Becque on Lake Geneva in the summer of 2021, from the first moments of the opening ‘déjà revé’ the music immediately establishes the distinctive landscape of chiming tones and hovering clouds of resonance explored throughout its one-hour running time / Pateras’ preparations create tolling bell-like tones alive with complex overtones, alongside which O’Malley’s open strings and natural harmonics add a sparkling clarity. While Pateras’ music often uses a densely chromatic harmonic language, these duos are remarkable for their modal simplicity. However, the interaction between the pure intervals of O’Malley’s just-intoned strings and the unstable harmonies created by the piano preparations suspends the music in an oneiric state of hazy ambiguity. Without obvious reference to tempo or meter, the music floats in what the composer Ernstalbrecht Stiebler has called a ‘bottomless sound space’, the temporal placement of events determined by bodily rhythms and the performers’ own listening to (and enjoyment of) the sounds being made

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€ 29

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Ginevra Bompiani, Caterina Barbieri, Tomoko Sauvage : Il Calore Animale - LP (Dischi Fantom, 2023)

Ginevra Bompiani is most likely unknown for fans of experiential music. In Italian literature and thinking, however, she is highly regarded writer, editor, translator, essayist, and academic, whose fiction, particularly, is informed by linguistics, feminism, and literary theory, and verges on the surreal and the fantastic, making her interdisciplinary effort, ‘Il Calore Animale’, collaborating with two of the most singular voices in contemporary experimental music - Caterina Barbieri and Tomoko Sauvage - entirely logical / The LP, ‘Il Calore Animale’ comprises four short stories read by Ginevra Bompiani, recorded at her home in 2018 by Francesco Cavaliere, that were originally published in her volume ‘Le Specie del Sonno’ (The Species of Sleep) in 1975 with an introduction by Italo Calvino, where he stated “The landscape created by her prose recalls those paintings in which peaceful figures are asleep in a quiet wood, or a solitary house, or any place where the senses can dim and reason's guard is dropped.” / The texts that Bompiani reads dive into the mystical world of myth and allegory, bring traces of the ancient world and mind alive in the contemporary realm. Against the delivery of her voice, the four pieces are threaded by musical pieces composed by Tomoko Sauvage and Caterina Barbieri. Sauvage’s two contributions, “I frutti” and “Il serpente d’acqua”, were composed, performed, and recorded at INA GRM – Groupe de Recherches Musicales in Paris, and build upon her broader body of work incorporating the sounds of amplified water, drawing haunting sonorities and textures howling from unknown depths. Barbieri’s two pieces - “Il calore animale” and “La pariglia” - other the other hand, encounter the composer returning to the classical guitar, unfurling rippling arpeggios, patterns, and melodic elements into the world created by Bompiani’s words

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€ 22

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The Pitch, Julia Reidy : Neutral Star - LP (Miasmah, 2023)

Clear vinyl. The Pitch is a quartet made up of Boris Baltschun, Koen Nutters, Michael Thieke and Morten Joh. Founded in Berlin in 2009, they play a hypnotic form of structured improvisation full of acoustic exploration and electronic intervention. On Neutral Star, The Pitch are joined by Australian guitarist/composer extraordinaire Julia Reidy for a record of star gazing electro-acoustic jazz / Reidy's playing and compositional technique between Takoma-style fingerpicking and Glenn Branca'esque microtonality, perfectly complements the loose improvisational framework The Pitch is providing. Endless ? Limitless, a recent piece by Reidy and Joh, is transformed from a washed-out/obscured tape delay composition into a colorful, meandering ensemble piece with a swarming character - blooming with intrigue for the patient ear. The B-side strikes a more gentle tone: the 24-minute Neutral Star begins with a siren-like overtone whose drone-like flowing slowly morphs into a deterritorial modality with jazzy undertone. Accompanied by constant eruptions of vibraphone, clarinet, electronics and double bass punctuation – while permanently questioned by Reidy's drippingly pearly steel guitar work. Slowly evolving into new territories through the expansive instrumentation and keen listening between the players / The fact that Neutral Star was recorded in one take (by Rabih Beaini in his Morphine Raum studio/venue) in front of a live audience and without overdubs is hard to believe, even for the trained ear. The recording appears to be too multilayered for a single snapshot, with its compositional structures constantly shifting and moving against themselves, counterintuitively and anti-cyclically. Reidy´s playing has been described as "unstable harmonic territory, and the collaboration with The Pitch interprets this concept brilliantly - adding further non-places to the territory. And the listener, however, is never left alone in the process of tectonic shifts - at least as long as their listening is attentive and contemplative at once

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€ 26

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Vladislav Delay : Entain - 2xLP (Keplar, 2023)

The Keplar label presents the next instalment in a series of reissues from the catalogue of Sasu Ripatti's seminal Vladislav Delay project. Originally released on Mille Plateaux, the vinyl edition of Entain from 2000 omitted two shorter tracks and included all others in an abridged form. With this reissue, the full album as it was pressed on CD is finally made available on vinyl. Besides a new remaster by Kassian Troyer, it was also given new cover artwork by Marc Hohmann that picks up on that of the Whistleblower reissue, released in early 2023 by Keplar / This serial visual approach highlights the conceptual continuity between those masterful explorations of the interplay between dub techniques, noise, and repetition. Ripatti himself had reworked material from 1999's Ele album for the release of Entain, which means that it can be considered the debut album proper of his Vladislav Delay project. It saw the Finnish artist aim more vigorously for abstraction than in his earlier releases as Vladislav Delay for labels such as Chain Reaction, which were collected on the iconic Multila compilation in 2000 / To mark this special occasion, Multila will be repressed by Keplar with a new artwork that matches the new design of Whisteblower and Entain. Multila and Entain correspond with each other conceptually as much as they seem to differ on a musical level. From the very first moments of the 22-minute-long opener "Kohde," it becomes clear that Entain takes things further away from the dancefloor, aiming less for physical impact than for intellectual stimulation. A sort of electronic minimal music, it was primarily interested in letting discrete elements freely come into play with one another. Much like Multila, however, Entain highlighted the subtle differences embedded in what only feels like repetitive music. Entain took the dub techno formula further than any other record before it -- onwards into the realms of pure abstraction

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€ 26

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Dakota Suite : This River Only Brings Poison - 2xLP (Karaoke Kalk, 2023)

This River Only Brings Poison was released in 2002 as the sixth full-length album of Chris Hooson's Dakota Suite project. This first-ever vinyl edition of the record includes four bonus pieces and makes it possible for fans to re-evaluate one of the most crucial Dakota Suite albums in the project's vast discography while also providing new listeners with an entry point into its intricate musical cosmos. With contributions by artists as diverse as steel guitarist Bruce Kaphan and drummer Tim Mooney from American Music Club, Derald Daugherty, and Laura and Chris Donohue as well as long-time collaborators such as David Buxton, Colin Dunkley, and Ed Collins, This River Only Brings Poison turned out as a sonically rich and stylistically versatile as it is emotionally multi-layered

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€ 29

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Anja Lauvdal : Farewell To Faraway Friends - LP (Smalltown Supersound, 2023)

Farewell to Faraway Friends finds Anja Lauvdal at her Wurlitzer, captured by two mics in the room, with no additional overdubs or edits. Her set of hushed, jazzy flourishes and pregnant pauses is so well realized that it's hard to believe they were improvised, while the "kitchen feel" of the room recording (as Marhaug describes it) enhances a sense of brittle intimacy / Much in the same way that Dominique Lawalrée imbued his ostensibly naive music with glimpses into a multifaceted inner life, Lauvdal explores an ocean of feeling through the most-humble components, transporting us through some alchemical act of emotional teleportation. Lauvdal avoids meandering flights of fancy, instead exposing a filigree level of detail and beauty through the cracks of her spartan recordings / There are no arbitrary found sounds, no sound design or overdubs, just Lauvdal and her Wurlitzer, occasionally singing at a barely perceptible volume in the background. If there's melancholy, it's not self-absorbed or effacing, but trapped behind sunny rays and poetic, romantic phrases. One of those effortlessly impactful records we've not been able to stop listening to for a while now, Farewell to Faraway Friends is apparently the first in an ongoing series. Here's hoping. Required listening if you're into Harold Budd, Loren Connors, Dominique Lawalrée, Robert Wyatt, and Vincent Gallo. Released as part of the Le Jazz Non series

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€ 29

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Erik K Skodvin : Nothing Left But Silence - LP (Sonic Pieces, 2023)

Handmade textile artwork, printed inner sleeve. ‘Nothing left but silence' is Erik K Skodvin’s third solo album for Sonic Pieces and his most quiet to date. Subtitled as "Musical improvisations and quiet collages from the subconscious”, Skodvin reduces his instruments to guitar, reverb and amp - and creates a skeleton of eight hypnotic ragas that meanders in an eternal loop between ephemeral and singular / Only on the horizon it’s possible to sense that Skodvin has also touched the neoclassical terrain in earlier productions - on Nothing left but silence, however, he acts as a twilight player who is not afraid of the coldness of endless space and who knows how to subjugate the shadowiness of the visible world. Carried by the noise of the amp and the occasional click of the effects pedals, a monolithic, reduced blues emerges, whose mediumistic quality nevertheless reveals that Skodvin's music always comes from the body - and as such is always searching for space. A space that - in this case - blends the vastness of the Norwegian steppe with the brittleness of American wasteland (as if Deathprod and Loren Connors were one and the same person), creating a persistent state between deceleration and absence of presence - that leads Skodvin ever closer to the inner essence of sound / Initially recorded at Saal 3, Funkhaus, Berlin by Nils Frahm in 2015, the album has itself been subjected to silence as a forgotten relic, re-found and now released in a time where it might connect more with the contemporary state of mind. Welcome to the entrance to the periphery

€ 33

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Francesco Cavaliere : Zoomachia Disc 1 - LP (Dischi Fantom, 2023)

First emerging during the mid 2000s in the field of experimental electronics, the Italian born, Berlin based artist, Francesco Cavaliere captivated us back in 2021 with ‘Viridescens’, his brilliant duo with Tomoko Sauvage issued by Marionette. With a handful of noteworthy releases having appeared since, he now returns with ‘Zoomachia Disc 1’, a remarkable fable bridging the territories of spoken word and electronic and electroacoustic composition / For the better part of the last 20 years, Cavaliere has woven intimate tapestries of sound from a strikingly singular pallet of processed source material that have resulted in startling abstractions. It is this departure point that underscores ‘Zoomachia Disc 1’, a radically new way of working in the artist’s output. A musical fable written, composed, and performed by Cavaliere, the tale unfolds in two acts - ‘Il grillo ventriloquo incontra Setha la mantide’ (The ventriloquist cricket meets Setha the mantis) and ‘Atta e Volma nel regno delle api di vetro Ossax’ (Atta and Volma in the Ossax realm of glass worker bees) encountering a range of insect character in various guises: a cricket, spider, and numerous mantis, ants, and bees / Against the fable’s text, delivered by Cavaliere with an ever-present sense of drama, the composer unfurls wild and playful, almost hallucinatory electroacoustic interventions, pulsing patterns on synths, fractured ambiences, and fleeting rhythms and melodies, bumbling to surface like watery springs, before receding from view and returning again. Strange and wonderful in the best possible of ways, infusing experimental music with the child like wonder, playfulness, and mystery that was often encountered within popular culture during the 1970s, but rarely since, Francesco Cavaliere’s ‘Zoomachia Disc 1’ is one of those rare creations that leaves you feeling more curious than when you began. This fantastic LP is issued by Dischi Fantom in a highly limited vinyl edition of 200 copies, accompanied by a very special booklet with Italian and English texts. Highly recommended!

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€ 22

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Ellen Arkbro : Sounds While Waiting - LP (W.25TH, 2023)

Sounds While Waiting documents the latest organ works by composer and musician Ellen Arkbro – following her phenomenal debut, 2017's For Organ And Brass, and the more recent CHORDS. Recorded at a centuries-old church in Unnaryd, Sweden in June 2020, these pieces reveal the enchanting qualities of sustained harmonic sound, how patterns of listening dissolve and emerge as textured space. On opening track "Changes," long radiant tones ebb and flow like divine breaths, while "Leaving Dreaming" builds with dynamic tension to unlock a subtle, otherworldly ambience / As the composer states in the sleeve notes, "These recordings are traces of something I have come to love to do in large resonant spaces, which is to set up sustained chords on multiple organs and then move slowly through the sound. The instruments are usually far apart, which makes for the emergence of large fields of continuous change, spaces of harmonicity that can be passed through layer by layer and which contain within them points of both clarity and overwhelming complexity. The organ pipes are tuned and retuned, though sometimes I leave them just as they are. What I'm searching for is the moment when a particular kind of sounding texturality is revealed – it is rough, focused and yet strangely transparent." / Arkbro composes for acoustic instruments, for synthetic sound and for combinations of both, including music for orchestra and smaller chamber ensembles and large scale installation works. She currently performs in Catherine Christer Hennix's Kamigaku ensemble, and she previously studied with La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela. Recommended for fans of Sarah Davachi, Eliane Radigue and Charlemagne Palestine

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€ 22

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KMRU : Dissolution Grip - LP (Ofnot, 2023)

The inaugural release on KMRU's own fledgling OFNOT imprint, 'Dissolution Grip' is an ambitious project that emerged from his studies at Berlin's prestigious UDK. The Kenyan composer and sound artist is best known for his field recording work, and as he traveled across Europe and the wider world for regular live performances, he made a point to snapshot each city. But the more he studied and the more he examined his practice, the more KMRU began to wonder what the purpose of these recordings were, and what bearing they might actually have on his self-expression. Simultaneously, he'd begun to dive more wholeheartedly into the world of synthesis. In a way, synthesis is the most basic form of sound, and KMRU started to wonder not just how he could harness these sounds but how he might be able to more dynamically combine them with field recordings / Guided by Jasmine Guffond at Berlin's Universität der Künste (better known as UDK), KMRU looked at waveforms - the visual representation of sound itself - and embarked on a process where he would write scores from the shapes, gradually turning the scores into raw synth sounds. Considering the spaces he was inspired by and shuttled through, KMRU decided that instead of using environmental recordings as an aesthetic marker, he would use these captured moments to guide the waveforms. So each sound is birthed from a field recording, but none of those recordings are audible in their original form. For example, on the digital bonus track 'Along A Wall', KMRU recorded in an old shack on his family's compound in Nairobi, where wind was shaking the building to its foundations. Listening to the finished piece, we can hear subtle electronic tones that rub and vibrate against each other, slowly saturating and mimicking the erratic motion of the wind / The original recording has been removed, but the feeling remains. The album's opening side 'Till Hurricane Bisect' is a 15-minute epic that evolves at its own glacial pace, carefully transforming blustering wind sounds into gasping drones, glassy oscillations and choked distortion. Cosmic and meditative, it's a testament to KMRU's skill as a sound engineer and patience as a composer, combining the gentle world building of his acclaimed Editions Mego album 'Peel' with the rumbling energy of 'Limen', last year's collaboration with Aho Ssan. On the title track, KMRU takes the opportunity to flex his orchestral muscle, conducting a cast of warbling synth tones into a durational symphony

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€ 21

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Felicia Atkinson, Richard Chartier : Ni Envers Ni Endroit Que Cette Roche Brûlante / Recurrence.Expansion - LP (Portraits GRM, 2023)

Félicia Atkinson’s Ni envers ni endroit que cette roche brûlante (Pour Georgia O’Keeffe) is approached as a meditation, not as meditative music, but as a reflection on the art of creation: how to inhabit one’s creation, how to convey it, domesticate it and live with it. Drawing inspiration from the artist Georgia O’ Keeffe, both in her work as a painter and in the houses in which she lived in New Mexico, and even in the landscapes that surround them, Félicia Atkinson has composed a piece that evokes and celebrates, in a poetic and holistic way, the mystery of art, the somnambulic oscillation that accompanies the act of creating. Blending fragmentary voices, islands of piano, electronic textures and patterns, and field recordings, Félicia Atkinson’s music is sincere and inspired, a meditation, then, but also a lesson we sometimes forget: being an artist is not an activity, even less a profession, it’s a singular way of approaching the world and, in so doing, densifying it / Richard Chartier’s music takes up residence at the frontiers of the audible, on the edge where sound diffracts into an inter-dimensionality where sounds, space, listening and silence recombine in an arborescence of becomings that present themselves to us and then disappear. The space-time in which Richard Chartier’s music unfolds is a stretched space-time, barely emerging in the world of sound. The delicacy, precision and accuracy of the composition Recurrence.Expansion lies precisely in this dialogue between a shape that is exposed and developed in an inspired and masterful way, and the sonic biotope in which this shape develops. It is from such an encounter that the singularity of Richard Chartier’s music emerges, music of attentive listening, but also sensitive, inhabited music, a music of discreet metamorphosis

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€ 19

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Oppenheimer Analysis : New Mexico 1982 - 2xLP (Minimal Wave, 2023)

Remastered reissue, black vinyl / For fans of minimal wave and DIY electronic pop, Oppenheimer Analysis's self-released 1982 debut cassette, New Mexico - little more than an extended demo cassette - has become something of a collector's item. While it has been reissued digitally since, it never received a vinyl release. In tribute to Martin Lloyd (the other half of the duo, alongside Andy Oppenheimer), who passed away recently, Minimal Wave has decided to make New Mexico available on wax for the first time. While the sound quality is appropriately dusty (it was badly recorded in the first place, of course), the music remains magical - bubbling, evocative, left-of-centre leftfield pop created with home-made synthesizers, modular hardware and little else. It's no wonder many consider it a classic album (even if was never officially released first time round)

€ 33

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Akira Sakata, Entasis : Live in Europe 2022 - 2xCD (Trost, 2023)

Live recordings of heavy weigh Japanese saxophone wizard Akira Sakata Europen tour in 2022. In Greece together with Giovanni di Domenico: piano, Giotis Damianidis: electric guitar, Petros Damianidis: double bass, Stephanos Chytiris: drums; in Italy with di Domenico, Damianidis and Balázs Pándi on drums; and in Belgium with di Domenico, Damianidis and Aleksandar Škori? on drums

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€ 19

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Peter Brötzmann, Fred Van Hove, Han Bennink : Outspan No 1 - LP (Cien Fuegos, 2023)

It's hard to imagine how this record -- and it's mate, Outspan No 2 -- managed to remain more or less out of circulation from the CD era onward. Outspan No 1 is nothing less than an ideal distillation of the broad approach to sound creation utilized by the three-ring circus that is Brötzmann, Van Hove, and Bennink, here with the added bonus of Mangelsdorff. Two short numbers, two long, too perfect

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€ 26

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Peter Brötzmann, Fred Van Hove, Han Bennink : Outspan No 2 - LP (Cien Fuegos, 2023)

Recorded a month after Outspan No 1, this album offers up four more sonic delights from the core trio of Brötzmann, Van Hove, and Bennink. Rarely has free jazz/Euro improv/circus music/[your identifier here] sounded so unfettered and delightful -- adventurous without seeming self-serious, silly yet not without gravity. A must for any fan of these three maestros

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€ 26

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The Peter Brötzmann Octet : Machine Gun - LP (Cien Fuegos, 2018)

Remastered reissue with handscreened cover / Cien Fuegos present a reissue of the Peter Brötzmann Octet's Machine Gun, originally released in 1968. One of the most important albums of European free jazz, finally in the Cien Fuegos series. Recorded May 1968 at "Lila Eule", Bremen

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€ 22

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Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar : Vrindavan 1982 - 2xLP (Black Truffle, 2023)

Black Truffle is thrilled to present a previously unheard performance by rudra veena master Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar, recorded in the North Indian city of Vrindavan at the Druhpad Samaroh festival in 1982. Z.M. Dagar was a nineteenth-generation descendant of the Dagar family of musicians, famed for their profoundly meditative approach to the tradition of Hindustani court music. Perhaps the most revered members of the family were the brothers Mohinuddin and Aminuddin Dagar, who played a key role in reawakening interest in dhrupad in the mid-20th century / The great exponents of the tradition from whom Z.M. Dagar descended were all singers, and dhrupad is essentially vocal music. However, as Z.M. Dagar explained, the veena family of instruments plays an important role in the education and practice of dhrupad singers, especially as an aid to mastering the fine microtonal nuances of pitch essential to the genre. Introduced as a child by his father to the rudra veena, a large and low-pitched veena amplified by two enormous gourds, Z.M. Dagar became the first modern dhrupad musician to perform with it as an instrumental soloist, giving his first recital at the age of 16 / Devoted to the instrument throughout his life, he made innovations to its design and materials, as well as introducing novel techniques (such as playing without the use of the traditional wire plectrum, resulting in the remarkable warmth of his tone). In the great Dagar family tradition, his approach to the various ragas that make up the dhrupad repertoire was stately, slow, and considered, with a great emphasis on the alap, the heavily improvised exposition section. True to form, in this recording of Dagar performing the night raga Yaman Kalyan, the alap section stretches out to more than forty minutes of slow-motion bliss, a frozen tanpura drone hovering above Dagar’s gracefully bent notes and elegantly twisting phrases. Adorned with beautiful archival photographs of Dagar taken by Swedish percussion legend Bengt Berger and accompanied by detailed notes from Bradford Bailey, Vrindavan 1982 is a stunning document of music unmatched in its patient focus and mysterious emotional depth

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€ 29

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El Búho : Strata - LP (Wonderwheel, 2023)

Black vinyl. El Buho’s fifth studio album may be his most personal yet. Strata draws from Robin’s attempts to grapple with the tension of experiencing happiness, joy and gratitude in our daily lives with loved ones or through sharing music while the world falls apart around us. This dynamic of trying to live in the moment and enjoy the privileged life we have yet in the back of your mind there is an overwhelming sense of dread that the world will never be the same and, as climate change really starts to hit home, there are incredibly difficult times ahead. It is about our attempts to find a place of peace, balance and fulfillment between these powerful strata above and below us / This is an album heavy with intimate and personal music that moves between personal joy and the anguish of our modern world. Timini is dedicated to Robin’s second son Oscar who earned the nickname Petit Mini (Little Mini) which became ‘Timini’. The track was inspired by the rustling wind and shaking leaves as Robin walked home from the hospital the evening after Oscar’s birth, writing the whole track in one exhausted and emotional sitting. Gentle Breeze was inspired by the feeling of a warm early summer’s afternoon with the family at home. Beautiful simplicity / On the other hand, Alarma de Emergencia is a cumbia for the endless alarm that has been ringing, unheard across our planet for decades. Fuel Fandango singer Nita’s beautiful lyrics to its sister track Cenizas de Agua reference the need to “open our hearts, look for our own reflection and break the silence” While on Brujería Bomba Estereo frontwoman Li Saument implores us to sanar (heal) and limpiar clean above Robin’s trademark floating flutes and an organic dem-bow beat

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€ 25

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The Greg Foat Group : Blue Lotus - LP (Blue Crystal, 2023)

The Classic Greg Foat Group line-up returns with special guests Art Themen on Soprano Saxophone and Morgan Simpson (Black Midi) on Drums. Heavy Synth and percussive Grooves

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€ 29

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Triola : Scapegoat - LP (Constructive, 2023)

‘Scapegoat’ is the new album by Triola, the project led by the prolific Tokyo-based composer & experimental string musician Atsuko Hatano, featuring the Japanese violinist Anzu Suhara / Conceived as a string project, with Hatano on viola, cello, bass and Suhara on violin, Triola involves a rotating ensemble of guest musicians, including the likes of Chicago-born musician, composer & producer Jim O’Rourke (Drag City, Sonic Youth, Steamroom), the composer & musician Eiko Ishibashi (Drag City, Black Truffle), Australian composer Joe Talia (Touch, Room40, Feeding Tube Records), Yamaguchi-born drummer Tatsuhisa Yamamoto (releases on Black Truffle, Longform Editions, Superpang, performances with Keiji Haino, Oren Ambarchi & Phew +++), Sendai-based vocalist & musician Koji Shibuya (Maher Shalal Hash Baz, Yumbo) & many more / ‘Scapegoat’ follows the 2019 album release by Triola entitled ‘Chiral’, and although recorded as an instrumental opus, ‘Scapegoat’ is described by Hatano as an ‘imaginary opera’, comprising eleven ‘scenes’ connected by one overarching drama, with a song or a poem scripted for each composition. Exploring the symbolism of light, space, and precious gemstones, as well as themes of solitude, memory, self-fulfilment, self-deception, rebirth, and reinvention, Triola masterfully shape exquisite, free-flowing movements of strings and percussion, marked by subtle infiltrations of aleatoric electronics and found sound

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€ 22

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Diepkloof United Voice : Harmonizing Soweto: Golden City Gospel & Kasi Soul from the new South Africa - LP (Ostinato, 2023)

Picture disc. Today, South Africa and its young people are 30 years detached from the end of apartheid and the achievement of Black majority political—but crucially not economic—power. Regrettably, the country languishes as a land of broken promises and unrealized potential. In apartheid-era South Africa, gospel music provided solace and served as a subversive tool for covert communication to circumvent the censorship of the settler regime. By the 2010s, gospel music in South Africa, deeply ingrained in the soul of Soweto, assumed a new role—as a heartfelt cry against persistent failures and shortcomings, a cry mourning a South Africa that never materialized. A new South Africa needed a new gospel sound / Diepkloof United Voice knew this. In 2016, nine young men from different parts of Diepkloof, a celebrated neighborhood brimming with talent within Soweto’s sprawling township, came together, united by their shared home and impatience with the second highest youth employment rate in the world. Frustrated by the state's repeated failures, they embraced self-empowerment through music. Diepkloof’s competitive yet supportive music scene became their proving ground. Yet, Soweto grapples with pervasive drug use and high crime rates while young people suffer illnesses prematurely because of misguided choices. Diepkloof United Voice is a refuge, shielding its members from the perils of drugs, health issues, crime, and gangs. It has become all too common for young men to acquire criminal records in Soweto, but none of Diepkloof United Voice share that fate. When they sing, everything feels right, everything feels safe / It is the sole force capable of bringing about change in their lives. If they were to ever stop, they believe they would only contribute to the statistics of shattered lives in their midst. Since their formation in 2016, Diepkloof United Voice's music has gone viral multiple times on TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook, garnering between 60,000 to 2 million views. The comments section displays flag emojis from Brazil to India, showcasing the global reach of their music. Locally too, the group will perform at funerals, weddings, theaters, graduation parties, churches, street parties, and radio stations, able to connect across generations. This album was recorded in an abandoned classroom of Lebowa Elementary School in Diepkloof Zone 3, where, symbolically, broken windows and brick walls created the backdrop for years of rehearsals and the honing of their sound

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€ 39

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Farazi, Kayra : Hayalet Isligi - LP (Below System, 2023)

This is the 10th year edition of the album "Hayalet Isligi (Instrumentals)" by Istanbul based Turkish producer Farazi. Originally released on September 13th 2013, the 10th year edition is remastered for the vinyl and digital release. The instrumental album is a combination of music based on classic Hip Hop rhythm and beats with samples taken from psychedelic rock to old Soviet and Balkan music. On Spotify alone, the album is streamed over 50 million times

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€ 23

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Furtherset : The Infinite Hour - LP (-ous, 2023)

'The Infinite Hour' is a shattered elegy synthesized in electronics. Furtherset’s music does not explain, settle or justify, it rather simply manifests the grip of anguish. As a whole, the album’s six compositions resemble the labored breathing of one who mourns a disappearance and fears oblivion. A feeling like having one’s chest weightened by a stone, while still being attentive to one’s breath, and aware of what remains. From this dimension The Infinite Hour arises and transfigures loss into a space that is always extending: the hour is infinite, the melody is circular, and even stasis has its own measure that is exceeded into eternity / The album was created between 2020 and 2022, in a slow process of writing and continuous refinement parallel to the previous EP, 'Auras'. The compositions found their final form during the mixing process carried out together with Bienoise. They were later named based on references to authors who influenced and are dear to Furtherset: Amelia Rosselli, Vladimir Chlebnikov, Hubert Damisch, Dante Alighieri. Each track, composed with its live rendition in mind, manifests itself to the listener as a possible variant of a path that is never definitive. Their live performance, an increasingly distinctive moment within Furtherset’s work, is a gesture of concentration and extension, where every composition is developed through meticulous variations of each singularity / 'The Infinite Hour' is one possible manifestation of an ever-changing musical landscape, a universe with unmistakable sounds but always on the verge of disintegrating, collapsing, and opening up spaces, times, infinities. Furtherset is the musical project of artist and musician Tommaso Pandolfi (1995). His compositions’ distinctive traits are stratifications and recursive shifting modulations, synthetic clusters and sampling, alongside rhythmic and embracing harmonies. The project is envisaged as formal research that follows a path towards saturation and layering, but is always capable of generating voids in which the listener can take their place and fill them according to their own focus

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€ 19

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Osmo Lindeman : Electronic Works - 2xLP+CD (Sähkö Recordings, 2023)

Electronic Works by Osmo Lindeman compiles electronic music works of a Finnish hybrid of Monty Norman, Krzysztof Penderecki and Edgar Varèse first time on an album. Lindeman composed these works in his private home studio during 1969–1974 / “Electronic music represents the future. Today, its use is limited due to the complexity of available methods. Eventually, when the technical production of electronic music becomes simpler, its use will undoubtedly increase. I doubt it will replace a live performance, but you never know. Electronic music is in some way cold, but isn’t our current world cold? / In politics they talk about ”cold war”, to give an example. Undoubtedly, there is something really cold about electronic music, but every era creates art that is related to itself. And art is an essential part of the life we live. Eventually, I faced the same problems in electronic music composition than when composing orchestral music.”

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€ 32

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Diepkloof United Voice : Harmonizing Soweto: Golden City Gospel & Kasi Soul from the new South Africa - LP (Ostinato, 2023)

Black vinyl. Today, South Africa and its young people are 30 years detached from the end of apartheid and the achievement of Black majority political—but crucially not economic—power. Regrettably, the country languishes as a land of broken promises and unrealized potential. In apartheid-era South Africa, gospel music provided solace and served as a subversive tool for covert communication to circumvent the censorship of the settler regime. By the 2010s, gospel music in South Africa, deeply ingrained in the soul of Soweto, assumed a new role—as a heartfelt cry against persistent failures and shortcomings, a cry mourning a South Africa that never materialized. A new South Africa needed a new gospel sound / Diepkloof United Voice knew this. In 2016, nine young men from different parts of Diepkloof, a celebrated neighborhood brimming with talent within Soweto’s sprawling township, came together, united by their shared home and impatience with the second highest youth employment rate in the world. Frustrated by the state's repeated failures, they embraced self-empowerment through music. Diepkloof’s competitive yet supportive music scene became their proving ground. Yet, Soweto grapples with pervasive drug use and high crime rates while young people suffer illnesses prematurely because of misguided choices. Diepkloof United Voice is a refuge, shielding its members from the perils of drugs, health issues, crime, and gangs. It has become all too common for young men to acquire criminal records in Soweto, but none of Diepkloof United Voice share that fate. When they sing, everything feels right, everything feels safe / It is the sole force capable of bringing about change in their lives. If they were to ever stop, they believe they would only contribute to the statistics of shattered lives in their midst. Since their formation in 2016, Diepkloof United Voice's music has gone viral multiple times on TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook, garnering between 60,000 to 2 million views. The comments section displays flag emojis from Brazil to India, showcasing the global reach of their music. Locally too, the group will perform at funerals, weddings, theaters, graduation parties, churches, street parties, and radio stations, able to connect across generations. This album was recorded in an abandoned classroom of Lebowa Elementary School in Diepkloof Zone 3, where, symbolically, broken windows and brick walls created the backdrop for years of rehearsals and the honing of their sound

SEALED

€ 25

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Diepkloof United Voice : Harmonizing Soweto: Golden City Gospel & Kasi Soul from the new South Africa - LP (Ostinato, 2023)

Soweto dusk orange vinyl. Today, South Africa and its young people are 30 years detached from the end of apartheid and the achievement of Black majority political—but crucially not economic—power. Regrettably, the country languishes as a land of broken promises and unrealized potential. In apartheid-era South Africa, gospel music provided solace and served as a subversive tool for covert communication to circumvent the censorship of the settler regime. By the 2010s, gospel music in South Africa, deeply ingrained in the soul of Soweto, assumed a new role—as a heartfelt cry against persistent failures and shortcomings, a cry mourning a South Africa that never materialized. A new South Africa needed a new gospel sound / Diepkloof United Voice knew this. In 2016, nine young men from different parts of Diepkloof, a celebrated neighborhood brimming with talent within Soweto’s sprawling township, came together, united by their shared home and impatience with the second highest youth employment rate in the world. Frustrated by the state's repeated failures, they embraced self-empowerment through music. Diepkloof’s competitive yet supportive music scene became their proving ground. Yet, Soweto grapples with pervasive drug use and high crime rates while young people suffer illnesses prematurely because of misguided choices. Diepkloof United Voice is a refuge, shielding its members from the perils of drugs, health issues, crime, and gangs. It has become all too common for young men to acquire criminal records in Soweto, but none of Diepkloof United Voice share that fate. When they sing, everything feels right, everything feels safe / It is the sole force capable of bringing about change in their lives. If they were to ever stop, they believe they would only contribute to the statistics of shattered lives in their midst. Since their formation in 2016, Diepkloof United Voice's music has gone viral multiple times on TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook, garnering between 60,000 to 2 million views. The comments section displays flag emojis from Brazil to India, showcasing the global reach of their music. Locally too, the group will perform at funerals, weddings, theaters, graduation parties, churches, street parties, and radio stations, able to connect across generations. This album was recorded in an abandoned classroom of Lebowa Elementary School in Diepkloof Zone 3, where, symbolically, broken windows and brick walls created the backdrop for years of rehearsals and the honing of their sound

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€ 29

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El Búho : Strata - LP (Wonderwheel, 2023)

Purple vinyl. El Buho’s fifth studio album may be his most personal yet. Strata draws from Robin’s attempts to grapple with the tension of experiencing happiness, joy and gratitude in our daily lives with loved ones or through sharing music while the world falls apart around us. This dynamic of trying to live in the moment and enjoy the privileged life we have yet in the back of your mind there is an overwhelming sense of dread that the world will never be the same and, as climate change really starts to hit home, there are incredibly difficult times ahead. It is about our attempts to find a place of peace, balance and fulfillment between these powerful strata above and below us / This is an album heavy with intimate and personal music that moves between personal joy and the anguish of our modern world. Timini is dedicated to Robin’s second son Oscar who earned the nickname Petit Mini (Little Mini) which became ‘Timini’. The track was inspired by the rustling wind and shaking leaves as Robin walked home from the hospital the evening after Oscar’s birth, writing the whole track in one exhausted and emotional sitting. Gentle Breeze was inspired by the feeling of a warm early summer’s afternoon with the family at home. Beautiful simplicity / On the other hand, Alarma de Emergencia is a cumbia for the endless alarm that has been ringing, unheard across our planet for decades. Fuel Fandango singer Nita’s beautiful lyrics to its sister track Cenizas de Agua reference the need to “open our hearts, look for our own reflection and break the silence” While on Brujería Bomba Estereo frontwoman Li Saument implores us to sanar (heal) and limpiar clean above Robin’s trademark floating flutes and an organic dem-bow beat

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€ 29

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Rrose : Please Touch - 2xLP (Eaux, 2023)

Eaux proudly announces the second full length solo LP from Rrose, Please Touch, released on vinyl, CD, and digital download in June 2023. The LP follows 2019’s Hymn to Moisture in ways that are both subtle and striking: Please Touch further hones the artist’s tensile sound while exploring new aesthetic vistas and basking in an undeniably erotic sense of play. Moving with undulating power, the album’s nine tracks drift across tempos from a weightless 0 bpm to a crawling 100 to a lunging 140 and back, with a rich palette of sculpted noise and cross-talking microtones. Rrose’s compositional process, rooted in their studies with West Coast avant garde trailblazers at Mills College, centers on “seed” sounds being fed through elaborate webs of interrelated audio processing / The result is a world where changes in any one element have downstream implications for some or all the others. It’s a rich interdependence that lets the tracks breathe, grow and mutate with uncanny organicism. Please Touch addresses in equal measure the perceptual and the corporeal: these are sounds that sink into the body, exhibiting a tactility that pushes, pulls, bends and yields with fearsome vibrancy. The album splits its time between radical techno iterations and pieces which pare back the percussion, letting the synth textures uncurl in their own time and space / The quivering drone and rolling sub-bass of “Joy of the Worm’’ set the tone for the record, while “Rib Cage,” Spore" and “Spines ” swing with stepping rhythmic underpinnings. Building with finely calibrated tension, they use their few elements to startling, snarling effect. “Pleasure Vessels” is a rare moment of becalmed introspection in Rrose’s oeuvre, hinting at a melodic ambiance that is practically unseen in previous works. It glows with a soft, dawn-like light before dissolving into a tidal fizz. “The Illuminating Glass’’ brings the tempo down to a languorous chug, nodding its way through a field of glistening chirps and leaden gasps. “Feeding Time,” “Disappear” and album closer “Turning Blue’’ meanwhile nod to the cerebral psychedelia of Rrose’s forebears, with mesmeric, looping textures and long, magisterial tones not dissimilar to the spectral works of James Tenney (whose work Rrose regularly performs) and the deep listening pieces of Pauline Oliveros

€ 29

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Claire M Singer : Soar - CD (Touch, 2023)

Comes in a DVD-sized case with artwork by Jon Wozencroft. Saor [pronounced Sieur: meaning “free” in Scottish Gaelic] is the first release in a triptych of albums, inspired by escapes to the peaks of Claire’s homeland of Scotland. Saor perfectly encapsulates Claire’s experimental approach to the pipe organ, exploring rich harmonic textures and complex overtones creating ever-shifting melodic and rhythmic patterns, which conjure visions of the Scottish dramatic landscapes she is inspired by / “Saor follows two narratives: my trekking across the Cairngorm mountains in Aberdeenshire through the granite plateaux, corries, glens and straths, and my exploration of the 1872 Conacher organ in Forgue Kirk Aberdeenshire where many of my ancestors lie”

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€ 16

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Various Artists : D-003 - MC (Doyenne, 2023)

Baby blue cassette tape, woodcut print cover. D003 arrives as a split between four experimental sound artists from London/LA, Philadelphia, Krakow, and Portland/Berlin

€ 14

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Nothing But Heart : Languor - MC (Possible Motive, 2023)

The luxurious threads of your recent tailored finds are a conspicuous reminder of the sins you can't outrun. Paradise, an elusive escape from the mundane bourgeois existence you yearned to shed, remains an elusive mirage. Your opulent den, a sanctuary for the modern-day clone, is a testament to the tainted wealth accumulated by a first world that thrives on the exploitation of the so-called others. Amidst the midnight downtown haze enchanting melodies of smart phones and social media, the allure of fame and recognition hangs like a heavy cloud, casting a shadow over the once-rosy promises of success. Your most recent purchase, which you once cherished, now appear tarnished, their value distorted by harsh realities

€ 14

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stroMMorts : Malville Superphénix: The Most Dangerous Machine In The World - CD (Ash International, 2023)

Superphénix is an industrial prototype for high-power sodium-cooled fast neutron reactors. It is located on the Creys-Malville site in France, close to the Swiss border. It is the largest fast neutron reactor in the world. Using modular synthesizers, field recordings and a bit of guitar, strom|morts take you on an aural tour of the plant in full operation. Discover the nuclear site room by room. From the control room to the reactor, the 12 drone pieces that make up the tour will give you an intense experience. Mixed by Randall Dunn

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€ 16

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Various Artists : The NID Tapes: Electronic Music From India 1969-1972 - LP+12" (The state51 Conspiracy, 2023)

Beautifully made double vinyl LP of this unique and important release featuring the earliest electronic music ever made in India. The black and white sleeve and inners feature archive photos of the composers at the NID and comes within a poly outer printed on both sides. The first 3 sides contain the music, the 4th features an etching created by Shreya Aurora, a recent graduate from the National Institute of Design where these recordings were created 60 years ago / The NID Tapes’ presents a collection of early Indian electronic music uncovered at the archives of the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad. Recorded between 1969-1972 the compilation chronicles electronic works from the previously unknown Indian composers Gita Sarabhai, I.S. Mathur, Atul Desai, S.C. Sharma and Jinraj Joshipura who worked at the nation’s first electronic music studio founded at the NID during the utopian years following India’s independence - a radical period of visionary experimentation and artistic free-thought / The studio was founded with support from the New York composer David Tudor who personally set up a Moog modular system and tape machine in the autumn of 1969, and The NID Tapes also includes an excerpt from Tudor’s work discovered amongst the collection of tapes. The release developed from a long-term research project by the British artist and electronic musician Paul Purgas who travelled to Ahmedabad over many years to explore the origins of electronic music in India. This resulted in the discovery of the electronic music archive at the NID and its eventual restoration and digitising, which featured in the acclaimed BBC radio documentary Electronic India

€ 36

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Better Corners : Continuous Miracles, Vol.2 - LP (The state51 Conspiracy, 2023)

Black, cream & white “twisted knot” vinyl housed in a printed inner sleeve and presented in a matt finish outer sleeve with a debossed spot gloss art square, slipped inside a stickered poly bag. Avant garde supergroup Better Corners hit sublime stride with atmospheric post-everything second album. Dream team trio Better Corners – Valentina Magaletti, Sarah Register and Matthew Simms – have completed a staggering new album Continuous Miracles: Vol. 2 for The state51 Conspiracy, and where their debut LP joyfully opened the door to a brand new room, this one strides purposefully inside / Renowned drummer/percussionist Magaletti (Holy Tongue, Vanishing Twin, Moin), avant rock musician and in demand mastering engineer Register (Kim Gordon, Talk Normal) and multi-instrumentalist and modular obsessed Simms (Wire, MEMORIALS) inject an all-too-rare sense of childlike wonder and joy into their own inimitable collage of experimental rock, wonky dream pop, analog ambient, tape experimentation, avant percussion, modular electronics and noise music. It is this sense of fun that led to one of the band’s “uncovers”: ‘Modulating De Niro’ began with a solo piano version of Bananarama’s ‘Robert De Niro’s Waiting’ which was then sent on a very long journey through modular synth patches and FX chains until it became the unrecognisable to the original and the majestic beast it is now / The album centres round the colossal 16-minute-long ‘Career Test’, a dynamic trip through glitch-enhanced noise, machine dub and the ambience of amplified rock music, to a transcendent, mind-expanding modern raga. The touchstones are varied and thrilling with nods to mid-80s Sonic Youth, Grouper, Stars Of The Lid, Arthur Russell, Delia Derbyshire, Bongwater and Claire Rousay

€ 25

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Santaka : Xram - 12" (Radio Vilnius, 2023)

Santaka is collaborative project of multi-instrumentalist Marijus Aleksa, DJ/Producer Manfredas Bajelis and their friends from Vilnius and beyond. ‘XRAM’ EP is their fourth release. Original version is one of the first tracks the duo created, before their partnership became a reality. It is built around vocal recordings from sessions with Vilnius resident Saulius Petreikis, a virtuoso of wind instruments. EP also features two other musicians featured on previous releases - Mindaugas Vadoklis & Andrei Rusu of Khidja / Record is opening with a swirling array of particles, it exudes a potent disorientating and intriguing aura, pushing the listener deeper into the void. This is followed by a hypnotic & stripped back remix by Marco Shuttle, an artist of singular techno aesthetics. ‘Crescent’ sets pace with a frantic, scattered synth programming - colliding with sliding dreamscape tones. ‘XDRUM’ follows a ritualistic rhythm section, punctuated by syncopated samples and eerie vocal notes ringing out in the darkness

€ 25

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Suzanne Ciani, Jonathan Fitoussi : Golden Apples Of The Sun - LP (Obliques, 2023)

Obliques and Atmospheric are very happy to present their new album “Golden Apples of the Sun”. It is the result of a close cooperation between Suzanne Ciani and Jonathan Fitoussi. The American electronic music pioneer (5 time Grammy award-nominated) has joined the French composer to sign a four-hand album around mythical synthesizers like Buchla, Moog and Ems... / Mainly recorded in California, facing the Pacific Ocean, the white sound of synthesizers mixes constantly with the sound of the waves and wind.The music generated is directly blended with the surrounding elements of nature.It is both organic and live, hypnotic and rhythmical, powerful and dreamlike / Suzanne is a five-time Grammy award-nominated composer, electronic music pioneer, and neo-classical recording artist who has released over 20 solo albums. Her work has been featured in films, games, and countless commercials as well. She was inducted into the first class of Keyboard Magazine's Hall of Fame alongside other synthluminaries. Most recently, she is the recipient of the Independent Icon Award from A2IM. Suzanne has provided the voice and sounds for Bally's groundbreaking "Xenon" pinball machine, created Coca-Cola’s pop-and-pour sound, designed logos for Fortune 500 companies, and carved out a niche as one of the most creatively successful female composers in the world

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€ 22

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John Coxon : Real Magic Vol.1 - LP (Treader, 2023)

Black vinyl with front laminated flipback "Manila" coloured card sleeves. Treader is proud to announce the first solo release from label-founder John Coxon. Best known for his work in Spring Heel Jack and Spiritualized, as well as extensive collaborative work with J. Spaceman, Evan Parker, Charles Hayward, Han Bennink and Pedro Reyes to name a few, it was perhaps inevitable that recent times allowed Coxon the space and time to experiment on his own / Real Magic Vol. 1 is the result of a year’s worth of early morning recordings made during 2021 in Coxon’s east London studio while he played with a newly acquired tube mic and grappled with chronic tinnitus. Coxon’s playful and inquisitive approach to working with minimal instrumentation (guitar, percussion, CDJ & turntable) was by self-imposed parameters (mono recordings, limited overdubs and post-production) allowing him to focus on making the music in the moment and staying out of his own way. Loosely improvised and non-recursive although anchored to root notes and two chord blues patterns, the music inhabits its own, very personal, space and reads as both a reflection on the act of making music and an Oulipian experiment with sound. Real Magic, knowingly oxymoronic, reflects Coxon’s feeling that ‘(music is) ...an endlessly fascinating and magical thing that I still don’t understand’ / Compiled by Mikel Acosta, Real Magic Vol. 1 perfectly captures these intimate and diaristic works of a specific point in an artists’ life. Acosta’s selection and sequencing provide a foothold for the listener, transforming the sketches into a surprisingly vivid and expressive suite of perfectly unbalanced meta-music. Perhaps the Sibelius quote ‘where language ends music begins’ captures the spirit of Real Magic Vol. 1 most accurately

€ 26

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Middex : In Second Floor and Third Floor Story - LP (Goods Outward, 2023)

180g black vinyl & paper inner. Outer sleeve & label ink stamped by hand, hand numbered with A4 insert, Edition of 180. There is a wall missing on the second floor. We are exposed to the brilliant light, the pixilated heat, moving with the sandstorm. The grains appear greyscale. Looking closer, each is iridescent; with the potential to bloom (in spite of the agriculture) / Follow the thread of shimmering bells, altering the air pressure. Up staircase. The denizens of this place, always just out of eye line. The Kleptomaniac, the Typical Male, the Wild Family. The Angels on a working breeze. The Been and the Gone. The Retching Birds. The Hyena up there. The Homophobic Neighbour. All leaving their impressions, heard but never seen / The third floor offers us shelter, though it is howling outside. Door after hall, after chamber, after corridor. Each cell filtering, through its own resonance to pure tones. The only way is onward, following the thread. Keeping a count as best you can

€ 25

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Deleted : Les Sentiments - MC (Infinite Expanse, 2023)

C50 with on-body printing in jewel case and printed two-sided j-card. Compilation of home-brewed experimental, dark pop, minimalist and industrial music / 'Les Sentiments' provides a crucial survey of Deleted, the solo project of prolific French artist Christophe Petchanatz, a long-time veteran of the underground scene who cropped up under many different pseudonyms and across a whole slew of bands. Most notably, this included Los Paranos and Klimperei, as well as frequent collaborations with the likes of Al Seamless and C-drík. Deleted, whose name is derived from those cassettes which were out of print and never reissued, and so were removed from a label’s catalogue and therefore “deleted”, served as an outpost for his slightly darker explorations into the world of new wave, experimental, industrial and minimalism, all of which uniquely sown with a home-brewed feel reminiscent of the period / The project was initiated in 1988 and eventually spanned almost 20 cassettes over the proceeding ten years, with releases on some of the stalwart labels such as EE, Tonspur, Corrosive and Old Europa Cafe. 'Les Sentiments' provides an initial gaze into such a world, featuring 14 tracks across six of his albums over 1988-1994, with a skew towards his earlier material but landing at some of his later stuff once through to the other side

€ 16

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Maleem Mahmoud Ghania, Pharoah Sanders : The Trance Of Seven Colors - 2xLP (Zehra, 2023)

Available on vinyl for the very first time: “The Trance Of Seven Colors” by master Gnawa musician Maleem Mahmoud Ghania and free jazz legend Pharoah Sanders. Produced by Bill Laswell and according to The Attic “one of the most important albums of Gnawa trance music released in the ‘90s” / Originally released in 1994 on Bill Laswell’s Axiom imprint, “The Trance Of Seven Colors” is the meeting of two true musical masters: Maleem Mahmoud Ghania (1951 – 2015), son of the master of Gnawa music Maleem Boubker Ghania and the famous clairvoyant and "moqaddema" A’isha Qabral, and a master of the traditional Gnawa style in his own right. Mahmoud learned this craft as a youth along with his brothers, walking from village to village, performing ceremonies with his father Boubker and was one of the few masters (Maleem) who continued to practice the Gnawa tradition strictly for healing (the central ritual of the Gnawa is the trance music ceremony – with the purpose of healing or purification of the participants). With 30 cassette releases of music from the Gnawa repertoire with his own ensemble and performances at every major festival in Morocco, including performing for the King in various contexts, Mahmoud Ghania was also one of Morocco's most prominent professional musicians / In 1994, Bill Laswell and Pharoah Sanders went to Mocrocco, equipped with just some mobile recording devices, to record Ghania and a large ensemble of musicians (to a good part family members) in a very intimate set up at a private house with the legendary free jazz musician contributing his distinctive tenor saxophone sounds that gained him highest praise as a truely spiritual soul right from the days of playing with John Coltrane and his wife Alice and on seminal solo albums like „Karma“. The aptly titled „The Trance of Seven Colors“ ranks among the best Gnawa recordings ever released , made it onto the list of “10 incredible percussive albums from around the world” by Thevinylfactory.com and is 25 years after its original CD release on finally available on vinyl!

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€ 22

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PainKiller : Execution Ground - 2xLP (Karlrecords, 2023)

Repress. Supergroup consisting of John Zorn, Mick Harris & Bill Laswell, avant-jazz, grindcore, dub and ambient melt into eerie tracks of haunting atmospheres / When PainKiller started in 1991, their first two albums “Guts Of A Virgin” and “Buried Secrets” (both released on extreme metal label Earache) were heavy attacks blending grindcore and free jazz that brought together the musical backgrounds of the three protagonists: drummer Mick Harris had just left grindcore legend Napalm Death, John Zorn explored new extremities with his Naked City project while Bill Laswell had as a member of roaring free jazz quartet Last Exit (Peter Brötzmann / Sonny Sharrock / Ronald Shannon Jackson) proven that he was not only a visionary producer but also an accomplished bassist / But it is their 1994 double album “Execution Ground” that remains the opus magnum of the brilliant trio: Zorn unmistakable shrieking saxophone, Harris’ pounding drums and Laswell growling sub-bass lines were given heavy mixing desk treatment, resulting in extended tracks that are no less intense than their early works but display the full range of the musicians’ skills. Soaked with reverb and delay, avant-jazz, grindcore, dub and ambient melt into eerie tracks of haunting atmospheres - even more so in the ambient versions of disc 2

€ 22

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Bene Gesserit : Postcards From Arrakis - LP (Everything Is Shit, 2023)

Remastered reissue of the Ding Dong cassette originally released in the mid eighties, this version contains five unreleased bonus tracks from the same period. This LP is released by the Belgian label Everything is Shit and comes with an A4 insert / Bene Gesserit is a husband and wife band founded by Trazegniet's natives Alain Neffe and Nadine Bal. Since the early 80's to this day, they have been both involved in several projects, as solo or in bands, like Human Flesh, Pseudo Code, I Scream, Japanese Genius, Subject or Cortex for Alain and Ornament and Crime Arkhestra for Nadine. Bene Gesserit's material was mostly self-released but had been also featured on various compilations and hosted by several labels like EE Tapes, Stroom, Minimal Wave, Calypso Now, etc / Alain is also the founder of the cult DIY label Insane Music on which he released his own music, other bands and these inventive packaging compilations quite logically named "Insane Music For People", followed by the "Home-made Music For Home-Made People" ones. They featured amongst others Algebra Suicide, Tara Cross, Colin Potter, Portion Control, Cortex, The Legendary Pink Dots, Diseno Corbusier, X-Ray Pop and many others...

€ 22

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Gigi Masin, Rod Modell : Red Hair Girl At The Lighthouse Beach - LP (13, 2023)

Clear vinyl second edition presented in a deluxe edition with printed innersleeve and a special transparent obi strip the cover is also printed internally. Hand numbered. Making music is trying to start over again every time. It’s a matter of questioning and approaching. It’s never settling for the sound that fills the world around. It’s looking for a door in the sky. And maybe find it, open it, go beyond it. Rod Modell and Gigi Masin, this time together, are offering each other vibrations and insights. The former lives between two lakes, the latter between the Venetian lagoon and the sea. Everyone on their own shore, building electronic bridges in semi-darkness to allow us to cross too / No words would be needed to explain this work... It is the meeting of two people, an exchange of different points of view. A way to meet and then break up. Rod has reworked a piece of Gigi making it his own... and so did Gigi with a piece of Rod. A magnificent intersection of sounds and thoughts... remaining suspended to watch the passing of time, to listen to the noises and silences of life that passes inexorably around us

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€ 29

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Index For Working Musik : Indexe’e - 12" (Tough Love, 2023)

Hand-stamped sleeves. A remodel in 40 minutes at half-time, the group temporarily slimmed and tuned to a different gait, a shifting of pulses, delay, moving air; the sound of the room and the body, of the body in the room; a room fogged as emphysemic lungs where indistinct translucent ooze lines its walls, possibly of paranormal origin, possibly of nocturnal transgression alone. The reality - as it ought - is occluded from view. Not necessarily the IFWM unit you might assume, but most certainly one of the many versions they've always been. And not so much a new beginning as an alternative diversion through the abyss. Indexe'e: aka Index For Working Musik. Onwards, inwards / RIYL: The Dead C, Birchville Cat Motel, Skullflower, Heat Exhaustion, feelings of confusion and self-recrimination et al

€ 29

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Tara Clerkin Trio : On The Turning Ground - 12" (World Of Echo, 2023)

Not far off two years from the day, Bristol's Tara Clerkin Trio return to World of Echo and the EP format for a five song collection of quixotic, emotional redolence. But do not mistake their absence for inertia. If their musical output has been a little sparse during those in-between years, limited to a few solo ventures and an astonishing ten minute long piece as a trio, their time has otherwise been richly spent: continuous writing and recording, extensive live performances across Europe and Japan, a cultivation of local and more far-flung artistic connections (musical and otherwise), and a monthly NTS show that, through the voice of others, speaks most obviously to their own unorthodox interests / It's the conflux of that winding activity that leads indirectly to On The Turning Ground, 26 minutes of probing, thoughtful composition that draws from no one specific source. Their inspirations might be centreless, but the trio still possess a very obvious anchor in the form of their hometown. Bristol stands as a city of multitudes, heterogenous and vibrant in such a way as to allow it to renew and remake time and again. Tara Clerkin Trio drink from that same well, duly reflecting a rich musical heritage built on fwd-facing electronic subcultures and experimental urges. As such, On The Turning Ground finds them subject to their own subtle internal evolution, the pervasive sense that you've caught them mid-bloom, on their way to becoming but never anything but themselves / The two instrumental pieces that bookend the EP stand as a perfect case in point, displaying an increasing mastery of compositional space. Pensive and restrained, 'Brigstow' and 'Once Around' both emanate an interstitial quality that's not so much after- as in-between-hours, miniature dub-folk symphonies held together by the kind of tacit understanding that remains the preserve of only the closest of family units. If those two tracks are shaped by a sense of shifting temporality, then the three vocal-led pieces that comprise the record's core feel like a gentle ossifying of aesthetic into something approaching their own unique form of avant-pop. 'Pop' is, of course, a broadly subjective concept, but there's no avoiding the overt sparkling melodicism of songs like 'Marble Walls' and 'The Turning Ground', undeniable re-directions of that late 90s impulse to bend pop sensibilities into off-centre terrain, to render the familiar new again

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€ 22

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Bowery Electric : Bowery Electric - 2xLP Box (Kranky, 2023)

Reissue of debut album from 1995, now including their 1994 Drop EP. First time available on vinyl in nearly two decades. On Pitchfork’s best shoegaze albums of all time list / Included in Andrew Earles’s Gimme Indie Rock: 500 Essential American Underground Rock Albums 1981-1996. This new double LP version restores the track “Deep Sky Objects” to the original running order of the album as it was left off of the original single LP version due to side length restraints. This is the first time this album has been available on vinyl in almost two decades, and the first time the Drop EP has been available in any format since original release in 1994

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€ 39

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Elizabeth Parker : Future Perfect - LP (Trunk, 2023)

Elizabeth Parker is a composer you may not have heard of until now. Well here she is, in all her musical glory, having worked for decades at the front line of British electronics, radiophonics, soundracks and more. This is an album full of musical ideas ahead of the curve, with contemporary technology that was to go on and very much shape the future of sound we know now. From classic tape loop techniques to modern sampling concepts you will find dark ambience, drones, beer adverts and drifts into space. This is the first ever Elizabeth Parker LP and represents (with 26 tracks) a very small retrospective of her extraordinarily prolific and commercial output. Not to be missed

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€ 26

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Bill Orcutt : Jump On It - LP (Palilalia, 2023)

It’s been ten years since Bill Orcutt released A History of Every One, a compendium of hacksaw renditions of American standards on acoustic guitar — and since ten years is a blink of an eye, you are forgiven for not immediately realizing that we've gone an entire decade waiting for Jump On It, the next Orcutt solo acoustic record / As those of us of “a certain age” will tell you (ad nauseam), a decade is a blink of an eye containing an infinity of experiential moments, and if this record is any gauge, the weight of those experiences have squashed Orcutt’s rough edges, feathered his stop-motion timing into a languid lyrical flow, and snapped the shackles tethering his instant compositional skills to the imperative to deconstruct guitar history. In short, Jump On It is a collection of canonical, mature acoustic guitar soli to contrast against the fractured downtown conceits of previous acoustic releases. For those paying attention to the arc of Orcutt’s electric records, which chart a course from Quine’s choppiness to Thompsonian / Verlaine-ian flow, it should be no surprise that the ten year gap between acoustic records should expose a similar underlying journey

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€ 33

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Bill Orcutt : Odds Against Tomorrow - LP (Palilalia, 2019)

After two LPs and over half a decade spent toiling in the margins of the American Songbook, Bill Orcutt returns to original composition and the blues with his latest LP, Odds Against Tomorrow. Taking its title from Robert Wise’s 1959 film noir, Odds Against Tomorrow retrofits familiar folk/blues forms to the unique sound of Orcutt’s guitar and the result crackles with a freshness and authority that nostalgic retreads cannot deliver / Odds Against Tomorrow is more than an expansion of the territory charted by Bill Orcutt, his eponymous 2017 studio electric debut, although it’s certainly that. With its nods to existing musics, half- step fluctuations, and near-songwriterly manipulations of tension/release, Odds Against Tomorrow is a rock record — almost. Clearly and simply recorded through a clattering Fender Twin in Orcutt’s living room and lovingly mixed by Bay Area neighbor and pedal-steel savant Chuck Johnson, no one would mistake it for any era’s radio fodder, yet the precision of its technique and the swaying Child-ballad logic of its gentler improvisations comfortably seats it between John Mayall and Richard Thompson in your Ikea Kallax

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€ 29

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Jeff Parker : Slight Freedom - LP (Eremite, 2022)

His first solo recording, in 2013-14; on top-quality vinyl, in a flipback sleeve. ‘Parker combines the dark tonal palette & percussive attack he’s long been known for with real-time processing elements & field recordings, deftly crafting a unique world of solo guitar music — multilingual, mysterious, alive with extraordinary sonic events, with a sturdy intelligence in charge & a raw homestyle vibe. The title composition sets the album’s cavernous mood. Terse lines & ricocheting loops morph into a gnarly ambient section that resembles Neil Young droning out over a vg+ copy of Discreet Music / Parker creates a different sort of ambient space in his take on Frank Ocean’s Super Rich Kids, bending the melody around a bossa nova rhythm into a moodsville tone poem. Parker makes an extraordinary long-form statement out of Chad Taylor’s Mainz, a piece he first recorded with Taylor & Chris Lopes on the album Bright Light In Winter. Twice the length of the trio recording, the multi-layered soliloquy finds Parker leaping from the high rung to damn near orchestral heights, pushing his techniques & concepts to the breaking points. To say Lush Life comes with formidable baggage is an understatement. Parker achieves instant classic status with a rendition that sounds beamed-in from a decommissioned satellite — burned out, covered in space grit, yet still formally nuanced & beautifully reflective of Strayhorn’s world-weary lyrics… An artist who’s clearly taking his music to the next level.’

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€ 39

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Annea Lockwood : A Sound Map Of The Danube - 3xCD (Lovely Music, 2008)

Annea Lockwood has been recording rivers since 1970, "not to document them, but rather for the special state of mind and body which the sounds of moving water create when one listens intently to the complex mesh of rhythms and pitches."' Lovely Music, Ltd. released Annea's seminal work A Sound Map of the Hudson River in 1989. Nineteen years later, we are proud to present A Sound Map of the Danube, her largest river recording project to date / Recorded over three years and five trips to Europe, A Sound Map of the Danube traces the second longest European river's run from the Black Forest in Germany to its delta into the Black Sea. The recordings comprise sounds from the banks, from above and below the water, animals, insects, and interviews with people who live by the great river. The three disc set also includes a fold-out map with album notes and interview translations on the reverse side

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€ 39

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Annea Lockwood : Ground Of Being - CD (Recital, 2014)

'Annea Lockwood (b. 1939, New Zealand) has been an active member of the sound art world for over 50 years. Known prominently for her Glass Concerts, exploring the sonic temperaments of glass; her Piano Transplants, a performance piece where a piano is lit on fire or partially buried; and Sound Maps, detailed audio studies of rivers in the United States. She has received international recognition for her unique relationship with sound. Lockwood has taught at a number of universities, most notably at Vassar in New York, where she taught since 1982. Although recently retired, she is still constantly engaged in her art, recording and composing from the world around her / Ground Of Being presents four pieces ranging from 1996 to 2013. Unlike her Sound Map albums, which often work environmentally (as a window fixed in a room), Ground Of Being tells a more detailed story. A moving series of memories, or a collection of different dreams / Annea has a keen connection with the resonances of the Earth; whether it be the detail of water sloshing, the reverberation of a voice in a room, or that of acoustical instruments. With these natural resonances in her palette, a unification of all sounds is formed. For example, the piece “Dusk” (2011) juxtaposes recordings from vents on the bottom of the ocean together with transposed bat calls. Additionally, on Lockwood’s composition “Ear-Walking Woman” (1996), performed here by Lois Svard (Lovely Music, Ltd.) – prepared piano acts as a microcosm of the world of sound.'

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€ 19

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Don Cherry : Home Boy, Sister Out - 2xLP (Wewantsounds, 2018)

Gatefold Sleeve with 2 LPs including the original 1985 LP plus an additional LP worth of bonus tracks plus new liner notes by French journalist Jacques Denis (Liberation, Superfly) in French and English. Don Cherry's downtown Paris funk masterwork / Produced in 1985 by Ramuntcho Matta and originally released by Barclay in France only, finally gets a worldwide release on Wewantsounds. The album features French post punk muse Elli Medeiros (Stinky Toys, Elli & Jacno), avant garde poet Brion Gysin and cult Senegalese drummer Abdoulaye Prosper Niang (from the mythical group Xalam). Newly Remastered, the album is augmented by five bonus tracks culled from Matta's vauts and including the superb "Kick" featuring Gysin

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€ 36

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Various Artists : Bolinus Brandaris: Flamenco From The Bay Of Cadiz - CD+Book (Dust-to-Digital, 2023)

96-page hardcover book with lyric transcriptions, cultural and regional history, artist biographies, a glossary, and 46 photos printed on artbook-quality paper. Includes an audio CD. In 2015, New York-based producer David Aglow traveled to Spain searching for the roots of flamenco. At the time he set out on the recording project, a local newspaper wrote about Aglow's mission and referred to him as "an American in love with flamenco." It is his passion and drive to document the most authentic flamenco traditions of today that propels our new release "Bolinus Brandaris: Flamenco from the Bay of Cadiz.” / "Bolinus Brandaris" takes the listener to the Bay of Cadiz, which is often referred to as cuna del cante (cradle of song). This southernmost part of mainland Spain is considered the birthplace and heartland of flamenco, where many song styles originated then radiated out through the rest of Andalusia. Expertly recorded with modern technology in informal settings, these recordings document flamenco culture as it is being lived in present times. This release includes a comprehensive 96-page book with lyric transcriptions, cultural and regional histories, artist biographies, and a glossary in PDF format

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€ 36

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Laurel Halo : Atlas - LP (Awe, 2023)

Black vinyl. Atlas, the latest album from renowned electronic artist Laurel Halo, is a suite of sensual ambient jazz collages, designed to take the listener on a roadtrip through the subconscious. Blending both synthetic ambient textures and acoustic instrumentation, the album is a series of endlessly listenable maps, rife with hidden detail / “Belleville” - the first single on Atlas - is a disarming piano ballad, recorded in one take during the spring of 2021. It's embellished with undertows of processed vibraphone, as well as a sudden, gorgeous stack of vocal harmonies featuring Coby Sey

€ 33

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Bill Orcutt, Chris Corsano : Brace Up! - LP (Palilalia, 2018)

Brace Up! is the first ever studio release from the duo of Chris Corsano (drums) and Bill Orcutt (guitar). Recorded in Brussels at Les Ateliers Claus by Christophe Albertijn on March 19th and 20th, 2018. Stage dive photograph by Jason Penner / "Over the past six years or so, drummer Chris Corsano has proven to be one of Bill Orcutt's most reliably flexible collusionists. Regardless of whether Bill is cluster-busting electric guitar strings, weaseling around with cracked electronics, or playing relatively spacious free-rock, Corsano is able to provide the proper base for his aural sculpting. A lot of Orcutt's instrumental work has traditionally felt hermetic even though he's exploring caverns of explosive ecstasy. One often got the impression Bill was operating in the way John Travolta did in the classic 1976 ABC television drama, The Boy in the Plastic Bubble. Orcutt's actual interaction with collaborators emerged not from communication so much as pure observation. While he was fully cognizant of his musical surroundings, his reactions to it were walled off / This approach did not encourage sonic dialogue so much as parallel streams of discourse. These streams could interact with each other, but not in particularly standard ways. On Brace Up! , their first ever studio release, this precept has changed considerably. Whether it's a function of emotional familiarity or an intellectual choice I dunno, but there's a whole new kind of duo exchange going down on this record. Bill and Chris are clearly playing off each other's moves throughout the album. And it really raises the level of the music to an all-time high. From the cop car see-saw of 'Poundland Frenzy' to the mutual pummeling of 'Paranoid Time' (possibly a Minutemen tribute?) to the lazychicken- gets-stung-prog of 'She Punched a Hole in the Moon for Me,' the sounds on Brace Up! display a constant flow of ideas and instantaneous conjugation of newly forged verbs. As great as Bill and Chris's previous duo records have been, this one's greater." -- Byron Coley

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€ 29

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Leo Hofmann : Kapriole - LP (Präsens Editionen, 2022)

After working in music theatre, sound art and performance contexts, Kapriole is the debut album by Zurich- and Hamburg-based artist Leo Hofmann. Central to the album, which refers in its title to a joyous jump (in classical horse riding as much as in life in general), is the ambition to translate an ephemeral practice into recorded matter. Fixed but never static, Kapriole is informed by intimate and detailed listening situations and sound practices like ASMR or the acoustically sheltered world of noise cancelling headphones / And while it’s apparent that Hofmann has a deeply rooted understanding and command of technology and its abundant possibilities, Kapriole is a tender and almost analogue feeling affair: as in his performative practice, the human voice occupies a central role in the musical configuration of the album. Quirky repetitions, hushed fragments and poetic statements circling topics like communication, mobility, and immersion occupy the album’s eight tracks. The result is a sonorous sensation, which, in its scarcity, paves the way for meticulously crafted and delicate soundscapes. Kapriole as a joyous jump which is technological as much as it is emotional / As the stage has been central to Hofmann’s oeuvre of the last ten years, the release of his debut album examines forms of exhibiting music in the digital sphere. Kapriole is therefore accompanied by a microsite programmed by Frederik Mahler-Andersen, serving as a casual but sincere exploration of an alternative stage. The last two years have shown the unexpected limitations that thinking and working in conventional live formats entails. The set-up of Kapriole as a multimedia project thus carries out a shift into a virtual space, although it might transfer to a physical stage at some point in the future

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€ 22

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L.Zylberberg : Her Her - MC (Präsens Editionen, 2023)

Everything about her her, the first full length album by Berlin-based Australian artist L.Zylberberg seems at first a little bit strange—in the best possible way. A little bit off yet playful, intriguing and perhaps a touch deceptive. Sounds, arrangements and images cajole the listener to second guess themselves and re-evaluate the listening experience as it's happening. It's a trip, it’s transcendental, but her her does not stylistically fall into such simple catagorisations. her her is a meticulously-crafted egress into a sonic world that is at times tense, lush, dense, and sometimes just hush / This is the third offering by Zylberberg on Swiss publishing house Präsens Editionen, following a split tape with producer and singer Belia Winnewisser and a digital release that was accompanied by a silk foulard. Zylberberg has strong ties to Berlin's Sameheads family and Tbilisi’s Mutant Radio. She also co-runs the infamous party series Twista and is a deadly DJ

€ 12

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Martina Lussi : Balance - LP (Präsens Editionen, 2023)

Blue vinyl, cover design by Dorothee Dähler, features scented inner record sleeve, scent by In’n’Out Fragrances. The new album of Swiss artist Martina Lussi joins what no longer is conjoined. Conceived and realized over a period marked by changes in both the private sphere and the world at large, none of which were thinkable before, Balance brings together the before and after. “Fragments of Attention” is the fulcrum of the album: it separates the first half, written before Covid, from the second, composed during the lockdown. The six-minute track serves as a rupture and bridge between a career at its by no means definitive apex and a new uncertainty in various aspects of life / In spite of the division, Balance is held together by a common feature: Lussi’s voice, with which every composition began. Her singing, modified by effects, is supplemented by other sounds, which are light at times, bittersweet at others, and sometimes replace her voice altogether. Lussi’s singing plunges “Meditation on the Multitab” on the first half of the album into a cosmic soundscape; occasionally a rhythm irrupts into it. On “Time Lapse,” a track from the second half, the artist’s singsong articulates rhythmical elements and propels them towards a reluctant euphoria / As an album, Balance appears open and fragile, at times even vulnerable, but Lussi’s relentless openness derives from the immense strength needed to weather changes both small and large. Following the album’s production, the artist had Balance translated visually and olfactorily. The Amsterdam-based perfumer Niklaus Mettler concocted a scent based on the album, which accompanies the release. The artwork, into which the scent is integrated, was designed by the Zurich-based graphic designer Dorothee Dähler

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€ 25

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Samuel Reinhard : Repetitions - MC (Hallow Ground, Präsens Editionen, 2022)

On Repetitions, New York-based Swiss artist and composer Samuel Reinhard brings us close enough to a piece of music that its systematic nature begins to buckle and fade. Across four movements, three pianos pursue their own respective threadbare motifs, which overlap at the hands of a predetermined ratio of duration. What unfolds—at first glance slow, melancholic, deliberate, even plain—is a study of repetition’s in-betweens, populated by unexpected resonances and delicate traces of notes in the process of being played by human hands. The three pianos are not in sync, but are nevertheless in relation, the nature of which shifts with the listener’s orientation and attention. Each piece within Repetitions arrives as a constant whole, containing harmonies and silences that are in a never-ending process of unfurling / Repetitions is a joint release from Hallow Ground and Präsens Editionen and follows offerings by Kali Malone, Lawrence English, and FUJI | | | | | | | | | | TA on Hallow Ground, and Robert Turman, Magda Drozd, and Anna Homler on Präsens Editionen

€ 12

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Het Zweet : 2XLIVE88 - 2xCD (EE Tapes, 2023)

One-man project of Marien Van Oers from Breda (NL), active from 1983 to 1988. Driven tribal percussion music such as Z'EV, Muslimgauze or perhaps Test Dept. Sadly Marien passed away on 8 january 2013 / Unreleased live recordings, probably his last ones. Live at Club Utopia in Elsloo (NL) 1988-04-01, ssupport for Bourbonese Qualk. Live on radio Militia / Vrije Radio Demervallei (B) 1988-04-06 / Recorded and mastered for CD by Frank Gorissen (Militia) @ Subterra Studio RecordingsArtwork by Joachim Cappaert (joachimcappaert.art). Graphic design by Jan Van den Broeke. Edition of 150 copies in A5-sized cardsleeve

€ 10

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Various Artists : The Love You Save: American Soul Music 1955-1972 - 2xLP (Cairo, 2018)

Great compilation of rare soul music from the Cairo imprint of Mississippi Records, done with a similar approach to Mississippi's other reissues of folk, blues, and world music. It contains lots of deep soul gems from well know artists and some obscure artists. Comes with booklet, Mississippi style. Super fancy limited edition double LP not to be missed

€ 39

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Various Artists : Freedom For The Stallion - American Soul Music 1952-1976 - 3xLP (Cairo, 2019)

Tip-on gold foil cover / Volume 4 of the Cairo Records soul series. 3xLP, long sold out, but Cairo made a few warehouse copies available. Includes big booklet with artist biographies and photos

€ 59

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Emahoy Tsegué-Mariam Guèbru : Emahoy Tsegué-Mariam Guèbru - LP (Mississippi, 2023)

We're extremely happy to bring back one of the most sought after Mississippi releases. Pressed on high quality vinyl with newly translated back cover notes by the artist. The second LP compendium of Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru’s early solo piano works, recorded throughout the 1960s – finally available again. Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru is a true original – her compositions and unique playing style live somewhere between Erik Satie, Debussy, liturgical music of the Coptic Ethiopian Church, and Ethiopian traditional music. It is some of the most moving piano music you will ever hear! / These original compositions, performed by Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru herself on solo piano, were originally self-released in Germany in small editions as fundraisers for orphanages, support organizations for widows of war victims, and other philanthropic causes. We are humbled and proud to present this album in collaboration with the Emahoy Tsegué-Mariam Music Publisher and Foundation, and to assist in continuing her life-long mission of using music as a vessel to care for those who have been abandoned by society, or harmed by strife / Black vinyl LP comes in black inner-sleeves and heavy cardstock jacket with color printing and gold-foil stamping, and song notes by the composer herself. Restored and remastered by Timothy Stollenwerk

€ 39

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Lise Barkas, Lisa Kauffert : Lo Becat - LP (Morc, 2023)

The album, pressed on high quality german vinyl - comes in a screenprinted chipboard sleeve, with download coupon. Buckle up for an extraordinary sonic journey that begins the moment you drop the needle. 'Lo Becat is one long compostion, spread over two sides, and brings you drones, soft melodies and untamed rhythms, often all at once. t's simultaneously warm, heavy, and soothing / Drawing from their backgrounds in both traditional and experimental music, Lise & Lisa bring the best of these two kinds of music together in Lo Becat. The composition commences with a hushed and droning overture, exploring the harmonies that unites their two bagpipes. What follows is a sprawling reinterpretation of ‘la belle va au jardin des amours’ - a French traditional that’s usually sung, but here it gets an equally beautiful yet totally different version. All the while, Lise and Lisa converge the sounds of their bagpipes together into a sonic whirlwind. Towards the end of the composition, a small portion of a French traditional dance a ‘bourrée’, is intertwined, creating a bridge between the ecstatic trance-inducing parts in both drone and folkloric dance music. Totally unheard, and mind boggling / ‘Lo Becat’ offers a unique auditory experience that fearlessly transcends conventional musical boundaries, wandering around through sonic depths, simultaneously sounding really old and very new

€ 18

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Roxane Métayer : Éclipse des Ocelles - LP (Morc, 2023)

Fourth edition, this time of 150 copies, on high quality german vinyl. LP comes in a full colour sleeve, drawn and designed by Roxane. comes with a download coupon. Only difference with the previous pressings: this one comes on red vinyl, to celebrate Roxane's Japanese tour / Born in France and currently residing in Brussels, Roxane Métayer is truly a multidisciplinary artist. Learning the violin at a young age, she also developed herself as a visual artist, creating drawings, sculptures in uncommon materials as soap, and in recent years video. Her work as a musician is of an equally spontaneous nature. Though Éclipse des Ocelles is her debut album, she’s been quite active the past couple of years, in the duo’s Gebogen Ogen and Sage Alyte (with whom she released an lp on Vlek early in 2021) / On her first solo lp, Roxane Métayer fully explores the sonic possibilities of the violin, field recordings and folk oriented orchestration and melodies. The violin is often taking the melodic lead, but at the same time serves a drone background, but just as much a percussion instrument. In any case: the focus is definitely on the sound itself. She’s not afraid to use effects, minimal percussion, whistles and the occasional hushed vocal to expand the sonic palette to a maximum effect, resulting in multilayered, semi-improvised and subtle meanderings, gently evolving around a tight core

€ 18

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Morton Feldman : Piano, Violin, Viola, Cello - LP+12" (God Records, 2023)

Etching on side 4. Feldman's last composition, « Piano, Violin, Viola, Cello », was completed in 1987; although its instrumentation largely corresponds to that of Piano and String Quartet, with one instead of two violins, it differs in almost every other respect from the composition written only two years earlier, for here, in contrast to Piano and String Quartet, Feldman makes every effort to integrate the piano into the string section, and the basic formal components of the composition are no longer staves, as they were in Piano and String Quartet, but individual bars / From a compositional point of view, the essential change that transfers the "monolithic block" of late orchestral works such as « Coptic Light » and « For Samuel Beckett » to chamber music instrumentation is that the material, already largely homogeneous, is rearranged not in whole systems but in small-part permutations, so that the systems and pages no longer represent periods or sections, and a continuous musical progression emerges with a much reduced internal structure compared to previous works." - Sebastian Claren

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€ 36

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Princess Diana Of Wales, Thomas Bush : Live - MC (Felt, 2023)

Live document of Princess Diana of Wales at Cafe OTO July last year and Thomas Bush performing in Copenhagen in March of this. We were actually in attendance at the PDoW show, but all i really remember of it was the dawning realisation that we had Covid and needing to leave promptly, missing most of the performance as a result (and Thomas Bush's headline set that night, though i guess they didn't record that and couldn't include here - we shall never know what it was like) / This cassette jogs a few memories of the smoky, heatsick dub incantations that Laila Sakini conjured while sat cross-legged in the middle of the room, a purgatorial kind of sound that actually provides a remarkable fit for the burgeoning confusion of our disease-addled minds that night. Cool to re-live. Bush's 45 min performance on the flip is a neat foil, all strange clang and Cold Storage/Psychic TV low-key malevolence, not unlike being trapped inside the stereo of Christopher Petit's Radio On. High praise indeed. Note to self: don't get sick next time Thomas Bush is in town. This'll do just fine in the meantime

€ 14

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Accou : French Fried - 7" (Lexi Disques, 2023)

Born french, fried in Belgium, Accou recently delivered on stage ecstatic dancefloor sets for the techno enthusiast. Back to the intimacy of his studio, Antoine dives into layered dreamy electronics with a warm loving feeling covered under six feet of snow. On the other side of the record, that noisy guitar sound coming straight out of the early nineties instantly catches the ear for a joyful travel in time

€ 11

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Ryuichi Sakamoto : Ongaku Zukan - LP+7" (Wewantsounds, 2023)

Wewantsounds is delighted to announce the first ever international release of Ryuichi Sakamoto's landmark 1984 album « Ongaku Zukan » in its Japanese edition featuring remastered audio, bonus tracks, original artwork and new liner notes by Andy Beta. Originally issued in Japan on his own School label in 1984, the reissue will replicate the original Japanese CD featuring two bonus tracks "Replica" and "Ma Mère l’Oye". Remastered by Saidera Mastering in Tokyo, the reissue boasts the original gatefold artwork plus an extra 2-page insert

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€ 36

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Suso Sáiz : Resonant Bodies - 2xLP (Music From Memory, 2022)

Music From Memory are excited to present the latest chapter in their ongoing collaboration with seminal Spanish ambient musician Suso Saiz. 'Resonant Bodies’ is Suso’s seventh album project with the label and again raises the bar of his musical output, embracing a conceptual approach of which Suso himself says the following: / “A body vibrates producing a sound that reaches another body and makes it vibrate and generate a new sound that makes another body vibrate that generates another sound... Imagine an infinite orchestra of bodies multiplying their sound vibrations creating the symphony of Resonant Bodies. Resonance as a principle of Communication; sound as a builder of ties and interrelations between men. Resonant Bodies pieces are part of a whole and are both generators of it. Unlike other works, during the approximately two years it took me to finish Resonant Bodies, the pieces were gradually completed and small sound particles were added caused by the vibrations generated by the previous layers until creating imperfect and synchronized sound objects. Communication.”

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€ 22

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Gidia : Struga - 2xLP (L.I.E.S. Records, 2023)

Gidia is a Greek duo of George Kondaktor and Giorgos Lemos, part of Athens fruitful electronic music scene for a long time they deliver a double lp of feedback washed industrialized soundscapes on top of pulverizing rhythms within a loose framework dictated by the machines. Not without roots in tradition this record features the percussion of Sepultura's Iggor Cavalera and haunting vocal appearances from The Vougioukli_Sisters on a handful of songs. Tense, drama fueled cuts!

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€ 22

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Ash Ra Tempel : Ash Ra Tempel - 50th Anniversary Edition - LP (MG.ART, 2023)

140gr black vinyl. 50th Anniversary re-edition, re-cut carefully overseen by Manuel Göttsching, 350gsm quadro fold out sleeve, A2 poster, two A4 inlay (German and English) with original bio sheet written by Manuel Göttsching in 1970. Ash Ra Tempel is the eponymous debut studio album by the krautrock band Ash Ra Tempel. It features guitarist Manuel Göttsching with drummer Klaus Schulze and bassist Hartmut Enke. Engineered by Conny Plank it was recorded in March 1971 and released in June 1971 on Ohr Records. This 50th Anniversary album will be released in memoriam of all the musical contributors to this release and on Manuel Göttsching’s MG.ART label. It's the fourth and headlining edition in this series and was finalised, carefully overseen by Manuel Göttsching himself in the late Autumn of 2022 / Much has been written about the record and band. Having finished a first musical chapter with their Steeple Chase Bluesband and still at the very young age of only 17 and 18 years old Manuel Göttsching and Hartmut Enke met Klaus Schulze. Together they started to write and and compose what, to many, became one the holy grails of psychedelic rock and early electronic music – the German variant which was later also named “Krautrock”: / “The trio of Klaus Schulze, Manuel Göttsching and Hartmut Enke decided to abandon conventional composition and songwriting, in favour of free-form improvising and developing a new musical language. As such, they became notorious for jams that could exceed 30 minutes.” Says Discogs. “Some of these recordings can be found on Manuel Göttsching's “The Private Tapes” releases”, which will be re-released on MG.ART as well, following this edition. “AllMusic called the album both astonishingly prescient and just flat out good, a logical extension of the space-jam- freakout ethos into rarified realms.”

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€ 32

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Tarzana, Sun Araw : Aqua X: Super Coracle / Tarzana - LP (Discrepant, Keroxen, 2023)

Introducing a super charged split LP featuring the talents of Cameron Stallones aka Sun Araw and Spencer Clark’s duo with Jan Andersen, Tarzana / What originally started as an Aquapelago inspired residency in the summer of 2021 quickly developed into its own thing. Truth be told, both artists always surfed their own personal waves of musical freedom, so Aquapelagos Vol.2 album became AQUA X, a split offshoot work featuring rehashed Tarzana compositions on one side and a live presentation form Cameron’s residency in the island of Tenerife around Keroxen festival’s 13th Edition. With two artists very dear to us this split LP picks up perfectly on the aquapelagic concept and twists inside out into worlds high and below creating a further testament to both’s artists oeuvres

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€ 21

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Natalia Beylis : Mermaids - LP (Touch Sensitive, 2023)

'It was a rainy day at the recycling centre in Leitrim. There, amongst the tangle of discarded kettles and broken down toasters, I first laid eyes on her: a CRB Elettronica Ancona - Model: Diamond 708 E Electric Keyboard. She waited, resolved to her fate of slowly oxidizing in the drizzle before being crumpled into the back of a lorry heading for the landfill. Or maybe, she waited, knowing I would come. I smuggled her into the back of my van and brought her home. For years, she sat untouched in the corner of my studio. Until one day when I finally plugged her in and she came alive with an unpredictable rattle. I took her apart and inside I found three broken purple crayons broken into nine pieces. With the crayons excavated, she sounded perfect. To me anyway / The sounds that come from her when I play always move me like water: swimming in rivers and floating in the murk beneath the surface. When I found the cover picture of the three figures in a stack of old family photos, a confluence of the sounds and the image charged through me and the album Mermaids began to flicker into being.'

€ 26

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Joseph of Kirezi : The Only Way Out Is Through - Bleeding Jams Vol. 1 - LP (Cardinal Fuzz, Feeding Tube, We Here & Now, 2023)

Joseph of Kirezi were formed in Ikebukuro (Tokyo) in 2012 wherever since they have been roaming the outermost corners of the black clad psychedelic underground. So please get ready to treat your ears to ‘The Only Way Out Is Through’ – a pounding tour de force of amp destroying killer Fuzz Wah Sike Rock / If there was ever music to be played in that killer sixties exploitation movie – in that biker club scene where every one has been spiked with the brown acid and the bad trip is coming on strong – then this is the music that would be playing – a pounding and ferocious white noise psychedelic nightmare. We are not dealing with any subtle intricacies here, just the joy in the classic combination of excess volume and repetition – crushing levels of heaviness all enveloped in a white noise fury. Taking cues from kindred spirits such as High Rise, The Stooges, Black Sabbath, Hawkwind, Amon Düül II, Spacemen 3, The Heads – music for freaks in the know – Prepare to vibrate as you TURN ON, TUNE IN, FREAK OUT !

€ 23

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Necronomicon : Tips Zum Selbstmord - LP (Guerssen, 2023)

50th Anniversary official reissue of this Holy Grail Kraut album from 1972. Real underground heavy prog / psychedelic hard-rock with raw, in-your-face production, German lyrics, insane acid-fuzz guitar, garage organ and dark, proto-doom atmosphere…the real deal! / Named after the famous Lovecraft book, Necronomicon formed in the German town of Aachen in 1970, first influenced by bands like Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, Hendrix…In 1972 they entered a small studio in the Dutch border and recorded in just five days a concept album named Tips zum Selbstmord. The title of the album roughly translates as “Tips on how to commit suicide” but the message the band wanted to give had nothing to do with taking your own life but instead with how mankind was facing self destruction, destroying its own planet by pollution, wars, exploitation and overpopulation / 500 copies of the album were privately pressed by the band, housed in a lavish, cross shaped multi fold-out cover. It was a graphical translation of what they wanted to express musically. Original copies are impossible to find, making it one of the most desirable and sought after Kraut / German albums ever. Here’s a long overdue new vinyl reissue

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€ 29

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Bill Orcutt, Chris Corsano : Play At Duke - LP (Palilalia, 2023)

Few sounds in music are as instantly recognizable as the searching sting of guitarist Bill Orcutt and the cyclical propulsion of drummer Chris Corsano. At the same time, every single performance or recording I’ve heard by the duo has been markedly different, discovering new paths with a given set of tools. For more than a decade now they’ve been meeting up to instigate visceral sonic journeys without a map, engaging in elliptical dialogues with one another, but more often conjuring twinned excursions that occur with a kind of telepathic independence. They don’t need to plan or discuss what will happen when they get together. They simply jump in and see where things go, pushing and pulling when necessary, yet more often letting each other roam freely with the knowledge that they’ve a rapport that can weather all storms / The performance captured on Play at Duke was taped at the von der Heyden Studio Theater in the Rubenstein Arts Center on the campus of Duke University. The set closed out a three-day festival celebrating the 21st anniversary of Three Lobed Records, and the music they made feels utterly galvanic, a fitting conclusion by turns triumphant and bloodied. The set clocks in at just under 26 minutes but there’s nothing lacking, nothing slight. The best performances fuck with time, as this sublime encounter does. The duo were in an obvious flow straight out the gate, with Orcutt unleashing fat, fragmented arpeggios that morph from anthemic chords to flickering long tones—tense moments of repose that anticipate some new digression a la Hendrix. In the first of the three “Play at Duke” the duo packs in so many discrete ideas and dialogues that it’s hard to believe they only needed eight minutes to get it done

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€ 33

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Tool : Like A Dog In Heat - Live At Wings Stadium, Kalamazoo, USA, July 15th 1998 - FM Broadcast - LP (Mind Control, 2023)

Live At Wings Stadium, Kalamazoo, USA, July 15th 1998 - FM Broadcast

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€ 18

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Christof Migone : Wet Water (Let’s Dance) - 2xCD (Futura Resistenza, 2023)

Comes in a deluxe gatefold case, with 16-page documentation booklet. Christof Migone's 'Wet Water (Let’s Dance)' immerses you in a mysterious soundscape, characterised by electronic noise and watery flows. Each piece explores inarticulation and the struggle to communicate, challenging traditional notions of sound and language. In the work captured in this collection, the relation between elements is abstract, entangled, puzzle-like in its weirdness, and all the more rewarding for that

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€ 18

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Erkin Koray : Meçhul – Singles and Rarities - LP (Sublime Frequencies, 2023)

Erkin Koray and Sublime Frequencies are pleased to present this collection of rare tracks and lesser-heard singles. All tracks were recorded and released in Turkey between 1970 – 1977 and culled from Koray's personal vinyl collection. Includes exclusive photos and remastered audio. What more is there to say about Erkin Koray? An iconic guitar and songwriting genius. A voice of gold – Having founded the country’s first ever rock and roll group in 1957, he is regarded worldwide as the father of Turkish rock. Forging western sounds with his own inimitable musical mastery, he self-produced singles and LPs throughout the 1960s and 1970s that shook and altered Turkish society / Erkin didn't stop at rock and roll. Over time, he began to find inspiration in folk sounds from Turkey's Anatolian interior, and radio broadcasts received from Egypt and Lebanon. He looked to the east from his west-leaning Istanbul perch, and began incorporating these sounds into his own work. This amalgamation was as unprecedented and unorthodox in Istanbul at the time as rock and roll itself had been in the 1950s. The resulting hybrid sound ignited what became known as the Arabesque music movement in Turkey – which continues to this day / While Erkin has recorded and performed tirelessly throughout the years, [both as a solo artist, and with the powerful groups he formed,] his extensive back catalogue only began to be explored by the international community in the 1990s. He is now recognized as one of the foremost global leaders of psychedelic, folk rock, pop and balladry. His music has stood the test of time more than many of his western contemporaries and influences have managed to, and his prolific work ethic has not ceased. He continues to live and breathe music, performing epic concerts, and continuously plotting new recordings and strategies. His vision and integrity, coupled with his pronounced world views and inherent musical greatness, have made him the unique and magnificent living legend he is today

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Various Artists : Hani Polyphonic Singing in Yunnan - LP (Sublime Frequencies, 2023)

Hani Polyphonic Singing In Yunnan China. Mystic choral beauty drifting far into the outer cosmos, this other worldly traditional music ensemble creates a contemporary-sounding avant-garde vocal fusion combined with strange instrumental accompaniment. The HANI are linguistically derived from the YI branch of the Tibeto-Burmese and number a million and a half in the southern part of Yunnan province in China above Laos and Vietnam where smaller Hani communities also live / As with many other ethnic groups of the area, an original traditional singing pattern is used with each singer adapting the words to the context. The choir that gathers all singers at the same time is considered to be a very unique style of vocal polyphony or heterophony. The cascading, mournful feel of this music is powerfully transcendent and you’ve never heard anything like it. Many of these songs express intimate strong emotions that bring tears to the performers while they are singing / Instruments used by the ensemble include the BABI (single tree leaf ) and MEPA (rolled up tree leaf in a shape of a horn or mirliton), a CHIWO (3-stringed bowed instrument), a LABI (6-holed bamboo flute), a LAHE (3-stringed small lute) and a MEBA (vertical reed instrument)

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Madhuvanti Pal : The Holy Mother (Plays The Rudra Veena) - 2xLP (Sublime Frequencies, 2023)

Limited edition double LP gatefold of this historic double LP featuring Madhuvanti Pal playing the Rudra Veena. This is the first Vinyl LP ever released featuring a woman playing the Rudra Veena. Madhuvanti Pal is from Kolkata India, teaches the Rudra Veena and builds her own instruments. The name rudra veena derives from two Sanskrit roots: Rudra, which is a name for Shiva, and veena, which means ‘instrument.’ According to Hindu mythology, the Rudra Veena has a unique origin. It is said that Shiva saw his beautiful wife Parvati sleeping, with her arm over her breasts, and decided to build an instrument in her form. It is a stick zither, with two large gourds attached to a hollowed neck / The first historical accounts of the instrument are given in the Vedas, and then the Puranas. Dhrupad is the oldest form of North Indian classical music that is still performed today. During the Mughal period, the rudra veena was a popular Dhrupad instrument, and was often played in courts throughout north India. Dhrupad musicians, including rudra veena artists, enjoyed the patronage of various Kings and Princes. In recent years the rudra veena has gained some popularity, in part thanks to interest from musicians outside of India. Madhuvanti Pal is one of the new generation of rudra veena artists who is teaching students in India and abroad / Early documentation of the rudra veena suggests that women played the instrument. This can be seen in sculptures in Hindu temples—some dating back more than 2000 years—which depict only women playing the rudra veena, and miniature paintings from the 15th - 17th centuries often depict a woman playing the rudra veena. However, in more recent times there has been significant stigma around women playing the instrument. Some earlier texts went as far as to suggest that women could not play the instrument, lest they be subject to a “curse.” Jyoti Hegde, who is perhaps the most famous female rudra veena artist, broke this barrier; her courage enabled younger musicians like Madhuvanti Pal to learn. However, while Jyoti Hegde plays the so-called traditional rudra veena, Madhuvanti plays a modified Dagar-style instrument

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Automne Six : Automne Six - LP (TAL, 2023)

First ever vinyl edition of this one off collaboration between Philippe Poirier (Kat Onoma) and Stefan Schneider (to rococo rot / TAL) which was initiated by La Batie - Festival de Geneve, in 2002. The original recordings of the album took place the same year at Bleibeil Studios, Berlin. Engineered by Bernd Jestram. Restauration and mastering by Detlef Funder at Paraschall, Düsseldorf in 2022 / "19 or 20 years, what difference does it make if the beautiful things in life are able to transport us back to Year Zero - again and again. The moment when this album was created. It is the timeless horizon that motivates the artist. “Dad, what’s the line doing there ?” - a good start for a story. Philippe Poirier and Stefan Schneider recount tales of slow travel, far beyond the known continents / The adventures of a certain Corto Maltese, mysterious love stories in long forgotten harbours. A love that creates its own time, just like a chess game, an ocean liner or propeller airoplanes. The enthusiasm for cartography which Philippe Poirier and Stefan Schneider share, time and again, similar to dream. The dream of an idea, of exploration, of finding. The first lines of a drawing that become the great painting. The sequences and the words which design a world in its own right. A tremendous reservoir and my old friend knows that there is an ideal companion for every journey. This time Philippe Poirier is a narrator who finds a sound like sand flowing through fingers and who knows how deep each object accompanies each love. Les Choses de la Vie." Detlef Weinrich (tolouse low trax), Paris 2021

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Detlef Funder : Automne Six - LP (TAL, 2023)

With this release TAL delves deep into the very beginnings of Düsseldorf's post punk scene of the early 1980s. STUMM was the duo of Detlef Funder and Bernd Sevens who both would become pivotal figures in the tape underground movement of West-Germany, when they launched the SDV label in 1986. Individually they went on to produce boundary defying works as Konrad Kraft and Seventh Day respectively / The material on this album was recorded by Funder and Sevens quite casually in 1980 in a rehearsal studio in the centre of Düsseldorf. Right from the beginning the two young musicians incorporated the atmosphere of the space in order to document the process of their sound experiments on a 4-track tape machine. For those recording sessions, which are now released for the first time ever on vinyl and download, Funder and Sevens managed to get their hands on a very rudimentary set of equipment consisting of merely a Korg MS 20 synth, a Roland CR 78 drum machine, a few electronic effects and a drum kit. The urgent and rough sound of the recordings imbues their production with a characteristic and era-specific edge that's hard to imitate today. Spontaneity and understatement were key elements in the brief creative period of STUMM / The recordings still have a uniquely dizzying quality and are somewhat of a basic blueprint for a lot of industrial/techno and post punk which was about to loom in all corners of the world. These tracks are also a testament to the vivid spark of a period in time that would soon be radically changed through the rise of digital technology. Bernd Sevens: “Around 1980 there was a great musical awakening. Punk, New Wave, Industrial and of course Dub Reggae -- the electronic music blew us away. Everything we heard influenced us. Back then, cassette tapes were cheap and easily available. We could record our ideas on the spot and then copy and distribute the tapes. That's how it started. Giving it a go, experimenting, trial and error. The music you hear on the record was spontaneous and had no concept. Our collaboration was also not intended to be a permanent project. You could say we were dilettantes setting out on our journey, making it up as we went along. It felt like a beginning.”

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€ 21

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Various Artists : Water Levels - MC (Cudighi, 2022)

For me, the water level music always stands out on video game soundtracks. It ranges from serene to stressful, placid to panic-inducing, capturing the feeling of marine melancholy with MIDI synths and bit-crushed beats. It can evoke the terror of a ticking clock or the coziness of an evening soak, sometimes within the same song / Jams like Aquatic Ambiance and Dire, Dire Docks inspired the crazy concept behind this here compilation. Essentially, I asked each artist to think up a fake video game and then compose the water level music for said game. What you'll find here are lovely interpretations of that central idea that span genres and countries. From the frenetic maximalism of sin(surface)x_falling to the waterlogged warmth of Leonora's Lagoon, each track conjures nostalgia for imagined worlds. Sit back and submerge yourself in pixelated psychedelia. Just keep an eye out for sharks

€ 9

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Housewives : Twilight Splendour - LP (Blank Editions, 2019)

The second Housewives full length studio album. London five-piece Housewives return for more anarchic genre-blending adventures on their second LP, Twilight Splendour; A synthesized collage written in Wetherspoons, cafes and anywhere away from their houseboats where they could find a permanent electrical supply. Exploring the possibilities of electronic sound, this new LP marks a turning point for the band - who sold their guitars to buy midi equipment and swapped London rents for water habitation. Bringing to mind the digital meditations of legendary producer Oneohtrix Point Never, Twilight Splendour presents a love letter from an early AI to its owner, its concept-led songs strewn with “ecstatic messages of frustration and a desire to connect” / The album occupies a dystopian world where real emotions have been eclipsed by complex coded simulations. From the dead-behind-the-eyes chanting on ‘Speak to Me’ to the heavily processed vocals on the sax-loaded ‘SmttnKttns’ – which dazzles with vocoder and pop shine – the band’s signature dark, psychedelic chaos and nihilism has been cast into an unnerving new technological light

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Diamanda Galas : Diamanda Galas - LP (Intravenal Sound Operations, 2022)

Diamanda Galás’ second album is sometimes referred to as Panoptikon (the composition on the A-side of the album). The album consists of two pieces: 'Panoptikon', which was inspired by Jack Henry Abbott, whose 1981 autobiographical book In the Belly of the Beast chronicled his experiences in the prison system, and 'Song from the Blood of Those Murdered', a work dedicated to the political prisoners who were tortured and executed during the 1967-74 Greek military junta. The album, originally released on the label Metalanguage (founded by Henry Kaiser and Larry Ochs in 1978), has long been out of print. It will now be available for the first time on CD and via streaming. Remastered by Heba Kadry, with updated artwork overseen by Galás, it follows the recent reissue of Galás' 1982 solo debut The Litanies of Satan (2020) and De-formation (2021) on Intravenal Sound Operations / Panoptikon is a cry of rage by a caged prisoner against his jailer, who is concealed from his victims by an impenetrable wall of technology. The title of the work derives from a design for a new kind of prison, proposed in 1843 by Jeremy Bentham. This edifice consisted of a central observation tower, ringed by multiple tiers of cells. Each prisoner could be kept under continual observation by his keepers, yet he would see neither them nor his fellow inmates. Such a polarization of power, manifested through architectural constraint and omnipresent surveillance, would leave an indelible mark upon the victim, even after release / In Galás’ piece, the architecture of the Panoptikon is a model for the architecture of the performance work. The observation tower is aurally present as a continuous pulse, placed behind the audience and in opposition to the performer/victim through whose ranting can be seen the progressive psychosis of one buried alive. The walls of his prison become increasingly monolithic as layer upon layer of sound is built up around him - each one a transformation of the sound of her voice

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Diamanda Galas : De-formation: Piano Variations - 12" (Intravenal Sound Operations, 2021)

Diamanda Galás will release De-formation: Piano Variations, a work for solo piano, on July 24th. Composed and performed by Galás in September 2019, the 21:19 minute piece is based on the expressionist poem Das Fieberspital (The Fever Hospital). Written by German poet Georg Heym in 1912, Das Fieberspital’s depiction of warehoused patients of yellow fever presaged the treatment and hiding of infected and damaged soldiers later in WWI. It will be released digitally, and on physical formats as a one-sided limited vinyl edition, and an EP length compact disc / De-formation depicts a march and delivery of maimed and infected soldiers to hospitals and industrial warehouses throughout Germany during and after the First World War. In the hospitals the maimed would receive experimental operations and the infected would be confined to protect the mental vitality, enthusiasm, and health of citizens of the State. The Piano Variations were inspired by Galás' work on the score for Das Fieberspital. In organizing the work, she realized that the piano skeleton had become its own work, and she decided to record that in advance of the vocal work / Tracing the origins... Inspired by research in subtractive synthesis by Iannis Xenakis, Galás initiated her vocal research in the late 70s, and likened the idea of her process to a shredding of complex multiphonic sound into component timbres. In 2006, she returned to working with the voice in a similar way. Her ongoing work with Das Fieberspital has expanded upon this idea, with much of it being recorded in San Diego and Poland, beginning in 2012. The most recent incarnation of Das Fieberspital, which employed solo voice, multitrack tapes of Diamanda’s vocal experiments, and piano, was last performed at the Dark Mofo Festival in Tasmania 2014, at the invitation of David Walsh

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€ 26

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Francesco Fabris, Ben Frost : Vakning - LP (Room40, 2023)

Nothing is fixed, nothing is permanent, nothing holds for anyone, any time or anything. As stable as we might choose to think it is, this planet is anything but that. A paper thin crust, the zone in which we find ourselves, and mostly concern ourselves with, exists as a modest veil cloaking a dynamic seismic turbulence that is as powerful as it is unknowable / There are moments though where ruptures occur. The pressure from within carves its way to, and through, the surface of the planet simultaneously delivering destruction and virgin landscapes, as primordial as any we might care to imagine. It is here, in these places, where we can literally see the living planet, that geologic time is condensed and world building is made visible, and audible to us, in an unrestrained and provocative detail / These volcanic ruptures, such as those captured on Vakning by Francesco Fabris and Ben Frost, speak to the very living geology of Earth. These recordings, captured at close range, exist at a nexus where liquid rock becomes solid. They capture moments of transformation, of obliteration and of creation, often all at once. These are recordings of a living, material planet, dynamic and unrestrained

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Grouper : A I A: Alien Observer - LP (Yellow Electric, 2019)

A I A: Alien Observer is the seventh studio album by American musician Liz Harris under the stage name Grouper. Rather than a traditional double, it features two 40-minute full-lengths with each one having its own focus and style. Alien Observer is very spacious and expansive but also equally intimate and grounded. Beautiful is an understatement

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Philip Samartzis, Eugene Ughetti : Array - LP (Room40, 2021)

Array expresses the experience of a remote Antarctic research station through the convergence of sound, site and performance. The result is an immersive and affective experience of the spaces, protocols and conditions comprising the bracing polar environment. Array is a companion piece to Polar Force, a performance-installation work by Philip Samartzis and Eugene Ughetti, presented by Speak Percussion. Array features recordings of radar and scientific instrumentation used for upper atmospheric research and terrestrial communication. These sounds reveal the sophisticated technology and architecture used and heard within the Australian Antarctic Territory. Many of the recordings focus on the way the built environment is transformed through stress and fatigue caused by extreme climate and weather events including freezing temperatures and high velocity winds / Together with the field recordings are layers of live performance using custom built instrumentation to produce a unique series of textures, rhythmic cycles, resonances and timbral phenomena. The application of tension and pressure upon the assorted instruments recalls the distressed state of highly specialised infrastructure found within the perimeters of a research station. A polar research station comprises many types and volumes of prefabricated space. In dialogue with this are the unique spaces used to record the instrumental performance. By merging different spaces Array brings into focus various industrial resonances, spatial characteristics, timbres of metal and concrete, and sonic artefacts produced by hard and permeable materials and surfaces / In three parts, Array presents Antarctica as a liminal space oscillating between representation and abstraction to challenge often repeated tropes. The intent is to blur the relationship between the recorded and performed to produce a hyper-realistic encounter of the powerful forces that operate at the margins of our planet. One hears the precariousness of a remote research station contorted by unrelenting stress, compressed air forced through waterborne fipples and the volatility of weather events. Life on remote research stations is progressively resembling the broader contemporary experience, in which strict protocols are used to govern and preserve life. The resilient communities who live and work in these places have learnt how to co-exist with an increasingly hostile environment, along with its unknowns and necessity for hyper-vigilance

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Arnold Dreyblatt, The Orchestra Of Excited Strings : Resolve - LP (Drag City, 2023)

Resolve acts in dialogue with the minimalist inspirations of the first Arnold Dreyblatt & The Orchestra of Excited Strings release, 1982’s Nodal Excitation – in effect, looking beneath the hood of several decades of progression to review and renew the revolutionary intent of their microntonal foundation credo. This new Orchestra – Oren Ambarchi, Konrad Sprenger and Joachim Schütz – combine effortlessly to explore new scalar dimensions. PLAY LOUD

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High Rise : Dispersion - 2xLP Box (Black Editions, 2023)

Black Editions is pleased to present the definitive edition of Dispersion, remixed and remastered from the original master tapes by Asahito Nanjo and released in a deluxe gatefold double LP edition housed in a die-cut slipcase printed entirely with spot colors and featuring spot UV gloss and soft touch finishes From the moment they emerged in the early days of the 80’s Tokyo underground, High Rise set themselves apart as radical outliers, shattering the limits of rock and psychedelic music with a ferocity unmatched even in that heady era. The group’s core duo of Asahito Nanjo on bass/vocals and Munehiro Narita on guitar had an explosive chemistry; they mutated, distorted, amplified the raw velocity, heaviness, and electricity of late 60’s / early 70’s rock into an entirely new, monstrous form / Running in similar circles, their approach paralleled that of Les Rallizes Dénudés, but with a more garage / proto-punk attack and the blistering intensity of a full-on amphetamine rush. While Mizutani’s guitar is what took Rallizes’s to another level, the same can be said for Narita’s guitar work in High Rise- rightfully placing him in the pantheon of psychedelic guitarists and for some to call him “the undisputed king of the motorcycle fuzz guitar” / The band inspired the launch of the legendary P.S.F. label, giving it its first two releases which along with its third release, the debut of Keiji Haino’s Fushitsusha, signaled a new era in the world of Japanese underground music. High Rise’s second album, 1986’s II, was a triumph and fully lived up to the group’s original “Psychedelic Speed Freaks” moniker, instantly raising the stakes for any band to follow. It carved out a new stream of rock music, rooted in an encyclopedic knowledge of the music’s history and an almost metaphysical understanding of its raw elements and spirit

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€ 42

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Natalie Beridze : Of Which One Knows - LP (Room40, 2022)

Black vinyl. “Of Which One Knows”, was written and produced between 2007-2021. Such unreleased material is a quintessential backdrop to an artist’s processes, as it has obviously never landed in any full bodies of work. It does however gain humble significance, which feels approachable, which is about absence and hence always fresh, drifting somewhere between remembrance and obliviousness / I see sound in smells, maps and mischievously put random words in poems, as they provoke pivotal subconscious algorithms in me

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€ 25

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Diamanda Galas : Litanies of Satan - LP (Intravenal Sound Operations, 2020)

Avant-garde artist Diamanda Galás’ debut album The Litanies of Satan, originally released on Y Records in 1982, will be reissued on the artist’s own Intravenal Sound Operations label in LP, CD and digital formats on April 3, 2020. The album has been meticulously remastered from the original Y Records master by Galás and engineer Heba Kadry and features the original classic artwork of that release. This is the first release in a reissue series of Galás work since she regained ownership and control of her entire catalogue last year. Her 1982-2008 work, tied up in major label limbo, was unavailable for years. In April 2019 Diamanda's discography was made on all major streaming services. The s/t Metalanguage album Diamanda Galás, from 1984, has never been reissued and will also be remastered for release this Fall / When asked about her earliest work, in the early nineties Diamanda spoke of the ‘athletic discipline’ required, and described the physical toll of her performances as ‘like a ripping of the flesh’. Likening the discipline of her attack to warfare, she said that the idea of performing without perfect vocal technique would be like ‘someone going to war who didn’t know how to fight’; she described singing as ‘an attack energy’ – the transformation of the body into a weapon. The Litanies of Satan is divided into two experimental pieces of physical performance with a terrifying intensity, at the limits of madness, which is certainly not for all ears but is in all essence timeless / SIDE A: The Litanies of Satan is the result of six weeks of intensive work with UK producer Dave Hunt, who is also a composer of electronic music. Known for his work in experimental music, reggae, and post punk, he has worked on records by Michael Nyman, Gavin Bryars, Prince Far I, Adrian Sherwood, The Pop Group, Evan Parker, Derek Bailey to name a few. Recorded in 1982 in Stoke Newington in north-east London

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Grouper : A I A: Dream Loss - LP (Yellow Electric, 2012)

Most artists would struggle to put one album of the quality Liz Harris exhibited on 'Alien Observer' (the first part of her A I A double-header, also out now) but somehow she's managed to churn out a full two forty minute albums each as breathtaking as the last / 'Dream Loss' is the murkier, more grimy counterpart to 'Alien Observer's distant pop and travels still further into Liz's astral tape haze and noisy, vocal ambience. While the record might begin unassumingly enough with the downplayed 'Dragging the Streets', 'I Saw A Ray' greets us with a volcanic slither of noise and calloused harmony. This deeply buried melancholy transports us through the album, and while the noise subsides to make way for Liz's familiar layered vocal loops and subtle, withdrawn songs, the character and texture is still one of distortion and fragmentation as opposed to the occasional overt prettiness exhibited on 'Alien Observer' / As Liz mentioned in the run-up to this ambitious double release, the albums are two very separate works, yet somehow feed off eachother when heard together. To hear one without the other is to only hear a single element of the whole piece - 'Dream Loss' adds the darkness, and in sinking deep into it we get a whole new understanding for 'Alien Observer'. It's a harrowing trip, but one laced with beauty, restraint and that unquantifiable magic that seems to grace mostly anything Liz Harris touches. Just buy it; you won't be disappointed

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Le Matin : Inactive Worlds - MC (Cudighi, 2021)

Le Matin's Charles Torris returns with his first electronic exercise overseas, crafting an album equal parts punchy and funky, a fine blend of dance floor and dystopia. I like to imagine Inactive Worlds as the soundtrack to a bygone mid-90s MMORPG from the defunct Delphine Software. That, or a haunted Hypercard overgrown with mold, the computer's corrupted microchip seeping a corrosive acid / The snow melts. The ice thaws. Time for spring cleaning. You ascend to the attic. In a dusty box, a crumpled, yellowed notecard. On it, a jumble of numbers: a password. Beside it, a disc: Inactive Worlds. Curious, nostalgic, you boot up the old PC and log in... / Instead of a lively hub filled with gamers from around the globe, you're left with empty space and pixelated polygons. With nobody to talk to, you trawl through abandoned artifacts and hidden messages hinting at a once thriving online ecosystem. Perhaps someone else is playing, deep in the depths... You press on, past buzzing neon hotels, through bubbling swampland, the endless acidic rain burning divots into your exposed skin. The rotating sky cast in a revolting greenish hue. Finally, you hear a murmur. A throbbing. A rattling. It crawls up from the ground. You edge closer...

€ 9

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Bill Horist : Tastemaker Epics - MC (Cudighi, 2021)

With a tongue-in-cheek title like Tastemaker Epics, the illustrious West Coast guitarist Bill Horist implores you to hold tight to your sense of humor, no matter how bleak the trip. And bleak it is - a dystopian soundscape dotted with windswept ruins, every track a now-deserted locale to explore / The bowels of the city have been emptied, picked dry, casting you out in search of sustenance. You scavenge on the outskirts, where industrial rust melds with dried, bronzed fauna. In the weeds, decayed machinery sparks and fizzles. Shiny trinkets linger amidst trash, shimmering under the surface - a token of former prestige / Moments of respite emerge from the most unlikely of places: the jarring robotic bubbling of "The Trends Justify the Memes" disrupted by silky loops that evolve into sonic sword-fighting. The calming liquified loop of "Futility Knife" obscured by blurts of noise. The ominous drone of "So Bright, We Cast Shadow in All Directions" building to dense heavenly harmonies. The work is punctuated by a cynicism that spits in the face of desolation and decay while still holding out hope. Never too aggressive to be off-putting but with enough bite to ensure bleeding, Tastemaker Epics truly feels epic, despite the sarcasm of the title - brash and audacious with a pervasive, buried beauty, Horist's latest outing builds a world that's teetered off the brink

€ 9

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Accou : Graveyard Shift - MC (Cudighi, 2023)

Pro-dubbed cassette with 4-panel J-Card

€ 10

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Tatu Metsätähti, Olli Hänninen : Repullinen Skittejä - MC (Cudighi, 2022)

Okay let’s start at the end — well really side B of this tape. Okay, okay fine. First we can at least acknowledge these syllabic names. Tatu Metsätähti (Mesak) is a Finish producer that sometimes runs the “skweee” inflected Harmönia sub label. Metsätähti also (over the past twenty odd years) occasionally has pushed releases of all sorts of sizes out on Huge Bass, the parent labe / Through all of this, Olli Hänninen has been a reliable contributor within Metsätähti’s orbit. Hänninen himself has been in a variety of Finnish anachro-crust outfits–Church of Nihil, Confirmed Kill, Hate Unit. If like me, your answer to this news is “who are three bands that have never been in my kitchen,” well you’d probably be correct. They’re old school 90s and early 00s stuff; Hänninen’s more likely to be found making skweee or oddball electronics under the Claws Costeau moniker. Rare is the release under his actual name

€ 9

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Dan Melchior : Other Odes and Further Excursions - MC (Cudighi, 2021)

Blues musician Dan Melchior was born in England, but he is currently living in Durham, NC. He has collaborated with Holly Golightly and Billy Childish, but most of his recordings are made with his band Broke Revue, Das Menace or solo

€ 10

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Lorie Bevins : The Mountain of Joy is a Valley of Despair Downside Up - MC (Cudighi, 2022)

"Yet another iconoclastic and aesthetically charming release on the Cudighi label." - Tom Haugen, Take Effect

€ 9

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Otto Taimela : Dream - MC (Cudighi, 2022)

Pro-dubbed cassette tape

€ 9

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Bill Orcutt : Music For Four Guitars - LP (Palilalia, 2022)

Using four guitars tracks, each assigned to a specific melody in counterpoint, Bill Orcutt presents an assertive set of fourteen compositions in a minimalist form--think Steve Reich--each part organized through controlled freneticism that tames the wild nature inherent in each piece; a downloadable 80 page score illustrates the complex madness of the guitarist's mind

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€ 32

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Alvin Lucier : Works for the Ever Present Orchestra Vol. II - LP (Black Truffle, 2023)

Works for the Ever Present Orchestra Vol. II continues Black Truffle’s documentation of the late work of legendary American experimental composer Alvin Lucier, who sadly passed away in 2021 at the age of 90. Like the first volume of the series, the two works recorded here were written for The Ever Present Orchestra, an ensemble founded in Zürich in 2016 to perform Lucier’s work exclusively. At the core of the music Lucier wrote for the ensemble is the electric guitar, an instrument he began to explore in 2013. Played with e-bows, in these works electric lap steel guitars take on roles akin to the slow sweep pure wave oscillators heard in many of Lucier’s works since the early 1980s / This strikingly elegant pair of compositions would serve as an ideal introduction to Lucier’s late music for a listener as yet unfamiliar with its graceful exploration of beating patterns and other acoustic phenomenon. The two pieces have quite different characters, exemplifying Lucier’s ability to harvest a remarkable range of musical results from closely related compositional procedures and concerns. In Arrigoni Bridge (2019), Lucier uses a technique familiar from earlier works such as Still Lives (1995), where sine waves traced the shapes of household objects. Here, three lap steel electric guitars (played by Oren Ambarchi, Bernhard Rietbrock, and Jan Thoben) follow the form of the Arrigoni Bridge that connects Middletown and Portland, Connecticut / The bridge’s two enormous steel arcs become slowly sweeping pitches, alongside which alto saxophone (Joan Jordi Oliver Arcos), violin (Rebecca Thies) and cello (Lucy Railton) sustain long tones, creating a variety of audible beating patterns depending on their distance from or proximity to the guitars. With its stately pacing, warm middle register tones, and rich timbral variety in the sustaining instruments, Arrigoni Bridge is a beautiful example of compositional reduction producing immersive results

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€ 22

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Gonubie : Signals at Both Ears - CD (Métron, Small Méasures, 2023)

Born and based in Cape Town, South Africa, Gonubie is an interdisciplinary artist with a background in fine art, landscape architecture and urban design. A classically trained musician and flautist, her debut album, Signals at Both Ears, acts as a personal sonic exploration of the notion of space and ideas surrounding the making of home / On Signals at Both Ears, sonic elements are combined organically through a process akin to painting. Incorporating the movement of synthesisers and percussive drumming with expansive chords, the compositions aim to immerse the listener in a world where sound is the primary tool for navigation and finding refuge. “It is the spatial nature of sound through both its structural layering of components and its ability to craft the feeling of space intangibly that I carry with me in both music making and sharing.” / Work on the album began as a break from her work under the moniker ‘raresoftware’, a role that sees her DJ at some of South Africa’s most renowned underground parties, radio shows and festivals. Whilst her work behind the decks leans towards underground dance music, Gonubie developed a love of ambient music in private and began creating music under her new alias. Taking her name from a river and area in South Africa’s Eastern Cape where her mother was raised, Gonubie’s focus is the process in which the individual components of a song form an experience and translate to feeling. For Gonubie it is the human mechanism that allows for a listener's immersion into a world crafted by sound

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€ 16

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Aspidistrafly : Altar of Dreams - LP (Kitchen. Label, 2022)

Azalea Pink vinyl in cover sleeve with capped obi-strip, 290 x 235mm 12-page booklet, 290 x 290mm posters x 4, 165 x 160mm sticker. LP ships with tracking. Aspidistrafly, the Singaporean duo comprising April Lee and producer Ricks Ang, return with Altar of Dreams, their first studio album in a decade. While their last album « A Little Fable » introduced the world to their bucolic and wispy brand of folk songwriting, Altar of Dreams sees the duo – also the founders of Kitchen. Label – harness their experiences over the past decade to create a wholly new and inspired vision. In this new and third album, they drew upon a rich palette of shapes, sounds and movement: straddling between the visionary photography of Serge Lutens and Dora Maar, 80s Japanese ambient pop, musique concrète and the mournful strings of Béla Bartók / The world in which Aspidistrafly once inhabited was foggy and awash in faded memory. A feeling of being suspended in time felt inescapable with each listen. In Altar of Dreams, the fog is clearing up. At nine songs under 35 minutes, the album possesses all the defining hallmarks of Aspidistrafly – poetic lyricism, cosmic introspection, lush strings, surrealism, tenderness and texture. But what was once seemingly inscrutable has now been explored with astounding clarity, the duo maneuvering through a space-time continuum with delicate leaps / ‘How To Find A Marblewing’, the opening track, is a heady sound collage of early internet sounds, film, anime, and chopped-and-screwed 90s J-pop. It’s a presence deeply embedded throughout the record, a method Lee describes as “a form of environmental/tape treatment”. The compositions glimmer with sincerity, addressing all at once destruction, mystery, uncertainty, hopes and dreams. The resulting music is backed by an opulence only possible with a line-up of guest musicians. ‘The Voice of Flowers’ is stirring in its balance of flute, clarinet, tenor saxophone and piano, bolstered by a string quartet. Kitchen. Label artist haruka nakamura features on the track alongside Kyo Ichinose (who arranged the strings for the album) and wind instrumentalist Araki Shin

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€ 32

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Aspidistrafly : A Little Fable - LP (Kitchen. Label, 2022)

10th year anniversary remastered LP edition. The reissue is presented in a die-cut jacket with an artworked inner sleeve and a 4-page insert, printed on premium paper stock with artwork faithful to the original design / In the autumn/winter of 2010, Singapore-based April Lee and Ricks Ang of Aspidistrafly (also founders of Kitchen. Label) embarked on the recording of their second album « A Little Fable » in Japan in collaboration with several artists. Fascinated by the patina of time and themes of folklore, « A Little Fable » narrates a surrealist procession of tales, twelve compositions simmering one into the other lyrically and picturesquely. This album sees the duo returning to a warm, organic palette of closely-whispered vocals, fingerpicked guitar, string arrangements and their trademark texture-focused arrangements. Featuring guest collaborators Kyo Ichinose, Seigen Tokuzawa, haruka nakamura, Junya Yanagidaira (ironomi), honagayoko, Akira Kosemura, Janis Crunch and more

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€ 32

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Kin Leonn, Hiroshi Ebina : Faraway Vicinity - MC (Kitchen. Label, 2020)

Pro-dubbed C18 tape housed in cream cassette case with outer o-card and 4 panel j-card. In this era of uncertainty and shaken normalities, we are forced to confront a different landscape in society - one which has modified our interactions with people and nature. There is a sense that the zeitgeist, the spirit of the times, has shifted further into the dystopian territory / "Faraway Vicinity" is the amalgamation of these landscapes - human and non-human, familiar and unknown - to construct a sonic world that mirrors these strange times. But more importantly, it hopes to bring a familiar peace to these unfamiliar places. If there's any silver lining to this current situation, it must be that it gave us a chance to pause and reflect upon what it takes to live with joy or prosperity. It was precisely in this condition where Kin Leonn (Singapore) and Hiroshi Ebina (Tokyo, Japan), separated by land and sea, created this work

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€ 16

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Lubomyr Melnyk : Three Solo Pieces - LP (Unseen Worlds, 2013)

Old-school, tip-on sleeve. Comprised of three balanced examples of his Continuous Music on solo piano, Three Solo Pieces serves as perhaps the best introduction the Ukrainian-Canadian composer Lubomyr Melnyk yet available. “Marginal Invitation” is a subdued work with a deeply rooted melodic sensibility that is rich in overtones, while “Corrosions on the Surface of Life” exhibits a dissonant fury of patterned note play. The final, side-length meditation “Cloud Passade No. 3” is a chordal work in free-time which functions equally well as furniture music and a meditative exploration of pure light / Three Solo Pieces is the first set of new Lubomyr Melnyk recordings produced by Unseen Worlds and his first release for the label since the 2007 reissue of his debut album KMH: Piano Music in the Continuous Mode (1979). Following that reissue, efforts were shifted from record projects to introducing Melnyk’s still-thriving Continuous Music to audiences with a set of memorable and well-received concerts in Seattle and New York in 2009. Since his popular rediscovery through a variety of releases on Unseen Worlds, his own and other labels, as well as being hosted all over the world for concerts, Lubomyr Melnyk has successfully risen from obscurity and emerged as a welcome new entry in the history of contemporary classical music, as well as a vital performer for the 21st Century

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€ 25

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Dasom Baek : Mirror - CD (Métron, 2023)

High quality gatefold sleeve featuring beautiful artworks by the artist's Mother. Dasom Baek is a Seoul based composer and performer of traditional Korean instruments, specialising in the Daegeum and Sogeum, types of ancient Korean bamboo flute that have a deep historic and cultural significance. ‘’I think the charm of wind instruments is that their sound is based on how you breathe. The stories I’ve kept in my mind I breathe into the instrument - they become music’’ / On her latest album Mirror City, Dasom explores ideas of solitude and community within cities and the effects this has on inhabitants. Wishing to hold a mirror up to modern life, she uses music to express the emotions of the people living in the city. “People have plenty of choices and the convergence of all these choices create infinite possibilities in the city. What impact have I left on my city through my choices?” / Dasom’s contemporary expression of these ancient instruments bridges the gap between traditional craftsmanship and contemporary sonic experimentation. Sparse and spacious, Mirror City layers textured ambient sounds and chopped dusty vocal patterns, all set to the rasping and rich timbres of the Daegeum and Sogeum. Mirror City also features the incredible work of Minseon Choi who plays Ajeang on the album; a zither with twisted silk strings that is played with a slender stick. Collectively the Sogeum, Daegeum and Ajeang represent a part of Korean musical culture that is starting to regain more attention. With Mirror City, Dasom Baek hopes to showcase the power these heritage instruments can have in contemporary music

€ 17

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Grant Chapman : Indentations - LP (Métron, 2023)

Translucent purple vinyl. Recorded in its entirety using just a laptop, a pair of headphones and a midi sampler, Indentations is the debut full length album from New York based percussionist and producer Grant Chapman. Indentations draws deeply on Chapman's personal experiences surrounding loss and betrayal. An intimate work reflecting the struggle of dealing with traumatic experiences, the album makes the case for equilibrium following life-altering experiences / ‘’The album is a meditation on the sheer weight a broken relationship can have on two people. A personification of the stages of grief one feels when growing apart from someone they love, for reasons they can’t seem to reckon with or comprehend.’’ / Working from his East Village apartment, Indentations is a rich amalgam of intricately layered found sounds, almost all of which were found on YouTube, taking in influences that range from ASMR to acapella choral performance. The effect is dizzying in its depth and scope. Chapman has created a boundless emotional musical journey that can feel both deeply intimate and cosmically vast

€ 25

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Gonubie : Signals at Both Ears - MC (Métron, Small Méasures, 2023)

Born and based in Cape Town, South Africa, Gonubie is an interdisciplinary artist with a background in fine art, landscape architecture and urban design. A classically trained musician and flautist, her debut album, Signals at Both Ears, acts as a personal sonic exploration of the notion of space and ideas surrounding the making of home / On Signals at Both Ears, sonic elements are combined organically through a process akin to painting. Incorporating the movement of synthesisers and percussive drumming with expansive chords, the compositions aim to immerse the listener in a world where sound is the primary tool for navigation and finding refuge. “It is the spatial nature of sound through both its structural layering of components and its ability to craft the feeling of space intangibly that I carry with me in both music making and sharing.” / Work on the album began as a break from her work under the moniker ‘raresoftware’, a role that sees her DJ at some of South Africa’s most renowned underground parties, radio shows and festivals. Whilst her work behind the decks leans towards underground dance music, Gonubie developed a love of ambient music in private and began creating music under her new alias. Taking her name from a river and area in South Africa’s Eastern Cape where her mother was raised, Gonubie’s focus is the process in which the individual components of a song form an experience and translate to feeling. For Gonubie it is the human mechanism that allows for a listener's immersion into a world crafted by sound

€ 16

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Simon Whetham : Organic Volatilisation Near Imperceivable - MC (Gruenrekorder, 2023)

Over two weeks in September 2022 Simon Whetham was invited to join Milena Farioli at OVNI, a creative space in Fribourg, Switzerland, to explore the sounds of various fermentations including red and white cabbage, green beans, ginger, courgette (a huge one donated to the project by the neighbouring florist), (non-lactose) kefir and mead. He recorded the whole process with various techniques and mics, also capturing some of the sounds from bustling Rue de Lausanne that OVNI faces onto / The results were presented as an installation that plays the sounds created by the fermentation process through speakers into the space, but also through the glass of the various jars used and also the plate glass window, as the project fermented inside the ‚jar‘ of OVNI, looked into by the passers-by each day. Many thanks to Milena and OVNI for the opportunity to make the project, and Lasse and Roland for supporting this release / Cover artwork features unique organic volatilisation. Limited edition of 20 « recycled apricot » cassettes

€ 14

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Various Artists : In Fractured Silence - LP (Souffle Continu, 2023)

Smoke vinyl. Carefully restored and remastered by Gilles Laujol. Graphic design by Stefan Thanneur. Heavyweight 180 gr. LP with two page booklet, 425 gsm brownboard outer sleeve. Licensed from United Dairies. Have you heard of the Nurse With Wound List? If you are a fan of creative-experimental-unlikely music, certainly. You would therefore be aware that amongst the recommendations that Steven Stapleton slipped into the first album of his group Nurse With Wound, were to be found a few restless frogs: Jef Gilson, Luc Ferrari, Jacques Thollot, Urban Sax, Horde Catalytique and last... / ... but not least Jean-Jacques Birgé and Francis Gorgé. Stapleton admired their album Défense de. The two Frenchmen just had to conceive of a fabulous precursor to the channel tunnel (check out the inside of the record, you’ll see) to enable Stapleton to come to France in 1980. The Englishman was looking for contributions to a compilation to be released on his United Dairies label that he had created with John Fothergill, and he naturally called on Birgé and Gorgé, who were then playing with Bernard Vitet in ‘Un Drame Musical Instantané’

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€ 22

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Various Artists : In Fractured Silence - LP (Souffle Continu, 2023)

Black vinyl. Carefully restored and remastered by Gilles Laujol. Graphic design by Stefan Thanneur. Heavyweight 180 gr. LP with two page booklet, 425 gsm brownboard outer sleeve. Licensed from United Dairies. Have you heard of the Nurse With Wound List? If you are a fan of creative-experimental-unlikely music, certainly. You would therefore be aware that amongst the recommendations that Steven Stapleton slipped into the first album of his group Nurse With Wound, were to be found a few restless frogs: Jef Gilson, Luc Ferrari, Jacques Thollot, Urban Sax, Horde Catalytique and last... / ... but not least Jean-Jacques Birgé and Francis Gorgé. Stapleton admired their album Défense de. The two Frenchmen just had to conceive of a fabulous precursor to the channel tunnel (check out the inside of the record, you’ll see) to enable Stapleton to come to France in 1980. The Englishman was looking for contributions to a compilation to be released on his United Dairies label that he had created with John Fothergill, and he naturally called on Birgé and Gorgé, who were then playing with Bernard Vitet in ‘Un Drame Musical Instantané

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€ 21

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Grisha Shakhnes : The Heaver - MC (More Mars Team, 2023)

Writing about Grisha Shakhnes’s music is quite a difficult task. Grisha is involved with the independent music scene since 2008, at first under the name Mites and then with his real name. All these years, he is practicing on music composition, using mainly field recording, tapes and lo-fi electronics, keeping a beautiful balance between real time composition and experimentation. Grisha's sound work has a very personal character and sometimes it's like the listener following in real time his creative process. He is recording at home, with his presence being notable on the recordings and with the sounds of the environment being welcome on his compositions / On “The Heaver”, Grisha Shakhnes works with structure, textures and length, giving space to transformative qualities of sound and repetitive inaudible ones, to shape of his musical work. He improvises and manipulate sounds very gently, creating foggy soundscapes of broken sounds, electronic hums and noises, mixed with pre-recorded material from urban life / “The Heaver” includes four new long compositions by Grisha Shakhnes, recorded on Tel Aviv during June of 2021. Released on a limited edition of 100 cassettes, including download code

€ 8

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Leo Okagawa : Zapping (Station to Station) - MC (More Mars Team, 2021)

Leo Okagawa is a Japanese sound artist who lives and works in. For this album Leo Okagawa uses field recordings from various metro stations during the quarantine period & sounds by radio stations

€ 9

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Marja Ahti, Niko-Matti Ahti : Nokivesi - LP (More Mars Team, 2023)

Ahti & Ahti is the duo of Finnish sound artists Marja Ahti and Niko-Matti Ahti. Operating on the fringes of the musique concrète tradition, their work combines recordings of spaces and events, beings and objects, carefully aligned in an associative way / Nokivesi (soot-water) embraces sound montage and cut up conversations alongside instrumental and electronic sound, combining the complexity of the field-recorded sounds and compositional sensitivity. Originally created as a radiophonic piece for the Oscillations Radio Marathon in 2020, the piece outlines a fragmented story told by two voices about a person living isolated on a remote island, a tragic and comic figure. The hermit kept in touch with the nearby residents, but he also stimulated their curiosity and imagination living apart from the mainstream society / The story lays the foundation to a musical work that combines acousmatic sound and documentary, utilizing a variety of thematically associated field recordings, modular synthesizers and digital processing in order to create a sonic environment that consists of a number of discrete musical parts. These parts are intermittently interrupted, but also connected by the voices of two elderly persons

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€ 24

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Marja Ahti, Niko-Matti Ahti : Nokivesi - LP (More Mars Team, 2023)

Special edition with a handmade gatefold cover with monochromatic linoleum prints by Moras Marios. It also includes a photo of the original cover and an insert with a translation of the dialogue. Ahti & Ahti is the duo of Finnish sound artists Marja Ahti and Niko-Matti Ahti. Operating on the fringes of the musique concrète tradition, their work combines recordings of spaces and events, beings and objects, carefully aligned in an associative way / Nokivesi (soot-water) embraces sound montage and cut up conversations alongside instrumental and electronic sound, combining the complexity of the field-recorded sounds and compositional sensitivity. Originally created as a radiophonic piece for the Oscillations Radio Marathon in 2020, the piece outlines a fragmented story told by two voices about a person living isolated on a remote island, a tragic and comic figure. The hermit kept in touch with the nearby residents, but he also stimulated their curiosity and imagination living apart from the mainstream society / The story lays the foundation to a musical work that combines acousmatic sound and documentary, utilizing a variety of thematically associated field recordings, modular synthesizers and digital processing in order to create a sonic environment that consists of a number of discrete musical parts. These parts are intermittently interrupted, but also connected by the voices of two elderly persons

€ 37

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Matthieu Fuentes : Ily, Almería - MC (More Mars Team, 2023)

« Ily, Almería » is the second album by French composer and performer Matthieu Fuentes, who debuted in 2021 with a promising album on Penultimate Press. Matthieu’s music sprung from the "musique concrète" tradition, using elements and fragments of electroacoustic music, field recording and sound art / « Ily, Almería » features ambiguous sources and unknown presences recorded from 2018 to 2022. Manipulated and re-edited on a computer and a Revox B77 reel-to-reel tape recorder, these materials are brought together to give a polysemic perception of space, sometimes with the help of synthetic trickery. Dreamed scenes, texts, questions on acousmatic and time arts fuel the process of a poetic research. Like a distant and distorted memory, « Ily, Almería » wanders in reality and fiction, media and body, the domestic and the high-speed outside world, tangible and delirium, in and out-of-frame phenomena. The sonic outcome is a fragile assemblage, a dynamic interplay of well sculpted nervous collages, overwhelming tunnels, smoother sequences and delicate soundscapes

€ 9

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Stephen Cornford : Domestic Music - MC (More Mars Team, 2021)

A state of enclosure" was recorded May 2020 for AMPLIFY 2020: quarantine. "A finite number of rooms" was recorded June 2020 for the ‘Building A Better Reality’ Black Lives Matter benefit compilation on JMY Music. Both are loosely based pages from ‘A Score for Piano’ written by Sarah Hughes in 2010. "After their departure" consists of a hearth recording made in January 2021 and a cassette recorded years before and found again in March 2021

€ 9

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Lia Kohl : Too Small To Be A Plain - LP (Florabelle, 2023)

Florabelle welcomes its first reissue--the debut album of cellist, composer, and sound artist Lia Kohl, Too Small to be a Plain. Originally released on cassette last year by Shinkoyo/Artist Pool, this vinyl edition features completely remastered audio by Taylor Deupree and expanded artwork courtesy of the artist herself. The exceptional approach Lia exhibits so confidently on The Ceiling Reposes, her acclaimed LP from earlier this year, was already in sharp focus here; it's a privilege to collaborate with her on this rerelease / What makes Too Small to be a Plain so successful are its inviting juxtapositions. Here is a series of compositions grounded in improvisations, thoughtfully culled and layered with an openhearted embrace of happy accidents. Just as her dexterity as a cellist is evident on "'Join me, everybody'," equally so is her interest in the din outside her window. Elsewhere on "Second Picture of the Same Weather Pattern," richly resonant acoustic figures share space with the sparkler static of radio transmissions. The playfulness of the title of "Moon Bean,"--the album's glowing centerpiece--suggests that very glow could be coming from something beyond our skies or, conversely, held within our hand / Despite Lia having performed and recorded all of the work herself, the album is guided by her years of collaboration with dozens of others and the final product is clearly the work of someone who listens with curiosity and empathy. Listen closely and those same qualities may arise in you, too, reframing the space you occupy. If you're new to Lia's work, Too Small to be a Plain is an ideal starting point. (And you might be more aware of her than you realize--in addition to releasing collaborations as part of ZRL and with Macie Stewart, she's also a contributor to albums by Makaya McCraven, claire rousay, Circuit des Yeux, and Steve Hauschildt, among others.) If you're familiar with The Ceiling Reposes, the cabinet of curiosities on display there grounds this music, too-- here with an arguably more modest or tender sensibility. Regardless of how you come to this album--you're here! That's the important thing. Do stay awhile and listen

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€ 29

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Elodie : Le Nid d'Ivoire - LP (La Scie Dorée, 2020)

Seven track studio album by Andrew Chalk & Timo van Luijk, recorded and mixed at Kulta Saha and Impression Lointaine, 2016-2018. Edition of 500 copies on transparent vinyl, including reproduction of art-print and postcard

€ 19

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Timo van Luijk, Kris Vanderstraeten : Costa del Luna - LP (La Scie Dorée, 2007)

Second album. Lunar psychedelic improvisations. Features Timo van Luijk (zither, flute, keys, tape) and Kirs Vanderstraeten (percussion). "Two more side long pieces from these two. The first side is a scuttling crab moving in and out of focus. It's great, but the second side is utterly fantastic. A lot of percussion and drones, as well as flute sounds, etc, with a touch of faux Orientalism. Enough that bits of the music could be seen as an alternative soundtrack to Apocalypse Now! (And I mean that as a compliment.) Vanderstraeten and van Luijk sound so together, it could be mistaken for a piece of modern classical music. (And I mean that as a compliment too.) Beautiful cover as well." (Scott Foust, Swill Radio)

€ 16

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Ellende : Growing A Beard, Driving A Bike With A Naked Girl On Your Lap Does Not Make You A Man - MC (Impulsy Stetoskopu, 2011)

In the recent, second, volume of the Encyclopedia of Noise, released by Impulsy Stetoskopu, we find an entry for Ellende. We learn its an anonymous musical project, led by one Wim Bontjes (who died in 1995), an author whose work is the basis of sound material. Musicians from all over the world deliver their sounds to the project and mixed together by the other three members from The Netherlands. Some of their music has been reviewed before. This cassette, also released by Impulsy Stetoskopu, contains two live recordings, one from 2008 (in Pieterburen, The Netherlands) and one from 2009 (New York) / No members are mentioned here, but both pieces were created with 'various analogue instruments'. Both were picked up using a microphone, rather than a line recording, which adds a more raw edge to the end result. Probably its fair to say that we are dealing here with a rough form of cosmic music. Lots of synthesizer buzz around, sweep, oscillate and bubble and create fine, dense waves of cosmic music. Effectively it may seem that both concerts sound alike, which made me think that the same musicians are at play here, even when the 2008 concert is a bit more louder. I have no idea which literally references are in play here, but the title is great!

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€ 8

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Rupert Clervaux, Dania : Accion y Destino - CD (OOH-sounds, 2023)

Pro-dubbed (glass master) limited edition CD housed in a custom die-cut cardboard sleeve with metallic laminated cardboard insert. Includes a code for instant download of the complete album. Artwork by by incepBOY, mixed and mastered by Rupert Clervaux. Sharp strands of disintegrated string samples gradually pull together; celestial multi-tracked voices gather and thudding drums sketch out a spontaneous ritual routine; timeline and drone form a crawling impressionistic narrative. The first collaboration of Rupert Clervaux and Dania stretches across a single momentous 77-minute piece, combining languid drone with bursts of improvised vocals and percussion. The constituent pieces fuse together to form an exceptionally delicate epic that defies simple categorisation, combining the choreography of repetition and grids with ecstatic passages of their respective lead instruments / Dania and Clervaux first worked together in 2015, when the former’s Barcelona-based Paralaxe Editions label released the latter’s ‘Two Changes’ duo LP with Beatrice Dillon. Clervaux later helped mix and master two of Dania’s releases – ’Voz’ and ‘Foreign Body’ – himself having moved to Spain, and by 2021 they were playing shared bills at shows, completing a mini-tour of the UK in Summer 2022. It was at this point that the idea to collaborate first emerged, and Clervaux sent over the a weighty unfinished drone piece built around fragments of strings from Verdi’s La forza del destino (‘The Force of Destiny’), an opera said to be cursed since it first premiered a century-and-a-half ago. Passed through tape delays, these snippets are augmented by a continuous sub-bassline and a droning shruti box, moving very slowly across three chord changes, ending on a resolving major by the end of the piece / Dania completed the piece with extensive vocal performances recorded at her studio in Barcelona, responding to and expanding the music into new directions with layers of wordless singing to highlight Accion y Destino’s harmonic march. As Clervaux puts it, “the music suddenly had the sense of being finished, after years of being in progress.” The artwork comprises an edited image of the Rokeby Venus, painted by Spanish master Diego Velazquez in the mid-17th century. The painting was later butchered by suffragette Mary Richardson with a meat cleaver in 1914 to protest Emmeline Pankhurst’s arrest. The image, like the music, is filled with suggestion, creatively echoing past in present, and grafting existing works into new textures. [Words by Tristan Bath]

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€ 15

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Youmna Saba : Wishah - CD (Touch, 2023)

DVD-style case. Wishah ('Veil' in Arabic) is a composition in five stages, written by Youmna Saba between 2021 and 2022, for voice, oud and electronics. Following her previous solo works Njoum (2014) and Arb’een (40) (2017), this album marks a significant turning point in Saba's journey. Created after leaving Beirut and settling in Paris, Wishah reveals a profound shift in her musical expression, informed by rigorous research in the sonic properties of sung Arabic phonemes and their role in shaping synthesised electronic sounds / The album employs a digital extension for the oud, a concept developed by Saba in her research project Taïma’. This device enhances the oud's sonic range, seamlessly integrating synthesised electronics. It also amplifies subtle, often overlooked sounds generated during playing, such as resonances and fingerboard friction. The composition is organised into five distinct stages, each contributing to a process of gradual revelation. As the tracks unfold, they strip away layers of constructed emotions and perceptions that have been intricately woven over time, to expose a space that no longer exists. Wishah is a farewell to home / Youmna Saba (Beirut 1984) is a musician, composer and musicologist. Her current research focuses on instrument and space resonances in different sonic and musical contexts. With four albums to this date, she has collaborated with musicians of different musical expressions such as Kamilya Jubran, Floy Krouchi, Mike Cooper and the Neue Vocalsolisten ensemble, and has taken part in numerous artist residencies. She is the laureate of the first sound residency at Quai Branly Museum, Paris (2022-2023) with her research project and installation “La Réserve des Non-Dits”, now on view at the museum; and a laureate of the music residency program at the Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris (2020-2021)

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€ 16

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Bernard Szajner : Szajner's Bits and Pieces - LP (Sleepers, 2023)

Bernard Szajner is a French composer, musical theorist, visual artist. He is credited with the invention of the laser harp, which he patented. Between 1979 and 1983, Szajner released five albums of innovative and Avant-garde electronic music. He became renowned as a light and visual effects technician with artists such as Magma, Gong, Stomu Yamashta and The Who / During the 1970s, he became a pioneer in the field of using laser technology as an artistic tool. As a measure of his success, he became renowned by his work with companies such as Cartier and Renault. In 1980, inspired by the novel, Nova, by Samuel R. Delany, he first created the laser harp. The laser harp became so successful that Jean-Michel Jarre ordered a version from Bernard Szajner for his tour of China. Despite all this, Szajner would only occasionally use this instrument in his own performances. He has stated that he would rather the public not know him solely for his work on the laser harp, and that it not be allowed to take precedence over his work in musical composition that it enables / This is also why he continues to develop other instruments which use other innovative methods of interaction, such as tactile or holographic. Towards the end of the 1980s and disgusted with the music industry, he chose to abandon music entirely, and shifted his focus towards digital and visual arts, and theatre

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€ 16

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James Asher : Shaman's Almanac - LP (Sleepers, 2023)

James Asher is known for his individual and and distinctive approach to creating tribal drum music. He has had multiple library album releases for Bruton Music, Dewolfe, Abaco, Southern, Girasound and this year KPM/EMI with the album Global Village Percussion. He combines a confident grasp of fusion and worldbeat with a crystal clear audio production style. For the first time since Asher`s best selling releases « Feet In the Soil » and « Shaman Drums », Sleepers Records are delighted to be the first purveyors of his work in vinyl form, with six dazzling tracks which are earthy, grounded and compelling

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€ 16

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László Hortobágyi : Ishin Denshin - LP (Sleepers, 2023)

„There are imaginary signs or signals that make your arm twitch mutely. In such cases, you may have to interpret the meaning of such a "message". If you ignore it, it's almost certain that nothing will happen, but you may also miss the chance to change your life because you passed a potential turning point and didn't notice.” / There were once many worlds on this Earth. Each had its own land, language, population, borders and history. There were people and societies. They already looked alike, but they didn't realise it. When the borders disappeared, the looked at each other, but by this time suddenly, the languages and the histories also disappeared. The present worlds do not have any Earthly home, they have moved to the kingdom come of the collective subliminal sociostasis. There they are still living for a while, exactly so long as humans have human form and the time for transhuman cultures arrives. To fumble about in this gap of time bubble, that has been opened for a short time between the collapse and the vanishing of the borders of cultures: this is the science of Ishin-denshin burdened with Heisenberg’s paradox. Don’t forget: never before and never after. (eL-Hortobagyi-Hortator)

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€ 19

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Scattered Order : Artefacts From the Fuzz Mines - LP (Sleepers, 2023)

In the dimly lit corners of Australia's underground music scene, there exists a name that has been haunting the eardrums of the brave and unsettlingly curious for decades. Scattered Order, a noise band formed by three enigmatic figures - Mitchell Jones, Michael Tee and Shane Fahey stands as an embodiment of auditory torment. With their latest compilation album, Scattered Order, weathered by time and soaked in a sea of dissonance, look back on a dark and noisy musical journey that has been nothing short of disturbing. Scattered Order's origins trace back to a time when post punk noise was still in its laborious infancy. The trio emerged from the shadows, wielding their arsenal of unconventional instruments and a twisted vision of sonic exploration / Their dissonant symphony was constructed from the shattered remnants of sanity, with every note plunging the listener deeper into a void of despair. A cacophony of industrial clanks, distorted wails, and pulsating rhythms created a soundscape that mirrored the fractured psyche of its creators. As the band delved further into the uncharted depths of their musical abyss, the dark spectre of death and obscurity loomed overhead. Scattered Order's compositions seemed to devour the light, leaving only an unsettling void in their wake. Their performances became ritualistic ceremonies of chaos and catharsis, drawing in the deranged and the daring, eager to be consumed by the unsettling atmosphere they conjured. With each passing year, Scattered Order's name faded into the depths of collective memory, sinking into the annals of a forgotten era. The band's uncompromising pursuit of disquietude isolated them from the mainstream, relegating them to the fringes of the avantgarde / Yet, their influence lingered in the cracks and crevices of experimental music, inspiring a generation of sonic miscreants to push the boundaries of audial torment. Now, in the twilight of their musical pilgrimage, Jones, Tee and Fahey reflect on a lifetime dedicated to disturbing the auditory senses. Their new compilation album stands as a testament to their unwavering commitment to discordance and their refusal to conform to societal norms. It is a mosaic of disfigured sounds, a symphony of terror and unease that beckons the brave to embark on a sonic odyssey into the depths of their own subconscious fears. Scattered Order's legacy is not one of commercial success or mainstream recognition, but rather an unsettling imprint on the souls of those who dare to explore the darker corners of music. Their journey has been a descent into madness, a descent that has left them weathered and worn, yet forever haunted by the symphony of chaos they created

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€ 19

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Suns Of Arqa : Revelation XVII - LP (Sleepers, 2023)

Suns of Arqa is a sonic mission created by luminary Michael Wadada, who began in 1979 after receiving higher guidance in Jamaica while working with roots reggae chanter Prince Far-I. It is a prolific traveling music collective that has seen over 200 collaborators, meant to connect people from all cultures and walks of life through a “deeply spiritual vibration that merges cultures, faiths and musical genres”. Wadada combines ancient Hindustani raga systems with Piobaireachd and Nyabinghi roots drumming, creating ritualistic world music infused with dub and reggae. The lyrics combine both mystical and sensory elements, often including prayer and referencing a higher power but finding root in experiences common to all people- memory, sight, and physical sensation / Their first album, Revenge of the Mozabites, was a collaboration between Wadada and On-U Sound creator Adrian Sherwood. Following its 1980 release,Peter Gabriel invited them to perform at the first WOMAD festival. Today, the record is regarded by some as a cult classic. Over the years they have played at many major music festivals including Glastonbury, Big Chill, Telerama Dub Festival, and Transmusicales, and released over 40 albums on Virgin, EMI, Interchill Records, Antler Subway, Red Rhino, and their own label, Arka Sound. Suns of Arqa has had a seminal influence on the World Beat sound, and continued to make appearances at seasonal festivals and sacred ritual spaces all over the world until 2021. Michael Wadada passed away in the midst of planning their U.S. tour for this release. The record is a compilation of some of Wadada’s and Sleepers Record’s favorite old Sun of Arqa tracks, mixed by Youth and Adrian Sherwood, and mastered by Eroc (drummer of Grobshnitt) / Notable collaborating artists include: Guy Called Gerald, UK producers Youth and John Leckie, Greg Hunter, 808 State's Graham Massey, Finley Quaye, Sounds From the Ground, Bryn Jones aka MuslimGauze, Adrian Sherwood, John Cooper-Clarke, The late great Professor Stanley Unwin, Eric Random, New age guru Tim Wheater, Astralasia, Prince Far-I, The Orb's Alex Patterson, Zion Train, and Gaudi. "And although the Great Spiritual being Michael Wadada has returned to source and his body to earth at our time, his music is alive and will continue to be a great force for higher spiritual realms and raising vibration through occult frequencies...Suns of Arqa will continue to raise the vibration of the hearts and minds of humanity" – Angela aka Angel-Eye (Wadada's wife and bandmate)

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€ 16

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Sirone : Sirone - Artistry - LP (Moved-By-Sound, 2023)

White vinyl housed a die-cut craft sleeve, flooded pocket, in printed inner sleeve. with insert. Artistry was Sirone's first album as a leader, recorded in 1978, just after the split of the Revolutionary Ensemble. Artistry has an Atypical combination of instruments, bass, cello , flute and percussion and delivers aplenty. Listen and you will know / Sirone (Norris Jones) had an enormously prolific career as a bassist, both as a member of the Revolutionary Ensemble and playing with many of the best musicians of the 20th century - from Pharoah Sanders, Albert Ayler, John Coltrane, Gato Barbieri, Noah Howard, William Parker, Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, Sonny Sharrock,Marion Brown ... and the list goes on

€ 35

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Midori Takada, Shhe : MSCTY x V&A Dundee - 2xCD (MSCTY_EDN, 2023)

Double CD presented in a hardback 40 page book. Legendary Japanese Ambient pioneer Takada was specially commissioned by MSCTY and one of UK's leading art institutions, V&A Dundee, to create a soundtrack to the museum itself. Sympathetic to the architect Kengo Kuma's use of natural materials in the landmark building's construction, Takada bases the compositions around huge wood marimbas, creating atmospheric, hypnotic beauty inspired directly by Kuma's organic vision / This album contains the complete works, constituting 3 connected compositions. Midori Takada plays a special live show at Kings Place, London in September, the month of the album's physical release. Her recently reissued 1983 work 'Through the Looking Glass' was hailed as "mesmerising" and an "ambient minimalist masterpiece" by Pitchfork who awarded it their best reissue of 2017 / SHHE is the alias of Scottish-Portuguese artist, musician and producer, Su Shaw. Her work is influenced by environment and ecology, exploring themes of identity and connection at the intersection between sound, space and liminal states. SHHE's eponymous debut album was released by One Little Independent Records and was shortlisted for Scottish Album of the Year 2020. This new album features an exclusive 45 minute composition specially commissioned by MSCTY and V&A Dundee, which is located in her town. Based on the sounds of the water around V&A Dundee, with the music reacting to the movement of the pools and the tides, the piece is inspired by the rugged exterior of the museum architecture and its location by the River Tay

€ 22

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Sanam : Aykathani Malakon - LP (Mais Um Discos, 2023)

Black vinyl. Debut release from the Beirut-based free-rock post-folk sextet. Album mixed by Radwan Ghazi Moumneh (Jerusalem in My Heart) and mastered by Heba Kadry. Sanam’s music is a ritual where improvised rock, free jazz and noise underscore an exorcism of traditional Egyptian song and Arabic poetry. Sanam formed following an invitation to perform with Hans Joachim Irmler from the legendary German experimental group Faust, at Beirut's Irtijal music festival in 2021.Sandy Chamoun (vocals), Antonio Hajj (bass), Farah Kaddour (buzuk), Anthony Sahyoun (guitar, synth), Pascal Semerdjian (drums) and Marwan Tohme (guitars) bring a myriad of influences gleaned from years performing either solo or as members of influential acts in Beirut’s tight-knit independent music scene (such as Al Rahel al Kabir, Postcards, Kinematik and Ovid) / The musicians had planned to reiterate their fortuitous experience with Irmler but when this plan fell through, they decided to go on a recording residency together instead in a traditional house in the village of Saqi Reshmaya, Lebanon. The recording of the album took place during a particularly difficult time in their native country of Lebanon, which continues to suffer from an unprecedented economic collapse as well as social and political unrest. “We decided to take eight days off in May 2022 in an effort to completely disconnect ourselves from Beirut” says Sahyoun, who also performs in post-rock outfit Kinematik / During their residency, the musicians, who come from distinct musical styles and backgrounds, decided to record the full album live with no overdubs: “The musical direction for Sanam was set out by the improv sessions with Joachim," says Sahyoun. "We weren't looking at doing something specific, it ended up coming out as a weird mix between improvised rock, tarab/arabic song and ambient. Kind of putting different things in a blender (our different musical backgrounds) and never really letting them quite fuse together. Recounting the insular experience of recording this debut, Sandy Chamoun described it as “almost hallucinogenic, as if there was a tacit agreement among us to produce an album that sounded 'unearthly' ”

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€ 22

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Sirone : Sirone - Artistry - LP (Moved-By-Sound, 2023)

Black vinyl housed a die-cut craft sleeve, flooded pocket, in printed inner sleeve. with insert. Artistry was Sirone's first album as a leader, recorded in 1978, just after the split of the Revolutionary Ensemble. Artistry has an Atypical combination of instruments, bass, cello , flute and percussion and delivers aplenty. Listen and you will know / Sirone (Norris Jones) had an enormously prolific career as a bassist, both as a member of the Revolutionary Ensemble and playing with many of the best musicians of the 20th century - from Pharoah Sanders, Albert Ayler, John Coltrane, Gato Barbieri, Noah Howard, William Parker, Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, Sonny Sharrock,Marion Brown ... and the list goes on

€ 32

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Lukid : Tilt - LP (Glum, 2023)

London producer Luke Blair resurrects his old alias Lukid after some time away for a new solo LP on his own Glum imprint entitled Tilt. After some extended forays into jungle both maximalist (as half of Rezzett) and bruisingly lo-fi (as Refreshers), Blair returns to the more cerebral and harder to pin down Lukid project with a clearly renewed sense of purpose and energy. The tricky rhythmed ‘Haringey Leisure’ hues closest to the hardcore he’s been kicking up on the side, but even that is drenched in rainforest haze and tape hiss. Much of Tilt instead leans into the calm and serene (if sometimes willfully weird), especially the bookended ‘End Melody’ and ‘End Loop’

€ 25

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The Plastic People Of The Universe : Egon Bondey's Happy Hearts - LP (Moved-By-Sound, Agressive Guerilla, 2023)

Transparent black marbled vinyl. Banned and jailed under Czech communism The Plastic People Of The Universe are a true story of artistic perseverance, Authorities claimed their music would have a "negative social impact", and they were banned from playing for the public. having to play secret shows in remote locations / They were founded in 1968, influenced by the Velvet Underground/Beefheart and Zappa but by the 1970s had developed there own sound. The raw diy sound of there recodings escaped to Europe on tape and was released without the bands knowledge, there first album being a document of artistic defiance against the controlles of a stringent political environment they lived under / One of the best band you never heard of!

€ 35

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Pauline Hogstrand : Áhkká - LP (Warm Winters Ltd., 2023)

Transparent blue vinyl, pressed in Sweden, housed in a die-cut sleeve, designed by Ester Mladenkova. Pauline Hogstrand's music – and Áhkká, in particular – is deeply inspired by both inner and outer influences, by the mystical as well as the rock-solid, by fictitious conversations and the queen mountain of Lappland (Áhkká). Meaning "the old lady" in Lule Sámi, Áhkká is a barren, wild, exciting, beautiful, and sometimes grumpy mountain regardless of the season. Over the years, the mountain peaks, moss, birch forests, paths, streams, birds and people have shaped the surroundings, and the massif changed them in return - a reflection of a constantly ongoing development and emerging into greatness, surrounding and within / Speaking about why this mountain is so dear to her, the Denmark-based musician shares: "The nature there is harsh and raw and you can easily feel how it’s so much bigger than you. Some people might feel overwhelmed or intimidated, but I feel that when acknowledging the greatness and the power nature consists, I can feel one with it. We come from the same source: I am a part of universe, and universe a part of me." The music appearing on Áhkká (the album) simulates the dualities of ascent and descent, tension and release, inhale and exhale. Through implementing extended structures for analog and digital synthesis and processed acoustic instrumentations – strings, recorder, pipes and field recordings – Hogstrand expertly navigates these dual motions across two side-long pieces

€ 22

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The Plastic People Of The Universe : Egon Bondey's Happy Hearts - LP (Moved-By-Sound, Guerilla, 2023)

Black vinyl. Banned and jailed under Czech communism The Plastic People Of The Universe are a true story of artistic perseverance, Authorities claimed their music would have a "negative social impact", and they were banned from playing for the public. having to play secret shows in remote locations / They were founded in 1968, influenced by the Velvet Underground/Beefheart and Zappa but by the 1970s had developed there own sound. The raw diy sound of there recodings escaped to Europe on tape and was released without the bands knowledge, there first album being a document of artistic defiance against the controlles of a stringent political environment they lived under / One of the best band you never heard of!

€ 32

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Nina Pixel : Ancestral Archeology - 2xLP (Weltschmerzen, 2023)

Black & clear vinyl housed in printed pvc sleeve. In 2020, electronic musician Nina Pixel was offered a track on a compilation album of songs from the Liptov region. What started as a rearrangement of a single folk song eventually grew in scope and size, eventually becoming a series of releases. Titled Ancestral Archaeology, the series counts two self-released EPs, an audiovisual show in co-operation with Adrián Kriška, and now, after two years, a double LP published by Weltschmerzen. In this definitive form of an album, Ancestral Archaeology reveals itself as a musical reimagination of traditional historical Slovak culture at large / Nina Pixel averts the perils of lapsing into inauthentic fakelore by building her music with, rather than on, the ethnographic riches of Slovakia. With the eagerness of a genuine archeological prospector, Ancestral Archaeology invokes the always present but seldom perceived linchpins of folklore culture: the desperate clinging to the memory of pre-Christian paganism and witchcraft, songs with narratives of beautiful innate wyrdness that is utterly unfit for mass culture, and superstition as the most serious longing for the balance between sense and irrationality / If we acknowledge the truism of folklore as the shared way of expression in rural society, the techno music on Ancestral Archeology proposes that, in the urban society of ours, this role is served by raves. The argument isn’t as much declared as it’s implied // in music and in the spoken-word lyrics that are rife with historical and contemporary sources. An 18th-century recipe by the writer and priest Juraj Fándly proposes snorting the grounded flowers of the medicinal weed Valerian as a way of curing bad vision. “It is a proven remedy!” we are repeatedly assured, and it’s not hard imagining Fándly and his parishioners, strung out on Valerian, moving almost involuntarily to the rhythms of their era just as we can move to Ancestral Archeology. Nina Pixel is a Slovak music artist based in Berlin // Weltschmerzen is a Slovak music label based in Bratis

€ 35

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Sanam : Aykathani Malakon - LP (Mais Um Discos, 2023)

Blue vinyl. Debut release from the Beirut-based free-rock post-folk sextet. Album mixed by Radwan Ghazi Moumneh (Jerusalem in My Heart) and mastered by Heba Kadry. Sanam’s music is a ritual where improvised rock, free jazz and noise underscore an exorcism of traditional Egyptian song and Arabic poetry. Sanam formed following an invitation to perform with Hans Joachim Irmler from the legendary German experimental group Faust, at Beirut's Irtijal music festival in 2021.Sandy Chamoun (vocals), Antonio Hajj (bass), Farah Kaddour (buzuk), Anthony Sahyoun (guitar, synth), Pascal Semerdjian (drums) and Marwan Tohme (guitars) bring a myriad of influences gleaned from years performing either solo or as members of influential acts in Beirut’s tight-knit independent music scene (such as Al Rahel al Kabir, Postcards, Kinematik and Ovid) / The musicians had planned to reiterate their fortuitous experience with Irmler but when this plan fell through, they decided to go on a recording residency together instead in a traditional house in the village of Saqi Reshmaya, Lebanon. The recording of the album took place during a particularly difficult time in their native country of Lebanon, which continues to suffer from an unprecedented economic collapse as well as social and political unrest. “We decided to take eight days off in May 2022 in an effort to completely disconnect ourselves from Beirut” says Sahyoun, who also performs in post-rock outfit Kinematik / During their residency, the musicians, who come from distinct musical styles and backgrounds, decided to record the full album live with no overdubs: “The musical direction for Sanam was set out by the improv sessions with Joachim," says Sahyoun. "We weren't looking at doing something specific, it ended up coming out as a weird mix between improvised rock, tarab/arabic song and ambient. Kind of putting different things in a blender (our different musical backgrounds) and never really letting them quite fuse together. Recounting the insular experience of recording this debut, Sandy Chamoun described it as “almost hallucinogenic, as if there was a tacit agreement among us to produce an album that sounded 'unearthly' ”

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€ 25

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Metro Riders : Lost In Reality - LP (Possible Motive, 2023)

A pungent ooze emanates from the subway. As a sticky drum machine sequence rolls out like thick dark fog, ice cold synth swirls rise from the depths. Since the debut album Europe By Night, one of the main references associated with Henrik Stelzer and his Metro Riders project has been that of cinema, and particularly the European genre films of the 1980s. With its seedy subject matters manifesting both in visual style and music, the vibe of that era has crystallized over time. Passed down to us from deteriorating video cassettes, it became an invaluable key to decoding our present day reality / And this is true for this album as well; Stelzer does not hide the fact that he builds heavily on that vibe; referencing it through track titles and utilizing a particular recording setup consisting of a Fostex and a reel to reel in order to achieve and recreate the feeling of those soundtracks — as heard on magnetic tape rather than vinyl. The motion picture soundtrack as an arbitrary genre definition becomes, in the hands of Stelzer, a pair of X-ray specs for him to envision a kind of music that deals in grains and contrasts rather than hooks and choruses. And like Roddy Piper in John Carpenter’s 1988 film They Live, he hands those glasses over for us to see the true face of our times / On Lost In Reality Metro Riders maps out an emotional geography of the cities at night, wherein the cinematic haze becomes a tool by which we can view them with new eyes. Not steering away from the darker alleys nor the harsh realities of modern day politics masquerading as progress. Yet escapism, in the end, seems the only viable option. But not as an endgame, but rather a stepping stone for building a new vocabulary for an utopian language

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€ 19

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Ellende : Unintentional Consequences - 10" (Smeerlappen, 2021)

Unintentional Consequences is the second part of a trilogy of which Ellende’s previous release the double 10” album Odyssey, A Sentimental Journey from 2019 was part one. For this release Ellende was a core of three original members plus a guest musician. The album was recorded between May to August 2020 in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Tokyo, and London. The release contains a twelve page booklet with artwork by Richard Hart. The autobiographical text in English and Afrikaans is of a trip taken to Cape Town in the mid 1970’s where two teenage cousins are confronted with the consequences of their shared family history / The music can be described as ambient; the sounds are multilayered, often a bit dusty and slow moving. Some of the tracks sound like they have been recorded on old tapes giving the whole album a nostalgic atmosphere. Often a piano acts as the leitmotif, there is plenty of droning and throughout the tracks bits of texts from old French movies float in and out. Most of the music is made with vintage analogue synthesisers such as the Arp Solina, Prophet 5, ARP Solus, Juno 6. Most of the piano’s, Rhodes and Wurlizters are from the late 70’s as well / All the tracks have been recorded on tape, often played back on half speed. Mastering again was done by Rafael Irissari, whose own ambient work we greatly admire

€ 16

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Ellende : Odyssey, A Sentimental Journey - 2x10" Box (Smeerlappen, 2019)

Hand-numbered edition of 300 copies edition set with double 10” vinyl records. A booklet in a oversized poster dust-cover. Artwork by Richard Hart. Ellende’s latest release sees the band bringing together an album based on a trip Wim took to Japan to visit his cousin in the early 1990’s. Most of the music in the records was recorded live at The Plantation in 2018, with a few minor overdubs added at various locations (Tokyo and London) / The music might sound a bit nostalgic, the ambience of warm February nights in Cape Town while the sounds of old French movies seep through a badly tuned piano. Sometimes the doors are shut and large metal sheets are heard processed through guitar pedals. A modular synthesiser, analogue synths (Roland SH-101, Juno 6, ARP Solus, Solina) and guitar have been used as well throughout the album. This is the first album of a trilogy. The second album Unintentional Consequences will be released late 2020

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€ 26

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Asa : Radial - CD (Raster, 2023)

CD packaged in digipack cover. »Radial« is the result of a vivid creative merge between Esplendor Geométrico and AtomTM. A transparent diamond formed by a heavy implosion. Its underlying massive mechanics are covered by a crystal surface made to cut reality in half. Just one letter short of “radical”, this album is no less than exactly that - an orgy of powerful, blunt repetition and hyperbolic simplicity, a profound evocation of nothingness and its surroundings / The 13 tracks (which comprise the digital full-length version) of »Radial« are the exact expansion of sonic ideas those three artists have explored during the last couple of decades. Unexpectedly so, this makes this production an outstandingly atemporal one - some would even classify it as meta-contemporary.A selection of 10 tracks of the digital full-length album will be released on CD through raster on September 01, whereas an accompanying vinyl release is scheduled for the end of 2023

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€ 14

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Javier Hernando : Dómina Esteléctrica - LP (Geometrik, Munster, 2023)

Javier Hernando is a pioneer musician and a hidden talent in the Spanish electronic music scene. His long career, since the early eighties, currently has its maximum creative delivery in Dómina Esteléctrica, his first album in vinyl format. Hernando's music, which reveals a post-industrial landscape alternating with more peaceful contours of erratic calmness, transits in this album to a mediumship of sinister resonance alternating with evocative and expressive synthetic constructions / Javier Hernando's musical journey began in 1979 with his first band, Xeerox. In 1981,he embarked on his first fully electronic project, Melodinamika Sensor, which continued until 1985. During that year, three tracks by M.S. were featured on a compilation LP titled "GR002.4 Grupos de Barcelona," released by Discos Esplendor Geométrico. This compilation showcased four bands from the thriving Barcelona underground scene. From 1985 to the early nineties, Hernando co-directed the cassette label Ortega y Cassette, while also hosting "Los Silencios de la Radio" on Radio PICA. This radio program was dedicated to showcasing electronic and experimental music. In the nineties, he released new works in cassette format, including two albums on Toracic Tapes, and later published the CD "Luz Nacarina" through Geometrik Records / Subsequent releases took listeners on a journey through post-industrial landscapes, interspersed with moments of serene tranquility. These releases gained notable recognition from Geometrik, as well as other respected labels such as Alku, con-v, Nostalgie de la Boue, Anomia, Novak, and República Ibérica Ruidista. More recent works have revealed a shift towards harmonious compositions, evident in albums like "Jardiín Naufrago" released on La Olla Express. Hernando has also explored poetic atmospheres in collaborations such as the CD-book "El Archipiélago Sideral" with artist Juan Miguel Muñoz, and "Vacuola," his latest release on WD Records, in collaboration with Ángel Lalinde

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€ 21

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Esplendor Geometrico : Kosmos Kino - LP (Geometrik, 2023)

Black vinyl. Kosmos Kino is the third album of the influential Spanish Industrial cult band Esplendor Geométrico and is considered and Industrial classic of the eighties. Recorded and originally published in 1988 and unavailable on vinyl for more than 12 years, now available again in its original format. Remastered in 2023, this release reproduces the original cover but with a different exclusive artwork on the back cover by Alonso Urbanos / After a start in which the line of acute distortions and buzzy basses of their previous albums continues, it follows a surprising rhythmic viscerality, reaching its peak in the track "Trybuna Robotnicza", suitable for the most frantic dance and one of the greatest moments in their vast discography

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€ 21

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Esplendor Geometrico : Pulsión - 2xLP (Geometrik, 2023)

Black vinyl. Special reissue, with a bonus LP! Originally released in 2009 and not available on vinyl for more than twelve years. Includes for the first time on vinyl the 5 exclusive tracks from the original CD version / Esplendor Geométrico style continues having a unique and unmistakable mark that distinguishes them from later bands they have had influence onto. At first sight, Pulsión is pure Industrial hypnosis based on the electronic manipulation of sounds together with irresistible rhythms, repetitive, machine-like, industrial, hypnotic, sometimes tribal, sometimes danceable, that mix up with voices and chants. Some of them are taken fom traditional arab and oriental musics (Mongolia, China,Tibet…) to be later electronically manipulated, others are simply speech fragments, as the one of a leader of a radical political party in Japan, Che Guevara, or an anti-occidental harangue from an islamist leader. But the idea of EG is not to transmit any political or ideological message, the sources have been chosen for their strength and sonority / Remastered in 2023. Limited to 600 numbered copies. New cover design by Juan Carlos Sastre,founding member of E.G., inspired by the original one

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€ 25

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Esplendor Geometrico : Pulsión - 2xLP (Geometrik, 2023)

Clear red vinyl. Special reissue, with a bonus LP! Originally released in 2009 and not available on vinyl for more than twelve years. Includes for the first time on vinyl the 5 exclusive tracks from the original CD version / Esplendor Geométrico style continues having a unique and unmistakable mark that distinguishes them from later bands they have had influence onto. At first sight, Pulsión is pure Industrial hypnosis based on the electronic manipulation of sounds together with irresistible rhythms, repetitive, machine-like, industrial, hypnotic, sometimes tribal, sometimes danceable, that mix up with voices and chants. Some of them are taken fom traditional arab and oriental musics (Mongolia, China,Tibet…) to be later electronically manipulated, others are simply speech fragments, as the one of a leader of a radical political party in Japan, Che Guevara, or an anti-occidental harangue from an islamist leader. But the idea of EG is not to transmit any political or ideological message, the sources have been chosen for their strength and sonority / Remastered in 2023. Limited to 600 numbered copies. New cover design by Juan Carlos Sastre,founding member of E.G., inspired by the original one

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€ 35

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Esplendor Geometrico : Kosmos Kino - LP (Geometrik, 2023)

Blue translucent vinyl. Kosmos Kino is the third album of the influential Spanish Industrial cult band Esplendor Geométrico and is considered and Industrial classic of the eighties. Recorded and originally published in 1988 and unavailable on vinyl for more than 12 years, now available again in its original format. Remastered in 2023, this release reproduces the original cover but with a different exclusive artwork on the back cover by Alonso Urbanos / After a start in which the line of acute distortions and buzzy basses of their previous albums continues, it follows a surprising rhythmic viscerality, reaching its peak in the track "Trybuna Robotnicza", suitable for the most frantic dance and one of the greatest moments in their vast discography

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€ 26

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Crematorius : Crematorius - LP (Urashima, 2023)

Step into a time capsule of industrial experimentation with "Crematorius," an elusive music project created by the visionary Henrik Nordvargr Björkk. Recorded on a portable four-track in 1987, "Crematorius" captures a raw and unfiltered glimpse into the early creative explorations of one of the genre's most influential figures. This project predates even the formation of the iconic black industrial group MZ 412, offering a unique perspective on Björkk's artistic evolution. Before the monumental impact of MZ 412, "Crematorius" emerged as a groundbreaking endeavor that hinted at the industrial mastery that Björkk would later achieve. As one of the earliest industrial-oriented projects in his repertoire, "Crematorius" showcases the young artist's experimental spirit and his unyielding determination to sculpt soundscapes that transcend time / "Crematorius" emerges from the depths of history as a testament to Henrik Nordvargr Björkk's uncharted sonic explorations. In the tapestry of these unreleased tracks, you'll uncover a mosaic of raw emotions, stark atmospheres, and primitive industrial textures. Björkk's youthful curiosity and artistic vision resonate through every sonic layer, capturing the essence of an era when experimentation knew no boundaries. The soundscapes of "Crematorius" offer a glimpse into the formative years of industrial music. The tracks echo with a sense of urgency, reflecting the pioneering spirit of an artist who dared to push the envelope. Elements of distortion, manipulated samples, and unconventional rhythms intertwine to create an auditory experience that transcends time. The sonic imperfections add to the authenticity, taking you back to a time when artists sculpted sound with limited resources and limitless creativity / Urashima's vinyl reissue of "Crematorius" marks an unprecedented moment in industrial music history. This collection of unreleased tracks sheds light on Björkk's formative years, revealing the origins of his artistic trajectory. With resonances reminiscent of the early releases on the legendary Cold Meat Industry label, "Crematorius" delves into the raw and unrefined sonic experimentation that defined the genre's infancy. These tracks serve as a sonic time capsule, preserving the essence of a period when industrial music was just beginning to take shape. As you listen, you'll hear the echoes of industrial pioneers who paved the way for a genre that would later resonate across the musical landscape. The vinyl format enhances the authenticity of these recordings, inviting you to experience the textures and tones in a way that pays homage to their original creation

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€ 24

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Kranivm : Post Fata Resurgam - 2xCD (Urashima, 2023)

Step into the enigmatic world of Kranivm, a haunting music project born in 1993 from the depths of Marco Corbelli's tormented imagination. Drawing inspiration from a diverse tapestry that spans the eerie ambience of Cold Meat Industry's early releases, the unsettling surrealism of Gothic literature, ritualistic mysticism, until to the cinematic visions of directors Ken Russel and Amando De Ossorio, Kranivm embodies an audial journey into the darkest corners of the human psyche. Through dissonant soundscapes, Corbelli intricately wove together influences that evoked discomfort, introspection, and a mesmerizing sense of dread / Kranivm beckons like a whispered secret, inviting listeners to peer into Marco Corbelli's creative abyss. This auditory manifestation serves as a vessel for Corbelli's unbridled exploration of sonic frontiers beyond the realm of conventional musical norms. Employing innovative techniques and meticulous aural manipulations, Kranivm unfurls an atmosphere teeming with unease, mirroring Corbelli's own fearless quest to venture into the most obscure corners of existence. Kranivm's legacy is intricately interwoven with the fabric of Slaughter Productions, the notorious label skillfully helmed by Corbelli himself. Under the Slaughter Productions banner, Kranivm birthed a trilogy of cassette tapes, each encapsulating a fragment of Corbelli's artistic psyche. "Insanatorivm," "The Brighter Edge of Death," and "I - The Blood" are not mere recordings; they are experiential gateways that beckon listeners to confront their own apprehensions and traverse the depths of Corbelli's creative abyss / These tapes, now legendary, served as portals into Corbelli's inner world, inviting the brave-hearted to partake in his journey through the shadows. In each sonic composition, Corbelli's meticulous craftsmanship was evident, transforming sound into an avenue for emotional resonance and visceral introspection. The symbiotic relationship between Kranivm and Slaughter Productions not only solidified Corbelli's place in the annals of industrial music but also set the stage for an enduring exploration of sound that resonates to this day. Traverse a spectrum of emotions ranging from discomfort to morbid fascination as you journey through the auditory labyrinth that reflects the mind of a visionary artist. Through this reissue, you'll honor Marco Corbelli's enduring legacy, his influence forever etched into the industrial and experimental music tapestry

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€ 22

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Megaptera : Near Death - LP (Urashima, 2023)

Immerse yourself in the mysterious and haunting world of "Megaptera," a captivating music project that pushes the boundaries of industrial and dark ambient genres. Initiated by Peter Nyström alongside Mikael Svensson, with the participation of Magnus Åslund, "Megaptera" embarked on a sonic journey into the heart of darkness, where atmospheric textures and chilling soundscapes intertwine. "Megaptera" is a project that defies conventional classification. The trio's early collaboration set the groundwork for soundscapes that delve into the darkest corners of the psyche, inviting listeners to confront their fears and delve into the unknown / At the core of "Megaptera" lies an intricate fusion of industrial rhythms, unsettling textures, and atmospheric layers. Each composition is a sonic voyage, transporting the audience to realms where the borders between reality and imagination blur. The music possesses an uncanny ability to evoke emotions that are rarely explored, creating an intense and immersive experience for those who dare to listen / Prepare to be transported to the edge of consciousness with the Urashima's vinyl reissue of "Megaptera - Near Death." Originally released on Sound Source .1917. cassette in 1991, this pivotal album not only marked the inception of the "Megaptera" project but also carved a niche for itself in the annals of dark ambient and industrial music. "Near Death" is a journey into the depths of the human psyche, a descent into the unknown territories of the mind. With the collaborative efforts of Peter Nyström, Mikael Svensson, and the participation of Magnus Åslund, the album takes on an even more profound resonance. The combined creativity of these minds birthed a sonic masterpiece that fuses haunting atmospheres, experimental soundscapes, and industrial rhythms into a symphony of darkness

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€ 24

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Morthond : Death Time - LP (Urashima, 2023)

Step into the enigmatic world of Morthond, a captivating music project that took shape during the winter of 1990 under the creative guidance of the singular talent, BJ Nilsen. Morthond isn't confined by genre labels; instead, it's a canvas where experimental soundscapes, dark atmospheres, and ambient textures converge to create an immersive auditory experience. Unlike traditional projects, Morthond thrives on pushing sonic boundaries and challenging the norm. Rooted in the wintry landscapes of its inception, Morthond captures the stark beauty and chilling isolation of the season. Under BJ Nilsen's vision, Morthond becomes a vessel for exploring the shadowy corners of the human mind and emotions / Morthond's music defies easy categorization, and that's precisely where its allure lies. It dances at the crossroads of experimental, ambient, and dark genres, creating soundscapes that evoke contemplation and provoke the imagination. BJ Nilsen's craftsmanship lies in his ability to orchestrate sounds that immerse listeners in a realm where emotions intertwine with auditory perceptions. Urashima's vinyl reissue of "Death Time" is a mesmerizing portal to the project's formative years. Originally introduced on cassette through Sound Source - CMI in 1991, this album serves as the inaugural chapter in Morthond's sonic journey. "Death Time" not only showcases the debut of the project but also unveils a realm of experimental artistry that defies convention / From the very first moments, "Death Time" announces itself as a sonic exploration unlike any other. It's an audacious fusion of experimental compositions and ambient soundscapes, a testament to BJ Nilsen's unrelenting quest to carve out an auditory path that transcends labels. This album stands as an embodiment of Morthond's early ethos: to defy the norm and venture into uncharted territories of sonic expression. The tracks within "Death Time" reveal a landscape of sound that is both unsettling and captivating. As layers of sound overlap and intertwine, a sense of enigmatic tension unfolds. The experimental nature of the album invites the listener to relinquish preconceived notions and embrace the unknown. Each sonic element serves a purpose – from the echoing whispers to the evocative textures – creating a composition that resonates with thought-provoking depth

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€ 24

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Raison d’Être : Apres Nous Le Deluge - LP (Urashima, 2023)

Dive into the enigmatic world of Raison d'Être, a mesmerizing music project masterminded by the Swedish composer and sound artist, Peter Andersson. Renowned for his profound ability to conjure immersive auditory landscapes, Andersson's Raison d'Être has left an indelible mark on the ambient and dark-industrial genres. At the core of "Raison d'Être" lies a philosophy deeply intertwined with the exploration of existential themes and the mysteries of human consciousness. Since its inception in the early '90s, the project has evolved into a sonic odyssey that ventures beyond traditional musical boundaries. With a name derived from the French phrase meaning "reason to be," Raison d'Être delves into the realms of emotions, thoughts, and experiences that often remain unspoken / Andersson's sonic tapestries are intricate and multi-layered, weaving a delicate web of dark ambient, drone, and experimental sounds. Drawing inspiration from various sources, including philosophy, literature, and art, the music of "Raison d'Être" invites listeners to embark on an introspective journey. The compositions are meticulously crafted, with each note and texture contributing to a greater narrative that evokes a profound sense of immersion and contemplation. The vinyl reissue of "Raison d'Être - Après Nous Le Déluge" marks the beginning in the ongoing story of the project. Originally released on Sound Source .1921. cassette in 1992, the album's title translates to "After Us, the Deluge," a phrase often attributed to Madame de Pompadour, suggesting an impending catastrophe. This sentiment echoes throughout the album, as it conjures sonic landscapes that are both foreboding and introspective / From the somber tones to the ethereal drone, "Après Nous Le Déluge" encapsulates Raison d'Être’s ability to evoke emotions that reside in the shadows of our psyche. Each track is a chapter in an abstract narrative, inviting the listener to create their own interpretations of the sonic tapestry woven by Andersson's masterful hands. From the moment the needle touches the vinyl, you're drawn into a sonic journey that's equal parts haunting and enchanting. The lush textures and intricate layers that characterize Raison d'Être’s signature style are beautifully preserved in this reissue. As the tracks unfold, a sense of introspection takes hold, guiding you through landscapes of sound that feel like a deep exploration of the psyche

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€ 24

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The Orphanage Committee : Sol in Solus - LP (EE Tapes, 2023)

The Orphanage Committee is the brainchild of Orphan S.C. Wallace. The committee in itself can be seen as a singular abstract entity, while its different faces show themselves in their different aspects of music or variety of genre they create. Second vinyl LP for label resident Orphan Wallace! / 'Sol In Solus' is a concept album about nature and self-reflexion. An overall organic suite in ten parts comprising multi genres and instruments conceived and performed by this talented local electronic artist!Guest appearance by Michiel De Malsche. Back to nature! / LP pressed on 180 gm vinyl limited to 200 copies, manufactured by Belgian vinyl pressing plant

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€ 22

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Ellende : St Tropez - MC (Smeerlappen, 2022)

Normally the band members of Ellende (friends for over thirty years) would get together in their Cape Town studio (The Plantation) and during a relatively a short period of time intensively work on something that could be released as an album. A few weeks before getting together, a theme would be chosen out of the repertoire of work specifically created by Wim Bontjes (a dearly missed founding member of Ellende). Due to the Covid outbreak this release, like the previous release Unintentional Consequences, was recorded by each individual member of Ellende in their own respective home studios in either Cape Town, London and Tokyo / As mentioned in the text accompanying this tape, a variant of the Memory Loci Methodology, developed by Wim was used to evoke a past holiday set in St Tropez. It tries to evokes a distant past of pine trees, sand, child play in the sea of a warm Mediterranean holiday. Memories as the WB’s methodology suggests are fixed points in a past that is filtered, distorted by a nostalgic (even addictive) yearning to those lost moments in the past. The purpose of this exercise has been an effort (needlessly doomed to fail from the beginning) of using music (like that cliched Madeleine) to evoke a moment of the past of a member of Ellende but which might resonate in anyone

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€ 8

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Ellende : Heavy Metal Drones - 10"+CD (Smeerlappen, 2011)

Clear vinyl + long play CDR (different material) and extensive booklet containing obscure photo collages and texts, combined with the piercing, pulsating, overtuning analog drones on the record (between cosmic beauty and experimental sharpness) a most remarkable, surrealistic impression is made... - ' "A manifesto with quite a lot, artistic nudes and deep profound writings that might change your life"; numbered edition, Japan import

€ 13

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Die Anarchistische Abendunterhaltung, DAAU : #1 - LP (Sub Rosa, 2023)

Black vinyl. In 1995 the self-titled full-length debut of Die Anarchistische Abendunterhaltung (DAAU) was released. The band consisted of four young, 'classically derailed' musicians who played their own compositions exclusively their with acoustic instruments such as violin, cello, clarinet and accordion / Their work contained influences from Roma music, Eastern European folk, klezmer and jazz, but was performed with the energy, rebellious spirit and Sturm und Drang of a bona fide punk band. DAAU was part of the fertile Antwerp scene, which also produced dEUS, Zita Swoon and Kiss My Jazz, and soon signed an international record deal with Sony Classical. The group's influential first record, which has been out of print for a while, is now finally being released again and is available on vinyl for the very first time

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€ 17

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Die Anarchistische Abendunterhaltung, DAAU : #1 - LP (Sub Rosa, 2023)

Marbled vinyl. In 1995 the self-titled full-length debut of Die Anarchistische Abendunterhaltung (DAAU) was released. The band consisted of four young, 'classically derailed' musicians who played their own compositions exclusively their with acoustic instruments such as violin, cello, clarinet and accordion / Their work contained influences from Roma music, Eastern European folk, klezmer and jazz, but was performed with the energy, rebellious spirit and Sturm und Drang of a bona fide punk band. DAAU was part of the fertile Antwerp scene, which also produced dEUS, Zita Swoon and Kiss My Jazz, and soon signed an international record deal with Sony Classical. The group's influential first record, which has been out of print for a while, is now finally being released again and is available on vinyl for the very first time

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€ 22

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Gigi Masin, Rod Modell : Red Hair Girl At The Lighthouse Beach - CD (13, 2023)

Released in a 6-panel digisleeve with wraparound tracing paper cover / A meeting of minds, here, as new age ambient hero Gigi Masin amd dubbed-out audio explorer Rod Modell join forces for the very first time. It was something of a distant, hands-off collaboration, with each artist reworking an unreleased solo work by the other. Side A's 'Red Hair Girl at Lighthouse Beach' features Modell's characteristically hazy, crackling and deeply immersive interpretation of Masin's work - all bubbly electronics, dense layers of hiss, sparse and minimalistic whispers of ambient dub rhythm and yearning chords. In contrast, 'Summer Morning at Lighthouse Beach' sports Masin's distinct sonic stamp, with sun-up chords and dreamy textures being overlaid with twinkling, slow-motion electric piano solos. It's brilliantly blissful, all told

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€ 14

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Breathing Heavy : Heavy Breathing - MC (Infant Tree, 2023)

Every squeak, skonk, breath, tap & honk imaginable. Eye-scrunching-brick-wall-saxophone for Sampler & Alto Sax by Breathing Heavy (Sam Andreae & Ciaran Mackle) on their debut tape for Infant Tree. Both proving how far they are willing to push themselves and their listeners. It's a great pleasure to be able to share this unique music. Fans of Ashcircle will be familiar with Mackles's singular sampler workouts, but will be thrilled to hear how far its goes here. Sam Andreae's work as an improviser is well solidified, playing alongside loud ringing names such as Toshimaru Nakamura, Yan Jun, Steve Noble, Maggie Nicols, Otto Willberg and David Birchall. Never restricting himself to standards, I find it hard to name many musicians as dedicated to exploring the far reaches of an instrument / 'I wanted to play saxophone, but all I could get were a few squeaks.' - Stevie Ray Vaughan

€ 12

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Henry Cyer : Roots of Empathy - CD (Loose Trax, 2023)

Limited CD edition comes with a booklet of photographs by the artist. Printed and hand-assembled by Jude BH. Loose Trax presents Roots of Empathy, the debut album from London-based artist Henry Cyer. Roots of Empathy is a collection of songs written between 2019 and 2022 about fear. Conceived as an act of purging, the album explores empathy and fear through the perspective of different people. Roots of Empathy manifests itself as an album of songs, a collection of photographs and a series of videos

€ 14

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Banana : Some Kind of Telling - MC (Infant Tree, 2023)

Having shared space on a 2021 cassette released via Moremars, Matthew Hopkins and Alexandra Spence unite for the first time under the name Banana for a four song suite of quietly unsettling minimal noise, musique concrete & improv. Since it's on Infant Tree, the label operated by Malvern Brume's Rory Salter, i'm not gonna get too far without uttering the words 'liminal spaces', and if Hopkins and Spence are imagining any kind of world then i'd estimate it's certainly one situated after hours and has some kind of relationship with the nocturnal. Are we dreaming? Are we awake? What can we not see? / The strange confluence of whistling wind, indescriptable scrapes and originless voices is certainly a dreamlike concoction, the kind of transmission you might find caught between radio signals, ghosts in the static, edging you towards consciousness but making you doubt it all the same. Gave me that same uneasy feeling as Anti-Clock or the DIY concrete horror landscape of Samutek's Muzeum Historii Naturalnej, records i'm still bending my head around multiple months after the fact. Some Kind of Telling, as its title might suggest, proves equally confounding and portentuous

€ 12

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Eyes of the Amaryllis : Perceptible to Everyone - LP (Horn of Plenty, 2023)

As the mist clears from their Sift LP (hop9) Eyes of the Amaryllis return to Horn of Plenty with the equally enigmatic Perceptible to Everyone / Recorded in various remote locations around the northeast of the US over a few warm months in 2022, Perceptible to Everyone maps the band's poetry in nebulous song forms that dance on their constant fission between pastoral and ghostly inner galaxies. Its eight tracks utilize a wide range of instruments and techniques to span an alien, ritualistic territory where melodies and rhythms appear from meandering passages of sound and ramshackle sci-fi settings. The culmination leaves Perceptible to Everyone gesturing as if it were an alluring otherworldly ethnographic document / EotA’s non-idiomatic methods make comparisons difficult but traces of Smegma, early D.D.A.A, Garbage and the Flowers, The Tower Recordings, and Flaming Tunes will get you some of the way there. The rest is uncharted

€ 26

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Little Skull : A Wayside Shrine - LP (Digital Regress, 2023)

In early 2000s New Zealand, Little Skull started as a small project. Smallness was perhaps the defining characteristic. Lathe cut 7”s in vanishingly small editions, the intricate, fiddly covers hand- crafted with what one would have to assume were very small hands. Or just with the aid of tweezers perhaps. The labels of these records provided no information beyond an illustration of a small – little even – skull. The music was also mysterious and miniaturized but always had a contradictory sense of warmth and expansiveness, hinting at narrative worlds beyond the confines of those few minutes of recorded sound / Now onto his sixth vinyl LP, Dean Brown’s packaging maintains the same intricate, handmade qualities, albeit in punishingly larger quantities (300 copies of this one, each pencil rubbing done by hand). The music, meanwhile, has really expanded outwards since those early 7”s, embracing that hinted-at push/pull between small and large / The first side of this carefully mastered, factory- produced LP even toys with craggy lathe cut-like audio artifacts and tape hiss coming and going in the mix, as if to remind us of the project’s beginnings. Before long we are into decidedly majestic, widescreen territory, suggesting Alastair Galbraith after a Herzog/Fricke bender. The second side- long suite covers even greater territory, conjuring both wild and woolly weather systems and feelings going unexpressed in dimly-lit 19 th Century drawing rooms. Writers may need to dust off the term “geological drone” from their old Surface of the Earth reviews but should also be prepared to find new ways to say “Satie-like” as things get almost shockingly musical. Small sounds but with an increasingly cinematic scope

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€ 26

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Mordecoli : The Addiction - MC (Hedione, 2022)

Debut release from duo of Ecka Mordecai (cello, vocals) and Valerio Tricoli (tape loops, REVOX B77), music concrete meets horror movie soundtrack. A deep listen, the title is taken from 1995 Vampire movie ‘The Addiction’. Cassette comes with digital download code and tarot card designed by Ecka

€ 18

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Idea Fire Company : Bathroom Electronics - LP (Horn of Plenty, 2023)

Black vinyl LP in full colour gloss sleeve with grey paper inner sleeve. 2023 marks the 35th year of Idea Fire Company’s ongoing commitment to the radical avant-garde. To mark the occasion, Horn of Plenty is proud to present the band’s latest campaign statement Bathroom Electronics. IFCO’s core members are Scott Foust and Karla Borecky who operate from rural Massachusetts. Early despatches came via Scott’s Swill Radio imprint alongside titles by The Shadow Ring, RLW, and Asmus Tietchens. The last decade or so has seen them work with other notable labels including Kye, Recital, Feeding Tube and Ultra Eczema / Early IFCO releases included mission statements like the Anti-Naturals manifesto where they outlined their pursuit of a new total-aesthetic to challenge the ongoing pervasion of the Spectacle. Their growing catalogue, although honouring these early intentions, also nodded to the sacrifices undertaken in their pursuit. References to being Lost At Sea, or coming Live From The Impossible Salon acknowledged a wry sense of resignation and a dogged romanticism / By avoiding sequencers, computers and overdubs and focussing on drawing the most from their instruments and recording equipment their music carries a seductively human character that allows the music to breathe and puts the listener in the room with the band. Although rooted in their formative post-punk / early industrial years, IFCO have incorporated kosmische, minimalism, jazz, classical and avant-garde techniques into their always-the-same-but-always-different sound. Staying true to an original concept yet constantly pushing it in new directions is no easy task but IFCO can claim the mantle and show no signs of tiring

€ 26

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A. Maiah : F(r)icciones - LP (Hegoa, 2023)

“F(r)icciones is a complicated piece of miscellaneous works. A set of experiments in preparation for a gig at a noise convention in Orozco that never happened, an 18 women choir piece composed for a soundtrack to a documentary that doesn’t have a release date yet or trying to create a drone piece by accumulating guitar noise. The result? Burnt psychedelic blues with electronics / Partly an official soundtrack to “Durangas”, a documentary focusing on women and heritage, discussing civil war, education, sex or violence in the town of Durango, Basque Country. And partly a non musical accompaniment to an imaginary movie, F(r)icciones is the new album by A. Maiah / Self described as Guitarist / Composer / Improviser of Idiomatic Noise / Microtonal Blues Ist or Psychedelic Populist, Asier has been self-releasing albums for nearly a decade now, focusing mostly on prepared guitar or improvised noise. Durangas was composed by Asier, arranged/conducted by Garazi Navas, performed by an 18 women choir from Durango and recorded live at San Agustin Cultural Centre. All of the other tracks were recorded between 2021-2022 in between portable recorders in Burgos or at Estudios Nomad

€ 26

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Various Artists : Longform Visions for Earminded People - 7" (Futura Resistenza, 2023)

These sonic stories emerged from a gathering of artists concerned with alternative uses of everyday objects, subversive anti-aesthetics, sensual-absent poetry, moving optical discs, and echoes of activities occurring in the Earth's orbit. It was a performative celebration of entangled audio-visual events that enabled us to learn once again how to tune in to a place: with our eyes, with our ears, with our minds / While listening to the record, I remember what it sounded like in the space. I remember monologues of chairs that were given voice, phones eavesdropping and speaking back to us, cassettes falling on the floor (intentionally): some visions unfolding in front of our very eyes and others in our minds / Try to imagine all that these short pieces might still contain. As Peter Fengler exclaims in his chorus: it will all work out. Just choose a bicycle, low on emissions and also better for the tummy and the legs! (Lucija Gregov)

€ 15

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KMRU, Abul Mogard : Drawing Water - LP (A Sunken Mall, 2023)

LPs are presented on A embossed 350gsm deluxe reversed cardboard cover, featuring a hand framed cover print and a 280gsm recycled offset paper insert. In November 2020, KMRU self-released ‘Drawing Water’. The release contained 3 supple works of porous resonance and intimate motion, giving way to a very heartfelt body of work that peers directly into the fabric of the everyday; gestures, movement, conversation, rendered graciously into waveform / Now, Vaagner is proud to present a special edition vinyl and cassette reissue of ‘Drawing Water’ via its A Sunken Mall imprint, with the original material spanning the first side of the record in remastered from. For the second half of the record, the label has taped none other than Abul Mogard, who prepared a new piece by reworking various layers from KMRU’s original compositions / This new 17 minute long piece, tilted ‘Drawing Water On Matching Teal Surfaces’, is defined by a continuously cascading and deeply resounding solemnness, which, towards the work’s concluding moments, gradually disperses through a subtle downpour of warm pads, delicately rippling through the fabric of the work, before gently dissolving into thin air

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€ 21

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Caterina Barbieri : Patterns Of Consciousness - 2xLP (Important, 2023)

Black vinyl repress. Patterns Of Consciousness is the powerful second full length album from analog synth composer Caterina Barbieri. Gorgeous high resolution analog textures and algorithmic melodies unfold under Barbieri's careful control, exploring the basic nature of sound and consciousness. These pieces are minimal in arrangement but maximal in presence asserting Barbieri as a unique voice in contemporary electronic music composition. Highly recommended to fans of Alessandro Cortini and Eleh / Patterns of Consciousness consists of a series of compositions originated by ideally infinite permutation of patterns through a disciplined and exclusive use of machinery (an Indexed Quad Sequencer and an Harmonic Oscillator). By means of subtraction, addition and jitter operations, Barbieri derives a myriad of interlocking patterns extracted from an original matrix of just few harmonic archetypes, gradually developing the potential of the reduced constellation of pitches and durations determined in advance / Pushing the limits of her monophonic instrument, Barbieri seeks out counterpoint from a single oscillator by only using additive synthesis, fast progressions, extreme melodic jumps and intricate delay lines. Note against note, gate against gate, she develops an illusory counterpoint style influenced by her passion for baroque lute music, where fast arpeggios are employed to get effects of sustained chords and overcome the limits of fast decay timbres

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€ 34

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Alexandre Bazin : Innervision - LP (Umor Rex, 2023)

Yellow vinyl. On this album, his third work published on Umor Rex, the french producer Alexandre Bazin takes what he started in Four Steps (Umor Rex 2022) to the maximum point. However, on Innervision, there is no longer that discreet flirtation towards the dance floor. Instead, the ten cuts that make up the album are influenced by musical research and the UK and Berlin electronic scene. Bazin's new proposal revolves around sound textures, saturations, feedback, autosampling, and cut and tuned sounds, allowing new melodic elements to emerge in the process, akin to a live act. While maintaining his minimalist exploration and obsession with melody and structure, Innervision undoubtedly marks a turning point in Bazin's discography. It is epic, compelling, euphoric, utterly enjoyable, and at times violently beautiful / The album was composed and mixed by Alexandre Bazin at Château Rouge, Paris, and mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri at Black Knoll, New York. François Desmoulins played the acoustic drums on Four Steps (Remix). The artwork for the album was created by Daniel Castrejón in Mexico City

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€ 21

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Werner Dafeldecker : Neural - CD (Room40, 2023)

Matte laminate and monochrome printed jacket, insert card. For whatever reason, I have always found the idea of using alien material as the structuring element of an artistic process exciting. That doesn’t mean the elements always stay, but rather I often remove them right at the end of the creative process. This working method creates areas of tension that reflect the artistic process on a different emotional level. It reduces the sense of creation and moves more toward accomplishment. This method applies to both pieces of this phonogram in a similar way / „Neural“ places sound surfaces as its central focus and is inspired by the idea that neural networks develop a memory when they repeatedly send information. The ensemble focuses on vibrations and rhythmic variations of the overtones, which are caused by dynamics and pitch shifts in the microtonal range. With the passage of time and performance practice, spherical, acoustic stamps become established, caused by the conscious perception of when rhythm changes into sound sensation and vice versa / For „Tape 231“ I re-discovered a long-forgotten music cassette in my archive which contained peculiar percussive electronic sounds. As Lucio and I worked on the recordings of his elongated tones and multi-phonics I again was drawn to the idea to use the tape sounds primarily as a structuring element for the piece, (time, density, dynamics) only to be left out afterwards. The targeted handling of hidden structures evokes a somewhat stubborn emotionality when dealing with creative processes, I like that

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€ 16

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Soundwalk Collective : All The Beauty And The Bloodshed - LP (Analogue Foundation, 2023)

Art edition with original photo print by Nan Goldin, signed by the artist. Laura Poitras’ Oscar-nominated film ‘All the Beauty and the Bloodshed’ is an epic, emotional and interconnected story about internationally renowned artist and activist Nan Goldin. Told through intimate interviews, photography, and footage, central to the story is her personal fight to hold the Sackler family accountable for the opioid crisis. The film cuts to the bone with its incandescent celebration of life and condemnation of those who threaten it. Art and activism are one and the same / Helping to interweave Goldin’s past and present, multi-disciplinary duo Soundwalk Collective soundtrack her personal and political struggles to sublime effect. The contemporary sonic arts platform of founder and artist Stephan Crasneanscki and producer Simone Merli, the pair work with a rotating constellation of artists and musicians, developing site-and-context-specific sound projects through which to examine conceptual, literary, or artistic themes. And for all the beauty and the bloodshed on show here, the duo strike the balance just right; their compositions in collaboration with Zacharias Falkenberg and Johannes Malfatti producing a trance that oscillates between grace and madness / Within the score, Crasneanscki draws connections with the life and work of German poet Friedrich Holderlin, who was removed from society through confinement in institutions. In his last poems, written as fragments while he was plagued by mental illness, Holderlin renders nature, in all its fragility and ephemerality. Similar themes merge in Laura's portrait of Goldin and serve as an inspiration for the composition of the choral songs and cantus within the soundtrack. Through the repetition of words and the layering of voices, the lyric scansion operates like a language possessed, echoing various styles from sacred music to modern minimalist techniques. The music is characterised by quivering strings and swells, de-tuning and lingering, shifting around the surreal, and creating a spectrum of musical experience. Exerts of Nan’s narration are featured in two of the tracks, her powerful narration offering a more direct approach to the storytelling

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€ 125

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Carmen Villain : Music From The Living Monument - LP (Smalltown Supersound, 2023)

Music taken from the Carte Blanche performance "Monument 0.10 : The Living Monument" by Eszter Salamon. This album contains selections from Carmen Villain's score for the two-and-a-half hour performance, most of them edited down from the long-form versions that accompanied the ultra-slow scenes of the performance. These are Carmen Villain's first compositions for dance / Acclaimed Choreographer Eszter Salamon’s dance performance The Living Monument is built on still life, slowness and the presence of the body. In the performance, the theatrical elements are equal and interdependent, and it develops into an installation of sound, movement and figures. Each tableau is bound together by Carmen Villain’s hypnotic score in which the audience is taken on a meditative journey through vibrant tableaus in a dreamlike universe. Carmen Villain's score is a suspension of time where her music is seeking a new form of slow-moving minimalism

€ 25

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Yann Novak : The Voice of Theseus - CD (Room40, 2023)

Matte laminated, monochrome printed and embossed sleeve with insert card. In Greek mythology, the legend of Theseus describes how the king-founder of ancient Athens rescues the children of his city from King Minos’ minotaur on the island of Crete. In commemoration, Athenians began a pilgrimage to honor his victory, taking the ship of Theseus and sailing it from Athens to Delos. It was with this tradition that a philosophical paradox about the historic ship was raised: As the ship was repaired, piece by piece, until it was no longer composed of any original parts, at what point could the ship no longer be considered the same entity? / In recent years, I’ve become interested in exploring the perceptual differences I experience. While some of these differences—partial color blindness and dyslexia—have been with me my entire life, tinnitus caused by hearing damage is a relatively new change to how I experience the world. It is these sensory challenges which have shaped my artistic practice by creating what I call a perceptual insecurity—an uncertainty of how accurately I discern the world around me. The Voice of Theseus is my attempt to explore the obstacles I face in processing external sensory information. If I have trouble perceiving reds and greens, if I have trouble hearing certain frequencies, if I don’t interpret written language in a standard way, how closely can I experience reality in the way that others experience it? The album asks the listener to question how their unique means of perception and interpretation might differ from that of others / For The Voice of Theseus, I asked two of my favorite vocalists to assist with this experiment. Both Dorian Wood and G.Brenner recorded vocals for me to manipulate throughout the album. If their original audio is Theseus’s ship, the changes I make to their voices are like the Athenians replacing each of the original vessel’s pieces. And so, how far can these vocals be pushed while still remaining attached to the vocalists’ identities? Where lies the separation between the source materials and the objects they’re used to create?

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€ 16

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Stuart Dempster : Underground Overlays From The Cistern Chapel - 2xLP (Important, 2023)

This is where you have been forever and will always be forever." Stuart Dempster, speaking about what it feels like to be in a cistern where time seems to stop. Stuart Dempster created Underground Overlays From The Cistern Chapel in the same cistern where the legendary Deep Listening album was recorded. Reverberating with powerful, deep tones, this double LP is intended as a companion to the acclaimed Oliveros/Dempster/Panaiotis album Deep Listening. Underground Overlays From The Cistern Chapel is one of the deepest drone albums ever recorded. Nine trombones, didjeridu and Tibetan bells fill the massive two-million-gallon cistern with dense sonic reverberations that are both haunting and healing. Packaged in a heavy-duty paper sleeve printed with metallic gold ink to match the Deep Listening design

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€ 34

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Tomas Knoflicek : Serendipity - LP (Laaps, 2023)

Tomas Knoflicek is a musician, sound artist and curator. His compositions consist of a combination of glitch structures, computer deconstruction, soundscaping, field recordings and acoustic instruments, including historical psaltery or guitar. Rather than composing, working with sound is a way for him to develop his own sensitivity to the world around him and the phenomena or situations that surround him. His compositions have the character of time cans in which he stores specific stimuli and experiences. However, they also serve as a means of fixing and concentrating his distracted mind. Tomáš Knoflí?ek is a member of the visionary quartet Gurun Gurun (Home Normal, Silver Rocket, Buh Records) or the audiovisual project LyrArkestra+, which focuses on the interpretation of graphic scores by prominent Czech and Slovak visual artists (Milan Adamciak, Jan Steklik, etc.). He is also the organiser of the Cuckoo festival of art in public space (kukacka.org) / Serendipity is an abstract record straddling the line between silence and verbosity. It responds to external stimuli, but at the same time it is also intrinsically introspective. The form of the recording - like the steps of the flaneur - was influenced primarily by chance. It is shaped by an associative yarn of sounds, so it is actually waiting for a suitable constellation, a dialogue between artificial and natural, everyday and festive

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€ 22

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Trym Søvdsnes : Trym Søvdsnes - LP (Smalltown Supersound, 2023)

Trym Søvdsnes is a relative newcomer to the scene, but he’s been putting in work in and around Bergen for years, scoring a residency at the infamous Café Opera, where he snagged the attention of local house legend Bjørn Torske. Soon, the duo were DJing, producing and performing together, eventually running the monthly radio show Pigs in Space where they would go head-to-head for six hours at a time, plumbing the depths of their immense record collections / It’s this lust for bottom-of-the-crate oddities that guides Søvdsnes’ self-titled debut album, a concoction of dub techno, hard-swung house and percussive club music that positions itself a few paces away from any conventional modes. Basically, a perfect fit for Le Jazz Non / ‘Gølles Dans’ opens with a filtered acid bassline and bone dry kick that’s like some psychedelic, slower variant of Basic Channel’s ‘Enforcement’, slicing into the groove with gristly acoustic percussion that drags it up from the basement. The producer leans into asymmetry on ‘Døgnrytmen’, wrangling 303 squelches with booming Berghain kicks and tight snares, enhancing the psychedelic potential by layering ticking percussion into loopy spirals. If you’ve ever caught an extended Dozzy set, this is the kind of ruff-edged gear he would likely play an hour before sunrise. ‘Ordnings Mix’ is weirder still, slopping chirpy bleep/rave stabs into a jazzy hybrid that sounds like a bossa meltdown. Søvdsnes saves his most cosmic mettle for last, on ‘Cowboy Acid (Solstikk Dub)’ he strips the kickdrum to a faint knock, before building up into a sort of screwed Metro Area mirrorball that sounds brilliantly out of time

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€ 25

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Kara-Lis Coverdale, LXV : Sirens - LP (Umor Rex, 2023)

Repress. Sirens is the first collaborative LP of Kara-Lis Coverdale (Tim Hecker, L/B) and LXV (David Sutton). Following their respective solo cassette releases Aftertouches (2015) and Spectral Playmate (2014) on Sacred Phrases, Coverdale and LXV debut on Umor Rex with a collection of multi-textural and multi-source electronic music rich in narrative, melody, and spectral intrigue / Inspired by the link between seduction and violence, Sirens comprises a series of timbrally vast anamorphic pieces that poise the voice as a newly imagined tool of multiplicity. Processes of sample manipulation, signal processing, routing, and source design inform instrumental writing and performance in feedback until intertwined, flickering between states of conflict and consonance. Apparitions of the schitzophrenic voice are at one moment fractured and cold and at the next full of warmth and vivaciousness, embodying velvet rituals of romanticism in the digital age / Ultimately, Sirens is music for ambitious dreamers: surreal sound portraits sound like the warmth of the world laid over an ice cold virtual altar. LXV’s vocal truncations and fleshy sound palettes depict the archivation of the breath and aural fantasies of the flesh which Coverdale sets amongst a vast and unconfined landscape of deeper and unknown force. Harmonically active and dynamic orchestrations underpin post-sacred tonalities while brooding pipe organs, sphinx flutes, and hailstorms of metallic percussion characterize uniquely disjointed discussions between disparate compositional ontologies. At times violent and at others serenely peaceful and seductive, these pieces, at their most powerful moments illuminate a felt space between cybernetic energy and the body

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€ 21

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Hyunhye Seo : Eel - CD (Room40, 2023)

Monochrome printed, matte laminated and embossed CD with insert card. Every year, the eels arrive in Sargasso. The eels that sprang to life when the sun god Atum warmed the Nile, the eels generated within the entrails of the earth, from the rubbing of the rocks and dew drops on riverbanks, they travel thousands of kilometres to Sargasso to breed / Their larvae, eels of glass, move to freshwater homes, crawling across land or up waterfalls if necessary, breathing through their skins, to get to where they want to go, although no one knows exactly where or why. Sometimes, they eat snakes and birds. After decades, when they're ready to breed, they stop eating and develop sex organs, and they travel back to Sargasso. If they can't go back to Sargasso, they never fully mature. They just stop ageing / No human has seen eels breed. Freud dissected over 400 eels in search of eel testicles. Aristotle thought they grew from earthworms in dirt. No one knows why they go where they go, or how they find their way back. Creatures of mud and rain, fluid in time and age, unabashed in its metamorphosis, unknown yet always found

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€ 16

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Hans Joaquim Roedelius, Carl Michael Von Hausswolff : Roedelius Hausswolff II - 2xLP (iDEAL, 2023)

Black vinyl. Deep and beautiful ambient experimentalism from two true masters. “Roedelius / Hausswolff II”is this duo’s second album. The two met in Vienna in 2016 when Carl Michael invited Hans-Joachim to participate in the collective sound-installation and concert””freq_out ”. Since H-J had been, and still is, organizing the festival “More Ohr Les“ in his home town Baden just outside Vienna it has been natural for him to invite CM to collaborate and perform here. As a result of this iDEAL Recording released the CD “Zurufe“ in 2021 where H-J and CM collaborated with American Tim Story and Brit/Swiss Christopher Chaplin. Like the duo’s first album - ”Nordlicht” (released in the USA in 2017) - this new one follows the path where a dark ambient drone style reveals several epic landscapes and formulas

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€ 29

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Zaumne : Parfum - LP (Sferic, 2023)

Black vinyl housed in reverse-board sleeve. Properly stunning fever-dreamweaving on this new one from Zaumne, occupying an elevated space at the intersection of flickering dub-pop and ASMR soundscaping. If you’re into anything from HTRK to Malibu, Félicia Atkinson to Voice Actor, consider it a major life enhancement. For his Sferic debut, Zaumne enlists YL Hooi - a constant source of inspiration for many of us here, as well as Metoronori and the muted sax of Patrick Shiroishi. Loosely inspired by Baudelaire’s ‘Flowers of Evil’ (soft spoken extracts of which appear throughout), the album is a sort of exercise in escapism and sensual wandering / Throughout ‘Parfum’, faded pop is fleshed out with surreal elegance: all flickering neon and half-heard whispers suggestive of blurred late night fantasies; liminal, abstract, and highly evocative. Sounds hang in the air like incense, caressing the senses with an intentionality that's missing from so much landfill ambient. On opening track 'Voyageur’ he sets the scene with pastoral field recordings, dragging a pitched voice and elongated pads through a rhythmic throb that reduces dub techno to a faint knock. There are echoes of music from the fringes of the afterhours club scene too: Andrew Pekler's obscure imaginary landscapes, Jake Muir's druggy bathhouse vapours, DJ Lostboi’s balmy introspection. But despite a shared bleary–eyed aesthetic, Zaumne’s sound is more explicit and well defined, and with it brings a more acute emotional pull / When YL Hooi appears on 'Sorcières', her voice; drenched in reverb but absolutely crystalline, takes proceedings to a whole other level, reminding us of Natalie Beridze’s perennially overlooked ‘The Wrestler’ from her 2003 album for Thomas Brinkmann’s Max Ernst label; a sort of echo chamber dub perfectly re-imagined as dreampop. A whispered French vocal introduces us to 'Éther', a smoked cloud of looping synths and twinkling bells, and on 'Nymphes’ a wash of pads, wind chimes and waves lapping at the shore somehow manages to swerve all the associated schmaltz you’d imagine and instead gives us the same tingling sensation we had when we first heard Art of Noise’s ‘In Visible Silence’ at dusk, on a beach in the south of France, what seems like forever ago

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€ 26

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Sonmi451 : The Eighteen Minute Gap - LP (Laaps, 2023)

Yellow vinyl. Since 2005, under the moniker Sonmi451 (a character from David Mitchell's novel "Cloud Atlas"), Bernard Zwijzen creating his own blend of minimal, soundscape-laden atmospheric electronics in Hasselt, Belgium.He has been previously released on labels such as : U-Cover, Slaapwel Records, Time Released Sounds, Eilean Rec. and LAAPS. "The Eighteen Minute Gap" is his thirteenth releases / The Eighteen Minute Gap lets you embark on a mysterious journey into a world of ethereal ambient music, where beautiful and soothing listening experiences await. Using field recordings and manipulating textures and sounds, Sonmi451 creates minimal yet tantalizing soundscapes, filled with intimate whispering voices / Sonmi451 uses various soft- and hardware synths and samplers to create a truly unique and immersive audio experience where one is captivated by mystery and intrigue and immersed in a world of mysterious sounds where boundaries between reality and imagination begin to blur

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€ 22

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Christina Giannone : Reality Opposition - CD (Room40, 2023)

Matte laminated and embossed sleeve. Monochrome printing. Insert card. Dissociation is the driving force behind the composition. The act of surrendering, the attempt to observe our existence from the outside. Giving in feels like giving up. Acceptance feels like resignation. The process included digital sound experimentation by means of observance and detail orientation and the idea of sound presenting itself in different identities depending on the listener. This attention to detail acts as a hologram, changing shapes depending on the angle. Ideas of multi-dimensional existences and indifference in its purest form. Slow, digital evaporation / An attempt to recreate what ‘nothing’ means. It might be a gaze out the window, conversations in passing, an incomplete thought. Fleeting, meaningless moments that fill the gaps. Things we are only subconsciously aware of. The periphery. The forgotten. The static in between

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€ 16

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Hidden Horse : Incorporeal - LP (Holuzam, 2023)

Burnt down utopias and urban paranoia, Hidden Horse are back with their second album. “Incorporeal” is the follow-up to 2022’s “Opala” and the band’s first release on vinyl. Composed by João Kyron (keyboards/electronics) and Tony Watts (drums), long-time friends and collaborators on different projects, the most prominent one being the exotic and dreamy Beautify Junkyards (Ghost Box). As a duo they’re a totally different game / Playing live regularly after the release of “Opala” offered them the possibility to explore a more freeform approach to their sound. Their live sets were often unpredictable, focused on the communication dynamic between the trio (Ana Farinha joins them on their performances) and where they could be led to, instead of reinterpreting the songs. “Incorporeal” embodies that attitude, it is a less confined album and it is not worried about being referential or even self-referential. They finally discovered how to expand the hauntology dynamics and free themselves from design restraints / The album feels lighter, fluent, more optimistic. It remains thematically close to the eternal sci-fi discomfort, imagine Burial living in Lisbon, Portugal. João and Tony feel free from any doubts they might have had in the beginning of this project and are now more confident about how Hidden Horse sounds and unpreoccupied about the narrative: it is rock oriented but dressed as the electronic / dance music they would like to listen and dance to. Guest slots from Arianne Churchman (“The Tape Spool Within The Horse’s Mouth”) and Clothilde (“Espectros no CCTV”) offer a new range of feelings and confirms how Hidden Horse’s music evolves into new grounds when accepting new ideas and voices. “Opala” was a trojan horse to come out – of the pandemic? – and play. “Incorporeal” feels like the real deal

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€ 22

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Charlie Morrow, Carles Santos, Sten Hanson : The Heavyweight Sound Fight - 2xLP (iDEAL, 2023)

Double LP in gatefold-cover with 12-page booklet. The Heavyweight Sound Fight”, a double LP documenting the remarkable, never before released 1981 performance of a work / happening created by the artists Charlie Morrow, Sten Hanson and Carles Santos. It was staged and produced in New York, at Gleason’s Gym – one of the most famous boxing gyms in the United States – by Morrow and Hanson, and co-written with Santos. A lampoon of a boxing match – with all pomp and bluster – the action pitches Morrow and Santos against each other, backed by two bands – Soho Baroque Opera Company with the assistance of the New Wilderness Foundation – with Hanson serving as referee, Amrand Schwerner acting as the announcer, and none other than Simone Forti displaying the round cards.

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€ 32

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blackbody_radiation : Ultra-Materials - LP (Faitiche, 2023)

Faitiche welcomes Andrew Black aka blackbody_radiation. His debut album Ultra-Materials (faitiche32) gathers six ghostly drones, created with the help of sound masking. Andrew Black, who hails from one of the UK's post industrial North West Milltowns has a sensitive feeling for space and its acoustics. Having trained as a designer and operated within the realms of architecture and public space, it was only natural to extend his interest to manipulating field recordings / The six pieces collected on Ultra-Materials provide an insight into Black's highly sensitive minimalism: they stand for a subtly meandering mediation on room acoustics and place, which are manipulated with the help of sound masking, among other things - that is, the addition and superimposition of artificially generated frequencies to mask unwanted sounds / Sometimes the pieces are reminiscent of warm engine noise, sometimes one thinks of carefully captured natural phenomena. Their strength lies in their elusiveness: free of concrete attributions or musical location, they can unfold their hypnotic pull without revealing anything about their origins. Harmonics at times shimmer, at times warble and at times coexist. It is an attempt to get in touch with our listening abilities

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€ 21

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Mary Jane Leach : Woodwind Multiples - LP (Modern Love, 2023)

Clear vinyl. Here's something to get very excited about - a legendary musician in the avant garde world meeting, and not for the first time, one of the finest labels that dares to tread. New York composer Mary Jane Leach has been synonymous with experimental tones since she first pulled up a pew and began to play back in the 1970s. Soon taking her tones the world, this innate talent eventually led her to Manchester's Modern Love, an imprint several years her junior but launched with a similar purpose / Here joined by oboes, clarinets, and bassoons played by Manuel Zurria, Libby Van Cleve, Sam Dunscombe, and Shannon Peet, Woodwind Multiples is a jarringly to the point, it-is-what-it-is name for a record that feels so otherworldly. Steeped in moods, from the uneasy and tense to awakenings and new life, the result is something to behold

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€ 26

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Plume Girl : In The End We Begin - MC (Mappa Editions, 2023)

Already in its title, Plume Girl’s debut thoroughly lets things go and takes them in – all at once. “In the End We Begin” is the first solo full-length from Sowmya Somanath, a Hindustani classical singer/composer and half of alt-pop duo Felt Out. Plume Girl’s music takes inspiration from the semi-regular musical form of the r?ga (translated as ‘tinting’), invoking mood and atmosphere, each r?ga thought to have its own distinct nature and personality, brought to life through improvisation. String swells and Somanath’s searching vocalisations envelop every track’s own blissful chamber. Exploring imagined binaries along the way — eastern vs. western, traditional vs. experimental, acoustic vs. electronic, Sowmya sees music as a curious dialogue between divine Self and an invisible reality. Beneath the illusion of a chromatic world, there remains a blissful oneness / Plume Girl’s songs sit between ambient Hindustani music and emotionally-encumbered pop. In front of backdrops comprising sundrenched drones or glitches, sketched out beats, and criss-crossing glissandi or flutes, Somanath both murmurs intimately and spirals upwards into soaring choruses. The lyrics ponder innermost thoughts, never more literally than on the blissful emo folk closing track: ‘In my heart I know / what’s in my heart / I know what’s in my…’ / “When I began writing this music, I was fresh off of an experience that completely twisted my reality,” explains Somanath. It was the end of a years-long relationship, and the blossoming of a long-buried love hidden in plain sight: “a best friend of a decade, my musical partner, someone who had always seen me completely…At once, I felt grief and loss. At once, excitement and love.”

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€ 10

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Coil : The Ape Of Naples - LP+12" (Important, 2023)

The Ape of Naples is Coil's highly celebrated final album completed by Peter Christopherson following the tragic death of Jhonn Balance in 2004. Often noted for being a fan favorite, The Ape of Naples uses Balance's final recordings and material recorded at Trent Reznor's studio in New Orleans to create a deep, heavy masterpiece / This black vinyl re-press is packaged in a heavy duty jacket with Ian Johnstone's original artwork coated in a custom spot gloss. Each LP is housed in a printed inner sleeve and side D contains all three original etchings. Ape's lyrics are spread across the gatefold

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€ 35

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Ben Bondy : Camo - LP (Good Morning Tapes, 2023)

Delicate digital processes are shrouded by ethereal layers of static wind chimes, and drifting guitar melodies, creating a soothing and immersive experience. The album unfolds over half an hour, seamlessly merging gentle atmospheres into a soft-hued paradise, where digitally altered melodies interplay with whirring machinery and expansive pads

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€ 29

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Starving Weirdos : Atheistsaregods - LP (Discrepant, 2023)

More than a decade after the release of ´Land Lines', the mythical Humboldt County, California based duo of Brian Pyle and Merrick McKinlay reappears seemingly out of nowhere with 'Atheistsaregods'. With past releases on such cult-like labels as Root Strata, Weird Forest, Blackest Rainbow or Digitalis, Starving Weirdos were an indelible part of a sprawling and loose network of artists in Northern America whose DIY work ethic and extreme activity revolved around shoestring-budget constant touring, numerous limited editions on CDR, tape and vinyl and a relentless drive to push the boundaries of genre / Out of that cauldron, Starving Weirdos stood out as one of the most persistent and visionary acts, developing a mind altering body of work that went from warm soundscapes through droney digressions, freeform improvisation and raucous noise summoned from a myriad of instrumentation and low budget processing - vocals, keyboards, violin, flute, percussion and an assortment of less identifiable sound sources. 10 years on their legacy remains a timeless and wildly under-appreciated one, but hopefully this new album will shine a light on their idiosyncratic approach. As time itself was never a constraint. This is music suspended outside of it / Right from the start with the echoing percussion, dissonant keys and processed vocals of 'Haiku Nagasaki', 'Atheistsaregods' draws a continuous flux of psychedelic elevation that goes from the gloomy electronic motifs not unlike the early Cluster vibes of 'Invocation' into the dank percussive maze of the appropriately titled 'Barulho do Samba'. The self titled track induces a sense of post-apocalyptic vertigo via hallucinatory scraps of voice, suspended synth tones and reverberating field recordings, connecting into the droney mystics of 'Dudukahar (Reed Prayer)'. Coming full circle, 'For Vinny' brings back the echoing percussion amidst hypnotic cello lines until it drifts off into the unknown. With the same palpable sense of urgency, Starving Weirdos feel as vital as ever. And even if we didn't realize it we were in need of them. Welcome back

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€ 19

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Jon Collin, Demdike Stare : Minerals - LP (DDS, 2023)

Transparent yellow vinyl. Demdike Stare have hooked up once more with guitarist Jon Collin for what is their most psychedelic record yet. This trippy and vibrant dream is a record of concrete that's been performed on tape, pedals and a homemade fiddle known as the Swedish nyckelharpa. It manages to be both pastoral (no doubt a result of the fact that all artists hail from the Pennine moorlands) and of this world but also trippy and cosmic. It conveys a sleeping metropolis at night time but also a misty, rainy moor in the middle of winter. There are two halves to this album which both reward close listening with infinite sonic detail

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€ 26

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Rob Winstone : Sifting Through Heaven - MC (Mappa Editions, 2023)

Accepting the darkness can be a liberating experience. Realising, and struggling with just who we are and what world we live in requires it. By further complicating the fractured sense of beauty found on his droning 2022 release, ‘I dreamt we found a way’, Bristol-based composer, Rob Winstone creates a language that encapsulates the lifelong reach for our own personal heavens, along with the darkness and fear on which those foundations are built / Winstone’s instrumental palette continues to reach out far from behind his keyboards, however the sound of ‘sifting through heaven’ is stripped back and pared down, putting melody front and centre. 'postcards and loose tea', a love song written for Winstone’s partner during a period coming to terms with health difficulties had previously self-released with heavy spectral and granular manipulation from the artist. Here Winstone re-presents the original: “the stripped back recording I made in my old damp and cold studio that was in a building that has since been demolished”. It reflects the composer’s own journey, doing away with veils and histrionics, and embracing emotional bliss wherever it can be found, warts and all / Even the rumbling dark ambience of ’hospital corridor’ - where distant chimings, groans, and droplets synthesized from field recordings made nervously in a hospital waiting for test results coalesce - harbours a sacred-seeming beauty and aseptic warmth within its very bleak sense of dread. There’s no better way to describe Winstone’s method than ‘sifting through heaven’. The hymnal organ chords, sketched out acoustic guitar phrases, scattering drum thuds, and meditative field recordings may flit between tenebrous to incandescent, but his focus is always on the embrace of love; “a view of life that embraces positive growth, yet doesn't deny immense suffering,” as he puts it. The album is bookended by two of Winstone’s most outright peaceful moments, summarising his core message: 'in spite of it all...' '...love finds a way'

€ 10

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Lucie Vítková : Cave Acoustic - MC (Mappa Editions, Skupina, 2023)

In 2018, New York based composer and improviser Lucie Vítková made recordings in caves in the Czech Republic and an abandoned Gothic church in Slovakia. Their album Cave Acoustics combines a beguiling exploration of the physicality and acoustics of these unique locations with profoundly personal themes of family legacy and roots. Lucie performed with their sisters in Vypustek Cave – an underground system of tunnels and former Soviet-era bunker. The choreography-based piece creates crescendos of metallic noise as the trio moves around the spaces. It begins with echoing clanks of tins and coins and accelerates towards a rattling cacophony with distant singing floating up from deep in the shadows / Bearing in mind the siblings had never performed together before, their frenzied kinetic outpourings seem even more special, a wordless cohesion forming between them. Lucie clearly doesn’t shy away from a physically full on experience; they embarked on a Fitzcarraldo-style journey to carry heavy props up a steep hill and across a river to reach the less accessible Jáchymyka Cave. ‘Hair Score’ is an attempt to process the death of the siblings’ mother through a serene then slightly unsettling swaying ritual, with rising and falling waves of wailing and emergency siren sounds growing in intensity as they emerge from their mourning mouths / After the cavernous acoustics, ‘Stones’ by American experimental classical composer Christian Wolff feels more immediate with its textural sounds and fast, insistent rhythms, as we hear different sized stones knocked together rapidly, following the composer’s instructions not to break anything. ‘Inside the Ritual’ was a “transformative” experience for Lucie, where they felt their body merge with the forest and hills in Slovakia. The 23-minute long track is hypnotic, listening to cowbells and chirping insects at the end of a hot summer’s evening. Things get stranger as metallic clatter is punctuated with Lucie’s voice and reedy tones from their Japanese hichiriki flute. The album is a calm, contemplative but also energetic and moving reflection of these rare and unheard environments and Lucie’s reunion with the people and places that have shaped them

€ 12

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Flaer : Preludes - LP (Odda Recordings, 2023)

Includes seven handmade prints, signed and numbered by the artist. Artist and multi-instrumentalist Flaer looks to the landscape to explore pastoral melancholy on debut release, Preludes. Ensconced in his family home in rural Leicestershire in the early months of 2020, painter and musician Realf Heygate (b. 1994) picked up his childhood cello for the first time in several years and began to play. Setting himself parameters to only record onto 4-track tape with acoustic instruments – cello, piano and acoustic guitar – he assembled a suite of instrumental compositions that form the basis of Preludes, his debut album as Flaer and the inaugural release on Odda Recordings / Channelling the tension and unease between the pastoral idyll of the English countryside and the darkness which lurks beneath the surface, the mini-album draws inspiration from the analogue aesthetic of 1970s folk horror films, weaving field recordings of birdsong, church bells and the natural environment into chimerical melodies that reflect on Heygate’s childhood experiences of rural England. “It was really important not to isolate the sound from its environment,” he explains, describing the compositional and recording process as “site-specific”. Developed over a series of intuitive musical enquiries, the mini-album’s uncanny quality emerges from combining raw demo takes with overdubs of an almost orchestral grandeur / Heygate points to the final track as indicative of the work as a whole: “‘Follow’ really is the mantra for the release and embodies the practical approach I was taking to music making: not to force the music but see where it takes you.” As a painter, Heygate’s practice takes artefacts through sequences of reproduction that embrace the fluctuating materiality of the copy. Since obtaining a degree in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins in 2017, he has exhibited solo at Peter von Kant and Springseason galleries in London, and has participated in group shows at Saatchi Gallery, Cob Gallery and Senesi Contemporanea

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€ 19

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Forces : Chimæras - MC (Mappa Editions, 2023)

Named after the mythological hybrid of the chimaera, Forces’ first collection for mappa was put together in a similar fashion. The sounds all stem from a fruitful residency at Stockholm’s EMS Elektronmusikstudion in May & June 2022, leading to a bounty of source material with which to build. The sounds and concept are equally chimeric, stringing together disparate and unintuitive jams, the music mimicking the multi-limbed, sewn together beasts of both creative open source coding and destructive multinational concerns who hide their cores amid endless appendages. Like Doctor Moreau, Forces - aka Finnish artist Joonas Siren - weaves wildly varying attributes into something new, from short-circuiting 8-bit dream ambience to fractured digital groans, drones, and noisy freakouts / Though EMS is best known for its Buchla and Serge modular systems, Forces went ‘digital’ and largely navigated a lesser-known synth rack one can wheel between studios, affectionately known as the ‘90s Wagon’. “It housed different digital rack synth modules,” explains Siren, “ like the super unknown EVS-1 by Evolution Synthesis, a UK company who only produced this one rack synth only and then vanished.” Some truly alien sounds emerge from Forces’ creative misuse of forgotten 90s boxes and sampled modular jams. The result is an erratic trip through mismatched circuitry and digital codes, slipping between emotional artifice and harshly logical music / The track titles stem from both famous mythological chimaeras and multinational arms dealing conglomerates. “Different quite sinister firms can operate in broad daylight, easily hiding their true nature. Many of these mega-corporations have different branches (like chimeric limbs) that are producing quite normal mundane every-day items, as well as mass-producing weapons.” A dedicated SuperCollider user too however, Siren states how open source coding snippets are also ‘chimeric beings’. “You end up always using some part of some old code and then building completely new work on some old idea,” Siren explains. Despite its misuses, there’s also something hopeful in the malleability of ideas, and the ability to creatively collage the world as it is into something wholly new, even better

€ 10

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Flocks : Flocks - LP (Zehra, 2023)

Flocks is a new duo, formed by drone specialist Werner Durand and Uli Hohmann. Musical landscapes that move between traditional as well as experimental sounds with influences from Krautrock and Jon Hassel's "fourth world" aesthetics. Werner Durand has made himself a name with various projects with Dhrupad singer Amelia Cuni, playing with Urban Sax, Arnold Dreyblatt, Henning Christiansen, David Behrman, Ellen Fullman, Catherine Christer Hennix, as the co-founder of THE 13th Tribe, Armchair Traveller and Tonaliens (with Robin Ayward and Hilary Jeffery) plus numerous solo albums, released on labels like Black Truffle, Unseen Worlds or Edition Telemark. Having studied saxophone as well as Indian / Persian flutes, the Berlin based Durand is a highly reputated protagonist in the drone scene, famous for his self-built wind instruments like buzz-clarinets or his PVC neys & horns / His partner in Flocks (and longtime personal friend) is Uli Hohmann whose early encounters with music from Asia, India and Africa led to studies with the Ghanaian master drummer Mustapha Tettey Addy and later Tombak and Daf with Nemad Darman (Iran). Hohmann played in a couple of projects that explored the language of classical Persian music, and started building his own stringed instruments (being an educated carpenter). In 2014 he joined Durand and Amelia Cuni for the album "Clearing", and 2018 Durand and Hohmann decided to continue as a duo: Flocks was born / On their selftitled debut they shape drone-y soundscapes based on their self-built wind- & stringed instruments, Persian percussion and subtle electronics, drawing additional inspiration from Krautrock (listen to the irresistible, hypnotique groove of "Quicksand") as well as Jon Hassel's "fourth world" aesthetics, placing the duo nicely between tradition and experiment!

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€ 21

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Arovane : Seismograf - MC (Dauw, 2023)

In line with his recent body of work, Arovane bundled minimal compositions telling micro-narratives situating in the melodic realm of ambient music. On first sight, it seems common that one can enter or construct such stories through the melodies these compositions offer. However, melodies never stand on their own – maybe only theoretically – but in fact truly reveal their magic through the sonical context they’re embedded in. To Zahn, a crucial part of his practice is all about this latter notion: finding the sweet – and sometimes hidden – spots in sound-design that allow him to express the narratives he wants to share. ‘Seismograf’ could be seen as an ode to this exploration and devoted to the practice of listening - to hear sounds that are otherwise inaudible / “i am like a seismometer for sound structures that are hidden deep under the surface. an ear on the ground, on the earth. the other ear listens to the sky, the birds, the clouds, the wind.” Arovane / Arovane is the moniker of German based composer and sound-designer Uwe Zahn who’s working in the field of minimal electronica and experimental music. In the late 1990’s his work reached a wider audience through releases on pivotal IDM labels DIN and City Centre Offices. In recent years, he released music on 12k and Puremagnetik and collaborated with Taylor Deupree, Porya Hatami and Synkro among others

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€ 13

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Christina Vantzou : Releasing Spores - MC (Slow Moves, 2021)

Christina Vantzou’s Releasing Spores is a cast of elements revealing vignettes of experimentation within a curious locale. These thirty-four minutes of music perform the creation of a sporic language evolved from field recordings, organic instruments, and synthesized elements. Minimal melodic themes recur to ground each of the nine songs as the parallel parts of a form / A soundtrack of events, composed and delivered as a documentary about a place, communicates an environment that's been thoughtfully tuned in and revealed. Vantzou’s ambient languages inhabit the air, releasing tones that buoyantly float, drift, and settle upon the ground, to then fluently grow. These are compositions that witness the formation of a thinking place where ideas reflect and converse. It is the sound of an element enunciating while gliding through an atmosphere; multiplying into fields of little voices to imagine an avant-garde play in the emerald glow of night. The release of spores documented in sound as they create abstract purpose upon plateaus of aural thought

€ 16

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AG Geige : Raabe? - LP (Zensor, 1991)

This ex-GDR avant-garde underground formation is unpredictable, experimental and weird but on this album, it even shows real post-pop appeal. On all of their recordings, AG Geige shatter whole generations of conventions. Their music collages between genius and madness are still unparalleled today

€ 19

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Cassandra Miller : Traveller Song / Thanksong - LP (Black Truffle, 2023)

Black Truffle is pleased to announce its first release from celebrated London-based Canadian composer Cassandra Miller. Though her body of mature work stretches back almost twenty years, many listeners were introduced to Miller through the success of her astonishing 2015 Duet for Cello and Orchestra, which sets an imperturbable two-note cello part against a series of increasingly dense orchestrations of an Italian folk melody; in 2019, it was selected by The Guardian as one of the ‘best classical music works of the 21st century’. Traveller Song / Thanksong, the first release of her music on vinyl, presents a pair of compositions for voice and ensemble that exemplify Miller’s gently absurd, strikingly beautiful, and utterly unique work / Like many of Miller’s compositions, these pieces originate in existing music. Traveller Song (2016/2018) begins from a 1950s song of an anonymous Sicilian cart driver recorded by Alan Lomax and Diego Carpitella, which Miller recorded herself singing along to, going on to then record herself singing to her own layered voices. Miller’s untutored voice is an unsteady, wavering wail that has, in her words, ‘more in common with a quasi-shamanistic keening than anything Sicilian’. Heard sometimes alone, sometimes layered, her pre-recorded voice is accompanied by a chamber sextet drawn from London’s Plus-Minus Ensemble. In the first section, Miller’s exposed warble is set to a spare piano accompaniment, somehow both faintly preposterous and magisterial / Following the voice note for note, the piano part often makes use of almost mechanical sequences of parallel chords, reminiscent both of Satie’s Rosicrucian period and the abrupt harmonic movements of a chord organ. The orchestration then opens up to guitar, clarinet, and sliding strings, a delicate environment for Miller’s voice, which, especially when it begins to be layered, generates a powerful sense of intimacy. In its concluding minutes, the folk roots of the original melody return in the form of a glorious full ensemble setting dominated by accordion, clarinet, and strummed guitar

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€ 22

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Marja Ahti : Tender Membranes - LP (Black Truffle, 2023)

Black Truffle is pleased to announce Tender Membranes, the label’s first release from Swedish-Finnish sound artist and electro-acoustic composer Marja Ahti. Active for a decade in the Finnish underground music scene, in recent years Ahti has developed a distinctive approach to patiently unfolding electro-acoustic constructions, documented on a string of solo releases and collaborative projects with Judith Hamann and her husband Niko-Matti Ahti / Working with concrete and instrumental sounds, field recordings, and electronics, Ahti favours neither disjunctive collage nor monolithic consistency; rather, her work is composed of organically unfolding sequences of details and textures, which, as she says, ‘can stretch out or cut fast as long as they have a sense of inner stillness’, a sense that she connects to moments of heightened attention in everyday life. Tender Membranes consists of four lengthy pieces, partly inspired by the image of the senses and mind as membranes allowing for the passage between inner and outer spaces, sensation and its causes, creating a world. Ahti’s unhurried pacing encourages this sense of listening as an opening or surrender to sound, which can often create the impression that the listener is moving through a space zooming in on details / The opening Shrine (Aether) exemplifies this aspect of Ahti’s approach: a bell clears the air with a single long tone, followed by the ambience of outdoor spaces, crackling electronics, an archival recording of a horsefly on a windowpane. Dozens of these moments, varying in length, density, and intensity, move past the listener’s attention, momentarily brought into focus then slipping away. Like those of the masters of the French musique concrète tradition, Ahti’s sounds are not often recognisable, though they might suggest proximity or distance, open environments or closed spaces, the urban or rural, day or night. In Ahti’s work, we do not encounter spectacular metamorphoses à la Parmegiani but rather a state of ambiguity where the listener is often unsure what is organic and what is inorganic, where the careful productions of the synthesizer might end and sounds discovered in the environment begin

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€ 22

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Blod : Ondskans Frö - LP (Private, 2023)

Paste-on artwork on re-used old record jackets. The seed of evil has been sown and all the trees have been infected. The trees infect the water, the animals, the air and the children. The fragmentation is becoming more and more apparent. Have the one you trusted the most turned its back on you? All of a sudden you are all alone. Can you drink the water? Dead fish float to the surface. The sky is slowly fading away. What do you do when the last day is here? / Ondskans Frö ('The Seed Of Evil') is an album about the last day of the earth, when the evil forces finally has taken over both the people and the nature. The album starts in the morning and takes the listener through a 24 hour journey towards a new dawn where everything is gone. Recorded during April and May 2023, all music and instruments by Gustaf Dicksson..

€ 19

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Mieko Suzuki : Ödipus, Herrscher - CD (Raster, 2023)

CD packaged in digipack cover including 16-page booklet with photos of the theater play. »Odipus, Herrscher« is the debut release of Berlin-based, Japanese sound artist Mieko Suzuki on raster. It is the result of a composition commissioned by Schauspielhaus Bochum. The classic, timeless material of Oedipus premiered as a dark dystopia in Bochum in 2021. Before the first words of the play are spoken, the auditorium is filled with an immersive drone that anticipates what will later become the bleak, underlying tone of the staged material: pestilence, decay, fear and resignation / The anticipation of the plot through this drone also introduces the key role of the sound, the importance of the music for this production. Mieko Suzuki produces sounds by gently stroking, scratching and hitting the various elements of her self-built instruments, made from archaic materials such as wood, stone, metal, fur and clay. Amplified by contact microphones, these sounds are electronically manipulated, alienated and distorted. Her central concern is direct interaction; the correspondence between acting and music through improvisation / With tracks such as »Disaster«, »Taboo«, »Pest« and »Vertigo« Mieko Suzuki translates scenarios and moments key to the story through a material resonance, transferring the compositional narrative of Oedipus into a dark and textured sonic terrain. Sonically and affectively, without illustrating it as a compositional narrative. »Vertigo«, for example, features a constantly playing Shepard tone, expressing the inevitability of the abyss

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€ 16

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Atom™ : Neuer Mensch - CD (Raster, 2022)

CD packaged in offset-printed trifold cardboard cover, artwork by Olaf Bender, Atom™ and X1N. The continuously edited, autonomous piece of code as which Atom™ defines itself enters the hot state of flow. »Neuer Mensch« (»new human«) is the relentless, visceral expression of metamorphosis. A projection of the metahuman horizon, an exercise in shedding the exoskeleton. Dead tissue is being torn off in radical body movements / Dead ideas are crushed by feet, dancing the dance of brutal elegance. Somatic exorcism via hyper realistic surfaces of binary noise. Physicality. Unseen geometries dressed in the most basic of rhythmic patterns - simple structures of hidden symmetries. The false promise of linear progress as it shatters, hitting the barrier of sound. Familiar vocal fragments speak to us in foreign tongues, languages still to be invented. Indecipherable messages from another species - future faux amis. The seductive spell of artificiality and its inherent promise of tomorrow’s bliss. A soundtrack for all of you hi-tech vagabonds, you godless drifters, deprived of past and present. Programmed, engineered and mastered by an algorithm

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€ 16

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Elephantine, Maurice Louca : Moonshine - LP (Sub Rosa, 2023)

Color vinyl. Maurice Louca's Moonshine shines brightly with a live, raw, collective sound. The Elephantine band is incredible: Double drummers Tommaso Cappellato & Ozun Usta; Piero Bittolo Bon on alto, Daniel Gahrton on baritone and Isak Hedtjarn on clarinet; Rasmus Svale Kjærgård Lund on tuba; Rosa Brunell on bass; Els Vandeweyer on vibraphone; Louca on guitar/lap steel/synth. As Asher Gamedze puts it in his essay below: "Abstract territories of freedom, always grounded, expansive, multiple, internally differentiated, and elephantine."

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€ 17

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Invernomuto : Vernascacadabra - LP (Xing, 2023)

White vinyl, handnumbered. Xing presents the new LP Vernascacadabra by Invernomuto, eighth release of XONG collection - artist records. Vernascacadabra is a series of compositions for ocarina as a part of an artistic journey through the history of music routes that Invernomuto has been carrying out for years, starting from the sound and the imagery it generates / The ocarina is a wind instrument made of terracotta, whose name derives from its shape, which resembles a small headless goose ("oca" in italian). It is claimed that the instrument was invented in Budrio, near Bologna, around the mid-19th century, and then it spread to many geographic areas, such as Austria, Korea, Japan, Peru and Hungary. Aside from its use in traditional and folk music, the ocarina appears in some famous soundtracks by Ennio Morricone, in compositions by György Ligeti, in Capitan Harlock (a 1970s Japanese anime series), in music by Duran Duran, and in the videogame The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time / Vernascacadabra, whose title combines a magical formula with the name of the ancient village from which the two artists come, intertwines vernacular and pop culture starting from the extremely simple sounds of the ocarinas recomposed in a catalog of raw dance pieces. Vernascacadabra opens up a heterodox vocabulary that draws from presumed and imagined medieval repertoires, blurred memories of ritual flutes and - more openly - declines the UK drill as a sharp existential metaphor

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€ 22

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Andrew Chalk, Daisuke Suzuki : Drifting - CD (Siren, 2023)

A collaboration does not mean you have to share everything or to do each and every activity together as a team. If your words or sounds inspire someone to open a challenge to something new, or open the door of possibilities-you can call it collaboration.Your personally recorded sounds never fail to reveal your true face and the sounds always speak more than words can / ‘Drifting’ is the very first collaboration between Andrew Chalk and Daisuke Suzuki, which has remained unsurfaced since then-their private recording in 1996. In early 1996 Daisuke sent Andrew a DAT tape which included some unedited pieces that he recorded with found objects in his garden. Those fragments of recordings inspired Andrew to make a spontaneous recording and he made a live mix directly to cassette recorder with his instinct and archaic vision. ‘Drifting’ is a kind of archaic low-fi recording, but it has great atmosphere and perfect unison in texture. ‘Drifting’ was also a prelude to their long-term collaborations and the beginning of the change of direction in Andrew’s approach to music

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€ 14

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Meitei : Komachi - LP (Métron, 2023)

Repress. Haunting and delicate, distant and timeless, Komachi is awash with white noise, complex field recordings and the hypnotic sounds of flowing water. Though confidently contemporary, like a bucolic J-Dilla, Komachi’s lineage can be traced back to the floating worlds of Ukiyo-e and Gagaku via the prism of 80s Japanese ambient pioneers, and 90s pastoral sample-based artists such as Susumu Yokota and Nobukazu Takemura / Composed as individual sonic dioramas, each of the twelve tracks have been crafted to not only evoke feelings of nostalgia but to also explore the dichotomy of ancient and new in modern Japanese society. This pervasive narrative runs throughout, calling to mind the work of authors Yasunari Kawabata and Natsume Soseki, as well as the films of Yasujiro Ozu and Hayao Miyazaki, artists similarly fascinated by the reflective tranquillity that permeated traditional Japanese domestic life

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€ 29

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Earthtones, Kevin Nathaniel : For Synthesiser + Mbira Nyunga Nyunga - MC (Temples Of Jura, 2023)

Earthtones is the musical identity of Serge Bandura, an electronic artist, former jazz musician, meditation teacher and ritualist based in LA. Kevin Nathaniel channels sound as a universal healing force through traditional African instruments and is a former student of legendary master musicians such as Ephat Mujuru and Chief Bey. Sending files back and forth during the pandemic, the two artists deepened a musical friendship and began a dialog between the Mbira Nyunga Nyunga, the Kalimba and analog synthesizers. Their music is offered in the spirit of peace + healing for all. ‘Of The Earth’ (Full Meditation) is 21 minutes long and the B side offers 25 minutes of music

€ 12

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Klara Lewis, Nik Colk Void : Full-On - LP (Alter, 2023)

The collaboration between Klara Lewis and Nik Colk Void somehow seemed inevitable. Both artists having seen their releases published by Editions Mego, individually carving out idiosyncratic voices in the worlds of extreme, abstract electronic music. With Full-On, Lewis and Void explore and assimilate the very edge of their individual practice where a unique collaborative interface allows two voices to combine and morph into a third voice / Lewis and Void play ping pong with the conversation of sounds, generating ideas and bouncing them off each other, simultaneously encouraging the other to go further with their ideas opening up an opportunity to engage with previously unexplored terrain. Guitars, synths, euro rack modular systems, voice, sampling and outboard processing are folded in a playful unification with a propensity to tease, explore and extract new ideas and shapes, sometimes brutal, sometimes playful / Trust was also a compositional tool allowing instinct to freely move on any aspect of the sound and space. This sound/feeling/instinct/association let this wild and wonderful material grow organically into something new. The result of this exploratory interplay are 17 intense miniatures reveling in the process of unadulterated experimentation and whimsical interplay, not just between the humans, but the machines themselves. United in an endless series of sonic U-turns, this daring duo intertwine pop and noise whilst also bringing together visions of tender techno and forthright ambient. The various zones manifest from all this reveals vocals shifting in mysterious ways, dust drenched beats churning limpidly and devilish string loops navigating a disorientating domain. The experience of listening to Full-On is to be confronted with a range of ideas resulting in a platter of emotions. A place where beauty and the beast collide with the impulsive and outright weird. What a wonderful world

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€ 22

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Pierre Bastien : Sonic Folkways - LP (Discrepant, 2023)

Repress. By now counting more than four decades of constant activity, Pierre Bastien erected such a towering and influential body of work that any blurb attempt regarding his music could easily fall into redundancy. Not that his revolving soundworld, deeply personal and unique, has ever stalled into gimmick or self mimicry, being Bastien the tireless explorer whose vision can never be complete, only continuously redefined in a process of discovery equally playful and challenging. So, completely in touch with Discrepant's ethos / Returning to the label after 2017 The Mecanocentric Worlds of Pierre Bastien, the french musician, composer and instrument builder, brings an array of instruments from different cartographies and legacies with the appropriately titled Sonic Folkways. Resorting to different types of horns, prepared trumpet, an army of percussion, from gongs and tambourine to castanets and maracas, violin and too many others to mention here, Bastien weaves together a highly textured and hypnotic mosaic that projects an exotica beamed from scraps of the future. 'Aha!' in the same interstellar wavelength as Sun Ra's cosmic tones, 'Moor's Room's' almost orchestral tapestry of small percussion and insects or the non-western strings and tunings salvaged from ancient alien ceremonies on 'Pan's Nap' / In an era where so much ink has been shed about world building in experimental music, Bastien can actually claim that to himself. The otherworld is right here, indeed

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€ 19

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Nicola Conte : Umoja - 2xLP (Far Out Recordings, 2023)

Renowned Italian spiritual jazz master, DJ, producer, guitarist, and bandleader Nicola Conte proudly presents his new album Umoja via London based label Far Out Recordings. A joyous exultation across ten tracks, Umoja taps into the abundant well of knowledge Conte has amassed over his career as connoisseuring compiler and archivist of deep jazz, latin, afrofuturist, bossa-nova and soul music from around the world. Expressing unity, oneness and harmony in Swahili, Umoja coalesces universal feelings through the multifaceted global music Conte has spent his life studying and researching / Having released music with Blue Note, Impulse! and Schema records, Nicola Conte’s relationship with Far Out began over a shared love of hard-edged bossa-nova and swinging samba-jazz. Between 2009-2013 Nicola Conte compiled five volumes of forgotten 60s Brazilian music for his Viagem series. He then released his critically acclaimed Natural album: a collaboration with vocalist Stefania Dippiero, featuring jazz standards alongside covers of lesser known Brazilian gems.The music of Umoja draws on the deep-dug 70's independent spiritual and free jazz sounds, private-press soul records, and African and Afro Caribbean rhythms in Conte’s collection. But he equally recognises his debt to many of the decade’s more celebrated musical icons, such as North American cosmic jazz masters Lonnie Liston Smith and Gary Bartz, and Afrobeat originators Fela Kuti and Tony Allen / Proudly revivalist, Umoja was recorded direct to analog tape, with just two takes for each track. “Searching for an unadulterated, spontaneous, almost improvised feeling”, Nicola made sure that the few overdubs were also transferred to tape in order to retain the colour and warmth of the analog sound. “Very little post production or editing has been added, so what you hear is largely what happened in those magical live sessions”

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€ 29

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Best Available Technology : Untitled - LP (Blundar, 2023)

Clear green vinyl, handnumbered. Portland-based Kevin Palmer returns to blundar with his Best Available Technology for another release (having previously been featured on cassette). This time it’s on vinyl but still messing about with the same business of constructing and deconstructing head-nodding beats into a foggy bowl of ambience that has become the trademark sound of BAT. Initially inspired and influenced by the sound-worlds created by Hank Shocklee, BDP and KDAY, Palmer spent his formative years combing pawn shops for samplers. This kicked off his self-described obsessive compulsive work crunching out impossibly naive and obviously unschooled jams in what might have been and continues to be an attempt to capture and document something he felt when listening to the bombastic sonic collages of early hip hop / Going backwards in order to go forward could be an apt mantra to describe the philosophy behind BAT. Often attached with labels like nostalgia and melancholy, Palmer surely deals with the longing for that perfect time capsule of N.Y. hip hop in the 90s - but where others zoning in on that era simply imitate it, Palmer goes way further into a world of his own making. Far removed in both time and place to the outskirts of Portland, the sonics of Palmer filters through an outsider’s perspective, sometimes offering a personal journal of the here and now via field recordings from skateparks and surfing trips / As if one would imagine looking slightly to the left of what was supposedly going on, these tracks continuously shift one's focus. That funky feel good beat is there, but almost always just out of grasp. Palmer gives us the sound of a memory slipping away. Yet this reads not as the end of something, but rather a stepping stone into a world of possibilities. Operating at the outskirts of genre, you could imagine anything from dub, hip hop, ambient or techno to emerge and crystalize from the haze, yet it never does. This is all those things and nothing. Or maybe it’s just some “sad fucked up funk” as Palmer puts it

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€ 22

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Tom James Scott : Nightshade - LP (Alter, 2023)

Tom James Scott holds a unique position in experimental music. With a soft brush approach Scott, who currently lives on the North-West coast of England, has explored delicacy in music with a variety of sublime releases on a variety of labels. Predominantly known for gentle investigations of guitar and piano, Scott has shifted to incorporating different technology and tactics over time. All of this, either in performance or recording, is embedded with a spirit that is quintessentially his own / Nightshade is the latest in his expanding catalogue, one which ignites an alarmingly new take on his approach to music. Echo on Water initiates proceedings with the unmistakable sound of tape. Any instrumentation is buried amongst the woozy sway of the medium itself, with its rough dynamics soon morphing into an overwhelmingly swirling mass of emotionally decayed sound. The movement of matter takes on a haunted shape with sounds looping and falling apart as the physicality of the medium holds it all together. The second track Blue Mist furthers this approach with its smeared haze of gorgeous emotion. This is deep exploration of ideas meeting matter / Wasting Stars takes up the entire flip side with the sound of tape recoiling a bit to allow the delicate glow of instruments to come more to the fore, with gentle effects that weave the musical matter. As a skewered take on Scott’s earlier piano explorations the atmosphere here is a subdued soundscape evoking the spiritual sadness found in the piano works of Gurdjieff/De Hartmann, with a modern lo fi angle. Nightshade is a deeply effective journey and one of the most exquisite examples of Scott’s delicate approach so far. Two sides of form which inhabit contrasting yet complimentary clouds of sound communicating in a stunning emotional flow. As music with only trace elements of melody, Nightshade is a beautiful take on tools being used to explore paths both highly idiosyncratic, deeply moving and discreetly personal

€ 22

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Monopoly Child Star Searchers, Sun Araw : Barbados Wild Horses - LP (Pacific City Sound Visions, 2023)

After the not-quite-reissue of 'Prince of Parrot Shooters/The Aqueducts of Cannel Island', wide-eyed mystic and tireless searcher of the netherworld Spencer Clark returns to the Discrepant fold with 'Barbados Wild Horses' under his Monopoly Child Star Searchers moniker. Recorded while Clark was living in the Canary Island's by Tupperware and Lagoss' Dani Tupper, 'Barbados Wild Horses' brims with insular romanticism and escapist bliss, with sunkissed synth-lines interwoven around his trademark hand percussion bouncy rhythms reflecting the scenery of the islands as a liberating utopia / With track titles taking an almost self explanatory stance, the album starts with the crepuscular vibes of 'Upper Romantico', a poetic meditation on the lovelorn potential of the fading sunlight, setting the tone for the rest of the tour. 'Lava Tube Solos on Horseback', the first of two tracks featuring Sun Araw's Cameron Stallones, sees the latter's guitar noodles riding the cascading rhythms and digital choir harmonies while in 'Neopreno Antiguo' he solos freely around an hypnotic synth line. Finishing off the escapade, 'Nightcharcos Punta Brava' drifts in ethereal starlit contemplation, with the percussion taking a more backseat approach, setting into a steady pulse for Clark's gliding synth tapestries / Nightswimming as transcendence. Another piece of the fascinating puzzle Clark's been assembling for over two decades now, 'Barbados Wild Horses' glimmers with a laid back sensibility that's as unhinged as enveloping. Not an easy feat by any measure. Clark succeeds again

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€ 19

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Shackleton, Waclaw Zimpel : In The Cell Of Dreams - LP (7k!, 2023)

Following on from their critically acclaimed debut album, the second album from Shackleton / Zimpel represents the culmination of the ecstatic trance urge that has underlined both artists work since they embarked on their singular yet somehow parallel Paths / The duo, consisting of electronic music maverick Sam Shackleton and visionary avant folk virtuoso Waclaw Zimpel, sees them link up with one of Indian Classical music’s greatest emerging young vocal talents, Siddhartha Belmannu, to bring an album which is equal parts both a meditative exercise and an urge to transcendence whilst thematising both the acceptance of our mortality and the joyous celebration of living

€ 22

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Yu Su : I Want An Earth - 12" (Pinchy & Friends, 2023)

The latest offering from Kaifeng-born and raised, Vancouver-based musician Yu Su.180g Vinyl, Picture Sleeve w/ Obi Strip / In her first major release of original music since 2021’s acclaimed “Yellow River Blue” LP, Yu Su says elements for the EP began to form during time spent in the deserts of Ojai, California and the fertile coastal areas around her home in British Columbia. Of the new release, Yu Su says the ideas are thanks to “the objects around (colors, reflections of light, wood burning in the fireplace, and material rhyme with the sounds in the room) the desert and valley plants, the ground where citrus grows, and the flood a rainstorm created.” She notes that “the golden earth is the changing point of the matter, earth centers, stabilizes, and conserves, nurtures, and seeks to draw all things together with itself.”

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€ 19

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Eden Ahbez : Eden's Island: The Music Of An Enchanted Isle (60th-Anniversary Edition) - 2xLP Box (Everland Psych, Ebalunga!!!, 2022)

Wooden slide edition including 24pp booklet and clear forest/leaves splatter vinyl. The ultimate reissue of one of the world’s most important albums in the field of Exotica, Jazz and even Proto Psychedelic Music from 1960! This reissue of Eden Ahbez' sole album includes 20 almost unreleased bonus songs from different sessions, carefully remastered by prolific grammy nominated sound engineer Jessica Thompson. The artist Eden Ahbez was not only a skilled composer and performer who wrote the hit tune „Nature boy“ for the classic 1940s crooner Nat King Cole but also a forefather and probably the sole inventor of the hippie lifestyle that became a world wide movement by the mid 1960s / Supported by movie maker and historian Brian Chidester, who now, after 20 years of research, completed the full time documentary movie „As The Wind - The Enchanted Life Of Eden Ahbez“: www.edenahbez.com. Gatefold double vinyl in limited editions of various vinyl colours and wooden boxset editions with a 12“ size 24 pages strong booklet with unseen images and information. This will remain the only ever double album reissue of this masterpiece

€ 65

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Muslimgauze : Khan Younis - CD (Other Voices, Kontakt Audio, 2022)

Gatefold Mini-LP sleeve. Brilliantly remastered CD with new stunning artwork! Unique tribal dub-trance music influenced by arabic culture with a touch of post-industrial

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€ 14

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Rapoon : Raising Earthly Spirits - CD Box (Other Voices, Kontakt Audio, 2023)

Beautifully packaged in a printed wooden box: remastered for CD. CD in mini-LP gatefold sleeve. Raising Earthly Spirits was conceived as a ritualistic, shamanistic album centred around the concept of transcending this level of consciousness and existing mindfully in multidimensional space and time. It draws heavily upon the sacred ideas and practices of many indigenous peoples from this earth and how they communicate and interact with their ancestors and how they see themselves in relation to this world. It was made with respect towards these beliefs. - Robin Storey/Rapoon

€ 22

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Eden Ahbez : The Music Of An Enchanted Isle (60th-Anniversary Edition) - 2xLP (Everland Psych, Ebalunga!!!, 2022)

Green & yellow vinyl. The ultimate reissue of one of the world’s most important albums in the field of Exotica, Jazz and even Proto Psychedelic Music from 1960! This reissue of Eden Ahbez' sole album includes 20 almost unreleased bonus songs from different sessions, carefully remastered by prolific grammy nominated sound engineer Jessica Thompson. The artist Eden Ahbez was not only a skilled composer and performer who wrote the hit tune „Nature boy“ for the classic 1940s crooner Nat King Cole but also a forefather and probably the sole inventor of the hippie lifestyle that became a world wide movement by the mid 1960s / Supported by movie maker and historian Brian Chidester, who now, after 20 years of research, completed the full time documentary movie „As The Wind - The Enchanted Life Of Eden Ahbez“: www.edenahbez.com. Gatefold double vinyl in limited editions of various vinyl colours and wooden boxset editions with a 12“ size 24 pages strong booklet with unseen images and information. This will remain the only ever double album reissue of this masterpie

€ 39

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Kelenkye Band : Moving World - LP (Everland Afro, 2023)

Brandnew Master! In 1974, a brash young designer called Augustus Kerry Taylor had an idea. He'd gather together the hottest musicians in Ghana and record an album of the heaviest and funkiest sounds coming out of America. And this time, he wouldn't just design the cover, like he'd done with Fela Kuti, he'd even release it on his new label, Emporium, as well. Local Accra legends Joe Wellington, Jagger Botchway, Leslie Addy, Officer Toro, Oko Ringo, Soldier and Steve answered the call. They were christened the Kelenkye Band and gelled immediately / Moving World, is a funky, disparate album that exudes a rare warmth, enthusiasm and togetherness. 'Moving World' and 'Brotherhood of Man' are hard, grinding funk. 'Jungle Music' has a more soulful groove. There's also a bit of reggae, 'Dracula Dance', and old-skool highlife, 'Wale Tobite'. Accra's leading DJ, Charlie Sam, declared his mind 'well and truly boggled.' The Kelenkye Band never recorded another album. Augustus Kerry Taylor shut down Emporium and went back to designing album covers. But in Moving World they delivered a perfect moment of funk alchemy that has rightly become the Holy Grail of 70's Ghanian groove. - Peter Moore, www.africanrevolutions.com / Licensed by the bandleaders and songwriters of the album, Joe Wellington and Jagger Botchway

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€ 22

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Eden Ahbez : Eden's Island: The Music Of An Enchanted Isle (60th-Anniversary Edition) - 2xLP (Everland Psych, Ebalunga!!!, 2022)

Black vinyl. The ultimate reissue of one of the world’s most important albums in the field of Exotica, Jazz and even Proto Psychedelic Music from 1960! This reissue of Eden Ahbez' sole album includes 20 almost unreleased bonus songs from different sessions, carefully remastered by prolific grammy nominated sound engineer Jessica Thompson. The artist Eden Ahbez was not only a skilled composer and performer who wrote the hit tune „Nature boy“ for the classic 1940s crooner Nat King Cole but also a forefather and probably the sole inventor of the hippie lifestyle that became a world wide movement by the mid 1960s / Supported by movie maker and historian Brian Chidester, who now, after 20 years of research, completed the full time documentary movie „As The Wind - The Enchanted Life Of Eden Ahbez“: www.edenahbez.com. Gatefold double vinyl in limited editions of various vinyl colours and wooden boxset editions with a 12“ size 24 pages strong booklet with unseen images and information. This will remain the only ever double album reissue of this masterpiece

€ 33

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Rapoon : Raising Earthly Spirits - 2xLP Box (Other Voices, Kontakt Audio, 2023)

Beautifully packaged in a printed wooden box: remastered for vinyl. Printed inner sleeves. Raising Earthly Spirits was conceived as a ritualistic, shamanistic album centred around the concept of transcending this level of consciousness and existing mindfully in multidimensional space and time. It draws heavily upon the sacred ideas and practices of many indigenous peoples from this earth and how they communicate and interact with their ancestors and how they see themselves in relation to this world. It was made with respect towards these beliefs. - Robin Storey/Rapoon

€ 45

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Eluvium : (Whirring Marvels In) Consensus Reality - LP (Temporary Residence Ltd, 2023)

Forrest moss vinyl. (Whirring Marvels In) Consensus Reality is the new album by Eluvium – the renowned moniker of prolific modern composer, Matthew Robert Cooper. Taking initial inspirations from T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land and Richard Brautigan’s All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace, (Whirring Marvels) inherently deals both with humankind’s need for meaning, and the emergence of algorithms reflecting the feedback loops of humankind’s interactions with machines themselves. This complicated relationship that we have with technology, automations, and algorithms – and the influence they in turn have on shaping our image of the world – is the mechanized heart and soul of an album that almost instantly establishes itself as a peak in Eluvium’s inimitable catalog / During the writing process for (Whirring Marvels In) Consensus Reality, Cooper began experiencing shoulder and arm pain that rendered his left arm increasingly debilitated. This inspired new compositional methods that blended varying degrees of electronic automations with traditional songwriting. Lyrical themes were built using algorithms to cull content from a notebook filled with years of scribbled thoughts, poems, considerations, conspiracies, scientific notions, and notes on the spirit of existence. Employing musicians from all around the world – including members of the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME), Golden Retriever, and the entire Budapest Scoring Orchestra – much of the music was conducted and recorded remotely via teleconference during the global COVID lockdowns of 2020 and 2021. This approach to composing served as an unintended but serendipitous challenge for an album inspired by the complicated convenience of technology / (Whirring Marvels In) Consensus Reality blends an ornate combination of ingredients to construct a narrative of our dynamic invention; technological advancement; loneliness and isolationism; and unchecked idealism in a world of never-ending growth. The resulting hope that somehow emerges is itself a marvel of innovation and inspiration

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€ 28

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Alan Licht, Dean Roberts, Charles Curtis : May 99 - LP (Blank Forms Editions, 2023)

Black vinyl pressed by New Orleans Record Press, with silkscreen tip-on jacket by Alan Sherry and insert by Ofset Yapimevi. In the spring of 1999, Charles Curtis, Alan Licht, and Dean Roberts brought an unconventional mix of drone, improvisation, and experimental rock on an eleven-stop tour of Europe. The concept was straightforward, yet novel: each night, they would improvise a single piece while sustained sine waves played for the duration of the concert. May 99, culled from three shorter pieces recorded for a radio program at Amsterdam’s VPRO near the end of the tour, represents an early high watermark in the collision of minimal and rock sensibilities that started to become prevalent in the late 90s and is an ear-opening listen even for those familiar with the musicians’ other projects / May 99 combines resonant sine waves in the style of eminent downtown New York composer La Monte Young’s Theater of Eternal Music with scratchings, scrapings, and warblings produced by Licht and Roberts’s guitars, Curtis’s cello, and a variety of electronics. Just as sine waves hold together these sundry improvisations, a shared tendency toward the minimalistic—Licht’s performances with the Blue Humans, collaborations with Loren Connors, and solo guitar records; Roberts in the band Thela and his solo project White Winged Moth; and Curtis performing with Young and his own Trio—brought together three musicians with very different backgrounds, creating fertile ground on which they generated the album’s unclassifiable sounds

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€ 28

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Aselefech Ashine, Getenesh Kebret, Army Band : Beauties - LP (Domino Sound, Mississippi, 2023)

High quality 12" vinyl in deluxe tip-on jacket with lyric translations and short interview with Aselefech Ashine! A lost classic of the Ethiopian Golden Age, reissued in full for the first time! On this 1976 gem of a record, Aselefech Ashine and Getenesh Kebret’s voices intertwine in close harmony, the two “beauties” singing in duet across 10 gorgeous tracks. The Army Band, which backed greats like Tlahoun Gesesse and Mahmoud Ahmed, brings Mulatu-esque minor-key piano runs, interlocking percussion, and rock-steady basslines. Arranger Teshome Sisay’s flute winds through the compositions, tying together gloriously woozy horns. The greatest elements of Ethiopia’s Golden Age combine here, in one of the final records of the era / Aselefech and Getenesh were raised in the bustling cosmopolitan world of late-empire Addis Ababa. They met at the Hager Fikr Theatre, the legendary center for art and cultural learning in Addis, where they were trained in centuries-old vocal techniques as well as acting. BEAUTIES was a hit, selling out upon its release in 1976. But its glory was short-lived. The Derg Regime was imposing strict crackdowns on music and artistic expression. Targeted as allies of the deposed Emperor Haile Selassie, the artists (and most musicians) had to keep a low profile. For two decades, nearly all recording and live music would cease in Ethiopia. This is one of the last great releases of the Ethiopian Golden Age / Though she was never able to release a second record, Aselefech Ashine is proud of her work. From her home in Addis she says: “I have full confidence that this album will be popular and a hit when it is released again now!” This album, long in the works, is released in collaboration with the artists and the mighty Domino Sound of New Orleans. Newly remastered vinyl comes in old-school “tip-on” jacket with lyric translations, photos, and an interview with Aselefech Ashine

€ 26

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Graham Lambkin : Aphorisms - 2xLP (Blank Forms Editions, 2023)

140g 2xLP pressed at RTI. Gatefold tip-on jacket printed at Stoughton Printing Co. Mastered by Stephan Mathieu. Graham Lambkin (of Shadow Ring fame) returns with a long awaited epic double LP, Aphorisms, his first major solo outing since Community (Kye, 2016). Recorded mostly during the early winter months of 2022, in post-pandemic New York and post-Brexit London, Aphorisms assembles the sonic detritus of daily life into hauntingly intimate aural soundscapes. Made between Lambkin's residence in East London and Blank Forms in New York, Aphorisms superimposes the two spaces onto one another creating an imaginary stage where his musical dramas unfold / A transatlantic mediation on the rooms where Lambkin has lived and worked, Aphorisms summons up hallucinatory vistas by way of the composer’s collage technique, layering field recordings, piano, guitar, percussion, vocal fragments, and repurposed elements on top of one another in double, triple, and quadruple exposures. Like the Shadow Ring’s Lindus (Swill Radio, 2001)—recorded between Folkestone and Miami—Aphorisms ruminates on estrangement and displacement, catching Lambkin as he returns to London after two decades of living in the States, in his words, “leaving home to return home.” Aphorisms continues Lambkin’s synthetic-naturalist approach to sound-making, twisting disparate and unique elements together to create the sensation of a coherent sonic space / At the heart of his practice is the illusion of form, whereby Lambkin combines sonic elements, documenting the moment that they coalesce into music only to disintegrate back into incidental sound. The album is centered around two pianos, one in New York and one in London, sounding together as if through the ether, creating a spectral atmosphere that Lambkin fills with melodic snippets, fragments of songs, spoken-word musings, and guttural barks or “the animal purity of voice,” as he has it. The superimposition of the two spaces is maximized in the album's closing titular track, where, much like on earlier works such as Salmon Run (Kye, 2007) and Softly Softly Copy Copy (Kye, 2009) fragments of familiar melodies float through the mix as though being played from afar. Aphorisms is Lambkin at his best, extending methodologies only hinted at previously and taking his now-idiosyncratic mission statement to a new chapter. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it

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€ 36

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Joni Void : Everyday Is The Song - LP (Constellation, 2023)

180gram LP pressed at Optimal (Germany) comes in 350gsm Arktika jacket + 300gsm Arktika inner sleeve, printed with LE-UV inks. Jacket has colour flood inside. Includes download card. Artwork by Masaaki Yuasa. Everyday Is The Song is Joni Void’s third album for Constellation and a deeper plunge into emotive audio montage; the Montréal-based French-British producer calls it “Tape Vortex / Musique Verité / Memory Collage”. The album’s raw material relies centrally on a Walkman bought at local record shop Death Of Vinyl in spring 2020 and lost at a Backxwash show two years later, but not before hours of audio snippets were captured and archived / Everyday Is The Song is an evocative sample-based sonic diary brimming with warmth, transience and hyper-specificity where Void explores a more abstract and interstitial terrain of drifting miniatures. It remains very much a collection of songs, but relative to the more assertive and intensive tracks channeling explorations of traumatic interiority on their previous pair of acclaimed LPs, Void’s new album flows with intentional lightness and a more incidental atmosphere. Songs are constructed from audio recordings made all over and often while literally on the move: walking, cycling and skateboarding around the city; in bus and train stations; from car windows / The album’s overt musical material was recorded, often spontaneously and informally, in all sorts of jam spaces, living rooms and at local live shows. Perambulation is a central theme and constituent fabric of Everyday Is The Song, carrying with it a colloquial spirit of gentle, intrinsic sentimentality. The self-proclaimed “love, soul, agency, and whimsy” virtues of Ruby Yacht (R.A.P. Ferreira, Pink Navel, et al) have also been a lodestar for Void in this respect

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€ 26

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Martin Denny : Exotic Moog - LP (Jackpot, 2023)

The inventor of exotica/cocktail music goes electronic/Moog. Originally released in 1969, 'Exotic Moog' is a much sought after title in Jackpot Records' Martin Denny reissue series. Great music for synth, exotica, experimental, '60s rock and psych hunters. Comes on classic black vinyl

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€ 28

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The Cat & Bells Club : The Cat & Bells Club. - LP (Blank Forms Editions, 2023)

140g black vinyl pressed at RTI. Insert & jacket printed at Stoughton Printing Co. Mastered by Stephan Mathieu. In 1992, under the guise of the Cat & Bells Club, eighteen-year-old Cheriton residents Graham Lambkin and Darren Harris self-released three tapes—two yellow cassettes and one pink—documenting their earliest musical efforts at S.H.P. studios (Lambkin’s bedroom in his parents’ house). The lowest of all lo-fi recordings, these tracks were laid down live, directly into a boombox with no overdubs. Relieved of their academic expectations and plunged into the workforce, the duo aspired to enter the annals of rock history, making their own primitive teenage overtures to Marc Bolan, the Incredible String Band, Whitehouse, and the Godz / Lyrically and spiritually the Cat & Bells Club had much to do with Bolan’s early Tyrannosaurus Rex project, but with a hyperlocalized Folkestonian twist that nonetheless maintained his penchant for chevaline. While much of the Club’s repertoire comprised freeform instrumental try-outs—untuned charity shop guitars and coffee cup drum kits—a number of songs featured Lambkin’s original lyrics, read by both members of the band, dramatizing the comings and goings of anthropomorphic animals and musing abstractly on the minutiae of daily life in Cheriton (their native C-Town) / Taking their moniker from a mishearing of “the jester’s bauble, cap and bells,”' a line from Incredible String Band’s “The Iron Stone,” the duo operated for a brief year under the increasingly esoteric influence of the Fisheye mail-order and then fledgling Forced Exposure fanzine, and from the airwaves via Radio 1’s John Peel show. This collection was compiled by Lambkin in the early aughts for an unrealized release on his now defunct Kye label, but barring a few tracks on a retrospective 7? issued by Siltbreeze in 2010, hardly any of these recordings have been heard beyond a handful of hangers-on, inner-circle drinking allies, and the most devoted of fans. The Cat & Bells Club set the stage for what was to soon follow, when the group changed its name to the Shadow Ring—the rest is history

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€ 28

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K-Group : New Series 4 - LP (Knotwilg, 2023)

As anticipation to a new lp in septembre this repress available on June 1. Tiny edition of 100 copies in a silkscreened sleeve. A couple of the original pressing are still available at a lower price but only 10 copies or so left. / Review of the first edition: Paul Toohey, from Surface Of The Earth returns with a brand new hard hitting drone LP. Previous output on Fusetron and Corpus Hermeticum was a long time ago. But this release will nicely team up with reissue plans from his outer outfits on fi: Thin Wrist Recordings

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€ 22

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K-Group : New Series - LP (Knotwilg, 2023)

Brandnew offering on Knotwilg from Paul Toohey, member of Surface Of The Earth, NZ guitar dronemasters by excellence. The successor of the Series 4 lp from 2020 is a natural evolution leaning more forward towards SFOTE. Rawer guitar sounds drifting against all tides into a melting plot of emotions opening up a range of sounds familiar not only to previous outputs but also into a brighter optimistic drone-culture. Pure bliss and joy to be able to release to be able to release this into a world of music enthusiasts. Take our word for it, you need this one

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€ 19

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Saåad : A Crimson Shore - LP (Hands in the Dark, 2023)

A Crimson Shore is Saåad’s first studio album since Présence Absente in 2018. In the interim, Toulouse-based composer and producer Romain Barbot has enriched his experience as an artist through multiple collaborations, the composition of soundtracks and commissioned pieces, as well his involvement with the bands FOUDRE! and Sables Noirs / This new chapter in the Frenchman’s discography reflects this artistic maturity, evoking the project’s finest ambient recordings while revealing a new, unfiltered and decisive personality. Saåad’s use of a more direct musical language (exclusively electronic on this album) is intended to lay bare the inner life of its creator: the tracks are structured in a cycle of loops, vibrations and drones which respond to and confront each other like the torments of existence, torn between the twilight of sombre music reduced to its purest function of catharsis and the dawn of a new, luminous narrative journey / A Crimson Shore is a raw, all-encompassing album, shot through with the fear of death, of growing old, of accepting it, of grief —past, present, imagined and future— and the search for a transcendental refuge

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€ 20

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Razen : Hier l'An 4000 - LP (Hands in the Dark, 2023)

The prolific Brussels-based ensemble Razen is back on Hands in the Dark with a new stunning collection of fascinating improvisations: ‘Hier l’An 4000’ / Based upon the theme of reincarnation hypnosis and inspired by the writings of Donoso and Slauerhoff, 1940s SF drawings, sky burials and a fantasy of future music where savagery and sophistication meet, the band ventures here into reverse mesozoic exotica. Each piece leans on sampled hand percussion (by grace of the legendary Algerian percussionist Abdelmajid ‘Guem’ Guemguem), augmented by Brecht Ameel, Kim Delcour and David Poltrock’s trademark devotional approach on early music wind instruments and pre-digital keys and synthesisers, spiralling down into their own rabbit hole of repetition and changes / As gorgeously illustrated by the contemporary British painter Nicholas William Johnson: whilst proposing a futuristic trance-like trek through magenta night skies, toxic radiations and a hostile flora, Razen has never sounded more ecstatic and disruptive

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€ 20

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