MUSIC

We’re thrilled to announce NAFF017, “To / Deep”, by Chicago trio Purelink “To / Deep” comprises four tracks, two of which –Maintain the Bliss and Head On A Swivel– were previously released as a digital-only EP in 2021. Here, Purelink return to form with an updated sound, adding crystalline angularity and dialed precision to their warm, enveloping style. Blissed break abstractions flutter and gasp like shifting light through variegated glass. Rhythms arise within rhythms, the breath resounds throughout. “To / Deep” carries the uncanny feeling that home has changed, or that home is change.

Bog Bodies - the band consisting of Robert Stillman, Anders Holst and Seán Carpio delve into deep time to carve sonic abstractions across their self-titled new album on MIC. Navigating the “liminal territory between noise and signal, chaos and control, form and abstraction,” the trio recorded and mixed the album on an 8-track cassette machine. Bog Bodies is a searching inquiry into the mythologies and magical undercurrents that knit together our existence in the information age. Bog Bodies opens with a leftfield homage to Superman III, exploring the mythical qualities of technology through a series of angular horn lines that dissolve into the mire of feedback noise on the album’s raking, anthemic title track. Reverberating in tectonic sheets of sound on ‘One That Is Reflected In The Image Becomes All’ and Bog Bodies reaches its climax on the 11-minute ‘Cave Painting 2019’ - a subterranean epic of mystic force, drawn up from the earth in sweeping drones. Bringing together their combined experiences playing with the likes of Manuel Göttsching, Luke Temple, The Smile and more recently Coby Sey.

Arovane's acclaimed 2004 album »Lilies« has been out of print on vinyl for nearly 2 decades now. It finally gets a well-deserved reissue through the Berlin based Keplar label. The new version has been remastered by Kassian Troyer at Dubplates & Mastering and comes with a brand new cover artwork. *2023 remaster* "Lilies" was a follow-up to "Tides" in every sense, exploring a trip to Japan and drawing on shimmering textures and the sort of melodies that you might need some time to recover from. There's a hugely evocative sense to these tracks, emotionally driven, free of complexity or conceit, piano melodies providing the central focus for a twilight cascade of light that seems perfect for the Tokyo skyline - just as the sun sets. It's an album that radiates warmth and vulnerability, fusing the technological might at the heart of each track (and at the heart of the city) with an age-old understanding that certain echoes of sound, small melodic changes and cushioned lullabies can imprint sounds on your mind like childhood memories - remembered forever. Like a dreamlike score, or maybe even an alternate soundtrack to "Lost in Translation" - the sort of music that intertwines with images and stays in your mind indefinately. After coming back from Tokyo and completing the production of "Lilies", Uwe Zahn disassembled his studio in the big flat in an old building in Berlin's Prenzlauerberg district and stored it away in boxes. He needed a break from making music. "Lilies" was the last album prior to a nine-year hiatus for Arovane, ending in 2013 with the release of "Ve Palor".

With Narration, Toki Fuko returns to Affin after a long break. The EP contains 4 stylistically diverse tracks (some of them overlong), which are captivating in their perfection and document the musical versatility of the musician, who skilfully moves between dubby, hypnotic, in-depth techno here.An extremely worthy successor and a grandiose further development of the Astatine EP from 2020. Keplar continue their Arovane reissue program with this long overdue edition of Uwe Zahn's iconic EP collection 'Icol Diston' that features some of his finest productions, all releases by cult legendary label Din (the Hardwax one, not Ian Boddy's label). From the shockingly contemporary rework of Torsten T++ Pröfrock's 'Außen vor' to the itchy industrial grind of 'icol vern', it holds up. After Zahn changed track completely with 'Tides' in 2000, Pröfrock's DIN label assembled the then Berlin-based producer's early 12"s - "i.o.", "icol diston" and "AMX" - into "Icol Diston", closing the book on the first iteration of his sound. Zahn had written the music during a time of unprecedented musical freedom in Berlin, and felt the city's energy seep into ideas he was exploring in his rapidly growing studio. "There was an overwhelming dynamic of liberation reverberating through the city—through the clubs, the arts, the people," he says. During long tram rides, he would dream out the rhythmic sequences he'd reassemble later using a handful of synths, sequences and samplers, recording live in stereo straight to DAT. So invariably, this is some of the most intricate beat oriented material Zahn has ever produced, drawing on the blueprint of Autechre's seminal "Tri Repetae" and fashioned in the shadow of Hardwax and the mighty Dubplates & Mastering, welding dub bass and tekno stabs to skittering IDM repeaters and cycling hats. With the benefit of hindsight, it all makes complete sense. His first release, "i.o." was an attempt for Zahn to map out a process he'd explore further on the following year's "Atol Scrap". These are still some of the producer's most iconic recordings, and show how well developed his sound was even at the very beginning. Gravelly beats immediately push to the front of the title track, steadily overwhelmed by winding, melancholy synth patterns that would become an Arovane staple in the coming years. 'parf' and 'torn' follow largely the same path (the latter being a particular highlight), but it's when Zahn switches things up on 'andar' that the depth of his sound begins to show. Using a rumbling kick and barely-present glitches to provide an almost hip-hop jolt, he concentrates his focus on undulating, dubby atmospherics that allow his signature melodies to poke only half-way through the fog. The EP's follow-up "icol diston" meanwhile is some of the most upfront music Zahn has produced to date, immediately showing his rhythmic advances on the glassy 'yua:e', a self-assured collision of pulsing, stepped kicks, polyrhythmic crunches and euphoric analog washes. Zahn even responds to the rave echoes that surrounded him in Berlin with 'nacrath', contorting 'ardkore stabs into chirpy, hopeful lead sequences that dance through sine pulses, harp-like synth plucks and halfstep bumps. But hands-down our favorite moments come from Zahn's final DIN 12", where he remixed two tracks from Pröfrock himself: Dynamo's 'außen vor' and Various Artists' 'no.8'. The former is legendary around these parts, showing Zahn's skill working in plushest technoid mode as he skips around a squashed deep house template, letting pads slowly affect the flow with distant longing, and the latter is a remodel of Pröfrock's most crushing recording. Zahn takes his friend's smoked-out synth squelches and adds a low, slow beat that comes across like a weightless answer to Timbaland's Missy/Tweet run, dominating the soundsystem with subdued, syncopated force. Both tracks still sound like little else out there, and they haven't aged a day. Massive recommendation, obviously.

"Ebi Soda drop a major gem with the arrival of their ethereal and electric, dance-inspired album Ugh." – Okayplayer 

"Shifting between breakbeats and loping tempos, the quintet beams out melodies like wide smiles." – Bandcamp 

"Scorching funk-leaning jazz with plenty of left field influences" – Clash 

"Ebi Soda continue to make their mark as one of today’s most forward-thinking new jazz bands." – Twistedsoul 

"Lively, frenetic tunes that will work the dancefloor, through to more meditative, cosmic psychedelia. Absolute killer!" – Sounds Of The Universe 

"Just fucking cool-sounding... great grooves from a great band yet again." – Jazz Revelations 

'Ugh', is a collection of tunes from Ebi Soda's first ventures into professional recording. The band have made sure to carry their DIY-centric identity with them, creating a beautifully-produced record with the band's raw energy still at the forefront. Explosive drum grooves and a heavy-usage of electronic effects characterise the fluid jams we hear on 'Ugh', with the project's opener 'Ecchi' setting the tone straight away as the song moves from upbeat dance-y rhythms to a nightmare-inducing dub soundscape. 

The ten-track project was recorded over a year from numerous different sessions, leading it to carry an air of sporadicity to it, with its genre-switching nature leading the band to consider it more of a mixtape than an album. Ebi Soda seek to surprise and alarm listeners with this project. 

Andrea’s second album “Due In Color“ was primarily created in 2020 and 2021. During these crazy and decelerated times he explored more hazy and experimental Jazz, which inspired him to use more acoustic sounds in his productions. Dark loud clubs are in a far away distance, while Andrea takes us to wonderful blooming fields.

Invisible Inc is over the moon to finally be announcing this long-awaited double album of new music by Secret Circuit. Presented here are 21 new pieces (or 22 if you count the bandcamp-exclusive digital bonus) recorded between 2020 and 2022 which capture that spacey, otherworldly quality Secret Circuit is known for but they also very much veer into the warmer, earthier and generally more ambient textural territories of his E Ruscha V and Only Thingz work...an altogether softer sensibility. The fact that the second disc of the double album is primarily ambient further confuses the issue! But Secret Circuit this most definitely is! From a plethora of demos (40+) Invisible Inc label boss GK Machine wanted to distill these down and explore a side of Ruscha's that he felt hadn't been heard before, focussing on Ruscha's more emotive yet at the same time experimental side. Is that a paradox? Well, let's say only very rarely do we hear modular synths doing something so human-sounding, and when these are juxtaposed alongside slide guitars, live bass and vocodered vocals, we have something very special indeed. Then there's the artwork...all lovingly drawn by E Ruscha V himself and landing on our desk long after the record had gone into production and test pressings delivered and approved. The package is made complete with a double-sided colour insert with liner notes and another of Ruscha's mind-warping doodles. Oh and the liner notes are written in reverse so you'll need a mirror to read them. Of course they are! To cut a long story short, everything about this release is archetypal classic Secret Circuit and couldn't be anyone else. A highpoint for the label in 2023, no doubt.

Tokyo based producer and City-2 St. Giga label owner DJ Trystero arrives on Incienso with his debut LP “Castillo”. Over nine tracks Trystero explores uniquely spontaneous modes of rhythm and sound - turning ambient, breakbeat, electro, techno and house into blurred sonics that expand on their own time.

The 3rd NYE at Winterland (2nd that was taped) is known for having the first Big River and Chinatown Shuffle, as well as the last Dancin' (until '76). Same Thing hadn't been played since '67 and this was the last Pigpen version, Bobby taking it up again 20 years later. This is also the first show with Donna, though she's not a big presence. She would officially join at the upcoming Academy shows.

Tracklist:
 
Dancing In The Streets
Loser China Cat Sunflower
I Know You Rider
Brown-Eyed Woman
Sugar Magnolia
Sunshine Daydream
Not Fade Away
Going Down
The Road Feeling Bad 

Larry was born in Lawrence Park in the garden parish of St. Ann. He attended Keith Primary School and began his singing career in 1960 on the TOP DECK LABEL. Hits flowed from him, such as Too Young To Love and Snake In The Grass, I've Got Another Girl was recorded for Prince Buster. In 1968 the first reggae - hit, now a classic, was done by Larry, We all remember Nanny Goat with the sharp cutting guitar - riffs and the calypso sounding organ chords, Thelma followed and then Mean Girl, All these were on the Coxsone Label. Recently, Larry's hits have been I ADMIRE YOU, Brand New Baby, and Can't You Understand.
I now give you Larry's LP titles I ADMIRE YOU, 12 shots are here to thrill your reggae - infused soul. King Tubby's mixed the tracks, and Federal Records made the stamper, Quality processing from studio disc

An ambitious compilation album of rare early recordings of "calypso," which originated in Trinidad at the beginning of the 20th century and developed into its modern form, has been released in analog format. In the 1920s, when calypso was in its infancy, singers and composers called "calypsonians" performed in "tents" (tarpaulin-covered gardens and union halls) for the people of Trinidad and tourists. This album is a compilation of all of these calypso classics!

Revered multi-instrumentalist Yusef Lateef recorded the Three Faces of Yussef Late in 1960. The famously daring and expansive jazz man rather reined it in a little for this one on Riverside, but that doesn't make it any less essential. It's the sound of a musician at the peak of his powers and laying down gentle groovers like 'Goin' Home' and the Duke Ellington-composed 'I'm Just a Lucky So-and-So'. Late takes care of sax and oboe on monist tunes with able assistance from Hugh Lawson on piano, Ron Carter on cello, bass from Herman Wright and drums by Lex Humphries.

Music and noise composed and recorded on the photoelectron synthesizer ANS by Edward Artemiev. LP and CD remastered in San Francisco, CA in May 2013. Exclusive photo book with unreleased images of the movie set and essays about music and cinema of the duo Artemiev/Tarkovsky. The cd has the same vinyl tracklist.

A1 Part I     2:48
A2 Part II    2:32
A3 Part III   2:22
A4 Part IV   3:13
A5 Part V    2:27
A6 Part VI   7:18
A7 Part VII  3:55
B1 Part VIII 2:56
B2 Part IX   1:26
B3 Part X    0:38
B4 Part XI   2:09
B5 Part XII  1:42
B6 Part XIII 4:44
B7 Part XIV 0:44
B8 Part XV 4:36
B9 Part XVI 6:19
B10   Part XVII     1:21

The most long-awaited LP release of Totsuzen Danball's 1991 masterpiece 'Yokushi Onryoku'

Totsuzen Danball, a unique rock band from Fukaya, released their 1991 masterpiece 'Yokushi Onryoku' which was sold for a considerable amount of money in the used vinyl market until it was reissued in 2008, and remains one of the greatest albums in Japanese rock history. The unique and extremely sharp sound built around rhythm machines and guitars, and the rebellious poems and songs by the late Eiichi Tsutaki are tremendously exciting. This is punk! This is rock!

Artists really do move about don't they? Sage Redman (aka Klein Zage) has zig-zagged from Seattle to London then back to upstate New York. This reinvention of living quarters is reflected in her music which is an ever changing dollop of left-field dream -pop which is particularly heavy on the synths. Lyrically it discusses the mundane - routines and realities that we deal with day to day. Where a dog comes into it I have yet to work out. Forget what you know about Klein Zage. Her mundanely poetic spoken-word meets outsider-house has reached it’s final form – and it’s almost nothing to do with dance music at all. Existing in the intersections of alt-pop, trip-hop and shoegaze, the Seattle born, NY based artist has created an evocative collection of songs that balance existential longing with pop sensibility to create a deeply reflective album that elevates the everyday into the celestial. Each track revels in a sort of serene, catatonic beauty – quietly psychedelic and decidedly cinematic –the album evokes a certain kind of contemplative disassociation. This feeling is echoed on the cover, where we witness Klein Zage frozen, deep in thought - statuesque – pondering life and her environment in a state akin to an out of body experience: This is the precise feeling listening to the album imparts No stranger to South East London, having previously been based there in the past for a few years, Klein Zage – real name Sage Redman - lands on Rhythm Section INTL with “ Feed the Dog” – part observational realism, part cry for help, part love letter to London. Klein Zage established herself with previous releases on her own label, Orphan, which she runs with long term collaborator Joey G ii. Her previous work fuses electronic sounds with spoken social commentaries about themes of the city, femininity, and the hospitality industry. The keen eye and the sharp wit prevails, but the final product feels like a total reinvention for Klein Zage in terms of sound and delivery. Written between Seattle, a remote Washington fjord called Hood Canal, and London, her music covers a lot of ground – sonically speaking. The compositions – whilst clearly evoking dream pop, are fortified with flashes of deconstructed club acoustics that add a contemporary weight to the production. ‘Feed The Dog’ may sound like a transformation of the former Klein Zage sound, but infact this is the music she’s always been making. Her career-long ambitions have come to fruition with these songs, and now seems like a perfect time for people to hear them. In her own words, Sage says the album “is about the mundane, the routines that tether you to reality, caring for a living breathing being that needs you. Defending the ones you love”. These themes, apart from being a literal ode to her dog Steves, provide a metaphor for a defining moment in Klein’s career as a musician and lyricist. The intro, ‘Sand’, opens with the sounds of water, taken from field recordings of the Hood Canal fjord. Sonic atmospheres build up with haunting yet hopeful harmonies and long sustained electronic brass and string notes. We are left with the comforting sounds of high tide in the song’s closing moments, signifying the coming and going of care and attention, attachment and release. Zage repeats the incantation, “I’ve convinced myself that this is it”. Hope confronts despair in the album opener. Is this a turning point or breaking point? The ambiguity persists through the album with lines like “ I am trying to feel”, “ Do I still exist”... This is existentialism at it’s most raw and vulnerable, but the door is always left open… On ‘Bored With You’, Sage flips the conventional love song on its head, hitting back against the sensational depictions of love. She’s happy to just sit in “augmented silence”, free of unattainable expectations. This song uncovers a crucial truth about romance over the top of swirling synths and lofi drum sounds. We are made aware of the things that exist physically in front of us, rather than an unreal dream of expectation. The title track is an intricate anthem of life’s mundane joys and comforts and the emotional exchanges of care-giving, full of left field dreaminess and glittering colours. Distant, shoegazey guitar chords, provided by Joey G ii, swell back and forth with eerie electric piano notes. Sage says herself, the project is also about the “tendency to take a back seat in my life - metaphorically feeding the dog while forgetting to feed myself”. As the project closes we are met with a heartfelt ode to the borough of Lewisham, South East London. A place that is close to Sage and her friends as she sings a lullaby to the ones she’s left behind over metitative synth plucks. This emotional reach back in time hints at some unfinished business from Klein Zage in London, with ‘Feed The Dog’ providing a full-circle moment. Much like Sage’s metamorphic role as an artist, the overall sound of this record waltzes seamlessly between low tempo pop, filled with rich instrumentation and chorus-soaked guitars, to moving grungy anthems bursting with 80s-inspired energy. Her lyrics provide a poetic remedy to the challenges of everyday life by championing the things we might miss if we are not looking.

The first Huerco S. album in 6 years, glyding into new territory with a pool of glassy synths, padded subs and cascading arpeggios, pretty much unlike anything Brian Leeds has made under any alias. "His sound palette has broadened to absorb and refine trap’s un-smeared geometrics and drill’s taught rhythms amongst the gaseous bodies and soul-piercing ambience that has garnered such acclaim; Where those previous veins were rooted in the pre-Columbian civilizations of his native Kansas, Plonk reflects the mournful sodium glow of cities at night, street corners that light up with painful moments of clarity you wish would disappear."

From the creator of Deep Reggaeton and the hit record ​"​¡Estéreo Bomba! Vol. 1​"​, DJ Python, returns with the first masterful full length album "Dulce Compañia". Comprised of eight ethe-real, banging hits of the most unique and thought provoking calibre - mixing Deep House, Shoegaze, Trance, and of course, Reggaeton - these songs-not-tracks slide over the Dembow in the unique way only Python can dream up. Rated E for Everyone.

LA producer and underground dance-fantasy legend Benedek has shared his new EP “Zebrano” via Steven Julien’s Apron Records. It’s his first release for the London label, and features a stellar line up of featured artists, from rising Canadian-Ghanaian LA-based singer AKUA and DC's man of the moment dreamcastmoe, to R&B future icon Devin Morrison. It serves as Benedek’s first featured release since his 2011 single with Dam-Funk. While originally lauded for his own hybrid of boogie, garage house, and downtempo grooves, Benedek is traversing new realms with his esoteric innovations. These are all facets of Benedek's sunny and seductive hometown of Los Angeles, and are sonically expressed in his catalog. But as much as he’s embraced the shimmer on the surface, he’s also familiar with deeper, more hidden worlds. His work has found its home on such labels as PPU, LI.E.S., Leaving Records, Music From Memory and more. His expansive catalog includes collaborations with Steve Arrington, Delroy Edwards, Dam-Funk, Joyce Wrice, Tom Noble, Jamma-Dee, Kirin and more.

Pearl & the Oysters first album made after their move from the neon swamps of Florida to the glittering lights of L.A. is just as bright and bubbly as their past work. In fact, the only thing Joachim Polack and Juliette Davis change on Coast 2 Coast is the set of collaborators. Old friends Dent May and Mild High Clubs Alex Brettin are on board again, and this time Riley Geare of Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Alan Palomo of Neon Indian fame, and most excitingly, Laetitia Sadier join up to add their talents to the mix. Polack and Davis are the stars, though, creating a sound that is warmly familiar while still delivering little jolts of sonic surprise along the way. A few of the most alluring are the funky guitar groove on "Konami," the dubby effects on "Loading Screen" that perfectly match the wry subject matter, the harps that trill magically through the enchanting "Moon Canyon Park," the free jazz sax solo on "Joyful Science," and the warped synths that frame the melancholy vocals on "Paraiso." While these novel sounds give the duos already shiny surfaces something of a glow-up, one thing that didnt need any kind of upgrade or alteration is Davis vocals. Her dulcet tones again prove to be up to any challenge, whether its slinking gracefully through late-night soft rock on "Pacific Ave," crooning with birdlike simplicity on "Space Coast," or teaming with Sadier on one of the albums highlights, "Read the Room," a chugging Stereolab-inspired rocker that thrillingly breaks out into little bursts of baroque metal guitar solos before swinging back into the groove. The extra layering of sound in the arrangements and the overall relaxed feel of the record mean that its not quite as immediate as previous efforts; however, an extra bit of attention on the part of the listener will result in an experience thats suitably easy, breezy, and light, but also deeper and more resonant. Its clear that Polack and Davis keep growing as writers and musicians, and where it might once have been reasonable to knock off a point or two for the novelty-adjacent nature of the songs, any traces of novelty have definitely worn off. What remains is purely enjoyable pop music that should appeal to anyone with a wide definition of the sound and an affinity for lightly seasoned melodies and full-to-the-brim arrangements. ~ Tim Sendra

Champion Sound is the only studio album by the duo Jaylib (hip hop musicians J Dilla and Madlib). Half of the songs are produced by Madlib and feature J Dilla on vocals, and the other half are produced by J Dilla and feature Madlib on vocals.

"Before we get this started, let me explain it. It's Ruff Draft. For my real niggaz only ... Sound like it's straight from the ma'fuckin' cassette! ... Let's do it." ... Thus begins Ruff Draft. These self-produced tracks make up one of the late J Dilla's least known works during his lifetime. Released on vinyl only in February 2003 this sought-after release was elusive and virtually unknown to the casual Dilla fan until Stones Throw's reissue in 2007. Recorded in the wake of a failed deal with major label, Dilla returned to solo recordings as a fiercely independent artist with Ruff Draft. The CD contains photos from this era and detailed liner notes by Ronnie Reese discussing Dilla's career in 2002 when Ruff Draft was recorded. Tracks on this disc were taken from J Dilla's original master tapes, where additional previously-unreleased tracks “Wild” and “Take Notice” were also discovered. Sleeve by Jeff Jank.

Sam Gendel’s COOKUP—a new album comprising interpretations of R&B and soul hits originally released between 1992 and 2004—is due February 24, 2023, via Nonesuch Records. As with his 2020 Nonesuch debut, Satin Doll, Gendel recorded COOKUP in his native California with his friends and collaborators Gabe Noel and Philippe Melanson; the trio again adopts an approach of simultaneous synchronized sonic construction/deconstruction of the album’s source material, which this time includes songs by Ginuwine, 112, Aaliyah, All-4-One, Soul 4 Real, Beyoncé, Joe, Erykah Badu, Mario, SWV, and Boyz II Men. Preorders for COOKUP are available here, along with Gendel’s version of 112’s “Anywhere,“ featuring Meshell Ndegeocello on vocals. “COOKUP marks another chance to convene with my good friends Phil Melanson and Gabe Noel,” says Gendel. “For this occasion we hovered over a particular flavor: jams that we grew up with. We sculpted in sound our collective memories of this music. Meshell Ndegeocello took the 112 to another dimension (shoutout wayne12). Listen to Ginuwine, listen to 100 covers of Ginuwine on YouTube, listen to COOKUP.” Gendel followed Satin Doll later in 2020 with DRM, an album on which the artist traded his trademark saxophone for vintage instruments and his own voice. On COOKUP, Gendel is back on sax, also playing wind controller, synthesizer, piano, great bass recorder, and nylon guitar. Noel plays electric bass, as well as vibraphone, lap steel guitar, contrabass guitar, and cello guitar, while Melanson plays drums and electronic percussion. The album was produced by Gendel and mixed by Dean Hurley. Sam Gendel is an LA-based composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist who Pitchfork calls “one of the main fixtures of Los Angeles’ bubbling ambient jazz scene.” After Satin Doll and DRM, he released digital singles of Laurie Anderson’s “Sweaters,” Duke Ellington’s “Isfahan,” and Charlie Parker’s “My Little Suede Shoes.” Gendel‘s extensive discography also includes collaborations with Sam Wilkes (2018’s Music for Saxofone & Bass Guitar and 2021’s Music for Saxofone & Bass Guitar More Songs), Josiah Steinbrick (2021’s Mouthful / Serene), Pino Palladino and Blake Mills (2021’s Notes With Attachments and 2022’s Recorded Live at Sound City Dec 20th 2020), Antonia Cytrnowicz (2022’s LIVE A LITTLE), and more. He also performs on two other recent Nonesuch releases: Joachim Cooder’s Over That Road I’m Bound and Sam Amidon’s self-titled album.

In 1981, encouraged by Jac Berrocal, Axolotl (Etienne Brunet and Jacques Oger on saxophones and clarinet, Marc Dufourd on electric guitar) recorded an album of French-style free music as iconoclastic as it was unsettling: free improvisation, jazz, no wave, contemporary, punk… a dance of labels which leaves plenty of place for the direct expression of a monstrous trio of regenerated agitators! The axolotl is a species of salamander native to Mexico, living in a state of larva and having the capacity to regenerate damaged organs. This brief introduction doesn’t tell us if the axolotl sings. But, for the one that concerns us here: yes indeed. In Paris, at the end of the 1970s, Etienne Brunet and Marc Dufourd would improvise regularly, inspired by some other saxophone-guitar duos: Claude Bernard-Raymond Boni firstly, then Evan Parker-Derek Bailey. When Jacques Oger (a saxophonist whom Brunet had met at a workshop given by Steve Lacy at the Châteauvallon festival in 1977) joined the duo Brunet-Dufourd, Axolotl was born. Iconoclastic, the trio was bound to please Jac Berrocal, and he proposed to record their first album on the label ‘D’avantage’. In spring 1981 three days were just enough for Oger (tenor and barytone saxophones), Brunet (alto saxophone, bass clarinet and ‘things’) and Dufourd (electric guitar) to complete Axolotl, the first album by a group which would record … two. If there was a collective of iconoclasts, the trio would be there with some relatives: Alterations, Fred Frith, John Zorn, the ROVA Saxophone Quartet… and then because we mention a collective, Axolotl steps (considerably) beyond the domain of free improvisation to lean towards jazz (“Illusion”, “Paris, froissé”), No Wave (“Ombre pilée”, “Trottoirs défunts”), contemporary (“Oreiller”, “D’autres seuls”), and even what we could call … acid fun (“Dehors”). Above all, Axolotl wanted to really get to grips with sound via an expression as direct as it was liberating, as can be heard on “Ozone, flocon, torsion”, producing a noise that, even today pierces the brain. All we can hope is that now, thanks to this wonderful reissue, listeners will be able, like the axolotl, of regeneration.

noise matrix unleashes material from the same sessions as noisembryo and counterpart 'hole' and selected recordings from the time period. 
 originally released as a bonus disc on the definitive ’noisembryo' 2xcd edition noise matrix absolutely can’t be missed for fans of this period of noise deity merzbow. When people ask where to start with merzbow or the entire 90’s noise movement in japan - this is an answer! 
 masami akita’s surrealism of the past stands prominently relevant to this day combining the expansive textures of electronics, effects, aluminum soaked winds of the tokyo metropolis and metals. presented in deluxe wide spine metallic reflective ‘mother of pearl’ jacket. digital download code included.