MUSIC

Also known as the leader of the jazz trio Inga, Sam Gendel is an L.A. saxophonist who has developed a free and unique sound that has been described as psychedelic, outsider, and meditative, and Shin Sasakubo is a Chichibu-based guitarist. A new album by the duo of Sam Gendel, an up-and-coming saxophonist from LA, and Shin Sasakubo, an uncanny guitarist based in Chichibu, who is also active as a photographer and contemporary artist. The two showed great chemistry in Shin Sasakubo's previous work "CHICHIBU", which has become a hot topic in many places. On this album, Sam Gendel plays on the A-side and Shin Sasakubo plays solo on the B-side, and they feature each other on the final track of each side. The music was recorded in LA and Chichibu during the Corona disaster, and the result is a quiet work with an intimate atmosphere. The release is from Cafe Carne, a cafe in Chichibu where Shin Sasakubo also frequents. The impressive artwork is by Eri Masuko, a popular illustrator who also worked on the Cafe Carne logo.

(LP / 180g / Tip-on jacket / limited to 200 copies)

■ TRACK LIST

SIDE A (SAM GENDEL)
01 IN THE DUNES
02 REEDS
03 PENSIVE FROG
04 PIPE
05 COPYEXERCISE

SIDE B (SHIN SASAKUBO)
01 CARNET
02 OPUS
03 FONTAINEBLEAU
04 HUMAN LOOPER
05 NADJA

Considered by many one of the most gifted and outstanding players in the Electone community thanks to his fresh, energetic, rhythmic and sometimes humorous style of playing, from 1975 to 1977 Shigeo Sekitō released a four-LP album set titled Special Sound Series for the iconic Nippon Columbia. On the first chapter of this series, Sekitō revisits, in his own colourful style, compositions such as "You Are The Sunshine Of My Life" by Stevie Wonder, "Oh, My Love" by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, "Andalucia" by Ernesto Lecuona, alongside some of his own composition such as "My Sweet Girl" and the title track "Catch In Alice", creating a blend of easy-listening jazz with funk and soul influences. Long out of press, we are very proud to bring this "brilliant electone" album back on vinyl under exclusive license from Nippon Columbia. ©℗ 1975, Nippon Columbia Co., Ltd. / Licensed to Holy Basil Records by Nippon Columbia Co., Ltd.

AE-30 is both a film and audio album of the 2021 Sam Gendel x Roland AE-30 / Aerophone / Pro Digital Wind Instrument documentary. In August, musician Sam Gendel and filmmaker Marcella Cytrynowicz traveled to Iceland and filmed Gendel performing the instrument in unique locations outdoors around the country - most locations remote and accessed only via their friend Viktor, a search-and-rescue volunteer for Iceland who expertly navigates the country's challenging terrain in his modified Toyota Land Cruiser. The full documentary film and audio companion album will be released December 8th 2021 via Leaving Records.

Studio recordings of "Kobeta Piano" by electronic musician and sound engineer KND, keyboardist Shoichi Murakami, and drummer/percussionist Watz Uematsu. from Kyoto Japan. Jazz layers, Afro-essence, and modular sounds are woven together to create Kyoto's advanced music.

Guitarist and Producer Godriguez (producer of Sampa the Great's “The Great Mixtape") marshalled together some of the best musicians of the new generation in Sydney: A head priest of the Cuban Ifa religion, the step-son of Australia’s greatest ever funk and soul musician, Australia's leading drummer in this new generation and a deeply emotionally gifted pianist from New Zealand. These disparate backgrounds culminate with incredibly sensitive musical and emotional connections to form GODTET.

From Godriguez: "I’ve always wanted to make a triptych. I got obsessed with Francis Bacon and then wanted to make a musical triptych. When GODTET started I wanted there to be no preconceptions, the music and the sessions. I just wanted it to become what it was going to become and go where it was gonna go. I definitely didn’t plan a three part oeuvre. But here we are…

GODTET III feels like the distillation of the GODTET sound. It feels like the essence and definition of our sound... for now. Whilst the whole GODTET concept for me is about organic development and evolvement and to remain always searching, this album feels like the end of an era. Like everything is now for many people I think. Its been 3 years of very intensive playing, recording and gigging. The first record felt like an explosion of our minds meeting for the first time even though we’d all played together for years in various contexts. An explosive release from the lack of freedom in the musical contexts we’d previously been involved in.

The second record found us exploring improvising with a sample loop as a launch pad to playing. Marrying the worlds of beat production and improvised band. Then in reaction to only improvising we recorded a through-composed suite. 

GODTET III saw us return to the beginning where we recorded purely improvised with no sample or composed or preconceived launchpads. It is interesting comparing the first record and GODTET III. Both came from open improv but are quite different. You really can hear a distinct subconscious concept of what the GODTET sound is or has become. You can hear 3 years of intensive playing, recording and gigging. GODTET III is the final album of this initial triptych where the GODTET sound was forged. It is the end of an era. 

What best sums up GODTET is the fact that at the very same sessions for III we simultaneously were playing and improvising a brave new world for GODTET. You will hear this soon too. But for now let us relish in what has been the culmination of 3 intensive years as we present you the final piece of the GODTET triptych: GODTET III."

Well it's been more than 365 days and nights since we released a record on our small and independent record label based in Vancouver, BC. For better or worse we have always operated at a pace that feels natural to us. The same could be said for Mood Hut recording artist Jack J who has not released any music in over seven years. Do you remember his last record? It was called Thirstin' and it came out in the summer of 2015, hot on the heels of Something (On My Mind) which came out the year before. So naturally after this very long silence we are proud and excited to be able to finally share Opening the Door, the first full length LP by Jack J. Self-recorded slowly but surely between 2015 and 2019 between Mood Hut and C'est Life Studios, and featuring some crucial saxophone work by Linda Fox, this LP confirms Jack J to be a masterful mood maker as well as an incisive songwriter. Over the course of the album an undeniably blue haze settles over inward-peering ambient jazz, On-U-inspired digital-dub and quiet storm soft rock leaving a distinct sense of sadness amongst all the tangerine funk. Check it out!

Felis Catus and Silence is a breakthrough release for Tokyo composer-guitarist Leo Takami, following the milestone albums Children’s Song (2012) and Tree of Life (2017). Takami counterpoints the soothing aesthetics of prime-era Windham Hill New Age guitar-heroism with meditative, intellectual compositions comprised of ambitious, process-oriented arrangements. While Takami largely wears his genre influences on his sleeve -- jazz, classical, Japanese gagaku -- the influence of ambient music is a tacit foundation of his work. Working diligently outside of any established communities for fringe musics, Takami conjures this association through a patient focus on generous musical intervals. Steady, kaleidoscopic unfolding of his compositions reflect Takami’s creative intent to “become aware of precisely the time and place I am living.” The unabashedly sweet, tuneful virtues of his music in concert with this reflective form provide an artistic relief of Takami’s thematic harmony. “Each song is based on birth and death, and moving onto the next stage...”

Leo Takami, born 1970, studied guitar under Hideaki Tsumura (aka Kamekichi Tsumura) and performs regularly in Tokyo.

A supreme soundscape! World premiere recording of a 1997 work by a composer/guitarist who has left his mark on the contemporary Mexican music scene! Eblen Macari has been ambitiously developing his unique musical style for 40 years, from the 1980s to the present. Production began. The work was inspired by the sound of the guitar and the ecology of the trees that make up the wood used for the guitar. The influence of Ralph Towner and Egberto Gismonti, whom Eblen admires greatly, and ECM Records, represented by Egberto Gismonti, is reflected especially strongly in Eblen's works.
・Remastered by Kuniyuki Takahashi
・First ever vinyl release (originally released in 1997 on CD)
・Limited to 500 copies
・For fans of Ambient, World music& ECM Records

Dance Ancestral is the latest addition to producer and keyboardist John Carroll Kirby’s fast-growing and distinctive body of work. Dance Ancestral sees the acclaimed solo artist teaming up with Canadian producer Yu Su for an album whose central theme is the “intuitive dance” we perform throughout our lives. More electronically focused than Kirby’s previous albums, the result is a vividly imagined yet eminently listenable instrumental record.

London-based keyboardist/producer Dan Nicholls (of Y-OTIS) introduces a new album project 'Mattering And Meaning' to be released by We Jazz Records on August 13th. Nicholls' music uses acoustic piano as its key element, transporting the instrument into new territories that sound remarkably natural and organic, whilst displaying a strong kinship with the world of abstract electronic music. The music utilises piano loops and field recordings as its key elements, forming what might be described on the surface as a fascinating ambient jazz record – but at the same time there's so much more at play here on deeper levels. Dan's music sounds at once otherworldly and immensely inviting. After years of unlearning and unravelling the knots of a music college education – moving from a career in jazz, via electronic music, to a heartfelt embrace with rave culture and the feminist and queer theories which have so challenged perspectives across many disciplines on the objectified world and the values of capitalism – Dan Nicholls has spontaneously reimagined his relationship to the piano, that edifice of the decaying foundations of european classical music. Here the emphasis shifts from the Work (as object) to the work (as activity). Recorded with only a mobile phone voice recorder, eschewing the gloss of high fidelity audio to embrace the problematic cyborg appendage of the i-Fone VI-$, these lucidly dreamed tracks, like notes in a journal, find their depth and form through quick experimentation and distillation – layering, stretching and collaging in ways that treat the piano as a textural element in the daily soundscape, spilling into, and going along with, regular activities with no ceremony or established system to the process. For Dan, this is as much a documentation as a therapeutic process, casting aside the dogma and seriousness of much artistic practice whilst embracing joy and improvisation in order to search for deeper narratives. The speculative imaginings of three revolutionary thinkers, Donna Haraway, Ursula K. Le Guin and Karen Barad, have profoundly shaped the conception of this album, which also emerged from a deep interest in human relationships to ecstatic practices and communalities which have been so eroded by imperialist/patriarchal/capitalist forces. The title, "Mattering and Meaning", is a meditation on the crumbling habitual delineation and separation of both objects and definitions, including our (ironically) self-destructive human thinking patterns which position us as objective observers, above and over the world rather than inside it, apparently separate from nature and from each other. Like the melodies and themes which permeate these nine sonic tales, inextricable but nevertheless present, our world and our species prove to be more enmeshed, interconnected and interdependent than the dominant rationalism would lead us to believe. This album is a humble gift to the listener, a proposition for inclusion in their own ongoing soundscape, the perpetual activity of listening and awareness.

Portals is an album of minimal electric piano improvisations by UK-based multi-instrumentalist & composer Robert Stillman. Inspired by American ‘new-age’ luminaries like Laraaji, Iasos, and Stephen Halpern, Stillman’s layers of playful, meditative electric piano figures, saturated by warm tape hiss & psychedelic delay effects, are occasionally accompanied by “found sound” field recordings, creating a compelling yet calming listening experience. Portals was recorded at home in Broadstairs, Kent during the winter of 2016-2017 & originally released on cassette in December 2017 by Orindal Records. Three subsequent represses followed, & Portals became the most repressed cassette release in Orindal’s 11 year history. This new vinyl edition, co-released by UK label KIT Records, is remastered by Matt Barnhart & includes bonus track “Portal 8 (The Stranger).” Here’s Robert Stillman’s original statement on the original cassette release of Portals: Portals is an album of multi-tracked improvisations on Fender Rhodes electric piano. The music’s repetitive structure is intended to encourage a state of ‘no-mind’ in the listener, acting as a gateway out of thoughts and into the present moment. Headphones are recommended for the ideal listening experience.

Lynn Avery and Cole Pulice return with a new album of piano, synthesizers, tenor sax, wind synths and electronics. Following their excellent previous albums (Iceblink’s "Carpet Cocoon" and Cole Pulice’s "Gloam") the duo moves into otherworldly ambience that straddles acoustic and digital spaces, evoking an uncanny world both strange and familiar. “To Live & Die In Space & Time” began with an improvised set at the 2020 Drone Not Drones festival in Minneapolis that unveiled new worlds of sonic possibilities the duo wanted to reapproach. Lynn and Cole continued exploring this palette of sounds and ideas in the months that followed, a practice that continued as they relocated across the country and settled in their now home of Oakland, California. Lynn and Cole were not initially intending to create an "album" - instead, they were just committed to a regular practice of improvising, recording, forgetting, reapproaching, alchemizing old & new ideas, and allowing material to shapeshift. Eventually, something like an album revealed itself, which Lynn and Cole honed into “To Live & Die in Space & Time.” The sounds of TL&DIS&T are elegant, transportive and vast, like being wrapped in a blanket of stars, finding warmth and comfort in the unknown spaces of transition that don't immediately reveal meaning or purpose. In other words, the constellation of sounds on TL&DIS&T approach floating in "the void" as something less than ominous, perhaps even enchanting.

Jin Mu is taken from the Chinese Zodiac and translates to the elements of Metal (Jin) and Wood (Mu). this is essentially the concept of this record.. Tucceri plays a selection of wooden and metal flutes and Zeitgeist plays drums and cymbals. In this sense it's a musical connection to the natural elements and spirits embodied in these instruments. Having worked together for several years on the project ‘Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange’ Zeitgeist and Tucceri come together here in a very intimate and vulnerable setting. This recording offers a place of reflection and healing amongst an ever imposing and disposable pop culture. In a time where we fight for each others attention in 10 second social media grabs. The duo offer something of the opposite. An opportunity to tap out of the technological bombardment and allow the listener the place to reflect, to ponder, to imagine. This record is especially poignant at a time of rising tensions in Australia about the acknowledgment and rights of the indigenous peoples and an ongoing fight for the settlement of refugees in what is essentially a nation of immigrants.

After releasing their aptly titled first three LPs (I, II & III) GODTET concluded their triptych with the idea of a 'clean slate'. To allow the universe of GODTET to grow the band hit reset somewhat. Returning to their original conception of the band; Hitting record in the studio without preconceived thought or discussion on the outcome. After recording Meditations GODTET were asked to pay homage to the great John Coltrane at The Sydney Opera House during their lockdown web series in 2020. To celebrate the 50 year anniversary of 'Giant Steps' GODTET reimagined the seminal body of work into one long set. The band collaborated with local artists Chris Cooper & Sam Whickham who designed the audio visual aspect of the show. And after an astounding reception, decided to utilise the two artists to build upon Meditations. The 'Suite' EP (which features on the B side of 'Meditations') is the amalgamation of the earlier GODTET LP sounds and Godriguez's produced albums, through-composed as a 15 minute suite. To be true to the long-form, through-composed piece, the band recorded this release live; one take, no over-dubs and straight to tape much like the 'Meditations' sessions, but composed. The cathartic opening of 'Suite' awakens the gods with a sombre Welsh men's choir. Their vibrato ripples across the ocean as the second movement lands the listener in the Solomon Islands where bamboo sticks are tapped against rock. As the band nods to 'Struck Bamboo Pipes' from their last LP. Dub Horns blaze out of the calming movements, fractured polyrhythmic, post-dub-step energy takes hold. 'The sounds bleed into a neighbouring Trinidadian street festival as they march across the Atlantic. The end is nigh, Moroccan percussion and vocals dance as Godriguez's roots shine bright. What it all a dream? A Ghanian 'Women's Choir' lulls back consciousness. The 5-piece bids us farewell, sounds of the forked harp and Baoule men singing is all that remains. And just like that, the trip is over.

Portico Quartet announce Next Stop, a dynamic 4 track EP recorded at the same sessions as 2021's acclaimed Monument release. Released in November 2021, Monument was acclaimed as one of Portico Quartet's most accessible, direct records to date. Carefully crafted as an ode to better times, it pulsed with the energy of dance music and was one of the most melodic and carefully structured records the band have ever released. Next Stop is the brilliant follow-up, a pulsing powerful four-tracker that also features a wistful, elegiac side and perhaps provides a coda to Monument. Captured Time is a melodious and atmospheric tune that erupts out of layered synthesisers and strings. It's contrast between melodic simplicity and textural density is what lets it push through to an elated, ecstatic conclusion as the band draw you into an emotional journey as only they can. Next Stop is Portico Quartet at full power. Arguably the most rhythmically dense tune they have ever made. It's hypnotic groove driven by am off-kilter 7/8 drum and bass groove that ducks and dives with relentless intensity. Youth is a deceptively simple tune, nostalgic in tone, It's a paen to childhood and simpler days, with Wyllie's wistful sax melody perfectly offset by the low-slung slow-mo hip-hop beat of Bellamy drums. But is the beautiful strings that really turn this tune into something special.

Vertigo is album number 18 for Australian jazz trio, The Necks. They like to take a simple idea and allow it to develop organically through improvisation. They don’t know where they’re going when they set off but they always seem to get there. Their music is very human, it allows room for space, it’s ambiguous allowing the listener to interpret it in their own way.

In the previous work "Isted Serenade", the amplification was modest and the emphasis was on the deep acoustic sound, but in this work, his new frontier is heard with the electro sound that has been synthesized (synthesized). On the surface, that's the case, but his philosophy "isophonic" is still pierced in the core, and what is expressed through Young's unique conprovisation (composition and improvisational compound word) is "isophonic. His world that continues from "Bugiugi". Therefore, the degree of discipline of the sound is different from that of the electro guys there, and the density is able to withstand deep listening. Also, the sound pressure and facial expression of the sound was a problem until the end of completion, and his realism still living in Brooklyn is reflected in the tension of this aggressive and tingling sound.