MUSIC

Flowing water is an essential element of Earthly existence, a living force, a process of nature, a path-making which combines infinite sources mixing imperceptibly into a singular energy. It’s also a potent metaphor. A childlike wonder at flowing water’s presence and power, all the impressions it makes and creative neurons that it fires, happens to be a personality trait shared by Evan Shornstein (aka Photay) and Carlos Niño. The two producers/musical connectors may have grown up and reside a continent and daily realities apart — Photay in the forest serenity of New York’s Hudson Valley, Niño on Los Angeles’s ocean-adjacent west side — yet this magnetic power of fluidity, its sound, its meaning, what it can teach us about art and circulation, mesmerizes them both. Water is the spiritual center of their first album-length collaboration, the vast and deep An Offering — from the visual on the cover, to the first sound you hear on the opening “Prelude,” to the underlying themes and images espoused by the poet-philosopher Iasos on the closing “Existence.” More importantly, the image of water-like flow is a continuous reflection of how these two musicians have come to work together and apart, of the way they made An Offering, and how they’re continuing to create, without a beginning and (hopefully) with no end in sight. An infinite flow of sound, from and to every direction. Some of this work directly reflects the relationship between the two men, and of where/how Photay’s electronic, often-dancefloor-oriented tracks found Niño’s far-reaching world of ambient spirituality and improvised soundscaping. The meeting point is precise: Laraaji, the new age zither legend with whom Niño regularly collaborates, including at a June 2016 show in New York City which Niño played and Shornstein attended. The connection initiated immediately after that performance did not simply find the pair participating in each other’s recording projects — Photay remixing a Niño-produced Laraaji track and involved in Niño & Friends sessions; Carlos showing up on multiple songs of Photay’s 2020 album, Waking Hours, some of which was recorded at Niño’s studio—but in a broad exchange of ideas. Niño long ago established himself as one of Los Angeles’ great musical conduits, constructing environments that facilitate partnerships between far-flung artists, perpetuating the freedom of working in the present, outside expectations, trusting the work’s destination. When the younger Shornstein met Niño, his own creative process was ”almost too precious, and it was always my goal to break out of that.” Adapting Carlos’ pacing and free-flowing strategies — scenarios such as sharing recorded stems, bringing in old recordings to serendipitously fit new tracks, or mixing organic improvisations with stylized, post-produced rhythms — transformed Evan’s perspective. It made him rethink ideas like “finished,” shedding pressurized over-analysis for a process he calls “fluid” and “healthy.” It also made Shornstein reconsider some music they’d recorded but originally left off Waking Hours, “microscopic moments that were more expansive in my mind — there was so much honesty there.” What may not have made sense within the composed, hyper-stylized beauty of Hours, “felt really good” outside that context. Niño, who describes himself as “very album-oriented,” agreed, suggesting they create a unified body of work to match those moments — but not overthink it, make it quick, easy, productive, present. Which is how the re-imagining of pieces of music that became “Change” and “Exist,” sprung Photay and Carlos Niño into collaborating even more closely, and brought An Offering to the world. The sounds they gathered into an intentional, meditative whole, were made together and apart, and sourced from all over. The two producers made connections between new music and recordings they already had: Shornstein found hours of tape featuring solo playing by Upstate New York harpist Mikaela Davis, which became a central adornment on multiple tracks. Niño sent Shornstein a quartet improvisation he made with tenor saxophonist Aaron Shaw, keyboardist Diego Gaeta and synth-guitarist Nate Mercereau, which became the basis of “Honor.” They brought in trusted partners. The atmospheric blowing of LA-based tenor saxophonist Randal Fisher is a focal point throughout, at times processed by Photay’s machines. Photay’s trombone player Nathaneal Ranson, and Niño’s long-standing LA-based collaborator, vocalist Mia Doi Todd, float in-and-out of the mix. When Niño makes a record, another original “new age” legend, Iasos, is bound to be around, and his strong summation on “Existence” are the only words An Offering submits. The healing energy of Peterskill, a short rocky State Park waterway that ebbs through New York’s Ulster County (and across from Shornstein’s home — “a real environmental inspiration”), flows throughout. “Creating with no constructs,” is how Shornstein describes the process of bringing these elements together. “It was just a feeling, which maybe is what music or creating should always be.” Peterskill was also the source for a long extra track/outro when An Offering debuted as a Bandcamp-exclusive cassette in October 2021 — and quickly sold out. (A gorgeous Shornstein-directed film accompanied the release as well.) The notion of this music as “offering” came to life in its immediacy (the tape was released only a month and half after the idea for it was seeded) and in its gift-like nature (you can still get the digital version at a price of your own choosing). Scott McNiece of International Anthem found it, and instantly connected with its natural essence, a sound that accompanies one’s movements through difficult moments, the motion of instinctive change, a way to mark the radical period of our time with incremental alterations. Like flowing water affecting an ancient landscape. International Anthem offered to give An Offering a full vinyl release, which is why you are reading this one-sheet right now. And like any current, the interconnectedness between Photay and Carlos Niño, their symbiotic way of informing and influencing each other’s sounds, continues to naturally move forward and shapeshift. They are working on multiple projects together at the moment, and have already completed More Offerings. Flow on! - Piotr Orlov, August 2022

Dominique Lawalrée (b. 1954) is a composer born and based in Brussels. First Meeting is Lawalrée's first archival release to date. Culled from four different albums originally self-published on his private label Editions Walrus, circa 1978-1982, this compilation highlights the composer's unique sense of ambient and minimal composition. Originally considered for release on Brian Eno's Obscure Records, Lawalrée's music is now no longer hidden. 

In this collection the listener finds the sounds of piano, synthesizers, percussion, wurlitzer, organ, and voice, all performed by Lawalrée. Using these tools Dominique creates miniature themes that gallop across the speakers in slow motion, stretching our normal sense of dynamics and color, effortlessly widening the stereo plane. On “Musique Satieerique,” Dominique pays homage to the influence of Satie with simple repeated piano figures and a lush field of organs and flutes. And on other selections, like “Le Maison Des 5 Elements,” he takes a more wistful, ambient approach, layering keyboard lines, and invoking found/tape sounds to create a hypnogogic world of his own. Childlike in its playfulness and surreal to the bone, the music spins like a carrousel placed inside the Rothko Chapel. Lawalrée’s sense of timbre, tone, and overarching composition is like an impression of a home movie whose charm lies in its knowledge of intimacy, shared by few. An incantation of innocence. 

"a quiet, understated music that is both touching and elegant" - Gavin Bryars 

"I’ve started to work on this album before I knew it. During June 2018 I was in Japan for a month to release my previous album "Cairn" as well as my first solo exhibition of drawings in Tokyo. Everyday on my way to the gallery I passed in front of the same building, its name kept haunting me : Rogue Hill. Back then I was digging for cheap 80’s Japanese CD’s (Balearic, New Age, Ambient,...) in second hand stores. Most of them set the tone of this album and the direction I wanted to follow. I feel there’s a direct connection between these original sources and the sound I pursue by their meditative aspect. Most of the demo songs were done before my daughter’s birth on August 2019 and were finalized since then. Many of the titles refer to this main event and relate to how it changed my position in life : being a link through time by becoming a father."

"The phenomenon of the sound and music created here is very mysterious. These pieces of music, created without any intention of being published, reached my ears without warning. Of course, this happened because I have lived a life devoted to a certain kind of music, but there is a chance I would never have listened to them in my life. But, they came to me. Now they play over and over in my listening space - blending into the air that surrounds me. Vibrating. It is as if they had always been there from a long time ago." Chee Shimizu (Organic Music, Japan)

We write to you with the conclusions of our investigation into the synthesized audio transmissions picked up by the deep space telescope at regular intervals since 1986. The source was traced to two brothers in Kawasaki, Japan, who identified themselves as Satoshi and Makoto. When we raided the building, they were huddled around a synthesizer manufactured by the Casio Corporation, model number CZ-5000. 

In their archives we discovered a wealth of colourful and ear-pleasing material created entirely using this music-making device in the early 1990s. We asked them to provide copies so that we could make these compositions available to the public for the first time. They handed us a compact disc that bore the handwritten code “ST006”.

Scientific Bulletin From The Safe Trip Institute, Amsterdam. 

Our latest communication to colleagues concerns an audio artefact – library reference code ST019 – provided by our esteemed Japanese brothers Satoshi and Makoto. They unearthed it from their own archive of musical experimentations and laboratory tests, which have been ongoing since the 1990s. They have shared it so that the process of peer reviewing can begin in earnest. 

We have undertaken thorough testing in the Safe Trip Laboratory and offer the following observations: 

Colleagues in Japan provided us with sample product of the following audio artefact – file number ST015 – believing that it may be relevant to the Safe Trip Institute’s ongoing research in this area of study. After rigorous testing and analysis, we would like to offer the following observations: 
  
• By running each of the 10 pieces of music that make up the artefact through the Past Fire Particle Analyzer, we have ascertained that every single note, chord and aural element was created using the CZ-5000, an electronic instriment built by Japan’s Casio Corporation. 

• One of our researchers discovered that if you assign a Pantone colour code to each different musical note featured on the artefact, all bar 734 of the 1,867 “spot” colours are present. By gathering these together on one screen, she discovered that most of the “musical colours” employed by Satoshi & Makoto were shades of purple, orange, red, green, yellow and pink. 

• In laboratory tests, listeners were instinctively drawn to the following percussion-free compositions: ‘Crawl Up (ST019-02)’, a combination of vibrant melodies and rumbling sub-bass; ‘Updraft (ST019-08)’, which one listener claimed helped him see through time; and ‘Kass (ST019-09)’, a musical voyage through neural pathways that should interest colleagues within the world of phrenology. 

• Test subjects also responded positively to a number of other artefacts, with one insisting that ‘Corendor (ST019-03)’ induced intense feelings of joy thanks to its use of vibrant melodies and “shuffling beats”. We draw no conclusions from this comment but think it worthy of further discussion. 

We invite colleagues the world over to analyse and test this audio further in order to increase our understanding of Mr Satoshi and Mr Makoto’s archive aural artefacts. We eagerly await your correspondence. 

In January 2021, Eelco Topper (Felbm) went into hermit mode by way of a two-week residency at Buitenplaats Doornburgh, a former monastery on the outskirts of his hometown of Utrecht, Netherlands. He had already intended to use only natural elements for inspiration, such as naturally-occurring textures and patterns, and the earthiness of acoustic instruments like singing bowls and a range of wooden percussion. On arrival, the contemplative architecture of the building and the peace of the surrounding landscapes energized Topper so much that these initial ideas blossomed into nearly 50 minutes of intimate 4-track cassette recordings. Following the residency, Topper collaborated with a cast of local guest musicians on flute, saxophone and cello, infusing the original rhythmic foundation of percussion and acoustic guitar with a lush melodic backdrop.
 The resulting new release – simply titled ‘Elements of Nature’ - marries the fluttering melodies and lo-fi cassette sound of earlier Felbm releases with a new conceptual approach and more varied sonic toolkit. Here, Topper successfully preserves the joyful naïveté of the Tapes series while exploring sweeping new ground, resulting in a decisive step forward for Felbm as a composer, producer and artist. ‘Elements of Nature’ was first released in November 2021 on limited edition cassette, accompanied by a riso-printed book of artwork. 
Illustrated once more by long-time collaborator Joost Stokhof, the artwork assembles Stokhof’s ink drawings together with the analogue photographs that inspired them, taken by Felbm during his residency.!

For our 50th cassette release, we're very happy to welcome in Shakali (aka Simo Hakalisto) born in Finland, though now residing in the Czech Republic. "Aurinkopari plays a lot with polarities as it seeks to find something celestial in the mundane. The brightest sound of the album was captured in the darkest night of the year. Sine waves, scaled according to old wartime engineers, ended up sounding like a magic flute. A hydrophone detected other-worldly sounds of a drowning compost and a ceremonial Javanese gendèr was recorded in a bunker… While the processes of recording the album were often playfully esoteric, the music itself is warmly heartfelt." - Shakali Encompassing global and local music traditions and pre-Midi times, this album feels very organic, playful and warmly connected to a natural, higher consciousness state of being....We couldn't ask for a better way to celebrate our 50th cassette release. Written & Produced by Simo Hakalisto Mastered by Amir Shoat

Before I’m gone I’d like to see us turn the corner and give up being spoilers of the land . . . In 1975 Wallace ‘Wally’ Smith Broecker published a paper that popularised the term ‘global warming’ and against a backdrop of change and environmental uncertainty, a musical concept album was commissioned. ‘Wilderness America / A Celebration of the Land’ - is a musical exploration of our place within the cycle of living things. All compositions were specially commissioned for the album and blended with natural sounds recorded in the wild – lending the entire project a conceptual air that still feels fresh today. The journey begins with the sun rising in the atmospheric haze of 'Dawn' - a track composed by new-age innovator Iasos. Gospel singer Walter Hawkins soon drops in with the soulful but ever so funky 'Metropolis' backed by a heavy array of session musicians with Patrick Gleeson, Ed Bogas and Tom Salisbury all adding their own misty magic to the album. David Riordan is the sorcerer conjuring up many of the compositions and also takes vocal duties on the evocative 'Mountain' and the climatic 'Before I'm Gone'. ‘Wilderness America / A Celebration of the Land’ was born when environmentalist Emily DeSpain Polk assembled a group of California residents to participate in a groundbreaking conservationist project. Christening the group SWAP (Small Wilderness Area Preservation) Emily needed funds and began a project to produce a promotional nature based music album. To acquire the financial backing Emily would need to source a musician of some calibre. Contacting Cliff Branch from ‘Warehouse Sound Co.’ she was told the man she was looking for was David Riordan. David Riordan had been around the music business for several years, first with The Yankee Dollar, then Sugarloaf and then Sweet Pain, he saw huge success with the single 'Green Eyed Lady'. David had worked on Cliff Branch’s 'Warehouse Sound Co. & Friends' albums and then released his solo album, 'Medicine Wheel'. But bored of touring he made the move to more concept-driven albums. First with ‘Christmas in San Francisco’ and then, in quick succession, 'Wilderness America, A Celebration Of The Land'. Riordan, along with Peter Scott, a music producer friend in San Francisco, began piecing together an idea for the album. They brought in Ed Bogas to do string arrangements and Tom Salisbury to conduct. David had also asked his friend Patrick Gleeson if he knew of any R&B/Gospel singers in the Bay Area, and they soon added gospel singer Walter Hawkins into the mix. Other than the track ‘Metropolis’, which was recorded in LA, the rest of ‘Wilderness America, A Celebration Of The Land’ was recorded and mixed by Richard Beggs at the San Francisco studio of Francis Ford Coppola. Coppola was filming ‘Apocalypse Now’ at the same time – so in between studio sessions, the musicians were able to view the seemingly never-ending film rushes arriving from the Philippines. Eventually, the record produced by David Riordan and Peter Scott drifted onto the radar of vinyl obsessives and selectors as several of its key tracks began popping up on mixtapes and sales lists. It wasn’t long before this privately pressed, art-funded masterpiece became something of a holy grail for collectors. At long last, a re-issue of this masterpiece is now available on EBALUNGA!!! Records. Paul Hillery - May 2022 Paul is a heathen, conceivably, but not, I hope, an unenlightened one, who’s handpicked compilation albums have been released on the labels BBE and RE:WARM - he is also the curator at Folk Funk & Trippy Troubadours

Carlos Niño & Friends, who are familiar with our store as a signboard act of , which is a major sacred place of the LA underground presided over by Matthewdavid. A compilation of sound sources from previously analog-released works, compiled into a cassette, to create a best-of cassette-like work. The title "Assortment for Susan's" is dedicated to their dear friend and collaborator Justin Hansin. A total of 4 tracks of ultra-high-quality new age and contemporary jazz, including sound sources with the participation of gorgeous people such as Laraaji and Ariel Karma! Limited to 200 copies.

After a long break, we're happy to present another masterpiece in The Fact Of Being collection. A long-awaited reissue of the legendary ambient/new-age album "Reflections" by Laura Allan with Paul Horn. The album was recorded in 1980 and marked by the participation of twice Grammy Awarded jazz legend flutist Paul Horn. The meeting of Laura and Paul was a true miracle that brought amazing fruit. Since 80th "Reflections" captivate the minds of spiritual ambient music fans all over the world. Magical sounds of flute, endless melodies of zither, Laura's heavenly voice lighted by meditative bells and synthesizers. A simple recipe but with great talents and unique results. Laura's reflections lead a listener to deep meditation, harmony, and to the eternal palace of inner peace. We hope you'll share with us the pleasure of listening to the record and the world become a bit more peaceful place for everyone. This is the first reissue on the vinyl since 1984 when the album was repressed the last time. After 38 years the record became collectors' dream and now it's available again as it should be. Moreover, as always, we love CDs and it's available as a limited DigiCD version. The record was mastered by Grammy-nominated Jessica Thompson which guarantees extra ordinal sound experience. Yes, a lot of Grammy here... Laura passed away on May 19, 2008, after a half-year battle with cancer. She was just 56. Enjoy Laura's art that makes her alive. Below you'll find memories by Steven Halpern: LAURA ALLAN ( 1952 -2008) was a gifted singer and songwriter who was a legend in the San Francisco Bay area in the early 1970s. REFLECTIONS is her beloved album, and features her original songs, one of which includes a collaboration with Paul Horn on “Passages”. Her voice and zither take center stage on “As I Am”, “ Waterfall” and “Nicasio”. Other artists, including Dallas Smith on Lyricon wind synthesizer, add to the mix. It is my honor and privilege to bring her music back into the world. I met Laura after her performance at a new age conference in 1975 held on campus at Sonoma State College. Her magical aura of angelic voice, luminous blonde hair, and energetic strumming or meditative Celtic harp-inspired zither, captured your attention instantly. My first LP had just been pressed, and this was my first public presentation. Nevertheless, my instincts were right on. Even though I had only one album and no track record yet, I invited Laura to record her album on my label. It was too early for both of us. Several years later, she signed with another local label, Unity Records. After Laura regained the rights to REFLECTIONS, she contacted me in the mid-1980s to see if I were still interested. Of course I was! She licensed the album to my indie label. I then re-released the LP and cassette on the Hear & Now imprint, (a division of Halpern Sounds) which was my main label name at the time. Our deal was actually a two album deal, and I would record and produce the album combining her voice and zither and my arrangements. Alas, that album was never completed." "In an unlikely collaboration between folk singer Laura Allan and New Age pioneer Paul Horn, Reflections capture two artists in perfect harmony of their talents. Allan, in addition to being an incredibly gifted songwriter, was something of a string instrument prodigy and made instruments for other Laurel Canyon heroes including Joni Mitchell and David Crosby. Her zither playing and vocals here match perfectly with the New Age aesthetic set by Horn and the sounds are beautiful and organic, characteristic of the early more experimental days of the New Age genre before it would later be marred by “easy listening.” Highly recommended for fans of Lauraaji, Alice Coltrane, David Casper, and Light In The Attic’s “I Am the Center” compilation." – Phil Cho

Xochimoki - celebrated American ethnomusicologist Jim Berenholtz and Aztec descendant / wisdom keeper Mazatl Galindo - traverse millenia with career compendium Temple Of The New Sun, an album recorded in New Mexico in the mid 1980’s but tracing a lineage back thousands of years. Xochimoki summon feathered gods and animal spirits. They incant mythological folktales of celestial glory and supernatural dread. Their songs are sung in Pre-Columbian Central and South American languages, including Nahuatl, Maya, Purepecha and Quechua. And much of their music was written at ancient ceremonial sites, in rituals and meditations, in communion with the spirits that rest there. There is an inherent sense of storytelling, of the peoples of the jungle and the earth living through this music. Xochimoki self-released two cassettes, soundtracked the Albuquerque Museum’s touring exhibition MAYA: Treasures of an Ancient Civilization, and created several discs’ worth of further soundtrack music elsewhere before moving on to new and individual projects. Phantom Limb’s hand-curated reissue album The Temple Of The New Sun collects key works from their broad history, newly remastered and now available for the first time on vinyl.

Invisible City Editions continues our 10 year anniversary in adventurous sounds. We are thrilled to announce the re-release of Rico Toto’s 1993 CD recording Fwa Épi Sajès. Mind melting synthesizers and drum machines fuse with ancient Guadeloupe Gwo-ka rhythms in this musical endeavour Rico Toto describes as “Electro-ka.” The improvised live instruments of the Moundjahka ensemble meld with electronic abstraction to create a psychedelic, immersive digital diaspora dream state. With nods to Jon Hassell's atmospheric soundscapes, YMO and Baldelli / TBC Cosmic mixtapes, this selection of songs encompasses an entire spectrum of moods and sounds. The A side begins with fourth-world tropical percussions, opening with sounds of nature in “Jungle Meditation” and leading into the downtempo summer synthpop jam “Yadadé.” The B side takes a darker turn, starting off with the deep chugging rhythms of “Rawal Pindi” and continuing even deeper with synth sounds and haunting vocals that culminates into the dreamy meditative final track, “Golgotha.” Limited vinyl repress in collaboration with Rico Toto. Artwork by Floating Bstrd.

On 1986's Celestial Realms (originally released
on cassette only), Laraaji conjures his typically vivid
soundworld of shimmering electric zither, while Goldman
inhabits that world with pulsing guitar and droning synthesizer.

Celestial Realms provides a blissful 46-minute ambient
voyage.

Hugging the bend and blowing kisses since 2012, Antinote has been a vessel of choice for lovers of left-of-centre dance music and retro-laced boogie. Covering a supremely wide range of styles, the Parisian outlet has carved out a musical lane truly its own by putting on a nonstop celebration of electronics’ inexhaustible power of enthralment. A pledge of quality-driven curation and never-ending search for the next thrill that’s proven untiringly relevant throughout the years and opens onto its second decade of existence with equal panache. Toasting to its ten years splashing the game with continuously reasserted outsider bravura, label captain Zaltan has bottled some of the finest expressions out Antinote’s versatile vaults of sound to form the present “X” compilation, “ten years of loving notes and foolin around 2012-2022". From totem animal IUEKE’s oddball musique concrète (“fiano-church") to the candid synth-pop of Latvian outfit Domenique Dumont (“La Dolce Vita"), via Feminielli’s outré mix of ghetto-house and ominous croon (“Nobody’s Boy”) and Tel-Aviv vibist Alek Lee’s signature synth-splattered 80s wave (“Different Plans”), it’s a smorgasbord of colours and vibrations that prepares to avalanche across your sound system. Take the esoteric shoegaze of Epsilove, Shelter and Thomas Riguelle (“From The Spaceship in My Room”) and prepare to move upstream a river of saturated guitars and all-engulfing reverbs; let Low Jack’s jagged floor aggressor drill a hole in your head (“Feel 2020”) or opt for further ankle-breaking UK-bass-influenced riddim traction from DK & Geena (“BelleTech One”). A further cosmic-friendly epic, Chimère FM (I:Cube!) embarks us on a ride near Saturn’s belt (“La Genèse du Monstre à Suze") whereas former Antinote apprentice River Yarra snipes a hail of Italo-informed arpeggios and giallo-esque bass murk to compelling effect (“Blooms”) and L.I.E.S. head honcho Ron Morelli goes all in with a formidable, old-school dusty house chugger (“Tribute”). There’s obviously more to "Antinote X" than the sum of its parts, and Jean Luc’s post-Plantasia jazz hybrid (“La Truite”), Arabica’s decadent, anti-colonial spoken number (“Multo Storia") or fellow Antinote in-house visual designer Nico Motte’s vintage disco churner (“All The Money In The World”) are there to attest. Not to forget Panoptique, up with a lashing, dissonant treat for the senses (“Un Licenciement”), Leo Martelli under guise as Sammy Patanegra with a tribal jacking weapon (“Maria”), Pont Levis floating into emotional hyperspace (“L’Espace et le Coeur de L'Âme”), Trigger Moral in with a marvel of a hip-hop gem emerged from some retro-futuristic wormhole (“soul assssn”) and Laporte rounding it off downtempo, modular ambient style for good measure (“Sleepers”). Ten years on, Antinote still leading the pack.

Ever since he made his first trip to Japan to DJ, Optimo Music founder JD Twitch has been bewitched by Japanese music, and particularly the vibrant, imaginative, and often far-sighted sounds which emerged from the island nation during the 1980s. Now he’s put years of digging in Japanese record shops to good use on Polyphonic Cosmos, the latest release on his compilation-focused Cease & Desist imprint. Subtitled ‘A Beginners Guide to Japan In The ‘80s’, the collection offers a personal selection of Japanese gems recorded and released between 1981 and ’86 – a period when advances in recording and musical technology offered the nation’s artists and producers a whole new tool kit to employ. When combined with the unique musical culture of Japan, where local traditions are frequently fused with Western styles to create timeless, off-kilter aural fusions, this embrace of locally pioneered music technology had spectacular, often unusual results. Eight years in the making, Polyphonic Cosmos provides an endlessly entertaining musical snapshot of Japanese music of the early-to-mid ‘80s with all of the open-minded eclecticism and sonic twists that you would expect from the Glasgow-based DJ. Compare and contrast, for example, the gently breezy, morning-fresh folk-plus-electronics bliss of ‘ばら二曲 Baranikyoku (Fellini&Rota)’ by World Standard – the most familiar alias of long-serving musician/producer Sohichiro Suzuki – and the hallucinatory, slow-motion tribal rhythms, post-punk rhythms and tape delay-laden electronics of Imitation’s ‘Exotic Dance’. Or, for that matter, the tipsy mid-‘80s electronic reggae of Pecker’s ‘Sha La La’, the grungy but melodic post-punk strut of ‘You Go On Natural’ by Earthling (a track Twitch accurately describes as “sheer unrelenting groove”), and the unearthly, swirling sonics, new age instrumentation and flotation tank vocals of prolific (and seemingly mysterious) act Geinoh Yamashirogumi’s ‘Rimme Kohkyogaku Meiki’. It’s a credit to JD Twitch’s curatorial skills that the quality never dips, and sonic surprises lurk around every corner. Consider for a moment the hard to describe, far-sighted audio immersion of D-Day’s ‘Ki-Ra’ – all languid post-pop guitar, enveloping chords, spoken word vocals, shuffling 808 beats and marimba melodies – and the two contributions from video games soundtrack specialist (and driving instrumental synth-pop specialist) Hiroyuki Namba. The collection naturally includes some selections that have long been favourites in Twitch’s DJ sets – see Masumi Hara’s ‘Your Dream’ – as well as a handful of tracks from artists who may be more recognisable to those with only rudimentary knowledge of Japanese musical culture. The great Yasuaki Shimizu, whose work as Mariah has become far better known in recent years thanks to reissues of some of his most magical albums, is represented via ‘The Crow’, a picturesque chunk of horizontal, hard-to-define jazz-not-jazz smokiness, while the collection fittingly concludes with a sublimely funky, oddball electronic workout from Yellow Magic Orchestra legend Ryuichi Sakamoto (the frankly incredible ‘Wongga Dance Song’). Optimo’s JD Twitch extends a guided tour of his Japanese record collection, acquired on DJ jaunts to the Far East and spanning obscurities by Yasuaki Shimizu, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Normal Brain, a.o. The second release on Twitch’s Cease & Desist label, which delivered the ace Sheffield bleep & bass retrospective in 2020, ‘Sonic Innovations in Japan (1980-1986)’ dives deep into a pivotal era of Japanese music around its ‘80s economic boom time, when leaps in musical technology and recording brought the future into much sharper focus. The selection effectively takes Twitch’s ‘Polyphonic Cosmos’ mixtape (one of many exquisite selections along with Belgian new beat, Jamaican dub, and mooching goth) as jump off point into the rarified realms of ‘80s Japanese music, spelled out in full fat, legit licensed cuts that work equally well as a mixtape in their own right, or component joints to fetishise and send heads scurrying down discogs wormholes. Fans of YouTube algorithms will no doubt be enticed by yasuaki Shimizu’s opening gambit, the sultry lounge stroller ‘Crow’, while the DJs, dancers and Kraftwerk fiends will plug right into the speak ’n spell electro-pop of ‘M.U.S.I.C.’ by Normal Brain, the glittering uptempo disco energy of Hiroyuki Namba’s ‘Who Done It? (Part 2)’ and likewise their Pet Shop Boys-on-holiday viber ‘Tropical Exposition’. There’s also a super juicy cut of bendy-limbed post-punk from Pecker and EP-4, and, for the wee small hours, sexier turns of dry-iced electro boogie glyde on ‘Your Dream’ from Masumi Hara and the breezy beauty ‘Ki-Ra-I’ by D-Day.

Music From Memory quietly released the stunning debut album from the mysterious duo The Zenmenn (who turned out to be musicians Magnus Bang Olsen and Ben Anderson) in 2021. ‘Hidden Gem’, recorded with singer and songwriter John Moods, serves as a kind of companion piece to ‘Meet The Zenmenn’ (its title the same as a song that didn’t make that debut’s final cut). Another set of extended jams encompassing country, AM rock and folk. Music From Memory are delighted to present a new chapter in their ongoing collaboration with Berlin based band The Zenmenn. 'Hidden Gem' is the band’s first full album produced together with songwriter and vocalist John Moods and follows their much-loved debut record, 'Enter The Zenmenn'. Named after a country song that didn't quite make it to the final selection, 'Hidden Gem' is the result of an extended jam session at a friend’s studio, in a field of mystical meadows somewhere south of Hamburg, in which the band would experience a series of inexplicable phenomena. It was their earlier collaboration on the future classic, 'Homage To A Friend' that kickstarted their idea to team up with John Moods again, and in the late summer of 2021 the band set to work on a full album of material together. Using The Zenmenn's trusted drum kit, good old DX7, an unusual Ukrainian bass and an almost discarded pedal steel guitar, combined with Moods’ uniquely fragile voice, the outcome resulted in six timeless songs. The resulting harmonic sound is, as the band put it, “something like Adult Oriented Rock with a teaspoon of Celtic sentimentalism, a pinch of big city Country wrapped in a late night '70s style jam”. 'Hidden Gem’, much like their debut 'Enter The Zenmenn’, was recorded without pre-arranged songs or any fixed musical concept. Instead, it captures fleeting moments of creativity and reflects the joint musical sentiments of the band members at the time. “Some artists are amazing at vision and curating, our work-flow is opposite to that. We are pretty messy and all over the place in our creation, as in life. It has its advantages and disadvantages, but hopefully it comes out all right in the end.” MFM060 will be released in LP and digital format, and comes with artwork by Bráulio Amado. The album is expected to release on October 17th 2022.

This is Calm's first beatless chillout album.
The sound quality is also softer than usual, giving it a more organic finish.
Continuing from the previous work, the main members have participated in several songs, but this time, rather than jazz-like freedom, Calm's play that is close to the writer's style is added.
And the best feature is that it seals the long arrangement that is good at it, and it has a structure like a good old record album era, with a total of less than 50 minutes and an ending in no time.
FJD, a friend from the first, is in charge of the design.

The analog edition is configured with the good old LP era in mind.
A new challenge in a sense for Calm, who recently had a lot of double-disc sets.

"Is it too Sam Prekop?", Sam Prekop asked me in an email conversation in which he delivered his wonderful illustrations which would become the front cover artwork. No, it is not too Sam Prekop at all. His drawings as well as the freeform music on this album are subtly different from anything else he has produced in his solo career. Regardless of the style he is working in, Sam Prekop’s music is always imbued with a sense of wide-eyed discovery and unpredictable exploration. On »The Sparrow« Sam Prekop expands his electronic cosmos with a remarkable expression of timeless simplicity and coherent execution. It's deceptively simple music that feels accessible without abandoning the experimental legacy of the Modular hardware system which serves, besides a polyphonic Prophet 5 synthesizer, as the centre piece of this production. The side long title track opens this album with unpredictable synth dissonances and broken step sequenced patterns. »Palm« brings the set to a close with its irregular fragility while »Fall is Farewell« is build around a yearning brassy fanfare which resembles the noir romance theme of Michael Smalls soundtrack for the 1971 film »Klute«. The sparkling essence of »Step and Stair« seems a suitable space for unforgotten summer holidays of our childhood. On his first solo release for Düsseldorfs label TAL, electronic experimentalist Sam Prekop offers his most captivating yet stripped down modular music. All compositions on »The Sparrow« were gradually developed piece by piece. Best known for his jazz-leaning tropicalismo with The Sea And Cake, a key part of the Chicago scene with the likes of Tortoise or Chicago Underground Duo, he has in recent years established himself as a modular synthesist, building his instrument meticulously to create a unique system that allows him to create highly individual music through mechanical patterns, repetitions and chance. In this context his widely acclaimed community forming public tutorials on fb should be noted as well. »The Sparrow« is an exciting new chapter in his development as a constant creative influence. Stefan Schneider, Düsseldorf August 2022

Cole Pulice is a composer, saxophonist and electroacoustic musician from Oakland-via-Minneapolis. Following their debut album "Gloam" and two duo collaborations with Lynn Avery and Nat Harvie, Cole Pulice returns with their sophomore album "Scry". The sound is deeply contemporary, incorporating saxophone/wind synth with live signal processing and modern electronics/software. It drifts between electroacoustic experimentalism and more traditional forms of song-like beauty, casting a wide sonic net that highlights Pulice’s versatility and creativity as both an improviser and composer. From Cole: "Scry is a collection of musics exploring fragmentary or gradient states of liminality – recursive spirals of worlds hidden within worlds, dreams within dreams, sensations of time, and the notion of the past, present, and future all occupying a single point. It’s a record that, for me, resonates strongly with this sort of “between-ness:” it began in Minneapolis, and was finished in Oakland, bridging pre-pandemic life with the “new normal” of current times; being genderqueer and navigating the spaces between and outside of the masculine and feminine binary; wandering through a musical interchange station that is interconnects improvisation, “song,” and collage experiments . . . multidimensional yet woven together by similar aesthetic threads. Whereas my previous record, Gloam, was mostly a series of compositions for a very specific electroacoustic setup, Scry utilizes a series of different hardware/software frameworks and apparatus. Or, to think of it in another way: Gloam was like looking through a kaleidoscope (each turn of the handle giving a different abstract perspective of the same bits of gemstone); Scry is more like a stained-glass crystal ball (a singular sculpture, with each fragment somehow offering an ephemeral glimpse into another world or dimension). Scry is deeply indebted to the electroacoustic works of Pauline Oliveros, David Behrman, Marion Brown, Maggi Payne, Harold Budd, and Jon Hassell - all of whom explored, in their own ways, the interconnectivity between acoustic instruments, interactive electronic signal processing, and improvisation - the crux of ‘Scry’s DNA. To this end: virtually all of the signal processing on ‘Scry’ is done live as I play saxophone/wind synth, either through a hardware setup that I control with my feet as I play, or through software instruments I build which respond live to what I’m playing. Often, both software and hardware processes are being used simultaneously. "To scry" defines the practice of foretelling the future through gazing into a crystal ball or other reflective surfaces. There's a lot to say here regarding the mix of temporalities, timelines, states of being, and so forth, but I mostly just have to give a special thanks to glass artist, composer, and dear friend Sadie Robison. The arcane aesthetics of her technicolor stained glass sculptures were a major influence on the themes of Scry 🧡" —Cole Pulice

Deep Magic、Corum、M. Sageなど、ドローン、ニューエイジ全盛期にサイケデリックなカセット作品の数々を残したポートランドの名レーベル〈Moon Glyph〉。昨今は、アンビエント・ジャズ系のリリースを中心にその最盛期をさらに更新している同レーベルの最新作品群を漸くストック。〈Fire Talk〉や〈Metal Postcard〉といったインディ系レーベルから作品を送り出してきたオーストラリア・パース拠点のエクスペリメンタル・ロック/ポスト・パンク・デュオ、Erasers（Rebecca Orchard & Rupert Thomas）が2022年11月に発表した最新カセット作品『Distance』。2021年半ばに数週間かけて自宅で作曲、録音されたアルバム。ハミングするシンセサイザーと重厚なオルガン・ドローン、サイケデリックなヴォーカルによる箱庭&催眠的なコスミッシェ・ドローン・ポップ作品！果てしない海岸線やなだらかな砂漠などを想起させる、広大な地形を想起させる内容となっており、ミニマルなマントラを主軸とした瞑想的な味わいの一本。これは格別です！！

Moon Glyph is pleased to present a compilation of new, unreleased tunes from established veterans of the label and newcomers alike. Staying true to Moon Glyph’s transportive aesthetic, “Amethyst” spans across abstract genres from ambient, psychedelia, jazz, electronic, fourth world percussion and more. Across its 17 tracks, you’ll hear Cole Pulice’s hypnotic overlapping saxophones, Vic Bang’s intricate arrangements of micro samples, IE’s patient desert landscapes and Starbirthed’s shimmering celestial guitars. Opening the compilation, Iceblink’s playful and adventurous melodicism morphs into Omni Gardens’ fuzzy synth and vibraphone. SiP expands his songwriting with loose and ecstatic textures and more organic tones. Tracks from Lee Noble, Pulse Emitter and Electric Sound Bath dive deep into all manners of synthesized sounds with abstract, ambient and otherworldly timbres. Nicholas Gaunin’s jungle field recordings and percussion sit comfortably nestled into fourth world zones. Songs from Noah Klein and Mark Tester create ambience with a casual sophistication, melding acoustic instrumentation alongside the electronic. Nuke Watch continues with their unclassifiable jazz with oddball percussion and freeform keyboards. There’s Landon Caldwell’s airy flute, sax, marimbas and wind chimes. And the cascading wash of synth and guitars from Grapefruit. And the trippy full band weirdo psychedelia of American Cream Band. Moon Glyph’s vision for a contemporary record label continues to expand by seeking the adventurous, the weird and the new.

This is a masterpiece that throws a huge stone into the re-evaluation of the Italian underground scene! Recorded from 1986 to 1989 by Walter Maioli, a solitary artist / flute player from famous Italian groups such as Aktuala, Art Of Primitive Sound, Futuro Antico and Gruppo Afro Mediterraneo, and a music therapist named Agostino Nirodh Fortini. The unreleased album that had been released has been unearthed and released by Black Sweat, a famous label that digs into the depths of the Italian underground scene! This work was born after an endless quest for psychoacoustics and botany, and is a super masterpiece alongside the phantom masterpiece "AMAZONIA 6891" that was reissued in 2016. It is already an overwhelming masterpiece from the opening song where the solitary meditation drone sound that projects the appearance of vegetation in the natural world and its freshness as it is as a fill record material is amplified infinitely. A beauty that calms the mind and calms down in the latter half, which depicts the natural beauty of water and develops in a healing and ambient manner. The sound that can be heard cyclically is also an index for all people, pointing to what humans should be. Includes a 4-page insert. Limited to 500 sheets.

Tetsu Umehara was born in Yokohama, Japan, but spent much of his childhood in Dusseldorf, and it was in the western German city that his nascent interest in architecture first blossomed. His debut album, Handwritten, is a personal journey that explores the intersection between architectural urbanism, acoustic ecology and human emotion. Formed from a diverse range of sounds created from field-recordings taken in, and inspired by, various cities and urban settings, Handwritten pairs guitar, piano and angular percussive elements to create a rich world of aural depth and intricacy. “If music is a site-specific culture, then the process of making music is nothing more than creating an imaginary place within oneself.” Whilst Tetsu learned to play music from a young age, architecture always remained a driving passion and he would go on to study architectural design at Tokyo University of the Arts. His studies have continued to create an inner dialogue around sound and space, imagining music for specific sites and visualising architectural designs in his own sonic creations. Handwritten is an ode to the diverse styles of architecture that have influenced Tetsu. From the modern urban planning of Yokohama’s harbour to the inorganic sprawl of Berlin, Tetsu sees the fluid hand of the artistic creator in a building’s immobile geometry. In an attempt to mirror the disciplined complexity of a city within music, Tetsu has found a way to talk about the interaction of spatial and auditory dynamics. “It is important that the Handwritten be a record of my musical journey. For me, making the album was like a short trip through the landscapes of my memory.” Handwritten is released by Métron Records on 08/06/22 with the album’s artwork a collage of various sketches taken from Tetsu’s time studying. A portion of profits will be donated to Human Rights Now (HRN), a Japanese organisation looking to improve human rights around Asia.