MUSIC

We have repeatedly surprised you with unusual releases that sound uncharacteristic for wellknown artists Remember Merzbow with guitars, synth (almost said synth-pop) and drum machine? Well, Muslimgauze's turn came up. Emak Bakia – long out of print masterpieces from 1994. Even in the huge Bryn Jones' discography Emak Bakia really stands out of albums from the period due its rather unique (house-music related) sound and short, by the standards of Bryn Jones, tracks. Like a crossmix between Psychic TV (circa Towards Thee Infinite Beat) and Muslimgauze's trademark percussion and eastern vibes.

日夜音楽を通してアラビック/ダブに襲撃を繰り返し続け、あまりにも膨大な音源の数々を残してきただけでなく、未だにその未発表音源までもが掘り起こされる今は亡き英国の名手ことMuslimgauze。97年に米国のノイズ/アヴァン系大名門〈Soleilmoon Recordings〉に残したアラビック・ダブ/ノイズ名作『Farouk Enjineer』の2021年度再発盤！エクスペリメンタルとアラビア世界のトラディショナルなリズムがあちら側で溶け合う、Muslimgauzeのベスト作品のひとつ！新規アートワークを起用＆リマスタリング仕様。限定プレス。

日夜音楽を通してアラビック/ダブに襲撃を繰り返し続け、あまりにも膨大な音源の数々を残してきただけでなく、未だにその未発表音源までもが掘り起こされる今は亡き英国の名手ことMuslimgauze。97年に米国のノイズ/アヴァン系大名門〈Soleilmoon Recordings〉に残したアラビック・ダブ/ノイズ名作『Farouk Enjineer』の2021年度再発盤！エクスペリメンタルとアラビア世界のトラディショナルなリズムがあちら側で溶け合う、Muslimgauzeのベスト作品のひとつ！新規アートワークを起用＆リマスタリング仕様。限定プレス。

• Brilliantly remastered picture LP/CD with new stunning artwork! • Unique tribal dub-trance music influenced by arabic culture with a touch of post-industrial. • Hypnotic rhythms mixed with with eastern vibes. • Muslimgauze at it's best! • Released as picture LP in gimmix cover limited to 500 copies • Also available as black vinyl and CD A1 taken from VA - 110 Below - No Sleeve Notes Required (110 Below, 1995) A2 taken from VA - Assemblage Volume Two (Extreme, 1996) A3 taken from Nonplace Urban Field – Golden Star (Incoming!, 1996) B1 taken from VA - Le Sacre Du Printemps (Gonzo Circus, 1994) B2 taken from VA - X-X Section (Extreme, 1991) B3 taken from VA - Directions 2 (Direction Music, 1989)

Darbuka, gongs, berimbaus, kalimbas, pandeiro, riqq, doholla, bendirs, udu,… These are just some of the instruments that make up the sound universe of Hands in Motion. This percussion trio brings together musicians Simon Leleux (Fabrizio Cassol / I Silenti, Refugees for Refugees), Robbe Kieckens (Lamekan Ensemble, Myrdinn De Cauter), Falk Schrauwen (Compro Oro, Echoes of Zoo) who create a sound universe that does not knows any limits. From Senegal to Eastern Europe, from Brazil to India, from the classical conservatory to nomadic people, it is nourished by all their influences that Hands in Motion juggles with the codes of tradition to create a new space of expression, resolutely current and innovative. Minimalist sound layers, captivating grooves, acoustic trance, their music is organic, contrasting, deep and subtle at the same time. They alternately create melodies and textures that might as well make you think of Philip Glass, Mammal Hands or Why the Eye ?. The atmospheres they create invite movement and sharing.

‘My intention with this music was to create an alchemy of the studio, to bring together impossible sounds, global voices and stories, obscure ethnographic narratives, new and ancient technologies, human and non-human species...’ - David Toop We are proud to launch our new library series with an incredible 12-track selection of music from David Toop. By compiling our favourite pieces from the albums originally released on Virgin, Pink Noir (1996) and Spirit World (1997), we have distilled the essence of this fruitful period into a new form: Pink Spirit, Noir World. Following the release of his debut solo album Screen Ceremonies (1995), David turned to a more expansive palate to record his next two LPs. Enlisting the help of a whole host of friends and collaborators who joined him in the Mark Angelo Studios, including the likes of Max Eastley, Toshinori Kondo, Musa Kalamula and Jon Hassell, the two albums share an unabashed openness to new sonic possibilities. Few recordings convey such a spirit of optimism; from a time when creation could be as free, unconstrained and ambitious. These albums are remarkable in both their harnessing of new recording technologies, and their weaving together a melting-pot of genres and influences that traverse the globe across centuries of musical tradition into something distinctly novel. They also document an almost visual memory, conjuring images both vivid and dream-like. Phantoms flit in and out of focus throughout their musical dialogues - perhaps the very same ones which were haunting Toop throughout the ‘wildly contradictory mixture of emotional harshness and ecstatic inspiration’ he found his life to be at the time. It’s the first time this music has been available on vinyl and to it’s new lease of life, all the tracks on this compilation have been remastered by sound designer/engineer Dave Hunt. This stunning compilation is housed in a gatefold sleeve and contains an exclusive piece written by David, reflecting on how he came to record these incredible songs.

The third and final part of a trilogy of EPs from Al Wootton of deep, textural, off kilter techno, influenced by the forest. Sparse, rolling, minimal percussive tracks, dubbed out and primed for soundsystems.

Acoustic, no-age krautrock from Berlin releasing on Glasgow label, Phase Group. 

 The next release on Phase Group unearths a truly unique project that has existed as an outlier in the Berlin underground since 2002. 
 A stage decked out with xylophones, tambourines, timpani, wooden percussion, two drum kits, a cello, harmonicas, saxophones and pieces of scrap metal. Eight unassuming musicians playing repetitive, trance-inducing phrases, at times serene, fragile and dream-like and at others wild, primitive and driving. This isn’t a scene you might associate with hazy nights out in Berlin but it’s what you’d find if you ended up at a Kulku show. Kulku's music is a hard to define blend of percussive minimalism, folk, krautrock, post-punk and no wave, almost exclusively derived from acoustic sound sources. Their debut album ‘Fahren!' presents this unique sound-identity that they have been crafting for the best part of two decades. The A-side presents 3 tracks of percussive propulsion, minimalist xylophone motifs and repetitive drums alongside monotone organ, dramatic narration and woodwind instruments moving in and out of dissonant howls and melodic improvisation. The B-side is devoted to lighter tones, beginning with the glockenspiel minimalism of ‘Unterm Himmel’ and rounding the record out with trance inducing drone of the album’s title track which builds up into a cacophony of snare drums, dissonant accordion and melodica before fading out like dream. All songs composed and recorded in Berlin by Wenzlovar, Gatis Silde, Johannes Schmelzer-Ziringer, Johanna Riska, Cornelius Onitsch, Alexander Samuels and Maxfield Gassmann

 Artwork by Andrija Čugurović



From Pacific City Discs, to you the listener, this summer, a DJ mix of fantasy and splash-energy is coming to you in a small edition of vinyl. Fantasy writer/recording artist, Francesco Cavaliere, while visiting his seaside childhood vacation location, was extended an impromptu invitation, to DJ an 80s swimming club. He had this to say about his experience: “I was at Shangri-La and a boy and girl from the bathhouse in silver swimsuits and sand-colored streaks waved me over with a drink and asked me if I would like to DJ the next day during my lesson on the beach at Tana del Pirata! I then and there I laughed but then I accepted (I had nothing at home just my mp3 player and a Nokia with music inside) The next day there was a little wind on the beach and the umbrellas swayed to the left. From the heat they could catch fire, white flames, instead the sea was rough and that wind with very long wrists cheered us up, blowing gaseous clouds in our faces. Perfect for the day ahead. After the first few pieces, I began to see that a group of kids jumped into the adjacent pool trying flips bombs and candle dives. Someone at the bar was playing Altered Beast .. so sipping a drink with ice I imagined DJ werewolf repeating catchy pieces while a kite half cobra half skyscraper inflated above us.” This Impromptu Disc is fresh now, for you to frolic with this summer, while entertaining a daydream in the midst of entering a body of water while witnessing an apparition in the sky.

Keita Sano marks his return to ROW Records with his second offering for the German imprint, delivering five cuts of experimental electronics, warbling bass and a remix from fellow Japanese producer Dayzero. With a discography spanning sought after imprints including 1080p, Discos Capablanca, Holic Trax, Let’s Play House, Mister Saturday Night and Spring Theory, Keita Sano relocated from Japan to Berlin circa 2019 to take his music further afield and perform in New York, Miami, Paris, Milan, Munich, Oslo, Montreal and London. Now back in Japan, Sano rekindles his time spent in London experimenting with music, specifically in Leyton, perhaps inspired by the future bass and grime scenes of the capital. Nonetheless, what’s on offer here is a resplendent array of rhythmic explorations spanning trilling techno and bass. ‘Blur Ceramics‘ is powered up with a gritty and granular synthetic texture, embellished with 909 claps and mutant bass, brought to life with a timbral drum pattern, sounding similar to the output from Shackleton.

Following releases for The Tapeworm and 12th Isle, Christos Chondropoulos lands on The Death Of Rave with this incredible album of "Athenian Primitive” riffs on ancient Greek music and proto-techno prisms, highly recommended if yr into Paul DeMarinis, Rashad Becker, Jonathan Bepler’s soundtracks for Matthew Barney, Black Sabbath or Aphex Twin. Continuing Christos’ singular fascination with, and reappraisal of, Ancient Greek modes, ’Relics’ further excavates the deeptime topography of Greek music prior to the ban of “oriental” or 1/4 tone microtonal modes nearly 100 years ago. Clandestine, euphoric, hyperreal and otherworldly; it takes shape as faintly familiar forms of new age folk, avant-techno and metal musicks, but with an alien appeal that treats the past almost like another planet, never mind a foreign land. Christos studiously raids the past for lost treasure, navigating his tuned instincts as an improvising percussionist, and lover of non-Western composition, to create a uniquely absorbing soundworld that resembles an AI’s dreams after ingesting encyclopaedia entries on thousands of years of Greece prior to 1936. In the process, the album acutely questions his and our relationship to the past, and what has become lost in translation with reliance on prelaid templates and the “wisdom” of elders. Bursting to life with the iridescent arps and new age AI chorale of ‘First Love Fereter’, and concluding with bone-clacking raverie of ‘Jungle X’, the album offers a stunning advance of the themes and aesthetics in Christos previous records, from the self-released free jazz of ‘Fingerpainting’ (2013) to 2021’s 12th Isle released ‘Athenian Primitivism.’ Thanks to meticulous detailing, ‘Relics’ allows a finer play of textured light and almost tangible - yet entirely generated - voices into his music: most strikingly on the sublime songcraft of ‘Regret’ and ‘I Dream Of You’, while the likes of ‘Asham’ are bathed in deeply uncanny atmosphere, and his percussive proprioceptions are most heightened in the delirious battery of ‘War Horns’ and ‘Sacrifice’, with ‘Cyber Crust’ calling up demonic, cthonic pagan spirits resembling Black Sabbath undergoing regression therapy.

Multi-media mystic Andro Gogibedashvili aka Saphileaum’s latest slate expands his “spherical ambient” lexicon into increasingly celestial terrain, inspired by visions of galactical oases, sparkling starscapes, and elemental serenity. Ganbana takes its title from a Georgian word for ‘cleansed by water,’ which aptly characterizes the album’s six liquid-tribal compositions. Rolling oceans of hand percussion flow below soothing swells of electronics, streaked with ocarina, insects, and sitar. Snippets of mantric voice occasionally cut through the devotional trance but otherwise Saphileaum’s world is one of solitude and ascent, attuned to a time and space outside our own, where “a second is a century, and a century a second, as the waterfall of cosmic nectar is poured over your being.”

Dang-Khoa Chau aka Đ.K. gives up a self-released treat, sidewinding into psychedelic realms of radiant gamelan and slow, humid bangers, highly recommended if yr into ’Forest of Evil' period Demdike, early Shackleton, DJ Python. A pivotal presence in the Parisian scene thanks to his rounds for Antinote, L.I.E.S., Second Circle, and most recently 12th isle & Good Morning Tapes; Đ.K now takes matters into his own hands to issue some golden material, drawing on his South East Asian heritage and sultry, stylized nEuropean club music for a properly hypnotic seven track trip. In deep pursuit of atavistic urges, and modelled with electronic futurism, his ‘Gate Of Enlightenment’ calls up a spectra of spirits that invoke altered states; vocal swirls meet purposeful gamelan in ‘Enlightenment Process’, aligning for the deftly weight trample of ‘Middle Path’ with its mystic horns, and a slippery sort of dancehall swivel in ‘Sacred Creatures.’ ‘His ‘Day of Mourning’ makes room for contemplation with sound sensitive instincts heightened to unnerving degrees, while ‘Metal Frames’ yokes back to the ‘floor with something like an industrialised echo of the Ghost In The Shell OST, while the closing couplet see his percussive proprioceptions at their most devilish and immersive.

Written, recorded & performed by Muslimgauze, this album was withdrawn by Bryn Jones, and replaced by the ‘Betrayal’ album in 1993. This is the album in its original form, as intended by Jones. The material was recovered from a cassette copy of the album as the original DAT was reused. ​ "Shekel Of Israeli Occupation' was never meant to be released. This is the only release of the album in its original form, as intended by Bryn. The material was recovered from a cassette copy of the album as the original DAT was overwritten with new material. Remixes of the tracks "Khan Younis", "Jerusalem Knife" and "Yasser Arafat's Radio" appeared on the album 'Hamas Arc'. The tracks "Caste" and "Amritsar" appeared on the album 'Satyajit Eye'. A version of "Drugsherpa" appeared on the mini album 'Drugsherpa'. Versions of the tracks "Khan Younis", "Drugsherpa", "Amritsar" & "Jerusalem Knife" appeared on the extended 'Drugsherpa' album."

Rome’s own disco wizard L.U.C.A. aka Francesco De Bellis is back for his second LP Terra, hot on the heels of his Venus 12” EP earlier this year. In this far-reaching album, the Edizioni Mondo founder explores the deteriorating relationship between Man and Nature, and the dire consequences. The album is split into two themes - part one is Consacrazione (Consecration) and side two is Coscienza (Conscience) - as L.U.C.A. charts a trip through mankind’s psychic universe, and imagines worlds beyond our physical dimension. The opening composition Cities is an uptempo number that slowly comes into focus, as dreamy drum machines emerge from the urban bustle, before settling into a soulful groove as keyboard, upright bass and guitar figures dance across bright percussion. As it builds up a head of steam, the piece gives way to an ambient, tribal breakdown, which is also echoed in the following song, Drum Talk. This second tune sets up in a fourth world dreamscape of drums, synths, and abstracted echo effects, and is peppered with word fragments from the bush of ghosts. By the time we’ve reached the third track, Congiunzione sounds like travelling at singularity speed, beaming in from a future where human consciousness and gaia can finally dance on a cosmic plain. Part two of Terra details how revelation of the spirit can guide the mind, as Time Spirals rises out of a drum motif with a nod to classic ragas, as a disembodied voice asks questions on the nature of corporeality. The sound design is just as front and centre as the sitar and fretless bass, and the song gives way to a richly-layered soup that sounds like the vast space between atoms. It’s this shift from composition to ambience that is the dynamic core of Terra, giving L.U.C.A. plenty of space to showcase his next-level audio and arranging skills. Midway through part two, Giallo Assoluto begins with reverb tails and choral voices before expanding in brightness and texture until the audio field is practically levitating your hi-fi speakers, vibrating them with drones, twinkling keys and shards of digital noise. The closing composition Ritorno al Domani is a perfect balance of optimism and mystery. Tension and release collapse in on themselves as waves of ambient pads crescendo and then break over stretched-out sonic turbulence, before reversed synths bring the listener to a closing door, and the end of the journey. It’s a mind-expanding musical exploration of other worlds and parallel universes which are surely all around us, and in many ways serve to remind us of the marvel that is our own planet.

Born out of an underground Buenos Aires party and first launched in 2008, ZZK Records has spent more than a decade at the forefront of Latin American music, carving out space for artists putting a futuristic (and often electronic) spin on classic rhythms and folklore traditions. Along the way, the label spread across the globe and helped launch a few stars—Nicola Cruz, Chancha Vía Circuito, La Yegros and Son Rompe Pera among them—but ZZK’s search for new artists, sounds and perspectives is never complete. ZZK Sound Vol. 4 brings together a fresh crop of talent from across Latin America, along with a pair of choice selections from veteran acts Maga Bo (Brazil) and Tremor (Argentina). Compiled by ZZK co-founder DJ Nim—the label’s original A&R (and Chancha Vía Circuito’s older brother), he’d actually taken a five-year hiatus from the project prior to 2020—the compilation’s origins can be traced back to the early days of the pandemic. As the world went into lockdown, he put out a call for submissions, and within three months, he’d received more than 1000 tracks. Nim literally listened to them all, whittling the pile down to his 11 favorites, and after hearing his selections, Grant C. Dull—another ZZK co-founder, who runs the label’s day-to-day operations—couldn’t believe his ears. Nim had done it again. There were no notes, and no changes to the tracklist. ZZK Sound Vol. 4 was quickly put into production. While previous ZZK Sound compilations were primarily focused on the club, Vol. 4 follows a deeper, more introspective path. It’s not an ambient record—no ZZK release would be complete without drums—but the hypnotic rhythms here are far more concerned with the collective unconscious than the dancefloor. Opening with spellbinding tracks from Pawkarmayta and QOQEQA—both hailing from Perú—the compilation immediately exudes a sort of ritual magic, calling upon both African and indigenous musical traditions while tapping into modern electronic music and a uniquely Latin sense of mysticism. Sebuky, a native Ecuadorian currently stationed in Barcelona, adds a bit more low-end heft to the proceedings, and that percussive weight continues through the similarly transportive contributions of Mangle (Colombia), Cruzloma (Ecuador) and Selvagia (Perú/Argentina via México). Elsewhere, Yoyoyo transforms the cueca music of his native Chile, Akilin enlists American rapper Bomani Armah to help him explore Afro-Venezuelan traditions and Maga Bo’s “Cadê Zé”—the first Brazilian track to ever appear on a ZZK release—is a bass-loaded (albeit undeniably spiritual) banger. Galo Vermelho (Argentina) delivers a polyrhythmic lesson in digital folklore, following in the footsteps of Buenos Aires outfit Tremor—one of the first acts ever signed to ZZK—who close out the compilation with a rousing bit of almost Lynchian revelry. At this point, few music fans need to be sold on the appeal of Latin music, but ZZK, which has been operating in this sphere since long before the genre became the “next big thing,” is dedicated to the idea that the potency of these sounds extends well beyond the pop charts. Hopping between continents and recontextualizing rhythmic lineages that date back centuries, ZZK Sound Vol. 4 is both an arresting snapshot of Latin America’s electronic avant garde and a thrilling preview of its next wave.

Time for your booster! More childish theatricals from everybody's favourite 'bone heads. Comprising seven previously unreleased subterranean events. Out of The Ground. 500 limited edition digipak C.D.s

Vic Bang is the artist, composer and sound designer Victoria Barca from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her work captures the micro-sounds of the world, simultaneously crystalline and organic, carefully composed into unique and distinctive sound sculptures. On her latest album, “Burung”, the songs are increasingly airy and colorful, playfully bopping around one moment and releasing a digital exhale the next. Barca’s handling of percussion, texture and melody is sophisticated while always retaining the light-hearted exuberance of a fresh experimentalist. “Burung” is the sound of precise, beautiful computer music crafted with the fallible human touch.

Listeners who know much of anything about Bryn Jones’ work as Muslimgauze know that he was prolific in both his work and in the way he sent out his work to labels and other interested parties (it’s one of the reason some of that body of work is still being sorted through and released 20+ years after his passing). Fittingly enough for an artist that feverishly productive and often taciturn to the point of frustration, he didn’t tend to give much more information than handwritten track titles on the sleeve of a DAT. Why he would submit multiple copies of the same or similar tracks to those he worked with, often in totally different configurations, is now a permanent mystery, but it does lead to Jackal the Invizible, essentially a compilation of material from multiple other releases* that Jones had also submitted at the time on its own DAT. All of the songs here were released at least 20 years ago (a few over 30!) and as with practically all Muslimgauze releases they were limited and/or hard to get ahold of now. Jackal the Invizible is both a way to issue those tracks on vinyl as the Archive Series has been consistently doing, and in interesting look into how Jones would organize and sequence his albums. The track listing here was faithfully reproduced from the way Jones titled these tracks on this submission, which is how you get Fedayeen’s “Bharboo of Pakistan Railways” here called “Fedayeen Bharboo of Pakistan Railways 2001” (although that album came out in 1998 and Jones sadly was not making anything by 2001, only leading to more questions). This compilation as with most of his work was submitted without comment, so it can be asked, was it intended to be a compilation? Had he at some point decided he preferred these tracks in this arrangement rather than on their other tapes? Did he produce so much work and/or was so disorganized he simply forgot this batch had been mailed off before? Did he have a standing arrangement with his postal worker and just handed him whatever was closest to the door each week? (Well, probably not that last one.) One thing we don’t have to question is the quality of the tracks here, regardless of familiarity. The new juxtapositions can be quite striking; shifting suddenly from the harshly distorted blurts of “Resume and Shaduf Fatah Guerrilla 1999” to the cooly nocturnal atmosphere of “Abu Nidal 1987” and then to the dubby bass pulses and rattling hand percussion of “Hand of Fatima 1999” (possibly the most misleading to longtime listeners - it has indeed been heard on it’s almost-namesake album, but there it’s known as “Mint Tea With Gadaffi”) is an experience unlike much else in Jones’ oeuvre, even though all three modes are ones he has worked in before. The result doesn’t touch on every single mode explored throughout the vast body of Jones’ work (you’d need a box set for that), but does prove to be a multifaceted experience that also serves as an excellent introduction to or refresher on Muslimgauze as a whole.