em records
169 products
80s Noise / Industrial Music There is no doubt that you will be fascinated by listeners from the golden age to experimental techno freaks these days! !! Romanian-born and now LA-based female musician Alexandra Atniff advocates the music "Rhythmic Brutalist" inspired by the architectural style "Brutalist" that prevailed during the Cold War.
She doesn't use any vintage synthesizers or expensive equipment, and uses freeware to release just bare concrete-like beats. The track group with its decoration removed already has a terrific sensation reminiscent of great ancestors such as Esplendor Geoméco. While maintaining the functionality of minimal techno, the vibes that noise / industrial music lost after passing club music, the one and only sound that makes you feel ferocious, sets it apart from existing industrial techno. There is.
This time, A.A himself reworked the independent album, and released the newly edited "Rhythmic Brutalist Vol. 1" as EM Records Edition and the sequel "Same Vol. 2" at the same time. The impression is different from the "1st collection", which is closer to minimal techno, and the "2nd collection", which is more abstract and closer to electronic music, but the whole story is full of brutalist architecture. Brin Jones must nod in the shade of the grass! * The CD version is a 2-disc set of "Vol.1" and "Vol.2" (same content as the LP version).
80s Noise / Industrial Music There is no doubt that you will be fascinated by listeners from the golden age to experimental techno freaks these days! !! Romanian-born and now LA-based female musician Alexandra Atniff advocates the music "Rhythmic Brutalist" inspired by the architectural style "Brutalist" that prevailed during the Cold War.
She doesn't use any vintage synthesizers or expensive equipment, and uses freeware to release just bare concrete-like beats. The track group with its decoration removed already has a terrific sensation reminiscent of great ancestors such as Esplendor Geoméco. While maintaining the functionality of minimal techno, the vibes that noise / industrial music lost after passing club music, the one and only sound that makes you feel ferocious, sets it apart from existing industrial techno. There is.
This time, A.A himself reworked the independent album, and released the newly edited "Rhythmic Brutalist Vol. 1" as EM Records Edition and the sequel "Same Vol. 2" at the same time. The impression is different from the "1st collection", which is closer to minimal techno, and the "2nd collection", which is more abstract and closer to electronic music, but the whole story is full of brutalist architecture. Brin Jones must nod in the shade of the grass!
"Never Forget Me" is the second release on EM Records from Angkanang Kunchai, one of the greatest Thai singers; the original 1979 vinyl release, now extremely rare, was a collection of her self-produced songs, backed by her own band. This radically independent stance, though admirable, caused the album to languish in relative obscurity, due to her lack of support from the business masters of the Thai music scene of the time. "Never Forget Me" is a plea to her fans, and although the original album was not widely distributed, the high quality of the songs ensured that she was indeed not forgotten. Her first album, which was produced by Surin Paksiri, was the very first of the new molam-luk thung style; the songs here continue in that vein, a mix of modern luk thung Isan and various types of molam, backed here by her hand-picked ensemble, which later disbanded due to financial pressures. Despite these struggles, "Never Forget Me" lives on, its killer tunes loved by DJs and given a 5-star rating by psych record guru Hans Pokora. Available now on vinyl and CD, with English lyrics and liner notes, this is unforgettable.
+ Compiled/liner notes/cover art by Soi 48
+ English liner notes & lyrics
CD version: Standard jewel case, 24p booklet
The relaunch of EM Records’ Thai music series. Paradise Bangkok, Soi 48 and EM Records have teamed up to deliver a new series showcasing the extraordinary performances of some of Thailand’s greatest musical legends. The first release is the seminal album Isan Lam Plearn released in 1975 by Angkanang Kunchai. This album represents a crucial moment in Thai musical history when the performance styles of Molam (*1) and Luk Thung (*2) were fused together for the very first time!
Born in the province of Ubon Ratchathani in Isan (the northeastern region of Thailand), Angkanang Kunchai was a young female prodigy who emerged on the Molam scene, and became one of the first generation of Molam performers who were able to “sing” popular music (*3). From an early age she was mentored by renowned national Molam artist Chaweewan Dumnern, and in her mid-teens joined the legendary musical troupe the Ubon-Pattana Band as the lead vocalist.
In 1972 at the age of 16 she released a single "Isan Lam Plearn", which went on to become an enduring classic, covered most recently by major contemporary pop star Tai Orathai. The song was also a defining moment in the career of Ubon’s legendary producer Surin Paksiri, as it was the first recording in which Isan music – in particular Molam – was fused with Luk Thung from Bangkok to form the new musical genre of Luk Thung Isan. This music invented by music industry genius Paksiri, transformed Molam groups into rock bands and saw them starting to perform with the same kind of intensity as Luk Thung artists. The mix of contemporary singing styles with traditional Molam broke new ground and resulted in some truly surprising and influential music. "Isan Lam Plearn" became a major hit as the theme tune to the film Bua Lam Pu, and before long this new forbidden cool began to infect everyone, with performers turning in their droves to the Luk Thung Isan style. This turned out to be a precursor to the spread of Isan music across the country and the Molam boom that engulfed Thailand in the 90s – an unprecedented period in Thailand’s musical history in which Luk Thung singers were simply not able to make it in the record business unless they could perform Molam.
While typically albums produced in Thailand tended to be collections of singles, this work produced by Paksiri has an unusual degree of conceptual unity, and this is a very significant aspect of the album. It is an undeniable masterpiece that sees the Ubon-Pattana Band, led by Paksiri, delivering a performance that dramatically traverses genre boundaries, in an eerie sound-scape populated by the cute and rarefied tones of the young singer… It stands above and apart from the many Luk Thung Isan works that followed. As a bonus track, we have included Kongpetch Kaennakorn’s version of the much-covered "Isan Lam Plearn". Includes commentary in English and Japanese and an explanation of the lyrics.
Footnotes:
(*1) Molam: “Mo” is an artist and “Lam” is a kind of performance art where the artist tells a story using tonal inflexions.
(*2) Luk Thung: An important musical genre originated in Thailand which pulls together influences from various musical sources including rock, latin, regional Thai, Indian, Chinese, Japanese and Hawaiian music. It is also known as music for country folk. This term was coined in the first half of the 1960s.
(*3) Molam pieces are not actually “songs”, so this distinction is significant. At the time, Molam performers were basically forbidden from singing popular music.
+ Newly remastered
+ First ever world release by the artist outside of Thailand
CD version:
Standard jewel case. Booklet including liner notes written by Chris Menist (Paradise Bangkok) and scarece pics. English & Japanese text.
LP version:
4C inner sleeve incl. liner notes and pics.
This double A-sided 7-inch features two new cool, sophisticated and funky melodic pop songs from Bank. Tight bass lines, multi-hued percussion, snappily intertwining guitars, yearning melodies and clever production touches abound. These Tokyo veterans evince their love of all varieties of funky pop from recent decades in these two sweet sides.
Following "Light Wave", M's J-Indie pop is a new album by Bank, a 5-member group that pursues HYPE pop that has nothing to do with the atmosphere of the times. Mixing / mastering is that Tomoki Kanda!
Bank is an angler scene in the early 90's: Tokyo Neo Acoustic-Early Club Music-Crue-L (presided by Kenji Takimi) who has been active around the very "Shibuya-kei" parties, Bridge, Love Tambourines, Arch. Formed in 2006 by musicians who have worked in a legendary band. The core is Dai Nakamura (gtr, voc) and Nozomi Suzuki (drums). The motto is "good music with good performance" without any strangeness, but Nakamura's helplessness is new wave-post-punk-neo acoustic, fake jazz-funkaratina, which are their indelible foundations. 80s lovers naturally come out, and the sound is indistinguishable between old and new (for some reason, everyone likes Duran Duran).
Supporting the inorganic songwriting of Nakamura is Suzuki, who has the characteristics of Fumio Hirami (ex. Love Tambalins), who is a pillar of rhythm with AOR in the background, and YMO-like drumming of non-groove. The strangely comfortable urban groove created by this mismatch is also attractive. Mixing / mastering is Tomoki Kanda (genius!), Who has been an ally since the 90's. This time we will also release the bank's first vinyl version!
She was supported not only by her cuteness and flashiness, but also by her debut in an era when good and bad songs were the first priority, and she was sung by legendary Morlam singers. Because he was a talented singer who fascinated him. That should be it, Baan Yen's singing ability learned under Morlam's classic apprenticeship is with origami. He is now one of the leading singers in the country (he has also performed at Thai festivals in Japan).
This time, she compiled the most violent 70's innovative Morlam & Luk Thung works, and distributed them in a well-balanced manner from flashy and up-to-date songs to moist and astringent songs. It is a "listening" best compilation album that focuses on the innate talent of Baan Yen, the skill of singing. Soi48, of course, for song selection, commentary, and binding!
She was supported not only by her cuteness and flashiness, but also by her debut in an era when good and bad songs were the first priority, and she was sung by legendary Morlam singers. Because he was a talented singer who fascinated him. That should be it, Baan Yen's singing ability learned under Morlam's classic apprenticeship is with origami. He is now one of the leading singers in the country (he has also performed at Thai festivals in Japan).
This time, she compiled the most violent 70's innovative Morlam & Luk Thung works, and distributed them in a well-balanced manner from flashy and up-to-date songs to moist and astringent songs. It is a "listening" best compilation album that focuses on the innate talent of Baan Yen, the skill of singing. Soi48, of course, for song selection, commentary, and binding!
Although Barton and his wife Priscilla McLean have had a long and distinguished history of LP and compact disc albums throughout their professional composer/performer career, this album is unique in that it is the first one to present, on one CD, such a broad and comprehensive picture of their purely electronic music, spanning 1975 through 2001. Interestingly, although their materials and equipment have changed, their ideas of musical composition are still basically the same, creating a unity throughout the CD.
Regarding the graphic score of "Song of the Nahuatl" which comprises the cover of this CD, Barton McLean and graphic artist Gary Pyle felt a need to explore the subconscious visual domain suggested by the sounds. The artistic rendering preserves dynamics, timing, relative high and low pitch areas, and textural/timbral aspects, while presenting a truly artistic expression in its own right.
To impart a sense of the meaning and composition of these works, along with offering a glimpse into the milieu in which they were created, the following excerpts are quoted here from Priscilla McLean's new autobiography "Hanging off the Edge: Revelations of a Modern Troubadour", published by iUniverse (New York, Lincoln, NE, Shanghai) and also available with corresponding CD, featuring excerpts of her music described in the book, at:
Throughout the time span of the works on this album, Priscilla McLean kept detailed journals of her experiences, forming the basis of her autobiography. These excerpts, abridged and slightly altered, are imbedded in the more specific program notes on each work below.
Book Excerpt: from HANGING OFF THE EDGE, pp. 149 - 159
1973 -1978: South Bend, Indiana to Austin, Texas:
In 1973, Indiana University at South Bend (where Barton McLean taught) ordered from the EMS Studios in London a Synthi-100 synthesizer and digital 256 sequencer, which comprised the first commercial digital sequencing capability in the USA. By 1971 we had also begun our own home studio, purchasing a new Arp 2600 Synthesizer and three reel-to-reel tape recorders: two two-channel half-track Revoxes and a four-channel quarter-track Sony, and borrowing from the college a small Synthi AKS Synthesizerムan update of the EMS Putney, with a ribbon keyboard and 256-note real-time sequencer.
When Bart introduced me to the new studio with the Synthi-100, I stared unbelievingly here was a huge synthesizer, along a whole wall, with hundreds of push-pins (a matrix setup for connecting sounds, rather than the old patch cords), and twenty-two oscillators! The Synthi-256 Digital Sequencer was a full-sized keyboard, standing alone diagonally to the analog synthesizer, but connected internally.
In that studio with the giant machines, one raced from one end of the room to another to play and record the sounds, never sitting down, and in removing unwanted noise or editing out a recorded section, the composer had to take a metal splicing block and sharp razor blade, and pressing down very hard, cut through the 1-inch wide acetate tape in two places, remove the unwanted time segment, and rejoin the two remaining ends with special splicing tapeノSo we three Bruce, Bart, and I worked all our spare time, alternating with each other, in the I.U.S.B. Studio. I spent whole days there, sometimes 22 hours long, working and working to get just the right sound-combinations and record them
The McLean Mix
[NOTE: The McLean Mix, composing/performing duo of Barton and Priscilla McLean, has toured worldwide since 1974, and annually since 1983.]
The McLean Mix was born on September 19, 1974, in our World Premiere concert at St. Mary's College, Notre Dame, Indiana. The faculty, of which I was an adjunct professor, was delighted when I offered to perform with Bart our new electronic music, consisting of Gone Bananas by Bart, as he soloed on the Arp 2600. This was a light piece, and ended with Bart, having set the synthesizer to play the music by itself on its sample and hold controller, sitting on the edge of the stage eating a banana! Second was my Night Images six-minute stereo tape work. Next came my "Dance of Dawn", 22 minutes long. We finished the evening with a jazzy piece by Bart called Groove, which had us jamming on two synthesizers the Arp 2600 for me, and Bart on the Synthi AKS. These early live-performance compositions suffered the demise of all such pieces of the period, but fascinated the audience at the time they who had never heard any live electronic music. The works for stereo tape lived on, however.
"During the halcyon days of the 70's, when all electronic music was enthusiastically received and the audiences large and eager, an album produced out of this concert (CRI SD 335 with Priscilla's "Dance of Dawn" and Barton's "Spirals") garnered a dozen reviews from all over America, and the composers were looked upon as courageous explorers into a vast musical continent unknown and beckoning.
In August of 1976 we moved to Austin, Texas. After the Synthi-100 was removed from the Indiana University, South Bend Electronic Music Studio in 1974, we were left with its digital sequencer, a small ElectroComp 101 Synthesizer, the mini-synthesizer Synthi AKS, and the tape recorders and mixer. This wasn't enough to continue any quality work, so we added our own home studio equipment, and turned back to manipulating found soundsムsteak knives bouncing on violin strings, tennis balls on the piano harp, banging pots and pans, etc. All of these sounds in addition to ones from the synthesizers and sequencer I used in my next major electronic piece, "Invisible Chariots". Because of the unwieldiness of the musique concrete (recorded, not synthesized, sounds) medium, composing the piece was glacially slow.
For instance, the first sound is a scrape up a bass piano string with a metal bar. I wanted the echo from the piano to last over thirty seconds, so I had to record it onto a master tape, then re-record the echo from this tape to each of four channels of another tape recorder, recording each successive one a few seconds ahead of the last one, over and over, until thirty seconds evolved. Then I combined the beginning piano flourish, recorded at home, with a similar keyboard flourish created on the Arp 2600 Synthesizer and performed, playing (forwards and backwards) on the Synthi 256 Sequencer. Much more was involved to complete this complex beginning sound, and two months of time for thirty seconds of music!
After lying low since our performance in the old UT electronic music studio a few weeks after we arrived in Austin in 1976, The McLean Mix was revived and had several engagements the spring of 1979. This included Bart's new electronic piece "Song of the Nahuatl", finishing with my "Invisible Chariots", with all three movements. This varied according to the audience and schedule. [end of paraphrased excerpt]
This work "Duya Here Me! (Hearing !?) ”is a collection of early masterpieces before“ Walatta ”.
The recorded song is a sound source of the band era that was active under the name of Naafi Sandwich / Naffi Sandwich or Naffi, and the release at that time was exclusively DIY cassette tape and 7 inches. They weren't formed as a live band, they were a unit that left the idea to record and produce their work.
In this comp, you can listen to another world of "Walatta", which has a strong influence of Jamaican music on rhythm and method, but "I didn't want to play reggae and wanted to" Dub-up "(= dub version). I wanted to do it) ”as their sound, playing reggae crossover.
The title song "D'ya Hear Me!" Is a POP tune of D.I.Y soul explosion recorded on a 4-tiger teleco using a rhythm box. Heavy and cute reggae crossover such as "Naffi Take Away" and "Krazee Music", de deep and dark roots reggae-style instrument "Spring Thing- Hippy Dread", "Walatta" popular song "Starlight" original song ( !) "Moon beams", Young Marble Giants-style "Everyday Just Another Dream", unreleased original long version, etc. Finally, a demo of "D'Ya Hear Me!" That she "excavated" this time is recorded. Highly recommended for post-punk / Neo Acoustic fans! !!
This work "Duya Here Me! (Hearing !?) ”is a collection of early masterpieces before“ Walatta ”.
The recorded song is a sound source of the band era that was active under the name of Naafi Sandwich / Naffi Sandwich or Naffi, and the release at that time was exclusively DIY cassette tape and 7 inches. They weren't formed as a live band, they were a unit that left the idea to record and produce their work.
In this comp, you can listen to another world of "Walatta", which has a strong influence of Jamaican music on rhythm and method, but "I didn't want to play reggae and wanted to" Dub-up "(= dub version). I wanted to do it) ”as their sound, playing reggae crossover.
The title song "D'ya Hear Me!" Is a POP tune of D.I.Y soul explosion recorded on a 4-tiger teleco using a rhythm box. Heavy and cute reggae crossover such as "Naffi Take Away" and "Krazee Music", de deep and dark roots reggae-style instrument "Spring Thing- Hippy Dread", "Walatta" popular song "Starlight" original song ( !) "Moon beams", Young Marble Giants-style "Everyday Just Another Dream", unreleased original long version, etc. Finally, a demo of "D'Ya Hear Me!" That she "excavated" this time is recorded. Highly recommended for post-punk / Neo Acoustic fans! !!
A one-sided 7” single! A great and rare song, never before reissued, an early 80s electric molam classic produced by Surin Phaksiri. This release celebrates “Classic Productions by Surin Phaksiri 2: Molam Gems from the 1960s-80s”, an upcoming EM Records compilation spotlighting this legendary producer; however, this song will not be available on the compilation, so get the vinyl or DL, and don’t miss this groovily swaying paean to the pick-up truck share taxi, performed by Chabaphrai Namwai and molam queen Banyen Rakkaen. Remastered and lacquer cut by D&M Berlin, with English and Japanese lyrics translations. Hop in and let’s go!
Footnotes:
‘Songthaew’ is a passenger vehicle in Thailand and Laos adapted from a pick-up or a larger truck and used as a share taxi or bus. This molam tune “Lam Phloen Songthaew Fan Club” is about the period in which Songthaew began to appear as a new means of transportation for people in Thailand.
Clan Caiman, a five-member band formed by Argentine multi-instrumentalist writer Emilio Alo with the concept of "imagining the music played by a fictional tribe." His debut album "Clan Caimán" (2018) was widely heard by Hiramazu, VIDEOTAPEMUSIC, Tortoise, Tommy Guerrero, Martin Denny and others. In this second work, "Asoma (Rises in English)", Aro's creative musical instrument
Clan Caiman, a five-member band formed by Argentine multi-instrumentalist writer Emilio Alo with the concept of "imagining the music played by a fictional tribe." His debut album "Clan Caimán" (2018) was widely heard by Hiramazu, VIDEOTAPEMUSIC, Tortoise, Tommy Guerrero, Martin Denny and others. In this second work, "Asoma (Rises in English)", Aro's creative musical instrument
The music of Clan Caimán is primitive and hypnotic. It is located in the pre-rock era and from there, it proposes a different evolution path for music from the 1950s to present day. Like a different musical development in a parallel timeline. Gamelan, Hawaiian music, surf, exotica, rainforest or aquatic; these elements make up the palette which constructs a mystic and profound music that seeks ancestral connection.
Formed in 2016 by musician, composer and producer Emilio Haro looking to create music generated by group dynamics, Clan Caimán differs from his past two solo albums (“Panorámico” in 2007 and “Estrambótico” in 2012, both on Radiaciones Armónicas) in that these were studio work and not meant to be played live.
The quintet's enigmatic sound is built upon the kalimbafón, an instrument created by Haro using several kalimbas, Diego Voloschin's wild and hypnotic percussion (no cymbals, no snare), Gonzalo Cordoba's lap steel and baritone guitar, Facundo Gomez's psychedelic guitar tones and Claudio Iuliano's dry and percussive bass sound.
This debut album contains eight anachronistic and oddly familiar compositions that range from introspection to trance, tracing their own sonic landscape.
The solo works "Panorámico" (2007) and "Estrambótico" (2012) released by Emilio Alo, a multi-instrumentalist writer who does not need explanation for Argentine music fans, are a new generation after the acoustic group. It was a complete studio work under the influence of folklore revival. However, it is extremely important that the key man of the scene dared to form a band here. The debut album of this suspicious band name
