You can never really pin down what the excellent Emotional Repose label does and that is exactly the sinking behind the title of its superb All Trades show on NTS. The sheer eclecticism of that show is now reflected in this new two-part compilation, also called All Trades, which offers up little morsels of what they do, something like a sonic tasting menu at a fancy restaurant. There is chugging electronic dub from Apiento & Tepper, industrial clatter from Black Bones, cosmic ambient breakbeat from Paperclip Minimiser and blissed out dub from Yamila & SoFa Elsewhere amongst many more highlights. More

Emotional Response returns with a second volume of its All Trades compilation which is named after its own NTS show. It is just as vast both in terms of style but also the eras it spans with a mix of dub, new wave, slow motion electronics and plenty in between. Tolouse Low Trax kicks off with the filthy dirty and seriously heavy dub glitch of 'Ossia' to provide an early highlight before the likes of Al Wootton get percussive and tribal with 'Altai' and HLM38 channels some African Head Charge on another devastating dub cut. Later on, London's Good Block brings a little more light and sunshine with their lovely 'Strong Relax.' More

Repress!

Emotional Response's 10th-anniversary celebration are brought to a superb close with Benedikt Frey. He serves up a magnificently dubbed out and psychedelic cover version of Joy Division's 'She's Love Control across four different versions. The vocal version might be the best for us - it retinas that compelling dark drum funk you expect from the band with eerie synth additions and hefty bass. The instrumental is more slow and dubbed out in a traditional sense with the Lucas Croon dub doused in endless reverb. Last of all is a dub by Frey himself that is full of open space and bass bin distorting headiness. More

Repress!
Emotional Response is delighted to present elsewhere LVI. The 4th of soFa's compilation series, this double LP takes us to the darker side of the elsewhere ouvre, via another 12 artist / 12 track travelogue. With certain future-retro feelings, this is club music for the open minded. An album that roams from dreamy ambient territories to rhythmic patterns - internationalism for the adventurous DJ. Rusty slow-mo bangers and post-industrial synth-wave kidnap the listener to a dystopic and shady wasteland. Elements of ethnic folk, vintage vocoders and Gamelan samples all united on one homogeneous selection. With artists now known to welcoming new brethren, this is an audio trip to leave reality behind. Exotic, hypnotic, tactile, trance-inducing meditations, washed down with a spoonful of magick. More

Emotional Response presents Elektronik Body Girl, a musical alter-ego of artist Shelbatra Jashari, with production by soFa elsewhere. Spontaneously born out of 2 souls in an imaginary industrial wasteland of earthly survivors, this Belgo-Albanian postpunk extravaganza is perfectly suited for our unreal times.

Infused with raw attitude and improvisational approach, Shelbatra is an artist, dancer, performer, and singer in search of challenges and expressive forms into new territory, with an individual way in dealing with the ""empowering feminine" and its representation - a vision central to her artistic creation.

Teaming up with Brussels based soFa DJ, they debut an EP of challenging story-telling comes backed with a wonderfully conjured beatdown remix by label associate, Tolouse Low Trax, to act as a seal of (dis)approval.

First known as a DJ and selector and then compilation curator of the "elsewhere" series of albums across multiple labels - including Emotional Response (ERS042) - soFa recent collaborations as Mameen 3 on Bongo Joe, CCCVVV on Strangelove Music and the highly praised album with Houschyar and Okay Temiz on Second Circle, has established him as a producer of repute in an incredibly short time space.

Taking a production backseat to underpin Jashari's performance, his percussive, atmospheric oeuvre allows her vocals to explore roots in both Kosova and Belgium, molding a focus on the art of "the other" or the outsider. Outside the "normality"", a different energy is heard. Exploring elements of the human body, the human condition and its representation in various "thinking" systems and political contexts, EBG is manifestation in sound and movement. More

Cherrystones returns with the second of the "Aged" EPs for Emotional Response. Time propels and so does sound, thus orbiting nuances and motion leads us here, to present whatever maybe or interpreted as. Since the acclaimed Aged Of Bronze EP a symbiotic progress of craft arrives in the aptly titled Aged Of Silver. Again each track is like a coded syntax, unlocking the puzzle to aid a listeners journey and experience, building blocks to a utopian scape in form without form notes and pictures living and residing in the dimensions.

Never pandering to trends, his art based on immediacy and the moment, no disposable sub genres that fade as fast as they emerge, transposing and emitting heard and unheard a way to communicate with himself and those that identify.

A capsule of touched emotions bearing gifts for those in the present and wishing to be present, a key with keys analogue for Silver Tongues and Brass monkeys living in the shadow of a Scorpian's Tail. More

Emotional Response is delighted to present Benoit B's new project Terra Utopia - 8 tracks of atmospheric breaks that unfold across ambient, beats and drum and bass.

This debut offers the artist a new direction, connected to feelings of an intangible warmth, where empty urban expanse and latent stillness meets a Mediterranean azure of sky and sea, oscillating, ethereal.

The music was created in a short time frame; short pieces, linked around a laconic structure flowing as if across some imaginary astral void.

An invitation, where time slows, days stretch, cloudless nights lead to a romantic dawn, the narrative to allow the listener the space and choice to dream.

Fear no more, the heat of the sun. More

With such a collaboration heavy project in the "Yet Another Kito Jempere Album" announced it is no surprise that this following remixes pack comes laden with familiar friends'n'family, plus additional support.

Taking the ambient meets acappella paene Your Ghost In Me and creating one of his on-point dance floor dramas, Lipelis (Animals Dancing / LIES), utilising Hard Ton's classic 'US House' vocal delivery to create a perfect "big room" anthem.

Next up Born Free boss, Samo DJ (Public Possession / Trilogy Tapes) pumps A King Of Comets with Mood II Swing punch meets Ballistic Brothers riddim'n'culture for some hip-breaks-dancehall swing.

Cable Toy (Low Budget Family) presents the label favourite with his bouncing, yearning remix of album stand out, Time Traveller. Countered with a perfect touch of summer vibrations and melancholia this up and coming St Petersburg resident has to be watched.

Finally, Linja (Avidiya / Malka Tuti) offers a deep, shuffling version of Untitled Ritual. Arpeggios throb, percussion snaps, tempos shift, planets realign, vocals by Noteless call...wait believing, just we have seen it, God is waiting, nothing can bleeding.

Only friends. Only family. This is Kito's emotional response. More

Emotional Response celebrates its 50th release with a special limited-edition from label stalwart Roy Of The Ravers. Following 2019’s magnum opus White Sunrise II is the accompanying “Soliel”, where our nom dee plume delves further into his archives of recently rediscovered disks to present an 8-track double pack, cut loud for DJ play.

The music too is more expansive, with the ambient and techno signatures matched with touches of jazz keys, Balearic sampledelica and even acoustic outtakes, all with that Ravers humour included.

The opening cinematic symphonies of The Smell Of Orange Peel and Kliszewicz Klopcic Klim highlight again a side not seen on his more acid / club cuts found on various labels. However, it’s the B side that compounds expectations with the deep house meets techno melodics of City Limits, before the ever-expanding feel-good vibrations of center piece Feathers hooks all. Sometimes a simple groove and catchy vocal sample is all you need to create a classic.

The second half then glides with 14 minutes of house dramatics via Versace 101624, a master of arrangement and beats, preempting the interlude of Clock House’s return. To close, EL-9400’s intense scatter percussion melds with anthemic acid undertones before its 2nd half melts to a choral ambience, leading to the closing acoustic jam dub curiosity My Brother And His Mate and the curtain for another stage in the Roy sagas. More

The acclaimed Kito Jempere joins Cherrystones and DJN4 on the label for 2020, with an album full of international minds. Working with array of collaborators across a cast of friends including Jimi Tenor, Wolfram, Hard Ton, Lipelis, Rich Thair (Red Snapper), Ruf Dug, Cedric Gasaida (Azari & III) and many more, presenting this, his third long play.

A hail of freedom of thoughts and voices before these changed times, recorded and shared across continents. Kito - following releases with DFA, Lo Recordings, Bordello A Parigi, Hell Yeah and Duca Bianco - acts as curator rather than conductor, the idea not to transform the contributions but allow them absolute.

Sending music and receiving back, nothing was touched to keep the truth and honour. From Tokyo to London, Berlin to his base in St Petersburg, trusting the chosen artists led to a broad palette, as his 4/4 driven funk expands with Jazz horns to Motorik percussion, Avant-Reich vocals to White Isle melodies, J Pop Balearics to Chanson stories wrapped around Club memories.

A true world meeting, crossing borders and genres. An eye on the dance floor and week long chill outs. With remixes from the likes of Samo DJ, Lipelis, Cable Toy and more to follow, this is more than Yet Another Kito Jempere Album. More

As with the first SchleiBen series, Emotional Response follows the success of the second set of split releases with a stand-alone album by one of the highlights, in Neil Tolliday. Recorded over a 17-year period, the ambient, drone and noise pieces collected here offer a glimpse in to the depth of a supremely talented, thoughtful and at times, troubled musical mind. As his love for house music and the success of his Nail moniker grew and waned during the ascent 90s boom, there followed his somewhat surprising success as one half of Balearic-pop combo Bent, propelling Tolliday in to a world of indie-charts and endless touring. The eventual unhappiness of this 'music career' and increasing need for personal escapism led him start experiment new musical forms of expression. A thinker and oft-over drinker, success was viewed with a deep suspicion and introspection, drug use and later, depression. As his other music projects slowly imploded, this new, personal music was for many years, made purely for Tolliday's own absorption and comedowns. Taken from an initial 4 track recording in Nottingham in 2000, more pieces were subsequently recorded around the globe on numerous devices - old portable cassette recorders, hand held digital stereos and even mobile phones. These heavily manipulated samples were slowed down, reversed, smudged and stretched before analog and modular patching, Mellotron, editing, programming and post production were added to the melting pot. With hundreds of tracks collated, in the last few years Tolliday began putting them out via Bandcamp using different aliases, on made up record labels, with no press or mention to anyone. This would happen every 6-9 months - a new label was created with logo, band/artist names and a few albums worth of music, leaving it there for a few weeks before then deleting the lot. Here then is a snapshot of those recordings, chosen to represent the depth of music, while trying not to think too much about in to the emotions that were used in making them. With special hand painted artwork by Sam Purcell, commissioned from the artist's own photographs taken from a adjournment at Homerton hospital, the hope is to do justice to such wonderful music and present Neil Tolliday, finally an artist, shorn of pseudonyms, in a broader light. More

Emotional Response is delighted to present a special project, a collection of music from Bartosz Kruczynski, recorded for "Selected Media" and presented here as a time-piece of his continuing works. Initially known as one half of sample based project Ptaki (The Very Polish Cut Outs / Transatlantyk), Kruczynski first appeared for Emotional Response as The Phantom for the first series of SchleiBen in 2015. Featuring two works of deep 'fourth world' sounds, they highlighted a shift to more mellow, synthetic and hazy compositions. His break out came, however, when he explored this sound further on his eponymous album Baltic Beat, for the acclaimed Growing Bin Records. This has been augmented with the recent club based music as one half of the wonderful Earth Trax (Rhythm Section International / Phonica Records) project. Here though, Kruczynski returns to the ambient and ethereal - plus a touch of dub techno - to showcase his expansive collaborative work with Polish studio, TVP Culture. Given free artistic license, the 15 'short form' recordings included here were for programming, in the main, on modern Polish Art including the likes of Magdalena Abakanowicz, Miroslaw Balka and Tadeusz Kantor, as well as some international aspects for Enrico Prampolini, Ai Weiwei and Monica Bonvicini. Taken from over 70 episodes the material included recollects imagery, video and memory to present a series of short vignettes that together create one whole. Minimal and hazy ambience (V, VII, VIII, XI, XII) envisages classic melodies and chords and is accompanied by further 'fourth world' pieces (I, II, III, VII, X) that present an oeuvre that is recognisably the music of Kruczynski, while remaining fresh and perfectly meditative. A counter can be found in the atmospheric dub works (IV, IX, XIV) that hint at echo chamber environs to get infinitely lost in. As an album then, "Selected Media" can be heard as a snapshot to Kruczynski's music journey, a meeting of art and music that is oft overlooked but very much essential More

After the success of the 2 Late 4 Love EP, Roy Of The Ravers returns to Emotional Response with a double LP with a deeper perspective, experimenting in ambient and drone textures, lucid techno travails and acid interludes. Recorded between 1997 and 2017, the album was pieced together over the last six months after Roy's archives were first feared lost and then found. Approached by the label to release a follow up with something more introspective and personal, it was discovered that a recent move to a new studio had led to over 20 years of music being misplaced after it was believed they were mistakenly dropped at a local charity store. However, deep in a box of what were thought to be patch cables were in fact the decades worth of hard drives and here presented, is a sample of those lost recordings. The nature of the music is introspection, eschewing the acid beats and white noise for a personal encounter between man and machine. The orchestral opening of the title track gives way to the submarine beats, pulsing TB303 and gliding hats of Robinson College 10 to set the outlook to come. Even with the scattering A Dim And Distant Past waking lulled senses, the melodies and feel all lead to a pause and reflect rather than jump and shout. This is continued with the haunting drives of Bounce Erec and Oriental X0X-Press; the twisted, warped jams of The Weber Traum Boat Pt.3, Ichi and Roland Corp Labs 05; and the beautiful, heartfelt odes in Sade Lost Theme, The Clock House Pt.2 and closer, Nemesis '01. The album's melodic nature hums and shines as CS (6x8) appears as much a centre piece as a alternative consideration to the acid tinged, club bangs of Roy's releases to date. A surprise package maybe, but in the rolling, word of mouth phenomena that was Emotinium II, all this and more was sensed and so White Line Sunrise II, spreading across 12 songs of contrasting moods, is a further affirmation that there is something good and worthy of exploration More

Emotional Response continues the second SchleiBen series with a pan-ocean exploration of meditative spiritualism meets psychedelic ambience. The 2nd of the 4 part series expands with the inclusive offerings from LA's Matthewdavid and London's HOLOVR for a cyclical journey of altered consciousness against lush 303-tinged harmonics. First, Matthewdavid provides a 20-minute live recording to showcase his "meditation with music". Beat maker, producer, label owner, radio host and now new age explorer, Matthew David McQueen has been a fixture of the City Of Angles music scene for over a decade. However, it was his association with Tropical Hi-Fi (SchleiBen 3) that first attracted the label's attention to dig deeper in to his developing sound. As Leaving Records founder he has a prominent role is shaping the cities sound that has seen him work with Sun Araw, Laraaji and a myriad of the label's roster. Here performing in most his recent incarnation, Matthewdavid's Mindflight - having just released the wonderful Trust The Guide And Glide double album opus - is Sonos. Recorded live at Dublab Radio's "Tonalism" event at Sonos Studios, the piece utilises Critter & Guitari Pocket Piano, Hulusi Flute and Ableton Live to create movement, fade and sequence. A looping realisation, music inside music, thresholds expanded, connecting the centre, a place, origin, a soul that allows a devout expression to exude and find mediation in sound. This is music to get lost and at the same, get found in. Set against these endless arp-loops, is HOLOVR, raising a more focused consciousness that is a perfect counterpoint. Having already appeared on the label via his recent, deep, eloquent remix of Sad City, as well as releasing with label favourites Opal Tapes, Further Records and Firecracker, the desire to work with another uniquely individual producer has been in place for several years. Recorded using only hardware; 303 lines, soft pads, arpeggio synths and Roland percussion capture a snapshot of time in a natural, in-the-moment negotiation of these different elements, giving trademark, open, drifting loops that let the listener within, while texture and tone engage, activating harmonic resonances almost as a drone. This progressive disintegration, tuning in and dropping out of musical spheres envelops while hinting at aphex influences and (artificial) intelligence. SchleiBen shifts, expanding, growing, pulsating. Keep the faith and (un)listen. " More

Things take a psychedelic turn for SchleiBen 7 with a welcome to the label of arch exponents of mind expansion in NYC's Georgia and the unlikely but no less diverse inclusion of Balearic stalwarts A Man Called Adam. Having Georgia in the series might not now be a surprise, however discussions with this open, genuine duo started during a visit to New York over 3 years ago and so here, finally realised in this fluid journey of confident pace and harmony, is the best of their freeform evocations. A duo in the everyday sense, Brian Close and Justin Tripp are video / music production teamsters of unnatural talent. Having gained a status of their own that has seen them release for the likes of Palto Flats and FTD, the five pieces that form their contribution drip with psychedelic intent. Culled from archives, the interest is how the tracks - made over different years, locations and situations in life - meld in to something poetic simply by being placed within a specific format. Avant-chimes ebb to rhythmic pulses and erudite teachings before dark percussion and Eastern melodies reach a clattering, but gentle finale. With an upcoming collaborative album with Secret Circuit due on the label later in 2018, as well as recent works with RVNG Intl's Matt Werth and recordings for Sacred Summits' brethren Firecracker Recordings, it's a warm, effusive glow of a welcome. In contrast, the inclusion of A Man Called Adam in the series may indeed surprise but is a false comprehension. The "Sketches" included here show AMCA away from their Balearic pop incarnation of the last thirty years and towards the academia that both members Sally Rodgers and Steve Jones have pursued in the last decade. With both completing PHDs, Sally ('The Diachronic Impact of Technology-Led Abstraction in Oral, Written and Music-based Poetries') is a senior lecturer at Leeds College Of Music, while Steve ('Mobilise: The Carry Principle, Sound and Mobile Media') is based out of de Montfort University, now is the perfect time to highlight the diverse sound environments they have been working in. The music that makes up these recordings are drawn from sound works and audio experiments completed in recent years. From sound toys and apps to home made glass organs and electro-acoustic sound, custom patches to spoken word manipulations, the sketches are excerpts - some evolved from commissions for the National Science Museum, BBC Radio 4 and live performances with the world renowned video artist Milosh JL - fused especially for this release. Bringing these generated pieces in to an audible "mix" creates a discourse of their work in performance, interactions and visual media. An intellectualised album therefore, but still in the premise of the series to allow artists to present something new, unique, discrete, hidden even, all with the aim of giving the recipient the chance to sit back and (un)listen. "
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For the final part of SchleiBen 5 - 8, Emotional Response welcomes two Scottish based artists to close out the series. In Jon Keliehor you have a world and music traveler with history from psychedelic rock to fourth world exposure, alongside one of the best electronic producers of the last decade, Lord Of The Isles. As the drummer of West Coast folk rock / psychedelic band The Daily Flash, Keleihor spent much of the mid-60 based in and out of Seattle and Los Angles, playing alongside the likes of Jefferson Airplane, Cream and The Doors, before an increasing interest in meditation and philosophies outside of the 'rock' realm led him to England in the early 70s where he become involved in dance theatre. Teaching Advanced Rhythmic Music Studies at the London Contemporary Dance School, his music composition style became influenced by his studies of world music. Finally settling in Glasgow for over 20 years, while running the Luminous Music label and Gamelan Naga Mas, his earlier recordings for labels like Indipop, Touch and Bruton have seen a recent revival, with music appearing recently on contemporaries Optimo Music and Invisible Inc. The wonderful recordings included here span over 3 decades, from sessions at the Luminous Studio at The Diorama Theatre, London in the early 80s, through to recent field-work based recordings in the Cairngorms. Reconfigured and updated, a common thread appears through the pieces - a sense of longing and appreciation - as Jon's knowledge of outer-national instrumentation alongside equally extensive travels around the globe gives the recordings a seamless blend of organic craft. The tonal consonances within unlikely combinations of instruments, with tuned glasses (tarang), tabla, jaw harps, clay flutes and ocarinas, Chinese instruments that include Xiao-Bo and Xiao-Ping, large Noah bells, small and larges gongs all employed, the recordings have been reconstructed, edited and updated via sampling and digital processing. Featuring the playing of John "Jhalib" Millar - the extraordinarily gifted musician and tabla player - who has appeared with an EP on sister label, Emotional Rescue (ERC029), sadly recently deceased, the contribution acts as a tribute and more. To close, the music of Lord Of The Isles is an excellent companion to Jon's work. Neil McDonald's list of club-based releases on labels CockTail D'Amor, Ene, Firecracker, Permanent Vacation, ESP Institute and Phonica is comprehensive and exemplary, however within his productions has often been an other-worldly element, a space between the beats and occasional fully ambient pieces. Approached originally for series one of SchleiBen, the 7 pieces included were worth the wait, a journey in themselves and the perfect completion. Spanning almost 5 years, the majority were written during an extended exile in the Cairngorms. The lifting, ethereal, but melodic nature of the music fits that aesthetic. Blue skies, snow, long walks, space to think, but with a longing and appreciation of family and friends. The solitary nature found in SchleiBen 8 and the geographical incidence of both artist's recordings including sessions in the Scottish Highlands fits the series ideals and is a nice closure. Enjoy and listen. "
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Jeremy Campbell and R. Zanzibar return as Out 2 with their debut full length, Showcase. Following their recent Moving EP, the duo expand their mix of New York off-kilter pop lyrical poetics riding over percussive desk-dub funk grooves. After collaborating on releases for Lectric Sands and L.I.E.S (Zoovox and Locks & DDM) the Brooklyn team dug deep in the studio to create 6 vocals and their dub versions in a true 'showcase' style. With that, after its appearance in longer 'discomix' form, the album starts with the original version of Moving. Just under 3 minutes of hectic New York funk - chop guitar, punch bass and blasting horn jump ups. Rolling straight to the Version, Campbell's mixing desk skills let it all hang out and back. Snares rattle, hats ride, bass in and out, a voice rightly interjects "...are we moving?". Sliding in to Dancing, the tryptamines start to flow and skip atop a steppas beat. The "raps", dubs and fx weave their way in to your subconscious as electrons whirl in a warm psychedelic fuzz. This is further exemplified in side closer, Pale Fens. The improvised vocals fit seamlessly among the beats, bass and guitar haze. As the skin, lips, eyes, pull you in, the Version takes it deep. Sole guitar solo and the rest rides from the desk. Perry, Bovell, Sherwood. The beauty in the space between is the essence of music itself. Side 2 starts with a crowning gem, Some Air's Red There. Flute rides a hook that is simplicity in its ingenuity. Zanzibar in his wayward element "...she said I had the wrong rhythm?". By now ears twisted to what the Version brings, the laidback vibes, with wind solo, drift to an Upstate/White Isle summer's day that is long remembered. Don't Stop comes on as a No NYC love paean. Congas, rhythm guitar and impro' lyrical flow, contorting bass, flange, flange, flange. "Run all day, we don't stop". Version just glides and glides. Finally, to close, Run is the lazy finale dub (master)piece. A simple Jammy's style riddim; a midi-funk groove. It swings low alongside lyrical imaginings, encapsulating Out 2's place in the New York firmament, where disco, punk, hip hop were and are very much fellows with the often overlooked, but amazing dub reggae that has been produced in the city for decades. More