Every person we meet, every moment we live through, all the love we feel, and the losses we endure, add another layer to the intricate pattern of our lives. Like multicolored threads, these layers twist together to form a complex, vibrant tapestry — a reflection of our life journey until this point. On his new album Layers, Khalab acknowledges and celebrates the encounters that have shaped his ever-evolving musical vision. The record, out on August 25th with his own Hyperjazz Records, represents the culmination of a creative journey that began with his Eunoto EP (Black Acre Records, 2015), evolved with the Afro-Futuristic soundscapes of 2018’s highly acclaimed album Black Noise 2084 (On The Corner Records/!K7), and has since developed further through a series of experiences and deep musical collaborations. Layers summons all the alchemy of Khalab’s live performances, and embodies the transcendental power of music making as a collective art form. Over the past five years, Khalab has shared the stage at Italian and International festivals with many exceptional musicians, an experience which has sharpened the musicality of his compositions and enhanced the depth and complexity of his sound. “Since the release of Black Noise 2084 I’ve increasingly developed the stage and band dynamic, focusing on arranging with the musicians in mind, and this album was almost entirely conceived together with musicians I’ve collaborated with” says Khalab. In a testament to the label’s close-knit and highly collaborative nature, Khalab's live band includes a cadre of musicians from the Hyperjazz family, including David Paulis and Enrico Truzzi of Phresoul, as well Pietro Santangelo, Fabio Sasso, and longstanding creative-partner Nicola Guida. The album’s nine tracks feature an impressive lineup of collaborators old and new, including UK drummer and producer Emanative, Burkinabe singer, guitarist, and m’bira player Gabin Dabiré (passed away a few weeks ago), Italian producer Clap! Clap!, multi-wind instrumentalist Tamar Osborn, drummer and producer Tommaso Cappellato, British-Bahraini trumpeter Yazz Ahmed, Bristol’s vocalist and producer Grove, multi-instrumentalist Tenderlonious, Italian jazz singer Alessia Obino and British-born Nigerian spoken-word artist Joshua Idehen. Layers still revolves around the key components of Khalab’s sound — dark and trancey electronics and his research into Black music and all its evolutions — but with a bigger emphasis on harmonic arrangements. Across the album, Khalab’s productions twist and pulsate into mesmerizing motifs, as the interplay between different instruments coalesce into focused melodies and rich, complex textures. Khalab and his collaborators masterfully blend gloomy and radiant tones, eliciting feelings of both doom and hope. The album will be preceded by three lead singles: “Layers” feat. Joshua idehen, “Tunnel Of Jealousy” feat. Lady Blue Eyes, and “Female Side” feat. Tommaso Cappellato.
For Khalab, Layers represents the end point of a journey that began with the synthesis of ancestral rhythms and electronic experimentation on Black Noise 2084, and has taken him on a meandering route through a Mauritanian refugee camp (M’berra, Real World Recordings, 2021), and deep into the catalogs of legendary Italian labels Soul Note and Black Saint (for the Hyperituals compilations, released on his own Hyperjazz label). In Khalab’s own words: “For me this feels like coming full circle, because everything will be more experimental going forward”.

A1 - Drone Ra feat. Yazz Ahmed & Alessia Obino
A2 - Conscious Friendship feat. Emanative, Tamar Osborn & Grove
A3 - Tunnel Of Jealousy feat. Lady Blue Eyes
A4 - Acid Vaccine feat. Clap! Clap!
A5 - Layers feat. Joshua Idehen
B1 - Female Side feat. Tommaso Cappellato
B2 - Mental Coach feat. Gabin Dabiré
B3 - Romantic Loco feat. Tenderlonious
B4 - Tribal Noise

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As debut on his own label Hyperjazz Records, with 'The Great Oxidation EP', electro-shaman Khalab comes back to his natural habitat: the dance floor. With these three instrumental tracks, the visionary artist aims to drive the listener on a backward journey, down to rediscover the most ancestral human rite: to dance. A return to the origin in a radical way to reach a brighter future, but also a bridge for another world - a new space where meet new life forms and uncover new feelings and new consciousness. To embellish this EP, the presence of two very special collaborations. His music evolution is a seamless journey – from the most ancestral tribes to the unexplored cosmos; from the black jungle to the skyscrapers; from the remotest subconscious to the furthest and real projection of future Africa. His wide-reaching musical tastes can be heard regularly on his monthly Worldwide FM show, Love from Rome. Already working on a new record ready in 2022, Khalab pulls out of his laboratory the first experiment with this EP.

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Khalab’s ‘Album of The Year’ has been re-worked! Ahead of a full remix LP (Summer 2019) On the Corner have opened the vault on 2019 hitters.
This 12” scorches the terrain built by ‘Black Noise 2084’. Hieroglyphic Being dominates the dancefloor with his 10 min sweater. Afrikan Sciences launch off from Khalab’s afrocentric soundscapes into a futuristic cosmos. Blood, Wine or Honey strip it back, break it down and leave bassments trembling with the
weighty jungle blows. After a stellar year for Khalab and On the Corner these three remixes bring knock-out blows for 2019 dancefloors.Hieroglyphic Being’s 10 min sledgehammer shakes the floor as the mythical producer runs a profound groove with three 808s pummelling the spine of Khalab’s track.
On the B side, Afrikan Sciences uses the Afrocentric theme of the original to strip it back and propel it into the cosmos. Khalab’s ‘Black Noise 2084’ has already racked up ‘Album of the Year’ status and we’re giving you a first glimpse of this earth scorching, dance destroyer that will prepare an onslaught for
2019.


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"Synth Expressionism/Rhythmic Cubism" LP from Chicago’s Jamal Moss aka Hieroglyphic Being is a collection of idioms that have no past and no future, his jarring use of polyrhythmic polyphony imbues a sense of timelessness.


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Zaire’ is the beginning of a new narrative for the artist. In this first chapter Khalab creates urgent compositions with layers of sound from the past, present and future. ‘Zaire’ is underpinned by an intensely pounding heart of other-worldly percussion. The collaged loops frenetically jab in syncopation breaking off when the inherent swing casts its discrete groove to summon the dance. Unrelenting waves of synthlines, basslines and rhythm find harmony amongst the melodic chants and distortion. Already making Gilles Peterson’s ‘All Winners’ list on BBC 6 Music‘Zaire’ is a breathtaking nucleus for airwaves, dancefloors and, any digital devices masquerading as abeatbox. The tracks ‘Aeh’ and ‘Night in the Jungle’ are the vessel from which the heat of ‘Zaire’ steams. DJ Khalab has departed and with ‘Zaire’ Khalab has arrived On the Corner. The two remixes on this EP offer magnified oppositions to the friction that Khalab seamlessly stiches into his tapestries of sound. The bass frequencies that Medlarbounces across his electro dirge, taking day into night, contrasts with the harmony and light of Will LV’s journeying remix that drives through the troposphere. ’Zaire’ is a prelude of the forthcoming ‘Black Noise 2084’ and the freeing of a narrative shackled in chains for centuries. Phrases of historic recordings collaged with future electronics and the analogue depth and artistic voices of the present makes this a ground breaking work of future music. The archive recordings bare a stark reminder of the need to face the barbaric recesses of modern human history. The many voices of Khalab’s ‘Black Noise 2084’ are coming to be heard.

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This 12” begins with Collocutor ripping into Miles Davis’ ‘Black Satin’, from the benchmark On The Corner LP, and owning it from the off. A respectful homage is paid to the original with sensational improvised parts being added with a hip groove from the percussive wonders of Magnus Mehta (Magnus P.I.), Maurizio Ravalico and bassist Suman Joshi. The sparks fly as guitarist Marco Piccioni channels the spirits of late ‘60s psychedelic fires. The melodic riff of Miles’ classic is stripped down by Simon ‘Shwaa’ Finch and Mike Lesirge who subtly encapsulate the original’s atmosphere. The A-side is completed with the label’s latest signing, DJ Khalab delivering a sharp, warped assault on Collocutor’s ‘The Search’, just in time for the LP's repress. On the flip is a live version of ‘The Search’ recorded during the ‘Live at the Fish Factory’ Session in 2016 which, have so far resulted in two collector’s edition dubplates that are as rare as hen’s teeth. The invigorated far out sound has been mixed on this recording by producer Sam Jones who has entrenched himself with the On the Corner approach and brought his ‘Sam Jones Construct’ vision to the label. Marco Piccioni sold his soul at a highway crossroads on the way to the recording. There are spirits riding on the backs of the ensemble guiding this version of ‘The Search’ out into cosmic oceans. The 12” ends with bassist Ruth Goller (Melt Yourself Down, Let Spin, Gufo and Bug Prentice) stewarding her virtuosic groove sensibilities into the twilight zone with this brooding off -kilter abstraction of ‘Everywhere’. The stripped backbones of the tracks rhythm are punctuated by a dialogue and mantra summoned by Goller that moves menacingly over a synth bass augmented b-line.

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On the Corner's DJ tool and eclectic favourite, Versus is back for a second instalment. There are some familiar faces occupying this tasty wax and some new comers pushing the needle further-out On the Corner. As 2015’s Versus sold-out we'd already acquired some fresh production talents and sent stems over to new and old friends alike.
Get your atlases out as we criss-cross the globe introducing you to artists from afar-afield as Nairobi, Manchester, Pune, Iringa, Detroit, and South London. We kick off with Jinku, self-proclaimed space monkey hitting OtC wax for the first time. The producer is one-fifth of the East African Wave, a collective of young DJ Producers who are revolutionising the East African arts scene. As a 'sponge' of different influences, Jinku lays down a balearic reworking of fellow Nairobian, Makadem's 'Nyako'. Of the returning artists none is quite as mysterious as the elusive and incomparable Black Classical - discordant-Ra-like organ meets Brazilian poly-rhythmic percussions bludgeoned with a heady slab of rave breaks make for 'Jeje': already a firm fave of Gilles Peterson. Boundary pushing Contours brings a new swing to the 'Agama' groove, following the underground smash from Al Dobson Jr back where it all started with the release of Tamar Collocutor’s first album in 2014. Wonky psychedelic perambulations through the Traab al-Beidaan (Sahara) from Sam Jones who adds another construct to his mantle. Group as Salaam have a cassette release forthcoming and this construct comes from field recording sessions conducted during a feast out in the shadow of Africa’s largest Windfarm by label head Pete OntheCorner. Vibes! On the B-side, sprightly producer Daisho from the Indian hotbed of Pune brings a layered percussive heater hanging in the atmosphere with ominous synth b-lines and rightly tipped to be in the realms of and early Four Tet mover. The release enters into a deeper shamanic dance territory in the final third: the beathead's elixir, M.I.X.G. and their massive xylophone (Embaire) are back and gets a heavy acid rerub as South London's FYI Chris appear OntheCorner wax again with 'Drop the beat'. Peter Croce, head of Detroit's Rocksteady Disco brings it deep into the early hours for this euphoric 4am fix of OntheCorner's afro-latin-electronic party experimentalists, Penya.

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2017 repress due to high demand and crazy online prices!! Santuri's Embaire Umeme E.P. got a Worldwide Premiere from Gilles Peterson "On a never-ending quest to support and exposure far off musical cultures around the world, the next On The Corner releases sees them look to Uganda. Teaming up with Santuri (an East African electronic music innovation project) and Soundthread (a creative development non-profit), they have worked alongside the Mugwisa International Xylophone Group with modern recording techniques and further re-arrangement on two remixes. The first, by Sam Jones, was Premiered last week by Stamp The Wax, and today ushers in the second by Alejandro Mosso. A thudding kick drum at the first beat aims this one straight towards the early evening dancefloor. Working in unison with samples from the giant wooden xylophone and conversations between the musicians, serves to place the track back into its original context and is allowed to settle for a couple minutes, before what sounds like a kora or zither brings a Far-Eastern twist. With the slow-burning, steady elements of a balearic production and the beguiling hypnotism of Steve Reich's work this is a big Worldwide favourite."

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'The Search' from Collocutor, the band’s second LP, is the story of a journey, from disillusionment to new beginnings, alienation to belonging, darkness to hope. It is a journey that can be interpreted as spiritual, emotional or physical/geographical, depending on the listener’s own experiences. Tamar Osborn, the band leader and composer says: “This wasn’t planned as a ‘concept’ album, but as the four main compositions developed they and their titles fell into a natural narrative order and the theme of the album became apparent. The three improvised Conversations were an opportunity to explore musically the meaning of ‘collocutor’ - a person taking part in a conversation - and how this applies to performance, and also to expand the textural range of the ensemble by dividing it into smaller groupings and freeing the musicians from structured composition.” The album had already been listed by The Vinyl Factory as one of their “Best new vinyl releases to look out for in 2017”, and has gained the enthusiastic support of icons such as Gilles Peterson, Mulatu Astatke and many others. Collocutor have The 2017 Mercury Awards submission in their sights and The Search could well have jazz breaching the shortlist yet again. Tamar Osborn has kicked off 2017 appearing at the Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide Awards 2017 alongside Ninja Tune’s Sarathy Korwar: an incredible performance that set the tone of one of the most important celebrations of independent music. Collocutor’s sound has also graced the ears of the diverse audience that gathered to the Church of Sound last week (2/2/2017), with the band performing music from Yussef Lateef’s songbook as well as receiving a rapturous ovation for The Search. A sold-out concert, a moment of magic at Hackney's historic St. James the Great church, the new go-to destination for London jazz lovers that will be followed quickly by a headline performance at The Jazz Cafe. Established in 2013, On The Corner Records has rapidly established itself at the vanguard of the London jazz scene and Collocutor, its first signing has now become a leading force in the UK homegrown jazz movement.

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