2023 Repress!

Music From Memory are excited to present the debut LP of Kaifeng born, Vancouver based artist Yu Su in collaboration with Chinese label bié Records. Titled 'Yellow River Blue' it is our first release of 2021 and the second collaboration between label and artist, following up on the strongly received EP 'Roll With The Punches' from 2019 on Second Circle.

Named after the world’s most heavily silted river, 'Yellow River Blue' is Yu Su's personal musical autobiography, constructed around stories of chasing something inconceivable. Written and recorded in different continents in between August 2019 and March 2020, all songs seek to musically translate years of moving and touring, temporarily settling, and the feelings of both being turned away and accepted. In her own words, “The world is my home and it isn’t, but as long as there is generosity of water and mud...” It is an homage to her home beside the Yellow River.

Yu Su's debut album consists of eight songs that are versatile in both writing and aesthetics. Versatile individually, consistent as a whole. Yu Su is in a class of her own, dodging the obvious while combining sounds and inspirations of various origins into a new destination that sounds like her home in the here and now. It's a release that is constantly in motion and moves fluently between contemporary pop, ethereal sound compositions and dance-floor experiments.

'Yellow River Blue' comes as part of a collaboration with Yu Su's co-founded new label bié Records and will be released as MFM052 in vinyl format by Music From Memory on January 25th 2021, after seeing a full digital album release via bié on January 22nd in the new Year of the Ox, according to the Chinese zodiac. Both formats come in different exclusively designed artworks. More

Repress!

Pinchy & friends is delighted to present the latest offering from Kaifeng-born and raised, Vancouver-based musician Yu Su.

In her first major release of original music since 2021’s acclaimed “Yellow River Blue” LP, Yu Su says elements for the EP began to form during time spent in the deserts of Ojai, California and the fertile coastal areas around her home in British Columbia. Of the new release, Yu Su says the ideas are thanks to “the objects around (colors, reflections of light, wood burning in the fireplace, and material rhyme with the sounds in the room) the desert and valley plants, the ground where citrus grows, and the flood a rainstorm created.” She notes that “the golden earth is the changing point of the matter, earth centers, stabilizes, and conserves, nurtures, and seeks to draw all things together with itself.”

Likewise, the four varied pieces of the EP match four very different landscapes: Earth-of-water (Wet/Cold Earth) Earth-of-Fire (Arid/Hot Earth) Earth-of-Metal (Dry/Hard Earth) Earth-of-Wood (Loose-Fertile/Warm Earth).

Additional guitar and bass were provided by Scott Johnson Gailey and Aiden Ayers - who also play in Yu Su’s live band.

The vinyl release comes on 180g vinyl in a full-colour sleeve by Seoul based Lobde Kim, with OBI STRIP. More

Veteran producer Nick Höppner and Alex Kassian join Music From Memory's off - shoot, Second Circle for a new collaboration, H.A.N.K.

Born out of the unprecedented circumstances of the global pandemic, 'The Big Melt' represents a departure from the duo's typical club-oriented productions, instead exploring their shared passion for Krautrock, ambient, and guitar-driven music. The album showcases a more introspective and experimental side of both artists, blending elements of Fourth World, New Age, and leftfield electronic music.

Höppner and Kassian's creative partnership began in 2018 when Höppner released music from Kassian's project Opal Sunn on his label, Touch From A Distance. Their friendship quickly evolved into musical collaboration, initially focusing on dance music. However, as the pandemic unfolded, their studio sessions took an organic, freeform approach, embracing spontaneity and intuition.

'The Big Melt' features contributions from a diverse array of guest musicians, adding depth and texture to the album with instruments including guitar, clarinet, and the tar, an ancient Persian string instrument. Höppner's newly acquired drumming skills, developed during lockdown, also play a significant role in shaping the album's sound.

The creation of 'The Big Melt' spans several years, with initial jam sessions evolving into carefully crafted compositions through remote collaboration. This extended gestation period has allowed the music to mature, resulting in what Höppner describes as his proudest release to date.

'The Big Melt' stands as a testament to artistic resilience and creativity in the face of global challenges, offering listeners a rich, immersive journey into new sonic territories crafted by these two respected talents.

SC021 will be released on LP as well as digitally on November 8th 2024. Sleeve art and design by Michael Willis. More

Repress!

ISOR29 with a six track mini-album titled ‘Moon Phase Gardening’. ISOR29 is a new project from Columbian musician Tomas Garcia Station and follows on from his highly regarded 2020 debut release under the ‘Irie Nation’ moniker.

The title ‘Moon Phase Gardening’ (also referred to as Gardening by the Moon or Planting by the Moon) draws upon the idea that the lunar cycle affects plant growth. Just as the Moon’s gravitational pull creates the tides of the oceans, it also creates more moisture in the soil, which encourages growth.

Evolving out of forced time off, individual confrontation and the love for someone close, ‘Moon Phase Gardening’ was recorded in the living room of an old flat in Lisbon during the first lockdown. Using only a microphone, computer, Korg MS20, hang drum and a field recorder, ISOR29 channels Tomas’ musical vocabulary via electronics to reflect an immersive and self-reflective story bound to a uniquely powerful time and space. More

Second Circle return with a special one-off album of music by Belgian producer soFa, German musician Houschyar and the legendary Turkish drummer and percussionist Okay Temiz.

SC019 – Selale (LP) is the result of a string of sessions that began in Istanbul during 2018, when soFa spontaneously teamed up with friend Houschyar for a series of smoky jams in the young producer's 5th floor apartment. They would meet again a few months later, with a plan to finish the EP, and whilst having lunch, the two decided to pay a spontaneous visit to Okay Temiz, with whom soFa had worked previously.

Welcoming the pair in the percussion workshop (Atölye) where he spends most of his days, Temiz was excited by their demos and the three of them began to jam around the tracks, with Temiz utilizing a number of his own homebuilt instruments. The duo had now become a trio, it seems, and back in their home studio the jams would be edited and reworked; with Okay adding further overdubbing and contributions to the tracks.

Probably best known as a member of The Don Cherry Trio, for his own band Oriental Wind and for numerous collaborations with some of the best Jazz musicians in the world, Okay Temiz is considered to be one of the most innovative and outstanding musical figures in Turkey and beyond. A professional musician since 1955, Temiz's career began in Jazz and traditional Turkish music, but he became increasingly fascinated with the possibilities of electronic and self-built instruments, which he would experiment within different forms. During the late 70ties Temiz also developed a special love for Brazilian instruments such as the Berimbau and Cuica, both of which are omnipresent on this album.

In this latest collaboration, Okay Temiz weaves his percussive magic through six diverse psychedelic synthesizer and drum computer jams, alongside two exciting young producers. Selale is mixed by Dusseldorf studio wizard Gordon Pohl. More

The eighteenth release on Second Circle is the label's second exploration into an artists archival works; this time presenting a selection of four early tracks by theatre, film and music producer Can Oral under his Khan alias.

Can moved to Williamsburg, New York in the early 90's along with good friend and fellow musician Jimi Tenor. Born in Germany of Turkish-Finnish parents, he would frantically start buying equipment (such as a TR808, TB303 and Korg Polysix) from junk shops across New York, becoming greatly prolific in his recordings which he would work on throughout the night. During the daytime though, Can set up and ran the now defunct Temple Records, a seminal Soho record store, and later label, largely importing Techno and Acid from Europe. Though a small store, Temple Records would count musicians and DJs such as Björk, Tricky, Dee-Lite, Josh Wink and Joey Beltram among its regular customers. Also he would host many such guests to play live or DJ at his weekly Techno party “Killer” which was held at Save The Robots in New York’s East Village.

Can Oral's nightly studio sessions eventually led to an almost inexhaustible discography with over a dozen monikers each representing a different aspect of his productions. SC018 focuses then on his early electronic works as Khan.

Named after the color painted studio where the EP was produced between 1993-1996, 'Blue Box Sessions' is a collection of four analogue machine driven cuts, covering different tempos and ethos within electronic music. Initially live recorded to an old DAT recorder, and without any overdubs, SC018 is a lost and found artefact to Khan's unquestioned raw talent and timeless relevance. More

Second Circle returns with the follow up to Giuseppe Leonardi’s 2018 debut record ‘TBC’, with another singular EP from the young Austrian musician, titled ’MenteMente’. Recorded this year in Vienna, during the lockdown of the city, the title ‘MenteMente’ was derived from the Spanish word ‘Mente’ (meaning ‘Mind’) and refers to a meditative state developed during times of crisis, and the evolution this has brought to Giuseppe’s own musical process over the past months.

Reflecting an evolution in his musical output, the six tracks on ‘MenteMente’ incorporate a diverse mix of sounds and influences. The EP also includes collaborations with vocalist Fresh Princess, a young experimental dancer and vocalist from Ghana now based in Vienna. As well as spoken word from Georgian Art Theorist Lana Girkelidze who reads her favourite passages from Georgian poet Galaktion Tabidze’s poem ‘Qari qris’ - ????????? ??????-???? ????.

‘MenteMente’ will be accompanied by a series of digital visuals made by Carolina Rivera Arboleda, artist and student at the Vienna University of Applied Arts and a stop motion video installation by renowned Viennese street artist Olivier Hölzl. More

SC016 sees the re-issue of four tracks taken from a little known cassette only release ‘Diet Of Germs’ by British artist and friend Adam Oko. Originally released in 2015 on the now defunct Astro:Dynamics label the four tracks were recorded in Adam’s bedroom studio overlooking Clissold Park in Stoke Newington, London.

Now based in Tokyo but having spent most of his life living between London & Canterbury, as well as producing music and running a regular radio show on NTS radio, Adam also makes mixed media artwork and designs installations & interiors.

All instruments on ‘Diet Of Germs’ were performed by Adam himself except the solo on Suketo which was played by Raven Bush - Kate Bush’s nephew & was actually recorded in Kate’s old studio in South London. More

The fifteenth release on Second Circle sees the label’s first exploration into an artists archival works; this time bringing together a selection of four early tracks by the seminal English musician Richard H. Kirk under his Sandoz moniker.
As founding member and driving force of pioneering Industrial band Cabaret Voltaire, Richard H. Kirk began his solo project Sandoz in 1992, evolving out of and running in parallel to Cabaret Voltaire’s evolution in sound from innovators of Industrial and post punk electronics towards pioneering works within Techno and House.
Taking the name from Sandoz Laboraties, a pharmaceutical company best known for inventing LSD in 1938, Kirk’s somewhat lesser known solo project evolved out of Cabs’ fascination and own development of Acid House and Rave culture, whilst leaning more heavily on Jamaican Reggae and Dub influences.
Presenting a selection of four mind-bending tracks, originally released between 1992-1993 on his very own Sheffield-based Intone label, SC015 further reveals Richard H. Kirk’s unique and visionary voice within electronic music. More

Second Circle are thrilled to announce the latest release on the label comes from the Indonesian outfit Zatua with their debut release ‘Sin Existencia’. First formed by Dea Barandana, the seven track album was recorded in Jakarta and Bali over two years and grew out of improvised live shows with a band Dea put together.
Zatua first performed together in 2017 at the Goethe Institute in Jakarta as a last minute addition to the bill, having only a week to prepare and rehearse. The live show would consist of material based on simple melodic ideas and extended sections growing into live jams. Taking material from Dea Barandana’s solo compositions the ideas were then further developed and re-structured by Dea and band members Harsya Wahono, Adra Karim and Rafi Muhammad into finished pieces. Inviting further guest musicians to join on various tracks, the vocals were in fact largely improvised by Carmen Caballero Fernández and Sasha Sabrina - in French, Spanish and Asturian.
Using predominantly analogue equipment, ’Sin Extistencia’ is the final outcome of an extensive exploration into the unique sonic ranges and musical fascinations of the various members of the band. Taking influence from Indonesian psychedelic music from the 1970’s and 80’s the album presents a fascinating glimpse into contemporary Indonesian electronic music with a nod to it’s little known but rich past. More

Music From Memoryâ??s sister label Second Circle returns with their first release of 2018, this time with a 4 tracker EP from French producer and Antinote via Melody As Truth affiliate D.K. aka Dang Khoa Chau. More

Repress!

Harmonies is the new long player from underground super-producer Lord Echo. Hotly anticipated for the last few years by his growing entourage of fans, many were frustrated by his descent into obscurity in the industrial backwaters of New Zealand where he lived alone and went completely insane trying to complete the record. But those frustrations are finally at an end, and the wait was worth it - for fans at least.

The new album solidifies his already distinctive mutations of reggae and rock steady with disco, African soul, techno and spiritual jazz. In other words, the Lord has returned from the wilderness with a bounty for his followers. Eat of the bread of life and enjoy access to his crazy World of Sound.

Quotes:

“Lord Echo thoughtfully incorporates dub reggae rhythms and a production aesthetic redo- lent of the ‘60s into an expansive pool of sounds that draws from 1970s West African clubs, quiet storm-era Motown, Caribbean disco, and more.” Pitchfork

“... a DJ-friendly sound using ’60s production techniques, once again joining up imaginary and unforeseen dots between reggae, disco, soul, African and Latin elements.” Vinyl Factory


FOR FANS OF... THE BLACK SEEDS, FAT FREDDY’S DROP, ELECTRIC WIRE HUSTLE. More

LP

Electronic

Tracklist:

SIDE A
1. Fallen Angel - DJ Python
2. Sword - Ana Roxanne
3. III - Ana Roxanne
4. The Veil I - Natural Wonder Beauty Concept
5. Natural Wonder Beauty Concept - Natural Wonder Beauty Concept
SIDE B
1. The Veil II - DJ Python
2. Young Adult Fiction - Ana Roxanne
3. Driving - Natural Wonder Beauty Concept
4. Clear - Natural Wonder Beauty Concept
5. World Freehand Circle Drawing - DJ Python


The life of the solo electronic artist is equal parts privilege and loneliness. You hurtle across
the sky to spend a few hours in a dark club, behind the decks or on stage at the microphone.
A brief grasp at transcendence, then the lights are on. Afterwards, you chat with friends you
made last month, last year, or an hour ago. Back on the train, the plane. A couple weeks of
this, then home. Repeat. It was against this backdrop that Ana Roxanne and DJ Python (Brian
Piñeyro) struck up a singular friendship and collaboration, culminating in the shared musical
language of their new project, Natural Wonder Beauty Concept.
Brian and Ana met in New York City in the winter of 2020. They’d respectively put out
critically acclaimed albums but due to extenuating global circumstances, the real-world
implications of those records were yet to be seen. Ana’s debut LP, Because of a Flower,
released in fall 2020, trades in both ethereality and directness, stretching timeless pop and
R&B forms into shimmering ambient magic. When the Bay Area-born, Mills-trained artist
sings, on record or live, time slows down and we enter a languorous yet ecstatic present.
The second album from Queens-based deep reggaeton innovator DJ Python, Mas Amable,
also subverts easy temporality. Released in spring 2020, Mas Amable floats in liminal space
—not quite a dance record, a downtempo record, nor an ambient record—unfurling at a
wistful pace, naturally suited for a strange period when each day felt the same yet wildly
different.

Well-loved albums aside, no one was playing shows, and a general listlessness and
disconnection prevailed. Roxanne had recently moved to New York, and while the pair had
previously interacted online and expressed admiration with each others’ work, they were
now able to meet in person for the first time. A quiet understanding developed between the
two artists on their initial hangs – they drove around the outskirts of NYC, listening to
Telegram by Björk, HTRK, Portishead, all manner of melancholy acoustic indie songs. They
pulled over in Filipino neighborhoods to eat. Periods of volubility were punctuated by
silence, laughter interspersed with wide-eyed pondering. For Brian and Ana, studio
experimentation was the instinctive extension of a friendship finding its feet.
The duo’s preternatural communication was present from the start. In early, open-ended
sessions at Gary’s Electric Studio in Greenpoint, they arrived on a moody, novel sound
encompassing trip-hop, synth-pop, brittle IDM drums, and samples of classical music.
Piñeyro threw out ideas at a breakneck pace. Ana impacted the sound with subtle,
monumental chord shapes and textures, eventually singing over strange and beautiful beats.
“There was lots of time to make music during the first year we worked on the project,” they
remember. “The winter in New York felt quite vacuous, so we spent a lot of time reflecting
on feeling too much and feeling nothing at all.”

Then, after a heady start on a prospective album, the world reopened. Roxanne and Piñeyro
parted ways for most of 2021. Ana embarked upon her first headlining tours across Europe,
North America, and Australia, quietly commanding large rooms. Python was a fixture in the
sleepless European electronic club circuit. Ana moved away from NYC and back to the Bay
Area. Alone again, they experienced the exhilaration and fatigue of the road. Their lives, and
the project, were in flux.

After a smattering of sessions on the rare occasions they found themselves in the same city,
Brian and Ana converged on Kranky label manager Brian Foote’s home studio in Los
Angeles in the summer of 2022. The songs were taking shape. Dreamy, densely layered
drum programming and atmosphere, redolent of Seefeel and Boards Of Canada, washed against jungle and oddball ambient landscapes. They listened to tracks-in-progress while
driving through the hills at night, lights flickering out in the expanse. The writing process was
entirely collaborative. Ana sang, Brian sang. They dashed off lyrics together, reflecting an
increasingly shared mental state. “You me you / falling in deeper blue / running through a
circle that surrounds you / mango jelly flowers all around you.”

Later that fall, the duo traveled back to Brooklyn for a last round of sessions with engineer
and producer Al Carlson (Oneohtrix Point Never, Jessica Pratt). Their longtime friend CZ
Wang (Parquet Courts, Huerco S.) mixed and finalized the songs in early 2023, and then a
name for the project materialized. Natural Wonder Beauty Concept was “something Ana saw
in the universe.” The self-titled album does not resemble the previous work of either artist –
Ana’s celebrated ~~~ EP and album; Piñeyro’s various releases as DJ Python and DJ Wey or
his recent EP with Ela Minus. Instead, it’s a sui generis work built block by block over two
years. It’s the longest DJ Python has ever worked on a record, and the shortest period of
time Ana has ever dedicated to a project.

Early on in Natural Wonder Beauty Concept, we hear Python singing for the first time, over a
woozy, Actress-influenced beat. He’s a portrait of alienation. “Isn’t it strange that I kind of feel
nothing at all,” he muses. Ana responds to Python’s call: “Wouldn’t you say that I’m a person…
giving you the time…” By the song’s conclusion, Roxanne’s vocals are an enveloping force
over a lilting street bass. “The project gave us a creative license of freedom,” the pair say. “It
was an opportunity to try anything out, whatever we happened to be feeling or influenced
by.” Python and Ana are both known for bittersweet, contemplative electronic music that
feels like a companion in quiet times. With their new project, the two artists have found their
natural, if unexpected, counterparts. Natural Wonder Beauty Concept is the sound of two
brilliant artists learning to be alone, together More

Tracklist:
1.Intro Descent
2.Live Eternal
3.Bigger, Stronger, Faster
4.Capture
5.Main Titles
6.The Brothers
7.Drone Interrogation
8.A Symbol of Life
9.Heavy Weight
10.Reflective Dreams
11.Infinity Techno
12.Escaping Suite
13.Aftermath
14.Rip Fights
15.Final Fight
16.Ascend Finale
17.Divinity 2 Infinity: The Odyssey (DJ Muggs featuring Kool Keith) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfSAHFtG3FE

Legendary hip hop pioneer DJ Muggs and frequent David Lynch collaborator Dean Hurley join forces for the original score to the 2023 Sundance premiering feature film Divinity. Equal parts sonically punishing and ethereal, the soundtrack delivers a unique punch that further intensifies the mind-bending, acid-trip experience of the film.

Divinity Is a sci-fi dystopian odyssey produced by Steven Soderbergh and helmed by visionary director Eddie Alcazar. Set in the distant future, scientist Sterling Pierce dedicated his life to the quest for immortality, slowly making progress developing a serum named Divinity. Jaxxon Pierce, his son, now controls and profits from his father’s once benevolent dream. Society on their barren planet has been entirely perverted by the supremacy and pervasiveness of the drug. Two mysterious brothers arrive with a plan to abduct the mogul, and with the help of a woman named Nikita, they set on a trajectory hurtling toward true immortality.

Amidst the film’s extraordinary tapestry of stark aesthetics and themes, the score is a ten tonbarbell of sonic weight. Crafted with 8-bit samplers, Wavestation synths, extended choir and string techniques, the soundtrack manages to swing wildly between the arenas of both music and sound design. Like all rich soundtracks, listening to the score on its own reconjures the imagery of the film in the screen of the listener’s mind, an aural experience that manages to encapsulate and pulse a matched intensity of the film.

Tracks like ‘The Brothers’ and ‘Reflective Dreams’ cascade Vangelis-esque tones, painting with broad strokes of cinematic grandeur and ethereal wonder. ‘Main Titles’ and ‘Infinity Techno’ conversely swing hard into relentless, punishing sonics; with brutal, pulsing energy representative of the twisted, relentless pursuit of immortality. A standout of the album is undoubtedly “Divinity 2 Infinity: The Odyssey,” featuring cult hip-hop hero and lyrical-savant Kool Keith. Written for the film’s end credits, the track is a satisfying throwback to the 90’s original soundtrack cut bespoke-tailored to the film’s narrative themes.

DJ Muggs and Dean Hurley’s synergy yields a soundtrack that takes Divinity beyond the screen and into a multi-dimensional experience, inviting its listener along uncharted auralterrain for an unforgettable odyssey in sound. More

Second Pressing, Fanzine is now printed on the innersleeve.

With two critically acclaimed albums and a swathe of award-winning production turns under their belt, Ana Frango Elétrico present their most confident and accomplished work to date: Me Chama De Gato Que Eu Sou Sua / Call Me They That I’m Yours. Gesturing to a tradition of Brazilian boogie music, but bouncing with modern pop ebullience, the album sees the Rio artist evolve from a captivating upstart into a surefooted scene leader in full stride.

At just 25, the prolific artist and producer has already garnered worldwide admirers. Ana’s sophomore Little Electric Chicken Heart was nominated at the 2020 Latin Grammys. Since then, standalone singles have received the WME ‘Best Music Producer’ Award, recognising Ana’s deep passion for music production – a passion which has led to collaborations with nascent Brazilian stars Dora Morelenbaum, Illy and Sophia Chablau. Most recently, Ana was hailed for their co-production of Bala Desejo’s 2022 Latin Grammy-winning album Sim Sim Sim.

The new album finds Ana at their most assured and full voiced. Album opener “Electric Fish”, with funky bass and shimmering backing vocals, sets a buoyant tone. “Boy of Stranger Things” is its bombastic counterpart. It’s the grooviest Ana has ever sounded. And the most brazen. Lyrically, where Ana was once oblique on personal matters, they are now forthright – lucidly exploring their gender identity, citing accessible cultural references, and often singing in English.

“I started this album in 2021 with the intention of showing, in means of sound, understandings and feelings about queer love, subjectively exposing myself,” the non-binary artist states – before qualifying that though “feeling was its driving force, the album is really about musical production."

“There’s so many references to different decades,” Ana explains. “Seventies drums with eighties processing … Going back, getting beyond … Testing the limits of organic sounds”. Characteristically playful, on Me Chama, Ana takes vivid and rewarding detours through funk-inflected R&B (“Dela”) and art pop (“Dr. Sabe Tudo”). “Nuvem Vermelha” is a cinematic chanson with lush strings that recalls Arthur Verocai. Then, “Coisa Maluca” loafs with the indie insouciance of Canadian slacker Mac Demarco. Later, “Let's Go Before Again”, is a full-on drum machine workout evocative of Stereolab.

“Even if people don't find my own references here, they'll find theirs,” observes Ana. “Maybe that’s this record’s biggest goal.” More