1
Li Yilei - TAN
2
Li Yilei - CHU
3
Li Yilei - HUO
4
Li Yilei - WEI
5
Li Yilei - HAI
6
Li Yilei - NEI
7
Li Yilei - MUU
8
Li Yilei - SAN
9
Li Yilei - XUN
10
Li Yilei - YAN
11
Li Yilei - YUN
12
Li Yilei - KOU
‘’OF is a word that can be used as a preposition to express the relationship between a part and a whole. It is an unfinished tone, a broken sentence, a start and a whole. It is sustainable, full of potentials and longings.’’
London based performance and sound artist Li Yilei shared an experience familiar to many migrants during the past year of COVID-19 chaos. With their UK visa set to expire, and family back in China, Li made a last-minute dash to return to their nation of birth. Able to board one of the last few flights to China during the initial turmoil of the coronavirus outbreak, Li made it back to Shanghai for a two-week stint in a quarantine hotel.
Though Li had already begun creating OF, the reality of the pandemic began to seep into the recordings. Each of the 12 tracks is a study in horology, using metaphorical sound transcriptions and atmospheric extractions to focus on the temporal relationship between experience and surroundings. Li’s awareness of their own understanding of time became increasingly heightened during quarantine and the emotional involvement found within these new realities informed many of the sounds created.
‘’I tried to portray each song as a short, scattered poem - a moment that I captured to represent each hour.’’
Composed using analogue synthesisers, vocal samples, field recordings and string instruments such as the violin and guqin, Li indulges in moments of grief, panic, healing, cessation, melancholy, vastness, hope, joy and emptiness as they explore the acoustic relations between humans and the many forces of nature.
The art of the Song Dynasty, with its ancient traditions of poetry and timekeeping, were also great sources of inspiration for the album - whilst paintings from the period, specifically those of flowers and birds, are common themes throughout the tracks. Indeed, it is within the vastness of time that the album artwork comes to relevance. The eighth emperor of the Song Dynasty, Huizong, was a revered artist and a scene from his work ‘Finches and Bamboo’ adorns the album cover.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
London based performance and sound artist Li Yilei shared an experience familiar to many migrants during the past year of COVID-19 chaos. With their UK visa set to expire, and family back in China, Li made a last-minute dash to return to their nation of birth. Able to board one of the last few flights to China during the initial turmoil of the coronavirus outbreak, Li made it back to Shanghai for a two-week stint in a quarantine hotel.
Though Li had already begun creating OF, the reality of the pandemic began to seep into the recordings. Each of the 12 tracks is a study in horology, using metaphorical sound transcriptions and atmospheric extractions to focus on the temporal relationship between experience and surroundings. Li’s awareness of their own understanding of time became increasingly heightened during quarantine and the emotional involvement found within these new realities informed many of the sounds created.
‘’I tried to portray each song as a short, scattered poem - a moment that I captured to represent each hour.’’
Composed using analogue synthesisers, vocal samples, field recordings and string instruments such as the violin and guqin, Li indulges in moments of grief, panic, healing, cessation, melancholy, vastness, hope, joy and emptiness as they explore the acoustic relations between humans and the many forces of nature.
The art of the Song Dynasty, with its ancient traditions of poetry and timekeeping, were also great sources of inspiration for the album - whilst paintings from the period, specifically those of flowers and birds, are common themes throughout the tracks. Indeed, it is within the vastness of time that the album artwork comes to relevance. The eighth emperor of the Song Dynasty, Huizong, was a revered artist and a scene from his work ‘Finches and Bamboo’ adorns the album cover.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
More records from Li Yilei
1
Li Yilei - Go, Little Book
2
Li Yilei - O O O O
3
Li Yilei - Pond, Grief And Glee
4
Li Yilei - Tooth, Wallflower And Salt
5
Li Yilei - ++++
6
Li Yilei - Sand, Fable And Tiger Balm
7
Li Yilei - Yip, Yip, Yip
8
Li Yilei - Conch, Soap And Whistle
9
Li Yilei - Nomad, Shelter And Creed
10
Li Yilei - Sandalwood, Ivory And Summit
11
Li Yilei - Pillow, Mantra And Trance
12
Li Yilei - Thé Noir, Rêvasser, Retrouvailles
“Growing up has always been a solitary journey, marked by forward-looking anticipation, anxiety, unripe potential, aspirations, and closures.”
London based Chinese composer and multi-instrumentalist Li Yilei returns to Métron Records with NONAGE, their second full length release following 2021’s OF. An introspective reflection on the journey through childhood, this new work brings together samples from old Chinese TV shows, mechanical children’s toys and an array of acoustic and electronic instruments - some of which were designed and built by Li themselves.
The Chinese title for "NONAGE" is "??", which translates to “childhood” or “disheveled hair”, and refers to the carefree phase of life when children let their hair down, both figuratively and literally. For Li, nonage is a place that they always revisit - to learn about fear and fearlessness, love and despair, grief and glee, curiosity and mistakes.
“I remember pressing piano keys like touching flowers, reading scores like looking at paintings, writing like how I would talk to myself, greeting death like how I would greet life.”
Initially conceived as an archiving project, the record retraces and reimagines fractions of Li’s childhood memories through smell, location and colour, and brings to life the lingering feelings that remain into adulthood.
Compositions are built around a variety of unusual sources: damaged instruments such as a toy piano, a hand cranked music box, bird whistles, a broken accordion and anything else Li could find that evoked nascent recollections. Interspersed throughout are samples from Li’s childhood piano jams, moments of contemplative transmigration where previous incarnations of self and memory meet the present.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
London based Chinese composer and multi-instrumentalist Li Yilei returns to Métron Records with NONAGE, their second full length release following 2021’s OF. An introspective reflection on the journey through childhood, this new work brings together samples from old Chinese TV shows, mechanical children’s toys and an array of acoustic and electronic instruments - some of which were designed and built by Li themselves.
The Chinese title for "NONAGE" is "??", which translates to “childhood” or “disheveled hair”, and refers to the carefree phase of life when children let their hair down, both figuratively and literally. For Li, nonage is a place that they always revisit - to learn about fear and fearlessness, love and despair, grief and glee, curiosity and mistakes.
“I remember pressing piano keys like touching flowers, reading scores like looking at paintings, writing like how I would talk to myself, greeting death like how I would greet life.”
Initially conceived as an archiving project, the record retraces and reimagines fractions of Li’s childhood memories through smell, location and colour, and brings to life the lingering feelings that remain into adulthood.
Compositions are built around a variety of unusual sources: damaged instruments such as a toy piano, a hand cranked music box, bird whistles, a broken accordion and anything else Li could find that evoked nascent recollections. Interspersed throughout are samples from Li’s childhood piano jams, moments of contemplative transmigration where previous incarnations of self and memory meet the present.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
More records from Métron Records
1
Ess Whiteley - Rhizomatic Harpists
2
Ess Whiteley - Music for Moving and Being
3
Ess Whiteley - Whispered Messages in Tapestried Fields of Fluid Motion
4
Ess Whiteley - Kaleidoscopic Patterns of Emptiness Dancing
5
Ess Whiteley - Interspecies Magicians
6
Ess Whiteley - Mycelial Circuit Board Dreams
7
Ess Whiteley - Dancing Air
Métron Records announces Mycorrhizal Music, the forthcoming album from composer and multi instrumentalist Ess Whiteley. Currently a PhD candidate in Composition at the University of California-San Diego, Whiteley’s practice spans recordings, installations, performances, and scores, a body of work as diverse as the fungal webs that inspire it.
Across seven tracks, Whiteley explores interconnected sound worlds shaped by mycelium networks, rhizomatic structures, and other unseen systems that sustain life. Rooted in experimental electronics, minimalism, ambient and IDM, the record imagines sound as ephemeral connective tissue capable of reshaping how a listener might experience time, memory, and futurity.
At the core of Whiteley’s work is an excavation of what lies beneath perception, the felt but unspoken currents of emotionality and subtle experiences that dwell in the unconscious.
Mycorrhizal Music channels these hidden threads into a speculative ecosystem of kinship and exchange, where joy, play, and spirituality interlace like branching hyphae beneath the soil. Mycorrhizal Music has been conceived as kinetic ambient music, designed to move with the listener while walking, riding trains, driving, cooking, where everyday rhythms align with shifting sonic textures, reminding them of hidden, interconnected, mycelial webs of spiritual vitality beneath the surfaces of daily activity.
Guided by a vision of speculative ecology and interspecies resonance, it thrives in contrasts: tracks like Rhizomatic Harpists and Whispered Messages in Tapestried Fields of Fluid Motion pulse with fluid momentum, while Kaleidoscopic Patterns of Emptiness Dancing drifts into fragile stillness.
With artwork by Kenta Senekt and mastering by Brandon Hocura, Mycorrhizal Music extends Métron Records’ ethos of cultivating subtle, interconnected sound worlds. The album will be released on LP and digital on 5/11/25
Credits:
Written, Recorded and Produced by Ess Whiteley
Mastered by Brandon Hocura
Artwork by Kenta Senekt
Violin: Amir Norouz Nasseri
Vocals: Natalia Merlano Gómez
Synthesizers, piano, trumpet, drum programming and all other instruments: Ess Whiteley
Special thanks to Jack Hardwicke, Jessica Goodchild and King Britt
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
Across seven tracks, Whiteley explores interconnected sound worlds shaped by mycelium networks, rhizomatic structures, and other unseen systems that sustain life. Rooted in experimental electronics, minimalism, ambient and IDM, the record imagines sound as ephemeral connective tissue capable of reshaping how a listener might experience time, memory, and futurity.
At the core of Whiteley’s work is an excavation of what lies beneath perception, the felt but unspoken currents of emotionality and subtle experiences that dwell in the unconscious.
Mycorrhizal Music channels these hidden threads into a speculative ecosystem of kinship and exchange, where joy, play, and spirituality interlace like branching hyphae beneath the soil. Mycorrhizal Music has been conceived as kinetic ambient music, designed to move with the listener while walking, riding trains, driving, cooking, where everyday rhythms align with shifting sonic textures, reminding them of hidden, interconnected, mycelial webs of spiritual vitality beneath the surfaces of daily activity.
Guided by a vision of speculative ecology and interspecies resonance, it thrives in contrasts: tracks like Rhizomatic Harpists and Whispered Messages in Tapestried Fields of Fluid Motion pulse with fluid momentum, while Kaleidoscopic Patterns of Emptiness Dancing drifts into fragile stillness.
With artwork by Kenta Senekt and mastering by Brandon Hocura, Mycorrhizal Music extends Métron Records’ ethos of cultivating subtle, interconnected sound worlds. The album will be released on LP and digital on 5/11/25
Credits:
Written, Recorded and Produced by Ess Whiteley
Mastered by Brandon Hocura
Artwork by Kenta Senekt
Violin: Amir Norouz Nasseri
Vocals: Natalia Merlano Gómez
Synthesizers, piano, trumpet, drum programming and all other instruments: Ess Whiteley
Special thanks to Jack Hardwicke, Jessica Goodchild and King Britt
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
1
Yumiko Morioka - Komorebi
2
Yumiko Morioka - Moon Road
3
Yumiko Morioka - Rainbow Gate
4
Yumiko Morioka - Ever Green
5
Yumiko Morioka - ??
6
Yumiko Morioka - ??????
7
Yumiko Morioka - Round And Round
8
Yumiko Morioka - La Sylphide
9
Yumiko Morioka - Moon Ring
10
Yumiko Morioka - ???
New 2025 repress. run of 300. some slight artwork edits.
Japanese pianist Yumiko Morioka initially released Resonance, her first and only solo recording, on Akira Ito's ‘Green & Water’ imprint in 1987. Whilst by no means a commercial failure, the album was mostly found in the background of Japanese TV documentaries, maternity clinics and healing shops before drifting into relative obscurity.
By 1994, Morioka had relocated to America and her solo music career had given way to the joys of starting a family and her new life in California. It was, and still is, a shock for her to learn that Resonance had gained the attention of a new audience outside of Japan through blog posts and YouTube album uploads.
After hearing Resonance for the first time ourselves back in early 2017, we tried for months to track Morioka down about a reissue. This news reached her at a particularly trying time in her life following the devastating loss of her home in the 2017 California wildfires.
Her home had recently been razed, destroying all of her possessions, musical equipment, scores and recordings. Morioka was lucky to escape with her life; her quick thinking neighbour raised the alarm in the middle of the night giving her just enough time to escape safely before then tragically watching her home burn to the ground.
In the aftermath, Morioka returned to Japan in an attempt to rebuild her life. She found work writing music for commercial projects and pop acts before recently opening her own chocolate shop in the Jiyugaoka neighbourhood of Tokyo - back where it all began.
‘’Space and time moved at a different speed than now’’ – Yumiko Morioka
A lifelong student of the piano, Morioka was born in Tokyo in 1956. A child prodigy, she took up the instrument under her mother’s tutelage at just three years old and by her teens she had won multiple piano scholarships. Her talent was so obvious that she was invited to train in America, eventually graduating from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music with a piano major during John Adams’ reign as head of composition.
After graduation, Morioka returned to Japan but struggled to find her place musically, working mostly on commercial songwriting assignments. Frustrated, and at times embarrassed by her musical output, she turned to the works of Brian Eno and the surroundings of her coastal home in the Izu Peninsula south of Tokyo for inspiration. It was here that she began to work on the compositions that would eventually become Resonance.
Recorded on a Bösendorfer grand piano, much of Resonance was made in an attempt to soothe her creative soul. Constructed from unwritten improvisations with additional instrumentation added later, Resonance explores the space between notes. As such, it's a record that feels open and inviting, permeated throughout with a sense of confident serenity.
The sparse, delicately played notes are allowed to reverberate and echo through the spaces between themselves, giving each track a feeling of both grandeur and intimacy. Like the great pioneers of classical and ambient music, there's a timelessness to Resonance - a comforting, familiar feeling, as if these melodies have always existed.
Resonance drew influence from the popular environmental music culture prevalent in Japan during the late 80s, but it was also heavily inspired by Western musicians such as the avant-garde Parisian composer Erik Satie. Listening today, it still feels fresh and pertinent; a warm, contemplative reflection of a travelled woman.
Resonance has been lovingly remastered by Séance Centre's Brandon Hocura and given new artwork by Métron Records’ label head Jack Hardwicke.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
Japanese pianist Yumiko Morioka initially released Resonance, her first and only solo recording, on Akira Ito's ‘Green & Water’ imprint in 1987. Whilst by no means a commercial failure, the album was mostly found in the background of Japanese TV documentaries, maternity clinics and healing shops before drifting into relative obscurity.
By 1994, Morioka had relocated to America and her solo music career had given way to the joys of starting a family and her new life in California. It was, and still is, a shock for her to learn that Resonance had gained the attention of a new audience outside of Japan through blog posts and YouTube album uploads.
After hearing Resonance for the first time ourselves back in early 2017, we tried for months to track Morioka down about a reissue. This news reached her at a particularly trying time in her life following the devastating loss of her home in the 2017 California wildfires.
Her home had recently been razed, destroying all of her possessions, musical equipment, scores and recordings. Morioka was lucky to escape with her life; her quick thinking neighbour raised the alarm in the middle of the night giving her just enough time to escape safely before then tragically watching her home burn to the ground.
In the aftermath, Morioka returned to Japan in an attempt to rebuild her life. She found work writing music for commercial projects and pop acts before recently opening her own chocolate shop in the Jiyugaoka neighbourhood of Tokyo - back where it all began.
‘’Space and time moved at a different speed than now’’ – Yumiko Morioka
A lifelong student of the piano, Morioka was born in Tokyo in 1956. A child prodigy, she took up the instrument under her mother’s tutelage at just three years old and by her teens she had won multiple piano scholarships. Her talent was so obvious that she was invited to train in America, eventually graduating from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music with a piano major during John Adams’ reign as head of composition.
After graduation, Morioka returned to Japan but struggled to find her place musically, working mostly on commercial songwriting assignments. Frustrated, and at times embarrassed by her musical output, she turned to the works of Brian Eno and the surroundings of her coastal home in the Izu Peninsula south of Tokyo for inspiration. It was here that she began to work on the compositions that would eventually become Resonance.
Recorded on a Bösendorfer grand piano, much of Resonance was made in an attempt to soothe her creative soul. Constructed from unwritten improvisations with additional instrumentation added later, Resonance explores the space between notes. As such, it's a record that feels open and inviting, permeated throughout with a sense of confident serenity.
The sparse, delicately played notes are allowed to reverberate and echo through the spaces between themselves, giving each track a feeling of both grandeur and intimacy. Like the great pioneers of classical and ambient music, there's a timelessness to Resonance - a comforting, familiar feeling, as if these melodies have always existed.
Resonance drew influence from the popular environmental music culture prevalent in Japan during the late 80s, but it was also heavily inspired by Western musicians such as the avant-garde Parisian composer Erik Satie. Listening today, it still feels fresh and pertinent; a warm, contemplative reflection of a travelled woman.
Resonance has been lovingly remastered by Séance Centre's Brandon Hocura and given new artwork by Métron Records’ label head Jack Hardwicke.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
1
Yumiko Morioka & Takashi Kokubo - Birds Of Borneo
2
Yumiko Morioka & Takashi Kokubo - Gaiaphilia
3
Yumiko Morioka & Takashi Kokubo - Elegant Spiral
4
Yumiko Morioka & Takashi Kokubo - Ancient Beach
5
Yumiko Morioka & Takashi Kokubo - O-KA-GU-RA
6
Yumiko Morioka & Takashi Kokubo - Sanukite
7
Yumiko Morioka & Takashi Kokubo - Veil Of The Night
8
Yumiko Morioka & Takashi Kokubo - Hibiki Of Katakamuna
Repress coming end of April!
Japanese artists Yumiko Morioka and Takashi Kokubo unite for Gaiaphilia, a journey through ambient soundscapes that seamlessly blends Morioka’s graceful piano compositions with Kokubo’s immersive field recordings and atmospheric synthesisers.
This collaboration brings together two of Japan’s most influential pioneers in ambient and new age music, each with decades of groundbreaking work. Morioka, celebrated for her 1987 album Resonance—reissued to critical acclaim by Métron Records—infuses her introspective playing with Kokubo’s vivid environmental textures, creating a dialogue between nature and melody.
After releasing Resonance, Morioka stepped away from music, moving to America to raise her family. For years, her work was quietly cherished by fans, only gaining wider recognition with its reissue in 2020. A devastating wildfire destroyed her California home seven years ago, prompting her return to Tokyo where she became a chocolatier before rediscovering her passion for the piano in recent years, playing live shows and making new recordings.
Takashi Kokubo’s legendary discography spans over 30 years, and has found wider acclaim in recent years via YouTube algorithms and bootleg uploads, wracking up tens of millions of plays. Yet he is probably best known for his sound design work, specifically the Japanese earthquake alert sound as well as credit card payment jingles - his creations are pervasive in Japanese society.
“From our love and concern for our planet, we both offer a unique sensibility and spirit of inquiry which we express through our music.”
Rooted in shared philosophical interests, Gaiaphilia reflects a profound reverence for nature’s resilience and harmony. Themes of Gaia, Mother Earth’s renewal, and the interconnectedness of life are central, with inspirations drawn from cosmology, sacred geometry, and Japan’s mystical Katakamuna tradition. The album invites listeners into a meditative space where sound mirrors the delicate balance of the natural world.
A master of sound design, Kokubo enhances this vision with his distinctive field recordings, captured using a self-made binaural microphone shaped like a crash test dummy’s head. From the jungles of Borneo to the gentle rhythm of ocean waves, Kokubo’s globe-spanning recordings transform into immersive soundscapes that perfectly complement Morioka’s introspective piano compositions.
“The title, Gaiaphilia, is a newly created word to encompass our love and respect for nature and life, this feeling is the theme we hoped to express.”
Released on Métron Records on 12/03/25 and with artwork from Ventral Is Golden, Gaiaphilia marks a remarkable new chapter for Morioka and Kokubo. Recorded at Kokubo’s log house studio named Studio Ion in Yamanashi, their collaboration offers listeners a deeply emotional and transcendent experience, rooted in the timeless beauty of Japan’s natural landscapes.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
Japanese artists Yumiko Morioka and Takashi Kokubo unite for Gaiaphilia, a journey through ambient soundscapes that seamlessly blends Morioka’s graceful piano compositions with Kokubo’s immersive field recordings and atmospheric synthesisers.
This collaboration brings together two of Japan’s most influential pioneers in ambient and new age music, each with decades of groundbreaking work. Morioka, celebrated for her 1987 album Resonance—reissued to critical acclaim by Métron Records—infuses her introspective playing with Kokubo’s vivid environmental textures, creating a dialogue between nature and melody.
After releasing Resonance, Morioka stepped away from music, moving to America to raise her family. For years, her work was quietly cherished by fans, only gaining wider recognition with its reissue in 2020. A devastating wildfire destroyed her California home seven years ago, prompting her return to Tokyo where she became a chocolatier before rediscovering her passion for the piano in recent years, playing live shows and making new recordings.
Takashi Kokubo’s legendary discography spans over 30 years, and has found wider acclaim in recent years via YouTube algorithms and bootleg uploads, wracking up tens of millions of plays. Yet he is probably best known for his sound design work, specifically the Japanese earthquake alert sound as well as credit card payment jingles - his creations are pervasive in Japanese society.
“From our love and concern for our planet, we both offer a unique sensibility and spirit of inquiry which we express through our music.”
Rooted in shared philosophical interests, Gaiaphilia reflects a profound reverence for nature’s resilience and harmony. Themes of Gaia, Mother Earth’s renewal, and the interconnectedness of life are central, with inspirations drawn from cosmology, sacred geometry, and Japan’s mystical Katakamuna tradition. The album invites listeners into a meditative space where sound mirrors the delicate balance of the natural world.
A master of sound design, Kokubo enhances this vision with his distinctive field recordings, captured using a self-made binaural microphone shaped like a crash test dummy’s head. From the jungles of Borneo to the gentle rhythm of ocean waves, Kokubo’s globe-spanning recordings transform into immersive soundscapes that perfectly complement Morioka’s introspective piano compositions.
“The title, Gaiaphilia, is a newly created word to encompass our love and respect for nature and life, this feeling is the theme we hoped to express.”
Released on Métron Records on 12/03/25 and with artwork from Ventral Is Golden, Gaiaphilia marks a remarkable new chapter for Morioka and Kokubo. Recorded at Kokubo’s log house studio named Studio Ion in Yamanashi, their collaboration offers listeners a deeply emotional and transcendent experience, rooted in the timeless beauty of Japan’s natural landscapes.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
1
Li Yilei - Go, Little Book
2
Li Yilei - O O O O
3
Li Yilei - Pond, Grief And Glee
4
Li Yilei - Tooth, Wallflower And Salt
5
Li Yilei - ++++
6
Li Yilei - Sand, Fable And Tiger Balm
7
Li Yilei - Yip, Yip, Yip
8
Li Yilei - Conch, Soap And Whistle
9
Li Yilei - Nomad, Shelter And Creed
10
Li Yilei - Sandalwood, Ivory And Summit
11
Li Yilei - Pillow, Mantra And Trance
12
Li Yilei - Thé Noir, Rêvasser, Retrouvailles
“Growing up has always been a solitary journey, marked by forward-looking anticipation, anxiety, unripe potential, aspirations, and closures.”
London based Chinese composer and multi-instrumentalist Li Yilei returns to Métron Records with NONAGE, their second full length release following 2021’s OF. An introspective reflection on the journey through childhood, this new work brings together samples from old Chinese TV shows, mechanical children’s toys and an array of acoustic and electronic instruments - some of which were designed and built by Li themselves.
The Chinese title for "NONAGE" is "??", which translates to “childhood” or “disheveled hair”, and refers to the carefree phase of life when children let their hair down, both figuratively and literally. For Li, nonage is a place that they always revisit - to learn about fear and fearlessness, love and despair, grief and glee, curiosity and mistakes.
“I remember pressing piano keys like touching flowers, reading scores like looking at paintings, writing like how I would talk to myself, greeting death like how I would greet life.”
Initially conceived as an archiving project, the record retraces and reimagines fractions of Li’s childhood memories through smell, location and colour, and brings to life the lingering feelings that remain into adulthood.
Compositions are built around a variety of unusual sources: damaged instruments such as a toy piano, a hand cranked music box, bird whistles, a broken accordion and anything else Li could find that evoked nascent recollections. Interspersed throughout are samples from Li’s childhood piano jams, moments of contemplative transmigration where previous incarnations of self and memory meet the present.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
London based Chinese composer and multi-instrumentalist Li Yilei returns to Métron Records with NONAGE, their second full length release following 2021’s OF. An introspective reflection on the journey through childhood, this new work brings together samples from old Chinese TV shows, mechanical children’s toys and an array of acoustic and electronic instruments - some of which were designed and built by Li themselves.
The Chinese title for "NONAGE" is "??", which translates to “childhood” or “disheveled hair”, and refers to the carefree phase of life when children let their hair down, both figuratively and literally. For Li, nonage is a place that they always revisit - to learn about fear and fearlessness, love and despair, grief and glee, curiosity and mistakes.
“I remember pressing piano keys like touching flowers, reading scores like looking at paintings, writing like how I would talk to myself, greeting death like how I would greet life.”
Initially conceived as an archiving project, the record retraces and reimagines fractions of Li’s childhood memories through smell, location and colour, and brings to life the lingering feelings that remain into adulthood.
Compositions are built around a variety of unusual sources: damaged instruments such as a toy piano, a hand cranked music box, bird whistles, a broken accordion and anything else Li could find that evoked nascent recollections. Interspersed throughout are samples from Li’s childhood piano jams, moments of contemplative transmigration where previous incarnations of self and memory meet the present.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
1
Lucy Sissy Miller - Missing
2
Lucy Sissy Miller - White Fleece_^°
3
Lucy Sissy Miller - Any Eye For A Heart
4
Lucy Sissy Miller - Le Ranch De Mes Reves
5
Lucy Sissy Miller - I'll Remember This
6
Lucy Sissy Miller - The Lighthouse
7
Lucy Sissy Miller - Ballad Of Miss Keats
8
Lucy Sissy Miller - Free
9
Lucy Sissy Miller - How__?
10
Lucy Sissy Miller - Florida Mermaids
11
Lucy Sissy Miller - For Mary
12
Lucy Sissy Miller - Autopilot
13
Lucy Sissy Miller - Phony Cowboys
14
Lucy Sissy Miller - Codependency Interlude (Horny Country)
15
Lucy Sissy Miller - Horse Girl
16
Lucy Sissy Miller - Country
Lucy Sissy Miller is a French/British singer-songwriter, performer and artist based in Paris. On her latest release for Mêtron Records, Pre Country, she renders her own personal take on country music, an ambient and airy ode to her love of Americana. Across 16 tracks, Miller recollects about love-like friendships, breakups, mermaids and missing girl mysteries - the album acting as a movie-like homage to girlhood and desire.
“With this album I really enjoyed blurring the lines between fiction and reality, a bit like what movies are able to do to us. I hide a little bit of personal truth behind each song.”
Influenced by the tones of Laurie Anderson and Imogen Heap, as well as the imagery found in Twin Peaks and Paris, Texas, Pre Country is a rich and explorative record that mixes a wide range of sonic sources. Though very much rooted in folk music, Pre Country is laced with layers of autotune, bringing an other worldly and haunted presence to the work.
“It’s an album about memories and how we stitch up these moments, making them movie-like to make sense of these experiences.”
The record was crafted with notes from journals, poetry, voice memos, transformed and collected sounds and here it carries the many layers of desire, loss and fear that Miller wanted to convey in the songs, communicating an unsteady, explosion of feeling whilst remaining delicate and personal.
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“With this album I really enjoyed blurring the lines between fiction and reality, a bit like what movies are able to do to us. I hide a little bit of personal truth behind each song.”
Influenced by the tones of Laurie Anderson and Imogen Heap, as well as the imagery found in Twin Peaks and Paris, Texas, Pre Country is a rich and explorative record that mixes a wide range of sonic sources. Though very much rooted in folk music, Pre Country is laced with layers of autotune, bringing an other worldly and haunted presence to the work.
“It’s an album about memories and how we stitch up these moments, making them movie-like to make sense of these experiences.”
The record was crafted with notes from journals, poetry, voice memos, transformed and collected sounds and here it carries the many layers of desire, loss and fear that Miller wanted to convey in the songs, communicating an unsteady, explosion of feeling whilst remaining delicate and personal.
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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
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DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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Territories World Ex France, Ex Poland
The first Time ever on Vinyl: The Original Soundtrack of ZBIGNIEW PREISNER /KIESLOWSKI /
3 Colours / Trois Coulours / 3 Farben: Blue / Bleu / Blau
1LP+CD
1. Song For The Unication Of Europe (Patrice's version) 2. Van Den Budenmayer - Funeral music (winds) 3. Julie - Glimpses of Burial 4. Reprise - First Appearance 5. The Battle of Carnival and Lent 6. Reprise - Julie with Olivier
7. Ellipsis 1 8. First Flute 9. Julie - in her new apartment 10. Reprise – Julie on the stairs 11. Second ute 12. Ellipsis 2 13. Van Den Budenmayer - Funeral music (organ) 14. Van Den Budenmayer - Funeral music (full orchestra) 15. The Battle of Carnival and Lent II 16. Reprise - ute (closing credits version) 17. Ellipsis 3 18. Olivier's theme – piano 19. Olivier and Julie - Trial composition 20. Olivier's theme – nale 21. Bolero - Trailer for “Red” lm
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Germany
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The first Time ever on Vinyl: The Original Soundtrack of ZBIGNIEW PREISNER /KIESLOWSKI /
3 Colours / Trois Coulours / 3 Farben: Blue / Bleu / Blau
1LP+CD
1. Song For The Unication Of Europe (Patrice's version) 2. Van Den Budenmayer - Funeral music (winds) 3. Julie - Glimpses of Burial 4. Reprise - First Appearance 5. The Battle of Carnival and Lent 6. Reprise - Julie with Olivier
7. Ellipsis 1 8. First Flute 9. Julie - in her new apartment 10. Reprise – Julie on the stairs 11. Second ute 12. Ellipsis 2 13. Van Den Budenmayer - Funeral music (organ) 14. Van Den Budenmayer - Funeral music (full orchestra) 15. The Battle of Carnival and Lent II 16. Reprise - ute (closing credits version) 17. Ellipsis 3 18. Olivier's theme – piano 19. Olivier and Julie - Trial composition 20. Olivier's theme – nale 21. Bolero - Trailer for “Red” lm
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DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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Territories: DE,AT,CH only
Tracklist
A1. Pedagogic
A2. Team Vulcan
A3. Honeymoon
A4. Love Humans
A5. Zaire 73
A6. Acid Lake
A7. Krakatau
A8. Volcano March
B1. Destroy and Create
B2. Vulcain
B3. Childhood Dream
B4. Approaching the Beast
B5. Jingle News Report
B6. Katia and Maurice
B7. Orcamore
This 15-track album features the original score composed by Nicolas Godin (of AIR) for Fire of Love, the Oscar-nominated documentary directed by Sara Dosa in 2022 (available for streaming on Disney+), as well as original music inspired by the film.
Fire of Love tells the extraordinary love story of fearless French volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft, who died as spectacularly as they lived, capturing some of the most breathtaking footage ever recorded of their greatest passion: volcanoes.
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Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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Tracklist
A1. Pedagogic
A2. Team Vulcan
A3. Honeymoon
A4. Love Humans
A5. Zaire 73
A6. Acid Lake
A7. Krakatau
A8. Volcano March
B1. Destroy and Create
B2. Vulcain
B3. Childhood Dream
B4. Approaching the Beast
B5. Jingle News Report
B6. Katia and Maurice
B7. Orcamore
This 15-track album features the original score composed by Nicolas Godin (of AIR) for Fire of Love, the Oscar-nominated documentary directed by Sara Dosa in 2022 (available for streaming on Disney+), as well as original music inspired by the film.
Fire of Love tells the extraordinary love story of fearless French volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft, who died as spectacularly as they lived, capturing some of the most breathtaking footage ever recorded of their greatest passion: volcanoes.
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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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Cat-No:DUHFD11RT
Release-Date:28.02.2025
Configuration:2LP
Cat-No:DUHFD11RT
Release-Date:28.02.2025
Configuration:2LP
On February 28, 2025, Stereolab are making seven of their studio albums available again as 2LP editions. These utilise the same remasters as the 2019 expanded album editions, cut from the original 1/2" tapes by Bo Kondren at Calyx Mastering and overseen by Tim Gane, but without any of the bonus material from the 3LP versions (which have now been discontinued), the idea being to make more cost-effective versions of these sought-after titles available to fans and shops. Each record comes housed in a single 5mm printed sleeve with printed inner sleeves, and a protective PVC outer bag.
Albums:
1. Transient Random-Noise Bursts With Announcements (1993)
2. Mars Audiac Quintet (1994)
3. Emperor Tomato Ketchup (1996
4. Dots And Loops (1997)
5. Cobra And Phases Group Play Voltage In The Milky Night (1999)
6. Sound-Dust (2001)
7. Margerine Eclipse (2004)
Remastered from original tapes.
Co-released by band’s own label Duophonic UHF Disks and Warp Records.
Specs 2LP in 5mm spine sleeve with printed inners with a protective PVC outer sleeve
Tracklisting:
A1. Metronomic Underground
A2. Cybele’s Reverie
A3. Percolator
B1. Les Yper-Sound
B2. Spark Plug
B3. OLV 26
B4. The Noise Of Carpet
C1. Tomorrow Is Already Here
C2. Emperor Tomato Ketchup
C3. Monstre Sacre
D1. Motoroller Scalatron
D2. Slow Fast Hazel
D3. Anonymous Collective
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWNlrII31rU&t=22s
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Albums:
1. Transient Random-Noise Bursts With Announcements (1993)
2. Mars Audiac Quintet (1994)
3. Emperor Tomato Ketchup (1996
4. Dots And Loops (1997)
5. Cobra And Phases Group Play Voltage In The Milky Night (1999)
6. Sound-Dust (2001)
7. Margerine Eclipse (2004)
Remastered from original tapes.
Co-released by band’s own label Duophonic UHF Disks and Warp Records.
Specs 2LP in 5mm spine sleeve with printed inners with a protective PVC outer sleeve
Tracklisting:
A1. Metronomic Underground
A2. Cybele’s Reverie
A3. Percolator
B1. Les Yper-Sound
B2. Spark Plug
B3. OLV 26
B4. The Noise Of Carpet
C1. Tomorrow Is Already Here
C2. Emperor Tomato Ketchup
C3. Monstre Sacre
D1. Motoroller Scalatron
D2. Slow Fast Hazel
D3. Anonymous Collective
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWNlrII31rU&t=22s
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Over the course of 2025 IARC will be celebrating their eleventh year of existence by revisiting some of the most celebrated (and hard to find) entries in their decade of releases. These LP packages will be presented with new liner notes, new insert booklets, and the fresh 2025 redesign of their iconic obi and dome logo. They will also be at a price point intended to help make it easier for stores to stock and sell these essential pieces of their catalog.
TRACKLIST
Side A
1. Visit Croatia
2. What’s Missing
3. Song of the Foundling
4. Whisky Story Time
5. Not Now Jesus
6. If You’re Sure You Want To
Side B
7. The Lucky Ones (feat. Danalogue)
8. Why, Buzzardman Why
9. Not My Ask
10. Turpentine
11. I Hope
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Germany
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TRACKLIST
Side A
1. Visit Croatia
2. What’s Missing
3. Song of the Foundling
4. Whisky Story Time
5. Not Now Jesus
6. If You’re Sure You Want To
Side B
7. The Lucky Ones (feat. Danalogue)
8. Why, Buzzardman Why
9. Not My Ask
10. Turpentine
11. I Hope
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1
Edmondson - Ladywell Limón
2
Edmondson - Every Night I Dream Of Catching Trains
3
Edmondson - Frutiger Aero
4
Edmondson - Azura feat. Mahyar Rahmantalab Vaghei
5
Edmondson - Juno's Theme
Territory: WW
Tracklist
Side 1 (A)
1. Ladywell Limón
2. Every Night I Dream Of Catching Trains
Side 2 (B)
1. Frutiger Aero
2. Azura feat. Mahyar Rahmantalab Vaghei
3. Juno's Theme
Blurb:
Edmondson presents his new 5-track EP, Azura. Newcastle-born, the English producer, renowned for his skills as a DJ and his atmospheric electronic music deeply rooted in UK movements, returns with a new EP on the French label Noire & Blanche. Azura embodies his signature deep house sound, infused with refined instrumentation that showcases his mastery of detail and sonic textures. Having made a name for himself by playing in venues across Europe and South Africa and gaining recognition from major media outlets such as NTS, Resident Advisor, Truants, and Delayed, he continues to establish himself as a key figure in the electronic music scene.
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DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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Tracklist
Side 1 (A)
1. Ladywell Limón
2. Every Night I Dream Of Catching Trains
Side 2 (B)
1. Frutiger Aero
2. Azura feat. Mahyar Rahmantalab Vaghei
3. Juno's Theme
Blurb:
Edmondson presents his new 5-track EP, Azura. Newcastle-born, the English producer, renowned for his skills as a DJ and his atmospheric electronic music deeply rooted in UK movements, returns with a new EP on the French label Noire & Blanche. Azura embodies his signature deep house sound, infused with refined instrumentation that showcases his mastery of detail and sonic textures. Having made a name for himself by playing in venues across Europe and South Africa and gaining recognition from major media outlets such as NTS, Resident Advisor, Truants, and Delayed, he continues to establish himself as a key figure in the electronic music scene.
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Germany
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Growing up in Chicago, later Detroit-based music producer, Theo Parrish is internationally well known for his own inimitable downtempo house music style. The approach Parrish took to compiling DJ-Kicks was very ambitious, inviting his Detroit peers to produce a collection of brand new material, and in turn creating the first ever all exclusive entry to the esteemed series.
3LP TRACKLIST
A1: De'Sean Jones & Ideeyah - Pressure
A2: Donald Lee Roland II - Simba's Theme
A3: Jason Hogans - Surrounded By Trees
B1: John C & Meftah - Full
B2: Meftah - When The Sun Falls
B3: De'Sean Jones - Psalm 23
C1: Ian Fink - Moonlight (Duality/Detroit Live Version)
C2: KESSWA - Chasing Delerium feat. Nova Zai
D1: Specter - The Upper Room
D2: Raj Mahal - Hudsons
E1: Raybone Jones - Green Funk
E2: Whodat & Sophiyah.e - Don’t Know
F1: Howard Thomas - Experiment 10
F2: mBtheLight - aGAIN (T’s Edit)
F3: Sterling Toles - Janis
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3LP TRACKLIST
A1: De'Sean Jones & Ideeyah - Pressure
A2: Donald Lee Roland II - Simba's Theme
A3: Jason Hogans - Surrounded By Trees
B1: John C & Meftah - Full
B2: Meftah - When The Sun Falls
B3: De'Sean Jones - Psalm 23
C1: Ian Fink - Moonlight (Duality/Detroit Live Version)
C2: KESSWA - Chasing Delerium feat. Nova Zai
D1: Specter - The Upper Room
D2: Raj Mahal - Hudsons
E1: Raybone Jones - Green Funk
E2: Whodat & Sophiyah.e - Don’t Know
F1: Howard Thomas - Experiment 10
F2: mBtheLight - aGAIN (T’s Edit)
F3: Sterling Toles - Janis
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Germany
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1
Purelink - Personal Velocity
2
Tammo Hesselink - Half Learned
3
Lara Sarkissian - Eternal Repose
4
Feloneezy - Lipstick On My Double Chin
5
Spivak - The Fucking Bed On The Floor
6
Civilistjavel - Fyrkant
7
Salamanda - Drink Wisdom
8
Hiroma Keo - Broken
9
Slowfoam - Mirror Stone
10
Ssiege - Virgo Oscura
Following up 2021’s compilation 'and felt like...', ' ...it wasn't really me' can be seen as the missing part of a diptych, only separated by the passage of time, yet whole in spirit. Again, a familiar company of singular artists showcase remarkable unity in diversity. Similar to its predecessor, a rustic gloom glues everything together into a seamless whole, enabling the collective to transcend each unique contributors' musical voice elegantly.
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DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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1
SOYUZ - Krok
2
SOYUZ - Lingua Do Mundo (Feat. Tim Bernardes)
3
SOYUZ - Nici
4
SOYUZ - Kali Ty Zapytaješ
5
SOYUZ - Cichi Karahod
6
SOYUZ - P7 Blues
7
SOYUZ - Voo Livre
8
SOYUZ - VCB
9
SOYUZ - Smak Žyccia (Feat. Manami Kakudo)
“Krok” means “step” in Belarusian - and for Alex Chumak and his band this word comes with a lot of meaning. It’s the title and theme that run throughout SOYUZ's fourth album, reflecting the journeys the band has navigated in recent years, having moved to Warsaw due to political unrest in their homeland of Belarus and the outbreak of war in Ukraine. Embracing the uncertainty became both the inspiration and main lyrical theme for Alex Chumak, SOYUZ’ composer and arranger, who also decided to go a step further and change the language in which he writes songs from Russian, which is used as lingua franca in many post-Soviet countries, to his native Belarusian. The result is nine songs about dreams and outer space, ordinary miracles, things very close and very distant at the same time.
In early 2022, Chumak and original members, Mikita Arlou and Anton Nemahai, joined tens of thousands of Belarusians seeking safety abroad. Resettling in Warsaw, the band released Force of the Wind in October 2022, garnering widespread acclaim, a string of major European gigs, and led to Polish musicians Albert Karch and Igor Wisniewski joining the band.
Deeper and more melancholic than previous works, KROK is quintessentially SOYUZ, laced with hope, dreams and a celebration of life. Given the difficulties with finding rehearsal and recording spaces in Warsaw and the departure of the drummer Anton Nemahai from the band, Chumak explored alternative options. He reached out to friend and fellow musical collaborator, Sessa, about the possibility of recording the new album in his recently finished studio in São Paulo, with Sessa and Biel Basile coming onboard as recording engineers.
At the tail end of 2024, Chumak and SOYUZ’ new drummer, Albert Karch, made the trip to São Paulo to record the first sessions for KROK. Sadly, they travelled without Mikita Arlou, SOYUZ’ co-founder and Chumak’s longtime creative partner, due to the financial impossibility of bringing him too. Laid down directly to tape, these sessions featured prominent Brazilian musicians Sessa, Biel Basile, and Marcelo Cabral, with a guest vocal feature by Tim Bernardes recorded at a later date. The final touches were then added back in Europe. Lush string and woodwind arrangements written by Chumak and Karch were recorded at the Polish Radio studio in Warsaw, and Rhodes parts were added by Chumak at Sven Wunder’s studio in Stockholm.
Though primarily recorded in Brazil, KROK is not a Brazilian or MPB album. It blends the bands' Eastern European roots with jazz, folk and global influences. The genre of the music is hardly identifiable: there are folk ballads and jazz-driven pop compositions covered in lush and often dissonant string and woodwind arrangements where each note is placed with care and meaning behind it.
Broad in its palette, KROK is full of highlights. The title track was the first song Chumak wrote in Belarusian as an adult, making for a fitting opener and one of the band’s finest tracks. Darker than most of SOYUZ’ songs, the tensions lift and lighten as the track progresses. The cinematic library jazz of 'Voo Livre', with ghostly vocals sung by Ciça Góes and Ina, feels like a modern twist on the Italian library composer Alessandro Alessandroni through its sublime choir and woodwind orchestration. Elsewhere, the heartfelt 'Lingua Do Mundo', composed, written, and sung by Chumak and the incredible Tim Bernardes, features one of the standout string arrangements from Chumak and Karch. 'Cichi Karahod' is an instant SOYUZ classic, almost Pat Metheny-esque as it opens, with the acoustic guitar and bass riff transitioning into jazzy AOR / pop-folk territory. The record closes with 'Smak žyccia', a gentle, dreamy spoken-word poetry piece in Japanese by singer-songwriter Manami Kakudo.
Despite immense challenges, SOYUZ have delivered a career-defining album in KROK. Heartfelt and beautiful, it is not an imitation of the past, but rather a truly original, contemporary expression all of its own.
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In early 2022, Chumak and original members, Mikita Arlou and Anton Nemahai, joined tens of thousands of Belarusians seeking safety abroad. Resettling in Warsaw, the band released Force of the Wind in October 2022, garnering widespread acclaim, a string of major European gigs, and led to Polish musicians Albert Karch and Igor Wisniewski joining the band.
Deeper and more melancholic than previous works, KROK is quintessentially SOYUZ, laced with hope, dreams and a celebration of life. Given the difficulties with finding rehearsal and recording spaces in Warsaw and the departure of the drummer Anton Nemahai from the band, Chumak explored alternative options. He reached out to friend and fellow musical collaborator, Sessa, about the possibility of recording the new album in his recently finished studio in São Paulo, with Sessa and Biel Basile coming onboard as recording engineers.
At the tail end of 2024, Chumak and SOYUZ’ new drummer, Albert Karch, made the trip to São Paulo to record the first sessions for KROK. Sadly, they travelled without Mikita Arlou, SOYUZ’ co-founder and Chumak’s longtime creative partner, due to the financial impossibility of bringing him too. Laid down directly to tape, these sessions featured prominent Brazilian musicians Sessa, Biel Basile, and Marcelo Cabral, with a guest vocal feature by Tim Bernardes recorded at a later date. The final touches were then added back in Europe. Lush string and woodwind arrangements written by Chumak and Karch were recorded at the Polish Radio studio in Warsaw, and Rhodes parts were added by Chumak at Sven Wunder’s studio in Stockholm.
Though primarily recorded in Brazil, KROK is not a Brazilian or MPB album. It blends the bands' Eastern European roots with jazz, folk and global influences. The genre of the music is hardly identifiable: there are folk ballads and jazz-driven pop compositions covered in lush and often dissonant string and woodwind arrangements where each note is placed with care and meaning behind it.
Broad in its palette, KROK is full of highlights. The title track was the first song Chumak wrote in Belarusian as an adult, making for a fitting opener and one of the band’s finest tracks. Darker than most of SOYUZ’ songs, the tensions lift and lighten as the track progresses. The cinematic library jazz of 'Voo Livre', with ghostly vocals sung by Ciça Góes and Ina, feels like a modern twist on the Italian library composer Alessandro Alessandroni through its sublime choir and woodwind orchestration. Elsewhere, the heartfelt 'Lingua Do Mundo', composed, written, and sung by Chumak and the incredible Tim Bernardes, features one of the standout string arrangements from Chumak and Karch. 'Cichi Karahod' is an instant SOYUZ classic, almost Pat Metheny-esque as it opens, with the acoustic guitar and bass riff transitioning into jazzy AOR / pop-folk territory. The record closes with 'Smak žyccia', a gentle, dreamy spoken-word poetry piece in Japanese by singer-songwriter Manami Kakudo.
Despite immense challenges, SOYUZ have delivered a career-defining album in KROK. Heartfelt and beautiful, it is not an imitation of the past, but rather a truly original, contemporary expression all of its own.
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1
Aroma Von Troisdorf - Fog Frog Green
2
Aroma Von Troisdorf - Lovers Lake
3
Aroma Von Troisdorf - Closer feat. Aprico
4
Aroma Von Troisdorf - Colas feat. Yao Bobby
5
Aroma Von Troisdorf - Amplify Shrooms
6
Aroma Von Troisdorf - Dreams Unfold
7
Aroma Von Troisdorf - Osmopower
8
Aroma Von Troisdorf - Zeiten
R.i.O. welcomes a new member. Straight in full length. An album created by Dorsten,North-Rhine-Westfalia based producer Aroma Von Troisdorf - a man who refuses to be putin a box. Unlike others, who politely stay in one lane, he is a tuneful shape shifter. Alreadyhis 2021 debut on the Cologne based label Papercup Records smashed Krautrock, Synthpop,Electro, Ambient, and dub together. His 2023 and 2024 Papercup Ep's "Buttergolem"and "Rodeln am Rhein" added Italo-Disco, Synth-pop and a drop of experimental Electroto his versatility. Now eight new creations, brilliantly composed, yet - even in odd flashes -effortlessly catchy. They bring once more a stylistic melting pot, now enlarged with TheCure-ish dreamscapes, stretching over guitar riffs and bass grooves, like in the closingambient-folk star "Zeiten" or the dreamy opening track "Fog Frog Green". There is themotorik krautrock pulse of "Osmopower", that boogies heavy in drum machine hypnosisunder Aroma's entrancing new-wave vocals. Tunes like "Dreams Unfold" or "AmplifyShrooms" are likewise propulsive, each one psyching in its very own rhythmic sector. Morevoices are present too. In the two-minute manic preacher "Colas", were Togolese rapperand political activist Yao Bobby chants edgy. Or in "Closer", where singer Aprico sendsspoken-word trances echoing through the cosmic jacking. And there is "Lovers Lake", ahypnotic drift of witchy vocals, bluesy chords, and endless synthscapes, that makes youswim on your feed. Shift the shapes, "Blaumilch" opens the gates.
Tracklist:
A1_Aroma Von Troisdorf - Fog Frog Green
A2_Aroma Von Troisdorf - Lovers Lake
A3_Aroma Von Troisdorf - Closer feat. Aprico
A4_Aroma Von Troisdorf - Colas feat. Yao Bobby
B1_Aroma Von Troisdorf - Amplify Shrooms
B2_Aroma Von Troisdorf - Dreams Unfold
B3_Aroma Von Troisdorf - Osmopower
B4_Aroma Von Troisdorf - Zeiten
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Tracklist:
A1_Aroma Von Troisdorf - Fog Frog Green
A2_Aroma Von Troisdorf - Lovers Lake
A3_Aroma Von Troisdorf - Closer feat. Aprico
A4_Aroma Von Troisdorf - Colas feat. Yao Bobby
B1_Aroma Von Troisdorf - Amplify Shrooms
B2_Aroma Von Troisdorf - Dreams Unfold
B3_Aroma Von Troisdorf - Osmopower
B4_Aroma Von Troisdorf - Zeiten
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1
Osamu Kitajima - Beyond The Circle
2
Osamu Kitajima - Mind Thieves
3
Osamu Kitajima - Darkness Desired
4
Osamu Kitajima - Blue Fire
5
Osamu Kitajima - Evening Privilege
6
Osamu Kitajima - The Bush Warbler
7
Osamu Kitajima - Fading Sky
8
Osamu Kitajima - Bonito Moxie
9
Osamu Kitajima - Goldfish Lingo
10
Osamu Kitajima - Distant Episode
An official re-issue of the 1996 album, Beyond the Circle, from Dr. Osamu Kitajima presented by Forest Jams on vinyl for the first time.
As the title suggests, Japanese music explorer Osamu Kitajima takes the listener beyond the known on a musical voyage into new territory where his compositions are a synthesis of Western electronics and ambient dance rhythms, tempered by the wisdom of ancient Japanese traditions. "Beyond the Circle" is music that is as energizing as it is spiritual and melodic.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
As the title suggests, Japanese music explorer Osamu Kitajima takes the listener beyond the known on a musical voyage into new territory where his compositions are a synthesis of Western electronics and ambient dance rhythms, tempered by the wisdom of ancient Japanese traditions. "Beyond the Circle" is music that is as energizing as it is spiritual and melodic.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
Label:Keplar
Cat-No:KeplarRev14LP
Release-Date:05.05.2023
Genre:Electronic, Electronica
Configuration:LP
Label:Keplar
Cat-No:KeplarRev14LP
Release-Date:05.05.2023
Genre:Electronic, Electronica
Configuration:LP
Arovane's acclaimed 2004 album »Lilies« has been out of print on vinyl for nearly 2 decades now. It finally gets a well-deserved reissue through the Berlin based Keplar label. The new version has been remastered by Kassian Troyer at Dubplates & Mastering and comes with a brand new cover artwork.
»Lilies« was a follow-up to »Tides« in every sense, exploring a trip to Japan and drawing on shimmering textures and the sort of melodies that you might need some time to recover from. There's a hugely evocative sense to these tracks, emotionally driven, free of complexity or conceit, piano melodies providing the central focus for a twilight cascade of light that seems perfect for the Tokyo skyline - just as the sun sets. It's an album that radiates warmth and vulnerability, fusing the technological might at the heart of each track (and at the heart of the city) with an age-old understanding that certain echoes of sound, small melodic changes and cushioned lullabies can imprint sounds on your mind like childhood memories - remembered forever. Like a dreamlike score, or maybe even an alternate soundtrack to »Lost in Translation« - the sort of music that intertwines with images and stays in your mind indefinately.
After coming back from Tokyo and completing the production of »Lilies«, Uwe Zahn disassembled his studio in the big flat in an old building in Berlin's Prenzlauerberg district and stored it away in boxes. He needed a break from making music. »Lilies« was the last album prior to a nine-year hiatus for Arovane, ending in 2013 with the release of »Ve Palor«.
Tracks
# Title Duration
1 Ten Hours (2023 Remaster) 03:01
2 Windy Wish Trees (2023 Remaster) 03:19
3 Passage To Nagoya (2023 Remaster) 02:07
4 Cry Osaka Cry (2023 Remaster) 05:08
5 Pink Lilies (2023 Remaster) 04:00
6 Lilies (2023 Remaster) 05:27
7 Tokyo Ghost Stories (2023 Remaster) 05:07
8 Instant Gods Out Of The Box (2023 Remaster) 04:35
9 Good Bye Forever (2023 Remaster) 03:48
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
»Lilies« was a follow-up to »Tides« in every sense, exploring a trip to Japan and drawing on shimmering textures and the sort of melodies that you might need some time to recover from. There's a hugely evocative sense to these tracks, emotionally driven, free of complexity or conceit, piano melodies providing the central focus for a twilight cascade of light that seems perfect for the Tokyo skyline - just as the sun sets. It's an album that radiates warmth and vulnerability, fusing the technological might at the heart of each track (and at the heart of the city) with an age-old understanding that certain echoes of sound, small melodic changes and cushioned lullabies can imprint sounds on your mind like childhood memories - remembered forever. Like a dreamlike score, or maybe even an alternate soundtrack to »Lost in Translation« - the sort of music that intertwines with images and stays in your mind indefinately.
After coming back from Tokyo and completing the production of »Lilies«, Uwe Zahn disassembled his studio in the big flat in an old building in Berlin's Prenzlauerberg district and stored it away in boxes. He needed a break from making music. »Lilies« was the last album prior to a nine-year hiatus for Arovane, ending in 2013 with the release of »Ve Palor«.
Tracks
# Title Duration
1 Ten Hours (2023 Remaster) 03:01
2 Windy Wish Trees (2023 Remaster) 03:19
3 Passage To Nagoya (2023 Remaster) 02:07
4 Cry Osaka Cry (2023 Remaster) 05:08
5 Pink Lilies (2023 Remaster) 04:00
6 Lilies (2023 Remaster) 05:27
7 Tokyo Ghost Stories (2023 Remaster) 05:07
8 Instant Gods Out Of The Box (2023 Remaster) 04:35
9 Good Bye Forever (2023 Remaster) 03:48
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
1
SOYUZ - Song With No Words
2
SOYUZ - Offscreen
3
SOYUZ - I Knew (Feat. Kate NV)
4
SOYUZ - Glance
5
SOYUZ - How Are You (Feat. Sessa)
6
SOYUZ - Beige Days
7
SOYUZ - Morning Moon
8
SOYUZ - Force Of The Wind
9
SOYUZ - Weather Report
Tracklist:
01. Song With No Words
02. Offscreen
03. I Knew It — feat. Kate NV
04. Glance
05. How Are You — feat. Sessa (Como é que vai você)
06. Beige Days
07. Morning Moon (Lua da manhã)
08. Force of the Wind
09. Weather Report
Some records just stop you in your tracks. They resonate with you and feel instantly familiar like an old friend, even on the first listen. SOYUZ's third album ‘Force of the Wind’ is one of those records. It holds all the trademarks, beauty, and eccentricities of classic Brazilian recordings, from the 60s and 70s, that we have come to love. Think artists such as Milton Nascimento, Lô Borges, Burnier e Cartier, Arthur Verocai et al. But this record wasn’t made in Brazil and is in fact a brand-new release.
SOYUZ (which translates as 'union') is a creative collective from Minsk, Belarus, led by composer, arranger, and singer, Alex Chumak, multi-instrumentalist, Mikita Arlou, and drummer, Anton Nemahai. SOYUZ's previous albums explored and reimagined the legacy of jazz-oriented, non-English-language pop music of the 20th century. For their third album, there is a stronger focus, and it is influenced by 70s Música popular Brasileira and building bridges from it to present-day Belarus. Alex notes that from the moment he first encountered Brazilian music, he found in it a kind of concentrated emotion that felt as if it were familiar to him from his childhood. This non-verbal emotion and connection between the listener and musician echoes in the music, regardless of understanding of the language the album is recorded in.
‘Force of the Wind’ includes songs sung in Russian and Portuguese as well as instrumental compositions. Its musical palette is both acoustic and electroacoustic: rich warm Rhodes piano, soaring string arrangements, and a controlled drum swagger sounding both relaxed yet super tight. Alongside Alex's sublime vocals, that grace the majority of the tracks, the album features guest performances by multi-talented musician and vocalist Kate NV and rising Brazilian star, Sessa. Alex also recently arranged a number of tracks on Sessa's highly praised 2022 album 'Estrela Acesa'.
On the album, the trio is joined by a cast of friends; NY-based musician of Turkish origin percussionist, Cem Misirlioglu, classically trained composer, Simon Hanes, who aided with string arrangements and conducting the string players, Netherlands-based Brazilian multi-instrumentalist, Gabriel Milliet, on flutes. With the collaboration of these friends SOYUZ have created nine songs/suites that are subtle and plenitude and like the best albums, leave you aching for more.
‘Force of the Wind’ is an enigma, Brazilian yet not Brazilian, vintage yet still contemporary, out of sync with modern culture yet completely relevant and necessary.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More
01. Song With No Words
02. Offscreen
03. I Knew It — feat. Kate NV
04. Glance
05. How Are You — feat. Sessa (Como é que vai você)
06. Beige Days
07. Morning Moon (Lua da manhã)
08. Force of the Wind
09. Weather Report
Some records just stop you in your tracks. They resonate with you and feel instantly familiar like an old friend, even on the first listen. SOYUZ's third album ‘Force of the Wind’ is one of those records. It holds all the trademarks, beauty, and eccentricities of classic Brazilian recordings, from the 60s and 70s, that we have come to love. Think artists such as Milton Nascimento, Lô Borges, Burnier e Cartier, Arthur Verocai et al. But this record wasn’t made in Brazil and is in fact a brand-new release.
SOYUZ (which translates as 'union') is a creative collective from Minsk, Belarus, led by composer, arranger, and singer, Alex Chumak, multi-instrumentalist, Mikita Arlou, and drummer, Anton Nemahai. SOYUZ's previous albums explored and reimagined the legacy of jazz-oriented, non-English-language pop music of the 20th century. For their third album, there is a stronger focus, and it is influenced by 70s Música popular Brasileira and building bridges from it to present-day Belarus. Alex notes that from the moment he first encountered Brazilian music, he found in it a kind of concentrated emotion that felt as if it were familiar to him from his childhood. This non-verbal emotion and connection between the listener and musician echoes in the music, regardless of understanding of the language the album is recorded in.
‘Force of the Wind’ includes songs sung in Russian and Portuguese as well as instrumental compositions. Its musical palette is both acoustic and electroacoustic: rich warm Rhodes piano, soaring string arrangements, and a controlled drum swagger sounding both relaxed yet super tight. Alongside Alex's sublime vocals, that grace the majority of the tracks, the album features guest performances by multi-talented musician and vocalist Kate NV and rising Brazilian star, Sessa. Alex also recently arranged a number of tracks on Sessa's highly praised 2022 album 'Estrela Acesa'.
On the album, the trio is joined by a cast of friends; NY-based musician of Turkish origin percussionist, Cem Misirlioglu, classically trained composer, Simon Hanes, who aided with string arrangements and conducting the string players, Netherlands-based Brazilian multi-instrumentalist, Gabriel Milliet, on flutes. With the collaboration of these friends SOYUZ have created nine songs/suites that are subtle and plenitude and like the best albums, leave you aching for more.
‘Force of the Wind’ is an enigma, Brazilian yet not Brazilian, vintage yet still contemporary, out of sync with modern culture yet completely relevant and necessary.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More