1
Rival Consoles - In Reverse
2
Rival Consoles - Catherine
3
Rival Consoles - Drum Song
4
Rival Consoles - Soft Gradient Beckons
5
Rival Consoles - Gaivotas
6
Rival Consoles - Coda
7
Rival Consoles - Known Shape
8
Rival Consoles - Nocturne
9
Rival Consoles - Jupiter
10
Rival Consoles - In A Trance
11
Rival Consoles - If Not Now
12
Rival Consoles - 2 Forms
13
Rival Consoles - Tape Loop
14
Rival Consoles - Landscape From Memory
Rival Consoles has been concurrently in the foreground and background of electronic music since the late 00s; conjuring tense melancholia for Black Mirror soundtracks, playing in front of 10,000 dance fans at Drumsheds, selling out London’s Barbican Hall, and logging an expansive, wandering collection of synth-sculpted albums that explore a myriad different styles and aesthetics—but always with human emotion as their lodestar. Landscape from Memory, the ninth studio LP from the UK producer and musician born Ryan Lee West, finally blossomed following a frustrating fallow year away from the production desk. For West, having spent the past decade producing and writing in a habitual way, falling out of love with creativity meant a slowing of the clock that makes him tick, a sense of being swallowed whole by some elementary force. However, the time out also made room for his most invigorating record yet.
Partly stitched together from a scrapbook of discarded audio snippets, Landscape from Memory demanded a degree of openness and vulnerability in its assembly. “There is a kind of strange beauty to it because it involves the past, present and future in a very strong way,” offers the Erased Tapes mainstay. He set to work massaging melodic kernels into full tracks, like the skippy, haunted club shuffle of memory-jogging lead single ‘Catherine’, which is dedicated to his partner. “It’s extremely open, just a naked melody on drums, so exposed as an idea… I think because she was so excited by it, I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, I'm excited too, actually, I just didn't realise,” he reflects.
Appropriately, the title track became the first piece of music that made West “feel an emotional reaction after a long time of having zero reaction”—closing the record transcendently in a fever dream of euphoric synthwave—although ‘Catherine’ can be understood as the spark that lit the fuse, bristling with energetic joy. Similarly, ‘Known Shape’ makes a play for an otherworldly dancefloor, melding a loping drum pattern to a twitchy soundscape. Granted, some of the standout moments of the LP can be found lurking in its weirder, wilder corners, from the broken-sounding synth that runs like a rough river through ‘2 Forms’, to the head-nodding, disembodied bounce of uncanny valley bop ‘In a Trance’. “I remember making that in a New York hotel room, starting it, when Robert (Raths, Erased Tapes founder) was doing something on his phone and I was just being annoying in the background,” recalls West of one of several pieces made on the road. Yet Raths expressed his excitement about the track as he was hooked instantly.
“I like music that has a sense of momentum, really pushing forward,” he adds of the ‘Landscape from Memory’ ice-breaker. “And it just instantly has that from the first breath. So I kind of like moments like that when they appear.”
These climatic productions are characterised by their propulsive quality, and driven by West’s own push to step outside his comfort zone, having found inspiration flowing from new and unfamiliar sources. After his self-built Hackney studio suddenly felt too controlled of an environment, West altered course, mapping out tracks away from his desk. To that end, Landscape from Memory is a travelogue of creativity on the move, a collection of postcards from everywhere, and an album defined by its restlessness.
Just like the record itself sprang from conflicting emotions, bliss and dread tussle audibly for dominance throughout. You can hear this tug-of-war in the radiant swell of ‘Nocturne’, an eerie, reverb-drenched meander through classical tones, or the warm piano figures that collide with percussive crunch on ‘If Not Now’. Away from the music, this essence resides in a grainy film photo that in West’s eyes holds the record’s emotional DNA: a serene vista of tall green trees that hide the roaring A12 road beneath this studio. “I just think it’s quite evocative because even though it was an alarming place, it also looks really comforting at the same time,” he muses.
This dichotomy flourishes in that sweet spot between knotty ambient and widescreen electronica, where environmental tones and electro-acoustic textures converge to create a living document of sound. On Landscape from Memory, sonic touches hint at something intimate and familiar: cracking ice, the buzzing of a fridge, the distant hum of the motorway. Investing more time with the acoustic guitar in the initial stages helped West convey this homespun quality. For instance, on ‘In Reverse’, gossamer melodies are layered to create “a tapestry of guitar parts” while ‘Gaivotas’, which was born out of a residency at Lisbon’s synth hotspot Patch Point last February, contrasts “extremely digital synths” with a cheap acoustic guitar that snakes through dense, rhythmic terrain.
“A lot of things that go on in the music are like a guitarist's perspective of treating sounds,” he offers, explaining that much of the record involved “crudely recording” ideas into a laptop microphone. “I just like the honesty of it,” he says of the guitar, also pointing to the record’s additional array of “unusual recording techniques.” Among these, drums were placed on the sofa to create the muffled, deadened sensation on ‘Coda’, where a woozy shoegaze fog and angel sighs build into a jumpy, organic groove. Or ‘Tape Loop’, which “importantly, was recorded with a microphone. So not only does it slow down the music, but also the dimensions of the room the microphone picks up changes,” he explains.
Growing up, West would often mess around with the materials on his parents’ land in the small town of Syston outside of Leicester, hammering nails into wood and “sawing stuff,” which ignited a strong curiosity for making and materials from childhood. He soon found his way into music, starting on the guitar before teaching himself digital production and going on to study music technology at Leicester’s De Montfort University. He later became the first signee to the nascent London label Erased Tapes in 2007, establishing the label's shorthand for exploratory post-minimalism. IO, his debut album as Rival Consoles, came out in 2009, while his output has since evolved across nearly two decades of activity, from the critically acclaimed 2018 offering Persona to Landscape from Memory’s 2022 predecessor, Now Is.
As a multidisciplinary artist he has always been passionate about imagery and how it relates to and inspires music. His 2020 record Articulation was informed by drawings he made in his sketchbook. He has also been experimenting in various motion media, from programming particle animations in Max MSP to filming and editing daily video clips, and manipulating imagery in Touchdesigner or Blender, which would shape the visual counterpart in his live A/V shows since 2015.
As Rival Consoles, West’s calling card is his ability to channel hope, pain, sadness, and euphoria in one fell swoop, twisting the key in the lock of his internal world and telling stories without words. Crucially, Landscape from Memory is as much about zooming in on the details as it is about seeing past the horizon. Like a saturated photograph or an abstract painting daubed with bright splotches, Landscape from Memory is a riot of colour, an album blazing with a sound-shaper’s renewed love for his craft.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore
Partly stitched together from a scrapbook of discarded audio snippets, Landscape from Memory demanded a degree of openness and vulnerability in its assembly. “There is a kind of strange beauty to it because it involves the past, present and future in a very strong way,” offers the Erased Tapes mainstay. He set to work massaging melodic kernels into full tracks, like the skippy, haunted club shuffle of memory-jogging lead single ‘Catherine’, which is dedicated to his partner. “It’s extremely open, just a naked melody on drums, so exposed as an idea… I think because she was so excited by it, I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, I'm excited too, actually, I just didn't realise,” he reflects.
Appropriately, the title track became the first piece of music that made West “feel an emotional reaction after a long time of having zero reaction”—closing the record transcendently in a fever dream of euphoric synthwave—although ‘Catherine’ can be understood as the spark that lit the fuse, bristling with energetic joy. Similarly, ‘Known Shape’ makes a play for an otherworldly dancefloor, melding a loping drum pattern to a twitchy soundscape. Granted, some of the standout moments of the LP can be found lurking in its weirder, wilder corners, from the broken-sounding synth that runs like a rough river through ‘2 Forms’, to the head-nodding, disembodied bounce of uncanny valley bop ‘In a Trance’. “I remember making that in a New York hotel room, starting it, when Robert (Raths, Erased Tapes founder) was doing something on his phone and I was just being annoying in the background,” recalls West of one of several pieces made on the road. Yet Raths expressed his excitement about the track as he was hooked instantly.
“I like music that has a sense of momentum, really pushing forward,” he adds of the ‘Landscape from Memory’ ice-breaker. “And it just instantly has that from the first breath. So I kind of like moments like that when they appear.”
These climatic productions are characterised by their propulsive quality, and driven by West’s own push to step outside his comfort zone, having found inspiration flowing from new and unfamiliar sources. After his self-built Hackney studio suddenly felt too controlled of an environment, West altered course, mapping out tracks away from his desk. To that end, Landscape from Memory is a travelogue of creativity on the move, a collection of postcards from everywhere, and an album defined by its restlessness.
Just like the record itself sprang from conflicting emotions, bliss and dread tussle audibly for dominance throughout. You can hear this tug-of-war in the radiant swell of ‘Nocturne’, an eerie, reverb-drenched meander through classical tones, or the warm piano figures that collide with percussive crunch on ‘If Not Now’. Away from the music, this essence resides in a grainy film photo that in West’s eyes holds the record’s emotional DNA: a serene vista of tall green trees that hide the roaring A12 road beneath this studio. “I just think it’s quite evocative because even though it was an alarming place, it also looks really comforting at the same time,” he muses.
This dichotomy flourishes in that sweet spot between knotty ambient and widescreen electronica, where environmental tones and electro-acoustic textures converge to create a living document of sound. On Landscape from Memory, sonic touches hint at something intimate and familiar: cracking ice, the buzzing of a fridge, the distant hum of the motorway. Investing more time with the acoustic guitar in the initial stages helped West convey this homespun quality. For instance, on ‘In Reverse’, gossamer melodies are layered to create “a tapestry of guitar parts” while ‘Gaivotas’, which was born out of a residency at Lisbon’s synth hotspot Patch Point last February, contrasts “extremely digital synths” with a cheap acoustic guitar that snakes through dense, rhythmic terrain.
“A lot of things that go on in the music are like a guitarist's perspective of treating sounds,” he offers, explaining that much of the record involved “crudely recording” ideas into a laptop microphone. “I just like the honesty of it,” he says of the guitar, also pointing to the record’s additional array of “unusual recording techniques.” Among these, drums were placed on the sofa to create the muffled, deadened sensation on ‘Coda’, where a woozy shoegaze fog and angel sighs build into a jumpy, organic groove. Or ‘Tape Loop’, which “importantly, was recorded with a microphone. So not only does it slow down the music, but also the dimensions of the room the microphone picks up changes,” he explains.
Growing up, West would often mess around with the materials on his parents’ land in the small town of Syston outside of Leicester, hammering nails into wood and “sawing stuff,” which ignited a strong curiosity for making and materials from childhood. He soon found his way into music, starting on the guitar before teaching himself digital production and going on to study music technology at Leicester’s De Montfort University. He later became the first signee to the nascent London label Erased Tapes in 2007, establishing the label's shorthand for exploratory post-minimalism. IO, his debut album as Rival Consoles, came out in 2009, while his output has since evolved across nearly two decades of activity, from the critically acclaimed 2018 offering Persona to Landscape from Memory’s 2022 predecessor, Now Is.
As a multidisciplinary artist he has always been passionate about imagery and how it relates to and inspires music. His 2020 record Articulation was informed by drawings he made in his sketchbook. He has also been experimenting in various motion media, from programming particle animations in Max MSP to filming and editing daily video clips, and manipulating imagery in Touchdesigner or Blender, which would shape the visual counterpart in his live A/V shows since 2015.
As Rival Consoles, West’s calling card is his ability to channel hope, pain, sadness, and euphoria in one fell swoop, twisting the key in the lock of his internal world and telling stories without words. Crucially, Landscape from Memory is as much about zooming in on the details as it is about seeing past the horizon. Like a saturated photograph or an abstract painting daubed with bright splotches, Landscape from Memory is a riot of colour, an album blazing with a sound-shaper’s renewed love for his craft.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore
More records from Erased Tapes
1
Daniel Brandt - Paradise O.D. (Feat. Hatis Noit)
2
Daniel Brandt - Lucid
3
Daniel Brandt - Addicted
4
Daniel Brandt - Steady
5
Daniel Brandt - Soft Rains
6
Daniel Brandt - Resistance
7
Daniel Brandt - PNK
8
Daniel Brandt - Persistence
9
Daniel Brandt - Nothing To Undo
The Doomsday Clock currently sits at 90 seconds to midnight, the closest the big hand and the little hand have come to signalling our total destruction since the conceptual chronograph was incepted back in 1947. If we’re dancing on the brink then we might as well make sure that the music is great. Step forward Daniel Brandt, of lauded German electroacoustic outfit Brandt Brauer Frick, who leads the apocalyptic rave with his third solo album Without Us.
On top of the music, Without Us is a multimedia event that clashes head on with the spiralling chaos of our times, trying to make sense of the world as it unravels. These are big themes for a full-blooded and forceful record full of rhythmic propulsion, though sometimes it’s the tiny details that help us to see the bigger picture. Indeed, the spark for Without Us ignited in a supermarket when Brandt was innocuously going about the weekly shop in 2020.
“The idea for this project began with a small but unsettling experience in South London,” he remembers. “I was looking to buy a single avocado, but every store I went into only seemed to offer them in plastic wrapping, packed in pairs with a little cardboard base. I remember thinking: ‘but the avocado already comes in its own perfect packaging? And I only want one.’ It struck me as absurd that, despite our awareness of the damage plastic causes, unnecessary packaging like this still persists.”
The scenario turned into a farrago - Brandt went from store to store discovering the same nightmare in every shop where every avocado was wrapped in superfluous packaging: “As a touring musician, maybe I have to admit my own carbon footprint is questionable,” he admits, “but it’s countries and corporations that need to quit with the half measures that avail the planet nothing, usually under pressure from powerful, short-termist lobbying groups.”
He continues: “Without Us is about the helplessness of the individual in the climate crisis and the apparent need to take radical global action to change the trajectory of the current threat of a climate disaster. It’s about the despair and inability to be able to properly contribute to change as an individual, even though the general idea is that everybody can play their part. But this part that each individual is supposed to take responsibility for is so small compared to the scale of what is needed. The responsibility must not be with the individual when we’re suffering from decisions by global corporations aiming to get rich quick.”
If South London provided the impetus then it was the Joshua Tree in California where the record began to take shape against a mise-en-scene of staggering vistas and eerie quiet. Brandt spent the week recording mostly percussion with barely anyone around, and that feeling of deserted landscapes and unspoiled natural beauty translated itself throughout the rest of the process back at home in Hackney Wick, London and the studio in Neukölln, Berlin, where he completed the album.
“I really enjoy going to places that are remote when I start making stuff,” he says, “and so I hired this shack in the middle of nowhere with this beautiful view of crazy scenery. You could call it cinematic, and it definitely influenced the way I made the music, but there’s also a sense of sadness in a place like Joshua Tree that the joshua trees themselves won’t be able to survive when the earth heats up.”
That feeling is evoked in the album opener ‘Paradise O.D.’, featuring Japanese voice artist Hatis Noit, which begins with the sound of ominous synths liquefying in the heat, followed by urgent, metronomic percussion, counting down as though Father Time himself is looking impatiently at his watch. The kinetic energy that infuses the album, burning like fossil fuel, barely lets up: from the melted mellotron-like weirdness of ‘Lucid’ to the shuffling, skittering mayhem of ‘PNK’; the four-to-the-floor tension of ‘Resistance’ to the hand-drum hypnotic experience of ‘Steady’, and the final reckoning of ‘Nothing To Undo’, the sonic equivalent of the ultimate season finale (whether the show gets cancelled or not is still in the balance).
To help us visualise, Brandt has even made a 20 minute film of the same name with Anthony Dickenson, shot in the searing heat of Athens in 2023, a microcosmic reflection of climate chaos, offering extreme solutions and a large helping of hyperbole.
Brandt, as you might have gathered, isn’t on this mission alone: Anne Müller brings staccato cello bass to ‘Addicted’ and more thorough strokes throughout; French multi-instrumentalist Akusmi aka Pascal Bideau interjects arpeggios that teeter on the edge, and Florian Juncker’s manipulated trombones bring sinister shadows to sprawling soundscapes.
Without Us feels like Brandt’s most focused and expedient offering to date: Bideau and Junker both played on the brighter, Steve Reich-inspired Channels from 2018, while Brandt’s celebrated 2017 debut Eternal Something had started out as “a cymbals album” that developed into something else when he discovered Ryoji Ikeda was making 100 Cymbals at the same time. If he didn’t get to join the niche drum album club alongside artists like Babatunde Olatunji, Tito Puentes, Dave Lombardo and Jim White, then rhythm itself is always front and centre of what he does.
Without Us the full project—album, film, and live performance—will premiere as an immersive experience at Barbican Hall in London on April 24th, 2025. The event will combine live music, the film and an “apocalyptic rave” where we’ll be able to explore our collective anxieties in a multi-dimensional way. It’s time to mobilise, and hope against hope that the Doomsday Clock knows how to move in an anti-clockwise direction.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore
On top of the music, Without Us is a multimedia event that clashes head on with the spiralling chaos of our times, trying to make sense of the world as it unravels. These are big themes for a full-blooded and forceful record full of rhythmic propulsion, though sometimes it’s the tiny details that help us to see the bigger picture. Indeed, the spark for Without Us ignited in a supermarket when Brandt was innocuously going about the weekly shop in 2020.
“The idea for this project began with a small but unsettling experience in South London,” he remembers. “I was looking to buy a single avocado, but every store I went into only seemed to offer them in plastic wrapping, packed in pairs with a little cardboard base. I remember thinking: ‘but the avocado already comes in its own perfect packaging? And I only want one.’ It struck me as absurd that, despite our awareness of the damage plastic causes, unnecessary packaging like this still persists.”
The scenario turned into a farrago - Brandt went from store to store discovering the same nightmare in every shop where every avocado was wrapped in superfluous packaging: “As a touring musician, maybe I have to admit my own carbon footprint is questionable,” he admits, “but it’s countries and corporations that need to quit with the half measures that avail the planet nothing, usually under pressure from powerful, short-termist lobbying groups.”
He continues: “Without Us is about the helplessness of the individual in the climate crisis and the apparent need to take radical global action to change the trajectory of the current threat of a climate disaster. It’s about the despair and inability to be able to properly contribute to change as an individual, even though the general idea is that everybody can play their part. But this part that each individual is supposed to take responsibility for is so small compared to the scale of what is needed. The responsibility must not be with the individual when we’re suffering from decisions by global corporations aiming to get rich quick.”
If South London provided the impetus then it was the Joshua Tree in California where the record began to take shape against a mise-en-scene of staggering vistas and eerie quiet. Brandt spent the week recording mostly percussion with barely anyone around, and that feeling of deserted landscapes and unspoiled natural beauty translated itself throughout the rest of the process back at home in Hackney Wick, London and the studio in Neukölln, Berlin, where he completed the album.
“I really enjoy going to places that are remote when I start making stuff,” he says, “and so I hired this shack in the middle of nowhere with this beautiful view of crazy scenery. You could call it cinematic, and it definitely influenced the way I made the music, but there’s also a sense of sadness in a place like Joshua Tree that the joshua trees themselves won’t be able to survive when the earth heats up.”
That feeling is evoked in the album opener ‘Paradise O.D.’, featuring Japanese voice artist Hatis Noit, which begins with the sound of ominous synths liquefying in the heat, followed by urgent, metronomic percussion, counting down as though Father Time himself is looking impatiently at his watch. The kinetic energy that infuses the album, burning like fossil fuel, barely lets up: from the melted mellotron-like weirdness of ‘Lucid’ to the shuffling, skittering mayhem of ‘PNK’; the four-to-the-floor tension of ‘Resistance’ to the hand-drum hypnotic experience of ‘Steady’, and the final reckoning of ‘Nothing To Undo’, the sonic equivalent of the ultimate season finale (whether the show gets cancelled or not is still in the balance).
To help us visualise, Brandt has even made a 20 minute film of the same name with Anthony Dickenson, shot in the searing heat of Athens in 2023, a microcosmic reflection of climate chaos, offering extreme solutions and a large helping of hyperbole.
Brandt, as you might have gathered, isn’t on this mission alone: Anne Müller brings staccato cello bass to ‘Addicted’ and more thorough strokes throughout; French multi-instrumentalist Akusmi aka Pascal Bideau interjects arpeggios that teeter on the edge, and Florian Juncker’s manipulated trombones bring sinister shadows to sprawling soundscapes.
Without Us feels like Brandt’s most focused and expedient offering to date: Bideau and Junker both played on the brighter, Steve Reich-inspired Channels from 2018, while Brandt’s celebrated 2017 debut Eternal Something had started out as “a cymbals album” that developed into something else when he discovered Ryoji Ikeda was making 100 Cymbals at the same time. If he didn’t get to join the niche drum album club alongside artists like Babatunde Olatunji, Tito Puentes, Dave Lombardo and Jim White, then rhythm itself is always front and centre of what he does.
Without Us the full project—album, film, and live performance—will premiere as an immersive experience at Barbican Hall in London on April 24th, 2025. The event will combine live music, the film and an “apocalyptic rave” where we’ll be able to explore our collective anxieties in a multi-dimensional way. It’s time to mobilise, and hope against hope that the Doomsday Clock knows how to move in an anti-clockwise direction.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore
1
David Allred - Pupper
2
David Allred - The Beautiful World
3
David Allred - Stray
4
David Allred - Piano Tree
5
David Allred - Introverts As Leaders
6
David Allred - Our Secret
7
David Allred - Good Afternoon
8
David Allred - Oh Lauren
9
David Allred - The Door
10
David Allred - Look
11
David Allred - Elevation 145
Preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zMjX4Sn2PU
David Allred is a prolific composer and producer based in Portland, Oregon. His new album The Beautiful World captures an enriched, realised understanding of why he composes in the first place. Dedicated to the expression of existential themes such as death, grief, longing and loss, the album’s core theme centres around the suicide of a young girl Lauren, who was a family friend to Allred.
For as long as he could remember, Allred always created music out of a kind of dissociative state which he finds alluringly easy to lapse into. A repetition of a motif is usually where he begins composing. But unlike his previous works, The Beautiful World firmly has one foot in reality and is deeply intertwined with Allred’s relationships, past and present.
For some musicians, a change in instrumentation, theme or learning a new artistic vocabulary helps them to move in a different direction. For Allred, a long period of introspection was more relevant to the development of his practice:
“I find beautiful irony when I consciously disconnect myself from working on music because it gives me more fuel and inspiration to engage in it more meaningfully when I resume. In the past, I used to work and create recklessly without boundaries which led to growth and success but at the cost of occasional disassociation. I would be checked out at times even while working [...] but now that I make music less often, I feel like I'm growing with what I do, and truly living life more. And since I'm getting more out of life, I have more to say. These boundaries have given me greater access to the things that inspire me, along with a peace of mind and the ability to rest when I maintain this balance.”
Through his correspondence with Erased Tapes label head and the album’s producer, Robert Raths, over the past year, he came to realise that everyone has a Lauren in a way – someone they’d lost. Through writing to Raths, Allred was able to draw out this thread from the work and position it more clearly as the central concept to this work. The music doesn’t reflect the chaos of trauma, instead it has a therapeutic quality. It was through this dialogue that Allred was able to create what may be his most cohesive body of work to date.
About this collaboration, Allred says:
"I am infinitely grateful for Robert's patience, persistence and profound attention to detail in the making of this record. He helped me feel effortlessly seen and understood in areas that are conventionally overlooked, collaboratively finding a mindful balance between the heart and the mind through creativity and work.”
The 11 track album unfolds around Oh Lauren, providing the core of the album’s sentiment – how grief returns to us throughout life over and over. Embedded more than halfway through the album, Allred allows listeners to cohabit a meditative space through ambient textures, drones and ballads echoing the vocal sincerity of Arthur Russell, Daniel Johnston and the hypnotic storytelling of Robert Ashley. Allred’s gorgeous melodic sense creates its own universe where the album’s songs live and breathe. He also has an intuitive understanding of the space between each note, and how to manipulate their decay to create otherworldly harmonics which envelop the sonic tapestry.
Compositions like Look and The Beautiful World provide tethers to Allred’s everyday existence. On Look he describes situations as simplistic as ordering a pizza with poignancy and bittersweetness. But lyrically, Allred “leans more abstract” than concrete. “I want to belong in the beautiful world” becomes mantra-like on the album’s title track, followed by Allred’s drifting observations set to a steady drone and percussion that sounds like the click of a Polaroid camera.
The instrumental pieces like Introverts as Leaders and Good Afternoon provide a delicate compliment to Allred’s lyric-focused pieces. The latter’s stuttering, granular-sounding synths pair with funereal organ, which beautifully captures the feelings of longing and loss that the songwriter is driven to communicate. These wordless spaces encompass Allred’s desire to make music that appeals primarily to the heart rather than the head. This new work invites listeners to come to terms with the way things are, what we can’t change – an acceptance of the everyday rather than embracing either pessimism or optimism.
To truly reckon with The Beautiful World’s emotional position, listeners must understand the importance of the figure of Lauren, and the significance she has had throughout Allred’s life. Lauren’s suicide as a child provided the catalyst for Allred’s lifelong grief. But it was death anxiety and grief itself which provided Allred a link to a universal relationship that people have with each other and the world they live in. Impermanence and loss are the driving force behind all of our connections.
The trance-like nature of The Beautiful World perhaps comes from David Allred’s time sense – particularly when it comes to memory and trauma. Time becomes non-linear rather than a straight line – where one can repeat or return to the same themes but older and in a different frame of mind. Grief continues to manifest itself in life and despite personal growth, there will always be moments where the same feeling will manifest itself again. The album encourages listeners to sit with the concept of grief, and Allred is hopeful they can find comfort and learn to process it in a healing way.
The Beautiful World is therefore heavily influenced by Allred’s work in therapy, particularly his relationship to writing music. In the past, Allred would be composing music as a means to dissociate from his life, but the album sees him engaging and connecting more authentically than ever with others and himself. Despite his prolific previous works being made in the company of others, Allred needed to step back from the scenes that he’s worked in to discover what he really wanted to create. Allred concludes: “In the power of love, curiosity, humour, and reconciliation, we give you The Beautiful World.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore
David Allred is a prolific composer and producer based in Portland, Oregon. His new album The Beautiful World captures an enriched, realised understanding of why he composes in the first place. Dedicated to the expression of existential themes such as death, grief, longing and loss, the album’s core theme centres around the suicide of a young girl Lauren, who was a family friend to Allred.
For as long as he could remember, Allred always created music out of a kind of dissociative state which he finds alluringly easy to lapse into. A repetition of a motif is usually where he begins composing. But unlike his previous works, The Beautiful World firmly has one foot in reality and is deeply intertwined with Allred’s relationships, past and present.
For some musicians, a change in instrumentation, theme or learning a new artistic vocabulary helps them to move in a different direction. For Allred, a long period of introspection was more relevant to the development of his practice:
“I find beautiful irony when I consciously disconnect myself from working on music because it gives me more fuel and inspiration to engage in it more meaningfully when I resume. In the past, I used to work and create recklessly without boundaries which led to growth and success but at the cost of occasional disassociation. I would be checked out at times even while working [...] but now that I make music less often, I feel like I'm growing with what I do, and truly living life more. And since I'm getting more out of life, I have more to say. These boundaries have given me greater access to the things that inspire me, along with a peace of mind and the ability to rest when I maintain this balance.”
Through his correspondence with Erased Tapes label head and the album’s producer, Robert Raths, over the past year, he came to realise that everyone has a Lauren in a way – someone they’d lost. Through writing to Raths, Allred was able to draw out this thread from the work and position it more clearly as the central concept to this work. The music doesn’t reflect the chaos of trauma, instead it has a therapeutic quality. It was through this dialogue that Allred was able to create what may be his most cohesive body of work to date.
About this collaboration, Allred says:
"I am infinitely grateful for Robert's patience, persistence and profound attention to detail in the making of this record. He helped me feel effortlessly seen and understood in areas that are conventionally overlooked, collaboratively finding a mindful balance between the heart and the mind through creativity and work.”
The 11 track album unfolds around Oh Lauren, providing the core of the album’s sentiment – how grief returns to us throughout life over and over. Embedded more than halfway through the album, Allred allows listeners to cohabit a meditative space through ambient textures, drones and ballads echoing the vocal sincerity of Arthur Russell, Daniel Johnston and the hypnotic storytelling of Robert Ashley. Allred’s gorgeous melodic sense creates its own universe where the album’s songs live and breathe. He also has an intuitive understanding of the space between each note, and how to manipulate their decay to create otherworldly harmonics which envelop the sonic tapestry.
Compositions like Look and The Beautiful World provide tethers to Allred’s everyday existence. On Look he describes situations as simplistic as ordering a pizza with poignancy and bittersweetness. But lyrically, Allred “leans more abstract” than concrete. “I want to belong in the beautiful world” becomes mantra-like on the album’s title track, followed by Allred’s drifting observations set to a steady drone and percussion that sounds like the click of a Polaroid camera.
The instrumental pieces like Introverts as Leaders and Good Afternoon provide a delicate compliment to Allred’s lyric-focused pieces. The latter’s stuttering, granular-sounding synths pair with funereal organ, which beautifully captures the feelings of longing and loss that the songwriter is driven to communicate. These wordless spaces encompass Allred’s desire to make music that appeals primarily to the heart rather than the head. This new work invites listeners to come to terms with the way things are, what we can’t change – an acceptance of the everyday rather than embracing either pessimism or optimism.
To truly reckon with The Beautiful World’s emotional position, listeners must understand the importance of the figure of Lauren, and the significance she has had throughout Allred’s life. Lauren’s suicide as a child provided the catalyst for Allred’s lifelong grief. But it was death anxiety and grief itself which provided Allred a link to a universal relationship that people have with each other and the world they live in. Impermanence and loss are the driving force behind all of our connections.
The trance-like nature of The Beautiful World perhaps comes from David Allred’s time sense – particularly when it comes to memory and trauma. Time becomes non-linear rather than a straight line – where one can repeat or return to the same themes but older and in a different frame of mind. Grief continues to manifest itself in life and despite personal growth, there will always be moments where the same feeling will manifest itself again. The album encourages listeners to sit with the concept of grief, and Allred is hopeful they can find comfort and learn to process it in a healing way.
The Beautiful World is therefore heavily influenced by Allred’s work in therapy, particularly his relationship to writing music. In the past, Allred would be composing music as a means to dissociate from his life, but the album sees him engaging and connecting more authentically than ever with others and himself. Despite his prolific previous works being made in the company of others, Allred needed to step back from the scenes that he’s worked in to discover what he really wanted to create. Allred concludes: “In the power of love, curiosity, humour, and reconciliation, we give you The Beautiful World.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore
1
Ben Lukas Boysen - Ours
2
Ben Lukas Boysen - Mass
3
Ben Lukas Boysen - Quasar
4
Ben Lukas Boysen - Alta Ripa
5
Ben Lukas Boysen - Nox
6
Ben Lukas Boysen - Vineta (Feat. Tom Adams)
7
Ben Lukas Boysen - Fama
8
Ben Lukas Boysen - Mere
Alta Ripa signifies a seismic shift in Ben Lukas Boysen's artistic journey. It revisits the foundational impulses of his youth, shaped amidst the serene beauty of rural Germany—a bucolic backdrop where his creative palette flourished. However, it was his move to Berlin in the early 2000s that electrified his sound, infusing it with the city’s pulsating energy and diverse cultural influences. Alta Ripa captures this transformative experience, blending the introspective melodies of his rural beginnings with the bold, experimental tones born from Berlin’s vibrant electronic music scene. This album is a testament to Boysen’s evolution, showcasing how geographical shifts can profoundly shape artistic expression.
Boysen’s fourth studio album under his own name, Alta Ripa is a nod to his beginnings as much as a hint to his future, and as a work, it’s almost contradictory in its boldness and humility. He invites the listener on a journey of self-discovery; both for himself and for them, describing the music as “something the 15-year-old in me would have liked to hear but only the grown-up version of myself can write.”
Boysen doesn’t consider himself to be part of any one musical tradition, due to the eclecticism of his own tastes, and because he’s never really been part of any specific scene. It’s not so much a lack of consistency as it is an appreciation for a wide range of different approaches – he’s constantly challenging himself to evolve musically.
Take for example his early origins in noise music under the moniker Hecq, where he explores inspirations from a variety of genres like left-field electronica, break-core and techno. Later, he began to work in parallel under his own name, focussing on writing more structured and textured electronic music, incorporating acoustic instrumentation. Boysen has also worked extensively as a composer for film, TV, video games, multimedia installations and fashion designers including Alexander McQueen.
His last two albums involved working closely with other musicians, including cellist Anne Müller, flugelhorn player Steffen Zimmer, and drummer Achim Färber. However, inspired in part by a recent return to live performance, Alta Ripa sees Boysen circling back to his passion for pure computer music. As he explains:
“After nearly 20 years in Berlin, I’ve had countless exchanges and encounters with wonderful artists that have reflected on my work and albums. But this little town Altrip – that I in some ways have never really left – with its distant memories, kept moving back to the front of my mind and encouraged me to take everything that I’ve learned and that I am today "back home” so to speak. I wanted to artistically return to the place that formed and inspired me before life got too complicated, and tap back into that world with today's experiences. Somehow going back and starting from scratch at the same time, to write an album that is simultaneously my oldest and newest record.”
For Boysen, the return to his youthful musical language marks a major turning point in his career. It represents a departure from his roots in classical music – his mother was an opera singer and his father an actor with an appreciation for Wagner, Arvo Pärt, Keith Jarrett, and Stockhausen. Although these are still important influences, Alta Ripa encapsulates a new, exploratory interplay between Boysen’s careful craft and his ability to let go of some of the process.
The album’s title comes from the original Roman name of the town that Boysen grew up in, Altrip, where he lived until his early twenties. This formative period is central to the ideas behind this album, from Boysen’s parental ‘schooling’ in classical music through to his sonic journeys through drum and bass, Aphex Twin, and Autechre — all of which changed his idea of what music could be. The extreme energy of tracks like ‘Acperience 1’ by Hardfloor, ‘Tracks & Fragment’ by Cari Lekebusch, ‘Focus2 Implan’ by Jiri.Ceiver, and ‘Low On Ice’ by Alec Empire are also pivotal influences.
For Boysen, this time of his musical development also involved knocking down the pillars that he previously thought had carried his world. A key moment for Boysen was being given a precious (pre-internet) club cassette at school that featured artists like Source Direct, Photek and Goldie. Excited by this new discovery, he introduced his father to the song ‘Dred Bass’ by Dead Dred. After the song finished, Boysen Sr. turned off the tape and proclaimed it was “the end of all music”. This heated exchange sparked a new, and more mature dialogue between the two that involved them sharing and discussing music on a regular basis.
Boysen’s classical and jazz music upbringing might not be easily noticeable from the electronic palette that he uses. But it can be found in its bones; the structure of the tracks and their dynamic shifts. On Alta Ripa, he intentionally embraces a spirit of controlled chaos, churning out sonic ideas to see what sticks. While this isn’t a straight-up Jackson Pollock approach, his use of modular analogue synths means he is forced to let go of some of his responsibility for the end result because each pattern created is distinctive and unique every time. With the help of this modular setup, he’s learned how to create the foundations for new ideas to blossom, somehow both nostalgic and new at once.
One of Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategy cards contains the phrase “gardening, not architecture”, and the trajectory of Boysen’s creative path reflects this metaphor. In much of his previous work he followed a sort of Brutalist architect’s approach; here, he was fully responsible for the tracks’ austere structures and planned them with deliberate care. But by sacrificing some of that control on Alta Ripa, he sets the right conditions for a dark and unpredictable, organic growth. It’s a push forward into a new world.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore
Boysen’s fourth studio album under his own name, Alta Ripa is a nod to his beginnings as much as a hint to his future, and as a work, it’s almost contradictory in its boldness and humility. He invites the listener on a journey of self-discovery; both for himself and for them, describing the music as “something the 15-year-old in me would have liked to hear but only the grown-up version of myself can write.”
Boysen doesn’t consider himself to be part of any one musical tradition, due to the eclecticism of his own tastes, and because he’s never really been part of any specific scene. It’s not so much a lack of consistency as it is an appreciation for a wide range of different approaches – he’s constantly challenging himself to evolve musically.
Take for example his early origins in noise music under the moniker Hecq, where he explores inspirations from a variety of genres like left-field electronica, break-core and techno. Later, he began to work in parallel under his own name, focussing on writing more structured and textured electronic music, incorporating acoustic instrumentation. Boysen has also worked extensively as a composer for film, TV, video games, multimedia installations and fashion designers including Alexander McQueen.
His last two albums involved working closely with other musicians, including cellist Anne Müller, flugelhorn player Steffen Zimmer, and drummer Achim Färber. However, inspired in part by a recent return to live performance, Alta Ripa sees Boysen circling back to his passion for pure computer music. As he explains:
“After nearly 20 years in Berlin, I’ve had countless exchanges and encounters with wonderful artists that have reflected on my work and albums. But this little town Altrip – that I in some ways have never really left – with its distant memories, kept moving back to the front of my mind and encouraged me to take everything that I’ve learned and that I am today "back home” so to speak. I wanted to artistically return to the place that formed and inspired me before life got too complicated, and tap back into that world with today's experiences. Somehow going back and starting from scratch at the same time, to write an album that is simultaneously my oldest and newest record.”
For Boysen, the return to his youthful musical language marks a major turning point in his career. It represents a departure from his roots in classical music – his mother was an opera singer and his father an actor with an appreciation for Wagner, Arvo Pärt, Keith Jarrett, and Stockhausen. Although these are still important influences, Alta Ripa encapsulates a new, exploratory interplay between Boysen’s careful craft and his ability to let go of some of the process.
The album’s title comes from the original Roman name of the town that Boysen grew up in, Altrip, where he lived until his early twenties. This formative period is central to the ideas behind this album, from Boysen’s parental ‘schooling’ in classical music through to his sonic journeys through drum and bass, Aphex Twin, and Autechre — all of which changed his idea of what music could be. The extreme energy of tracks like ‘Acperience 1’ by Hardfloor, ‘Tracks & Fragment’ by Cari Lekebusch, ‘Focus2 Implan’ by Jiri.Ceiver, and ‘Low On Ice’ by Alec Empire are also pivotal influences.
For Boysen, this time of his musical development also involved knocking down the pillars that he previously thought had carried his world. A key moment for Boysen was being given a precious (pre-internet) club cassette at school that featured artists like Source Direct, Photek and Goldie. Excited by this new discovery, he introduced his father to the song ‘Dred Bass’ by Dead Dred. After the song finished, Boysen Sr. turned off the tape and proclaimed it was “the end of all music”. This heated exchange sparked a new, and more mature dialogue between the two that involved them sharing and discussing music on a regular basis.
Boysen’s classical and jazz music upbringing might not be easily noticeable from the electronic palette that he uses. But it can be found in its bones; the structure of the tracks and their dynamic shifts. On Alta Ripa, he intentionally embraces a spirit of controlled chaos, churning out sonic ideas to see what sticks. While this isn’t a straight-up Jackson Pollock approach, his use of modular analogue synths means he is forced to let go of some of his responsibility for the end result because each pattern created is distinctive and unique every time. With the help of this modular setup, he’s learned how to create the foundations for new ideas to blossom, somehow both nostalgic and new at once.
One of Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategy cards contains the phrase “gardening, not architecture”, and the trajectory of Boysen’s creative path reflects this metaphor. In much of his previous work he followed a sort of Brutalist architect’s approach; here, he was fully responsible for the tracks’ austere structures and planned them with deliberate care. But by sacrificing some of that control on Alta Ripa, he sets the right conditions for a dark and unpredictable, organic growth. It’s a push forward into a new world.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore
1
Lukas Boysen - Ours
2
Lukas Boysen - Mass
3
Lukas Boysen - Quasar
4
Lukas Boysen - Alta Ripa
5
Lukas Boysen - Nox
6
Lukas Boysen - Vineta (feat. Tom Adams)
7
Lukas Boysen - Fama
8
Lukas Boysen - Mere
Alta Ripa signifies a seismic shift in Ben Lukas Boysen's artistic journey. It revisits the foundational impulses of his youth, shaped amidst the serene beauty of rural Germany—a bucolic backdrop where his creative palette flourished. However, it was his move to Berlin in the early 2000s that electrified his sound, infusing it with the city’s pulsating energy and diverse cultural influences. Alta Ripa captures this transformative experience, blending the introspective melodies of his rural beginnings with the bold, experimental tones born from Berlin’s vibrant electronic music scene. This album is a testament to Boysen’s evolution, showcasing how geographical shifts can profoundly shape artistic expression.
Boysen’s fourth studio album under his own name, Alta Ripa is a nod to his beginnings as much as a hint to his future, and as a work, it’s almost contradictory in its boldness and humility. He invites the listener on a journey of self-discovery; both for himself and for them, describing the music as “something the 15-year-old in me would have liked to hear but only the grown-up version of myself can write.”
Boysen doesn’t consider himself to be part of any one musical tradition, due to the eclecticism of his own tastes, and because he’s never really been part of any specific scene. It’s not so much a lack of consistency as it is an appreciation for a wide range of different approaches – he’s constantly challenging himself to evolve musically.
Take for example his early origins in noise music under the moniker Hecq, where he explores inspirations from a variety of genres like left-field electronica, break-core and techno. Later, he began to work in parallel under his own name, focussing on writing more structured and textured electronic music, incorporating acoustic instrumentation. Boysen has also worked extensively as a composer for film, TV, video games, multimedia installations and fashion designers including Alexander McQueen.
His last two albums involved working closely with other musicians, including cellist Anne Müller, flugelhorn player Steffen Zimmer, and drummer Achim Färber. However, inspired in part by a recent return to live performance, Alta Ripa sees Boysen circling back to his passion for pure computer music. As he explains:
“After nearly 20 years in Berlin, I’ve had countless exchanges and encounters with wonderful artists that have reflected on my work and albums. But this little town Altrip – that I in some ways have never really left – with its distant memories, kept moving back to the front of my mind and encouraged me to take everything that I’ve learned and that I am today "back home” so to speak. I wanted to artistically return to the place that formed and inspired me before life got too complicated, and tap back into that world with today's experiences. Somehow going back and starting from scratch at the same time, to write an album that is simultaneously my oldest and newest record.”
For Boysen, the return to his youthful musical language marks a major turning point in his career. It represents a departure from his roots in classical music – his mother was an opera singer and his father an actor with an appreciation for Wagner, Arvo Pärt, Keith Jarrett, and Stockhausen. Although these are still important influences, Alta Ripa encapsulates a new, exploratory interplay between Boysen’s careful craft and his ability to let go of some of the process.
The album’s title comes from the original Roman name of the town that Boysen grew up in, Altrip, where he lived until his early twenties. This formative period is central to the ideas behind this album, from Boysen’s parental ‘schooling’ in classical music through to his sonic journeys through drum and bass, Aphex Twin, and Autechre — all of which changed his idea of what music could be. The extreme energy of tracks like ‘Acperience 1’ by Hardfloor, ‘Tracks & Fragment’ by Cari Lekebusch, ‘Focus2 Implan’ by Jiri.Ceiver, and ‘Low On Ice’ by Alec Empire are also pivotal influences.
For Boysen, this time of his musical development also involved knocking down the pillars that he previously thought had carried his world. A key moment for Boysen was being given a precious (pre-internet) club cassette at school that featured artists like Source Direct, Photek and Goldie. Excited by this new discovery, he introduced his father to the song ‘Dred Bass’ by Dead Dred. After the song finished, Boysen Sr. turned off the tape and proclaimed it was “the end of all music”. This heated exchange sparked a new, and more mature dialogue between the two that involved them sharing and discussing music on a regular basis.
Boysen’s classical and jazz music upbringing might not be easily noticeable from the electronic palette that he uses. But it can be found in its bones; the structure of the tracks and their dynamic shifts. On Alta Ripa, he intentionally embraces a spirit of controlled chaos, churning out sonic ideas to see what sticks. While this isn’t a straight-up Jackson Pollock approach, his use of modular analogue synths means he is forced to let go of some of his responsibility for the end result because each pattern created is distinctive and unique every time. With the help of this modular setup, he’s learned how to create the foundations for new ideas to blossom, somehow both nostalgic and new at once.
One of Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategy cards contains the phrase “gardening, not architecture”, and the trajectory of Boysen’s creative path reflects this metaphor. In much of his previous work he followed a sort of Brutalist architect’s approach; here, he was fully responsible for the tracks’ austere structures and planned them with deliberate care. But by sacrificing some of that control on Alta Ripa, he sets the right conditions for a dark and unpredictable, organic growth. It’s a push forward into a new world.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore
Boysen’s fourth studio album under his own name, Alta Ripa is a nod to his beginnings as much as a hint to his future, and as a work, it’s almost contradictory in its boldness and humility. He invites the listener on a journey of self-discovery; both for himself and for them, describing the music as “something the 15-year-old in me would have liked to hear but only the grown-up version of myself can write.”
Boysen doesn’t consider himself to be part of any one musical tradition, due to the eclecticism of his own tastes, and because he’s never really been part of any specific scene. It’s not so much a lack of consistency as it is an appreciation for a wide range of different approaches – he’s constantly challenging himself to evolve musically.
Take for example his early origins in noise music under the moniker Hecq, where he explores inspirations from a variety of genres like left-field electronica, break-core and techno. Later, he began to work in parallel under his own name, focussing on writing more structured and textured electronic music, incorporating acoustic instrumentation. Boysen has also worked extensively as a composer for film, TV, video games, multimedia installations and fashion designers including Alexander McQueen.
His last two albums involved working closely with other musicians, including cellist Anne Müller, flugelhorn player Steffen Zimmer, and drummer Achim Färber. However, inspired in part by a recent return to live performance, Alta Ripa sees Boysen circling back to his passion for pure computer music. As he explains:
“After nearly 20 years in Berlin, I’ve had countless exchanges and encounters with wonderful artists that have reflected on my work and albums. But this little town Altrip – that I in some ways have never really left – with its distant memories, kept moving back to the front of my mind and encouraged me to take everything that I’ve learned and that I am today "back home” so to speak. I wanted to artistically return to the place that formed and inspired me before life got too complicated, and tap back into that world with today's experiences. Somehow going back and starting from scratch at the same time, to write an album that is simultaneously my oldest and newest record.”
For Boysen, the return to his youthful musical language marks a major turning point in his career. It represents a departure from his roots in classical music – his mother was an opera singer and his father an actor with an appreciation for Wagner, Arvo Pärt, Keith Jarrett, and Stockhausen. Although these are still important influences, Alta Ripa encapsulates a new, exploratory interplay between Boysen’s careful craft and his ability to let go of some of the process.
The album’s title comes from the original Roman name of the town that Boysen grew up in, Altrip, where he lived until his early twenties. This formative period is central to the ideas behind this album, from Boysen’s parental ‘schooling’ in classical music through to his sonic journeys through drum and bass, Aphex Twin, and Autechre — all of which changed his idea of what music could be. The extreme energy of tracks like ‘Acperience 1’ by Hardfloor, ‘Tracks & Fragment’ by Cari Lekebusch, ‘Focus2 Implan’ by Jiri.Ceiver, and ‘Low On Ice’ by Alec Empire are also pivotal influences.
For Boysen, this time of his musical development also involved knocking down the pillars that he previously thought had carried his world. A key moment for Boysen was being given a precious (pre-internet) club cassette at school that featured artists like Source Direct, Photek and Goldie. Excited by this new discovery, he introduced his father to the song ‘Dred Bass’ by Dead Dred. After the song finished, Boysen Sr. turned off the tape and proclaimed it was “the end of all music”. This heated exchange sparked a new, and more mature dialogue between the two that involved them sharing and discussing music on a regular basis.
Boysen’s classical and jazz music upbringing might not be easily noticeable from the electronic palette that he uses. But it can be found in its bones; the structure of the tracks and their dynamic shifts. On Alta Ripa, he intentionally embraces a spirit of controlled chaos, churning out sonic ideas to see what sticks. While this isn’t a straight-up Jackson Pollock approach, his use of modular analogue synths means he is forced to let go of some of his responsibility for the end result because each pattern created is distinctive and unique every time. With the help of this modular setup, he’s learned how to create the foundations for new ideas to blossom, somehow both nostalgic and new at once.
One of Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategy cards contains the phrase “gardening, not architecture”, and the trajectory of Boysen’s creative path reflects this metaphor. In much of his previous work he followed a sort of Brutalist architect’s approach; here, he was fully responsible for the tracks’ austere structures and planned them with deliberate care. But by sacrificing some of that control on Alta Ripa, he sets the right conditions for a dark and unpredictable, organic growth. It’s a push forward into a new world.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore
1
Kiasmos - Lit
2
Kiasmos - Held
3
Kiasmos - Looped
4
Kiasmos - Swayed
5
Kiasmos - Thrown
6
Kiasmos - Dragged
7
Kiasmos - Bent
8
Kiasmos - Burnt
Zehn Jahre nach der Veröffentlichung ihres bahnbrechenden selbstbetitelten Albums feiern Kiasmos mit einer limitierten Auflage auf blauem Vinyl. Die Pressung ist weltweit auf 2000 Stück limitiert. Das Album, das allein auf Spotify über 100 Millionen Mal gestreamt wurde, ist zu einem unverzichtbaren Album der elektronischen Musik geworden und hat seitdem Künstler auf der ganzen Welt inspiriert. Nach der erfolgreichen Kampagne zum Nachfolgealbum ("II") Anfang des Jahres scheint es nun an der Zeit zu sein, sich darauf zu besinnen, wo alles begann: mit zwei Freunden, die im Studio experimentierten und Spaß hatten.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore
1
Masayoshi Fujita - Tower Of Cloud
2
Masayoshi Fujita - Pale Purple
3
Masayoshi Fujita - Blue Rock Thrush
4
Masayoshi Fujita - Our Mother's Lights (Feat. Moor Mother)
5
Masayoshi Fujita - Desonata
6
Masayoshi Fujita - Ocean Flow
7
Masayoshi Fujita - Distant Planet
8
Masayoshi Fujita - In A Sunny Meadow
9
Masayoshi Fujita - Higurashi (Feat. Hatis Noit)
10
Masayoshi Fujita - Valley
11
Masayoshi Fujita - Yodaka
Japanese vibraphonist and marimba player Masayoshi Fujita returns with Migratory, his masterful new solo album, where his sonic explorations into the unknown continue.
In 2020, after 13 years of living in Berlin, Fujita returned to his native Japan with his wife and their three children, fulfilling his life-long dream of living and composing music in the midst of nature. The family found their new home in the mountain hills along the coast of Kami-cho, Hyogo, three hours west of Kyoto.
Once settled in, Fujita spent his time turning an old kindergarten into his own music studio, Kebi Bird Studio, which became the birthplace of Migratory. On his new album, the composer and producer masterfully reimagines and mesmerises with his trademark sounds of vibraphone, and resumes his experimentation with the marimba and synthesisers that he first incorporated on his 2021 album, Bird Ambience, which followed the release of his acclaimed vibraphone triptych: Stories (2012), Apologues (2015) and Book of Life (2018).
On Fujita’s ever-evolving list of collaborators, Migratory introduces vocals from Moor Mother on ‘Our Mother’s Lights’ and Hatis Noit on ‘Higurashi’, as well as sho and saxophone to its soundscapes.
Whilst at a music residency in Stockholm in 2021, Fujita met Swedish sho player Mattias Hållsten. Although it was a brief encounter, the two musicians stayed in touch. During a visit to Japan, Hållsten stopped by the studio and played on three of the tracks, including the alluring album closer ‘Yodaka’, exceeding Fujita’s own expectations.
Another collaborator, American poet Moor Mother asked Fujita to contribute vibraphone to her upcoming album, and in return lent her powerful voice to the Migratory’s centrepiece, Our Mother’s Lights — “it carries a kind of African and Asian vibe, a perfect match for the energy of the piece,” he adds.
As with Bird Ambience, Fujita continues to be inspired by our feathered friends. The album’s title, Migratory, originates from an image that came to him of migratory birds, travelling somewhere between Africa, Southeast Asia and Japan, imagining them hearing the music from the land underneath, and how their point of view of the world from above blurs the boundaries of music and land.
Expanding on this, Fujita says: “these ideas and images were inspired by my experiences of living abroad and returning to my homeland, as well as by the artists featured on this album who also somehow travelled or lived in other countries across the boundaries, and being influenced by the music of other lands but at the same time somehow led to their roots."
Masayoshi’s parents too made a life abroad in Thailand for over 15 years. After returning to Japan, Fujita’s mother passed away in the beginning of 2023. So he invited his father to come for a visit, to spend time with him and his grandchildren. A lifelong musician in his own right, the two of them soon found themselves holed up in Kebi Bird Studio. Fujita senior had brought his saxophone, which he played on top of the then unfinished recordings, resulting in three breathtaking pieces. The slow jazz-tinged ‘Blue Rock Thrush’ stands out, with the saxophone and marimba blending harmoniously reaching new artistic heights.
Nature has always been a source of inspiration for Fujita, and on Migratory it takes centre stage. You can hear it on the album’s peaceful and considered field recordings, but most importantly, Masayoshi highlights – “nature is there as the image to be evoked by the listener from the music.” On the record’s sleeve notes, written by renowned novelist and travel writer Pico Iyer, we learn about the Japan that he hears as he sits down and listens to the music. It educates and encapsulates us, in the same way Fujita’s imaginary birds vividly depict the essence of musical migration.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore
In 2020, after 13 years of living in Berlin, Fujita returned to his native Japan with his wife and their three children, fulfilling his life-long dream of living and composing music in the midst of nature. The family found their new home in the mountain hills along the coast of Kami-cho, Hyogo, three hours west of Kyoto.
Once settled in, Fujita spent his time turning an old kindergarten into his own music studio, Kebi Bird Studio, which became the birthplace of Migratory. On his new album, the composer and producer masterfully reimagines and mesmerises with his trademark sounds of vibraphone, and resumes his experimentation with the marimba and synthesisers that he first incorporated on his 2021 album, Bird Ambience, which followed the release of his acclaimed vibraphone triptych: Stories (2012), Apologues (2015) and Book of Life (2018).
On Fujita’s ever-evolving list of collaborators, Migratory introduces vocals from Moor Mother on ‘Our Mother’s Lights’ and Hatis Noit on ‘Higurashi’, as well as sho and saxophone to its soundscapes.
Whilst at a music residency in Stockholm in 2021, Fujita met Swedish sho player Mattias Hållsten. Although it was a brief encounter, the two musicians stayed in touch. During a visit to Japan, Hållsten stopped by the studio and played on three of the tracks, including the alluring album closer ‘Yodaka’, exceeding Fujita’s own expectations.
Another collaborator, American poet Moor Mother asked Fujita to contribute vibraphone to her upcoming album, and in return lent her powerful voice to the Migratory’s centrepiece, Our Mother’s Lights — “it carries a kind of African and Asian vibe, a perfect match for the energy of the piece,” he adds.
As with Bird Ambience, Fujita continues to be inspired by our feathered friends. The album’s title, Migratory, originates from an image that came to him of migratory birds, travelling somewhere between Africa, Southeast Asia and Japan, imagining them hearing the music from the land underneath, and how their point of view of the world from above blurs the boundaries of music and land.
Expanding on this, Fujita says: “these ideas and images were inspired by my experiences of living abroad and returning to my homeland, as well as by the artists featured on this album who also somehow travelled or lived in other countries across the boundaries, and being influenced by the music of other lands but at the same time somehow led to their roots."
Masayoshi’s parents too made a life abroad in Thailand for over 15 years. After returning to Japan, Fujita’s mother passed away in the beginning of 2023. So he invited his father to come for a visit, to spend time with him and his grandchildren. A lifelong musician in his own right, the two of them soon found themselves holed up in Kebi Bird Studio. Fujita senior had brought his saxophone, which he played on top of the then unfinished recordings, resulting in three breathtaking pieces. The slow jazz-tinged ‘Blue Rock Thrush’ stands out, with the saxophone and marimba blending harmoniously reaching new artistic heights.
Nature has always been a source of inspiration for Fujita, and on Migratory it takes centre stage. You can hear it on the album’s peaceful and considered field recordings, but most importantly, Masayoshi highlights – “nature is there as the image to be evoked by the listener from the music.” On the record’s sleeve notes, written by renowned novelist and travel writer Pico Iyer, we learn about the Japan that he hears as he sits down and listens to the music. It educates and encapsulates us, in the same way Fujita’s imaginary birds vividly depict the essence of musical migration.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore
1
Masayoshi Fujita - Tower Of Cloud
2
Masayoshi Fujita - Pale Purple
3
Masayoshi Fujita - Blue Rock Thrush
4
Masayoshi Fujita - Our Mother's Lights (Feat. Moor Mother)
5
Masayoshi Fujita - Desonata
6
Masayoshi Fujita - Ocean Flow
7
Masayoshi Fujita - Distant Planet
8
Masayoshi Fujita - In A Sunny Meadow
9
Masayoshi Fujita - Higurashi (Feat. Hatis Noit)
10
Masayoshi Fujita - Valley
11
Masayoshi Fujita - Yodaka
Japanese vibraphonist and marimba player Masayoshi Fujita returns with Migratory, his masterful new solo album, where his sonic explorations into the unknown continue.
In 2020, after 13 years of living in Berlin, Fujita returned to his native Japan with his wife and their three children, fulfilling his life-long dream of living and composing music in the midst of nature. The family found their new home in the mountain hills along the coast of Kami-cho, Hyogo, three hours west of Kyoto.
Once settled in, Fujita spent his time turning an old kindergarten into his own music studio, Kebi Bird Studio, which became the birthplace of Migratory. On his new album, the composer and producer masterfully reimagines and mesmerises with his trademark sounds of vibraphone, and resumes his experimentation with the marimba and synthesisers that he first incorporated on his 2021 album, Bird Ambience, which followed the release of his acclaimed vibraphone triptych: Stories (2012), Apologues (2015) and Book of Life (2018).
On Fujita’s ever-evolving list of collaborators, Migratory introduces vocals from Moor Mother on ‘Our Mother’s Lights’ and Hatis Noit on ‘Higurashi’, as well as sho and saxophone to its soundscapes.
Whilst at a music residency in Stockholm in 2021, Fujita met Swedish sho player Mattias Hållsten. Although it was a brief encounter, the two musicians stayed in touch. During a visit to Japan, Hållsten stopped by the studio and played on three of the tracks, including the alluring album closer ‘Yodaka’, exceeding Fujita’s own expectations.
Another collaborator, American poet Moor Mother asked Fujita to contribute vibraphone to her upcoming album, and in return lent her powerful voice to the Migratory’s centrepiece, Our Mother’s Lights — “it carries a kind of African and Asian vibe, a perfect match for the energy of the piece,” he adds.
As with Bird Ambience, Fujita continues to be inspired by our feathered friends. The album’s title, Migratory, originates from an image that came to him of migratory birds, travelling somewhere between Africa, Southeast Asia and Japan, imagining them hearing the music from the land underneath, and how their point of view of the world from above blurs the boundaries of music and land.
Expanding on this, Fujita says: “these ideas and images were inspired by my experiences of living abroad and returning to my homeland, as well as by the artists featured on this album who also somehow travelled or lived in other countries across the boundaries, and being influenced by the music of other lands but at the same time somehow led to their roots."
Masayoshi’s parents too made a life abroad in Thailand for over 15 years. After returning to Japan, Fujita’s mother passed away in the beginning of 2023. So he invited his father to come for a visit, to spend time with him and his grandchildren. A lifelong musician in his own right, the two of them soon found themselves holed up in Kebi Bird Studio. Fujita senior had brought his saxophone, which he played on top of the then unfinished recordings, resulting in three breathtaking pieces. The slow jazz-tinged ‘Blue Rock Thrush’ stands out, with the saxophone and marimba blending harmoniously reaching new artistic heights.
Nature has always been a source of inspiration for Fujita, and on Migratory it takes centre stage. You can hear it on the album’s peaceful and considered field recordings, but most importantly, Masayoshi highlights – “nature is there as the image to be evoked by the listener from the music.” On the record’s sleeve notes, written by renowned novelist and travel writer Pico Iyer, we learn about the Japan that he hears as he sits down and listens to the music. It educates and encapsulates us, in the same way Fujita’s imaginary birds vividly depict the essence of musical migration.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore
In 2020, after 13 years of living in Berlin, Fujita returned to his native Japan with his wife and their three children, fulfilling his life-long dream of living and composing music in the midst of nature. The family found their new home in the mountain hills along the coast of Kami-cho, Hyogo, three hours west of Kyoto.
Once settled in, Fujita spent his time turning an old kindergarten into his own music studio, Kebi Bird Studio, which became the birthplace of Migratory. On his new album, the composer and producer masterfully reimagines and mesmerises with his trademark sounds of vibraphone, and resumes his experimentation with the marimba and synthesisers that he first incorporated on his 2021 album, Bird Ambience, which followed the release of his acclaimed vibraphone triptych: Stories (2012), Apologues (2015) and Book of Life (2018).
On Fujita’s ever-evolving list of collaborators, Migratory introduces vocals from Moor Mother on ‘Our Mother’s Lights’ and Hatis Noit on ‘Higurashi’, as well as sho and saxophone to its soundscapes.
Whilst at a music residency in Stockholm in 2021, Fujita met Swedish sho player Mattias Hållsten. Although it was a brief encounter, the two musicians stayed in touch. During a visit to Japan, Hållsten stopped by the studio and played on three of the tracks, including the alluring album closer ‘Yodaka’, exceeding Fujita’s own expectations.
Another collaborator, American poet Moor Mother asked Fujita to contribute vibraphone to her upcoming album, and in return lent her powerful voice to the Migratory’s centrepiece, Our Mother’s Lights — “it carries a kind of African and Asian vibe, a perfect match for the energy of the piece,” he adds.
As with Bird Ambience, Fujita continues to be inspired by our feathered friends. The album’s title, Migratory, originates from an image that came to him of migratory birds, travelling somewhere between Africa, Southeast Asia and Japan, imagining them hearing the music from the land underneath, and how their point of view of the world from above blurs the boundaries of music and land.
Expanding on this, Fujita says: “these ideas and images were inspired by my experiences of living abroad and returning to my homeland, as well as by the artists featured on this album who also somehow travelled or lived in other countries across the boundaries, and being influenced by the music of other lands but at the same time somehow led to their roots."
Masayoshi’s parents too made a life abroad in Thailand for over 15 years. After returning to Japan, Fujita’s mother passed away in the beginning of 2023. So he invited his father to come for a visit, to spend time with him and his grandchildren. A lifelong musician in his own right, the two of them soon found themselves holed up in Kebi Bird Studio. Fujita senior had brought his saxophone, which he played on top of the then unfinished recordings, resulting in three breathtaking pieces. The slow jazz-tinged ‘Blue Rock Thrush’ stands out, with the saxophone and marimba blending harmoniously reaching new artistic heights.
Nature has always been a source of inspiration for Fujita, and on Migratory it takes centre stage. You can hear it on the album’s peaceful and considered field recordings, but most importantly, Masayoshi highlights – “nature is there as the image to be evoked by the listener from the music.” On the record’s sleeve notes, written by renowned novelist and travel writer Pico Iyer, we learn about the Japan that he hears as he sits down and listens to the music. It educates and encapsulates us, in the same way Fujita’s imaginary birds vividly depict the essence of musical migration.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore
1
Douglas Dare - Three Roads
2
Douglas Dare - Mouth To Mouth
3
Douglas Dare - Absentia
4
Douglas Dare - Sailor
5
Douglas Dare - Omni
6
Douglas Dare - Teach Me
7
Douglas Dare - No Island Is A Man
8
Douglas Dare - Painter
9
Douglas Dare - 8W9ZEROS
10
Douglas Dare - The Stream
British artist Douglas Dare announces the release of his fourth album Omni. Seen by Douglas himself as a bold rebirth and embrace of the electronic, Omni is all at once a throbbing, avant-garde, queer, dark and cinematic record imbued with a love of rave culture and sense of fearless storytelling that’s deeply evocative. Omni will be released on May 10 via Erased Tapes.
Douglas has shared the first taster of the record with ‘Mouth to Mouth’, a pulsing, synth-laden track that begs to be played loud. ‘Mouth to Mouth’ sees a collaboration with label mate Daniel Brandt who appears on production duties, with beats supplied by Rival Consoles. Speaking on the track, Douglas says, “life, death, fate and orgies; this is the heartfelt club track I always wanted to write.”
Since 2013, Douglas has blurred classical, chamber-pop, folk and avant-garde to dazzling effect, with a startling voice that can stop you in your tracks. It’s why he’s played with luminaries like Nils Frahm, Perfume Genius and Ólafur Arnalds, and was selected by David Lynch and The Cure’s Robert Smith for their respective cultural festivals in Manchester (MIF) and London (Meltdown).
But Douglas’s fourth album, Omni, is a fresh awakening. Encouraged by Erased Tapes founder Robert Raths, he decided to step away from acoustic instruments, especially the piano he grew up playing, and swapped them for synths and drum machines.
His new music has much in common with Arca and the late SOPHIE, two artists for whom self-expression meant liberation. “I got to hang out in the studio with her,” says Douglas of the latter musician, “the way she made music made a big impression on me.” And yet Omni is steeped in the kind of deft storytelling, sweeping strings, elegant contrasts and fairytale atmosphere that marks Douglas out as a crucial and singular voice. It’s not often you hear a strutting electro banger that could have been straight out of 90s Soho, with vocal loops inspired by US experimentalist Meredith Monk.
For Douglas, Omni is about reconciling all those different sides of himself – the songwriter, the raver, the lover, the observer. It’s a hugely queer record: seductive, sexy, lusty, untethered from the genre binary. “It’s even got sailors on it!” laughs Douglas. “You don’t get more queer than that.”
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore
Douglas has shared the first taster of the record with ‘Mouth to Mouth’, a pulsing, synth-laden track that begs to be played loud. ‘Mouth to Mouth’ sees a collaboration with label mate Daniel Brandt who appears on production duties, with beats supplied by Rival Consoles. Speaking on the track, Douglas says, “life, death, fate and orgies; this is the heartfelt club track I always wanted to write.”
Since 2013, Douglas has blurred classical, chamber-pop, folk and avant-garde to dazzling effect, with a startling voice that can stop you in your tracks. It’s why he’s played with luminaries like Nils Frahm, Perfume Genius and Ólafur Arnalds, and was selected by David Lynch and The Cure’s Robert Smith for their respective cultural festivals in Manchester (MIF) and London (Meltdown).
But Douglas’s fourth album, Omni, is a fresh awakening. Encouraged by Erased Tapes founder Robert Raths, he decided to step away from acoustic instruments, especially the piano he grew up playing, and swapped them for synths and drum machines.
His new music has much in common with Arca and the late SOPHIE, two artists for whom self-expression meant liberation. “I got to hang out in the studio with her,” says Douglas of the latter musician, “the way she made music made a big impression on me.” And yet Omni is steeped in the kind of deft storytelling, sweeping strings, elegant contrasts and fairytale atmosphere that marks Douglas out as a crucial and singular voice. It’s not often you hear a strutting electro banger that could have been straight out of 90s Soho, with vocal loops inspired by US experimentalist Meredith Monk.
For Douglas, Omni is about reconciling all those different sides of himself – the songwriter, the raver, the lover, the observer. It’s a hugely queer record: seductive, sexy, lusty, untethered from the genre binary. “It’s even got sailors on it!” laughs Douglas. “You don’t get more queer than that.”
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore
1
Sheherazaad - Mashoor
2
Sheherazaad - Dhund Lo Mujhe
3
Sheherazaad - Koshish
4
Sheherazaad - Khatam
5
Sheherazaad - Lehja
Today, migration seems to be encoded into everyday habits. As so many of our minds and bodies aggressively globalise in unprecedented ways, previously fixed “genres” and identities of any kind are constantly being dismantled, made redundant, and born anew.
It’s from this space of flux that American composer and vocalist Sheherazaad derives song. Her forthcoming mini-album, Qasr, was engendered during a time of family estrangement, grief over a lost elder, and the racial polarisation of her country as she knew it.
Translating to “castle” or “fortress” in Urdu, Qasr is indeed a monument — like encapsulation of the real strains of displacement, the push and pull of diaspora, and the depravity of erasure and forgotten roots. These experiences and their inherent violence, hysteria, and romance imbue her sonic deep-dive into the world of the so-called in-between.
“It was maddening” Sheherazaad says, “that the music of my origins didn’t yet exist. So I knew I would have to make it.” Born to what she describes as a “fanatically art-centered, Asian-American household”, Sheher began her ear training at home, with both her parents being band musicians and her grandmother a trailblazing Indian classical concert producer. At home, she absorbed the life portfolios of Lata Mangeshkar and RD Burman, while beginning formal voice education in jazz and American Songbook from the age of six.
After years of singing competitions and performances of Western repertoire, Sheherazaad “stopped singing completely,” citing her “disenchantment with English as an emotive language” after encountering British colonial history. But she also felt a visceral disorientation resulting from long stays in India, where her mixed North and South Indian heritage further complicated and left a deep imprint on her hyphenated young psyche, and speaking accent.
Instead, she turned to experimental theatre spaces and Bollywood dance as a means to express her evolving positionality. Moving to New York for university, she quickly discovered a more radical South Asian arts community. Sheher began following the likes of the Swet Shop Boys, studying the UK’s historic Asian electronic counterculture, and eventually crossing paths with experimental Pakistani artist Arooj Aftab. “I felt determined to resurrect and recalibrate my singing voice”, she says, “to participate in this new wave I saw of diasporic music innovation and its links with political liberation.”
Relocating to California then, for vocal rehabilitation, Sheherazaad found her Northern Star in the Hindustani classical guru Madhuvanti Bhide, who helped Sheher reshape her old voice, using “gharana” methodology. In a further attempt to re-access lost heritage, Sheher also studied Arabic, Hindi, and Urdu, where she quickly advanced and wrote test lyrics. These would result in her self-released 2020 underground project Khwaabistan, and garner the attention of Aftab, who offered to produce Sheher’s next record.
Working long-distance from separate coasts during the pandemic, the pair got to work on Qasr. The collaboration would culminate in the heart of Brooklyn at the Glass Wall studio, during late-night, feverish recording sessions and utilising a groundbreaking cast of international musicianship, including Basma Edrees (Egypt), Gilbert Mansour (Lebanon), and Firas Zreik (Palestine).
It’s a record that plays with your perceptions. Sheher’s melismatic vocals emerge like a wisp of smoke on ‘Mashoor’ (“Famous), billowing through the earthy acoustic guitar of Ria Modak, lending the song an almost religious quality. But ‘Mashoor’ is in fact a rumination on the pitfalls of a society obsessed with fame and narcissism. Pizzicato fiddles cut through on ‘Dhund Lo Mujhe’ (“Search For Me”), almost unnervingly jaunty alongside her tumultuous delivery. “For me, it brings up this circus of the insane, carnival of the unhappy,” she explains. “It suggests a very specific insanity, that of the immigrant experience. There is implied bloodshed, glamour, hallucination, and schizophrenia.”
The tendency, she explains, in the US context, is for Asian people to fit the “model minority myth”, and hide the more ominous dimensions of themselves. “I want listeners to unleash all of that unabashedly,” she says. “This is about delighting in our wickedness, especially as gender expansive people, where we’ve previously had little control over our sonic narrative in Hindi and Urdu music.”
‘Koshish’ (“Try” in English), is a track about ageing that brims with infatuation and nostalgia for people or places. “It’s a way of paying homage to my Californian upbringing, revamping the surfer genre with brown beach bodies and hidden Oud as the axis of the song.” In the slow-burning, velvety ‘Khatam’ (“Finished”), live piano melts around harmonised voice layers, as she sings of time, clashes of civilizations, and apocalypse. Here, she weaves a warped fable about a feminine traveller journeying through epochs, stumbling upon alien lyrical terrain that has rarely been sung through a brown femme gaze.
Luminous, eccentric orchestration ebbs and flows through the record like a bioluminescent ocean, alongside quiet textural elements: a trickle of water, a ticking clock, ghostly whispers, twinkling manjira. Singing in a delicate, chiffon vocal which defies genre and expectation — satirically hymnlike, then an erratic vibrato — Sheher’s poetic lyrics about marginalised genders and imagined homelands pour out over lush, enlivened instrumentation. There is no one way to behold the magnetic Qasr. “This may sound like some kind of third-culture reclamation,” she muses, before pausing, “Or it could just be like, you know, new-age, contemporary American folk.”
That freedom to interpret is in keeping with a bigger sense that haunts her work – indulgence to be our messiest selves, the selves that openly defy rigid codes and protocols of race, creed, or gender. As an additional ode to freedom: ‘Sheherazaad’ translated in Hindi and Urdu means a “free city”. Whilst her artist name is a tribute to Scheherazade, the revolutionary figure from the epic collection of folktales, The One Thousand and One Nights, whose storytelling prowess brings an end to the mindless genocide of women.
It’s fitting then, that the final track on the album, the arresting seven minutes long ‘Lehja’ (related to language and speaking-style), is a foray into Sheher’s literal storytelling ability. The song brings to life a mythical city she refers to as “Sheher” (a meta-reference to her artist persona). Lehja examines the turmoil that may surround mother tongue, pronunciation, and the fight to preserve disappearing ancestral languages. The song culminates in a refrain of “azaadi”, a chant that serves as an unequivocal call for freedom across much of South and Southwest Asia, closing the album as mysteriously as it begins.
And so, on Qasr, Sheherazaad gives us a beguiling new soundscape, not yet of this world. But she also stokes the flame of fantasies inherent to the nomadic experience, which may finally be brought to the fore. Overall, the bewitching album finds an artist building her own fortress, while enticing us to forge our own castles, musical queendoms, and impossible dreamlands.
Words by Tara Joshi
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore
It’s from this space of flux that American composer and vocalist Sheherazaad derives song. Her forthcoming mini-album, Qasr, was engendered during a time of family estrangement, grief over a lost elder, and the racial polarisation of her country as she knew it.
Translating to “castle” or “fortress” in Urdu, Qasr is indeed a monument — like encapsulation of the real strains of displacement, the push and pull of diaspora, and the depravity of erasure and forgotten roots. These experiences and their inherent violence, hysteria, and romance imbue her sonic deep-dive into the world of the so-called in-between.
“It was maddening” Sheherazaad says, “that the music of my origins didn’t yet exist. So I knew I would have to make it.” Born to what she describes as a “fanatically art-centered, Asian-American household”, Sheher began her ear training at home, with both her parents being band musicians and her grandmother a trailblazing Indian classical concert producer. At home, she absorbed the life portfolios of Lata Mangeshkar and RD Burman, while beginning formal voice education in jazz and American Songbook from the age of six.
After years of singing competitions and performances of Western repertoire, Sheherazaad “stopped singing completely,” citing her “disenchantment with English as an emotive language” after encountering British colonial history. But she also felt a visceral disorientation resulting from long stays in India, where her mixed North and South Indian heritage further complicated and left a deep imprint on her hyphenated young psyche, and speaking accent.
Instead, she turned to experimental theatre spaces and Bollywood dance as a means to express her evolving positionality. Moving to New York for university, she quickly discovered a more radical South Asian arts community. Sheher began following the likes of the Swet Shop Boys, studying the UK’s historic Asian electronic counterculture, and eventually crossing paths with experimental Pakistani artist Arooj Aftab. “I felt determined to resurrect and recalibrate my singing voice”, she says, “to participate in this new wave I saw of diasporic music innovation and its links with political liberation.”
Relocating to California then, for vocal rehabilitation, Sheherazaad found her Northern Star in the Hindustani classical guru Madhuvanti Bhide, who helped Sheher reshape her old voice, using “gharana” methodology. In a further attempt to re-access lost heritage, Sheher also studied Arabic, Hindi, and Urdu, where she quickly advanced and wrote test lyrics. These would result in her self-released 2020 underground project Khwaabistan, and garner the attention of Aftab, who offered to produce Sheher’s next record.
Working long-distance from separate coasts during the pandemic, the pair got to work on Qasr. The collaboration would culminate in the heart of Brooklyn at the Glass Wall studio, during late-night, feverish recording sessions and utilising a groundbreaking cast of international musicianship, including Basma Edrees (Egypt), Gilbert Mansour (Lebanon), and Firas Zreik (Palestine).
It’s a record that plays with your perceptions. Sheher’s melismatic vocals emerge like a wisp of smoke on ‘Mashoor’ (“Famous), billowing through the earthy acoustic guitar of Ria Modak, lending the song an almost religious quality. But ‘Mashoor’ is in fact a rumination on the pitfalls of a society obsessed with fame and narcissism. Pizzicato fiddles cut through on ‘Dhund Lo Mujhe’ (“Search For Me”), almost unnervingly jaunty alongside her tumultuous delivery. “For me, it brings up this circus of the insane, carnival of the unhappy,” she explains. “It suggests a very specific insanity, that of the immigrant experience. There is implied bloodshed, glamour, hallucination, and schizophrenia.”
The tendency, she explains, in the US context, is for Asian people to fit the “model minority myth”, and hide the more ominous dimensions of themselves. “I want listeners to unleash all of that unabashedly,” she says. “This is about delighting in our wickedness, especially as gender expansive people, where we’ve previously had little control over our sonic narrative in Hindi and Urdu music.”
‘Koshish’ (“Try” in English), is a track about ageing that brims with infatuation and nostalgia for people or places. “It’s a way of paying homage to my Californian upbringing, revamping the surfer genre with brown beach bodies and hidden Oud as the axis of the song.” In the slow-burning, velvety ‘Khatam’ (“Finished”), live piano melts around harmonised voice layers, as she sings of time, clashes of civilizations, and apocalypse. Here, she weaves a warped fable about a feminine traveller journeying through epochs, stumbling upon alien lyrical terrain that has rarely been sung through a brown femme gaze.
Luminous, eccentric orchestration ebbs and flows through the record like a bioluminescent ocean, alongside quiet textural elements: a trickle of water, a ticking clock, ghostly whispers, twinkling manjira. Singing in a delicate, chiffon vocal which defies genre and expectation — satirically hymnlike, then an erratic vibrato — Sheher’s poetic lyrics about marginalised genders and imagined homelands pour out over lush, enlivened instrumentation. There is no one way to behold the magnetic Qasr. “This may sound like some kind of third-culture reclamation,” she muses, before pausing, “Or it could just be like, you know, new-age, contemporary American folk.”
That freedom to interpret is in keeping with a bigger sense that haunts her work – indulgence to be our messiest selves, the selves that openly defy rigid codes and protocols of race, creed, or gender. As an additional ode to freedom: ‘Sheherazaad’ translated in Hindi and Urdu means a “free city”. Whilst her artist name is a tribute to Scheherazade, the revolutionary figure from the epic collection of folktales, The One Thousand and One Nights, whose storytelling prowess brings an end to the mindless genocide of women.
It’s fitting then, that the final track on the album, the arresting seven minutes long ‘Lehja’ (related to language and speaking-style), is a foray into Sheher’s literal storytelling ability. The song brings to life a mythical city she refers to as “Sheher” (a meta-reference to her artist persona). Lehja examines the turmoil that may surround mother tongue, pronunciation, and the fight to preserve disappearing ancestral languages. The song culminates in a refrain of “azaadi”, a chant that serves as an unequivocal call for freedom across much of South and Southwest Asia, closing the album as mysteriously as it begins.
And so, on Qasr, Sheherazaad gives us a beguiling new soundscape, not yet of this world. But she also stokes the flame of fantasies inherent to the nomadic experience, which may finally be brought to the fore. Overall, the bewitching album finds an artist building her own fortress, while enticing us to forge our own castles, musical queendoms, and impossible dreamlands.
Words by Tara Joshi
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore
Tracklist:
1.Tower of Meaning I
2.Tower of Meaning II
3.Tower of Meaning III
4.Tower of Meaning IV
5.Corky I / White Jet Set Smoke Trail I
6.Consideration
7.Tower of Meaning V
8.Tower of Meaning VI
9.Tower of Meaning VII
10.Tower of Meaning VIII
11.Tower of Meaning IX / Corky II
12.Tower of Meaning X
13.Give It to the Sky
14.Tower of Meaning XI
15.Tower of Meaning XII
16.Corky III
17.White Jet Smoke Trail II
This autumn, Erased Tapes are set to release ‘Give It to the Sky: Arthur Russell’s Tower of Meaning Expanded’ by composer and producer Peter Broderick and French 12-piece group Ensemble 0; a complete re-recording of Russell’s epic minimalist orchestral composition originally released in 1983. ‘Give It to the Sky’ also includes unreleased tracks by Russell which have been restored and re-recorded, resulting in an 80-minute reanimation that threads several lost songs into a meticulous and gorgeous rendering. The album was recorded live as a group in a small theatre in the Southwest of France with minimal overdubs.
For all its wonder and beauty, the musical output of the American cellist, composer, singer, and musical visionary also embodies irony, tragedy, and paradox. Russell famously recorded more than 1,000 hours of tape and left an otherwise-tremendous archive, now part of the New York Public Library. But before his death in 1992, Russell released just three albums under his own name. One of those was ‘Tower of Meaning’ (1983), a score commissioned for and then abandoned by a Robert Wilson production of Euripides' Medea. Composer and pianist Philip Glass helped preserve the music, at least, subsequently releasing a somewhat-thin recording on his own label of just 320 LPs.
A few years into his obsession with Russell’s work, Broderick paid $500 for one of those scant copies (it was remastered and reissued in 2006, followed by several subsequent editions). Still, he didn’t connect with that collector’s item the way he did with so much of Russell’s oeuvre. It felt a tad cold and distant, Russell’s usual tangle of intimacy and mystery perhaps lost in his frustrations with the process or maybe in the recording itself. Ensemble 0 founder Stéphane Garin realized he needed to pursue this project immediately after performing just a bit of the piece. In 2019, the group played a 25-minute chunk as a preamble to ‘Femenine’, the pulsing minimalist masterwork of Julius Eastman (a longtime Russell collaborator, Eastman conducted the initial recording of ‘Tower of Meaning’). He was struck by its splendor and subtle difficulty, the way that Russell shirked dissonance in favor of metric complexity. There was little else like it.
Garin was aware of Broderick’s stints interpreting Russell’s songs on stages and albums for the better part of a decade but also his work collaborating with Russell’s estate to restore previously unreleased tracks for the critically acclaimed album ‘Iowa Dream’ (2019). Broderick naturally did not hesitate when Ensemble 0 asked him to enlist, but he did offer a surprise: Rather than lace ‘Tower of Meaning’ with expected Russell standards, why not incorporate some of his cherished songs that had never found a home?
Early in the process, Ensemble 0 made the decision that they would not seek out Russell’s original esoteric scores, which had already been used to stage ‘Tower of Meaning’ elsewhere. They liked the fact that the recording felt unfinished, allowing them to consider what was missing and how the ever-restless Russell might have modified it over time. Ensemble 0 saxophonist Julien Pontvianne toiled over this task, scrutinizing recordings that Russell had slowed with a tape machine in order to find the melodies and undergirding arrangements.
‘Give It to the Sky’ is supple and dioramic. Pontvianne’s transcriptions add both muscle and nuance to the original recording, with a new low-end depth to balance the trebly tremble. Ensemble 0’s layers are as intricate as they are expertly rendered, the obfuscation of that rare Glass release replaced by a clarity that lets you peer inside this mesmeric music. New ideas appear, suggesting ‘Tower of Meaning’ as the scaffolding to something greater.
Ensemble 0 weave in and out of Broderick’s additions. ‘Corky’, a poignant cowboy ballad that Russell never finished, appears, disappears, and reappears three times, the droning exhalations of ‘Tower of Meaning’ making it feel sweeter and sadder. Arriving just after the triumphant halfway mark, the title track is a sublime meditation on mere existence, about staring at some simple rural scene and marcelling at the miracle of being anywhere at all. It is an apt encapsulation of how this entire project feels – a glorious way to hear something that might have seemed familiar as if for the very first time.
Russell was never much for definitive versions, of course. He was constantly rethinking the possibilities of a piece, of wondering what else it could do. ‘Give It to the Sky’ is a powerful affirmation of those principles, using Tower of Meaning’s framework to build outward and upward, to shape something that functions within Russell’s wondrous, paradoxical world. And ‘Give It to the Sky’ is also not intended to be some definitive last word. Broderick and Ensemble 0 speak already of the ways it may shift on stage, of where else it might lead.
Peter Broderick: voice, violin, acoustic guitar, drum kit
Pandora Burrus: french horn
Sylvain Chauveau: harmonium, ebow guitar, radio static
Vianney Desplantes: euphonium
Jozef Dumoulin: piano, synthesizer
Júlia Gállego Ronda: flute
Stéphane Garin: vibraphone, glockenspiel, percussion
Amélie Grould: vibraphone
Barbara Hünninger: viola da gamba
Tomoko Katsura: violin
Fanny Meteier: tuba
Lucas Pizzini: tape processing
Julien Pontvianne: tenor saxophone
Transcriptions and arrangements by Julien Pontvianne
Recorded and mixed by Lucas Pizzini
Mastered by Zino Mikorey
Lacquer cut by Jana Falcon at Schnittstelle
Design by Bernd Kuchenbeiser
Special thanks to Steve Knutson and Tom Lee
All music and lyrics written by Charles Arthur Russell Jr.
Published by Echo & Feedback Newsletter Music (ASCAP) / Domino Publishing Co. Ltd. (PRS)
Lyrics included by kind permission of the estate of Arthur Russell.
Executive Producer: Robert Raths
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1.Tower of Meaning I
2.Tower of Meaning II
3.Tower of Meaning III
4.Tower of Meaning IV
5.Corky I / White Jet Set Smoke Trail I
6.Consideration
7.Tower of Meaning V
8.Tower of Meaning VI
9.Tower of Meaning VII
10.Tower of Meaning VIII
11.Tower of Meaning IX / Corky II
12.Tower of Meaning X
13.Give It to the Sky
14.Tower of Meaning XI
15.Tower of Meaning XII
16.Corky III
17.White Jet Smoke Trail II
This autumn, Erased Tapes are set to release ‘Give It to the Sky: Arthur Russell’s Tower of Meaning Expanded’ by composer and producer Peter Broderick and French 12-piece group Ensemble 0; a complete re-recording of Russell’s epic minimalist orchestral composition originally released in 1983. ‘Give It to the Sky’ also includes unreleased tracks by Russell which have been restored and re-recorded, resulting in an 80-minute reanimation that threads several lost songs into a meticulous and gorgeous rendering. The album was recorded live as a group in a small theatre in the Southwest of France with minimal overdubs.
For all its wonder and beauty, the musical output of the American cellist, composer, singer, and musical visionary also embodies irony, tragedy, and paradox. Russell famously recorded more than 1,000 hours of tape and left an otherwise-tremendous archive, now part of the New York Public Library. But before his death in 1992, Russell released just three albums under his own name. One of those was ‘Tower of Meaning’ (1983), a score commissioned for and then abandoned by a Robert Wilson production of Euripides' Medea. Composer and pianist Philip Glass helped preserve the music, at least, subsequently releasing a somewhat-thin recording on his own label of just 320 LPs.
A few years into his obsession with Russell’s work, Broderick paid $500 for one of those scant copies (it was remastered and reissued in 2006, followed by several subsequent editions). Still, he didn’t connect with that collector’s item the way he did with so much of Russell’s oeuvre. It felt a tad cold and distant, Russell’s usual tangle of intimacy and mystery perhaps lost in his frustrations with the process or maybe in the recording itself. Ensemble 0 founder Stéphane Garin realized he needed to pursue this project immediately after performing just a bit of the piece. In 2019, the group played a 25-minute chunk as a preamble to ‘Femenine’, the pulsing minimalist masterwork of Julius Eastman (a longtime Russell collaborator, Eastman conducted the initial recording of ‘Tower of Meaning’). He was struck by its splendor and subtle difficulty, the way that Russell shirked dissonance in favor of metric complexity. There was little else like it.
Garin was aware of Broderick’s stints interpreting Russell’s songs on stages and albums for the better part of a decade but also his work collaborating with Russell’s estate to restore previously unreleased tracks for the critically acclaimed album ‘Iowa Dream’ (2019). Broderick naturally did not hesitate when Ensemble 0 asked him to enlist, but he did offer a surprise: Rather than lace ‘Tower of Meaning’ with expected Russell standards, why not incorporate some of his cherished songs that had never found a home?
Early in the process, Ensemble 0 made the decision that they would not seek out Russell’s original esoteric scores, which had already been used to stage ‘Tower of Meaning’ elsewhere. They liked the fact that the recording felt unfinished, allowing them to consider what was missing and how the ever-restless Russell might have modified it over time. Ensemble 0 saxophonist Julien Pontvianne toiled over this task, scrutinizing recordings that Russell had slowed with a tape machine in order to find the melodies and undergirding arrangements.
‘Give It to the Sky’ is supple and dioramic. Pontvianne’s transcriptions add both muscle and nuance to the original recording, with a new low-end depth to balance the trebly tremble. Ensemble 0’s layers are as intricate as they are expertly rendered, the obfuscation of that rare Glass release replaced by a clarity that lets you peer inside this mesmeric music. New ideas appear, suggesting ‘Tower of Meaning’ as the scaffolding to something greater.
Ensemble 0 weave in and out of Broderick’s additions. ‘Corky’, a poignant cowboy ballad that Russell never finished, appears, disappears, and reappears three times, the droning exhalations of ‘Tower of Meaning’ making it feel sweeter and sadder. Arriving just after the triumphant halfway mark, the title track is a sublime meditation on mere existence, about staring at some simple rural scene and marcelling at the miracle of being anywhere at all. It is an apt encapsulation of how this entire project feels – a glorious way to hear something that might have seemed familiar as if for the very first time.
Russell was never much for definitive versions, of course. He was constantly rethinking the possibilities of a piece, of wondering what else it could do. ‘Give It to the Sky’ is a powerful affirmation of those principles, using Tower of Meaning’s framework to build outward and upward, to shape something that functions within Russell’s wondrous, paradoxical world. And ‘Give It to the Sky’ is also not intended to be some definitive last word. Broderick and Ensemble 0 speak already of the ways it may shift on stage, of where else it might lead.
Peter Broderick: voice, violin, acoustic guitar, drum kit
Pandora Burrus: french horn
Sylvain Chauveau: harmonium, ebow guitar, radio static
Vianney Desplantes: euphonium
Jozef Dumoulin: piano, synthesizer
Júlia Gállego Ronda: flute
Stéphane Garin: vibraphone, glockenspiel, percussion
Amélie Grould: vibraphone
Barbara Hünninger: viola da gamba
Tomoko Katsura: violin
Fanny Meteier: tuba
Lucas Pizzini: tape processing
Julien Pontvianne: tenor saxophone
Transcriptions and arrangements by Julien Pontvianne
Recorded and mixed by Lucas Pizzini
Mastered by Zino Mikorey
Lacquer cut by Jana Falcon at Schnittstelle
Design by Bernd Kuchenbeiser
Special thanks to Steve Knutson and Tom Lee
All music and lyrics written by Charles Arthur Russell Jr.
Published by Echo & Feedback Newsletter Music (ASCAP) / Domino Publishing Co. Ltd. (PRS)
Lyrics included by kind permission of the estate of Arthur Russell.
Executive Producer: Robert Raths
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
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Germany
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1
Rival Consoles - Pattern Of The North
2
Rival Consoles - Johannesburg
3
Rival Consoles - Slow Song
4
Rival Consoles - Lone
5
Rival Consoles - Night Melody
6
Rival Consoles - What Sorrow
Repress on blue vinyl coming at the beginning of August!
London-based electronic songwriter Ryan Lee West aka Rival Consoles to release his most personal work to date in the form of a mini-album titled ‘Night Melody’ through Erased Tapes on 5th August 2016.
During the release of his acclaimed full-length album ‘Howl’ and heavy touring in late 2015, Ryan came out of a 13-year long relationship and found himself making music throughout the winter months. The result of his efforts is a 34-minute, 6-track mini album ‘Night Melody’, born out of and shaped by long hours working into the night. It’s nocturnal in sound; mysterious in the way that the early hours so often are.
“I found myself, in a silent home, with the days getting dark very early. I’ve never before in my life been affected by the lack of light so much. I just remember it always being night time. I would either make music into the night, go out drinking with friends, or go to parties and dance into the early hours, every day, week after week, month after month, until eventually the days became brighter again.”
The opening statement ‘Pattern of the North’ starts off with a collage of spliced synth melodies, inspired by anxiety that accompanies going home for Christmas. It’s followed by ‘Johannesburg’, an early sketch gradually filled out during his tour in South Africa.
“After playing it around some of the cities, I got a lot of inspiration to bring it to life and push it into something that really moves me. I think this is one of my most colourful pieces of music, with its driving rhythm and almost a homage to Terry Riley’s ‘In C’ towards the end, with a build of very simple, hypnotic parts. I especially love that for over five minutes the piece is tied to just one note. This makes the ending very dramatic, because all of a sudden there is this harmonic change.”
‘Lone’ started life around the time Ryan was working on his ‘Sonne’ EP in 2014. It’s the result of constant adjustments to find the perfect balance of fragility and assurance. As everything on the album, it’s a carefully considered, emotionally mature piece. “I think, as I get older, I need music to represent something and not just sound interesting, though of course the two are connected.”
The closing statement ‘What Sorrow’ is a fitting end to the album, building from gentle melancholia to a joyous crescendo. It’s a sensibility that’s central to the record; joy and sorrow both find their counterpoints.
“This record is very personal to me and I hope it offers something for other people, as it helped me to make it and to listen to it. Almost every synth line was recorded intuitively, without perfection but with a lot of intention and expression. I’m not interested in making something sad or making something happy. I want music to be bittersweet, to be more complex, like life – containing moments of vibrant colour and hope, as much as darkness and sadness.”
This summer will see Ryan follow on from his recent North American Tour with the appearance at many festivals including Lovebox, Secret Garden Party, La Route Du Rock, Sea Change and Tale of Us-curated Afterlife party at Space. ‘Night Melody’ will be available on August 5th.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
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Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore
London-based electronic songwriter Ryan Lee West aka Rival Consoles to release his most personal work to date in the form of a mini-album titled ‘Night Melody’ through Erased Tapes on 5th August 2016.
During the release of his acclaimed full-length album ‘Howl’ and heavy touring in late 2015, Ryan came out of a 13-year long relationship and found himself making music throughout the winter months. The result of his efforts is a 34-minute, 6-track mini album ‘Night Melody’, born out of and shaped by long hours working into the night. It’s nocturnal in sound; mysterious in the way that the early hours so often are.
“I found myself, in a silent home, with the days getting dark very early. I’ve never before in my life been affected by the lack of light so much. I just remember it always being night time. I would either make music into the night, go out drinking with friends, or go to parties and dance into the early hours, every day, week after week, month after month, until eventually the days became brighter again.”
The opening statement ‘Pattern of the North’ starts off with a collage of spliced synth melodies, inspired by anxiety that accompanies going home for Christmas. It’s followed by ‘Johannesburg’, an early sketch gradually filled out during his tour in South Africa.
“After playing it around some of the cities, I got a lot of inspiration to bring it to life and push it into something that really moves me. I think this is one of my most colourful pieces of music, with its driving rhythm and almost a homage to Terry Riley’s ‘In C’ towards the end, with a build of very simple, hypnotic parts. I especially love that for over five minutes the piece is tied to just one note. This makes the ending very dramatic, because all of a sudden there is this harmonic change.”
‘Lone’ started life around the time Ryan was working on his ‘Sonne’ EP in 2014. It’s the result of constant adjustments to find the perfect balance of fragility and assurance. As everything on the album, it’s a carefully considered, emotionally mature piece. “I think, as I get older, I need music to represent something and not just sound interesting, though of course the two are connected.”
The closing statement ‘What Sorrow’ is a fitting end to the album, building from gentle melancholia to a joyous crescendo. It’s a sensibility that’s central to the record; joy and sorrow both find their counterpoints.
“This record is very personal to me and I hope it offers something for other people, as it helped me to make it and to listen to it. Almost every synth line was recorded intuitively, without perfection but with a lot of intention and expression. I’m not interested in making something sad or making something happy. I want music to be bittersweet, to be more complex, like life – containing moments of vibrant colour and hope, as much as darkness and sadness.”
This summer will see Ryan follow on from his recent North American Tour with the appearance at many festivals including Lovebox, Secret Garden Party, La Route Du Rock, Sea Change and Tale of Us-curated Afterlife party at Space. ‘Night Melody’ will be available on August 5th.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
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Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore
Eine zuversichtliche Grundstimmung durchzieht das fünfte Studioalbum von Penguin Cafe, Rain Before Seven..., wobei es sich keinesfalls um jenen extrem selbstbewussten, fast schon prahlerischen Optimismus handelt, sondern eher um so eine auf bescheidene Art hoffnungsvolle Grundhaltung, die man den Menschen auf der Insel ja häufiger nachsagt. Auch wenn alle Anzeichen das Gegenteil behaupten, spürt man hier sofort diese Gewissheit, dass sich alles doch noch irgendwie zum Guten wenden wird. Vermutlich zumindest. Der Titel des Albums geht auf eine alte Bauernregel zurück, wobei die gereimte Vorhersage - "... fine before eleven": ab 11 Uhr also wieder alles klar - auf ein baldiges gutes Ende hindeutet, vollkommen unabhängig davon, was die Wissenschaft sagt. Angefangen beim leinwandgroßen und schwärmerischen Eröffnungstitel "Welcome to London", der mit einem Augenzwinkern auf Morricone anspielt, bis hin zum "Goldfinch Yodel", jenem "Maibaum-Banger", mit dem das neue Album ausklingt, zieht sich ein angenehmes Gefühl von Leichtigkeit und Lebensmut durch den Longplayer, unterfüttert mit der Ausgelassenheit exotischer Rhythmen. Alles wirkt spielerisch und verspielt, und selbst der Titel ist eine Anspielung - auf A Matter of Life... aus dem Jahr 2011, der letzten Veröffentlichung, deren Titel in eine Ellipse mündete. Jenes Debütalbum von Penguin Cafe diente einst als Bindeglied und Brücke - zwischen dem legendären Penguin Cafe Orchestra, das einst Arthurs Vater Simon Jeffes leitete, und dem gefeierten Nachfolger, als dessen Mastermind seither Arthur verantwortlich zeichnet. Die rhythmischen Elemente, die zum Teil sogar an elektronische Sounds erinnern, waren noch nie so präsent und tonangebend wie auf "Rain Before Seven..."
Tracklist:
1.1 Welcome to London
1.2 Temporary Shelter from the Storm
1.3 In Re Budd
1.4 Second Variety
1.5 Galahad
1.6 Might Be Something
1.7 No One Really Leaves...
1.8 Find Your Feet
1.9 Lamborghini 754
1.10 Goldfinch Yodel
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Tracklist:
1.1 Welcome to London
1.2 Temporary Shelter from the Storm
1.3 In Re Budd
1.4 Second Variety
1.5 Galahad
1.6 Might Be Something
1.7 No One Really Leaves...
1.8 Find Your Feet
1.9 Lamborghini 754
1.10 Goldfinch Yodel
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Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore
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Repress
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Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
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A legendary artist at a legendary location: Tripping with Nils Frahm captures one of the world’s most sought-after live acts performing at one of Berlin’s most iconic buildings. When Nils Frahm kicked off his world tour at Funkhaus Berlin in January 2018 to bring his highly acclaimed studio album All Melody to the stage, an ambitious journey was just to begin: Over the next two years, Frahm played more than 180 sold-out performances, including the Sydney Opera House, LA’s Disney Hall, the Barbican in London, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, and several big festival stages around the globe. Yet the stunning setting of Funkhaus Berlin, renowned for its vintage grandeur and outstanding acoustics, and also home to Frahm’s magnificent studio where All Melody was recorded, had occupied a unique place in the artist's heart. In December 2018, Nils Frahm eventually returned to Funkhaus Berlin to host another set of four shows, tickets sold out within hours. Frahm’s friend and film director Benoit Toulemonde — a collaborator since 2011 — captured the concerts on film, only using handheld cameras, and employing techniques he had mastered for the famous concert series La Blogotèque, which featured some of the world’s most popular artists. Tripping with Nils Frahm is an illustration of Nils’s lauded ability as a composer and passionate live artist as well as the enchanting atmosphere of his captivating, and already legendary Funkhaus shows: An extraordinary musical trip – rare and exclusive, close and intimate, bringing a unique concert experience to the screen. "It was about time to document my concerts in picture and sound, trying to freeze a moment of this period where my team and I were nomads, using any method of travel to play yet another show the next day. Maybe tonight is the night where everything works out perfectly and things fall into place? Normally things go wrong with concerts, but by combining our favorite moments of four performances, we were able to achieve what I was trying to do in these two years of touring: getting it right! When you hear the applause on the end of the film you should know that I was smiling happily, being a tad proud and feeling blessed to share these moments with you. Much love, Nils" Tripping with Nils Frahm — the live album is out on Erased Tapes from December 3. Physical stock will ship in early 2021. The concert film with the same name is produced by Leiter in association with Plan B Entertainment and will premiere the same day via the curated online cinema MUBI.
Tracks
01 Enters
02 Sunson
03 Fundamental Values
04 My Friend The Forest
05 The Dane
06 All Melody
07 #2
08 Ode ? Our Own Roof
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Tracks
01 Enters
02 Sunson
03 Fundamental Values
04 My Friend The Forest
05 The Dane
06 All Melody
07 #2
08 Ode ? Our Own Roof
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Tracklist
1. Lighter
2. O I End
3. Because This Must Be
4. Kurzum
5. And Om
6. Hammers
7. Crossings
8. About Coming and Leaving
9. Went Missing
Piano Day 2021 sees Nils Frahm surprise the world with his Erased Tapes debut. Wait, what? How? Anyone who has seen the trail blazing sonic pioneer live will know Nils likes to deadpan a joke. Graz is in fact the first studio album he recorded for the label back in 2009, that somehow remained a secret... until now.
Nils Frahm has quietly changed the musical landscape, reincarnating the centuries old figure of a pianist-composer for a new generation of music fans. As Nils’ word-of- mouth popularity grew and grew, so did the pop-culture profile of his instrument. He founded Piano Day with a team of like-minded friends in 2015 to help that process, some years releasing an album of piano recordings to celebrate one of humankind’s greatest inventions. Graz is one such record; an unheard snapshot of a young Nils recorded at Mumuth, the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, in 2009 as part of the thesis Conversations for Piano and Room produced by Thomas Geiger, Whilst at the time it was decided to keep the grand piano recordings from the Graz sessions locked away and instead focus on his close mic’ed, dampened piano explorations which would become his acclaimed studio album Felt in 2011, two of the pieces — most notably Hammers — lived on as part of his live set, and were expanded on and re... more
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Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore
1. Lighter
2. O I End
3. Because This Must Be
4. Kurzum
5. And Om
6. Hammers
7. Crossings
8. About Coming and Leaving
9. Went Missing
Piano Day 2021 sees Nils Frahm surprise the world with his Erased Tapes debut. Wait, what? How? Anyone who has seen the trail blazing sonic pioneer live will know Nils likes to deadpan a joke. Graz is in fact the first studio album he recorded for the label back in 2009, that somehow remained a secret... until now.
Nils Frahm has quietly changed the musical landscape, reincarnating the centuries old figure of a pianist-composer for a new generation of music fans. As Nils’ word-of- mouth popularity grew and grew, so did the pop-culture profile of his instrument. He founded Piano Day with a team of like-minded friends in 2015 to help that process, some years releasing an album of piano recordings to celebrate one of humankind’s greatest inventions. Graz is one such record; an unheard snapshot of a young Nils recorded at Mumuth, the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, in 2009 as part of the thesis Conversations for Piano and Room produced by Thomas Geiger, Whilst at the time it was decided to keep the grand piano recordings from the Graz sessions locked away and instead focus on his close mic’ed, dampened piano explorations which would become his acclaimed studio album Felt in 2011, two of the pieces — most notably Hammers — lived on as part of his live set, and were expanded on and re... more
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DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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Nils Frahm writes his first score for one-take feature film ‘Victoria’ and is nominated for German film prize Nils Frahm has always said that he’s just waiting for something real special when being asked if he would ever score the music for a film. And that’s exactly what German director Sebastian Schipper presented to him with his one-take feature ‘Victoria’. Filmed in Berlin, Victoria’s plot sees a runaway party girl, who's asked by three friendly men to join them as they hit the town, but their wild night of partying suddenly turns into a bank robbery as the music changes from techno to subdued piano sounds. For the recording session at Studio P4 in Berlin, Frahm enlisted the help of long-time collaborator and cellist Anne Müller, violist Viktor Orri Árnason and ambient artist Erik K. Skodvin of Deaf Center on guitar. Dear viewer and listener, I’ve finally written music for a film. It took me some time to do so, as I was patiently waiting for a movie that would truly speak to me. When director Sebastian Schipper invited me to work on Victoria, I knew it was worth the long wait. Does such a strong film even need music? I realised it wouldn’t be easy to create a score that embraces these bold pictures. Luckily we were given unusual creative freedom by approaching the movie together with Sebastian Schipper, who was keeping the production and direction to one single team. The score was recorded in a special location, the former GDR broadcasting production facilities that today host Studio P4. We simply put a big screen in the middle of the room, filled it with microphones and instruments, set the movie on loop and kept improvising on top of it together – my good friends and I. The guest musicians started their recording session by playing a cohesive take over the course of the whole movie. This was the most interesting part of the day, since they hadn’t seen the film before. They became spectators and creators at once, intuitively recording hundreds of different cues that way. You are about to listen to some of its highlights. I hope they do Victoria and your ears justice. With love, Nils Frahm ‘Victoria’ won the Berlinale Film Festival prize for Best Cinematography and has also received seven nominations including Best Soundtrack for the Deutscher Filmpreis – Germany’s highest movie award, and will be released in cinemas across Germany on June 11th with plans to release it in the UK and other countries soon. The soundtrack opens with an edit of ‘Burn With Me’ by German producer DJ Koze and will be released by Erased Tapes on June 15th.
Tracks
01 DJ Koze ? Burn With Me (Victoria Edit)
02 Our Own Roof
03 A Stolen Car
04 In The Parking Garage
05 Them
06 The Bank
07 The Shooting
08 Nobody Knows Who You Are
09 Pendulum
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Tracks
01 DJ Koze ? Burn With Me (Victoria Edit)
02 Our Own Roof
03 A Stolen Car
04 In The Parking Garage
05 Them
06 The Bank
07 The Shooting
08 Nobody Knows Who You Are
09 Pendulum
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re-release Mit seinen einzigartig intimen Klavieraufnahmen wurde der in Berlin lebende Pianist Nils Frahm zum Star der internationalen Neo-Klassik-Szene. Dabei machen seine Studioaufnahmen nur einen Bruchteil dessen aus, was auf einem Nils-Frahm-Konzert zu erwarten ist. Frahms Herz liegt nämlich in der Improvisation, in der Magie des Moments, in dem seine Finger, inspiriert vom Raum und Publikum, neue Kompositionen kreieren. "Spaces" ist eine Ode an die Lust des Livespiels, ein Ausdruck der Experimentierfreude und gleichzeitig eine Antwort auf die Frage seiner Fans nach einer Platte, die das Erlebnis eines Nils-Frahm-Konzerts widerspiegelt. Entgegen den Konventionen eines traditionellen Livealbums wurde "Spaces" über einen Zeitraum von zwei Jahren hinweg mithilfe von tragbaren Tonbandgeräten und Kassettendecks an verschiedenen Orten aufgenommen. Diese Momente wurden später in seinem Berliner Studio zu einer Art Collage an Feldaufnahmen zusammengesetzt. Mitunter mit überraschenden Momenten wie saitenhämmernden Klobürsten oder einem Huster aus dem Publikum. Das Doppelvinyl erscheint mit Downloadcode.
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Martinou - You took me in
2
Martinou - Blur
3
Martinou - Somewhere
4
Martinou - Between here and home
5
Martinou - Light (from within)
6
Martinou - This is not the End
GENRE/S: House, Chill House
TRACKLIST:
[Vinyl]
A 33 RPM 1. You took me in / 2. Blur
B 45 RPM 1. Somewhere
C 33 RPM 1. Between here and home / 2. Light (from within)
D 45 RPM 1. This is not the End
SHORT INFO:
Swedish artist Martinou crafts deeply immersive electronic music, seamlessly balancing weight and delicacy. His productions oscillate between hypnotic intensity and introspective warmth, always evoking a visceral response on the dancefloor.
After releasing on acclaimed labels like Nous’klaer, Turbo Recordings, and Mule Musiq, the Malmö-based producer now makes his long-awaited debut on Stockholm’s Studio Barnhus. His Linked EP showcases six meticulously layered compositions, where intricate rhythms intertwine with luminous melodies – ethereal synths drifting in and out of the grooves, shaping an atmosphere that’s both expansive and deeply personal.
With Linked, Martinou further refines his signature approach, crafting music that feels at once free-flowing and deliberate. It’s a record that invites deep listening yet remains primed for the floor – a testament to the Malmö maestro's knack for blurring the lines between club functionality and sonic storytelling.
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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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TRACKLIST:
[Vinyl]
A 33 RPM 1. You took me in / 2. Blur
B 45 RPM 1. Somewhere
C 33 RPM 1. Between here and home / 2. Light (from within)
D 45 RPM 1. This is not the End
SHORT INFO:
Swedish artist Martinou crafts deeply immersive electronic music, seamlessly balancing weight and delicacy. His productions oscillate between hypnotic intensity and introspective warmth, always evoking a visceral response on the dancefloor.
After releasing on acclaimed labels like Nous’klaer, Turbo Recordings, and Mule Musiq, the Malmö-based producer now makes his long-awaited debut on Stockholm’s Studio Barnhus. His Linked EP showcases six meticulously layered compositions, where intricate rhythms intertwine with luminous melodies – ethereal synths drifting in and out of the grooves, shaping an atmosphere that’s both expansive and deeply personal.
With Linked, Martinou further refines his signature approach, crafting music that feels at once free-flowing and deliberate. It’s a record that invites deep listening yet remains primed for the floor – a testament to the Malmö maestro's knack for blurring the lines between club functionality and sonic storytelling.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore
Label:Smallville Records
Cat-No:smallville68
Release-Date:04.04.2025
Genre:Deephouse
Configuration:12" Excl
Label:Smallville Records
Cat-No:smallville68
Release-Date:04.04.2025
Genre:Deephouse
Configuration:12" Excl
1
Jacy - Move Your Body
2
Jacy - Feel The G
3
Jacy - One Kiss One ...
4
Jacy - Isola 89
Artwork and Typography by Stefan Marx
Four new and ultra deep italo-deephouse cuts from Jacy aka Giacy Bozzi from Bari in Southern Italy.
Jacy is running his own label Home Of House Records and is well-known in his comfort-zone, the very Underground. May it be for his contributions to the amazing „Welcome To Paradise“ Compilation Series on Safe Trip, being featured on Volume I, II and III or his records on Kalahari Oyster or Hot Haus Records.
All of these come with Jacy signature sound– timeless and deep tunes to stay, intense balearic feels that guide you through the night and revive the golden-era of House music.
Smallville 68 as always comes with a Full Cover Artwork by Stefan Marx.
Tracklist:
Tracklist:
A1 Move Your Body
A2 Feel The G
B1 One Kiss One ...
B2 Isola 89
All tracks written & produced by Giacy Bozzi
Mastering and Vinyl cut by Helmut Erler at Lathesville
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore
Four new and ultra deep italo-deephouse cuts from Jacy aka Giacy Bozzi from Bari in Southern Italy.
Jacy is running his own label Home Of House Records and is well-known in his comfort-zone, the very Underground. May it be for his contributions to the amazing „Welcome To Paradise“ Compilation Series on Safe Trip, being featured on Volume I, II and III or his records on Kalahari Oyster or Hot Haus Records.
All of these come with Jacy signature sound– timeless and deep tunes to stay, intense balearic feels that guide you through the night and revive the golden-era of House music.
Smallville 68 as always comes with a Full Cover Artwork by Stefan Marx.
Tracklist:
Tracklist:
A1 Move Your Body
A2 Feel The G
B1 One Kiss One ...
B2 Isola 89
All tracks written & produced by Giacy Bozzi
Mastering and Vinyl cut by Helmut Erler at Lathesville
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore
1
Andre Zimmer & Carlita - - Raf
2
Toman - - Emotion
3
Alex Metric & Ten Ven - - Strobe
4
Alinka - - Deep Into The Vibe
5
Carlita - Stop Now
6
Butch & Martin Rizolla - - Burning Terrace
7
Jesse Maas - - Gross Weight
8
Aldo Cadiz & Andre Butano - - Tzu-Mani (Paco Osuna & Fer BR Remix)
fabric Records has enlisted Turkish-Italian DJ and producer Carlita for the next instalment of its prestigious mix compilation series, ‘fabric presents’. Set for full release on April 11, fabric presents Carlita will showcase her meticulous curation, featuring two new original tracks. The double vinyl sampler features eight full length tracks taken from Carlita’s mix. Her two exclusives ‘Raf’ and ‘Stop Now’ are cut to A1 and C1 respectively. The two black vinyl plates are 140g and are packaged in black inners, inside a matt printed reverse board printed sleeve.
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Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore
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Germany
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1
JakoJako - A1 Xin chào
2
JakoJako - A1 Xin chào
3
JakoJako - A3 Lì xì
4
JakoJako - A4 Hoa ?ào
5
JakoJako - A5 Ghi-Ta
6
JakoJako - A6 ?à N?ng
7
JakoJako - B1 Dragon Bridge
8
JakoJako - B2 Chim s?
9
JakoJako - B3 Gió
10
JakoJako - B4.Cám ón
Territory: WW-UK/EIRE & USA,Canada
Limited Edition Vinyl - 500 available worldwide
TRACKLIST
A1 Xin chào
A2 Kumquat
A3 Lì xì
A4 Hoa ?ào
A5 Ghi-Ta
A6 ?à N?ng
B1 Dragon Bridge
B2 Chim s?
B3 Gió
B4 C?m ?n
T?t 41 is the latest record by modular synthesist and Berghain resident JakoJako (Sibel Koçer), marking her album debut for Mute.
Recorded during a trip to Vietnam and bookended by field recordings from T?t Lunar New Year celebrations, the album is illuminated by references to Koçer's heritage. The melodic palette breaks away from traditional Western scales, drawing instead from the tonal intricacies of the Vietnamese language, inspired by overheard conversations. The album and track titles further honour the vibrant T?t festivities, shrines, and landmarks she encountered during her travels.
This album is, in many ways, a distillation of ideas she has been exploring for years. Tapping into a deep understanding of machine-based music, crafted with a minimalist setup consisting of a Eurorack and Waldorf Iridium Core, T?t 41 reflects on notions of rebirth, and the pursuit of a sonic core. From this simplicity emerge some of her most expansive, unworldly compositions to date.
T?t 41 is available on vinyl in a limited run of just 500 copies worldwide.
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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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Limited Edition Vinyl - 500 available worldwide
TRACKLIST
A1 Xin chào
A2 Kumquat
A3 Lì xì
A4 Hoa ?ào
A5 Ghi-Ta
A6 ?à N?ng
B1 Dragon Bridge
B2 Chim s?
B3 Gió
B4 C?m ?n
T?t 41 is the latest record by modular synthesist and Berghain resident JakoJako (Sibel Koçer), marking her album debut for Mute.
Recorded during a trip to Vietnam and bookended by field recordings from T?t Lunar New Year celebrations, the album is illuminated by references to Koçer's heritage. The melodic palette breaks away from traditional Western scales, drawing instead from the tonal intricacies of the Vietnamese language, inspired by overheard conversations. The album and track titles further honour the vibrant T?t festivities, shrines, and landmarks she encountered during her travels.
This album is, in many ways, a distillation of ideas she has been exploring for years. Tapping into a deep understanding of machine-based music, crafted with a minimalist setup consisting of a Eurorack and Waldorf Iridium Core, T?t 41 reflects on notions of rebirth, and the pursuit of a sonic core. From this simplicity emerge some of her most expansive, unworldly compositions to date.
T?t 41 is available on vinyl in a limited run of just 500 copies worldwide.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore
1
Cinthie - Deep inside love
2
Cinthie - Higher
3
Cinthie - Get up
4
Cinthie - Higher (Demi Riquísimo remix)
Format: Vinyl 12” (180 gr., Limited Full Cover)
Track list:
A1 Deep inside love
A2 Higher
B1 Get up
B2 Higher (Demi Riquísimo remix)
Release Info:
Europe's first lady of House is back on Heist with a massive new EP and a Demi Riquísimo remix.
Cinthie’s 2023 Piano Heaven EP on Heist was a big release for both her and the label, getting tons of airplay and support from the likes of Pete Tong, Danny Howard, Chloe Caillet and Blessed Madonna. The Dam Swindle remix of ‘Won’t u take me’ that followed on that year’s Round Up is still among her top tracks on any platform. Cinthie now returns to Heist with an EP full of dancefloor weapons that range from classic grooving house to quirky rave.
With her frequent plays at renowned clubs all over the world, as well as spots in her Berlin back yard like Panorama bar, Cinthie has the ideal testing grounds for new peak-time material. And that’s exactly what the A1 ‘Deep inside love’ is: an epic peaktime weapon. With a stomping beat and signature uplifting keys, she serves up themes of classic 80s and 90s house music with a modern aesthetic. With that, Deep inside love has all the ingredients to become an instant Heist classic.
The A2 shows us Cinthie’s rave side, where we see her inspiration from the current dancefloor high octane energy. Or maybe it’s just her early rave days that are finally back in the limelight after her well received ‘Rave Baby’ release on Aus Music. Either way, ‘Higher’ is a fun tune with an infectious beat, classic rave stabs and a female vocal telling us to take her higher. We’re sure that this won’t be a problem, cause this track is built for those clubby highs.
‘Get up’ is a lovely organ-led track with long ethereal strings and dubby vocal chops. The breakdown deepens the mood with some heavy chords tuned in true house style before a free-flowing drum roll (crashes and claps included) catapult you into back into the full groove.
We asked close friend Demi Riquísimo, a man not unfamiliar with dancefloor wizardry himself as head honcho of Semi Delicious records, for a remix on ‘Higher’. His version is exactly what you’d expect from a class producer like him: it’s a breezy, effortless, mildly throwbacky and most definitely fun remix to conclude an EP that navigates through all kinds of moods with one clear goal in mind: Make people dance.
Enjoy the music and as always, play it loud!
Lars & Maarten
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore
Track list:
A1 Deep inside love
A2 Higher
B1 Get up
B2 Higher (Demi Riquísimo remix)
Release Info:
Europe's first lady of House is back on Heist with a massive new EP and a Demi Riquísimo remix.
Cinthie’s 2023 Piano Heaven EP on Heist was a big release for both her and the label, getting tons of airplay and support from the likes of Pete Tong, Danny Howard, Chloe Caillet and Blessed Madonna. The Dam Swindle remix of ‘Won’t u take me’ that followed on that year’s Round Up is still among her top tracks on any platform. Cinthie now returns to Heist with an EP full of dancefloor weapons that range from classic grooving house to quirky rave.
With her frequent plays at renowned clubs all over the world, as well as spots in her Berlin back yard like Panorama bar, Cinthie has the ideal testing grounds for new peak-time material. And that’s exactly what the A1 ‘Deep inside love’ is: an epic peaktime weapon. With a stomping beat and signature uplifting keys, she serves up themes of classic 80s and 90s house music with a modern aesthetic. With that, Deep inside love has all the ingredients to become an instant Heist classic.
The A2 shows us Cinthie’s rave side, where we see her inspiration from the current dancefloor high octane energy. Or maybe it’s just her early rave days that are finally back in the limelight after her well received ‘Rave Baby’ release on Aus Music. Either way, ‘Higher’ is a fun tune with an infectious beat, classic rave stabs and a female vocal telling us to take her higher. We’re sure that this won’t be a problem, cause this track is built for those clubby highs.
‘Get up’ is a lovely organ-led track with long ethereal strings and dubby vocal chops. The breakdown deepens the mood with some heavy chords tuned in true house style before a free-flowing drum roll (crashes and claps included) catapult you into back into the full groove.
We asked close friend Demi Riquísimo, a man not unfamiliar with dancefloor wizardry himself as head honcho of Semi Delicious records, for a remix on ‘Higher’. His version is exactly what you’d expect from a class producer like him: it’s a breezy, effortless, mildly throwbacky and most definitely fun remix to conclude an EP that navigates through all kinds of moods with one clear goal in mind: Make people dance.
Enjoy the music and as always, play it loud!
Lars & Maarten
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore
1
Rrose - Second Coming
2
Rrose - Triplicate
3
Rrose - Sillhouettes
T4TLUVNRG returns with a new release from Rrose, an artist who has been broadcasting transmissions of esoteric minimalism to the worldwide underground for nearly three decades. Stretching across eras and intentionalities within their work, they invite listeners to inhabit unfamiliar realms of phenomena in the dance. Influenced by the surrealist whimsy of Marcel Duchamp & fellow provocateurs in the Dada movement; the artist as self, subject, and instrument is disassembled, embraced, & reassembled back again into an enticingly abstract form under the sonic melding of experiential sound & techno as the medium. Rrose’s captivating dexterity & evocative tension courses with an arcane fluidity throughout each of the record’s three tracks; their entrancing qualities perfect as tools to supplement the rhythmically inclined DJ bag, or as standalone experiences in circadian perception. “Second Coming” arises in vaporous glamour & undulating perceptive shifts, unfurling an atomic web of percussion occupying an elegant liminality evolved by the listener as participant. “Triplicate” expands our journey further, a dance of glimmering waves inside an elastic cocoon, molting with new anatomical downloads in between spaces of stillness, movement, & rippling kinetic vectors. As the B side morphs into “Silhouettes”, we glide onwards in a dance of smoldering glow, threads of energy conduction meld & drape themselves over subsonic pulsations, free flowing into constellations of momentum over a sprawling canvas.
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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore
1
Kerri Chandler - Since I Met You ft Michael Watford
2
Alopeke - Grandiose Garden
3
Kerri Chandler - Circles ft. Natalia Kissoon
4
Kerri Chandler - The Dark One
Kerri Chandler returns to his Kaoz Theory imprint with Lost & Found Vol. 4, the latest installment in his archive-focused series. A true pioneer of house music, Chandler continues to push boundaries, maintaining his legacy at the forefront of the genre.
With Lost & Found, Chandler delves deep into his vault, unearthing hidden gems and giving them new life. This volume features 'Since I Met You' featuring the late Michael Watford, the atmospheric 'Grandiose Garden' by Alopeke, 'Circles' featuring Natalia Kissoon, and closes with the deep, driving energy of 'The Dark One.'
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Germany
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With Lost & Found, Chandler delves deep into his vault, unearthing hidden gems and giving them new life. This volume features 'Since I Met You' featuring the late Michael Watford, the atmospheric 'Grandiose Garden' by Alopeke, 'Circles' featuring Natalia Kissoon, and closes with the deep, driving energy of 'The Dark One.'
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
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DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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1
Decka - Alignment (Efdemin Remix)
2
Kameliia - Remains Mystery (Amotik Remix)
3
Kaiser - Run (The Lady Machine Remix)
4
Border One - Organoid (Jeroen Search Remix)
GENRE: Techno
TRACKLIST:
Decka – Alignment (Efdemin Remix)
Kameliia – Remains Mystery (Amotik Remix)
Kaiser – Run (The Lady Machine Remix)
Border One – Organoid (Jeroen Search Remix)
SHORT INFO:
The fifth release on the BINÄR-Label is a remix EP of four tracks. Efdemin remixed Decka, Amotik remixed Kameliia, The Lady Machine remixed Kaiser and Jeroen Search remixed Border One. The record is varied with emotional parts, over deep dives up to peak time sound. The tracks are mastered by Ricardo Espostio.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore
TRACKLIST:
Decka – Alignment (Efdemin Remix)
Kameliia – Remains Mystery (Amotik Remix)
Kaiser – Run (The Lady Machine Remix)
Border One – Organoid (Jeroen Search Remix)
SHORT INFO:
The fifth release on the BINÄR-Label is a remix EP of four tracks. Efdemin remixed Decka, Amotik remixed Kameliia, The Lady Machine remixed Kaiser and Jeroen Search remixed Border One. The record is varied with emotional parts, over deep dives up to peak time sound. The tracks are mastered by Ricardo Espostio.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore
Label:Smallville Records
Cat-No:smallvillelp18
Release-Date:23.05.2025
Genre:Deephouse
Configuration:2LP Excl
Label:Smallville Records
Cat-No:smallvillelp18
Release-Date:23.05.2025
Genre:Deephouse
Configuration:2LP Excl
1
Margaux Gazur - Agata - 8'19
2
Margaux Gazur - Morning Ride - 9'24
3
Margaux Gazur - This Is Always - 10'41
4
Margaux Gazur - Madake - 7'56
5
Margaux Gazur - Su Phu - 9'20
6
Margaux Gazur - Someday - 7'31
7
Margaux Gazur - Blurred Memories - 15'13
Tracklist 2LP:
Tracklist
A1 Agata - 8'19
A2 Morning Ride - 9'24
B1 This Is Always - 10'41
B2 Madake - 7'56
C1 Su Phu - 9'20
C2 Someday - 7'31
D1 Blurred Memories - 15'13
Info:
Margaux Gazur presents her debut album „Blurred Memories“ on Smallville- almost 70 minutes into a very special search for her musical origins.
Margaux Gazur is a French-Vietnamese composer, musician, producer and DJ, now based in Berlin. Having lived in Vietnam for 5 years from 2012, she found herself searching for the sounds of her roots, played-back in form of field-recordings combined with traditional instruments and the sounds of her blurred childhood memories.
The tracks of her debut-album unfold the magic in a very subtle way, filled with vivid rhythms of Hanoian street sounds, evolving layers of mesmerizing tones and organic textures to create an intimate and unique atmosphere. Each track offers yet another something to discover while listening- mysterious voices and fragile elements next to beautiful melodies and trippy glitches, organic grooves and hypnotic wonkiness- and a lot of magic moments implemented. Woozy pads meandering and moving along – there is so many things to discover within „Blurred Memories“.
Margaux released her first track on vinyl on Smallville 55 back in 2019 and she has played endless live-sets and DJ performances at amazing spaces like Panorama Bar/Berghain, Heideglühen, Club der Visionäre, Berlin, La Station, Paris, Giegling events, Smallville and Kann Parties as well as beautiful festivals such as Waking Life in Portugal, Fusion, Berlin Atonal, Meakusma Festival or Equation in Vietnam amongst others.
Smallville is extremely happy to present „Blurred Memories“, music to stay with you.
LP number 18 on Smallville comes with a special gatefold cover artwork by Stefan Marx.
All tracks written & produced by Margaux Gazur
Mastering and Vinyl cut by Helmut Erler at Lathesville
Artwork & Typography by Stefan Marx
Distributed by Wordandsound
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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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Tracklist
A1 Agata - 8'19
A2 Morning Ride - 9'24
B1 This Is Always - 10'41
B2 Madake - 7'56
C1 Su Phu - 9'20
C2 Someday - 7'31
D1 Blurred Memories - 15'13
Info:
Margaux Gazur presents her debut album „Blurred Memories“ on Smallville- almost 70 minutes into a very special search for her musical origins.
Margaux Gazur is a French-Vietnamese composer, musician, producer and DJ, now based in Berlin. Having lived in Vietnam for 5 years from 2012, she found herself searching for the sounds of her roots, played-back in form of field-recordings combined with traditional instruments and the sounds of her blurred childhood memories.
The tracks of her debut-album unfold the magic in a very subtle way, filled with vivid rhythms of Hanoian street sounds, evolving layers of mesmerizing tones and organic textures to create an intimate and unique atmosphere. Each track offers yet another something to discover while listening- mysterious voices and fragile elements next to beautiful melodies and trippy glitches, organic grooves and hypnotic wonkiness- and a lot of magic moments implemented. Woozy pads meandering and moving along – there is so many things to discover within „Blurred Memories“.
Margaux released her first track on vinyl on Smallville 55 back in 2019 and she has played endless live-sets and DJ performances at amazing spaces like Panorama Bar/Berghain, Heideglühen, Club der Visionäre, Berlin, La Station, Paris, Giegling events, Smallville and Kann Parties as well as beautiful festivals such as Waking Life in Portugal, Fusion, Berlin Atonal, Meakusma Festival or Equation in Vietnam amongst others.
Smallville is extremely happy to present „Blurred Memories“, music to stay with you.
LP number 18 on Smallville comes with a special gatefold cover artwork by Stefan Marx.
All tracks written & produced by Margaux Gazur
Mastering and Vinyl cut by Helmut Erler at Lathesville
Artwork & Typography by Stefan Marx
Distributed by Wordandsound
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Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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1
Unknown - Unknown
2
Unknown - Unknown
EEE is back with another unstoppable house banger to keep the party going all night!
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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
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DE - 22113 Hamburg
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1
SPANDAU20 - Come Closer (Intro)
2
Elli Acula - Floating Eyes
3
KiNK, FJAAK - Overbridge
4
Dajusch - Move
5
Claus - Bloomscroll
6
FJAAK - Jackfruit
7
Anna Z - Icy Liq
8
Nikk - Down In The Shadows
9
J.Manuel - Tufted
10
Tobi Neumann, J.Manuel - Fennec
Spandau20, an imprint named after the Western Berlin district and focused on artists from the area, delivers techno in all diverse forms - from warehouse and electronic peak time beats to breaks and IDM, balancing the old and new school sounds flawlessly. With a focus on vinyl releases, for the collectors, Spandau20 has lately also focused on its label nights, with showcases at Fabric, Bassiani and many others. The label's 10th release features 10 tracks that epitomise the musical diversity of Spandau20 and the progressive musical mindset of its roster, calling on the label favourites and Spandau natives to deliver brand new and exciting music. This special release even features one track that all artists have worked on together: 'Come Closer', a swarming, slithering beginning featured as the VA's opener. Its barely coherent female vocal echoing amidst a cacophony of demon-like effects. The chilling ambience captured at the offset transcends into the first full length track by Elli Acula, 'Floating Eyes', a cur characterised by an authoritative, pounding bass featuring calculated percussive rolls and metallic overtones to make for a face-scrunching opener to this devilish collection of works. FJAAK follow for the first of twin cameo appearances, partnering up with fellow live supremo and hardware aficionado KiNK. On 'Overbridge' the trio deliver a cavernous, rolling number driven by a deep thrumming bass in addition to a razor-edged lead synth, and pulsating technopattern. Dajusch is known for incorporating his years of classical study in with his immersive musical style - and with his VA effort the Berlin native neatly showcases this. Easing the energy slightly, 'Move' escalates from its warm, melodic intro into rumbling goliath of a beat comprising a looping, slew of gassy harmonics. The momentum of the release shifts considerably with the introduction of acutely versatile producer, DJ and sound artist Claus. The artist from Spandau leans his track 'Bloomscroll' towards sparse, dubby sonics in which he intricately ties together to form churning, burgeoning soundscape. FJAAK jolt proceedings back into the techno groove with their signature blend of arresting sub-bass and reverberating rhythms, which come thick, fast and heavy on 'Jackfruit'. The abstract wonder of Anna Z's broken-beat like stylings is fully explored on 'Icy Liq'. It's outlandish and amorphous in its execution, causing a clattering percussive chaos that's choicely pieced together by the modular-extraordinaire. Nikk stealthy moves into breaks territory with his track 'Down In The Shadows', packing a trap-like snare with an acid-flecked melody and dawn-breaking, dream-like textures. The penultimate track on the VA is 'Tufted'. J.Manuel expertly employs a chorus of robot-like sonics that course through a short-circuiting low-end to produce a pacy, inescapable journey via a whirling, merciless beat. He is joined by the legendary producer Tobi Neumann for their menacingly ambient number titled 'Fennec.' In parts a nod to UK dubstep, the duo concocts a fierce admixture of styles bolstering tribal-like components with industrialised overtones and methodically crafted drum-fills.
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore
1
Nico Lahs - Coming Down Baby
2
Nico Lahs - Time To Shine
3
Nico Lahs - Daydream
4
Nico Lahs - Luv The Right Way
Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore