Apollo welcomes ambient legend bvdub AKA San Franciscan Brock Van Wey for a new album 'Drowning in Daylight'.
Van Wey debuts on Apollo with his stunning new album' Drowning in Daylight , exploring cavernous soundscapes on a grand canvas that throb with a delicate intimacy. A stalwart DJ and promoter of the halcyon 90s San Francisco rave scene, Van Wey fled to China in the early 2000s to escape the curdling of his musical dreams as the scene became more commercial.
Since his return he's been incredibly prolific in his creation, etching out peerless ambient works that have captivated listeners with their delicate melody and fascinating textures through releases for the likes of echospace, Kompakt and Styrax - 2018's A Different Definition of Love marks his 30th bvdub album to date.
Classically trained in piano and violin as a child, Van Wey's symphonic approach to ambience is truly remarkable,
Epic in it's scale with each of it's 4 tracks clocking in around the 20 minute mark, Drowning In Daylight envelops the listener in swathes of nostalgic pads and nested layers of distortion, strings and haunted voices.
'Drowning In Daylight' could well be Van Wey's crowning achievement to date and a testament to the power of instrumental abstract music to emotionally engulf the listener.


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Apollo is proud to welcome Paul Frick to the fold. Frick is a Berlin-born music composer primarily known as one part of the group Brandt Brauer Frick. Stunningly despite a 20+ year history of making music 'Second Yard Botanicals' is his debut album. With BBF keeping Frick inspired and busy since 2009, other ideas had piled up until a temporary break allowed him to fully dive into them. Exploring a vast number of instruments, field recording and deconstructed breakbeats woven with undulating filters and gossamer melodies, the album sees Frick drawing on the world around him in a free associative style . 'Second Yard Botanicals' at its core is based on sonic collage, from a genre point of view it's highly eclectic, remotely echoing Frick's classical composition background as well as his hip hop / trip hop past. Recorded in the band's shared studio space in Neukölln and mixed by bandmate Jan Brauer the whole project was kept in house. "We are surrounded by a bunch of other musicians and artists in the second backyard, who share their ideas, parts of their lives and often their equipment." These musicians and others feature heavily on the record, incorporating a laundry list of sumptuous sounds

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Next up on Apollo is a stunning double header LP between crate-digger, DJ and producer Glenn Astro and Cologne DJ and Producer Hodini aka Hulk Hodn.

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Format Notes: 2025 repress, 140g vinyl, remastered for this edition by Simon Francis

Territories: Worldwide no restrictions

Track List:

A1 Can You Feel It (Part 1)
A2 You Better Believe It
A3 Soul On Your Side
A4 Zone

B1 Funk-N-You
B2 Street Dreamin'
B3 You're My Last Girl
B4 Monterey
B5 Can You Feel It (Part 2)

Release Notes:

The Rhythm Makers's Soul On Your Side is flawless proto-disco funk. The Bronx-based band - that later went on to form heavyweight disco outfit GQ - originally released this treasure in 1976 and it's long been a hard to find record. It's also rare to find a record this hard. Captivating funk at its rawest, no doubt.

Storming out the gate with the rollicking Loft/Garage staple "Can You Feel It (Part 1)", the listener is immediately put on notice that this LP is just a little bit special. The title track, "Soul On Your Side", is a classic dancer and the basis of GQ's future hit "Disco Nights". But it's perhaps "Zone", a huge Baldelli track, that the record is best known for. Hypnotic psyched-out cosmic-disco / cosmic funk, it's an unrelenting groove that really thrusts the party into hyperdrive. With doses of scintillating Latin and pulsating African rhythms driving the pumping tune, atop an unstoppable bassline and imaginative, soul-slathered keyboard figures, it's basically a full-on funk assault. You might need a lie-down after this.

But there's no let-up on the B-Side, immediately grooving thanks to "Funk-N-You", a laidback glider that just rolls in the sleek style. Gorgeous harmony skills are displayed on "Street Dreamin'". Beautiful and gritty funk, by turns. "You're My Last Girl" is an airy ballad with two leads before the legendary "Monterey" enters the fray. A much-sampled instrumental and heavy disco-funk nugget, it contains an amazing B-Boy drum break making the whole LP worth the price of admission. "Can You Feel It (Part 2)" closes out this spectacular set.

The Rhythm Makers had been gigging around New York City since the late ’60s, having initially come together as Sabu and the Survivors, named after bassist Keith “Sabu” Crier. They eventually - for this album at least! - settled on The Rhythm Makers and cut one record for the small De-Lite subsidiary Vigor. The core lineup featured Crier, keyboardist Herb Lane, drummer Kenny Banks and rhythm guitarist Rahiem Leblanc.

Mastered for vinyl by Simon Francis, cut by Cicely Balston for Alchemy at AIR Studios with artwork restored at Be With HQ, this new edition should hopefully bring this album into the homes and record boxes of many more people.


Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More