Diagonal welcome the return of Iranian composer and sound artist, Ata Ebtekar (SOTE), for his first outing for the label since 2019's "Parallel Persia" and "Artificial Neutrality". His catalogue runs to 15 albums (both under the Sote moniker and as Ata Ebtekar), plus a clutch of 12"s, remixes and a number of other projects via Mute, Opal Tapes, Warp and more. "Soundsystem Persepolis" is Ata's response to the iconic performance at Persepolis by Iannis Xenakis in 1971. It's a five track collection of a futurism, a pummelling, rhythmic and harmonically complex trench of computer music. More

*2021 Repress ** Steeped in improvisational practice and known for their visceral live performances, the pair's sound combines Javanese folk and ritual music with metal and psychedelic influences. Rully Shabara's extended vocal techniques arc from guttural droning to frenetic chants and upper-register ululations, while Wukir Suryadi supplies dynamic instrumenta-tion using the bambuwukir, an amplified bamboo zither of his own invention. Menjadi (meaning 'to become') follows from the redose-3 containing "Di Kala Sudah" (reworked by Buchla synth master Charles Cohen) and is the first in a series of new Morphine releases pro-duced by Rabih Beaini and set to arrive over the next year, with artwork by Nathalie Du Pasquier, curated and designed by Tankboys. More

Rabih Beaini's Upperground Orchestra (Beaini, Alvise Seggi, Tommaso Cappellato. Piero Bittolo Bon) back with their first studio material since 2008. Upperground Orchestra is the hybrid Jazz band of Rabih Beaini and his fellow musicians Tommaso Cappellato (drums), Piero Bittolo Bon (woodwinds/electronics) and Alvise Seggi (Bass / Oud). The band is returns with a new LP, years after "The Eupen Tapes". Euganea is a 5 tracks LP recorded during the Musica Veneta residency, promoted by FAI (Fondo Ambiente Italiano) in the great context of Villa dei Vescovi. Working around Veneto music, the band developed pieces that merge deep roots of original fusion (tape music, electronics and synths, processing) with the free spiritual jazz sound of Upperground Orchestra. More

One half (the vocal force) of Indonesia's Senyawa with a solo release for Morphine.. full info soon. Engineered by Rabih Beaini. Art direction by The Tank Boys. More

Half of Indonesia's Senyawa (the band's sole instrumentalist, Wukir Suryadi) with a solo release for Morphine.. full info soon. Engineered by Rabih Beaini. Art direction by The Tank Boys. More

Morphine presents Water Above Sky Below Now from pioneering American composer Pauline Oliveros and Ione. An experimental musician and educator, Oliveros is the creator of the deep listening practice _highly attentive full body audition. She is joined on the album by author, improviser of spoken word and sonic vocals Ione, artistic director of the former Deep Listening Institute founded by Oliveros. The three-part improvisation was produced using Oliveros' Expanded Instrument System (EIS), an electronic sound-processing environment that allows improvising musicians to transform their own acoustic input in real time. Here, her specially tuned digital accordion—accompanied by Ione’s vocals and spoken word— is converted via EIS , manipulated, and diffused through multiple channels. "The EIS imperative (and improvisation imperative)," Oliveros writes, "is to listen and respond: spatial relationships and progressions are as important as the traditional parameters of music."The release of Water Above… is the latest movement in Oliveros' six-decade-long career, which began at the San Francisco Tape Music Center in the '60s and was distinguished with the William Schuman Award for lifetime achievement in 2009. It is Morphine's third full release of the year, following from Charles Cohen's Brother I Prove You Wrong. "Go Deep and Listen," from that LP, is a silent dedication to Oliveros from Cohen, who participated in her workshops in Philadelphia. The album was produced by Rabih Beaini and designed by Tankboys, with original cover art by Nathalie du Pasquier. More

French composer and multi-instrumentalist Pierre Bastien delivers the latest entry into Morphine's increasingly diverse catalog.
Active for over four decades, Bastien is best known for building automated orchestras, and his most recent LP, Machinations, was released on Aphex Twin's Rephlex label in 2012. For this latest work, Bastien recycled components of his Silent Motors live set and assembled new mechanical organisms—using amplified Meccano parts, motors, fans, rattles, paper, and nails—to generate rhythmic scaffolding. Live instrumentals, from prepared trumpets to the African Kundi harp, Javanese rabab, sanza, electric harpsichord, bass, drums, and gongs, were then superimposed on top. But for all their haptic mechanics, the assembled works on Blue As An Orange—spanning jungled ambience to yellow jazz grooves—are surprisingly delicate and nuanced, and generously lanced with human warmth. As an installation artist, Bastien also captures shifting patterns of light and spatial texture in sound. The LP takes its name from Paul Eluard's poem, "La terre est bleue," and offers a fresh symbiosis of speculative anthropology and old-world jazz. Blue As An Orange follows from Pauline Oliveros and Ione's Water Above, Sky Below Now LP on Morphine. It was produced by Rabih Beaini, mastered by Neel, and designed by Tankboys, with original cover art by Nathalie du Pasquier. More

Composer, improviser, and Buchla Music Easel master Charles Cohen returns to Morphine with a suite of new material. In keeping with the timbre spectrum of his semi-modular system, Brother I Prove You Wrong is built around pointillist analog tones—Cohen's cosmic "beeps and boops"—that swarm and scatter in mesmeric patterns across four sides. Moving through surrealistic textural overlays and industrial miasma, the album's nine tracks reveal a more introspective and personal side of the artist, following from a retrospective LP trilogy released via Morphine in 2013. Those assembled works, dating back to the late '70s, quickly became essential listening and brought Cohen—at the time largely unknown outside Philadelphia's experimental circuit—to critical renown. Brother I Prove You Wrong was recorded in Berlin in September 2014 using the Buchla Music Easel, with production help and support from Rabih Beaini. Mastered by Neel and curated and designed by Tank Boys; cover art by Nathalie du Pasquier. More

Charles Cohen replaying "Di Kala Sudah" by Senyawa while having his own "Conundrums" beaten and edited by Robert Turman... oh yes...TIP!
Indonesian hardcore band Senyawa board the Morphine Records mothership in early 2015, with a stunning upcoming album "Menjadi" (doser025LP). A preview appears here in the shape of a an extraordinary album track replayed by Charles Cohen's on his Buchla Music Easel. While enjoying a few months residence in Germany, Mr Cohen conducted a ritual-esq and tonal re-adaptation - flushing the song through layers of spaced out orchestrated grooves. Meanwhile in the US, explorer of the deepest depths, Robert Turman, smashed Charles' Conundrums into small bits and recrafted it in his own masterful manner. He seems to channel a similar ability of melting down the metal in a sound, and forging it into new and expanding shapes. More

New Metasplice material is always pounced upon by a number of us over here, who eagerly follow the Philly pair’s evolutionary path every step of the way. This weighty double sider on Morphine delves into the paranoid / submarine dwelling / meta-hacker / soundtrack territory they are often known to enter when performing live. Vertia snakes like a virus. Tiled Eigths is pure fever. If this means nothing to you but you want to check some fresh electronics by one of the most important duos out there then don’t hesitate on this one… More

Morphine continue to expose more destructive electronics from the U.S. underground...4 bare bones tracks that owe as much to grimy techno as they do to the late 80s industrial pioneers ... Right On Point... TIP More

Final part in the Charles Cohen trilogy on Morphine Records. Featuring various works made for Dance & Theatre productions between 1976 & 1988. Eleven tracks in total - lovingly spread over double LP and featuring some of the most beautiful material of the series. Another essential purchase. More

.Madteo's return to Morphine. Really expanding his electronic pallet for this one and going into some heady experimental realms.. More

fierce new two track 12" from Metasplice... a couple of very well timed destroyers on here! Bringing premium 'outsider techno' onto this insider label...TIP! * currently gearing themselves up for a small European tour in November* The label say"In a time when techno and abstract music is sounding repetitive, Metasplice continue to utilize unconventional sounds and arrangements. "Decant", being the more floor oriented track, combines groovy bits that turn into splashing immense noises and harmonies. "Churn" opens with a barrage of beautifully crafted harmonic sequences, then relentlessly descends into a sublime world. Both tracks are spectacular floating grooves that immerse the listener in the group's unique and intense headspace."
More

he formidable Lebanese / Italian jazz nomads release a long player of deepness on Morphine's new live series... Ltd Edition of 400. The LP is packaged in a silk screened outersleeve with artwork from Bill Kouligas (Pan Records, Berlin). Special stuff..TIP! first long player from upperground orchestra initiates the new 'live series' of morphine records. ?the eupen takes? is a live document clearly showing what the collective is normally improvising on stage, a chaotic but still tight blend of jazz, kraut and electronics, where nothing is previously planned, and analog synths and spaced out sounds melt with instruments in a natural and free approach. the eupen takes lp contains the second half of the june 2011 show at the meakusma stage, eupen muzik marathon , a full session recording will be soon out on cd. More

Corking new remix 12 from Morphine...!! Spacepops by Ra.h & Dynamo Dreesen (originally released on doser009) getting some special treatment from Donato Dozzy - one of our heroes from the more psychedelic & percussive side of the techno world. The track hints towards ‘club use’ while luring ears into the avant garde through seductive tweaks of the EMS Synth,. Freak Inspector, from Madteo's infamous Memoria album, gets a total re-mash by Jamal Moss aka Hieroglpyphic Being- left to brew for a few years in the Morphine curing closet and now at optimum maturity for it’s release. Two masters of their respective games meeting over the sides of this 12” with more in common than we’d previously imagined…TIP! More

New MORPHINE!! yes! Morphosis goes there... two great electronic excursions from the nomad! TIP!


More