Electronic & Dance CD 360 Items

Christof Migone's 'Wet Water (Let's Dance)' immerses you in a mysterious soundscape, characterised by electronic noise and watery flows. Each piece explores inarticulation and the struggle to communicate, challenging traditional notions of sound and language. In the work captured in this collection, the relation between elements is abstract, entangled, puzzle-like in its weirdness, and all the more rewarding for that.

Released for the first time in 2009, ‘utp_’ is the third installment of Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto’s V.I.R.U.S.'s series. It was commissioned for the 400th anniversary of Mannheim, Germany. The flowing 10-section multimedia work derives its shape from a rasterized structure of the southwestern city, founded in 1608. The recording documents the work’s debut performed by Ensemble Modern at the National Theatre in Mannheim. The music embraces the electronic, piano-based palettes, an expanded array of avant-garde chamber instrumentation and natural timbres. It combined the digital visual score created by Carsten Nicolai and Simon Mayer, and lighting design by Nigel Edwards.

"Sound Space Variations" is a delicate and restrained sound bath. A mix of atmospheric, suspenseful drone sounds and meditative aspects. It is an album made for those moments when we just are. zake has managed to capture the moments that lie between sounds; the unagitated murmurs and atmospheric hisses. The artist connects this in-between-world and our earthly one with calm and sonorous scores, making us think about everything and nothing. The six pieces on the record do not seem heavy-headed or overloaded but much more airy, wide and open for interpretations. They stimulate the imagination - in a wonderfully unbiased way. In the last track. James Bernhard mixed and mastered the album, written and produced by drone artist zake, at Ambient Mountain House Studio. zake himself provided the artwork and photos himself."

Tom Mudd follows up Brass Cultures with another collection of genre pushing electronic music. Sitting between the hermetic focus of Bill Orcutt’s solo guitar recordings and Autechre at their most abstract, this is an album of forward thinking and richly evocative music. Mudd moves between impossible technical sketches in the vein of Derek Bailey to more considered harmonic works, that although created with algorithms and code presents a sound world full of humanity and imperfections. On Guitar Cultures Mudd refreshes the connections between electronic music and the avant garde and further cements himself as a singular figure in electronic music and sound synthesis.

"Mulid El-Magnoun” addresses the term ‘moulid’ and its various manifestations it takes on in Egyptian folk music. Here, the word ‘moulid’ does not exclusively refer to Sufi moulids: rather also the intertwined artistic spaces that lie between the moulid in its Sufi sense and what it carries in distinctive rhythmic patterns, musical instruments, and artistic forms, and the moulid as a musical genre originating from folk weddings that enjoy special aesthetics and unique styles.

Through this project, Yunis tries to explore the spaces where those two concepts collide through producing an original musical composition which reflects his own vision and understanding of ‘moulids’ as well as the manifestations the word carries within him.

About Yunis:

Yunis (b. 1994 - Kafr El-Dauwar) is an Egyptian musician and music Producer. He has produced two albums until now; «The Blue Djinn Dance» which was his first solo album, and «Ya Khal» which was a collaborative work with Ibrahim X. He is also a co-founder of Kafr El-Dauwar Records, an independent digital record label interested in contemporary and experimental music, founded by a group of young artists with the aim of creating a musical movement in the city, by supporting a group of artists to start their music from Kafr El-Dauwar with the potential of going with the music to the farthest point it could arrive.

In his music, Yunis seeks inspiration from the popular Egyptian folkloric heritage, which boasts many instruments, tools, and musical styles. He then reads and analyzes the musical legacy and presents it with the forms of his contemporary time.

A download code is included. With Velvet Desert Music Vol. 2, curator Jörg Burger has intensified his vision for this new series of compilations on Kompakt. The music he’s collected here has a unique vibration, perhaps an audio equivalent to the legendary ‘acid Western’ films of the 1960s and 1970s, when the wild frontier logic of the western met the consciousness-altering psychedelia of the counterculture. ‘Velvet Desert Music’ is Burger exploring possibilities: what happens when you extract the essence from genres as diverse as spaghetti Western soundtracks, moody lamp-lit pop, downtempo, Krautrock, minimalism, classic ‘60s psychedelia, and more, and let their scents intermingle, Des Esseintes-style?

Produced by DJ Koze

Daniel Ögren is one of the key artists in Sweden’s contemporary, underground music scene. He has already accrued quite the back catalogue, both as a member of the sensational quartet Dina Ögon and also as a solo artist with eight albums already under his belt. ‘Fastingen-92’ was originally released as a limited-edition vinyl pressing in 2020 on the independent label Sing A Song Fighter Records (the same label that first introduced us to Dina Ögon's music). The album came to our attention after hearing Daniels' solo band performing live at the Stockholm Jazz Club, Fasching. The band featured Love Örsan and Christopher Cantillo of Dina Ögon fame (who also records with the incredible Sven Wunder), and their sensational genre-busting set blew us away. It convinced us that this now out-of-print album needed to reach a wider audience.
‘Fastingen-92’ doesn't sit in one genre, it draws from Daniels's love of South American folk music, soul, Nordic folk music and film soundtracks, resulting in something unique, dreamlike and transformational.

It features 'Idag’, an epic, beautiful, cinematic song that introduces the ethereal vocalist Anna Ahnlund. ‘Idag’ has gained a cult following and Daniel has stated that it was the spark that started the Dina Ögon project. Tracks like 'Annalena' and 'Kristinehamn by Night (for Christopher)' sound like a new club sound that hasn't yet been invented (which Nicola Cruz would spin in his DJ sets), mysterious, hypnotic, and engaging. Other songs like 'Maj (for Tintin)' and 'Picasso' venture into blissed-out Scando-Balearic realms. Daniel's love of nature and the inspiration he draws from the geographic environment of the Swedish countryside can be felt in these tracks, they take you to other places and times and are simultaneously familiar, ancient and alien.

Alongside the collaborations with Anna and Christoper, the album features Josefin Runsteen playing the drums on 'Idag' and Swedish musicians Edvin Nahlin and Ulrik Ordin. The majority of the album was played, recorded and mixed by Daniel. For the Mr Bongo edition, we have added the bonus track 'April’, which was previously only available digitally. ‘Fastingen - 92’ is a truly remarkable record that gets into your soul, so please delve in!

Andrew Tasselmyer already has quite an extensive discography, with solo albums released on labels like Laaps, Eilean Recs, Constellation Tatsu, Home Normal, etcetera – but also as a member of Hotel Neon, Gray Acres, Mordançage as well as various collaborative projects.

Music For Nonexistent Films, released on Somewherecold Records this time, consists of largely improvised material, inspired by photographs of Philadelphia (where he currently lives). As far as I know, the photos are not included in the release (apart from the cover image of course), so it’s up to you to relate the music to images of your own surroundings. This should not be too hard because, as the album title already suggests, this is very ‘visual’ music.

'You Are Eternity' is the third album to be released on Stroboscopic Artefacts and comes from two of the minds who have shaped the label since its earliest days: Dadub. Recorded over a period of two years, but containing fragments and ideas that stretch back a decade 'You Are Eternity' has been mixed together to form a continuous piece rather than twelve discreet tracks. The effect? An immersive journey that encompasses the descriptors brutal, ferocious, ambient and aqueous.

feat. Beck, Mike Patton, Ms John Soda, ... incl. bonus DVD with 15 minute short film

Two decades. Twenty years. Twenty compilations. Over 400 tracks. Over two days of total playing time and countless coloured dots. If someone would have told us in 1999, when we put together Total 1 that this would turn into one of the longest standing compilation series in techno world we would have laughed out loud. But here we are – in the year 2020 which will probably go down in history as the most difficult period ever for club culture. But we won’t stop doing what we’re doing. Music is our oxygen. We’ll dance together soon again.The Total series has always been like KOMPAKT’s yearbook and to say it with the late Frank Sinatra: It was a very good year. Our family of artists delivered a strong heterogeneous mix of uplifting sounds, from the lush reveries of Robag Wruhme and Soela to the stark primetime bangers of Marc Romboy or Anna & Kittin and everything in between. Notable new entries to our crew are the Londoner Kiwi with his wonderfully careless “Hello Echo” that picks up the camp disco vibes Justus Köhncke made a staple in our repertoire. Amsterdam’s David Douglas delivers an appetizer for a full course meal. His quirky pop approach sits comfortably between fellow dutchmen WEVAL’s abstract beats and Agents OF TIME’s opulent Italo Disco. Yotam Avni blends Detroit techno with new age jazz that reminisces the sound of ECM artists like Jan Garbarek or John Surman. The man with the hat, Kölsch also picks up jazzier notes in his very own big room style. Youngblood Jonathan Kaspar appears twice, fortifying his status as one of the hottest beat smiths of our hometown Cologne. Total wouldn’t be Total without our permanent staff present in full force. As per tradition, KOMPAKT’s founding fathers, Voigt & Voigt, Jürgen Paape, Jörg Burger, Michael Mayer as well as our Berlin outpost Sascha Funke all deliver exclusive gems that also feature on Total 20’s double vinyl edition. May Total 20 become your trustworthy companion in these uncertain times.

Thomas Köner is one of the most influential modernist minimal composers. Alongside Wolfgang Voigt’s “Gas” project, Köner has been centrally responsible for electronic music’s fascination with depth and reduction. His signature sound is vast, seemingly endless, which at first seems homogenous and infinite, but once exposed to it, when our senses calibrate to the fine nuances of changes, we discover and immerse into abundance of textures, richness of modulations and almost infinite range of sonic titilations. Köner’s work was inspired by his frequent travels in the Arctic, and listeners feel his music as a journey to mysterious worlds of the Arctic region. The experience of being exposed to the extreme cold, the hightening of our senses and ability to notice even the slightest changes in color, sound, light or density that creates this dangerously reductive environment, is like an immersion in the sonic world of this German artist, where masterfully crafted layers of sound open into colossal spaces, teeming with aural life, waiting to be discovered by those who venture into it. The titles of Köner’s highly regarded albums from the 90’s ever so often play with this affinity - Nunatak, Permafrost, Teimo - all reference to the world of the Artic region, just as his album Nuuk that points us to the capital of Greenland. Subdued and minimal at first glance, this album is brimming with low-end frequences, shadowy resonances and boreal ambience, but at the same time, constant fluctuation and vulnerability of sonic events.

Programmed by footie-mad graphic designer/DJ, Andrew Lyster, ’Sports 3’ casts a wide net over work by Youth label friends and extended family with results limning a dead cranky conception of club music and blooz/beatdown pressure. All sharing a taste for texture that sounds like the masters were left to decompose for winter, the 16 cuts map odd gooches and ginnels of the contemporary soundsphere from the washed-out jazz reminiscence of Zesknel next to harder-to- place works such as the metallic cyborgian slug of ‘Driesh’ by Craig Birrel, or the groggy breaks of ‘Cocaine’ from HR For Drug Dealers. Pigbaby plays the game with a highlight of midnight keys on ‘Far From Home’, and we spy a zinger from Sockethead on the feral yowl of ‘Coarse Ground’, while Dave Saved keeps it slanted on ‘Abisso 66’ and into a super glum one by the still enigmatic Yugen Disciple. That sense of entropy also infects the set’s more energetic bits, as with the PointilisticT arp flight of ’T’ by S, and the drowning struggle of ‘When It Rains (It Pours)’ from Significant Other complementing the worn out acid trample of Iueke’s ‘Videoslash’ and Jessic*nt’s murky stealth bomb ‘Manic/Panic’. Rat Heart, Michael J. Blood x Sockethead unsurprisingly steal the show on the slow cymbal-crash blooz of ‘True’, and the album ends with Lyster’s own VIP of NW / HR tripped & screwed hardcore submersion.

CD reissue of Rei Harakami's third album, "red curb," which was created in a personal way, is a masterpiece that has garnered acclaim from many quarters and solidified his popularity. "In making the third album, I was thinking that I should do only what I like, or rather, I can only do what I like... By the way, I thought I would retire after releasing this album, but that did not happen." - Rei Harakami

Accidental Meetings return with their yearly compilation, dark, mysterious and full spectrum bangers this time round DJ Support SO FAR from: Ben UFO, Shy One, Surgeon, Danielle, OKO DJ, 96 Back, Laksa, Solid Blake, Yushh, Giant Swan, Ciel, Ziur, Om Unit, Jon K, Lena Willikens, Stenny + more.

Accidental Journey 10 years drifting thru Genres and combining Materials.

Where does a decade start, where does it end? Years come; hours go. A group of ten. 0-to-9, 1-to-0, calendar years went by, flying high. Time is irrelevant, and yet, we like a look back to stare forthright. So, here it is, a big dark tempting audiobook for people with time, Acid Zen citizens, deep listening folks, slow consumers, with a desire for thrill, thrills for desire. A double CD. 40 exclusive contemporary illusions. Composed, droned, improvised, felt, and unrealized. Some just came up, others were profoundly formed. Pop, folk, ambient, field music, vocal pleasure, psychedelics, dub tunnels, dance sensations, freaky corners, ever so user-friendly. Deep-rooted Kashual Plastik associates like DJ Richard, Georgia, Bobby Would, Läuten der Seele, Time Is Away, Don’t DJ, Robert Bergman, Lamusa II, or Malvern Brume socialize with inner Kashual circle creatures like Inkasso, Laure Boer, Primitive Structures, Crude Fact, ML, or Edition D Art. Some bring hummed hits, like “Bucket Rain” by Omen, or “Opus I” by Ugne Uma. Other make you wonder in sound, like Paul Arambula‘s “On Display” or Sholto Dobie’s “Trough”. Not your average evergreens, but those that come to stay. As friends. In civil and all evil days. Lots of stuff to junk. In your brain, to accompany the rain, while being on a train. Plenty levels of utilization, for a novel civilization. Over there, they do not count in numbers, as nothing is to count for. Airs to airs, music to music, sound to sound. A decade of love and hate, of sorrow and borrow, tears, and all those repetitive fears. Accidental meetings in prewritten times.

Includes digital pre-order of Accidental Journey. You get 11 tracks now (streaming via the free Bandcamp app and also available as a high-quality download in MP3, Flac and more), plus the complete album the moment it’s released.

Deluxe edition. Includes 3 exclusive tracks. Biophilia is an interdisciplinary exploration of the universe and its physical forces - particularly those where music, nature, and technology meet - inspired by these relationships between musical structures and natural phenomena, from the atomic to the cosmic. The Independent on Sunday calls it "brilliantly original and ambitious .

This version of the album is housed in a six-panel cardboard package.

A key fixture of !K7’s identity since it’s debut in 1995,
DJ-Kicks is arguably the world’s best and most respected
mix series. Spanning a broad range of DJs, producers and
visionary musicians, DJ-Kicks has offered illuminating trip
after trip, seamlessly tracing more than two decades of
alternative, electronic culture.
This latest compilation brings together the last few years of
stellar exclusive tracks from some of our favourite recent
Kicks mixes, including material from DJ Koze, Dam-Funk,
Actress, John Talabot and Marcel Dettmann.

The journey gives your senses a taste of a future groove, erotica and nu-disco exploitation. With Private Alex is stepping forward musically into a new club direction, bringing a fresh sound to the production with retro drum machines, synthesizers, house piano, and killer funky basslines. Open the door and walk through the secrets of the night with ”Submission”, ”Blue City Club”, ”Dark Room”, ”The Visitor” and the singles ”I Feel You”, ”Attraction” and ”Odyssey 9000”.

Growing up in Chicago, later Detroit-based music producer, Theo Parrish is internationally well known for his own inimitable downtempo house music style. The approach Parrish took to compiling DJ-Kicks was very ambitious, inviting his Detroit peers to produce a collection of brand new material, and in turn creating the first ever all exclusive entry to the esteemed series.

JETS is the collaboration project of powerhouse producers Travis Stewart (Machinedrum) and Jimmy Edgar. On the first single, "PLAY," from their forthcoming full-length album, the duo teams up with boldly pioneering rapper Mykki Blanco. The sparse, yet aggressive beat slaps back and forth between Blanco's playfully sinister vocals.

CD-Reissue of Ecstasy Boys' major debut album from 1994, "Moon Dance". The Ecstasy Boys had been actively producing and performing shows worldwide from the late 80's to the 90's. They had been recognized by legendary DJs such as Larry Levan and Frankie Knuckles. The unit "Ecstasy Boys" was named by NY based legendary producer Mark Kamins, who was known as Madonna's producer for her first single "Everybody". The track "Happiness" (a2) and "Tsukino Oshie" (b1) were produced by Mark Kamins. The album also compiles their signature track "Holly Spirit Dance" which was released from Strictly Rhythm also in 1994!

Canaan Balsam’s work revolves around the exploration of the dead space between ambient and new age music, the liminal zone between the harshness of industrial, and the beatific serenity of devotional music. ‘Eternity lies within or nowhere’ builds on the themes of loneliness, Isolation, and vulnerability, first explored on their debut album ‘Cruise Utopia’ (Modern Obscure Music). Responding to the context where ever-expanding modes of communication seem only to blur the line between connectivity and solitude, Canaan often returns to the theme of Isolation in his work, creating a deep melancholy - exploring how it can grow and metastasize, until it becomes incommunicable, resistant to empathy; an alien host overtaking the body. Canaan’s considered, emotionally aware experimentations hold that unique power to stop our world dead in its tracks, lulling the listener through the darkness but ultimately towards the light - there is intense hope within Canaan’s work, where pieces guide us through a crushingly low emptiness, but always towards glistening introspective peaks. “I wanted a music that spoke to solidarity, that in a quiet manner offered solace, a brief step outside of this world - not a meditation, nor a background ambient shimmer, or anything vague. That inspired to an almost religious intensity of serenity. Something with the potential to engender empathy and clarity. A music you could wear like an amulet, like a spell, like a religious medal around your neck. Music as protection.” Canaan often uses spoken word to further bring his soundscapes to life, but these self penned passages are far from being clumsily walloped vocal tinglers, instead Canaan’s use of voice compliments and contextualizes the states explored within his pieces with hauntingly evocative precision, where carefully curated guest speakers lament a often bleak scene of dread, despair, and longing recollection. The album culminates with the incredible ‘Requiem for a Wolf’, encapsulating the hints of light that have flickered the album, but blooming them to become 6 minutes of pure celestial minimalism, where bells swing in and out of focus, and radiant zither play looms below Canaan’s swelling ambience. Produced and mixed by Canaan Balsam. Mastered by Rupert Clervaux. Art design by James Hines and Liam Cosford. All tracks by Canaan Balsam except for 'I AM Skeleton' by Canaan Balsam / Saint Jude's Infirmary. 'Rat in a skull '- narration by Daniel Mutch. 'You are the architect of your own utopia' & 'A passive apocalypse': narration by Alex Johnston. 'You fell into a screen as you had no place left to fall': narration by Cosima Cobley Carr. 'I am Skeleton': narration by Jack Vettriano, taken from the track by Saint Jude's Infirmary.

Alex Puddu will be releasing the brand new album ”Night People” with his record label Al Dente Music. A great record written and produced by Alex Puddu that follows his latest album ”Love After Dark” Night People is a truly soulful piece of work in style with classic R&B groove and retro 80’s synth-pop. The Album was recorded in Rome in Italy at the Tube Recording Studio where Alex Puddu collaborated with legendary session musicians from the pop and Italo-disco scene from the early 80’s such as bass player Dino Kappa (Libra, Franco Micalizzi, Alan Sorrenti, Loredana Berté) and drummer Agostino Marangolo (Goblin, Pino Daniele, Enzo Carella, Mike Francis).and Giovanni Guerretti one of the best italian Piano and keyboard player of the new musicscene. Night People includes the six singles that had allready a great airplay across the nations ” If You Desire” featuring Vincent Bates, ” Leaving This Town” and Don’t Stop The Music” Feat. CaiNo, ”Call Me” feat. Simone Miller and ”Victim Of Love and Future Woman” Feat . James Knights. Agostino Marangolo: Drums Dino Kappa: Bass Giovanni Guerretti: Piano Synthesizer, clavinet., electric piano Alex Puddu: Synthesizers, piano, electric guitar, organ, drums, percussion with Hendrik Jørgensen (Trumpet) Mikkel Fleron (Sax) Morten Grønvad (Vibrafon) Bburny Pelsmajer Synthesizer strings,Moog Gavino Congiatta : BassRecorded in Italy at Tube Recording Studio, engineered by Francesco Lupi , and recorded by Alex Puddu at Sexy Lady Studio Copenhagen, all tracks mixed by Kamilo Kratc exept track A2,B2,B3 mixed by Morten Trøst, mastered by Kamilo Kratc in N.Y.C - Horns arrangements on B1,B3 by Hendrik Jørgensen exept b4 horns arrangement by Hendrik Jorgensen and Alex Puddu Music and lyrics by A. Puddu Produced by Alex Puddu

The music of Amir Telem wanders through the human consciousness like a mighty endorphine storm with torrential downpours of happiness-inducing neurotransmitters. The analogue thunder of the bassline rolls through our nervous system until it finds its grounding in the stomping of our feet, the stroboscopic flashes of digital lightning bath us in the dazzling light of pure euphoria. It leaves us with a feeling of freshness and peaceful calm similar to what lingers in the air after a summer rain. In hearing distance to Progressive House, Melodic Techno and Neo Trance, Amir Telem opened up his very own groove universe, and his album Art Of Compassion reflects the stunning elegance of his unique sound. From the sunlit melodies of Sage Tear and the housey updraught of Krishna to the kaleidoscopic escalations of One More Prayer, from the broken beats and electroid 80s vibes in Do You Believe In Magics to the vocal tracks Fight It and Mode Of Service, the stylistic bandwidth is a truly enlightening trip, especially when enjoyed as the coherent story this album tells.

Mike Lazarev drops his first album on Past Inside the Present and it's one that reminds us why he has such a great reputation as being one of modern ambient and classical's finest composers. After exploring notions of time on previous records, for this one, he embraces the here and now and that lends itself to a record steeped in mindfulness and meditation. As such, Sacred Tonalities is a perfect accompaniment to introspective moments with textural soundscapes placing you at the centre of them. The harmonics range from soft to gritty, the moods occasionally hint at trance and the layers of bass, piano and arps bring subtle and ever-shifting rhythms.

Music From Memory are excited to present the first compilation of works by British electronic pioneers MLO aka Peter Smith and Jon Tye. Titled ‘Oumuamua’ and second up in the Virtual Dreams series, the compilation is an in-depth artist focused release containing twelve thoughtfully selected tracks that touch on highlights from the duo’s discography as well as newly (re)discovered music drawn from a vast archive of unreleased pieces, sketches and extended jams recorded between 1993-1995.

MLO’s ambient explorations began when Pete and Jon, having first met in rival punk bands during the late ‘70s, found themselves with unlimited access to an incredibly well-equipped studio, having been hired to produce an Icelandic pop star’s record in the early ‘90s. Particularly charmed by the Korg PS 3300 and an Emulator 2, Smith and Tye were also deeply fascinated by outer space and set about developing a musical landscape informed by both this new state of the art musical equipment and what lay beyond the Earth’s limits. Painting with a palette informed by classical minimalism, new age and the works of Cluster & Eno; the duos primary colours were drones, sustained tones, washes, calming tides, gentle temple bells and soft angelic voices with flickering glimpses of percussion and drums that hinted at the possibilities of a dance floor.

‘Oumuamua’ is a collection of music to get lost-in, a wander down the mazed, mirrored corridors of the subconscious. Peaceful, flowing, fresh-water patterns, drawing the listener toward a mediative, inner space. Not strictly ambient, rather the music rests temporarily within the boundaries between drum ‘n’ bass, library music, soundtracks and Techno. Or how Jon Tye himself puts it: “It really feels like music from a different place, a different time, made by different people.”

Artwork by Vica Pacheco, design by Steele Bonus, liner notes by Dr. Rob

“Rone & Friends” has the musical colour of Rone’s friendships, of his crushes for a few additional less expected guest voices, but also inevitably of his own personality. With a strange year 2020 where borders and concert venues have closed, Rone felt the need to come closer to his artist friends and to reshuffle his creations with their voices as the new beating heart. The new collaborative album includes voices by Georgia, Yael Naim, Casper Clausen (Efterklang), Flavien Berger, Jenny Beth, Dominique A and many others. On the surface, Rone’s latest album, ‘Room With A View’ seemed to mark his return to solitary, contemplative instrumental electronica productions akin to his debut album ‘Spanish Breakfast’. In reality, the show of the same name, which took place over a week in the prestigious Théâtre du Chatelet in Paris, is the result of a permanent collaboration with fifteen dancers of the Ballet de Marseille and the avant-garde dance collective “La Horde", which fed into all the decisions made around the album campaign. The albums’ artwork is unequivocal in this regard. The health crisis in March 2020 forced the closure of the theatre and paralysed the development of this unique show at the crossroads of disciplines, which, up until then, was met with both critical and commercial success.

Ushering in an exciting new era for the label, nightclub, and mix series, Bonobo opens the Fabric Presents series. His highly textural aesthetic translates into an ethos that looks to introduce a more open musical palette for the label. His mix features "Roach" from his rare pop-up alias Barakas and employs multi-instrumental arrangements in this 74 minutes of house, techno, electronica, and breakbeat. Features ten exclusive or unreleased tracks, including two from Bonobo and one from his Barakas alias. Bonobo's first official mix release since LateNightTales in 2013 and follows on from the world-wide success of Migration in 2017. Also features Poté, Alex Kassian, Âme, Durante, Dark Sky & Afriquoi, Olsen, O'Flynn, TSHA, Will Saul, Titeknots, Dan Kye, R. Lyle, Rhone, Laurent Garnier, Throwing Snow, Nepa Allstar, DJ Seinfeld, Earth Trax & Newborn JR, Annjet, and John Beltran.

First missive on new label from Simon Gabriel, late of 2 Bridges NYC, and Georgia’s Justin Tripp. Disarming and timely cornucopia of stateless, off-kilter tendencies. Cryptic puzzle of pop, tech, noise, bangers and outsiders. Nu-digital folklore, disembodied voices, Midi caprices. Through-line of vital currency. Designed to confound and excite. Early ‘00s slimline mixtape packaging, built for repeat plays.

First time on CD for this classic Merzbow duo album from 1983.

Material Action is a favorite among early Merzbow free-music, junk-noise workouts. Psychedelic improvised instrumental energy abounds on this essential early recording that is Pure Merz.

Masami Akita plays tapes, percussion, electro-acoustic noise, organ Kiyoshi Mizutani overdubs tapes, synthesizer, violin, machine noise

Wrwtfww Records couldn't be happier to announce the release of Yutaka Hirose’s never-heard before 11-track collection Trace: Sound Design Works 1986-1989, available on double LP and double CD, with liner notes from the artist.

Trace is a collection of 11 unreleased tracks produced by Yutaka Hirose between 1986 and 1989, during the Sound Process Design sessions, right after the release of his classic Soundscape series album Nova. Sound Process Design was Satoshi Ashikawa's label, home of the Wave Notation trilogy (Hiroshi Yoshimura’s Music For Nine Postcards, Satsuki Shibano's Erik Satie 1866-1925 and Satoshi Ashikawa's Still Way). Following Wave Notation, Sound Process Design worked with museums, cafes and bars to create site-specific soundscapes, starting with the sound design of the Kushiro Museum. Yutaka Hirose was called to work on these projects.

Rather than simply providing pre-recorded compositions, Hirose sought to create a "sound scenery". To achieve this, he participated in the conception of the space and paid particular attention to the accidental combination of sounds by placing the speakers, using a multi-sound source, and following the concept of "sculpturing time through sound".

The composer explains: "sculpturing time through sound means that time, the space itself, the sound played in it, and the audience all become one sculpture. It is close to the idea of a Japanese tea ceremony where you use all of your 5 (or 6) senses to taste the tea."

Trace: Sound Design Works 1986-1989 is divided into two parts. The Reflection segment is based on an ambient soundscape. It narrates "a sleep that starts with the sound of water droplets at dawn and slowly disappears into darkness" and feels like a natural and soothing progression of Nova. It was played in entrance halls, at events, in cafes and bars. The Voice from Past Technology segment expresses the dream world born out of that sleep and is based on what Yukata Hirose calls hardcore ambient, environmental music with a noise approach. It was played in museums and science centers.

All in all, Trace is a crucial addition to every Japanese environmental music fan’s collection, alongside Midori Takada’s Through The Looking Glass, Hiroshi Yoshimura’s Green, Satoshi Ashikawa’s Still Way, Motohiko Hamase’s Notes of Forestry, Inoyamaland’s Danzindan-Pojidon, and Yutaka Hirose’s very own Nova.

The publication Source Book 1 represents the beginning of a and authorized review of the past 20 years of the label Raster-Noton. A short introductory preface by olaf bender is followed by a keynote interview conducted by berlin publicist Max Dax that provides an insight into the identity and philosophy of the label heads. The main part of this first Source Book comprises the extensive catalog of all releases and series published between 1996 and 2016. Tabular listings of various formats and products that were distributed or curated by Raster-Noton complete the catalog. A further exclusive part of the publication is the accompanying Archiv 4 CD, which is only available in connection with the book. Raster-Noton‘s Archiv series was first introduced in december 2003 as a supplement to The Wire magazine and has since been continued in loose sequence with different artists related to the label. Following the idea of the label which defines itself as a platform for its artists, the releases in the catalog part are not presented according to their format, invested effort or meaning, but sorted according to their catalog number and presented on exactly one double page, whereas some series were summarized. As a continuation of this archival revision, further »source books« are planned that will document artist profiles, installations, composition techniques and sources of inspiration. The Source Book 1« is limited to 1.000 copies. Its modular design allows to remove, exchange or add pages, which makes it possible to update the content in due time. A cardboard slipcase covers the 400-page, 3-kilo book and guarantees a safe stand in the bookshelf.

Now on NRW! Mecha Maiko is back to blow you away with her most dance-oriented record to date. For Let’s! she has drawn inspiration from her favourite upbeat 90s dance and freestyle jams to create a sound that is uniquely hers. Aimed at a more DJ-friendly approach, these tracks will find a happy home on the dance floor.

Mecha Maiko has taken a stylized, deliberate approach to the writing process with hardware accompaniments that expand on the stylistic framework laid out in Okiya, released earlier this year. This record draws on the anxiety felt in a late-stage capitalist society and seeks to agitate that uncomfortable energy within us to shake us from our collective paralysis of shock. Inspiring, uplifting and motivating, these songs are unmistakably laser-lit dirges of the dystopia.

Acclaimed saxophonist, producer and composer Yasuaki Shimizu will release Kiren, his unreleased album from 1984, on the Palto Flats record label on February 25, 2022. Liner notes by music historian Chee Shimizu, and credits in both Japanese and English.

By the early 1980s Yasuaki Shimizu had established himself on the Japanese new wave scene, producing many important experimental pop records and releasing several albums as the bandleader of Mariah. Following the release of his widely regarded solo classic Kakashi, from 1982, and the otherworldly Utakata No Hibi, by Mariah in 1983, he went into the studio the following year with frequent collaborators, producer Aki Ikuta and Morio Watanabe (bassist of Mariah), to record a mystifying collection of experimental dance music. Utilizing cutting-edge technology and studio trickery, Kiren showcases Shimizu's trademark playfulness, marrying richly layered production techniques to off-kilter, sometimes traditional sounding rhythms and melodies. Portending his work with the Saxophonettes as well as forecasting trends in techno, new wave, and futuristic rhythmic music, this formerly lost album represents an important period of Shimizu's artistic expression, an artist at his peak, while successfully exploring the intersections of fusion, synthpop, new wave, and jazz.

As Chee Shimizu (no relation) writes in the liner notes, Kiren, and his concurrent release Latin were “born out of a free environment of collaboration that existed between Yasuaki and Aki Ikuta ... (exemplifying) his most energetic works.” In listening to Kiren, we might share with Yasuaki Shimizu the joy and excitement of experimentalism and movement that went into the making of this album, now released for the first time many years later.