🌚 New Release: AK'CHAMEL - A Mournful Kingdom Of Sand (LP/DL)
=> https://bit.ly/3FXWVMF

The cabalistic duo Ak’chamel strikes again with a second record called A Mournful Kingdom of Sand. Following the publicly and critically acclaimed The Totemist (AKU1023) released in 2020, this album sucks the listener into another esoteric journey which - according to the band - is a perfect soundtrack for the desertification of our world.

Ak’chamel perform in mystifying outfits with mostly indigenous and homemade instruments. They often play in unusual locations like laundromats and dilapidated buildings, being thrown out by security guards on several occasions. They have garnered journalistic acclaim and received dubious threats by inebriated hipsters. Talk about high praise!

Limited 12'' vinyl printed on reverse cardboard including printed inner (500 only)

AK'CHAMEL: A Mournful Kingdom Of Sand - The Great Saharan-Chihuahuan Assimilation

🌚 New Release: LEVIOT - Sharav (LP/DL)
=> https://bit.ly/3XmCmQl

Akuphone is proud to present the Jerusalem-based improvisational trio Leviot and its hypnotizing debut album. Leviot (Hebrew for “Lionesses”) is a brainchild of multi-faceted musician and composer Yael Lavie, who’s joined by classically trained percussionist and music teacher Cnaan Canetti, and synth enthusiast Yishay Seroussi. The project is a result of Lavie’s ongoing explorations beyond the restraints of classical kanun playing and fascination with electronic sound and modern composition. Initially started following her experience performing and recording with Spiritczualic Enhancement Center, in Leviot, Yael gives up rehearsed pieces in favour of improvised sets, based on virtuous interpretation by Cnaan and Yishay. The three have been active since 2019, playing their immersive shows in a wide variety of settings, venues and festivals.

The trio’s debut release is a live session, recorded in late 2020 at Mazkeka Studios (Jerusalem) for the lockdown edition of the annual Zikuk Festival. It’s a meditative improv piece in five parts that combines and melts boundaries between the traditional and the experimental, the primal and the futuristic. With setup as the foundation of the piece and Lavie’s graphic score as the road map, Leviot takes off on a cosmic journey between deep drones, whispering chimes, mesmerizing Arab melodies, pulsating rhythms and iridescent ambient patterns.

* Musicians:
- Yael Lavie: kanun and bells
- Yishay Seroussi: synthesizer
- Cnaan canetti: darbuka, congas ,bongos and bells

* Musical arrangement: Yael Lavie
* Recorded at Mazkeka Studios, Jerusalem on December 2020
* Sound engineer: Bar Zaken
* Mix: Aviad Sinemanes
* Mastering: Josh Stevenson at Otic Sound (Canada)
* Graphic design: Michael Cohen
* Biography: Markey Funk

Sharav

LEVIOT: Sharav - Garger (a Tribute To Mahammad Abdo Saleh)

Ak'chamel - Rawskulled
AKU1054 - LP/DL - Out November, 29, 2024
=> https://bit.ly/3TEDnTs

"A surreal mosaic of eerie chant processionals, tape-rot trickery, and panicked oud madness. These are sonic forgeries of atavistic heritages, recorded by analog means using esoteric techniques."

They have been known by many names: The Givers of Illness; The Bandylegged Riders of the Ill-Promised Sun, etc… Honed and expanded through their travels, Ak’chamel’s singular sound comprising desert-scorched psychedelia, post-apocalyptic shamanism, and bizarre ritual folk is as unique as the physical theater of their otherworldly live performances.

Rawskulled

Ak'chamel - Apocalypse By Oud

Buy/Listen => https://bit.ly/4fY1rtC

This music is the result of a friendship established in Mexico between Marius Houschyar, Fabio Levi, Mazatl Alvarez and Mich Rubio who came together in the gardens of Central Mexico for spiritual and sonic exploration. All songs were recorded outside at the ranch of Mazatls father in Michoacán and the magical garden of the wise Abuelos in Mexico State between cactus plants and gigantic trees. The music contains mostly indigenous instruments such as flutes and ceremonial percussion instruments, as well as classical guitar, electric bass, a persian Santoor and one small keyboard. The song texts are improvised prayers in English, Spanish and Nahuatl. Every recording session started with a guided meditation and ultimately turned into a spiritual journey. A psychedelic trip telling of holy lands, the great spirits that inhabit it and a newborn, yet ancient brotherhood.

Written, performed and produced by 
* José Juan Valdez Alvarez
* Miguel Ángel Albarran Rubio
* Fabio Levi Friedrich
* Marius Houschyar

'Para Vivir' is written by Yaotonal Saucedo

Special thanks to 
* Amara Rodriguez Friedrich
* The wise Abuelos
* Mazatl's father
* the Museo de la Cuidad Querétaro
* Grandfather Hikuri
* Our dear mothers

Mastered by Josh Stevenson (Otic Sound, Canada)
Front photo by Marius Houschyar
Back photo by Yaotonal Saucedo

Un Lugar Para Todos

El Cuervo

This fifth sampler is the best way to discover our latest releases. Enjoy !	

* Jac Berrocal - Extaz
https://bit.ly/3ujTCeL

* Ak'chamel - Apocalypse by Oud
https://bit.ly/3TEDnTs

* Badiâa Bouhrizi - Bledi
https://bit.ly/3LJYJKo

* Los Gigantes Dormidos - Un Lugar Para Todos
https://bit.ly/4fY1rtC

* Faraway Ghost & Sunken Cages - Nadidam
https://bit.ly/47rKjZZ

* Baskot - Kheyana [Treason]
https://bit.ly/3yJWd0L

* Louisa Tounsia - Alal Houli (Rework by Sharouh)
https://bit.ly/3Rr38We

* Aly Eissa - Barrel's Dance
https://bit.ly/402pU9m

* Jakson Ayovi - Mamita
https://bit.ly/47KPbbu

* Praed - Kaf Afrit 
https://bit.ly/40iLNRJ

* Vincenzo Della Ratta - Home Invocation
https://bit.ly/3VF1Dq2

* My Jazzy Child - Pour Fπ
https://bit.ly/4eXUWWw

Akuphone Sampler #5 - Winter 25

At its core, this album is a profound journey — a deeply personal exploration of transformation, renewal, and self-expression. Yael Lavie’s debut solo album presents original compositions that are both intimate and innovative. Rooted in the soulful tones of the qanun—an instrument with ancient Middle Eastern origins — the music intricately weaves a tapestry of cultural influences, blending rich makam scales with modern elements like drum machines and experimental production.

This album is connected to place, drawing inspiration from the Mediterranean’s storied landscapes, where histories intertwine and empires have left their mark. Track titles such as Palermo, JLM Blues, and Granada Bos$a evoke cities united by shared cultural legacies, forming an imaginary map of sound and memory. Composed during her travels, each piece resonates with personal experiences, reflecting Lavie’s deep connection to these unique atmospheres.

An intimate odyssey of self-expression, composed and performed almost entirely by Lavie, this album embodies the spirit of cultural exchange, creating meditative, emotional, and transcendent music that speaks to the universal threads that connect us all. Musically, the album is a kaleidoscopic fusion—a captivating blend of spiritual jazz, ambient, dub, Arabic melodies, and surf rock vibes—culminating in a soundscape that is as hypnotic as it is exhilarating.

Buy here

B2. The Hit

Akuphone and The Cambodian Vintage Music Archive proudly present the first-ever retrospective dedicated to So Savoeun—one of the radiant voices that defined Phnom Penh’s golden age of sound in the 1960s and 1970s. In those vibrant years, the city pulsed with music: rock bands, crooners, and traditional ensembles blended East and West, shaping a uniquely Cambodian pop that shimmered with hope and modernity. Amid this flourishing scene, So Savoeun’s voice stood out—silken yet powerful, intimate yet expansive, carrying with it the promise of a new era. This collection brings together rare and long-unheard recordings, including luminous duets with legendary contemporaries Meas Saman, Lek Savath, and Sinn Sisamouth. Each track is more than just a song—it is a fragment of memory, a preserved echo of nights when Phnom Penh’s dance halls and radios overflowed with rhythm and possibility.

In her own words, hearing these songs resurface is like opening a long-buried chest of jewels, hidden beneath the dust of history and now gleaming again after half a century. Her voice, once thought lost to time, reemerges like the cicada whose chant reverberates endlessly through the forest—an eternal call that bridges silence and remembrance. Her music is more than nostalgia; it is testament and rebirth. It continues to resonate, not only with those who lived through that golden era, but with new generations discovering its beauty for the first time. Through this release, the past breathes again—tender, luminous, and unforgettably alive. 

* Compiled by Nate Hun & Rotanak Oum
* Liner notes by Nate Hun
* Liner notes translation by Karolina Kubik
* Lyrics transcription & translation by Nate Hun
* Tracks restoration by Rotanak Oum
* Mastering by Josh Stevenson
* Sleeve & booklet design by Martin Jay
* Photo: So Savoeun and CVMA

A04 លលកវាយំ - Crying Doves

Vinyl, CD and digital. 16 tracks.

A magic mixture of traditionnal Min'yo songs and latin jazz elements. Recorded in Japan between 1958 and 1962.

With its second release, Akuphone keeps exploring Asia with an original compilation of Japanese singer Chiemi Eri. This edition – which is available in vinyl record, CD and digital - includes exclusive liner notes and a rich calligraphed booklet containing the romanization of lyrics. It encourages to (re)discover Chiemi Eri’s recordings. On this compilation, Akuphone has brought together 16 songs from 10 inches albums originally released by King Records (Japan) between 1958 and 1962.

As the daughter of a musician father and a singer mother, Chiemi Eri (1937-1982) grew up in a musical environment. When she was still a teenager, she started a career as a singer on US military bases. She became famous by singing numerous classics from the post-war American musical repertoire. At the age of 14 she recorded the song Tennessee Waltz with King Records, which turned out to be an immediate success, the first of many others.

Chiemi Eri is considered as one of the most famous Japanese singers of the 20th century, more precisely of the Showa era (1926-1989), named after the Japanese emperor of the time, better known under his westernized name Hirohito. Both a singer and an actress – she played in more than 50 films, as well as many theatre plays – she definitely made a mark in the post-war Japanese cultural landscape, along with fellow singer-actresses Izumi Yukimura and Hibari Misora.

The success of these true national icons, who were nicknamed « the three sisters », can be connected to the specific context of the time, that is the cultural opening of Japan which, although initiated a century before, accelerated with the US military occupation of the archipelago (1945-1952). This period saw the import of popular musical styles of the time: jazz, be-bop, swing, mambo, etc, as well as the development of a hybrid musical style - the Kayokyoku - which consists of a delicious mix of so-called “western” music with Japanese music. 

Combining vocal jazz, Latino rhythms and Japanese folk, this new compilation of Chiemi Eri offers an original musical syncretism. Supported by Tadaaki Misago and the Tokyo Cuban Boys – the oldest and most prolific latin-jazz group in Japan – Chiemi Eri sings themes, in Japanese, that are mainly taken from the traditional folklore. Thus, the drums and brass of the Cuban arrangements are mixed with the Min’yo, which shows how rich these folk songs are: every region, every local tradition, every event is celebrated by a particular song or dance. Chiemi Eri also reveals the vocal prowess specific to the Min’yo, in particular the kobushi, a sort of melisma – this vocal technic that consists in singing a single syllable while moving between several different notes in succession.

This compilation, which surprisingly blends Min’yo and latin-jazz elements, invites to the discovery of the archipelago from a different perspective.

more information here : akuphone.com

Chiemi Eri : Otemo-Yan

Chiemi Eri : Fukagawa Kuzushi

Chiemi Eri : Okosa-Bushi

Sothy - Chansons Laotiennes
Original remaster + extended edit by SHELTER. 
Vinyl 12" maxi single, digital. 4 tracks.

buy here : http://akuphone.com/catalog/5Gk0y93

SIDE 1
01 ลำเซิ้งบั้งไฟ Lam Seung Bang Fai  - Original Version (4:51) 
02 ถวย Tawai - Original Version (5:15) 

SIDE 2
01 ลำเซิ้งบั้งไฟ Lam Seung Bang Fai  - Shelter's edit (6:18)
02 ถวย Tawai - Shelter's Edit (5:15)

Slow paced drums with offbeats softly phased with the guitar, misty takeoffs from the synthesizer: a hazy idyll is starting off on the road to the rocket festival (bun bang fai). Answering each other on the responsive mode of the lam soeng, Sothipong engages in a flirt but Oulay Vanh is not ready to trifle with just anybody.   

As a stylistic variation of a popular Lao musical genre, the lam soeng was the source of several themes among which the “bang fai” - which is part of the Lao conciliatory festivities preceding the rainy season - remains one of the most renowned. 

However, the producer and composer of these songs, Sothy, created an unusual arrangement: the instrumental introduction separates from the sang canon, the synthetic mix is stripped down of the traditional organology - everything here becomes unsettling for a listener familiar with the genre. 

Everything comes with a reason: the record was edited in 1981 under the title Sothy Productions yet produced in France by the Parisian label Oxygène (famously known for its unforgettable first French punk compilation 125 grammes de 33 1/3 tours). Chansons Laotiennes still remains hard to classify. 

And then who’s Sothy? Along with the unverifiable identity of the seemingly Laotian singers, skepticism gains ground concerning the man behind the pseudonym. Is he an escaped musician from one of the first Cambodian rock bands of the 1960s? A surviving producer from the 1980s Paris? Or a composer in transit in one of the many places of the Laotian diaspora? Sothy eludes any researches and disappears behind his numerous homonyms. 

The second track is just as enigmatic: a beat box, a lightly reverberated voice as well as a guitar solo and a small synthesizer break, “Tuei” or “Tawai” [offering] (as the writing on the record suggests) makes way to dancing step and a truly joyful melody. Twisted and lively steps on a romantic background tune turn this second track into a genuine paslop - a program recommended by therapists to relieve muscular pains due to seated positions: you will unlock your pelvis with some synchronized Laotian choreographies. 

For their first edits, Akuphone called on a young Parisian producer. Shelter, aka Alan Briand, mingles his own mixes and electro productions with a large variety of influences and styles: krautrock, disco, traditional music, psychedelic, synth pop, ambient, bossa nova, Japanese funk. He produces both original compositions and remix. 

Here is the first Akuphone’s maxi single!

more information here : akuphone.com

Sothy - ลำเซิ้งบั้งไฟ Lam Seung Bang Fai (Original Version)

Ko Shin Moon
(LP/CD/Digital)
buy here : akuphone.com/catalog/1jKrxqUR#content

Mixing digital and instrumental compositions, contemporary electronic sounds, traditional music and samples from field recordings, Ko Shin Moon blurs the boundaries. This musical project maintains some mystery, it is disconcerting - which continent does it come from? Which period of time?

Ko Shin Moon - Zaffa

Kink Gong - Tibetan Buddhism Trip, Part 2 (Extract)

Akuphone AKU1006 (CD/LP/Digital)
buy here : https://akuphone.com/catalog/xlB4b2J#content

Psalmody, small bells, big cymbals, gongs and drums - this puzzling collage of Tibetan Buddhist rites recordings is hypnotizing. It opens the way to the state of trance. The slight electronic arrangement still reminds that reality is not so far. The two twenty-minute tracks instantly convey an unknown and fascinating universe. Mantra chanting accelerates, horns become more insistent and a mystical atmosphere arises. With Tibetan Buddhism Trip, Akuphone starts exploring ritual and ceremonial music, here with a subtle mix of field recordings and electronic handlings.

Over the years King Gong aka Laurent Jeanneau specialized in the recording of ethnic minorities, particularly from South East Asia. He has recorded over 160 albums and his work is now largely well-known around the globe. Such an impressive collection enables him to manipulate, assemble and reconstruct his field recordings in order to create new sound landscapes. 

Recorded in Tibet and Yunnan (China) between 2006 and 2013. Recomposed in Berlin in 2016.

Comes with insert and download card including live performance in Bristol and unseen pictures.

buy here : https://akuphone.com/catalog/xlB4b2J

Kink Gong - Tibetan Buddhism Trip, Part 1 (extract)

Kink Gong - Tibetan Buddhism Trip, Part 2 (Extract)

Akuphone AKU1006 (CD/LP/Digital)
buy here : https://akuphone.com/catalog/xlB4b2J#content

Psalmody, small bells, big cymbals, gongs and drums - this puzzling collage of Tibetan Buddhist rites recordings is hypnotizing. It opens the way to the state of trance. The slight electronic arrangement still reminds that reality is not so far. The two twenty-minute tracks instantly convey an unknown and fascinating universe. Mantra chanting accelerates, horns become more insistent and a mystical atmosphere arises. With Tibetan Buddhism Trip, Akuphone starts exploring ritual and ceremonial music, here with a subtle mix of field recordings and electronic handlings.

Over the years King Gong aka Laurent Jeanneau specialized in the recording of ethnic minorities, particularly from South East Asia. He has recorded over 160 albums and his work is now largely well-known around the globe. Such an impressive collection enables him to manipulate, assemble and reconstruct his field recordings in order to create new sound landscapes. 

Recorded in Tibet and Yunnan (China) between 2006 and 2013. Recomposed in Berlin in 2016.

Comes with insert and download card including live performance in Bristol and unseen pictures.

Buy Here : https://akuphone.com/catalog/xlB4b2J

Kink Gong - Tibetan Buddhism Trip, Part 2 (extract)

The Gamelan Of The Walking Warriors :
Gamelan Beleganjur and the Music of the Ngaben Funerary Ritual in Bali

AKU1007 (CD/LP/DI) 9 tracks
order here :  https://akuphone.com/catalog/2bzFVghZ#content

A fascinating immersion in the heart of a funeral ceremony live recorded in Bali, where gongs, cymbals, and drums give rhythm to the bewitching atmosphere of this mortuary procession.

Recorded in Bali by Vincenzo Della Ratta, 2011.
Produced by Akuphone, 2017.

The international audience’s interest into Balinese music and its gamelan orchestras dates back to the edition of large ethnographic series in the 1950s, 60s and 70s which largely encouraged the discovery of this music beyond Indonesia’s borders. Taking advantage of a more advanced technology compared to the vinyl golden era, the present field recordings produced in 2011 render at the closest the power of gamelans. They are presented here in two forms. The first one offers a display of Beleganjur music out of the ritual context, which can be differentiated by a more melodic form and a more dramatic and hypnotic aspect of the compositions. The second one presents the Beleganjur style in the ceremonial context of the Ngaben funerary rite in the village of Peliatan. The utmost vitality of these orchestras springs out throughout the different stages of these funerals, and the sound environment surrounding the musicians immerse the listener in the very heart of the procession following the corpse. 

With The Gamelan of The Walking Warriors, Akuphone carries on its exploration of ritual and ceremonial music with those materials of rare intensity. These recordings were collected by Vincenzo Della Ratta, PhD in Ethnomusicology from the Sapienza University (Rome). As a specialist of the gongs music from the Austronesian cultures of Southeast Asia, Vincenzo Della Ratta is the author of numerous articles on the subject. His field researches have already been edited as a vinyl entitled Kwangkay: Funerary Music Of The Dayak Benuaq Of Borneo (Sublime Frequencies, 2016).

The Gamelan of the Walking Warriors

Semut Megarang

Gamelan of the Walking Warriors : Semut Megarang by Dharma Shanti Orchestra

Forthcoming on Akuphone (AKU1017)
Digital only
Buy: akuphone.com/catalog/NRer109T2eQ#content

SAMPLE: gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1285941.media

At the end of 2018, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Gallica (the digital archive of the Bibliothèque nationale de France), Akuphone and Ko Shin Moon were invited to create a piece from the library’s audio archives. After working on it for several weeks, a first version was presented during the anniversary ceremony. The project continued to develop over four months before arriving at a definitive version. 

The scope of the project was limited to audio recordings from the library’s collection that were free of legal restrictions, which meant: only 78 rpm records from the first half of the 20th century. The format is unique, left to specialists and forgotten by listeners and producers. 78 records are almost never used for sampling and it’s this application that makes Ko Shin Moon’s album stand out. Many factors needed to be considered, including white noise, breaths, the harshness of certain frequencies, and the production style from the era of the recordings. 

 Using these precious resources as a creative tool, Ko Shin Moon made substantial rearrangements, but he forced himself to respect the original tuning of the recordings by setting his analog synthesizers and instruments to the same microtonality as the records. 

 Most of the chosen samples were recorded between 1910 and 1940 and came from different parts of the world. These include: North Africa for “Gasba” and “The River,” The Middle East and Central Asia for “Segah,” “Bayati Chiraz,” and “Nava,” India for “Devi Sthothra” and “Narayan,” Mozambique for “I-XIII,” South Asia for “The Offering” and “Sabat Sabing,” Japan for “The Consonants,” and France for “The Offering.” 

 “We’re very thankful to have been able to have our work infused with such cultural heritage,” says Ko Shin Moon. “We thank the Bibliothèque nationale de France for their trust and above all, we want to show our respect to the musicians and singers present on these recordings. We hope to bring their voices to life with our music.” 

SAMPLE: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1285941.media

Ko Shin Moon - L'Offrande

Extract from "78 Fragments"
Akuphone (AKU1017) Digital only
Buy: akuphone.com/catalog/NRer109T2eQ#content

SAMPLE: gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k128554n

At the end of 2018, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Gallica (the digital archive of the Bibliothèque nationale de France), Akuphone and Ko Shin Moon were invited to create a piece from the library’s audio archives. After working on it for several weeks, a first version was presented during the anniversary ceremony. The project continued to develop over four months before arriving at a definitive version.

The scope of the project was limited to audio recordings from the library’s collection that were free of legal restrictions, which meant: only 78 rpm records from the first half of the 20th century. The format is unique, left to specialists and forgotten by listeners and producers. 78 records are almost never used for sampling and it’s this application that makes Ko Shin Moon’s album stand out. Many factors needed to be considered, including white noise, breaths, the harshness of certain frequencies, and the production style from the era of the recordings.

Using these precious resources as a creative tool, Ko Shin Moon made substantial rearrangements, but he forced himself to respect the original tuning of the recordings by setting his analog synthesizers and instruments to the same microtonality as the records.

Most of the chosen samples were recorded between 1910 and 1940 and came from different parts of the world. These include: North Africa for “Gasba” and “The River,” The Middle East and Central Asia for “Segah,” “Bayati Chiraz,” and “Nava,” India for “Devi Sthothra” and “Narayan,” Mozambique for “I-XIII,” South Asia for “The Offering” and “Sabat Sabing,” Japan for “The Consonants,” and France for “The Offering.”

“We’re very thankful to have been able to have our work infused with such cultural heritage,” says Ko Shin Moon. “We thank the Bibliothèque nationale de France for their trust and above all, we want to show our respect to the musicians and singers present on these recordings. We hope to bring their voices to life with our music.”

Ko Shin Moon - I-XIII

Extract from "VA Seitō: In the Beginning, Woman Was the Sun"
Akuphone CD/LP/DL (AKU1016)
akuphone.com/catalog/1ks5VIGPKYSk#content

Recorded at office MIKADO, 2018
Engineered by Tamotsu Ide
Mikado Koko: Laptop, Korg Gadget, Sampling, Effects
Composed by Mikado Koko
Samples: Fukagawa Bushi by Fumikichi Fujimoto (1929)

Seitō gathers Japanese female artists from various electronic and experimental music fields. Like the « Tokyo Flashback » series issued by P.S.F. in the early 1990s, this collection recorded between 2017 and 2019 exposes the richness of the contemporary Japanese underground music scene. The title refers to a cult feminist magazine printed in Japan in the 1910s. All tracks issued for the first time.

Mikado Koko - Fukagawa Bushi

Forthcoming on Akuphone CD/LP/DL (AKU1016)
Extract from "VA Seitō: In the Beginning, Woman Was the Sun"
akuphone.com/catalog/1ks5VIGPKYSk#content

Recorded at home by Sarry 821, 2017
Fuji Yuki: Vocals, Synthesizer, Effects
Composed by Fuji Yuki

Seitō gathers Japanese female artists from various electronic and experimental music fields. Like the « Tokyo Flashback » series issued by P.S.F. in the early 1990s, this collection recorded between 2017 and 2019 exposes the richness of the contemporary Japanese underground music scene. The title refers to a cult feminist magazine printed in Japan in the 1910s. All tracks issued for the first time.

Fuji-Yuki - Blood Moon

Forthcoming on Akuphone (AKU1016)

feat: 
FUJI-YUKI - KIKI HITOMI - MIKADO KOKO - MIKI YUI 
KAKUSHIN NISHIHARA - KUUNATIC and KEIKO HIGUCHI.

DIGITAL  => JUNE, 14. 2019 
VINYL-CD  => JULY, 13. 2019

Seitō gathers Japanese female artists from various electronic and experimental music fields. Like the « Tokyo Flashback » series issued by P.S.F. in the early 1990s, this collection recorded between 2017 and 2019 exposes the richness of the contemporary Japanese underground music scene. The title refers to a cult feminist magazine printed in Japan in the 1910s. All tracks issued for the first time.

www.akuphone.com

AKU1016 // VA - Seitō: In the Beginning, Woman Was the Sun (Album preview)

Extract from "Leïla Nova" Akuphone AKU1022 (LP/Digital) 
https://akuphone.com/artists/KngrUBP#content

Ko Shin Moon third LP puts the use of samples on a background layer and asserts his place as an instrumentalist. Leïla Nova presents itself as a nocturnal digression where analogical synthesizer, rhythm box, vocal tinkering and colourful instrumentarium are mixed together. Psychedelia, electronic variations, dance music, synth folk and filmed approach blend with traditional Greek, Afghan, Lebanese-Syrian, Turkish and Indian revisited repertoires. The artwork is designed by Lebanese artist Raphaelle Macaron.

(fr)
Leïla Nova, troisième LP du groupe, est cette nuit de trance cosmique, brillante et soudaine. Dans cet album Ko Shin Moon met au second plan l’usage du sample et affirme sa place d’instrumentiste. Leïla Nova se présente comme une digression nocturne où se mêle synthétiseur analogique, boite à rythme, bricolages vocaux et instrumentarium coloré. Format pop, dance music, filmi music côtoient les répertoires traditionnels grec, afghan, syrien, turc et indien revisités. Une pochette conçue par l'artiste Libanaise Raphaelle Macaron.

Leïla Nova

Buy LP or Digital

Ko Shin Moon - Leïla Nova

Forthcoming on Akuphone (AKU1018)
🕐 Digital: October 11
🕙 Vinyl: November 21

Buy: akuphone.com/catalog/tfS6imcYr6s#content

Akuphone presents "Saz Û Dilan", the second solo album of Rizan Said. After "King of Keyboards", released in 2016 by Discreapant, this new release brings you the most exciting Kurdish-Syrian dance music to your ears. Surrounded by young local singers, Rizan offers his own interpretation of the modern dabke through eight original uptempo compositions full of energy.

Rizan Said is a composer, musician and producer, responsible for hundreds of Syrian recording industry productions as well as compositions and themes for television and cinema. Hailing from Ras Al Ain, in northeastern Syria, Rizan was a musical prodigy from a young age – a gifted player of percussion and reed instruments before a wealth of synthesizers began flooding Syria in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Steadfast on the Syrian cassette album circuit at the time, Rizan was already sending his signals out from the Jazeera frontier, thanks to a partnership with local Syrian producer Zuhir Maksi. Later, he was the man behind Omar Souleyman’s music and have recorded and toured accross the world with him. Nowadays, he performes as a solo artist and brings the original dabke dance sounds of Syria to European festivals and concerts. 

Credits:
- Vocals: Kinana Alqasir, Mohammed Shikhmous,Yassin and Sabri Mohammed
- Zurna: Bave Karam - Amude 
- Arranged by Mahmoud Barazi
- Edited and Mixed by Sliman Dumyan 
- Mastering and Post Production: Mark Gergis
- Composed and performed by: Rizan Said

Format:
- Vinyl with download code
- Digital

Rizan Said - Kinana (AKU1018)

Forthcoming on Akuphone (AKU1019)
🕐 Digital: available now
🕙 Vinyl: November 21

Buy: akuphone.com/catalog/tfS6imcYr6s#content

Akuphone presents "Saz Û Dilan", the second solo album of Rizan Said. After "King of Keyboards", released in 2016 by Annihaya, this new release brings you the most exciting Kurdish-Syrian dance music to your ears. Surrounded by young local singers, Rizan offers his own interpretation of the modern dabke through eight original uptempo compositions full of energy.

Rizan Said is a composer, musician and producer, responsible for hundreds of Syrian recording industry productions as well as compositions and themes for television and cinema. Hailing from Ras Al Ain, in northeastern Syria, Rizan was a musical prodigy from a young age – a gifted player of percussion and reed instruments before a wealth of synthesizers began flooding Syria in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Steadfast on the Syrian cassette album circuit at the time, Rizan was already sending his signals out from the Jazeera frontier, thanks to a partnership with local Syrian producer Zuhir Maksi. Later, he was the man behind Omar Souleyman’s music and have recorded and toured accross the world with him. Nowadays, he performes as a solo artist and brings the original dabke dance sounds of Syria to European festivals and concerts. 

Credits:
- Vocals: Kinana Alqasir, Mohammed Shikhmous,Yassin and Sabri Mohammed
- Zurna: Bave Karam - Amude 
- Arranged by Mahmoud Barazi
- Edited and Mixed by Sliman Dumyan 
- Mastering and Post Production: Mark Gergis
- Composed and performed by Rizan Said
- Artwork by Ohran Ali
- Photo by Ana Viotti

Format:
- Vinyl & download card
- Digital

Saz Û Dilan

Kinana

Rizan Said (ريزان سعيد) - Kinana (AKU1018)

The King of Keyboards is back for a new album!

Forthcoming on Akuphone (AKU1019)
🕐 Digital: available now
🕙 Vinyl: November 21

Buy: akuphone.com/catalog/tfS6imcYr6s#content

Akuphone presents "Saz Û Dilan", the second solo album of Rizan Said. After "King of Keyboards", released in 2016 by Annihaya, this new release brings you the most exciting Kurdish-Syrian dance music to your ears. Surrounded by young local singers, Rizan offers his own interpretation of the modern dabke through eight original uptempo compositions full of energy.

Rizan Said is a composer, musician and producer, responsible for hundreds of Syrian recording industry productions as well as compositions and themes for television and cinema. Hailing from Ras Al Ain, in northeastern Syria, Rizan was a musical prodigy from a young age – a gifted player of percussion and reed instruments before a wealth of synthesizers began flooding Syria in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Steadfast on the Syrian cassette album circuit at the time, Rizan was already sending his signals out from the Jazeera frontier, thanks to a partnership with local Syrian producer Zuhir Maksi. Later, he was the man behind Omar Souleyman’s music and have recorded and toured accross the world with him. Nowadays, he performes as a solo artist and brings the original dabke dance sounds of Syria to European festivals and concerts. 

Credits:
- Vocals: Kinana Alqasir, Mohammed Shikhmous,Yassin and Sabri Mohammed
- Zurna: Bave Karam - Amude 
- Arranged by Mahmoud Barazi
- Edited and Mixed by Sliman Dumyan 
- Mastering and Post Production: Mark Gergis
- Composed and performed by Rizan Said
- Artwork by Ohran Ali
- Photo by Ana Viotti

Format:
- Vinyl & download card
- Digital

Yuma

Rizan Said (ريزان سعيد) - Yuma (AKU1018)

Extract from "The Totemist" (Akuphone AKU1023 LP/Digital)
Buy: akuphone.com/catalog/eDyW6yWZkAK#content

First vinyl release of Ak'chamel after a prolific cassette discography, The Totemist is a deep psychedelic-folk album hinted by mysticism, some of which was written and recorded in a ghost-town in the Chihuahuan Desert in far West Texas - a place where the dead outnumber the living. Various overdubs and field recordings were captured in the historic Terlingua cemetery : an ancient burial ground filled with small grottoes and graves made of sticks and stones. This being the final resting place for miners who succumbed from illnesses derived from the toxic rare-earth element known as mercury.

Ak’chamel, The Giver of Illness are fourth world post-colonial cultural cannibalists circumcising the foreskin of enlightenment. Performing in homemade costumes and masks, they have played festivals in various cities around the U.S gaining international attention from Vice, The Wire, Tiny Mix Tapes, Consequence of Sound, and many more. Enter the fourth world now !

All tracks composed, performed, recorded and produced by Ak'chamel, The Giver of Illness. Mastered by Mark Gergis.

The Totemist

PROTECTED BY THE EJACULATION OF SERPENTS

Buy LP/Digital

Ak'chamel, The Giver Of Illness - Protected By The Ejaculation Of Serpents

Extract from "The Totemist" (Akuphone AKU1023 LP/Digital)
Buy:  akuphone.com/catalog/eDyW6yWZkAK#content

First vinyl release of Ak'chamel after a prolific cassette discography, The Totemist is a deep psychedelic-folk album hinted by mysticism, some of which was written and recorded in a ghost-town in the Chihuahuan Desert in far West Texas - a place where the dead outnumber the living. Various overdubs and field recordings were captured in the historic Terlingua cemetery : an ancient burial ground filled with small grottoes and graves made of sticks and stones. This being the final resting place for miners who succumbed from illnesses derived from the toxic rare-earth element known as mercury.

Ak’chamel, The Giver of Illness are fourth world post-colonial cultural cannibalists circumcising the foreskin of enlightenment. Performing in homemade costumes and masks, they have played festivals in various cities around the U.S gaining international attention from Vice, The Wire, Tiny Mix Tapes, Consequence of Sound, and many more. Enter the fourth world now !

All tracks composed, performed, recorded and produced by Ak'chamel, The Giver of Illness. Mastered by Mark Gergis.

Ak'chamel, The Giver Of Illness - The Funeral Of A Woman Whose Soul Is Trapped In The Sun

Firedriver

Ak'chamel, The Giver Of Illness - Firedriver

Akuphone. AKU1025 (LP)
bit.ly/3cHRjUh

🕐 Bandcamp Exclusive: June 12
🕙 Vinyl/Digital: September 11

Musician, composer and one of the most revered figures for today’s younger generation of experimental and alternative Arabic music scenes, Kamilya Jubran (text, oud & vocals), collaborates with long standing musical partner, composer, accomplished trumpet player and seasoned electronic musician Werner Hasler (trumpet & electronics).

In Wa (Arabic for and), their third album together as a duo, Kamilya Jubran and Werner Hasler continue to interrogate their listening and their expression, their research and their desires, to unravel a musical universe of possibilities; “a unison of timbres, cultures complementing, the complicity of verses, and modes and languages confronting each other” in the duo’s own way of communicating respective origins and contemporaneity. Lyrical, within a sound full of contrast and ornamentation, they pursue an expansion of their repertoire with imaginative interpretation and improvisation.

* Originally released in CD and digital by Everest Records (Switzerland).
* Vinyl issued in collaboration with Akuphone
* Vinyl mastering by Mark Gergis

AKU1025 // Kamilya Jubran & Werner Hasler - Wa (Extract)

Raed Yassin: Archeophony
Akuphone. AKU1027. 2LP/Digital

👉  bit.ly/3lkjtsR

Archeophony takes us on a journey through time and space where traditional instruments and voices meet experimental electronic sounds in the most unique way. Raed Yassin has created the soundtrack to a psychedelic science-fiction movie that will unravel in your brain like a time travel machine from the future looking into the past. 
In a similar vein to an archeologist, Raed Yassin’s new album Archeophony takes us on a journey through sounds and voices excavated from collected sonic archives from the past, rearranged and reproduced through electronics, distortion, sampling and assembly. Drum machines, synthesizers and electronic sounds merge with solo traditional voices and instruments recorded in different parts of the world, coming together to create a contrarian yet magical sound unlike any other. Based on so-called ‘ethnic’ music recordings conducted between the 1950s and 80s by Western ethnomusicologists in true colonial fashion, the album attempts to achieve an archeology of sound that reflects both the course history and its continuous distortion by the powers that be. The result is a dizzying living archive of sonic history as well as the presentation of a unique experimental orchestration. By rereading musical history in this way, Raed Yassin strives to play the role of a conductor. The orchestra is history itself, and he selects, deconstructs, emphasizes, mutes and distorts it through this album.

As a musician, Raed Yassin has been a key member in the Lebanese underground music scene for many years. One of the organisers of the Irtijal Festival of Experimental Music from its early beginnings, he founded his concept music label Annihaya in 2009. He is a member of several bands and groups, including “A” Trio , @Praed among others. As a double bassist, he developed a personal and independent extended technique, by employing different preparations and objects on his instrument. His interest here relies heavily on textures, energies and vibrations, the density of volume and sound, rather than conventional melodic structures. Also an electronic musician and experimental turntablist, his approach to vinyl ranges from deconstructing Arab pop music, to reexamining the traditional music archives of countries from the global south. With his duo band Praed (along withPaed Conca ), he acts as the lead singer and synth player, merging free jazz with psychedelic rock and Egyptian Shaabi music

Archeophony

Buy Vinyl & Digital

Raed Yassin : A Fistful Of Stardust (AKU1027)

Everything in between label founded in 2015 by @Cheb-Gero

Read more: akuphone.com/about/#content

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