from 'S/t' [CD|2xLP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den157
available on all formats at http://www.denovali.com/thealvaretensemble

The Alvaret Ensemble

The Alvaret Ensemble - Ond

from 'The Unified Field' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den182
available on all formats at [http://denovali.com/pianointerrupted]

The Unified Field

Buy @ Denovali

Piano Interrupted - Emoticon

from 'Odham's Standard' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den191
available on all formats at [http://denovali.com/origamibiro]

Origamibiro is a collaborative project consisting of three core members: musician, soundtrack composer and producer Tom Hill, visual artist and filmmaker The Joy Of Box, and multi-instrumentalist Andy Tytherleigh. Originally started as a solo project for Tom, Origamibiro has since evolved into an audio-visual collective, producing studio music, art objects, interactive installations and hauntingly original live audio-visual performances. Origamibiro like to create work with an array of unorthodox processes and contraptions, found objects, video feeds and multi instrumentalism. Their unique live performances involve treated books, typewriters, found celluloid, paper, eerie wildlife recordings, home movies, sellotape and bespoke visual contraptions. All of these things had been added, adapted, even destroyed as a way to generate images and audio that could evoke a feeling, a response, an understanding or perhaps a question from audiences.

2014 sees the re-release of Origamibiro's entire back catalogue - the albums ‘Cracked Mirrors and Stopped Clocks’, ‘Shakkei’ and ‘Shakkei Remixed’ - through Denovali and also the release of their fourth studio album 'Odham's Standard'. Discussions concerning tone and theme took place much earlier in the writing process this time around and unbeknown to each other, both Tom and Jim were taking an interest in more supernatural aspects of audio and video material generation. Jim had begun to research into spirit photography, where images of deceased spirits are apparently imprinted onto photographic plates through the presence of a medium. Looking for an audio equivalent, Tom began looking into EVP or electronic voice phenomenon whereby hidden voices from deceased spirits appear to present themselves in audio recordings. What is fascinating about this process is not how legitimate the phenomenon actually is but how dependant it is on the decision or need of the viewer or listener to believe it is significant or even personal.

Interestingly, there have been many attempts over the years to debunk or disprove the validity of spirit photography and yet for every court case there are also a number of witnesses willing to passionately testify that not only is the phenomenon real but that it applied directly to them. Arthur Conan Doyle was the creator of the most famous detective in the world and, conversely, a staunch defendant of the validity of spirit photography. In his infamous treatise 'The Case For Spirit Photography' he is both naive and strangely prescient: “Victorian science would have left the world hard and clean and bare, like a landscape in the moon. (however) There is nothing scientifically impossible, so far as I can see, in some people seeing things that are invisible to others. One or two consequences are obvious, the experiences of children will be taken more seriously. Cameras will be forthcoming. These folk who appear to be our neighbours, with only some small difference of vibration to separate us, will become familiar.”


Odham's Standard

Origamibiro - Butterfly Jar

from 'Walizka' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den201
available on all formats at [http://denovali.com/johnlemke]

Working across a variety of media John Lemke explores all things sonic through live performance, sound design and his work as a documentary film composer. The Walizka EP is his latest solo release on Denovali Records.

Three items in a suitcase, a clarinet, a looper and a microphone - is how it all started. 

A free improvisation with friend & collaborator Łukasz Bernacki (on clarinet) sparked John’s desire to bring his compositional and production approach back down to the most basic elements. Creating simple, yet distinctive rhythms only through tapping contact microphones run into noisy guitar amps became the base for the EP’s three tracks, consequently inspiring its live, lo-fi feel. Written and recorded between John’s native Berlin and his adopted home of Glasgow, Walizka (Polish for ‘suitcase’) somehow absorbs the defining atmospheres of both cities in its core.

Previously released digitally as a teaser for John’s debut album, the Walizka EP actually presents newer material, progressing the electro-acoustic nature of ‘People Do’ towards more dub drenched territories. Refining John’s blend of prepared piano and field recordings with hand crafted beats and swampy bass lines, this deeply moody and danceable release bends genres with refreshing ease.

The EP is furthermore enhanced by a second half of remixes by fellow Denovali artists Piano Interrupted, SaffronKeira and Petrels and the ever elusive Everyday Dust. Far from conventional remixes, these pieces fall more in the category of re-imaginations, complementing the EP’s first, more rhythm anchored half with a coherent ambient counterpart.

Written, performed, recorded & produced by John Lemke in 2013
Mastered by Alex Gámez at Störung Studio
Artwork by Łukasz Bernacki

Walizka

John Lemke - Walizka (Piano Interrupted Remix)

from 'Acoustic' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den202
available on all formats at [http://denovali.com/theeyeoftime]

THE EYE OF TIME is the Solo-Project of French musician Marc Euvrie. Euvrie’s musical development is deeply connected with the French DIY punk and hardcore scene, though he has been classically trained as well. He used to play in several bands before he began to translate his personal reflection of our complex world into music, which initiated The Eye of Time. A self titled debut record, released in Spring 2012, evolved firstly.

For his debut Marc Euvrie’s critical writing exposed a dark look on the present, past and future: Linked to machines and samples, revealing an unnatural direction of the human being’s existence. His upcoming release ACOUSTIC is a consequent change of focus. Looking for the motor, the personal needs to survive, he found himself experimenting with only Cello and Piano. Apparently these classical instruments turned out to be a relevant strong signal to go back to the roots with something more natural and simple to start from. Though both records seem to go in opposite directions in terms of sound and concept, a strong underlying layer stays inevitable: The Eye of Time’s compositions imply a call to fight for the things we love.

ACOUSTIC might be understood as a counterbalance to The Eye of Time’s debut. Where the previous record disclosed the coldness of our time, destructing everything that is meant to be our deep nature and presenting the despair of our situation, Acoustic embarks on a little glimpse of hope: Finding some strength to keep fighting for the nature of things and their vital qualities. Marc Euvrie composed six songs for six different locations and points in time, reaching way back to ancient centuries as well as taking a glance into our near future of a yet unknown place. A very personal travel through time and space, between the beauty of nature (Cisjordania, Norway) and the need of hope, which allows humans to dream (Spain, Poland). Marc Euvries own feelings and thoughts about his life evoke mostly in the last two tracks, where he found a form to intensify what keeps him alive.

Acoustic

Preorder / Buy

The Eye of Time - Treblinka, Poland, 2 August 1943

from 'II' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den378
available on all formats at http://denovali.com/notilus

After their highly praised debut record "I" - called "a sparkling electro-jazz and cinematographic hybridization game" and "refreshingly futuristic big band music" - the french quintet returns with the new full length called "II". Notilus is back, more raw and free than ever, taking a journey through both evening shadows and luminous mornings, through long expanses of suspended time as well as hypnotic swathes of dancing vibes. It crosses vast tundras, ascends snowy mountain ranges, reaches swampy troubled waters bathed in eerie light, at the crossroad between Jazz, Techno, Ambient music and self-reflexion.

The Notilus Orchestration:
Philippe Rieger : machines
Mathieu Goust : drums & percussions
Guillaume Nuss : trombone & effets
Christophe Rieger : saxophone & effets
Paul Barbieri : cornet, synthétiseurs

Inc Holy

Notilus - Inc Holy

from 'The Horror Cosmic' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den380
available on all formats at https://denovali.com/thelovecraftsextet

After the release of the first three albums "In Memoriam", "Nights Of Lust" and "Miserere" Jason Köhnen (Mansur / The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble / The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation) has created The Lovecraft Sextet’s first soundtrack to a yet to be created movie. The Horror Cosmic is a Lovecraftian cosmic horror short story which dives into the existential dread of the infinite nothingness. The album was composed as a soundtrack to accompany the illustrated short story and is an expanded step in the multidisciplinary aspect of the Lovecraft Sextet project. Therefore this release should be listened to as a soundtrack with compositions working to accentuate a specific mood to the specific chapters of the story. The Horror Cosmic will also be release as a very limited custom Hardcover illustrated short story book with a special vinyl color LP.

The Horror Cosmic

Deliverance

The Lovecraft Sextet - Deliverance

from 'Spark And Earth' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den371
available on all formats at https://denovali.com/mariodiazdeleon

Denovali presents Spark and Earth, the ninth full length album from acclaimed NYC-based composer and performer Mario Diaz de Leon.  Long celebrated for his electroacoustic chamber music, Spark and Earth is the first of Diaz de Leon’s solo albums to foreground his performance as a metal guitarist, alongside a vividly textured electronic ensemble of terse synth stabs, woodwind and vocal timbres, floor rattling synth bass, and propulsive kick drums.  Songs such as Cruces, Templo, Kepha, and Elemental evoke rave-metal anthems, foregrounding a vibrant alchemy of thrash guitars with percussive synths.  Aqua, Breath of God, and Carnelian seamlessly weave lead and chiming guitar lines with meticulously charted electronics and hammered dulcimer timbres. Carnelian charts the alluring flow of a single melodic line through the instruments of the ensemble, while the haunting analog synth interplay of Mirror Spirit recalls the vivid electroacoustic works of previous releases.  Over nine songs and 30 minutes, Spark and Earth is an alchemical journey through Diaz de Leon’s electronic chamber metal.

Since 2009, Diaz de Leon has released four recordings of his collaborations with chamber ensembles (International Contemporary Ensemble, Talea, TAK), while from 2012-2016 he produced three solo electronic albums under the project name Oneirogen.  With the two-song album Heart Thread (2022), he began releasing electronic works under his own name.  His music has been celebrated over the last decade for its “hallucinatory intensity” (New York Times), “snarling exuberance” (Pitchfork), and “remarkable textures and vivid atmosphere” (New Yorker Magazine).  As collaborator, he is guitarist and vocalist in the extreme metal duo Luminous Vault (Profound Lore Records), and performs synth and drum machine in Bloodmist, an electroacoustic improvisation trio with Jeremiah Cymerman and Toby Driver.  In 2023, he collaborated with Eartheater and members of Krallice in a performance of songs from her album Trinity.  Since 2019, he has taught at Stevens Institute of Technology as Assistant Professor of Music and Technology.

Spark and Earth

Cruces

Mario Diaz de Leon - Cruces

from 'Onegin' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den375
available on all formats at http://denovali.com/maskxsoul

MASKxSOUL is the new international project, featuring the baritone Alexander Korenkov (of Mariinsky Theatre, Theatre du Chatelet, and JFK Center fame, who performed with Vladimir Yurovsky, Valery Gergiev and Anton Batagov) and introducing the voice and music of Tatiana Selivanova (Vanilla Quartz), backed up by Jason Kohnen (The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble, The Lovecraft Sextet, Mansur) and Dimitry El-Demerdashi (Mansur). One might say that MASKxSOUL blends dark-jazz, tsar punk, and Eastern folklore with the setting of the romantic landscapes inspired by the Russian classical tradition. MASKxSOUL presents a new vision of a perennial classic, namely, Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin, a romantic novel in verse that has served generations of artists across the globe as inspiration, with a debut single dedicated to Pushkin's 222nd anniversary on June 6th 2022. The complete eight track MASKxSOUL debut album "Onegin" is available now through Denovali.

Onegin

MaskXSoul - Onegin

from 'Systeme' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den381
available on all formats at http://denovali.com/bersarinquartett

Finally the 5th album of the imaginary German quartet - as always via Denovali. Although the title "Systeme" suggests a perhaps rather distant-cool album, it is the most personal and concentrated soundtrack so far created by Thomas Bücker from Münster in his "E-Smog-Playground" studio. In 2008, the quartet still flirted with cyrillic-mysterious melancholy and red wine-swilling trakl melancholy. 15 years and four albums later, it seems almost cynical to simply continue at this point. Because: late modernity delivers its very own complex tragedies - in real time.

This feeling of "Something's not right here" runs like a thread through the entire new album. While it still sounds popularly symphonic here and there, there are also many soundscapes that have an observing, almost unmasking effect. Microtonal shifts, polyrhythmic structures, tempo fluctuations and sound aesthetics torn out of context create a fragile, unpredictable foundation - as if Talk Talk, Tim Hecker and Skrillex were making music together and challenging our tolerance for ambiguity. Typical of the Bersarin Quartet: sparks of optimism shimmer through everything. However, sitting back and enjoying doesn't really want to work - necessarily. Because that makes it exciting without freezing in escapism - fortunately.

Systeme

Bersarin Quartett - Autopoesie

from 'Sabi' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den383
available on all formats at http://denovali.com/eraldobernocchi

Denovali is pleased to present the second cooperation album of the Italian composer, arranger, producer and guitarist ERALDO BERNOCCHI with the Berlin-based Japanese violinist, composer, electronic producer and TANGERINE DREAM member HOSHIKO YAMANE.

Eraldo Bernocchi and Hoshiko Yamane have come together again to create their second album - inspired by the Japanese concept of "Sabi". The record is a unique blend of electronic and acoustic music - with Bernocchi’s pulsating textures and Yamane's haunting treated violin melodies weaving together to create a captivating and emotional sonic landscape.

"Sabi" is a Japanese aesthetic that celebrates the beauty of impermanence and decay. It is often associated with the simplicity, austerity, and solitude found in nature, and is said to evoke a sense of melancholy, nostalgia, and reverence for the passage of time. Bernocchi and Yamane's "Sabi" explores these themes through a collection of minimalist compositions that combine electronic and acoustic instruments immersing the listener in a deeply cinematic experience.

The album takes the listener on a journey through a series of atmospheric tracks, sometimes melancholic pieces that evokes the sense of solitude and simplicity often associated with the concept, other times more energetic and uplifting, optimistic ones that celebrates the beauty of transience.

Throughout the record, Bernocchi's electronics work provides a powerful, quite physical, backdrop for Yamane's violin melodies and harmonies , which are at once mournful and hopeful. Together, they again created a sound that is both beautiful and haunting, evoking the sense of nostalgia and reverence that is at the heart of the "Sabi" aesthetic. "Sabi" is a unique and powerful work of art that explores the beauty of impermanence and the passage of time. With its blend of electronic and acoustic elements, it is a record that is both modern and timeless, and is sure to appeal to a wide range of fans of electronic, ambient and experimental music. The artwork again was created by the renowned designer Petulia Mattioli.

Sabi

Eraldo Bernocchi / Hoshiko Yamane - Our days

from 'DARTS & KITES' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den382
available on all formats at http://denovali.com/taroug

Taroug is the solo project by drummer and electronic music producer Tarek Zarroug with roots in the suburbs of the Tunisian desert and having grown up in Germany. Following the release of his 2020 EP, „Perpetual,“ as well as a number of notable remixes for artists such as Archive, Taroug has continued to refine his musical aesthetic.

Taroug‘s debut album Darts & Kites, set to be released on Denovali Records, draws inspiration from the Penrose tiling and explores themes of change and transformation. Fascinated from the pattern‘s unending possibilities, Taroug incorporated its infinite permutations not only into the album‘s nine tracks, but also in the cover art design.

Darts & Kites showcases a blending of genres and styles, resulting in a sonic landscape, that is both hunting and beautiful. Experimental and abstract soundscapes are enriched by oriental influences, collected field recordings, pulsating dark beats and hypnotic vocals.

The album also features the contributions of other notable artists, including Beate Wolff‘s cello performance on Jewels I. Benedikt Koch‘s saxophone adds a sense of controlled chaos with delayed and swelling notes to the track Deguech, while Timo Schieber‘s piano provides a crucial element of the album‘s title track, Darts & Kites. Niklas Genschel lends his vocals to Queen of Carthage, which also features the saz playing of Abdallah Abozekry.

Created in collaboration with architect and designer Marie Brosius, the album artwork captures different ornaments reflecting the album‘s content. Darts & Kites is a mosaic of sound, blending together elements of unfamiliar and familiar.

Darts & Kites

Taroug - Jewels I

from 'CAPRI CLOUDS' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den365
available on all formats at http://denovali.com/mattibye

Denovali is very delighted to present the new album of the prestigious Swedish pianist and composer Matti Bye - known for his scores for „The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disap- peared“, „Young Wallander“, „Superswede“, „Tove“, „Everlasting Moments“ among many others. Matti is also well known for his regular performances at various silent film festivals and screenings around the world, where you will see him perform solo and with artists such as Lau Nau and Anna von Hausswolff.

Matti Bye‘s third album, „Capri Clouds“, moves through the element of the air and further into space. A lone piano sounds, echoes - sometimes like a waltz. We have the sound of the wind with us and the sound of the sea below us as we fly, and above we hear the stars and planets spinning. A piano from the past, as if Satie met space - as if Spiritualized and Satie talked to each other across timeand space.These songs go straight to the heart and to the senses, and create images in your head. Stories from your own memory bank, as well as new visions – music to lean into, meditatively and hopefully longing. But there is also an undertone of something dark and desolate. Musically, Matti Bye moves within the realm of neo-classicism, but he is also approaching romanticism. References to composers suchas Schubert and Beethoven are to be found here, as well as to post-romantic bands such as Kraftwerk and The Cure. In this third album of a trilogy – the first was „Bethani- en“, the second „The Forgotten Land“ – Bye continues his musical journey. Here we encounter a brighter and lighter production. Anders af Klintberg has brought „Capri Clouds“ up from the underworld and the dream- scape, towards clouds and skies.

Capri Clouds

Matti Bye - Open Sea

from 'Deterrence' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den222
available on all formats at [http://denovali.com/ricardodonoso]

Ricardo Donoso is a composer, percussionist and electronic musician from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil who currently resides in Boston.  After having studied composition at Berklee College of Music and New England Conservatory he has participated in a slew of projects over the years, most notably playing drums for avant-death metal unit Ehnahre and being one half of the ever morphing electronic duo Perispirit. Ricardo's musical vocabulary draws as much from contemporary composition, drone, to techno and noise.

A year before exploding onto the electronic music scene in 2011with the critically acclaimed Progress Chance, Ricardo Donoso's debut release "Deterrence" was issued as an extremely limited cassette edition - a through-composed ambient piece, "Deterrence" is stripped of all the rhythmic flux which he has become known for. Considered by many in underground circles to be a true masterwork of the Dark Ambient genre, "Deterrence" is often times compared to works by artists such as Lustmord, Biosphere & Deathprod. Denovali is pleased to finally present this much needed reissue, five years from its inception.

It's a fitting time for "Deterrence" to see the light of day, as it lets us explore Donoso's roots as a composer, both musically & thematically. With the simultaneous release of his new opus "Sarava Exu" one can't help but connect the dots from some of the foundations laid out on "Deterrence"; the glacial drones underpinning melodic flourishes on the surface , the patience and pacing of each movement and the use of space, sound design and texture in equal balance with the harmonic and melodic content. 

Although vastly different from the much loved, geometric inspired Digitalis trilogy, "Deterrence" still serves its function of sucking you into its world, guiding the listener through barren landscapes, dreamlike imagery and moments of hopeful yearning then spitting you out on the other side. Like past Donoso releases, it begs to be excavated and explored, revealing more & more of itself upon closer inspection. The motivic cycling chords tumble in-between tape his & location recordings, sometimes appearing inverted, upside down, in reversed order, but always there, present and serving it's function. Melodic content is hinted at on opener "Simulated Charity", becoming fully exposed at the halfway point on a broken down piano on "Prisoner's Dilemma" as feedback swells and guitar drones carry the movement along until the massive crescendo in "Mutual Assured Destruction" gives us some respite, albeit only briefly as the tonal clouds are then drowned by claustrophobic textures, leaving us not with answers, but more questions. While always pushing forward, Donoso' manages to maintain with each release his cinematic grandeur, an elegant narrative arc and a truly singular and dramatic tone. "Deterrence" is a small, yet important window into the one of contemporary electronic music's most unique voices. 

Deterrence

Ricardo Donoso - Mutual Assured Destruction

from 'The Unified Field Reconstructed' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records ·  den226
available on all formats at [http://denovali.com/pianointerrupted]

Piano Interrupted, the anglo / french duo formed by Tom Hodge and Franz Kirmann is a musical entity in continuous reinvention, their music constantly evolving and transforming from concert to concert, record to record. Studio compositions are deconstructed for live shows, becoming brand new pieces, which in turn serve as a basis for future new compositions, like a never-ending “mise en abyme”
It was just a question of time then before the pair turned to other producers to ask them to rework their music. Concentrating exclusively on material from their last LP “The Unified Field”, Piano Interrupted invited a handful of artists and producers from Denovali Records' roster including Hidden Orchestra, Floex, Origamibiro, John Lemke, Saffronkeira and Second Moon Of Winter to reinvent some of their compositions. Oscillating between dub, techno, abstract hip hop, ambient and post-classical, each interpretation offers a completely fresh approach to the work, sometimes barely recognisable, and sheds new light on the infinite directions that Piano Interrupted's intricate compositions can be taken.
“The Unified Field Reconstructed” is a reminder of the possibilities and a promise of more exquisite exploration in the duo's 3rd album, scheduled for later this year, based on recordings taking place in Senegal (where Franz spent his childhood) in February 2015.


The Unifield Field Reconstructed

Piano Interrupted - Cross Hands (Hidden Orchestra Remix)

from 'Flesh' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den228
available on all formats at [http://denovali.com/ahkosmos]

AH! KOSMOS is the moniker of Istanbul-based producer and instrumentalist Başak Günak. Her debut EP called FLESH has been released in her native country via Turkish label Müzik Hayvanı back in 2013. Along the release of her first full length BASTARDS in April 2015, Denovali Records will provide a re-issue FLESH, available for the first time on a world-wide scale and on the vinyl format.

Echoing and bouncing off the surfaces, the nuanced metallic droplets of synth-triggered sound interacts with moody sustained cluttering down-tempo beats and unholy choral voices over the trio of ambience on this three-track EP FLESH. From the mysterious catacombs and imagined otherworldly terrains of Istanbul, oozes the enlightened cosmic union of analog and electronic.

Supporting the likes of DARKSIDE, James Holden, Kiasmos, Two Door Cinema Club, Emika, Daddy G (Massive Attack) in her hometown Istanbul, AH! KOSMOS  performed at remarkable festivals as Rock’n Coke, Babylon Soundgarden, Venice Electro Festival, Budapest Punkurica Festival, Piknik Elektronik in Brussels, Tokyo Electronic Music of Arts Festival and CitySonic Festival in Mons.
Başak Günak has also composed and created sound design for contemporary dance and plays, short-flms and site-specifc performances / installations in several art spaces including Rotterdamse Schouwburg, Prague Signal Festival, 18th and 19th Istanbul International Theater Festival (IKSV), ARENA Theater Festival Nürnberg and Venice ElectroFestival. Recently, she has been invited to the highly coveted Red Bull Music Academy 2014 Tokyo as a participant.

Flesh

Ah! Kosmos - Melting Into Rise

from 'Bastards' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den229
available on all formats at [http://denovali.com/ahkosmos]

AH! KOSMOS is the moniker of Istanbul-based producer and instrumentalist Başak Günak. Two years from the release of her Flesh EP, AH! KOSMOS is announcing her self-produced, full-length debut for Denovali Records called BASTARDS due out in April 2015. This release will be accompanied by a re-issue of the debut EP FLESH, released for the first time on a world-wide scale and on the vinyl format.
BASTARDS digs deeply into the surface and soon turns that hole into a living space, a home for all. Albeit Bastards are not orphans, but they are freed from models or possessions and reckon no top or bottom, no right or wrong. In these interstices, a band of un-mastered sounds and voices are composing a brotherhood of a new kind. This fatherless community of differents that gather and fall apart, meet and clash, now unfolds the horizon of infinite lines and curves, feverish desires and endless sympathies. Spaced-out layers of beats and blissed-out sounds and textures create a sense of slow, echoic wonder that eventually builds to a multi-rhythmic universe of its own.
Supporting the likes of DARKSIDE, James Holden, Kiasmos, Two Door Cinema Club, Emika, Daddy G (Massive Attack) in her hometown Istanbul, AH! KOSMOS performed at remarkable festivals as Rock’n Coke, Babylon Soundgarden, Venice Electro Festival, Budapest Punkurica Festival, Piknik Elektronik in Brussels, Tokyo Electronic Music of Arts Festival and CitySonic Festival in Mons.

Başak Günak has also composed and created sound design for contemporary dance and plays, short-flms and site-specifc performances / installations in several art spaces including Rotterdamse Schouwburg, Prague Signal Festival, 18th and 19th Istanbul International Theater Festival (IKSV), ARENA Theater Festival Nürnberg and Venice ElectroFestival. Recently, she has been invited to the highly coveted Red Bull Music Academy 2014 Tokyo as a participant.

Bastards

Ah! Kosmos - Trace Of Waterfalls

from 'Machine To Machine' [CD|2xLP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den235
available in July on all formats at [http://denovali.com/ricardodonoso]

Following on from early 2015’s exercise in dissonant formalism “Sarava Exu”, “Machine to Machine”, Donoso’s newest full length work sees a return to a more melodic sound. “Machine to Machine”, continues to bridge the gap between Donoso’s more rhythmic and melodic work alongside his more experimental, loose and dissonant side yet still maintaining his unique signature feel; “WTF”-polymetric rhythms, elegant cinematics and spine chilling tension. Recorded over the last two years in between visual commissions and more through-composed heady works such as “Sarava Exu” and “A Song for Echo”, “Machine to Machine” represents Donoso’s return to the songbook format for the first time since 2012. 

Influenced by the work of Edward Bernays, Gustave Le Bon and Ernest Dichter - wherein past efforts have seen Donoso looking inwards, “Machine to Machine” has him looking outward - incorporating subliminal advertising techniques such as backmasking, ZMET and steganography, “Machine to Machine” is a meditation on priming with and without awareness and a treatise on the psychophysics of our contemporary age. 
“Machine to Machine”’s collection of songs are Donoso’s most versatile yet, incorporating all major elements from his discography into a unified album. There is something for everyone on “Machine to Machine”, and that is well the point, a vast range of emotion eliciting stimuli for your consumption.
 
RICARDO DONOSO is a composer, percussionist and electronic musician from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil who currently resides in Boston. After having studied composition at Berklee College of Music and New England Conservatory he has participated in a slew of projects over the years, most notably playing drums for avant-death metal unit Ehnahre and being one half of the ever morphing electronic duo Perispirit. Ricardo's musical vocabulary draws as much from contemporary composition, drone, to techno and noise.


Machine to Machine

Ricardo Donoso - Dance of Attunement

from 'Nomad Frequencies' [CD|2xLP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den237
available in September on all formats at [http://denovali.com/johnlemke]

An ardent moulder of sound, John Lemke began carving out a very unique music blend on his debut album 'People Do' (2013) and its follow up EP 'Walizka' (2014). Informed by his work as a sound designer & composer for documentary films and his natural inclination towards fusing rhythm with rich textures and emotive melodies, he set out on a musical path that had been long in the making and is ever evolving.

The quest for unusual, inspiring sound sources has always been at the heart of John's process, however the genesis of his second album 'Nomad Frequencies' was rooted in much more inadvertent circumstances. In the summer of 2014, forced to indefinitely evacuate his Glasgow flat and studio due to structural damage from one hour to the next, with nothing more than a laptop and a bag of clothes, John embarked on a six month odyssey of soul searching, couch surfing and spending an extended period of time in his old hometown of Berlin for the first time in years - it was to be an odyssey that would help ferment and distill the ideas of his second album on which work had just begun. 

A year of particular global turmoil and upheaval, combined with John's personal, albeit very minor, 'displacement', caused a lot of questioning, frustration and anger, which somehow found its way onto the new material: a more confrontational, at times aggressive sound, paired on the other hand with a yearning for harmony, balance and space. Other influences came less from the world of music, but rather in visual form, through the densely textural art of Anselm Kiefer and the political, yet poetic musings of film maker Adam Curtis.

Intent on refining his sound toward a more minimal, bolder style, John set out to limit his sonic palate to a handful of carefully chosen elements. At the centre of this new direction remains the muted piano already introduced on his debut, but in a much more purified and raw form. This organic base is adorned by the warm fuzzing and wavering of analogue synthesisers, tape echoes, meditative tuning forks, field recordings from John's 'exile' period and percussion based on his rigid approach to sampling, which started developing on 'Walizka'. The guiding principle of his orthodox style of recording and sampling is to only use home-made sounds by utilising his own field recordings, applying contact microphones or hydrophones to objects and instruments, running them through different kinds of speakers and re-recording the sounds to arrive at a 'lived in' quality, often misunderstood as plainly 'lo-fi'. Touches of viola and woodwinds parts (Kim Moore of WOLF and Andrew Baker respectively) provide melody fragments and subtle details throughout the journey.

With John's healthy disregard for genre boundaries, the array of influences on 'Nomad Frequencies' is vast, but never over-powering. From the meditative tuning fork that starts proceedings on 'Of Elsewhere', the dub echoes to the hints of minimalism, free jazz explosions to the Lynchian atmospherics, all elements serve nothing more than the album's narrative journey between friction and harmony, best appreciated in its entirety. A rhythmic backbone collides with rich ambience and melody, often infectious and jarring at the same time, forging a soulful whole which most likely only reveals its true self after multiple spins.

Nomad Frequencies

John Lemke - The Unwinding

from 'Nomad Frequencies' [CD|2xLP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den237
available on all formats at [http://denovali.com/johnlemke]

An ardent moulder of sound, John Lemke began carving out a very unique music blend on his debut album 'People Do' (2013) and its follow up EP 'Walizka' (2014). Informed by his work as a sound designer & composer for documentary films and his natural inclination towards fusing rhythm with rich textures and emotive melodies, he set out on a musical path that had been long in the making and is ever evolving.

The quest for unusual, inspiring sound sources has always been at the heart of John's process, however the genesis of his second album 'Nomad Frequencies' was rooted in much more inadvertent circumstances. In the summer of 2014, forced to indefinitely evacuate his Glasgow flat and studio due to structural damage from one hour to the next, with nothing more than a laptop and a bag of clothes, John embarked on a six month odyssey of soul searching, couch surfing and spending an extended period of time in his old hometown of Berlin for the first time in years - it was to be an odyssey that would help ferment and distill the ideas of his second album on which work had just begun. 

A year of particular global turmoil and upheaval, combined with John's personal, albeit very minor, 'displacement', caused a lot of questioning, frustration and anger, which somehow found its way onto the new material: a more confrontational, at times aggressive sound, paired on the other hand with a yearning for harmony, balance and space. Other influences came less from the world of music, but rather in visual form, through the densely textural art of Anselm Kiefer and the political, yet poetic musings of film maker Adam Curtis.

Intent on refining his sound toward a more minimal, bolder style, John set out to limit his sonic palate to a handful of carefully chosen elements. At the centre of this new direction remains the muted piano already introduced on his debut, but in a much more purified and raw form. This organic base is adorned by the warm fuzzing and wavering of analogue synthesisers, tape echoes, meditative tuning forks, field recordings from John's 'exile' period and percussion based on his rigid approach to sampling, which started developing on 'Walizka'. The guiding principle of his orthodox style of recording and sampling is to only use home-made sounds by utilising his own field recordings, applying contact microphones or hydrophones to objects and instruments, running them through different kinds of speakers and re-recording the sounds to arrive at a 'lived in' quality, often misunderstood as plainly 'lo-fi'. Touches of viola and woodwinds parts (Kim Moore of WOLF and Andrew Baker respectively) provide melody fragments and subtle details throughout the journey.

With John's healthy disregard for genre boundaries, the array of influences on 'Nomad Frequencies' is vast, but never over-powering. From the meditative tuning fork that starts proceedings on 'Of Elsewhere', the dub echoes to the hints of minimalism, free jazz explosions to the Lynchian atmospherics, all elements serve nothing more than the album's narrative journey between friction and harmony, best appreciated in its entirety. A rhythmic backbone collides with rich ambience and melody, often infectious and jarring at the same time, forging a soulful whole which most likely only reveals its true self after multiple spins.

John Lemke - Vessel

from 'Blossoms In Red' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den243
available on all formats at [http://denovali.com/ensembleeconomique]

Based in Californian Humboldt County, Brian Pyle wanders the world on his countless travels. Far from being restless, he has his very own Pylesque way of travelling. Much like a Lynchian version of Hemingway, he has an eye for the thin layer between restlessness and relaxation, gloom and serenity. Wherever he goes, he ardently absorbes these nuances, rarefies them and moulds them into a seamless array of glimmering styles, from drone and ambient to shoegaze and post-wave, giving birth to yet another creation of his prolific Ensemble Economique project.
On his by now eleventh album and fourth Denovali release "Blossoms In Red", Pyle combines and perfects elements of his previous output into a cohesive narrative. The opener "From The Train Window, Red Flowers On The Mountain" is a surprisingly scarce ambient piece, which feels like an almost infinitely stretched precious moment of time. Despite being austere, it is warm, sublime and incredibly captivating and after listening to its full 8 minutes, one cannot help but to rewind and replay. Having barely escaped this seductively infinite loop, one encounters the title track "Blossoms In Red" featuring Portland electronic duo Soft Metals. Starting off with a characteristic sluggish programmed beat, one is immediately overpowered by the onset of the towering combination of a warm bassline and a shimmering synth ambience. As the track flows, these elements writhe around each other in a delicately beautiful fashion, absorbing the materialising wailing guitar which almost sounds like an ethereal voice, as well as the occasional melodic and rhythmic accents. The next track sees this guitar return in a rather pure form. "On The Sand", featuring jack-of-all-trades Peter Broderick, is essentially just reduced analogue drums, electric guitar, a simple vibrating bassline and hoarse almost spoken vocals. Slowly and methodically, these constituents form a captivating erotic ritual, much like a beguiling and hypnotic mandala procession of imperturbable blissful individuals on the beach. As proven on numerous occasions, Pyle can easily lead all his trumps in the presence of female lead vocals, and "Blossoms In Red" makes no exception. Indeed, "You, By Candlelight" is easily the best Ensemble Economique track with female vox to date. Pyle manages to embed the vocals just in the right minimal amount of instrumental layers, making the track radiate an elusive tranquility. The fifth and closing track "Nothing Is Perfect" is a classically tinged piano piece with only very little processing and sparse field recording samples. With all pieces of the album, Pyle manages to create tracks which feel like being composed only of two or three layers of sound, that are nevertheless allowed to develop a life cycle which seems incredibly long - track lengths vary from 6:30 to 8:10 - but still feels just right. Thus "Blossoms In Red" is probably Ensemble Economique's most minimalistic album, but at the same time - or maybe just for this reason - his most skilled work.

Blossoms in Red

Ensemble Economique - From The Train Window, Red Flowers On The Mountain

from 'III' [CD|2xLP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den246
available on all formats at [http://denovali.com/bersarinquartett]

Melancholia. Longing. It is difficult to speak about these moods or states of the mind without invoking stereotypes. In ancient medicine, melancholia was considered to be one of the four temperaments, matching the four humours. In fact, melancholia, meaning "black bile" in Ancient Greek, was thought to be caused by an excess of this very body substance. By contrast, in more modern interpretations, literates and Freudians relate many variations of longing to the one primordial longing, the desire to return to one's mother's womb. In this context, the womb is considered to be the place of absolute comfort and cosiness, of total bliss. Thus it should not be surprising that to many of us melancholia is a mood which we like to invoke and to maintain, we like to envelop ourselves in it like in a warm blanket. Our brain and our sensory systems appear to be made for perceiving and emotionally responding to music in a very immediate fashion. Consequently music is the obvious drug for all of us melancholia-addicts. However, there is a thin line between melancholia and sadness, and music which is meant to be melancholic too often crosses this line by far. Only very few artists succeed in avoiding this crossing, and in creating music which is melancholia in its most pure form. It is safe to say that BERSARIN QUARTETT - the electronic music project of Thomas Bücker - is one of them.

After his successfull selftitled debut in 2008 and the sophomore "II" in 2012 - album of the month in many magazines and in numerous "Best of the year" lists - Bücker returns with his third BERSARIN QUARTETT album "III", due for release 6.11.2015 on Denovali Records. Much like his two predecessors, III is a pure paradox. It is the creation of a perfectionist, an adamant control freak. Every element, be it a note, an ambience layer, a string arrangement, a field recording, a baseline, a vocal (Clara Hill on Track 11) or a beat, is meticulously modified and then assigned its place in Bücker's vast but still minimalistic arrangements. Thus, superficially Bücker's pieces seem to radiate a certain mechanical bleakness. However, there is a unique reduced warmth and liveliness emerging from these stainless compositions and transcending them. This transcendence is precisely the point where Bücker ironically looses control over his creations. In contrast to the first two BERSARIN QUARTETT albums, III offers a few darker shades and succeeds even further in narrowing down the arrangements to the absolute essentials without loosing the characteristic grandeur of Bücker's sound. Whereas BERSARIN QUARTETT's debut was merely a description of melancholia in its most pure form, III maybe even goes as far a defining what melancholia really is. It is the only emotion in the vast spectrum of human states of mind which one can bear forever. 

Bersarin Quartett - Sanft verblassen die Geschichten

from 'Synecdoche' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den240
available on all formats at [http://denovali.com/saffronkeira]

In the beginning the universe was full of light. Shining bright and incredibly energetic no solid matter could exist. As the universe expanded, the light became less energetic until the very first hydrogen atom could form. More followed forming molecules which in turn merged into gargantuan molecular clouds until they collapsed under their own weight, giving birth to the first stars, illuminating the universe once again. Being monstrous fusion factories, these stars burned hydrogen to complex chemical elements and eventually exploded leaving even more complex elements behind. After two such stellar cycles, there was enough material in the universe to form all solid matter that we know to exist today. Yet, everything began with the very first atom ...

Synecdoche - the whole consists of parts, and each and every part embodies the whole. This motif is at the heart of Saffronkeiras so named fourth album. Saffronkeira is a project established in 2008 by Eugenio Caria from the island of Sardinia, Italy. With Saffronkeira, Eugenio Caria lives out his passion of being a researcher of the possibility of expression offered by currently available technology. Indeed, in his tracks he experiments a lot with electronics and unconventional elements, which sometimes seem meaningless at first sight, but uncover their significance only on a closer examination. Combining subtle and sometimes even almost invisible rhythms with textures of sound he confidently moves between minimalistic pieces and classic ambient tracks which should please both the analytic ears and the listeners who just want to dive into the music.

Saffronkeira's previous album "Cause and Effect" constituted the first ever collaboration work of Caria and resulted from a close and unique joint work with trumpeter Mario Massa. Synecdoche picks up this collaboration idea, but this time features collaboration with various different artists, namely Mia Zabelka and Siavash Amini & Idlefon, as well as the Denovali artists Field Rotation, Sebastian Plano, Subheim and Witxes. Mixed and mastered by Alex Gámez at Störung Studio, Synecdoche brings Saffronkeira's distinct electronic sound to a next level which is further perfected by the individual and fascinatingly diverse collaborations.

Synecdoche

Saffronkeira - Epifonema (with Witxes)

from 'Scandinavia' [CD|2xLP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den245
available on all formats at [http://denovali.com/multicastdynamics]

Samuel van Dijk is an electronic music producer, sound designer and media artist from the Netherlands, having released electronic music under a variety of projects, namely, Mohlao and VC-118A. With his current project Multicast Dynamics he creates ever-evolving sound textures culminating in intriguing soundscapes while preserving a tranquil cinematic atmosphere. Drawing inspiration from nature, technology, film and fiction, his music productions, live sets and audiovisual work presents a carefully arranged, recorded and processed body of work, using a vast amount of layered sound textures, field recordings and live improvisation. In May 2015, Denovali Records released the first two albums of a four part series by Multicast Dynamics, conceptually linked by our undeniable connection with nature and its wide range of landscapes, colors and movement. Now the third album called SCANDINAVIA follows in October 2015??.  The album series moves from an evolutionary to a cosmological scale: Starting from dry land filled with light and streams, to the constantly changing surfaces of the oceans, into a frozen and murky underwater world, finally up to the arrival in an interstellar space and the cosmos. With this concept Multicast Dynamics explores organic and aqueous worlds in a dreamlike and spiritual appearance.

SCANDINAVIA is the third installment in the four part series. Assembled during the coldest season, it’s an album full of contemplative electronic recordings, created by the use of granular synthesis, obscure delay units and rudimentary looping techniques on magnetic tape. Recorded with a longsighted outlook, SCANDINAVIA features washes of subdued tones and textures as well as melancholic and warm sounding pulses of noise - all characterized by distinctive aquatic features. Steadily flowing, but slowly awakening the album draws frozen remote landscapes ranging from dark, cold and desolated to melting, warm and hope.
SCANDINAVIA opens with a bleak arctic environment in deep hibernation, where echoes of glacial bursts cut the silence. An undulating mass of viscous ambience sends out blurred out signals through the storm. In this inhospitable surrounding of frost and ice slow changes appear. The form of the landscapes alters and the cold air no longer hinders the breathing. Slowly meltwater seeps out underneath thick layers of ice, slowly building up in momentum and space. Layers of hypnotic atmospheres with barely perceptible undercurrents, brooding pulses of bass and tonal patterns lead to the core of the sonic landscape. Gently radiant layers of light and soil emerge and aquatic echoes expose new paths. The water is harnessed. Preparations for a long journey have begun.

Scandinavia

Multicast Dynamics - Scandinavia

from 'Symmetry'
Denovali Records · den227
available on 3xCD | 4xLP | DIGITAL formats at [http://denovali.com/rd]

Limited collectors edition containing the albums:
Progress Chance
Assimilating The Shadow
As Iron Sharpens Iron, One Verse Sharpens Another

Ricardo Donoso has composed a new paradigm of ambient music, in which concrete textures and digital synthesis expand on an abstract world in constant movement & mutation. Under a chain of progressive rhythm’s, cinematic textures and elegant melodicism, Donoso’s work pushes through with piercing strength, manipulating a sonic wave through space with nothing but pulse and mind blowing intensity.
Although Donoso’s work has coalesced into a much broader and dynamic beast, his early work continues to be a source of inspiration. ‘Symmetry’ now compiles Donoso’s first three albums, lovingly referred to as the “Digitalis Trilogy” which includes Progress Chance, Assimilating the Shadow and As Iron Sharpens Iron, One Verse Sharpens Another in a deluxe 4LP boxset & 3CD edition.
A truly entrancing journey of polyrhythmic counterpoint, the ‘Symmetry’ collection takes in influence from minimalist composers such as Reich & Riley, early techno and trance, and lush and deeply harmonic ambient music. It’s possible to look at the ‘Symmetry’ trilogy as a blueprint to Donoso’s later work in both its musical scope & thematic grandeur. Amidst all of its wide eyed, dreamlike states there is always a rumbling of subtle violence piercing just underneath the surface creating a truly immersive experience.

Progress Chance

Ricardo Donoso - Morning Criminal

Assimilating the Shadow

Ricardo Donoso - Renunciation

from 'Tiento de la Luz' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den249
available in February on all format at [http://denovali.com/thomaskoner]

Tiento de la Luz

Thomas Köner - Tiento De La Luz 5

from 'Landscapes of the Unfinished' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den251
available on all formats at [http://denovali.com/pianointerrupted]

Recorded partly in Senegal with local musicians playing traditional instruments, "Landscapes Of The Unfinished" is Piano Interrupted's 3rd album for German experimental label Denovali.

This album sees pianist Tom Hodge and “electronician” Franz Kirmann explore a more introspective approach to their sound. The sonorities and recordings the pair brought back from West Africa are deconstructed, mangled and texturised, turned into a pointillist landscape until only a faint and distant souvenir remains.

These beds of pulsating soundscapes and earthy textures serve as base for Hodge’s delicate piano phrases and intricate compositions, interlaced with long-time collaborator Tim Fairhall's fluid double bass playing.

Harsher territories are also visited during the 9 tracks that compose the LP; fuzzy Senegalese radio voices and the distant memory of African percussion collide with distorted bass and buzzing drones or screaming textures battle with screeching double bass sounds and tortured piano strings.

The overall tone of the album reflects the duo’s desire to musically translate the experience of the Dakar trip (where Franz Kirmann grew up), but also to break away from the first two albums' intricate programming and editing and instead go towards a writing and recording experience directly inspired by their live experience. Hodge’s clarinet, an important facet of the Piano Interrupted live show, is captured on record for the first time. 

This surge towards documenting a moment, leaving a trace or examining something concrete is further reflected in the choice of titles (all named after the musicians who took part in the recordings) and also the design, which is for the first time a photograph. Taken by filmmaker Cath Elliott, who travelled with the pair to Dakar to document the process, the album artwork captures one of the numerous half-built structures, infinite and abandoned, surrounding the studio in the suburbs of Dakar, and provides both an unfinished urban landscape and yet when viewed as a single moment in time, one of many compellingly complete landscapes of the unfinished.

Landscapes of the Unfinished

Piano Interrupted - Vieux

'Vantdraught 4' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den256
available on all formats at [http://denovali.com/kubakapsa]

Kuba Kapsa is a Polish pianist and composer being the leader of the avant-jazz combo Contemporary Noise Sextet (2006-2014). Beyond that he is a renowned composer for film and theater plays. His latest venture is the first of a sophisticated series of projects of modern classical music bearing the common title "Vantdraught".

The first part of the "Vantdraught" series was called "Vantdraught 10 · Vol. 1" and featured ten classical instruments - 4 violins, 2 violas, cello, vibraphone, marimba and piano. The now appearing second part is "Vantdraught 4", a quartet album written for violin, clarinet/bass clarinet, trombone and piano. The minimalistic style of Vantdraught 10 is preserved although the music is less repetitive and much more intimate. Instinct and intuition is the main force behind the writing process, usually avoiding typical chord progressions and the classical cadential technique. In contrast to "Vantdraught 10 · Vol. 1", the rhythm domain is also less important, thus allowing the melody and harmony to come to the fore. The pieces of "Vantdraught 4" are mainly tonal music but Kapsa also makes use of atonal and polytonal harmonies which requires the listener to put more effort into listening to these parts. The unusual set of instruments is what makes this quartet album unique and fresh sounding. "Vantdraught 4" is certainly linked to classical and minimal music in general but one can find other influences such as jazz and "new music".

Much like its predecessor, "Vantdraught 4" features an astonishing artwork based on "The Reluctant Conscript" by the seminal artist duo Kahn & Selesnick.


Vantdraught 4

Kuba Kapsa Ensemble - Vantdraught 4 No. 5

from 'Turmalinturm' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den268
available on all format at [http://denovali.com/foghdepot]

Fogh Depot continues its quest for the fifth element, experimenting at the confluence of jazz, modern classical, and electronic music. Two years after their first S/T release, the Moscow-based trio presents a new album - Turmalinturm.

Like the previous recording, this is a unique blend of ostensibly incompatible elements. A traditional academic approach fuses with lo-fi spontaneity. The raw and vivid texture of the bass springs forward from a modular sterility. At times the mixture is explosive. No wonder the studio where the album was created burned down a month after it was completed.

This album imparts a new, architectural dimension to Fogh Depot's music. A fortress named 'Turmalinturm' rises from a solid foundation of jazz, neoclassical minimalism, and experimental electronica. But the sophistication of the fortress' towers makes one suspect that each had its own architect. 'Quicksilver Spoon' is virtually flawless in geometric form. 'Who The Last Says No' is so fragile and delicate that it is a miracle it does not collapse. 'Oscar' is perhaps the most complex and substantial tower of the ensemble. 'Alice, Bob & Cypher' has a secret of its own in the old vaulted underground crypt. One of the structures is topped with a Gorgoneion, a stone head of Medusa. Another houses a bell tower borrowed straight from Rachmaninoff's Suite No. 1.

Tourmaline is a stone that appears to change its color depending on the angle of view. Turmalinturm's listeners get to choose how to approach the fortress. Some will discover the same pensive melancholy sounds that Fogh Depot started with. Others will find lighter, brighter, occasionally even euphoric motifs.

Turmalinturm

Fogh Depot - Quicksilver Spoon

from 'Electric Stutter' [CD|2xLP|Digital]
Denovali Records · den281
available on all formats at [http://denovali.com/orsonhentschel]

Almost one year after his debut LP Feed The Tape, Orson Hentschel enters new musical terrain wearing old shoes. His second LP Electric Stutter, which is almost 55 minutes long, is only loosely connected to his debut. Whereas Feed The Tape was strongly shaped by Classical Minimal Music, Hentschel now incorporates influences of Trip-Hop and Electronic Pop Music. Since his childhood, he considers artists like Massive Attack, Portishead and Björk as some of his most important sources of inspiration. The influence of this kind of popular music is clearly audible. Hentschel’s new tracks are shorter, more shaped and reduced in the density of their sound material. Pattern-oriented repetitions, which where in the focus of Feed The Tape, now fulfil the function of sophisticated sub-components of the overall composition and are subordinate to the melodic forms or merge with them. Also the amount of sample-based material has decreased in order to create space for synthetically produced sounds with melodic character. Electric Stutter is more complex and more detailed than Feed The Tape. At the same time the reduced density of sound material and the higher amount of melodies form a kind of music that is more easily accessible.

Whereas the Düsseldorf-based composer started off with classical piano, he by now concentrates on electronic and experimental music and film compositions. Even though Hentschel has experienced a classical education, his composition techniques are anything but traditional. His creative starting point is rarely rooted in musical ideas, but consists of finding appropriate sound material. His sources are diverse: sounds and samples like soundtracks, film sounds, music albums or internet findings encounter polyphonic vocal-music from the 14th century and composition techniques of Minimal Music such as Steve Reich. In his compositions Hentschel draws a cross-section through the history of music and its genres in order to form his own musical expression. Considering his studies of music science in Düsseldorf and previously in Vienna and Dresden, his musical time-jumps appear less surprising.    

Describing Orson Hentschel only as a composer of contemporary music does not do him justice. In his self-conception as an audio-visual artist he creates his own live show, combining lights, visuals and fog to a stunning atmosphere, which cannot be eluded. Supported by live-drummer Lukas Baumgart, Hentschel delivers a sound, whose energy is physically palpable and electrifies the audience. A live-show generating an intense experience, going to the limit and erasing any sense of time. Orson Hentschel moves perceptions not merely through sheer volume, but with driving repetitions and extensive tension.

Electric Stutter

Orson Hentschel - Fade In, Fade Out

from 'APR 70' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den288
available on all formats at [http://denovali.com/dictaphone]

Finally a sign of life and a new full length of the German cult trio after five years of silence. Already formed in the late nineties in Berlin, Dictaphone was born by Brussels-bred multi-instrumentalist Oliver Doerell. In 2000 Oliver Doerell found a partner in Berlin's Roger Döring, who shares Doerell's love for the Brussels-based music of the eighties. In the following years the duo and several guest musicians (e.g. Stephan Wöhrmann (SWOD) , Malka Spigel (Minimal Compact) & more) released the critically highly acclaimed "m.= addiction" (2002), the "Nacht" EP (2004) and "Vertigo II" (2006) via the City Centres Offices label of Thaddeus Herrmann and Shlom Sviri (Boomkat, Modern Love). In 2009 the violin player Alex Stolze joined the band. During their two decades of existence Dictaphone played shows in more than 20 countries with festival appearances at Mutek, Transmediale, Unsound, Benicassim & more. Their latest release "Poems from a rooftop" from 2012 came as a very limited edition through the Berlin-based boutique label Sonic Pieces. The new album "APR 70" is the first Denovali release of Dictaphone. The label will also reissue the past repertoire of the trio.

The new album features the three Dictaphone core members Oliver Doerell (electronics, bass, guitar), Roger Döring (saxophone, clarinet) and Alex Stolze (violins) and has been composed and produced over the course of three years. While the vibraphone and the more easily distinguishable guitar among other things gave a certain presence to the tracks on the previous album "Poems from a rooftop", "APR 70" leaves the listener with a much more muffled impression. It feels as if each of the uncountable layers of which the intricate arrangements are made has just the right amount of contrast to be visible, but there are only very few moments where one of the elements noticeably dominates the others. The cool jazz bits, analogue flourishes, hypnotic rhythms and refined electronics feed a dark serpent-like creature meandering in ever-changing morphologies through shapeless landscapes. "APR 70" is the perfect cocoon for the hazy days and the serene nights. A new incarnation, maybe even definition, of purity.

Dictaphone never make music for the sake of it, they always want to create something which was missing before. And they did.


Praise for Dictaphone:

"minimalistic and subliminal elegancy" (ARTE)

"timeless, unusual & beautiful" (Colin Newman)

"Dictaphones gives warmth to the concept, your thoughts a body and atmosphere to the music" (Spex)

"This is the music to fall in love with over many evenings, each subsequent rotation capturing another moment of time to be recalled in the future. Highly recommended" (Headphone Commute)

"When played from a rooftop, this music may be as quiet as a poem, but it carries the power of a manifesto." (A Closer Listen)

APR 70

Dictaphone - 105.4

from 'Collection' [3xCD|4xLP BOX|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den287
available on all formats at http://denovali.com/dictaphone

The first 4 Dictaphone releases now available as a very limited Boxset with a wonderful new timeless design. The vinyl edition is also available as limited single LPs.

Already formed in the late nineties in Berlin, Dictaphone was born by Brussels-bred multi-instrumentalist Oliver Doerell. In 2000 Oliver Doerell found a partner in Berlin's Roger Döring, who shares Doerell's love for the Brussels-based music of the eighties. In the following years the duo and several guest musicians (e.g. Stephan Wöhrmann (SWOD) , Malka Spigel (Minimal Compact) & more) released the critically highly acclaimed "m.= addiction" (2002), the "Nacht" EP (2004) and "Vertigo II" (2006) via the City Centres Offices label of Thaddeus Herrmann and Shlom Sviri (Boomkat, Modern Love). In 2009 the violin player Alex Stolze joined the band. During their two decades of existence Dictaphone played shows in more than 20 countries with festival appearances at Mutek, Transmediale, Unsound, Benicassim & more. Their latest release "Poems from a rooftop" from 2012 came as a very limited edition through the Berlin-based boutique label Sonic Pieces. In 2017 the band released the long awaited third album "APR 70" on denovali. The label now also offers a reissue of the trio's past repertoire.

Dictaphone never make music for the sake of it, they always want to create something which was missing before. And they did.

Praise for Dictaphone:

"minimalistic and subliminal elegancy" (ARTE)

"timeless, unusual & beautiful" (Colin Newman)

"Dictaphones gives warmth to the concept, your thoughts a body and atmosphere to the music" (Spex)

"This is the music to fall in love with over many evenings, each subsequent rotation capturing another moment of time to be recalled in the future. Highly recommended" (Headphone Commute)

"When played from a rooftop, this music may be as quiet as a poem, but it carries the power of a manifesto." (A Closer Listen)

Poems From a Rooftop

Dictaphone - The Conversation

Compiled and mixed by Bersarin Quartett (first hour) & Nadia Struiwigh (second hour)


Tracklist Bersarin Quartett (first hour):

NILS FRAHM - harm hymn
BURIAL - endorphin
W - 在扭曲的水中受损的灵魂
STEFAN WESOŁOWSKI - prelude
BJOERK - arisen my senses (lanark artefax remix)
INON ZUR - rebuild, renew (fallout 4-soundtrack)
CHARLESTHEFIRST - beacon
DJRUM - blue violet
GHOST WARRIOR - double vision
PHIL FRANCE - jackal
CATERINA BARBIERI - unreleased (live-recording, helsinki)
SKEE MASK - rev8617
HAWK. - 88glam - 12 (hawk. edit)
CLAUDE SPEEED - no kings
GEWALT - guter junge, böser junge (ensslin research rmx)
CHRIS READ & PUGS ATOMZ FEAT. WES RESTLESS - drum roll
ANDREA - track xl
KLLO - candid


Tracklist - Nadia Struiwigh (second hour):

Aphex Twin - #3 (Original Mix)
Digital Rain - Night Passion (Original Mix)
Rabbit - Fossilized Universe (Original Mix)
Clubroot - Dry Cured (Original Mix)
Hydrangea - Beyond The Invisible (Original Mix)
Answer Code Request - Calm Down (Original Mix)
Tzusing - O.D.D. Metapop Remixes (FMProducer Remix)
b2 - love goes on and on (Original Mix)
Lowfish - Knives (Original Mix)
Blac Kolor - Wide Element (Original Mix)
Alfredo Mazzilli - Njord (Original Mix)
Biome - YOOF (Original Mix)

05.01.2019 · Denovali NTS Radio Special

from 'Cycle and Reveal' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den319
available on all formats at http://denovali.com/mariodiazdeleon

Denovali is pleased to present Cycle and Reveal, the fourth full length LP of contemporary classical works by acclaimed composer Mario Diaz de Leon. Featuring bold performances by a cast of longtime collaborators, this compilation is an essential chapter in his celebrated series of recordings for acoustic instruments and electronics.
 
The output of Mario Diaz de Leon defies easy categorization, spanning the worlds of contemporary classical composition, experimental electronic music, extreme metal, and creative improvised music. Working extensively with an inner circle of close collaborators (ICE, Talea, and TAK Ensemble, among others) his classical works have been celebrated over the last decade for their “hallucinatory intensity” (New York Times), “snarling exuberance” (Pitchfork), “helter-skelter, electronically enhanced cadenzas” (New Yorker Magazine), and coupling of “crystalline clarity with the disorienting turbulence of a sonic vortex” (Wire Magazine). 
 
The A-side features two works written in early 2017, which colorfully embrace hypnotic repetition alongside dynamic contrasts and distinctly embody the electrifying post-minimalism that Diaz de Leon is known for. Opener Sacrament is written for a trio of musicians from Talea Ensemble and features the composer’s shimmering, bass heavy electronic production. This energetic piece, driven by the virtuosity of marimba player and Talea executive director Alex Lipowski, makes use of rapid-fire arpeggiations and heavy rhythmic unisons. These are starkly contrasted with moments of reverberant echo, bursts of noise in the flute and electronics, and ecstatic rhythms. Labrys, written for ICE bassoonist Rebekah Heller, builds on the celebrated legacy of solo + electronic works heard on his 2015 album The Soul is the Arena. Built around virtuosic interplay between bassoon and synthesizer, Labrys features shifting and hypnotic repetition alongside expansive melodies and sub-bass frequencies.
 
The B-side consists of two works composed in July of 2016 which draw from primal, incantatory, and improvisatory sonic landscapes. Irradiance, a collaboration with cellist Mariel Roberts, begins with a series of spacious riffs exploring the extremes of the cello’s register and transforms over time into a climactic frenzy of noise loops. Tuning the cello’s low C down to a growling G, Roberts interpreted the sounds of each pre-recorded loop by ear.  The piece gradually builds from cavernous depths into an ecstatic climax of anarchic noise. Concluding track Mysterium is written for the ICE trio of flutist and ensemble founder Claire Chase, clarinetist and artistic director emeritus Joshua Rubin, and bassoonist and current artistic director Rebekah Heller. Archaic melodies, improvised heterophony, spectral transformations, echoes of Klang-era Stockhausen, and the colorful noise of Moog and Ciat-Lonbarde synthesizers combine to create an expansive and wildly ritualistic atmosphere.
 
Cycle and Reveal was recorded in vivid detail by Marc Urselli (John Zorn, Laurie Anderson) at East Side Sound, Stephen McLaughlin at EMPAC, and mastered by Ryan Streber at Oktaven Audio. Diaz de Leon invited Melbourne-based visual artist Yuria Okamura to design the cover image and inner sleeve symbols. Sharing Diaz de Leon’s interest in the reinterpretation of spiritual art, Okamura’s cover “maps and reconfigures geometric patterns and symbols that reference esoteric symbolism, occult diagrams, religious architecture and decoration.”

Cycle and Reveal

Mario Diaz de Leon & Talea Ensemble - Sacrament

from 'Methoden und Maschinen' [CD|2LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den323
available on all formats at http://denovali.com/bersarinquartett

Nikolai Erastowitsch Bersarin, the ambivalent colonel general, communist and first Soviet city commander of Berlin, had an accident with his motorcycle in 1945 at the age of only 41. In the enraptured, now somewhat more compressed and at the same time more colorful (not more cheerful) electronic sound(track)s of the strange Bersarin Quartett, in its East Block sea landscapes with latently kitsched wallpaper and double bottoms, shadows of this strange figure Bersarin can be guessed - still or again - at a good 70 years later. But perhaps that is also irrelevant. This 'band' could just as well play imprisoned in the remixed court of the eternal, crazy North Korean presidents, whether embodied in an orchestra, quartet or as masked solo entertainer. It brings us supposedly post-rock and post-socialist grandeur, which has degenerated very slightly, in a great new splendour amidst all our irritations and emotions. And everything takes place in our heads.

The Bersarin Quartett - after thirteen years and three epic, (bad-)dreamlike beautiful albums - have settled down with their fourth album "Methoden und Maschinen" ("methods and machines"). For the time being. Because at the same time many new layers and paths are emerging. Playing live in many arrangements and at great concerts in Slovenia, Poland, Czech Republic and Russia, this has grown into a quartet, but it is still the project of DJ, musician, graphic and audio designer Thomas Bücker. The numerous concert evenings with Andy Stott, Tim Hecker, Fennesz, Murcof, Dictaphone or Hidden Orchestra, among others, are undoubtedly noticeable on "Methoden und Maschinen". The Bersarin Quartett continues to stand for the outing of a complex musical subconscious. 'The Dark Side of the Moon', only that the moon is shimmering here, at least now and then. It's probably also due to the sun shining on it. Minimalism and bombast go together. Constantly developing and entangling contrasts, paradoxes and contradictions are the motor. Constantly caught between two sides. Don’t believe the hype!

Methoden und Maschinen

Bersarin Quartett - Das ist alles, was wir haben

from 'Here Be Dragons' [CD|2LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den260
available on all formats at http://denovali.com/kilimanjarodarkjazz

2020 Reissue of "Here Be Dragons" - the second album of The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble from 2009. Not existing anymore since 2012 The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble & The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation now finally make all long-time sold out releases available again on all formats (cd | vinyl | digital).

- "Here Be Dragons is a timeless piece of music. Composed and created with total musical freedom, unrestrained by any genres or artistic restrictions, resulting in what is definitely, in my opinion, TKDE's best release." (Jason Kohnen /  TKDE / TMFDC / Mansur)

- "Here Be Dragons strikingly original. The instrumentation is constrained and subtle, and it works wonders by enveloping rather than overwhelming the listener; this is shadowy music for dark days and grey nights." (Sputnik Music)

- "Here Be Dragons is an intelligent and nuanced record, full of swells and sighs, utterly epic yet incalculably subtle, existing somewhere between keen, intuitive live improvisation and the best-laid plans of mad scientists. Experimental music is rarely this consistently captivating."  (Pop Matters)

- "Here Be Dragons offers a fantastic, weirdly frightening yet exotic journey through the Middle East that lightens up over the course of the album: the second half is by no means jolly, let alone gleeful, but illumines the timbre to include layers of wondrousness, hope and contentment." (Ambient Exotica)

Here Be Dragons

The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble - Embers

from 'Daear' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den350
available on all formats at http://denovali.com/lto

Based in Bristol, LTO first made waves as part of mysterious electronic collective Old Apparatus. As a solo producer, LTO has since attracted attention with three albums.

LTO's ambition to create ever more ambiguous and far-reaching sonic environments, whilst retaining something of the familiar and physical, have led him to take inspiration from imagined landscapes of the folklore of his Welsh ancestry and of the planet Mars. Both images of enchanted forests battling enraged giants from the underworld and unimaginably hostile planetary events guide this work of great magnitude.

In 'Daear', LTO explores an expansive sound pallet of swelling synths and noise, ambiguous string instruments, thunderous percussion, unearthly voices and his signature sound the piano, mostly processed beyond recognition. The result is a mysterious and deeply textured journey that could be set in both the distant past and uncertain future, on this planet or beyond.

Praise about LTO:

“haunting and comforting in equal measure. 4/5" – MOJO

“like memory preserved in nostalgic aspic” – The Independent

“a beautiful collection that stands tall alongside the work of his contemporaries” – XLR8R

“Blurring the lines between the organic and machine-made... Takes nebulous sounds and crashes them with the clatter of machine rhythms… Brilliant.”  - Hyponik

“An adventurous blend of hues grey and dark...Staggeringly rich.”  - FACT

"Another great album by a real talent hugely deserving of even more attention. Remarkable. 9/10"  - God is in the TV

Denovali

Pinned to spotlight

Popular tracks