from 'People Do' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
available on all formats at www.denovali.com/johnlemke

Denovali Records is proud to announce the release of John Lemke's debut album in July 2013. As an appetizer we offer the 'Walizka' EP as a digital only release, it contains only tracks not available on the album. We also offer the song 'Traveller', which is also not contained on the album, and a remix by Emperor Echo as a free download.

PEOPLE DO [CD|LP|DIGITAL]

John Lemke is a Glasgow based composer & sound designer, originally from Berlin. Working across a great variety of media he explores music and all things sonic through collaborations, live performance, film sound design and especially his work as a documentary composer for the BBC and Channel 4.

Motivated by fusing elements of his more emotive film composition approach with rhythm and space, John creates a distinctive sound blend on his debut solo album, where percussive, prepared piano collides with abstracted guitar landscapes & disembodied vocal textures to form a danceable, electro-acoustic whole. 

Inside the creaking hollows of an attic treasure begins the uncompromising journey of People Do. Eager to devise a more dance oriented sound on his first full length release with Denovali, and contrasting his more ambient, often orchestral film work, John first found inspiration in the idiosyncratic sound world of his grandmother's piano. With a shimmering past in the silent film era of 1920's Berlin, its very fabric was full of anecdotes. But sampling every string and surface, preparing it with kitchen utensils, let alone playing the instrument itself was only the starting point of the intricately woven narrative of People Do.

With a process including techniques of musique concrète, sound design concepts such as worldising (playing back and re-recording sound through a room) and the use of homemade field recordings from all around Europe, the album is filled with depth and a true sense of voyage. This is also reflected in the various locations the record was conceived and recorded in, ranging from Berlin to Bristol, Helsinki to rural Spain and Glasgow, with guest contributions on viola from Kim Moore (Ex-Zoey Van Goey) and Felipe Sumina (saxophone), only for it to be mastered at Durton Studio by Nils Frahm.

John's dedication to ignoring genre boundaries makes for an album impossible yet needless to categorise, echoing its wide ranging influences, but ultimately existing entirely on its own terms.

For fans of Four Tet, Boards Of Canada, The Notwist, Hauschka, Pole, Aphex Twin, Lali Puna

People Do

John Lemke - Illuminations

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 'Parole de Navarre' [CD|2xLP|DIGITAL] Reissue
Denovali Records · den060
available on all formats at [http://denovali.com/dalecooper]

AFTER 4 YEARS FINALLY REPRESSED - COMES WITH A NEW CD & LP ARTWORK. Formed for the improvisation nights Dynamo in Brest, France, this quartet made of musicians covering a wide variety of musical styles creates a sound that mixes electronic (samples, cuts, sound treatments) and acoustic elements (guitars, saxophone, trumpet). They’re playing moody ballads that sound as if they would come out from one of David Lynch's movies. Like in the films of Hollywood’s master of bizarre pieces, there is something like a dark and poisonous colour broken by red thunderlights and blue cigarette smoke. The music spawnes some odd characters and landscapes while the listener makes out some more friendly faces that loom up out of this nowhere place: the voice of Zalie Bellaccico, Milanese streets sounds, a lazy flute, or some distant breathing swim on the surface of this deep troubled waters. "Paroles de Navarre" is an invitation for opening the red curtain of this Dark Jazz cabaret made of shimmering and whirling walls. One of the best musical outputs from France of the last ten years and already a classic.

Parole De Navarre

Dale Cooper Quartet & The Dictaphones - Aucun Cave

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 '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 '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

Remix of 'A Bevan Rotation' by Bruised Skies, original version appearing on
'Moon Zero' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den238
available on all formats at [http://denovali.com/moonzero]

Moon Zero - A Bevan Rotation (Bruised Skies Remix)

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 '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

'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 'The Endless Sea' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den300
available on all formats at [http://denovali.com/terminalsoundsystem]

From Rebirth and a four track recorder in the year 1999 to broken tape machines, untuned guitars/synths and extreme signal processing an eternity later, Terminal Sound System has remained the primary musical outlet for musician/producer Skye Klein.

It is about stories. There is a narrative, albeit disjointed. Tends to come in threes, like dramatic characters; introduction, exploration, disintegration. It’s about stories, creating a world with sound and words and exploring that until it (inevitably) folds back on itself and starts to self-reference, decay, but also sprout appendages, potentialities.

Roughly a dozen releases have tracked the evolution of Terminal Sound System from post-techno dub experiment to post-everything world-building/destroying. The Endless Sea is the third part of a trinity that began with 2013's 'A Sun Spinning Backwards'. Worlds fell, necessary actions were taken. What happens after exodus, when all is left behind and you get a blank slate? Do we replay the past? Recreate or reimagine?

2015's 'Dust Songs' and 'The Endless Sea' bleed into one another, drawing to conclusion this particular arc. The wave curls back on itself, corrosion amplified. There are more questions here than answers, far more uncertainties than truths. Post-industrial folk stories from a barren earth. Scorched and infinite.

The Endless Sea

Terminal Sound System - The Endless Sea

from 'Polybrass' [CD|2xLP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den309
available on all formats at http://denovali.com/elektroguzzi

A trio of guitar, bass and drums, Elektro Guzzi overcome the boundary between analogue versus digital, performing techno live with the drive of a machine and the sonic detail of an instrument – without any computers or loopers.

For their upcoming album Polybrass, Elektro Guzzi have drastically expanded their sonic repertoire: both in the studio and on stage, they are joined by an ensemble of three trombonists, opening up a whole new realm of possibilities. With Hilary Jeffrey, Daniel Riegler and Martin Ptak, the band are joined by three brass heavyweights, each of them well renowned for both their solo ventures as well as projects such as The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble, Sand and Zeitkratzer.

By treating the three trombones not simply as a set of extra instruments but rather as one coherent body of sound on its own, Elektro Guzzi dissociate the brass instruments from their conventional use and repurpose them into something completely different: a modular synthesizer, with each trombone representing one oscillator.

In doing so, Elektro Guzzi add new layers of depth to their music, emphasizing a more cinematic side of their music: like the soundtrack for a movie, Polybrass is bigger, darker, more dramatic, more intimate. Warm and fuzzy textures float weightlessly above fragile soundscapes and complex sonic fragments. At the same time, the band’s signature sound runs distinctly through the entire album: solid percussive grooves, stripped down to the absolute minimum it takes to make your body move. Hypnotic repetition, building tension and suspense up to a point where the energy of the music gets so intense you feel like you can physically touch it with your hands, interlaced with organic patterns of sound, constantly changing and evolving, pulsating and oscillating.

Polybrass will be released on Denovali Records on October 26th, 2018.

Polybrass

Elektro Guzzi - Black Chamber

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 'Glam Tear Stain' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den322
available on all formats at http://denovali.com/davidnorland

David Norland is an Emmy-nominated English composer living and working in Los Angeles. Most recently he composed the score to the current HBO film “My Dinner With Herve” (HBO 2018) starring Peter Dinklage and Jamie Dornan.

His work with Emmy-winning director Sacha Gervasi includes the award-winning documentary "Anvil! The Story Of Anvil", (which won the IDA Best Feature award, an Emmy award, the Indie Spirit Best Doc award, and numerous other best doc awards around the world) as well as the score for “November Criminals” (Sony 2017) starring Chloe Moretz and Ansel Elgort. David Norland was also the music supervisor for the movie "Hitchcock" featuring Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren & Scarlett Johansson.

Since 2010 he has composed much of the music for US broadcasting giant ABC’s primetime news documentaries. His work for ABC is broadcast in the US and around the world on a daily basis.

Having been a chorister from an early age, singing daily in Westminster Abbey, and a boy treble in The Elizabethan Consort of Voices, a touring choral group of the time, he also composes choral music. His electronic band Solar Twins was signed by Madonna to Maverick Records, and rode high on the US dance charts, and his record writing, production and mixing work with Jamaican legends Sly and Robbie has been nominated for a Grammy.

"Glam Tear Stain" is the first real solo full length of David Norland. It combines electronic influences, elements of his film scoring work and more intimate, minimalistic piano and string arrangements.

"The music I want to make has changed over time - from imitation baroque pieces as an 11 year old chorister, through guitar pop with my first teenage bands, experimental sonic works with my first rudimentary recording equipment in my early 20s, through electronics, drum and bass, and reggae, leading finally to piano, choral, and string music informed by my film scoring work.”

"Glam Tear Stain" is simple melodic and tonal music for for piano and strings, filtered through the electronic, spatial, and experimental lens of Norland's earlier musical endeavors - and on a personal level was made over a time of profound sadness, change, and acceptance. It’s more unapologetically emotional than other music in the broad neoclassical field, and often stranger, too, drawing from influences as diverse as Future Sound Of London and 16th century English choral music.

"Glam Tear Stain" is the first album of a series of further solo works that David Norland will be releasing via Denovali over the next years.

Glam Tear Stain

David Norland - Agate Or Barium

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)

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