Seven Wisdoms of Plutonia, our first album, found us exploring territories even outside of the expansive scope of our live gigs.  
On this album, our musical influences, ranging from afrobeat and ethiojazz to latin and jazzfunk are tied together with groove heavy experimentalism and the backbeats of funk.
The tracks recorded here are created through a combination of written structures and developed with the elements of improvisation or spontaneous composition which each player brought to the recording sessions. 

We would like to thank Juha Sarkkola (guitar), Miki Mac (vocals), Katia Verheyen (flute), Micky Peeters (keys), Joël van Roode (sitar), Jasper Vandevorst (vibraphone) and Geert Claes (trumpet) for their creative contributions to the music.
 
This album is dedicated to Edy Kühn (25/9/1940 – 27/6/2021)

TRACKS:

FLUGZEUG STRING MACHINE (4.19)*
JOËL VAN ROODE (SITAR)
FREDERIK KÜHN (CABASA – BONGOS – CONGAS – GÜIRO – CAXIXI – CLAVES – BELL – TAMBOURINE – VIBRA SLAP – XYLOPHONE)
ROBBY SWIGGERS (ELECTRIC GUITAR – ACOUSTIC GUITAR)
ALEXANDER DINGENS (ALT SAX – TENOR SAX)
MARC JANS (TROMBONE – BARITONE SAX)
GEERT CLAES (TRUMPET)
KATIA VERHEYEN (FLUTE)
STAN HENNES (DRUMS)
STEVE VANDERVOORT (BASS)


STRANGER TO MYSELF (5.32) **
FREDERIK KÜHN (CONGAS & SHAKERS)
STAN HENNES (DRUMS)
SANDER VOS (XYLOPHONE – DJEMBE)
ROBBY SWIGGERS (GUITAR)
STEVE VANDERVOORT (BASS)
ALEXANDER DINGENS (TENOR SAX)
MARC JANS (TROMBONE)
JEROEN OLLEVIER (FARFISA – PANTHER)

7 WISDOMS OF PLUTONIA (5.09)*
FREDERIK KÜHN (FARFISA – HAMMOND – CONGAS – CLAVES – TAMBOURINE)
STAN HENNES (DRUMS – SHEKERE)
STEVE VANDERVOORT (BASS)
JUHA SARKKOLA (GUITAR)
KATIA VERHEYEN (FLUTE)
MARC JANS (TROMBONE – BARITONE SAX)
ALEXANDER DINGENS (TENOR SAX)

BERNISSART (2.49)
ROBBY SWIGGERS (VOCALS)
STAN HENNES (DRUMS)
FREDERIK KÜHN (CONGAS)
SANDER VOS (DJEMBE)
JEROEN OLLEVIER (KEYS)

MEHAL SEFARI (4.08) *
MIKI MAC (VOCALS)
STAN HENNES (DRUMS – SHEKERE – BELL)
FREDERIK KÜHN (FARFISA – BONGOS – TAMBOURINE – SHAKERS – GÜIRO – CLAPS – TRIANGLE)
MICKY PEETERS (FARFISA – HAMMOND – ARP)
ROBBY SWIGGERS (GUITAR)
STEVE VANDERVOORT (BASS)

TILAHUN (4.52) *
STEVE VANDERVOORT (BASS)
STAN HENNES (DRUMS)
ROBBY SWIGGERS (GUITAR)
FREDERIK KÜHN (CONGAS – FARFISA – SHERMAN FILTERBANK – CLAVES – TAMBOURINE – SHEKERE – SHAKERS – GÜIRO)
JASPER VANDEVORST (VIBRAPHONE)
JEROEN OLLEVIER (KEYS)

THE CHASE (3.47)
ROBBY SWIGGERS (GUITAR)
STAN HENNES (DRUMS – NUT SHELL SHAKER)
STEVE VANDERVOORT (BASS)
FREDERIK KÜHN (CONGAS – BONGOS – FLEXATONE – TAMBOURINE)
ALEXANDER DINGENS (TENOR SAX)
MARC JANS (BARITONE SAX)
JEROEN OLLEVIER (KEYS)

* COMPOSED & ARRANGED BY FREDERIK KÜHN
** COMPOSED BY ROBBY SWIGGERS & ARRANGED BY ALPACAS COLLECTIVE
ALL TRACKS  PRODUCED BY FREDERIK KÜHN AT STUDIO DR FRE

Cover Art: LUIS LAMBRECHTS

‘THANKS TO’
Juha Sarkkola & Miki Mac (The Blassics), Jasper Vandevorst, Katia Verheyen, Geert Claes, Joël & Lien (Flugzeug Art & Design), Lucas Declercq (Vi.be), Martin Dezer (Stereophonk Records), Wiebe ‘Dj Dysfunkshunal’ Hennes, Kristof Daniels (Scheefdruk), Luis Lambrechts, Christoph Elskens (Noisesome Recordings), Daan De Ron,

Bandcamp

Alpacas Collective - Seven wisdoms of Plutonia

MIKI MAC (VOCALS)
STAN HENNES (DRUMS – SHEKERE – BELL)
FREDERIK KÜHN (FARFISA – BONGOS – TAMBOURINE – SHAKERS – GÜIRO – CLAPS – TRIANGLE)
MICKY PEETERS (FARFISA – HAMMOND – ARP)
ROBBY SWIGGERS (GUITAR)
STEVE VANDERVOORT (BASS)

COMPOSED & ARRANGED BY FREDERIK KÜHN
PRODUCED BY FREDERIK KÜHN AT STUDIO DR FRE
MASTERING BY JERBOA (FREDERIK DEJONGH)

Cover Art: LUIS LAMBRECHTS

LYRICS:
Original (Amharic)
ከራብ ከድህነት መታገል ሳያንሰን
አይበጀን ያልነው ውስጥ ገባን ተመልሰን
በዳይ ተበዳዩም ይቅርታን እምቢ ያለ
አስታራቂም ሸሸ እየተማረረ


ሆድ ነው የሰው እዳው
እምነት የሚያስከዳው
የሚባለው ድሮ - - - አሄ
መች ቀረ ዘንድሮስ

ተረት ብቻ አይደለም
ሲሆን እያየነው
በቃሉ የሚኖር
ጠፍቶዋል
ሆዱ እያታለለው

ቅዱሱን ቃሉን ሰባኪው
ትልቅ ሰው ያልነው አዋቂ
መሪ ያልነው ዘውድ ያስጨበጥነው
ለስልጣን መግደል ሲቀለው
እያየነው

አወዬው ምነው የኛስ ነገር
ጉድ ብቻ ሆኖ እንዲያው ሲቀር
ሆድ ባሰኝ አኔስ በማየው ሁሉ
መላ ቢስ ሆኖ ሲቀር ነገሩ

ሆድ ነው የሰው እዳው
እምነት የሚያስከዳው
የሚባለው ድሮ - - - አሄ
መች ቀረ ዘንድሮ

Translation (English)

With poverty and famine to our name
The new road took us the way we came
With no sides willing to take the blame
And nobody willing to kill the flame

Greed is the downfall of man
Sell his morals if he can
They used to say
It still applies today

We see it everyday
It's not just a story
No matter what he says
Greed is his only worry

The holy men on the hill
And the kings we appointed
find it easier to kill
Than to be defeated

With poverty and famine to our name
The new road took us the way we came
With no sides willing to take the blame
And nobody willing to kill the flame

I don't know what hope we have any longer
Stories are the only thing keeping us together
I'm sick and tired of this endless fight
When there's no solution to all this in sight

Greed is the downfall of man
Sell his morals if he can
They used to say
It still applies today

Alpacas Collective - Mehal Sefari

Alpacas Collective - Tilahun

Alpacas Collective - Flugzeug String Machine

Stranger To Myself originated from studying the pentatonic Ethiopean scales used in one of our major influences, the classic ethio-jazz, as recorded during the sixties and seventies.

Experimenting with the ambassel scale immediately led to mysterious and dreamy melodies, which became the blueprint for Stranger To Myself.

At the time, we had just acquired a few old combo organs, which were just screaming to be part of the song, adding some old skool vibe.

Initially, the song would feature a vibraphone, but we actually grew too fond of the provisional xylophone on the track to have it replaced.

And so, things fell into place for Stranger To Myself. Hope you’ll enjoy it.

credits:
released April 11, 2022
Guitar - Robby Swiggers
Congas, shakers - Frederik Kühn
Drums - Stan Hennes
Xylophone, djembé - Sander Vos
Bass - Steve Vandervoort
Tenor sax - Alexander Dingens
Trombone - Marc Jans
Farfisa, Elka Panther - Jeroen Ollevier

Recorded, mixed & produced by FREDERIK KÜHN
Written by ROBBY SWIGGERS
Arranged by ALPACAS COLLECTIVE
Mastered by FREDERIK DEJONGH at JERBOA MASTERING

all rights reserved

Alpacas Collective - Stranger to myself

Alpacas Collective - Bernissart

Alpacas Collective  - The Chase

Dr Fre is a producer, composer, musician and remix artist making mostly Afro funk, electro swing, balkan beats, latin vibes and progressive/house music. 