Suzanne Vega & Meredith Monk - Tom's Road Song (DJ Chubby's Too Much Caffeine Mix)

Stream & pre-order the LP: https://idol-io.ffm.to/qasr

Sheherazaad today announces details for her new LP Qasr, set for release on March 1 via Erased Tapes.

Today, migration seems to be encoded into everyday habits. As so many of our minds and bodies aggressively globalise in unprecedented ways, previously fixed “genres” and identities of any kind are constantly being dismantled, made redundant, and born anew.

It’s from this space of flux that American composer and vocalist Sheherazaad derives song. Produced by Arooj Aftab, her forthcoming mini-album, Qasr, was engendered during a time of family estrangement, grief over a lost elder, and the racial polarisation of her country as she knew it.

Translating to “castle” or “fortress” in Urdu, Qasr is indeed a monument — like encapsulation of the real strains of displacement, the push and pull of diaspora, and the depravity of erasure and forgotten roots. These experiences and their inherent violence, hysteria, and romance imbue her sonic deep-dive into the world of the so-called in-between.

On new track Dhund Lo Mujhe (“Search For Me”), pizzicato fiddles cut through, almost unnervingly jaunty alongside her tumultuous delivery. “For me, it brings up this circus of the insane, carnival of the unhappy,” she explains. “It suggests a very specific insanity, that of the immigrant experience. There is implied bloodshed, glamour, hallucination, and schizophrenia.”

Qasr

Dhund Lo Mujhe

Sheherazaad - Dhund Lo Mujhe

This morning, I am blissfully spending my time in the company of Swedish composer and pianist Matti Bye, who first appeared on these pages back in 2017 with a video that I premiered titled Melt. Having scored more than a few films and being awarded Sweden’s prestigious Guldbaggen for Best Original Music for Faro, Bye knows exactly how to paint deep atmospheres full of mystery and awe. Listening to his latest album for my beloved Denovali, I am transported into a shadowy speakeasy full of jazzy notes and curling smoke. I find myself comfortably sitting in a corner, sipping on Glenfarclas while Matti plays the piano, just for me. Capri Clouds is the third album in the trilogy, which began with Bethanien (2020) and This Forgotten Land (2020), and until this one drops later in the spring of this year, you may want to start your journey there. All showcase somewhat nostalgic, slightly haunting and serene imagery, barely jazzy, neo-classic, and lo-fi. Today, I am premiering the title track for you, which I hope you enjoy… rain, birds, a bit of chit-chat and all…

"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."

Capri Clouds

TRACK PREMIERE : Matti Bye - Capri Clouds

Heavy Calm animated music video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDSoox28iBQ&feature=youtu.be

Heavy Calm

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

Origin and Echo

Snow Palms - Rite

This EP was recorded around a documentary film "Papa Hédi", that looks at the life and legacy of celebrated Tunisian musician Hédi Jouini. 
We started writing the score in the summer of 2011 as specific cues for the film and using short samples from Hédi's music. 
In the autumn we decided to develop the cues to make full tracks and the results are on this record. 

Bulbus

Blondes - Pleasure (Andy Stott Remix)

Premiering on the Ransom Note: https://bit.ly/2MyJojX

"An enchanting new album." - The Ransom Note 

Heinali is the alias of self-taught composer and sound-designer Oleg Shpudeiko from Ukraine. Now well established under the name he brings along his latest full length ‘Iridescent’ due for release on October 12th on Injazero Records. 

Having garnered rapturous responses to his earlier output and last year’s ‘Anthem’ Oleg continues to push the boundaries and experiment with altering mood and atmospheres of any space - with abstract yet deeply personal transmissions of ambient synthesiser work and subaqueous, minimal techno contortions. 

‘Iridescent’ consists of fragments of studio improvisation sessions recorded in 2016 and 2017, some of them recorded in one unedited take on a modular system and some layered and later morphed into compositions. As the title suggests Heinali crafts shimmering, incandescent portraits, rich in his unique characteristics and compositional liberty. 

Apart from the “musical sculptures,” that represent the bulk of this LP, Oleg was interested in the exploration of polyphonic capabilities of the modular system. ‘Rainbow Folding’, a loose homage to Terry Riley’s 'A Rainbow In Curved Air,' features an interplay of several independent, but distinct voices and their processed shadows — ‘ghost voices’. In 'Shadow Invention’ eerie atmospherics steal the spotlight and dominate the composition, ending in a cacophony of the ‘ghost voices’. 

Oleg says of the album, “it’s a kind of studio dairy. A reflection on the development of my relations with the hardware instruments and exploration of them as channelling vessels for my experiences and ideas.” 

“One can think of Iridescent’ as ‘musical sculpture’ analogy — when the body of music stays the same, but its surface is flickering with various colours over time — sometimes in a subtle manner, sometimes loud and clear. Or it can be understood in the context of various colours of polyphony, or as a liminal condition of the colour as if it’s being ‘stuck’ in the mist of twilight zone between neighbouring colour-states, so it can’t become a particular colour and is in a flickering kaleidoscopic state.” 

‘Iridescent’ bares Oleg’s style of sonic storytelling and austere, otherworldly textural embellishments that bring to mind Ben Frost, Akira Yamaoka, and Oneohtrix Point Never but also plants the seed for much more club ready electro. ‘Starling Reprise I’ is a scorching piece of ambient techno that conjures Four Tet, LTO and Susumu Yokota’s blissful, kaleidoscopic synth work whilst ‘Starling Reprise II’ retains the frosty, steely ambience that has become Heinali’s calling card. 

Cover artwork by Olga Gaidash.
Mastered by Taylor Deupree at 12k Mastering.

Pre-order

Heinali - Rainbow Folding

The first track off of the 2018 tour cassette "On Falling". 
Edition of 50 w/ hand letterpressed covers.

Out of print (but repressing *could* be possible)

(on falling) debris

+ Buy: https://fanlink.to/sun-inside-remixes
+ Info: https://subtempo.com/releases/sun-inside-the-sun-remixes/ 

‘Souns - Sun Inside The Sun (The Remixes)’ is a collection of 4 unique reworks of Souns’ original song ‘Sun Inside The Sun’ taken from the Aquamarine album originally released on December 2017. It's forthcoming on Subtempo, and will be out in May 31st. 

Heralding on relationships that have developed over the years, @michaelred handpicked @synkro, @loscil and @phaeleh to remix his ambient material that he composes under the @souns-3 alias. Michael has shared the studio, or the stage with all three of them in multiple occasions, making this collaboration a natural continuation of their work together. 

Loscil sets the tone with the first remix. The ambient music maestro, who is widely recognized as the king of dynamics, continues to redefine the boundaries of the genre with this one. Loscil’s remix allows time for the main idea of his song to develop, with mysterious melodic hints as to what’s to come. In his usual fashion, the use of space and deep pulsating rhythm compound, driving the track into an entirely new landscape, transporting the listener into far away northern lands, where whales live and fog covers the calm oceans.

Souns - Sun Inside The Sun (Loscil Remix)

Founded by sonic architect and explorer Robert Raths aka ghostworker in 2007, Erased Tapes is a truly independent record label that has disrupted the industry and rejuvenated the musical landscape. The London-based label has consistently nurtured genre-defying artists from all around the world without losing its avant-garde ethos.

2015 saw BBC 6 Music radio presenter Mary Anne Hobbs stage an Erased Tapes evening featuring Nils Frahm and A Winged Victory For The Sullen at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the prestigious BBC Prom. It was the fastest selling ticket of the entire season. Shortly after Erased Tapes was awarded Best Small Label 2015 at the AIM Awards.

On February 5th 2017 Erased Tapes opened the doors to its new East London home, marking the 10th anniversary by introducing fans and the public to the new Erased Tapes Sound Gallery.

“Ten years of one of the most important record labels of the last few years“ — Gilles Peterson

"Over the last decade, Robert Raths’ label Erased Tapes has developed a sonic profile perfectly in step with the growing taste for quiet, meditative works on the cusp of ambient and chamber music" — The Independent

“The heart-string-tugging London label that floats gently between 20th century composition and ambient music” — Rolling Stone

Sheherazaad - Dhund Lo Mujhe

Erased Tapes

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