In Western culture, voice without speech is irrational and dangerous. Both in myth and history, those voices must be contained or prohibited because of the threat they pose to the social order. Female, animal, artificial and inanimate voices, lamenting, screaming, dreaming, mumbling. Fugitive voices, entangled in a parallel ‘nonhuman history’ devise a chorus yet to come. 

Future Chorus is based on a collection of readings, spoken word, nonlinguistic sound, poetry, MCing, cello and animal sounds — made by Abbas Zahedi, AGF, Elaine Mitchener, Eleni Ikoniadou, Jordan Edge, Joshua Leon, Lunatraktors, Ruth McGill, Sukitoa O Namau and Viki Steiri. The material was combined with machine learning processes — by Mohab Tarek — for the artificial generation of a new voice speaking a nonhuman language. The vocal database and AI voice became the raw material for five remixes — by AGF, Chino Amobi, Harrga, Savvas Metaxas, Trustfall and Lafawndah. 

This release is a collaboration between Hypermedium and MAENADS. A perpetually growing collective, MAENADS is a platform sonic, visual, performative or text-based projects, unleashing works that seek to inhabit polyphonic narratives, other worlds and subjectivities, group joy.

Concept & curation: Eleni Ikoniadou 

Human voices: Abbas Zahedi, AGF, Elaine Mitchener, Eleni Ikoniadou, Jordan Edge, Joshua Leon, Lunatraktors, Ruth McGill

Animal lament: Sukitoa O Namau 

Cello: Viki Steiri 

AI voice: Mohab Tarek 

Mastered by: Giuseppe Ielasi

Art direction & design: Vasilis Marmatakis 

Cover photography: Panos Defteraios

Future Chorus

Late Junction BBC3 2023

The Beeb 3's Late Junction - 3

Late Junction 🔊 (BBC Radio 3) - 3

Infinite Late Junction by BRITify.com - 12

Witchdoctor's Son

Magwaza (feat. John Tchicai, Dudu Pukwana, Alfredo do Nascimento, Luez "Chuim" Carlos De Sequaira & Mohamed Al-Jabry)

The innovative, radical soul of Guadeloupe explored across thirty years of contemporary gwoka music.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

As Guadeloupean vocalist and composer Marie-Line Dahomay writes in her liner notes to the compilation, gwoka is more than a style of music, it is “a way of living and thinking.”

Rooted in the social, musical and ritual practices of enslaved African people and their descendants on Guadeloupe, gwoka has always sought to express the spirit of independence and resistance authentic to the island.

Building on its traditional call-and-response form and the ideas of pivotal figures like Gérard Lockel and Christian Laviso, modern gwoka evolved throughout the second half of the twentieth century to include funk, jazz and electronic influences.

Defined by its propensity for innovation and experimentation, this compilation charts the most radical changes to modern gwoka, capturing a sensory riot of traditional répertoires, rhythms and makè techniques fused with a rich seam of genre-defying experimentation.

Whether heard in the deeply cosmic, spiritual music of Dao, Freydy Doressamy and Gaoulé Mizik, or the jazz funk inflections of Gui Konket and Horizon, the music here is united by the feeling of santiman ka, crucial not only to gwoka music but the identity of Guadeloupe at large.

As co-curator Cédric Lassonde writes: “What unifies these selections is the depth of the compositions, the experimentation around the santiman ka, and the spirit of resistance and liberation against slavery, be it modern or ancestral. With a thirst for innovation typical of the island’s creole culture, the ka spirit is deeply rooted in collective history and in a quest for identity.”

Co-curator Brandon Hocura continues: “The creative energy of these musicians is powerful and demonstrates a universal pursuit of resistance, freedom and identity. Their voices are distinct, but the chorus rises high and carries their message far across the sea.”

Released on double LP, L’Esprit Ka: New Directions in Gwoka Music from Guadeloupe 1981-2010 is the first compilation of its kind to bring the sound of modern gwoka to a wider audience, with many of the musicians features still active today.

Presented with typical attention to detail, the release features a specially commissioned essay by Guadeloupean musician Marie-Line Dahomey, and extensive liner notes from Cédric Lassonde and Séance Centre’s Brandon Hocura. 

True to the hybrid nature of the music, the compilation seeks not to provide a definitive sound, but express the variety of contemporary forms gwoka has grown to take. Just as Guadeloupean trailblazers Kassav fused gwoka with funk and cadence to create zouk, so did the musicians on this collection push gwoka in new directions rarely heard beyond its shores.

In the words of Gérard Lockel, “gwoka is the soul of Guadeloupe”.

Lèspri Ka : New Directions in Gwo Ka Music from Guadeloupe 1981-201

Horizon - Ti Malo

@savvas-metaxas-sounds - 40 days
Taken from the V/A LP 'Future Chorus' [HMDM010 / MNDS01].

Out on January 20, 2023 on limited edition vinyl in a deluxe triple gatefold sleeve and digital.

More info: hypermedium.bandcamp.com/album/future-chorus

Savvas Metaxas - 40 Days

@chinoamobi - Emmanuel II
Taken from the V/A LP 'Future Chorus' [HMDM010 / MNDS01].

Out on January 20, 2023 on limited edition vinyl in a deluxe triple gatefold sleeve and digital.

More info: hypermedium.bandcamp.com/album/future-chorus

Chino Amobi - Emmanuel II

@lafawndah & @trustfallplays: 'Animal Mourning'
Taken from the V/A LP 'Future Chorus' [HMDM010 / MNDS01].

Out on January 20, 2023 on limited edition vinyl in a deluxe triple gatefold sleeve and digital.

More info: hypermedium.bandcamp.com/album/future-chorus

Lafawndah & Trustfall - Animal Mourning

Taken from the V/A LP 'Future Chorus' [HMDM010 / MNDS01]. 

Out on January 20, 2023 on limited edition vinyl in a deluxe triple gatefold sleeve and digital.

More info: https://hypermedium.bandcamp.com/album/future-chorus

Harrga - En Nous Vivants Les Morts

Hypermedium is thrilled to share 'code88' by AGF @agf-antye-greie , first track off the upcoming V/A LP 'Future Chorus' [HMDM010 / MNDS01]. 

Out on January 20, 2023 on limited edition vinyl in a deluxe triple gatefold sleeve and digital.

More info: https://hypermedium.bandcamp.com/album/future-chorus

Curated by Eleni Ikoniadou and featuring five tracks by AGF, Chino Amobi, Lafawndah & Trustfall, Harrga and Savvas Metaxas, 'Future Chorus' is based on a collection of readings, spoken word, nonlinguistic sound, poetry, MCing, cello and animal sounds. The material was combined with machine learning processes for the artificial generation of a new voice speaking a nonhuman language. The vocal database and AI voice became the raw material for five remixes.

This release is a collaboration between Hypermedium and MAENADS. Created by Eleni Ikoniadou in collaboration with Anne Duffau and Aphroditi Psarra, MAENADS is a platform for collective projects, sonic, visual, performative or text-based, unleashing works that seek to inhabit polyphonic narratives, other worlds and subjectivities, group joy.

Concept & curation: Eleni Ikoniadou 

Human voices: Abbas Zahedi, AGF, Elaine Mitchener, Eleni Ikoniadou, Jordan Edge, Joshua Leon, Lunatraktors, Ruth McGill, Sukitoa O Namau 

Cello: Viki Steiri 

AI voice: Mohab Tarek 

Mastered by: Giuseppe Ielasi 

Art direction & design: Vasilis Marmatakis 

Cover photography: Panos Defteraios

Order

AGF - code88 [from HMDM010 / MNDS01: Future Chorus]

Szabadság

Gyöngyvirág

STRIKE

Here I Am

Marina Herlop - Pripyat
Label: PAN
Cat.No. PAN 128
Format: DL
Release Date: 20 May 2022
Purchase: pan.lnk.to/Pripyat

Marina Herlop is often described as a pianist, a lingering remnant of her classical training. But what strikes the listener on Herlop’s breakout track miu is the intricate trickery of her voice, tracing rhythmical clusters around the subtlest of musical beds, in a technique inspired by Carnatic music of Southern India. 

miu, the opening track of Herlop’s new studio album Pripyat, was among the first songs that the young Catalan artist made on a computer, after two albums - 2016’s Nanook and 2018’s Babasha - that brought spectral elegance to the sound of piano and voice. This spirit of adventure continues into Pripyat, Herlop’s first full album produced on a computer, and her most intensely emotional work to date. 

Listening to Pripyat you can feel the emotional toil and creative endeavour that went into the record. Fans of Nanook and Babasha will recognise the combination of melancholic piano and elegant vocal lines that is found on Pripyat tracks like abans abans. But Pripyat has a far fuller, almost chaotic sound when compared to Herlop’s previous work, with the addition of electronic drums, electric bass lines and a wealth of sublime production effects. 

Added to this production expertise are songs of incredible grace and poise. Kadish is a spectral torch song rendered in emotional 3D by Herlop’s gorgeous voice; ubunto has a feeling of deep longing and lingering sorrow; and shaolin mantis is like a pop song refracted through disorienting production effects and percussive vocal cut ups. Pripyat is the perfect combination of computer production trickery and intimate emotional release. 

Songs composed, produced and performed by Marina Herlop. 
Mix: James Ginzburg 
Mastering: Joker 
Mix and mastering of 'miu (choir version)': Borja Ruiz 
Ukulele and ending synth in 'shaolin mantis': Adri González 
Electric guitar in ‘lyssof’:Òscar Garrobé 
Electric bass in ‘ubuntu’ and ‘miu’: Òscar Garrobé

shaolin mantis

Avlaskani Cuneli

Avlaskani Cuneli (feat. Ersoj Kazimov & Yann Lou Bertrand)

early bird

Aşk

Rakıya Su Katamam

Mesmerizer

Rundhyl

NEO KAWAII, K?

Exode Rural

Blackbox Life Recorder 21f / in a room7 F760

in a room7 F760

1983-90

Gboro Mi Ro

STOONIA LOOD

Kui kivid olid veel pehmed

Disclaimer: We are releasing this album to show our support for our friends and some of the key figures behind Jrpjej's distinctive sound - Diana Kulova and Alan Sheudzhen. Everything is going well for them - they recently welcomed a beautiful daughter. With this release, we want to share in their joy and celebrate the years of collaboration, the countless miles traveled, and the heaps of inappropriate humor (coming from us). Below, we've provided Diana and Alan's contact details - feel free to send them your best wishes.

Back in 2021, when the coronavirus pandemic lseemed like the worst nightmare, casting a shadow over life, Ored Recordings, alongside Jrpjej and Zaur Nagoev, embarked on their inaugural international tour to the Netherlands.

Today, we look back on that period as one of the brightest chapters in the label's and the band's history - a time of voyages, strolls, responsive audience, and the genuine delight of provincial Circassians who ventured on an actual European tour.

Yet, reminiscing about all the meticulous groundwork with documents and logistics, it wasn't the simplest of journeys.

More:https://oredrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/katzwijm-sessions

Savvas Metaxas - 40 Days

HYPERMEDIUM