October 2015

Luke Vibert is back on Planet Mu with a new album called ‘Bizarster'. It's his seventh full-length under his own name with others having been released on Mo Wax, Warp and most recently Hypercolour. Luke first came to prominence in 1994 with his debut Wagon Christ album 'Phat Lab Nightmare' on Rising High records which was quickly followed by the evergreen classic 'Throbbing Pouch' with which he cemented both his sound and reputation. He has released on Rephlex and Ninja Tune as well as major label Virgin too.

What makes Luke's music so essential is his rare ability to blur the boundaries between genres by combining his irresistibly wonky dayglo funk with a British sensibility. Put another way, Luke's music is informed by UK dance's history. But 'Bizarster' is no empty eulogy, it’s a hall of mirrors with a happy bounce, re-tooled with skill, and always with a sense of fun.

It's these things that make the hip-hop speed bleep 'n' bass of opener 'Knockout' seems completely natural, or 'Officer's Club' with it's funky disco samples, reggae vocals and joyous synths sounding like the kind of delirious idea no one else could come up with. A track like 'I Can Phil It' is a piece of sampladelic hip hop with a punning title, but that's not to say he can't play it serious. 'Manalog' for instance, which is sharp spiralling low-slung synth funk, a gloriously deep track, while something like 'L-Tronic' is top draw spaced-out electro. The title track's cut and paste space-age samples remind one of his Jean-Jacques Perrey collaboration and 'War' is the type of groovy instrumental hip-hop reminiscent of DJ Shadow at his peak. The album finishes on the fun-filled vortex of ‘Don’t Fuck Around’, a cut-up jungle masterpiece with heart in throat chords. Enjoy the ride.

Bizarster

Pre-order

Luke Vibert - Bizarster

‘Loon’ will be released on Erased Tapes as a 12” vinyl as well as digitally on October 2nd. 
Pre-order it here: www.erasedtapes.com/store/index/ERATP072
or via iTunes: http://snip.ftpromo.net/loon

Containing five synthesiser-led pieces, ‘Loon’ was recorded in autumn 2014 across five days at Nils’s Durton Studio in Berlin, and continues on from the ambient sounds of ‘Stare’ but with the addition of more percussive elements and dub influences. For this new EP the duo wired an Oberheim 4 Voice and a Korg PS3100 to the mixing desk and performed live takes on both instruments. With all four hands on its pots, all mixes were recorded straight onto 2-track ½-inch tape.

Like on ‘Stare’, their first collaborative affair in 2012, they simply followed what was laying in front of them, and this time they were driven by some new synths, a kick drum and tape effects. Indulging in dub, the tracks where all performed rather than engineered, with Ólafur riding a few elements on faders and Nils bringing effects in and out. After running several mixes, they went for the five strongest moments from this session. The release was announced on a joint website www.arnaldsfrahm.com together with the launch of an intimate 45-minute studio film titled ‘Trance Frendz’, featuring another seven improvisations.

“Nils got some new synths and we thought we’d try them out. We loved them so much that we didn’t actually end up using anything else to make these songs.” – Ólafur Arnalds

“When I was young I was smuggled to Goa parties by my brother. The music played there in the late nineties had a somewhat deep effect on me. ‘Loon’ is almost a blurry memory of these times. In other words, it is what I’d like to remember that music sounded like back then. In fact it sounded probably really cheesy.” – Nils Frahm

Loon

Wide Open

Ólafur Arnalds & Nils Frahm - Wide Open

Recently, Moog had the honor of sitting down with Nine Inch Nails’  Trent Reznor, the genre-defining music innovator, master synthesist and Academy Award winning composer. In the interview, Reznor recounts his intimate relationship with the Minimoog Voyager, which he feels “is the archetype of what a synthesizer is and should be.” Through personal stories, Reznor reveals his decades long history with the instrument and how it has shaped the way he views and creates music. 

The video is set to an original score by British electronic music producer, The Haxan Cloak, co-producer of Bjork’s Vulnicura.. Befitting the occasion, the artist used a Minimoog Voyager and a prototype Mother-32, Moog’s newest synthesizer, to create the score. 

"I made the track in a unique way that I never have before.

I have had modular synths for a long time, and consistently produced music with them, but purposefully never had a ‘keyboard-based’ setup because of not wanting to treat them in such a ‘traditional’ manner (purely for reasons of self-limitation).

Having the Voyager allowed me to utilize a more responsive approach of seeing the picture and essentially ‘playing’ along to it. I then took those results and used them to modulate other parameters and processed them further. The Mother 32 was used extensively as a sound source alongside also.

The Voyager is a synth I have always been fascinated by, but unfortunately never had the opportunity to own. I knew people that had them, but my first physical encounter was actually on the recent Bjork tour.  I used it for a lot for recreating basslines from her back catalogue, which it did effortlessly.
It’s such an incredibly versatile synth and has already become a uniquely indispensable backbone of my studio." - The Haxan Cloak

Archetype Of A Synthesizer - The Haxan Cloak

Pre-Order 10" http://store.houndstoothlabel.com/obelisk.html
Bandcamp:  https://akkord.bandcamp.com/album/obelisk
Akkord on Spotify: http://found.ee/AkkordSPO 

Akkord return with their first original music since June 2014’s ‘HTH020’ EP. ‘Obelisk’ is a study in rhythm and frequencies, suspended in space. 

On the minimalistic ‘Monolith’, a single element is moulded into a 3-dimensional sound sculpture, an aural illusion of a lead weight that floats away into the ether. 

In contrast, ‘Megalith’ has a pulsing gravity, drawing in laser-guided blasts of bass, broadsides of pitched-down jungle, and echoes of distant birdsong and telecommunications as it journeys through the static of space.

Mastered by Matt Colton at Alchemy.

Obelisk

Monolith

Buy 10"

Akkord - Monolith

Taken from the upcoming album 'Communion'.
Released October 30th via Tri Angle Records.
LP (300 rose coloured Ltd Ed.), CD & Digital.

Available to buy or as an instant grat with any pre-order of the album on iTunes; https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/communion/id1034540512



Rabit - Snow Leopard

Released on the "Hyperdub 10.1" compilation, May 2014

October 2015

jamesstiff