Marimba Disco Mutante desde Guatemala. Romendy producciones. early 80s.

*THRILLER* Ultra rare Guatemala Synth Marimba Funk Disco version.

ether

Music made on my laptop while waiting for my baby in NICU.

Waiting in NICU mix

75 South

Bennett Kuhn's meditative neoclassical project bc_ combines minimalist grand piano with shimmering digital electronic experimentation. Composed in quarantine on Long Island on the 100th birthday of Kuhn's recently deceased grandmother, 'Magnolia II' bubbles with mirthful remembrance and wonder at the unfathomable distance of long life as glimpsed in the beautiful magnolia tree's annual cyclical passage from florescence to decrescendo and silence between. 

'Magnolia II' premiered on www.dreamerswelcome.tv on Easter Monday 2020 through artist and phytophile Michelle Ishikawa's Magnolia Interludes series, which invites musicians to score a 15-minute video of Ishikawa's magnolia tree every day in quarantine. "Magnolia Interlude is a daily music video series created to soothe our eyes and ears by memorializing a moment in the life of our magnolia tree." https://www.okimoto.co/magnolia-interludes

Featuring digital instruments by Madam Data Labs: http://www.madamdata.net/

Dedicated to Nani (1920-2019).

More releases by bc_
bc_ - cdr (2019): https://kuhn.bandcamp.com/album/bc-cdr

Magnolia II (2020)

bc_ - Magnolia II (2020)

Starting when I was 17, I spent a lot of time at this short-lived record shop called LAB, on Brighton Ave by my uncle's house in Allston, Mass. They did the interior decor to make it look like an actual chemical laboratory, with the record shelves built into stainless steel sinks. They mostly sold drum & bass and dubstep, but they also stocked hype streetwear brands and those collectible Japanese toys that were hot for a while. I would go and peruse the new issue of Juxtapoz Magazine and take a copy of all the flyers for club nights that I was too young to attend. 

Todd, AKA Scotch1, ran the shop and he hooked me on ragga jungle records, most of which came from this Los Angeles label called Nitrous Oxide Records, whose main artist was DJ Starscream (the drummer from Slipknot, lol). They also had a Japanese sublabel called Big Cat, which was run by the Osaka producer General Malice, and another one called Freeburning, which was connected to the record store of the same name, also in LA. 

Literally nobody in Boston wanted to hear 190 BPM ragga breakcore records, so I only listened to them in my parent's basement, which must have been awful for them come to think of it. I remember thinking, "Why the fuck did I choose such difficult records to learn how to DJ?" Anyways, I've always wanted time to pull this crate out of storage and make a mix of this belligerent, bonkers music, and now thanks to quarantine, I did!

Ragga Breakcore Quarantine Massacre

"Bennett Kuhn (Kuhn, Billa Bronx, bc_) is co-curator of the New York/Philly-based record label Astro Nautico. His HYDE FM mix is meant to accompany the listener cleaning their bedroom. Like any good cleaning session, it begins auspiciously and has multiple panic regions in the middle but closes with a resounding sense of accomplishment. Listen for unreleased tunes from Astro Nautico's Atlantics X fundraising campaign, a series of weekly releases benefitting artists impacted by COVID-19 in the label's extended community. Kuhn's audiovisual album con•tact drops 5/29 on Astro Nautico's Atlantics X series. Donate or learn more: https://www.gofundme.com/f/atlanticsx"

Follow Bennett Kuhn on social media: IG: @radiokuhn / @astronauticooo
FB: www.facebook.com/kuhnmusic

Bennett Kuhn | Live on hydeFM | 05/17/20

'We Meet Our Grief' is a rapid-response cosmic musical prayer for justice through collective mourning. It conjoins interfaith minister Rev. Rhetta Morgan (vocals) and Astro Nautico co-organizer Bennett Kuhn (production) as The I Rise Project.

In the last 24 hours, 'We Meet Our Grief' was unearthed from a 2017 demo recording, soloed over by Madam Data, and finalized with additional production by Lee Clarke and mastering by Sam O.B. The artwork was cleared in the early morning by photographer Josh Carrigan and dancers Kimya Imani Jackson and Elizabeth Weinstein.

Making 'We Meet Our Grief' was a speedy community affair. Publishing it tonight is intended as Astro Nautico's direct response, as a united community, to the current movement to revolutionize race relations in the United States by defusing centuries of intergenerational trauma caused by white supremacy. 

The outrage, anxiety, and heartbreak we feel tonight is sadly not new. Releasing 'We Meet Our Grief' today, years after its conception, is meant as a prayer for a future world in which this particular song has become dated or irrelevant. For now, however, Astro Nautico centers the guiding voice of Rhetta Morgan, the eldest Black woman in our community. 

"The dark holds the light. This is how we survive. And thrive. And heal. And liberate. And expand. We meet our grief."

*** 

In honor of Rhetta's spiritual activist ministry Ecclesia, ALL SALES of this song will benefit her work. You may also donate to Philadelphia Bail Fund here: https://www.phillybailfund.org/?fbclid=IwAR37_Oekgd7GTTpv3DYBiJK84CyBxV1OtyCPzFJAYhqjHcSM8-XT6fAkcls 

***

(If anyone wants to continue this conversation, especially if you consider yourself part of the Astro Nautico community, please reach out to Bennett Kuhn with any questions, concerns or requests for resources: kuhn at astronauti dot co. You will not be ostracized for having a different way of thinking. Astro Nautico is about calling in, not calling out, because your liberation is tied up with ours. Get in con•tact!)

Written by Rhetta Morgan & Bennett Kuhn
Produced by Bennett Kuhn
Additional production by Lee Clarke
Electric guitar by Madam Data
Mastered by Sam O.B. in New York

Also on Bandcamp:
https://astronautico.bandcamp.com/album/we-meet-our-grief

See also 'I Rise' by The I Rise Project (2017)
https://astronautico.bandcamp.com/album/i-rise

We Meet Our Grief

Pay what you can

The I Rise Project - We Meet Our Grief (Free Download)

Kingsley Ibeneche's revolutionary love song My Freedom is out today on Astro Nautico. In his words:

"My Freedom has definitely evolved from over a year ago when I first wrote it. It was innocent, simply about love in its purest.

"I didn’t know it would turn into the monster and the medicine. I never thought each word recited would have a need in this moment. I didn’t know the importance of this truth would stand so firm.

"I think because the timing and evolution of this song is so perfect, it scares me. I prayed that this song wouldn’t be a mournful song. But it would be a song of uplift, and conscious bravery.

"I’m even scared to take the people's attention away from what’s going on. Something in me doesn’t want to soothe the people. I rather them burn anyone who stands in the cause's way. I want them to feel every blow and let it fester.

"But of course I am a prophet and a king. The wise man cares not about the fruits of action or inaction. He makes a choice, and stands by it. So I stand by the healing of the people, and I am glad that god bestowed upon me this message over a year ago. I am honored to be a servant to the cause. 'My freedom' is a choice!!"

My Freedom was executive produced by Lee Clarke and features saxophone by Jarrett Gilgore, whose Lilypicker solo project is forthcoming on Astro Nautico. All proceeds generated by the release of My Freedom benefit Atlantics X, a mutual aid fund providing financial assistance to artists impacted by COVID-19 in Astro Nautico's extended community. 

released June 5, 2020
Written & produced by Kingsley Ibeneche & Lee Clarke
Background vocals by Najwa Parkins
Guitar solo by Dave Marion
Saxophone by Jarrett Gilgore
Mastered by Sam O.B. in New York
Artwork by Bennett Kuhn

My Freedom

Kingsley Ibeneche - My Freedom

AGENT makes radical synth punk anonymously.

'PIG HEAD' portrays a day in the life of a servant of the law in a dark place. Nihilistic synth bass arpeggios buzz electrically through the twisted synapses of a neural net conditioned to view pain as nothingness, marching psychopathically lost and alone to an onslaught of drum machines.

Against fascist groupthink and callous unfeeling, Astro Nautico issues AGENT's third single today in solidarity with the ongoing fight to end oppression both externally and within, in the internalized custodians of genocide informing our very ways of feeling.

All proceeds from this release benefit Astro Nautico's Atlantics X fundraiser to provide COVID relief to artists in our extended community. www.gofundme.com/f/atlanticsx


Lyrics:

PRETENDING TO BE HUMAN
I DON’T CARE ABOUT THIS LIFE
I DON’T CARE ABOUT THIS CITY
I DON’T CARE ABOUT THIS LIFE

I DON’T CARE ABOUT THE FUTURE
I DON’T ABOUT THIS LIFE
I DON’T CARE ABOUT THIS CITY
I WILL CUT YOU WITH MY KNIFE

NEW YORK CITY
IS SUCH A DRAG
TO BE A HUMAN BEING
STUFFED IN A BAG

THERE IS NO (INDECIPHERABLE)
SAY GOOD BYE
THIS IS HOW IT FEELS TO BE
BURIED ALIVE

PRETENDING TO BE HUMAN
I DON’T CARE ABOUT THIS LIFE
I DON’T CARE ABOUT THIS CITY
I DON’T CARE ABOUT THIS LIFE

I DON’T CARE ABOUT YOUR HAIR, BABY
I DON’T CARE ABOUT THIS LIFE
I DON’T CARE ABOUT YOUR FANCY PERFUME
WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE

I DON’T CARE ABOUT MY FUTURE
I DON’T CARE ABOUT MY LIFE
I DON’T CARE ABOUT YOUR CHILDREN
I DON’T CARE ABOUT YOUR WIFE

I HAVE NO RESERVATIONS
DOING WHAT I DO
SAY WHAT YOU WANT BUT
I’LL KILL YOU TOO

////


More from AGENT:
astronautico.bandcamp.com/track/terminator
astronautico.bandcamp.com/album/dream-product

PIG HEAD

AGENT - PIG HEAD

Mount Desert Island is a collaboration between Bennett Kuhn, co-organizer of Astro Nautico and producer working under aliases including Kuhn, bc_, Billa Bronx, Felix Castenzio, and Jesse Kohn, storyteller, dream journalist, songwriter, and member of Santa Fe band Laughing Branches. Kohn's nightmare-folk tale lyrics and naive-Baroque melodies collide with Kuhn's psychedelic, bass-heavy productions to form diverse and idiosyncratic pop music.

Initially recorded and produced eight years ago in a small house on the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, “Paper Boat,” like all Mount Desert Island recordings to date, froze in its development for years due to a series of catastrophes and fluorescences forcing Kohn and Kuhn to ever-increased physical distance. The spell was broken last summer when Kuhn revisited draft recordings of Mount Desert Island and surprised Kohn with resurrected mixes of two full-length albums as a birthday gift.

Today Astro Nautico begins releasing finalized Mount Desert Island music for the first time ever, more than a decade after the project's beginning. Fortified by mixing from Sam O.B. in New York, the "Paper Boat" single is taken from Mount Desert Island's first full-length album, forthcoming next year on Astro Nautico. "Paper Boat" arrives through Atlantics X, a campaign to build an emergency microfund for Astro Nautico artists impacted by COVID-19 and its economic fallout (priority to BIPOC). https://www.gofundme.com/f/atlanticsx

If each present moment is a seed for a future, then Mount Desert Island, for better or worse, was unwittingly planted to emerge in today's unfurling emergencies. May it give fruits bearing seeds containing life that nourishes life in days and nights to come.

Paper Boat

Mount Desert Island - Paper Boat

Bennett Kuhn is a Philadelphia-based music producer, writer, teaching artist, community organizer, and co-owner of the Philadelphia/Brooklyn-based record label @AstroNautico (est. 2009). 

He is musician-in-residency at the Synapsis journal of health humanities at Columbia University and a co-organizer of Philadelphia-based Creative Resilience Collective, a multidisciplinary network of artists, technologists, designers, care providers,  academics, and others working with and for underserved populations in Philadelphia to improve access to quality mental health care.

Mail -> kuhn at astronauti dot co

Aliases:
Bennett Kuhn
Kuhn
Billa Bronx 
_bc
Felix Castenzio 
@bennettcharles 
1/2 of @AVRVM & 
1/2 of @TheIRiseProject

Also released via @CivilMusic / @JASSlive / @IHadAnAccident / @ContemporaryEnergy

bc_ - Magnolia II (2020)

Bennett Kuhn

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