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Coming out 17 June on Awesome Tapes From Africa

Hailu Mergia & Dahlak Band’s Wede Harer Guzo is the third release on Awesome Tapes From Africa for Ethiopian keyboard and accordion maestro. In the years since Shemonmuanaye, Mergia has revamped his touring career, playing festivals and clubs worldwide, including a recent tour supporting Beirut. By 1978, Addis Ababa’s nightlife was facing challenges. The ruling Derg regime imposed curfews, banning citizens from the streets after midnight until 6:00 am. But that didn’t stop some people from dancing and partying through the night. Bands would play from evening until daybreak and people would stay at the clubs until curfew was lifted in the morning. 
One key denizen of Addis’ musical golden age, Hailu Mergia, was preparing a follow-up to his seminal Tche Belew LP with the famed Walias Band. It was the band’s only full-length record and it had been a success. But his Hilton house band colleagues were a bit tied up recording cassettes with different vocalists. Still Mergia, amidst recording and gigs with the Walias, was also eager to make another recording of his instrumental-focused arrangements. So he went to the nearby Ghion Hotel, another upmarket outpost with a popular nightclub. Dahlak Band was the house band at Ghion at the time. Together they made this tape Wede Harer Guzo right there in the club during the band’s afternoon rehearsal meetings, with sessions lasting three days.
Dahlak Band catered to a slightly more youthful, local audience, while Mergia’s main gig with the Walias at Addis' swankiest hotel had a mixed audience that included wealthy Ethiopians, foreign diplomats and older folks from abroad. Therefore, their sets featured lighter fare during dinnertime and a less rollicking selection of jazz and r&b. Meanwhile, Dahlak was known more for the mainly soul and Amharic jams they served up for hours two nights a week to a younger crowd. 
Mergia released Wede Harer Guzo (“Journey to Harer,” a city in eastern Ethiopia)  with Sheba Music Shop, which was located in the Piazza district but has long since shut down. His cassette copy is the only known source we could find. Jessica Thompson at Coast Mastering managed to restore the recording to clean up layers of hiss, flutter and distorted frequencies, made worse by years of storage. Although there are some remaining sonic artifacts of the era’s recording and cassette duplicating quality, this reissue captures the band’s inimitable vibe. 
Recalling the audience’s positive reaction to Wede Harer Guzo’s novel arrangements, he says it sold well and found many fans. However, as no trace of the tape can be found online, there’s no indication as to why the cassette appears largely forgotten until now. 


Wede Harer Guzo

Hailu Mergia & Dahlak Band — Sintayehu

FEATURE > inverted-audio.com/feature/in-conversation-with-erik-kowalski-casino-versus-japan

If you thought that Boards Of Canada was everything... think again. @casinoversusjapan is back with an 80 track compilation of immersive guitar loops and blissed-out harmonies. We caught up with Erik Kowalski over Skype to discuss how Frozen Geometry came into existence and dissect his musical leanings.

Frozen Geometry

Casino Versus Japan - Snowblind

A fun game of a linear FM synth I made via Pure Data patched into the filters/gates/etc of my modular. I'd hate this track if the chord tracking wasn't bugging out.

GLASS

Taken from 'Abysma' LP by Geotic, out March 31, 2017.

Order Links:
The Ghostly Store: goo.gl/4sP5F5
The Ghostly Store (UK/EU): goo.gl/pnr8fd
Retailer of your choice: Ghostly.lnk.to/geotic-abysma

Abysma

Geotic - Laura Corporeal

Since moving to Los Angeles three years ago, Gregg Kowalsky has been mixing and editing analog synth sounds to create his evocative new album, L’Orange, L’Orange. It wasn’t always easy: the unfamiliarity of a new city, plus the fact that Kowalsky hadn’t made a solo album in eight years, made it tough to get back in a groove. So he spent some time at a friend’s house in the beachside city of Malibu. As he sculpted tracks there, one emerged that captured the experience of his visit, so he called it “Maliblue Dream Sequence.” The second song on L’Orange, L’Orange, it anchors an album that’s drenched in the atmosphere of Kowalsky’s sunny home city.

“It’s probably the most important track on the record for me,” says Kowalsky. “It emotionally sums up my headspace for that entire three-year period. Things were difficult and that time was dark, so that's what I needed. Just making it was meditative.” Listening to “Maliblue Dream Sequence” is meditative, too. The track opens with high, heavenly tones, to which Kowalsky adds a mesmerizing slow-motion bass line, injecting forward momentum into his sky-seeking tones. The calm, devout aura of “Maliblue Dream Sequence” is a kind of sonic therapy; there’s a sense that the right sounds can lift dark clouds and let the sun shine through. “I made a blissful record, and that's not usually what I do,” Kowalsky admits. “But for me this track just has a great emotional connection to a great California experience.”

L'Orange L'Orange

Maliblue Dream Sequence

Gregg Kowalsky - Maliblue Dream Sequence

Bedbug (AM no rest edit)

He's A Lover (AM private romeo bounce)

www.Patreon.com/Chanceswithwolves
www.CHANCESWITHWOLVES.com

How Bless You Are - The Rhythmical Wright Singers

Soy La Cumbia - Aurita

Lead single + title track from Shelf Nunny's debut album 'Utangátta'
Album release date: February 21st, 2020

Official Music Video: https://youtu.be/JGE16-XIWPs

Pre-order tape + digital on Bandcamp: https://hushhushrecords.bandcamp.com/album/utang-tta

Stream/download on major platforms: https://smarturl.it/ShelfNunnyUtangatta

Follow Shelf Nunny:
Soundcloud -- https://soundcloud.com/shelfnunny
Instagram -- https://www.instagram.com/shelfnunny
Twitter -- https://twitter.com/SHELFNUNNY
Facebook -- https://www.facebook.com/Shelf-Nunny-293008920752134/

TAPE + DL

Shelf Nunny - Utangátta

Sleep ∞ Over - 'I Want To Be Alone'

Kelpe - All The Way Round (Mr Beatnick Remix)

"Truth" is taken from Madeline Kenney's self-produced EP "Summer Quarter", out now on Carpark Records.

Stream / Buy here: 
https://found.ee/mk_sq

p + c 2021 Carpark Records

Gregg Kowalsky - Maliblue Dream Sequence

Mexican Summer

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