V/A - Kikommando
Label: PAN / Hakuna Kulala
Cat.No. PAN 124 / HK029
Format: DL / Book
Release Date: 6 August 2021
Purchase: pan.lnk.to/Kikommando
Video: bit.ly/3i2EgSg

A collective effort from a vital scene in Kampala, KIKOMMANDO takes its name from Ugandan street food of flat bread and beans. As a ‘food of soldiers’ offering maximum energy for minimum funds, the eponymous mixtape, video series and book project is an equally nourishing and ambitious proposition. It all began in the East African summer of 2018, during a two-month residency at the Nyege Nyege label and collective’s villa, in collaboration with their sublabel Hakuna Kulala. Producer and PAN artist Simone Trabucchi (aka STILL) opened the door to his temporary studio in the city and a crucial cross-cultural collaboration was born.

“The intention was to record as much as possible,” Trabucchi says about KIKOMMANDO’s musical showcase of eight Kampala-based artists, coming from the spectrum of musical influences, crossing trap, drill, cut ups, kuduro, electro, smooth jams—the list goes on. In creating a sonic space to support the expression of its featured singers, poets and emcees, the mixtape ties countless styles and flows into a single snapshot of a particular part of the Kampala music scene, at a particular point in time. The invective of rapper and street legend Blaq Bandana’s “Nkwaata” is laid over a spare and brooding ambient. Kampala Unit trumpet player and first-time singer, Florence, rolls a thick melodic texture through the organic clicks, knocks and atmospherics of “Bae Tasanze”. Jahcity’s unique lyricism combines a personal take on traditional music and soulful-reggae with a jerky, wobbly collection of drops and donks.

Meanwhile, Ecko Bazz applies his grimey vocals and rhythmic, introspective words to lead single ‘Ntabala (Rolex Riddim) at a particularly pertinent moment of self-reflection. “I was trying to listen to the voice inside myself and wanted to achieve a higher level of understanding of things, life,” he says about the themes that he felt inspired to explore with Trabucchi at the recording desk. The accompanying video, shot on a rooftop in the Kampala neighborhood of Ggaba, is one of a series of slick and high-definition films complementing each one of the KIKOMMANDO tracks. These also include contributions from Ugandan emcee and key Hakuna Kulala member Biga Yut, don dada of the GabaGaza gang Swordman Kitala (with Omutaba on percussion) and South Sudanese poet and singer Winnie Lado.

Also accompanying a ‘visual mixtape’ of moving images for each song on KIKOMMANDO is a recording diary of sorts, where Trabucchi compiles a vibrant collection of pictures, colours and textures reflecting the its heterogeneous sonic palette into a book. Together this multifaceted, interdisciplinary project showcases, what Lamin Fofana’s liner notes describe as, “amazing originality, complexity”, while “embracing dissonance”.

Trabucchi’s personal take on a kind of ‘digital dancehall’ defined the sound of his ground-breaking rumination on Italy’s colonial history on debut STILL album, I, in 2017. KIKOMMANDO is a different proposition entirely, where he finds new ways to complement the personality and skills of its contributors sprung from a constant stream of visitors arriving at the Nyege Nyege Villa’s makeshift studio. “It was a dialogue,” stresses Trabucchi, who has always preferred collaboration as a means to escape branded and stereotypical identities, while creating something new. “I created the musical platform to make the singers confident, and challenged them at the same time. Working together accelerates ideas and reveals that nothing is your invention alone. That’s why KIKOMMANDO is a mixtape to me, and not an album.”

The mixtape is mastered by Rashad Becker, featuring artwork by NMR. Tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, 11 & 12 mixed by Ville Haimala. Tracks 5, 6 & 8 mixed by Lorenzo Dal Ri.

@hakunakulala

KIKOMMANDO

STILL, Jahcity - Tukikole Nawe feat. Omutaba (PAN 124 / HK029)

Below the deck, where shadows loom,
No life rafts left, just silent doom.
Unnecessary stress, it weighs us down,
Indecisive hearts in the sea’s dark frown.
Time to leap, with hope so thin,
Sink or swim, let the test begin.
-Say your prayers to the night’s cold breath,
In the deep, where whispers flirt with death.
A deep breath in, the water’s cold embrace,
A moment frozen, fear etched on each face.
In you plunge, the world a silent blur,
Below, the depths of dreams that were.
-Flashes of life, like lightning's strike,
Of coulda, woulda, shoulda’s spike.
Memories like shards of broken glass,
Strife-filled days, reflections of the past.
The looking glass shows paths untread,
Choices unmade, words unsaid.
-Yet in the murk, a glimmer bright,
A spark of hope, a guiding light.
The water’s grip, a cold, tight vice,
But in the heart, a fire twice.
Embrace the now, let fear dissolve,
In the chaos, let strength evolve.
-Waves crash hard, a symphony wild,
But in the storm, the soul beguiled.
Rise above the churning sea,
Break the chains, set spirit free.
For in the depths, a strength anew,
A journey starts, with skies so blue.
-Sink or swim, a fate to steer,
Face the waves, shed every tear.
In the vast, where dreams can soar,
Find your way to a distant shore.
Embrace the fight, let courage sing,
In the heart, a phoenix spring.
-Below the deck, where darkness fades,
Hope emerges, light invades.
Through the strife, a path unfolds,
A story of resilience bold.
Sink or swim, the choice so clear,
Navigate the depths, persevere.

Below The Deck

Everything going wrong at the same time.
Vultures ascend over digital scree wi’in sight of garbage dump.
Opportunistic loops-not-loops hack into your credit card but it’s fine.
Like the batteries in a synthesizer about to die, but it was broken anyway, so <kein Ahnung>, duckie.
Diagrams of ascent/descent, planes over Heathrow/Tegel/JFK/other airports are available.
Organisms, microscopic, enlarged, burrow, through, telephone, cables, even, now.
The iterative combat of every day life and other over-dramatic crescendos.
How it feels to be interrogated, and maybe you like to be interrogated, and maybe that is okay too.
Endless pantomime of analogue collapsing/machinery bimbedying around.
Sound of eleven sugar-fuelled children bouncing on a bouncy castle with no adults supervising.
End.

EVOL - Do These Eleven ('Do These' P!?027)

The latest release on Tobago Tracks sees Berlin-based producer
Alobhe deliver four blistering cuts of forward thinking club
music.

State Space encapsulates the paranoia and angst felt in an
increasingly polarised world, typified by feelings of helplessness.
The EP spans four sonically diverse pieces, opening with ‘State
Space Conversion’, which introduces Alobhe’s visceral and direct
aesthetic.

While ostensibly lo-fi, tracks such as ‘Numb’ and ‘Reload’ contain
elements of progressive experimentation that challenge the
perception of conventional lo-fi hardware based club music.
Numb’s nauseating warped sample over a solemn distorted
electric guitar dirge epitomises the lack of agency felt whilst
voyeuristically consuming the spectacle of the modern world.
These themes are continued in ‘Reload’, where out of sync drums
and lead loosely give the track shape, implode briefly, and then
reassert themselves, further adding to this sense of unease.
With an enigmatic online presence and little to go by outside of
her moniker, Alobhe has created a jarring fusion of electro, black
metal, techno and sample based experimentation.

State Space is available across all platforms the 10th of November.

State Space

Alobhe - Numb

​​Early June 2019 Frankfurt based Label MMODEMM unleashes DRUMS, their second vinyl release after MDM01 (feat. Privacy, Chinaski, Dj Slyngshot, Nick Klein, Umberto) and several different cassette formats such as Machine Woman’s residency tape (conclusion of a series of 3 weeks studioresidencies at Mousonturm Frankfurt) or their "cassingle box“ edition of five 5 minute tapes MDM A - MDM J.
​​
​​DRUMS is the first of a series of compilations following the concept of signature sounds – an hommage to soundlibraries, a deconstruction of your favorite preset soundgroups. It is to be complemented by the later releases BELLS , VOICES and SLAPBASS.
​​
​​DRUMS is featuring a proggy composition by Macadam Mambo´s EVA GEIST, a jacking hi hat inferno with agitating spanish lyrics by CIENFUEGOS, known thru his releases on L.I.E.S., a dancefloor drumsolo straight out of >Ireland by LUMIGRAPH, who was already featured on MMODEMMs MDM E box and should be known from his Opal Tapes and Mr. Saturday Night releases a few years ago. PEDER MANNERFELT delivers a trippy, drunk masterclass drumlesson, taking house apart with his "Dumb Drums".

DRUMS

Peder Mannerfelt - Dumb Drums

@cazeria-cazador presents the debut EP ('El Silencio De Los Que Hablan') of Humedad, a Venice-based musician whose previous work has involved composing for orchestras and string sections. 

Opening track 'Distance' is an affecting epic, that builds emotional through a reverb-soaked opening before collapsing into more experimental territory with seismic breakdowns and a drilled melody punctuating through the airy backing.

Out in August via Bandcamp: https://cazeriacazadorrecords.bandcamp.com/

More exclusive music

Premiere: Humedad 'Distance'

AIRE returns to Glacial Industries following his well received JMA project. 

Since his last outing AIRE has been crafting his live show, an AV spectacular which debuted at Barcelona's LOOM Festival this year.

AIRE has also been becoming a growing presence in Barcelona and beyond both in the club and on stage with his Spanish Mafia crew with a number of live outings including an Off Sonar show.

SOPHIA is a heady, synth driven club banger which showcases another side of AIRE. 

SOPHIA drops worldwide via Glacial Industries on 13/12/2019.

SOPHIA

AIRE - SOPHIA

CNDSD -  Exhale Azala

Kyndige Hænder - Alvilda

Taken from the album 'Drug of Choice' out 12/02/21.

Order: https://alterstock.org/product/drug-of-choice/

Cube - Neighbor (ALT63)

JEROME Mixfile #671 - Sprælle

https://soundcloud.com/spraelle
https://www.instagram.com/spraelle/

JEROME Mixfile #671 - Sprælle

Label based in Berlin, est. 2008. http://www.p-a-n.org