Rhythm & Sound w/ Tikiman – What A Mistry

For the first time in more than a decade, Paul St. Hilaire (AKA Tikiman) presents a solo album – 100% Tiki. 

Over his 30-plus year career, St. Hilaire has become one of dance music’s quietly legendary figures. Born and raised in the Caribbean island Dominica, he moved to Berlin in 1994 and has lent both his voice and his musicianship to some of the most iconic electronic music from the German capital – and beyond. Renowned for his collaborations with Moritz von Oswald and Mark Ernestus (AKA Rhythm & Sound), he has also appeared on records with Deadbeat, Rhauder, Larry Heard aka Mr. Fingers and Stereotyp (G-Stone Recordings), amongst others. 

However, few know the extent of St. Hilaire’s compositional and technical mastery. From his home studio in Kreuzberg, which includes an extensive collection of vintage hardware, self-built instruments and notebooks scribbled with endless lyrics, he has created a vast archive of material spanning ambient dub, avant-jazz, lush techno and lovers rock. 

Tikiman Vol. 1 is a heady, downtempo tour de force of patois metaphors on education, displacement and personal vs. global histories, as is evident on slippy album opener “Bedroom in My Bag”: Mister, mister / Where are you going? / I’m heading for a faraway land / What are you having in the bag in your hand? / Help us to understand / He said, I’ve got my bedroom in my bag. 

Overall, the album’s lyrics reflect on life between Berlin and Dominica, specifically St. Hilaire’s hometown of Grand Bay, where he has worked with various musicians famous for the island’s different genres of carnival music. St. Hilaire himself always favoured the island’s more “discrete” music, developing a sonic synergy between two different geographical strains of groove and minimalism, and combining them with foundational Caribbean mixing techniques, which provide the basis for his songwriting and distinct baritone. 

Tikiman Vol.1 offers a rare insight into St. Hilaire’s complex artistry, from the eyes-down grooves of “Little Way” and the guitar-heavy digi dancehall experiment “Keep Safe,” to the subtle hypnosis of “Ten to One” and the softly crashing synth waves of closer “Three and a Half”, evoking not only beaches but also coasts and borders. It’s a fitting expression of both the breadth of St. Hilaire’s work, as well as his history as one of the few black, Berlin-based artists who, despite remaining largely overlooked, has influenced the city’s electronic music culture since its beginnings. 

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Kynant Records was founded in 2015 by Richard Akingbehin, a British-Nigerian radio programmer (Refuge Worldwide), music writer and DJ. Originally specialising in deep techno and featuring artists such as Cio D’Or, Terrence Dixon and Donato Dozzy, Kynant has since launched a sub-label Kynant EX which focuses on ambient, dub and experimental electronics. 

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Distributed by N.E.W.S 
Mastered by Stefan Betke 
Artwork by Grant Gibson 

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Supported by Initiative Musik gGmbH with project funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media.

D1 Paul St. Hilaire - In Door

A2 Paul St. Hilaire - Little Way

DOT 3

Child Was I (feat. Benji)

127 trauma - 75bpm

Mango Walk / Mango Drive

Mango Walk

Smile

Showcase

Ruff Way (feat. Paul St. Hilaire)

Never Tell You (1) [feat. Paul St. Hilaire]

With the Artists

Music Hit You

Beyond The Yellow Haze is the debut release by Nigerian sound and installation artist Emeka Ogboh on Ostgut Ton sublabel A-TON. Combining subtle layers of ambient electronics, dance music and field recordings from the city of Lagos, Ogboh’s compositions reflect both the Nigerian city’s soundscapes as well as the artist’s increasing immersion in electronic music since moving to Berlin six years ago.

Like his sound installation Ayilara for Berghain’s main floor in the current STUDIO BERLIN exhibition, Beyond The Yellow Haze contains a veritable atonal orchestra of honking, motors, sound systems, sidewalk sales pitches and various sonic artifacts of Lagos’s Danfo bus stations and beyond. These serve as both punctuation and swirling atmosphere within a kaleidoscope of bass and polyrhythms. The unpredictable result is at once place-specific and geographically indefinable. A city in situ – and processed in memory and rhythm very far away.

The recordings were originally included as part of Ogboh’s 2018 exhibition No Condition Is Permanent at Galerie Imane Farès and self-released as a stamped and signed artist edition. Beyond The Yellow Haze will be released on A-TON as a 2x12'' LP on black vinyl and in digital formats.

Born in 1977, Emeka Ogboh’s artistic practice focuses on ethico-poltical questions through sound, food and scent. His diverse body of work includes installation, video, photography and beer and has been featured in dokumenta14, the Venice Biennale, the Brooklyn Museum and the American National Museum of African Art, amongst others. He lives and works in Lagos and Berlin.

Beyond The Yellow Haze

Buy 2x12"

Emeka Ogboh | Danfo Mellow

Ruff Way (feat. Paul St. Hilaire)

Rhythm & Sound

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