Porsche Majeure - Regenesis

Porsche Majeure (Maps Remix)

The Great Oxidation EP

Olivine

recorded live dj set from todd hyman
8/26/21 @ The Black Cat (Washington, D.C)
Opening for Cloud Nothings

material "secret life"
dexter "i don't care"
wasserman "WIR"
cylob "rewind"
girls on top "being scrubbed"
lassigue bendthaus "angie"
sparks "no 1 song in heaven"
52nd street "can't afford to let you go"
tuxedomoon "no tears"
casino versus japan "it's very sunny"

DJ Todd @ The Black Cat (DC) // 8/26/21

Buy the 2LP/CD/Digital album: https://orcd.co/atakoramanu

BBE Music celebrates the centenary of recorded Ghana Highlife music with a double album reissue of two rare 80s LPs recorded by the late Atakora Manu, AFRO HIGHLIFE and OMINTIMINIM.

Born in Toase, Ghana, a proud Asante, Atakoras musical talent made itself clear from an early age. But it wasn’t until his late teens that he put that talent to use as a performer, first founding the legendary Princess Trio from 1961 till 1963 with drummer Togas and multi-instrumentalist Elder Osei Bonsu.

After a spell from 1963 till 1966 as guitarist with the United Ghana Farmers’ Council Drama Troupe, Manu teamed up with Moses Kweku Oppong to form the legendary Kakaiku No. 2 Band, producing a string of national hit singles over the following three or four years.

There followed a three year break from music until fate struck: Atakora found a job in 1973 as Recording Studio Attendant- and later recording engineer- at Ambassador RecordingStudios in Kumasi, at that time the country’s largest independent label.

On seeing his musical talents behind the studio desk, it wasn’t long before the boss suggested to Manu that he get back to making music himself, an opportunity that he was quick to take up – as will be more than apparent from the hardcore, rootsy Highlife and palmwine selections reissued here.

As well as long-time associates Togas and Elder Bonsei, local Kumasi legends CK Mensah, Amoako Agyeman, Agyei Kyeremanteng (of the famous Keyeremanteng All Stars), and Atta Fofie lent a hand from time to time, along with a handful of other seasoned Ambassador studio session players.

THE MUSIC

A unique selling point here is the mix of vintage, rootsy ‘palmwine’ blues-style guitar Highlife with quirky keyboard electronics, a sound well-established today but revolutionary in the comparatively conservative world of 70s and 80s Highlife. This comes across beautifully in Dada and Cape Coast Cousin, the latter toasting off guitar licks with bubbling wah wah organ.

We find a similar juxtaposition in Asante Kotoko, a shout-out to Kumasi’s champion soccer team, which also features some sweet ‘village’ drumming, and in Meka A Ensa.

But Atakora doesn’t forget the essential role of brass and woodwind in quality Highlife, as can be heard in Super Otete Impomamu, with its twin-sax punctuating riffs, and in the ‘mambo’ sections of the dancefloor killer Osebo Anyami Ankyemi. Atakora Manu passed away in 2015 but left an abundance of beautiful music. This double-album reissue is a long-overdue tip of the hat to one of Highlife’s more underrated stars-universally respected by fellow musicians but still to be properly rediscovered by a new generation of Highlife fans.

Omintiminim/Afro Highlife

Atakora Manu - Cape Coast Cousin

We are delighted to premiere the soothing and hypnotic sounds of "Manyanet", the second single to be lifted from Venezuelan singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Isaac Sasson's forthcoming 'Canciones de Isaac' album on Olindo Records.

“Manyanet” is a sonic postcard dedicated to the small town of the same name in the Catalan Pyrenees, which inspired Isaac through its landscapes and sounds. It was one of the first songs Isaac wrote and recorded in Barcelona, Spain following his move from Venezuela, and contains a mixture of field recordings captured during his visit, juxtaposed with the sounds of Caracas during a rainy afternoon.

Due for release in January next year, the intimately titled album, ‘Canciones de Isaac’, summons the sounds of the wind, birds, crickets, fallen leaves and the atmosphere of both Caracas by night, and daytime walks through the meadows of the Pyrenees, to create a parallel universe between Isaac’s home country of Venezuela, and his current place of residence in Barcelona, Spain. 

Throughout the LP, Isaac’s gentle voice is accompanied by the traditional bandola llanera, charango and cuatro; various percussion and wind instruments; and carefully arranged strings. The 13 songs on the album develop a narrative built around personal stories that touch upon human emotions, family ties and friendships, to craft a collection of sonic postcards that evoke memories, places, travels and moments spent with loved ones during the musician’s journey between two continents.

"Manyanet" is released on Wenesday, 8th of December on Olindo Records, and will be available on all streaming platforms, or download via Bandcamp, where the album can also be previewed and pre-order on vinyl, CD and/or digital formats, with limited additional merch.

Exclusive Premiere: Isaac Sasson "Manyanet" (Forthcoming on Olindo Records)

Tellus

Action & Tension & Space - Chromosomes

Andy Votel - Randomonium Radio Show NTS

Back in 1968 a pair of Germanic behind-the-scenes sound librarians called Horst Ackermann and Heribert Thusek left a tiny, but indelible, pinprick on the history of German pop in the misshaped form of a sexy horror cash-in concept album called Dracula’s Music Cabinet. Shelved at a micro-cosmic axis where Krautrock meets lesbian vampire Horrortica and easy listening meets psychedelia the delayed reaction of this mutant concoction eventually exploded in the mid-1990s in the hands of a generation of ‘record diggers’ sending currency- crushing tremors through the wallets of mods, rockers, hip hoppers, psych nuts and kraut kompletists around the plastic-pillaging planet. The vinyl junkies had resurrected a monster, but, like addicts do, they ravenously sucked it dry and moved on looking for the next fix to feed their habit.

Luckily for some, Ackermann and Thusek were also creatures of habit. And it wouldn’t take a genius to figure out that they were holding the next dose, but by the turn of the millennium the mad scientists had been given a thirty-five-year head start on the pop archeologists and their mythical sequel was literally light-years ahead of their previous draconian installment… Encouragingly the unclosed cabinet left a shiny white clue in the form of it’s closing track Frankenstein Meets Alpha 7… Perhaps space was the place.

Always read the label. The Ackermann and Thusek duo were far from dynamic. They were undercover agents hiding behind user-friendly mock-rock monikers and, like most B-Musicians, the only way to sniff them out would be to read the small print. But when an unidentified record on an unknown label with a title like Science Fiction Dance Partycrops up in the Eins Deutschmark crates it’s not exactly rocket science – although the track titles might suggest otherwise. The End Of A Robot, Monster On Saturn 1, Galactic Adventures Of The Outer Space Fleet , The Whistling Astronauts, Death Rays Out Of The Universe… The telltale signs are all there and if that vintage psycoplasmodic coloured vinyl didn’t clench the deal then what will. When rumours about a space age follow-up to Dracula’s Music Cabinet hit the straße Deutsche-o-phile diggers fingers started twitching nervously.

www.finderskeepersrecords.com

Science Fiction Dance Party

Science Fiction Corporation - Man Out Of A Test Tube

Gravity

Endless

Dreamtone Reflections is a journey inward and outward at once — born from the shimmering resonance of Tibetan singing bowls, woven with electric guitar, bass, drums, and organ. The tones open a path like stepping stones across water, leading into dreamscapes where sound becomes light, and light becomes reflection. This piece is both meditation and motion: a groove-driven passage into transcendence, carried on waves of harmony and rhythm. Main guitar part played on the Fender Stratocaster. E-bow parts played on the Gibson Les Paul.

Credits:
•	Tibetan singing bowls, electric guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, E-bow: Dan Hancock
•	Recorded, mixed, and produced by Dan Hancock
•	Artwork: Dan Hancock and Midjourney AI

Dreamtone Reflections

a record label dedicated to release work by the most adventurous and creative norwegian artists and composers

Action & Tension & Space - Chromosomes

Rune Grammofon

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