Cercle 2K19

The cult of Multi Culti expands it’s horizons to include Nicola Cruz, backed by remixes from Xanga and L_cio.

Nicola Cruz’s music beautifully invokes the landscapes and rituals of his homeland, Ecuador, a country that contains both the majestic Andes mountains and the mighty Amazon jungle.  His sound is an amalgamation of folkloric traditions and ancestral mythologies, crafted with fine detail and slick production techniques. 

In 2012 Nicola collaborated with Nicolas Jaar on Clown & Sunset, and has since worked towards his debut album on ZZK Records.
Between past and present, traditional and modern, Nicola fits into a growing scene of South American artists exploring local indigenous and Afro-cosmologies, among fellow artists and ZZK label-mates like Chancha Via Circuito. 

For his debut on Multi Culti, Nicola has created Mantis, and it is arguably his most accomplished club record to date, a 105bpm tribal chugger that flexes shamanic authority over hearts and minds. Invocacion goes even deeper into the new, new age, presenting traditional instrumentation and mysticism in a modern framework. Australia’s Xanga joins in with a super lively, rhythmic remix that is as joyful as it is deep. Finally, Brazil’s L_cio presents a version that strips things down for club play, upping the tempo while keeping the characteristic flavour of the flute.

Buy on iTunes

Nicola Cruz - Mantis

Loleatta

Hit and Run

Sell My Soul

I Need You

Grandmaster Flash Presents: Salsoul Jam 2000

Ooh I Love It (Love Break) [Shep Pettibone 12" Remix]

Taken from 'Ihunke' [Pingipung 60]. 
Order vinyl (2LP) or digital files: umekoando.bandcamp.com/album/ihunke
'Ihunke' has been released on CD only in Japan in 2001 and is now available on vinyl for the first time, finally!

Umeko Ando (1932-2004) was a folk singer from Japan. She was a representative of the Ainu culture on the Hokkaido Island in the north of Japan.

After over a hundred years of forced assimilation and discriminatory policies, in 2008, the Japanese government finally recognized Ainu as an indigenous people of Japan. These policies eroded the identity and sense of worth of Ainu people, confiscated their homelands, and caused considerable suffering over several generations. Unfortunately, oppression and assimilation in Japan's
recent history was catastrophic to the ethnic preservation of the Ainu, and their culture suffered extremely as a result. Finding artefacts of Ainu music is rare in the first place, but Ando did quite a lot throughout her life to preserve it. This record is an example of how their music has been passed on through generations in the oppressed, underground Ainu communities. It deserves a huge audience.
Upcoming remixes by Nicola Cruz, Gama, Dreems, DJ Ground, M.RUX, El Búho, Mark Peters, Andi Otto, KayTV, Patric Catani, Peter Presto, RLHBSLCN.

© 2018 Pingipung / Chikar Studio

Ihunke

Battaki

Buy 2LP / DL

Umeko Ando - Battaki

I Lost My Poncho In Istanbul is proud to present to you a fresh selection of bomb tracks from Ecuadorian mastermind Nicola Cruz and the Brazilian label honcho Pigmalião. The new release ILPI003 exposes identities from both artists in their pursuit of representing South American references comprised by local expressions mixed with afro rhythms exploited in a more obscure, avant-garde and electronic intended soundscapes.

On side-A, Nicola Cruz tracks Apnea and Marea blend dembow and soca rhythms with modular music, leaving space for these harmonics to create dance patterns. Both are a duality of ideas that have travelled across the oceans, from Africa to South America, and back, reinforcing the idea of accentuation in music, rather than the usual straight forward dance structure. These are songs that evoke a primitive feeling, crafted on a contemporary head.

On side-B, Pigmalião tracks B2 and Ocrânimo explore acid lines and syncopated rhythms for darker dance floor environments in distinct BPMs sealing a proper b-side storytelling for the release.

Credits:

Side-A: Produced by Nicola Cruz in Quito, Ecuador
Side-B: Produced by Pigmalião in Hoorn, The Netherlands
Cover Art by Juliana Lira in São Paulo, Brazil
Mastering by GS Mastering & Post in Stockholm, Sweden
Physical distribution by Bordello a Parigi in Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Digital distribution by MusicDeli in Amsterdam, The Netherlands

to follow Nicola Cruz:
www.soundcloud.com/nicolacruz
www.instagram.com/nicolacruzz/

to follow Pigmalião:
www.soundcloud.com/piglion
www.instagram.com/pigmylion/

to follow Juliana Lira
www.julianaalira.com
www.instagram.com/mizzyfk/

to follow I Lost My Poncho In Istanbul
www.soundcloud.com/ilostmyponcho

ILPI003 - Nicola Cruz / Pigmalião

Buy on Bandcamp

Nicola Cruz - Apnea

Acclaimed Ecuadorian musician Nicola Cruz releases the four-track ‘Fuego Nuevo’ EP on Optimo Music Digital Danceforce on 27 March.

Nicola Cruz’s ‘Fuego Nuevo’ EP explores rhythmic forms, inspired by Afro-Cuban percussion, cavernous acoustics and distortion. A dialogue created mainly with a 606 machine as a drum base, following different combinations of ‘claves’ as a tool for temporal organisation in these tracks.

Nicola Cruz says: “Percussion has always been my main voice, so I try to rediscover it every time, by submitting myself to different rituals when composing music. Such as warming up musical ideas as mantras for a while before I take any decision of recording.  In a way, the drums have always represented fire for me, which was the script to follow for this EP.”

@nicolacruz
facebook.com/nicolacruzz
instagram.com/nicolacruzz
@optimo-music
www.optimomusic.bandcamp.com

TRACKLIST: 

1. Levanta Muertos
2. Ripple
3. Yeva
4. Limon Pelado

Levan

PRÈMIÉRE: Nicola Cruz - Yeva (Optimo Music Digital Danceforce)

I Need You

Sylvester

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