from the album "Uto'Pians vol.2"
#pianoday2021

Midori Hirano Keep Shining

London-based keyboardist/producer Dan Nicholls (of Y-OTIS) introduces a new album project ‘Mattering And Meaning’ to be released by We Jazz Records on August 13th. Nicholls' music uses acoustic piano as its key element, transporting the instrument into new territories that sound remarkably natural and organic, whilst displaying a strong kinship with the world of abstract electronic music. The music utilises piano loops and field recordings as its key elements, forming what might be described on the surface as a fascinating ambient jazz record – but at the same time there's so much more at play here on deeper levels. Dan's music sounds at once otherworldly and immensely inviting.

With its uncanny landscape of fine sand drifts, juniper fields and pine, the ancient Beerze forest in the North-East of the Netherlands is a site of many unusual convergences of human and other than human stories. 'Papa' continues to unravel the threads of a deep artistic collaboration and kinship between pianist and producer Dan Nicholls and the Dutch filmmaker and anthropologist Louise Boer. These fuzzily collaged images and sounds represent a common love for finding the in-between places in which ideas can find deeper roots, channeled here through a dreamlike world which holds within it the location in which Louise’s father, Henk Boer, found his final resting place.

Mattering and Meaning

Exclusive Premiere: Dan Nicholls "Papa" (We Jazz Records)

Twin Cosmos’ – ‘Double Action’ is a conceptual album by Japanese twins released in 1982, with each brother contributing to one side of the LP in a Yin & Yang approach. Side A, recorded by Morihito sounds like something that Brian Wilson might have created in the early 1980’s, after visiting Brazil and learning Japanese. In Contrast Side B, recorded by Yasuhito is a darker self-reflective and experimental work that mirrors his time living in NY & LA during the late ‘70’s and sounds like something Lou Reed might have made while going gown a David Lynch spiral.

https://twincosmos.bandcamp.com/album/double-action

https://www.discogs.com/release/24389402-Twin-Cosmos-Double-Action

Double Action

LosAngeles City

Derby's Dose

oMo (Man)

Experimentations Rc505

iridescent

Mengi

The Swiss trio divr debuts on We Jazz on 2 February with their new album "Is This Water". divr is Philipp Eden on keys, Jonas Ruther on drums and Raphael Walser on bass, and they play largely acoustic improvisations which loops without ever quite repeating. Their music swings, but never feels like it’s doing so in response to a fixed, single pulse. The new album is edited by Dan Nicholls (of Y-OTIS).

“We play in multi-directional time. You could hear three different timings, but on the other hand it’s together. We land in the same place. It’s not done with maths, it’s more about entering a flow”, say the band members, based in Basel (Eden) and Zurich (Ruther, Walser), the city where they all met more than 15 years ago.

“It’s a free approach to playing time. We don’t refer to a straight metre. But play around it. We never repeat something exactly, it develops with every turn, there’s always a small difference.”

Their music is elegant in its intricacy while covering a wide dynamic range. Opener "As Of Now" begins with languid chords on the piano, bass and drums skimming over the surface offered by Eden. Later comes a rush of energy, the piano briefly switching into more jagged terrain before peeling back. From there the album journeys through different intensities, rising and falling in smooth arcs as if you’re hearing their conversation move from gentle pleasantries to more heated discussions.

"Is this Water" presents a band who's heading into a direction of their own, crafting pieces out of improvising together and tapping into a natural brand of instant composition. Nicholls' edits and post production give the music another layer, one drawing from field recordings and layered textural ideas. Together, the elements form a sound that feels personal, organic and forward-reaching at the same time.

As Of Now

~ LAAPS 035 ~ [SEQ.05 - LP35]

artist : Masaya Ozaki
album : Mizukara
duration : 43.48 mn
date : April 29th, 2024

edition :
-  vinyl : limited to 250 copies / total clear LP / selective UV varnish / hand numbered 
- cd : limited to 150 copies / pantone / hand numbered + handcrafted, sealed

----------------------------------------------------------------
pre-order : April 05th, 2024 / official release : April 29th, 2024
----------------------------------------------------------------

Composed and produced by Masaya Ozaki
In collaboration with: 
Ferdinand Ledoux: concepts (Evening Regions)
Stijn Brinkman: violin and field recordings (Evening regions)
Eyrún Úa: Flute and objects (Opið Rými)
Lindy Lin: voice, poem, and electronics (Siskin) 
Asalaus: guitar, voice and electronics (Frá Vatni)
Guomundur Arnalds: electronics (Skerpla)

Recorded in Reykjavík, Iceland, between 2023 and 2024

Mastered by Taylor Deupree
Artwork by Jenni Toivonen
Design by Sprflxgrfzm
 
----------------------------------------------------------------

Links :
https://laaps.bandcamp.com/music
https://www.instagram.com/iikki_laaps/
https://www.masayaozaki.com/
https://masayaozaki.bandcamp.com/music

----------------------------------------------------------------
℗ & © 2 0 2 4 - L A A P S - L A A P S 0 3 5

Mizukara

Masaya Ozaki - Skerpla

Mystery 秘神

Label from Helsinki. http://wejazzrecords.bandcamp.com

As Of Now

We Jazz

Recent comments

Sonic Deadhorse

joerxworx

Related tracks