speak all voices

Cellist/composer Clarice Jensen returns with her third album, ‘Esthesis’, a deep and gorgeous new work conceptually structured around the emotional and harmonic spectrum and the phenomenon of chromesthesia – a condition whereby sound involuntarily evokes an experience of color, shape and movement. 

Following up her critically-acclaimed 2020 LP ‘The experience of repetition as death’ (a record almost presciently timed to arrive as Covid first hit), ‘Esthesis’ sees Jensen expanding her oeuvre, introducing a wider instrumental range, and reflecting on the effects of isolation. Recorded by Jensen in upstate NY and expertly mixed by Francesco Donadello, the record was mastered by Matthew Agoglia and is released on October 21st, ahead of a UK/EU tour supporting 130701 alumni Dustin O’Halloran.

Esthesis

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Disliking - Clarice Jensen

In Pursuit of Phantoms

PBT (The Pursuit of Phantoms)

Sisel, will you tie me up and get me high
Your ropey finger that you wrap me around
I've tender skin; don't cut me, don't burn me, don't tempt me
with filling me up when i thought i was on empty
Sisel got me thinkin' along your lines and your curves
I need no encouragement to have an accident with my cup of blood
and the hardwood kitchen floor

But I'll cook for two vampires if you open that there door 

Sisel got me thinkin' along your lines and your curves
Untie me and I'll run my hands along them
I'll need no constraints on the Thameslink train if I'm to do my work on the way to you, and back
If I'm not too high on sisel juice

Sisel

MBE009 CHRISTOS CHONDROPOULOS - CHANTS & SONGS

Recalling the first issue of Trance Mediterranea, MBE series is presenting “Chants & Songs” an outstanding long recording on greek folk music selected and recorded by Christos Chondropoulos.

Christos Chondropoulos is a percussionist and an electronic music producer from Athens, for the MBE009 he recorded a 60mins mixtape with a focus on side A on greek folk chants from Epirus (his homeland) and Northern Greece, while on side B he moves on a more rhythmic side of folk music from the same geographic area.
Polyphonic chants, trancy bagpipes, cadence tambourines evoking practically all aspects of life, childhood, marriage, mourning for the dead, pastoral life or historical events.

A mesmerizing work of excavation on the Mediterranean Sea popular culture.

Music selected and recorded by Christos Chondropoulos
Curated by Giovanni Napolano

SONGS - SIDE B

Stockholm-based composer Shida Shahabi returns with her sophomore album, ‘Living Circle’ - a wonderfully rich and accomplished new work that resonates with a powerful depth and viscerality. Where the warm, homespun piano of her 2018 debut, ‘Homes’, drew widespread praise and announced her arrival as a bold new voice, ‘Living Circle’ sees the artist pushing forwards into deeper, more expansive sonic realms. With tracks stretching longer and slower, and her piano lines less ornate and dominant, ‘Living Circle’ is a heavyweight album and a must-hear for fans of Stars Of The Lid, Sarah Davachi, Max Richter, Labradford, etc.

The LP is released via FatCat’s 130701 imprint on June 23rd on vinyl, CD and digital formats.

Living Circle

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Shida Shahabi - Deep Violet Of Gold

A / B

Klara Lewis’ latest offering is undoubtedly a heartfelt tribute to her friend, mentor and former label boss, Peter Rehberg. 

The opening track Thankful resides as a direct tribute to the track recorded under his PITA moniker, the timeless ‘Track 3’. A track of which the impact has been vast and deep, still rattling the walls of the now enormous worldwide experimental electronic scene. Countless new youth carve and project wildly distorted melodic digital matter which all falls back with a knowing or unknowing wink back to this original ground zero monster. Klara’s take on this is one that resides as a tribute to Rehberg with a cascading emotional melody gradually succumbing to a euphoric digital abyss. Thankful also comes across as a farewell gesture to her deceased friend with its beautiful, almost funerale tone. The abrupt ending is not only a method Rehberg would have relished but also a signifier of a life suddenly cut short. 

Lewis was 21 when her first album Ett was released by Editions Mego in 2014. Now at 31 years of age Editions Mego is very proud to present Thankful, a profoundly mature and emotional peak in Lewis’ career thus far.

The track Ukulele 1 is another tender tribute within an album made by a human, utilising contemporary technology with absolute sincerity, surprise twists and sublime emotion. The sound of the instrument in the title gently loops and deconstructs in a recording replete with the sound of the room it is recorded in. A human element appears at exactly the point an increasingly inhuman approach is becoming the forced raison d'etre today. Top!

One of Peter’s many repeated phrases was the word ‘top’. One he used at any occasion to agree with a vast array of subjects. With this musical tribute to Rehberg’s favourite phrase, Lewis conjures a short blast of mutant acid techno which shrivels and thrives as much as it lives and dies. 

Following Top we have the reflective and deeply moving 4U. No words. Just sounds. As it was. And lives on. 

Ukulele 2 sits at the end, as an epilogue of sorts, fashioning itself as an ouroboros with the return of the initial methodology of the previous track Thankful (track 3 tribute). This time around the sublime melody of the previous Ukulele 1 plays out in returnal as it is gently swarmed by all manner of digital play. 

Thankful is an emotionally considered and precise homage to the methodology and spirit of Peter Rehberg. A new work which inhabits the spirit for what this was written for and the general guise devised with the launch of the original MEGO label many moons ago.

PBT (The Pursuit of Phantoms)

Wota Pawa

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