New Arrivals / Last week
It Could / If I
A joint release from US label Astral Spirits (Austin, Texas) and Thanatosis Produktion (Stockholm), It could / If I is the first album from Stockholm-based, longstanding duo Johan Jutterström (saxophone) and Alex Zethson (piano). In addition to the duo’s own reimaginations of a few so-called jazz standards, it contains songs by artists such as Leonard Cohen, Pet Shop Boys, John Lurie, and German 19th century composer Alexander Fesca.
"On this record what tunes are played somehow matters less tha…
Kalpa
Kommun, led by Swedish guitarist Finn Loxbo, resides in the tension between the experience of circular time; an elongated now, and the expectations contained within our linear perception of time. The ensemble explores the tension between the individual’s own lines and the collective meaning-making. Every sound is equally important, concrete in itself, as much a building block as a decoration. The ensemble collectively improvises phrases that are formed together as a singular element. They are di…
Anasýnthesi
Herzog | Muche | Nillesen is a trio featuring Matthias Muche (trombone), Etienne Nillesen (extended snare drum), and Constantin Herzog (double bass). Their music operates in the liminal space between improvisation and composition, where shifting textures and microtonal structures unfold in slow- motion transformations. Drawing on minimalist, spectral, and extended instrumental techniques, their sound is less about individual gestures and more about emergent sonic phenomena— where the interplay o…
Fuse Modulations
Composed by Fredrik Rasten for the quartet Asterales, the long form piece Fuse Modulations unfolds through a series of modulations in extended just intonation harmony. With a deep collective attention to real-time intoning on their instruments, the quartet dwells in sustained timbral fusion and slowly sculpted melodies; shaping the tetradic harmony of the piece into a spectral unity of tactile brightness and spacious bass. In a state between long-form minimalism and an imagined or slowed down ea…
Là
Là is an immersive, politically charged sound journey – a lament for the Al Naqab desert in Palestine. It is the result of a collaboration between Sirah Foighel Brutmann, Eitan Efrat, Laszlo Umbreit, and Ot Lemmens. The album combines acoustic instruments like flute and cymbals with processed electronics and mechanical sounds.
The track Ensemble is made from sound recordings of eleven 16mm film projectors, playing simultaneously and in intervals, creating a texture centered around a single pitch…
On a Tuesday and a Wednesday
*200 copies limited edition* Blickwinkel presents ‘On a Tuesday and a Wednesday’, the first collaboration between Pierre Bastien and Casper Van De Velde. The album captures what the duo has been working on during a 2-day residency at Werkplaats Walter (Brussels), invited by the label. In their improvised sessions, they quickly found a way to merge Bastien's renowned mechanical sound sculptures with the playful and detailed style of percussionist Casper Van De Velde. The result is a blend of intr…
Orchid Alto
*100 copies limited edition* Belgian musician and filmmaker Jef Mertens has been an active force in the experimental music and film scene for nearly two decades. Known for his documentaries on artists like Sonic Youth and Borbetomagus, as well as his work with the now-defunct Dadaist Tapes label, Mertens continues to push the boundaries of sound exploration. His previous solo works include NO MATHEMATICS, released on KRAAK/Feeding Tube Records.With Orchid Alto, Mertens dedicates himself to the t…
É Soul Edits
Kicking off a new edit series on É Soul Cultura, head honcho Luke Una hands over the keys to three secret weapon edits of transcendental dancefloor tackle. Having spent a lifetime getting his hands dirty digging in crates, Luke’s collection of off-the-beaten-track gems is second to none. For this three-track É Soul edit release, Luke delivers a one-way ticket to the outer reaches of the universe soaking up sounds from Barbados, the UK and Cameroon along the way. Strap in for a triple threat of s…
Gabriele Poso Presents: Ritmo Italiano 'Unspoken Sounds Of Italian Tamburo'
Mr Bongo proudly presents Ritmo Italiano ‘Unspoken Sounds of Italian Tamburo’ a captivating compilation of percussive-driven, Italian gems curated by Sardinian multi-instrumentalist, percussionist and producer, Gabriele Poso. A journey into the heart of Italian musical history, it celebrates Italy’s rich rhythmic traditions, showcasing a selection of genre-traversing, Italian treasures from the ‘60s to the early ‘90s. Honouring the timeless rhythms of Italian percussion masters, alongside a bran…
Mine Is the Heron
“Mine is the Heron” is the new Tom James Scott record, the first document of his solo work since 2017. Over the past decade, the UK-based composer has released a diverse body of recordings via labels such as Bo’Weavil, Carnivals, Where To Now?, and his own impeccably curated Skire imprint.
Still Lives
2022 repress, 200 copies * “Still Lives” is the third solo full length by the Finnish composer Marja Ahti, following a pair of releases on the Hallow Ground imprint. As a collection, it may be seen as a series of studies on the liminality of the listening act and an investigation into the physicality of sound. Ahti forges vivid electroacoustic environments from field recordings, analog synthesizers, acoustic feedback, magnetic tape and digital processing, resulting in a set of articulate, prickl…
No Language
*300 copies limited edition* Recorded in early 2015 and originally released as a micro edition cassette on World News Records, No Language is the debut collection of songs by Melbourne's Caroline No. The group's unique, beguiling sound sits somewhere between archetypal Dunedin pop and languorous, textural improvisation. No Language was spontaneously recorded with one microphone and the serendipity of the session proves tactile in the listening experience. Heavily reverbed laughter, coughing, fit…
Kaivajaiset
*300 copies limited edition* Students of Decay presents "Kaivajaiset" by Finnish composer Niko-Matti Ahti. Best known for his work alongside his partner Marja as Ahti & Ahti, Niko-Matti has been an active participant in the Finnish underground since the late 1990s. "Kaivajaiset" is his first solo recording and was originally conceived of as an installation. Part horspiel, part musique concrete, it is a piece of music that draws comparisons to the work of pioneering avant-garde composers such as …
Continental
**300 copies** Continental is the new full-length solo record by Milan-based multi-instrumentalist Nicola Ratti, following recent releases on Where to Now? and Room40. Conceived of by Ratti as a "series of big rooms or places to get lost in, full of small details and characterized each by a single flavor or perfume", it is a surprising and vibrant collection of music. Working with a palette of spare, expertly deployed percussive synthesis techniques, Ratti's work here is both labyrinthine and co…
Koko Maailma
*300 copies limited edition *Since the late aughts, Helsinki-based multi-instrumentalist, linguist, and skateboarder Olli Aarni has released a steady stream of diverse and remarkably consistent recordings via labels such as Mappa, Longform Editions, Cotton Goods, Laaps and Superpang. “Koko Maailma” constitutes a major new work in his discography, finding a fertile middle ground between what might be understood as his two primary compositional modes: organic/chaotic/aleatoric music and rule-based…
Chênes
Huge Tip! *300 copies limited edition* With Chênes, Roxane Métayer invites us into a world where the boundaries between the natural and the imagined dissolve, and every song becomes a living tableau. Composed over two to three years, the album gathers a suite of narrative pieces—each a vivid snapshot of life among forests, city corners, and mountain paths, but always told through the voices of animals and plants. Here, insects, amphibians, birds, and mammals are not just subjects but protagonist…
Top Natural Drum
Following releases on West Mineral and Lillerne Tapes, Iggy Romeu’s inimitable Mister Water Wet project makes its Soda Gong debut. “Top Natural Drum” feels like a double entendre ode to digging culture, drawing equally from the plantlife in the dirt and the grooves in the stacks. Tracks like opener “Soak” concoct a haze of resonant ceramic/wooden percs, skittering drum programming, and addictive yet diffuse melodic and harmonic textures. Dusty-fingered nodders like “Caged at Last”, “Classicfit,”…
Patience
*300 copies limited edition* Patience is the debut full-length album by Sante Fe-based artist Theodore Cale Schafer. Alternately murky and narcoleptic and bristling with grit and light, this collection of eight pieces is a delicate play of contrasts. Impressionistic settings unfurl with an unhurried gait, opening with the dream-like disorientation of "Gold Chain" in which a degraded location recording gives way to a soft web of treated piano motifs. Schafer's compositions are sumptuous yet unfus…
Alphane Moods
Australia-based musician Mark Gomes presents the debut full length under his own name for Soda Gong. “Alphane Moods” finds Gomes employing strategies that will be familiar to listeners of his work as Blue Chemise– elegiac, loop-based modes of composition and a predilection for concise etude forms– that manifest here with a strikingly different scope and intent, shifting from expressive abstraction into more conceptual terrain. Over the course of fourteen widescreen tracks, he navigates the gap b…
Support Surfaces
**Edition of 300 copies, die-cut sleeve, gloss laminate finish** Soda Gong presents “Support Surfaces,” the new record by Alexi Baris, a musician hailing from Vancouver, British Columbia. Baris’ methods are patient and deceptively rigorous, trading in sonics that are at once organized and organic. Synthetic and acoustic elements are presented in sonorous states of perpetual flux, carefully amalgamated into structures of fertile ambiguity. His is a diligent and painterly approach to sound design …