looongplay
looongplay was born in 2022 during a Shape+ and Nextones artistic residency in Valdossola, Italy, centered around Babau's nomination as Shape+ artists 2022/23. Initially conceived as a tutorial and tongue-in-cheek artistic text conceived by Babau, looongplay was built with a playful approach to music theory exploring the research on audio, listening and improvisation of scholars and musicians such as Pauline Oliveros, Micah Silver, Jace Clayton and Jem Finer. These speculations were combined wit…
Closures
*100 copies limited edition* The opposite of closure is opening. The album Closures fractionally links back to Konspekt by mapping the condition of perception and feeling after the closure (of a certain) phase of life. Even though we’re talking about a concrete phase – the most painful loss so far – the pieces don’t revolve around it at all. What is taking place in the pieces is everything after June 2023.
– “a lively joy (from life)”– “perceiving the environment”– “the world is a beautiful plac…
Hordijk, Vol. 2
The Hordijk community has members from all over the planet and it’s a bit like a secret society; many don’t know any of the other users. After extensively trawling social media, I was delighted to find so many captivating artists dedicating their life to the sound of electrons. Just like Rob had. Not all were willing to contribute, simply because the reason they owned a Hordijk instrument had to do with its sound and quirkiness. I am glad many others contributed. This compilation presents a much…
438Hz As It Is, As You Are
*2023 stock. 200 copies limited edition (hand-numbered).* Since 2008, "438Hz As It Is, As You Are" is "only" the third solo release from Tomoyoshi Date. The last one dates from 2011. Less is more. In parallel, from 2013 to 2021, he has recorded some releases in collaborations with Toshimaru Nakamura, Ken Ikeda, Stijn Hüwels, Asuna and Federico Durand. "This record was recorded on Diapason's upright piano made in the 1950s at the house of his maternal grandmother's sister (*). The piano has moved…
Angel Tape
Islaja presents her new album ”Angel Tape”, the first release on the new Helsinki-based label Other Power. Drawing inspiration from childhood epiphanies while listening to an alleged recording of angels singing, Islaja has crafted an album that stands out as a major work in her expansive and celebrated catalogue, which includes previous releases on labels such as Ecstatic Peace!, Fonal and Svart. Islaja, aka Finnish artist Merja Kokkonen, describes her new album as a “counterwork” to her most re…
At Zeenath Parallel Heavens
Over the course of 20 years, German artist Black To Comm aka Marc Richter has pushed the limits of and merged the aesthetics of art, conceptual installations and music, coming in a wave of innovation alongside his peers Pita, Fennesz, Felicia Atkinson and later Sarah Davachi to name a few. His list of collaborations and commissions is long and impressive. Through it all Richter as Black to Comm has challenged assumptions, explored identity and confronted the concept of authorship itself. Black t…
Homemade Inspirations
7FO, an electronic musician/producer based in Osaka, has released numerous works on renowned labels such as Rvng Intl., Métron Records, and EM Records. In 2022, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, 7FO brought forth the album "蘭 - 茫天" through Conatala.
Now, we have the new cassette album "Homemade Inspirations," which can be considered the most intimate collection of tracks in 7FO's career. This album compiles recordings originally created in 2015 without the intention of release.
Using electric guit…
Diagenesis
*300 copies limited edition (hand-numbered).* Russell Burden (Being) is a sound and visual artist living on the south coast of the UK. His practice develops work that explores qualities of ambient perception, most often through the lens of hydrological, geological or biological processes. He has delivered gallery exhibits in various mediums including live cymatic feed, and dark space installation. Russell was also a member of The Humble Bee & Players and last year as artist in residence for a si…
If Paul K.'s Life Was A Movie, This Would Be The Soundtrack Of His Death
Patrick Stas arrived on planet Earth on January 25th, 1954, in Ixelles, Brussels. Here he would spend his early years, until the moment his parents bid their Brussels catering career farewell. By his own admission, music was of no interest to the young Patrick. His parents’ record collection left him cold. Bands like Les Compagnons de la Chanson, much-loved by Patricks parents, got on his nerves. Just one record managed to charm him: a soul record by Sam & Dave. Not coincidentally a record his m…
Feral Lands & Forbidden Cities
Recorded in Brussels in 2019, Feral Lands and Forbidden Cities is Timelash's second delivery of a 4 album projected series. In their debut, A Morphology of Wonders (Aguirre Records, 2021), the duet formed by Embassador Dulgoon (Nonlocal Society, Archimboldos) and Corum (Psychic Sounds) revealed a unique musical journey that unfolds and expands like a cluster of organic matters and mechanical dialogues lit by iridescent fluorescences. Timelash's musical proposal is firmly rooted in retrofuturism,…
Clearing
In addition to the unique musical proposals and the large body of work that they have developed separately, Amelia Cuni and Werner Durand have been performing together as a duo as well as in collaborations (Tonaliens, Born of Six) for more than 20 years. Fusing her Indian Raga singing in the Dhrupad style with his minimalist and experimental approach, they have expanded the reach of their soundworlds as well as proposed new paths for contemporary music.In this occasion, Uli Hohmann joins them in…
Stop-Motion Happening With The Focus Groop
*2023 stock* "Generally, a focus group will end up giving you something bland and beige, a lowest common denominator which nobody particularly loathes but nobody especially loves. Not this Focus Groop. _Stop-_Motion Happening is an unnerving, fairly bonkers stream of treated electronica and samples which absolutely refuses to do anything conventional. It’s as if wayward ghosts of Italian horror movie soundtracks, the spirit of psychedelia and a spaceship full of pissed-off computers were having …
Vaisa
*200 copies limited edition* Tiella Sound is a project born in 2019 from the mind of Italian DJ Luca Bigote that started as a radio show currently airing on French LYL Radio, and now debuting in the record label ecosystem with its first official release, pressed in a limited edition of only 200 copies. The vision and mission of the entire project are quite clear and based on the principle of musical eclecticism. Luca Bigote, in fact, from the very beginning has never wanted to set boundaries to …
It Could Have Been A Beautiful
*300 copies limited edition* "I’ve released various materials over the years under other names, Aiko has been materialized in 2022 through self-published music and with IIKKI it's the first official release that I am very proud of. Despite this, Aiko has been publishing in other forms since 2020, but always within the sphere of ambient music." "This album was born as a long-lasting sound continuum. It was then cut, stitched together and reassembled to give shape and restore unity from the fragme…
Music for Unknown Rituals
After two years, Carl and Andreas present their second album, and once again, it opens up a wide associative space for us. What strikes us initially is the uncommon instrumentation: a church organ, harpsichord, glass tubes, and more. Like their first album (The Aporias of Futurism), it is mysterious and dark. But it also carries a strong touch of rebellion and adrenaline, sometimes quite pointedly. The pieces are now shorter and feature intricate yet irresistible rhythms. The impact is immediate…
Persistence Of Love
"This collection of tracks came about during a period of transition for me, from changing the way I wanted to make music to a method that was more intuitive and free-flowing. I spent a lot of time experimenting with sequencing and different bits of hardware I'd acquired. I was also playing around with an old four track cassette recorder, which was loads of fun. I think the end result feels a little broader in sound and composition as all but one of these tracks were the result of recording a liv…
Double Pendulum
*150 copies limited edition* Double Pendulum is a selection of new material from NY-based artist/composer Nickolas Mohanna. Using a varied palette of percussive devices alongside the electric guitar and computer, hammered notes flutter into brushed cymbals to create pulsing and immersive shapes. These forms unfold from a graphic score that was used to influence the process; the lines and color of the image merge with a jutting collage of guitar thumbing and dismantled orchestral strings, giving …
II (feat. Yoshiko Ohara & Mick Barr)
Further explorations into the dark past by Tholos Gateway. After the their first Aegean trip documented in their debut album, the trio formed by Colin Marston, Àlex Reviriego and Vasco Trilla returns with the second volume of the Tholos Gateway saga. The dark and ominous atmosphere of the previous album is still here, soaking the ritualistic bells, savage bass drones and dreamy synths in a mysterious fog.This time they count with the collaboration of Yoshiko Ohara (Bloody Panda) and Mick Barr (K…
Dumpsters & Attitude
Recorded in Pontiac, Michigan, Wolf Eyes Dumpsters & Attitude was unleashed on October 7, 2022. This album showcases the continuing homemade idiosyncratic audio hell - visions of John Olson, who handles electronics, saxophone, and a range of unique mutant reed instruments along with Nate Young, contributing vocals and an array of utterly personalized electronic sordid instruments. While some might view this release as the sequel to "Dreams In Splattered Lines," Wolf Eyes took their usual rugged …
Regression Vol. 3 (Other Days)
*2023 stock* Other Days represents Nate Young's most labyrinthine incursion into the nether zone between waking life and nightmarish, cryptographic noise. The recordings stem from an exhibition of lathe-cut etchings and paintings by Young and his wife, Alivia Zivich, installed at Tokyo's Haus Gallery. The process involved designing original images for 22 8" x 8" pieces of acrylic, which in turn inspired 22 audio compositions which were then lathe-cut into the acrylic. The process of lathe-cuttin…