mY Indie Soul # 21

Electronica | Experimental | IDM | Indie | Alternative | Post - Punk | Electro

Inspired on the pictures by Anne Sulikowski

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Apparat - komponent ( Telefon tel Aviv Mix )

Apparat is a German electronic musician (Sascha Ring) living in Berlin and one of the owners of Shitkatapult records. Starting out with dance floor-oriented techno, he later started to create ambient music and more recently became "more interested in designing sounds than beats". Recent music is closer to glitch or IDM, accompanied with classical string instruments and other sounds.



Morgan Packard - Mink Hills

Morgan Packard’s debut solo full-length, Airships Fill the Sky, finds him folding cello, accordion and saxophone into a decidedly digital context - involving fragmented elements of techno, house, breakbeat oriented microsound and post-ambient tendencies - retaining his acoustic sensibilities in earnest, while taking advantage of his long-time immersion in a variety of electronic genres. While he has further honed the melodic, textural meanderings from some of his past work, here, Packard returns to his rhythmic roots, and continues to filter his jazz and classical background through everything he does. Deftly using his self-made software techniques, he puts these pieces together with a view towards the hypnotic power of the loop, coupled with a distancing from it. Remembering its importance as the structural basis of a musical landscape which has influenced him, he allows his loops to take on new properties, evolving incrementally and moving further from their origins.



The Books - Smells Like Content

We started working together in 2000 while living as neighbors in Inwood, a small neighborhood at the very northern tip of Manhattan, regularly referred to as 'Upstate Manhattan' by New Yorkers. Over the next few years we moved around a lot but always kept the music going through the mail, and occasional recording sessions. Since 2002 we've settled our working studio in the Berkshire Mountains of North Adams, Massachusetts. We do all of our own sample collecting, composing, writing, recording, mixing, and mastering in our home studios using pc's running cheap software and the ragtag equipment that we've pieced together over the years. What you hear on our records is exactly how it left our hands, with no producer, engineers, or sweetening in between. We are completely independent, beholden to no corporations and we have funded all of our music entirely ourselves



Patrick Watson - Mr. Tom

Patrick Watson (born 1979) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, and the name of the band that he fronts, whose blend of cabaret pop and classical music influences with indie rock has been compared to Rufus Wainwright[1] and Jeff Buckley.

Born in California but raised in Hudson, Quebec, Watson attended Lower Canada College. He began his musical career in high school as a member of the ska band Gangster Politics. He subsequently left the band, and released his own solo debut, Waterproof9, in 2001.

He has toured with John Cale, The Cinematic Orchestra, Amon Tobin, The Dears, Feist and James Brown.
He co-wrote and performed on several songs on The Cinematic Orchestra's 2007 album Ma Fleur including the opening track "To Build a Home". His "Missing You" remix of Champion's "Guy Doune", from Champion's 2006 album The Remix Album, reached #1 on CBC Radio 3's R3-30 chart in early 2007.



James Yorkston - Woozy With Cider (Original Version)

Born and brought up in a house in Kingsbarns, Fife in 1971, Yorkston lived in Edinburgh for many years, before returning to the East Neuk. He started out as bassist for punk band Huckleberry who recorded a number of independently released records. In 1996 he played his first acoustic concert as support for Bert Jansch following a recommendation by a friend. In 2000 he recorded a demo tape under the name J. Wright Presents which was played by John Peel and led to him securing a support slot with John Martyn. The same year he released his debut single Moving up Country on the independent label Bad Jazz.

Subsequently he signed to Domino Records, recording music with a number of friends and associates credited as The Athletes on his records. None of them, however, are actually athletes; indeed, the accordion player - the renowned Scottish musician Reuben Taylor - has been seen smoking a pipe. James Yorkston is an associate of the group of musicians working as the Fence Collective, having worked with members of the group both live and on record.



Ane Brun - Wooden Body

Ane started her musical career fairly late. It wasn't until she had turned 21 she took up acoustic guitar. Her first official live appearances were on 1998 on the streets of Barcelona and San Sebastian playing to anyone who would listen.

After this corner had been turned she returned to Norway but now moving to Bergen. She started composing her own material and for a while she joined the Norwegian band Damsels in Distress. In 2000 Ane moved to Stockholm and started really venturing out on her own, set on making a living of performing her music live. She has worked together with several other artists, such as Norwegian popgroup a-ha, Ron Sexsmith, Madrugada and Koop.



Antony And the Johnsons - Man Is the
Baby

Antony's second full-length album, 2005's I Am a Bird Now, was greeted with positive reviews and significantly more mainstream attention, winning the Mercury Music Prize for the best album of 2005. Rival Mercury nominees, and favourites for the prize, the Kaiser Chiefs suggested that Antony got in on a technicality; despite the fact he was born in the United Kingdom he spent much of his time in the US - although they later apologised for the suggestion that he wasn't a deserving winner.



Fink - little Blue Mailbox

“With the last album, I was very conscious about making my emotions public, and it crossed my mind that I may have had a problem taking that forward. At first, I hoped my writing would become more abstract, in that I would be able to imagine scenarios and write about them, but I think that writing from real experience has to come from the heart, and that’s what people relate to. It’s not that I’m unlucky in love or anything,” he adds, laughing, “I just think that you go through so much when a relationship breaks down that there may be a song for each tiny nuance of emotion that you feel.” There’s a pause, as Fink takes a long drag on his cigarette, “Maybe I just think too hard.”



Autolux - Capital Kind of Strain

Los Angeles noise trio Autolux formed in 2000. Singer/bassist Eugene Goreshter met ex-Ednaswap drummer Carla Azar while collaborating on the score for Dario Fo's play Accidental Death of an Anarchist, and following the addition of former Failure guitarist Greg Edwards, the group made its live debut that summer at the noted L.A. area club the Silverlake Lounge. Upon releasing the self-produced EP Demonstration in the spring of 2001, Autolux signed with producer T-Bone Burnett's fledgling DMX label and began writing material for their upcoming debut LP -- however, in May 2002 Azar fell from a stage and shattered her elbow, making a complete recovery following an experimental surgery that required the implementation of eight titanium screws. At year's end the group finally entered the studio, and while recording wrapped in early 2003, Autolux spent more than a year refining the final mix and Future Perfect did not hit retail until October 2004. Tours in support of the Secret Machines and Nine Inch Nails followed, as did an appearance on the Vincent Gallo-curated All Tomorrow's Parties festival.



Sonic Youth - Tokyo Eye
One of my all time favorites , there more concern with their music than stardust.



Nine Inch Nails - Hand That Feeds ( Dfa mix )

Nine Inch Nails has influenced many newer artists, which according to Reznor range from "generic imitations" dating from NIN's initial success to younger bands echoing his style in a "truer, less imitative way." Following the release of The Downward Spiral, mainstream artists began to take notice of Nine Inch Nails' influence: David Bowie compared NIN's impact to that of The Velvet Underground. In 1997, Reznor appeared in Time magazine's list of the year's most influential people, and Spin magazine described him as "the most vital artist in music." The RIAA certified sales for 10.5 million units of the band's albums in the United States, which accounts for roughly half of the band's reported sales worldwide. Bob Ezrin, producer for Pink Floyd, Kiss, Alice Cooper, and Peter Gabriel, described Reznor in 2007 as a "true visionary" and advised aspiring artists to take note of his no-compromise attitude. During a rare appearance at the Kerrang! Awards in London that year, Nine Inch Nails accepted the Kerrang! Icon, honoring the band's long-standing influence on rock music.



Depeche Mode - Personal Jesus ( Boys Noise Mix )

Depeche Mode's origins can be traced back to 1977, when Vince Clarke and Andrew Fletcher formed a band called No Romance in China, with Clarke on vocals/guitar and Fletcher on bass. In 1979, Clarke played guitar in an "Ultravox rip-off band", The Plan, with school friends Robert Marlow (vocals) and Paul Langwith (drums). In 1978–79, Gore played in an acoustic duo, Norman and the Worms, with school friend Philip Burdett (who now sings on the folk circuit) on vocals and Gore on guitar. In 1979, Marlow, Gore, Clarke and friend Paul Redmond formed a band called The French Look, Marlow on vocals/keyboards, Gore on guitar, Clarke and Redmond on keyboards. In March 1980, Clarke, Gore and Fletcher formed a band called Composition of Sound, with Clarke on vocals/guitar, Gore on keyboards and Fletcher on bass. The French Look and Composition of Sound once played live together in June 1980 at St. Nicholas School Youth Club in Southend-on-sea, Essex.

Soon after the formation of Composition of Sound, Clarke and Fletcher switched to synthesizers, working odd jobs, including carpentry, to buy them, or borrowing them from friends. Dave Gahan joined the band in 1980 after Clarke heard him perform at a local scout-hut jam session, crooning to a rendition of David Bowie's "Heroes", and Depeche Mode were born. When explaining the choice for the new name (taken from a French fashion magazine, Dépêche mode) Martin Gore has said,

“ It means hurried fashion or fashion dispatch. I like the sound of that. ”


Anne Sulikowski

The Presets - I Go Hard I Go Home (Ascii Disko Mix )

The Presets are a Sydney-based electronic duo, consisting of Julian Hamilton and Kim Moyes. In September 2005 they released their debut album, Beams, to positive critical response. That same year Julian Hamilton and Kim Moyes also toured with The Dissociatives, which is co-fronted by Daniel Johns of Silverchair and Australian dance producer Paul Mac. Johns also played guitar on Presets single "Cookie". Hamilton and Moyes are also members of Sydney instrumental group Prop.

" A Life Lived Elsewhere " Rothko Interview

Based in London, Rothko have been in existence since the spring of 1997, playing their first show at The Hope and Anchor in Islington in August the same year. Their first release was a 7" single, For Danny, on Fierce Panda in the Autumn of '97 and the original line up of Mark, Crawford Blair and Jon Meade, went on to release EP's, singles and three albums, on labels such as Lo Recordings, Bella Union, Foundry, Kraak, Zeal and Narwhal.


The original line up disbanded in 2001 and Mark carried on the Rothko name.

His first release on his own was his collaboration with Japanese ambient master Susumu Yokota, the 12" EP Waters Edge on Jon Tye's Lo Recordings, and then the album 'A Continual Search For Origins' and 7" single Red Cells on the Too Pure label in 2001.

In 2003 Mark started his own label, Trace Recordings, releasing the critically acclaimed Wish For A World Without Hurt album, a collaboration with BLK w/BEAR [aka Washington DC based sound and visual artist Jim Adams] Since 2004, the line up has been Mark with Michael, Ben and Tom. In the last year they've played festivals and toured in the UK, France and Belgium, and in June 2006 released the EP A Personal Account Of Conflict on BadHand Records.

Mp3 Rothko - Sharps Box
Mp3 Rothko - Breaking The Fall

How could you describe Rothko distinctive sounds ?

hi tiago, thank you so much for taking the time to ask some questions .
well, the sound we make differs from the recorded sounds to the live sounds.
but, everything originates from the melodies played on the bass guitar, and practically every track is built from around a bass melody. that is where everything comes from 4 strings and standard tuning can give some limitations, but, i have never strayed from that way of writing music. I just do what i do and see where it takes me from album to album.

What represents " A Life Lived Elsewhere " ?

this is the last 10 years of rothko. from the very beginning, in 1997, to 2006. it covers so many releases and unreleased tracks from those ten years. it was difficult for me to put it all together and to look back over the years, but, the reaction i have had from people so far has been so incredibly positive. it feels like it's been all so worthwhile.

I believe this is quite a difficult question , but after some of the original line up left left in 2001 , could the directions of sounds been different ? Were the ideas different ?

very good question.

i think things have been very different since 2000. if anything, the recordings have become more and more sparse, even though there have been more musicians involved. this is also because i have been recording on computer since then, which has given me greater [total] control over the mixes and production, but, still, i'd like to think that the sound has continued to progress with each release, with each release since 1998. a gradual moving forward.
these things, real change, in any genre, in any way of life, take time to come to fruition. music is no different.

what's the relation between Rothko the painter and Rothko the Band ?

the only reason i named the band Rothko was because he was/is my favourite artist. when i was very young, i used to go and sit in the Rothko room at the original Tate Gallery for hours, just taking in the feel of his paintings. they will always have a deep and lasting effect on me. always.
his work will always continue to have a bearing on the music that i make. for many reasons.

Could you name a few of the most important inspirations for Rothko actual music ?

time , the lack of time , francis bacon [the painter], alberto giacometti
my father , my brother , alcohol , crawford blair , michael donnelly
tom page , ben page

Trace Recording , how much do you feel proud of it ?

pride? i'm not proud of it.

but, of the releases so far, i have been honoured to put them out. and, the ones that are to come, i am incredibly excited to be releasing them.

i'm not proud of anything i've ever done.

What is it like to work with Anne Sulikowski ? She looks incredibly creative and the movies are so beautiful .

Anne has been incredibly kind to allow me to release her wonderful music on Trace Recordings. her album Secret Land will be out this autumn on Trace.

She is a unique artist. working in music, film and photography at such an incredibly high standard. it's important, vital, for me to have anyone on Trace who works in multi media formats and not just in music. and Anne goes way, way beyond that. She's a unique talent, and I feel blessed to be allowed to release her music.

The films that Anne has done for the rothko tracks Give Every Thing and Be Invisible are, simply, incredible.

i think/hope that she will become incredibly successful in both her music and her films and photography.

What are your favorite records at this moment ?

Pink Violins by Marina Hardy on Public Eyesore Records. amazing album. totally unclassifiable, http://www.myspace.com/marinachardy

Pros and cons for bloggers ?

as long as the facts are straight, no cons.

thanks so much Tiago. best wishes, mark.

Thanks a lot Mark for taking time to answer the questions and that Rothko keep bringing us beautiful music.

The recent album, Eleven Stages Of Intervention, is out now on the very wonderful Bip Hop Recods of France

The new Rothko retrospective album, A Life Lived Elsewhere is now available from Trace Recordings


Video | Rothko - Give Everything a documentary about the art of wandering into the future unknown by Anne Sulikowski

Video | Rothko - Be Invisible by Anne Sulikowski

Video | Rothko - Give Everything from the album, 'Eleven Stages of Intervention', live at the Bull & Gate in May 2007.



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Rothko
Trace Recordings

Antony And the Johnsons

I'm completely overwhelmed by this record. I Am a Bird Now is beyond any semi-confectionary aesthetic distance that you might bring to discussing your average album. This music grabs a hold of you and doesn't let go. It feels timeless and gorgeous and bigger than life. It may not be "soul" in the strict, music appreciation 101 sense, but it could make even the most jaded atheist approach a metaphysical regard. It is assured, seering and majestic SOUL to the utmost. I'd put on my critic's cap and dive into scrutiny, but I am too enraptured by this artist's music.

Video | Antony sings If It Be Your Will in the Leonard Cohen documentary - Im your Man.

For some reason my CD of I Am a Bird Now is skipping and every skip is like a dagger in the heart. The pure unadulterated emotion on display decries such tedious interruptions. I never thought I could appreciate Boy George till I heard him singing with Antony on the impossibly touching "You Are My Sister." And there is no point in dwelling on the gender bending (I didn't even want to acknowledge it, to tell you the truth) aspects of the artist because his songs are so 'universally' moving. Whereas Antony and The Johnsons was a stark, chilling affair that was arresting and perhaps a little disconcerting, this album is a shining beacon of hope and healing amidst ceaseless pangs of heartache and loss. The gospel-tinged "Fistful of Love" brings in a horn section and Lou Reed for a particularly uplifting experience that bridges the middle of the album splendidly.

Mp3 | Antony and the Johnsons - Bird Guhl
Mp3 | Antony And the Johnsons - Hope There's Someone

I have to see Antony perform these songs. It's not a question of the recorded material not being enough, but I could see the breathtaking sweep of these songs taking on a whole new power in a live setting. I'm reminded of the scene in Mulholland Dr. where the two principal characters are in the theater listening to Rebecca Del Rio's heart-rending solo version of Roy Orbisons "Crying." I love this scene so much; how incredibly heavy it feels. I understood completely why they cried, and probably did a little myself. What's interesting is the one thing that kept the whole thing from utter hokeyness was that the song was sung in Spanish.

Video | Antony & The Johnsons - The Guests (Live BBC4 2006)

In this sense, I Am a Bird Now is authentic and moving because it hits you in ways that are both recognizable and foreign. Like Nina Simone, Antony has this uncanny ability to take your standard blues progression and give it authority that skips whatever reservations and preconceptions the audience might lean toward and aims directly for their empathy and, ultimately, their belief in the innate, transcendent force music can contain. willcoma , tinymixtapes

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Antony And the Johnsons

Cristian Gualpa - Flotante EP

«Hailing from Mendoza, Argentina, here is an EP release of warm ambient idm beats, from Cristian Gualpa, called “Flotante”. In five tracks, Gualpa explores an electronic language of aquatic beats, somehow related with the kind of stuff explored by artists like Arovane, and also a language with the laboratorial driving force that one can usually recognize on releases from labels like Raster-Noton. Indeed, while the last track “Capital Solar” develops a warm sense of melody, tracks like “Buenhogar” or “Al Aire” enter the mathematical domain, with a techno background underneath. Listening to these tracks is like admiring the architecture of a building, with one feet dancing at the same time. Dark ambience comes along with “Previo”, but even here the mechanical beat gives way to an ethereal melody. “Posada” sums up the ideas expressed before, and is both a relaxing or restless place to stay, depending of which things the listener pays attention to: the warm aquatic melody underneath or the drilled beat that gives structure to the track, which reminds of early Autechre releases. With about 20 minutes, “Flotante” is enjoyable brainy electronics, to be listened with headphones, and an excellent debut for Cristian Gualpa.» - César Laia

Mp3 - Cristian Gualpa - Posada
Mp3 - Cristian Gualpa - Buenhogar

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Cristian Gualpa
Test Tube

William Basinski - The Disintegration Loops

It's impossible: no one could create a script this contrived. Yet, apparently, it happened. William Basinski's four-disk epic, The Disintegration Loops, was created out of tape loops Basinski made back in the early 1980s. These loops held some personal significance to Basinski, a significance he only touches on in the liner notes and we can only guess at. Originally, he just wanted to transfer the loops from analog reel-to-reel tape to digital hard disk. However, once he started the transfer, he discovered something: the tapes were old and they were disintegrating as they played and as he recorded. As he notes in the liner notes, "The music was dying." But he kept recording, documenting the death of these loops.

Watch | Anatomy of Melancholie - Francesco Arena & William Basinski

These recordings were made in August and September of 2001. Now, this is where the story gets impossible. William Basinski lives in Brooklyn, less than a nautical mile from the World Trade Centers. On September 11, 2001, as he was completing The Disintegration Loops, he watched these towers disintegrate. He and his friends went on the roof of his building and played the Loops over and over, all day long, watching the slow death of one New York and the slow rise of another, all the while listening to the death of one music and the creation of another. As I said, it's impossible. The music, however, is beautiful, subtle, sad, frightening, confusing, and ultimately uplifting. What's he created here is a living document: a field recording of orchestrated decay. It sounds like nothing else I've heard, yet, at its core, it's the simplest and most familiar music I can imagine.



The four disks comprise six unique works. There is some overlap on the different disks; in fact, the first work (which Basinski calls "D|P 1") begins on disk one and ends on disk four. Some of the works are very long ("D|P 1" is over 90 minutes), while some are relatively short ("D|P 4" is only 20 minutes). However, each of the six works employs a different, repeating loop that slowly deteriorates into oblivion. The loops are very simple: a lush string or synth melody backed by atmospheric arpeggio countermelodies. The melodies are, as Basinski notes, pastoral: lush, simple works intended as idealized representations of nature and beauty. In theory, then, this is ambient music: music designed to set a mood, evoke a feeling (like a cinematic score), but one that is not designed for deep listening. That, I'm sure, was Basinski's initial design when he first created these loops in 1982.

Watch | Melancholia - William Basinski

But time has slowly killed these loops and the pastoral (and ambient) ideals they once represented. What we hear on The Disintegration Loops are not poetic images of nature or beauty but nature and beauty as they truly exist in this world: always fleeting, slowly dying. What makes these works so memorable is not the fact that the loops are slowly disintegrating but the fact that we get to hear their deaths. In a very real way, we experience the muddled, ugly, brutal realities of life. What's more, these muddled, ugly, brutal realities of life are, in their own way, incredibly beautiful, perhaps more beautiful than the original, pristine loops ever could have been.



As with any natural occurrence, these individual loops all die very individual deaths. "D|P 3," for example, begins as a bright, bold, orchestral melody that, over the course of 42 minutes, is slowly reduced to a sputtering, churning blob of its former self. The melody disintegrates slowly, until, by the end, only portions are audible; the rest is silence and noise. By contrast, the longest piece, "D|P 1," because it is split into three distinct parts ("1.1" on disk one; "1.2" and "1.3" on disk four), actually dies three separate deaths. Each one begins as soft, warm halos of sound, which then slowly mutates into muddled fragments. And then there's "D|P 4," the smallest work. It begins as a full-fledged melody but slowly devolves into chaos: silences slowly spreading across huge gaps in the loop, while the muddled melody struggles on, barely perceptible, until it, too, is silenced into oblivion.

Mp3 | William Basinski - dlp 2.2

This is not ambient music; this is not one melody played over and over to fill the background space of a Japanese restaurant. This is natural music: music created from the elemental forces of life and as a testament to those forces. This is the sound of entropy, the sound of life as it decays and dies before our ears. And like all living things, these sounds struggle and claw for life with their last, dying breaths. Their deaths are a memorial to Basinski's past. That he dedicates these works to the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks is fitting. I can think of no better tribute, no better response to a tragedy of that magnitude than a work as beautiful and as fragile as this one. hauntedink

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William Basinski

Atlas Sound

One of the most exciting aspects of Deerhunter’s recent Cryptograms was its schizophrenic approach to sound: bone-rattling noise rock one moment, placid, electronica-driven instrumentalism the next. There’s much more of the latter on Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox’s debut as Atlas Sound, a solo album awash in a vaguely psychedelic haze that masks lyrics about being drowned (in love), waking up with bite marks on your back and being so zonked on tranquilizers that you sleep until you feel drunk. While Cox’s narratives make little sense (much of the time, he’s not even singing so much as wailing wordlessly), the music is surprisingly accessible. There are hints of laptop electronica (“On Guard,” “Winter Vaca-tion”), the mesmerizing repetition of bands like Windsor For The Derby (“Recent Bedroom,” “Ready, Set, Glow”) and the gentler side of shoegaze (“Small Horror”). But Cox is at his best when he doesn’t skimp on melody, particularly on the sweet “River Card” and the slinky “Ativan,” which is replete with Velvet Underground-style echo on the guitars and vocals. Kudos to Cox, who could’ve easily just turned up the volume. By keeping things mostly quiet, he’s conjured a sonic universe all his own. Jonathan Cohen - magnetmagazine

Mp3 | Atlas Sound - River Card
Mp3 | Atlas Sound - Recent Bedroom

Watch | Atlas Sound: live @ The FADER/AT&T Sideshow
Watch | Atlas Sound - River Card


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Bradford Cox

Are you rejected ?

Don Hertzfeldt (born August 1, 1976) is the creator of many short animated films, including the Academy-Award nominated cult favorite Rejected. Collectively, his animated films have received over one hundred awards and have been presented in over a thousand film festivals and venues worldwide. Before the age of thirty, his films were already the subject of several career retrospectives.



Watch | Rejected - Don Hertzfeldt

The popularity of his work is unprecedented in the history of independent animation and his films are frequently quoted and referenced in pop culture.


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Don Hertzfeldt

Beach House - Devotion

We're practically three months from 2008-- it can't possibly be time to start discussing the most anticipated records of next year, can it? Guess so, 'cause here comes one now: Devotion, beauteous Baltimorean duo Beach House's follow-up their stellar eponymous debut of last year. The disc drops February 26 on Carpark Records, and the tracklist is available beyond the jump way down there. It includes a cover of Daniel Johnston's "Some Things Last a Long Time".

As they told us back in June, Devotion takes the comparatively busy "Master of None" as its sonic reference point, and Victoria sounds extra caffeinated this time out.

In other Beach House news, their debut LP is being issued on vinyl -- again! Having sold out of its initial run on Heart Break Beat Records, the label is re-pressing it on white vinyl, re-sticking it into deluxe jackets, and re-introducing it to crates in record stores the world over.


Mp3 | Beach House - Gila
Mp3 | Beach House - D.A.R.L.I.N.G.

Video | Beach House - Master of None




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Beach House

Japanther @ Occii 01 Mar

Two guys, bass, drums, tapes falling over anthemic awesomeness. The best and most positive dance band in New York. Like "Holiday Road" from the "Vacation" played super loud with equipment on the fritz. Soulful hip hop hardcore drumming and crazy samples and drum machine beats on old cassettes make for amazing singing alongs. "Japanther make the type of music that dares people to stand still. Poppy surf-punk numbers mixxed with comedy and performance." - Japanther HQ

Mp3 | Japanther - 10
Mp3 | Japanther - Changer yer Life

One of Brooklyn's favorite noise-rock bands, Japanther (Ian Vanek and Matt Reily) unveiled a new rock-opera using a high-energy multi-media format -- their "tool kit" integrates live music, dance, an interactive set, and video projections, plus an animatronic robot dinosaur -- the band and their collaborators create a full-immersion theatrical concert experience that sports a sharp political edge and an equally edgy heart.

Video | Japanther in 3-D

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Japanter
Occii

The 4th Dimension ( 2006 )

The independent oddity The 4th Dimension is a promising, if not entirely successful, debut for co-directors Tom Mattera and Dave Mazzoni, whose proficient style manages to hide a deficit of substance until the film falls apart in its final sequence. The movie tells the story of an antique-store employee and loner, Jack, for whom time seems to break down when he receives an old clock from a mysterious woman. A brilliant young man obsessed with Einstein's Unified Field Theory, Jack enters a state of consciousness in which the boundaries between past, present, and dreams seem to collapse; at the same time, flashbacks to Jack's troubled childhood coexist with present-day events in a fluid, surreal manner. This premise allows the filmmakers to convey a sense of total stasis in Jack's life; he seems literally frozen in time, and his emotional imprisonment is made literal by the physical confines of some impressively claustrophobic sets.

Trailer | The 4th Dimension Movie

Trailer | Carl Sagan 4th Dimension Explanation

Vladislav Delay - Whistleblower

Is there anybody doing as much with dub these days as Sasu Ripatti? The tricks and tenets of the form have been so integrated into different realms of music production that they're simply part of the weather. Disembodied echoes, horizontal smears, transfigurations of details into plot-points and vice versa-- all such things are base elements that owe to the days when reggae producers started wondering what might be hiding between the wires in their mixing desks.

It would be hard to overstate the importance of dub in electronic music, but it's also easy to take for granted. Part of that owes to how literally dub gets invoked by those most closely associated with it: When the likes of Pole or Rhythm & Sound show their devotion to the dub methodology they hold dear, it tends to come out sounding more or less like re-versioned reggae. Drums fan out over bulbous bass-lines, tempos skew slow, melodies grow lazy and warm, and so on.

Mp3 | Vladislav Delay - He Lived Deeply
Mp3 | Vladislav Delay - Whistleblower

Sasu Ripatti is less literal. Under his working guises as Luomo, Uusitalo, and Vladislav Delay, the Finnish producer has allied with dub as both a method and a mindset. It starts with the interrelation of his three personae, which itself functions as a sort of dub gesture. But it's most evident in the way he trips and rubs each and every element of his sound as it transpires, whether under the schedule of house (cf. Luomo), techno (Uusitalo), or dub that wanders out of line.

Video | Vladislav Delay @ Luci D'artista Torino 6-11-07

The last one is what plays on Whistleblower, the eighth album credited to Vladislav Delay. The sounds are the same as they've always been: miasmic synth tones, rubbery kick-drums that stutter and tap, weird whirligigs given to tumbling around what could well be a big washing machine filled with an irradiated syrup of significant thickness. They're basically the same sounds that Ripatti mines as Luomo and Uusitalo, minus any veritable rites of rhythm.



As Luomo has grown evermore sensuous and inviting, the common knock against the work of Delay is that it's all a big tease. (Who could resist the desire to hear Luomo when he's so close at hand?) But while the tease does in fact taunt in tracks that rarely build beyond a lumbering yawn, the Luomo aura helps as much as it hurts, mostly by making Delay's dubby hesitations and ambient lack of pacing resonante all the more for the decisions they imply. When a series of pounding sounds wanders into a 12-minute track like “Wanted To (Kill)", what initially scans as arbitrary carpentry noise falls into a hypnotic pulse, in part because you're listening for it. Likewise the barely-suggested sound of a voice cut up in "Stop Talking"-- the mere chance that it might turn into a lush chorus in the fashion of Luomo makes it sneak into an ear all the deeper.-Andy Battaglia, May 16, 2007 Pitchfork

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Vladislav Delay

The Amaizing Mr. Andrew Bird

Andrew Bird makes the kind of music that leaves critics groping for labels. A classically trained violinist, former swing jazz musician and now art rock virtuoso, Bird is one of the most imaginative and distinctive voices making music today.

Andrew Bird gives incredible live performances. Essentially a one-man band, Bird plays lines on violin or guitar or whistles a theme, records and loops the sounds, and plays new layers over them. His music is an eclectic mix of gypsy ballads, jazz, folk and rock. "Every night," Bird says, "I am rewriting all my songs for the audience."

Originally from Chicago, Bird was born in 1973 and learned violin from a young age using the traditional Suzuki method. He graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in violin performance.


Daytrotter Session 29.10.07

Mp3 | Andrew Bird - Fiery Crashs
Mp3 | Andrew Bird - Lull
Mp3 | Andrew Bird - Plasticities

Session Noir 03.21.05

Mp3 | Andrew Bird - Why
Mp3 | Andrew Bird - A Nervous Tic Motion
Mp3 | Andrew Birb - Masterfade




Video | Andrew Bird - A Nervous Tic Motion - Live at Bonnaroo Manchester 2006

Video | Andrew Bird - Imitosis - La Maroquinerie Paris , March 2007

Video | Andrew Bird - Spare-Ohs - Playing on the streets of Montmartre, Paris , April 2007


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Andrew Bird
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Fink @ Paradiso 17 Feb

Fink's recording career began with Ninja Tune's release of his debut album Fresh Produce in 2001, a well received chill-out set that fitted neatly with the output of the label. However, it was his second release, 2006's Biscuits For Breakfast, that defined his style and began to bring his name to a wider audience.

“We’ve played some great shows in the last year,” enthuses Fink from his home in Brighton. He’s not kidding, having performed live with his band at the Birmingham and Manchester Academies, Brighton Dome, Colston Hall in Bristol and a string of other venues in support of Zero 7 in the Spring of last year, before hitting the festival circuit with shows at The Big Chill, Bestival, Green Man, and Fruitstock to name but a few. Fink’s debut album for Ninja Tune, “Biscuits for Breakfast,” marked a seismic shift for the label - shelving samples and turntablism in favour of an acoustic guitar and great songs. The record, distinguished by its squeaking fret boards and disarmingly autobiographical lyrics, caught the attention of audiences worldwide. Over a hundred Fink shows across Europe, including dates at the Electron and JazzOnze festivals, were followed by an intense tour of North America, where Fink, together with bassist Guy Whittaker and drummer Tim Thornton, jetted between seven cities in nine days after having received the Single of the Week slot from iTunes US. Since then, Fink has made special appearances with Nitin Sawhney at the 2006 Electric Proms, the 2007 Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, and throughout a 6-night sold-out run at London’s Jazz Café last December.


Video | Fink Live at Motel Mozaique, Rotterdam

While the lyrics on Fink’s follow-up album, “Distance and Time,” retain his trademark tension and honest lines of observation, the record feels more sophisticated and somewhat larger than the last, book-ended by the strung out, softly spoken anger of “Trouble is What You’re In” and the grunting power chords of “Little Blue Mailbox.” Fink feels that was a direct result of this experience on the road. “We did ‘Biscuits for Breakfast’ completely backwards,” he explains. “It was recorded before we’d ever done a gig, while bands normally have to gig for a while before they get a record deal, then get into the studio. This time around we’ve been on the road for a year and the whole experience has given us some insight into what it takes to headline these places.” If you live in the UK, chances are you’ve heard lead single “This is the Thing” as it recently graced a primetime TV ad campaign for MasterCard. “It was weird to hear myself on telly,” Fink admits. “To think that three or four million people have hard your voice during Coronation Street is certainly a bit strange!”

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Fink
Ninja Tune
Paradiso

Justice: "Fabric Rejected Mix"

Unofficially dubbed the "Rejected Fabric Mix" because it was supposed to appear as a Fabric compilation before being leaked to the public, Justice's new mix is easily one of the best of the year and has a scope well beyond the duo's own apocalyptic electro madness. Take a listen (or three...or five) and see for yourself.

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Sparks - Tryouts For The Human Race -Virgin
Rondo Veneziano - La Serenissima - Universal
Goblin -Tenebrae - Cinevox
Daft Punk - Ouverture - Virgin
Surkin - Next Of Kin -Institubes
Symbolone -Love Juice - SymbolOne
Korgis - Everybodys Gotta Learn Sometimes - Angel Air
Midnight Juggernauts -Ending Of An Era-Mindight Juggernauts
The Paradise Ft Romauld - In Love With You - Vulture
Justice - TTHHEE PPAARRTTYY (Acapella) - Ed Banger
Chic - Everybody Dance - Atlantic
Frankie Valli - Who Loves You - Warners
Das Pop - Underground - Das Pop
Julien Clerc - Quand Je Joue ? EMI
Daniel Balavoine - Vivre Ou Survivre - Barclay
Richard Sanderson - Reality - Barclay
Zoot Woman - Grey Day - Wall Of Sound
Fucking Champs - Thor Is Like Immortal - Drag City
The Rave - Mother - The Rave
Fancy - You Never Know - Fancy
Frank Stallone - Far From Over - Universal
Sheila - Misery - Warners
Todd Rundgren - International Feel - Warners



Justice

Concert Update 2008

Paradiso
17 Feb Fink
19 Feb Thieves like us
26 Feb Jens Lekman
27 Feb Cut Copy

01 Mar Band of Horses / Kinski
04 Mar Menomena
09 Mar Lou Rhodes / Mum
13 Mar Black Dice / Hot Chip / The Presets / Dj KRUSH
20 Mar Patrick Watson
21 Mar Dj Shadow & Cut Chemist
26 Mar The National

10 Apr Trentemoller
17 Apr Ane Brun

Melkweg

02 Feb Gabriel Rios
21 Feb Koop
26 Feb Nada Surf
27 Feb Black Francis
28 Feb RONI SIZE ---- Too late sold out
29 Feb Swayzak

06 Mar Autchere
13 Mar Amon Tobin
20 Mar Tegan & Sara
25 Mar The Wombats

Patronaat

25 Jan Vive la Fete / Stateless
26 Jan Pendulum

29 Feb Electric trash
Kavinsky - ed bangers
housmeister - b-pitch / boys noise

13 Apr Maceo Parker

STEIM Season Opening Concert 2008

"Musicianship in Live Electronic Music" was one of the themes for our concert series last year. We hosted most of the performances in our studio space to create a concentrated and critical platform for both the musicians and the audience. We feel that the intimate space intensifies the relationship between the two sides where one can really feel whether the artist is able to engage his/her audience or not. In 2008, we plan to continue this theme along with other new directions.
Please join us at our season-opening concert with three seasoned electronic performers. Each artist shares a passion to extend their musical expression through unique unconventional instruments.


Rafael Toral



Rafael Toral is a musician and artist. Born in Lisbon, he has been performing live since 1984. Having attempted to study music, he realized his path was one of exploration and discovery, to which conventional music teaching was irrelevant. He learned acoustics, electronics and music writing, having started to write music on paper after his former fascination with graphic scores. In 1994, Wave Field determined a shift in composing methods, taking from then on sound itself as the basic matter for all music, thus rendering his work unwriteable. Considered later in the 1990's by the Chicago Reader to be "one of the most gifted and innovative guitarists of the decade", he has been working on the possibilities of ambient music (variable attention listening process) and improvisation with higher levels of risk (using instruments or systems that behave in unpredictable ways), amongst other things.

Space Studies: Using gestural controllers (sensor gloves, optical sensors, portable amplifiers), Rafael Toral has been suggesting a reflection on the physicality and visuality of human performance as musical gesture. He has also been practicing an approach to music centered on a universal, pre-historic and pre-aesthetical impulse to produce sound, aware that music and language may have a common root.

Video | Rafael Toral @ ZDB / 2007

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Rafael Toral


Cor Fuhler



Born 1964 Barger-Oosterveld / Drenthe / the Netherlands. Began with piano and organ at the age of 6. Later also on self-made instruments. Started studying piano (improvised music) in '83 at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam (a/o. with Nico Langenhuijsen, Charlie Green, Ron van Rossum and Misha Mengelberg). Graduated in `89.

Amsterdam-based Cor Fuhler works in the field of electronic and improvised music. Piano is his main acoustic instrument, and he seeks to take it musically beyond usual perceptions, specializing in sustained sounds with use of various string stimulators: 12 ebows, rotating threads, spinning disks. Fuhler also manipulates sounds from turntables, linguaphones, springs etc and filters them through an analogue synth: the EMS Synthi AKS, his main electronic instrument. Currently he is working on a new analogue set up: the NIGLO 1. He often builds his own instruments/ installations/ modifications such as the Keyolin: a violin with keys.

Video | Cor Fuhler @ PLAYLAB SESSIE

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Cor Fuhler


Byungjun Kwon



Byungjun (1971, Kr) started his musical career in early 90`s as a singer/songwriter and has released 7 albums ranging from alternative rock to minimal house. He creates music for records, sound tracks, fashion collections, contemporary dance, theater plays and interdisciplinary events. Recent works and performances have been presented in many international venus. Now he lives and works in Amsterdam.

For this concert he will be playing his digital and analog drawing tools for sound and image. This will be the second version of 'Draw True Drawn' which was premiered @ Tag, Den Haag in 2007. Cheerful live drawing, sound of handwriting, homemade analog synth and more...

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Byungjun Kwon



Studio for Electro Instrumental Music
Thursday, January 24
Venue: STEIM, Utrechtsedwarsstraat 134, Amsterdam
Time: 20.30 hrs.
Entrance: 5 euros

Tel: 020-6228690
Fax: 020-6264262
Email: knock@steim.nl

More information on concerts:
STEIM activity

Warp Light District....abstract electronics and visual dimensions...

with Funckarma, Emotional Spy, Ard Bit for ambient/IDM/electronica sounds, Videotroopers and Pitch-Visualive for atmospheric visuals displayed on multiscreening and installations, making the venue environment interacting with
the music as a whole experience....and an audiovisual showcase by the netlabel Vidauxs @ Overtoom 301 Amsterdam - 02 Feb - < 21.30 >


Emotional Spy
Spy started to work on his music project in 2002 in Nantes (France), working on different experimentations in his home studio, most of the time solo, sometimes with collaborators. The main direction then was really into atmospheric landscapes research, sounding like sci fi work or paranoid ambient.

Funckarma
Funckarma is the music of two Dutch brothers, Don and Roel Funcken. Both did studies in audio visual surroundings. Influences on their work are hiphop, jazz, reggae and dub music, soul music and definitely beats in all ways imaginable.
Having released under numerous labels (Warp/Skam/dub/Merck) and alter egos (Cane/Quench/Cenik), they remixed Funkstörung and Speedy J and received great acclaim for their hiphop project with Shadowhuntaz.

Ard Bit
Ard Bit is the brainchild of Ard Janssen, and is the moniker for his vision of abstract electronic music. Born in the southern part of the Netherlands, he now resides in Rotterdam. He has been interested in electronic music since he heard it for the first time; back in the early 90's. Programming beats and shaping sound to obtain abstract music bears his core fascination.

Videotroopers
videortroopers is erik mijwaard (nl).
real-time manipulated electronic incoherence to stress emotions created by audio.

Pitch Visualive
The creative process of pitch-visualive is based on the diffusion of an impromptu visual energy. Abundance and excess, deconstruction and reapropriation. The sounds and the images are answered in a visual and sound reflexivity, inviting all the directions to appear.Video live of pitch always born in a climate of experimentation and improvisation.
2d and 3d creations are combined with catches of personal sights and coincident in a non-narrativ poesy.

Vidauxs
Vidauxs is a project, a space, a network, an indipendent netlabel which aims to research, promote and distribute experimental audio and video productions, to encourage the artists oriented to a visual listening of the electronic music to share and enhance their own experiences. From IDM to the experimental projects vidauxs means to emphasize the visual aspect of the electronic music promoting audiovisual productions.


Info
Warp Light District

Tickets
Ticketscript

Best of 2007

2007 was an excelent year for the music makers and listeners , here some of my pics. Nina Nastasia & Jim White was my favorite of the year , Jim is totally class on the drums and Nina is magical, simply amaizing.
for 2008 low expectacions , but like everything in live , " Expect Less , Enjoy More "


Nina Nastasia & Jim White - " You Follow Me " / Fatcat

Apparat - " Walls " / Shitkatapult

Andrew Bird - " Armchair Apocrypha" - / Fat Possum

Black Strobe - " burn your own church " / Playlouder

Lcd Soundsystem - " Sound of Silver " / DFA

Vladislav Delay - " Whistleblower " / Huume

Trentemoeller - " The Last Resort " / Poker Flat

Meg Baird - " Dear Companion " - / Drag City, Wichita

The Cinematic Orchestra - " Ma Fleur " - / Ninja Tune

ILIKETRAINS - " Elegies to Lessons Learnt " - / Beggars Banquet

Electro Group - " Good Technology " - / Clairecords

PJ Harvey - " White Chalk " - / Island

Film School - " Hideout " - / Beggars Banquet

Jose Gonzalez - " In Our Nature " - / Mute

Angus & Julia Stone - " A Book Like This " - / EMI Australia

Blonde Readhead - " 23 " - / 4AD

Radiohead - " In Rainbows " - / XL Recordings, TBD Records

M83 - " Digital Shades Vol. 1 " - / Mute

Unkle - " War stories " - / Surrender All

Stateless - " Stateless " - / K7

The National - " Boxer " - / Beggars Banquet

Magnet - " The Simple Life " - / Hermetix Records

Eluvium - " Copia " - / Temporary Residence

Digitalism - " Idealism " / Kitsune

Boys Noise - " Oi Oi Oi " / Boyz Noise

Justice - " Cross " / Ed Banger

Supermayer - " Save the World " / Kompakt

Air - " Pocket Symphony " / Astralwerks

Love Motel

Three years after his critically acclaimed debut album Après le paradis, Geneva based composer Love Motel is back on the scene with Mind the Void.

Invoking a full suite of portraits, Love Motel describes « his » 21st century through the eyes of a bunch of lost souls (wasted nerds, repentant machos, TV addicts, sadistic gigolos, former dictators and naughty astronauts) looking for salvation. And while the portraits that he paints aren’t that pretty, his sexy musical performance as well as his dark and ironic lyrics transform Mind the Void into an hypnotizing, beautiful and menacing soundtrack of now.

Mp3 | Love Motel - Square Gardens
Mp3 | Love Motel - Je Pleure

Video | Love Motel - Cosmic Love

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Love Motel

mY Indie Soul # 20

dedicated to the wonderful danielle from Music is Art , go visit her awesome blog and you will love it for sure.
She shares her music , words , ideas , feelings and loads of positive and beautiful energy and has a large contribution to my happyness.
take this opportunity to invite Danielle to share her indie soul with this side of the planet.

would like to wish everybody a happy Christmas and a new year full of love and happy feellings.

Listen / Download


Tindersticks - She's Gone
Tindersticks are a rock band from Nottingham, England. Their sound is characterised by a synthesis of orchestral backing, lounge jazz, and soul; the lush orchestrations of multi-instrumentalist Dickon Hinchliffe and the smoky baritone of lead vocalist Stuart Staples are the band's hallmarks. Tindersticks have employed electric guitars, as most rock bands have done, but augment their instrumentation with a wide array of instruments: Rhodes piano, glockenspiel, vibraphone, violin, trumpet, trombone, clarinet, bassoon, Hammond organ, and many more are prominently utilised in the music of Tindersticks. The band has a cult following in the United Kingdom and continental Europe, although the eclectic and unique sound Tindersticks possesses never made significant inroads in the mainstream.

Pj Harvey - The Devil
Offstage, Harvey has cultivated a reputation for eccentricity to match her music; for example, Steve Albini claimed she ate nothing but potatoes while making Rid Of Me. Harvey describes herself as "an extremely quiet person, who doesn't go out much, doesn't talk to people", and rejects the notion that her songs are autobiographical. She told The Times in 1998, "The tortured artist myth is rampant. People paint me as some kind of black witchcraft-practising devil from hell, that I have to be twisted and dark to do what I am doing. It's a load of rubbish". She later told Spin, "Some critics have taken my writing so literally to the point that they'll listen to 'Down by the Water' and believe I have actually given birth to a child and drowned her." In 2006, Blender included her in their list of the hottest women of rock, calling her a "blues-rock sorceress trafficking in social politics and dark, tormented songwriting." In a recent interview, Harvey stated that she would like to reunite with fellow artists Tori Amos and Björk, as all three were featured on the cover of Q Magazine in 1994.

Clinic - Visitations
Clinic formed over easter in Liverpool '97. First single 'IPC subeditors dictate our youth' appeared that October, on their own Aladdin's Cave of Golf label. As an opener it set the stall out for how their unique sound would progress; pounding rhythms, heavily distorted organ and intense vocals, a cryptic mix of surf punk with a mutant house beat. The single was top ten in John Peel's festive fifty and ironically in both NME and Melody Maker. In an indie sense, the band had arrived (despite their ambitions lying elsewhere).

Beach House - Gila
Baltimore's Beach House are singer/organist Victoria Legrand and guitarist Alex Scally. Because they come from such a well-defined tradition-- the boy-girl duo making lovesick, narcotized rock with lots of depth and sweep-- it's pretty much impossible to listen to this, their debut, without making certain connections. Bands like Mazzy Star, Galaxie 500, Spiritualized, and Slowdive will come to mind, but this is neither pastiche nor homage. While a lot of their sounds and shapes are the same, Beach House's recipe of fairground waltzes, ghosted lullabies, and woodland hymnals feels more intimate than those of their forerunners. The Hope Sandovals and Jason Pierces of the world mostly wanted to make their songs bigger than their heartaches, to rub out messiness with beauty; Beach House play their songs for a much smaller room, and aren't afraid to stare down a mistake if it comes bounding back in echoes.

A weather - Spiders snakes
“Like Ida with a little more blood in its veins or Red House Painters cut with edgy bits of noise and smoky female vocals, A Weather achieves something unsettling yet warm, a richly textured sound that's as charming as it is totally depressing.” -Amy McCullough, Willamette Week

Yo La Tengo - Fourth Time Around
The band's name comes from a baseball anecdote. During the 1962 season, New York Mets center fielder Richie Ashburn and Venezuelan shortstop Elio Chacón found themselves colliding in the outfield. When Ashburn went for a catch, he would scream, "I got it! I got it!" only to run into the 160-pound Chacón, who spoke only Spanish. Ashburn learned to yell, "¡Yo la tengo! ¡Yo la tengo!" which is "I have it" in Spanish. In a later game, Ashburn happily saw Chacón backing off. He relaxed, positioned himself to catch the ball, and was instead run over by 200-pound left fielder Frank Thomas, who understood no Spanish. After getting up, Thomas asked Ashburn "What the heck is a Yellow Tango?".

The band wanted a name that sounded foreign in order to avoid any connotations in English and Kaplan is a devoted baseball fan. However, it still irks them when they are asked the origin of the name. The band once performed a cover of the Mets theme song "Meet the Mets" during a benefit appearance on radio station WFMU's pledge drive. A track on I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass is called "The Story of Yo La Tango" in apparent reference to an all-too-frequent misspelling of the band's name.

Kevin Drew - Cocaine Skin
Spirit If… is the first in a series of "Broken Social Scene Presents" albums. This solo effort from Kevin Drew unfolds like an emotional comic book. Drew's songwriting addresses all his favourite topics: fucking, fighting, fearing and hope. Both Drew and Brendan Canning, the two co-founders of Broken Social Scene, decided to approach making records as solo projects. In the process, the social scene community participated, playing key supporting roles, returning to the creative process that was the initial spark for BSS and giving birth to this new series.

Magnet - volatile
His debut album ‘On Your Side’ further confirmed what we has suspected all along about Johansen, that his songwriting was not only rich and unique, but that he had the ability to tap into the human vein; of life, love and loss...picking up rave reviews along the way, yet more appreciation in the world of dance, became a major star in his native Norway, soundtracking teen angst on the O.C, weird adult angst on Six Feet Under (and infact many other TV shows/films) and having one of the sleeper hits of the year with his cover of Dylan’s seminal ‘Lay Lady Lay’, a duet with Irish songstress Gemma Hayes (Itself currently soundtracking the Hollywood smash hit Mr & Mrs Smith). Not content to just invade your world gently, he decided to rock your world too, and spent much of the last three years on tour both on several European, UK and US headline tours, and as special guest support to bands and artists as broad as Doves, Phoenix, Ed Harcourt, Hayes herself, Zero 7, A-ha outdoors to 30,000 people in his hometown and countless others. These experiences have helped paint new Technicolor flow into the B&W and pastel shades of his songs.

Union of Knives - Opposite Direction
The music of Union of Knives is a meld of analogue riffs, beautiful voices and guitar abstractions over a dirty backbeat of programmed drums. It was designed to hypnotise and offer a true ode to life in all its dark beauty.

Cyann And Ben - Words
CYANN & BEN release their first album for Ever Records on September 11th. SWEET BELIEFS is an epic and yet intimate album that gives the space rock template a Gallic makeover by adding a much needed romantic grandeur. CYANN & BENs Paris is not the one you see in Amelie its dirty, dark and stressful as much as beautiful and SWEET BELIEFS, with its multi-layered and ambitious sweep, sounds as unsettling as it is irresistible. "a slow motion hurricane ripping apart your temporal lobe" Magnet

Film School - Plots And Plans
"Film School must have had a goth-shoegaze epiphany, because from beginning to end, Hideout is layered, dark pop bliss. It’s quite reassuring to know that a genre that’s been exploited to the bone can still come out this sick."-XLR8R magazine

iLIKETRAINS - Twenty Five Sins
iLiKETRAiNS released their first two singles at the end of 2005 to credible acclaim. However, it was their stunning mini-album ‘Progress Reform’ ( Fierce Panda) that truly captured the media’s attention and propelled them into cult status. They have been covered widely in publications ranging from the NME to the Financial Times, The Sun and Daily Mail to art magazine Aesthetica and the peculiar magazine that is Bizarre; and on radio, from Radio One to The BBC’s Politics Programme. An extensive network of RAiLCARD HOLDERS help spread these compelling history lessons across the UK, over seas into Europe and now America. They have performed at major European festivals and made personal appearances at regional railway events; they have been mentioned in the House of Commons and given talks at universities.


Autolux - Subzero Fun
In November 2002, Autolux entered the studio to record their first full-length album, Future Perfect, and finished primary recording in January 2003. In contrast with the 8-track recording method employed during the making of Demonstration, Burnett wished to capture the band's live sound on the album. Following the initial recording, the band continued recording and overdubbing additional music at their rehearsal space/studio (Space 23) to flesh out the songs. The song "Asleep at the Trigger" was completely recorded at Space 23 from the ground up. At the beginning of 2003, the album was mixed numerous times, with Dave Sardy, former front-man of Barkmarket, creating the final mix. The album was released September 21, 2004 and was generally met with critical praise.

Land Of Talk - Sea Foam
It’s late August, and on the porch of her home in Montreal, Elizabeth Powell is using one hand to swat away pestering bumblebees, and holding a telephone to her ear with the other, telling the story of her group, Land Of Talk. “We’ve been away for so long, on the road,” she laughs, a malevolent buzz audible in the background. “I come back, and there’s bees everywhere… Killer bees! It’s awful…”

‘The Road’ has latterly become Powell’s second home, or maybe her first, since Land Of Talk began to enjoy a nuzzling acclaim in Canada; she estimates they’ve played over 300 shows since they formed, criss-crossing the country and enjoying well-received sorties across the border in a rickety van. “I didn’t used to enjoy ‘The Road’, and now I do,” she offers. “You have to relinquish a certain amount of your expectations, about your privacy or your daily routine. It’s hard to feel grounded, when you’re always moving somewhere else. But then you let go of that need to feel grounded; you feel settled, once you forego that need for stability.”

The Little Ones - Lovers Who Uncover
In the land of White Noise, there lay a vast corporate landscape, which seasoned every major highway and small backcountry road for as far as the eye could see. The world itself tilted off its axis while all the powers that be played an eternal game of tug of war. The Little Ones felt so insignificant against the bigger picture. There were no new tales to tell and they felt stuck right where they started. Until one day there was a spark. They found it right outside their window. It was the branches that pointed them in the right direction. Although insignificant as it seemed, it reminded them what if felt to forget.

Electro Group - Panzer Treat
Beautifully melodic indie-dream-pop goes toe-to-toe with wall-of-noise sonic dissonance.
Ethereal vocals are woven into a tapestry of distortion and catchy pop wizardry. Reminiscent of "Loveless" and "You Made Me Realise" -era My Bloody Valentine, this trio takes the late 80's shoegazer sound a step into the future with driving, off-timed drumming (think more recent Unwound), and electronic loops, moog and surrealistic samples mixed into the layers. Falsetto vocals and intermittent guitar jangles tip a hat towards the solo albums of Syd Barrett. Seriously gorgeous music from Northern California's new noise pop kings.

Kammerflimmer Kollektief

German experimental jazz-electronica group characterised by soothing, throbbing soundscapes (the band name translates as 'Ventricular Fibrillation Collective') accented with disjointed sounds played by instruments such as the saxophone. Although the fragile rhythms draw heavily from free-jazz improvisation the final overall effect is closer to ambient electronica.

The Story so far...

It all began in a bright storage room of the Upper-Rhenish poet’s museum in Karlsruhe in the mid-nineties: With old-skool equipment and an overdose of FMP & Wu-Tang, the first sketches of what would later be released under the nom-de-guerre "Kammerflimmer Kollektief" were conceived. I felt like a group of one. The resource as well as the raw material was my record collection; the result appeared in 1999 under the titled Mäander on the Weilheim-based payola-label. A simulation of jazz with pop appeal (melodies!). "Instrumental drones & central European freakouts on violins and reeds. A kind of European down home NoWave" was what Matt ffytche in The Wire called it.



At first, a live realisation seemed unthinkable. As it happened, the people necessary for such an undertaking gravitated towards the Kollektief in a very short time and without having been summoned. They were Johannes Frisch on the double bass; Dietrich Foth on a variety of saxophones; Heike Wendelin on the violin; Michael Ströder on drums and Anne Vortisch at the synthesizer. The tracks of the first album were the point of departure for our joint excursion; the result was a concert tour and a huge and wild chaos, which in turn was documented at the Uphon Studio in Weilheim and released as a CD (Incommunicado, 2000, again on payola). It included "Venti Latir", our version of a song by Robert Wyatt, one of our great heroes and: one of the greatest soul singers ever. "Music is a chance for self development. It‘s another life, in which it‘s easier to develop the art of giving" - which is how John Stevens put it in the liner notes for Karyobin, the epoch-making first LP of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble from 1968. Felix Klopotek in German music magazine Spex, said it thus: "Listening to this music, it seems that free jazz as being played by, say, Pharaoh Sanders and Cecil McBee in 1969 has been put into a context where it meets and mingles with pop and electronics with consistency and effortlessness."


Mp3 | Kammerflimmer Kollektief - Uber die Wasserscheide
Mp3 | Kammerflimmer Kollektief - lichterloh

Video | Kammerflimmer Kollektief - Gras

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Kammerflimmer Kollektief
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Morgan Packard

Morgan Packard's search for the perfect music for a benevolent future has led him to study jazz saxophone at Boston's New England Conservatory, to move to London to immerse himself in British drum and bass, to study classical composition, and to learn to program his own software tools. More scholar than fusioneer, he strives to understand the inner workings of the music he studies, using this deep understanding to more effectively create something new, rather than simply appropriating the glittering exotic sounds floating on the surface of the music he hears.

Across all the music he explores, the qualities of beauty, melody, texture, and hypnotic repetition fascinate him, and these qualities unite his work across disparate styles. His various projects and guises include drum and bass singles under his own name and with Offshore Recordings' DJ Clever as "Tundra," deep and melodic electro-instrumentals with childhood friend Phil Salathe under the "Captain Campion" moniker, and the odd modern dance sound design gig.

Most recently, Morgan has brought his diverse skills to New York City imprint Microcosm Music, recording tunes for their Macrofun 10" series and releasing a collaborative full length album with Ezekiel Honig entitled Early Morning Migration.


Mp3 | Morgan Packard - Mink Hills
Mp3 | Morgan Packard - Billow
Mp3 | Ezekiel Honig & Morgan Packard - tropical ridges


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Morgan Packard
myspace