• Music

    Minimal Compact – Statik Dancin’

    June 25, 2022 - By 

    Minimal Compact was an Israeli band which left a sizable imprint with their music during the 1980s and 1990s, and both Malka Spiegel and Samy Birnbach continue, as far as I know, to record great music. An unbelievable post-punk shuffler from 1981, by Tel-Aviv-Brussels band Minimal Compact! This tune is one of our favorite tracks ever and we’ve been wanting to reissue it since day one. But this is no ordinary reissue! The 12” includes an unreleased instrumental version plus a spaced-out extended dub mix by the living legend, Mad Professor! Members of the band recorded for such legendary labels…

  • Music

    Azu Tiwaline & Al Wootton – Alandazu EP

    June 9, 2022 - By 

    Azu Tiwaline and Al Wootton could not come from more different places on Earth.  Azu’s roots are from Tunisia, while Al’s roots are from London’s urban sprawl, yet they manage to collaborate on a kind of dub informed by pulsating trance and Berber-influenced rhythms.  Dark, sparse and pleasant.

  • Music

    Puscha – Etterath

    March 20, 2022 - By 

    Puscha is an Australian sound designer and film composer who hails from Australia and his music ranges from deep, cinematic ambient dub to cold, icy minimal techno.  I’ve been out of the techno world far too long, as this release is astounding, and it’s making me wonder what else I’m missing these days. The beats remind me of something like Cinematic Orchestra and Monolake colliding.  As both are legends of electronic music, Puscha is using some fine reference points to create his music.

  • Music

    Various Artists – Zona Electronica

    February 5, 2022 - By 

    Zoharum are one of Poland’s longest-lasting experimental, ambient, minimal and industrial/dub/illbient labels.  On January 30, they released a comp of musicians who are critical in Poland’s underground music scene.  Among familiar names, of course, are Jeff Gburek, Hubert Heathertoes and Mike Majkowski, but the new names I’m hearing on this release are equally as intriguing.  Zoharum have done sterling work documenting the current goings-on of their local scene.

  • Music

    Various Artists – Tape Rolling! with Bunny Lee and Friends

    January 27, 2022 - By 

    England’s Pressure Sounds continue to release mind-blowingly good reggae compilations.  This one features the production work of Bunny Lee pairing up with such luminaries as Eric Donaldson (whose raw version of Cherry Oh Baby adds grit to the warmly produced original. From the Bandcamp release website: “In 1971, despite his run of hits, Bunny Lee was still having to support himself with freelance producing at Dynamic Sounds, but by 1974 he was fully independent and poised to dominate Jamaican music in the mid 70’s. The tracks on this compilation capture that moment of transition, when the smaller ghetto producers were…

  • Music

    Yoyogi Koen 代々木公園 – Hyakki Yako 百鬼夜行 ひゃっきやぎょう

    September 1, 2021 - By 

    Hong Kong’s 4’33” Records (named, of course, for American avant-garde composer John Cage’s most notorious composition) specialize in experimental music which crosses into drone and ambient fluidly.  This release is by Yoyogi Koen (Yoyogi Park) and though reference information isn’t listen anywhere, I would assume them to be also out of Hong Kong, though I’ll publish a note if I am in error. The music is really dubby for experimental music, something I wasn’t quite expecting.  There are folkloric sounds which mesh incredibly well in said genre, and the inspiration for this album comes from Japanese folklore.  If you’re familiar…

  • Music

    Togbe Adjos – Maman Tchamba

    May 14, 2021 - By 

    When reading tags about vodun jazz, a reggae vibe wasn’t exactly what I was expecting.  Still, Togbe Adjos produces an album mixing the rhythms of the Caribbean with those of his native Benin.  This is a mellow but lively album which wouldn’t feel out of place among that massive stack of Trojan Records you have laying around your listening room.  West Africa is perhaps the hottest place in world music these days.  It’s wonderful to see Benin’s musicians receiving more and more recognition.

  • Music

    subduxtion – Deep Space

    April 5, 2021 - By 

    Philippe Gerber comes back to us with a new project called subduxtion which flows in a very different direction from other works on his label. subduxtion is the monicker of Christopher Gilmore, a composer I’m very new to.  This tends to go more into tech-house and minimal dub, and the beats are pretty vicious.  An impressive one-off.