Sad news to report. Yabe Tadashi of United Future Organization, one of the best nu-jazz bands of the last three decades, has passed away. This is one of his finest moments, collaborating with singer Monday Michiru. Memory eternal, Yabe-san.
HT: Rocco Pandiani
I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing the work of Berlin-based composer Rettward von Doernberg in the past, and it seems he’s still producing impressive beats where one can hear trip-hop and EBM influences. Mellow, lush, and a rather relaxing and enjoyable listen.
From his days as a member of the seminal A Forest Mighty Black to collaborations with the who’s who of downtempo music (think Kruder & Dorfmeister, Jazzanova and so many others, Rainer Trüby has been of Trip-Hop’s finest tastemakers. We can celebrate today that after 20 years, there is a new installment, courtesy of the legends at Compost Records, of the Glücklich series. This one features a lot of latin-tinged marvels that will make you want to explore both Rainer’s back catalogue and Compost Records‘ release schedule much more deeply.
Our heroes age. After the passing of Yukihiro Takahashi last month, it got me thinking about how long we have Sakamoto-san and Hosono-san with us. Both are due a tribute album of some sort.
Thankfully, Milan Records has done a sterling job bringing together Sakamoto collaborators, friends, and those who are indebted to the master. Artists like Christian Fennesz and Alva Noto (Carsten Nicolai), who have collaborated on some incredible glitch albums, are joined by his countrymen Cornelius and Otomo Yoshihide, along with old friend David Sylvian, all of whom do wonders reworking Sakamoto’s music into sparkling new creations. If you have a compilation of this caliber, with guests such as the Cinematic Orchestra, Hildur Guðnadóttir and Lim Giong, it’s fair to expect this compilation to be a stunner. I’m not at all disappointed.
One of the tracks featured, Thundercat’s reworking of Thousand Knives, can be heard on the video below:
The esteemed French label Lotophagus Records released an album by Wintermute on December 2, and it’s a rather deep, dark and dubby affair, mixing trip-hop, the aforementioned dub and experimental rock music into something which reminds me of Cabaret Voltaire’s more dub-infested moments, or even acts like Scorn.
Sonca is a reissue of an album released in 2016 by Belarusian band Shuma. From label Ezhevika’s Bandcamp site:
“Re-issue of Shuma’s most popular album Sonca, originally released back in 2016. It was aknowledged by Belarusian music critics as The best album of the year, The best electronic album and The best Belarusian album.
Shuma is a project that combines ancient pagan songs and electronic music. Their value lies in a great sound production and a truly correct rethinking of the ancient cultural tradition which is almost lost.”
This was a pleasant surprise. I’m new to Boztown, a trip-hop band out of France, and they have a warm, dark, rather crusty sound to them.
Some time ago I had reviewed the work of an ethno-folk-jazz band from Kostroma, Russia called Gralitsa, and I found them favorable. I have to say that I find this album at least as favorable, but it sounds like a totally different band. This sound is far more affected by genres like trip-hop, downtempo music, and darkjazz (a touch, anyway). There’s also a slightly ‘free’ element to the music, though it never sounds disjointed.
The track Echo Poor Heart is the cornerstone of the album, showcasing the vocals of Olga “Gralitsa” Rodionova layered on top of a dark, jazz noir soundscape. This manages to gel together nicely. Compliments to the band for this great release.