Get ready for the next exciting release from Joule, the renowned label helmed by Janeret. Delve into four deep tracks, including a remix from the label boss himself.
Now a 'cult classic' , repressed for 2023 ears on All City Dublin. Onra started the project in August 2006, freshly returned from a trip to Vietnam, the land of his grandparents. A vinyl junkie at heart, he really couldn’t come back to France without bringing back some wax. After hours spent riding on a motorbike through the streets of Saigon, a taxi finally helped him find some Asian records - he almost felt like an explorer discovering a forgotten treasure. He bought 30 records, most of them in poor condition, went back to his crib and started making beats with material that he wasn’t quite used to …
The iconic John Beltran returns once again to Oath to exercise his passionate love affair with all things Balearic, and to say he expanded upon his 22’ EP with style is a severe understatement..Based purely on his outputs over the years, there is little that seemingly John Beltran cannot do, and the results of his near 30-year long career are there for all to experience, taste, and sample. His music simply speaks differently, touching upon the palette of emotions that make up the human experience, be it the tenderest of sensory affirmations through to the euphoric, emboldening sweeps that get the listener lost deep within themselves – in the most perfected way imaginable. Emerging from the spectrum of sounds that made up that oh-so-referenced decade of the 90s, Beltran stands tall amongst his peers in this sense, with his discography alluding to many differing spheres of influence, a testament to the age-old adage of never standing still – there’s always room to grow, to experience, to nourish. From the sheer dance-laden brilliance of Placid Angles, the experimental grooves of Nostalgic, the techno excellence of Indio, and everything that permeates the music released under his own name, John Beltran continues to reset the goalposts, and we simply have to sit back and watch it all evolve right in front of us.True to his broad-reaching range of influences, Beltran’s passion for Jazz, Brazilian and Balearic music has shone through in numerous ways within his career. His early 2000s LP releases on Ubiquity and his work with Sol Set are prime examples of how to merge live percussive influences with gorgeous, emotive synth work and vocals, and clearly, these ideals stuck with Beltran as he revitalized the Sol Set project for last year’s ‘Ola de Novo’ on All Good, alongside the magnificent ‘Para Viajeros’ EP. Both records showcased a majesty of instrumentation, a series of moods that are deeply evocative and pleasant to the ears on numerous levels. But there is never a sense of being lost within it all, as all the elements work tirelessly to create a perfected atmosphere of being, a cordial and highly tuned environment that feels so very believable. Its music you want to hold in your hands for the rest of your days, a vessel that transports to that idealised version of life where everything feels just right.‘Serendipia’, Beltran’s new LP, carries forward the ideals of Sol Set and reignites the quietly evolving flames that were lit last year, and as an elaboration on his craft and its sound it’s really quite something. The title suggests the pleasantry that can be found in pleasant surprises, and whilst we aren’t surprised at the technical application or instrumentation on display (a signature of Beltran throughout his career). Still, we are pleasantly surprised by the display of emotive tools that are used to build up the soundscapes in which we find ourselves. Every tune is given time and space to breathe, and touches upon the lexicon of Balearic language and vibrations, stopping by the coast on multiple occasions to the point which you can feel the sand between your feet. The rhythms are set to the rhythms of life, such as on the tracks ‘Taina’ and ‘Cachaca’, which focus on up-tempo latin and jazz rhythms to get the pace set beautifully. Many of the tracks, such as ‘Em Trancoso’, ‘Sa Coma blue’ (featuring John Arnold), ‘Ask Anlari’, and ‘La Hermosa Vista’ have trance-like qualities to them, with free-flowing pianos and synths evolving expertly over simmering, aquatic rhythms. Towards the business end of the record, ‘Suenos Soleados’ and ‘Mallorca’ take us back to the overlook, basking in the 30 degree heat as the blue hues envelope the senses. To wrap things up, ‘Yangu Milele’ movs us to 5am or so, perhaps, where the rhythm is slowing down but the intensity remains just the same. As journeys go, there’s so much here to fall deep within, to be unravelled both within and out width the mind and body – to be honest, we come to expect nothing less from someone like John Beltran, who’s continual dips into the space between instrumentation and emotion conjure up records like no other.Closing your eyes for a moment when engaging with this record transports us into a world of vibrancy, interactivity, and colour, where the thoughts and feelings of a thousand experiences transpose themselves onto us, inviting us to part with something of our own. John Beltran has hit a rich vein of form with his recent excursions into this kind of musical environment, but its one he is very familiar with, one he has a true appreciation and understanding of. No wonder his music speaks in such a way, and on this record his expert approach in present and correct – and the music itself, well, let’s just say transformative and majestic might be two ways of describing but a small part of the experience. Summer’s round the corner, time to escape once again…
In the dewy glow of dawn, a musical motif hypnotises you :Leitmotiv second release; and the sounds come from the East of Europe: Orbit & ËN delivers the goods.Orbit is the A side and ËN takes over the B side.
✺ Arranged by Ryuichi Sakamoto (YMO) and Juzo Seo.✺ Features Haruomi Hosono (YMO), Shigeru Suzuki, and Yukihiro Takahashi (YMO).✺ Remastered by Bernie Grundman from original master tape to 96KHz/24bit digital high resolution master.✺ Comes with a lyrics/credits insert and a liner notes insert.✺ Single Jacket with Obi Strip.✺ Fourth press on red colored vinyl.“Mignonne” is Taeko Onuki’s 3rd album released in 1978, which was the follow-up to her masterpiece “Sun Shower”(1977).Her long time collaborators from Tin Pan Alley continued to collaborate with her for this album. Arranged by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Juzo Seo, and featured musicians such as Haruomi Hosono, Shigeru Suzuki, and Yukihiro Takahashi.The sound is similar to her previous albums, with rich horns and strings arranged on top of Tin Pan Alley’s soulful rhythmic sections. The tracks have seen a resurgence of late, some of which being covered by contemporary Japanese artists ( “Yoko Gao”, “Umi to Shonen” by Akiko Yano, “Totsuzen no Okurimono” by Mariya Takeuchi).
Head hydro-tripper Black Eyes has risen from the depths of the deep to release his debut solo record Hydro-Trip vol 1. Fresh off the sea creature's back from co-producing the 'Planet People - Terra Firma EP' with synth botherer Reedale Rise which came out earlier this year. His solo endeavour takes us on a jazzier vibe yet still keeping true to the deep ways of the water. Lead track 'Understood Sea Being' plunges us on a rugged ride with deep Detroit chords and Black Eyes's own punk-like vocals throughout. 'Let's Get Deeper' slows the pace up with chopped up samples and introduces us to the classic hydro-trip sound we've grown to love down here in the underwater cities; it's deep and trippy. 'Scuba Lyfe' picks up the pace a bit but evolves into a low down dubby groove mixed with some hi-tek jazz. Asking Rolando (who we all know was part of the infamous Underground Resistance and Los Hermanos, as well being a Berghain resident DJ more recently) to come on board the subterranean vessel was an obvious choice for remix. He switches the gears and adds some fluid Detroit techno to finish off the EP. Berlin based Deskai masters the EP who also mastered the Planet People EP so you know what to sonically expect.
For their second LP ‘Elios’ on Periodica Records, musical collective “Parbleu” - led by Andres Balbucea and Andrea De Fazio - reach towards realms both astral and ancient to present a solar sonic suite of sky-seeking exotica inspired by the mythological adventures of Helios. Elemental grooves anchor textures of cosmic magic and faraway fantasy, wherein panoramic conga and bongo displays lead to limbo line hysteria and fat-bottomed bass grooves slide through layers of galactic grease. Phaser riffs and flangers arps fly in unison, lyrical runs dart and dash through flourishes of baroque Turkish psychedelia, and as moonbeam lasers fire over thrilling balearic escapes, Iberian reeds dance joyously amidst jangling six-string sunstrokes.Captured in part at the West Hill Studio, the album is an evocative and polychromatic display of sight and sound, one where Arabian strings riding a desert wind dub skank give way to passages of cinematic folk funk, or elsewhere to sections of pompous progressive rock and angular jazz fusion. And as with Parbleu’s first LP ‘Danse Cette Zik,’ there is an awe-inspiring display of vocal talent across ‘Elios,’ as soft-soul seances, choral pop communions, 60s soundtrack spirituals, Italo diva poetics, and intoxicating call-and-response spells rain down over the mystical melodies and dancefloor dynamite.
Chris Korda’s latest EP “Primitive Man” interrogates the myth of human superiority and the barbarism that flows from it. Despite our current obsession with social justice, gross inequality persists between humans and non-humans. Our species supremacy echoes Biblical edicts to subdue the earth and have dominion over all its creatures. Many animals experience emotions identical to ours, including pleasure, pain, comfort, fear, curiosity and boredom, but that hasn’t stopped us from oppressing and murdering animals on an inconceivable scale.The title track ironically contrasts primitive and civilized ways of life with sharp lines such as “No more swinging from trees, you’re done with that / Sit down, watch TV, drink beer and get fat.” “Lunch Break” is a thunderous breakbeat reworking of Korda’s pro-vegan anthem “Fleshdance.” The remaining tracks are instrumentals subtly influenced by traditional Turkish music. Korda pioneered complex polymeter—the use of multiple time signatures simultaneously—in electronic dance music, and “Primitive Man” continues that tradition, but in a stripped-down, minimal way.
