‘In another life David Edren aka DSR Lines is surely a visionary biologist or chemist. In this new sound adventure, he stages anatomical and cellular symphonies, invisible biochemical processes, painting the micro-dimensional flows of the body, or imaginary geographies of hidden micro-bodies. His signature organic-electronic sound is enriched here with the influences of non-European music, especially Chinese and Japanese music (stick and chimes percussion). The mood is intimate and twilit, poised between exotic ambience and cinematic gesture: a miniaturist description of liquid currents, labyrinthine veins, weaving streams, molecules and particles in multi-orbital dances, muscular chords, drowning bubbles, light waves; all within a confident compositional overview that is unique and fascinating.’
‘Further adventures in Organic Electronic Music by this rigorous magician of vaporous, oscillating patterns, sidereal frequencies, nebulous dust; explorer of inter-zonal paths, new dreamlike dimensions, undiscovered planets. Marrying the momentum of Kraut-Kosmische with a personal, gentle minimalism, DSR Lines specialises in rare atmospheres of rhythmic pulsation, with enveloping, spiralling sounds, luminous and radiant in their hypnotic aura, or magnificently ecstatic and ascending.’
The 35th Anniversary Edition of the Ash Ra guitarist’s early-eighties guitars-and-electronics breakthrough, with the original embossing to the cover.
A real game-changer: a momentous influence on Basic Channel, Carl Craig and so many others.
Perfect for zoning out.
It’s a must.
The return of Jim O’Rourke’s Moikai imprint, after an interlude of two decades.
‘Threading together twelve distinct episodes into a flowing whole, Spectral Evolution alternates moments of airy instrumental interplay with dense sonic mass, breaking up the pieces based on chord changes with ambient ‘Spaces’. At points reduced to almost a whisper, at other moments Toral’s electronics wail, squelch, and squeak like David Tudor’s live-electronic rainforest. Similarly, his use of the guitar encompasses an enormous dynamic and textural range, from chiming chords to expansive drones, from crystal clarity to fuzzy grit: on the beautiful Your Goodbye, his filtered, distorted soloing recalls Loren Connors in its emotive depth and wandering melodic sensibility…
‘Spectral Evolution is the quintessential album of guitar music from Rafael Toral.’
Representing three years of recording after-hours at the New York radio station where he worked, this is TD’s stunning debut, originally self-released in 1961, and later issued by Folkways.
‘Oscillators pulse and clash with fragments of incidental tape music, leaving collages of sound as tuneful and memorable as they are otherworldly. A visionary debut that presages the abstract ambience of modern IDM and an essential addition to any collection of early electronic music.’
Astounding, deeply exploratory, previously unreleased work by the legendary Brazilian percussionist and composer.
A wild and unsettling collage, implacably original and startlingly intense — from the electroacoustic opener, which channels ancestral African inspirations into cosmogony, through the proto-mixtape Exemplo de Sintetizadores, which transitions from transcendental drones to astral cha-cha-chas, to a musical consideration of dripping water, in Suite Contagotas.
Djalma is best known for his studio work on benchmark albums, including numerous classics by Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, and Jorge Ben, and for his own polyrhythmic opus Baiafro; and the finale here was first performed at the 1964 Nós, Por Exemplo concert, an event often cited as the inauguration of the Tropicalia movement. Djalma brings the electronics — medical oscillators, for example — to beef up his percussion. It’s eye-opening.
Corrêa called it ‘spontaneous music’; sonic adventures ranging audaciously across an array of genres, from jazz to deep funk to complete abstraction, all imbued with his signature DIY ethic.
Drawn from the original master-tapes, guided by Corrêa himself, just prior to his death.
Intriguing, immersive music. Dazzling, engrossing artwork, too.
This stylish, devoted, two-hundred-plus-page book is based around a deep, fascinating interview, covering the work in detail, but with naturalness and directness; also Radigue’s life, milieux, aesthetics and methods, politics, and so on. There are numerous choice photos; a few precious sketches, flyers and diagrams. The oeuvre is listed, with commentaries. All texts are in both English and French, beginning with her prose poem The Mysterious Power of the Infinitesimal. Pretty much indispensable, if you’re at all interested.
‘Eliane Radigue and I decided to resume our conversation and come up with this expanded second edition of the book. Much had happened since the first edition that deserved to be explored in more depth, in particular the development of the Occam Ocean cycle. But I also took the opportunity to ask her questions about her earlier work that had not been addressed previously. The first four parts of this new edition remain unchanged, but they are now followed by an epilogue. The lists of works and publications have also been updated and extended’ (Julia Eckhardt, December 2023).
Notorious, seminal electropunk from 1981 — Beate Bartel from Einstürzende Neubauten and Chrislo ‘DAF’ Haas, with vocalist Krishna Goineau — which coursed into Chicago house and Detroit techno. Undiminished; still vital.
Demdike Stare and Andy Votel.