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LSSN 040CD
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"Circles of Upper and Lower Hell is the grandest, deepest work to date by Polish-born, Glasgow-based sound artist and composer Ela Orleans. From her beginnings inaugurating a lo-fi, homespun style that has since developed fully into a language uniquely her own, from tentative live outings featuring multiple instruments to a now-masterly command of sound, Orleans has become one of the most consistently surprising musicians of the global underground. The seventh album under her own name, this expansive vision, loosely based on Dante's Inferno but infused with deep personal experience, incorporates sound art, orchestral textures, synth pop and electronic music to construct a world equally peppered with loss and inspiration. It pulls all the strands of Orleans' previous work together into an epic depiction of turmoil wide in scope but reveling in detail. The album documents a far more personal approach to conventional songwriting. Previously, the artist's sonic textures have relied on samples cleaved out of context, buried songs beneath warped aural gauze, but Circles blows every element of Orleans's art upwards and further apart."
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N 040CD
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Earlier in 2014, Micha Acher and his band The Notwist presented their album Close to the Glass, and received rave reviews around the globe. Yet, it's not the only album he's going to release this year -- Acher's about to introduce his latest musical entity -- Alien Ensemble. Alien Ensemble is comprised of band-leader Micha Acher (trumpet; Indian harmonium), who is joined by The Notwist's Karl-Ivar Refseth (vibraphone) and Andi Haberl (drums), as well as Mathias Götz (trombone; harmonium), Stefan Schreiber (bass clarinet; saxophone) Oliver Roth (alto flute) and Benni Schäfer (bass), all of them long-time friends and frequent collaborators of Acher's over the years. Unsurprisingly, the chemistry of this group and how they interact is quite unique: Alien Ensemble is a group of friends with a common goal -- they want to explore sonic territory, break new ground, and ultimately create their own musical language. It's an all-acoustic line-up, devoid of electronic enhancements. And even though all members have a background in jazz, this is no classic "jazz music" either -- there's simply no need to show off technical skills. Since you'll hear anything from minimal music to Krautrock influences, from delicate brass sections to the sound of New Orleans, it's pretty much impossible to pigeonhole Alien Ensemble's sound or slap a genre term on it. What's more important: Micha Acher's compositions, the way he arranges these songs and has these great musicians make them come alive, is certainly unique in Germany's musical landscape. Always willing to think outside the box, Alien Ensemble's music ultimately serves as a reminder that you need to get rid of pigeonholes and stereotypes if you want to create true art.
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JMAN 040CD
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In the olden days, the music business was a torrid set of affairs run by hustlers, sharks and gangsters. Broken promises, deceit and corruption was the order of the day, and to be thrown out of a window was seen as a rite of passage into the business. Amongst all this hustle and bustle was the murky world of the "tax scam" label. Set up for wealthy individuals to invest in as a means to take advantage of a tax loophole, labels such as Tiger Lilly, Guinness and Baby Grand (upon which Terea was released in 1977) released many hundreds of obscure titles. The records themselves never saw a proper release and were often dumped in cut-out bins or taken straight to the dump. As such, many of these LPs, including this album by Californian soul outfit Terea, remain extremely scarce and are now highly-prized collector's items. In his liner notes to Jazzman's reissue of the Terea album, producer Dennis Dreith lifts the lid off of the shady business of the tax scam labels. Not only that, but he tells us the story of Terea and the dedicated musicians who freely recorded the music they wanted to record without obligation to the record companies and A&R men. It was in these circumstances that the Terea LP was recorded, a work of art, if only for the utterly joyous "Pretty Bird." Includes a 6-page booklet with liner notes written by Terea's producer Dennis Dreith and previously-unpublished photographs.
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BN 040CD
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"This is the first full-length release from Dead Peni. Electric bass, a drum-machine, voice and backing tapes, as well as live drum contributions from Christian Weber. Includes full length record with bonus track in the form of a music video. Heavy sounds from the underground. Edition of 300."
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TN 040CD
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"On a similarly unfashionable concept album tip, Twisted Nerve's numbers have reached the mid life crisis inducing 40 and instead of doing the run of the mill-grass is always greener leave your wife for a young blonde bauble thing - Twisted Nerve ran away to the Zoo. A place of tender care called Twisted Nerve Zoo. To document Twisted Nerve's mid life crises, all the acts recorded songs about their favorite animals at the Zoo and we decided to collect them all together and give them to YOU. It's the soundtrack to the best animal related movies that haven't been made. Yet? Badly Drawn Boy contributes a brand new exclusive track, the oompah inspired 'Push Me Pull Me' which shows a return to his experimental roots on the label. There are Byrdsian harmonies (DOT with 'Horses'), extreme noise techno (Sirconical's 'Sloth') and Bubblegum garage (Misty Dixons .. 'Butterfly'). It's yet another fine example of Twisted Nerve's diversity, versatility and knack of producing compilations like no one else." Also includes: Andy Votel, Little Miss Trinitron, The Insect (Ian & Joe of Mum&Dad), Dave Tyack, Mariano, Cherrystones, Supreme Vagabond Craftsman.
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