LP version. Includes insert. Bongo Joe Records return to the scorching Kabyle rock of Abranis, the pioneering Algerian band that blended traditional Berber music with western rock, folk, disco, and funk, all the while proudly celebrating their Kabyle heritage. Amazigh Freedom Rock is a comprehensive look into their discography, from the garage-rock experimentations of their early days to their lushly orchestrated North African fusion masterpieces of the 1980s. The Abranis story begins in the mid-sixties, when Shamy El Baz and Karim Abdenou crossed paths in one of Paris's bohemian neighborhoods. Both were Kabyle, the Berber people from Algeria's northern regions, both loved rock music, and both were passionate about fostering a modern Algerian sound, as inspired by Kabyle rhythms and melodies as it was by western rock. The two musicians founded Les Abranis in 1967. Together they experimented by mixing Kabyle vocals and melodies with garage and psych-rock but as the '70s progressed they increasingly moved away from the garage and psychedelia of their early days and began to interpret their Kabyle repertoire in more open and creative ways melting prog rock, jazz, and some early electronic influences. Over 11 electrifying tracks, Amazigh Freedom Rock 1973-1983 highlights their legacy as the underground kings of Kabyle rock.

Dafne Vicente-Sandoval's "Minos Circuit" is the resonance of a double exploration, that of an instrument, the bassoon -- an instrument dear to Dafne Vicente-Sandoval -- and that of a listening, of a gaze, almost. The first exploration deconstructs the instrument, tearing it apart, reducing it to an archipelago of sound bodies stimulated by an electro-acoustic device that generates feedback and infiltrates each part of the bassoon, in order to carry out a methodical, systematic examination. The second exploration is the inner one of attention and listening, the one that measures, at each moment, the necessity or not of an intervention in the very act of the musical work, of this subtle balance that is established between composition and observation, between action and contemplation.

Lars Petter Hagen's "Transfiguration 4" is both a "meditation on musical ruins" and "a study of the material of Richard Strauss's 'Metamorfosen'". "Transfiguration 4" works on the musical fragment as an expressive and poetic possibility that can be deployed below or beyond simple musical syntax, a syntax that is still too often equated with music itself. What Lars Petter Hagen highlights in this remarkable work is that the power of music lies at its fringes, that is, at the edge of its own disappearance. "Transfiguration 4" floats in a particularly moving way in these troubled lands, where nothing is ever resolved, and where everything, however, is suspended, like a stream of blurred memories that memory would summon to form an intuition. A musical intuition.

"22/12/2017 Guilin Synthetic Daydream" is a perceptual trap. Inspired by an experience of intense perceptive disorientation while crossing a market in China, Eve Aboulkheir re-instantates, in the field of sounds, the swirling and anamorphic universe of thwarted perceptions, surrounding multitudes and shifted sensations. She thus constructs a dreamlike and artificial universe, suspended and hyperactive, which is both an electronic vortex sucking us in and a mechanical ballet developing its arabesques around us, caught and fascinated by these volutes of sound that fracture like a kaleidoscope in which our eyes-ears are immersed. "22/12/2017 Guilin Synthetic Daydream" approaches the musical form in the most direct way possible, i.e. through its effects and its empire on our sensorium. "22/12/2017 Guilin Synthetic Daydream" est un piège à perception.

"How To Avoid Ants": Using concrète techniques to collect, transform and assemble sounds of various origins (sounds of tree branches, leaves, but also guitars or synthesizers), Lasse Marhaug elaborates a dense and subterranean work, which unfolds through the multiple dimensions induced by the great diversity of its sound material. There is a labyrinthine feeling in this work, a feeling that is better understood when the inspiration for the title of the piece "How To Avoid Ants" is revealed, a very practical and then poetic undertaking, that of avoiding the anthills lining the path to the forest camp in the kindergarten to which his little girl, who was then frightened of insects, was going. It is such an activity of circumvention, diversion and byways that Lasse Marhaug uses to create an exploratory and evasive music.

"I get something out of listening to Coltrane, Shepp, and Coleman; I'm really pleased that young players are trying to change things. If they go back the roots and come up with something new, that's fantastic." This comment was made by saxophonist Hal Singer to Gérard Terronès for the magazine Jazz Hot in 1968. Two years later, Terronès would issue Singer's album Blues and News, on his label Futura Records. Though born in 1919, Hal Singer claims, just like the precursors of free jazz, "to always be looking for something else." When he started out, he played in numerous swing bands, then worked in bop with Don Byas, Roy Eldridge, or Red Allen, before joining Duke Ellington's band. In 1948, he recorded a successful single, "Cornbread" under his own name, which allowed him to travel to the four corners of the earth with his own group. Then, in 1965, Hal Singer came to live in France: in Paris, he played at clubs like the C'hat qui pêche or Riverbop; in the studio, he multiplied his experiments and experience. It was one such session led to Blues and News: joined by Jacques Bolognési (trombone), Jean-Claude André (guitar), Siegfried Kessler (keyboards and flute), Patrice Caratini (double bass), Art Taylor (drums), and Alain Charlery (percussion), the saxophonist himself goes "back to the roots," to also "come up with something new." Things kick off with "It's My Thing", a soul jazz number reminiscent of Cannonball Adderley or Lou Donaldson. After the pretty ballad "Lina," comes "Malcolm X," a luminous homage which resists the storm whipped up by Kessler on piano. Getting back to swing, Singer makes music with his communicative 'joie de vivre' ("Du Bois", "Pour Stéphanie") before signing off with a flamboyant blues dedicated to him by Kessler for the occasion: "Blues For Hal." But, was another title possible?... Blues For All! Carefully remastered from the master tapes by Gilles Laujol. Graphic design by Stefan Thanneur. Licensed from Futura Records. 425 gsm brownboard outer sleeve; 180 gram vinyl.

LP version. Includes eight-page booklet; 425 gsm brownboard outer sleeve; 180 gram vinyl. "Why would I sing in French? I have Breton culture, I speak Breton, I live in Brittany, and the Breton language is the language of this country..." So explained Kristen Noguès, of whom this is the first of the (rare) albums that she recorded Marc'h Gouez, is a fabulous voyage in space on each listening. Noguès learned the Breton language as a child, at the same time as the Celtic harp, -- taking lessons with Denise Mégevand, who would go on to teach others, notably Alan Stivell. At the beginning of the 1970s, she discovered the Breton song tradition (soniou and gwerziou) through Yann Poëns and became involved in Névénoé, a cooperative of traditional expression founded by Gérard Delahaye and Patrick Ewen. It was under this label that her first album Marc'h Gouez, was released in 1976. With a dozen friends playing guitar, piano, violins, flutes..., Noguès composed not Breton music, but music from Brittany: a type of shared folklore in which imagination is married to the reality of the moment, that of social demands and companionship. At the very beginning of the record, we can hear her drawing up a chair, before the plucked notes of the harp become a cascade: "Enez Rouz", is an invitation to listen up close. You are reminded here of the Meredith Monk of "Greensleeves", there of the early albums of Brigitte Fontaine/Areski, elsewhere of Emmanuelle Parrenin, Pascal Comelade... Noguès rhyming pattern is ever changing: airy ("Hunvre"), cosmopolitan ("Pinvidik Eo Va C'hemener"), enigmatic ("Ar Bugel Koar"), profound ("Ar Gemenerez"), or enchanting ("Hirness An Devezhiou"). And then there is the track from which the album takes its name: "Marc'h Gouez" which, between nursery rhyme and chamber music, weaves a fabulous web in which the auditor is obliged to be caught. "Brittany equals poetry": so, said André... Breton; and Kristen Noguès proves it to be true. Licensed from Katell Branellec. Carefully remastered from the master tapes by Gilles Laujol. Graphic design by Stefan Thanneur.

"Formed in the early 1970s, The Residents have now been charting a unique path through the musical landscape for 50 years. In celebration of that remarkable and unlikely anniversary, we present an expanded vinyl reissue of the classic 1978 album Not Available. Among the band's extensive back catalogue, one album sits alone -- composed in accordance with the group's Theory Of Obscurity in 1974, Not Available (or X Is For Xtra - A Conclusion as it was originally known), and the saga that surrounded its release, comprises perhaps the most truly 'Residential' work the group ever produced, and remains their most intriguing album among fans and critics alike. Now, almost 45 years after that saga unfolded, this set explores and expands the classic original album with those 1974 X Is For Xtra recordings which were adapted, edited, remixed and reprocessed into Not Available by Ralph Records in 1978. A perfect 'before and after' companion set, and an unprecedented insight into one of the most mysterious and mythologized recordings of the 20th Century. Remastered, expanded, and pREServed for future generations -- this is The Residents as we've always wanted to hear them, and the latest in a series of archival reissues that will continue throughout 2023 and beyond."

Franco-Swiss composer François J. Bonnet, aka Kassel Jaeger, returns to Shelter Press with a new solo album, Shifted in Dreams. Bonnet has been working closely with Shelter Press for several years now, whether as a musician (Zauberberg, Swamps / Things), theorist (The Music To Come), or director of INA GRM (SPECTRES, Recollection GRM, Portraits GRM). Each of these directions taken, each of these actions carried out, is an exploration and an attempt to understand the deep causes of music, its own potential and its possible appearances. Shifted in Dreams is a continuation of such research, but takes a somewhat deviated path. If you use the image of music as a paradoxical mountain, as an unreachable "Mont Analogue", this album tries to opens up a way that at first seems simpler, marked out, known and recognized thanks to the distinct presence of common harmonic and temporal elements. This path, however, is simple only in appearance, for soon it becomes less clear, its contours get blurred, drowned in the mist. Silhouettes form in the distance, like uncertain shadows. You grope your way forward, in this infra-sensitive thickness of the world outside of signs. The recognized markers disappear, giving way, at best, to reminiscences, but increasingly making way to qualities, occurrences, events. You leave the known world of musical codes to join that of sound apparitions, their memorial imprints and the impressions they produce. Following a compositional approach stemming from the musique concrète tradition, without adopting a structuralist aesthetic, Shifted in Dreams explores a wide range of instruments and techniques, going seamlessly from instrumental improvisation to field recording, via micro-editing and the use of asynchronous loops. Mixing the electronic sounds of an ARP 2500 synthesizer with the acoustic drones of a positive organ, articulating guitar layers with the resonance of the Cristal Baschet, bringing together recordings of slamming windows and sound produced by complex modular synthesis patches, Bonnet offers a rich and generous palette of sounds, inviting a constantly renewed sonic investigation. Shifted in Dreams, despite its title, is not a dreamlike record. The dream here does not designate the symbolical space of interpretation and reinterpretation of reality through cultural patterns. It designates the intermediate, blurred and uncertain state where the reality of signs loses its consistency, while, paradoxically, the reality of senses and impressions becomes imperative, obvious. The reality of demons.

Where Ben Vida's music has previously explored the sound of text at the outer register of electronic composition, here, in collaboration with the Yarn/Wire quartet and the vocalist Nina Dante, the voice and the words it works to inhabit are placed back at the time-scale of a song. There is a familiarity to this music's combination of restrained melody and heightened atmosphere. It feels, softly, like it's made by a band: piano, percussion, voice. A composition kept aloft and even by its four stewards through a simultaneity of effort. The pace, across five pieces, hurries and relaxes but never outruns or distends language. You could find a story in the words being sung, if that's what you need. But there are unfamiliar dimensions too. So many threads, so many timelines. A story or a thousand, or a litany of scraps: language complete but raw, language that can or cannot be translated. Singers fused at the breath. Oppositions or dualities -- a question and an answer, two sides of a conflict, the sense of being here or over there -- are drawn together into a single sentiment, plural with feeling. Voices negotiating in unison how to articulate a stance. Musical cues doling out tension as needed. The five pieces that make up The Beat My Head Hit were developed with Yarn/Wire over the last four years, with roots in Vida's 2018 performance for four voices and electronics 'And So Now' at BAM in Brooklyn. The Yarn/Wire ensemble, founded in 2005, has been collaborating with a broad range of experimental composers and sound artists since its inception: most recently, they have performed work by the likes of Sarah Hennies, Annea Lockwood, Catherine Lamb, and Alvin Lucier. Vida, meanwhile, has maintained a practice as both a musician and a visual artist, which has included drone-leaning solo work for electronics as well as improvisatory collaborations with musicians including Martina Rosenfeld and Lea Bertucci. Working with Yarn/Wire, for Vida, was something like joining a band. Following a few early live performances, the material was worked through in the studio across many permutations, a process during which Vida, Dante, Russell Greenberg, Laura Barger created what Vida calls "a meta-voice out of the blending of our four voices." Sustained presence -- language bringing a group to the place of breathing in unison -- becomes the backbone of the piece.

The British producer μ-Ziq has been an inspiration to label co-founders Albert Salinas and Philip Sherburne since the 1990s. In fact, his album-length remix project The Auteurs Vs μ-Ziq was one of the very first pieces of electronic music that Philip bought, way back in 1994. To have the opportunity to release his music now feels like a real full-circle moment. Paradinas, of course, needs no introduction. Under a slew of aliases, chief among them μ-Ziq, the British artist revolutionized leftfield electronic music in the 1990s -- coincidentally, this year marks the 30th anniversary of his debut album, Tango N' Vectif, for his friend and sometime collaborator Aphex Twin's Rephlex label -- and his label Planet Mu has built up a formidable catalog of visionary, forward-looking records, mapping virtually every corner of the electronic spectrum. With 1977, he turns the clock backward in a sense, and not just with the album's title: Rooted in classic ambient and electronic sounds, these 15 tracks evoke the anything-goes spirit of the early '90s, before the tools and tropes had calcified into cut-and-dried styles. There's no shortage of familiar sounds on 1977. There are echoes of raves and chillout rooms and transmissions from the fringes of techno; there are detuned synths and glistening reverb tails and, above all, gauzy vox pads, the eerie glue that holds it all together. The title, he says, is meant to invoke a general sense of nostalgia, bookmarking a year in his boyhood when he became more self-aware. More than anything, 1977 sounds like μ-Ziq distilled: Stripped of his signature breakbeats and customary chaos, Paradinas's first-ever strictly (well, mostly) ambient album presents the essence of his music in a whole new light. Along the way Paradinas touches on dark-ambient drones ("Marmite"), horror-film themes ("Belt & Carpet"), jungle breaks ("Mesolithic Jungle"), and even house music ("Houzz 13"), which marks the first bona fide dance-floor moment on Balmat to date). Yet the album never feels expressly retro. Rather, Paradinas plucks timeless sounds out of the ether and gives them a gentle tap, spinning them into unexpected new orbits. At times, 1977 feels like an experience of extended déjà vu: When we first listened to it, we had the sense that we already knew this music. It was as though we had heard it years ago, perhaps on a battered cassette tape lent to us by a friend, and been searching for it ever since. "1977" features Meemo Comma.

"Fifth vinyl album (there have been four cassettes as well) by this Baltimore-based duo with international roots. Zomes began as a solo project by Asa Osbourne (ex-Lungfish, The Pupils), and recorded mostly solo drone-based instrumentals for several years. While performing at a festival in Stockholm, Asa met vocalist Hanna Olivegren, who shared his musical conceptions. Zomes's first record as a duo was 2013's Time Was (Thrill Jockey), and they have remained a two-piece ever since. The music on Love's Lessons is largely built around Asa's simple keyboard washes and drum box, atop which Hanna's vocals stroll like Little Red Riding Hood walking through the Black Forest. The overall effect is beautiful and lulling, with a dream pop vibe very much in line with Kendra Smith's monumental 1995 album, Five Ways of Disappearing. Spare and otherworldly, additional possible comparisons can be made to Young Marble Giants or Damon & Naomi. Zomes's material shares the same sort of genteel literary feel those combos broadcast. Something about the pacing at which the vocals are presented makes them feel weighted with promise, and this heft carries over to the instrumentation as well. There's no fat or excess to the music's skeleton. Hanna's voice carries the full range of Love's Lessons' melodic content, but it's the rich harmonic range of Asa's keys (and maybe guitar in one spot?) that give the whole its ghostly weight and depth. A brilliant record that delivers an unending stream of warm electric shocks." --Byron Coley, 2023

Feeding Tube in collaboration with Ba Da Bing present: "She can be a real pain in the ass," is how Big Blood's Caleb Mulkerin and Colleen Kinsella describe having their daughter as a member of the band they formed in the wake of Cerberus Shoal's dissolution. A band made up of family seems like an ideal situation. You get to play with those you love, and practicing/recording is always just a matter of going into the next room . . . Quinnissa, who was 13 when First Aid Kit was recorded has skills . . . Quinnisa's voice has developed into an astonishing powerhouse of force. While she has been contributing to Big Blood records almost since birth, First Aid Kit solidifies her clear talent. All her lyrics are improvised in the moment while recording, a real shock to realize considering how insightful and perfectly suited to the song they are. 'Never Ending Nightmare' candidly and perfectly describes the anxieties of being a teenager today. Or the heartache of '1000 Times' . . . Teenage impulses fit right in with the band's intent, which is making music that's honest, inclusive and flawed. Inventiveness in the moment wins out over belabored, repeated takes, as the group is in a constant state of creation. Songs sound fully built and realized, but they actually rise out of improvisation. Big Blood channel the moment and let go once they finish . . . Mulkerin's descriptions of different songs on the record run like faint recalled dreams . . . Many songs touch on the fear and horrors outside a safe home space, fitting for a record made during COVID. They sing about their feelings in the moment, so lyrics are often topical. 'Makes Me Wonder' is about Ma'kihia Bryant, a 16 year-old black girl shot by police. While any fan of the band will tell you that no two albums sound very much alike, First Aid Kit displaying for the first time their affinity for the emotional effects of bands like The Cure, Bauhaus and The Clean, there's a clear thread throughout all their records. First, there's Kinsella's voice, which pivots from upbeat fun to pure dread, presumably based on how she was feeling that day she recorded. Secondly, Mulkerin's production preserves layers of could-have-beens by keeping the ghostly presence of past takes alive in the background of tracks like subliminal thoughts. Their songs achieve the double satisfaction of being immediate, catchy and memorable, while also revealing inner depths at repeated listens. Some of the best experimental music is cloaked as mundane. First Aid Kit was recorded entirely at the family's home onto 1" eight-track tape. It achieves the magic of capturing a moment and making a lasting impression. There aren't many family bands, and there's definitely no other band like this." --Ben Goldberg

Constantly evolving and adapting his sound, Shackleton has releases spanning labels such as Honest Jon's, Perlon, and his own imprints, Skull Disco (co-founded with Appleblim) and Woe to the Septic Heart! Shackleton now finds a home for a brand-new project on the Barcelona-based, Modern Obscure Music. Undoubtedly Shackleton, but taking the meditative aspects of his sound to a new plane, The Purge of Tomorrow, is an alias born to transmit a less dancefloor-orientated experience to whomever is ready to receive it. The Other Side of Devastation is an investigation into a novel form of deepness. Adverse to the reductive label of "ambient", these tracks are spawned from a live performance context. The essence was to create an immersive encounter where listeners are called on to actively unburden their mind of unnecessary thoughts. Staying true to the trance elements that Shackleton is renowned for, this EP is not dependent on traditional structures or a linear narrative. "Time Moving" presents itself through a journey of disquieted moments and contemplative states. Hypnotic strings provided by Kathy Alberici construct pastoral phrases that mesh with the larger looming drones, culminating to conjure a daydream-like energy. Following on, "Waves" twists through various forms, awash with cascading vocal splices and soothing murmurs contrasted with rousing sub pressure. Reflective and sometimes provocative, as an artist who resents the pigeon-holes of genre, The Purge of Tomorrow presents an exciting new direction for Shackleton. Bursting-at-the-seams with emotional complexity as to echo the woes of the human condition, this EP is steeped in feelings of forgone events doomed to be replicated.

Tobias Freund, the Berlin based producer, musician, and label owner of Non Standard Productions has created an incredible cover record that pays tribute to some of the most iconic and influential artists of the past four decades. The album Tobias. & Friends' Top Ten places a unique spin on the original tracks, with its combination of electronic sounds and vocal performances from Javiera González, Barbie Williams, Cormac McAdam, Carlos Cabezas, and Stian Westerhus. Having already worked with Javiera González on the recent post punk album release The Mutual Torture's Don't (NSP 019LP, 2022), Tobias has once again used his talents to honor some of his favorite bands. Each track has been carefully re-produced at Non Standard Studios in Berlin, resulting in a perfectly balanced mix of old and new. Highlights from the record include "Used To" by Wire, "All We Ever Wanted" by Bauhaus, and "Gut Feeling/Slap Your Mammy" by DEVO. The tracks range from the upbeat, '80s-inspired "Pure Jam" by Yellow Magic Orchestra to the more somber "My Sex" by Ultravox. Tobias has given us a thoughtful, creative, and enjoyable record that is sure to please any fan of these bands. All in all, this is an exceptional release, a masterful blend of past and present, and a perfect tribute to some of the greatest musical acts of our time.

"On the cover: Totally Wire-d! A special 20-page feature that takes a sideways look at the still expanding world of Mark E Smith's unclubbable rock unit The Fall. Centered around an extensive interview with post-Fall group House Of All by Excavate! editor Tessa Norton, the feature will also include interviews with collaborators Grant Showbiz and Elena Poulou, essays on The Fall's landmark performances in New Zealand and beyond, an interview with female Fall karaoke unit The Fallen Women, investigations of the group's adventures in theatre and contemporary dance, plus think pieces on its rhythm section, stage presence, studio work, idiosyncratic connection with glam(our), and more. Inside the issue...Global Ear: How California's Bay Area is playing out an ongoing struggle between underground and DIY creatives and encroaching Silicon Valley fueled gentrification. By Colin Smith; Unlimited Editions: Low key Berlin modern composition label Editions Telemark operates strictly under the radar. By Peter Margasak; Unofficial Channels: The Deep Ark takes the art of the DJ mix into an ambitious multimedia sphere spanning images, poems and autobiography. By Michaelangelo Matos; Epiphanies: New York writer, performer and former Contortions member Adele Bertei on the power of Patti Smith's 'Gloria'. Invisible Jukebox DIY electro-punk No Home surveys our mystery music selection. Plus, full page interviews with Andy Akiho, Kristen Roos, Natalia Beylis and Nondi_."

yet is a slippery word in English. Amorphous, these three letters in different contexts can define contrast or emphasis, set a place in time, show an expectation that something will occur or, paradoxically, that it is likely to stop. It is this mercurial nature that makes yet the perfect title for Tresor's latest compilation: the label follows on from the more explorative sections of 2021's landmark Tresor 30 boxed set with a compilation, featuring 13 artists making music that resist easy definition. Every track hints at and borrows from the familiar yet none follow the expected path: halfway through Deserto, Nandele & A-Tweed dramatically reveal a very different sonic landscape that was initially suggested; DJ Sotofett collaborates with Sri Lankan artist Kavadi with results that are unlike anything in the Norwegian producer's catalog as yet. Further invention can be found as Jean Redondo's "Hypersonic" moves across spaces inhabited by digital hardcore and hyperpop before swerving off-road and into a futuristic hip-hop section; on "No Longer Human", Ireen Amnes takes a different path at the crossroads melding hyperpop, trance, and sci-fi soundtrack atmospherics, Significant Other heads towards UK bass and dubstep, and France's Willis Anne skims by the outskirts of footwork with a piece that is almost completely uncategorisable. Yet more sonic experimentation comes from E-Saggila, Nadia Struiwigh, NVST, Solid Blake, and Viikatory who offer unique takes on the well-established electro blueprint, while Ryan James Ford, and Nit. both find ways to blend elements normally found in ambient pieces with those heard on a dancefloor. The feel of the compilation is yet again reflected in the enigmatic artwork by Malik Arbab, where shapes and colors suggest animals and plants but in a world that appears to be transient and constantly evolving. 180 gram vinyl; full printed sleeve; includes download.

Locust is the new solo album from Jeff Clarke (The Black Lips/Demon's Claws). A stripped-down, melancholic change of pace from the Canadian singer-songwriter. Clarke's sincere, poetic texts are accompanied only by his acoustic guitar. The warm, dreamy, minimalist folk sound is enhanced by the recordings themselves -- all done in a single session, outdoors in a forest north of Berlin.

Reissue, originally released in 1976. The Awakening were one of the greatest bands in early '70s jazz blending spiritual and soul. They combined veterans of Chicago's R&B sessions and jazz players affiliated with the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and were the only "group" on the legendary Black Jazz Records roster. This album includes the most representative tunes from their only two albums released in 1972-1973.

2023 repress. The first ever vinyl reissue of Christoph De Babalon's If You're Into It, I'm Out of It, originally released in 1997. Christoph De Babalon was a key member of Germany's mutant splinter cells who fused UK rave music with more experimental, Teutonic techno, ambient, and hardedge politics to brutal effect during the mid-late '90s. 21 years later, this music has patently withstood the test of time, distinguished by a haunting atmospheric pallor and ruff-neck way with jungle that'll makes you feel just as clammy and psychotic as when you first heard it (most likely on a trip to Berlin or via Christoph Fringeli's invaluable C8 database). If You're Into It, I'm Out Of It distills a feeling of that era, as the utopian outlook of rave's early years had evidently given way to something much darker, more maudlin, perhaps symptomatic of ennui with dance music's hyper-commercial land grab, or even a pre-echo of pre millennial tension. If You're Into It, I'm Out Of It therefore feels torn between extreme states. On one hand it goes harder than the rest in killer rave moves such as the hardcore rattler "Dead (Too)", the epic "amen" and drone blow-out "My Confession", or his cutthroat beast "Water". But on the other, he goes darker, more haunting than the rest of his field with remarkable cuts such as the 15 minutes of billowing dark ambience that open the LP in "Opium", or with the sublime, Gas-like suspension system of "Brilliance", and the funereal, bombed-out bliss of "High Life (Theme)". With his debut album proper, De Babalon effectively plotted out terrain that bridged DJ Scud's rugged jungle breakcore with soundscaping more commonly associated to Thomas Köner or Deathprod, and in the process set the ground for myriad contemporary producers and sounds ranging from Raime and Blackest Ever Black to Demdike Stare, Pessimisst, and beyond. If You're Into It, I'm Out Of It was, and still is, a deadly statement of intent, whose rhetoric and aesthetic still strongly resonate with subcultural concerns in 2018. Classic. RIYL: Aphex Twin, Gas, The Caretaker, Reinforced, DJ Scud, Deathprod, Porter Ricks. Remastered by Rashad Becker.

LP version. Far Out Recordings presents Hermeto Pascoal's remarkable self-titled debut album. Recorded in 1970 at A&R studios in New York, the album features certified North American titans including Ron Carter, Hubert Laws, Joe Farrel, and Googie Coppola, and Brazilian stars Airto Moreira and Flora Purim (who also produced the album). While it was Hermeto's first album released under his own name, he had spent the decade or so prior making a name for himself in Brazil and internationally as a composer, arranger and instrumentalist with groups including Sambrassa Trio, Quarteto Novo, and Brazilian Octopus, before going on to work with (amongst countless others) Edu Lobo, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Donald Byrd, Airto Moreira, and Miles Davis, who allegedly called Hermeto "one of the most important musicians on the planet." With Hermeto's otherworldly orchestral arrangements, ghostly vocal performances from Flora Purim and Googie Coppola, and the inimitable drumming and percussion stylings of Airto Moreira, Hermeto easily rivals some of the oft-celebrated MPB albums of the early 1970s, sitting somewhere between the string-heavy magic of Arthur Verocai's 1972 debut and the unplacable early experimentalism of Pedro Santos' 1968 album Krishnanda. With his phenomenal natural musical genius and a ceaseless sense of creative freedom, Hermeto is widely known for using unconventional objects to make music. In the album's sleeve notes, Airto highlights the track "Velório (Mourning)" explaining how Hermeto filled 36 apple juice bottles with different amounts of water and tuned them to precise pitches in order to create the beguiling harmonies heard. The reissue of Hermeto Pascoal's Hermeto follows Far Out's recent unveiling of a previously unheard Hermeto Pascoal live concert Planetario da Gavea from 1981 (FARO 229CD/LP), and 2017's release of Hermeto Pascoal's lost 1976 studio album: Viajando Com O Som (FARO 200CD/LP).

The Croatian production powerhouse and disco boogie impresario steps up to International Feel, and takes a left turn into deep space with a new six-track release, Pulsar Diaries. Ilija's discography stretches back to 2003, and over those 20 years he's packed it full with albums, versions, remixes and singles. His releases are often perfectly-penned love letters to '80s boogie, electro and disco, and like postcards from an old flame. On Pulsar Diaries, Ilija delivers a panoramic collection of spaced-out synths and drum machine grooves, dedicated to the planet and our place in the universe. The A side opens up with the blissful, weightless pads of the title track, before it breaks out into filtered stabs over a minimal b-boy bounce. "Delphic Expanse" ebbs and flows like a lunar eclipse, sounding like a futuristic version of Key-Matic's "Breaking In Space", all uprock rhythms and syrupy synth horns as it spins off beyond the asteroid belt. Side A closes out with "Blackburn Tales", a suspenseful and spacious electro rhythm packed with strings and 303 squelch, which you might call anti-gravity acid, if you were so inclined. Side B picks up the tempo with "Fourth Amendment", perfect for the space station discotheque with its sweeping bass filters and ice-cold synth melodies hovering in orbit. "Farewell Theme" takes an introspective moment, slowing the pace to a cosmic 90 bpm and inviting a certain cinematic feel to proceedings. "Ursa Major" is ablaze with cascading drum fills, bubble-wrapped bass riffs and bright synth chords that sparkle like city lights underneath a re-orbiting satellite. Pulsar Diaries is part soundtrack to space travel, part meditation on the human condition, part deep-burning dancefloor dynamo.

Reissue, originally released in 1981. Reissued on vinyl for the very first time, the third Paragons album, released on the UK reggae label, Starlight. All songs are backed by the Aggrovators, the Bunny Lee's house band, that includes Sly & Robbie, the Barrett Brothers -- both also with Bob Marley & the Wailers -- Jackie Mittoo, Earl "Chinna" Smith, Winston Wright, and many others. Produced by Bunny Lee and mixed by Prince Jammy. Now marked the Paragons return to the scene, in a big way. Great vibrations, dreamy melodies, a roots reggae masterpiece, not to be missed! Fully remastered and licensed. Edition of 500.

Clear vinyl. Sold out release from 2020, Asher Gamedze's Dialectic Soul finally returns as a limited-edition clear vinyl press ahead of On The Corner's tenth anniversary. Dialectic Soul is the debut album from one of Cape Town's most cutting-edge, visionary artists and musicians, the drummer, Asher Gamedze. This is Jazz at its most spiritual, most progressive and most appealing form. As Asher himself says: "Dialectic Soul is about motion and a refusal to remain static or stay still. It's the commitment to be continually moving." Recorded live over two days at the Sound and Motion Studios in Cape Town with renowned musicians -- Thembinkosi Mavimbela (bass), Buddy Wells (tenor sax), Robin Fassie-Kock (trumpet), Nono Nkoane (voc) -- Dialectic Soul is breathtaking in its musical vitality and expression of soul seeking truth. By incorporating the concept of the total art for this project, it fits perfectly within On The Corner's aesthetic of music, art and vision for creative innovation. Label art director Victoria Topping created the sleeve design working with Asher's drawings and concept. Asher continues: "My composition 'state of emergence' introduces the themes that constitute the album; free drums representing autonomous African motion, the saxophone reflecting deeply and honestly on the violence of colonialism, the teachings of Coltrane, Steve Biko, Makeba, and Malcolm X and others inspired the music's positive manifestations of resistance. Fundamentally, it is about the reclamation of the historical imperative. It is about the dialect of the soul and the spirit while it moves through history. The soul is dialectic. Motion is imperative. We keep moving." Gamedze is best known for his work with Angel Bat Dawit on International Anthem.

Double LP version. From 1989 onwards, Richard Sen was an obsessive collector of house and techno music, frequenting legendary London record shops such as Fat Cat, Silverfish, Trax, and Red Records. He took record buying trips to New York to find second-hand disco, house and techno 12"s, which were lying around in bargain bins. The selection for this compilation is his own personal favorites from that era. Back then, electronic dance music was young, innocent and fun; it hadn't been analyzed, theorized, and fragmented into the multi-genre industry it is today. What you hear on this compilation reflects what he was playing at that time; joining the dots between ambient, techno, tribal house, breakbeat and early trance productions from the UK. Much house and techno from the US, Belgium, Germany, and Holland has been well documented, but some of the more obscure British productions are lesser known and need to be showcased. Hopefully, these tracks will inspire and educate a new generation of electronic music fans who weren't born then and also trigger some acid flashbacks for the older ravers as they take a trip down memory lane. Features Centuras, Bandulu, Strontium 90, Orr-Some, Biff'um Baff'um Boys, Epoch 90, Mind Over Rhythm, Dream Frequency, As One, and UVX. Double-CD version contains the same tracklisting; CD 1 is unmixed, CD 2 is mixed.

Triple LP version. Now in its 14th year, the unique and constantly evolving Fire! Orchestra is back with their largest line-up so far, counting an international cast of no less than 43 members that includes mainstay singer Mariam Wallentin as well as newcomers David Sandström and Joe McPhee, both on vocals, McPhee also on tenor sax. The popular and widely praised Arrival (RCD 2205CD/RLP 3205LP, 2019) is a highlight in both our and the band's catalog, but this epic triple album ups the ante. While following in the great tradition of ensembles led by the likes of Carla Bley, George Russell, and Keith Tippett, Echoes is firmly placed in 2022 and takes in elements of rock, jazz, folk, electronic, classical, and contemporary music. Starting out with the working title Big Bang, the near two-hour piece had its concert premiere at Stockholm Jazz Festival in October 2022 to rapturous applause from a full house, with major national newspaper Dagens Nyheter calling it a feast for eyes and ears in their ecstatic review. The core elements of Echoes are the seven self-titled parts, each mostly over ten minutes in duration, interspersed with shorter pieces where you find a string quartet, an "African" stretch and generally music of an exploratory and experimental nature. Considering the size of the orchestra and the somewhat intimidating working title, this is a very open, breathing, organic, detailed and dynamic recording with a lot of space. As previously, a defining base element in the music is the repetitive and hypnotic grooves from the main rhythm section of bassist Johan Berthling and drummer Andreas Werliin. Needless to say, the hand-picked musicians are all on a very high level and on top of their game, conducted by Mats Gustafsson but given free reign when it's called for. And Jim O'Rourke was given free reign when it came to the selections and the mix and is a big part in how the final album turned out. The album closes with a vigorous tribute from Joe McPhee to one of the late, great masters, McPhee being a pretty decent finger wiggler himself, to say the least. Echoes was mostly written by Fire! founders Mats Gustafsson, Johan Berthling, and Andreas Werliin and recorded at the legendary Atlantis studio in Stockholm in March of 2022. It was mixed by Jim O'Rourke in Japan in the course of two autumn months. The mastering and vinyl cut was done by loop-o mastering in Berlin, making for a fantastic sounding album, especially the vinyl edition is a real treat.

LP version. Defamator is the long-time-coming debut project of 24-year-old Chloe Gallardo. It tells a story of betrayal in love and friendship and the painful reality of overcoming love lost and former heartbreak. Drawing influences from artists such as Broadcast, Grouper, and My Bloody Valentine, Gallardo adds her own haunting, folk-style vocals and hyper-specific lyrics to create a sonic unique to her. A style that she describes in her words as "dark shoegaze bedroom indie pop." Album opener "Bloodline" epitomizes this bittersweet modus operandi. 15 seconds into its dainty acoustic strum, Gallardo adamantly sulks "I'm fucked up" -- the salvo of a lyric about feeling like a family disappointment. As the track lifts up into a cascading gaze-pop rush, recalling the likes of Bachelor and Snail Mail, we're blessed with a pristine elegance that belies the song's raging core. "I have always written music this way," she says of this fundamental contradiction. "It's funny because I try so hard to write darker-sounding songs and they always come out way too pretty. So, I've resorted to writing the most gut-wrenching and intense lyrics to compensate." Written mostly during peak-pandemic times in Gallardo's bedroom, the songs that made their way onto Defamator arose from a concerted period of healing. Drawing from the teachings of therapy, the songwriting process gave her the means to channel some deeply entrenched emotional scars. This venting of anger is implicit throughout the record. The album's title -- Gallardo's own neologism -- uses the concepts of "defamation" and "defamatory speech" to innovate a kind of pejorative accusation. As a result, it is like you are actively listening to Gallardo forcefully take command of her past. Of the title track she explains: "The song 'Defamator' is about someone who spoke untruthful things about me in order to manipulate me and the way people perceived me and I felt that was an underlying theme in most of the album." Recorded at Jazzcat Studios in Long Beach California with Jonny Bell (Hanni El Khatib, Adult Books, etc.), Defamator marks Gallardo's first time in a "legitimate recording studio." And it shows. Bell's production is vital moving part here. There's more stripped-back affairs -- "There Will Be Blood"; "The Way" -- songs which gently seethe and purr like Grouper's spectral dream-pop; Gallardo's fluttering folk-ish voice gloriously pushed to forefront.

The Outer Edge release two exciting electro tracks by Art P, as well as the classic minimal synthwave tune "Der böse Osten" by related band project Die Synthetische Republik on this limited split 12". The single kicks off with "Genscher Pull 'N' Push", an incredible and previously unreleased electro/wave/proto-techno tune from the P.A.P. archives, recorded in October 1982 with a political background. The song was only available on a demo cassette for a radio show and had been forgotten since then. Genscher was a long-time Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs and Vice Chancellor of Germany, who played a key role in a coalition change in September/October 1982, leading his party, the FDP, to leave the Helmut Schmidt cabinet with the SPD and continue with the opposition, the CDU/CSU. Unfortunately, this track was never released, as the topic of the coalition change quickly became uninteresting and outdated. If it had been issued on vinyl in late 1982, it would probably be considered one of the first proto-techno tracks ever. With its driving and heavily-punching 808 rhythms, and the bending synth bass leads played on the Jupiter 4 synthesizer, it gives you a groove that owes as much to Kraftwerk's Computerwelt as it may rhythmically pre-date the sound of Detroit's Juan Atkins. Next up on the Art P side is a remix of "Polaroid", originally found on the No Message LP. The track was recorded in 1985, and at that time, the duo of Frank Grotelüschen and Jens-Markus Wegener had become bored with the sound of the Roland 808 drum machine, so they made the track with a DrumTraks by Sequential Circuits. However, for this remix, DJ Scientist, the curator of this 12", wanted to recreate the typical electrofunk sound of the era and added 808 bass drums and claps. Die Synthetische Republik was a project by Wegener of Art P and Olav Neander. The track "Der böse Osten" can originally be found on the cassette album Faktor D, recorded in just two weeks on a Tascam Portastudio 245. The original recording sessions were pure fun but also rushed. Hence, none of the tracks was perfectly mixed. Remastered to achieve the best possible result. A serious synth wave gem on 12" for the first time as an exclusive extended mix.

2023 repress of the third seminal album by the UK's Surgeon, originally released in 1999. Remastered in 2015 by Matt Colton at Alchemy Mastering, London. Surgeon's third Tresor album reinforces the theories communicated in previous releases, drawing carefully on the parallel between loud music's ability to cross cultural differences. The opposing swing toward experimentally contemplative music is played quietly to produce a different perception. Sentimental with high emotional content while sometimes simultaneously brutal, Force + Form brews a powerful physical experience at club-level decibels.

2023 repress. 180-gram black vinyl. The astonishing sessions that went light years beyond "free jazz" improvisation to create a music of deeply felt, explosive and gentle gesture made from sound itself without reference to previous notions of melody or harmony are now reissued on 180 gram vinyl with Sun Ra's original, self-created cover art. Recorded by Richard Alderson on April 20, 1965, this set of tunes finds Sun Ra breaking ground by using synthesizers and having the Arkestra musicians double on percussion. Remastered.

Guatemalan label Identidata present Sacratávica, the very first collected survey of Joaquín Orellana's compositions. With a career spanning over 50 years of activity across contemporary art, performance, theater, and sound art, Orellana is a highly singular figure in Guatamalan culture. Most of his music was created using an orchestra of his self-built instruments, also known as Útiles Sonoros. Sitting at the border of sculpture, sound installation and musical instrument, these Útiles Sonoros, which he's been building and developing since the late '60s, are at the center of his artistic activity. Aside the obvious formal aspect, his compositions also have a strong political message, while being deeply rooted in Guatemalan history, folklore, and various identities, both indigenous and modern. Playful opener "Híbrido a presión" was one of the first of his compositions to be performed entirely using the Útiles Sonoros. "Ramajes"(1984), initially titled "Evocación profunda y ramajes de una marimba" , tracks the many incarnations of the marimba across history, before reaching its final form as one of Orellana's instruments by combining vibrational percussion with melody and poetry fragments. The title track, "Sacratávica", represents one of the most ambitious and emotionally charged pieces from the album. An expansive 22-minute composition mixing textures that mimics field recordings and multi-layered vocal melodies culminating in choral catharsis, "Sacratávica" deals in baroque maximalism without ever feeling cluttered. Dubbed "Las voces del Rio Negro", the piece references the massacres that took place in Coban during a period where the army massacred numerous towns, throwing the bodies in the nearby Rio Negro (the Black River). Final track, "Fantoidea", a glistening, metallic ambient improvisation, was a reimagining of Disney's Fantasia using Paul Dukas's "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" as inspiration. Despite his work being presented in numerous exhibitions and concerts in various prestigious museums and theaters across the world, very few quality recordings exist to date. The only previously available recordings so far or either of very poor quality or did not receive enough attention. For the people behind Identidata, it has been a long and arduous process to put together these pieces. Trying to offer a panoramic view of Orellana's work, the curators have selected pieces ranging from different decades and artistic periods. Sacratávica is a portrait of a singular artist whose work speaks not only to his culture, but carries strong aesthetic sensibilities that resonate universally.

"Chemistry for Gamelan and String Quartet is the culmination of a long-term collaboration between the JACK Quartet and composer and instrument builder Brian Baumbusch (b. 1987). Over the past ten years, Baumbusch has designed and built two separate sets of 'American gamelan' instruments. Based on various instruments from the Balinese gamelan tradition, these instruments depart in innovative ways from Indonesian traditions based on their unique tuning, inspired in part by the tuning theories published by musicologist William Sethares, as well as their design and performance techniques, which draw inspiration from instruments built by Lou Harrison and Harry Partch. Hydrogen(2)Oxygen (2015) uses a unique compositional technique called 'polytempo,' pioneered by composer Conlon Nancarrow and further developed by Baumbusch in his works for large ensemble. Hydrogen(2)Oxygen explores the unique tuning landscape that is created by combining Baumbusch's Lightbulb instruments with string quartet. This work in particular uses performance practices native to Bali and advanced instrumental techniques that are derived from the virtuosic tradition cultivated by the artistry of Balinese musicians. Therefore, to produce the recordings on this album, Baumbusch returned to Bali with his instruments to work with Nata Swara. This is the first instance of Balinese musicians performing on 'American gamelan' instruments within Indonesia. Three Elements for String Quartet (2016) is one of Baumbusch's earliest endeavors in composing with polytempo structures. The format of the three movements requires that the performers use individual click tracks in the first and third movements in order to execute the polytempo relationships in the music, and in the middle movement the ensemble is free from 'clock time' and can interpret the rhythms communally. Prisms for Gene Davis (2018-2021) involves a separate set of gamelan instruments from those used in Hydrogen(2)Oxygen. It is an exploration of Balinese compositional heterophony, though structured to contain irregular and compound meters that are less common in Balinese music. Prisms can be thought of as a refraction of Baumbusch's relationship to both American Minimalism and Balinese music. This album is the work of a diligent composer who has travelled deep down many rabbit holes (instrument building, tuning, spectral analysis, tempo technology, Balinese compositional techniques, and even microphone building) to learn the technical information needed to engage with these complex compositional worlds. He has resurfaced from these explorations with a sensitive and refined fusion that can be heard here."

Reissue. Compilation originally released in 2006. Deejay Jah Thomas was one of the creative figures making a dramatic impact on the Kingston sound system scene of the late 1970s and early '80s, the rhythms he laid at Channel One studio with the Roots Radics helping to steer reggae towards the emerging dancehall style. Voicing and mixing his work at King Tubby's studio, typically with the young upstart engineer known as Scientist, Thomas was another champion in the realm of dub, his re-makes of vintage Studio One and Treasure Isle rhythms part of the process. In A Dub Explosion is a thrilling comp of tough dubs, mixed by Scientist and the King.

The phrase "concept album" brings to mind long and complicated works by '60s rock bands or rap magna opera destined to be pored over by Dissect podcast. But what if the concept is based on a simple conceit? With Refreshing Part 1, their third EP and first vinyl release on Tresor, Fireground soundtrack an imaginary night spent at the Kraftwerk building on Köpenicker Straße, moving between the smoke-filled basement of Tresor and the bass-heavy loft of Globus. Opening piece, "Never Sleep", has long been a feature of the Fireground live set and evolved over many months before reaching its final form in something of a "eureka" moment during a performance in Tresor. The track kicks off the EP with a hint to techno classic "Knights of the Jaguar" before quickly carving its own path through the foliage. The tribal leitmotif continues on second track, "Gaze", which again has subtle nods to classics whilst showcasing the duo's ability to bring new life to '90s house and techno tropes. "Obsession" dispenses with any pretense and gets right down to business from the opening second: Inspired by the Tresor dancefloor "when it reaches its peak; the strobe lights together with the smoke become so intense that for a few moments you can't see anything and completely abandon yourself to your sense of hearing." A counterpoint to the finessed "Never Sleep", "Obsession" was recorded live with minimal post-production this track finds Fireground at their rawest and most uncompromising. As if needing a spot of fresh air after the ferocity of "Obsession", the second half of the EP leaves the dense and smoky atmosphere behind and ascends towards the sky beginning with "Driving Stars"; lighter though this may be there's no loss of drive. Penultimate track "Into A Diamond" finds Fireground floating ever-upwards propelled by elements of jazz including a gorgeous electric piano solo that recall the airy mid-90s UK house of labels like Nuphonic, Heavenly, Faze Action, and Soma.

After several years of performing as INIT with Benedikt Frey, she had her solo live debut in Berlin in 2022. This record follows releases on labels such as ESP Institute and Warning. GUM showcases DALO's expert mastery of rising tension through analog sound sources, as it swings in and remains with minimal changes and accentuation. "Woodpecker" enters a tunnel of reverberant claps, moving in a potent exercise of deftly manipulated acid. "Wavehall" draws vocal smears across expansive, droning basses and 140bpm techno rhythms. In "Bachlash", she takes inspiration from events of Iranian and Afghan women revolting for their rights, expressing hope for the rebound of control after long political oppression. Electro beats are introduced underneath the full-frontal melodic acid, while processed spoken word samples bring a new focus. DALO takes the rebounding control and strives forward into the unknown with "GUM", its segmented vocal samples playing a captivating partnership with acidic slides.

LNS and DJ Sotofett return to Tresor Records with The Reformer EP. This new record moves forward with a crystal clear, direct and controlled output, leaving their debut album Sputters as an end-mark of a sonic era. Here they evolve into a topography full of contrasts, where harsh digital artifacts, scanner sounds, and vocoder voices cast melodic colors across cold landscapes of club-ready electro. "Reform" plunges deep into an electro sound splintered by binary bits and submerged pads that beckon a serene melody, which echoes and loops to entangle with mutant voices, noises and buzzes. "Plexistorm" leads with synthesized strings and arpeggiated acidic bleeps until a thick bass emerges, sounding almost like a long-lost Analord record. Heavily shapeshifting with effects processing, it proves primitive movements in dubbing are the perfect counterpart to this precise electro sound. With "Electric Terraforming", the duo uncover charged energy sources required for life on another planet, as broad synth pads and memorable vocoder harmonies draw this earworm to a close. Mighty washes of dub rule on "909 The Controller" as a skipping beat invites a slow, rippling melody and percolating reverberated synths.

Less of Everything was released in 2020 on Upset The Rhythm and sold out quickly. Limited repress on sun yellow vinyl sees the album finally available on vinyl again. Es is Maria Cecilia Tedemalm (vocals), Katy Cotterell (bass), Tamsin M. Leach (drums), and Flora Watters (keyboards). Their 2016 debut EP, Object Relations, released on influential London punk label La Vida Es Un Mus, was described as "mutant synth-punk for our dystopian present" (Jes Skolnik, Bandcamp, Pitchfork). The band has since become a vital presence in London's underground DIY music scene, as well as having toured the UK with the Thurston Moore Group in 2017. After a period with members split between Glasgow and London, Es recorded Less of Everything with Lindsay Corstorphine (Sauna Youth, Primitive Parts) in Tottenham in 2019. As in Object Relations, the dynamic between Cotterell's bass and Watters's keyboard is at the heart of Less of Everything's sound: intertwining sub-zero melodies, gothic anarcho-punk influences (think Kukl, Malaria, X-Mal Deutschland) and some kind of entirely unlocatable aquatic component. When combined with Murray Leach's precise drumming, the outcome is original and immediately recognizable. Es are a group who know how to leave space, how to strive for minimalism without sacrificing aggression or dynamism. This dynamic provides the perfect backdrop for Tedemalm's relentless, pointed vocal style. While comparable "cold" sounding groups might affect an impersonal, safer mode of lyrical or vocal detachment, Tedemalm's strategy is to "push the lyrics as far as I can thematically until they become absurd -- overly dramatic ... while still being sincere in the feeling they're trying to invoke. I try to apply as much emotion as I can." The result is something intense but nuanced, confrontational but complex.