Video: Hobo Cubes - Frozen Coffin, Floating Soul.

09 Jan 2011 — Henning Lahmann

Video by Rachel Evans for Frank Ouellette aka Hobo Cubes' Frozen Coffin, Floating Soul, another track from the forthcoming quadruple split cassette on Deep Tapes that we've reported about earlier this week. Hobo Cubes - Frozen Coffin, Floating Soul Read more → Video by Rachel Evans for Frank Ouellette aka Hobo Cubes' Frozen Coffin, Floating Soul, another track from the forthcoming quadruple split cassette on Deep Tapes that we've reported about earlier this week. Hobo Cubes - Frozen Coffin, Floating Soul

Video: RxRy - Aertgo Lapsees.

08 Jan 2011 — Henning Lahmann

Brand new video by the amazingly talented Ezra Ewen (recently featured on our piece about last year's most remarkable videos) for RxRy's massive tune Aertigo Lapsees, taken from his latest album Ω, which is still available here (courtesy of the artist). RxRy - Aertgo Lapsees Read more → Brand new video by the amazingly talented Ezra Ewen (recently featured on our piece about last year's most remarkable videos) for RxRy's massive tune Aertigo Lapsees, taken from his latest album Ω, which is still available here (courtesy of the artist). RxRy - Aertgo Lapsees

Zero Gravity.

07 Jan 2011 — Henning Lahmann

Hobo Cult CEO Mr Frank Ouellette kindly hit me up with some very good news tonight, announcing the latest cassette on his rad label, a C-20 by the enigmatic Brooklyn artist Zonotope™ named Zero Gravity, an absolutely accurate title for this little collection of very futuristic, spaced-out cuts of finest minmal synth ambience that indeed take you on a weightless mind trip through space and time, or, in the artist's own words: A "piece commissioned by Anheuser–Busch InBev, NASA, and the VGBV Foundation paying homage to the groundbreaking work of Dr. Thames and Art Quark. All music composed by LWN and performed by Jerry Paper as channelled through a human who wishes to remain anonymous." Anyway, check out two of the six tunes below as well as the brand new, 80s dripping and simply excellent video by Frank's very own Moduli TV, and then order one of 50 copies over here. Highly recommended. Oh, the first ten tapes come with a vial of the artist's human DNA. Well then. Read more → Hobo Cult CEO Mr Frank Ouellette kindly hit me up with some very good news tonight, announcing the latest cassette on his rad label, a C-20 by the enigmatic Brooklyn artist Zonotope™ named Zero Gravity, an absolutely accurate title for this little collection of very futuristic, spaced-out cuts of finest minmal synth ambience that indeed take you on a weightless mind trip through space and time, or, in the artist's own words: A "piece commissioned by Anheuser–Busch InBev, NASA, and the VGBV Foundation paying homage to the groundbreaking work of Dr. Thames and Art Quark. All music composed by LWN and performed by Jerry Paper as channelled through a human who wishes to remain anonymous." Anyway, check out two of the six tunes below as well as the brand new, 80s dripping and simply excellent video by Frank's very own Moduli TV, and then order one of 50 copies over here. Highly recommended. Oh, the first ten tapes come with a vial of the artist's human DNA. Well then.

Old Son.

07 Jan 2011 — Henning Lahmann

Incredibly infectious beats by Gobble Gobble member Calvin McElroy who recently started a new project under the enigmatic moniker Kuhrye-oo (on the other hand, not exactly weirder than "Gobble Gobble", right?), and who would have expected something like this coming out of the vastness of the central Canadian plains? His brand new gem Old Son starts almost like good ol' Berlin minimal before the track gently opens towards some of the finest sample manipulation I've come across in quite a while. This one's for the weekend folks, have a good dance. Kuhrye-oo - Old Son Read more → Incredibly infectious beats by Gobble Gobble member Calvin McElroy who recently started a new project under the enigmatic moniker Kuhrye-oo (on the other hand, not exactly weirder than "Gobble Gobble", right?), and who would have expected something like this coming out of the vastness of the central Canadian plains? His brand new gem Old Son starts almost like good ol' Berlin minimal before the track gently opens towards some of the finest sample manipulation I've come across in quite a while. This one's for the weekend folks, have a good dance. Kuhrye-oo - Old Son

Video: Pandit - Pack Your Bags.

07 Jan 2011 — Henning Lahmann

We've been waiting for this: On February 22 we'll finally see the release of the heavily anticipated debut album by our dearest Lone Star State resident Lance Smith aka Pandit. Eternity Spin will be dropped via Waaga Records and includes ten beautiful songs, with guest appearances by Star Slinger and Foxes in Fiction. Below you can watch Tyler T Williams' breathtaking, brand new video for my long time favorite Pack Your Bags, a wonderfully sad song and the best album opener you could imagine. Pandit - Pack Your Bags Read more → We've been waiting for this: On February 22 we'll finally see the release of the heavily anticipated debut album by our dearest Lone Star State resident Lance Smith aka Pandit. Eternity Spin will be dropped via Waaga Records and includes ten beautiful songs, with guest appearances by Star Slinger and Foxes in Fiction. Below you can watch Tyler T Williams' breathtaking, brand new video for my long time favorite Pack Your Bags, a wonderfully sad song and the best album opener you could imagine. Pandit - Pack Your Bags

Another Pop #2: Lofiles.org

06 Jan 2011 — Henning Lahmann

(Photo: Shlomo Sonnenfeld, Tel Aviv.) For the second installment of our series about kinds of pop music we would usually not cover by ourselves, we've asked Shlomo Sonnenfeld, author of the incredible Tel Aviv based blog Lofiles.org, to tell us something about the Israeli/Middle Eastern music scene. Going through his archives, he decided to send over bits and pieces of music he has written about in the last couple of years that our readers are usually not exposed to. Enjoy his splendid selection below. Shlomo Sonnenfeld: Asaf Avidan and the Mojos By now he is signed to Sony Columbia records, but I don’t know if you have heard him or of him. He sounds like a male Janis Joplin, extremely soulful and rockin. His name is Asaf Avidan and this first song I have heard from him just blew me away. Israel`s most successful musical export, other than Yael Naim. Your Anchor: Kutiman This funky dude named Kutiman had this brilliant idea of remixing Youtube video clips like you would do with audio samples. The web page of this venture looks like it sounds, a ragged Youtube page. Got to listen to this project of his, 'ThruYou', 8 breakbeat funky jams by theee man. My favorite is Wait for me. Wait for me: Boom Pam Jewish Wedding Klezmer middle eastern surf mishmash, a local trio consists of a Tuba player, guitar and drums. I love Surfing Tuba, a track that sounds like it was written for a Tarantino movie. Surfin Tuba: Yinon Muallem Yinon Muallem is an Israeli born musician to parents of an Iraqi origin who began his musical career studying latin percussion. Over the years, following his family roots, he was drawn to middle eastern music. He had moved to muslim Istanbul, studying the oud with Turkish virtuoso Yurdal Tockan, and this led Yinon to fruitful collaborations with local Turkish musicians, and eventually to perform, teach and record authentic music. Listen to Orada Olmak, for something different: Yinon Muallem - Orada Olmak Albert Beger Usually, free jazz is not my cup of tea, but musicians like Albert are worth walking the extra mile. Albert is considered the Israeli free-jazz and avantgarde movement ambassador, he is a gifted musician, a brilliant saxophone and flute player, and if that's not enough, an academy lecturer and teacher. I love this new album of his titled Peacemaker, a record talking about learning to live in peace with yourself, about maturity, about trying to live a full life, and my favorite track is Long Story: Albert Beger - Long Story The Ramirez Brothers I have chosen to film a series of lo-fi clips of this band at one of Israel's most notorious areas, the old city of Jaffa's flea market. The trio, playing banjo, trumpet and street signs, mixing with the local junkies. Listen to a song of their first album, and watch a promo clip I shot for this project of mine: The Ramirez Brothers - Sizzlin Elephant Parade One of the shyest keeping lo(pro)fi duos you'll ever come across, a husband and wife, an Israeli musician/visual artist and his American wife in a really minimalistic bedroom project. For You: Also check their new bedroom album Home, my favs are Late Night and Flowers for Smelling, so simple and straightforward. Late Night: Flowers for Smelling: Charlie Megira & the Modern Dance Club Such a character. Actually a smalltown boy, and it's funny considering Israel is such a tiny country to begin with, but this guy comes out of one of those meager towns in Israel, and once in a while he shows up in the big city of Tel Aviv to spread his anger, shocks everyone and flees to his hole. He is accompanied by the sweet talented female musician/drummer Michal Kahan. Check out Rhythm of Hate on his myspace. Tinariwen My favorite band to come out of this region (actually not quite, they came from Northern Africa ) is Tinariwen, a band of Tuareg musicians, led by Ibrahim El Habib. They play Rai music mixed with traditional Tuareg melodies, adding western funk and pop elements. Their music is the ultimate 'Sahara desert' answer to the Eno produced Remain in Light by the Talking Heads. I know most of you are not familiar with Rai music and the Sahara's musical nuances, but all you got to do is to listen to this song. Tinariwen - Clerascel Nigeria Special This is one of my all time favorite compilations, coming from western Africa. This double CD collection showcases the funkiest scene Africa has ever known, a fruitful era influenced by western world funk and pop and redefining a genre consisting of African polyrhythms and funk. My favorite song of this compilation is Feso Jaiye by The Sahara All Stars of Jos: The Sahara All Stars of Jos - Feso Jaiye Lena Chamamyan She was born in Damascus City. She has graduated from the higher institution of music in Damascus as a classical vocalist in 2007. Lena attempts to revive Syrian folk music, and delivers it in a contemporary style and arrangement on one hand, trying to keep the originality of the tunes and the lyrics on the other hand. She believes this will make it easier for western audiences to comprehend and listen to a 'harder to digest' Arabic music. Chaam: Some words about Shlomo Sonnenfeld and Lofiles.org: Born in the city of Haifa, Shlomo Sonnenfeld started playing gigs around the age of 15. After moving to NYC at the age of 21, he started an amazingly prolific career as a composer and producer in numerous musical projects, ranging from punk and rock to hip hop (including projects together with Gangstarr and Diamond D in the late 80s, to name but a few) and R&B. Having been forced to move back to Israel in 1994 due to urgent family matters, Shlomo continued working in quite a few musical endeavors. Lately, he has become more and more experimental, for instance by working on a piece based on Mahler's 5th Symphony for the Tel Aviv Museum. His latest (non-musical) project is wall2wall, an idea that was born in Berlin last year when Shlomo was attempting to shoot a film about the city's music scene together with Matisyahu, a photo project loosely connecting the former Berlin Wall and Jerusalem's holy Wailing Wall, due to come out soon. Shlomo's own music blog Lofiles.org was started in late 2008, with the purpose to cover worthwhile independent music from literally all over the planet, an artistic open-mindedness that is without any doubt making Lofiles.org one of the most interesting and unique blogs around. Read more → (Photo: Shlomo Sonnenfeld, Tel Aviv.) For the second installment of our series about kinds of pop music we would usually not cover by ourselves, we've asked Shlomo Sonnenfeld, author of the incredible Tel Aviv based blog Lofiles.org, to tell us something about the Israeli/Middle Eastern music scene. Going through his archives, he decided to send over bits and pieces of music he has written about in the last couple of years that our readers are usually not exposed to. Enjoy his splendid selection below. Shlomo Sonnenfeld: Asaf Avidan and the Mojos By now he is signed to Sony Columbia records, but I don’t know if you have heard him or of him. He sounds like a male Janis Joplin, extremely soulful and rockin. His name is Asaf Avidan and this first song I have heard from him just blew me away. Israel`s most successful musical export, other than Yael Naim. Your Anchor: Kutiman This funky dude named Kutiman had this brilliant idea of remixing Youtube video clips like you would do with audio samples. The web page of this venture looks like it sounds, a ragged Youtube page. Got to listen to this project of his, 'ThruYou', 8 breakbeat funky jams by theee man. My favorite is Wait for me. Wait for me: Boom Pam Jewish Wedding Klezmer middle eastern surf mishmash, a local trio consists of a Tuba player, guitar and drums. I love Surfing Tuba, a track that sounds like it was written for a Tarantino movie. Surfin Tuba: Yinon Muallem Yinon Muallem is an Israeli born musician to parents of an Iraqi origin who began his musical career studying latin percussion. Over the years, following his family roots, he was drawn to middle eastern music. He had moved to muslim Istanbul, studying the oud with Turkish virtuoso Yurdal Tockan, and this led Yinon to fruitful collaborations with local Turkish musicians, and eventually to perform, teach and record authentic music. Listen to Orada Olmak, for something different: Yinon Muallem - Orada Olmak Albert Beger Usually, free jazz is not my cup of tea, but musicians like Albert are worth walking the extra mile. Albert is considered the Israeli free-jazz and avantgarde movement ambassador, he is a gifted musician, a brilliant saxophone and flute player, and if that's not enough, an academy lecturer and teacher. I love this new album of his titled Peacemaker, a record talking about learning to live in peace with yourself, about maturity, about trying to live a full life, and my favorite track is Long Story: Albert Beger - Long Story The Ramirez Brothers I have chosen to film a series of lo-fi clips of this band at one of Israel's most notorious areas, the old city of Jaffa's flea market. The trio, playing banjo, trumpet and street signs, mixing with the local junkies. Listen to a song of their first album, and watch a promo clip I shot for this project of mine: The Ramirez Brothers - Sizzlin Elephant Parade One of the shyest keeping lo(pro)fi duos you'll ever come across, a husband and wife, an Israeli musician/visual artist and his American wife in a really minimalistic bedroom project. For You: Also check their new bedroom album Home, my favs are Late Night and Flowers for Smelling, so simple and straightforward. Late Night: Flowers for Smelling: Charlie Megira & the Modern Dance Club Such a character. Actually a smalltown boy, and it's funny considering Israel is such a tiny country to begin with, but this guy comes out of one of those meager towns in Israel, and once in a while he shows up in the big city of Tel Aviv to spread his anger, shocks everyone and flees to his hole. He is accompanied by the sweet talented female musician/drummer Michal Kahan. Check out Rhythm of Hate on his myspace. Tinariwen My favorite band to come out of this region (actually not quite, they came from Northern Africa ) is Tinariwen, a band of Tuareg musicians, led by Ibrahim El Habib. They play Rai music mixed with traditional Tuareg melodies, adding western funk and pop elements. Their music is the ultimate 'Sahara desert' answer to the Eno produced Remain in Light by the Talking Heads. I know most of you are not familiar with Rai music and the Sahara's musical nuances, but all you got to do is to listen to this song. Tinariwen - Clerascel Nigeria Special This is one of my all time favorite compilations, coming from western Africa. This double CD collection showcases the funkiest scene Africa has ever known, a fruitful era influenced by western world funk and pop and redefining a genre consisting of African polyrhythms and funk. My favorite song of this compilation is Feso Jaiye by The Sahara All Stars of Jos: The Sahara All Stars of Jos - Feso Jaiye Lena Chamamyan She was born in Damascus City. She has graduated from the higher institution of music in Damascus as a classical vocalist in 2007. Lena attempts to revive Syrian folk music, and delivers it in a contemporary style and arrangement on one hand, trying to keep the originality of the tunes and the lyrics on the other hand. She believes this will make it easier for western audiences to comprehend and listen to a 'harder to digest' Arabic music. Chaam: Some words about Shlomo Sonnenfeld and Lofiles.org: Born in the city of Haifa, Shlomo Sonnenfeld started playing gigs around the age of 15. After moving to NYC at the age of 21, he started an amazingly prolific career as a composer and producer in numerous musical projects, ranging from punk and rock to hip hop (including projects together with Gangstarr and Diamond D in the late 80s, to name but a few) and R&B. Having been forced to move back to Israel in 1994 due to urgent family matters, Shlomo continued working in quite a few musical endeavors. Lately, he has become more and more experimental, for instance by working on a piece based on Mahler's 5th Symphony for the Tel Aviv Museum. His latest (non-musical) project is wall2wall, an idea that was born in Berlin last year when Shlomo was attempting to shoot a film about the city's music scene together with Matisyahu, a photo project loosely connecting the former Berlin Wall and Jerusalem's holy Wailing Wall, due to come out soon. Shlomo's own music blog Lofiles.org was started in late 2008, with the purpose to cover worthwhile independent music from literally all over the planet, an artistic open-mindedness that is without any doubt making Lofiles.org one of the most interesting and unique blogs around.

Dark Matter.

06 Jan 2011 — Henning Lahmann

This is winter music. Music that lets you see dark forests, and snow, too much snow, and lonesome wanderers in beautiful landscapes, beautiful but hostile, it is too cold too breathe, there is not enough light to see, can you imagine?, the wanderers are probably lost already...and then there were fireworks. Suddenly, illuminating the whitened fir trees in the distance. And this melody, silent, spellbinding. This is otherworldly beautiful music. And then you feel, you know, that nothing is lost. (myspace) (Photo by Ktinka) Kiss Kiss Fantastic - Dark Matter Read more → This is winter music. Music that lets you see dark forests, and snow, too much snow, and lonesome wanderers in beautiful landscapes, beautiful but hostile, it is too cold too breathe, there is not enough light to see, can you imagine?, the wanderers are probably lost already...and then there were fireworks. Suddenly, illuminating the whitened fir trees in the distance. And this melody, silent, spellbinding. This is otherworldly beautiful music. And then you feel, you know, that nothing is lost. (myspace) (Photo by Ktinka) Kiss Kiss Fantastic - Dark Matter