Sofa Pits: “Cruise Bruise”.

23 Mar 2012 — Henning Lahmann
So here's a new Sofa Pits jam for you to vibe out to, restrained yet pretty melodies hidden behind a thick fog of fuzz and reverb that slowly meander along until they slowly fade away again, somehow as if they didn't want to interrupt anything or anyone. "Cruise Bruise" is not gonna appear on this tape but on another one on the dude's own Exo Tapes, and whoa this is super confusing especially at 11pm after a workday but if I'm not mistaken it's also this guy (and this one) who just dropped the ultra nice video for an eight-months old track that is also simply relaxed, just the appropriate stuff for this very moment. Maybe I am mistaken but in any case this is all great stuff. Read more → So here's a new Sofa Pits jam for you to vibe out to, restrained yet pretty melodies hidden behind a thick fog of fuzz and reverb that slowly meander along until they slowly fade away again, somehow as if they didn't want to interrupt anything or anyone. "Cruise Bruise" is not gonna appear on this tape but on another one on the dude's own Exo Tapes, and whoa this is super confusing especially at 11pm after a workday but if I'm not mistaken it's also this guy (and this one) who just dropped the ultra nice video for an eight-months old track that is also simply relaxed, just the appropriate stuff for this very moment. Maybe I am mistaken but in any case this is all great stuff.

A Grave With No Name: “Your Ghost, By the Lake”.

21 Mar 2012 — Henning Lahmann
A distant melody that causes pain, fading into the night like the dim light of your love, your ghost, by the lake, watching me from afar, I can barely see you, but I know that you're turning around to go away forever, and on the other side, just off the bank, a grave with no name. That is what I remember. Read more → A distant melody that causes pain, fading into the night like the dim light of your love, your ghost, by the lake, watching me from afar, I can barely see you, but I know that you're turning around to go away forever, and on the other side, just off the bank, a grave with no name. That is what I remember.

NFOP Recommends: Emptyset Record Release.

21 Mar 2012 — Henning Lahmann
If you happen to be in Berlin this weekend, this is where you'll want to be on Saturday night. James Ginzburg and Paul Purgas aka Bristol-based avantgarde techno duo Emptyset celebrate the release of Medium, their latest EP on Subtext Recording, at Horst Krzbrg, supported by Ancient Methods and Lower Order Ethics. "Emptyset is the sound of production without any of the content, without any of the music or the instrumentation. It's about reducing the thing I enjoy most about music to its barest form," Ginzburg told The Wire last month. Correspondingly, Medium is an excellent yet highly intricate project, entirely recorded in the abandoned Gothic revivalist halls and chambers of Woodchester Mansion, a place so haunted and obviously perfect for this kind of sonic experimentation that it would've been turned into another techno cathedral long ago were it situated in Berlin and not Gloucestershire. A truly essential release. Go here for further infos, and get Medium now over here. Watch the video for the title track below, using single frames shot on location at Woodchester Mansion, and listen to Emptyset's mind-blowing 45-minute mix that might serve as an apt foretaste of what is going to happen on Saturday. Read more → If you happen to be in Berlin this weekend, this is where you'll want to be on Saturday night. James Ginzburg and Paul Purgas aka Bristol-based avantgarde techno duo Emptyset celebrate the release of Medium, their latest EP on Subtext Recording, at Horst Krzbrg, supported by Ancient Methods and Lower Order Ethics. "Emptyset is the sound of production without any of the content, without any of the music or the instrumentation. It's about reducing the thing I enjoy most about music to its barest form," Ginzburg told The Wire last month. Correspondingly, Medium is an excellent yet highly intricate project, entirely recorded in the abandoned Gothic revivalist halls and chambers of Woodchester Mansion, a place so haunted and obviously perfect for this kind of sonic experimentation that it would've been turned into another techno cathedral long ago were it situated in Berlin and not Gloucestershire. A truly essential release. Go here for further infos, and get Medium now over here. Watch the video for the title track below, using single frames shot on location at Woodchester Mansion, and listen to Emptyset's mind-blowing 45-minute mix that might serve as an apt foretaste of what is going to happen on Saturday.

Cough Cool: “Pete Perez (BAnanas Refix)”.

20 Mar 2012 — Henning Lahmann
It's been a while since we last heard from Philly wiz kid Yohsuke Araki aka BAnanas Symphony, but the dude just returned with a superb "refix" of his friend Dan Svizeny aka Cough Cool's track "Pete Perez", the opener of Svizeny's excellent full-length Lately, released by Bathetic in December. Though the rework is apparently not as fresh as we first thought, you should nonetheless take a listen, preferably while relaxedly riding through the city via your favored means of transportation. Enjoy the original as well and stream the whole album over here: Read more → It's been a while since we last heard from Philly wiz kid Yohsuke Araki aka BAnanas Symphony, but the dude just returned with a superb "refix" of his friend Dan Svizeny aka Cough Cool's track "Pete Perez", the opener of Svizeny's excellent full-length Lately, released by Bathetic in December. Though the rework is apparently not as fresh as we first thought, you should nonetheless take a listen, preferably while relaxedly riding through the city via your favored means of transportation. Enjoy the original as well and stream the whole album over here:

Married in Berdichev: “Light Comes”.

20 Mar 2012 — Jesse Thompson
Here's a beautiful new track from Married in Berdichev, the solo project of Denver, Colorado musician and visual artist Brittany Gould, titled "Light Comes". Sparse, ethereal vocals and dream-inducing sample patterns pair up with minimal layers of synth and field recordings (courtesy of Andrew Warner and Katherine Peterson), forming a track that builds to a point of delicate revelation. In keeping with the title's subject, the song's composition possesses a quality that is both constant and fleeting, fitting for half-sleeping through a dingy windowed sunrise. Read more → Here's a beautiful new track from Married in Berdichev, the solo project of Denver, Colorado musician and visual artist Brittany Gould, titled "Light Comes". Sparse, ethereal vocals and dream-inducing sample patterns pair up with minimal layers of synth and field recordings (courtesy of Andrew Warner and Katherine Peterson), forming a track that builds to a point of delicate revelation. In keeping with the title's subject, the song's composition possesses a quality that is both constant and fleeting, fitting for half-sleeping through a dingy windowed sunrise.

Premiere: Thulebasen - “Forever Grinning (Eric Copeland Remix)”.

19 Mar 2012 — Henning Lahmann
As mentioned before, Copenhagen outfit Thulebasen, introduced on this publication a couple of months ago when they were in town to play for our friends at Noisekölln, is part of the city's noisy scene around the Escho label alongside thoroughly hyped Iceage and others. Thulebasen's forthcoming single "Forever Grinning" is another killer track, straightforward, noise-infused that is as surprising as it is satisfying. It was written after Copenhagen's Staten Museum for Kunst (National Museum of Art) had contacted the band last October, asking them to create a song for one of the paintings from their collection of 19th century Danish fine arts. Thulebasen picked Jørgen Valentin Sonne's 1847 work ”Midsummer’s Eve. Sick People Asleep upon the Grave of St Helena at Tisvilde” (see above, courtesy of SMK), which depicts a group of sick people who have gone on a pilgrimage to spend Midsummer’s Eve on the grave of Saint Helena in Tisvilde, hoping to be cured by the saint. In the words of band member Nis Bysted, "The painting almost shines with the colors used. At the same time there is something dark and magic about it. Such a beautiful and multi-messaging way of expressing oneself is something the band are truly inspired by." While you might have heard the original already somewhere else, here's one of the five remixes to be found on the vinyl (including contributions by Hhappiness and Lucky Dragons), the deliciously off-kilter and pretty insane version by Black Dice mastermind Eric Copeland (whose excellent Waco Taco Combo was also released by Escho last year), a superbly deranged, heavily filtered and noisy extravaganza. The Forever Grinning limited edition 12 inch will be released conjointly by Danish label Tambourhinoceros and Oslo-based imprint Splendour on March 26. Pre-order now here or here. Listen to the original as well: Read more → As mentioned before, Copenhagen outfit Thulebasen, introduced on this publication a couple of months ago when they were in town to play for our friends at Noisekölln, is part of the city's noisy scene around the Escho label alongside thoroughly hyped Iceage and others. Thulebasen's forthcoming single "Forever Grinning" is another killer track, straightforward, noise-infused that is as surprising as it is satisfying. It was written after Copenhagen's Staten Museum for Kunst (National Museum of Art) had contacted the band last October, asking them to create a song for one of the paintings from their collection of 19th century Danish fine arts. Thulebasen picked Jørgen Valentin Sonne's 1847 work ”Midsummer’s Eve. Sick People Asleep upon the Grave of St Helena at Tisvilde” (see above, courtesy of SMK), which depicts a group of sick people who have gone on a pilgrimage to spend Midsummer’s Eve on the grave of Saint Helena in Tisvilde, hoping to be cured by the saint. In the words of band member Nis Bysted, "The painting almost shines with the colors used. At the same time there is something dark and magic about it. Such a beautiful and multi-messaging way of expressing oneself is something the band are truly inspired by." While you might have heard the original already somewhere else, here's one of the five remixes to be found on the vinyl (including contributions by Hhappiness and Lucky Dragons), the deliciously off-kilter and pretty insane version by Black Dice mastermind Eric Copeland (whose excellent Waco Taco Combo was also released by Escho last year), a superbly deranged, heavily filtered and noisy extravaganza. The Forever Grinning limited edition 12 inch will be released conjointly by Danish label Tambourhinoceros and Oslo-based imprint Splendour on March 26. Pre-order now here or here. Listen to the original as well:

.message: “Stop / Under the Gun”.

16 Mar 2012 — Henning Lahmann
Pretty incredible tunes by Athens, Greece duo .message, who sent over these two tracks that were recorded for the Greek web magazine OUGH. Excellent stuff indeed, slow and intricate textures that lean in equal measures towards British bass music and more Teutonic techno patterns, rather constrained or if you wish minimal, plus some subtle yet intriguing inspirations taken from Greek traditional music. I'm already hooked, hope to hear more from these guys soon. Read more → Pretty incredible tunes by Athens, Greece duo .message, who sent over these two tracks that were recorded for the Greek web magazine OUGH. Excellent stuff indeed, slow and intricate textures that lean in equal measures towards British bass music and more Teutonic techno patterns, rather constrained or if you wish minimal, plus some subtle yet intriguing inspirations taken from Greek traditional music. I'm already hooked, hope to hear more from these guys soon.

AyGeeTee: “Can’t Keep My Eyes”.

16 Mar 2012 — Henning Lahmann
Brand new, mellow but massive AyGeeTee jam that dropped into my inbox last night, an expansive and sprawling tune that has our favorite London enigma continuing to explore ever new sonic realms. "Can't Keep My Eyes" really is something to just deeply sink into for the course of its ten delightfully mesmerizing minutes, again constructed utilizing layer over layer that add up to one homogenous soundscape yet reveal countless details if you're willing to take a closer listen. Marvelous. Read more → Brand new, mellow but massive AyGeeTee jam that dropped into my inbox last night, an expansive and sprawling tune that has our favorite London enigma continuing to explore ever new sonic realms. "Can't Keep My Eyes" really is something to just deeply sink into for the course of its ten delightfully mesmerizing minutes, again constructed utilizing layer over layer that add up to one homogenous soundscape yet reveal countless details if you're willing to take a closer listen. Marvelous.