Premiere: La Big Vic - “Heyo (Nihiti Storm the Morning Mix)”.

26 May 2012 — Henning Lahmann

Way back in September 2010, elusive NYC project Nihiti published their take on the already classic and emblematic La Big Vic tune, "Heyo (Silver Morning)", from the band's excellent debut album, Actually. Now, probably because Nihiti themselves have a new album coming out, or perhaps due to completely different reasons that weren't disclosed to us, the outfit once again heavily manipulated the very same original. However, while the first "Pulsing Morning Mix" was "slow and melodic, with just enough sci-fi efx to keep heads spinning" (Chocolate Bobka), this new one, named "Storm in the Morning Mix", is certainly made for the dancefloor, with frantic tribal drums and a straight techno-ish beat. We're delighted to present it right here, right now. Nihiti's forthcoming album For Ostland will be released May 27 via Lo Bit Landscapes. Listen to three tracks from the album below, including the standout "Sun Shatterer". Read more → Way back in September 2010, elusive NYC project Nihiti published their take on the already classic and emblematic La Big Vic tune, "Heyo (Silver Morning)", from the band's excellent debut album, Actually. Now, probably because Nihiti themselves have a new album coming out, or perhaps due to completely different reasons that weren't disclosed to us, the outfit once again heavily manipulated the very same original. However, while the first "Pulsing Morning Mix" was "slow and melodic, with just enough sci-fi efx to keep heads spinning" (Chocolate Bobka), this new one, named "Storm in the Morning Mix", is certainly made for the dancefloor, with frantic tribal drums and a straight techno-ish beat. We're delighted to present it right here, right now. Nihiti's forthcoming album For Ostland will be released May 27 via Lo Bit Landscapes. Listen to three tracks from the album below, including the standout "Sun Shatterer".

Nomadic Firs: “In the Morning”.

25 May 2012 — Henning Lahmann

I realize we're just a little late on this one, but let us nonetheless get a few seconds of your precious attention to praise the fuzzy sounds of Knoxville, Tennessee native Ryan Boos aka Nomadic Firs, whose very worthwhile self-titled full-length is out now on Crash Symbols. Just listen to the excellent, upbeat "In the Morning" to get into the right mood, a joyful tune that evokes images of a blithe life somewhere in a remote area of the United States, folky and weird while thankfully avoiding all the clichés that usually follow such a description. Instead, simply fine, elaborate pop music for the coming summer. Available digitally and on cassette, limited edition of 200. Get it here. Read more → I realize we're just a little late on this one, but let us nonetheless get a few seconds of your precious attention to praise the fuzzy sounds of Knoxville, Tennessee native Ryan Boos aka Nomadic Firs, whose very worthwhile self-titled full-length is out now on Crash Symbols. Just listen to the excellent, upbeat "In the Morning" to get into the right mood, a joyful tune that evokes images of a blithe life somewhere in a remote area of the United States, folky and weird while thankfully avoiding all the clichés that usually follow such a description. Instead, simply fine, elaborate pop music for the coming summer. Available digitally and on cassette, limited edition of 200. Get it here.

Video Premiere: Jean Piché - “Rouge”/“Ange”.

24 May 2012 — Henning Lahmann

Thanks to RVNG Intl and others, last year saw a widespread recollection and reappraisal of the German pioneers and founding fathers of synthesized music, whose massive influence still echoes through countless works of the contemporary electronic vanguard all across the globe. So much has been said about the Berlin and Düsseldorf schools, but who would've guessed that across the pond in Canada, one man named Jean Piché almost simultaneously accomplished groundbreaking work in this field as well. Between 1977 and 1980, while being at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, BC, Piché recorded music that subsequently became Heliograms, a four-track piece spread across 45 minutes, remarkably one of the first albums to feature music produced almost entirely with digital synthesizers. The record was originally released in 1982 by a small Canadian imprint that unfortunately went into bankruptcy after it was put out, so the work sadly never really got off the ground. Until today, that is. Seminal Oklahoma-based label Digitalis Recordings, which last year sent waves of excitement through the left-field music community after "rediscovering" Science of the Sea, the blissful synth explorations by an previously unknown German oceanographer named Jürgen Müller, is re-issuing Heliograms to give it "the place that it deserves in electronic music history". The album has been remastered from the original tapes by James Plotkin and put on vinyl at the prestigious D+M in Berlin. Today, we're happy and proud to host the internet debut of a brand new video work of Piché himself, an epic 18-minute piece that visualizes two tracks from Heliograms, "Rouge" and "Ange", and that premiered earlier this month at Montréal's Elektra Festival. Heliograms is out today on Digitalis. Get it via the label or on Boomkat (order links should be up soon). Stream excerpts from all four tracks below. You may also listen to "La Mer à l'Aube", the first of the four to be recorded and thus one of the first digital synthesis pieces ever produced in Canada, in its entirety here. Read more → Thanks to RVNG Intl and others, last year saw a widespread recollection and reappraisal of the German pioneers and founding fathers of synthesized music, whose massive influence still echoes through countless works of the contemporary electronic vanguard all across the globe. So much has been said about the Berlin and Düsseldorf schools, but who would've guessed that across the pond in Canada, one man named Jean Piché almost simultaneously accomplished groundbreaking work in this field as well. Between 1977 and 1980, while being at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, BC, Piché recorded music that subsequently became Heliograms, a four-track piece spread across 45 minutes, remarkably one of the first albums to feature music produced almost entirely with digital synthesizers. The record was originally released in 1982 by a small Canadian imprint that unfortunately went into bankruptcy after it was put out, so the work sadly never really got off the ground. Until today, that is. Seminal Oklahoma-based label Digitalis Recordings, which last year sent waves of excitement through the left-field music community after "rediscovering" Science of the Sea, the blissful synth explorations by an previously unknown German oceanographer named Jürgen Müller, is re-issuing Heliograms to give it "the place that it deserves in electronic music history". The album has been remastered from the original tapes by James Plotkin and put on vinyl at the prestigious D+M in Berlin. Today, we're happy and proud to host the internet debut of a brand new video work of Piché himself, an epic 18-minute piece that visualizes two tracks from Heliograms, "Rouge" and "Ange", and that premiered earlier this month at Montréal's Elektra Festival. Heliograms is out today on Digitalis. Get it via the label or on Boomkat (order links should be up soon). Stream excerpts from all four tracks below. You may also listen to "La Mer à l'Aube", the first of the four to be recorded and thus one of the first digital synthesis pieces ever produced in Canada, in its entirety here.

Dynoman: “Megaflip”.

23 May 2012 — Tonje Thilesen

Haamid Rahim might actually be one of the strongest electronic producers Pakistan has to offer when it comes to its so-called "evolving DIY scene" these days, just as Islamabad's Asfandyar Khan introduced you to here at NFOP earlier this year. Under the moniker Dynoman, this Karachi-based beat butcher plays around with glitchy, hip-hop influenced productions of the finest sort, but obviously with some major inspiration from American beat producers during his long-term stay in Pennsylvania. A few weeks ago he also teamed up with the fellow Karachi locals and electronic experimentalists 6LA8, of which album Stereotypes Of Tomorrow (2011) you by all means should have in your possession. For free, of course. Read more → Haamid Rahim might actually be one of the strongest electronic producers Pakistan has to offer when it comes to its so-called "evolving DIY scene" these days, just as Islamabad's Asfandyar Khan introduced you to here at NFOP earlier this year. Under the moniker Dynoman, this Karachi-based beat butcher plays around with glitchy, hip-hop influenced productions of the finest sort, but obviously with some major inspiration from American beat producers during his long-term stay in Pennsylvania. A few weeks ago he also teamed up with the fellow Karachi locals and electronic experimentalists 6LA8, of which album Stereotypes Of Tomorrow (2011) you by all means should have in your possession. For free, of course.

The Nablus Project.

23 May 2012 — Henning Lahmann

Last night, our dear friends over in Brooklyn, Coco Zaobi and Luke Carrell (International Tapes, Coco's OCD, Zinenblogen, Ad Hoc, Impose, you name it) unveiled the truly astonishing Nablus Project, a collaborative effort and compilation of twelve artists, among them NFOP favorites such as Lee Noble, David Kanaga, Arc Light, MEGAFORTRESS, and Meadowlands, based on and built around this: During a stay in Nablus, Palestine (or, depending on your political affiliation and/or degree of inherent political correctness: West Bank, Occupied Palestinian Territory, "the Area", Samaria, every single one of those a very telling denomination, but this is not the place to discuss the entailing issues), Paris-based sound recordist Pierre Gauthier captured the old city mosque's Muezzin. And, as the initiators explain, the "shape of the valley in which Nablus rests creates a massive composite reverb effect that gives his recitation an otherworldly feel as it booms out from the mosque in the city's center". After finding themselves spellbound by the sheer dignity and sublimity of the recording, Coco and Luke asked a couple of musicians to create musical pieces that are centered around segments of the Muezzin's call to prayer (read about it in more detail over here), and the overall result is nothing short of breathtaking, wildly diverse and unanimously original, yet always deferential to the religious deed - like the whole project, as the curators point out (though we believe and hope that an actual disclaimer is far from necessary): Rather than aiming to be sacrilegious and demeaning, we hope this project will help spread awareness of an amazing piece of global culture that often goes unheard or is brutally caricatured. It is the only thing that's been left intact in a town scarred by bombings and occupation. Stream the whole compilation below and purchase a digital copy over at bandcamp. All proceeds from the compilation will go to charity. Read more → Last night, our dear friends over in Brooklyn, Coco Zaobi and Luke Carrell (International Tapes, Coco's OCD, Zinenblogen, Ad Hoc, Impose, you name it) unveiled the truly astonishing Nablus Project, a collaborative effort and compilation of twelve artists, among them NFOP favorites such as Lee Noble, David Kanaga, Arc Light, MEGAFORTRESS, and Meadowlands, based on and built around this: During a stay in Nablus, Palestine (or, depending on your political affiliation and/or degree of inherent political correctness: West Bank, Occupied Palestinian Territory, "the Area", Samaria, every single one of those a very telling denomination, but this is not the place to discuss the entailing issues), Paris-based sound recordist Pierre Gauthier captured the old city mosque's Muezzin. And, as the initiators explain, the "shape of the valley in which Nablus rests creates a massive composite reverb effect that gives his recitation an otherworldly feel as it booms out from the mosque in the city's center". After finding themselves spellbound by the sheer dignity and sublimity of the recording, Coco and Luke asked a couple of musicians to create musical pieces that are centered around segments of the Muezzin's call to prayer (read about it in more detail over here), and the overall result is nothing short of breathtaking, wildly diverse and unanimously original, yet always deferential to the religious deed - like the whole project, as the curators point out (though we believe and hope that an actual disclaimer is far from necessary): Rather than aiming to be sacrilegious and demeaning, we hope this project will help spread awareness of an amazing piece of global culture that often goes unheard or is brutally caricatured. It is the only thing that's been left intact in a town scarred by bombings and occupation. Stream the whole compilation below and purchase a digital copy over at bandcamp. All proceeds from the compilation will go to charity.

DJ/PURPLE/IMAGE: 04.

23 May 2012 — Henning Lahmann

DJ/PURPLE/IMAGE is the convenient if a little cumbersome new moniker of our much beloved LA resident Alex Gray, formerly known as Heat Wave, and judging from his new album Head Tear of the Drunken Sun, it appears to be not only a simple name change but also an artistic reconfiguration, turning towards a sonic mess that is even darker, murkier, heavier, and more exciting than before. See for yourself and get lost in the nine-minute monster that is track 04 below. Head Tear of the Drunken Sun is out this Friday via Heat Rave. Order now over here. Get this one, highly recommended. Also - here's the super-official video for track 09: Read more → DJ/PURPLE/IMAGE is the convenient if a little cumbersome new moniker of our much beloved LA resident Alex Gray, formerly known as Heat Wave, and judging from his new album Head Tear of the Drunken Sun, it appears to be not only a simple name change but also an artistic reconfiguration, turning towards a sonic mess that is even darker, murkier, heavier, and more exciting than before. See for yourself and get lost in the nine-minute monster that is track 04 below. Head Tear of the Drunken Sun is out this Friday via Heat Rave. Order now over here. Get this one, highly recommended. Also - here's the super-official video for track 09:

Fear Of Men: “Born”.

23 May 2012 — Henning Lahmann

Earlier this month, we wrote about "Green Sea", the wonderful A-side of the upcoming single of Brighton and London-based band Fear Of Men. Now, you can also listen to the single's flip side "Born", another picture-perfect pop song with subtle hints of darkness and despair. The 7 inch is out June 18 via Sexbeat and will be limited to 300 copies. Pre-order now here. "> Read more → Earlier this month, we wrote about "Green Sea", the wonderful A-side of the upcoming single of Brighton and London-based band Fear Of Men. Now, you can also listen to the single's flip side "Born", another picture-perfect pop song with subtle hints of darkness and despair. The 7 inch is out June 18 via Sexbeat and will be limited to 300 copies. Pre-order now here. ">