Wax
No. 30003

"Direction Lyon pour partir à la rencontre d’un talent brut du nom de Lucie dans le Ciel. Il s’agit d’une artiste pluridisciplinaire qui suffit à nous enivrer avec son univers musical aussi bien mystique qu’attrayant, surtout avec l’arrivée de son premier album nommé Ombres.Composé de dix titres, Lucie dans le Ciel nous transporte dans l’au-delà. Et c’est avec des morceaux renversants à l’image de « Éternité » en guise d’ouverture ou bien encore « Allons de l’avant » et « How Many » aux boucles hypnotiques qu’elle compte s’imposer.Faisant le grand écart entre le chaos et l’harmonie, le déstructuré et le réglo, Ombres est l’occasion idéale pour Lucie dans le Ciel de se dévoiler sans pudeur. Que ce soit sur « Peut-être » ou bien encore sur « Solitaire » et « L’âge lyrique », la musicienne lyonnaise réussit à arpenter des chemins un brin cosmiques avant de prendre de l’ampleur avec « Prélude » et « Fugue » en guise de clôture. Le premier album de l’artiste est un véritable manifesto regroupant touted les facettes de son talent."Les Oreilles Curieuses

International Anthem has become one of the contemporary jazz scenes most crucial labels. It deals in the most cutting edge sounds in the genre as well as offering up fantastic fusions with sounds from the world's hip-hop, R&B and broken beat. Here they look to Charles Stepney for an album that he recorded back in the 1960s in his Chicago basement. He played all the instruments himself and across four sides of vinyl he serves up his so-called and signature "baroque soul" sound with widescreen arrangements, innocent melodies and curious rhythms.

Before he co-founded the legendary Sunday afternoon event Body & Soul with fellow New York DJs Danny Krivit and Francois Kevorkian in 1996, Joaquin "Joe" Claussell was the driving force behind Instant House, an eclectic production outift who released a series of uplifting deep house records, several of which were spun by David Mancuso at the 90s iteration of his influential Loft parties.In 1993, Instant House released their deepest single, Lost Horizons, through Jungle Sounds Recordings. The A-side, ‘Lost Horizons (The Mind Travel Saturday Night Sunday Morning Mix)’ is a seventeen-minute and twenty-second sojourn into the vibrant club sounds of early 90s NYC. Driven by a Latin-accented man-machine beat that marches into infinity, it comes backed by two shorter mixes, ‘Lost Horizons’ and ‘Lost Horizons (Percussion Bonus)’. Twenty-nine years later, Isle of Jura presents an official vinyl and digital reissue of this slow-burning deep cut.The Instant House story begins in the late 80s at Dance Tracks, an East Village record store established by the businessman, DJ, and graphic designer Stan Hatzakis. Patronised by New York trendsetters like Frankie Knuckles and Larry Levan, Dance Tracks was considered one of the world's best underground dance music retailers.During the winter of 1991, Stan got together with one of his best customers, Tony Confusione, to make music. A wall street guy by day and a keyboardist by night, Tony was also a serious DJ. Not long after their first recording sessions, they invited another Dance Tracks fixture, Joaquin "Joe" Claussell, to join them in Tony’s state-of-the-art home studio in Long Island. He brought a vibrant, percussive edge to the sample-based tracks Stan and Tony were cooking up. Emboldened, the three DJs began recording together as Instant House. That year, they released the Dance Trax EP.In 1992, after Instant House had dropped two certified classics, 'Over' and 'Awade', for Jungle Sounds Records, Stan exited the group and sold Dance Tracks to Joe and his business partner, Stefan Prescott. Following Stan's departure, Joe and Tony headed into the studio for a special recording session. “I just remember how powerful the connection was while we were making that record,” explains Joe, recalling the creation of ‘Lost Horizons (The Mind Travel Saturday Night Sunday Morning Mix)’. “It was a very spiritual encounter in the studio.”While laying out the drum patterns, sound effects, and arrangement, Joe explained the vibe to Tony, who played the lush cosmic chords and an effortless keyboard saxophone line over the top. “That was Tony completely feeling himself,” Joe reflects. “He performed majestically.”After the release of the Lost Horizons 12”, Joe received a phone call from Cisco International Corp. A plane flight later, he was sitting in their label offices in Tokyo, talking to a senior record executive who wanted to introduce Lost Horizons to Japan. “What they were primarily doing at the time was pressing classical records - we’re talking thousand dollar plus classical reissues - and they wanted to license and distribute Lost Horizons,” Joe remembers. Three years later, Joe and Tony released 'Asking Forgiveness', their final 12” as Instant House, before parting ways with full hearts.In the context of his career as a DJ, remixer, and producer, Joe is known for long songs and compositions. As Lost Horizons illustrates, he’s carried that impulse with him since his foundational days. “When I produce, I don’t believe in the beginning or endpoint of anything,” Joe explains. “I really despise the rules. To me, that’s not true to the art of creation. I just believe there is a flow in creation. When we were making music in the 90s, we were restricted by format, but that record could have gone on forever.”The 12” is housed in a full sleeve jacket by Bradley Pinkerton based on the original release design.

Moroccan Jajouka master Bachir Attar meets American experimental musician Elliot Sharp for a live jam of drum machines and traditional Moroccan instruments in 1990.Bachir Attar's Career spans five decades and represents the transcendental sounds of Jajouka, a small Moroccan village situated between Fes and Tangier, known for its unique mystical sound. Fans include William Burroughs and The Rolling Stones with which Bachir recorded with in 1989. A year later Attar collaborated with the prolific avant-garde jazz musician Elliot Sharp on this very Album.Both Sharp and Attar have dedicated their careers to exploring the meeting points between east and west and this album is a unique example of two brilliant minds creating a new, ultra trippy sonic experience.This release is the first collaboration between Fortuna Records and our friends Dikraphone Records out of Morocco, serious unearthers of lost Moroccan music. Look out for more Dikraphone-Fortuna collaborations in the future!

This EP – taking 4 years in the making – marks the first ever 12” release of the elusive downtempo italo-boogie tune “Guarda l’Amore”, sung by the mysterious italian duo Gianni & Donatella, only previously available on the impossibly rare 1987 “Disco Italia” compilation LP, released on the tiny italian “Disco In” label.Our archives diggin’ job proved to be incredibly fruitful, to the point that we’ve unearthed four *previously unreleased* demo tracks sung by tracks author Walter Canducci along with Gianni, supposed to be part of an LP release that ultimately never saw the light of the day….until now, and guess what – they’re jaw-dropping!Starting with the slap-bass funk bomb “Si, No”, then going into the late-night love maker “Amore Mio”, topping it all with the mellow beach vibes-infused “Come Allora”. On top of that, you’ll also get an alternate “Guarda l’Amore” demo version.We will never know how these lo-fi demos would sound if the original project of Gianni & Donatella singing on all tracks succeeded, but the only existing recorded evidence can sure give a feel of this unique italo-boogie studio project, that has a space in the most respected DJ bags only.

London-based keyboardist/producer Dan Nicholls (of Y-OTIS) introduces a new album project ‘Mattering And Meaning’ to be released by We Jazz Records on August 13th. Nicholls' music uses acoustic piano as its key element, transporting the instrument into new territories that sound remarkably natural and organic, whilst displaying a strong kinship with the world of abstract electronic music. The music utilises piano loops and field recordings as its key elements, forming what might be described on the surface as a fascinating ambient jazz record – but at the same time there's so much more at play here on deeper levels. Dan's music sounds at once otherworldly and immensely inviting.After years of unlearning and unravelling the knots of a music college education – moving from a career in jazz, via electronic music, to a heartfelt embrace with rave culture and the feminist and queer theories which have so challenged perspectives across many disciplines on the objectified world and the values of capitalism – Dan Nicholls has spontaneously reimagined his relationship to the piano, that edifice of the decaying foundations of european classical music.