Portico Quartet
Portico Quartet

<< Last few of this gem, once it's gone, it's gone >>the long anticipated E B U full-length on NoCorner is now sat here at Le Discopathe HQ, ready to ship.If you managed to grab one of the limited 12″s with ‘Falling’ & ‘Light Show’ plus remixes – then you know what you’re in for here, and the chances of your captivation are already high…If not, then here’s your chance for the full dive into E B U’s one-in-a-million sound world.It’s a very special record, one of the most uniquely alluring albums we’ve heard in some time –and we’re sure this is only the beginning of her journey, so do yourself a favour and step inside now.Throughout Hinge, Unnatural sounds and pitches exhale in melodic chants, ominous basslines resound and eerie loops fixate in this macabre ensemble. You are captive in her world. Moments of haunting clarity keep you wondering where she will take you next whilst strange narratives unfold. In her music and performances, her chameleonic visual display is charged with emotion, keeping you suspended in a state of flux as she orbits through the spectrum. ‘Stimulated by human behaviour and existence, she questions the very nature of being and invites the audience to explore through her cathartic performance.’To our ears, her sound captures elements of the radiophonic qualities by electronic pioneers such as Delia Derbyshire, through to unlikely melody and harmony akin to that of Ryuchi Sakamoto or Laurie Anderson.It’s an exploration of strange places with a weird & wonderful sphere, sonically capturing the colourful intensity of Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Holy Mountain, or perhaps sounding like a much more out-there, much more convincingly extra-terrestrial Space lady… These are just vague comparisons though… Essentially, her sound is a total world of it’s own.Hinge, E B U’s debut album, is an outer body experience that will conjure up memories you never had before, images you can’t quite place but somehow relate to, and a sense of sweet disorientation as you slip into a whirlpool of shapeshifting melody, harmony and frequency.

The compilation “Celestial Birds” reveals and focuses on the widely unkown electronic compositions of the AACM founder and jazz pianist MUHAL RICHARD ABRAMS. #5 in the Perihel Series, curated by zeitkratzer director REINHOLD FRIEDL.Anybody interested in jazz knows that Chicago has always been an impressive hot spot for new talents – and still is. One essential landmark in the history and development of jazz was the founding of the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians) in May 1965. This non-profit organization was a melting pot (and starting point) for artists like ANTHONY BRAXTON, ROSCOE MITCHELL, GEORGE LEWIS or LESTER BOWIE and his ART ENSEMBLE OF CHICAGO but one of its actual founding members is known only to the deep connaisseurs: MUHAL RICHARD ABRAMS (1930 – 2017). The autodidact pianist and composer left music school and university, deciding to learn music by himself. From 1961 on, the EXPERIMENTAL BAND was his first ensemble, but it soon turned out that ABRAMS‘ interests went beyond jazz and that he was open to the avant-garde and new music and most of all: electronic music. Which led to a double problem: On the one hand, black musicians had almost no access to the rare electronic music studios located in and funded by universities or broadcasting corporations. On the other hand, there were strong reservations regarding electronic music in the black music community. In his important book “A Power Stranger Than Itself – The AACM and American Experimental Music” GEORGE LEWIS writes that “the use of electronics … proved controversial and widely misunderstood in a world of jazz in which acoustic instruments became conflated with musical, and eventually, cultural and even racial authenticity.” ABRAMS‘ response was to actually „hide“ his electronic pieces on the B-sides of his albums, and this compilation focuses on some of his best electronic experiments: the 22-minute long epic „The Bird Song“ from 1968 in its original version incl. the reverb that was removed on the later CD reissue on DELMARK, the synthesizer compositions „Conversations With The Three Of Me” (1989) and “Think All, Focus One” 1995) plus “ Spihumonesty” (1980) with a 2nd synthesizer played by GEORGE LEWIS and YOUSEF YANCEY on theremin.“Celestial Birds” casts a new light on the underrated experimenter MUHAL RICHARD ABRAMS, his innovative approach to composition and pieces that lay dormant for way too long!

Elossa Records sixth release “Back in the Waves” is the debut album by DJ Nada.The album contains six instrumental and three vocal tracks. It combines wavy synthesizers with dusty jazz and soul samples. Nada’s hip hop background is strongly present, and the album contains heavy aesthetics of house, nu-soul and modern funk as well.DJ Nada is known for his previous hip hop productions (e.g. Gracias, Pavel) and he has been active in the DJ scene in Helsinki for 15 years, involved in clubs such as “Yo! Kuudes Linja Raps”, “Disco Hi-Life”, “High Hopes” and “No Way Out”

“DISCO SEGRETA” private label debuts with first issue re-releasing lost 1981 italian disco track