Various
MDR 14.2

Improvised Suites For Analog Machines celebrates the most influential analogue synthesizers of the 70s and 80s. Each track is uniquely dedicated to a different synth, experimenting with the variation of sounds possible to produce while telling a story of their past. The whole album is a mesmerising improvisation demonstrating what each instrument is capable of, while maintaining a wonderful fusion of old and new. Performed and composed by Erik “Keysie” Ritfeld and Arp Frique. TIP!

From their native St. Petersburg, Square Fauna evoke a score for imaginary protoplasmic oceans, surreal, sepia-tinged space operas and Russian sci-fi folk tales; lush, green landscapes littered with the burned out husks of automobiles, military vehicles, and askew telephone poles no longer in use though marked by pools of water in which can be found the debris of modern society.Primitive kosmische electronics and vintage spacescapes cascade around complex polyrhythmic percussion. Ethereal mists of gaseous reverb are scattered by windswept synths and white-noise striations.‘Meet The Fauna’ is as much of a cheeky nod to The Residents and Coil (or even Haroumi Hosono and John Hassell) as it is to the likes of B12, Black Dog, Richard H Kirk.A completely singular, modern sci-fi soundtrack for the discerning sofanaut.

PORTICO QUARTETPortico QuartetReal WorldFormat: LP

Raï is the music of a youth hungover from Algeria's recent independence. It became a space for a liberated, transgressive dialogue that told the social truths of its time -- an up-front yet poetic voice that covers the taboos and frustrations of daily life, expressing emotion without detour. This voice is heard at weddings, cabarets, in the nightclubs of the Oranese coast, and casually on the street... With the boom of the audio cassette, an avalanche of raï tapes were produced in Oran and diffused all over the world. Both women and men sang and listened to the new sound, as raï is intimately tied to parties, alcohol and the night. With the spontaneous improvisation of its singers as the main part of each song, raï keeps reinventing itself. In this style, Cheb Hasni, along with Cheb Nasro, incarnates a second generation of musicians. With the "love raï", or sentimental raï, Hasni sings about love, passion and its setbacks -- moving away from the bittersweet daily chronicles of the first chebs and chebates. Having recorded nearly 150 cassettes, Cheb Hasni remains one of the most prolific and talented raï singers of his generation. Almost thirty years after his death, this three-volume compilation of rare tracks from his cassette releases on the Oriental Music Production label is a tribute to the lasting legacy of Cheb Hasni -- ya raï! The third volume of three is presented here.CHEB HASNIVol 3 Outre National

"Il fait chaud sur la plage et le sable brûlant,Embrase les lignes et trouble l’horizon.Il est midi pile, la plage est vide,Et les vagues déposent sur mes chevilles,Guirlandes, écumes, algues, rubans."

NOOD5 features contributions from six friends of the Noods family, consisting of Berlin based techno iconoclast Ossia, shadowy Bristol producer fresh from a highly acclaimed EP on Berceuse Heroique, Pessimist, Timedance affiliate Cleyra, Milanese sound experimentalist Katatonic Silentio, Rio underground lynchpin and RBMA graduate Valesuchi and a collaboration from Dekmantel’s Epsilove and the elusive Ployer Fower.The record is a confident assertion of the station’s sonic ethos; filled with tense, dread-laden soundscapes that foreground the percussion and sub bass. Reverbs and delays are utilised in the true dub tradition, wringing out unconventional grooves from the negative space between the drums: it’s music for the head and the body.Originally intended to be released on our fifth birthday hence the name, fuck it — the pandemic slowed much down so have it on our sixth birthday instead.