Maurice Marie-Louise
Ti Moï

Jéricho – De Dreit Nien (2020 on CD)Double album in gatefold sleeve with artwork by Elodie Ortega. In co-production with La Nòvia & released in an edition of 400. The Jericho project is fully in line with the approach of the La Nòvia collective from which it originates, a hub for like-minded musicians reinventing regional folk repertoires, marrying traditional French song with minimalism via the use of drone. Jericho is just one of many available permutations of La Nòvia members, with the line-up including Yann Gourdon, Clément Gauthier, Jacques Puech and Antoine Cognet – you could say it’s La Nòvia’s flagship, or super-group. There are no dramatic stylistic shifts here, this is a story of gradual evolution within parameters that Jericho, and La Nòvia, have set for themselves. That also applies to their interpretation of individual songs, which are largely traditional.They can build from almost nothing to reach a furious, near-hallucinatory pitch, underpinned by Gourdon and driven higher by Cognet’s banjo and Gauthier and Puech’s cabrettes (Auvergnat bagpipes). Gauthier and Puech also sing in unison but drift marginally in and out of time with each other, creating a natural delay effect. Many of the songs slide into each other in long sequences, adding to the sense of disorientation; the one which runs from ‘Revenant Des Noces’ to ‘Trois Mariniers’ takes in both eerie, keening balladry and wild dances. When Jericho hit their stride at these moments – see also, especially, the glorious ‘Planh De la Madalena’ – they leave you feeling like you’re spinning forever, encircled by whirling bodies caught up in dancing mania.L’Oreille Dauphine: An ambitious reinvention of Auvergne songs, where popular tradition mixes with a truly modern aesthetic, a mixture of contemporary folk and drone. The opportunity to discover the unfortunately declining Occitan language as well as unusual instruments such as the limousine bagpipes or the hurdy-gurdy, which by continuous and powerful "drones" ensure this continuity between ancestral heritage and avant-garde.This album marks an astonishing symbiosis, where the joyful frenzy of a wedding song can mingle seamlessly with a hypnotic and transcendent yet profane mysticism, against a backdrop of deep roots in the earth, thereby consecrating a nobility of heart. which frankly conquered mine. —Martin

Mastered and cutted at The Carvery, packed with tropical rhythms and exotic melodies. El Palmas Music's new release is real and fresh music, in a sort of chameleonic stage the young label from Barcelona brings us a 7 inch vinyl, mastered and cutted at The Carvery, packed with tropical rhythms and exotic melodies. You better be prepared for these two different projects: La Jungla and El Dragón Criollo, because the party is about to begin.

In 1977 an obscure Italian private label issued a record that sounded like it came from outer space. A long and dense trance-inducing drone of sustained notes, rich with overtones and harmonic embellishments, coming from a space so vast and unexplored that seemed almost of non-human, even electronic naturePrima Materia was a vocal improvisation ensemble, founded by Roberto Laneri in 1973. Composed entirely of vocalists with no academic training, the group developed various techniques – revolving mostly around the use of overtones – that would embody their unique sound. No instruments nor electronic manipulations were ever employed within the group's physiognomy, which was realized purely through the human voice.La Coda Della Tigre, the group's sole album, was recorded in 1977 by Alvin Curran and released on Ananda, an artist-run label founded by Laneri, Curran and Giacinto Scelsi. As the original liner notes state, "The music of Prima Materia may sound radically new, yet at the same time it is likely to ring some distant bell and evoke ancient emotions. This is not due to chance: indeed, the very name of the group points to a specific path, namely, the unfolding of the potential implicit in the alchemical symbol as embodying a process of transmutation of consciousness." Prima Materia's four members (Laneri, Claudio Ricciardi, Gianni Nebbiosi and Susanne Hendricks) combine voices to create a singular, beautiful drone that is (as the group's name suggests) both impossible to define and fundamentally simple. This first-time standalone reissue is recommended for fans of La Monte Young, Terry Riley and Disques Ocora.