ALIEN TRANSISTOR - Forced Exposure

$28.00$23.80 IN STOCK

Kobe's own O'Summer Vacation are unique (and volatile), and they're back to light the fuse for the second time, presenting 13 more musical quarter sticks that have already blown up venues in Europe and Japan. Breakneck concision and collective combustion meet freeform noise punk hazards on O'Summer Vacation's second (not quite) full-length, Electronic Eye. Following a bunch of trips to Berlin, Munich etc., the Japanese fire starters have found a new home with Alien Transistor, and it's the perfect launch pad for their latest set of guitarless pyrotechnics. Even though there have been some line-up changes since the group recorded its sophomore album, the energy caught by producer Shinji Masuko (DMBQ, Boredoms) is still unmatched: a very physical and hard-knocking barrage of mosh-inducing madness that leaves you speechless and inevitably twitching towards the pit. Mastering was done by Masaki Oshima aka Watchman (Melt-Banana). Opening with sizzling hi-hats and heavy ripples of breathless bass, singer Ami presents a non-sequitur kind of lullaby over the math rock-style interlocutions of "宿痾 (Shuku - A)." A shapeshifting frenzy of voice (Ami), unbridled, pedal-powered bassline insanity (Mikkki, formerly Mikiiiii), and hot-blooded drums (Manu, meanwhile replaced by Karry), the album features mosh-inducing blows, 30-sec mini noise punk anthems, and continues to surf at breakneck pace up and down scales, which often feels like catharsis served with a hammer. Quite hotheaded and terminating things on a high note, O'Summer Vacation point out that the quick-fire lyrics of their songs have no meaning. "It's called onomatopoeia in English. Ami, our vocalist, does not like to communicate her thoughts through her music." Although she considers her contribution "a part of the instrumentation," they still have strong messages and concerns (unrest, discontent, willingness to shake, wake up, enliven anyone near the audible bomb crater): "That doesn't mean we don't have a point of view, but we choose to express ourselves through sound rather than words. Generally, but not exclusively, we are anti-racism, anti-war, gender-free, angry at the companies we work for and their bosses, etc., which are very common sentiments held by so-called rock bands." It's only three ingredients, just like sonic gunpowder: bass, drums, voice -- but they tend to explode a few bars into each new track. In a perfect world, there'd be giant colorful clouds of dust gracing the sky over each venue they descend upon.

$29.50 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 11/29/2024

Well-versed in vintage vernaculars, Oakland-based producer/musician Mike Walti returns with his sophomore offering under the Organi moniker -- new album Babylonia follows 2020's Parlez-vous Français?, a landmark in vibe acquisition ever since. Fueled, at least in part, by those long-classic 12"s on the walls and channeled through ancient time travel devices such as the MCI 416B only to arrive on classic two-inch tape, it's a haven for all things organic, for all things imbued with that warm élan. Babylonia is so much more than linguistic confusion and ancient Akkadian Rhythms. Using that hidden portal near Alameda's finest port to access all kinds of remote regions and sonic spheres, it's super tight and feels, well, decent. The sophomore album's Berlin-based guest singer Nana Lacrima takes listeners elsewhere: title track "Babylonia" spins ever so softly, like a magic lantern, with images of dreamier Stones Throw funksters or Savath y Savalas looming over the steady flow of an arrangement that washes you clean like an ancient, unpolluted River Euphrates or Brazil's actual Amazon. A sexy Portuguese-flavored anthem, occasional guest singer Alix Koliha also enters the scene to add yet another layer of French chic to this Brazilian landscape. Tim Maia-penned "Padre Cicero" (1970) deals with the stunning transformation of the titular hero, and Organi's take on Elephant Memory's "Old Man Willow" perfectly underlines what Walti's Wyldwood endeavor is all about: easy-going experimental dream pop, fueled by Gainsbourg, Broadcast, Stereolab, etc. Right before the outro, key album guest Yea-Ming Chen (of Yea-Ming & The Rumors) returns to the mic, adding her dark and dusky trademark timbre to melancholy anthem "Pictures Of Your Face." Reminiscent of Nico and Trish, it's a track that's both dark and strangely propelling, hypnotic and hip-shaking.

$33.00$28.05 IN STOCK

When the body starts screaming, Soft Violet harnesses the pain with beats and rhythms, bass, synth and vocals, to manifest a rejuvenated writhing musical being that thumps and bumps. Downtrodden, upbeat! Upbeat! Following multiple band projects, including the parallel powerhouse acts Spinnen and the ecstatic Turkish-Armenian-Friendship TAF, multi-instrumentalist Soft Violet, now releases her solo debut album: Sterner Stuff. And that it is: guttural with a pounding heart laid out on sexy stainless-steel surface, defiantly glinting. Playful experimentation reigns free, fusing drum-machine and analogue synths with bass and vocals, to create a hybrid glittering creature that shines sublime. Soft Violet has a special power to tap in, making clearly conscious decisions to break and irritate, strutting through techno beats, poetically proclaiming personal and political urgency with a confidence, sincerity and sense of humor echoing the likes of Zheani and Sneaks or (thrillingly also) the 1990s heroes Cibo Matto. Soft Violet urges the listener to unite, to love and be loved and find ways, through music, of transforming pain into something joyous and uplifting, porous and free, as well as incessantly danceable. Soft Violet dares to go places that others do not, tapping into an honesty that others shy away from, welcoming everyone in to come play. Soft Violet is a fighter rising in solidarity. The beginning of the matriarchy is already in full effect.

$16.00$13.60 IN STOCK

Following their acclaimed debut album from 2022 on Alien Transistor Records, What Are People For? now release their first 7" single from the upcoming album, with a dark ambient RNB banger "Criminals" on the A-side, telling tales of snoozing criminals and tantalizing promises of "Someday we will all be rich." The already legendary B-Side features a charming smoke-filled-bubblegum Spanish and English cover of the Cypress Hill song "Illusions," together with The Notwist, which they developed whilst on tour together last year. Obviously, a product of the recent legalization of marijuana in Germany: Ich liebe dich Marianne.

$33.00 LOW STOCK LEVEL

Hometown to Come is the second full-length album by Minhwi Lee from Seoul, South Korea. The eight tracks were written over a period of seven years after Lee's first album and loosely form a single story, contemplating how people who have lost their hometown can return. Includes printed inner sleeve, insert, and download code. "What I had imagined from the title, Hometown to Come, was something forever delayed yet constantly approaching; however, upon repeated listens, it takes on a different meaning -- a promise of hospitality being realized every day. Even if our places to meet disappear, 'the song we sing today' will remain. We will continue to grow, cross paths again, venture far away, and encounter more faces. And when time has passed and you, having forgotten me, ask about my smile or sadness, I will hum 'the same song,' cherishing it as a keepsake." --Morceau J. Woo (sound designer)

$28.00$23.80 IN STOCK

I Can See Our House From Here is Andi Haberl's debut solo album as Sun. It's not about nostalgia, not about actually returning to a specific place. Instead, it's about finding a personal frequency, an overlapping of sounds and samples, an open space that mirrors and extends whatever frequencies felt right at different points in time. Talking about his first solo album, Haberl recalls many stages: early compositions that ended up on Alien Ensemble's albums, early DIY/home studio/multi-instrumentalist inspirations (Le Millipede), new technologies that came and went, even a set of wildly convincing arrangements (done with Cico Beck's crucial input) that ultimately became stepping stones for yet another round of DIY takes. "I want to take people on a journey. A personal journey, too, because when my parents split up and sold the house I grew up in, I felt a bit like the ground had fallen out from under my feet. But I have dedicated the album title and the accompanying piece to this house, so I can keep it in good memory," he says. I Can See Our House From Here has been a long time coming. It's been a long journey. Homeward-bound. Leading to a place that's really Haberl's -- his sound. His frequencies. Known as a long-time member of The Notwist and various other bands/projects (Alien Ensemble, AMEO, jersey, Ditty etc.), Berlin-based drummer/composer Andi Haberl has also worked with My Brightest Diamond, Till Brönner, Owen Pallet, and Kurt Rosenwinkel, to name a few.

$26.00 LOW STOCK LEVEL

Enid Valu normally relies on lenses and light to express herself. Known to create stunning visuals, to capture sonic worlds with her preferred instrument (the camera), the US-born, Munich-based photographer and video artist has been working with various bands, shooting concerts, creating music videos, visualizing what she hears. However, now that she's become an indispensable part of the local scene, she for once ditches the cam and steps up to the mic instead -- appearing as featured vocalist on two of the four brand-new covers Hochzeitskapelle recorded for the EP We Dance. Pavement's "We Dance" has been beautifully rearranged and reworked some three decades later. Musing about "Stockholm Syndrome," just like Yo La Tengo's bass player James McNews did back then, this new Hochzeitskapelle interpretation is obviously less reminiscent of Neil Young, if compared to the original take. Instead, their Yo La Tengo cover feels almost like a song recorded by The Notwist -- which, interestingly enough, is not because two of The Notwist's core members also play in Hochzeitskapelle. Nope, it's the vibe of Enid Valu's guest vocals that somehow points in that direction. As for the two remaining cover choices, it's all-instrumental business as usual. For Low's classic "Silver Rider," it's the banjo that does Alan Sparhawk's vocal part, whereas the trombone soon joins in, contributing Mimi Parker's second vocal layer as the tune unfolds. Eventually adding a German song to the mix -- Wir Sind Helden's "Elefant" -- it's an EP that comprises four beautiful half-forgotten indie classics that Hochzeitskapelle reworks, adding the group's unique, charmingly handmade/oddball "Rumpeljazz" trademark. One can immediately tell how much they love the original tracks: these are recordings, done by fans and admirers who aren't even trying to sound much like the musicians who wrote them. However, the new versions are so compelling in their own right, they make you want to revisit the original tracks as well.

$25.00$21.25 IN STOCK

There's a big clue to the pacific wisdom of The Orchestra in the Sky in the artist name -- Hochzeitskapelle + Japanese Friends. For this is, indeed, music based in, and resonating with, friendship, camaraderie, collaboration, and creative exchange. Across two albums -- one documenting recordings from Tokyo, the other an expansive double album of sessions from Kobe -- Hochzeitskapelle gather around them some of the finest voices in Japanese independent and underground pop music, like Tenniscoats, Eddie Marcon, Yuko Ikema, and Kama Aina, and explore an open field of music, full of creative encounters. You may already know Hochzeitskapelle as the German instrumental quintet formed by members of The Notwist, Alien Ensemble, and friends from the jazz scene. Their relationship with Japanese indie has developed over the years, doubtless encouraged by Saya´s Minna Miteru, compilations series of Japanese indie pop for Morr Music. In many ways, The Orchestra in the Sky feels like the culmination of a set of ongoing cross-cultural exchanges: the Minna Miteru compilations; tours of Japan by Hochzeitskapelle and The Notwist; and indeed, Markus Acher's Spirit Fest group with Saya and Ueno of Tenniscoats. The latter are present throughout much of The Orchestra in the Sky, and Saya's voice is particularly winning on songs like "Tsuki no oto," where the two outfits are joined by brass ensemble Zayaendo. There are several lovely turns from singer-songwriter Yuko Ikema, and Eddie Marcon appears twice. But it's also the potentially lesser-known names that shine through The Orchestra in the Sky, like the frail folk of Gratin Carnival; the delightful, gentle pop songs by sekifu and Zayaendo member, Kanako Numata; a trio of beautiful, stumble-drunk melodies played in swaying consort with popo. That group, along with the presence of Zayaendo, Fuigo, and Mitamurakandadan, make strong connections with the Japanese underground's love of brass bands, partly informed by the tradition of chindon'ya, marching bands that walk the streets of Japanese cities. All things converge, then, on The Orchestra in the Sky, a smart, spirited collection of heavenly pop songs, intimate folk melodies, lungfuls of joyous brass, deep weeping strings, and swooning sighs.

$37.50$31.88 IN STOCK

Double LP version. There's a big clue to the pacific wisdom of The Orchestra in the Sky in the artist name -- Hochzeitskapelle + Japanese Friends. For this is, indeed, music based in, and resonating with, friendship, camaraderie, collaboration, and creative exchange. Across two albums -- one documenting recordings from Tokyo, the other an expansive double album of sessions from Kobe -- Hochzeitskapelle gather around them some of the finest voices in Japanese independent and underground pop music, like Tenniscoats, Eddie Marcon, Yuko Ikema, and Kama Aina, and explore an open field of music, full of creative encounters. You may already know Hochzeitskapelle as the German instrumental quintet formed by members of The Notwist, Alien Ensemble, and friends from the jazz scene. Their relationship with Japanese indie has developed over the years, doubtless encouraged by Saya´s Minna Miteru, compilations series of Japanese indie pop for Morr Music. In many ways, The Orchestra in the Sky feels like the culmination of a set of ongoing cross-cultural exchanges: the Minna Miteru compilations; tours of Japan by Hochzeitskapelle and The Notwist; and indeed, Markus Acher's Spirit Fest group with Saya and Ueno of Tenniscoats. The latter are present throughout much of The Orchestra in the Sky, and Saya's voice is particularly winning on songs like "Tsuki no oto," where the two outfits are joined by brass ensemble Zayaendo. There are several lovely turns from singer-songwriter Yuko Ikema, and Eddie Marcon appears twice. But it's also the potentially lesser-known names that shine through The Orchestra in the Sky, like the frail folk of Gratin Carnival; the delightful, gentle pop songs by sekifu and Zayaendo member, Kanako Numata; a trio of beautiful, stumble-drunk melodies played in swaying consort with popo. That group, along with the presence of Zayaendo, Fuigo, and Mitamurakandadan, make strong connections with the Japanese underground's love of brass bands, partly informed by the tradition of chindon'ya, marching bands that walk the streets of Japanese cities. All things converge, then, on The Orchestra in the Sky, a smart, spirited collection of heavenly pop songs, intimate folk melodies, lungfuls of joyous brass, deep weeping strings, and swooning sighs.

$27.00 LOW STOCK LEVEL

LP version. There's a big clue to the pacific wisdom of The Orchestra in the Sky in the artist name -- Hochzeitskapelle + Japanese Friends. For this is, indeed, music based in, and resonating with, friendship, camaraderie, collaboration, and creative exchange. Across two albums -- one documenting recordings from Tokyo, the other an expansive double album of sessions from Kobe -- Hochzeitskapelle gather around them some of the finest voices in Japanese independent and underground pop music, like Tenniscoats, Eddie Marcon, Yuko Ikema, and Kama Aina, and explore an open field of music, full of creative encounters. You may already know Hochzeitskapelle as the German instrumental quintet formed by members of The Notwist, Alien Ensemble, and friends from the jazz scene. Their relationship with Japanese indie has developed over the years, doubtless encouraged by Saya´s Minna Miteru, compilations series of Japanese indie pop for Morr Music. In many ways, The Orchestra in the Sky feels like the culmination of a set of ongoing cross-cultural exchanges: the Minna Miteru compilations; tours of Japan by Hochzeitskapelle and The Notwist; and indeed, Markus Acher's Spirit Fest group with Saya and Ueno of Tenniscoats. The latter are present throughout much of The Orchestra in the Sky, and Saya's voice is particularly winning on songs like "Tsuki no oto," where the two outfits are joined by brass ensemble Zayaendo. There are several lovely turns from singer-songwriter Yuko Ikema, and Eddie Marcon appears twice. But it's also the potentially lesser-known names that shine through The Orchestra in the Sky, like the frail folk of Gratin Carnival; the delightful, gentle pop songs by sekifu and Zayaendo member, Kanako Numata; a trio of beautiful, stumble-drunk melodies played in swaying consort with popo. That group, along with the presence of Zayaendo, Fuigo, and Mitamurakandadan, make strong connections with the Japanese underground's love of brass bands, partly informed by the tradition of chindon'ya, marching bands that walk the streets of Japanese cities. All things converge, then, on The Orchestra in the Sky, a smart, spirited collection of heavenly pop songs, intimate folk melodies, lungfuls of joyous brass, deep weeping strings, and swooning sighs.

$28.00$23.80 IN STOCK

Alien Transistor announces a reissue of Such December, the fourth album by Japanese indie folk-pop artist, Gratin Carnival. Listeners might already know Gratin Carnival from their appearance on the Alien Parade Japan compilation of indie pop groups working with brass and woodwind. Gratin Carnival's "Just Watching" was one of the many highlights of that compilation, and its gentle bossa-folk glide reappears on Such December. Originally released in 2020, Such December captures beautifully the happy-sad charm of Gratin Carnival. The project of Koreyuki Mitsunaga, Gratin Carnival started in 2011; Mitsunaga had been home recording for some time and decided on the name as an umbrella for his music-making. Mitsunaga's main instruments are guitar, which he uses to great effect throughout, his gorgeous acoustic playing reminiscent of players like Ueno Takashi of Tenniscoats or João Gilberto, and alto saxophone and clarinet. Those three instruments make up the core of Gratin Carnival's sound, along with Mitsunaga's charmingly doleful singing. Recording at his parents' home, with a four-track cassette recorder and a MacBook, Mitsunaga created Such December during 2020, though the songs on it stretch back to 2016. As with plenty of musicians from the Japanese underground, Mitsunaga is involved in other music, too -- he's been working with The Otoasobi Project, which performs music in collaboration with individuals with learning disabilities, and their families; and he's also involved in improvised music. With Such December, though, you get to hear Mitsunaga's music at its most personal and individual, ten songs of still, gorgeously poised indie folk-pop, where the swooning clang of six strings meets the breathy bliss of woodwind and brass.

$24.00$20.40 IN STOCK

Let's forget that Saroos is a closed, three-minded system: a fixed and fully committed entity of three. Known to reinvent themselves in less drastic ways, Christoph Brandner, Max Punktezahl, and Florian Zimmer, have opened the floodgates to collaboration on their quietly explosive latest album Turtle Roll. Announced by 2021 singles "Tin & Glass" featuring Ronald Lippok and aptly titled "Frequency Change" featuring Leila Gharib aka Sequoyah Tiger, the sixth full-length sees the Berlin threesome add another handful of vocal guests along the way. Kicked off by the motoric B-funk (Berlin represent) of the Lippok-assisted "Tin & Glass," complete with retro-futuristic effects, spoken declarations, and non-terrestrial vibes, it might not be Daft Punk playing at their house, but a byobv (vibe) house party of musical minds isn't too far off, actually! Once again as much a mixtape as an album, the mood, vibe, and color changes with every new collaborative tune: From ethereally soothing and dreamy ("The Mind Knows" featuring Solent from Canada) to clap-driven and wildly hypnotic (that pounding "Mutazione," featuring vocals and rhymes courtesy of Eva Geist from Italy) and almost radio-ready when that stadium-sized oomph of "Frequency Change" featuring Sequoyah Tiger arrives around halfway in. Elsewhere, Japanese guest Kiki Hitomi (WaqWaq Kingdom) adds exotic ecstasy to the hypothermic beatscapes of "The Sign," while Ukrainian vocalist Lucy Zoria pushes poetic layers over "Southern Blue"'s wonky foundation that hardens and finds more direction with each round the beat clock takes -- until it's impossible to escape that undertow. "My baby makes it better," sings Caleb Dailey on the faithful and still-loving "Being with You," a sepia, softly churning look back by the US songsmith, a sweetly shimmering ode to a relationship. Speaking of foursomes, there's four instrumental tracks scattered throughout the new LP -- ranging from a painting in crystal clear colors of night ("Organ of Recall") to the highly dramatic sonic tapestry of "Thicket" (with vocals as well). Before the perfect goodbye of slow-moving album closer "Here Before," "Passed Out" sounds like Odd Nosdam finding his feet after blacking out on a German carnival. Titled after a surf maneuver that allows you to break through the crests on the way out, Saroos have skipped the obvious waves with Turtle Roll -- creating their own kind of sonic "Hang Ten" by adding seven new voices to the mix. Includes download code; edition of 300.

$33.00 LOW STOCK LEVEL

Alien Transistor present Alien Parade Japan, a joyous double-album compilation of groups from Japan's indie-pop and avant-garde undergrounds, all of which feature brass or woodwind instruments as part of their line-up. Compiled by Markus Acher (Alien Transistor, The Notwist, Hochzeitskapelle) with plenty of support and help from his Spirit Fest bandmate, Saya (also of Tenniscoats), it features some familiar names -- Tenniscoats, naturally, but also Zayaendo, Tori Kudo's Maher Shalal Hash Baz -- alongside lesser-known groups like Biobiopatata, Mitamurakandadan?, Kourakuen, Sekifu, and Noah Lewis Mahlon's Taits, amongst many others. The collection of songs here rests upon a simple question, and an interesting parallel: Why do so many groups from Japan include brass and woodwind, and how closely does this echo the scene that Acher is involved with in Munich? The idea was formulated in Acher's mind after one of his groups, Hochzeitskapelle, had been invited by Saya to Japan in 2019, to take part in the Alien Parade Japan tour. A wide variety is reflected in the twenty-two songs on Alien Parade Japan, which flits from the pastoral melody of Maher Shalal Hash Baz's "Crossin The Tama River", through the tenderness of Various Sighhorns's "people have called them flowers", to the folksy lament of Gratin Carnival's "Just Watching". Alien Parade Japan reaches further afield, too, drawing in some groups, like Hose, Fuigo, and popo, that feature musicians like Toshihiro Koike, Masafumi Ezaki, and Taku Unami, who may be better known for their experimental and improvised releases on labels like ftarri and Erstwhile. It also looks back to material recorded in the 1990s -- the swinging slide guitars and sax/tuba duet of Strada's "Swamp", from 1998, and Compostela's energetic, rousing "ghhgh", from 1990. Both pieces were written by, and feature, saxophonist Kanji Nakao; Compostela's membership also included late saxophonist Masami Shinoda, who was also part of such storied Japanese groups as Pungo, A-Musik, Orquestra Del Viento, Ché-SHIZU, and the fiery free jazz outfit, Seikatsu Kōjyō Iinkai. Groups like Compostela help to draw some through-lines to the aesthetics of chindon'ya, a type of Japanese marching band made up of costumed street performers who advertise businesses. Alien Parade Japan weaves all of this together -- chindon'ya; jazz; indie-pop; psych-folk; big band -- into one beautiful, big tapestry of gorgeous melody, sweetness, and melancholy, with plenty of creative fraying at its edges. A wonderfully coherent collection of some of the most playful and elated music you're likely to hear this year. Also features Pascals, Tail, Noahlewis' Mahlon Taits, K`DLOKK, Petit Daon, NRQ, and Satomi Endo. Silk-screen artwork; edition of 500.

$24.00$20.40 IN STOCK

What Are People For? make the perfect kind of dystopic dance music for our times. Born from a collaboration between artist Anna McCarthy and musician/producer Manuela Rzytki, the band could be the illicit lovechild of Tom Tom Club and Throbbing Gristle, displaying the ideal balance of hip shaking vibes and dark provocative content. On their collaborative debut, McCarthy and Rzytki share songwriting duties. The album was produced by Rzytki herself. They are joined by Paulina Nolte on backing vocals and Tom Wu on drums, while Keith Tenniswood mastered the record. The whole project stems from a publication and exhibition by McCarthy laying the foundations for the content and lyrics of the album, which is humorous, poetic and political. As a lyricist, McCarthy uses her storytelling ability to explore anxieties and desires, digging into free surreal word associations reminiscent of Su Tissue's tongue in cheek experiments with Suburban Lawns, but also explosive and gripping like a Kae Tempest rap. Rzytki's precise sonic palette and talent at penning structured bangers perfectly complement McCarthy's playful and subversive language manipulations. Rzytki's beats are rooted in old school hip-hop loop principles and an authentic love for the analog. Her use of an array of synthesizers and other "real" instruments adds to WAPF's depth, soul and sincerity. Throughout the album, lyrical themes revolve around underground aspects of society, violence, political ideologies, sexuality, and mysticism. "73", with its drum machine hysteria and hypnotic synth basses is a text collage written on the 73 bus through London, consisting of situations and conversation snippets encountered along the way. "Nursery Rhyme" brings more soothing incantations. There is definitely an affinity for fairytales, albeit adult ones and especially the anarchistic ones such as The Moomins, who were a consistent influence on the band. WAPF? have absorbed and digested a variety of influences. Trip hop, punk, and techno are rubbing shoulders on "Party Time". "Mz. Lazy" starts like an invitation to meditation and references Gertrude Stein's book Ida in which she develops the idea that publicity is a new religion and people are now famous for being famous. "Fantasize", on its part, is raw, sexual, and liberating while the closing track "Bring Back the Dirt" is a welcome hymn into a world that is becoming more and more sanitized. While exploring deep subject matters throughout their album, WAPF? manage to remain satirical, exciting and funny. WAPF? is a rare combination of contemporary punk energy, irresistible groove, absurdist dry humor and astounding depth of field. Includes printed inner and insert; also includes download code; edition of 500.

$24.00$20.40 IN STOCK

Fuchs is a band that never was. It vanished as quickly as it appeared in the picture. In 2005, Kante singer and guitarist Peter Thiessen travelled to Weilheim to visit Markus and Micha Acher in their studio, where they were joined, among others, by Notwist-affiliated musicians like Cico Beck, Robert Klinger, Carl Oesterhelt, and Stefan Schreiber. Spirits were high, but schedules were full: after a week of improvised sessions, everyone went their own way. The recordings gathered dust until Markus Acher found them again in 2021 while cleaning out his studio. After carefully re-evaluating the rough mixes, the musicians decided to finally release them. The resulting album comprises six tracks that musically draw on jazz, aesthetically lean on dub techniques and ideologically pick up on krautrock: there's no solos to be heard on this record, just a few equally skilled and open-minded musicians listening to each other carefully, providing each other with space in which to unfold. Fuchs is a document of egos dissolving in a collective spirit. Thiessen and the Acher brothers met in the 1990s and bonded not only over their shared background in hardcore music and the DIY ethos in which it was rooted, but also over their love for jazz. Thiessen invited Micha Acher to join his band Kante on flügelhorn in 2004 for a tour that saw the expanded group play unusual encores after the official concert was over. The Acher brothers didn't have to ask twice when they invited him for a visit in Weilheim to further explore their mutual interests in a studio setting. Between immersing themselves in books by the photographer Leonore Mau, cooking together and drinking the occasional fruit schnapps, the trio went into the studio. Thiessen considers the resulting recording sessions to be a kind of attempt at musically translating their conversations during those days. They discussed different approaches to jazz, whether sampling and musical mis-citations can unlock ecstatic potentials and the possible parallels between syncretistic religions and pop music. The six pieces on Fuchs are chock-full of exactly these moments. When at one instant, the players seem to disperse and improvise freely, they always meet again on common ground a short time later, continuing on their way together. There are no conventions or even previous agreements that guide them, just a shared will to explore a vast range of curious sounds and unusual rhythms together as a truly unified constellation of very different musicians. Silk-screen artwork; includes download code; edition of 500.

$28.00 NOT IN STOCK

Sounds like supergroup. Rarely have outstanding figures of such a variety of musical styles collaborated on one album to pay homage to a nearly forgotten artist, one of the few black Beatnik poets, Bob Kaufman. All Those Streets I Must Find Cities For by The Plastik Beatniks is an attempt to acoustically reanimate Bob Kaufman, to return the beat to him in a transatlantic collaboration. It is a shimmering psychedelic, at times jazzy concept album, sometimes reminiscent of krautrock or hip-hop, about a beat-era poet who was as great as he was forgotten. It takes spoken word to a new level, as a transatlantic showcase of musical avant-gardes and a joyful "sound archaeology" of modernity, in which the tracks of the "Plastik Beatniks" meet the best voices of America. The 12 wildly different songs and audio collages, on the transatlantically-produced album, All the Streets I Must Find Cities For, is based on lyrics by beat author Bob Kaufman. They were originally part of the radio play Thank God for Beatniks, for which author Andreas Ammer (Ammer & Einheit), Notwist's Markus Acher and Micha Acher and loop maker Leo Hopfinger (LeRoy) formed The Plastik Beatniks. On the eastern side of the Atlantic they composed music and crafted soundscapes. On the west side of the ocean, they asked three of the most renowned singers, activists and producers in the US to recite or sing Bob Kaufman's poetry. Punk-pop icon Patti Smith immediately signed on to read Kaufman's poem "Ginsberg (For Allen)". Free jazz vocalist Moor Mother passionately performed Bob Kaufman's "War Memoir". American jazz clarinetist, composer, singer and "International Anthem" labelmate Angel Bat Dawid, a legitimate successor to Sun Ra, polyphonically read and sang such poems as "The Sun is a Negroe" and "West Coast Sound 1956" and included some clarinet solos on top. Also on the album, Bob Kaufman himself recites his previously unknown poems "Hollywood Beat", "Would You Wear My Eyes", and the "Jail Poem," "All Those Streets I Must Find Cities For". Beat chronicler Raymond Foye, who still lives at the Chelsea Hotel in New York, contributed an interview he conducted with late beatnik Allen Ginsberg about Bob Kaufman. Completing the circle was hip-hop artist Adam "DoseOne" (13&God), who once gave Markus Acher a well-thumbed volume of Bob Kaufman, whom he admired. He contributed some raps. Thus 12 tracks emerged, as diverse as the artists, poets and musicians who contributed to it. More than an album. An epitaph. A work for the eternity of beat. Silk-screen artwork; includes download code.

$15.50$13.18 IN STOCK

Following their recent solo releases Soniscope (Dauw) and Cells #5 (SAUNA 064CS), Berlin-based multi-instrumentalist Midori Hirano and Tokyo based string experimentalist Atsuko Hatano have teamed up for their first collaborative full-length: Water Ladder. An intense, multilayered continuation of earlier collaborations (Atsuko was featured on Midori's debut LP back in 2006), the foundation for this new collaborative album was laid when they shared stages in Berlin (Ausland) and Japan in 2019. Working remotely at first, they later recorded parts of the album in Nara's snoihouse (using omnidirectional polyhedral speakers). "As we rallied back and forth with our recordings in the process of creating this album, unanticipated fluctuations and irregularities emerged, coming together into a kind of music with a unique resilience and buoyancy that cannot be confined to existing molds. It was as though we had built a Water Ladder to bridge the gap between us," explains prolific composer and viola player Atsuko Hatano, who's been busy recording solo and with colleagues such as Jim O'Rourke, Eiko Ishibashi, Mocky, Tatsuhisa Yamamoto, Takeo Toyama, and Anzu Suhara (Asa-chang and Junrei). Kyoto-born, Berlin-based Midori Hirano, who's also been releasing music under her MimiCof moniker, adds multiple instruments to the ever-changing sonic landscapes of Water Ladder -- an album defined by suspenseful and seemingly suspended compositions that often feel like floating in midair, a sensation the musicians compare to "that distinctive feeling you get from riding a high-speed elevator, where you can no longer tell whether you're going up or down." Devoid of birdsong, the late summer air is nevertheless full of buzzing, whirring, hissing sounds on foreboding album opener "Summer Noise," a cinematic intro with slow-moving piano chords and an ominous build-up over the course of its sprawling eight minutes. Elsewhere, sudden bursts of viola cut through nighttime peace ("Nocturnal Awakening"), followed by "Cotton Sphere" -- which makes the sensation of floating in midair complete: harmonies and melodies rise and form to fall apart again. Whereas the title track truly explodes half-way in, the final "Cascade" brings closure to the electro-acoustic six-track collection: the floating continues. "Water cannot retain its form on its own, and can take any shape as effected by external forces. Its movements cannot be captured by eyesight alone: A body of water that appears to be crashing down into a deep, bottomless waterfall could actually be rising up very slowly into midair," says Atsuko. "This is an invitation for you to cross the ever-transforming Water Ladder built between Midori and myself."

$23.50$19.98 IN STOCK

LP version. Includes download code. Edition of 300. Following their recent solo releases Soniscope (Dauw) and Cells #5 (SAUNA 064CS), Berlin-based multi-instrumentalist Midori Hirano and Tokyo based string experimentalist Atsuko Hatano have teamed up for their first collaborative full-length: Water Ladder. An intense, multilayered continuation of earlier collaborations (Atsuko was featured on Midori's debut LP back in 2006), the foundation for this new collaborative album was laid when they shared stages in Berlin (Ausland) and Japan in 2019. Working remotely at first, they later recorded parts of the album in Nara's snoihouse (using omnidirectional polyhedral speakers). "As we rallied back and forth with our recordings in the process of creating this album, unanticipated fluctuations and irregularities emerged, coming together into a kind of music with a unique resilience and buoyancy that cannot be confined to existing molds. It was as though we had built a Water Ladder to bridge the gap between us," explains prolific composer and viola player Atsuko Hatano, who's been busy recording solo and with colleagues such as Jim O'Rourke, Eiko Ishibashi, Mocky, Tatsuhisa Yamamoto, Takeo Toyama, and Anzu Suhara (Asa-chang and Junrei). Kyoto-born, Berlin-based Midori Hirano, who's also been releasing music under her MimiCof moniker, adds multiple instruments to the ever-changing sonic landscapes of Water Ladder -- an album defined by suspenseful and seemingly suspended compositions that often feel like floating in midair, a sensation the musicians compare to "that distinctive feeling you get from riding a high-speed elevator, where you can no longer tell whether you're going up or down." Devoid of birdsong, the late summer air is nevertheless full of buzzing, whirring, hissing sounds on foreboding album opener "Summer Noise," a cinematic intro with slow-moving piano chords and an ominous build-up over the course of its sprawling eight minutes. Elsewhere, sudden bursts of viola cut through nighttime peace ("Nocturnal Awakening"), followed by "Cotton Sphere" -- which makes the sensation of floating in midair complete: harmonies and melodies rise and form to fall apart again. Whereas the title track truly explodes half-way in, the final "Cascade" brings closure to the electro-acoustic six-track collection: the floating continues. "Water cannot retain its form on its own, and can take any shape as effected by external forces. Its movements cannot be captured by eyesight alone: A body of water that appears to be crashing down into a deep, bottomless waterfall could actually be rising up very slowly into midair," says Atsuko. "This is an invitation for you to cross the ever-transforming Water Ladder built between Midori and myself."

$18.00$15.30 IN STOCK

A quick, spontané voyage to the French Riviera ca. 1968, good times long before things went south, Organi's Parlez-vous Français? is a woozy, tripping, soothing sojourn: DIY dream pop, hazy psychedelia, blurred-but-steady beats dripping down the golden boulevard, complete with mystical chants, a dash of half-remembered Franglais that goes down like some vintage eau-de-vie. There's a fine massage waiting behind those venetian blinds. Pay half an hour, you'll be relaxed and revived after 22 minutes. Très irrésistible when streamed, Organi's haunting, hard-boiled French lesson is even better with that classique vinyl crackle in the mix. Following the cinematic title skit with its bass loop appendix, Oakland-based producer and multi-instrumentalist Mike Walti (and his songwriting partner Maryam) aka Organi invites singer Jessica Bailiff along for the majestic entrée, an interpretation of Philamore Lincoln's 1970 tune "The North Wind Blew South", adding anticon. heavyweights Jel and Odd Nosdam on synths and bass for à la mode enhancements and additional bric-à- brac. Whereas the theme tune "Organi" comes with big drums, big organ, seductive overtones, pure hypnosis, "Whispers" is the soundtrack to some kind of psychedelic campfire tableau vivant: all brumeux, hazy, with spare guitar, Gauloises or Gitanes dangling, a glass of Bordeaux waiting on the dusty old amp, and featuring guest vocalists Yea-Ming Chen and Susy Borhan. It gets even more Parisienne after that: a French woman just knows how to look classic, even when all she's got is some attitude, a ramshackle tambourine, a craving for old Sukia weirdness and those budget-couture "4 Dolla Jeans"... Clearly in love with analog equipment, Organi turn The Vaselines' "Slushy" into a slow- moving, bottomless lullaby -- "... you'll never miss what you never had" --, and the femme fatale minimalism of "Stay The Night" is too magnétique and alluring: A fuckin' sexy chanson, très léger and yet such a hard-knockin' head-nod anthem, it'll make you stay for sure, hungry for la petite mort. Before the expansive denouement -- a bank robbery in style: with bangs and a bucket bag ("Danger Walked In") -- the session gets super loose on "The Getaway," head scarves and berets shimmering in the cabriolet, and featuring Jena Ezzadine on vocals and Headnodic on bass. Includes download code; edition of 300.

$25.50 LOW STOCK LEVEL

In 2016, the Japanese duo Tenniscoats (Saya and Takashi Ueno) visited Munich for the first time to play at the Alien Disko Festival, invited by the band the Notwist. In the Japanese-Bavarian bar Nomina, Saya and Ueno listened and joined the acoustic brass-string-combo Hochzeitskapelle (Markus Acher and his brother Micha are also members), who use to play in between people in restaurants, on the street, on boats, etc... but only on a real stage, if they have to. Inspired by this evening, Saya founded the brass-band Zayaendo back home in Tokyo, together with her friend Satomi Endo, who plays the soprano-saxophone. They started to play in parks, forests and bars, and many friends joined, making them a collective with up to 20 musicians. Some of the members are also composers and contribute their compositions. In 2018, the collective came to Munich, and joined the Alien Disko festival. In 2019, they invited the Hochzeitskapelle to play with them on a two-week-tour to japan. When they returned to Munich after this for the 2019-edition of the festival, their Munich friends organized a welcome-surprise-party for them, playing one evening only cover-versions of Zayaendo-songs. Taking part were the Hochzeitskapelle joined by Kofelgschroa-acoordion-player Maxi-Pongratz, the experimental duo Schnitt, who play with a vinyl-cutting-machine, trumpet and bass-clarinet, Joasihno alias Cico Beck (Notwist) with his music-machines, the duo of Munich-based Japanese pianist Sachiko Hara and clarinetist and composer Christoph Reiserer, and a school-big-band led by g.rag-trumpet-player Alois Schmelz, who excited everybody by beautifully singing one song in Japanese. They played Zayaendo-compositions from the album Zayaendo Music (N 073LP). Every band had recorded their cover-versions at the rehearsals... just to give as a souvenir to the Zayaendo-members... but as this is such a wonderful and special compilation and just beautiful songs, Alien Transistor decided to make a small, limited vinyl-edition of this as well for others to hear. And traditionally, this has of course to be housed in a screen-printed jacket by master Señor Burns, numbered and individually colored.

$20.00 LOW STOCK LEVEL

Deliberately breaking all the rules Mr. Hornby once famously outlined regarding the creation of homemade (tape) compilations, Saroos's members indeed had the term "mixtape" on their minds while working on their latest full-length -- albeit in the hip-hop sense: a sonic snack box, interconnected shots from the hip, something that just came together and immediately felt right. Whereas hip-hop folks nowadays often use the vacuous term "project" in order to steer clear of the ontological debate caused by the almost synonymous use of album/mixtape, Florian Zimmer, Christoph Brandner, and Max Punktezahl, otherwise busy with The Notwist, Driftmachine, and Lali Puna, stick to the classics: their new 16-track project OLU (Off Label Use) is, officially, still an album. But it's wild and vibrant like a mixtape, interwoven like its cover: a seamless burst of ideas, impulsively combined to form a split-screen snapshot of recent moments and momentums. Re-appropriating the term "Off Label Use" -- which actually means: using prescription drugs in ways that aren't mentioned on the instruction leaflet -- in their own "off-label" way, Saroos never sounded more loose-limbed and elastic. Whereas the trio's earlier releases were rather conceptual and homogenous, OLU indeed has a more loose, spur-of-the-moment feel, a spontaneous force at its core. Checking the weighty sci-fi inspirations at the door, they use that Bomb Shelter-type of freedom to reinvent themselves at every turn, chasing sounds that happened to emerge in the group's triangular energy field. "Quarantaine", the massive reverb-stumblin' adjustment between beats and bass, opens and cross-fades smoothly into "Humdrum Rolloff", an early hint at the group's off-label practices: the underwater creepers floating around here were really voices (mostly). From majestically built oriental sound-pieces ("Looney Suite Serenade"), synth-based "End House Mario", and a triptych of speaker-boxxxing gas lamp experimentations entitled "Cord Burn 1-3", Saroos have rarely sounded this playful and unrestricted: there's a new energy at work that welds all the different sonic playing fields together to create one continuous 40 minute mix. "Tatsu Jam" billows over the kind of sizzling hi-hats you'd expect to hear on real trap tapes from Hotlanta. A prelude to a bunch of quicker-paced instrumentals ("Scratch Pets", "24h Love Gumbo") and ambient sun showers, until the next "Plateau" (Mo'Wax vibes!) brings the beats to the fore once again ("Tomorrow's Kudos"), and the ultimate "Whirligig" sounds like a mix of Oktoberfest 2020 and Johnston's "Casper The Friendly Ghost" coming apart at the seams. Features Wild Card. Includes download code; Edition of 300.

$19.50$16.58 IN STOCK

Fehler Kuti on the album (Munich, Autumn 2019): "I remember the first time I read W.E.B. DuBois eclectic masterpiece The Souls of Black Folk. The way in which this Weberian scholar flowed from personal account to prose to sociological analysis to music and even political intervention has had a lasting impact on my own work as a cultural anthropologist. It made me understand that as scholars we must use different means in order to give expression to the totality of the lived experience: There is only so much in an academic text . . . The medium changes the message. In this sense, I guess, I'm a singing cultural anthropologist . . . The widespread availability of Digital Audio Workstations, sequencers, loopers, and delay pedals has led us into a futuristic cul de sac best described by Mark Fisher as the very absence of future. Likewise, I am most skeptical of the 'naturalist' countermovement, the return of folk . . . I involuntarily returned to pop music in its two-folded meaning of something popular and addressing not an essentialist notion of 'Volk' or it's woke cousin 'communities', but society as a whole. I entered the studio just with a few lo-fi sounding melodies and rhythms from my circuit bent CASIO synthesizer. I had no clue what the finished product would sound like. But as soon as Markus [Acher] started drumming, in a way strangely reminding me of Can's Ethnographic Forgery Series, my uptight sounds were suddenly embedded within a warmer global sound spectrum. The alien at home and abroad and the strange overlapped: We were seeing one and the same sound differently but were gently held together by Tobias [Siegert]'s producing. Making music is about building coalitions. It's about suggesting an articulation of styles, sounds and people, that hasn't materialized, yet, but may help us in the current crisis: I wanted Amon Düül II to send their drug-induced archangel thunderbird to rescue the refugees, that had tried to escape the police by climbing up a tree in Munich in 2016. I wanted Sun Ra to taunt far-right protesters in Chemnitz in 2018. And I wanted to mourn the loss of a former kebab shop cum discotheque that served as proof that there is such a thing as a minoritarian universalism..."

Music by Julian Warner, Markus Acher, and Tobias Siegert. Recorded and mixed by Tobias Siegert in Munich. Includes download code; Edition of 300.

$19.50$16.58 IN STOCK

Any trademark, any defining trait is a double-edged sword: it is, of course, the catchy part, the kind of stuff people will remember, but in turn they tend to miss some of the other feats, some of the actual details and intricacies. Look at Schnitt, a truly unique duo hailing from Augsburg in Southern Germany. Comprising Moritz Illner and Markus Christ (formerly Kitty Empire), who've been adding to their sizable arsenal of sonic tools (e.g. trumpet, bass clarinet, prepared flugelhorn, Rhodes, pedals, turntables, drums) since 2012, the former is responsible for the band's signature "shtick": His sole instrument is actually a vinyl-cutting machine. A contraption that allows them to go massive, to go meta: live-cutting his multi-instrumentalist partner's live parts to then add them as samples, in order to create even richer, thicker walls of sound, wilder improvisations. It's a spectacular approach -- because it's probably the most haptic and Rube Goldbergian way to manually pull off what a sampling device normally does. No wonder they picked it as their name: "cut" translates to "schnitt" in German. And yet, apart from how they do it, there's a lot more to discover on Wand, the group's sophomore offering (its first for Alien Transistor) -- because after all it's about how they sound, part sonic installation, part beat-based exploration at the intersection of postrock, jazz, minimal music and noise. Starting off as an incremental brass collage, opening/title track "Wand" sees Schnitt create crisp and scratchy units of sound, which are then aligned and rearranged along the track's steady groove. With "Unwucht" -- meaning dynamic unbalance -- things indeed go off-kilter for a static-filled moment, yet there's always a way out: There's the laid-back minimalism of "Raus", some improvised contortions ("Torso"), wonderfully catchy lacunas between interlocked brass melodies ("Konstrukt"), and wild excursions even amateur bass-clarinetist André 3000 would endorse ("Tumult"). Almost radio-friendly and cinematic: The duo's delicately moving "Saum", the perfect cut for nighttime cruising. Elsewhere, there's more steady beats that almost feel like a reprise to the hey-days of Mo'Wax and the '90s: the thumping bass drum of "Splitter" is complete with a shimmering, slow-moving hint of a tune on top, or the jazzed-out, head-nodding crackle of "Fragment". So naked, so banging. Schnitt have created an album that's 100% deep cuts. Includes download code; edition of 300.

$19.50 LOW STOCK LEVEL

Acclaimed abstract hip-hop producer and cofounder of Anticon Records, Odd Nosdam, presets Mirrors, a new LP via Alien Transistor. Composed entirely of found sounds, most of them sourced from rare and private press vinyl, Mirrors' instrumental beats and sound collages pulse with a sense of exploration and rediscovery that has been Nosdam's calling card since the turn of this past century. Its every track presents a treasure trove of unique aural gems, each nestled in atmospheric textures that swirl like a cloud of dust just blown off of some once-overlooked heirloom. Designed specifically for vinyl, the record's A and B sides play out like a pair of cohesive psychedelic dreams. Yet even a skilled psychoanalyst would struggle to categorize these reveries as either pure seraphic bliss or full-on nightmare. By sneaking strategic bursts of beauty into Mirrors' more sinister beats ("Mirrors I") and by lacing its largely angelic compositions with foreboding tones ("The Burn"), Odd Nosdam has crafted a record that is not only engrossingly nuanced, but that captures a highly specified, often hypnogogic, mental state with breathtaking accuracy: cognitive dissonance. The sensation of experiencing an emotion that runs in direct opposition to one's circumstantial narrative -- a sense of melancholy when things are ostensibly fine, a smile as the world seems to crumble -- may once have been predominately the stuff of dreams. But in our current age of ebullient social media facades, and at a sociopolitical moment when joy feels like an aberrant blip in an up-scrolling sea of horror, Mirrors provides an unsettlingly apt soundtrack to the waking experience of the modern era. Oneiric interpretations aside, at its core Mirrors is simply a stunning and dynamic beat tape. As he has for two decades -- whether in crafting instrumentals for avant-rap legends cLOUDDEAD and art-rapper Serengeti, sound tracking skate videos for Element Skateboards, or adding to his prolific catalog of solo recordings -- Odd Nosdam uses his special knack for marrying monolithic, lumbering drum arrangements with novel melodic flourishes to create a breed of experimental hip-hop music entirely his own. An evocative record that seamlessly blends transcendence with menace, Mirrors is a captivating addition to the producer's body of work and one that will continue to leave listeners awed by his creativity, versatility, and his singular vision. Includes download code.

$22.00 NOT IN STOCK

The demons of night are out again: Seoul's one-stop shop creative collective Byul.org returns with its third international album, Nobody's Gold. Comprising 14 new songs, it's a dizzying, haunting affair that channels the group's manifold influences and references points (from post-punk to Stockhausen and back via club culture) and yet sounds intriguingly coherent. Moving in and out of the shadows, Nobody's Gold breaks forth as pure sonic landscape, a universe of its own, folding and unfolding into both more experimental patterns, yet also with occasional hooks and dark catchy structures, gracious build-ups flickering among the hazy roar and thunder. After the screak and squeal of "Lamb With A Wolf Mask," the foreboding sounds of "The Museum Of The Two Of Us" segue into a synthesized party tune about a missing friend being chased by police ("Nari Yuko Yin"), one of several vocal tracks with a sinister edge. Taking things up another notch, "Friendly Enemies" is probably the closest this group will ever get to creating a stadium-ready anthem. On the other end of the spectrum, "The Place Where Designers Go To Die" is a magnificent void with an immense and irresistible undertow. Never too jolly (not even while "Day Drinking At A Seaside Town" or during takeoff via epic pop tune "Bats We Are"), Nobody's Gold compiles soundscapes with a very tangible, corporeal presence. Inspired by everyday life, half-remembered drug/club experiences, Pascal Quignard's disturbing La Haine De La Musique (1996), Stockhausen and Bill Evans, Nobody's Gold sees the collective remain true to its DIY foundations while repeatedly questioning our listening habits and "the exaggerated love for the concept of love," as they put it. Founded around the dawn of the millennium as a group of poetry-loving friends who'd occasionally meet for drinks, Byul.org has long become an extremely prolific and versatile collective within Seoul's scene. Main song-writer TaeSang Cho and his mates Yu Hur, Jowall, YunYi Yi, SuhnJoo Yi, HyunJung Suh, and SoYoon Hwang went from publishing to recording, from releasing tunes to design, art direction and more. Although their list of clients includes Atelier Hermes and the Venice Biennale (they did the Korean Pavilion twice), the group still remains a drinking circle of close friends at its core: Pals who simply like to create and carouse and dream and live and perform and play tunes together.