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viewing 1 To 15 of 15 items
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LP
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HAM 022LP
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Emerging from that place where hip-hop slurs into ambience and where rap is just a hypnogogic mumble, is Delaware (US) based MC/producer ZekeUltra, who excels in warped and worn beats and woozy, near ambient textures, over which he declaims his truth. Ultra's intelligent, introspective rhymes are at turns heartbroken and confessional, anomic and brooding, sometimes resigned, at other times optimistic, with a healthy dose of humor to prevent the narrative from traversing too dark a path. The delivery is muddied and beneath the surface, drawling in-and-out of view and shy of any thug braggadocio. Production duties on all but three tracks are handled by prodigiously talented Idaho (US) resident Yonqi, whose beautiful, hauntological loops and understated beats give the album a smoky, downtempo feel throughout. A gorgeous swirl of hazy, jazz-tinged electronica in miniature. This is a record to climb into and explore. To absorb its genre-blurring grooves, where half-speed, deep soul samples meet haunting, electronic textures, underpinned with cavernous subby bass and sparsely abstract beat constructions. It's where Leyland Kirby meets Earl Sweatshirt, or the Jazzy Sport crew bump up against Ghost Box, all dug from the crates and knowingly vintage. A record of twilit soul splinters, fuzzy jazz cuts, and enigmatic, stoned incantations. Effortlessly beautiful music for fans of the downbeat. RIYL: Earl Sweatshirt, Madlib, Jonwayne/Danny Watts, Lojii & Swarvy, The Skull Eclipses. Edition of 300.
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2LP
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HAM 021LP
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Odd Nosdam came to prominence as beat-smith with experimental hip-hoppers, cLOUDDEAD, as well as being co-founder of the Anticon label. A string of critically lauded solo releases culminated in 2016's Sisters LP (title track remixed by Boards of Canada) and 2019's Mirrors LP (N 067LP) which saw the West Coast producer at the peak of his powers. Flippies Best Tape features a massive 66 tracks over four sides of wax. Digging fathoms deep in the crates, Odd Nosdam's source material comes from super rare records that you've never heard of, many of them private pressings. From plaintive deep soul cuts, gritty chitlin' circuit funk, blues-y '60s garage band sessions, through to some seriously heavy psych-rock freak-outs and all manner of weirdness in between, the scope of this record is mind bending. But it doesn't stop there, mashed up into this heady brew you'll also pick up hints of gospel, jazz, dub, and space-y West Coast acid. And the whole thing is neatly stitched together with snatches of film dialogue providing the narrative thread. So many disparate influences could make for an unfocussed smorgasbord of a record, but Nosdam has honed his skills over the years to such a degree that these 66 tracks, 80 total minutes, have been sculpted and shaped with precision into a work that is as lithe and supple as it is kaleidoscopic and exhilarating.
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LP
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HAM 018LP
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LP version. The Declining Winter returns after a three-year layoff with Belmont Slope, perhaps their strongest statement to date. Pushing on from the pastoral blueprint of Home For Lost Souls (HAM 010LP, 2015), Belmont Slope is a bold and varied album, extending the boundaries of their earlier sound, introducing pop sensibilities and daring electronic flourishes. Truly a northern English album, Belmont Slope is a haphazard car ride across the M62, a love letter to the hills of Yorkshire and Lancashire, a paean to desolate beauty, unattainable love and lost friends. The Declining Winter is the brainchild of Hood co-founder Richard Adams, an ever-changing collective who emerge blinking into the daylight from their Yorkshire enclave with a unique blend of pastoral and lo-fi pop, shimmering electronics and rural post-rock. RIYL: The Go-Betweens, Grizzly Bear, The Smiths, Mogwai, and Hood.
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LP
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HAM 019LP
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Martin Cummings, aka Northerner, debuted in 2008 with There'll Be Other Holidays and ten years later returns to similar themes with his third album for Home Assembly, End Of The Holiday. Influenced by travels through the Catalan region of Spain, the album finds Cummings at his most reflective and sonorous. The electronic ticks of his earlier I Am On Your Side (2012) have been pared back somewhat but instead fit neatly in and around his expressive guitar playing. It's hard to talk about a Northerner album without mentioning Vini Reilly. The shadow of the Durutti Column guitarist hangs softly over the eight pieces here. The opening track "Principi" sets the tone with gliding atmospherics, exquisite arpeggios and understated beats, followed by the sweetly melancholic "Final D'Estiu" which ups the tempo and beefs up the rhythms until "Dijous", with its shuffling "bossamba" flow, cements the album's Balearic appeal. But there are other influences at play here too; something of Emeralds guitar whiz Mark McGuire can be heard in the intricate guitar embellishments and cavernous, brooding tension of "Nomes Jo". Elsewhere, the dusty bump of "Una Nocio" conjures up hazy memories of early evening, poolside liveners and the widescreen ambience of "Arribant Al Final" could be the soundtrack to an arid coastal drive. But before one starts getting a bit too holiday brochure, End Of The Holiday is an album for reflection, for change, an all instrumental ode to half-remembered summers, a sound collage of a faded July postcard, and a reminder of warmer climes, long summer days recollected fondly, as autumn slides into winter. Edition of 300.
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LP
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HAM 016LP
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Previous Fieldhead releases have seen Paul Elam take a detached view from the hillsides of West Yorkshire and Western Canada, but with We've All Been Swimming, the subject matter is closer and more immediate. Tensely wound synths lead throughout We've All Been Swimming, shifting from the breathless momentum of the opening track through to pulses reminiscent of Colin Stetson on "Ton". The unique violin playing of Elaine Reynolds glides sparingly across the record, tempering the constantly shifting arpeggios and accentuating the human elements within the record's machine-like core. The haze found on previous releases still hangs, but now it's the haze of a crowded street or the last train home. We've All Been Swimming is a concise and inspired attempt to reduce electronica down to the things that matter. Edition of 250.
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LP
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HAM 015LP
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Very occasionally you stumble across a digital album that stops you in your tracks - Mahatma X's A Mobtown Suite Vol 1 is exactly that. Home Assembly put matters right and put this excellent album on vinyl. Mahatma X was formed in 2013, initially as an instrumental beat-tape project by producer MALK in St. Andrews, Scotland. He would later be joined in Philadelphia by Jhana Gumption as live drummer and Jahred as MC. The group mixes live instrumentation with samples to create hip-hop reminiscent of its golden age. 17 instrumental tracks have the flow of a beat-tape, with tracks bleeding into one another, going off at right angles, or colliding bumper-to-bumper. Deep and soulful, phat, jazzy and funky - all delivered with a bucket full of punk attitude. From the Adderley sampling opener "Come Thru" to the flutes and breaks of "Mahatma And The White Devil", flutes (again) and warm, gospel organ of "This Hustle Game", and the spacey synths and deep, dubby bassline of "Worddagawd", you know you're in for an exhilarating ride. But there are also other elements that seem to elevate this record above, what is now, a fairly crowded genre. Notably, there's the languorous, stoned guitar refrain on "We Live In Bawlmer, Baby". And it's there again amongst the snares and samples of "Bright Moments" and the sun-kissed "Mad Poetik". RIYL: Dilla, Madlib, DJ Mitsu, Onra, Stones Throw, Jazzy Sport.
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2LP
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HAM 014LP
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Double LP version. High Passes is an album from Hood co-founder Chris Adams under his Bracken moniker. It's his most far-reaching and ambitious work yet. High Passes is a record made for both huddled northern terraced streets and imaginary basement clubs. From the opening Portishead-ish kraut-thump of "Slow Release" to the sunny side up, LA inflected, hip-hop lollop of "Invest In Aquacar", to the faded '70s analog synth swirl of "Branch Hid Sky" and the sumptuous electronic pop of "Ghostly", High Passes is a calling card for Adams' versatility and his remarkable production and songwriting skills.
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CD
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HAM 014CD
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High Passes is an album from Hood co-founder Chris Adams under his Bracken moniker. It's his most far-reaching and ambitious work yet. High Passes is a record made for both huddled northern terraced streets and imaginary basement clubs. From the opening Portishead-ish kraut-thump of "Slow Release" to the sunny side up, LA inflected, hip-hop lollop of "Invest In Aquacar", to the faded '70s analog synth swirl of "Branch Hid Sky" and the sumptuous electronic pop of "Ghostly", High Passes is a calling card for Adams' versatility and his remarkable production and songwriting skills.
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LP
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HAM 013LP
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The Big Eyes Family Players, a loose collective based around Sheffield, England-based artist James Green, present Oh!, their first album since Folk Songs II (Static Caravan, 2012) and their first album of original material since 2009's Warm Room. The group, who have previously collaborated with the likes of James Yorkston, Alasdair Roberts, and Rachel Grimes, recorded Oh! as a slimmed-down five-piece with a sound that veers more toward the '60s psychedelic pop of the likes of The United States of America and Broadcast than it does toward the instrumentals or folk songs for which Big Eyes are perhaps best known. Oh! consists mainly of vocal-led songs written by James Green and Heather Ditch, with themes ranging from family dysfunction to hauntings and fictional historical events. The centerpiece of the album is the dramatic "Joyce," which concerns the true story of Joyce Vincent, who was found dead in her apartment in London three years after she died. Another highlight, the wonderful "Song for Thirza," is the only cover on the album -- a little-known song by Lal Waterson about a girl who lived with the Waterson family, rescued from the workhouse in the 1950s. The sound of the album is perhaps best described as psychedelic pop, with fizzing organs and droning synths, flutes, reverbed guitars and bass, and playful drums swirling around Ditch's delay-soaked vocals. Oh! was recorded in Sheffield, England, and produced by Sheffield music-maestro Dean Honer (I Monster, Eccentronic Research Council, The Moonlandingz). It features contributions on viola and musical saw from Aby Vulliamy (The National Jazz Trio of Scotland, Trembling Bells, Aidan Moffat). Artwork by Yorkshire, England-based design and print artist Laura Slater. Includes download code. Edition of 250.
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12"
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HAM 012EP
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Housed in a black disco bag with a download code for the EP plus remixes. Limited edition of 300. The first music from Andrew Johnson as A New Line (Related) since his 2014 debut under the alias (HAM 009LP) and its accompanying 7" (which included a remix by Miles Whittaker (Demdike Stare). The title-track draws upon Detroit producer Terrence Dixon's simple hypnotism; the second track recalls Huerco S.'s experimental, grainy house. The B-side opens with percussion stabs over effervescent, Deepchord-style loops, and the closer is the absolute apex of Johnson's creativity, with billowing, distorted loops over a simple drum machine.
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LP
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HAM 010LP
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The Declining Winter is the brainchild of Hood co-founder Richard Adams. Home for Lost Souls is his fourth full-length album following Goodbye Minnesota (2008), Haunt the Upper Hallways (2009), and Lost Songs (2013). Pulled from a hostel that Syd Barrett was alleged to have stayed at in the early '70s, the album's title points to the subject matter that concerns Adams in his songwriting. From the cost to one's sanity at just making it through another wearisome 9-5, to the ominous beauty of the North Pennines landscape, and love in a time of austerity. But far from being austere, the 14 songs presented here are generous, warm, deceptively simple, multilayered compositions. From the upbeat openers "This Sadness Lacks" and "Home for Lost Souls" to whimsical instrumentals "Golden Terrace" or "When Things Mattered," all the way through to the outrageously catchy "Hurled to the Curb" or the melancholy introspection of "The Wild Girl Laughed" and the quietly epic "The Right True End." As you might expect from Adams, he wears his heart and his influences on his sleeve. At times it feels like listening to a glorious cross between Disco Inferno and Talk Talk, Robert Wyatt and even Felt, with occasional smatterings of Radiohead as well as a brief hint of PiL on the rustic "The Summer Circuit" and "A Field Defunct."
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LP
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HAM 011LP
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Islet is limited to 250 copies and comes housed in a handsome spot-glossed sleeve with download code. Each member also plays with bands and artists such as Yoko Ono, Xiu Xiu, Thurston Moore, Balún, and Tyondai Braton, but by joining forces they create rich musical arrangements that are both highly original and, crucially, highly accessible. The concept for this, their debut album is derived in part from the sci-fi and cyberpunk elements of Blade Runner, the haunting and mysterious elements of Twin Peaks, and the surreal tropical vibe of Fantasy Island. It touches on themes of solitude, escapism, and cultural curiosity while drifting between intimate lyrical moments and dreamy ambient sound textures.
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2LP
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HAM 008LP
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Chilean producer Jimmy Pizarro (Insecto) has been working for some time as a digital artist in Chile, where he is director of the Chile Advanced Music Festival. Mainly composing and producing experimental and modern electronic music, his works have been published around the globe on labels such as Pueblo Nuevo, Impar, Filtro, and Mobeer. Home Assembly Music now presents Post Edit de un Cromosoma, in many ways a more musical re-imagining of the classic clicks & cuts sound most readily associated with the Mille Plateaux catalog. Rather than sticking to the austere aesthetic of the likes of SND (a professed influence), Pizarro uses an expanded sound pallet to craft lush arrangements. So now, as well as the intricate, skittering micro-beats, we have jazzy chords, glistening ambient pads, and a smattering of spoken vocal snippets thrown into the mix, creating a tuneful machine funk that at times recalls Mount Kimbie's earlier works. But it's ruder than that, as the crystalline synths, swirling samples, and fizzing hi-hats are all anchored down by some seriously deep sub-bass pulses. A big recommendation for fans of anything from SND through Aphex Twin to Mount Kimbie. Includes download code.
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2LP
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HAM 009LP
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A New Line (Related) is the latest venture from Lancashire-based Andrew Johnson (Hood/Remote Viewer/Moteer). Utilizing tools from the early days of home-produced underground dance music (such as SK5 sampler keyboards and vintage drum machines), Andrew has unearthed a beautiful album of downbeat, lamp-lit techno, industrial-grade ambience and sonic experimentation which at times recalls early Warp Records, Gescom and raw, 313 area beatdown house, as well as the more modern breed of electronic and techno travelers such as Actress, Mark Fell, and even Theo Parrish. Despite (or maybe because of) the antiquated sound sources, these tracks pull and tug at the emotions. Rattling drum machines pick out rhythms while underneath, warm, carefully-played synths and a mesh of samples slowly emerge, introducing melody and texture into the pieces, all culminating in a spacious, evocative and unhurried work. Includes a download card.
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2CD
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HAM 007CD
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From the industrial heartland of the Ukraine, Yuri Lugovskoy is a genuinely mysterious and enigmatic figure working in the field of underground electronic composition. Internet searches reveal nothing but a blurred photograph of a bearded figure wearing a cowl and prowling the woodland. His previous album on Moteer captured the hearts of the great and good, with tastemakers Boomkat calling it "an enormously enjoyable collection of atmospheric, minimalist meditations, all very much evocative of the raw, experimental sound designs of early electronic music." This album is comprised of exquisitely deconstructed takes rooted in Berlin-based dub techno. Stripping the sound to its barest bones, Lugovskoy wrings supreme melancholy and a warm, rhythmically pastoral sound from the most basic of sound sources (some of the tracks being assembled from fragments of samples of old '70s movies and processed beyond recognition through whatever hardware/software Lugovskoy employs). His unusual loops have a hazy, dream-like quality, often recalling the low-end hum of late-night factories. The minimalist drift of Wolfgang Voigt's landmark Gas project is brought to mind, but Lugovskoy goes one further and removes most traces of beats from the work, culminating in a sound which channels BBC Radiophonic Workshop just as enthusiastically as it does Basic Channel or the more contemplative moments of the Raster-Noton canon. To complement the brittle stillness of the original compositions, Home Assembly have asked some of their favorite artists to re-think, re-work, and re-construct Yuri's music, encouraging them to add parts and play on top of the original work. The results are nothing less than stunning: Brave Timbers uses elegiac piano and layered strings to build up a gorgeous wall of Rachel's-like neo-classical bliss, William Ryan Fritch produces a stunning string concerto recalling Ryuichi Sakamoto while The Humble Bee (The Boats' Craig Tattersall) and Mugwood (Isan's Antony Ryan) both produce perfect heartfelt electronic pieces which retain the isolated feel of the original work, yet take it off in entirely new directions. Further remixes from Fjorne, Strategy, Tokyo Bloodworm, Panoptique Electrical, Insecto, and Chessie are no less impressive and represent some of the best examples of electronic music composition around today. Limited to 300 copies in a double gatefold digipak CD. For fans of Gas, Shuttle 358, Basic Channel, 12k, Moteer, BBC Radiophonic Workshop, etc.
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