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viewing 1 To 10 of 10 items
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LP
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MUSAR 019LP
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For Dutch artist Stefan Vincent, the feeling of melancholy also offers the opportunity for beauty to be found. "Decay and loneliness can serve a purpose. Depression can teach you things. To feel deep sadness also means the ability to feel profound emotions." he says. With this in mind, his debut album on MUSAR Recordings, Post Melancholy, unpacks the twists and turns of grappling with this emotion, drawing from breaks, electro and IDM to make his most intricate work to date, after previous releases on Token, Dynamic Reflection, Symbolism, and Non-Series. Throughout Post Melancholy Vincent traces the wave of melancholy and how it moves through the body, which allows for lighter moments alongside darker moods. Perhaps the lightest track on the album is its acidic-breaks opener, "Eyes Unclouded", with its soaring acid lines and dazzling synths, which acts as a false pretense for the rest of the album. Tracks like "Poise", "Arpeggino" and the meditative "Yonghegong Lama Temple Exit F" also break up the intensity. However, nestled between the more-pacey, bass-weighted tracks on the album, these lighter openings still feel like tear-jerkers. The more common associations of melancholy show up on tracks like "Another Skin To Wear" and "You Know This Isn't Going To End Well", which all create a more ominous feel via IDM and the polyrhythmic structures of drum'n'bass. Particularly on "Another Skin To Wear", which borrows its name from a Radiohead lyric, the track's swooping motion feels realistic to melancholy's chaotic and often unpredictable path. But, like all great storytellers, Vincent leaves the most poignant moment of the album for last with the rolling "8AM on the Train... (For Maarten)" devoted to his dear friend, Maarten, who sadly passed away at the young age of 36.
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12"
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MUSAR 017EP
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In Japanese, the word "Guru-Guru" refers to the state of spinning, whirling. This state is captured in the work of Japanese artist Hoshina Anniversary, who makes his third appearance on Musar with his EP Guru Guru and marks the return of the label after an extended break. Hoshina's self-titled brand of "watechno" has appeared on well-loved dance music labels like ESP Institute, Volvox's Jack Dept, and Young Marco's Safe Trip, alongside Musar where he also appeared as Shifting Gears back in 2022; an electronic-jazz centered moniker. His Guru Guru EP captures the latest snapshot of Hoshina's sound and sees him draw from Japanese language as a through-line. The title track is the clearest representation of his "watechno", where he uses Japanese instrumentation on top of a menacing EBM-style march. The track's slowly whirling momentum is the "guruguru". On tracks like "Banri", which means far away in Japanese, we see new shades to Hoshina's work as he mixes a Japanese Wadaiko drum groove with acidic elements and piano melodies to make a track of contradictions which pairs roughness with elegance. Whereas on "Usagi", Japanese for rabbit, Hoshina fires up the BPM. Piano melodies remain here but their effect is more drifting and emotive than on "Banri". "Kaga" is named after a place in the southernmost part of Ishikawa Prefecture, between Kanazawa City and Fukui City. On this track, Hoshina's love for jazz comes through and even mirrors the work he put out as Shifting Gears.
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12"
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MUSAR 018EP
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Melancholy, the feeling, is often associated with darkness and deep depression. For Dutch artist Stefan Vincent, within the experience of melancholy there's beauty to be found. "Decay and loneliness can serve a purpose. Depression can teach you things. To feel deep sadness also means the ability to feel profound emotions." he says. For his debut on Musar Recordings, Pre Melancholy EP, Vincent channels these notions of melancholy into three tracks that draw on darker moods but also reflect beauty in their intricacy and the atmospheres they create. This EP acts as a precursor to his forthcoming album on Musar, Post Melancholy. "Mono No Aware" and "Yonghegong Lama Temple Exit F" are both taken from the LP, placed side by side with "Agent of Distraction", an exclusive track from Vincent for this EP only. Musar also have Montreal-based musician Priori on the remix of "Yonghegong..." His rework draws further emotion from that of Vincent's by slowing the pace and bringing delicate melodies to the forefront; it's one for introspection. Transparent crystal vinyl; PVC sleeve with inner printed artwork. Features Priori remix.
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12"
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MUSAR 008EP
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Musar continues to explore the healthy landscape of underground and alternative electronic music with the debut release on the label from Nightwave. The Journey is a fitting title for the Glaswegian producer, DJ, and promoter, who has been a lynchpin for the city's vibrant music scene since her first release in 2010. In the time since, Nightwave has a developed a punchy and highly original sound that blends potent influences of acid, techno and forward-thinking bass music, with releases on DABJ, UTTU, Fool's Gold, DEXT, and her own imprint, Heka Trax. For her Musar debut, Nightwave celebrates, in her own words, "joy, dance, exploring inner worlds, the celebration of nature and life and how it all interconnects". On a delicate tip, opening and title track "The Journey" establishes the EP's "rainforest rave" aesthetic, spiraling upwards with weightless energy. It's underlying percussion steps forward on "Jiboia Groove", which blossoms thrillingly into wave upon wave of ethereal, breakbeat-led rave. "Monkey Puzzle" pulls a similar, if more uncompromising trick, only with its rhythmic timber instead succumbing to layers of rough-hewn, squealing acid synthesis and pounding snare drums. Naive founder and Lisbon's rave goddess, Violet generously remixes "The Journey" in intriguing fashion, unravelling a trippy and tense riddle at the heart of the rainforest.
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12"
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MUSAR 007EP
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Musar introduces Tokyo-based DJ and producer, Hoshina Anniversary. Zangai EP is made up of three new tracks that play on Hoshina's influences from contemporary techno to experimental jazz, filtered through his Japanese heritage, coupled with a soaring remix from Musar associate, Ricardo Tobar. "Zangai" is a rolling acid paean to the atmospheric ruins of Oda Nobunaga's Azuchi Castle, while a darker mood and texture defines the satisfyingly rubbery techno weight of "Tenjin", translating as "deified spirit". Tobar expels the darkness at the center to see the light for his buoyant remix, leading to the jazzy, high-tempo electro of "Tenjou".
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12"
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MUSAR 006EP
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Following celebrated releases from Annie Hall, J. Wiltshire, and MANASYt Amsterdam-based MUSAR returns to Ricardo Tobar for Nadivi, two earthy electronic trips, accompanied by a bewitching remix from Legowelt. On this exciting release, Chilean-born Tobar continues his knack of blending the live tones of krautrock and electronica with a house and techno pulse, in a style not dissimilar to Luke Abbot or James Holden -- Tobar has previously released music on the latter's imprint, Border Community.
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12"
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MUSAR 004EP
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After more than a decade of productions on labels such as Detroit Underground and CPU, Annie Hall arrives on MUSAR for Statics EP, a record rich in texture and understated grooves. "Linium" seduces listeners with a spacious drum pattern. Mattheis maintains this understated feel, adding a kick to his remix of "Lavandula". The original follows, erupting into a distorted bassline. On "Silene", stuttering, frenetic drums interweave with Hall's melancholy keys before ending with "Santolina", taking each element and slowing it down. Though indebted to electro and IDM, Hall's music is no throwback, looking forward and moving dancefloors in unexpected ways.
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12"
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MUSAR 003EP
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The third release on Tel Aviv's Musar welcomes rising UK star and Super Hexagon label boss, J. Wiltshire. The gleaming sci-fi gem "DESklep" is a pure melodic IDM track loaded with Cornwall style while the bass-heavy "Laghan Pux" is pumping as a dark and sharp peak-time trippy beast. The mysterious Roy Of The Ravers gives you an interpretation of what proper acid sounds like, whereas "Chained Releases" takes you on a deep and hypnotic adventure into space, full of warm guitar melodies and trancey synths. "Summon Them", an an ambient magic piece for a hazy, orange morning, closes the EP.
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12"
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MUSAR 002EP
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Musar revive the electronic-synth legend MANASYt with a new five-track EP as part of a three-EP series. Reality Defense Department will be the Bulgarian Petar Tassev's first material since 2012. "Memory Imprints" is a pure psychedelic-trip into the mental clinic for clockwork orange droogs. "Mobile Pharmacy" can be described as what the aliens would listen to while attacking Earth. "Orthodox Spanking" is a dark, wayward electro track full of post-punk elements, perfect for a fetish party. A pair of remixes by Brooklyn's wonder girl Via App with a gothic techno rework and Norwich's Wax Stag delivers a dreamy, cosmic twist.
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12"
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MUSAR 001EP
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South America's finest Ricardo Tobar returns with La Condamine, an EP of melodic and cosmic electronic music adventures. "Rue Calme" is an uplifting psychedelic trip that standing exactly on the borders between the dark and the light worlds of Tobar sounds, while the title track "La Condamine" draws on influences such as Boards of Canada, Orbital, and sci-fi movies. On the remixes are Barcelona's Marc Piñol and Ulrich Schnauss. Ulrich's remix reimagines the beats in an early '90s lo-fi shoegaze version of the opening track, while Marc's remix is a floor magical journey covered by bright vocals and rich atmosphere.
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