05.08.2017 BETA-ZERFALL @ Komet (Basement) / Hamburg

file under: PostPunk / ElectroPunk /(No)Wave / Industrial / IndieElectro + more

decks:
baze.djunkiii [Intrauterin Recordings]
Herr Brandt [Sonnenbrandt / Damaged Goods]

doors: 10pm
admission: 6€ 

Komet (Basement)
Erichstrasse 11
20359 Hamburg
Germany

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Sequoyah Tiger - Cassius (Official Video)

Organic, melancholia-infused Club Pop with a beautiful vintage feel taken from Sequoaya Tiger's debut album that's about to be released via Morr Music in late October 2k17.

Fendika - Birabiro [Terp Records 027]

Released only recently via the Netherlands-based label Terp Records is "Birabiro", the most recent album by the Ethiopian five piece band named Fendika which is and has been founded by Melaku Belay, known as musician as well as a dedicated and passionate night club owner in his hometown Addis Abeba. Based in and named after the independent, self-sustaining venue of the same name we see Fendika continue and at the same time develop the tradition of the Azmari, a very specific kind of Ethiopian singers and entertainers, for the future, reshaping their perception and work ethics for these modern times as well as providing a new sense of cultural value and tradition keeping not only in the groups hometown but also via touring and, as provided here, by recording traditional Azmari songs from various regions of the country for an international audience which, for many parts, would never be able to experience the magic and vast variety of Azmari music on location. Interesting stuff for those who'd like to keep their ears and minds open for fascinating musical experiences from beyond the Western hemisphere.

Album artwork on Instagram!

Music Maker - A Documentary About Null + Void

A pretty interesting documentary about the musical background of the Swiss-born and now NYC-based producer Kurt Uenala a.k.a. Null + Void who's, apart from his solo musings, also working closely with Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode-fame.

Twin Peetz & Sascha Müller - Berlin-Meppen Sessions [SM Tapes 002]

Yes, we love tapes and therefore we are pleased to take a a closer look at the "Berlin-Meppen Sessions", the latest split cassette release by our friends Sascha Müller and Twin Peetz via SM Tapes / Sascha Müller Music. Opening his side with "Airports", a sweet, more than 15 minutes spanning DubTechno effort garnished with atmospheric Field Recordings by Antistaticanimal, we see Twin Peetz paving the way for things to come including the follow up "The Tape Files (Tape Edit)" which is on a more driving and uplifting tip and could've well found a home on the well respected Echochord label which is known for its more melodic take on the genre. With "Audio Escape" Mr. Peetz continues on a similar tip but presents a way deeper approach musically built on a foundation of slightly broken, yet technoid beats before "The Tape Files (Deep Sleep Edit)" gets rid of any kind of underlying beats and provides a masterly crafted journey into dubbed out Ambient realms. On the flip Mr. Sascha Müller opens up with "Reversed Commando", a Deep Techno affair garnished with a few, ambient'ish and dubbed out atmospheric elements whilst "Gorkie Park" gives us more of a Cold Ambient vibe when it comes to the tunes' short intro that soon makes way for a classic and club friendly DubTechno approach whereas "Goldrich" fuses darkness and a more MinimalTechno-related feel to a great, floor filling effect before "Francies" concludes this tape album on a feverish, slightly tribal-infused and minimalistic tip and provides a proper soundtrack for pumping late night club sessions. Check!

Album artwork on Instagram!

Jeffrey Roden - Threads Of A Prayer Volume 2 [Solaire Records 004]

After we reviewed the first volume of Jeffrey Roden's "Threads Of A Prayer" series in November 2k16 it's now about time to take a closer look at "Threads Of A Prayer Volume 2" which has been put on the circuit via Solaire Records in mid-May 2k17. With a total of nine tracks stemming from the same session as the ones featured on its predecessor we see the artist continuing his journey into both minimalst and (Neo)Classical composition starting with "The Field", a trio for violin, double bass and timpani which is based on minimalist, yet tonal repetetion and large amounts of space in between its individual sequences which are turning towards thunderous drama for a fraction of the tunes length at around minute nine whereas "As We Rise Up" - another trio composition for violin, double bass and organ - seamlessly emerges from the aforegoing tune on a more romanticism-loving note combined with a steady underlying bass pulse of organic - and hypnotic - quality. Furthermore the title track "Threads Of A Prayer", a piece for solo piano, caters deepest minor scale melancholia and slowly decaying single notes before a sequel comprised of "6 Pieces For The Unknown" provide a continuation of this path although on a slightly more romantic and partly even chord driven tip. If (Neo)Classical music and minimalism is your thing, this album might be one for you.

Album artwork on Instagram!

Null + Void - Asphalt Kiss (Official Video)

Our man Kurt Uenala a.k.a. Null + Void caters a massive gem for all trueskool Electro headz with the first video taken off his forthcoming album "Cryosleep". We're diggin' this for a reason!

Sound Of Yell - Light The Currents [Infinite Greyscale 011]

Released via Berlin's Infinite Greyscale-imprint only recently as a limited to 300 copies 10" edition is "Light The Currents", the second vinyl release by the British Folk / Experimental outfit Sound Of Yell after their longplay debut in 2014. Coming in in two parts we see the first one, originally written for an exhibition of artwork by Katy Dove, provide a tender, yet lively acoustic feel of innocence and early autumn melancholia perfectly depicted by the vocals of both Georgina McGeown and Victoria Morton which are deeply embedded in the mix like another slightly blurred layer of instrumentation whilst "Light The Currents (pt2)" provides more of a warm and organic instrumental Folk feel that's laid back and all embracing like a beautiful summer's afternoon used to be in everyones childhood memories. Lovely.

Sascha Müller - Anti-Data [Sascha Müller Music]

Without any doubt the man known as Sascha Müller is the master of quirky formats and weird, hyper-limited conceptual releases. With his new limited to 4 (!!!) copies art release "Anti-Data" he presents a whole album of 25 tracks stored on a hard drive that he single-handedly destroyed after the track data had been transferred to the drives storage space. Therefore the tracks will remain unheard, untouched, unchanged forever and can never be rescued for obvious reasons. Intredasting!

Sascha Müller [Supersix Records Extra 055]

Recently released via Sascha Müller's very own Supersix Records-imprint is the labels cat.no. 055, another new and fresh selection of 12 previously unreleased tunes from the artists archive of quality electronic club music. Entering a "Global Network" we're immediately drawn straight into the heart of a massive warehouse rave where fast-paced beats and heavy strobe attacks dominate the scenery whereas the follow up named "Hintergrundstrahlung" caters more of a underground late night vibe for minimalist, slightly psychedelic science-fiction Techno parties hidden deep within alien swamps or forests. With "Implant I" we're back on the fast track and working out to highly distorted signals and sharp hi-hat layers, "Internal Runner" combines sexy HardHouse grooves, tribalistic percussions and soft ClubTechno stab sequences whilst "Jazzistic I" fully deconstructs a Jazz-infused loop via various cut-up techniques and quirky Dub FX. Fans of harder and slightly dark'ish Techno vibes will be pleased by the force that is "Lichtbrechung", the "Lonesome Acidman" serves a menu of raw distortion levels, flogging sound warps and a few melodic aspects on an uptempo level, "Lots Of Knobs" bring nothing but straight up Hardcore brutalism and "Loving My Computer" provides a heavy dose of captivating, ElectroClash-reminiscing ItaloTechno that one would've expected on label like International Gigolo Records or Forte in the very beginning of the noughties. Furthermore we see "Mehr Vom Leben" cater a little surprise with what feels like an attempt to revive Jazz-driven BigBeat for about 275 seconds, "Monocular" is on a filtered and funky Techno tip, mixing this vibe up with some decent Acid modulations as well as trancey strings and the final cut "Mr. Flexibal" takes us back to more minimalist territories and even adds some Electro influences and well-driving signals to a straight 4/4 based foundation. Proper.

Notstandskomitee - The Golden Times [Block 4]

A massive digital only album release coming from our old mate Malte Steiner a.k.a. Notstandskomitee - available since May 26th, 2k17!

22.07.2017 Incredible #1 @ Icarus.Club / Lübeck

A journey from Dub & Reggae into Jungle, Oldschool, Drum'n'Bass and Neurofunk. Join us!

decks:
baze.djunkiii [Intrauterin Recordings / Jahmoni Music]
Dub/a\lity [Liebe & Respekt]
Pickney Dada a.k.a. Mr. Moe [Cease & Sekkle]
Fibe [Hamburg]
DJ Shade [Icarus.Club / Pirate Revival Project / Bollwerk]

doors: 11 pm
admission: 6€

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Icarus.Club
Ziegelstrasse 2A
23556 Lübeck
Germany

Miguel Angel Tolosa - Ephimeral [Sofa Music]

Released on April 7th, 2k17 via the Norwegian label Sofa Music is "Ephimeral", the latest album effort created by Spanish composer Miguel Angel Tolosa who has been involved in several of the imprints releases throughout the past years - both as an artist as well as mastering engineer. Aiming at nothing more than focusing  on '...the experience of time through listening with an additional, subtle emotional element' he provides a selection of ten tracks on this longplay piece, starting with "Rio De Cristal" a beautifully droning piece of Ambient / Deep Listening music followed by the short interlude "Tropismos" which fuses deep drones with electrical clicks and buzzing as well as what seem to be underwater Field Recordings whilst  "El Reino Azul" seems to explore dark and deadly Death Ambient-spheres located somewhere in extragalactic planetary systems far out and beyond. With "Contornos" Mr. Tolosa returns to 124 seconds of what he introduced with the albums opener, "Sol De Plomo Y Purpura" starts with real time thunder only to cater nothing but crystalline Ambient layers once the tunes intro is over, "Fragmentos De Ti" is built from the subfrequent sounds of slowly shifting tectonic plates which are accompanied by various layers of hissing white noise and the short interlude "Palida Y Movil, Sombra" provides a feel of solemn and ritualistic meditation of sorts. Furthermore we've got "Musgo", maybe the most threatening and unsettling piece on this album, pairing heavy downpour and cold scraping echoes of sci-fi machinery, "De Un Pais De Hierro" takes us down a similar path in terms of unrest and intensity and the final "Alla Lejos" closes things down on a click-heavy, fluttering DarkAmbient level instead of providing a peaceful goodbye. Nice one.

Album artwork on Instagram!

Enderie - Tape 1 [A Guide To Saints 017 Promo]

Put on the circuit only a few days ago via A Guide To Saints is "Tape 1" by Enderie, a project by Andrew McLellan who aims to document the intensity of contemporary city living with the six tracks to be found on this album. Opening with "Let Systems Decide (A Laser Beam)" Andrew McLellan reveals a clear vision of dry, experimental, fast paced Techno providing a FreeTekno / Teknival related sense of aesthetics and various layers of raw, Industrial sounds as well as repetetive vocal works not unrelated to DJ Marcelle's latest outing whereas the "Meal" comes in at a similar vibe but gets darker and way trippier on a Broken Techno level whilst weighing in deadly bass synths to kill even the most Hardcore loving punters in underground warehouse raves with brutalist sound domination techniques. Relying on "Stopped Memory" we're taken to dubbed out, Illbient-resembling lands of highly detailed vocal glitches where we're getting ready to "Attack The Power Of The Hordes" with pure Industrial bass power and well thought out polyrhythmics. Furthermore the second to last tune "Sore" weighs in a hard, distorted and hyper-compressed killer groove for all die-hard lovers of proper Hardcore, Rhythm Industrial, Noize and pitch black, apocalyptic rave signals before the final cut named "It's A Feasible Feat To Be Here" provides more of a grinding, repetetive and braincell-wrecking mindfuck for strobelight-driven late night sets. Recommended for the headstrong!

Greg Fox - Catching An L (Official Video)

If VaporJazz wasn't a genre before this video comes up with a perfect definition.

baze.djunkiii Chart Haul 07/2017

Martin Küchen - Lieber Heiland, Laß Uns Sterben

Wind instrument melancholia meets static and scraping Noize - an excellent first glimpse on Martin Küchen's new album scheduled via Sofa Music on September 8th, 2k17.

21.07.2017 baze.djunkiii @ Mojo Jazz Cafe / Hamburg

decks: baze.djunkiii [Intrauterin Recordings]

file under: DubTechno / DeepHouse / BrokenHouse / Disco / Edits / Freestyle

set time: 3 - 8 pm

daytime set - open air in case of good weather conditions.

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Mojo Jazz Cafe
Reeperbahn 1
Hamburg St. Pauli
Germany

Xordox - Diamonds

Crystalline beauty and (Neo)Cosmic influenced synth works to be released via Editions Mego. We're in for this!

The 808 Hillbillys - Untitled 4 EP [Psychocandies 056]

The 808 Hillbillys are making a return to the Psychocandies-imprint in late July with another digital single featuring two untitled tracks from their archives. Whilst "Untitled 1" fuses a thrilling Electro foundation and gooey, hypnotizing Acid modulations to a timeless, dancefloor banging effect we see "Untitled 2" explore a musical vision somewhere in the grey area between Acid and AcidTrance to please all those still loving the warehouse rave sounds of the mid-90s for a reason. Pop a pill and fly away!

Various Artists - Anthology Of Lithuanian Art Music In The 21st Century [Music Information Centre Lithuania]

Released only recently via the Music Information Centre Lithuania and curated by Frank J Oteri is the labels latest compilation entitled "Anthology Of Lithuanian Art Music" which caters the first big overview of Lithunian contemporary compositions created in the past 18 years - the first years of the 21st century. Doing so by compiling a bunch of 18 tracks and loads of information given in the albums booklet and liner notes this might be the first ever selection of this kind focusing on the scene of this Eastern European country, introducing the work of many composers - most of them presumably unknown to Western listeners - to a wider audience including pieces by names like Antanas Kucinskas, Vytautas Germanvicius, Elena Sataite, Ziboukle Martinaityte and many others in its two CD spanning tracklist that includes one composition from each year of the century thus far and is equally balanced in terms of contributions by male and female artists. With all pieces based on scores and sheet music notations which are included as .pdf files the compilation for practical reasons focuses on (Neo)Classical and Contemporary Classical music of several tonal and athmospheric qualities starting with the tense, fast moving  "Triplum" by Tomas Kutavicius and its thundering, partly brutal and overwhelming vibe whilst Loreta Narvilaite's piece "The Wave Accompanies The Bird's Flight" for solo violin is more for those enjoying Classical Music along its usual and established lines. A few more examples of musical greatness on here are the growing tension and spine-tingling climax in Vytautas Germanivicius "Crumbling Arches", the surely Folk-influenced "Triglyph" by Jurgita Miezelyte or the experimental Jazz approach to be found in Lukrecija Petkute's trombone and tuba piece "TeleAgony". Further recommendations on CD2 include the droning, intense unrest delivered by Justina Repeckaite's "REM", the epic Classical intro sequence of Elena Sataite's "Eremos" which turns into intense thunder and danger-heralding darkness - as well as dramatic beauty - over the course of nearly 12 minutes. In Julius Aglinskas' "The New Net In Two", one of the rare vocal pieces on this album, we find ethereal, yet haunting and mystic interweaving choirs whereas Albertas Navickas' "Blanche T'a Vu" lives by a previously unheard combination of whispers, respiratory sounds, non-vocalisms and dramatic flutes and sticks out as one of the most fascinating compositions featured on the "Anthology Of Lithuanian Art Music In The 21st Century" which is a highly recommended one for a reason.

Album artwork on Instagram!

Michael Pisaro / Håkon Stene & Kristine Tjøgersen - 14 / XVI

Ultraminimalist DarkJazz from the great Norwegian Hubro Music-imprint.

Ekin Fil - Ghosts Inside [The Helen Scarsdale Agency 042 Promo]

As announced earlier this month we see Turkish artist Ekin Fil, better known as Ekin Üzeltüzenci to her friends and parents, launching her new album "Ghosts Inside" via the ever active The Helen Scarsdale Agency in early August, 2k17. Dealing with quite a bunch of trouble and sadness in her personal life we see the Istanbul-based singer and composer create a dark'ish, intimate and fragile minor key universe based on simple, yet sad and beautiful piano lines and ethereal vocals, solemn instrumental interludes like the 94 second spanning "Interlude", deep autumnal shoegazing to be found in songs like "Like A Child" or the tender etudes of the most beauteous and fairy-like "Simple Past".  In "Used To Be" Ekin Fil caters crystalline sadness in purest Ambient form, "Before A Full Moon" serves a menu of blurry melancholia  and so does the follow-up "Fin" whereas the dubbed out "With The Birds" seems to unveil some hope and a light at the end of the tunnel after going through a period of bitterness and pain. Furthermore the "Final Cut", ironically the second to last tune on this wonderful album, takes us into a deep, romantic forest on a late summer evening and "Silent-Alive" closes the 36 minutes longplay circle on a peace- and seemingly hopeful tip, waving a tender goodbye before we're hitting the repeat button for another listening session of our CD-r promo copy. Recommended!

Fret (aka Mick Harris) - Lift Method

Mick Harris - also known under the name of Quoit to fans of DarkJungle and related - is using his artistic guise Fret about to release a new album on Karlrecords in October 2k17. Expectations are set high after this masterpiece in sonic brutalism!

Pharmakon - Contact [Sacred Bones Records]

Released on March 31st, 2k17 via Sacred Bones Records is "Contact", the latest album effort put  on the circuit by Margaret Chardiet's Pharmakon project which also celebrates its tenth anniversary this year. Driven by a growing interest in the state of Trance Margaret Chardiet created a body of six tracks on this longplay piece which opens with the dark and ritualistic "Nakedness Of Need" and a highly captivating take on doomed Industrial Electronics and the artists desparate, expressive vocals. Following up we see "Sentient", a climaxing interlude, somehow reminding us of an F1 racing track, the "Transmission" epicly fuses Noize and Rhythm Industrial to a grinding, maelstrom'esque effect and "Sleepwalking Form" caters a dark and danger-inducing, horror score atmosphere that sure can trigger psychotic meltdowns in weak-heartened and instable listeners - if there's a soundtrack to a hell'ish vortex it's this tune on repeat. Furthermore "Somatic" dabbles around with a combination of alienated feedbacks and heavy Noize loops and the final take on "No Natural Order" might be the most threatening and aggressive tune on this album, built on grinding synths, harsh screaming vocals and a foundation of clanging metallic loops as a rhythmic structure. Excellent and highly recommended for repeated consumption throughout ones darkest hours, this.

Album artwork on Instagram!

Ogive - Folds [Room 40 Promo]

Released on June 30th, 2k17 via the Australian Room40-imprint is "Folds", the first official collaboration album by Chris Herbert and Elias Merino which was teasered by a first preview video on these pages only recently. With the five tracks of this album the two artists combine their shared interest in unfamiliar landscapes of textures and harmony starting with the blurred, crackly and drifting Ambient sphere that is "Dehiscence", "Isomerica" weighs in repetetive, hypnotic droning and a slightly Oval'esque athmosphere alongside warm and organic textures and "Refractaise" combines Deep Listening Music, soft crackles as well as pads obviously played backwards and a few Field Recordings. Furthermore "Riffs" takes us into dreamy Ambient clouds that are nicely contrasted with a few disturbances appearing about mid-track for a while and the exploration of the "Superhabitat" unveils an intense, climaxing and partly ear-piercing take on harmonic Ambient Noise for those who love to step out of their ChillOut comfort zone for a reason.

Sascha Müller [Sascha Müller Music 1000022]

Soon to be released via his very own imprint Sascha Müller Music is Sascha Müller's new digital two track single bringing us the tracks "Deep In The Dub" and "Talking Drums". Whilst the first of the two tunes takes us into a fever'ish, stripped down Techno universe featuring decent, acidic modulations and delayed one tone bleep motif we see "Talking Drums" combine a deep and minimalist, yet muscular and pumping House approach with  monotonous stabs for the late, hormone-driven hours of an underground basement party.

Two Or The Dragon - Prelude For The Triumphant Man (Part II)

Fascinating Tribal rhythm signatures and distorted electronic Funk elements fall together in a dancefloor smashing way in this piece. Epic!

Ulrich Troyer - Songs For William 3 [4Bit Productions 007]

Catching up with piles of promos these days we're now taking a closer look at  "Songs For William 3", the March 24th, 2k17 released full length album by Ulrich Troyer which is the third and final part of a trilogy and comes with an additional comic book alongside the vinyl or CD format. Released via 4Bit Productions the longplayer caters a menu of eight tracks which are - beware of conceptual stuff here which also involves the additional comic book - dealing with 'the story of a breakup from the perspective of a stomp box called William and a MS-20 filter clone called Charlotte'. And yes, this is a one on one quote from the press release. The opener "At Muff's Place" paves the way for great things to come with a deep, laid back and yet sophisticated take on Dub whilst "Back On The Market" picks up on this and adds a little bit of lovely vocoder work and quirky mid-range synth bleeps for a bit of variation. "Dark Roots" is more spaced out than dark with a plastic steppers rhythm, more Skweee'ish synth works and a friendly, bleepy main motif, the "Megalomaniac Microsynth" floats a few feet above the ground with a dubbed - and weeded - out attitude whereas  "Horny Chiptunes" still provide a sparse Dub foundation but gravitate more towards playful late 90s / early 00s Electronica in terms of melodic lo-fi aesthetics. Furthermore we see "Cruising Down The Belt" providing a bit of a crooning bedroom attitude for robots with seductive vocoders and panoramic widescreen string arrangements, "I Miss Your Noise" enters slightly psychedelic, Miami Neon 80s-influenced realms and somehow evokes memories of Kavinsky's slow jam "Nightdrive" before "Alone On A Crowded Bus" finally leaves Dub alone and goes into deep meditation on Electronica vs. what seems to be a very ritual, Ambient-infused take on guitar distortions. Good stuff, this!

Album artwork on Instagram!

Ekin Fil - Before A Full Moon

Deepest Ambient melancholia and ethereal echoes of Folk is what awaits on the latest album output on the ever active Helen Scarsdale Agency in early August, 2k17.

Dr. NoiseM - The CDr A-B-C: Y [Dr. NoiseM Tapes]

To be released on July 17th, 2k17 is "Y", the second to last part in Dr. NoiseM's ongoing series named "The CDr: A-B-C"  which spans another 76 minutes as a full track album. Starting into this journey on a deep, spine-tingling Dark Ambient-level that brings in loads of tension, Cosmic synths and score'esque qualities the further course of the longplayer stays on a relatively calm and ruminant tip, adds more deep, klaxon-like synth magic and calm waves breaching ashore, partly falls of into near silence before introducing high frequency beeps and slowly transforming the breaching waves into the trademark respiratory sounds so typical for this series.  Defo a good and more relaxing one, this.

Graeme Truslove - Intuited Architectures [Cronica]

Put on the circuit in early May, 2k17 via the Portuguese Cronica-imprint is "Intuited Architectures", the new longplay effort by Glasgow-based and multi-awarded composer Graeme Truslove who on this piece deals with the possibilities of real time interaction with micro-level production techniques. Opening with "Suite II, Portals" Graeme Truslove opens up a world of a weirdly shifting, moving palette of highly digital quality which cause a feel of dizzyness and relative unease when consumed via headphones, "Suite II, Convergence" comes in on a softer, yet very experimental Ambient-related tip, combining simmering tones with sparse, improvised guitars that provide a slightly Post-PostRock related feel whilst "Suite II, Divergent Dialogues" amalgamates both hyperabstract Electronica and repetetive Electroacoustic Improvisation to a highly scientific sounding effect before turning into a radio transmission from a future beyond our imagination. In "Elements" we see the artist explore electronic buzzes which evoke far away memories of Muslimgauze's work on the former Audio.NL imprint, that is before they're building up into a screaming wall of sound and turn into tweeting digital birds later onwards. Furthermore "Concretisations X" weigh in quite a lot of morphed scraping sounds and what seems to be altered Field Recordings of micro-acoustic events accompanied by additional guitar manipulation over the curse of the tunes approx. 15 minutes runtime and the final, 20 minutes spanning cut named "Strata" leads us through the full spectrum of Graeme Truslove's work from full-on guitar improv to droning Ambient sequences and beyond. Abstract, yet interesting for those digging the far out spheres of electronic music.

Album artwork on Instagram! 

Myllargutens Gammaldansorkester Vol. 2 [Myllargutens Gammaldansorkester 002]

Incoming from Norway probably due to the amount of mostly experimental Norwegian music featured on these pages throughout the past two years is the compilation named "Myllargutens Gammaldansorkester Vol. 2" which is comprised of an arrangement of thirteen tunes from the past 100 or so years of Gammaldans - a specific genre within the Folk music of Norway. Played by a fifteen piece orchestra with half of its members of non-Norwegian origin the mostly instrumental cuts on this album reveal the more uplifting, positive and defo dancier side of traditional Norwegian Folk music which, although not in its often fiddle-centric instrumentation, partly seems to be very related to what is associated with Celtic Folk for our untrained ears but also unveals some ballad'esque, highly romantic moments with a dark'ish undertone as to be found in "Vals Etter Mor", caters a little bit of an Exotica vs. Country twist in "You So Funky", even brings in some crooning oldtime feel in the well exciting vocal cut "To Sma Fugler Pa En Gren" or gets speedy with a tropical vibe on "Pa  Sønderled". Interesting stuff, although this is defo not our regular field to play in musically.

Skepta - Hypocrisy

Pure flames! Fiyah!

Ogive - Iso3a (Official Video)

Ogive - Iso3a from ROOM40 on Vimeo.

Chris Herbert & Elias Morino join forces to create beautiful Ambient textures under their conjunctional nom de guerre Ogive.

baze.djunkiii Charts 07/2017

01. Xposed 4Headz - Urgency Squad [Internal Combustion]
See review for details...

02. Wiedergaben Vol. 1 [Aufnahme + Wiedergabe X] 
Limited to 500 copies release on the Aufnahme + Wiedergabe-imprint catering the needs of those dark creatures of the night gravitating towards Wave, Industrial and EBM with a massive Room 506-Edit of Kirlian Camera's "News" on the A-side whilst Stonith's "Vivant" on the flip explores hard and merciless Techno realms, fusing these with desperate yet catchy vocal bits from the Wave side of things and a muscular, highly catchy bassline on a wobbly tip. Great stuff!

03. Sascha Müller - Dub-Gun (Floppy Totaal Special) [Super 6 Records]
See review for details...

04. DJ Marcelle / Another Nice Mess - Too [Jahmoni Music]
See review for details...

05. Astma / Meanza - Raw Volumes [Aut Records]
See review for details...

06. Cakewalk - Ishihara [Hubro Music]
See review for details...

07. -

08. -

09. -

10. -

Xposed 4Heads - Urgency Squad [Internal Combustion]

Coming in from the states is the newest longplay vinyl release put on the circuit by our Milwaukee-based friends of the Xposed 4Heads, a limited to 200 copies ten track LP which comes with an exquisite artwork and also includes the banging "System Overload" which we've already featured on these pages earlier this month videowise. Released via the Internal Combustion label the musical joyride starts with "Push Me", a marching, UK-influenced amalgamation of straight forward Rock and Stadium Wave, goes into the praised "System Overload" before presenting the albums title track "Urgency Squad" which qualifies as a quite fascinating mixture of full throttle WavePunk, a bluesy touch and vintage synths providing captivating, The Munsters-like background scores whilst "Slack It" dabbles with a tongue-in-cheek 80s Miami Pop attitude on high speed mode musicwise, adds a bit of Dada'esque fun here and there whilst paying homage to classic Rock'n'Roll in its vocal presentation and "Humans Are OK" clearly indicates that they are not - at least this what the aliens think that were in invlvd in the songs most beautiful space string arrangements and catchy melody work underlining the tunes overall melancholia. Flipping the wax we are the "Fly In The Ointment" and turn every (No)Wave / UK Indie floor into a sweet riotous place, we "Light It Up!" with a muscular PostPunk / DiscoPunk / P-Funk attitude that brings fans of the B-52s as well as those following the late DC Recordings label to the dancefloor, surprising them with an epic breakdown sequence whereas "Our Number Is One" caters a similar, yet slightly more of a slick, radio friendly 80s feel for the sophisticated listener. Furthermore the "Next Thing" is a big one in terms of more Miami Synth melodies and big time panorama Pop with an edge and the concluding short instrumental sketch "For People, Not Consumers" evokes memories of corporate production music for a reason and therefore provides a nice addition to the albums overall presence of lyrical criticism of the modern hypercapitalist society. Good stuff, this.

Mike Cooper - Raft [Room 40 Promo]

Scheduled for release on July 7th, 2k17 via the Australian imprint Room 40 is "Raft", the latest album outing by longtime active composer, artist and musician Mike Cooper who has been on the musical circuit for nearly five decades. With the seven takes on this album Mike Cooper explores a sonic realms somewhat in between Ambient, Indietronica and Exotica-influences starting out with the beautifully arranged "Raft 21 - Guayaquil To Tully" which combines echoes of Post-PostRock with PopAmbient, twang guitars and a few waves of digital crackling seamlessly blending into "Raft 37 - Las Balsas", a 12+ minutes meditation on desert melancholia throughout a hot summers day. In the short interlude "Raft 28 - Vital Alsar" we see the twang melancholia being fused with somehow Drum'n'Bass-reminiscing background beat structures, "Raft 33 - Malama Honua (To Care For Our Earth)" is more of a tension-loaden, brooding affair based on raw, distorted droning, Field Recordings of voices and repetetive rhythmic patterns of ritual qualities and "Raft 29 - Honey Hunters" is a sparse, highly experimental affair featuring a cold, steady and highly sci-fi sounding tone, plucked guitar strings, gongs and various background recordings of unknown origin, all combined to a highly fascinating, spine-tingling effect. Furthermore "Raft 36 - Age Unlimited" brings in a slightly chaotic, multilayered feel including what seem to be backward recordings before the final cut "Raft 27 - Guayaquil To Ballina" provides deep, partially bluesy tranquility and makes up for a nice closing tune for this fascinating, well-recommended album affair.

Carlos Casas - Pyramid Of Skulls (Teaser Video 1)

An intense and haunting teaser for Carlos Casas' most recent album release on the Discrepant label.

Anthony Pateras / Erkki Veltheim - The Slow Creep Of Convenience (Excerpt)

A beautiful take on glacial droning and high frequency Ambient created by pipe organ and electric violin. Soon to be released via the Immediata imprint.

Sascha Müller - 808 Minimal Attack [SMSM013]

Due for release on July 1st, 2k17 is Sascha Müller's new longplay outing named "808 Minimal Attack" which, hence the title, fully focuses on an array of raw and stripped down drum machine patterns only.  Starting with a combination of "Drums & Snares" via "LowToms & MidToms", "HiCongas & OpenHiHats", "Claps & Claves" and many others more these dry, conceptual tracks are, at least in a full-on listening session, not necessarily the peak of musical innovation or the most interesting to groove along to under a pair of headphones but defo can provide additional fodder for multi-deck using digital DJs or be used as a solid foundation for soundscapes or further experimentation in modular systems. A specialists cut, this.

John Matthias & Jay Auborn - Race To Zero [Village Green Record 013 Promo]

Released in early June via Village Green Recording as the labels cat.no. 013 is "Race To Zero", the new collaborational album effort put on the circuit by fellow composers John Matthias and Jay Auborn. Based on a series of acoustic improvisations recorded in places as different as a 700 year old chapel in Devon as well as an Icelandic basement studio the pair led these recordings through a massive amount of digital DAW reverbs and other digital devices, maxing out processor capacities at will, creating error sequences and abusing these outcomes further until the nine tracks of the longplay piece finally had taken shape. The opener is "Actress", a surprisingly calm Ambient piece accompanied by steady, muffled drum hits and a beautiful, yet slightly out of tune acoustic topping as well as a panoramic string section, "Pretoria" caters a brooding, ritualistic and well mystic vibe for dark deep forest rituals, the "Caretaker" serves minor piano chords and a sizzling background atmosphere whilst the "Wax Heart" consists of rich cosmic influenced synth spirals, cinematic horn sections and heavy ProgRock-influenced drums - a combination that brings nothing but impressive grandiosity to the sonic table. With "Stone Face" John Matthias and Jay Auborn enter a realm of more fustian DarkJazz / TripHop mixed up with killer military snare rolls and multilayered instruments before coming to a sudden halt, the "Tilted Stage" is quite a turbulent place turning a tender piano intro upside down, adding highly emotional strings, harsh Industrial Electronics beatwise as well as terrifyingly dark, distorted and threatening synths before "Every Word Is A Mask" serves more scores'que and masterly arranged Downtempo vibes with an orchestral twist. Furthermore we've got "Soma Vapour", a quite loop-orientated piece with a mechanical attitude covered in layers and layers of hypersweet, kitsch-dripping melodies whereas the final "Songbird" maxes out melancholia levels over a 7 minutes stretch and makes up a perfect tune for a rainy November afternoon. Lovely.

Martin Merz - Prisma [Vordergrundmusik]

Released earlier this month is "Prisma", the longplay debut by Martin Merz who is catering a sweet menu of ten thought out tracks on this well-recommended vinyl release. Opening with footsteps and the glitched out Ambient Electronica of "Nocturnal Emissions" it becomes pretty obvious that we're not about to enter the spheres of a regular club album here, rather we're meant to explore deeper realms and a wide variety of sonic shades including the deep space Electro abstractions of "Kinetics", the masterly crafted, Detroit-infused Intelligent Techno of "Transalp" which could've easily found a home on any of the Clone-related labels or a more chromatic amalgamation of Acid bleeps, beautiful strings and muscular 4/4s to be found in "Pick Up Your Phone". Furthermore the "Algorithm" reprograms advanced dancefloors with sparse and spatial Techno deepness and dubbed out off-kilter chords, "Clubbin", a collaborational joint with Kosmo Kessler, combines tripping German vocals and spaced out Electro whereas "Drop Your Money" provides a more demanding approach in terms of straight floor-focused 4-2-the-floor, grinding synth modulations and filtered stabs as well as a overly compressed Disco claps for underground club sessions which find a proper continuation in "Strain And Budge". With "Drive" Mr. Martin Merz is going down the Ambient / Intelligent Techno route again, providing another fine array of his trademark strings, "Ether" crosses over into kitsch-dripping realms of the neon 80s arrangement-wise whilst bringing in warm organic basslines and hyperclean beats from the UK-based Future Garage realm for a grand finale. Good stuff, this. Check!

The Greatest Hoax - Expiration Compositions [Serein 012]

Released on the classy Serein-imprint only recently is the second full length album by the Washington, D.C.-based composer Taylor Jordan under his artistic moniker The Greatest Hoax. Entitled "Expiration Compositions" the album caters a menu of nine tracks, thematically dealing with - according to the press release - 'a soundtrack to a peaceful death' created by Jordan, accompanied by additional textures by a string quartet led by cellist Mark Bridges of Kranky Records. Starting with the opener "Senescence" we're led into almost heavenly, positives spheres of Ambient music, "Left You Behind" caters more of a solemn attitude combining electronic waves, simple piano tones and floating, melancholia-inducing (neo)classical elements whereas "As The Light Dims" presents itself as a rich take on Piano Ambient, living up to class with heavy reverbs and an all embracing, warm organic attitude. With "You Never Learned A Thing" mighty piano lines are brought to the forefront  and accompanied by grandiose as well as slightly kitschy strings, "It's OK" calms things down a little for a short while and comes across as tender, party even fragile miniature whilst "Just Passing Through" introduces a slow 4/4 foundation alongside dubbed out pianos being the first and only actual beat driven track on this album. Furthermore "Fading Away" starts with short distinct piano melody before expanding into a hopeful, widescreen sonic universe, "Not Coming Back" weighs in a short, off kilter tape loop layered with additional chords and emotional strings to a calming effect and "Pulling Up The Sheets" finally waves goodbye in a classic Ambient manner, melting down all its elements to a blurry, yet beautiful flow for calm, autumnal afternoons. If you love your Piano-driven Ambient, or movie scores, to the max this is defo a recommended album for your collection.