If you don't like acoustic guitar music then look away now. Otherwise hit play on this wonderful tribute LP to Steffen Basho-Junghans, a German guitar exponent who I wasn't aware of until reading Folk Radio's review of this LP yesterday, but who obviously meant a lot to many & old friend Buck Curran in particular - the co-ordinator of this wonderful tribute on Obsolete. It's a wonderfully diverse collection, with its fair share of contemplative pieces, unsurprising considering the mortality LP premise, but it's rarely sombre, sometimes life celebratory, often experimental & a constantly surprising look at just what the instrument is capable of. I'm sure Junghans would approve.

A Tribute to Guitarist Steffen Basho-Junghans
*Donations of 7.00 or more will be accepted for the purpose of having Harris Newman Master this Project & to Benefit the Family of Steffen Bash-Junghans!

Obsolete Recordings 012

CREDITS
Featuring music by Buck Curran, Henry Kaiser, Joseph Allred, Liam Grant, Paul Pèrrim, E. Jason Gibbs, Rob Noyes, Kendraplex, Joost Dijkema, Jesse Sheppard, Paolo Laboule Novellino, Son of Buzzi, Isasa, D.C Cross, Blake Hornsby, Jeremy Nicholas, Shane Parish, Nick Jonah Davis, Ajay Saggar, Jakub Šimanský, and Pino Nuvola

Album Cover - Original Water Colour by Buck Curran
Mastered by Harris Newman

Monday morning is a natural moment to question life choices and the nature of reality, but rather than dwelling on such matters, and as it's probably too early for a drink or to enter into any altered states, could I recommend exploring the otherworldly minimalism of Beqa Ungiadze's new EP for Phantom Limb as a work friendly temporary reprieve, by which time a coffee and breakfast of choice should have buoyed your spirits no end.

Georgian electronic musician Beqa Ungiadze debuts on Phantom Limb’s Spirituals imprint with a beautiful new album of gauzy ambient minimalist works to represent humanity’s eternal migration.

Having recently relocated (“completely spontaneously”) from his native Georgia to a new life and new home in London, solo musician Beqa Ungiadze explores the experiences of replanting long-held roots and statelessness with ს​ა​დ​გ​უ​რ​ი [Eng: Station]. Its dusty, effervescent, subtly rhythmic instrumental pieces mutate and evolve, in slow-mo, with a yearning prettiness that points to a deconstructed, cubist take on IDM or an electrified Reich.

With alternately vibrant and hazy synthesis, Beqa Ungiadze’s music marries blissed-out, beatlessness with a gritty film of melancholic memory-distortion.

Beqa explains that “I had no thematic plans for the album, just the intense emotions I experience in everyday life.” He tells us: “the album is a message to other people whose experiences and feelings are similar that they are not alone, that everything we experience, whether it is good or bad, teaches us something.”

Ს​ა​დ​გ​უ​რ​ი opens with “დრო” [Eng: Time], whose popping whorls of synth bubbles swirl and arpeggiate like a babbling stream. It reflects the strange passage of time - extending and compressing in a dreamlike mist, deftly graceful on the surface but underpinned by an unearthly weirdness at its heart. Following, “პოეზია” [Eng: Poetry] builds on corroded reverberous wirework with pulsing chirrups in the high frequencies, as if a pastoral scene rendered mechanical. And towards the end of the album, “გზა რომლითაც შენ მელაპარაკები” [Eng: The Way You Talk To Me] employs a synthetic storytelling mode to juxtapose intimacy and technology, rooted in semi-robotic science fiction. Uniting the album is a common theme - human migration. “We are always on the move,” Beqa writes. “We change apartments, streets, cities, we're always on some road and trying to reach some destination.”

CREDITS
artwork by Giorgi Shengelia
mastered by Tornike Gvelesiani

With nothing Sunday suitable in my release diary; during my somewhat begrudging day of rest digging I stumbled across the positive vibrations of Peter Power's recent LP, and all was well again. I'm filing it under Ambient Folk Paganism, and when you hit play whilst checking the pictures of its remote Norwegian gathering catalyst you'll understand why. It's a magical place - both the site and the music, and I'm happy to cast it's animistic ritual magic across the web - our modern, increasingly unfit for purpose connector of all things.

Life is alive with Silent Resilience,

All with Love, Inhale...Out...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

???? ?? ??? ?????????:

Channeled from the mountains of Soleggen, Norway, where the Homesome Sound and Music Gatheing took place in October 2020. With local vocals from dear friend and current caretaker of the Sollegen mountain lodge; Synne Sofie.

???? ???? ???????:

An intimate arctic reverie,
An impulse of love...
Rippling waves,
warm wavering immersion..
atmospherical alchemy,
homesome loving devotion...

????? ????:

A voyage into outer space, in search of another...
Deep into the cold isolation of the void...
An over-arching awe of earth as one organism warms its way back in,
finding the other in oneself and oneself in the other,
A newfound celestial perspective of what we call home.
Cosmic integration
Surrendering all fear,
Eternal initiation
...into
Love... 

Warm & weird your weekend up in equal measures, as boundary nudging Iranian brothers Saint Abdullah swaddle  percussion perverter Jason Nazary's free spirited rhythmic foundations in surprisingly warm electronic textures & good natured tones to create this flickering neon lit, psychedelic jazz enhanced, futuristic beat tape for Disciples.

A unique dialogue between the electronic textures of Saint Abdullah with the live drums of Jason Nazary (Anteloper).

Saint Abdullah consists of Tehran-born brothers Mohammad and Mehdi Mehrabani-Yeganeh, who have been exploring a diverse palette of sounds over their releases to date, including collaborations with Eomac on Nicolas Jaar’s Other People label, and Model Home on Purple Tape Pedigree, as well as their own duo album on Important Records.

Jason Nazary is a drummer and composer from Atlanta and based in Brooklyn. Fascinated by the intersection of acoustic and electronic music, Jason has been a force in New York's creative music scene for over a decade. As well as his own solo work he also co-leads a number of ensembles, among them the dystopian electro noise duo Clebs with singer Emilie Weibel, and until recently Anteloper (International Anthem), an improvising modular beat shredding duo with the much-missed Jaimie Branch.

CREDITS
Produced by Saint Abdullah & Jason Nazary
Recorded in the fall of 2021 in Flatbush, BK
Overdubs on tracks 5, 6, 7 & 9 recorded in Washington DC, Berlin & Flatbush, BK
Mastered by Stefan Betke at Scape
Paintings by Parham Ghalamdar. Layout by Studio Tape-Echo

Music is stylistically spiralling into a chronological vortex of over and naggingly familiar sounding creations as seemingly most desirable forms have already been realised & most experimental music seems to be made for the sake of it by over-conceptualizers confused by Joni Mitchell & dancefloors (cheeky wink emoji). This is why the accessible experimentation & trope deconstruction of projects like this  fundraising futuristic avant-dancehall gem, squirrelled away on Bandcamp again (sad face emoji), by Bass Clef are always welcome.

third release from eeexxxttteeennndddeeedddppplllaaayyy
a new project from Bass Clef

(I hear it as just like 'extended play' except time-stretched by an Akai S950)

phase change gas to liquid and back. infinite sunsets. version excursions. new friends and old.

recorded in Rotterdam through lockdowns and curfews 2020 & 2021 /
mixed in Rotterdam summer of 2021 /
labyrinthically edited in Den Haag spring 2022 /
mastered by Joe Caithness www.joecaithnessmastering.com /
artwork by me and my scalpel /

all proceeds will go to www.refugee-action.org.uk

The new radio show for Denmark's Music for Dreams station is now vibrating across the multiverses. Balearic, spiritual & Ethiopian jazz,  alt-folk, ambient electronica, deep dub and anthropocene aware neoclassical, from the cream of the independent artist led music underground

Joby Baker - Wanderer (Self Release)
Golden Brown - Octopus Stinkhorn (Inner Islands)
Alec Schulman - Fire Song (On the New Horizon) [Ropeadope]
Cinder Well - Two Heads, Grey Mare (Free Dirt)
Jacopo Buda - Moonlight Passage (Communion)
Ben McElroy & A Spot On The Hill - Tar Sands (The Slow Music Movement)
Langendorf United - Bismillah (sing a song fighter)
Ak’chamel, The Divinatory Monkey and the Sovereign Plumed Serpent - The Great Saharan-Chihuahuan Assimilation (Self Release)
Eeyun & The Co-Operators - Misty Mountain (Woodland)
Organic Pulse Ensemble - The Beckoning (2 Headed Deer)
Hourloupe - The Dance of No History (Self Release)
Jogging House - Lessons (Dauwe)
blochemy - flave (Krysalisound)
Will Bolton - Saffron (Laaps)

I always think twice about publicising Bandcamp only releases as I know 99% of TSMM followers won't even consider buying it & probably won't listen, and although the idea of an "underground" scene (even if only for the wealthy) has an appeal, I find the lack of access for the young, poor & third world troubling - especially as that market also generates long tail, not just release day, income. Anyway rant over, I know you probably won't, but if you miss the free download then go and buy the new Blochemy ambient LP on Krysalisound, it's great & deserves more listeners.

“blurr." is the new album of the Czech Republic based artist blochemy, a work that perfectly represents the wintery mood of the label.
"blurr." is an example of foggy minimalism and ambiental images, an inner journey between melancholia and delicate hope.
Recorded in Ostrava in 2022, blochemy merges the beauty from digital and analogue sounds producing exceptional weaving of textures and lulling melodies.
I hope you will dive into these sonorities like I do each time I feel the need to be embraced by sweetness. It's a pleasure to have for the first time in the catalogue this talented artist who published in the past with labels such SunSeaSky productions, Whitelabrecs, Shimmering Moods Records and Hibernate recordings.

CREDITS
Composed and recorded in Ostrava in 2022
- Mixing & Production: blochemy
- Mastering: Francis Gri
- Photo: blochemy
- Design by KSND

Shielded from Babylon's corrosive nature deep inside Gaudeloupe's tropical forests, the mystical Polobi has been celebrating Creole culture & Gwo Ka traditions quite possibly for centuries. On his new LP for Real World; assisted by an all too rare, jazz wise, psychedelic dub infusion from the mysterious Doctor L. they channel the spirit of Lee Perry, Pachamama & forgotten Fourth World dwellers everywhere to raise the global consciousness to a higher plain & chant down Mamon before it's too late.

In the tropical Caribbean forest a river runs, the streaming water drowning out the rustling of leaves, the pulse of insects and the birds’ cry. The song of a man, more powerful than that of the waters, rises to the tops of the ancient trees. Polobi, balanced on a rock, launches a melody towards the infinity of the sky.

Drawing inspiration from the heart of the tropical forest, the mystical character of Polobi and his musicians collaborate with idiosyncratic producer Doctor L (Les Amazones d’Afrique, Mbongwana Star), forging a radical new take on the Gwo Ka musical tradition from the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. An electro-acoustic palette and offbeat rhythms adorn these deeply rooted Creole songs with a unique sound universe.creditsreleased February 17, 2023

Klod Kiavué: Music & creative consultant
Moïse Polobi: lead vocals
Klod Kiavué: ka drum, backing vocals
Eric Danquin: drums, backing vocals
Christian Laviso: guitar, backing vocals
Liam Farrell: all other instruments

Produced by Liam Farrell a.k.a. Doctor L

Recorded at Studio Joab Les Abymes, Guadeloupe, except ‘Levé Yo Mano’, recorded at Klod Kiavué’s home in Grande Savane, Petit-Bourg, Guadeloupe.
Recording engineer: Jacques Joab
Mixed in Dakar by Liam Farrell a.k.a. Doctor L
Mastered at Paris DJ Studio by Grant Phabao

Photography: Karen Paulina Biswell
A Real World Design by Marc Bessant
Words by Natalie Malot

Original idea by Valerie Malot inspired by Polobi, Klod Kiavué and the tropical forest of Petit-Bourg, Guadeloupe.

Artistic director: Valerie Malot
Artistic co-ordinator: Oran Mullan
Production co-ordination: Nathalie Malot and Cynthia Rambaud
Executive Production: 3D Family
Published by 3D Family Publishing

Project thanks and acknowledgements
Thank you to Marie Claude Pernelle for believing in us. To Franck for the punch and the vibes. To Jimmy for being great. To Malaki for the zouk and the smile. To the beautiful city of Le Moule and the City Hall of Petit Bourg, David Nebor (Mayor of Petit Bourg), Nestor Luce (Head of Culture and Sport). To Nathalie Malot for co-ordinating the project in Guadeloupe and spreading the gospel in Europe. To Nadjib and Sam for following us in the adventure. To Karen Paulina Biswell and Louise Mootz for the incredible visuals in the deepest forest of Petit Bourg — it was a blast having you on the team.

We are so happy with what we discovered on this two year journey in Guadeloupe. Beauty, peace and music are the trademark of this project. Thank you Polobi and Klod for sharing the magnificence of your island with us.

Thank you to Amanda Jones, Peter Gabriel and all the team at Real World for being with us and supporting us on this new adventure. The music of Polobi & the Gwo Ka Masters was born on the ashes of the deepest past and blooms today in the lush forest of the island, between the crystalline river of La Lezad and the magnificent millennium of trees surrounding a magic rock where Polobi composed the thirteen songs on this album.

Polobi’s thanks: Remerciements à Dieu et à Paulette Carmel, ma mère.

There's been a few good albums so far this year but the new self released LP from Berlin's Conic Rose is hands down the most exuberant, vibrant & exciting so far. Jazz rooted but covering more styles than your local record shop has genre sections they flit effortlessly between easy listening schmaltz, psychedelic electronica, ambient acid-folk, cinematic art rock & sounds so far unnamed. An accomplished and frankly stunning debut LP.

Heller Tag is the debutalbum of Berlin-based jazz collective Conic Rose.
All songs written, recorded and produced by Conic Rose in their own recording studio in the Wedding neighbourhood of Berlin.

Supported by Initiative Musik gGmbH with project funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media.