WHAT YOUR EARS SAY & THE COVER LOOKS LIKE

WHAT WE SAY
​
​Deep New Age ambient soundscapes meet Eastern nodding spiritual jazz in this remote baton passing exercise instigated by Landon Caldwell and made whole one layer at a time by the disparate but vibrationally attuned Flower Head Ensemble in this masterful musical meditation.

WHAT THE RELEASE NOTES SAY

Landon Caldwell returns for the newest of many tapes released this year with Companion Environ, this time with a new permutation of the Flower Head Ensemble moniker & project first revealed on his Simultaneous Systems tape (released April 2021 on Moon Glyph). This outing finds Landon joined by familiar Indianapolis soundscape practitioners, as well as by Motoki Asaoka (New York; also of Dayton Exchange) and Jim Marlowe (Lousville; also of Equipment Pointed Ankh and more). Born of generative soundscapes created by Caldwell, the individual players were sent a bed of tones for which to lay new sounds over. While completely unaware of what one another would contribute, the two tracks on Companion Environ seamlessly meld different perspectives on cosmic, spiritual and intuitive music together to create a thought provoking, calming yet wide-eyed, amorphous new world of sound.

CreditsMotoki Asaoka - Electric Guitar 
Landon Caldwell - Generative Synthesis Programming, Clarinet, Flute, Marimba, Rhodes 
Rob Funkhouser - Percussion, Vibraphone 
Jim Marlowe - Japanese Electric Banjo, PVC Clarinet 
John Collins McCormick - Percussion 
Mark Tester - Bass Guitar, Moog Prodigy, Vibraphone 

Artwork by Mark Tester​

IF YOU LIKE THAT YOU MIGHT LIKE THIS

Smartlink
​to the playlist on Apple Music, Deezer, Soundcloud & Youtube

WHAT YOUR EARS SAY & WHAT THE COVER LOOKS LIKE

WHAT WE SAY

Using the side effects of oncology as a catalyst for a recording would not end well for most artists, but Hawksmoor whilst unabashedly reflecting on mortality, largely focuses on the positives - hope, resilience and determination rather than fears & self pity in this surprisingly warm LP of late night electronics for Spun Out Of Control.

WHAT THE RELEASE NOTES SAY

Electronic artist Hawksmoor turns Surgeon General on new album ‘On Prescription’: 

Following solo album ‘Methods of Dreaming’ and collaboration ‘Concrete Island’ with The Heartwood Institute, the mighty Hawksmoor – aka James McKeown – rapidly returns to Spun Out Of Control with a fresh dose of evocative electronica: ‘On Prescription’. 

The new album is a musical representation of the side effects of ‘oncology’ – the branch of medicine concerned with the study and treatment of tumors. Its track titles are anagrams, approximations or amalgamations of real pharmaceuticals. 

Written and recorded in response to the serious illness of someone close to James, On Prescription is a musical exploration of remedies that come bundled with a variety of mind and body bending side effects – uppers, downers and lose-your-mind playground-ers. 

Its tracks feature McKeown’s trademark blend of electronics with live analogue instrumentation, giving the album a very warm and human heart. Aural administration through headphones in a quiet, darkened room is recommended. 

Catalogue number SOS 048. Proceeds from the sale of ‘On Prescription’ will go to Cancer Research UK.
​CreditsWritten, produced and performed by James McKeown 
Album cover by Eric A. Lee 
Published by Spun Out Of Control 2021

IF YOU LIKE THAT YOU MIGHT LIKE THIS

Smartlink
to the playlist on Apple Music, Deezer, Soundcloud & Youtube

WHAT YOUR EARS SAY & THE COVER LOOKS LIKE

WHAT WE SAY

​Welcome to Clair's world which is as weird & wonderful as the cover suggests. Life's surface noise, classical concertos, the sounds of sex toys & blow torches, given sounds from friends, snippets of exotic instruments, an ecclesiastical vs the occult soundclash & spectral vocals mix, mingle, mutate & multiply in this obviously magically constructed sound collage. Nothing is whole but trust me this avant-garde New Age neoclassical ambient odyssey is very complete.

WHAT THE RELEASE NOTES SAY:

Clair is that extraordinary thing: a musical artist that arrives not only fully formed, but with a completely mature sound. Her Earth Mother may be a debut album, but its genesis takes in decades of life and musical experience, including right at the heart of Glasgow’s unique music scene. 

The record music comes from a place of healing through nature – using magick, field recordings, experimenting with instruments she picked up from travelling and in charity shops, as well as random objects ranging from sex toys to a mini sewing machine to jewellery tools, even a blow torch. At points, you might think it falls somewhere in between ambient, neo-classical and folk but with the odd nugget of – as Clair puts it in true Glaswegian form – “ecto hit euphoria”. You might hear hints of Terry Riley or Japanese new age or other hip reference points but really, truly it’s not about references: it exists in a space that’s all its own. This is one woman’s vision coming through loud and clear. 

This is what a life of total immersion in music does to a person. From Guns’n’Roses and rave tapes in the car as a wayward kid, to raving at Slam and Optimo and Glasgow’s notorious after-hours house parties, to promoting her own shows and running her own label, Clair’s absorbed it all. She might have only started making music in 2019 for her own therapeutic purposes, and taking it seriously in 2020 as a way of staying on a level in lockdown – but without knowing it she was spending thousands of hours preparing. This rich, beautiful record is a summation of the light and dark, the instinctive and the well-schooled, the rough and the smoothed of a life well lived... and it’s only just the start.​

WHAT YOUR EARS SAY & WHAT THE COVER LOOKS LIKE

WHAT WE SAY

​If you've forgotten what seeing the world through a child's eyes is like then I suggest you put the accomplished debut LP of sweet natured, wide eyed & wondering, Japanese poptronica from Kogane for Secret Songs on your headphones, see the world anew, ask "Why?" at least 50 times & then imagine a new set of rules.

WHAT THE RELEASE NOTES SAY

​今回リリースする私のデビューアルバム「All Together」の作成の始まりは2019年の夏で、カナダとメキシコで作りました。そして、約2年間かけてようやく皆さんにお届け出来ることになりました。このアルバムでは、エクスペリメンタルな部分がありながらも、気分をあげてくれるような音楽になっています。1曲目では、2018年に初めてリリースしたEP「Traces」と似たイメージの曲で始まります。今回初めてのアルバムをリリース出来ることは、当時「Traces」をリリースした時と重なる想いがあったため、それを表現しました。2曲目以降は、曲ごとにそれぞれタイプが異なるので、その変化を楽しんでもらえるのではないかと思います。

私は全ての曲に様々なイメージや深い意味を込めて作りました。ですが、聞いて下さる皆さんには、各々自由にイメージを膨らませながら楽しんで聞いてくれると嬉しいです。

​

WHAT YOUR EARS SAY & WHAT THE COVER LOOKS LIKE

WHAT WE SAY

​This LP from Lee Skelly (Shawn Lee Band) & The Kramford Look for WONDERFULSOUND came out in January on vinyl for the petrol heads but luckily it's low key funk powered, dapper string suited, glamorous grooviness is now available for the digital 99% & it's laid 60's soundtrack sexiness will sound great on a summery Sunday.

WHAT THE RELEASE NOTES SAY

​French studio genius Pierre Duplan (The Kramford Look) & multi-instrumentalist Lee Skelly (Shawn Lee Ping Pong’s Orchestra) dive deeper into their obsession with instrumental grooves. Here they present stunning new material making full use of their weird and wonderful collection of musty old gear.

Escapism never felt this good!

WHAT YOUR EARS SAY & WHAT THE COVER LOOKS LIKE

WHAT WE SAY:

Just in time for summer the new guitar warmed dub sounds of Wiki Chaves are here. Perfect for all your beach lying, garden barbecuing, hammock slouching, sunbathing, holiday taking soundtrack needs:

Stream on Spotify

WHAT YOUR EARS SAY & THE COVER LOOKS LIKE

WHAT WE SAY

Cancel your Friday appointments, pull a chair to the ROHS! table & let the ambient smells from  @david_cordero__ & @combray_'s Andalusian creative kitchen waft around your senses, chill you like a gazpacho & part the clouds to reveal life's blue sky.

WHAT THE RELEASE NOTES SAY

Recorded between Sevilla and Cádiz, Andalucía, south of Spain.

CreditsMusic by: David Cordero & Combray 
Mixed and mastered by: Raúl Burrueco 
Record label: Lᴏɴᴛᴀɴᴏ Series 
Publisher: ROHS! RECORDS 

Copyright © 2021 ROHS! RECORDS, All Rights Reserved​

IF YOU LIKE THAT YOU MIGHT LIKE THIS

Smartlink
to the playlist on Apple Music, Deezer, Soundcloud & Youtube

WHAT YOUR EARS SAY & THE COVER LOOKS LIKE

WHAT WE SAY
​
Gentle sun warmed breezes power new age wind chimes, as softly struck percussion & cosmic tones provides vague forms to these fleeting but most pleasant ambient daydreams from Jason Kolar for Dauw Label

WHAT THE RELEASE NOTES SAY

Three years after Stroom TV released his debut album Modified Perspectives, Kolàr now offers a documentation of sounds he has been working on in the period 2017-2020. According to Kolàr, this tape is full of vaporous drafts transforming into solid forms with the help of time and distance. Compared to his previous work, the music on Loops & Pieces is much more stripped down and minimal, yet the dreamy character remains.

Credits
Music by Jason Kolàr 
Mastered by Ian Hawgood 
Artwork by Skrewstudio​

IF YOU LIKE THAT YOU MIGHT LIKE THIS

Smartlink
to the playlist on Apple Music, Deezer, Soundcloud & Youtube

WHAT YOUR EARS SAY & THE COVER LOOKS LIKE

WHAT WE SAY

Entrancing, evocative slow dance minimalism of the sultriest kind from Australia's DJ Plead via Boomkat as he fuses the sounds of the Orient with vintage Jamaican dancehall riddims for all the late night shakers who want some tantric bump & grind.

WHAT THE RELEASE NOTES SAY

We probably weren’t aware at the time we first put out the tape, but 'Relentless Trills' really is one of the most intensely sensual, humid albums we’ve ever carried (let alone pressed up) - a masterpiece of all-tension-no-release slow moving dance music envisioned and realised with a single instrument - the Yamaha ‘Oriental’ keyboard, now somehow sounding x2 sweatier thanks to Rashad Becker’s transfixing new master.

DJ Plead is making some of the most forward thinking club music of our time, and on 'Relentless Trills' he switches gears for an entirely different proposition - one mostly shorn of a kickdrum, instead unfurling it slow, infectious, and deadly for the stickiest 40 minutes of music you’ll hear this year.

Recorded at home in Sydney, Plead dismantles his much-loved hard drum club style and drops the tempo, where he matches the waviest microtonal vamps with the signature, rhythmelodic lilt of his drums in a properly hypnotic style. Equally influenced by vintage dancehall riddims and the inspirational glow of CS + Kreme's psycho-ambient heartmelters, the results sound to our ears like an offshoot of Mutamassik releases for DJ/Rupture’s Soot, or Shackleton slowed to a hash-smoking drift and heading on a Mahraganat tip.

A hazy introductory piece of autotuned vocals and digital bass prodding seduces from the front, with the vibe spilling out into deep, spaced-out dancehall pressure with deliriously strong works almost nodding to Timbaland and The Neptunes in ‘RT5’, closing on a mesmerising beatless highlight in ‘RT6’ to seal the deal.

Classique? 100%​

WHAT YOUR EARS SAY & WHAT THE COVER LOOKS LIKE

WHAT WE SAY

Solo percussion LPs are rare but when done right can be a thing of wonder & Simon Popp has done it so very right, with his deeply hypnotic rhythmic constructs spanning the brooding & propulsive to more laid back meditative mantras on this stunning percussive ear opener for SQUAMA.

WHAT THE RELEASE NOTES SAY

After several collaborative releases, German drummer Simon Popp is back on Squama with his second solo album ‘Devi’. 
While his phenomenal debut ‘Laya’ was a percussive take on ambient and third stream minimalism, ‘Devi’ features eight tracks of bold organic grooves, uplifting and hopeful in one moment, sinister and dark in the next. This dualism is reflective of the ups and downs in Simon’s own life, making the album a brutally honest and deeply personal record. 

Over the past two years Popp has steadily refined his skills both as a player and an engineer: There are virtuoso drumming parts, revealing his passion for polyrhythm and complex structures and recording techniques such as heavy limiting, using gated reverb and pitch-shifting give the record a modern 90s vibe. ‘Devi’ is a forceful statement of what contemporary drum music can sound like today.