WHAT YOU EARS SAY AND WHAT THE COVER LOOKS LIKE

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Zen is an endangered state in today's mind exhausting hyper connected post truth world, but that most modern of constructs a "hack" is here in musical form with the arrival of Son of Chi's New Age ambient LP for Astral Industries which has a genuine sense of inner peace & acceptance of life's fleeting & flawed nature. Your 40 minutes of contentment starts now.

WHAT THE RELEASE NOTES SAY

As one chapter closes, another opens. Following the passing of group member J.Derwort in 2019, Hanyo van Oosterom’s legacy work brings about the next evolution of the Chi project: Son of Chi. AI-25 sees subtle developments in the sound and expansion of tonal vocabulary, whilst retaining the organic instrumentation and rapturous dreamtime narratives. Flourishes of piano float elegantly with poise, and long-drawn flutes breathe life into the shifting landscape. Shadows play in the thick vegetal overgrowth, the air is heavy with the scent of age-old evocations. Speakers drift in and out of undulating reverie, forgotten transmissions from the repository of consciousness. Against the wide backdrop of the harsh and wild unknown, a feeling of peace resides within. Night and day gradually collapse into one another, as loops of lapping textures glisten quietly with mystical beauty.​

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​Thanks to 180g's vinyl reissue bringing it to my attention the pop polished, sunshine soul of Brazil's Bruna Mendez is now dissipating the red wine fog & sweetly serenading my Saturday morning. Lovely stuff.

WHAT THE RELEASE NOTES SAY

Following highly praised releases by Hermeto Pascoal & Grupo, Leonardo Marques, Xenia Franca, Moons, and Gus Levy, 180g and the legendary Disk Union continue to explore the best of today’s Brazilian music scene with this wonderful album by Bruna Mendez. A chill, mellow and futuristic musical masterpiece with funky and electronic flavours, Corpo Possível leads the way to the new era of Brazilian R&B. 

Bruna Mendez is a female singer/songwriter from the inland city of Goiânia, Brazil. Originally a lyricist, she began her musical career in 2008 to express herself as a musician, joining several bands in Rio as well as in her hometown Goiânia. After releasing her debut EP “Pra Ela” in 2014, Bruna released her debut solo album “O Mesmo Mar Que Nega a Terra Cede à Sua Calma” in 2016, which received critical acclaim in Brazil. 

After that first album, Bruna finds interest in electronic sounds and textures, and starts incorporating these elements into her music. Her second album here, “Corpo Possivel”, is the result of such an encounter between electronic beats, addictive melodies and a band and musicians playing a tight and propulsive sound. All of this makes Corpo Possivel an album standing out in today’s Brazilian music scene, where many extraordinary talents are produced. 180g and Disk Union are proud to release Corpo Possivel for the first time outside of Brazil. This is an essential LP by an artist promised to a bright future on the Brazilian and international scenes. 

This album comes on 180g vinyl format. 

--- 

Credits: 

- Recorded in Curitiba / PR / Brazil, between April and July of 2019 by Pedro Soares (JACK) at Chucreza Beats, Guigo Berger at Rec’n’Roll, Tiago Brandão at Voxdei, Vinicius Braganholo at Nico’s Studio; in Goiânia / GO by Braz Neme at UpMusic, and in Lisboa / Portugal by João de Carvalho at The LX Sound.   

- Produced by Gianlucca Azevedo (JAN) 
- Co-produced by Machado (tracks A3 and B1), Pedro Soares (JACK - tracks A4 and B2) and Lucas Romero (track B3) 

- Voices: Bruna Mendez, Lilian Soares, Layane Soares and Machado 
- Guitars: Bruna Mendez and Gianlucca Azevedo  
- Bass: Machado, Leomaristi dos Santos, Rayssa Almeida, Nikko Novak and Gianlucca Azevedo  
- Saxophone: Gianlucca Azevedo  
- Drums: Pedro Soares, Eli Lage and Jean Ramos  
- Vocal Producers: Lilian Soares and Gianlucca Azevedo  

- Edit: Bruna Mendez, Gianlucca Azevedo and Amadeus Marchi  
- Post-production by Bruna Mendez  
- Mixed by Guigo Berger at Rec’n’Roll Studio (Curitiba / PR)  
- Mastered by Anderson Guerra at Bunker Analog (Belo Horizonte / MG)  

- Art direction: Junior Ribeiro and Bruna Mendez  
- Album cover photo by Junior Ribeiro  
- Graphic design: Félix B. Perini  
- LP additional design by Nicolas Kerembellec (nker.fr)  

- Executive Producer: Cecília Brito 
- LP vinyl production by Greg Gouty (180g) and Yusuke Erikawa (Disk Union) 

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180GDULP06 - Manufactured and distributed by 180g in collaboration with Disk Union Japan, under license from Bruna Mendez. 

Distribution: Kudos Records / Light In The Attic Records / 180g / Disk Union (Japan) ​

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Things haven't always been slow at The Slow Music Movement HQ and we still like to get our freak on once in a while. During the course of a week's music research we stumble across so much good music that's got a bit more oomph and attitude than our normal recommendations it seems a shame not to highlight some of it.

The Friday Freak Out playlist will feature a few hot off the press bangers, clangers, movers and groovers for anyone who wants to get their end of week freak on. Anything goes as long as it's fresh, firing and hot off the press.

Check out the playlist on Deezer, Youtube and Souncloud at this Smartlink

WHAT YOUR EARS SAY & WHAT THE COVER LOOKS LIKE

WHAT WE SAY

​Childhood in tourist brochure neglected Sweden in the 80s sounds like a pretty safe space if the era evoking sounds of this Virke trip down memory lane for Flora & Fauna are anything to go by. A nostalgic, almost wistful lo-fi aesthetic cushions guitar snippets of the era's soundtracks as dub echoes come and go like fading memories in an ageing mind. A future music therapy classic.

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Early summer mornings, highway transitways, cheap beer & cigarettes and an unyielding hope for the future. Hovsjö 80 is a unrequested soundtrack to a nonexistent movie about growing up as a teenager in Hovsjö around 1980.

Virke are Billie Lindahl, Rickard Jäverling and Henrik von Euler. The basics for the album was recorded in Årsta during the spring of 2020. Add-ons were recorded in Skillinge at Magnus Sveningsson’s house of prayer. The album is instrumental and the main setup is: Aria Diamond drum machine, Juno-60 synthesizer and Fender Jaguar guitars. Extra drums and percussion on selected tracks by Martin Sörbom and Niklas Korssell. The girl on the cover is our friend Anneli Rudström and the picture was taken by her father Anders Rundgren in Hovsjö 1980.

In the spring of 2020, a picture from 1980 appeared on our desks. The black and white photo depicted a small kid in a hat and long jacket standing among the large concrete houses in Hovsjö outside Södertälje and looking into the camera with peculiar cockiness.
We had just started work on a new record according to a simple recipe: one night a week we went down to the studio and wrote one song at a time. It was random at first and that’s how we were used to it. We hooked up the instruments, fiddled for a while and pressed the record button the moment we thought we were on track.
The photo from Hovsjö was pinned down in our notes as a cover proposal and we returned to it often when we worked in the studio. There was a feeling in it that we could not get around and the more detailed the song sketches became, the more we understood that it was some kind of soundtrack we were doing.
We began to imagine life around 1980 as a young teenager in Södertälje when we wrote new games and piece by piece a map unfolded. It went around the high-rises and down to the harbor; along forest areas, apartments, gas stations and discos. At crossed markings, we placed our own memories, such as cycling in light winds with cheep beer to parties where you do not know anyone, sitting up under the highway until it gets light and playing on the train tracks late one summer evening. The pictures and music began to live their own lives.
We ourselves did not grow up in Hovsjö, but in other smaller places where life goes on. Few things separate us. This is Hovsjö 80.

Cover: Tomas Melinder
Mastering: Tomas Bodén​

WHAT YOUR EARS SAY & THE COVER LOOKS LIKE

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A most cordial meeting of minds & machines as New York heads to Nashville & pedal steel gets along famously with an 80's synth to horizontal and thoroughly calming effect on Corntruth's ambient Americana soundtrack. Ideal for the last campfires of summer. Cheers Aquarium Drunkard for another solid tip :)

WHAT THE RELEASE NOTES SAY

A long drive, a dry place.

CreditsExecutive producer - Marcus Moretti 

Pedal steel written & performed by Pete Finney, recorded & engineered by Jabe Beyer at Studio Bueno in Nashville, Tenn. 

Mastered by Jeff Lipton and Maria Rice at Peerless Mastering, Boston, MA 

Art - Romina Malta 

Additional keys on 'D-004' by Julia Konrad 

Written, performed & produced by Corntuth 

A Flow State Records release.​

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An LP you can safely judge by its cover is the joyous new www.instagram.com/pearlandtheoystersband/Pearl & The Oysters LP for Midwest mind melters feeltrip.co/Feeltrip Records. As the swinging French 60s take a trip to join the West Coast counter culture movement at a psychedelic synth pop pool party in this free spirited, throwback, fun in the sun cracker.

WHAT THE RELEASE NOTES SAY

Flowerland is the third album from French-American duo Pearl & The Oysters.

The album was mixed by Shags Chamberlain, responsible for mixing both Drugdealer albums and Mac Demarco’s latest pair of releases. Musicians contributing guest performances to Flowerland include fellow Angelino Dent May, sitarist Ami Dang, Kuo-Hung Tseng from Taiwan's Sunset Rollercoaster 落日飛車, Jules Crommelin of Berlin-by-way-of-Australia’s Parcels, Dutch multi-instrumentalist Fay Lovsky, as well as the brothers of Florida-based Edmondson, who beefed up the record’s percussion.

♥ Thx to everyone involved in the making of this album ♥ 

Special thanks to the Edmondson bros (Jack and Robert) for their recording savvy and hospitality, they truly were the proverbial ‘fifth beatle’ of this record. Many thanks to Dent May, Alexis Fugain, and Teo Halm, for opening the doors of their respective studios to us + being such wonderful musicians and inspirations. Thanks to Sita and Romain for always supporting our touring endeavors. Thanks to all the people that played a part in bringing P&TO to the stage at one point or another: Natasha « Tashi » Samuels, Ryan O’Malley, David LeBleu, David Levesque, Tristan Whitehill, Greg Bette, Nicolas Ballay, Noé Benita, Mark Dubois, Jordan « DD » Richards, Ben Varian, Erica Shafer, Oscar Siffritt. Thanks to our families for the constant support and encouragement. Thanks to Chris Baronner for his help and guidance. Thanks to Paul Cherry for passing the album along to Feeltrip Records, and thanks to Diana and David for taking us on. Infinite thanks to Ardneks for the magical artwork. Last but not least, thanks to the hitmaker Shags Chamberlain.​

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The jazz just keeps coming & the new LP from Nala Sinephro for Warp Records is not just the freshest of the recent releases but my new firm favourite. With a crack crew she's taken her harp & spiritual inclinations on a ride through becalmed ambient waters, traversed the odd tempestuous fusion & somehow had a peep into our deep space electronic future.

WHAT THE RELEASE NOTES SAY

On Space 1.8, we discover Nala Sinephro's unique sound world as she bends notes and tones, weaving them together to craft a place of solace. Space 1.8 draws from Sinephro’s interest in frequency and geometry, and is based on the premise that sound moves matter. The album takes shape as a metaphysical structure, where each of the eight curative Spaces is a womb-like cocoon created by Sinephro in service of relief and an affirmative, ecstatic freedom.

The album was composed, produced, performed, engineered, recorded, mixed by Sinephro at the age of 22, who performs on modular synths, alongside pedal harp. Here, Sinephro collaborates with friends, all leading lights from across the UK’s jazz scene, including - James Mollison, Shirley Tetteh, Nubya Garcia, Eddie Hick, Dwayne Kilvington, Jake Long, Lyle Barton, Rudi Creswick, Twm Dylan and Wayne Francis. Space 1.8 was recorded across 2018 to 2019 both in Sinephro’s house and at the Pink Bird recording studio, a small backyard shed in Wanstead near Epping Forest.
​
Following electrifying live performances across the London scene, word of mouth quickly spread throughout the UK jazz scene of Nala Sinephro’s playing, consequently landing her performances as part of the celebrated jazz night Steam Down, alongside playing with and supporting the likes of Demae, Eun, Coby Sey, Rosie Turton, Robert Ames, London Contemporary Orchestra, Touching Bass, Spitfire Audio, Nadeem Din-Gabisi. She was touted as one of The Guardian’s artists to watch in 2020, has garnered support from the likes of Gilles Peterson; and is a resident DJ on NTS sharing monthly selections of celestial sounds. 
On the album, Sinephro’s work is driven by a fascination with the effects differing frequencies can have on the human body, and layering multiple tunings to explore the alchemical power of sound. Her compositions fuses meditative sounds, jazz sensibilities, folk and field recordings. But beyond genre, sound itself is Sinephro’s main preoccupation. Her practice as a composer and producer is rooted in the study of frequencies and the nurturing properties sound can provide - even as a performer, playing modular synth and harp are deeply therapeutic for her.

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Continuing his fascination with & exploration of the northern hemisphere, Glåsbird heads over to the future wheat fields of the Siberian tundra for inspiration in his latest stately neoclassical ambient opus for Whitelabrecs. A thoroughly cultured Sunday listen.

WHAT THE RELEASE NOTES SAY

Glåsbird is an anonymous artist, active since 2018 and with releases to date appearing exclusively on Whitelabrecs, as part of a series called A Sonic Expedition. With each edition in the collection, the artist concentrates on a different geographic location. The project emerged somewhere inside the Arctic Circle, descending to Greenland, moving onto Svalbard and then the Norwegian Fjords before most recently, on the Russian owned peninsulas Novaya Zemlya. The music of Glåsbird ranges from electro-acoustic Ambient to Modern Classical, with this artist keen on producing a range of experiments to show their full range of ideas and techniques. 

We’re pleased to unveil the next destination in this series, in the form of Siberia which is a double album befitting an exploration of the largest region on earth. Glåsbird has teamed up with glaciologist and photographer Nelly Elagina who provides first-hand accounts of Siberia in the form of images and captions from her time there. In the CD packaging, a special photo booklet has been included to showcase these experiences. For the artist, their account of this latest destination is entirely imagined. The first disc sets out to explore the beauty of the landscape and its ancient history. As with previous albums, the music feels icy cold but evocative, aiming to transport you to imagine the landscape in all its splendour for yourself. The second part of the album moves into more topical territory, portraying Siberia as it is today. Shifting weather patterns and devastating climate change inspire the mood of the compositions, which lean towards melancholy, tense or dramatic reflections, rounded off with a thought provoking title. 

As always, we wonder, where in the world might the Glåsbird land next?  

CreditsWritten and produced by Glåsbird 
Mastered by James Edward Armstrong 
Photography and booklet captions by Nelly Elagina 
Art and design by Andrew Heath

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It sounds like Mouth Painter recorded their fabulous new LP in an an opiated dream state such is the unhurried nature & attention to psychedelic detail in this magical melange of cosmic country, freak folk, astral Americana & peyote pop for Arrowhawk Records. Have a far-out weekend.

WHAT THE RELEASE NOTES SAY

"Great second LP (there was also a cassette) by this Portland OR trio. I became aware of Mouth Painter by following the pedal steel work of Barry Walker Jr., who is akin to the new BJ Cole in terms of being thee underground eminence on his instrument. The rest of the trio features flautist/vocalist Valerie Osterberg (who also contributes songs) and bassist Jason Willmon. Together they comprise a band whose sound is exceedingly hard to pin down. 

There are rootsy elements to the vocals, but these are offset by floating guitar clouds straight out of Mike Cooper’s recent work. Valerie’s flute inventions add a slight French prog flavor as well, while Jason’s bass highlights the sheer rockiness of the music’s brunt. There are also many, small but flipped-out instrumental details. The album moves through genres with elegant grace, touching bases with country rock, psychedelia, new age cloud surfing, and even the kind of exotica the late Patrick Lundberg always claimed as one of the real roots of “higher key” music. Tropicale Moon is all that! 

The lyrics mix geology, poetry, gambling and much else into a suite that gently sprawls across the sonic map like a previously undiscovered continent. The overall blend generates a vague psychedelic haze everywhere you look, but apart from a few spots, the psych is not overt. It lingers in dark corners more than at the forefront. A shadow peeking out from a lot of places you wouldn’t expect. This subtlety is probably Tropicale Moon‘s secret weapon. Slipping in the needle when we don’t expect it, then letting the hallucinations flow like easy water across the parched earth. 

Nice stuff!" 

–Byron Coley 

CreditsMouth Painter is: 
Barry Walker, Jr.: vocals, guitar, pedal steel guitar, keyboards 
(also in North Americans, Jeffrey Silverstein, Hearts of Oak) 
Valerie Osterberg: vocals, flute, saw, percussion, loops, effects 
Jason Willmon: bass guitar 
(also in: Radio Receiver) 

guests on the album include 
Mark Folkrod: drums on 3,8 
J Leaver: congas on 7 
Cary Sigler: keyboards on 4 
Rob Smith: drums on 2 

Recorded and mixed at the Ogden Lodge by Barry Walker 
Drums on 3,8 recorded by Ezra Meredith at the Deer Lodge 
Mastered by Chris Hardmon 

Cover painting by Pat "P.G. Six" Gubler 
Lettering by Flamstyle LTD​

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The jazz recommendation triptych is complete with this fittingly triangular South Africa, Senegal & London meeting of like minds, made all the more remarkable by the pandemic improvised remote recording process. Progressive, border & boundary bashing jazz of the highest order, out today on Mushroom Hour Half Hour & Total Refreshment Centre.

WHAT THE RELEASE NOTES SAY

Pre-pandemic, there was a plan. The plan was for musicians from South Africa and Senegal to travel to London’s influential Total Refreshment Centre to make an album with musical kindred spirits in the UK. Like so many plans, it had to be adapted. 

During the first wave of COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020, groups of heavy-hitting musicians met for a day of intense recording in their home cities then sent the music to their compadres across the oceans. They returned to the studio a month later to respond to the music they’d been sent. The result is ‘On Our Own Clock’, a sonic testament to trenchant and collaborative creativity which digs into layers of South African jazz, traditional Senegalese instrumental music and London’s rich diaspora-informed musicality. Individually these are powerful strands of music. Collectively, they are super-sized. 

‘On Our Own Clock’ contains interludes titled ‘How To Make Art In A Pandemic’. The phrase became a byword and a prayer to keep the process going across the multiple hurdles that presented themselves: people getting Covid; the fear and fury that proliferates in the twin pandemics of Covid and racism; the practicalities of making music across two continents. It builds on another phrase, in the spirit of evolution and improvisation: two words used in the foreword to Toni Morrison’s novel Jazz in which she describes the ‘unreasonable optimism’ of musicians. Making this album was unreasonably optimistic even before the pandemic. To have created a deeply-rooted and warm-hearted gem like this is extraordinary. 

Album highlights among the phenomenal 11 tracks include singles ‘Dune Dance’, which steps and hustles around a gorgeous groove that was written in Joburg and reflected back by the London players. ‘Ngikhethile’ (an isiZulu word which translates as ‘I Have Chosen’) fuses playing from across continents in an incrementally intense salutation to powerful optimism. ‘Be The Light’ draws deep from the endless well of feeling that the Senegalese kora provides, and builds up and outwards from a sweet-yet-solid bedrock and Grandmaster Cap’s vocals. Like he says: 

"If you are the light, you are the path. To all the bright motherfuckers out there, keep shining." 

The release is a collaboration between South African label Mushroom Hour Half Hour and Total Refreshment Centre recordings. It comprises the single album with artwork by Senegalese designer Djib Anton; a fanzine which documents the process and will be included with the vinyl; and an experimental film made by South African filmmakers Nhlanhla Masondo and Tseliso Monaheng. It imagines a far-future post-pandemic world and also includes artist interviews, session footage and the inevitable Zoom recordings. 

One day, the musicians will play together in person. But for now, On Our Own Clock is inspiration, dispersed positivity and eleven incredible pieces of musical togetherness.  creditsreleases September 3, 2021 

Featuring 

Alabaster de Plume – Saxophone (UK) 
Asher Gamedze – Drums (South Africa) 
Damola Owolade – Emcee (Nigeria) 
Danalogue – Synthesizer, Piano & Saxophone (UK) 
Grandmaster CAP – Emcee (South Africa) 
Lex Blondin – Drum Machine (UK) 
Mpumelelo Mcata – Electric Guitar (South Africa) 
Nosisi Ngakane – Vocals (South Africa) 
Siya Makuzeni – Trombone & Vocals (South Africa) 
Tarang Cissoko – Kora (Senegal) 
Tebogo Austebza Sedumedi – Electric Bass (South Africa) 
Theon Cross – Tuba (UK) 
Yahael Camara Onono – Percussion (UK / Senegal / Nigeria) 
Zoe Molelekwa – Keyboards & Wurlitzer (South Africa) 

Johannesburg Sessions 
Recorded at AMPD Studios, Newtown on 27 July & 17 August 2020 
Recorded by Thabang Madia 
& 
Recorded at M3H HQ on 23 December 2020, 13 February, 23 February, 4 March & 13 March 2021 
Recorded by Andrew Curnow 

London Sessions 
Recorded at Total Refreshment Centre on 27 July and 15 August 2020 
Recorded by Kristian Craig Robinson 

Dakar Sessions 
Recorded at Deedo Dakar Studio on 07 August 2020 
Recorded by PassaBeatz 

Edited and Mixed by Dion Monti 
Mastered by Norman Nitzsche at Calyx Mastering 
Produced by Andrew Curnow, Danalogue, Dion Monti, Lex Blondin, Ngoma Makhosi & Nhlanhla Masondo 

Cover Art by Djib Anton 

Big Love to the rest of the project team - Emma Warren, Lungelo Mntambo, Lukhanyo Mfenqa, Tabara Korka Ndiaye, Theodorah Ndlovu & Tseliso Monaheng 

This project was made possible through the support of British Council SSA Arts, through their New Art New Audience project; and the National Arts Council of South Africa. Thank you for standing by us during the year that was 2020. 

Danalogue appears courtesy of Impulse! Records​

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