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Same Self, Same Silence’ documents the unique collaboration between the Iranian grandmaster Hossein Alizadeh and the Dutch Rembrandt trio. In an ancient church, Persian melodies and oriental scales intermingle with echoes of jazz – all played on a set of one of a kind instruments.

Invited by the famously inquisitive jazz pianist Rembrandt Frerichs, the prominent lute-player Hossein Alizadeh transports melodies from Iran into a space where all four musicians bring their own traditions and backgrounds into play. Vinsent Planjer, Tony Overwater, Rembrandt Frerichs and Hossein Alizadeh play instruments especially built for them or collected from musical eras past, to find a common language in music.
On ‘Same Self, Same Silence’ – a line lifted from a famous Iranian poem – we can hear how, when we dare to immerse ourselves in a different culture, we discover new horizons.

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Oiro Pena´s “Music From Moments” is a selection of the first solo recordings by the Finnish multi-instrumentalist Pentti Orionen aka Antti Vaukhonen, originally released in digital format on his own platform Häzling Recordings in 2018. In 2 Headed Deer Records we wanted to rescue these compositions by editing an LP in which the musician shows us a wide musical range evolving around a warm and organic sound, either capturing it trough spiritual jazz or folk with a samba cadence, all wrapped up by overdubbing and looping pianos, drums, wind instruments, percussions…and creating a lo-fi atmosphere that makes it even more personal.

Credits

* Produced, recorded, mixed by Pentti Orionen
* Mastering by Nene Baratto at Big Snuff studio, Berlin
* Artwork by Pheel

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These songs are a deep dive into the uncharted soundscape of sonic creation. To explore the unknown, one must cast off all they have learned. Strip away the layers of all preconceptions. Drop them like soiled boots on a weathered hardwood floor. Admit ignorance. Become a vessel of humility and wonder.

My work holds no claims of ingenuity. You might call it atmospheric, ambient, electronic or minimal, but to me all I see is myself, always a loner, a sceptic, a ronin - gone rouge. Whatever it is, I take no credit. I get my cues from a subtle Muse. A sassy shot caller by day and a satin siren by night. Once or twice I got lucky, meeting her when the time was right.

In the silence and mystery of the midnight hours, each song unfurled. In the time for contemplation. The time when Meaning and Purpose hash it out on an imaginary neon battlefield. Let this album become your soundtrack for such battles. Those that end in triumph and those that dissolve in defeat. Humbly, I will be your company.

Credits:
Alex Callenberger- Moog Matriarch, Akai s900, Fender Rhodes Piano Bass, Sequential Prelude, Roland JX-3P, Guitar, FX, all other instruments

Jonathan Sielaff (Golden Retriever)- Bass Clarinet
on Redetermination* Sunset Artist*

Brandon Warren (Early Founder)- Synths,Drones, Bliss on Golden Book*

Produced and Mixed by Alex Callenberger
Mastered by Ryan Foster
Artwork by Daniel Murphy

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When House and Techno exploded out of America in the mid 1980s a whole generation was transformed not only musically but also culturally and chemically speaking. Peaking, quite literally, with a second ‘Summer of Love’ in 1988, millions of young people would experience the life-changing ups of a new world but with it of course came the downs; enter the concept of a ‘Chill-out’ room. Whilst early Chill-out rooms lacked a specific sound and were often sound-tracked by music such as reggae and soul, slowly young Techno and House producers themselves became increasingly interested in developing a futuristic ‘Ambient’ soundtrack to a world beyond the thud of the main room.

‘Ambient’ in this new age now though had sharper teeth than in Brian Eno's key text for ‘Music for Airports’, instead here the sounds were the mode of transport rather than the backdrop. While the melodies were pretty, the soundscapes steered away from the pastoral, often dreaming of outer-space and technology as opening up transformative new dimensions. Much like in the first Summer of Love; the musicians were again exploring psychedelic, mind-altering and transcendental possibilities of music. And also, much as in the first Summer of Love, a psychedelic visual language would accompany the music. Now though the tracks would be accompanied by music videos, often utilising early CGI techniques, and they would look almost entirely to the future: envisioning technology, nature and humanity intertwined in a new Utopia. These were the Virtual Dreams of a new world.

From Ambient and early Chill-out classics, to lesser known one-off projects, as well as Ambient deviations by some of House and Techno’s leading producers, Volume One of Virtual Dreams features tracks by Bedouin Ascent, David Moufang, LA Synthesis, LFO, Marc Hollander, Mark Pritchard & Kirsty Hawkshaw, Richard H. Kirk and more.

Compiled by Jamie Tiller with artwork by Vica Pacheco, design by Steele Bonus and liner notes by Piers Harrison

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Sing High! Sing Low! is the second album from The Silver Field, a sound world of Coral Rose and friends, to be released 12th June 2020 on Crossness Records.

Its nine exploratory tracks combine to form an aural postcard - a collection of snapshots following the path of a journey. The story picks up where debut album Rooms (O Genesis Recordings, 2019) left off, with a decisive stepping out into the world, and follows Rose’s next steps, with one eye still trained on that starting point.

A familiar part of Rose’s song craft, many of the tracks on Sing High! Sing Low! are formed around tape loops. These loops often go back to The Silver Field’s inception, drawn from the same collection of source material as Rooms. What sets these songs apart from their predecessors is a striking new sense of extroversion, an exploratory propulsion, charting new musical territory while holding tight to the homemade idiosyncrasies of her previous work. Rose’s vocals stand front and centre, her sonic tapestries unfurled to their fullest, her storytelling more vibrantly human than ever before.

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“I have known Alejandra (one half of Minük) for many years, back from her days with Lulacruza and she always struck me as having one of the most beautiful voices in our scene. I’ve been lucky enough to work with her over the years on different projects, from Lulacruza’s participation in the first Birdsong album to collaborative tracks like 'Corazón de Rubi' and 'Mirando el Fuego'.

When I heard Aurora, the debut album by Minük (the duo she formed with husband Marcus) I instantly asked if I could do a remix but not of one track… the whole album! It is rare when you have the opportunity to work with such finely crafted, quality and beautiful material. As a producer, this project was a dream and, luckily, Ale and Marcus agreed to the idea. The whole album happened effortlessly and I think there is just a fit between my own production style and Ale and Marcus’ songwriting, singing and instrumentation.

The album is meant to sit side by side with the original, showing the tracks in a new context, reimagining them for a sound system or a dreamy dancefloor without straying too far from the original intentions.”

El Buho, December 2020

“We started working on Aurora, right after meeting in Bali in 2016, while we were touring with our personal projects (Lulacruza and Markandeya). The making of the album was a deep journey of weaving our musical landscapes into a single tapestry of sound.

Aurora took us three years to complete, with production seasons in Peru, Ecuador, Bali, India, Sweden and finally Colombia. During that process, we had a strong intuition about collaborating with El Búho, and even gave him a raw version of “Corazon de Rubi” in 2017, which ended up being part of his debut album Balance.

We have been fans of El Búho’s melodic sensibility and deep sounds for years now, and its a true honor to have him work on this material for a full-length album. In many ways, El Búho’s version of Aurora is a true expansion of our expression.``

Minuk, December 2020 

Credits
All music by Minük & El Búho

Robin Perkins: Electronics & production
Alejandra Ortiz : Voice, cuatro, percussion
Marcus Berg : Voice, guitars, synths, percussion

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Guests:
Pablo Vicencio - percussion on all tracks (except 7, 9)
Julio Vicencio - flutes & charango on 1, 3, 6, 8
Pablo Paz - bass on 1, 2, 6, 8
Petter Eriksson - upright bass on 3, 4, 5
Daniel Wejdin - upright bass on 7, 9
Anna Möller - violins on 4, 7
Rocio Medina - bombo on 2, 6
Tina Malia - vocals on 5
Teto Ocampo - guitar on 9
Mischa Grind - drums on 4
Jonathan Larsson - accordion on 5
Maia Quiñones - vocals on 9

Mastered by Felipe Lopez at Onda Selecta
Photography by Manuela Uribe
Design by Nicolás Molina - La Murga Lab

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"And it declareth of the end and doth not lie; though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come; it will not delay." (Habakkuk 2:3)

Landwerk No. 2 is a second volume of compositions built around samples from 78-rpm phonograph records—in this case, two klezmer sides, one Yiddish folk song, and one tune by a Slovak miners’ orchestra from Northeastern Pennsylvania, home of six generations of Salsburgs. While the first volume just happened to coincide with the first months of 2020’s problematic peculiarity, No. 2 was undertaken in the depths of the late summer and early fall, when political/social/existential despair hung at their heaviest. These are musical attempts to translate the past into the present, or to redeem the present through the past, or to discover, in Michael Löwy’s formulation (in Chris Turner’s translation), a “critical constellation formed by a particular fragment of the past with a particular moment of the present.”

Credits:
Phonographic samples with electric guitar, resonator guitar, lap steel, and piano. Committed August–September 2020 in Skylight, Kentucky. Mixed by Zak Riles at Earthwave Studio, Shelbyville, Kentucky. Mastered by Carl Saff.

Source recordings:

V: from “Rumenishe Doina” by Dave Tarras’ Orkester, Columbia 8220-F, recorded in New York City, April 1927.

VI: from Vladimir Heifetz’ introduction to “Sug Mir Du Schein Meidele (Tell me you pretty girl)” by Isa Kremer, Brunswick 40082, recorded in New York City, January 1924.

VII: from “Jak som išol prez lesh (As I walked through the forest)” by Slovenska Orkestra Michael Lapchaka, Victor 80576, recorded in Camden, New Jersey, February 1928.

VIII: from “Die Chasidim Forren Tsum Rebbin (The Chasidim Visit The Rabbi)” by Kandel’s Orchestra (drummer unidentified), Victor 68680, recorded in New York City, November 1924.

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In April 2019, 22a boss and multi-instrumentalist, Tenderlonious embarked on a trip to Pakistan to work with Lahore based instrumental quartet, Jaubi. Following on from the highly acclaimed, three track limited edition 10” vinyl release of ‘Tender in Lahore’ earlier this year, 22a presents the full suite of improvised ragas from a one day recording session in Lahore, Pakistan. The pure sounds of Indian and Pakistani
classical music act as a framework for deep and spiritual improvisations between Tenderlonious on flute & soprano saxophone and Jaubi band members, Kashif Ali Dhani on tabla and vocals, Zohaib Hassan Khan on sarangi and Ali Riaz Baqar on guitar. This cross cultural collaboration also features Polish composer and keys player Marek Pędziwiatr on synth drone.

Like most of us, Ed ‘Tenderlonious’ Cawthorne has had to overcome troubles in life. Music however has always been a guiding light leading him onto the right path. It was whilst in his darkest place that he taught himself to play the soprano saxophone; bringing much needed focus and discipline back into his life. Much like his musical heroes John Coltrane and Yusef Lateef - who were both inspired by eastern spiritualism and the deep tradition of Indian classical music - Ed has always been searching for something different and much deeper.

The seeds for a young Tender to embark on this musical path were planted during his father’s secondments to the East as a Ghurkha Officer. However it was after hearing the North Indian Classical flautist Ronu Majumdar’s ‘Raga Mangal Bhairav’ that Tender knew this was a musical style that he had to explore.

Ironically it was in a grimy London pub, after a few too many beers that the reality of this record started to come to life. Whilst reminiscing about previous musical journeys in Poland with Lukasz Wojciechowski from Astigmatic Records, we were reminded of an instrumental quartet from Pakistan - Jaubi. We later discovered that Jaubi is an Urdu
word for “whatever/whoever”. Creating whatever sounds good, with whoever feels good, is the groups guiding principle - a vibe we could relate to. Drinks continued to flow and we further explored the idea of a trip to Lahore in Pakistan, where the band resides.

That evening after getting home from the pub, we told our families and friends that we were planning to go to Lahore and record an album with Jaubi. We were met with heavy resistance from family and government travel advice. Our families and friends regularly fed us articles about why it is dangerous to travel to Pakistan due to the risk of terrorism, kidnappings, tropical diseases, etc. - the list was endless. The Pakistani
embassy also showed resistance by rejecting our visas. Twice! The project felt destined for failure, however we persevered with the Lahore dream. We learned not to believe everything people tell you. This was more than a musical quest now - it was about breaking down cultural misconceptions.

Through many hours of hard work and planning we arrived in Lahore on the 9th of April 2019, greeted with nothing but love and humility. Lahore is something special; full of positivity, care and hope. It was, thankfully, all a stark contrast to the negativity we heard about Pakistan before arriving. It was not long into the first day and that first studio session that we realised this trip would be a real awakening. Nothing whatsoever was written down during the recording sessions - no sheet music, no song titles. It was sincere. All egos were left behind and hearts and souls were open and poured into the music.

Opening track ‘Shalah Bagh’ is inspired by the Mughal gardens in Lahore we visited one morning on our trip. It is a fully improvised track guided by Kashif Ali Dhani on tabla and vocals, with Tenderlonious on soprano saxophone. Raga Chandrakauns acts as the basic framework, evolving into a free conversation between tabla and saxophone.
‘Azadi’ is the Urdu word for freedom and is a pure raga composed in the beautiful and devotional pentatonic Raga Bairagi, also based in the 12 beat rhythmic cycle (Ektaal). Like everything during these sessions, this raga was shown to Tender moments before the one take recording and what ensued was an improvised conversation between the musicians. Featuring Jaubi members Zohaib Hassan Khan on sarangi - Zohaib is a 7th generation sarangi maestro and one of only 5 professional sarangi players left in Pakistan practicing this ancient art form. Plus Jaubi guitarist and band leader Ali Riaz Baqar, providing the guitar accompaniment. ‘Kirwani’ is a musical scale in Hindustani classical music. It is an Indian raga specially suited for instrumental music. The scale is the same as the harmonic minor in western music. Kashif Ali Dhani on tabla and Tender on flute join for a spontaneous and therapeutic exchange.

Side two begins with ‘Azeem’, which provides a peaceful moment for reflection with Tender on alto flute, Kashif Ali Dhani on vocals and Zohaib Hassan Khan on sarangi. ‘Kirwani part ii’ is an alternate take of the aforementioned original, this time featuring Tender on soprano saxophone in conversation with Kashif Ali Dhani on tabla. The album finishes with ‘Impressions’ a pure raga (Raga Ba Khizer), the taala (rhythmic cycle) is Ektaal (12 beat cycle). It is similar to the raga that Tender first heard Ronu Majumdar play. This beautiful scale, that Tender would often practice back home, becomes the musical framework for rich improvisations. Joined by Zohaib Hassan Khan on sarangi with Kashif Ali Dhani providing the stunning backdrop on tabla, weaving in and out of complex rhythmic patterns. Marek Pędziwiatr, from EABS & Astigmatic Records, provides the synth drone backdrop on all of the tracks.

This album fulfils part of a dream for Tenderlonious and 22a. It would not have been possible without the help of Łukasz Wojciechowski and Astigmatic Records, who helped us bring this idea to life. The next stage is bringing these wonderful musicians from Pakistan over to the UK and Europe to record, perform and fulfil their dreams – Inshallah. 

Credits:
Ed ‘Tenderlonious’ Cawthorne; flutes & soprano saxophone
Kashif Ali Dhani; tabla & vocals
Zohaib Hassan Khan; sarangi
Ali Riaz Baqar; guitar

also featuring:
Marek Pędziwiatr; synth drone

Recorded at Riot Studios, Lahore
Mixed by Rhys Downing
Executive Producer; Oliver Reeves
A&R; Łukasz Wojciechowski

Special thanks to:
Khalid Salimi, Mohammad Riaz Baqar, Uzma Rao & Farhad Humayun