images: marc jauss
translation: tina reden
editing: caspar shaller

The Zurich collective Kashev Tapes recently published the sampler Sonic Resistance in cooperation with the Polish platform Oramics. With the compilation, they want to support the Syrian resistance movement in Rojava. During a walk through concrete, bridges and barren meadows, I spoke to some of the members about the current situation in Syria, privilege in the Swiss club scene and visions for a new world order.

Introduce yourself briefly. Who are you?

♢: We are ♘, ♤, ♡, ♕, ♙ and ♢.
Which order this is in is not important. Of course ⚅ and ♧ are missing, they are drinking tea somewhere, 🀨 has to work and 🃟 doesn’t want to be part of our group at the moment.

♘: We are a loose group, different actors keep popping up, others disappear.

♤: We are not alone. For each other and sometimes against each other.

♡: We're Doomers and we’re Hyperactive.

♕: We are part of a scene that organises parties in off-spaces and squats, makes tapes, stages performances, hosts listening sessions, makes interventions, and causes property damage. We produce music, we are DJs, mothers, people in the care sector, technicians, activists, artists, we are friends.


What was the basic idea for founding Kashev Tapes?
 
♤: To give a name to our group. Something to build on.
 
♕: At the time we were doing listening / afterhour / parties in the bunker on sundays, in total darkness. Some of us organised illegal outdoor parties for several years. We were all interested in the medium of tapes, that emerged from punk&noise.
 
♡: We see ourselves as a network with political aspirations and a focus on electronic, experimental techno music. We are a collective with differences our common ground is to combine music and our political perspectives,and to generate publicity.
 
♙: We want to be able to get involved in different ways, avoid production constraints as much as possible, to be able to say no, to be unprofessional, endure dissonance, try out different forms of collectivities and care economies, be allowed to make mistakes.
 
♘: And of course the sound connects us, to not say music. A similar feeling for (the absence of) melodies, textures & structures.


What I always wanted to know; What does Kashev actually mean?
In Berlin there is a junkyard named Kashev. Is there a connection? :)
 
♢: Kashev developed from cashew, but that was too cute for us.
 
♤: Kashev means everything you want. But the junkyard is not far off.
 
♕: it is Swabian and means "no boss“


How important is the DIY idea for your label?

♘: We basically come from a DIY area and see it as an attitude that criticizes the consumer culture of capitalist society. From an artistic perspective it also a means to question the commercial industry and to look for other modes of production and ways of distribution of music and content.

♕: We are 100% DIY and 200% DIT (Do-it-together). Fuck the new world order. Fuck the police.

♤: I don't know, maybe we just can’t afford anything else and would actually like to be a bit less DIY. (everyone's laughing)

♢: Well, again and again the process of making itself is in the foreground - the social moments in which we exchange ideas and divide up tasks that we feel like doing and others that are a bit more tedious.

The "Sonic Resistance Compilation" has just been released. How did that happen? What exactly is it about?
 
♕: The idea was to support the freedom movement in Rojava (as the area in northeastern Syria is called in Kurdish) and to draw attention to the war of aggression that has been going on there since October 7th. And this in our musical environment, because we noticed that the topic is only relevant in a small circle of people.

The compilation was created together with the Polish platform Oramics, who are strongly committed to supporting female artists in the electronic music scene. How did this collaboration come about? (Where do you know each other from?)
 
♕: I wrote a piece on and with speech recognition systems. Disorder from FOQL (published on Always Human Tapes) accompanied me again and again. FOQL from Oramics was invited to the Rhizom Festival 2 years ago, where a few of us were involved. Since then there has been a connection.
 
♢: At Total Solidarity Compilation we were asked to contribute with a couple of tracks.
 
♡: In October I booked isnt a party at umbo. During that weekend we also organized a queer-feminist vinyl and modular workshop in an art room with her. That's how we got to know each other. Since the collaboration has been very pleasant, we asked Oramics for support with Sonic Resistance. I also have a certain connection to the Polish scene because I am originally from Poland.

The compilation contains 90 tracks by various artists from home and abroad.
What parameters did you set yourself when choosing? Are they all people in your area or have you made specific inquiries?
 
♘: All artists are directly or indirectly part of our networks. We decided against an open call because we would need a lot more time for that - e.g. to master the tracks. During the curation, it was important to us to achieve a gender balance.
 
♕: We actually didn't take the time to come up with a curatorial concept because everything was supposed to happen quickly. We wildly contacted the artists - almost all of them within our network. oI don't know exactly what happened at Oramics, but they also contributed with a lot of artists from Poland.
 
♡: Gender balance is fundamentally important to us, we don't work without it. And from my perspective, there were also specific inquiries. For example to the Music, Awareness & Solidarity with Rojava Revolution compilation by Female: Pressure - a wonderful concept album in 2016.

What is the current situation in Syria and what is happening in Rojava right now?
 
♙: After the major offensive at the end of last year, the Turkish occupation is now pursuing a delayed tactic. The state of war is normalized, whether in everyday life or here in the media. But the next major offensive is expected to happen soon.
 
The war against the Rojava project continues unabated, even if the coverage has disappeared from the daily press. It is no longer the massive air strikes that are supposed to force people to flee, but the increase in violence in the form of attacks on their daily life such as attacks on water reservoirs or wheat silos, kidnapping, torture and direct artillery attacks by the Turkish army and their jihadist allies. Since October 9, 2019, the Turkish military has crossed the Syrian border and launched an aggressive war. These attacks on northern Syrian cities, i.e. the civilian population, have increased again in the past few weeks. In the past few days, civilian settlements in three districts have been the target of massive artillery fire. The artillery bombardment serves to expel the population in order to expand, re-colonize the Turkish-occupied areas and prepare for their annexation. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced since the attacks began. In addition, more and more people from the contested region of Idlib are arriving in the autonomous regions in Northeast Syria. They are fleeing both the protürkish jihadists and the bombs of the Syrian regime.

Turkey does not attack Rojava for no reason. In this territory, Kurds, Arabs, Yezidi and others have been building a system of self-government for seven years that is unparalleled in the world. As pioneers and creators of the Revolution of Freedom, it is primarily women who express their strength against this policy to protect the achievements of the Women's Revolution. Rojava is an expression of what social values, women's liberation, self-determination and an ecological, gender-free society - with all its contradictions - can look like. A clear alternative to the state, patriarchy and capitalism.

With the invasion of northern and eastern Syria, the occupying forces want to exercise their power over the societies in the Middle East. The latest alliances and agreements between Turkey, Iran, Russia and other countries are based on the abolition of the self-government system established in the region. At the same time, they want to use this occupation and attack plans to destroy Rojava's positive results in order to reaffirm their hegemony in the region. While the Erdogan government has openly announced this war and its plans for occupation, we have seen in recent weeks that the international community - including the UN - has been reluctant to speak out against the war of aggression, since they too are profiting from this war and co-financing Erdogan’s war of occupation through the EU refugee deal.

You can find more information at:
rojavaagenda.noblogs.org
rojavainformationcenter.com/
anfdeutsch.com/


The revenue of the foundation goes to the Free Woman Foundation in Rojava.
What is the purpose of this foundation?

The Free Women's Foundation in Northern Syria / Rojava, the Weqfa Jina Azad a Rojava (WJAR), supports women in Rojava and Northsyria on an economical, social, cultural and political level, as well as in issues of health and education. It empowers women in their fight against structural violence. The foundation also supports the development of a freedom of thought and of a free personality for women and children (and therefore indirectly also of men). The work of the foundation is aiming for independence, social participation and women’s activities leading towards a new life designed by women. A fundamental goal of the Foundation of the Free Woman is to support women and children in need in Rojava and northern Syria with new personal social projects and support existing projects that aim to support common goals. These include the development of women-centered health work, the right education and training for women, and the development of an alternative solidarity-based community through the establishment of cooperatives.
The work of the foundation is based upon the cooperation with women, organizations and people with different ethnic backgrounds, that support a democraticand ecological society where women are liberated.

What is your position regarding issues concerning the LGBTQIA* community. In the current discourse it is incredibly difficult to behave correctly. Dialogue is often lacking. How do you deal with it?
 
♕: The caution, you may be talking about could be productive.
 
♘: On the other hand, many people have to deal with caution or even fear every day because they have a marginal or even no voice in majority society - which can be for homophobic, sexist, racist or other discriminatory reasons. It's a good thing that certain people have been starting to speak up in the past few years. Even if to some people it seems like a feeling of discomfort is being democratized that way. 
♢: This topic has to be addressed and everyone who tries to do so should be given constructive support.
 
♙: Your feeling should also be taken seriously. However, the conditions under which such a dialogue could take place must also be taken into account.

I now would like to address the privileges of the Swiss club music scene.
I notice that it has been a trend for a while to stage political statements and underground clichés. 
I often wonder where such changes really happen. What are your observations?
 
♙: We also see that. Perhaps this trend could be seen as a general reluctance to submit to consumer culture. It is of course a farce if only the symbolism is adopted or personal profit is at the center of that work. Of course the question is what does it mean to „really do“ something.? If we talk about political activism, I believe that there is still a gap between the artistic, academic and musical environment and the possibility of making a political commitment.
 
♢: It is not only wrong if a politicisation initially mainly appears as an aesthetic category. This is how many people started to be interested in political issues.
 
♘: In addition to the representational level, it is important to us to also consider other parameters: How is something organised? Who can participate? How do we talk to each other? Who feels comfortable in the spaces that we create? We do stand for exclusive spaces, even if that means that some of us cannot always participate.
 
♕: It is important for me to mention that we don't want to canonize ourselves 
or claim that we have found the Philosopher's Stone. We also reproduce injustices, whether this happens in everyday life or on a structural level. What's important is the ability to listen, to accept criticism and not to look for excuses. The remark that we are accumulating symbolic capital with such a compilation may and should remain in the room.


A lot has happened here in Zurich in recent years. There are many interesting labels, festivals and artists with international reputation. I currently notice an anti-attitude towards regular clubs. How do you experience the scene here in Zurich? What has to change?
 
♤: Clubs, just like concert halls or events, have the property of being active in the sphere of the consumer world. Culture is consumption, which mostly corresponds to a capitalist logic and offers a platform to place statements: For example, a "No Sexism Policy" can offer the possibility to make statements through booking policies and to create awareness around that topic.
 
♕: Yes, it means exposing yourself and position yourself politically, which is not always economically profitable.
 
♘: The local club scene is led by people - mostly guys - who were in the right place in the 90s and 2000s, had the necessary capital and filled the gaps that Zurich had at that time. They have defined, dominated and reproduced their style ever since and see themselves as part of a "functioning" market economy. Not much more will be happening around there. They have to adapt to the conditions, and pay wages, take care of equipment and rent. There is no time for self-reflection.
 
♡: On the other hand, the sound is already developing, we can see that. It just needs more crews who dare to hit the streets again.
 
What needs to change? Not more than a complete restructuring of society with a whole new set of values. That's utopian, but that's why we're interested in Rojava.

Many actors in the cultural scene are dependent on subsidies. If you don't want to submit to capitalist structures, you need a lot of energy. Energy that should actually flow into making and not in endless applications for competitions and submissions. I often see burnouts and a high level of frustration at not being enough. Many jobs are done on a voluntary basis and without payment. What's your opinion?
 
♤: Yes, just work less. (everyone's laughing)
 
♘: Political work in a radical sense can not be rewarded with money. That would be a paradox in itself. I see my musical work in a similar context.
 
♧: On the other hand, as a professional musician it is hardly possible to forego subsidies. Maybe we only think that just because we live in Switzerland.
 
♙: Not submitting to a capitalist logic is a difficult and perhaps even impossible endeavor, which the subsidy logic fits right in. In the capitalist logic, we are constantly confronted with the contradicting messages "you will make it" and "you cannot make it", which are part of this frustration and drive at the same time. A structural problem is thus being individualized. Creating and testing solidarity structures is perhaps one way of making, also on a musical side, which then also throws energy back and is more sustainable than capitalist forms of recognition.
 
♙: Yes, but we have to be clear about our position, none of us is living off the music we make. Actually everyone has another job to cover the basic needs.



What's next with Kashev Tapes. What are your plans?
 
♘: A next meeting where we reflect on the compilation and plan further steps.
 
♧: We want to make the bunker ready again so that our listening raves can happen again and we have a room for musical exchange again.
 
♕: Several releases are already planned. There are also solidarity raves that we organise with our friends.



Are we all already dead or is there still hope for humanity?
 
♘: There is no option.
 
♙: yes & no :(
    
♧: In no case are we all already dead. There are movements that stand for a liberated and equal society, this is where we have to beginand think further.
 
♕: As Mark Fisher said, quoting Frederic Jameson, "it is easier to imagine an end to the world than an end to capitalism”. He locates this inability in what he calls capitalist realism.
 

What are you dreaming of?
 
♤: Change the world without taking over power .. (everyone laughs)

from left to right: christian schaffner (aka lo.la.), max spielmann, johannes vetsch, b/w-polaroid, approx. 1984, photographer unknown

Rare are moments like this: hearing Elephant Château's song "Dreamings" two years ago, I was instantly hooked. Who were the clever people that came up with this strange and beautiful music? A couple of months later, I met Mark van de Maat of label Knekelhuis in Amsterdam. He told me that Maxi Fischer and Matthias Orsett are putting together a compilation of Swiss electronic and experimental music. One thing led to another, and last spring I met up with Max Spielmann in Basel and in December again, this time joined by Johannes Vetsch, the other core member of Elephant Château.

It's fair to assume that your '80s band Elephant Château was rediscovered through "Dreamings". Do you have an explanation why this track appeals to a younger generation?

Max Spielmann: It was really strange. Suddenly, after 30 years, the EP was sold out within two months, with orders coming in from all around the world.

Johannes Vetsch: I think it all began with the blogger Okonkole y Trompa. He started championing "Dreamings."

Max: Someone recently told me he could not imagine such a track being conceived of today. But really, I have no explanation myself for what makes this track appealing. From what I've heard, the track is obviously suitable for DJs. Johannes was originally the one who spent a lot of time working on the song.

Johannes: I found a discarded Bontempi organ whose vibrato was not in perfect tune. That was our so-called harmonic starting point. We programmed the drum track step by step on a Roland TR-606 Drumatix, later on a TR-909, with all the drum sounds that have been loved now for over 35 years. I really like another tune: "Nebellied."

Max: It's based on a classic Swiss nursery rhyme. It's a children's song, but it's also a meditation about death. We created a video for the song. We simulated the moving waves of the sea with plastic and effects of light. It's a bit like "Augsburger Puppenkiste" on acid (a German children's TV show based on the puppet theater of the same name).

How did you guys meet?

Johannes: Max and I shared a larger apartment building with a few other friends. Our soon-to-be band member Christian [Schaffner] had a friend in this house, and I did some jams with him. I met Marlene McCarthy in the graphic design class. We became friends while talking about music and bonded over our sympathy for Captain Beefheart.

Max: Musically, I came from a slightly different place – somewhere between the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Talking Heads, and Fehlfarben.

Johannes: Max started playing with a Casio VL-1, the synth the German new wave group Trio famously used to create its hit tune "Da Da Da." I played saxophone and bass guitar, then Max brought the Roland TR-606 Drumatix and the first analog synthesizer, a Roland Juno 60, into our midst.

max: like johannes, i played the saxophone, but as someone who has asthma, it’s an instrument that’s anything but ideal. and i was magically drawn to the buttons on electronic music devices and he wrongly supposed simplicity of playing the rhythm guitar. i was the biggest amateur in the band. only later i learned about harmonics, circles of fifths and the blues scheme. and it’s true that every step of professionalization also comes with a degree of deterioration because it restricts the freedom and the search for uniquely creative solutions. then christian schaffner joined in, as a guitarist and drummer. the fourth member of the band at this concert was cornelia meliàn. she studied at the scola cantorum in basel and was a very good multi-instrumentalist with a lot of stage experience and strong classical roots. later franziska strebel joined elephant château. she became our drummer and percussionist.

johannes: christian was definitely the most accomplished musician in our group. he had an intense stage presence.

max: there was our first concert at the now legendary totentanz club in basel, a the vernissage of a small book written and published by marlene mccarthy. the performance at the totentanz was a mixture of a concert and a lecture in front of an art school audience.

johannes: we had prepared many tracks for this vernissage, which was entitled news for: or ufos visit the palace. marlene wrote this little book, a collection of poems and thought pieces. because of the concert date we were forced to finish a bunch of songs.

max: that was the case with many of our songs. we needed external pressure to get things done.

max: and everyone seemed to like it. that encouraged us to continue. everyone found it strange and experimental. we found that quite appealing!

invitation to a concert at totentanz basel, 1984

so you continued to fish in a kind of aesthetic otherness?

johannes: it was the early '80s, the overbearing sentiment was to be curious! even if many were still stuck in the '70s.

max: every track we did was like a new continent. we always assembled our pieces differently, building it around a drum or sound pattern, a word, a riff or a fragment of a melody. we were curious about the new rhythmic and tonal possibilities we could explore with electronics. that’s one reason why each song sounds quite unique.

you told me earlier that basel was musically conservative at the time.

max: i saw it that way. craftsmanship above all was deemed to be important! there were very few places for our kind of music: there was only the totentanz, the palazzo and later the kaserne.

johannes: the people in our flat were sympathising with the swiss youth movement of the '80s. they were politically conscious. however, it was troubling when you realized that people still preferred to dance to gianna nanini instead of talking heads! but i was part of the basel scene, i was lucky enough to work with stephan grieder and the second generation of circus, a band that served up a mixture of jazz and symphonic rock. roland fischer and matthias erb were also band members, and why these accomplished musicians liked to work with me, never ceased to puzzle me. it was also challenging because i didn't have the same schooling, the same background.

max: but you had a great sound with your saxophone. this kind of timbre is difficult to achieve from a purely technical point of view. that made you attractive as a co-player.

johannes: as for elephant château, i was more concerned with the harmonic aspects of music and infrastructure while max was tinkering with his synthesizers.

max: on the other hand, we didn't allocate roles in any classical way.

johannes: everyone did everything.

invitation to a concert at alte stadtgärtnerei probably dec. 1986 (alte stadtgärtnerei was occupied from 1986 – 88), basel, double concert with the zurich duo nordland. (artwork: baschi baumgartner)

i take it elephant château was always more of a studio band?

johannes: watching a video of one of our concerts, i had to cringe at my performance. we never had a front man, we did not model ourselves on typical bands. rather, we would look up to der plan. the first lp from daf and an early cassette from einstürzende neubauten was important. this heat, talking heads, arto lindsay or pere ubu.

max: i don't think i was ever really interested in playing live. my worst experience was a concert in the restaurant of the rote fabrik in zürich - people ate while we played.

johannes: i remember the one time when all those electronic devices crashed while you performed. it was a tricky thing – either you found a way to deal with how unreliable the synths were, or you worked with tapes. other than christian, we had no real live experience. i remember performing at the kanzleiturnhalle in zürich. my biggest fear was that stephan eicher [formerly of grauzone] would be in the audience because he was such an idol for us at that time. and then when we went on stage, the first pale face i recognize was his! [laughs] but the concert went pretty well.

what do you remember most vividly about the album release of offshoredrilling in 1989?

max: i had the strange experience of being in a ikea store and suddenly hearing our song "wir fangen mit arbeit an" over the speakers.

where were you exactly?

max: i walked along the ikea hiking trail, looking for something specific which i would find at the end of the path. and then one of our songs gets played and this song in particular!

interview: bjørn schaeffner


please note: an extended version of this interview will appear in the liner notes of elephant château’s release pearls and turtles out on cd and vinyl in april on bureau b.

 dreamings will also appear on the compilation intenta – experimental and electronic music from switzerland (1981 – 93) out on décalé/les disques bongo joe. 





Erwan Sene lives and works in Paris and runs the label Cellar Door Service. Last fall, his EP "I heard you laughing" appeared on Jules Peter's Unknown Precept Imprint.

Tracklist:

Luis Delgado - Los Paballones de Los Sentidos
Piero Umiliani - Babilonia
Tranceonic - America is Happy
Alpha Orion - Kontrolle Z Alpha R
Llwybr Llaethog - Byd Mor Wahanol
Harvey, Baca & Martin - Skeleton Dance
Mark B - Level Test
DJ Plead - M11
Why Be - Dummy Track
Black Zone One - A2 BDSA
Muslimgauze - Muslims Die India
Lechuga Zafiro - Ayida Weddo
Bass Odyssey - The Power Of Dub
Jean Michel Hervé - Dark Basements
The Modern Institute - Arabic Eight
Ron Berry - View From A Bedsit Window
坂本龍一 - E-3A
Firefly - Objective Light
Jun Chikuma - Fatidic
4E - Iglesia Pentecostal de Electronica
Mono Fontana - Pecados del Mundo

Compiled & selected by Erwan Sene

pictures: cera khin
interview: marc jauss
editing: tina reden

During last years CTM/Transmediale festival I met Cera Khin, Berlin based DJ with Tunisian roots, in a breezy-cold passage in front of the Hardwax record store. We went for a small walk through the area and later sat down in a shady bar where we had an inspiring talk about her LazyTapes label, weird horror movies and lots of other random stuff we both liked. I asked Cera if she would like to play at our Rhizom Festival in Zurich that spring, an alternative music festival I was intensely involved in back then. 

Ever since, Cera has been playing her electric music sets all over the world. (She just came back from a three week Asia tour). Her LazyTapes project slows down, disrupts mindless club music and acts as an anchor for me in a world that seems to be moving faster and faster. At this point I want to thank Laura who facilitated this meeting. 

Unfortunately the batteries of my recorder conk out the day I met Cera in Berlin, which I only realized at a later moment, when I wanted to listen to it. Cera and I now tried to reconstruct the Interview per mail. Here is what we both remembered of our conversation back then. 

A lot has happened since our last meeting. Tell me a bit about the evolution of your label LazyTapes. How did it all start? What made you do it?

I remember once I had a dream which is more like a lucid dream, you know the kinda waking dream everything felt so real and I dreamt that I had established a label called “LazyTapes” maybe this idea was always hidden in my subconsciousness? I don’t really know … I had already made some tunes by myself and also some tunes with Ossia then I decided to release them and that the cassette would be the perfect medium to start the label. Later on I released a mixtape from ambient hardcore legend Christoph De Babalon, and an EP from one of my fav producers Peder Mannerfelt. 

My vision with LazyTapes is to release spontaneous music, I mean maybe you would think that a tune is not done yet and you overthink it before sending it to a label;  I'm aware that loads of producers spend shit loads of time to finish some tunes and tend to overthink things & if the tune is done or not but my aim is to release it raw, keep it natural & spontaneous. maybe that's why I called it „LazyTapes“.

Tell me something about your collab with Christoph de Babalon. How did the release happen?

This tape came together very naturally. Christoph De Babalon kindly recorded a special live set for one of my recent Noods Radio shows. It’s fair to say that this effort alone deserves further gratification than a simple upload for streaming purposes, and this quickly became clear when listening to the show whilst it was running on the airwaves. For this reason, we decided to keep this show exclusive to that one-time airing, and to this very cassette and release it on LazyTapes.

Who’s doing all the graphic work for LT? 

Patch D Keyes he is an an amazing illustrator based in Bristol, he really understands exactly my aesthetic & graphic taste.

What made you move to Berlin?

I'm born and raised in Tunisia, it's a small country in North Africa on the Mediterranean coast line close to France & Italy. When I finished my studies in Marketing I decided to go somewhere where I couldn't speak french; as French & Arabic are my native languages & yes I want to challenge myself. Maybe that's why I decided to move to Germany to improve my English & learn German ; I've been going regularly to a German language school now for more than a year and its getting better and better :) Ofc Berlin is an exciting city with its history, background, music & art scene then I ended up staying here;  been here for almost 5 years time flies!

You have just come back from an Asia tour. How was it?

It's been absolutely insanel! I just came back from 3 weeks being in Asia, been in Japan Tokyo for 9 days played in 3 different venues & walked a lot alone at night amazed by Tokyo's neon lights it was absolutely life changing! Then flew to China in Shanghai played at Club ALL stayed there for one night & then my last stop was in India, played in Mumbai & New Delhi, I felt so much good energy during my dj sets! Before the Asia tour I played in NYC & Mexcio City, it's been pretty surreal to me to visit 5 countries and 2 different continents in less than a month!

Towards the end, I was pretty exhausted from all the traveling and the lack of sleep but felt so grateful to be able experience all this and play whatever the fuck I want in different crowds and cities around the world.

Your Radio Noods and NTS Shows are covered with an extreme diversity of music genres. How do you prepare the music for the shows?

To be completely honest, my Noods radio show is the soundtrack of my mood. I don't really prepare, it's a reflection of what I would be listenning at home or sometimes it reflects what I would be playing in a club. it's a very spontaneous process! If it's a grey day I would play some obscure sounds to fit the vibe otherwise if i'm excited I would play hardcore & rave bangers.

We’ve been talking a lot about obscure movies. We realized that we’re both fans of Andrzej Zulawski’s „Possession“, especially the Isabelle Adjani’s Subway scene. In what way do movies inspire you or how is your approach to it?

I'm a huge sucker for old obscure 60s & 70s horror movies, "Possession" is a cult movie, Isabelle Adjani is so beautiful and her role is so striking. I really love Psychological Horror movies but I do think that the Gory ones can be also very entertaining. In these films, the soundtrack is always dreamy, the sceneries are fascinating definitely one of my biggest influences for obscure sonics & dread.

Will you tell me your favourite obscure movies?

My favourite is 'The Innocents' 1961, Daphne Oram did the soundtrack I feel like this movie inspired David Lynch a lot. 'Carnival Of Souls' 1962 is also amazing & I love Rod Serling's cult serie 'The Twilight Zone' 1959.

Recently your DJ gigs have increased. How are you experiencing the time between your home and the club?

I'm actually feeling pretty blessed with all what's happening and embracing it to the fullest. Ofc I struggle a bit sometimes to keep my mental health in balance but I try to do my best to be the healthiest I could be at home; eating good food and going to the gym when I can also I do enjoy chilling with my cat, discovering new music online & making some sounds it all contribute to my inner happiness.

How do you feel about your experience at the Rhizom Festival in Zurich?

It was actually an amazing experience, had an early morning slot and the crowd was so energetic!! 100% good vibes! I really would love to be back to Zurich soon :)

What are your future plans with LT?

I'm definitely planning to release more of my own material, maybe a solo Ep at some point and I'm still pretty open for demos, I actually received loads of them but still figuring THE ONE I would fall in love with to release it. I'm also proud to be able to establish a LazyTapes night in Tokyo besides Berlin and hopefully do more LazyTapes nights around the world? -- 

Interview: Marc Jauss
Translation: Kezia Salome Degen
Editing: Caspar Shaller

I remember this one cold October day in Zurich. Back then, I used to live in this spacious four room apartment in the middle of the city, which had a very modest interior, a guest-bed and a lo-fi stereo unit. My two French guests from Paris, Louis Vial and Cyrus Goberville from Collapsing Market, didn’t need more to feel safe…Later at the club, the front cover of Louis’ Drummachine split off and his phone disappeared under mysterious circumstances. The shattering bass and the cold machine sounds of Eszaid’s live set are still running through me today. A year later, his debut album "Eurosouvenir” came out. So far, this is Collapsing Market’s sixth release. As today’s highlight, Louis talks to me about what inspired him during production.

Hey Louis! Tell me something about the process that led to Eurosouvenir. What has happened since we saw each other the last time?


Hey Marc! I was already working on the tracks for Eurosouvenir when you invited us to Zurich. I even played “Alicante”, slightly different than the album version at that time. I remember being in a period when I was trying to make tribal / industrial tracks around 140 bpm with very few elements to let each rhythmic pattern breathe and have its own impact on the ear. I often get into one or two month long obsessive periods like that, where I try to make a precise kind of track. For Eurosouvenir, we had to pick the ones that, even though they were made during different periods of time, still had a sense of coherence between them. I think that’s how you can build your own sound identity, by being able to separate what’s closer to a simple stylistic exercise - and i’m actually very bad at that - from what really comes out of your own will and creativeness. Since our little trip in Switzerland, I also worked on two sound pieces for a limited edition CD released with “Début de Siècle”, a wonderful book by my friends Kamilya Kuspanova and Anton Bialas. 

Why the name Eurosouvenir?



The name itself comes from the zero euros banknotes that you can buy in many tourists hotspots across Europe. It is an obvious nod to the label’s universe, and it also refers to very personal obsessions about the idea of an ancient Dionysian continent whose beauty and creative strength are only visible through its ruins today. 
I visited Pompeii earlier this year with my girlfriend, a place big enough to walk alone amongst the old villas and temples and to feel a very particular atmosphere. I guess that’s when I realised how powerful the ruins could be. My fascination for an ancient pagan Europe also comes from the first published Nietzsche book, “The Birth of Tragedy”, which is mainly a theory about Greek tragedy as the highest form of art, but also a critique of a world run by rationalism and scientism instead of myths.
 So, you may have already understood it, Eurosouvenir is kind of a pessimistic title, coming with a pessimistic music.




Tell me the story about your Live Gig in Zurich. What exactly happened during the soundcheck?

To be honest I still don’t really know what happened. I have this old Soviet drum machine (UDS Marsh) which is my favorite one. You can hear its crackling and out of tune percussions in 99% of my work. As it’s an old and fickle machine, it decided to stop working during soundcheck. Maybe it’s because of the cold, that’s the most plausible explanation. But just before the gig, it worked again.
And to be totally honest, this drum machine is not exactly mine, but it’s been lent to me for an indefinite period by a friend of mine who used to play in a band called Kill For Total Peace. Unfortunately, I truly fell in love with this cold piece of metal and electricity.

What type of music are you surrounding yourself with at the moment? Or in other words, what music inspired you to do “Eurosouvenir”?


These days, I am rediscovering the records of the French experimental and traditional music label La Novia. I’m particularly into Jericho and Guilhem Lacroux. Apart from that, I almost only listen to dub and reggae at the moment, especially Earthquake Studios and all what came out from the King Tubby’s studio. Likea lot of electronic music producers I guess, I have a true fascination for the dub production techniques, using echoes and reverb, the bass sounds … When I was working on Eurosouvenir, I already had this obsession. You can maybe hear it in «Notre Mer».
 I was also inspired by tribal and ritual music, by immersing myself deep into the Ocora’s catalogue. 



What movies do you enjoy watching?


That’s a good question because I’ve clearly been inspired by some movies when I made the tracks for Eurosouvenir. Almost every title of the LP are taken from “Bassae”, a short documentary by Jean-Daniel Pollet that looks like a poetic statement about the ruins of the Greek civilization. My other main cinematic influence for Eurosouvenir was Robert Bresson. I’m obsessed by the place given to the noises and sounds in his movies, giving a surreal dimension to a rigorous aesthetic and an enigmatic way to lead the narration. I can even say that our first idea with Cyrus and Ethan (who runs / Collapsing Market with me) was to design the artwork of the album and to choose a title that referred to “L’argent”, one of our favorite movies by Bresson. 



You told me a lot about some Parisian exhibitions. When you were in Zurich you went to see “Riddles” from Marguerite Humeau. What exhibitions did you go to in the last couple weeks? Or which one made you feel something?



I don’t really like museums and I’m kind of lazy, or even suspicious, when it comes to art, or I should say, when it comes to contemporary art. Fortunately, I have some close friends like Cyrus and Ethan or my girlfriend who make me discover some great stuff. For example, when we were in London with Cyrus, I discovered the amazing paintings of Justin John Greene. I also recently returned to one of my favorite places in Paris, the Ossip Zadkine’s museum, actually his former house and workshop. A truly inspiring place.

text: marc jauss
picture: beau devereaux

Working one’s way through the outsider label Golden Cloud Tapes is to sometimes find oneself in a seemingly endless corridor, sometimes in a cathedral of sound.

Italian filmmaker Dario Argento once said, “Horror is like a serpent; always shedding its skin, always changing. And it will always come back.” Golden Cloud Tapes, the label from Madison, Wisconsin, comes off as equally present and versatile. The imprint was launched in 2010 with Secret Parking Lot, the enigmatic debut from Samantha Glass. Behind the pseudonym is the skateboarder and self-confessed Rihanna fan Beau Devereaux, who on the one hand runs the label and on the other, as an artist, wears many skins: as Anvil Dome, Victor Portsmouth, Roan Linden, and even Samantha Glass, he produces mystical sound landscapes. Glass’ milestone albums Mysteries from the Palomino Skyliner and Surface Water Perception have even been released on the labels Not Not Fun Records and Sacred Phrases, respectively. Devereaux repeatedly brings the listener into a trance-like state—the conscious world loses focus and they suddenly find themselves in an endless corridor of beguiling echoes and distorted guitars. Should they suddenly regain awareness, they’ll soon be released from Devereaux’s voice, penetrating as if through a thick fog. This apocalyptic trip is just one of many positions found in the universe around Golden Cloud Tapes.

Take, for example, the 2014 album The Vitrine of Blindness from Robert Anthony alias Sleep Museum. For over ten years, this Brooklyn-born musician has produced dark and mostly rhythmic synthesizer noise that bore deep into listeners’ ear canals. Anthony sees his work as building musical cathedrals: filtered arpeggios, dusty pads, and raw bass lines dance like bats around one’s face. While wandering astray here, primed for adventure but in search of the exit, the listener nears the album’s end and finds the illuminating title: “We Are Here.” A ghostly voice wants to tell us that we’ve arrived.

It’s uncertain what skins Devereaux and Golden Cloud Tapes will slip into in the future. What is certain is that future releases will continue to surprise.

Text: Dark Entries Records

Fall of Saigon was born in 1981 when Florence Berthon (vocals), Pascal Comelade (organ, synthesizer), and Thierry Den (guitar, vocals) met at a concert in Montpellier, France. They chose to name the project Fall of Saigon after a song by UK post-punk act This Heat. They self-released their debut EP in 1983, citing Nico & The Velvet Underground and Suicide as influences.

At the time the band formed, Pascal Comelade was an accomplished musician with instrumental sketches composed for the trio. The six songs on the EP were recorded in two stages. "She Leaves Me All Alone" and "On the Beach at Fontana" were sung by Thierry and recorded at Pascal's home on a Revox 2-track in one take. The four songs sung by Florence - "Visions", "Blue Eyes", "So Long", and "The Swimmer" - were recorded and mixed at the Montpellier Languedoc Video Animation Center by Jean Alain Sidi on two Revox A77 reel-to-reels and a small mixer. On "Visions", "Blue Eyes", and "So Long," the group employed a drum machine that could only play four or five rhythms with a single slider to increase or decrease the tempo. The songs were minimal, with just a verse and chorus and no bridge or intro. Built on a simple spine, they create a feeling of space with just a voice and an organ or synthesizer melody. Full of class and inventiveness, Fall of Saigon are often compared to Young Marble Giants due to the fragile, ephemeral quality of the songs. Fall of Saigon only released one EP, and 30 years later their subtle sound is an essential guidepost in post-punk history.

Words & selection: Aio Frei
Pictures: Marc Jauss

If you're interested in electro-acoustic and obscure sounds you should consider paying a visit to OOR Records in Zurich and ask for Aio Frei. Aio, one of seven enthusiasts running this very specialized place, is definitely the right person to guide you. Talking ain't your thing? Then look out for her alias Fred Hystère and let her stunning polyrhythmic Dj Sets do the talking. Either way it's already an adventurous journey to read Anna’s liner notes about her current favorites.

Note: Most of the selected tracks are available at OOR Records, Zurich

Anne Gillis, Archives Box 1983–2005, Art Into Life

In 2015 Art Into Live released the first extensive archival release of French composer and performance artist Manon Anne Gillis, who began creating sound works and performance-pieces in the early 1980s in Paris. Gillis’ dense, intricate and intimate work meanders through moirés of repetitive synth pulses, interwoven raw cut-up techniques, ancient industrial dreams, manipulated and manipulative voices. Within her performative sound practice she questions bodily functions and codes using her own body, found objects and tape-loops. The Box Set includes her entire discography, all collaborations and 11 unreleased tracks. Deep bow!

Arnold Dreyblatt And The Orchestra Of Excited Strings, Propellers In Love
, 
Superior Viaduct, 2017

First released in 1986, Arnold Dreyblatt's Propellers in Love is a rhythmically demanding exploration of resonances and overtones generated by stringed instruments and percussion. With contrabass, miniature piano, piano wire, violin and percussion the orchestra generates an exquisite density of rhythmical interlockings and erratic drones. The second-generation American minimalist beauty is, thanks to higher powers, reissued on Superior Viaduct.

bellows,Strand, Shelter Press, 2017

The new release of the collaborative project Bellows by Italian electro-acoustic composers Giuseppe Ielasi and Nicola Ratti is out now on Bartholomé’s and Felicia’s highly valued Shelter Press Label. Recorded at Ratti’s very own Standard Studio in Milan (which is also a vivid concert space and meeting point for Milan’s experimental scene) the album was captured during a four day impro-session. Tracks float between acoustic sound, ghostly melodies, musique concrète, analogue electronics and fragmentary beat patterns. One can hear when lovely people work together! A beauty!

,maggi paine, crystal, aguirre records, 2017

1945 born Maggi Payne is a flutist, interdisciplinary artist and teacher for recording engineering, composition and electronic music. Her main compositional interest lies in the surreal, the inward, the micro, and the accumulation of physical and psychological tension. After the mind-blowing reissue of Ahh-Ahh (Music For Ed Tannenbaum’s Technological Feets 1984-1987) in 2012 by Root Strata, Aguirre Records followed with the originally in 1986 released Crystal. Flute, spoken voice, sonifications and synthesizers are processed to create dense and massive structures, silence gently evolves into flowing transcendent drones of complex resonances and white noise floats into abstract tekk-patterns.

Jean Guerin, Tacet, soufflecontinu records, 2015

An amazingly multi-layered surreal and futuristic-acidy avant psychedelic jazz trip originally composed asSoundtrack for Claude Farads anarchic Film Bof, Anatomie d’un Livreur in 1971. French multi-instrumentalist and composer Jean Guerin takes you through bleeping and fluttering other realms of consciousness. Get lost with help of a Darbouka, Electric Bass, EMS VCS3 Synthesizer, modulated voices, Percussion, Water Trumpets and nervous Brass Instruments. The album got reissued on the Parisian label soufflecontinu in 2015. 

Maria Teresa Luciani, Sounds of the City, Finders Keepers, 2017

During a research trip in 2015, investigating women in early electronic music in in the 60s in Italy, I met Fabio Carboni who runs the amazing Soundohm Distribution and Die Schachtel in Milano. I was looking for some information, traces and contacts concerning a rumour (created by art historians) that the Italian concept artist Ketty La Rocca had studied in one of the first courses for electronic music in the 60s under Pietro Grossi in Firenze. After listening to stories about the fascinating Italian composer Teresa Rampazzi, who was also the founder of the experimental sound research group Gruppo NPS (Nuove proposte Sonore) in Padua in the early 60s, and a lady called Serenella Marega, Carboni told me about Maria Teresa Luciani. A mysterious female composer behind a very rare, unreleased library/production record from 1972. 

«A multi-story storage facility of found sounds, radiophonic samples, tape loops, early electronic music experiments, mechanical folk, cinematic vision, sound design, educated music theory, political pop, and high concept art-as-noise successfully layers more musical ideas within its unique structure than one would think possible for a solo artist within any musical genre.» 

 Now Finders Keepers Records brings light into the darkness! They just released the astonishing Concept Album Sounds Of The City (originally Suoni Di Una Città) for the first time with carefully researched biographical information. Luciani was a Musicologist, Psychologist, Historian and Artist born in Sicily, living between Rome and Florence. Her brother, the technician behind the album, was an established Film soundtrack-Composer, which was the reason she had access to contemporary sound-technologies. In the 60s and 70s only established and privileged (male) composers had access to the big movie- and radio studios who controlled the newest electronic sound technologies and early synthesizers (and their necessary engineers). But today, listening to this unbelievable craziness, the dominant historical narratives should indeed tremble! Pre-Digital Sampling Culture becomes floating, multi-layered, circular, mechanic industrial-drone-psych-pop-minimal-architectures beyond imagination and way way beyond time! A visionary ghost, an Italian Dafne Oram on liquids we dream of. Grazie Sorella!

Sister Love Productions presents High Risk, Mr.Bongo, Sister Love Productions, 2017

Reissue of the super rare feminist, deeply soulful spiritual-jazz pearl. The originallyin 1974 released soundtrack of Donna Deitch’s Documentary «Woman to Woman» was distributed by Olivia Records (one of the first lesbian feminist labels), and contains the two tracks «degradation» and «the common woman»(named after the poem-series of lesbian-feminist activist and poet Judy Grahn). An historical must-have for all the sound addict feminists out there and for all who need a lovely soundtrack to come up against the everyday white-supremacist-patriarchal walls.

Suzanne Ciani, Fish Music, Finders Keepers, 2017

In 1971, when electronic-music pioneer Suzanne Ciani was in her mid-20s, the Woodfield shopping center’s developers hired her to create an immersive soundtrack to accompany a complex of three large aquariums. «I have attempted to create the subtlety and mystery of an underwater ambience with sounds ‘swimming’ past each other like the exotic fishes.» (Suzanne Ciani) As Philip Sherburne puts it: «Smuggling avant-garde aesthetics into the fortified heart of American commerce, Ciani designed a remarkably elegant sonic Trojan horse.» Again Finders Keepers fished out the unheard pearl of Cianis Archives and released it as carefully done one sided 7“.

Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, Kulthan, Latency, 2017

Two Orb Reel, More Than Human, 2017

As cultural anthropologist and musicologist Johannes Ismael Wendt points out, knowledge of the «trek» is inherent in the sonic track. Culturally inscribed maps of traumatic histories of colonialism, slavery and migration. After the highly addictive, previously released «Kulthan» 12“, Monsieur Modular Synth Maestro Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe outlines with «Two Orb Reel» a Soundtrack for an imagined African Science Fiction. With 14 short Dark Alien-Ambient Sketches he focuses on the journey, the «trek» and «smudges what are putatively western-rooted compositional conventions». A non-linear, fluid realm where black mysticisms, metaphysics and historicities of alienation interweave with «emotions of wonder, fear and transcendence.» «We begin to understand the ways in which race, space and sex configure ‘the alien’ within spaces allegedly ‘beyond’ markers of difference’ and ask: What are some ways in which the ‘alien from within as well as without’ can be overcome?»
(Womack)

Roberta Settels, Isolation! Meinhof In Memoriam, Music in Crisis, 1985

The 1929 New York born Jewish Composer and Shoe-Designer Roberta Settels moved to Sweden in the 50s, resided at the IRCAM in Paris and worked at EMS in Stockholm. Later she created and worked in her own studio in Sweden and ran a little shoe-shop in Stockholm, which still exists today.

Right after Ulrike Meinhof’s ambiguous death at the end of the Stammheim-Trial in 1976, Settles started to work on her only Record «Isolation! Meinhof in Memoriam». She released it in 1985 on her own Label «Music in Crisis» ( which she founded because the label she intended to release it on chickened out because of the controversial political topic) The extremely reduced compositions are concerned with Meinhof's psychic and physical condition during hardcore solitary confinement and tries to imagine how one might hear in such a cruel, torturous and lonely situation. With «Isolation!» Settels questions legitimized inhuman practices of state violence and torture (especially against left wing intellectuals), silencing as a weapon and prison as a legal vacuum. «Isolation!»’s oppressive silences and haunting sine-waves are all generated by purely analogue means. Settles approach of an «electronic music for spiritual survival» is mirrored in this extremely psyched-out tape minimalism and communicates the conceptual aim of a sonic equivalent to an extreme emotional state in a deeply gloomy but careful way. The release comes with a custom-made plastic sleeve, liner notes in Swedish, English, German and French, written and designed by Roberta herself.

Antinote is a young Parisian label run by Quentin “Zaltan” Vandewalle and Gwen Jamies alias Lueke. It all started with Luekes old techno tapes he produced in the early nineties. It’s release formed the basement for the future career of the label. Just started, they received three vibrating pieces, full of strange electronics, inspired by euro jazz and a touch of afro rhythms. This is the world of the parisian duo Syracuse. It’s members Antoine Kogut and Isabelle Maitre create solid and analogue synthesizer sounds with glimmering vocals for the dancefloor. Latest releases of Nico Monte, D.K, but also reissues of obscure ambient pieces by Paki & Visnadi show the versatility of the label. Just as exciting and rich in variety are the dj’sets of Zaltan. As record collector from scratch he digged deep in his crates and presents a timeless selection of his favorite music.

nicolas courtin ‎– les yeux fermés - ciel sonore
(2007)
les crocodiles ‎– la nuit des tropiques - km editions
(2015)
the system – logic - romantic records
(1983)
savage – don't cry tonight - discomagic records
(1983)
deborah kinley – suprise - atlantide
(1984)
preface ‎– palace hôtel - anya production
(1986)
golden teacher meets dennis bovell ‎– at the green door - optimo music
(2015)
šizike ‎– u zemlji čuda with lost data tracks - discom re
(2016)
States Of Mind ‎– Elements Of Tone - Plus 8 Records
(1990)
wax doctor ‎– all i need - r & s records
(1996)

interview: marc Jauss
Credits: Brandon Sanchez (RVNG.Intl)

Our favourite music institution RVNG Intl. from Brooklyn has recently published a compilation with songs by Mark Renner who originates from Baltimore. All of the pieces were developed between 1982 and 1990. RVNG boss Matt Werth has discovered Renners album “all walks of this life“ at a fleamarket and he was immediately excited about hearing more of this music.

One could not overhear the influence of bands like Ultravox, Felt or the Yellow Magic Orchestra. The latest compilation also hosts instrumental pieces that Renner composed exclusively for an exhibition of paintings. Today Mark is still active as an artist and musician. We‘ve asked him about his recent work, his inspiration and his future plans.

Introduce yourself briefly

Hello, I am Mark Renner, a painter and musician.


Concering your work nowadays, what are your main themes?

My visual work is primarily figurative, and has much to do with mining the beauty of the ignoble, the journeys and struggles of the marginalized, sojourners and searchers, usually adrift in some imaginary landscape. My lyrics run in a similar direction, and as I advance in age I find I seek in some way to create elegies forthose I have lost, or in some small way chronicle the lives, profound or ephemeral moments frequently lost inliving.


How do you make a living as an artist?

I have exhibited my visual work in galleries, museums festivals and fairs In the US and Europe and have been fortunate to sell paintings and be granted financial awards. In addition, my recordings are available thru the usual download companies, as well as Bandcamp, CD Baby, Amazon etc.

What inspires you?

The constant challenge of converting the inward swellings of the imagination to canvas or in music and song.

What books are you reading at the moment?

The Soul and Barbed Wire – an introduction to Solzhenitsyn (an academic appraisal of his writings), The Birds - Tarjei Vesaas, The Bible, John Minton: Dance Till the Stars Come Down- Frances Spalding.

What kind of music are you listening to at the moment?

Tomotsugu Nakamura - An Opened Book in the Dark.
Dead Light- Dead Light. Ian William Craig - SlowVessels.
Max Richter - Sleep


Talk about Baltimore, how is it like to live there?

The city, as with many other post- industrial ports and cities of America has struggled through the past few decades with the demise of major employers as, well as crime and drug addiction. I’m afraid the blight and crime that usually captures the major headlines, eclipses the good and the individuals that are working to make their city better.


What about your research in field recordings? I heard you were in Switzerland. Tell us about the process, what kind of sound did you capture?

I had come primarily to visit Montagnola, near lake Lugano, en route to Italy. There were several things that captivated me- organ practice in a small chapel in Zurich, and the way the muted sounds floated as approaching the closed doors, the morning birdsong , as well as a student struggling on a grand piano in a chamber, resounding through the halls of an inn where I was staying.


After the nineties you were a humanitarian worker in Ethiopia. What did you experience?

It is a project I am still involved with. Aside from the obvious disparity in economic opportunity and dangerous environmental health conditions and the deep and continuing devastation from HIV/ AIDS, it was an immediate, and humbling exposure of the blessings taken for granted in the West/ my own country and life, and the imperative to consider “ the least of these “. It has also been a delight in each subsequent return, to see the impact the project has made in the lives and families of the beneficiaries, and now with ARV medication, how women and children who once viewed an HIV+ diagnosis as a death sentence, have an opportunity to lead relatively normal lives and somehow find hope for the future.


Many of your instrumental and wordless pieces were used for your sound installations. Tell us about combining sound and space.

Initially I viewed it as creating an atmosphere, to augment a personal viewing. In providing cassettes/headphones as an option to those viewing the work, it became an individual, enclosed experience. Later, in a different exhibition, I had the audio works playing aloud in the gallery. I think I prefer to offer it as a personal , solitary experience as I sense that the impact of the recorded work can at times suffer due to the din and incidental sounds of activity within the gallery.


Are you happy with the reissue on RVNG? How everything happen?

I am glad to see the label growing, and seeking to produce and introduce the work of artists often laboring in obscurity, to a wider audience. My relationship with RVNG was initiated by Matt Werth who contacted me about one of the songs on the recording. We corresponded and he mentioned his label and sent me some of his earlier releases. At the time, I had been contacted by someone in Europe looking to re- release my first two albums and I asked Matt if we could postpone our discussions for a few months until I heard back from the other label. As it transpired, things didn’t materialize, so Matt and I began corresponding as he informed me of the package that he wanted to put together. RVNG was patient while I combed through the pieces I hads aved, contacted former bandmates, sifted through basements and attics to see what was still available from that period. I think they went to great care to try and preserve the music from the various sources I could find to work with. I suppose the best thing I could say about it is that they didn’t attempt to assemble a “Best of “ package, to me it is more akin to an artists sketchbook that represents the idea without the gloss applied in the final execution.


What does sound mean to you?

My father is completely deaf. Years after losing his hearing, he told me that he has missed music more than he has missed being able to hear voices. Music, the sounds and melody, tones and chords enrich life and for me, provide hints of the Divine. Sound is curious in its ability to arrest one’s attention, to calm or excite, to transport, or repel.

What are you future plans?

I am concluding work on a brand new record : Seaworthy Vessels are in Short Supply. I am hoping to have it completed by the middle of April, for an autumn release. Along with this I have another recording of wordless pieces: Salt and Firewood. This will be the 30th year since my album- Painter’s Joy was released, and I am planning a cd/dl release with bonus material included. Additionally, I have an exhibition of my visual work opening in Dallas, at the end of June.

Image: Andrea Soldner
Mix: Ryan Martin

1. Neil's Theme - Harold Budd/Robin Guthrie
2. Free Reign - Russian Tsarlag
3. Match Mine - Control Point
4. Under the Chain - Aether Jag
5. Ascending in 9 - C Section 8 
6. Probe (Edit) - John Duncan
7. HANDOFETERNITY (excerpt) - Housefire
8. Broken Pieces Held Together - Shredded Nerve
9. Net - Glochids
10. Hora Aurea - Cabaret du Ciel
11. Your Home - Kuniyuki Takahashi
12. Not is possible landing - Orfeon Gagarin
13. Schematic - Nail Club
14. Monument - S-Ink
15. The Wind Will Blow - Remix (Démo) - Asylum Party
16. Mary's Garden - Mary Goes Round
17. The Way Will Be Opening - Stereolab
18. The Day Inside - Cyrnai
19. Rosehip November - Dracula
20. Upon the Cross, the Weight of Confession (excerpt) - Gyna Bootleg
21. La Armonia de las Esferas - Randomize

1. Produzione - Zalla (Piero Umiliani)
2. Subaquatic Swerves - Tradition
3. Party Talk - André de Koning
4. Mein Freund - Der Lustige Musikant
5. Ode to Honey - Palberta
6. Places And Things - Greg Horn
7. Breaking The Split Screen Barrier - The Amps
8. Scenic - Ozean
9. Calling - Sweetie Sweats
10. Sweets For The Sweets - Haves & Thirds
11. Autumn Spirit - Orange Crush
12. Iron Idem - DJ Overdose
13. Freak - Circuitry feat. Electro Wayne
14. Friction Song - Cyrnai
15. Bump It (Instrumental) - Transllusion
16. Forest of Monsters (from Super Castlevania IV)  - Konami
17. Murderock - Keith Emerson
18. Connection - Yukihiro Takahashi
19. Just My Love (Extended, Demo) - Umo Vogue
20. A Piece Of Bit - Gay Cat Park
21. Say You'll Say So - Geoffrey Landers
22. Robocop Title Theme - Johnathan Dunn
23. Realise You're My Sweet Brown Angel Eyes - Roky Erickson

Text: Marc Jauss
Originally isued in zweikommasieben magazine #16

Since the early 80s, there has been a distinguished experimental and DIY scene in Milan. The Black Sweat Records label, which was created in 2012 by Davide Domenichini, a.k.a. Dome, can be understood as a continuation of that tradition. Besides publishing outstanding re-issues of local and international line-ups, the label is bringing out new artists. The influence of their mentors—the Italian pioneers of that era—is loud and clear.

The Italian Futuro Antico project was one of those pioneering efforts of the early 80s which always appeared to be oriented towards the future and experimentation. Futuro Antico members Walter Maioli and Riccardo Sinigaglia enraptured audiences over and over again in hypnotic sessions with meditative drones and discreet rhythmic structures. Contemplative and in love with detail, the duo combined Indian and African influences to create a shimmering sound carpet. The albums Futuro Antico (1980) and Dai Primitivi All’ Elettronica (1990), both recently re-released by Black Sweat Records, bear witness to this.

Sound tinkerer David Erden is a thrilling counterpoint to the Black Sweat Records catalog: The Belgian has been active for some time now as DSR Lines, and runs his own cassette label, Hare Akedod, which specializes in electroacoustic and improvised sounds. His recently released album from Black Sweat, Spoel (2017), was originally published as a tape and is now being newly released as double LP including three unreleased tracks. Softly modulated analog sounds stream over playful collages of echoes and frequency modulations that catapult the listener into unknown spheres.

Back on earth again—now in the middle of Texas in the late 70s—we meet the composer and performer JD Emmanuel. Inspired by Terry Riley and the early work of Peter Michael Hamel, Emmanuel captivates with energetic and free synthesizer and organ tones. His early experiments with analog New Age sounds are brought together in an elaborately designed vinyl edition called Electronic Minimal Music, which Black Sweat released in 2016. The self-proclaimed Time Traveler is still active today, and continues his travels in meditative and metaphysical realms. Those who are enthusiastic about time travel and other experiments will find unknown treasures in the Black Sweat Records catalog—in this world and beyond.

Electronic Minimal Music by J.D. Emmanuel

Experimente aus Mailand: Black Sweat Records

Schon seit den frühen Achtzigern findet sich in Mailand eine ausgezeichnete Experimental- und DIY-Szene. Das Label Black Sweat Records, das von Davide Domenichini alias Dome 2012 ins Leben gerufen wurde, kann als Fortsetzung jener Tradition verstanden werden. Neben hervorragenden Re-Issues mit lokalem und internationalem Line-up bringt das Label auch neue Künstler ans Tageslicht. Die Einflüsse ihrer Mentorinnen – den italienischen Pionieren von damals – sind dabei unüberhörbar.

Zu den Pionieren aus den frühen Achtzigern zählt das italienische Projekt Futuro Antico, das sich stets zukunftsorientiert und wunderbar experimentierfreudig zeigte. In hypnotischen Sessions aus meditativen Drones und dezenten Rhythmus-Strukturen verzückten die Mitglieder Walter Maioli und Riccardo Sinigaglia immer wieder aufs Neue. Besinnlich und detailverliebt verband das Duo indische und afrikanische Einflüsse zu einem schimmernden Soundteppich. Die Alben Futuro Antico (1980) und Dai Primitivi All’ Elettronica (1990), beide jüngst bei Black Sweat Records erneut erschienen, zeugen davon.

Der Soundtüftler David Erden ist ein spannender Gegenpol im Katalog von Black Sweat Records: Der Belgier ist seit einiger Zeit als DSR Lines aktiv und betreibt ein eigenes Kassetten-Label namens Hare Akedod, das sich auf elektroakustische und improvisierte Klänge spezialisiert hat. Sein kürzlich auf Black Sweat erschienenes Album Spoel (2017) wurde ursprünglich als Tape publiziert und erhält nun eine Doppelvinyl-Neuauflage mit drei unveröffentlichten Stücken. Sanft modulierte analoge Sounds strömen über verspielte Collagen aus Echos und Frequenzmodulationen, die einen in unbekannte Sphären katapultieren.

Wieder auf der Erde zurück begegnet man – nun mitten im amerikanischen Texas der späten siebziger Jahre – dem Komponisten und Performer JD Emmanuel. Inspiriert von Terry Riley und Peter Michael Hamels frühen Werken besticht Emmanuel mit freien und energetischen Synthesizer- und Orgelklängen. Auf einer aufwändig gestalteten Vinyl-Edition namens Electronic Minimal Music, die 2016 bei Black Sweat erschien, versammeln sich seine frühen Experimente mit analogen New Age-Sounds. Der selbsternannte Time Traveller ist auch heute noch aktiv und setzt seine Reisen in metaphysischen und meditativen Gefilden unbeirrt fort. Wer sich also für Zeitreisen und/oder andere Experimente begeistern kann, der findet im Katalog von Black Sweat Records unbekannte Schätze – im Dies- und Jenseits.

Text: Ashley Simpson

electronic artist and frequent panda bear collaborator scott mou is the first person to admit that his debut album end times, released under the moniker queens a few weeks ago, isn’t quite what people expect. “when dial records asked me to do it, i was really shocked and very humbled—and i thought the label would expect something different—more techno, more house, more classic minimalist,” recalls mou. what he gave them was of another mood entirely. delicate, quietly expansive and, in mou’s own words, “excruciatingly intimate-sounding,” end times takes the listener into a quiet, closely introspective space. it was recorded in two parts—first with animal collective’s josh dibb at the good house upstate and later in berlin with dial’s phillip sollmann—and came out of a desire for a solitary and raw experience. “the story of the album goes all the way back to the early 2000’s,” says mou, who has also designed runway soundtracks for labels as diverse as thom browne, zero + maria cornejo, cloak, robert geller, doo.ri, and patrik ervell. “i was doing beat production on a project with noah lennox from panda bear and djing a lot, and even though i was a more techno guy, i wanted to do something— i needed to do something—that was in a different space. so i reached for the guitar. ”several years later, end times is here, with plenty of jandek/early-techno influences and gauzy, melancholic moments. mou will play parts of the album this summer in berlin and hamburg, before heading off to paris for the men’s shows."

Text: Marc Jauss
Issued in Zweikommasieben #15

Entire volumes could be written about the output of the label Vinyl on Demand. The roughly 150 re-releases of obscure, long-forgotten material—mostly located somewhere between experimental, minimal, and early-80s noise—each has its own story. Here a mere two of our favorites briefly are introduced.
 

Many of the albums reissued by Vinyl on Demand were originally the fruit of a flourishing 1980s cassette tape scene whose members preferred to control and oversee every step of the production and distribution process themselves—why sign to a major label when there’s an alternative, homemade approach? This often meant very limited editions, which accounts for the now-exorbitant prices of the original cassettes.

Frank Maier, an obsessive collector from Friedrichshafen, near Lake Constance, recognized this problem and took matters into his own hands in 2003 with his label Vinyl on Demand, through which he filters a both impulsively and meticulously selected output of music that until now has only been available to a very small audience. Maier has released reissues, collector’s editions, t-shirts, posters, and much more on an almost monthly basis since the early days of his label. It’s easy to lose an overview, so we’ve taken it upon ourselves to single out two essential pearls of the catalog.

The Arms of Someone New’s Tape Recordings 1983 – 1985 focuses primarily on three releases: Significant Others, Occam’s Razor, and Notes From Underground, all of which wonderfully demonstrate the band’s magnetic tendency towards experimentation. The collection of short sound sketches hovers between post-punk and sparse dream pop. The three releases sketch a two-year trajectory over the course of which band members Mel Eberle and Steve Jones developed and sharpened an idiosyncratic style.

The compositions by Don Slepian, an oddball computer programmer from Hawaii, take a very different turn. In 1972, Slepian explored the so-called Arpanet, a predecessor of today’s internet, and reflected—via sound—what he discovered there. His first tape, Electronic Music From The Rainbow Island, is considered by insiders’ circles to be a milestone of the free New Age scene. As such, like many other Slepian releases, it’s long since out of print, but Vinyl on Demand’s Tape Recordings 1971-1982 delivers the remedy. The compilation includes some of Slepian’s boldest compositions, in which baroque synthesizer melodies meet algorithmic bass funk to form intricate cosmic fractals. Also not to miss is the accompanying breathtaking gallery on the label’s website.  
These and many more releases are available through Vinyl on Demand—online and IRL.

kaitlyn aurelia smith's formative years were spent communing with nature on orcas island in the northwest region of washington state, a place she describes as "one of the most magical and peaceful places i have ever been." though she wouldn't begin experimenting with modular synthesis until many years later, her creative work continues to be infused with and inspired by the vitality and serenity of orcas. 

smith left the island to attend berklee college of music, where she studied composition and sound engineering, initially focusing on her voice as her primary instrument, before switching to classical guitar and piano. she employed many of the skills she refined in college in her indie-folk band ever isles, but a fateful encounter with a neighbor who lent her a buchla 100 synthesizer, had a profound effect on her. mesmerized by the buchla’s potential, she explains "i got so distracted and enamored with the process of making sounds with it that i abandoned the next ever isles album." starting with rhythmic patterns and melodic pulses, she soon began sculpting lush and exciting worlds of sound.

image: zru-vogue, 1984
Interview: Marc Jauss
Credits: Vincent Nomad

It’s always exciting to rediscover old music, especially it when suddenly affects the zeitgeist in a current way. This happened with the track “The Birds” by Californian musician Rick Cuevas. Cuevas, incidentally, is one of the founding members of the avant-pop band Zru Vogue. I had the pleasure of asking Rick some questions about the past days.

Hi Rick. Please tell us about the spirit in the early eighties in San-Francisco. How was the musical and political climate? Where you used to play? 
 

Hi Marc: The early eighties was a strange time. Of course, the assassination of John Lennon had happened fairly recently (December 1980), Ronald Reagan was President, and my art band Zru Vogue was about 4 years old at that time. The music scene was OK..we were big fans of the british group, The Stranglers…we loved Kraftwerk.. we loved Brian Eno and Roxy Music. My 1980-present band Zru Vogue (founded by me and my longtime music friend Andrew Jackson) played a few shows in the San Francisco area here. We did one show in San Francisco with all 4 original members, at a club called "The Savoy Tivoli" in the italian district of SF. 2 members left the group shortly after that. Andrew and I continued with Zru Vogue and did a show in San Francisco with the Scottish band "Blue Bells" at a club called "The I-Beam"… we played 4 shows in our home town of Palo Alto at a club called "Keystone Club"… we were all working regular jobs and doing music on the side, as a hobby, etc.  Zru Vogue had a minor break-up in 1985..and we re-formed the group in 2002 (after both Andrew and I had families and children,and did other music projects in between,  etc.). from 1987 to 1994 I was a member (bass) of the comedy punk band "Electronic Voice Phenomenon" (EVP), from this area as well.


What musical influences have shaped you in this time ?

Well, in general, I was a child of the 1960's..therefore The Beatles, The Stones, The Who, Jimi Hendrix had the first impact on me… later in the 1970's when I started playing guitar, groups like Queen (first 3 albums), Mott the Hoople, Deep Purple, and even Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young had an effect. And then later Elvis Costello, The Stranglers, Brian Eno, Roxy Music, King Crimson, and a little Frank Zappa..all had an effect on me. Additionally, my parents were involved with Opera singing. I went to many Operas as a child and as young adult….so that music, Puccini, Verdi, et al, went into my brain as well….
 

Your solo-album “Symbolism” was straight self-published. What was your main motivation to do this? Heretical question at this point: No interest by the record companies at all?  

Ha! good question… actually, I did try to submit my music to record companies in Los Angeles/Hollywood, and yes, they did not accept it. The reasons they gave was like "it is good music, it is just not "Los Angeles" enough"  …whatever that means… actually, I took that as a compliment.. I believe it meant it was fairly original or different, and they were not able to fit it into the groups of music styles at that time. So, yes, I had already some financial help from my parents, and the parents of some of the other members, when we released the first Zru Vogue vinyl album in 1982, as well as the vinyl 33rpm EP called "Bandit Ducks from Outer Space" by my other band "Science Patrol". Andrew was part of that as well. So, putting out this solo album was indeed an exercise in egoism :) it was the first of many solo albums. I am currently working on number 18. and don't worry, I am a heretic as well :) 
 

What was your inspiration to make this record ? 

My inspiration to make this record probably has many reasons, and no reasons at the same time. It was in early 1984 that I bought (and I still have!) a Yamaha 4-track cassette machine, with a patch-bay. I thought that was very advanced at the time. It was expensive at the time, but the local music store had a process where you could pay it all in 3 months… that made it easier to deal with. anyway, I started making a bunch of recordings, including songs that had backwards guitar solos, etc. I was able to flip the cassette around and play a guitar solo over the backwards music… then I flip the cassette so that the music is forward and the solo is now backwards… it was also during this time I bought a delay unit, also made by Yamaha… this was the first time I started making the delay time match the tempo of the song.. Today, the digital recording programs automatically synchronize the delay time with the tempo that is set for the song being recorded. so, anyway, I was enjoying the way my home recordings were sounding, and I played the music for my dad. he liked it. and so I asked my dad if he could help me with the cost of making the album. he said yes. My father was a great opera singer and piano player…so the fact that he liked the music, made me feel like I was doing something of worth.
 

How high was the costs at this time do print a LP?

Oh, I don't really remember well…. maybe $600 USD for 200 copies? with very basic white covers...


During the listening of “Symbolism” a very outstanding track called “The Birds” caught my ears. My immediate reaction was: 1984? No way! Can you tell us something about the recording?
 
Ha! yes, actually, this is one of my favorites too…and other folks over the years have said that "The Birds" was a song that caught their attention. again, here I used my method of setting the echo or delay to match the timing of the song. I also used a Yamaha drum machine (I still have it). I also used a little Yamaha synthesizer, a CS-01, mono-phonic…which means it only plays one note at a time. one cannot not play chords with it.  So i used the synthesizer as a bass pad, and for the high solo at the end… i was also very interested in hypnotic guitar riffs… thus I double-tracked the hypnotic guitars on that song. By the way, the Sybolism album was recorded in my friends big studio, on 2-inch reel-to-reel tape…and 16-tracks… by the way, I re-recorded this song in my home studio in 1998…using an 8-track half-inch reel-to-reel machine.
 

You were also a member and founder of the surrealist rock band Zru Vogue. How did it happen ? 

Well, this group has its roots in the fact that Andrew Jackson and I started playing guitar together in late 1972, when we were 14, in Junior High School… when we got to High School in 1974, we formed a group called "idiot" (from Shakespeare's Macbeth…life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, and signifying nothing)  … it was Andrew and me on guitars, along with Tad Williams (a science fiction author now, he wrote Otherland, a big success in Germany). Tad was our lead singer and lyrics writer. we had Tom Sanders on bass, and Paul Almeter (first drummer) and Patrick Coyne (second drummer). Idiot existed from late 1974 to late 1977; we were a teenager band that was ahead of the times! We played original glitter rock stuff…and played some shows in San Francisco in 1977 at the famous punk club "The Mabuhay Gardens"… we broke up after the October 1977 show. Pat Coyne was the drummer then.. 1978, we had a boy pop band called "The PLUS" with me, Andrew, the idiot bass player Tom, and a new drummer, Ted Taylor (his father was a Stanford University physics professor).

That group lasted one year. no shows played.. then Me, Andrew and Tom stayed together and formed an art band in 1979, called 'the random factors'. Tom got a new girlfriend, Nancy… we all had a New years Party 1979-1980 and played as 'the random factors" … so early in 1980 we changed the name to Zru Vogue, with me, Andrew, Tom, and his girl Nancy… we planned to record a 45rpm single..and so in June 1980 we were rehearsing a song called "Blue Room"…it was the night before going into the studio… and the "A" string on the bass broke! Tom was on bass…and did not know how to play a bass with 3 strings, and we had no extra strings around.  I was on drums, so Tom and I switched places.  

Now, I am playing the 3-string bass, Tom on drums, and Andrew on guitar.. Andrew started playing 2 chords over and over, and was singing a melody …I started playing my bass part.. and this mysterious new song came out. Tom's girl Nancy said 'what is that song??" "that is great, we should record that song instead of 'blue room" she said.. so we did, and the song Nakweda Dream became a cult classic song… a song voted by Sub Pop Magazine (now sub pop records, in Seattle, WA) as the best independent single of 1981… and still today, the old members of "idiot" are still playing music together. first, Zru Vogue now is: me, Andrew and Patrick Coyne … and we have another band now called "Savage Roger", which is basically 'idiot' with a new name, it has : me (guitar, keys, vocals), Andrew (guitar, vocals, lyrics), Patrick (drums), and Tad Williams (on bass, vocals, lyrics)
 

You still a active musician. What are your current projects?

My current project is my solo album number 18 called "We're alive". I am almost finished with it.  We are also still trying to finish the second album of "Savage Roger"; Tad needs to fix some of his vocals first.  Andrew and me and Patrick just recently released the 2016 Zru Vogue album "Topsy Turvy World", and I am now helping Andrew with his 2016 solo album… all of these projects have been done at my home recording studio "Zrubutus" , in Palo Alto, California.
 

What kind of music do you listen at the moment? 

Wow, well, I don't listen to much modern day music, except for the music that my teenager daughter listens to… Maroon 5, Miley Cyrus, etc. (she loves the old stuff too, like Beatles etc), and maybe some of the music that Andrew likes, like the Flaming Lips, Aimee Mann, Grandaddy, and other things like that…. plus, Velvet Underground, Lou Reed, Nico, Wire, The Residents,….and still, some Opera music :) 

Text: cocteautwins.com

"An LP always seems like an important statement, the next step, blah blah... It's not. This is just something we've been casually doing this year in our studio." — Robin Guthrie

If there's one lesson anybody will learn from listening to Cocteau Twins, it's that one can never know what to expect next. This lesson becomes rather evident with the companion EPs Tiny Dynamine and Echoes in a Shallow Bay. Just as the listener feels they have figured it all out, the Cocteau Twins come along and take you completely by surprise.

Tiny Dynamine and Echoes in a Shallow Bay — impossible to discuss separately — marks the beginning of another phase in their music history, one which clears more territory in the abstract reaches of the metaphysical, textural, and impressionistic elements to which they unassumingly, unwittingly, and perhaps unintentionally lay claim. Everything is starting to float around and separate — space out — and slow down somewhat. The production quality is highly polished and full-bodied and is clearly the best production the band had done up to that point. The arrangements are well organized and exhibit rather mature songwriting.

Naturally, however, the Cocteaus — at least Robin — had a slightly different approach to the situation: "This is pure flop material we're releasing [laugh]. People think we're being awkward, but it's the only way we could possibly put these songs out. An LP always seems like an important statement, the next step, blah blah... It's not. This is just something we've been casually doing this year in our studio."

"It wasn't even meant to be a record to start off with. It's almost experimental, but that's the wrong word. We recorded it at our studio just to see if the place was good enough to make records. It is. We were halfway through it when we realized that it was alright, so we decided to pursue it further, do something with it."

"It's the best sounding record we've ever made, technically and everything. If you play it, it sounds good. We're learning to make records that sound better when you put them on. It sounds better than any Trevor Horn production [laughs again]. These records make me happy." [Jamming Magazine, 1985].

Listening to these two records can be like swimming inside a lava lamp or looking skywards from the bottom of a pool. The momentum is strikingly different when compared with previous material, except perhaps for "Quisquose," from Aikea-Guinea, which shows much similarity with the work on Tiny Dynamine and Echoes in a Shallow Bay. The timing signatures are complex and the tempo is often erratic and difficult to grasp. Liz's vocal instrument is increasingly acrobatic and dynamic, indicating a true gift for vocal arrangement and composition (I cite "Great Spangled Fritillary" as a prime example). The overall underlying theme may simply be that this isn't to be grasped — but instead to be imprinted upon the imagination and absorbed into the unconscious.

The song titles certainly inspire visual images and textures: "Pink Orange Red," "Ribbed and Veined," "Pale Clouded White," "Eggs and Their Shells," "Plain Tiger," etc. It is generally accepted that the two bodies of work were largely inspired by nature—particularly butterflies. Both "Great Spangled Fritillary," "Plain Tiger," and "Pale Clouded White" are common names of butterfly species; the "lyrics" to "Melonella" (itself a word for "swarm") are the Latin names for various butterfly species; and other titles, such as "Pink Orange Red" and "Ribbed and Veined" further contribute to such a perception. The title "Sultitan Itan," incidentally, is a borrowed lyric from "Pink Orange Red," in keeping with Liz's practice of reusing words and phrases throughout the work.

The rather perversely titled "Ribbed and Veined" is a complex instrumental piece, and a testament to the band's ability to write solid compositions—although, according to Simon, it happens unwittingly:

"I don't really think of us as songwriters. In the traditional sense, they're not songs at all. Songwriters, to me, mean people who sit down with an acoustic guitar and piano, methodically working out the right chords, what words go with these chords, fitting it all in. We don't work like that. It's usually, turn the tape recorder on and hopefully, in ten minutes, we have something. Then Liz will come down, listen and sing. It's not like songwriting, it's music." [Jamming Magazine, December, 1985]

"Great Spangled Fritillary" is like witnessing an elaborate Tibetan ritual, replete with gongs; and "Sultitan Itan" and "Melonella" are excursions into jazz, with "Melonella"'s odd-sounding Latin lyrics—something only the Cocteaus could express so well—while "Eggs and Their Shells" makes use of sparse echoed piano and astral guitar.

The most addictive track of the eight featured here is clearly "Pink Orange Red," for which the band recorded a live television video. This song has also been regularly performed live since 1985, and is one of the band's most popular live selections. "Plain Tiger" and "Pale Clouded White" also appeared in live performances in 1985 and 1986.

A more subdued "Pink Orange Red" was recorded in 1995 for the mostly-acoustic EP Twinlights. When asked why they chose that particular tune to rearrange acoustically, they stated simply that it was one of the few that "worked."

"Pink Orange Red" and "Pale Clouded White" were also selected to appear on the 2000 4AD retrospective compilation, Stars and Topsoil.

Tiny Dynamine and Echoes in a Shallow Bay were re-released as a double-EP in CD format in late 1985. Both were clearly overtures, at least in the abstract sense, to Victorialand and The Moon and The Melodies, which both appeared the following year and further and more fully explored this aspect of Cocteau Twins' music.

Source: Efficient Space

Sky Girl is a mysteriously unshakeable companion, a deeply melancholic and sentimental journey through folk-pop, new wave and art music micro presses that span 1961-1991. A seemingly disparate suite of selections of forgotten fables by more or less neverknowns, Sky Girl forms a beautifully coherent and utterly sublime whole deftly compiled by French collectors DJ Sundae and Julien Dechery.

From Scott Seskind's adolescent musical road movie to Karen Marks' icy Oz-wave, the charming DIY storytelling of Italian-American go-getter Joe Tossini and the ethereal slow dance themes of Parisian artists Nini Raviolette and Hugo Weris, Sky Girl resonates on a wide spectrum historically, geographically and stylistically. It unites in a singular, longing, almost intangible ambience.

If the names sound wholly unfamiliar that doesn't matter, the nature of the compositions swiftly nurtures an intimacy with these lonely, poignant, openhearted wanderers. Most were available in a very limited capacity at the time of their release, some were never really released at all - Gary Davenport declined to release Sarra after he split with the girl for whom the track is named - years later a friend convinced Davenport to allow him to put 100 copies online to sell and DJ Sundae was quick enough to snare one. Beyond their scarcity, these tracks are bound together by a certain raw beauty that's achievable when music is made and no one is listening.

Sky Girl comprises of fifteen officially licensed songs, a two year international scavenger hunt through long-folded home label operations, the depths of internet forums and traceless acetates. Both compilers are well trained record sleuths - DJ Sundae's labels Hollie and Idle Press have reissued Arthur Russell affiliate Nirosta Steel and DIY relic Pitch, while Julien Dechery previously compiled 'Fire Star', a retrospective on Tamil film composer Ilaiyaraaja, for Bombay Connection.

Released by Noise In My Head offshoot Efficient Space, Sky Girl is enriched with artwork from Perks and Mini mutant Misha Hollenbach and appropriately elegant sleeve notes courtesy of Ivan Smagghe.

Tomaga is Valentina Magaletti and Tom Relleen. The two London musicians have toured galleries and art spaces near and far; here they share their thoughts about various exhibitions and spaces from New York to Antwerp.
 

Middelheim Sculpture Museum (Antwerp) 
Some good friends run the cafe here and we have stopped by many times over the years on the way back from shows in the Netherlands or Belgium. It's in the forest and the artworks are spread all over the place. Some are hidden in the trees and quite difficult to find. At one point there was a giant owl here which Valentina sat inside. We don’t remember who made it, but it confirmed that this was a special location. It is home to Braem-Pavillon, which is somewhere we hope to perform one day. It’s like a building from Planète Sauvage.

Ai Weiwei, “Libero,” Palazzo Strozzi (Firenze)
We saw this after our show in Milan last month. The spirit of irreverence is really inspiring. Portraits made out of legos and the trashing of the institutions which govern our past, combined with the general shock or realization of what it must be like to be an outspoken artist living in modern China. We take a lot for granted living in the West and being able to say and do as we please.

 
Marlene Dumas, “The Image As Burden,” Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam)
So many faces painted in oil: Pasolini, Marilyn Monroe, Amy Winehouse. Bleached, blinking faces that look like white noise, the common denominator being a general theme about death (and life) unified by the artist's style, which is somehow comforting and terrifying (I think we might have been very hung over for this one).

Yoko Ono, “We Are All Water,” MAC (Lyon) 
We are biased since we had a small work in one of the rooms here, a drip with a marble in it which was a percussive take on the theme. We were invited to participate by the curators of Nuits Sonores. We were very honored to be included, and when we visited this exhibition in Lyon we found it to be so much fun and full of life.
 

Grayson Perry, “Provincial Punk,” Margate Turner (UK) 
We were in the Turner Gallery rehearsing to do a performance with Pedro Reyes instruments which were in the main room, and we got to spend some time in the Grayson Perry exhibition next door, too. There’s no one quite like him. He confronts a lot of the hidden, smoldering tensions in British culture that no one else seems to want to talk about, and asks a lot of questions about identity and sexuality. He is also an advocate of art as therapy, which we feel strongly about, too: the benefits of using an artistic practice to unburden your subconscious.
 
Hannah Höch at Whitechapel Gallery (UK) 
We love collage, and our first two releases featured collage artwork by Ross Adams as well as three tomagazine zine editions of collages by Valentina and our friend Agnese Fortuna. Hannah Höch's work is a direct inspiration—the style and sensibility is brilliant. As well as that, she was a woman artist working prior to and during the Nazi stronghold in Germany. She had to overcome lots of prejudices and struggled with the Nazis and throughout continued to make great art. We consider some of our audio compositions to be a form of audio collage. 

 
Anish Kapoor at the Le Corbusier-designed Sainte Marie de La Tourette convent, near Lyon (France) All of Le Corbusier's architecture is amazing and utopian. This building is not only a functioning monastery—it was also full of Anish Kapoor artworks when we were taken here by our Lyonnaise friend Agathe Max. We took one of our favorite artist pictures in front of Kapoor's giant black convex mirror (photo attached).

Collection de l'Art Brut, Lausanne (Switzerland)  
These people were removed from society and made art in secret or in captivity, with pure or therapeutic intent. The life stories are as compelling as the art itself, and suffused with tragedy, joy, and different shades of sanity. It profoundly illustrates how art can act as salvation for those in pain.

Richard Serra at the Guggenheim (Bilbao) 
We performed at a squat party all night in Bilbao and the next day, after almost no sleep, we went to the Guggenheim and took refuge in the massive sculptures of Richard Serra. The sheer size and simplicity of these objects and the way they interact with the empty white stillness of the gallery space were amazing. We felt like they were almost sound objects in some impossible way. This inspired the song titled “Mountain Opener” from our first LP.

 

Böhm's Brutalist church in Neviges (Germany) 
Relax: there is no God. Here’s some concrete. Concrete makes for good churches as well as bunkers and venues. This is an inspiring place of brutal beauty that is pretty much the mecca for lovers of Brutalist architecture. We duly went on a pilgrimage to visit it. This church in West Germany has both a remarkable interior and exterior. We’d love to perform in here and hear the acoustics one day!

Futurist exhibition at the Guggenheim (New York) 
There is a spirit of playfulness that we definitely relate to in Futurism. And the fact that they tried to make typefaces imitate sounds is very appealing in a cross-format kind of way (see picture). We visited after our first-ever performance in America, opening for Deerhoof at Poisson Rouge. That was back in 2014. We had just started playing and were in an exultant mood.