Paul Kikuchi - Bat of No Bird Island

Release Date: 28.03.2015

Paul Kikuchi is a percussionist, composer, and sound artist whose work explores a wide range of styles – from chamber music to soundscape ecology – while also considering specificity of site and material, differences in awareness and intention, along with aspects of history, experience, and community.

Bat of No Bird Island blends the textured and fragile sonic landscapes of Japanese 78RPM records, static and feedback generated by old walkie-talkies, and traditional instrumental composition in an exploration of identity, displacement, culture, and belonging.  In re-imagining songs from his great grandfather’s collection of Japanese 78rpm records from the 1940’s - and exploring and interpreting his written memoir - Kikuchi has created a work that is a modernistic homage to early Japanese immigrants in the United States. 

Released as a CD, limited edition 10” vinyl record, and website, Bat of No Bird Island is a multi-faceted project that combines narrative, artifact, and sound. Each release format provides a unique insight into the process and inspiration of the work, and a different view of the work itself. The CD and digital download feature the full studio recordings from the project. The 10” record (limited to 100 copies) pairs two of Kikuchi’s re-imaginations with the two original Japanese songs from which they drew inspiration. Finally, the website provides more context in the form of memoir excerpts, photographs, and recordings from the original 78rpm records, while also deconstructing music from the album into short vignettes that are paired with photos and writings. 

Tracklist:

1. Ko Ni Mayou 06:23

2. Four Seasons of the Childhood 07:43

3. Seki No Oiwake 04:38

4. Asazuki Yuzuki 06:16

5. Aizen Yakyoku (part 1) 02:28

6. Aizen Yakyoku (part 2) 01:17

Blameful Isles - The Forgotten Continents EP

Release Date: 01.02.2015

Label: Urban Waves Records

Here's a bonus Digital EP by Blameful Isles made as a sophomore to all of you who liked last year's album "Then It's Not The End". A short yet powerful experience that will free your mind and help you think, meditate, love and explore your inner self like a journey through time and space. Remember that in dire times we thrive through spirituality. Stay true, be yourself, enjoy the ride and we'll see you on the other side.

Tracklist:

1. Orbital Stardust 03:32

2. Light Parade 04:08

3. Odysséen 08:48

4. Aberrant Life-signs 01:44

5. Essence of Love 03:01

6. The Temple Watcher (Malignant Presence) 07:13

Moki McFly - Keturi (EP)

Release Date: 07.11.2014

Label: Dusted Wax Kingdom

There should be as little space as possible between your eardrums and the pulsing diaphragm of the speaker trying to translate ethereal sound waves into vibrating pockets of air. one might consider wiring the bitstream of the output directly into the auditory cortex, thereby eliminating the inevitable distortions introduced by irregular vibrations of the eardrum. But such a brilliant invention is unlikely in my lifetime, so let's stick with the headphones.

Moki Mcfly is concerned with the fundamentals of electronic sound production. Sine waves, white noise, clicks, pops and beeps blurring the line of aesthetics that's jaggedly delicate, filled with melodic beauty but jostled by abrasive percussive hitches, undercut with sandpapery patches of ambient fuzz. It's a deft merging of gentle electronic tones and intricately free form rhythmic atmosphere, the sounds of old technology and the jazzy drive trying to reconcile its former gloss with its fading functionality.

But instead of celebrating corroded, neon-pastel magnetic-tape detritus for its own sake, the music on this album leans closer to an appreciation of the actual rhythmic counterpoints, quirks, and resonant qualities of frequencies. Alongside the moments that seem to revel in the flutter and crackle of old equipment are stretches that draw similar vibes from the sound of water to field recordings not to mention the texture you can get from good old-fashioned feedback. Yet even the moments where some songs feel secondary to the other instrumentation have a pulse to them, run through floaty guitars or humming synthesizers that converse with the ambient hiss in compelling ways. Still, neither the melody nor the ambience overwhelms the other. It's easy to hear the silky, billowy tones through the dying-battery distortion, but hard to picture what they'd sound like without it. Unlikely sounds are reappropriated and noise are looped until they’re essentially another instrument.

Tracklist:

Aomori

Primer 65

In Flux

Alpha Helix

Unspeakable

Kanlaon

Apostrophe Turning Away

Lumawig

Farewell To The Ark

Cartesian Dualism

Rosetta Stone

Aeons And Elementals

Download

Sick Rat - Abstrapped (LP)

Release Date: 12 August 2013

Label: Dusted Wax Kingdom

After the debut "Mind The Rat" EP, Sick Rat drops another release with Dusted Wax Kingdom.

It's a unique trip-hop/sample-based free jazz album full of heavy weight beats and sharp sound collages.

Tracklist:

Leaving

Changing Times

Rat Visions

Handwritings In Perdido Street (feat. Sup Nasa)

Funf (feat. Scootie Jackson, guitar by Jenova 7)

Double Personality (feat. Vitality)

Rainy Thoughts

I Remember (feat. Jenova 7)

Don't Be Blue (guitar by Sphinnix)

A Tune From The Abyss

Panoramic Future

When Broken Wings Take Flight (feat. Ali G)

Download

Mentz - Lines

Release Date: 20 November 2013

Label: esc. rec.

Discogs

Mentz is Stephan Raab, a jazz fanatic and music collector from the Netherlands making (small) musical collages for many years now. With roots in the early days of internet music (member of "tracker scene" groups like tokyodawn records and others), he developed a love for the limited possibilities of sample based music production. This concept is still the foundation for Mentz music. Building layers of found sound, recording other musicians and using these recordings as individual sample resources, he creates strange compositions with a unique warm sound. 

The Lines EP features four dreamy collages mostly produced and recorded in the summer before Mentz moved to Switzerland where he lives now. Main instrument on this EP is the trumpet played by Krisztián Ákos Muhari from Hungary, who studied at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague where he and Mentz became friends. Other musicians from earlier recording sessions featured on this EP are Wouter Suren (clarinet) and Bart Knol (rhodes).

Tracklist:

1. Introduction IIII 01:26

2. Dots 03:57

3. Paper 02:46

4. Sun [out] 02:09