Evan Parker - Winns Win (October 1, 2021 Byrd Out)

Free Jazz pioneer, Evan Parker returns to Walthamstow to record an album taking inspiration from the renowned designer and activist, William Morris at the home of the socialist campaigner, which now houses the William Morris Gallery.

The original working title for the album was 'Barbarism Once More', taken from a longer quotation from Morris, which reflects the passion, spontaneity and iconoclastic nature of Evan's playing. However, in light of the death of Evan’s friend and leading light of the improvising scene, John Russell, who lived on Winns Avenue, adjacent to the Gallery, Evan decided to offer a tribute to John, calling the album ‘Winns Win’.

Evan has spoken about entering "a utopian space" when he plays, to which a parallel can be drawn to Morris's novel 'News from Nowhere', and from there to Free Improvisation's early political leanings. The album presents nine spontaneous compositions that are very dense, though very melodical at the same time, using pattern and repetition as Morris did in his designs. This is music for headphones, or high-quality speakers - you’re in the room, hearing the movement of the saxophone keys and the breathing close at hand, with the sax in the middle of the room and panning providing a three-dimensional experience.

The album will be released on 1 October to coincide with the 125th anniversary of Morris's Death (3 October).

‘WW5’ will be released as a trailing single on 8 September. The track has the air of an expansion of what could have been a short beginning of a longer improvisation.

The original artwork is ‘Design for Flowerpot embroidery’ (designed c.1876) by William Morris, with additional design by Oliver Bancroft. The Gallery notes “Morris based the design on two Italian seventeenth-century lacis-work panels acquired by the South Kensington Museum in 1875. Lacis is a handmade net onto which a design is darned.” Thanks to William Morris Gallery and Waltham Forest Council for their support in producing the record. 

1. WW1

2. WW2

3. WW3

4. WW4

5. WW5

6. WW6

7. WW7

8. WW8

9. WW9

All tracks created and performed by Evan Parker.

Original design work by William Morris, additional design by Oliver Bancroft.

Sound Engineers, Dotan Cohen and Harry Loughlin. Mixing and mastering by Dotan Cohen.

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Lis Wessberg - Yellow Map (October 1, 2021 April Records)

Danish trombonist Lis Wessberg has enjoyed a 30-year career as a side(wo)man with a whole host of jazz and pop stars, touring internationally and featuring on more than 40 albums.

Now, three decades after graduating from the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen, she prepares to release her debut album Yellow Map (1st Oct, April Records).

The nine original compositions showcase the mellifluous melding of the acoustic trombone with more electronic and groove-based elements - as well as a special guest appearance of long-time collaborator drummer/percussionist Marilyn Mazur.

The tunes were written specifically for this lineup - pianist Steen Rasmussen, bassist Lennart Ginman and drummer Jeppe Gram - bringing a real sense of familiarity to the proceedings and allowing that unpredictable air of mystery and risk-taking that defines many great albums.

Wessberg herself cites ‘Cool Jazz’ icons such as Lee Konitz, Ben Webster, Chet Baker as major influences. It’s perhaps apparent in her personal approach, but the overall effect is much more cinematic: layers of sounds and instruments provide light and darkness, sincerity and excitement, joy and reflection.

Above all, though, Wessberg stays true to her concept that a good melody and a full, rich sound are the two most important elements of both performing and composing.

She leads the way with a vocal trombone tone filled with warmth and emotion.

1. The Strip 04:36

2. The Ancient Road 05:51

3. In Your Absence 04:38

4. Chimes 04:21

5. Midnights 05:00

6. Sister M 04:18

7. The Diver 04:47

8. Roots 05:44

9. Yellow Map 03:30

Lis Wessberg: Trombone

Steen Rasmussen: Fender Rhodes, Moog, Synths and Piano

Lennart Ginman: Bass and Electronics

Jeppe Gram: Drums

Special guest:

Marilyn Mazur: Balafon and Percussion on 'Sister M'

All compositions and arrangements by Lis Wessberg

Published by April Publishing ApS

Recorded by Louise Nipper

Mixed & mastered by Lars Nissen

Recorded at Soundscape Studio, Copenhagen, Denmark, January 12th-14th, 2021

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Carlos Barbosa-Lima & Johannes Tonio - Manisero (October 1, 2021 Zoho Music)

The extraordinary life story and career of Brazilian guitarist, arranger and teacher Carlos Barbosa-Lima has now spanned over six decades and crossed many musical genres, from Classical to Brazilian sambas and Bossa Novas, from Latin American folk music to Gershwin and Bernstein. According to his own count, he recorded more than 70 albums, including his most recent ten CDs for ZOHO Music. He has also published over 1000 guitar arrangements and transcriptions so far.

The composers and guitarists Carlos has befriended or collaborated with read like a virtual musical who-is-who of 20th century Classical music, and include Andres Segovia, Alberto Ginastera, Antonio Carlos-Jobim, Luiz Bonfa, and Leo Brouwer. His guitar arrangements and transcriptions have been recorded by many artists, including by his earlier duo partner Sharon Isbin.

In 2017, Carlos was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music at Five Towns College in Long Island, NY in recognition of his lifelong achievements in developing and performing Brazilian and Latin American repertoire for acoustic guitar.

His latest album Manisero, musically adventurous as ever, is covering unique new ground by being Carlos’ first album recorded in Munich, Germany. It is his first recorded collaboration with his frequent German classical guitar duo partner Johannes Tonio Kreusch, featuring a baker’s dozen of Carlos’ new arrangements of some of the most iconic Mexican, Brazilian, and Argentinian 20th century classics.

Johannes Tonio Kreusch, one of the “most creative classical guitarists of the present” (Acoustic Guitar Magazine), studied at the Salzburg Mozarteum and at the Juilliard School of Music in New York. Since his solo debut at the Carnegie Recital Hall in 1996, concert tours as a soloist and chamber musician have taken him to many cities in Europe, the USA, the Far East and Latin America. His intensive collaboration with composers of our time resulted in numerous new works for the guitar.

Johannes Tonio Kreusch regularly collaborates with renowned musicians from the fields of classical music and improvised music, such as Markus Stockhausen, Giora Feidman, and his brother, noted jazz pianist Cornelius Claudio Kreusch. Cornelius can be heard providing sparkling, but subtle piano accompaniments on four compositions on this album, in addition to being one of the producers.

With El Manisero (The Peanut Vendor), the duo starts on a brilliant high note with their version of what is arguably one of the most famous and well-loved Cuban songs of all time. It was written in 1927 by Moises Simon, (1889–1945), the Cuban son of a Spanish musician. Not only has the song been recorded hundreds of times since, it was also featured in many classic films, featuring Ernesto Lecuona, Judy Garland, and Groucho Marx,

Of similarly iconic status, but in Brazilian music of the 20th century, "Manhã de Carnaval" ("Carnival Morning"), written by Luiz Bonfa, appeared as a principal musical theme in the 1959 Portuguese-language film Orfeu Negro by French director Marcel Camus. The song’s musical genre-crossing appeal is evidenced by its many recordings by artists as diverse as Astrud Gilbero, Joan Baez, Frank Sinatra, Cher, Julio Iglesias, and Daniel Barenboim. 

Carlos’ arrangement of the slow Mexican bolero Solamente Una Vez by Agustin Lara, written in 1941, is another high point, with its Latin-swing improvisation, and with its sophisticated harmonic treatment. An English version of the song entitled “You Belong to My Heart” is featured in the live action/animated Disney Film “The Three Caballeros” from 1945.

Johannes Tonio Kreusch, Cornelius Claudio Kreusch, Carlos Barbosa-Lima

Canta, Canta Mais is a beautiful Brazilian ballad by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Vinicus de Moraes which was first released by the composer on a privately commissioned studio album in 1987 in a limited edition to celebrate his 60th birthday. It was re-released for the general public in 1995.

¡Ay, Jalisco, no te rajes! is a Mexican ranchera song by Manuel Esperón and Ernesto Cortázar Sr. It was written in 1941 and became an enormous hit in Mexico. The melody of the song was used as the title song of the previously mentioned Disney film The Three Caballeros.

Por Causa de Voce is a bossa nova song composed in 1957 by Antônio Carlos Jobim. The song became famous when Frank Sinatra recorded the song with Jobim in 1969, under the title "Don't Ever Go Away”, which was then released on his album Sinatra & Company in 1971.

Rosa, a Brazilian choro song, was composed by Alfredo Vianna AKA Pixinguinha when he was 18 years old, in 1917. It marked the beginning of a career which made Pixinguinha one of the most popular composers of Brazilian popular music in the first half of the 20th century.

"Cielito Lindo" is a popular traditional Mexican song, composed by Quirino Mendoza y Cortes in 1882. In recent decades it has come to be widely known as a theme song for Mexicans, particularly in international circumstances, like the Soccer Championship World Cup, where Mexican fans sang it to the Mexican national team.

With the next three tracks on the album, we are reaching one of the central milestones of Carlos’ career – his collaboration with the famous Argentinian classical composer Alberto Ginastera. Ginastera composed his Guitar Sonata op. 47 for Carlos in 1976 and dedicated it to him. As a sign of gratitude and appreciation, Carlos returned the favor to the maestro by creating virtuosic two-guitar arrangements of three compositions on this album: Danzas Criollas I & II are arrangements of Ginastera’s Suite de Danzas Criollas for Piano op. 15 from 1946. Gato originates from the composer’s song cycle Cinco Canciones Populares Argentinas op 10, from 1943.

No anthology of Latin American or Brazilian classical music can be possibly comprehensive if it does not include a work by Brazil’s leading 20th century composer Heitor Villa-Lobos! Sentimental Melody is the third movement of a large, 1958 Villa-Lobos composition called Floresta do Amazonas (Forest of the Amazon), a symphonic poem for voice, male chorus & orchestra, A. 551 which Carlos arranged into a stunningly beautiful two-guitar piece.

Beloved Mexican composer Manuel Ponce (1882 – 1948) wrote many compositions in classical and folkloric Mexican styles, but none of them as enduringly famous as his song Estrellita from 1912.

With their bi-cultural Brazilian-German collaboration on Manisero, Carlos and Johannes have given the acoustic guitar world a profoundly beautiful, multi-faceted and deeply touching work of art, giving the listener enjoyment, smiles, reflection and calmness of spirit in equal measure. Music can’t do more.

-- Joachim “Jochen” Becker and Kabir Sehgal

Carlos Barbosa-Lima-Johannes Tonio Kreusch

"Manisero"

(ZOHO ZM 202109)

Street  Date: October 1, 2021

Available From: • Amazon •Apple Music •Bandcamp •iTunes •Spotify

Matthew Stevens - Pittsburgh (October 1, 2021 Whirlwind Recordings)

He may not have known it before, but Toronto-born, New York-based guitarist Matthew Stevens, prized for his forceful, distinctive electric sound on Esperanza Spalding’s groundbreaking Emily’s D+Evolution, Exposure and the GRAMMY-winning 12 Little Spells, was an ideal candidate to make an album fully devoted to solo acoustic guitar: the intimate, unadorned, straightforwardly titled Pittsburgh. Stevens’ previous two outings, Woodwork (2015) and Preverbal (2017), made use of steel-string acoustic as a vibrant textural contrast, notably on “Brothers” and “Our Reunion” (featuring Spalding as guest and co-composer). Still, a solo acoustic album seemed to Stevens like a “maybe someday” prospect, if that. Then came the convergence of two major events — the COVID-19 pandemic and a fractured elbow.

By September 2020, Stevens was hunkering down in his wife’s family's hometown of Pittsburgh, still busy with adjunct teaching (virtually) at Baltimore’s Peabody Institute while navigating his way through the crisis. He had with him a vintage Martin 00-17, a small-body mahogany guitar that he bought not long after recording Exposure with Spalding (the studio had a different one in its possession and Stevens used it fairly extensively on that album). Practicing daily on the Martin, he began generating a series of short song “starts” — ideas and sketches he thought might lead somewhere. With the help of his friend, go-to drummer and producer Eric Doob, he made preliminary versions of some of the Pittsburgh material for The Jazz Gallery’s virtual “Lockdown Sessions” video series, and the vision started to take on a more concrete form.

Then one rainy Pittsburgh day, Stevens’ bike slid out from under him and he broke his right elbow. Rather than getting derailed musically, he became immersed in a creative process that led straight to Pittsburgh: a document of those short song “starts” from the notebook, now hatched as completed compositions. “Playing this music became a big part of my rehab,” Stevens recalls. “My aunt is a physical therapist, so I was doing sessions with her online. She said that what we do as guitar players is so specific, it uses muscle groups we’re not even aware of. She told me I needed to start playing as soon as I could, so those things don’t seize up and you don’t lose strength. She said, ‘I know you can’t lift a shopping bag, but if you feel like you can play at all you should play.’ I really could have been flailing, but the solo project offered me a different path: I had material to work on and I could just lose myself in it because it required so much repetition, such close attention to things that are slow and deliberate. It spared me from a lot of mental anguish."

As the album took shape, it became clear to Stevens that he was headed in the direction of a wholly unaccompanied recital, with no overdubs or sound layering of any kind. Just him and this special Martin, two Neumann U89 mics and enough peace of mind across two separate sessions to make Pittsburgh the triumph that it is. “I’ve always felt that playing acoustic is a great way to develop a touch and a connection to an instrument,” Stevens comments. “There’s no apparatus that helps you be expressive, play dynamically, or create ambience on an acoustic guitar. So when you develop that, it’s something you can carry with you into playing electric.”

Compositionally, there are discernible families of songs on Pittsburgh: the rapidly flowing, intricately arpeggiated pattern pieces such as “Purpose of a Machine,” “Can Am” (named in honor of Stevens’ recently acquired American citizenship) and “Cocoon” (a thorough reworking of a piece first heard on Preverbal); the tranquil, hymn-like songs “Foreign Ghosts,” “Ending Is Beginning” and “Miserere”; and the grittier, more timbrally “outside” inventions such as “Ambler” and “Northern Touch.” Throughout, we hear a rich resonance and immediacy in Stevens’ touch, a flavor all his own, even as he draws inspiration from John McLaughlin, Pat Metheny, Marc Ribot and other jazz guitar greats who’ve made acoustic exploration a significant part of their legacy.

In addition to his extensive high-profile work with Esperanza Spalding (serving as co-producer on Exposure and 12 Little Spells), Stevens is also a member, songwriter and co-producer of Terri Lyne Carrington’s GRAMMY-nominated Social Science band. He has made vital contributions to groups led by Dave Douglas, Linda May Han Oh, Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, Ben Williams, Sean Jones, Jacky Terrasson, Justin Kauflin and more. With tenor saxophonist Walter Smith III he co-leads the In Common collective, which will soon release its third volume with an extraordinary lineup featuring Carrington, Kris Davis and Dave Holland. Stevens has also amassed many credits beyond the jazz world, collaborating on forthcoming releases by Anna B Savage, Jamila Woods, Tyler Armes (Murdagang) and Berlin-based electronic artist Robag Wruhme.

1. Ambler

2. Purpose Of A Machine

3. Buckets

4. Can Am

5. Foreign Ghosts

6. Northern Touch

7. Cocoon

8. Ending Is Beginning

9. Blue Blues

10. Broke

11. Miserere

Matthew Stevens - guitar

All songs by Matthew Stevens

Recorded at Audible Images Studio, Pittsburgh PA

(28/01/21 and 04/03/2021)

Mixed and mastered by Jay Dudt

Produced by Matthew Stevens and Eric Doob

Executive Producer - Michael Janisch

Photography - Katie Brook

Album Artwork - Charles "Teenie" Harris

Graphic Design - Dave Bush

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I Hold the Lion's Paw - Lost in Place (October 1, 2021 Earshift Music)

If IHTLP’s first album Abstract Playgrounds was the sound of a close-knit group of improvisors riffing on the twisted funk of Miles Davis’s On the Corner, as filtered through the lens of James Brown and Fela Kuti, then this second, Lost in Place, is a whole other matter.

Instead of a continuation of the groove, this new album has taken a decidedly left turn, journeyed to a far darker place. Whereas previously, we heard the sustained groove of a creative unit playing live in the studio, this time round we find ourselves confronted by a portrait of the composer as alchemist, practising the dark arts in secret. If we were to invoke Miles once more, we could say that this is trumpeter and IHTLP leader Reuben Lewis’s Dark Magus phase, an album of stripped-down trumpet utterances, electronic soundscapes, and weird vibrations.

There is a starkness to this music, exemplified in the three and a half-minute opening track, comprised of a trumpet fanfare, modulated and distorted, played over electronic beats and synths. As the album progresses, we get subtle hints of Reggae, the harmolodics of Ornette Coleman’s Prime Time, trance, nods to prog rock, gentle refrains and riffs, free jazz, rhythmic percussion, scraps of guitar, saxophone, trombone. It’s a mash-up of influences, put through a grinder, adventurous and experimental at heart.

Reuben Lewis has drawn upon a talented pool of musicians to create this music: saxophonist Cheryl Durongpisitkul, trombonist Jordan Murray, cellist Freya Schack-Arnott, voice artist Emily Bennett, bassist Tom Lee, guitarists Geoff Hughes and Julius Schwing, electric bassists Mick Meagher and David Brown, and drummers Ronny Ferella, Michael McNab and Maria Moles. Rather than playing set pieces, these artists have instead contributed their sound palette, the base metal from which Lewis builds his vision. Each contribution has been broken down, isolated and sampled, filtered through a maze of electronics, then re-assembled, creating a sum distinct from its parts.

This is the musician as bricoleur, taking inspiration from the constructions of Kurt Schwitters and Dada, the raw sounds of Musique Concrète, the patterns and drones of early minimalism. The art of breaking down each performance into its constituent components, and re-building them into new and arresting forms. This is music as assemblage, using the studio as laboratory, a way of thinking about sound other than performance. Samples, loops, pedals, edits, every tool in the toolbox, whatever works. Making decisions on what to put in, and what to take out. Think Teo Macero and Miles carefully crafting ‘Pharoah’s Dance’, practising sorcery in post-production.

If looking to nominate a guiding spirit behind Lost in Place, we would do well to look to visionary late trumpeter and composer Jon Hassell who, through to his ninth decade, continued to make music as vital and powerful as that of any time in his career. Proponent of a Fourth World aesthetic, Hassell was an innovator and touchstone for the experimental layering of sound built upon samples, overdubs, fragments and loops. A sonic explorer, his musical montages are an acknowledged inspiration for Reuben Lewis’s work.

While Lost in Place is sequenced as eleven tracks, it is best approached as two unbroken flows of music, divided into Side A and Side B. But let’s dwell upon those titles for a moment. The album’s title Lost in Place can’t help but feel like a nod to the Sun Ra classic Space is the Place (and there’s plenty of interplanetary synths going on here), or then again it could be an allusion to the Robinson family, bouncing around in space, dedicating each day (or episode) to finding home. The album’s individual track titles, when lined up, form an incantatory sound poem: finding place / place in space / losing place / rest in place / space in place / losing space (and so on). The music circles, jabs and feints, all-the-while trying to find a place to rest. Layer upon layer, ever-searching, it incrementally builds, progressing headlong toward Emily Bennett’s spoken word piece, sounding a crie de coeur, that effectively closes the circle, reprising an echo of the opening fanfare, this time with renewed urgency. But, alas, there are no easy answers, and the album’s ending remains intentionally unresolved, splintering and fracturing into otherworldly sounds, dark and ambiguous.

More than anything, Lost in Place feels like a bold conceptual statement, a recording seeded out of doubt and uncertainty. In toying with the mirrored words place/space, Reuben Lewis has given us a timely meditation on our growing need to navigate a path through overwhelming social, economic and global turmoil, as we seek a place – even if temporarily – to land. Let’s face it, in these times, we need it now more than ever.

1. finding place

2. place in space

3. losing place

4. rest in place

5. space in place

6. losing space

7. place for space

8. in your place

9. fixed in space

10. Queensland

11. lost in place

12. finding place (radio edit)

13. losing space (radio edit)

Creative Team:

Reuben Lewis – trumpet, synthesisers, pedals, samples

Emily Bennett – voice, words

Freya Schack-Arnott – cello

Cheryl Durongpisitkul – alto saxophone

Jordan Murray – trombone

Julius Schwing – electric guitar

Geoff Hughes – electric guitar

Mick Meagher – electric bass

David Brown – electric bass

Tom Lee – acoustic bass

Ronny Ferella – drums

Michael McNab – drums

Maria Moles – drums

Liner Notes: Des Cowley

Compositions: Reuben Lewis

Produced: Reuben Lewis

Co-Produced: Myles Mumford

Recorded: Reuben Lewis, Ari Roze, Myles Mumford

Mixed: Myles Mumford

Mastered: William Bowden

Photography: Jack Lewis

Design: Dianne Fogwell, Jack Lewis, Takashi Takiguchi

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Ben Marc - Breathe Suite (October 1, 2021 Innovative Leisure)

It’s a rare talent that can link Radiohead’s Johnny Greenwood, Ethio-jazz pioneer Mulatu Astatke, Afrofuturists Sun Ra Arkestra and grime legend Dizzee Rascal, but Ben Marc has long blurred musical worlds and criss-crossed boundaries. On double and bass guitar, he flits between jazz, classical and electronic music, whether playing on Greenwood’s award-winning score for the film The Master or touring with Mulatu for over 10 years, as well as working with the likes of Matthew Herbert & Charles Mingus.

But as a producer and multi-instrumentalist at the leading edge of the UK jazz scene, Ben Marc is now stepping into the spotlight with his debut solo project that recalls the likes of spiritual jazz legends Alice Coltrane & Pharoah Sanders.

1. Breathe Suite A (feat. MidnightRoba)

2. Breathe Improv A

3. Breathe Suite B (feat. Shabaka Hutchings & Rarelyalways)

4. Breathe Improv B

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Rachel Flowers - Bigger on the Inside (October 1, 2021)

California artist Rachel Flowers demonstrates with her third solo album that she truly is, as the title suggests, "Bigger on the Inside." As a composer, Rachel seamlessly weaves together elements of progressive rock, jazz, classical, and pop music with cinematic orchestrations, soaring melodies, and virtuosic playing. Top this off with Rachel's 3 1/2 octave vocal range and her uncanny ability to explore universal themes ranging from love, joy, and hope to depression, bullying, and fear of an uncertain future with sensitivity and optimism, and you have an album that is destined to stand the test of time.

1. A B

2. Take Me Away

3. Too Much

4. Love Today

5. This is the Way I Am

6. The Darkness

7. Feel

8. Beautiful Dream

9. With You

Record Producer: Rachel Flowers

Executive Producer: Jeanie Flowers

Project Manager: Robert Minsk

Album Art & Design: Vaughan Flowers @v.d.flowers_art

Recording & Mixing: Rachel Flowers at Bedroom Studios, Oxnard, CA

Mastering: Steven D. Smith At My Loft Studios and The Cannery, Kirkland, WA www.stevesmithrecording.com

All songs composed by Rachel Flowers (ASCAP) except This is the Way I Am music by Rachel Flowers (ASCAP), lyrics by Jeanie Flowers (ASCAP). All vocals and instruments performed by Rachel Flowers.

℗© 2021 Rachel Flowers Music

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DE GHOST (Sknail)

AXIS

DE GHOST is the new electro project (electronica) of Swiss producer Sknail.

"AXIS", the 2nd single from the 10 tracks album

"Luxe" to be released on October 1st,

is out today!

BUY / STREAMING

NEW MUSIC VIDEO

Thollem / Karl Berger - Thollem's Astral Traveling Sessions (October 1, 2021)

I had the great fortune to meet Karl Berger and Ingrid Sertso at their home in Kingston, NY through Michal Bisio who also lives there, of course. I came to town to play a concert with Michael at the Lace Mill and Angela and I spent a few days in the area at Bill Brovold's place. Segments of a recording in duo with Bill as well as a duo with Michael are both included in the August compilation album in the series.

Karl Berger is a six time winner of the Downbeat Critics Poll as a jazz soloist, recipient of numerous Composition Awards ( commissions by the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, European Radio and Television: WDR, NDR, SWF, Radio France, Rai Italy. SWF-Prize 1994 ). Professor of Composition, Artist-in-Residence at universities, schools and festivals worldwide; PhD in Music Esthetics.

Karl Berger became noted for his innovative arrangements for recordings by Jeff Buckley ("Grace"), Natalie Merchant ("Ophelia"), Better Than Ezra, The Cardigans, Jonatha Brooke, Buckethead, Bootsie Collins, The Swans, Sly + Robbie, Angelique Kidjo a.o.; and for his collaborations with producers Bill Laswell, Alan Douglas ("Operazone"), Peter Collins, Andy Wallace, Craig Street, Alain Mallet, Malcolm Burn, Bob Marlett a.m.o. in Woodstock, NY. New York City, Los Angeles, Tokyo, London, Paris, Rome.

He recorded and performed with Don Cherry, Lee Konitz, John McLaughlin, Gunther Schuller, the Mingus Epitaph Orchestra, Dave Brubeck, Ingrid Sertso, Dave Holland, Ed Blackwell, Ray Anderson, Carlos Ward, Pharoah Sanders, Blood Ulmer, Hozan Yamamoto and many others at festivals and concerts in the US, Canada, Europe, Africa, India, Phillippines, Japan, Mexico, Brazil.

His recordings and arrangements appear on the Atlantic, Axiom, Black Saint, Blue Note, Capitol, CBS, Columbia Double Moon, Douglas Music, Elektra , EMI, Enja, Island, JVC, Knitting Factory, In&Out, MCA, Milestone, Polygram, Pye , RCA, SONY, Stockholm, Vogue a.o.

Founder and director of the Creative Music Foundation, Inc., dba The Creative Music Studio, a not-for-profit corporation, dedicated to the research of the power of music and sound and the elements common to all of the world’s music forms; and to educational presentations through workshops, concerts, recordings, with a growing network of artists and CMS members worldwide.

Conducted CMS Residencies worldwide. In the 90s, Dr. Berger was Professor of Composition and Dean of Music Education at the Hochschule fuer Musik, Frankfurt / Germany. Chairman of the Music Department at UMass Dartmouth till 2006.

Now re-establishing CMS programming in collaboration with producer Rob Saffer, directing the CMS Archive Project, recording and producing.

Performing internationally with the Allstar Ensemble "In the Spirit of Don Cherry" and with numerous projects, collaborating with vocalist/poet Ingrid Sertso ( contact CreativeMusicAgency@gmail.com ). Recording a Trlogy of Piano Music for Tzadik Records. Collaborating with bassist Ken Filiano, vocalist Ingrid Sertso (KIK) + guitarist Kenny Wessel (KIKK). The Karl Berger Improvisers Orchestra, completed 75 performances in New York since the Spring of 2011 (see BLOG at www.karlberger.org). New collaboration in Europe with drummer Baby Sommer, bassist Antonio Borghini, guitarist Carsten Radtke, vocalist/poet Ingrid Sertso (DIFFERENT STANDARDS). Collaborating with cornetist Ken Knuffke, violinist Jason Hwang, saxophonists Ivo Perelman, Peter Apfelbaum, Mercedes Figueras, drummers Harvey Sorgen, Tani Tabbal, Warren Smith, Tyshawn Sorey. bassists Joe Fonda, Mark Helias, Max Johnson, William Parker, trumpeter Steven Bernstein and others for recordings and performances. 

1. Thollem / Berger 1

2. Thollem / Berger 2

3. Thollem / Berger 3

Karl Berger, Vibraphones

Thollem, Piano

Recorded and mixed by Karl Berger at his studio in Kingston, NY, December, 2019

Edited by Thollem

Mastered by Drake Hardin

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Wendy Eisenberg - Bloodletting (October 1, 2021 Out Of Your Head Records)

Bloodletting, recorded, March 22th, 2019 at Firehouse 12 in New Haven, is a performance of a long form text score I wrote around late 2018. Unlike directive text scores that indicate through order or poetry what should be played (or evoked), my score is a block of text, written to be memorized and then performed using the nonlinear randomness of memory.The purpose of this form of text-score was to mimic, through memory and temporal distance, the way the eye dances on a page, selecting what it does, when it does. This kind of reading, or recalling, affords the eye, the memory, some separation from the linearity that written language encourages. I wrote these scores because I was curious about why it was that text scores seemed to suggest, by abandoning notation, some kind of populism, when the simplest or most direct language seems (to me) to be the most confusing, especially when remembered. Also, scores which tell a person what to do, via order or poetry, still dictate behaviors. The hierarchy between composer and performer was still there, fluxing as always, not entirely subverted. I wrote this practice to see if memory worked differently.

The nature of this particular suite is personal, in large part because the way memory works is personal, but also because right now, I want the memorized block of text to exist privately for me, ever altered by the process of memory the longer I hold on to it. I have started some similar pieces for other musicians, but for this particular suite, it feels strange to ask another musician to memorize the thousands of words I engaged with in the months prior to this performance, and stranger still to provide an audience with a way to forensically dissect what they hear in a form that is in no way intended to function as a one-to-one translation, if such a thing exists. Such an intimate performance of memorization, such an intimate dissection: these moves are eerily close to some of the practices of loving.

- Wendy Eisenberg

1. Bloodletting (guitar)

2. Ostara (guitar)

3. Scherzo (guitar)

4. Coda (guitar)

5. Bloodletting (banjo)

6. Ostara (banjo)

7. Scherzo (banjo)

8. Coda (banjo)

Wendy Eisenberg - guitar/banjo

Recorded and engineered by the team at Firehouse 12 in New Haven, March 22 2019

Mixed by Peter Atkinson

Mastered by Simon Lancelot

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Brett Naucke - Mirror Ensemble (October 1, 2021 American Dreams)

“I guess this is my indie rock record,” jokes Chicago electronic musician and composer Brett Naucke - he’s referring to his new LP Mirror Ensemble, created in conjunction with Windy City mainstays Natalie Chami (TALsounds) and Whitney Johnson (Matchess). The album is still leagues outside the confines of “indie rock,” and yet - with its embrace of other collaborators and robust instrumentation - it’s a major departure from his earlier, fully synth-based output, even if modular synthesizers still form its backbone. For one, the songs on Mirror Ensemble sound like...well, songs, often boasting melodic vocalization, strings, and lush layered synthesis. To curate such a cohesion, Naucke utilized scenes from Andrei Tarkovsky’s foundational 1975 film The Mirror as a signpost for mood and atmosphere. It paid off - Mirror Ensemble is bold and beautiful, demonstrating the peak possibilities of focused creation and trust in those closest to you.

It’s of utmost importance to note that Naucke, Chami, and Johnson are very, very close friends, and that tight kinship is the secret glue for Mirror Ensemble - look no further than the origin point to see. “He invited Whitney and I over for wine and cheese,” begins Chami, “and was like, ‘I have an idea for a record. He showed us clips from The Mirror with the vibe he wanted, and also shared recordings and other ideas. It was straight up like a fucking PowerPoint almost - like an audio-visual presentation for us.” Soon after the group set to creating - recording at Chami’s house, and building off of what Brett had laid down as initial arrangements and synthesizer passages, Chami and Johnson composed and played viola, piano, keyboard synthesizers, and vocal sections.

Film, photography, and visuals have always been important to Naucke’s practice, especially on earlier narrative albums like The Mansion, and it’s fully baked into the sound and feel of Mirror Ensemble. “I remember he played one scene with rain, fire, people kind of moving in and out of the buildings,” recalls Johnson. “It's probably 10 minutes, and there’s a convergence of so many elements.” Specific images like a tattered quilt, a creaky bed, a look between two people - all of these components impacted the trio’s recordings - these were often used as guides for improvisations, which were overlaid on Naucke’s modular synthesizer and other pre-composed sections.

Naucke’s vision for Mirror Ensemble is crystal clear, as are the record’s sonics. From the outset of “The Glass Shifting,” with its evocative viola, textural synth, and duet vocals from Johnson and Chami, it’s clear that Naucke is upping the sense of scale and narrative. Juxtaposing that relatively short piece with the next song, the longform “A Look That Tells Time,” Naucke takes the listener through a massive range of frequencies and timbres. “A Look That Tells Time” moves calmly from organ tones, plucky percussion, and gentle viola to lush, patient synthesizer that swells and stirs. Others like “Sleep With Your Windows Open” are naked, like you stumbled into a rehearsal you weren’t meant to see, but can’t stop watching. On it, Natalie Chami plays piano and sings softly. Room sounds impart a sense of the space, and synthesizer fades in and out, just enough to make its presence known, but never overstaying its welcome.

Mirror Ensemble is Naucke at his compositional and conceptual best. It’s a synthesizer record, an orchestral record, and in some ways even a soundtrack. While not quite indie rock, it’s a fierce burst into new territory, and with Naucke’s adventurous, ambitious writing and recording, there’s no telling where his attention will turn next. 

1. Vanity Well

2. The Glass Shifting

3. A Look That Tells Time

4. Catch Your Breath

5. Parallax

6. Rose Water 03:55

7. Sleep With Your Windows Open

8. Late-Century Reflection

Voice, Synthesizer, Organ, Piano - Natalie Chami

Viola, Violin, Organ - Whitney Johnson

Arrangement, Synthesizer, Organ, Piano - Brett Naucke

Mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri

Photography - Michael Vallera & Brett Naucke

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1010 Ensemble - Lullaby for the Distance (October 1, 2021 Ramble Records)

The sessions for Lullaby for the Distance began towards the end of 2018 and stopped mid 2020 as Covid-19 ended 1010 Ensemble's improvisational sessions.

These 4 pieces showcase the wonderful, intuitive talents of two exceptional artists pushing each other's boundaries like a couple of seasoned pugilists; the free form piano's cosmic vamping against the driving rhythm offers a wonderful counterpoint eventually syncing in to explore a celestial motif.

The confluence of Matt Norman's rhapsodic but lilting, melodic piano lines combined with Kraig Ludensky's responsive and tribal percussion and brushed drum strokes creates a wonderfully chaotic and evocative soundtrack.

Matt Norman and Kraig Ludensky met by a chance encounter and, after a brief discussion, believed their diverse tastes in music could, perhaps, create a potent elixir for reflection, joy and madness.

 

Matt Norman – piano; A self-taught player living in Austin, TX has played up and down the West Coast over the years with the elders of the free and Avant-garde music scene.  Matt has engaged audiences with his unique sound, embracing the spiritual, lyrical and mystical elements of modern music, while celebrating the explorations of the past.

 

Kraig Ludensky – percussion; lives in Austin, TX. Kraig has performed with musicians and dancers from a wide range of genres in the United States, India, Europe and Japan. Kraig’s has studied music in India, Japan and the United States. 

1. Lullaby for the Distance

2. Rain Dance

3. B1 Embracable Midnights (Part one Disappearance of Abstraction)

4. Our Quarantied Telepathy

Matt Norman: piano, keyboard, organ, toy piano

Kraig Ludensky: drums, percussion, tabla, kulintang

All compositions improvised by 1010 Ensemble - Matt Norman and Kraig Ludensky

Mastered by Anders Peterson at GS Mastering and Post Stockholm, Sweden and Mike Sill, Melbourne, Australia

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Vasilaraps - Four Kaminetti for Guitar Duet (October 1, 2021 Ramble Records)

Four Kaminetti for Guitar Duet is a partnership between two young Greek guitarists Giannis Arapis and Themis Vasiliou.

All rights of the musicology and biological research belong to musicologist Sergei Kapiliev.

Vasilaraps (1905, Syros - ?)

Vasilaraps was a Greek composer of Ethiopian origin. He was an innovator composer of an unprecedented musical style, combining elements of the Greek rebetiko with atonality and 12note technique.

Born in 10 of May, 1905 in the suburb Skali (Ano Chora, Syros) with royal roots of the Aksumite kingdom, hence his name.

In 1920, he moved to Athens where he got involved with the hangouts of rebetiko music. Soon, he became a virtuoso of the greek folk guitar, but without recording any of his music.

In 1935 he decided to study composition near the famous Dmitri Shostakovich in Moscow, where he settled for the rest of his life (as we can guess). From that moment he changed radically and got fully integrated into the artistic circles of the country and more generally in the local way of life.

However, few years later, after he had composed several works (most of them for guitar ensembles) he got suffered from depression and due to this hard situation, he walked away from the musical foreground. From this point onwards we have zero information about the rest of his life and activities. Probably, he ‘s not even alive for years now.

A serious musicologic research lights on some authentic manuscripts, scores and rare recordings in reel and cylinder. A basic source comes from the grand daughter of an old friend of his.

We thought, it will be unthinkable not to perform these works for guitar and finally, we got together and recorded those» as Giannis and Themis, characteristically state.

His work allows us to designate it in two significant periods of his style : The first one which is thearly period and the second one which follows the late period of his work.

In his 1st period (1935-1953) we find works with intense Greek folk and traditional idiomas in a extremely skilled mix with the style of the Russian contemporary music.

In his 2nd period we recognize a turn into atonality and 12note technique without the characteristics of rebetiko missing (rebetiko accompanies the musical nature of the composer, as much as we know) is probable, that the turn into atonality congruent with the gradual de-stalinization in Russia, without failing to mention that the composer faced the fear of censorship in the past.

Unfortunately, his entire work is still under investigation by the musicologist Sergei Kapiliev (1984 - ). The works you ‘re about to listen are brilliant samples of this musical research :Laiki (public market), op.32 SK11 (first period), Dentro (a tree), op.79 SK12 (second period) Gries (grannies), op.25 SK05 (f.p.), Siviriko (siberian), op. 102 SK15 (s.p.) 

1. Laiki

2. Dentro

3. Gries

4. Siviriko

Guitars: Giannis Arapis and Themis Vasiliou

Mastering by Mastering: Anders Peterson @ Ghostounds Mastering and Post, Stockholm, Sweden

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Opek - Corners (October 1, 2021 Wadada Records)

„Paths meet at the corner. People have a drink and talk at the corner. The point where two paths meet is more than a linear function. The X marks the point where two ideas meet, sometimes worlds meet, cosmoses meet, or maybe just two people meet.

Drummer and producer Opek couldn’t have made this album alone, nor would he have wanted to, because the magic comes from collaboration.

For the album ‘Corners’, Opek invited some of his favorite musicians from the Ruhr area for each and every track.

Sometimes the guests were invited as soloists (Julius van Rhee on ‘The Lighthouse’), sometimes he recorded an artist for hours just to find the perfect bass loop (Caris Hermes on ‘Finders Keepers’). The result is an intimate mixture of noisy instrumental hip hop and honest jazz.

Check your corner(s)!“

„Opek prefers the cozy retirement life over the hectic leasing lifestyle. The beatproducer, drummer and rapper was born in the Ruhr area in 1990. Not on coal and not on gold, but somewhere where there was a computer and a big brother who explained to him around 2004 how ‘Fruity Loops’ works and what a snare is. And then there was hip hop, this thing that can suddenly fill every spare minute.

After years of drunken freestyles in the park and nights of producing on Windows 98 computers, he moved on (via excursions into guitar music) to jazz. This wondrous music brought Opek to the Netherlands in 2011, where he devoted himself to the art of jazz drumming for 4 years. After that he landed in Dortmund with empty pockets. Eventhough he was filled with doubt, he kept firing up the machines, even the MPC had a bigger purpose than a doorstop or ashtray holder.

Expeditions then took Opek to almost every smoky backstage in Germany and Switzerland, especially as a drummer and producer in the trio ‘Schlakks, Opek & Razzmatazz’. He now shares an office space with ‘Cerm MC’ aka. ‘Cmern’. This is how the joint project ‘Cmern & Opsay’ came into being, where even a serious word about bumpy beats is allowed to fall.

The greyness of the city is and remains the inspiration and drive for Opek to create even more cozy sounds. And so he continues to create hits that could be played in a museum in 400 years, provided that the USB sticks will last.“

1. Intro

2. The Lighthouse

3. Finders, Keepers 03:46 video

4. Elevations

5. Tim Skit

6. Copy That

7. No Coincidence

8. Michi Skit

9. Codes

10. Out Here

DRUMS, SAX & TROMPONE RECORDED AT IFPOM BOCHUM

ALL MUSIC ARRANGED, PRODUCED AND MIXED BY OPEK

MASTERED - LEON MACHE

ARTWORK - PARISSA CHARGI & DIE OTTOS

PHOTO - CERM

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Geir Sundstøl - St​.​ Hanshaugen Steel (October 1, 2021 Hubro Music)

After appearing on more than 400 albums as a sideman and session player, multifaceted guitarist and instrument collector Geir Sundstøl gave us a trilogy of his, long awaited, own compositions. Now he is back, with a follow-up to Norwegian Grammy-/Spellemannpris- winning album Brødløs.

St.Hanshaugen Steel offers an extraordinarily wide range of genre references, and takes us further into Sundstøl’s original and distinctive soundscapes. With clear cinematic features, Sundstøl displays an ever impressing variety of instruments, sliding from the deep and rough bass harmonica to the sharp, circus-like marxophone. In between, multiple layers of glimmering steel. Guest appearances by he angelic Sølvguttene boys’ choir bring utter goose bumps, while other parts of St.Hanshaugen Steel might induce the darker chills of Nordic Noir.

The album St.Hanshaugen Steel is an homage to the factory bearing the same name. The steel factory, founded by the somewhat evasive Jebsen Brothers, was in operation between 1890 and 1969, and was located on St.Hanshaugen in Oslo, which now is a highly popular residential area, and Sundstøl’s own stomping ground.

But rather than the chimes of industry, St.Hanshaugen Steel pays attention to the nuts and bolts that give rise to the whole machine. The title may, of course, also be a reference to Geir Sundstøl’s reputable broad spectrum-treatment of the pedal steel guitar.

While the sound of St.Hanshaugen Steel shares points of continuity with earlier Sundstøl Hubro releases Furulund (2015), Langen Ro (2016) and Brødløs (2018), there are some important departures. A new palette of sound-making devices, from Sundstøl’s hording of synthesizers, has made its quite audible mark.

«Being born in the late sixties, vocoders, Simmons synth drums, and synths in general, sound very modern to me.» Hours of exploration and studies of this “modernity” shine through this otherwise organic music, as does the analog modification of familiar sounds:

«Initially, it startet out as a technical project. I wanted to explore the possibilities of recording pedal steel onto analog tape, at 30 ips, and then slowing it down to 15 ips. Exactly an octave below. There are still traces of that experiment on the album (tracks Smet and Våg), but the exploration turned into songs.»

Another experiment developed into the eclectic track Hoven:

«I fiddled with the pitch controller on my raga box. It slowly evolved into a strange melody. It was still a Hindu melody, but when we added the church-like bass lines and the boys’ choir, it morphed into a multi-religious song.»

Like his first and third album (the sec0ond was recorded at St.Jakob church in Oslo), Sundstøl made the St.Hanshaugen Steel at home, in his Studio Intim. Once again calling upon some of his favourite musical brothers in arms; drummer and percussionist Erland Dahlen, bass players Mats Eilertsen and Jo Berger Myhre, and pianist/keyboardist David Wallumrød.

Although Sundstøl himself handles a vast variety of sometimes “unusual” instruments  - he is indeed a collector as well as a composer and musician - the presence of these “usual suspects” is crucial to achieve the Sundstøl musical universe. Erland Dahlen is also often by Sundstøl’s side at live performances. A Duo Extraordinaire.

A unique voice, yet new to this particular universe, is Arve Henriksen, who leaves his personal mark on the opening track, Våg. «I had admired Arve’s lyrical expression for years, and finally I mustered up the confidence to ask him to participate.» Initially, the trumpeter was asked to play on the outro of Våg, but he «got carried away, and added 10 tracks of trumpet and horn. We recorded Våg, thinking half-speed pedal steel, upright bass and 80’s Simmons Drums would be the core of the song. It came out a little more than that.”

Sundstøl describes the further tracks on St.Hanshaugen Steel:

“Lyssky” draws inspiration from spooky British sci-fi as well as pompous, white wig-wearing composers. David takes us on a trembling journey with his Arp synth.

KA is Indian Shankar- and National guitar-Blues. Handheld bells, analogue synths and Norway’s most beloved traditional boys’ choir, Sølvguttene. The thought of their singing in my living room still fills me with awe.

Kløpper: Mats (Eilertsen) sent me a bass line, without any instruction. I found it especially tricky to add the Mini Pops drum machine. Certainly a backwards way of doing things, but valuable. The melodica solo is an homage to the late Augustus Pablo. Pedal steel and National guitar on a bed of dub beats. My Bermuda Triangle.

Hoven: It’s got ethereal organ, Christian church-like bass over a twisted Hindu beat. I play the usual National- and pedal steel guitar, and to top it off, we added the Sølvguttene boys’ choir,. A ‘multi-culti’ song if there ever was one, with a spiritual twist.

Smet: This is quite an eerie mix of cold DX7 synth, electric insects running around Erland’s snare drum, upright bass and Parisian toy pianos. It bears traces of the mentioned technical experiment; recording steel at high speed and then slowing it down.

Omsorg: I don’t write music - I play, make mistakes that sound good, and then try to create something out of that. This track has guitar-o-phone, optigan, steel, national guitar, organ and an upright bass that sounds like an old motor boat. The bass function lies in the harmonica. And the title translates to “care”.

Pøs: 80’s vocoder and Shankar guitar paired with the Wurlitzer Side Man, the world’s first drum machine. This is probably the only track that bears any resemblance to industrial sounds. It has a somewhat old fashioned melody line, like something the great Cornelis Vreeswijk would have sung about a dad working at the factory.

For me, melody is the key. If there’s no melody, or if the melody doesn’t add up, I don’t get it.» 

1. Våg 05:11

2. Lyssky

3. Ka

4. Kløpper

5. Hoven

6. Smet

7. Omsorg

8. Pøs

Musicians:

Erland Dahlen: drums, drum machine, steel drum, log drum, marching toms, xylophone, dulcimer, musical saw, Schulmerich handbells, waterphone, electric insects, blossom bells and triangle.

David Wallumrød: Minimoog, Prophet 5, Arp Pro Soloist, Hohner clavinet and Juno 6.

Mats Eilertsen: acoustic bass and organ.

Jo Berger Myhre: acoustic and electric bass.

Arve Henriksen: trumpet and vocals.

Sølvguttene: boys’ choir vocals.

Geir Sundstøl: pedal steel, National duolian, Shankar guitar, six string bass, Yamaha CS-20, optigan, harmonica, bass harmonica, cümbüs, guitar banjo, mandolin, Prime Time loops, Yamaha DX7, Logan String Melody, melodica, tabla and drum machines, Michelsonne toy piano, marxophone, guitarophone, Simmons SDS8, concert harp, Juno 6, cither, and Roland SVC 350 vocoder.

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Phelan Burgoyne - Yazgol / An anthology of previously unrecorded compositions by Paul Motian (October 1, 2021)

An anthology of previously unrecorded compositions by Paul Motian

1. Uhm Hum 05:02

2. Riff Raff 04:30

3. Night 06:33

4. Tacho 02:13

5. Tangram 02:52

6. Sidetracked 01:15

7. Carnival 04:04

8. Zimbabwe 04:48

9. Prairie Avenue Cowboy 01:40

10. Wonderful One 05:41

11. Untitled 1. 03:23

12. Tales of the Unexpected 02:15

13. Armenian Melody (Piano) 02:39

14. If Its Not One Thing, Its Another 01:29

15. Sam Brown 03:56

16. Untitled 2. 04:34

17. The Hymn 02:18

18. Oleevio 00:34

19. Benny D. 03:39

20. Uptown Walk 03:51

21. September 03:16

22. Armenian Melody (Duduk) 02:26

Phelan Burgoyne - drums, percussion (1,2,3,78,9,10,16,19,20)

Kit Downes - piano (4,5,6,12,13)

Larry Grenadier - double bass (11)

Zac Gvirtzman - clarinets, tenor saxophone, accordion, duduk, piano (7,16,17,18,22)

Rob Luft - electric guitar (1,2,3,8,9,10,19,20)

Nicolas Masson - tenor saxophone (21)

Martin Speake - alto saxophone (1,2,3,8,9,10,19,20)

Fred Thomas - double bass, tenor banjo - (7,14,16,17)

Tal Yahalom - classical guitar (15)

Mixed and mastered by Gardar Edvaldsson

Design by Phelan Burgoyne - Paul Motian Passport Photo March 1975 ©Paul Motian Archive

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Olicía - Liquid Lines (October 1, 2021)

Olicía is the band of Fama M’Boup and Anna-Lucia Rupp. They live in Berlin and Copenhagen, Denmark, and share a common base in Dresden, Germany, where they met studying music, founding their own label o-cetera soon after. The two are also members of Sophie Hunger’s current band supporting her latest album “Halluzinationen”.

“Liquid Lines”, the debut album by Olicía, arrives after two Eps in 2018 and 2019 and countless concerts in the last years. It was recorded with Miles Deiaco at Monoton Studio, Berlin, and will be released on October 1st 2021. Guests on “Liquid Lines” include experimental French harpist Laura Perrudin, Drummer Demian Kappenstein (ÄTNA), and the songwriter and bass clarinetist Wencke Wollny (Karl die Große).

“Liquid Lines” is going to take on two different forms. There will be a regular 10-track digital album on streaming services, whereas the physical album is going to be a 20 track/two disk affair: each Lp or Cd functioning as an entirely different version of the album with regards to lyrics, instrumentation, grooves, collaboration partners, or even language. It makes for a listening experience that is quite unique: Immersing oneself in the dreamlike variations of these songs as the two women are emphasizing, obscuring or replacing certain elements, oftentimes actually veering off into something completely new and unexpected. That’s how Fama and Anna-Lucia would like this album to be understood - as a reflection on the liquid lines of demarcation of what constitutes a song. And - in the grander scheme - the infinite possibilities that constitute art and life itself. The “Liquid Lines” of tweaking and amending, bending and adjusting, of thinking, unthinking, and rethinking the same thing.

1. Blue Hour (Orange Version)

2. Outer Space (Orange Version)

3. Préférences (Orange Version)

4. Texture Of Words (Violet Version)

5. Water (Orange Version)

6. Pulse (Orange Version)

7. Lullabies (Violet Version)

8. Bleu (Violet Version)

9. Go Go Go (Orange Version)

10. Gently In My Mind – Loop Impro (Violet Version)

Anna-Lucia Rupp - voc, fx, guit, pocketpno, qarqaba

Fama M’Boup - voc, fx, kora, dr pad, asalato, qarqaba   less

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