[Music] Looking For The Balearic Beat / December 2018 — Ban Ban Ton Ton

https://www.mixcloud.com/widget/iframe/?feed=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mixcloud.com%2FHamonRadio%2F89-dr-rob-looking-for-the-balearic-beat-december-2018%2F&hide_cover=1&light=1

Paraphrasing the Soul Sonic Force and sorting through today`s releases for tunes that could have graced Alfie & Leo`s Amnesia dance floor. JMS have reissued Henri Texier`s first two LPs. Amir from 1976, and Varech from 1977. The cover of the latter will be familiar to anyone who`s visited the Growing Bin, since Basso has […]

via Looking For The Balearic Beat / December 2018 — Ban Ban Ton Ton

What a wonderful blog they run!  If you haven’t squandered all of your Christmas loot yet, Ban Ban Ton Ton have quite an impressive list of records you might want to consider adding to your collection, as well as a Mixcloud podcast to give you a sample of each.

[Music] Bandcamp: The Best Albums of 2018

I’ve crowed about this in the past, and will continue to do so in the future.  If I don’t see top-shelf artists like Santiago Fradejas, Jeff Gburek or Jan-Dirk Platek (among a host of others) on a year-end list, it’s not worth that much to me.  Still, Bandcamp is a very valuable resource overall, and despite the occasionally lame SJW-infected reviews one gets subjected to, there are quite a few gems in this list of 100.

#20-1

#40-21

#60-41

#80-61

#100-81

[Music] Reptilicus & Senking – Unison


There are times when bleak post-Industrial music can be absolutely rhythmic and beautiful.  A case in point is the release by Artoffact Records’ of a performance by Iceland’s finest dark-electronics project Reptilicus.  This was a performance done in Toronto, Canada, organized by Praveer Baijal, founder of the seminal Toronto label Yatra-Arts, on the happy occasion of new output in the form of a 7-inch release after a (far too) long period of inactivity.  For the performance, they were joined by Germany’s Senking, Denmark’s Rúnar Magnússon, and Candian duo Orphx.

The group recorded a session at Grant Avenue Studio in Hamilton, Ontario, built my Grammy Award-winning producer and musician Daniel and Bob Lanois and  after Baijal introduced Reptilicus to William Blakeney, who at the time was producing a modular-synthesizer documentary called I Dream of Wires.

This collaboration bore fruit in the recording you hear here.  A lot of the material is reminiscent of early Industrial experiments (think more about early Cabaret Voltaire than Throbbing Gristle or NON), yet with a far crisper, dynamic sound.  Reptilicus has since become augmented with Rúnar serving as third member, and it is our hope that this unit continue to record.

[Music] Various Artists – ELECTROFRAMEWORK


Unexplained Sounds empresario Raffaele Pezzella is on a quest to make sure the best in experimental and electroacoustic music gets published.  It seems like, week after week, he is releasing a compilation of stunning quality from a specified region, a broad retrospective, or his own delightfully noisy work as Sonologyst.

These tracks might melt your headphones a bit, but the sounds are, in their own way, blissful.  Familiar names such as Sonologyst, Stefan Schmidt, Fahmi Mursyid and Thomas Grenzebach appear alongside a slew of new artists whose career trajectory will be interesting to follow.

Another masterpiece of a comp.

[Music] Abd al-Rahman al-Khamissi – عبد الرحمن الخميسي – Music from the Soundtrack “Respectable Families”


Welcome to the world of easy (cheesy) listening out of… Cairo?!  Yes!!  According to the bio over at his Bandcamp page, “Abd al-Rahman El Khamissi (bio in Arabic only) is an Egyptian poet, writer, journalist, dramatist, radio producer, film director, composer and talent scout for famous Egyptian actors such as Soad Hosni.  He has been seen as a great romanticist and one of the finest Egyptian poets.  Khamissi’s versatile talents as an artist and story teller portrayed in many ways the aspirations of Egyptian society.”

There is an elegance in this release mixing tango, the aforementioned easy listening and the better elements of soundtrack music.  Many thanks to the folks at Radio Martiko who selflessly dedicated their efforts into releasing this gem.

[Music] Various Artists – Dezember


Umor Rex is one of Mexico’s most important record labels, and I’m frankly surprised they’re not getting more press worldwide.  Like so many cool modern imprints, they’re not sticking to one genre only.  You will find electronic music, drone, indie-folk and experimental music well-represented in Dezember.  Take some time to sample their wares!

TRACK LISTING:

1. Le Skeletonne – The riot was always alone 03:32
2. Miró Belle – A 03:17
3. Rats On No Evil Star – Tree in the green 04:18
4. S ND Y P RL RS – Dracula 02:47
5. Ibi Ego – U and Me vs. the sea master 04:20
6. The Human Elephant – Insomnia 04:01
7. Ghost Birds – Drama (how I hate) 02:46
8. Cars And Trains – I Know Someone Who Cant Recognize 04:38
9. Hardman Bros – Change The Mode 01:11
10. Tidy Kid – Those Red Paintings 02:30
11. Ponk – Sleeves II 03:38
12. Anthna – Loving Raw Bands 06:28
13. Tidy Kid – Bus Stop 01:40
14. Nicholas Szczepanik – The Short / Lived 04:39

[Music] Jon Hassell at 81 — Avant Music News

Many thanks to Mike at Avant Music News who is a wealth of amazing information.

Source: Billboard. A half century into an odyssey that’s seen him work with musical prime movers such as Terry Riley and Brian Eno while pioneering his own distinct lane of so-called fourth world music, composer-trumpeter Jon Hassell is still active and vital at 81. His latest album, Listening to Pictures (Pentimento Volume 1), finds rhythms […]

via Jon Hassell at 81 — Avant Music News