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My seat and weep

boomkat: ...On their eponymous sophomore outing picnic reveal a fuller picture of their sound. The eight original pieces are given to sensitively mulched textures and softly glowing pads mottled with new age spirited strings and wafting voices. It’s nothing particularly new or inventive but works it’s way under the skin with pharmaceutic efficacy, at its lushest in the descriptive title and feel of ‘drops in the water (with tics)’, and the gently keening, hypnagogic appeal of ‘basket.’ released February 11, 2021Artwork by Rissa HochbergerInner labels by Sam MullanyAdditional artwork by Ken NicoleMastered by Shy (3XL)

deejay.de: ...Concentric Circles presents ''For the Moment'', which features tracks from some of Di Stefano's early cassette releases, as well as a number of unheard explorations of Indian polyrhythms from the early 90s. Di Stefano’s prescient and unique work will appeal to fans of Cybe, Joel Graham, UnknownmiX, Zru Vogue, and provides a fascinating view of the 80s US electronic underground.American-born, Japan-based composer John Di Stefano self-released a number of cassettes as part of the 80s DIY underground on his own imprint Oktron Produktions, including Klang's Drift, a collaboration with Joel Graham.Living in San Francisco, Di Stefano had access to multiple University electronic music studios, where he had an impressive array of synthesizers at his fingertips, including both Buchla and Serge modular systems. Combining his knowledge of modular synthesis with a background in percussion, his early releases were a uniquely human approach to electroacoustic music, with flourishes of post punk in the mix. Di Stefano developed an interest in world music, studying Indian music theory and tabla, and after an extended trip to Indonesia in the mid 80s, he was particularly drawn to Javanese gamelan music. Future recordings would forever be indebted to the sounds he heard during those travels.

EM Records: ...From Scratch was an innovative and highly influential New Zealand-based sound-performance group, making extensive use of found and repurposed objects as well as custom-made instruments in their intricately interlocking percussion music. One of their signature instruments consisted of carefully tuned PVC pipes, played with foam rubber mallets; arrays of these feature prominently, along with drums and tuned percussion, in Gung Ho 1,2,3D, an extended composition which sumptuously investigates polyrhythmic relationships indicated by the number sequences which title each section of the piece. Featured here is the original 1982 recording of the "8, 9, 10" and "9, 10, 11" sections of the piece, previously issued in 1988 by Flying Nun.Rounding out this 2LP and CD release are three 2016 translations of the piece, based on the original score. Japanese group goat provides a driving rhythmic and mathematical analogue, which From Scratch's Phil Dadson, who provides liner notes, describes as "a fast moving shadow, familiar in outline but from another world". German producer Don't DJ imbibes the tribal spirit of Gung Ho and its sense of ritual to deliver a hypnotic immersion, and Utena Kobayashi Group adds wordless voice-worlds and distorted blasts to the ever-onward mix, before a final tropical down-shift.

EM Records: ..."Finis Africæ (or Finis Africae)". Words redolent of mystery and myth, of Europe looking out to new lands, new worlds, new times. And so it is with A Last Discovery, the work of Spaniard Juan Alberto Arteche Guel and his musical co-adventurers, recorded between 1984 and 2001. After fifteen years of musical success in Spain with his band Nuestro Pequeño Mundo, Arteche was ready to experiment with new ideas, and with the purchase of a four-track reel-to-reel recorder he did so, exploring imaginary global music-worlds with a core of like-minded explorers. The group, dubbed "Finis Africæ" by JAA after reading Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose, where the term refers to forbidden books and hidden knowledge, released seven recordings over an eighteen-year period, the best of which are compiled here.Finis Afriae was part of the "new wave" of Spanish music which gradually emerged after the end of the Francoist regime. Using modern electric instruments and traditional acoustic instruments from many cultures blended together via studio alchemy, a magic which grew even stronger with the acquisition of a sixteen-track recorder after their second release, Finis Africae created an outward-looking musical multiverse, an unclassifiable amalgam encompassing elements of folk traditions from all over the world, skillfully and lovingly shaped into an inclusive pan-global whole. Deeply influenced by African music, the group's reverberant, organic minimal funk will appeal to DJs as well as all who yearn for the loving warmth that comes with the embrace of global possibilities.