Various
The Minimal Wave Tapes Volume Two

ELEGAL: ...For the fourth installment of the ELEGAL RECORDS sub-label, Klasse Wrecks is happy to present 4 different versions of a track that originally came out in 1993. Produced by the South London duo Aura (Gary Folgate and Dave Tutt), the track featured on an EP of the same name and was originally released by Infectious Records. Now specially remastered and remixed for 2022, the record comes with new versions from original group member Electron Forest (Dave Sage) and label regulars Luca Lozano and DJ Steve.The original tracks parts are picked apart in the new remixes, most making weighty use of the signature pipe drum melody (which was originally made by hitting lengths of plastic pipe with table tennis bats). Electron Forest turns in a wonderfully produced version, this is modern Trance with stylish elements perfectly executed. Luca Lozano provides what is now expected from the producer, a stomping breakbeat-led groover that introduces new vocals to peak the interested while DJ Steve turns in an ever impressive and original sounding Bleep-Techno interpretation, replaying the original parts with new synthesizers providing the tunes.

Inversions: ...After the release of Technique & Rite in 2017, and the album Terminal Desert release under the name LaBrecque / Barakat earlier this year, here comes the second “official” Crème de Hassan record on Inversions.Whereas the two previous releases were based on longer instrumental jams, Tricontinental Circus is focused on rhythm and language, and the resulting 11 tracks are short and compact, exploring the possibilities of combining these into improbable hybrids.The tracks include Haitian voodoo rhythms, a Burkinabe flute player aligned with a sequencer and a guitar + synth jam with echoes of the sound of early 1970s Düsseldorf.The languages that are dispersed across the album come from Cambodia, Afghanistan, Kenya, Lebanon, Morocco and include an Arabic translation of Nietsche by friend of the band Ayoub El Mouzaine.

Editions Mego: ...Reflecting Ambarchi’s profound love of Brazilian music – an aspect of his omnivorous musical appetite not immediately apparent in his own work until now – Simian Angel features the remarkable percussive talents of the legendary Cyro Baptista, a key part of the Downtown scene who has collaborated with everyone from John Zorn and Derek Bailey to Robert Palmer and Herbie Hancock. Like the music of Nana Vasconcelos and Airto Moreira, Simian Angel places Baptista’s dexterous and rhythmically nuanced handling of traditional Brazilian percussion instruments into an unexpected musical context. On the first side, ‘Palm Sugar Candy’, Baptista’s spare and halting rhythms wind their way through a landscape of gliding electronic tones, gently rising up and momentarily subsiding until the piece’s final minutes leave Ambarchi’s guitar unaccompanied. While the rich, swirling harmonics of Ambarchi’s guitar performance are familiar to listeners from his previous recordings, the subtly wavering, synthetic guitar tone we hear is quite new, coming across at times like an abstracted, splayed-out take on the 80s guitar-synth work of Pat Metheny or Bill Frisell. Equally new is the harmonic complexity of Ambarchi’s playing, which leaves behind the minimalist simplicity of much of his previous work for a constantly-shifting play between lush consonance and uneasy dissonance.

nonclassical: ...Tape Works Vol. 2 is the new album from the UK’s leading musique concrète ensemble, Langham Research Centre.This album presents recent substantial pieces that contrast with the shorter pieces found on Tape Works Vol. 1 (2017) which showcased some of the group’s earliest tape experiments. These new pieces utilize recordings made in specific locations in addition to an array of analogue devices and sound producing objects, some of which feature in the album’s cover art.This approach is evident in Dinotique, commissioned for Café Oto’s Stereo Spasms festival in 2019, a celebration of the work of the late French composer Luc Ferrari to mark his 90th birthday.Luc Ferrari – a founding member of the Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRM) who worked alongside composers such as Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry – is an inspirational figure to LRC.Asked to choose one of Ferrari’s works to respond to with their own new piece, LRC selected Les Anecdotiques (2002), a work in which Ferrari combines his recordings from a series of travels with his archive of electronic sounds and spontaneous and intimate words.

MUSIC BY MACHINE GIRLENGINEERED BY DWIGHT FLEMMINGMIXED BY NICOS KENNEDYMASTERED BY DAVID LITTLERELEASED ON ORANGE MILK RECORDS