Anika
Anika EP

Comfortnoise: ...The answer to Gorgon Sound's four track EP (PengSound003), this release - Gorgon Sound VS. Dubkasm - The Versions (PengSound004) contains a counteraction version to each original title, dubbed straight off the Dubkasm mixing desk.Originally released on 2 x 12" in 2013, and available again, reissued in a limited screenprinted & hand-stamped edition vinyl edition, via our store << RWDFWD.COM >>

smilingc: ...Aset was a feminine goddess of ancient Egypt. She had the magical prowess to cure the sick and bring her husband back from the dead. Over 5,000 years later, a collective of individuals deeply involved in community improvement initiatives and the struggle for justice and equality would gather in the Washington, DC metropolitan area to form a social movement of their own. They named themselves after Aset, the ‘Goddess Of The Immortals’, and their power was diffused through song. They had a unique approach as a record label to incorporate local D.C. youth and give them a space to develop their musical talents.This compilation explores the back-catalog of Aset, anthologizing three distinct projects that they were focusing on from 1986-1988. Aset’s first release was a debut album from Latonya, the niece of one of the Aset members. She was eleven at the time of recording and sang about divorce, dancing, and love. She was set to be the poster child of Aset with a follow-up LP planned, but ultimately, the recording process became too demanding for Latonya and her parents. Moving forward, Aset split their creative energy into two follow-up groups, Treo & Whax. Treo was a trio of high school gals in harmony singing about relationships. Their song ‘Demands Decrease Desire’ discusses the strain we put on our significant others that pushes them away, and the group touched on a romantic-electro sound through their two releases. Whax was Aset’s male counterpart to Treo, they were meant to represent the sillier side of Aset. The group was led by two high school boys who recorded a lone 7” called “Can I Take You Home?”, and we were fortunate to receive an unreleased extended mix of this song that adds a dubby delayed breakdown.Far from commercial, “A Totally New Sound” is a collection of the songs from these three acts that demonstrate how Aset crafted an electro-soul sound that is absolutely their own. All the projects were guided and produced by the label director, Mba Mbulu. He maintains Aset to this day as an online university, one of the first-ever free internet colleges. Mba continues the spirit of Aset as a political writer.Album remastered and restored as a single LP pressed at 33rpm. It comes with a Smiling C logo sticker, and an inner sleeve displaying Aset archival material, and an interview with Mba Mbulu.

Karlrecords: ...The new album by the Peruvian-born / Berlin-based experimental artist Ale Hop was conceived in a context of immobility and provides six sonic vignettes that wonder about location, circularity, rootedness and experience. In collaboration with Ana Quiroga, Concepcion Huerta, Daniela Huerta, Elsa M’balla, Felicity Magan, Fil Uno, Ignacio Briceño, KMRU, Manongo Mujica, Moises Horta, Nicole L’Huillier, Raul Jardín, Sukitoa Onamau, Tomas Tello.

boomkat: ...E B U joins imaginary dots between Delia Derbyshire, Black Zone Myth Chant and Tapes on a charmingly smudged debut for Ossia and co’s No CornerIn her own language of bittersweet, downbeat psychedelia, Bristol’s E B U speaks gently but directly to altered states of consciousness in a style she terms “swamp pop”. It’s not weird for the sake of it, but rather in a drowsy, hypnagogic way that feels effortlessly natural. All her melodies and harmonies shimmer with a lysergic, iridescent timbral thizz, radiating in rainbows and pink/blue hues on the back of your eyelids (because we almost guarantee you will be lulled to eyes shut, half-mast or rollin in backa skull by the end of 2nd song). Most crucially, though, for all the ‘60s connotations with LSD and The Radiophonic Workshop references, plus the label’s own nods to Alejandro Jodorowsky and Laurie Anderson, the music feels fresh, operating in its own liminal temporality, rather than being cloyed by cliché. That’s always high praise, and we’re sure many others will feel this, too.Properly hallucinatory bizz - bravo.