KARAOKE KALK - Forced Exposure

$16.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 3/17/2023

Scottish composer and multi-instrumentalist Bill Wells and virtuoso tuba player Danielle Price once more team up for Karaoke Kalk under the name The Sensory Illusions. The two further explore the affinities between their idiosyncratic musical approaches across a variety of styles and genres while also expanding their sound palette. After its predecessor (KK 110CD/LP, 2019) saw Wells working strictly with his electric guitar, on the Sensory Illusions II the piano enters the mix on two of the eleven pieces. Much like his brass-heavy collaboration album Osaka Bridge with Japanese collective Maher Shalal Hash Baz (KK 044X-LP), this album injects melancholic atmospheres with a sense of playfulness. Picking up on elements from jazz, pop, blues, and classic songwriting while acknowledging their debt to techniques from the worlds of avant-garde and improv music, The Sensory Illusions weave together disparate elements into a colorful, imaginative suite of songs. Starting with the folky chords of opener "Four Chord Dream," the track titles spell out Wells's characteristic use of ideas that literally come to him in his sleep. The National Jazz Trio Of Scotland leader then fleshes them out together with Price, who again serves as a one-woman rhythm section, as she does throughout most of the album. When Wells enters 1960s spy movie territory with a swirling rendition of John Barry's "Theme from Vendetta" and picks up on those dynamics with a rolling riff in the next song, her versatile playing provides the backdrop for that. Once Wells sits down at the piano for the tender "Flotsam Bodes," however, their roles are being reversed and Price -- a seasoned and multifaceted musician who was one of only six applicants chosen to attend Chilly Gonzales's Gonzervatory in 2019 and who is currently working with acclaimed London-based trumpet player and composer Laura Jurd -- takes the lead. "I'm the Urban Spaceman" makes it even more apparent how seamlessly these two experienced players leave each other space to showcase their respective talent and expand on their individual ideas: Marked by Wells's soloing and exploring different sonic possibilities of the guitar, it also sees Price showcasing her reduced yet agile solos before they both return to the idea at the heart of the song. As the second duo record in their six years of working together, The Sensory Illusions II proves once more how much musical ground they are able to cover with their instruments and open minds alone.

$34.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 3/17/2023

LP version. Die-cut sleeve, printed inner; edition of 300. Scottish composer and multi-instrumentalist Bill Wells and virtuoso tuba player Danielle Price once more team up for Karaoke Kalk under the name The Sensory Illusions. The two further explore the affinities between their idiosyncratic musical approaches across a variety of styles and genres while also expanding their sound palette. After its predecessor (KK 110CD/LP, 2019) saw Wells working strictly with his electric guitar, on the Sensory Illusions II the piano enters the mix on two of the eleven pieces. Much like his brass-heavy collaboration album Osaka Bridge with Japanese collective Maher Shalal Hash Baz (KK 044X-LP), this album injects melancholic atmospheres with a sense of playfulness. Picking up on elements from jazz, pop, blues, and classic songwriting while acknowledging their debt to techniques from the worlds of avant-garde and improv music, The Sensory Illusions weave together disparate elements into a colorful, imaginative suite of songs. Starting with the folky chords of opener "Four Chord Dream," the track titles spell out Wells's characteristic use of ideas that literally come to him in his sleep. The National Jazz Trio Of Scotland leader then fleshes them out together with Price, who again serves as a one-woman rhythm section, as she does throughout most of the album. When Wells enters 1960s spy movie territory with a swirling rendition of John Barry's "Theme from Vendetta" and picks up on those dynamics with a rolling riff in the next song, her versatile playing provides the backdrop for that. Once Wells sits down at the piano for the tender "Flotsam Bodes," however, their roles are being reversed and Price -- a seasoned and multifaceted musician who was one of only six applicants chosen to attend Chilly Gonzales's Gonzervatory in 2019 and who is currently working with acclaimed London-based trumpet player and composer Laura Jurd -- takes the lead. "I'm the Urban Spaceman" makes it even more apparent how seamlessly these two experienced players leave each other space to showcase their respective talent and expand on their individual ideas: Marked by Wells's soloing and exploring different sonic possibilities of the guitar, it also sees Price showcasing her reduced yet agile solos before they both return to the idea at the heart of the song. As the second duo record in their six years of working together, The Sensory Illusions II proves once more how much musical ground they are able to cover with their instruments and open minds alone.

$28.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 2/10/2023

2023 reissue. Bill Wells with Tori Kudo's free-spirited Japanese collective Maher Shalal Hash Baz. Originally released in May 2006 through the German label Karaoke Kalk, Osaka Bridge was an album that captured the joyful amateurism of Tori Kudo's free-spirited Japanese collective Maher Shalal Hash Baz and Bill Wells's rich, wistful, and easy sense of melody. Approaching brass band and jazz music with a knack for making playing imperfectly feel perfectly right, Osaka Bridge became nothing short of groundbreaking when it was released to critical acclaim, becoming an instant classic among musicians and fans alike. Coinciding with the release of the second LP of Wells's on-going collaboration with Danielle Price on tuba, The Sensory Illusions, Karaoke Kalk makes this highly sought-after record available again on vinyl for the first time in 16 years. The pairing of the prolific Scottish pianist and composer and the fluctuating collective active since the mid-1980s was an easy, natural one -- a union particularly apt and complementary. But this is not to say that the 15 recordings which made up Osaka Bridge were in any way seamless. The horns played by these self-taught musicians strain and struggle with Wells' luscious arrangements; each note is given all the stiff emphasis that you'd expect of a high school brass band at its first rehearsal. Songs fall in and out of rhythm, and a track like "Poxy" misses its intended swing feel by a country mile. Of course, this is all part of the magic. Maher Shalal Hash Baz take Wells's melodies and strip them back to their emotional core, disallowing all artifice and revealing a stark, serene beauty. Particularly affecting are "On The Beach Boys Bus" and "Time Takes Me So Back", the two tracks sung by Kudo's wife Reiko. Inspiration for both pieces came to Wells in dreams. The former was sung by a group of tanned Californians on the way to a Beach Boys convention, the latter by his grandmother shortly before she passed away. Reiko's voice gives each song a haunting fragility that enhances their phantasmagoric character. For the most part, the instrumentals are concise -- a melody stated once and then dispensed with -- but their brevity only heightens the impact. Even (or especially) 16 years later, Osaka Bridge continues to be an almost accidentally timeless document that captured fleeting moments and personal revelations at their most spontaneous and unaffected. Edition of 500.

$17.50 IN STOCK

This EP is more than your usual remix package. Remixed is a meeting of kindred, idiosyncratic spirits. Ricardo Villalobos, Ada, and Tolouse Low Trax each give a new spin to one track from "You're Super In Diagonal", the latest album by Ant Orange (KK 119CD/LP, 2020). Their versions of "Monogome", "Flutter", and "Cracker" are complemented by the brand-new track by the elusive artist, "FFF". Villalobos keeps it short and sweet -- at least by his standards. His rendition of "Monogome" translates the mutant jungle vibes of the original into an entirely different dialect while maintaining its psychedelic qualities. The chugging, nine-minute-long "Siebhouse Remix" is at once rhythmically intricate and positively disorientating. Ada proves to be as imaginative as ever with her first remix in three years. Her take on the album opener "Flutter" extracts the track's warmth and transplants it into a laid-back downbeat track. She also incorporates the vocals from "Monogome", but gives it a very different spin and adds a healthy dose of autotune to it in the process. Dreamy, hazy, blissful. On the flipside, Detlef Weinrich approaches things very differently. His "Bo Bo Zy Remix" of "Cracker" offers industrial at its most inebriated, dub riddims after a bottle of hard liquor instead of a spliff. Ant Orange's "FFF" then seems to mediate between those three very different approaches: danceable yet melancholic, challenging yet restrained, it picks up on the underlying concept of "You're Super In Diagonal", combining IDM's penchant for complex rhythmic structures and a directness inherent to hip-hop music since the early days of the genre up until the age of UK drill. Edition of 300.

$27.00 IN STOCK

Tableau is Rolf Hansen's second full-length album under his given name and acts as a sequel to his solo debut Elektrisk Guitar, released in 2019 through Karaoke Kalk (KK 114CD/LP). On the 14 new pieces, the Copenhagen-based composer and musician further explores the sonic possibilities of the electric guitar by opting for a radically different approach and putting great limitations on himself as a performer. Tableau is an experimental record in the truest sense of the word, eschewing conventional modes of playing the instrument and instead turning the guitar into a sound source for compositions that are at once abstract and concrete. Already on his last album, Hansen had found a different approach to playing and composing, but this time went even further and created a set-up in which the electric guitar becomes a different instrument altogether. This is also expressed in its title: a tableau is, broadly understood, an image-forming momentary bodily pause in a dramaturgical or narrative process. In the context of the album, tableau is the form and sound that emerge when the musician's usual approach to playing and the compositional practice is halted and transformed. To achieve this, the guitar is placed on a table with microphones installed around it and tuned in a static microtonal modality thanks to wooden replacement frets that have been inserted under the strings. This alters how the sounds are being generated with the instrument, which is now played from above, occasionally strummed or stroked with a tool. The opener "Begyndelse" already sets the tone by punctuating dense layers of sound with a one-note melody that provides a rough rhythmic structure and harmonic anchor for the track that still seems to mutate wildly the further it progresses. Even in moments in which Hansen opts for a more directly accessible approach like on the following "Over Grænsen" or "Tid", the pieces' emotional qualities are greatly amplified by their sonic idiosyncrasies. This is best exemplified by "Højre Hånd". Using high microphone gain to magnify the high-frequency acoustic sounds of the electric guitar, Hansen captured a rich near-symphonic changing spectrum of overtones. Tableau is full of moments marked by almost unnoticeable shifts and changes, offering a wealth of sounds that are as evocative as they come unexpectedly. The kinship between its predecessor Elektrisk Guitar and Tableau is undeniable. Both are based on self-imposed constraints, a radical form of reduction that made it possible for Hansen to broaden his sonic palette and compositional approach. Includes download code; edition of 300.

$29.50 IN STOCK

Mimsy describes himself as someone with many interests and few skills, and sure, you can put it that way. But more precisely, he is a seeker and finder who has always felt more at home in the intermediary spaces. Since his first releases on Karaoke Kalk under the names Saucer, Motel, and Wunder in 1997, he has mostly been active as Wechsel Garland, working with samples beyond recognition and thus blurring the lines between his own songwriting and the musical material he uses. In 2011, he ended the project with the album Dreams Become Things and is now opening a new chapter as Mimsy with Ormeology. The album was ten years in the making and saw the producer work with sounds, voices and text fragments that were gathered over time. The twelve pieces -- based on guitar pickings, looped textural sounds, rhythm boxes and shimmering organ sounds -- install themselves in the unconscious through sound, melody and subtle rhythmic shifts to send the listener's perception on a journey into the unknown. The name Mimsy is a nonce word coined by Lewis Carroll in his famous nonsense poem Jabberwocky, a combination of "miserable" and "flimsy", while the term "Ormeology" refers to the Italian film Le Orme (Footprints on the Moon). While this alone creates a rich thematic frame of references for the album, it does not at all define its themes. Instead, the references are reflected in the methods with which the pieces on Ormeology were designed -- sound and language orbit freely around one another, images within images are being layered, following their path unconsciously. Creative frictions emerge not out of binary decision-making patterns, but from additive layering. Mimsy followed traces forth and back through time and space, collaborating for a few tracks with set designer and musician Lydia Schmidt and letting Wolfram Wire record various lyrics based on automatic writing that were gathered by Mimsy. Furthermore, he asked the photo blogger Lilia Katherine from Brazil and the Canada-based Andrea Hernandez to translate and record his lyrics in their own respective languages. Human global coincidences resulted in collaborations which are presented as discrete and thus make the album as a whole and even more complex meditation on the interplay of the concrete and the abstract. Ormeology is an album that whirrs and flickers, seeking to mediate between the tangible world and the intangible by blurring the boundaries between words and sounds and space. Includes printed inner sleeve and download code; edition of 300.

$20.50 LOW STOCK LEVEL

"... Paula Schopf's Espacios en Soledad are acoustic walks around present-day Santiago de Chile, the city where she was born -- which she always left, had to leave and to which she always returns - but more than anything also through her own memories which resonate throughout the public places, squares, streets though still in their own way remain strange . . . In the mid-70s leaving Santiago was a flight of exile as a child with her family. Leaving in 1990 was an autonomous decision to head for Europe, Berlin, where the wall fell, where the heavens opened up all at once and electronic music became a kind of new home to so many. Paula Schopf belonged there. For her the Ocean Club at Tresor club was a central place where friends and mentors like Gudrun Gut and Thomas Fehlmann made it possible for her to get really into it. Dancing, being and feeling your body, forgetting oneself in the bass and beats, who one is and where one's from, to becoming the DJ Chica Paula. Chile was very far away during this time, Latin America was more just a code, a musical and habitual cliche to be cautious of. This was especially true for the culture of the Chilean exile, the pathos of the 'Canto Nuevo', the sound and ideologically charged instruments of the 'música andina', for example the Zampoña, Quena or Charango. Techno was the greatest thinkable alternative to this even if or perhaps because so many kids exiled from Chile became key figures in the German and European scene: Ricardo Villalobos, Dandy Jack, Cristian Vogel, Matias Aguayo and many more . . . The field recordings which were recorded in Santiago de Chile in 2016 and form the central sonic material for Espacios en Soledad represent the paradox for Schopf's return to her home country after emigrating: the inevitable drifting apart of her own lived time from that of her former home. Already the Venezuelan and Colombian hawkers are unmistakable signs of the deep change in Chilean society which has happened in recent years due to immigration. Which is in contrast to the old lady who sits on the floor in a pedestrian zone and without break sings the same three songs by Violeta Parra and then keeps falling asleep while doing so. The fragile presence of her voice is joined with a repertoire which is almost mythologically timeless in Chile in a particularly moving way. By layering, ordering and conjoining such found sounds from modern day Santiago this piece become about the urban sound of Chile's present..." --Matthias Pasdzierny 180 gram vinyl; engraving on B-side; includes printed inner sleeve; edition of 300.

$26.00 IN STOCK

Joseph Carvell returns to Karaoke Kalk with his sophomore album under the Pink Shabab moniker. Never Stopped Loving You was for the most part written between Spring and late Summer 2020 in his Camberwell home and like his 2019 debut Ema By The Sea (KK 115CD/LP) recorded in the South of France together with Emmanuel Mario, better known as Astrobal. It's a record informed by feelings of nostalgia, love, longing, romance and loss and, much like his previous album, displays Carvell's knack for making introversion sound extroverted. As a bassist, his approach to songwriting is both rhythmic and melodic, making the resulting music just as visceral as it is emotive. Managing to play only one show in Zurich in early 2020, he had to cancel his planned European tour and go back to the United Kingdom, which soon went into lockdown. He made the best out of the situation, recording electric and upright bass for Nick Krgovich, Daniel O'Sullivan and Zooey's new records while also working on tracks and demos by himself. Everything came together slowly before he boarded a train to France with his keyboard. Never Stopped Loving You is notably more electronic than its predecessor, but also full of the small melodic and harmonic details that made Ema By The Sea such an outstanding record. "I was listening to more 1990s dance and house music and 1980s pop and also a healthy amount of ambient music," explains Carvell. These influences are clearly audible on songs like the Chicago house-esque beats of "Show Your Love" or "Why Did I Leave You That Morning", the skittish rhythms on "Let Go" and the near-Balearic "San Junipero". Especially the latter makes it clear that Carvell spent much time devoting himself to movies and TV shows, but also incorporated more piano sounds in his song -- the learnt the instrument by playing along to classic Beatles and Beach Boys songs. Despite being more upbeat on a rhythmic level than before, Carvell's use of texture and his peculiar voice add another note to the music. Even an anthemic song like "Run Away", his first composition to follow a classic verse/chorus structure, is profoundly ambivalent, both overjoyed and deeply melancholic. By the same token however, even a torch song like "You Stepped Out of My Life" is enormously consoling. This, after all, has always been Carvell's strength: creating music that will cheer you up when you're down while also injecting a sense of futility into every moment of euphoria. Edition of 300.

$15.50 IN STOCK

In the past years, the multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer and music enthusiast Jeff Özdemir had been focusing on organizing the Live-Mixtape series in Berlin, inviting numerous artists to join him on stage for every single event. However, the year 2020 put an end to this. Undeterred, he instead put together the third instalment of the Jeff Özdemir & Friends series, working with singers, musicians and groups such as Knarf Rellöm & DJ Patex, F.S.Blumm, Joanna Gemma Auguri, Elke Brauweiler, and Elmer Kussiac for an 18-track album. Like its two predecessors from the years 2015 and 2017, respectively, Jeff Özdemir & Friends Vol. 3 sees the man behind Kreuzberg's 33rpm record store showcase his qualities as a people remixer, songwriter and versatile musician. He put together a collection of groovy tunes picking up on funk and Afrobeat rhythms, introspective ballads, a musically channeled punk attitude, shoegaze sentiments, spoken word passages, drones, glockenspiel sounds, seriously fun experimentation and much more. While artists like Ertan Doğancı, Désolé Léo, eng°n, F.S.Blumm and Zap have been long-term collaborators of Özdemir and were featured on previous instalments of the series, new faces and forces also enter the mix. The melancholic "Love Letters" for example marks the first (though hopefully not last) collaboration with singer Joanna Gemm Auguri, while Knarf Rellöm & DJ Patex's appearance has been dreamt of collectively but hasn't been fully realized until now. Whether it's Désolé Léo's French crooner soul, the lo-fi synth pop song "Bored" featuring former Commercial Breakup singer Elke Brauweiler or the many different sounds and styles presented under the name Jeff Özdemir: no decision is ever made between either that or this musical direction, but all are being joyfully enjoyed together. Thus, throughout its 70 minutes, the stylistic diversity of Jeff Özdemir & Friends Vol. 3 does not once border on randomness. Instead, these sometimes very different songs are marked by a shared atmosphere -- a direct result of these very different musicians approaching their studio time together less as a chance to make music but more of a chance to carefully listen to and interact with each other. The contributions by Vackrow, Gebrüder Teichmann's old band Beige GT, and Otto von Bismarck, do not even feature Özdemir, but are simply musical pearls that were (almost) lost in the shuffle of music history and unearthed for this very special occasion. Also features Daniel Raymond Gahn, Alexandre Thiercelin, Jeff Özdemir's New Hard Drive, and Treetop.

$21.00 NOT IN STOCK

2020 repress. 2012 release. The Düsseldorfer Detlef Weinrich is a man who is constantly listening to future winds through rushes of the past. He loves the night for its free will. And his music tells stories about it. You might know him as a member of the band Kreidler. As a solo artist he goes under the name Tolouse Low Trax. His first solo album Mask Talk (KK 052CD/056LP, 2010) thrives on a feathery beat frequency and cool new-wave-strength. Corridor Plateau (2011), which appeared as a limited edition to accompany the exhibition, contains percussive electronics and Industrial sounding like it's from the second industrial revolution. His third album Jeidem Fall, is also not from here. It sounds like music brought down to earth from the heavens. But it's a dark cosmos in which there are only fleeting glimpses of light. All eight tracks were composed in a short space of time over the period of just a few months and fit together perfectly atmospherically. With a musical expressiveness that undoubtedly twists your emotions, Jeidem Fall attacks the subconscious and clouds the mind. The drums have more movement than on Mask Talk. Along with the constant tapping of drumsticks goes melodical arpeggios dancing dark and dirty. At times longing vocals drift abstractly through the room, as on "Sa Seline" or "Geo Scan", without telling any obvious story. You could compare the dark minimal timbre of the drum computer aesthetic with Craig Leon's first reductive album Nommos (1981). There is also a hint of the minimalist industrial of the Spanish band Esplendor Geometrico in the bubbly textures. But Tolouse Low Trax is still looking from the present into the future and filter and filters all his personal preferences through his MPC and his small synth setup to make them come alive here and now in a new way. Again, Tolouse Low Trax has created a truly mysteriously vibrating drum computer music which offers hypnotic magic for the shadowy dance floor. Only a little light should illuminate the whole thing and the bodies that move above them should have no fear from threatening percussion which are displaced into a misty trance. A dark swaying shadowy mass, ideal for a journey at the end of the night and all those non-places where longing sleeps and the last romantics dance while getting drunk.

$15.50 IN STOCK

Ant Orange returns to Karaoke Kalk with the album You're Super In Diagonal. Following up on three EPs between 2015 and 2018 for the Berlin-based label as well as a 12" single with drum'n'bass derivatives last year, the British producer again operates at the crossroads of laid-back house, experimental hip-hop, and a bass-heavy, abstract minimalism that hints at his background in UK garage and other strains of the hardcore continuum. Both physically moving and intellectually challenging, Ant Orange's music has always found a comfortable niche between different genres and styles. Working with short vocal snippets, jazz elements and a diverse array of rhythms, his tracks open up small worlds full of endearing details and thrilling dynamics. Nine of those worlds -- seven on the vinyl version of the album -- form the sonic cosmos that is You're Super In Diagonal. Even in Ant Orange's unique and multi-faceted discography, it is an extraordinarily lush and welcoming album. The opener already sets the mood with shimmering ambient textures, the feverish shivers of a hi-hat and a broken beat that serves as the perfect foundation for the warm and minimalistic bass line that enters the picture around the two-minute mark. The aptly named "Flutter" already encapsulates everything that makes You're Super In Diagonal the marvelous record it is: Ant Orange's sound is based on the playful interplay of discrete elements. From the jungle echoes on "Monogome" to the throbbing bass on tracks like "Cracker" or "All In" and the slick deep house grooves of "We'll Call You," the producer's choices thus lead to odd and unusual, but always cordial and inviting end results. They refer to a variety of genres from jazz to grime and IDM, but always retain their specificity. You're Super In Diagonal is a bottomless grab bag of ideas and influences, an album to get lost in, whether it's on rainy days spent on the couch or under a shining sun with a drink in hand.

$21.00 IN STOCK

LP version. Includes download code; edition of 300. Ant Orange returns to Karaoke Kalk with the album You're Super In Diagonal. Following up on three EPs between 2015 and 2018 for the Berlin-based label as well as a 12" single with drum'n'bass derivatives last year, the British producer again operates at the crossroads of laid-back house, experimental hip-hop, and a bass-heavy, abstract minimalism that hints at his background in UK garage and other strains of the hardcore continuum. Both physically moving and intellectually challenging, Ant Orange's music has always found a comfortable niche between different genres and styles. Working with short vocal snippets, jazz elements and a diverse array of rhythms, his tracks open up small worlds full of endearing details and thrilling dynamics. Nine of those worlds -- seven on the vinyl version of the album -- form the sonic cosmos that is You're Super In Diagonal. Even in Ant Orange's unique and multi-faceted discography, it is an extraordinarily lush and welcoming album. The opener already sets the mood with shimmering ambient textures, the feverish shivers of a hi-hat and a broken beat that serves as the perfect foundation for the warm and minimalistic bass line that enters the picture around the two-minute mark. The aptly named "Flutter" already encapsulates everything that makes You're Super In Diagonal the marvelous record it is: Ant Orange's sound is based on the playful interplay of discrete elements. From the jungle echoes on "Monogome" to the throbbing bass on tracks like "Cracker" or "All In" and the slick deep house grooves of "We'll Call You," the producer's choices thus lead to odd and unusual, but always cordial and inviting end results. They refer to a variety of genres from jazz to grime and IDM, but always retain their specificity. You're Super In Diagonal is a bottomless grab bag of ideas and influences, an album to get lost in, whether it's on rainy days spent on the couch or under a shining sun with a drink in hand.

$15.50 IN STOCK

Theresa Stroetges has and always will be a traveler. Under the name Golden Diskó Ship or as a member of bands like Soft Grid or the improv collective Epiphany Now!, the Berlin-based multi-instrumentalist has continuously been moving through the fringes of experimental music, but also extensively explored the possibilities of tried and tested formulas -- whether folk, rock, techno, or pop. With her fourth solo album, her first for the Karaoke Kalk label, the Golden Diskó Ship is yet again venturing into unknown territory. Araceae is inspired by environmental changes and the eerie feelings that arise when faced with natural beauty -- when everything seems perfect on the surface but something feels off underneath it all. As a whole, it is notably more focused on electronic grooves that provide the foundation for Stroetges's poetic long-form storytelling. Partially conceived during a residency in India, Araceae is the first Golden Diskó Ship record to feature two guest musicians. For "Wildly Floral, Slightly Damp", Stroetges collaborated with percussionist Dripta Samajder who with his Sri Khol contributes complex rhythms to a driving beat that wouldn't be out of place in the record bags of daring DJs. Sophia Trollmann takes over saxophone duties for "Ortolan", a riveting coming-together of intricate, IDM-flavored techno and jazz-inspired improvisation. Both are integral standout tracks on an album that clearly follows a holistic plan. Already the opener "Clouds of Neon Limelight" dips into anthemic synth pop territory, but unfolds into a great saga full of ominous undertones and Stroetges's trademark: layered vocals that at once evoke feelings of uncanniness and intimacy. It's a juxtaposition that runs throughout Araceae, thus enforcing the album's overall themes of sensual experience and alienation. "Game of Biryani" for example lends some of its musical structures from pop music, calling into question traditional songwriting conventions which here reappear as irritating echo effects rather than recycled old tropes. With the lush "Limping Over The Prairies" and the adventurous "Glow-in-the-Dark Gloves", Stroetges further challenges her audience by applying noise and a heavy dose of autotune respectively to disorientating effect. The couple makes for an impressive finale of an album that scrutinizes our ideas of what is natural -- whether in music or the world around us. Araceae was inspired by the travels of its creator, but also sets out to ascertain what lies beyond everything that eyes or ears can perceive.

$20.00 IN STOCK

LP version. Includes download code; edition of 300. Theresa Stroetges has and always will be a traveler. Under the name Golden Diskó Ship or as a member of bands like Soft Grid or the improv collective Epiphany Now!, the Berlin-based multi-instrumentalist has continuously been moving through the fringes of experimental music, but also extensively explored the possibilities of tried and tested formulas -- whether folk, rock, techno, or pop. With her fourth solo album, her first for the Karaoke Kalk label, the Golden Diskó Ship is yet again venturing into unknown territory. Araceae is inspired by environmental changes and the eerie feelings that arise when faced with natural beauty -- when everything seems perfect on the surface but something feels off underneath it all. As a whole, it is notably more focused on electronic grooves that provide the foundation for Stroetges's poetic long-form storytelling. Partially conceived during a residency in India, Araceae is the first Golden Diskó Ship record to feature two guest musicians. For "Wildly Floral, Slightly Damp", Stroetges collaborated with percussionist Dripta Samajder who with his Sri Khol contributes complex rhythms to a driving beat that wouldn't be out of place in the record bags of daring DJs. Sophia Trollmann takes over saxophone duties for "Ortolan", a riveting coming-together of intricate, IDM-flavored techno and jazz-inspired improvisation. Both are integral standout tracks on an album that clearly follows a holistic plan. Already the opener "Clouds of Neon Limelight" dips into anthemic synth pop territory, but unfolds into a great saga full of ominous undertones and Stroetges's trademark: layered vocals that at once evoke feelings of uncanniness and intimacy. It's a juxtaposition that runs throughout Araceae, thus enforcing the album's overall themes of sensual experience and alienation. "Game of Biryani" for example lends some of its musical structures from pop music, calling into question traditional songwriting conventions which here reappear as irritating echo effects rather than recycled old tropes. With the lush "Limping Over The Prairies" and the adventurous "Glow-in-the-Dark Gloves", Stroetges further challenges her audience by applying noise and a heavy dose of autotune respectively to disorientating effect. The couple makes for an impressive finale of an album that scrutinizes our ideas of what is natural -- whether in music or the world around us. Araceae was inspired by the travels of its creator, but also sets out to ascertain what lies beyond everything that eyes or ears can perceive.

$15.50 IN STOCK

Working as a creative collaborator can be a triple-edged sword: Helping others explore the jungle of ideas inside their heads can be both inspiring and challenging -- but making time for your own creative projects as well is often a delicate balance. The years as side-woman for the likes of Sufjan Stevens, The National, and My Brightest Diamond have made Marla Hansen's journey from 2007's Wedding Day to her new album Dust a faraway honeymoon: time spent recording and touring the world with others before settling in Berlin to focus on her own follow-up, a multi-faceted gem which wears the lines of its lengthy travels like a hard-earned medal. The slow-burn of Dust's inception can be felt as the album plays. The tracks have weight and wisdom like hand-me-down folk songs, but also sparkle with the confidence and the excitement of an artist with new colors on her palette. Wedding Day's breezy innocence has graduated into grown-up chamber music; Hansen's classical background comes into wide focus as solo plucked viola evolves into techni-colour Americana dreamscapes, courtesy of Berlin's Oriel Quartett. The influence of Hansen's new hometown is all over this record, nowhere felt more than with the swashbuckling contributions of Berlin synth pioneer Barbara Morgenstern, crackling under the fireside songs like shards of electric glass. Andi Haberl (The Notwist) lurks under every track, his drums simmering like an approaching army of wooden horses. Taylor Savvy (Peaches, Bonaparte), Knox Chandler (Cyndi Lauper, R.E.M.), and Christian Biegai (Antony and the Johnsons) are all present at this banquet. A transatlantic tapestry sewn together by producer Robbie Moore (L.A. Salami, Jesper Munk) at his Berlin studio complex Impression Recordings. It is this tangled underbelly which allows Dust such an infectious friction. Hansen's iridescent, aching vocal delivery continuously breaks the gloom like a golden thread, effortlessly gliding above the thunderclouds -- a front-row seat in the safety of her silver-lined spy plane with a view of the neon jungle below. Dust falls from an age-old story and lands in a whole new world. CD version includes eight-page booklet; edition of 500.

$20.00 IN STOCK

LP version. Includes insert and download code; edition of 300. Working as a creative collaborator can be a triple-edged sword: Helping others explore the jungle of ideas inside their heads can be both inspiring and challenging -- but making time for your own creative projects as well is often a delicate balance. The years as side-woman for the likes of Sufjan Stevens, The National, and My Brightest Diamond have made Marla Hansen's journey from 2007's Wedding Day to her new album Dust a faraway honeymoon: time spent recording and touring the world with others before settling in Berlin to focus on her own follow-up, a multi-faceted gem which wears the lines of its lengthy travels like a hard-earned medal. The slow-burn of Dust's inception can be felt as the album plays. The tracks have weight and wisdom like hand-me-down folk songs, but also sparkle with the confidence and the excitement of an artist with new colors on her palette. Wedding Day's breezy innocence has graduated into grown-up chamber music; Hansen's classical background comes into wide focus as solo plucked viola evolves into techni-colour Americana dreamscapes, courtesy of Berlin's Oriel Quartett. The influence of Hansen's new hometown is all over this record, nowhere felt more than with the swashbuckling contributions of Berlin synth pioneer Barbara Morgenstern, crackling under the fireside songs like shards of electric glass. Andi Haberl (The Notwist) lurks under every track, his drums simmering like an approaching army of wooden horses. Taylor Savvy (Peaches, Bonaparte), Knox Chandler (Cyndi Lauper, R.E.M.), and Christian Biegai (Antony and the Johnsons) are all present at this banquet. A transatlantic tapestry sewn together by producer Robbie Moore (L.A. Salami, Jesper Munk) at his Berlin studio complex Impression Recordings. It is this tangled underbelly which allows Dust such an infectious friction. Hansen's iridescent, aching vocal delivery continuously breaks the gloom like a golden thread, effortlessly gliding above the thunderclouds -- a front-row seat in the safety of her silver-lined spy plane with a view of the neon jungle below. Dust falls from an age-old story and lands in a whole new world.

$20.00 IN STOCK

LP version. Ema By The Sea is Joseph Carvell's debut album under his Pink Shabab moniker. It is the first and long overdue solo record by one of the most trusted bassists in the world of adventurous pop and rock music. When he is not playing with Marker Starling, the former Batsch member can be heard on upright and double bass on a slew of Baby Dee albums like her 2012 collaboration LP with Little Annie or Laetitia Sadier's Find Me Finding You (2017), amongst others. When Carvell is not busy as an active member of the cumbia band Malphino and the Moondog tribute I'm This I'm That, or playing improvised jazz with various friends, he writes Pink Shabab songs at night. With Ema By The Sea, he presents his idiosyncratic approach to subtle disco music for the first time. These nine songs sound as heartbroken as they are uplifting. Ema By The Sea was written in a South London bedroom, but recorded in Southern France. After hearing Carvell perform live as Pink Shabab, Emmanuel Mario, whose album L'infini, L'Univers Et Les Mondes under his Astrobal moniker was released earlier in 2019 on the Berlin-based Karaoke Kalk (KK 112CD/LP), invited the British songwriter into his home studio. It is easy to see -- or rather: hear -- why the two hit it off immediately: drawing on funk, soul, new wave, jazz, and dance music, Carvell's songs meander as effortlessly through different musical worlds as Mario's own productions. Groovy and laid-back, danceable and intimate, the minimalist structures of Carvell's songwriting open up a lot of space and make room for plenty of surprises along the way. Carvell builds his songs around his instrument of choice, the bass. From the driving opener "If Only I Could Hold You One More Time" to the disco and funk influenced "Let Me Explain", "Tried To Tell You", or "Last Of The Boys" and the somber rhythms of the final song "You Can't Go Back", his cunning playing seamlessly oscillates between different styles. In combination with his almost coy singing style and the juxtaposition of an airtight drum programming with colorful synthesizer melodies, Ema By The Sea thus provides a wide-ranging palette of moods -- spooky, lively, cosmic, romantic, you name it. Where in one moment pensive sentimentality prevails, the next song will call you to the dancefloor. Ema By The Sea offers both melancholy and exuberant bliss.

$14.50 IN STOCK

Ema By The Sea is Joseph Carvell's debut album under his Pink Shabab moniker. It is the first and long overdue solo record by one of the most trusted bassists in the world of adventurous pop and rock music. When he is not playing with Marker Starling, the former Batsch member can be heard on upright and double bass on a slew of Baby Dee albums like her 2012 collaboration LP with Little Annie or Laetitia Sadier's Find Me Finding You (2017), amongst others. When Carvell is not busy as an active member of the cumbia band Malphino and the Moondog tribute I'm This I'm That, or playing improvised jazz with various friends, he writes Pink Shabab songs at night. With Ema By The Sea, he presents his idiosyncratic approach to subtle disco music for the first time. These nine songs sound as heartbroken as they are uplifting. Ema By The Sea was written in a South London bedroom, but recorded in Southern France. After hearing Carvell perform live as Pink Shabab, Emmanuel Mario, whose album L'infini, L'Univers Et Les Mondes under his Astrobal moniker was released earlier in 2019 on the Berlin-based Karaoke Kalk (KK 112CD/LP), invited the British songwriter into his home studio. It is easy to see -- or rather: hear -- why the two hit it off immediately: drawing on funk, soul, new wave, jazz, and dance music, Carvell's songs meander as effortlessly through different musical worlds as Mario's own productions. Groovy and laid-back, danceable and intimate, the minimalist structures of Carvell's songwriting open up a lot of space and make room for plenty of surprises along the way. Carvell builds his songs around his instrument of choice, the bass. From the driving opener "If Only I Could Hold You One More Time" to the disco and funk influenced "Let Me Explain", "Tried To Tell You", or "Last Of The Boys" and the somber rhythms of the final song "You Can't Go Back", his cunning playing seamlessly oscillates between different styles. In combination with his almost coy singing style and the juxtaposition of an airtight drum programming with colorful synthesizer melodies, Ema By The Sea thus provides a wide-ranging palette of moods -- spooky, lively, cosmic, romantic, you name it. Where in one moment pensive sentimentality prevails, the next song will call you to the dancefloor. Ema By The Sea offers both melancholy and exuberant bliss.

$19.50 LOW STOCK LEVEL

LP version. Includes postcard; edition of 300. Rolf Hansen, who as a guitarist is originally rooted in jazz, has been one of the most in-demand studio and session musician in the Danish rock, pop, and folk scene. Between 2010 and 2017, he toured under the name Il Tempo Gigante as a solo artist and released two albums: Lost Something Good (Speed of Sound, 2010) and Watch It Watch (Resonans, 2014). With subsequent tours throughout Europe, he made a name for himself in the alternative folk scene. After a phase of reorientation, he now releases his first purely instrumental record under his real name through the Berlin-based Karaoke Kalk label. On his third album, Elektrisk Guitar, the many different influences Hansen has gathered as a composer, solo performer, session musician, and producer shine through. The concept of limitation -- an album composed for and played with solo guitar -- is being mirrored in the conception of the album itself. Not only does Hansen resolutely constrain himself to a sole instrument, he also eschews traditional composition techniques and follows an experimental approach. Elektrisk Guitar is an album that enters into a dialogue with its conscious and attentive listener. Pieces whose melancholy is carefully weighed meet complex musical structures that again and again provide new challenges. In just 43 minutes, Elektrisk Guitar offers a plethora of ideas, impressions, details, and inspiration. And even more so, it opens up a room for its listeners to explore, precisely because its minimalistic compositions create a lot of space in which to get accommodated in. Apart from his solo projects, Rolf Hansen has for several years been connected to Donna Regina as well as Anders Mathiasen (formerly Murder, now Vessel, DK) and Henriette Sennenvaldt (formerly Under Byen, DK) through close collaborations.

$14.50 IN STOCK

Rolf Hansen, who as a guitarist is originally rooted in jazz, has been one of the most in-demand studio and session musician in the Danish rock, pop, and folk scene. Between 2010 and 2017, he toured under the name Il Tempo Gigante as a solo artist and released two albums: Lost Something Good (Speed of Sound, 2010) and Watch It Watch (Resonans, 2014). With subsequent tours throughout Europe, he made a name for himself in the alternative folk scene. After a phase of reorientation, he now releases his first purely instrumental record under his real name through the Berlin-based Karaoke Kalk label. On his third album, Elektrisk Guitar, the many different influences Hansen has gathered as a composer, solo performer, session musician, and producer shine through. The concept of limitation -- an album composed for and played with solo guitar -- is being mirrored in the conception of the album itself. Not only does Hansen resolutely constrain himself to a sole instrument, he also eschews traditional composition techniques and follows an experimental approach. Elektrisk Guitar is an album that enters into a dialogue with its conscious and attentive listener. Pieces whose melancholy is carefully weighed meet complex musical structures that again and again provide new challenges. In just 43 minutes, Elektrisk Guitar offers a plethora of ideas, impressions, details, and inspiration. And even more so, it opens up a room for its listeners to explore, precisely because its minimalistic compositions create a lot of space in which to get accommodated in. Apart from his solo projects, Rolf Hansen has for several years been connected to Donna Regina as well as Anders Mathiasen (formerly Murder, now Vessel, DK) and Henriette Sennenvaldt (formerly Under Byen, DK) through close collaborations.

$14.50 IN STOCK

A masterclass in nuance, interpretation and the purifying power of the human voice, Standards Vol. V represents another captivating chapter in the career of a singular figure in contemporary music, Bill Wells. For his fifth album as the mischievously named National Jazz Trio Of Scotland, prolific jazz outsider Wells posits yet another collaborator in the diffuse light cast by his tender chord shifts and understated arrangements. Where Standards Vol. IV (KK 106CD/LP, 2018) spun around the vocal talents of Kate Sugden with contributions from Gerard Black and Aby Vulliamy, the voice on Standards Vol. V is that of Black, whose other musical activities include the band Babe, François And The Atlas Mountains, Rozi Plain, and Charlotte Gainsbourg. For much of Standards Vol. V, Black's unstained tenor is the paint with which Wells fills the canvas on songs including four originals -- among them the beatific wordless chorale "Gradual Inclination" and the contrasting "So Much Power," an energetic stomp propelled by keyboard brass and drum machine -- and versions of songs from the musical Fiddler On The Roof and George and Ira Gershwin's Of Thee I Sing ("Sunrise, Sunset" and "Of Thee I Sing" respectively). As ever with Wells' work, whether under the NJTOS moniker or his own name (which typically appears alongside those of collaborators including Yo La Tengo, Jim O'Rourke, and Annette Peacock), the melodic and lyrical elements are embellished with jazz-accented piano, samples and keyboards, with minimal rhythmic accompaniment other than electronic percussion. Adding to the intrigue on Standards Vol. V are a new arrangement of the Scots/Irish ballad "I Know Where I'm Going" (from which Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger took the title of their 1945 film of the same name), an entirely new musical interpretation of "Sigh No More Ladies" from Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing and the album's appropriately named finale, "A Quiet Goodbye," with words by Aidan Moffat, Wells' partner on Everything's Getting Older (2011) -- winner of the inaugural Scottish Album Of The Year award -- and follow-up The Most Important Place In The World (2015).

$19.50 IN STOCK

LP version. Includes download code; Edition of 300. A masterclass in nuance, interpretation and the purifying power of the human voice, Standards Vol. V represents another captivating chapter in the career of a singular figure in contemporary music, Bill Wells. For his fifth album as the mischievously named National Jazz Trio Of Scotland, prolific jazz outsider Wells posits yet another collaborator in the diffuse light cast by his tender chord shifts and understated arrangements. Where Standards Vol. IV (KK 106CD/LP, 2018) spun around the vocal talents of Kate Sugden with contributions from Gerard Black and Aby Vulliamy, the voice on Standards Vol. V is that of Black, whose other musical activities include the band Babe, François And The Atlas Mountains, Rozi Plain, and Charlotte Gainsbourg. For much of Standards Vol. V, Black's unstained tenor is the paint with which Wells fills the canvas on songs including four originals -- among them the beatific wordless chorale "Gradual Inclination" and the contrasting "So Much Power," an energetic stomp propelled by keyboard brass and drum machine -- and versions of songs from the musical Fiddler On The Roof and George and Ira Gershwin's Of Thee I Sing ("Sunrise, Sunset" and "Of Thee I Sing" respectively). As ever with Wells' work, whether under the NJTOS moniker or his own name (which typically appears alongside those of collaborators including Yo La Tengo, Jim O'Rourke, and Annette Peacock), the melodic and lyrical elements are embellished with jazz-accented piano, samples and keyboards, with minimal rhythmic accompaniment other than electronic percussion. Adding to the intrigue on Standards Vol. V are a new arrangement of the Scots/Irish ballad "I Know Where I'm Going" (from which Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger took the title of their 1945 film of the same name), an entirely new musical interpretation of "Sigh No More Ladies" from Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing and the album's appropriately named finale, "A Quiet Goodbye," with words by Aidan Moffat, Wells' partner on Everything's Getting Older (2011) -- winner of the inaugural Scottish Album Of The Year award -- and follow-up The Most Important Place In The World (2015).

$14.50 IN STOCK

Emmanuel Mario keeps moving. The further he travels, the more he sounds like someone who has finally arrived where he has always been supposed to be. After collaborations with artists like Stereolab's Laetitia Sadier or the group Holden, his last album as Astrobal took the French composer and drummer to Australasie in 2016 (KK 092LP). On his second album for the Berlin-based Karaoke Kalk, he ventures even further, eventually heading for L'Infini, l'Univers Et Les Mondes ("infinity, the universe and the worlds"). Leaving behind the more krautrock-inspired approach he followed on Australasie, Astrobal focuses on a way of storytelling that takes conventional pop songwriting as a point of departure, yet arrives in previously unknown places. Over the course of eleven songs, the multi-instrumentalist further perfects his craft of life-affirming, funk-infused synth pop. Drawing on the work of pioneers like Brian Eno or Yellow Magic Orchestra, '80s electronic funk music and blue-eyed soul, shoegaze, and the rich tradition of progressive music and kosmische in his native France, L'infini, l'univers Et Les Mondes indicates a major development in Mario's futuristic and decidedly cosmic approach to songwriting. At the heart of the "French psychedelic new age pop for the world", as he himself has dubbed his sound, always sits a rhythmic idea -- an irresistible groove that is being complemented with intricate synthesizer harmonies and bouncing bass lines. In the meanwhile, Mario's voice is drifting over the tightly woven compositions as if in zero gravity. Not quite lonely, intimate yet far away, occasionally in conversation with robots and other inhabitants of outer space he comes across on his journey. As a coherent narrative, L'infini, l'Univers Et Les Mondes tells a story of extraterrestrial excursions. As a musical statement however, it sees Astrobal coming home after more than two decades in the world of music, finding a niche for himself with a style that is as adventurous as it is thrilling.

$19.50 IN STOCK

LP version. Includes printed inner sleeve; includes download code. Emmanuel Mario keeps moving. The further he travels, the more he sounds like someone who has finally arrived where he has always been supposed to be. After collaborations with artists like Stereolab's Laetitia Sadier or the group Holden, his last album as Astrobal took the French composer and drummer to Australasie in 2016 (KK 092LP). On his second album for the Berlin-based Karaoke Kalk, he ventures even further, eventually heading for L'Infini, l'Univers Et Les Mondes ("infinity, the universe and the worlds"). Leaving behind the more krautrock-inspired approach he followed on Australasie, Astrobal focuses on a way of storytelling that takes conventional pop songwriting as a point of departure, yet arrives in previously unknown places. Over the course of eleven songs, the multi-instrumentalist further perfects his craft of life-affirming, funk-infused synth pop. Drawing on the work of pioneers like Brian Eno or Yellow Magic Orchestra, '80s electronic funk music and blue-eyed soul, shoegaze, and the rich tradition of progressive music and kosmische in his native France, L'infini, l'univers Et Les Mondes indicates a major development in Mario's futuristic and decidedly cosmic approach to songwriting. At the heart of the "French psychedelic new age pop for the world", as he himself has dubbed his sound, always sits a rhythmic idea -- an irresistible groove that is being complemented with intricate synthesizer harmonies and bouncing bass lines. In the meanwhile, Mario's voice is drifting over the tightly woven compositions as if in zero gravity. Not quite lonely, intimate yet far away, occasionally in conversation with robots and other inhabitants of outer space he comes across on his journey. As a coherent narrative, L'infini, l'Univers Et Les Mondes tells a story of extraterrestrial excursions. As a musical statement however, it sees Astrobal coming home after more than two decades in the world of music, finding a niche for himself with a style that is as adventurous as it is thrilling.

$14.50 IN STOCK

As Donna Regina, Regina and Günther Janssen have been a fixture in the German indie pop and electronic scene ever since their first release in 1990. From 1999 on, they have released seven LPs and a slew of EPs on Karaoke Kalk. After a collection of cover versions of their songs by fellow artists and bands called Dis Cover - Donna Regina as Recorded By in 2015 (KK 085CD/LP), Transient sees the wife and husband duo both musically and lyrically pick up where they left off with 2014's Holding the Mirror for Sophia Loren (KK 078CD/LP). Even after 28 years and 13 full-length releases, Donna Regina still have much to say and on their first proper studio album since 2015 express it in more languages than ever. Between the English-language opener "Royal Blue" and the final German track "Lass Uns So Tun", Regina Janssen also explores French ("Quatre Septembres", written by Bertrand Burgalat's lyricist Pascal Mounet), Spanish ("Mí Globo De Nieve") and, newly so, Japanese (the Ayako Akashiba-penned "Melancholy Dragon") as languages to convey complex truths with only few and simple words. Simple would be one word with which to describe the music on Transient, although maybe that would be a premature judgement. Even though the Janssens' music, on this album only supported by the Danish guitarist Rolf Hansen on "Quatre Septembres", seems more minimalistic or perhaps even quieter than before, it is still brimming with details and the occasional moment of ecstasy. Transient isn't one of those records that will start slowly, peak in the middle and then fade out, but between songs like the opener "Royal Blue" and the beat-driven "Blitze" or the ambiguous up-beat track "Komm Lass Uns Heiraten" and "Melancholy Dragon" with its elegiac synthesizer harmonies draws on the sharp contrasts in mood and style. As such, Transient may just be the perfect title for this album that lyrically is more at home in the entire world than ever before in Donna Regina's history and also makes it abundantly clear that nothing, neither happiness nor sadness, will be forever. After 28 years and 13 full-length releases, Donna Regina stay in motion because the world does, too.