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viewing 1 To 20 of 20 items
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CD
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BJR 080CD
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$16.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 7/1/2022
Homemade ambient synth songs that will lead you to a state between deep relaxation and pleasant chemical high. Subtle, sincere, but also strange, Leoni Leoni's music has a powerful attraction and a unique bewitching force. The synthesizers sizzle, the drum machine moves forward sometimes throbbing. Upon it, the Bernese musician and producer sings about life, about love, in their banality and magnificence. With four homemade cassettes released since 2019, Leoni Leoni has established herself as a major figure of the Swiss underground. With dozens of concerts across Switzerland and France, she distills to perfection her music in the weirdest places, the craziest parties. A bit of magic, the scent of drugs, the caress of a summer white night... let yourself be carried away. Les Disques Bongo Joe release Leoni Leoni's work on vinyl for the first time, compiling the major tracks from her cassette releases.
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LP
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BJR 080LP
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$26.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 7/1/2022
LP version. Homemade ambient synth songs that will lead you to a state between deep relaxation and pleasant chemical high. Subtle, sincere, but also strange, Leoni Leoni's music has a powerful attraction and a unique bewitching force. The synthesizers sizzle, the drum machine moves forward sometimes throbbing. Upon it, the Bernese musician and producer sings about life, about love, in their banality and magnificence. With four homemade cassettes released since 2019, Leoni Leoni has established herself as a major figure of the Swiss underground. With dozens of concerts across Switzerland and France, she distills to perfection her music in the weirdest places, the craziest parties. A bit of magic, the scent of drugs, the caress of a summer white night... let yourself be carried away. Les Disques Bongo Joe release Leoni Leoni's work on vinyl for the first time, compiling the major tracks from her cassette releases.
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2LP
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BJR 059LP
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$35.50
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 6/24/2022
2022 repress. 2020 release. Following La Contra Ola (BJR015), Bongo Joe is pleased to present La Ola Interior, a compilation exploring the ambient side of the Spanish electronic music produced in the '80s. As a general rule, the Anglo-Saxon tropism did relate the Spanish peninsula's ambient music to the Balearic Sound, that is to say to the relaxing music played in Ibiza's nightclubs. But this music takes place in the productive territory of experimental music, and particularly in its two main breeding grounds: the tape-recording underground and the independent musicians-producers scene. Inseparable from the processes of self-publishing, distribution, and exchange of music that were then taking place in Spain in an artisanal way, the vast underground movement of cassettes was divided between an "ethno-trance" combining industrial beats and oriental sounds on the one hand (Esplendor Geométrico, Miguel A. Ruiz/Orfeón Gagarin) and unclassifiable low-fi tinkerers on the other hand (Camino al Desván, Eli Gras, Mataparda, Victor Nubla). Hyperactive, this scene is radical and strongly dominated by the hardest musical styles, but the ambient, influenced by the German kosmische musik and "krautrock", also develops here. The second vein of Spanish ambient comes from some of the independent labels of the peninsula (DRO, GASA, El Cometa de Madrid, EGK) whose activity will mark the return of some of the most adventurous musicians-producers of the '70s. Some were influenced by American minimalism (Luis Delgado/Mecánica Popular, Suso Saiz, Javier Segura), others by Fourth World music conceived by Jon Hassell and Brian Eno (Finis Africae, Jabir). Having passed through folk, ancient, traditional or contemporary music, and being familiar with improvisation and studio techniques, these artists come from a mutant hippie culture, capable of phagocyting many musical styles from electronic ambient to ethnic improvisation and modal jazz. These two scenes and generations that make up La Ola Interior intersect around a common interest in non-Western musical traditions. Their exploration may be that of the tribal origins of electronic rhythms or the Arab heritage of Spain. Above all, it is a dreamy exoticism, an immobile journey as the sounds, rhythms or instruments of these traditions are scrutinized by Western practices (avant-garde music, electronic technology). The result is a hybrid music, filtered and reinvented, neither Western nor extra-Western, with a pronounced taste for the fusion of opposites, which the label has called "Acid Exoticism" because of its permanent search for trance or contemplation. Features Miguel A. Ruiz, Camino al Desván, Mecánica Popular, Finis Africae, Orfeón Gagarin, Victor Nubla, Javier Segura, Jabir, Esplendor Geométrico, Luis Delgado, Mataparda, Suso Saiz, and Eli Gras.
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LP
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BJR 025LP
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$28.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 5/27/2022
2018 release. Altın Gün offer an exciting mix of Turkish folk, psychedelia, funk, and rock. After performing in Istanbul with Jacco Gardner, bassist Jasper Verhulst became fascinated by the Turkish sound of the '70s. At that time, artists like Selda, Barış Manço, and Erkin Koray combined traditional music with western rock influences. Along with bandmates Ben Rider (guitar) and Nic Mauskovic (drums), Verhulst searched for Turkish musicians to revive this sound. They found Merve Dasdemir (vocals) and Erdinc Yildiz Ecevit (vocals, saz, keys) through Facebook. Jungle by Nigaht's energetic percussionist Gino Groeneveld joined the group and the band was complete. Altın Gün play songs from the aforementioned artists from the '70s and their lesser-known contemporaries and also make their own arrangements of Turkish traditionals. This way, different worlds meet and form a refreshing danceable sound.
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LP
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BJR 041LP
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$28.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 5/27/2022
"The worst madness to be wise in a mad world" chant Hyperculte in their second album Massif Occidental, true musical liberty cry, happy and wild. The duo, formed by the cream of Genevan experimental scene -- Simone Aubert in drums, guitar, and vocals, and Vincent Bertholet in double-bass and vocals -- follows its crazy procession in a chaotic word to carry you away in its disco, pop, kraut, punk, and post rock trance. Sharped rhythmic, composition inventiveness, poetic and committed lyrics, the eight songs of the album, written from musical improvisations, from pieces of literary texts and politic slogans, give evidence of the decided and sharped look of the two musicians about our time. The instruments and voices (a worked feminine singing and a masculine scansion more brutal and spoke) full of various effects and distortions, discuss, play and answer each other. Recorded in Hambourg, in Felix Kubin's, To Rococo Rot's, Faust's, etc. studio which gives all the songs a sharped electro-pop touch, the album sounds like shot at glory, a poetic resistance appeal for an "army of dreamers". Between idealism and pessimism, joy and urgency, Hyperculte confirms their debuts and shows their own madness with a Massif Occidental firmly invincible.
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2LP
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BJR 069LP
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$34.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 5/20/2022
Double LP version. Les Disques Bongo Joe present brand new sounds from the cutting-edge of the 21st century Istanbul underground by powerhouse Turkish trio Lalalar. Riding a wave of fierce energy and acclaim generated by their show-stopping festival performances at Le Guess Who and Trans Musicales, they now unleash their hotly-anticipated debut album, Bi Cinnete Bakar. The brainchild of three of Turkey's most active and innovative alternative artists -- Ali Güçlü Şimşek, Barlas Tan Özemek, and Kaan Düzarat -- the album is a thrilling mix of punk energy, dark electronics and Turkish instrumentation and samples. You can learn a lot from the names bands give themselves --and Lalalar is no exception. Principal songwriter, Ali Güçlü Şimşek, explains: "Lala is the wise man, the teacher of sultans in Ottoman history. And at the same time, in slang, the one who doesn't know what he is talking about." Make it plural by adding "lar," and you've got a moniker that might translate as "the wiseguys," delivered with a punkish sneer. That's the kind of streetwise, confrontational attitude that crackles through Lalalar's first, uncompromising full-length offering. For listeners whose knowledge of Turkish music extends only as far as '70s Anatolian rock, Lalalar might come as a surprise. Though Şimşek suggests that those psychedelic classics are "in the veins" of all three members, Lalalar are much more than just another retro outfit. Instead, they weave subtle samples of timeless Turkish folk music into their electronic stews. Listen to how "Abla Deme Lazim Olur" begins with a flash of Arabesque strings before hunkering into a lumbering industrial-funk groove. But for all their brooding mystery, Lalalar are anything but a bunch of shoe-gazing introverts. Over the last few years, they've forged a formidable reputation for their wildly ecstatic live performances. Just as the UK's '70s punk scene was fueled by youthful discontent with Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government, Turkish youth living under President Erdoğan's rule are hungry for new sounds. All three members of Lalalar have been active on this scene for years but, although they've been friends since way back, they didn't start playing together till spring 2018. It was a long overdue meeting of minds, with a deep foundation of mutual respect. Şimşek and guitarist Barlas Tan Özemek first worked together in 2014 on the debut album of another doyen of the current Turkish scene, singer Gaye Su Akyol. For fans of: Scalping, Altin Gün, Yin Yin, Los Bitchos.
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CD
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BJR 069CD
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$18.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 5/20/2022
Les Disques Bongo Joe present brand new sounds from the cutting-edge of the 21st century Istanbul underground by powerhouse Turkish trio Lalalar. Riding a wave of fierce energy and acclaim generated by their show-stopping festival performances at Le Guess Who and Trans Musicales, they now unleash their hotly-anticipated debut album, Bi Cinnete Bakar. The brainchild of three of Turkey's most active and innovative alternative artists -- Ali Güçlü Şimşek, Barlas Tan Özemek, and Kaan Düzarat -- the album is a thrilling mix of punk energy, dark electronics and Turkish instrumentation and samples. You can learn a lot from the names bands give themselves --and Lalalar is no exception. Principal songwriter, Ali Güçlü Şimşek, explains: "Lala is the wise man, the teacher of sultans in Ottoman history. And at the same time, in slang, the one who doesn't know what he is talking about." Make it plural by adding "lar," and you've got a moniker that might translate as "the wiseguys," delivered with a punkish sneer. That's the kind of streetwise, confrontational attitude that crackles through Lalalar's first, uncompromising full-length offering. For listeners whose knowledge of Turkish music extends only as far as '70s Anatolian rock, Lalalar might come as a surprise. Though Şimşek suggests that those psychedelic classics are "in the veins" of all three members, Lalalar are much more than just another retro outfit. Instead, they weave subtle samples of timeless Turkish folk music into their electronic stews. Listen to how "Abla Deme Lazim Olur" begins with a flash of Arabesque strings before hunkering into a lumbering industrial-funk groove. But for all their brooding mystery, Lalalar are anything but a bunch of shoe-gazing introverts. Over the last few years, they've forged a formidable reputation for their wildly ecstatic live performances. Just as the UK's '70s punk scene was fueled by youthful discontent with Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government, Turkish youth living under President Erdoğan's rule are hungry for new sounds. All three members of Lalalar have been active on this scene for years but, although they've been friends since way back, they didn't start playing together till spring 2018. It was a long overdue meeting of minds, with a deep foundation of mutual respect. Şimşek and guitarist Barlas Tan Özemek first worked together in 2014 on the debut album of another doyen of the current Turkish scene, singer Gaye Su Akyol. For fans of: Scalping, Altin Gün, Yin Yin, Los Bitchos.
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BJR 056CD
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Les Disques Bongo Joe, continuing their work on Sao Tomé and Principe with curator DJ Tom B., announce the release of an anthology of the group África Negra. This first volume includes 12 of their key tracks, remastered for the occasion and selected only from those officially released on different media. Formed in the early 1970s by Horacio, a butcher by trade, and his guitarist friend Emidio Pontes, África Negra is the best known of the great São Tomé and Principe bands. The catchy melodies in the local Forro language, provided by lead singer João Seria, and subtly harmonized by the enchanting backing vocals of the rest of the band, quickly ensured their influence outside the archipelago. Their incomparable blend of Puxa and Rumba rhythms and subtle melodies made them the most regular touring band from Sao Tome. Their first album (Aninha) was released in 1981, followed by three more in 1983. They contain an incredible collection of timeless hits and have achieved high ratings on the second-hand market. Then came the excellent San Lena in 1986, which was unfortunately only released on cassette, but for which we were able to digitize the original tape. In 1990 their last album in vinyl format (Paga me uma cerveja) was released, the rarest. Three CDs and five cassettes followed in the 1990s. Like most São Tomean bands, they recorded their compositions at Radio Nacional STP, the only studio on the island at the time, whose cramped premises forced the big bands to do sessions outside in the courtyard, at night, facing the ocean and in front of their fans. Reformed around João Seria, the band has recorded three albums since 2012, and has been touring again for a few years, offering, always with the same energy, their frenzied rhythms, their graceful harmonies, their poetry full of social metaphors, and their typical dance steps. Accompanied by a booklet with the original covers and interviews with the band members still with us.
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BJR 046LP
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2022 repress. Where to place Yīn Yīn on the map -- maybe somewhere between Netherlands and South-East Asia, on an imaginary tropical island. That's where they brew a strange cocktail made of disco grooves, powerful "Thaï beat" tunes and experimental tropi-synths. After two mind-blowing singles on Les Disques Bongo Joe, Yīn Yīn are back with The Rabbit That Hunts Tigers. Yīn Yīn passed last month's burning scenes and make people dance around Europe, so they're ready to blow the world with this awaited first album. Made of groovy tunes and dancefloor killers, this album could be the crazy soundtrack of a '60s hippie village on the South China Sea.
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2LP
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BJR 056LP
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Double LP version. Les Disques Bongo Joe, continuing their work on Sao Tomé and Principe with curator DJ Tom B., announce the release of an anthology of the group África Negra. This first volume includes 12 of their key tracks, remastered for the occasion and selected only from those officially released on different media. Formed in the early 1970s by Horacio, a butcher by trade, and his guitarist friend Emidio Pontes, África Negra is the best known of the great São Tomé and Principe bands. The catchy melodies in the local Forro language, provided by lead singer João Seria, and subtly harmonized by the enchanting backing vocals of the rest of the band, quickly ensured their influence outside the archipelago. Their incomparable blend of Puxa and Rumba rhythms and subtle melodies made them the most regular touring band from Sao Tome. Their first album (Aninha) was released in 1981, followed by three more in 1983. They contain an incredible collection of timeless hits and have achieved high ratings on the second-hand market. Then came the excellent San Lena in 1986, which was unfortunately only released on cassette, but for which we were able to digitize the original tape. In 1990 their last album in vinyl format (Paga me uma cerveja) was released, the rarest. Three CDs and five cassettes followed in the 1990s. Like most São Tomean bands, they recorded their compositions at Radio Nacional STP, the only studio on the island at the time, whose cramped premises forced the big bands to do sessions outside in the courtyard, at night, facing the ocean and in front of their fans. Reformed around João Seria, the band has recorded three albums since 2012, and has been touring again for a few years, offering, always with the same energy, their frenzied rhythms, their graceful harmonies, their poetry full of social metaphors, and their typical dance steps. Accompanied by a booklet with the original covers and interviews with the band members still with us.
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BJR 073LP
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LP version. Founded in 2006 by Vincent Bertholet (Hyperculte), the Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp is a large-scale project. Designed as a real orchestra, the size of the ensemble has varied over time. Now with 12 members, 14 in the past or six at the beginning, the ensemble has scoured the stages of Europe to demonstrate that the formula "the more the merrier" has never been more true than on stage. Whether in prestigious festivals (Paléo Festival de Nyon, Fusion Festival, Incubate, Womad, Bad Bonn Kilbi, Jazz à la Vilette) or on the four albums released since its launch, the group shows an incredible fluidity. The Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp (a mischievous title in homage to traditional African groups -- Orchestre Tout Puissant Konono n°1, Orchestre Tout Puissant Polyrytmo etc... -- and to one of the greatest dynamizers of 20th century art) embraces the forms of its musicians while pushing them to their limits. The result is a powerful, experimental, unstable and terribly alive, organic sound. These characteristics can be found on We're OK. But We're Lost Anyway., fifth opus of the band. Built around twelve musicians, extirpated from their respective biotope, it develops a repetitive musicality which, deployed in successive waves, creates a feeling of trance. Mixing free jazz, post punk, high life, brass band, symphonic mixtures and kraut rock, their sound only goes beyond the limits of genre. Transcendental, almost ritualistic, the music is coupled with powerful lyrics, declaimed in rage against a world that is falling apart. Adorcist, hypnotic and post-syncratic, the Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp, far from Tzara's manifesto, is somewhere between Hugo Ball's phonetic psalms, a Sufi procession that turns into a brawl and a voodoo ritual, but always with a precision proper to the monomania of an Asperger.
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BJR 065LP
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Grup Şimşek is a fresh and modern pop group which combines Anatolian folk and contemporary grooves, often contaminated by psychedelia and progressive rock flavors. Led by Derya Yıldırım's hypnotizing bağlama and vocals, the group draw a meaningful continuity from the Turkish folk repertoire to their original songwriting, with a strong sound identity and a dancefloor-friendly energy. Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek, along with Swiss label Bongo Joe, release the new LP Dost 1, the collective's second album and first of two to be released in 2022. Turkish singer and saz player Derya Yıldırım has been burning the candle for Turkish folk and psychedelia since her infamous performance at the New Hamburg Festival back in 2015. Soon after, Grup Şimşek was born and there started a rich journey of musical feast, exploring and rendering new versions of Anatolian classics as well as building a songbook of original compositions, with references to the music of The Doors, west coast US psych, Turkish musical activist and hero Selda Bagçan and many heroes of musical Anatolia. Grup Şimşek are itinerant by nature. They live apart across various European homes and span Turkish, German, French, and English heritage with Derya living in Berlin. Despite this spatial incongruence, the group's harmony oozes through their music with a rich stew of funk-noir groove, organ energy, hypnotic saz (Turkish stringed instrument) and synths all layered beneath Derya's warm sometimes heartfelt vocal, singing verse and poetry, borrowed, evolved and new.
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BJR 075CD
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Chance, is the second album of Société Étrange, composed of six love songs without words, with equivocal rhythms, glaucous turquoise bass, and melodies affectionately tinged with melancholy. The album was recorded in July 2020 in Vaulx-en-Vel from a collection of materials and collective drift. Composed in studio, it is by the live that is shaped their pieces, several years to test them together so that these three musicians let us glimpse a possible civilization. Not fantasies that cannot be apprehended, but a future that we can hope to desire. Their hypnotic compositions, drunk with dub, iron harmonics, and polymetric measures, play a music that is a bit shady, one of those that provoke the space for the dance to happen, without anesthesia. Société Étrange was formed in 2012 by Antoine Bellini (electronics) and Romain Hervault (bass), joined in 2015 by Jonathan Grandcollot (percussion) after the release of their first album Au Revoir.
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BJR 075LP
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LP version. Chance, is the second album of Société Étrange, composed of six love songs without words, with equivocal rhythms, glaucous turquoise bass, and melodies affectionately tinged with melancholy. The album was recorded in July 2020 in Vaulx-en-Vel from a collection of materials and collective drift. Composed in studio, it is by the live that is shaped their pieces, several years to test them together so that these three musicians let us glimpse a possible civilization. Not fantasies that cannot be apprehended, but a future that we can hope to desire. Their hypnotic compositions, drunk with dub, iron harmonics, and polymetric measures, play a music that is a bit shady, one of those that provoke the space for the dance to happen, without anesthesia. Société Étrange was formed in 2012 by Antoine Bellini (electronics) and Romain Hervault (bass), joined in 2015 by Jonathan Grandcollot (percussion) after the release of their first album Au Revoir.
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BJR 061LP
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LP version. Recorded between Lausanne and Brussels during summer 2019, the new series of songs on Alors Quoi by Meril Wubslin dig deeper in this tribal, rustic, and minimal tendency that they had in the two previous albums. It is the desire to search for sounds, to manipulate matter: sound matter, rhythmic matter, to knead it to its hottest point, that guided the work of composition. All vintage guitars were recorded without amps. Tambourines and other maracas were approached as a drum kit. But the harmonies and melodies are still present and sometimes enhanced by the occasional participation of a choir of female voices or a minimal synth line. Always with this desire to use French, their mother tongue, while trying to avoid the trap of "variété française".
"With this new album, we wanted to try something slightly different with the sound. Explore new ways to record our instruments and voices. Thus, we decided to put away our amplifiers that we used for rockier moods. And we tried the acoustic option. We were surprised by the wide range of possibilities, much more direct and much more emotional actually. About the texts, we still insist with this open way of writing, a mixture between abstract and concrete which offers several understandings. With this liberty in the structure, we avoid the predominance of the message, to go towards a more sensitive and open meaning." --Christian Garcia-Gaucher
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CD
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BJR 061CD
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$16.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 3/4/2022
Recorded between Lausanne and Brussels during summer 2019, the new series of songs on Alors Quoi by Meril Wubslin dig deeper in this tribal, rustic, and minimal tendency that they had in the two previous albums. It is the desire to search for sounds, to manipulate matter: sound matter, rhythmic matter, to knead it to its hottest point, that guided the work of composition. All vintage guitars were recorded without amps. Tambourines and other maracas were approached as a drum kit. But the harmonies and melodies are still present and sometimes enhanced by the occasional participation of a choir of female voices or a minimal synth line. Always with this desire to use French, their mother tongue, while trying to avoid the trap of "variété française".
"With this new album, we wanted to try something slightly different with the sound. Explore new ways to record our instruments and voices. Thus, we decided to put away our amplifiers that we used for rockier moods. And we tried the acoustic option. We were surprised by the wide range of possibilities, much more direct and much more emotional actually. About the texts, we still insist with this open way of writing, a mixture between abstract and concrete which offers several understandings. With this liberty in the structure, we avoid the predominance of the message, to go towards a more sensitive and open meaning." --Christian Garcia-Gaucher
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2LP
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BJR 071LP
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Double LP version. An hour of finely crafted grooves where cosmic atmospheres meet late night bangers While on a break due to a certain pandemic, L'Eclair threw itself in the making of a new album. Until that point recording sessions were usually really short. Former albums were made in only a few days and recorded mostly live on tape. That changed as the band decided to do four recording sessions over nine months, hence allowing the group and its sound engineer/manager Benoit Erard to spend more time and energy on the production. With the ability to step back and reflect on the work in progress, L'Eclair had the occasion to take things a step above in terms of arrangements, compositions and structures. The result is an hour-long 12 track record, which is more diversified and concise than previous efforts. Titled Confusions, the album shows L'Eclair's obsession with groove in all its forms. It blends club vibes with psychedelic grooves, rhythmic trances and ambient comedowns while retaining a true coherence. Produced and organic, danceable and ethereal, spontaneous and cerebral, joyful and melancholic, Confusions is always on the fence between very different moods without ever wandering off. The band's never fading influences are still there: you can hear hints of CAN, Piero Umiliani or Tangerine Dream here and there. But it's melted with different universes, such as late '80s Madchester or Aphex Twin and Boards Of Canada's textured worlds. There is also a strong hip-hop feel with sampled-based tracks and non-binary beats that recall the likes of great producers like Madlib, MF DOOM, J Dilla or even Timbaland. The record also has its fair share of dub and house influences, which connect with the group's attachment to the club vibe.
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BJR 071CD
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An hour of finely crafted grooves where cosmic atmospheres meet late night bangers While on a break due to a certain pandemic, L'Eclair threw itself in the making of a new album. Until that point recording sessions were usually really short. Former albums were made in only a few days and recorded mostly live on tape. That changed as the band decided to do four recording sessions over nine months, hence allowing the group and its sound engineer/manager Benoit Erard to spend more time and energy on the production. With the ability to step back and reflect on the work in progress, L'Eclair had the occasion to take things a step above in terms of arrangements, compositions and structures. The result is an hour-long 12 track record, which is more diversified and concise than previous efforts. Titled Confusions, the album shows L'Eclair's obsession with groove in all its forms. It blends club vibes with psychedelic grooves, rhythmic trances and ambient comedowns while retaining a true coherence. Produced and organic, danceable and ethereal, spontaneous and cerebral, joyful and melancholic, Confusions is always on the fence between very different moods without ever wandering off. The band's never fading influences are still there: you can hear hints of CAN, Piero Umiliani or Tangerine Dream here and there. But it's melted with different universes, such as late '80s Madchester or Aphex Twin and Boards Of Canada's textured worlds. There is also a strong hip-hop feel with sampled-based tracks and non-binary beats that recall the likes of great producers like Madlib, MF DOOM, J Dilla or even Timbaland. The record also has its fair share of dub and house influences, which connect with the group's attachment to the club vibe.
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BJR 070LP
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Paz En La Tierra is a result of a search by the Meridian Brothers & Conjunto Media Luna of the heart of something that can be called a "power format" of Colombian Caribbean music; accordion, guacharaca, caja, congas, electric bass, and vocals. Departing from this idea, and casually working with the music of a documentary on the famous singer Diomedes Diaz, Iván Medellín (accordionist of Conjunto Media Luna), and Eblis Álvarez from the Meridian Brothers, embarked on a new work building a sound exclusively on the traditional format, searching for several spaces between the lines in the universe of accordion in Colombian music. The duo departed from the basic: the line of Vallenato, the most famous in the country but not the only one, the line of Sabanero music more of the lands of Sucre and Córdoba inclined towards Cumbia, Bullerengue, son Vallenato among other airs fed the group's ideas. The Barranquilla center deserves a separate mention, due to its cosmopolitan approach, using all kinds of influences, from the Caribbean islands to ancient rhythms or even modern rock and funk, also used as an inspiration for this record. In the process, new ways of melody appeared and new ways of expression emerged. Although the rhythms used in the record are rooted in the traditional, the duo glitched those rhythms turning them into new directions in the style, using exclusively the past references to transmute the sound into something that looks inside a parallel future. Using several theatrical situations, alterations in musical structures, and slight deformations of the traditional harmony (a tonal center and its dominant) the result of Paz En La Tierra is enigmatic and charming, and at the same time directed towards the dance floor keeping the past alive and flourishing the essence of the tradition.
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BJR 073CD
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Founded in 2006 by Vincent Bertholet (Hyperculte), the Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp is a large-scale project. Designed as a real orchestra, the size of the ensemble has varied over time. Now with 12 members, 14 in the past or six at the beginning, the ensemble has scoured the stages of Europe to demonstrate that the formula "the more the merrier" has never been more true than on stage. Whether in prestigious festivals (Paléo Festival de Nyon, Fusion Festival, Incubate, Womad, Bad Bonn Kilbi, Jazz à la Vilette) or on the four albums released since its launch, the group shows an incredible fluidity. The Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp (a mischievous title in homage to traditional African groups -- Orchestre Tout Puissant Konono n°1, Orchestre Tout Puissant Polyrytmo etc... -- and to one of the greatest dynamizers of 20th century art) embraces the forms of its musicians while pushing them to their limits. The result is a powerful, experimental, unstable and terribly alive, organic sound. These characteristics can be found on We're OK. But We're Lost Anyway., fifth opus of the band. Built around twelve musicians, extirpated from their respective biotope, it develops a repetitive musicality which, deployed in successive waves, creates a feeling of trance. Mixing free jazz, post punk, high life, brass band, symphonic mixtures and kraut rock, their sound only goes beyond the limits of genre. Transcendental, almost ritualistic, the music is coupled with powerful lyrics, declaimed in rage against a world that is falling apart. Adorcist, hypnotic and post-syncratic, the Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp, far from Tzara's manifesto, is somewhere between Hugo Ball's phonetic psalms, a Sufi procession that turns into a brawl and a voodoo ritual, but always with a precision proper to the monomania of an Asperger.
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