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LN 028LP
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LP version. Includes bonus track, "Mare A Mare (Sequenza Slow Version)". "Musical love at first sight" is one way to describe the genesis of the duo formed by Chloé and Bulgarian percussionist Vassilena Serafimova. An impromptu meeting that has since turned into a lasting collaboration, culminating in the release of their first joint album this fall after four years of on-stage and in-studio complicity. Chloé and Vassilena Serafimova met in 2017, through Sourdoreille -- a cooperative of journalists and videographers who share a love of contemporary music -- who invited them to take part in their electro-acoustic live series Variations. After an artist's residency at Xavier Veilhan's Studio Venezia during the Venice Biennale, they decided to extend the experience and continue facilitating a dialogue between the marimba's suave tones and the effervescence of machines. Their first album together, Sequenza, is the fruit of a harmonious collision between two worlds that usually remain at a distance from each other: that of electronic music, generally associated with the chiaroscuro of clubs, and of art music, which usually basks in the light of prestigious concert halls. But while mixing genres is often a perilous exercise, in this case it makes for one potent cocktail -- one that is as airy as it is melodious. This musical fusion, fed by numerous back-and-forths between studio and stage, results in sunny compositions, which borrow as much from the creative intuition that they deploy on stage as from the individual visions they instill into each of the pieces. Their pieces are built layer by layer, sequence by sequence, in a continuous creative feedback loop between their two practices. In fact, Sequenza is permeated by a dreamlike atmosphere that envelops listeners, guiding them through contrasting soundscapes: one wanders from contemplative tracks ("Studio Venezia", "52 Hertz") to dance eruptions ("Balani"), from energetic outbursts to intimate retreats. Incandescent from the first listen, the album reveals to the attentive ear a multitude of details: on "Driveaway", the acoustics of the marimba are altered with strips of fabric, while on "Dvé Hubavi Otchi", Vassilena's voice is treated as a tangible sound material, sculpted into an inviting vessel by Chloé's effects and loops. The creative exploration seems infinite, as both artists dynamically transform their pieces with each interpretation. So much so that they take the opportunity to revisit their respective repertoires, as with "Mare a Mare", a synthesized transfiguration of a Serafimova composition by the electronic producer, and on "The Dawn", a reinterpretation of a key Chloé track by the marimba player. The two artists lead you into their ever-expanding electro-acoustic universe, full of seductive promises and inexhaustible possibilities.
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CD
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LN 028CD
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$16.50
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 10/29/2021
"Musical love at first sight" is one way to describe the genesis of the duo formed by Chloé and Bulgarian percussionist Vassilena Serafimova. An impromptu meeting that has since turned into a lasting collaboration, culminating in the release of their first joint album this fall after four years of on-stage and in-studio complicity. Chloé and Vassilena Serafimova met in 2017, through Sourdoreille -- a cooperative of journalists and videographers who share a love of contemporary music -- who invited them to take part in their electro-acoustic live series Variations. After an artist's residency at Xavier Veilhan's Studio Venezia during the Venice Biennale, they decided to extend the experience and continue facilitating a dialogue between the marimba's suave tones and the effervescence of machines. Their first album together, Sequenza, is the fruit of a harmonious collision between two worlds that usually remain at a distance from each other: that of electronic music, generally associated with the chiaroscuro of clubs, and of art music, which usually basks in the light of prestigious concert halls. But while mixing genres is often a perilous exercise, in this case it makes for one potent cocktail -- one that is as airy as it is melodious. This musical fusion, fed by numerous back-and-forths between studio and stage, results in sunny compositions, which borrow as much from the creative intuition that they deploy on stage as from the individual visions they instill into each of the pieces. Their pieces are built layer by layer, sequence by sequence, in a continuous creative feedback loop between their two practices. In fact, Sequenza is permeated by a dreamlike atmosphere that envelops listeners, guiding them through contrasting soundscapes: one wanders from contemplative tracks ("Studio Venezia", "52 Hertz") to dance eruptions ("Balani"), from energetic outbursts to intimate retreats. Incandescent from the first listen, the album reveals to the attentive ear a multitude of details: on "Driveaway", the acoustics of the marimba are altered with strips of fabric, while on "Dvé Hubavi Otchi", Vassilena's voice is treated as a tangible sound material, sculpted into an inviting vessel by Chloé's effects and loops. The creative exploration seems infinite, as both artists dynamically transform their pieces with each interpretation. So much so that they take the opportunity to revisit their respective repertoires, as with "Mare a Mare", a synthesized transfiguration of a Serafimova composition by the electronic producer, and on "The Dawn", a reinterpretation of a key Chloé track by the marimba player. The two artists lead you into their ever-expanding electro-acoustic universe, full of seductive promises and inexhaustible possibilities.
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LN 032LP
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Back in 2017, Yuksek (Pierre-Alexandre Busson) was invited to take part in a unique experiment: a residence at visual artist Xavier Veilhan's Studio Venezia. The installation, a part of the 57th Venice Biennale, invited musicians to make use of its instruments in order to compose live in front of an audience. The Rheims-born electronic producer came back from his Venetian sojourn with a desire to explore new sonic horizons, to break with conventional creative processes and surrender to spontaneity by recording improvised tracks in one go on his armada of analog machines. Thus was born the Destiino project, a sort of tormented alter ego for Yuksek. One that favors dark atmospheres, textures, and feverish flights of melodic fancy. But what came out of these experimental sessions (taking place both in Venice and Busson's Rheims studio) almost didn't see the light of day. By its own admission, the artist didn't quite know what to make of the unclassifiable tracks, which comprised both pieces that were too moody for dance-music labels and others that were too clubby for more experimental imprints. It was with Lumière Noire, a label that is all about defying classification, that the project found an open ear. Along with label boss Chloé, who shares the same inclination towards shifting away from club formats and telling stories with sound, he came up with an edit that kept these artistic experimentations' raw aspects. The result of these exchanges between the two artists will be a double release: EP Afsila (January 2021) and full length Destiino (March 2021). The former oscillates between electronica and acid-tinged techno ("Afsila", "La Jungle"), while the second tome features a larger sonic palette that will strike a familiar chord with the versatile artist's aficionados. Indeed, the album can be seen as the synthesis of his various musical experiments: from the discoid "Rodouard" to the electro of "C'est pas des oiseaux", the opus also encompasses more experimental, lo-fi excursions like "Tropicante", which calls to mind his recent scores for film, television and theatre. Through invitations to dance and more introspective movements, the album remains melodic and psychedelic, making it a confinement-perfect soundtrack to a living room dancefloor.
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2LP
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LN 025LP
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Back in 2018, Lumière Noire celebrated its first anniversary with a compilation featuring fourteen exclusive tracks by an eclectic group of electronic musicians -- a family portrait of sorts (LN 015LP). A few months later, a second volume of From Above, compiled by the label's artistic director (and DJ) Chloé, once more brings thirteen established acts together with promising upstarts. The lineup for the second volume of From Above is again equally intriguing, offering a crescendo-like track listing. Marc Mélias's fascinating, unsettling "Permanent Waves" provides a serene opening. Pletnev continues on with the playful, hooky "Marco O'Polo", a fundamentally techno track built over a seductive '90s-inspired breakbeat. Douglas Greed supplies "Vancouver", a slice of ambiance à la Boards of Canada, supported by a gripping breakbeat. The rhythmic arpeggio of Israeli producer's Middle Sky Bloom makes his contribution a hypnotic, disconcerting slice of dark disco. Thomass Jackson, a safe bet in the new wave of the Latin-American electronic, proposes "Mithra", a dancefloor incantation to the Antiquity's bull god. With "Bells", Goldmoon delivers a track that is both melodic and nostalgic, tinged with rhythmic samples, Moog basses, and solar backgrounds. Longtime friend of Chloé, Krikor, offers a moment of respite with "Sally Hardesty" (a nod to fans of horror movies), a heavenly and bewitching track that, paradoxically, hints at the highly energetic second half of the compilation. Young French producer Morgan Blanc asserts himself here with "Werde Der Du Bist" ("Become Who You Are"), a song with luminous chords and midtempo rhythms to start the second half of the compilation. Galician producer, DJ, and designer Cora Novoa continues the rollercoaster's ascent with her "Virtual Aesthetics", which once again brings those acid tones. Equally corrosive, but tenser and more percussive, the uncategorizable NSDOS' "AL-G" attempts to give order to a chaotic electronic world full of violence and danger. Rebeka Warrior (half of Kompromat), takes on a more nostalgic vibe with "Ich Komme Zurück", a French/German techno chant. Theus Mago makes a solo comeback with "Idealistic Stone", a most acid of club tracks, rattled by the modulations of the inevitable TB 303. French electro-rock stalwart Yan Wagner's dancefloor alter ego The Populists' "Prehistoric Lemurs" gives an almost Orientalizing twist to Kraftwerk's techno-pop. "Instant Track", by impromptu encounter between Hervé Carvalho, Jacques Bon, and Demian named Acid Love Triangle, releases the pressure with a long, bittersweet reverie. Also features Middle Sky Boom.
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12"
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LN 026EP
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From the moment of its release, Iñigo Vontier's El Hijo Del Maiz (LN 024LP, 2019) has become one of the most gripping albums of the moment. With South American and Middle Eastern sounds and his conception of music as ritual, the Mexican DJ keeps electronica in check with a valid mix of influences. The EP El Hijo Del Maiz Remixes marks the end of an episode which started, in good company, last autumn on the Lumière Noire label. The second track, "Bo Ni Ke," is distinguished by its original -- almost implausible -- universe, with a Japanese-inflected vocal filter and oriental flutes taking the beats into a crazy trance. Leaning on a 4/4 rhythm, Simple Symmetry's remix of the track is also very playful (Vontier recently remixed "Nar" for Simple Symmetry). The Moscow duo pulls the track over to another, less terrestrial, more psychedelic universe, in their well-identified ethno-underground style. The remix of "Bo Ni Ke" by Nicola Cruz, a French-born Ecuadorian producer, enlivens the track by playing on the sounds of voices and South American percussion. The sounds here overlap with the demonological whims of Vontier but also those of Nicolas Jaar. The first track from the album, "Xu Xu" has been remixed by Roman Flügel, allowing a vinyl release of this incredible track. One could pick out the science of this headliner from a million. Flügel has been on the electronic scene since the early days, learning the ropes at prestigious labels Playhouse, Dial, and Klang. He has recently enhanced some emblematic tracks by Daniel Avery, Koze, Âme, Radio Slave, and C.A.R. and here once again the pioneer of techno is working miracles to create a more cerebral version of this track. Concluding the EP with Thomass Jackson, his co-founder of the label Calypso Records, Vontier offers up a genre-busting version of "Marijuana," like an ataxic play time, deliberately smoky for an explicitly licentious title.
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LP
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LN 024LP
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Hot off the heels of Aluxes, his 2018 Lumière Noire debut EP (LN 008EP), young Mexican DJ/producer Iñigo Vontier is inviting Chloé's label on a trip to the far corners of the body and mind with an album of demented grooves, psychedelic take-offs, and imaginary comic strips of mystical rituals. A bewitching debut full-length. The DJ/producer fully asserts his origins by brandishing the album's title El Hijo Del Maiz ("the son of the corn") almost as an emblem: "in Mexico, corn is eaten daily. It has long been defined as 'the gold of America', and I consider all Mexicans as children of corn". Whether contemplative or frenetic, the collection of tracks that make up El Hijo Del Maiz takes the kitchen sink and throws it out the window: languid rhythms, haunted vocals, and mysterious percussion fuel a discombobulated house set that scrambles the listener's five senses. Following the demented, dystopian "Xu Xu", which explores an imaginary jungle that harbored Mayan and Egyptian pyramids, Middle Eastern accents are once more present in the off-kilter "Bo Ni Ke" and its Japanese-influenced vocal trickery, which Moroccan flutes à la Jajouka transform into a feverish trance. With the following three tracks, Iñigo Vontier raises himself to the same level of excellence as the Pachanga duo (of which pride of the Mexican scene Rebolledo): the slumbering voice of "Awaken", heard as through the veil of hypnosis, slowly introduces a techno beat which literally brings the listener to a levitative state. In a house-ier vein, yet continuing in the same psychedelic, '90s-infused spirit, "Don't Go Back" disrupts the genre's usual signatures with an out-of-tune keyboard that is becoming the artist's trademark, destabilizing the listener into a drunken vertigo, with a good helping of sexiness. The ode to the magical herb "Marijuana" (featuring Thomass Jackson) proudly tramples into the debate that such a provocative title inevitably provokes. In the end, El Hijo Del Maiz is an album-length confirmation of Iñigo Vontier's uniqueness, and his adherence to Lumière Noire's policy of letting artists fully express their vision -- while letting their passions guide their idiosyncrasies and explorations of innovative electronic signatures. Also features Drugface and Beyou.
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12"
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LN 017EP
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Endless Revisions, Chloé's first LP in over six years, saw the musician turn a new leaf in her creative journey. Not content with pushing the boundaries of her creative output with this wider palette of an album, Chloé released Endless Revisions Live (LN 020LP), which saw the producer graft the new material and inspiration that came out while playing live on stage back onto the album's compositions. Here is a few other versions of the album's tracks. Enter this four-remix EP, imprinted with the touch of top-shelf producers. Features Alain Chamfort, Flavien Berger, Fort Romeau, Inigo Vontier, and Marc Houle.
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LP
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LN 020LP
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Musicians have a tendency not to stay in place. They have a need to stay in motion, to get lost (maybe in order to better find themselves), to step out of their comfort zone and produce their work into new forms, to turn a mirror to their output -- and stare into it themselves. These are, among others, the reasons that motivated the first live recording made of tracks from Endless Revisions (2017), Chloé's first LP since 2010 -- an album that saw the musician achieve a higher level in her creative prowess. A multi-faceted Pandora's box of mysterious drifts, the album is anchored by hits like "The Dawn" and "Recall". An artist who deliberately plays with labels, taking in contemporary and novel forms, boldly launching into experimentation (as demonstrated by her collaboration with percussionist Vassiléna Sérafimova), Chloé wanted to take the album's tracks and transform them in front of an audience by feeding them with new textures and inspirations. Performed over a year at events such as Nuits Sonores, Sónar, Mutek (in Montréal and Mexico), The Peacock Society, and festivals such as Marsatac, Musilac and, Colors of Ostrava, Endless Revisions' live performance has evolved with every show. It was out of the question to let these new versions -- replayed, recreated, and restructured alongside the evolution of the performance's very architecture -- fade away without a trace Chloé's prolific Lumière Noire label, in the wake of its first anniversary, had to produce a recording that bears witness to the work that these ephemeral creations represents. Slowly introduced by "Dune", then propeled by the impulse of "Because It's There", the mix is articulated around the appropriately titled "Outerspace", followed by "Party Moonster" and the bewitching "The Dawn", heard here in "clubbier" versions and adapted to a context in which the audience (whose enjoyment of the performance was audibly captured in the recordings), must be kept in suspense, as if carried away in a narrative. The set leads up to "Moonscape", an exclusive track created during the performance series, before the performance ends with a new version of "Sometimes", Chloé's relentless 2002 instant classic. At nearly 50 minutes, this recording is like a snapshot of a work's vital momentum, remaining faithful to the spirit of Chloé's Endless Revisions while detaching itself in order to conquer new territories.
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12"
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LN 022EP
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Local Suicide, aka Munich's Brax Moody and Greek-born Vamparela, has it in spades. With its swerving bass slithering over a slow tempo, "Leopard Gum" is the perfect slow burner. The synths that come crashing across the track's Smagghe & Cross remix add their saturated signature that provide a different kind of hook through its breathless nine-minute run. The same measured tempo is found once more on the more ethereal "Already There", where Local Suicide affirm their adherence to the more captivating signatures of new wave and post disco. Lauer adds a surprising electro pop shimmer to the track.
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12"
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LN 021EP
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Over the past few months, Bajram Bili has been a revelation at Lumière Noire. On the label's compilation From Above (LN 015LP, 2018), the French producer drew praise from listeners, DJs and critics alike with the eight house-y, cerebral minutes of his contribution, "Restart". Adrien Gachet has been making music under the exotic moniker for several years, combining krautrock and IDM influences into a rather convoluted genre; this debut Lumière Noire EP is bound to elicit further interest in the artist.
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2LP
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LN 015LP
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In just a year of existence, Chloé's Lumière Noire has brought emerging artists and promising newcomers together; this first compilation of 13 brand new tracks expands the roster, expanding the label's eclectic vision. When Chloé talks about her label, she puts forward the fundamental values that informed her own musical journey, her own musical taste, and, of course, the predominance of human relationships: "I followed my bliss and only commissioned tracks from artists that I respect and whose music I love. That to me is Lumière Noire's musical palette." With this unmixed compilation, Chloé makes a case for a label aesthetic that is based in open-mindedness. Familiar Lumière Noire artists are represented, as are new faces, producing a kind of group photo presaging what's next for the fledgling label. Lyon's Markus Gibb leads the track listing with a deep chiaroscuro matching the label's ethos, followed by fellow mainstays Il Est Vilaine, with the band's usual electro-pop elegance. Sutja Gutierrez, who released his debut EP, The Legend of Time (LN 015EP, 2017) on Lumière Noire, pursues his electro- Shamanism, while Iñigo Vontier (whose Aluxes (LN 008EP, 2017) came out on the label) brings his C O N T R A project online, a further development in voodoo house. Elsewhere, Suuns lead singer Ben Shemie contributes a synthy, psych-pop debut that is as brilliant as it is surprising. Dutch producer Drvg Cvltvre brings uncompromising dark electro with the hypnotic and claustrophobic "Last Rites". Jonathan Fitoussi's airy, minimalism brings the respite of his Versatile Espaces Timbrés (2018). Benedikt Frey's deep techno track is on par with his Artificial (2017), while Bajram Bili, Théo Muller and Lumi, bring the compilation to a close. These audacious choices are anchored down with the likes of Permanent Vacation pioneer Lauer's hooky, '80s-infused style and Franck Agrario, half of English duo Swayzak's David Brown's project, weaves an ethno mood into "Grace"'s techno. Bringing together different generations, genres, and styles may not necessarily be Chloé's MO. She invokes a more arbitrary, personal logic: "I like to mix of-the-moment tracks and more timeless ones, but the rule is above all 'do I love this or not?'. That was my ethos when I started Lumière Noire". In that way, the label is definitely in keeping with its time.
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12"
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LN 011EP
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The cornerstone track from Chloé's new album is an adventurously dark landscape dotted by Montreal rock band Suuns' singer Ben Shemie's vocals. This EP features four astounding remixes by Moiré, Jonathan Kaspar, Douglas Greed, and Autarkic.
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12"
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LN 008EP
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Mexican producer Iñigo Vontier releases his fifth EP, including a remix from Tolouse Low Trax. "Aluxes" opens a channel to occult forces. The EP's title track, with its sparse, unfathomable voices and its bouncing, metered rhythm, is like a serene spell. The facetious "Patito" and its stubborn metallic rhythm brings back Vontier's precious dark disco essence. Detlef Weinrich's, a member of Kreidler, tasks his Tolouse Low Trax side project with remixing "Macaco". His remix is light-years from weekender minimal techno, and closer to Dopplereffekt.
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12"
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LN 007EP
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Il Est Vilaine aren't from Brittany, but they sure are tricksters. Two outcasts refusing to eat at the same table as the tech-house scene queens, serving up three whiplash-on-the-dancefloor cuts drenched in sweaty hedonistic disco and wrapped in a battered motorcycle jacket (with a gooey post-punk-pop core for good measure). Il Est Vilaine have traded their Oberkampf stomping grounds for a sleepless weekend of Spanish groupies, discount bikinis, whiskey, and bukkake. And a creative spurt that left Lumiere Noire with a mutant of a record, the sound of rock and techno crashing through a drum kit mid-coitus.
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12"
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LN 006EP
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After four years of absence as a producer, The Dawn announces the release of Chloé's forthcoming third album, planned for the fall of 2017. Chloé's The Dawn heralds the return of the Paris-based DJ and producer. It is her inaugural release on her own label Lumière Noire, which she recently set up as a separate entity. Over the ten-plus minutes of "The Dawn", a spoken-word track languishes over melodic washes in a dramatic progression that evokes a novel, or noir-ish cinema. The Berlin-based whiz kid inverts Chloé's light-drenched, full-bodied production into a tense, captivating chiaroscuro.
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12"
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LN 005EP
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An EP from Sutja Gutierrez, the promising Spanish electronic producer. His eclectic and hyperactive style brings together experimental lo-fi pop with electronic and psychedelic elements. Lumière Noire's Chloé has resolved to make 2017 the year that Lumière Noire becomes a fully-fledged record label: "The idea is to take the time to work on a 12" the way we would on a full album, to be a vector between the artists so that they can collaborate together and remix each other's work, to come up with a visual identity." "Carousel" features Yula Kasp. Features a remix by Sebastopol.
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