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LP
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SQM 010LP
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After several collaborative releases, German drummer Simon Popp is back on Squama with his second solo album Devi. While his phenomenal debut Laya (SQM 002LP, 2019) was a percussive take on ambient and third-stream minimalism, Devi features eight tracks of bold organic grooves, uplifting and hopeful in one moment, sinister and dark in the next. This dualism is reflective of the ups and downs in Simon's own life, making the album a brutally honest and deeply personal record. Over the past two years Popp has steadily refined his skills both as a player and an engineer: There are virtuoso drumming parts, revealing his passion for polyrhythm and complex structures and recording techniques such as heavy limiting, using gated reverb and pitch-shifting give the record a modern '90s vibe. Devi is a forceful statement of what contemporary drum music can sound like today. 180 gram vinyl; includes download code.
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LP
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SQM 009LP
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On her second album, Ursgal, Mongolian singer Enji creates a unique blend of jazz and folk with the thousand-year-old traditions of Mongolian music. Currently based in Munich, her lyrics tell personal stories about unbearable distances, the oddness of being on earth and the simple truths in life. She's accompanied by Paul Brändle on guitar and Munguntovch Tsolmonbayar on double bass. Born in Ulaanbaatar, Enji grew up in a yurt to a working-class family. Having always been drawn to music, dance and literature, she initially wanted to become a music teacher with little ambitions to compose or be on stage. A program by the local Goethe Institute sparked her passion for Jazz and eventually led her to become a performing artist. Inspired by the music of Carmen McRae, Ella Fitzgerald, and Nancy Wilson, Enji started writing songs of her own, cherishing this newfound means of expression. Ursgal is the first record featuring her original compositions. Includes download code.
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LP
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SQM 008LP
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9ms is the duo of Simon Popp and Florian König. On their wide-ranging debut album Pleats the tech-savvy drummers offer grooves from the dubbier realms of world music and krautrock -- some meditative and light, some thick as wall and steady as a clock. The album was recorded live in a large wooden hall in the Bavarian Alps with only three microphones. Using various infrared and magnetic field sensors, Popp and König were able to translate their movements into control voltage, which they then used to trigger and tweak synthesizers and a myriad of effects. A way for two humans to become one with their mystic machinery. Includes poster and download code.
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12"
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SQM 007LP
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Simon Popp and Sebastian Wolfgruber, aka Fazer Drums, team up with Tunisian producer Azu Tiwaline for the second part of their hybrid Sound Measures series. On the A side, the Munich-based duo's pure and raw drumming gets more melodic than on the first edition. With interwoven, polyrhythmic grooves they explore the concept of counterpoint, drawing inspiration from gamelan, Afro-Cuban, and swing. That's material made in heaven for Azu Tiwaline, who made sizeable waves this year with her Magnetic Service EP on Bristol's Livity Sound Recordings. In her rework, she kept the focus on the drums, boiling down and rearranging the different parts into a seven-minute beast of a tune. Layers of her signature dubbed-out electronics add to the mystic aura, while maintaining the dynamics and musicality of the recordings.
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LP
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SQM 006LP
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On his debut album, producer and Squama co-founder Martin Brugger hovers through ambient, (upbeat) downbeat, and unfulfilled build-ups. Conceptualized as a blank soundtrack, the music was sent to fellow artists who shared their visual and verbal associations which became the source for the artwork and track titles, effectively making the album a collective effort. Evident in all of his recent projects is Brugger's passion for working and thriving within closely set limits. The only audio sources in the process of making the album were his record player and a Dave Smith Prophet 08 synthesizer. In an antithesis to most sample-based music, Brugger takes the more ephemeral moments of recorded music and uses pitching tools as a magnifying glass to dive deeper into the sound and bare layers that normally remain unheard. Includes three photo prints and riso-printed inlay.
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LP
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SQMFAZ 001LP
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Seminal debut album by Bavarian jazz quintet Fazer released again on Squama Recordings. Originally released 2018. Polyrhythmic two-drummer grooves and dubby basslines lay the foundation for soothing melodies and extensive improvisation. While the musicians initially met during their jazz studies at the conservatory in Munich, the record reflects on a wide range of inspirations from West-African music and Guaguancó to dub-techno and krautrock. 180 gram vinyl; includes download.
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LP
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SQM 005LP
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Runden is a collaboration by Martin Brugger (bass) and Simon Popp (drums), both of contemporary jazz quintet Fazer, and neo-classical pianist Carlos Cipa. Their debut LP is a conceptual record reflecting on minimal music, Afrobeat, and dub techno of the late '90s/early 2000s. While Cipa's solo works build on clear harmonies, for the recordings of Runden he prepared the piano to make it sound like a faintly tonal percussion instrument and his mechanical patterns contrast the syncopated drum grooves of Popp and the deep and sparse basslines of Brugger. The musicians explore, over the course of seven tracks, the concept of circular music. Each piece is based on a four-bar-motif played in a loop and varied subtly but steadily over time, creating a sense of eternal recurrence and timelessness. This makes Runden a meditative but demanding record, that only grows with every listen.
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LP
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SQM 003LP
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LP version. Riso-printed inner sleeve; includes download code. After releasing two records with the quintet Fazer, German guitarist Paul Brändle presents his solo debut on Squama Recordings. Paul's minimalist compositions move in slow-motion between straight-ahead jazz, folk, and blues, only subtly disclosing their musical origins. The album was recorded in Vienna during the annual "Hundstage", a period in the summer during which the whole city succumbs to the humid heat. Short on oxygen, but not on ideas, Paul created nine tracks of soothing excellence that are worth calming down for.
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CD
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SQM 003CD
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After releasing two records with the quintet Fazer, German guitarist Paul Brändle presents his solo debut on Squama Recordings. Paul's minimalist compositions move in slow-motion between straight-ahead jazz, folk, and blues, only subtly disclosing their musical origins. The album was recorded in Vienna during the annual "Hundstage", a period in the summer during which the whole city succumbs to the humid heat. Short on oxygen, but not on ideas, Paul created nine tracks of soothing excellence that are worth calming down for.
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LP
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SQM 002LP
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With seemingly effortless precision and a sense for the imperfect, Popp merges ambient, third stream, minimal music on his debut album, Laya. The title derives from the Sanskrit language and signifies a place of rest and mental inactivity. In the spring of 2019 Popp created these eight tracks from hours of improvisation in his own studio. The moments thus captured were then enriched with more sounds and effects to add layers and shed the manually played percussion of all its earthliness. The result is an album of concealed complexity and unadorned beauty. Raised on an old farm in rural Bavaria, Simon Popp started playing the drums at the age of nine. During his studies at the Academy of Music and Theatre in Munich, he extensively studied African music from countries like Togo, Ghana, and Benin where rhythm is central to culture. On his quest for this world's sounds, Popp collected and recorded a wide variety of drums and other instruments, adding to the placelessness of Laya. 180 gram pressing, includes download.
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LP
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SQM 001LP
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Munich quintet Fazer release their second album, Nadi. Nadi follows the underground success of their self-released debut Mara (2018), which quickly sold out and became one of the most-streamed jazz records of the year. Moving freely between composition and improvisation, the band's spacious, organic sound pitches lyrical melodies from guitar and trumpet over double-drummer polyrhythmic grooves and dub-like basslines. The album title Nadi references a term rooted in traditional Indian medicine. Nadis are channels that connect points of intensity within the body. This reflects the band's feeling while playing of moving as one body. Contrary to the creation of Mara, both the writing and recording sessions for Nadi were completed in relatively short periods of time. Includes download and sticker.
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CD
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SQM 001CD
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Munich quintet Fazer release their second album, Nadi. Nadi follows the underground success of their self-released debut Mara (2018), which quickly sold out and became one of the most-streamed jazz records of the year. Moving freely between composition and improvisation, the band's spacious, organic sound pitches lyrical melodies from guitar and trumpet over double-drummer polyrhythmic grooves and dub-like basslines. The album title Nadi references a term rooted in traditional Indian medicine. Nadis are channels that connect points of intensity within the body. This reflects the band's feeling while playing of moving as one body. Contrary to the creation of Mara, both the writing and recording sessions for Nadi were completed in relatively short periods of time.
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