For this one I set my pretension for super fluent DJ transitions aside for a moment to focus on something different… a message. Simply a message of peace. Not even of protest or critic (which I absoloutly encourage you to present) but more of a state of inner peace which can strengthen us to get along and feel love for each other. This is something that music, and especially electronic instrumental music can transport very well.
Quite a few of these tracks are actually from Russian artists. I can only try to perceive how difficult it may be to raise your voice in Russian public in the current situation. But these tracks offer something different. An inviting hand.
Two of my favourite artists for this mix I found on a Russian based label/record store called DIG Records. Which I cannot recommend enough.
At first glance, nothing seems to fit on this 2 track split-tape. A solo piano piece on the A-Side and a 15 minute lofi house jam on the B-Side. And yet it apparently reflects the experimental musical melting pot of this New York collective. I say “apparently” because I couldn’t really find out that much about Kapha Selections, except that they have been releasing split tapes for about a year, which largely reflect the underground culture of their hometown.
A little more obvious is the International Winners Collective, to which this tape is dedicated. They’ve been organizing events and parties in Brooklyn, New York and releasing stuff on Bandcamp for a number of years now. Constantly strolling between art gallery and club without seeming to give a damn about whether they should please one or the other target audience. With a cross-eyed look across the Atlantic, such a concept, of course, brings up prejudices about would-be high culture immediately, which are also shaped by experiences from my own hometown Berlin. However, these can be completely dispelled with the two tracks on this EP alone. Because two things come to the fore here: curiosity and honesty. As different as these two pieces may appear, they are both a sincere invitation to a physical, spiritual experience. Both pieces do not want to be viewed and evaluated from the outside, but rather be experienced. (Sorry that I’m doing exactly the opposite of that at this point 😉 )
For these reasons, however, I will simply save myself from describing or even explaining the two tracks in detail. Instead I close with the realization that this short tape is a wonderful reminder that music is a living part of our confused cities and communities and that we will not be able to transport these experiences into virtual spaces. And that’s a good thing!
When I first became aware of Patrick Vian’s album Bruits Et Temps Analogues by it’s release on Staubgold Records, I was not aware that this was a 1976 reissue because Vian’s expeditions to the soundscapes of jazz, fusion, electronica are so timeless and cross-genre.
In each of his titles, he builds up picturesque arrangements with the help of analog synthesizers, field recordings, percussion and all sorts of exotic instruments which never quite engage in classical song or instrumental structures, but always wavering towards an unique idea.Here and there it gets quite funky and you wait for the drums to go on the one, but Vian refuses the easy way, creating unique timeless sound paintings.
So, if you haven’t been travelling in a while, that’s the perfect Album to do so.