Delving into the deepest recesses of raï, this compilation serves as a tribute to its roaring years, but also as a rejuvenation of the genre in its sulphurous, subterranean version. It seemed like a good idea to dig into nearly untraceable cassettes, thus confirming it’s in the oldest of Oranese pots that the very best of raï is to be found. Just 50 years ago, no one would have believed even a bit in a genre seemingly bound to forever turn round and round in its native Oran, laying low in one of its many coastal road clubs.
Hard as it is to believe, George Harrison, guitar picker, was also an electronic music pioneer, as these two lengthy, abstract tone poems for early-vintage Moog synthesizer reveal…
Alternate African Reality is a follow-up to several compilations I have published on Syrphe since 2007 (the first one, Beyond Ignorance and Borders included various artists from Africa and Asia), and even earlier on my defunct tape label in the 1990s (the last tape, Archives Humaines vol.1, was published in 1996 and included 25 artists from 25 countries, including non-Western ones : South Africa, Japan, Chile, Brazil).
Cold War On The Rocks presents 20 tracks from the history of Finnish disco and early electronic music. The journey goes from orchestral disco to experimental electronic sounds and back. It includes lone 7” singles from relatively unknown performers, interesting album cuts from artists who are better known in completely different musical genres, and also a few electronic artists whose work is rather underrated.
The albums of the Buenos Aires / Paris series are a point of reference within the creative scene of electronic tango in Buenos Aires. Thanks to extensive research, Buenos Aires / Paris Troisième Voyage (the third volume of the saga) returns to present the most popular artists of this genre, with new tracks off of their most recent albums, material that has yet to be released and exclusive remixes. As we all know, electronic tango has developped into one of the new music styles of this century.
This is the new instalment of Soul Jazz Records’ ground-breaking Deutsche Elektronische Musik series, ‘A near-definitive guide to some of the world's most extraordinary music’ (The Guardian).
Twenty-two movements, 14 hours and 16 CDs worth of spangling cosmic sound play: this premiere release of the magnum opus by German composer Roland Kayn is a colossus and a marvel. Roland who? In a profession that glorifies big egos and fetishises the kind of creative genius that demands total control, Kayn went to more selfless extremes. He worked in the pioneering electronic studios of Germany and the Netherlands in the mid-20th century and built fastidious command systems with the aim of making “self-sufficient cybernetic music”.
Electronic tango is causing an authentic revolution in the global music scene. Popular throughout the world, these discs are a must buy for the thousands of tourists who travel through Buenos Aires and other corners of the country where local aficionados are rediscovering their beloved music with a whole new sound. For those who have not yet visited Argentina, it is the latest in exotic electronic music and its status as ''hard to find'' makes it all the more desirable. The electronic tango rage has moved a number of artists to undertake new productions of true artistic value. In the midst of all this hype, Buenos Aires/Paris is the most important album of the genre, the defining double disc anthology with material from top musicians who have provided their best known tracks…
Following the notable impact of Volume 1, PMB returns from the challenge of researching and putting together a masterpiece to give us Buenos Aires - Paris 2, another fascinating compilation of the most outstanding songs and performers of the genre, which has positioned itself in the global market for electronic music as one of the most original new sounds of the 21ST century. In Buenos Aires - Paris we find artists that transcend the globe including Tanghotic, Carlos Libedinsky & Narcotango, Tanghetto, Otros Aires, Federico Aubele (who released his discs through Eighteenth Street Lounge Music, the record label belonging to the always influential Thievery Corporation), as well as the addition of two Argentine standouts, Jaime Torres and the talented Amelita Baltar (the voice of various musical pieces composed by Astor Piazzolla), who present us with Frio Intenso, a song that is just as new as it is musically innovative.