The Seed 2018

Back in 2016, legendary Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen approached techno pioneer Jeff Mills with the idea of working together. A series of live gigs and off-the-radar studio sessions followed, with the first fruits of their joint efforts finally appearing on this must-have 10". As you'd expect, the duo's collaborative work combines Allen's traditional Nigerian polyrhythms, traditional Afrobeat instrumentation, and the far-sighted, sci-fi inspired electronic futurism that has always marked out Mills' work. The result is a quartet of cuts that could arguably be described as retro-futurist Afro-tech - all delay-laden beats, basslines and organs subtly sparring with gentle acid lines, Motor City electronics, beguiling deep space textures and shimmering, 31st century motifs. It's arguably Allen's stylistic contributions that dominate, but that's no bad thing.

There's a bittersweet beauty to the passing of time – the changes it brings are just as often heartbreaking as they are heartwarming. The inevitable tension that arises from that sway is Gretchen Peters' most trusted muse. “The years go by like days. Sometimes the days go by like years. And I don't know which one I hate the most,” she sings in “Arguing with Ghosts,” the hauntingly wistful opening cut on her new album, Dancing with the Beast.

French composer and musician Francis DÉCAMPS is the younger brother of Christian Décamps. The two of them formed semi-legendary band ANGE in 1969, and until 1995 Francis' tenure in that band were his main activities as a musician and composer. He also found the time to compose and release a few solo efforts along the way however…

The Amsterdam-based duo Wanderwelle return to Silent Season with their second album. Gathering of the Ancient Spirits is inspired by the last years of the life of Paul Gauguin, which he spent on the islands of French Polynesia. The album tells the alternative history of his search for a land that is untouched by modern society and whose inhabitants were still dependent on the gifts of nature and connected to their ancestors. During his stay, the painter encounters forgotten rituals and the primordial beings which haunt the islands since the dawn of time. In 2018, it’s exactly 115 years ago that Paul Gauguin passed away. This album is an ode to one of the greatest artists that ever lived.

On her 12th studio album, Kasey Chambers returns to her nomadic childhood on the desolate Nullarbor Plain, where evenings were spent playing music around campfires. You can almost hear crackling embers. Accompanied by a band of Fireside Disciples including her father, Bill, she journeys into Appalachian folk and swampy blues while conjuring echoes of Africa in the swooping, a cappella harmonies of “Go On Your Way”. The constant is her voice—an incisive vehicle for longing and reflection that dovetails gracefully with Emmylou Harris on “The Harvest & the Seed”.

First some background on these guys. PRIPJAT is a Thrash band hailing from Colonge/Brule, North Rhine- Westphalia, and was formed in 2011. The band’s name comes from the Russian spelling of the Ukrainian ghost town created near ground zero of the Chernobyl disaster of 1986. The meltdown of the Russian reactor has been described as the worst nuclear disaster the world has ever seen. “Chain Reaction” is the band’s second full length release, and the follow-up to 2014’s “Sons Of Tschernobyl”…