electronica . experimental . hiptronica | just in at piccadillyrecords.com

Silver Apples : Contact (Signed Edition)

Piccadilly Records

Silver Apples : Contact (Signed Edition)
Kapp Records
You And I
Water
Ruby

This is a reissue of the second album "Contact" by 60s electronic legends Silver Apples, originally released by Kapp Records in 1969. This enigmatic duo, armed only with percussion, vocals and an early, specialized synthesizer, is often credited with giving the musical world its first electronic album, as well as having a significant influence on bands which followed in their wake. Silver Apples, named after a WB Yeats poem, consisted of electronics wiz Simeon Coxe and percussionist Danny Taylor. Simeon built an impressive collection of electronic paraphernalia (dubbed the 'Simeon') which ultimately included a dozen oscillators, six of them tuned to bass notes which he played with his feet, an assortment of sound filters, telegraph keys, radio parts, lab gear and a variety of second-hand electronic junk. "Contact" ushered in the band's recorded popularity and a national tour was quickly organized. Several tracks on "Contact" feature bass lines provided by Simeon's banjo playing, but it is the clever use of the lead oscillator and new-found intensity of the lyrics that sets "Contact" apart from its predecessor. Such was the level of Simeon's growing electronic proficiency that the intro to the album's opening track, "You And I" more than successfully recreates the sound of an airplane taking off.

Ltd LP - 3584A - £29.99
Limited edition 180 gram vinyl, personally signed by Simeon. An instant collectors edition!!
basket : wish list

Silver Apples : Contact

Piccadilly Records

Silver Apples : Contact
Kapp Records
You And I
Ruby
Water

This is a reissue of the second album "Contact" by 60s electronic legends Silver Apples, originally released by Kapp Records in 1969. This enigmatic duo, armed only with percussion, vocals and an early, specialized synthesizer, is often credited with giving the musical world its first electronic album, as well as having a significant influence on bands which followed in their wake. Silver Apples, named after a WB Yeats poem, consisted of electronics wiz Simeon Coxe and percussionist Danny Taylor. Simeon built an impressive collection of electronic paraphernalia (dubbed the 'Simeon') which ultimately included a dozen oscillators, six of them tuned to bass notes which he played with his feet, an assortment of sound filters, telegraph keys, radio parts, lab gear and a variety of second-hand electronic junk. "Contact" ushered in the band's recorded popularity and a national tour was quickly organized. Several tracks on "Contact" feature bass lines provided by Simeon's banjo playing, but it is the clever use of the lead oscillator and new-found intensity of the lyrics that sets "Contact" apart from its predecessor. Such was the level of Simeon's growing electronic proficiency that the intro to the album's opening track, "You And I" more than successfully recreates the sound of an airplane taking off.

Ltd LP - 3584 - £16.99
Limited edition 180 gram vinyl.
basket : wish list

Muslimgauze : Jah-Mearab

Piccadilly Records

Muslimgauze : Jah-Mearab
Staalplaat
Jah-Mearab
Morocco Leather

Posthumously prolific Muslimgauze (aka Bryn Jones) unleashes more politically charged Middle Eastern-tinged electronics onto an unsuspecting world. Limited to 700 copies, this CD is one of the first in a series, bound to be collector-worthy. The pieces haven't lost their luster in the archives, with the controversial, even shocking titles and images they evoke, lead by cut-and-paste Middle Eastern chants, tablas, koras and oud-like samples. "Army Of Females Wearing Latex Gadaffi Masks" creates a disturbing picture while the track twists ears; this is not a typical Muslimgauze ditty, being almost minimal tech/house dancefloor fodder. "Jah-Mearab" goes even further down the four-on-the-floor rhythm path toward the breakbeat desert with "Tongue In Cheek Remover" and "Ali Loop Bin Laden", ending with an experimental hip-hop beat on "In Search Of Sudan Nerve Gas". Although jarring in some places for Muslimgauze traditionalists, it's the most accessible release since "Lo-Fi India Abuse".

Ltd CD - MUSLIMARCONECD - £13.99
basket : wish list

Muslimgauze : Jaagheed Zarb

Piccadilly Records

Muslimgauze : Jaagheed Zarb
Staalplaat
Jaagheed Zarb
Fazal Mahmood On Jute

"Jaagheed Zarb" continues where "Jah-Meerab" left off, introducing almost funky hip-hop beats, interspersed with vocal snippets, and on the first track a static-y loop and eerie Middle Eastern flute whispering through it all. In case you forgot about his signature terrifying low-end, it permeates both albums in abundance, especially on the minimal bowel-rumbling "Fazal Mahmood On Juke", the Prodigy-on-a-broken-spring track "Turn Left For Jabaliya", and amid the laidback, rhythmic assassin, call-to-arms "Iranian Silkworm". A few more surprises lurk on this album including the space at the end of "Fazal Mahmood" - escaping from the tape hiss is a tinny, straightforward bazaar jam, as if recorded through a boombox in a crowded market - and the last part of "Hafeez Kardar", where extended seconds of radio fuzz oscillate from subtle noise to crystallized tabla and percussion, filtering through like sand. It skitters into the last track, electronics gobbed onto background noise and monolithic electronics. Both albums are must-haves for Muslimgauze fans, as well as being good starting points for a newcomer to begin their collection.

Ltd CD - MUSLIMARCTWOCD - £13.99
basket : wish list

Moritz Von Oswald Trio : Vertical Ascent

Piccadilly Records

Moritz Von Oswald Trio : Vertical Ascent
Honest Jon's
Vertical Ascent (Pattern 1)
Vertical Ascent (Pattern 2)
Vertical Ascent (Pattern 3)
Vertical Ascent (Pattern 4)
Though emphatically a departure from previous Von Oswald work, "Vertical Ascent" retraces various signatures of the earlier styles - the fastidious density of sound, the massive bass and detailed upper registers ('a frequency massage', Ricardo Villalobos has called the album), the stripped, stepping repetitiousness, the seriousness. But this is a different team of musicians, and striking differences stem from the qualities of live performance (the driving, clattering percussion in particular, and the loose, improvisatory approach), the exploded palette of sounds, including a trace of steel drums, something like a cuica. Next in the trio we have Vladislav Delay (Chain Reaction etc), a drummer and electronic musician from Finland - like Von Oswald, trained in classical percussion. On "Vertical Ascent" he plays home-made metal percussion. Completing the triumvirate, from Munich, Max Loderbauer was a partner in the ambient duo Sun Electric. Behind the scenes his work has ranged between Tresor and Can's Spoon Records. On "Vertical Ascent" he plays synthesizers, alongside Von Oswald, who also contributes Fender Rhodes and additional percussion. At the heart of "Vertical Ascent" is a dream crossing of Basic Channel, Larry Heard and Can, as at home with calypso as it is Stravinsky.
2xLP - HJRLP45 - £13.99
basket : wish list

CD - HJRCD45 - £10.99
basket : wish list