Connecting Wasulu hunter music, griot praises, Senufo pastoral dances, Fula and Mandingo repertoire alongside Western psychedelia, blues and afro-beat, Zani Diabaté’s Super Djata Band was among Mali’s top orchestras of the 1980s. On their 1982 album, Diabaté enshrines himself within the pantheon of mythical West African guitarists, hypnotically picking through eight vivid compositions on his path to godhead status.

TRACK LISTING

1. Kanou
2. Fassiya
3. Mougoutigui
4. Soundiata
5. Souraka
6. Djegnonko Djugu
7. Faux Galant
8. Zan Sourou

Canadian bowed guitarist and multi-instrumentalist C. Diab announces his fifth album Imerro.

(Real name) Caton Diab creates soundscapes that evoke the spectacular wilderness of his childhood home in northern Vancouver Island. Incorporating experimental textures, folk overtones and tape manipulations, C. Diab uniquely finds the unseen spaces in-between, and fittingly dubs his creations “post-classical grunge”. Imerro explores new sonic realms and is the culmination of a sound world that Diab has built up since the critically acclaimed ‘No Perfect Wave’ (2016, Injazero) and subsequent releases ‘Exit Rumination’ (2018), ‘White Whale’ (2020) and ‘In Love & Fracture’ (2021). The Wire calls it "ambient music in the best sense - music for living, which can be both non-invasive and immersive...epic"

Imerro was recorded in late July and August of 2021 at Risque Disque Studio in Cedar, BC, during the summer’s unprecedented second “heat dome”, which saw temperatures soaring to over 40 degrees. Recorded with regular collaborator and engineer Jonathan Paul Stewart, the pair journeyed by boat to the studio to a place with minimal distraction with a plan of “simple ecstatic improvisation.” Diab explains: “I wanted to place myself in a space for creation with little thematic pretence, with the belief that music ‘shows its face’ as you move along. I would pick up an instrument, whether I had experience playing it or not, and make a sound. If it wanted to be played, it would play.”

‘Ourselves At Least’, the rhythmic album opener gracefully leaps and bounds with a human-like metronome at its core, capturing a rush of elatedness felt by Diab over the course of its late night creation. ‘Lunar Barge’ bursts into life with tone-bending bow strikes that glide across Diab’s guitar towards a climatic peak before the track drops into an electronic/acoustic trance. Inspired in part by the rhythmical works of Huun-Huur-Tu and the animated cello play remindful of Arthur Russell. “Lunar Barge is a track for a dry, hot night in the forest (which it quite literally was.). I roamed around the floors of the studio picking up any instrument standing out in the moment, and tried to see if it had anything to say.”

‘The Excuse of Fiction’ sees Diab return to free-flowing guitar play, the chosen instrument of his youth. He loops layers to form an ethereal backbone before plucking further melodies from the air on top. The result is a cinematic guitar-laden expanse brimming with optimism and nostalgia. The title references a quote by Zizek: “We need the excuse of a fiction to stage what we really are.” Themes of remembrance, yearning and desire pervade the album's 9-tracks with a palpable presence as we reach ‘Quatsino Sound’, named after an inlet on Northern Vancouver Island where Diab grew up. It features hoopoe birdcalls which were sampled from a found cassette tape of African sounds before being randomized until it became rhythmic, then embellished with synth lines, bass drops, and bowed layovers. The album centres around the nocturnal ‘Crypsis’ with Diab sleepily playing notes on a switched-off Wurlitzer before dampened piano chords, bow scrapes, and noisy glitches reverberate. ‘Erratum’ erupts with untamed force from a war cry of screaming saxophone layers reminiscent of Colin Stetson. Its visceral thirst and energy seem to be a response to the heat of the night and Diab’s urge to play the instrument he loved but had yet learnt. ‘Tiny Umbrellas’, an improvised pass of banjo, bowed guitar and ethereal modular synths breathes a contemplative pause before ‘Surge Savard’ chimes in. This whirlwind closer started life as a longform jam under the influence of psychedelics; its modular synth, air organ, guitar and sax lines were initially improvised with final touches made at Watch Yer Head studio.

Imerro is a collection of song odes to both heat and desire, closely felt. Its title literally presented itself to Diab from a random page contained in a poem by Ezra Pound found in the book ‘The Imagist Poem’. Searching for its meaning, Diab discovered that Imerro is “a Greek word for ‘desire for, I desire you’, yet nothing could substantiate its truth. “It made sense, almost like it had chosen me. An obscure word for Desire, one that might not even exist, or is so ancient that nobody really remembers it meaning anything. It's just a sound, like an album.” Imerro finds Caton at his most expressive and free-spirited. Inviting the music to find him, almost by osmosis, foregoing any preconceptions of playing any instrument he is unfamiliar with or regrets not learning during adolescence. This is music for wide screens: the result is an undeniably evocative, moving and mysterious voyage.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Ourselves At Least
A2. Lunar Barge
A3. The Excuse Of Fiction
A4. Quatsino Sound

B1. Crypsis
B2. Erratum
B3. Tiny Umbrellas
B4. You'll Never Come To Dorset
B5. Surge Savard

Recorded in four different studios (Sound City Studios, American Studios, The Sunset Lodge and Hydeaway Studios) throughout 2006-2007, 4-Way Diablo is the seventh offering from legendary riff masters Monster Magnet. Featuring rippers such as “Wall of Fire,” “You’re Alive,” and a cover of an obscure Rolling Stones song “2000 Lightyears From Home,” 4-Way Diablo is a true gem in the Monster Magnet catalog. The album is being reissued on August 19th via Napalm Records on white vinyl with gold and black splatter, as well in a limited, special glow in the dark vinyl variant! Don’t sleep on an album Blabbermouth called: “A mix of MAGNET styles old and new, it still bears the unmistakable stamp of one of stoner rock’s most identifiable and unique voices.”

Phantasy and Factory Floor's celebrated synth molester, Gabe Gurnsey returns with a new album entitled "Diablo". Reveling in the energy surrounding spontaneous connections, the album takes you on myriad twists and turns; all the while nurturing lustful, good time feelings.

Opening with a typically electronic, lyrically strong post-acid-house jerker: "Push", the album quickly deploys giddy echoes, teasing 808 boings and more vocals that are both sexy and menacing and suited to darkly lit areas of large warehouses and industrial spaces; injecting lascivious energies into environments once baron of human feeling.

The album unashamedly makes us of Gurnsey’s girlfriend, Tilly Morris, whose role is that of both muse and collaborator. 'I wanted Tilly to dominate on "Diablo",' Gurnsey explains. Morris (who was also featured on "Physical") sings on most of "Diablo"s tracks as well as contributing to the lyrics, melodies and synths, and her image is the album artwork. An album with such a level of collaboration only feels this good when you can really trust somebody. “This record is formed out of a lot of trust and lust,” Gurnsey says. “And I think it's very honest in a lot of ways, in terms of letting go, in terms of exploring, just in terms of being a bit fucking happy.”

Keeping to a role of 'rhythm section first' - Gabe's previous roll as drummer has led to a very rhythmic-centric way of songwriting. That being said; we find most of the beats across the LP sequenced and programmed rather than played live.

Title track “Diablo” sees Gabe and Tilly deliver a disembodied duet, love-sparring like a postapocalyptic Donny & Marie Osmond - they reprise this routine on “So Sweet” (which is anything but): ‘I’m breaking at the thought of your love, I’m shaking at the thought of your mind.’ “Power Passion” has a touch of wine bar and a hint of Daft Punk and “You Remind Me” is all sharp little squelches, stutters, and swooning sunrise vocals. “Give Me” shifts from demand to begging in the sweetest and sexiest way, really highlighting the subtle but proficient lyrical urgency coursing through the LP. “To The Room” closes the record with a sinister softness, glimpses through a doorway into other possibilities.

You’ll hear all sorts of influences here, from Peaches, Detroit techno, deep house, electro, Suicide and Eurythmics. It’s a generous stew which shows its appreciation for his forebears without ever being overshadowed by them. Let’s face it, most of the best dance music has that minor-key sadness, channeled to perfection by Gurnsey and Morris.

TRACK LISTING

1 Push
2 Hey Diablo
3 Power Passion
4 You Remind Me
5 I Love A Sea On Fire
6 Give Me
7 Blessings
8 Higher Estates
9 So Sweet
10 To The Room

A stellar combination of the talents of The Brian Jonestown Massacre’s Anton Newcombe, cinematic femme fatale Emmanuelle Seigner and ice-cool pop provocateurs The Limiñanas (Lionel and Marie Liminana), L’Epee transcend artistic and traditional borders.

“We are living in very culturally insular times, so it feels really good to be swimming against the tide,” says Anton of the band’s bi-lingual, cross-continental approach.“There’s something really positive about branching out, collaborating and taking risks.”

Far from being defeated by a world seemingly regressing into turmoil, L’ Epee’s strength comes from a long history of challenging the status quo. From Anton’s legendary battles with ‘The Man’ with The Brian Jonestown Massacre to Emmanuelle’s eclectic screen career to The Liminana’s community-minded ethos- setting up their own record shop, L.G.D.C, and promoting gigs by the cream of the world’s garage rock scene ( New Bomb Turks, Oblivians, Fleshtones, Revelators) - they share a fierce intelligence and an outsider aesthetic which, over the decades, has been sharpened to a razor’s edge. Fitting, then, that their name translates as The Sword.
“It came to me in a dream,” explains Anton. “I woke up and there it was, ‘The Sword’. Someone told me there had already been a band with that name so I flipped it into French. It suits the band because we’re united in a common cause.”

This pent-up creative energy has been channelled into their extraordinary debut album, Diabolique. Named in tribute to Mario Bava’s 1968 cult classic ‘Danger: Diabolik’, it’s a musical masterclass where elements of garage, ye-ye, sleaze rock, cult soundtracks, sci-fi, spaghetti westerns and girl-group pop noir are combined with the cut-and-thrust zeal of a band bursting with ideas and energy. All delivered by Emmanuelle in a sultry Gallic drawl which will send a frisson of recognition through anyone familiar with her iconic roles in, among many others, Frantic, Venus In Fur and Bitter Moon (all directed by her husband, Roman Polanski). “I’ve loved rock music since I was a kid,” she says, namechecking Lou Reed, The Velvet Underground and The Stooges as key influences. “I always wanted to be a musician, but it wasn’t so easy in France as I couldn’t meet the right people. Then I became a model and then very quickly after that I did Frantic and became an actress. It worked for me, but in my heart I always wanted to do music.”

Having asked close friend Bertrand Belin to provide lyrics for three further tracks (‘Grande', ‘On Dansait Avec Elle’ and ‘Lou’), the trio set to work at The Limiñanas’ studio in Cabestany, Southern France, in November 2017 -with Emmanuelle, ever the perfectionist, fine-tuning them the following February. Satisfied with the results, the trio flew to Berlin to hook up with Anton and (Liverpudlian engineer) Andrea Wright at his Cobra Studio in Berlin Utilising a treasure trove of vintage equipment (“I’ve got way more ‘60’s gear than The Beatles and The Stones had, I’m mad for that stuff”, explains the BJM man), Anton set to work, re-recording the drums with Marie and adding -and deleting- tracks so that the shifting layers of sound suited the mood of each individual track. “I’ve got plenty of other ways to express myself, so I really enjoyed taking a backseat, creatively,” he explains. “Lionel is such a great composer. There’s a very visual sense to his songs and I was very conscious of not stepping on his intentions too much. There were some really interesting sonic things I would add, like a track of the craziest feedback, to give a song a weird ambient quality. It’s the role that Brian Jones had in the Stones, or Warren (Ellis) has in Nick Cave’s band. Musically, they’re all over the map, but they make things happen.” “It was so inspiring to see Anton work,” says Emmanuelle of seeing him in action. “When we sent the songs to him they were good, but they were nothing like how it ended up. He’s so talented, like a genius. He made the whole thing darker, more interesting and more psychedelic.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: With some of the greatest and most unique voices in modern psychedelia coming together to record, the results were never going to be anything short of brilliant, and this heady lsyergic collection has exceeded that already. Hazy, all-encompassing and beautifully balanced, with drones and jams being brilliantly balanced with undeniable grooves and feel. A brilliant outing.

TRACK LISTING

1) Une Lune étrange
2) Lou
3) Dreams
4) La Brigade Des Maléfices
5) On Dansait Avec Elle
6) Ghost Rider
7) Grande
8) Springfield 61
9) Un Rituel Inhabituel
10) Last Picture Show

Hypermagic's aim is to showcase and support those people who make us dance every weekend. The DJs, promoters, crews and friends who keep the city's music scene alive & kicking.

For the fourth mix tape in the series, we have invited our good friend Neil Diablo to contribute to Hypermagic with a C120 tape. Resident at Manchester’s much-loved El Diablo’s Social Club since 2003, an ex-Piccadilly Records staffer and the label head-honcho at EDSC Recordings and To Rack & Ruin, Neil Diablo has been a pivotal figure in Manchester's music scene during the past 20 years. His skills behind the decks and in-depth knowledge of all things house, disco, afro and italo have earned him slots at festivals like Love International, Glastonbury, Gottwood and clubs all over UK and Europe.

Neil recently launched a new club night called High Emotion and Hypermagic 004 is a reflection of what you can find in his virtual record bag nowadays. 

This is American street music for the soul. "Car Wash" is a blues garage rock album of the most traditional kind, performed with craft and power by one of Michigan's best kept out of-state secrets. Formed in the mid-90s as the house band for the legendary Detroit blues club Sully's, the Diablos honed their chops backing up blues and R&B stars like Earl King, Johnny Adams, Albert Collins and Johnnie Johnson, before devising their own brand of funk jam blues, not a million miles away from the Black Keys brand of the blues. "Car Wash" is the inspired album of dirty funk blues that should finally establish the Howling Diablos as one of Michigan's greatest. Open a cold beer, crank up the volume and enjoy!