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GROWING
‘Growing Eyes Becoming String’ is the sixteenth studio album from British noise-rock pioneers The Telescopes. Originally recorded over two sessions back in 2013 – one over a harsh Berlin winter in the Brian Jonestown Massacre studio with Fabien Leseure, and a second back in Leeds with early Telescopes producer Richard Formby – it’s a lost treasure that nearly never was. Succumbing to a hard-drive crash nearly a decade ago, the sessions were presumed lost and soon forgotten, until now. Miraculously rescued from the digital ether and finished by founding member Stephen Lawrie in his own studio over the pandemic, the album is now finally set for release via Fuzz Club and reveals another side to where The Telescopes were at in 2013.
Where their physical output at the time mostly consisted of experimental noise improvisations, so far removed from any obvious structure, ‘Growing Eyes Becoming String’ shows how The Telescopes – Lawrie backed by London experimental unit One Unique Signal – were actually creating more song-based music in a parallel existence. Across its seven tracks are all the trademarks of quality that longtime fans associate with The Telescopes’ music. Solid songs, melody, harmony, noise, dissonance, improvisation, experimentation and an all-embracing journey beyond the realm of natural vision.
“The objective with both sessions was to go in blind and be entirely in the moment”, Lawrie recalls: “There were no preconceived ideas, everything was written as it went along. Much like our drive to Berlin, through an intense blizzard with almost zero visibility, we were relying on the heightened instinct of being entirely in the now.” The result is another masterfully hypnotic set that matches its more melodic spaced-out moments against heavy drone-rock blow-outs: “Loaded with guitars, noise and melody, swirling around pounding repetition, this is a more vocal document of where The Telescopes head was at during that time.”
Where their physical output at the time mostly consisted of experimental noise improvisations, so far removed from any obvious structure, ‘Growing Eyes Becoming String’ shows how The Telescopes – Lawrie backed by London experimental unit One Unique Signal – were actually creating more song-based music in a parallel existence. Across its seven tracks are all the trademarks of quality that longtime fans associate with The Telescopes’ music. Solid songs, melody, harmony, noise, dissonance, improvisation, experimentation and an all-embracing journey beyond the realm of natural vision.
“The objective with both sessions was to go in blind and be entirely in the moment”, Lawrie recalls: “There were no preconceived ideas, everything was written as it went along. Much like our drive to Berlin, through an intense blizzard with almost zero visibility, we were relying on the heightened instinct of being entirely in the now.” The result is another masterfully hypnotic set that matches its more melodic spaced-out moments against heavy drone-rock blow-outs: “Loaded with guitars, noise and melody, swirling around pounding repetition, this is a more vocal document of where The Telescopes head was at during that time.”
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: Deep, fuzzy psychedelic wig-outs and stark minimal drum / bass drones sit behind the stoned drawl of Telescopes' Stephen Lawrie. It's a hefty chunk of lysergic noodles and third-eye opening walls of sound, finely crafted and palpably authentic.TRACK LISTING
Vanishing Lines
(In The) Hidden Fields
Dead Head Lights
We Carry Along
Get Out Of Me
What You Love
There Is No Shore
Growing at the Edges is sonically expansive, artfully blending genres from country to classical with the help of multifaceted co-producer Gabriel Birnbaum (Wilder Maker) and critically acclaimed string arranger Concetta Abbate. The band, alongside Lee and Birnbaum, was made up of Wilder Maker members Sean Mullins (Andy Shauf) and Nick Jost (Baroness) and features help from Jonnie Baker of Florist and Eva Goodman of Nighttime among others.
“I approached Growing at the Edges as an act of world-building. It was a place we visited often over the past 5 years collaging and sonically redecorating until it reflected the joy and the pain of being human in a universe that will always be changing. I wanted to make music that could simultaneously mourn versions of the past but still find hope in the seedlings which could, perhaps, bloom into better futures”
The album cover is a purposefully "unfinished" weaving by fiber artist Natalie Phillips.
“I had this theme for Growing at the Edges where I was thinking about the first little life forms that pop up after something natural like winter or less natural like a disaster and kind of channeling their spirit for the art and music. That got me imagining one of Natalie's beautiful weavings but in-process with stray yarn and loom still visible. Incomplete yet still beautiful. I couldn't be happier with how it turned out.”
Mutual Benefit’s live shows are known for their rotating cast of wide-ranging musicians leading to inspired interpretations of the extensive catalogue on notable stages like MoMA’s sculpture garden or UK’s Green Man Festival as well as the occasional surprise park or basement show at home in Brooklyn. Throughout the years Mutual Benefit has been in Album of the Year lists among Pitchfork and Stereogum as well as Folk Musician of the Year by Village Voice in NYC.
“I approached Growing at the Edges as an act of world-building. It was a place we visited often over the past 5 years collaging and sonically redecorating until it reflected the joy and the pain of being human in a universe that will always be changing. I wanted to make music that could simultaneously mourn versions of the past but still find hope in the seedlings which could, perhaps, bloom into better futures”
The album cover is a purposefully "unfinished" weaving by fiber artist Natalie Phillips.
“I had this theme for Growing at the Edges where I was thinking about the first little life forms that pop up after something natural like winter or less natural like a disaster and kind of channeling their spirit for the art and music. That got me imagining one of Natalie's beautiful weavings but in-process with stray yarn and loom still visible. Incomplete yet still beautiful. I couldn't be happier with how it turned out.”
Mutual Benefit’s live shows are known for their rotating cast of wide-ranging musicians leading to inspired interpretations of the extensive catalogue on notable stages like MoMA’s sculpture garden or UK’s Green Man Festival as well as the occasional surprise park or basement show at home in Brooklyn. Throughout the years Mutual Benefit has been in Album of the Year lists among Pitchfork and Stereogum as well as Folk Musician of the Year by Village Voice in NYC.
TRACK LISTING
1. Growing At The Edges
2. Remembering A Dream
3. Beginner's Heart
4. Prefiguring
5. Untying A Knot
6. Season Of Flame
7. Wasteland Companions
8. Winter Sun, Cloudless Sky
9. Little Ways
10. Signal To Bloom
Tribal electronics, dubby downbeat, sedated house and disoriented breaks coming from Molto Brutto's Andreas Kunzmann. Following on from his essential reissue of II aka Molto Brutto's feverish and freaky second LP, Basso fires up the Growing Bin lathe for a further foray into AK's eccentric catalogue. Recorded between 1998-2005 and unreleased until now, these genre-fluid tracks retain the unorthodox charm central to the Austrian's art. Sometimes dancing is just falling to music, and Andreas lives the life unbalanced.
TRACK LISTING
A1 Coffein
A2 Sputnik Rave
A3 Sleeping Sunny Day
A4 Stop & Go
A5 Yellow
B1 Seaside
B2 Echolot
B3 Long Way
B4 Troubleshooting
B5 Simple
Nepumuk / Knowsum glides onto the Growing Bin under his given name, living his best life in this lush loungecore fantasy. Eyebrow raised and hips unlocked, Nelson strolls through affluent funk, sun-blushed boogie and slacker soul to deliver a playful pop masterpiece. A Revered MC and renowned beat maker, his syrup-smooth vocals are just the cocktail cherry on top.
TRACK LISTING
A1 Passepartout
A2 Knalleffekt
A3 Schwimmen
A4 Das Koksquartett
A5 Assoziationsketten
B1 Schweben
B2 Appartement N°5
B3 Go?tterspeise
B4 Digitale Liebe
B5 Schadstoffe
B6 Platte
Equal parts Sheffield bleep, fractal IDM and interstellar ambience, Hyper Nu Age Tekno sees Taro Nohara (aka Yakenohara) plotting a star map on a faded rave flyer. Let the billionaires blast into orbit while you explore your inner space with Growing Bin.
From the LP's earliest moments, the whomping subs and crystalline chimes of "Space Debris", it's clear that we're a long way from Hamburg. Taro pilots this craft on a deep space exploration way beyond the run out groove, to a place where heartening chords herald a twin sunrise and any broadcasts are lost in translation. The polyrhythmic pulse of "Ill Ell" follows, its concentric chimes and rapid fire kicks summoning the teknoguild to a watery altar in the engineering department. Sticking with interstellar mysticism but taking a turn for the transcendent, "Baker Baker Paradox" spins Reich-ian repetition into a graphene gossamer embellished with chrome, crystal and shoegaze shimmer.
The B-side begins on the observation deck, bathing in the beauty of "Celestial Harmonia"'s sci-fi exotica, before the entheogenic "Use Your Head" prompts a delirious dash to the holodeck. Laying serene pads over a techy 4/4, Taro turns out the most danceable and dreamy track on the LP. As ambient chords ring out into the aether and rhythmic pulses shift out of phase, "Airplane Without People" is the loading screen for your virtual fantasy, soon rendered through the woody percussion and spheric bass of "Music For Psychic Liberation". Leave your body behind as you pick mushrooms in a CGI forest.
From the LP's earliest moments, the whomping subs and crystalline chimes of "Space Debris", it's clear that we're a long way from Hamburg. Taro pilots this craft on a deep space exploration way beyond the run out groove, to a place where heartening chords herald a twin sunrise and any broadcasts are lost in translation. The polyrhythmic pulse of "Ill Ell" follows, its concentric chimes and rapid fire kicks summoning the teknoguild to a watery altar in the engineering department. Sticking with interstellar mysticism but taking a turn for the transcendent, "Baker Baker Paradox" spins Reich-ian repetition into a graphene gossamer embellished with chrome, crystal and shoegaze shimmer.
The B-side begins on the observation deck, bathing in the beauty of "Celestial Harmonia"'s sci-fi exotica, before the entheogenic "Use Your Head" prompts a delirious dash to the holodeck. Laying serene pads over a techy 4/4, Taro turns out the most danceable and dreamy track on the LP. As ambient chords ring out into the aether and rhythmic pulses shift out of phase, "Airplane Without People" is the loading screen for your virtual fantasy, soon rendered through the woody percussion and spheric bass of "Music For Psychic Liberation". Leave your body behind as you pick mushrooms in a CGI forest.
TRACK LISTING
A1 Space Debris
A2 Ill Eel
A3 Baker Baker Paradox (Acid Mix)
A4 Shikantaza
A5 We Call It Tekno!
B1 Celestial Harmonia
B2 Use Your Head
B3 Airplane Without People
B4 Music For Psychic Liberation
B5 Hyper Nu Age Tekno!
Reduced
Working his mellow magic on the Growing Bin, Sorcerer entertains your inner child with eight tracks of instrumental west coast pop suitable for dancing, dreaming and surfing a wave or two.
While Basso sat in a Teutonic treehouse, feeding his head with the sounds of the woodland, Dan Judd danced on the sands of San Francisco’s Baker Beach. Stretching between them, like the world’s longest tin can radio, was the Dream Chimney. This legendary forum, run by Ryan Bishop, better known as The Beat Broker, helped to launch a thousand labels, and the Growing Bin is one of them – all hail the Chimney!
Here, Dan, naturally mystic in his Sorcerer guise, satisfies all our sensory needs with a Kinder Surprise of sweet melodies, coastal cool and playful rhythms inspired by his children’s earliest responses to music. Following his feelings and avoiding overthinking, he creates open, enticing and accessible cuts; each living and breathing that mellow magic you only get on the West Coast.
‘Kids World’ kicks into gear with the spheric bass of ‘2000 Studio’, a bouncy embodiment of that spacious San Francisco sound. There’s a nod to nu disco but the dreamy dubiness takes the track much deeper, especially as those surf guitars start to detune in the summer heat. The breezy fretwork continues on ‘Disco Drums’, topping a wriggling groove tailor made for the terrace. Shades of rave refract through a healing crystal at the midpoint, encouraging al fresco dancing from sunrise to sunset. The A3 sees Sorcerer get into the groove of ‘Bahia Brothers’, rolling that rubberised B-line out of his own Paradise Garage before putting the top down for the carefree Balearic pop of ‘Spray Paint.’
The B-side glides into being via the night dubbing grooves of ‘Fire Feel’, a reverb laden journey though glassy tones, off beat perx and gorgeous chord progressions. Next up, the new wave inspired ‘Crunchy’ translates Sheffield’s daring synth pop into a wide eyed blast of psychedelic house, boosting our mana ahead of the loose limbed and light footed ‘First Wave’. Ringing guitars reference Ghanaian highlife, shimmering in the heat haze as Dan funks up the drum kit ready for the broken beat and blissed out energy of sundowning set closer ‘Escape Route’.
While Basso sat in a Teutonic treehouse, feeding his head with the sounds of the woodland, Dan Judd danced on the sands of San Francisco’s Baker Beach. Stretching between them, like the world’s longest tin can radio, was the Dream Chimney. This legendary forum, run by Ryan Bishop, better known as The Beat Broker, helped to launch a thousand labels, and the Growing Bin is one of them – all hail the Chimney!
Here, Dan, naturally mystic in his Sorcerer guise, satisfies all our sensory needs with a Kinder Surprise of sweet melodies, coastal cool and playful rhythms inspired by his children’s earliest responses to music. Following his feelings and avoiding overthinking, he creates open, enticing and accessible cuts; each living and breathing that mellow magic you only get on the West Coast.
‘Kids World’ kicks into gear with the spheric bass of ‘2000 Studio’, a bouncy embodiment of that spacious San Francisco sound. There’s a nod to nu disco but the dreamy dubiness takes the track much deeper, especially as those surf guitars start to detune in the summer heat. The breezy fretwork continues on ‘Disco Drums’, topping a wriggling groove tailor made for the terrace. Shades of rave refract through a healing crystal at the midpoint, encouraging al fresco dancing from sunrise to sunset. The A3 sees Sorcerer get into the groove of ‘Bahia Brothers’, rolling that rubberised B-line out of his own Paradise Garage before putting the top down for the carefree Balearic pop of ‘Spray Paint.’
The B-side glides into being via the night dubbing grooves of ‘Fire Feel’, a reverb laden journey though glassy tones, off beat perx and gorgeous chord progressions. Next up, the new wave inspired ‘Crunchy’ translates Sheffield’s daring synth pop into a wide eyed blast of psychedelic house, boosting our mana ahead of the loose limbed and light footed ‘First Wave’. Ringing guitars reference Ghanaian highlife, shimmering in the heat haze as Dan funks up the drum kit ready for the broken beat and blissed out energy of sundowning set closer ‘Escape Route’.
TRACK LISTING
2000 Studio
Disco Drums
Bahia Brothers
Spray Paint
Feel Free
Crunchy
First Wave
Escape Route
Basking in the golden glow of an Indian Summer, Basso brings us a much needed reissue of one of his most treasured musical discoveries, Guy Maxwell’s ‘Outside My Window’. A long time favourite in the Growing Bin, this mellow masterpiece originally crept out in 1980 with no backing from its label, the soon to burst Bubble. Now resequenced and redressed to the exacting standards of Mssr. Maxwell, ‘Outside My Window’ is ready to warm the hearts and cheer the ears of a whole new audience.
Born in Bordeaux under a wandering star, Guy spent the 70s on the road, freewheelin’ from Paris to Rome, guitar in tow, before settling in Switzerland at the end of the decade. There he reconnected with school friend Serge Maillard, whose Santiago bandmates swung by to help bring Guy’s arrangements to life. Joined by Jan Dix (Om Buschmann and Foodband) on percussion and Ruth Failure (later in Mag and the Suspects) on guitar, and the Santiago powerhouse of Tato Gómez, Sergio Castillo and Paco Saval, who also leant his deft touch behind the desk, Guy put together a nine track trip through groovy AOR, gentle jazz fusion, cosmic folk and yacht rock.
For this reissue, Guy’s stripped back the tracklist, tossing aside a trio which didn’t quite stand the test of time in favour of a concise six song LP which brings brilliance in every bar. ‘Watch Out Sally’ introduces the LP with playful keys and a Latin lilt, a sophisticated seventies pop song that’s more Aja than A-Ha, sax and strings sending the whole track soaring as Guy muses on wanderlust in his honeyed tones. ‘You Never Sang This Song’ is undoubtedly a lost classic, embodying all the bittersweet beauty of yearning while riding a rollercoaster arrangement of folk-jazz fusion enhanced by Serge Maillard’s quicksilver solo. ‘Funny Weather’ looks both ways as it closes out the A-side, marrying the smooth sounds of the 70s with the rain-soaked jangle of the decade to come. The B-side opens with the LPs second lost classic, the frankly sublime ‘Beautiful Day’. Stripped back to acoustic guitar and subtle hand percussion, this jazzy ballad brings a tear to your ear before drawing your attention skywards with the acid folk energy of the chorus. There’s mellow magic in the air on ‘Summer Song’, an optimistic ode to sunshine and romance lifted way beyond the AOR standard by a lyrical sax solo before Maxwell closes the set with the 7/4 escapism of ‘There’s A Train Leaving’, a fond farewell which sees the ensemble say goodbye in perfect harmony.
Born in Bordeaux under a wandering star, Guy spent the 70s on the road, freewheelin’ from Paris to Rome, guitar in tow, before settling in Switzerland at the end of the decade. There he reconnected with school friend Serge Maillard, whose Santiago bandmates swung by to help bring Guy’s arrangements to life. Joined by Jan Dix (Om Buschmann and Foodband) on percussion and Ruth Failure (later in Mag and the Suspects) on guitar, and the Santiago powerhouse of Tato Gómez, Sergio Castillo and Paco Saval, who also leant his deft touch behind the desk, Guy put together a nine track trip through groovy AOR, gentle jazz fusion, cosmic folk and yacht rock.
For this reissue, Guy’s stripped back the tracklist, tossing aside a trio which didn’t quite stand the test of time in favour of a concise six song LP which brings brilliance in every bar. ‘Watch Out Sally’ introduces the LP with playful keys and a Latin lilt, a sophisticated seventies pop song that’s more Aja than A-Ha, sax and strings sending the whole track soaring as Guy muses on wanderlust in his honeyed tones. ‘You Never Sang This Song’ is undoubtedly a lost classic, embodying all the bittersweet beauty of yearning while riding a rollercoaster arrangement of folk-jazz fusion enhanced by Serge Maillard’s quicksilver solo. ‘Funny Weather’ looks both ways as it closes out the A-side, marrying the smooth sounds of the 70s with the rain-soaked jangle of the decade to come. The B-side opens with the LPs second lost classic, the frankly sublime ‘Beautiful Day’. Stripped back to acoustic guitar and subtle hand percussion, this jazzy ballad brings a tear to your ear before drawing your attention skywards with the acid folk energy of the chorus. There’s mellow magic in the air on ‘Summer Song’, an optimistic ode to sunshine and romance lifted way beyond the AOR standard by a lyrical sax solo before Maxwell closes the set with the 7/4 escapism of ‘There’s A Train Leaving’, a fond farewell which sees the ensemble say goodbye in perfect harmony.
TRACK LISTING
A1 Watch Out Sally
A2 You Never Sang This Song
A3 Funny Weather
B1 Beautiful Day
B2 Summer Song
B3 There Is A Train Leaving
If Shelter swam through the serene side of the Library experience on GBR016, CV Vision blasts off in the opposite direction, riding an explosion of funk breaks and frazzled synths into the event horizon on his retro-futurist opus ‘Insolita’. As contemporary life accelerates way past peak-weird, CV Vision leans into uncertainty and leaves Earth in the rear-view. Strung out on Simulacron-3, World On A Wire and Omaggio Ad Einstein, the Berlin-based musician imagines his own Brave New World, an alternate eXistenZ in a secret simulation. Using the space age obsession of the Italian libraries as a launch pad, Dennis Schulze slathers a sonic storyboard with ferocious percussion, psychedelic fuzz and the pastoral electronics of Germany’s Kosmische movement. But this is less Can, more uncanny - and Schulze perfectly renders the cognitive estrangement of a simulated reality through his adventurous production. The monolithic live drums, recorded in a Neukölln garage on a battered Soviet kit are smeared with tape hiss, compressed to death and fired through LFOs, re-materialising on record in impossible scale. Time slips out of joint under the wow and flutter of the reel to reel, drum computers add digital interference to organic rhythms and the unfaltering slew of the 303 lends the hallucinatory thrill of the club sound system to an already psychedelic affair. As Schulze’s imagination runs free, we’re taken through epic space battles and narrow escapes, moments of reflection and affection and a final resolution, all expressed through a dexterous control of movement and mood. For every explosion of break-fuelled adrenaline, there’s a cruise into cryo-chamber music and holodeck exotica. For each neck-snapping blast of acid funk, there’s a zero gravity lullaby waiting just around the corner. So put isolation on ice and surrender to the strange, this is a trip you don’t want to end.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: Deeply psychedelic and richly hypnotic arpy bliss here from CV Vision calling to mind the kosmische reverbed bliss of Panabrite or experimental synthscapes of Outer Space mixed with the more off-kilter jazzy groove of Group Modular or Cluster. A wonderful, chaotic juxtaposition and a great listen.TRACK LISTING
A1. Insolita
A2. Lift Off
A3. War (The Saga Returns)
A4. Memories Of Her
A5. Goldene Ritter
A6. Escape To Planet X
B1. Synthetic Melancholia
B2. Error IOOIIO
B3. The Chase
B4. Echoes
B5. Cosmic Courier
B6. Danw Of A New World
Reduced
Growing Bin switches back into reissue mode with an off-kilter obscurity from Austrian eccentrics Molto Brutto. Equal parts amateur funk, indie jangle, art rock and idiot pop, "2" is a real weird bastard with a whole lot of charm. As the Bin continues to grow in all directions, there's plenty of space for new sounds to take root. Alongside patches of Ambient, Balearic, Kosmische and Jazz, Hamburg's audio allotment now stretches to accommodate the strange waves of Molto Brutto.
Basso dug their first LP a decade back in Stuttgart's Second Hand Records, embracing their abrasive style of sandpaper sonics and experimental urges. Interest piqued, he made the journey through their DIY catalogue, capturing excellent collaborations under the Ganslinger alias before bumping into the second of their two LPs. Originally released on their Golfdish imprint in 1988, "2" walks into the pub with an air of accessibility, but quickly unravels into glorious chaos - pissing in the corner and passing out on the bar. Pop structures are suggested then subverted.
Pints of Paisley slosh out of a broken Glass, tape loops spool onto shabby Material, and indie janglers are just a couple of stamps short of a Postcard.
Turning you tipsy, this loveable rogue starts to tell you his life story, but you're going to have to fill in some blanks. They miss 'Blackie', but who is he - a dog? What happened on the 'Deadly Vacation'? Is that song really about a 'Goldfish', or did they find out the name of America's horse? Words repeat until they lose all meaning, awkward poetry masks a lost laureate and a drunken Wurlitzer sends the room into a spin.
The pubs are shut, so get happy drunk with Molto Brutto.
Basso dug their first LP a decade back in Stuttgart's Second Hand Records, embracing their abrasive style of sandpaper sonics and experimental urges. Interest piqued, he made the journey through their DIY catalogue, capturing excellent collaborations under the Ganslinger alias before bumping into the second of their two LPs. Originally released on their Golfdish imprint in 1988, "2" walks into the pub with an air of accessibility, but quickly unravels into glorious chaos - pissing in the corner and passing out on the bar. Pop structures are suggested then subverted.
Pints of Paisley slosh out of a broken Glass, tape loops spool onto shabby Material, and indie janglers are just a couple of stamps short of a Postcard.
Turning you tipsy, this loveable rogue starts to tell you his life story, but you're going to have to fill in some blanks. They miss 'Blackie', but who is he - a dog? What happened on the 'Deadly Vacation'? Is that song really about a 'Goldfish', or did they find out the name of America's horse? Words repeat until they lose all meaning, awkward poetry masks a lost laureate and a drunken Wurlitzer sends the room into a spin.
The pubs are shut, so get happy drunk with Molto Brutto.
STAFF COMMENTS
Patrick says: Growing Bin throw a fuzzed out curveball at the Balearic crowd here with a reissue of this Austrian post punk / DIY pop rarity from Molto Brutto. Coming out the gates with cold wave curios, nutso synth-funk, C86 style jangle, this is one weird bastard - and I love it!TRACK LISTING
A1. Chant
A2. Sadman
A3. Blacky
A4. Deadly Vacation
A5. Smalltalk
B1. Time
B2. Secret Life
B3. No Monkey No Work
B4. Go Ahead Goldfish
B5. Psychobilly
It’s not easy to summarize any band whose career has stretched over two decades. In the case of Growing, though, it’s all in the name: since 2001, the core duo of Kevin Doria and Joe DeNardo have been making vibrating, explorative experimental music that is in a forever state of evolution. In that time, they have amassed a hard-to-define and influential body of work, and Diptych sees the band operating at the height of their “big amp ambient” powers.
Diptych is a masterclass in slowly undulating ambient drift, and quite possibly the definitive headphone album of the year. Guitars that sound like organs pointed at the heavens are cut with subtly damaged electronic moves, the end result being a record that is at once ecstatic, transportive and gritty.
Ambient and new age music have become part of the larger indie vocabulary. Things were different over twenty years ago in the Olympia, Washington punk community where Doria and DeNardo got their start. Both veterans of aggressive music by the time the band began, Growing emerged like a rainbow at the other end of the heavy music tunnel: loud as ever, but with a sonic and aesthetic position that ran counter to punk rock norms.
Created over the past year and a half, Diptych extrapolates on Growing’s formative drone-based work, showing a unit in full control of a language that they have built and reconfigured over time. The music here continues to be an intuitive outgrowth of a friendship that started in late-90s Olympia and still bears fruit today—even as each member lives in a different city.
Diptych is a masterclass in slowly undulating ambient drift, and quite possibly the definitive headphone album of the year. Guitars that sound like organs pointed at the heavens are cut with subtly damaged electronic moves, the end result being a record that is at once ecstatic, transportive and gritty.
Ambient and new age music have become part of the larger indie vocabulary. Things were different over twenty years ago in the Olympia, Washington punk community where Doria and DeNardo got their start. Both veterans of aggressive music by the time the band began, Growing emerged like a rainbow at the other end of the heavy music tunnel: loud as ever, but with a sonic and aesthetic position that ran counter to punk rock norms.
Created over the past year and a half, Diptych extrapolates on Growing’s formative drone-based work, showing a unit in full control of a language that they have built and reconfigured over time. The music here continues to be an intuitive outgrowth of a friendship that started in late-90s Olympia and still bears fruit today—even as each member lives in a different city.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: A wonderful, immersive slow-moving drift of an album. Huge tectonic waves of ambience slowly shift and morph, fluttering organic arps echo and brimming with resonant harmonics. It's a gorgeous, plaintive new-age wonder.TRACK LISTING
1. Variable Speeds
2. Down + Distance
"What's Growing" is the second album by Wurld Series, an indie rock band from Christchurch, New Zealand. Christchurch is a city home to a strong DIY music ethic, traceable back to the beginning of labels such as Flying Nun and Xpressway. Wurld Series have been at the forefront of a continuation of this approach since the mid 2010's and are known locally for their skewed pop sensibility and lo-fi production aesthetic. The songs contained in "What's Growing" are submerged within reeling guitar, hypnotic mellotron and meditative drones. Lyrical themes include post-apocalyptic living, extraterrestrial visitation, TV game show monsters and the workplace as a dreamlike medieval dystopia. At times traces of Tall Dwarfs or The 3Ds can be heard. More obvious American 90's indie rock influences are also evident, alongside a clear strain of unsettling, pastoral British psych folk that runs throughout the album.
It’s a family affair on the second Growing Bin 7”, as Peter & Patrick Jahn enjoy some father and son boogie with a smooth split release. A sunblushed moocher served two ways, this disc is designed for horizontal dancing…
Rooting around the cupboards in his family home outside Nuremberg, Patrick Jahn unearthed a dusty box of cassettes, saved for posterity but eventually forgotten. Somewhere between ‘True Blue’ and ‘Brothers In Arms’ was a faded C60 full of unreleased demos by his father Peter, recorded in the mid to late 80s. Back then Jahn Sr owned a pub club called Schrank (Cupboard to the Anglophones), with an upstairs office he used as a music studio. In amongst naïve synthesiser experiments and carefree noodling was a Balearic boogie bomb, all strolling synth bass, clipped funk guitar and seaside melancholy – like Brenda Ray on a Wim Wenders soundtrack.
Too impressed to keep it a secret, Patrick played the cut to Carsten “Erobique” Meyer, when he was over there jamming, and Hamburg’s premier funk freak suggested this might be of interest to his likeminded hometown freak Basso. Instantly in love, the Growing Bin boss suggested Patrick provide his own version for the flipside, and so it was, reborn with percussive sway, moonlit keys and beefy bass tones for the next generation. Here’s to the Jahn family, father and son but brothers in calms…
Rooting around the cupboards in his family home outside Nuremberg, Patrick Jahn unearthed a dusty box of cassettes, saved for posterity but eventually forgotten. Somewhere between ‘True Blue’ and ‘Brothers In Arms’ was a faded C60 full of unreleased demos by his father Peter, recorded in the mid to late 80s. Back then Jahn Sr owned a pub club called Schrank (Cupboard to the Anglophones), with an upstairs office he used as a music studio. In amongst naïve synthesiser experiments and carefree noodling was a Balearic boogie bomb, all strolling synth bass, clipped funk guitar and seaside melancholy – like Brenda Ray on a Wim Wenders soundtrack.
Too impressed to keep it a secret, Patrick played the cut to Carsten “Erobique” Meyer, when he was over there jamming, and Hamburg’s premier funk freak suggested this might be of interest to his likeminded hometown freak Basso. Instantly in love, the Growing Bin boss suggested Patrick provide his own version for the flipside, and so it was, reborn with percussive sway, moonlit keys and beefy bass tones for the next generation. Here’s to the Jahn family, father and son but brothers in calms…
TRACK LISTING
A. Abenteuer überm Schrank (Peter‘s Original 1987 Version)
B. Abenteuer überm Schrank (Patrick‘s Own 2019 Version)
After the heaviest of years, it should be time to take a little weight off with the playful sounds of The Person. Mapping its own Bermuda Triangle between dub-pop, sugary synthwave and Balearic boogie, 'Tide Life' transports Compass Point to Soggy Bottom, providing maximum fun, sun and bitmap escapism.
The eagle-eared may recognise The Person from the aspirational Italo-rockers Steaming Jeans, whose chalet-ready romp on Bordello A Parigi scored a Winter Olympic gold back in early 2020. Now left to her own devices, Minna Wight swaps the slopes for a jet ski and takes a Wave Race from Summer Bay to Monkey Island across 11 cuts of vintage oddball pop.
Whether she's borrowing Brenda's Beach Balls for the dubby daydream of 'Snail Cafe' and 'The Place', serving lost library cues to SNES club scenes on 'Barry R Reef' and 'Elastic Shoes' or spinning high school slow jams into synth soul ballads like 'Nice Feeling', Minna disguises serious musicianship behind a naive aesthetic. Disarmed by charm, we're powerless to resist her tidal pull.
The eagle-eared may recognise The Person from the aspirational Italo-rockers Steaming Jeans, whose chalet-ready romp on Bordello A Parigi scored a Winter Olympic gold back in early 2020. Now left to her own devices, Minna Wight swaps the slopes for a jet ski and takes a Wave Race from Summer Bay to Monkey Island across 11 cuts of vintage oddball pop.
Whether she's borrowing Brenda's Beach Balls for the dubby daydream of 'Snail Cafe' and 'The Place', serving lost library cues to SNES club scenes on 'Barry R Reef' and 'Elastic Shoes' or spinning high school slow jams into synth soul ballads like 'Nice Feeling', Minna disguises serious musicianship behind a naive aesthetic. Disarmed by charm, we're powerless to resist her tidal pull.
TRACK LISTING
1. Snail Cafe
2. The Place
3. Nice Feeling
4. Tide Life
5. Barry R Reef
6. Planet Beach
7. Elastic Shoes
8. Current Affair
9. Tigereye
10. Rock Concert
11. Moonee Puddles
Growing Bin say sayonara to summer with these bittersweet Balearic gems from Japan’s Nuback. Emotional pop and daydream dub to make you feel younger than yesterday.
While the Discogs hipsters hastily hunt down the last, lost street soul OGs, Growing Bin choose instead to indulge in a little Nuback swing. Enlisting the talents of Tokyo’s Dai Nakamura, Hamburg’s home for sensitive sounds provide a much needed vinyl release for the misty-eyed ‘When The Party Is Over’ and ‘Heartbeat Summer’.
Largely operating through his own Too Young Records, Nuback trades in textured soul, sympathetic synthesis and forlorn funk - a master at making you move while breaking your heart. Back in 2013, he waved ‘Goodbye To Summer, Again’, giving a digital release to these two tracks, which lurked a little low for the radar until Dai and Basso met somewhere beyond the algorithm, soon bringing this release to bloom.
Opening with a fanfare of featherlight pads and full bodied bass, ‘When The Party Is Over’ is pure sonic seduction, holding both Balearic boogie and City Pop in a tender embrace. Delicate guitar and sparkling sequences tug the heartstrings with nostalgic beauty, and Dai’s smooth vocals are made to make you swoon. Emotional pop at its finest folks.
On the B-side, ‘Heartbeat Summer’ drops the tempo and soaks up the sun, losing its cares in a haze of loved up dub. As soulful keys sink into spring reverb and steam kettle synths ride a rolling bassline, this downbeat delight lays back in the long grass, making shapes from the clouds and sipping a cool koshu. For summer lovers everywhere;
A facemask ruins a first kiss, so start your romance right with Nuback.
While the Discogs hipsters hastily hunt down the last, lost street soul OGs, Growing Bin choose instead to indulge in a little Nuback swing. Enlisting the talents of Tokyo’s Dai Nakamura, Hamburg’s home for sensitive sounds provide a much needed vinyl release for the misty-eyed ‘When The Party Is Over’ and ‘Heartbeat Summer’.
Largely operating through his own Too Young Records, Nuback trades in textured soul, sympathetic synthesis and forlorn funk - a master at making you move while breaking your heart. Back in 2013, he waved ‘Goodbye To Summer, Again’, giving a digital release to these two tracks, which lurked a little low for the radar until Dai and Basso met somewhere beyond the algorithm, soon bringing this release to bloom.
Opening with a fanfare of featherlight pads and full bodied bass, ‘When The Party Is Over’ is pure sonic seduction, holding both Balearic boogie and City Pop in a tender embrace. Delicate guitar and sparkling sequences tug the heartstrings with nostalgic beauty, and Dai’s smooth vocals are made to make you swoon. Emotional pop at its finest folks.
On the B-side, ‘Heartbeat Summer’ drops the tempo and soaks up the sun, losing its cares in a haze of loved up dub. As soulful keys sink into spring reverb and steam kettle synths ride a rolling bassline, this downbeat delight lays back in the long grass, making shapes from the clouds and sipping a cool koshu. For summer lovers everywhere;
A facemask ruins a first kiss, so start your romance right with Nuback.
TRACK LISTING
A1. When The Party Is Over
B1. Heartbeat Summer
An underwater adventure by young Parisian Shelter. Where previous releases have seen the synth-obsessed Frenchman take his inspiration from Caribbean rhythms or Balearic attitudes, this marine missive sees Shelter turn to the lavish world of the library, creating his alternate score to Jean Faurez’ 1960 documentary short.
More submersible than snorkel, our journey begins in the very dark of the deep, mystical harp trills echoing through the inky blackness, picking up the bioluminescent shimmer of an Abraliopsis Squid. Gradually we make our way into the light, cruising past shoals of silver scales and underwater forests. ‚Immersion’ offers a placid, percolating rhythm and billowing pads, providing sonic symmetry for the dancing leaves, while the spheric soundscape of ‘La Vie A L’Ombre’ bubbles away like an underwater volcano. The optimistic ambience of ‘Plenitude Azotee’, brimming with delicate melody and glistening sequences, perfectly captures the wide-eyed wonder of a reef dive, before drifting into the serenity of ‘Parade’, an aquatic acquaintance of A.R.T. Wilson’s ‘Overworld’. A brief foray into shark fin funk sees out the A-side, before we’re back amid the beauty of the ocean floor; ‘Variation Abyssale II’ echoing the album opener but with even more poetry. The exotic and otherworldly sine waves of ‘Dans La Jungle De Varech’ simultaneously sound like a rainforest canopy, alien landscape and coral microcosm, expanding our horizons nicely ahead of the adrenaline rush of ‘Hors D’Haleine’. Shelter then sets us at ease with the tidal tonality and subtle shuffle of ‘Fumeurs Noirs’, a sublime synthetic suite, then leaves us to marvel at the soft focus splendour of ‘Synthii Outro’.
More submersible than snorkel, our journey begins in the very dark of the deep, mystical harp trills echoing through the inky blackness, picking up the bioluminescent shimmer of an Abraliopsis Squid. Gradually we make our way into the light, cruising past shoals of silver scales and underwater forests. ‚Immersion’ offers a placid, percolating rhythm and billowing pads, providing sonic symmetry for the dancing leaves, while the spheric soundscape of ‘La Vie A L’Ombre’ bubbles away like an underwater volcano. The optimistic ambience of ‘Plenitude Azotee’, brimming with delicate melody and glistening sequences, perfectly captures the wide-eyed wonder of a reef dive, before drifting into the serenity of ‘Parade’, an aquatic acquaintance of A.R.T. Wilson’s ‘Overworld’. A brief foray into shark fin funk sees out the A-side, before we’re back amid the beauty of the ocean floor; ‘Variation Abyssale II’ echoing the album opener but with even more poetry. The exotic and otherworldly sine waves of ‘Dans La Jungle De Varech’ simultaneously sound like a rainforest canopy, alien landscape and coral microcosm, expanding our horizons nicely ahead of the adrenaline rush of ‘Hors D’Haleine’. Shelter then sets us at ease with the tidal tonality and subtle shuffle of ‘Fumeurs Noirs’, a sublime synthetic suite, then leaves us to marvel at the soft focus splendour of ‘Synthii Outro’.
STAFF COMMENTS
Patrick says: Stunning sub-aquatic imagery and deep water ambience from Parisian producer Shelter here, who joins the Growing Bin ranks with one of their finest releases to date. Melodic, exotic and esoteric, this has been a regular presence on the Piccadilly promo-player, so expect to see it make a major dent in our end of year charts.TRACK LISTING
1. Variation Abyssale
2. Immersion
3. La Vie L'Ombre
4. Plenitude Azote
5. Parade
6. Interlude
7. Variation Abyssale (Part 2)
8. Dans La Jungle De Varech
9. Hors D'Haleine
10. Fumeurs Noirs
11. Synthi Outro
Growing Up is the debut physical release by Newcastle quartet Club Paradise, released on Kids Records (The Wombats, The Whip, Band of Horses, I Like Trains) featuring four epic guitar-pop tracks each, in the words of CMU: "featuring a chorus that will fill every corner of any room you'd care to put it in".
The band have built a fierce local following and have already shared the stage with the likes of Vistas, Apre, Larkins, Kashmere, Vant, Saint Raymond, The Navettes and Only The Poets, as well as picking up early attention from the likes of Clash Magazine, Shortlist and a legion of blogs. Made up of school friends Ryan Young (vocals/guitar), Jackson Vert (lead guitar), Harry Webb (bass) and Nathan Hogg (drums), the band cite the likes of Foals, The Midnight, Jungle and The Horrors as influences, writing tracks reminiscent of an 80s Sunset Boulevard movie montage.
The band have built a fierce local following and have already shared the stage with the likes of Vistas, Apre, Larkins, Kashmere, Vant, Saint Raymond, The Navettes and Only The Poets, as well as picking up early attention from the likes of Clash Magazine, Shortlist and a legion of blogs. Made up of school friends Ryan Young (vocals/guitar), Jackson Vert (lead guitar), Harry Webb (bass) and Nathan Hogg (drums), the band cite the likes of Foals, The Midnight, Jungle and The Horrors as influences, writing tracks reminiscent of an 80s Sunset Boulevard movie montage.
Though the biro-wielding cassette ninjas of the world may disagree, some things are too good to stay on tape forever, and Basso is delighted to bring you the first ever vinyl version of Eleventeen Eston‘s 'Delta Horizon‘.
Originally released on a Not Not Fun cassette in 2014, EE‘s evocative debut made it into the tape decks of the hundred coolest people on the planet, where it has remained ever since, stretched and slackened by constant play.
Now remastered for vinyl by Sergey Luginin, 'Delta Horizon‘ is ready to take over your turntable, its humid funk and sunkissed guitars the perfect conditions for a living room mirage. Across thirteen tracks, Eston tops crackling drum machines with optimistic keys, nimble jazz bass and chiming guitars, recalling an unremembered 80s of pastel shades, coastal romance and lemon juice highlights.
Blurry references to infomercial pop and arcade boogie flirt with vaporwave‘s nostalgic aesthetic, but Eston‘s sound is more heartfelt, even when it wobbles under the heatstroke. If Todd Rundgren suffered an LA ego death in 1974 and woke up on the Perth shoreline in the mid 80s, he‘d have tried to make music like this, but he wouldn‘t have come anywhere close to 'Delta Horizons‘.
Originally released on a Not Not Fun cassette in 2014, EE‘s evocative debut made it into the tape decks of the hundred coolest people on the planet, where it has remained ever since, stretched and slackened by constant play.
Now remastered for vinyl by Sergey Luginin, 'Delta Horizon‘ is ready to take over your turntable, its humid funk and sunkissed guitars the perfect conditions for a living room mirage. Across thirteen tracks, Eston tops crackling drum machines with optimistic keys, nimble jazz bass and chiming guitars, recalling an unremembered 80s of pastel shades, coastal romance and lemon juice highlights.
Blurry references to infomercial pop and arcade boogie flirt with vaporwave‘s nostalgic aesthetic, but Eston‘s sound is more heartfelt, even when it wobbles under the heatstroke. If Todd Rundgren suffered an LA ego death in 1974 and woke up on the Perth shoreline in the mid 80s, he‘d have tried to make music like this, but he wouldn‘t have come anywhere close to 'Delta Horizons‘.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: VHS saturated chiming guitars and snappy bitcrushed drum machines smash out the perfect intro music to a terrible 80's teen drama. Running down the beach, laughing and bmx'ing down the pier. All that stuff, and all while listening to this perfectly janky, hazy dream fest. Unmissable.TRACK LISTING
A1. The Sling
A2. Broth II
A3. Tonight (Sans Columns)
A4. Delta Horizon (Wedge)
A5. Panulirus Cygnus
A6. It's All Again
A7. Shoelace Episode 1: Hugo's Theme
B1. Decisive Winds
B2. Dante's Parallell
B3. Interzone Broth
B4. Two Stroke Vertical Climb
B5. Pale Geranium Lake
B6. Fetch Island City
Under the tree – In The Cave – At The Water, there’s where you’ll find Eleventeen Eston; savouring the shade since his 2014 debut LP ‘Delta Horizon’ turned the spotlight his way. Taking shelter in the subterranean, the Perth musician has found a sound saturated with entheogenic splendour, growing something gorgeous from the grotesque. Finding a natural home on Hamburg’s Growing Bin, Eston emerges into the daylight with a dreamy LP.
The vision quest begins with 'C in Sympathy', a freefall into the perverse beauty of the Domus Aurea, brought to life with E2-E4 electronics, chorus pedal shimmer and muted bass. Leaving the grasslands we dip a toe in the water with the hypnotic ripples of '2 d'Or (Cab Chassis)', a Carl-Craig-goes-New-Age number which fuses the electronic and acoustic to perfection. Delicate piano, crystalline synth tones and tape-saturated emotion lend their cinematic charm to 'East Perth Stories (Closing Titles)' before the propulsive bass and soft focus groove of 'The Four Fountains' hits you with the heat haze. Eston takes another tapey diversion on the sci-fi synthscape 'I Remember', while the coastal cool of 'Thread & Truth' picks up the wavy white funk baton from Spike.
The B-side brings more beauty as the drifting and dreamy ambience of 'I Float, I Am Free' gives way to the Windham Hill guitar licks, snaking bass and billowing textures of 'A Squall, 1988', offering a welcome echo of the wonder of Wilson Tanner. 'Where There Is Rain' sees Eston tune the Ute radio to 96FM Perth, marrying cascading keys, evocative vocal samples and lush guitar with a solid 80s pop beat, before he slows the pace for 'Sand Man' a skewed and stoned bit of beach funk that's perfect for seduction. We part ways with the panoramic 'Dory On Swan', a serene soundtrack to lapping waves and magic caves. Always in season, Growing Bin do it again.
The vision quest begins with 'C in Sympathy', a freefall into the perverse beauty of the Domus Aurea, brought to life with E2-E4 electronics, chorus pedal shimmer and muted bass. Leaving the grasslands we dip a toe in the water with the hypnotic ripples of '2 d'Or (Cab Chassis)', a Carl-Craig-goes-New-Age number which fuses the electronic and acoustic to perfection. Delicate piano, crystalline synth tones and tape-saturated emotion lend their cinematic charm to 'East Perth Stories (Closing Titles)' before the propulsive bass and soft focus groove of 'The Four Fountains' hits you with the heat haze. Eston takes another tapey diversion on the sci-fi synthscape 'I Remember', while the coastal cool of 'Thread & Truth' picks up the wavy white funk baton from Spike.
The B-side brings more beauty as the drifting and dreamy ambience of 'I Float, I Am Free' gives way to the Windham Hill guitar licks, snaking bass and billowing textures of 'A Squall, 1988', offering a welcome echo of the wonder of Wilson Tanner. 'Where There Is Rain' sees Eston tune the Ute radio to 96FM Perth, marrying cascading keys, evocative vocal samples and lush guitar with a solid 80s pop beat, before he slows the pace for 'Sand Man' a skewed and stoned bit of beach funk that's perfect for seduction. We part ways with the panoramic 'Dory On Swan', a serene soundtrack to lapping waves and magic caves. Always in season, Growing Bin do it again.
STAFF COMMENTS
Patrick says: Currently causing the calmest stir on the Piccadilly stereo, the long awaited follow up to "Delta Horizons" sees Eleventeen Eston AKA John Tanner (of Wilson Tanner) treats us to warm white funk, hazy ambient and dreamy pop.TRACK LISTING
1. C In Sympathy
2. 2 D'Or (Cab Chassis)
3. East Perth Stories (Closing Title)
4. The Four Fountains
5. I Remember
6. Thread & Truth
7. I Float I Am Free
8. A Squall 1988
9. Where There Is Rain
10. Sand Man
11. Dory On Swan
When the Growing Bin first bloomed from blog and record store to label it was originally intended to be a reissue imprint. If you’ve kept your ear to the ground and head in the Bin, you’ll know that isn’t exactly how it went down. But for this release we are going back to the scheme a young Basso dreamed up in his adolescent years: bring back the rare, unknown and unfindable.
So here is Mainpoint‘s ‘Alaska Wartet’ - a stunning private pressed 7” entirely unknown to the wider world. Its original 1980 press was less than extensive, and the few copies which did appear were sold exclusively at concerts and local record shops – kudos to all twenty five people who got a copy! Mainpoint started out as a Jazz-Rock outfit in 1978 but as the years rolled on, these guys fell for the funk. Finding a 4/4 in a world of syncopation, Mainpoint fell foul of their elbow-patched pals, being labelled Tanz-Jazz since their audiences actually danced (in contrast to the serious silence of their contemporaries’ concerts).
‘Alaska Wartet’ made it from Side 2 on the 1980 press to Side 1.This incredibly tight Boogie jam bounds out the speakers with a synth line from heaven and fusion moves galore – it’s sure to put a smile on dancer‘s faces worldwide. ‘Frisbee’ flies of the flipside, inviting dancers to forget about gravity and go for broke.Soaring skywards from this off , this uplifting masterpiece is perfectly topped by that screwdriver hook sung by Ika Hussmann!
Time for some Tanz-Jazz, folks!
So here is Mainpoint‘s ‘Alaska Wartet’ - a stunning private pressed 7” entirely unknown to the wider world. Its original 1980 press was less than extensive, and the few copies which did appear were sold exclusively at concerts and local record shops – kudos to all twenty five people who got a copy! Mainpoint started out as a Jazz-Rock outfit in 1978 but as the years rolled on, these guys fell for the funk. Finding a 4/4 in a world of syncopation, Mainpoint fell foul of their elbow-patched pals, being labelled Tanz-Jazz since their audiences actually danced (in contrast to the serious silence of their contemporaries’ concerts).
‘Alaska Wartet’ made it from Side 2 on the 1980 press to Side 1.This incredibly tight Boogie jam bounds out the speakers with a synth line from heaven and fusion moves galore – it’s sure to put a smile on dancer‘s faces worldwide. ‘Frisbee’ flies of the flipside, inviting dancers to forget about gravity and go for broke.Soaring skywards from this off , this uplifting masterpiece is perfectly topped by that screwdriver hook sung by Ika Hussmann!
Time for some Tanz-Jazz, folks!
STAFF COMMENTS
Patrick says: After the sweet Balearic sound of the Brenda Und Basso 7" last month (B-B-Booglaoo), the Growing Bin groundsman serves up another small format winner with this fine reissue of a German jazz-funk rarity. Oozing grooves and full of fat synths, this is a proper dance floor destroyer with not an elbow patch in sight. Ace!TRACK LISTING
A. Alaska Wartet
B. Frisbee
You could be forgiven for thinking Basso‘s been hitting the plant food of late. Last time out we took a trip with Trance, and now our esoteric expert nods his head, rolls his shoulders and drops a h-h-h-house record on our unexpecting asses. That‘s right folks, roll up the rug, push the sofa back and enjoy some ‚Personal Growth‘ from James Booth.
Operating a million miles away from the kick and hiss of the trendy lo-fi folks, the Berlin based producer favours subtle rhythms, delicate textures and tender melodies - turning out a string of sophisticated dance floor winners for 100% Silk, Church and No Bad Days. Now he brings his organic house stylings to the Growing Bin with a fresh five-tracker packed with all the warmth of a Tempelhof picnic on a balmy July afternoon.
Emerging from the watery depths of the Drexciyan ocean, opener "Mood" strides calmly through the morning dew, stretching those loose limbs and seeking out Hardcastle‘s rainforest. Drifting freely through immersive, aquatic pads and soft focus melodies, the track takes in a little R&R before snapping electro percussion, cascading synthlines and a rolling rhythm up the intensity. The deepness continues on the A2 as "Dream Precipitation" offers a medicated vision of Debussy doing P-Bar while Lynch rolls the cameras. Syncopated hi-hats, jazzy keys and star-gazing sine waves wrap themselves around your cerebellum, expanding your mind as a steady kick moves your body into the pleasure zone. Booth takes a Derren Brown tip on the flip, imbuing "You" with the kind of mesmeric rhythm that can make the staunchest wallflower pull a Pink Panther on a packed dance floor. The exotic tumble of woody percussion and hissing castanets keep up a fascinating rhythm, driving the titular mantra and snaking synth melody through bursts of slapped bass and subtle 4/4. "Dhoop Stick" stays on board with the boogie hypnotism, weaving its way through celestial melodies, squelching bass and toasty Rhodes before "The Chorus" brings down the curtain with wailing FM vox, military snares and the dreamy synth pop charm of a lost Sheffield classic. Warm, woody and entirely organic, this is the birth of Green House...you heard it here first!
Operating a million miles away from the kick and hiss of the trendy lo-fi folks, the Berlin based producer favours subtle rhythms, delicate textures and tender melodies - turning out a string of sophisticated dance floor winners for 100% Silk, Church and No Bad Days. Now he brings his organic house stylings to the Growing Bin with a fresh five-tracker packed with all the warmth of a Tempelhof picnic on a balmy July afternoon.
Emerging from the watery depths of the Drexciyan ocean, opener "Mood" strides calmly through the morning dew, stretching those loose limbs and seeking out Hardcastle‘s rainforest. Drifting freely through immersive, aquatic pads and soft focus melodies, the track takes in a little R&R before snapping electro percussion, cascading synthlines and a rolling rhythm up the intensity. The deepness continues on the A2 as "Dream Precipitation" offers a medicated vision of Debussy doing P-Bar while Lynch rolls the cameras. Syncopated hi-hats, jazzy keys and star-gazing sine waves wrap themselves around your cerebellum, expanding your mind as a steady kick moves your body into the pleasure zone. Booth takes a Derren Brown tip on the flip, imbuing "You" with the kind of mesmeric rhythm that can make the staunchest wallflower pull a Pink Panther on a packed dance floor. The exotic tumble of woody percussion and hissing castanets keep up a fascinating rhythm, driving the titular mantra and snaking synth melody through bursts of slapped bass and subtle 4/4. "Dhoop Stick" stays on board with the boogie hypnotism, weaving its way through celestial melodies, squelching bass and toasty Rhodes before "The Chorus" brings down the curtain with wailing FM vox, military snares and the dreamy synth pop charm of a lost Sheffield classic. Warm, woody and entirely organic, this is the birth of Green House...you heard it here first!
TRACK LISTING
1. Mood
2. Dream Precipitation
3. You
4. Dhoop Stick
5. The Chorus
If you’ve kept a keen ear to the underground, you may have noticed a trance revival creeping into the dance floors and darkrooms of late; a post ironic return to the 64 bar breakdowns and peak time key changes of your serotonin drenched youth.....
So what’s this then? Has Growing Bin gone from groundbreaker to copycat? Dig a little deeper folks, for the Trance is question is Jürgen Petersen, a forgotten cosmic kingpin in tune with true electronic excellence. When Danielle Baldelli wanted to show off his eclectic tastes, which record did he reach for? Petersen’s 1980 LP, ‘Here And Now’ of course. And when John Schaefer put together his essential exploration of New Sounds, who did he describe as Germany’s answer to Eno? Trance, damn right! After blessing the world with a trio of essential electronic LPs between 1979 and 1983, Petersen moved out of the limelight and lived off the grid, collecting his mind expanding music on a series of self-recorded, self-released cassettes, known only to the inner circle of elite European diggers. The sounds found within were unusual, experimental and ecstatic.
Fusing the organic tones of piano, 12 string guitar and sitar with soothing sine waves and hypnotic synthesis, Petersen harnessed the healing frequencies out there in the cosmos and transfixed the listener with pure otherworldly beauty - ambient music for a new age… Unravelling these rare cassettes for music lovers everywhere, Growing Bin treats us to ‘Tapes’, a five track vision quest for the horizontal travellers and fourth world nomads. Sven can keep his cocoon, we’re off in search of the butterflies...
So what’s this then? Has Growing Bin gone from groundbreaker to copycat? Dig a little deeper folks, for the Trance is question is Jürgen Petersen, a forgotten cosmic kingpin in tune with true electronic excellence. When Danielle Baldelli wanted to show off his eclectic tastes, which record did he reach for? Petersen’s 1980 LP, ‘Here And Now’ of course. And when John Schaefer put together his essential exploration of New Sounds, who did he describe as Germany’s answer to Eno? Trance, damn right! After blessing the world with a trio of essential electronic LPs between 1979 and 1983, Petersen moved out of the limelight and lived off the grid, collecting his mind expanding music on a series of self-recorded, self-released cassettes, known only to the inner circle of elite European diggers. The sounds found within were unusual, experimental and ecstatic.
Fusing the organic tones of piano, 12 string guitar and sitar with soothing sine waves and hypnotic synthesis, Petersen harnessed the healing frequencies out there in the cosmos and transfixed the listener with pure otherworldly beauty - ambient music for a new age… Unravelling these rare cassettes for music lovers everywhere, Growing Bin treats us to ‘Tapes’, a five track vision quest for the horizontal travellers and fourth world nomads. Sven can keep his cocoon, we’re off in search of the butterflies...
TRACK LISTING
1. Purification
2. Belial (Edit)
3. Wintergarden
4. Ambiente
5. Ikarus
Reduced
Minds expanded and bodies soothed by Krakatau’s deep spiritual eruptions, Growing Bin take us back to the beginning with three impressionistic jazz landscapes from the magical Merge. Inspired by childhood memories of an Iranian oasis, Jo Lienen let his fingers breeze over the keys like a warm shamal, leading him back through dusty streets and covered markets to his long forgotten Kashan. As the needle nestles into the well pressed groove we gaze through Lienen‘s eyes upon an ancient beauty, the sapphire skies and tan sands which surround the endless domes and lush gardens of his childhood home. Focusing on the bustling market in the morning sun, ‚Part I‘ races down the narrow alleys to a bright bossa rhythm, weaving past the crowds with a swaying bassline and lithe guitar. The soothing air carries the faint heat of spice and the voices of the bazaar, while the delicate piano falls like a warm desert rain. As afternoon prayer leads the crowds to mosque, ‚Part II‘ strolls through the empty streets, following mystical melodies to a moment of trascendent beauty. Hissing snare rolls leap above subtle percussion, carrying the earthy bass and airy piano as emotive guitar drifts through the city like smoke in the wind. A dervish solo erupts with spiritual fervour and the crowds flood back through the streets bringing Kashan back to life once again.
‚Part III‘ finds us at sunset, drinking spiced tea with red dust underfoot. Taking a slower, more sedate pace, this bass led beauty rolls on restrained but rhythmic percussion, flooding the senses with synth harp and dreamy guitar. The music might stop and the mirage may disappear, but thanks to Growing Bin we can visit any time we want.
‚Part III‘ finds us at sunset, drinking spiced tea with red dust underfoot. Taking a slower, more sedate pace, this bass led beauty rolls on restrained but rhythmic percussion, flooding the senses with synth harp and dreamy guitar. The music might stop and the mirage may disappear, but thanks to Growing Bin we can visit any time we want.
STAFF COMMENTS
Patrick says: Basso rounds off a spectacular year of Growing Bin goodness with some brand new material from German jazz troupe Merge. Swapping coastal breeze for the heat of Iran, the desert jazz of 'Kashan' is as warm, refreshing and intoxicating as an afternoon aperitif.TRACK LISTING
A1. Kashan I
A2. Kashan II
B1. Kashan III
THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2014 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.
‘Growing Souls’ is from the critically acclaimed album ‘Strong Feelings’.
Backed by an exclusive B-side left over from the sessions for that record.
Available exclusively for Record Store Day.
Limited to 100 copies for the UK and Ireland.
‘Growing Souls’ is from the critically acclaimed album ‘Strong Feelings’.
Backed by an exclusive B-side left over from the sessions for that record.
Available exclusively for Record Store Day.
Limited to 100 copies for the UK and Ireland.