I’m
a tad behind on this review. However, on the off chance it passed you
by I’ll let you know my thoughts. In comparison to his recent album
release ‘Beyond the Radar’, that placed the focus mostly in a
fusion of electronica and space rock, this places the spotlight (as
the title suggests) on dub. So now we’ve established the genre of
the E.P. the burning question is it any good? In my humble opinion,
yes it is!
The
first of the four available tracks ‘Dub Skullery’ begins with
ethereal synths and industrial elements, that you would expect from
an experimental drone track. The beat slowly rises and soon after we
are fully immersed in a catchy dub track peppered with delayed spacey
fx and short passages of lead guitar. Following on ‘Shimmering
Pink’ is more laid back and melodic, with somewhat of an Ozric’s
feel to it, while Neil continues to maintain the quality and appeal
of it’s predecessor.
The
third piece ‘Frabjous Day’ is more of a slow burner, however, it
eventually reaches a similar Ozric’s feel to the dub, with more of
a rhythmic mid section and female harmonies at the tail end. The E.P.
finishes with ‘Doodlebug’ where electronic fx lead you through
some lovely laid back synths, chimes, spoken word samples and guitar.
Formed
by Michael Wadada in 1979 the Suns of Arqa have blended Indian
Classical and Celtic sounds with a constantly changing line up that
over fourty years has astoundingly featured over 200 musicians. They
have also worked with artists such as Prince Far-I, 808 State, Youth
and Astralasia broadening the sonic pallet into fusions of Dub and
Drum & Bass.
The
Suns of Arqa will always hold a special place in my heart, as I
utilised them for the first track of my first ever DJ gig and they
also featured on the first mix of mine uploaded online. My first
experience of their output came rather late considering, picking up
their L.P. ‘Kokoromochi’ in 1992 and have dipped in here and
there over the years ever since. Therefore, some of the tracks
featured on this compilation were already familiar to me and I was
also eager to hear those that were not.
Not
surprisingly considering the longevity of the Suns of Arqa there have
been a fair few compilations to whet the appetite and entice
listeners into their back catalogue and future releases. So naturally
the question of anyone standing on the precipice and intrigued to
venture into their world, would surely be ‘Why this one?’. Now
this isn’t the first compilation for me and the previous one is a
treasured part of my music collection. What stands out about the
tracks selected here, is that Andrew has obviously put a lot of
thought with his extensive knowledge to include multifarious examples
of their back catalogue, without being obvious. From the bamboo
flutes, harmonium and other instruments that form the sound of the
Indian Sub-Continent and their Ragas, to the electronic ambient
re-mixes, dub reggae fusions and beyond. Which I found to be an
intriguing and satisfying journey that takes the mind from the
beaches of Goa to the river Ganges, from Spiritual ceremonies to
Hindu Temples.
Motion
is an innovative new album by sound artists Toby Marks and Andrew
Heath. Although the pair have collaborated on individual tracks and
shows before, this is the first album they have worked on together.
Toby
and Andrew started making extensive field recordings on trips to the
four corners of Britain during 2018. They went deep into Llechwedd
Slate Caverns in Wales, explored Suttle Stone Quarries in
Bournemouth, hopped on the Swanage Ferry to Poole Harbour, took to
the air with the Yorkshire Gliding Club, floated down the Leeds &
Liverpool Canal and rode the Bure Valley Railway in Norfolk. By
the end they had a staggering hundred hours of audio in total, which
they processed and transformed, blending piano, guitars and
electronics, to produce a deeply meditative, endlessly unfolding
collection.
Sometimes
evoking images of machinery, sometimes of nature, these pieces flow
and twist, at all times maintaining a humanity and sense of personal
experience at their core. At times intense, sometimes barely even
present in the mix, the music enthrals and entices, drawing the
listener into a world both seemingly familiar and weirdly unknown –
a quite alien, and yet still organic, space, which is of this world
and yet ultimately of Marks and Heath’s own invention.
The
first track of the album ‘For Stone (West)’ sets the ambience
with an ethereal quality drifting through choral voices, delayed
guitars, melancholic piano, creaking floorboards and machinery. This
is followed by ‘With Iron (South)’ which beginnings with
footsteps and flowing water, subtle piano and guitar nestled amongst
eeire synths, which sets me in mind of Pink Floyds ‘Signs of Life’
from their album ‘A Momentary Lapse of Reason’.
Next
up is ‘In Air on Water (North)' where the intro of buzzing insects,
birdsong, boat engines and church bell chimes leads into passages of
piano, indistinct vocal samples and guitar licks that once again have
a Floyd’esque quality to them. The final piece of the journey ‘By
Fire (East)’ initially layers a shuffling train beneath brooding
synths before the guitar strings bring a gentle ambience to the
piece.
To
Summarise this
collection comes across
as a natural pairing of
Toby and Andrewcreating
this ambient sound collage, which
is probably more closer linked to Libary Music and Musique
concrète
than Toby’s
more dancefloor inspired Banco de Gaia releases.
To
celebrate the release, Toby and Andrew are touring the UK, playing in
Stroud on May 10, Sheffield on May 11, Kingskerswell on May 17, Frome
on May 18, London on June 14 and Birmingham on June 15.
Using original recordings from
the mountains of Nepal, the deserts of India and the jungles of
Australia and Central America, Nango Manchey has learned and
incorporated instruments from all corners of the earth to create an
album that spans borders and traditional genres.
“Under
Our Sun is a tribute to the unification of humanity and the common
goals of peace and understanding that is an underlying part of what
makes us all human” he notes “We are all under the same sun, we
share this planet together and this album represents many cultures
uniting to create music of beauty that reflects the awe and grandeur
of nature, our shared home and the depths of our own consciousness.”
The
album starts with ‘Varnassi Flame’ an eastern flavoured
slow-burner with deep harmonies both vocal and synthetic laid between
the organic strings. This is followed by ‘Nepali Dawn’ which
begins with a violin and flutes strengthening the eastern vibe,
before being joined vocally I’m assuming by the women of Chote
Chour village in Nepal mentioned in the footnotes. Additionally,
there are passages within the piece that bring the electronics come
to the forefront before subsiding back to the organic once more.
The
album continues in both a listenable and pleasing fashion, however,
even the title track doesn’t reach the same heights as ‘Nepali
Dawn’. That is until the last track ‘Diambura’ a sitar
flavoured piece with suitably accompanying vocals and rhythmic
percussion, which I found to be just as appealing in it’s own way.
Liquid Sound Design is hosting a special event the 19th April on Good Friday at London hot spot Mau-Mau Bar on Portobello Road. The event comprises conscious talks, art, a pop-up shop selling classic L.S.D. & Dragonfly Records vinyl, cd’s, and label paraphernalia.
You can also hear Dj sets from Youth, Gaudi, Dr. Alex Paterson/The Orb, Mixmaster Morris, Robin Triskele & Liquidyne.
I took a little time leading up to the event to prise L.S.D. label manager Robin Triskele away from her busy schedule to talk about the event,
recent releases and what the future holds in store for fans of the label.
1)
What does it mean personally to you managing an iconic underground
label as Liquid Sound Design?
I
have been listening to L.S.D. releases since the labels inception in
the 90s and for sure some of my very favourite early psychedelic dub
albums would be from Liquid Sound Design. Being in the scene in
various manners since the 90s, I have always had a deep respect for
Youth as he is renowned for launching the first Goatrance label with
Dragonfly Records and of course soon to follow was the first ‘psydub’
label with L.S.D. These early releases defined these genres
throughout the world by putting them to vinyl & CD.
When I was asked by Youth to manage the relaunch of the label in early
2015 I was quite honoured. Through running a music and event
management consulting agency with Triskele Management, I have had the
chance to work most of the scenes artists and labels over the last 15
years but to be given the opportunity to help bring such a seminal
label back to life has been a wonderful opportunity.
Having already been friends with or connected to the labels artists and much
of the other leading downtempo electronica artists, has helped
considerably in making the label grow and bring new sounds and styles
into the fold. Everyone fully got behind the label with such amazing
releases and remixes and this has led the label to be quite prolific.
I am blessed to have such legends weaving our labels history again,
including Youth, Mixmaster Morris, Gaudi, Saafi Brothers, The Orb,
Kuba, DF Tram, Suns Of Arqa for example. Most of us have been involved in
the music industry for decades, we all share a strong family vibe and
the artists have a very dedicated approach to the music we are
releasing. The best part is it feels like we are just getting
started!
2)
I tend to think of Liquid Sound Design as a psychedelic dub/dub
reggae off-shoot to Dragonfly Records. More recently it’s much more
diverse for example Abraham Carmona’s ‘Ibiza’ focused on a far
more laid back Mediterranean sound. What did you feel this release
brought to the label?
The one thing that we are consistently doing within the label is trying
to find new talented artists and music that is fresh and cutting
edge. Music that is different to the norm with an open mind and
slightly left field approach to the genre profile we were defined by
in the earlier days of L.S.D. While psydub/psychill is still very
much prevalent in our label, we have been exploring a wider variety
of new styles. Over recent years we have seen the chill out scene
become much more diverse and artists are exploring and experimenting
more with sound. We see chill stages at music festivals and events
are now offering more eclectic line ups and the music scene seems to
be widening its scope of what is considered chill out. We want to be
sure to embrace this change in L.S.D. as well now and you will
continue to see us dipping our toes into different genres and scenes
more and more with releases to come.
Abraham Carmona recorded his traditional flamenco album ‘Homage to Catalonia’
(Suriya Recordings) with Youth at his legendary Space Mountain
Studios in Spain. After finishing the traditional album, they decided
to explore a new sound, combining beats, samples, electronics, and
merging them with Abraham’s unique style of infusing jazz
techniques with a flamenco aesthetic. The result was ‘Ibiza’.
This album goes to show how the labels idea of downtempo
electronica is not wrapped up in just one sound. It also shows how
well different styles and genres can morph together to create
something new and exciting and shows our fans we are always there
with something unpredictable. At L.S.D. all artists & DJs
involved with our label are truly passionate about all types of
downtempo electronica and sharing good music! We are pleased to have
the platform to share what we consider to be ground breaking music
and to be able to introduce these new sounds through our releases.
3) Another example is DF
Tram whose previous album release was on Afterlife’s Subatomic UK
label which again focuses on the sunset Balearic sound. What inspired
you to bring him over to the dub side so to speak?
Personally, even before I came to re-launch L.S.D. in 2015,
DF Tram had been on my peripheral radar. Being from the US
originally, I visited San Francisco several times and was familiar
with the underground chill scene from the early 2000s. Dylan has been
involved in the North American underground scene for over two decades
and is known for his eclectic and thought provoking
multi-media collages combining music and video. He has also visited
the UK several times playing Big Chill Festival.
DF Tram came to know Mixmaster Morris almost 20 years ago from bringing him to play a
weekly club night in San Francisco he was organizing and has also has worked
with him on some early The Irresistible Force productions,
but his original connections to the LSD family came through Alex
Paterson/The Orb. Alex sampled one of his tracks many years back and
this led to him playing shows with both The Orb and Thomas Fehlmann,
they have remained friends since, so much that he has been opening
for The Orb on their 30 yr anniversary tour stateside.
Dylan passed ‘Serenitay Infinitay’ on to Alex Paterson, who
passed it on to Youth and the rest is history!
L.S.D. Label night : YOUTH & GAUDI ‘ Astronaut Alchemists’ launch party video
4)
The tail end of last year you put together an album launch at Bloc in
London for Youth and Gaudi’s ‘Astronaut Alchemists’. Whilst
this Easter weekend in conjunction with Dragonfly Records, you’re
promoting an afternoon of talks followed by an evening of Liquid
Sound Design D.J. sets at London’s Mau Mau Bar. Could you tell the
readers a little more about these events?
Being
in event production and management for over 20 yrs, I’m involved at
any given time with several ongoing festivals and events globally,
but I have really been wanting to do something new and interesting
locally within UK. For the last couple of years I’ve been flirting with the idea to do L.S.D.
label events but have been waiting for the perfect opportunity. It seems the stars aligned
when the Youth & Gaudi album dropped and thus came the first in a series of bespoke nights
that would be tailored to appeal to the new generation,
whilst still enticing to the music aficionados from days of L.S.D.
past. I was clear on the vibe I wanted to create and the visual image
I wanted to present, something that would leave an impression with
people and an image that would remain consistent throughout the
future events.
When Youth launched the label in 1998, his
intention was ‘to create an outlet for more experimental and
down-tempo music as well as satisfying the demand for the post club
chill out sounds.’ So I wanted to create this vibe along with top
notch visuals and deco that bring a reminiscence of the 60’s
psychedelic consciousness and art. I wanted to somehow keep in mind
and honour Youths vision and his ideals from early days of the label.
I invite you to read the press notes from our release Society Of Inner Light compiled by Youth:
‘Youth started the Society For Ancient
Enchantment in 1999, with the intention of combining ritual, music
performance, spoken word and DJ's to be able to dive deeper into the
mystery and meditation of the music. This created some legendary
early L.S.D. events and recordings and is directly connected to this
Society of Inner Light album and future events. The inspiration
behind this compilation goes back to the 1930's and "Dion
Fortunes Order Of Inner Light ". Some of her rituals in
Bloomsbury were said to have ushered in the 1960's flower power era
... Our intention here is to facilitate that same intention and free
the spirit of those times for our present and future tribal, dance
floor, chill out gatherings and facilitate and create an esoteric
counter culture that communicates to mind, body and spirit.’
With the Mau Mau takeover we are opening
the scope and bringing it to the community by hosting a day out for
people to come along to have a chat, hear enlightening talks with
Gregory Sams, Lee Harris & Youth, share some wicked music and be
immersed in art in a more laid back vibe. It’s a great opportunity
for us to see our music family in a more social setting and be able
to share new ideas and dream new concepts into creation, invite
people to embrace and co-create the esoteric counter culture Youth
speaks of. We will also be hosting our first Dragonfly & L.S.D.
pop-up shop to bring the label to people personally and connect.
We’re really looking forward to a chilled Good Friday with good
folks and good music at this legendary Portobello Road spot.
5) What else is in the pipeline for Liquid Sound Design this
year?
We
have started the year off with a bit of a much needed break after
dropping 8 releases in 2018!
So far this year we’ve mostly been busy arranging some really exciting
artist collaborations whilst stepping into and tickling many different genres.
We are curating remix albums for Youth & Gaudi – Astronaut Alchemists,
The Irresistible Force – Kira Kira, the Saafi Brothers seminal debut
album Mystic Cigarettes (originally released on Blue Room in 1996).
We are really excited to be bringing Bluetech into the LSD family
fold with ‘Liquid Geometries in Dub’, with a collection of rather
eclectic artist remixes from his recent ambient and fully modular
release on DiN Records. We also have a new album soon to be delivered
by psydub maestro KUBA, the next release in the Future Horizons
series and EPs from both Pan Electric and DF Tram.
On the flipside…. We are super excited to be on the precipice of a
re-launch of the legendary Dragonfly Records! The label has been
resting far too long and we think it's time to bring it back to life.
We have been collecting demos and seeking new talent to join us
alongside some of the original Dragonfly family for the next
instalment of the well-loved ‘Order Odonata’ series, coming this
autumn! The label will also see a new psy trance album from label
head YOUTH, the first in almost 15 years.
Triptone
is a side project of Franck Jousselin (Kick Bong) where he composes
the music … drums, bass, synths, keys and virtual guitar, as well
as vocals which are also penned by some of the guests on the
productions. This collection of tracks, two years in the making
places the focus on electro, trip-hop and pop.
The
album starts with a dark brooding synth that soon morphs into a
mellow piece of electronica on ‘Around Me’ featuring SR. While
‘Give Me A Reason’ featuring Nartingale has a bassline
reminiscent of 80’s synth-pop while Natasha’s vocals adds more of
a mellow trip-hop aspect to the piece.
If
by now, you're enjoying the style of this album it does continue in a
similar fashion throughout. The title track ‘My Life’ is a
slow burner with somewhat of a cinematic feel with Houcem Elamine on
violin, where the vocals have flipped to his native French rather
than English of the previous pieces. While my personal favourite
‘Lovely Doll’ featuring Romy on backing vocals is a sequenced
piece of electro where you can sense the 80’s influences within.
To
summarise this album may not appeal to all the fans of his Kick Bong
project, and it’s definitely drawing inspiration from other genres.
The days when releases by Depeche Mode and Ultravox, or Massive
Attack and Portishead hit the charts may well be long gone but there
influences live on.
