Balfa - Perfecta Analogía De La Decadencia (BLF Lab)
The Spanish sound enthusiast Balfa self-releases his debut album, Perfecta Analogía De La Decadencia, within his new project BLF Lab. The album is an experimental, autobiographical work that rises from the artist’s experiences of living in Berlin for four years. Made with the artist’s handcrafted synthesizers and electronic machines, Perfecta Analogía De La Decadencia encompasses the sonic explorations from the moment of his arrival in Germany until the day he returned to his homeland. Fourteen tracks form a metaphor that leads to a sound reflection of the postmodern era. As the artist reveals, the album is born from the pressures that this movement carries, where consumerism reappears with a new status, legitimizing the individualism.
Carl Gari & Abdullah Miniawy - The Act of Falling from the 8th Floor (Whities)
Carl Gari are a trio of German musicians made up of Jonas Yamer, Till Funke and Jonas Friedlich. Abdullah Miniawy is an Egyptian musician and poet, currently based in France. A meditative and provoking listen focused around the poem in 'B'aj بعاج' that forms the lyrical centerpiece of the record. In this song Abdullah is the protagonist, jumping from the 8th floor of a building in Cairo. While falling he describes a unique scene happening on every balcony, painting a dark picture of Egyptian society.
VA - Colombian Music Powerhouses Vol 2 (Palenque Records)
This release states: The "Colombian Music PowerHouses" project is a humble attempt to show the immense diversity of our country's music and culture to a wider public. For this purpose, we’ve gathered together as independent music labels; a joint collaboration between seven key Colombian "Powerhouses" to bring you a non-exclusive selection of today's Colombian music. We know there are other labels and artists out there who deserve just as much attention and visibility as the ones who were brought together in this compilation, but we hope these picks will arouse your curiosity and inspire you to dig deeper into the fascinating world of Colombian music.
Cotito - Hechicero (Perspectives on Afro-Peruvian Music. The Collection Vol 2) (Buh Records)
Juan Medrano Cotito has developed a very prolific career as a singer-songwriter and performer of the Peruvian cajón. He is one of the emblematic figures in the world of Afro-Peruvian music today and his name appears in many of the main fusion ensembles that have lead way in the exploration of black rhythms in Peru (from Susana Baca to Novalima). Cotito has traveled around the world, sharing his music and knowledge of the cajón in schools and universities. "Hechicero", his new album, and the second volume of the collection “Perspectives on Afro-Peruvian Music”, is an entry into the sources of the Afro tradition. It is a celebratory album, which invokes Manuel Vásquez, Eusebio Sirio and Julio Algendones, the three great Peruvian cajoneros who are honored here in separate compositions based on the instrumental mixture of cajón, chekere, jawbone, cajita, bell, congas, bongo, guitar and bass, in powerful and exuberant rhythmic interaction which makes up the essence of Cotito's style, and at the same time presents the genuine Afro-Peruvian sound: Festejo, Son de los Diablos and Zamacueca.
Daniel Menche - Melting Gravity (SIGE Records)
The title of Melting Gravity refers to an allegory on the human pursuit of transcendence with all of its connotations to weightlessness, ascension, flight, out-of-body experiences, and just getting high. Gravity, on the other hand, becomes that which negates and nullifies those transcendent pursuits. In the context of this particular allegory, gravity is the devil. Music, long a vehicle aimed towards transcendent ideals, becomes the weapon to defeat gravity, to defeat the devil. Daniel Menche wields the weapon of music in composing the mercurial grandeur that is Melting Gravity.
Dominik Von Senger - Brüsseler Platz (Inversions Label)
Inversions returns with an assemblage of miscellanea from the magnetic tape archives of Dunkelziffer and Phantom Band guitarist Dominik Von Senger. Capturing impromptu moments of between the scene’s coaction amongst the likes of Reebop Kwaku Baah, Jaki Liebezeit and Dominik himself, to create an animated picture of his communal musical activities at Brüsseler Platz, during a fertile period for underground music and art in Cologne, and exhibit a mosaic of moods, from mirthful to meditative.
