Ruspo - Dourados

It was with great joy last week we noticed a new Ruspo album in our Bandcamp feed so we felt compelled to spark the blog back into life and shout about it to the world. So without further ado hit play below and carry on reading as, not only is this a wonderful musical endeavor, there is a very serious message in the music. Now The Slow Music Movement is primarily concerned with the promotion of our deliberately vague musical philosophy and it is not our intention to enter the world of activism or politics but sometimes the two are so intertwined as to be inseparable. Welcome to Ruspo's world.




Ruspo first came to our attention in 2013 with his excellent debut album Esses Patifes which was one of those wonderful finds only Bandcamp's global platform could provide and which makes it our favourite and such an all round exciting place to go digital digging. You can have a listen to it here if you like:




Full of lo-fi, home produced breezy, Brazilian charm the new album Dourados partly picks up, certainly in its production approach, where Esses Patifes left off but due to the serious subject matter and Sposati's recent and disturbing experiences there is an unmistakable air of melancholy that pervades this sophomore album. The contrast between the two albums is most obviously highlighted by the new album cover. Gone is the warmth and the organic, artisanal vibe and in comes a grey, misty, vaguely dystopian photo which in my darker moments I imagine to be reclaimed agricultural land cut off from it's original displaced owners by newly installed fencing.

It's always interesting to have sleeve notes with an LP to provide further context to the music, especially in this digital age when such a thing is mostly deemed superfluous, and even more so when the lyrics are in a foreign language and really saying something so I've copied them here. Please brace yourself this is not pleasant reading.

  A little bit" grayer" than its predecessor, the new album is mainly set nearby Dourados, the second largest city in Mato Grosso do Sul state, near the Paraguay border - which is where the Guarani and Kaiowa indigenous peoples live. They have longstanding conflicts with agribusiness corporations, as the state is a central area in the Brazilian soybean industry. The monocultural export crop is notorious for displacing small farmers and Indigenous peoples.

During the 20th century, the Guarani and Kaiowa lost more than 90% of their territory to ranchers (and non-indigenous populations from other states, initially settled by the government as part of the "Conquer Of The West" national policy), and were put in small indigenous reservations, which are overpopulated. Food insecurity amongst their communities is as high as up to 100 percent - over four times higher than the national average. -, while also having one of the highest suicide rates in the world, and are plagued by alcoholism, depression, poverty and violence, due to the lack of land.

For the last couple of years, Sposati was one of the few journalists permanently based in Mato Grosso do Sul covering the Kaiowa story of their ongoing struggle to have their ancestral lands demarcated.

Although Brazil has strong constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression, the country is one of the most dangerous places in the world to practice journalism. Media workers are frequent targets of aggression, intimidation, and judicial censorship, while impunity for crimes against journalists remains high.

In response to his work, in 2013, federal policemen seized Sposati’s computer and sound recording equipment without a warrant while he was documenting the forced removal of an indigenous population from a land currently owned by a wealthy ex-right wing congressman and landowner from the state, and claimed by the Terena indigenous people as theirs.

Besides that, Sposati suffered several lawsuits and police inquiries aiming to put him off the track of his work of speaking out against violence targeting indigenous populations and other traditional communities in the country. He was also investigated in a parliamentary inquiry that falsely accused him of being related to the paraguayan guerillas (!) training indigenous peoples to "invade" private property, "serving international corporative interests" that are "interested in Brazil's natural resources". This is the surrealist environment where "Dourados" the album was crafted.

Despite this tragic story of the Guarani and Kaiowa people and Sposati's harrowing experiences in reporting it being the inspiration driving the album, there is still a Brazilian joie de vivre bubbling under the surface, as with so much of Brazil's music. A certain musical optimism that is saying that despite the dark political turns of recent times and the countless struggles, not only in Brazil but worldwide, there is still hope if all good men and women stand up and confront the greed, hate, discrimination, sexism, inequality, racism and violence.
  
Have a listen. Have a think. if you feel so compelled spread the word, do your bit and spread some love.

Mark McGuire - Cool Cloudscapes of The Four Directions Vol. 1 (Bandcamp Self Release)

The new age of new age music is upon us. Now I was never a fan of the whole new age vibe, perhaps it's just me getting old or possibly this has more balls or substance than your run of the mill, well meaning but far too glassy eyed, wishy washy new age fare? Possibly I'm increasingly feeling the need to decompress from modern living - the constant bombardment of information, the dissatisfaction with global elites be them media, political, business or military, the pace of change and the unsustainability of it all? Possibly it's because this album is sold on Bandcamp rather than a web site that looks like it was designed in 2002? Perhaps I just need to buy a house in the country? Whatever - this album is helping.

Noname - Telefone (Bandcamp Self Release)

When you are this natural sounding you don't need to cake on the studio make up. This album is organic wholemeal musical bread from an artisanal hip hop bakery not an urban music donut from Walmart. Eat this album and feel a whole lot healthier.

If Nonames effortlessly flow was not enough she has also enlisted a wonderful cast of collaborators to compliment her conscious, fluid like water, lyrical dexterity. I've never heard of any of them before but there could be the makings of an epic Chicago collective if the talents of theMIND, Raury, Cam O'bi, Xavier Omar, Eryn Allen Kane, Akenya, Ravyn Lanae,  Saba, Smino & Phoelix chose to combine.

If that wasn't enough the girl is doing it for herself by self releasing the album so show her some love and buy it from her Bandcamp page above.

Smith & Mudd - Gorthleck (Claremont 56)

So judging by their release schedule it would appear that Smith and Mudd have been living in an abandoned fisherman's hut in a secret Ibizian cala for the last few years not having released an album since 2009. That is until you realise this is just one alias amongst various pseudonyms that the duo have utilised, either together or separately, to release a steady stream of EPs and albums in that seven year period..

It has to be said that it has been well worth the wait. In those fallow years the duo have honed their craft and the production and song writing has reached a whole new level of maturity. If you know and love Smith and Mudd's previous records then don't worry the vibes have stayed the same, this album will be your new summer soundtrack and DJs at any musically discerning beach bar will be utilising several of the tracks to serenade the sun's decent into the sea over this and many summers to come. Quite how they managed that feat having decamped to humid, chilly old Scotland with a tight team of musical accomplices to record the album is a mystery - perhaps the album is a climatic cry for help?

What has changed with this album is the extra assuredness in the song writing that the duo seem to have developed. R&B, flamenco, kosmiche, folk, ambient, dub, classical & rock are all effortlessly interwoven to soundtrack that difficult transition from the beach towel to the bar stool with a sea view or the sofa to the corner shop for skins, depending on your luck. There really is a new found confidence in their musical expression and a better understanding on how to convey all those moods and moments without the aid of lyrics in this instrumental delight of an album. Where perhaps silence would have previously been filled by effects or slightly cliched synth (wishy) washes now instruments either solo or interlocking are given space to breathe and tell their tale. Not that there isn't a healthy amount of electronic tinkering during the recording just that these days it sounds far more complimentary than compensatory.

So as usual music is much better listened to than read about so get your ears around the album via the player below and see what you think.....

Lazy Dubs #1

So here is the first of The Slow Music Movement's Dub mixes and trust us there's going to be a few of these. Ever since the 60's in Jamaica dub has been gradually infiltrating the outer reaches of music production and, despite increased awareness due to the rise (and fall) of dubstep in recent years, it has never fully gained mainstream acceptance. Instead it's been lurking in the musical shadows adding it's staple traits and effects to outsider music across the genre spectrum and this mix attempts to highlight some of those backwater resting places for this most timeless of musical genres.




Vatican Shadow - Swords Over Paradise (Infrastructure New York)
Teichmann & Ukoo Flani - Whateverman Dub (Outhere)
Deadbeat - Ain't No More Flowers feat. Fink (BLKRTZ)
Blundetto - Above The Dub (Heavenly Sweetness)
T_A_M - You Don't Want To Look Back There (Apothecary Compositions)
Dr. Zygote - Lunar Dub (Black Acre)
Shantel - Bucovina, OMFO Dub (Essay)
Stillhead feat. Mu Vonz - Maybe We Ain't Dead (Here & Now)
Nomine - Lost Girl feat. Iustina (Nomine Sound)
Me Raabenstein - Ad (Nonine)
Root 70 - Get Things Straight, Instrumental (Non Place)
MM Studio - The Good Star Dub (Album Label)
Hidden Operator - Cloudy Dub (Kings Chamber)
Urich Troyer feat. Vin Gordon - Deadlock, Vin Gordon Version (4 Bit Productions)
Doomsquad - Farmers Almanac (Bella Union)

I hope you enjoy and if you do maybe you would think about sharing it on social media? This is just the beginning of The Slow Music Movement, we have big plans but any assistance along the way would really be appreciated. Talking of social media we are totally covered so connect & stay in touch. Facebook & Twitter are updated pretty regularly with musical tips & reviews appear on the blogs.

Lazy Days #2

So the second installment of the newly minted Lazy Days mix series is up for listening. As usual it is an eclectic selection of laid back grooves and tunes mostly from this year but this time I've also thrown in a couple of older tunes that helped to connect the disparate styles. It's not easy listening lounge designed to wash over you and a good listen or two will definitely be rewarded.

So from ambient to dubstep, hip hop to beats, deep house to Balearic, a couple of quirky leftfield pop numbers and a forgotten Zouk classic to finish - it's all here in a nice flowing mix which attempts to make sense of all the various styles.

I hope you enjoy and if you do maybe you would think about sharing it on social media? This is just the beginning of The Slow Music Movement, we have big plans but any assistance along the way developing interest in the project would really be appreciated. Talking of social media we are totally covered with just about every type of account you can think so connect and stay in touch. Facebook and Twitter are updated pretty regularly with musical tips and small reviews of great new releases appear on the blogs.

Enjoy.


Olivier Alary - Yangtze (Fat Cat)
Kaiju - Burn Down Babylon (Deep Medi)
Clubroot - Low Pressure Zone (Lo Dubs)
Terem - Turn My Head (Bandcamp Self Release)
Your Gay Thoughts - Spitting Image (King Deluxe)
Strangers Of Necessity - Mass Appeal (Bandcamp Self Release)
Sly Johnson - Why feat. Rachel Claudio, Erik Truffaz & Valerie Delgado (Heavenly Sweetness)
Letherette - Suzette (Wulf)
Raphael Top-Secret - Love So High (Antinote)
David August - J.B.Y. (Counter)
Guiro Meets Russia - Ziggurat (Verlag System)
Jessy Lanza - Begins (Hyperdub)
Markus Stockhausen & Martux_m Crew - Mm02 (Resiliens)
Loose Ends - Hanging On A String, Frankie Knuckles Classic Club Reprise (Chair)
Ramon Pyrme - Vacance Union (Heavenly Sweetness)

Mark Barrott - Sketches From An Island 2

So this is more of a heads up than a review as we haven't got a promo and the album isn't released until tomorrow. To be honest most of the reviews we intend to do will be short and sweet as we would like to consider ourselves a musical Tinder if you like. We'll throw a load of releases at you that we think are worth checking out and you decide what is good for you and which to swipe left on. So cop a listen to this album sampler of the impending Sketches From An Island 2 to be released tomorrow and carry on reading.



Just as a bit of background Mark is originally from Sheffield but, as lovely as this jewel of South Yorkshire is, has probably wisely ended up in Ibiza via spells in Berlin and Uruguay. A prolific and eclectic music maker of three decades experience Mark has now wound up being one of the modern Balearic flag bearers both with his own increasingly chilled productions and by putting out a multitude of artists and  releases on his International Feel record label that largely fit that loosest and most open to interpretation of genre labels.

Sketches from An Island 2 is not going to change that reputation with it's blend of laid back island vibes, sun drenched soul and easy listening bordering on the queso like which have all combined to produce the perfect summer soundtrack not to mention being on of those rare releases that you and your parents will probably both agree on.

If you want to investigate further then here is the prequel album in all it's easily obtainable Bandcamp glory.

Blue Velvet Revisited by Tuxedomoon / Cult With No Name

Blue Velvet is one of the best films to come out of the 80's, maybe even better than Ghostbusters and Top Gun. Interestingly David Lynch invited a young German filmmaker, Peter Braatz, to document the making of the film giving him unrestricted behind the scenes access which he took full advantage of to produce his documentary of Lynch at his peak and this classic moment of cinema history.

What makes this soundtrack more interesting than most is the fact that Braatz was convinced the score should dictate the film and wouldn't start the film until the score had been finished. To this end he enlisted one of his favourite bands he figured would be perfect for the job - Cult With No Name who then enlisted Tuxedomoon to also contribute. For good measure Braatz also threw in a track from artist, educator, original singer of Ultravox and general music legend John Foxx.


The creative process was also slightly unusual in that the groups decided not to reference or be influenced by the original Angelo Badalamenti score and understandably so as it is a Braatz rather than a Lynch project. Recording by the two groups was done separately in Brussels, Mexico and London and we can safely concur that they more than obtained their goal of producing a dreamy, reflective and quietly evocative soundtrack.

The score is all about mood rather than style and is the sum of many parts. Partly neo-classical, part ambient, part electronic with the odd man out being "A Candy Coloured Clown" an uptempo cinematic techno psych jazz fusion with hints of Underground Resistance's, "Knights Of The Jaguar" that occurs half way through to momentarily rouse you from the otherwise sedate, contemplative nature of the rest of the album.



We can't recommend this album highly enough and it's another fantastic addition to Crammed Discs wonderful MADE TO MEASURE composer series of releases which we suggest that you investigate.

T_A_M - In Tandem

So we stumbled across this album today, thanks to a Bandcamp purchase by Philip Sherburn that popped up on our feed. We'd never heard of this Aberdeen based producer but are overjoyed he's now on the radar.

So how about the music? Well it's hard to pin down. Experimental for sure with a unifying melodic thread running throughout the electronic compositions. At times post grime at others ambient and occasionally neo-classical and sometimes all of them at once. Really you are best of having a listen and making up your own mind.

Can't help thinking he looks like a nice chap from the photo as well :)




If you want to find out a bit more then check out his Facebook, Twitter or Soundcloud below

Chilled album alert: Wolf Müller & Cass - The Sound Of Glades

Chill Out (mini) album of the day is this lazy, dreamy, percussive, positively Balearic - The Sounds Of Glades by Wolf Muller & Cass. Five tracks and thirty nine minutes long this release just drifts and wraps around your head like smoke from a freshly lit cigarette but without the health risks.

A nice versatile production duo they really have come up trumps on this one for the mighty International Feel Recordings. Find out a bit more about Wolf Muller & Cass. by hitting the links and if you don't know International Feel then you are in for a treat.

Thomash - Calango Funando Palha (Lunar Version)

So as well as using this blog to promote our own DJ mixes we're also going to be posting about a few of our musical discoveries along the way and I can't think of a better way to start than this following track from DJ Thomash a German producer, DJ and party organiser from Cologne who is now living in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Now the original of this tune from his 2014 Candomble EP was nice but Thomash has decided to revisit it, give it a remix and in doing so he has elevated it to a whole new dimension.




If you want to know a bit more about Thomash you can connect with him on his Soundcloud, Facebook and also his Bandcamp profile - keep an eye on what this guy is doing, his future is bright.

Breaking update, the tune is now available on Bandcamp to buy:

Lazy Days #1 - Some Of Our Favourite Chilled Tracks From The First 6 Months of 2016

So the second mix from The Slow Music Movement is here & after the soporific vibes of the inaugural Horizontal #1 mix we raise the tempo slowly, throw in a few beats & try and make sense out of various styles of music from Ethiopian, reggae, hip hop, Americana, electronica through to soul, future boogie, jazz & super slow dreamy house. The main connection between all the tracks is that they are some of our favourite chilled tunes from the first 6 months of 2016.

What struck us is quite how many of those tunes we brought on Bandcamp which is one of our favourite places to go digging digitally & with the added bonus that most of the money goes direct to the artists that make such great music, if you don't know the platform check it out.

So make sure you follow us as there is plenty more to come and maybe if you like what you hear you would think about sharing it on social media as unfortunately we only get paid in "plays" and "likes" & we're trying to reach out to the world :)

Tracklist:

Mikael Seifu - Soul Manifest (Bandcamp)
Aston ‘Family Man” Barrett - Pleasing Dub
Blundetto - Hard Til I Dub (Dub Store)
Contact Field Orchestra - Sluice Box Tavern (Bandcamp)
Elephant Revival - Hello You Who (Thirty Tigers)
Western Skies Motel - As The Flames Rose (Bandcamp)
Ritornell - Book Of Now feat. Mimi (Karaoke Kalk)
Moonchild - Nobody (Tru Thoughts)
BADBADNOTGOOD - Time Moves Slow feat. Samuel T. Herring (Innovative Leisure)
Midflite - Autumn Love (Cascade)
Submerse - No Continues Kid (Project Mooncircle)
Ghostnaut - Lips Move feat. Poet Azeem (Cascade)
Moses Boyd - Dreaming (Bandcamp)
TRZ Trio - Limiar (Soundcloud Free Download)
Gecko Turner - I’ll Do That, Mo Colours Rmx (Lovemonk)
Letherette - Sweeter (Wulf)
The Mixtapers - Glorious Days (Sonar Kollektiv)
Chris Coco - It An Tells Ya (Disappear)
Huerco S - Cubist Camouflage (Proibito)

The Slow Music Movement Inaugural Mix - Horizontal #1 Is Here!

This is the inaugural mix from the newly formed The Slow Music Movement so we thought we'd kick things off as slow as it gets and build from there.

Working 120 hours a week? Partner just run off with your best friend? Moving house, changing jobs, taking your final exams or just struggling to cope with the pace of modern living?

This mix can help.

Take a moment, jump on the sofa, dim the lights, pour yourself a glass of your favourite tipple & let these beautiful tracks sonically carress your temples & rub your back with hot oil. Slowly all that stress & tension with start to seep through every pore until you reach a state of zen like bliss or more than likely fall asleep with the glass of wine still in your hand. We can't be held responsible for any stains on your new sofa by the way.

You get the idea - no beats, gentle sounds, subtle drones, delicate instrumentation & beautiful music.

If you like what you hear then connect on social media - this is just the start...



Mop Mop - Alfa (Agogo)
Gold Panda - Unthanks (City Slang)
Solo Andata - Porcelain Blue (12K)
Weirdance - Weirdistan, Outrospective Version (165c Records)
Huerco S - Hear Me Out (Proibito)
Tindersticks - Follow Me (City Slang)
Aukai - Hideen (Bandcamp Self Release)
Dakota Suite & Emanuele Errante - A Worn Out Life (Karaoke Kalk)
Submerse - It's All Fun & Games Until Someone Loses (Project Mooncircle)
Choir Of Young Believers - Olimpiyskiy (Ghostly International)
Phaeleh - All That Remains (Undertow)
Tobias Preisig & Stefan Rusconi - Gilliane (Qilin)
Solo Andata - Laugh Shattered (12K)
Robert Logan - Wind (Slowfoot)
The Balustrade Ensemble - Everything Stirs (Serein)
Lo Tide - Roll (Diventa)
Emufucka - Yuna (Fremdtunes)