This week the Planet Mu honcho Mike Paradinas returns home with reflections on family life and the 25th anniversary of Lunatic Harness plus a weekend getaway which saw him ride Icelandic horses across snowy landscapes at dawn. Joseph Kamaru and Niamké Désiré use orchestral tones, low-end drones, and blistering distortion to reach for the extremities in a collaborative project spurred by Berlin Atonal. And from Javanese court rituals to the dizzying patterns of Autechre, Ornette Coleman, and Harry Partch, nine musicians led by the Nantes-based Will Guthrie clatter drum kits and junk percussion in their first outing as Ensemble Nist-Nah.
From Kinshasa by way of Montreal, the singer-songwriter Pierre Kwenders figures the ascent of Mount Kilimanjaro as a wheezing and hedonistic pursuit of sexual fantasies and bodies intertwined by lust and desire, blending elements of smooth jazz, funk, pop, and the Congolese rumba while paying reverence to greats from Fela Kuti, Tshala Muana, and Koffi Olomidé to Prince, Grace Jones, Jimi Hendrix, and James Brown. The Buenos Aires composer Victoria Barca captures sound as a series of digital squiggles and sunny exaltations, while over synth stabs the Glasgow firebrand Kathryn Joseph utters strained symphonies for the wronged.
Matmos rework the catalogue of Bogusław Schaeffer, Blunt Chunks seeks abandon all alone in the bathroom stall, Flug 8 chugs between continents, and Haru Nemuri tears at the diaphanous borders of J-pop as the punk-poet with a Derridean consciousness collides hip-hop, noise rock, and hardcore. Sabla and Đ.K. conjure the dank atmospheres and titillating textures of temples and totems, while the underground pioneers Dälek step back from the precipice on a record which finds catharsis amid the chaos of a ruptured world. Desire, Kelly Lee Owens, Spencer Zahn, Yuki Murata, and Molly Nilsson complete the latest selection of best new tracks.
Playlists: Spotify · Apple Music · YouTube
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Spencer Zahn – ‘In The Days of Slowness’
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kathryn joseph – ‘the burning of us all’
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Haru Nemuri – ‘Ikiru’
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Sabla + Đ.K. – ‘Ocra Flat Lands’
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µ-Ziq – ‘Magic Pony Ride (Pt.1)’
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Pierre Kwenders – ‘Kilimanjaro’
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Ensemble Nist-Nah – ‘Planeker’
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Matmos – ‘Flashcube Fog Wares / Głucha Affera Słów’
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Desire – ‘Love Is A Crime’ (feat. Mirage)
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Yuki Murata – ‘shall we dance’
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