Sdban reissues Solis Lacus’s 1975 Belgian jazz masterpiece

Sdban Records will reissue several installments of the legendary library series ‘A Special Radio ~ TV Record’ on vinyl. These were originally released on Belgian imprint ‘Selection Records’ between 1975 and 1981. N°15 in the series was the Belgian milestone jazz album ‘Solis Lacus’ released in 1975

Solis Lacus is the cult group around renowned Belgian pianist Michel Herr, a pioneer of electric jazz in the 70’s in Europe. Michel Herr rose to international prominence after winning the first prize at the jazz festival in Loosdrecht, The Netherlands, in 1971. He accompanied many European and American jazz stars on foreign tours and ran the group Jazztrack with saxophone player Wolfgang Engstfeld in Germany. At the same time, he set up his own band Solis Lacus, which consisted of Belgian musicians who had all made a name for themselves on the national jazz scene of the 1960s including Richard Rousselet and Bruno Castelluci both from Placebo. Inspired by the reigning jazz-rock sound of the day, Herr expanded his musical vocabulary and started to play electronic keyboards. Solis Lacus recorded its only album in the course of 1974 and 1975, before the members of the group headed in their own direction. These were originally released on Belgian imprint ‘Selection Records’ between 1975 and 1981. N°15 in the series was the Belgian milestone jazz album ‘Solis Lacus’ released in 1975.

Solis Lacus is considered the European counterpart to sound experimentations of Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters, or the best albums of the CTI label such as Freddie Hubbard. This is groundbreaking, experimental and funky jazz fusion!

Sdban will release Solis Lacus on March 3rd, 2022

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Welcome to Cod3 QR: Music to arouse curiosity

After ending 2021 with a big announcement that Laurent Garnier and Scan X were the masterminds behind the label, we start the new year with our 11th release being the labels first ‘artist code’ album! Once again a focus on eclecticism, open-mindedness, divergence and non-conformity. Expect to hear a wide range of electronic music from House, Techno, Electro, and even Drum n Bass carefully selected by Monsieur’s Garnier and X.

Cod3 QR wants to remain free of all expectations and all prejudices because only one thing counts for us : the music, The Music, THE MUSIC in every shape and form!

Past releases include music from Laurent Garnier, Speaking Minds & Amarcord, Scan X, Diego Infanzon Agents of Time, JoeFarr, Nicolas Bougaieff, Madben, CYRK, Biz and rising talents Works of Intent aka R.O.S.H, LOIS, Softly & Voltaire.

Dive in to their multi-artist releases.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Artist Code 524F53 – Fully Focused
A2. Artist Code 4B4D59 – Dong
A3. Artist Code 4A4F41 – Echo Of The Mountains
B1. Artist Code 4C4F4C – Melancolia
B2. Artist Code 4D422E – Keep On Holding
B3. Artist Code 54502E feat. Artist Code 414C4C – Predilection For Doing Wrong
C1. Artist Code 505245 – Marcelo
C2. Artist Code 433243 – Body & Soul
C3. Artist Code 415448 – Unsen
D1. Artist Code 4C4F49 – Pulsar
D2. Artist Code 4D4144 – Lost In A Parallel Universe

Cod3 QR will release Cod3 QR 011 on March 18th, 2022

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Riding the Detroit Escalator: Soundtrack [313] gets 25th anniversary audiophile reissue

Ambient techno classic Soundtrack [313], the debut album from The Detroit Escalator Company, AKA Neil Ollivierra, has been reissued.

25 years following its original 1996 release, the record has been remastered using the half-speed mastering process, a slowed-down cutting process that improves the lathe’s ability to properly cut high-frequency material. Available now on Swiss label Musique Pour La Danse, the record’s digital and limited-edition vinyl release come with four bonus tracks, while the limited-edition CD arrives with six additional tracks.

Ollivierra is a Detroit-born producer who came out of the city’s early dance music scene. Soundtrack [313] had languished in relative obscurity, praised by Tim Barr’s Rough Guide to Techno as “one of techno’s most overlooked classics…a note-perfect vision of late night Detroit and a compelling combination of warm beauty and desolate force.”

Listen to the album

Musique Pour La Danse will release Soundtrack [313] on February 18, 2022

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Ann Eysermans fuses harp with train field recordings on debut album

On her debut album Belgian-based multi-instrumentalist Ann Eysermans explores the possibilities of the train as a music instrument.

For the compositions Prelude and Fuga For Four Diesel Locomotives And Harp Eysermans had the chance to capture the sounds of diesel locomotives (HD 51, 54, 55 and 60) of the Belgian Train World Heritage collection. Microscopic hissing vibrations of steaming engines slowly entwine and resonate with fragile harp playing, getting on track for an unconventional sonic rail journey. A melancholic odyssey of sound in motion: Ann Eysermans let the sparkling harp notes dissolve into the tones of pulsating train wheels.

On the B-side she bends her soft singing voice around deranged horn melodies in Le Départ, connect delayed organ harmonies in De Vertraging with the dying frequencies of a trembling and humming locomotive from the 60’s, On the key track For Trainspotters Only Ann Eysermans assembles a hauntingly piece of musique concrete with clanging chimes, broken music boxes, ghostly whispers and throbbing machine room sounds. A lonely barking dog and the last train announcement on a desolate platform in Chorale also mark the last part of this spellbinding record.

On For Trainspotters Only Ann Eysermans takes you on an immersive and meandering ride, connecting the dots between the free spirit of Alice Coltrane, the orchestrated field recording compositions of Chris Watson and the magic realism of Claire Rousay

Cortizona will release For Trainspotters only on January 28th, 2022

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Black Flower Fifth Album released in January

Five-piece hybrid jazz outfit Black Flower are set to release new album ‘Magma’ on the 28th January via the groove-obsessed Belgian label, Sdban Ultra.

Piloted by Brussels-based saxophonist/flutist/composer Nathan Daems (Echoes of Zoo, Dijf Sanders), the quintet is a vibrant, hypnotic mix of Ethio jazz, afrobeat, psychedelia and oriental influences, inspired by Mulatu Astatke, Fela Kuti and varied western musical traditions.

Black Flower is a band at the peak of their creative powers. Having received glowing praise for the 2019 album ‘Future Flora’ from Mojo, Songlines, BBC Radio 6 Music’s Gilles Peterson, BBC Radio 3’s Music Planet, Worldwide FM and Jazz FM among others, forthcoming album ‘Magma’ sees Black Flower embrace new synth and organ sounds from the band’s most recent recruit, Karel Cuelenaere. His influence can be heard from the outset – his keys adding a swirling, mischievousness to album opener and title track ‘Magma’. Elsewhere, the shuffling drum patterns and flighty, flute-propelled ‘O Fogo’ are rich in texture and flow.

Driving rhythms and Eastern influenced melodies serve as a rich source of pleasure that, like magma, become real and solid when finding its way to the surface. It’s the perfect metaphor for this album’s creational process. The pulsating, trance-inducing Deep Dive Down continues the joyous process while singer-songwriter Meskerem Mees (winner of The Montreux Jazz Talent Award 2021) adds, her clear-as-spring-water vocals to the celestial Morning in the Jungle.

With the much-trusted Frederik Segers on production and London-based visual virtuoso Raimund Wong (Total Refreshment Centre) on artwork duties, it all adds up to the psychedelic and exploratory identity of the band and are key elements that helped Magma in its ascension from deep down up to the surface. A creative process solidified into vinyl, just as magma into rock.

Fellow musicians and spiritual henchmen are Jon Birdsong (dEUS, Beck, Calexico) on cornet, Simon Segers (Absynthe Minded, De Beren Gieren, MDCIII) at the drums, Filip Vandebril (Lady Linn, The Valerie Solanas) at the bass and Karel Cuelenaere (John Ghost) on keys.

Sdban Ultra will release Magma on January 24th, 2022

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Hany Mehanna’s Egyptian TV and film scores collected in new compilation

Focusing on his 1973-1980 output.

A new compilation of Hany Mehanna’s work, called Music For Airplanes – A collection of instrumental showpieces and scores for Egyptian films and TV​-​series (1973​-​1980), is being released by Souma Records this December.

While Mehanna began his career playing accordion, organ, and synths in backing orchestras, he later pivoted to working as a successful composer and arranger.

Though Mehanna scored 93 films and 38 TV series across his career, he only published one full length album — The Miracles of the Seven Dances

Music For Airplanes collects music he created during ’73-’80, remastered from Mehanna’s personal reel-to-reel archive.

TRACKLISTING:

A1. Hanady
A2. Haya Ha’ira
A3. Al Qina’ Al Za’ef
A4. Reem
A5. Ta’er Al Layl
B1. Rehala
B2. Walad Wa Bint
B3. Ayni Betrif
B4. Less Al Thulatha
C1. Rehla
C2. Shahr Al Assal
C3. Sympathique
C4. Baya
D1. Ayam Al Marah
D2. Al Nil
D3. Daa Al Omr Ya Walady
D4. Al Dawama (opening theme)
D5. Damat Alam
D6. Dawama (end theme)

Souma Records will release Music For Airplanes on December 3rd, 2021

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