Midweek Beats + Pieces

The Soundstealers, mHz, KMRU, Ivy Barkakati, Herman & The Serpent, etc.

It’s Wednesday and I’m procrastinating from spending the afternoon editing an article. And how better to procrastinate than put together a newsletter? Actually, too be fair, I also procrastinated yesterday by recording a DJ mix, that was a pretty good way of avoiding my life responsibilities. Anyway, I’ll share it with you later on the newsletter. Here we go.

The Soundstealers / Amazonia, Steal It An' Deal It / Amazonia (Heels & Souls)

My good buddies at London’s Heels & Souls Recordings have just unveiled their second release, a four-track EP which collects some seriously charged-up electro from Frankfurt production trio of Manfred Holz, Michael Buchner and Jürgen Blömke, who recorded in the ‘80s and ‘90s as The Soundstealers and Amazonia. 20% of profits from Heels & Souls Recordings and Prime Direct Distribution will be donated to Papyrus, a UK charity dedicated to the prevention of young suicide.

mHz, Earth’s Shadow (LINE)

Mo H. Zareei aka mHz is an Iranian sound artist based in Wellington, New Zealand. Regardless of the medium, his work aims to highlight the beauty in the basics of sound and light production and reductionist audiovisual elements that draw inspiration from physical and architectural principles. Inspired by what is referred to as the magic hour in cinematography, his new work Earth’s Shadow aims to depict the fleeting dance of light and shadow at dusk and dawn, and the hiatus in between that is demarcated by nighttime. Due for release May 14th.

Meet KMRU, the Ambient Musician With His Ear to the World

Armed with a handheld recorder and a reverence for environmental sounds, the Kenyan artist is carving out a unique place in electronic music. Philip Sherburne interviews KMRU for Pitchfork. This is essential reading. (click here)

The Lowdown: Ivy Barkakati

I have no idea how Ivy Barkakati manages to chill harder than anyone I know and still record 58976362 DJ mixes a week - and yet she does. Untitled 909 boss Chanel Kadir interviews the Barcelona-based DJ, producer and vocalist. (Click here)

Herman And The Serpent

How a retired diplomat in Wellington brought a notorious murderer to justice. Netherlands-based New Zealand writer Tobias Buck interviews Herman Knippenberg for North & South. This is a remarkable story. (click here)

Social Music

DeForrest Brown, Jr., offers a conclusive survey of a music industrial complex that can’t seem to remember why we even listen to, let alone pay for, music. Breathlessly explaining why any consideration of the music industry today is necessarily a consideration of the current state of colonialism, he delineates the racism and anti-blackness in the very roots of the music industry, and makes evident the myopia that plagues 21st century culture. A much-needed polemic against contemporary colonialism in the guise of »innovation,« »Social Music« makes clear all that is troubling in business-as-usual productivism and consumerism. (click here)

Between Realms: A Journey Through Sound

Like I mentioned earlier, I made a new mix yesterday and uploaded it on Mixcloud. A bunch of dreamy bits and pieces from Turiiya, Scribble, D.K, Sjunne Fergers Exit, Arooj Aftab, The Soundstealers, Sham Dinn, Free Radicals and more. (click here)

FIN.