#Cosmic Analog Ensemble

[burlveneer-music]

Cosmic Analog Ensemble - Les Grandes Vacances - this one is essentially a library music album as it stands ("The Great Vacation"). I don't think I noticed before that this is a one-man "ensemble"

Jakarta Records is proud to present “Les Grandes Vacances” courtesy of Beirut’s Cosmic Analog Ensemble, aka multi-instrumental phenom Charif Megarbane. The LP is an expansive musical odyssey, one that paints a melodic tapestry woven from an eclectic panorama of sonic tools. Funky beats, dreamy melodies + cinematic flair combine to create an experience that transcends time. From vibrant funky energy to introspective moods and library-inspired tunes, “Les Grandes Vacances” captures the essence of past and present, inviting you to indulge in the perfect balance of “groove-stalgia.” Composition, production, arrangements and mixing: Charif Megarbane Instruments: Charif Megarbane Instruments: electric guitar, 6 & 12-string acoustic guitar, baritone guitar, electric bass, theremin, vibraphone, piano, harpsichord, electric koto, Mellotron, Wurlitzer, Rhodes, Moog, Farfisa, melodica, flute, drums, drum machine, percussion, field recordings, vocals. Recorded in Beirut & Lisbon in 2023.

[trevlad-sounds]

Invisible Club 1

21.02.2024

1B 6B 11B 126-135BPM

Hello. Trevor here. It’s Wednesday. It’s time to enter the Invisible Club. 16 tracks for how ever long they take.

Intro 00:00

Nonima + Dissolved - Anamnesis 00:15

Futuregrapher - Flying Cars 19 03:28

Felbm - Sternenhimmel 09:34

Cosmic Analog Ensemble - Stereogrammes 12:10

Rival Consoles - Articulation 14:39

Four Tet - Insect Near Piha Beach 20:08

Amongst The Pigeons - The Lights Shine Bright On The Horizon 24:26

Gary Numan - Cars 27:22

Forq - Taizo 30:50

Felix Laband - They Call Me Shorty - Acid Pauli Short Remix 36:28

Acid Romeo - út í geim 41:49

Oneohtrix Point Never - Hyperdawn 45:21

Kosmischer Läufer - Zeit zum Laufen 172 49:03

Kettel - Dogan 9247 51:58

Grand Veymont - Bois Barbu 52:49

Roger Roger / Nino Nardini - Tomorrow 59:14

Outro 1:01:31

[theretirementhome]

Cosmic Analog Ensemble - Passé Composé

Buy it here.

[atleastitsnotasbestos]

I was tagged by @miniaturemountainrange to pick a song for every letter in my url. thanks for tagging me

A - An Tagen wie die diesen by Fettes Brot feat. Finkenauer

T - Terraplane Blues by Robert Johnson

L - Lookaway by Sepultura

E - Electronic Pleasure by N-Trance

A - Across The Lines by Tracy Chapman

S - So Heavy I Fell Through the Earth (Art Mix) by Grimes

T - Tanz der Moleküle by Mia.

I - Infinite Misery by Cannibal Corpse

T - Thot Shit by Megan Thee Stallion

S - Sun Nee Kuriye by Bally Sagoo

N - November Has Come by Gorillaz

O - Once Upon A Pale Horse by Behemoth

T - Tambourine (Remix) by Nicki Minaj

A - Another Way To Die by Jack White & Alicia Keys

S - Station Q by Cosmic Analog Ensemble

B - Be a Hoe/Break a Hoe by Shirin David feat. Kitty Kat

E - Electric Lady by Janelle Monáe feat. Solange

S - Slime by Shygirl

T - Thique by Beyoncé

O - Orby by Cosmo Sheldrake feat. Andrea Vargas

S - Shake it by Charli XCX feat. Big Freedia, CupcakKe, Brooke Candy & Pabllo Vittar

tagging @ripjaws @ganthor96 @travellers-joy @scariercnidaria @itschellybear @paperbagfish @mairen-marionette @naturesafterthought @thegiantskeleton @estrogen-eater and everyone who feels like it.

[twistedsoulmusic]

The ever-brilliant Jakarta Records has rolled out yet another jewel. This time, they’re unveiling “Les Grandes Vacances”, courtesy of the amazingly talented multi-instrumentalist Charif Megarbane, aka Cosmic Analog Ensemble. 

[renatoferreiradasilva]

Black Brew: Simulating Astrophysical Perturbations with Coffee

Renato Ferreira da Silva

Abstract

This article proposes a heuristic and experimental analogy between gravitational perturbations in relativistic space-time and the thermal-mechanical interaction between hot water and coffee grounds in a filter. Drawing from principles of thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and granular media physics, we argue that coffee brewing can serve as a metaphor-rich framework for visualizing and modeling complex energy transformations, entropy flows, and matter-field interactions near astrophysical singularities. We further propose a tabletop experiment, "Black Brew," for educational and conceptual simulation of such dynamics.

1. Introduction: From Black Holes to Black Coffee

The metaphor of the black hole as a cosmic coffee filter has intuitive power. Just as hot water permeates coffee grounds, extracting aroma and flavor through a porous medium, so too do energy and information interact with the structure of curved space-time near a black hole. This article explores this metaphor not as a gimmick, but as a legitimate analogy to explore complex dynamics in a pedagogical and physically grounded way.

2. Physical Components of the Analogy

Coffee Brewing ElementAstrophysical EquivalentHot WaterHigh-energy radiation / Thermal energy fluxCoffee GroundsGranular accretion matter / Degenerate coreFilterHorizon of events / Causal membraneCoffee (final brew)Radiated energy / Transformed space-statePressure + HeatGravitational compression + entropy gradient

3. Black Brew: A Tabletop Simulation Proposal

3.1 Objective

Simulate entropy-driven energy transfer and structural perturbation of a granular medium under thermal flux, as a proxy for studying black hole thermodynamics and accretion behavior.

3.2 Materials

Transparent pour-over coffee maker

Digital thermocouple (to monitor water temperature)

Scale for measuring mass loss

High-speed camera or smartphone for flow analysis

Variable grind size (as proxy for different densities of accreted matter)

3.3 Method

Heat water to target temperatures (85–96°C).

Measure fixed mass of coffee grounds.

Initiate pour and record fluid penetration dynamics, color extraction, sediment movement.

Vary parameters: grind density, water pressure, temperature.

Analyze flow front evolution, structural collapse of grounds, and time-temperature-extraction profile.

4. Theoretical Framing

4.1 Thermodynamics

The second law is modeled in the unidirectional flow of energy (hot water) through a structured medium, leading to entropic maximization (coffee).

4.2 Granular Physics

The grounds behave as a deformable medium under downward pressure, analogous to dense matter in collapsing stellar cores.

4.3 General Relativity (Qualitative)

The filter imposes a causal limit; once matter passes through (like water through grounds), it cannot return. This models the event horizon's one-way membrane.

5. Discussion and Pedagogical Value

This model serves as an intuitive tool to:

Introduce entropy and energy flow in curved space-times

Simulate information dissipation and transformation

Visualize horizon dynamics using everyday materials

By brewing coffee, we model the irreversibility of gravitational collapse, the complexity of multi-phase flows, and the mystery of what emerges from the other side of an event horizon.

6. Conclusion

"Black Brew" offers more than a poetic analogy: it is a scalable, experimental metaphor for astrophysical education. It makes the invisible visible, the abstract tangible, and the distant deliciously familiar.

References

Bekenstein, J. (1973). Black Holes and Entropy.

Hawking, S. (1975). Particle Creation by Black Holes.

Jaeger, H.M. et al. (1996). Granular solids, liquids, and gases.

Prigogine, I. (1997). The End of Certainty.

Barad, K. (2007). Meeting the Universe Halfway.

Silva, R. (2025). The Supernova and the Ensemble of Energies.

[camplofi]

188 - Netlabel Day Radio Takeover (2024)

All comments, questions, and general feedback can be sent to radiobsots@gmail.com.  Record a voice message and send it my way or leave one at the Speakpipe page!

You can subscribe to Radio BSOTS via the following options: RSS feed ||| Apple Podcasts ||| Spotify ||| Mixcloud Amazon Music ||| Goodpods ||| TuneIn ||| iHeartRadio

Connect with Camp Lo-Fi via social media: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

This episode's track list (title / artist / source / license):

1.  Meridian Sound (Part Three) (Live at WFMU) by Lushlife [Free Music Archive] (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) (2012)

2.  Zo0o0o0p​!​!​! feat. Oddisee by Kidkanevil [Bandcamp] (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) (2010)

3.  Rose Joint by Shad + Datsunn [Bandcamp] (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) (2024)

4.  The Price by Scuare x sow [Bandcamp] (CC BY 3.0) (2022)

5.  Dark Step by 85 [Bandcamp] (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) (2012)

6.  Angela Davis (Produced by J-Pilot) by Rah Digga [Free Music Archive] (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) (2018)

7.  Noumenon by Lovespirals [Bandcamp] (2024)

8.  Stars by BeatLove [Silent Flow] (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) (2011)

9.  In Matacumbo by Cosmic Analog Ensemble [Upitup] (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) (2013)

10. No Map Territories by Cosmic Analog Ensemble [Upitup] (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) (2013)

11. No by Devin Morrison [Bandcamp] (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) (2019)

12. Propaganda by CM & Tha Silent Partner [blocSonic] (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) (2014)

13. TimesUp feat. Tab by Anitek [Jamendo] (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) (2023)

14. keep_it_real by lojii [Bandcamp] (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) (2021)

15. NO COMPASS by Yung Miss [Bandcamp] (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) (2021)

16. ONE OF THOSE DAYS by Yung Miss [Bandcamp] (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) (2021)

17. Please Listen To My Demo (Live at ATP 2008) by EPMD [Free Music Archive] (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)

18. Richter Scale (Live at ATP 2008) by EPMD [Free Music Archive] (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)

19. Don't Call Me [Alternate Version] by Ankhle Conscious [Bandcamp] (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) (2024)

20. 30:5 / moonshine ft. chadah-hadassah by Yashiyah [Bandcamp] (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) (2022)

21. In the Spirit of Martin by Nikki Giovanni [Free Music Archive] (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) (2009)

22. Ridiculous Love by Niki J Crawford [Jamendo] (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) (2016)

23. Check Your Math by DJ Spooky [Free Music Archive] (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) (2013) 

24. Proto Culture 2.0 (feat. Del The Funky Homosapien) by Mega Ran [Bandcamp] (CC BY 3.0) (2020)

25. Sailing by Cheese [blocSonic] (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) (2018)

26. Turn The Channel, It's Another Commercial by The Bran Flakes [Free Music Archive] (CC BY-NC 3.0) (2010)

27. Richard Nixon Died Today by Negativland [Free Music Archive] (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) (2008)

28. Eternal Recurrence by Moki McFly [Mahorka] (CC BY-NC 3.0) (2020)

29. Staring at Heaven's Gate by CLOUDWARMER [Bandcamp] (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) (2023)

30. Undying Love For Humanity (Live at Monty Hall) by Laetitia Sadier Source Ensemble [Free Music Archive] (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) (2017)

31. Sleeping In The Yard by Artem Bemba [Southern City's Lab] (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) (2017)

On July 14, 2024, I participated in a 51-hour marathon live stream on Netlabel Day Radio.  It was my first time hosting a live radio show since my last broadcast for Bondfire Radio back in late December of 2023, so this was a big deal to me.  Both Sides Of The Surface took over the stream for two hours representing for Creative Commons licensed music from various netlabels such as blocSonic, Mahorka, Silent Flow, Upitup, and Southern City's Lab.  The majority of the selections were found on Bandcamp and the Free Music Archive along with a pair of cuts from Jamendo.  Many of these artists have been played on the podcast before, but at least half of this playlist contains songs that are brand new to the show.  (There are a total of 31 tracks featured and I spent the entire month of March sharing these cuts on my Mastodon page, posting one track per day and doubling up to catch up on any days that I missed.)

I do have to point out that "Noumenon" by Lovespirals was under a CC license at the time of the live stream, but was changed to "All rights reserved" shortly thereafter, so techically it's the only song on the playlist that's not a Creative Commons tune.  I can't be too upset about that, though:  it's Lovespirals, a duo whose music I've been championing for almost as long as this podcast has existed.  Everything else bears a CC license and ranges from hip-hop to soul to spoken word to electronic to experimental sound collages.  There are also a few live cuts as well, including moments from Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab performing at WFMU's Monty Hall and legendary hip-hop duo EPMD running through their hits as part of the All Tomorrow's Parties Festival.  Other notable artists in the mix include the late, great Nikki Giovanni, Devin Morrison, Rah Digga, and Negativland, plus guest appearances from Oddisee and Del The Funky Homosapien.

There's a lot of variety offered here and I hope that there's something offered in the mix that you will enjoy.  Thank you so much for listening.

Other key info: Macedonia on Mixcloud The content of this show has been released under a CC-BY-SA license.  All works within this show retain their original releases.  See the show notes at bsots.com for more information.

  Another BSOTS podcast episode for the people...

[riding-with-the-wild-hunt]

an analysis of tarot in “arcane”(part 1)

Okay friends, it’s finally time for the long-promised Arcane post. whee!! I’ve decided to split it into three (I think??) separate posts--but don’t worry, they’ll be linked--so that I don’t just make some kind of mega-giant post that nobody wants to read. So if you enjoy this, stay tuned! 

Anyways, without further ado, let’s get to it, shall we? 

☆ spoiler warning now in effect, be warned ☆

Card Set #1: Episode 4, appears during the “Dirty Little Animals” music video scene

Ahh, gotta love a straight-on, clear shot! I didn’t even need to blow these up to unreasonable sizes to see. It was amazing. But anyways, let’s talk about these cards!

So, on the left we have Death, showing a recumbent skeleton with black mist formed into a face hovering above it as it drifts from the ribcage. The skeleton has its hand cupped over the source of the smoke, and is looking up at the face. 

On the right we have The Magician, a rather nasty-looking chap with three arms and a black cape/crown ensemble. Very goth, very nice. At their chest, a magic-y looking golden ring floats around some kind of rune (I’m not familiar with it, potentially because it’s unique to the LoL ‘verse).

Card #1: Death

Within the context of tarot, Death typically symbolizes a spiritual death rather than a physical one, so things like a change in a way of thinking or perceiving, the end of a certain period in life, and a transition within the self. 

Taken along with this episode, it feels to me like it’s referencing Piltover’s transition into the era of hextech and increased modernity, as well as Jayce’s move from a “humble working man” archetype into a member of the higher-ups. Vi is headed towards a change as well; she’s about to be released from prison, thus reborn into the world as a new version of herself. Plus, in the next episode, we have a whole scene dedicated to Silco encouraging Jinx to embrace who she’s becoming and shed her past self, the whole of which is rife with death-rebirth imagery, so that’s cool!

(And maybe this is just me........but the picture on the card reminds me very strongly of a certain assistant’s death by dissolving......just putting that one out there.)

Card #2: The Magician

This card is a complicated one. In some historical tarot decks, such as the Rider-Waite version, they’re depicted with one hand up and one hand pointing down; this is widely regarded as a pictorial version of the esoteric saying “as above, so below,” regarding cosmic balance, though it can also be interpreted as representing a connection between the external and the internal worlds or the spiritual and the physical. The Magician can also be more of a trickster figure (in fact, some of the oldest examples around show them labelled as “the mountebank”), and in Gnostic interpretations, they are heavily related to spiritual transcendence and the divine motives within all humans.

This one is a bit more difficult to relate to the episode, but I think it’s fair to say that it just carries over the theme of change and transition from Death. Another possibly intriguing connection, though, would be to the dichotomy between Piltover and Zaun (the “above” and “below” in this analogy), and the equalizing force Silco hopes to bring to the city. (But given that this magician doesn’t have the up-and-down-hand thing going, I feel it’s unlikely.) Generally speaking, I also think this magician isn’t a trickster type. This card is just...so intense-looking; I feel like they aren’t kidding around.

As for the rune, I did some looking into real-world runes, and didn’t find any matches. The closest I could come were a slightly altered dagaz or othila/othalla. If anybody more familiar with runes or with LoL wants to chime in, I’d love to hear what you think.

So yeah, that’s it for now!! Thanks for reading. :)))) I’m by no means a tarot expert (in fact, I’m very much a novice. Meep.) so don’t take my word for any of this--tarot is a very subjective art, and interpretations can differ drastically from person to person. If you have other thoughts or made different connections, I’d love to hear them.

[trevlad-sounds]

For the Birds 05

Intro 00:00 Asher Levitas-Above The Pale Green 00:11 The Expanding Universe-Underground Cities 03:25 Hatsü, Go Outside-Clouds 18:15 Lee Hannah-Aquarelle 22:06 The All Golden-The Wild Future 26:19 Memex-Swing Strings 28:28 Runaway Horses-Condensa 34:43 Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith-Who I Am & Why I Am Where 37:39 Mark Harris-Afternoon 42:44 Cosmic Analog Ensemble-Octopolis 48:19 Outro 50:25

[continuo-docs]

April 2020 music reviews, ctd by Laurent Fairon

Passepartout Duo – Vis​-​à​-​Vis (2020) Organon contemporaneous – Wild Breath (2020) Clear Path Ensemble – st LP (2020) Nikolaienko Meets Arthur Mine – Nostalgia Por Mesozóica (2020)

Passepartout Duo – Vis​-​à​-​Vis (AnyOne) https://passepartoutduo.bandcamp.com/ Swiss marimbaphone & keyboard duo Passepartout are Nicoletta Favari & Christopher Salvito. Their music is based on high precision, Minimalist marimba and vibraphone played by Salvito and various keyboards playing by Favari, including piano, toy piano, synthesizer and modified instruments. Passepartout have been touring extensively around the world in recent years, from festivals to artists residencies, and are currently based in Shanghai after a residency in Beijing. Published by Beijing company AnyOne, the Vis​-​à​-​Vis LP features two 17mn-tracks, broken into shorter pieces on the Bandcamp page – for air play compatibility, perhaps. Passepartout favor timing and clockwork-like precision rhythms as well as unusual keyboard instruments – piano strings, toy piano and eerie, buzzing tonalities emanating from malfunctioning, hacked synthesizers. Their compositions are actually build from shorter, unrelated episodes, woven together into a varied fabric, a strategy providing a welcome dynamic to their music, especially on openning track Heartwood. The B-side Vis​-​à​-​Vis [Face to face] starts with toy piano ostinatos over a metronome rhythm, until harmonics-laden, cheap synthesizer flourishes are added and developped. The music changes around the 9mn-mark, with vibraphone and exquisite, dreamy cheap synth. Additionally, the use of re-recording in this track allows interesting arrangements and gives weight to the music.

Organon Contemporaneous – Wild Breath (Attenuation Circuit) https://emerge.bandcamp.com/album/wild-breath Organon Contemporaneous is Portugese composer Diogo Lopes. Wild Breath is a collection of 12 études for clarinet, musique concrète sounds, sampler and synthesizer, showing Lopes' ambition to explore non-melodic and non-rhythmic music. Incessant collages and samples create a rather dynamic and lively music, yet each track is a coherent étude focused on a limited number of sounds, a technique Lopes calls 'micromontagem', and which reminded me of Pierre Schaeffer's own 'écoute restreinte', or focused listening, where the use of a limited number of sound sources allows the listener to focus on all the nuances and characteristics of a 'sound object', another Schaeffer-ian concept. Indeed, the music on Wild Breath was inspired in part by musique concrète, with tracks based on short sound samples from percussion, noise or electronic sources, on the one hand, and traditional electroacoustic sound treatments like delay, filtering or backward playing, also typical from the genre, on the other hand. In these proceedings, Lopes shows a great attention to details and texture. Though only marginally present in the album, the clarinet adds an interesting counterpoint to the music, like the superb bass undertones of a slowed-down clarinet on tr. #3, or the wonderfull free jazz clarinet and malfunctioning synthesizer duet on #2. The last 2 tracks –22mns of droning synth– are completely unrelated and should have been ditched, in my opinion. Wild Breath is only partly succesful, then, but still I'm eager to hear more from this artist if he manages to improve a little on album construction. Great artwork based on a Dan Penschuck photo (feindesign.de).

Clear Path Ensemble – st LP (Cosmic Compositions) https://cosmic-compositions.bandcamp.com/album/clear-path-ensemble Bedroom jazz project by Cory Champion, a house and techno producer from Wellington, New Zealand, with experience as a jazz drummer in the local scene as well. These tracks are clever, graceful sampler-based recreations of jazz music of various breeds, from the Modern Jazz Quartet and Lionel Hampton's solo vibraphone, onto Alice Coltrane's harp, through to Herbie Hancock's funk jazz. All the percussion is adroitly sampled and reconstructed, as is the vibraphone and harp, with occasional, real guest musicians on piano, guitar, bass, harp, etc. Featuring on most tracks on bass clarinet, Jake Baxendale is excellent throughout the album. As well as great drum programming on a couple of tracks –especially #6 Tall Shorty–, the music also includes occasional electronic outbursts and weird sounds as 2020 signposts. Indeed, the Clear Path Ensemble project is not so much a nostalgic homage to jazz from the past but a fruitful re-creation, with jazz attributes used as a source of inspiration for the electronic musician.

Nikolaienko Meets Arthur Mine – Nostalgia Por Mesozóica (Muscut) https://muscut.bandcamp.com/album/nostalgia-por-mesozo-ica A pair of Ukrainian electronic musicians from Kyiv teem up on this exquisite 7inch single of retro-futuristic, exotica music explorations. Arthur Mine on Arp Odyssey and Venta synthesizers, Dmytro Nikolaienko on synth percussion and sound effects produce lovely melodies in the tradition of Andrew Pekler. Three short tracks full of tropical bird songs, pseudo-ethnic percussion and ritualistic, vintage analog synth. Great production and mix by St. Petersburg musician Eugenii Fadeev aka Flaty, author of a good album of electronica on the same label in 2018 (Wrong Water – Dozen LP).

[resistance765]

“Muhadathat” - Cosmic Analog Ensemble

[coverstate-blog]

Cosmic Analog Ensemble - Les Sourdes Oreilles (2017)

Artwork by Jerk 45 and Orlando Diaz Corvalan

[camplofi]

BSOTS 182 - Life At Camp Lo-Fi: The First Nine Years

All comments, questions, and general feedback can be sent to radiobsots@gmail.com.  Record a voice message and send it my way or leave one at the Speakpipe page!

You can subscribe to Radio BSOTS via the following options: RSS feed ||| Apple Podcasts ||| Spotify ||| Google Podcasts Amazon Music ||| Goodpods ||| TuneIn ||| iHeartRadio

Connect with Camp Lo-Fi via social media: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

This episode's track list (title / artist / source / license):

1.  Everybody Stopped Calling Me by Friends Or Whatever [blocSonic] (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) (2010)

2.  In Matacumbo by Cosmic Analog Ensemble [Upitup] (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) (2013)

3.  Mango Tree by Chandeliers [Free Music Archive] (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) (2008)

4.  The Shoreline by Big La Vs. Todd [Bandcamp] (2023)

5.  Datenight by Jonny Sonic [Bandcamp] (2010)

6.  Dance To The Drummer's Beat by Dharma [Netlabel Archive] (CC BY-ND-NC 1.0) (1999)

7.  Misunderstood by Lovespirals [Bandcamp] (2023)

8.  Bag Of Nothingness by Comfort Fit [Free Music Archive] (CC BY-NC 3.0) (2009)

9.  The Force May Be With You by Idmonster [Internet Archive] (CC NY-ND-NC 1.0) (2001)

I haven't worked out just how many generations 18 years covers in the world of podcasting, but it's enough to know that it was a vastly different world in 2005.  A world without as many social media bells and whistles, one where few contemplated how artificial intelligence tools could improve their podcasting workflow or how to create episode teasers in the form of audiograms or Instagram reels.  A lot has changed, but some things remain the same.  For me, nothing matters more than the music that I share on the show.  I never wanted to do anything else in podcasting other than champion independent artists and connect the dots between various musical genres through this medium.  

There's a whole lot of music that has been played on this show over 18 years, and it would be foolish to suggest to you that nine songs could cover even a fraction of that time.  However, some of these songs and artists are reminiscent of specific moments within BSOTS history.  The selections from Lovespirals and Big La Vs. Todd represent my connection to the Music Podcasting Consortium, a like-minded collective of avid music supporters and creators that represents my first online community within the podosphere.  Whether Todd Kelley (a.k.a. The Big La) is curating a music mix or in the lab crafting beats of his own, the head nod factor is always priority number one with him.  "The Shoreline" is a calming instrumental piece and one of my personal favorites from his Kneel Before Todd album.  The music of Lovespirals appeared within the first ten episodes of Radio BSOTS and is one of the first podsafe artists ever played on this show.  Their new single "Misunderstood" is a continuation of the ethereal attributes that make their work so special (and besides that, atmospheric drum and bass is the way to my heart).

Over the years, podsafe music resources faded away one by one, but thankfully the Free Music Archive is still around.  Founded in 2009, I've been virtually crate digging through this website since its beginning stages in beta mode, always finding works that have both intrigued and surprised me.  A cut like "Mango Tree" by Chandeliers brings me right back to those early days of searching for music on the FMA.  This one's a total earworm, marrying lyrics and vocals that lean towards folk with an off-kilter funk groove accentuated by the bass, keys, and rhythm guitar.  "Bag Of Nothingness" is another FMA find, where producer Comfort Fit takes the funk and launches full speed into the future,  creating a hip-hop/electronic beat hybrid that stays crunchy even in milk.  

Prior to the FMA's existence, a universe of netlabels brought me in touch with an endless amount of Creative Commons licensed music.  The blocSonic netlabel would have been the first, and I try to represent for their output as often as possible.  The self-titled album by Friends Or Whatever is one of my all-time favorite blocSonic releases and the shimmering brilliance of "Everybody Stopped Calling Me" is just one of the reasons why.  No Type (no longer active) was another netlabel that I came across soon after blocSonic and I fell hard for their focus on experimental electronic music.  The introspective beauty of "The Force May Be With You" by Idmonster is reminiscent of work from labels like Project Mooncircle, the warm chords occasionally disturbed by slivers of voices, clicks, and digital static.  Upitup Records is more of a recent discovery, but the music of Cosmic Analog Ensemble has been played on this show well over a decade ago.  He's a multi-instrumentalist that's capable of creating soulful jazz numbers to sample-heavy hip-hop instrumentals that feel like Madlib during his most leftfield moments.  I cannot stop playing "In Matacumbo" and it would be criminal not to share that cut with you.  The same can be said for "Dance To The Drummer's Beat" by Dharma.  It's impossible to keep still when those breakbeats kick in.  Believe it or not, that cut dates back to 1999, proving that the Creative Commons crates are deep and full of amazing cuts that deserve more exposure.  (Seek and ye shall find.)  It was released on Mono211, a label that stopped releasing music 20 years ago.  Thanks to the efforts of those behind the Netlabel Archive for preserving the works of inactive imprints and ensuring that their output won't be lost forever.

And then there's Jonny Sonic, an artist that ended up becoming the unofficial voice of the BSOTS GONE (buck)WILD episodes.  His music is often punchy and insistent, never forsaking the funk in its approach.  I love the horn section on "Datenight" and how Jonny's voice just seems to cut through his big band that's right behind him.  I've been playing his music since at least 2006 and he's the first artist that I reach for whenever BSOTS needs to blow off some steam.  Should you need some music to bring you back from the brink, here's hoping that the selections within this episode can bring some semblance of peace your way.   ID drops:  Fave, Kahlief Adams, Aspektz, Jonny Sonic, Darrenkeith

Other key info: Macedonia on Mixcloud BSOTS on Bondfire Radio BSOTS 149 - Grooves And Gratitude BSOTS 151 - BUCKWILD:  The Shouting Match Never Really Ended (pt. one) BSOTS 152 - BUCKWILD:  The Shouting Match Never Really Ended (pt. two) Queue Points Show #119 - Exploring The Soundscapes Julien Smith Lost In The Sauce Bloc Discovery Sessions

The content of this show has been released under a CC-BY-SA license.  All works within this show retain their original releases.  See the show notes at bsots.com for more information.

Another BSOTS podcast episode for the people...

[twistedsoulmusic]

Cosmic Analog Ensemble - En Faction feat. Medline

[uneminuteparseconde]

Des concerts à Paris et alentour en gras : les derniers ajouts :-: in bold: the last news Octobre 03. JB Dunckel + Mariachi + Freeka Tet + Alexis Langevin-Tétrault & Pierre-Luc Lecours (Biennale Némo) – Le Trianon (gratuit sur résa) 03. Piotr Kurek + Papivores + Matthias Puech – Espace B 03. A.N.I. – Le Bal 04. Kontravoid + Hide + Soft Riot – Espace B 04. Cosmic Neman + Blackthread + Renaud Bajeux – Instants chavirés (Montreuil) 04. Anthony Rother + Galaxian + Sync 24 + Foreign Sequence – Rex Club 04. Ascion b2b D. Carbone + Hypnoskull + Years of Denial + Common Poetry + Salem Unsigned – Protocol (Pantin)  04. Tommy Four Seven b2b Ancient Methods + Regis + The Driver + Dave Clark + SHDW & Obscure Shape + AZF + ABSL + Amato & Adriani + DJ Bone b2b Ben Sims + Charles Green +  Dax J + Dersee + DVS 1 + Félicie + Boston 189 + Louisahhh b2b Maelstrom (Pulse fest.) – Le Grand Dôme (Villebon/Yvette) 05. Stefane Perraud : “Sylvia” (Nuit blanche) – Collège des Bernardins (gratuit) 05. Meryll Ampe + Dinah Bird + Mr Moonlight + Irene Murphy + Mick O’Shea + Shruti Box Minimal Ensemble + Ian Wooldridge (Nuit blanche) – Paris Art Lab 05. Bernard Szajner + Marco Quaresimin + Monÿang + Vincent Heter & Lou-Maria Le Brusq + Mururoa + Richard Comte + Jules Wysocki & Natnada Marchal (Les Sonifères fest.) – DOC 05. Anetha b2b Randomer + Blush Response b2b Thomas P. Heckmann + Rebekah + Juan Atkins + Marcel Dettmann + Poison Point + Ben Klock + Andrejko + Bassam + Fabrizio Rat + Newa + Tripeo b2b Hemka + Analog Kitchen + Cleric b2b Stranger + Marko Nastic (Pulse fest.) – Le Grand Dôme (Villebon/Yvette) 05. Nuit de l'orgue avec des œuvres d'Éliane Radigue, Arvo Pärt, Olivier Messiaen, Philip Glass, Nico Muhly, Jonathan Fitoussi... (Nuit blanche) – Salle Pierre Boulez|Philharmonie (gratuit) 06. Aline Penitot + Nuits + Jean-Baptiste Zelal + Pali Meursault + Rodolphe Alexis + Aymeric de Tapol + Dasein (Les Sonifères fest.) – DOC 06. Forced into Feminity + Big Debbie + Sophie Torrell + L.T. Létext + Vestas + Divisas – Les Nautes 06. Fusiller – Instants chavirés (Montreuil) (gratuit) 06. Quator Bozzini joue : "Occam Delta XV" d'Éliane Radigue, "Five String Quartets" de Phill Niblock et "Koan" de James Tenney – La Marbrerie (Montreuil) 06. Daughters – La Maroquinerie ||COMPLET|| 08. Sleep + Pharaoh Overlord – Bataclan 09. Jozef Van Wissem : cinéconcert sur "Nosferatu le vampire" de Murnau – Cinémathèque 09. New Model Army – La Maroquinerie 09. Trumans Water – Espace B 09. Kollaps + Âme de boue + Alice Botté – L'International 09. Ty Segall & Freedom Band + Guadal Tejaz – La Cigale 10. Ty Segall & Freedom Band + Axis: Sova – La Cigale 10. Toecutter + Le Crabe + Tommpa Lanzakinen (Serendip Lab fest.) – Le Zorba 10. Dumb + Belmont Witch + À trois sur la plage – La Boule noire 10. Bruce McClure + Paul Smith joue "A Jim O’Rourke European premiere of a new 2019 Moog Synthesizer playback installation work" – Instants chavirés (Montreuil) 11. Dominique Gillot + La Pisse + Flesh World + We Will Woo – Folie N4|Parc de la Villette (gratuit) 11. Bitpart + Mary Bell + Rive droite + Going away Party + Ours blond + Shit Rockets + Alison Backdoor – Espace B 11. Nova Materia + Scalping – La Station 11. Sonic Area + Shaârgot – Petit Bain 11. Kazumoto Endo + Spore Spawn + Vomir + Autocastration – Instants chavirés (Montreuil) 11. Birds in Row + Lane (Jimi fest.) – Théâtre Antoine-Vitez (Ivry/Seine) 11. Frank Bretschneider + Robert Lippok – Protocol (Pantin) 11. Marc Acardipane aka Pop + Manu le Malin + [KRTM] + DJ Chuimix + Raw + Makornik + Fuerr – La Machine 11. AZF + Colin Benders + BLNDR – Dehors brut 11. Ansome & Ayarcana + H880 + Fred Terror b2b Panzer + Antenes – Protocol (Pantin) 11. New Order – Grand Rex ||COMPLET|| 12. Lucas Paris : "Emotional Synthesis" + Orson Hentschel + Sentimental Rave (Biennale Némo) – Le 104 12. Ben Shemie, John McEntire & Sam Prekop – Petit Bain 12. Osilasi + Tumulus + Kawaii & The Boulaouane Brothers + G de GNG & Julien Bobard + Nicolas Montgermont & Pali Meursault (Serendip Lab fest.) – Cirque électrique 12. Marion Guillet + Bear Bones, Lay Low + Full Quantic Pass + Pi Doom (Serendip Lab fest.) – Jazz y Jazz 12. Foudre! + Tiger Tigre + Front de cadeaux + Sierra Manhattan + Die Klar + Kwamē – La Station 12. I Hate Models + ABSL + Céline + Chafik Chenouf + Rommek – tba 12. Iggy Pop + Helena Deland (Arte concert fest.) – La Gaîté lyrique ||COMPLET|| 13. Andy Ortmann + Viki + Deeat Palace + Evil Moisture – Les Nautes 13. Foals + Ala.ni + Toh Imago (Arte concert fest.) – La Gaîté lyrique ||COMPLET|| 14. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Olympia 14. Shannon Wright – Trianon 15. Arno Bruil + Les pédales s'amusent + MMY – Espace B 15. Kate Carr + Valérie Vivancos – Instants chavirés (Montreuil) 15/16. Metronomy – Olympia 16. Cycle péruvien + Laurene Ipsum + Robin Kobrynski (Serendip Lab fest.) – Cirque électrique 17. Vindicatrix + Descendeur + Lacustre + Gakona (Serendip Lab fest.) – Cirque électrique 17. City Dragon + Sunk Heaven – Le Zorba 17. Puppetmastaz – Trabendo 17. Automat : musique pour "Archeologia" d'Emmanuelle Huynh – Centre Pompidou 18. Dream Syndicate – Petit Bain 18. Total Victory + Leroy se meurt + Entracte Twist – Espace B 18. A_r_c_c + À travers + Simple Appareil + Blenno Die Wurstbrücke – église Saint-Merri 18. Arktau Eos + Zoät-Aon + Aeoga – Les Voûtes 18. Marie Guilleray + Justin Bennett + Jaap Vink + Gabriel Paiuk + Raviv Ganchrow + Kees Tazelaar + Gottfried Michael Koenig + Johan Van Kreij + Richard Barrett + Ji Youn Kang + Bjarni Gunnarsson (Akousma) – MPAA 18. Maud Geffray + Molecule + DNGLS (MaMA fest.) – La Cigale 18. Cloning + Leandro Barzabal + Léo Dupleix – tba 18. Sydney Valette + Le Prince Harry + Maenad Veyl – Protocol (Pantin) 18. Rendez-Vous + Marble Arch – Le Plan (Ris-Orangis) 18. Stanislav Tolkachev + Unhuman & AN-I + Oake + Nastia Reigel – Protocol (Pantin) 19. Shrouded and the Dinner + King Baxter + Vitaphone + À PLUSIEURS sous Raphaël Julliard + Enzo et Jacques – Folie N4|Parc de la Villette (gratuit) 19. Sisters of Mercy – Bataclan 19. Josin – Lafayette Anticipations 19. Françoise Barrière + Renaud Bajeux + Pali Meursault + Julia Hanadi Al Abed + Yan Maresz (Akousma) – MPAA 19. G4Z + Peru + Jean Turner + Monster X + Steven Marcato + Aly-x (Serendip Lab fest.) – Le Sultan 19. Jeanne Added + Regina Demina + Vale Poher + Theodora + Flore + Gonthier + Vikken (dj) + Rag (dj)... – La Station 19. Adam X + David Caretta b2b The Hacker + 14Anger + Phase Fatale + Terence Fixmer + Raffaele Atanasio + Darzack + De-Dust2 + Dersee – tba 19. Juan Atkins + Vril + Ceephax Acid crew + Antigone + Onur özer + Fasme (Le Champ des machines) – Le Ferme du Buisson (Noisiel) 19. Lingua Ignota – Espace B ||COMPLET|| 19. Pixies + Blood Red Shoes – Olympia ||COMPLET|| 20. Kim Gordon & Dimitri Chamblas – American Center Paris (gratuit sur résa) 21. Pawns + Youth Avoiders + Barren? – Espace B 21. Les morts vont bien + Rivière de corps + René Couteau + Razzle Dazzle (dj) (Obernoir fest.) – L'International 22. Carambolage + Deedee & Tha Abracadabras + Roger de Lille & The Gin Tonics + The Hare (dj) (Obernoir fest.) – L'International 22. Thurston Moore – Trabendo 22. David J – Petit Bain 23. Ecstatic Vision + Les Tigres du futur + Os Noctambulos – ESS'pace 23. Sly & The Family Drone + Stef Ketteringham + Decimus + Dust Breeders – Espace B 23. Plomb + Je t'aime + Electric Press Kit + dj Oxblood (Obernoir fest.) – L'International 23. Four Tet – Le 104 ||COMPLET|| 24. Last Night + Negative Space + Pedigree + Buzz Kull + dj Dave Rockin (Obernoir fest.) – L'International 24. The Necks – La Marbrerie (Montreuil) 25. A Certain Ratio – Petit Bain 25. Poutre + OK fdp + Bruant zizi – ESS'pace 25. Jozef Van Wissem – Crypte Notre-Dame de la Croix (sur résa : jvwparis[@]gmail.com) 25. Fiesta en el Vacio + Axell Larsen + Franz France + Sinead O'Connick jr + Paroi (Serendip Lab fest.) – Jazz y Jazz 25. Catastrophe + Sean O'Hagan + Form – La Maroquinerie 25. Curses + Sophie Morello + Tonn3rr3 + E for Ears & Grāv Jōnz + Trusspe – La Station 25. Bestial Mouth + Veil of Light – Protocol (Pantin) 25. DaGeist + Blind Delon + Outer Limit Lotus + Nick klein + UVB 76 + Dress Rehearsal (Obernoir fest.) – L'International 25. dj Varsovie + Paulie Jan + Blndr b2b Panzer + Mind Matter + End of Mortal Life – Glazart 25. Orphx + O/H + December + Unhuman + Limbus Puerorum – Protocol (Pantin) 26. The Monochrome Set + The Last Detail – Petit Bain 26. Nina Harker + Bianca Warlord – Le Zorba 26. Truckks + Terrier + Achab + Olive Pogo + Car Crash Control (dj) (Obernoir fest.) – L'International 26. The Wheal + Princesse Napälm + L'Orchidée Cosmique + Klymt (Obernoir fest.) – L'International 26. Mørbeck + Philipp Strobel + IV Horsemen – La Machine 26. Alignment + Hadone + UVB + Parfait + Repro – tba 26. Loto Retina + Jakub Lemiszewski + Somaticae + Le Compas dans l'oeil + Ahta Bat + Letal Ataraxia (Serendip Lab fest.) – Le Sultan 27. Stephen Mallinder + Laisse Moi + Hexenschuss (Obernoir fest.) – L'International 28. Kate Tempest – Le Trianon 29. Agent Side Grinder + DaGeist – La Boule noire 29. Pauwels + Mr Marcaille + BOB Cooper – L'ESS'pace 30. The White Screen + Techno Thriller + Novichok – Supersonic (gratuit) 30. Oiseaux-Tempête + Jessica Moss – La Maroquinerie 30. Jenny Hval – Centre Pompidou 30. Battles – Trabendo 31. Skepta + Mura Masa + Hamza + Zola + Ateyaba + Celeste + Duendita + Ezra Collective + Flohio + Kojey Radical + Master Peace + Slowthai + The Comet is Coming + Yussef Dayes + Charlotte Dos Santos + Kojaque (Pitchfork fest.) – La Grand Halle de La Villette 31. Arrington de Dionyso – Instants chavirés (Montreuil) 31. Broken English Club + Cabaret nocturne + IV Horsemen + Gil. Barte – Petit Bain Novembre 01. Chromatics + Belle & Sebastian + Primal Scream + John Talabot + Weyes Blood + Barrie + Briston Maroney + Chai + Desire + Helado Negro + Jackie Mendoza + Nilüfer Yanya + Orville Peck + Sheer Mag + Squir + Loving + Nelson Beer + Sons of Raphael (Pitchfork fest.) – La Grand Halle de La Villette 01. Park Hie Jin + HAAI + Afrodeutsche + Nite Fleit (Pitchfork fest. after party) – Trabendo  01. Under Black Helmet b2b Hadone + Inhalt der Nacht b2b Echoes of October + Danilo Incorvala + Makornik + Félicie – Les Docks de Paris (La Plaine-Saint-Denis) 02. The 1975 + Charli XCX + 2manysdj (dj) + Aurora + Agar Agar + SebastiAn + Aeris Roves vs Jamila Woods + Jessica Pratt + Kedr Livanskiy + Korantemaa + BEA1991 + Caroline Polachek + Ela Minus + KhadyaK + Mk.gee + Oklou + Tobi Lou (Pitchfork fest.) – La Grand Halle de La Villette 03. Ensemble économique + CIA débutante – Le Chinois (Montreuil) 05. Body of Light – Supersonic (gratuit) 06. The Murder Capital – Nouveau Casino 06. Scattered Purgatory + Qian Geng + UVB76 + ruò tán – Le Cirque électrique 06. Glacial – Instants chavirés (Montreuil) 07. Camilla Sparksss + Hyperculte [+ Xiu Xiu : ANNULÉ] – Petit Bain 07. Kælan Mikla – La Boule noire 08. Bedroom Community – Cité de la musique|Philharmonie 08. Part Chimp + Gnod + Hey Colossus – Petit Bain 08. Sourdurent + Raymonde – Pan Piper 08. Jad Wio + Love in Prague – Gibus  08. Boy Harscher – Trabendo ||COMPLET|| 09. Molchat Doma + War Scenes – La Station 10. Amiina : cinéconcert sur "Fantomas" de Louis Feuillade – Le Studio|Philharmonie 10. Ôlafur Arnald + Hugar – Salle Pierre Boulez|Philharmonie 10. Fontaine D.C. – Bataclan 12. Deerhunter + Moon Diagrams – Trabendo 13. Mick Harvey & JP Silo, Steve Shelley, Glenn Lewis – Les Trois Baudets 14. Dinah Bird & Jean-Philippe Renoult (Inaudible Matters) – La Gaîté lyrique 14. Girl Band + Silverbacks – La Maroquinerie 15. Kap Bambino – La Gaîté lyrique 15. Von Pariahs + Nursery – Point FMR 15. Chemical Brothers – Seine musicale (Boulogne-Billancourt) 17. Nitzer Ebb + Liebknecht – La Machine 17. Tropical Fuck Storm – Badaboum 18. Omni + The Gotobeds + Pleasure Principle – La Boule noire 19. Earth + Helen Money – Petit Bain 20. Lucy Railton + Sean Baxter + Jessica Ekomane – Instants chavirés (Montreuil) 21. Cate Le Bon + Grimm Grimm – Petit Bain 22. Rubin Steiner + Dombrance + Ambeyance + Meteo Mirage – La Maroquinerie 22. Nursery + Casse Gueule + Tout de suite – Cirque électrique 22. Kazu Makino (Blonde Redhead) – Les Étoiles 23. Billy Chyldish + Le Villejuif Undergroud + Petausaure (fest. BBmix) – Carré Bellefuille (Boulogne-Billancourt) 23. 999999999 + Jawbreakrs + Nico Moreno + Perc + Sentimental Rave + Softcoresoft + Trym + Parfait + UR trax – tba 24. TR/ST – Le Trianon 24. Mdou Moctar – La Boule noire 24. Midori Takada + Carla dal Forno + Felicia Atkinson (fest. BBmix) – Carré Bellefuille (Boulogne-Billancourt) 24. The Young Gods + Les Tétines noires – La Machine 26. Wardruna – Olympia 27. Poly-Math + Bruit ≤ + Maven – Supersonic (gratuit) 27. The Stranglers – Olympia 28. Derek Holzer + Cate Hope & Lisa McKinney + Antoine Schmitt & Hortense Gauthier (fest. Bruits blancs) – Le Cube (gratuit sur résa) 28. The Psychotic Monks – Trabendo 28. Artl + Powerdove – Petit Bain 29. Scanner – Nouveau Théâtre de Montreuil 30. Mondkopf – Médiathèque musicale de Paris (gratuit) 30. Donato Dozzy + Max Cooper + Terry & Cyan Riley + Ensemble intercontemporain joue "Drumming" de Steve Reich + Ensemble Social Silence joue "Music for Airport" de Brian Eno + Apollo noir + Récital pour marimbas (Marathon fest) – La Gaîté lyrique Décembre 01. Motorama – La Maroquinerie 03. White Hills – Supersonic (gratuit) 03. Belgrado – Espace B 06. Phillip Glass Ensemble : cinéconcert sur "Koyaanisqatsi" de Godfrey Reggio – Salle Pierre Boulez|Philharmonie 07. Phillip Glass Ensemble : cinéconcert sur "Powaqqatsi" de Godfrey Reggio – Salle Pierre Boulez|Philharmonie 07. Kokoko! – La Gaîté lyrique 08. Phillip Glass Ensemble : cinéconcert sur "Naqoyqatsi" de Godfrey Reggio – Salle Pierre Boulez|Philharmonie 11. Boris – Le Gibus  12. Mono + Jo Quail – Petit Bain 12. Kompromat (Vitalic & Rebeka Warrior) – La Cigale 13. Contrefaçon – La Gaîté lyrique 13. Regards extrêmes + Lisieux + Ascending divers – Les Voûtes 18. Amenra – Bataclan 2020 Janvier 04. Rokia Traoré + Ballaké Cissoko & Vincent Segal – Salle Pierre Boulez|Philharmonie 16. Black Midi – Le Carreau du Temple 17. Edith Nylon – Petit Bain 18. Lee Ranaldo & Raül Refree – Le 104 18. Franck Vigroux : "Flesh" (Biennale Nemo) – Maison des arts et de la culture (Créteil) 29. Rendez-Vous – La Cigale 30. Editors – Salle Pleyel 31. Tindersticks – Salle Pleyel Février 02. Sunn o))) – La Gaîté lyrique 09. Explosions in the Sky – La Cigale 13. Ride – Le Trianon 16. Orchestral Manoeuvre in the Dark – La Cigale 21. Ensemble Links joue "Drumming" de Steve Reich + Cabaret contemporain : "Détroit" + Molécule – Le 104 24. Sleater Kinney – Le Trianon Mars 06. Frustration – Le Trianon 07. Ensemble intercontemporain joue Steve Reich : cinéconcert sur un film de Gerhard Richter – Salle Pierre Boulez|Philharmonie 20. Ensemble Dedalus joue "Occam Ocean" d'Éliane Radigue – Le Studio|Philharmonie 21. Front 242 + She Past Away – Élysée Montmartre 21/22. Laurie Anderson : "The Art of Falling" – Cité de la musique|Philharmonie 27. Lebanon Hanover – La Gaîté lyrique 28. Ensemble Links joue "Drumming" de Steve Reich + Cabaret contemporain joue Kraftwerk – théâtre de la Cité internationale  Mai 08. Max Richter : "Infra" + Jlin + Ian William Craig – Cité de la musique|Philharmonie 09. Max Richter : "Voices" – Salle Pierre Boulez|Philharmonie 10. Max Richter : "Recomposed" & "Three Worlds" – Salle Pierre Boulez|Philharmonie 24. Damon Albarn – Salle Pierre Boulez|Philharmonie

[thesunlounge]

Reviews 263: Benjamin Lew

Every retrospective release on STROOM tells a story and one of my favorite yet comes via Benjamin Lew’s Le personnage principal est un peuple isolé. In this case, STROOM transports us to 80s Brussels and a loose community of musical expats that were perhaps enticed to Belgium by labels such as Les Disques du Crépuscule, Factory Benelux, and Marc Hollander’s Crammed Discs. A meeting place within this creative scene was a tropically themed bar called Le Papaya, which employed author, poet, and generous creative vessel Benjamin Lew…a “enlightened amateur” in the words of Hollander who came to music rather nefariously, having no interest in the form until stealing some records from a local shop in his youth. Of course, renaissance man as he is, Lew at some point developed a passion for analog synthesis, using the daylight hours, his electronics, and an 8-track recorder borrowed from Hollander to explore ancient African cosmologies and Arabian desert fantasies. He began bringing his tapes into Le Papaya and passing them on to the resident musicians, which led to a rich partnership with Tuxedomoon, especially Steven Brown. After shifts at the bar, Lew would return to his apartment with Brown, giving him free reign to color the taped synthesizer compositions with saxophone and keys…a process that eventually involved Gilles Martin and Hollander as well, resulting in Lew’s debut album: Douzième journée: le verbe, la parure, l’Amour, released in 1982 on Crammed Discs.

But it is the period following this album that STROOM is concerned with on Le personnage principal est un peuple isolé, which collects together tracks from 1986’s A propos d’un paysage (also written with Brown and including Vini Reilly), Nebka from 1988, Le parfum du raki from 1993, and a curious collaboration with Samy Birnbach of Minimal Compact called When God Was Famous that married Lew’s enigmatic compositions to Birnbach’s evocative readings of poetry from Yeats, Hesse, Apollinaire, Patchen, and many other famous poets from across America and Europe. As always, label head Ziggy Devriendt has assembled from these albums a weird and wonderful collection of songs and arranged them into a wholly unique journey, one that ignores temporal borders and instead attempts to strike at the very heart of Lew’s magical and collaborative sonic world. Across the twelve tracks, we hear chamber ensembles playing from the sea floor, exotic lounge jazz emanating from shadowy clubs at the edge of time, sea shanty horn minimalism and Afro-idiophonics, spiritual ragas beamed in from alien dimensions, ambient liquids dripping within crystal caverns, dramatic spoken word flowing above dark industrial lullabies, scraped string riffs wandering beneath fourth world flutes, and choirs of distortion singing above wandering pianos and glimmering chimes…all led by Lew’s otherworldly synthesizer, the imaginative production of Martin, and the clarinets, keys, and drums of Hollander.

Benjamin Lew - Le personnage principal est un peuple isolé (STROOM, 2019) “Profondeurs des eaux des laques” features lazily flowing guitar arpeggios from Vini Reilly that remind me of The Durutti Columns “All That Love and Maths Can Do” while Steven Brown uses clarinet and soprano sax to weave deep earth mysticisms and layers of opium den ambiance, with occasional emotive bends into the feverish night. Lew enters with aquatic pings and deep sea refractions…his soft electro-pulsations coalescing with the reed instruments and guitars to create a mysterious underwater landscape. “Moments” follows with space bubbles sequenced into an exotica waltz and layered horns moaning in desperation. Brown traces melancholia spirals high in the sky on clarinet and a jazz rhythm emerges from the ether, with Alain Lefebvre’s tapped rides and brushed snares locking into a daydream glide. Lew’s electronic evoke plucked string instruments from alien planets and Hollander adds a touch of synthesis, with ascendent Afro-jazz melodies sourced from synthetic brass. The title track is built around world percussion hypnotics from Gilles Martin while Renaud Pion and Michel Berckmans evoke a small scale orchestra of woodwinds and reeds moving through mystic motions. Denis Moulin’s sky-seeking violin performance recalls the ecstatic folk ragas of Henry Flynt and the air is colored through by chanting voices, fluttering horn solos, and wavering tremolo breaths as ethnological drums merge completely with Lew’s percolating synthesis…the whole thing like a soundtrack for a robed caravan of desert sages marching in unison beneath a blood red moon.

“Face a ce qui se derobe” is dominated by the clarinets and saxophones of Brown and Hollander, which periodically wash over a disturbing panorama of cosmic chimes, rapid motion synth trails, and polyrhythmic pad layers creating strange swirling vortices. The woodwinds lock into slow motion and slightly drunken trance patterns that align with the contemporaneous work of Yasuaki Shimizu while also presaging the guttural sax spells of Colin Stetson. And Reilly is supposedly somewhere in the mix on guitar, though he’s impossible to discern…so alien are Lew’s electronics and so overwhelming are the cycling reed hallucinations. The exotica of “Qu’il fosse suit” sees electronics mimicking birds of paradise as kalimbas and balafons play minimalist spirituals for an African sunrise. Rainforest hand drums weave shambolic polyrhythms while Tuxedomoon’s Blaine L. Reininger soars to transcendental heights on violin and as in the previous track, dazzling woodwind patterns drift through the mix, though here moving in round, with layers sourced from Hollander’s clarinet flowing ear-to-ear and dreamily overlapping…his bubbling runs giving way to gaseous drones and then repeating. “The Wheel” is one of two pieces featuring Samy Birnbach’s poetry readings, and here Lew’s synths and Peter Principle’s guitars background a double-tracked and pained reading of W.B. Yeats’ “The Tower.” Bass throbs, feedback wisps, scraped starshine textures, and bell-tone modulations sit above glowing reverb metals and there’s a kinship with Current 93, though more so Tibet’s later explorations of pagan neo-folk and dream psychedelia.

The second Lew and Birnbach collaboration is “Little Birds Sit on Your Shoulder,” which floats upon the springtide cellos of Aurelia Boven. Her themes for fairy flower forests are accompanied by Lew’s silvery electronics and liquid space glitters…all setting the stage for Birnbach’s reading of a poem from Kenneth Patchen, though no longer delivered in a desperate swoon, but instead clearly spoken and apathetic. “Etendue” hearkens back to Lew’s early experiments accompanying his one-off Fossile fanzine, as warbling and wavering tape loops featuring choral arias are smothered in burning smoke. Majestic voices sing together…their waves of heavenly power washing side to side while Brown wanders through it all on piano, with beauteous chordscapes and fantasy dream strands. Lew adds further tape layers featuring wild laughter and whispered conversations that slowly wash out the choirs and all the while, the pianos grow in intensity. Black hole vapors flow in from the void in “Ces Personnages” while machines communicate with spirits of the cosmos. New age sequences swim through oceanic dream worlds, wisps of galactic light wrap around quivering feedback textures, and searing fuzz leads scream through ethereal hazes of blue, with everything supported by bass synths floating on unseen currents. There’s a connection with the underwater galaxy explorations of ÆOLUS and Iury Lech, though it’s all interspersed by the moaning reed and brass spiritualisms of Pion and Luc Van Lieshout…these skronking and slow motion atmospheres of New Orleans jazz transmuted into a funereal drift.

Aside from treatments by Martin, “Joyeux regrets imprécis” is a Lew solo adventure, with electronics evoking chimes and gemstones gently colliding and decaying through gaseous fx. Synthesized pianos lock into mesmeric sequences, mermaids weave joyous siren songs, and ominous bass pulses and soothing percussive clacks float through the mix, with the music once again touching on the darker and more exploratory shades of new age. Though Lew contorts his synths into many unbelievable forms across this collection, his work in “Hommes assis devant un mur chaulé” is truly mystifying, as electronics evoke Afro-psych guitars and electrified Middle Eastern string instruments, only as if reduced to a shamanic trance. Wiggling scrapes and glissando runs are interspersed between an esoteric riff out and flutey leads work over top, all fragile, spacey, and vaporous. Choirs are smeared into a shadow panorama, Arabian symphonies play desert incantations, and as things progress, there’s the overwhelming sense of galloping camelback across some infinite expanse of sand and desolation. Closing track “La magnifique alcoolique” is named after a patron of Le Papaya…a mysterious woman into alcohol and maybe “other things” who Lew avoided for fear of being pulled into her dark world. Musically, sampled pianos shamble through a hallucinogenic procession, almost harp-like and playful, though washed over by tones of sadness. Peter Principle’s e-bow guitars sing out alongside Martins ethno-drums, with layers of sustaining and reversing psychedelia swimming within smoldering clouds of bass distortion.

(images from my personal copy)