News: CRAMMED DISCS

EKITI SOUND

new music video ”aLAcarte pt. 2

After a fiery, devastating initial single & video, London/Lagos artist Ekiti Sound unveils another corner of his upcoming, multi-faceted new album Drum Money (out June 23 on Crammed Discs). Shot in Paris with directors Léonard Porche & Patricia Gloom, this intriguing, surreal video shows that Ekiti Sound’s boundary-pushing world encompasses a lot more than funky neo-afrobeat!

Here’s the story:

aLAcarte pt.2 tells the story of a reclusive masterchef who, after a period away from the public, has returned with a new tasting delight. A cast of curious dinner guests arrives in a variety of fabulous entrances, akin to gourmet food served, a plank walked or a catwalk slayed. They arrive on the stroke of midnight at the iconic "Le Bouillon" bistro in the Republique district of Paris. France.

All the while, like the white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, the hostess and tanned angel hovering over (Ekiti Sound aka) Leke’s shoulder is the enigmatic waitress Vanessa swirling through the scenes ushering and dancing. With the submerged drums bringing us into the world as we come up for air, we go again. We're back, doing the two step shuffle in the back of the back.

Leke is Willy Wonka welcoming in this curious melee of people as the broken beat Ekiti drum pattern beats tapdances the groove, and minor rhodes chords chorus out with a gleeful melancholy, comparable to watching that weird circus leave your town... or come back to town. Again, the sense of urgency remains, the heavy tom hits like an elephant beating through the jungle. Somethings coming. Drums are thundering

Shot by Patricia Gloum & Léonard Porche, the music video was a testament to the power of collaboration, the thrill of improvisation, and the magic of bringing diverse personalities together. They say: “Ekiti Sound's abstract and spatial electronic production of aLAcarte pt2 immersed us in a floating sensation making us feel as if we were hurtling through a black hole in the universe at high speed."

Patricia and Leo embarked on a surreal creative journey, fueled by their passion for the song, and inspired by the vibrant Parisian atmosphere around them.

EKITI SOUND DUETS WITH AUNTY RAYZOR FOR FIRST SINGLE OFF NEW ALBUM

AKSAK MABOUL RELEASE ”TALKING WITH THE BIRDS”

first excerpt off upcoming new 'audio play' album

In this first excerpt off Aksak Maboul’s upcoming audio play “Une aventure de VV (Songspiel)”, the protagonist (played by Véronique Vincent, who is also the lyricist) enters a forest and has a conversation with a talking heron (played by Alig Fodder). She then speaks with a robin (Faustine Hollander), and the voices of the woods comment in the background. Composed by Marc Hollander, solely based on vocals, keyboards and electronics, the track evolves through different sections (while playfully nodding to American minimal music from the ‘70s).

Une aventure de VV (Songspiel) is the fifth album by the seminal band helmed by Crmmed Discs founder Marc Hollander. It’s a 63-minute, continuous suite of fifteen pieces.The central thread is an enigmatic philosophical-poetical tale unfolding through monologues, dialogues, spoken and sung by a series of characters. The album weaves strands of electronica, pop, jazz, techno, ambient, improv and more.

ACID ARAB UNVEIL NEW MUSIC VIDEO Leila

The video illustrates the 3rd single off the French-Algerian collective's upcoming new album ٣ (Trois) - (due out on Feb 3, 2023).

Featuring vocals and lyrics by raï singer Sofiane Saidi, Leila narrates an impossible love story between an unhappy immigrant and a woman he met somewhere in the north of Paris.
Starring Sayyid El Alami, this beautiful music video was directed by Jordan I. Cardoso and produced by P92.

BATIDA RELEASES NEW MUSIC VIDEO FOR ”BEM VINDO" OFF HIS ALBUM ”NEON COLONIALISMO"

A couple of weeks after his new 𝑵𝒆𝒐𝒏 𝑪𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒎𝒐 album, Angolan/Portuguese artist Batida releases a new music video, which he describes as follows:

“𝐵𝑒𝑚 𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑜” 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑠 “𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒” 𝑖𝑛 𝑃𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑢𝑔𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑒. 𝐼𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝐼 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑏𝑢𝑚, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑡 𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑢𝑝 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟. 𝐵𝑒𝑚 𝑉𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑜 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎 𝑗𝑎𝑚 𝑠𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑚𝑦 𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝐿𝑢𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎 (𝐴𝑛𝑔𝑜𝑙𝑎) 𝐷𝐽 𝑆𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑑𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝐿𝑖𝑠𝑏𝑜𝑎, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑒𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑎 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑚𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑟. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑠 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑚 𝐺𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑠’ 𝑑𝑒𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑐 𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑜 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟, 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑚𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝐿𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑘𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑉𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑜 𝑅𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔.

“The boldly transnational Neon Colonialismo features lusophone luminaries. Underlying the club-ready bangers is Batida’s ongoing mission of creative anti-colonialism, here taking the form of transatlantic sounds that flow together with irresistible force.” (Pop Matters, US)

CRAMMED ELECTRONICA ARCHIVES

'A Byte of AMC' - vintage music video by Bleep (1989)

Bleep aka Geir Jenssen was a member of Bel Canto. After several EPs and a debut solo album on SSR (as Bleep), he went on to become a leading ambient electronic composer under his Biosphere moniker. This track pays tributeto Manchester hip hop duo Kiss AMC and their cheeky track A Bit of U2… and also includes an -authorized- sample from the Sussan Deyhim/Richard Horowitz album Desert Equations (recently reissued by Crammed).

The track is part features on "Rare SSR Electronica ’88-94 (Crammed Archives 1)” recently released on digital.

Noteworthy fact: the debut singles by Geir Jenssen and Per Martinsen on SSR are considered as the first Norwegian techno tracks ever.

Batida - “Bom Bom” feat. Mayra Andrade

This single and music video announce the return of Batida (aka Pedro Coquenão), who feels that “Bom Bom” is his most personal song to date.

Out now on Crammed Discs, the song talks about leaving a dark place and aiming for the individual and social good (“bom”). It was recorded with the precious collaboration of renowned Cape Verdean singer Mayra Andrade. The first meeting between Mayra and Pedro took place several years ago, but it was the confinement that brought them together. Exchanges of views on the planet, on values and on common words such as equity and dignity, melodies shared by sending audio sketches via mobile phones, all this ended up with a meeting in the studio, to transform this batida (literally “beat”) into a dance anthem.

Steven Brown drops Resist music video

Following “Warning”, the first single off his gorgeous, upcoming album, Tuxedomoon co-frontman Steven Brown releases a music video for a song whose chorus resounds all the more ominously right now: "The past is not over, the past is not past I have no choice but to be An enemy of my time, this faceless tyranny time This fiendish time, this time of fiends"

Directed by Sergio Mérida and shot in Oaxaca, Mexico, the video alternates between footage of social rebellion in Mexico and other parts of the world, and shots of Steven performing the song in a Belle Epoque theatre.

The lyrics are partly inspired by Jean-Luc Godard.Steven Brown’ album El Hombre Invisible, a hypnotic song cycle with remarkable sparse, elegant arrangements, was recorded in Steven’s adopted hometown of Oaxaca, and mixed in Berlin, is out on Crammed Discs on vinyl, cd and digital.

Congotronics International

(The supergroup incl. Konono Nº.1, Kasai Allstars, Deerhoof, Juana Molina, Wildbirds & Peacedrums and Skeletons) share new single & live video of “Where’s The One?”, the title track of their new collaborative album

Where’s The One (digital single+ live video)

Congotronics International, the supergroup of Konono Nº1, Kasai Allstars, Deerhoof, Juana Molina, Wildbirds & Peacedrums, and Skeletons’ Matt Mehlan, release the title track of their forthcoming collaborative album due out on April 29th via Crammed Discs.

Where’s The One is a superb, powerful effort blending Congolese & psychedelic rock guitars, vocals in Songye language by Kasai Allstars and in English by Matt Mehlan. Plus a recurring, nonsensical hook sung by Molina, Deerhoof’s Satomi Matsuzaki & Mariam Wallentin from Wildbirds & Peacedrums. Mehlan’s lyrics refer to Congolese and Western band members’ initial difficulties in correctly understanding each other’s rhythms (as is: “where does the first beat actually fall?”).

The single edit of the track arrives alongside an electrifying live performance of “Where’s The One?”, filmed at Roskilde Festival 2011 and excerpted from the upcoming full-length Congotronics International documentary, directed by Pierre Laffargue.

“Where’s The One?” follows the album’s two initial singles, “Banza Banza” and “Beyond The 7th Bend,” which collectively earned praise and support from The New York Times, Stereogum, Guitar World, and more. The album is now on pre-order.

New KASAI ALLSTARS music video:

The Large Bird, the Woman and the Baby (Khalab Remix)

The Kinshasa DRC collective pursues its productive streak: elected by numerous publications as one of the top albums of 2021, their acclaimed 4th album (Black Ants Always Fly Together, One Bangle Makes No Sound) was recently followed by the Black Ants Remixed EP, in which six diverse and equally exciting artists revisited tracks from the album.

Alongside reworks by Deerhoof, Ekiti Sound, Martin Meissonnier and Spooky-J & pq from Nihiloxica, the EP contains an eerie remix by Italian Afro-Futurist Khalab.
This is the track picked by the band for their 3rd music video: they were inspired by the supernatural atmosphere which, they felt, is a great illustration to the song’s tale of magic.

Conceived once again by Kasai Allstars’ guitarist & producer Mopero Mupemba, the video was shot in the midst of a forest near Kinshasa, and features vocalist Muambuyi, coming to grips with otherworldly creatures.

The video was directed by Ema Wanet, edited by Wanet and Mopero Mupemba, and post-produced by Simon Dehoux/Fromwhere