NNA040: Rale – ‘The Moon Regarded, and the Bright One Sought’ C26
NNA is honored to release the latest work by Southern California sound artist William Hutson. A collection of undulating swells of tone span across both sides of “The Moon Regarded, and the Bright One Sought,” each one expertly crafted and layered using a combination of modern and traditional instrumentation. While sitting comfortably in the minimalist tradition, each ebb and flow is brimming with color, emotion, and evocative melody. The listener is rewarded with a pause of silence after each swell, leaving the opportunity to reflect and contemplate on the sound’s vastness and beauty.
NNA041: Lettera 22 – ‘Dieter Tapes’ C34
Lettera 22 is the duo of Matteo Castro and Riccardo Mazza, two men on the forefront of the flourishing Italian noise & experimental scene. “Dieter Tapes” is a sordid collage of desolate audio, repurposed and destroyed in the struggle of man versus machine. Lettera 22 use extreme textures and dynamics to build up high levels of abusive tension, only to send them crashing down in a cacophony of broken beer bottles and urban scrap, leaving behind a skeleton of seething silence and tape hiss. A seedy and voyeuristic recording, akin to witnessing a beating in a dark alley.
NNA042: Dolphins Into The Future – ‘A Star Maker, Strange Dreams, and Clairvoyance’ C38
Naturalist visionary Lieven Martens brings us along the latest voyage of his musical vessel, Dolphins Into The Future. “A Star Maker, Strange Dreams, and Clairvoyance” induces a state of lucid dreaming where we experience tales of romance, stargazing, cosmic motion, and eternity. Not unlike a painter’s brush, Martens utilizes a sound palette of colorful, synthesized organics to bring the listener directly into the vivid and exotic world that Dolphins has spent years cultivating. After much anticipation, we’re very pleased to offer the latest creation of a true hero of the Nu New Age.
NNA043: Eli Keszler/Keith Fullerton Whitman split LP
NNA is very excited to announce a split LP between world-renowned electronic music composer Keith Fullerton Whitman and multi-instrumentalist composer Eli Keszler. This LP is a conversation in sound between two prominent artists, one working in the electronic realm (Whitman), and the other in the world of live acoustics (Keszler). In fact, Whitman’s piece was inspired and created as a direct response to Keszler’s signature frenzied percussion style. Both sides of the record are full of incredibly detailed nuance-driven music. These artists work with sound on the microscopic level, deliberately placing each individual molecule of sound in it’s intended location. Whitman’s piece “Occlusion” is automated “machine music” warfare, utilizing rhythm as a textural tool, while Keszler uses live percussion, bowed metal, and other acoustics to act as a humanized response to Whitman’s machine-regulated assault, solidifying this record as a fantastic document of Human vs. Machine call and response. Original artwork by Eli Keszler.
NNA044: Ryan Power – ‘I Don’t Want To Die’ LP
After self-releasing four previous full-length albums, it’s finally time for the long-overdue debut vinyl offering from Burlington, VT songwriter and producer Ryan Power. “I Don’t Want To Die” is a collection of constantly shifting, well-constructed and unique pop songs, teeming with existentialism and groove. Content-wise, this is perhaps not your average pop record. Ryan’s candidly personal lyrics meditate on the fear of death, hypochondria, soul descrepancies, depression, and the lustful mind, while still remaining remarkably emotional, accessible, and catchy. His silvery vocals meld fluidly with imaginative electronic production, evoking elements of late-70’s soft pop, disco, prog and art rock, synth pop, and smooth r&b funk. Power’s talent for songwriting works perfectly in conjunction with the depth of his knowledge of music – “I Don’t Want To Die” is complex and technical, yet so charming that you only notice it almost as an afterthought, when you’re trying to wrap your head around the song that’s been bouncing around inside it all day. These songs are strange and personal, but they’re also universal. They sound sexy and lonesome, like a dying light bulb flick