๐๐ ICYMI! ๐๐
https://phantomlimblabel.bandcamp.com/album/fossil-cocoon-the-music-of-k-yoshimatsu
Over a furiously prolific period from 1980 to 1985, K. [Koshiro] Yoshimatsu composed, recorded and released some forty albums in the span of a few years. These records primarily appeared under his own name, some required aliases, and others saw him compose, arrange, and produce for friends and peers in his creative circle. All of them, however, surfaced on Japanโs cult and inimitably fertile DD. Records, an astonishingly exhaustive catalogue once described as โthe most amazing DIY effort ever undertaken to document an alternative music sceneโ. Led by close Yoshimatsu associate T. [Tadashi] Kamada, DD. Records released exactly 222 cassettes of brazenly, addictively weird Japanese outsider music over a period of five years, each with typewritten liner notes and enigmatically constructed Xerox artwork of found materials.
๐๐ WaqWaq Kingdom return! ๐๐
While vividly coloured with the heady ecstasy and dizzying day-glo sonics that we have come to expect from WaqWaq Kingdom, brand new EP Mind Onsen also marks a fascinating diversion from their usual velocity.
The record is partly influenced by producer Shigeru Ishiharaโs newfound love of minimalism (he includes Terry Riley, LaMonte Young, Philip Glass, and E2-E4 in his production notes), giving us a hypnotic, meditative transcendence laced through the music, albeit threaded into the breakneck SNES gabba and hi-octane delirium in which Ishihara and Hitomi excel.
Welcome back, WaqWaq!
https://phantomlimblabel.bandcamp.com/album/mind-onsen
๐๐ Released today! ๐๐
โEmbodies a sense of daybreak after intense turmoil, while diving into a menacing, industrial netherworld. Immersive.โ
DJ Mag
"This is a mesmerising record whether you're already a fan of these artists or not."
Electronic Sound
"Equal parts frosty dub techno and eerie minimalism, connected by monolithic grace and nuance." - The Wire
โA haunting landscape of ghostly bells and dust-dry doom.โ
The Guardian
Disconnect by Kevin Richard Martin (The Bug) and Joseph Kamaru (KMRU) is out now.
https://phantomlimblabel.bandcamp.com/album/disconnect
๐๐ RELEASED TODAY! ๐๐
A Lily's new album of Maltese archival recordings woven into ambient synthesis Saru l-Qamar.
Listen and order here:
https://alily.bandcamp.com/album/saru-l-qamar
โBrings an impressionist response to his sources, lifting them into the evocative space of memory and dream on clouds of glowing hardware synthesis. Holding their mystery and humanity.โ - The Quietus
โEvokes a crossroads between grandiose, industrialised compositions and the nostalgia of neighbourhood field recordings.โ - The Wire
๐๐ Pick up Saru l-Qamar - the new solo album by A Lily - from our good friends at Norman Records! ๐๐
"A striking work in its originality, taking archival tape recordings Maltese emigrรฉs would send home to relatives from the '60s onwards and setting them to hazy modern ambient sounds. The original recordings include dialogue and traditional Maltese song and have been subtly processed with effects alongside hardware compositions and minimal computer use to evoke nostalgia and a dialogue across generations."
https://www.normanrecords.com/records/201448-a-lily-saru-lqamar
๐๐ Check out this month's issue of The Wire: Adventures In Modern Music for a glowing review of Saru l-Qamar by A Lily, whose track ลปeลผina Ddoqq is-Sฤงab also features on the Tapper covermount CD!
"Feels like living vicariously through the stories of people never met, experiencing their grief, optimism, and anguish... Evokes a crossroads between grandiose, industrialised composition and the nostalgia of suburban field recordings." ๐๐
๐๐ NEW RELEASE!๐๐
https://dylanhenner.bandcamp.com/album/the-shepherds-official-soundtrack
Acclaimed and secretive experimental ambient composer Dylan Henner releases his first ever film score, a soundtrack of woodwinds, brass, harp, piano, synthesis, and processed voice to accompany the hand-drawn animated short The Shepherds by NYC filmmaker Woody Ray Tucker.
The Shepherds โtells the story of a displaced mountainside village and its peoples' attempt to understand a startling new environment,โ writes director Woody Ray Tucker. โThe film works to convey the impact of losing one's physical and emotional home. The piece gestures towards the ways in which the climate crisis connects us all, even in parts of the world that may not witness its damage directly.โ
Resonating closely with Dylan Hennerโs core values (he has released a number of records focusing on the climate crisis and urbanisation), the film - a gentle but profoundly stirring animated short, lasting 11ish minutes, hewn in deceptively detailed pencil drawings - is a perfect setting for his soundtrack. As we have come to expect from Henner, the score carefully intertwines organic and digital sound-design, blurring the boundaries between them, in much the same way as the film depicts its villageโs gradual dissolution into bustling metropolis.
๐๐ NEW RELEASE: A Lily - Saru l-Qamar ๐๐
Phantom Limb founder James Vella returns as A Lily for new album of archival Maltese home recordings set to nostalgic quasi-ambience and cross-generational dialogue.
Listen and pre-order here
https://alily.bandcamp.com/album/saru-l-qamar
From the 1960โs until the modern era, it was common for families in Malta to receive reel tapes from relatives abroad. Maltese emigrรฉs resettled in the UK, Australia, North America, etc, would record their news onto cassette - often in the form of gฤงana, traditional Maltese song - and mail the tapes back home. Amazingly, through the superlative archival work of Maltaโs non-profit heritage foundation Magna ลปmien, many of these tapes still exist. A Lily (Phantom Limb label head honcho and musician James Vella, who is Maltese) was allowed access to Magna ลปmienโs collection and in late 2022 he began creating new musical works responding to these personal recordings. These works make up the oneiric bliss of the new album Saru l-Qamar [Eng: They Became The Moon], his first release on his own label.
mastered by Sean McCann
artwork by Ajn Akka
photography provided by the Vella family, photographer unknown
released in Malta by Kewn Records
Archival recordings provided by Magna ลปmien Foundation
Dan il-proฤกett huwa megฤงjun mill-Kunsill Malti gฤงall-Arti
๐๐ NEW RELEASE ANNOUNCEMENT! ๐๐
Phantom Limb founder James Vella returns as A Lily for new album of archival Maltese home recordings set to nostalgic quasi-ambience and cross-generational dialogue.
Listen and pre-order here
https://alily.bandcamp.com/album/saru-l-qamar
From the 1960โs until the modern era, it was common for families in Malta to receive reel tapes from relatives abroad. Maltese emigrรฉs resettled in the UK, Australia, North America, etc, would record their news onto cassette - often in the form of gฤงana, traditional Maltese song - and mail the tapes back home. Amazingly, through the superlative archival work of Maltaโs non-profit heritage foundation Magna ลปmien, many of these tapes still exist. A Lily (Phantom Limb label head honcho and musician James Vella, who is Maltese) was allowed access to Magna ลปmienโs collection and in late 2022 he began creating new musical works responding to these personal recordings. These works make up the oneiric bliss of the new album Saru l-Qamar [Eng: They Became The Moon], his first release on his own label.
mastered by Sean McCann
artwork by Ajn Akka
photography provided by the Vella family, photographer unknown
released in Malta by Kewn Records
Archival recordings provided by Magna ลปmien Foundation
Dan il-proฤกett huwa megฤงjun mill-Kunsill Malti gฤงall-Arti
๐๐ Nakimushinatori / ๆณฃ่ซ้ณฅ is the new single by Japanese producer 99LETTERS ๐๐
A lamenting melody mimics the mourning bird of its title, sung as if future technology piecing together the memory of a forgotten lifeform. Adding metallic chords and a sweeping lunar module bass line, the melody takes on new forms in new harmonic and textural contexts as it loops through the track.
Taken from the forthcoming album Zigoku / ๅฐ็
https://99letters.bandcamp.com/album/zigoku
๐๐ OUT NOW! ๐๐
WaqWaq Kingdom's stunning new album Hot Pot Totto is released today!
"Itโs a party at the end of the world...one of the most relentless cuts of the year"
Loud & Quiet
Pick it up on digital or wax here:
https://phantomlimblabel.bandcamp.com/album/hot-pot-totto
๐๐ We're thrilled to welcome Osaka based producer 99LETTERS to Phantom Limb ๐๐
We've been following 99LETTERS' music for some time and his forthcoming album Zigoku / ๅฐ็ [eng: Hell] is a powerfully reflective take on his now-characteristic 'gagaku-techno', combining traditional Japanese instrumentation with pitch-black sound design.
https://99letters.bandcamp.com/album/zigoku
