Episode 10

Matthias Hacksteiner - This Sound I Ride Jingle

Hello and welcome to the tenth episode of "This sound I ride" – an adventurous and inspiring global journey for music lovers. My name is Martin Bleicher, I am an Austrian music lover, DJ and concert promoter, and for the next two hours, it is my absolute pleasure to share some mindblowing new music with you.

This monthly show brings you extraordinary, diverse and passionate music in many different, unforeseeable and enthusiastic ways of expression.

With my show, I want to stimulate your imagination and curiosity in a way like on a surreal train ride to foreign countries or an adventure trip to unknown cultures.

I melt together different influences and musical languages and create an extraordinary and unsettling mix.

I have been digging deep to find lots of challenging music and sounds and combine them for you, the podcast's listeners. I hope you enjoy the show, which starts this time in Tehran, Iran. Musicwise I didn't know a lot about what is going on in Tehran actually. But in a city where 15 million people live for sure, there must be a lively and vibrant music scene. This was at least always my impression. Recently I discovered the record label 30M records from Hamburg, Germany. The label was just found last year, and it is specialised in supporting and releasing music from the Tehran scene. As they describe it, they release music from a vibrant scene, many yet only know from the news. Please enjoy the energetic, groovy track "Sorna Lorestan" by Ehsan Abdipour.

Ehsan Abdipour - Sorna Lorestan (This Is Tehran Sampler - 30M Records)

Xordox - Endeavor (Omniverse – Editions Mego)

The Romance Of Baba Loco - The Abyss Is A Feather Bed (Cling Clang For Funk Monkeys - Faith & Industry)

Alarming, thrilling, ecstatic sorna flute sounds paired up with some driving percussion and synthesiser layers. These are the great sounds of Ehsan Abdipour and Andreas Spechtl. The sorna flute was used 2500 years ago in Achaemenid, Iran, to play at the end of the day from the city gate or the local administrative building. This high-speed sound is unique and is usually played in traditional arrangements that are perfect for dancing. The track "Sorna Lorestan" is part of the diverse compilation "This Is Tehran". This compilation which was released a couple of weeks ago gives you a colourful invitation into the contemporary sounds out of the Iranian capital. From experimental electronics to trip-hop inspired tracks or hypnotic electronic beats to classical sounds from the Iranian spiked fiddle Kamanche you can find an interesting selection that convinced me with a lot of positive energy and challenging moments. You will hear a second track from the compilation at the end of this episode. So stay tuned; another great track from this vast and unknown country is coming your way a bit later.

After visiting the Iranian capitol, we joined Australian born, now New York, USA based composer Jim Thirlwell and his latest project Xordox. Thirlwell is a well-known figure in the NY underground music scene for probably 40 years and has released groundbreaking and highly inspiring music under various monikers like Foetus, Steroid Maximus or Manorexica, to name just a few. He also collaborated with the likes of Swans or Sonic Youth and was the leading remix artist for quite a few Nine Inch Nails albums. Recently he has been commissioned to create compositions for artists like Kronos Quartet, Bang On a Can or others. Highly prolific and always focused on the individual project could describe Thirlwell's approach pretty well. On "Omniverse", his second album under the Xordox moniker, you can find many evocative synthesiser sounds, haunting soundtrack-esque waveforms and eerie atmospheres throughout the album. Thirlwell explores new territory for him here but the passion and drive this album represents is clearly Thirlwell style. Or, as it is mentioned in the press release: "Omniverse" is a thrilling liquid ride through fear and hope, and like all the best of Thirlwell's output, is simply one hell of an enjoyable journey to take. If you like these dystopian synth sounds, go check out his album on Bandcamp. Killer album.

The final track in this sound triple was by the gorgeous one-man-band "The Romance Of Baba Loco" and is called "The Abyss Of The Feather Bed". The artist defines himself as Nonsense and Illumination hombre on his Bandcamp site, which probably hits the concept here quite well. His debut album "Cling Clang For Funk Monkeys" was released on Bandcamp in January this year and brings us a mix of music noir mixed with Arabian flute sounds like on the track you just heard, whilst on other tracks that go more into a post-punk or avant-garde direction. Always extremely funny and bizarre sound mixtures are what you can expect on this album. Nothing really sounds too similar, but the adventure knows no borders here. On "Hootie Tootie Disko Flutie", for example, a beatbox is dominating this obscure track. Nothing for the faint-hearted - more for the adventure seekers who are ok with strange twists and turns. All in all, I love the fresh feeling of this lo-fi album. Or as the artist describes it on his Facebook site. "These are seven experiments from lockdown number 1, the best lockdown of all. If I'd known this pandemic was going to last so damn long, this might have been a record of caramel smooth soul or ambient birdsong from the Buddhafield. As it is, strap in & enjoy the Romance mit dem widersinnigen...

From South East London, we continue our ride to Barcelona, Spain, where we join Ikram Bouloum, a Morrocan artist and singer who has just released her debut 5-track EP called "Ha-bb5". The track I want to play you as the start into this next sound section is called "Ineia". Enjoy!

Ikram Bouloum - Ineia (Ha-bb5 - So Urgent)

dal:um - The Waves (similar & different - tak:til Recordings)

Glass Beams - Mirage (Mirage - Research Records)

"Ineia" by Moroccon artist Ikram Bouloum is a mysterious experimental pop song that develops from the mysterious atmospheric sounds in the beginning to the violin sounds that support the beat structure of the song very well. She creates her own kind of space within the design of this song. Playful percussion combined with rough electronic beats and synth melodies give the song this lovely middle-eastern feeling, whilst the singing explores different colourful territories. This is my absolute favourite song on this new 5-track EP, but to enjoy the full spectrum of her sound, you should check out the whole EP. On a conceptual level, Ikram follows a life cycle through the EP: a birth, death, tragedy, a call to action and finally, the reclamation. She also tries to express the nuances of identity amidst the context of a crisis for migration in her home country, the multi-layered notion of culture, and a reclaiming of power, space and voice, literally.

After the electronic sounds of Ikram Bouloum, I played you the sublime and entirely acoustic music of South Korean duo dal:um. They explore the possibilities of Korea's well-known traditional string instruments: the gayageum and geomungo. The mixture of traditional playing and experimentation stuns me when I listen to their new album "similar & different". The song "The Waves" is a beautiful ebbing and flowing masterpiece of their intuitive interplay. Both are traditionally trained on their respective instruments, play in various classical Korean ensembles and have been performing traditional Korean music since their childhoods. Whilst the start and end of the track are dominated by the patient and slow approach - in the middle of it; the two women set out to expand their range and explore new, much more experimental terrain before coming back to the smooth and slow melodies that we also heard at the start. Da: lum's music is also about the musical dialogue of two great musicians, their intuition when they play with each other, and the beautiful balance in their music that can be heard throughout the whole album.

From this remarkable drifting soundworld, we moved on further south to Melbourne, Australia, where we met Glass Beams, a newly formed trio that explores Indian, cosmic and kraut music worlds. Inspired by George Harris live playing with Ravi Shanka, they develop their take on 70's prog-rock but also sound fresh and forward-thinking on the other hand. These exotic-sounding atmospheres and the thick sound texture feels gorgeous to me. Whilst they use lots of musical patterns that are well known, they find their artistic voice throughout the debut EP called "Mirage", which was just released at the end of June. Powerful debut release, and absolutely excited to see how they develop their sound further. It could also be a great live band to watch in future.

From Indian inspired Kraut-Prog-Rock out of Australia, we travel further to the USA and meet up with Ravish Momin, aka Sunken Cages, an Indian born musician now living in New York. Ravish is a drummer, electronic music producer and educator. He is also one half of Turning Jewels Into Water, the duo with Val Jeanty that I have featured in an earlier pod episode. Ravish's music is outstanding and distinctive to me. Therefore I'm absolutely delighted to let you know that Sunken Cages is the featured artist of this months show. Please enjoy the killer track "Sunken Cages" from his new album "When The Water Refused Our History". Absolutely magnificent.

Sunken Cages - Sunken Cages (When The Waters Refused Our History – On The Corner)

V/A - In China / Kai Tian Pi Di (Mien (Yao) Canon Singing in China, Vietnam, Laos – Kinkgong / Sublime Frequencies)

Nilotika Cultural Ensemble - Kekusimbe (Ejokawulida - Nyege Nyege Tapes)

Sunken Cages hypnotic, the multi-layered electro-acoustic sound was the starting point into this sound triple. You have heard the track "Sunken Cages" of his brand new debut full-length solo album, out now on the wonderful On The Corner Label from London. Ravish has an exceptional approach to his music, which he has been enhancing and extending over the last years. With his latest drum, percussion, computer set up, and he can trigger sounds, textures and rhythms live and manipulates and layers them above each other. The result is a unique and exciting sound that is influenced by particular street sounds out of South Africa, Angola, or Egypt. The mixture of eerie electronic sounds and lots of different polyrhythmic percussion sounds is just gorgeous. Ravish is also channelling musical inspiration from his own ancestors and creating an album that's a must-listen for anybody involved in experimental, rhythm-driven, electronic music. I got in touch with Ravish, and we put together a little interview with lots of interesting information about his artistic view, inspiration, and first solo effort. If you want to find out more about Sunken Cages, please visit our website thissoundiride.net where you can find the full feature.

From New York, we took a trip to China to visit Deng Fu Mei and Zhang Wu Mei, two Yao women, who celebrated their canon singing. I love this floating sound experience. It has a very calm and relaxing influence on me. The song is called "Kai Tian Pi Di", which means "Open The Sky", and it was released on an album called "Mien - Yao Canon Singing in China, Vietnam, Laos and was released on Kink Gong / Sublime Frequencies in May this year. The album features four tracks and focuses on the canon singing of the Yao people, which are four million people. They are spread over the southern Chinese provinces of Guizhou, Guangxi, Yunnan, but they have also migrated to Vietnam, Laos and Thailand. Because of their Chinese origin, the Yao consider themselves to be culturally superior to other hill tribes, having incorporated elements of Taoism in their own beliefs and the use of the Chinese written system for men. However, I am fascinated by the beautiful sounds of their singing and also the authentic way of recording it, most probably on the street or in their houses.

The final drum mayhem sounds brought us to one of my favourite places that I visited quite a lot within recent episodes. When it comes to presenting raw, powerful, cutting-edge, new sounds from Africa, it is just so unbelievably wonderful how much high-quality output the artists in and around the Nyege Nyege camp produce. And this track called "Kekusimbe" by the energetic seven-piece Nilotika Cultural Ensemble is yet another example of the superb sounds that reach us from the Eastern part of Africa. Complex polyphonic rhythms that are as dense as they can get. Played with relentless energy and power to make it sound like a sort of acoustic techno track in a way. Sometimes, it is hard to figure out what is going on in this track, as it is extremely multi-layered and textured. The track was released on a two-track single earlier this year, and it is inspired by a variant of Bugandan traditional music called Bakisiimba.

After this energetic ride through rhythmic sensations out of Eastern Africa, we take the flight over to Lahore, Pakistan, to meet the magnificent six-piece band Jaubi and their Indian influenced version of spiritual jazz. The track is called "Straight Path". Enjoy.

Jaubi - Straight Path (Nafs At Peace - Astigmatic Records)

Sourdure - Nostra foeira (De mort viva - Camille Lavaud)

Scorn - Mates Corner (The Only Place - OHM Resistance)

Smooth Indian sound motifs, in the beginning, moving into a more percussive, jazzy, loungy feeling and all in all developing into an exciting piece of music. This is "Straight Path" by the Pakistani combo Jaubi. They have just released their new album called "Nafs At Peace" on Astigmatic Records. The album is a very lively melting pot of Northern Indian Classical music that meets Jazz, Hip Hop elements, or at parts, certain tracks even have a rock music feeling to me. The mixture of all these ingredients and how they are combined within the individual tracks makes them outstanding. I guess this album is another contender for album of the year, so fresh, exotic, passionate this music sounds. On a conceptual level, the title "Nafs At Peace" refers to the last purification step the self has been through. At this level, the self no longer struggles because one has the unconditional love of God by becoming at peace and tranquil with God's will. The band also tells us on their Bandcamp site that they hope to achieve this divine stage. Inshallah.

After the smooth sounds out of Lahore, Pakistan, I thought it would be a great idea to play you the wonderfully funny, humorous music of Sourdure from Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes in France. The mastermind behind the project is artist and multi-instrumentalist Ernest Bergez. I don't really know what to call his music; it has a touch from medieval times and sounds like nothing I have ever heard before. It is just great to enjoy the madness of this track - actually, the whole new album "De Mort Viva" is a colourful and exciting rollercoaster ride through lots of undefined musical styles. Often chaotic, powerful, experimental, but also peaceful and quiet at times. It is one of these albums that can't really be described but has to be experienced to know what you are talking about. Experimental Folk might maybe be the closest I can get, but again describing genres seem useless here. Ernest describes the album like this on his Bandcamp site: "Constructed like an invented tarot deck, the album explores the idea of contemporary paganism in the jubilant, humorous and spiritual odes. So now it's up to you; the best is to check out this excellent piece of music on Bandcamp.

As a follow up to the driving, funny sounds out of France, it got a bit more serious with the absolute banger called "Mates Corner" by UK legend Mick Harris aka Scorn. He has just released a new album called "The Only Place" on Ohm Resistance. And as a long-term Scorn fan, I must say that this new album is one of his best albums ever, for sure the coolest one in a long time. He brings in his signature beats and the brutal bass lines—all embedded in foggy sound textures and great floating ambiences. How much would I love to enjoy this bass and the beats live again - I already feel the shivering down my spine with only thinking about the physical aspects of such a live show. Of course, he doesn't move too far away from his signature, but still, I think that there lots of floating and eerie sound textures on this record that hasn't been heard since the "Gyral" times in the late nineties. Absolute stunning 10-track new album with lots of brutal dancefloor killers on it. And also, check out the track "Distortion", which features Kool Keith on vocals as well.

From the heavy sounds out of Birmingham, UK, we join Omar Joesoef on his explorations into old records of ethnic music that he has found in an abandoned radio station on Java Island, Indonesia. Enjoy the wonderfully eclectic tune "Morning World".

Omar Joesoef - Morning World (Rituals Of Gorontalo - Hard Fist Records)

Rachika Nayar - No Future (Our Hands Against The Dusk - NNA Tapes)

I just love the unusual elements that Omar Joesoef combines in his tune "Morning World". Omar was born and raised in Indonesia, and on his new EP "Rituals Of Gorontalo" he combines plenty of Indonesian ethnic music samples from the '50s with a free-flowing beat structure that has lots of exciting percussion elements in it as well and then, of course, there is the rooster - probably the main actor in this song. How great is this? Give the rooster a stage in your music. I just love this mix of strange sounds, exotic beats - all in one great song, that I still consider as danceable music for sure.

From weird Indonesian dancefloor music, I took you on a trip into Rachika Nayar's sublime experimental, ambient, neo-classical music. Rachika is Indian born but lives nowadays in Brooklyn, New York. The chosen song "No Future" is the closing song on her debut full-length album "Our hands against the dusk", which was just released on NNY Tapes. Rachika composed the album over a period of four years. With the various sound ingredients like her textured guitar playing, glowing synthesiser crescendos, melancholic piano chords or even the string arrangements, she has created a very personal. Yet, I would say an emotionally involving piece of work. The very well balanced shifts in sounds, moods and atmospheres on the chosen track were the main criteria for me to play this track. Nevertheless, if you are into such adventurous textures ambient sounds, please go and check out her album. It is an immersive experience.

Next up, I am very excited to introduce you to the music of Ephat Mujuru & The Spirit Of The People. Ephat is one of the great mbira music composers and players from Zimbabwe in South-East Africa. Unfortunately, Ephat died in 2001, but one of his great acoustic albums called Mbavaira from 1983 is now being re-released on Awesome Tapes From Africa. Please enjoy the hypnotic song "Mudande".

Ephat Mujuru & The Spirit Of The People - Mudande (Mbavaira - Awesome Tapes From Africa)

Trialogos - Stroh zu Gold Live (Stroh zu Gold - Exile On Mainstream Records)

Manuka Honey - Industrial Princess (Industrial Princess - NAAFI)

Ephat Mujuru's acoustic sound is based on two mbira's, interlocking into each other, simple percussion from the gourd rattle called hosho, and a mix of different vocals, hums, cries and melodic refrains melt together into this mesmerising piece of music. The mbira is a musical instrument traditional to the Shona people in Zimbabwe. It consists of a wooden board with attached staggered metal tines, played by holding the instrument and plucking the tines with the thumbs. Ephat fell in love with the wonderful sounds of the mbira pretty early in his life. Still, through Rhodhesian racism and cultural oppression in Zimbabwe in the '70s, it was complicated to develop his artistic voice. Specific musicians even used mbira music as music for the independent fighters back then amid the country's liberation struggle. Ephat always saw mbira music as a healing process for many. He sang about brotherhood, healing and, very importantly, about unity - which are crucial themes when the nation's two dominant ethnic groups, the Shona and the Ndebele, struggled to reconcile differences. Ephat once said: "When the mbira is played, it brings two worlds together, the world of our ancestors and the world of today". I just love the story behind this music and, most of all, the way Ephat chose for his life and how he convinced many people in his country but also abroad that unity, love and brotherhood are essential and most essential to live a fulfilled and happy life. The music that he created has something magical to it - it sounds like being part of such a mbira ritual in the middle of Zimbabwe. Great work by Awesome Tapes Of Africa to find such a gem and make it available to a broader audience. Pure magic in my eyes.

From Zimbabwe, we took the trip to Berlin, Germany, to get to know Trialogos, a brand new trio consisting of Kiki Bohemia, Conny Ochs and Sicker Man. On their debut album "Stroh zu Gold", they present an intensive mix of elements drawn from post-rock to ambient sounds, folk elements or even drone, doomy rock parts. There are many different instruments like guitars, bass, lap steel, Moog synths, autoharp, Rhodes, drums and percussions involved. And on the just played title track of the album, you can hear their dynamics in top form. They were ebbing and flowing with an intensity that I love. They draw you into their musical world with the first riffs of this gorgeous song. Actually, the version I played you took from a live show they played earlier at the famous UT Connewitz in Leipzig. This was obviously recorded without an audience but was part of this years Roadburn Redux Festival and became one of the great surprises of new exciting music. Intense, playful, creative new music I would call their debut album, and anybody interested in what these amazing musicians explore within their realm should check out this cool debut album, released on Exile On Mainstream. I would also recommend you check out the full live concert that they played for Roadburn Redux, which can be found on Youtube.

And to round things up in this sound triple, I thought, let's play a cracking, maybe a bit discomforting industrial influenced dancefloor banger by the wonderful Marissa Malik aka Manuka Honey. Marissa is a London based music producer, DJ, astrologer and a tarot reader. Besides her thrilling music, she's also known as one of the UK's go-to authorities on diasporic magic and modern witchcraft. She has just released her debut EP "Industrial Princess" on the excellent forward-thinking experimental club music label NAAFI from Mexico. I just love the remarkable combination of all the diverse elements in this tune. Noise sounds, industrial type atmospheres combined with Latin influenced rhythms all set in this dark futuristic mood. It would work absolutely incredible in a modern club. Manuka genre-defying combination is also unique to me. And according to her Bandcamp site, she is also renowned for creating an ominous feeling of distress with her music, which is designed to provoke clubs into anxious frenzies and heightened bodily reactions.

Wild, harsh beat worlds from Manuka Honey can only be followed up by something totally different - let me invite you to get to know Matt Christensen from Chicago, Illinois, USA and his fragile, nostalgic sounding guitar music. Enjoy the song with the gorgeous title: "It's hard no to love everyone".

Matt Christensen - It's Hard Not To Love Everyone (Constant Green - Miasmah Recordings)

Bendik Giske - Flutter (Cracks - Smalltown Supersound)

Sparse instrumentation creates a feeling of time standing still almost and leaves us in a floating space to reflect and dream in. I just love the melancholy feeling that Matt Christensen develops on his new album "Constant Green", just released on the great Miasmah Recordings Label. His kind of broken voice produces a feeling of anxiety and almost fear through music. At least it sounds very uncertain, but this barebone humanity in his music is what makes it so authentic to me. The whole album transports a feeling of meditative, stripped to the bone kind of country-folk songs, but consisting of unusual elements with Matt's sliding guitar, lots of space and his reverberant voice. In many ways, the album has the feeling of a daydream to me. Blurry memories fade in and out as Matt's voice does. Absolutely worth enjoying the whole album.

After the trip to Chicago, Ilinois, I took you to Norway to meet up with saxophonist, composer and artist Bendik Giske. The tune you heard is called "Flutter", and it is the first single off his new album "Cracks", which will be out at the end of August. Again, Giske's signature saxophone tones create a hypnotic, otherworldly sound experience. This time Giske teamed up with producer Andre Bratten who adds electronic sounds to the pure saxophone tones. They create a piece of distinctive music, and Bratten's new "resonant" space adds another dimension to Giskes original sounds. Giske explains the music on his new album like this: "The tracks wedge themselves into the cracks of our perceived reality to explore them for their beauty. A celebration of corporeal states and divergent behaviours. Mind-blowing stuff here.

Well, so we have almost reached the end of the show again. I hope you liked it and found some new, ecstatic, exciting and challenging music that you haven't heard of before. I again loved it very much to put together an adventurous and inspiring global journey for you. If you did like it, it is, of course, a great help if you can recommend the show to a friend or visit our website www.thissoundiride.net or our Facebook, Instagram or Twitter sites for more information, the full tracklist or other details.

You can also find an extended feature including many beautiful images and an interview with the stunning Ravish Momin, aka Sunken Cages, on our website.

I want to thank Marta Witkowska for the great images for our cover artwork and Matthias Hacksteiner for all his generous help and professional advice, the podcast jingle and everything on how to set up a podcast.

Thanks again for listening, and I wish you all the best and hope you also join next month. The new episode will be released on the third Sunday in July, but you can make sure that you don't miss a show if you subscribe to your usual podcast platform.

Finally, I would love to take you back to where we started and play you another song from this incredible "This Is Tehran" sampler that brings together so many exciting musical voices from a city that we don't know too much about. Please enjoy the eerie but lovely track "Divar" by Tehran's own Mina Momeni.

Mina Momeni - Divar (This Is Tehran Sampler - 30M Records)