Episode 9

Matthias Hacksteiner - This Sound I Ride Jingle

Hello and welcome to the ninth 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 of my favourite 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 fantastic music and sounds and combine them for you, the podcast's listeners. I hope you enjoy the show, which starts this time in Varese, Italy. I discovered the intense, mysterious and dark Funeral Doom Metal band Fuoco Fatuo recently. They have just released their new album "Obsidian Katabasis," and the music on this new album sees them expand their extreme, obscure music even further. So please enjoy the rough track "II" as a starting point into this months show.

Fuoco Fatuo - II (Obsidian Katabasis - Profound Lore)

Monsieur Doumani - Pissourin (Pissourin – Glitterbeat)

Fatima Al Qadiri - Sheba (Medieval Femme - Hyperdub)

"II" by Italian Funeral Doom Metal Combo Fuoco Fatuo was the name of the first song in this sound triple. Eerie, dark and very dense sound atmospheres are some of the main characteristics of their new album. Almost ritualistic elements make this sound so unique. The album consists of three long infernal tracks that last between 13 - 17 minutes and three interludes, whereby this song is one of them. This whole album isn't an easy listen for sure, as it is dark, grimy and sinister throughout, but the pure dynamics and power that the band unleash on the longer tracks is absolutely fascinating. And as I always open and close my show with songs from the same album or artist, I have decided to play you the epic and gigantic Funeral Doom Metal masterpiece "Psychoactive Katabasis" at the end of the show. I can only recommend you take this 17+ minute dive into the bizarre and strange soundworld of Fuoco Fatuo but be prepared; it gets very, very intense.

From terrific Funeral Doom Metal out of Varese, Italy, we visited the eclectic Cyprus based trio Monsieur Doumani. The song was called "Pissourin", and it is the title track and advance single of their new album that will be released on the wonderful Glitterbeat label in September this year. Band leader Antonis Antoniou explains the following about this new album: "Our idea was a concept, an album that was a portrait of the night. The pissourin (Cypriotic dialect for total darkness) brought us the different elements - the moon, stars, planets, rivers - and the creatures that appear in the songs are actory in this quest." Interesting conceptual approach. The adventurous and rather unusual instrumentation of the band consists of trombone, the bouzouki-like tzouras and guitar. On this new album, they push their own dynamics even further into a highly energetic sonic whirlwind. They move into a more psychedelic and Avant-folk direction, and for sure, they will inspire lots of people to go mental to this sound during their famous vibrant live shows. We are working on getting the guys over for a show to Innsbruck later this year. So fingers crossed that it will work out. Would love to dive into this beautiful live music as I can imagine it only to be more forceful than the music on the album sounds already.

The final track in this sound triple was by the gorgeous Fatima Al Qadiri from Kuwait. It was called "Sheba" and is to be found on her new, magnificent new album "Medieval Femme", which was released on the innovative electronic music label Hyperdub earlier this year. Fatima put together a collection of classical poems of Arab women that she turned into little treasures. The whole album has such an intimate and soothing feeling that I can only highly recommend you to dive into Fatima's world. The theme of the dreamlike album is the state of melancholic longing exemplified in the poetry of Arab women from medieval times. Fatima seeks to transport the listener to a place of reverie and desolation, to question the line between two seemingly opposite states and rejoice in celestial sorrow. I think the whole album is absolutely sublime, and I just love her distinct artistic voice. The combination of the specific medieval sound motifs embedded into a dreamy but modern electronic soundworld resonates very well with me. I love to drift away and daydream along with these sounds—pure magic.

Next up, we travel further South to Kumasi, Ghana, to meet up with Ayuune Sule, one of Ghana's great kologo players and part of the world-famous King Ayisoba Band. I want to play you the song "Yelemeghre Kalebona" from his brand new album "Putoo Katare Yire". Enjoy.

Ayuune Sule - Yelemeghre Kalebona (Putoo Katare Yire - self-released)

Papiro - Il triciclo nascosto (La finestra dentata - Marionette Recordings)

FACS - Strawberry Cough (Present Tense - Trouble In Mind Records)

"Yelemeghre Kalebona" was the name of the first track in this sound section. It is played and sung by Avuune Sule from Kumasi, Ghana. Ayuune is a master of the kologo, the double stringed lute played by troubadours for spiritual and educational messages. He sings in fra fra language, which is from Ghana's Upper East region. On his new album "Putoo Katare Yire", which means "Wickedness has no home", he brings together a collection of songs mainly focused on love, empathy and togetherness. It's magnificent how Ayuune can transfer his positive message with relatively simple elements in the chosen piece. He is a man who wants to fight evil and bad people with his positive attitude and message through his song lyrics. The album title explains: "Wicked people have problems every day, never peace and no rest, wickedness has no home. Love that message and also would love to see Ayuune and his band live soon.

After the fresh kologo sounds from Kumasi, Ghana, we met Marco Papiro, a Swiss-Italian musician, composer and electronic experimenter. Papiro, who is based in Basel, Switzerland, has just released his new album "La Finestra dentata" on the beautiful Marionette label. The swirly and magnificent track "Il triciclo nascosto" is an excellent example of Papiro's approach to music. He wants to invite his listeners into a deep listening experience, and especially during his concerts, people can enjoy this immersive trip through his sublime sounds. Since the mid-nineties, Marco has released albums in his own distinctive musical language and has also collaborated with people like Sonic Boom. The new album is a mix of new songs and excerpts from concert recordings between 2016-2020. He likes to describe his performances as therapeutic and healing. I can just suggest you take a dive into Marco's warm and fuzzy music - it is one way or the other a fantastic experience.

From the drifting sounds out of Basel, Switzerland, we took a trip to Chicago, Illinois, and I played you the noisy and gorgeous song "Strawberry Cough" by the magnificent trio FACS. They have just released a new album called "Present Tense", their fourth album in four years. Their sound and artistic voice are unique to me. If you listen to their whole album, you can find relatively accessible songs like the played track. The following track on the album is a 9-minute long trip that shows their minimal sound aesthetics in a totally different way. That's also the absolute positive of this new album. It is a surprise from one track to the next. Whilst it is dark throughout, FACS create a realm of their own, and they have put together a collection of hauntingly beautiful songs. Probably a proper contender for album of the year. As they describe it on their Bandcamp site. FACS use minimalism and space to create abstract, modern art-rock. And yes, it is challenging but highly rewarding. I love the mix of this punky feeling and the abstract noise parts involved.

Now, it is my absolute pleasure to introduce you to the work of Krzysztof Topolski aka Arszyn, from Gdansk, Poland. Krzysztof is a drummer, field recordist, and author of sound art projects and an electro-acoustic improviser. He has just released a new album called "Bop" earlier this year, and I want to play you the energetic track "P + A = L + 2". Enjoy!

Arszyn - P + A = L + 2 (Bop – self released on Bandcamp only)

Super Onze - Adar Neeba (Jo Kanga Djiribi – self-released on Bandcamp only)

You just heard two superb examples of great rhythmically driven, hypnotic music that are both Bandcamp only releases. So in case any of these sounds caught your attention, and you like them - check out our tracklist on thissoundiride.net and go and buy this wonderful music over on Bandcamp. The first track, "P + A = L + 2" by Arszyn, brought us to Gdansk Poland and is yet another fantastic example of how powerful, energetic music can be created with minimal elements. Arszyn aka Krzysztof Topolski put together a diverse and inspiring collection of primarily improvised tracks on his new album "Bop". They reach from more rock-influenced tracks like the one you just heard to tracks with a more jazzy or experimental feeling. Anyway, the strength of this album is the variety and the surprise you get with each track. You never know what to expect next, and you should be open for quite a few twists and turns here—an incredible rollercoaster ride.

The second track brought us to Gao in Mali, Africa, where we visited the awesome group of musicians called Super Onze de Gao. They are one of the leading modern ambassadors of takamba, a music and dance native to the Tuareg and Songhai peoples of Northern Mali and Western Niger. The group was founded in 1979, and they renewed takamba which roots trace back to the 15th century in Songhai Empire and its cultural and commercial capital Gao. This simple, hypnotic sound is absolutely overwhelming to me. It's one of these great examples where you can get completely lost in sound. As I find the saga of this sound quite interesting, I would like to tell you a bit about the creation of takamba, this extraordinary music and dance.

According to the legend, the history of takamba starts in the village of Temora, where a Tamasheq master and its griot set up their camp. When hearing the tehardent, Songhai villagers came to the men. Fascinated by the beauty of one of the Songhai women, the master gave her his hand, and his griot said to her, "takamba", meaning "take his hand". Until the 1960's takamba was a celebration of music mainly for social and religious events. It was then practised being sited, and singers were only supported by the tehardent and hand clapping as percussion. From the 1970s, takamba evolved through a new generation of Tamasheq and Songhai musicians towards its current widespread practice. It is practised in its natal region and in Bamako or neighbouring countries like Niger, Algeria, Burkina Faso...) During the jihadist invasion in 2012, many musicians from Super Onze have lost sound equipment and instruments, leading them to exile. The whole record called "Jo Kanga Djiribi" is a rare opportunity to hear takamba made by Super Onze outside of Mali.

After the raw sounds from Super Onze out of Mali, it is my pleasure to introduce you to this episodes featured artist. Charlie Romijn, aka Silver Stairs of Ketchikan, is based in Bristol, UK. She has just released her debut solo album called EDEIDA, and I want to play you the fantastic song "Pylon".

Silver Stairs Of Ketchikan - Pylon (EDEIDA - Lava Thief)

Mind Maintenance - Glow & Glimmer (Mind Maintenance - Drag City)

WULFFLUW XCIV - Nyege Digital Immersion (Ngoma Injection! - Hakuna Kalala)

"Pylon" by Silver Stairs Of Ketchikan was the name of this gorgeous first track. Slow pace, minimal instrumentation and Charlie's incredible voice in the centre of this gloomy song. I just love how the piece evolves, the smooth atmosphere for more than half of it and then the climax with Charlie's singing becoming more urgent and in-your-face. The interplay between light and darkness or fragility and violence are central themes throughout this excellent debut from Charlie. She contacted me a while ago and introduced me to her album, and I loved it so much that I invited her to become this months featured artist. So if you want to find out more about her album, inspirations and music that she likes, please check out our website thissoundiride.net. I can just highly recommend you to check out this impressive solo debut by Silver Stairs of Ketchikan called "EDEIDA".

From Bristol, UK, we moved to Chicago, Illinois in the USA and met the duo Mind Maintenance. Bassist Joshua Abrams and drummer Chad Taylor have just released their debut self-titled album. On this album, they play the guimbri and mbira, instruments from diverse African states. The guimbri is a three-stringed skin-covered bass plucked lute used by the Gnawa people, and the mbira is a kind finger harp with attached staggered metal tines, which is traditional to the Shone people of Zimbabwe. The duo is inventing this new, exotic sound for them, and the album moves past world music and jazz into something refreshing and new, to do with dance, meditation, listening and convergence. Or, as they call it, - truly a place of Mind Maintenance, which brings them to unknown and new territory. This repetitive rumble of an unusual, strange rhythm accompanied by the pure mbira sounds gives this album its distinctiveness. Great stuff.

After visiting Chicago, Illinois, we took the plane to Russia to meet up with Wulffluw XCIV and his spooky, innovative, heavy track "Nyege Digital Immersion" from his killer album "Ngoma Injection". Harsh, brutal beats, dystopian, industrial atmospheres and a razor-sharp sound design are the trademarks of the whole album. Innovative rhythmic structures take their influence from genres like kuduro or gqom. Still, then again, the final result is a unique blend of diverse elements that he melts together into a mix that finally makes up his own trademark. If you like innovative club music beyond any clear genre definition and surprises and challenges you with each track, then go and check out this whole album. There is also a mind-blowing video up on video for this song which you shouldn't miss. Absolute wild but wonderful - a bit crazy and relentless, but it works brilliantly well with the music. The whole album is full of rich sound texture and lots of unusual, harsh and intriguing percussions. During his residency at Nyege Nyege Studios in Kampala, the entire album was produced following the 2019 edition of the labels annual festival. It was finally released on the great Hakuna Kalala label, a sublabel of Nyege Nyege Tapes.

Well, I guess after this brutal sound assault by WULFFLUW WCIV, it is time to take a step back with regards to harshness and fierce sounds. We move over to Brasil and meet up with Lucas Santtana, a Brazilian singer, composer and producer of wonderful electro-acoustic music. Enjoy the banger opening track "Awo Dub" from his rereleased classic album "3 Sessions In A Greenhouse".

Lucas Santtana - Awo Dub (3 Sessions In A Greenhouse - Mais Um Discos)

Senyawa - Istana (Alkisah - Various Labels Worldwide)

Penya - Trail Of Awo (Penya - Liminal Recordings)

"Awo Dub" by Brasilian sound wizard Lucas Santtana was the first track's name in this sound section. The track is the starting point into a rollercoaster ride where psyched-out samba meets immersive dub blasts and baile funk with original Black Ark-style studio distortion. On the 15th anniversary of its original release, this glorious album by one of Brazil's most regarded and influential contemporary songwriters get to obtain a broader appreciation that it deserves. It was remastered by German dub shaman Stefan Betke aka Pole, and Santtana is very happy with the final result, mentioning that Betke brought a lot more punch to the original recordings and many ambiences as well. He sees this rerelease as a new version of the album. Originally the music was recorded within three nights, in a mist-engulfed recording studio, 30-minutes north of Rio. Santtana shares some of these memories with us: "It was an amazing atmosphere from start to finish. We would work from 10am to 8-9pm, playing all day. Time did not exist. No telephones. Smoking the best weed in Rio, it was like a greenhouse. We had the feeling, we were creating a new sound. This fantastic album is so colour - and powerful - it is hard to describe with words. I think it is the ideal music for a summertime evening - it has such an excellent flow, you can just drop into the smooth rhythms and go with the flow of this beauty.

From Greenhouse sound clashes out of Rio, we took the trip to Indonesia to meet Senyawa, the highly praised experimental duo Wukir Suryadi and Rully Shabara out of Java Indonesia. They released their latest album, "Alkisah", in February this year, and I played you the atmospheric, yet maybe even a bit frightening track called "Istana". Their mix of mysterious multi-layered vocals with richly textured drone guitar riffs, shamanic singing creates a unique atmosphere for me. Noises and scratches from their custom-made instruments expand the richness of this magnificent track. It is drifting along like an unstoppable force of nature, I would call it. I m more and more impressed with each listen, how it is possible to create such a dense and beautiful track. The whole album contains eight tracks, which are more or less a surprise package for the listeners. This unpredictability is one of the greatest assets this duo has to offer. They deliver genre-defying, challenging music. I listened to the new Senyawa album and was just taken by wonder and surprise in which direction the music developed. Great, adventurous approach. One of their main goals is that "Decentralisation should be the future". In their case, they have released the album on numerous different labels worldwide with other artwork and different formats like LP, CD or Cassette. On Instagram, they have posted a map with all various labels around the globe that have released the different versions of their album. Worth taking a deep dive into the exotic and mesmerising soundworld of Senyawa from Indonesia.

From Indonesia, we continued our trip and visited another genre-defying act. Even though the sound couldn't be more different. Penya is a multi-cultural trio from London, UK, and they have just released their new album "Penya" on Liminal Recordings. Whilst Senyawa strech their music in between dark, experimental, noise, doom or even metal, Penya melt together fresh and exotic rhythmic explorations from around the globe and create an incredible energising sound. Their sound is a great example of how new uplifting music could sound like. You heard the track "Trail of Awo", which starts with a smooth techno-like beat, playful synth melodies, smooth trombones and the lovely vocals of Lilli Elina. In the middle of the song, it breaks into a totally different affair. Jimmy le Messurier also comes into the picture with solid vocals. Excellent dynamic and powerful percussive sounds take the track to a totally different level. Absolute banger, especially the wild development of the track, is what fascinates me with every listen. The group take various influences from many different cultures, but Cuban music seems to be one of the main inspirations for them—absolutely gorgeous genre-melting stuff from London.

Next up, I want to take you on a mysterious trip to Lille, France, where we meet Keyvane Alinaghi, aka Hassan K. I want to play you the brilliant and funny song "Imaginatio Vera II". Fasten your seat belts and get ready for a wild ride.

Hassan K - Imaginatio Vera II (Isteghna - Cheap Satanism Records)

Aina Myrstener Cello - Reträtt (Nattmusik - Flora & Fauna)

Jay Mitta - Singeli Fantas (Fantas Variations - Editions Mego)

Hassan K was the name of the first artist I played you in this music section, and I must say, when I first heard his music a couple of weeks ago, I was like: "What the fuck is going on here?" How brave, crazy, funny can one artist be. His energetic sound mix of surf rock guitar, metal, electro, psychedelia is such a bold statement for adventurous music. Fantastic. Hassan K has just released his new album "Isteghna" on Bandcamp, and it is a glorious mix that transcends the borders of Persian music. The protagonist behind the project is Keyvane Alinaghi, a fearless Persian-French multi-instrumentalist who doesn't mess around but mixes surf music with belly dancing, swing with cyber-metal or film scores with harsh electronics. He doesn't play around with folklore but instead searches for the essence of a millennial culture to offer a second breath without ever deteriorating it. We have booked Hassan K for our first after lockdown shows here in the PMK in Innsbruck, and I'm already smiling in anticipation of this great artist playing live here. Hassan describes his live shows in the following deadly serious way: "Hassan K crafts his tools bends or upgrades traditional eastern instruments (electric sitar, sensors, robotised santoor) in order not to indefinitely linger within virtuality and to lead spectators towards a trance-like, intensively energetic live experience. Can't wait to have you here in Innsbruck - Hassan K - absolutely mindblowing stuff. Check out his album "Isteghna" on Bandcamp.

After this powerful rollercoaster ride through Persian mysticism, speed metal and surf rock, I thought it might be a good idea to cool things down a little before they probably explode with the two final tracks of this show. So the quiet, mystic ambient cello track you heard after Hassan K was by Aina Myrstener from Stockholm, Sweden. This track is part of a compilation by Swedish label Flora och Fauna and was released on a sampler called "Nattmusik", which features nordic ambient music. Nattmusik, which means night music in English, contains night music for those who can not, or do not want to, sleep. The instrumental music on the album is covering various musical languages like soft ambient neo-classical piano music or even some spacey dub tunes. Aina creates a wonderfully soft essay of gorgeous singular and simple cello tones, which resonate very well with me. And the contrast between the hyper-active sound by Hassan K and the relaxed yet very sensitive sounds chosen and played by Aina give this show its destination of boundary-free, genre-defying music.

And to round things up in this sound triple, it got a bit wild or at least very energetic and fast again. Jay Mitta is an electronic music producer and a protagonist of Singeli sounds from Tanzania. He is also a core member of Dar Es Salaam's Sisso Studios. Since years he shapes and develops ultra-fast and powerful Singeli music. The track "Singeli Fantas" is taken from the remix album "Fantas Variations". Fantas is the epic opening track on Caterina Barbieri's highly acclaimed 2019 release Ecstatic Computation. The original track laid out a magical path of patterns leading the listener on a journey into the sound itself. Caterina is a wonderfully talented Italian composer and musician who explores themes related to machine intelligence and object-oriented perception in sound. I have featured her already in the very first episode of this podcast and had the pleasure to enjoy her mesmerising, ecstatic and almost transcendental live show last autumn in Innsbruck. I think she is one of the great and probably most interesting new voices in electronic music. On the Fantas Variations album can be found a lot of exciting and diverse artists like Kali Malone, Bendik Giske, Lyra Pramuk, Walter Zanetti and many more. Again I can only urge you to check out both - the original and the variations - absolutely incredible work.

Well, so we have almost reached the end of the show again. I hope you liked it and found some mind-blowing, exciting, challenging music that you haven't heard of before. I 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 great artist Silver Stairs Of Ketchikan from Bristol, UK, 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, as I mentioned in the beginning, this time I extend the show a little bit because for those who want to experience a masterpiece of dark, sinister, grim but absolutely fantastic Funeral Doom Metal, I want to play you the epic opus "Psychoactive Katabasis" by the Italian band Fuoco Fatuo. They describe the sound on their new album "Obsidian Katabasis" in the following way: Elements of a dreadful nature which find cohesion for a rich and thick sound that manifests into a visionary descent through multi-layered guitars, skull-crushing low tuned chords and sepulchral tremolos filtered through analogue sounds for wider landscapes marred with obsessive drumming and infernal growls. Enjoy.

Fuoco Fatuo - Psychoactive Katabasis (Obsidian Katabasis - Profound Lore)