Episode 4

Matthias Hacksteiner - This Sound I Ride Jingle

Hi everybody and welcome to the fourth 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 music with you.

This monthly podcast is a celebration of diverse, passionate and contrary musical styles in their unforeseeable and enthusiastic ways of expression.

You will hear mainly new music that will stimulate your imagination and curiosity in a way like on a surreal train ride to foreign countries or a trip to unknown cultures.

This adventurous approach excites me, and I melt together different influences and musical languages and create an exciting and unsettling mix.

I have been digging deep to find fascinating music and sounds without boundaries and combine them for you, the podcast's listeners. I hope you enjoy the show, which starts this time in the middle of a wild, bizarre and unpredictable journey through time, where our protagonist fights against the Russian Oligarch Andrey Sator in order o avoid a third world war.

Ludwig Göransson - Sator (Tenet Soundtrack – Water Tower Music)

Mammal Hands - Versus Shapes (Captured Spirits – Gondwana Records)

Chouk Bwa / The Angstromers - Ogou Bwe – Bongo Joe Records)

"Sator“ was the name of the first track you heard, which was composed and created by Ludwig Göransson, for his soundtrack for Christopher Nolan's blockbuster "Tenet“. The high tension in the track, the thunderous atmosphere and the robust sound design brilliantly support the film's images. There was lots of discussion about this diverse and challenging film – actually I don't want to go into any explanatory details here. I want to mention that Christopher Nolan has created yet another masterpiece that plays in its own league. Even though I was hardly ever so confused and distracted after watching a film with a friend, I must admit that a couple of weeks later it´s probably precisely what only a few people can create. And in 2020 I think "Tenet“ can also be seen as an unmistakable sign that the cinema widescreen experience still makes total sense. Incredibly complex, minimal emotions but many things connected on a highly perfectionist level. I love Nolan's approach to this film, even though it is a hard nut to crack in the first place. Anyway, the sound for it is just another layer of perfection to support the theatrical film—killer track.

The second track "Versus Shapes" by the Modern Jazz Trio Mammal Hands out of Norwich, UK was a different affair. Playful tablas, a smooth saxophone, lovely piano melodies, all mixed into a beautiful and very charming track. This meditative and joyful track with its North Indian influences is one of the many highlights from the group's current album "Captured Spirits". Their fourth album develops their innovative and playful fusion of jazz, world music, and electronica. They are up there with other incredible British jazz formations like Go-Go Penguins or the Cinematic Orchestra. It's such a comfortable and relaxing piece of music. Very simple in a way but also highly innovative if you consider all the different elements involved. I often call this music advanced Jazz Explorations. Wonderful

The third track in this sound triple was by the mighty and sublime Chouk Bwa & The Angströmers. Chouk Bwa is a six-piece from Haiti, and The Ängströmers are a Belgian electronic music production duo. They create this wonderful mix of Afro-Caribbean voodoo atmosphere consisting of intense polyrhythmic drumming, influential singing and bass-heavy dub electronics. Their passionate and mesmerising music is a brilliant example where the tradition of roots music from Haiti called Haitian mizik rasin collide with the heavy electronics by the modern sound explorers Angstromers. The ancestral drum rhythms match perfectly well with the dub bass and create a distinctive and euphoric sound. Would love to see this killer group on a live stage somewhen in 2021 – would be a hypnotic and brilliant experience for sure.

The following artist takes us on a trip to the South East of Africa. Nandele Maguni is a significant figure in the electronic underground music scene of Maputo, which is the capital of Mozambique. Enjoy his terrific track "Virose".

Nandele - Virose (FF – Cotch International)

Lonnie Hollie - Crystal Doorknob (National Freedom – Jagjaguwar)

Nandele is a master of creating these extraordinary dystopian atmospheres. The mix of dystopian Hip Hop beats with dark synth melodies, heavy bass and traditional but mysterious-sounding vocal samples are just overwhelming to me. The result is a minimal, hypnotic track that draws me fully into its realm. The concept of his latest EP "FF" released on the London-based "Cotch International“ label is to create a sound facing the future. Still, the roots are very much based in an often turbulent cultural history of this mother country's diaspora. Nandele has been involved in lots of progressive musical projects in Maputo, and he is also known as a rapper, beatmaker, club promoter and all-round polymath.

From Mozambique we travelled to Atalanta, Georgia to meet up with the outstanding 70-year-old artist Lonnie Hollie. I came across Lonnie and his remarkable life story in the Wire magazine last year and I was just unbelievably intrigued by the sheer will to survive this man must-have. Lonnie was the seventh of 27 children, and his birth mother gave him up to a burlesque dancer, who took him from carnival to carnival until she left him at the Whiskey house near the Alabama State Fairgrounds when he was four. From there on he was left alone with his imagination and "learning from the creeks and the ditches“. He developed his artistic expression as a sculptor and musician over the last 5-6 decades.

For him, it is essential to cultivate something. No matter how tiny his artistic seeds are at the beginning of his artistic process, he always tries to water them and grow them into something pretty. He describes this approach as the ways his songs are built. His experimental version of the American Blues has something magical to me. He creates his rich compositions on the foundation of American roots music but reshapes them into something totally his own in the end. It is like with his sculptures, he takes the familiar aspect and makes it beautifully strange. I love the curious and awkward approach of Lonnie and "Crystal Doorknow“ is just one of his uncommon but great blues-inspired songs from his latest album "National Freedom" released on the Jagjaguwar label in 2020.

Our next guest on the show is called Bram Bosteels, aka Kaboom Karavan. The Belgium sound wizard produces folk music from another dimension as he describes it. Please enjoy the eerie track "Mindus" from his latest album "The log and the leeway" released on the wonderful Miasmah label last year.

Kaboom Karavan - Mindus (The Log and the Leeway - Miasmah Records)

Slauson Malone - Smile #6 (see page 198 and 158) (Vergangenheits-bewältigung - Grand Closing)

Chancha Via Circuito - Gira Gira (Bienaventuranza - Wonderwheel Recordings)

This sound triple started with Kaboom Karavan's mysterious guitar sounds embedded in a world of strange noises, field recordings and undefinable sound sources. I chose this track because I like the cinematic feeling, the extraordinary opposites in his music between beautiful, calming melodies and the strange noise creations there. Bram is a curious sound explorer in a kind of global folk music world. This latest album's production was a journey of six years, which brought him lots of unexpected and new experiences on both a musical and private level. He experienced his father dying from a rare disease, which left him in shock and changed the whole perspective of the album away from the original path. Kaboom Karavan's music is unique, self-contained, but never opaque, it has this inviting element to touch my curiosity and find out what happens next. Or as Bram describes the listening to "The Log and the Leeway like waking up next to a bonfire in the middle of a swamp wearing somebody else's clothes: You may not know how you got here, but whatever is happening seems to very directly involve you. So what will happen? You can only find out if you take your time and listen to this highly recommended album.

For the second track, we travelled back to New York to meet up with Jasper Marsalis, aka Slauson Malone, a highly innovative hip-hop producer. Unpredictable, surprising, intimate but still groovy, that's how I would best describe the track "Smile #6" from his latest EP "Vergangenheits-bewältigung", which is a kind of remix work of his album "A quiet farewell". The simple folky guitar elements combined with the scary vocal samples lead to something almost silent in the middle, just for the hip hop track to start there. I love the confusion, and the freeway of expression Jasper has chosen here. If you are up for an unconventional hip-hop album with lots of live musicians and surprises - check out this album.

The final track was called "Gira Gira" by the Argentinian artist Chancha Via Circuito aka Pedro Canale. Pedro is creating a blend of folk music from the Andes and electronic beats, and he is one of the leading players in this field in Buenos Aires. Whilst many great tracks show this style in perfection on his album "Bienaventuranza" I thought I'd play you the slow, mystical track "Gira Gira" which creates a feeling of longing and deep calmness at the same time. Simple drum beats introduce the pristine voice of Pedro Canale, and actually, the beauty here is that not a lot more happens. Enjoy these raw and beautiful ingredients of "Gira Gira".

Next up I want to take you onto a trip to Tunisia to explore the sounds of Azu Tiwaline. She combines sound originating from the Sahara and El Djerid region and melts it together with modern electronic beats and sound motifs. The result is a mesmerising affair that draws you into Berberian and Saharan trance music that connects human beings with nature in the South of Tunisia and a genuinely hypnotic sound experience. Enjoy the track "Tessiture".

Azu Tiwaline - Tessiture (Magnetic Service EP - Livity Sound Recordings)

Xylouris White - Black Peak (Black Peak - Bella Union)

Hypnotic beats, combined with North-African percussion melted together with strange echoes in the distance and sounds that remind me of strong winds. These were the hypnotic and sublime sounds of Azu Tiwaline from South Tunisia. Inspired by the beauty and overwhelming power of the desert, she creates these masterpieces of sound. This hybrid sound explores the areas between light and darkness; it plays with contrasts and rich sound textures and is just gorgeous. As she is also the featured artist in this episode and if you are interested in finding out a little bit more about her creative process, her roots and music she likes, visit our website thissoundiride.net. She is a fantastic artist who can't be praised highly enough.

We travelled to Crete from Tunisia to join a meeting between two worlds, two great characters and musicians. George Xylouris on the one hand, a Greek musician, singer, poet and lute player and Jim White, a virtuous and very playful drummer from Australia built the hilarious duo Xylouris White. "Black Peak" is the name of the track you just heard and to me this is pure passionate Rock n Roll just with a different set of instruments. These guys are not only great musicians but also a very entertaining and overwhelming live act. I had the pleasure to see them live at the LGW festival in 2019 and still it gives me goosebumps when I think back who the two guys interact on a highly intuitive level with each other. Their music is a mix between greek folklore influences, free improvisation, poetry and Rock n Roll in a way like The White Stripes just in their unique, distinctive style. What a joyful ride this killer track "Black Peak" is - filled with so much energy and power.

After this quick stop in Crete, Greece, we travel back to Africa and land in Kampala, Uganda. It is a pleasure to meet Biga Yut, a very talented rapper and Debmaster an electronic music producer from France and I want to play you their forceful track "Walah".

Biga Yut - Walah (Walah EP - Hakuna Kalala)

North Americans - Greetings From A Distant Friend (Roped In - Third Man Records)

Mosquitoes - Minus Object Four, Five, Seven (Minus Objects - ever/never records)

I love the diversity in these shows, from the militant-style four-to-the-dancehall-floor filler track by Biga Yut and Debmaster to the dreamy, folky ambient sounds of North Americans to the harsh and more challenging to access sounds of England's own trio Mosquitoes. It can be quite a challenging ride which offers lots of different perspectives and approaches to music and sound.

Biga Yut kills it with his explosive rapping in "Walah". With vocals originating from his past in the streets of the Kampala ghettos straight to a bright artistic future. Combined with the technoid, industrial-style beats by Webmaster, this track is another highlight from the many that the Hakuna Kalala label released over the last couple of years. Looking forward to hearing more from Biga Yut in 2021.

Scott McDermott aka North Americans is a musician from Los Angeles, and he has released his new album "Roped In" on Jack White's Third Man Records at the end of 2020. The music on this album is a fragile, soothing and beautiful affair. Scott's songs are filled with calming sound motifs, minimal and sparse instrumentation and lots of lovely and peaceful melodies. Actually, the perfect music to reflect on the past and focus on the present and daydream into the future.

Mosquitoes consist of Clive Philips on drums, Peter Blundell and voice and bass and Dominic Goodman on guitar and electronics. You have heard the tracks Minus Object Four, Five and Seven from their latest album Minus Objects, which was released last year on ever/never records from New York. Mosquitoes are different, they are not improvisers, they let their sound breathe, they reduce and subtract, and most importantly, they let things happen.

On first glance, this music may sound alienated and far away from the ordinary. Still, I can only suggest diving into their soundworld; it is an enriching process to get down to the core, the essence of this elusive but very intriguing sound. At first, this whole construction sounds like a riddle without words, but soon you will identify the mastery and precision that happens in Mosquitoes world. There is nothing there without a purpose; all elements fit well together and create this gem of experimental music. Mysterious, frightening and beautiful at the same time.

Mille Plateaux, the forward-thinking german label recently introduced Hyperglitch as an emerging new genre informed by glitch, IDM and experimental music that came before it, but is distinct from them. It uses new techniques, explores new concepts, and has a contemporary aesthetic. Hyperglitch is the evolution of glitch. It’s what happens when a generation of artists grow up surrounded by glitch, entrenched in the digital world. Some of the ideas have been circulating as far back as the early 2000s, but their current formulation and the combinations employed by these artists are fresh and new. The first release in their series is by Turkish artist Seskamol and the track is called "Empty".

Seskamol - Empty (Reason - Mille Plateaux

Autotelia - First Flight (I - Rocket Recordings)

Seskamol's track "Empty" is from his new album "Reason" released on Mille Plateaux recently. It is an incredibly cinematic album that combines minimal ambient sounds like the desolate piano sounds you just heard during the track but interrupted and expanded by the brutal noise blasts and breakcore drum programming produced in a very contemporary sound design.

I love the imaginative words on the press release which resonate very much with my own experience when listening to this album. "Seskamols music is what I imagine it would be like to wake up in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, an eerie calm and then the blasts of music from an aggressive and violent time before the collapse bombarding you from a radio passing through stations, or the blasting stereo system of a renegade gang vehicle passing you.

The follow-up track was called "First Flight" by the UK Duo Autotelia. As originally coined by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Autotelic describes a process by which someone has a purpose in, rather than outside of themselves. Autotelic individuals depend less on external rewards for their satisfaction, being driven by ambition and curiosity. Here, Autotelia is the sound project of Demian Castellanos and Tom Alleen. Unfortunately, Tom passed away last year due to a severe form of cancer, so that their debut album "I" released on Rocket Recordings in 2020 will most probably be their only album. Demian describes their music in the following way: "Autotelia is more about allowing emotions, feelings and sonic spaces to do their own thing with a sense of freedom and not wanting to impose myself or my ego on them too much."

For me, this album was one of the highlights in 2020. It has such a freeing, floating, hypnotic feel throughout it, an indescribable and sublime experience. You can entirely lose yourself in the five long compositions, the ambient world, the soft and smooth bass sounds, and the repetitive patterns. Everything here seems so fitting and not overthought. There is enough space and time to let the harmonies develop and draw you into their world. Superb!

Next up we take a trip to Down Under Australia to join the explosive duo Divide & Dissolve with their absolute stunning track "Denial".

Divide & Dissolve - Denial (Denial Single - Invada Records UK)

Tecnologia Para Ser Libres - Nguillatun (Purun - Diego Linsambarth Cartagena)

Spooky, dark samples, in the beginning, guided us into the impressive and hard-hitting Doom Metal track "Denial" by Divide and Dissolve. The duo consists of Takiaya Reed, who has Cherokee roots and Sylvie Neill, a girl with Maori roots. They have left a strong impression with their latest single, and I'm already looking very much forward to their new full-length album released on Invada Records in the UK. As both are originating in ethnic minorities within their respective communities, their aim is a simple one. With their art, they want to help make people aware of inequalities and prejudices within the capitalistic system. It is important to them to secure Black future, liberation and freedom and support to destroy white supremacy. I love their straight forward in-your-face attacking mode, and especially you would expect such a harsh and brutal sound from these two girls. Their new album is one of my tips for new music in early 2021. I love their straightforward and direct approach and would love to promote a live show for them in Innsbruck. Let's see what will be possible during the coming months...

From Australia, we took the direct flight to Chile, South America and visited Diego Linsambarth Cartagena and his fascinating electronic sound project "Tecnologia Para Ser Libres". Chilean folk singers, awkward percussion sounds and electronic beats create a unique atmosphere for his influential sound project. Diego aims to blend electronic sounds with purely Mapuche instruments. The Mapuche people of Southern Chile have a long history dating back to 600-500 BC, and Diego wants to shout out a call of resistance for the Mapuche people. His EP "Purun" is born and named after traditional dances of Mapuche origin. He calls his music a shout of resistance for protecting his ancestors' land and the freedom of the Mapuche people and others around the world. The hypnotic voice, mixed with the repetitive beats and sound structures drew me entirely into this sound. Again this is an excellent example of music where an artist combines the old sounds with new modern technology and creates something special.

Our next guest on the show is called Sanubar Tursun, a famous Uyghur singer and dutar player from the Xinjiang region in North-West-China. Francois Kambuzat from Ifriquiyya Electrique whom we featured in Episode 2 of the pod recommend her music to me. I thought it would be a perfect contrast between these preferably electronic sounds to bring her entirely acoustic music onto the show.

Sanubar Tursun. - unknown Track.

Lila Tirando a Violeta & Nick Leon & PRJCTN. - Ave Fenix (Behua Icara Sampler)

Sanubar Tursun and her traditional Uyghur music invited us to the Xinjiang region in China's North-West. Her music is heard there in town bazaars and ranges out from local taxis and long-distance buses across the Uyghur region. She is a powerful player in the local music and art scene, but allegedly she was sentenced to five years in prison a couple of years ago. I like the simplicity and pure sound of her voice in combination with the traditional dutar string instrument. The dutar is a long-necked two-stringed lute, and the name comes from the Persian word for "two strings". Sanubar is very well known in the music traditions referred to as "The Voice of the Silk Road. Lovely, exotic, peaceful music.

After we met with Sanubar Tursun we took a flight to Uruguay to meet Lila Tirando a Violeta, one of the most compelling electronic sound artists from South America. The track "Ave Fenix" was taken from the Behua Icara - Healing Rhythms Sampler, a compilation to help the Amazon ethnic Shipibo Konibo Xetebo in Peru, who suffer a lot from global warming and nowadays also the Covid 19 pandemic. Her sound brings together disturbing vocal samples, impressive South-American percussion elements and an excellent overall sound design. Dark, melancholic atmospheres are linked up with Uruguayan field recordings, and her breathing leads us into this intriguing beat-driven killer track by Lila. If you like her sounds, you should also check out her latest full-length album called "Limerencia" which was released last year on the great NAAFI label from Mexico City. Lots of interesting forward-thinking electronic music is to be found there.

I think we have already reached the end of our fourth episode. I hope you enjoyed it and found some great new 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 one friend. Please 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 Tunisian sound artist Azu Tiwaline 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 regarding recording technics, the podcast jingle and everything 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 February, but if you subscribe on your usual podcast platform, you can make sure that you don't miss a show.

As a final sound trip, we follow the Tenet's protagonist on his journey through time - may it be backward, forward, inverting or vice versa. Please enjoy the track "Freeport" from Ludwig Göransson. Cheers, and stay healthy.

Ludwig Göransson - Freeport (Tenet Soundtrack – Water Tower Music)