Experimental/Electronic

Music From Memory are back with their first 12” of 2019 in the form of a five track EP from prolific German drummer Curt Cress.Since the early 1970s Cress has worked with a number of high profile German bands such as Passport, Atlantis and Snowball as well as on cult Disco records with studio groups such as Tender Aggression and Chime. Working tirelessly as a session musician for countless German and International Jazz, Rock and Pop acts, Cress has also worked extensively as a Producer, most notably for Nina Hagen. Cress would also record a number of records as a solo artist, with his unique sensibility as a drummer given centre stage.MFM 038 features three deep percussive workouts from his 1983 solo album ‘Avanti’, a record which has been a long time favourite the label. With the tracks ‘Power Vein’ and ‘Sundance’ now finally available on a loud 12” pressing. The EP also features two direct detours into House music by Curt with alternate versions of the forward thinking drum track ‘Dschung Tek’. Released in 1991 under Curt’s ‘C.C’ moniker, ‘Dschung Tek’ has been another big favourite of the last few years at the label after a tip by way of their pal Tornado Wallace.

Music From Memory’s latest release sees the reissue of G.B. Beckers' 'Walkman' album from 1982.A painter and musician from Aachen, Germany, Günther Beckers created his third album ’Walkman' to coincide with an exhibition of his latest body of artwork in 1982. Released on his very own 'Milky Music' label with a run of just 500 copies and original pieces of artwork included with some copies, most copies of the album however remained amongst art collectors and with the painter himself. Rediscovered a few years ago through a friend of Music From Memory in the archives of a local radio station where all but one of the stations copies had been destroyed, it has been an album the label have been in love with since the first listen.Touring as a guitarist with ECM affiliated Jazz musicians such as Alex De Grassi, William Ackerman, Ralph Towner & Larry Coryell to name but a few, Günther Beckers also would record on a number of releases of Klaus Schulze’s cult electronic music label ‘Innovative Communication’.Always exploring new ideas and the possibilities of technology within his music, Günther would record the ‘Walkman’ album utilising the ‘Kunstkopf’ technique of sound recording. Kunstkopf or ‘Dummy Head’ recording is a 3D audio recording technology that enables listeners to define each source of sound as if they were in the original recording situation itself. Using two microphones which are usually mounted in the ears of a mannequin (giving it the ‘Dummy Head’ name in English) the technique exploits certain basic principles of human spatial hearing.Listeners to ‘Kunstkopf’ recordings are in fact encouraged to listen to such recordings on headphones, as the 3D perception is often greatly diminished on speakers. With the title ‘Walkman’ G.B. Beckers was very much hoping the album would be enjoyed on headphones, even portably through a Walkman. Minimalist variations around an acoustic guitar, guitar synth, rhythm box and with wordless female vocals, G.B. Beckers' 'Walkman' drifts in and out of moods; it is a unique and at times hauntingly beautiful album, which the Kunstkopf recording technique further adds to the albums at times often otherworldly feeling.

Killer compilation that sheds light on oddball tunes made in Australia and New Zealand during the 70's and 80's..For musicians inhabiting the Antipodean countries of Australia and New Zealand during the 70’s and 80’s, it was a geographically and culturally isolating environment. Boutique shops, community radio and mail order exchanges championed independent and contemporary music from across the globe. It was, however, this isolation that caused a number of small community-focused scenes to evolve, creating their own unique interpretation and reappropriation of outside influences. Through both these scenes and government initiatives, a vast amount of music emerged on self-released and independent labels.Yet, even among small scenes that were creating unique sounds, a number of artists seemed to be making music that was neither here nor there, often meshing together numerous genres and influences to create anomalous sounds. Artists like Olev Muska along with Ingrid Slamer meshed traditional folk songs of their Estonian heritage with cutting edge computer technology. Ngahiwi Apanui used his native language of Te Reo and a “cheap drum machine” to create a pulsating tale that highlights the creation of Aotearoa (the Maori name for New Zealand); while the Free Radicals would sing through PVC pipes to construct their vision of post-apocalyptic tribal music. Sydney’s Nic Lyon used his classical training to craft a distinctive gem which matched eastern and African influenced instruments with synchopated drum machines, while artists like Delaney Venn and Toy Division managed to challenge their post-punk sensibilities by blending both dub and atmospheric sounds respectively.Compiled by: Chris Bonato and Umut Turkeri

Into the Light continues its journey to unearth and update overlooked Greek music. This time focuses on a smooth, warm, youthful yet intelligent work that finds effortlessly its place in the tiny Greek electronic scene of the mid 90's. . Gilb'r (Versatile): "Each release on this label is good news. There is no exeption.""The Nireus Years" is a rare selection of eight unheard home recordings produced between 1995 and 1997 by the then 16-year old Angelo Ioakimoglu in Athens. The album encompasses his most special productions ranging from bucolic new age to dubbed out midi electronics, jazzy r&b to Mediterranean ambient trance!Angelo was born and raised in Zografou area of Greece's capital in 1981. It was there where his father had a typical 80's electronic lab and it was that specific environment where Angelo spent most of early childhood. A first attraction for electronic musical equipment was developed that very soon became a passion for hunting down used pieces of gear soon to form the basis of his well equipped bedroom setup.During his teens, his connection with music was either practicing the piano at home or listening to the most recent dance hits at his uncle's place who happened to be a professional DJ. Big part of Angelo's demos around that period is driven by those two aforementioned worlds. But there were moments of escape. Moments where the music went for the unexpected. Leaving the producer following a solitary path where he could express his teenage dreams and fantasies...through extensive midi programming, live keyboards mimicking string, brass and steel instruments and sampled portions of his live percussion burst.Angelo's work, which can sometimes seem naive or surrealistic, is supported by his unique and surprisingly energetic approach, one that gives us the courage to continue something different.

The Japanese producer and DJ Kuniyuki Takahashi is the subject of Music From Memory’s latest retrospective compilation with ‘Early Tape Works - 1986-1993’. Composed of two volumes, the compilations gather together a selection of tracks from a tiny run of privately released tape only albums, highlighting a fascinating early period in Kuniyuki’s musical output, one of which little is known."After discovering the world of nightclubs in Japan around 1986, and the seemingly boundless freedom expressed there through music as well as art, Kuniyuki became inspired to experiment with electronic music. Excited by the possibilities of new music technology, he would begin to gather together a number of, at that time, reasonably accessible and inexpensive local keyboards, drum computers and recording equipment. This became for Kuniyuki a way in which to explore music not as such made for nightclubs, but certainly inspired by them. Setting up a home studio in his hometown of Saporro, Kuniyuki would record extensively during this period with the equipment he had gathered together, equipment such as Roland’s Juno60, TR-606, TB-303, Casio FZ-1, Korg 770, Boss DE-200, Foster A8 and a Yamaha MT44 track cassette recorder.Driven to develop a musical language derived as much by an exploration of music technology and a desire to create new sounds, Kuniyuki was also looking to evolve the possibilities of what he refers to as a ‘new Oriental sound’. Early Tape Works - 1986-1993’ then brings together two albums of material which not only highlights the evolution of Kuniyuki’s own work but also of Japanese electronic music as a whole."

Unreleased early Algerian synth electronic by Ahmed Malek, compiled and co-produced by Flako. In the early 1980s, Ahmed Malek was already in his 50s , when he discovered synthesizers and electronic music for himself and started to experiment with sounds. The result was a mixture of ambient synth music, field recordings he made in Cuba and a wide variation of different sound experiments that he also presented as different avanguarde music festivals in Cuba and the US. None of it was ever released but we got a huge box of master tapes from his family and we're happy to present this different side of Ahmed Malek's music. It was compiled and co-produced by Flako, a fan of early electronic and synth music. This is not a remix album though, Flako's aim was to create an album out of 2 hours of material that sounds like it might have if Mr. Malek would have finished it himself before of his death. Fully approved and licensed from the artists family.The album comes with an informative booklet with liner notes, an interview with Flako regarding his approach towards the production and unseen photos. We will also release a third album by Ahmed Malek which will be more in the vein again of the music he is known for and this album will also be previously unreleased.