Ricardo Villalobos, Underground Resistance, Chez Damier and full crew sparking off the Arkestra LP Living Sky and a spoken-word album of Sun Ra’s poetry, My Words Are Music.

‘Perhaps the first time he has chosen to showcase the full range of his skills. The set is intoxicatingly rich and, with a couple of exceptions, largely downbeat… Sonically there’s much more variation — if not in the pace of the riddims, then certainly the instrumentation and textures — making it St. Hilaire’s most approachable album for non-dub-techno aficionados… A modern master whose importance and influence can now — though long overdue — be fully recognised’ ((Steve Barker, The Wire).

‘One of the most innovative and ambitious albums ever made; a sonic masterpiece featuring over two hundred musicians, which expanded the limits of music and sound, channeling Ōhashi’s thinking about mankind’s relationship with nature, and fundamental questions of life, death and rebirth… Pipe organ synths made from sampled Tibetan horns sit alongside field recordings from Central African forests, Buddhist mantras circle dummy head microphones, Javanese Jegog percussion ensembles pulse like verdant ecosystems, and the acoustics of temples, caves and landscapes are conveyed in the mix. Weaving together culture, nature and technology, it is a record that vibrates with the polyphony of life on Earth… But Ecophony Rinne was not only musically innovative. Noticing the difference between vinyl and CD versions of the album where digital reproduction limited the sound, Ōhashi developed a theory of Hypersonic Effect, determining that ultra-high frequencies above 20khz can impact human perception even if they are inaudible. At once a physical and a psychological experience, to listen to Ecophony Rinne is to feel music differently.’

Tikiman running full range, from the spoken-word dread of What’s This to the Rhythm & Sound-style call-to-action of Send Them On.
Nine dazzling collaborations with Mala, Shinichi Atobe, Batu, Azu Tiwaline, Gavsborg, and full crew.

Imperious Augustus Pablo dub-plate pressure, on the Humble Yourself rhythm.