Black Truffle Australia 黑胶唱片和CD

Review: Accomplished Swedish-Finnish artist Marja Ahti arrives on Black Truffle with an extended journey into her electro-acoustic practice. As you might expect from a release on Oren Ambarchi's label, there's an emphasis on sustained tonal immersion, but Ahti is equally prepared to make decisive cuts and shifts in direction when the moment calls for it. At times surrounded by environmental static, elsewhere drawing us close to consider a specifically sculpted tone, Tender Membranes is a captivating invitation to pause and truly listen, and makes the task surprisingly approachable through the compelling nature of the sounds contained within.

Review: Black Truffle is celebrating the tenth anniversary of Oren Ambarchi's Quixotism with a special reissue, originally released on Editions Mego in 2014. This remastered edition, with enhancements by Joe Talia, brings back Ambarchi's ambitious workia summation of his past explorations and a precursor to future innovations. Quixotism presents a single, LP-length composition divided into five parts, anchored by Thomas Brinkmann's pulsating electronic rhythms. The album starts with delicate orchestral and piano textures, gradually evolving into a vibrant polyrhythmic shuffle featuring tabla player U-zhaan. Ambarchi's guitar traverses a wide array of acoustic spaces, from crisp, clipped tones to deep, reverberant expanses. The piece's slow, dream-like transitions and the intricate interplay of its elements reflect both a culmination of Ambarchi's previous work and a hint of his future directions. A fresh opportunity to rediscover the charm of Quixotism.

Review: Black Truffle's tenth-anniversary reissue of Oren Ambarchi's Quixotism brings renewed attention to this monumental 2014 release. Originally recorded with collaborators across Europe, Japan, Australia, and the U.S., Quixotism unfolds as a single, long-form piece split into five sections. Anchored by Thomas Brinkmann's steady, double-time electronic percussion, the piece gradually evolves from orchestral depth and subtle piano motifs (courtesy of John Tilbury) to a striking polyrhythmic shuffle, culminating in the final passages with U-zhaan's masterful tabla. Throughout its journey, Ambarchi weaves guitar textures that shift from clipped, sparse tones to lush, reverberated layers, creating an expansive yet cohesive sonic landscape. The interplay of acoustic and electronic elementsiranging from the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra's grandeur to Crys Cole's intimate contact-mic texturesiguides the listener through an otherworldly audio experience. Influenced by Cologne techno, Eliane Radigue's long-form compositions, and the fluidity of improvisation, Quixotism shifts in subtle, dreamlike transitions. Remastered by Joe Talia, this edition offers a clearer perspective on the album's intricate sound design, reaffirming its relevance while pointing forward to Ambarchi's future works like Hubris and Hence.

Review: Given that Ricardo Villalobos was one of a handful of guest producers who featured on Oren Ambarchi's recent Hubris album - a krautrock-influenced minimalist techno exploration that also boasted contributions from Jim O'Rourke and Mark Fell, amongst others - it seems fitting that he's been roped in to provide two new remixes. The Chilean's contribution to the album was largely rhythm-based, and his two lengthy Variations - each stretched across one side of wax - promote undulating, heads-down dancefloor hypnotism above all else. Naturally, his drum programming and use of subtle stylistic shifts is as on-point as ever, with Ambarchi's original textures being manipulated into mind-altering new shapes.

Review: Annea Lockwood is a pioneering New Zealand-born experimental composer who returns to Black Truffle with her third release for the label. Although she is now the handsome age of 85, Lockwood continues to explore new sound sources and collaborate with a range of performers and 'On Fractured Ground' features recordings made with Pedro Rebelo and Georgios Varoutsos while using Belfast's "peace lines" as resonant instruments that deeply evoke the dark history of the Troubles. 'Skin Resonance' is a collaboration with Vanessa Tomlinson that explores the bass drum's sonic properties while infusing them with elemental textures. Both pieces showcase Lockwood's reflective, meditative approach and make for another significant entry into her creative story.

Review: Over the course of fifty years, Kamalesh Maitra devoted himself to the art of tabla playing - specifically playing the tabla tarang, a set of between ten and sixteen hand drums tuned to the notes of a drone and scalic backing. Here on Black Truffle comes 'Raag Kirwani On Tabla Tarang', a quelling new record detailing one of several newly unearthed archival recordings of this late great purveyor of the Indian classical music tradition. Across just two movements in one raga, Kirwani demonstrates an adroit playstyle, slickly promulgating an illusorily multi-armed sound; it's almost unbelievable at points as to how he achieves his various unisons and flams, with several pinpointable moments sounding as if at least three drums are being struck at once. Seated behind a semi-circular array of drums, Maitra produces stunning waves of melodic improvisation enlivened with the rhythmic invention of a master percussionist.

Review: Black Truffle proudly present A Song for Two Mothers/Occam IX, the debut solo release from Laetitia Sonami, a pioneer in electronic music and live performance innovation. Born in France in 1957, Sonami studied with Eliane Radigue before moving to California in 1978 to immerse herself in the experimental scene at Mills College. Best known for her invention, the Lady's Glove, a revolutionary interface that allowed her to manipulate sound, lights, and video, Sonami has now transitioned to a new instrumentithe Spring Spyre. The Spring Spyre, a unique contraption of springs and reverb tanks, captures the unpredictable nature of Sonami's real-time performances. In A Song for Two Mothers (2023), Sonami spins a web of intricate synthetic textures, where delicate yet chaotic sounds emerge from silence, gradually evolving into metallic percussive flurries and harmonic clouds. On the flip side, Occam IX is a profound collaboration with her former mentor, Eliane Radigue. This piece, rooted in deep sonic exploration, envelops listeners in slowly unfolding waves of synthetic tones, echoing Radigue's iconic longform works. Accompanied by insightful notes and striking imagery, this release is a vital tribute to Sonami's groundbreaking contributions to electronic music.

Review: Konrad Sprenger, as any real heads will know, is a moniker of Jorg Hiller, who works in many fields including composing, producing and instrument building. His work seamlessly blends scientific exploration of sound with pop sensibility and humour. From the diverse instrumentation of albums like Miniaturen and Versprochen to the electric guitar explorations of Stack Music in 2017, Hiller's evolution is ever-captivating. Here he unites these elements into a playful, infectious epic performed by Hiller and the enigmatic Ensemble Risonanze Moderne with guest Oren Ambarchi weaving swirling harmonics into its vibrant soundscapes. These two side-long pieces feature polyrhythmic frameworks blending shimmering guitar harmonics, horns and synthetic bursts into a mix of avant-garde and techno wonderment. Hiller doesn't release very often but when he does, it's worth taking note.

Review: Black Truffle presents a formerly unheard live album by rudra veena master Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar, recorded in the North Indian city of Vrindavan at the Druhpad Samaroh festival in 1982. Dagar was a nineteenth-generation descendant of the musical Dagar family, famed for their meditative approach to the tradition of Hindustani court music. The rudra veena is a large and low-pitched string instrument amplified by two huge, hollowed-out gourds, and Dagar became the first modern dhrupad musician to perform with it as an instrumental soloist. True to form, in this recording of Dagar, in which he performs the night raga 'Yaman Kalyan', we hear all manner of frozen tanpura stasis; twisting, hovering drones; gracefully bent notes. Dagar weaves a complex web, bringing the recording to a fitting, measured conclusion, in contrast to the unrestrained virtuosity rounding off most performances by his contemporaries. This edition is adorned with beautiful archival photographs of Dagar taken by Swedish percussion legend Bengt Berger and accompanied by detailed notes from Bradford Bailey.