Arcana brings you good news from Wales, where Das Koolies have released a new single, Som Bom Magnifico, and posted plans for a new album in May.
In case you don’t already know, Das Koolies is essentially the Super Furry Animals, minus Gruff Rhys – though it’s important to mention there is no ‘split’ as such, just different musical projects to enjoy. The current incarnation, made up of Huw Bunford, Cian Ciarán, Daf Ieuan and Guto Pryce, hit the ground running in 2023 with the brilliant DK.01 album, and its successor, Pando, looks set to build on that handsomely on 9 May.
For now, you can enjoy the cosmic synth play, vocals and heady chorus of the psychedelic Som Bom Magnifico, a danceable cut that bodes very well for the band’s second chapter!
Published post no.2,420 – Thursday 23 January 2025
words from the press release, adapted for publication by Ben Hogwood
The Piatti Quartet releases a new album of Quartets Nos. 2-4 by British composer Joseph Phibbs, “one of the most successful composers of his generation” (BBC Music Magazine).
The Quartet and Phibbs have maintained a close relationship that stretches back several years. Since its joint second prize and Sydney Griller Award at the 2015 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition, the Piatti Quartet has established a high reputation, particularly in the contemporary repertoire. They have recorded and performed Phibbs’ String Quartet no.1 almost 50 times.
Joseph (above) says:
“Having studied the cello as a child, I have always felt a special affinity with string music. My introduction at the age of 14 to the music of Britten was through his first string quartet, the opening of which still fills me with awe, and his works – especially those for strings – have remained a lifelong inspiration. After the first commission, the Piatti’s enthusiasm encouraged me to continue exploring the genre, and – a decade later – it has been both a privilege and a huge pleasure to have another opportunity to write for them (String Quartet No.4). Much of my music is inspired by light and landscapes (as well as cityscapes). When considering which images would best sum up the overall feel of the album, light – both natural and artificial – as seen within a landscape, seemed the most fitting choice.”
As a composer, Phibbs’ main influences are Lutoslawski, Britten and his former teacher Steven Stucky. Over recent years, he has been primarily exploring melody, forging his way using modal, diatonic and triadic harmonies.
Phibbs’s opera Juliana premiered in 2018 showed “a strong sense of continuity with the past – not least in the markedly post-Britten soundworld” (BBC Music Magazine). The Guardian added, “Juliana is that rare thing nowadays, a genuinely well-made, effective new opera that achieves exactly what it sets out to do.”
You can listen to excerpts from this album at the Presto website
A confession: the return of Fluke in April completely passed me by. My excuse is two-fold – 1) I wasn’t expecting new music from the band, given we hadn’t heard anything in 15 years, and 2) it’s surprisingly difficult to keep up with new music these days, with so many digital outlets.
What a pleasure, then, to discover that both their April return Insanely Beautiful and this new single Real Magnificent are up to the same high standards of their 1990s peak – while staying nicely ahead of the game. Real Magnificent arrives in a number of guises. The original has a slight country accent to its vocals and riffing, while the two remixes from sLEdger, are a shimmering, atmospheric house take and a moody pared-back dub. The JC remix blends tough beats and blurry imagery, pumped up but losing a little of the atmosphere, which the All Buttons In version retains.
You can access all these versions at the Fluke Bandcamp site, the mixes delivered with the same no-nonsense effectiveness that the band have always shown. It’s great to have them back!
published by Ben Hogwood, using the press release.
Sasha returns to Night Time Stories with his latest project – Da Vinci Genius – an immersive exhibition celebrating the work of Leonardo Da Vinci, the great Italian Renaissance polymath.
His 2016 release Scene Delete’ on the same label, an imaginary movie score, saw an adventurous but logical left-turn for the veteran DJ/producer. Now he is fully embracing the world and structure of classical music, combined with the deep sonics for which he’s renowned. He used his experience as an electronic music producer – and movie buff – to re-frame his work, enlisting Scene Delete veterans Dennis White, Dave Gardner and Barry Jamieson to assist in this complex task.
“I’ve never written music for a project like this before, so it was really exciting and interesting to work with the show’s designers Flora and Fauna Visions (FFV) on this incredible brief.
The show is a past-present-future peek into Da Vinci’s mind, presenting a lot of his iconic work, using computers to play around with it, and creating a stunning visual experience. We needed the music to support and enhance that.
We wanted to capture some of the atmosphere of those incredible film scores we love, and the modern electronic composers we were inspired by. People like Nils Frahm, Jon Hopkins, Steve Reich, even Vangelis and Jean Michel Jarre. We were inspired by Kubrick’s approach to using classical music in his films, but also the modern film composers like Hans Zimmer, who use classical movements with amazing electronic sounds around them.
We also managed to find some beautiful medieval choral music of LDV’s era from a Renaissance composer Josquin des Pres, which inspired some of the more ambient sections. When we started the score we hadn’t seen any of the visual, so had to be guided by FFV’s mood boards. It was a different, challenging way of working.” Sasha
A dream-like journey from start to finish, the nuances, atmosphere and melodic layers of compositions such as Mosiac, Equality and Clouds are woven into soft melodies and emotive timbres, and are perfectly presented. It’s only with compositions such as the beatific Super Hero (with Sentre) and Into The Metaverse where Sasha reverts to more familiar sounds. Listen to the trailer below for an idea of how effective Sasha’s blend of his own language and newer influences can sound:
With Da Vinci Genius, it feels like Sasha is very much at home in unfamiliar territory – revelling in the simply beautiful and undeniably moving music he has created. He recounts, “I really wanted to take something classical but flip it on its head, make it modern. Although the show focuses on Leonardo’s original art, in most points of the show it’s getting messed with electronically. For instance, the Mona Lisa appears out of thousands of digital fragments, and some of his other famous portraits melt into electronic visual glitches. I wanted to frame the show with a classical mood, but then allow electronics to pulse behind it. It was a wonderful collaboration with FFV and I’ve loved doing this.”
Da Vinci Genius debuted in Berlin in 2021 and then transferred a year later to Amsterdam. The show is set to wow audiences in Florida, USA and India at the end of this year, with more details to be announced.
published by Ben Hogwood, text taken from the press release.
Bibio has announced the imminent release of Phantom Brickworks (LP II) on Warp Records on 22 November. The first excerpt from the album, DINORWIC, can be heard here:
PHANTOM BRICKWORKS is an ongoing ambient/drone project by English musician and producer Stephen James Wilkinson aka Bibio, inspired by nature, landscape and places haunted by the faint ghosts of industry. It explores the human echoes still present in various sites around Britain which Wilkinson visited, observing their gradual decline.
“Human beings are highly sensitive to the atmospheres of places, which can be enhanced or dramatically altered when you learn the context of their history… echoes and voices can sometimes be heard, in some way or another. Places sometimes have things to say,” says Wilkinson. He continues, “Since releasing ‘PHANTOM BRICKWORKS’ in 2017, I have come to realise that it is an ongoing project. Although elements of ‘PHANTOM BRICKWORKS’ have seeped into my other albums over the years, it feels like its own separate entity.”
PHANTOM BRICKWORKS (LPII) brings attention to new sites; some are intriguing, vast scars on the natural landscape, others survive only in local memories, historic clips and photographs. A few remain submerged from ordinary sight, while some exist purely as legends and stories. Under blankets of improvised evolving loops of piano and baritone guitar, the muffled spectres of working life can be heard, implying nature will come for everything and eventually hide the scars.
“When I announced the first ‘PHANTOM BRICKWORKS’ album, I discussed how places can be charged with meaning, depending on what they’d been through. That observation continues with the new album. It consists of mostly improvised music, using some of the same techniques as before as well as developing new ones that are unique to this album. Some familiar territory is revisited, both musically and in terms of the types of locations that interest me. North Wales plays a significant role, but this album reaches beyond – extending into the realms of legends, as stories passed down through generations can sometimes haunt a place more vividly,” says Wilkinson.
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