After a very brief hiatus we are back on deck and ready to share with you our newest musical arrivals. Make sure to check Motto’s full catalogue for an immersive experience and our Motto Disco page, revived and refreshed especially for your ears.
To hear a selection of sounds from these albums, follow this link to our new mix created by Max Parnell.
The mix features sounds from:
King Gong Accou Richard Scott Kristen Oppenheim YL Hsueh Vladislav Delay & Eivind Aarset Sonic Boom / Papiro DJ Fusiller x Fusiller
“Many years ago Alan Courtis and I started swapping audio recordings we made in deserted places known as “steppe”. I recorded many in South Ukraine, on the last spot of the European virginal steppe known as Askania Nova. Alan found his sounds in Patagonia, Argentina, it’s another steppe territory, another part of the globe. Both are unusual places to get some interesting field recordings.
What you can hear on these audio files? It is something close to “nothing”. No clear particular sound objects, no dramatic movements, or even no specific audio atmosphere. Maybe a little of distant wind’s breath. Maybe some touch of dry summer grass. Maybe some echo of Bird-Queen singing her eternal song. Maybe the memory of ancient Godness walked these fields long before us. Maybe it’s just the vibration of Earth. Maybe it’s just our imagination. Too many “maybe” you can hear there…
Alan and I composed our pieces based on these original recordings and layers of processed/altered/filtered etc. variations of sounds.
Learn to listen to nothing and you will get to hear everything.” – Edward Sol
Released October 25, 2022
Edward Sol – field recordings & tapes, sound sources recorded in Ukraine Anla Courtis – field recordings & tapes, sound sources recorded in Argentina Artwork by Alexander Khaverchuk Layout by Zavoloka Release produced by Dmytro Fedorenko
Since the end of the 90s, Laurent Jeanneau, aka Kink Gong, has been recording the musics of mostly endangered minorities mainly in Southeast Asia. Alongside his relentless pursue of collecting predominantly unknown and unpublished musics, he produced a series of remixes combining these recordings with natural sounds, archive material and electronically treated sounds.
The Russian producer Vladimir Karpov is well on his way towards a lasting legacy as a modern synthesizer wizard in the grandiose vein of Vangelis and Jarre. With a propensity for concept albums he has built a sturdy discography during this past decade that echoes the progressive ideas of the psychedelic generation as it moved into adulthood with Moog in hand.
While equally a part of the postmodern generation; Karpov’s ouvre also embraces the utopian daydreaming of the new age, the environmental concerns embodied in field recording, and the holistic approach of Jon Hassels 4th world concept.
While the esoteric fantasies of previous works linger on, the conceptual aspect of “Anciente” is rendered more abstract. And instead of dividing ideas into tracks that form an album, here Karpov is pushing the boundaries of his compositions further into longer forms. Like trails into humid forest landscapes, they run deep enough for one to get lost along the way.
Clocking in at a neat 20 minutes per side, the two tracks that make up “Anciente” weaves soft brushes of undefinable sounds and tropical field recordings that almost create ASMR-inducing vibrations in the minds of the listener. Eventually they might open a doorway to a twilight-lit wilderness and the possible secrets of the first civilised men. As Carlos Castaneda once wrote, relaying the wisdom of the Yaqui; “twilight is the crack between worlds. It is the door to the unknown.” Or, as in this case, the door to the ancient.
Kink Gong (aka Laurent Jeanneau) was born in France in 1965.
He started making electronic music around 1995 in NYC, and in 1999 went to live with the Hadzas in Tanzania to record their music, since then he started to record the music of mostly endangered minorities in many different places, mostly in Southeast Asia. He lived in Indonesia, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, China, and many other places. He also composes electronic music that includes and transforms those recordings. With a huge catalog of his work, he released music from the label such as Sublime Frequencies, Akuphone, Discrepant, and more.
This album is to celebrate the music I was involved in while living in Dali, Yunnan, China between 2006 and 2012. As usual with Kink Gong compositions, they contain all kinds of field recordings, mostly in Southern China, Laos, and Cambodia; local instruments that I play and electronic to melt them together, resulting in experimental soundscapes. Each element of the composition relates to this period with people (the dramatic voices of Hani or Yao singers) and spaces (park, jungle) and the long hours of creative enjoyment in our house by the Ear lake (Erhai) to put those elements together, using my neighbour (Li Daiguo)’s skill on pipa or new electronic toys I got around that time.
Our son was born in Dali in 2008 and this LP is called Ji Sang (literally translated as Lucky Mulberry Tree) after his name.
Side A – Fishermen Boats of Erhai Lake Electronic, Dali China 2010 + Punoy Mouthorgan, Laos 2010 + Khmu Man Voice, Phongsaly Laos 2010 + Metallic Boats on Erhai Lake, Dali China 2010 + Electronic, Dali China 2012 + Dong Niutuiqin + Woman’s Voice, Guizhou China 2012 + Electronic, Dali China 2011 + Hani Vocal Polyphony, Yunnan China 2011 + Chinese Pop Singer, Shanghai 2001 + 2 Yao Women’s Voices, + Frogs, Yunnan China 2011
Side B – Morsing Bimo Morsing Indian Mouthharp, Chennai India 1997 + Nuosu Yi Bimo, Sichuan China 2010 + Electronic, Paris 2000 + Santur Persian Dulcimer, Berlin 2017 + Nuosu Koxian Multiblades Mouthharp, Sichuan China 2010
– Pon Dao Flute Siem Reap, Cambodia 2003 + Electronic, Dali China 2008 + Mum 1 Stringed Bowed Instrument, Krung Ratanakiri Cambodia 2004
– Chengdu Park Electronic, Dali China 2008 + Park in Chengdu, Sichuan China 2008 + Pipa by Li Daiguo, Dali China 2011 + Nyaheun Mouthorgan + Voice, Champasak Laos 2006 + Lisu Chibeu Guitar, Yunnan China 2012
released December 2, 2022
All music recorded & recomposed by Kink Gong 1997 – 2012 Kink Gong plays Mouthharp, Mouthorgan, and Lisu Chibeu Mastered by Thomas Stadnicki Layout by 若潭 Ruò Tán
For December 2022 Music Mix we hosted Broshuda on a two-day residence at Motto’s store. The artist created a mix featuring music from our latest arrivals.
Donghoon Gang, a Frankfurt-based South Korean artist and composer, has released a new album titled 4.6m/s. This album is inspired by Yeondeunggut–an annual ritual summoned to the God of wind that takes place in early February in Gangʼs hometown, Jeju Island, in South Korea. In the spirit of the God believed to protect the wellness of the island and sow seeds for a fruitful spring, islanders pray, hoping for the peacefully calm sea surrounding the island during the two-week duration of the ceremony.
The title of the album, 4.6m/s, is the average wind speed on the day the God of wind arrives on the island for over the past thirty years. Each track was written and presented in the order of the traditional ceremony procedures: Calling, Telling, Seeding and Playing – all of which are symbolic gestures of welcoming the wind deity and sending her back to her origin. Every component in the album is created in mixtures of field recordings and collaborative fulfillment with traditional instrumentalists and shamans based on the island. All the tracks are also incorporated with ambient sounds, spoken words and musique concrète, generating a variety of aural and texture affections at different parts of each sequence.
Released on December 10, 2022
Edition of 200
One side (22ʼ16”) 1. Calling (06ʼ50”) 2. Telling (09ʼ38”) 3. Seeding (03ʼ26”) 4. Playing (02ʼ22”)
A selection of tracks from albums included in Motto’s November 2022 music newsletter, featuring sounds from:
Mads Emil Nielsen Nile Koetting Significant Soil Raed Yassin Muslimgauze MAI MAO Alfred Panou & The Art Ensemble of Chicago Oswaldo Lares Crème de Hassan
