Metron Holland Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Metron Records' tenth album release sees the imprint return to Japanese artist 7FO (from the likes of RVNG, Bokeh Versions and EM Records). This is his second full length on the label and it was initially created to go with a 2014 exhibition by Osaka art collective Himitsu. Now for the first time on vinyl, Music For Himitsu has been remastered to glorious effect. The show was made up by ceramicist Shiori Nishino, photographer Hiroshi Nakamura and landscape gardener Takashi Torigoe who aimed to showcase a combination of light, water and earth, which provided 7FO all the inspiration he needed to make these accompanying sounds.

Review: Perpetual Care is much more than just a record for Early Fern and their partner. The album represents an homage to, lament for, and document of a period in time that was cut short and, by all accounts, will be forever remembered by the pair with happiness and harmonious thoughts. Let's start from the beginning. Well, sort of.

Regardless of what came beforehand, the artist's third album on Metron Records is an attempt to project what it felt like to live in a camper van in the wilds of New York State, working on a rural farm and relishing in the bounty of nature visible in all directions. It was also catalysed by a forced eviction from that place, which resulted in the upturning of life for those on the blunt end. So, what does all that sound like? How about a kind of ambient innocence infused with instrumental details that pertain to countryside lushness, gentle tracks that seem to glide on the breeze, packed with textures reflecting seasons and weather systems. A hybrid of experimental sonics, classical grandeur and folk feelings.

Review: Ole Mic Odd aka Michael Padgett is a hardware operator and DJ from Los Angeles and runs the wonderfully named label The New U.S. Government. Here he sweeps to power with four tracks across four sides of vinyl for the Zement label, two following a slower, punishing pulse that's like P-funk remade in a robot factory, only with tons of added bubbling acid, Drexciya-style filtering and Juan Arkins-like synthetic strings. The other two are way faster, Ice So Bright sounding like someone secretly spiked Kraftwerk's cocoa with something extremely sinister, sending them racing off on their bikes at treble speed. Echo Park has an even more distinct flanging acid flavour and hyper, hooligan electro foundations, again with those Model 500 misty clouds of synthesiser floating overhead. Absolutely cracking stuff.

Review: Yumiko Morioka helmed a group of diverse street musicians and semi-professional players in 1989 for a project that eventually became the Synergetic Voice Orchestra. It is influenced by a wide array of cultures and sounds from India, Ethiopia, Mali, Korea and China as well as thew traditional sounds of her native Japanese City of Okinawa. Yumiko is a classically taught musician herself and was told there were no restrictions for this record. The results are beguiling for sure, with DIY percussive sounds, plenty of Eastern flutes, synth bass lines, experimental rhythms and organic sound sources that make it as barmy as it is brilliant.

Review: Yumiko Morioka helmed a group of diverse street musicians and semi-professional players in 1989 for a project that eventually became the Synergetic Voice Orchestra. It is influenced by a wide array of cultures and sounds from India, Ethiopia, Mali, Korea and China as well as thew traditional sounds of her native Japanese City of Okinawa. Yumiko is a classically taught musician herself and was told there were no restrictions for this record. The results are beguiling for sure, with DIY percussive sounds, plenty of Eastern flutes, synth bass lines, experimental rhythms and organic sound sources that make it as barmy as it is brilliant.

Review: Tenka aka Meitei and Berlin-based, Japanese scent designer, Ryoko have combined to make a scent that complements this new album from Tenka. It is well worth finding it if you can. The album itself is his first since his trilogy series and once again establishes him as a leading voice in the contemporary electronic scene of Japan. Hydration finds him looking to "work without the boundaries of theme, storytelling or audience expectations" and spent many hours in nearby mountain forests to find inspiration. That plays out with colour, sound, smell, humidity, touch, atmosphere and taste all colouring the grooves.

Review: In Li Yield's Chinese homeland, the title of this album translates back to English as 'childhood' or 'dishevelled hair'. Both are fitting. The London-based multi-instrumentalist and composer follows on from 2021's spellbinding OF with a second full-length record, and this time looks to try and immortalise the experience of growing up young, seeing the world through wide open eyes and learning by engaging with it. The technical back story is impressive - Nonage is packed with outtakes of old Chinese TV shows, mechanical toys and instruments that were made by the artist for this project. Yilei's own childhood piano jams, and half-memories, are also interspersed. In the end, it's a beguiling listen, intriguing and curious, and consistently hazy, just like those recollections from when you were only just able to reach the counter top.

Review: Worst album title in the world? Best album title in the world? The album title that makes you wonder when you got old and who did it and where they went? Let's start by alleviating some concerns - all Florian T M Zeisg can do is set your mind at ease. A gentle, sensory deprivation-worthy listening experience in which age itself has become meaningless and all that matters are the lucid refrained tones that seem to dip into and through pools of resonance.

These are tracks that glide on themselves, or dive headfirst in the most majestic ways. They are breaths of fresh air and introverted meditative moments in equal measure. They're light as a breeze, and dense enough for full immersion as you sink to the bottom. A joyful, melodic, spatial ambient mood.