The Trilogy Tapes Schallplatten & CDs

Review: It's pretty difficult to define most of the releases on Trilogy Tapes, which is only a good thing. This is certainly true of Maremoto, and the work of Francesco Pastaldi (Jean-Louis, Fantazio) and Olivier Demeaux (Heimat, Accident du travail) as Ciccio & 2MO. As wildly avant garde but compellingly listenable as you could hope for, it's been said they straddle a gap between psyche and industrial, but we say there's way more going on than just that. Their 2023 epic is certainly proof of this. There's something sinister and brooding yet instantly engaging and inviting about what's here, it's experimental yet instant when things need to be, highly complex but not in a way that distracts from the joy of tracks that range from a twisted kind of Bond-theme to wonderfully open classic live breaks, cacophonies of percussion and strange, strained stabs.

Review: Bristolian William Yates makes a superb debut here on the cult Trilogy Tapes after impressing with top releases on the likes of Sahko and his own memorecs. His sound is a sprawling, loose one that takes in dusky jazz, psychedelic ambiance and plenty of eccentric and hard-to-define things in between. There are few limitations to the sounds that Yates bastardises here from bluegrass to downbeat to drone. Pieces are lo-fi and ramshackle, with barely there rhythms slowly moving things along beneath the odd warped oboe or twanging blues guitar. It manages to sound both ancient yet thrilling new and inventive as a result and is one of the most idiosyncratic records we've heard for a while.

Review: Nuke Watch made a big debut on this label back in 2021 and since dropped live snapshots on the likes of NYPD Records and WEEDING but now return with new full-length World's Gone M.A.D.. The ensemble features Chris Hontos and Aaron Anderson and between them, they explore modal jazz infused with dub undercurrents and plenty of rhythmic and electronic invention. Spoken words and warped folk guitar lines, plucked strings and ritualistic dances, whirring machines and drifting sax notes all make this a record that is alive with detail and brilliantly beguiling.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition***


Lukid & Tapes combine their scuzzy sounds once more as Rezzett for this new and sonically fucked up outing on The Trilogy tapes. It's lo-fi music full of perfect imperfections and dusty sound sources, cruddy rhythms and distant cosmic noise that sounds both as if dug up from under many layers of ancient soil but also somehow sent back from the future. It is now a decade since this pair made their first outing but their sound remains fascinatingly original. For loose genre references, imagine breakbeat hardcore, 90s jungle, granular Detroit techno and raw Chicago house all chucked into a blender.