BLOD - HELVETET PÅ JORDEN SKONA INGEN FAST GUD ÄLSKAR DIG LP
With the intention of doing a proper and full out choir record, Helvetet På Jorden was initiated by Blod two years ago. While the finished album became something slightly different, it's a much more vocal-based record compared to its thematically linked predecessors Pilgrimssånger (2022) and Där Ska Barnet Vara (2023). Deeply influenced by Swedish church music and psalms, Helvetet På Jorden consists of 10 of the strongest and most fulfilled Blod songs to date, all dealing with the interaction between love and evil on planet earth. All instruments and music by Gustaf Dicksson, with vocals also by Anna Johannesson, Elin Engstrom, Gittan Kock, Myran Dicksson and Magnus Jäverling. With lyric booklet. Mastered by Joakim Karlsson.
Discreet Music 22, 2024
Edition of 500 copies
FRANCISKA OG EMILIE LP
Jonas Torstensen returns to Discreet Music with the second Franciska album, following up the much praised Tryghed (Discreet Music 12) that was released in early 2023. Since Tryghed came out, Franciska has quickly become an established forefront of a young, new generation of Scandinavian experimental DIY musicians. This time a joint effort with his longtime friend and collaborator Camille Helt Haarder, the new album is dedicated to their shared hometown Odense in Denmark.
Mainly based on piano loops, cello, field recordings and a sparse use of electronics, the album is a culmination of an already pretty much perfect run of unique, shimmering tape music. While the palette might be familiar, the emotive sharpness and general preciseness on this album could be seen as a direct result of lots of recordings and performances the last few years. Still heavily utilizing cassettes and rudimentary hands-on editing, the raw compositions are at the same time more developed and refined. A truly special record that very much captures the essence of not only Discreet Music but what excites us about relevant contemporary music in general.
Recorded between January and October 2023, mastered for vinyl by Martin Lindum Cederholm. Comes with insert with liner notes by Jonas Torstensen.
Discreet Music 21, 2024
Edition of 500 copies
EFTERGIFT - VATTEN ÖVER VATTEN LP
Vatten Över Vatten ('Water Over Water') is the debut album by the Gothenburg-based act Eftergift. Heavily influenced by the Nordic nature, this is beautiful organic tape music that utilizes a range of different instruments over the course of 8 songs. Sort of the musical equivalent to slowly walking on foggy Swedish fields in the summer dawn. While comparisons could be made with the early Korea Undok Group transmissions or someone like Mattias Gustafsson when it comes to working with the magnetic tape and letting it become an integral part of the soundscape, the rugged lo-fi brilliance and homebrewed ambient of Eftergift is firmly rooted in its own vision and weirdly musical in all it's fucked up 4-track glory.
Mastered by Lasse Marhaug.
Discreet Music 20, 2024
Edition of 300 copies
DEMETERS DÖTTRAR - SØNDAG I SPEJLET LP
Demeters Döttrar is the new trio of Ida Skibsted Cramer, Charlott Malmenholt and Astrid Øster Mortensen. Søndag I Spejlet ('Sunday In The Mirror') was mainly recorded in Gamlestaden, Gothenburg between 2022 and 2023 and consists of 8 tracks that lies somewhere in between 90's lo-fi experimental bedroom music and brash text-sound compositions channeled through the ever-inspiring cassette underground.
Listening to Demeters Döttrar is like stepping into a parallel universe; a tiny unexplored corner with paper-thin walls or a very delicate bubble that is about to burst any moment. The instrumentation is sparse and mainly consists of guitar, vocals, prepared tapes and occasional harmonica. The recurrence of rain in different forms throughout the recording almost functions as a percussive backbone at times, the one thing except for the sound of the actual room that sort of keeps it all together.
With one foot in Sweden and one foot in Denmark, the group is utilizing both countries' language in an uncompromising and peculiarly alluring way. The almost brutal intimacy brings the more mellow Deux Filles moments to mind, though music wise this owes more to Un, early Charalambides and at times groups like Dadamah. A daring, major statement and one of the most beautiful, strange and other-worldly debut albums we heard in quite a while.
Discreet Music 19, 2024
Edition of 500 copies
SEWER ELECTION - PSYCHIC PANORAMA II CD
A much anticipated and perhaps at least partially dreaded follow-up to the first volume released back in 2021. Compositions for synthesizer & turntable recorded winter 2023 at Studio Malign in Gothenburg. The 'brutish and cold minimalism that resembles Nord or a David Tudor on benzos' still kind of rings true, but Vol II is more than just mere repetition. Psychedelic electronics indeed, including a haunting ode to Swedish goddess Marie Fredriksson, and another massive and innovative slow burner from one the very best. Jewelcase with 4-page booklet.
DMCD05, 2024
Edition of 500 copies
JUHO TOIVONEN - SISARUSTEN TOISTUVA UNI LP
Sisarusten Toistuva Uni is the sophomore album from Juho Toivonen, a young sound artist based in Pori, Finland. It follows up the piano-heavy debut album Kasveille Ja Eläimille released in 2023 - a record that was one of the major highlights at the Discreet Music HQ last year. The new album revolves around a recurring dream that Juho and his sister Ida-Sofia shared unknowingly. The 8 songs on the album resemble childhood memories, lacking clear borders or narrative, yet painted with strong, rich, and vivid colors.
On Sisarusten Toistuva Uni, Toivonen employs a broader palette of sounds compared to his previous work, while still exploring the austere piano improvisations from Kasveille and the folky drone bliss from his early cassettes. Some parts echo the ambiance of mid-00s favorites from labels like Fonal Records and PseudoArcana, and the wide scope strangely evokes memories of classic compilations like By The Fruits You Shall Know The Roots and New Skin For The Old Ceremony. The amalgamation of different sounds and influences ultimately results in a cohesive and uniquely special album firmly situated within the Discreet Music universe, yet distinct from anything else on the label.
Recorded in 2023. Mastered by Samuli Tanner.
Discreet Music 18, 2024
Edition of 500 copies
ARV & MILJÖ - JORDEN FÖRST LP
An emotionally charged and bizarrely evocative look at radical environmental advocacy groups, mainly Earth First! and Earth Liberation Front, channeled through the memories of the Swedish Plogbill-movement and their actions throughout the early 90's. Monologue, snippets of interview segments, protest songs and site recordings are mixed up with the rather raw kosmische synth music Arv & Miljö has explored during the last couple of years. The result is a mesmerizing and multi-faceted audio collage; charmingly disorienting and chaotic but also harmonic and oddly soothing. Ultimately, Jorden Först is not so much about a certain cause or organization as it is about dedication, passion and the spirit of change.
Originally released as a very limited CDr on Förfall in 2021, Jorden Först was quickly hailed as one of the absolute highlights in the vast Arv & Miljö discography among the ones that heard it. The recording was extended and slightly reworked and remixed for vinyl in July 2022.
Printed on brown kraftboard covers with insert. Mastered by Lasse Marhaug.
Discreet Music 17, 2024
Edition of 500 copies
ROY MONTGOMERY & FRIENDS - BROKEN HEART SURGERY LP
Roy Montgomery is a pioneer of the NZ underground as a founding member in classic bands like The Pin Group and Dadamah but he’s spent the better part of the last three decades exploring a sprawling music project under his own name. For Montgomery there seems to be endless sonic terrain to investigate and life experiences to transmute. He’s been on a real tear the last seven years having released a staggering ten albums for Grapefruit Records in which he's managed to navigate disparate genres, scenes, and atmospheres, always at the forefront of experimental independent music. This miraculous run culminated with 2022’s Camera Melancholia, a double album meditation on love and loss and acceptance.
Broken Heart Surgery is Roy’s first for Discreet Music and it represents a difficult and at times harrowing new beginning for the artist. For this album, Roy has been closely collaborating with friends. Some done in the same room at Nightshift Studios in Ōtautahi Christchurch: Emma Johnston, Stephen Cogle and Nicole Moffat. Other friends recorded their parts at distance: Martha Skye Murphy in London, and Alicia Merz in "the Coromandel" in Te Ika a Māui or the North Island of Aotearoa New Zealand. Discreet Music are very honored to be able to present this cinematic masterpiece which continues Roy’s trajectory into the uncharted and unpredictable.
Mastering in Aotearoa New Zealand by Arnie Van Bussel at Night Shift Studios. Mastered for vinyl by Lasse Marhaug. Cover artwork by Trudi Cameron.
Discreet Music 16, 2024
Edition of 500 copies
OUT OF PRINT
JJ BAND - LIVE I KUNGSTEN 12"
While working on his solo albums, JJulius put together a live band consisting of Clara Flygare (Standard) on drums and vocals, Gustav Danielsbacka (Incipientium) on guitar and Mattias Rörström (Happiest Place Records) on bass. The all star incarnation debuted in Gothenburg in October 2021 and the following year the group recorded a couple of songs in Kungsten. The heavy ballad opener '500 spänn' sort of evokes the spirit of prime time Felt while the angular UKDIY bizarro blast of 'Sorg I Göteborg' and the late era Skiftande Enheter noddings of 'U2" shows a more energetic side. The galloping, life-affirming instrumental closer 'Vargen' is one of those epics you could easily see the band expand and just doing longer and longer versions of live until it finally takes over the whole set. 45rpm white label 12" with risograph paste-on sleeves and insert. Mastered by Lasse Marhaug.
Discreet Music 15, 2023
Edition of 490 copies
LEDA - NEUTER LP
Sofie Herner (Enhet För Fri Musik, Neutral) returns with Neuter, the first proper album since the Gitarrmusik III-X LP released on Förlag För Fri Musik back in 2017. Neuter was recorded between 2018 and 2021 and is the culmination of a very distinctive and unmistakable sound Sofie has developed and refined during close to 10 years now. The music of Leda is based on primitive guitar loops of various lenghts, loops that intervenes and creates peculiar rhythms and subtle harmonies. Slow-burning proto-industrial basement buzz with occasional vocals buried in the mix. The connection to the sullen soundscapes of Neutral is of course there, but the skeletal, monotonous compositions and austere nature of things sets this apart widely. Years has passed and Neuter is ultimately more Malmö than Gothenburg. Hints has been thrown out on a handful of limited in-between releases on labels like Knotwilg and Kashual Plastik during the last few years, but Neuter is the pinnacle of Herner's body of solo work. Nine tracks, 37 minutes. Mastered by Linus at Elementstudio and comes packaged in a cover jacket with full colour printed inside.
Discreet Music 14, 2023
Edition of 750 copies
BLOD - DÄR SKA BARNET VARA LP
New album from Blod recorded during the second half of 2022 by Gustaf Dicksson. Där Ska Barnet Vara is a continuation of the themes explored on Pilgrimssånger and contains nine more songs dealing with faith in different forms, with a strong presence of death. Compared to Pilgrimssånger, the sound is slightly more lo-fi and fucked up and the approach is somewhat looser and more desperate, but here are some of the strongest and most fragile and heartfelt Blod songs to date. Additional players on the record are Astrid Øster Mortensen (vocals, flute, saxophone & piano), Anna Johannesson (vocals) and Magnus Jäverling (organ and flute). Mastered by Joakim Karlsson. Note: All covers are screenprinted and assembled using old record sleeves so there can be tiny defects like worn out corners, marks and occasional seam splits.
Discreet Music 13, 2023
Edition of 1000 copies
FRANCISKA - TRYGHED LP
Tryghed is the debut album from Franciska, the alias of the now Copenhagen-based artist Jonas Torstensson. As one of the key figures in the young, vivid scene around the Forlaget Kornmod imprint, Jonas has released a good deal of music under different names during the last few years, often in very limited cassette editions with barely no distribution. In many ways, Franciska pretty much captures the very essence of the sound world their label now is associated with: melancholic and rather loose tape compositions made with a hands-on approach, usually performed on organ, piano, synthesizers and acoustic instruments and often room recorded with environmental sounds leaking in. Truly DIY ambient music, closely connected in spirit with some of the more melodic Förlag För Fri Musik moments, Astrid Øster Mortensen etc. With crude stop/rec editing, sizzling magnetism and tape scuffs left intact, the A-side consists mainly of piano recordings made while on break from classical music rehearsals in school, while the B-side incorporates more electronics and field recordings though still having the piano as the focal point. Wintery minimalism at its very best. Cover image by Alba Liv. Mastered by Joakim Karlsson.
Discreet Music 12, 2023
Edition of 750 copies
