Happy 2024 from the Off team!

 

And yes, a lot of electronics, jazz, avant-garde, Pierre Vervloesem and more!

So be ready for an Off year full of music!

Best to all of you good good people!

OVD077 : Pierre Vervloesem / Spacequake

 

Covert art by Pierre Vervloesem

OVD077: Pierre Vervloesem / Spacequake

2 long tracks, 2 masterpieces to celebrate the 24th of December. You will need to listen to it 24 times to really discover and appreciate all the subtleties of Pierre's music. Where will he stops... Well let's find in 2024!

Pierre says: 
"Here is my 80th album, to end with panache the cosmic saga after the intercontinental successes of Dark Matter1/2/3/4/5/6 
Thanks to Bruno ''always more'' Vansina, Elie ''one take'' Gouleme, Thomas ''titanium lips'' Mayade, Jan ''moustache'' Kuijken and Jean-Pierre '' do I record that? '' Jonckheere."

Digital release on the 24th of December 2023.

Track listing:

1: A Spacequake For December 24

2: Aftershock

Itunes, Spotify, etc.:

https://bfan.link/spacequake

And on Bandcamp:

OUC045 : Parham Izadyar / hurqelyā

 

OUC045 : Parham Izadyar / hurqelyā

Parham says:

"This album aims to summarize my ideas and approaches from 2020 to 2023 as an electronic music composer.
In this journey, I learned a lot from professors and friends, and most importantly, my attitude towards music, especially electronic music, became so much clearer. I think what comes in must come out, so I wanted to pass on my experiences as an album, through music, the most proper way to do it.
In this album you can see many different aspects of electronic music, from pure electronic and ambient sounds to complex algorithmic compositions, extended techniques for instruments and how developed by electronic effects. pitch tracker and oscillators, combining traditional and contemporary music, past and future, west and east, together with the help of electronics features. You can view this album as a small example of what can be done in electronic music.
I must say all of the pieces composed for the performers were based on their participation and companionship and those collaborations were  great and pure feelings. They came with beautiful ideas which I put in the album. So I would like to thank them here.
I hope you will enjoy the music and please don't hesitate to share your impressions. Thank you " Parham Izadyar

Electronic: Parham Izadyar
Tombak: Amirhossein Hosseinkhah on track 3
Piano: Aynaz Dargahi on track 6
Flute: Parastoo Shirani on track 6
Violin: Sina Zandi on track 6
Setar: Mehrak Malekpour on track 7

Parham

Parham Izadyar is a contemporary artist and audio programmer. Most of his works are electronic music which are inspired by Iranian traditional music. He is also interested in sound designing for visual arts. His main goal is to find a balance between intuition and logic while doing art.
He was born 1993 in Karaj, Iran and started music by playing the piano. He entered the Art University of Tehran and after a few years he focused his work on contemporary composition. Since then he continues his journey as an electronic composer.

Digital release on the 22nd of December 2023.

Track listing:

1: suhrawardi

2: disappearance

3: emulation feat. Amirhossein Hosseinkhah

4: taala

5: sorrow feat. Parastoo Shirani

6: reachOut-exhale feat. Aynaz Dargahi - Parastoo Shirani - Sina Zandi

7: reachOut-inhale feat. Mehrak Malekpour

8: extremis

Itunes, Spotify, etc.:

https://bfan.link/hurqelya

And on Bandcamp:

OUI014 : Hadaly Quartet / Apparition

 

Cover art by A.L.

OUI014 : Hadaly Quartet / Apparition

The Hadaly Quartet founded in 2022 in Zürich (Switzerland) is composed of Fanny Chellé (clarinet), Räto Kessler (guitar), Fred Minner (bass) and Sergio Beresovsky (drums). 

The four musicians met at the open stage of the Werkstatt für improvisierte Musik (WIM)—the monthly jam session for improvised music in Zürich— and decided to form a new quartet of electrified free improvised music. They now release their debut album Apparition.

The music of Apparition balances between direct expression and broad soundscapes. The constellation creates expressive schemes that dissolve in complex sound webs. A brassy and abrupt sound is followed by a dense, textural layer. The interplay is contrasted with solo playing. Disintegration with structuring, acoustics with amplification and electronics, the listener is always on unsteady waters. The sonic expression creates a sense of hurry, which runs through the entire improvisation. Shapeless episodes and a layering of diverse subjects make an identifiable expression of feeling impossible, getting lost in a dense web of sonic experiences, striving for release.

Fanny Chellé (born in 1993, France) is a clarinet and bass clarinet player who likes to navigate between classical music, contemporary music and free improvisation. She is a pedagogue, passionate orchestral and chamber music player, and member of several ensembles (Trio Boreas with viola and piano, Anemoi Quartet clarinet quartet). In 2017 she founded the ensemble Mondkabarett with five musicians she met in Rennes, specializing in the music of Schoenberg (Pierrot Lunaire) and Kurt Weill. Coming from a classical background, she likes to experiment with other aesthetics, and is always on the lookout for new experiences to diversify her artistic practice (musical theater, contemporary creations). Free improvisation became a bigger part of her musical journey when she arrived in Zürich (2018), following Lucas Niggli's improvisation classes at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste (ZHdK), and discovering the Zurich music scene, among others at the WIM. In 2022, she created her solo project Système D, for amplified clarinet and effects pedals, combining improvisation and traditional music.

Räto Kessler (born in 1994, Switzerland) is a musician based in Zurich. He is mainly active in the free improvisation scene of Zurich while playing with various artists in diverse improvisational settings. The different collaborations range from ambient duo with Michelle Hurschler, concrete-noise duo Ohrablüatler to the electro-acoustic trio with saxophonists Gemma Galeano and Ferran Gorrea. With an autodidactic attempt Räto constantly seeks for new sounds and new ways to create them. He plays the guitar as his main instrument but is also a versatile electronic musician with a strong interest in electro-acoustic as well as purely computer music. Recently, he works extensively on audio programming and the attempt to perform interdisciplinary with dancers.

Fred Minner (born in 1978, Switzerland) is a composer and multi-instrumentalist (bass, soprano saxophone, guitar, and vocals) active for more than 20 years in various experimental, metal, improvisation, and jazz bands. He released 2 albums with his experimental dark/doom jazz duo Mademoiselle Plume Rouge: Junkie Movie Music in 2021 on the labels Off and Urgence Disk, and Horror Politics in 2022 on the label Signora Ward Records. The self-released album of his jazzy art-rock quartet Poppins (active between 2002 and 2009) was re-released by Off in Fall 2023. Since 2010, he is an active member of the Insub Meta Orchestra (improvisation, minimalism, reductionism), with which he recorded 3 albums. His most recent projects are the Hadaly Quartet and the trio Abyss of the Senses (improvisation, no-wave, death/doom metal). With various bands, he toured in Europe (Switzerland, France, Germany, Hungary, Czech Republic).

Sergio Beresovsky (born in 1963, Argentina) is a jazz and free-improvisation drummer based in Zurich. In the early 80`s he participated in many fusion/jazz/latin and experimental formations in Argentina. From 1987 to 1990 he resided in Salvador Bahia (Brazil), where he studied Afro-Brazilian music and played in numerous bands, among which Rumbahiana. In 1990 he moved to Europe. There he played in different bands like Snag with Steve Magnusson, Julian Wilson and Björn Meyer, with whom he recorded 3 albums, Moos with the Icelandic guitarist Robert Reynisson, Slingshot with Florian Götte and Ephrem Luschinger, and Tread with Matt Cowan. He also used to be part of the Harald Haerter Band with Arthur Byle and Eric Truffaz, with whom he toured in Switzerland. He played live in South America, Europe, and Australia.

Sergio, Fanny, Räto and Fred

All music by Hadaly Quartet

Recorded by Sergio Beresovsky at the Werkstatt für improvisierte Musik (WIM), Zurich, Switzerland

Mixed by Sergio Beresovsky in Zurich, Switzerland

Mastered by Davide Bombanella at Groundfloor Studio, Modena, Italy

Digital release on the 15th of December 2023.

Track listing:

1: How Substance Changes with Form

2: Ambiguous Pleasantries

Itunes, Spotify, etc.:

https://bfan.link/apparition

And on Bandcamp:

ODG180 : encym / LDNTWLGHT

 

Cover art by A.L., pic by encym

ODG180: encym / LDNTWLGHT

About the album:

“Moving effortlessly between microcosmic glitchy ambience and sinuous industrial rhythm, London’s encym uses electronics and guitar to weave soundscapes that alternatively soothe and stimulate.
On this latest EP, encym moves gradually from the granular explorations of ‘Swirl’ to the full-on broken beats of ‘LDNTWLGHT’, where menacing insectoid twitches woven around brutal pulses of electronica occasionally pull back to reveal washes of melodic guitar. 
Like all composers who work with visual images, the soundtrack-like qualities of encym’s instrumental work imply a journey of sorts. This particular journey is a trip to a twilight realm steeped in urban beauty. Enjoy the ride …”  Chris Jones, writer, UK

“Glitches and stutters disintegrating and collapsing over a backbone of slicing and stitching. Melodies of artefacts and error. Sequences of textural counterpoint.”  Lark Wool, musician, USA

At cafe Oto 2022

encym is the experimental ambient/electronic transmission channel of Munich-based guitarist and producer Roland Reinke which explores un-guitaristic territory by layering, collaging and shaping improvised loops. Fusing polyrhythmic beats and noises, they evolve into cinematic, atmospheric, otherworldly ambiences, their grittiness owing to the many years Roland was based in London. encym has released numerous albums both as a solo artist and collaborator, among them “Music for Meditation” on the UK-based Neotantra label.

Roland Reinke: production, guitar, bass, Machinedrum, programming, mixing.

Dave De Rose: drums on “Schpool” - www.davederosemusic.com
The track “Schpool” was inspired by Marc Weidenbaum’s Disquiet Junto project “Chew Concrète”. More details here

Composed between 2013 and 2022 in London and Munich.

LDNTWLGHT:

Chris Reidy's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Peridactyloptrix

Digital release on the 8th of December 2023.

Track listing:

1: Swirl

2: 23yearsfromnow

3: Schpool 

4: LDNTWLGHT

Itunes, Spotify, etc.:

https://bfan.link/ldntwlght

And on Bandcamp:

ODG183 : Veda / Tales of Botanics and Murder, Pt.1

 

Cover art by David Crunelle

ODG183 : Veda / Tales of Botanics and Murder, Pt.1

The return of Veda after a first beautiful Ep in 2018 (see ODG078).

Funeral songwriting/acoustic doom duo from Brussels, Belgium.

Based on their own interpretation of James M. Cain’s classic novel “Mildred Pierce”, Dominique Van Cappellen-Waldock (Baby Fire, Fleur de Feu...) and Alwntr (DES YEUX) team up and deliver a dystopian soundtrack to one of the greatest american stories of the 20th century. They both imagine alternative chapters that draw Mildred’s fate into murder, poisonous gardening, humiliation and vengeance.

Think of acoustic doom, earthly drone, a funeral choir.

Rain:

Digital release on the 1st of December 2023.

Track listing :

1. Mistletoe and Devil’s Bane
2. Rain
3. Mandobird
4. Foxglove
5. Lillium

Itunes, Spotify, etc.:

https://bfan.link/tales-of-botanics-and-murder-pt-1

ODG178: Various Artists / Apoptose 4

 

Cover art by A.L.

ODG178: Various Artists / Apoptose 4 

Apoptose or Apoptosis in English is a genetically directed process of cell self-destruction that is marked by the fragmentation of nuclear DNA. 

See Apoptose 1 for all the details. 
The vol.4 is based on a third immature track from Alinovsky. 

Musicians involved in Apoptose 4 are: 

Alinovsky:  alinovsky.bandcamp.com 
Chris Jones: see Apoptose 1
Lark Wool: see Apoptose 2

Morgen Wurde: "Morgen Wurde" is Wolfgang Röttger's mission in creating haunting musical ambiances. He has released 3 albums of Off under this moniker (see OCD027, OCD040 and OCD045). This time teaming with Johnnyx Guitar for the remix.

Tetsuroh Konishi: see  Apoptose 2

Digital release on the 3rd of November 2023.

Track listing:

1: Apoptose 4 - Alinovsky - Ethic

2: Apoptose 4 - Chris Jones

3: Apoptose 4 - Lark Wool

4: Apoptose 4 - Morgen Wurde version - Segensklang remix

5: Apoptose 4 - Tetsuroh Konishi version - Alinovsky remix

Itunes, Spotify, etc.:

https://bfan.link/apoptose-4

And on Bandcamp: