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“two” is the first single from Black Decelerant, the collaboration of Khari Lucas, aka Contour, and Omari Jazz. In “two,” a calibration of amalgamated timbres arise in a clarion call to the album’s expansive freeform landscapes, the spectral trumpet improvisations of Jawaad Taylor ascending like flares across a tundra of resonant signals and weathers. Suspended in time, these melodic spells cast a warmth through the whirring glimmers of the black decelerant zoetrope. Neil Nourigat and Omari directed this video for “two,” with capturing Lucas and Jazz in a verdant multi-verse. More from this collaboration to come, all eyes follow.

If you haven’t caught Discovery Zone at any of many shows since the release of Quantum Web last month (including sold out nights at Peckham Audio last night and La Boule Noire), you are depriving yourself of an inner / outer body experience unlike others. Lucky for those who missed the US west coast shows last month, Discovery Zone will be joining Julia Holter on a stretch of dates from la to Chicago. before then JJ plays a homecoming show, and djs the new Rough Trade EU store, in Berlin. complete dates below. 04/18/24 Cologne @ Artyfarty Gallery 04/19/24 Berlin @ Silent Green 04/20/24 Berlin @ Rough Trade Party at Kreuzwerk (DJ set) 04/30/24 Munich @ Walpurgisnacht w/ Julia Holter 05/03/24 Los Angeles, CA @ El Ray Theatre 05/04/24 San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall 05/06/24 Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile 05/07/24 Portland, OR @ Aladdin Theater 05/10/24 Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line 05/11/24 Chicago, IL @ Outset Photo by Laura Lynn Petrick, taken at Bar Le Ritz.

Richard Horowitz passed away Saturday, April 13 in Marrakech, in the company of Sussan Deyhim, his life and creative partner, at the age of 75. Richard was battling Parkinson’s disease for the past several years, and Sussan relocated him for Los Angeles to Morocco, his spiritual home, for care and comfort in the company of friends. We had the honor of working with Richard on a reissue of Eros in Arabia via Freedom to Spend, originally released in 1981 under the name Drahcir Ztiworoh (read it backwards). While Eros is an innovative, otherworldly album, it was just one thread in an incredible tapestry of music he was a part of. richard studied under La Monte Young, recorded and toured extensively with Jon Hassell, collaborated with Ryuchi Sakamoto on film work, and founded the Gnaoua Music Festival in Mogador. His travels in Northern Africa introduced him to the Ney cane flute, and to Brion Gysin and Paul Bowles, the latter whom mentored Richard over decades of correspondence. Richard’s collaboration with Sussan was perhaps the most magical and prolific. Their 1986 album Desert Equations: Azax Attra is perhaps the pinnacle of Crammed Disc's untouchable Made to Measure series, and represents an undeniable culmination of creativity and admiration shared between the two musicians. At first skeptical of our interest in Eros in Arabia, Richard was so incredibly kind and inquisitive after we finally met in NYC at a favorite Tribeca restaurant so many years ago. He perfectly understood our place and intention, and embraced and enabled our efforts. It was always a lovely, learning experience getting time with him in New York and Los Angeles, and becoming close with Sussan in the process. We will miss your presence in this physical realm, Richard. Now you are all around us, reborn in the ultimate dimension. Thank you for the incredible gift of music, and allowing us to share ~

For the second volume of Reflections, Black Decelerant, the duo of Khari Lucas, aka Contour, and Omari Jazz, explore improvisational jazz traditions through contemporary tone and texture, fostering sonic meditations on themes of Black being and nonbeing, life and mourning, expansion and limitation, and the individual and collective. Today we share “two,” the first offering from the self-titled album, with a video directed by Neil Nourigat. The vinyl edition of Black Decelerant is available for pre-order ahead of its Friday, June 21 release date, alongside a Japanese import CD edition arrives via Plancha.

“Grand Trine” is the first signal of sound from Tashi Wada’s forthcoming album What Is Not Strange? featuring creative and life partner Julia Holter on vocals, the song title refers to a configuration of planets forming an equilateral triangle, which is present in the astrological chart of Tashi and Julia’s daughter. The song is accompanied by a video from longtime collaborator Dicky Bahto. “I asked Dicky if he could create a portrait of the time period around the making of the album, which coincided with a lot of life and world events,” says Tashi. “I love the kaleidoscopic feeling of time, space, and people that Dicky conjured with his improvisatory editing technique. it’s a beautiful counterpoint to the music, rhythmic and bursting with life.”

Introducing Tashi Wada’s What Is Not Strange?, the first full-length solo album by the Los Angeles-based composer, and his most far-reaching and impassioned music to date. Written and recorded over a period that encompassed the death of his father and the birth of his daughter, the album sees Wada reflecting inward to explore broad narratives—being alive, mortality, finding one’s place in the world—through new modes of ecstatic, song-based expression. Today we share “Grand Trine,” featuring Julia Holter and the ensemble of Dev Hoff, Ezra Buchla, and Corey Fogel, who accompany wada on the journey of What Is Not Strange? The double LP edition of the album, pressed on audiophile black vinyl by RTI and packaged in a deluxe gatefold jacket printed by Dorado Music Packaging, is available now for pre-order. A custom tenugui towel was produced for the Artist Edition of vinyl, and a Japanese import CD edition arrives via Plancha.