★Mondoj
Lacuna and parlor
‘Lacuna and Parlor’ is anchored in the left-field chamber music and incidental recordings that have long accented more eaze’s roving sound. Composed with one ear pressed to the rich textures of instrumental recording environments, this is a resonant and tactile collection tinged in rephrased space and skewed time. Taking the rudiments of tonal music theory as her conceptual base, more eaze formed the compositions around her own manipulations of these core principles. Simple chord progressions st…
Sylphine Soporifera
Air is the central element in Antonina Nowacka's third solo album Sylphine Soporifera. The title names an imaginary species and the land they inhabit, inspired by the unreal desert landscape of Paracas and the undulating tree-less hills of the Outer Hebrides, and comes from the writings of Rudolf Steiner, who describes creatures called Sylphs as the spirits of the air, and the Latin word sopor which means deep sleep. As with all her releases, Nowacka's other-worldly vocals coming as if from beyo…
Mauve/Pink
Nestled beside the sea and a cluster of palm trees, La Malvarrosa, the neighborhood in Valencia where Cooper resides, derives its name from a fusion of "Malva," meaning mauve, and "Rosa," meaning pink. Here, La Malvarrosa serves as the primary backdrop for the recordings, symbolizing two distinct colors and artistic approaches. These hues become the emblematic colors of a fictitious flag from an imagined island located on a forgotten expanse of ocean. From this ethereal site, melodies emerge, se…
Przygody
The title of Staś Czekalski’s debut translates as ‘Adventures’. It’s fitting for an album that invokes feelings of exploring, roaming, ambling through bustling cities and changing seasons, around castles and swaying fields, down the pixelated paths of old computer games, and all the way home. We get the sense of being on some carefree yet critical quest, with Staś taking on the role of narrator as much as composer. Part fable, part Moomins, part seek and you shall find, these boppy, wide-eyed an…
Der Ferne
On 'Der Ferne', Phil Struck intricately weaves an abstract tapestry of textures, incorporating elements reminiscent of Hassellian-like sounds and multi-textured dubby soundscapes, a testament to the musician's getaways from urban life, journeying in the heart of nature. The music's warm and concise amalgamation of audio fragments lends it an ineffable quality, evoking hazy, sun-drenched memories, while the radiating reminiscences of the natural world invite contemplation of its true essence, rem…
Nothing Blues
*200 copies limited edition* Nothing Blues – LA-based musician, NTS resident and label founder Nick Malkin's record – presents seven vignettes of exactly that: nothing blues. Continuing in his signature vein of jazz-tinged, “live-band ambient” work with releases on Geographic North and Soda Gong, this record sidesteps his previous urban nocturnes and instead presents the listener with music made for solitary, homebound introspection. It's daylit and stalled, plateaued and simply present. It's li…
Peach Blossom
“Polish composer Piotr Kurek returns to Mondoj with 'Peach Blossom', an album centered around sung and synthesised vocal harmonies, showcasing the composer’s gentle, uncanny approach to vocal treatments and arrangements. Pairing the vocals of Komi Togbonou and Martin Weigel (both actors of Münchner Kammerspiele) and spoken words by Chinese performer Xiangjie with MIDI and live recordings of various instruments like marimba, flutes, reeds as well as various percussion instruments, the Warsaw-base…
If I Don't Let Myself Be Happy Now Then When?
*300 copies limited edition* Forged alone in a cave on the island of Java, and recorded in a fortress in Poland, Antonina Nowacka’s “Lamunan” is an intimate exploration of a mysterious darkness and the earliest of musical forms. Nowacka has co-created raw electronics and audiovisuals as half of WIDT and the enigmatic Mentos Gulgendo, but her solo practice focuses solely on the voice’s inherent connection to mental states, its ability to speak wordlessly, and the apparatus of speech itself – lead…
Lamunan
*300 copies limited edition* Forged alone in a cave on the island of Java, and recorded in a fortress in Poland, Antonina Nowacka’s “Lamunan” is an intimate exploration of a mysterious darkness and the earliest of musical forms. Nowacka has co-created raw electronics and audiovisuals as half of WIDT and the enigmatic Mentos Gulgendo, but her solo practice focuses solely on the voice’s inherent connection to mental states, its ability to speak wordlessly, and the apparatus of speech itself – lead…
Languoria
Tip! Languoria is a collaboration between Denmark's Sofie Birch and Poland's Antonina Nowacka. While Birch describes herself as an ambient musician, Nowacka''s primary instrument is her own voice; they share in common a facility for creating complex, layered work.
Polish label Mondoj has teamed up with Unsound Festival, who initially brought this project to life for their 2021 Warsaw edition. After another show in Cracow later that year, the two have met in Copenhagen to record a series of compo…
A Heart From Your Shadow
Michael Beharie (New York) and Teddy Rankin-Parker (Chicago) first met more than 10 years ago while attending Oberlin College. Since graduating, Beharie and Rankin-Parker each veered into markedly different avenues. In addition to a consistent output of solo releases on NYC-label Astro Nautico, Beharie also recently joined up with the ever-confounding New York ensemble Zs (Northern Spy, The Social Registry, Troubleman Unlimited), recently performed on albums by Laurel Halo, Greg Fox & Colin Self…
Kambium
** "Mini-LP" style sleeve with spine. Printed outer and inner sleeves with high gloss varnish. Glass-mastered CD. Fold-out 4p insert ** Piętnastka is back. The duo project of Piotr Kurek and Hubert Zemler returns with a fantastical album titled Kambium, released almost precisely a decade after the debut Dalia. Seamlessly fusing eerie organs, haunting reverbs, clanging percussion and a handful of other instruments, the album's seven tracks radiate something oddly mythical yet futuristic. Just lik…
Elevation
** Edition of 300. White vinyl in screenprinted pvc sleeve ** Zaumne's new album titled Élévation is a multifaceted yet subtle work, an abstract collage that is equally entrancing and immersive. Quoting passages from Baudelaire’s “Flowers of Evil”, the Polish musician promises to elevate the soul and consciousness “Beyond the sun / Beyond the ether”. Yet simultaneously, the artist wants us to stay where we are and focus on the immediate surroundings in search of our personal attachment to the wo…
Scribble
* Edition of 100 * 'Scribble' is truly a befitting name for this collection of miniatures created by composer and sound designer Jacob Sachs-Mishalanie. Recorded at his home this past Summer, the short, sweet pieces really are like aural scribbles in a notebook. Slightly chaotic and seemingly unintentional, the 7 tracks exhibit a childlike wonder, a fascination with how various sounds or rhythms work (or don’t work) in tandem.
At the time of writing, Sachs-Mishalanie was particularly interested …
Currency
** Edition of 60 copies** The musical project of Kyiv-born composer, curator, DJ, designer and radio host, Sasha Zakrevska, deploys synthesizers as if layouting a large visual project. Poly Chain’s sound has crept forward since establishing a solo career and first performing after first moving to Poland in 2012, resulting in the psychedelic space nebulae of her debut full-length Music for Candy Shops (Transatlantyk, 2017). Since returning to Ukraine, Poly Chain has issued both her recent bliss-…
A Sacrifice Shall Be Made / All the Wicked Scenes
Last copies **Edition of 300, comes with 8-page glossy photo booklet and double D/L code. Mastered by Rashad Becker at D&M Berlin** Music by Piotr Kurek for theatre performances directed by Tian Gebing and Grzegorz Jarzyna:Composed as a means to map the cultural translation between Chinese culture and European traditions, Piotr Kurek’s A Sacrifice Shall Be Made / All The Wicked Scenes is comprised of pieces composed between 2016 and 2018 specifically to accompany theatre performances directed by…