Hassan Ideddir – Atfalouna

Our first reissue of 2022 is out now
Buy Vinyl/Digital: https://hassanideddir.bandcamp.com/album/atfalouna

Hassan Ideddir – Atfalouna

Atfalouna     
Atfalouna (Instrumental)    
Ibini
Ydouchababe

 Hassan Ideddir’s 1989 single “Atfalouna” sees an expanded repress courtesy of Dark Entries. Born to Berber parents in Morocco, Ideddir began making music at the age of 10 after being discovered singing in the stairwell by his school’s headmaster. Encouraged by his peers, he began playing concerts, and his status grew. In 1987, he played a string of sold-out concerts in Casablanca, Rabat, and Marrakesh, in support of a children’s charity. The success of these concerts secured him a record deal, and he went to Paris to record his debut single “Atfalouna” in 1988. 
Released in 1989 on WEA, “Atfalouna” is a dense slab of multi-genre pop. An opening wash of digital synths and reverberant vocals quickly falls away to a cascade of orchestra hits and pulsing electronic drums. The monotone chant-rap of a female chorus collides with Ideddir’s soaring melismatic vocals, pleading against the injustice and hunger in the world. While Hip-Hop and New Beat borrowed tropes from Arabic music, “Atfalouna” inverts the gesture, resituating orchestra hits and sampling techniques within a Moroccan music framework. A shorter instrumental version follows, which preserves the female vocals. Also included are two tracks not on the original 12”. “Ibini” is a moody, downtempo instrumental that sounds like a cult Italo B-side. The record closes with “Ydouchababe”, an electro number driven by funky guitars, electronic claps, and a huge horn riff. Here, Ideddir sings of a youth festival honoring Hassan II, former king of Morocco. 
    All songs were remastered by George Horn. The sleeve is a replica of the original 12” cover art, featuring Ideddir set in a cheeky collage of clocks, columns, and camels. Also included is a postcard with a photo of Hassan, as well as lyrics in both Arabic and English.  We will be donating 100% of proceeds from this release to Sphere who provide support to the young queer community across Ukraine and the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund who help provide urgent humanitarian care for Gaza’s children.

First Ever Lena Platonos Lyric and Poem Book In English Out May 1st
Buy Here: https://www.darkentriesrecords.com/store/merchandise/lena-platonos-piercing-red/

Lena Platonos – Piercing Red

The poetry of groundbreaking Greek artist Lena Platonos takes center stage in Piercing Red: Collected Poems and Lyrics 1984–2008. Best known for her radical electronic music compositions, her innovative work as a poet has been underacknowledged, in no small part due to writing and singing in her native Greek. This book was put together to rectify this lapse, to help encounter her song lyrics on their own as literary work. Collected here are all the poems Platonos put to music over four decades, appearing for the first time in English thanks to loving translations by Stathis Gourgouris. Careful attention was paid to Platonos’s phrasing so that the unique voicings and surrealist imagery would come forth intact. With their rapid-fire juxtapositions and dreamlike narrations, these poems are gestural and performative evocations of the artist’s vast inner world. They are performances of her soul in the realm of words. Book design and typography by Eloise Leigh.
“Platonos’s poetic musings across the collection draw inspiration from her home in Athens — a place steeped in classical history. She evokes the architecture and mythology of the city, creating ambient space with an ambivalence to emotions. The energy throughout is delicately cohesive, the artistic vision is strong, and the beautifully delicate narrative exists as if lost in time.” — Emily Hill, The Vinyl Factory

DAX PIERSON “FOR THE ANGELS” MUSIC VIDEO 

https://foxydigitalis.zone/2022/04/01/video-premiere-dax-pierson-for-the-angels/

“For The Angels” Video Still

“For The Angels” from  Dax Pierson’s debut studio album “NERVE BUMPS (A Queer Divine Dissatisfaction)” (released by Dark Entries and Ratskin Records, 2021)  is a heavy, funky and highly contagious track which beautifully and articulately pays tribute to those lost in the Ghostship Fire of 2016 in Oakland, CA. The track is both bright and uplighting and at times heavy, bombastic and brooding as the break down fueled by arpeggiated synths and clamorous percussion takes a darker turn as the track comes to a close, but not before a warm, morose resolve. Pierson’s ability as a composer to create emotionally complex, meaningful instrumental  music devoid of lyrics or overly ambitious or lengthy track titling, proves once again there is power and human empathy contained within  the movement and organization of sound. 

“For The Angels”, directed by Malocculsion/Ratskin Records  gives Dax Pierson’s track of the same name  a visual interpretation of time travel  to an alternate creative space in the beyond; a metaphorical and safer space for us all to reunite with lost loved ones we’ve lost through a hyper colorized,  fantastical psychedelic  journey to an imaginary club where Pierson is the performer. 

“I wanted to evoke the emotional complexity of “For The Angels” in video form; which conjures both darkness and light, grief and love. The personal and communal loss that so many of us experienced after the fire in December 2 in Oakland and the subsequent havoc it wreaked on both underground communities as well as houseless and underserved communities of Oakland and beyond is an example of the opportunism of  capitalism and gentrification using underground communities to further dissolve meaningful spaces and relationships. We never wanted this communal tragedy to be used as pawns by a racist system to further push out long-standing oakland residents and the houseless communities. This violence and erasure coupled with the insurmountable personal loss experienced by so many, was something  that was hard to translate into a cohesive visual representation, so I wanted to focus on this piece as a departure from our reality.” 

 “For The Angels” is a conceptual  place of joyous  reunion – a fictional space in an alternate universe where we can experience this  love and care, just once again with those who we’ve all lost, the Angels.