Hagoromo – Budgi Tumanligi (Planet Almanac) – frohfroh – we like electronic music from leipzig

Planet Almanac has more life again. After the Leipzig label reactivated itself last autumn after a five-year break, the next EP is already out – by a Dresden duo.

Hagoromo are Fenta Flowers and Heninspace – two musicians who have been touring solo in different sounds and genres for a long time. Usually rather experimental, meandering and far away from club and pop events. Since 2016, the two have been merging their devices and running them in free sessions. Three quarters of an hour from it can now be heard on Planet Almanac.

On “Budgi Tumanligi” largely loose rhythms and synth sounds condense into ambient and soundscape tracks that last up to 16 minutes. The rule here is: sit down, take your time and let yourself go in the sound.

While “Gektar” stays in the moment and quietly chugs along, “Ket” almost unfolds a kind of avant-garde club sound in its repetitiveness. “Qizil” is then the second very long journey – this time with subtle harmonies shimmering through, clearer structures and a slightly dubby reverb. At the end it gets dark again: “Dunyo” wafts along with a dark, rushing synth. The menace is cushioned by rhythmically pulsating, almost childlike sounds. But here too there are hidden, simple melodies that emerge like glimmers of light.

In its open Lofi cosmos and performative character, “Budgi Tumanligi” has many exciting phases. Live is certainly even more fascinating.

My hit: “Qizil”. Why: Because the dubbed reverberation rooms and delicate melodies invite you to immerse yourself.

Shikoba is also calling …

btw Planet Almanac operator Shikoba has recently released a number of EPs himself. Once at the Dresden 7″ label Copyshop and then twice on Bandcamp. And especially the copy shop EP is incredibly strong. Because the two tracks are so clear and direct in their sounds as well as so trippy and arranged in a polyrhythmic pattern that I was immediately hooked. This is where Shikoba’s love for Dusseldorf kraut-rock definitely comes out in the spirit of contemporary acts like Kreidler and Tolouse Low Trax, though he modernizes their approaches and gives them even more impetus and urgency here.

The self-released EPs are similarly herbaceous, but a whole lot more playful. But also here: A great, very engaging directness in the sound.