Alain Péters is one of the best-kept secrets in the music scene of the Indian Ocean and beyond. His music is unique: a blend of Creole blues, maloya and international folk, it discretely takes hold of you and never leaves you. Péters travelled through the 70s and the 80s like a shooting star, alone or with a band, with his Sahelian lute, his reel-to-reel tape recorder, firewater and ill-fated genius. He died in 1995, aged 43. Poet, musician, singer and melody-maker, he left behind a handful of sublime songs which are gathered here for the first time on vinyl. Full of dazzling beauty and sparkling darkness, his songs express the yearning homesickness of the Creoles’ highly sensitive wandering soul, at the crossroads of African, Indian and European cultures. Réunion (literally “the gathering”) is aptly named and over the course of his uncertain career, Péters continuously embodied the soul of this culturally hybrid land with a fusion of African instruments, Indian mysticism and European poetry.

Les Disques Bongo Joe are proud to be home of the new volume of DJ soFa's well known curation work Elsewhere series with Elsewhere CC ! This ninth exploration of our beloved Bruxelles based cratedigger and producer (Mameen 3, Nyati Mayi & The astral Synth Transmitters, ...) is an ode to summer and groove !The ninth edition in the Elsewhere series is a real digger’s paradise of tropical gems, from Trinidad to Brazil, Poland, Dominica, and beyond. The compilation is an eclectic mix of outernational, tropical-wave, Calypso, multi-rhythmic percussive beats, lo-fi disco jams, and other such styles that lie somewhere in that magical in-between zone. Compiled by Brussels-based DJ, tastemaker and producer soFa, Elsewhere Vol.9 CC is a perfect collection of Balearic, good-vibe, sunshine rarities, to soundtrack a cocktail session on a reclusive, tropical beach, featuring rare tunes and some of the artist’s own unique productions and collaborations. It’s a succinct ensemble of tracks from the 70s to the modern day, featuring hard-to-find and rare works, including the holy grail of Calypso records, Jeannette Azzouz’s ‘So Close to Me’. Modern day selector, 7” detective, international cratedigger, and self-styled musical activist DJ soFa, aka. soFa Elsewhere, is renowned for his borderless approach to curation. Adapting his unconventional and radical approach to DJing to his acclaimed compilation series, soFa’s goal has always been to expand horizons, highlight scenes, and tell stories. And herein lies the beauty behind the latest edition in the Elsewhere series. Behind every great record, is an even bigger story, and Elsewhere CC, has plenty of them...

MAGHREB K7 CLUB – Synth Raï, Chaoui & Staifi 1985-1997 (ENG)Most of Lyon’s musical scene is composed of men originating from eastern Algeria, but since the 1950s, the Croix-Rousse and Guillotière cafés have counted musicians from all over Maghreb. These cafés were social hubs, where these individuals met up weekly, playing together and sharing their everyday life experience —but they also had a major role in the development of popular music of French-based North Africans. In Lyon, Le But Café in the 3rd arrondissement or the bars on Sébastien Gryphe Street in the 7th arrondissement were among these: one could conduct business there, getting booked for a wedding, a baptism, a gala, or a studio session... all took place there. Playing together in Lyon. The practice of music was cross-regional with different North African influences, but also with local traditions. These versatile musicians also absorbed new local influences: music within the context of immigra- tion was a perfect school for musical cosmopolitanism. Chachacha or tango versions of some Cheikh El Hasnaoui tracks come to mind, or Mohamed Mazouni’s jerks and twists. Like their predecessors, the musicians in this compilation brilliantly integrate raï or staïfi tunes with disco aesthetics or funk guitar riffs as Nordine Staifi did. You could also think of Salah El Annabi who used the “ Oxygene ” theme (1976) by Jean-Michel Jarre, the Lyon-based composer and electronic music pioneer. “As we say around here, mixed weddings make good-looking lads!” said Abbès Hamou, a musician from Place du Pont. Following on from their musical traditions and unrestrained inventiveness, the musicians’ repertoire naturally assimilated their era’s aesthetics and technologies.

“It’s is an extraordinary noise, an acidic tone dialled up in all directions, not just distortion but an intense vibration with huge amounts of treble to emit a stinging sound that could loosen your dentistry.” MOJO ★★★★ “There is a lot of colour crammed into this compilation…an escalating dense cascade, a display of virtuosity” The Quietus (Compilation of the Week)  "Azerbaijan’s Rəhman Məmmədli dazzles, deserving of recognition for his imaginative reconfigurations of longstanding forms and palpably impassioned playing"  Pop Matters In the heartlands of Azerbaijan, where the melodies of the Caspian Sea meet the rhythms of the Caucasus Mountains, the electric guitar has become more than an instrument—it's a symbol of cultural fusion and artistic expression. Building upon the success of their first compilation, "Azerbaijani Gitara," which showcased the pioneering work of Rustem Quliyev, Bongo Joe Records are thrilled to present the highly anticipated second volume, featuring the legendary guitarist Rəhman Məmmədli. The roots of Azerbaijani gitara culture run deep, stemming from a rich tradition of musical experimentation and innovation. From the early 20th Century oil boom to the socialist era of Soviet rule, Azerbaijani musicians and composers embraced the electric guitar as a vehicle for blending indigenous traditions with global influences. The introduction of electric guitars from the Czechoslavakian factory 'Jolana' sparked a musical revolution in the Caucasus, with young musicians like Rəmiş leading the charge. Drawing inspiration from traditional mugham music, Rəmiş pioneered a unique playing style that captivated audiences and inspired a new generation of guitarists. In the decades that followed, Azerbaijani guitarists continued to push boundaries, incorporating regional styles and techniques into their playing. Rəhman Məmmədli, a legend in his own right, revolutionized the sound of Azerbaijani gitara by introducing distortion and experimenting with new playing techniques. He’s still using this unique style today playing and touring in Europe and around the world. With "Azerbaijani Gitara vol. 2," we pay homage to the pioneers of Azerbaijani gitara culture, while celebrating the continued evolution of this unique musical tradition. Each track on this compilation is a testament to the enduring legacy of Azerbaijani guitar music. Join us on a musical journey through the vibrant streets of Baku and beyond as we explore the rich tapestry of Azerbaijani gitara culture. From soul-stirring ballads to electrifying solos, "Azerbaijani Gitara vol. 2" promises to captivate listeners with its depth, diversity, and unbridled passion.

Among the Haitian bands that manage to travel abroad, Chouk Bwa Libète is probably the most closely linked to the roots of vodou inherited from ancestors torn from African lands by the tragedy of the slave trade. The Ångströmers are two representatives of Brussels' most radical and uncompromising electronic scene. The two entities have been active together since 2016. They have tirelessly sought a form of symbiosis between their respective vocabularies, so that the electronic part never gets in the way of the freedom of the rhythmic flow. That's why they've never used drum machines or any other process that would padlock the drumming. The Ångströmers used dub principles to give the Haitian trance a new width in the sound spectrum. Dusted Magazine described their debut album Vodou Ale, which also marked the start of the collaboration with Bongo Joe in 2020, as: “(...) an astonishingly power sound that reaches right into the gut, but also lifts free of physical boundaries.(...)”. “Live At Cafe Oto” arrives as a sort of culmination of the long joint research. In 2022 and 2023, Chouk Bwa & The Ångströmers performed over sixty concerts in Europe. One of those was recorded on 16th October 2023 at Cafe Oto, London. It is undoubtedly a significant example of what the collaboration is able to deliver in concert. The raw percussive trance music with electronic radiations brings a complex, powerful and spiritual experience to audiences. “Live At Cafe Oto” outlines the repertoire previously recorded on Somanti, and released by Bongo Joe in October 2023. In the live setting, it takes on yet another dimension of freedom and wildness. This is by no means entertainment, but on the contrary a plunge into the reality of a living culture, carried in their souls by the members of Chouk Bwa Libète, with the added desire to inscribe it in the present time, through the action of the Ångströmers.

Transcendentally beautiful, The Space Lady's music is returning to Earth. Transmitting messages of peace and harmony, The Space Lady began her odyssey on the streets of Boston in the late 70s, then San Francisco ten years later, playing versions of contemporary pop music with an accordion and dressed flamboyantly. Following the theft and destruction of her accordion , The Space Lady invested in a then-new Casio keyboard, complete with a phase shifter and headset mic, birthing an otherworldly new dimension to popular song that has captured the imaginations of the underground and its leading exponents ever since. After having toured successfully all around the world with her greatest 90s hits record she felt it was time to record new songs... and so did she!

Bukaroo Bank is actually Mauskovic’s second album. There, the band reinvents both their approach and their sound, while maintaining the rhythm-forward euphoria heard on their debut album and surrounding singles. It is one of those albums that sounds brashly live, like you’re in the room while the jams are being kicked out, but in fact uses the studio very shrewdly. Recorded in 2020, during one of the Netherlands’ intermittent lockdown bouts, for this one the MDB wanted to step up from their previous homebase, Garage Noord – an ad hoc Amsterdam space for recording, practise and after-hours parties. They chose Electric Monkey, operated by engineer Kasper Frenkel. His stacks of what Nicola calls “very strange equipment”, and ability to sprinkle magic dub dust over everything, suited the vibe perfectly. The results glow and shiver with assembled synth sounds, rhythms spliced and echoed in a way that hails late Jamaican dub great Lee Perry – maybe the band’s biggest influence. Some sections might remind you of Afro-disco or slightly older highlife, others industrial prototypes like early Cabaret Voltaire, or 1980s On-U Sound mainstays like African Head Charge, or NYC groovers such as Liquid Liquid... there are outbreaks of saxophone, congas, echo units, wah-wah disco guitars, beats that sound programmed but aren’t (a nod to MDB’s industrial side). If that sounds fun to you, be assured that Bukaroo Bank is an irrepressibly fun album – but one that contains multitudes.

Les Disques Bongo Joe are pleased to announce the new album of Alice ! After a first release on tape with Ripopée, the Geneva-based trio strikes back with L'Oiseau Magnifique, a playful and poignant blend of intricate harmony and storytelling lyricism. Armed with a thrift-store synth, bizarre wit and arresting vocals, the intergenerational, all-female micro-choir Alice releases a mammoth 23 track album. Alice’s music subverts French and Occitan folk music to create a unique sound that combines art-pop, folk song vocals and synth experiments. Formed in 2018, Alice is the brainchild of artists Lisa Harder, Yvonne Harder, and Sarah André. The group draws on their experience of intuitive singing at home and with friends and family, as well as Yvonne and Lisa’s history of performance in choirs and Sarah’s storytelling career as an author of graphic novels. With mother and daughter Yvonne and Lisa playing the keyboard in unison and all three of them singing along with intuitively harmonised words, Alice’s music produces a choral polyphony from just three voices, while sharp lyrics reflect on universal emotions and the poignant moments of their everyday lives alike. Each track on the record is a document of a moment or experience in the past year of Alice’s lives, traversing the humourous story of ending up at a disappointing party on La Fête Nulle, to the foot-stomping hand claps of La Décapotable, which drily comments on people who cruise the highway in a convertible and try to pretend they are having fun, and the multiplying word associations of Fil à Recoudre, which plays as a tribute to the unfailingly optimistic people who will let you know there’s no such thing as bad weather. Exploring the new spaces that this shared creativity has unearthed, Alice creates beguiling music from the humble origins of just voice and keys. In their minimal combination, the trio produces everything from the neoclassical funereal dirge of Petit et Gris, to the soaring melodic melancholia of Oiseaux Magnifique, and the 20-second chanted crescendo of La Lune. Theirs is a singular sound that momentary experiences and their stays with you – songs that you of their crystalline vocal power and delves deep into the beauty of underlying emotions. It is one that will want to play again and again

Coco María and Bongo Joe reunite for the second edition of Club Coco, featuring a sackful of Latin inspired tracks from international bands and producers. All the songs were selected by Coco María, who in recent years has gone from a promising up-and-comer to an ever-present and influential figure in the music industry, widely known for her tireless work shining a light on contemporary, pan-Latin roots music around the world, through both her live DJs sets and eclectic radio sessions. This compilation brings together several of the most respected and innovative artists on the frontiers of tropical music today. Those who take the energy, melodies and textures of classic Latin music and turn those gems into songs tailor-made for a new generation of music lovers. Simply put, it's a record for those diggers who jump with excitement when they find a vinyl reissue of some Latin star of the past, be it Joe Arroyo, Los Mirlos or Aniceto Molina and then wonder, "This classic music sounds amazing, but where are the bands that are taking these sounds to new places?”. Whilst the first volume of Club Coco was loaded with groove, cumbia and a proper party-starter feel, this new edition explores the sounds of the pan-Latin post-digital music community in a broader and more eclectic sense (but without straying too far from the dance floor). Featuring emotive cuts, such as the track by Las Mijas, Coco María opens the audience's ears to new twists and innovations in the Latin American song tradition. By including Ronald Snijders' eighties funky eerie hit, Coco also gives us a taste of the wide range of influences that inspire this community of artists and music lovers, which go far beyond the more expected tropical styles. All of this is tied together through tracks and interludes from Los Pirañas, Juan Hundred, Candeleros, Acid Coco, Dip In The Dub, Iko Chérie, Lola's Dice, Guess What and Raz Olsher, which feel as if those Latin music idols of the late seventies have been reborn and are on a mission to conquer the dancefloors. Once you pick up this album, you will realize that what you have in your hands is much more than a tracklist of incredible songs. It’s actually a cultural representation and treasure from a community of artists, DJ's and music lovers who use music to express the pride they have for their Latin and Afro heritage. It’s a soundtrack for a music community who travel back and forth between Europe and Latin America, looking for songs that explore new frontiers of tropical music, without losing sight of their roots.

Vinyl LP +7" This austere song-cycle is a collection of tunes addressing youth, sexuality and human morays in an utterly unique fashion. Barely released in its day (1970), Corky's remains one of the pinnacles of excellence in the career of Mayo and his Red Krayola. ==== "I first heard the sudden unbelievable wave-rolling sound of this strange, acoustic, old time cartoon band singin 'I'm a student of human nature' in '94 in good ol' Memphis, TN. Played to me by a giant man with an exploding pillow of blond curls wearing overalls. Wot the fuck was this? I was 22 and getting a fast-paced indie rock education after dropping out of college mid-semester a few months earlier. Was I wasting my parents money when I called from the Blues City Cafe and told them I had moved across the country? Ah, yes it's true, I surely was. But here on the turntable was a suitable replacement for the out-of-state tuition throw to the breeze - a corduroy-professorial-erotic-swinger vibe pouring off a re-issued LP!? Who is this massively turned on man singing about Shakespeare? The picture of the man on the back said it all. I could not have imagined this existed at all. But wot does it sound like? To me, his record has sonic values of the 60's but sounds distinctively weirder than anything I've heard from that decade. And wot an incredible bit of luck there, on the decade's cusp." - Mike Donovan

First ever vinyl pressing of Gastr del Sol's amazing debut!  . Although simple systems are easier to relate to each other, complex systems also have relationships, albeit on a deeper level. Finely articulated things don't have to be unique.

For their third album on Bongo Joe, Madalitso Band takes a new direction.After two records capturing the raw intensity of their live performances, the Malawian duo ventures for the first time into the possibilities of the studio — without ever compromising their signature style or energy.Armed with their handmade babatone, a guitar, and their interwoven voices, Yobu and Yosefe craft a sound at the crossroads of banjo music, kwela, gospel, and African folk. An acoustic trance that’s both minimal and vibrant, deeply rooted in tradition yet undeniably fresh and contemporary. On Ma Gitala, they add new textures: layered vocals, playful percussion, melodic surprises, and guests from their close and family circles.Always guided by instinct, the band reveals a more intimate and narrative side of their universe — full of memories, spontaneity, and close-knit complicity. An album that captures the joy and creativity of two artists who turned the street into a stage, and the stage into a playground.

Pedro Lima was certainly the most iconic singer from Sao Tomé island. Born in 1944, his career began at teenage, with his faithful band Os Leonenses, who were mostly members of his family and shared most of his musical life; and lasted until his death last year on January 31st 2019. Until the very end, he kept performing big events all around the country, and was among the very few singers and bands from Sao Tomé & Principe that recorded in Luanda Angola for N'Gola and Merengue labels in the 70's, and in Lisbon for the essential IEFE imprint in the 80's.Respected father of 27 children from 4 different wives, people named him "A voz do povo de Sao Tomé", the people's voice of the island, as he always made very clear his political views on internal affairs, and backed since day one the revolutionary party that took power after the independence obtained from Portugal on July 12th 1975. A powerful and free soul, expressing through his beautifully soft and deep voice range, the concerns of the poor, in this often troubled country.His funerals were the biggest ever organized on the island, and were paid for by ex-president Pinto da Costa, gathering thousands to accompany him to his last home.His music is wonderfully rich and delicate, though quite minimalistic in arrangements, revealing the subtle melodies of the islands' harmonic and backing vocals traditions, laid on either incredibly energetic Puxa rhythms, or the sweetness of sensual Rumbas.We already made finally available the amazing "N'ga ba compensadora" song, from his cassette only album recorded in 1986, on our Léve Léve Vol. 1 compilation released on January 31st 2020, as a tribute to the first year after his passing. On Maguidala which was recorded in 1985, during his really best period, you will hear the same team of killer musicians that had been playing together for already 20 years by that time. The magnificent ear of his faithful solo guitarist Leopoldino Silva provides heavenly improvisations, embellishing backing vocals and solid Soukouss inspired phrases of 2nd guitarist Pety-Zorro, while the rest of the team delivers intricate rhythms and delightful choirs. Beautifully balanced between two crazy dancing Puxas, and two delicate Rumbas to sooth your soul, all of nearly 10 minutes each; the Maguidala LP is a true masterpiece, so hard to find and reaching crazy figures nowadays for a decent copy.

What might look complicated on a tech rider sounds intuitive on record: these are two versatile musicians engaging in a play of difference and repetition, acting and reacting to each other in real-time, but also creating additional layers by inserting new elements after the fact. In a very literal way, »Cinnte le Dia« is the duo’s most refined album, yet at the same time a testament to the uncanny energy they unleash during their improvisations. It’s solemn and moody, spontaneous and driving at once. Of course a computer couldn’t handle that.Kristoffer CornilsValerio Tricoli revox B77Hanno Leichtmann drums, loops, bass

Collaboration has always been at the core of Beins’s artistic practice. Reducing the line-up for the project at Morphine Raum to the duo format had pragmatic as well as creative reasons, allowing Beins more flexibility. ‘On a conceptual level, the idea was that I would play with different instruments or with a different set-up each time in order to present the breadth of my current work’, he explains. This notion also informed the selection of his partners, who each bring very different acoustic or electronic instruments as well as varying conceptual approaches into the fold, much like Beins also followed a different methodology for each session and collaborator.

"If this quartet most resembles a jazz band among these Berlin recordings, it might be in its speculative assembly. [...] It’s akin to a novel, Julio Cortazar’s Hopscotch, designed with multiple reading sequences, or Nanni Balestrini’s Tristano, in which the order of paragraphs is different in every single copy." – Stuart Broomer (liner notes) ---Liz Allbee / trumpetJohn Butcher / tenor and soprano saxophonesIgnaz Schick / turntables, sampler, electronicsMarta Zapparoli / tapes, reel to reel tape machine, antennas --- recorded on 30 November 2019 at ausland, Berlinengineered by Andrew Levineedited and mixed by John Butchermastered by Andreas 'Lupo' Lubichliner notes by Stuart Broomerlp design by Yaqin Siinner sleeve photography by Cristina Marx/Photomusixmanufacturing by Daniel Klotz/Die Lettertypenall music by Allbee/Butcher/Schick/Zapparoli

Melodies are alive, remolded and reshaped in each performance. Guitarist Shane Parish embraces this continual evolution by transcribing songs from across musical genres, instruments, and eras for solo guitar. Recent albums like 2024’s Repertoire, which features 14 songs across jazz, folk, and electronic music and played on acoustic guitar, showcase his skill in transcription, as does his work transforming Bill Orcutt’s Four Guitars from a multi-tracked solo project into a quartet played live by four musicians. His practice is that of musical curiosity and technical virtuosity, highlighting all the ways a good song can be unraveled and sewn back together into something new.On Solo At Cafe Oto, Parish presents six poignant ballads reimagined for solo electric guitar as played at London’s legendary venue in fall 2023. A European tour with the Bill Orcutt Guitar Quartet brought him to the venue; they did a one-off show at Cafe Oto in which each member of the group played a solo set. It ended up being a special night, one of those shows in which there’s magic in the room forged by a shared love of music. Many of the songs Parish chose to perform that evening hold a sense of mysteriousness, something immersive and intriguing to get lost in. He picked them — some of which had stayed with him for many years — because of their attention to atmosphere. It’s a characteristically eclectic vision: Three songs are by John Jacob Niles, a Kentucky balladeer whom Parish had developed a deep knowledge of over recent years, two are by English songwriters, Anne Briggs and Shirley Collins, and one is by Angelo Badalamenti, known for his unique ability to capture the dreamy and surreal darkness of David Lynch’s storied worlds. Parish’s transcriptions highlight how each of these songs create a mood in their timeless melodies, and invite us to share in them.As a player, and a listener, Parish is drawn to melody, and on Solo At Cafe Oto, that attention is evident. He plays each note with delicate precision, letting them sway with the push and pull of the music. On “Barbara Allen,” his bluesy chords swell and fade as they move from consonance into dissonance and back again, gradually disappearing into mere wisps; on “Who’s gonna shoe your pretty little foot,” his upbeat syncopations give way to melancholy. Later on, Parish takes “Sycamore Trees,” an eerie downtempo track famously premiered in the Twin Peaks Black Lodge, and funnels it through the overdrive pedal, cloaking each chord in chilling static. He leans into each dissonance, which, in turn, rattle back with the sting of a lightning strike. Most of all, that night at Cafe Oto was characterized by its shared joy, which still radiates through Solo at Cafe Oto. The walls between audience and musician were collapsed, disintegrated by the expressiveness of these songs. On recording, you can hear that intimacy — the meticulous detail in Parish’s picking, and how, in time, it yields something greater than the sum of its parts. Through transcription and reinterpretation, Parish shows us that music is a living being just waiting to be discovered again, together. -VANESSA AGUEThis album was recorded on November 14, 2023.  I was on tour with the Bill Orcutt Guitar Quartet and we played an evening of solo sets at a sold out Cafe OTO in London. It was the night before our concert at London Jazz Fest.  This set explores British Folk ballads by Anne Briggs and Shirley Collins, American folk ballads by John Jacob Niles, and a song by Angelo Badalamenti and David Lynch, from the television program Twin Peaks, called “Sycamore Trees”. All of it was played on a naked Fender Squier Telecaster plugged straight into the house amplifier.  It is the same guitar I played when we recorded “4 Guitars Live” at Le Guess Who? Festival in Utrecht the night before, and it is the same guitar that Bill Orcutt gave me two years prior, when he first hired me to transcribe Music for Four Guitars. In contrast to the rehearsal-intensive tight-knit arrangements of my 2024 studio album, Repertoire (Palilalia Records), my approach to interpreting the songs in this collection is more akin to the way that I played on my 2016 album of folk music, Undertaker Please Drive Slow (Tzadik Records), where the melody of the ballad is a catalyst for discovery, allowing the song to steer the ship, and occasionally pulling ashore to tarry in a tide pool. -SHANE PARISH1. She Moves Through the Fair - Anne Briggs2. Who's Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot? - John Jacob Niles3. Brothers Revenge - John Jacob Niles4. Sycamore Trees - David Lynch & Angelo Badalamenti5. Barbara Allen - Shirley Collins6. I'm Goin' Away - John Jacob Niles

Preorder: Released September 5, 2025 Black vinyl • First pressing of 500 copies • Heavyweight printed inner and outer sleeves • Artwork by eun chun • Mastered by Stephan Mathieu and cut at Schnittstelle Unlike anything we’ve heard from her before, Okkyung Lee returns to Shelter Press with Just Like Any Other Day (어느날): Background Music For Your Mundane Activities, a deeply intimate body of recordings at the juncture of ambient music, minimalism, and the baroque, that stands as radical intervention with what experimental music can be, and the place that organisations of sound occupy in our lives. For more than two decades, Okkyung Lee has stood at the forefront of the most radical trajectories of experimental music: a virtuosic cellist and improviser, renowned for her creative rigour and emotive depth. Particularly noteworthy for her range, dexterity, and adaptability, over the last five years Lee’s output has revealed unexpected shifts and developments that move far afield from the realms of free improvisation for which she is most well know. 2020’s Yeo​-​Neun, a heart-wrenching, ambient chamber work - drawing inspiration from the Korean popular music of her youth - was issued by Shelter Press to great critical response, followed closely by Teum (The Silvery Slit) - one of a series engrossing electroacoustic works created at Groupe de Recherches Musicales in Paris - on Portraits GRM, and then 나를 (Na-Reul) in 2021, regarded by Lee as a closing statement of more than two decades living in New York, which set the precedent of her allowing her emotions to fully occupy the forefront of the music for the first time. Marking her return to Shelter press, Just Like Any Other Day (어느날): Background Music For Your Mundane Activities, encounters Lee upturning the apple cart once again, weaving a profoundly intimate artistic statement on completely unexpected terms. Like its three aforementioned predecessors, Just Like Any Other Day (어느날) belongs to broadening shift in Lee’s approach to composing that roughly aligns with her return to her native South Korea, having lived in the United States since her late teens. Infused with a deep reengagement with her own culture and relationship to memory, it is equally a response to those critical challenges and questions provoked by significant life change. Worked on in isolation, and continuously returned to, over the course of four years, the album’s nine pieces began with a simple recognition that experimental music is not always what we imagine it to be. It is a practice and a pursuit - a music for which, at its inception, the outcome is unknown - rather than an idiom defined by certain syntaxes, approaches, and qualities of structure and sound. From this departure point, Lee began to inquire after the utility of music itself: what is it for, what does it do, and what place does it (or can it) occupy in our lives? This solitary and durational journey, each composition gradually moving through different phases and evolutions over years, led Lee toward uncharted ground: a music that is not only playful, introspective, and seductive, but also intended to provoke a relationship to experimental music beyond its normative expectations. Rather active or deep listening, it pursues passive listening. Rather than a grand statement, it is discreet. Rather than virtuosity, it embraces the elegant and direct. Even more strikingly, for the first time, the music of Just Like Any Other Day (어느날) encounters Lee leaving the cello entirely behind. Created at home on keyboard, computer, and an inexpensive cassette recorder, Just Like Any Other Day (어느날) presents a remarkable form of ambient music - organisations of sound that become their own environment, to be occupied - intended, as the album’s subheading infers, as Background Music For Your Mundane Activities. An expansion of the creative pathways opened by the Korean pop imbued compositions of Yeo​-​Neun, aspects of electronic process explored by Teum (The Silvery Slit), and the emotive foregrounding of 나를 (Na-Reul), each of the pieces presented across the two sides of Just Like Any Other Day (어느날) implies something far greater than the limits of its own temporarily: a mood, provocations of memory and place, mirrors for the solitude within which it was made, and palpable emotion lingering just out of grasp. For Lee, each of the album’s compositions could be continued or looped for an indeterminate duration: straddling a ground between the minimal and the baroque, enveloping the listener in endless cycles of appreciating, repetitive and rhythmical notes, flirting with the melodic and implying a disembodied imagism that borders on the profound. Remarkably beautiful and direct, Okkyung Lee’s Just Like Any Other Day (어느날): Background Music For Your Mundane Activities represents a radical reconfiguration of experiential music, stripped to its bare essence in defiance of the widely presumed aesthetic signifiers. Unlike anything we’ve heard from her before, this immersive body of intimate recordings not only reveals new dimensions of Lee’s striking range as an artist, but also of how we might regard and occupy music itself: an ambience to lived and felt like a second skin.