If you’re not loving the beginning of this track you’re either deaf or you left your emotions in 2020 (fair enough, there was enough drama there to last a lifetime).

How about we clean the slate and look forward, believing in a brighter future for all of us? Well, here’s Aloa Input with the perfect tune for such a new beginning - Desert Something seems like a search for something yet to be found - there were bright tales of what one might encounter and there were plenty of sparkling moments to keep your spirits high.

This track makes me think of Ulrika Spacek - if you never gave them a listen, go for it. They took a break for some time, but I know they’re working on recording new songs atm. Personally, I’d love to be able to catch a show with them and Aloa Input on the same bill.

Now all we have to wait for is a brighter 2021 and for the Aloa crew to release an album on vinyl so we can all live happier lives in our wilderness sheds with just enough solar power for one of those small vinyl-players you can charge <3 I know it’s coming, are you?

Remember this tune is also on our main spotify playlist, you find it right here >

SHAPE Platform is a pan-European initiative designed to give the underground music scene exposure on its own terms. The SHAPE Class of 2018 is as exciting as you’d imagine, which is why we’re showcasing picks from this year’s selection every Friday…

This week’s highlighted artist is… sonic jet-setting German duo Joasihno.

Meshes by joasihno

MusicMap: When did you both meet and how did the idea of creating Joasihno come up?

Cico, Joasihno: Joasihno was at first a solo project of mine and after some years Nico joined in.

Your last album ‘Meshes’ incorporated a ‘robot orchestra’. What was this orchestra exactly, and is still a part of your composition process?

This orchestra is a tiny ensemble of percussion instruments we built together with our friends from DADA Machines, kaliber16 and nanometer507. It has two sections: one is controlled by the computer and synced to the beats. The other one is just controlled by voltage so they are rhythmically free. Actually, we built all this stuff after the record was done and we were looking for a good way to play our music live. But now it’s become more a part of the music and it will also be integrated in writing music for our next album.

How do you balance between organic instrumentation and digital processes, is this something you consider much?

I think contrasts in music and sound are something very nice and important. It’s probably the same when you handle with colours, or cook food – one thing (sound, colour, taste) is more interesting when you have something else to relate to. Regarding music I really like lo-fi stuff a lot but the combination with cold and digital sounds is also very nice.

Cico, you have played with The Notwist, one of Bavaria’s most recognised indie bands. What other acts from the region should we be looking out for?

I would recommend looking for Le Millepede, LeRoy, Hochzeitskapelle, G.Rag und die Landlergschwister, Rumpeln, Friends of Gas, Angela Aux and Aloa Input.

What album would you recommend each other if you were to meet for the first time?

Moondog – Viking of the 6th Avenue.

Where are you looking forward to performing this year, or where would you love to perform?

For our stay at SXSW/Austin this year we built a tiny version of our setup that runs only on battery so we are mobile. We did a lot of street music there and we’re really looking forward to do this in many other cities.

#fancyvideo

Aloa Input - PERRY

Balthazar at Festival NRMAL 2016 | Photo by Wesley Hodges

The most compelling sets over the course of the weekend were delivered by international bands that generally play mid-sized clubs and small theatres around the world. Many of the sub-headliner acts at NRMAL are obscure to even learned US music fans, yet respected and influential within the artist community. Reading up on bands like Kreidler and Follakzöid following the festival, it was hard to believe they’d flown outside my radar, but seeing acts of that caliber with no preface like we did on Saturday is always 10x more exciting and 100x more long lasting than stumbling upon an album on Spotify. While the weekend’s few headliners (Deerhunter, Low, Slowdive and Battles) all delivered big as expected, it was the unknown acts on the lineup that left the biggest impact. Chalk it up to the thrill of new music discovery. After all, that was the reason we came to Mexico for NRMAL.

Continue below for photos and a list of highlight sets from a remarkable weekend spent in Mexico City.

BEST OF NRMAL

Deerhunter at Festival NRMAL 2016 // Photo by Wesley Hodges

Los Pirañas (Colombian psych trio || RIYL: moe., Primus and Battles) Föllakzoid (Chilean trance psych pop trio) Kreidler (krautrock / post-rock from Germany) Aloa Input (German band RIYL Peter Bjorn and John, can, Animal Collective) San Pedro (garage psych rock from Tijuana, Mexico || RIYL: The Stooges) Jaako Eino Kalevi (Finnish indie pop || RIYL: Wild Nothing) Mitú (Colombian high intensity trance, cumbia, meringue, techno || RIYL: Bomba Estéreo, SBTRKT)

– Low’s set-closing sunset rendition of “Landslide” from their amazing 2015 album Ones and Sixes brought chills and near silence across the festival grounds on Saturday, capping off a full set crescendo that built towards an emotionally stirring and beautiful conclusion.

– Seeing Atlanta, Georgia’s Deerhunter play in Mexico City was a treat (and big part of the draw to make the trip). Bradford, Lockett and Co.’s too-short set was strong considering the set time limitations, and included the first three tunes from their new record (“All The Same”, “Breaker” and “Living My Life”) and closed with two personal favorites (the headswimming and atmospheric “Helicopter” and always-sprawling “Nothing Ever Happened”).

– Saturday’s dawn to late-night run of musical fantasia that started with Low and ran through Los Pirañas, Kreidler (possibly the set of the weekend), San Pedro El Cortez, Follakzöid, Deerhunter, A Place to Bury Strangers and HEALTH was a full-blown sensory overload and left me with a long list of new favorite bands from around the globe.

– The crowd was respectful, well-behaved and seemingly knowledgeable. Notably I didn’t see any spunions, wastoids or zombies that generally dot a festival landscape nor did I come across anyone barreling through the crowd trying to move up as is often the case.

Hope to return again some day, I could get used to this NRMAL life.

Galería de Fotos