Shelter & Orion with Turner Williams Jr. - Krakatoa

Les Disques Omnison, Protopost - LP

France, 2025

Experimental / Electronic / 4th World

Another excellent dive into a psychogeographic Paris of electronic marshes and radiant shahi baaja notes, courtesy of Les Disques Omnison & Protopost. Tom Val aka Orion joined label affiliates Shelter & Turner Williams Jr in the studio to offer their own take on contemporary improvisation, taking cues from patrimonial treasures by Vox Populi, Muslimgauze and Don Cherry's Codona & Organic Music Society projects as well as more recent household names Ulla, Civilistjävel and Konrad Sprenger.

The past 12 months have been exceptionally good for Tom Val's label Les Disques Omnison, as the label released three of the most enjoyable and idiosyncratic LP's of French experimental music in 2024. Starting the year with sun-drenched electric shahi baaja's variations by Turner Williams Jr., and Shelter & Orion's kraut jams Here's where you understand it's only dreaming, these two cripplingly limited releases were quickly followed by Orion's solo LP Territoires Fluences. 

A turn of event brought the 3 aforementioned musicians in Shelter's studio where they eventually recorded 5 tracks as a circumstantial trio over the course of 2 recording sessions, thus fully embodying the free improv ethos so strongly championed by the label since day 1. Each song explores a different facet of fourth world music improvisation, from the murkiest ("Le Sacre des Lucioles", "Krakatoa") to the gauziest ("Solastalgie"). Mostly clocking at over 8 min, each of them ultimately blossoms into a micro-world of its own, brushed by barely recognizable electronic instruments. Whether it is a Burroughsian opiated scenery or a pared-down but highly evocative 1999 video game's level ("Le Sacre des Lucioles" gave me innervisions of Rayman 2's Marshes of Awakening location), these visions are all vivid and  cerebrally stimulating. it doesn't feel necessary to go into the usual bland psychedelic bullshit keywords writing: Krakatoa is some top drawer stuff. Sophistically balanced and inspiring, it kickstarts 2025 in the most promising way. (M/M - wholesale: shops, contact us)