The Hype

Here comes the second release under Not Music‘s wings! French percussionist and composer Bastien Jouvin’s creative journey for Chaos et félicité has been kick-started by our Marathon software. The prospect of new, impossible rhythms seems to have had a catalytic effect on him, and new compositions just seemed to pour out of his mind. The results of these experiments are amassed on this forty-minute album, which is coming out in one month, on August 7.

Rïga’s style fuses electronic walls of texture, classical percussion, post-rock swells, noise passages, and hardcore beats, and it’s truer than ever on Chaos et félicité. At times, Bastien plays with traditional Gnawa and West African rhythms, while also giving way to stochastic passages and aleatoric studies. However, rhythm is but part of the massive sound found throughout the release. The rest is part synthesizer, part voice, part harmony, part melody, texture, grit, spectrum, and so on. It’s truly hard to describe it or recommend only a few similar artists, because of the sheer breadth and scope of the album. Even if it looks somewhat strange to recommend this album to fans of both Mogwai and Floex, both Amon Tobin and Dälek, and as well 65dos as Aphex Twin, it’s because elements of all of them can be found therein.

The Release

As usual, the album will be available digitally for free upon release; for now it’s at the lowest pre-order price possible. On top of that, the digipak is back! Four-panel, with artwork from Mr. Jouvin himself. The cost of making them is €2.50, for a run of one hundred, and we will be selling them €5.00 at first (CAD $7.44 at the moment of writing), in the hopes of selling fifty of them to break even. After that, however, the price will be cut in half for the remaining fifty units. After six months of release, if the fifty-album threshold is reached, the remainder will be liquidated for CAD $1.00, because they are no use gathering dust at home. Bastien will soon receive them and will be sending them from France. We’re still offering a flat-rate worldwide shipping, which starts at €5.00, which is the price for standard international shipping, and will be adjusted to the average actual cost of shipping as orders will come.

Any support from you is highly appreciated and matters a lot! Money is hard-earned, so we want to be as transparent as possible with how we spend it, how we ask for it, and what it’s used for. Since Bastien covered the production fees for the album and the physical release, all the money from physical sales are going directly to him, while Not Music keeps 10 % of digital sales. Since we’re both human beings, this money will first of all go to food, rent, other boring stuff, and some fun stuff, and since we’re passionate about music, the rest will go towards further musical endeavours on both our parts.

So, I hope you’re with us on this second trip for Not Music.