It's been exactly ten years since Hamburg-based musician Catharina Boutari, who calls herself Puder on stage, decided to no longer submit to the repetitive process of making a new record. As label head of Pussy Empire Recordings, she knows how to plan, but as an artist, she wanted the creative process to be at the mercy of inspiration, the moment, risk, and surprise. Just like her, her musical partners on future Puder Session Tapes wouldn't know where the journey would lead. They meet in the studio and create music in the moment, recording it on the spot. The seventh installment of this musically creative adventure, which Puder realized at the Future Echoes Festival in Sweden, is being released on splatter vinyl these days.
Aha. Okay. Let's Surf The Planet. is a mix of the solo work of one artist and the collaborative work of four European musicians. Puder's guests for the seventh installment of her Session Tapes series are Dutch alternative singer Eliën, as well as the two Portuguese jazz double bassists Jorge da Rocha and electronic musician and beatmaker St. James Park. Boutari met the three in 2022 during the artist residency at the Westway Lab Festival in Portugal. The group formed a collective, which has since realized joint musical projects. When the invitation came at the end of 2022 to the Future Echoes Showcase Festival in Sweden to record the live recordings for the next Session Tapes as part of the festival, it was clear who Puder wanted to embark on this adventure with.
Aha. Okay. Let's Surf The Planet is an acoustic road movie that effortlessly ranges from Boutari's home in Hamburg, behind his own dreams and fears, across Europe, from the deep forest to the Future Echoes Festival in Sweden. Five songs, connected to a larger whole by six soundscapes, illuminate the cosmos of friendship and hope. The sound is dark, warm, and expansive. Sparsely instrumented, the songs are carried by dreamy melodies and polyphonic vocals. Double bass soundscapes meet sparkling Beats and tastefully placed electronics. Longer instrumental passages enhance the cinematic quality of Gregor Hennig's mix. The music has both earth and air. It's full of hope, sometimes even danceable. Sailing in one's own universe. Inner insights. Catharsis.
Aha. Okay. Let's Surf The Planet was recorded live on February 18, 2023, and accompanied by a video documentary by Hamburg-based videographer Marie Krahl.
