“Feliz Sintetizador” ​
(Le Mellotron Premiere)

“Solo Moderna’s new LP is full of surprises – grooving 8-bit synths, rocking accordion lines and wicked vocals. Hypnotic, massive and shaking… Genius production!” – Kosta Kostov (Balkan express / Cosmo Club Cologne / DE)

“Love the album! Boum Boum is for me the National Anthem of Republica Moderna, and of course Solo Moderna for president” – Tony Heynen (Global Riddim / NL)

(More reviews below)

Homemade synthesizers, banjo, guitar, recycled toys and broken electronic beats .. there’s more to Solo Moderna than just an unconditional love for analog tweaking. From his native town of Tilburg, Netherlands, Multi-instrumental virtuoso Bas Voorn is peaking in on all corners of the world, infusing Mento, ska, cumbia, Balkan, dancehall, dembow or afrohouse, into his minimal, joyful, 8-bit, approach towards electronica, to create strangely syncopated, ridiculously infectious grooves.

It’s as if Kraftwerk and Señor Coconut went on a trip to Africa, the Balkans, the Caribbean and South America, and “Republica Moderna” emerged from these adventures. From the Balkan-Dembow of “Escúchame Como Soy” and the cumbia of the Washington-based Empresarios in “La Bandolera”, to the sun-kissed, afrohouse vibe of “Sonido SID Africano” and the west African “Republica de chonta”, Solo Moderna gleefully shifts from the acoustic to the synthesized to create a surprisingly coherent work.

For Solo Moderna, life is not something to be taken so seriously. Instruments are toys, and Earth and it’s cultural diversity a playground. It is this unique lightheartedness and flippancy, moving you to smile, dance and enjoy life as it is, that makes Solo Moderna one of the few artists you can recognize immediately after an 8-bar snippet of a song heard in any club around the corner.

Republica Moderna, his 3rd album to date, is a vibrant, delightfully upbeat, timeless homage to the world’s musical diversity.

Releases December 16, 2019 on a 300 copies limited orange vinyl. HQ download code included

Composed, produced and mixed by Bas Voorn
Vocals on 3, 4, by Renée Van Beurden
Artwork by Saga Uno
Mastered at the Exchange, London, UK.
Vinyl lacquers cut by Simon Davey

“Feliz Sintetizador” ​ Premiere on YouTube
More reviews

“Every now and again a band will come along that sounds so good, so original that it feels like being slapped in the face with a wet fish! Solo Moderna’s new album is one of the best albums that I have had the privilege to be involved with. Every track is a masterpiece in its own right. Managing to combine the organic, human element with spirit, excitement, honesty, fun, cool vibes and then finally adding a modern twist. My two favourite tracks, if I had to choose are: “Feliz Sintetizador” with its seductive, bouncing ska like feel and “Mento Moderna” a playful track true to its 30’s / 40’s Calypso roots. This band understand what it takes to create a work of art that is not only uplifting but that stirs the musical emotions in all of us.” Simon Davey (Mastering engineer / The Exchange, UK)

 

“Solo Moderna is a Dutch producer who hails from Tilburg, and who specialises in eclectic grooves inspired by world music, or in his words, “cumbia, Afro, ragga, electroting, lo-fi and baile”. Accordingly, this album – his third – ranges from the Latin party vibes of ‘La Bandolera’ and ‘Feliz Sintetizador’ to the Afro-funk of ‘Boum Boum’, via doses of 1950s Jamaica (‘Mento Moderna’), high-life (‘Momento Disco’) and more. Hammonds, hand percussion and fluttering acoustic guitars are much in evidence throughout but there are hints, too, of a more contemporary, post-house/techno production aesthetic on cuts like ‘Sonido SiD Africano’ “.  Juno Download (Online music store /UK)

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