isolatedmix 76 - Dalot: Un-time

Maria Papadomanolaki has been a part of the ASIP library for a few years now.  One of the first artists that caught my ear on the n5MD label, I remember seeing Maria perform many-years ago in London alongside Winterlight and port-royal. Dalot's shoegaze-inspired ambient drones kicked off a brilliant night of relatively unheard artists from the n5MD roster that left me chasing down many back-catalogs as a newbie to n5MD.

After providing a remix on Uncharted Places, Maria was a part of our second vinyl compilation, Europe, finding harmony as she looked back at her home of Kalathas beach in Greece, and setting a warm and gracious tone as the opening track. Her music is often varied as far as ambient goes, from delicate micro-textures, to guitar-laden soundscapes, or as heard on her most recent outing for n5MD in Mutogibito; a moment of rebirth and celebration embracing her post-rock-side, whilst also toying with the more organic elements of experimental electronica.

Just as you think you've got her down, Maria goes and partners with Vietnam's, Sound Awakener, on a new project called 'Little Things', further venturing into microscopic details and varied textures; something the two of them have clearly enjoyed partnering on. Guitars, analog synthesizers and of course a multitude of field recordings create a truly rich and varied palette of ambient and experimental recordings on this release for Fluid Audio. It's music that's evidently filled with heart, obsessed over, and then completed with the tiniest of finishes in mind - a sentiment echoed in Fluid Audio's beautiful packaging for the release.

When I asked for a Dalot isolatedmix, I didn't know which way Maria would take it, but the end result works in harmony with how I began to describe her work alongside Sound Awakener in Little Things. 

Titled 'Un-time', it's a mix of music that bleeds emotion, texture and escapism - all similar traits found in her latest production. A connoisseur of instrumental and organic based ambient music, Maria includes masters of the practice such as Marsen Jules, Taylor Deupree and Harold Budd, to create a blanket of warmth, as microscopic sounds of an abstract nature surround you. 

In Maria's own words, “Un-time offers an open space, a space for undoing and reflection and un-timing, of stepping out of time and the awareness of its passage;  like a mayfly or a dewdrop with shades, and light and colours of many shapes and makings, mostly untimed.”

Little Things is available now.

Download.

Tracklist:

01. Eliane Radigue – L’ile Re-sonante (un-time edit)
02. Philip Jeck -  The All of Water
03. Marsen Jules – Beatyfear VIII
04. Josh Mason – Infinite Crown of Shells
05. Taylor Deupree – Shoals
06. Christina Kubisch  - Night Shift
07. Dalot & Sound Awakener – Sailing
08. Sawako – Wind Shower Particle
09. Deaf Center – Fiction Dawn
10. Harold Budd – Children on the Hill

Artwork/image credit:: sonalidalal

Dalot on Bandcamp | Web | n5MD

isolatedmix 71 - Anton Kubikov : Ambient Landcast

The Biosphere-esque EP "Music For Currydoors" alongside Maxim Milutenko was my first introduction to Anton Kubikov. During my obsessive Traum Schallplatten era (see Traumbient), this track was one of many introductions to a wealth of artists who crossed the divide between ambient and techno. It was a small appearance on Traum, but gave a taster of what he can do alongside partner Maxim, where they were both busy producing as SCSI-9 and releasing on labels like Trapez, Force Tracks and Kompakt. 

Not necessarily known for ambient music at the time, Anton’s career has been largely rooted in techno as the founder of esteemed label Pro-tez. But as we’re about to find out, ambient music has always been a big part of his life, with subtleties creeping through and influencing some of his many releases over the years. Through more dub-techno EP's like 'Bushes/Moving’ and ‘Inner’, or deep techno EP’s such as ‘Before/After’ and ‘Aniko/Evora’, Anton consistently creates beautiful deep journeys within his extensive productions. 

That perception may now stray further into the ambient realm after releasing his first album on Kompakt’s prestigious Pop Ambient album series, titled 'Whatness'. After a push from label head Michael Mayer, Anton embarked on the full-length and threw his entire production armory at what is, an extremely varied and creative record. Using random noise generators, resampling, modular synthesizers and step-sequencers, Calimba, guitar, piano and even poetry, Whatness continues to break the ever-changing Pop Ambient umbrella. 

Anton’s mix, is a creative concept which we haven’t seen here on ASIP before, bucking the potentially expected dive into deep techno territory. Inspired by reading biographies of some of experimental and avant-garde's most prestigious pioneers, Anton discovered a unique approach to the mix:

"As if listening to different songs in youtube, I did not turn them off but began to layer on each other. I reached five tracks simultaneously playing, and fell into hypnosis. The idea of he mix was born. The main thing was to show the works of different years throughout the 20th century from the 30s to the 80s, when such music, it seemed to me, did not go out into the broad masses but remained amongst intellectuals”. 

An educational class featuring some this century's most defining experimental innovators.

Download

Tracklist:

01. Sofia Gubaidulina & Choir of the Moscow Experimental Electronic Music Studio - Vivente-Non Vivente [1989]
02. Eliane Radigue - Geelreandre [1979]
03. Delia Derbyshire & Barry Bermange - Falling [2014]
04. Morton Feldman - Two Pianos [1953-1969]
05. Bernard Parmegiani - De Natura Sonorum, Première série [1975]
06. Morton Feldman- Three Voices For Joan La Barbara-Legato [1989]
07. Else Marie Pade - Faust Suite: Faust & Margrethes Kærlighed [1958-1995]
08. Alvin Lucier -  Music for Piano with Magnetic Strings [2009]
09. Edison Denisov - Bird’s Singing [1990]
10. Oliver Messiaen - Oraison [1937]
11. Else Marie Pade - Syv Cirkler [1958]
12. Morton Feldman- Three Voices For Joan La Barbara - Whisper [1989]
13. Robert Ashley - Automatic Writing [1979]
14. Harold Budd - Bell Tower [2003]

Anton Kubikov | Facebook | Soundcloud | Kompakt