Full Circle Anniversary and Charity Compilation: now available

We’re very excited to share with you our ten year anniversary compilation titled, Full Circle. This has been well over a year in the making and was due to be released on the exact anniversary of August 26th, (the date of the first blog post in 2008), but due to our need to get a perfect press, it has been delayed a little until now.

The music presented in this compilation is probably the closest distillation of what has inspired ASIP over the past ten years. The ASIP website and its many versions; blog posts; guest mixes; even some of the older archived (now hidden) posts, were revisited to find the perfect tracks to put forward.

There was however, a few limitations in mind: (1) It had to be a track previously written about or featured in some capacity on ASIP from 2008-2018. (2) The track has previously not been released on vinyl. (3) The artist isn’t currently a part of the ASIP label family.

The end result isn’t a compilation of rarities, b-sides or label exclusives that you may have expected at a typical ten year milestone. Instead, it’s a compilation of music that has helped define ASIP as many people know it today. From drone and space ambient; to shoegaze inspired guitars; nostalgic electronica and melodic synthesizer music, Full Circle presents many of the elements that have been captured over the past ten years on A Strangely Isolated Place.

Pressed into the grooves of this record is some of the finest music to grace my ears that I felt passionate enough to feature on ASIP in the past, and now once more on vinyl - Ryan.

To help celebrate the occasion, all profits from this compilation will go to a charity called The Harmony Project: www.harmony-project.org. We felt that investing in and helping the next generation of potential musicians would be a fitting tribute to the overall concept of the release.

In more ways than one, we’ve come full circle.

For more information, links to buy and listen see the release page.

Thank you to all of the artists, labels and everyone involved in bringing this to life.

todos: Ten Years of A Strangely Isolated Place

The impossible task. Find a way to summarize the last ten years of music featured on the A Strangely Isolated Place blog and website.

First off, we have created the ‘tagged’ project, listing some of the hundreds of artists featured on the blog for you to explore over here. And pretty soon, we’ll have a special release for you all.

But I also wanted something that was closer to our blog beginnings, and a story told through a mix. What better way than tasking our favorite journey-maker, todos.

todos and his Kilchurn Sessions have been a staple of ASIP over the past ten years. We’ve even collected them all in one place, given how many posts they ended up spanning. I don’t need to add many superlatives about him here, but they are some of the best recorded mixes I have ever heard. And I mean it. You can hold-up (my personal favorite) professional mixed CD’s by Sasha, or James Holden for example, and I would be just as pleased listening to some of todos’ Kilchurn Sessions. He has a knack, a perfection and an obsession with mixing unique journeys that span everything from ambient, electronic, techno and instrumental elements, alongside a unique use of samples and movie quotes. He creates familiar and emotive narratives that need multiple revisits to appreciate the detail, skill and passion he put in.

Once todos agreed to my ask (nearly a year-ago now) I sent him the archive of posts from the old site, and a list of all the tags used across both new and old. My only criteria was that he needed to select tracks from artists or albums that were a part of that list - an attachment to ASIP and the blog. He had hundreds to sift through, some known, some new to him.

I don’t know how he did it.

I do know it was a headache for him, for months, but what he turned in, was something well beyond my expectations. He went through many iterations and different approaches, trying to do one chronologically in the order they were featured on ASIP for example, sending me revisions up until the very last minute, but in the end, he managed to find a selection of tracks that truly reflect the past ten years of discovery here on ASIP. And in a style only he knows how to execute.

A big BIG thank you to todos for soundtracking ASIP all these years. And for this, a superb piece of no-doubt painstaking work to help us celebrate ten-years of existence.

Once you’re done listening here, check out our ‘tagged’ project to explore even more.

Download MP3

Download WAV

~

Ten years of A Strangely Isolated Place - mixed by todos

Tracklist:

1. Minilogue - ‘Yesterday Bells’ edit (2008)/ Grzegorz Bojanek - A Huge Explosion After The War’ edit (2017)

2. Altus - ‘Virgo’ edit (2013) / Little Dragon - ‘Twice’ edit (2008) / Lights Out Asia - ‘Except Europa’ edit (2010)

3. Herbstlaub - ‘Softly hidden she.’ (Stray Theories remix) (2016)

4. Stellardrone - ‘Pale Blue Dot’ (2010)

5. Freescha - ‘Kite High’ (2009)

6. Benjamin Dauer - ‘Harmony Bound’ (2011) / Rhian Sheehan - ‘Standing In Silence Part 1’ edit (2010)

7. Jon Hopkins - ‘Private Universe’ (2008) / Opus III - ‘It’s A Fine Day’ edit (2009)

8. Sasha - ‘Broadcast’ (2016)

9. Umber - ‘Tomorrow We'll Throw Out Some Old Shoes’ (2011)

10. Kiyoko - ‘Sea of Trees’ (2012)

11. Bjorn Rohde - ‘Forest of Forgotten Hearts’ (2013) / Nils Frahm - ‘Peter’ (2013)

12. Jason van Wyk - ‘Eyes Shut’ (2017)

13. Roel Funcken - ‘Android Robson’ (2016)

14. Synkro - ‘Midnight Sun’ (2015)

15. Martin Nonstatic - ‘Open Minded’ (2015) / Aphex Twin - ‘Rhubarb’ (2009)

16. Sonitus Eco - ’Storegga Slide’ (2015)

17. Vermont - ‘Übersprung’ (2014)

18. Ocoeur - ‘Resonance’ (2013) / Sigur Ros - ‘Takk’ (2011) / Carbon Based Lifeforms - ‘Intro’ / ‘Hold’ (2014)

19. Donnacha Costello - ‘That Empty Feeling’ (2011)

20. Rhian Sheehan - ’Sileo’ (2013)

21. Markus Guentner - ‘Baryon’ (Feat. The Sight Below) edit (2015) / Porya Hatami - ‘Fen’ (By Segue) edit (2015)

22. Tegh - ‘Down’ (2014)

23. Arovane - ‘Woven’ (Peter Benisch Remix) edit (2015)

24. John Beltran - ‘Seasons Go’ (2013)

~

Includes audio recordings taken in and around USA, Germany, UK, Italy, Poland, Australia, Netherlands and Japan.

Special thanks to Ryan, Marcel, Eiko, Spencer and James for the support and sending me snippets of your own strangely isolated places. It was a pleasure incorporating them into this mix.

*Years indicate when tracks were featured on ASIP, not necessarily when they were released*

Artwork by ASIP, containing elements from Mario Morales and Nick Brzostowski.

Synkro - Changes Remix EP (Helios exclusive stream)

Synkro's debut album, Changes, was a culmination of many years work for the British artist. After becoming synonymous with remixes, EP's, collaborations along with his work as part of Kiyoko, it was a well overdue album release which captured his unique sound; combining ambient, bass, beats and jungle, to name just a few styles. 

This makes it of little surprise to see the wide-ranging artists contained within his upcoming remix EP for the album, enlisting four artists from across the electronic music spectrum; Sven Weisemann; Legowelt, DBridge and Helios. 

Beginning with a 13-minute trip by the man behind Desolate, Sven Weisemann, his signature echoed piano and angelic vocals take on one of the deeper tracks from the album, Your Heart, flipping the emotion into a soulful, hopeful take on the original. 

Straight-up aggressive acid and stabby-chords from Legowelt form the remix of the slow-stepping title track, Changes - no surprise from a man who drops funky-acid-tinged albums such as Amiga Railroad Adventures.

DBridge is probably the most obvious remix choice for the EP given his closeness in sound to Synkro (and undoubtedly a big influence on Synkro's sound), and his choice of track, Body Close, is also a banker, given the autonomic sound and lead vocal - ripe for a DBridge rip. The result is as big, and as stomping as you would expect from the drum'n bass legend.

Lastly, Synkro honors the many ambient influences on the album by enlisting one of the best ambient producers out there to take on Midnight Sun. The nostalgic Boards of Canada sounding original might seem the easy choice for Helios, but the result is refined; with Keith toning down the beats and chords, turning Midnight Sun into a majestic and ethereal piece of downtempo. One of Helios' best and a perfect ending for an eclectic remix EP.

We've got the Helios remix to stream in its entirety below.

Changes Remix EP available on Bandcamp in digital, vinyl and tape.

Bering Strait - Archive 0

As one half of Kiyoko, Jack Lever is no stranger to many of us here on ASIP. Alongside Joe McBride (Synkro), Kiyoko provided us with an isolatedmix a few months back and are about to re-release their debut album, Sea Of Trees on vinyl. However, with one of my favourite EP's of 2013 to his name under his own guise, Bering Strait, Jack is slowly but surely carving out his own route -  a distinctly varied production approach and a sound that's appealing to the ambient enthusiasts among us.

Released on tape, Archive 0 includes three tracks of stripped back texture, samples and grainy drones, book-ending three more stylized productions. Drone-A, B and C sandwich the rolling dub-techno of Transmission 110, the glistening Fog Open Key, and the sinister footprints of Name-VAc. 

It's a tricky balance where this type of  music is concerned, trying to keep the listener entertained throughout is a tough job, but one Jack succeeds at, with alternating styles, subtle samples and a delicate progression throughout each track - on  Concrete-X-28hr Drone B you hear the faint glimmer of life from an unknown vocal sample as it descends into choral delays - it's this type of introduction which entices you around the dark corner.

Transmission 110 is the defining track on the release - a gentle dub-techno piece and the only track holding any recognition to Jack's previous productions. It's a pleasure to see an artist come together with new styles and experiment in this way; brave enough to embrace alternating approaches and styles after only a few releases in the wild. Archive 0 may suggest a look back, but it's evident Jack is still experimenting and pushing forward with an array of beautiful music.

We're lucky enough to play host and debut Transmission 110 to the world below, and I also shot Jack a few questions for more context.

Archive 0 will be available on April 20th direct through Bering Strait's Bandcamp - available now to pre-order. 

ASIP: Hello Jack, where are you right now and what are you up to?

BS: I’m in Belgium at the moment for a Kiyoko gig but I’ll be returning home after the weekend.

SIP: Nice! Have you been there before? You seem to tour and play live quite a bit - is this a focus for you?

BS: Yeah I flew over for the first time in 2012 when I signed to Apollo, to meet Renaat & Sabine (R&S Records). Playing live isn't  really a focus for me, I prefer writing music, although I don’t mind playing out and it's something I am open to.   

ASIP: You're from the UK's Peak District right? I love it up there - did you grow up in a sleepy town or out in the sticks?

BS: I suppose you could say out in the sticks, I’m originally from a place called ‘Dukinfield’ in Greater Manchester but then my family moved to Derbyshire when I was young, I spent my childhood in the Peak District in a farming village near Kinder Mountain.

ASIP: The Northern Richard D James maybe? Any tanks outside your Peak District house?!

BS: There’s a lot of tractors about, and you get the odd armoured Land Rover. 

ASIP: How did you get into music?

BS: My first memory of being interested in music was going round to my Grandparents house where I knew there was some drums in the spare bedroom, but I don’t think I ever got to go up there and play with them, I always knew that my Dad had played the drums, and two of my Uncles. When I was eleven I asked my 'Ma for some drums and she bought me a black Remo Bravo 2 four piece drum kit, I Joined a band before I could play them which I was in at secondary school, we played a mixture of dated 80’s punk, metal, Thrash & Dub.

We recorded our first EP on CD at age 13 in my friends back room on a Playstation 2 and started playing in pubs in the local area. We had our first recording session in a studio in Stockport around that time. Then I got into electronic music mainly through hallucinogenic drugs in my mid teens, we used to go camping and listen to stuff like Scorn, BOC, Mum & Phonem. A lot of it came from random downloads with poor information so I didn’t end looking into these guys till much later.

ASIP: How would you describe your sound as Bering Strait?

BS: The sun rising on melting ice, after a long journey through a harsh arctic desert.

ASIP: What's your weapon/s of choice when producing music?

BS: My Sanyo handheld cassette recorder, cost me a £1 from a charity shop but its got a nice mic on it. I like Akai samplers too. I also use some boss pedals and I have a rack-mount analog tape delay made by Aria which I use on a lot of the Bering Strait / Kiyoko tracks.

ASIP: So a pretty analog setup - is that on purpose? Do you try to keep this analog sound in your productions?

BS: Yeah I love analog boxes and synths. The first track I ever made was on a 16 channel mixing desk with analog sends recorded to DAT (all not mine - it was at college). Don’t get me wrong though, it's not like my studio at home is full of analog equipment - just cheap stuff and my laptop at the moment. 

ASIP: What do you focus on for samples & field recordings?

BS: I used a lot of recordings on my first EP (Apart) & Sea of Trees (as Kiyoko) I would go anywhere from the kitchen, to outdoors, to the shit I have lying around in my bedroom, Vinyls, guitars, bass, flutes, percussion etc. Sometimes I’ll record re-amped noises and go to the bathroom and the hallway for recording acoustic instruments.

ASIP: So what’s the most interesting sound you’ve incorporated into your Bering Strait tracks? Anything in the Archive 0 release which may surprise us?

BS: Thats a tough question. You might hear a dodgy reggae vocal in a new context on the third track of ‘Archive 0’.

ASIP: I love the title track on Apart, and Archive 0 is a bit of a departure from this sound. Can you tell us more about this evolution? 

BS: I wrote Apart in different circumstances and with different equipment (Guitars & Amps) than Archive 0, but I wanted to approach this release in a new way to keep it interesting, so I used Some Synthesizers and tape.

ASIP: How do you see Bering Strait evolving?

BS: I just want to keep writing music. I can see myself releasing quite a lot in the near future. 

Bering Strait - Archive 0 tracklist:

01. CONCRETE X-28H DRONE C
02. NAMEVAC
03. CONCRETE X-28H DRONE B
04. FOG OPEN KEY
05. TRANSMISSION 110
06. CONCRETE X-28H DRONE A

http://beringstraitarchives.com/

isolatedmix 51 - Kiyoko

With just one album and two EP’s to their name so far, Jack Lever and Joe McBride are just at the beginning of their journey together asKiyoko, but setting a ridiculously high standard from the off. Individually, the duo’s productions have spread far and wide as Synkro (Joe) and Bering Strait (Jack) on labels such as Apollo, Auxiliary, and D-Bridge’s label, Exit Records. Together they each bring something rather special to the party which has entertained the ears of many of us from the very beginning (with their debut album, Sea of Trees) and has left us itching for whatever’s next around the corner.

Kiyoko’s unique approach defies the genre boundaries many people stick to nowadays. Their productions are refined and seem stripped down to the very core of what makes us tick. Playing on the origins of drum’n bass and incorporating the slow-burning melodies and euphoria of atmospheric ambient music, subtle samples and neat beat-work add an often unexpected addictive twist to their productions.

The northern-English duo are a little elusive on the mix front too. Since their mix for Finest Ego in 2012, I’ve had them on my isolatedmix wishlist; it was perfectly mixed, key-considerate and a true reflection of their inspirations. Isolatedmix 51 takes it one step further, and will once again go down as one of my favourite mixes in a very long time.

Looking ahead, their debut album Sea Of Trees is finally getting a vinyl-press through Auxiliary. But until that special day, sit back and escape with the duo’s inspirational isolatedmix. And if you’re new to either of them, check out their individual productions as Synkro (his recent mix for i-D mag) and Bering Strait – undoubtedly two of today’s most exciting producers indivudally, and just as revered together as Kiyoko.

“The mix is a selection of some of our favorite ambient tracks from the past & present & we would like to say it is an honour to have a mix up alongside some of our favorite artists of all time (Helios, Arovane, ASC to name a few)”. (Kiyoko)

Download

Tracklist:

01. Oh, Yoko – Seashore (Instrumental Ver.2)
02. Kiyoko – Open
03. Xela – Impulsive Behaviour
04. Jon Hopkins – Open Eye Signal (Asleep Version)
05. Kiyoko – Archway
06. Move D – Rote Zone
07. Christ. – Discombobulate
08. Ian Hawgood – A Film By The Remote Viewer
09. Dania Shapes – December Waiting Room
10. Sad City – You Will Soon Find That Life Is Wonderful
11. Synkro – VII
12. Ambulance – Hydro Lines
13. Tangerine Dream – Remote Viewing
14. Bering Strait – Transmission 110 
15. Desolate – Imagination
16. Machinedrum – Vizion
17. Vatican Shadow – Whitewashed Compound Stealth Helicopter Crash
18. Kiyoko – Something To Think About
19. Muslimgauze – Old Arab Record Not On Compact Disc

Kiyoko on Facebook | Tumblr | Soundcloud | Twitter (Synkro) | Bering Strait