We go from one of our musical heroes in isolatedmix 100 (Tom Middleton) to an exciting, new discovery with Dutch label collective, De Lichting.
I came across the label on Bandcamp late last year after they had just released the third of their compilation series; 'Één', ‘Twee’ and ‘Drie’. It must’ve been the pastel color thumbnails that drew me in (!) as I had no prior knowledge of the label or the artists involved. But I was quickly moved to purchase all albums on vinyl and stump up the delivery cost all the way from Europe - they were (and are) that good. A blend of more electronic leaning ambient, ambient techno and in some instances full-on techno, the variety yet strong cohesion amongst them all (and in such quantity across 3 compilations) made me realize this was a label with a very strong and clear approach to quality music - and definitely something to get excited about in the future.
When I received the three vinyl compilations, they unfortunately came really bent out of shape from shipping, and I sent an email to the label to sort out a replacement. This happened twice in fact (just a string of bad luck it seemed), but De Lichting dealt with the replacements with grace - quickly and without complaint - and my affinity for them grew even stronger.
More recently I stumbled across this recent AV live-set by De Lichting artist Boris Acket alongside the wonderful visual artist Vincent Rang, who recently provided some outstanding art for the Astral Industries 9128.live takeover. It was one of those special moments that starts to bring numerous musical paths together within our small world, not to mention a lovely way to immerse yourself for an hour. >
The request for an isolatedmix came around primarily due to my newfound admiration for their output, but also because of the desire to get to know the people behind the label a little better. Out of the three compilations, every artist was new to me at the time - and it felt like a goldmine of new music to explore. So to extend that phase of excitement and open up the De Lichting world to even more people, Nathan Kofi (Keyeke) from De Lichting has prepared a special showcase featuring 100% label material both present and upcoming. And of course, I fired a few questions their way to extend the introduction to this new and exciting collective.
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Hi Nathan, can you tell us a bit about the label; how it formed and what inspired it, who it’s made up of?
De Lichting is, in essence, a tight-knit of friends who combined efforts by merging three Amsterdam based imprints into one joint venture, run by seven music heads from the same city. The majority of the crew knew each other when we as individuals embarked on music studies in the same college. And some of us intersected in life via other routes and hopped on the bandwagon a little later.
We, as a 7-headed collective, strongly believe in a DIY mentality, which instigated the urge to self-release music in the first place. The industry and its gate-keeping mechanisms, when artists are searching refuge for their music, are apparent. And we collectively were tired of not receiving any comment or feedback on sent-out material. So we took up things for ourselves, and have been doing so ever since! Stubbornly, freely, passionately but not without struggles.
The group is made up of: Boris Acket, Eversines, Human Space Machine, Kaap, Nathan Kofi (Keyeke), queniv, and RDS. And several alter-egos; as you might’ve noticed in the tracklist. We are all currently based in Amsterdam, apart from queniv, who resides in Utrecht. Everyone contributes and plays their part in operating the platform. I maintain and keep close contact with our PR relations and make sure the right music and narrative is communicated when a release is on its way.
So there are quite a few people involved in running the label! How do you come to decisions? Does it always go as planned?
It isn’t always easy when it comes down to decision making. All of us have strong unfiltered spirited opinions on label matters such as; pr, pressing, promotion, design, playlist etc. With regards to our solo EP series; although each one of us has a certain amount of jurisdiction, we do allow the person who’s releasing, to have the last say in certain aspects. At times difficult decisions can be as easy as ABC. And other times minor details can fire up a passionate debate for hours. However, In the end, it always pans out to an agreement, in which everybody can find peace and comfort, and thus our collective narrative.
Musical styles on the label so far are very diverse - from ambient through to techno (just what I like!) is this on purpose? Do you have a limit on genre?
Not really though. We all deeply enjoy the craft and art of music production in all its glory and ugliness. So there is no limit, per-se, on genre. We uphold freedom of artistic expression as well as experimentation in a myriad of ways. There is no right or wrong. However, we do intend to express a collective narrative holistically that balances between all genres within the experimental electronic dance music spectrum. And I personally feel that to be one of the strong trademarks of our platform. The process of selection starts with hours-long listening sessions, where everybody can freely present their ‘work in progress’ made over a period of time. And from that point, we try to connect the dots from the first track to the last.
What’s the goal of the label and what do you have planned for the future?
Well, first and foremost; the future will bring a lot more new releases! From tape/cassettes, digitals and of course vinyl. In July we are releasing another compilation but this time we release it exclusively digitally, due to the catastrophic backlash of the COVID-19 crisis on the entire industry. So no vinyl, for the first time… Although it pains us not to be able to press on a physical carrier, as well as, not to celebrate the release with friends and family on location. We had to be creative and came up with a cool idea to honour our release rituals. We’ll be live-streaming the new complication and during the stream, a robotic arm will translate the frequencies of the tracks on paper, which can be bought afterwards.
Can you tell us about your mix? Looks like there’s lots of unreleased music in the pipeline?
The mix I prepared for ASIP contains 100% De Lichting material. Each one of us has contributed at least 2 to 4 tracks. The mix from beginning to end is my personal interpretation for an ambient journey through the collective spirit of De Lichting.
The process started with me digging into the endless hallways and corridors of unreleased and released work from the crew. And carefully listening to each of the tracks and simultaneously puzzling all of it into a cohesive narrative. As you might’ve noticed, the focus is mainly beatless. And I tried to be as versatile as I could by combining different vibes, BPMS, genres of tracks together that aren’t normally expected to be paired together. And this the result!
An opening track from Kaap brings us into a deep meditative melancholic mood before we swiftly drift-of into a more light-hearted atmosphere. Halfway through you’ll hear field recorded ambiences, rhythmic syncopes, noise sweeps, synthesizers breathing and coming to life. And near the end the vibe becomes sedative and dream-like, just enough, to calmly awaken you with a conclusive fast-paced anthem called 'missing' by Eversines & RDS.
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Listen on Soundcloud, Mixcloud, or the ASIP Podcast.
Tracklist:
01. JøBurg - Voices From The Void 002 [unreleased]
02. queniv - Modular Test [De Lichting]
03. Boris Acket - Home Rehearsal 1 [De Lichting]
04. RDS - Untitled [unreleased]
05. Kaap - Solus Ipse [unreleased]
06. Human Space Machine - Kirkyra 001 [unreleased]
07. Keyeke - Peninsula [unreleased]
08. Boris Acket - Home Rehearsal 2 [De Lichting]
09. Eversines - Bau [unreleased]
10. queniv - Ambient 012 [unreleased]
11. Keyeke - Omío [unreleased]
12. RDS - Jazz Experiment [unreleased]
13. Jøburg - Epoch [unreleased]
14. Keyeke - Morphosis [De Lichting]
15. Nathan Surreal - Dream [unreleased]
16. Human Space Machine - Persist 2 [unreleased]
17. Eversines - Distant Comfort [unreleased]
18. RDS - Onvoorwaardelijk (Ambient) [De Lichting]
19. Eversines & RDS - Missing (Mix I) [Forthcoming Kalahari Oyster Cult]
De Lichting | Bandcamp | Website | Facebook | Soundcloud | RA
