Passing by: Markus Guentner, Odd Shapes, Audioglider, enh, Sonae and Mr Frankie

A few treats from ASIP regulars in this Passing By feature.

Markus Guentner – Our Home

A little gem released by Markus Guentner a few weeks back now; not to be missed and a free download. Dark, subdued and industrial with a reverberating bassline. Download on Soundcloud.

Odd Shapes – Ice Cream Cathedral’s ‘The Ranger’ remix

A superb EP all-round by Ice Cream Cathedral and a rare remix by Odd Shapes. You’d probably expect Asger to take the drums on this piece to another level, going by his remix duties on Uncharted Places, but instead he opts for a stripped back version, letting the beautiful vocal swirl and the melody shine. The Debut LP will be released March 4th through Oh!My Collective (ohm014).

Audioglider – Mixtape 14 (mix)

Audioglider always manages to come up with these mix tapes at the right time of my life, and as you’d expect from Roberto, it’s a dreamy, melodic and a perfect companion to lazy, hazy days. Featuring a bunch of great tracks from enh, Message To Bears, Bass Kittens and XSpance – the latter of which has a rather good album called ‘Night Echoes‘ up on Bandcamp. Download the mix on Soundcloud.

enh – So Zero (mix)

Continuing the ASIP contingent, enh‘s also been busy preparing his latest mix and it’s packed full of ASIP related goodies. From Roger Martinez’s Horizontal Excursions to Parks, Stray Theories, and Markus Guentner remixes from Uncharted Places. I can’t be biased all the time, but this one’s bound to be good with this lot involved! Download on Soundcloud.

Sonae – Winter (mix)

You may remember many moons ago, it was through Sonae’s mixtapes that she came to release her Places Series EP on ASIP. The mixes are quite the legend round these parts and we’ve been void of them for far too long now. Sonia’s back, with tracks from Loscil, Fieldhead, Jon Hopkins, Apparat and Peter Broderick. Play on Mixcloud.

Mr.Frankie – After The Bliss (mix)

I found myself enveloped in this mix by Mr Frankie – a beautiful blend of textures, dub and deep voids of techno. Some superb track choices including: DFRNT, Edanticonf, Voices from the Lake, Minilogue and Adam Michalak.

Image – Suddenly The Trees Are Giving Way (@astrangelyisolatedplace)

ASIP020 Odd Shapes - Desert Plant

 

Sometimes inspiration peeks out of the ordinary, finding you at a point where you least expect it. It doesn’t always have to be the flash of the Eureka! moment, just the growing creep of realisation and a willingness to look beyond the standard wash of the everyday. 

“Sometimes I take a particular street, leading away from the city, when I walk. It has these old wooden sheds all the way down along one side and I was immediately drawn to this mysterious feeling, as if somebody was trying to hide something on this empty street with all these poorly constructed sheds,” Asger explains. 

It’s a feeling that underpins the eerie dissension and mystery of ‘Desert Plant’. Humming with a dark tension, Asger’s field recordings of a busy city contrast against the desolate, rail track-guided path on its outskirts. 

“The street is close to the rail track and at some point it becomes a path, which lets you cross under a bridge,” he continues, “under that bridge, I recorded these great low-frequency sounds – a mix of the cars going over and the wind blowing beneath the bridge, with the sirens and city noises contributing to the soundscape. 

“As I went along the road, literally, the ideas started building up inside my head. I remember feeling like slowly returning to reality when walking back that day.” 

Those field recordings create an angry dissension, the agitated whip of the wind interrupting the mournful call of the vocals, gnashing over the dead space between stabbing, percussive beats. 

A track wired by dark and low frequencies, it feels like you’ve stumbled across a place where horrible things happen and are hid, the ghosts of those actions lingering only until they’re discovered. 

“It's called Desert Plant because of the place feeling like it was completely deserted, yet it offered me so much in the form of atmosphere and inspiration. There’s life but you have to find it, and acknowledge it.”