ne of the best things for me when spending hours and hours curating and exploring music for ASIP, is that there’s other people out there doing the same job and making mine just a little bit easier. Yes, the challenge is in the find, but one of the biggest reasons for starting ASIP is that there just wasn’t enough of what I liked out there. After nearly 5 years trawling the web, various sites and blogs, a select bunch of curators have risen to the top of my favourites pile, and Secret Thirteen is one of the many greats now gracing an expansive and ever evolving music community.
Just last month I was invited to participate in Secret Thirteen’s mix series – a privilege i’m not sure I deserve, which sat me alongside legends such as Biosphere, Loscil, ASC and Anders Ilar. It was of course, destiny that the curator of such an amazing mix series put his ear a little closer to the output and create a mix himself. not to mention the fact I wanted to hear what made him tick. With such a similar taste in music, evident throughout many of the mix contributors, I was pretty sure S13 head-honcho Justinas Mikulskis would put together a rather epic selection.
He could have gone many ways, as his introduction below begins to tell you, but Justinas decides to focus on a relatively unexplored genre on ASIP – but one which I and many of you im sure enjoy; IDM. I always take extra pleasure in listening to a mix associated with a good crate-digging session and this is definitely one of them, with genre pioneers Arovane, Autechre, Monolake and Speedy J all making an appearance. I’ll leave the rest of the introduction to the man himself…
Introduction by Justinas Mikulskis:
“Original and rhythmical electronic music shaped so accurately and sensitively that I immediately reach a pure listening satisfaction every time I hear these gems. I was a bit sentimental while crafting this selection as these sounds, in some ways influenced my life and cultural activities. Most of these pieces were discovered in the early 00’s when I just started exploring the diversity of music catalogs. Although this mix doesn’t clearly reflect my musical knowledge these days, it definitely shows my emotional and mental state I’m experiencing every day, especially at night.
I have a lovely girlfriend, a couple of close friends and even though everything seems to be perfect in my life, this mix uncovers another side of my personality. When I’m dreaming, hoping for a better tomorrow, staring at the night sky or just asking a lot of philosophical questions to myself, these sounds do not overwhelm these processes, but help to keep the inner-peace and strengthen the senses. Subtle glitchy beat patterns, repetitive percussions, nostalgic deformed melodies and varied cut samples are the main priority that weave and develop the main ideology.
Also, I thought there’s not so many of these types of selections nowadays, and as it was 5-10 years ago , I wanted to remind myself what beautiful and light melancholic music we had back in the day. I dedicate this mix to the mind architects, harmony seekers and diehard music lovers. Let the rhythms gently dance, the bass smoothly flow and the melodies sparklingly wave.”
Tracklist:
01. Proem – Wall Of Knives 2 [n5MD, 2007]
02. Arovane – Norvum [DIN, 2000]
03. Autechre – Second Scepe [Warp Records, 1995]
04. Quinoline Yellow – Eu Jach [Skam Records, 2003]
05. Aphorism – Reconsider [Tympanik Audio, 2009]
06. Gridlock – Atomontage [Hymen Records, 2003]
07. Mitoma – Cpertad [Section 27, 2011]
08. Jack Marchment – Schult Abbey [Herb Recordings, 2009]
09. Lusine – Haze [Ghostly International, 2003]
10. TBA – Everything Pushes Me Further Away [Laboratory Instinct, 2009]
11. Monolake – White_II [Monolake, Imbalance Computer Music, 2003]
12. Funckarma – Spatial Convolution (Morphed By Funkstörung) [Djak-Up-Bitch (DUB), 1999]
13. Cenik – Blame [Isophlux, 2001]
14. Diagram Of Suburban Chaos – Hollow [Zealectronic, 2002]
15. Speedy J – Balk Acid [NovaMute, 2000]
16. Yvat – Grayish [U-Cover, 2010]
17. Bochum Welt – 8221SB [Rephlex, 2008]
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