ASIP - Reflection on 2023

As with all past ‘Reflection’ year-end mixes, I start with a collection of albums, EPs, and compilations I have enjoyed over the past year. Through the process of compiling a mix, tracks are selected from this extensive collection. This ultimately means many of my favorite tracks and albums are often omitted in this process, due to the organic process of compiling a mix, things don’t fit, or fall by the wayside. There are many albums I had on high rotation missing from this mix, but I have to stop somewhere. As I say every year, this isn’t a definitive ‘best-of’ list, but a selection of *some* of my favorite music from the year in one listenable format. It’s the most enjoyable way for me to boil down the music I’ve loved from the year using these self-imposed restrictions, for you to enjoy and hopefully discover more, and for me to reflect on time and time again - like a photograph that captures the year in music.

I encourage you to use the mix to explore each artist, listen to the album in full, and explore each label (and check the Buy Music Club list at the bottom). If you want to see the majority of music I’ve been supporting this year, head over to my Bandcamp collection. For the ASIP year-end label compilation, see the feature and mix here.

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Yikes, I crossed the 3-hour mark! Well, that speaks volumes to the amount of great music that was released this year, and I’m already feeling guilty about omissions from this mix. But alas, it needs to stop somewhere, the Holiday’s are coming…

This edition marks the tenth year in succession (2010 was the first mix but I skipped doing this for two years for some reason) and it is an extremely enjoyable exercise I look forward to every year. Revisiting many of the albums I’ve purchased throughout the year, and records from my shelf, then taking the time to absorb more recent releases - the process is cathartic (after the slight anxiety that builds knowing I have a beast of a mix to tackle, and hard decisions to be made).

Looking back at previous Reflection mixes, I am evidently a creature of habit and seem to gravitate to certain artists more than most over the years (we all have our faves), but I also take a lot of time to dig for new artists and approaches to music in this realm, and this year’s edition is probably the most varied in music styles since the Reflection series began. Ambient, field recordings, drone (Power-ambient, even), big saxophones (the flute revival didn’t make it ;-), Japanese left-field pop, deep techno, chugging techno, modern classical, experimental, jungle, breaks, dub and more… as you might imagine, this is a 3hr mix that feels more like a showcase than a DJ mix in the traditional sense, as I’m focusing on creating chapters of different styles, but I hope makes for an attentive listen if you’ve got 3hrs to spare.

Am I going to write about all 42 tracks? Not this time, as I don’t think there’s much I can illustrate other than ‘go listen to that entire album!’ but I will make a few observations on themes that emerged as I was going through this process.

Firstly, the far corners of Bandcamp are very much alive, so for anyone looking for alternatives given all the talk with Bandcamp this year, please don’t hit the escape button and continue to support us- I continued to find so many new labels and artists, some of which are included here such as Liis Ring, Etüüd, ǝɯǝɐ, Azu Tiwaline and not to forget a kick-ass Jungle community throwing out some lovely 90’s infused comps. Bandcamp keeps small labels and artists alive right now (only two of these tracks were physical releases and not on Bandcamp - #19 & #42).

I spent a lot of time listening to music that would work for the two shows I played in Japan earlier this year, and for those who listened back to one of the sets I posted, you may notice a few similar tracks/artists appearing here again which I’ve held in high regard since their release, such as Jo Johnson, Field Lines Cartographer and Endurance. On reflection, there was a lot of deepness for me this year that came from preparing for and inspired by those sets, sitting on the edges of techno with lots of synthesizer/Berlin school projects (as well as a couple of artists I got to see in person whilst over there such as Yolabmi and Endurance).

There were a couple of glaring omissions from this mix (*checks Bandcamp app most played*) which I had on rotation so much this year that I still wanted to mention, such as Imaginary Softwoods, who was behind one of my favorite tracks of the year, ‘Diagrams of the Universe’. Along with Johnny Nash’s Point of Entry - a tranquil guitar-laden affair, both of which never left my turntable for long.

The ever-expanding ASIP roster of artists, both alumni and current, had an extremely busy year evidently (I try to restrict their inclusions in this mix where I can otherwise it could be an entire ASIP promo show… hey that’s an idea…). bvdub released about ~10 masterpieces, as only he can, flaunting all possible peripherals in his deep arsenal (along with rounding out the Earth House Hold project with us of course). ASC was crazy busy with his quality retro Spatial DnB releases (one of them made it in here). For those who enjoyed Alex Albrecht’s debut with us, don’t miss his earlier 2023 release. Deepchild released another great textured follow-up to his ASIP debut for those wanting more. 36 continued some rave-esque ambient no doubt inspired by his 9128 recording a few years back. Markus Guentner began an exciting collab project with Joachim Spieth (and also appeared in several other collaborations). RAI kept things relatively reflective with a few Bandcamp specials and recordings from his live tour. Benoit Pîoulard made a beautiful return to Morr Music, and Christian Kleine rounded out the year with a limited vinyl press. Those needing more from our 2023 new signing Mikkel Rev, can check out his earlier album released in January this year. James Bernard had a busy year alongside his wife as Awakened Souls, and found more 90’s DAT goodness among many other projects. Mick Chillage released a superb sleeper IDM album in the form of Initial Programs. Dr Atmo’s throwback to his early sounds saw a rebirth of one of his most enjoyed albums alongside new remixes. Wanderwelle made their second full-length odyssey for Important Records and Yagya continued to explore uncharted new takes on his sound through his new label imprint. Scanner’s innovative repertoire continued to expand and one of my faves of his came in the form of this collab. Hior Chronik published a couple of unreleased gems. And lastly, Ludvig Cimbrelius aka Purl/Illuvia and Arovane managed to sneak onto this mix with a couple of their releases…

Two labels who hit home runs for me this year with the majority of their releases. Illian Tape had some extremely great (and varied) electronic releases. And while Mysteries of the Deep’s output was relatively choice (quality over quantity), 3 out of the 4 releases made it onto the mix!

There are a couple of tracks in the mix from albums that align with what seems to be, the common consensus on some of the ‘best’ electronic releases from the year (one of the advantages of my waiting until mid-December to finish this mix is I see what other people are rating highly or what I might’ve missed) such as James Holden’s psychedelic return, and Purelink’s amphibious dub LP. But other than those two, I think everyone should find something new among the twists and turns across the 3 hours and 42 tracks.

For the mix artwork this year, and after last year’s terribly basic AI take (it’s come a long way in a year!), I toyed with creating another AI attempt on a “A Strangely Isolated Place” prompt, but you have to spend time to get quality back out of these lil’ work gnomes. Every image I created from that prompt ended up being a stereotypical lonely hiker (with 4 fingers I’m sure) strolling through a highly conceptual colorful future universe. Either that or a decrepit shed…

So instead, I opted for an image that means much more to me… a wall. Not just any wall though, it’s the wall outside of Spread nightclub in Tokyo where I had the pleasure of playing an ambient set this year, meeting new friends, and making some amazing memories.

Thanks to all of the artists and labels included here who have soundtracked my year in more ways than one, and the many more I didn’t manage to include this time around. Be sure to check the previous year’s Reflection mixes for more of the same.

Hope you enjoy the listen back at a great year of music.

astrangelyisolatedplace · ASIP - Reflection on 2023

Listen on Soundcloud the ASIP Podcast or the 9128.live iOS and Android app

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Tracklist:

01. Sleep D - Hector (Dreaming) (Butter Sessions)
02. Liis Ring - after-image IV: abborresjön (Breton Cassette)
03. William Selman - Leaky Paradise (Mysteries of the Deep)
04. Etüüd - Õhtute kollane tolm (Self released)
05. TU M' - Monochrome #26 (Line Imprint)
06. Arovane - ypaal (Quiet Details)
07. Field Lines Cartographer - Mountain Icicles (Castles in Space)
08. Dream Dolphin - Gaia (Ethereal Fantasy) (Music from Memory)
09. Salamanda - Nostalgia (Wisdom Teeth)
10. Endurance - Crest v2 (Muzan Editions)
11. Suzanne Ciani & Jonathan Fitoussi - Coral Reef (Transversales)
12. Alex Israel - Vacua (Somnambulant Drift)
13. The Black Dog - The Mundane (Dust Science)
14. Locust - Miriam (Mysteries of the Deep)
15. Niko Tzoukmanis - Way Home (Libreville Records)
16. Jo Johnson - Transience (Mysteries of the Deep)
17. Dasha Rush - Dubby Doo (Raster Noton)
18. ǝɯǝɐ - Andrei Rublev (Secuencias Temporales)
19. Gigi Masin & Rod Modell - Red Hair Girl At The Boat Shop (13)
20. Toki Fuko - Part Two (Astral Industries)
21. shedir - Deer Fluent in the Wind (n5MD)
22. Ayaavaaki & Purl - Distant Lights (Ovum III) (LILA)
23. Bana Haffar - Sit Still (Touch)
24. Mike Lazarev - Tonality Number Two (PITP)
25. Claire Deak - In Defiance of Time (Lost Tribe Sound)
26. Lord of the Isles feat. Ellen Renton - Don't You Ache (AD93)
27. nthng - Unlimited (I) (Self released)
28. Donato Dozzy & Sabla - Flusso III (Gang of Ducks)
29. Sindh - Spyres (Sindh)
30. James Holden - In The End You'll Know (Border Community)
31. Andrea - Audieze (Ilian Tape)
32. ASC & Aural Imbalance - Overcast Skies (Auxiliary)
33. Accelio - The Garden (Sawteeth)
34. Yolabmi - Liquidity (29 Speedway)
35. MPU101 - nurMKS30 (Ilian Tape)
36. Ylia - Ame Agari (Balmat)
37. Azu Tiwaline - Antenna Opening (I.O.T Records)
38. Purelink - We Should Keep Going (Peak Oil)
39. Priori - Top Soil (Rhythm Büro)
40. Hysterical Love Project - Ionian Sea (Motion Ward)
41. Om Unit + TM404 - Microdose Mondays (Acid Test)
42. David - Daybreak (Simpler Times)

Buy Music Club List (all tracks available digitally on Bandcamp other than #19 (here) + # 42 (here)

isolatedmix 124 - Milo Bragg (Future Primitive Records)

ASIP is going on fifteen years of existence now (as a website and blog at least), and a few things have remained a constant over the years helping keep us going. One of them has been the support of Juno and in particular, Milo Bragg, who was the first distributor to take us on as a label back in 2013.

As many labels and musicians will know, it’s pretty hard to get your start in this world, and Juno can be held up as one of only a few who have kept an open ear to our style of music and given it a home (and subsequently many other labels like us). Over these past ten years or so, Milo and I have gotten to know each other relatively well, and more recently Milo has stepped into the label game with Future Primitive Records and can be found putting together some sublime vinyl-forward mixes.

I’m excited to find our worlds overlap here in the isolatedmix series, as Milo recorded a vinyl-only set a few months back and sent it my way, (after a long delay - sorry Milo - Good things come… etc etc.). Featuring several tracks and albums that have been on high rotation for me, it’s a superb trip that I think many of you will enjoy.

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You’ve worked at Juno for many years now, how has this shaped you musically? For example, I imagine getting exposed to a great amount of music over the years... 

It’s definitely helped me find what I do and don’t like for myself. When I first started in the late ‘90s/early ‘00s I’d sit and listen through a massive pile of records at the end of each day and didn’t have to pay attention to press or DJs like most people back then, I could find the good shit for myself! Listening to the new releases in an office environment shaped my taste to be more chilled too. It just suits the environment, when I first started I was predominantly into hard club bangers :)

I’m interested to know a bit about your view on record labels within your role and what you think it takes to succeed as a label nowadays. Everyone knows pressing vinyl is hard, and securing a great distributor like Juno is just as hard and critical for further exposure. How have you seen things change for labels since you started at Juno all those years ago? 

It’s so tough for vinyl labels now especially the new smaller ones doing really interesting stuff sadly. The visual side of things has become so important with stores using Instagram so much they need the record to look good. I think the “anti-marketing” days of just putting some clips up on Soundcloud are over sadly, I’m always so stoked on DJs/artists/labels that aren’t on Instagram but I don’t think you can escape it anymore, especially if you’re just starting out.

Silent Season · Campfire Stories 79 (A New Dawn) by Milo Bragg

Juno has always been a great supporter of ambient music in general, giving a platform to many small labels such as ourselves over the years. What does it take in your opinion to secure a distributor like Juno?

Yeah, my boss Richard (one of Juno’s founders) loves his ambient :) If you’re not going to get a well-known artist involved at the early stages to help bring attention and get the label off the ground, the music (and artwork) had better be bloody good! 

You’ve got your own projects going on too, with the Club Rooted mix series and the Future Primitive label, can you give us a brief intro into these?

 Club Rooted was a product of listening to records in the Juno office with Matthew Kent (Blowing Up The Workshop/Mana) and suddenly realising they weren’t dance music anymore but still very much rooted in club culture. I got really excited about that zone and thread that runs through electronic music’s history. There are so many good labels pushing stuff that rides this line, and events too like Absurde Lustre (& more recently A New Wave) in Berlin run by Sa Pa & Blume.

How or why did you decide to start Future Primitive? (Did seeing labels at Juno all those years make you want to do something similar?!) 

I’ve always been obsessed with vinyl labels so of course I’d want my own and it was a way of contributing to the scene without being a producer + I came across a lot of music through work by artists like Murcof & DJ Guy that was CD or tape only the label was a way of me getting those tracks onto wax! The original of The Leo Anibaldi track “Aeon Fusion I” from FPR001 was super fast too and the label enabled me to work with the artist to slow it down and to get it DJ-friendly for the vinyl heads :)

This mix came out of nowhere and (for everyone here) took a while for me to actually publish it since you sent it last year! What was the inspiration behind it?

I got excited about recording an ambient mix. It felt challenging, I wanted to capture something in between the old chill-out room sets and a modern-sounding warm-up. It only takes a couple of good records to inspire me to start piecing a mix together, it’s often their juxtaposition I get a real kick out of. I love beat-matching records that shouldn’t work together on paper and have always found DJs that make a new sound by mixing old records very inspiring, it’s not a million miles from producing really. Konduku is definitely someone I think finds a new thread in old records that inspires me a lot.

Club Rooted · Club Rooted #3 / Konduku

Given you get the pick of the bunch at Juno and get to listen to so many records in advance, who are some musicians or labels that might be relatively new or unheard of that excite you when landing on your desk? 

PVAS, Kosmogonik (check their ambient stuff!), Purelink, Cousin, Yushh, Mu Tate, Sindh, X Or Size, Rat Heart + love the Luck Of Access and Doo labels.

I’ve followed your mixes for years now, but see you’re also DJing out quite a bit more now. What are some records that never leave your bag?

Money Morning - Corporate Karma, Drux – Transe Deep Version, 3 Chairs - 3 Chairs, Alka Rex - Shapes to Phases, Bluetrain - Babylon Paralysis.

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astrangelyisolatedplace · isolatedmix 124 - Milo Bragg

Listen on Soundcloud the ASIP Podcast or the 9128.live iOS and Android app

Download MP3

Tracklist:

01. Dwig - Keep Us outro (Dwig)
02. Leo Anibaldi - Evocation Part II (Future Primitive)
03. Benjamin Brunn - Life Cycle (Black Wall)
04. Deadbeat - Right As Rain (~scape)
05. UD - Adapter (Kimochi)
06. Alexx A-Game - Braver (Swing Ting Smooth Version)(Swing Ting)
07. CN - Adrift (Future Primitive)
08. Satoshi & Makoto - Crepescule Leger (Safe Trip)
09. Bauri - Have No Fear (Expanding Records)
10. Sindh - Ayaka System (Sindh)
11. Being - I Can't Look At It Though (Firecracker Recordings)
12. The Detroit Escalator Co. - Float (Peacefrog Records)
13. Leo James - Lonely (Mind Dance)
14. Money Morning - Therah (Acting Press)
15. Mike Paradinas - Hi-Q (Interdimensional Transmissions)
16. John Heckle - Where The Wild Ones Go (Mathematics Recordings)
17. Tongues Of Light - Awakening outro (Pre-Cert Home Entertainment)
18. Design A Wave - Weird F (No 'Label')
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Artwork photo by Jethro

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