ASIP @ Liminal Dreams, Tokyo

Recording of my DJ set for the Liminal Dreams 1st-anniversary series in Tokyo, March 11th, 2023 alongside @lynne-tokyo, @yolabmi (Live), @yutotakei, and @yutaroy at Spread, Shimokitazawa. Thank you to all who made this evening happen, those who came, listened attentively, shut their eyes and let the music fill the room on an amazing system that Saturday evening.

It really was a special, memorable moment for me.

The set includes lots of unreleased/forthcoming ASIP music, alongside releases from Quiet Places (plenty of their new stuff in here ;-), Max Würden and Merrin Karras, plus some of my fave moments from Field Lines Cartographer, Echospace, qebrµs, Sindh, Jo Johnson, Acronym, Endurance and Wndfrm.

Cover photo on the night by Toby Barnes.

Read more about the event here.

astrangelyisolatedplace · ASIP - Live DJ set @ Liminal Dreams, Tokyo

Optic Echo Presents – Best Vinyl of 2015

Mike Jedlicka's Optic Echo radio show consistently serves up some of the best ambient, experimental and modern classical vinyl-only selections. In this special edition, Mike has curated some of his favorite vinyl of the year specially prepared for Headphone Commute.

As you would expect from a weekly show trying to summarize a years worth of wax purchases, it was no doubt an arduous task narrowing it downvand the result is a lovely journey through the many styles Mike covers on his show.

Mike's included some of my favorite vinyl of the year too, namely Night Sequels, 36, wndfrm, Benoit Poulard and Inventions, all sitting proudly in my best of 2015 lists. And a big thanks to Mike for also selecting Arovane & Hior Chronik's release.

Check out the Optic Echo Mixcloud page for all of the previous shows and Headphone Commute for full details and all download options.

Download.

Tracklist:
Mountains – Parallel Two – You Can’t Hide Your Love Forever
Kreng – Bargaining- The Summoner
Night Sequels – Siamese Summer – Children of the Night Make Music
Jon Hopkins – I Remember (Nils Frahm Dub Interrupt Remix) – I Remember 10”
Four Tet – Morning Side – Morning / Evening
Max Richter – Space 11 (Invisible Pages Over)- From Sleep
Shuttle358 – Can You Prove I Was Born?
Andrew Weathers – We Will Never See A Cloud Again – Fuck Everybody, You Can do Anything
VA (Marcus Fischer) – Field Works: Progue’s Run
Rival Consoles – Ghosting – Howl
Pye Corner Audio – Quasar II – Stars Shine Like Eyes 10”
Benoit Poulard – Whose Palms Create – Sonnet
36 – Sky Fire – Pulse Dive
wndfrm – Monopole – Formal Variant EP
Christina Vantzou – Stereoscope – No. 3
T.Raumschmiere – 007 – T.Raumschmiere
Inventions – Wolfkids – Maze of Woods
Nils Frahm – Our Own Roof – Music For The Motion Picture Victoria
Arovane & Hior Chronik – Scale – In-between [BUY]
Valet – Transformation – Nature
Anduin – Last Days of Montrose House 10”
Helm – I Exist In A Fog – Olympic Mess
Kamran Sadeghi – The Right Direction is Left
Lawrence English – Antarctica – Viento
Olafur Arnalds & Nils Frahm – Three – Loon
Celer – Distant Misgivings – Jima

Neel, Donato Dozzy, Just Music, Dewtone

Neel - Live at Free Rotation '15

From one of our favorite producers comes a rare live set recording, featuring tracks from WNDFRM, Global Communication and a host of other warm, driving atmospheric techno artists. My experience seeing VFTL a few years back was still one of my most memorable gigs of all time and Neel is still evidently pushing the magic far and wide. Available to download on Soundcloud.

Phonatic - Dozzy Dives under 120

You can't really have Neel, without Dozzy, so here's a tribute mix by Phantic that captures some of Dozzy's more subdued (<120bpm) ambient productions as himself, in remix mode and as half of Voices From The Lake. Available to download on Soundcloud.

Ambient Zone 2: Just Music Café Vol 5

Just Music have been around for over ten years now and are solely responsible for introducing the world to Jon Hopkins, and ASIP friends and favorites, Echaskech. Just Music's newest compilation shouldn't simply be glanced over as your average chill-out compilation simply because of the rather cliché title. Melancholic ambience from Digitonal, an individual piano piece from Jon Hopkins, driving atmospheres from Xspance, and that infamous ethereal-Schnauss sound from Echaskech grace this compilation, curated by the mighty Chris Coco. This is the type of music that I used to write about when I first started this site, and it makes me happy to know it's still going strong today. Available on Bandcamp.

Dewtone - Reflections

Dewtone have been relatively quiet recently, but that hasn't stopped Dustin and his collective from piecing together some of their finest work over these two Reflection compilations. Remastered and edited for re-release, the compilations capture the very essence of the label with tracks from some of their most notorious releases of recent years including Purl, Deflektion, Martin Nonstatic, Alveol, Sven Laux and ASIP's Halo. Available on Bandcamp.

ASIP - Silhouettes

“Ascending mountains, shrouded in fog, dark silhouettes guide your path.
”

A dark and introspective techno mix I managed to squeeze in between my move from Portland to LA. Mostly new stuff, including an exclusive by Roel Funcken (half of Funckarma) from his new forthcoming Legiac album, n5MD's latest roster addition, Okada, WNDFRM's defining moment on Prologue, and Sebastian Mullaert's second record from his Wa Wu We imprint. 

Links below link direct to buy and support the artist/label. 

Download.

Tracklisting:
01. Legiac - Transcendental Sea (The Voynich Manusscript) / Forthcoming
02. Tegh & Kamyar Tavakoli - Fractal (Through The Winter Woods) / Hibernate
03. Okada - Vulnerability (Impermanence) / n5MD
04. Sven Weisemann - Landscape With The Fall Of Icarus (Fall of Icarus EP) / Delsin
05. WNDFRM - Monopole (Formal Variant EP) / Prologue
06. Exos - Eastwood (My Home Is Sonic) / Delsin
07. Cio D’Or - Tomorrow Was Yesterday  (All In All) / Semantica
08. Varg - Vitberget (Ursviken) / Northern Electronics
09. Acronym - Back To Understanding (June) / Northern Electronics
10. Donnacha Costello - Blue B (Blue) / Minimise
11. Wa Wu We - 002 B1 (Wa Wu We 002) / WaWuWe
12. Conforce - Artefact From A Higher Dimension (Presentism) / Delsin
13. Aphex Twin - ssnb (Unreleased/ Soundcloud) 

Passing by: Klimt, WNDFRM, Donnacha Costello, Casino Versus Japan

Klimt - Genesa

It seems right to begin the first Passing By post on the new site by revisiting an artist I featured very early on. I've kept Antoni Budzinski's track Pozegnanie on the ASIP Soundcloud account for years now after featuring him back in 2009 - it's a track I can't bear to see disappear and one I keep on sharing with people.

Antoni has now returned with a new album titled Genesa, and has again managed to strike a chord. A beautiful mix of guitar-infused post-rock featuring rich melodies, and light-hearted ambient tones. Think a middle-ground between Hammock and Rhian Sheehan.

Available at Requiem Records.

WNDFRM - Formal Variant EP

Tim Westcott is slowly but surely turning heads. The Portland native is a regular around here - his live sets often feature pitch-black listening sessions programmed on his very own perfected sound-system. He's been playing at Mutek, and now made a significant punch with his release on the well-respected techno label, Prologue. Deep, twisting, hypnotic, almost tribal sounding at moments; the two tracks at over 12 minutes long each, are an immersive dive into finely tuned industrial techno.

Vinyl and digital available at Bandcamp.

Donnacha Costello - Ambient Mix 1995-2015

Donnacha recently tweeted "there's a lot more interest in my ambient music than my techno, which is heartening", and whereas I enjoy I enjoy both, he certainly has a talent for producing a warm and fuzzy ambient sound that resonates more recently.

Donnacha just released this lovely ambient mix over at Bandcamp which comes with a download of some of his own tracks featured in the mix. If you remember our feature that covered some of his very finest releases, then you'll want to grab that unreleased Cocoa track.

Available at Bandcamp.

Casino Versus Japan - Damaged Errata

And finally, a group high-five please. Casino Versus Japan returns. This short but very-welcome EP is a lovely reminder of his unique analog style we came to love on Night On Tape and Go Hawaii. Whereas Night on Tape featured a slightly darker-side than Go Hawaii, this EP seems to straddle the two - grainy textures layered over 8-bit, analog synths.

Available at Bandcamp.