Yagya

Oddity Radio ASIP Label Profile + Inspirations mix

Curated by Alexis Le-Tan and featuring a host of brilliant, inspirational labels, it’s an honor to be invited to be a part of the growing Oddity Radio collective.

The ASIP label profile is now live on the site, including a playlist of tracks from the label so far, which can be added to your listening rotation on the station, a short interview, and an Inspirations mix by yours truly (cue biggest picture of me on the internet).

Oddity asks each label contributor to submit an inspirations mix, and it felt like an extremely daunting task at first. Capturing my inspirations in one mix would send me in circles, and I needed a more specific angle (you know I love a constraint when it comes to mixes!) So instead of looking far and wide or deep into my record collection, I looked to the many artists who have defined ASIP over the years and made it what it is today. They appear in the mix under different guises, collaborations, or with earlier releases before they were on ASIP.

Somehow, it manages to capture the sound of the label and is probably one of my favorite mixes I’ve put together in a while… maybe because of the nostalgia - it reminded me of times many years ago, discovering some of these artists for the first time a long time ago.

Head over to Oddity Radio to listen to the playlist and the Inspirations mix.

Big thanks to Oddity Radio for spreading the love and curating such a great platform, please check it out and the many other great labels featured!

Inspiration Mix tracklist:

01. Scanner - Anna Livia Plurabelle
02. Silence - Santur
03. Charlie May - Custard
04. Plastik - Herna 6
05. Scanner - Scanner 2.4
06. 36 - Geiga
07. Arovane - scapen te
08. ASC - Echo Location
09. bvdub - I Would Have Waited
10. Leandro Fresco - El Valle
11. Herrmann & Kleine - Leaving You Behind
12. Chymera - Umbrella (Beatless mix)
13. Influx - Dreamscape (ambient mix)
14. Joel Mull - Alden Plateau
15. Strië - Capsule
16. Yagya - Rigning einn
17. Wanderwelle - The Haunted Shores of Hiva Oa
18. The Sight Below - Further Away (Benoît Pioulard remix)
19. Olga Wojciechowska - Primal Fear
20. Tempelhof & Gigi Masin - Tuvalu
21. Stareaway - The Loss Of Breath
22. Johaness Schmölling - Icewalk (Ulrich Schnauss remix)

Inspiration mix MP3

 
 

isolatedmix 113 - Sunju Hargun

 
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We’ve fallen a little behind the monthly schedule with isolated mixes recently, but that’s mainly because the artists lined up have been working hard on some very special journeys for us all. Getting back into the swing of things now, our latest mix comes from an artist who I got to know through a small online group that obsesses over Trance music, and ultimately helped us bring to life our recent Rapture Network 9128.live takeover, helping organize and provide the brilliant logo/identity for the festival and t-shirts.

When he and I are not obsessing over all types of ambient and psychedelic trance music, Sunju Hargun has been busy launching his new label, Siamese Twins Records, which since 2020 has not only been an outlet for some of his own work, but also served as an introduction to many pan-Asian artists through compilations such as Kāthā, and Vinyan, presenting a spectrum of “Eastern psychedelia”. The compilations represent a great starting point for many new artists stemming from a local scene, and one that I am excited about digging deeper into through both Sunju and his new label curation.

A hypnotic sound bath in which tribally-rooted ambient morphs into one entity. Drones, live instruments and esoteric textures are transformed into a contemporary Kāthā interpretation.

Coincidentally, during my trip to Hidden Sounds record store in London, I had picked up a remix EP from Sunju’s label, that delved into the slightly trancier side of his tastes (and label). It was a fleeting visit where the shop owner Alex loaded me up with so many nice bits, that I had hardly stopped to look at the artists and labels in my bag and was purely grabbing stuff on sound - always an exciting tactic for exploring new records when you get them home and realize you ended up supporting someone you enjoy based on music alone.

It’s with great pleasure to have Sunju behind the decks for this isolatedmix and a get peek into his own influences that undoubtedly shape his own productions, mixes and label output…

Hi Sunju, can you give us an intro to your musical upbringing?

I’m of Indian descent, born and raised in Thailand with some roots from Japan. I find love and happiness in connecting with people through music. I co-run the Siamese Twins records record label focusing on psychedelic sounds from the East. I’m also a part of the Karma Klique collective organizing parties in nature across Thailand with proceeds going to local social causes.

I was surrounded by lots of music when I was young. Lots of people whose music is sought after in the local Thai jazz/blues wave were my father’s friends, and some of that music was connected to psychedelic rock as well. Around that time was also another side of music which was an integral part of my life, came from my mother’s passion for Indian art and traditional Hindu soundtracks from the early 60’s to 70’s.

We are both deep Trance fans at heart - but how did you get into the ambient side of music?

At the time I was living in Shanghai, my friends would host intimate house sessions every other weekend to experience ‘trip’ gatherings with the music we felt connected to and grow our little prog-trance family by inviting other ravers we met along the way. Most of us were music nerds of the group that had to contribute to certain hours of the night to share our playlists, and I was mostly in charge of sunrise. Although I was not familiar with the term Ambient back then, instead referred to it as Reprise/Chillout'. Having the pleasure to breathe through the early 2000’s Prog era, I was heavily inspired by compilations from Global Underground, Renaissance & Producers like Satoshi Tommie, Spooky, Starkid, Leama, and Rabbit in the moon are just a few to mention that were a gateway to falling deeply in love with it.

Your new label Siamese Twins Records has made an excellent start, can you tell us a bit about the approach?

Thank you so much, very happy to receive great support and words from you about it.

It has been very community-driven as it's built upon mutual connections and friendships we made over the last five years running events with Karma Klique. We would invite artists from across the Asian region that gained our interest and with a similar ethos. There is a lot of mainstream electronic music here, but luckily there are also a lot of amazing artists, event organizers, record stores and labels that stubbornly do their own thing with a pure love for the art. While connecting with them often music they were working on was shared which we felt deserved a good home. This is also how we connected with Yoshi Nori who runs our sister label 禁JIN from Taipei and is one of the four co-founders of the Siamese Twins label.

The idea from the start was to embrace Asian identity and focus on the more psychedelic sound spectrum which can be both slow as fast. We release ambient, curated as long trips, compilations, but are also releasing trippy dancefloor orientated material ideally to be played at sunrise during a forest rave. We like to mix it up, stay weird. We care a lot about the total process from start to finish with lots of love and attention to detail. We approach it multi-dimensional and a way to have a dialogue with other expressions of Asian culture which shows in Taychin Dunnvatanachit’s artwork approach.

We hope to keep on building on these fundamentals. It’s very much our own thing and approach.


What is the ambient music scene like in Thailand? How do you try and stay connected locally?

Yes, Bangkok is a special city that I'm happy to call home.

The ambient movement is still quite young, but in the past year alone there might have been a spark of interest towards it being more appreciated by locals mainly because of spending plenty of time at home during the lockdown period. There is also a wave of music makers and collectives popping out at the moment who are heavily promoting it - A wonderful shift, with the hope that it earns a feature in festivals and gatherings on the horizon. The community of quality electronic music in Bangkok is tightly connected through record stores like More Rice and Zudrangma that promote a wide variety of world and electronic music. With the addition of a brand new local online-based radio called “BCR” that has managed to bring artists and friends to share music together during this time when clubs aren’t allowed to open.


You're a great visual artist too, is your music and art symbiotic in approach?

I would like to think there is an underlying secret connection towards some form of visual identity with my approach to music. In the past, I experienced moments of having these images built from dreams that became starting points to an idea of creating a track. Does not happen often, but when it does - I welcome it!

The mix feels very uplifting, especially near the end. What role does ambient music play in your life at the moment?

Ambient music helped me to understand sound layering in a whole different perspective. Over the past two years, I've especially embraced more experimentation in the studio and introduced sounds from various cultures rooted in Asia. This helped a lot to push creative boundaries. When possible I try to spend time learning more about sound’s behavior as well and how daily noise from our surroundings can impact us. Keeping my eyes & ears wide open to observe the smallest details.

Where was the mix prepared and what is the idea behind it?

The mix was recorded at home at approximately 10:30 am on a rainy morning. The concept behind the mix was to include tracks that are influencing me at the moment. I'm finding myself drawn towards music from Japanese producers more and more these days and wanted to share some of those discoveries alongside other favourite labels and promos from friends. The mix itself carries a story that feels fluid with a lot of focus on space, texture, and a hint of nostalgic memories. I hope the listeners will enjoy it and feel the same way.

~

Listen on Soundcloud, Mixcloud, or the ASIP Podcast.

Download.

Tracklist:

01. Adi - Haz
02. Androne - Signs of life
03. Yagya – Old Dreams And Memories
04. Yumi Iwaki - Sleepy Fog
05. Pataphysical - Moonlit Picnic
06. Vivian Koch - Who
07. Lemna - Moments In Eternal Recurrence
08. Celestial Trax - New Masters of Psychedelic Ambience
09. Avsluta - Meditation 16
10. BLNDR - Callopsis
11. Vivian Koch - Closed (Yosemite Version)
12. JakoJako - Ochros
13. Only Thingz - Eyes Wide Open
14. Kosei Fukuda - Sky Clair (Uchi Remix)
15. Underworld - Dark & Long (Most 'Ospitable)
16. Talvin Singh - Butterfly

~

Sunju Hargun | Soundcloud | Bandcamp | Instagram | Bandcamp (Siamese Twins)

 

ASIP artist playlist: Other Strangely Isolated Places

 
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You may or may not already be a subscriber to the ASIP Currents.fm page where we post goodies every now and then, but either way you can access this playlist featuring music by ASIP artists that appears on other labels, other monikers, etc. Check it out and hit play from the top - moving from experimental and ambient through to more electronic realms from the ASIP artist crew, new and old.

Visit or subscribe to ASIP on Currents.fm

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ASIP 2019 Label Compilation

 
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I’ve always wanted to do one of these for the label each year, but until now we’ve never really had enough output to warrant a decent end of year ‘sampler’. 2019 however saw us release eight records in various formats, so consider this our first of hopefully many annual label compilations.

There’s no hype or deep context needed for this, it’s one track taken from each of those eight releases however, some tracks features some slight edits* / versions as detailed below. Hopefully people will still discover something new, or if you’ve purchased them all already (thank you!) there are some small edits to present a new listening experience.

Thank you to everyone who has supported our music this year and a big thank you to all of the artists included who are along for the ride.

Available to download on Bandcamp for $1.

2019 releases (in reverse chronological order)

Olga Wojciechowska / Infinite Distances 12” Vinyl + Digital - buy

…Sometimes opposing thoughts can be held in tension, and a person can be two things at once; in such cases, reconciliation is not two halves that make a whole, but two wholes that occupy the same space. In the end, the beauty of Infinite Distances is not distance, but closeness, as Wojciechowska sews seams between past and present, abstract and concrete, composer and listener ~ more intimate than infinite.
— A Closer Listen

36 / Fade To Grey (Reinterpreted) CD + Digital - buy

*Compilation includes an edited version of Midnight Tether.

Entering the aural Eden, the primal dystopian “Fade To Grey” scenario by 36 exquisitely shifted into awe-inspiringly drifting dronescape euphoria...
— Richard Gürtler on Bandcamp

Comit / Remote Viewing 2LP Vinyl + Digital - buy

... a supremely listenable piece of music, as much bespoke made for your mind as for your heart.
— Headphone Commute

Max Würden / Format 2LP Vinyl + Digital - buy

*Compilation includes an edited version of Constituent Elements

Though it may sound like hyperbole, the absolute masterpiece that is Format deserves to award Würden a place among the likes of Eno, Laraaji, Jenssen, Budd and Roach, such is the richness of content, diversity of technique and spellbinding atmospheric ambience
— James Knapman / Igloo Magazine

Yagya / Stormur 2LP Vinyl + Digital - buy

*Compilation includes the unmixed vinyl version of Stormur Sex.

Their combination sparks something particularly unique on ‘Stormur niu‘ – a wonderful shuddering, driver of a track featuring whispered vocals in Japanese from Hatis Noit.
— Andy Gilham / inverted Audio

James Bernard / Atwater (Remixes) Digital - buy

Arovane, Bluetech, Christian Kleine, Comit, Mike Golding (B12), Milieu provide 90’s IDM & electronica takes on the original recording of Atwater.


James Bernard / Atwater 12” Vinyl and Digital - buy

A recording of a modular live set performed by James a year earlier in Los Angeles, brought to life once again.


36 / Fade To Grey 2LP Vinyl and Digital - buy

Fade To Grey is aware of a deeper need, a deeper yearning, a deeper wish
— James Catchpole / Fluid Radio
 

Pre order: Yagya / Stormur

 

Known to many for his infamous ambient dub techno album, ‘Rigning’, Aðalsteinn Guðmundsson’s aka Yagya's landmark release took us deep amongst the rain-drenched forest. The beautiful, slowly shuffling atmospheric masterpiece set a blueprint for the notorious style we now know him best for. Fast forward ten years, and the gently falling rain from Rigning has now intensified. Yagya has shifted to something with more energy, a more defined groove, and a growing euphoric state: Stormur. 

Stormur, sees Yagya continue to evolve his sound into the pure techno realm. His unique palette still identifiable, but the focus now on the swirling hypnotism, the delicate tonal progressions, whispering vocals, and the underlying current that transports you. From the forest floor to the soaring treetops, the dense whirlpools of mist, and the breathtaking landscapes are now seen from above. 

Confident in its simplicity and efficiency, Stormur is focused on the subtle flow and progression between tracks akin to a full DJ set, transporting you from one chapter to the next. Each track taking its cue from the previous. The tonal shifts are minimal, resulting in a trance-like state throughout the ten movements, best absorbed in one sitting, with guest vocalist Hatis Noir providing an angelic voice amongst the shifting patterns, swirling synthesizers and driving grooves. 

 

Available in transparent blue marbled vinyl (400 copies), and black vinyl (200 copies) housed in a matte-laminated gatefold sleeve, including a full mixed-album CD and digital download.

See release page for full details and links to buy.