ASIP Polarlichter Places Series Special

I was kindly invited to put together a mix for the brilliant Polarlichter Radio show on Campus Crew Passau, hosted by Thomas Adamski. I chose not to curate just any old mix for this special occasion, but instead, focused on highlighting The Places Series and some of the featured artists inspirations.

I didn’t want to approach this mix by just including some of the tracks from the series like an extended promo; instead, I wanted to make it a little more insightful, dig a little deeper and explore the story behind the story. Each Places Series track describes a personal journey, and every artist has an inspiration. So, I asked each artist to provide an example track that may have directly, or indirectly inspired their Places Series release.

This formula meant I couldn’t approach the mix how i normally would like to, but it ended up being quite a journey, full of twists and turns, spanning the spectrum of music covered on ASIP. It was amazing listening back to the artists and their inspirations, noting the smallest of similar details or the evolution of certain sounds which have been made their own.

Each Places Series track, is immediately followed by it’s inspiration as detailed below in the trackist. I couldn’t fit all of the Places Series releases in, so I hope this persuades you to listen to and download the rest of the series.

Polarlichter airs every two weeks and you can keep up-to-date with shows on the Facebook Page. Up next, are mixes from the legendaryLoscil and fellow music friend Das Kraftfuttermischwerk. Previous shows are also archived on the Polarlichter Mixcloud.

Thanks to everyone who listened live to the show tonight, your comments and support. And a big thank you to Tommy for being such a great host and talking about ASIP (despite it being in German!) It doesn’t feel complete without his voice, but here’s the mix without the intro’s from Tommy!

Download.

Tracklist:
01. [00.00] ASIP023 Benjamin Dauer – Six and Twelve (Forthcoming)
02. [05.40-09.48] Leonardo Rosado – Amidst The Crowd A Love Story
03. [09.48-15.13] ASIP002: enh – Roke DOWNLOAD
04. [15.13-20.21] The Sight Below – At First Touch (Simon Scott Remix)
05. [20.21-27.47] ASIP018 Parks – Black Day, Silver Sea DOWNLOAD
06. [27.47-30.26] Belong – Very Careful
07. [30.26-33.04] ASIP017 Sonae – Traurigtag DOWNLOAD
08. [33.04-37.00] Apparat – Goodbye (Instrumental)
09. [37.00-39.34] ASIP005 Levi Patel – Dissociation DOWNLOAD
10. [39.34-42.40] Ólafur Arnalds – Lag Fyrir Ömmu
11. [42.40-49.26] ASIP025 Leandro Fresco – Almas Sin Prisa (Forthcoming)
12. [49.26-52.15] Brian Eno – Be Calmed
13. [52.15-57.22] ASIP007 Kevin Bryce – The Park by Franklin DOWNLOAD
14. [57.22-1.02.06] Boards of Canada – Everything You Do Is A Balloon
15. [1.02.06-1.07.26] ASIP022 Audioglider – Heathaze Days DOWNLOAD
16. [1.07.26-1.11.37] The Bear And The Sea – Sandblonde
17. [1.11.37-1.15.41] ASIP013 Public Transport – Rosenheim DOWNLOAD
18. [1.15.41-1.21.58] Ulrich Schnauss – Blumenwiese Neben Autobahn
19. [1.21.58-1.22.43] ASIP001: Kit – The Peace House DOWNLOAD
20. [1.22.43-1.32.11] ASIP001: Kit – I Grew Up Here DOWNLOAD
21. [1.32.11-1.40.38] Secede – Born In A Tropical Swamp

36 – Secret Thirteen Mix

My favourite Vinyl purveyor is fast becoming one of my favourite mix curators too. A superb isolatedmix, several within his own mix series, and now a mighty-fine curation for the ever-brilliant Secret Thirteen music and art journal.

Dennis’ music straggles between many a haunting and beautiful place. His music can be deep, and at the same time contain some of the most euphoric pieces of ambient you’ll ever hear. His mixes mimic his production approach too. Just a scan of the track list and you’ll notice this one crosses every path between ambient and techno and you’d be forgiven thinking this was going to go off on some full-speed techno assault with the likes of Plastikman, Basic Channel and Convextion. But Dennis keeps us on the edge; that feeling of falling into the dark only to be pulled straight back out again. Textured pads and atmospheres which his releases are renowned for, are finely balanced with dubby undertones. If you’ve listened to any of my mixes, you’ll know this is my kind of journey.

“‘Secret Thirteen Mix 036′ is a sensuous and nebulous musical compilation that fulfills autumn with more nostalgic memories and harmless depression than colorful leaves and rain can bring. The selected music is chivalrous, emotionally powerful and liberal so it should find a straight way to every intellectual music lover’s heart”.

Use the Official.fm player below to download. View the original post on Secret Thirteen.

Tracklist:
01. Martin Stig Anderson – Sounds of the Factory (Limbo OST, 2010)
02. Irezumi – Untitled 6 (Snowblood, 2008)
03. Deepchord – Vantage Isle (Echospace Glacial) (Echospace, 2007)
04. The Nautilus Project – Back To Civilization (Unreleased, 2012)
05. EUS – Estos Bon Mis Ojos (EUS, 2012)
06. Stars of the Lid – Articulate Silences Part 2 (Kranky, 2007)
07. ASC & Bvdub – Symbol 2.2 (Auxiliary: Symbol, 2011)
08. Biosphere – Vi Kan Tenka Digitalt, Vi Kan Tala Digitalt (Biophon, 2012)
09. Jesus Jones – Zeroes and Ones (Aphex Twin Reconstruction #2) (EMI, 1993)
10. Basic Channel – Radience III Edit (Basic Channel, 1995)
11. Plastikman – Consumed (M_nus, 1998)
12. Convextion – Equanimity (Down Low Music, 2006)
13. Coppice Halifax – Dancehall (Original) (Wil-Ru Records, 2011)
14. The Sight Below – At First Touch (Ghostly International, 2008)
15. 36 – Nistarim (3six Recordings, 2011)
16. CV313 – seconds To Forever (Echospace, 2010)
17. ASC & Sam KDC – Vapour Lock (Auxiliary, 2012)
18. Tim Hecker – Trade Winds, White Heat (Mille Plateaux, 2003)
19. 36 – Deluge (3six Recordings, 2011)
20. Massive Attack vs Burial – Four Walls (The Vinyl Factory, 2011)

ASIP – White Light

This is one of the first mixes I've put together with a complete story in mind. It began after I watched a video which showed five men as they stood on the ground as an Atomic bomb was detonated 10,000 ft above their heads. You can watch the video here – it’s pretty powerful and thought provoking for so many reasons. For example, this ‘test’ would never happen today with real people, so I found it ridiculously intriguing to watch and listen to, but it also made me think about what would’ve happened for real, when a nuclear bomb was dropped during wartime. From the very first moment; what you see, what you would think, how the country recovers, the thoughts the victims go through, the hope it inspires and the new life it creates. Pretty deep I know, but I really enjoyed trying to pick tracks which invoked these emotions and told a story from start to finish.

Download

Tracklist:

01. [The Drop] “Five Men At Atomic Ground Zero”
02. [The Moment] Norge – 165 Minutes With You (Forthcoming on ASIP)
03. [The White Light] Segue – House Of Cards (Dewtone)
04. [The Realisation] Wolfmaps – Landforms (Futuresequence)
05. [The Angst] The American Dollar – Par Avion (Self-released)
06. [The Clearing] Four Tet – Peace For Earth (Text)
07. [The Realisation] Max Cooper – Gravity Well (Forthcoming on Traum)
08. [The Determination] Lusine – Make It Easy (John Tejada Remix) (Ghostly)
09. [The Hope] Loess – Sofar (Toytronic)
10. [The Return to Life] Crisopa – Gaviot (n5MD)
11. [The Complicated Memories] Onego – Ne Serdis’ (Forthcoming on Fuselab)
12. [The New Life] Martin Nonstatic – Vertraumt (Subspiele)
13. [The View From Above] Aurastore – Outside The Solar System (Energostatic)

ASIP – Shattered Sky

Watching it grow. Watching it break. Watching it melt away.

A mix made whilst watching the above… featuring a host of my favourite tracks both old and new, as well as an exclusive preview of Markus Guentner’s contribution to the Places Series.

Download.

Tracklist:

01. Module – The World Spins Without You (Imagineering / Self released)
02. Claro Intelecto – Still Here (Reform Club / Delsin)
03. Donnacha Costello – Rebuild (Composure /  Mindgames)
04. Loess – Viscer (3D Concepts / Toytronic)
05. Aeroc – Summer’s almost over (Viscous Solid / Ghostly)
06. Boards of Canada – Peacock Tail (The Campfire Headphase / Warp)
07. Orange Crush – Cosmic Shores (Self released / Free download)
08. Petar Dundov – Ideas From The Pond (From Ideas From The Pond / Music Man)
09. Chromatics – Tick Of The Clock (Night Drive / IDIB)
10. Ólafur Arnalds & Nils Frahm – a1 (Stare / Erased Tapes)
11. åpne sinn – Still Transmitting (En Seier / Relaxed Machinery)
12. Markus Guentner – Dockside (Forthcoming on The Places Series / ASIP)

ASIP – 1.00.00

Do you have an hour? This is where we are going. Some place different.

The ambient music has gone for this one. The closest you’re getting is the first two tracks, but this quickly changes. I started this mix with the intention of producing a journey full of repetitive, melodic electronic music. That was the brief to myself: repetitive and melodic. But as always, given it was closing in on 3am and I had a few beers by my side, this quickly changed and turned into a set that i’d play, or at least want to hear if I was stood surrounded by hundreds of people in the desert with the sun slowly descending behind the dusty mountains [insert your moment of escapism here].

I dag into quite a few old records and looking back at the track listing, quite a few of them are big inspirations of mine (and for many others i’m sure), and especially influential in not only getting me into ‘techno’ (or more club orientated music), but served as introductions to a completely different musical world. If it wasn’t for this early Paul Kalkbrenner remix, I would never have stumbled across SInce 77 – one of my favourite tech-ambient tracks of all time. If it wasn’t for Donnacha Costello’s Colour Series (of which Grape features), I would never have discovered his earlier ambient (and more recent) productions. Same with Jesse Somfay, his 2005 album, ‘Between Heartbeats‘ is still some of his best work yet in my opinion, and without this, there would’ve been no introduction to Borealis (or one of his many other guises of today).

Anyway, you get what i’m saying… there’s an underlying inspiration to this mix, be it in my eyes only, but I hope you can find it and enjoy it with me.

Download.

Tracklist:
01. Jon Hopkins – Amphora (Unreleased)
02. Âme – Doldrums (2008)
03. Ellen Allien & Apparat – Jet (Paul Kalkbrenner Remix) (2006)
04. Donnacha Costello – Grape (2004)
05. Kollektiv Turmstrasse – Heimat (Robag Wruhme’s Turmkolle Rekksmow) (2011)
06. The Field – Everday (2009)
07. Pantha Du Prince – Saturn Strobe (2007)
08. Andre Lodemann – Where Are You Now? (2009)
09. Roland Klinkenberg – Mexico Can Wait (2007)
10. Jesse Somfay – Walking Through Rain On Cloudless Days (2005)
11. Fuck Buttons – Space Mountain (2009)