ASIP - Reflection on 2022

As with all past ‘Reflection’ year-end mixes, I start with a collection of music I have enjoyed over the past year. Through the process of compiling a mix, songs are whittled down and selected from this collection. This means many of my favorite tracks and albums are often omitted in this process, due to the need for them to fit in a mix that comes together as organically as possible. As I say every year, this isn’t a definitive ‘best-of’ list, but a selection of just *some* of my favorite music from the year in one easily 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 then enjoy and hopefully discover more. I encourage you to use the mix to jump off and explore each artist, listen to the album in full and see what else is on the label (and check the Buy Music Club list at the bottom). Of course, releases or aliases that are a part of our own label/s are not considered for this mix (head over here for our label-specific 2022 showcase!), and if you want to see the majority of what I’ve been supporting, head over to my Bandcamp collection.

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Mixes paint a memory, and in many ways better than a photo. That’s half the reason I do these year-end mixes. Listening back to some of the past ten ‘Reflection on’ editions, each one still does the job of invoking specific memories for me. From the time I made the mix or tracks that trigger a time and place, maybe a gig I went to, an album that soundtracked a special moment, or just a record that didn’t leave my turntable. All of these things influence what tracks go into my year-end mix. It makes it challenging to try and capture, but also rewarding when I come out of the other side with something to listen back to that really shaped my year in listening. Despite this feature taking many, many hours, it’s much easier than doing a list, because not only do I dislike ranking music, but I really enjoy putting together mixes (so any excuse really!).

I haven’t written in-depth track notes for the past few Reflection mixes, mostly due to the sheer high number of track inclusions, but I want to go into depth on the inclusions this time around. I miss writing about music here, and it’s been a few years now since I’ve even posted a review. So hit play below, keep scrolling for the track notes, and link to a BuyMusicClub list to support all the featured music.

astrangelyisolatedplace · ASIP - Reflection on 2022

Listen on Soundcloud, or the ASIP Podcast.
Download MP3

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Firstly, let's sweep it under the rug; I’ve broken the biggest rule of the mix and included a track that wasn’t from 2022 (in fact, a couple aren’t strictly, but more on that later). The first track (and album), by maarja nut and ruum was such a lovely discovery for me this year that I missed in 2018, it accidentally slipped into my 2022 playlist due to being on high rotation. Of course, it was the very first track in the mix that set the tone- a hard one to undo when you’ve completed the set. So, because I have no one to answer to but myself, it stays! And I doubt you will regret this decision either if this album is new to you. 

Malibu made an appearance in 2020’s mix, and she’s perhaps a good reason for igniting a stronghold in female vocal led-ambient music recently. But few attempts are as ethereal as Malibu’s latest, going full-on Salt Tank (as a fellow Trance lover nicely put it once).

Ecovillage have made some gorgeous music over the years, and their latest album was a work of collaborations with some impressive producers such as Fennesz and harpist Nailah Hunter. My favorite track of the bunch was Memories of Spring featuring Japanese vibraphone player Masayoshi Fujita (the Erased Tapes stalwart). 

Raum, a collaborative project by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma and Liz Harris (Grouper) released a long-awaited follow-up to their 2013 album, and it didn’t disappoint. Whilst used more as a texture/segue in this mix, I encourage you to explore the full album. And, in a nod to Liz Harris’ involvement in the artwork for one of our releases this year, it felt fitting to include her project in this mix (thanks Liz!).

I’ve admired GiGi FM’s DJ’ing abilities for a few years now (check out her isolatedmix) but only last year did she debut her production chops with Kiwi Synthesis Diary 21k. I didn’t get around to listening to the album until this year (along with her latest, Magnetite EP) and so it didn’t make last year’s mix which was already out in the world. So here’s another little cheat, albeit a very short inclusion.

You can’t say "In Every Dream Home A Heartache” without reading it like the Roxy Music intro, and Romance and Dean Hurley’s similarly named album is just as memorable for me in many ways. Whilst this track is not my favorite from the album, it reminds me of the church bells and distant music playing from across the farm fields in my hometown back in England.

Fallen, aka Lorenzo Bracaloni seems to have released quite a few albums this year, but I was introduced to Moonlight Romance by Noah M (who creates many of our own artworks and was behind the art for this one). It’s like a new-new-age album, full of life and color, and a really pleasant listen from front to back.

One thing I find hard with this annual mix is whether to include tracks that have appeared in some other mixes of mine this year. Ultimately, I want to try and present new listening experiences with each mix, but then again, I am sure it’s very few of you who actually listen to all of them!… . Steve Roach’s What Remains appeared in a previous mix of mine this year, but this track is him at his very best. Refined, patient, bellowing, and glistening - a master of the style.

Pretty sure nthng has appeared in the last two Reflection mixes, but what can I say… whether he is releasing pounding atmospheric techno or soaring trance-inducing textures like this one, he somehow manages to draw me in with each of his releases. (I think, secretly, he’s a trance head and there’s a subconscious/ telepathic attraction going on between us).

At this point I got lost in the bellows of the last few tracks, so decided to find a way out of this musical chapter, and IKSRE provided a nice euphoric bridge with her vocals. Released on the ‘Healing Together’ compilation curated by Cynthia Bernard / Marine Eyes, plenty of tracks from this comp could’ve made it onto this mix, so you know what to do after...

There was no doubt I was going to try and include a Norm Chambers track in here somewhere, both due to his unfortunate passing this year and his undeniable contribution to the ambient and experimental community. I seeked out a jolt in the mix at this point, so his music didn’t go unnoticed. As someone I follow recently said, you could make five mixes from his library of music and each one would sound different. Thank you for the music Norm - RIP.

Chicago artists Purelink seems to be at the front of this new 'jungle/beat infused choppy ambience™, that I’ve seen becoming quite popular lately (how old do I sound). And one member of this trio features a bit later under a different alias. There is lots to explore in this world - whether it be following each of the member artists, their labels, or some of their own self-released music on Bandcamp. This track fits my dreamy chill-out world perfectly and was a much-needed segue into a more beat-driven chapter of the mix. 

Spoiler alert, Mikkel Rev will be making an appearance in the ASIP fam in 2023, so until he does, he’s OK to be included in this mix (!) As part of the Ute Collective hailing from Norway, it’s another rabbit hole of amazing young talent should you be into the more trance-infused sound of ambient music (or indeed, full-on trance music - plenty of that there). He makes some superb atmospheric chugging downtempo that ranges from the delicate to the beat-driven.

Whenever a new Biosphere album drops, it’s met with slight trepidation on my end. Not least because his albums take forever to reach the US on vinyl, but, how do you live up to the classics you created that helped define a genre? But that feeling is always short-lived and none so short as 2022’s effort. In what is a direct throwback to some of his earlier electronic styles, Shortwave Memories is one of his best in the past 10 years - at least. The N-Plants vibe in this particular track is the show-stopper. 

ReKaB was a new discovery for me this year, and the Móatún 7 label that homes this release, is a goldmine for electro-leaning music (even featuring a Yagya 10” recently). I think I played this ReKaB album front to back more than five times in the car one day. It’s such an enjoyable listen - not too pretentious, just enough old-school vibe, and energy to keep things present as opposed to wallpaper.  

OK, a couple more records were not strictly new in 2022 but I’ve always debated including reissues in this mix, and finally come around to the idea given the proliferation recently. After all, there was never a Reflection on 1993 was there?!  Spacetime Continuum and the always-on-point Musique Por La Danse label provide the 90’s throwback. (The similar-era Detroit Escalator reissue would have also made it in here, but I had to stop somewhere).

Daniel Avery’s album is a monolith. Throwbacks to Aphex on a SAW tip, mixed in with wall-shuddering bass and cave-mentality breakdowns. Any electronic fan that spent time in a dimly lit rave is going to enjoy his latest, just as much as the IDM/Electronica fan in all of us. I’m not sure if the track in the mix is my fave of the album yet, but the bigger tracks on the album would have sent this mix into a whole new dimension.

Seeing James Devane pop up this year was weird. Back in my blog days (they still exist today but this specific instance was 13 years ago), I uploaded a cover of Aphex Twin’s Rhubarb by James Devane to Soundcloud to host on the blog (remember those days) - it has 26k plays and the majority of us I’m sure really had no idea who he was until this year. With just one prior release on Discogs, I thought he dropped off radar. I guess he kind of did. This album was therefore a surprise to see, and its Gas-like fringed-techno a pleasant reintroduction.

Prior to Covid, I was due to DJ at an Astral Industries gig in London, and Transcendence Orchestra was on the bill for the second night I was there (when I'd get to relax and enjoy the full night!) It didn’t happen, unfortunately, but I always keep an ear out for their output and regret not being able to see them live. Back to the mix though, I didn’t go too hard on the modular synth-heavy tracks this year, but as with all Reflection mixes, I try and cover the variety of music I’ve been listening to. Whilst the full Transcendence Orchestra album ‘Dreams, Waking Thoughts and Incidents’ is a dark trance-inducing affair that might have felt like a rabbit hole at this point in the mix, this track formed a nice segue into the next with a similar sound…

This was the year Abul Mogard no longer hid behind his “old man steel factory worker” story and came out of the shadows on Houndstooth alongside COH (Gone is my idea for an “I AM THEREFORE I AM (ABUL MOGARD)” t-shirt). I’ve always wondered what Abul Mogard’s (real name Guido Zen) music would sound like if you added some fizz and more obvious structure, and this track can still be found bouncing around in my head somewhere. 

Another track not ‘new’ in 2022, but once again, there are no rules when you’re documenting someone so profound. And to lose Low’s Mimi Parker was a shock to everyone this year. I was late to the Low party given how long they have been around, but Mimi’s vocals on this track from one of their most recent albums (Double Negative) are purely angelic. I took liberties with the layering in the mix here, respectfully, so I hope it pays off in the listen as a moment of true reflection.

It’s not often you get treated to some of this early 90’s music for the very first time, but stumbling across Bowery Electric is like finding a long-lost favorite. Originally released in 1996, this is an example of why Kranky is so legendary all those years later, playing host to gems like this.

Nosaj Thing isn’t normally the type of music that stays in my periphery, but my colleagues were sharing the news of this new album, existing on the fringes of hip-hop and electronica, and when Julianna Barwick is involved, I tend to put it at the top of the pile. Whilst the beat closely reminded me of Massive Attack’s Teardrop, there’s no hiding the track’s beauty in totality. Add to this, I took a friend to see Nosaj Thing at The Greek Theater in LA, and we drank way too many Caipirinha’s before stumbling up the hill to the venue and missed Nosaj playing altogether… We did catch Toro Y Moi after though, so it’s a perfect memory captured for 2022. 

I’m glad Synkro returned with music this year, and it’s an amazing little EP on R&S to boot. Maybe even more atmospheric than his previous work, the beats are a little more smudged across this EP, but everything he touches has a considered, unique touch that can be heard strongly throughout his work and within collaborations (such as Kiyoko). 

There's a substantial amount of music to discover from Neglect on Bandcamp, someone I’ve admired from afar for a while now. This track, taken from his latest album is amongst a beautiful bunch of nostalgic electronica that cries quality.

It’s always hard to single out an Astral Industries release. The consistency of releases are faultless, so my shortlist this year with AI releases to include, was, well… not very short. Mystic AM, however, is the first release by Astral label boss Ario, alongside none other than Rod Modell, so it quickly became top of the pile by reason of a special moment in 2022, not least because of the beauty found in its original Iranian field recordings. 

Perhaps one of the most extensive releases of the year comes from the always intriguing Stroom label, and Voice Actor. 109 pieces of music and a surprising quality found throughout. It’s more collage than music when listened to as one, but you’ll find some lovely moments hidden amongst the 8(?) hours. “Will it be available on vinyl” I hear you jest? I’ve seen this popping up in lots of EOY lists already too.

There's talk within my small circles that Music For Animals is Nils Frahm’s best album yet. I’m not sticking by that just yet, as Spaces is probably in my top 10 of all time so far, but it certainly represents a stunning (d)evolution? Not a piano in sight you say? I immediately disbelieved it. But alas. It's like Nils kept getting put into Ambient playlists on Spotify and was like "OK, I'll give you what you really want…”.

I’m not quite sure how I stumbled across Ben Bondy. I think a friend might’ve recommended an album of his (Hadi, was that you?!) but It was enough for me to stalk his many Bandcamp releases and find some lovey instances. This track reminds me of a classic chill-out room track in its swirling laid-back mystery and vocal. 

I wouldn’t have come across the All India Radio track if it wasn’t for the great compilation it was presented on this year by Mystic and Quantum (a label responsible for some lovely releases over the years). New to me, it looks like they have quite the discography I’m yet to dig into, but this was a lovely moment that flowed nicely after the previous. Time to do some digging.

Concave Reflection (see Purelink reference above) is another artist in the fringes of my frequent listens but one I’m fully dipping my toes in right now. The full-length album ’The Best People Are Like Water’ is a really interesting listen - kind of metallic, chopped-up ambiance that the Spheric label are becoming known for (and seems to be all the hype right now).

Whilst the next track was originally from an album released a few years back, you’ve probably learned by now I’m bending the rules a little. However, this version of Hania Rani’s track Leaving, is a live recording released in 2022. After watching her live performance on KEXP, (shout to Alex Ruder!) I was truly mind-blown at her talent. It’s easy to make comparisons to Nils of course, but Hania has that vocal element which adds a whole new dimension.

If I had to be pushed, my favorite non-ambient album this year might have come from Mike Paradinas / µ-Ziq. Magic Pony Ride is just pure fun. And you need that in your listening repertoire nowadays, right? The bank of melodies and creativity this guy has amassed over the years must be unbelievable. To think, only some of it makes itself out into the world as a record. He followed this album up with another similar stunner too  - spoiled!

I've already given Wardown his superlatives for the year in his isolatedmix feature, but in summary, Wardown II followed up his nostalgic DnB/Jungle debut under this alias in style. Will there be a third that can keep the standard this high??

I could've launched into a complete Jungle/DnB hour at this point, but being 2hrs in, I really had to start winding this beast down and get all the end-of-the-night feels going. Bot1500’s latest EP stepped in nicely here - a lovely collection of melodic IDM and the track Chartreuse 8 felt rather emotional.

Royksopp really don’t do things by halves, and whether the entirety of their music is enjoyed or not when it crosses into the Pop realm, they still manage to conjure up some magic moments. I wanted to try and include a track out of the 3(!) albums they released this year but really couldn't find one that fit outside of this weird sample here. It worked on a few levels for me here though, “Press R to continue” …

Rose Riebl…With three compilations curated by Headphone Commute, the quality found amongst the ‘For Ukraine’ comps should go down as monumental and unmissable. I knew I had to get a track in this mix from the many on display, and this one felt like a perfect near-conclusion to the mix. Don’t miss out on supporting a great cause and listening to some of the best artists creating modern classical music right now.

The final track of the mix comes from EXM. While I normally try and end these mixes with a closer that is potentially surprising or off-genre (maybe a glance at other weird music I listen to) this one just somehow felt right. Uplifting and melodic, you can’t help but mirror its gradual progression with your volume-up button.

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The art for this mix might feel a little unflattering at first, but I wanted to capture the mass AI hysteria as part of this year’s memory and mix. So, fittingly, this is what I got back with the creative input of ‘A Strangely Isolated Place’. Why so literal, bot?

Tracklist + Buy Music Club:

01. maarja nuut & ruum - Mahe (Fat Cat Records)
02. Malibu - Iliad (UNO NYC)
03. Ecovillage - Memories of Spring feat. Masayoshi Fujita (LAAPS)
04. Raum - Daughter (Self)
05. GiGi FM - Rosé (Louise) (Self)
06. Romance & Dean Hurley - The Flesh Is Weak (Ecstatic)
07. Fallen - Under A Glass Moon Of Wonder (Aural Canyon)
08. Steve Roach - What Remains (Self)
09. nthng - Some Clouds Are Destined To Break (Transatlantic)
10. IKSRE - You Will Find (PITP)
11. Norm Chambers - Resonant Foam (Self)
12. Purelink - Butterfly Jam (uWu Dust Bath)
13. Mikkel Rev - Ende (Translusid)
14. Biosphere - Night Shift (Biophon Records)
15. ReKaB - The Lightest Touch (Móatún 7)
16. Spacetime Continuum - Drift (Musique Pour La Danse)
17. Daniel Avery - Lone Swordsman (Mute)
18. James Devane - Orange and Tan (Umeboshi)
19. Transcendence Orchestra - The Hills Are Alive (Old Technology)
20. COH meets Abul Mogard - Traverse Within (Houndstooth)
21. Low - Fly (Subpop)
22. Bowery Electric - Postscript (Kranky)
23. Nosaj Thing feat. Julianna Barwick - Blue Hour (Lucky Me)
24. Synkro - Last Breath (R&S Records)
25. Neglect - In The Bondage of Your Identity (Unsilent Desert Press)
26. Mystic AM - This Spoke Zarathustra (Astral Industries)
27. Voice Actor - Hurt With Me (STROOM)
28. Nils Frahm - Right Right Right (Leiter)
29. Ben Bondy - Spring (Self)
30. All India Radio - Ancient Invocations (Mystic & Quantum)
31. Concave Reflection -Daylight Portrait (Theory Therapy)
32. Hania Rani - Leaving (Live from Studio S2) (Gondwana)
33. µ-Ziq - Turquoise Hyperfizz (Planet Mu)
34. Wardown - Stimulus Progression Pattern (Blu Mar Ten)
35. Bot1500 - Chartreuse 8 (Lith Dolina)
36. Royksopp - Press <<R>> (Self)
37. Rose Riebl - Near Dark (Headphone Commute)
38. EXM - Autumn is Coming (Dyadik)

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Buy Music Club list >>

2022 Label Compilation (mixed by todos)

Our annual showcase of individual tracks from ASIP's 2022 label releases and a special continuous DJ mix of this year's music from todos.

After providing 2021's compilation mix, our esteemed journeyman, todos takes the reigns again to interpret this year's label releases. Containing at least one track from each of our releases along with many snippets and samples from others, todos weaves a tapestry that somehow manages to traverse ASIP's potentially most varied year to date.

From the intricate world-building sounds of Gadi Sassoon, Deepchild and Strïe; to the dramatic synthesizers born from Scanner and OKRAA; the granulated textures of Viul & Benoît Pioulard; the delicate keys of ASC; and Illuvia's illustrative DnB footprint; this year's mix seemed impossible to weave together, but todos tied it together in style.

Available as Name Your Price on Bandcamp

Full todos Continuous Mix tracklist:

01. Gadi Sassoon - ‘Sintetico’ edit /Illuvia - ‘Blue Rays’ edit
02. Deepchild - ‘The Singing Feat. Holly+ / ASC - ‘Third Act’ edit / Scanner -’Nuorp’ edit
03. ASC - ‘Fifth Act’
04. Illuvia - ‘Eagle Vision’ /Gadi Sassoon - ‘Bionico’ edit
05. Deepchild - ‘Dreams Within Dreams’
06. Gadi Sassoon - ‘Sintetico’
07. Strië - Aeroplane Flying’ / Strië - ‘Vogel Wolke’ edit / Deepchild - ‘Now It Is Me Being Breathed The Veil Breaks’ edit
08. Illuvia - Naissance’ / Scanner - ’The Earthbound Fox’ edit
09. OKRAA - ‘Heartless’
10. Viul & Benoît Pioulard - ‘Performance’
11. ASC - ‘Third Act’ / Gadi Sassoon - ‘Collision Suite’ edit
12. Gadi Sassoon - ‘Life On A Tidally Locked Planet’ / Illuvia - ‘Sea Of Vapour’ edit
13. Illuvia - ‘Chiara Springs’

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Listen to all of these releases and find out more on our releases page.

todos on Soundcloud

Mixed version MP3

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!

ODDITY RADIO · ASIP - Oddity Influence Mix

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

ASIP - Oslated Special Mix 026

Oslated is a label collective from South Korea, often found presenting lovely deep meditative techno from the likes of Doltz, Saphileaum, Launaea, Javier Marimon, and many more personal faves. They also host a mix series, which has previously featured some great contributions by many faces readers of ASIP will recognize, so it was a pleasure to be asked to contribute a mix.

I don’t have too much to say on this one, but it moves through some very specific chapters with a common theme throughout (see if you can spot it)… as do many of my mixes! And of course, it’s sprinkled with a few unreleased ASIP label bits.

Listen below or on the Oslated Soundcloud.

Download.

Oslated · Oslated Special Mix 026 - ASIP

Tracklist:

01. Stone - Evil Day [2022 / 3 X L]
02. Unreleased [Forthcoming on ASIP]
03. HIA & Biosphere - Snapshot Survey [1996 / Beyond]
04. Ameeva - Die Wellen Side B [2022 / 9128.live]
05. Deepchord - Immersion II [2018 / Astral Industries]
06. Isorinne - Blurred Perceptions of Substance [2016 / Field Records]
07. o.utlier - Less Popular Than Cats Side B [2022 / Verdant Recordings] + Steve Roach - What Remains [2022 / Timeroom Editions]
08. Unreleased [Forthcoming on ASIP]
09. James Murray - Living Ghosts [2017 / Home Normal]
10. Unreleased [Forthcoming on ASIP]
11. wndfrm - A [2018 / Sounds et al]
12. Araceae - Before The Sun [2022 / Faint]
13. Simone Bauer - Nereide [2019 / Sure Thing]
14. Aes Dana - Period 10 Evocatory [2021 / Ultimae Records]
15. Aucuba Replica - Of Grasping [2020 / संस्कार Rites]
16. Donato Dozzy - Moonlight [2011 / Mule Electronic]
17. Toki Fuko - What Will Enlightenment Give Me [2021 / Lowless]
18. Priori - Afterburn [2019 / NAFF]
19. Mikkel Rev - Revelation In A Chill Out Room [2022 / Translusid] + A Conversation with Rickie Lee Jones [1989 / Geffen Records]
20. DJ Healer - Hopes and Fears [2018 / All Possible Worlds] + Being - Being, Then [2021 / Firecracker Recordings]
21. Unreleased [Forthcoming on ASIP]
22. Shingles - Another Day In Paradise
23. William Basinski - Fin [2020 / Temporary Residence Limited]
24. Dedekind Cut - Tahoe [2018 / Kranky]

isolatedmix 119 - Wardown

Not many producers can create new aliases after 10+ years and still manage to drop something completely unexpected and refreshing.

Peter Rogers’ Wardown project did just that in 2020, debuted on the respected Blu Mar Ten label, the self-titled album found admirers from a cross-section of music styles; spanning Jungle, Drum’n Bass and a strong atmospheric element. Wardown / Wardown was consequently one of my most played and admired albums of the year (finding a sweet spot in the Reflection on 2020 and Atmoteka mixes). I found it near impossible to stop the album once it started, as it flowed easily between stories, styles, and sentimental reflection.

Peter is now set to drop his second album under the Wardown alias, simply titled Wardown II, but those who absorbed the nostalgia from his first, will undoubtedly be confident that despite its modest title, the conceptual approach is as strong as ever, and the music will once again be left to do the storytelling.

Continuing with this brilliant reflective approach from the first album, Wardown II can be considered another vivid capture of one of Peter’s undoubtedly many memories he has begun to create with this alias. And just like his productions, his isolatedmix is a natural extension of this approach. As is the case with many producers in this genre, DJ’ing is integral to the culture, so it’s of no surprise for us to be treated to a little bit of a masterclass with this latest installment…

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ASIP: Many people may know you as one half of the d&b duo Technimatic (and even making an appearance as Technicolour on our Energostatic comp which we were proud to host a few months back). Can you tell us a bit about how you got into producing music and your background?

Pete: I started making electronic music in about 2002. I’d been into jungle and drum & bass as a teenager growing up in Luton, and played in a jazz funk band for many years too. But 2002 - after I’d finished studying graphic design at university and moved to London - was the first time I had the opportunity to buy a computer of my own and actually start trying to create stuff with it.

You debuted the Wardown project on the Blu Mar Ten label in 2020. What inspired this new alias after years under others?

I started Wardown because I had quite specific things I really needed to express and put into music that I didn’t have to the opportunity to elsewhere. Technimatic is my main musical focus of attention and I love it, but sometimes there are things unique to you that you need to be able to say, that might not fit within the canon of music you're making as a duo. Things much more personal. I’ve known Chris Blu Mar Ten for many years and have huge respect for the vision and A&R of his label, so it felt like the perfect fit. Thankfully he was really enthusiastic about putting it out.

Vignettes of people talking about your hometown of Luton open your first Wardown album, (which was a surprise for me to hear, as I grew up in a nearby town). How would you describe your formative years there? How did it impact your music?

Luton has a very chequered past. It’s regularly featured in the kinds of ‘shittest towns in the UK’ lists that appear online. It’s been home to the English Defence League, Islamic terror cells, and is generally thought of as a fairly ugly, non-descript town on the outskirts of London that has an awful airport. But as a kid, I had a really good upbringing there. And crucially, being near London and the M25 motorway, back in the 90s it had a very strong connection with rave, hardcore, and jungle music. Legendary hardcore DJ Swan-E was from Luton, Blame was from just down the road in Dunstable, there were pirate radio stations broadcasting the music 24/7 in the area, and most importantly for me, there was an amazing record shop called Soul Sense where as a teenager I spent a lot of my time, learning and being inspired by 90s underground music.

I assume you made several trips to London back in the day like most music lovers living in the Shires, for the big nights and DJs in the capital. Who, or what was your mecca back in the day? And which record stores were you gracing?

Absolutely. Once I was allowed to go into Luton town centre on my own without my parents, it wasn’t long before me and my friends were getting on the train and heading into London to buy records. This was the mid-90s and obviously long before smartphones and the internet, so on several occasions we went with the intention of going to Blackmarket Records in Soho, but ended up coming back empty-handed as we simply couldn’t find it! But eventually, we worked it out and it was always a huge buzz. Section 5 on Kings Road in Chelsea was another favourite.

In 2000 I moved to London and that’s when my real clubbing experiences began. Swerve at The Velvet Rooms on a Wednesday, Movement at Bar Rumba on a Thursday, but the real Mecca for me and my friends was The End. It’s still my favourite club that’s existed and so much of my dance music education happened there. We went to most d&b nights but the key event for us was LTJ Bukem’s Progression Sessions, which ran monthly there throughout most of the noughties. I think I went to every single event from about 2002 - 2007.

The Wardown debut was one of my favorites from 2020. A wide spectrum of sounds, running from lush ambient pieces to extremely energetic tracks. The narrative aspect pulled me in, giving off a nostalgic mixtape type of vibe. It felt like it was a pivotal album for you to get out into the world given how personal the elements contained within were - almost a ‘letting go’ kind of feel?

Absolutely. During the start of 2019 I returned to Luton quite a bit. My granddad, who was the last remaining family member living there, was ill. So I went to visit him at his home, and then the hospital until he eventually died. He was 98 so it was no huge shock, but when I was back there, these ideas started forming in my mind. Luton was my home town but the last remaining Rogers had now left and there was nothing left linking me to it. But despite losing those roots and living away from the town for over 20 years, it still had this strange power over me and I felt a really deep connection. Obviously, some of that was down to simple nostalgia for my childhood. But there was something else tied up in it. Something a bit more complex. And making that first album was an attempt to try and express those feelings.

That first track on that album (Culverhouse) has to be one of the most euphoric moments to kick off an album in recent memory of mine. I was definitely keeping it locked for the remainder after that beginning! What was the intention with the sequencing of the album?

I honestly can’t remember much about the sequencing of the first album. It wasn’t like I made 30 or 40 tracks and then whittled them down and picked my favourites. It’s a 10 track album and I think I made 11 tracks, and decided to ditch one of them. I wanted it to be a mix of jungle and ambient soundscapes as I think despite the two genres being in some ways at the opposite ends of the spectrum, they also work beautifully together. When I was initially buying records in the 90s, I used to be obsessed with the intros and breakdowns of certain jungle records. There was a run of releases on DeeJay Recordings from DJ Crystl and Future Sound Of Hardcore that had these sprawling instrumental openings that I used to play over and over again. And obviously LTJ Bukem and a lot of those early releases on Good Looking Records are on the same page. That aesthetic felt like a really good way to try and manifest the ideas I was having.

According to your first album notes, Wardown is an attempt to capture what the Germans call 'sehnsucht', an "inconsolable longing in the heart for we know not what". Where did this attachment come from?

That quote is from the author CS Lewis, attempting to describe the sense of longing he felt for much of his life. And I’ve been kind of obsessed with that feeling for quite a long time too. ‘Sehnsucht’ is a German term that gets somewhere close and there are others in various languages. But it’s a very hard thing to accurately pin down and describe. I sometimes feel as though to get a sense of it I have to look out of the corner of my eye, as when I try and focus directly on it, it disappears. It’s often a very fleeting feeling brought on by certain scenes in the world, weather, photographs, old films. A kind of bittersweet, melancholy feeling about the past and things that have been lost. But quite often it’s a longing for things I’ve never personally experienced or may never have even happened.

“at its simplest, Wardown II is a vision of the future from the past.”

The new album is a subtle shift in concept from the original and perhaps a continuation chronologically. The nostalgia is still there, but I’m getting a look at the future instead of back like the first album. Maybe the artwork is subliminally pointing me in that direction too. Is this Luton today or in the near future?!

With the first Wardown album I was trying to evoke those feelings of loss and yearning I felt for my home town and earlier life. And that got me thinking about nostalgia in a wider sense and why it’s so alluring, particularly as you get a bit older – but also why it’s so pervasive everywhere you look these days. TV, film, music, advertising, even politics draws on the past, utilises it, and sometimes even weaponises it. It’s an incredibly powerful thing, and for me it can create a strange kind of ‘uncanny valley’ feeling, as though today’s popular culture has become unmoored from history and its once-definitive eras and epochs. So much of what we consume today is full of anachronism, a kind of rehash of what’s come before. I found myself wondering: what happened to the future I imagined when I was a kid?

I think nostalgia is incredibly alluring right now because the future no longer looks bright. We live now with the looming threat of climate change and a catastrophic loss of biodiversity across the world, not to mention war, economic instability and the rise of populism and nationalism. It all feels just too much sometimes, and nostalgia is always there, showing us how better things were in the past – even if the safe, optimistic world it portrays didn’t actually exist in the first place. In that way, nostalgia is dangerous because it stops us looking forward and taking responsibility for the future, with all its challenges – something we all need to do.

Of course, all this is strongly culturally inflected, and when I say ‘we’, I’m coming from a white, Western and affluent perspective; the relationship between nostalgia and progress is likely to be very different for someone born in the global south. But as someone who came of age in Britain in the 90s, the future means a different thing today than it did when I was a child. Back then it felt like there was still a kind of general, unwavering optimism about the coming years, a faith in progress and a belief that society was on the path to an increasingly better place. The fall of the Berlin Wall, the end of communism in the USSR and other Eastern European countries, New Labour, the impending Millennium, which felt like the epitome of all things futuristic – all these things pointed to the fact the future was something to look forward to.

So at its simplest, Wardown II is a vision of the future from the past. I decided to give it quite a strong 1950s / 60s flavour, as to me it seems like that is when the idea of ‘the future’ was at it’s most potent. After the devastation of two world wars came the rise of modernism and its belief that, rather than just being an aesthetic, it could literally improve people’s lives through the creation of a new kind of architecture and design. There were the American and Russian plans to send people into space. Film and TV that painted the future as a shiny kind of utopia, with flying cars, and machines that allowed humans to forget the horrific memories of war and enjoy a life of comfort and leisure.

Samples are obviously a big part of your work (and your isolatedmix). It sounds like your first album was more personal, collected soundbites and samples. And this new album seems a little more abstract in its samples and direction. Can you describe your process for the sample-heavy tracks such as Instant Money? Do you build a track around a sample, go looking for something specific, or have a bank of samples ready to go?

I’ve always been a fan of collage. Art that brings lots of different, often disparate sources together to create something fresh. As a kid I used to cut up catalogues and booklets that came through the front door and make these mad, stuck together images with them. And at university, I was fascinated by the work of artists like Robert Rauschenberg. So when it came to making music, growing up through an era of sample-heavy jungle and hip-hop (‘Entroducing’ by DJ Shadow is one of the most important albums in my life), I adopted a similar technique.

However, with Wardown the approach is slightly different to when I’m working on other things. I initially try and establish quite a strong conceptual starting point before I’ve made any music. I do lots of reading, watch things, and generally think about the world I’m trying to create before anything is made. Obviously things change and develop through the process of actually creating the music, but by starting out like that, I try and attune myself to what I’m looking for, samples wise. It’s like I put little antennas up and then go about my usual life of reading, watching films and documentaries, and listening to music. But because my antennas are up and scanning for quite specific things I’m able to isolate sounds that can potentially work a lot better; sounds that would probably pass me by if I had just been taking it all in in a more general sense. And once I’ve had a strong idea for something I’ll then dive a little deeper, in terms of second-hand records, tapes, online archives and the like.

I’m also a little gutted that Instant Money didn’t make it onto the mix in full here (i hear a quick sample only!) It’s one of my faves and extremely addictive (reminds me a bit of Roni Size’s Dirty Beats in how the vocal burrows deep inside your brain for hours after listening if I dare compare). What was your intention/concept for the mix overall?

The idea for the mix was essentially an extension of what I’ve done with the two albums. A collection of jungle and electronic music combined with longer ambient passages. There are a few personal favourites in there, as well as some lesser-known stuff I thought worked well. I’ve also taken apart elements of some of the music from Wardown II and used that throughout. More collage!

The drum’n bass / jungle mixtape is of course an iconic piece of music culture and by the sounds of it, you’ve perfected your skills at putting one together. Do you consider yourself a DJ? Do you enjoy this aspect of your music?

Well I’ve just come off the back of playing a summer of festival shows as Technimatic, so in that regard, definitely. I do think these days however, there is quite a big difference between being a DJ who plays live shows, and someone who puts mixes together online. Years ago you would just press record and essentially recreate what you do in a live setting. But because of the changes in technology and what you’re now able to do with sequencers, recorded mixes feel like they’ve become a separate thing in their own regard. They definitely are to me, anyway. I love putting together online mixes that pull apart tracks, alter tempos, have multiple elements working at the same time to create something really unique. Maybe a really talented DJ could do it live, but I definitely can’t!

What have been some of your fave mixes over the years that we could go check out? A favorite of all time?

I can’t really discuss jungle and Wardown without mentioning LTJ Bukem’s ‘Essential Mix’ for Radio 1 in 1995. It really was such a defining mix, one that created a kind of blueprint for a whole new musical sub-genre. All the classics are there, and it still sounds fresh and exciting to me. In terms of more recent times, Visible Cloaks’ ‘Music Interiors’ from 2013 is another really important mix for me. It’s a collection of 80s ambient and experimental music from Japan, and it totally blew my mind when I first heard it. The fact there was this huge, rich, inspiring area of music I had no idea existed before listening was really extraordinary. And it just flows so well. I’m eternally thankful for VC for creating it; I’ve played it more times than I can remember.

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astrangelyisolatedplace · isolatedmix 119 - Wardown

Listen on Soundcloud, Mixcloud, or the ASIP Podcast.

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Tracklist:

01. Soft Robot - ‘Point Nemo’
02. Kerguelen - ‘Proxemics’
03. Sycamore Investments - ‘Cherry Bomb’
04. Wardown - ‘Stimulus Progression Pattern’
05. LTJ Bukem - ‘Rainfall’
06. Offthesky -‘Insofar, In So Far’
07. Freedive - ‘Watering A Flower On The Moon’
08. Photek - ‘Complex’
09. Ki One - ‘Life At The End Of The World’
10. Micronation - ’Photographs of Clouds’
11. Wardown - ‘The Ideal City’
12. Advanced Sound & Vision - ‘The Engineered Yes’
13. Wardown - ‘Lifespan’
14. Fisher Associates - ‘Scorched Earth’
15. Wardown - ‘Graphite and Glitter’
16. The Architex - ‘Altitude’
17. Creative Innovations Inc. - ‘Stone Tape Theory’
18. r beny - ‘Eistla’
19. Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - ‘Song Of Forgiveness Pt. 1’

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