Celer - Xièxie

Celer’s latest album, Xièxie, is a daunting undertaking at first glance. Not only does it read like a travel diary, but in-between the ten-plus minute tracks are interludes, sound recordings that narrate the beautiful textures that bookend each glimpse into Will Long’s trip to China.

It’s a tale of juxtaposing sounds that come together as a sublime narrative of travel. Field recordings form intros - instead of becoming part of the main tracks (as you’d likely expect from an album like this) - but thats the point. Upon each moment of significance, Will takes you elsewhere, painting a glimpse of voyeurism and scattered, slow motion activity. Drawn-out loops of dreams from a window turn into water paintings and a pensive, dystopian backdrop.

Everything moves faster than we can control. Days are just flashes, moments are mixed up but burned on film, and all of the places and times are out of order.

Simple and refined, this will become my perfect recommendation for anyone looking for the sharp point of emotive ambient music - it’s all here: narrative, escapism, texture, story and reflection. One to get lost in.

Available on Bandcamp in digital and vinyl editions.

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.

isolatedmix 88 - An On Bast

On the heels of our modular-synthesizer-heavy release and remix album by James Bernard, we dug into some other artists playing within the rabbit holes of analog frequencies. There are of course many to choose from, but one artist has recently caught our ear as a purveyor in both techno and ambient sounds within the modular realm.

An On Bast is Anna Suda, a Polish based musician who, whilst making techno and experimental music also has a fine ear for beautiful ambient compositions. With a steady cadence of recordings since 2006, Anna was selected from thousands of candidates to participate in the (soon to be defunct) Red Bull Music Academy in Melbourne where like many others, she got to hone her craft. Since then, her infamous live sets which combine many of her production approaches and jump between modular to drum machines, have graced the likes of major festivals such as, Sonar (Barcelona), and Nachtdigital (Germany), and clubs from Berlin’s Watergate and Berghain, and Shanghai’s Elevator.

Anna’s ambient productions were what really stood out for us, and her latest outing on the Dutch label, Shimmering Moods, titled Nothing Shapes Everything, is a perfect example of why this producer is so intriguing, malleable and talented across various approaches.

Anna’s isolatedmix traverses a variety of territories that could be said to define her eclectic and varied production approaches. From the infamous Bill Laswell opening it up, to Woob, Coil, Loscil and Pan American, hidden amongst some of of the greats of the genre are some of Anna’s own productions adding a personalized tint to this extraordinary journey.

The mix I recorded contains very important tracks to me, for my personal evolution of taste and feel of time and space in music. Ambient was the genre that introduced me to electronic music so it has very special place in my heart. It taught me how much story can be told, how much ideas and emotion can be put within infinite possibilities of sound creation. I am sharing the tracks that had and still have very big influence on me, plus a few of my own productions, as well as in my duos. It was a huge pleasure to put them together in a long music journey, I hope you will feel it too - An On Bast

Download

Tracklist:

01. Bill Laswell - Káshí
02. Mouse On Mars - Unity Concepts
03. An On Bast & Maciej Fortuna - Our Plateux
04. David Toop - Bodies of Water
05. James Bernard - Euph
06. Atone - Qobac Sine
07. Unknown - ShiveRX
08. Arvo Part - Tabula Rasa - Fratres
09. Coil - Finite Bees
10. Pan American - Coastal
11. Celia Green - In The Extreme
12. An On Bast & Allca - 04:05
13. An On Bast - Rootless
14. Unknown - 10060
15. Woob - Later
16. Dream Fish - Underwater
17. Tatsu - Stilness / Introspective Me
18. Loscil - Monument Builders
19. An On Bast - Enter
20. Meritum - Harfowa

An On Bast | Soundcloud | Bandcamp | Facebook | Discogs | Website

James Bernard / Atwater (Remixes) Now Available

James Bernard’s live recording, ‘Atwater’ demonstrated the beauty to emerge from the simplicity and gentle manipulation of modular synthesizers. Such a raw moment captured that day, packed full of melody and escapism, presented a perfect opportunity to invite some of our favorite musicians to remix the original material recorded in North Atwater Park.

The remix lineup was purposefully selected to highlight electronica and a genre that grew from the manipulation of the synthesizer - a new toy for many bedroom producers that grew in commercial success and helped define a new sound in the late 90’s and early 00’s. With this in mind, we invited six producers who go some way in reflecting this approach over the years, with James Bernard’s original synthesizer recordings providing the basis of each experiment.

Arovane opens the release, with a sweet and sharp electronic punch, followed by Christian Kleine’s guitar-hook driven take, who as many will know, were two crucial producers that helped place electronica on the map through their releases on City Centre Offices. Alongside Uwe and Christian, also representing the early pioneering years of the sound and housed by the seminal label, Warp over the years; B12’s, Mike Golding, who takes James Bernard's sound to the limit across 9 minutes of additional modular manipulation.

Joining them, are three producers taking the electronica sound in new directions in recent years. James Clements, known to many under his own name or as ASC, guides us into the relatively unheard realm of his electronica-inspired Comit alias, combining the energy of his drum’n bass-led releases with the nostalgia and escapism heard amongst his ambient works. Bluetech, producing since the late 90’s and known for many approaches from psychedelic to downtempo, turns in an inspired, glistening take on the original, unearthing even more melodic moments. And lastly, Milieu, a firm favorite of ASIP's for many years now, uses nothing but the source material, to create a chugging and serene take on the original, closing out the Atwater remixes.

Buy on Bandcamp