isolatedmix 39 - Billow Observatory

The Billow Observatory’s self-titled album released last year was both highly anticipated (six years in the making) and hugely rewarding for many of us shoegaze inspired ambient listeners. The combination of Jonas Munk (who you should be familiar with already on ASIP withisolatedmix 21) and Auburn Lull guitarist Jason Kolb was a tantalising recipe and it turned out to be one of the best records of the year.

Almost exclusively analog, and painstakingly crafted into a world of textures through numerous amps, mics and further treatments, Billow Observatory nailed a soft, euphoric sound that struck many-a-chord and heartstring of us all. Kolb’s ambient guitar work, and Jonas’ wealth of experience as a producer in his own right resulted in a sound that is hard to withdraw from – an all engrossing world of warm guitars and atmospheres.

Jonas and Jason met in the summer of 2004 after Jonas was introduced to Jason’s work as Auburn Lull, and it’s obvious the warm hazy days have had a lasting effect on both their sound and inspiration. With a brilliant introduction by Jason and extensive accompanying track notes, I needn’t say any more apart from a big thank you to them both for soundtracking what looks to be an amazing summer.

Billow Observatory’s self-titled LP is available here or on Jonas’ bandcamp here.

Introduction (by Jason Kolb from Billow Observatory):

I’m almost psychotically seasonal with my listening habits. There are songs/records that I strongly associate with certain times of year, almost down to the month and time of day. The first time I listen to a record or hear a new song is typically the time of year I always end up associating with that record. I have a very hard time listening to things “out of season” and this feeling is strongest in summer. To me, “summer songs” hit the hardest because I tend to associate a lot of them with the euphoria of long, lazy warm days spent outdoors, the nostalgia of childhood summer vacations, and generally trying to maximize what always feels like the shortest time of the year. The tracks I picked for this mix are those which instantly transport me back to summers past.
-Jason

Download.

Tracklist:
01. Lovesliescrushing – Halo
02. Slowdive – Moussaka Chaos
03. Landing – Migration
04. Waterwheel – Jejune
05. Auburn Lull – Gunpowderbluedragon (Kiln rebuild of ‘Arc of an Outsider’)
06. Fennesz – A Year in a Minute
07. JD Emmanuel – Part V, At-One-Ment
08. Tape – Root Tattoo
09. Boards of Canada – Ataronchronon
10. The Verve – A Beautiful Mind
11. To Rococo Rot – Die Dinge Das Lebens

Track notes:

1. Lovesliescrushing – Halo
A good friend of mine came home from the record store one summer day in ’94 or ’95 with a copy of ‘bloweyelashwish’ and said something really mundane like, “this is supposedly some cool guitar stuff made by some local guy”, which was a funny understatement. Lovesliescrushing was a really interesting product of mid-Michigan in the 90s formed by Scott Cortez. Dense, lush, and formless without being thoughtless, this record came into my life just as I thought droning, blissful guitar sounds were dying out. -Jason

2. Slowdive – Moussaka Chaos 
‘Souvlaki’ came out as an import in the US in late Spring of ’93. As a teenager who had recently just gotten a license to drive and was about to be on summer break from school, this record was truly a soundtrack for those hazy days of a teenage summer. “Souvlaki Space Station” was the track that really hit me initially. For this mix, I included the alternate version from the ‘Outside Your Room’ EP. -Jason

3. Landing – Migration
Landing is an incredible band from Connectitut that has always seemed to remain in obscurity despite releasing one fantastic album after another. Their music has a kind of rural American atmosphere that I love (which actually can be said about a number of artists on this mix) – even though most of their influences, such as krautrock and shoegaze, are of European origin. Their music spans a wide range of genres but there’s a unique sense of drift that runs through all of their work. This blissful track is from their latest, self-titled album, released last summer.-Jonas

4. Waterwheel – Jejune 
Waterwheel is a splinter project off of the Kiln/Fibreforms tree. The ‘Panchroma’ LP came out in ’97 and was hugely influential on me. There were a lot of interesting people doing interesting things locally (mid-Michigan) at the time, but this (along with Kiln’s ‘Holo’ LP) just seemed to come from another planet altogether. This particular track always reminds me of walking around my practically deserted home town in the summer, seemingly having the whole place to myself. -Jason

5. Auburn Lull – Gunpowderbluedragon (Kiln rebuild of ‘Arc of an Outsider’)
It feels a little awkward to include a track from the other project I’m in (Auburn Lull), but this is a very unique and special cut that I particularly enjoy at dusk during “peak summer”, around mid-July. We asked Kiln to remix tracks from our last record and ended up with two absolutely stunning ‘rebuilds’, of which this was the first. It would be unfair to call this merely a “remix” because they completely overhauled the original track and re-shaped it into something entirely fresh and new. I prefer this to the original version and wish everything could turn out this way.
-Jason

6. Fennesz – A Year in a Minute 
I was very late to the ‘Endless Summer’ party and I don’t really know why. It took years after the release before I finally heard it. It’s really hard to find something original to say about a record so hyped and highly lauded. The funniest thing is that I bought the record because it had the word “summer” in the title. The first time I listened to it was on an oppressively hot day – one of those days where you almost can’t move. I just sat there and listened intently, wondering why this record came into my life so long after its release. -Jason

7. JD Emmanuel – Part V, At-One-Ment
JD Emmanuel is a pretty obscure artist from Texas who has been doing hypnotic synthesizer music since the late 1970s. This track is from his 1982 album Wizards, which is a perfect crystalization of his vision. This stuff is really timeless and holds up well today. You can hear the minimalists (expecially Terry Riley) in this stuff, which gives the music a distinctive American flavour that sets it apart from most of the synthesizer music of the period. -Jonas

8. Tape – Root Tattoo
Tape is an extremely underrated trio from Sweden. I discovered them by accident nine years ago when I was invited to play at a small summer festival way out in the Swedish countryside. One night after hanging out at a bonfire with some of the other artists (and a local didgeridoo player) drinking cheap wine and chatting, I decided to go back inside an check out whoever was playing and I walked into Tape’s set. It was completely mesmerizing, and looking back on it this was probably the perfect place and circumstance to see these guys. They really capture the unique serenity of open skies, trees, wildlife and summertime in Scandinavia. Every summer I listen to Tape’s albums. -Jonas

9. Boards of Canada – Ataronchronon
The Campfire Headphase propably is my favourite Boards of Canada album. It has a laid-back, breezy and otherworldly vibe to it. This little piece is truly gorgeous. -Jonas

10. Verve – Beautiful Mind 
This is (The)Verve at their creative peak, right before going horribly downhill in my opinion. Everything they put out up to and including ‘A Storm in Heaven’ was incredible and influenced me profoundly. Picking one song was really tough, but I’ve probably listened to this track more than any. Incidentally, this record came out only a month or so after ‘Souvlaki’ in the summer of ’93. -Jason

11. To Rococo Rot – Die Dinge des Lebens
To Rococo Rot’s The Amateur View is one of my alltime favourite electronic releases. I bought this album in June 1999, a few months after it was released and it still has vibes from that summer all over it. It’s one of those albums I keep coming back to, every June, year after year. And this piece is just perfect. And it’s based on a sample from a Gigi Mason track from the 1980s by the way. -Jonas

Billow Observatory Bandcamp | Soundcloud | Boomkat

Bjorn Rohde – Forgotten Hearts

I'm finding it increasingly hard to write about dub-techno. It’s the definition of simplicity in many sense, and perhaps that’s why so many many people don’t like it. But doing ‘simple’ well is enough in my books. Dewtone consistently strive for this minimalist dub-techno approach, but their stuff is always injected with something addictive… something melodic or just something that makes you go wow.

Forgotten Hearts is a progressive number, embellished with some absolutely lush synths amongst spaced out distant vocals and detailed static. All three tracks are superb, but Bjorn Rohde’s, ‘I Began To Float’ is all of the ‘somethings’ I described above… something else.

Available on the Dewtone bandcamp page or below.

Atomnation – Anniversary Compilation ’10’

Atomnation is just over a year old now, and looking back at its small but growing catalogue, label honcho Applescal can definitely hold his head high on getting some new talented artists on board and some exquisite music out to us all.

Launched under his alias ‘Yoshiba 87′ (featured on ASIP here), Atomnation has amassed a beautiful library of electronica and has opened me up to a new breed of artists including David Douglas and more recently, Gidge. Ten releases in and it’s time for a quick reflection on the achievements so far with this compilation.

In an electronic dominated world where Boards of Canada take all the headlines, take some time to absorb what the new kids on the block are bringing us – it’s definitely worth it.

Available to download below or on Bandcamp for pay-what-you-want.

enh – Body of Blue

Even without a listen, this is a special album for me already. Ian Handsley was responsible for the second release on The Places Series, with ‘Roke‘, a powerful depiction of its namesake storm off the coast of Japan, reflecting the impact it had on his fragile B&B. This track was a definition on Ian’s talent and since that release i’ve witnessed his library of productions grow, to what is now a full CD release on Gterma.

If Roke was your first introduction into Ian Handsley‘s work then ‘Body of Blue’ will maybe surprise you a little. You could have been forgiven for thinking Ian would become a master-mind of dark, atmospheric ambient, live sound effects and in short, a parallel of someone like Biosphere. I’m sure he still has that side of him locked away somewhere, but Body of Blue is a slightly different upbeat and melodic collection of music.

Artist albums tend to either be one of two things for me; a pre-defined journey of accompanying sounds, or a collection of potentially differing music that defines an artist’s taste. No-one approach is better than the other in my mind. Take John Beltran’s recent ‘Amazing Things‘ – one of my favourite albums this year which spans a perfect horizon of electronic music. Then compare that to Boards of Canada’s latest – an intentional, complex subliminal journey.

On first listen, ‘Body of Blue’ is the former, a collection of some beautiful electronic music that spans atmospheric ambient, to synth-laden euphoria. The title track is a great example of what to expect; a slow, progressive echo of euphoric chords that never quite peaks – an intro that leaves you wanting more.

In ‘Nanmadol’, Ian adopts a silky distant female vocal that brings Balearic elements and subtle drum programming to an otherwise stripped back album. The albums simplicity is defined in Cicadarama – one of my favourites, probably because it hits home with my ‘trance’ routes – epic strings and an addictive looping melody, like ‘Body of Blue’ – another tantalising teaser that deserves to just grow and grow.

On second listen, you start to feel Ian’s inspiration for this collection. The clue is of course in the title track, and when you start to associate this inspiration with the tracks in hand, a vivid depiction of Ian’s view out to coast comes to mind.

Take the Markus Guentner style ‘Shipping’. What starts as a distant fuzz out of sight on the horizon quickly transports into an ever-approaching mass of power. In ‘Contact’, the slow reverberating synths struggle to touch the long-awaited shore and the degrading vocal glimmers with a failed hope of reaching it’s final destination. In ‘Fighting Against Your Lungs’, Ian takes what is normally a view above the horizon, to the depths of the blue – floating, with a drenched atmosphere and glimmers of light through an otherwise muddled unknown.

After explaining how I felt after listening to this a few times, I may have ruined that moment of wonder for you…I hope not. But at first, Body of Blue was for me, a collection of great music, but with the above in mind and my decision made on what Ian wanted to portray with this album, I can’t get enough of it.

Everyone’s perception of music is different, but that’s where most of my inspiration for the title ‘A Strangely Isolated Place’ comes from. Music that transports you to wherever you want to go, with no-one else’s point-of-view to ruin your own. ‘Body of Blue’ embodies this ethos.

Available on enh’s Bandcamp for a very fair price, or you can also purchase the CD with a 16-page booklet here.

Horizontal Excursions – Enantiodromia

Roger Martinez‘s ‘Horizontal Excursions’ project has undoubtedly produced some of my favourite ambient work these past years. Starting with a self-titled album, and then revisiting this guise to create the magical Places Series release ‘Symphonica Helvetica‘, Roger’s been busy working on this release, ‘Enantiodromia’ for an epic two years now.

For those familiar with ‘Symphonica Helvetica’ (and that’s over 12,000 of you on Soundcloud) you’ll know what to expect here. Taking inspiration from shamanic experiences, Roger crafts a vivid, hour-long journey that envelopes your inner-self.

Starting with a sincere, intense combination of pads and slowly plucked strings, ‘Enantiodromia’ descends into a much calmer state, with distant fizzes and balanced chords. This moment of calm quickly develops into a more intense combination of deep washes, short vocal samples and a gentle dripping of keys – sporadic bursts of light amongst a never-ending horizon. This seemingly random progression brings back memories of the KLF’s Chill-out albujm, with new sounds appearing after every 30 seconds – new textures and a deeper listening experience at every turn (just without the sheep and Elvis Presley samples!)

The guitar-manipulation returns, reverberating against a solid, menacing power, only to once again reach a calmer state – a reset before the next unannounced yet now expected wave. Unlike most ambient albums which tally over 60 minutes, ‘Enantiodromia’ is clearly broken up into sections, but meant as an entire listening experience – there’s absolutely no need for this to be track-listed or separated as its engrossing power leaves you hooked, patiently awaiting the next intense wave, trickling water and gentle glistening melodies.

After 30-minutes, ‘Enantiodromia’ takes a more structured progression, with stepped chords complimenting the stark contrast of intricate water trickles and vast swirling pads. High notes from a piano echo and bounce off the increasing ‘Gas’ sound and then, once again you’ve slowly slipped back into yourself, breathing a moment of calm.

This pattern continues, and ‘Enantiodromia’ depicts a rollercoaster of emotion, increasingly intense yet always delicate. Roger manipulates a wealth of sounds, of instruments, and feelings and this hour becomes a vivid landscape of ambient music. “Enantiodromia is all about opposites” Roger quotes, and like the up-downs on the title track, Roger compliments this release with a second track, ‘Close to me’. Like his difference in alias, this one features beats and is a beautiful example of a dub-techno track driven by a master-mind of ambient music.

Listen to the complete ‘Enantiodromia’ below, also available to pre-order, with full release on the 15th June 2013.

I realised that Roger is quite the enigmatic character so I fired a couple of questions over to him to get a little insight into his world.

For those relatively new to your music, can you explain your different approaches and what they mean to you?

Well, there are several ways through which my creative expressions flow. Whatever the stylistic differences, there is always one common factor in each of my art forms and that is the sharing and communication of an experience. Through music, I’ve for example experienced the feeling of true interconnectedness with people on a deep, essential level. Especially during live performances this is possible and it gives me the necessary inspiration and motivation to continue with what I’m doing. So it really doesn’t matter if it’s banging Techno music or contemplative Ambient music, my goals and motivation with both are the same.

Your first self-titled album was quite a beauty, how long does something like this take to put together? Which techniques do you use?

Well, it really depends. My upcoming Ambient album “Enantiodromia” took 2 years to complete. But sometimes I can produce a lot of material in a few months. I don’t have a steady workflow. What’s far more important is being sensitive to the forming of the right circumstances to be creative. Sometimes you’re on fire for several weeks, then you know that it’s time to get going, other times I’m totally drained for months, but for me that’s always a sign that there are other ways to enjoy life, so I travel or visit a good museum. That said, I’m not really obsessed with my music and art.

The techniques I’ve used to create the two Ambient albums are a combination of field recordings, ranging from nature recordings to recordings of shamanic ceremonies.

Was your Places Series release – ‘Symphonica Helvetica’ approached any differently?

More of the same actually. I have a big database of all sorts of recordings I’ve made whenever I’m traveling or visiting special events for instance. There’s a lot of inspiring and one of a kind material in there. For my Places Series project I focused on everything that had to do with the Swiss Alps because they’re a big part of my life at the moment. I often travel to Switzerland to do some intensive mountain hiking and enjoy the fresh mountain air and nature there. The Alps are one of the last places in Western Europe that still have certain very wild, untouched areas. In these areas you can still experience solitude and a deep connection to Nature and everything around you. In general my musical pieces reflect my life and the experiences that I’m having at that moment. In some way every musical piece is a testament to a certain period or experience in my life.

It seems your Horizontal Excursions work is few and far between, so what can we expect in the future?

Who knows, I’m currently busy working on a soundscape to inaugurate the opening of a bridge here in the Netherlands. Also, I’m now very focused on performances with live acoustical instruments. I like to call them musical meditations. I’m always working on what interests me and drives me at the moment, I’m constantly evolving and I am content with that dynamic.