Ambient and electronica music blog and mixes — A STRANGELY ISOLATED PLACE

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Markus Guentner

ASIP blog

Since 2008.
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ASIP - Deep Breakfast Mix 267

 

The Deep Breakfast mix series has slowly (quite quickly compared to my isolatedmix efforts!) become one of the greatest ambient-leaning mix series around, pulling in some of the finest curators and artists to grace our small world. From well-known artists and DJs to passionate music collectors, it seems Francesco, the curator, is intent on hosting a series truly meant for every corner of the ambient spectrum.

The name of the mix series gives you an idea of what to expect, and for my submission, I battled hard with what style to attempt in order to live up to the many great mixes that have been featured before. Breakfast to me - deep or not - can often be light and uplifting - chill or even dubtechno on some mornings. But similarly, a deep breakfast may also mean the edges of light at 4 or 5am… and this is more the route I went with this mix. Look out for some of the many upcoming ASIP tracks featured in this one!

Big thanks to Francesco for the invite, and I hope you all enjoy the mix.

Listen on Soundcloud or the ASIP Podcast

Download MP3

Tracklist:
01. swanasa - AHO (A Strangely Isolated Place, Forthcoming)
02. Hiemal - Pays D'en Haut I (Self)
03. Thomas Koner - Nuut (Night) (Force Inc)
04. Markus Guentner & Abul Mogard - While Hunting Nightmares And Dreaming For Peace (A Strangely Isolated Place, Forthcoming)
05. Ayaavaaki & Purl - Einstein-Rosen Bridge (Passage II) (LILA)
06. LF58 - Utopia (Northern Electronics)
07. Avsluta - It's Always Lonely Being Free (Self)
08. Pete Namlook & Bill Laswell - Angel Tech (Subharmonic)
09. STBL - Carousel Of Light (Self)
10. Mikkel Rev - Lauryl (A Strangely Isolated Place, Forthcoming)
11. James Murray - Grace (Home Normal)
12. Robert Rich - Summer Thunder (Self)
13. OKRAA - Canto Luminoso a la Luna (A Strangely Isolated Place, Forthcoming)

 

The Observatory - ASIP

 

The Observatory is a new mix series curated by Jay Keegan and has already featured a few of my favorite artists and DJs since its recent inception. I can tell that Jay has an ear for great sound and curators, so I’m excited to see where the series goes in the future and was honored to play a part in its path forward.

I took the opportunity to spotlight a few unreleased gems in this mix, as well as two very exciting ASIP releases in the works…

Recent contributions have come from the likes of, Jo Johnson, Toner (Liminal Dreams), Gentle Force and Patricia Wolf. Listen to the full series on Soundcloud.

Here’s what I had to say about the mix when sending it over to Jay.

This mix came together over a 2/3 month period, as I've spent a large part of the summer between Oregon and California with family and haven't had much dedicated time to focus on a mix. Normally I approach mixes more conceptually, but this one came to life organically in pieces, over time. In hindsight, the mix reflects a specific period in time for me and a lot of my life musically over the past few months. From the unfortunate passing of Brian McBride (Stars of The Lid) and revisiting those brilliant albums nearly every evening; anticipating the new Lord of The Isles album after his standout isolatedmix this year; our latest label addition from Mary Yalex; music being sent to my inbox from new artists; and of course, a couple of upcoming ASIP releases that are keeping me busy lately. Thank you for having me as part of the series.  

Listen on The Observatory Soundcloud or the ASIP Podcast

Download MP3

Tracklist:

01. Mary Yalex - Snowy Avenue (Excerpt) (Yalex Recordings) [Forthcoming]
02. Stars of The Lid - Down (Kranky) [2001] 
03. Monolake - Mass Transit Railway (Field Records) [2023]
04. nthng - Unlimited () (Excerpt) (Transatlantic) [2023]
05. Liai - A-A (Quiet Time) [2022]
06. Terre Thaemlitz - Liebesmachine (Comatonse) [2019]
07. Biosphere - Antennaria (Alternative Version) (Biophon) [2022]
08. Vernal Equinox - Six Figures In A Landscape (Clover Recordings) [1997]
09. hoyah חיה - BB walk [10129] (Mellia) [2022]
10. Andy Aquarius - Kyrie (Constellation Tatsu) [2022]
11. Romance & Dean Hurley - Still Lives (Ecstatic) [2022]
12. Chihei Hatakeyama - Insects Chirping (Field Records) [2023]
13. Lord of The Isles - Last Day (AD93) [Forthcoming]
14. Alex Israel - Octonions (Somnambulant Drift) [2023]
15. Shīdo - Denial (Unreleased)
16. Owl - Moonshine Haze (Silent Season) [2021]
17. Not Glass - Fallite Fallentes (Ecstatic) [2019]
18. Carl Stone - Lim 1974 (Unseen Worlds) [2016]
19. Stars of The Lid - Preludes (In C Sharp Major) (Kranky) [2001]
20. Arovane - Yord (Quiet Details) [2023]
21. Markus Guentner & Arovane - Utopian Fragment (A Strangely Isolated Place) [Forthcoming]
22. Salvatore Mercatante - Open, Open (A Strangely Isolated Place) [Forthcoming]

Mix artwork by Clayton Ciolac

 

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

 
 

Portals: Power Ambient

 

"Ambient as interesting as it is interesting"

The term Power Ambient is yes, another attempt at putting a badge or genre to a wide-encompassing range of music stylistically, but it’s one that I have often gravitated towards amongst many others when describing a particular style of music we are dealing with here.

When it comes to a spectrum of Ambient music styles, I’m more often than not on the ‘lean in’ side of things, than the ‘lean back’. It’s easy to throw up Brian Eno’s definition of Ambient music “…as ignorable as it is interesting” to help elaborate on what I mean, as essentially within a Power Ambient context, we are removing the desire to ignore it.

To put it another way, Power Ambient is best suited to those who want to immerse themselves in the music; the wall of sound; big movements; rumbling bass; wide frequencies, and layers of dense drones. These are elements that envelope a space in richness; be it soft and all-encompassing like a heavy blanket, or more on the noise spectrum, making your body rattle and the hairs on your neck stand-up on end. But the common output is that you're better off taking note of what's happening, than sticking it on in the background and making a cup of tea.

It’s not a new descriptive term. A 2014 Fact magazine article captured a few artists that seemed to be prevailing in this style, alongside a mix that Chris SSG loosely described as including Power Ambient (now Chris references his style as Big Room Ambient) and more. recently a Bandcamp list (although not sure all that stuff aligns with my own vision for it). There is no doubt in my mind, however, that a powerful style of Ambient music has exploded in recent years (as has the creativity of Ambient music in general, really). Perhaps this style has been more embraced due to a couple of things.

In dark times comes inherent anger and expression, and it’s pretty grim out there right now. For any music culture, this can often send people into darker production spaces. Secondly, I can feel an emerging undercurrent of rebellion for what ‘Ambient’ can stand for nowadays. With a world of meditative apps and ‘Piano Chill’ playlists continuing to give Ambient music a certain reputation, (at least we have moved on from Spa music, right?), I have a feeling this stereotyping is pushing producers, and even listeners to explore new styles of Ambient music, and opening doors into more expressive forms of music that stand out against an all too frequent beige playlist.

Don't get me wrong, this doesn't mean that Power Ambient is just noise and complexity for the sake of it (it can be) but like all music, there's an art to getting the balance right. For me, Power Ambient can range from relatively quiet, intense soundscapes with a mysterious underpinning, to just short of full-on Merzbow wall-shaking. Call it a version of Noise, Drone, Experimental, whatever, but wrapped in a different guise, it’s still bearable as Ambient music but stops short of becoming too much.

I wanted to highlight just a few of my favorite artists whose broad strokes defined ‘Ambient’ music, has always made me sit up and listen. As with all Portals features, I try to focus on a mix to bring the idea to life and a jump-off/entry point for the artists included. This was harder to mix than a regular DJ set, because of the inherent energy of Power Ambient music. Used consistently in a mix, at some point you're going to get burnt out and it will start to fade into the background just like listening to white noise. In my experience, Ambient tracks with force or energy are best used interspersed in sets to make people lean in and grab their attention, or as part of other styles to continue a certain level of energy (I’ve heard this type of music as an interlude in more heavy beat-driven sets for example). It can also work great as a live show where the listener knows what they are getting into already, of course (earplugs at the ready).

As a 1hr+ mix, I, therefore, had to be considerate of the energy and flow and tried to create a few distinct chapters with peaks and troughs and an easy onramp at the beginning.

I encourage you to use the links below to jump off into each artist’s universe on Bandcamp. Despite it being a relatively well-known list of musicians when it comes to the Ambient enthusiasts, I’ve tried to give a good snapshot of artists that might push into this style within some of their works, especially if any of this music is new to you.

RIP to two influential producers included in this mix, Cesar (Mount Shrine) and one of the greatest noise/experimental artists of our time, Mika Vainio.

Listen on Soundcloud, Mixcloud, Youtube (below), Spotify or the ASIP Podcast.

Download MP3

Tracklist:

01. James Murray - Second Sight (Home Normal)
02. Ameeva - Die Wellen (9128.live)
03. Faru - Mirror of Consciousness (Self released)
04. Sciama - Subsumed (Auxiliary)
05. Joachim Spieth - Akasha (Affin)
06. Abul Mogard - Against a White Cloud (Self released)
07. Leandro Fresco & Rafael Anton Irisarri - Baja dos Singlos (A Strangely Isolated Place)
08. Mount Shrine - Foggy Deck (Cryo Chamber)
09. Araceae - Gleaming Embers (Faint Music)
10. Markus Guentner - Cavus (A Strangely Isolated Place)
11. r beny - vestigial (Self released)
12. Caterina Barbieri - TCCTF (Important Records)
13. Christina Giannone - Realms II (Past Inside The Present)
14. Christina Vantzou - Glissando for Bodies and Machines in Space (Kranky)
15. Pechblende - Shackles of Time (Auxiliary)
16. Tim Hecker - Hatred of Music II (Kranky)
17. Bana Hafar - Intersecting Voids (Self released)
18. FRKTL - Scene I: Terra Nullius (Self released)
19. KMRU & Aho Ssan - Resurgence (Edit) (Subtext Recordings)
20. Mika Vainio - Kytkenta (Connection) (Touch)
21. Rafael Anton Irisarri - Arduous Clarity (Dais)
22. Mika Vainio - Unessa (Sleep) (Touch)

Also….

 

Video: Markus Guentner / Here

 

A new abstract video created by Markus Guentner to showcase the closing track HERE, taken from his latest album Extropy.

The remaining copies of the 2LP are available on Bandcamp and a few select stores still have some in stock.