A two-part mix as a follow up to the recent ambient & light meditation gigs at brilliant corners.
ambient
László Hortobágyi – Transreplica Meccano [LFI009]
Hungarian composer and musicologist László Hortobágyi, took his first expedition to North India in the late 1960’s to record music, study philosophy and learn traditional instruments such as the rudra-vina, sitar, surbahar and tabla. These ongoing trips heavily influenced his musical style and much of his recorded work. LFI is happy to announce the reincarnation of one of his most illustrious works, Transreplica Meccano originally released by Hungaropop in 1988.
Francis Inferno Orchestra – Veranda Culture [CULT001]
Veranda Culture is the new project from Melbourne artist and DJ, Francis Inferno Orchestra. The new album, his second full length LP, follows on from his most recent release, the club-ready ‘Oasis and Time’, The next step in James’ musical journey sees the producer shift-direction with the tranquil and beautiful Veranda Culture, balancing New Age ambience, percussive pulse rides and echoing synths for an album that unfurls with a calming patience and soothing confidence throughout. Recorded over a period of three years between Melbourne and London, FIO began making Veranda Culture after discovering the debut album of Greek-born, Sausalito-based composer Iasos – the New Age masterpiece ‘Inter-Dimensional Music’ LP — in Melbourne’s Liquorice Pie record store. The album is filled with quietly twitching rattles and bells, gurgling talking drums, and snippets of trickling water and bird songs collected through field recordings, creating a bed of sound that is hard to pin down but effortless to absorb as a whole.
Rhys Celeste – Microlith [FR016]
“Rhys Celeste aka Microlith passed away 26th February. 24 years old. The fatal weekend when Rhys lost his life I was mastering the tracks for his release in Fundamental Records. Rhys sent me the tracks only a few days before. He kept about forty untitled tracks for Fundamental Records and together we selected a perfect track list for the album. I was with all these melodies in my head all that weekend, I remember perfectly that feeling. Today I still have that special sensation that you can feel in all tracks composed by Rhys, something nostalgic with a big doses of happiness and hope in every note. When I was mastering his tracks I was like a young kid with a new record in my hands, each track is great, even the interludes are very special compositions.I am sure the people who support the projects we release in Fundamental Records will support this album not only for the circumstances but mainly because the quality of the tracks from someone with only 24 years… this is sad. I feel a deep emptiness inside of me because Rhys never listened the final tracks mastered… we released each track with the original references Rhys used for his tracks, except two tracks included in the very special 7. This feeling is something I can’t explain in words, and it is very difficult to carry within me. The next monday after his death I was like out of my body, we had a mountain of work with the shipping of the 808 Box but I felt totally paralyzed, my wife Anais and I could hardly speak, we were speechless for some minutes, looking to the screen of the computer trying to understand what happened, then I decided I have to do what I said to Rhys only two days before, and I opened the player in my laptop and I started to work in the design for the cover with the music of Rhys in repeat mode. I was in front of the screen all day, printing many sketches and color variations. I called Fundamental Records to our label for a very good reason and this project deserves this adjective in full effect. For the same reason I also decided to release this album under the real name of the artist, Rhys Celeste and use his music name, Microlith, for the title.”
VA – Serenity [AFFINA004]
An ambient compilation opening Affin’s 10th year anniversary. Find some hidden ambient pearls from Markus Guentner, Joachim Spieth, Gustavo Lamas, Zann, Toki Fuko and Ismael Pinkler.
Ex-Terrestrial – Ex-Terrestrial [TMPL004]
From the depths of night shine beams of light. Temple invites you to enjoy these peaceful excursions.
Night Foundation – Memory Bells [LSS002]
Richard Vergez launched the Night Foundation project with little fanfare in 2016, with several tracks and a new artist page appearing inconspicuously late at night in the UK time zone. With him already being a part of the Lobster network – producing the iconic collages that burnished the stellar Raw MT ‘Richard’s Revenge’ and Hedge Maze ‘Kerb Hits’ releases – it wasn’t long before Lobster Theremin’s Jimmy Asquith became literally the 12th play of these new tracks via the usual social media algorithmic attraction. Soaring solo synth expeditions came floating from the tinny 3am laptop. With headphones and a better system; a full sonic explosion of raw hardware warmth, twinkling icicles and soft landing pads. Nostalgic, interlocking melodies and slow drawn-out synth lines that nod back to the psych rock workouts of Steve Hillage and even elements of Pink Floyd. A steady and studied extended improv evoking patience, peace and interstellar harmony. Formed of three completely individual yet inseparable parts, Memory Bells is a touching and truly special body of work. Evocative, immersive and another Lobster Sleep Sequence catalogue entry for quieter times.
Phuong-Dan – SSFB Mix Series #7
Wanderwelle – Lost In A Sea Of Trees [SSV011]
Amsterdam-based duo Wanderwelle return to Silent Season for their debut album which is inspired by the mysterious pagan tribes that once roamed across the European woodlands. ‘Lost in a Sea of Trees’ tells the tale of a lone traveller who enters a dark, ancient forest. Lured deep into the woods by something not of this world as he enters uncharted grounds. Step by step his journey is getting darker as he encounters strange phenomena and beings among the trees.
Parrish Smith – Genesis Black [KHD001] [FREE DOWNLOAD]
In the second part of the Unlocking Sounds collaboration between the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision’s RE:VIVE initiative, the Research Center for Material Culture and Amsterdam’s Tropenmuseum, Dutch producer Parrish Smith digs through the Tropenmuseum’s ethnographic music archive and reads between the lines of ethnomusicology to confront the Netherlands’ colonial past. Assisted by the writings of Surinamese slave resistance writer Anton de Kom, Smith delivers a gripping social commentary entitled GENESIS BLACK.
Indoor Plants – Udacha 15 [UDACHA015]
Udacha just gets better and better with every release, branching out into ever more exciting shapes and styles beyond their house and techno foundations. On this album from Vyacheslav Shutov aka Indoor Plants, wild fourth world visions collide with hardware processes in a dazzling display of transcendental music for those who like their thought-provoking tunes to pack a punch. The likes of “Targitaus” deconstruct club music conventions in a quest for new rhythmic purpose, and yet the soundsystem pressure is expertly sculpted out of the daring shape of the music. Elsewhere there’s surrealism in abundance, as on the wonderfully weird “Hunch”, and that’s just scratching the surface of this truly essential LP.
Porn Sword Tobacco – 2017 [ACIDO026]
Audiophile presentation of dreamy, dubby pulsating ambient beauties from Porn Sword Tobacco on Acido Records.
DECA – Alkaidb [DECA002]
Originally released in 1986, “Alkaid” was the first solo release of DECA following his debut appearance on the cult various artists compilation “Angelo Segreti”. The original edition was published in a tiny edition on the independent Italian label Videoradio and to this day remains a rare and sought after album. Following Mothball and Bordello’s continued work with DECA, they make this diverse and fascinating collection of music available to a wider audience. On this instrumental LP we can hear elements of modern classical, synth-pop, dark ambient and even some middle eastern influence.
The Mulholland Free Clinic – The Mulholland Free Clinic [AWAYLP001]
Even though they’ve only played together on three occasions since 2013, The Mulholland Free Clinic has already been praised as one of the ultimate collaborations when it comes to underground and improvised electronic live music. Move D, Jonah Sharp, and Juju & Jordash build this so-called super-supergroup by combining their individual and mutual projects rEAGENZ and Magic Mountain High. Using an armada of analog hardware, The Mulholland Free Clinic’s self-titled debut album is the product of a live set recorded at Berlin’s emerging party series AWAY at ://about blank in August 2016. Their three-hour long, totally improvised jam session was edited down to a little over 80 minutes with seven tracks internalizing the motto that you won’t benefit from diverse perspectives if you aren’t open to utilizing differences. Like a well-coordinated ensemble, The Mulholland Free Clinic develops a common language by acknowledging their multi-variant range of influences and dynamics while constantly shifting, rearranging, and finally communicating ideas without being beholden to any genre. Whether it’s the rich and beat-less ambiance or the synth-dominated excursions, the cosmic futurism or the overall melodic playfulness: the quartet knows its crafts, mastering the off-the-cuff approach to illuminate all corners on and off the dance floor.
Marco Shuttle – Systhema [SPAZIO009]
For its ninth release, Italian label Spazio Disponible looks to countryman Marco Shuttle for a first full length. ‘Systhema’ comes three years after his last album on his own Eerie label and finds him again focussing on an absorbing ambient techno style across eight enthralling cuts. Shuttle layers sound in subtle ways and has a meticulous attention to detail that results in a cinematic techno style that is cavernous and hypnotizing. Always operating in a region where ambient, techno and heady soundtracks become one, with this album Marco Shuttle once again confirms he is one of the finest sonic sculptors out there.
Biosphere – The Petrified Forest [BIO30LP]
Biosphere is the main recording name of Geir Jenssen, a Norwegian musician who has released a notable catalogue of ambient electronic music. He is well known for his works on ambient techno and arctic themed pieces, his use of music loops, and peculiar samples from sci-fi sources. His 1997 album Substrata was voted by the users of the Hyperreal website in 2001 as the best all-time classic ambient album. The Petrified Forest mini-album is inspired by the movie of the same name, released in 1936 and directed by Archie Mayo.
Monolake – P A N [ML033]
Robert Henke aka Monolake returns with P A N which is the sixth and last record of the VLSI series. How he finds the time when not premiering such awe-inspiring audiovisual experiences such as Deep Web and Lumiere II? We will never know! This is the height of modern electronica with immaculate sound design created with the cutting edge technology within its sonic architecture. The guy invented Ableton so go figure! Across its three auditory experiences you will plug into a stunning dimension. “Pio” features female:pressure founder Electric Indigo, in addition to studio assistance from the legendary Mark Ernestus.
VA – Air Texture Volume V [AIR005]
Danny Wolfers – Unfolding The Future With Amateur Space Jazz [NW014]
What is Amateur Space Jazz One could call it a Lo-Fi Minimal Wavish version of Cosmic Space Jazz and anything closely related to it…from spiritual soul, G-FUNK, ethiopian jazz to ambient and everything in between…no knowledge of musical theory is required…Played with a D.I.Y punk approach on crappy digital synthesizers – preferably with dubious renditions of real instruments. Warmed up to the right temperature with some offbeat effectsbox. Multitracking is a technique widely used…to Create a “one person band with all its members oneself’s multidimensional copies in time.”…….Comes with a 24 page graphic novel written and drawn by Danny Wolfers himself and a Nightwind Amateur Space Jazz gummy domed sticker…….Let’s enter world of Amateur Space Jazz!!!
Move D & Thomas Meinecke – On The Map [OMLP12]
The long-standing partnership of Moufang and Meinecke hit album number five with On The Map. A conceptual piece comprising five tracks that explore and celebrate black music and cultural history in five neighbourhoods across America, we’re treated to an arresting blend of found sounds and motifs across the deliciously slo-mo soundscapes. From the coastal blues of “Norfolk” and the darker, paranoid twangs and unease of “Washington DC” and “Watts” to the strutting space bound “Houston” and jazz blasts of “East St Louis”, this could be M & M’s best trip to date.
The Hipodrome Of Music 