It’s been a while since we covered one of our all time favorite labels, n5MD. The last time we praised Mike Cadoo‘s label was in Headphone Commute’s Best of 2009 lists, where Plastik Joy, Port-Royal and Last Days grabbed the slots among our selections of the year. In 2010, Cadoo has been busy, releasing a flurry of amazing music that we have only been too busy to cover. In this installment of Sound Bytes we honor the latest releases from this fantastic label, where electronica meets ethereal ambient, and post-rock dances with IDM. Be sure to also check out the interview with Mike Cadoo in our n5MD Label Profile.

It only makes sense that we begin our coverage with an album from the label boss himself, Mike Cadoo, releasing his fifth album under the Bitcrush alias (see his latest as Dryft further in our next installment). Picking up where his 2008 album, Epilogue In Waves, left off, Cadoo employs soaring guitars with reverb drenched synthetic pads, cut-up glitchy IDM clicks and full on acoustic percussion. With only six tracks adding up to less than an hour, the album effortlessly floats between genres, fusing favorite elements of ambient and post-rock. “Of Embers finds Cadoo looking even further back into his experiences and inner struggles than ever before to create what may be the most hopeful album of his musical career.” Fans of emotional electronica will be delighted to glide along the downtempo rhythm with the ghostly background vocals of Cadoo himself. Fourteen minute track, Fray The Middle To Meet The Ends, takes the listener onto a cinematic journey, where textured layers and sonic waves unfold into a new beginning, so very welcome after his last, misleading Epilogue. Overall, Of Embers is a very personal album, bringing the listener closer into the intimate setting of this musician’s world, where the fire slowly crackles and the embers gently glow.  Highly recommended for fans of Hammock, Port-Royal and Lights Out Asia.

That nicely segues  into our next entry, doesn’t it? We last heard from this Wisconsin based band, Lights Out Asia, back in 2008, with their release, Eyes Like Brontide. Two years later we are gifted with their fourth full length release, In The Days Of Jupiter, and it’s a doozy! The album opens up with gentle electronic pads, and cut-up robotic voices – an intergalactic journey is ahead… The second track, “Except Europa”, picks up with tight IDM beats and slowly builds up into the explosion of sound, as we are launched beyond our stratosphere into the outer worlds. The guitars erupt into an expansive wall of frequency rich textures, as we break away from the Earth’s gravitational hold, and float through the ambient layers of atmosphere. Mike Ystad continues to treat the sound with electronics, as Mike Rush delivers the bass riffs, with a guest appearance by Ayala Trumper on the cello, and of course, Chris Shafer on the mic. The album also employs a few field recordings and a selection of samples credited to freesound.org. “Just as Jupiter eclipses the other planets in our solar systems,  Lights Out Asia have eclipsed expectations by delivering their most expansive album to date.” I couldn’t agree with that quote from the label’s page more… Be sure to pick up this and their previous releases, Tanks And Recognizers and Garmonia.

The label welcomes a new member to its family with Maria Papadomanolaki first proper full length debut as Dalot, Loop over Latitudes. From sweeping pads to pulsating electronic beats, Dalot demonstrates her skill at “creating moments of lush ambience, emotion and texture by blending elements of phonography, electro-acoustic composition and minimal electronica with more traditional musical elements such as voice, guitar, glockenspiel and tablas.” Quoting Stars of the Lid, Colleen and Boards of Canada as her inspirations, Maria blends field recordings with glitchy percussion, meditative passages, and reverb drowned voice to create music as cerebral as it is contemplative – each piece presenting a story, “much like one of the novels she once studied in her native Greece”. The album collects three tracks from Dalot’s first EP, Flight Sessions, released by Coo Records in 2009. With this release, Dalot joins n5MD veterans such as Another Electronic Musician, SubtractiveLAD, and Near The Parenthesis to contribute another solid release to the label’s catalog of emotional experiments in music. Well done, milady, and welcome to the family!

Approaching a fourth entry in this installment of Sound Bytes, I realized that I’ll have to do this as a two-part series, as there are a few more albums from n5MD that I wish to cover. Rounding up this trip through emotional electronica and soaring shoegaze, it’s only appropriate that I return back to Bitcrush. And it seems that there are more than just a handful of musicians who are also fans of Mike Cadoo’s signature sound. Here’s to add a flavor of their own is a remix album, From Arcs To Embers, featuring reworks of tracks taken from all five of his previous albums. If you are a fan of Cadoo’s work and label alike, you’ll truly enjoy this collection of remixes from Jatun, Bersarin Quartett, port-royal, SubtractiveLAD, Near The Parenthesis, Funckarma and many others! Given a wide array of contributing artists, you can expect your favorite Bitcrush tracks reworked in soothing electronica, glitchy IDM and head-bopping downtempo genres. A few good surprises on here. A remix from Tim Ingham (aka Winterlight) of Every Sunday, a leftfield-shoegaze-dream-pop-ambient exploration, leaves me curious to hear more from this Thames Vallye (UK) based artist. Watch out for his debut on n5MD! And check out this remix of Colder by Funckarma!

As I wrap up part one of this label special, hopefully leaving you thirsty for more, there’s just one more thing I need to mention! You can download a FREE n5MD Label Sampler, titled MMX, comprised of tracks from the 2010 release schedule, featuring above covered artists and more! Click this Bandcamp link, and feed your player and head with music. And I’ll be back next week to cover the rest of my n5MD Special… See you then!

n5md.bandcamp.com/album/mmx

myspace.com/n5mafia | n5md.com

Today we’re presenting to you one of our favorite ambient journeys from Low Light Mixes. Although this mix was made in the dead of winter, we still feel that its calm nature can soothe away your daily worries, stress and aches. It definitely hits the spot on this side of the mixing board. Here’s Dave Michuda talking about the inspiration behind the mix:

It’s the dead of winter, just trying to outlast the snow & cold, trying to make it to spring break. The music in this mix has a sort of lonely winter feel to it. The tracks are not too dark or depressing, they just seem to conger up images of vast, snowy landscapes.

We hope you enjoy this entry, and I’m sure Dave will be back with more!

lowlightmixes.blogspot.com

 
[ S T R E A M ] | [ D O W N L O A D ] | [ P O D C A S T ]

 
Track Listing:

[ S T R E A M ] | [ D O W N L O A D ] | [ P O D C A S T ]

 

nebulo’s third release concerns transforming the pros and cons of our urban society into aural moods in a very subtle way. field recordings taken in bordeaux, paris and berlin, original and artificial voices, the integration of samples from stock exchange reports, shopping centres and alienated fireworks’ recordings turned into imaginary bomb impacts were chosen by thomas pujols as a basis for an acoustic visualization of western civilization – both disturbing and beautiful

See also our Two and a Half Questions with Nebulo from 2008, and a Headphone Commute review of Kolia (Hymen, 2006).

hymen-records.com | myspace.com/nebulo

Now on to Melorman. Antonis Haniotakis is an Athens (Greece) based electronic music producer with smooth undertones and clicky downtempo beats, who previously released digital EPs on netlabels, such as Summer Rain Recordings, IVDT, and Archaic Horizon. Thus, Out In A Field is Haniotakis’ first physical release. His sound is a combination of silky synth lines, hazy soundscapes, and relaxed intelligent percussion. His music is reminiscent of laid back sounds of Boards of Canada, Tycho and Arovane. Hmmm. That should get you excited. Words like ‘atmospheric’, ‘melancholic’ and ‘cinematic’ are begging to find their way into this review, but the music of Out In A Field speaks louder than my words.

Personally, I miss music like this. Emotional electronica can not exist without the music that evokes emotion. And on Out In A Field, Haniotakis does just that. Painting a relaxing atmosphere of summer car rides, hammock swings, and morning walks, perhaps somewhere out in a field, with a touch of vocal contributions from Helen Day, Melorman evokes those melodramatic melodies that mellow all the melancholy thoughts away. If you like this sort of sound, be sure to pick up a three-track free digital EP, Expressing Thougths, out on Archaic Horizon. And don’t forget to check out Symbolic Interaction’s latest release from Melodium, titled Palimpse.

See also Two and a Half Questions with Melorman

melorman.com | myspace.com/melorman
symbolicinteraction.net | myspace.com/symbolicinteraction

You’re based in Greece, and Symbolic Interaction is in Japan. How did you end up getting signed on the label?
With internet of course. Internet helped me a lot in my music. I made my first step in releasing music through various netlabels. There I met Headphone Science (Dustin Graig) with whom we collaborated in two projects. Dustin later on released an album on Symbolic Interaction. Through this way I was introduced to Kentaro Togawa who runs Symbolic Interaction. At that time I decided it was about time to make a physical release and Symbolic Interaction really fits with what I do. We discussed about a potential release with Kentaro and finally it came up some months later.

What is the theme behind this album? Is there a main protagonist?
To make this album beside some new tracks, I collected tracks and ideas from the past and I re-processed them without having in mind a theme or a project or a protagonist. But when I was processing the old ideas I found many forgotten memories in these tunes. So the theme its basically my childhood and how I was looking at things then. Sometimes is just a feeling of happiness or sadness.

Tell us about the cover art.
The cover art is based on a dreamy place where I want to spend my weekends with friends. A small field like a glade in the middle of a forest. That’s what “out in a field” stands for. I found this dreamy place accidentally on a photo taken by Graig Parker (aka panic embryo on flickr). I’m really honoured by his contribution with this photo. It meant a lot for me.

What is your production setup like?
Nothing special really. A pair of active monitors, a pc, a macbook and a microphone. My music is based on digital equipment and everything is processed digital. I find more interesting to work with less equipment and software cause it pushes you to make more things and not get lost with quantity. In digital music you can easily lost your appetite to make music trying to catch up with the latest software or trying to learn them and I can be bored very easily.

What inspires you?
Mostly simple things I guess. I can be inspired by the afternoon light running through my curtain in my room or a ride with a car. I like long rides by the sea when the day is nice. All these things makes me feel nice and calm and through calmness I can get a lot of inspiration.

See also Headphone Commute review of Out In A Field

melorman.com | myspace.com/melorman

Hecq’s long-awaited return to the vinyl format contains two of his most insidious and intoxicating tracks as well as an equally dynamic remix by label mates Matta. Kidnapping dubstep and forcing it to perform an elegant back flip, Hecq takes the best of the genre, cleans it up thoroughly, and repacks it in a fresh, original and particularly up-to date form.

Pick up your digital copy directly from Ad Noiseam Store,  iTunes, or Amazon.

See also Headphone Commute review of Hecq’s Steeltongued released last year on Hymen.

adnoiseam.net | hecq.de

To further elaborate on the contrast between the two works, here’s a Brian Eno quote from a TV interview:

“One day I was sitting in this beautiful airport, Cologne airport. It was a Sunday morning and the sun was streaming in. It was the most beautiful piece of architecture… And the most idiotically stupid pop music playing… You put all this attention into the architecture and the ambience in every respect except the music. What is the music? It’s what some person’s brought in that morning and stuck in a cassette player… So I started constructing in my mind what would be the right music for the airport.”

In general terms, Eno’s view was that the music should communicate a feeling rather than a narrative, and that it should be soothing. It should help people feel comfortable and resign themselves to the inconvenience and ultimately disconcerting nature of air travel.

The Black Dog take a different approach. Based on over 200 hours of field recordings at airports, Music for Real Airports is not a record “to be used by airport authorities to lull their customers.” Rather, it embraces the underlying fear and anxiety and revels in it. “Wait Behind This Line”, for example, is a gloomy death march, a bottomless pit of despair and hopelessness. In other places, the album swings the other way and captures the excitement and sense of adventure that airports can also evoke. On the whole, it’s an engaging album.

I’ll save my breath in covering the history of the group. I trust you can point your clickers to their Wikipedia entry for all the details. But in case you didn’t know, the group was originally founded by Ken Downie, Ed Handley and Andy Turner, and were one of the founding figures of IDM as a genre. Handley and Turner set off to create and focus on Plaid back in 1995, while Downie was joined by Martin and Richard Dust to continue the legacy, that, in my opinion, is only blossoming…

If you missed the group’s earlier releases, pick up Radio Scarecrow (Soma, 2008) and Further Vexations (Soma, 2009). In contrast to Music for Real Airports the above mentioned are more beat oriented albums, falling into the techno genre, as defined by The Black Dog’s original style. Be sure to also check out the mixes that The Black Dog regularly make available on their website. The latest – Drifting Ambient Mix May 2010 – is a doozie.

Recommended if you loved the ambiance of Lusine ICL’s Language Barrier (Hymen, 2007), Arovane‘s Lilies (City Centre Offices, 2004), and Autechre‘s Amber (Warp, 1994). As I’m writing this review, I’m on my fifth listen of the album, becoming more and more convinced that it will go down in history as one of my absolute favorites.

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Review prepared by Tigon and HC

dustscience.com/live | theblackdogma.com
myspace.com/somarecords | somarecords.com

Interview with David Newman

Hey David, how are you? What did you do this past weekend?
Hi Headphone Commute – I’m good thanks. Its summer here – I took a bike down a trail through the Derbyshire countryside. Beautiful and exhilarating.

Let’s get right to it. What is the mission of Audiobulb Records?
Audiobulb represents a home for exploratory music. Music that is beautiful, compelling made with both graft and craft. I like to work with artists who are authentically exploring who they are and a vision/narrative of their life experience through sound.

And what is behind the name, “Audiobulb”?
Sound as light, light as sound. The experience of synesthesia.

How was the label started and what prompted its birth?
I have an innate need to create, to conceive, gestate, develop and nurture. The label is a platform, a womb a holding space for any artist whose work I feel capable of supporting. The start came at a point when I could look beyond my own artistic expression and have the capacity to really care about the work of others.

Tell us about the very first release, Exhibition #1?
Exhibition #1 was a starting point. A free download album to showcase the work. The aim was to bring people to the site and to hear our work. Everything else looked to build on that start.

And at what point did you start producing your own music?
I started when I was 12 years of age. Mixing records, toy keyboards, piano and experimenting with splicing audio tapes. I recall feeling fascinated, absorbed – time would pass but I would not notice.

And did Autistici first appear on Exhibition #2?
Autistici found a little following on various net labels and sites before Exhibition #2. The track on Exhibition #2 entitled “Tiny Machines Engaged in An Unsuccessful Vasectomy” was a very intricate and complex. Over 14 minutes in length it was a chance for me to explore the idea of working with longer narratives that developed and changed from emotionally peaceful to emotionally active and disturbing.

I think that your Early Works volumes must be special to you. Tell us about releasing this archive?
Yes the Early Works mean a lot to me as they were so raw. They represent the earlydevelopmental stage of my work, using more primitive tools and less sophisticated recording techniques. However ultimately my process has not changed – I am just more able now to intuitively select recording processes that will enable me a firmer grasp on the quality of the recording.

By the way, while we’re talking, what does Autistici mean?
We are all on the autistic continuum. A struggle to make sense of ourselves, our interactions and communications with others, coupled with a focus on stimuli that intrigues us. Autistici is a name that recognised my preoccupation with sound.

Do you have a favourite release on your label?
No, but I have some favourite places.

Who would you love to sign?
Ultre – Finn McNicholas is a lovely genius with two releases on Audiobulb. I can only hope for a third, but he is a man whose own energy and vision means he travels across boundaries.

What is the balance between a physical or digital only releases?
66% physical 33% digital.

What is Endless Endless (v6)?
It is an evolving never-ending ambient track. Artists submit 120 second pieces and they are added to the start or the end of the track. Over time it grows and develops. We are currently on version 5.

And what are the Root of Sine volumes?
Whole albums made from the starting point of a single one second sinewave. As the project page states “when you enter this page you hear a 440 hz sine wave tone. A sine wave is waveform of a single constant frequency and amplitude that continues for all time. Since a sine wave has only a single frequency associated with it, it may be considered the simplest sound. The sine wave is the embodiment of audio-purity and strength as it presents an unchanging tonal quality.

In sound design we seek to change a sound wave and enable new harmonics, frequencies, oscillations and waveforms to come into play. In electronic music there are many tools (hardware and software) that can used to change the sine wave. From simply rerecording it via an old tape recorder and introducing some simple distortion to sending it through a myriad of effect processors or synthesis modules.

How did you get into releasing VST plugins?
Exploratory music requires you to have the tools to make news sounds in new ways. I have been lucky to work closely with programmers who have engineered ingenious Virtual Studio Tools. SOPHIE by Xik for example is a crazy synth that produces shuddering dark sounds. Our most recent software module is called Ambient (v3) and has been designed by the talented Christopher Hipgrave, who is an electronic musician in his own right. Ambient (v3) has proven to be very popular with sound designers receiving unanimous praise for its ability to manipulate sound by breaking it into microscopic grains of audio.

And you also release hardware? What’s that all about?
These instruments and FX are all part of the creative toolbox we need to move forwards. One day we are hoping to bring out a hardware analogue synthesizer module.

What other forms of creativity do you promote?
All creativity should be supported and celebrated where possible. Through creativity we stretch and expand ourselves. Audiobulb works in the realms of sound, design, and visual creativity. We have been lucky to work with some amazing video artists recently. This is the video clip for the advance single of :papercutz’s new album “Do Outro Lado Do Espelho (Lylac Ambient Reworks)” directed by Japan’s animation revelation, Daihei Shibata. The song “Lylac (Helios remix)” is a remix of :papercutz song by the American Keith Kenniff (Helios) whose Eingya album was considered one of the best in the year in the instrumental category for electronic publications as Popmatters, Stylus Magazine, Tiny Mix Tapes and All Music Guide and whose music can be heard on soundtracks of films like Mister Lonely, or Revolutionary Road by Sam Mendes.

If you don’t mind me asking, how do you manage to keep the label financially stable?
The books have to balance and I have to manage this. Keeping an eye of the accounts is my least favourite part of the job – however it is always satisfying to pay artists their earnings.

And where do you find the time?
I have a very active mind. I work hard and I work clever. I’m very organised – I have to be and when I need to be I am chaotic and creative.

How has the label evolved over the years?
The label has evolved from a purely electronic label into one which will embrace a wider range of sounds including guitar and vocals. My only focus is to ensure that as it evolves the quality is maintained and is developed also.

How and where do you meet the artists that you sign?
I meet them at gigs, in cafes, over the internet and over the telephone. The artists come from all over the world and I use whatever media or opportunity is availableto contact them and work closely with them. Sometimes I find them and sometimes they find me – there are no rules to this.

Any advice for people who want to get a record deal?
Work hard at your art, you have to both craft and graft to ensure your work stands up. When you have done all you can and you believe in your work that is the time to send it to me.

What are some of the most difficult aspects of running your own label?
Doing the annual tax returns.

And what are the rewarding ones?
Seeing artists get the recognition and praise they deserve. It may be an accolade @ iTunes or a shout out from a radio DJ, a great review or simply a customer emailing in to say they are into what we are doing.

Who takes care of all the packaging and shipping for Audiobulb?
I am in charge of the distribution for individual sales via our web-site. Our distributors around the world do their work in turn. I’d like to say a big thank you to Bill @ Cargo Records for his support.

Who does the cover art for all of your releases?
Curet does many of our cover – he is a genius. We have also had some great covers by Sam & Geo @ Stereographic and Conor @ designbyhouse.com.

Have you noticed the noise that your website makes? I think you have a bug!
:) Lol – yes we do – I love those bugs and the crackling circuitry.

What’s next for Audiobulb?
Audiobulb will soon be releasing a remix album of Autistici’s work – with contributions from many great artists – indeed I think you have a review of it on Headphone Commute! We will then be looking to work on promoting The Hole Punch Generation – an exciting rock/indie/electronic band from the USA.

Any advice for someone who wants to start their own label?
Do it for love not money. Do it for the long run not the short term. Do it because you want to support others not because you want to support yourself. Create a home for beautiful music and then tell the world about it!

Thank you for your time! Any last words for the readers of Headphone Commute?
I’d just like to wish them well and thank them for their support. Headphone Commute does a great job bringing new and exciting music to the attention of people. Indie labels like Audiobulb really appreciate your work and your interest.

‘The Shadow of Eve’ is the only hint I am going to give for this record. It’s breakneck pace should confound and contuse any PA it is played through. Myer weaves in melodic lines throughout it, a hi-hat roll here… a syncopated break sped up to maniacal pace there. Power restored indeed. The connection to previous work could best be ascribed to his track ‘Sir Alfred’. Suspense drum ‘n’ bass is alive and well. There’s been a remix contest for this tune initiated by the band, it’s no accident this track was the one chosen. You have not heard him push it this far before.

One gets a healthy inoculation of atmosphere on this record, sure, there are alien peel offs into sci-fi land but more often than not it’s the overall composition which unleashes this tone. Consume Adapt Create is all about this somewhat elusive aural currency. Van Delta’s album ‘Studio Reality’ is the only thing which comes remotely close to the end result of this and even it didn’t contain as many changes in tempo or emotion. Myer somehow manages to squeeze a lot of feeling out of his machines, a feat few others have pulled off convincingly. It is as though a part of him has been subsumed and re-patterned in an electronic exorcism of sorts; it’s a lot to ask of the listener, I know, but the pay off is that by the time you do finish listening… the world is pleasantly askew.

He’s spent his time very wisely creating some masterful electronic scenes if this is the right word; each song is a soundtrack to places we have never been and worlds we never suspected existed. Christmas may have come late but at least it showed.

If you were to take Galactic Supermarket and heap on the maturity accumulated in the last twelve years by this musician you’d have a small measure of the majestic heights Myer has encapsulated here. Unlike that record, though, there’s a lot more flesh on the bones. He knows his sound design almost too well. All the time spent in the trenches of Haujobb’s love/hate existence with it’s fanbase was not undertaken lightly, neither was this record.

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Review prepared by Peter Marks, exclusively for Headphone Commute.

See also Two and a Half Questions with Architect

myspace.com/architectmusic | ant-zen.com/architect
myspace.com/hymenrecords | hymen-records.com

Five albums into the Architect project, what has changed since its original inception well over a decade ago?
Actually not a lot. I am older, which is the obvious:) But its still me creating the Music. Trying to push my musical Direction with no Limits.

Consume Adapt Create is a record which functions on many levels. What were the concepts you were going for this time, and did they evolve consciously on your behalf?
I just tried to get rid of all my Ideas. I buy a lot of Music, I am really an addict and most of Music I am buying inspires me, challenges me. So I tried to create something, that I can listen to myself. That I might can spin on my DJ Gigs. I tried to push myself to create something new for myself.

The field of “idm/electronica” has become quite bloated in the last five years. How much would you say your production and design elements contribute to your success? What makes you stand out among the many as the Architect?
Hmmm, I am not quite sure, if I stand out at all. Of course, I think I am special, ahaha. But for real. With Architect there are no limits. On Consume Adapt Create you hear a lot of different styles and influences. But the thing is, you cant really tell, oh, this is dubstep, this is drum&bass. There is always another layer to it, I think.

Here’s the question which has been on my mind since you were picked to go on tour with Recoil. Have you two done anything collaboratively and what’s it been like hanging around PK?
I am working on a remix for Recoil. But for Months now. Its really hard and really frustrating. Because I have very high expectations. I started like 7 times already, because I am never happy. PK is the coolest dude on earth;) I listened to  some of his unreleased material and its fantastic. I worked with the stuff a little. So maybe on this U.S. Tour we can discuss “our” future:)

You have also worked with Ben Lukas Boysen in the past. Are there any plans on continuous collaboration with Hecq or Klima?
Definitely with Ben. He is my little Sound Hero! Klima works best on his own. But we never know.

There have been some talks about a remix for The Shadow of Eve. Can you shine more light on this rumor?
There is gonna come a Remix Album by the end of the Year. Watch out!!!

Finally, what are you working on right now?
Just finished a Coverversion of Tobias Lilja for N5MD Cover Album with other artists contributing remixes. And I am back on the Recoil Remix now. Also more Haujobb and Architect is coming soon!!

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Interview prepared by Peter Marks, exclusively for Headphone Commute.

See also review of Consume Adapt Create

myspace.com/architectmusic | ant-zen.com/architect

It’s a lazy Sunday afternoon. It’s that hour when the weekend is almost over, but the work week has not yet begun. How do I stretch the remaining hours in peace and tranquility, cherishing the hours that are left for me to enjoy? Sheffield (UK) based Audiobulb Records, run and operated by David Newman, aka Autistici, comes to the rescue. Since the early part of the last decade, Audiobulb has been releasing experimental, electro-acoustic, and emotional electronic music among the spectrum of minimal, glitch, and micro-tonal frequencies, allowing your brain to relax and be active at once. “Audiobulb has always been about the spirit of exploration. The aim is to stay with the moment and exploit the possibilities of sound.” I hope you enjoy this installment of Sound Bytes, peeling away at the latest layers of Audiobulb.

First up is a remix album from David Newman himself, comprised of reworks and interpretations by an incredible roster of artists. The contributors include Simon Scott, Sawako, Jimmy Behan, ISAN, Ian Hawgood & Danny Norbury and Richard Chartier, among the many in this 10-track release. This is a glitchy, hissy, lo-fi collection of tracks, drenched in field recordings and electro-acoustic noise. All accomplices on this recording remix Newman’s single track: Resonating Wire, from Autistici‘s 2009 album, Complex Tone Test (KESH) [see our selection in Headphone Commute's Best of 2009 : Music For Bending Light And Stopping Time]. At the center of the album is an 11+minute concoction, ripped and torn by Francisco López, with deep rumbling drones, background synth swirls, and a rhythmic noise checkpoint. Ian Hawgood & Danny Norburry’s piece incorporates soaring strings, double bass plucks, and a confetti of crackles and jitters. And then Richard Chartier rolls up his sleeves. A skillfully executed descent into a place where sound becomes air and noise becomes wind. Resonating Wires is an excellent compilation of minimal, experimental and electro-acoustic soundscapes that stands high on the shoulders of contemporary reductionist giants.

St. Petersburg (Russia) based Valentin Yakovlev creates warm emotional electronica with triggered glitches and tweaked out bleeps. And emotional electronica can not exist without emotion. With this in mind, this 23-year old Russian sailor, releasing his debut full length under the moniker Milinal, enters the scene, drenching your neurons in thick cerebral cocktail as prescribed by the IDM doctor. Haunting vocals ping-pong around the stereo field, beneath the deconstructed guitars and soft synth pads. Micro programmed percussion pushes the rhythm forward, while plucked guitar strings and processed sounds swirl around in a smoky whirlwind. Fans of that Telefon Tel Aviv sound, looking for another treat in this post-glitch-everything world, will be especially delighted. Other quoted influences for this record include Tim Hecker and Radiohead. Be sure to also check out Yakovlev’s first 6-track EP, Folgefonna released by Siberian Electronica netlabel in 2009. This album deserves much more attention, and it should be surely considered for everyone’s Best of 2010 lists!

Early Works, as the title suggests, is a collection of previously unreleased compositions recorded by David Newman within the last decade. This is a rasterized array of sounds, bleeps, clicks, and field recordings, ala musique concrète digitalis. The first volume, subtitled Detached Metal Voice, is a selection of early works “exploring the anxiety of disconnected elements striving to find connection in a world of digital  communication.” These are experimental pieces with many exploratory techniques and tools, like sinewave oscillators, home-made tone generators, and works with ASY, a synthesizer based on vocal tract models developed at Bell Laboratories in the 60s. Be sure to check out Whispering Mongo Man, featuring an audio interview with John Lennon, composed entirely out of edited-out speech, leaving behind the space occupied by his breath. “The tracks encourage the listener to consider the complex question of how meaning, relationships and connections are constructed, communicated and perceived.“

The second volume, subtitled Slow Temperature, contains more archival material from David Newman, featuring “abstract ambience, a focus on microsounds and digital sculpting of audio from everyday objects.” In this selection, Autistici explores silence, space and sound, reflecting on individual parts of his own life. The composition is heavy with elements requiring your full listening attention, further decomposition, and reflective analysis, worthy of sound installation in a museum, or an exclusive performance at this sound technician’s audio lab. The last piece, Workshop for Ambitious Dreamers, is a study into the “manipulation of sinewaves, oscillators and analogue electro-harp plucks exploring themes of subjectivity and freedom in thought and speech.” Truly remarkable, thought-provoking, and deep. You’ll need a few hours to absorb… Be sure to also pick up Autistici’s lauded Volume Objects, released on 12k back in 2008.

Last year we reviewed Bruno Miguel’s debut as :papercutz – Lylac (Apegenine, 2008). Miguel followed up the album with Ultravioleta Rmx’s on the same label. Two years later, Lylac still resonates… Do Outro Lado Do Espelho (translated as “from the other side of the looking glass”) is a compilation of reworks from yet another amazing selection of artists. After releasing Lylac, Miguel was inspired to allow other artists to extract the foundation beneath the songs and erect upon it a structure of their own interpretations. This is an ambitious project with contributions from Helios, Emanuele Errante, Simon Scott, Taylor Deupree, Rameses III, Autistici, Christopher Bissonnette and Jasper TX. Whew! Are you impressed? Here are twelve amazing tracks by masters of ambient and modern classical composition! The Helios remix alone is worth your attention [watch the music video below]. Taylor Deupree incorporates the vocals into a delicious composition of guitar chords and harmonic song progression [didn't expect that from him], while Jasper TX scratches on the surface of peripheral hearing with his slow paced filtered piano chords and swelling cinematic atmospheres.

As if releasing beautiful music is not enough, Audiobulb has recently ventured into software, with a standalone Max/MSP Application. Feel like generating some ambient textures? Then Ambient is your tool! Developed by Christopher Hipgrave (yes, the same Hipgrave with releases on Home Normal and Low Point), with graphic interface designed by Mike Podolak, the module can process any file with multiple effects, that will twist your samples into beautiful soundscapes. Unleash your imagination! What’s next? iPad?

audiobulb.com

See also Headphone Commute’s Label Profile for Audiobulb Records

(all entries are listed in alphabetical order by artist name)

For this month, I’m queuing up a revisit to Phonem, Blackfilm, Murcof, CoH and some Venetian Snares.

Interview with Yann Novak

Hey Yann, hope you’re doing well. So where are you living these days?
Right now I am living in downtown Los Angeles, and I really love it here.

And here’s a fun question I like to ask now and then: What did you do this past weekend?
Last weekend I performed at a really amazing event at the Torrance Art Museum called Presence. It was a 5-hour event involving a lot of great sound artists mixed with performance artists doing durational performances. It was one of the most interesting events I have been involved in.

Let’s talk about your music. When was the first time that you wrote your own piece of music?
I guess it would have been around 99, I DJed a lot throughout the 90s and that was around the time I started buying gear and creating my own sounds. It was not until 2003 that I made anything seriously with the intention of others hearing it.

And how did you get into experimental and ambient sound?
I had always been into the mellower side of whatever music I listened to, but I really got into this stuff in the late 90s. I got a bit disillusioned by the rave and dance music scene, and I started to look to the outskirts and softer side of that world.

How was Dragon’s Eye formed?
My father started the label in 1989 to publish a soundsheet by George Winston to accompany a book he had written, designed and published. He is a huge record collector and had always wanted to create, design and give a catalog number to a release. Dragon’s Eye Recordings was a way for him to do that.

And what does the name mean?
The name comes from the logo. It’s an old Germanic symbol referred to as a dragon’s eye. It was a symbol my father liked and it complimented the logo of the publishing company he created to publish the book.

At what point did you decide to run the label?
I had just finished my first full-length release and wanted to release it. Having been really inspired by my father doing it when I was young, I wanted to continue the tradition. At the same I also didn’t know anyone in the music community and thought it would be a good way to meet  like-minded people.

And what was the very first release – was it your own, Up Close?
The release that marked the re-launch was my first full length Fade Dis/Appearances, which was the score to a modern dance piece by the Crispin Spaeth Dance Group. Up Close was the second release by myself, but the 4th release on the label.

How would you describe the sound of Dragon’s Eye output?
I avoid that at all costs–I want to keep the label very free and open to change and evolve with each new release.

Is there a main vision behind the label’s releases?
My intention is to make a kind of narrative with the releases. I want each release to be in dialog with the previous and next releases. I want every new release to give new insight to the last. I also try and make the same true with each year of releases. I see each year as a kind of assemblage that informs the last year.

How has the label evolved since you relocated from Seattle to Los Angeles?
I have been exposed to a whole new group of local artists that I have started to work with and have been able to see a lot of great performance and video work that was not available to me in Seattle. Most of the fans and interest in the label come from outside the US, so location within the US didn’t seem to change that much, but it might be too gradual a process for me to have noticed.

Tell us a little about the concept behind the physical packaging and the limited release volume?
There were a few reasons for starting this way, first being I wanted to make something from hand. I used to do a lot of visual art and was really missing something tactile and visually oriented. Second when I started, I was pretty unknown outside the Pacific Northwest and so were the artists I was working with. That leads into the third reason, which is funding. I started the label using my tips from a coffee shop job, so I just didn’t have the money to do big large productions. I feel really comfortable doing the slightly larger editions the label has grown into (100 per release at the start has grown into the current editions of 250).

What about the scheduling of the releases? How many albums a year do you usually put out, and why?
I try to schedule 6 per year. If I can afford it and the right work comes in, I will try and squeeze in one or two more in. The reasoning behind it is time and money. On that schedule it’s about every other month per release and since I put everything together by hand, burn all the CDs and print on each one all in house, each release adds up to a lot of time and strain on the body. Then each release also has to sell enough to fund the next, I am fine with not turning a profit, but in this economy I just don’t have any extra cash to invest in it anymore.

Who does the artwork for the releases? And what is the aesthetic behind the visual presentation?
I have done all the templates and each individual artist supplies the image, or images for me to choose from. I wanted a clean template that would be recognizable as Dragon’s Eye Recordings, but left a lot of room for each artist’s art selection to be showcased and take center stage.

How and where do you meet the artists that you sign?
I have met artists in every way imaginable it seems. I have met them in person, met through friends, met through other artists, made them coffee, heard their work on Myspace, received demos, etc.

What is the story behind the catalog numbers? Why are some prefixed with de27, while others de50, and even der?
My father started it with de1201 using 12 because it was a soundsheet that is similar to a 12”. A lot of labels differentiate series with catalog numbers. So I did de27 for odd sizes and formats, de50 for 5” CD-Rs, der0 for CDs, and de60 for digital releases. Sometimes there was logic behind the number, other times I just liked the number.

Dragon’s Eye releases works by artists who also work with visual art. Tell us about the interconnection of sound and sight, from the perspective of your label.
I have always been interested in visual arts. When I started the label I was living in a subsidized artist live/work building, so from the label’s re-launch visual arts and artists have always surrounded it. I think because I have always been more interested in sound’s relation to other things, whether it’s functioning within the visual art world (sound art) or scores for dance etc, the label then attracted artists with similar interests.

Tell us about your own sound installations and exhibitions…
My installation work is the main focus in my career and it really informs everything else I do. My installation work is about creating environments that double as recreations of my own experiences and are open ended enough that the audience can be transported to their own memory of similar experiences.

And what about the very first sound installation – do you remember how that happened?
The first piece I did was a collaboration with Alex Schweder. We had admired each other’s work and were looking for a way to work together and it just fell into place.

What is the difference between a recorded album and an archived material of a live performance or an installation work?
I guess it would be easier to explain the similarity; anything I release on CD for home consumption is mastered, edited and intended for home consumption. So whether it was intended as a CD release or if it originated as a performance or installation, the final step will be to modify it so it make sense as a stand alone sound piece.

And is there a difference in how the listener should consume these works?
No, because if it originated as an installation or performance, a CD release could never replicate that experience. Therefore, I modify it just enough that it will give as much of the original experience as it can, but can function on its own as well. When I release something on CD I have to let go of any expectation of how the listener will experience it. That is what I find the most  interesting about working with CD releases.

You also do some graphic design. How does your visual artistic side enhance your musical creativity?
Well partially it’s just a day job, but I do enjoy doing it. But it’s a tricky balance because when I do it as a day job I have to completely divorce it from my artistic practice because I am working for a client and their needs or criticism can’t have anything to do or reflect at all on my artistic decisions. On the other hand, I do know the language of design so I do enjoy creating a visual identity for my own work.

You’ve done quiet a few collaborations. As an artist, what are your thoughts on releasing an album with another musician?
For me, collaborations are a great break from my own process and practice and are a great way to experiment with new ideas and understand other artist’s practices.

What was your most memorable collaboration?
That’s a hard one. I don’t really know. They have all been such different and rewarding experiences.

Is there anyone who you would love to partner with for a release in the future?
For me, choosing collaborators is a really personal experience. It’s obviously about their work and how it might relate to mine. But it’s also about how the personal interaction will work. So right now I have not met anyone or gotten to know anyone well enough to want to start a new collaboration.

Dragon’s Eye released some of my favorite albums from the past few years. Do you have a favorite?
For the most part, every new release is my favorite because the process of working on it and with the artist makes me the really focused and excited about that release. I will admit that the last few releases with Shinkei involved (de5025, de5028 and de2711) have been keeping my attention. The more minimal work is a new direction for the label and I think some of the most interesting interactions between releases and artists have happened there.

Is there a specific artist that you would love to see on Dragon’s Eye?
Because I am most interested in emerging and mid-career artists, the artists I am most interested in either have not contacted me or I have not heard of yet.

What advice would you give to new artist in order to get a record deal?
I feel pretty divorced from the “record industry” so I don’t know how qualified I am to answer that. But if someone is sending me a demo, it’s really great if they know something about the artists I have worked with or have some idea of the general sound of the label. The dubstep demo I got this morning or that metal CD from a few moths back was just a waste of time for everyone involved.

Can you reveal some of the economics behind running a label? How do you maintain profitability?
Prof•it•a•bil•i•ty, I have heard of this concept, but I have never experienced it. The label is a labor of love, when I started we never made enough money back so I was sinking a few grand a year into the label, 2009 was the first time we broke even. I hope to do the same this year, but it’s not looking that way. I have reached a point now though where I hope to stay. The label is at leastmaintaining itself. So, at lease I don’t have to keep investing funds from elsewhere to fund it.

What are some of the most difficult aspects of running your own label?
Since it’s a labor of love with no fiscal payback, finding the time and money to keep it going is the hardest part.

And what are the rewarding ones?
Getting to be some small part of a really talented artist getting the recognition he or she deserves. That is a true honor that I am always thankful to the artists to allowing me to share in.

How do you get your albums distributed?
We have a few distributors (Experimedia, Norman Records and Drone Records) that buy stock and get the releases out there. Other then that it’s the DER website and me with a pile of envelopes. Because we mainly do CD-Rs most formal distributors will not touch us, so it’s a constant struggle.

Do you package and ship any of the orders yourself? And how much time does that take?
Yes, it’s all me. I have had a few interns throughout the years, who have been a big help, or my partner filled that role during my last residency, but for the most part it’s just me. It takes just enough time each day and week that getting a normal 9 – 5 job is out of the question for me… not that I am complaining about that.

You’ve been consistent in sending out promos with every new release. What are your thoughts on proper promotion of the albums?
For a label like Dragon’s Eye with minimal distribution, promotion like that is essential to getting the word out about new releases. Because I am working with not-so-established artists I think the press they get from their releases on DER is one of the big payoffs for them.

What is Infrequency Editions and what is its relationship to Dragon’s Eye?
Infrequency Editions is a similar sized label launched in 2001 by Jamie Drouin and Lance Austen Olsen. Infrequency became pretty close to Dragon’s Eye when Jamie and I met at the 2006 Decibel Festival. Last year I agreed to incorporate Infrequency into Dragon’s Eye after the Canadian postal service was hit really hard by the economy and it became increasingly costly for Jamie and Lance to run the label out of Canada. So I took over the business end and do all the shipping and  management while Jamie and Lance control all creative and curatorial decisions.

Any special advice to someone who wants to start off their own label?
Stay true to your core ideas and never let it stop being fun and rewarding because at the end of that day that’s what you are going to get out of it.

What’s in the queue for Dragon’s Eye?
Next up is our first CD release since 2007, a really amazing piece by Celer. Then we have new works by i8u and Robert Crouch later this year. Then Blake Carrington, Justin Varis and Chubby Wolf will start off next year. We will also have our annual free download compilation at the start of 2011 with tracks from all the 2011 artists.

Thank you for your time. Any last words for the readers of Headphone Commute?
Last words… just a big, huge thank you to our fans for all their interest and support of our artists, releases and the label over the years.

After his previous appearance on Headphone Commute with an excellent modern classical mix, Later, Cole Pierce returns with a grab-bag of soothing summer tunes that cut through the heat, your ears, and your heart. Just like the last time, this mix is actually in two parts: Zombies and Vampires, presented here in one piece for your enjoyment. Expect the unexpected, smolder and rejoice!

The first part of this mix compares contemporary IDM to 60′s soul and psychedelic music. The pace is downtempo and the styles range from straightforward smooth pop to abstract, textured electronic. I included some found samples and a recording of my son singing about zombies to frame this music in a way that compares it to a b-movie idea of zombies. A dark undertone, but overall lighthearted and upbeat. I especially like comparing the zombie theme to the Order of Golden Dawn, and then to the Fringe sample “… because human memory is best triggered when undergoing mundane tasks”. When my friends would ask what kind of mix I was making, I’d tell them it was groovy. This is only significant if you are familiar with the ambient mixes I usually make.

Side B is upbeat, largely influenced by Caribou’s latest album as well a DJ Bylamplight compilation of obscure garage/R&B hits. I have also been listening to Can after years of hearing their name dropped in music reviews. In the first 30 minutes of Side B, the mix transitions seamlessly through music from 5 different decades. After the Clutchy Hopkins track, the mix returns to themes in Side A with jj’s Lil’ Wayne cover, some Deru beats, “A vampire is nothing but a monster”, and finally an introspective monologue from Dexter, about what it means to be alive and be human.

(Cover art by Ryan Fenchel and Cole Pierce.)

Vampires and Zombies was originally produced in a unique edition of 80 CDs, linoleum print on 100% cotton paper and distributed to Cole Pierce’s mix CD mailing list in June of 2010. The ongoing multiples project (since 2004) consists of mixed CDs produced and mailed about twice a year.

colepierce.com
prestosamo.blogspot.com

 

 
[ S T R E A M ] | [ D O W N L O A D ] | [ P O D C A S T ]

Track Listing:

[ S T R E A M ] | [ D O W N L O A D ] | [ P O D C A S T ]

First of all, I think it’s a huge plus, when an album seamlessly transitions from one track to another. That solidifies my reasoning for listening from beginning to end. The tracks flow smoothly, in that velvety, dubbed out, and incredibly hypnotic beat. The duo is not apologetic for letting the tracks evolve over the ten minute marker. Although some may find this rolling rhythm a bit repetitive, I think that it’s only after the first six or seven minutes that the mind latches on to the beat and new environments unfold. If there was a science behind this process, then Hitchell and Modell should base their thesis on their work, their magic, and their art.

Incredibly simplistic, yet awesomely complex percussion is drenched in vaporous white noise, as it envelopes the chords that swirl around in the stereo field of infinite dimensions. Complimented with a touch of field recordings captured by Modell in Tokyo, Japan, the kick trends on, falling out of the foreground of the typical warehouse sound system, into the ether of organic pulse. For me, the absolute masterpieces on the album include “BCN Dub” and “Maglev”. The latter, in particular, takes me to a mysterious place, elusive in its existence, with hidden doors and passages that only open up somewhere in the middle of the track.

Liumin is the duo’s second full length album, releasing under the alias DeepChord Presents Echospace for Boomkat’s Modern Love. Of course, both have been pretty active in their Chicago and Detroit dub techno scenes. Rod Modell has recently released Incense & Black Light (Plop, 2007) and a two-track 60-minute dedication to Michael Mantra (Silentes, 2007), while Stephen Hitchell has been busy releasing remixes on Kompakt and Echocord as well as his critically acclaimed 2009 beauty, The Seduction Of Silence on echospace [detroit]. Together, they have been making quite a splash on the scene of dubbed out minimal beats, specifically after the absolutely incredible The Coldest Season back in 2007.

This double-disk release, contains a bonus 80-minute CD with the original field recordings from Tokyo. This second place is only accessible after you’ve made the journey through the hollow caverns of Liumin, revealing itself like a secret garden hidden deep beneath the earth. This is indeed a surreal, almost narcotic, experience, which, like that most treasured childhood memory, is a  momentous trip. Move over Basic Channel, and let the boys from echospace impress you for a change.

See also Two and a Half Questions with Echospace

myspace.com/echospacedetroit | echospacedetroit.com

Interview with Stephen Hitchell and Rod Modell of Deepchord Presents Echospace

Liumin is a lot warmer than your previous release, The Coldest Season. To what do you attribute that change, and how has your sound evolved between the albums?
[SH] This is a great observation and one we attribute to our travels. The Coldest Season was recorded primarily in the winter months so the mood of the music reflected the environment in which they were recorded. This album is a reflection of the many shows we’ve played and the sound we brought before an audience, it’s sort of a sonic travelogue. We eventually sat down and went through what we felt was our best material from our live shows and started building an album from that point but of course altering and expanding on the live material.

Can you shed a little light on your collaborative process?
[SH] The creative process for Rod and I is always different, from the time “The Coldest Season” was recorded to “Liumin” the dynamic in which we worked has been modified a bit. I also contribute a lot of this to moving quite a few times over the past 3 years, I’ve had to re-assemble my studio each time we’ve moved and I never remember how things were hooked up before, I just rip it all apart and put it together again but it always ends up different in the end. Our studio’s have both changed a bit over the past 3 years and now we work a bit more efficiently with the help of some editing tools and software advancements. On this album I worked on specific elements, mainly the synths, atmosphere and bass loops and then sent the work I had to Rod and let him assemble and make sense of it all. Of course we had some key rhythmic starting points from material we culled from the live shows but in the end Rod mended all the sonic tape. We still use a good portion of analog equipment in this album but with the help of the computer we were able to take these elements in different directions. Rod also used a variety of microphones and field recording equipment (including a few custom made underwater hydrophones) to try and capture and push the threshold of natural organic sounds around us and submerged beneath us.

What does the name, Liumin, mean?
[SH] “Liumin” has a few different meanings as I understand it but the title was sort of chosen for us on one of Rod’s trips over to Japan. There was a small shop in a seedier side of Shinjuku called “Liumin” it flickered in neon lights and resonated with Rod in that very moment. Something about the city and the moment, after he had spent weeks conducting field recordings around Japan it was on this last night there the concept was complete, he brought it up when he came back and the title grabbed us both. Sometimes the universe just pulls you into an alternate dimension and when you leave this vortex the vision becomes clear.

Tell us a bit about Rod’s trip to Japan…
[SH] He discovered alien life forms do exist and have a clear presence in many of the field recordings conducted there.

What brought on the decision of incorporating field recordings into Liumin?
[SH] We’ve always used field recordings in our work, Rod’s more interested in field recordings than he is music, if you reference his early ambient productions in the early 90′s you’ll hear field recordings present throughout. One of my personal favorite ambient albums is a piece he did with Michael Mantra called “Sonic Continuum” in which field recordings become musical, they hold more sonic depth than the atmosphere around them, something Rod is truly gifted with. The Coldest Season was also initially built on field recordings, atmosphere and nothing else, the static sounds from the album were not machine produced or mechanical this was the sound of my beta recorder and a Shure microphone on a tripod capturing one of the worst blizzards we had seen in over 10 years all recorded from under a dock off of Lake Michigan, I was completely numb by the time the tape stopped, a few minutes away from frost bite. I went inside my home the next day and began to listen closely at what was captured, it’s quite amazing how the sounds around us (nature produced) can harvest or trigger emotional content. This recording was vital to the production of that album as much as Rod’s field recordings captured in Japan are to Liumin, there is something so special in the natural environments surrounding us, all you have to do is shut your eyes and listen.

The second disc of the album is a special treat!!! Tell us a bit about that accompaniment.
[RM] The second CD in Liumin is a collection of atmospheric energy. When I wander around, looking for things to record… I pay close attention to way I feel more than what I actually hear. I believe wholeheartedly, that emotional energy, or the “chi” of a specific location can be captured through phonography… a sonic photograph of para-physical energy… energy of lifeforms that you can’t see. I can come home and play back a recording that I made of an area that had little-to-no sound, and with closed eyes… feel an avalanche of emotional charges and smells from the place. I think with a high quality digital recorder, recording WAVs at 24 bit 196khz, you pick up allot more than sounds. The portable recorder becomes a recorder of intangible energy. If you think about it from a physics point of view…. everything is vibration. Hyper-sensitive recording equipment captures this perfectly. Many of these vibrational energies are encapsulated on that second disc. 80% of the field recordings on disc 2 were made in strange places around Tokyo… definitely off the beaten-path. Locations where weird things were happening, or have happened in the past. There is actually some baffling sonic phenomena on that disc that I can’t explain. I think Tokyo is a highly charged area when it comes to metaphysical energy. To be honest… I haven’t listened to much music in the past several months around my home. Just constantly playing quiet environmental backdrops 24/7. Nature is the best composer. The ultimate LFO. Constantly morphing, and never sounding the same twice. Ever. We’ve just become too desensitized to it…. trying to ignore it all our lives. To genuinely appreciate it, we have to re-educate ourselves, and try to re-learn what we’ve lost. We need to work at becoming sensitive enough to perceive the beauty in recordings of moving air and vibrational energy. Synesthesia is a neurologically-based condition in which stimulation of one sensory pathway (sound) leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory pathway (smell etc, etc, etc). I think many more people out there are synesthetes (one capable of synesthesia), but we’ve worked hard over our lifetime to switch off this function. We need to re-start this module of our brains again. A CD like the second disc of Liumin can blow a synesthetes’ mind right out of his/her head… in a good way.

- What’s next in store for echospace [detroit]?
[SH] We have a new single coming out from cv313 with all new remixes of “Subtraktive” a song which originally appeared on London’s superb Smallfish label. It features the first recorded remixes from King Midas Sound & The Sight Below which are both so powerful in their own right, we’re very honored to have them involved with such a special project. We also have a mix we culled from our live show in Moscow as Deepchord Presents Echospace on the B side. After that there will be a few more cv313 singles and a double CD album to follow in the fall which will be the first studio album from cv313. The second disk will feature new remixes of some of the material from Area, Luke Hess & Brian Kage’s Reference project and Rod Modell has a few solo remixes as well. The project closes with a 20 minute epic from Brock Van Wey, we’re very excited about it as a whole, it’s very diverse.

There are also a few new albums planned for the Echospace [AIR] project from my good friend Area with his debut album and he really outdid any expectation I had, it’s quite exceptional and a new beautiful album from Brock Van Wey. There are some other things planned but we’re still working out the fine details.

See also Headphone Commute review of Liumin

myspace.com/echospacedetroit | echospacedetroit.com

Released on the beloved Type Records, run and operated by John Twells (Xela), Yellow Swans spearhead the development of sound, as it’s concerned with noise, drone, and power electronics. But in their latest release, Going Places, it’s not all about distortions and sheer cringing fuzz. There’s clear structure, texture, and even pulsating rhythm behind each track, allowing the foreground instruments to carry out the development, while the background noise soars to new heights. Based out of Portland, the duo of Pete Swanson and Gabriel Mindel Saloman describe their music as “powerful rendering of free rock, black electronics, and white light vibrations.” Their latest work is a product of over a decade worth of music, released on CD-Rs, cassettes, and vinyl, coming to an end. In April of 2008 the band announced their decision to split up, concentrating on finishing up their final album. Even the title suggests that they might be going places, and the same-titled last track fades away, like a burning rocket into deep space. Farewell, my devastated friend. The album is available for purchase directly from Type. It’s also available for streaming from Type’s SoundCloud. If you are at all curious about the capacity of noise, start off with Yellow Swans and then work your way into darker territory…

To continue the exploration of noise in this unique installment of Sound Bytes, I turn to Aun. I met Martin Dumais a few weeks ago in Montreal at Mutek. His captivating doom ambient performance, complimented by the visuals from his partner, Julie Leblanc, only inspired me to check out his latest, titled VII on Important Records. This is indeed the seventh full length album from Montreal based Dumais, where he explores his black metal roots infused with dark ambiance and post-doom-everything. But unlike his beatless guitar driven swirls, VII is an album worthy of moving your entire body to. I think it’s due to percussion, since this release features an appearance by Michel Langevin (aka Away), the drummer from the Canadian metal band, Voïvod. Snarling guitars rip through the fabric of psychedelia infused with “gut wrenching ultra downtuned avant black dirge”. On “Broken Hills”, Langevin suddenly kicks in with his drums, and the thick de-tuned riffs are now cut with crystal clear cymbals and snares, and the album takes on a rhythm, structure and progression. Excellent. Check out Aun’s 2009 release on Alien8, titled Motorsleep. Recommended for fans of KTL or Bowery Electric.

I couldn’t possibly return from this voyage without mentioning one of the most prolific artists, Aidan Baker. Look, I couldn’t even begin to rummage through Baker’s discography, so after reviewing Fantasma Parastasie, which he released together with Tim Hecker in 2008, I settled on his latest for the Montreal based label, Alien8. This is a two-track release, with Liminoid broken up into four distinctive parts, while Lifeforms is a single 30 minute piece. It starts off quietly, with lucid textures, soft guitar strums and distant drones. “Incorporating composed and improvised segments, the piece uses elongation of sound and layered polyphony in an attempt to create a liminal and/or numinous state”. In an almost apocalyptic setting reminiscent of the darkest hours of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, the ensemble of guitars, violins, cellos, and drums, engulf the beauty unleashed by the romantic classical orchestra with that of a skilled master of drone and noise. And then the vocals come in! Lifeforms is a whole other beast. Unfolding from a continuous string bowed drone-chord, the cellos are plucked around the 10 minute marker, and then, half way through the piece, the strings drop out in lieu of pulsating metallic sounds, played by Alan Bloor (aka Knurl). Commissioned by The Penderecki Quartet in 2003, this is indeed a symphonic masterpiece, that lifts me out of the abyss into the aural bliss. This may be Baker’s best. Highly recommended.

We begin our aural journey on a lighter side, with a three-piece UK band, Cut Iowa Network, with Tim Evans on the guitar, Adam Barringer on the bass, and Steve d’Enton on the drums. The trio collage expansive soundscapes, that are cut through with mid-tempo percussion, to create the second volume in their Projector Gunship Held trilogy. The first volume was released on Panic Arrest, while this follow-up comes out on a Champion Version. Both labels appear to be members of the Eat Sleep Repeat network. The group quotes Tarentel for the experimental instrumental influence, and Tangerine Dream for the “sprawling ambient dreamscapes”. At the core of the record is a definitive krautrock reference, with the drums making up the structure of the album, drenched in abstract textures of bass and effected guitar. The skilled percussion alone makes up a larger slice of the record, and in turn gives it an up-beat feel. And before I descend into the doom-drone-gloom territory, it’s worth mentioning another release from the folks at Eat Sleep Repeat, which is a 7″ EP from Eric Chenaux with two folksy tracks, Warm Weather and Le Vieux Favori 4. Check out Chenaux’s previous releases on Constellation records. I’m looking forward to the final installment in the Projector Gunship Held series…

Although the prolific Chicago based Locrian duo, André Foisy and Terence Hannum, had quiet a few releases since Drenched Lands, I’m still enjoying this dense, drone heavy, massive album. Released on a Scottish drone/noise label, At War With False Noise and Small Doses in 2009, and later repressed by BloodLust!, Utech, and DeathSmile, Drenched Lands is a dark voyage into post-apocalyptic land of abandoned concrete highways and obsolete ruined structures. The inner desperation of desolate landscapes and overgrown wastelands is conveyed with howling vocals, growling guitars and power electronics, blending dark ambient and black metal into cacophony of thick layered sonic palette. With its narrative structure, the album “starts with a slow descent into a dark abyss, moving torturedly, gradually rediscovering the light, then leaving you where everything began – completely transformed”. Background distorted riffs are punctuated with foreground guitar strums in an epic buildup, appealing to cinematic soundtracks of deep caverns and cold cells. The last, 30-minute track, is a complete trip. If you dig this sound, be sure to also pick up Locrian’s Rain of Ashes (Fan Death, 2009) and their latest album, Territories (2010).

Kicking off with soaring guitars and mid-range background drone, The Golden Sores, open up their sophomore album, A Peaceable Kingdom. This is another release by the Chicago-based BloodLust! label, which has already put out numerous records by the above mentioned Locrian. Unlike the latter (also from Chicago), Christopher Miller and Steve Fors tend to create resonating reverberations mostly in the major key, physically abusing your ears to euphoric heights that can only be reached at higher volumes. A Peaceable Kingdom is an album without any percussion, composed entirely of vibrating strings and oscillating synths, smudged layer upon layer through effects chains and pedals until its density is viscous with blood slowly oozing somewhere from your cranium. These sounds, meshing between the incredibly beautiful and the insanely grotesque, create an atmosphere of lust and anguish, as only music can, in a single sonic onslaught. My favorite exercise is to keep raising the volume throughout the track, as my ears adjust to the levels, then hitting the stop button, absorbing the ringing silence with apparition and fumes of ghostly melodies, then hitting play again to get slapped with the noise. Be sure to pick up the duo’s debut release, Ashdod to Ekron , available from Drone Cowboy.