additional information . . .

Heliopause, by Anne Müller

A solo record in every sense of the word, Müller wrote, recorded, arranged and produced Heliopause. The album is named after the boundary where the sun’s wind ceases to have influence. It is ultimately, the border of our solar system. The name struck a chord with Müller since the two voyagers sent on an exploratory mission 42 years ago, recently crossed the Heliopause, entering into interstellar space and losing power from our own sun. Müller recognized herself in this moment, not only approaching the same age, but also breaking new ground; having relied on collaborating with so many other stars and now venturing into the unknown with her first solo statement; “Heliopause marks the end of a long journey but also the start of voyages to explore strange new worlds”.

Boldly opening the album with “Being Anne”, it sees Müller embrace her new found freedom with the most experimental piece on the record, placing the cello in a completely new context. Playing the strings of a broken down piano with a plectrum and scratching parts of the key mechanism to produce a rhythm, the once lost instrument is given a new lease of life among looped cello drones and drums. 

“I used the sounds of a tiny piano I got from my mother that she bought when she was a student and didn’t have any money. Later it stood for years in our little summer garden house, where I practiced on it constantly for my piano lessons. Even though it’s old and not in the best shape, I love the way it sounds and call it my little circus piano”.

The atmospheric swells of noise on Being Anne are juxtaposed beautifully with the most stripped back and exposed song, Solo? Repeat!. The J.S. Bach and Gaspar Cassadó influenced piece sees Müller go solo in its purest form: unaccompanied cello. Lead single Nummer 2 is so titled as it’s the second piece Anne ever wrote. A mixture of old sounds and newer structures, its repeated arpeggio conjures drama and displays Müller’s dexterous production abilities. Drifting Circles meanwhile provides the album’s climax, amid an orchestra of looped cellos and vocals. Referencing the minimalism of contemporary composers such as Steve Reich and Philip Glass, it builds to a crescendo of harmonics, allowing the cello to sore as it crosses the border from minor to major. 

Released November 22, 2019

All music written, performed, recorded and produced by Anne Müller, published by Erased Tapes Music, mixed and mastered by Martyn Heyne, design by FELD.

Methoden und Maschinen, by Bersarin Quartett

Nikolai Erastowitsch Bersarin, the ambivalent colonel general, communist and first Soviet city commander of Berlin, had an accident with his motorcycle in 1945 at the age of only 41. In the enraptured, now somewhat more compressed and at the same time more colorful (not more cheerful) electronic sound(track)s of the strange Bersarin Quartett, in its East Block sea landscapes with latently kitsched wallpaper and double bottoms, shadows of this strange figure Bersarin can be guessed – still or again – at a good 70 years later. But perhaps that is also irrelevant. This ‘band’ could just as well play imprisoned in the remixed court of the eternal, crazy North Korean presidents, whether embodied in an orchestra, quartet or as masked solo entertainer. It brings us supposedly post-rock and post-socialist grandeur, which has degenerated very slightly, in a great new splendour amidst all our irritations and emotions. And everything takes place in our heads.

The Bersarin Quartett – after thirteen years and three epic, (bad-) dreamlike beautiful albums – have settled down with their fourth album “Methoden und Maschinen” (“methods and machines”). For the time being. Because at the same time many new layers and paths are emerging. Playing live in many arrangements and at great concerts in Slovenia, Poland, Czech Republic and Russia, this has grown into a quartet, but it is still the project of DJ, musician, graphic and audio designer Thomas Bücker. The numerous concert evenings with Andy Stott, Tim Hecker, Fennesz, Murcof, Dictaphone or Hidden Orchestra, among others, are undoubtedly noticeable on “Methoden und Maschinen”. The Bersarin Quartett continues to stand for the outing of a complex musical subconscious. ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’, only that the moon is shimmering here, at least now and then. It’s probably also due to the sun shining on it. Minimalism and bombast go together. Constantly developing and entangling contrasts, paradoxes and contradictions are the motor. Constantly caught between two sides. Don’t believe the hype! 

Released November 29, 2019

Drift Stations EP, by Glåsbird

Glåsbird is an anonymous project by an established artist within the Ambient/Modern Classical scene. To date this artist name has not produced any work that has been published and we’re proud to present both the first ever Glåsbird release as well as the debut album, due out early next year. 

The Glåsbird sound is undefined and we’re told that it will be used to demonstrate working to themes, ideas and soundtracks. The artist studies their chosen topic intently before crafting electro-acoustic recordings into evocative cinematic soundscapes. The debut album Grønland is a sonic expedition to Greenland, tracking the enormous frozen ice cap, the colourful scandi huts and its lack of human inhabitants. 
The preceding Drift Stations EP features two tracks which tell the story of embarking on this imaginary journey to Greenland, as it begins in the North Pole before traversing the frozen Arctic Circle sea towards the monolithic landmass. 

In a brief section of recording space, the artist has stitched together a shrill and lonely coldness using violin, cello, sparse piano notes and other digitally effected acoustic instruments. Drift Stations is then set off with a magnificent photograph, taken on Greenland by photographer and tour guide Lasse Kyed.

Released December 14, 2018 

Written and produced by Glåsbird 
Mastered by James Edward Armstrong 
Photography by Lasse Kyed
(www.instagram.com/greenland_explorer)

Isolation, by Eeem [eim]

Uncertain music for uncertain times.

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Released October 13, 2018
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A beautiful blending of ambient, experimental & new-classical sound.

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Sirimiri, by Rafael Anton Irisarri

“One of his most accomplished records to date”

.~Inverted Audio “Sirimiri is made of four long and mid-length pieces, each composed of different perspectives, processes and identities. However, Rafael seeks to blend subjective time with the listening experience. A sort of loop and repetition, sub-sequence-based sound. Following Eno, nothing happens in the same way twice, perception is constantly shifting, nothing stays in one place for long. The sum of the four pieces is 36 minutes; the cassette edition lasts 72 minutes in total, since both sides have the same four songs joined together.

Physically, the format allows us at least two automatic repetitions. In the digital version the songs are independent, but we also include a bonus track made of the 36-minute loop. The desolation and despair (in a sort of positive way) that we got to hear in The Shameless Years (Umor Rex 2017) is present in Sirimiri, but the impression is concrete, with cruder, less rhetorical landscapes. If The Shameless Years was located between beauty and active tragedy, Sirimiri travels inside the beauty and melancholy of an observing eye, a quiet rebel insurrection. Another substantial difference is the distance from general and globalized concepts; in these unfortunate times, Sirimiri looks for personal sorrows, and places its focus on the particular.

Even the names of the songs evoke this in small ways, like in “Sonder”, the feeling of realizing that everyone, even a complete stranger, has a life as complex as one’s own. Rafael has two guests in this album; Taylor Jordan in “Mountain Strem”, and Rafael’s hero Carl Hultgren (from Windy & Carl) in “Sonder”. Sirimiri means ‘drizzle’ in Basque, and we cannot find a better word to describe its content.”  

Released May 8, 2018
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elements_windows :: project notes

The ethereal chase of audio-logical din, space/time continuances & the purity found within the versatile nooks & crannies of the Jazz genera, give rise to structural recombination within the evolving genres of sound.
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Q: With a moniker like “Ambient Landscape”, how can a Jazz series make any sense?

A: When you coin the term “ether-jazz” . . . & keep right on mixing without skipping a beat.
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The Trio Morphs into a Quartet
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‘elements_windows’ began as a trilogy – to be sure. And upon what I thought was completion . . . [there it was: signed, sealed delivered] – the scattered remnants of the project began to cry out for another set.
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And, ironically, the fourth might just be my favorite within the series. And, if I had to submit just one elements series/mix by which the entire brand would be represented . . . it’d be the ‘windows’ edition.
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R E V O

Re-craft. Rework. Re-vision. Repurpose.
I’m all about tearing it apart & rebuilding from . . . ashes. If I don’t like a mix, the thought of its existence lingers like Morpheus’ “splinter in the mind”. It irritates & annoys – until I reformulate the sequence, add treatments or import different audio components.

Thus 3 begat 4 . . . and [finally] all is well with my universe.

I take my penchant for causticity [weird-guitar sounds, dilapidated saxophone, seemingly off-key piano, & unorthodox compositions] & transmogrify it into nuanced slabs of sound (formerly called ‘mixes’).  What’s intriguing to me is that other folks like them too (@ least that’s what my Dropbox download metrics tell me)!

It (mixes), is almost exclusively the method via which I access my music. I rarely listen to albums, save a new ECM album (Nik Bartsch‘s ‘Awase‘ for example, or the about to be released Sun of Goldfinger). But, as the tracks get moved onto mix projects, I delete them on my phone menu & file the digital album into the ever expanding ethereal catalog.

This Jazz / Ether-Jazz series is slated for release beginning in March, 2019.

Ear Duration by TONUS

Releases January 19, 2019 

Graham Dunning : snaredrum, objects 
Dirk Serries : accordeon, acoustic guitar 
Benedict Taylor : viola 
Martina Verhoeven : piano 
Colin Webster : flute, alto sax 

Performed at Hackney Road Studios, London (UK) on October 26th 2018. Recorded by Tim Cedar. Mixed by Dirk Serries. Mastered by Sunny Side Inc. studio (Anderlecht, Belgium). 

Sleeve notes : Guy Peters. 
Layout : Rutger Zuydervelt 
Executive label director : Dirk Serries. 
newwaveofjazz.com

Discovering Dimensions with Laima Lisauskienė

Tags

Ambient, Drone, Experimental

Sonagrama magazine published a very introspective article on my online friend (and mix-making diva) Laima Lisauskienė. I’ve copied a portion of it below – please see the link @ the bottom for the entire article.
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I’m Laima Lisauskienė from Lithuania’s capital city, Vilnius. I studied Fine Art during my secondary education at the National M. K. Čiurlionis School of Art and went on to attain degrees in visual design at Vilnius Academy of Arts. Visual communication has been a key component throughout my education and professional career and remains central to my work in areas such as graphic design, corporate branding and advertising. Since 2010, I’ve been a member of the Lithuanian Graphic Design Association (LGDA). In addition, I have a long-standing interest in music and sound culture, which is the primary focus of this article.[1]

I love exploring the ways in which different media platforms can be used not only to distribute music, but also enhance communication between musicians and audiences in fresh and exhilarating ways. I am proud of my Lithuanian heritage and greatly enjoy visiting other countries and collaborating with musicians and other creative people from different cultures. In the past, I’ve had the good fortune to travel extensively in countries such as Egypt, Germany, Spain and the UK. I had a wonderful time living in Bilbao, whilst working as a design consultant for an international conference on art and technology Technarte 2015. Consulting on Technarte was both a stimulating project in itself – combining art, technology and science – as well as an ideal opportunity to explore and expand my fascination with sound and music.[2]

After working on Technarte, I returned to Vilnius in late 2015 and was invited to create radio programmes for an innovative online music streaming project Radio Kaos Caribou (RKC), based in Ermont, France. Creating my fortnightly radio show Dimensions involved investing a considerable amount of time, energy and resources into discovering and acquiring music created by talented artists working, for the most part, under the radar of the mainstream music industry. I consulted professional audio design engineers and learned new skills, using technical expertise and resources of a well equipped sound studio to create my own Dimensions mixes. As a result, the compilation audio file for each show was specifically designed and engineered for my regular one hour slot on RKC. The inaugural Dimensions #1 show was first broadcast online 26 March 2016.[3]

Whilst crafting Dimensions radio shows for RKC, I also worked on a four-day sonic arts event Music Tech Fest (MTF) Berlin 2016 and this further enhanced my appreciation of experimental music and sound culture more generally. During MTF Berlin, I was inspired by a number of artists, notably the talented electronic musician and multimedia artist Robin Rimbaud (aka Scanner) after attending an exclusive preview described as ‘sketches’ of his permanent sound installation ‘Water Drops’ for Rijeka airport, Croatia.[4]

It was a joy to meet Robin and speak with him backstage at the festival. He kindly agreed to contribute a selection of his unique experimental music to include in my shows, such as the composition ‘Middlesex Voices Interlude’ featured in Dimensions #7 and, more recently, one of his latest albums ‘Mass Observation (Expanded)’. I am grateful to Robin for supporting Dimensions over the years and our continued collaboration.[5]

Overall, my positive experience of MTF included previews of work by contemporary artists – such as Benjamin Heidersberger, Bernd Deckers, David Fernandez, Greg Beller, Johannes Wernicke, Rikard Vilhelm Lindell, Robin Rimbaud and others – using the latest technologies in the sonic arts showcased at the festival, and this had a huge impact on Dimensions.

The growing experience and creative potential, discussions with practitioners and theorists in the sonic arts and design world, the expanding library of compositional works (audio, images, video and text), and the desire to reveal new music and narratives led me to realize my personal endeavour to transform Dimensions into a multifaceted, independently curated transmedia project.

© Tadas Kazakevičius, Lithuania, 2019

Momentum

As the year 2017 came to end, I left everything behind, transitioning from the eclectic ethos of RKC to a tranquil space that enveloped and allowed me to dream during sleep and waking hours. A most extraordinary dimension of time and space. I completed one path and embarked on a myriad of new ones, including new directions and vistas for Dimensions. I wanted to offer contributors and listeners a new approach or, if you will, portals to the conceptual context, core themes and content of future Dimensions.

In January 2018, Dimensions entered a new phase as an independent music program broadcast monthly on Mixcloud, incorporating new and exclusive material from a diverse array of music labels.[6]

‘Being in and moving around the city, navigating through a myriad of criss-crossing lifeworlds and meaning-filled spaces. Adrift amid the fluidity of time, traversing pathways and places of an urban habitat both familiar and unknown. Fleeting memories of times past, in which the real and imagined converge and dissolve effortlessly into each other. The past is constantly being imported into the present. Broken shells of a forgotten time, fragments of ever-changing identities born of the desire to inhabit and understand the world. This urban journey and flux of experiences simultaneously evoke feelings of fragility, reticence, strangeness, and anticipation.’

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Read entire article

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