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DJ Set for operator - hysterical junglist IDM, squelchy melodic acid - dreamy vibey electro.

Operator - DJ Set - 22nd April 2021

Alberta Balsam - Higher Dreams - Dekmantel - DKMNTL080

a1. Atuan Tombs
a2. Cascade
b1. Metanoia
b2. Higher Dreams
b3. Suspended In The Manifold

https://dekmantel.com/shop/records/alberta-balsam-higher-dreams

Spiralling through the space-time continuum, Alberta Balsam's debut EP amalgamates clipped breakbeat with lithe IDM and sawtooth electro. Inspired by the visionary author Ursula K. Le Guin, the vinyl is presented by Dekmantel Records together with a transcendental sci-fi narrative. Printed on a poster-inlay designed by British artist Alex Morgan, the story tells of a quest for survival on a planet ravaged by ecological collapse.

In a bid to rescue all lifeforms from impending destruction, a lone holobot frantically consults her neurobiological interface. Humans can no longer subsist on Earth: waterways are contaminated, and the unbreathable atmosphere has taken on a toxic purple, almost holographic hue. Faced with environmental apocalypse, she turns skyward, to take root among the stars. With nods to the utopian futurism, attunement to nature and alien visions of pioneering electronic artists such as Drexciya and Delia Derbyshire, Alberta transmutes a synergy that's entirely her own. Higher Dreams journeys elsewhere on a passage that's equal parts intergalactic and introspective, questioning how, on the brink of the abyss, we can find hope.

Blasting off the A-side with 'Atuan Tombs' – a reference to Le Guin's masterful Tales From Earthsea series – a cyborg voice narrates plundering through the skeletal remains of an urban landscape. Hollowed out kick-drums thunder in 'Cascade;' glitched-out beats that shatter into incandescent, intricate melodies. On the B-side, the titular track crescendos, it’s biblical vocals conveying the gravitas of an approaching dystopia. Yet Higher Dreams is far from doom-inducing – the EP closes off with ‘Suspended in the Manifold,' the vibrant Roland TR-808 rhythm fuelled by the colossal power of a solar flare.

Renowned for her live hardware-based sets, Alberta flexes her immeasurable skill as a tech-savvy producer adept at constructing danceable, yet simultaneously lush and expansive interludes. Having trained as an epidemiologist, the theme of care reverberates through her music. Crucially, she regards dance as medicine – a primordial remedy to sustain our interconnected existence.

DKMNTL080 // Alberta Balsam - Higher Dreams

A vast technical understanding underpins the work of Rotterdam's @albertabalsam. It allows her to deconstruct norms and rebuild music with her own rules as she draws on electro, IDM, heavy techno, broken beats and avant-acid sounds. This has made her a firm favourite at artful events all across Europe where she joins the dots between outlier sounds while never forgetting to get people dancing, while also releasing on our label, Carista’s United Identities and Tzusing.

Alberta's quest to do the impossible, her passion for sci-fi motifs and a love of 90s vibes all shine through in this week's mix: it's a hard-to-define trip through elastic bass and out-there rhythms. Icy and sparse electro makes way for unhinged drum flurries and sleazy broken beats, freaky sound designs sit next to weirdo vocals and leave you wondering WTF? while loving every second of the maverick musical madness.

Dekmantel Podcast

Dekmantel Podcast 397 - Alberta Balsam

Alberta Balsam (live) | Blijdorp Festival - 6th of August 2022

Intuitive analog Electronix by the by Alberta Balsam, one of Rotterdams upcoming talents.

Order vinyl: 
https://clone.nl/item71758.html

Follow us here:
https://www.youtube.com/CloneRotterdam
https://www.facebook.com/CloneRecords/
https://www.instagram.com/clonerecords/
https://t.me/s/CloneRecords

https://clone.nl
https://clone-records.bandcamp.com/

15 Billion Elektrovolt

Order@clone.nl

Alberta Balsam - 15 Billion Elektrovolt - DUB050

This is the recording of the ambient/experimental electronics liveset I did during the Focus Luistersessies x Pelagic Ambient on the 3d of September in the KODA in Schiedam. 

Expect dreamy tinkling synths, ambient drones, layered sparsely with some of my own improvised vocals. The set was specifically prepared for this event. I loved doing this set because it gave me the opportunity to also play a lot more slower and more dreamy stuff, compared to the usual, a lot more banging and energetic livesets I do. 

For the gear nerds out there, this liveset was half-improvised, half prepared in terms of patterns and notes. I used the following gear: 

- Octatrack (for some droney stems, sparse percussion and melodic layers, and as the performance mixer) 
- Digitone (for the pads, melodic elements and also to synthesize some of the percussion elements. 

Besides this i also used some modular FX (mimeophon and data bender, mainly to glitch out the vocals) and a Grandmother with a Snazzy Wow & Flutter pedal to layer an additional melodic element at times. 

All this goes into the OTO Boum for some warmth and as a little bit of mastering.

Liveset @ Focus Luistersessies x Pelagic Ambient - 3 september 2023

Pink Noise 012 - Alberta Balsam Live in Paradiso
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVK1U2HsRHU

@albertabalsam

YouTube

Pink Noise 012 - Alberta Balsam Live in Paradiso

OPERATOR RADIO
https://soundcloud.com/operator-radio

Operator Radio - 20th February 2024

*Pre-Order now available on Bandcamp*

Launching off the Terra Atomika imprint, a new label helmed by Alberta Balsam, Cosmic Runner is the single from her forthcoming album, scheduled to land in September 2024.

Enter a world where celestial vistas and interior emotionality collide. On Cosmic Runner, Alberta Balsam traverses an intergalactic, deeply danceable sonic realm. Her lucid voice guides the titular track; a dance-pop song narrating a lost love affair driven by a heart-punching beat. Two re-mixes follow: while French II blasts into the stratosphere of pumping techno, the echoing vocals and flexed pads climaxing into airy builds, Peder Mannerfelt goes to weirder, darker, more alien places. The melodies are spaced-out and mutant on his re-imagining, taking the B-side into shadowy terrain. In the second half, ‘Wrenching Your Mind’ is structured around fluttering breakdowns and wormhole passages. 
 
Deeply embedded in the Rotterdam club scene, Alberta Balsam has crafted a distinctive, impressively technical and imaginatively rich style. With releases on eminent labels such as Dekmantel and Clone, she draws on the space-age signifiers of early electronica, the techy, trippy vibes of 1990s IDM, and her love of science-fiction. 

Accompanying Cosmic Runner will be a mesmerizing music video by Dutch artist Timaeus (Tim Van Hooft). It's a psychedelic vision of human bodies and floating asteroids, connecting all matter in the universe to stardust and supernovas.

Cosmic Runner

Cosmic Runner (TA01)

Operator Radio - 13th August 2024

Alberta Balsam is a Rotterdam-based artist blending IDM, ambient, bass, and techno through live improvisation and DJ sets. With releases on Dekmantel and Clone, she pushes club music's boundaries, performing at venues like Dekmantel, De School, and C12.


Alberta Balsam @ Kiosk Radio 18.01.2025

Alberta Balsam - 25 - 17th December 2024

Streaming from Amsterdam's Radio Radio: this is RRFM.NL w/ @albertabalsam

RRFM • Alberta Balsam • 17-04-2025

Alberta Balsam kicks off with a first single 'Ngelem'. A banger that offsets indonesian gamelan and vocal samples with an acid-like bassline and dark lead synths. 

Watch the video here: http://bit.ly/2E9VY0O

Video directed and edited by Alberta Balsam
Shot by Celie Lucienne

DOWNLOAD FOR FREE

http://www.albertabalsam.com/free

Follow me on Social Media to stay up to date or subscribe to my channel!

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/albertabalsam
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/albertabalsam
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/albertabalsam
Mixcloud: http;//www.mixcloud.com.albertabalsam
Youtube:

Ngelem

Free Download

After her debut Ngelem in January, Alberta Balsam releases a
2 track single ‘I Can’t Save You’ on the 8th of March. This release contains the song ‘Feels’, a track that features dreamy kalimba bells, mysterious vocals and a dark deep bass. In the next track ‘I Can’t Save You’, arpeggiated, retro-wavey synths tumble over chopped op vocals and breakbeat drums. This second track comes with a music video. The music video follows a lost spaceman on a journey through a desolated city filled with alienating
architecture. The video is shot in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, Alberta Balsam’s hometown.

Listen to the song, watch the video or buy the song here:
http://smarturl.it/ab-icantsaveyou

I Can't Save You

Buy or Listen

Feels

The stems of these tracks were made available by Tzusing. This is my spin on it :)Let me know what you think!

Tzusing - O.D.D. (Alberta Balsam Remix)

Recorded for STRANDED FM x Red Light Radio - The taste of CARISTA @wasutrecht
@redlightradio
@strandedfm


Analog Rytm, Octatrack, Digitone, Big sky MB303, Kaoss Pad

Red Light Radio - The Taste Of Carista - 21st of June 2019

live recording of Alberta Balsam @ the Future Intel headquarters.

Alberta Balsam (live) ╚═ Future Intel ═╗ 13.02.20

Futuristic IDM from Rotterdam producer @albertabalsam taken off @iamcarista's first compilation spotlighting local Dutch talent, on her own @weareunitedidentities platform.

Read more & buy: https://www.stampthewax.com/2020/09/30/premiere-alberta-balsam-dig301/
Listen on YouTube: http://bit.ly/Alberta_Carista

Modern Intimacy Volume 1

Listen on YoutTube

Alberta Balsam - Dig301 (STW Premiere)

info@albertabalsam.com


Bookings please contact: 
anke@phuturewest.com

Alberta Balsam

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