Releases

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

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

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

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15 Billion Elektrovolt

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Alberta Balsam - 15 Billion Elektrovolt - DUB050

*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)

One Way Trip to Gaia, Alberta Balsam's debut album, propels listeners into uncharted territory, delivering a futuristic fairytale--a utopian world that serves as a sonic refuge from reality. Building on the electro-IDM foundations of her earlier releases , this record evolves into an odyssey of bass-driven beats, breakbeat rhythms, and dub-infused atmospheres. As her most vocal project to date, the album showcases her ability to merge pop sensibility with otherworldly sound design, all while maintaining that club-ready energy.

Limited edition: pressed on a black and silver marbled vinyl. Sleeve design by Timaeus

Mind Melter

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

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