Lost In Ladakh

From the album Voids, available November 4, 2022 on Western Vinyl
Pre-order / stream https://lnk.to/qwWosSOI

Voids

Old Fire - "Don't You Go ft. Bill Callahan"

thanks for listening:

https://barstoolastronaut.com/smashedn2stillness

Space Tourism

Smashed Into Stillness

Good morning and welcome to just another day in August. What will you do with your time today? Me? I'm going to spend about an hour sharing this amazing track with you. Then I'll go for an hour-long walk in the park, and listen to my own track which [I think] I finished last night. Yesterday I dug out one of my older synths (it's the Novation Nova) and pushed myself to extract some beautiful ambient swells from it. I think I've succeeded, at least in my way. Composing music could be a very solitary experience for me, and even though it is immensely therapeutic and often very much reflective, it does, on occasion, get a little bit lonely. It's like saying something to no one in particular, but once it's said, it does "feel" better. Even if there's no one to say something in return. But I do miss conversations. Conversations about music and conversations with music, in an abstract sort of language between two composers sharing a vision and sculpting a tale. This is where Vince Pope's idea of collaborating with numerous artists from around the world really resonates. He acknowledges our current predicament and beyond by accepting that we are "... divided by language, ideas, history, but united by the desire to create music..." For his truly collaborative release, titled Together Apart, Pope gathers artists from a wide representation of musical genres, including Dmitry Evgrafov, Stefano Guzzetti, Sophie Hutchings, and many others on his 12-track album, to use music as the means to connect us again -  "music, the language that all of us understand and that needs no translation."

Together Apart

Concrete Clouds

TRACK PREMIERE : Vince Pope, Lambert - Concrete Clouds

Here's a diffused ambient piece I made reimagining elements of Mozart's opera 'Così Fan Tutte' (So Do They All). I was interested in exploring material from the original piece and finding relationships between new and old. I was inspired by the idea of giving those elements from the past a new context, shifting them into modernity.

Written by SINK, Mozart
Arranged, Performed, Produced and Mixed by SINK

Mastered by Aneek Thapar

Artwork by Tjitske Oosterholt

Lyrics from Mozart's original opera:
Soave sia il vento,
tranquilla sia l'onda

Gossamer

Last year I've hosted a track premiere from Gaspar Claus' release, titled Tancade, appearing later on Headphone Commute's Best of 2021 list, which I also complimented with this studio feature. So you can say that I'm a fan! Now, this Paris-based cellist and composer is back with a new EP, once again, for InFiné. In addition to a piece which previously appeared on the album, titled "2359" and its "Night Blossom Version," which gravitates into an almost dancefloor territory, the release also features two new tracks, one of which I am premiering for you here today. It's one of my favourites and I couldn't just let it pass by. Starting off with a rhythmic staccato that marches toward an optimistic opening it suddenly drops into a melancholic progression of exquisite harmonies which are further picked up by the texture of strings. There is sadness and determinism, slight sorrow and full-on resolve, to keep going, keep feeling, despite all repression that seems to hold back. I can't say for a fact that it's the theme of the melody, but I can say that it's what I feel when it plays. Especially when I play it on repeat. I hope you enjoy!

2359

Amour Constrictor

TRACK PREMIERE : Gaspar Claus - Amour Constrictor

Regen is the 2nd single from my forthcoming "Unlearning" LP out 10.07.22 

Pre-order "Unlearning" LP: https://alekfin.bandcamp.com/album/unlearning

Additional streaming links: https://linktr.ee/alekfin

Credits:
Music by ALEK FIN
Label: @MysteryCircles
Mastered by Dave Cooley for Elysian Masters
Artwork by Wilmer Murillo

Lyrics:
Don't understand it through my heart
Don't complicate it from the start
I'm regenerated

Regen - Single

Regen

Pre-Order LP

Erased Tapes are proud to announce the first in a series of Bell Orchestre reissues. The band’s landmark debut album Recording a Tape the Colour of the Light is now streaming everywhere, with the original masters being repressed on vinyl for the first time since its original release in 2005. The vinyl reissue is out January 13 and available to pre-order now.

Formed in 1999 whilst studying in Montreal, the first music Bell Orchestre made was live scores for contemporary dance performances and puppet shows. Looking back at the band’s early years two decades later, drummer Stefan Schneider says: “Everybody was doing random things to pay the rent like working at cafes, busking, cooking at a daycare, making pizzas, teaching kids in China English by telephone at four in the morning. Mostly in our early 20s, Montreal was cheap, a little grungy and there was a vibrant DIY scene. We were all excited about this special chemistry that was felt making music together.”

A few years later, the writing and recording sessions for Recording a Tape... started taking shape. Most of the music was written in Kaveh Nabatian’s family cabin near a lake in remote Vermont in the deep winter. The roads weren’t ploughed, so to get there the group of friends had to cross a frozen lake on foot, carrying the instruments and boxes of food on sleds over snow and ice.

“The first pieces of music that were actually recorded were the field recordings that became the opening, middle and closing of the album. Pietro and I lived together in this loft that was beside the Lachine canal, and at the bottom of our street there was a traffic tunnel that went underneath the canal, and whenever I went walking down there I noticed the incredible acoustics — the sound of cars driving through it was this immense kind of oceanic sound. Pietro and Kaveh just improvised all these slow moving fanfare ideas, just playing together until their instruments got too cold to play and we eventually had to go inside again”, Richard Reed Parry remembers.

When the group entered the now-legendary Montreal studio Hotel2Tango, Arcade Fire were also recording their eponymous debut Funeral there and the two bands had to take turns recording. Due to the growing interest in Arcade Fire, Bell Orchestre was put on hold as members of both bands, Parry and Sarah Neufeld, quickly became occupied with Arcade Fire’s busy touring schedule. “The Bell Orchestre album was almost done, but it kind of sat there. We were just sitting on this album that we were really proud of, but we didn't have anyone to pay attention to it” Parry told Pitchfork in 2005. After signing to Rough Trade the same year, the album was released to critical acclaim and despite being overshadowed has since received cult status among fans.

After almost a decade of hiatus, the band signed to Erased Tapes in 2020. Long-time fan and friend of Bell Orchestre and its individual members, label founder Robert Raths was equally excited about them releasing new music and the opportunity to shine more light on their astonishing body of work.

“This record has always had a firm place in the wider Erased Tapes story, because it contributed heavily to some of us connecting online and eventually meeting in person. It is deeply ingrained in my memory of the time when I had just moved to London. I worked across the street from this small record shop called Pure Groove, where I’m pretty sure I picked up a copy based on its intriguing title and a hand-written note of recommendation by the staff.”

“When retouching the artwork files for this reissue, I noticed something I hadn’t noticed before. There is this seismographic disc that’s printed on the labels, which is astonishingly similar to the one that forms the basis for the original Erased Tapes mountain logo drawing by Chris Hernandez from 2007. When I pointed this funny little coincidence out to Richard, he immediately agreed it would be damn nice to highlight this connection,” states Robert Raths.

Recording a Tape the Colour of the Light

Bell Orchestre - Les Lumières Pt. 1

Relax/Study/Focus to this chill lofi track.

First Light

Orpheon Opening

just hear me

complete albums available on spotify, bandcamp, apple music, etc:

https://www.barstoolastronaut.com

all inquiries:  info at barstoolastronaut.com

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Smashed Into Stillness

Barstool Astronaut