SERA014: Satellite Era presents "Distant Arrays Volume 05" - the fifth edition of our various artist series that aims to diversify our collection of experimental dance music.

Our long-awaited return to the Distant Arrays series finds us venturing back to the core idea that encapsulates our label: experimentation. This edition targets eccentric subgenres, maximalist sound design, and distinct ventures to glitched-out realms. We are thrilled to introduce an entirely new cast of producers onto our roster, each wielding an unparalleled approach to the world of leftfield electronic music.

Setting a stylistic precedent for the release, we welcome @disektor and @tenebralcortex to our label with “Selective Exposure.” Based in Morocco and France respectively, the two Geometric Corruption artists combine their efforts to deliver a challenging track that focuses on forward-thinking sound design. Panning glitched tones travel through the spatial soundscape, while a distorted kick drum consistently drives the song’s energy. Beneath all its glitchy gloriousness lies a notable foundation inspired by both braindance and breakbeat.

Following his remix on our latest compilation “Year Two: Revisited,” Los Angeles-based artist @ramonpang joins forces with Italian producer @pcnxo to deliver a track that closely ties their different styles together. Blending precise drum work with pleasant vocal cuts that feel like a motif, “Death-Singing Flower” is an ode to experimental music that is unafraid to be emotional. As of late, both artists have been delivering highly acclaimed projects individually: Psykh proudly represents the Millennium Strike crew, while RamonPang just released a full-length record on his Tabula Rasa imprint.

Having been on our radar since the start of the label, we welcome Montreal-based producer, visual artist, and event organizer @fxbip. With formative releases on Concrete Collage, he finds sonic inspiration just about everywhere, from modern electronic to microtonal and contemporary classical music. His latest track “Hydrogen Cocktail” is a clear nod to the niche world of breakcore - frantic percussion, alerting pads, and a gabber-like bassline all align to create an authentic experience for avid followers of the subgenre.

Based in Northern California over the years, @lobie has quietly grown with the experimental bass music scene historically from that region - this is a clear influence in “Grid,” with its attentive sub and melodic synths. The track was produced and performed live without the use of a digital audio workstation, utilizing his personal arsenal of synthesizers and samplers. Implementing polyrhythmic patterns that are rotated throughout the progression, this unique track has found a proper home on the off-kilter side of our label.

Distant Arrays is an immersive showcase of our audio/visual capabilities as a collective. We are honored to introduce you to our growing team, continuously expanding our newfound interpretation of sound.

"Stationed beyond the horizon lies a cluster of autonomous satellite arrays - each serving as capsules of detained time, points of transit between diverse concepts, and the sensorial relation between tangible audio and visual worlds. They fill the thin air with varied frequencies and beam optic elements into the minds of drawn newcomers and devoted adherents alike. Though each array hosts different creators from every remote edge of this decaying planet, they communicate with us through the vigorous potential of art. They link together to create a limitless field without borders – only human connection. These are the Distant Arrays..."

BUY / STREAM

Lobie - Grid

This album is made by Bplrxxiii and Native Cell. We worked on and off on it, over a period of two years (2017-2019). It was a fun creative process, sending each other ideas back and forth to achieve intriguing sounds and soundscapes. Our inspiration was taken in nature and the infinitely large and infinitely small. Mixed with retro-futuristic vibe, ambiant and glitchy spiked details.

Nor Particle

Moving Planets

The latest release by Australian, Berlin-based artist Felicity Mangan collects a series of works created during 2020 and 2021 and reveals the artist’s fascination with all things water and other related phenomena. Featuring a wide scope of works – a recording of a performance utilising biorhythms and timbres collected from river banks sits next to a monophonic installation piece inspired by both amphibians and amphitheaters or recordings of a human-frog conversation – ‘Wet On Wet’ is fascinating both in concept and sonics, continuing to expand on Mangan’s previous interest in biophonic patterns, quasi-bioacoustics and aural illusions.

Wet On Wet

Felicity Mangan – Digging The Pedospheric Vibes I

Meta, Construct within’ Spaces

fuck KMT

08. Call Us By Our Names (a Sequel To 請問芳名 Should You Ask My Name) - Feat. 林理惠 & LEO37

Tension | P3RY Invites Archidi - 01/12/2022

Obstinacy Does Not Redeem Anyone is the second track in Hate Devours Its Host, a brand new full-length by Valance Drakes, and its third for Amek. Pre-order up here until September 29: https://amekcollective.bandcamp.com/album/hate-devours-its-host

Four years lay between An Angel In Alliance With Falsehood and Hate Devours Its Host, Valance Drakes’s brand new full-length for Amek Collective. This deeply personal record sets the producer on yet another path of narrative-driven musical alchemy. Without a doubt, Hate Devours Its Host is Valance Drakes’ most atmospheric work to date. Multilayered ambient soundscapes and spiraling melodic debris are used not as a backdrop but as the backbone of the record. The producer's signature intricate rhythmic structures, subterranean basslines, and hypnotizing sample manipulation are entangled in this drifting sonic environment. All these elements become an inseparable and emotionally intense whole.

We watched this album grow and unfold. As with all things Valance Drakes, the music in Hate Devours Its Host seems that it can be experienced in a breath but truly grasping everything that lies within requires patience and attention to detail. All elements in Hate Devours Its Host are carefully considered, meticulously organized, and purposeful. This full-length is another showcase not just of Drakes' sound design and compositional craftsmanship but an honest representation of life as beautiful or punishing as it can get.

Produced by Valance Drakes
Mastered by Marius Costache
Artwork by Nikola Kostov

Amek Collective

Valance Drakes - Obstinacy Does Not Redeem Anyone

You can pre-order the cassette  at Clan Destine Records :
clandestinerecords.bandcamp.com/album/void

Nor Particle

Bipolar Cell