Ambient

KMRU is a star in the making. In 2020, the Kenyan artist released three LPs – 'Peel', 'Jar' and 'Opaquer' – with the former landing via Viennese experimental imprint Editions Mego. All three releases – plus last month’s album, 'Logue' – signal an artist with a clear focus and boundless vision. 

Given his compelling approach to composition and arrangements, we thought we’d tap Kamaru for a specialist mix devoted to the sort of leftfield, experimental and ambient sounds he’s been quietly fashioning into something that sounds entirely unique to him. Kamaru’s mix showcases an array of tracks produced by Black artists from Africa, and the diaspora.

KMRU plays Intonal Festival 2021, which runs from 16–20 June.

Check out the full tracklist on crackaud.io: crackm.ag/35hR7tF

Still Independent. Help us keep it that way: crackm.ag/support

Leftfield sounds from Africa and the diaspora – Mixed by KMRU

A selection of the tracks included on 'Retrospective'. 

Written and Produced by Agustín Mena
Mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri at Black Knoll Studio (NY)
Photography by Alexander Kopatz
www.go70north.com
ARCHIVES78 // ARCHIVESCD59

Warmth - Retrospective (2016-2021)

Interview: https://www.lowendtheorists.com/theory-therapy-mixes/50-kmru

Music for train journeys, scored by KMRU.

Therapy Therapy 50 was recorded on a train from Basel to Berlin by one of our all-time favourite artists, Joseph Kamaru aka KMRU. 

Theory Therapy listeners will most likely be very familiar with the Berlin-based producer’s extensive and lauded catalogue already. The Nairobi sound artist has been pivotal in broadening ambient music’s terrain over the last few years, both in the way it is produced and what it can be (for one thing, that it should never be reduced to a single sound or concept; great ambient is many, often contradictory, things all at once.)

His mix contains all of the hallmarks that make his music so engaging. It’s a masterclass in tone and texture, delicately moving between a kaleidoscope of sounds by some of electronic music’s most interesting creators — a fitting way to celebrate the 50th episode in the series. Thank you Joseph for this mix.

@kamarujoseph

Theory Therapy 50: KMRU

Stupor

CPR-12*

Good morning, and welcome to the quietest week of the year. Did you have a good holiday? Before I sign off for the year, I think I’ve got one more gem to share with you. Here's a wonderful label showcase and a reflection on this past year from a lovely independent Valencia-based imprint, Archives, curated and operated by Agustín Mena, aka Warmth. I’ve profiled plenty of its releases since its inception in 2015, and I must admit that Warmth’s Parallel (2018) has been on repeat more than others. If anything, it is only rivalled by Glow, which is his collaboration with Fionnlagh, recently released on December 8th, 2023 (you’ll hear a few tracks on this mix). In any case, enjoy the mix, and please support the featured artists! For full details and tracklisting, visit Headphone Commute's main site.

Mixes

Archives 2023

Warmth - Archives 2023

🌐 Refuge Worldwide is a radio station and community space based in Berlin-Neukölln.
➡️ More info, more music: www.refugeworldwide.com

Support us by becoming a member on Patreon for just 3€ a month: www.patreon.com/refugeworldwide

Stayer - KMRU - 27 May 2024

Disconnect

Difference

Natur

Natur 3

We all need to heal, we all need to learn to release people, things and unhealthy attachments we keep in our lives or within ourselves. It is not easy when it comes to relationships, friendships, family and our own internal attachments related to our past experiences, but as soon as we realize that some of those emotional bonds are blocking our growth and well-being, we need to make the decision to let go.

For all those who are going through such an uneasy period in life, I have prepared a little meditative journey bringing the Peace from the faraway Worlds. This one is the very first one which is fully spiritually oriented and it evolves in slow 111 BPM. 

With every mix I have ever prepared I healed myself from different kind of bad energies, emotional pain and mental struggles, and this Hypnotherapy of mine is dedicated to release our negative attachments specifically.

Enjoy 🤍

My digital artwork is a collage of the AI Blue Moon, starry night and my own photography of my window view 🌑

Tracklist ~

1. nthng ~ Our Time
2. nthng ~ Dissappeared but Not Forgotten
3. nthng ~ Only a Flash of Light
4. Linear Phase ~ Unexpected Sunshine
5. Sun Dawei ~ 10 Lún Líng 
6. State Azure ~ Eyes of the Moon
7. Sun Dawei ~ Cliff
8. Sun Dawei ~ Xiǎng Dāng Rán
9. Solma ~ The Key To Killing Your Ego 
10. State Azure ~ Luna
11. Delusional Circuits x Polygonia ~ Swirling Mirage
12. Maria W Horn ~ Panoptikon
13. Caterina Barbieri ~ Perennial Fantas
14. Mwamwa ~ Ooq 
15. Primal Code ~ Jikan
16. Feral ~ Kykeon 
17. En.ka ~ Aura
18. Dycide x Epsilon ~ Structural Depths 
19. Fernie ~ Meda 
20. R/D/V ~ Primal Forest
21. Vladw ~ Gote
22. Lakej ~ Purification Of Past Life
23. Mod.1 ~ Eternal Distance
24. Ancestral Landscapes, Adjust (BE) ~ Darkest Night
25. Sam Wilson ~ Leaving All The Rest Behind
26. Nitromi Galien ~ Moon Goddess Vocal Ceremony

Nitromi Galien 〜 Blue Moon Meditation 〜 Release & Let Go

~ Deep Breakfast 274 by https://soundcloud.com/abul-mogard ~

Tracklist:
[00:00:00] Ark Zead - Niptaktuk
[00:01:54] Lustmord - Goetia
[00:07:10] Agnes Haus - Memory Disconnect
[00:12:50] David Toop & Lawrence English - Reading Bones
[00:16:48] Bernard Parmegiani - Lumière Noire - Moins L'infini
[00:18:24] Karen Vogt - Corvette
[00:23:43] TeZ - Serenity
[00:28:15] Grand River and Abul Mogard - Ricordando Il Giorno
[00:30:18] Pinkcourtesyphone - The Pinkish Gate
[00:31:20] Colin Potter - Live Cafe Oto (London, April 2018)
[00:33:01] Claire Rousay - Going Home
[00:35:30] Penelope Trappes - Harmonic No. 2
[00:39:06] Marco Lucchi - Minimalismo In Modo Ionio w/ Mean Flow
[00:41:36] Cindytalk - Maglev
[00:44:02] Stefano Pilia - CODEXIII(())
[00:47:20] Massimo Pupillo -  Beaivi
[00:49:06] Claire M Singer - Forrig
[00:57:30] Klara Lewis & Nik Colk Void - To Hold
[01:00:02] Skrima - Eetnaa
[01:01:00] Suso Saiz - MADAY Part I
[01:04:59] Sylvain Chauveau - u (Live)
[01:06:18] Zságer Balázs - Esik Eső (feat. Дeva)
[01:07:38] Floating World Pictures with Ocean Moon - Hourglass Labyrinth 
[01:09:38] Abul Mogard & Rafael Anton Irisarri - Place Of Forever

Abul Mogard
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/abulmogard

Deep Breakfast Series
Instagram: www.instagram.com/deepbreakfastseries/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/DeepBreakfastSeries/

Deep Breakfast 274 ~ Abul Mogard

@kamarujoseph paints varied soundscapes in his monthly ‘Palettes’ show, running through a selection of ambient and experimental sounds.

Palettes w/ KMRU (08.10.2024)

Jonas Munk is a Danish composer known for his atmospheric, ambient soundscapes, released under his real name, as well as the celebrated Manual project, which I've been following from the early 2000s via Make Mine Music, Darla, and Morr. Most of his solo works (and collaborations with Ulrich Schnauss) appear on his own Azure Vista Records, including the record I'm sharing today. And if that's not enough, you may [and should] recognise his other renowned project with Jason Kolb, known as Billow Observatory, which I've lauded on these pages for every single release. If you already know this fantastic artist, you can learn more about his process in this interview, which I published in 2019: In the studio with Jonas Munk. His latest release, titled Mirror Phase, is the final record in the trilogy of minimal ambient albums composed using guitar loops and lush synth pads. My favourite piece on the album is the title track, which is why I'm happy to premiere it for you today. This is the longest piece, approaching 18 minutes, and it's a slow-burn evolution of warm frequencies that oscillate at different phases, creating that beating of constantly shifting patterns, which finally develop into a blissful sonic space. Suddenly, all of the eighteen minutes pass, and I feel like I should experience the journey all over. Everything is perfectly out of focus, creating a brand-new perspective on repeat rotations. These are the stunning "sonic structures that gradually evolve, like cloud formations in the sky..." Fans of delicate and introspective moments from the likes of William Basinski, Christopher Willits, and Stars of the Lid will find themselves in a familiar environment with plenty of texture to get lost in and then discover themselves again.

Read more on Headphone Commute:
https://headphonecommute.com/2024/10/24/jonas-munk-mirror-phase/

Mirror Phase

TRACK PREMIERE : Jonas Munk - Mirror Phase

~ Deep Breakfast 281 by https://soundcloud.com/midorihirano ~

Tracklist:
1. Sugai Ken - 環境音 其の壱 - Environmental Sounds At Erosion Control 
2. Andrew Pekler - Sunshower at Sandy Island
3. Pjusk - Seil
4. Animal Magic - Longshore Drift
5. Claire Rousay - discrete (the market)
6. Arash Akbari - You Are Made Of Light
7. Frank Bretschneider and Giorgio Li Calzi - Human-to-Human
8. Jan Jelinek - Do Dekor
9. Soisong - Soisong Broadcast #7
10. Richard Skelton - For The Application of Fire
11. Midori Hirano - Saiboh
12. Aaron Cupples - Blowholes
13. Asuna - Sea Above, Chubby Plane, Sky Below
14. Ellen Arkbro & Johan Graden - Other Side
15. Meitei - Okue

Midori Hirano
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/midorihirano

Deep Breakfast Series
Instagram: www.instagram.com/deepbreakfastseries/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/DeepBreakfastSeries/
Tumblr: www.tumblr.com/deepbreakfastseries

Deep Breakfast 281 ~ Midori Hirano

San Antonio producer & sound artist Claire Rousay journeys through healing plaintive electronics, quotidian field recordings & minimalist compositions...  
Find the full tracklist and related episodes on NTS: https://www.nts.live/shows/claire-rousay/episodes/claire-rousay-5th-may-2025

Claire Rousay 050525

First DJ set @ The Loading Bay

Tracklist:

Pact Infernal - The Descent
Stone Leaf - A3_[S]WAVE "Subtext"
MXC - Dutty Pups
Akkord - Navigate
Offish - Shallow Grave
Swarm Intelligence - Dejected
Malena - Vervweigung
Verge - Conduit
Eximia - First Contact
Luna - Mystical Nature
Darkgray Heart - Searching for Love
Napes - North Road
Parasite - Abaddon
BCDJ - Tribes
No Rules & Itti - Overdrive


brokenatoms DJ set @ The Loading Bay 15.05.25

Ulrich Schnauss & Jonas Munk: "Passage" out now on CD/LP (via Azure Vista Records) and digital (via Pedigree Cuts)!

Order here: www.azurevistarecords.bandcamp.com

Info:

Following the release of ‘No Further Ahead Than Today’ last November Ulrich Schnauss (now a member of Tangerine Dream) wastes little time in bringing us the long awaited sequel to his 2011 eponymous collaboration with Jonas Munk.

There's a prismatic, multi-dimensional quality to these 11 tracks, most likely stemming from the fact that these two producers have each worked with a wide range of styles and musicians throughout their 15+ year careers: Ulrich cut his teeth as a drum and bass producer in Berlin, before releasing a string of highly influential neo-shoegaze records on labels such as Domino and City Centre Offices. Since moving to London in 2006 he's been a member of the bands Engineers and Longview, remixed many artists (from Depeche Mode and Pet Shop Boys to Mojave 3) and since 2013, been a member of legendary band Tangerine Dream.

While Jonas initially became known to the electronica community via his Manual albums on Morr Music and Darla Records, he also has a career as a noted producer on the European psych scene, as well as working on film soundtracks and experimental minimalism.

Fans of the first album’s euphoric and blissful moments will find much to love here, but also themes that gradually unfurl into crisp, symphonic soundscapes. The album is perfectly titled - it certainly has the feel of a journey but not in a literal sense. It feels like an ‘emotional passage’ or one that plays out via a series of dreams.

Opener ‘Amaris’ has many of the Schnauss hallmarks that we’ve come to enjoy from his many shoegaze collaborations and Munk is the perfect foil for this side to his oeuvre - the track chimes and sways beautifully before one of his trademark melodies hits and leaves you breathless. Munk introduces a more progressive aspect to the release than previously heard by the pair on 'genau wie damals', which recalls several 70’s guitar based giants, though in 2016 this is somehow a natural diversion for a record bearing Ulrich’s name.
Mst’ is certainly one for those yearning for the open armed rush of the first album will surely embrace - 80’s guitars and electro drums set the scene for some of the most gorgeous sequencing and melodic synth work on the album. In truth though, there’s no shortage of highlights. The retro futurism of ‘Spellbreaker’ is awesomely addictive and modest standout ‘Caffeine blues’ combines tasteful guitar strokes with a standard of Berlin school sequencing that surely only a member of one of the scene’s key exponents could summon.

Ulrich Schnauss & Jonas Munk: "Ao Hinode"

Intensive ambient explorations and other stories.

Ambient

Bleeptwig