Boltfish Recordings owners Mint and Cheju present an album from their collaborative project Biotron Shelf.

These 10 tracks began life with the artists collaborating in Mint’s London studio.

Field recordings made around the East End of London, in particular Victoria Park and Canary Wharf, formed the basis for many of the tracks. The sonic character and mood of these spaces informed the album: contrasting sites of culture and commerce; scenes of urban decay and pockets of pastoral tranquility; a vibrant clash of cultures, both ancient and modern. All these influences found their way into the musical and rhythmic elements of the tracks, which were created from a variety of electronic and acoustic sound sources including analogue and digital synthesizers, acoustic and electric guitars, hardware and software drum machines and samplers, prepared piano and shortwave radio static. The compositions were then bounced back and forth several times between Mint’s studio and Cheju’s Liverpool-based studio, with each artist working into the tracks with further edits, treatments and processes.

Tracks like Three Ten to Euston, Kyph, The King’s Horses and Forests of Glass and Steel are classic Biotron Shelf: warm organic electronica works in which soft autumnal analogue synth tones trace melancholic melodies, balanced with intricately crafted clicky beat patterns. Clockwork Pharmacy and Butternut Squash are more upbeat IDM tracks. The former blends heavily edited and processed prepared piano recordings with complex funky glitch beat patterns and oscillating bass tones, while the latter features crunchy drums, broken mechanical clicks, warm synth tones, twinkling electronic melodies and soaring strings. Formless Geometry is more of a tech/house styled track, with lush Detroit-influenced chords and a minimal, subtly glitched 4/4 beat. Other tracks show a more ambient and experimental side to the duo’s work: October Mist layers warped melodic droning textures over field recordings; in A Tree Without Birds folky acoustic guitar picking and electric guitar twangs are joined by bleepy synthesizer sequences and radio static; What Colour Is Your World? processes recordings of piano and acoustic guitar into dense layers of bit-crushed tones and granular textures.

BOLTLP012 - Cloud Bands and Arabesques - A Tree Without Birds

BOLTLP012 - Cloud Bands and Arabesques - Clockwork Pharmacy

BOLTLP012 - Cloud Bands and Arabesques - What Colour Is Your World?

BOLTLP012 - Cloud Bands and Arabesques - Formless Geometry

A special installment in Boltfish Recordings’ series of free mp3 downloads, with a 50 minute showcase mix of tracks from the Boltfish catalogue, selected and mixed with additional field recordings and ambient elements by Obfusc.

Tracklisting:
* Sabi - I L V III
* Skytree - Lake Language
* City Rain - A Familiar Warmth
* Biotron Shelf - Clockwork Pharmacy
* Yvat - Clypeaster
* Z-Arc - Theta Sigma
* Polestar - Music for Abandoned Factories
* Milieu - Lazer Rinq
* Cheju - Moiré
* Richard Houghten - Going To Go Now
* Electricwest - The Nightshift
* Obfusc - Hologram Grip
* Mint - Whispering Gallery
* BTB - Sweet Lysoform

Boltfish Recordings Showcase #4 - mixed by Obfusc

Zainetica offered a 4 track slice of his world as part of our ongoing free digital series in the shape of his 'Lost Moments ep'.

BOLTDIGI013: Zainetica : Intelligent Weapons Stupid People

8yone returns to Boltfish Recordings with a quirky 4 track offering for our free digital series.

BOLTDIGI014: 8yone : CrankChameleon

BOLTDIGI015: David Newlyn
Title: Xerox Days
David Newlyn presents a beautifully serene and heartwarming 4 track EP for our free digital series. Acoustic guitar, piano, emotive chords and delicate percussion combine to help calm the senses.



BOLTDIGI015: David Newlyn : Track 4.11

Boltfish regular Joseph Auer with some deep and soulful Detroit-styled techno - old school drum machine grooves, lush pads, warm bass, and fluid funk-tinged synth lines as a FREE mp3 single to add to our popular digital series.

BOLTDIGI008: Joseph Auer: Uptown Funk

ENV(itre) returned to Boltfish Recordings with a beautiful 3 track EP entitled "Fervenn" from which this track is taken. Opening track 'A Shade of Putrid' combined dark glitchy beats with some deep and brooding synth work, while 'Not Mot Plod' pitted heavier splintered drum programming against some gorgeous melodic tones, and the closing track 'Cumf Lad' was classic IDM with a twist of hip hop and some lovely atmospheric textures.

BOLTDIGI011: ENV(itre): Not Mot Plod

Launched in January 2004,  Boltfish Recordings is an electronic music label. It is owned and operated by Cheju and Mint, long time musical collaborators and friends.
With a roster of nearly 40 artists from around the globe, Boltfish Recordings has a back catalogue covering over 50 physical and digital releases, including a number of free download singles and EPs.

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