A pleasure to be invited by @mouhoi for a guest mix on Lower Grand Radio this mix features some tracks from my favorite improvisation-based musicians and four tracks from my latest CD Release of 'Dragon Rising'

'Dragon Rising' CDs Available via @bioscontrast & @mouhoi Bandcamp:
bioscontrast.bandcamp.com/album/dragon-rising
mouhoi.bandcamp.com/album/dragon-rising

Tracklist:
1) Bios Contrast - Kanthaka
2) Void Patrol - Hadar
3) Bios Contrast - Take Care Of Our Son
4) Pallavur Appu Marar - Vadyasamanwayam - Jugalbandi
5) Bios Contrast - Anahata
6) Toby Summerfield - Tannery Falls (night)
7) Bios Contrast - Recycle Accession Succession

Bios Contrast | Lower Grand Radio (29.08.2022)

I have a certain way of doing things but this time I decided to drop a single to kill time while exporting the FLACs for 12 Hour Harmonium Drone Album.

Official Video: https://youtu.be/MrLFuX7TsLU

'Black Box Recovery' is a one-off made during the making of 'Bios Contrast - Meltwater Pulse' and is a result of extreme brainstorming and overthinking that took me to the edge of insanity and throwing words around.

Will DJ Nilo Survive the El Nino and Cyclone Mocha?

Vocals - Bios Contrast, Online Text To Speech
Drums - Bios Contrast
Mixing - Bios Contrast
Mastering - Bios Contrast
Artwork - Bios Contrast

Black Box Recovery

'Harmonium I' initially started as a DIY project to experiment if I could play my Harmonium for 12 Hours and also a way to escape from my own norms of working that I had set for 'Bios Contrast'. The project soon turned into a developmental hell when I decided to turn it into a 24-hour project so that it includes both 12 Hours of Remodeled and the Raw Recordings version of the record.

When I started questioning the entire nature of this project I discovered how sound and music can be weaponized and used as a tool for torture so I decided that this record would be the first and last of its kind there will be no Harmonium II nor a physical copy.

It is recommended that you listen to no more than two tracks a day.

'Harmonium I' was recorded at my storeroom studio in two days by compiling eleven 60-minute performances, a 49-minute performance and an 11-minute performance of Harmonium (opened springs) all recorded using two Omnidirectional Microphones and pumped by switching between two hands at random intervals.
The Raw Recordings tracks uses little to no EQ whereas The Remodeled tracks uses Heavy Processing and Multilayered EQ.

The last two tracks 'Studio Suicide, 2020' & 'Studio Suicide, 2021' were played with two hands on Harmonium using a modified 8000 RPM CPU fan with high resistance wires connected at the back of the Bellow using screws and were recorded during the final export stage of the album. It is a way of translating how music for me has died since 2021 during the pandemic. It is also a reference to Tim Hecker's "Studio Suicide, 1980"

15 Bonus items in Bandcamp includes multiple pictures of the Harmonium from different angles and the full key combination of the record together with CD designs of the unreleased physical version.

This record is priced €6 in Bandcamp because I encourage you to donate the money if you want to pay more to any charity you trust or a person in need.

Harmonium - Nilotpal Das, Bios Contrast
Mixing - Nilotpal Das, Bios Contrast
Mastering - Nilotpal Das, Bios Contrast
Artwork - Nilotpal Das, Bios Contrast
Special Thanks - My Family, Rohan Thakuri, Bandcamp & My Listeners

Harmonium I

Studio Suicide, 2021

Nilotpal Das & Bios Contrast - Studio Suicide, 2021

Stung By The Deadliest Human (DJ Nilo FASTEST Demix)

Nilotpal Das & Bios Contrast - Harmonica A#3 D4 D#4 F4 [H C-(M) Joses Salitre's Phantom Rework]

Harmonica A#3 D4 D#4 F4 [H C-(M) Joses Salitre's Phantom Rework] (Bells Only)

A guttural perspective on Nilotpal Das & Bios Contrast's Harmonium I.
3 short reworks mixing processed voices as the main instrument.

All Audio & Artwork by H C-(M)

Harmonium I [H C​-​(​M) / Joses Salitre's Glottic Reworks]

Harmonica A1 To B1 C#2 F#2  [H C-(M) Joses Salitre's Guttural Phantasm Rework]

Harmonica A1 To B1 C#2 F#2  [H C-(M) / Joses Salitre's Guttural Phantasm Rework]

Harmonica E1 B1 [H C-(M) Saint Larynx Rework]

Harmonica E1 B1 [H C-(M)'s Santo Fonatorio Rework]

I recorded this EP during 2023 in Janakpur, Nepal. I woke up at 3AM and started recording sounds of trucks and cars passing by giving a doppler effect to the tracks and a chilly wintery night atmosphere.
I know I have been putting out a lot of music, I think it's time to slow down a bit.

Field Recordings, Woodwind, Bass, Drums, Mixing, Mastering & Artwork by Nilotpal Das

115.14 Bm

Bios Contrast & Nilotpal Das - 115.14 Bm

115.14 Bm (Jazz Ed1t)

Bios Contrast & Nilotpal Das - 115.14 Bm (Jazz Ed1t)

Artist Name - Bios Contrast, Nilotpal Das
EP Title -  n1ghtrunners
Release Date: 28/03/2025
Copyright - 2025 Bios Contrast
Listen/Order Link: https://bioscontrast.bandcamp.com/album/n1ghtrunners
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/bios.contrast

I recorded rain near the beach in Puri, Orissa and combined it with EL-B Drums and Burial like pads.

Credits:
Field Recordings, Synths, Bass, Drums, Mixing, Mastering & Artwork by Nilotpal Das

n1ghtrunners

130.42 F#maj

To accompany his interview in The Wire 495, Kolkata born Nilotpal Das, aka Bios Contrast, creates a special mix of his own tracks alongside music by influences including Aphex Twin, Madvillain, Deftones, AR Rahman, and My Bloody Valentine
https://www.thewire.co.uk/audio/tracks/wire-mix-bios-contrast-nilotpal-das

“The harmonium I use was gifted to my grandfather by his friend 45 years ago, and then he gave it to me,” says Kolkata musician Nilotpal Das. “I started playing when I was around 14. It’s really old and worn out, with an old sound to it. I wanted to experiment with how I can make drone sounds with it.”

The instrument appears in modified forms in his expansive, sometimes noisy, droning electroacoustic compositions. Another side of Das’s production is a collision-heavy club output that takes cues from “dubstep, noise, jungle, drum ’n’ bass” among numerous other sources of inspiration. Das works under his own name and the alias Bios Contrast, which “comes from the Greek word bios, meaning life, and contrast, which also means against life – I don’t really like the name but I’m stuck with it”.

As to how he decides which name suits each release, he leans into the confusion: “The stuff I put out is like a mixed bag, much like [Japanese video game designer] Hideo Kojima. I feel like now my stuff shouldn’t make sense all the time and that’s good, in a way I’ll have more artistic freedom.” His main tools are his laptop and Ableton, which he runs almost everything through. “My club tracks are mostly sample-based, and I also use harmonium samples,” he explains. Alongside soft-synths and samplers on his drone and ambient pieces he plays “guitar as well, but not as good as the harmonium. It’s been two years of playing the guitar – I used it with a bow like a string instrument. I also have a violin, but I play the guitar as a violin.”

Here, he curates a special Wire mix in advance of his new album SSAC42, which will be released on 27 June by Infinite Machine.
https://infinitemachine.bandcamp.com/album/ssac42

Tracklist:

Aphex Twin “Nightmail [London 14.09.2019]”
Deftones “Engine No 9”
Madvillain featuring Quasimoto “Shadows Of Tomorrow”
Wadaiko Matsuriza “Oni-mo-naku (Even A Demon Cries)”
Baatarjav “Tsuur”
Bios Contrast & Nilotpal Das “Crossing The River”
Caterina Barbieri “Math Of You”
Bios Contrast “Silence”
Death Grips “Lost Boys”
Bios Contrast & Nilotpal Das “Gondho Jhaater Chule”
Bios Contrast & Nilotpal Das “Club Warfare”
Bios Contrast & Nilotpal Das “everyth1ng 1n l1fe (feat K_anti)”
Bios Contrast & Nilotpal Das “ap0calypse 42”
Lucky Ali “Ek Pal Ka Jeena”
AR Rahman/Lata Mangeshkar/MG Sreekumar “Jiya Jale”
My Bloody Valentine “Soon”

Wire mix: Bios Contrast & Nilotpal Das

Contact & Bookings: bioscontrast@gmail.com
https://linktr.ee/bios.contrast

Nilotpal Das

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