Pre-order date: 15th July 2022
Release date: 22th July 2022
Format: CD, Digital

I'm fascinated by TV shows like Mountain Men, The Last Alaskans, Alaska the Last Frontier a.o.
They are masters of independence and living offgrid and off the land. 
This album is dedicated to the men who make their living off the land - hunting, fishing and trapping to put food on the table. 
For Mountain Men, survival is predicated on using ancient skills perfected over hundreds of years.

If you can picture the very furthest, coldest, darkest part of Norway, that’s where Mind over MIDI resides. If you want to get an idea of what it’s like there, and can do without the frostbite, then this is the perfect solution. Helge Tømmervåg produces sweeping, icy synthscapes, with digital snowflakes since 1995.

Copyright © 2022 ROHS! RECORDS, All Rights Reserved

Info release

previews. Mind over MIDI - Offgrid (Album) | Lᴏɴᴛᴀɴᴏ Series

Fossil Hunting Collective is musician and sound artist Jamie Jones, from Guelph in Canada who has been active under this artist name since 2019. He has previously released music on labels such as Ambientologist, ROHS, Polar Seas and Rusted Tone Recordings across this project name and as (ph)authers (alongside Hymns57) and Still Harbours (with Brad Deschamps). Followers of our discography may also recall 2020’s contribution to our Home Diaries series, entitled ‘Aperture’. 

‘Cyanotype’ was made primarily, via the beautiful surprises thrown out of various guitar pedals along with re-amped loops played back through old cassette recorders. Whilst virtual plugins are also used throughout the process, Jones places an emphasis on the physical too, with his small body acoustic guitar strung with nylons, a Jazzmaster guitar, a baritone ukulele and reel to reel tape. The sound is a heady blend of melancholy, nostalgic and life-affirming movements, using droning texture, tape decay and loosely performed instrumentation to tell dreamy stories.

The theme for this album was born out of the emotions that Jones pours into his music, as he contemplates the day-to-day struggles of his daughter Hunter, who has been Type 1 Diabetic for the last two years of their life. This autoimmune disease can be life-threatening if not managed correctly and around 95% of Jones’ headspace is occupied with worry, as follows strict procedures to count carbohydrates, weigh out food and monitor blood sugar metrics to ensure that his daughter does not become hypoglycaemic, which could lead to a coma. Controlling this disease is a full-time job and one which Jones carries the weight of at all times. The worry, care and withered energy levels mean that these emotions surface their way into the music, when he sits down in his studio late at night.

The album is a homage to what Hunter must go through each day of their life, living with Type 1 Diabetes.  No child or parent should have to go through this. No child should need to understand how it all works, but they are forced to wonder ‘why me’.  On top of the weight of the emotional trauma, there is a physical trauma that comes with being injected with devices and life-saving medication numerous times a day, until a cure can be found. Jones and his family are keen to remind themselves when they can, that the disease does not define the being, and they still celebrate all the positive splendour life can offer. These tracks are an emotional journey of the day-to-day; there is the good and the bad, days of hope and wonder, days of melancholy and sadness.  Above all, they are not alone in this fight, and they all work together as a unit, protecting their family bond fiercely, like bees.

At an age of around 18 months, Hunter adopted the nickname ‘B’, after being so enthralled with their bee costume for Halloween that they continued to wear on many occasions afterwards. The track titles for this album are all influenced by bee related terminology but also, in some cases there are double meanings, such as ‘Apiary’ (meaning home), ‘Castes’ (members of the family) ‘Mellitus Propolis’ combines Mellitus (Latin for sweet)) used in describing Diabetes Mellitus and Propolis (the resin that bees use to hold hives together).

The album package makes use of the artist’s wife Richelle Forsey, who is a visual artist. Richelle often employs a process using the energy of the sun (ultra violet) to expose a camera-less image on paper coated with iron salts. This is called a cyanotype and the paper undergoes a chemical reaction which fixes the image, thus creating an imprinted monochrome ‘blueprint’.

Cyanotype

wlr121 Fossil Hunting Collective - Cyanotypes

Sustain Series returns for its third iteration, bringing together ever-more artists for another showcase of recycled music. Reworks and newfound collaborations make up this 27-piece album, demonstrating what can be achieved with ‘one’s trash and another’s treasure’.

 https://bit.ly/amb-sustain3

All Bandcamp proceeds of this album are to be donated to Eden Reforestation Projects, to help continue their work sustaining important local environments, and providing jobs to those that restore and maintain them.

Ai Yamamoto - Quiet Room (anthéne Recycle)

Once again, we’re excited to unveil another Polaroid Notes release, the fourth album by this Germany based artist in our discography. Alongside his side-project as Kraut Sounds, editions have also appeared on labels such as Büro Für Erdrotation, Weber & Alcantu and his own label Drone Works International.

In this latest edition ‘Cloud Anthems’, the music takes influence from the packaging photography, which was taken by the artist one sunny January at the Riegsee, a small lake in front of the Bavarian Alps. The entire lake had frozen over due to low temperatures in the weeks before. Later that afternoon fog rolled in and together with the sun, the frozen lake and leafless trees made a wonderful contrast. The whole scenario lasted only a few minutes before everything disappeared into the clouds of dense fog. As beautiful as the whole day was, those few moments were something very special to behold.

Polaroid Notes enjoys these contrasts, both in nature and in music too. ‘Cloud Anthems’ is a series of unique contrasts that harmonise perfectly, remaining in mind for a while after they have passed. Piano sounds and loops interact with flashes of harsh energy and strange experimental sounds from old analog synthesizers. A particular focus for this record is the VCS3 synthesiser, a portable synth from the late 60s; whilst a digital replica was used here, the artist found this to be the perfect way to express the themes for this record. Sounds and melodies flow into each other spontaneously like colours of an abstract painting, layer by layer.

Credits:
Written and produced by Polaroid Notes
Mastered by James Edward Armstrong
Photography by Polaroid Notes
Art and design by Andrew Heath

Cloud Anthems

wlr123 Polaroid Notes - Cloud Anthems

Tracklist

01. Lullatone - Like pebbles in a stream
02. Monogoto - Lamella (deletion 78)
03. Arovane & Taylor Deupree - Denn_Repp
04. Simon McCorry - Bearing Witness
05. Fields We Found - Walk
06. Grotta Veterano - Slumbers (Part 4)
07. Jeannine Schulz - The Wind Blows Over The Earth
08. Darren McClure - Look At The Light
09. Tomotsugu Nakamura - Transmitter

311. Sleepy Sunday Podcast (Elm Records)

Tracklist

01. Observatories - Sapphire Waters
02. Tom Leclerc -  Diary of Lights
03. Fields We Found - Water
04. Katharina Schmidt - Particles (Excerpt)
05. Tomáš Šenkyřík - Noc
06. Steve Pacheco - Himalaya
07. Tomoyoshi Date - 土 Tsuchi (33 rpm)
08. Ghost and Tape - Reyes
09. Morimoto Naoki - Row

312. Sleepy Sunday Podcast (Elm Records)

Tracklist

01. Andrew Heath - Waldeinsamkeit
02. Observatories - The Resistance Of
03. Paperbark - Creek of Intrigue
04. Tomoyoshi Date - Hikari
05. Ghost and Tape -  Reyes
06. Lullatone -  Rainy Season Again
07. The Humble Bee - Manual With Foot Pedal
08. Innesti - Around this Space
09. KMRU - Other Times

313. Sleepy Sunday Podcast (Elm Records)

Tracklist

01. Jogging House - Narrative
02. Weareforests -  Vor___1
03. Miguel Otero - Blooming in Sturton
04. Seaworthy - Distant Hills Burn Bright (Part 6)
05. Melodía - Luna (en el hotel Am Bad, Tübingen)
06. Federico Durand -  Día de nieve
07. Stijn Hüwels - Clouds as seen from an airplane
08. Wil Bolton - Lavender Layer
09. Altars Altars -  Family's Downstairs
10. Norihito Suda - Macrocystis
11. OHIO - Crépescule

322. Sleepy Sunday Podcast (Elm Records)

So Alive

Sadness Madness

Nova Ragina: Radiant Queen Cosmic Ambient
https://youtu.be/DoNWHzTqo2k

Eclipse Monarch

Elm Records is an independent record label specialising in ambient and experimental music.

312. Sleepy Sunday Podcast (Elm Records)

Elm Records

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