Listen / Purchase: https://lnk.to/alapastel

This album is also part of Lost Tribe Sound's Salt & Gravity Series:
https://losttribesound.bandcamp.com/album/salt-and-gravity-series

‘Ceremony’ is the second album from Slovakian composer Lukáš Bulko, who records under the name Alapastel. Bulko’s 2018 debut album ‘Hidden for the Eyes’ for James Murray’s Slowcraft was met with praise from critics and fans alike. Much like ‘Hidden for the Eyes’, the new album ‘Ceremony’ provides no easy comparisons.

Lost Tribe Sound was introduced to Alapastel by composer William Ryan Fritch in early 2021. Immediately upon listening to the demo it became clear that ‘Ceremony’ was unlike any album we’d heard before.  It’s an album built from mammoth sound objects, carved from organic sources, that feel so palpable that one could reach out and touch them. Often spanning ten + minutes, these expansive compositions are crafted with such intent and intricate detail that they never overstay their welcome.

There’s a purity and a gentleness to Bulko’s musical voice that speaks of connection, mending, of building a better existence. Subjects that are often swallowed up by the noise, the cruelty, and lack of compassion found in modern society… written off as idealistic or naive. Bulko describes the intention of ‘Ceremony’ is to facilitate a transformative experience. Much of ‘Ceremony’ was written to highlight his interest in Indigenous Peoples ability to survive using sustainable methods passed down over thousands of years, making use of techniques that helped to conserve biodiversity for future generations. Bulko’s work with Fairtrade International has nurtured this connection and belief that adopting these ancient practices is the key to continued life on this planet.

cover art by Silvia Bobeková Art

Ceremony

Releaseness

Alapastel - Releaseness (from Ceremony)

From Woven Songs, out Feb 2022 on LP and digital

Rosales - Loom

Space music with EVI(electronic valve/wind instrument) performed by Mark Steiner.

The Tender Sea Of Space

The Wonder (Soundtrack from the Netflix Film)

Reunion

I was on a long trip from Russia to Denmark and missed the last ferry. I remember stepping out of the car and this huge, flat space surrounded me. The sky and water were connected and there was silence apart from a growing wind that became louder and stronger, finally turning into this majestic, powerful sound

Parks - When The Last Ferry Left Helsingborg

produced by David Rothenberg
artwork and visualization by Michael Deal

What record album was so important that ten million copies of it needed to be pressed at once? You guessed it. Songs of the Humpback Whale. In 1979 National Geographic Magazine inserted a flexible "sound page" inside the back cover of all of its editions in twenty-five languages, and that is supposedly how many they printed. No human pop star has ever received such magnanimous treatment, so what is it that is so special about the songs of the humpback whale?

Well, for one, humans knew nothing of this fabulous sound until the US Navy released its classified recordings at the end of the 1960s, at the very moment the world was most poised to listen to the unknown, the psychedelic, and the trippiest of sounds. Humpback whale song fit the bill perfectly. From high wails to deep growls to rhythmic scratches to tearful moans, it encompasses the full range of emotions in the longest song performed by any animal, a tune that can go on for nearly twenty-four hours at a time. People are often moved to tears when they hear such intensity for the first time. Some cannot believe it could ever come from a place as silent as the sea. This song inspired the global movement to Save the Whales which continues unto this day.

People tend to assume humpback whale song just a "whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaooooh" and leave it at that. But if you sit down and listen to a complete humpback performance you will find that the long moan is only one note in a complex composition, with distinct phrases, repetition, structure, organization, shape and form akin to many kinds of human music. This is no random outburst of cries and whispers, but a song with power, verve, identity, and design.

It is a desire to go beyond memory and into the sounds of reality that has led us to release New Songs of the Humpback Whale, which aims to gather the best recent recordings of scientists and whale listeners the globe over to give all of us a chance to assess what has happened to whale song over the past few decades. One can hear gradual changes in humpback song from year to year, with some phrases lengthening, others shortening, others disappearing altogether as new variations appear. The change can be heard month to month, and even week to week within a single season. Today's whale songs should sound quite different from what he fondly remembers from the sixties. But is their musical culture going downhill? Or is it on the rise? Or just changing? Can we humans even tell the difference?

To tell the difference Michael Deal, designer of the Pinterest logo and a veteran of Google and Splice, has created a new way to visualize humpback whale song, based on sonograms familiar to sound scientist but simplified into colorful glyphs making the structure of this grand underwater music easier to understand than ever before.

Though humpback whale song did not evolve for humans to appreciate, it may be no accident that we do. Upon hearing the great song for the first time, whale scientist Roger Payne said he heard the size of the ocean, "as if I had walked into a dark cave to hear wave after wave of echoes cascading back from the darkness beyond.... That's what whales do, give the ocean its voice."


Humpback Whale in Madagascar from New Sounds of the Humpback Whale CD

Two Screaming Piha in the Amazonian Rain Forest in Brasil

Microphones AB Setup 2x B&K; 4006
Recorder Sound Devices 633
Sound Ref: AB BR-170913T02
GPS: 3º39'20''S 64º56'20''O
Wave, 96kHz, 24bit

Same sound on FreeSound http://freesound.org/people/felix.blume/sounds/407583/

Screaming Piha in the Amazonian Rain Forest

BT Gate X - 138 - Magadan Pylons

Kobza Vajk - Kara Libanon
12" black vinyl with Kobza Vajk's drawings
PRE-ORDER >>> budabeats.bandcamp.com/album/kara-libanon

Vajk Kobza - oud
Balázs Major - udu, percussions
Csaba Pengő - double bass 

A&R: Dj Gandharva & Von Yodi
Mastering: Anders Peterson (GS Mastering, Stockholm)

Label: Budabeats Records
Cat. number: BUBE-039
Release date: 18. 11. 2019

The title track is a live recording from 2008, perfectly setting the mood for the whole EP: psychedelic shaman music with powerful oud chords and a hypnotic Middle Eastern atmosphere.

Kobza Vajk is a Hungarian self-taught psychedelic folk musician who has been playing the oud and other obscure stringed instruments, like kithara or the lute for more than 15 years. His main influences are folk and ancient music of all kinds, what brings these together is his contemporary approach of composing and the oriental technique he plays his instruments with. This release focuses on his original work from the late 2000's with a few reinterpretations coming from established e-music producers.

Stay tuned for other remixes by Perdu, Multi Culti boss Dreems, and long time Budabeats family member, BéTé.

www.facebook.com/budabeats

Kara Libanon

Kara Libanon (2019 version)

Kobza Vajk • Kara Libanon "2019 version" | Budabeats Records | oud ud عود ούτι Ուդ עוד

~ IIKKI 011 ~

music : Seabuckthorn
photography : Sophie Gabrielle
album/book : Through A Vulnerable Occur
duration : 38.55 mn
date : March 2020

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All music by Andy Cartwright : Guitars, Saz, Charango, Effects. 
Gareth Davis : Clarinet on 'Through A Vulnerable Occur' and 'Place Memory'. 

Recorded & mixed in Veynes, France between summer 2019 – Winter 2020. 

Mastered by James Plotkin
Artwork by Sophie Gabrielle
Design by sprflxgrfzm

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edition : 
vinyl : limited to 300 copies hand numbered 
cd : limited to 200 cd (glass mastered) hand numbered
book : limited to 300 copies hand numbered + hand stamped

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pre-order : March 02th, 2020 / official release : March 30th, 2020

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Links :
https://seabuckthorn.bandcamp.com/
https://www.sophiegabriellephoto.com/
https://www.iikki-books.com/
https://iikki.bandcamp.com/music
https://www.facebook.com/iikki.books/
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℗ & © 2 0 2 0 - I I K K I - I I K K I 0 1 1

Seabuckthorn - And Bickers Into Colour

Mic Setup AB with 2 B&k 4006 Omni Microphones
Recorder Sound Devices 833
Original Recording 96kHz 24bit
Sound Ref: MX-200201T04
GPS: 20,162712 -96,860567
Recorded during a Residency at Casa Proal (Veracruz, México)

Light rain in a field of bananas trees

Félix Blume is a sound artist and sound engineer. 
His work is focused on listening, it invites us to live sonic experiences that enable a different perception of the surrounding. He uses sound as a basic material in sound pieces, videos, actions and installations. His process is often collaborative, working with communities, using public space as the context within which he explores and presents his works. He is interested in myths and their contemporary interpretation, in human dialogues both with inhabited natural and urban contexts, in what voices can tell beyond words.

Screaming Piha in the Amazonian Rain Forest

felixblume

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