From the full album: https://alonefold.bandcamp.com/album/remote-textures

Drift Dancer

Tracklist

01.  David Cordero & Rhucle - Horizontal Line
02.  Thme - Ombre
03.  Seaworthy & Matt Rösner - Whispered Surfaces
04.  Slow Reels (Ian Hawgood and James Murray) - Heartshaped
05.  The Humble Bee & Offthesky - Presence
06.  Celer & Forest Management - Montrose
07.  Jason Calhoun + Foresteppe - iii
08.  Tomoyoshi Date - 熱 Netsu (33 rpm)
09.  Chihei Hatakeyama + Stijn Hüwels - NA GOMI

408. Sleepy Sunday Podcast (Elm Records)

Blurstem’s 'Remnants and Whispers' is an album of memory-of echoes and fragments, of moments gathered and reshaped, of the past carried gently into the present. Released on Fluid Audio, renowned for its exquisitely crafted physical editions, this collection of soundscapes and textures is imbued with nostalgia, intimacy, and the quiet weight of time.

The album weaves together the delicate and the vast, the small and the sweeping. Tiny, almost imperceptible guitar plucks flicker like candlelight amidst expansive ambient washes. The sonic palette moves seamlessly between lo-fi warmth and pristine clarity, embracing the imperfections of cassette recording and the wobbly, warbled charm of home videos from a lost era. Each track breathes with a human touch-organic instruments processed and reimagined, from tremolo strings pitched and resampled on “Tethered” to layers of sound that feel like old photographs brought to life.

At its heart, 'Remnants and Whispers' explores the idea of remnants-what we carry with us through life, the fragments of friendships, memories, and fleeting moments that shape who we are. Much like the album’s sonic construction-built from past sketches, ideas, and textures revived and given new form-the music mirrors the way we collect and reinterpret our own experiences over time.

This ethos extends beyond the music itself into its physical presentation, with Fluid Audio’s deluxe edition incorporating 1920s sheet music and book fragments as old as the 1890s-historical relics that feel like the perfect visual counterpart to the album’s themes of memory, loss, and renewal. The tactile nature of these artifacts deepens the listening experience, making 'Remnants and Whispers' not just an album, but a tangible connection to the past.

Mastered on Bartels’ late ’60s analog tape machine, the album’s final touch further enhances its warmth and character, adding an unmistakable depth and timeless quality to its sonic palette.

A meditation on change, nostalgia, and the beauty of imperfection, Remnants and Whispers is an invitation to pause, reflect, and listen-not just to the music, but to the quiet echoes of our own stories.

Music: Blurstem
Mastering: Bartels
Design: Crossley

www.fluidaudio.co.uk
www.blurstem.bandcamp.com

Blurstem - Along the Rails

20250404

South African Jason van Wyk is quickly becoming a favourite and prominent artist on these pages. You may even think I’m biased, because I asked Jason to rework one of my tracks. But this relationship is indeed in reverse – I only requested his participation because I admire his sound, and am indeed inspired by his music when I choose to work on my own. There’s something ethereal, delicate, and dreamlike in how his cinematic pads swirl in a cocktail spatial ambience and pulsating rhythm that takes over my heart and bewitches my soul. Stunning harmonic progressions show off true musicianship, while the layered textures keep me occupied with intelligent sound design. This is the culmination of elements that I highly respect in my music. This is why I keep listening to Jason’s music and try to share it with the world. This is why, I’m sure, Mike Cadoo continues to invite him on his label. We last heard from Jason nearly three years ago [time is always speeding up], when in October of 2022, he released Descendants, which inevitably landed on my Best of the Year list in the most coveted category, Music For The Film Behind Closed Eyelids. This is a sacred space, often occupied by the likes of Max Richter, Ólafur Arnalds, and, of course, Jóhann Jóhannsson. With his latest sixth full-length album, Inherent, Jason is back on n5MD, pushing his boundaries forward, featuring even more expansive soundscapes of warm ambiance, haunting piano melodies, and trance-inducing beats. Enjoy this exclusive track, and who knows, maybe Jason will show up on Headphone Community (wink, wink).

TRACK PREMIERE : Jason van Wyk - Remnants

Tracklist

01. Claire Rousay & Gretchen Korsmo -  Thick walls, thin walls
02. No Memory - Heaven's Gate
03. The Volume Settings Folder -  Squeamish mind
04. Moss Covered Technology & Snufmumriko - Skagerrak
05.  Giannis Gogos - Fragments
06. Guy Gelem - Night Walk
07. Seawind of Battery - Sidestepping
08. Tatsuro Murakami - Dialogue with a Mountain
09.  Landtitles - Borrowed light
10.  Richard Ginns - A joy forever

425. Sleepy Sunday Podcast (Elm Records)

Jason van Wyk is a Cape Town (South Africa) based electronic music producer whose music I often wish could have been my own. From cinematic soundscapes to soft piano keys and mesmerising passages, the elements of his pieces are all the necessary ingredients that I often try to combine in my music. And that is basically the highest sort of praise that I could give. There are many incredible ambient musicians who truly inspire me with their ability to create and transport me to their fantastic sonic worlds. And plenty have contributed to my growth as a musician - I am permanently indebted to many of them, whom I am honoured to call friends. But in my soul, I am a pianist, and the instrument [or its echoes] inevitably make it into my tracks. And this is what I love about Jason's music. His most recent release on the beloved n5MD, Inherent, is a more upbeat, forward-driven progression, combining his skills of crafting dance-oriented grooves with atmospheric soundtracks. For his upcoming EP, Jason reworked three tracks into pure ambient pieces. To truly appreciate the transformation, start by hearing the original track, followed by this alternative version. If you want to dig deeper into the process behind the composition (including the details of the actual effects chain used, like the Space Echo, etc.), you can read up on Headphone Community, where Jason revealed it all when he was a featured artist for the entire month of July [the content is still up there!]. Deep listening and focus are essential to truly appreciate the textures here...

https://www.patreon.com/HeadphoneCommunity







TRACK PREMIERE : Jason van Wyk - Inner (Horizon)

fabeye

I know I can be a bit scattered sometimes. And even if it doesn’t always seem like it, you really matter to me and mean so much in my life. Please don’t forget that

c 0 t t 0 n .

c 0 t t 0 n

Mordançage is a new project from Tobias Hellkvist and Andrew Tasselmyer...  

The new album is a reference to the photography technique that creates  a degraded appearance in photo prints by physically altering film, a close metaphor for the way the album was created; manipulation of source audio and sound design creating a very different result.

Audio: Tobias Hellkvist / Andrew Tasselmyer
Mastering: Ian Hawgood
Artwork: Brittany Nelson
Photography: Craig Tattersall
Design: Daniel Crossley

Release date: 
30.09.18.

Mailing list: 
www.fluidaudio.bigcartel.com/mailing-list

Mordançage

Pre-order

Mordançage - Now Before Us

Focusing on experimental genres, we aim to provide a space to share in the creative process and spread the experience of inner exploration through musical expression.