The first single from aircode's new album 'Surface Tension' (G&P025), out September 24, 2023 

Julia Svensson alias @aircode is a Swedish producer and sound designer based in London. In the past years Julia has been leisurely refining her signature out-there blend of gloomy yet elegant sound distinguished by an incorporation of slack piano tones and timid vocals intertwined with bleak samples and worn-out dub rhythm cameos. Since her first output via TT (fka Tobago Tracks) in 2019 she's been steadily releasing music via imprints like Alien Jams and Nostro Hood System, or just lowkey through her own bandcamp page. After helplessly drowning in her music since we first heard it, we are now more than honored to have the opportunity to present Julia's sophomore full-length album 'Surface Tension'.

Building on her past work, Surface Tension is an especially electrifying creation. Higher density sounds are gliding on an unfolded surface without ever being fully submerged, complementing each other into an enticing and immersive listen. With Julia's music, the long-depleted term 'sonic landscape' suddenly makes much of a sense. Captivating with it's well-measured approach, it draws an attentive listener into a world of intricate and finely nuanced compositions in which an unrushed precision and intuitive approach to writing can be clearly sensed.
“Surface tension tends to make a drop spherical, gravity tends to flatten a sessile drop and elongate a pendant drop, and the electric field typically elongates a drop along the direction of the field” - says science. Similar to the dichotomy of a liquid dripping process, Surface Tension inherently shifts into two distinct mood opposites. Straight from the beginning of the record a palpable tension can be felt, hinting at a series of inevitable plot twists that keep the listener submerging in its enthralling waves. While most of the tracks start with a calm before a storm, halfway through 'Slow Burn' or 'Dissimilar Liquids' Julia delves into the very depths of dank dubstep bass. Surface Tension weaves a vibrant narrative - at times a confluence of serene comprehension other times bordering on a pleasure of suffocating in its intensity.

Written & produced by Julia Svensson
aircode.codes

Mastered by Charles Verni
charlesverni.com

Artwork by Jiri Macku
instagram.com/jiri_macku

G&P025 💧

Surface Tension

Digital & Cassette

aircode - Dissimilar Liquids

ANN MARIE - FAVORITE LOVE SONG [PELLE ROCK 110 SCREW] (LI$036)

Toxica

While its title at first calls to mind a Jodorowskian kitchen sink psychedelia, Desvelada and Sprælle’s debut EP as a duo ’escaping from the body of a sleeping hummingbird’ veers tonally closer to the twilight realm of Béla Tarr. The work summons images. Empty windswept expanses, conversational vocals that seem to phase in and out of focus, spare synth bass and mournful drones create for us a hinterland of abandoned narratives, of characters unsure or unaware or unwilling to see that they are ghosts, but carrying with them a fatigued and defiant air of hope throughout.

Hailing from central Texas and west of France, Desvelada and Sprælle met in student living spaces while studying in Austin, Texas. The pair’s deep bond and friendship soon came to resemble something more like a romance, they began to produce pieces of music together, honing their skills in the small but burbling scene of Texas experimental live music. Sprælle’s art rock beginnings and distended guitar and production work folded lovingly into Desvelada’s choir upbringing and live vocal processing to create a sound and feeling all their own. Filmic and distant, like an aerial view of a springtime meadow timelessly marooned in suburbia instead of prehistory.

Taking cues from artists as varied as Tricky to David Berman, Ryuichi Sakamoto to Jorge Luis Borges, Sprælle and Desvelada sus from their toolkit a reserved storybook that speaks rather than sings. Percussive elements shuffle along like creekwater driftwood, loons in the reedbeds, all chirps and croaks; the arroyo at dusk. ‘escaping from the body of a sleeping hummingbird’ is a hushed purge of woodland noir, of interior poetry, watching the fog slowly overcome what’s left of the evening light, begging the spirit to speak.

Tracklist:
1. épié
2. linde cruel
3. turn to talk
4. venus purs
5. tree up ahead


linde cruel

Hesaitix - Noctian Airgap (PAN 152)
Label: PAN
Cat.No.: PAN 152
Release Date: 06 December 2024
Purchase: pan.lnk.to/NoctianAirgap

Through the haze we could make out hardly anything. Just the black line of the horizon. And in the distance the faint glimmering of the sea.

James Whipple returns from a long period of musical dormancy with his first full length LP for PAN since 2017.

As M.E.S.H., he honed a singular and unpredictable sonic identity on his debut album Piteous Gate. Re-emerging as Hesaitix, the now-familiar motifs have become streamlined, the sound palette both more refined and more elaborate. Even at its most abstract, there is an uncanny presence permeating the record, a convincing emotional reality with its own narrative and spatial logic.

Opener ‘Cusp of Unknowing’ announces itself with crushing low end synths feathered with delicate chimes before dissolving into the oceanic din of a data center. Rolling, engine-like subs mark the start of ‘Taurian Shade,’ a low- tempo percussive drive past iced-over chords and angular synth lines. ‘Geflatnet’ and ‘Volunteer’ dip into grooves bordering on nostalgic, referencing a misremembered golden era of electronica long-players. On ‘Santarosae (Black Dolphin),’ a sense of primordial awe comes to the fore, while ‘Black Line,’ originally presented as an audio installation in 2022, uses the human voice to explore a narrative approach to sound. ‘Noctian Airgap’ and ‘Anticrime’ return to syncopation and its complex moods, while ‘Subdermal’ and ‘Hypersea’ embrace repetition in service to atmosphere.

Hesaitix - Black Line

Scaring 1100 Chickens To Death

Hardworking Brazilian Woman Can Clean Fish

DENGUE DESTROYED ضنك ديسترويد

Warlock’s Rhyme - Dungeon Rap Beat

Birds

REEZY - BAILAR

Everything came full circle, And in a short while, the Moon became full, stars dissolved & the soup of the sky thickened.

When will you be here again?

-

Mixed, Mastered by Grasps
Additional vocals by Luca Bianchino
Cover Artwork by Oli.Svg (Olivia Rawlings)

RIP SOPHIE (86-21)

Bandcamp

HORIZON (FULL MOON)

systematic overcoming of longing since 2016
record label, collective & common spirit 

http://ginandplatonic.online

~ press ~

Gin&Platonic: Sounds plucked off the floor after dripping through a black hole (Easterndaze)
https://easterndaze.net/ginplatonic-sounds-seemingly-plucked-off-the-floor-after-dripping-through-a-black-hole/

Unlimited Editions: Gin&Platonic (The Wire)
https://www.thewire.co.uk/audio/tracks/unlimited-editions-gin-platonic

nesso premiere on IA:
https://inverted-audio.com/premiere-nesso-bouncer-toss/

sorbitol drops' Remízek Music on Foxy Digitalis:
https://foxydigitalis.zone/2024/08/23/the-capsule-garden-vol-3-17-august-23-2024/

Remízek Music on SilenceAndSound:
https://silenceandsound.me/2024/09/10/sorbitol-drops/

sorbitol drops video premiere on Swine Daily:
https://swinedaily.com/swine-premiere-sorbitol-drops/

Racine interviewed for Full Moon Magazine:
https://www.fullmoonzine.cz/julien-racine-hudba-vznika-skoro-vzdycky-v-izolaci-music-is-created-almost-always-in-isolation

Racine's Boue on SilenceAndSound:
https://silenceandsound.me/2024/05/15/racine/

Racine premiere on IA:
https://inverted-audio.com/premiere-racine-boue-iv/

aircode's Surface Tension among the best albums of 2023 on ATTN:
https://www.attnmagazine.co.uk/feature-review-of-2023/

Surface Tension on The Quietus:
https://thequietus.com/articles/33450-tenniscoats-ryosuke-kiyasu-spykidelic-aircode-cassette-high-bias

Surface Tension on SilenceAndSound:
https://silenceandsound.me/2023/10/26/aircode/

aircode on Crucial Listening podcast:
https://www.attnmagazine.co.uk/crucial-listening-141-aircode/

SINERAW's MIMETIC FAUNA on SilenceAndSound:
https://silenceandsound.me/2023/08/28/sineraw/

paszka's lapton on The Quietus:
https://thequietus.com/articles/33125-the-quietus-best-albums-of-2023-so-far

Somaticae's Kleis among the best albums of 2022 on The Quietus:
https://thequietus.com/articles/32400-the-quietus-top-100-albums-of-2022-norman-records

Oroboro's SPIKYMEMORY video on If-Only:
https://ifonlyuk.com/video-premiere-oroboro-spikymemory/

Ursula Sereghy on SHAPE:
https://shapeplatform.eu/2023/ursula-sereghy-i-cant-hear-myself-in-a-city

Ursula Sereghy interviewed for The Wire Magazine: www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/interviews/thinking-outside-the-box-milos-hroch-interviews-ursula-sereghy

Ursula Sereghy's OK Box among the best albums of 2021 on The Quietus:
https://thequietus.com/articles/30903-the-quietus-top-100-albums-of-2021

hmurd's Flower Knight reviewed on RA:
https://ra.co/reviews/34044

toiret status' liquid house on The Quietus:
https://thequietus.com/articles/30921-best-tapes-of-2021

liquid house on Juno:
https://www.juno.co.uk/junodaily/2021/02/19/this-weeks-best-new-albums-7/

liquid house on Paynomindtous:
https://paynomindtous.it/toiretstatus-sabiwa-gnp/

Kindohm's Deserted / Reclaimed on Boomkat:
https://boomkat.com/products/deserted-reclaimed

Forces' Epoch on SBVRSV.press:
http://sbvrsv.press/premiere-forces-world-is-going-to-burn-gp012/

julek ploski's śpie on toneshift.net:
https://toneshift.net/2019/11/25/spie-by-julek-ploski/

śpie on nowamuzyka.pl:
https://www.nowamuzyka.pl/2019/11/13/julek-ploski-spie/

Queimada's Eremocene on Paynomindtous:
https://www.paynomindtous.it/ginplatonic-queimada-eremocene/

trngs' RLLY INTENSE .WAV FILES on Threshold:
https://www.thresholdmagazine.pt/2019/07/a-tecnologia-experimental-de-trngs-e.html

HIMERA featured on Ersa Magazine: http://ersamagazine.com/popnotes-penpals-three/

Strachkvas‘ mix of the month on A2larm: a2larm.cz/2018/11/mix-mesice-strachkvas/  

Kagami Smile’s Four Selves reviewed on RA: https://www.residentadvisor.net/reviews/23134