“Still Lives” is the third solo full length by the Finnish composer Marja Ahti, following a pair of releases on the Hallow Ground imprint. As a collection, it may be seen as a series of studies on the liminality of the listening act and an investigation into the physicality of sound. Ahti forges vivid electroacoustic environments from field recordings, analog synthesizers, acoustic feedback, magnetic tape and digital processing, resulting in a set of articulate, prickly, and surprising compositions. In the artist’s words, “These pieces could be conceived of as vanitas paintings of a kind – selections of mundane or archetypal objects, sounds that have their own distinct qualities, but exist only by virtue of being temporary events. From another angle, one could think of them as shrines – objects assembled and set in a particular relationship to each other, charging each other in their given constellations.” Marja Ahti (b. 1981) is a musician and composer based in Turku, Finland. Originally from Sweden, Ahti has been a part of the Finnish experimental music scene for more than ten years in different constellations. She is currently active in the duo Ahti & Ahti with her partner and as a member of the Himera artist/organizer collective.

Shrine (Still Life With Glass Bottle, Flower and Microphone)

From forthcoming LP "Murmurations" available on Cibachrome Editions April 1st 2022 https://leabertucci.bandcamp.com/album/murmurations

A Vast Interiority - Lea B + Ben Vida

loomer

Live performance for EMS Synthi 100, magnetic tape and computer setup. Performed and recorded at Electronic Studio-Radio Belgrade in 2021.

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/x-j0nUvlogQ
More info: https://www.svetlanamaras.com/radioconcerts.html

Svetlana Maraš©SOKOJ
All rights reserved

Radio Concert No.2

Hatsuhinode

Available now via: IMPREC.com

The Well & The Gentle, two of the major works of Pauline Oliveros, are presented here in a first time reissue on double vinyl in a gatefold sleeve with extensive liner notes.

If Oliveros had followed a more conventional composer's path she may have, all social obstacles aside, been considered among the major minimalist and contemporary classical composers of her time. However, Oliveros approached composition in a more egalitarian manner. She wrote music for musicians to interact with or, in the composers words, she wished to create "an inclusive and interdependent and unfolding world of relationships."

Oliveros' propensity towards inclusion is part of what makes this work so remarkably distinctive. The Well & The Gentle is carefully crafted, allowing performers to participate in the creation of the work. Players are asked to collaborate, focus, react and make imaginative choices. Only then can the performers "pass through stages of awakening to the possibilities inherent in making music, working together, leading to the essence of what can shape musical impulses and individual freedom simultaneously."

Unlike most major composers of the era, Oliveros' work focuses on collaboration and improvisation. Lacking in the rigidity that often defines minimalist work of the era. For Oliveros, the processes involved in making music are as fundamental as the music itself. Oliveros creates, as Arthur Sabatini put it so eloquently in the liner notes,

"A world in which sound and the practices entailed in making music merge; become, at once, source and atmosphere, energy and essence, presence and dynamic."

Pauline Oliveros "The Well & The Gentle" - 2LP - Release Date 3.10.23

A captivating set selection that will transport you through a smokescreen of melancholic pleasure.

MIXTAPE #  Daniella Ljungsberg

Release date: 09/03/20

If you would like to review this release, please email info@astralindustries.co.uk

180g vinyl//leaflet included//mastered by Noel Summerville//original artwork by Theo Ellsworth.

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J.Derwort (15/07/1952 - 11/02/2019) left all his flutes, old guitars, strange percussion and some weird found objects at the Chi Factory studio. Hanyo van Oosterom went back to Patmos in April 2019 to visit all the magic places where Chi once started. He recorded the basics for ‘Travel in Peace’. Playing and recording these handmade bamboo flutes without the master himself being there was a lonely and emotional journey. But along the way the magic connection returned and the last Chi Factory album was born. On ‘Santa Fe’ and ‘Last Breath’ samples were used of J.Derwort during his last weeks in Santa Fe, Spain. The Chi circle is now closed. Chi Factory will move on as ‘Sons of Chi’. A new platform for different collabs and new adventures in sound. The legacy will live on, so will we.

Hanyo: As J.Derwort explained by a dream he is now in a wonderful place far away and still so close. The dream came during the recordings when I asked him how he is and where he is. I saw beautiful and ever changing constructions of plants. Nothing else. No words and just a simple explanation: everything is created and connected by intuitive vegetable intelligence. The opening piece ‘Bless You’ is the last track I recorded, it reflects the memory of my dream the most. I almost decided to start all over again, but I did not. Hope you like the last Chi Factory album, thx for all your support, also to my good friend and soul brother J.Derwort this meant a lot. One love!

Pre-order

Part One

Alina Kalancea's Impedance is available on CD and audiophile-quality double vinyl cut by Golden Mastering and pressed at RTI. Both CD and 2LP are packaged in a deluxe, heavy duty tip-on gatefold sleeves printed by Stoughton. 

Highly recommended to fans of Eleh,  Caterina Barbieri, Shasta Cults, Jessica Ekomane, Eliane Radigue and Alessandro Cortini. 

Impedance, an entirely instrumental album spanning 4 sides, contains powerful rhythmic sequences, heart beating frequencies and hypnotic loops that are paradoxically encapsulated in carefully crafted compositions which are full of secret passages and hidden doors. Kalancea's work creates ungraspable sonic experiences, which take us over, immersing us in powerful and mind altering soundscapes. 

There's no quick payoff on Impedance. This is the sound of new, patient electronic music full of depth and substance. 

Alina Kalancea is a Romanian sound artist and composer based in Modena, Italy. She has studied sound design and synthesis with Enrico Cosimi and collaborated with producer Alex Gamez, and artists Julia Kent and Raven Bush.

Alina Kalancea - Impedance/Abandon All Hope/Lost Souls - From Impedance 2LP/CD - Pre-Order available

Eliane Radigue - Koume

Take from the album Synopsis Seriation reelased as 2CD and Digital

Eliane Radigue - Koume

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