Creative Mood

‘The Ilex’ from Marconi Union is the second single from their upcoming Versions EP. 

This is their alternative take on ‘Looking Through The Ilex’ from the recently released Signals album. Where the original version is epic, dramatic and cinematic in scope as an album closing track, this version “is a darker take, going down a more electronic route. It came about from us playing the track live in the studio.” 

It moves along moodily, both compulsive and compelling, combining both irresistible groove and ambient in a way that is uniquely Marconi Union. 

More than just an alternative version, this a very much music in its own right.

Marconi Union - The Ilex (Preview)

Mossfield 58, by Marconi Union, from the new Versions EP, out now https://snd.click/versions

‘Versions’, by world-renowned ambient band Marconi Union, is an EP reflecting a different take by the band on four tracks taken from their previous two albums Dead Air and Signals. 

It has afforded an opportunity for them to explore how these tracks would sound had they taken an alternative direction with them at the time.

“When you’re making a record, the whole process is about making musical decisions and hopefully as a result you capture whatever it is that you’re trying to achieve at that point in time. 

However, that doesn’t mean that you couldn’t have made alternative choices or gone in another direction and still produced equally good but different music.” 

What Marconi Union are trying to do here, by going back and making different decisions, is taking these tracks down a different route and see how else they might have ended up. 

They have adopted a similar approach to the one they used with the ‘Tokyo+’ live remixes. It has given them an opportunity to emphasise or tone down certain aspects of the tracks, as well as trying them out with different rhythms. 

Overall, they've brought out more of the electronic flavour of four of the tracks that were released on Signals and Dead Air.

Versions

Marconi Union - Mossfield 58 (Preview)

Azure (Thylacine Rework)

Digitonal - Beautiful Broken | Release date: 4th May 2015
Pre-order: http://bit.ly/beautifulbroken
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The length of time that Beautiful Broken has taken has been its saving grace,” says Digitonal’s Andy Dobson. “I don’t feel any pressure to align myself to the zeitgeist any more and that’s very liberating. I have made mistakes in the past where I would contrive certain things to fit in with a cer-tain scene, but I feel happy with the new album, because it’s me through and through.”

Beautiful Broken is Digitonal’s fifth album since he first started recording and playing live under that name in 1997, and the first all-new release since 2008’s Save Your Light For Darker Days. Since then Dobson has released the retrospective, Be Still My Bleeping Heart, written and scrapped an entire album, and for Beautiful Broken has composed new material and finished off some incomplete compositions.

The typical Digitonal process sees the pieces transformed from largely improvised works-in-progress played live to more structured studio creations. This can take some time. ’We Three’ dates back to a live prototype from 2004.

With long-time collaborator, violinist Samy Bishai currently working on a number of other musical projects and less Digitonal live work in recent years, the compositions have taken longer to evolve, and so Beautiful Broken has become essentially a Dobson solo venture.

Dobson is a classically trained clarinettist and former chorister, and the clean lines of minimalism and Early Music in particular have informed his role as an Electronica producer. Following a concert at the Union Chapel, London, in 2014, Dobson was most excited about a particular section in which the musicians played acoustically and so he decided to try to recreate that feel.

Beautiful Broken evokes the subtlety and self-contained intimacy of chamber music, but as befits his recent reconnection with Ambient, these elements move slowly through a cool electronic space. But what defines Ambient for him is the literal meaning of the word more than a particular musical genre, specifically the expanse of sound that he experienced singing in a choir in a candlelit Durham Cathedral.

This combination of sonic influences make Beautiful Broken Digitonal’s most original album to date. Although it’s not a radical departure, Dobson has realigned his approach. He admits that he has also gone back to minimalism in a big way and ‘Eighteen’ is a buoyant mesh of clarinet, tuned percussion and drum patterns, and an overt homage to Steve Reich’s epochal minimalist work, Music For Eighteen Musicians.

Apart from Bishai’s violin and Dobson’s own clarinet and keyboards, the instrumentalists on Beauti-ful Broken are Kat Avery (harp), and Georgina Hall and Ivan Hussey (cello). In line with the prevail-ing chamber mood, Dobson has guarded against over orchestrating, with the emphasis more on pared down written parts: the composition ‘Luna’, for example, is completely scored. Similarly, breakbeats have largely been replaced by more intricate microbeats.

There’s a melancholy, a bitter-sweetness to Digitonal’s music, and whichever way Dobson’s par-ticular balance of acoustic and electronic sounds tips in the future, he is currently searching for the kind of emotional narrative and sense of connection that one gets from songs. He certainly goes a long way towards achieving that on the affecting compositions on Beautiful Broken.

“I’ve always wanted to make music that’s emotive for me and the audience,” he explains. “I think it’s quite difficult with electronic music, to get the right blend. But that’s what I’m always working towards.”


Beautiful Broken

Luna

Digitonal - Luna

Select your favorite platform: https://ampl.ink/adLibitum  
Part dark electronic, part soundtrack music, ad libitum all blends together into a wonderful tapestry of sonic imagery. From deep reverberating piano to lush atmospheric textures to cool electronic grooves, each element is perfectly placed.

Analog Remastered by Ian Hawgood · Tokio 
Cover design by Helyn Davenport
CD copies have Sold Out.
Bruno is an Argentinian classically trained musician, producer, and composer based in Barcelona who writes for strings, piano, and electronics.  In 1998 he started as a producer for ad21, a personal platform and label. His Piano Textures series, started in 2007, is one of Sanfilippo’s most representative set of recordings, but he has also gained wider recognition in modern music – one of his piano compositions formed the basis for Canadian rapper Drake’s seminal hit, ‘Started From The Bottom’.
http://www.bruno-sanfilippo.com

Ad Libitum

Oniria

Select your platform

The eternal and the moment

Noir En

"..an exquisitely delicate work that unfolds like buds on the trees in spring."
THE INDEPENDENT,UK
Pre-order the LP, CD and Digital: https://aukai.bandcamp.com/album/aukai
itunes: http://snip.ftpromo.net/aukaiitms  spotify: https://goo.gl/613Oq3
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aukaimusic 

Recorded and mixed by Martyn Heyne at Lichte Studio Berlin
Mastered by Mandy Parnell at Black Saloon Studios, London
Cover Photo: Dan Isaac Wallin
Written and produced by Markus Sieber

Markus Sieber - ronroco
Alexander Nickmann - fender rhodes, synthesizer, beats

In a lot of ways, Aukai’s self-titled debut is the sound of Markus Sieber bringing his career full circle. Having spent part of the ’90s playing rock music in East Germany, the composer/multi-instrumentalist then shifted his focus to acting, only to have music creep back into his life after a mind-altering move to Mexico.

“This album and project has a lot to do with memories from travel,” explains Sieber, “but also memories from childhood and nature. How did the river smell in summer? I wanted to create a sonic space where music guides the listener into some imaginative inner world.”

Which explains why he came up with the name Aukai in the first place; it’s the Hawaiian word for a seafaring traveler, the sort of person who seeks out the stillness in uncertain waters. In the case of Sieber’s new record, that meant spending a winter holed up in a mountainside cabin around Colorado’s La Plata Canyon. Basic tracks were then cut in a Berlin studio and brought into full relief alongside cellist Anne Muller (Agnes Obel Band, Nils Frahm), violinist Bogdan Djukic, pianist Angelika Baumbach, sound designer Alexander Nickmann, and longtime collaborator Jamshied Sharifi (Laurie Anderson, Sting, Dream Theater).

Here’s what Sieber had to say about its lead single, “Cachoeira,” along with a complete rundown of the record and its cover art:

“Cachoeira”, meaning waterfall in Portuguese, was inspired by my travels to northeastern Brazil, a region rich of rivers and waterfalls. It’s the track on the album which goes farthest into an electronic direction, merging the acoustic and natural sounding layers of the Ronroco, a Latin American string instrument, with Fender Rhodes, synthesizer, and beats. For each piece of the album, I had a particular vision for the instrumentation and musicians I wanted to collaborate with; for “Cachoeira”, I worked with my brother Alexander Nickmann, a Berlin-based sound designer and composer. " 

Buy LP & Digital

Cachoeira

This is a remix of Paper Unicorn from Ochre's album Isolette which actually turned into more of a cover version.  I've been a huge admirer of Chris' work right from his early demos - REM Sleep Research will always be somewhere in my all time top 10 electronica tracks.  

He's continued to release some of the most beautiful and intricate music in the field.  You can find the original of this track, and all his fantastic music at his bandcamp: http://bandcamp.ochremusic.com/

This cover version has been made available to download with the artist's permission.  Thanks to Chris, it's a wonderful piece and I had a lot of fun putting this together.

Unreleased

Paper Unicorn (Digitonal Transcription)

Ochre - Paper Unicorn (Digitonal Transcription)

Lone Sailor

Another One Year Will Have Passed Tomorrow

Pre-order Opalescent on vinyl:
+ Just Music Store: http://smarturl.it/Opalescent2016
+ Amazon UK: http://smarturl.it/Opalescent2016AmznUK
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Opalescent, the debut album from Mercury Music Prize and Ivor Novello award nominated artist Jon Hopkins has been remastered and reissued for the first time on vinyl for its 15 year Anniversary in a special edition 2 LP gatefold with liner notes. (Pre-order from the Just Music Store now).

Back in 2001, (the year of Opalescent’s original release) the process of creating the album was a joyful one. At the age of 20 Jon had just signed to Just Music, so we bought him a PC and with a hotch-potch of software and some basic equipment, he set to work. His only assistance came from friend and regular collaborator, (another Just Music alumni) Leo Abrahams, who plays Opalescent’s sparkling, plangent guitars.

It was a record which, in numerous, enthusiastic reviews, was filed in the then burgeoning “chill-out” genre. But Jon had no interest in making relaxing or therapeutic music, which may help explain why Opalescent still sounds so distinctive, musically and emotionally complex. It was never meant to be enjoyed passively. It is in the contradictions between beauty and bass, gentleness and volume, ecstasy and elegy, that Opalescent derives its enduring otherness. Even 15 years on, it is never quite what you think it is.

For all Hopkins enjoyed making Opalescent, this was an uncertain period in his life. He was a shy and reclusive musician adrift in London and, like any artist, prey to doubts and apprehension. At its most radiant and awe-inspiring (“Lost In Thought”, “Halcyon”), Opalescent is tinged with something wistful, even mournful. The chilly and hollow, piano-led “Apparition” or the lost-in-deep-space ambience of stand-out track, “Cold Out There” (listen below), contain a kind of universal longing, an ache for love or transcendence, that you can hear in instrumental music as diverse as Tangerine Dream and jazz pianist Bill Evans’s solo pieces.

But while Opalescent was a series of tentative steps, it is also already recognisably the work of Jon Hopkins. In the hypnotic minimalism of “Private Universe” (a precursor to “Light Through The Veins” on Insides), or the dense gloaming of the title track, elements of the drum ‘n’ bass, classical and soundtrack influences that have come to define Jon’s work were clearly asserting themselves. In its passages of drone music, its use of repetition, its cinematic scale, its stark piano lines, the album is an audible antecedent of the very different Immunity – Jon’s acclaimed, recent breakthrough album.

Hopkins currently has an audience waiting in anticipation for his fifth album, a work that he is determined to take as far out-there as he can – and Opalescent is the perfect primer.

Listen to the remastered version of Cold Out There:

Jon Hopkins - Cold Out There (Opalescent Vinyl 2016)

out take bonus track from the recent released album Aukai by Aukai
Order the full album as LP, CD, and Digital : aukai.bandcamp.com/album/aukai
iTunes: http://snip.ftpromo.net/aukaicloudline
Follow on Spotify: http://snip.ftpromo.net/aukaispotify
Facebook: www.facebook.com/aukaimusic


Markus Sieber - ronroco
Alex Nickmann - fender rhodes, piano, synthesizer

mixed and mastered by Martyn Heyne

Couldline

Cloudline

Cloudline - Single

Pre-order Ghost Stations:

- Just Music Store (CD/Vinyl/Digital) http://smarturl.it/ghoststations_JM
- iTunes http://smarturl.it/ghoststations
- Amazon (Digital) http://smarturl.it/ghoststations_amazon
- Amazon (CD) http://smarturl.it/ghoststations_amznCD
- Amazon (Vinyl) http://smarturl.it/ghoststations_amznLP
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'Ghost Stations', the ninth studio album by Marconi Union, is set for release on 12th August 2016.

After fourteen years of writing and performing, the trio - founder members Richard Talbot and Jamie Crossley with keyboard player Duncan Meadows - are thought to be “amongst today's most talented musicians” (The Sunday Times). They have steadily developed and refined an unique musical identity; evoking emotions from gracefully blending elements of dub, jazz, ambience and electronica within their richly melodic compositions.

With ‘Ghost Stations’, Marconi Union’s music continues to straddle the worlds of artistic credibility and musical accessibility. They were not afraid to accept the challenge of making new music rather than just repeating their earlier work and were well aware of the risk of trying new things.

“People who have bought our previous records may think we've gone too far in this direction or that direction or that we don't do enough of some particular aspect anymore, but we've already done those things in our previous work and we have to keep pushing our boundaries otherwise what is the point? We want people to hear Ghost Stations and say “'What the f**k is that' either in a good or bad way!”

Before making a record Marconi Union usually have a clear idea about its ultimate direction, but this time they decided to set aside any preconceptions. They spent the last two years experimenting with playing, programming, editing, re-editing, (agreeing and disagreeing) until ‘Ghost Stations’ naturally evolved. Once the title was decided upon, everything fell into place connecting ideas of abandonment, empty spaces and dereliction.

“We always want to move forward and try new things, there's no point in just treading water, so it was great to use a couple of guest musicians [Digitonal's Andy Dobson on clarinet and Giorgio Li Calzi on trumpet] Sometimes you need real playing, especially when it comes to feel”.

Over the last fourteen years, their studio albums,'Under Wires and Searchlights' (2003) (“sonically immaculate” Uncut), 'Distance' (2005) (“one of the most successful ambient albums of recent years” The Sunday Times), ‘A Lost Connection’ (2010) (“minimal, introspective, ethereal electronica – gorgeous” The Guardian), ‘Beautifully Falling Apart (2011) (“places MU firmly in the vanguard of acts making atmospheric, ambient music” Music OMH, Different Colours' (2012) (“a work of bewitching beauty” DMC), and their last album, Weightless (2014) (“an ethereal sense of free flowing dimensions” DJ Mag), have brought them to the attention of larger audiences and international critical acclaim.

Marconi Union have accepted festival invitations from Brian Eno, they have collaborated with the Marina Abramovic Institute and have also recorded ‘Weightless’, hailed as the “most relaxing song ever”, with its tens of millions of streams and YouTube views, (even earning the accolade of being named as one of the 'Best Inventions Of The Year' by Time Magazine). Their music has been selected to accompany art installations, independent arts based projects, theatre and ballet, and to serve as the beautiful musical backdrop to television commercials, drama and documentary films worldwide.

Ghost Stations

Pre-order album

Marconi Union - Sleeper (Edit)

Demo for my next album, The Gramophone Suite, which will be released late 2018. The track will also feature on the Soundcolours compilation "Chilltronica No6"

Film Two

From the new EP  'Rest' out on 'Brian Records'. 

Lovingly mastered by Taylor Deupree. 

Bless Those Tired Eyes

The Best in Left of Centre Music.

We believe in working in partnership with our artists to offer the very best in cutting edge electronica, acoustic, ambient & down-tempo.

Independent label of some of the very best in artists in cutting-edge electronica, acoustic, ambient, down-tempo and nonclassical. 

"It may be just music, but in this case with a rare power to quietly shake the soul" - Pete Lawrence (Big Chill founder)

Marconi Union - Sleeper (Edit)

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