Taken from 'Fringe' LP/Download (E064, Ecstatic 03/09/2021)

A gorgeous swell of intimate soundscaping from Felisha Ledesma on this simmering stunner for Ecstatic, despatching two extended, richly absorbing pieces weft from everyday detritius; synths, strings, voicemail, found sounds - hitting a similar spot for us as Ulla’s diaristic 'inside means inside me’ but with a more defined play of sound-as-light that gently and memorably tugs at the earlobes and heartstrings. 

Exploring a music of presence and ultra subtle inference, ‘Fringe’ is the 2nd release by Ledesma, student of Berlin's estimable Universität der Künste, following from a debut for Enmossed x Psychic Liberation earlier this year. Using AMQR - a software synthesiser built by Ledesma together with Ess Mattisson - both pieces here shimmer with elusive timbres that occupy a realm that feels lost between worlds - neither electronic nor acoustic, but more a sort of observational sound that radiates togetherness and warmth. 

Operating at insightful levels of synaesthesia, Ledesma poetically turns ostensibly humdrum sources into clouds of smoke - emails, voicenotes, walking along the water, a poem attached to an email, walking alone in New York during lockdown, going for a swim at sunset in the desert - all turn into a smudge of memory. When ‘Beamsplitters’ opens with a tangible human presence - a voicemail from a friend - it startles with its earthly pull, eventually getting lost in a tangled spool of found sound leaving just a trace of iridescent, intimate reverie. 

On ‘Golden Mirror’ Felisha gently diffracts a lonesome guitar phrase into a humming thizz with a steeply uncanny ability to jog the memory in a similar way to how olfactory stimulus can conjure feelings of nostalgia. It’s a trick familiar from an emergent new realm of lower case composers creating something like submerged, small scale symphonies that work counter to notions of classical excess or anodyne ambient, instead focusing on microcosmic, highly peronalised sort of worldbuilding that’s impenetrable, yet somehow entirely open.

Felisha Ledesma - Golden Mirror [E064]

from the album 'ghost poems' available 4/15

Ghost Poems

earthen sea 'rough air'

London’s abundant waterways and parks provide an oneiric muse for Cucina Povera and Ben Vince’s resounding debut full-length collaboration, an engrossing suite of weightless sax, synth and disklavier-bedded, noirish nocturnes that land somewhere between Grouper and Terry Riley. 

Centred around Maria Rossi aka Cucina Povera’s muzzy vocal loops and the faintest melodic motifs, London-based composer and multi-instrumentalist Ben Vince accompanies on saxophone, synth and piano, shrouding Rossi's vocals in swirls of dimly lit psychedelic smoke. As a newcomer to London, Rossi was "caught up in a sort of wondrous overwhelm” - a feeling that seeps through every movement of the almost hour long album. Working mostly at the Roundhouse, the pair find a musical confluence between Rossi's words - "fluid, dreamy, hazy ideations" - and Vince's shadowy renditions.

Vince's plasmic echoes and Rossi's aerial delivery form a poetic union, twisting and painting each sound in pearlescent shades. Rossi's folk roots shine through like cracks of dawn sunlight on 'Sumu Puistossa' ("fog in the park"), reverberating over organ and dream-zone sax; her words tip into muted surrealism thanks to the controlled chaos of Vince's bleak treatments. His grasp of jazz is transfixing: bending sax motifs like ghostly memories of music from another timeline, smudging them into the soundfield. It’s most effective on 'Siellä Näen Kaiken' ("there I see everything"), where sickly, dissonant notes flicker like an almost-extinguished candle alongside motorised furniture music courtesy of a Disklavier.

Born out of wonder, daydreaming innocence and creative discovery, 'There I See Everything ‘ is the sound of two exploratory collaborators swimming into each other's ideas. From the Terry Riley-esque transcendence of '∞' to the sacred incantation of long-form closer 'Pikku Muurahaiskeko' ("little anthill"), the pair expose a new layer of creativity with each turn, gradually zooming out from discreet, vulnerable beauty to encompass a gently orchestrated chaos of sustained, sublime tension.

Cucina Povera & Ben Vince - Sumu Puistossa

~ IIKKI 023 ~

music : The Humble Bee & Offthesky
artwork : Mikael Siirilä
album : Here In, Absence
duration : 38.29 mn
date : February 29th 2024

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craig tattersall : spaces, notes, & tapes
jason corder : arrangement, mixing, synths, percussive textures, glockenspiel, and vibraphone
shilpi gupta : flute
rin howell : voice

Mastered by Ian Hawgood
Artwork by Mikael Siirilä
Design by Sprflxgrfzm

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edition :
• vinyl: limited to 300 copies / hand numbered  / selective UV varnish / white inner
• cd: limited to 200 CD / hand numbered, hand-made / selective UV varnish
• book: limited to 500 copies / hand numbered / embossed / selective UV varnish / hand stamped / visible seam / cutting cover pages

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pre-order : February 02nd, 2024 / official release : February 29th, 2024

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Links :
https://iikki.bandcamp.com/music
https://www.iikki-books.com/
www.instagram.com/iikki_laaps/
https://www.leavings.co.uk/
https://offthesky.bandcamp.com/

The Humble Bee & Offthesky - Senses

A brand new improvisation. This one became a tiny waltz etude. Not the usual harmonics. I tried to build up a certain tension and flow. Please enjoy this one. Recorded at my personal studio at home. 

Improvisation_141025_Etude in G-Minor Waltz

Heartbeat from Afar” is an emotional instrumental piece inspired by the artist’s journeys back to his homeland, Syria — a place of deep memories, beauty, and pain. Through melancholic melodies and atmospheric textures, Danny Al Qassar captures the feeling of distance, nostalgia, and the quiet pulse of a heart that still beats for home.
This track blends cinematic emotion with intimate reflection — a soundscape of longing, love, and resilience born from both war and hope.

Heartbeat from afar Danny Al Qassar

I. 2c 
II. Flutter
III. Moments in Love

out 04.28.17 https://boomkat.com/products/grafts

GRAFTS

Taken from the upcoming album Both Lines Will Be Blue, out July 12th on Smalltown Supersound. Produced by Carmen Villain. Flute performed by Johanna Scheie Orellana. Mastered by Matt Colton.

Observable Future

"Reiterations" by First Tone from "Reactions" 2xLP/Digital due out October 2019.

"Reiterations" by First Tone

Triptych 4 solo piano.
Recorded at Rattlesnake point. 
Written, performed, recorded by Kara-Lis Coverdale.
Mastering by Jay Hodgson. 
Artwork by Jon Estwards http://bit.ly/R2S2Vv 

Special thanks to EVE, ROB, & NORDY 

Kara-Lis Coverdale - Circles, Apparition

Taken from the album 'Peel' released as 2LP and Digital

Peel

KMRU 'Why Are You Here' (EMEGO 289)

KARA-LIS COVERDALE
...

Grafts//
https://boomkat.com/products/grafts 

Sirens // 
http://www.umor-rex.org/portfolio/ur078

Aftertouches // https://sacredphrases.bandcamp.com/album/aftertouches

A 480 // https://ctatsu.bandcamp.com/album/a-480

Bookings
regina@frontporchproductions.org

https://www.kara-liscoverdale.com/

what is yr idea 
klis.coverdale@gmail.com