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The Buddha's Box Is Made Of Wood

All of Me

All Of Me

Rinse FM Podcasts

Keysound - 28 April 2022

I composed this song while on the road in Oregon this past August. The Ghost Forest is an actual location in Neskowin Oregon which is where I took the album photo. It's my first attempt at writing a 2-Step track, which is a genre I've always appreciated and have recently started exploring again. Enjoy!

GHOSt Trax

Ghost Forest

'You Cannot Cheat the Muse'
Kuma
See Blue Audio SBA 040

1. The Antidote Was Always in the Poison
2. Scribes of the Rabbit God
3. Ecclesiastic Geology
4. Written Are the Stars
5. The Body Is a Good Indicator
6. Of Great Acuity
7. Haunted Blue Ant
8. Headless Cargo
9. The Likeness of Prophetic Being
10. River House
11. Your Eyes as Lodestars

Release date: 18 November 2022

lnk.to/SBA040

See Blue Audio: ambient / electronic / beatless / cinematic / downtempo / eclectic / introspective… Shade rather than light...

Travellers through the alternative electronic music scene with surely be acquainted with the name Kuma. For the fortieth release on See Blue Audio, the label's exploration of the outer reaches of ambience continues with 'You Cannot Cheat the Muse', an album from Kuma that draws on his myriad musical influences as he celebrates the mystical, the ceremonial and, at times, the transcendental power of the world that surrounds us all. This is a space where the zen and the cosmic collide and harmonise, and where new tools for living are created.

Bristol-born and Vancouver-based, Kuma has been destroying old worlds and building new ones for over two decades, stamping his curatorial fingerprint on the Canadian dance scene as a DJ, promoter, label owner and radio presenter. The long-running and respected weekly Art of Beatz show co-hosted with Motomasa on Vancouver's Co-op Radio is the city's home for electronic music of all shapes, sizes and speeds, everything from gentle ambience to tearin' drum & bass and all points in-between.

Kuma has also established his credentials as a producer and remixer, and his most recent releases include albums on labels like Waxing Crescent Records, Fallen Moon Recordings, and Thomas Ragsdale's Frosti and Soundtracking the Void imprints. Now it's the turn of See Blue Audio, and his first release for the label is arguably his fullest statement of intent to date; this is Kuma sounding the only way he knows how.

"Cheat your landlord if you can and must, but do not try to shortchange the Muse. It cannot be done. You can’t fake quality any more than you can fake a good meal." It was this quote from William S. Burroughs that led to the creation of 'You Cannot Cheat the Muse'. As a student of the Japanese tea ceremony, Kuma took up the act whilst living in Japan because it made art out of something everyday like the making and serving of tea. Now with this 11-track album, he's created a series of sonic overtures that rise and fall with everything we do. 

Recorded at the Little Black Rain Cloud studio in Vancouver, the sound palette on 'You Cannot Cheat the Muse' is forever shifting. A series of improvised recordings based around his own vocal looping system were then chopped up and turned inside out. Tapes, synths, field recordings and the human voice are all intertwined into a series of rolling waves buffeted by orchestral overtones. Beatless soundscapes are underpinned by dub-infused pulses, and the influences of early alternative electronica can be heard trickling through. The curious and the eerie merge with the physical, the spiritual and the sometimes supernatural with the end result an ever-morphing array of musical structures designed for all things and all times.

It's impossible to single out individual tracks on 'You Cannot Cheat the Muse'; instead, this album demands to be listened to as a whole. It's a collection of music for making magic out of the mundane and making ritual out of anything you please. Put it on in the background and let the detail seep in ever so gently, or turn up the volume and transcend time. Whatever works for you.

Artwork and photography: Kuma.

You Cannot Cheat the Muse

'You Cannot Cheat the Muse' (preview) – Kuma (See Blue Audio SBA #040)

~ Deep Breakfast 269 by https://soundcloud.com/kuma ~

Tracklist:
1. Pijn - Our Endless Hours (Kuma Edit)
2. zakè - Veta
3. Bjork - The Anchor Song (Black Dog Remix)
4. Adam Wiltzie - Buried At Westwood Memorial Park, In An Unmarked Grave, To The Left Of Walter Matthau
5. Brendan Eder Ensemble - #3 (Rhubarb)
6. Karen Vogt - Cloud Forty One
7. Kuma - Read The Air
8. Simon McCorry - The Earth's Sorrow for All Things That Pass
9. Yann Novak - Traversing The Substrata
10. Field Lines Cartographer - Thawing Ice Temples
11. dBridge - So Lonely (Acapella)
12. The Howard Hughes Suite - Desert Spirits
13. Kuma - Silverscrap Merchant
14. Donnacha Costello - Seiche
15. Wanderwelle - My Body Lay Afloat
16. Lamasz and Grandbruit - Elle
17. Loscil - Shadow Maple
18. Nick Cave  - The Flesh Made Word
19. Loula Yorke - Monolithic Undertow
20. From Overseas and zakè - Demain des l'aube
21. Abul Mogard and Rafael Anton Irisarri - Place Of Forever
22. Underworld - Denver Luna (Acapella)
23. Tewksbury - Skywatchers
24. Kronos Quartet - String Quartet #3 (Mishima Closing)
25. Current 93 - I Have A Special Plan For This World
26. KMRU and Kevin Richard Martin - Difference
27. The Inward Circles - Our Light In Ashes
28. Eiko Ishibashii - Evil Does Not Exist Here
29. Dawn Chorus And The Infallible Sea - Reveries
30. Ian Boddy - Locrian
31. Refreshers - Moving Up Dub
32. Benoît Pioulard and Offthesky - Fed On Lilles
33. Kuma - I Will Follow You Further Into The Dark
34. Nils Frahm - Familiar

Kuma
Bandcamp: https://kuma.bandcamp.com/music
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kumatkg/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KumaTheKonspiracyGroup
X: https://x.com/KumaTKG

Deep Breakfast Series
Instagram: www.instagram.com/deepbreakfastseries/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/DeepBreakfastSeries/

Deep Breakfast 269 ~ Kuma

'hycean revisited'
Rhombus Index
See Blue Audio SBA 057

1. Digital Anemone (NRV Remix)
2. Digital Anemone (Rhombus Index Ambient Mix)
3. Digital Anemone (Lyli J Remix)
4. Digital Anemone (Bagaski's 'Eve' Mix)
5. Digital Anemone (f5point6 Remix)
6. Digital Anemone (Darbinyan Remix)
7. Digital Anemone (Electric Supply Station Reimagination)
8. Polyeme (RoboCrafting Material Remix)
9. Polyeme (Kuma's 'Train to Todmorden' Mix)

Release date: 29 November 2024

lnk.to/SBA057

See Blue Audio: ambient / electronic / beatless / cinematic / downtempo / eclectic / introspective… Shade rather than light...

2024 has seen a flurry of activity from Rhombus Index on See Blue Audio. The year started with his remix of Lyli J's 'Tide' from her 'Majjie' album, then came 'Mutual Expression', his collaborative project with f5point6, and finally 'hycean', his fourth release on See Blue Audio and representation of a further step in the electronic artist’s musical evolution. This seven-track solo album is a personal reflection on the fusing of organic and digital realities, and it embraces the full range of the signature Rhombus Index pastoral electronica aesthetic. Two tracks, in particular, express the spark of club culture that runs through his music, and these were selected for 'hycean revisited', a remix collection and the fifty-seventh release on See Blue Audio.

Rhombus Index, a West Yorkshire-based experimental producer and sound designer, is known for favouring of relatively short tracks, understated perhaps but always with an ephemeral charm. Musical ideas quickly come into view, their essence hangs in the air, and then they dissolve into the ether. This has always made them perfect candidates for remixing, and so the idea for 'hycean revisited' was born. 'Digital Anemone', the beating heart of the original album with its Balearic aura, was an obvious choice, but also 'Polyeme' which despite being essentially beatless, is a glorious invocation of the natural world. An international cast from the See Blue Audio roster were then invited to rework, reinterpret and reimagine as they wished.

This isn't the first Rhombus Index release to feature remixes; 'Kernel Phase' at the end of 2022 included several from his back catalogue. 'hycean revisited' takes this one step further with seven new versions of 'Digital Anemone'. As the most uptempo track on the album, it provided a base that could be turned and twisted into myriad shapes. Drone/ambient producer NRV strips the track back and adds subtle melodic touches to create a hypnotic reverie, while Lyli J expands the original into an eight-minute odyssey, rich and warm with a hint of a retro chillout vibe. By contrast, Bagaski's 'Eve' mix is a swirling, atonal reinterpretation in his characteristic vaporwave style.

f5point6 takes 'Digital Anemone' deep into his cinematic world, while Barcelona-based Darbinyan, a newcomer to See Blue Audio, morphs the beats into a dub heavy, spaced out version. In conclusion, the Electric Supply Station Reimagination is an extended narrative where elements of the original are rearranged and interspersed with new sounds and dynamics. Rhombus Index has also created his own slowed down ambient version which allows the melodies to take centre stage. This is one for early Sunday morning as you ease yourself back into life.

A pause for breath follows before Gabriel Slick takes hold of 'Polyeme' and heads dark and techy with his RoboCrafting Material alias. To round things off, Kuma's 'Train to Todmorden' mix goes a little strange and shadowy forces are unleashed. It's the perfect epilogue to this return visit to 'hycean' and embrace of its multiple dimensions.

See Blue Audio is all about light rather than shade, contrast and contradiction, energy and calm, and 'hycean revisited' captures this essence. It's a fine and sometimes darker companion to the original album, and a fitting epitaph for 2024.

Mastered by Loui Binns.

Image: Loui Binns.

hycean revisited

'hycean revisited' (preview) – Rhombus Index (See Blue Audio SBA #057)

a mix series inspired by my beloved lava lamp.

//

this mix was recorded live at the end of a weekend on pender island with friends.
mastered by: kafka / ghost in the machine

//

shanti celeste - sun notification
masahiro takahashi - back to the west
evia - tear hail
w.o.r.m. - lovers
xu - to grasp oneself
bartosz kruczynski - whisper 1
nala sinephro - space 8
masahiro takahashi - sea fireflies
masahiro takahashi - silky lake
loscil - wells
nueen - mirror
anja ngozi & ayana & marysia osu - 🍉🍊🍐
inhmost - don't go quiet now
caro - fog index
martin allin - all awake again
caro - forge
corben - to question oracles
priori - oyl (dj python remix)
nala sinephro - continuum 3
daily rituals - a5. angular prayer, four directions

The Lava Lamp Series 001 - Tephra

Vykhod Sily Podcast - Kuma Guest Mix

Kuma - Coyotes Of The Hollywood Hills

01: Unnoticeable Seriousness - Noah Lyas & Eathm 
02: Plena Lunae - Dino Sabatini 
03: Exit - Dycide 
04: Veluo - Polygonia
05: W. Gun (Shaku remix) - Juli 
06: Sound Killa - Basic Rhythm 
07: Skankin' - NPLGNN 
08: Lime Dust - Sputnik One 
09: Telepathine - Nicola Cruz 
10: Trudge - Maidable 
11: Tripping Out - Calibre 
12: A Different Groove (Andy Odysee Remix) - Source Direct 
13: Reap What You Sow - Villem &  Phase
14: Magnetismo - Forest On Stasys 
15: Light Work - Coco Bryce 
16: Move To The Witness - Cressida 
17: Sideral - Forest On Stasys 
18: Izula - Ancestral Voices

Vykhod Sily Podcast - Kai Bradley Guest Mix

Taken from Michael's 'Tell Me A Tale EP'. Available on iTunes now: http://bit.ly/tellmeataleep

Home Again

Worry Walks Beside Me

Where to begin? A veteran bass slinger of over twenty five
 years, Kuma has brought sounds across the dub-based spectrum to ear and asses from Sapporo to San Francisco. Recognized by the likes of BBC Radio 1's The Breezeblock and their infamous "Dubstep Warz" show and able to turn heads both on the dancefloor and in the sound-art field, his is not your average sound.

The Buddha's Box Is Made Of Wood

Kuma

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