Look, I know that many of my opening words often begin with “Today, I am thrilled to share with you a new piece by [so and so]”, but how can I not use the exact same opening line when one of my all-time favourite piano composers reaches out to me to premiere a piece from his newly-announced long-awaited album? This Norwegian musician’s first proper solo studio release appeared on the beloved Sonic Pieces in 2014, which we only later learned to be part of a trilogy of albums. But that doesn’t mean that I spent only the last decade listening to Otto A. Totland – together with his school friend Erik K. Skodvin, the duo has been making beautiful music as Deaf Center, releasing Neon City EP in 2004 on Type. We now see him being backed by Nils Frahm, who not only shares the production credits on his upcoming new album but also releases Exin on his very own Berlin-based LEITER imprint, which he founded with his manager Felix Grimm only a few years ago. This also means that the album was recorded at Frahm’s studio at Funkhaus complex, offering the most beautiful-sounding piano in the hands of the most beautiful-sounding mind. The emotionally charged and sometimes melancholy sound is still present in Totland’s collection of sixteen solo piano pieces, but there is also an upbeat and vibrant tint on a few, including the first single, “Marka”, which follows a classical staccato harmony that I can envision being played on a harpsichord. Yet pieces like “Lys” take me back to that particular flavour of Totland’s sonic tenderness to pull on my heartstrings, allowing me to get lost in those barely audible reverberations of the keys. The piece I’m sharing with you today is called “Rift”, an introspective and sombre reflection in just a few pensive chords.

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Rift

TRACK PREMIERE : Otto A. Totland - Rift

'Um' by Martha Skye Murphy 

Listen in Full/Buy Here: 
https://marthaskyemurphy.bandcamp.com/album/um

Co-Produced by Ethan P. Flynn
Artwork by Ben Murphy and C.M Murphy
Design by Ben McLaughlin
Mixed by Marta Salogni
Mastered by Heba Kadry

Um - Martha Skye Murphy

Untitled (September Sky)

Glacial Movements is an Italian record label which has been reducing the temperatures of our hearts for nearly two decades now. But besides the frosty and desolate spaces, there’s something warming about its approach. Perhaps it’s about paying attention to all of those forgotten, faraway places where nature continues on its course regardless of the insanity that we create and then attempt to sort out. Perhaps things are not as complicated as we make them out to be. Mayhaps the physical simplicity of the colliding icebergs is the answer to our problems. So let’s turn off the televisions and let’s delete accounts, and turn towards the spaces where our minds can rest. One such deep reflection on social themes and existential moments can be found in the fascinating narrative of Italian multidisciplinary artist Lia Bosch and her upcoming debut album, titled Polar Code. There is a darker undertone behind this music, which is just one piece of this conceptual, multi-dimensional and immersive project together with visuals and words [some of which I will share below], provoking thoughts on organic fragility, cosmic expansion, and what it means to be truly human.

Read more on Headphone Commute:
https://headphonecommute.com/2024/11/20/lia-bosch-stepping-beyond/

Polar Code

Stepping Beyond

TRACK PREMIERE : Lia Bosch - Stepping Beyond

The 'Noise Print' project began from a desire to create deep, earthy textures. I had an image of walking along a narrow forest path and being very present in the moment. For this album I changed my usual approach by setting a one-hour time limit for each studio session. As soon as I set this limitation my ‘chattery brain’ started stirring up doubts about my ability to work under these confines- an hour wasn’t long enough to create ‘amazing music’ and that setting such restraints would be stopping me from producing quality work. However, once I started working, a diﬀerent, more grounded version of myself emerged-more sure footed and less neurotic and anxious, focused on the present moment rather than getting anxious over future outcomes. And the outcomes were good, I was really happy with the material I was creating and the whole of Noise Print was made in these sessions.  

While I made the album I started to think about identity, shadow selves, unconscious selves, versions of ourselves that are quite diﬀerent from the everyday person we think we are. In many ways this was quite comforting, the thought that my everyday self could take it’s hands of the wheel and let a grown up much more capable person could get on with the work. On reflection I realise that making music is one situation in my life where I’m able to tap into this state without too much diﬃculty (most of the time) but it was during the making of Noise Print that I actually noticed it was happening.  

This led me to think about the concept of shadow selves-alternate versions of our subconscious selves that operate beyond our everyday distractions and influences. Like the image of the forest track-a space where the noisy mental clutter fades, and a deeper, older self takes over.  

To sum this one up-it’s like a walk along a narrow forest path and the present moment is very much alive-your mind is right in ‘the now’ with past and future losing any meaning. The ‘Noise Print’ title came about by me thinking if you could print to tape the sound of your psyche/consciousness when your are in this present focused, deep state.  

- Phil Tomsett - April 2024

Noise Print

Phil Tomsett - Noise Print (Preview)

Tracklist

01.  Nobuto Suda - Resonance
02.  Bill Seaman and Monika Bugajny - beginning, introduction, pattern
03.  Hirotaka Shirotsubaki -  Cloudy Sky in November
04.  This Communication + Traveling Light - You Are Now At Peace
05.  Lamasz & Thme -  Spirales
06.  Masaya Ozaki -  Skerpla
07.  James Murray - Ragwort
08.  r beny - echoing pastoral
09.  Mi Cosa de Resistance & Ciro Berenguer - La invención del jardin
10.  Wil Bolton - Skymning

406. Sleepy Sunday Podcast (Elm Records)

Pre-order now available: https://handstitched.bandcamp.com/album/vikande-bl-nuages

Handstitched* is thrilled to announce the next split-artist EP in the series by two always consistent artists in their own rights; Old Amica and Aiko Takahashi have both released music which has been well-received on well-respected labels, such as IIKKI and Dronarivm, their contrasts in sound compliment each other with a calmness running throughout both the artists' work.

"Vikande blå” & "Nuages" is issued on dual-format, limited edition tape and mini double CD featuring individually hand-bound and hand-cut collage CD wallets made from vintage materials, washi tape and papers, a special print edition of four unique designs for the [tape] O-cards to house the c45 cassettes. Each CD copy is hand-numbered and packed inside glassine bags, tape copies are packed inside a clear eco bag.

Vikande blå / Nuages - S4mpl3r [HS57]

framea arc - clay council / never there / rules of participation / tarp room

Quality Control

Rainer Veil are Liam Morley and Dan Valentine, two friends who met while studying contemporary music in the north of England. The pair began improvising and making drones in a dark basement before incorporating a broader palette and forming Rainer Veil as an ongoing concern last year. ‘Struck’ is their first EP and debut for Modern Love, following an appearance at the label Boiler Room takeover in August 2012.
The ‘Struck’ EP incorporates recordings made over the last year and extends from the rewired Jungle ruckus of the title track to the more emotive formation of ‘Wade In’ and ‘Bala’, through to the hazy closer ‘Yield’. There’s a melancholy pop pulsing at the heart of these tracks, coloured by a love of electronic mutations from UKG and Hardcore rave to House and Techno, most evident in the unusual recording process undertaken while constructing the EP. Each track was re-worked from radically different first drafts, often starting life as more recognisable and structured songs before being dismantled into more abstract shapes: percussion degraded and layered, vocals fed through analog delays, samples reworked at the wrong speed and re-sampled to tape for added warmth: the narrative all mixed up.

Stories From Below (Naviarhaiku 326)

Kyosuke Osaku