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]

Taken from forthcoming album 'Only Love From Now On' - out 25th Feb via Smalltown Supersound. 
Pre-order here: 
https://carmenvillain.bandcamp.com/album/only-love-from-now-on

Written and produced by Carmen Villain.
Mastered by Beau Thomas.

Subtle Bodies

A Year Ago

can you hear me

Hvar [Arawak Records]

vinyl:   https://honestjons.com/shop/label/Mana      
digital: https://manarecs.bandcamp.com/album/de-leon     
info:     http://manarecords.com/004 

Gamelan and capoeira in dub. The collective behind this doesn’t like to talk much but their music is beautifully conversational. De Leon is the most organic and percussive of their shifting identities, developed on their Aught project in small-run, clear-shell cassette tape releases over the last few years.

They've appreciated a cult interest for their takes on outernational rhythm, field recording, and the tension and relief on the knife-edge of dance music; all delivered with an impressive commitment to anonymity and clarity of vision through cut-and-dried aesthetic minimalism.

These six pieces of music seem formed from wood, metal, air. Dramatic, balletic flourishes and tightly woven interlocking patterns are embedded in slowly changing and "live" atmospheres. The shadow of a hand over the mixing desk makes gradual adjustments to alter the pressure and dimension of the space.

A number of tracks first appeared on De Leon's set for Blowing Up The Workshop in February 2016.

Mastered and cut at D&M.
Distributed by Honest Jon's, London.

Art by Gustavo Eandi

De Leon

De Leon - B1

A1 from 'Envelope' released on Ekster 2018
BUY: https://eksterlabel.bandcamp.com/album/envelope

Slope

Ghostride The Drift - B1

Get this + the original here https://carmenvillain.bandcamp.com/

So High You're Mine (2020 Rework)

Track from the upcoming DE NOR 2020 compilation LP/DL, out on January 11, 2021!

Aaron Dilloway & Lucrecia Dalt : The Monster Of Yesa

Full album (Cassettes / Digi):
https://hairdel.bandcamp.com/album/33-45

33-45

Пурпурный Дядя - Sereno E' (''33​-​45'' cassettes)

Mana is a record label established in 2017 by Andrea Zarza, curator at the British Library Sound Archive, and Blowing Up The Workshop founder Matthew Kent. 

Publishing works with an archival and contemporary sound, Mana is a platform redrawing narrative boundaries and perspectives through a playful, radical and unexpected approach.

De Leon - B1

Mana

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