ambient

Yes, folks, I am still rejoicing in last year. What can I say – I love to listen to great music, especially when it’s picked by someone else. And not just anyone – a trusted source! Ryan Griffin and I go back more than a decade now. Secretly, I’m even jealous of his capacity to operate one of the best labels on the scene today. At times, I toyed with the idea of starting a label too – but then, when would I have the time to write these words and share this music? And so, I leave it to the rest. For this annual entry in the Reflections series, we spend three hours (!) in the company of 42+ tracks selected by your reliable guide of A Strangely Isolated Place, where you will surely find new gems and inspirations. I’ll drop a short quote here, but you should check out a detailed write-up on this mix on ASIP’s dedicated page.

More details here: https://wp.me/paziFt-hmB

Reflection on 2023

Tracklisting

A Strangely Isolated Place - Reflection on 2023

Sometimes, the music matches my mood. And this Monday morning I wake up a little distressed. Perhaps some remnants of a previous night's nightmare have spilt into this world and left me slightly edgy. Reality can surely shape one's dreams, but can it also be impacted in reverse I wonder. I haven't followed the deep catalogue of twelve-inchers from the Glasgow-based duo of Jonnie Wilkes and James Savage releasing under the Naum Gabo project name over the last 15 years, but I am happy to land on their first proper full-length album, titled F. Lux. This is a proto-techno meets industrial meets dark ambient apocalyptic dream score, encompassed in compelling rhythm, distorted soundscapes, and wicked moods. I hear a bit of Demdike Stare, Raime, Vatican Shadow, and The Haxan Cloak, and if this rope of names means anything to you at all, I reckon you'll connect with Naum Gabo. "A consistent source of fascination for us are sounds that sit with some difficulty beside one another, but once heard, just have to be. A perversion, misapplication, accident, call it what you will, but we see this inelegance as ok." I think there is pure beauty in this darkness, and its existence is a must. How else are we to tell the difference in contrast if every single moment feels the same? For today's track premiere, I select a less rhythmic piece that opens up the album - I want it to be just a prelude for your trip. And for the rest, you'll have to take the plunge.

F. Lux

Aora

TRACK PREMIERE : Naum Gabo - Aora

The other day, I was discussing with my good old friend the constant fluctuation of the music release pendulum that I follow, oscillating between my absolutely favourite artists and labels [where sometimes it can feel like I am inside an echo chamber] and chasing the latest and new [where sometimes I am guided by marketing trends of PR]. As usual, the sweet spot is somewhere in the middle, and I will still chart my own course. Today is an immensely gorgeous example of the former, where I am eagerly celebrating a brand new release from my favourite artist – Ben Chatwin. And this is a perfect model of balance, where Chatwin does not simply sharpen his skills but projects them another leap forward, creating another new style that one day, I’m sure, will stand out as prime. If you peruse these pages you’ll be sure to find nearly every release from Ben Chatwin going back to 2015, and then, once again, even further in time, to 2008, when he was recording under another named project. But with his latest releases on Village Green, the last of which was The Hum (2020), Chatwin managed to evoke the voice of the inorganic, blending melodic beauty with intense sonics and tense, edgy rhythms. “Obsessed with the physicality of sound, Chatwin utilises modular synthesis to imbue life and instability into the recordings. Pushing his exploration of analogue textures, audio is passed through an arsenal of compressors and saturators to build layers of grit and grime around this new set of tactile compositions.” So yes, I’m a massive fan of his compositions, and yes, I have even secured a coveted remix of his for an upcoming single I intend to release any day now [more on that later!]. For his new album, titled Verdigris, Chatwin set up his own imprint, Disinter, to take us down his forward-thinking evolution of sound.

Verdigris

Dolmen

TRACK PREMIERE : Ben Chatwin - Dolmen

Time is always speeding up. I feel like we just came out of the New Year's celebration, but the truth is, we are a whole quarter done with 2024. It's time to take a break and possibly slow down. I'll be off for a couple of weeks, recharging my batteries somewhere on the coast of France, but before I leave, I've got one more exciting track premiere to share with you today. This one is courtesy of French producer Maxime Dangles, who previously showed up here with a Pavane Remix of his "Operate" back in 2023. I liked the pure energy and musicality of that piece, and I was excited to preview his upcoming new full-length, titled Le Roman De Carpentier, which the French National Cinema Center commissioned as a soundtrack for the 1913 silent film celebrating the first French boxing world champion. Turning to his arsenal of modular synthesizers and club gear, Dangles focused on blending a perfect balance between ambient, electronica and techno across the twelve tracks on the album. The result, full of excitement and, once again, raw energy and grit, is what has genuinely drawn my attention to some of the pieces here, especially the ambient composition titled "Papa", this being Headphone Commute and all...

ambient

Mike Aparin