Interview: www.lowendtheorists.com/theory-therapy-mixes/alias-error

Indelible downtempo selections from one half of the a.s.o duo.

Theory Therapy 52 is by Berlin-based Aussie singer, songwriter and DJ Alias Error. Alia is one half of a.s.o. (the other half is Tornado Wallace), a duo that have been releasing some of the most memorable downtempo we’ve heard in a long time. Can’t wait to hear their debut album out next month. Also highly recommend checking out Alia's monthly radio show on Refuge Worldwide too if you haven’t already. Like this mix, it’s chock-full of indelible downtempo and trip-hop selections.

Theory Therapy 52: Alias Error

underwater aficionado and lifelong friend surfing on what eases his mind

"I’m truly honored and proud to release this mix on the label run by my longtime friends, leopold and simon. we’ve known each other for years and grew up together through music, so being able to share my very first time mix on their label feels quite special to me.

this ambient, dubby and aquatic mix is an immersion in low frequencies that resonate like the heartbeat of the ocean, inspired by the latter that surrounds and soothes me every day. a tribute to the calm and powerful energy of the waters"

recorded in soulac-sur-mer
05.08.25

@reyyq
@tustance

nunsen·tape 25 - rey q

Living Room n°88 ~ @user-195275547

q. pls introduce yourself…
Hello, we are forest.exe (Sven and Silvan). We run a label that focuses on ambient, avant-garde and experimental music. It is called Jurassic Ambient Records. The name is inspired by the Jura forests in Switzerland, where we live and grew up. We create our own mixes and also release guest mixes as well as music from friends and anyone interested. We started about four years ago. Over time, we gradually moved away from technoid sounds and club culture, and began experimenting and mixing together within the genres of ambient, experimental and drone, where we felt more at home. For us, it is essential to connect music with the wellbeing in nature, which is also the origin of everything.

q. is there a story behind the mix?
This time we created the mix with Ableton in Sven’s home studio, nestled near the Jurassic forest — not, as we usually do, in a rehearsal room with a Pioneer setup. It was a warm and luminous day at the very beginning of summer. Surrounded by nature, we let the atmosphere guide us, working spontaneously and intuitively. Instead of CDJs, we wanted to explore a new approach, giving ourselves more time and space to shape the flow. This allowed us to engage more deeply with each track and to sculpt the transitions with greater precision.
The result is a mix that feels reduced and calming, almost dreamlike, yet still carries a quiet strength. It mirrors the uncertainties and concerns we feel about the world, and the question of how we might navigate through them. We dedicated an entire day to the process, with pauses, a few beers, and long conversations about the value of music and the character we wanted this mix to embody.

q. what’s the best way to enjoy your mix?
Step into the forest, put on your headphones, leave the world behind and sink into natural, calming sounds. You might wander along the paths and lose yourself in the embrace of nature, or sit quietly on a tree stump, listening to the mix while observing the subtle life unfolding around you. This is, in essence, what our name forest.exe is meant to evoke.

q. describe a favourite object in your living room...
Silvan: My favourite object in my living room is a handmade ceramic piece with an organic, natural design. I discovered it in Krakow last year during my visit to the Unsound Festival.
Sven: Hehe… epic indeed. My favorite object in my living room is a triptych of three Japanese woodblock prints. In the first, several farmers brandishing katanas burst forth with fierce cries. In the second, a lone farmer leaps dramatically over a waterfall, sword in hand. And in the third, a bear flees from the oncoming attackers. The imagery is raw and powerful, yet strangely inspiring. I don’t know the artist or when the pieces were created — but stumbling upon them in an antique shop felt like a stroke of fortune, as if they had been waiting there for me.

q. are you working on any projects right now (music or not music)?
We are both working on new music, though it often takes a lot of time — which can be challenging, since we both work more or less full-time as social workers, and Sven also has children. Still, we meet regularly to create ambient mixes, discuss musical developments, and continue shaping our vision for the label. Through it, we keep releasing new mixes as well as music (EPs) from ourselves and from other artists.
What we love is that this project has been with us for quite some time, and we can move at our own pace — deciding how much energy to put in, or when to slow things down. That way, it never becomes stressful, because we are not chasing success, but rather sharing our musical principles and offering others a fresh listening experience. We are also searching for a spot in the forest where we can record outdoor mixes, letting nature inspire our music even more directly.

Living Room n°88 ~ forest.exe

pi/live: Mike Midnight @ Ballet in NYC 05-18-2025

A stunning recording from Liquidtime at Kwia by the inimitable Cousin @secondcousins
<3

𝙡𝙞𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙙𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 #16 ft Cousin: Babbling Brook @refugeworldwide (LIVE from Kwia)

Fine Homebuilding 12: Baby Leo + SLINK (K Wata, Enayet, rrao)

*recorded live in Field, ON at Best Out of Town Year 5 (08/31/25)

Kiju knows. This 8 to 10am showcase slowed things down, picked us all up, and ventured deep dub inside the unique voice of venerable Montreal organizer.

@kijulia

kiju // Best Out of Town Year 5 (08/31/25)

From Mx. Blaire: I titled this mix “Soft Sounds for Hard Times” or “More Bird Noises in the Ambient Room”. This 1hr collection of music is meant to calm the nervous system with gentle tones, soft synth pads, and copious nature noises. I often turn to ambient music with a softer edge in times of great stress or periods in life that call for deep meditation & reflection. My hope was to soundtrack a mix that allows you to lie down, let the ground hold you, experience a warm blanket of sound shroud your senses, and sink into a state of ease. The last track is especially inspired by Russell E.L. Butler's @russellelbutler set at System Activate. They masterfully guided dancers towards the end of a 23hr journey, and ML Butch’s Working It Out was an especially gorgeous and powerful moment. The entire set and that special track has personally resonated deeply ever since. 
__

A dazzling selectress, an embodiment of skill and craft, and a passionate community builder, Mx. Blaire (she/they) of Boston, MA has a singular ability to enchant dancers with stirring, sometimes otherworldly sounds. Her reverence for 90s house, hard-hitting techno, and mind-bending acid guarantees an active dance floor, kept enthralled by intentionally placed breaks and thrilling interplays of tempos and textures. As a result of their dedicated vinyl practice, Blaire’s sets are also technically engaging, with brilliant phrasing and thoughtful touches of turntablism. She uses these skills to transfer her energy to the dancers and share in sonic conversations, exploring concurrent themes of resistance & joy and existence & play. 

In addition to sharing their gifts through DJ sets, Blaire betters Boston’s underground through their organizing, for the queer dance music collective Boudoir and their new series Sheer Bliss. It’s hard to find parties frequented by a stronger community and filled with as much uninhibited delight. Furthering her commitment to community care, Blaire has created her spirit-comforting Sunday ambient and downtempo party called Sweetie Pie

IG: @beets.bi.blaire 
SC: @mxblaire

06 Mx. Blaire

Living Room n°90 ~ @ghosttropics

~

q. pls introduce yourself:

a. Hi! I’m Ryan aka ghosttropics and I think most people on here know me as “that person who is in the comment boxes of all the ambient releases on bandcamp”. Mostly I’m just a huge music nerd/listener/dancer, but I try to write about the music that care about as much as I can as a way to engage with the community a bit more and to give back to the artists who bless me with the music that brings so much to my life. Which is how you guys found me! This is only the second mix I ever made and I’ve since worked on a couple more, and it’s becoming this very fulfilling new thing in my life that I look forward to exploring a bit more.

q. is there a story behind the mix?

a. First of all I just wanted to thank you guys for having me here and giving me this opporunity to work on this mix, which ended up being very meaningful and downright therapeutic for me to make. It is dedicated to my late best friend Blakely, and also to anyone who lives with that soul deep and unnameable feeling of missing someone, but also feeling them with you all the time. At the very centre of the mix (both figuratively and at the literal halfway point) is a track of Blakes that I hadn’t been able to bring myself to listen to for years. I always thought it was one of the most beautiful things I ever heard and just the purest audio distillation of everything I loved about my friend, and as soon as the mix started to come together I knew it was the right time to bring it back into my life. Everything from there just seemed to come together on is own as if guided by a gentle hand.

The feeling I tried to capture in this mix is not simply sadness because grief is SO much more than that. It’s about how that sadness can also be so deeply intertwined with a feeling of indescribable gratitude and joy in having known a person, and it’s about all the beautiful and unexpected ways we can keep them with us throughout our lives. To me, this mix is exactly that. A way to share the story of my friend with the world and feel closer to him, and I hope that listening to this can give others the space to remember and relate to their own experiences in a way that feels meaningful as well.

q. what’s the best way to enjoy your mix?

a. As is my answer to most things: lying down, eyes closed, cuddling a cute dog. But really, wherever works best for you! 

q. describe a favourite object in your living room...

a. I found the most beautiful/perfect antique rocking chair with a rocking footrest on the sidewalk a couple months ago and I swear I could not even conceptualize a better reading chair. I refused to buy one for years because I wanted it to be perfect (I read nearly as much as I listen to music) and part of me feels like I willed this thing into reality. 

q. are you working on any projects right now (music or not music)?

a. I’m thinking about maybe starting some sort of newsletter as my friends keep telling me to do, but for now I’m just gonna keep writing my little bandcamp reviews and making more mixes, cause that’s what’s feeling good right now. And despite my past promise to myself to never become a DJ (half joking) maybe buy a controller and start figuring out how to do some of this stuff live at some point!

Living Room n°90 ~ ghosttropics

First thing on Fridays - Jack Rollo's here to take care of things.  
Find the full tracklist and related episodes on NTS: https://www.nts.live/shows/early-bird-show-jack-rollo/episodes/early-bird-show-jack-rollo-31st-october-2025

8

Nastya_Meister

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