Absolutely my favourite Christmas mix - so glad the time of year has come again where I don't feel funny listening to it!!

Artist: Inventions
Title: Peregrine
Album: Maze of Woods
Release Date: March 16, 2015


Peregrine

Pre-order the vinyl: bit.ly/1Bzc1Ab

LA-based electronic duo OOFJ are elated to announce the release of their sophomore album Acute Feast (April 21 on Ring The Alarm Records).

The brainchild of real-life couple Jenno Bjørnkjær and Katherine Mills-Rymer, the LA-based electronic duo OOFJ met in New York City while Bjørnkjær was working on music for Lars Von Trier’s Melancholia. This chance encounter developed into both a romantic and sonic chemistry that would eventually lead to the couple collaborating on music that formed the foundations of OOFJ.

Equal parts glamorous and nightmarish, with a glittery seductive tone to it, Acute Feast hints at the otherworldly, almost hyper-real world that OOFJ don’t just reside in, but have orchestrated.

Acute Feast

Sailor

from 'Blossoms In Red' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den243
available in October on all formats at [http://denovali.com/ensembleeconomique]

Based in Californian Humboldt County, Brian Pyle wanders the world on his countless travels. Far from being restless, he has his very own Pylesque way of travelling. Much like a Lynchian version of Hemingway, he has an eye for the thin layer between restlessness and relaxation, gloom and serenity. Wherever he goes, he ardently absorbes these nuances, rarefies them and moulds them into a seamless array of glimmering styles, from drone and ambient to shoegaze and post-wave, giving birth to yet another creation of his prolific Ensemble Economique project.
On his by now eleventh album and fourth Denovali release "Blossoms In Red", Pyle combines and perfects elements of his previous output into a cohesive narrative. The opener "From The Train Window, Red Flowers On The Mountain" is a surprisingly scarce ambient piece, which feels like an almost infinitely stretched precious moment of time. Despite being austere, it is warm, sublime and incredibly captivating and after listening to its full 8 minutes, one cannot help but to rewind and replay. Having barely escaped this seductively infinite loop, one encounters the title track "Blossoms In Red" featuring Portland electronic duo Soft Metals. Starting off with a characteristic sluggish programmed beat, one is immediately overpowered by the onset of the towering combination of a warm bassline and a shimmering synth ambience. As the track flows, these elements writhe around each other in a delicately beautiful fashion, absorbing the materialising wailing guitar which almost sounds like an ethereal voice, as well as the occasional melodic and rhythmic accents. The next track sees this guitar return in a rather pure form. "On The Sand", featuring jack-of-all-trades Peter Broderick, is essentially just reduced analogue drums, electric guitar, a simple vibrating bassline and hoarse almost spoken vocals. Slowly and methodically, these constituents form a captivating erotic ritual, much like a beguiling and hypnotic mandala procession of imperturbable blissful individuals on the beach. As proven on numerous occasions, Pyle can easily lead all his trumps in the presence of female lead vocals, and "Blossoms In Red" makes no exception. Indeed, "You, By Candlelight" is easily the best Ensemble Economique track with female vox to date. Pyle manages to embed the vocals just in the right minimal amount of instrumental layers, making the track radiate an elusive tranquility. The fifth and closing track "Nothing Is Perfect" is a classically tinged piano piece with only very little processing and sparse field recording samples. With all pieces of the album, Pyle manages to create tracks which feel like being composed only of two or three layers of sound, that are nevertheless allowed to develop a life cycle which seems incredibly long - track lengths vary from 6:30 to 8:10 - but still feels just right. Thus "Blossoms In Red" is probably Ensemble Economique's most minimalistic album, but at the same time - or maybe just for this reason - his most skilled work.

Blossoms In Red

Preorder / Buy

Ensemble Economique - You, By Candlelight (feat. J Moon)

múm (Gunnar Örn Tynes, Örvar Smárason & Samuli Kosminen) live at Radialsystem on 14 February, 2016.

Together with the percussionist Samuli Kosminen, the founding members of múm, Gunnar Örn Tynes and Örvar Smárason, performed an improvised live score to “Menschen am Sonntag”, a masterpiece of silent film. 

Special thanks to the artists for a great performance, to Jan Gieseke for the amazing sound and to Carlo Grippa for mastering this tune.
Recorded at Radialsystem, Berlin.
Published with permission of the artist.
Photo: Markus Werner

múm plays Menschen am Sonntag @ UM:LAUT -  Live Snippet 1

Carrion

Miwon - Charezza

Artist: Hauschka
Title: Constant Growth Fails 
Album: What If 
Release Date: March 31, 2017

Pre-order North America: https://www.temporaryresidence.com/products/trr290
Pre-Order ROW: http://hauschka.lnk.to/whatif

Since 2004, Volker Bertelmann – aka Hauschka – has, steadily earned a remarkable reputation as a purveyor of imaginative, distinctive, prepared piano music. On What If – which finds him adding player pianos (also known as pianolas) to his arsenal – Bertelmann expands his range even further, defying expectations and delivering what is without a doubt his most ingenious album yet
While engaging with his trademark technique of utilizing unusual objects – art erasers, for example – to treat (or ‘prepare’) the piano, Hauschka also programmed parts for player pianos, exploiting the speed at which they could play, manipulating the resulting sounds, and building layers to emphasize a composition’s meter.
What If aims to provoke reflection beyond the musical sphere with the titles of the both the album and its individual tracks. Overflowing with haunting melodies, mysterious sounds, and complex patterns, What If crowns an extraordinary couple of years for Hauschka. Likely to prove one of 2017’s most original albums, What If redefines the very notion of piano music in dramatic and exceptional fashion. It stands as a rebuttal to those who lazily shoehorn Hauschka’s work into the so-called, uncomfortably broad ‘new classical’ category, and instead underlines his status as a unique and invaluable artist.

© Temporary Residence Ltd. & City Slang

What If

Hauschka - Constant Growth Fails

Order 'Find The Ways' on LP · CD · DL here: phonofile.link/find-the-ways

Peter Broderick returns with Allred & Broderick – a duo project between him and his musical partner David Allred – and their debut album ‘Find The Ways’ out on April 7th 2017.

Armed with nothing but their voices, a violin and an upright bass, Allred & Broderick began their journey to create an album as minimal as possible. Recorded in Peter’s studio The Sparkle on the Oregon coast, the pair used this solitude to focus on creating something as raw and honest as possible, particularly in what some might deem unattainable during a time where complexity is sought most.

In a world full of noise and the anxieties of every day life, Find The Ways brings us together and reminds us to appreciate and confront the simple and fundamental facts of life, and that we as individuals will eventually find our way.

Words from Peter and David, January 2017:

“I sensed a truly unique character in David’s own music that is wonderfully heartfelt and sincere. With this recording David and I set out to make something raw which is an honest document of what we are capable of doing together at once, with just two acoustic instruments and our voices. The entire album was recorded live, with no overdubs and no edits. Just two guys playing together in a room. I have always dreamed of doing a project in which I only use my violin and my voice, and to do this alongside David’s upright bass and voice feels like the perfect fit. It is a truly 50/50 collaboration.“ — Peter Broderick

“It is such a pleasure to work with Peter. I feel that we're on the same page in more ways than one, both musically and non-musically. The making of this album was an incredibly fun challenge; writing music to be performed and recorded live with only violin, upright bass, and voices. It still amazes me that we managed to make a whole record with only those three elements. Over the years, I have felt a very strong connection to Peter's music and friendship, and I feel that this collaboration comes from a really good place. I hope this music gives the listeners a feeling of comfort, confusion and understanding.” — David Allred

Artist and long time collaborator of Erased Tapes Peter Liversidge was commissioned to paint the cover art as per his ‘Sign Painting’ project. Liversidge also painted the fragmented lyric signs featured in the official music video for ‘The Ways’, directed by label founder Robert Raths. Watch it here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6heqiuHmvmM

Find The Ways

Allred & Broderick - Hey Stranger

Pre-order 'All Together Again' on LP/CD/DL: phonofile.link/all-together-again

There is no end to composer Peter Broderick’s creative output, and so we present to you his new album titled 'All Together Again' — available worldwide on November 17th 2017 via Erased Tapes.

Words from Peter, October 2017:

"Ever since I started releasing records in 2007 (10 years ago now!), people have contacted me periodically to ask if I’d be interested in making music to accompany their projects. Most of these projects have been things like films, dance pieces and theatre plays . . . but every so often I get the odd request for something a little different. Peter, would you write a song for my wedding? My one year anniversary? A ferry boat ride?

In early 2015 I was asked to perform 12 minutes of music during a runway show as part of New York Fashion Week. I agreed and began composing a 12-minute piece which I could perform on my own with a few different instruments and some looping pedals. I made a recording of the piece and sent it over to my contacts at the fashion show . . . but a few days before I was to fly out to New York, they wrote back and told me they actually just wanted me to play a few older songs that they were already familiar with. Feeling slightly disappointed, I shelved the other piece, giving it the title If I Were A Runway Model.

It is with great pleasure that I now present this piece in a collection of commissioned works spanning the last decade . . . it’s All Together Again. This group of oddball works does indeed include a couple pieces written for weddings (Our Future In Wedlock and The Walk), and a song someone asked me to write as a gift for his wife on their first year wedding anniversary (Emily). And indeed, there’s a 17-minute piece written to accompany a ferry boat ride in Istanbul (A Ride On The Bosphorus). A few of the pieces were written for films (Robbie’s Song, Atlantic and Seeing Things), and one for a kind of interactive installation (Unsung Heroes).

In my early days of recording, I took pride in playing all the different instruments myself and doing the recording myself as well. And then at some point I started branching out, working with other musicians and recording engineers. But this record is very dear to me in that it’s a return to that original approach . . . playing all the different instruments myself, working with my limits on each one, and my own limits in recording and mixing. I’ve always held a broad curiosity for all different instruments and all different styles of music, and if nothing else I hope this record will portray that curiosity, and my pure love for this thing we call music. Can you dig it?"

The cover art was made by Peter himself in his hometown of Portland, Oregon, by cutting and sticking different coloured paper fragments to depict the individuality of each track.

TRACK LISTING

1. If I Were A Runway Model
2. Robbie’s Song
3. A Ride On The Bosphorus
4. Emily
5. Our Future In Wedlock	
6. The Walk
7. Atlantic 
8. Seeing Things
9. Unsung Heroes

WEBSITE: www.peterbroderick.net

All Together Again

Peter Broderick - Robbie's Song

Ívar's soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ivarpetur

YuleTrackList:
Fairuz - Talj Talj
Brunaliðið - Það á að gefa börnum brauð (Ívar Pétur Edit)
Mike, Peggy And Penny Seeger (Rounder 0268) - Look Away To Betlehem(Ívar Pétur nennir Mash)
Kenny Rogers Og Dolly Parton - A Christmas To Remember
Skakkamanage - Costa del Jol (Apfelblut edit)
Skapti Ólafsson - Sleðaferð (Apfelblut edit)
Marvin Gaye - Purple Snowflakes
Katla María - Ég fæ jólagjöf
Rúnar Júlíusson - Friður á jörð
María Baldursdóttir - Gefðu mér gott í skóinn
Vilhjálmur Vilhjálmsson - Hátíð í bæ
Meco Monardo - R2-D2 We Wish You a Merry Christmas (feat. John Bongiovi aka Jon Bon Jovi)
Gáttaþefur - Ég set góðgæti í skóinn
Les Chanteurs de Noël - Et Les Cloches Sonnanient
Byron Lee & The Dragonaires - Auld Lang Syne (Feat. S.P.M)
Ellý Vilhjálms - Agnarlítill angi 
Mike, Peggy And Penny Seeger - Oh, Mary And The Baby (Ívar Pétur Jólastuðstund Mash)
Heikki Juhani - Talvihalla (Rati-Riti-Ralla)
Louis Prima - Senor Santa Claus
Vulfpeck - Christmas in LA
The Angels - Snowflakes and Teardrops
múm - Nú er Gunna á nýju skónum
Fairuz -Sawt el eid

Örvar and Ívars Weihnachtsmarkt Mix

Composer and drummer of Dawn of Midi, Qasim Naqvi, releases his debut album for Erased Tapes on May 3rd. 'Teenages' captures the sound of electronics living, breathing and mutating of their own accord – almost autonomously – with only subtle, sparing but perfectly-judged and masterful guidance.

This album is one singular synergy between Qasim and his machine within a broader milieu of sound, also explored by contemporaries Sarah Davachi, Alessandro Cortini, Caterina Barbieri and also the forefather, Morton Subotnick. At points tonal, textural and rhythmic, over six evolving and growing audio organisms, the album flourishes upwards in stages, from initial micro-sonics to something bigger, brighter and anthemic.

With 'Teenages', Naqvi summoned all the material on an analog modular synthesizer – a voltage-controlled sound generating system comprised of multiple modules. Naqvi built this synth over the course of two years and amassed a collection of works for this album. The album chronicles both Naqvi’s understanding of writing for this type of instrument and the growth of the instrument itself:

“I started with just a few modules. And naturally things had to be layered and pieced together but as the synthesiser and its components grew over time, I was able to create broader and more complex strokes in the moment. And by the time I got to ‘Teenages’, it was possible to create a robust, large-scale piece spontaneously. This is very much an experiential album for me because it was borne out of my direct experience of learning the instrument. And as the synthesiser grew over time with more components, it matured. At times I felt like it was even rebelling against my instructions or surprising me with what felt like its own choices. When everything was finished and I was thinking about track titles, this idea of artificial intelligence came into my head; a machine that reacts to your impulses and is capable of giving you something different from what you ask, and even defying you. It felt like different stages of growth and adolescence, and that lead to the album title, ‘Teenages’.”

Deeply rewarding on close listening, Naqvi has created an inspiring and synapse-stimulating new masterwork, within the analogue/modular cannon.

· pre-order 'Teenages' on LP/CD/DL: https://idol.lnk.to/QasimTeenages

Örvar and Ívars Weihnachtsmarkt Mix

Örvar Smárason (múm, FM Belfast)

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