Sweden-based pianist and composer Leon den Engelsen debuts on piano and coffee records with Growth, a raw, warm, and intimate six-piece EP. On this project, the Dutch musician decorates his intimately recorded upright piano with delicate soundscapes, field-recordings and ambient synthesizers. Leon goes back to his roots in both improvisations and compositions on piano.

Leon came in touch with music early on when his mother practiced the piano at home. At the age of seven, Leon got his first lessons with the local piano teacher and his musical journey began. In his teens, Leon formed a band with his friends and only a few years later he’d start touring with national and international artists such as Iranian/Dutch singer and producer Sevdaliza, for whom he also does most of the piano and keyboard recording. In 2011, Leon moved to New Orleans to study jazz music and, in 2017, he finished a Master’s Degree at Codarts Conservatory in Rotterdam. One year later, Leon moved to Sweden where he built his recording studio in which he now writes and records his own music. In 2020, Leon released his debut EP Substance, a four-track project that connects the acoustic and electronic worlds through dance music.

Leon den Engelsen - Vinter

+info + tracklist: https://subtempo.com/mixes/sergio-diaz-de-rojas

This month's guest mix comes from the talented young composer, pianist, and label owner Sergio Diaz De Rojas @bonjoursergio.  With releases on famed labels like 7K!, Sonder House, or Deutsche Grammophon, as well as an impressive output on his very own Piano & Coffee Records, this Peruvian musician is taking the world by storm. He prepared a mellow, delicate, and intricate journey alongside an insightful interview for us.

Tracklist + Interview

Subtempo Mix 030 - Sergio Díaz De Rojas

"Plïnkï Plønkï is a 50 piece ensemble that doesn’t exist." So states the press release in the biography section about this anonymous project. But whether this release is backed by ten or twenty people it's clear that the vision behind the concept and its execution are delivered as one. Composing the music (and poems that accompany each piece) about our solitary natural satellite one cannot help but reflect upon this sound during its essential moment - the night. Somehow, the piano, inspired by the reveries of Éric Satie, slightly muted in the dense and cold forest, slightly sad on the rippling surface of a freezing lake, dances quietly among the slowly falling snow. Perhaps the instrument is not performing at this moment but is observing from afar. It is no coincidence that I have titled my favorite Best of the Year list "Music For Watching The Snow Slowly Fall In The Moonlight" and featured [mostly] piano music for its selection. Perhaps it is no coincidence that this mysterious musical artist feels the same about the moon. And if you're a fan of surrealist fiction, perchance it is no coincidence that the Japanese author Haruki Murakami brought the moon into the focus in his parallel universe of 1Q84. Or maybe it is all a coincidence, a happenstance, and a fluke, in a world where even the randomness seems to be predetermined. The way the snowflakes fall on the reflective surface of a freezing lake at night.

More on the release : http://hcdi.gs/Lunar

Psalms for a Sunken Moon

The Lunar Fell

TRACK PREMIERE : Plïnkï Plønkï - The Lunar Fell

We've got a fun one for you today, as might be expected from a U.K. band named Plïnkï Plønkï who describes themselves as "a 50-piece ensemble that doesn't exist." Bucking the trend, they don't put their own music in the mix; instead, they pour out influences and favorites like buckets of water in sand castle moats.  The mix includes ocean sounds, church bells, a book and a bridge, across which disparate genres meet and shake hands.  John Luther Adams nestles against FKA Twigs (we're certain this has never happened before), while an underplayed classic (Jasper TX's "They've Flown Away and Left Us Here") bleeds into Björk's "Bath."  The hourlong mix is surprisingly smooth given its dynamic range, and leaves one feeling satiated.

Read more, including a tracklist, at www.acloserlisten.com

Plïnkï Plønkï's Mïxey Wïxey

This mixtape is an introduction to some of the artists and works that inspired Cedric to create his debut album “Left Upon Us”. 

"Ranging from acoustic piano pieces to ambient electronic tracks, this mix features songs he fell in love with years ago, and other recent discoveries that became personal inspiration material. It includes some old forgotten gems like Hommage, a beautiful string piece from Patrick Watson’s album Wooden Arms; and a2, taken from the first ever collaboration between Nils Frahm and Olafur Arnalds."

0:00 Cedric Vermue – We Came and Left (piano and coffee records)

5:27 Moon Ate the Dark – Bashy (Sonic Pieces)

9:16 Holographic Field – Motion One

11:09 Martin Kohlstedt – OMBLEH (Edition Kohlstedt)

16:21 Nils Frahm & Olafur Arnalds – a2 (Erased Tapes)

20:26 Sergio Díaz De Rojas – The Day I Lost Her (piano and coffee records)

23:10 Hildur Guðnadóttir & Homin Lviv Municipal Choir – Vichnaya Pamyat (Deutsche Grammophon)

27:11 Simon Bauke – Everythingsallright

30:18 Paddy Mulcahy – You Could Walk Across the Shannon (Phases)

34:54 Cedric Vermue – She Said (piano and cofffee records)

38:11 Ceeys – Wanderer (Neue Meister)

41:12 Jon Hopkins – Abandon Window (Domino Recording)

45:50 Patrick Watson – Hommage (Secret City Records)

SOM MIX - Cedric Vermue Mixtape: November Tape

A relevant spot for artists from all over the world who cross the borders between ambient, electronic, and contemporary classical music.

label@pianoandcoffee.com

Vargkvint / Sergio Díaz De Rojas / Klangriket / Plinki Plonki / Manos Milonakis / Cedric Vermue / Sjors Mans / Justina Jaruševičiūtė / Didacte / Adrien Casalis / Leon den Engelsen

Leon den Engelsen - Vinter

piano and coffee records

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