trace ༚◌° (ft. 00ff1a)

Listen to "Iliok ft. KoiFin" by Kenji Araki taken from "Hope Chess" out on 10th November via Affine Records

Bandcamp: https://kenjiaraki.bandcamp.com/album/hope-chess

Originating amidst a time of artistic transition and personal maturation, "Hope Chess" stands as the sophomore album by Kenji Araki, a Vienna based digital artist and musician with roots in Japan. Drawing inspiration from a wide range of sonic influences and practices, this album is home to calculated subtleties, bold juxtapositions as well as a unifying tapestry of texture and harmony. Though Kenji Araki’s musical situatedness in a heterogenous web of post club approaches stays evident, "Hope Chess" takes a more left-field turn. It defies potential expectations built up by the debut record "Leidenzwang" (June 2022) and shifts to a more introspective sound, granting the melodies, vocals and textures more time and spatial freedom to unfold. Rhythmic elements are narrowed and placed carefully, yet they inhabit a distinct character and purposefully complement other elements and narratives.
As we traverse through the album, we come across distorted synths, shape shifting guitars, grimy noisescapes, eerie melodies and contemplative vocal parts. Moments of serenity interweave with controlled eruptions, conveying feelings of vulnerability and catharsis. It’s an honest reflection of Kenji’s personal life throughout the last year.
While evolving into an integral part of Vienna’s transgressive underground club and electronic music scene, Kenji constantly stayed open for new influences, friendships and aesthetics, leading to the formation of the novel sensitive indie duo "ENNS" together with friend, DJ, producer and promoter YBsole and continuous output of hyperpop blossoms with Viennese art pop luminary Anthea. This desire for collaboration is also reflected on "Hope Chess". Half of the album has features - including the frequent collaborators YBsole and Anthea, as well as KoiFin, The Roomate and SISKA.
Instead of letting other's actions and missteps determine the outcome of things, namely playing hope chess, Kenji Araki’s Album "Hope Chess" is about sincerity, introspection and collective trust.

Written & produced by Kenji Araki & KoiFin
Mixing: Kenji Araki
Mastering: Dino Spiluttini
Artwork: Georg Hampe & Kenji Araki

Links:
Kenji Araki
https://soundcloud.com/kenjiaraki
https://www.instagram.com/_kenjiaraki_
https://linktr.ee/kenjiaraki
KoiFin
https://soundcloud.com/koiboiissad
https://www.instagram.com/ko1f1n
Affine Records
https://soundcloud.com/affine-records
https://affinerecords.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/affinerecords

Hope Chess

bandcamp

[Premiere] Kenji Araki - Iliok ft. KoiFin (Affine Records)

ÑÑÑ -  Si tus manos lo movieran todo ft. p1111111

Exzald S - Seashell Optimist

all (in) your head

Million stars... There's something going on under the surface, are we still on a quest? So many questions...

The weather destroyed the grand piano. Now it waits solemnly on the charred remains of a pile of wooden debris.

Or did we lose the meaning?

Its keys are speckled with hues of hundred stars - touched by the many moons which have traveled through us.

If every person is worth a song, does it also apply to piano VST's?

We are its strings, spirals and thoughts, shaped by the moments and paths laid before and twisting ahead. (We are star bodies)

Drawn by the unexpected, asking for questions with not one beginning.

Composed, mixed and mastered by Henia Nikkilä and Jussi Hertz
Cover art by Jassir Kuronen

Murrettumeri & Romance Relic - Piano Composition VI

Blue Light and Infinity Cross by Luis Neer
Mixed by Cs/Z  @cs_z

Track list

if all i ever had was this moment i would not want - bod [包家巷] 
talismanic - taennya 
slowly in… - Shuttle 358
Libya Loop - Ghost Lemurs
Demons Will Fear Me - Infinity Machine
A Trickle Of Water Led To A Quiet Pool, Where Still, Black Water Reflected The Night Sky - Patrick Shiroishi 
Nachts: schnee - Popol Vuh 
surface insides - COR.S 
Untitled - 2023. 09. 28. 0.13 - 
Haustus Fluten! -Werkbund 
Consecrated Memories - SHUKO 
Molecular Repair - Ghost Lemurs

Luis Neer mixed by Cs/Z

@skarv6
@rhz000

False Progress is a fast paced, foreboding track, a slurry of mangled voices and synthetic drums pulsing forward in continuous anticipation. The track is an excerpt from Skarv's album Polymer Veil, to be released October 25th on Rhizome.

premiere: Skarv - False Progress [label: Rhizome]

rxk luv Jawn @ pinkpantheress Okzharp

@lstngt (TOKYO)

Tokyo based music producer.He is influenced by Trance and New Age music.LSTNGT tracks is characterized by magnificent sound coated with sadness.

This mix focuses on Daisuke Asakura, a Japanese music producer who influenced him in his childhood. In particular, T.M.Revolution's production work is outstanding, and the synthesizer sounds are very influential. This time, the mix consists only of Daisuke Asakura-produced works, including a bootleg remix of T.M.Revolution/Aoi Hekireki by LSTNGT. We hope you can feel the honeymoon of trance, dance music and J-POP. 90s-00s J-pop was a great era of mixing with trance and dance music.

CYANIDE SYSTEM IN CLOAK - LSTNGT ICE BREAKER 2024

@star_shiftmusic

The 45th release of katharsis is the EP "Intrusion" by Italian artist Lefka, releasing in full on October 28th. Throughout the six tracks of the EP, Lefka swaddles the listener in a dense and distorted quilt of sound that feels both heavy and light at the same time. "Intrusion" is a release that aims to sonify the acceptance of intrusive thoughts through a kathartic and emotionally intense experience.

Through heavy use of granular synthesis and electric guitar recordings, the release varies from calm, introspective moments to peaks of intense sound pressure. Like through glass, the sounds refract and are broken into pieces, creating an aural effect of rebound and confused scattering, and like intrusive thoughts, the tracks have abrupt peaks that reset the silence with unsettling intensity.

Lefka is a multidisciplinary artist based in Amsterdam. As in a stream of consciousness, his own productions are characterized by an irreverent and disillusioned approach, which aim to detach from a precise genre-categorization.

released October 28, 2024

artwork by jjjacob
mastering by Lefka

Luis Neer mixed by Cs/Z

pleasure helmet

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