Spheruleus is Lincolnshire, UK based artist Harry Towell, who also runs Whitelabrecs and records alongside his brother Stuart as Paper Relics. Harry has been active in the modern Ambient music scene for over a decade and has released works with labels such as Eilean, Hibernate, Home Normal and Time Released Sound. His output on his own imprint has been scarce however, limited to one CD edition 'Obsolarium', released back in 2016.

We launched last year's digital Home Diaries series off the back of 'Canvas Homes' which was a sonic diary of life at home during lockdown. The recording for this album began around 1 year ago with three key sound elements: field recordings, sketches made using acoustic instruments and MIDI keyboard arrangements. The sketches were all captured during brief 1-2 minute recordings to an iPhone whilst in his daughter Isla's playroom. She unwittingly became part of the album and a positive constant during the strange events that were unfolding across the spring and summer. Walks out into local parks and woodlands became a source of field recordings and a connection to the natural world. Then evenings were a time of reflection and processing, as the sounds captured were orchestrated into tracks.

In November another lockdown was announced and Harry decided to repeat the process as a compare and contrast from his original process. The idea to create a second album began with the assembly of a new item of furniture for Isla's room which arrived from France. A bag of spare fixings was labelled 'Supplémentaires' and Harry decided to set about a series of additional recordings with a view to release it as part of a double album. This time, the weather had turned cold resulting in a different lockdown altogether, with more time spent indoors. Isla had grown considerably in the space of just 6 months and her speech was much clearer. A familiarity with the 'new normal' also seems to have translated into the music, with longer, cosier tracks drawing out the winter months. There are more moments of calm and warmth; 'les dormeurs' was created at low volume one afternoon, as the household napped. 'notre cocon' establishes a sleepy comfort in the descent towards the festive period before 'le résumé' plays out a recollection of the year 2020, with Harry using every field recording he'd captured during this most eventful of years. The cover photograph was captured during a family walk in the summer; a reflective gaze into the local 'Bourne Eau'.

Written and produced by Harry Towell
Mastered by James Edward Armstrong
Artwork and design by Harry Towell

Canvas Homes + Supplémentaires

wlr090 Spheruleus - Canvas Homes + Supplémentaires

oneitis

foggy

Forthcoming on Akuphone (AKU1016)

feat: 
FUJI-YUKI - KIKI HITOMI - MIKADO KOKO - MIKI YUI 
KAKUSHIN NISHIHARA - KUUNATIC and KEIKO HIGUCHI.

DIGITAL  => JUNE, 14. 2019 
VINYL-CD  => JULY, 13. 2019

Seitō gathers Japanese female artists from various electronic and experimental music fields. Like the « Tokyo Flashback » series issued by P.S.F. in the early 1990s, this collection recorded between 2017 and 2019 exposes the richness of the contemporary Japanese underground music scene. The title refers to a cult feminist magazine printed in Japan in the 1910s. All tracks issued for the first time.

www.akuphone.com

AKU1016 // VA - Seitō: In the Beginning, Woman Was the Sun (Album preview)

Lebanese war tapes, Romani ham operators in Bulgaria, and cryptic radio messages from the dead in Seoul, S. Korea. Cover image is a Verifax collage by Wallace Berman.

Tracklist
#1 CW Tapes, Raed Yassin (Discrepant, 2019). Lebanese political speeches; radio and television commercials; news flashes and jingles; local 80s pop music; dubbed Japanese anime songs; propaganda, resistance, and revolutionary party songs; snippets from Ziad Rahbani plays and more. 

#2 – Wires of Air, Jeff Gburek (Akashic Records, 2018). Female Romani ham operators and more. Recorded on location in Bulgaria.

#3 – Seoul, Aki Onda (Recital, 2020). A handheld radio in a hotel room in Seoul broadcasts cryptic messages from the late Nam June Paik.

RADIO TAPES (RIAFC 037)

RIAFC 037 - Radio Tapes

A contemplative aural journey across the stillness and massive scale of the landscapes of northern Iceland, as captured in Peter Hutton’s painterly film ‘Skagafjörður’. 

Numbered edition of 90 copies with download coupon. 
Inlay offset printed in silver.

Andrew Chalk & Timo Van Luijk – Skagafjörður

FLIES 44
Bruno Nicolai - GEMINUS
LP

Four Flies are proud and honoured to release the first vinyl reissue of Bruno Nicolai’s outstanding original score for GEMINUS, a 1969 Italian TV mini-series directed by Luciano Emmer and starring Walter Chiari, Alida Chelli, and Ira von Fürstenberg. 
Originally released under Italian label Gemelli, Nicolai’s soundtrack has been remastered from the original master tapes and comes in a glossy, tip-on style jacket featuring the restored original cover artwork, as well as extended liner notes by film critics Francesco Cesari and Roberto Curti. 

Bruno Nicolai composed and directed an eclectic score that brings together different music genres and influences, from 60s beat, psych, and prog rock to baroque and experimental music. He did not hesitate to mix classical forms and structures with new instruments and remarkable, eccentric arrangements. In ‘Giano’ (Janus), the interplay between a distorted electric guitar and a hypnotic harpsichord creates a strange, somewhat troubling ambience. The delicate, celestial voice of Edda Dell'Orso leaves its unique emotional imprint on the most lyrical piece in the soundtrack, ‘Tema Barocco’ (Baroque Theme).
The main theme ‘Il cielo cade’ (The Sky Is Falling) features a luxurious arrangement and stunning orchestration enhanced by enchanting vocal harmonies sung by ‘I Cantori Moderni di Alessandroni’. 
In other pieces, such as ‘Larve’ (Larvas), ‘Il sognatore’ (The Dreamer), ‘Eclisse di luna’ (Moon Eclipse), ‘Visioni’ (Visions), ‘Catacombe’ (Catacombs), and ‘Notti romane’ (Roman Nights), expressive and experimental solo passages played by instruments such as the vibraphone, sitar, harmonica, or percussions, contribute to the sombre, mysterious atmosphere of the score as a whole.
Limited edition, 500 copies worldwide.

Bruno Nicolai | GEMINUS

Synchronia

Fire! - Defeat (Only Further Apart)

Elephant9 - Rite Of Accession

Hedvig Mollestad Trio - Leo Flash' Return To The Underworld

a record label dedicated to release work by the most adventurous and creative norwegian artists and composers

Elephant9 - Rite Of Accession

Rune Grammofon