SCULPTURE 1 / I cant sleep when i think of you

INTERVIEW + TRACKLIST >  https://inverted-audio.com/feature/opal-tapes/
ORDER MERCH > https://everpress.com/invertedaudio

For our second merchandise collaboration we team up with @opal-tapes to present a limited collection of premium organic tees and jumpers, adorned with a four-way print designed by Berlin-based musician, illustrator and artist @fredmannnn.

For the occasion, Stephen has recorded a 100% Opal Tapes retrospective label mix, providing a shape-shifting auditory journey through Opal Tapes' discography, composed entirely from music released on Opal Tapes and sub-labels Black Opal, VANILLA, and Zabte Sote.

In our interview, we discuss why Stephen founded the label, the importance of the work behind Opal Tapes' impeccable A&R, their considerations when reaching out to artists and supporting their craft, and sharing the story of how Opal came to release music from legendary artists Max Ravitz aka @PATRICIAAA and Brian Leeds aka @huerco_s — plus the story behind the simple yet enigmatic name.

100%

100% Opal Tapes

From the composer: “Pufferfish can change their appearance by expanding or contracting their bodies at will by swallowing air or water. Known and respected for its dangerous toxicity, the pufferfish must be expertly prepared by a master sushi chef or the result can be a highly unpleasant or even fatal meal. On the other hand, if prepared properly it rewards the anxious diner with a delicious culinary experience accompanied by an overall feeling of well-being or euphoria.”

Things to think about:

Do you think the composer is trying to tell a narrative with these sounds?
How does repetition work in this piece to create structure and alter our understanding of certain sounds?

"Pufferfish" by Mark Wingate (1996)

Fragmentation // Eyot Soundscape

https://robertschwarz.bandcamp.com/album/stridulations-1-14
releases October 25, 2024

PANG21 / MC + digital / Superpang 2024
COMPOSED AND PRODUCED BY ROBERT SCHWARZ, 2024
DIGITAL MASTERING BY ROC JIMÉNEZ DE CISNEROS
TAPE MASTERING BY CAM DEAS
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANNA BREIT
LAYOUT & GRAPHICS BY STEFAN JUSTER
supported by SKE

Stridulations 1-14

01 MKR (from Stridulations 1-14 / SUPERPANG)

BS083 - Passage through the blue mist w/ Prince of Gosplan
@dekatmemwa

Prince of Gosplan (the alter-ego project behind the De Kat Memwa guestmix series) joins our own podcast with a sonic collage to explore and re-assess personal memories, emotions, events and places.
His "Passage through the blue mist" mix ties altogether classical music and jazz, melancholic poetry, Eurasian folk, spoken word and field recordings from his St. Petersburg native city. A blend of sorrow and hope: lending emotional depth while hinting at a spark of light in the darkest corners of the soul. Far from freezing you in time with cumbersome memories, this spiritual passage through the blue mist shall trace a movement from anxiety and loss toward an inner renewal.

Here are a few words from Prince of Gosplan about his mix:
"This is probably the most personal thing I’ve done under the Prince of Gosplan name. It’s a space where the imagined and the intimate blur — where I try to process memories, emotions, and places by shaping them into a kind of sonic essay. Maybe I’m overcomplicating it, and all these semiotics only make sense to me. In the end, it’s just a selection of tracks that were mixed in particular order, but the process itself feels strangely therapeutic to me. And that’s reason enough to keep doing it.
This particular mix was also shaped by impressions from reading diaries, works of autofiction, and essays — stories where protagonists face emotional challenges, yet eventually find the strength to move forward. That narrative arc resonated deeply with me. In fact, the cover of the mix features a frame from Hedgehog in the Fog by Yuri Norstein — a masterpiece that I see as a quiet meditation on getting lost, confronting inner fears, and coming out the other side altered, maybe softer, maybe stronger. Each sonic fragment in this collage carries part of that transformative journey. It flows through symbolic phases: drowning; resurrection; fragile and quiet joy; sadness and disorientation; then movement, searching, and finally rebuilding with a hope for better. And yes — blue is my favorite color. It holds sorrow and light at once, and to me, that’s where transformation begins."

Artwork taken from "Hedgehog in the Fog" (1975 Soviet animated film directed by Yuri Norstein).

BS083 - Prince of Gosplan

:: MaliFoliSofia ::
Mali is a country in Westafrica which Stini Arn has visited regularly over the past ten years. Foli means “music” or “rhythm” in Bambara. And Sofia adds a philosophical touch, Stini Arns personal attempt of an interpretation by composing the recorded sounds she heard in Mali. It shows her fascination for a world which is accoustically based on work rhythms, her fascination for the uninhibited and intentional use of repetitions, that create a magical event out of an action or a word, a meditative evocation, a meaningful act or in other words: music!

Stini Arn (CH)
| sound artist |
Stini Arn is a sound traveller that collects and researches sounds and uses them for her musical compositions for theater, film, radio plays and installations. For her performances she invents instruments that produce sound from daily objects and work tools. Koffertechnik is one of them that she made from a wheeled suitcase which contains the electronic device and serves at the same time as the sound producer with its wheels, handle and plastic shell. Webstall is her latest work which consists of a loom that transforms to a musical instrument by added electronical and mechanical elements that amplify and and modify the rhythmic sound of weaving. Her inspiration were several trips to Mali where there still don’t exist machines for most of the work and which makes the place very musical by the man-made rhythmical sounds. Especially the story about the pounding of the women with the mortar which was the inspiration for the men to create the drum, was a revelation for her.
WEB :: www.stiniarn.ch / www.taktstoff.com

Stini Arn :: MaliFoliSofia

Stridulations 1-14 is out on Superpang:
https://robertschwarz.bandcamp.com/album/stridulations-1-14
SHAPE+ artist 2023/24 https://shapeplatform.eu/
download "Clear Cues" for free https://etat.xyz/

01 MKR (from Stridulations 1-14 / SUPERPANG)

Robert Schwarz