[SAC0020] The Solanaceae Artist Collective: The Way of the Five Pecks of Rice
fivepecksofrice.solanaceaecollective.com/

Post-Rock, Experimental Ambient, Dark Ambient, Neoclassical, Ambient Trance, Psychedelia, Psychedelic Ambient, Rhythmic Noise
Instrumental

June 8th, 2020

The Way of the Five Pecks of Rice is a solo ambient post-rock project from Kit Carruthers. It is an exercise in hypnosis. The instruments used are a synthesizer, two electric guitars, a base guitar, two violins, a viola, a cello, a double bass, a flute, a piccolo, a clarinet, an oboe, a bassoon, a piano, a harpsichord, a harp and a sitar.

Concept by Kit Carruthers; composed by Kit Carruthers; performed by Kit Carruthers; Album art by Kit Carruthers.

It enters your soul and neutralizes it. Most will never know how painful it can be. Zap! Bzzt! Xbptzap!

TAPE TRASH - EDEN (TE221) out October 2025 on Tiny Engines

BLACK KITES BABYLON

LAPêCHE - Autotelic (TE222) out Winter 2026 on Tiny Engines

I Heart NY

Kid Fears - Time In The Dark

You Know I Hate It (How The World Moves On)

Whitelabrecs presents the debut album by pianist and composer Catherine Tang. She was born in Basel, Switzerland to a Serbian mother and Chinese father, and her music reflects this richly varied cultural background. Beginning with classical piano at the age of four, Catherine later discovered Jazz in her teens, a path that led to studies at the Jazzcampus in Basel where she completed both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees. Catherine has since established herself as an active presence within the Swiss Jazz scene, performing at major festivals including Montreux Jazz Festival, Gurtenfestival and Offbeat Jazz Festival. Beyond her role as a pianist and composer, she is also bandleader of the quintet ASRA, whose debut album Nocturnal Journey was released by Berlin’s XJAZZ! Music.

Catherine’s work is characterised by an emotional sensitivity to atmosphere and texture, inspired by her surroundings and daily life. Speaking about her process, she explains: “I draw inspiration from the people and everyday moments around me. Simple melodies often come to me through my voice - it’s my way of capturing fleeting ideas and emotions. My approach to composing is very emotional; I need to live and experience things deeply before I can translate them into music. For me, music is a way to process life, to turn raw emotions and experiences into something tangible and meaningful.”

‘Where Do Your Dreams Fly?’ marks Catherine’s first solo release under her own name. Recorded at CopShop studio in Berlin over three days with producer Michael Haves, the sessions centred around an old upright piano which imbued its warm and intimate character throughout the record. Rather than polishing away imperfections, Catherine embraced the mechanical noises of the piano and even the creak of the chair, giving the listener a sense of being present in the room. Additional layers came from expressive synthesizers including the Osmose, Moog Grandmother and Prophet Rev2, carefully woven into the arrangements to expand the depth of the recordings without losing their human touch.

The title was inspired by a line encountered in Shirley Horn’s ‘I Watch You Sleep’ which became the album’s guiding theme. For Catherine, Where Do Your Dreams Fly? is about letting go of self-doubt and external expectations, allowing the music to follow its own path. That openness also found its way into the recording process; the album’s closing piece ‘Nocturnal Returnal’ was captured spontaneously in a final take at the end of the session. It may have been completely unplanned but it became one of Catherine’s favourite pieces for its raw honesty.

Dreamy, textural and immersive, this debut showcases the full extent of Catherine’s deeply personal artistry. It invites the listener into an intimate space that balances fragility with expansiveness, whilst quietly posing a central, open-ended question: where might your own dreams take you, if you were given the freedom to fly? 

Credits
Written and produced by Catherine Tang
Recorded, produced and mixed by Michael Haves at The Cop Shop, Berlin
Mastered by Martin Ruch, at the Control Room in Berlin
Photography by Jérémie Luke Dubois
Artwork by nkl
Art and design by Andrew Heath

Realised with the support of GGG Kulturkick and Sulger-Stiftung.

Where Do Your Dreams Fly?

Learn More

wlr195 Catherine Tang - Where Do Your Dreams Fly?

The Volume Settings Folder is the work of Italian artist M. Beckmann from a small town on the outskirts of Padua, in the country’s North-East. His musical journey began in 2004 following two parallel paths; a brief flirtation with progressive and nu-metal and a more enduring exploration into Folk Electronica and Post Rock sounds, gradually leading him to Ambient and Drone music. In 2011 he launched The Volume Settings Folder, self-releasing and also appearing on Organic Industries, EKAR Records, Oscarson, Fallen Metropolis and Whitelabrecs, with the 17th edition of Home Diaries back in 2017. The project has drawn inspiration from an eclectic palette; from Electronica giants such as Aphex Twin, Boards of Canada and Autechre to the Scandinavian nu-jazz of Arve Henriksen and Nils Petter Molvær; drone pioneers such as Rafael Anton Irisarri and the Modern Classical works of Max Richter and Nils Frahm.

The creative process remains rooted in improvisation. Tracks often begin with fragments of guitar, samples, field recordings or synths, layered live using looping techniques, hardware and pedals. Recording is immediate, committing ideas in the moment with minimal post-production. For this latest album entitled ‘Corporate Shamanism’, sessions took place throughout 2023 and 2024, using an array of instruments and tools including acoustic and electric guitar, kalimba, cassette and reel-to-reel tape, hardware including an OP-1 Field, monome norns and a carefully curated chain of pedals and effects. Recordings were captured to handheld devices before being shaped in Ableton Live with only subtle adjustments.

This provocatively titled album ‘Corporate Shamanism’ is free from a strict concept, yet the album carries with it a strong sense of place and time; an impressionistic reflection of autumn and winter by the sea, filtered through nostalgia and calmness. Polaroid photographs from these colder seasons inform the mood, with the music evoking shifting coastal light, perishing temperatures and quiet transformation.

For the artist, these pieces trace connections to landscapes tied to childhood memories and the way they shift with the changing seasons. The result is a deeply atmospheric work that invites stillness, contemplation, and a lingering sense of the familiar. The title ‘Corporate Shamanism’ hints at the pressures of modern life which is a striking contrast to the nostalgic warmth of Polaroid photographs and reel-to-reel tape. Yet in many ways, this album seeks to offer a quiet antidote to an overstimulated world.

Credits
Written and produced by M. Beckmann
Mastered by James Edward Armstrong
Photography by Filippo Bordigato
Artwork by M. Beckmann
Art and design by Andrew Heath

Corporate Shamanism

wlr194 The Volume Settings Folder - Corporate Shamanism

Saimaa

Saimaa (Suumhow Remix)

"Beck n Call" by waterbaby, out now on Sub Pop Records.
Order & Listen Now: https://music.subpop.com/waterbaby_beckncall

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Beck n Call

waterbaby - Beck n Call

From the album Solo Three, available January 23, 2026 on Western Vinyl
Pre-order / listen https://lnk.to/solothree

Erik Hall - "Music for a Large Ensemble" (Steve Reich)

Liquorice

Sage

The Solanaceae Artist Collective is a group of arthouse indie musicians. We create music in a variety of genres. We are dark, pretentious and drug addled.