Passing Notes 24 Jan

'Digital Swamp' is the second single of my upcoming album 'Terugblik'.
thesomethingsomething.bandcamp.com/album/terugblik

Mastering: Stephan Mathieu / Schwebung Mastering
Artwork: Deborah Mora / Orah

Shoal - Digital Swamp

Incredible album from Aussie band Acopia, links below to support!

Discogs link: https://www.discogs.com/release/22391035-Acopia-Chances
Bandcamp link: https://acopia.bandcamp.com/album/chances





Acopia - Giving Up (On Your Old Ways)

Bandcamp: https://sohaso.bandcamp.com/album/to-sit-quietly-where-everything-is-moving-fast

For his debut album To Sit Quietly Where Everything is Moving Fast, https://soundcloud.com/love-over-entropy used only one source: a Yamaha DX11 synthesizer. It’s a vintage machine from 1987 that was also used by early IDM and techno producers. “Working with an artificial constraint unleashed a different kind of creativity," says the The Hague-based musician, who normally does not shy away from elaborate productions.

Love over Entropy spent a lot of time working out the correct order of the tracks on the album. "I think it's important that the story also flows well on a higher level. It was a nice puzzle to solve."

Although the Covid pandemic is long behind us, much of the material on this album comes from the days when society was still largely in lockdown. "Which explains the title," says Love over Entropy. "But it also refers to my distancing myself from the hustle and bustle of the dancefloor. Up until then, I was primarily making dance music."

You won't find any kick drums or heavy bass lines on To Sit Quietly Where Everything Is Moving Fast. It is intimate, meditative and often very beautiful ambient music. But not the formless kind that seems to dominate chill-out playlists these days. Tracks like Finnkroken, Tidalene and Rotiriot have a story to tell, with a lot of effort put in to get it just right.

“To me, making music is mostly about the process. So I will spend many hours working on details that probably nobody will ever notice. Above all, the pastoral melodies stand out, undulating back and forth like foam on the surf. The harmonies are reminiscent of Isan, Boards of Canada and Murcof, while the album also pays homage to the Artificial Intelligence period on Warp Records.

According to the Dutch producer, a lot of current ambient music falls short of the original idea, as coined by Brian Eno. "Eno once described ambient as music that should be 'as ignorable as it is interesting', but nowadays it seems to have become 'as unignorable as it is uninteresting'," Love over Entropy says cheekily. "Ambient music really is everywhere, with modern production tools often doing the heavy lifting."

With To Sit Quietly Where Everything is Moving Fast, the producer hopes to make a difference, simply by raising the bar. It's a journey that can be taken both horizontally and vertically, and hopefully offers comfort. Or as the producer describes it: "music that offers a refuge."

Artwork by Spherical Waves (www.sphericalwaves.com)

Love Over Entropy - V

@papercutslimited are pleased to announce their first 12” of the year and 10th release on the label. Celebrating the debut feature-length album from ‘Radart’ aka Dylan Batelic (Paper-Cuts, Sunflower Aquarium). Featuring an 8-track collection of ambient, downtempo, breaks and more, taken from selected works between 2022-2024.  @radart-url

Bandcamp: paper-cuts.bandcamp.com/album/blips-b…ps-lp-pcltd10
Distribution: www.one-eye-witness.com/release/17361…ps-and-bleeps

Available worldwide on digital and physical January 31st, 2025.
Pre-order now and download/stream tracks ‘Prelude’, ’Flying Fox Colony’ & ‘Soli Test’.

PREMIERE: Prelude - Radart [Paper-Cuts]

Taken from Via App "7 Headed" 12", distributed by Rub A Dub and out in stores 17 November 2015.

Buy 12": bit.ly/1NvGF3E

Buy Digital: bit.ly/1P9mzw8

Via App - Baby K Interaction

Elaste, Vol. 4 - Meta Diso and Proto House, Original Ahead of their Time

Infophysix

Patashnik

Novelty Waves

Colourform

Delta

BUY VINYL: http://www.darkentriesrecords.com/store/vinyl/helena-hauff-a-tape-2xlp/

We are honored to present ‘A Tape’, a double LP of early work by Helena Hauff, a DJ and record producer based in Hamburg, Germany. At university she studied fine art, physics, and systematic music science. She previously was a resident at Hamburg's Golden Pudel Club, where she hosted a night called Birds and Other Instruments. As a selector she weaves energetically between electro, new wave, and EBM.  Her music, often recorded live in one take, has a raw intensity to it. She debuted with an EP on Werkdiscs back in 2013 followed by records for Lux_Rec and Bunker sublabel Panzerkreuz as well as two collaborative EPs for PAN, produced under the name Black Sites with fellow Pudel resident f#x.

‘A Tape’ is a compilation of Helena’s earliest recordings from 2011 and 2014, originally released on limited cassette by Handmade Birds in 2015. Clocking in at over 50 minutes, this collection spans Hauff’s musical universe, from jacking acid-techno to krautish zone-outs and scuzzy feedback interludes. It’s tempting to consider it Helena’s debut album, but she views these tracks as mostly forgotten sketches left on the cutting room floor. It a gripping collection of deep, sinister analog synth sequences, industrial dissonance, and heavy percussion. Her equipment set up was a Roland Alpha Juno 2, Juno 60, TB-303, TR-707 and TR-808. Both of the discs end with Hauff stepping outside of the intentionally stiff, robotic rhythms, instead showing her skill at crafting less conventional electronic sounds.

All songs have been mastered by James Plotkin with vinyl EQ and lacquer cut by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The record is housed in a custom made jacket designed by Eloise Leigh, featuring a checkered graphic and black lines, highlighted by yellow and green for maximum visual tension. Each copy includes a double-sided postcard with notes.

A Tape

c45p

Speedy J - De-Orbit - Rise EP 1992 (EDLXB003)

Speedy J - Symmetry (REMASTERED) LIVE LP 1994 (EDLXB010)

For its 6th release, Bjarki and Johnny Chrome Silver’s bbbbbb Records welcome new signing EOD (aka Stian Gjevik) to their unholy alliance with his 'Swurlk EP'. The Norwegian born, strictly analog producer takes the label off-roading with four outstanding productions channelling ambient, electro and hard bloody techno.

Having released on imprints including Rephlex and WeMe Records, it was actually on Soundcloud that Bjarki discovered EOD’s music. After getting in touch, the scale of his work emerging as gigabytes of unheard music dating back to 2002 were exchanged, all of which was made without the use of a PC - an approach which speaks for itself through his instinctive, playful melodies.

'Swurlk EP' boasts an impeccable sense of arrangement, more like that of a composer, and even more impressive considering the absence of any computer. The title track opens with a velvety smooth synth melody building with bass textures. ‘Evenhark’ uses a broken beat framework to carry floating harmonies. ‘Swarm’ uses layer upon layer of stuttered percussion to build into a relentless techno cut. ‘ELCASET_TESTGROOVE’ pairs catchy, interacting melodies with pensive harmonies.

‘Swurlk EP’ is a must listen for fans of melodic electro and an exciting move from a label that continues to challenge all our fucking expectations.

Stoned Soul Picnic

The Primitive Painter

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