was in 1996 that Jay-Jay Johanson, a young man from a cold climate, fascinated by the Bristol sound they called trip-hop and Portishead in particular, first tapped delicately on our eardrums.
The intoxicating album that definitively put this rare and elegant Swede on the map was called Whiskey. It was the beginning of an enthralling adventure. In only a few songs he revealed a family tree that spread its roots far and wide: on one branch Lee Hazlewood, or pop from Talk Talk or Nilsson, on the other John Coltrane with Johnny Hartman, and a whole army of calm jazz or symphonic
recordings sampled from everywhere imaginable.
Almost 20 years later he has returned with an
incredible new album. This new release is called Opium and it contains the very essence of Johanson’s music: an ease with inventing melodies, a voice that gently caresses, and the jacked up, heady rhythms that lift and carry the songs. From the peaceful harmonica opening of Drowsy / Too Young To Say Good Night to the smoke-wreathed love song I Don’t Know Much About Loving, via titles with a sporadic and light groove (NDE, Alone Too Long), Opium is a courageous offering. Johanson opens his heart with
fearlessness and modesty, gracefully lowering his guard and evoking the questions that torment men of his age: love, solitude, immaturity. The songwriting is unerring, the words have a suppressed poetry. This
new Johanson is the work of a guy who has survived the avalanches, who is no longer looking for answers and is content to sketch out the perspectives in as many songs. Some titles are serious (Harakiri), but others immediately take up the reins casting a more
gentle, peaceful light, like Scarecrow, a collaboration with Robin Guthrie that would not have sounded out of place on a Cocteau Twins album, or of the strange positivity of Be Yourself or I Love Him So.
The strength of Opium is that it asks questions that don’t necessarily have an answer; it offers a collection of songs freed from any certitude but which convince
through their modesty, through their precision.
In short, Jay-Jay at his best.

Swedish-born, London-based artist and composer.

Solo albums available via Valley of Search
- EXIT GHOSTS 
- ETERNAL WORDS
www.valleyofsearch.com - www.tomasnordmark.com

Contact: tomas@tomasnordmark.com

electroacoustic composer ・ sound artist ・ analysing the invisible

Emptyset is a London/Berlin based production project formed in 2005 by James Ginzburg and Paul Purgas. The project examines the material properties of sound and its correspondence with architecture, performance and physical modes of production. Their recorded output includes the releases Borders for Thrill Jockey, Recur and Collapsed for raster-noton, Signal a commissioned performance working with ionospheric propagation and Medium an expanded live recording in Woodchester Mansion in Gloucestershire. Emptyset have produced works and installations for the David Roberts Art Foundation, Spike Island, Tate Britain and the Architecture Foundation and presented live performances with Unsound, CTM/Transmediale, Kunsthalle Zurich, Ruhrtriennale and Sonic Acts.

Based in London, Elif Yalvaç (née Hazal Elif Yalvaç) is a producer, composer and guitarist from North Western Turkey. Her journey in sound started as a young girl getting enthusiastic about electric guitar and retro game audio. She has had an over a decade long presence in music with international appearances, especially in the UK, Iceland, and Norway, through solo and collaborative works and performances, music critic reviews, and radio features.

Having worked with others (including the Brooklyn-based label NNA Tapes in 2020) and independently, Elif pushes the boundaries and believes in the value of organic connections in the music scene, defying the obstacles posed by algorithms or capital-oriented PR agencies and their stakeholders. Her latest solo album “Vection” was released in April 2024 by Amsterdam-based label Moving Furniture Records under "Eliane Tapes" series dedicated to pioneering electronic music composer Eliane Radigue. 

Elif’s upcoming solo work features elements of speedcore, noise, IDM, drone, and ambient music, drawing on her versatile approaches and background in music, from using a Game Boy or from guitar playing and singing in rock and metal contexts to sound design with her own software tools for ambient music. Both in studio and live settings, Elif uses a number of instruments including a handmade synth that she calls “Freakbox”, her standard and baritone guitars and pedals, as well as software such as VCV Rack and Ableton Live. She values minimal setup in performance and making the most of limitations, while always attempting to explore and learn tools and instruments to experiment with.

Elif collaborates with others extensively, including Norwegian ambient music artist Kristoffer Lislegaard, her avantgarde metal project Diaries of Destruction; her collaborations with her partner Jordan Muscatello (electric & double bass), her contemporary ambient project with pianist Philamelian, and Green Drift with Expert Sleepers, and primarily with Michael Bearpark. She has performed with a wide range of artists internationally including Eraldo Bernocchi, Colin Edwin, Jon Durant, and Jono Podmore.

Alongside her performance and production efforts, Elif curates and hosts “Talk to the Chip”, a podcast on pioneering electronic music on Resonance FM with Jono Podmore. She is the curator of the bi-monthly live electronics event series “Heart of Noise Cambridge” at Cambridge Junction, and "Electronics At Eight" series in Milton Court Concert Hall in London for Guildhall School. Elif holds an MA degree in Music (Sonic Arts) from Istanbul Technical University, with a thesis on the creative and aesthetic value of limitations in the context of Chip Music. She teaches electronic music composition and production in Guildhall School of Music and Drama where she is the pathway leader for Electronic Music in EPM.

"Absolutely dazzling! Close your eyes and let this take you away." - Claire Mooney, Triple J.

Jonny Martyr is an independent musician, soundtrack composer and designer based in Edinburgh and Melbourne, operating musically under the name FIELD WAVES. An alumnus of the UK music scene, he brings a love of jazz, folk and classical instrumentation to the electronic arena, combining organic samples and sources with electronic patterns and structures.

Jonny was a founding member of Calico, one of Brighton’s most prominent bands, performing alongside acts such as Hidden Orchestra, Emancipator and Physics House Band. Since then he has collaborated and performed with hiphop artist Tyme MC in Melbourne, and is now releasing his debut EP, “Diagram”. He has also produced and contributed to a number of soundtracks for film and interactive media

Genres: Electronica, Downtempo, IDM, Neo Classical, Triphop, Instrumental

Subtext Recordings is a Bristol founded / Berlin based label curated by James Ginzburg.

former radio station from Repeater Books exploring philosophy, film, gender, music and politics from a radical Left perspective.

Tomas Nordmark is following