Velvet Rope Crowd Control is a collaboration project between Bryan Hilyard and Andrew J Klimek.

For years we had discussed post-rock and neo-classical collaborations, but this guitar-loop experiment fell into our laps first. Andrew (finally) bought some guitar pedals during lockdown in spring 2020 and recorded a few test riffs. Some time later, Bryan picked through a folder of these and started sampling & morphing them into drones. We both really dug the result and listened to them off and on for the next year. Finally in late 2021, Andrew added new layers and additional processing.
New Years Eve, we each made a beat-driven remix, hoping to release the album at the stroke of mid-night. We couldn't quite pull if off, so the project sat a little longer. In the mean time we were lucky enough to get 2 reworks by Agus aka Warmth.

Velvet Rope Crowd Control - Trillium (Warmth Remix)

Fragments is the first joint album by Joachim Spieth and Warmth. It brings together two musical characters with an affinity for expansive, imaginary soundscapes and atmospheric compositions. 
Agustin Mena is a Spanish ambient producer and has been operating under his 2 alter egos ‘Warmth’ and ‘SVLBRD’ on the two labels he founded, Archives and Faint. Joachim Spieth has been running the label Affin for almost 2 decades and is a regular contributor to Wolfgang Voigt's Pop Ambient series on the Kompakt label.
The first musical points of contact between the two were in the form of mutual remix projects. This exchange laid the foundation for Fragments, which now reveals the intersections for a sense of space and timelessness. On seven tracks, the album takes the listener on a walk through organic textures and places of longing.

Artist: Joachim Spieth | Warmth 
Title: Fragments
Format: CD/digital 
Cat.: Affin CD09 
Release date: Friday, January 10. 2025 

Track listing 

1 Spectral
2 Exosphere
3 Obscured
4 Appearance
5 Black Marble
6 Surfaces
7 Dark Tide

All tracks written & produced by Joachim Spieth and Agus Mena
 
design | markus-guentner.de 
mastering | artefactsmastering.com 
website | linktr.ee/AffinLTD

Fragments

Joachim Spieth | Warmth - Fragments

Well, folks, here we are, near the end of this year. I could say a lot about 2024, none of which was highly positive and worth celebrating, so I’m happy to close this chapter and move on anew. If I could try to name one highlight of the last year, it would be the accelerating advancement of artificial intelligence, and even then, I’m not sure if it’s a good thing. I am confident that I’m not alone in this sentiment, having spoken to many musicians and label owners reflecting on the state of the scene, the music “business”, and the world in general. Plenty are struggling to keep going and hopefully persevere. With that said, I did spend a tremendous amount of time highlighting the albums worthy of your attention and money and selected my favourites for the upcoming Best of the Year feature, which I will begin publishing on January 1st. It’s one thing worth looking forward to. The other is this fantastic collaboration between my favourite artists, Joachim Spieth and Agustín Mena, recording as Warmth and SVLBRD. Separately, the two have produced an abundance of heart-warming music on their respective labels, Affin and Archives, which has kept me in comfort, sanity, and peace. Mena’s 2018 release Parallel nursed me out of COVID and remains at the top of my rotations, unparalleled in its charm. Meanwhile, Spieth’s dubbed-out ambience has been a spellbinding companion at home and on my travels, reducing anxiety and focusing the mind. I’ve profiled both artists on these pages in-depth (read the most recent In the studio with Joachim Spieth), and I’m excited to announce their upcoming joint release and share an exclusive premiere of this beautiful track.

Read more about this Track Premiere on Headphone Commute:
https://headphonecommute.com/2024/12/30/joachim-spieth-warmth-spectral/

Spectral

TRACK PREMIERE : Joachim Spieth | Warmth - Spectral

Tracklist

01. Ian Hawgood - No Walls To Contain These Fervent Spirits
02. Hadley Roe -  When I Look Back...
03. Celer -  Melancholy Movement III
04. Betts(JP) - Yosde 03
05. Samuel Regan - Tell Them I've Had a Wonderful Life
06. Lamasz & Thme - Lueurs
07.  Rhucle - In Haze
08. Pruski - Last Particle (feat. Tomasz Mreńca)
09. Aiko Takahashi -  Un Beau Matin D’Été
10.  Dalton Alexander - Modrý (Reprise)

423. Sleepy Sunday Podcast (Elm Records)

Purl - Stillpoint [SSCD17] 
- - -
Stillpoint
At the center of us is a focal point of consciousness
Perfectly still, yet vibrant with life
This is our natural state
Ever at peace, yet ever expanding
Ever at peace 
In knowing that being can never cease to be
Thus there is no death
Only eternal life
Ever expanding 
In knowing that eternity is never done
We are in continuous motion towards what lies beyond
Across endless new horizons
- Ludvig Cimbrelius 2015
- - -

http://silentseason.com/sscd17/index.html
http://shop.silentseason.com/album/stillpoint-sscd17

Produced by Ludvig Cimbrelius
Mastered by Stefan Betke (Pole) of Scape Mastering
Photography by Danthon

- - - -
info@silentseason.com
www.silentseason.com


Bandcamp

Purl - Saraide [SSCD17]

Spotify

Antea

“discarnate souls” by Cynik, QVEST, &RUE is OUT NOW on Unbeyond Anthologies! 
Buy / Stream ↣ https://hypeddit.com/054discarnatesouls

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Unbeyond Anthologies are pleased to present a collab for the ages from three of our beloved inductees: the “discarnate souls” EP from Cynik, QVEST, and &RUE.

A thoroughly euphoric and ethereal ambient project, the trio (alongside Kounter, who appears as a collaborator) craft glacial and melancholic soundscapes to immerse yourself in. Between QVEST’s incredible swells of emotional pads, Cynik’s heart-tugging progressions, and &RUE’s enveloping atmospheres, “discarnate souls” is a definitive ambient project for 2025. This project is sure to transport you to fresh new places never before crossed in our ambient catalog.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Follow &RUE:
https://linktr.ee/ampersandrue

Follow Unbeyond Anthologies:
https://unbeyondanthologies.carrd.co/

discarnate souls

a sonorous sympathy

&RUE - a sonorous sympathy

American Dark Ambient sound sculptor AJNA returns with his latest full-length work, New Revelations of Being, an eleven-track descent into the abyss of human psyche and metaphysical dread. Following his acclaimed Cyclic Law releases, this new opus draws direct inspiration from the fevered writings of Antonin Artaud’s Artaud 1937 Apocalypse.

With New Revelations of Being, AJNA channels Artaud’s fragmented visions of destruction, renewal, and transcendence through a vast palette of subterranean drones, spectral resonances, and suffocating atmospherics. Each track unfolds like a psychic document, blurring the line between revelation and delirium, guiding the listener into haunted states where words dissolve into vibration and consciousness is unmoored from form.

At once oppressive and illuminating, the album furthers AJNA’s ongoing exploration of the boundaries of perception, death, and rebirth. Dense textures coil and fracture into hidden harmonics, mirroring Artaud’s own descent into madness as a vessel for ecstatic truth.

New Revelations of Being cements AJNA as one of the foremost practitioners of the Dark Ambient tradition, offering not just music but a transformative experience, a ritual in sound that demands surrender.

CD Edition of 300 copies in 4 panel Digipak. 11 Tracks. Running Time 69:10

Ajna - Letters to Andre Breton - Excerpt

A feeling you can’t return from — “homesick” by instagram.com/moonspire.music drifts through dark cinematic ambient, where distance turns into sound and memory never fades.

listen now: https://go.ambiqo.nl/m-homesick

moonspire - homesick

Chihei Hatakeyama, one of the most preeminent artists of the early drone ambient scene, has paired up with the progressive ambient star Jupi/ter, to create a lush, slow burn, two-part single.

Chihei’s mastery in the art of peace is met with Jupi/ter’s spaced-out breadth of production, widening the stereo field and introducing some of his trademark subtle synth-work.

Support on Bandcamp: https://bit.ly/3X862l4

Canopy / Idyll

Download

Chihei Hatakeyama & Jupi/ter - Idyll

Droneworks 1132

Making music as Warmth and SVLBRD.
Label owner of Archives and Faint.

12" Vinyl, CD and Digital on Archives.
https://archivesdubmusic.bandcamp.com

Antea

Warmth | SVLBRD

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Grahame Arnold

The Nemophilist

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