Solar Sails

Star Atlas

More often than not, a respected label introduces me to a new artist or a project. Sometimes, a rare instance occurs in reverse, where a favourite artist appears on a previously unknown [to me] label. This is the case with the Philadelphia-based Andrew Tasselmyer, whom I’ve been a fan of for his solo ambient releases on imprints such as Shimmering Moods, Constellation Tatsu, Polar Seas, Eilean, Home Normal, and laaps, among the many, but also as a member of Hotel Neon, which I’ve been following via Past Inside the Present, Thesis, Archives, Sound in Silence, and Fluid Audio. All of those are very familiar to me – in fact, you can find most of them in my Labels Directory, but the Las Vegas-based Mystery Circles is definitely new, and I only recognise a few names on its roster. So, more for me to hear! Now, back to the release! Titled Where Substance Meets Emptiness, this 8-piece album features more than just Tasselmyer’s beautiful ambience, with some piano keys and field recordings. There are lots of sparkling and shuffling beats and percussive elements reminiscent of the early IDM era, where harmony met rhythm. The track I am premiering for you today, “Flowers in a Storm”, reminds me of those days when I would listen to Arovane, Dabrye, Metamatics, Deaf Center, and Secede. This makes me want to revisit my very own liftmuziek sessions!

"Beyond the edge of the world there’s a space where emptiness and substance neatly overlap, where past and future form a continuous, endless loop. And, hovering about, there are signs no one has ever read, chords no one has ever heard.
— Haruki Murakami (Kafka on the Shore)

Taking in the magical surrealism of the celebrated Japanese author, Tasselmyer composes music that fades in and out of reality, bridging the atmospheric world of dreams and the present moment, where we find ourselves floating and merging with all the beautiful vibrations. Featuring some sonic postcards from his friends (Steven Kemner, Dave Mantel, and Sean Galloway), Tesselymyer paints a new world to traverse – one that is as imaginary as it is real, where “ordinary methods and immediate results are ditched along with their traditional maps in order to reach uncharted places of the imagination.” It’s an absolute pleasure to wander within this open space, and I find myself pleasantly lost among its many turns and expansive pastures.

The full album is out tomorrow, January 30th, 2024, on Mystery Circles. Mastered by Taylor Deupree, it is available as a digital, CD, or cassette edition. Beautiful album cover by his brother, Michael.

Where Substance Meets Emptiness

Flowers in a Storm

TRACK PREMIERE : Andrew Tasselmyer - Flowers in a Storm

It's an early Tuesday morning, and I'm wrapping up the final deeds before I set off on my long-awaited [beach] vacation. I think it's only appropriate that I close off this season with a track premiere from a London-based composer, a host of Contemplative Podcast, which I feature on Headphone Commute, a labelmate and a friend, Matt Emery, who is getting ready to release his sophomore album, A Bed Of Waves via Matreya Records on August 2nd. Emery's debut, Empire, appeared in 2017 on the beloved Injazero, and since then, he's only been teasing us with a few singles and EPs, spotlighting each of his favourite instruments. This time, besides the familiar and celebrated piano and strings, we also get to hear some vocals (Ryan O'Neal of Sleeping At Last appears on the second track). The album traverses a landscape of personal and universal themes, painted with raw emotion, moving through life's ebbs and flows. The featured track, "Hidden Tears In The Rain", is a piece that Emery wrote after his father's sudden passing. It's a profoundly touching composition for a string ensemble and a choral arrangement sprinkled over with a field recording of the rain, capturing the album's theme.

A Bed Of Waves (MASTERS)

Hidden Tears In The Rain

TRACK PREMIERE : Matt Emery - Hidden Tears In The Rain

There is something special about that dark and nostalgic music that seems to be echoing from the past, as if breaking through another dimension of time, trembling through the gritty playback on a warped and dusty tape, fading in and out on a crumbling old photograph, shades of colours long gone... long gone. The music of Black Swan has embraced this noir-fi aesthetic throughout the years, ever since I first heard the debut, In 8 Movements, released in 2010. Immersed in chilling ambience, hauntology, and the ephemera left behind, the music of Black Swan captures the eerie essence of the in-between, exploring the shadowed depths that linger at the periphery. Exactly twelve years ago, I invited this mysterious artist from New York to make me a Halloween-themed mix, which I published here as Music For Masquerade. Today, I am premiering two tracks for you from his upcoming album on Past Inside The Present, titled Ghost, to be released, of course, on Halloween. This is now his ninth full-length release, in which the spirits roam in our world, leaving their voiceprints on abandoned reel-to-reels to be discovered and played back. And as the twenty pieces and vignettes recede and fade away, all we are left with are the memories imprinted on our hearts and minds. The memories of those who are long gone... long gone. As we will be some day.

Read more on Headphone Commute:
https://headphonecommute.com/2024/10/29/black-swan-somewhere-but-here-and-time-loop/

Ghost

Somewhere But Here and Time Loo

TRACK PREMIERE : Black Swan - Somewhere But Here And Time Loop

Astrokid Mini Pack - Archive Ruins Ambience

Archive Ruins Ambience - Track 04

LOFI AMBIENT - RELAX STUDY CHILL CALMING - INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC

Faint City Pulse LoFi Ambient Cinematic

reasons is a song about having to let go of something you thought was working out

i don't know how to

said you need a restart, i don't know how to 
let it go

just write something
dip after loving me
let it fucking go
go
let it fucking go

i don't know
telling you i can't breathe
telling you

said you want a restart, i don't know how to 
let it go
said you want a restart, i don't know how to

just write something
dip after loving me
said you need a restart, i don't know how
just let it go
said you want a restart, i don't know how to

reasons (prod. purc)

A noisy track from Self Inside by Lattice.

Holding You (As Your Train Goes By)

I See Planets

Under The Blue

Track for Slow sketch vol. 1: Reflections of the ambient community, on El Muelle Records.

Warmth - Dögun

Track taken from Erik Williamson's upcoming album 'The Streets Are Quiet, But The Birds Very Loud', released through Fluid Audio...

Written & Produced by Erik Williamson at In My Room Studio 
Additional Piano Recorded at Alchemix Recording Studios
Mastered by Marly Lüske at Alchemix Recording Studios
Images by Erik Williamson
Design by Daniel Crossley
Thanks: Craig Tattersall / Cotton Goods

www.fluidaudio.bigcartel.com

The Streets Are Quiet, But The Birds Very Loud

Erik Williamson - Hunters In The Snow

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

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

Warmth - Dögun

Warmth | SVLBRD