Appeared on V/A : Intelligent Toys 5 (Sutemos023) (2008)

This is version is slightly mastered by me, but only a little bit.

Coconut Rice

Alternative mix of a track from The Inescapable Decay of My Heart.  mixed again 20.02.2014.

The Salt On Her Cheeks

Reworked/alternative version of Walkman. 

Walkman (reworked)

https://www.smallplasticanimals.com/release/7520/yagya/faded-photographs

Faded Photographs
 
1. The Downpour
2. What Have You Done
3. The Serpent
4. No Matter What
5. Melting In The Morning Sun
6. The Way You Say My Name
7. Left Unsaid
8. My Reflection
9. A Wicked Joke
10. Just For A Moment
11. My Own Worth

It seems like an age since Icelandic producer Aðalsteinn Guðmundsson's last album as Yagya, 2020's "Old Dreams and Memories." The first album to be released on his own label Small Plastic Animals it was followed by the four-track "Always Maybe Tomorrow" EP in 2021.

"Faded Photographs" is his ninth studio album, the most involved and time-consuming project to date and collaborative on a scale not seen since 2012's "The Inescapable Decay of My Heart." It also marks an exceptionally confident return to the art of song-writing, but where that earlier album was a more upbeat dub techno-pop affair, "Faded Photographs" is nostalgic, wistful, reflective and steeped in poetic romanticism.

Guðmundsson's love of the art of the album is also more pronounced here than ever before, almost every single track tied together by the particularly unifying use of triplet rhythms in combination with 4/4 beats, beguiling hushed vocals and enveloping, molten dub bass tones. Combined with a typical dedication to sound design and production, "Faded Photographs" is rendered an utterly seamless experience, demanding to be heard as a whole.


Frequent collaborator and breathy tone saxophonist Óskar Guðjónsson returns, crooning just as emotionally on "What Have You Done" as do vocal duet Benoit Pioulard (who also co-writes here) and Bandreas, then later melancholically on the contemplative "The Way You Say My Name" and the closing "My Own Worth." Pablo Hopenhayn also returns to provide yearning strings on the achingly melancholic instrumental opener "The Downpour" and later on the tense duet "The Serpent."

Guðmundsson's own whispered vocals also make a welcome return, often in duet with the mysterious, angelic Bandreas or the silky, intimate Saint Sinner. Helped along by subtle but familiar references to his previous work, like the soft summer rains of "Rigning" or lyrical callbacks in "A Wicked Joke" recalling "Bright Moonlit Sky," all these elements and collaborators become so much a part of the warp and weft of the overall sonic palette they feel omnipresent.

Written and produced when we had become more distant and disconnected from one another than ever before, "Faded Photographs" brings together and showcases an ensemble of artists in a spirit of collaboration that flies in the face of adversity, a true product of its time.

Written, produced and mixed by Yagya
Mastered by Conor Dalton
Artwork by Richard Ortiz
Layout by Erris Huigens
Release text by James Knapman

"The Downpour"
String recordings by Pablo Hopenhayn

"What Have You Done"
Lyrics by Benoit Pioulard & Yagya
Vocals by Benoit Pioulard & Bandreas
Saxophone by Óskar Guðjónsson

"The Serpent"
Lyrics by Yagya
Vocals by Yagya & Saint Sinner
String recordings by Pablo Hopenhayn

"No Matter What"
Lyrics by Yagya
Vocals by Bandreas

"Melting In The Morning Sun"
Lyrics by Yagya
Vocals by Yagya & Bandreas

"The Way You Say My Name"
Lyrics by Yagya
Vocals by Yagya
Saxophone by Óskar Guðjónsson

"Left Unsaid"
Lyrics by Yagya
Vocals by Bandreas

"A Wicked Joke"
Lyrics by Yagya
Vocals by Yagya & Bandreas

"Just For A Moment"
Vocals by Benoit Pioulard
Lyrics by Benoit Pioulard & Yagya

"My Own Worth"
Lyrics by Yagya & Bandreas
Vocals by Bandreas
Saxophone by Óskar Guðjónsson

Faded Photographs - Preview

Faded Photographs (2LP/CD) [3SPA] - PREVIEW

MOA118

https://moatun7.bandcamp.com/album/moa118

Written by Aðalsteinn Guðmundsson
Mastered by Conor Dalton
(p) (c) Móatún 7 2022

Krákur

Daggarmark

Always Maybe Tomorrow

https://www.smallplasticanimals.com/release/7018/yagya/always-maybe-tomorrow

After the 2020 release of Old Dreams And Memories, Icelandic dub techno linchpin Yagya returns for a second release on his emergent label, Small Plastic Animals. This latest venture marks a new chapter in the artist’s accomplished career, having released on Delsin, Subwax BCN and A Strangely Isolated Place as well as forming a core part of the Thule collective alongside his partner in Sanasol, Thor. As those associations ably point out, the music Yagya crafts is spacious and atmospheric, using the techno tradition as a vessel for meditative as well as emotional exploration and experimenting with sound design according to a specific, patiently cultivated style.

Always Maybe Tomorrow finds Yagya ruminating on the behavioural energy of environments as viewed from afar – the man-made electricity of urban expanses and the interconnected flora and fauna of ecosystems. Looking to his chosen tools as a means to express these ideas, he employed a non-linear approach to each of the four tracks on this EP, choosing to create musical systems in constant flux rather than composing each piece in a conventional left-to-right narrative. Yagya’s trademark voluminous chords and vast pads ebb and flow through filters controlled by LFOs and randomness, creating their own micro-incidents and macro evolution as though holding a mirror up to the environments the initial inspiration was drawn from.

Written and produced by Aðalsteinn Guðmundsson
Mastered by LUPO
Artwork by Richard Ortiz
Layout by Erris Huijgens

Two Moments

Standing Still in a River

Distorted Dualism

The Other Side of Despair

Alternative version of "Rigning 9", slowed down and re-worked a bit (quick and dirty).

original album: 
http://yagya.bandcamp.com/album/rigning

Rigning 9 - alternative version

Alternative mix of an old track from the album "Will I Dream During the Process?"

http://yagya.bandcamp.com/album/will-i-dream-during-the-process

Choose (alternative mix)

Taken from "Sleepygirls" (CD version), released in 2014 by Delsin Records. 

http://www.delsinrecords.com/release/3783/yagya/sleepygirls

Co-written by Rimacona (Natsuko Yanagimoto, Marihiko Hara) and Asgeir Asgeirsson 
Lyrics and vocals by NATSUKO aka Rimacona 
Guitar by Asgeir Asgeirsson

Sleepygirl 2

Sleepygirl 1 altrnmx

Live at Paloma, Reykjavik 09.12.16

Special techno set for birthday celebration.

Live @ Paloma 09.12.16

Rigning sjö

Taken from Rhythm of Snow. Released by Force Inc 2002.  Soon to be re-released by someone else.

Snowflake 2

Released by Force Inc 2002.  Soon to be re-released by someone else.

Snowflake 6

Alternative mix of "Sleepygirl 4" from the album Sleepygirls, released by Delsin Records in 2014.

Co-written by Rimacona (Natsuko Yanagimoto, Marihiko Hara)
Lyrics and vocals by NATSUKO aka Rimacona 

https://www.delsinrecords.com/release/3783/yagya/sleepygirls

Sleepygirl 4 (different mix)

from The Inescapable Decay of My Heart, released 08 August 2012 
Written, produced, recorded and mixed by Aðalsteinn Guðmundsson 
Lyrics by Aðalsteinn Guðmundsson 
Vocals by Elísabet Eyþórsdóttir and Aðalsteinn Guðmundsson 

Mastered by Mandy Parnell at Black Saloon Studios

yagya.bandcamp.com
www.facebook.com/yagyamusic 
buy the 2xCD version here: darla.com?fuseaction=item_cat.ecom_superitem_detail&item_cat_id=40817

Gabriel (feat. Elísabet Eyþórs)

from The Inescapable Decay of My Heart, released 08 August 2012 
Written, produced, recorded and mixed by Aðalsteinn Guðmundsson 
Lyrics by Guðmundur Andri Hjálmarsson 
Vocals by Aðalsteinn Guðmundsson 

yagya.bandcamp.com
www.facebook.com/yagyamusic 
buy the 2xCD version here: darla.com?fuseaction=item_cat.ecom_superitem_detail&item_cat_id=40817

The Phantom of Us

Stormur Fimm, vinyl version.

Taken from the album Stormur, released by A Strangely Isolated Place
https://astrangelyisolatedplace.bandcamp.com/album/stormur

Mastered by Lupo 
Artwork by Noah M

Stormur

Stormur fimm (vinyl version)

from The Inescapable Decay of My Heart, released 08 August 2012 by Kilk Records
Written, produced, recorded and mixed by Aðalsteinn Guðmundsson 
Lyrics by Aðalsteinn Guðmundsson 
Vocals by Esther Talía Casey and Aðalsteinn Guðmundsson

http://yagya.bandcamp.com/album/the-inescapable-decay-of-my-heart
www.facebook.com/yagyamusic 

Bright Moonlit Sky (feat. Esther Talia)

https://www.smallplasticanimals.com/release/6611/yagya/old-dreams-and-memories

OLD DREAMS AND MEMORIES 
昔の夢と思ひ出を

—

1. For the First Time (はじめてのものに)
2. Mountain Story (山の物語)
3. Reminiscent (追憶)
4. Memories of Old Dreams (昔の夢と思ひ出を)
5. Light and Shadow (光と影)
6. Wandering in the Fog (霧の中で) 
7. Rainbow and Human (虹とひとと)
8. Travelled Road (ゆくての道)
9. Beauty in Loneliness (孤独の美)
10. Overflowing Darkness (溢れひたす闇に)


—

After nearly two decades of releasing on other people's labels,
Icelandic producer Aðalsteinn Guðmundsson aka Yagya now launches his
own new Small Plastic Animals imprint with a brand new album, Old
Dreams and Memories.

This album marks another subtle move away from the icy dub techno
sounds he has dealt in before, hence the need for a new label. It
follows full lengths such as Stars and Dust and Sleepygirls, both on
Delsin, as well as 2019's Stormur on A Strangely Isolated Place, and
plenty of vital work as part of the Thule Musik collective. This
acclaimed album specialist is known for his mastery of atmosphere,
melody and mood and ability to create soothing and escapist
soundtracks that make for utterly mindful experiences.

The new record still has a slowly propulsive rhythm underpinning every
track, but they are only a small part of the over all picture. Some of
the tracks are brought to life with vocals by Natsuko Yanagimoto and
poems by Michizō Tachihara, while others are rich with naturalistic
found sounds and saxophone by Óskar Guðjónsson.

Opener For The First Time has spoken words snippets that bring a real
sense of intimacy to the sombre dub, then 'Mountain Story' has
gorgeous strings performed by Pablo Hopenhayn, who also appears on
'Reminiscent' with more solemn playing that brings
a real melancholic beauty to the track. 'Memories of Old Dreams' is a
beautiful ambient passage of spoken word that soothe the soul, 'Light
and Shadow' is orchestral dub techno with a wandering lead that drifts
like a cloud and 'Wandering in the Fog' has the sound of flowing
water, gently lilting trumpets disappearing into thin air as soft
drums roll on below. 'Rainbow and Human' pairs more whispered vocals
with muffled crowd nosies and yawning synths that bring the joy of a
new day and the three closing tracks offer exquisite piano playing,
warm but somehow also frosty dub landscapes 'Beauty in Loneliness' and
a forlorn, violin laced closer with 'Overflowing Darkness.'

Old Dreams and Memories is a rich symphony of luxurious sound, with
transportive rhythms and hugely evocative layers of melody, the human
voice and cinematic sampling all showing a further evolution in the
art of this standalone producer.

—

Written, produced and mixed by Aðalsteinn Guðmundsson
Vocals by Natsuko Yanagimoto
Poems by Michizō Tachihara (1914-1939)
Saxophone by Óskar Guðjónsson
Strings performance by Pablo Hopenhayn @ Esession Strings, LA
Mastered by Andreas [Lupo] Lubich @ Loop-O Mastering, Berlin
Photography by Yusaku Aoki
Design and layout by Erris @ Graphic Surgery

Old dreams and memories

Yagya - Old dreams and memories (2LP/CD) [1SPA] - Preview

"As it is" from the album "Will I dream during the process?" 

Remastered by Rashad Becker.

Original album released by Sending Orbs (2006),  soon to be reissued by Subwax BCN on CD, vinyl and digital.

As it is

"Waiting for the rain"

Vocals by Ellen Kristjásdóttir.

from The Inescapable Decay of My Heart, released 2012 by Kilk Records
Written, produced, recorded and mixed by Aðalsteinn Guðmundsson 

Popular tracks by Yagya