isolatedmix 79 - Autumn Of Communion

Mick Chillage and Lee Norris come together as Autumn Of Communion. Between them, their music stretches into the deepest roots of modern ambient music.

Lee Norris' monikers range from the cult 90's electronica of Metamatics and Norken, through to the beautiful tones of The Angling Loser - a collective of ambient artists that also includes Porya Hatami and Will Bolton. Lee's also helming the ...txt label, which has played home to many AOC releases and just recently, a monumental boxset that features the entire AOC discography. ...txt has also presented us with some brilliant albums by Sage Taylor (aka Textural Being) (Raintime) and the more psychedelic ambient sound of Ishq (2016's Fhorm being a fave of mine), as well as becoming home to many of Mick Chillage's productions. 

The label and indeed AOC's sound is no doubt influenced by the legendary FAX label, which also presented Autumn Of Communion's most seminal piece to date, their 2012 self-titled masterpiece. The album was perhaps overshadowed by the unfortunate passing of FAX founder Pete Namlook in 2012, but you can think of no better home, or higher praise for the duo. Mick, is no stranger to this high praise either, with one of the most revered albums on the FAX label, FAXology in 2011, followed by releases on FAX-dedicated output, Carpe Sonum. 

The web of productions between them both runs deep into some of the genre's best rabbit-holes. Just last week, I was in a record shop in Bellingham WA, at a random second-hand record store. I got talking to the owner about the type of records and artists I was on the hunt for and he said, "I just bought something new last week from Databloem". Sure enough he went on to play a CD and out comes Mick Chillage's 2016 album, Paths. It's the type of music that breaks down boundaries and epitomizes the true early 90's ambient sound and arguably, Autumn Of Communion is the purest distillation of their combined works. 

For isolatedmix 79, the duo wade through some of the genre's finest producers, both old and new. Track-by-track, it's a who's-who of ambient music, but the whole is definitely greater than the sum of its parts - this AOC mix channels the very essence of pure ambient music and the many inspirations behind AOC. 

Download.

Tracklist:

01. William Basinski - 92982.1
02. Tangerine Dream - Sequent C
03. Ryuichi Sakamoto - Fullmoon
04. David Sylvian - The Healing Place
05. Billow Observatory - Plum
06. Tetsu Inoue - Elevator Drops
07. Dots - Dense
08. Cluster & Eno - Für Luise
09. Autumn Of Communion - Streams Pt4
10. Jochem Paap - Dx-Snth
11. Harold Budd & Robin Guthrie - Twilight

Autumn Of Communion: Bandcamp | Discogs

Artwork/image by Ricardo Gomez Angel

Markus Guentner / Empire - Preorder available

From fiery remnants, a universal rhythm emerged.
An ebb and flow of force and fate,
creating worlds within worlds,
forever connected by an infinite empire.

We're back with Markus Guentner's second album here on ASIP, where he continues the journey he started on his first vinyl release, Theia.

This time, he's enlisted the skills of cellist Julia Kent, harpist Tom Moth (from Florence and the Machine) and ASIP favorite, bvdub to complete another deep and mesmorizing excursion into the unknown. Then we have the talented Black Knoll on mastering, and Noah M / Keep Adding on the beautiful artwork. 

Head over to the album's release page for full details, links to purchase and audio previews. 

We'll leave you with this video teaser featuring music from one of the tracks starring the beautiful work of Julia Kent. 

Thesis Collected 01 - album stream

May of last year we featured Gregory Euclide's Thesis Project here on ASIP, detailing the extensive craftsmanship and consideration that goes into each hand-made release. Since our words with Gregory, the series has gone on to host even more beautiful collaborations and some of my favorites of the project so far, including Rafael Anton Irisarri & Julia Barwick, and Anna Rose Carter & Dag Rosenqvist. Gregory's hands have not stopped cutting, shaping, producing, curating, packing and presenting ever since... 

Once you've amassed such an amazing collection of music, and poured hours over each release, I can imagine it being nearly impossible to not feel the urge to present it as a full compilation and unlock some of the beauty for more people to hear; as both an ode to the many artists featured so far, and a release that would no doubt stand on its own.  So here we are, with an exclusive stream of the full compilation below.  

Given these releases are only ever made available as physical items, this compilation is a first for the project and a blessing for anyone that's maybe not lucky enough to own a turntable, but wanted to get their ears on some of the beautiful music and artists featured within. 

It's only really when you read through the powerhouse of names that feature across the series such as; Julia Kent, Loscil, Dustin O'Halloran, Taylor Deupree, RAI, Benoît Pioulard and Kyle Bobby Dunn, that you are hit with how special this project is both its effort and curation. 

THESIS COLLECTED 01 is available as both a limited CD version and digital, and contains one track from each of the first 12 THESIS releases as well as two tracks from THESIS PRINT/TRACK 02 & 04. Along with a bonus track from THESIS PRINT/TRACK 01 (available only on the digital version). 

Read more about the full series in our interview from last year here, or dive into the full project at https://thesisproject.us.

Thesis Collected 01 is available on CD + Digital at Bandcamp.

Tracklist:

01 | Refém | Will Samson | PRINT/TRACK 02
02 | The Iron Town | S. Carey & Taylor Deupree | THESIS 01
03 | Snowfall/Hibernate | Tony Dekker & Kinbrae | THESIS 09
04 | Earth Bound | Sophie Hutchings & Julia Kent | THESIS 06
05 | Viscous | Loscil & Seabuckthorn | THESIS 02
06 | Prism | Anna Rose Carter & Dag Rosenqvist | THESIS 05
07 | Limehouse | Angus MacRae & InsaDonjaKai | THESIS 07
08 | A Pretty A Day | Benoît Pioulard & Dustin O’Halloran | THESIS 04
09 | B2 | Julianna Barwick & Rafael Anton Irisarri | THESIS 10
10 | Carried to a Place Unwinding | Aaron Martin & Tilman Robinson | THESIS 11
11 | Salve Regina | Kyle Bobby Dunn | PRINT/TRACK 04
12 | Early James | Andrew Hargreaves & Andrew Johnson | THESIS 13
13 | Rigor | Takeshi Nishimoto & Roger Döring | THESIS 03

isolatedmix 78 - Goldmund

We welcome Keith Kenniff back to the isolatedmix series under his post-classical moniker, Goldmund. 

A master of many styles of ambient and instrumental music, be it textured ethereal daydreams as Helios, shoegaze inspired ambient alongside his wife, Hollie, or his more instrumental, post-classical side as Goldmund, Keith's output is somehow always outdoing his last note. As a result he has grown a significant following and appreciation over the years, me included.  

It's the latter of those three guises that we find ourselves being presented with another beautiful album of late, titled 'Occasus'. Released earlier this month, the album is another fine collection of minimal piano pieces. Staying close to some of his more melodic and infamous productions as Helios, boasting a grainy texture and more analog stylings throughout, Occasus presents numerous uplifting moments - a collection of short stories if you will, amid layers of dusty keys. 

A master of his instrument, Keith is one of only a very few musicians who can walk us through a myriad of emotions in one album, evident yet again on Occasus. The piano, playing a key part in every chapter, but each track boasting something unique to the hands of Goldmund that others simply cannot match. His sound, a blueprint for many artists striving for that rare combination of emotion, melody and immersive, lost-in-a-daydream-feels. 

Unlike his first isolatedmix back in 2010, which focused on some of his favorite soundtracks and compositions, Keith now chooses to embellish on some of the many styles that likely go into a Goldmund production. You may be expecting a masterclass in modern classical music given that introduction or the moniker find ourselves under, but mixed amongst the many pivotal instrumental moments, are textured elements and softly painted melodies - the two added influences and key ingredients that you can always hear within any Goldmund production. Add to that, a man that knows the secret behind an emotive score; applied to the mix format, and you're in for a beautiful journey. 

Download.

Tracklist:

01. 0:00 - 1:04 - Black Moth Super Rainbow - Dandelion Graves (end melody)
02. 1:04 - 3:46 - Scott Gilmore - Things Forgotten
03. 3:46 - 5:18 - Monster Rally - Love
04. 5:18 - 7:32 - Limalo - Viewing Growth (w-Botany)
05. 7:32 - 10:09 - Yuutsu - Familiar
06. 10:09 - 13:37 - Mary Lattimore - Hello From The Edge of the Earth
07. 13:37 - 15:28 - Michael Andrews - Goldfish
08. 15:28 - 18:48 - Martin Glass - Floating To Work
09. 18:48 - 23:54 - Lexaunculpt - Emori Dixon Renamed
10. 23:54 - 26:55 - Jóhann Jóhannsson - Odi Et Amo
11. 26:55 - 30:17 - John Dowland - A Pavan
12. 30:17 - 35:32 - Virginia Astley - With My Eyes Open I'm Dreaming
13. 35:32 - 36:48 - Karen Peris - Wales Because the Sun Will Shine
14. 36:48 - 41:14 - Hollie Kenniff - Home Will Follow
15. 41:14 - 43:42 - Ben Lukas Boysen - Eos
16. 43:42 - 46:06 - Dan Romer - Guns Up

Goldmund / Keith Kenniff | Web | Twitter | Bandcamp/Store 

Listen to Keith's first isolatedmix as Helios, here. 

Behind the scenes with the artwork from Earth House Hold's, Never Forget Us

Earth House Hold's, Never Forget Us had a unique process behind the artwork, so I thought it would be worth telling the story behind it. 

Brock and I went around in circles for a few months trying to land on an iconic approach for Never Forget Us (often, with ASIP releases, the artwork takes longer than the music). Some artists have a very clear brief or idea for what they would like to see, but Brock wanted my take on the artwork too (I always try to collaborate as much as possible on artwork and appreciate whenever artists ask for my input and this album was a special piece for us both). We ended up going back and forth for a significant time, before we finally decided to use some amazing photography by Mamii - a close friend of Brock's. 

Mamii's photographs - a sample selection show above - were taken using a pinhole photography approach, giving them their unique, warm and 'in-motion', blurry feel. For anyone close to Brock's previous releases, you'll see a common theme and style in the photography he chooses and these photographs were a fitting tribute to his past, while offering a new perspective for his new record. 

Brock sent me scanned copies of the original photographs, which I then replicated and had printed again as polaroids (meta!) - around 50 different images, with 4 copies of each (200 total). The idea we had, was to shoot the photographs from above to create an abstract and detailed pattern for the front and inside vinyl artwork. 

Close up, you'd see the many memories. Far away, it'd become an intriguing pattern.

I asked my friend, designer, photographer, Mike Marquez to help out with the photography, styling and ultimately the layout. We jumped into the studio, and despite my original idea to shoot just a couple of photographs on the front, it seemed a little forced and empty behind the camera, so we began to throw more and more photographs on to the pile.

When you try and make something like the above appear natural and random, it becomes harder then you'd expect. We spent most of our time rearranging the photographs so that the imagery, colors and detail were balanced across the spread. Throwing photos from above and letting them land naturally, then fussing over the details. Mamii's photographs ranged from cityscapes, to views from a train, flowers, fields and a house, so I decided to try and keep similar subjects close to each other to tell a story as you followed the overall pattern.

Once Mike and I were happy with the front, we continued to add more photographs to extend the same approach for the inside gatefold. I always try to provide additional detail, and a new layer to the story with the inside gatefold on our releases. With this one, it was easy to extend the story we started on to the inside.

I originally imagined the edges of the photos to signal the edges of the pattern on the front, but we decided that it looked better cropped into a square - appearing cleaner, and also giving the impression of a window into the journey (gatefold) inside.

Once we aligned on the front and inside layout, we then had to tackle the vinyl color.

For those that are wondering, vinyl color choice is not taken lightly for ASIP releases... aesthetics and quality are always considered side-by-side.

Rarely do we know the color of vinyl before aligning on artwork. If we want it to compliment overall, it makes sense to decide after, but sometimes the artwork really doesn't help with the vinyl color decision or point to an obvious color. Case in point here due to the many colors included in the photographs. Potentially, too much choice... 

To make matters worse, I have to try and decide on a vinyl color using small samples (I'm lucky enough to have these - many people don't), which appear slightly different when photographed - so using vinyl plant catalogs and sending pictures over to the artist is never an exact science if you're looking for a perfect color match. The listed Pantone references they provide are nothing like the real thing in many instances either, so coloring them in a mock in photoshop is never realistic enough.

I ended up sending Brock several of the below photographs that showed a sample set against a print out of the artwork mock. I now realize, I'm taking photos, of a photo, that has multiple photos, reprinted as polaroid photos, that were scanned photos, from original pinhole photos.... 

Those with a keen eye, may see that we ended up going with the above transparent blue (which actually photographed a little turquoise above, but ended up even better than imagined in real life). 

Once the vinyl color was decided, the order was sent... then, it's in the hands of the vinyl gods, as we wait for anything up to 3-months to see your creation - hopefully - turn up looking just how you wanted it. This one did. 

Lastly, I had a selection of Mamii's photographs printed on very high quality card and placed inside the package for anyone who purchased the record with me direct on Bandcamp, as an added bonus. 

Thanks to everyone who has purchased the record and made some very kind comments on the artwork (and the music, of course). And thank you to Mike for his helping hand, photography and keen eye. 

Buy Earth House Hold / Never Forget Us.

Watch a video using a selection of Mamii's photographs, here.