isolatedmix 82 - Ocoeur

It was 2013 when Franck Zaragoza’s beautiful electronic debut for n5MD grabbed our attention and secured itself as one of the years finest releases. Since then, Franck and his Ocoeur project, has continued on the label with three more albums - his latest, ‘Inner’ landing just last month on gold vinyl.

Looking back at Ocoeur’s evolution on n5MD over the past five years, there’s been a continual shift in approach, perhaps mimicking fast-paced life itself, or simply a natural progression and refinement in Franck’s sound. Whether purposeful or accidental, it’s evident Franck is continually in search of honing and perfecting his sound.

2013’s ‘Light As A Feather’ was, ironically, the deepest of Franck’s productions - rooted in electronica, and containing tracks that wouldn’t have sounded out of place in a dimly lit warehouse party, alongside more refined listening moments that were just a taster of what was to come over the next few years.

‘Reversed’ saw Franck lean further into the instrumental and modern classical side of his productions, with elegant piano and string moments, affirming his place as a master of atmospheres and a dab-hand should a big soundtrack offer come knocking at his door one day.

2018’s ‘Inner’ perhaps, by design and title, is Franck’s most introspective piece, with slow, burning, soaring synths that wouldn’t be out of place on a Blade Runner score, but without the expected assault of Hans-Zimmer-esque synth-splurges. Instead, Franck’s sound comes from the modern classical world in the truest of simple, delicate and sublime senses.

The comparison in five years alone shows how much Franck has to offer within his production arsenal, with each album somehow, succeeding the last.

For his isolatedmix, Franck has leaned on his own productions alongside complimentary inspirations that help portray a dream-like hour of ambience, dotted with highs and lows - demonstrating some of the many emotions Franck has continually painted over the past five years. Without even listening, seeing the likes of Murcof, Rauelsson and Cliff Martinez, alongside Ocoeur’s own productions within the track list should indicate how delicate and considered this mix is.

Download

Tracklist:

01. Zinovia Arvanitidi - Invisible
02. Ocoeur - In The Starlight - Pixys
03. Cliff Martinez - He Had a Good Time
04. Disasterpeace - Formations
05. Jessica Curry - Dear Esther - Always (Hebridean mix)
06. Ocoeur - Unseen
07. SineRider - Alouette
08. Murcof - Uri
09. Ocoeur - Passage
10. Ocoeur - Time Over (Rework)
11. Ocoeur - Mother
12. Rauelsson - Arrows
13. Ocoeur - Echo
14. Deru - Drink It In
15. Brian Eno & Harold Budd - Late October

Ocoeur | n5MD | Soundcloud | Facebook

todos: Ten Years of A Strangely Isolated Place

The impossible task. Find a way to summarize the last ten years of music featured on the A Strangely Isolated Place blog and website.

First off, we have created the ‘tagged’ project, listing some of the hundreds of artists featured on the blog for you to explore over here. And pretty soon, we’ll have a special release for you all.

But I also wanted something that was closer to our blog beginnings, and a story told through a mix. What better way than tasking our favorite journey-maker, todos.

todos and his Kilchurn Sessions have been a staple of ASIP over the past ten years. We’ve even collected them all in one place, given how many posts they ended up spanning. I don’t need to add many superlatives about him here, but they are some of the best recorded mixes I have ever heard. And I mean it. You can hold-up (my personal favorite) professional mixed CD’s by Sasha, or James Holden for example, and I would be just as pleased listening to some of todos’ Kilchurn Sessions. He has a knack, a perfection and an obsession with mixing unique journeys that span everything from ambient, electronic, techno and instrumental elements, alongside a unique use of samples and movie quotes. He creates familiar and emotive narratives that need multiple revisits to appreciate the detail, skill and passion he put in.

Once todos agreed to my ask (nearly a year-ago now) I sent him the archive of posts from the old site, and a list of all the tags used across both new and old. My only criteria was that he needed to select tracks from artists or albums that were a part of that list - an attachment to ASIP and the blog. He had hundreds to sift through, some known, some new to him.

I don’t know how he did it.

I do know it was a headache for him, for months, but what he turned in, was something well beyond my expectations. He went through many iterations and different approaches, trying to do one chronologically in the order they were featured on ASIP for example, sending me revisions up until the very last minute, but in the end, he managed to find a selection of tracks that truly reflect the past ten years of discovery here on ASIP. And in a style only he knows how to execute.

A big BIG thank you to todos for soundtracking ASIP all these years. And for this, a superb piece of no-doubt painstaking work to help us celebrate ten-years of existence.

Once you’re done listening here, check out our ‘tagged’ project to explore even more.

Download MP3

Download WAV

~

Ten years of A Strangely Isolated Place - mixed by todos

Tracklist:

1. Minilogue - ‘Yesterday Bells’ edit (2008)/ Grzegorz Bojanek - A Huge Explosion After The War’ edit (2017)

2. Altus - ‘Virgo’ edit (2013) / Little Dragon - ‘Twice’ edit (2008) / Lights Out Asia - ‘Except Europa’ edit (2010)

3. Herbstlaub - ‘Softly hidden she.’ (Stray Theories remix) (2016)

4. Stellardrone - ‘Pale Blue Dot’ (2010)

5. Freescha - ‘Kite High’ (2009)

6. Benjamin Dauer - ‘Harmony Bound’ (2011) / Rhian Sheehan - ‘Standing In Silence Part 1’ edit (2010)

7. Jon Hopkins - ‘Private Universe’ (2008) / Opus III - ‘It’s A Fine Day’ edit (2009)

8. Sasha - ‘Broadcast’ (2016)

9. Umber - ‘Tomorrow We'll Throw Out Some Old Shoes’ (2011)

10. Kiyoko - ‘Sea of Trees’ (2012)

11. Bjorn Rohde - ‘Forest of Forgotten Hearts’ (2013) / Nils Frahm - ‘Peter’ (2013)

12. Jason van Wyk - ‘Eyes Shut’ (2017)

13. Roel Funcken - ‘Android Robson’ (2016)

14. Synkro - ‘Midnight Sun’ (2015)

15. Martin Nonstatic - ‘Open Minded’ (2015) / Aphex Twin - ‘Rhubarb’ (2009)

16. Sonitus Eco - ’Storegga Slide’ (2015)

17. Vermont - ‘Übersprung’ (2014)

18. Ocoeur - ‘Resonance’ (2013) / Sigur Ros - ‘Takk’ (2011) / Carbon Based Lifeforms - ‘Intro’ / ‘Hold’ (2014)

19. Donnacha Costello - ‘That Empty Feeling’ (2011)

20. Rhian Sheehan - ’Sileo’ (2013)

21. Markus Guentner - ‘Baryon’ (Feat. The Sight Below) edit (2015) / Porya Hatami - ‘Fen’ (By Segue) edit (2015)

22. Tegh - ‘Down’ (2014)

23. Arovane - ‘Woven’ (Peter Benisch Remix) edit (2015)

24. John Beltran - ‘Seasons Go’ (2013)

~

Includes audio recordings taken in and around USA, Germany, UK, Italy, Poland, Australia, Netherlands and Japan.

Special thanks to Ryan, Marcel, Eiko, Spencer and James for the support and sending me snippets of your own strangely isolated places. It was a pleasure incorporating them into this mix.

*Years indicate when tracks were featured on ASIP, not necessarily when they were released*

Artwork by ASIP, containing elements from Mario Morales and Nick Brzostowski.

ASIP - Subtempo Guest Mix 012

Last year we featured one of the first releases from the Subtempo crew; this lovely Alejandro Bento album and its accompanying remixes. Fast-forward a year and Subtempo have some ambitious plans with both the label and their new website/blog, and they’ve invited me to help kick-off the newly refreshed design by contributing to their ongoing guest mix series. There’s also a little Q&A with yours truly should you be interested!

For full background on the mix and to read the interview, head over to Subtempo here.

Big thanks to Rocco and Subtempo for the support, invite and the great feature.

Tracklist

01. Tongues of Light - Healing Side [Pre-Cert]
02. DJ Healer - At Last (Becoming The Storm) [All Possible Worlds]
03. DJ Richard - Dissolving World [Dial]
04. Lori Scacco - Other Flowers [Mysteries Of The Deep]
05. Sonae - Soul Eater [Monika Enterprise]
06. Sophia Loizou - Order Of Elements [Kathexis]
07. Strië - Capsule [Serein]
08. Christoph De Babalon - High Life (Theme) [DHR]
09. Abul Mogard - Quiet Dreams [Ecstatic]
10. Hands - Beelitz Heilstatten Pt6 [Ecstatic]
11. Suzanne Ciani - Quadrophonic Part One [Atmospheric]
12. M Geddes Gangras - Kalapana [Umor Rex]
13. DJ Healer - Hopes And Fears [All Possible Worlds]
14. 747 - Cretaceous (edit) [Aquaregia]
15. Hotel Neon - Roke [Archives]
16. 36 - Soul Boundary [A Strangely Isolated Place - forthcoming]

36 - A Closer Listen 100 mix

I haven’t posted a guest mix on here for quite some time (outside of the isolatedmix series of course). But this one has inspired me to get back to sharing great mixes we found out in the big wide world again, for a few reasons.

Namely, it’s a great mix by our very own Dennis Huddleston / 36. He’s chosen a few tracks and artists that have been recent discoveries for me too (and featured on a few of my past mixes), including Rashida Prime and Sangam. Both these artists are well-known in the Vaporwave arenas but essentially, offering what we classic ambient fans know as some deep and futuristic/space styles of ambient music. These fall alongside the great GAS, a classic space-ambient track from Michael Sterns and a track from another album I’ve enjoyed recently on Music From Memory by Terreke.

Additionally, this marks a major moment for A Closer Listen. ACL have been releasing mixes for years now, and this marks their 100th and final installment - in its current form at least. Going by the text on ACL, it looks like they will have several other new exploratory / mix inspired avenues coming soon, which sound extremely promising.

For now, escape to the latest from 36 and read his mini-interview with ACL with a nod to an upcoming release….

Tracklist:

01. Rashida Prime – Damaged Interface
02. Marvin Horsch – Sun After Rain
03. Useless – 128E
04. GAS – Narkopop 11
05. Hammock – Oh the Bliss (Reinterpretation)
06. Terekke – Atba
07. Michael Stearns – In The Beginning
08. Sangam – Egotistical
09. Flame 1 – Shrine
10. Woob – Subterranean District
11. Pulusha – Isolation Part 1
12. 36 – Ego Death

isolatedmix 81 - Rich-Ears: Navigator

A welcome return to our Balearic maestro, Rich-Ears, who keeps the dwindling connection I have with the white isle going strong all these years later. Now I’m on the other side of the world, I like to live vicariously through Rich-Ears' mixes, coming straight from the heart of Ibiza (the right side of the island I should add) as he enjoys summer life spinning his notorious samples and blends of downtempo, chill-out and ambient.

I've been a little slow these past few months on the site, so I must apologize to Rich-Ears for sitting on this one for so long, as he prepared it for the summer months and with ASIP’s ten-year anniversary in mind. Well, as the first day of the Autumnal Equinox, maybe there’s no better way to say goodbye to the summer…

Rich-Ears put a set together a few years back for our five-year milestone and was inspired to offer up his skills again for our celebratory ten-year, crafting this beautifully relaxed and calming set titled ‘Navigator’ as he plucks some classics in the form of The Orb, Eno, Midori Takada and Morricone; think of this as your own navigator through some essential ambient and chill listening by one of the finest selectors.

Download.

Tracklist:

01. Keichi Suzuki - Satellite Serenade (TransAsian Express) [The Orb remix]
02. Spacetime Continuum - Floatilla
03. The Orb - Alles Ist Schoen
04. [Rich_Ears_edit_Navigator_ambient]
05. Reagenz - Farewell (Live at Dommune)
06. Kaoru Inoue - A Day Of Radiance
07. Midori Takada - Through the looking glass
08. [Rich_Ears_edit_ambient_psy]
09. Brian Eno - The Real
10. 36 - Shadow Play (After Dark Reprise)
11. Halftribe - Well connected
12. All Into The Mix (ambient short edit)
13. Pink Floyd - Echoes (live)
14. Enzo Cage - Enoference
15. Murcof x Vanessa Wagner - Avril 14th (Aphex Twin)
16. Crossworlds - Sunwalk
17. DJ Food - Colors Beyond Colors
18. Ennio Morricone- La Voglia Matta: Sole e Sogni

Rich-Ears | Mixcloud | Facebook | Instagram