isolatedmix 121 - Oslated & Huinali Showcase mixed by S-Pill

One of the very few known labels emerging from South Korea and going from strength to strength recently, Oslated has become a consistent outlet for quality deep techno and ambient-leaning electronic music. Helmed by Jongmin Lee, the label, and its sublabel Huinali keep a busy calendar between them, push a variety of artists both new and known in our small circles. Oslated, also keep a great guest mix series going to help fuel the collective inspiration.

Segue, Inhmost, Doltz, Earthen Sea, Javier Maramon, Saphileaum, Polygonia, and many more artists have graced the catalogs of Oslated and Huinali in recent years, and the label’s various artist compilations expand even further into great artist territory. Needless to say, with such a rich and growing catalog, it’s a perfect time to use the isolatedmix series to highlight some of the great music across the two labels along with a few questions for label owner Jongmin Lee…

ASIP: How did Oslated begin and what was the inspiration to start a label?

Oslated: The Oslated project is a natural byproduct of my beliefs since 2016. It includes the label’s international scope based on my past experiences. The label's early mission statement was to feature unknown talented young DJs and producers, but if there were things that inspired me, it would be based on my various experiences in music for the past 20 years - since I was in my late teens. This still stands today.

You have a great ear for music and I much of your output. What is your general approach to the label’s releases?

First of all, I really appreciate the good feedback & support from many followers & friends including you. I want to give various answers to this question, but to put it simply, I believe in my ears, brain, and heart. What happens after that, whether good or not, I come to a conclusion after the release. I think this way is better. As my belief is that almost all releases on the label were a good experience for me. Therefore, I still believe in my choices, and I still love all the artists I've released on the label.

How would you describe the difference between Oslated and the sublabel, Huinali to the listener?

When I founded the Huinali Recordings sublabel, I wanted to differentiate myself from the parent label, Oslated. However, while out running one day, I thought it was not something I’m absolutely set on differentiating. It's classified according to the artist's wishes, and this is always in progress. So I don't know. The same question was previously asked on a webzine, and my answer to this is still valid: "To be honest, the genre division for our both labels didn’t matter from quite a while ago. What I think iss important now, is the relationship between the concept of an entire album and the corresponding time with the artist."

What are your most and least favorite parts of running a label?

My favorite part is, of course, when I see an artist get a very good response to a release and develop further musically. I would say the hardest part is the interpersonal relationships. I get the most stress from this part, but I put the most effort into directing and consulting myself to minimize this and to be flexible with one another. This is probably the common denominator of all label & platform owners...isn't it?

You just pressed your first vinyl record for Huinali, with Segue, who I admire. What made you decide to move into vinyl for this release?

First, I don't want to say that a lot of physical releases are the goal. Anyway, Oslated had already released 3 vinyl records, and at some point the sub-label Huinali planned to do a vinyl release as well, from the day it was founded. And yes, I tried to do this naturally. Before being a label owner I was a DJ and a collector of various music. I honestly don't want to differentiate between digital and physical and I just want to release GOOD MUSIC. The reason I release physically as well is simply because my followers wish.

If you could have released any favorite/past album in the world on your label, what would it be and why?

I myself had such a wishful plan, and I’m the one who insists on “Oldies, but goodies” too. But as time passed, I realized something myself. Now, my simple argument for this question is, "The past is beautiful when it is the past."

You had S-Pill make the mix, can you tell us a bit about him and why you chose him to create the mix?

Seojun oh aka S-Pill is my close brother, and he holds the title of the only official DJ artist on the label. I guarantee that he is the best DJ in Korea and proud of him. This is the only reason.

What can you tell us about the future of Oslated and Huinali?

I don't want to elaborate on this question, but love Paul Valery's quotes here. "Nothing is complete unless you put it in final shape.".

"The trouble with our times is that the future is not what it used to be."

~

astrangelyisolatedplace · isolatedmix 121 - Oslated & Huinali Showcase (Mixed by S-Pill)

Listen on Soundcloud or the ASIP Podcast.

Download MP3

Tracklist:

1. Inhmost - River Crossing [HNL008]
2. Gallery Six - Wish On A Star [HNL006]
3. Vâyu - To Achieve Awareness [HNL015]
4. Earthen Sea - Outcropping [HNL004]
5. Moon Patrol - Inparke [OSL026]
6. Adhémar - Smell Of A Summer Field [HNC001]
7. Lindamann - Blue Hour [HNL017]
8. Javier Marimon - Dem Cics [HNL002]
9. The Vision Reels - Her Form Is Slowly Morphing [HNL016]
10. Daniel[i] - Eubela [HNL010]
11. Segue - Deep Green Dub [HNP001]
12. Launaea - Reflected Life [OSL017]
13. Asllan - Citizen of the World (Soolee Rework) [OSL024]
14. Saphileaum - No Clue Of Life [OSL006]
15. Zemög - Hiking In Chicaque [HNL011]
16. Owl - Forest Shadow [HNL014]
17. Doltz - En [Forthcoming on Huinali Recordings]
18. ABSIS - Static Trip [OSL021]
19. Polygonia - Tanz der Gliederfüßer [HNL012]
20. Einox - Chirico (Romi's Paradox) [OSL016]
21. Sanjib - Without Words [OSL008]
22. Javier Salazar - Acae (Adhémar & Javier Marimon Repitch) [OSL025]
23. Aspetuck - Microscopic Moments Of Focus [OSL023]
24. Modeo - Nobody Sleeps [OSC002]
25. Ryefield Society - Sun Fossils [HNL018]

~

S-Pill (Oslated / Jeju Island, South Korea) | Soundcloud | Facebook | Instagram
Oslated | links

isolatedmix 120 - Lord Of The Isles

Well, a whole nine months since our last isolatedmix, we return in style…

Scottish producer Lord Of The Isles has been high on rotation for me for about ten years now, with a string of electronic EPs across labels such as Mule Musiq, Permanent Vacation, Phonica and ESP Institue. Never guessing where he was going to push next, Neil has remained a bit of an enigma in style over the years and more recently, has captured hearts with an emotional, Poem-infused EP on Whities (more on that below) and in December just gone, a more ambient-leaning debut on Lapsus.

The result is an artist that appeals to the electronic music fan in more ways than one. An artist you grow attached to as you walk alongside an ego-less evolution, welcoming new approaches and experimentation, always eager to see what he takes on next.

While Neil is obviously adept a putting together a DJ mix [check], we’re even more fortunate that Neil has taken a much more dedicated route to his mix contribution, with a 100% unreleased mix of his own material.

~

Hi Neil, being a man of the outdoors it seems, where are you right now and what are you enjoying, outside of the music world?

Not in the wilds at the moment, unfortunately! But I will be soon. I’m taking some recording equipment up north in a few weeks to hopefully finish my next album. Outside of writing music, I’m enjoying keeping fit and reading. I’m reading Under The Skin by Michael Faber right now for the second time.

Your style is notoriously hard to pin down (which I love), but I'd love to know how you would describe it to anyone new to your music.

Deep and melodic maybe? I’ve always listened to all kinds of music and I've always had a very open mind in that regard. I suppose you are exposed to different things at different times throughout life.

What music did you grow up on to influence it? 

There was a lot of Motown going on in my family very early on, and hearing stuff like Cream and Kate Bush now always transports me back in time when I hear it, as does a lot of soul, hip hop, and indie from 80s and 90s. Way too many to mention!! Growing up in the nineties, Acid House, Detroit techno, and Chicago House all played major roles in influencing my style, as did dub, dub techno, and all things ambient. Sorry, sounds all so clichéd! But it’s true.

You've recorded a more ambient-leaning isolatedmix, and a few of your most recent albums definitely veered this way too. Is this a reflection of your current taste or mood right now, or something else?

It’s just the way it’s come together in the studio past few years, although, I am becoming aware that there’s now a lot of people now that think all I do is ambient music. I have another album coming later this year that was completed over a year ago which is also ambient, but that will be the last release like that for a while I think, as the music I’m working on at the moment is definitely not ambient! 

Your Whities EP with Ellen Renton’s vocals is definitely a personal favorite of mine. You also sampled Carl Sagan in your latest album. Can you tell me a bit about your approach to integrating guest vocals and samples?

With Ellen, I write music inspired by her poems. Other vocal samples are usually things I hear in films or documentaries that resonate with me. Growing up listening to artists like the Orb, BOC, and The Black Dog has given me an appreciation for disparate vocal samples. I love the cinematic quality it adds to the atmosphere. 

You have a monthly radio show on Openlab, How do you go about selecting music for the show, or what can people expect? 

I still buy and collect a lot of music, so it’s a great outlet for me to share music I love. You’ll hear mostly, electronica, deep house, techno, and breakbeat.

Your isolatedmix is 100% unreleased music, so no tracklist here. Can you tell us a bit about how you put it together?

It’s a bit of a hybrid set - half DJ half live, all unreleased music. It may well be the last ambient thing from me for a while. No plans to release any of it at the moment. 

Lastly, I read you're a candle fan (as am I) What's your latest scent?!

Lol! :) I have a trial tester from an amazing new Scottish aromatherapy brand called àile. They do amazing products and are thinking about doing a candle. It’s cedar wood, mandarin, and clove I think. It’s great!

~

astrangelyisolatedplace · isolatedmix 120 - Lord Of The Isles

Listen on Soundcloud or the ASIP Podcast.

Download MP3

(No tracklist as all unreleased material)
Artwork image by Faisal Waheed.

Lord Of The Isles Bandcamp | Discogs | Soundcloud

isolatedmix 119 - Wardown

Not many producers can create new aliases after 10+ years and still manage to drop something completely unexpected and refreshing.

Peter Rogers’ Wardown project did just that in 2020, debuted on the respected Blu Mar Ten label, the self-titled album found admirers from a cross-section of music styles; spanning Jungle, Drum’n Bass and a strong atmospheric element. Wardown / Wardown was consequently one of my most played and admired albums of the year (finding a sweet spot in the Reflection on 2020 and Atmoteka mixes). I found it near impossible to stop the album once it started, as it flowed easily between stories, styles, and sentimental reflection.

Peter is now set to drop his second album under the Wardown alias, simply titled Wardown II, but those who absorbed the nostalgia from his first, will undoubtedly be confident that despite its modest title, the conceptual approach is as strong as ever, and the music will once again be left to do the storytelling.

Continuing with this brilliant reflective approach from the first album, Wardown II can be considered another vivid capture of one of Peter’s undoubtedly many memories he has begun to create with this alias. And just like his productions, his isolatedmix is a natural extension of this approach. As is the case with many producers in this genre, DJ’ing is integral to the culture, so it’s of no surprise for us to be treated to a little bit of a masterclass with this latest installment…

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ASIP: Many people may know you as one half of the d&b duo Technimatic (and even making an appearance as Technicolour on our Energostatic comp which we were proud to host a few months back). Can you tell us a bit about how you got into producing music and your background?

Pete: I started making electronic music in about 2002. I’d been into jungle and drum & bass as a teenager growing up in Luton, and played in a jazz funk band for many years too. But 2002 - after I’d finished studying graphic design at university and moved to London - was the first time I had the opportunity to buy a computer of my own and actually start trying to create stuff with it.

You debuted the Wardown project on the Blu Mar Ten label in 2020. What inspired this new alias after years under others?

I started Wardown because I had quite specific things I really needed to express and put into music that I didn’t have to the opportunity to elsewhere. Technimatic is my main musical focus of attention and I love it, but sometimes there are things unique to you that you need to be able to say, that might not fit within the canon of music you're making as a duo. Things much more personal. I’ve known Chris Blu Mar Ten for many years and have huge respect for the vision and A&R of his label, so it felt like the perfect fit. Thankfully he was really enthusiastic about putting it out.

Vignettes of people talking about your hometown of Luton open your first Wardown album, (which was a surprise for me to hear, as I grew up in a nearby town). How would you describe your formative years there? How did it impact your music?

Luton has a very chequered past. It’s regularly featured in the kinds of ‘shittest towns in the UK’ lists that appear online. It’s been home to the English Defence League, Islamic terror cells, and is generally thought of as a fairly ugly, non-descript town on the outskirts of London that has an awful airport. But as a kid, I had a really good upbringing there. And crucially, being near London and the M25 motorway, back in the 90s it had a very strong connection with rave, hardcore, and jungle music. Legendary hardcore DJ Swan-E was from Luton, Blame was from just down the road in Dunstable, there were pirate radio stations broadcasting the music 24/7 in the area, and most importantly for me, there was an amazing record shop called Soul Sense where as a teenager I spent a lot of my time, learning and being inspired by 90s underground music.

I assume you made several trips to London back in the day like most music lovers living in the Shires, for the big nights and DJs in the capital. Who, or what was your mecca back in the day? And which record stores were you gracing?

Absolutely. Once I was allowed to go into Luton town centre on my own without my parents, it wasn’t long before me and my friends were getting on the train and heading into London to buy records. This was the mid-90s and obviously long before smartphones and the internet, so on several occasions we went with the intention of going to Blackmarket Records in Soho, but ended up coming back empty-handed as we simply couldn’t find it! But eventually, we worked it out and it was always a huge buzz. Section 5 on Kings Road in Chelsea was another favourite.

In 2000 I moved to London and that’s when my real clubbing experiences began. Swerve at The Velvet Rooms on a Wednesday, Movement at Bar Rumba on a Thursday, but the real Mecca for me and my friends was The End. It’s still my favourite club that’s existed and so much of my dance music education happened there. We went to most d&b nights but the key event for us was LTJ Bukem’s Progression Sessions, which ran monthly there throughout most of the noughties. I think I went to every single event from about 2002 - 2007.

The Wardown debut was one of my favorites from 2020. A wide spectrum of sounds, running from lush ambient pieces to extremely energetic tracks. The narrative aspect pulled me in, giving off a nostalgic mixtape type of vibe. It felt like it was a pivotal album for you to get out into the world given how personal the elements contained within were - almost a ‘letting go’ kind of feel?

Absolutely. During the start of 2019 I returned to Luton quite a bit. My granddad, who was the last remaining family member living there, was ill. So I went to visit him at his home, and then the hospital until he eventually died. He was 98 so it was no huge shock, but when I was back there, these ideas started forming in my mind. Luton was my home town but the last remaining Rogers had now left and there was nothing left linking me to it. But despite losing those roots and living away from the town for over 20 years, it still had this strange power over me and I felt a really deep connection. Obviously, some of that was down to simple nostalgia for my childhood. But there was something else tied up in it. Something a bit more complex. And making that first album was an attempt to try and express those feelings.

That first track on that album (Culverhouse) has to be one of the most euphoric moments to kick off an album in recent memory of mine. I was definitely keeping it locked for the remainder after that beginning! What was the intention with the sequencing of the album?

I honestly can’t remember much about the sequencing of the first album. It wasn’t like I made 30 or 40 tracks and then whittled them down and picked my favourites. It’s a 10 track album and I think I made 11 tracks, and decided to ditch one of them. I wanted it to be a mix of jungle and ambient soundscapes as I think despite the two genres being in some ways at the opposite ends of the spectrum, they also work beautifully together. When I was initially buying records in the 90s, I used to be obsessed with the intros and breakdowns of certain jungle records. There was a run of releases on DeeJay Recordings from DJ Crystl and Future Sound Of Hardcore that had these sprawling instrumental openings that I used to play over and over again. And obviously LTJ Bukem and a lot of those early releases on Good Looking Records are on the same page. That aesthetic felt like a really good way to try and manifest the ideas I was having.

According to your first album notes, Wardown is an attempt to capture what the Germans call 'sehnsucht', an "inconsolable longing in the heart for we know not what". Where did this attachment come from?

That quote is from the author CS Lewis, attempting to describe the sense of longing he felt for much of his life. And I’ve been kind of obsessed with that feeling for quite a long time too. ‘Sehnsucht’ is a German term that gets somewhere close and there are others in various languages. But it’s a very hard thing to accurately pin down and describe. I sometimes feel as though to get a sense of it I have to look out of the corner of my eye, as when I try and focus directly on it, it disappears. It’s often a very fleeting feeling brought on by certain scenes in the world, weather, photographs, old films. A kind of bittersweet, melancholy feeling about the past and things that have been lost. But quite often it’s a longing for things I’ve never personally experienced or may never have even happened.

“at its simplest, Wardown II is a vision of the future from the past.”

The new album is a subtle shift in concept from the original and perhaps a continuation chronologically. The nostalgia is still there, but I’m getting a look at the future instead of back like the first album. Maybe the artwork is subliminally pointing me in that direction too. Is this Luton today or in the near future?!

With the first Wardown album I was trying to evoke those feelings of loss and yearning I felt for my home town and earlier life. And that got me thinking about nostalgia in a wider sense and why it’s so alluring, particularly as you get a bit older – but also why it’s so pervasive everywhere you look these days. TV, film, music, advertising, even politics draws on the past, utilises it, and sometimes even weaponises it. It’s an incredibly powerful thing, and for me it can create a strange kind of ‘uncanny valley’ feeling, as though today’s popular culture has become unmoored from history and its once-definitive eras and epochs. So much of what we consume today is full of anachronism, a kind of rehash of what’s come before. I found myself wondering: what happened to the future I imagined when I was a kid?

I think nostalgia is incredibly alluring right now because the future no longer looks bright. We live now with the looming threat of climate change and a catastrophic loss of biodiversity across the world, not to mention war, economic instability and the rise of populism and nationalism. It all feels just too much sometimes, and nostalgia is always there, showing us how better things were in the past – even if the safe, optimistic world it portrays didn’t actually exist in the first place. In that way, nostalgia is dangerous because it stops us looking forward and taking responsibility for the future, with all its challenges – something we all need to do.

Of course, all this is strongly culturally inflected, and when I say ‘we’, I’m coming from a white, Western and affluent perspective; the relationship between nostalgia and progress is likely to be very different for someone born in the global south. But as someone who came of age in Britain in the 90s, the future means a different thing today than it did when I was a child. Back then it felt like there was still a kind of general, unwavering optimism about the coming years, a faith in progress and a belief that society was on the path to an increasingly better place. The fall of the Berlin Wall, the end of communism in the USSR and other Eastern European countries, New Labour, the impending Millennium, which felt like the epitome of all things futuristic – all these things pointed to the fact the future was something to look forward to.

So at its simplest, Wardown II is a vision of the future from the past. I decided to give it quite a strong 1950s / 60s flavour, as to me it seems like that is when the idea of ‘the future’ was at it’s most potent. After the devastation of two world wars came the rise of modernism and its belief that, rather than just being an aesthetic, it could literally improve people’s lives through the creation of a new kind of architecture and design. There were the American and Russian plans to send people into space. Film and TV that painted the future as a shiny kind of utopia, with flying cars, and machines that allowed humans to forget the horrific memories of war and enjoy a life of comfort and leisure.

Samples are obviously a big part of your work (and your isolatedmix). It sounds like your first album was more personal, collected soundbites and samples. And this new album seems a little more abstract in its samples and direction. Can you describe your process for the sample-heavy tracks such as Instant Money? Do you build a track around a sample, go looking for something specific, or have a bank of samples ready to go?

I’ve always been a fan of collage. Art that brings lots of different, often disparate sources together to create something fresh. As a kid I used to cut up catalogues and booklets that came through the front door and make these mad, stuck together images with them. And at university, I was fascinated by the work of artists like Robert Rauschenberg. So when it came to making music, growing up through an era of sample-heavy jungle and hip-hop (‘Entroducing’ by DJ Shadow is one of the most important albums in my life), I adopted a similar technique.

However, with Wardown the approach is slightly different to when I’m working on other things. I initially try and establish quite a strong conceptual starting point before I’ve made any music. I do lots of reading, watch things, and generally think about the world I’m trying to create before anything is made. Obviously things change and develop through the process of actually creating the music, but by starting out like that, I try and attune myself to what I’m looking for, samples wise. It’s like I put little antennas up and then go about my usual life of reading, watching films and documentaries, and listening to music. But because my antennas are up and scanning for quite specific things I’m able to isolate sounds that can potentially work a lot better; sounds that would probably pass me by if I had just been taking it all in in a more general sense. And once I’ve had a strong idea for something I’ll then dive a little deeper, in terms of second-hand records, tapes, online archives and the like.

I’m also a little gutted that Instant Money didn’t make it onto the mix in full here (i hear a quick sample only!) It’s one of my faves and extremely addictive (reminds me a bit of Roni Size’s Dirty Beats in how the vocal burrows deep inside your brain for hours after listening if I dare compare). What was your intention/concept for the mix overall?

The idea for the mix was essentially an extension of what I’ve done with the two albums. A collection of jungle and electronic music combined with longer ambient passages. There are a few personal favourites in there, as well as some lesser-known stuff I thought worked well. I’ve also taken apart elements of some of the music from Wardown II and used that throughout. More collage!

The drum’n bass / jungle mixtape is of course an iconic piece of music culture and by the sounds of it, you’ve perfected your skills at putting one together. Do you consider yourself a DJ? Do you enjoy this aspect of your music?

Well I’ve just come off the back of playing a summer of festival shows as Technimatic, so in that regard, definitely. I do think these days however, there is quite a big difference between being a DJ who plays live shows, and someone who puts mixes together online. Years ago you would just press record and essentially recreate what you do in a live setting. But because of the changes in technology and what you’re now able to do with sequencers, recorded mixes feel like they’ve become a separate thing in their own regard. They definitely are to me, anyway. I love putting together online mixes that pull apart tracks, alter tempos, have multiple elements working at the same time to create something really unique. Maybe a really talented DJ could do it live, but I definitely can’t!

What have been some of your fave mixes over the years that we could go check out? A favorite of all time?

I can’t really discuss jungle and Wardown without mentioning LTJ Bukem’s ‘Essential Mix’ for Radio 1 in 1995. It really was such a defining mix, one that created a kind of blueprint for a whole new musical sub-genre. All the classics are there, and it still sounds fresh and exciting to me. In terms of more recent times, Visible Cloaks’ ‘Music Interiors’ from 2013 is another really important mix for me. It’s a collection of 80s ambient and experimental music from Japan, and it totally blew my mind when I first heard it. The fact there was this huge, rich, inspiring area of music I had no idea existed before listening was really extraordinary. And it just flows so well. I’m eternally thankful for VC for creating it; I’ve played it more times than I can remember.

~

astrangelyisolatedplace · isolatedmix 119 - Wardown

Listen on Soundcloud, Mixcloud, or the ASIP Podcast.

Download

Tracklist:

01. Soft Robot - ‘Point Nemo’
02. Kerguelen - ‘Proxemics’
03. Sycamore Investments - ‘Cherry Bomb’
04. Wardown - ‘Stimulus Progression Pattern’
05. LTJ Bukem - ‘Rainfall’
06. Offthesky -‘Insofar, In So Far’
07. Freedive - ‘Watering A Flower On The Moon’
08. Photek - ‘Complex’
09. Ki One - ‘Life At The End Of The World’
10. Micronation - ’Photographs of Clouds’
11. Wardown - ‘The Ideal City’
12. Advanced Sound & Vision - ‘The Engineered Yes’
13. Wardown - ‘Lifespan’
14. Fisher Associates - ‘Scorched Earth’
15. Wardown - ‘Graphite and Glitter’
16. The Architex - ‘Altitude’
17. Creative Innovations Inc. - ‘Stone Tape Theory’
18. r beny - ‘Eistla’
19. Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - ‘Song Of Forgiveness Pt. 1’

~

Wardown | Bandcamp | Discogs | Twitter | Instagram

isolatedmix 118 - Pan American

Our latest isolatedmix comes from Mark Nelson, who as Pan•American, or as part of Labradford or even Anjou, has garnered relative cult status amongst the ambient and experimental lifers and tape community. Forming a big part of the Kranky label history from its very first release, Mark recently returned with a new album after a three-year hiatus, and the mature, refined instrumentalism on The Patience Fader is a subtle reminder of the quality Mark has retained over the years - quite an achievement, given his first Pan•American record on Kranky goes back to 1997. I took the chance to send over some questions to Mark to shed some light on the new record and the music that exists in his life right now, alongside his tasteful and electic isolatedmix.

Hi Mark, where are you right now and what have you been listening to lately?

I'm at home in Evanston IL-just north of Chicago. Drinking coffee after work and listening to the water running through the filter of our pet turtle's tank and the music of Mette Henriette. If you're not familiar with her she's a Norwegian composer and saxophone player who put out a  record on ECM a couple of years ago it’s so beautiful-one of those records I only let me listen to occasionally because I don't want to become too familiar with it. worried the magic might lessen-but magic never really does.

Last few days I've been listening to lots of the music that made it onto the mix-Mike Cooper, African Head Charge, Ulla, my friend Robert Donne's incredible track Touch my Camera Through the Fence, Takagi Masakatsu.  The most recent music that I've really liked are the 3 cd comp by Fubutsushi on Cached Media and my friend Francis Harris' beautiful new record Thresholds that I was lucky enough to contribute to.

Running a label myself, and given you had the honor of being the very first release on Kranky, with Labradford, I’m interested in the details of how that very first album and relationship came about?

It's hard to believe but back then you could put out a 7" single-maybe 300 copies-and be pretty confident all the key distributors, zines, record store buyers and radio stations would find out about it and boost it up if they liked it.  Joel and Bruce worked at Cargo-an independent distributor based in Chicago.  Our single came across Joel's desk and he felt good enough about it to set in motion the plan he'd been forming to start a label.  I remember my friend Andrew who put the single out told me a guy from Cargo was going to call me and I stayed close to the (landline) phone for the next couple days.  Joel called, we talked and the rest has unfolded very naturally. A blend of luck and trying to manifest something in the world around the music.

“Romantic minimalism” is used in the text for your new album The Patience Fader, and it’s an apt term for the delicate, perhaps even more ‘focused’ approach on this one. Do you think there is a clear connection between the effects of the past year and the type of music it inspires? Was that the case here?

Yes-absolutely in my case.   Both from within and without.  Not consciously of course, but Patience Fader was made during the summer and fall of 2020, so  Covid,  Trumpism, BLM/George Floyd protests were all in full flight.  At the same time, my father was dying in a hospice in Virginia that we couldn't visit because of Covid.  In some respects, emotions were very simple for me in this time. Right and wrong, life and death joy and sorrow seemed very plainly mapped out.

The album features some smaller ‘vignette’ type tracks, which I personally love. What was your intention behind these as part of the greater album flow? Is there a hidden narrative?

Not a narrative really, no. I would say there's a theme of Roots throughout the record and trying to find different ways to approach what roots and being grounded can mean. So guitar and harmonica as the instruments used speak literally to the basic grounding of American music. The field recording of a summer afternoon and slamming screen door on Baitshop is evocative to me of childhood.  There's even a song called Grounded.  We were all literally grounded by Covid and I was searching for a  sense of Grounding amidst the unraveling.

It seems like you come from the ‘instrumental first’ school of ambient music (as I sometimes like to put it), integrating your instruments as source material, especially on your latest. What does the process for creating a PA album usually look like?

It tends to come out of the daily practice of playing. I like practicing and trying to be "better" as a guitar player.  Sometimes it can even feel like if I get an idea I need to dig into, it interrupts just simple, repetitive practice that in some ways I enjoy more. I think I've gotten pretty good at recognizing when an idea needs to be followed through and I do feel like I have an obligation to not let it go.  Although in the end, most don't make it.  Eventually, I tend to establish something that feels like the first song for an album and the last song, and that's when I know that something new is really emerging.

The Lapsteel / Pedal steel was perhaps brought to ‘ambient fame’ by the KLF’s Chill Out, especially to those who run in more general ‘ambient’ music terms. And I definitely get a similar vibe to that album with The Patience Fader. …“the ghost of rust belts and dust bowls looming in a horizon of deepening dusk.” as the press text puts it. As a foreigner in the US, I’ve always wondered about this romanticism and never really experienced it outside of trips to the desert here in the west. How does this come to life for you personally? Is it something you seek out?

I'm a big fan of Chill Out-but I think Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois got there first on Apollo! Also, the Paris Texas soundtrack and Ry Cooder's slide playing cemented some of those connections that I guess now verge on cliche. Funny enough I'm a bit of an outsider here as well-my Father was a US diplomat and I didn't live in the US until I was a teenager.  I've always looked for a way in I guess, and music-rock n roll, country, blues, jazz seemed like a kind of skeleton key. A key to a series of doors that open and close constantly and I seem to remain disoriented.  I certainly returned to these roots (literal and figurative) in music for an explanation or comfort as Trump set fire to whatever remained of the Better Angels of what (for some reason) is referred to as the American Experiment. Mixed results.

You speak of the notion of “lighthouse music,” radiance cast from a stable vantage point, sending “a signal to help others through rocks and dangerous currents.” My perception and ‘unromanticizing’ of this after listening to the album, is that you have tried to create very clear, and comforting music, something that will cut through easier and not need too much thought for it to work. I love this overall sentiment - could you expand upon it in your own words?

It's an effort to be uncluttered and go straight for the heart. The beauty in country music is the same effort or effect.  It's ok if it's a formula to an extent that's comforting! The songs on my record share a very similar structure and palette to one another-I really wanted to create a world that would be very quickly recognized-meaning the boundaries would be clear right away-and the work could be done within those boundaries.  There's certainly much to recommend pushing beyond known boundaries and limits-for me though it's where known elements within a world blur, overlap, merge, surrender and change like water that's what I'm interested in! New possibilities come from new combinations, and new layering of familiar material. Hybrid forms, mutations.  I think what we're looking for is here-it's just up to us to make it visible.

~

astrangelyisolatedplace · isolatedmix 118 - Pan•American

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Tracklist:

01. Willie Nelson- Sad Songs and Waltzes
02. Ulla - New Poem
03. Michael Grigoni - Little Cliffs
04. Sosena Gebre Eyesus - Seqelew Eyalu
05. Maurizio - MO7A (edit)
06. Mike Cooper - After Rain
07. African Head Charge - Bazarre
08. Takagi Masakatsu - Uter 1
09. Mary Lattimore - We Just Found Out She Died
10. Loren Connors - Blues #5
11. Robert Donne - Touch My Camera Through the Fence
12. Lokai - Histoire DS

Pan•American: Website | Bandcamp | Soundcloud | Discogs

isolatedmix 117 - Refracted

After a superb debut album on the esteemed Silent Season in 2015, Alex Moya, aka Refracted has remained in high gear and top of mind when taking stock of some of the best deep techno producers of the past few years. Moving from his expansive tribal rhythms on ‘Through The Spirit Realm’, Alex has gone on to release a number of EPs and created his own output, Mind Express, whilst also becoming a sought-after live act with appearances at Parel-lel Festival and closing the legendary Tresor, nightclub in Berlin.

It was Alex’s set for one of our 9128.live takeovers from Astral Industries that really took my affinity for the producer to the next level, showcasing an intrinsic respect for minimalist ambient music and gloriously immersive tones, all without the deep rhythms often relied upon within his own productions. It takes a deep respect of both disciplines to balance the crossover of techno and ambient music, and Alex seems to have got it down to a T.

Hi Alex, where are you and what’s spinning?

I’m in my warm flat in cold Berlin and currently listening to DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist’s Product Placement, as the soundtrack for my writing.

I am sure many of us in the more Ambient-leaning world first heard you through your debut album on Silent Season. Since then you have produced a number of EP's as opposed to full albums. Have you been holding back?

I have very fond memories of the time I was working on that album. It was so early in my musical career that I felt really free creatively and could explore every path that opened before me. That somehow changed when things started to get serious and I saw myself “forced” to release more dancefloor-friendly material. I have finally managed to free myself from those constraints and have been exploring other sounds again for a while now.

I am confident in what I have learned and have been working on a new album that is practically finished. It is, in my opinion, a good balance between that early sound I had with all the knowledge and techniques I have acquired since then. It is made for horizontal listening. Slow rhythms, drones, quite psychedelic at times and with a lot of texture.

There was no purposeful holding back… I think the idea of working on something like this came at the perfect time. There was a story to tell and that’s what I feel a lot of albums are lacking. A story.

Can you tell us a little about your production approach? Are you mainly hardware, digital, or a mix?

I’m very into hardware but I also work in the digital realm. I think a balance of the two is the best way to go. Analog for the playfulness and sound and digital for the convenience and ease of use. Every tool has been carefully selected and has a reason to be.

I like to focus on few things and learn them, squeeze everything I can from them.

My favorite process is getting into the sound, sculpting the waveforms and maximising its potential with carefully crafted effect chains.

Are you getting back to playing live gigs now the pandemic is becoming ‘normal’? How did it impact you these past few years?

Luckily things seem to slowly go back to “normality” and for that, I am very grateful.

The pandemic impacted me in the usual way it has impacted other artists and performers and personally forced me to return to the corporate world from which I escaped many years ago.

It has been quite tough adjusting to the new reality and losing all the freedom I had worked so hard to get but at the same time, it has taught me that I can adapt to big changes like this and push through.

Having a stable income has freed my mind from a lot of stress and worry, and I feel very free creatively. The only problem is mostly finding the right time and mindset for music production.

You have a knack for deep abstract sounds. Who are some interesting artists or DJs you have seen lately, or are supporting that we may not know about?

I guess it will be hard to discover artists to your readers but there is a crew of very special artists in the UK who are all connected to Astral Industries. After some really fun events and travels together we have become very good friends. I am talking about Ario, o.utlier, hems and, Eight Fold Way. Amazing people, DJ’s and producers.

Hems and o.utlier have just started their own label called Titrate which already has a great first release from Hems. Stay tuned for more as I’m sure there will be some great music coming out on that label. ;)

Can you tell us a bit about your approach to your isolatedmix?

Well, seeing as it was a mix for your series I couldn’t just press record and play a bunch of ambient tracks. I carefully selected tracks that play well together, that I really enjoy and share common ground between them, while thinking of a sequence. So there are parts that are more orchestrated and others on which I am going with the flow.

There are tracks by ishq, Rapoon, Biosphere, Coil, Thomas Köner, Eleh, Windy & Carl, Ø, Rainforest Spiritual Enslavement, Chris Carter and 2 unreleased tracks of mine amongst others.

And lastly, if we weren’t an ambient-leaning bunch, and you weren't making a recorded mix with this audience in mind, what kind of mix would you create?

Probably something quite similar and go nuts on the psychedelia.

~

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astrangelyisolatedplace · isolatedmix 117 - Refracted

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Artwork photo by Mike Petrucci.

Refracted | Bandcamp | Soundcloud