**POSTPONED** A Strangely Isolated Place at Hidden Sounds London (Label showcase)

**UPDATE**

Unfortunately, it is with a heavy heart that we have to postpone our London event. The recent travel restrictions mean it’s too much of a risk for me to attend from the USA and our European based DJs and live acts are also suffering similar risks. Not to mention the more obvious risk of a small, intimate venue. We hope to be able to reschedule this event in the future but for now, please stay safe, support music and enjoy it in the comfort of your own home!

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A Strangely Isolated Place presents an afternoon and evening at Hidden Sounds London. Featuring performances from Merrin Karras (aka Chymera), Quiet Places (a production trio consisting of Dennis White, Charlie May and David Gardner), local digger and much-loved selector Jane Fitz, and label journeyman, todos.

MERRIN KARRAS (Live - album launch)
After his debut album under his ambient-synth alias on ASIP in 2016, Brendan Gregoriy aka Chymera has been hard at work on his follow-up. Brendan will present his spaced-out synths on the rich Hidden Sounds system with music from his upcoming album, The Northwest Passage.

QUIET PLACES (Live)
When they’re not producing for Sasha or playing live on the recent Refracted tour, Dennis White, Charlie May and David Gardner have been busy creating their new project, Quiet Places. This will be the first presentation of the Quiet Places project in anticipation of their upcoming release on ASIP.

JANE FITZ (Vinyl set)
Jane is quite simply a vinyl and DJ institution in London - a collector, curator and selector of the finest order. Jane has been a big supporter of ASIP for years now, so it’s a pleasure to finally have her spin one of her infamous sets.

TODOS (Vinyl set)
Well known amongst the ASIP family, todos' Kilchurn Session mixes have become legendary and he was #1 choice to try and summarize ten years of the label and blog in one mix - he knocked it out of the park. We’re excited to finally see him present these infamous journeys on deck.

PLUS SPECIAL GUEST TBA.

Label owner ASIP will also be gracing the decks spinning some unreleased and upcoming test presses.

We’re most at home amongst the crates, with the chance to talk, dig and listen to new music, so we’re excited to present this showcase at Hidden Sounds London - a new record store with a beautiful Hi-Fi system (A pair of Ditton 44 sitting on a pair of customized Tannoy's Cheviots + various fillers, all running through a Rodec mixer).

We’ll be non-stop from 3pm til midnight. Food and drink available to purchase. Entry is free and there will be exclusive ASIP records and merchandise available.

LIMITED CAPACITY - RSVP/REGISTER HERE. Entry is free but RSVP is REQUIRED due to limited capacity and the need to keep things enjoyable for all. Please be ready to present ID at the door. We encourage you to arrive early as RSVP will not guarantee entry past 6pm if the venue is already full.

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isolatedmix 95 - Sraunus

Dub-techno has kind of fizzled-out for me in the last few years. Not by design, but likely more as a comparison to how much I used to listen and dig for new music in that vein. Back in 2010, I stumbled across Sraunus who epitomized the best of genre with his debut album ‘Out Of The City’. It was a classic ASIP blog find, relatively unknown and deserving of more listens. Since then, Sraunus went on to release several more lovely albums with perhaps his most revered coming on Greyscale in 2017.

For those not familiar with Sraunus, the man behind the controls is Paulius Markutis - a Lithuanian producer originating from the post-industrial town of Panevežys. Sraunus escapes dub-techno clichés by placing his sound in strangely personal narratives that weave field recordings, delicate pop harmonies and darker emotional undertones. Any dub-techno listener, knows how hard it is to stand out in this field and Sraunus has gathered a respectable following for his consistent output over the years. But, as with all producers that dabble in dub-techno, ambient music is never too far away and provides much needed inspiration.

For his isolatedmix, Paulius decided to create an ambient mix, focusing on individual pieces of tracks in a hope to depict something new to the listener, moving from dark moods to bright, layering elements and intros into one rich tapestry - a truly immersive and technically flawless journey.

Download

Tracklist:

01. Takashi Kokubo - 海のつぶやき
02. Iron Cthulhu Apocalypse - Circumference (4 Hz Theta)
03. ULTRA ウルトラ - クレジット u p g r a d e ° 21
04. Latin girl signing
05. Garrett - Awaiting the Light
06. Halftribe - Tuning Out
07. Field recording
08. Laraaji - Ocean Flow (Seahawks Deep Drift Mix)
09. Roberto Musci - Tower of Silence
10. Roberto Musci - Improbably Music
11. Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - Joy
12. Sraunus - Kolonista
13. Baubas
14. Untitled
15. Nouveau Life™ - アンドロイド未来
16. Dominykas Niaura - Gyvenimas ėmė ir prabėgo
17. Roberto Musci - Claudia, Wilhelm R and Me
18. Unknown - 展示
19. Ｖｉｒｔｕａｌ仮想中空（ＶＨＳ）- その日が来るとき
20. Sam Amidon - Lucky Cloud
21. Flaming Tunes - Restless mind
22. Baubas
23. Carlo Giustini - A1. Il Vicino (Si Muove)
24. Terekke - Swim
25. Blue Darkness - A Sleepless Town

Sraunus on Bandcamp | Facebook | Soundcloud | Discogs

Now available: Leandro Fresco & Rafael Anton Irisarri / Una Presencia En La Brisa

Leandro Fresco and Rafael Anton Irisarri return with their second cross-continental collaboration on A Strangely Isolated Place with 'Una Presencia En La Brisa' (A Presence In The Breeze).

The duo once again return to the dense, rich and otherworldly drones, exploring a concept of human connection.

Mastered by Taylor Deupree, and featuring artwork by Molly Smith and thousands of hand-drawn dots - the vinyl edition comes as a 12” Silver Sky color and digital download.

More information and links to buy

We’ll also have a limited edition t-shirt available through Everpress featuring the unique artwork by Molly Smith, screen-printed on a Unisex Heavy Cotton Gildan Hammer tee. Pr-orders for the tee are only available for the next 21 days, then the t-shirt will go into production.

V/A - Touched by Silence

This isn’t the first time I’ve felt compelled to share a release from Touched, but it is the first time I’ve been truly wowed by the effort Martin Boulton has gone to in aid of Cancer Research (and great music).

You can go for the epic end of the scale, and hunt down this wooden CD boxset containing full, new albums by the likes of Future Sound of London, and isolatedmix vets Scanner, Anders Ilar, Autumn of Communion + more, or you can scale it back slightly and get them all on digital (98 tracks). Or, if funds are tight but you still want music by The Orb, James Bernard, HIA, DF Tram, (Ghost), Atom TM + more, then there’s the ‘Touched by Silence The Compilation' featuring a more modest amount of tracks, still all for a good cause. All of the above, featuring designs by The Designers Republic.

I started at the compilation and with just this release alone, you’ve got some of the finest electronic-leaning ambient and ambient electronica of recent years. James Bernard is up there opening up proceedings, before a classic vocal dub track by The Orb, and a hypnotic piece by R&S vet David Morley. I also really enjoyed the DF Tram track, featuring an Orb-esque sample that sounds like an instant classic.

Available on Bandcamp

ASIP - Reflection on 2019

We’ve given a recap of our label releases this year and now it’s time to reflect on some of the music I’ve enjoyed listening to in 2019.

“What an amazing year for music”. I feel like I could say that every year, but really, every year has great music if you dig deep enough. But this year especially, music seems to have taken on a new lease of life and ramped up a notch in terms of output and velocity - in my world at least. If I had to guess as to why, it might be because Bandcamp is becoming more and more ubiquitous for independent artists and subsequently a daily visit for listeners like me. This ubiquity has meant a) more people getting their music out into the world, b) easier ways for people like me (who want to) to support the music we enjoy and c) new labels capitalizing on a distribution process that until a few years ago, was very hard to stand up.

2019 even played host to the mighty Radiohead embracing the Bandcamp platform with ~18,000 (last time I counted before it was removed) purchasers of their unreleased OK Computer Outtakes album at a minimum of ~$23-a-pop. That’s a crazy sum for purchased music. There’s also Buy Music Club, launched by Avalon Emerson, which (technically launched at the end of 2018 but was fully embraced this year) seems to have been used by many notable DJs using it to link to music played in their sets (you can find this Reflection on 2019 mix in a list below). And lastly, Bandcamp themselves, through their Bandcamp Daily platform, have done an almighty job of stepping up their editorial game spotlighting music on the platform through a constant stream of style/genre specific breakdowns. The clichéd music industry in-depth ‘album review’ seems to have been flipped to keep up with this increased output too, turning into an equivalent wade through micro-genres, bringing people a choice of obscure styled albums in the same vein. It’s hard to find the extended narratives on one album nowadays it seems… All this to say that it’s encouraging to see a model that goes some way to working for independent artists, labels and listeners, getting more out into the world.

Now, to wade through some (some) of it.

As with all of my ‘Reflection’ year-end mixes, I start with a long list of albums I have enjoyed over the year. Often hundreds. Through the process of putting a mix together that flows well, the songs are whittled down and selected from each album. This means many of my favorite tracks are often omitted in the process (even favorite tracks from a favorite album). But as I say every year, this isn’t a definitive ‘best-of’ list, but an organic selection of some of my favorite music from the year in a listenable format - it’s the most enjoyable way for me to boil down music I’ve loved from the year using these self-imposed restrictions. Use the mix to jump off and explore more from each artist and album.

This year’s mix ended up being primarily ambient, but with an unexpected ending. The last few yearly Reflection mixes have tended to switch-up gears throughout the mix and cover some of my other musical loves like; electronica, IDM, techno etc. But this time around, I found myself with a (roughly) two-hour ambient-leaning mix before I even came up for air. I debated stopping there (and have provided an MP3 version below to download just the ambient portion should you prefer your music more horizontal), but the full mix went on…

The initial two-hour ambient chapter of the mix is followed by a series of tracks that you could say are a nod to the early years of rave and the chill-out rooms; an alternative ‘retro-feeling suite’. This 90’s sound seems to have made a big impact on 2019 across many genres, from rave-inspired breaks in House and Techno, to Jungle and Balearic back in the game- the 90’s sound seems to be having its moment (or does it every year?!). I wanted to capture a snapshot of it here as I noticed a trend in what I was listening to. On hindsight, the mix ended up like a backwards 90’s album format - with ambient at the front instead of the usual album-ender.

Titled, ‘The Jilted Suite’, this ending chapter is a small dive into some of the non-ambient music I’ve enjoyed this year and is titled so in honor of ‘The Narcotic Suite’ from The Prodigy’s album (RIP Keith Flint - 2019).

So as a final warning, if you’re drifting off at that two-hour mark to the lulls and swells, you have been warned, things switch up after that.

I would normally do a quick written run-down of the music featured at this point, but I feel like I’ve done enough talking already to give an additional 37 track commentary.

All of these albums have been purchased (where possible) through Bandcamp also viewable via my Bandcamp collection page, and I’ve compiled them all into a Buy Music Club list here. Label names below hyperlink to each Bandcamp release (again, where possible - I think all but one release does). Please support and buy this music!

Thanks for listening and for a great year.

Listen on Soundcloud, below or head over to Mixcloud. You might also catch it on 9128.live and you can also get it in Podcasts/iTunes/RSS etc.

Download (Full mix including the Jilted Suite)
Download (Ambient mix only)

Tracklist:

01. Hollie Kenniff - Home Will Follow [n5MD]
02. r beny - Echoes Verse [Dauw]
03. Nils Frahm - Talisman [Erased Tapes]
04. Malibu - One Life [Uno NYC]
05. 36 & Black Swan - Part 2 [Past Inside The Present]
06. Ohio - Rows, Barns, Fields [12K]
07. ASC - Echo Location [Silent Season]
08. Celer - Rains Lit By Neon [Self] READ
09. nthng - Shine [Transatlantic Records]
10. Olan Mill - Metatrons Cube [Dronarivm]
11. Caught In The Wake Forever - NV Drowning [Archives]
12. Simone Giudice - Momento [Delirio]
13. Nathaniel Young - May I Speak Candidly [Mysteries of The Deep]
14. Caterina Barbieri - Fantas [Editions Mego]
15. Violeta Vicci - Violet Light [Painted World] READ
16. Susumu Yokota - Ama and the Mountain [Lo Recordings]
17. Jogging House - Traverse [Dauw]
18. Dots - Tonic Edge [Astral Industries]
19. Coppice Halifax - Slow Earth Ritual [Milieu Music]
20. Sound Awakener - Ammil [Facture]
21. Hotel Neon - Sunfire [Archives]
22. Rafael Anton Irisarri - Decay Waves [Room 40]
23. Hammock - Adnasjur [Facture]
24. Arovane & Mike Lazarev - Us, Inside [Eilean]
25. 扎克 - 000820001 [Past Inside The Present]
26. Bersarin Quartett - Siehst du das auch [Denovali]
[27 - Ambient mix version only]. Aardvarck - U Are, Not What U Think [Crowd]
The Jilted Suite
27. Desolate - Ode To Sines [Fauxpas]
28. RX-101 - Rendezvous Beacon [Suction Records]
29. Priori - 6thematic [NAFF]
30. Phillipe Cam - Manga [Traum Schallplatten]
31. Perishing Thirst - OK - [NAFF]
32. Boreal Massif - Low Forties [Pessimist Productions]
33. Homemade Weapons - Svalsat (Donato Dozzy Remix) [Samurai]
34. ASC - Nimbus [Auxiliary]
35. Nathan Micay - LeafCutAngelicDepths [Lucky Me]
36. CFCF - Closed Space (Single Edit) [BGM Solutions]
37. Coil - Alternative Theme From Gay Man’s Guide To Safer Sex [Mental Groove]