New - ASIP on Currents.fm

 

A new platform and community called Currents.fm launched recently, (see our related blog post here, after bvdub dropped some lovely mixes on it). Currents.fm allows you to subscribe to a page and receive exclusive content, playlists, tracks etc. In a similar way to a a Patreon which I’m sure many are familiar with, but this one seems more geared towards music and the community aspect. Ghostly, in fact, used to have a similar platform called Drip.fm which I dreamed of being a part of one day with ASIP until it died (unfortunately) but the premise seems to still be alive in Currents.fm…

I’ve been using the platform as a listener for a while now and despite it being in its infancy / Alpha phase, I wanted to give it a go and create a new outlet for ASIP, specifically for people who might like to connect with the label and our artists even deeper.

We will use this space to present:-

• Previews of upcoming releases / archival music from the label

• Curated playlists from the worlds of ASIP & 9128

• Potentially audio/podcast format information

• Exclusive content made for / debuted on Currents.fm

To achieve this, we are using the subscription model for the page which asks for a small donation of your choosing. This money won’t just disappear into our pockets. We have some interesting ideas in mind should enough people subscribe that may include the ability to actually pay for specific content from our artists. For example, if we get $500 worth of subscribers a month, I’d love to be able to pay an artist to create or provide a piece of music, demo, work in progress, interview etc. That’s just one example… I’ll also post updates which don’t require a subscription and are public, like curated Bandcamp lists to encourage music support.

There’s also the option for our artists to have their own pages, and for the subscription fee to be shared amongst them in the future, so lots of possibilities.

This won’t replace anything we currently have or do, but will instead act as another avenue for us to present deeper avenues of our music and artists. With social media becoming more of a crap-shoot each day; closed and more valued communities like this are worth experimenting with in my opinion, so lets see how it goes.

Once you subscribe, you get access to whats on the page and updates are sent via email.

Jump over to our Currents page and check it out - we’ve already got some goodies lined up should you wish to subscribe.

 

Merrin Karras / Silent Planet (ASIP033)

 

 

Following his 2020 LP Northwest Passage, Brendan returns with another set of majestic synthesizer-based music.

Conceived and composed in two days, Silent Planet is Brendan's first attempt at a fully continuous piece of music. Normally, albums under his Merrin Karras guise take many months, if not years, to put together:

"I wanted to challenge myself to create a mini-album in a short amount of time, not to think too much about it, but just to let it flow and see what happened. Everything was created in one project, but it's comprised of six distinct sections. Several motifs and elements are re-used at various points throughout the work. It's also the first time that I've used percussion elements in a Merrin Karras work.”

The mood spans from brooding to almost Balearic at points, with strong elements of Berlin School and Space Music, classic Trance, and Ambient all intertwined.

Silent Planet is available as ‘name your price’ on Bandcamp, with all sales going directly to Brendan.

Artwork by Noah M / Keep Adding.

 

 

Bandcamp Day and our donation to the NAACP

 

I didn’t really have the focus to get this post up prior to it all happening as a heads-up, so it seems a little self-congratulatory to be posting it after the fact. But I wanted people who stumble across ASIP to know that what is happening in the world right now surrounding Black Lives Matter and the social injustice (to put it lightly) is something I feel obligated to help with in whatever small way I can.

I mentioned this on Twitter a few days back, but one of the things I notice with ambient music is, it's so easy to not know the person behind the music due to its (comparatively) low cultural presence in real life. To be honest, I often think it’s what makes the community and genre strong in many ways, as the music will always come first over trend, fashion, looks or background, but when something like this shines a light on an issue, I see it as both an opportunity and a necessity to dig deeper past the music.

For example, the comparatively low amount of shows within ambient music; opportunities to meet other musicians/industry peers; and more importantly our media coverage compared to other genres, all contribute to a genre which is largely hidden away in bedrooms, studios, on the internet or at best - in a dark room of 50 people where talking is frowned upon… More often that not, reviews of ambient music focus on the artwork, record and of course, type of synthesizer used more than the artist behind it.

As a result of me being a part of this small world of (largely white) music, I struggle to name many black ambient musicians and need to do better at both digging out the artists behind the music at times, and indeed representation of POC on the ASIP label.

Additionally, last Friday Bandcamp waived their share of revenue once again so I took the opportunity to sell some of my own personal Test Press copies, and along with our label revenue for the day, we managed to raise nearly $2500 which was donated to the NAACP Empowerment Programs.

Thank you to everyone who purchased something from our Bandcamp store that day, and the 20 generous purchasers of the test presses which made that amazing number as high as could be.

Bandcamp will be waiving their revenue share again on ‘Juneteenth’ and while we don’t have any plans as yet for this day, it’s a great day to support labels, artists and ensure money is invested in a worthwhile cause.

Thanks for reading.

Below I’ve compiled a few links to explore ambient music by black creators. I debated doing a specific mix to help with this, but I feel like it’s been largely covered off in much more detail within these links should you wish to dive in and support. I was happy to provide a few suggestions where possible and spend a lot of time educating myself at the same time. I will however say, my favorite find from all these lists was this album by Kenyan artist, KMRU.

 

Now available: Gastón Arévalo / Terrain (ASIPV024)

 

I stumbled across Gastón’s music listening to his album on Marsen Jules’ Oktaf label, ‘Rollin Ballads’. Releases after this were few and far between from him, so it was a lovely surprise to hear a demo come through from Gastón.

Within ‘Terrain’, Gastón aimed to depict an adventurous journey, where each track captured a specific moment over an imaginary, daring ascent. An intimate meeting with nature, the album rises from the ground to our highest peaks - with the two extremes captured in the album’s artwork (a collab between Noah M and I, featuring photography from myself and Gastón).

Field recordings from Patagonia enhance the feeling of freedom, one can only find from the great outdoors. Adorned with drifting harmonies; shimmering guitars; dense pads of cloud; gentle rising mists; the sound of shallow rivers and morning bird-calls, it all comes together to create a vivid and intrepid scene told across a variety of full-length tracks and short interludes, acting as breathers and moments to reflect amongst mother-natures finest grandeur.

Terrain is available in color-in-color, Transparent + Gold Gatefold 2LP vinyl and digital formats, mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri.

See the release page for more information and links to buy.

 

Now available: Markus Guentner / Gradient Spirits (ASIP032)

 

The lockdown has inspired many artists and none more so than Markus Guentner. Not only did Markus prepare a special live set recently for Data.Wave, but Markus also had this lovely Live set in him, which to me is the equivalent and worthiness of any full album release. A magical, sweeping and majestic hour’s worth of improvised material, available for you to download as ‘Name Your Price’ over on Bandcamp.

With mastering by our regular-master-controller, Rafael Anton Irisarri, Gradient Spirits highlights Guentner at his very best since his last album on ASIP (Empire), and should live shows resume sometime soon, this set is a brilliant example of the journey Markus can create within a live setting.

Buy / download on Bandcamp.