isolatedmix 93 - Chihei Hatakeyama

Chihei Hatakeyama discovered ambient music accidentally. Growing up enjoying heavy-rock music throughout the clubs of Japan, he would hear basements and secondary rooms playing what he refers to as “softer music”. Chihei originally set out to recreate in the guise of bands like My Bloody Valentine, but the infamous vocals that accompanied the guitars and gazing became something he couldn’t replicate, often leaving him with just the beat and structure. It was this process of elimination that forced him to explore the freeing creativity once you start to remove the idea of any predetermined limitations. Only then did he realize he was making what other people called ‘ambient’ music.

This trial-and-error is coincidentally the perfect elemental breakdown of Chihei’s ambient work. Distant gauzy guitars and finely tuned electronics weave like the waves of his hometown Kanagawa, creating soft and beautiful ambient music that has no limitations in structure or approach. It’s classically Japanese in its calmness, purity, and refinement, and in Chihei’s appreciation for finding beauty in the every-day (the Japanese art of Sen no Rikyū).

Often using paintings as inspiration, Chihei will start in a similar manner as the painter, by setting a tone and color through his “synthesizer, guitar or effects unit”, further improvising on that sound to make the delicate melody and chords.

With releases on Kranky, Home Normal, Hibernate, Rural Colours, Dronarivm, Room40, Constellation Tatsu, and his own label White Paddy Mountain, Chihei is without a doubt a well revered producer within the ambient music world. Chihei’s latest album returning to Room40, titled Forgotten Hill, is the perfect example of this artistic quality and his overarching influences of place, creating an impressionist meditation on his journey through the Asuka region of Japan; an area known for its burial mounds, epic Buddhist monuments and quietly poetic landscapes.

“A few years ago I went on a trip to the Asuka region. This album, ‘Forgotten Hill’, draws all of its inspiration from this trip. The experiences I had on this journey were used as compositional guides to compile the sonic impressions I experienced during this time.” - Chihei

Like most of Chihei’s work, the album is delivered deep within the details, tone and textures. It’s ambient music at its purest that requires attention if you’re to fulfill the gravitas of the story at hand. And similar to a painting, you can stand and stare at it all day, placing yourself in the mindset and eventual place of Chihei. There are no spectacular technique changes throughout the album - a similar palette is used - but the swells, depth and colors draw you in, ask you to look out, reflect or move on.

For his isolatedmix, Chihei draws on inspirations across the ambient music spectrum. From the early pioneers of Robin Guthrie, Harold Budd, Windy & Carl, to more modern approaches from Burial, Ana Roxanne and Huerco S, alongside fellow Japanese producers Motohiko Hamase, Satoshi Ashikawa, Yumbo and Yutaka Hirose and more contemporary pieces from Hope Sandoval and Julee Cruise.

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Tracklist:

01. Robin Guthrie & Harold Budd - Neil's Theme
02. Leif - Loom Dream
03. Wilkes - Descending
04. Julee Cruise - Floating
05. Nivhek - After its own death
06. Yutaka Hirose - Taiko
07. Burial - Ghost Hardware
08. Satoshi Ashikawa - Still Way
09. Les Bertucci - Accumulations
10. Suso Saiz - Mexican Bells
11. Ana Roxanne - Nocturne
12. Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions - On The Low
13. Lumens & Profits - Coastin
14. Luis Paniagua - Prepartivos Para El Viaje
15. Motohiko Hamase - Elan Vital
16. Jonny Nash - Shell
17. Huerco S / Lifeblood (Naïve Melody)
18. Leyland Kirby Presents V/Vm - Monroes Stockport
19. Windy & Carl -- My Love
20. Rebekah Del Rio - No Star
21. Yumbo - Ishi Ga Full

Chihei Hatakeyama | Website | Bandcamp | Discogs

ASIP (Live DJ set) Dance Spirit Gallery Experience / World of Light

The scene - a Los Angeles warehouse, adorned with light sculptures and 50ft wall projections as the downtown skyline sinks from day-to-night. Naturally, it called for some Blade Runner inspired sounds.

Live recording from The World Of Light Museum, Los Angeles, where Dance Spirit curated a massive Gallery Experience in August 2019 featuring 50ft wall projections and art exhibits by Purdy Lites + more.

My set came after a beautiful opening modular set by Constant Shapes and was followed by Dance Spirit Live, Philip Jung (formerly of M.A.N.D.Y) and Concret.

Thank you to Dance Spirit and the Space Cadet crew for having me. To stay up to date on events by Dance Spirit related to the Space Cadet magazine, follow the Facebook page here or mailing list.

Tracklist is withheld for now as the set contains some ASIP unreleased works.

isolatedmix 92 - Midori Hirano

Born in Kyoto, Japan and now residing in Berlin, Midori Hirano’s discography has spanned a wide spectrum of experimental electronic music. From her 2016 album on the esteemed Sonic Pieces, to her latest praised work on Australian label Daisart and her beautiful extended piece for the Longform Editions series, Midori’s work is often recognizable when in play due to her manipulation of the piano.

A talented player from a young age, Midori’s work revolves around these classical elements, often told through soft pieces, with added electronic processing and field recordings. The result draws you in through attachment, as differentiating layers and effects change productions from a simple modern classical score, to an engaging experimental piece. Think Steve Reich, or other minimalist innovators, and you’ll enjoy Midori’s experimentations.

For any electronica fans, take Midori’s work as MimiCof however, and these minimalist productions take on new rhythmic layers, often finding themselves in an even more electronic guise, sitting alongside the finest moments of labels like City Centre Offices and Morr Music, the melodies of a Lusine and the classical manipulation and experimentation of a Ryuichi Sakamoto. A high bar by all accounts, but evident in the pieces captured below, where the extremes of this sound have seen Midori’s most energetic piece to date, Moon Synch, expand with rich experimentations originating from the Buchla synthesizer.

Not only is Midori pushing the boundaries of electronic music as her own name and as MimiCof, Midori has recently signed with Erased Tapes Music, and has contributed remixes for the likes of Sonae, Kid 606 and Liars. And of course, the talent doesn’t stop there - Midori has also helped provide some photography for Christian Kleine’s ASIP release, taking pictures of her newly adopted home in Berlin.

But, back to what you’re here for, the music, and here’s what Midori had to say about her isolatedmix which combines the art evident across both her monikers with recent experimental pioneers that stay true to her sound:

“This mix consists of recent favourite tracks of mine including two of my own songs. A few tracks have voices or field recordings which I often like to use also for my music, as I often want to have a kind of feeling of watching films every time I make a mix. It puts me into a place isolated from a world while I’m listening to it for myself” - MH

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Tracklist:

01. Tujiko Noriko - Ride
02. Senking - Ep 4
03. Félicia Atkinson - Valis
04. alva noto + ryuichi sakamoto with ensemble modern - Broken Line
05. MimiCof - Opal
06. Eli Keszler - The Immense Endless Belt Of Faces
07. Caterina Barbieri - Fantas
08. Driftmachine - Shift II
09. Ornate Coldtrain - Powerful Myth
10. Uguisubari - Nanzen-Ji
11. Mark Pritchard - The Blinds Cage (feat. Beans)
12. Amnesia Scanner & Bill Kouligas - II
13. Midori Hirano - Haiyuki
14. Jim O’Rourke - And a 1, 2, 3, 4
15. Yair Elazar Glotman & Mats Erlandsson - Format And Formalize Desire
16. Robert Lippok - Samtal

Midori Hirano / MimiCof | Website | Bandcamp | Soundcloud |

Portals: The Newer Age

You thought you knew New Age until you knew a Newer Age.

It’s evidently hard to qualify New Age Music. A search online brings up some recent journalism obsessing over its hip resurgence but it’s rare to find anything other than some top records and rough history. As with all Portal’s features, I try to find a slightly new angle.

Depending on whether you’re speaking to someone who likes New Age or not, will normally get you very different answers on what it is. Ambient musicians normally hate to be coined as New Age (just ask Eno or Budd), Record shops will often categorize New Age alongside ambient (some may have their own ’Shadowfax'-heavy section) and at the very least you’ll find them all in the bargain bins (other than Portland stores it seems - a revered genre going by my last visit).

I sold and stocked ASIP catalog in a shop once (not to be named) on the basis the guy who owned it thought they were all New Age. He even went on to tell prospective customers it was New Age. I couldn’t really argue with him to say why it was or was not, or that it was ambient, or similar, because in his head it all lived under the same umbrella.

Fact Mag captured this conundrum earlier this year;-

"New age music remains misunderstood because new age isn’t a style or a sound but a sensibility; an exceptionally soupy, psychedelic one, at that. Contemporary listeners tend to conflate new age with ambient but their overlap is inconsistent: though much new age music exudes ambient qualities, the reverse is less often the case. In fact, over the years many prominent artists of the movement have rejected association with new age and its trappings, as it’s widely considered to be the domain of quacks and charlatans.” - Britt Brown / Fact Mag.

What I ended up within this Portals feature, is an interpretation of New Age as told through some recent releases, which might not be placed in the New Age bucket when on their own, alongside more immediate/classic-sounding New Age elements.

I am not a big New Age fan if I reflect on records previously identified under the genre, but I asked myself what would happen if I took the stereotypical elements of this style (hopeful, optimistic, uplifting music, religious connotations, enlightenment, spoken word, early synthesizers, the sound of the sea, forest etc etc) and applied it to music I listen to often today?

I gave myself the challenge and followed the flow of the mix not knowing where it would end up. As a genre, New Age seems loose and subjective, but as a theme that traces back to the origins of the name, I think the mix holds-up through the many styles and characteristics that are included across the ~90 mins. Perhaps proving (to me and my own silly challenge at least) that New Age isn’t always a style or genre that can be described or pinned down to a type of music, but more a feeling that’s still evident in music today.

"The phrase itself, of course, is old, invoked over centuries by various mystics and spiritual leaders to refer to an impending, ill-defined future era of enlightenment as a means of instilling hope in their congregation” - Britt Brown / Fact Mag.

Who am I to tell the owner of the record shop that ASIP releases aren’t New Age if he sees hope and new worlds in them…?! I’ll settle for that.

With this approach of not confining New Age to specific tracks, I’m holding off on the track list for now, until some time has passed for you to dive in and take it as a whole. I’ll add the full track list here soon.

Until then, see you in the next life.

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Tracklist:

1. Nozomu Matsumoto - Climatotherapy (The Death of Rave)

2. Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - I Am A Thought (Western Vinyl)

3. Khotin - Dwellberry (Ghostly International)

4. Imaginary Softwoods - Albion (Field Records)

5. Akis - New Age Uprising (Part I) (Into The Light)

6. Martin Glass - Floating To Work (Kit Records)

7. Ex-Terrestrial - Dreams of Jupiter (1080p)

8. Graintable - Amarps (Ransom Note)

9. Varg - Archive 1 “Spit Sugar Free Red Bull Into My Mouth” (Posh Isolation)

10. Suzanne Ciani - Quadrophonic Part 1 (Atmospheric)

11. Felicia Atkinson - Vermillions (Shelter Press)

12. Heavenly Music Corporation - Reentry (Astral Industries)

13. Eternell - Dancing With Wind (Eternell)

14. Martin Glass - Welcome to the Four Seasons (Kit Records)

15. Wanderwelle - Her Name Is Vairumati (Silent Season)

16. Mark Peters - Twenty Bridges (Andi Otto Remix) (Sonic Cathedral)

17. Seahawks - Emergence (Cascine)

18. Dagerlöff - From The Womb To The Tomb (Tigersushi)

19. Ana Caprix - Terminal (Self Released)

20. CFCF - Closed Space (Single edit) (BGM Solutions)

21. DJ Healer - Protectionspell (All Possible Worlds)

22. Datasette - 65536 KiloEnyas (Self Released)

23. Jesse Somfay - Levamentum [Aqua Regia] (Tipping Hand)

24. Parks - Forest (Self Released)

25. Procedamus In Pace (Paschale Mysterium)

26. Kettel & Secede - Admittance (Sending Orbs)

27. Tongues Of Light - Awakening Side (Pre-Cert Home Entertainment)

isolatedmix 91 - RichEars & Leandro Fresco - Dream Collar

It’s been ten episodes since our regular Balearic-sunset-conjurer RichEars graced the isolatedmix series (isolatedmix 81) but a whole five-years since Leandro Fresco stepped up with his second mix (with isolatedmix 47).

RichEars is a welcome regular at this time of year (we always get an itch for some Balearic vibes around this time). Whilst Leandro has been busy curating his own weekly series of gems on Frisky Radio, spending each week digging around some of the finest ambient music.

The two are therefore a natural pair to lay down a 2-hour journey and come together as one from across the globe for isolatedmix 91. With Leandro following the lead of RichEars’ first hour, the two flow through classic artists and many memorable moments, creating a timeless mix that’s fitting for watching the world go by, or an extended chill session. RichEars, in his own style, sets the tone, keeping things eclectic and lively, moving between well-known artists such as Global Communication, HIA and Vangelis, amongst quirkier samples and soundtracks, Then Leandro continues down the rabbit-hole, taking a slightly more modern approach, with a heavily German and Kompakt-related textured twist, including Bochum Welt, Michael Mayer, Closer Musik and Arovane.

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Tracklist

Hour 1 (RichEars)
01. William Orbit - The Mighty Limpopo
02. Disastrato - Give Up
03. Global Communication - 14:31 (Reload Remix)
04. Cult Of Youth - Gymnoso
05. Calm - Light Years
06. The Higher Intelligence Agency - Speedlearn (The Irresistible Force rmx)
07. A Guy Called Gerald - Emotions Electric
08. The Superfools - Little_Fluffy_Clouds_Scavenger_Mix
09. Vangelis - Blush Response (UNKLE Sounds Edit)
10. Chicane - Low Sun
11. Leggo Beast - The New Deal
12. Harrison & Daicz - Una Luz Tan Brillante 2
13. The Orb - Montagne d'Or (Der gute Berg)
14. Penguin Cafe Orchestra - The Sound Of Someone You Love Who's Going Away
And It Doesn't Matter
15. David Sylvian - Words With The Shaman
Hour 2 (Leandro Fresco)
16. Bochum Welt - Laurel Canyon
17. Negativland - Michael Jackson
18. Melorman - Wait
19. The Orb - Back Side Of The Moon
20. Michael Mayer - Baumhaus
21. Leandro Fresco - Verano Sin Fin
22. Gas - Rausch 1
23. Dirk Leyers - Daydreamer
24. Yui Onodera - Cromo 2
25. Gustavo Lamas - Mañana
26. Thore Pfeiffer - Tarragon
27. Leandro Fresco & Rafael Anton Irisarri - Un Horizonte En Llamas
28. Closer Musik - 1,2,3 No Gravity (Dettinger Mix)
29. Arovane - Seaside
30. HTDC - The Sky Is Black

~

Rich-Ears | Mixcloud | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
Leandro Fresco | Frisky Radio | isolatedmix 24 | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram