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.

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.

Now available: Wanderwelle / A State of Decrepitude

Today we release the fourth full-length from Amsterdam-duo Wanderwelle. Their albums so far have been nothing but original and groundbreaking in terms of vision and concept, and we like to think their latest, ‘A State Of Decrepitude’ continues in the same manner.

See the release page for more information, listen to previews and where to buy.

Pre-order: Wanderwelle / A State Of Decrepitude (ASIPV021)

I’ve been a big admirer of Phil and Alexander's music for years now.

Their albums on Silent Season remain some of the most unique music you'll hear touching on the dub-techno/ambient realm, and their latest album last year alongside Isorinne as Bandhagens Musikförening, was just as beautiful and intriguing.

The new Wanderwelle album for ASIP is a dark and delicious dive into a new world, peppered with samples, textures and field recordings, all manipulated into a slowly decaying sense of dystopian reality.

See the release page for more information, listen to previews and all links to buy.