Bering Strait - Archive 0

As one half of Kiyoko, Jack Lever is no stranger to many of us here on ASIP. Alongside Joe McBride (Synkro), Kiyoko provided us with an isolatedmix a few months back and are about to re-release their debut album, Sea Of Trees on vinyl. However, with one of my favourite EP's of 2013 to his name under his own guise, Bering Strait, Jack is slowly but surely carving out his own route -  a distinctly varied production approach and a sound that's appealing to the ambient enthusiasts among us.

Released on tape, Archive 0 includes three tracks of stripped back texture, samples and grainy drones, book-ending three more stylized productions. Drone-A, B and C sandwich the rolling dub-techno of Transmission 110, the glistening Fog Open Key, and the sinister footprints of Name-VAc. 

It's a tricky balance where this type of  music is concerned, trying to keep the listener entertained throughout is a tough job, but one Jack succeeds at, with alternating styles, subtle samples and a delicate progression throughout each track - on  Concrete-X-28hr Drone B you hear the faint glimmer of life from an unknown vocal sample as it descends into choral delays - it's this type of introduction which entices you around the dark corner.

Transmission 110 is the defining track on the release - a gentle dub-techno piece and the only track holding any recognition to Jack's previous productions. It's a pleasure to see an artist come together with new styles and experiment in this way; brave enough to embrace alternating approaches and styles after only a few releases in the wild. Archive 0 may suggest a look back, but it's evident Jack is still experimenting and pushing forward with an array of beautiful music.

We're lucky enough to play host and debut Transmission 110 to the world below, and I also shot Jack a few questions for more context.

Archive 0 will be available on April 20th direct through Bering Strait's Bandcamp - available now to pre-order. 

ASIP: Hello Jack, where are you right now and what are you up to?

BS: I’m in Belgium at the moment for a Kiyoko gig but I’ll be returning home after the weekend.

SIP: Nice! Have you been there before? You seem to tour and play live quite a bit - is this a focus for you?

BS: Yeah I flew over for the first time in 2012 when I signed to Apollo, to meet Renaat & Sabine (R&S Records). Playing live isn't  really a focus for me, I prefer writing music, although I don’t mind playing out and it's something I am open to.   

ASIP: You're from the UK's Peak District right? I love it up there - did you grow up in a sleepy town or out in the sticks?

BS: I suppose you could say out in the sticks, I’m originally from a place called ‘Dukinfield’ in Greater Manchester but then my family moved to Derbyshire when I was young, I spent my childhood in the Peak District in a farming village near Kinder Mountain.

ASIP: The Northern Richard D James maybe? Any tanks outside your Peak District house?!

BS: There’s a lot of tractors about, and you get the odd armoured Land Rover. 

ASIP: How did you get into music?

BS: My first memory of being interested in music was going round to my Grandparents house where I knew there was some drums in the spare bedroom, but I don’t think I ever got to go up there and play with them, I always knew that my Dad had played the drums, and two of my Uncles. When I was eleven I asked my 'Ma for some drums and she bought me a black Remo Bravo 2 four piece drum kit, I Joined a band before I could play them which I was in at secondary school, we played a mixture of dated 80’s punk, metal, Thrash & Dub.

We recorded our first EP on CD at age 13 in my friends back room on a Playstation 2 and started playing in pubs in the local area. We had our first recording session in a studio in Stockport around that time. Then I got into electronic music mainly through hallucinogenic drugs in my mid teens, we used to go camping and listen to stuff like Scorn, BOC, Mum & Phonem. A lot of it came from random downloads with poor information so I didn’t end looking into these guys till much later.

ASIP: How would you describe your sound as Bering Strait?

BS: The sun rising on melting ice, after a long journey through a harsh arctic desert.

ASIP: What's your weapon/s of choice when producing music?

BS: My Sanyo handheld cassette recorder, cost me a £1 from a charity shop but its got a nice mic on it. I like Akai samplers too. I also use some boss pedals and I have a rack-mount analog tape delay made by Aria which I use on a lot of the Bering Strait / Kiyoko tracks.

ASIP: So a pretty analog setup - is that on purpose? Do you try to keep this analog sound in your productions?

BS: Yeah I love analog boxes and synths. The first track I ever made was on a 16 channel mixing desk with analog sends recorded to DAT (all not mine - it was at college). Don’t get me wrong though, it's not like my studio at home is full of analog equipment - just cheap stuff and my laptop at the moment. 

ASIP: What do you focus on for samples & field recordings?

BS: I used a lot of recordings on my first EP (Apart) & Sea of Trees (as Kiyoko) I would go anywhere from the kitchen, to outdoors, to the shit I have lying around in my bedroom, Vinyls, guitars, bass, flutes, percussion etc. Sometimes I’ll record re-amped noises and go to the bathroom and the hallway for recording acoustic instruments.

ASIP: So what’s the most interesting sound you’ve incorporated into your Bering Strait tracks? Anything in the Archive 0 release which may surprise us?

BS: Thats a tough question. You might hear a dodgy reggae vocal in a new context on the third track of ‘Archive 0’.

ASIP: I love the title track on Apart, and Archive 0 is a bit of a departure from this sound. Can you tell us more about this evolution? 

BS: I wrote Apart in different circumstances and with different equipment (Guitars & Amps) than Archive 0, but I wanted to approach this release in a new way to keep it interesting, so I used Some Synthesizers and tape.

ASIP: How do you see Bering Strait evolving?

BS: I just want to keep writing music. I can see myself releasing quite a lot in the near future. 

Bering Strait - Archive 0 tracklist:

01. CONCRETE X-28H DRONE C
02. NAMEVAC
03. CONCRETE X-28H DRONE B
04. FOG OPEN KEY
05. TRANSMISSION 110
06. CONCRETE X-28H DRONE A

http://beringstraitarchives.com/

Porya Hatami – Shallow (Remixed)

Iran’s Porya Hatami has returned nearly one year after his much beloved album on Tench, Shallow, with a remix EP. Packed full of greatness, the EP enlists the help of many favourites that have adorned both ASIP in the past, and the label behind this new venture,Dewtone.

To start, Fen is a 21 minute track in its original form, so no easy task for any remixer when trying to distill into their own sound. Loscilreplicates the evolution of the track from the fuzzy beginning into a repetitive gentle tinkering; unwinding and dancing into glares of light.

Segue takes a similar approach but adds his signature layered dub to the track. This addition brings a new dynamic to Fen and by the end, a completely new track has emerged bar a few small complimentary samples, yet the warm fuzzy feeling still remains.

Compliments to the curator, Sven Laux takes the track up a further notch and enticing you into the compilation further, with more distinct beats and subtle pauses, teasing before the next rolling bass-line. Sven’s remix shines with a beautiful break around 4 minutes-in, where Porya’s airy pads are brought forward as very delicate strings.

Halo and The Green Kingdom take on After The Rain. With Pasquale, a veteran at rainy landscapes (check Europe), this track becomes a no-brainer and Porya’s synthesized drops are transformed into a picturesque moment which sees Halo adorn the track with a dream-like piano melody and distant background noise. Rain falling on a porch as you sit pondering the meanderings happening outside.

The Green Kingdom, akin to Segue, adds warmth and a Yagya-esque approach to After The Rain. Out of submerged bass-lines and a shimmering gloss, grows a beautiful dub-techno piece.

Their’s a similarity to the tracks on the original recording of the EP – the beautiful washes of ambient light and the tiny tinkering of bells remain true across the productions. Instead of starting from scratch on remixes or manipulating a melody, the EP has allowed for each remixer to take these fundamental elements and paint them in their own style – and this couldn’t be more true for the last track, White Forest.

From Purl’s bubbling beats and nikosf’s more upfront head-nodding dub-techno approach, to Arovane’s stripped-back, crackling analog piece that makes a heart-monitor-sound enticing and warm; this is a platform for each artist to shine in their own style and truly define what it means to remix a track.

Lastly, Bjorn Rohde, who’s know for a few differing production styles, takes an interesting approach to his remix; accentuating the many samples, sounds and emotion found in the original; clearing the clouds on a blustery day and shedding the light across the White Forest,just as a photographer gently kneels in the grass to capture the disappearing sun – signalled by the drone of a piano.

Available via Dewtone.com.

Read more on the release of Shallow and an interview with Porya from last year, here.

Tracklist:

1. Fen (By Loscil) 06:50
2. Fen (By Segue) 06:30
3. Fen (by Sven Laux) 09:05
4. After The Rain (by Halo) 05:30
5. After The Rain (by The Green Kingdom) 06:00
6. White Forest (by Purl) 08:30
7. White Forest (by nikosf.) 07:10
8. White Forest (by Arovane) 04:00
9. White Forest (by Bjorn Rohde) 12:55

Aphex Twin – Selected Ambient Works 1994 – 2015

… doesn’t exist. But as many of you know, a shed-load of tracks have been uploaded to Soundcloud by RDJ – totalling longer than his entire official discography, here.

I spent some time putting my favourite tracks in the style of SAW into one playlist below. There’s parallels to SAW II and the likes of Blue Calx with Red Calx, and more IDM based track we witnessed on SAW 85-92 with Chink 101 and my favourite, nocares.

I think any Aphex Twin fan will agree, some of these are absolutely brilliant and could easily live as a third edition to the SAW series. That’s probably not going to happen anytime soon, especially now Aphex is a Grammy-award winning artist – colab’s with Lady Ga Ga are just days away… (please don’t Richard).

Each track is downloadable, and there’s plenty of people out there making it easy for you, alongside the amazing RDJ geeks putting Google Docs together detailing every detail on each of the tracks.

bvdub – Tanto

If you’re a fan of Brock’s music, or are even lucky enough to have had conversation with him, then you’ll know a couple of things ring true about this elusive character.

Brock is a genuine artist, doing it for the love – not money or fame. He doesn’t thrive on promotion, doing the latest or greatest thing. He sticks to what he knows and does best, often with only marginal movement either side of his beloved sound and for this reason, he is one of the most respected artists in the industry today.

His music is some of the most thought-provoking and emotional pieces you will come across. His combination of distant vocals, soaring atmospheres and more recently, some very impactful and dramatic beats, have helped establish him as one of the best and most innovative ambient artists of today. His releases go as far as as Kompakt’s Pop Ambient compilations, and as close to home as his own imprint, Quietus.

He’s one of the most passionate people you’ll meet. Just read one of his interviews. There’s not many artists out there who will take the time to go into so much detail, be it a rant or not – it’s passion and it always shows in his music.

He’s productive. Four albums in 2013, two so far this year (and not counting the many before 2012). To quote from his 2012 interview: “What drives me to be so productive, quite simply, and at the risk of sounding trite, is that this music is what I live for. Without it, life for me literally would have no meaning…”

And after his best friend, his cat, Tanto passed away recently, Brock turned to the many aspects above that make him one of today’s greats and channelled his energy and focus into producing Tanto – his latest album and a personal ode to his best friend.

To go into describing this album wouldn’t sound right – it’s a personal journey, and one that is clearly evident upon listening. Fans of Brock’s music will undoubtedly enjoy it – some are calling it a return to his best, but the most important factor here is to support a cause which Brock believes in – and the life of a friend who has indirectly inspired the many Bvdub albums we’ve been lucky to enjoy over the years.

You can buy and listen to samples from Tanto direct on n5MD – 100% of everything from this album will be donated to the UC Davis Center for FIP Research. Available to preorder now and to buy from December 1st.

Kompakt - Pop Ambient 2015

Arriving earlier than normal, today we’re treated to our annual pilgrimage to the land of Pop Ambient. Alongside some regulars and as usual, a couple of new entrants to the series, Pop Ambient 2015 is yet another aural treat that never fails to disappoint, blending just the right amount of stand-out tracks and background beauty to ensure a memorable, yet distinct edition.

Beginning with Thore Pfeiffer, a new, young talented producer from Germany, the Pop Ambient sound we’ve come to love is in full-force, with gentle bells, swathes of pads and that hypnotising looping that is such a big part of this series and the many producers that have adorned it.

Like a train-spotting jigsaw, Kompakt presents us with yet another guise in Dirk Leyers – for any fan of Kompakt in general, you may know him from his Closer Musik project (alongside Matias Aguayo). Here, Dirk lays down a contemplative, bleeping, yet soothing track that changes up the compilations style, ready for the more intense and classic ambient sound of Gregor Schwellenbach; slow, burning and calming.

Our friend, Leandro Fresco follows, with one of my personal favourites from the compilation. Darker than his Places Series release, Leandro’s poignantly plucked melody overlays an enveloping mist of rolling clouds. Translating to ‘Nothing is forever’, Nada Es Para Siempre is the kind of track you wish lasted a lifetime.

Max Wuerden “generates sounds from silence if necessary” and it shows with his microscopic and complex electronics amongst Container Love – a stark contrast to Ulf Lohmann’s following, with epic reverse strings and distorted vocals on Refresh.

Pop Ambient is also a time for ‘firsts’. And don’t quote me, but what follows may just be one of Brock Van Wey’s shortest tracks to date. Clocking in at 6.19, In White Pagodas, I’ll Wait For You, is no less epic than his usual umpteen minute masterpieces though. Classic Bvdub with swirling, echoin vocals and powerful washes, it’s like the angels have ascended before only darkness remains.

Jens Uwe-Beyer, known to many of us under the pseudonym of Popnoname, hits dark and hard with pounding walls of static and euphoric progression that wouldn’t be out of place on Raster-Noton alongside Alva Noto and Ryoji Ikeda’s mind-bending visuals.

Ending the compilation, and marking a return from the very first Pop Ambient edition in 2001, Gustavo Lamas closes out 2015 with the a light and accessible definition of Pop Ambient. It’s the perfect reminder of Kompakt’s ability to take you into the deep, dark and endearing tones of the genre, and bring you back out smiling. And unlike many of the series’ releases, 2015’s feels like a much more defined journey than the rest. With age comes confidence, and with confidence comes a willingness to break-out from the norm – a norm which Kompakt set in 2001 and continue to evolve to this day.

Tracklist:

01. Thore Pfeiffer – Wie Es Euch GefäLlt
02. Thore Pfeiffer – Nero
03. Dirk Leyers – Daydreamer
04. Gregor Schwellenbach – Assperg
05. Leandro Fresco – Nada Es Para Siempre
06. Max Wuerden – Container Love
07. Ulf Lohmann – Refresh
08. Bvdub – In White Pagodas I’ll Wait Foryou
09. Jens-Uwe Beyer – Moewen
10. Gustavo Lamas – Jovenes Ambient (Remake)

Available on Kompakt in all formats from November 3rd, including a limited edition LP with signed fine-art print. Pre-order available now.