Horizontal Excursions - Higher States

A journey into nature is a healing experience, and one that can be married to your own personal health and mentality. At its most symbolic, Roger Martinez’s new album as Horizontal Excursions, not only refers to the mountains, but the higher states of mind through which he channeled to make the music. Whether you find calm and peace through nature, its sounds and presence, or through your own personal journeys, Higher States was built as your accomplice.
 
Through Roger’s own experiences, and by transmitting these higher states of mind through music, "the music then becomes a medicine to bring people together, or to put people more in touch with their emotions”. Not content with the present day spoken language and modern culture that surrounds us, Roger believes music is the missing element in order to achieve lasting happiness and peace within people - “music and the emotional language it conveys is much stronger at bringing people together, communicating states of oneness, peace, love and unity, that could ultimately contribute to a more loving, peaceful humanity”.

As Roger’s fifth release under the Horizontal Excursions moniker, Higher States is an evolution from his previous releases; the self-titled album of 2011, and the long-players of ‘Symphonica Helvetica’ and ‘Enantiodromia’. Atmospheric and organic, Higher States ascends through the many mental and physical layers one would experience when climbing towards fulfillment. Be it the low, swirling mist on ‘Opening Up, the relief and optimism of ‘Balance’ or the distant detail and memories in ‘The Gift’. From lush, warm pads to the sound of the sea, hundreds of feet beneath you, Higher States combines detailed soundscapes with a consistent current of depth, creating a vivid journey - an instrument designed where “higher states of intelligence emotion may flow, eventually towards the hearts of other people”. 

As Albert Einstein once said: “Our separateness is simply an optical illusion of consciousness”. 

Available on Bandcamp.

Download Roger's contribution to The Places Series - Symphonica Helvetica, for free.

Ocean Network - Deep Sea Dreams: Volume I

The first compilation from new label Ocean Network hit this week titled, Deep Sea Dreams: Volume 1.

Featuring a host of new names (to me at least) I'm always keen to explore new ventures like this, as these humble beginnings are exactly how ASIP got its legs. The label is obviously embracing a very distinct theme given the name and release title, and even some of the track names, and the ocean theme is very apparent across the compilation.

Wistful ambient, colorful drones and an overall delicate approach to the curation suggests label head Ben Steed is on a mission to produce some very fine music and a label to keep an eye on.

A few standouts amongst a great compilation include the opener from Baukhol - a shimmering wave of airy pads, similar to the likes of Purl and the Dewtone output,  and
Tengen's Blue Queen, reminding me of the deep, emotional escapism you'll hear from the likes of Rafael Anton Irisarri. 

Deep Sea Dreams: Volume 1, is your perfect platform to jump into a bunch of brilliant new ambient artists from China and beyond.

Available as Name Your Price on Bandcamp.

Serein Presents: Orbital Planes & Passenger Trains Vol. 1

Known for bringing us releases by Brambles, Nest and even Hauschka in previous years, the UK label, Serein features a refined output so far, with many of its releases reaching notoriety in the modern-classical side of the ambient world. It's been a notably quiet 2016 for them, but now we know why. 

A new compilation titled Orbital Planes & Passenger Trains, the first in a new series, is billed as your new musical travel companion, presenting work by some of the "finest musical tour guides in the known universe". A quick look at the track list and you'd be hard-pushed to disagree.

Label veterans Brambles, Otto A Totland and Hidden Rivers make an appearance (the latter two forming the duo, Nest) alongside some new label imports in Benoît Pioulard, (listen to his isolatedmix), Silent Season regular Segue, Japan's finest in Ametsub (listen to his isolatedmix), and Dan Abrams, otherwise known as Shuttle 358. 

The music is as prestigious as you'd hoped given the expertise at hand. Some of the many highlights include Hidden Rivers superb glistening piece of electronica, What's Up G?;  to textured ambient from Donato Wharton and Pioulard; and the label's bread-and-butter modern classical from piano master-mind Otto A Totland. There's also a progression in the enigmatic sound of Brambles, who provides a modern-sounding cinematic score in Petrichor, as does The Balustrade Ensemble, albeit in a more experimental style. 

With Gas like textures and a lull of guitar plucks, offset by a simple piano, Dan Abrams' (Shuttle 358's) track Floating City, is more akin to a Pop Ambient masterpiece than anything you might have heard from him before. Certainly one of the highlights of the compilation and available to stream in full below.

Orbital Planes & Passenger Trains straddles the worlds and styles many of us love, fulfilling its goal of escapism - something I can definitely relate to with regards to the concept of ASIP.  Serein is best known for it's beautiful modern-classical output, yet this compilation seamlessly blends the attentiveness, delicacy and emotion of instrumental pieces, with a progressive electronic sound sprinkled throughout. Without a single weak track throughout, it turns a conventional modern-classical compilation into an accessible and thoroughly enjoyable piece for anyone looking to tune out. Window watch, pay attention to the soft black and white keys, creaking pedals, electronic undertones, field recordings and thought-provoking melodies and say hello to your new travel companion.

Orbital Planes & Passenger Trains will be available August 19th, on Download, CD, Double Vinyl and Limited Screen Print Edition here. There's also a lovely interactive site to explore the music at hand.

Lastly, Serein has been kind enough to offer ASIP readers an exclusive Bandcamp discount. Use "SERASIP15" on checkout for a 15% discount on this release and anything else in the Serein catalogue.

Tracklist:
01. Otto A Totland - Selon
02. Brambles - Petrichor
03. Ametsub - Blue Loop
04. Hidden Rivers - What's Up G?
05. Dan Abrams - Floating City
06. Imprints - Roy
07. Benoît Pioulard - Alogia
08. Strië - 87 Billion Suns
09. Otto A Totland - Storfjord
10. Colorlist - Gone To Ground
11. The Balustrade Ensemble - Teeming
12. Donato Wharton - A Lightless Volume Of Water
13. Yui Onodera & Chihei Hatakeyama - Solaris
14. Segue - Frozen
15. The Inventors Of Aircraft - No Returns
16. Olan Mill ft Isnaj Dui - Zazen

Sonae - Far Away Remixed

It was a special time releasing ASIP's first digital series a few years back. The Places Series played home to many ambient artists first 'release'; went on to define the wider ASIP community; and in many instances helped some of the artists get a little more exposure for their great work. The fact I'm writing this post about Sonae, makes me proud to have started it, and proud of where the artists have pushed themselves to in the past few years.

Sonae is one of those unique sounding artists whose work grabbed me from the start. An experimental mixture of close sounds, piano and subtle electronics, which gracefully came together in her debut album last year titled Far Away Is Right Around The Corner, on Monika Enterprise. Now, Sonae returns with a remix EP, enlisting another ASIP steward in Markus Guentner, alongside Mimicof, Dirk Markham, and Cétieu.  

Dirk Markham transforms the calm of Überwindung into a sparkling and energetic experimental piece. The underlaying pulses of Not The Moon may be an obvious choice for Guentner, but as with all great remixes, it's the respect for the subtleties that make the biggest impact. Cétieu takes a page from Sonae's detailed sculpturing to transform the bulbous, glistening I Know A Fish, into a microscopic dive, living on the surface of the harmonic, shimmering metallics. And lastly, composer and sound sculpter Midori Hirano (Mimicof) treats us to a dramatic and dynamic take on Hot Summerday, rounding out a superb sound-detail-oriented remix EP. 

There's no doubt this release features a finely curated roster, obviously chosen to accentuate, not disrupt, with their takes on Sonae's vivid sound designs.

We're lucky to bring you the video for Mimicof's remix below, created by Alisa Berger. 

Sonae - Far Away Remixed is now available digitally on iTunes/Beatport/Bleep etc.

Sonae - Far Away Remixed tracklist:
1. Überwindung - Dirk Markham Remix
2. Hot Summerday - Mimicof Remix
3. Not The Moon-Markus Guentner Remix
4. I Know A Fish - Cétieu Remix