isolatedmix 24 - Leandro Fresco

Most of you will be familiar with Leandro Fresco’s ambient masterpiece, Buenos Amigos, the star on (what I consider) the best Kompakt Pop Ambient release to date. Since then, Leandro’s been pretty quiet and has only released one album, ‘Luz Sin Calor‘,  but still remains a legend in my eyes for the effect that specific track had on me, in helping me fall in love with the Pop Ambient series. Nine years on, I still revisit Buenos Amigos on a regular basis.

Leandro’s mix reflects on a similar style to his productions, with washing, melodic ambient including the legendary Ulf Lohmann, Arovane, Isan and the stunning ‘Pass Into Silence’ by Iceblink.

Wrap-up, get the big headphones out and bring in the New Year with Leandro’s warm textures.

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“This is my catalogue of invisible music,
from Buenos Aires,
all the best,
Leandro”

Tracklist+ notes by Leandro Fresco.

1. Leandro Fresco – Lejos De Ti
The feeling I feel, when I come back from the airport.

2. Daniel Melero – 11
From his ambient record ‘Operacion Escuchar’, one of Daniel Melero’s ambient masterpieces.

3. Pass Into Silence – Iceblink.
I love to hear this song, only at noon

4. Gustavo Cerati – Todos Duermen.
From the motion picture +Bien – very inspired Gustavo

5. Audio Das Poly – Sciex Elan
From the “Juxtapose’ EP.

6. Arovane – Scapen Te
5th track from the “Atoll Scrap’ album – so deep, it’s like Tango, Buenos Aires dance.

7. Isan – Cutlery Favours
I got this CD during a short period when I lived in Barcelona, it reminds me of the hot summer.

8. Pommerence – Diacido
One of my fav pieces of Pommerenck and a very good friend of mine

9. Leandro Fresco – Laptop Granja
A song from 2005

10. Cerati/Melero – Alborada
A dark, intelligent, ambient piece, lost like an interlude in “Colores Santos” album

11. Brian Eno – An Ending (Ascent)
A piece taken from the ‘apollo’ cd. When i hear this, I see all in orange

12. Arovane – Ambelio
Another track from the “Atoll Scrap” album – Arovane is the best!!

13. Gustavo Lamas – Envueltos
A great composer, his music is always brilliant!

14. Pantha Du Prince – Im Bann
My fav track from the ‘Black Noise’ CD. I love the balance between the guitar and the other sounds.

15. Marsen Jules – Couer Saignant
I love Marsen Jules’ music, it’s like pressing the pause button, something very difficult to achieve.

16. Ulf Lohmann – 11.
11 is a very special number for me, in a lot of senses, spiritual and magically.

17. DD & Leandro Fresco – Thank You + Capsula.
This is a home made mix that i did with two tracks, using the end of DD’s Led Zeppelin cover “Thank You’ and “Capsula’, a track which is featured on my first album.

18. Bjork – All Is Full Of Love
A classic song from Bjork. I like this version, of course, without drum programming and featuring rhythmics loops.

isolatedmix 23 - Carbon Based Lifeforms

Anybody see the link yet? That’s right, it’s both an honour and a privilege to introduce the 23rd isolatedmix, by none other than the legendaryCarbon Based Lifeforms.

Us CBL fans have been pretty lucky recently; two albums in successive years, with Interloper in 2010 and Twentythree in 2011. But, it hasn’t always been so. With albums sometimes three years apart, this extended anticipation has left many-a CBL fan suffering for years on end. For many, that’s what makes their productions so special and for me, this mix even more so.

Not only are Daniel and Johannes cult heroes heralded by many ambient fans from across the world, but stumbling across any of their releases, or indeed insight into their workings is as rare as the sunshine on a Swedish winters day. Everything that floats out of their studio is quality and has been since their very first release on the ground-breaking Ultimae Records back in 2003.

How do you keep such a fan base in tune over such an extended period? (Damn it, I didn’t even ask that question below). Well, from my point of view… you set the standard for stunning ambient music, you keep raising it with each release and you make sure that every album you produce has the ability to envelope you in warm synthesizers and transport you to that welcoming but strangely isolated place. Daniel and Johannes have it nailed.

isolatedmix 23 is a truly stunning and eclectic journey into the minds of two maestros, with retro sounds and pioneering productions alongside tracks from some of today’s best producers – it’s a who’s who of ambient and electronica and if any of you need an intro into this world, this is it. And if you need an intro into CBL’s world, then scroll down to read a few questions I put their way…

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Tracklist:
01. Raymond Scott – In The Hall Of The Mountain Queen
02. Space Lab – Blue Planet
03. Brian Eno – An Ending (Ascent)
04. Aphex Twin – Rhubarb
05. M83 – I Guess I’m Floating
06. Vangelis – Ireland
07. Autechre – VLetrmx
08. Murcof – Isaias II
09. Barn Owl – Lotus Cloud
10. Fennesz – River Of Sand
11. Boards Of Canada – Open The Light
12. Hammock – Cruel Sparks
13. Trentemøller – Miss You
14. Terry Devine-King – Life Cycle
15. Solar Quest – Singtree
16. 23rd World – Enchanted Isles
17. Foundland – Everybodys Neighbour
18. Sally Shapiro – Sleep In My Arms
19. Solar Quest – Liquid Sky
20. Lusine – Operation Costs – Disassembled Mix
21. Bo Hansson – The Old Forest (Tom Bombadil)
22. Mathew Dear – Slowdance
23. Tycho – Coastal Brake
24. TV On The Radio – Staring At The Sun

Hello Daniel, Johannes! I always like to picture the scene for someone answering an interview – can you tell us where you are and what i’ve interrupted you from doing?!
Drinking beer and making the mix in Johannes studio 

For anyone not familiar with Carbon Based Lifeforms, can you give us a quick intro to your sound and your main influences?
Textures, pads, 303’s, arpeggios and melodies. Most of our influences can be heard in the mix.

It’s nearly ten years since you signed with Ultimae – that’s quite a long time on one label. Can you tell us a bit about your relationship with them?
They´re really great people and quite easy to work with. They’re more of a family than a label to us.
The reason it’s been working for that long is that they leave us a lot of creative freedom and they are extremely professional… They’ve got their shit together.

Can you describe your working relationship and the roles you both take in producing music? Are there lots of arguments or are you a duo made for each other!?
We tend to start out ideas for songs in our separate studios, and when we find something the other one likes we start hammering it out to a complete song. Not a lot of arguments however we have different roles when it comes to the production. Johannes likes to get lost in a lot of details on sounds and Daniel is usually the one to get things rolling again. Except when it comes to drums and percussions, then the roles are pretty much reversed.

I’ve read before that you love using the Roland TB-303 synth in your music and that you try sneaking it in every track at some point – is this true with twentythree? If not, what was most used instrument in this album?
Well the 303 made it’s way into that album as well but not as predominantly as our previous albums. We used a lot of Clavia G2 Modular on 23 though.

Can you tell us how twentythree differs from your previous albums? What was the idea behind the album?
We had been talking about making a beat-less album since we released World Of Sleepers, and we actually finished a version of it in 2009. But after a lot of self doubt and critical listening, and a good long talk with Ultimae we decided that many of the tracks would sound a lot better with beats than without so we added the beats that were needed and released Interloper instead, hence the name.

I find it really easy to imagine places, landscapes and feelings with your music. Most ambient music possesses this ability, but yours seems to be that much stronger. Is this intentional and do you try to paint vivid pictures with your music?
We have quite a visual way of thinking of music, so maybe thats why. Another reason might be that we usually don’t finish a track in just one sitting, it’s more of an ongoing process which can last for a couple of years. When we´re producing an album we tend to write work on the songs a bunch at a time.

My favourite track from twentythree is ‘Somewhere in Russia’. Where is this somewhere, and what was the inspiration behind the track?
That’s quite a story really… We hade been booked to do a gig in Moscow, Johannes did not want to go but Daniel decided to go alone. However the festival was cancelled and the organizers decided that it would be a terrific idea to not tell Daniel about it so he ended up alone and just a little bit worried at the Moscow Airport. There were no hotel rooms at the airport and no flights back to Gothenburg until two days later. But after countless phone calls to Ultimae and back to Sweden he finally got a hold of Andrei, one of Ultimae’s distributors in Moscow who was on his way to a party a couple of hours outside of Moscow so he picked Daniel up and brought him along. It was during this trip the idea was born. The poem that can be heard at the beginning of that track was written by one the guys from the party.

Where is your ‘Strangely Isolated Place’?
Usually when driving, walking or working.

Sweden seems to be a hub for atmospheric electronic music. How much does Sweden and the places you visit influence your music?
Good question… We tend to think that everything kind of influences the music we make. But maybe it’s the cold and dark climate, or maybe it’s just a cultural thing, it’s usually pretty easy to spot if music is made in the states, the UK, in Scandinavia etc.

You recently played in London at the (very intimate) Inspiral Lounge – do you enjoy gigs like this? What would be your ideal setting for playing a live gig and who would be playing with you?
Yeah Inspiral is a really great place to play, very intimate as you said however it’s really uncomfortable for old geezers like us  The stage is basically a small staircase..  But the vibe there is excellent.
As far as ideal setting we came pretty close when we played at Cosmonova in Stockholm, it is the only state of the art imax theatre in sweden with a huge dome and stuff it was really cool, however there is no connection with the audience what so ever… so maybe the ultimate place would be a combination of the two..

Did you get up to anything else whilst in London? Any sightseeing? Did you get to see Kensington Gardens?!
A bit of sightseeing, lot’s of beer and food  Yes we went to Kensington Gardens again. We recorded the strange piano thingie on the track Kensington Gardens last time went there. This time we tried to figure out what was making the sound but it turned out you had to have a kid with you to get into that area so i guess we’ll never know.

Can we expect another brilliant 15 years or so of CBL? What have you got planned for the future?
Keep your fingers crossed! Our next project will probably not be another CBL-album. We’ve met a really talented singer, so the next thing we do will probably be something with her. We have not figured out the direction of that project exactly yet but we think it will be something that will please the CBL-fans.

And last but not least, can you talk about your approach and inspirations behind the mix you’ve put together?
At first we just wanted to include tracks that have inspired or influenced us when we started out, but realised we would miss out on a lot of really sweet newer tracks, so it’s a combo of old “important” things and stuff we really love.

Big thank you to Daniel and Johannes for the time and effort with the words and the mix. You can grab Carbon Based Lifeforms latest release ‘Twentythree’ from Ultimae here.

isolatedmix 22 - Parks

The isolatedmix series is a chance for me to recruit my past musical inspirations, where they take the reigns and provide us lucky listeners with an hour or so worth of favourites and their very own inspirations. However, Parks is the first to break the mould.

For one, Parks is pretty new to my ears. Discovered just a few months ago after trawling through the Infraction Records back-catalogue, Igor Bystrov had two unassuming albums nestling in the amazing Infraction treasure-trove that hit me like a bulldozer. I am simply amazed at how such brilliant music can be this buried. Not that Infraction don’t do an amazing job at getting music heard, but more that this type of music deserves to be heard by so many more like-minded people. I guess that’s what partly motivates me with ASIP – finding these hidden gems and giving them the attention they deserve by the people that appreciate it.

So, with such a modest and relatively unknown artist and a host (i.e me) who is still only now managing to pick himself up from the initial body-slam of stunning music, it felt right to break the mould and release a mix made entirely from an artists own productions. After-all, Igor has been producing since the late 80’s so he had no shortage of tracks to choose from.

I also managed a short interview in a hope to paint a complete picture of the artist which will undoubtedly now remain on your stereo for a long time to come…

Oh and the second buck of the isolatedmix trend? Igor has plucked up over 2 hours worth of material, for your extended pleasure!

If you like what you hear, be sure to support the artist and the brilliant label that opened up our ears and made it happen, Infraction Records by purchasing Igor’s two (so far released) albums, ‘Umber’ or Hidden’ here and keep on the look-out for further releases.

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Tracklist (all songs by Parks)
01. The Renaissance 00:00
02. Shining Stars 07:09
03. Franja 16:02
04. Lament 24:23
05. The HAL 9000 Computer 31.25
06. Wings Of Desire 37:22
07. Trains 43:46
08. Unreleased 50:30
09. 4AM (unreleased)57:30
10. Eternal Wind 1:06
11. Long Way 1:14
12. The Breath Of Autumn 1:21
13. Days 1:30
14. Topaz 1:38
15. The Twilight 1:44
16. Underwater Spaces 1:52

…

ASIP & Parks Interview (Igor Bystrov)

Can you tell us a bit about where you live? Do your surroundings influence your work at all?

Since childhood, I lived in a resort town called Sochi. It means a lot of hot sun, hot temperatures and a crowd of people. I’ve always dreamed of one town and my dream has come true – in 1984 I moved to St. Petersburg, the best city on Earth. This conveys the nature of my feelings and sensations. I love the fog and the low gray sky. All my music is sustained in these colours.

You started producing in the late 1980’s, has your approach to production changed at all? What do you differently now to then?

Nothing really except for the fact that in the late 90’s I had a computer. The only thing that has changed is machinery and equipment. I like the cassette tape and I still use them. A small fact – I wrote the first two albums in 1990-91 and they were on a portable cassette with several friends for 10 years. In early 2000 the label “Fono” proposed to publish the albums … I agreed

Who were your biggest influences back then?

Back then I was very fond of of Arvo Part, Henryk Gorecki Symp. №3 (2), Harold Budd / Brian Eno “The Pearl” and other works of Eno. Even Robert Fripp, Robert Wyatt and Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares.

And who are your biggest influences now?

Now I’m under the impression from Zelienople, Akira Rabelais – “Spellewauerynsherde”, Gas, Gavin Bryars – “The Sinking of the Titanic”, David Sylvian -”Blemish”, Flunk, NASA Voyager Recordings etc…

How did your relationship with Infraction come about and what can we expect in the future?

Brian Grainger (Milieu) is a good friend of mine and he took my records and gave them to Jason Bryant, owner of Infraction Records and it started from there. The future? I can not say anything – it is the future!

Where is your ‘Strangely Isolated Place’?

Interesting question. In fact, ‘Strangely Isolated Place’ is my home, it is as the submarine, I look through the windows to the outside world, I communicate via phone and chat. But most of all I love to listen to music on my iPod Classic and a walk in the park, but this doesn’t happen very often.

Your music is quite varied, with aspects of ambient, electronica, downtempo and ‘chill’. Do you prefer one over the other?

I find it difficult to pin a style to my music, but i can tell you what it isn’t – Chill-out or New Age. My music does not contain any rest or peace (with rare exceptions), and is not intended for easy listening with a cup of coffee at the bar.

There’s a few vocal samples in your tracks too,  are they samples or were they produced specifically for the tracks?

No they’re not samples and they weren’t designed specifically for Parks either. My friend is a vocalist for a rock band and his American girlfriend used to sing to him on a dictaphone to teach him the correct pronunciation. I took possession of these records and used them within tracks. They were however, heavily edited and changed.

Can you describe the process behind the tracks you selected for this mix?

Before I start a mix, there is always a special feeling and I start looking for a sound that will match. I’ll take any sound that comes across strongly and change its ways to fit. What may start out as rubbish at the beginning can often turn into diamonds. I use Cubase 5, Logic, Kontakt, Kurzweil K2000, Korg ESX-1, and some additional things that make a poor quality sound. The results are recorded on an old tape, then digitized and a cleared out.

Seeing as your isolatedmix is made-up of your own tracks, can you name two or three tracks you would have chosen if you were putting together a mix of other artists?

I think it will be Jacaszek – V, Lahto – The Night Was Green and NASA Voyager Recordings 2 – Sphere Of IO

isolatedmix 21 – Jonas Munk – Dreamy Sounds from Odense 2001-2011

 For those of you that follow ASIP regularly, you’re probably aware of my obsession around places, and its relation to music. Places can inspire and music can be a result of this inspiration as well as compliment our experiences in a personal and memorable way.

With that in mind, it gives me great pleasure in introducing the 21st isolatedmix to you all. The genius behind ‘Manual’ and recent collaborator with Ulrich Schnauss, Jonas Munk has chosen a unique approach to his isolatedmix. I needn’t say much more, as Jonas has given us an in-depth commentary on the approach and the tracks that have been chosen below.

The thought and effort that has gone into this mix is second to none, so a big thank you to Jonas for an insightful, and inspiring isolatedmix.

–
Words from Jonas Munk:

“I’ve had this idea of compiling some of the artists that has come out of my hometown Odense, Denmark for a while. Recently a short Danish radio feature was made about the music scene in Odense which gave a glimpse of some of the current projects, but it certainly didn’t paint a picture of the city as a place with a specific sound. But what has become more and more obvious to me throughout the years is that Odense most certainly has a sound – or at least a certain character. Sure, bands break up or change their style and people move away, but somehow there’s a set of similarities running through a lot of the music that has come out of Odense anyway – which should be obvious when listening to this mix of dreamy rock and electronic music from the last ten years.

When I was asked to do a mix for astrangelyisolatedplace, I felt that it was a good opportunity to finally compile some of the fine bands and artists from Odense, and maybe also the right time since it’s roughly ten years ago me and my friends starting releasing albums. But even with such a stylistically narrow focus (bands and artists that are somehow related to dream-pop, ambient or shoegaze) it was actually impossible to squeeze the rather large amount of projects into a comprehensive overview within an hour-long mix. So unfortunately not all the relevant projects are represented here.

Which is kind of ironic. In Denmark, Odense (the third largest city in the country) has a reputation of being a cultural wasteland, a place with miles and miles of residential neighbourhoods but hardly any culture of real interest. Which is true, sort of. On the surface there has only been the occasional famous DJ or rock band coiming out of Odense. Besides that there have been loads of cover bands. And metal bands. Lots of metal bands. But underneath all this there has been produced a wealth of highly ambitious, original and accomplished music in Odense. It’s just that it has never been obvious to anyone who wasn’t either part of these circuits or deeply interested in alternative music. This stuff hasn’t really been super visible at local venues or been present in the Danish press – it has mainly been going on in bedrooms, rehearsal spaces and project studios. Apart from a few interested journalists and concert promoters all this great music has been all but completely neglected by the cultural institutions – that be mags, radio, festivals, art councils and daily press. At least in Denmark, that is. Because a lot of these artists have done very well outside Denmark, releasing albums on respected labels in the US, Germany, UK, France and Japan, and have gotten amazing press and toured in these countries. Except for one, none of these artists have ever released anything in Denmark.

So how come a slow, medium-sized city such as Odense, in a country with hardly any interest in this kind of music, has produced all these quality dreamy records? Good question. Maybe one reason is the lack of interesting things going on. Except for the occasional festival or the occasional cool show at one of the local venues. There have been a long tradition for international bands to skip Odense when playing in Denmark: the cool bands play Copenhagen, then travel straight to Aarhus before going down to Germany. You’re propably more likely to have a good evening drinking cheap beer listening to Seefeel and My Bloody Valentine all night with your friends than going to one of the local techno parties or rock venues. Maybe there’s a tendency for people to become slightly introverted and therefore absorb themselves in music and creation. And if you’re a young, slightly introvert artist what better sounds to bury yourself in than the dreamy sounds of the 1980s and early 1990s? Well, according to this idea every motionless, medium-sized city in Europe should be producing loads of shoegaze bands, which obviously isn’t the case. Maybe it’s because Denmark is a welfare country and young people tend to have plenty of time on their hands – which an amount of them choose to spend playing guitar while starring at the clouds? I’m not sure.

Maybe the more likely explanation is that a bunch of young, romantically inclined and somewhat intellectual people have been hanging around each other, generating ideas and these ideas have been bouncing around their friend circuits for some time and eventually beyond those circuits, which in the end have resulted in a lot of music that shares certain traits. Coincidentally these people are into Durutti Column, Slowdive and the likes – great music that isn’t really trendy, that is.

Or maybe there’s just something in the water in Odense, that naturally makes young people attracted to reverb and melancholia?”

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Tracklist – see below for full track notes.
01. Rumskib: Love at first sight
02. Dorias Baracca: Silence
03. Limp: New Autumn
04. Syntaks: Shiftandshade Ahead
05. Scared Crow: I hate you too
06. Balloon Magic: Waking Up
07. Keith Canisius: Omorose
08. Ulrich Schnauss & Jonas Munk: In Odense
09. Manual: Saudade
10. Dead Sunday: Brotherhood
11. The Dove is Dead: Moth
12. Dorias Baracca: Shaky Dreams
13. Aerosol: Airborne

1. Rumskib: Love at first sight

-Rumskib was a duo consisting of Keith Canisius and Tine Louise. They only made one album before splitting up – the self-titled 2007 release on Darla Records in the US. The sound of Rumskib is a euphoric blend of 1980s pop, electronica and shoegaze that will appeal to anyone who has ever been in love with Curve, Lush or Cocteau Twins. However this is one of the abstract pieces from that album which deconstructs the dream pop sound into something that’s closer to Fennesz or Tim Hecker in sound.

2. Dorias Baracca: Silence

-Unfortunately Dorias Baracca also ceased to exist earlier this year when lead singer, and main creative force, Buster Svendsen passed away in June, at 19. In the band’s rather short existence they managed to create a unique style of shoegaze that encompass the swathing, romantic noise of early Slowdive and Ride as well as aspects of louder guitar-driven rock from the 1990s. Silence is from the Handsome Meltingpoint EP that came out on London label Club AC30 in January 2010. That EP stands as a great testament to Dorias Baracca’s potential as a band, and their ability to channel their creativity into such a seductive blend of dreamy melancholy and unbounded youthful energy. One can only wonder how a band can reach such an artistic maturity while still in their teens.

3. Limp: New Autumn

-Limp was a unit consisting of myself, Jakob Skøtt, Jess Kahr and Rasmus Rasmussen and formed the basis of the styles and sounds we would later explore through our various soloprojects: Manual, Syntaks and Aerosol. Our aim was to create a kind of post-rock that also borrowed sounds and ideas from 1980s rock (über-romantic, U2-sized peaks) and dream-pop (a healthy dose of chorus and reverb) as well as the detailed programming of electronica that seemed so interesting back then (this was around 2000-2002). We didn’t entirely succeed but we did come up with a few fine moments where chorused guitars, electronics and dreamy analog synths came together with Jakobs powerful drumming in a way that was quite beautiful and unique. Listening to it now the closest reference for the Limp sound is definitely something like 1980s 4AD instrumental outfit Dif Juz (whom we weren’t familiar with back then). We only released a mini-album, Orion, on Morr Music in 2002 that did very well. New Autumn, however, is an earlier track from a demo that eventually ended up on the soundtrack for the film Nordkraft.

4. Syntaks: Shiftandshade Ahead

-Originally Syntaks was a solo outlet for Jakob Skøtt who was previously playing drums in Limp. After a collaborative album with Manual, 2004’s Golden Sun on Darla Records, he released a brilliant dreamy, but also beat-heavy, album called Awakes on Scottish label Benbecula. For his next full-length, 2009’s Ylajali on Ghostly International, he added his girlfriend Anna Cecilia to his musical creations and since then Syntaks has been a duo. At the same time the sound of Syntaks became more airy and moved closer to the lush sounds of Ulrich Schnauss, Kate Bush and Cocteau Twins, relying more on chimey synths and wordless, heavily reverbed vocals than complex edits and electronics. This track is from the brand new album Nachtblende that came out on UK label Parallax Sounds in late September.

5. Scared Crow: I hate you too

-Scared Crow is the moniker used by Kasper Aagaard. He creates haunting, mysterious music that exists somewhere between deconstructed post-punk, lo-fi electronica and minimalism. Durutti Column, Joy Division and John Maus are all meaningful references for the sound of Scared Crow, but Kasper is really onto his own thing. He mainly uses guitars and loop pedals to create all the layers of his music – even the percussive parts. His debut album, Love in a Dream (from which this track is taken) will be released very soon on Danish label A Beard of Snails Records.

6. Balloon Magic: Waking Up

-Balloon Magic is another Odense band that has reached a musical maturity that belies the fact that they are still in high school. They are way too young to be making the intense, finely crafted alternative pop they are creating. Taking inspiration from bands such as House of Love, The Church, Orange Juice, Go-Betweens and other well-selected sources, they manage to cook up pop songs that has all the flow and drive of their idols – as well as adding a very honest sense of teenage angst and melancholy that occasionally verges on darkness. Their debut ep, Mornings, will be released on the fine San Francisco/Portland label Shelflife on November 15.

7. Keith Canisius: Omorose

-This track is from Keith’s first solo album after Rumskib disbanded called Ferris Wheel Makeout, released on Japanese label Quince in 2008. Keith really has his own way of putting compositions together. Unlike so many other producers operating in the field of electronic shoegaze, chill wave or whatever people wanna call it, Keith has a way of creating interesting compositions that take surprising turns and explore the possibilities of songwriting – not merely the possibilities of sound. His guitar playing is super influenced by Robin Guthrie but he has managed to use Guthries ideas in his own way, which this track is a good example of. His music also has a character that’s similar to Mew (a band that’s still awefully popular in Denmark – especially among teenage girls!) but Keith’s pieces has a sense of melody and composition that even Mew could learn a lot from. Since Ferris Wheel Makeout Keith has released two albums, latest This time it’s our high on Darla Records. He also recently started collecting his ambient explorations on a series of digital releases.

8. Ulrich Schnauss & Jonas Munk: In Odense

Ok, this is mostly here because of the title and the Odense field recordings. It’s one of the shorter pieces from our collaborative album that was released earlier this year – the result of working together in Odense, Kiel and London for some years.

9. Manual: Saudade

This is a new Manual track from a forthcoming ep and a good example of what constitutes the ‘Manual sound’. I’ve always been circulating around a specific set of ideas for the Manual albums. Most people seem to think that this comes from lack of ideas, but to me it has always been about exploring in depth a field that I truly consider my own – even though this field might be quite narrow (I also do quite a lot of work very far away from this narrow field, for those who didn’t know). Creating Manual tracks takes long time and careful work, slowly putting chord progressions together that I consider interesting, getting the right tone for each layer of sound I add to the mix. I guess my continuing to work around some of the same musical ideas reflects my insistence that there’s beauty in this work and that there’s still important areas of this style that needs to be explored, even though this style is not awfully popular anymore.

10. Dead Sunday: Brotherhood

This is propably the newest band on this mix as Dead Sunday only started playing together a little more than a year ago. It’s also the youngest band present and there’s certainly something very refreshing about their swirling and noisy brand of shoegaze. Inspired by Chapterhouse, Jesus and Mary Chain, Slowdive and other classic British bands, they create romantic music about the wonder and naïvety of youth. Whereas a lot of the artists on this mix come from the same two or three circuits and work on collaborative projects together from time to time, these guys suddenly came out of nowhere. Hopefully they will release something soon.

11. The Dove is Dead: Moth

Jens Aagaard (the older brother of Kasper Aagaard a.k.a. Scared Crow) always has his hands in a number of different projects, both solo experiments and in different bands. The music he creates under the name The Dove is Dead blends together ideas from different genres such as lo-fi, post-rock, electronica and alternative pop. Sometimes he will do stuff in the tuneful end of the spectre and sound somewhat similar to Ariel Pink or Washed Out – other times he will sound closer to the repetitive and ghostly sounds of early Seefeel or Slowdive’s 5 EP. This track sort of has a bit of both. At the heart of his operations is a manic creativity that seeks new ways to work with things – with this track, for example, he recorded some layers in an old warehouse to capture the natural reverb of the place.

12. Dorias Baracca: Shaky Dreams

Before lead singer and main songwriter Buster Svendsen passed away in June, Dorias Baracca had just by a tiny margin finished their first full-length album. This is one of my favourite tracks from that album. Hopefully it will be released sometime.

13. Aerosol: Airborne

Aerosol is another soloproject that grew out of Limp. The man with the repetitive name Rasmus Rasmussen creates repetitive music with focus on detailed synthesizer work and hazy guitar atmospheres. The music of Aerosol is often slow-burning – usually starting out with a foundation of simple chord structures and gradually adding layers to create pulsating, melodic streams of sound that brings to mind both Scandinavian electronica in the style of Opiate or Dub Tractor and classic British indie and shoegaze sounds. The first Aerosol release was a 12” EP on French label Active Suspension followed by a mini-album on UK label Unlabel in 2006 called All that is Solid Melts into Air (which has recently been reissued) finally followed by a full-length on American label n5MD in 2009, Airborne – where this track is taken from.

isolatedmix 20 - Markus Guentner: Ten Years of Pop Ambient

I’ve got to be honest, since day one of the isolatedmix series, Markus Guentner has been at the top of the wish-list. He needs little introduction to most of you, as lovers of ambient would’ve no doubt at some point melted in amongst one of his productions on Kompakt’s Pop Ambient or floated along to one of his very rare ambient sets. His consecutive contributions to our best loved ambient series and a one-off release on Sending Orbs has earn’t him respect from all walks of musical life. From lovers of ambient to die-hard techno fans, i’ve heard Markus’ name crop up numerous times within inspirational music conversations.

The likes of ‘Baghira’ and ‘Express Yourself’ have become synonymous with dream-like, looping ambient productions for the past ten or so years and have taken starring roles amongst Kompakt’s finest productions – no mean feat. Ultimately, Markus’ consistent, quality ambient music has defined the minimalist side of Kompakt we all love today and has spurred on a multitude of other producers to adopt the same approach to ambient music.

It’s unsurprising therefore to find out the inspiration and theme for Markus’ isolated mix.

10yrs of Pop Ambient …

“As you can see, I used a lot of Pop Ambient/Kompakt tracks in this set, but it should not be seen as promo-mix for Kompakt – instead, the mix honours ten years of a specific ambient-style and contains many of the great artists who produced and adopted this style. I selected long and wide tracks to create a constant atmosphere, for long mixes without big cuts and breaks.”

Download

Tracklist:
01 – Gustavo Lamas – MaÒana / Kompakt
02 – Chris Mcnamara – Oooohdear / Overlap
03 – www.jz-arkh.co.uk – ddrhodes / www.jz-arkh.co.uk
04 – Roger Martinez – Crowded City Empty Minds / Roger Martinez pres. Horizontal Excursions
05 – Triola – Leuchtturm (Triola im Fünftonraum)/ Kompakt
06 – Aitokaiku – Sunset Park / Unreleased
07 – Ulf lohmann – Audrey (Pop Ambient 2004) / Kompakt
08 – Markus Guentner – Wanderung (1981) / Kompakt
09 – Andrew Thomas – Fearsome Jewel 9 (Pop Ambient 2004) / Kompakt
10 – Jens-uwe Beyer – Volax (Pop Ambient 2011) / Kompakt
11 – Triola – Das Wunder Der Kulperhütte (Pop Ambient 2007) / Kompakt
12 – Gastón Arévalo – Latitud / Unreleased
13 – Klimek and Husak -The Godfather (For William Basinski & Snoop Dogg) (Pop Ambient 2009) / Kompakt
14 – Gas – Pop / Mille Plateaux
15 – Ulf lohmann – Lai King Est (Pop Ambient 2007) / Kompakt
16 – Mikkel Metal – Decline (Pop Ambient 2006) / Kompakt
17 – The Sight Below – No Place for us (Eluvium Sedated remix) / Ghostly Int.

http://www.m-guentner.de/