isolatedmix 116 - Chris SSG: Fuzzy edges and a scarlet core

Our first isolatedmix of the new year arrives intently for this moment in time, as Chris SSG captures a tapestry of ambient across an extended ~2hrs, to welcome in the new year.

As the MNML SSGS co-founder, Chris SSG is likely no stranger to those who have been in the online periphery (or legacy should I say) of ambient and techno forums over the past 15+ years. Coincidentally the MNML SSGS blog came to an end, ten years ago which makes this mix strangely appropriate to be featured here now on (what I think might be one of the last holdouts in the world of blogging!) I found many brilliant mixes through its associated mix series (Donato Dozzy, cio d'or, Peter Van Hoesen, and the very first one in the series remaining on high rotation, from bvdub) to name just a few.

But without dwelling on the past too much, (or how much I miss the days of passionate music bloggers linking up the best mixes of the decade on MP3 links) this background is imperative to the Chris SSG story.

As a curator, Chris’ mixes come from a highly considered approach that stems from years of experience DJing and exposing the best talent and musicians. With a passion for the art of the mix, and many overlaps between us in taste and journey so far, Chris asked to go back and forth for our usual introduction/Q&A, and I thoroughly enjoyed the process as a result.

Continue below for our ponderings on the art of ambient mixes in general, online events, and some background info from Chris on what he is up to, and the mix he prepared especially, to bring in the new year.

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ASIP: You decided to prepare an isolatedmix for us at a very specific time and moment, can you elaborate on this decision?

Chris SSG: 2021 was a strange year in terms of my relationship with music. It was the least I’ve played since I started to DJ. This was obviously connected to pandemic-related disruptions, but I also have used that time to think about the meaning and purpose of DJing and parties. And, for me at least, I do feel that meaning matters, there are deeper ideas and values connected to what we are doing, and some practices contribute to these more than others. I am still working through all of this, but in the context of recording podcasts, connecting them to certain moments or ideas is a way of making them more than ‘just another mix’. With that in mind, I have been wanting to contribute to the ASIP series for a long time and doing it to mark the new year really appealed to me. While I haven’t been playing, I have been continuing to look for new music, so this mix became an opportunity for me to compile and put some of it together.

I know you mark the end of years with label mixes, and this time you had Todos prepare the label mix for you. Can you talk a bit about why do these end-of-year label mixes, and the significance of asking Todos to do it?

ASIP: ASIP began as a blog with mixes being a big focus (the isolatedmix series for example) so the ‘art of the mix’ has always been a passion of mine; in creating, curating and hosting them. I started putting the end of year label compilations together 3 years ago as the label hit a good cadence and could warrant a ‘sampler’ so to speak, to help introduce people to the varied releases, but I don’t really see much value in just rehashing some chosen tracks, given many ASIP followers probably already own the tracks as full albums. So I wanted to present another angle to these compilations that could offer something new. 

Completing a mix with predefined tracks/albums is tough, but I believe in many ways liberating. As you mentioned above, a concept can help make it “more than just a mix”. I often like to enforce my own rules or concepts to help me become even more focused and creative in approach (eg the Portals mixes). I listen to so much music that it can become overwhelming to create mixes with a blank canvas as a starting point. 

I discovered todos at the very beginning of the ASIP days and his Kilchurn mixes became some of my favorites of all time, due to his unique style and nostalgic connection with the early 00’s electronic music / Global Underground days. We since became good friends and it was a no-brainer to give him the task of tackling the 2021 comp. I honestly can’t see how many others could’ve achieved what he did with the tracks - he exceeded my expectations. I hope to do the same next year with a DJ, assuming the ASIP 2022 catalog can warrant it and someone is up to the challenge…

How do you tackle your mixes? What’s your process in a situation like you described above?

Chris SSG: I always record my mixes live in one-take and don’t edit them. Sometimes the first attempt doesn’t come together right, and it takes a few attempts, that is what happened for this mix. In terms of preparation, sometimes I am using what I’ve already organised for playing out, and other times, I will prepare a playlist if I have a more specific aim with the mix. When DJing ambient, I separate music out into folders with different energies or functions and move through these different folders as the set develops. This gives me a balance of freedom and structure.

When playing, what I think about is the overall progression of the set, how it hangs together. As I am selecting individual tracks I am focusing on where I want to go, what my aim is. For instance, sometimes I will deliberately have sections that are a bit more challenging or difficult to grasp hold of and then come out of that with something easy, comforting, warm. There is a Japanese expression for this: ‘ame to muchi’, candy and whip. When DJing, you want to be giving candy, but sometimes that means you first need the whip, it makes the candy taste better… That is just one technique, but I do really like creating contrasts. And through doing all of this, ultimately what I am aiming for when playing is to create something cohesive and resonant, and when it works right, to evoke memories and emotions. 

I have said this before, but I think there can be a tendency to underestimate the challenge of putting together a compelling ambient mix. It requires more than just removing the beats. From your experience both DJing and curating the mix series, how have you come to think about it? What do you think is distinctive or important about playing ambient?

ASIP: I agree, it’s really hard to do right and I am definitely still learning. I think the most important aspect that I try to hit, is storytelling. And by that, I mean constructing different chapters, moods, or emotions that keep it interesting and flowing well. Or in some cases, showing different or new angles of a concept or style.

You could say, “well that’s the same for any genre mix” but I’d argue ambient music has many more tools to create a narrative (and therefore many more ways to f$#k up). Anger, power, love, nostalgia, comfort, euphoria, or just straight-up noise and sonic resonance, as examples, can all come into play within one ambient mix, with the added element of how they interact with each other and the space you’re creating. So the art of knowing what and when is heightened and similarly even more delicate. Like you said before, toying with them is also an interesting approach too. There are (typically) no beats to hide behind, or vocals to distract the listener so it’s all laid bare in an ambient mix. Ambient DJs are basically playing with their pants ready to be pulled down at any moment given the exposed and sensitive nature of the music :-0

I think the additional tricky part of the ‘ambient mix’ is also the subjectivity of where and how it should be listened to. Ultimately if the DJ has this idea of taking someone on an emotional rollercoaster and the listener is playing the mix in the kitchen on an Alexa whilst they make dinner, it's obviously not going to achieve that goal. This is why, especially for mixes meant for online, I try to give clear concepts or introductions. Never “oh here’s a new mix I hope you like it”. Without context, it becomes a bit more ego-driven and assumes people will love it for the fact you are behind it (which could also happen) , but there are many more elements to come into play for a mix to really hit home.

Similarly, if you’re sitting with friends relaxing to an ambient mix in the classic ‘background’ sense, then I likely don’t care about the weird concept or narrative you had intended. Hearing Eno and Enya (!) in any order will likely do just the trick, so while it takes a lot to perfect a mix, it’s just as important not to get too hung up on the idea of creating some unattainable art form or concept at the end of the day. I say do it for yourself and if others enjoy it, that’s a bonus. Ambient music is very personal anyway - at least it is for me.  

Chris SSG: Reading and thinking about your response, I wonder how much of what you describe is distinctive to ambient, and how much is more a reflection of what you (and myself, and our readers hopefully) are interested in. For example, I am sure many dancefloor DJs would regard their music as having the possibility for emotional range and complexity, for developing narrative, and so on. Certainly, in some ways, music with beats is easier to transport, but place and context still matter significantly. 

Saying all of that, I think the keyword you use is ‘delicate’, this hits on something important about ambient music. ‘Delicate’ can describe the music and the spaces needed, both physical and mental. Ambient can have a higher cost of entry, the listener might need to be more open or to pay more attention for it to work, for something to happen. Without that engagement, then it is harder for there to be a connection, it easily falls away into background noise. I have experienced this: the setting might be wrong, the crowd might not be open, there just is not space for anything to happen. But… if you get that opening, a bit of connection, then there are some really amazing possibilities with this music. And that is what I am looking for, that chance, that possibility of finding someone willing to listen and engage. In terms of how and in what conditions people choose to listen to what I am doing, I don’t care, I just want them to give me that opportunity, then it is up to me because I have music, ideas, emotions, energies I want to share.

And this comes back to something else you raised - it is very personal for you. This is something really important. When I look at artists I admire, gravitate towards, and appreciate, I notice this feature is present. Their music is a clear manifestation and powerful expression of themselves, it is authentic, it is genuine. And this is actually hard to do as an artist because it means you need to put yourself out there, to be vulnerable, to take risks. This might not be the best route to success or fame or whatever, but for me, at least, I think this is what is necessary. Interestingly, I also see this being an area where younger and growing artists can struggle - it is difficult finding the way to best express yourself, to develop something that is distinctive to you as an artist. 

The personal aspect is certainly clear in everything related to ASIP. It is obvious that it is something you attach meaning and value to, there is real care. People see it and appreciate it, and this is reflected in their being a group of people connected by and through ASIP. I was wondering if you can talk a bit about how you think about relationships, connections and community related to music. I feel like this is a very important piece of what we are talking about here, and it is something I feel is so central and important to why we do all of this.

ASIP: The community aspect of ASIP has primarily been built online, as despite a few low-key label shows over the years, I have never been situated in one place for too long to establish a decent ‘local’ community- it’s something I aspire to do one day- but it isn’t something you can force or speed up. It takes years and lots of effort, online or offline (oh, and then the Pandemic came along…)

If I had to try and summarise why community is important for ASIP and in many ways music in general, I think it comes down to trust.  

I aspire for people to trust my curation of the label, and in return for that trust, I put everything into making sure the end product is the best I can offer for both the artist and listener. People spend a lot of money buying records, or paying $10 for an album when they could just as quickly jump over to stream it for free, and I don’t think I will ever take that for granted.

I have always been the face behind the label too (which is a double-edged sword in many ways) but it definitely helps with that trust. People email me by name with questions and I can’t tell you how many relationships have begun because of these random emails or interactions. Albums and friendships have been born. Gone are the days when you could hide behind telephone numbers (Fax numbers!) or office doors as a label, and I like that. Of course, there’s something to be said about an air of mystery with music, labels, and artists, but that’s not the course I am on, whether I like it or not. I asked people for money to Kickstart our very first vinyl release in 2013, so my hand has always been on show. 

I think this comes full circle when you apply trust to the greater sense of community around ambient music and what you mentioned above. As a listener or event attendee, it’s crucial that you know the promoter, venue or artists involved, understand your investment in time and money, and is doing it for the right reasons - the experience. I relate this back to the Substrata Festival that Rafael Anton Irisarri used to run in Seattle. It was expensive to attend on the face of it, but you had full faith that the setup, venue, sound, acoustics, and curation of the festival would be spot-on every time. This is a rarity nowadays.

I’d be interested to know where you think community and events might be going in the future? With live streaming for example, becoming increasingly popular, the “experience” of the music is no doubt being diluted in many ways. But on the flip side, especially as I have experienced with 9128.live, I am also seeing the community aspect reborn again stronger, as people converge around similar interests and conversations in the most basic ways, which I feel has also been missing with physical, live events. I would go to so many ambient events and not meet a single person due to the way it’s set up, for example.

Chris SSG: It is encouraging your positive experience with 9128.live. I have participated in some of those live streams and it has been nice connecting and chatting with others. Things like this are important, but I do fear they are a bit more the exception than the rule. I also wonder whether something like the 9128 is building off ASIP and a network of people that predates the current iteration of the internet and social media. With the pandemic and people looking for options and things to do, there has been an over-saturation of streams, videos and mixes. If you want to support something now, what do you support? There is so much, it can feel rather overwhelming. 

In terms of the future, I am not too worried about streaming events diluting the experience of music, ultimately it tends to be more of a poor substitute for being able to do things in person. We are a long way off being able to replicate the feeling of actually being at an event and experiencing it with others, I am sure all the streaming stuff will die down once the pandemic eases. For the most part, these feel like quick stopgaps while everyone waits to get back to what they were doing beforehand. Indeed, this is partly what I am worried about, from what I can tell, when we get out of this pandemic, I don’t think much will have been learned, and I am worried about many of the more troubling trends in the way electronic music exists and operates at the present moment will continue unabated. 

I am concerned about how we can develop, maintain, and sustain a sense of community in the context of social media and an environment dominated by big platforms and big money. 9128.live is a great initiative, Buy Music Club is another one, and the new Nina platform built on Solana also looks very interesting; I hope to see more such initiatives.

After a very long break, I recently decided to start writing again and launched a substack called SSG Space, this is partly to share music and what I am doing, but also to sketch out some thoughts and to do so on my own terms outside of social media and the main platforms. I worry we all end up tending to operate in a closed system in which we are reinforcing and strengthening bad dynamics. I am not sure how we do it, but we need to find new ways and spaces for communicating, sharing, and engaging, the ones we have now are mostly bent and broken. My substack is hopefully a small contribution to this process.

ASIP: Lastly, can you tell us a bit about the mix you have prepared?

Chris SSG: The picture accompanying the mix was taken at Kenroku-en (兼六園), a famous garden in Kanazawa that dates back to the 1620s. I took it on a recent visit, when I arrived it was pitch black, except for the full moon in the sky. I walked around the quiet garden as the sun rose, night turning to day. Looking at the moss and the trees, the paths and the running water, I was overwhelmed by a sense of beauty, filled with awe. I certainly will never be able to achieve such perfection with my music, but what I aspire to is perhaps to generate a faint echo of those feelings. With that in mind, the mix is called ‘fuzzy edges and a scarlet core’.

The mix was recorded at my home in Tokyo, late December 2021. Thanks to Ryan / ASIP, as well as all of the artists and labels included in the mix, especially those who kindly sent promos of some of the tracks. I’ll be glad when I get a chance to play this music out, but for now, I hope you enjoy starting your year with it. Best wishes for 2022, may Fortuna be kind.

~

Listen on Soundcloud, Mixcloud, or the ASIP Podcast.

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astrangelyisolatedplace · isolatedmix 116 - Chris SSG: fuzzy edges and a scarlet core

Tracklist:

01. ELpH - Glimpse
02. Alva Noto - Xerrox Île
03. Bandhagens Musikförening - Cirkelskifte (Oberheim Matrix 6R)
04. Nadia Struiwigh - Starring
05. KMRU - Neutral Points
06. Coil - Sara Dale's Sensual Massage 7
07. Air - Spiritual Invocation
08. Niagara - V
09. Imaginary Softwoods - The Hi-Lonesome Conifers
10. Bea Brennan - Losos 2 (Nog mix)
11. Li Yilei - Kou
12. Elysia Crampton - Dog Clouds (feat. Jeremy Rojas)
13. Bernard Parmegiani - Pop Secret
14. Agonis - Sunlight Filtering Through Skyscrapers
15. SKY H1 - Labyrinth
16. XOR Gate - Conic Sections
17. Felisha Ledesma - 2AM
18. Mika Vainio - Shells
19. Autechre - Metaz Form8
20. Voiski - Confinement 18 (Why Is Time Passing So Quickly These Days?)
21. SØS Gunver Ryberg - Velvet Dome Of Becoming
22. Steve Moore - The Prophet Speaks
23. Mike Nigro - Loose Time
24. Brett Naucke - Parallax
25. London Modular Alliance - Hive Mind (Sketch #1)
26. Vivian Koch - I Know You're Here
27. Merrin Karras - Crevasse
28. Hamatsuki - Adaptation is Inevitable
29. Jo Johnson - Beithe
30. Nueen - Moving II
31. Mucho Sueño - Relacional
32. Priori - Shkrub
33. Anthony Naples - I Don't Know If That's Just Dreaming

Chris SSG | Soundcloud | Twitter | Bandcamp Collection

isolatedmix 115 - HVL

I’m not sure how I first came across Gigi Kaiji, aka HVL’s music. But the Georgian artist has done an amazing job at releasing nothing but quality for the past few years now, establishing himself as a true hybrid of techno in all its various guises. Not only that, but the set Gigi played for the Astral Industries takeover on 9128.live was one of the most immersive moments of the event.

Whether it’s the meandering, grainy textures in Aura Fossil’s album opener Newenslo, or the addictive, bubbling didgeridoo in Sallow Myth, it’s no surprise to see Gigi getting plays and support from the likes of Aphex Twin, along with a bunch of superlative comments across his Bandcamp page, and inclusions in many of 2021’s ambient sets I’ve listened to. (Just this week, Trainspotters would’ve spotted HVL in Traumprinz’s latest mix dump).

In the same way perhaps that emerging producers such as Skee Mask are constantly adding new twists and fresh approaches to their music, through his own self-releases, HVL is quickly gathering a similar cult following that doesn’t really fit amongst the traditional techno crowd. As one person puts it on one of his Bandcamp albums, “…one of the world's most exciting, inventive electronic musicians”, or as a glowing RA review recently noted., “this is music that works well in large doses: dreamy and uplifting, all soaring rhythms and twilit atmospheres. It's also impressively dynamic”.

Given the many ambient and dreamy undertones to be found in HVL’s music, I was keen to find out a bit more about Gigi and invite him over our way for an isolatedmix.

Hi Gigi, can you tell us about your musical background?

I have studied classical music on piano and guitar since I was 6. Composed at a young age too, but discovered electronic music only in my late teens.

Your music is extremely varied, but how would you describe your own output?

I couldn't really. I know it's electronic because of the instruments I use to record it. I like to think of it as music that you can enjoy at home in your favorite chair, or on a night drive. Whenever you're comfortable to dive into it.

HVL albums have been released on your own label to much success on Bandcamp, what was the reason for not approaching a label with your great music? Do you think we will see vinyl editions of your self-released records at any point? 

I do work with labels usually, this time the reason was time saving and the fact that you can profit from it immediately. Also I had this batch of tunes that I wanted to put out exactly the way I wanted. With labels I'd need to make some adjustments. It's useful financially, especially because there are no live gigs happening in Georgia right now. 12" sampler versions of the two albums I released in 2020 will be out on Appian Sounds soon.

What role does ambient music play in your life and music production?

That's all I listen to in recent years. Most of the music I play at home is either drone or ambient. I haven't really done that many ambient tracks but I use elements of it quite often.

Some people might have discovered you from Aphex Twin playing your music in his DJ sets - did this come as a surprise to you?

It was a big surprise when I first found out on reddit by accident, but then I learned that he's quite a digger of obscure stuff and it made more sense to me.

Also, it was very humbling as I have enjoyed his music for more than a decade now, so It felt great!

You have a great track record on Bandcamp so far, so what can we expect from you going forward? 

I like to release almost everything I record, so there will be more albums on my Bandcamp and friends' labels too. 

And lastly, can you tell us a bit about the mix you have prepared?

This is a collection of tracks that I would use to fall asleep. Enjoy!

~

Listen on Soundcloud, Mixcloud, or the ASIP Podcast.

astrangelyisolatedplace · isolatedmix 115 - HVL

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Tracklist:

01. Aleksi Perälä - UK74R1619200
02. Tamo Nasidze - In Memoriam
03. Area - Tessellated Rhubarb
04. The Abyss Within Us - Part I
05. Ryo Murakami - Deist
06. Bowery Electric - Under The Sun
07. LF58 - Metamorfosi
08. Gustavo Santaolalla - Breathless
09. Unearth Noise - Message From The Dead
10. Seal Bient - Runout 06.08
11. ZOV - Yedoma
12. Bipolardepth - Runout 01.06
13. Shine Grooves - Salubrious Waters
14. Seal Bient - Runout 06.03
15. Okinawa Lifestyle - Underwater
16. Ludvig Forssell - Bridges
17. Levan Shanidze - L1 (chushi edit)
18. Vladislav Dobrovolski - type 2
19. Kaiji - teapot_lim_hi
20. Unearth Noise - Soul Surgery
21. Masterknot - 14.03.2018-3
22. Nuances - We're Becoming Each Other
23. HVL - Temppa
24. Donato Dozzy & Tin Man - Test 3
25. Nuances - Death of November

~

HVL | Bandcamp | Discogs | Soundcloud

isolatedmix 114 - R.A.D.E

Our latest isolatedmix comes from R.A.D.E, an English artist who (at the time we first spoke) was living in my home of Los Angeles. We were introduced to each other after both he and Illuvia were included in a Bandcamp feature by Joe Muggs, and I thanked Joe for bringing R.A.D.E’s music to my attention, along with many other great releases in the article. It turned out both David (R.A.D.E) and I were both in LA, so had planned to meet up and talk all things music, but life got in the way and David unexpectedly moved to Barcelona earlier this year.

Mixing breaks, ambient, bass, and DnB elements, R.A.D.E’s music sits in that nostalgic territory for anyone who grew up listening to a wide variety of electronic music. Working anywhere between the dancefloor and the chill-out room, it’s a style that draws upon the best parts of each genre, sometimes across a single track, and is often caught varying in focus between each EP, making each of his releases so far, a lovely, varied listen.

As Joe Muggs, put it in the original Bandcamp article best; “The L.A.-based R.A.D.E. loves smooth textures and high production value in his outer-space inspired grooves. Occasionally, that can steer things towards the excesses of prog house (as on “Alta Vista” here); but more often, it works as an update of the warm ‘90s vibes of The Orb, Future Sound of London, and LTJ Bukem”.

With an obvious connection to a musical era and many heroes that I grew up listening to, I was keen to get to know what inspired the (so far) two lovely EP’s from the R.A.D.E camp.

ASIP: Your R.A.D.E catalog is still in the early stages with two mini-albums on Bandcamp - when did you start producing and what was the inspiration to begin R.A.D.E?

R.A.D.E: I’ve been making music for quite a while and put out a couple of releases under a different name on labels in the UK. This would have been mid 2000’s and I would say at that point I hadn’t really found “my sound” so there was a lot of exploration and experimentation but also a lot of procrastination which meant that not much got finished. When I moved to California in 2015 it felt like a new start and I had more of a creative urge than I had for a while, so I spent some time reflecting on the music that had shaped my taste over the years and tried to distill the common elements...The atmospheric nature of ambient music, the low end of dub and drum n bass, recycled breakbeats - these all seemed to be recurring motifs in a lot of the music that I loved, so I tried to weave them together with R.A.D.E into something that sounded contemporary and coherent.

Was it a surprise to be picked out and featured in the Bandcamp article?

Absolutely! Especially given the other artists that were featured - Illuvia, Special Request, Zed Bias, Distance - these are people whose music I really admire. I was very conscious of the fact that R.A.D.E is a new, self-released project and that I didn’t have any kind of profile or label support, so to find myself in that kind of company with my first release gave me a huge confidence boost and motivated me to get back in the studio. I should also shout out Joe Muggs at this point, who wrote the article for Bandcamp and introduced the two of us. His book “Bass, Mids, Tops” is a great window into the influence of UK soundsystem culture. Highly recommended.

Your music takes many sources of inspiration, can you tell us in your own words what influences your output? 

In terms of musical genre, I already mentioned some of the reference points... I’m drawn to the more electronic end of the ambient spectrum, but breakbeats and bass have also been a constant musical thread for me whether via hip hop, breaks or D&B. A lot of the music that I love fuses those two things - the atmospheric, immersive aspects of ambient and the physicality of Soundsystem music. 

I used to DJ chillout rooms and post-rave spaces and so R.A.D.E was partly inspired by that - I wanted to capture some of the communal energy and exhilaration of the rave and blend that with the more solitary, inner exploration that ambient music tends to encourage. There are a lot of interesting contrasts there I think - euphoria versus melancholy; introspection versus shared experience; listening versus dancing; headphone music versus Soundsystem music... 

You recently moved to Barcelona, do you see this impacting your music in any way?

Difficult to say right now as I’ve only been here for a month or so. I think California definitely had a subliminal effect on the music. There’s a certain optimism, maybe idealism that is associated with the West Coast and I think that crept in there - albeit tempered with some good old British realism. One of the reasons that I’m drawn to the music of the 90’s is also that there was a lot of positivity and optimism about the future and technology’s role in it during that era. Obviously that’s become quite tainted in recent years, but it’s good to recapture some of that idealism at a time like this I think. 

We previously spoke about how you used to DJ as well as produce, what came first and was the mix a nostalgic trip to your DJ days? 

DJ’ing came first - just because of a love of discovering new music and sharing it with people. And I enjoyed the fact that in the spaces where I was playing, there was less pressure to make people dance and so you could experiment a bit more and play for people’s heads rather than their feet. Early on, I didn’t think that making music was an option for me since I don’t have any formal musical training, but once it dawned on me that Ableton Live was just another instrument, I dedicated myself to learning to play that and DJ’ing took a back seat. I rarely DJ at all these days, so the mix was an opportunity to dust off my record box and dig out some old favourites but I wanted it to look forwards as well as backwards, so there are quite a few recent tracks in there as well. I’m as excited about discovering new music as I ever was.

Can you tell us a bit about the inspiration behind the mix and the tracks featured?

The mix is almost like a blueprint for the R.A.D.E sound really - it takes in quite a few of the influences that I mentioned earlier and transitions from spacey ambient dub into more breaks driven territory in the second half.

It’s book-ended by Carl Sagan - starting out with his famous “Pale Blue Dot” monologue and then the voice you hear in the final track “Touch Forever” is Sagan’s wife Annie Druyan. She’s talking about how they met and fell in love whilst working together on the Golden Record that accompanied NASA’s Voyager spacecraft. It’s like an interstellar love story - I loved the epic scale of that and the Pale Blue Dot speech. I return to that a lot when things get overwhelming and I need to regain perspective ;-)

So the first two tracks (by Reagenz and A.P.L) are both perennial favourites of mine and then the Om Unit track that follows is taken from his “Acid Dub Studies” LP that came out earlier this year. Jim (Om Unit) is the type of producer that I really admire. He’s not confined by genre and is able to transition from one style to another in a really authentic way. Whether he’s making jungle, footwork, ambient or in this case electronic dub - the quality and consistency is never in question. There are a couple of pretty chill dubstep tracks on there from Ruckspin and Reso after that and then a bit of a lost classic (in my opinion). Jaguar’s “Odyssey” came out in 1998 I think on Rennie Pilgrem’s TCR label and is a great example of the kind of atmospheric breakbeat stuff that inspired R.A.D.E. That sort of sets the tone for the second half of the mix I suppose, although most of the tracks that follow came out in the last couple of years. MOY is from London and has been putting out some really emotive acid breakbeat records on Bandcamp. Long Island Sound are two lads from Dublin who have their own label called Signs of Space. The Will Silver track came out on LA’s Nice Age label and just seemed to be crying out to be mixed into Orbital’s “Belfast” (I’m sure I’m not the first to do this). Plus it was really nice to include Orbital because without them I never would have got into making electronic music in the first place. I remember reading an early interview with them and being struck by their punk DIY ethic - but instead of “buy a guitar and start a band” they applied it to computers, synths and samplers which I found much more relevant and inspiring. And then the last two tracks are both mine. “Witch U” is from my recent EP “Pacific” which was kind of a farewell ode to California and “Touch Forever” is from my debut EP which was called “The Overview”. If you want to know what R.A.D.E is all about I think the mix is a pretty good introduction - I hope you enjoy it.

Listen on Soundcloud, Mixcloud, or the ASIP Podcast.

astrangelyisolatedplace · isolatedmix 114 - R.A.D.E

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Tracklist:
01. Reagenz - Ä
02. Carl Sagan - The Pale Blue Dot
03. A Positive Life - The Calling (Loved ‘Ub Mix)
04. Om Unit - Rolling Stock
05. I:Cube - Le Dub
06. Ruckspin & Quark - Sunshine
07. Reso - Namida
08. Jaguar - Odyssey
09. Lone - How Can You Tell
10. MOY - Megatherium
11. Toke - Coast Line Thoughts
12. Long Island Sound - Shadows From Nowhere
13. Will Silver - We Can Talk|
14. Orbital - Belfast
15. Baile - Amae (Sasha Fabric 1999 Mix)
16. Barker - Paradise Engineering
17. R.A.D.E - Witch U
18. R.A.D.E - Touch Forever

R.A.D.E on Bandcamp | Instagram

isolatedmix 113 - Sunju Hargun

We’ve fallen a little behind the monthly schedule with isolated mixes recently, but that’s mainly because the artists lined up have been working hard on some very special journeys for us all. Getting back into the swing of things now, our latest mix comes from an artist who I got to know through a small online group that obsesses over Trance music, and ultimately helped us bring to life our recent Rapture Network 9128.live takeover, helping organize and provide the brilliant logo/identity for the festival and t-shirts.

When he and I are not obsessing over all types of ambient and psychedelic trance music, Sunju Hargun has been busy launching his new label, Siamese Twins Records, which since 2020 has not only been an outlet for some of his own work, but also served as an introduction to many pan-Asian artists through compilations such as Kāthā, and Vinyan, presenting a spectrum of “Eastern psychedelia”. The compilations represent a great starting point for many new artists stemming from a local scene, and one that I am excited about digging deeper into through both Sunju and his new label curation.

“A hypnotic sound bath in which tribally-rooted ambient morphs into one entity. Drones, live instruments and esoteric textures are transformed into a contemporary Kāthā interpretation.”

Coincidentally, during my trip to Hidden Sounds record store in London, I had picked up a remix EP from Sunju’s label, that delved into the slightly trancier side of his tastes (and label). It was a fleeting visit where the shop owner Alex loaded me up with so many nice bits, that I had hardly stopped to look at the artists and labels in my bag and was purely grabbing stuff on sound - always an exciting tactic for exploring new records when you get them home and realize you ended up supporting someone you enjoy based on music alone.

It’s with great pleasure to have Sunju behind the decks for this isolatedmix and a get peek into his own influences that undoubtedly shape his own productions, mixes and label output…

Hi Sunju, can you give us an intro to your musical upbringing?

I’m of Indian descent, born and raised in Thailand with some roots from Japan. I find love and happiness in connecting with people through music. I co-run the Siamese Twins records record label focusing on psychedelic sounds from the East. I’m also a part of the Karma Klique collective organizing parties in nature across Thailand with proceeds going to local social causes.

I was surrounded by lots of music when I was young. Lots of people whose music is sought after in the local Thai jazz/blues wave were my father’s friends, and some of that music was connected to psychedelic rock as well. Around that time was also another side of music which was an integral part of my life, came from my mother’s passion for Indian art and traditional Hindu soundtracks from the early 60’s to 70’s.

We are both deep Trance fans at heart - but how did you get into the ambient side of music?

At the time I was living in Shanghai, my friends would host intimate house sessions every other weekend to experience ‘trip’ gatherings with the music we felt connected to and grow our little prog-trance family by inviting other ravers we met along the way. Most of us were music nerds of the group that had to contribute to certain hours of the night to share our playlists, and I was mostly in charge of sunrise. Although I was not familiar with the term Ambient back then, instead referred to it as Reprise/Chillout'. Having the pleasure to breathe through the early 2000’s Prog era, I was heavily inspired by compilations from Global Underground, Renaissance & Producers like Satoshi Tommie, Spooky, Starkid, Leama, and Rabbit in the moon are just a few to mention that were a gateway to falling deeply in love with it.

Your new label Siamese Twins Records has made an excellent start, can you tell us a bit about the approach?

Thank you so much, very happy to receive great support and words from you about it.

It has been very community-driven as it's built upon mutual connections and friendships we made over the last five years running events with Karma Klique. We would invite artists from across the Asian region that gained our interest and with a similar ethos. There is a lot of mainstream electronic music here, but luckily there are also a lot of amazing artists, event organizers, record stores and labels that stubbornly do their own thing with a pure love for the art. While connecting with them often music they were working on was shared which we felt deserved a good home. This is also how we connected with Yoshi Nori who runs our sister label 禁JIN from Taipei and is one of the four co-founders of the Siamese Twins label.

The idea from the start was to embrace Asian identity and focus on the more psychedelic sound spectrum which can be both slow as fast. We release ambient, curated as long trips, compilations, but are also releasing trippy dancefloor orientated material ideally to be played at sunrise during a forest rave. We like to mix it up, stay weird. We care a lot about the total process from start to finish with lots of love and attention to detail. We approach it multi-dimensional and a way to have a dialogue with other expressions of Asian culture which shows in Taychin Dunnvatanachit’s artwork approach.

We hope to keep on building on these fundamentals. It’s very much our own thing and approach.

What is the ambient music scene like in Thailand? How do you try and stay connected locally?

Yes, Bangkok is a special city that I'm happy to call home.

The ambient movement is still quite young, but in the past year alone there might have been a spark of interest towards it being more appreciated by locals mainly because of spending plenty of time at home during the lockdown period. There is also a wave of music makers and collectives popping out at the moment who are heavily promoting it - A wonderful shift, with the hope that it earns a feature in festivals and gatherings on the horizon. The community of quality electronic music in Bangkok is tightly connected through record stores like More Rice and Zudrangma that promote a wide variety of world and electronic music. With the addition of a brand new local online-based radio called “BCR” that has managed to bring artists and friends to share music together during this time when clubs aren’t allowed to open.

You're a great visual artist too, is your music and art symbiotic in approach?

I would like to think there is an underlying secret connection towards some form of visual identity with my approach to music. In the past, I experienced moments of having these images built from dreams that became starting points to an idea of creating a track. Does not happen often, but when it does - I welcome it!

The mix feels very uplifting, especially near the end. What role does ambient music play in your life at the moment?

Ambient music helped me to understand sound layering in a whole different perspective. Over the past two years, I've especially embraced more experimentation in the studio and introduced sounds from various cultures rooted in Asia. This helped a lot to push creative boundaries. When possible I try to spend time learning more about sound’s behavior as well and how daily noise from our surroundings can impact us. Keeping my eyes & ears wide open to observe the smallest details.

Where was the mix prepared and what is the idea behind it?

The mix was recorded at home at approximately 10:30 am on a rainy morning. The concept behind the mix was to include tracks that are influencing me at the moment. I'm finding myself drawn towards music from Japanese producers more and more these days and wanted to share some of those discoveries alongside other favourite labels and promos from friends. The mix itself carries a story that feels fluid with a lot of focus on space, texture, and a hint of nostalgic memories. I hope the listeners will enjoy it and feel the same way.

~

Listen on Soundcloud, Mixcloud, or the ASIP Podcast.

astrangelyisolatedplace · isolatedmix 113 - Sunju Hargan

Download.

Tracklist:

01. Adi - Haz
02. Androne - Signs of life
03. Yagya – Old Dreams And Memories
04. Yumi Iwaki - Sleepy Fog
05. Pataphysical - Moonlit Picnic
06. Vivian Koch - Who
07. Lemna - Moments In Eternal Recurrence
08. Celestial Trax - New Masters of Psychedelic Ambience
09. Avsluta - Meditation 16
10. BLNDR - Callopsis
11. Vivian Koch - Closed (Yosemite Version)
12. JakoJako - Ochros
13. Only Thingz - Eyes Wide Open
14. Kosei Fukuda - Sky Clair (Uchi Remix)
15. Underworld - Dark & Long (Most 'Ospitable)
16. Talvin Singh - Butterfly

~

Sunju Hargun | Soundcloud | Bandcamp | Instagram | Bandcamp (Siamese Twins)

isolatedmix 112 - Suna

So many of the sets that have been a part of 9128.live these past few years have been outstanding, and some artists have even been able to make a couple of appearances across multiple takeovers. One of those artists who ticks both these boxes is Suna.

Based in Seoul, Suna made her first appearance in our world for the Astral Industries 9128.live takeover over a year ago, and was then invited back by Joachim Spieth for the Affin takeover earlier this year. Her set for this takeover was spellbinding, and I was obliged to ask Suna to present this mix once again for the isolatedmix series, for even more people to enjoy.

For those who are new to Suna, she plays a crucial part in the burgeoning electronic scene in Seoul - one I have heard amazing things about but yet to experience. As part of the infamous club vurt, Suna can often be heard as part of the lineup gracing the infamous concrete bunker with her carefully crafted ambient sets, of hypnotic deep techno, or just as busy running things behind the scenes.

ASIP - Thank you, Suna, for allowing us to republish this mix. It was one of my favorites from the 9128.live Affin takeover!

Suna - First of all, I feel very grateful to have an opportunity to take part in 9128.live, I enjoyed working on it.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your role at vurt?

vurt. is a crew that seeks the pure spirit of underground culture and timeless electronic music. We hold a slogan, 'Ancient Future'. Before opening vurt., I often felt there's a systemic problem that DJs cannot improve their music with their own identity. DJs were asked to compromise our musical direction that could have been related to the revenue of clubs, and new trial and challenges were not accepted. Superficiality was the only dominating concept, wearing the mask of the underground. I felt strongly that we are in need of a venue that DJs can build up their musical style through experiences, experiments and improvements.

vurt. wants to make everything possible, developing and realizing pure music that hold each one's character and identity. We keep the olds, welcome the new, and bridges various generations and their knowledge and experiences. 

How has vurt been impacted by the past few years? And what do you see as the future of clubs in this new world?

Like every other club in the world at the moment, vurt. has been influenced by Covid19 big time. 

Last year, the Korean government started to shut down clubs officially, and even before several months from that point, we were advised(morel like coerced) to keep shutting down. 

When we were having such a big difficulty without receiving any financial support or aid from the government, many local and international artists helped us.

Alex from Cassegrain released an album called <in_vurt> with many other artists, and they donated the sales revenue. I don't know how many times one gets to experience such a special gift, I still haven't figured out how I can pay them back. I feel indescribably grateful. After that vurt. and two other clubs in Seoul, Faust and Volnost joined forces and made a VFV Club project. We raised funds via a streaming event. Things were still on pause, and the pain was roaming in the air. I gained lots of energy to move forward while meeting people who were in the same shoes. Just by talking about how the camera is, how the streaming is, I felt like it gives me power. In the retrospect, it was a meaningful time to get to understand further about each other, before that event we three didn't really have that active communication. I thank all the listeners and people who donated. We also got great spiritual supports from loving friends of vurt., and the financial support from Jaegermeister was a meaningful help as well. So far, it was a miraculous time that we could hang in. 

We couldn't just shut the door, sit down and wait, so now we turned the venue into a bar and focusing on ambient music than techno. Before the pandemic, we were running vurt. as an ambient bar during the weekdays so the transition was somewhat natural. Now, we are doing exhibitions once every two months, we showcase the artists who have connections to vurt.'s identity. The latest exhibition last month was very meaningful and special. The artists were rather young, all based in Seoul and regulars of vurt., and for the last few years we have grown together. They were students who study art and photography, it was difficult to make an opportunity to do something together when we were running as a club, but at this point when things are paused because of the disease, they utilized our venue and created their narratives. The title of the exhibition was 'Symptoms', and it was about various symptoms that are being created while being deferred, and the hopes that are jumping in. While the exhibiting period, I felt the venue was revived by the young friends who have visited here countlessly and grown up together with us. When the venue lost its role, and we were getting tired of it, they brought the new hope to us. I felt strongly about the younger generation's power. 

However, it is a sorrowful, desolating thing to see that techno music cannot be played here, which was built and existed for that very reason. I keep thinking about how it could function was a club, in this confusing time.  

Can you summarize your approach to the mix you prepared?

I was invited by Joachim Spieth last January, and joined 9128 live - Affin invites to play. 

I like to deliver the vitalities that are newly created when one track meets another in my set. I also want to communicate emotionally, via various strange sounds that are related to the terra incognita. It would be a great pleasure for me if I could give a moment as a present when the listener's consciousness wakes up responding by deepened, spacious sounds. 

The mix holds a wish to heal our bodies and minds that are damaged by the sense of loss because of the prolonged pandemic.

~

Listen on Soundcloud, Mixcloud, or the ASIP Podcast.

Download

astrangelyisolatedplace · isolatedmix 112 - Suna

Tracklist:

1. Joachim Spieth - P 680 [Affin]
2. The Abyss Within Us - Life in a Circle - Part 1. [Astral Industries]
3. Biosphere - Gilberg [The Senja Recordings]
4. Kassel Jaeger - Fog Constellation (approaching)
5. Kassel Jaeger - Paris Mustangs
6. MonoLogue - A1 [Chemical Tapes]
7. Guy Hobsbawm - Brumaire [Mysteries Of the Deep]
8. Ab Uno - Sophia [Mahorka']
9. The Caretaker - In the deep and dark hours of the night [History Always Favours The Winners]
10. hakobune - Seamless and Here [Patient Sounds]
11. MonoLogue - A2 [Chemical Tapes]
12. Ryuichi Sakamoto - Andata [Commmons]
13. Saenïnvey - The Big Travel [Eilean Rec.]
14. Magna Pia - The Mirror [AWRY]

~

Suna | Soundcloud