isolatedmix 28 - Crisopa

Santi Lizón is an artist i’ve had the pleasure of witnessing grow these past few years, and I like to think that he has inspired me along the way. I’m not sure how I came across Crisopa at first, but a quick look back at the ASIP archives and it may have been one of the very first mixes I heard from Winterlight back in 2009. Funny, seeing as they are both now signed on the legendary n5MD label. Santi has floated around with several netlabels prior to this years release on n5MD and it was probably his 2010 release ‘Last Membrane’ that ultimately sealed the deal and the chance for a further album with one of the best electronic labels of today.

‘Biodance‘, released last month, is undoubtedly Santi’s best work yet and a culmination of his organic sound; combining glitchy electronics, instrumental shoegaze touches and drifting ambience. I didn’t think you could get better than ‘Dancing Curtains’ on ‘Last Membrane’ – it was like Tycho, Winterlight, and Ulrich Schnauss were jamming on a Summer evening – yep that big (have a listen). But Biodance is an evolution of Santi’s sound, and more electronic noises give it much more variety and depth. ‘Es Todo Mental’ for example, stays very close to ‘Dancing Curtains’ in style, but just absolutely kills it with a thoroughly electronic, oscillating climax.

Take a look at the tracklist for Santi’s isolatedmix and you’ll probably see what I mean. Two of the previously mentioned artists are in there as inspirations, alongside the likes of Jon Hopkins, Ochre and Ametsub – a rich mix of recent electronica pioneers. It’s pretty easy to hear the Crisopa sound in amongst this lot, and if this mix serves any purpose, it’s crowning glory will be to introduce you to the beautiful sound of Santiago Lizón Martínez.

You can purchase ‘Biodance’ from n5MD, and download ‘Last Membrane’ for free here.

“I Pretended to create a trip from quiet introspection to more dynamic feelings without losing the connection with sensitivity, beauty and power. This also pretends to be a little tribute to the artists in here to appreciate their infuence over me and the great moments provided to me.”

Download.

Tracklist:

1. Ametsub – Snowy Lava.
2. Ochre – REM sleep research.
3. Tycho – Adrift.
4. Ulrich Schnauss – Between us and them.
5. Yimino – Firen (read edit).
6. Tobias Lilja – Spineless.
7. Jon Hopkins – Vessel.
8. Vaetxh – Clipper.
9. Stable Mechanism – Curious Eye.
10. Eleven Tigers – Wind.
11. The Flashbulb – Undiscovered colors.

Tracknotes:

1. Snowy Lava — Ametsub. Fits me gorgeously when I go out of the city to a lonely place when human presence begins to vanish.
2. REM sleep research — Ochre. A magic, delicate dream where I come back when I need to.
3. Adrift — Tycho. Blinding sun light, warming and encouraging.
4. Between us and them — Ulrich Schnauss. A train taking off from land and flying. A personal classic.
5. Firen (read edit) — Yimino. A voice inside me tells me: “activate the magic in everything by a simple touch”.
6. Spineless — Tobias Lilja. A powerful ball of energy grows inside my chest and propagates to my extremities.
7. Vessel — Jon Hopkins. Sensitivity and force.
8. Clipper — Vaetxh. Electrocution and time jumps in my brain
9. Curious Eye — Stable Mechanism. Android birds and apocalyptical landscapes. Great spanish artist here.
10. Wind — Eleven Tigers. Seducting darkness
11. Undiscovered colors — The Flashbulb. A departure, a farewell of something inside me.

Artwork photo credit: Arantxa Lizón

Crisopa on Soundcloud | Facebook | n5MD

ASIP006 Marc Atmost - Herbicides Over Small Fields

 

“Herbicides Over Small Fields” just hits you. There’s no easing intro and no space to colour a welcome. From the frenzied birdsong to the ominous klaxon that mordantly sweeps over with the ruthless regularity of radar, this is a track wracked with incomprehension and an inescapable foreboding. 

“When I was a small kid, I used to take long walks with a friend through the streets of my hometown Svetlovodsk,” Marc explains. We were strolling like the voyagers of middle Ages exploring the world and discovering something new. Back in those days I was extending the boundaries of my personal map of the world. I think that’s pretty common thing for human psychology.” 

So born from a seemingly innocent trip out of his hometown, and seeing the equally innocuous spraying of herbicides, he created a gloomy future smothered by the chemical hiss of static and anxiety of the unknown. 

“My parents often went for work to nearby towns and always took me with them,” he continues. “You can imagine how significant for me those trips were. Svetlovodsk itself is a quite industrial town, at least was at that time, but surrounding territory is mainly agricultural area on hilly relief and going there was like expeditions to something inexperienced and completely unknown. 

“One day I saw airplanes manoeuvering up in the air. I asked my grandfather about what were they doing. He said that they were treating fields with something, most probably spraying herbicides. I didn’t know that word at the time and never heard it before, so I remember how some sort of fear or anxiety absorbed me and mysterious feelings wrapped me tightly. Something strange was happening in a place I barely knew and which I’ve just started to explore.” 

Spine-chilling and suffocating, the malevolent use of industrial power against the purity of wildlife is brilliantly unsettling. Threatening in its wave-like consistency, “Herbicides Over Small Fields” ramps up the fear and paranoia but just as it threatens to overwhelm, the birdsong breaks through to melt the tension and remind you what home feels like. Chilling stuff. 

“We were returning home and I was thinking about things I saw. Passing by the town ‘welcome’ board and the plant of pure metals we were already in the town. I realized that and felt easier. I think on that day the drawing of boundaries of my home was over.” 

ASIP005 Levi Patel - Dissociation

 

Portrayed as places of magic and mystery and of death and decease, forests are a rich source of imagination - a place where fiction and fairy-tale come alive or where darkness is allowed to flourish undeterred. 

Conjured in the barren surroundings of a pine forest in Matakana, New Zealand, ‘Dissociation’ stirs all of the enchantment and subtle mysticism of a woodland world screened from prying eyes. There’s a peace at work that only nature can bring but also the untrusting trepidation of something of which we have no control. “It felt quite wondrous but with a subtle dark undertone,” Levi explains. “I wanted to capture the almost surreal feeling of the place and the mystery of exploring it.” 

‘Dissociation’ invites a curiosity and a gleeful sense of the unknown. School-room xylophone melodies evoke a happy abandon that promises adventure and escape; like dancing in-between tree trunks or finding giggly solitude in games of hide and seek. A track rich on slow-building, swirling atmospherics, it’s a casual wonder into a secret garden, tip-toeing down leafy paths and bursting into clearings chasing the sunshine. But there’s also the subtle undertone that, if you do go into the woods today, there’s a difference between being happily lost and hopelessly missing (Word by Reef Younis)

ASIP004 Ex Confusion - Where The Time Goes

 

After his inclusion on Helios' brilliant compilation 'For Nihon' last year, Ex Confusion was finally given the platform he deserved with an album on the legendary N5MD label. Released at the end of March, Embrace is a perfect example of simple, touching ambient music. So, needless to say, I couldn't be happier that Atsuhito has produced two tracks for the Places Series. For many people, 'Where The Time Goes' will form the perfect introduction to Atsuhito's music, or an extension to an already proud, Ex Confusion library. 

Atsuhito's work is a double dose of gentle, indulgent ambience. Distant and wistful, it retreats to a time of safety and comfort when your parents were the gentle giants that made the world a smaller, safer place. 

Drawing inspiration from conversations outside his room, they provided a reminder of childhood memories “when everything was perfect and I wasn’t afraid of growing up”. There’s purity and a heart-breaking naivety to the soft reflection of both ‘Before We Begin’ and ‘If Only’ as Ex Confusion cocoons us from the world and finds sanctuary in the hometown recollections of Nara, Japan. 

Guided by voices, Where The Time Goes is an ode to appreciating the value of what’s passed but it’s also a tender edict to seize every moment. Wherever that may be. “I heard voices in my head, telling me how things are hard to take back and how important each moment we have right now, is. Then I took my guitars and piano to record everything in my heart". (Words by Reef Younis). 

Aphex Twin – Five Selected Ambient Works

The majority of you will read this and needn’t go any further. There’s nothing new here i’m afraid. No secret bootlegs or tribute mix. The only news is that one of the best (if not the best) ambient electronica albums to be made has been repressed and now available to buy again (I snapped mine up from the brilliant Norman Records). So, if you’re feeling a little nostalgic and have been lacking in the Aphex ambient love department recently, read on!

Listening back to this record on a turntable, with subtle and very pleasing vinyl crackles as opposed to slick MP3s, reminded me just how great this album is (yes I finally made the decision to remove the plastic wrapper from the LP). And, if for some reason, someone was to stumble across this post not having listened to this album before, then, well i’ll be damn pleased I made the effort to put this together, because you (if that is you) will be just as pleased you started reading and listening.

And, if like me you listen to this release like a christian reads a bible, then let this be another excuse to listen to the work of a genius. I could talk about every track on the album but in the interest of not over-aphexing, here’s five tracks either from, or associated with the album.

1. Rhubarb - one of the most beautiful pieces of music I have ever heard. Not to forget some amazing remixes of it too.

2. Stone In Focus – this track was only available on the vinyl and cassette versions so is likely to be one of the lesser known on the album, so just in case you haven’t heard it… here it is.

3. Fourtet remix of ‘Cliffs’ – Released in 1999 – a perfect example of why Mr Hebden is so talented, even when producing in his teens. This is by no means better than the original (and I would include the original), but I wanted to feature this remix as it’s not that well publicised.

4. Blue Calx – my second favourite track on the album, and the first track to successfully use a ticking clock/metronome sound which hasn’t sent me insane, followed by none other than Global Communication’s 14:31.

5. Z-twig. An amazing example of how a repetitive melody, in a short space of time, can be so utterly beautiful, and one of the shortest tracks on the album which I wish went on forever.