It’s rare anyone has anything positive to say about a levee. From Dylan to Zeppelin, The Grateful Dead to Don Mclean, levees have been places of dread and foreboding threat, coloured by drought and the devil.
Nobuto Suda’s take isn’t so bleak. Inspired by some of Kyoto’s waterscapes, the gentle churn of ‘Nobody Levee’ creates an effortlessly warm tranquillity that invites swimming contemplation.
“Kyoto has a lot of rivers and levees and the river, I think, wraps around the loneliness of people,” he explains. “I was inspired a lot by the flow of the river and wind shaking the trees that grow along it. On holidays, I go for a walk and read a book by the river. This song is the scene that flows in sound, in my head.”
Eased by a sense of movement, pushed by a ceaselessly serene force, it’s a track that instils quietude and peace. Like the water itself, it’s a track perpetually in motion, comforting in its preordained cycle and all-enveloping atmosphere. So whether you feel immersed in the wash or are happy to ponder your reflection, this lapping melody invites you to more than just dip a toe. Dive deep.
ASIP – Shattered Sky
Watching it grow. Watching it break. Watching it melt away.
A mix made whilst watching the above… featuring a host of my favourite tracks both old and new, as well as an exclusive preview of Markus Guentner’s contribution to the Places Series.
Tracklist:
01. Module – The World Spins Without You (Imagineering / Self released)
02. Claro Intelecto – Still Here (Reform Club / Delsin)
03. Donnacha Costello – Rebuild (Composure / Mindgames)
04. Loess – Viscer (3D Concepts / Toytronic)
05. Aeroc – Summer’s almost over (Viscous Solid / Ghostly)
06. Boards of Canada – Peacock Tail (The Campfire Headphase / Warp)
07. Orange Crush – Cosmic Shores (Self released / Free download)
08. Petar Dundov – Ideas From The Pond (From Ideas From The Pond / Music Man)
09. Chromatics – Tick Of The Clock (Night Drive / IDIB)
10. Ólafur Arnalds & Nils Frahm – a1 (Stare / Erased Tapes)
11. åpne sinn – Still Transmitting (En Seier / Relaxed Machinery)
12. Markus Guentner – Dockside (Forthcoming on The Places Series / ASIP)
ASIP008 Herbstlaub - Oostmalle Airport
There’s a faded glory in abandonment. Where some see a shell or a sad skeleton of a rich past, others draw on nostalgia or a resilient defiance of purpose and history. Often, it’s an admission, a reminder of ill-fated failure that’s either patiently waiting to be erased or restored by human hands or battling the decay of time and the elements. And where these structures are allowed to stand tall, inspiration soon follows.
Sitting in the flora and fauna around abandoned, NATO-owned Oostmalle Airport close to his village, Jens Vydt found a quiet beauty and an even quieter unsettlement in these government-protected surroundings.
“The place is an abandoned airport very near to Westmalle, the village where I was raised,” he explains. “It’s now property of NATO and in case of emergency it can be used. When I was in my youth I used to go there a lot to just sit there in the nature and fields. I recently went back a few times with my laptop and there this song arose.”
What arose is the slow, shimmering progression of ‘Oostmalle Airport’. Diligently building beyond the twinkling melody, the abandoned airport’s menace ghosts in the background, casting a grave presence over the tranquillity. As the sun goes down, and the shadows languidly stretch, serendipity of nature, ‘Oostmalle Airport’ contrasts the memories of what once was with the threat of what might be.
ASIP007 Kevin Bryce - The Park By Franklin
Every child carries a creature fear growing up – whether it’s the bogeyman in the wardrobe, the monster under the bed, the stillness of a dark basement, overcoming that fear is rite of passage to growing up. Often it’s one beaten by exploration and curiosity, venturing beyond the insulated comfort zone to get confirmation, no matter how short the glimpse, that your world is safe and secure. For Kevin Bryce, his place inspired both terror and delight.
“The track was written about a park I used to go to when I was about 5-6 years old,” he reminisces, “I remember these trips to the park were a combination of fear and joy, the likes of which can only be experienced by the very young. There was a swing set there and directly across from the swings, there was a small patch of trees – small to an adult but to a small child, it was an impenetrable forest filled with all sorts of horrible things lurking just out of sight.”
The sense of the unknown is often stimulating and it gives ‘The Park By Franklin’ an uneasy, skirting energy. The sound of children playing gives it a happy innocence but there’s an atmosphere of detachment and a palpable sense of distraction. It should be a joyous, carefree place, buoyed by laughter, adventure and happy abandon but there’s an unsettling force at work.
“It seemed to always be deserted when we were there, and I would have the swings all to myself, although I could hear and see other children playing in the field nearby. As I would swing, I would stare off into the dark trees just beyond the clearing the swing set was in. There was always something unsettling about this memory. It always comes back as being strangely quiet and eerily calm.
I remember too there was a very clear separation between the forest and the clearing, the clearing always seemed quite bright and sunny, and the forest was always very, very dark, even in the middle of summer. I had forgotten the name of the park, but I asked my mom and she remembered it quite clearly. It used to be called Eton Park, but the name was changed at some point. It’s called Burnaby Heights Park now. Looking at it now, it’s kind of funny to think of how sinister it seemed to me at the time.”
The excitement of a visit to the park, tempered by the apprehension of the looming backdrop of the forest gives ‘The Park By Franklin’ a drifting disparity. Neither truly chilling nor truly comfortable, you can imagine sitting on that swing set, happily, excitedly pushing for all the height and momentum your growing body can muster, only to be reminded, on the rapid descent from the clouds, what lies in wait on the ground. “I realized that I actually never went into that forest,” he admits. Maybe I should.”
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.”
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