There’s just something about this track. I’m not sure if it’s the simplicity, the hypnotic repetition, the subliminal field recordings, or just the clean, crisp guitar licks and rolling bass. Any which way, when I first heard Pinnacle, it immediately reminded me of the sampled guitars in KLF’s ‘Chillout’ and took me to a very similar place. I was left wondering exactly what these guys were watching, what they were doing, or what exactly was the inspiration feeding such a great piece of music. It turns out Jordan and Nathan’s inspiration was, like the KLF’s, rooted in travelling, but unlike the KLF, Wakan Tanka weren’t destined to be on the same road...
Home brings a world of safety and comfort but escape is a word that colours the mind. Faced with an odd future of uncertainty, flux and sudden change, home truths can be as smothering as they are sensible. For Jordan de Graaf and Nathan Cooke, the spectre of the unknown turned out to be their galvanisation.
“Our collaboration is inspired by a kind of isolation, uncertainty, and an alteration in the perception of our home, Melbourne” Jordan starts.
“Nathan has spent the last year living and travelling in Europe, and has returned home in a bit of an uncertain state, in search of a new career he can be passionate about. Meanwhile, I found myself at the opposite end of the spectrum in a similar type of limbo. I had not left Melbourne, but had found my Melbourne turned upside down by a series of unfortunately simultaneous endings in my life. So just as Nathan begins to call it home again, I am readying myself to leave it.”
A snapshot of friendship, displacement and detachment, ‘Pinnacle’, is the enduring result of a year of transit, ever-changing perception and persistence. Named after a local pub that sits on a crossroads, it’s a track steered by a clean simplicity and endurance. Insistent guitar melodies glide between lingering licks and slide chords, driving the rhythmic movement and letting the field recordings colour the momentum.
And it’s here you can imagine both Jordan and Nathan sat together; reminiscing over their recent past and their imminent futures, watching the world turn, ready and waiting to take theirs.
“Pinnacle is a pub across the road from my house, and it’s where we first decided to do the collaboration of Wakan Tanka. It’s where we spent time recording the track itself, in joint limbo, forming our own strangely isolated place.” (Words by Reef Younis.)
isolatedmix 29 – Textural Being
It’s safe to say that Textural Being‘s recent productions have reaffirmed and reignited my love for dub-techno. It’s the kind of genre that needs attention, yet once emerged, I often find it more calming to listen to than the deepest ambient music. Repetition and restatement in music is often cited to be critical and dub-techno is at times the epitome of this approach. Some, get bored-stiff of a distant thud, but Sage Taylor’s approach is anything but.
If I had to pick an example, it would be Sage’s latest EP ‘En Ce Moment’ on the always brilliant Energostatic (Marc Atmost’s label) and in particular, ‘Sept’ taken from this album. Shimmering and soft, with subtle tonal bass changes. This is the type of music that sends you drifting. It’s window-watching, perfect for reflection and observation, conjuring pictures of past, what might be, or just appreciating the beauty of what’s sat directly infront of you.
Sage has similar thoughts when listening to some of his favourite music, and for isolatedmix 29, each track has been meticulously selected based on the image it created. A mixture of ambient, dub-techno and electronica, the inspirations are vivid and yearn for deeper introspection. So, the journey’s there for you to take, or the options there for you to create something completely new…
“I chose the tracks in this mix for their ability to conjure up such strong imagery and colour in my head when I listen to them, that if I recall the images later, I can hear other music playing along to them in my mind’s ear. These sounds sometimes (though not always) go on to become tunes of my own, once I’ve spent enough time transforming them from thought to sound wave. It’s not a perfect description of the process, but it’s the easiest way I can think of to describe how the songs I picked for this mix affect me, on a personal level.
Then there’s the emotional level, which had a big part in how I decided what songs to pick as well… The emotional side of music is very important to me, which I hope is evident by the selections I’ve made! This was -not- by any means an easy list to narrow down. There are so many amazing sounds out there by so many different talented musicians everywhere, that fitting a coherent communication into a single hour can be a daunting task… But, it was a challenge I was more than happy to undertake. So, I’m communicating to everyone music that’s very close to me, and what I do; music that’s helped move me along in my evolution as a sound aritst. Hopefully I’ve managed to provide a good picture of that”.
Tracklist/tracknotes:
Image 01: Vangelis – Dawn
The perfect musical depiction of the outskirts of a large city, early, sleepy, and cold… Dark greys and oranges permeate this atmosphere.
Image 02: Scanner – Vie One
Your transition out of the city. A red drone.
Image 03: Federsen – Octavian
Totally mesmerizing atmosphere, flashings of different images and shimmers of purple.
Image 04: Stars of the Lid – A Meaningful Moment Through A Meaning[Less] Process
A track that’s lighter than air… Huge floating cathedrals, white and cream-coloured, built in the sky.
Image 05: Ten And Tracer – Next Sun
This lovely little piece stays in the sky, evoking further images of clouds and blue.
Image 06: Pub – Summer [Arovane AMX 1]
One of my all time favourite pieces of electronic music… Uwe Zahn, a true paragon, especially when remixing. Luscious green pastures and yellow/orange sparkles here.
Image 07: Chris Clark – Oaklands
The image dissolves, awash in a swirl of hazy grey and blue smoke.
Image 08: Yagya – Snowflake 9
And we find ourselves moving through snowy fields, white and grey abound. The warmth in this track is astonishing for such a cold theme… But I think snow is remarkably beautiful, so I suppose it works out.
Image 09: Quantec – Triptychon Ver. I
The dreamy quality of this track is pretty amazing. Sometimes I notice it’s on halfway through and can’t remember it ever starting… Black and pale blue smears with sporadic flashes of light come to mind.
Image 10: Kiln – Stare
A drone of such shine and character you almost can’t help feeling warm inside when it plays. More orange and yellow here.
Image 11: Strategy – Stops Spinning
Strategy has somehow projected a profound feeling of stillness in this song, despite all the movement it contains… A truly wonderful feat, and it’s alive with all sorts of multi-coloured sparks, fluttering and ricocheting around the crystalline forms of environments and people, frozen in their activities. Beautiful.
Image 12: Chris Clark – The Sun Too Slow
This bizarre atmosphere, courtesy Chris Clark, staggers along with its own strange beauty, shooting rays of pale light in all directions.
Image 13: Ametsub – Repeatedly
Soft shiny silvers and blues float through this emotionally intense track… Like so many piano keys dissolving in the wind.
Image 14: Boards of Canada – In the Annexe
Short, repetitive, and somehow able to communicate so much… Like much of the music of Boards of Canada, this tiny emotional flicker seems to hint at fluttering, caustic shades of teal, blue, green and turquoise.
Image 15: Taho – The River Of Grace
Like the opening track I chose, this song is one of the most perfect closing pieces I’ve ever heard. Sublime in its simple beauty, I am honestly given vivid images of a flowing river when I listen to this track, all washed out like an oversaturated photograph from decades ago… And so melodic. Perfect.
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Textural Being Soundcloud | Latest release on Energostatic
ASIP011 Echaskech - 626
The BT Tower stands out from the London skyline like an ancient alien watchtower, its benign presence never quite sitting with the rest of the city. Awkward and beautiful in its 1960s futuristic ugliness, it’s the heightened gateway to a landscape of progression and recession; of high-rise nihilism and the sprawling grey decay of a cosmopolitan capital.
“We’re very much an urban based band so our sound and visuals are constantly being inspired by the megacity environment we’re immersed in,” Mach V begins. “We knew trying to find an isolated place in London would be a difficult thing to do however I was given a rare opportunity to visit a unique and culturally significant space.
“Talking with Dom and Andy, we agreed that I would film the experience, edit it as I saw fit and then pass it to them to create the music. What you see and hear is the result of this collaboration and the title of the piece “626” is the height in feet of the BT Tower, the tallest building in London from 1966 to 1980.”
A collaboration inspired by the view from the top of the tower, “626” is a twinkling tribute to a place that captures London’s panorama. With every slow revolution, it’s a soundtrack that blooms in the night sparkle, revealing a cityscape that’s both bleak and beautiful.
Switching on with the neon, it’s a track that shimmers and glitters, flickering into life with the sodium dusk, becoming all-engulfing with every languid cycle - in the unforgiving daylight, it exposes and prettifies the concrete modernity of a seemingly endless urban sprawl.
Ghosting through the evolution of night and day, 626’ synth-drizzled gaze sweeps and tumbles across the skyline, patiently inching towards the end of one revolution and the beginning of the next.
Watch the view from the top: http://vimeo.com/40137915
Kiyoko – Sea Of Trees
You’d be forgiven for thinking this new album from the Auxiliary outfit (ASC’s label) was conjured in the deepest forests of Japan, surrounded by calm lakes, endangered flowers and Geisha girls. Maybe it was… but given it’s Manchester’s answer to the 30BPM that lie between the 140 and 170 range, I have a feeling this is just one-hell of a superb depiction of escapism from a cold and wet studio in Northern England. That’s just my kind way of saying… transporting a listener in this kind of way requires one hell of a talent.
Don’t let my cold light-of-day put you off. You can listen to this album and not touch the shores of Europe let alone England. And, just like my perceived origins, you’d have no clue as to what type of producer would be be behind such an album.
Not alone, Synkro (Joe McBride) has teamed up with Bering Strait (Jack Lever) – a newcomer it seems, to flip his original sound, to the most extent, on it’s head. If Synkro is the pairs masculine side, then the delicate touches of Kiyoko are the epitome of a feminine side – or at least that’s what ‘Kiyoko’ translates to.
Needless to say, the Japanese influence in here is rife. From the background vocal samples to the three-stringed Shamisen sounding guitars, three things stay true to Synkro’s style:
Emotion; it’s there in buckets and the atmosphere in ‘Sea Of Trees’ is pitched perfectly in between considered observation and personal reflection. Sit back and let the swathes of analogue sounds immerse.
Attention to detail: ‘Sea of Trees’ is beautifully simple, but there’s the odd touch of perfection, take the squelchy sounds balanced against a simple guitar in ‘Open’ for example.
And lastly, spaced-out beats. Just like the autonomic sound Synkro is becoming versed with, this album bases itself on some beautiful head-nodders and scarce percussion. Take ‘Shinagawa’ – probably the most upbeat track on the album, but definitely one of the best.
Like the impact Desolate’s ‘Invisible Insurrection‘ had on 2011, ‘Sea of Trees’ is one of the best albums of the year, and all for the right reasons. It’s come out of nowhere, from a producer experimenting with something new, and it’s refreshingly unique. This one will be on many ‘best-of’ reviews come end of year if it gets the traction it deserves…
‘Sea Of Trees’ is available as MP3/FLAC via Boomkat and of course, with any CD orders I’m sure the label would appreciate those direct here.
ASIP010 Arrows Down - Swings
Flight is a beautiful thing. For many of us, it’s the ultimate freedom, a fleeting few seconds or hours where the weight of the world isn’t weighing us down, just pulling us back. Perhaps the most graceful adventure, it creates panorama and paranoia, inspires fascination and a purity of awe that’s difficult to recreate on terra firma. It’s a captivation ArrowsDown felt from an early age.
“When I was a child, I wanted to fly,” he starts, “one afternoon, I was being pushed back and forth on a swing, enjoying the ignorance of infancy. I let go in full swing and this piece sounds like what I remember of the moment before I met the ground.”
‘Swings’ takes its cues from a simple beauty. Beyond the point of release, it captures the gradual, slow motion descent back to earth, and those precious seconds where you feel truly free. Guided by tremulous strings and the tender piano line, it plots every revolution of the gentle tumble towards the ground but here, somewhat wonderfully, it doesn’t feel like you ever land.