isolatedmix 46 - The Green Kingdom

Like a consistent undercurrent, there’s some artists that seem to have been around for years, cropping up with beautiful releases and never failing to please, never straying too far from their craft and consistently earning respect from likeminded producers and listeners. Michael Cottone is one of them. Hailing from Detroit, he dig deeps to find the beautiful textures and sounds of ambient music, sometimes straying into the more dubbier stuff, but always rooted in the softly-softly, dreamy approach we love here at ASIP.

With releases on notorious labels such as Tench, SEM (now retired) and more recently Dronarivm, Michael represents an ever evolving yet timeless genre of music that is designed for escapism, further more described by himself as “optimistic nostalgia”. You’ll find elements of shoegaze, drone, dub, and heavy processing throughout his catalogue, with a desire to “blur the lines between soundscape and structure”. Michael’s latest album ‘Expanses‘ and his previous, ‘Dustloops’ epitomise this approach, with for example, melodic downtempo tracks such as ‘On Golden Swamp’ sitting comfortably next to the processed dubby ambient sounds in ‘Green Being’.

As you can imagine, his influences and his isolatedmix could’ve attempted to summarise his many influences styles and approaches, but instead Michael has chosen to focus on the more ambient side to his music. Those familar with these artists will already be able to feel the warmth and grain in this mix – a homage to the many ambient artists out there that take good care in wrapping you in comforting music.

“This is my take on an ambient mix, although it’s not all purely ambient in the traditional sense. What most of these pieces probably have in common is a certain timeless sound. I love music that has a textural, almost tactile – some grit and dirt. What would it sound like if you buried some of your favorite vinyl, dug it up after 50 years and played it? In my opinion, there is no better way to make something timeless than to remove it from the present, both in terms of genre and time period” – The Green Kingdom.

Download (direct)

Tracklist:

01. Stars of the Lid – Gasfarming
02. The Humble Bee – Other Sleepers
03. John Foxx & Harold Budd – Sunlit Silhouette
04. D_Rradio – Still In A Storm
05. Pawn – Entrance-Stairs
06. The Remote Viewer – Take Your Lights With You
07. Paavoharju – Ursulan Uni
08. ISAN – Cinnabar
09. David Sylvian & Ryuichi Sakamoto – World Citizen (Taylor Deupree remix)
10. Skyphone – Dream Tree Lemurs
11. Auburn Lull – Snowtongue [Dub 1_KILN Rebuild]
12. Foxes in Fiction – Static Cults
13. Jan Jelinek – Moiré (Piano & Organ)
14. Andy Stott – New Ground
15. Triola – Das Wunder Der Kulperhutte
16. Pye Corner Audio – Nostalgia Pills

The Green Kingdom Bandcamp | Facebook | Soundcloud

Passing By: Sub.Made, Desove, Dave Wesley, Inigo Kennedy, Inner Ocean Records

Sub.Made – Memories

Sublime Porte does not adhere to a strict release schedule, but the Turkish netlabel has consistently offered quality free lossless music for years. Istabul’s Ismail Genc (Havantepe) is responsible for most of the operations and keeps it particularly tuned to the deeper side of techno. Their latest sees Germany’s Sub.Made break out of his shell with a more emotive effort, the highlight being this collab with Rene Laue on keys. Free Download.

Various Artists – Futures Vol. 1

Canadian imprint Inner Ocean Records is making a bit of a statement with the launch of their Futures compilation. While drawing attention to their first two years in operation, they’re simultaneously signaling a shift in direction. It remains to be seen what the future holds for this humble outlet, but this free offering includes works by some of the label’s talented mainstays like Porya Hatami, Darren McClure and Fontaine, plus contributions from a handful of new faces. Free Download on Bandcamp.

Arctic Dub (Sursumcorda) – Compilation v1

Here is the perfect opportunity to dive into the discography of American producer Dave Wesley. This compilation (released on his ownSursumcorda imprint) presents some of his strongest material from recent years. Wesley’s recordings invite hard-edged instrumentation into a refined digital climate, creating pleasantly rich aesthetics. Fans of Deepchord will have plenty to relish in. Download on Bandcamp.

Inigo Kennedy – Lullaby

This may very well be the only time you see Token Records make an appearance here. The heavy hitting imprint from Belgium is usually fueling dancefloors like Tresor, where tempos are fierce and the sweat runs deep. However, this nostalgic number off Inigo Kennedy’s long-awaited full length proves even the heaviest hitters have their tender moments. Download on Beatport.

Desove – Profound Organics

Despite an influx of emerging producers flooding the dub techno market, there are still a few bringing something fresh to the table. Desove is one of them. His latest full length for Entropy stays true to its name by incorporating gritty organics into the mix. Echo Park is one of the album’s highlights; a gratifying mix of new meets old. Download on Bandcamp.

Levi Patel - Forms

You may remember this talented young producer from his Places Series piece, ‘Dissociation‘ – a rare gem amongst the thousands of aspiring composers in the modern-classical field. Levi Patel’s talent has shone, and John Beltran’s label Dado Records picked up his most recent work ‘Forms'; a five-track EP that brings together years of hard graft from the New Zealand star.

The EP is undoubtedly influenced by his beautiful natural surroundings in New Zealand (the artwork plays a big part in the release), as well as some of his heroes – the likes of fellow country-man Rhian Sheehan. Just those two ingredients alone should get you salivating at the music at hand.

I’ve been lucky enough to stay close to Levi throughout his production, and have experienced first-hand his dedication and attention to detail. The EP’s tracks are all written, performed and recorded by Levi himself, and the sheer beauty and intricacy of the instruments used in these tracks will leave you dumbfounded at the possibility of that fact. With additional support on vocals, violas and cellos, Levi’s intimate piano and string melodies shine amongst some subtle yet poignant atmospheres. Never compromising and never complex, Levi’s compositions are confident – not what you’d expect from such a young composer. His ability to hold back, then to pull the heart-strings, and to suddenly layer instrument upon instrument as one single, emotional piece is what makes this EP hit home.

This is music that would define a soundtrack and the music that immortalises a memory. The perfect companion to that vivid and beautiful landscape, that moment of fleeting love, or indeed, the escapism needed from it all. It’s damn-right beautiful.

Available through Dado Records on Bandcamp and iTunes

Passing by: David Douglas, Nikosf, Warmth and an epic Ghostly colab

David Douglas – Moon Observations

Atomnation, head-up by our friend Applescal is on a roll this year. You may have seen me getting excited about the upcoming Gidge album already, but until that time arises, Pascal is treating us to label stalwart David Douglas’ latest, ‘Moon Observations’. A truly immersive journey through different styles of electronica, packed full of instrumentation, emotion and beautiful melodies. The title track below, my favourite of the bunch. Available on Bandcamp.

Nikosf – Collecting The Moments

You probably know Nikosf from his releases on Dewtone (The Forgotten Pieces and Silence Speaks When The Words End), but this is the first release of his to see some action on wax. As you’d expect it’s a love affair with “tranquil soundscapes, minimalistic rhythms and warm dub undertones”. This kind of music is normally reserved for digital only, maybe CD, so it’s great to see it getting a full vinyl press. Available on Decks.de

MOSHImix22 – Warmth

Continuing the deep and dubby vibe is Warmth, with a guest mix for MOSHItaka. Featuring Doyeq and Martin Nonstatic you should know what rabbit hole this is going down. If you’re new to Warmth, check out his own Soundcloud page for some beautiful productions of his own.

Download

Tracklist:
Alex Humann – Slave
Audub – Sonar Dub
Doyeq – Sine
Stefan Gubatz – An
BdTom – Humanoids
Havantepe – Melody For Penelope
Yernesto – Deep Ambition
Andrea Cichecki – Subjective
Stefan Gubatz – Aus
Martin Nonstatic – Quantum Dub
Van Bonn – Onwards II

Christopher Willits / Heathered Pearls / The Sight Below – Collider

Lastly, and with little explanation needed, is this mega-lineup of Ghostly all-stars going all-in. “Collider” is a collaborative track between Christopher Willits, Heathered Pearls, and The Sight Below made using Splice (splice.com/) to promote Michael Cina and John Klukas’ upcoming show in Minneapolis”.

I thought this was going to be a pretty dark piece given those involved, but instead it’s a refreshingly beautiful piece of music that wouldn’t be out of a place underlying an epic reflective moment on a movie Soundtrack; think Underworld’s ‘To Heal’ or some of Clint Mansell’s work, but with added #dronelife.

Photo by astrangelyisolatedplace – Monkey Face/ Smith Rock, Oregon.

Donnacha Costello - Ten Years Later

Donnacha Costello’s ‘Color Series’ first debuted on his own label ‘Minimise’ in 2004 and over the next year or so, evolved into ten releases which to this day remain some of my favourite vinyl records. With influences ranging from Aphex Twin, Plastikman, Autechre, Model 500 and Farley Jackmaster Funk, Donnacha reached into new territory with this series, combining his love of synths, techno music and in many instances, ambient music, to produce a collectable and sought after series of vinyl, and a defining style of music for many of today’s producers.

It’s not often we look back here on ASIP, but as many of you know, I’m a big lover of vinyl and have recently been reaching back into these records to remind myself just how good they were.

I had the chance to ask Donnacha about the series and give his commentary on my favourite five from the series. Kicking off below, with an introduction by the man himself:

“I had been into several techno series – Concept, M-Series, Studio Eins, Ernst (Brinkmann) and wanted to do one of my own. It wasn’t as conceptually rigorous as those but it was just something I wanted to do. It came off the back of a time when I really lost interest in techno and had been making ambient and experimental electronic music (I’m doing that again now). Also, it was a response to the kind of clicky-tricky nonsense techno that was around at the time. People engaged in really convoluted sound design processes. Lots of people were like “oh, I recorded a car backfiring and pitched it down and combined it with some bees buzzing and 100 plugins to make a kick drum” and I just decided that this was really stupid when you could use a 909 and it would sound way better.

The same was true of synthesisers, people were doing all of this stuff and forgetting that the square bass on a Juno 60 or a 101 sounded immense. So, I decided to do a series of machine techno records. Not such an unusual sounding idea now but in the context at the time, they stood out like a sore thumb or represented a breath of fresh air, depending on how you wanted to look at it  The success they had speaks to the fact that this was the right thing at the right time. Mathew Jonson emerged right around that time too with a machine sound. Real synths, reals drum machines and lots of the personality of the writer on show. It’s a nice set of records I can always look back on and enjoy listening to and I’m looking forward to telling my kids the story”.

5. Blue (B-side)

Starting with a signature Donnacha Costello sound, ‘Blue’ conjures a fizzy undercurrent bouncing off muffled walls. It’s 4am and Donnacha’s just flicked the switch that the likes of Donato Dozzy and Neel still strive for on today’s dancefloors.

Donnacha: “The core of this track is an unmodulated TB-303, around which the other elements do a little dance. Not many people use the 303 that way but it’s really good for that. I tried to keep things as empty as possible. It related back to my love of Richie Hawtin’s Concept series and was “me meets Rich” really. It’s easy to forget, In the context of the past 5/6 years (2008-2014) when things like Sandwell District and other spacious techno music came to the fore, that there really was nothing else around in 2004 that was stripping things back like this. It was a response to the music of the previous 4/5 years (1999-2003) that had become so complex and flashy and, for me, lacked soul and personality”.

4. Grape (B-side)

Listening back to this now, and you could be forgiven for thinking it sounds like so many of the techno tracks that came out around the same time, and indeed many years before. Ame’s ‘Rej’ comes to mind for example – that beautiful undercurrent driving through. ‘Grape’ could be classed as Ambient Techno by some given it’s hypnotic, repetitive feel, and would probably be the standard to which many of todays producers attempt to match. The only difference being, by the time you’ve finished ‘Grape’ you’ll be climbing the ceilings instead of relaxing in your chair.

Donnacha: “Again, the 303 provides the core of this track. The difference being that pretty much everything in this track is gradually modulated over about 10-11 minutes until by the end it’s pretty thumping. And again, it references Plastikman pretty heavily. It was a real nod to Consumed era Plastikman, even down to the purple I chose for the cover. It was pretty much made for Rich to play and he told me later that year that he and Ricardo were regularly using it to ramp sets up from calm to more energetic because of the way it builds and builds over such a long time. I’ve never made any secret of being a huge Plastikman fan so that was nice”.​

3. Opal (A-side)

This is straight-up electronic bliss. Out of the gate, blinking lights, and colour transform into an arpeggio of bleeps, claps and pulsating rhythms. Take this out of context and it’s a banging techno-track, but listen to it at the right time, and it’s a state of mind – euphoric, hypnotising and relentless. 4.13… and Jesus said let there be synth.

Donnacha: “This was a nod to my early days and the thin line between trance and techno that was expertly tread by lots of Plus8 records in the mid to late 90s. I was 50/50 about putting it out but I’m glad I did in the end”.

2. Orange (A-side)

I’ve played this track so many times… It normally sits about two tracks into my mixes – those which start off extremely ambient and then veer towards techno or minimal. What begins as a very crisp beat is soon enveloped in Donnacha’s soaring synths and little stabs of magic. It’s a head-nodder. I’s the kind of track that’s played at the start of a night which you anticipate a rather twisted journey.

Donnacha: “Rubine Red was when I realised that I could do anything with this series, I didn’t have to stick to one style or blueprint and when I made myself more free, the results were a lot better. Orange A was one of the best expressions of that idea. I think it’s one of the tracks that stands out as being completely its own thing, free from other associations and classification. There’s a certain link to the Warp Artificial Intelligence series here (a tenuous one but I know it’s there). This track actually has some of my favourite synth sounds from the series in it”.

1. Cocoa (B-side)

Not that Donnacha would have been trying to mimic Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works, but for any fan, this is as close as you’re going to get. Closing out the Colour Series, analogue synths conjure a beautiful texture, amplified by a simple melody. Warmth and grace. The perfect finish to an epic ten releases.

Donnacha: “This was pretty much a love song for my then girlfriend, now wife and mother of my children. I don’t know if she knows that, actually. Perhaps I should tell her, ha  It’s actually recorded in a weird time signature but doesn’t really feel that way (I’ve always liked doing that). This and the unreleased ambient track were made on the same summer’s morning just as I was about to move out of Fifth Floor #2, my studio at the time, where most of the series was recorded. It was an emotional time, my career was taking off, I had just bought a place to live (referenced as Studio 23 on the cd) I was in love. All very big stuff. Happy days!”

*Bonus* Cocoa Sessions Unreleased (Only available through the Colorseries compilation)

It just so happens that Cocoa was probably the most ‘ambient’ of the bunch, and this unreleased cut (which was part of the Colour Series compilation later released in 2007) is an extension of the original. However this time Donnacha introduces a rumbling synth undercurrent, turning those textures into a vivid awakening.

Ten years later, and Donnacha is on track to deliver something extra special for us all again: “Right now, I’m really interested in ambient music, drone music and modular synths. I’m about to buy a very unique modular synth that I’ve been waiting for since I ordered it in 2001. It’s being built this summer and I’m going to make a few albums with it. I’ve been toying with the idea of doing some kind of crowd funding campaign for a long time so I’ve decided to do one around my next album Love From Dust to see if I can recoup some of the cost of this synthesiser up front because it’s really bloody expensive  Love From Dust will lie somewhere in between the emotional approach of my Together Is The New Alone album (Mille Plateaux, 2001) and the experimentalism of my Modul.Isol album (Raster-Noton, 2004). I can’t wait to get started on it when my new synth arrives”.

The campaign runs until June 20th and can be supported (and the album purchased) here on Indiegogo.