12K
Founded by Taylor Deupree in 1997, 12k has decisively defined and developed the concept of minimalism in the realms of electronic music for more than a decade Fusing elements from Ambient and Electro-Acoustic Composition with carefully arranged digital glitches and associative micro-noises, the label's aesthetics revolve around a precisely-outlined, yet deeply emotional concoction of the technological and the organic
Moss (Recur)
*100 copies limited edition. 2023 stock* Moss, is a live recording from a unique collaboration by sound artists/musicians Molly Berg, Olivia Block, Steve Roden and Stephen Vitiello. This was a midnight concert at the beautiful Trinity Cathedral in San Jose, CA which was part of the 01SJ Biennial. Olivia and Steve had performed solo sets on the previous nights. The final night was meant to be a duo with Molly and Stephen but the opportunity to play with musicians/friends who we admire so much cal…
Snowmelt
*In process of stocking. 2023 stock* Snowmelt asks the question, “What does climate change sound like?” Recorded during two field trips to Kunama Namadgi (Mount Kosciuszko), the record compares and contrasts the physical shifts in the region’s flora, fauna and landscapes brought upon by the changes in season that occur at higher altitudes. The Australian alpine regions are increasingly stressed by the effects of climate change. Rising temperatures and more frequent extreme weather events add to …
Reihen
12k is very happy to welcome Uwe Zahn, aka Arovane, to the roster. Arovane, a well-respected artist in the field, hailing from within the German countryside, has been active since the early 2000s beginning with releases on City Centre Offices and DIN in the heyday of the IDM and microsound years. He has since gone on to release work with n5MD, Pure Magnetik, and A Strangely Isolated Place, among others. With Reihen he takes his characteristic pointillist synthetic structures and impeccable sound…
Five Wooden Frames
*2023 stock* Five Wooden Frames marks the return of Italian artist Giueppe Ielasi to 12k after his captivating polyrhythmic explorations on Aix (12k1051, 2009). He completely abandoned the guitar in the mid 2000’s to explore minimal electro-acoustic abstractions (see his releases on his own Senufo Editions) or rhythmic and groove-based music (see his Stunt series, the Inventing Masks project, and Aix and Tools on 12k).
Once again, however, the guitar has become his main focus, both as an instrum…
Salt Og Vind
*2023 stock* With Salt og Vind Pjusk retums from an eight year album hiatus. This release is also the first seeing Pjusk as a solo project consisting of Jostein Dahl Gjelsvik. Salt og Vind (Salt and Wind) is, not surprisingly, about the forces of nature and the contrast between the volatile and the existing. In a wider sense it is about man’s inability or struggle to grasp the eternal and instead seek temporary fulfillment.
Salt og Vind is Pjusk’s 4th album for 12k and comes in with an urgency a…
Windy Weather Always Makes Me Think Of You
*2023 stock* Tomasz Bednarczyk makes a long-awaited return to 12k after his 2009 debut Let’s Make Better Mistakes Tomorrow (12k1055, 2009) and a couple of follow-up releases on Australia’s Room40. On Windy Weather Always Makes Me Think Of You Bednarczyk has collected sounds via a smartphone dictaphone and Sony field recorder over the past 10 years with a goal to transform all gathered recordings into new, multilayered harmonies. Field recordings come from voyages around the globe and originally …
Skal_Ghost
*In process of stocking. 2023 stock* 12k continues in its tradition of collaborative releases presenting a first-time pairing between German artist Arovane and 12k’s Taylor Deupree. Having become aquainted through their shared love of music technology, Uwe Zahn (Arovane) and Taylor Deupree only found it natural to work on a project together based around one of their favorite synthesizers. As Zahn recalls: “After a long email conversation, Taylor and I came up with the idea of recording an albu…
Stella Epoca
*2023 stock* Stella Epoca references star time and moving into a new age. The ideas of sky maps and planetary frequencies were the inspirations behind Sawako’s dreamlike sounds. She references orbits, sound waves and light that shower the earth and all living things in ephemeral encounters of sparkle and resonance. Sawako’s sound has always been fragile and amorphous. Watercolor paint sublimating and fading. Here she collapses eight years of memories and records into layers of sounds intended to…
Tail Of Diffraction
*2023 stock* Minamo returns to 12k following 2020’s Superstition where they paried up with singer/songwriter Moskitoo. On Tail of Diffraction the duo joins long-time friend Asuna. A new name to 12k but not to the world of ambient and experimental music where Asuna’s 100 Keyboards has toured stages around the world. Minamo and Asuna have shared the stage many times in concerts and tours over years, however, this is their first recording together. These artists are well known for their mix of elec…
The Prospect
*2023 stock* Giuseppe Ielasi is back following his 2020 release Five Wooden Frames. There he returned to the guitar exploring shifting and modulating loops and the interplay of tuning and drifting to create five stark yet ethereal pieces. On The Prospect, Ielasi sticks to solo guitar but this time in a much more pure form. Each of the two pieces consists of parallel electric guitar lines recorded simply through a tube amplifier free of studio tricks or heavy editing. Like much music written over…
Monocoastal - 10th Anniversary
** Edition of 500. Clear vinyl in a gatefold jacket with essay by Marc Weidenbaum. ** Marcus Fischer’s Monocoastal is one of the most defining moments in the arc of 12k’s evolution. Released over 10 years ago (CD, 12k1063) and long-since out of print, Monocoastal shaped the sound to come for the label for a decade and beyond. It was also Marcus Fischer’s debut release and he would go on to become one of the staple roster members of 12k as a tour partner and collaborator. 12k is very excited to r…
Frame - 20th Anniversary
** Edition of 500. Double LP on clear vinyl including D side with previously unreleased material ** Often cited as the most classic and groundbreaking of all of 12k’s releases, Shuttle358’s Frame ushered in an era of humanism, melody and organics in the era of Microsound and the Clicks and Cuts movement at the turn of the century. While it was still steeped in digital sound and the magnification of error as intention, Frame somehow managed to fuse emotion into what had become a very structuralis…
Apart
Slowdive’s Simon Scott is back with a new release on 12k following his collaboration with Marcus Fischer (Shape Memory) and his full-length Below Sea Level. Apart chronicles the emotions of Simon losing his father and how his environment helped process and heal.“On 3rd April 2020 my father was pronounced dead from Covid-19. 48 hours after this devastating news I walked through New Decoy, a nature reserve in the Fens, and heard the vocalisation of skylarks. Their songs rang out across the resonan…
Wayfinding
Wayfinding is Christopher Bissonnette's sixth solo studio release and his first, of hopefully many, for 12k. The album embodies an evolution of Bissonnette's work, moving from an exclusively synth-based series of explorations to an amalgam of electronics and acoustic methods. Each track seeks to find grandeur on a diminutive scale. Bissonnette's focus has shifted from sweeping pastoral drones to introspective passages with delicate melody and elusive harmonies interlaced with studio and field re…
Superstition
The members of Minamo(Keiichi Sugimoto and Tetsuro Yasunaga) have known Moskitoo (Sanae Yamasaki) for many, many years and have worked together in all sorts of ways. They have not, however, performed a live set or recorded together before what has become Superstition. Superstition is a gathering of close friends creating music they love to create and exploring the small crevices and details of electric, electronic, and acoustic sounds. While the songs sound intentionally composed and arranged, t…
This Valley Of Old Mountains
This Valley Of Old Mountains quietly creates the folklore of an imaginary land. From a hemisphere apart, Taylor Deupree and Federico Durand share simple sounds with complex stories. Their music balances an edge between translucency and exploration, focusing on obscurity, repetition and a shared fascination of the mountains between them. Recorded in La Cumbre (Córdoba, Argentina) and Pound Ridge (New York, US) between July 2019 and April 2020.
Slow Machines
**200 copies, transparent green vinyl** "Slow Machines brings together veteran Stephen Vitiello and 12k newcomer Michael Grigoni, whose debut Mount Carmel (12k1090, 2019) made an impression for its merging of the pedal and lap steel guitars with a hushed, ambient sound. With both calling the southern mid-Atlantic region of the United States home, the two met up and discussed a collaboration in which Grigoni would provide the guitars and Stephen the electronics and processing with a goal of combi…
Field
Edition of 300. 12k is very happy to announce a new LP from long-time label favorite and ever-elusive Shuttle358. With Field, Shuttle358’s Dan Abrams returns to the beautiful roots he layed down with his now-classic Frame (12k1011, 2000) which Alternative Press heralded as “Ranking alongside Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works II and Eno’s Music for Airports in its evocation of imaginary space.”, and which Boomkat (UK) called “Shuttle358’s undisputed masterpiece.” His distinct human imprint on t…
Loss
Edition of 300. Loss is the long-awaited and anticipated follow-up to Marcus Fischer’s acclaimed Monocoastal (12k1063, 2010). Fischer created Loss over several years, finding inspiration to complete it during his time at the Robert Rauschenberg Residency in Captiva, Florida, in early 2017. The album is a particularly emotional work as Fischer explored what loss means to him and how to cope with the permanence of absence. The result is decisively somber and perhaps one of the darkest, most emoti…
La Niña Junco
Argentinian musician Federico Durand returns with his 2nd full length album on 12k following 2016’s A Través Del Espejo (12k1085). Taking his already minimalist composition style Federico challenged himself by using only one synthesizer for this beautiful album of sparse, hypnotic dustiness. His talent for creating works of so much emotion out of so little attest to his concentration when working and his passion for the craft. La Niña Junco is a handwoven gem. Music with a humble origin an…