Obscured Instinct and the pale Folklore
*200 copies limited edition* "Obscured Instinct and the Pale Folklore," is an evocative sonic journey crafted by the Hungarian musician, Kokum. This album traverses the shadowy corridors of dark folk music and the pulsating rhythms of new wave post-industrial soundscapes, creating an otherworldly and mesmerizing experience. Kokum, a visionary artist who utilizes only his voice, field recordings, and the sounds of everyday objects, manipulates these elements with a myriad of electronic effects, b…
City of Tethers
*100 copies limited edition* The album 'City of Tethers' is inspired by a passage from Italo Calvino’s 'Invisible Cities', particularly the description of the city of Ottavia. This city is suspended over an abyss, held up by a net that its inhabitants know will eventually give way. “Suspended over the void, the lives of Ottavia’s inhabitants are less uncertain than in other cities. They know the net will not last,” Calvino writes. The image of Ottavia has become a powerful symbol of fragility an…
Terrace Of Memories
*250 copies limited edition* 1992’s Terrace Of Memories is an organic ambient album of longing and gentle melancholic minimalism. Sam Rosenthal (Black Tape For A Blue Girl’s founder/synthesist, then based in Los Angeles) and Dirk Serries (then recording under the moniker vidnaObmana in Belgium) blended their atmospheres and somber contemplative electronics on this timeless album filled with lush, dark and beautiful impressions. Energized by a passage of text written by Sam concerning a lost love…
MPU105
Ilian Tape kicks on with another entry into its ITX Series, this time with a lovely hand-stamped long player from MPU101. It is a deep dive into escapist ambient worlds with plenty of grainy tape hiss and cosmic static, celestial melodies and provocative moments of introspection. Analogue machinery is really brought to the fore on fuzzy sounds like 'CreamyPORTAL-Xa' with patient and pastoral synth smears, while 'APEX CA 91352' has brighter and more mellifluous melodies rising up through the mix.…
Franciska og Emilie
Jonas Torstensen returns to Discreet Music with the second Franciska album, following up the much praised Tryghed (Discreet Music 12) that was released in early 2023. Since Tryghed came out, Franciska has quickly become an established forefront of a young, new generation of Scandinavian experimental DIY musicians. This time a joint effort with his longtime friend and collaborator Camille Helt Haarder, the new album is dedicated to their shared hometown Odense in Denmark.
Mainly based on piano lo…
För Alltid
*80 copies limited edition* 'För alltid' is an album about time. The fuzzy & shapeless memories floating without coherence. Shortwave radio recordings picking up unbroken codes from the past. Hopeful voices whispering about a possible future from a hopeless now.
Inscriptions
*100 copies limited edition* "'Inscriptions' is an album inspired by the melancholy romance of autumn, the reflection of leaves in the rippling surface of a lake, crumbling architectural facades, and faded ink scripts on parchment. The album began with a collection of environmental sounds I recorded in Tallinn, Estonia back in the autumn of 2011, during a residency at the Estonian Artists' Association. These field recordings focus in on the quiet, everyday sounds of streets, parks, a lake and a …
Polaris
Hot on the heels of their acclaimed second album, Iris, One Million Eyes unveil their latestwork, Polaris. This new album is a rich tapestry of analog and instrumental elements, creatinga vibrant and dynamic experience. Formerly known as Tempelhof (where they collaborated with artists like Gigi Masin), Luciano Ermondi and Paolo Mazzacani created One Million Eyes upon the realizing they needed a new creative outlet to rekindle their passion for making music. This new project allowed them to appro…
Below/Light
"Below/Light" by Filer Coleman is a selection of ambient works by Jim Filer Coleman. It represents an antidote, or perhaps a counterpart, to the more aggressive music that he may be more known for such as Cop Shoot Cop and Human Impact. These tracks were recorded over a span of a few years, slowly evolving and seeking definition. Electrocoustic in nature, the approach was always exploratory and playful, searching for balance and connection with the natural world.
Jim Coleman was an instrumental …
Towards the Nocturnal Sun
*300 copies limited edition* Towards the Nocturnal Sun is the second solo album from Malaysian artist Siew Y’ng-Yin’s Reverse Image. Earlier this year she also had her debut album by her noise project Fallen Sun released by Fourth Dimension. Unlike Fallen Sun’s proclivity for melding uncompromising and often abrasive sounds together with occasional rhythmic undercurrents, Reverse Image’s approach to soundmaking is defined by measured crystalline shimmer, iridescent patterns formed on a Martian s…
forge
*200 copies limited edition* On his new album ‚forge’, ambient artist KMRU explores the blend of melody and noise, rhythm and drone. ‚forge’ marks the third release on Seil Records for the Nairobi born and Berlin based producer. Made up of 10 tracks, the album effortlessly wanders from intimate compositions over field recordings to deep and rich soundscapes. The result feels like a living, breathing organism. Music you can immerse yourself in. Like few others, the 27 year old producer carved a n…
Cross Sections
*300 copies limited edition* Clothilde’s new album sounds like a constant departure from almost everything. Up until now, her music pieces seemed uncontrolled, a total commitment to the machines. She was, somehow, in between us - listener, audience - and the idea of a machine producing sounds she doesn’t seem to control. Of course, none of this was entirely true, she was mostly in control, but the fantasy, the orchestration of it was beautiful. It was sci-fi-ish, Metropolis-magnificent. In “Cros…
Clouded Mind
*Dubbed on TDK Chrome Tapes - very good quality!* Two long-form pieces evolving around experimental sampling and noticeably draws inspiration from the sharp digital sounds of the 2000s. Notably, these sounds doesn't lack the inorganicness and sterility that often are a synonym with the early digital era. From my perspective these two pieces reflect glimpses of wild articulative freedom from a otherwise verysimplistic language.
Riconnessione Iconoclastica Sacrale
“Does destruction of sacred images imply anything for the erosion of the role of the imperial icons? Because divinity being destroyed is not a representation of a spiritual form disappearing, but a consequence of historian interpretation, scientists are doing exactly what everyone would do when tripping in ego-fixation, creating a transformation which is itself subversive and self-deconditioning. The church of the Virgin has been rebuilt and lavishly refurbished, due to major insights regarding …
Red River
Kolkata-based musician Nilotpal Das aka Bios Contrast's new album 'Red River', arrives as a narrative sequel to his 'Dragon Rising' LP on Hong Kong DIY label Mouhoi. The concept behind the record is a speculative historical drama and myth taking place during the deadly Kalinga War in the Mauryan Empire of India. Following his intensive 24-hour harmonium drone compositions, Das's 'Red River' uses recordings of Bell 407, a civil utility helicopter as the main body of the record together with a 47-…
Soutien De Famille
*300 copies limited edition* Phenomenal ambient explorations from the talented French electronic producer. Music taken from the artistic performance led by visual artists Mark Pozlep and Maxime Berthou. The new compositions by French electronic producer Julien Jabre illustrate the stunning visuals of the Franco-Slovenian duo. Julien Jabre’s Soutien De Famille sees him exploring the subtle gaps and nuances of his past work, crafting ten tracks of low-lit ambient textures and non-percussive rhythm…
Jade
zakè (aka Zach Frizzell) and Tyresta (aka Nick Turner) follow their recent ambient treasury, The Worlds We Leave Behind, with Jade, a surprise companion album that teases out several themes from previous works into three long-form sonic vessels, offering some of their most affecting work across nearly an hour of reflective bliss. In the process of allowing their individual instincts to further entwine, they have created a uniquely generative kind of collaboration, where every deep drone and deli…
Disconnect
Twin heavyweights Kevin Richard Martin (The Bug) and Joseph Kamaru (KMRU) unite for Disconnect, a powerful study of dread, hope, and profound sonics that marries depth-trawling dub with Kamaru’s voice, ambient sensibilities, and negative space. Kevin Martin first became aware of Kenyan ambient musician KMRU “watching the short 2020 documentary Under The Bridge,” he tells us. “Which, aside from immediately finding Joseph's approach to sound and music so instantly impressive, I also found his spok…
Color of Time II
*200 copies limited edition* Past Inside the Present is proud to begin its summer slate with a new, full-length suite from Color of Time, the duo comprising label veterans Kévin Séry (aka From Overseas) and Nick Turner (aka Tyresta). Each artist is known for his own kind of spacious, heart-rending drone, and on II, they occupy a sonic universe in which melancholy themes linger over drifts of harmonic guitar and arrays of intricate detail. The delicacy of these environments results from a passion…