Sound Space Variations
“Sound Space Variations" is a delicate and restrained sound bath. A mix of atmospheric, suspenseful drone sounds and meditative aspects. It is an album made for those moments when we just are. zakè has managed to capture the moments that lie between sounds. I am sure you know those unagitated murmurs and atmospheric hisses. The artist connects this in-between-world and our earthly one with calm and sonorous scores, making us think about everything and nothing. The six pieces on the record do not…
Module
"Esteemed ambient auteurs, zakè and ossa's collaborative output continues to soothe and delight in equal measure. After Syntheticopia in August 2022 and the dark long-player 'A Pale Shelter' in 2021 between zakè, ossa, and City of Dawn comes Module, a collaboration that includes seasoned electronic producer Ruben A. Tamayo, under the alias FAX. The power trio brings forth an eight-track excursion into heavy ambient atmospheres with moody soundscapes and a real weight of melancholy. As always, th…
Pyramiden
"zakè, James Bernard and Markus Guentner build a cascading and overwhelmingly beautiful record that combines the zen of the best ambient/new age music along with the “Big Sky” openness of post-rock bands like Explosions in The Sky and This Will Destroy You. You get songs with chilly names like “Polar Night”, “Seafrost”, and “Arctic Choir” – and there is a sort of vast arctic blue hue to these songs – but it lacks even a hint of desolation. I can imagine listening to something like “Assembly of L…
Sól' Anægphomœh
This album from Chilean dystopian and philosophical muziek act Pyreficativm is intended to be one of the last ritualistic pieces within the chronological amalgam of abstract sounds in Dark Ritual Ambient. The last aberrant orchestration with a much greater vent challenge raised by the use of funeral instruments and ritual artifacts, it has made it a funeral ekstasis that has been deployed towards various edges of the ch'thonic hysterical spheres. "Sól' Anægphomœh" forms a funeral night processio…
It's Sealed Inside The Church
*200 copies limited edition* The ultra haunting dark ambient debut from M.W. Daniels explores his long-time fascination with the paranormal. Ice cold drones, strange voices and an overwhelming atmosphere of horror. The Suspended Apparition began in the winter of 2022; the idea had long been something that its creator and composer Daniels had wanted to bring to fruition. His huge fascination with master composers Krzysztof Penderecki, György Ligeti and Edgard Varése next to outlandish English und…
The Blue Beyond
The Blue Beyond is produced by Touch and Audemars Piguet following Audemars Piguet Contemporary's commission of two new compositions by Jana Winderen in 2019. The record offers edits of two sound compositions "Du Petit Risoud aux profondeurs du Lac de Joux" (2019) and "The Art of Listening: Under Water" (2019).
"Du Petit Risoud aux profondeurs du Lac de Joux" was first presented at Art Basel in Basel from 13 to 16 June 2019. A live performance of the piece was given at HEK (House of Electronic A…
S.W.I.M
*300 copies limited edition* Icelandic musician Gunnar Jónsson Collider debuts on A Strangely Isolated Place with an expansive trip through six fictional environments, brought further to life through an accompanying video by artist Arna Beth. Inviting escapism through detailed, glacial textures, S.W.I.M. elevates a traditional beatless spectrum into a first-person narrative, moving across burning wastelands, miles-high sundown, a dizzying night sky, subterranean exploration, and more beautiful, …
Materia
The second instalment in the Titrate series marks the debut of Pagan Red. This 180g vinyl album, housed in 350gsm reverse board print packaging, contains three experimental compositions featuring subtly enveloping drone, weightless percussion and immersive tonal resonance. Field recordings interweave with the synthetic, sparse rhythms emerge and dissolve, absorbing textures layer and evaporate. Exploring the symbiosis between the natural and the nonmaterial, Materia guides listeners on a journey…
Onda
*150 copies limited edition* With "Onda", Regensburg artist Markus Guentner releases his follow-up to Empire, which appeared on A Strangely Isolated Place in 2021. "Onda" captivates with its orchestral-like progressions, an endlessly interwoven carpet of sound that spreads out over six etudes. As if in slow motion, he scans through the individual sound particles, works out details, lets dust fall from the source material, cores, connects and in the end lets everything flow...
Orchestral Tape Studies II
Orchestral Tape Studies II is an enthralling amalgam of orchestral textures carefully crafted by zakè. It is a continuation of its predecessor, Orchestral Tape Studies which was released to high acclaim in 2019. Bringing forth pastoral meditations with becalmed, atmospheric intent, Orchestral Tape Studies II is a convincing display of beautiful scores primed for the self-reflective moments that are both contemplative and thought provoking. These delicate repetitions, reticent sound treatments, a…
Geist II
*300 copies limited edition* Having made his mark on these pages over the last few years with appearances as part of Japan’s cult entities Goat and YPY, Koshiro Hino’s turn last year as Kakuhan took things to a whole other level with an album that felt like some alchemical mix of elements borrowed from Autechre, Photek, Arthur Russell and Mica Levi - a complete stylistic futureshock that worked as well in the club as it did fuelling extended flights of the imagination.
For 2023, Hino takes us i…
Áhkká
Pauline Hogstrand's music – and Áhkká, in particular – is deeply inspired by both inner and outer influences, by the mystical as well as the rock-solid, by fictitious conversations and the queen mountain of Lappland (Áhkká).
Pudel
Dadaglobal is one of the headstrong, camouflaged in elegance: one of the crazies. With him, we are being hoaxed. He is not to be pinned down to anything other than his artistic urge to move. «Pudel» is an intermediate stop. And the bohemian forest begins to speak. The subway. The soccer stadium. New York City, London Town, Paris, Berlin, Tokyo, Kyoto, Beijing, Hongkong, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Baden. A journey, ongoing. Dadaglobal takes a seat at the Clavinet, bells in orbit and gameboy on standby. …
Dual | Duel
«We find ourselves venturing into the depths of a rugged terrain. In our hands, we hold stones and minerals, each possessing its own distinct texture, weight, and sonic potential. It is through the artistic touch and through the musical instruments that these earthly treasures, once dormant, are awaken to life.» — Sara Oswald + Feldermelder
Qumra II
Klaus Wiese (1942-2009) was a German musician and sound researcher. Wiese brought the teachings of Sufi Hazrat Inayat Khan to Germany from his travels in the East. His album "El-Hadra, the Mystik Dance," which he created with Mathias Grassow and Ted de Jong, made him famous in the genre. Under his own name, From 1981 until his unexpected death in 2009 he released upwards of 60 recordings, not including collaborations (with Oophoi, Mathias Grassow, Ted De Jong, Jim Cole, Al Gromer Khan... to name…
Qumra I
Klaus Wiese (1942-2009) was a German musician and sound researcher. Wiese brought the teachings of Sufi Hazrat Inayat Khan to Germany from his travels in the East. His album "El-Hadra, the Mystik Dance," which he created with Mathias Grassow and Ted de Jong, made him famous in the genre. Under his own name, From 1981 until his unexpected death in 2009 he released upwards of 60 recordings, not including collaborations (with Oophoi, Mathias Grassow, Ted De Jong, Jim Cole, Al Gromer Khan... to name…
Sometimes Life Is Hard And So We Should Help Each Other
Eavesdropping on a lost conversation or sifting through ancient postcards, remnants or rather fragments of a life worth living beside other human beings. Adam Badí Donoval’s debut ‘Sometimes Life Is Hard And So We Should Help Each Other’ has an uncanny ability to evoke warmth and memory, open dialogues that recreate a timeless thread characterized by unearthly compositions that combine field recordings, electronic loops and perpetual melodies.
Based in Bratislava, Adam Badí Donoval, originally r…
Eel
"From eel to eel," Oskar thinks, standing by the coffin, "for eel thou art, to eel returnest." --The Tin Drum, Günter Grass Eel is the second set of sound works from Berlin based Korean American composer, Hyunhye Seo. Known widely for her contributions to the now legendary unit Xiu Xiu, Seo's solo pre-occupations dwell in an altogether more timbral and gestural domain. Each of the two pieces that compromise Eel are visceral deep dives into a turbulence of sound flows. Uniting her interests in ec…
Reality Opposition
A note from Christina Giannone
Dissociation is the driving force behind the composition. The act of surrendering, the attempt to observe our existence from the outside.
Giving in feels like giving up.
Acceptance feels like resignation.
The process included digital sound experimentation by means of observance and detail orientation and the idea of sound presenting itself in different identities depending on the listener. This attention to detail acts as a hologram, changing shapes depending on th…
The Voice of Theseus
From Yann Novak In Greek mythology, the legend of Theseus describes how the king-founder of ancient Athens rescues the children of his city from King Minos’ minotaur on the island of Crete. In commemoration, Athenians began a pilgrimage to honor his victory, taking the ship of Theseus and sailing it from Athens to Delos. It was with this tradition that a philosophical paradox about the historic ship was raised: As the ship was repaired, piece by piece, until it was no longer composed of any orig…