ISO50

by chaiwalla

A teaser video for “Extended Away”, the new release available this month on SENTRALL Records, limited clear 12″ vinyl. See Pacific Beach Vinyl USA for pre-order

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A heavy hitter from Tycho “See” remixer’s Beacon.

“Marion” is the first piece of new music from Beacon’s Thomas Mullarney III and Jacob Gossett since the New York duo’s 2016 album, Escapements.

At the heart of “Marion” is a hammered dulcimer. The percussive, stringed instrument—an ancient ancestor of the piano—acts as the composition’s harmonic and dynamic guide. Samples ebb and flow, projecting into the mix at moments of brightness and clarity. Other times they recede beneath Mullarney’s crystalline voice and a bed of feathery, pneumatic production. This is the mode in which Beacon have always thrived: wistful amidst pulsing electronics and soft-washed hues.

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by jasonjko

As co-founder of spatial audio platform Envelop, pioneering producer and electronic musician Christopher Willits navigates the new universe of three dimensional music composition. The technology positions sound around the listener—full spatial orientation—whether inside an Envelop space or at home with ordinary headphones. A logical step for an artist whose output, spanning over 25 releases, has inched increasingly towards rich, immersive audiovisual experiences. His new project, Horizon, culminates a career-long journey for space, physicality, and serenity in music. Fitting, a decade after Willits marked Ghostly International’s first ever exclusively digital full-length, that he brings the label its first spatial audio album.

Willits began to share his diverse vision of ambient music in the early 2000s, releasing a string of critically acclaimed albums on the 12k label. The minimal sound introduced on those recordings remains at the core of his work: warm guitar tones woven into smooth, harmonic surfaces. Willits would expand the spectrum of his catalog next through collaboration, working with Ryuichi Sakamoto, Zach Hill (Death Grips), Taylor Deupree, and, for 2014 LP Opening, the whole band of Tycho.

In the period since Opening, Willits and friends successfully crowdfunded Envelop, allowing further development of its open source software, which integrates with production tools like Ableton Live as well as virtual reality platforms, and its 3D sound space locations for performance, research, workshops, and other non-profit projects. He also composed the original score for documentary The Art of Listening, and continues to lead music production and meditation classes in San Francisco.
Both Willits’ teachings and his mission with Envelop inform the deep ambient terrain of Horizon. Spanning one hour and thirty minutes, the album surrenders to the sentient fabric of time and space, and by design, aligns with sleep patterns, meditation, and other mindful practices. This is slow music, mapped to surround listeners whether in states heightened or muted. Space, literally and figuratively, to reflect in.

The innovative 3D mix is evident within the first sweeping, spherical pan of “Comet” (access to Envelop’s software or spaces not required). As one orbits, on occasion the panoramic view touches down to the surface by way of ambisonic field recordings, like the Peruvian Amazon at night on “Return” and the Hawaiian ocean waves of “Waipio.”

This weightless motion—shifting between gaseous and textural, macro and micro—offers a unique and transcendent proprioceptive experience. Listeners are ushered through atmospheres with indeterminate length, breadth and depth. It is as if we are at once above, below, within, and alongside the skylines of sound.

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I usually write-off all the pitched vocal tracks that clog up the electronic scene BUT this is a unique take, especially the intro.

‘THROAT’ is the new album by composer/producer Aaron David Ross (ADR). Arriving as the New York artist’s second release on PAN, ‘THROAT’ is made entirely from vocal sounds. It could only be crafted in the ultra-present; an age where the poetry of songwriting is flattened into catchy hooks. As words are sliced into sounds, ideas are reduced to sibilant syllables that still contain a range of emotional power, but deliver it in subversively different ways.

‘THROAT’ exploits these ways, borrowing vocal fragments from everywhere to collage a choral congregation of singing servers; pinging one another to create open-source equal-opportunity electronic pop music. Reichian polyrhythms EDM drop into Bieber-esque beatboxing. Hypothetical K-pop stars conduct holographic choirs in altruistic ritual. Virtual summer festival DJs transcode into pure phonemes; anthropomorphizing formant-shifted vacuums of communication. When you drop the cargo of making sense, you can go so much faster.

As a classically trained musician inspired equally by pop and contemporary art & technology practices, ADR’s work has distinguished itself through its formal deliriousness and playful tenor. Besides ongoing collaborations with an international community of vocalists, producers, artists and fashion designers, Ross releases solo recordings, composes music for film, TV and advertising, and maintains a practice of live performance and sound installation.

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There are plenty of tracks I keep in my arsenal if I need an escape, i’ll be adding this one from People’s Palms. It brings the light in with a bit of haze, sort of slows down whatever you’re doing and invites you into its own groove.

The third album and Hush Hush debut from Oakland-based musician Austin Freese aka People’s Palms.
Digital + Cassette tape release date: October 14th 2016

People’s Palms / Soundcloud – @peoplespalms
People’s Palms / Facebook – bit.ly/2aJLpau

Oakland-based musician Austin Freese aka People’s Palms makes his Hush Hush debut with the cinematic 10-track album ‘Habitatual,’ his third album under the moniker and his first official label release. A thoroughly hypnotic affair heavily influenced by the natural world, the album organically swims through a fantastic mosaic of mallet instruments, long form guitar swells, found sound, and his trusty Yamaha CS-50. Piecing together unique field recordings captured over the last three years during mundane everyday life as well as exotic international travels, and then patiently adding his own instrumental flourishes, ‘Habitatual’ carries a transportive sound that quietly shifts through downtempo, ambient, and New Age styles while simultaneously floating free of rigid genre confines. Shades of Steve Reich, Boards of Canada, and early Tortoise peak through his richly-detailed tapestries, creating a meditative imaginary soundtrack ideal to compliment unexpected excursions. A subtle yet consistent global influence further enhances People’s Palms’ exploratory productions, fueled by a fascination with the globalization of music and traditional international rhythms sparked through his own travels as well as the interconnectivity of our online generation. Fitting right at home on the introspective-inclined Seattle-based label Hush Hush Records, the blissful sonic world People’s Palms has created with ‘Habitatual’ yields a dreamy, immersive, and mesmerizing listening experience.

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by Curtiss Sprague

For Those Of You Who Have Never (And Also Those Who Have) take us a mainly beatless journey where Huerco S may shine with his brightest and most inviting work yet. The album drops on Anthony Naples’ Proibito label next week.

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