In a time where the devaluation of music seems to be at it’s peak, fans and audiences expect every release to be either for free or donation based, which forces musicians to tour extensively or resort to day jobs in order to support themselves. Deru, an electronic artist who questions this establishment, explores an innovative release of his latest album, 1979. His approach influences listeners to place themselves in an appropriate listening environment, delivering an entirely new experience.
To help him with his vision, Deru enlisted a team of people including the visual artist, Effixx, who collaborated previously on the Outliers, Iceland: Vol. 1 project.
I sat with Deru & Effixx to discuss the themes and concept behind 1979:
Hey Guys, I’m David. If you’ve ordered anything from the ISO50 store in the last 6 months, it’s been handled by me and my small team based out of S.F. I’ve worked with Scott in various ways over the years, beginning by carrying his prints at my design + electronics store, Dijital Fix in Brooklyn (RIP) and San Francisco since 2009. After I moved to S.F. in 2012, Scott moved his design studio into the store, and we’ve been working together making the store better since. I’ll be bringing you posts on industrial design and other gadgets, as well as other objects interest from my perspective as a design store owner.
For my inaugural post, I’m presenting a little bit of awesome I found nestled in a box filled with old prints, some very limited original pressings of the Dive Single (Black Vinyl). Enjoy!
We found a very limited amount of the already-limited-pressing of Tycho’s “Dive” single w/ remixes from Memoryhouse and Keep Shelly In Athens on Vinyl. Check out Jakub’s original post on its release here and check them out on the shop here. Wanted to let our blog readers in on this one first! This isn’t the clear vinyl version, but still rare!
I’ve collected all the remixes i’ve done and put them in one location and easily downloaded as a WAV or MP3 for everyone. Everything other than the Slowdive remix was a remix swap or a remix for a friend, hope you enjoy in your headphones and share it.
I haven’t felt this privileged since releasing Casino Versus Japan on Moodgadget. Here’s a perfected EP from Pop Ambient legend Markus Guentner. We’ve been sitting with this album for a few months just trying to find the right time to release and work up the right artwork. Would love some feedback to share with Markus, trying to get him to come out to the US for a tour. Also, download the single “Shadows of the City” for free in the Soundcloud player.
It wasn’t until the advent of time-lapse photography that humans were able to perceive slow and subtle processes on a comprehensible scale. New wisdom can be found in being able to perceive clouds flowing like a river, or the way heavy traffic on a city street begins to resemble the circulation of blood vessels through an artery. In many ways, “Shadows of the City,” Markus Guentner’s latest release captures this fleeting sensation of experiencing time and space on a novel but disarmingly-familiar scale, enthralling listeners with deftly-constructed soundscapes that tell a story widely-open to individual interpretation.
Opening with the track “Chromatic Fields,” Guentner envelopes the user in a warm, resonant sphere of energy, gliding over the shimmering surface of a moonlit pond. Continuing with “Ashes,” a stark but uplifting and meditative movement, the listener is prepared for the first of two longer pieces as the sense of anticipation grows. The title track emerges from the shadowy silence before a Voigt-like four-to-the-floor beat takes hold of the listener and carries them through canyon-like resonance separating monolithic structures of percussion, snaps of air and cracks of sunlight flashing through to illuminate the dust. With the following track, “The Run,” Guentner releases the built-up energy, returning the listener to the center, preparing them for what comes next. “The Coral Crowd” is ushered in much like it’s long-playing counterpart (or counterpoint, to some), graceful yet grounded, organic, but orderly. Ending symmetrically with “Eternal,” listeners are gently returned to consciousness, new insights revealed and ready for the next play-through. A wholly satisfying low-levels listening experience from beginning to end, “Shadows of the City” may represent some of Markus Guentner’s finest and most mature work to-date.
I know some of you have been bugging me for this stream so i’m happy to be able to share the NitemovesThemes LP on the blog. Rory is one my dearest friends and the talented man you see on stage with Tycho and Com Truise and the one that posts the great vintage motor posts here. I hope you enjoy and give feedback, i’m sure Rory will stop in here and answer any questions below in the comments.
Like a dusty memory whose vivid nostalgia renders you powerless to resist smiling, the newest full-length from Nitemoves, Themes has a certain power to flood your mind with imagery, but not without reminding you of your frame of reference in the now. Setting out to refine his sound following the release of his Moodgadget debut, Longlines, Rory O’Connor, who over the past few years has been touring the world as the drummer for both Com Truise and Tycho, has left us speechless over how far things have advanced. A colorful collage of live instrumentation, modern technology, and analog recording techniques, Themes holds the listener from start to finish.
Opening with the frenetic Polypel, the tone of Themes is established in subtle details that shimmer as the horizon comes into view. Not long into the second track, Veaquis, the listener is engulfed in warm synth-drenched nostalgia that washes over the ears, punctuated by live drums. Drawing on decades bygone, Themes continues to flutter like the reflection of light off water, giving in to raw emotion that plays out in syncopated drums, F1 screams and ambient swells, fading away to gently return the listener to their childhood bedroom with a music box at their feet.
You may know part of Dukes Of Chutney if you’ve been on the ISO50 blog for a few years. Part of the duo is Tom Croose who has done mixes and playlists for us in the past. He is now releasing with long time surfing buddy Dustin Lynn on Tim Sweeney’sBeats In Space label.
We’re proud to be premiering a video for their Domino EP which the vinyl is ONLY $10(I ordered mine up last week) – order/support here.
We are proud to premiere an exclusive stream of the Teen Daze “Glacier” LP on the blog today. The record has dynamic motion to it that touches all different varieties of enjoyable glowing melodies. Below are links to the limited vinyl and tour dates, hope that if you enjoy the stream then you’ll be able to pick up a record or see him live on an upcoming tour date:
10/2 Calgary, AB – Saits the Gateway
10/4 Edmonton, AB – Wunderbar
10/5 Woodbury, TN – Music In The Middle Fest
10/6 Saskatoon, SK – Amigos Cantina
10/8 Winnepeg, MB – Union Sound Hall (Side Room)
10/9 Fargo, ND – The Aquarium (Dempseys Upstairs)
10/11 Madison, WI – The Frequency
10/12 Chicago, IL – Beauty Bar
10/15 Kingston, ON – Clark Hall Pub
10/16 London, ON – The APK
10/17 Toronto, ON – Parts & Labour
10/18 Ottawa, ON – Mercury Lounge
10/19 Montreal, QC – Le Divan Orange
10/20 Burlington, VT – Signal Kitchen
10/22 Philadelphia, PA – Boot & Saddle
10/24 Hartford, CT – The Arch Street Tavern
10/25 Baltimore, MD – Golden West Café
10/26 Brooklyn, NY – Glasslands
10/28 Cleveland, OH – Beachland Tavern
10/29 St. Louis, MO – The Demo
10/30 Lawrence, KS – Bottleneck
10/31 Denver, CO – Larimer Lounge
11/3 Phoenix, AZ – Last Exit Live
11/4 San Diego, CA – Soda Bar
11/5 Los Angeles, CA – Echo
11/6 San Francisco, CA – Brick & Mortar Music Hall
11/7 Portland, OR – Holocene
11/9 Vancouver, BC – Electric Owl
11/10 Bellingham, WA – The Wild Buffalo
Autumnal days feel exceptionally short in Abbotsford, BC, Canada. The sun rises but hardly invites. The inevitability of night is impending. As 2012 came to a close, Teen Daze entered a state of repose. He wrote new material, and for the first time he found the process not to be a means of escape or refuge. Rather than imagining an outward utopia, or seeking an inward sanctuary, he simply engaged his work with his reality, his physical world. Like it’s namesake, Glacier is more than solidified water adrift in a sea of home-produced electronic music. It is a collection of moments, historical particles and physical experiences, gathered into a whole. Varied yet cohesive, Glacier finds Jamison confident both as a drifter and a romantic. Lyrics are used personally and sparingly, often drifting in and out on a single phrase. “No one sees you, the way I see you”, he repeats through opener “Alaska”. Album centerpiece “Ice On The Windowsill” celebrates the notion of remaining indoors with the one you love as the world frosts over. Connecting each epiphany are wordless ruminations—like the twisted pitch of“Tundra”, the cool warmth of “Forest At Dawn”—some of the most evocative sound design in Teen Daze’s career to date. The album’s fixation on manifesting physicality translates to being a highly performative production. The role of live instruments, field recordings, and general human presence is evident in these songs. This was a deliberate choice; Teen Daze plans to tour in support of the release for the first time as a full band—essentially to actualize Glacier in the physical world.
We’re proud to be allowed to be streaming the new Gold Panda album for the ISO50 readers. If you love the record be sure to support it physically, this one should be around for years to come. Below is a more detailed description/story around the album but if you want just the music then enjoy above.
Nearly three years after the release of his debut album Lucky Shiner, Gold Panda returns with his second album Half Of Where You Live, to be released on Ghostly International and his own NOTOWN label (UK). The album is the product of a period spent touring the world multiple times around, absorbing influences and probing potential new avenues of creative exploration.
Half Of Where You Live represents a stylistic and thematic advancement from Gold Panda’s previous work, expanding on the ideas he presented on 2012’s Mountain/Financial District 7” and this March’s Trust EP. It reflects its creator’s nomadic existence — you can see the influence of his travels in track titles like ‘Brazil’ and “Enoshima,” in the oriental textures of “My Father In Hong Kong 1961” and “We Work Nights,” and in the sounds of “Junk City II,” conceived as a hypothetical soundtrack to ’90s anime and the films of controversial director Takashi Miike.
“These films depicted a post-economic boom Tokyo in the 1990s”, the producer explains, “and there was a last days feeling in them. [The feeling] still lurks [in Japan]. I saw a return to that possible dystopia. I’ve seen people in Osaka walking around, jobless, mental, stricken. I think real desperation and poverty is returning; it’s quite scary.”
The whole album, in fact, is described as a “city album” by its maker, and it’s easy to see why — each track possesses a different aesthetic and reflects a different environment. Gold Panda describes it as “a jump from location to location… I felt like I was stealing a piece of each place I went to.” ‘Community’ is a house-tinged reflection on cultural divides in London, while “Brazil” catalogs Gold Panda’s arrival in Sao Paolo: “I wanted to make a track that soundtracked my ride from the airport to downtown” he explains. “The [vocal] sample is kind of like an excited chant, bigging up the place, then it all gets confusing to replicate the traffic and buildings.”
Taking on this loose concept has meant a more considered approach for Gold Panda, and the music has harsher edges than his previous work, and an almost hauntological feel at times. Crucially, though, this new approach hasn’t compromised the producer’s creative freedom, and the album still flows with his trademark organic vibrancy. “I’ve tried to really focus on just a few elements,” he explains. “I tried to avoid chopped up female vocals this time around, as it’s become pretty well done, and anything that was too solid structurally. Ultimately, though, you just you find your groove and settle into a sound and realize you only really need to please yourself.”
