Dick Bruinsma
Recorded at La Berceuse (Seattle, WA) on 31 December 2015
with guitar and tape
Photograph taken in Haslett, MI on 7 December 2015
Support Benoît Pioulard
Listening to tones that starts off soo frail then grows into a massive of wall of sound is something i’ve always chalked up as a masterpiece especially when its done in a way that makes a lot of pop music sound like a waste of time. The thing about Slowdive is that you want to live in their music, it the soundtrack to many people’s fantasy world of emotion which sounds sort of cheesy but when you’re mentally committed to a song its far more than just music for many of their fans.
Slowdive EP is 25 years old. It was released by Creation Records on November 5th, 1990.
When the band reformed for 2014, it seemed obvious to us to start our live shows by playing the Slowdive EP at the top of the set list. It sets out where we originally came from, and sets the scene for where we were going. And to celebrate that, we’d like to present a free live recording of Avalyn, performed during our USA / Canada tour last year. We are currently working on releasing the entire live set from that tour as a collection, so look out for news of that soon.
Vocals / Guitar – Neil Halstead
Vocals – Rachel Goswell
Guitar – Christian Savill
Bass Guitar – Nick Chaplin
Drums – Simon ScottSong written by Halstead/Goswell/Savill/Chaplin/Sell
Mixed by Simon Scott
Recorded May 2015 at La Berceuse, Seattle WA with guitar, magnetic tape and voice Thomas Meluch is back at it again in the ambient ring. Some William Basinski style repetition here, with only 2 tracks being reviewable you can still get a good sense of what is gifted to us. The calmness and delicate crackling is almost too clean for Thomas but its a great change up and beautiful edition to his discography.
This one slipped under the radar but i’m glad I could find a full stream for those that haven’t heard it. We first wrote about Ptaki in April 2013 since then they’ve been a highlight on a ISO50 playlist and now I couldn’t find a more enjoyable LP to ride into the weekend. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Mr Zambon’s (of The Very Polish Cut-Outs fame) new label Transatlantyk has made quite an impact across a handful of releases. This is their debut artist album, and who better to represent the free-wheeling spirit of their ethos than fellow Polish pals, Ptaki. The high-flying Warsaw based duo (Their name translates to ‘Birds’ in Polish) have found themselves the object of hysteria after a mere trio of very well received releases on parent label (TVPC) and more recently for LA’s Young Adults. Their music has a depth and enduring quality that has clearly set them apart from contemporaries, and Przelot has given them a broader canvas to, pardon the pun, spread their wings. Familiar textures, acoustic guitars, rhodes and treated bass are assembled in a fresh and uplifting way as the duo seem unencumbered by any sense of homage or reverence to past masters. Cod Reggae (done well!), sleazy chuggers, and dreamy mid-tempo workouts sit easily alongside the Yacht Rock leanings and straight up blissed-out beach bar fare. All shot through with an undeniably Balearic sense of well being throughout.
SUPPORT VINYL
‘Walk Dance Talk Sing’ is one of the more deeper cuts on this classy disco effort from the UK trio Crazy P. The bassline makes it a builder compared some of the more soulful dancefloor tracks that imbodies this LP. The distant guitar work is what sold me, reminded me of an Erlend Oye project.
Walk Dance Talk Sing is out May 12th.
Support: Digital
001 Benoît Pioulard by Iso50 on Mixcloud
Couldn’t think of a better person to kick things off for us. Here is the first installment of the IS050 Colorcast Mix series.
Tracklist
01, Assembler/Responder, Palmer Station, Bishop & Clerk
02, Alex G, Serpent is Lord, DSU
03, Duane Pitre, Section III, Feel Free
04, Bibio, Dinghy, Green
05, Ricky Eat Acid, In my dreams we’re almost touching, Three Love Songs
06, Dirty Beaches, Pacific Ocean, Stateless
07, Carl Hultgren, I Walked Alone [Instrumental], Tomorrow
08, Cepia, Me and My Gin, Cepia
09, Foxes in Fiction, Glow (v079), Ontario Gothic
10, Jib Kidder, Yesterday’s Gone [Robitussin Ramble by Benoît Pioulard], Steal Guitars: Fencing Partners
Last month Seattle’s Benoît Pioulard released another gorgeous LP to the world called “Sonnet” you can pick up the digital, cd, and vinyl on his bandcamp.
SUPPORT: SIGNED CD & VINYL
“The basis of the album was a series of field recordings of tones and unintentional harmonies that I made in the summer & fall of 2013 – whistling industrial air conditioners, bird songs, locust drones, washing machines – that I mimicked or interpreted on the guitar, making loops that developed into fuller compositions.
Several of the pieces are recreations of harmony loops that I heard in a series of extraordinarily vivid dreams, and then woke up and recorded.
A few pieces had lyrics and vocal parts that I ultimately removed; at a certain point the album became an exercise in restraint, so I strove to leave only what I felt absolutely essential.
Unlike most of my previous recordings, there are no digital / software after-effects on the album; all sounds are from analog tape and / or my few guitar pedals.” Thomas Meluch (Benoit Pioulard)
The sound of the fifth Benoit Pioulard full length is lush and verdant, a temperate rain forest of ear ecstasy that reflects the environment surrounding the artist. A mostly instrumental work, it is an adept melding of song and sound, melody and texture, the intangible and the palpable, that in an abstract sense recalls the more fractured and loose end of the 70’s krautrock movement.
Artwork by Anthony Ciannamea
Tracklist:
1. Weight
2. The Cat’s Gone Nuts (feat. Seafloor)
3. Better Than Nothing (feat. Angelica Bess)
4. Insider Out
5. Ports (feat. Angelica Bess)
6. Ended Up In NY
7. It’s All Right (feat. Angelica Bess)
8. I Assume (feat. Jesse Boykins III & Throwing Snow)
9. Stop Drop & Roll
10. Everyone’s Crazy
11. Shhhh
12. An Oceanic Escape (feat. Olivia Sholler)
13. Gee Whiz
Name:
Braille
Current city:
Brooklyn
Pets:
Ro aka Chunkers the Cat
ISO50: Dream gear set up:
Braille: What I’ve got right now works pretty well. Highlights are my Prophet 12, Rhodes, Laptop and Apollo Sound Card. I guess if I dream of anything, its having a proper piano around again.
ISO50: Dream gig line up to play with:
Braille: A Piano, Guitar and Vocal Mic
Granular Sampler with a pedal system triggering recording of each of the instruments individually
Controller to control the sampler’s playhead on each individual track
I’m gonna make this happen some day…
ISO50: Share a childhood memory that might relate to your music?
Braille: Every nightmare I ever had as a child where I was frozen by an unseen evil and couldn’t scream
ISO50: If the world lost electricity tomorrow, would you continue to make music and how?
Braille: I’d break out the acoustic guitar, find a piano and go to town
ISO50: How do you and Seafloor know each other?
Braille: We’ve known each other since our first releases during the good old IDM days. Seafloor was in a group on Merck called Landau which progressed through Landau Orchestra and Murray Flexor to its current incarnation as Body Language. He lives a block away from me in Brooklyn and has become one of my closest friends over the past 10 years or so. We’ve been working together more often the past few years, you can check out our first collaborative EP as “Rights” on Infinite Machine.
ISO50: Tell us about the album art for the EP and LP?
Braille: Anthony Ciannamea did an amazing job tying the EP and LP art together while still staying true to the vibe of the individual releases. The cover and back of the LP ties together everything from subject matter (a girl, swan feather) to instruments used (texture from a cardboard box I used for some of the percussion) without feeling too busy. Its been a pleasure to work with him and I’m looking forward to the stuff he’s still cooking up for the album release.
ISO50: Can you list off a 4 song playlist of what you listen to while
you head out for errands?
Braille: It varies but recently these four tracks have been on repeat lately:
Tim Hecker – Virginal I
Kendrick Lamar – Institutionalized (feat. Bilal, Anna Wise & Snoop Dogg)
Sufjan Stevens – Fourth of July
Flying Lotus – Coronus, The Terminator
Photo by Sean Maung
ISO50: Something your fans might not know about you?
Braille: I’m Indorican?
ISO50: Do you collect anything?
Braille: Not really. Music and Instruments I suppose, though I know thats a very boring, expected answer.
ISO50: What is your favourite sound and why?
Braille: The sound of a minor 7th guitar chord run through a granular sampler at a very slow speed with the density and duration maxed out. There’s something so beautiful about both the concept and the resulting sound. On one hand, its a beautiful, epic textural sound and on the other its a statement about the temporal nature of sound since you are exploding a single instant of audio into an endless, living soundscape.
ISO50: Is there any sort of emotional subtext, or something that inspires you to write your solo music?
Braille: Melancholic optimism
ISO50: Any tour dates lining up?
Braille: Some upcoming dates with label mate Different Sleep as well as my release party next month in Brooklyn!
15-Apr – Los Angeles, CA – Low End Theory w Different Sleep
16-Apr – San Francisco, CA – California Academy of Sciences Night Life w Different Sleep
22-Apr – Austin, TX – Empire Control Room w Different Sleep
23-Apr – Chicago, IL – East Room w Different Sleep
8-May – NYC – Mute Swan Release Party at Cameo Gallery w Seafloor & L-Vis 1990
The more crowded the indie rock screen gets the shorter the attention span gets for fans of new music in that huge field of neo flower children and post crustpunk grungy squatters. So a lot of bands pop up just based on trend, some are easier to knock off then others take for instance that Surf Rock scene that popped up for 3 summers, a lot of just-ok came out of it but many of those bands have ditched that group of guitar pedals for new ones. The refurbished style that stretches over many genres and crowds is slow psychedelic rock with a twist. The freaks and meditative characters flourish here, 10 minute track? no problem maybe even do 22 minutes, it still fits on a side of a vinyl. If you need a short catch up, here are 3 that I have enjoyed and keep enjoying.