Search:distant

In March of 2020, after learning that a dear friend’s life was coming to an end, Johansing sat down and in one sitting wrote the song “Daffodils”. An elegiac tribute to someone facing death with grace and curiosity, the lyrics confront Johansing’s own mortality by observing the brief lifespan of a Hlower. Only a week later when the world came to an abrupt standstill, she soon found herself processing this recent loss while trying to make sense of a new global reality. Across the ensuing months, Johansing found herself increasingly untethered by a world of isolation and political upheaval.

Having been a frequent touring member of bands like Hand Habits and Fruit Bats, and often being called into the studio to lend her harmonies and multi-instrumental talents to records, Johansing’s phone no longer rang. Living in Los Angeles she feared her musical community was vanishing, as friends and collaborators continually announced they were leaving the city. It was in returning to her piano nightly that she found the greatest solace, feverishly writing the songs that would be collected on her next album. Resulting from this new sense of time and focus was a deepening of her songwriting. As Johansing recalls, “I felt like a metamorphosis happened during that time. There was a lot of personal growth and healing.”

Throughout Year Away Johansing traverses uncharted emotional landscapes brought upon by the changes occurring all around her. The forced self-reflection of the moment is aptly captured by “Old Friend”, featuring an aching melody and swooning production that recalls the best of Harry Nilsson. The epic piano and saxophone-driven “Smile with My Eyes” addresses the loss of community as friends became distant and political divides between family grew. On “Smile” Johansing pushes her vocals further than ever, expanding her range and using her peerless voice as the singular instrument it is. Facing the loss of a family home due to environmental destruction, “Shifting Sands” is marked by soaring Hlutes, Hield recordings and glassy synthesizers that nod to Japanese New Age.

“Daffodils”, the stunning album centerpiece, is built from a pastiche of looping samples, swirling Mellotron and dazzling vibraphone. “Keep your heart open wide, you never know your time / Keep your heart wild, true Hlower child”, Johansing sings as she says goodbye to an elder, while the band reaches a grief-stricken crescendo of woodwinds and chiming bells. On the title track, Johansing takes listeners on an eerily meditative journey of collective experiences. “I wanted to keep the progression simple and repetitive so that musically we could add new elements little by little, while the emotional tone of the lyrics becomes increasingly more strained and expressive”. The song grows to a fever pitch as Johansing sings higher than she thought possible; the tension of the repeating chords Hinally resolving into a hopeful coda as multiple soloists weave around each other.

Amidst heavier themes, Johansing still leaves room for her love of irresistible pop melodies and lush production. The driving “Last Drop” and mid-tempo “Valley Green” are two of her catchiest songs to date. On the former Johansing sings the anthemic chorus, “As if it were the last drop, and nothing ever lasts forever / As if it were the last stop, too far out to come back ever”, longing for a love that she’ll never take for granted, while also admitting that she doesn’t always know how good she has it. “Valley Green” features shimmering layers of 12- string guitars, stacked horns and an impeccable solo by co-producer and multi- instrumentalist Tim Ramsey (Vetiver, Fruit Bats), hinting at a love for bands like NRBQ.

Having been eager to capture the initial spark of songwriting, Johansing booked time at Highland Park’s 64 Sound Studio the week that it reopened. Over the course of three days, she and her band gathered basic tracks for 10 songs, before returning home to Hinish the record with Ramsey. Setting forth to make an album that paid homage to the music that kept them company during the months spent alone together, the duo pulled inspiration from a wide net including Burt Bacharach, John Carroll Kirby & Haruomi Hosono. Ramsey’s newfound love of early digital synthesizers dovetailed effortlessly with Johansing’s fondness for classic 70’s horn and string arrangements, creating a sound that is distinctly modern yet warm and familiar.

Once again Johansing called upon some of the Hinest players of Northeast Los Angeles’ vibrant music community to lend a hand with the record. The 70s R&B-folk of “Watch It Like a Show” features an electric guitar solo from Hand Habits’ Meg Duffy, while album closer “Endless Sound” boasts backing vocals from electronic musician Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith and swooping Indian-inspired violins from Amir Yaghmai (HAIM, The Voidz). The record shines brightly thanks to an ace mix from veteran producer Rob Schnapf (Beck, Elliott Smith, Cat Power), woodwinds from Logan Hone (John Carroll Kirby, Eddie Chacon), and a featured rhythm section of drummer Josh Adams (Jenny Lewis, Bedouine) and bassist Todd Dahlhoff (Feist, Devendra Banhart). Recorded across multiple studios including LA’s famed Sunset Sound, the album remains steadfastly buoyed by the adept engineering of Tyler Karmen (MGMT, Alvvays).

Though born of turbulent times, Year Away is ultimately interested in moving forward. The album ends with “Endless Sound,” where Johansing laments seismic global changes, (“The water is hotter, the mighty thaw / The current’s reversing, the last are lost”) but vows to keep going (“No storm can take me down / Endless light, endless sound”). It’s Year Away’s resilience that shines through despite the darkness. It’s a sound all her own and Johansing’s most cohesive set of songs yet.

DELUXE 8LP BOXSET FROM THEIR ‘CAPITOL YEARS’, WITH STUDIO ALBUM HALF-SPEED MASTERING, LP OF BONUS TRACKS, 60 PAGE BOOK, POSTERS & NUMBERED CERTIFICATE

Currently on the 40 Years Live World Tour and sounding better than ever, W.A.S.P. is one of the most consistent and reliable forces in rock music - unstoppable and unassailable, like a heavy metal juggernaut sent back in time from a long, distant galaxy. Frontman Blackie Lawless is undoubtedly one of rock’s everlasting figures – someone’s whose attitude and vision changed the musical landscape around him, in the process bearing fruit to some of the biggest anthems of their time.

Their first five studio albums (W.A.S.P., The Last Command, Inside the Electric Circus, The Headless Children & The Crimson Idol) contributed enough on their own for W.A.S.P. to be considered one of the greatest rock bands of all-time. Those LPs are all presented in this set, mastered half-speed at Air Studios, London, for a superior, sharper, more direct and engaging sound.

Packaged within a deluxe red leatherette effect double slipcase, The 7 Savage: 1984-1992 is completed on vinyl with two more LPs: 1987’s Live… in the Raw and new compilation Bonus Tracks & B-Sides featuring the controversial breakthrough anthem ‘Animal (F**k Like a Beast)’.

Compiled with the full cooperation of Blackie Lawless, the box set also includes a 60-page book with exclusive and rare pictures from legendary metal photographers (including Ross Halfin, Tony Mottram, David Plastik and Paul Natkin), along with extensive liner notes from Amit Sharma (Kerrang!, Planet Rock). Also included is an exclusive Blackie Lawless poster, plus an individually numbered circular saw shaped certificate.

The 7 Savage: 1984-1992 will be released Friday 27th October 2023 on Madfish and is strictly limited to 2000 copies worldwide.






















































[yb] L.2. Phantoms In The Mirror [04:36] D.3. The Eulogy

Fulco Ottervanger and Lander Gyselinck, you remember them from their debut album Duizeldorp which included cult classic Isabellade.

On October 27 they add the second album Altijd Bewust Bewegen to their discography.

On this album the duo goes in search of reasons for movement. Head and body harmoniously translated into Beraad-language. The two 2 improvisational athletes once again gracefully stretch themselves between the limits of gravity.

Admiration for movement culture takes them from gym to racetrack, from apps to abs. A breaststroke here, a backhand there. An aimless goalkeeper musing on a distant acquaintance. From village to town and back, the tandem rustles at to tennis lessons.

Talk about it with your coach.

Beyond the Red Mirror ist das zehnte Studioalbum der deutschen Metal-Band Blind Guardian. Das Album wurde im Twilight
Hall Studio in Grefrath aufgenommen. Inhaltlich knüpft es an die 1995 veröffentlichte Platte Imaginations from the
Other Side an und erzählt die Geschichte der beiden Welten vor und hinter dem Spiegel weiter.

Nach dem enormen Erfolg von "The God Machine" aus dem Jahr 2022 veröffentlicht das deutsche Metal-Powerhouse BLIND GUARDIAN nun neue farbige Vinyl-Editionen einiger heiß begehrter neuerer Einträge in ihrer beeindruckenden Diskografie. A Twist in the Myth" von 2006 und "At the Edge of Time" von 2010 sind seit einem Jahrzehnt nicht mehr neu aufgelegt worden, und auch "Beyond the Red Mirror" von 2015 ist heutzutage ziemlich rar geworden. Sichern Sie sich also diese edlen Ausgaben von feinstem, melodischem, schnellem und kompliziertem Heavy Metal und erleben Sie die Band im September/Oktober 2023 live auf Tour.

Corey Fuller and Tomoyoshi Date are the Illuha duo but for this new Tobira album they link with percussionist Tatsuhisa Yamamoto. He is a skilled drummer who has worked alone on Black Truffle but has also collaborated with Jim O'Rourke, Eiko Ishibashi, Keiji Haino, Phew and Oren Ambarchi among others. This new record focusses on electro-acoustic sounds that are run through with all manner of precise sonic details and are carried by Yamamoto's unique playing style and singular sense of groove which were recorded over two sessions. That playing style finds him playing very lightly with closely mic'ed drums so plenty of softness is captured and then interwoven with layers of Rhodes, piano, distant synths and metallic murmurations.

Welcome to "The Distance. Let Robin Taylor Zander lead you on a journey where music transcends time. You'll find yourself in a place between dreams and reality... within introspective moments and distant reveries. With lush, immersive harmonies and unexpected changes, Robin delivers on guitar, drums, piano, bass, and vocals

German jazz singer with Belgian roots Sophie Tassignon has built up a solid reputation in Germany. She has a whole series of well-received records to her credit, which not only showcase her musical versatility but also demonstrate what an incredible vocalist and composer she is. Sophie is a musical chameleon, constantly seeking to challenge and renew herself.


When the refugee crisis erupted and millions of Syrian refugees flocked to continental Europe in search of a better life and safety, it resulted in a lot of fear and opposition from the European population. The perception on refugees is often very negative and creates divisions on the political field.


When a shelter was started up two blocks from Sophie's home in Berlin, she decided to help and take care of some refugees. To get a better understanding on the culture and stories of those people and to bridge with our culture, she decided to study Arabic. Meanwhile, we are more than five years on, and not only is she proficient in Arabic, but she has also gained a better understanding of the culture and customs of the Arab community. Friendships for life were formed.
She decided to incorporate Arabic into her own musical language - jazz - fusing two worlds. From this was born the project and the eponymous record "Khyal. The word refers to the imagination and is literally translated as "remembering and/or longing for something from the (distant) past." With this project, Sophie especially wants to encourage tolerance and acceptance towards people regardless of their cultural background or religion and show how intercultural interaction can lead to very beautiful and artistic results.artwork &

Viertes Album der griechischen Power/Prog Metal Band. Mitte der 90er Jahre gegründet, liefern Fortress Under Siege aus Athen Power/Prog Metal, der traditionellen Heavy Metal mit technischer und melodischer Power auf höchstem Niveau verbindet. 1996 gehörten FUS zu den ersten griechischen Bands die Power Metal mit Prog verbanden. Seitdem wurden 3 Alben veröffentlicht: "The Mortal Flesh of Love" (2011), "Phoenix Rising" (2014), "Atlantis" (2020). . "Envy", ihr bisher kraftvollstes Album, bietet modernen Power Metall, ohne die Verbindung zu ihrer Vergangenheit zu verlieren. Der Lyrics bieten wieder eine große Vielfalt, die sich mit sozialen, historischen, Science-Fiction- und mythologischen Themen befasst. Ein Original-Meisterwerk von Ioannis Koutrikas ziert das Cover der neuen Platte, eine Allegorie des Neids. Nachdem sie die Bühne mit Bands wie Accept, Hammerfall, Guano Apes, Serious Black und anderen geteilt haben, werden sie bald wieder auf Tour gehen. Das Power-Prog-Metal-Abenteuer geht weiter.

Alan Abrahams aka Portable returns to the label in fine form with his latest full-length LP, Augmented Dreams. The title refers to the use of everyday technological advancements to achieve what were once
only dreams or visions of past generations, making this an explorative concept album that is equal parts not-too-distant science fiction, and about as topical as it gets.
From the gorgeous opening string layers of “The Pull of Time” to the classy 4/4 grooves of “Begin Again” or lead single “Guiding Me”, into the apropos and angular sci-fi broken beat feels of “Parallax” and “The Color of Static”, fitting Detroit-influenced love taps like “Beacon” and “The Mycorrhizal Network”, the politically-inspired “Are We Not Above It?” referencing the lingering effects of colonization featuring NiQ E from South Africa on vocals and L_cio from Brazil on flute, through to the futurist pop elegance of the dreamy duet recorded with Alexey Kochetkov “I Need You” and the conclusive titular track, it is clear that both the in-depth concept and immaculately-crafted musical content in Portable’s inimitable style are balanced in significance and expressive effect. This also functions as a timely statement in itself, as today’s iceberg-tip evolution of AI technology is currently impending over the arts and many of our existing realities.
This ten-song album serves as an imaginative yet hyperrealist narrative on how humanity’s fascination with and reliance on ever-advancing technology defines the times we find ourselves in, while the skillful sonic displays and present-era production techniques along with Abraham’s knack for timeless emotive songwriting offer up this solid soundtrack for the ages.

FFF joins Straight Up Breakbeat with two slabs of hybrid hardcore! Connecting the dots between original jungle, footwork, rave, and then some, FFF taps into his multi-faceted musical history with two tracks aimed straight at the floor. Modern day Dance Mania !!
Dead Man's Chest - 5/5 “Sick, always got time for some rolling bongo jungle!”

Sherelle - “Sounding Big!”
Settle Down - "These are silly good"
Jay Cunning - 5/5 “LOVE IT! Full support from me!”
Louise Plus One & Simon Hughesee (Distant Planet) - 5/5 “A great release, both great tracks!”
Further support from Gremlinz, Mister Shifter, Yorobi, Jaise, Esc, Glowkid & more.

The debut recording by Setting, a trio comprising Nathan Bowles (solo/trio, Pelt, Black Twig Pickers); Jaime Fennelly (Mind Over Mirrors, Peeesseye); and Joe Westerlund (solo, Califone, Sylvan Esso, Jake Xerxes Fussell). Deluxe LP edition features 140g black virgin vinyl and a reverse board jacket with art by Timothy Breen. Deluxe CD edition features a gatefold jacket with art by Timothy Breen. RIYL: Popol Vuh, Brian Eno’s Ambient 4, Harmonia, The Necks. Setting, befitting its name which can be read as noun or verb, and simultaneously suggests the sun, or any star in the firmament from our earthbound perspective; a story and its surroundings, its scenic context or mise en scène; or a psychedelic experience, as in the prescription to mind one’s “set and setting” arose outdoors, uncontained and unconstrained by architecture. The group’s debut recording Shone a Rainbow Light On traverses textural, phosphorescent topography with a certified organic folk-engine. Kosmische correspondences are inevitable and valid, but also somewhat deceptive, given this meditative music’s terrestrial rootedness in the familiar natural world, more in native humus and humidity than in outer space. Fuelled by a vibratory hybrid of acoustic and electronic instrumentation, these four stately longform pieces sound like a UFO slowly sinking into a peat bog (or, as we call it in North Carolina, a pocosin). An instrumental trio comprising Nathan Bowles (solo/trio, Pelt, Black Twig Pickers) on strings, keys, and percussion; Jaime Fennelly (Mind Over Mirrors, Peeesseye) on harmoniums, synthesizers, and piano zither; and Joe Westerlund (solo, Califone, Sylvan Esso, Jake Xerxes Fussell) on drums, percussion, and metallophones, Setting established its own setting and found its footing in regularly scheduled improvisational sessions outside Westerlund’s home in Durham, North Carolina, beginning in 2021. The three players began as two, in the context of occasional Bowles and Westerlund percussion duo performances dating back to 2018. Fennelly provided the initial impetus to gather and play together with intentionality and discipline, as well as an harmonic adhesive and thickening agent in the grain and gravity of his harmonium and synthesizer. As always, Bowles’s background as a pianist and drummer informs his approach to banjo, imparting a woodiness, a piney verticality and resinous tang. Westerlund’s training with Milford Graves is apparent in his polyrhythmic flow and its correspondences to human circulatory and corporeal rhythms. They recorded their collective discoveries with engineer Nick Broste in the spring of 2022.The record begins, like the group’s name, and like the language of its unique instrumental interplay, with ambiguous grammar: “We Center,” the first and longest track at thirteen and a half minutes, builds patiently to a percolating climax of tidal heaving, with ceremonial connotations. “Zoetropics,” the shortest piece, follows, offering a more diaphanous counterpoint to the density of its predecessor. The zithery, shivering “A Sun Harp,” its title redolent of Sun Ra, showcases Westerlund’s unfettered drumming, which skitters restlessly until anchored, at its conclusion, by a minor bass progression. Finally, “Fog Glossaries” exhales through the maritime and meteorological evocations of its title, distant buoys clanging. Although certainly elements and strategies of so-called ambient and drone musical traditions are invoked and deployed, those diffuse terms feel inadequate to describe everything else happening here: the devotional valences, the minimalist rigor, and even submarine jazz inclinations perceptible beneath the surface. Throughout this four-movement program, which invites deep listening, it is often difficult to differentiate individual instruments from the massed choir of the group’s unified sonic presence. At times what sound like field recordings cicadas, birds, wind, water splash out of this slow but powerful current, only to be revealed as overtones produced by harmonium, banjo, or cymbals. Setting’s sound is fundamentally synthetic in the sense of synthesis, not artifice—in a manner remarkable for its almost entirely acoustic arsenal of instrumentation, often registering as the product of a single alien technology, perhaps the rainbow lights of that bog-marooned UFO. (“Setting,” of course, can also refer to a machine’s variable operational amplitude its temperature, volume, speed, elevation, etc.) Sometimes the most seemingly extraterrestrial lifeforms are in fact our unfamiliar earthbound neighbors. Despite the destruction of many such habitats, the coastal plains of eastern, tidewater North Carolina is home to more pocosins freshwater, evergreen wetlands with deep, acidic, sandy, peat soils than anywhere else in the world. These threatened peat-bog ecosystems are the only native environment to sustain the carnivorous Venus flytrap, among other oddities. The sonic ecosystem of Setting similarly deep, acidic, and boggy contains equivalent wonders, savage and delicate, for listeners willing to take the time to sink.

Ein gefühlvolles, abenteuerliches, melodisches, virtuoses und dynamisches Debütalbum der in München lebenden mongolischen Jazzpianistin, Komponistin und Arrangeurin Shuteen Erdenebaatar. Mit gerade einmal 25 Jahren gewinnt Shuteen bereits Preise (darunter u.a. den BMW Young Artist Jazz Award) und verkauft mit ihren drei Weltklasse-Ensembles - einem einzigartigen 20-köpfigen Kammerensemble, ihrem exquisiten Duo 'Lightville' und dem hart swingenden, hochsensiblen jungen Jazzquartett, das auf diesem Album zu hören ist - selbst große Venues aus.

By now everyone should know, John Carpenter is not only a celebrated filmmaker but also a musical maestro whose soundtracks have become syn - onymous with the genres of horror, suspense, and science fiction. His innate talent for composition and his deep understanding of how music can elevate storytelling have left an indelible mark on the world of cinema, and a haunt - ing presence in people's record collections. Anthology II continues the celebration of his compositional genius via an ex - cellently sequenced collection of some of his most iconic pieces of music from his extensive filmography, all newly recorded with his musical collaborators Daniel Davies and Cody Carpenter . The compilation opens with "Chariots of Pumpkins" from Halloween III that perfectly captures the eerie essence of the cult classic film with its pulsating synths and haunting melodies. The listener is engulfed by a sense of unease and anticipation, before being thrust into "69th St. Bridge" from Escape From New York , a dynamic track that encapsulates the futuristic and gritty nature of the film via the use of throbbing bass lines, driving rhythms, and electronic textures. The record has also an isolating tone as it skulks through ambient leaning tracks such as "Fuchs" and "To Mac's Shack" from The Thing, and "Walk to the Lighthouse" from The Fog, all of which display a slower tempo, foreboding undertones and an ethereal atmosphere that feels like a distant whisper. All of which has been cautiously laid in preparation to the grand finale. The iconic and instantly recognizable "Laurie's Theme" from the original Halloween . Its simple yet menacing piano melody which has become synonymous with the horror genre, concludes the album by striking fear into the hearts of listeners. These tracks represent just a fraction of John Carpenter 's impressive musical repertoire. With each haunting note and pulsating beat, his soundtracks continue to resonate with audiences, forever etching his name in the annals of film music history.

By now everyone should know, John Carpenter is not only a celebrated filmmaker but also a musical maestro whose soundtracks have become syn - onymous with the genres of horror, suspense, and science fiction. His innate talent for composition and his deep understanding of how music can elevate storytelling have left an indelible mark on the world of cinema, and a haunt - ing presence in people's record collections. Anthology II continues the celebration of his compositional genius via an ex - cellently sequenced collection of some of his most iconic pieces of music from his extensive filmography, all newly recorded with his musical collaborators Daniel Davies and Cody Carpenter . The compilation opens with "Chariots of Pumpkins" from Halloween III that perfectly captures the eerie essence of the cult classic film with its pulsating synths and haunting melodies. The listener is engulfed by a sense of unease and anticipation, before being thrust into "69th St. Bridge" from Escape From New York , a dynamic track that encapsulates the futuristic and gritty nature of the film via the use of throbbing bass lines, driving rhythms, and electronic textures. The record has also an isolating tone as it skulks through ambient leaning tracks such as "Fuchs" and "To Mac's Shack" from The Thing, and "Walk to the Lighthouse" from The Fog, all of which display a slower tempo, foreboding undertones and an ethereal atmosphere that feels like a distant whisper. All of which has been cautiously laid in preparation to the grand finale. The iconic and instantly recognizable "Laurie's Theme" from the original Halloween . Its simple yet menacing piano melody which has become synonymous with the horror genre, concludes the album by striking fear into the hearts of listeners. These tracks represent just a fraction of John Carpenter 's impressive musical repertoire. With each haunting note and pulsating beat, his soundtracks continue to resonate with audiences, forever etching his name in the annals of film music history.

Owners Club call themselves a "pub rock four piece" - but they are so much more than that. There's a through line in their taut, visceral guitar sound going from British greats like Roxy Music and Marc Bolan, through The Buzzcocks and The Jam before taking a detour off to NYC and nodding towards The Strokes and The Walkmen. The Dorking-based four piece are a blistering live act, with songs that range from singing about the long discontinued Double Diamond beer to vampires, the occult and an England that feels like a distant memory.

This EP will be the band's debut release on vinyl. Recorded at Small Pond Studios in Brighton in April this year, and produced and mixed by Matt Gleeson of WELLY fame, it presents three songs that brilliantly demonstrate what a ferocious, tightly-wound sound this Dorking four-piece can produce.

The lead single will be Double Diamond - a song that came about after a chance purchase of a Double Diamond-branded ashtray from a car boot sale by Dorking train station. The song is a romantic and messy vision of the life the ashtray’s lived, the pub it came from, the punters who left their fag ends in it and the messy nights and bar fights it’s witnessed. With sprawling synths, punchy guitar lines and tongue-in-cheek lyrics, the song is an anti-advertisement for a drink which no longer exists, as well as a look through rose-tinted beer googles at what Britain's night life - for better or (almost certainly) for worse - was once like. As the advert used to state: you know where you are with Double Diamond. It works wonders.

Out on 6 October, the music for Certainty of Tides was initially recorded with the Norwegian Broadcasting Orchestra with Nils Petter Molvaer as a soloist in 2020. He had asked several wonderful Norwegian composers to arrange a set of music from his back catalogue. “Have a listen to the recordings I did with the orchestra and tell me what you think” he told Norwegian composer, musician, and producer Jan Bang. Since the original recording was close mic’ed for broadcasting purposes, Bang saw an unfulfilled potential in the material due to lack of space in the initial recordings.
Bang came up with the idea of re-amping the mixes playing the music through speakers in a concert house followed by re-recording of the result through distant microphones. With 76 speakers (one per instrument) carefully placed exactly like the orchestra would have been seated onstage, Certainty of Tides was recorded from microphones strategically placed in the large hall of Kilden Concert House with phenomenal acoustics.
The re-amping and re-recording produced astonishing results. Some of the pieces needed additional color. Bang invited two of his highly talented electronic music students at the University of Agder (Kristian Isachsen and Even Sefenias Sigurdsen Frodesønn Røsstad). Both given freedoms to create their own sound based on their own personal taste.
The final mixes were put together by Øyvind Kurszus at Kilden Studios supervised by both students, Molvaer and Bang. Helge Steen has mastered the recording. Knut Sævik has re-sampled the drum track (played by Peter Baden) on “Simply so” and mixed the Song as well.

German musician Mary Yalex debuts on A Strangely Isolated Place depicting a storied transition from our recognizable surroundings, into a vision of the future.

With releases and music styles across a variety of labels over the years, it has been Yalex’s more experimental ambient work that has stood out amongst her catalog, and in Fantasy Zone, we find Mary fine-tuning this sound to reflect the work of a true architect of storytelling, mood and atmosphere.

Drawing influences from her day-to-day surroundings, Fantasy Zone begins with more vivid pieces; softer melodies and clearer instrumentation, represented as much in song titles such as Air, After Rain Comes Sun, and Half Light of Dawn. The second half of the album transitions into a future state, as Yalex draws on darker manifestations - perhaps intrinsically influenced by the state of the world, and in particular her love of nature, we play witness to more storied, haunting atmospheres, distant voices and slowly shifting gravitational chord movements. Dystopian-bound or pure fantasy, Yalex depicts a future that mirrors some of the more poignant, thought-provoking work of great synthesizer soundtracks of the past.

McKowski is pleased to confirm details of his debut solo album: ‘Notes From The Boneyard’, a new release that arrives courtesy of the Deltasonic label.

In anticipation of the record, the Irish songwriter and multi-instrumentalist has unveiled the single “Return of Pygmy Pony”.

“Return of Pygmy Pony” is one of 10 cinematic tracks, alongside previous single “Lake”, that comprise upcoming album ‘Notes From The Boneyard’. Envisioning a fictional world known as ‘The Boneyard’, McKowski’s debut will promise a purely instrumental album of atmospheric folk and otherworldly soundscapes to capture your imagination and seep into your soul.

Utilising a unique blend of acoustic guitars, strings, analog synths, and electronic toys, Mckowski creates a haunting and evocative journey across its transient 35 minutes. Gifted with the talents of some old allies, ‘Notes From The Boneyard’ sees guest musicianship from the likes of Steve Wickham (viola), Howe Gelb (guitar), Laura Mcafadden (cello), Dave Murphy (pedal steel), with St Francis Hotel also adding further elements of atmosphere and production.

With one foot rooted in a dark woodland and the other foot stepping into unknown territory, the end result is a must-listen for fans of soundtracks, the surreal, or simply those searching for the unexpected. Like the wooden beauty of Angelo Badalementi’s ‘Straight Story’ mixed with the dark synth undertones such as Carpenter-esque Moog; it’s the ideal companion for those pensive days and long nocturnal hours.

Dreams are made and displaced on Mark Fell & Rian Treanor’s oneiric electro-acoustic inception 'Last Exit', borne from long days in the family garden, and assembled into a mesmerising masterpiece of minimalist modal rhythm and atmospheric exploration, into rapt smallsound detailing in breathtaking form. It’s a bit like listening to Virginia Astley’s ‘From Gardens Where We Feel Secure’, with washes of Autechre seeping into the mix from outside.

‘Last Exit…’ originally appeared in a different form as a cassette release for our Documenting Sound series in 2021, and was edited this year by Mark and Rian for this new expanded and altered edition, mastered by Rashad Becker. It renders a painterly,psychedelic, and diaristic depiction of sublime atmospheric tension, occasionally ruptured by their typical, asymmetric rhythm impulses in a form that rudely transcends their respective aesthetics. Across four parts, they kern, juxtapose and diffract synthesised percussion and field recordings into polymetric arrangements riddled with timbral nuance of a highly unpredictable nature.

While patently inflected with nods to Indonesian gamelan, Ugandan folk, Indian Carnatic classical, Morton Feldman-esque minimalism, free jazz improvisation and a sort of rhythmic cubism that speaks to their mutual, voracious listening habits and tastes, the results are arguably without direct compare. Attentive listeners will recognise, however, that ‘Last Exit’ effortlessly transcends their respective styles, achieving a new high watermark of imaginary future-hyperfolk expressed in a sort of personalised but highly relatable meta-musical language.

Seriously, they’re working beyond known conventions here; opening to a sublime frisson of Feldman-esque keys, birdsong and distant car engines, and closing to a combo of just-intoned drone and wafts of distant ballroom music. The 80 minutes in between feel like returning to a dream, with flashes of FM strings dabbed to sloshing rhythms and domestic detritus, tilting into a nervously tentative tension ruptured with abstract dance dynamism and angular free jazz ballistics.

The rejigged recordings also reflect the fidelity of memory recall, expressing an altered perspective on their time spent in the multigenerational family’s Rotherham garden during spring/summer 2020, replete with their mum/grandmother on piano and overheard singing and in convo, but now fraught with a more melancholic, distempered quality that makes for a genuinely unforgettable listening experience. A long-form isolationist fantasy, consider it crucial listening if yr into Robert Ashley's 'Automatic Writing', Graham Lambkin, Autechre or Nuno Canavarro.

LILA mainstay Ayaavaaki and ambient veteran Purl speak different languages but used a translator to convey ideas to one another as they made this record. And they very much foment their own unique musical language on Ancient Skies, an album that blends ambient, drone and space music into richly layered soundscapes that are constantly on the move. Each piece is meticulously crafted and suspense you up amongst the clouds, hazing on at the smeared pads and swirling solar winds that prop you up. It's a record that would work as well in the depths of winter as a bright spring day such is the cathartic effect of the sounds. Beautiful, thought-provoking and innovative, this is as good an ambient record as we have heard all year.





e C1 Gateway Realm (Spiral I) Outer Helix (Spiral I)





e C1 Gateway Realm (Spiral I) Outer Helix (Spiral I)