ASIP - Origami Sound

It’s been nearly two months now since Herne from the brilliant Origami Sound site approached me, asking if I’d be interested in guest posting a few tracks on the site. Since then, I’ve got to know him pretty well and we share an immense amount in common for discovering new artists, spending an enormous amount of time listening to music, and cultivating our own little passions in life (i.e a website!)

I asked Herne what type of music he’d like me to post and the brief was kept open. As a reader of ASIP, I guess he had confidence in my choices, but that put a little bit of extra pressure on. I toyed with posting nothing but new stuff, or featuring ambient classics, but instead settled it by creating a mix – a method which rarely has any method at all…

For me, a mix rarely has a predefined track list but instead, I choose tracks as it goes along. What I ended up with was mixture of both old and new – fifteen posts on Origami Sound which i’m happy to see, have lent themselves to even more ears than normal over the past few months or so.

The mix (and ultimately the selection of guest posts) ended up pretty electronic, with only one ‘strictly’ ambient piece. Tracks i’ve loved for years, and some i’ve loved for just weeks. Music that hopefully provided a small insight, some new artists to dig into more, and a mix which everyone can enjoy.

You can read my words on each track over on Origami Sound, or I’ve distilled the fifteen tracks into three posts on ASIP: Wrap one, Wrap two and Wrap three (tracks were posted in no particular order).

Keep an eye on Origami Sound in the near future – i’ve had a small insight as to what Herne has up his sleeve and it sounds very nice indeed…

And as some of you know, I’ve been pretty busy on the mix front recently, so expect another one very soon…

Download.

Tracklist:
01. Gusgus – Detention
02. Chymera – Umbrella (Beatless mix)
03. Isan – Ampule
04. Freescha – Slo-Peeq
05. Sabi – Screaming Bulb
06. aus – Clocks
07. Arc of Doves – Lotus
08. D_rradio – Wish For More Wishes
09. Christian Kleine – Handsome Used
10. Dominik Eulberg – Der Zug Der Kraniche: Boten Der Veränderung
11. Ourson – 237
12. Monolake – Arte
13. FRKTL – Tidal
14. Zephyr Nova – Searching For Signals
15. TTK – Wavecoaster

ASIP - Vinylic

A mix I put together this afternoon whilst dusting off some old records. Nothing new, everything plastic, lovingly mixed on two turntables. Wasn’t sure where this was going so it starts with some ambient, then progresses into techno and deep melodic stuff, finished off with one of my favourite tunes of all time by Paul Kalkbrenner.

Download.

01. Aphex Twin – Polynomial C
02. Carl Craig – Wonderful Life
03. Global Communication – 12:18
04. 7 Hurtz – Sisters
05. 7 Hurtz – Mono Random
06. Slide – Buttaface (Mathew Jonson Remix)
07. Donnacha Costello – Orange
08. Tiga – Man Hrdina
09. Daso – Daybreak
10. Paul Kalkbrenner – Gebrunn Gebrunn
11. Ego Express – Live at Sirius Prime
12. Âme – Shiro
13. Code E – Analysis & Evaluation
14. Ed Chamberlain – Styge
15. Subway – Testing (Dexter Mix)
16. Paul Kalkbrenner – Since 77

ASIP - Reflection on 2010

You’ve seen the A-Z of music which made my 2010, but what’s a year-end wrap-up without a mix?!

A reflection on 2010 is an overview of my favourite artists and albums of the year. Whilst some tracks may not necessarily be the best from each respective album, I’ve gone for those that fit the overall mix. And of course, by doing this I’ve missed out plenty and the more upbeat electronica has been left to one side for now… But I’m hoping you’ll value this as a listening experience rather than just a year end list.

Once again, thanks to all the artists featured and I hope you all enjoy it. If you fancy any of the tracks featured, follow the album links in the tracklisting below (some are free!)

Download

01. 36 – Geiga [Hollow]
02. Nest – Charlotte [Retold]
03. Mig Dfoe – Real de 14 [The Stone Master]
04. Ous Mal – Marraskuu [Nuojuva Halava]
05. Loscil – Fern and Robin [Endless Falls]
06. bvdub – No One Will Ever Find You Here [The Art Of Dying Alone]
07. Pantha Du Prince – Im Bann [Black Noise]
08. Thomas Fehlmann – Falling Into Your Eyes [Gute Luft]
09. Elika – Stand Still [Snuggle Bunnies]
10. Ulrich Schnauss + Manual – In Odense [Epic]
11. Solar Fields – Unite [Origin#01]
12. Stellardrone – Milliways [Energostatic] FREE
13. Dalot – XX [The Reconstruction Of Fives]
14. D_rradio – Midnight on a Moonless Night [Parts]
15. Horizon Fire – Denver River Logging [Chemtrail] FREE
16. Foxes in Fiction – Karma Bank [Swung From The Branches] FREE
17. Rhian Sheehan – Texture 2 [Unreleased]
18. Casino Versus Japan – Hello You [Night On Tape]
19. Verulf – Sunlight and Sea [Self titled] FREE
20. Dextro – Ring Cycle (Live version) [Zero Circle]

ASIP - Inspirations (Live set)

This has been sitting in the ASIP vaults for quite some time now – a DJ mix I recorded about three years ago featuring some of my all time favourite tracks, most of which inspired me to set-up this site. My friends CDJ’s were on loan and together with my turntables, I set off with the aim to complete my first ‘downtempo’ DJ set, recorded live with no computer intervention whatsoever.

I spent half the morning trawling through my favourites, sorting by BPM and putting in to some kind of coherent order and was expecting tens, if not thousands of attempts before I got this right. Luckily, it was done in one go – probably the biggest fluke of my life considering the amount of intro’s I looped and my relative inexperience using CDJ’s.

You’ll likely recognise all the tracks here, so I’m hoping you enjoy the overall flow of the mix as well as the classics I’ve included. I was going to talk through each track but seeing as most of you have been following this blog for a while now, you probably already know what I would say about music like this... no surprises here.

I hope you enjoy it.

1. Aphex Twin – Rhubarb
2. Underworld – To Heal
3. Global Communication – 14.31
4. DJ Shadow – Blood on the Motorway
5. Ulrich Schnauss – Between us and them
6. Boards of Canada – Dayvan Cowboy
7. Bibio – Cherry Blossom Road
8. Honeyroot – State of mind
9. Thievery Corporation – Shaolin Satellite
10. James Bong – Never Say?
11. Aim – Cold Water Music
12. Boards of Canada – Happy Cycling
13. Ulrich Schnauss – A letter from home
14. 7 Hurtz – Malibu
15. Biosphere – Kobresia

ASIP - Traumbient

There was a time when I was hunting down every single release on this label. ‘T’ for techno. ‘Minimal’. ‘German Techno’. ‘Kompakt & similar’. ‘Electronic’… Find the box, find Traum. Find the LP’s. Find the EP’s. Find them all.

Beginning with some of the first outputs from Phillipe Cam, Miss Dinky and Process, Traum Schallplatten went on to introduce me to Fairmont, Jesse Somfay, Nathan Fake, Minilogue and Dominik Eulberg. Responsible for the introduction of many of these artists to a wider audience, Traum still stays true to it’s original ethos today and continues to deliver hypnotic, melodic and defining techno.

Looking through Traum’s extensive ten year catalogue, you’ll find big hitters such as Minilogue’s ‘Certain Things’, Nathan Fake’s ‘Dinamo’,and Dominik Eulberg’s ‘Der Buchdrucker’, to name just a few of my favourites. Dig a little further and you’ll also stumble across a more gentle side of melodic techno tucked away in the Traum vaults.

For this mix, i’ve put the dance-floor orientated tracks to one side and focused on some of the more ambient outputs in a hope to reflect a treasured yet sometimes overlooked side of Cologne’s finest export. I’ve included releases that reflect the deep, atmospheric, gentle but unexpected sounds I’ve come to associate with this great label; from 1999’s Fantasias Animadas, to Max Coopers ‘Sea of Sound’, set to be released this month.

Here’s my own little dedication to a defining techno label.

Download.

01. Iquinn – Fall [TRAUMCD08]
02. Broker-Dealer – Stormy [TRAUMCD07]
03. Miss Dinky – Nora [TRAUMV11]
04. Fantasias Animadas – Mike’s Road [TRAUMCD01]
05. Waki – Baikamo [TRAUMCD06]
06. Kubikov & Milutenko – Structure [TRAUM13]
07. Process – Room [TRAUMCD13]
08. Kubikov & Milutenko – Special Communication [TRAUM13]
09. Gustavo Lamas – Dulces [TRAUMCD02]
10. Leandro Fresco – Recordable [TRAUMCD01]
11. Yuxtapose – Sciex Elan [TRAUMCD01]
12. Oxtongue – Elba Life [TRAUMCD07]
13. Darmush – Rarpa [TRAUMCD11]
14. Max Cooper – Sea Of Sound (Ambient rework) [TRAUMV131]