ASIP - Dream The Daydream

I like to think I’ve been productive during the lockdown, but it’s easy to look back and see that time has truly flown by and you didn’t get half the things you want to do, done.

I did however manage to make a couple of mixes. One of them, a guest mix, should see the light of day in the next month or so and then this one, titled Dream The Daydream.

The concept I had in mind for this mix was loose at the beginning. I wanted to create something that was happy, uplifting and melodic, as opposed to anything dark during these already dark times (and it’s very easy for me to go that way) I ended up turning to a lot of 90’s (and new but 90’s influenced) music, a couple of classics and reissues, and found myself dreaming of new worlds - that era of music had the most amazing power to transport you for some reason.

The mix starts off with Ambient, but quickly moves into more dub, uptempo, breaks, beats and full-on Trance... Those of you who know me well, know I love Trance music and surprisingly this is the first time I’ve managed to sneak it into an ASIP mix.

I saw this mix as a route to escapism, a look out of the window, and a journey that just goes up and up.

Also big shout to Jane Fitz as I’m pretty sure on hindsight a couple of these tracks came at her recommendation at some point - an inspiration and a world of knowledge on this type of music.

Download

Or listen on Soundcloud, Mixcloud, or the ASIP Podcast.

Artwork image by Aldebaran S.

astrangelyisolatedplace · ASIP - Dream The Daydream

Tracklist:

01. Sneaker - Tagtraum [Tursiops]
02. Boris Acket - Unrest [De Lichting]
03. The Orb - Back Side Of The Moon [Big Life]
04. Ron Boots - Far Boundaries [Stroom TV]
05. Heavenly Music Corporation - Lunar Phase [Astral Industries / Silent]
06. Trans-4M - Arrival [Safe Trip]
07. Ex-Terrestrial - Aletheia [1080p]
08. Priori - Dreams of a Digital Sublime [Naff]
09. Trans-4M - Amma [Safe Trip]
10. Saafi Brothers - Internal.Code.Error [Blue Room Released]
11. Elijah - Protoquestion [Contagion Discs]
12. Ex-Terrestrial - Mojave Skyline [Magic Wire]
13. Forehard - Edial [Self]
14. Oprofessionell - Will U [Ute Rec]
15. No Moon - aoe_advancing [Craigie Knowes]
16. Trancemaster - Nordspedition [Transatlantic]
17. James Bernard - UW07 [Unreleased]
18. Jo Bogaert - Ambient Kinsky [Stroom TV]

isolatedmix 99 - James Place

Artists with a style hard to pin can often get overlooked in many respects. I struggle to write about music that just needs to be ‘heard’, especially. It takes a certain talent to translate music into words that hasn’t really been referenced or penned before without resorting to poor comparisons at least.

That’s not to say that Phil Tortoroli aka James Place is under the radar by any respect, given his releases on the admired Umor Rex Recordings, but his releases from the past few years include some of my favorite and most surprising discoveries. Phil’s albums are a unique blend of electronic music, and after chatting with him quickly and asking a few questions, I (and you) can read why.

This is where I believe an isolatedmix can help to unearth and discover a specific angle on an artist. Seeing how they approach a mix, the inspiration and styles they pick, and in this instance, isolatedmix 99 really captures the “ghost” of James Place.

~

Are you still in NY? How are you coping with the lockdown?
Yes, still here ~ born and raised in NYC so no way a pandemic will force me out. I’m lucky to have a nice apartment with a wonderful partner and a fat cat and no shortage of food, for now, so i’m coping with a lot of love and a lot of cooking. I’m coping less well with the concept of video chats. I’m more of a traditional phone to the ear kind of conversationalist.

What role has music played in it for you so far? Have you been more productive because of it?
Productivity and creativity fluctuates in this new lockdown / static mode. I experimented with new compositional styles and approaches way more than before now that I finally have the time.

Can you tell us how it all started, and how you got into making music?|
Age old tale, I s’pose – started to write horrible rock music in high school with my close friends, then discovered electronic music through the back alleys of post-rock and Kazaa searches. going to university in the UK planted me firmly in an electronic / club scene that i’ve yet to leave (emotionally)

Your productions often vary in style and approach, blending ambient, techno, house +more - how would you describe your style?
I tend to focus on the atmosphere more than genre / style. I like to think of my music as songs heard in rooms adjacent to the listener; barely-there, or non-distinct, or haunted, yet the core emotion understood through the gentle vibrations shaking through. Anything I write oriented towards movement sounds more like an ambient dj performing while a techno dj plays in the venue next door. the sounds within that shared wall is James Place.

I notice a lot of samples in your music, and often vocals, how would you describe your process making music?
Predominantly sample based. A lot of my vocal samples come from a British singer-songwriter named Sam Sally, who graciously sent me a bunch of vocal takes in the early 10’s. her voice has abstractly guided my composition process for the past decade, and I’m happy to put them to rest and explore new textures for the future.

Umor Rex has been a home for your past 4 albums, what is it you look for in a label for your own music?
Discerning ears that understand my references and predecessors without having to spell them out. A shared listening history.

What's your favorite release on the label outside of your own?
Siavash Amini’s Till Human Voices Wake Us was the first entry to UR I heard, and loved. I wrote to Daniel immediately after my first listen. LXV and Kara-Lis’ collaborative record is another top choice.

You run your own label too, (Styles upon Styles) and are a part of RVNG International. (Funny I just bought the Pauline Anna Strom repress last week). What's your role across these two?
I founded Styles upon Styles in 2011 with my friend, Cam Curran. We’ve been “exec producing” / “a&r’ing” records together since then. I am the label manager at RVNG intl, and have been with the label for seven (!) years now.

What role do you see labels playing in today's age when anybody can release music on Bandcamp?
Labels will be less of a curator and more of a mentor / support network for artists at various points in their careers. That’s how I try to run my imprints – let’s strategize together on how to make your work heard and appreciated by the right people, and let’s talk through what that process is like – practically, emotionally.

The mix is a live vinyl mix - why did you decide to create it this way?
Vinyl is a great way to learn how to mix and I stuck with the format for many years. I love LPs for radio-style mixes or straight house sets, but digital lets me share the amazing new music from around the world available (only!) on Bandcamp. I picked vinyl for this mix because I wanted to lean into the slower, quieter corners of my collection. It was recorded in the winter of 2019 during a very stressful time and I needed to envelop myself in calm sounds.

What else can you tell us about the mix? Any standout tracks for you we should keep an ear out for?
I recorded this mix at the end of 2019. I pulled some of my crucial winter listens – Daniel Lentz, Ian William Craig, Actress, Roly Porter – and cast a glance towards what my home sounds like in December.

And lastly, what do you have on the horizon release-wise?
I am working on the last James Place release concurrently with compositions that, i hope, will finally feel *right* to share under my given name. But who knows. This is the time to write for the sake of it and share only when the message is clear. Otherwise, silence.

~
Listen on Soundcloud, Mixcloud, or the ASIP Podcast.

Download

Tracklist (as good as could be remembered!)

1. Best Available Technology - Flourescent Sap
2. James Place - Vanishing (Dylan Henner Remix)
3. Actress - Grey Over Blue
4. Ihor Tsymbrovsky - Roses for the poet
5. Roly Porter - ?
6. Ian William Craig - Idea for Contradiction 1
7. James Place - Vanishing (Homeward Mix)
8. Donnacha Costello - That Way
9. Jurgen Muller - ?
10. Alex Twomey - Velvet On Foam
11. Daniel Lentz - Missa Umbrarum
12. Jay Glass Dubs - ?
13. Jonine - You're Wanting To Go This Way
14. Best Available Technology - ?
15. Best Available Technology - ?

James Place on Discogs | Twitter | Soundcloud

DJ Healer - ins herz der dinge lauschen / die wüste / der traum

DJ Healer returns like a superhero saving a Covid-ridden locked-down Gotham-esque City with three mixes of essential healing material that we came to love from not only his previous mixes, but that superb 3LP from 2018, Nothing 2 Loose (I managed to snap up the repress thankfully).

These mixes often signal something new is on the horizon from a release perspective - one of the only artists around who can just introduce new material on Soundcloud and create a frenzy begging for a vinyl (or full) release.

Some people are quick to judge DJ Healer’s music, especially with his use of samples, but for me, the music is the best use of creativity and simplicity. It’s music you think you could make, or that you think would be easy to make. But DJ Healer / Traumprinz / Prince of Denmark does it with effortless grace. Additionally, Nothing 2 Loose soundtracked a very personal and memorable trip for me in Japan. Probably the only time I played an album non-stop every day. It became very close to me and conjures memories like no photograph could.

These mixes are no different. Available now on the Planet Uterus Soundcloud Page.

Fingers crossed we see a release, and toes crossed we manage to actually buy it!

bvdub vs Earth House Hold - Fantasies of the Anachronist

You should know by now our fandom for not only Brock’s mixes, but also his Earth House Hold project. We’re a happy home for his ‘House-ier’ vein as EH, but rarely do you get full DJ mixes from Brock that push into this world. Brock’s latest isolatedmix certainly went darker, and dirtier, but didn’t quite nudge into full House mode - the fledgling roots of the bvdub and EHH sound.

It’s genuinely one of the best ‘DJ’ mixes I’ve heard in quite some time. Brock dug hard for the music contained, presented it in one coherent concept; seamlessly and like any true DJ set, with a solid vibe continued from beginning to end. I say that like im surprised, but every one of Brock’s mixes is approached in this way - this one just a hit a note, as it’s a little different from the bvdub norm.

The mix comes from a new channel on a platform called Currents.fm. This platform looks like it takes some explaining to fully grasp at first, but essentially, you’re paying/tipping (or in Brock’s case, you don’t have to pay) for a curator. I am a firm believer in curation, and its need in culture and pushing music forward, so it’s an interesting aspect that at first might seem weird (“why aren’t I paying the artists/ for the music here?”) Let’s take stock on a couple of points which I think, make this an interesting approach to curation.

One, DJ’s, are (or should be) paid. They spend their life digging to expose music to an audience (good ones, anyway). This could be seen as the virtual equivalent. Sure, not all curators might have “purchased” the music they present like a DJ might have in a record store, but is this better than you going and creating your own Spotify playlist? Times are changing and music is democratized. We need some new innovative ways to funnel $ out of the hands of corporations and back into the creators. With the links to buy and ease of integrations, it certainly makes it easier to support music that watching a live stream or ploughing through Spotify playlists.

Two, on the topic of Spotify, we need authenticity and trust. That ‘Piano Chill’ playlist you might (not)love? Who curated it? Do you trust them as music curators? Or wait, is it just a bot updating a playlist based on popularity and deals with record labels (not to mention the fake artist saga). Blogs are on the decline, and information is on the rise - who’s helping weed out the good from the bad? We need human curators now more than ever.

So while the idea of paying a curator (or in Brock’s instance, the actual artist who doubles as a DJ) might seem detached at first, I’d argue it could also be seen as an interesting new avenue. Just because the music industry hasn’t worked out a model to drip this $ down to an artist yet, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try and explore new ways of building community, DJs, music sharing and support. This might just be the first step of many.

Sorry for the tangent from such a great mix, but I thought it was worth divulging on how it’s being presented as well, given its different approach.

You can listen to the mix and ‘support’ Brock (or download for free) on Currents.fm here.

Markus Guentner interview and Live Set for Data.Wave

Markus Guentner has been busy at work the past few months creating new music, and recently took the time to chat to Datawave, whilst also preparing a new and exclusive live set for the platform.

Head over to Data.Wave to read the interview and stream the live set below.