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Inspired by Vivaldi, Luke Elliot & Ki Oni tune into Pachamama's seasonal changes & transpose them into a delightful New Age ambient suite extolling the intricacies, harmony & fragility of this wondrous ecosystem. In doing so they urge us all to find natural balance with our life support system we're currently destroying.

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A Brief Time in Four Divisions is the debut release from overseas collaborators Ki Oni (Los Angeles) & Luke Elliott (Amsterdam) out December 23. 

Drawing its inspiration from the sonnets of Vivaldi’s - The Four Seasons, A Brief Time in Four Divisions is intended to transport the listener through the seasons as they naturally undulate and shift over time. 

Collaborating with designer and artist Roman Serra for the cover art, it depicts the four seasons from the perspective of rock, which like everything live and erode through the seasons. 

Each piece is accompanied by stunning, season-inspired, analog visuals created by artist and sound designer Will Farina. 

A Brief Time in Four Divisions is released December, 23rd and is available to pre-order now.

CreditsInstagram: @lell_iott & @chucksoohoo 
Bookings & PR:  ki.oni.luke.elliott@gmail.com 
Artwork by R. Serra | @_r.serra_ 
Visuals by Will Farina | @mereology_​

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​With their house music activities not making much sense in a living room environment due to a Covid lockdown, Rhode & Brown decided to think outside of the dancefloor box to great rhythmic ambient and slowtronic effect for Slam City Jams.
Tune in, turn on and chill out.

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On the "Good Things Come To Those Who Fade" Mini-LP, we take a left turn with seven oddball ambient and downtempo tracks made for kicking back in the cold months ahead. 

We produced these tunes over the period of a few weeks in December 2020, between finishing songs for our debut album. At the time, we were both at home in lockdown and creatively stuck producing music for the dancefloor. So we rather unconsciously started writing music without expectations or a specific formula, which was very liberating. We started looking for unusual parts and tiny sounds on records from our vinyl collection, which we then time-stretched, pitched, deconstructed and looped endlessly. With these strange loops (they could be instruments, percussive elements or just noises) as a foundation, we started jamming with synthesizer melodies and effects using our Prophet 6, the Korg M1, and a few plug-ins, as well as random vocal material from YouTube. Aside from regaining that musical freedom and working with a naive beginner's mind, it was an incredibly soothing process for the soul during the tough time in lockdown. We hope the music has the same effect on you. 

In addition to the digital release, the album will also be available as a limited edition cassette that comes with a premium „Good Night“ tea for endless relaxation.

CreditsWritten & produced by Friedrich Trede and Stephan Braun. 
Mastered by Jammin Masters. 
Cassette produced by Tape Muzik. 
Distributed by Wordandsound. 
Artwork by bareis+nicolaus.​

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As the First World worry about Covid restrictions impacting their glutinous festive celebrations, Dutch experimental stalwart Michel Banabila sends healing New Age vibrations to the world's Fourth World dwellers who will be staring up at the holes in the social safety net they slipped through, or more often than not space where one should be, this weekend. Big up Knekelhuis for their continued great work shining a light on the Dutch underground music scene.

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Michel Banabila is an indispensable part of the Dutch experimental music scene, where he has acquired a special place with many, in the 40 years that he has been releasing music. Michel is also just as active as a composer for the theater and ballet world, as well as for TV productions, to considerable fame. The threat of drowning in the sea of his oeuvre is real in view of the unprecedented amount of output, but once sailing unmissable monolithic rock formations loom up rapidly. 
Echo Transformations' is one of them. It's a magical album, where everything falls into place in a rich domain inspired by the Fourth World dimension. A world of sound arises from our imagination, stimulating the senses. A concept album where every sigh has its place and where no superfluous tone can be heard. What remains is to embrace the inevitable surrender that accompanies unstoppable change. This is Banabila at his best.

Mastering & remastering by Wouter Brandenburg 
All composed & performed by Michel Banabila 
Executive producer: Mark van de Maat 
Artwork by Keziah Philipps 
Design by Steele Bonus​

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Languid drums ruffle hypnotic kosmische swathes, becalmed ambient drones encourage contemplation & well meaning New Age vibrations heal & comfort in Dave Graw's latest microdosed soundscape transmission from his Detroit home.
​Cheers Hush Hush Records for another great tip.

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WRITTEN & RECORDED BY DAVE GRAW AT HOME DURING THE SUMMER & FALL OF 2020 
MIXED & PRODUCED BY BLAIR FRENCH AT THE PLANT ROOM 
MASTERED BY WARREN DEFEVER AT THIRD MAN RECORDS, DETROIT MICHIGAN 
JOSH MACHNIAK PLAYED BASS GUITAR ON TRACKS 1,3,6 & 8 (RECORDED AT HIS HOME STUDIO IN SEATTLE, WASHINGTON) 
PHYSICAL RELEASE BY SYNCRO SYSTEM / SYSY-18 
DIGITAL RELEASE BY ANINTERVAL / ANI010 
ALL SONGS COPYRIGHT ANINTERVAL 2021​

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The new LP from Sachi Kobayashi - another leading light in the world of Japanese women ambient producers, for Stereoscenic Records is hitting the serene Sunday soundtrack sweet spot. Inspired by Notre-Dame's fire surviving weathervane, presumably as seen on a warm, windless day. Just lovely.

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Sachi Kobayashi is a Japanese ambient music producer & singer based in Tokyo.

This album was inspired by the weathervane that survived the fire of Notre-Dame de Paris.

Creditsmusic by Sachi Kobayashi 
mastering by Andrew J Klimek 

2021 Stereoscenic Records 
[SCENE60]​

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The full collection of Beverly Glenn-Copeland reworks of her New Age masterpiece Keyboard Fantasies, by an incredible array of new generation artists are now out in handy one click LP form on Transgressive & are unfailingly wonderful. Welcome to the new age of New Age. You can stream it here as the Bandcamp page is not fully released yet.

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Keyboard Fantasies Reimagined is a collection of songs from the now legendary album, Keyboard Fantasies, re-worked and re-imagined by a collection of creative kindred spirits.

Recently awarded the Slaight Polaris Heritage Prize in 2020, Keyboard Fantasies was originally self-released on cassette in 1986. Entirely recorded on DX-7 and TR-707 in the northern Canadian town of Huntsville, it lies musically somewhere between new-age and (accidentally) early Detroit techno experiments. The inimitable style of BGC here is both peaceful and meditative while simultaneously rhythmic and bass heavy. The album is a beautiful fusion of personal vision, technology and place.

Produced by Beverly Glenn-Copeland. Engineered and mixed by Colleen Veitch. Recorded at Audio-Logic Recording Studio in Huntsville, Ontario.​

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​Really interesting to hear Adrian Knight deviate from the soulful sounds that initially caught my ear into languid ambient constructs with an occasional somnolent smooth jazz patina. A lovely gentle, soothing listen via Regional Attraction.

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Andy Meyerson: vibraphone, percussion 
Travis Andrews: electric guitar 
Adrian Knight: Juno 6, Rhodes, electric guitar 
David Lackner: saxophone 
Matt Evans: gongs, bowls 
Michael Advensky: percussion 

Composed, produced, recorded & mixed by Adrian Knight 
Mastered by Travis Andrews 

Art by Tom Henry: 
instagram.com/nightflight_to_venus 

Published by Adrian Knight Music (ASCAP) 
Distributed by Regional Attraction 

--- 

'Damn the Flood' 
Notes by Adrian Knight 

As with so many of my works, 'Damn the Flood' began as a series of prototypes: scaffolds of harmonies, rhythms and formal contours, a dimly neon-lit fog bank full of promise, the faintest outlines of some great discovery pulling me forward and inward. A circular maze of great ambiguity emerging, I felt strangely captivated and yet distant from my own creation: how did I end up here? And how do I proceed? How to get out? The resulting work was in answer to such questions, but it also carried the mutant gene of ambiguity out of the laboratory into the exalted chambers of 'the work'. The fleeting nature of running water and the timeless, malleable concept of an impending 'flood' were images that helped curate the selections made for the final version. Meanwhile, the prototypes receded back into oblivion, only to be rediscovered several years later. 

In a way, the unearthed prototypes are like items lost in some mythical flood, preserved for future times by archivists. They are lenses through which 'the work' can be reappraised, redefined and contrasted. The sustained harmonies cruise undisturbed over endless bottomlands, gathering a multitude of instruments in its wake, gravitating toward a settlement. If in 'Damn the Flood' the findings have been consolidated, distilled and groomed, folded up to conserve time and space, the prototypes present those same findings unfurled, uncompressed. The sum total of these constituent parts yet again aligns with the flood metaphor: the materials thoroughly inspected, their possibilities probed, the maze flooded as the only means of escape. 

The start and end points are by definition elastic. Captured here is the entire flood expedition, the prototypes naked in their infancy, the outcome incomplete in its ambition. A fragmentary assemblage of impressions, the work is as partial a vision of some great discovery as a clockface is to the expanse of time – caught in the drift, this too is destined to be dwarfed, absorbed and washed away. 

*** 

Damn the flood was commissioned by Post:Ballet and was premiered on March 3, 2017 at SOMArts, San Francisco as part of a dance performance choreographed by Robert Dekkers, with Brett Conway and Kar Will, and costumes by Christian Squires. 

The work is in one continuous movement with five distinct harmonic areas. Throughout, melodic fragments from Here’s That Rainy Day gently obstruct the chords, foreshadowing the unexpected cameo of an invisible (prerecorded) saxophone towards the end. 

The work is part of a series of works written for The Living Earth Show with or without additional instruments: Humble Servant (percussion solo), Family Man (electric guitar and percussion with electronics), and Damn the flood, culminating in the massive 12-movement Idea to Life (Success Stories) (alto sax, electric guitar, percussion, Rhodes/synth), in which the formerly invisible David Lackner is now given the lead.​

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Wind down & warm up with the classic but classy West Coast chill out sounds of Alex Ho (Moony Habits) for Music From Memory, as he takes a nonchalant stroll along the beach, soaks up the winter sun & watches the Pacific waves roll in with sand between his toes.

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Music From Memory are delighted to present another debut album for 2021 which comes from long time friend of the label Alex Ho out of Los Angeles and is titled 'Move Through It'. 

In his foundational essay on Los Angeles, L.A. Glows, the essayist Lawrence Weschler speaks on the city's uncanny, immediately recognizable light; "The late-afternoon light of Los Angeles—golden pink off the bay through the smog and onto the palm fronds." Weschler traces the city's mysterious refracted light from the iconic paintings of David Hockney through the city's frequent portrayal on film and TV, noting its ability to put residents into a state of "egoless bliss." 

Similarly, Alex Ho's new album for Music From Memory, 'Move Through It', radiates with the unmistakable LA glow. While the Pasadena native's studio work is just now coming to light, Ho has long been a fixture in the Los Angeles dance music scene, throwing what are perhaps the city's most musically expansive warehouse events and carving out a singular voice as a DJ, as heard on his brilliant Moony Habits show for NTS. The eight-track record, however, lands in a more contemplative zone, better suited for a golden hour drive than a night out. 

Though it's his first record, 'Move Through It' is the accomplished work of a fully-formed artist, produced patiently between 2017 and 2020 with help from friends including Baba Stiltz, Phil Cho, Damon Palermo and John Jones. "Mark," the Koanic track conclusion side A, is an arpeggiated slow burn reminiscent of Pino Donaggio's brilliant score for Brian De Palma's 1984 film Body Double. Ho's stunning, pure falsetto soars above gentle melodies. "Miss Suzuki," the piece that originally caught the ear of MFM's Jamie Tiller and Tako, opens the record with a blue, cinematic sway. Ho's facility for poignant melodies—easily conveyed through saxophone, vibes, various keyboards and his own voice—shines on "College Crest Drive," as well as the title track. The lyrical "Move Through It" and the restrained and beautiful closing cut, "TYFC," are abetted by glimmering Kraut guitar figures courtesy of John Jones. 

While Ho's rhythms and melodies paint a crystal-clear musical vision, the music's emotional centre is more elusive, indicative of a yearning feeling synonymous with the City Of Angels. Hitting these hazy and subtle notes, Move Through It falls within a canon of sun-addled records spanning from Herb Alpert's "Rotation" to Dam-Funk's Private Life trilogy as Garrett. An immersive and concise statement, Alex Ho's 'Move Through It' is as warm and uncanny as the city that inspired it, a definitive LA album.​

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​Dream pop with depth & a healthy dose of attitude from artist & musician Tor Lundvall for Dais Records, as his consummate ambient soundscapes swirl around their low key bass & drum anchor, whilst ethereal vocals tell tales of hope, fears & experiences in the age of virus.

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New York painter and musician Tor Lundvall initially envisioned his 14th album, Beautiful Illusions, as an entirely instrumental affair, “inspired by memories of sitting in a church or cathedral watching the shifting sunlight through stained glass.” Although he ultimately chose to wreath the majority of the tracks with hushed, poetic vocals, his original muse still resonates. These are certainly songs of shadowplay and vaulted skies, the quiet grandeur of dusk deepening on the horizon. Lundvall characterizes the lyrical subject matter, too, in ways both specific and surreal, exploring “the doubts, the anxieties and even the bleak fantasies the mind spirals into during moments of isolation, separation and distance.” Tricks of the eye, mind, and ear, magnified by silence and the looming long winter. 

Shivering pulses and muted bass lines tread the twilight while icicle synths and wiry guitar map the melody until the voice enters, narrating oblique moods of essence and absence, tenderness and truth. Glimpses of dark humor flicker in the wordplay but the greater sonic landscape is one of falling leaves and failing light, small gestures rendered as revelation, cloaked in reverb and spatial fog. Lundvall’s mastery of nuance and negative space continues to heighten, whispered brushstrokes of the invisible and the unsaid, what lies beneath and what lies beyond: “Behind the shields and false fronts is usually a sadness. The heartbreaking reflections of what might have been.”​

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