Mogwai remixes Grandbrothers’ track with a new energy

Remix and additional production by Mogwai. Stream Download : https://grandbrothers.lnk.to/MogwaiRmx 'Organism' is taken from Grandbrothers' new album 'All Th...

Following their third album, ambient piano duo Grandbrothers connect with renowned group Mogwai

Since 2012 the Grandbrothers have been bringing together their separate disciplines of sound. Erol Sarp and Lukas Vogel first met at Dusseldorf university, and the musical partnership that followed chases a balance of Sarp’s talents as a trained jazz pianist and Vogel’s experience working with synthesizers as a both a producer and engineer. The result is a very neatly formed discography of ambient electronic, which thrives on the surprisingly flexible core voice of classical piano.

With a style more dynamic than downtempo ambient piano work, Grandbrothers have consistently produced tracks of engaging depth, actively pushing on new ideas to cover fresh ground with their releases. There’s much to be found in their previous work, but the LP made public in mid-January this year is a milestone in their journey, and one which reflects on what they’ve learnt and experimented with during that time.

Titled ‘All the Unknown’, the collection moves through a wide range of ambient sound, taking time to thread the extended narrative together. Our featured single is a remix of ‘Organism’, a track selected from the album and handed over to iconic post rock band Mogwai for remix, fresh from their recent success in the UK charts. Organism becomes distorted, driving and reinvigorated.

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Tranquillity in motions, 9ICKS’s Reworkedmilk’

Classically trained and inclined towards lofi textures, 9ICK drops a breezy two track EP ‘Floques’

9ICK is the moniker of up and coming artist Nicolas Hamilton Stephensen, a growing presence in the downtempo hip-hop scene in Denmark. Alongside collaborator Justin Christopher, 9ICK has been applying his talents as a producer to gently rhythmic beat tracks with potential to soothe the soul and ease the mind. His sound emerges from a variety of influences; 9ICK displays a clear appreciation for carefully detailed atmospheric instrumentals, built up from pop inspired patterns of trip hop and lofi. Twists of the artist’s own originality consistently find their way into the mix, creating chilled out vibes imbibed with personality.

Although it often melts into his discography rather than rising to the surface, 9ICK also has a wealth of experience to draw on as a classically trained pianist, bringing just a splash of jazz piano to the final product and making use of his informed understanding of composition to finalise the arrangement.

The latest track from 9ICK is ‘Reworkedmilk’, one of the two songs featured on his new Floques EP released in early March. There’s an easy comfort to be found here, light percussion and compact beat loops helping to explore mellow emotions.

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Boundary transcending neo-classical from Hideyuki Hashimoto

The Japanese artist brings forth unfiltered emotion, as his newest EP surfaces

Hideyuki Hashimoto of Kagawa Japan, excels within the genre of neo-classical. A skilled pianist Hashimoto uses light touches of electronica to elevate the soft, physical texture of his solo piano compositions. The normally silent background tones of shifting mechanisms within the piano are embraced, rather than highlighted and dug out from the final release. This ambient sound is drifted into his work, adding layers of organic warmth to his tracks and bringing down boundaries between the minimalist percussion and audience. Particularly during this time of isolation from live music, it’s an artistic choice which carries with it an emotional resonance.

Hashimoto has just made public his newest EP ‘Fragment’, a compact trio of songs which demonstrate the artist’s patient appreciation for the impact simple beauty can have. All three tracks were improvised at the time of recording, an approach which has allowed the pianist to capture a moments from the past two years with a raw and personal intensity.  Winter 2020, summer 2020, and winter 2021 have all been times of turmoil and unavoidable personal reflection. In the Fragment EP Hashimoto works to encapsulate memories, effectively creating a diary of sound; it’s warm, intimate, and evaporates distance that seems insurmountable.

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Jay Chakravorty expresses emotion with grace, in ‘Alexia, Berlin’

Live performance of 'Alexia, Berlin', recorded between lockdowns in 2020.Taken from the forthcoming album, 'A Map With No Memory', out April 23rd 2021 on Unp...

Putting aside time for solo work, Chakravorty partners with Unperceived Records to release debut album ‘A Map With No Memory’

Self -taught composer Jay Chakravorty has worked to find his place as a musician, experimenting with different projects created under different names, breaking into TV and film and honing his talents in classical leaning electronica along the way. As a session musician Chakravorty has worked with names like Bright Light Bright Light, Bryde and Emma McGrath. Now however, he seems intent on bringing forward his own sound, which promises to be worth listening out for.

Like the projects he’s been involved with Chakravorty’s style is fluid and varied, but now that his debut solo album is on the brink of release we’ve had a glimpse of what a totally independent approach will sound like. The tracks released so far approach from different genres, but each ventures into environments cinematic and imbued with emotion.

‘Sunlight at Stratford Station’ takes on heavier waves of synth but remains a meditative track, slow paced and gentle rhythms building up a quiet intensity. Our featured track ‘Alexia, Berlin’ moves much further into neo-classical, drawing on Chakravorty’s skills as a multi-instrumentalist, as well as those of his supporting cast of musicians. Strings and piano filter through to create a track where melody is tended to with painstaking care and patient love.

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A place of solace; Goldmund’s ‘For a Time’

From the album The Time It Takes, available October 16, 2020 on Western Vinyl. Pre-order / listen: https://smarturl.it/ibfvzw

The multitalented producer returns to conjure minimalist strokes of classical electronica

Keith Kenniff is at home in the realm of quiet thoughts and movements of neoclassical work which flow with neither haste nor hesitation. Native to Pennsylvania, the producer has spread his discography across a number of projects and aliases. While our focus here is on his work under the moniker of Goldmund, there’s no doubt that Kenniff’s work has been deeply influenced by his ventures into electronica and ambient as Helios, and the joint project Mint Julep in which he explores indie rock.

Goldmund is the source for some of Kenniff’s most minimal work, heavily focused on deliberate, essentialist piano. With skilful use of reverb and synthesizer, Goldmund diffuses an atmosphere of calm into the environment, slowing time and bringing into existence a layer of protection from the tumultuous world that we live in.

The sounds cultivated by Goldmund have garnered praise from industry peers including Ryuichi Sakamoto of the ground-breaking Yellow Magic Orchestra, who called the work ‘so, so, so beautiful’. Perhaps one of the reasons that Goldmund is able to draw this focus is how effortless the fruits of his talents and patience appear.

His upcoming album ‘The Time It Takes’ is expected on October 16th, preceded by our featured track from the LP, ‘For a Time’.

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A world of quiet thoughts, Infralyd releases 'Saudade’

Newcomer Infralyd begins to find his space, with ambient sounds that echo interior narratives

Infralyd hails from Denmark, a location which may have lent a spirit of nature and sense of the organic to his work. In his music you’ll find the classical piano samples which ambient composers favour, valuable for the warm, physical atmospheres that the percussive instrument cultivates within electronic tracks. The shuffle and scrape of field recording is present too, the inclusion of which bridges the gap between the world of emotionally rich neoclassical and the personal space of the audience.

It’s these musical elements which have allowed Infralyd to develop a deep sense of vulnerability, brushing away confrontationally rhythmic beats to make way for reflection, and melodies which invite the mind to linger as they echo into silence. For now, the upcoming producer only has a handful of tracks available for streaming on his Spotify account, each of which has been laid out with careful thought and consideration. The tracks grasp at moods and emotions hard to describe; longing, nostalgia and day dreams.

Made public last month, 'Saudade’ is one of Infralyd’s most recent works. Modular synthesizer overlaps with glimpses of piano, as the producer brings to life a scene of minimalism and melancholy. Connecting with an impressive numbers of listeners, Saudade brims with fleeting, beautiful sadness.

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Alaskan Tapes presents piano led downtempo with ‘We’

"We" available now - https://alaskantapes.ffm.to/atwe.oyd https://www.Alaskantapes.com https://www.Alaskantapes.bandcamp.com https://www.Twitter.com/Alaskant...

Releasing a single affected by this year’s isolation, Alaskan Tapes joins with Nettwerk Records

The tracks created by Alaskan Tapes exist in a space which feels deeply personal, rich with organic tones and field recording samples that dissolve the distance between audience and artist. Gentle creaks and physical scrapes bring tangibility to the work of Brady Kendall, who has been developing and evolving the ambient project for the past five years.

In addition to Alaskan Tapes’ substantial discography of downtempo tracks, music from the artist has created soundscapes in a number of productions including both short films and documentaries, as well as featuring in other visual media.

The most recent EP from this artist ‘Sleeping since last year’ arrived back in March, and in the time since then Alaskan Tapes has signed to the alternative rock and electronica label Nettwerk Records. The internationally recognised group is home to artists including ‘Passenger’ and ‘fun.’, and should provide Alaskan Tapes with a more dynamic platform for exposure than he’s previously been able to access.

Alaskan Tapes latest single is therefore his first with Nettwerk Records. Titled ‘We’, the track was released on August 21st and recorded as isolation began to take effect in the first phase of lockdown. The ambient solace is characteristically rough around the edges, and benefits from being so.

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Near The Parenthesis empowers electronic tranquillity with neo-classicalism

Releasing ‘Second’, the San Francisco-based producer pursues his emotion-rich and even-tempered production style

Adopting the alias ‘Near The Parenthesis’ Tim Arndt released his first album back in 2006 to acclaim from a number of reviewers with whom the patient, soothing tones found connection. His discography has since expanded with the same restrained attitude, keeping a reliable pace.

While exploring different side projects, collaborations and ideas, Near The Parenthesis has touched on thematic compositions, abstract experimentalism, and even beat heavy atmospheres. Emotion and the warmth of solace in music comprise the energy that seems to run through much of his sound, though this represents only a limited view of his work.

As Near The Parenthesis presents each new track, another aspect of the producer’s talents comes into focus, as is the case with his most recent collection: ‘Second’. In the three track EP, the artist continues to draw on his longstanding relationship with piano, a defining element in his work which Near The Parenthesis has become adept in utilising to draw on emotion and organic beauty within music existing in an essentially artificial environment.

In the eponymous lead track minimalist piano is imbued with wavering, orchestral string-like electronica. Conservative but firm beats provide a moderate rhythm, as deeper synth begins to turn an organic experience into a cosmic one.

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Julian Zyklus brings elegance and power with 'Waking Lights'

Provided to YouTube by Cargo Waking Lights · Julian Zyklus Waking Lights ℗ Hush Hush Records Released on: 2020-07-03 Artist: Julian Zyklus Auto-generated by ...

When Julian Zyklus released his first solo album back in June, he already had prior involvement in alternative rock as well as experience with piano and synthesizer. He showcased more than these talents however, managing to create a harmonic balance between the more traditional sound of classical and the much less organic tones of synthesizer-led downtempo and electronica.

‘Four Dimensional Waves’ was a collection which succeeded in shying away from the more conventionally subdued sound of minimal electronic, while also establishing an intense, cinematic core. His newest release remains in that space between emotive classical and synthetic elegance, and precedes his upcoming album ‘Parallel Worlds’.

Pre-release track ‘Waking Lights’ brings forward digital melodies which exist in separation from the echoing samples of piano placed in the stereo field. This division leaves a feeling of physical distance, as if the melody is surrounded by an oceanic darkness. The sense of restrained power is heightened as distortion and synthesizer grow to a crescendo.

‘Parallel Worlds’ itself is a split album, shared between Zyklus and Hoshiko Yamane. Yamane is a Berlin based violinist and current member of ‘Tangerine Dream’, a group legendary for their work in pioneering early electronica. With such a strong partnership, Parallel Worlds promises to be a high quality release.

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Expansive neo-classical work: n-So with ‘Into the Valley’

Before creating the moniker of n-So, Nick Angeloni was enrolled at Berklee College of music in Boston, taking courses in film scoring, production, audio engineering and piano. It’s after graduation that more electronic influences began to take hold and Angeloni brought a fresh style of energy to his new project, invigorated by a quickly developing familiarity with modular and analog synthesizers. The resulting sound of n-So often flows around a centre of neo-classicalism, with cinematic piano drawing in gentle, emotion heavy rhythms.

With his 2018 LP ‘A Stroke of Blue’, Angeloni brought his explorations of organic and artificial together to produce eight tracks of gradually expanding ambient sound with his more classical roots evident in percussive piano tracks such as Blue ii and Blue iii. The second LP ‘Out of the Valley’ arrived June 12th, created with the support of Canadian label Moderna Records, whose commitment to those on the boundary between ambient and classical music will have made the connection an easy choice.

‘Into the Valley’ announced the ten track release, maintaining the characteristic leading piano, carried by vintage analog synth and fortified with layered drum hits. There’s a more tangible presence of natural power here, a culmination of the cinematic quality and emotional core.

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