NEWSLETTER

IA MIX 382 STRATEGY // BAROQUE SUNBURST // XENIA REAPER // HOTSPRING // GEAR(S) AT MONOM // THIRD EYE FESTIVAL

IA MIX 382 STRATEGY
INTERVIEW BY JASON CABANISS

American producer Strategy steps up to contribute the 382nd edition of the IA MIX Series delivering a stunning chill-out and downtempo podcast for expansive headphone listening.

Across a 20-plus year career, and as many releases, Paul Dickow operates at the crossroads of ambient, dub, and electronica. His most recent Strategy album, ‘The Wet Room‘, his 20th album to date, was released in November 2023 via Community Library, the label Paul co-runs with David Chandler. It feels both timeless and of its time, fusing elements of climate anxiety with a heady aura of leftfield sonics.

Throughout his discography, Strategy has collaborated with esteemed labels including Kranky, 100% Silk, and Peak Oil, among others, as well as operating his own Community Library imprint, for an output as vast and varied as it is consistently stellar. He’s as comfortable crafting hardware-focused, DIY techno as he is spinning long form experimental suites.

Strategy’s mix is as wide-ranging, unpredictable, and eclectic as his music, spanning Humpbacks, Seefeel, Laurie Spiegel, and Strategy himself. It’s an ideal soundtrack for expansive headphone listening or the strangest, grooviest pool party in the neighbourhood. In addition to the mix, we asked Paul all about his history, the Portland music scene, and tour memories.

LISTEN BACK TO BAROQUE SUNBURST LABEL SHOWCASE AT INVERTED AUDIO RECORD STORE

Baroque Sunburst hosted a label showcase at Inverted Audio Record Store on Saturday 18th May with co-founders Big Hands and Soreab plus special guests Sagome.

Based out of East London, Baroque Sunburst, part operating out of London’s legendary institution Honest Jon’s, pushes a sound that brazenly explores hybrid strains of experimental bass music encompassing ambient, abstract, breakbeat, leftfield, jungle, IDM.

Established in 2019, Baroque Sunburst have released records from a diaspora of multi-faceted artists including Berlin-based producer Flørist, Brazilian-born producer Worli, Serbian-based producer Feloneezy and Italian-based producer Nicolò – always distinctly encased in bright yellow record sleeves, often accompanied with custom stickers and graphic artworks.

ROMAIN AZZARO & JEANNE BRIAND TALK GEAR(S) AHEAD OF PERFORMANCE AT MONOM

French multidisciplinary artist Jeanne Briand and Franco-Italian instrumentalist, composer, and producer Romain Azzaro celebrate the release of their second album ‘Gear(s)‘ at MONOM – Berlin’s Center for Spatial Sound on Saturday 25th May.

Released this Friday via Fluxus Temporis, ‘Gear(s)‘ marks Jeanne Briand & Romain Azzaro second collaborative album, which sees the duo inverting their initial approach from their 2016 debut ‘A Gamete Glass Tale‘ – this time, filtering resonant timbres of glass through an array of acoustic instruments and electronic processes, transforming serene sculptures into fragmented, psychedelic textures and experimental soundscapes.

Briand, a celebrated visual artist, and Azzaro, a versatile composer, developed a unique musical language by filtering Briand’s intricate glass creations through various instruments and processes. Originally conceived for Paris’s FTMA Festival, ‘Gear(s)‘ stands as a testament to their two-decade-long friendship and shared vision, fusing art and music into an audacious, multidisciplinary dialogue.

To coincide with the release, we conducted a short Q&A with Romain Azzaro & Jeanne Briand to learn more about the album and their unique collaboration.

REVIEW: XENIA REAPER - LUVAPHY
WRITTEN BY SIMON J KARIS

In a modernist convolution of cybernetic realness and breaks essence, Berlin-based producer Xenia Reaper crystallises their debut full length album on Glasgow’s INDEX:Records, following a handful of EPs and singles on their own Xenoplex label and INDEX sub-label Appendix.Files.

From the outset, ‘Luvaphy’ builds a sinewy framework of drum and bass errata, utilising non-traditional percussion toolkits collaged against perfected synth lushness. Reaper’s work is seamlessly mixed, whilst effortlessly radiating in a subtle haze of internet 2.0 sonics, detached and encased in a kind of stoned austerity.

We’re introduced to Reaper’s world-building with the dreamt Blu-ray waft and black hole subs of ‘Within’, quickly giving way to the title track’s futurist d’n’b pointillism over clouds of ambience and the insistence of a disembodied human voice. Whatever sound is replacing hi-hats here feels encrusted in YouTube artefacts, chattering brightly above undulating digital glaze and muscular kick drum programming.

‘23724’s scalpelled collage and diced granular suction pumps in another direction altogether, forgoing any structured rhythmic tropes of club music. Fascinatingly segueing into the fanfare of ciphered low dialogue, deep synth misting and plummeting bass events, ‘Sued’ eventually develops into a truly incendiary breaks flex.

By the time we reach ‘MxB’ 6 tracks in, Reaper treats us to the most trad junglist rhythm on the album, all filtered breaks and gleaming organ repetitions – well worth the journey through landscapes of snapped looping and amphibious squelch (see ‘Lust05’) toward the core of this release. ‘Lllaao3’ is an unrestrained workout, maybe the album’s most dancefloor friendly tune; phasing deeply like Basic Channel but in a world they never took on.

Thrillingly, ‘Luvaphy’ contracts into the wormhole of its two closing tracks, which are perhaps its strongest and most adventurous. The redacted cadence of ‘Squarpy’ is punctuated by sounds conjuring the onomatopoeia of its name, malfunctioning into ‘Glazed’s staccato shards of cybernetic femininity – an unbuoyed romantic dalliance recorded on a replicant’s corrupted RAM, smoking last cigarettes on a dying battery.

Easy comparisons could link Reaper’s work to recent lineages along the M.E.S.H./Visionist/PAN axis, but could it be a subtle extrapolation on R&S’s 90s ambient imprint Apollo whereby, in alternate timeline, Biosphere’s Geir Jenssen was raised on YouTube rather than his VHS collection?

THIRD EYE FESTIVAL COMPLETES LINEUP WITH ARTEFAKT, CLAUDIO PRC, DASHA RUSH, RROSE, SA PA, TOBIAS. AND WATA IGARASHI

Taking place in Germany between 6.7.8 September 2024, the long-awaited second edition of Third Eye Festival is set to enthral ravers with a tantalising lineup exploring the finest ambient, experimental and deep techno music.

Located 80km south of Berlin at Altes Lager airport, Third Eye Festival is a three-day 1000 person capacity gathering enveloped by nature. Boasting world class talent including live performances from Dutch production duo Artefakt, Berghain resident Tobias, plus two live sound bath ceremonies from Boto and Kā.

Attendees can look forward to immersive DJ sets from UK-based Astral Industries boss Ario, Italian producer Claudio PRC, Russian experimental producer Dasha Rush, American hypnotic techno producer Rrose, Australian ambient producer Sa Pa, Japanese techno wizard Wata Igarashi, alongside many other local and international artists.

For the occasion, organisers will create a stunning stage inspired by Japanese festivals, featuring stretched tents, organic ornaments, string art, projection mapping and a multi-sensory laser and light show. There will also be a collective painting area led by the artist JuliJah, adding another layer of creativity to the immersive gathering.

Regular tickets are priced at 160 EUR per person. Tickets include access to camping facilities, with additional options for glamping and caravan/camper setups. Accessible outdoor showers and amenities will ensure everyone’s comfort, while a variety of bars, local vendors, and food trucks will cater to all tastes. Third Eye Festival can be easily reached via shuttle bus from Berlin Ostkreuz, as well as by car or train.

REVIEW: HOTSPRING - APODELIA
WRITTEN BY JASON CABANISS

In an era with ease of access to different instruments, presets, and software, it doesn’t come as a surprise that so artists experiment across genres. In the case of Vancouver, British Columbia artist Scott Gailey, the care and dedication he puts into his releases is as stunning as the variety of sounds produced.

Gailey has collaborated with C3D-E and Hashman on a lo-fi dub techno workout for 0 Records; spun a stirring take on musique concrète and ambient wanderings with 'Polysensuality', released under his own name on Séance Centre; and he’s distilled and synthesised his vision most effectively under the Hotspring moniker. The 2020 release 'Obit For Sunshade' set the template: moody, dubby, noir-y electronics with jazzy, downtempo undertones that present as an abstracted trip-hop session.

Gailey’s latest Hotspring release, 'Apodelia' on Mood Hut, refines the sound and vision of the project and ventures further down the rabbit hole of experimental sounds. Like previous releases, Gailey doesn’t drop any bangers or opt for one track to be a highlight over the rest of the album. 'Apodelia' functions as a series of vignettes tied together and enhanced when heard front to back.

Opener “Blood” resembles a ghostly robotic singer-songwriter confessional straight out of Twin Peaks, and closing track “Three of Swords” projects a lo-fi guitar line through the granular hiss and fuzz of the dust and decay of time. In between are moments of beguiling beauty, ranging from floating ambient interludes to sun-drenched trip hop.

“Day, Moment” embodies the poppier side of the record, with hushed vocals pitched, bent, and reduced to a ghostly shadow lingering over the synths, strings, and percussion. Elsewhere, “Fifty Summers” is like a synth pop ballad left in an old-growth forest and picked up years or decades later. The sound is fittingly warm, moss-strewn, and absorbing. Hotspring’s ability to mesh pop structures with an experimental sensibility blends well with the remainder of the record, which includes shorter, free-form pieces beamed in from a dusted corner of the speakers.

“Glanzstraße 6” is a gorgeous loop of pianos and atmospherics, eliciting feelings of melancholy, curiosity, and contentment. It’s a brief track but it washes over you and leaves an imprint that’s hard to shake. “Dealt Hand” is another piece of Apodelia’s abstract, instrumental half, this time offering a sinister, haunted hypnagogic aura. The track doesn’t impart fear as it does the unease of watching moments pass and wash away like waves on the shore.

While these are highlights of the record, 'Apodelia' is meant to be heard in its entirety. Gailey’s vision is one with turns toward the familiar and experiments with the unfamiliar. At times it comes off as a splintered folk-tronica record; at others, it takes spectral, sedated sounds and processes them into a ghostly mirror image of easy listening.

Throughout, 'Apodelia' offers an enticing, inscrutable style that forgoes the algorithm and compels listeners to sit down and listen. One can come in as a newcomer or a fan and find elements that resonate. Results may vary from listener to listener, but Hotspring has produced one of the year’s most beguiling, fascinating albums.

LISTEN BACK TO RAMJAC CORPORATION REEL-TO-REEL AT INVERTED AUDIO RECORD STORE

Earlier this month, UK-based acid house legend Ramjac Corporation performed a live reel-to-reel session at Inverted Audio Record Store in Peckham alongside the release of an exclusive cassette ‘Bibec Studio Extracts 1994 – 1995’ featuring five archive productions.

Marking our first ever live set at Inverted Audio Record Store, Ramjac did not disappoint, bringing a wealth of reels, analog equipment and raw experience, resulting in an enthralling performance of acid breakbeat and house music, plus an unheard version of Ramjac’s cult classic ‘Cameroon Massif!‘.

We’d like to extend a big thank you to everyone that made it down to the record store, especially those that travelled all the way from Switzerland and the Czech Republic. Big up to Paul Chivers aka Ramjac Corporation for driving all the way from Somerset to perform in London. It’s not often you get to witness a reel-to-reel set, this was a totally unique and spectacular live performance.

STORE: CORKER CONBOY X PURELINK

Originally released in 2003 via London-based record label Vertical Form, Corker Conboy's album 'In Light of that Learnt Later' gets the remix treatment from Purelink, presented as a a limited edition 12-inch on Bad Info.

Recorded in the late 90s over the course of several sessions in an underground converted car park in Battersea, Adrian Corker and Paul Conboy combine their forward-thinking ideas resulting in a patchwork of cinematic post-rock, jazz-infused lullabies, dubbed-out folk and fourth world.

For this special occasion, we selected Purelink's remix for the premiere. Providing a mind-altering soundtrack over the course of 7-minutes, the New-York-based trio explores uncanny territories with a blend of high-spirited soundscapes, space-echoed guitar riffs and nimble drumming arrangements.

STORE: DOUBLE GEOGRAPHY – OPEN WATER

With over 60 releases to their ever-expanding discography, Glasgow-based record label Invisible Inc. issue their 36th album courtesy of Double Geography.

Over the years of composing with his long-standing production partner LJ Horstman under the moniker Weird Weather, producer and audio engineer Duncan Thornley has transformed into a multi-instrumental mastermind conducting new age experiments and balearic ballads infused with meditative ambient.

‘Open Water‘ is a submerged voyage through pacific states of mind accompanied by a troop of talented musicians including Adam Hayes on the drums, Pike Ogilvy on the congas, Jasper Osbourne on the fretless bass, Kaidi Akinnibi on the saxophone, Simeon May on the bass clarinet and Greg Foat on the piano.