Categories
Ambient Electro-Acoustic Premiere

PREMIERE: Kosmorama – Your Path You Must Decide

Serein – Oct 14th 2022
Flatland Frequencies · PREMIERE: Kosmorama – Your Path You Must Decide

Ahead of the official release this Friday, Kosmorama have shared with us the opening track from their new LP of same name, via the Serein label. We’re loving the juxtaposition of horns, electronics and decaying textures in this piece.

After studying and living together, Christian Grothe (Kryshe) and Gregor Lener come together ten years later under the name Kosmorama. Inspired by science fiction, they create improvised cosmic jazz music with trumpet, home made DIY synths and samplers.

Pre-orders via bandcamp!

Categories
Ambient Minimal Premiere Synth

PREMIERE: Loula Yorke – Silverweed

Tigerforce: 23/9/22
Flatland Frequencies · PREMIERE: Loula Yorke – Silverweed

Ahead of her new album ‘Florescence’ coming this Friday 23rd Sept, Loula Yorke has kindly shared the opening track from the release.

‘Silverweed’ is one of a number of synth improvs recorded between January and May this year and takes influence from the growing season of the wildflower meadow outside her window in Suffolk.

We’re loving this focused, yet free-form approach across her fourth solo album and strongly suggest setting a reminder to pick up a copy from her bandcamp on Friday.

Categories
Ambient Drone Interview Premiere

Premiere: Polypores – Secretions Of Memory (Woodford Halse)

Woodford Halse – Release: August 2022

Woodford Halse and Polypores are two musical entities that encompass the term prolific, as label and artist both outputting a shit ton of great music and with impressive regularity. Seeing Polypores’ upcoming return to the label with new album ‘Infinite Interiors’ felt like a good opportunity to give a taste of the sounds, as well as some exclusive insights from the artist himself.

Grab a brew, hit play and read on…

Flatland Frequencies · Premiere: Polypores – Secretions Of Memory (Woodford Halse)

So, this is by no means your first rodeo, how did Infinite Interiors come into being?  

Like most of my albums in recent years, it wasn’t something I thought about too much, it was just sort of spewed out from the mysterious and perhaps mystical source from which all my music comes. I just had to create the environment (and the synth patches) to allow it to happen. It was kind of a dark time for me, there was a somewhat difficult personal situation which had been going on for some time, which I’d sort of dipped my toe into trying to process. And I think that fed into the music a fair bit, there’s a sort of darkness to the album. And a distinct lack of control. I think I perhaps made something that sounded vast and maybe a bit intimidating in places, which reflected the idea that I was processing stuff that I’d perhaps been in denial about. 

So it’s kind of a subconscious exploration where a few internal barriers are broken down. I was reading “Piranesi” by Suzanna Clarke at the time, which I think influenced it to some extent. I don’t want to spoil the book for anyone but a lot of the same themes are there. And perhaps the vast halls in that story were an influence on the deep, cavernous sound I was going for too.

Are you using a particular or unique approach to this cassette, compared to whats come before? 

Well obviously it’s a lot more personal than most other Polypores records. Or at least it came from a place that I’m less comfortable sharing with people. Mining a different seam, so to speak. I fought it at first, because I generally like to make music that’s ultimately uplifting, or at least leaves a fairly pleasant taste in the mouth. Whilst this isn’t totally depressing, there are darker elements that I wouldn’t have included in previous albums. But it turned out to be quite cathartic by the end, the process of finishing it. The second half is a bit more uplifting, and eventually there’s a resolution to it. It’s not like obviously so, but I think that sort of confusion works for it. It’s like anything in the subsconscious – it can be both beautiful and frightening.

Technique – wise it was my first use of the Soma Pipe, which is a very weird voice synthesizer (like a psychedelic space kazoo) that ended up on a couple of tracks. So technically it’s the first Polypores album to feature my own voice too. It was also my first album using the Make Noise DPO as a primary oscillator, so it’s got a sort of raw, dirty sound to it. The two albums I’d recorded previously (Hyperincandescent and Crystal Shop) was very clean and bright sounding. Most albums I record tend to be a sort of sonic opposite to the previous one and I think this is no exception. It’s also got a track called The Flux which is 19 minutes long and was recorded on the afternoon of Christmas Day, which was my 40th birthday. I thought I’d give myself a present, and that present was that I got to record a massive big drifty 19 minute track. I didn’t worry about length, I just sat there in a nice wine/food haze and made this massive soundscape, which I think really is the heart of the album.

Does your recent foray into live synth practice, influence your studio work (and visa versa?)

I have been playing synths live for a good 6 years or so now, but it did definitely (and still does continue to) influence my studio work. So when I first started out with Polypores it was purely a studio project. But then Joe from Concréte Tapes (who released my first proper album and is at least 75% responsible for any success I’ve had) kept asking me to play live, so I found a way to make it happen. 

I was never happy with it at first – then i worked out that was because I was trying to replicate my studio tracks in a live environment, and putting too much pressure on myself. So I started writing pieces of music specifically to be performed live. That made the whole thing easier because I wasn’t trying to replicate any kind of multitracked perfection. But then I started to move increasingly towards just recording live, to a point where, for every album I’ve done since Azure, I just record totally live with no overdubs. Sure I have less control over the mixing etc, but it has that magic feel to it that you just can’t replicate with overdubbing, in my opinion. It’s like that excitement and energy that comes from a performance. My background was really always in rock music, playing guitar/drums in bands and stuff. I learned there that it’s better for me to get the energy of a live take, than pore over multtracking and overdubs. I just lose interest and it sounds too forced.I’m not interested in perfection, I’m interested in getting something down that has my heart and soul in it. And multitracking sucks my soul. Because it feels like work rather than play.

I’ve recently done a few gigs with the Lyra 8 synthesizer, which kind of takes that to another level because it’s somewhat unpredictable. But I sort of enjoy that. Even though I’m someone who very much needs certainty and routine in most areas of my life, when it comes to music, I like to be able to escape that a bit. 

What’s Next?

Gig wise I have plenty coming up, all which will be on my modular system rather than the Lyra, as I feel like I was abandoning it a bit. I’ll list them below. I have an album out later in the year for Castles In Space, which has been delayed big time due to all the vinyl manufacture problems, but it’s going to be a really special package and I can’t wait for you to hear it and see the gorgeous cover. I’ve also just recorded an album using the Lyra, which we’re finalising the cover for now. That should be out next year via Frequency Domain. That’s as far as I’m going into the future for now, but if I die or retire after answering this questions then there’s two more out there which are musically finished, and I’m confident that the labels will treat them with respect and donate a portion of the money to a suitable charity.

I’ve also got some more stuff planned for my sample-based side project ZENYA, and as always more niche treats for my subscribers on Bandcamp. I think it’s important to keep busy!

Polypores live:

  • 19/08 – Carnival Brewing Company, Liverpool
  • 23/09 – The Ferret, Preston
  • 01/10 – Just Dropped In, Coventry 
  • 20/11 – The Continental, Preston (supporting Zombie Zombie)

Follow:

Categories
Electro Premiere

PREMIERE: FRB BIOSCAN DEVICES (LUZ1Es MECHANICAL CUT)

Censor Music – Release: 15/7/22
Flatland Frequencies · PREMIERE: FRB BIOSCAN DEVICES (LUZ1Es MECHANICAL CUT)

Clean n crispy electro in from the Censor Music base. Tasty premiere of the forward driving remix here from LUZ1E, who takes the bass-weighty F.R.B title track and gives it a more spacious landing pad. Production on this is top-notch, check it on some decent speakers!

Categories
Premiere Techno

Premiere: Komo B – Orbit (EPM Music)

‘Orbit’ is the title track for Komo B’s debut EP on EPM music. We present a short interview below:

1. You’ve been collecting records and mixing for some years now. What inspired you to begin and what has been the most memorable thing along the way?

Yes indeed.  It is all about the music.  I grew up in Maastricht and there were squat parties with different music like techno, electro, acid, deephouse, disco etcetera… So, it were the local DJs that inspired me to start playing records and buying synths and drummachines.  The squat parties at Vendex were memorable.  After, there were others like 10daysoff in Gent but can’t say really which one is the most memorable.
 

2. What was the inspiration for taking the leap into producing your own music? Was it a straightforward process?
 
I was already playing trumpet and piano when I got into electronic music.  I just wanted to explore the (new) electronic sounds of synthesizers, effects, drummachines etcetera and to create.  So yes, it was a straightforward process and still is.
 
3. What are your hopes for the future? Musically or otherwise.
 
I hope to make some more EPs, records and an album.  I would like to do some radio shows and to continue DJing as well.

4. What is your message to the world? What do people need to know?
 
Dance like a bird
Don’t judge someone
Enjoy nature

Categories
Ambient Feature Premiere

PREMIERE: Jo Johnson – Track 3 – Less Popular Than Cats

Flatland Frequencies · [PREMIERE] Jo Johnson – Track 3 – Less Popular Than Cats

We’re pleased to share this exclusive premiere of track 3 from ‘Less Popular Than Cats’ compilation, by Jo Johnson – released next week on Verdant Recordings. A beautifully pulsating long-form piece, which gently ebbs and flows in a particularly organic manner, like leaves floating on an expansive loch.

Categories
Feature Premiere Techno

PREMIERE: Tudor Acid – A Static Electricity Overload (Tudor Beats)

A highly personal theme for Tudor Acid on this new release is close identification with the emotions of cyborg and robotic characters in fiction. The character portrayed by the album (who Tudor Acid says is “obviously a stand in for me”) is on a mission to prove that its machine-generated or machine-mediated emotions are as equally valid as purely organic ones.

Following a two-year hiatus, he returns to the Tudor Beats label with a new album, ‘Empathy for Cyborgs’.

Flatland Frequencies · PREMIERE: Tudor Acid – A Static Electricity Overload (Tudor Beats)

What results is an album which represents the conflict between one’s own sense of self – and external, negative perceptions from others.

The cover drawing of Tower Bridge was intended as a counterpoint to this – the sense of a digitally constructed brain demonstrating its sentience and humanity in the process of the art being generated.

Artist: Tudor Acid
Title: Empathy for Cyborgs
Label: Tudor Beats
Cat. No: TB-2626
Format: Digital
Released: 27 January 2022

Categories
Ambient Premiere Synth

PREMIERE: Polypores – Sprites

Waxing Crescent Records

Very excited to announce an exclusive premiere of Polypores – Sprites, from his upcoming cassette on Waxing Crescent. A cute and bubbling piece, with sliding envelopes and LFOs gliding over quantised scales and tempo, giving the track a distinctly ‘modular synth’ feel, with a clean and modern tone. Check it out now on our soundcloud:

Flatland Frequencies · PREMIERE: Polypores – Sprites (Waxing Crescent)

In its overall mood, ‘Crystal Shop’ feels much lighter and more playful than his more intense long-form Gargantuan outing, released earlier this year via Frequency Domain.

Track names like Soft Energies and Dolphin Emoji, suggest a tongue-in-cheek response to the ‘new-age’ music tag, all too often misapplied by lazy journalists to new synthesised music that they can’t quite fit into the usual electronic genres.

To sum up, this is one of my favourite Polypores outings to date (and there has been many!), encompassing an adventurous approach to synthesis and freeform on-the-fly composition.

Categories
Avant Garde Beats Minimal Wave Premiere Synth

PREMIERE: Jack Pattern – Ufundab Ich Bin Durch Lasst Mich Arzt

Cosmic Pint Glass – 13/09/21

Mega premiere on our YouTube and soundcloud channels for this ace new chugger by Jack Pattern.

Flatland Frequencies · PREMIERE: Jack Pattern – Kosmische Kueche

12″ is out this Friday via our homies at Cosmic Pint Glass!

Categories
Electro Feature Premiere

PREMIERE: Plant43 – Hearts Beat In Silence

Future Massive: pre-orders – 17/07/2021

Prolific UK electro producer Plant43 (aka Emile Facey) brings the crispy clean beats to new label Future Massive, launched from the AI Records camp. Check our premiere of ‘Heart Beats In Silence’:

Flatland Frequencies · PREMIERE: Plant43 – Hearts Beat In Silence

For the announcement Future Massive have released a video created by label founder Steve Hyland for first single Hearts Beat in Silence. Drawing reference from the EP title, the unknown structure in question appears as an obelisk in multiple liminal spaces – unsettling and misplaced until it resolves into human form.

This humanoid avatar embodies a lonely alien force observing our culture from a stellar distance, reflecting upon our fragility through the falling petals whilst basking in the electro glow.  Watch the video for lead track Hearts Beat in Silence here: 

Pre-order the red vinyl here