Release

Out Now! Hoshiko Yamane – Reflections

Our next release is ‘Reflections‘ by Hoshiko Yamane who is based in Berlin, Germany and who performs violin as part of Tangerine Dream and this record is a special collaboration between Whitelabrecs and 1631 Recordings. This album features Hoshiko’s violin performances, alongside a group of musicians and the album looks back to the period in which it was created, during and shortly after the Covid-19 pandemic. This album will be available officially in a run of 100 CDrs in our signature gatefold vinyl-effect sleeves and in a limited run of vinyl copies, created and supplied by 1631. The CDs have all sold out however, you can still check out the digital version. If you follow us on Bandcamp (Click HERE) we’ll make sure you’re the first to hear.

press release
“Hoshiko Yamane is a Japanese composer who has been based in Berlin, Germany since 2006.
She has released collaborative music with Mikael Lind and Eraldo Bernocchi on Time Released Sound and Denovali respectively, as well as solo material on 1631 Recordings who have facilitated this latest album, a split release with Whitelabrecs.

Hoshiko has toured for many years as a violinist with Tangerine Dream and also working with Jane Birkin, before she began to write electronic music as Tukico. Around five years ago, she began to compose music which returned to a musical upbringing which began with learning the violin at the age of four. She has studied classical music for many years and this was the reason for moving to Berlin, drawn to the city through a love of Bach and Brahms.

Whilst her work develops to incorporate many layers of instrumentation and other canvas-filling sonic details, Hoshiko’s music typically starts life as an improvised violin sketch. The sketches that formed the spine of this new album ‘Reflections’ emerged from the otherworldly backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, back in the early stages around March and April 2020. People were losing their lives every day and the world was praying in hope, whilst each day revisiting the quiet, apocalyptic reality of the world at that time. This album is not about the pandemic specifically. Instead, it was born from it. During that time Hoshiko was able to reflect upon herself, seeing inside her own being including the thoughts of hope she held for others. Like many around her, she was able to see life’s necessities; what is needed to get by, what is important and what life is all about. She was able to reconnect with the things that had previously been lost to the routine of daily life. These reflections urged for the inner-peace of everyday life never to be taken for granted again.

At that strange time, the violin sketches had been developed into full sheet music, waiting to one day be performed by a real ensemble. This was the first time that Hoshiko had put her ability to produce sheet music into practice and fittingly, as time progressed, she was able to assemble a string quartet to perform her music in person. Dreams of physical performance became a reality, as the ribbons of the players’ violin, viola and cello performances filled the room, intertwining triumphantly with one another, as if the pressure of isolation had built into a forcefield of musical energy. The album is cemented by the cover artwork, in which Hoshiko walks freely forward, with her own reflections now available for the world to experience, overlayed with our own.“

credits

Hoshiko Yamane – 1st Violin, Voice, Electronics
Cecilia Ferron – 2nd Violin
So Fukushima – Viola
Sebastian Selke – Cello

All tracks composed and mixed by Hoshiko Yamane
Mastered by Wil Bolton
Recorded 2022 at UFO Sound Studios in Berlin
Recording engineer Fabian G. Knof

Cover photo by Kei Sugimoto
Art and design by Andrew Heath

Out Now! Fossil Hunting Collective – Cyanotype

Here’s the second of two new editions out today, in our August releases. This one’s by Guelph, Canada-based artist Fossil Hunting Collective and it’s entitled Cyanotype, based around the cover artwork, provided by the artist’s wife Richelle Forsey. The sound is a blend of Ambient, electro-acoustics with hints of Post Rock, riding a bed of tape-eroded textures.

Cyanotype is out now in a run of 100 copies! The best way to keep informed about our low-run releases, is to join our mailing list, and we’ll make sure you’re the first to hear!

press release
“Fossil Hunting Collective is musician and sound artist Jamie Jones, from Guelph in Canada who has been active under this artist name since 2019. He has previously released music on labels such as Ambientologist, ROHS, Polar Seas and Rusted Tone Recordings across this project name and as (ph)authers (alongside Hymns57) and Still Harbours (with Brad Deschamps). Followers of our discography may also recall 2020’s contribution to our Home Diaries series, entitled ‘Aperture’.

‘Cyanotype’ was made primarily, via the beautiful surprises thrown out of various guitar pedals along with re-amped loops played back through old cassette recorders. Whilst virtual plugins are also used throughout the process, Jones places an emphasis on the physical too, with his small body acoustic guitar strung with nylons, a Jazzmaster guitar, a baritone ukulele and reel to reel tape. The sound is a heady blend of melancholy, nostalgic and life-affirming movements, using droning texture, tape decay and loosely performed instrumentation to tell dreamy stories.

The theme for this album was born out of the emotions that Jones pours into his music, as he contemplates the day-to-day struggles of his daughter Hunter, who has been Type 1 Diabetic for the last two years of their life. This autoimmune disease can be life-threatening if not managed correctly and around 95% of Jones’ headspace is occupied with worry, as follows strict procedures to count carbohydrates, weigh out food and monitor blood sugar metrics to ensure that his daughter does not become hypoglycaemic, which could lead to a coma. Controlling this disease is a full-time job and one which Jones carries the weight of at all times. The worry, care and withered energy levels mean that these emotions surface their way into the music, when he sits down in his studio late at night.

The album is a homage to what Hunter must go through each day of their life, living with Type 1 Diabetes. No child or parent should have to go through this. No child should need to understand how it all works, but they are forced to wonder ‘why me’. On top of the weight of the emotional trauma, there is a physical trauma that comes with being injected with devices and life-saving medication numerous times a day, until a cure can be found. Jones and his family are keen to remind themselves when they can, that the disease does not define the being, and they still celebrate all the positive splendour life can offer. These tracks are an emotional journey of the day-to-day; there is the good and the bad, days of hope and wonder, days of melancholy and sadness. Above all, they are not alone in this fight, and they all work together as a unit, protecting their family bond fiercely, like bees.

At an age of around 18 months, Hunter adopted the nickname ‘B’, after being so enthralled with their bee costume for Halloween that they continued to wear on many occasions afterwards. The track titles for this album are all influenced by bee related terminology but also, in some cases there are double meanings, such as ‘Apiary’ (meaning home), ‘Castes’ (members of the family) ‘Mellitus Propolis’ combines Mellitus (Latin for sweet)) used in describing Diabetes Mellitus and Propolis (the resin that bees use to hold hives together).

The album package makes use of the artist’s wife Richelle Forsey, who is a visual artist. Richelle often employs a process using the energy of the sun (ultra violet) to expose a camera-less image on paper coated with iron salts. This is called a cyanotype and the paper undergoes a chemical reaction which fixes the image, thus creating an imprinted monochrome ‘blueprint’.

Cyanotype is the culmination and the idea of embracing your everyday surroundings despite individual struggles. This artist believes that everyone has an innate desire to feel the warmth of the sun, a close bond with those they hold dearly and an aspiration to create their own everlasting blueprint whilst on earth. The sun produces the light and heat source required for the existence and propagation of all things. Without bees for pollination or the sun we do not flourish. Without the sun, there is no Cyanotype.“

credits
Written and produced by Jamie Jones
Mastered by James Edward Armstrong
Cyanotype artwork by Richelle Forsey
Art and design by Andrew Heath

Out Now! Pruski – Moments of Immersion

We have two new releases out today for August and the first sees the return of Krakow, Poland based artist Pruski, who has previously released the albums Playground and Whispers as well as Home Diaries 005. ‘Moments of Immersion‘ is an album of further Ambient explorations, combining field recordings, processed tape sounds and modular synth into 8 electro-acoustic compositions.

Moments of Immersion is out now in a run of 100 copies, as well as some highly highly limited vinyl editions, which will be available directly from Pruski in a run of 10 copies. The best way to keep informed about our low-run releases, is to join our mailing list, and we’ll make sure you’re the first to hear!

press release
“Pruski is a Polish electronic artist, also known for producing music under the name of Minoo. Previous albums have appeared on labels including Asfalt, Mad-Hop and Post Label, as well as ‘Whisper’ and ‘Playground’ featuring within our Whitelabrecs discography. Active since 2007, Paweł Pruski has also performed live at festivals such as Freedom Festival, Tauron Nowa Muzyka and WRO with visits to several countries including Germany, Italy and China. In recent times, he has recorded under his surname, focusing on the more experimental variants of electronic music to express his ideas in an ambient and electro-acoustic aesthetic.

‘Moments of Immersion’ is Pruski’s sixth album. The album is a development of earlier ambient experiments and techniques and there is a balance of three elements: field recordings, processed tape sounds and modular synthesizer. The title of the album alludes to the immersion in several moments. It is not a reflection of some space or time but rather, of experienced moments. Interpretation of subjective experiences from which individual elements have been removed, leaves only a hazy outline of a background. It is a development of the main idea of ambient, in which the music harmonises with a specific space. In this case, the space is changed with the feelings of the moment, for whoever is listening.“

credits
Written and Produced by Paweł Pruski
Mastered by Miniature Records
Art and Design by Andrew Heath and Paweł Pruski

Out Now! Logic Moon & Henrik Meierkord – Inseln

We have two new releases out today for July and in this one, we have a collaboration between Logic Moon and Henrik Meierkord, with an album of deep modern classical drones, created using Meierkord’s cello, viola and double bass recordings and guitar soundscapes by Logic Moon.

Inseln is out now in a run of 100 copies! The best way to keep informed about our low-run releases, is to join our mailing list, and we’ll make sure you’re the first to hear!

press release
“In this collaborative record called ‘Inseln’, we welcome back Logic Moon, who contributed 2019’s ‘I See Planets’ to our discography, alongside cellist, musician and composer Henrik Meierkord. Logic Moon is Mainz, Germany based artist Tobias Lorsbach, who has also released music on labels such as Archives, Ambientologist and Faint. Henrik Meierkord is based in Stockholm, Sweden and he has numerous self-released records in his discography, alongside work for Ambientologist, Subcontinental Records and Hibernate.

‘Inseln’ translates to mean islands and this record is intended to be a journey to beautiful imaginary paradise islands, far far away, in a time set way back in ancient history. Whilst cliché would have us think of exotic sun-soaked lands, full of vibrant colour and a thick, palpable heat, on listening to this record it will become apparent that the journey to paradise is not so simple. Tobias’ droning synthesizer soundscapes combined with Meierkord’s meditative strings, transport us to a medieval world, perhaps in times before we had discovered the existence of paradise, and when travel was an enormous challenge.

This album plays through the struggles of a journey to paradise, escaping the known present in search of an unknown, unpromising utopia. As we discover each new island, we can see another one on the horizon, lying undiscovered; an endless paradise only another struggle-filled journey away.“

credits
Written and Produced by Tobias Lorsbach & Henrik Meierkord
Mixed and Mastered by Tobias Lorsbach, Mainz/Stockholm
Painting by Maliana Wang
Art and Design by Andrew Heath

Tobias Lorsbach : Synthesizers, Piano and Soundscapes
Henrik Meierkord : Cello, Viola, Doublebass

Out Now! The Inventors of Aircraft – Edge of Imagination

We have two new releases out today for July and in this one we welcome back Phil Tomsett under his The Inventors of Aircraft alias, in an album that follows Velatore and Home Diaries 027. This new album is a collection of otherworldly electronic drones with moments of intensity and near-chaos, mysterious exploratory caves and dreamy passages of retro-futurism.

Edge of Imagination is out now in a run of 100 copies! The best way to keep informed about our low-run releases, is to join our mailing list, and we’ll make sure you’re the first to hear!

press release
“The Inventors of Aircraft is UK based artist Phil Tomsett, who has released with labels including Time Released Sound, Wist Rec, Home Normal and Fluid Audio across this project, and under his own name. You may also recall that Phil contributed the 27th edition of our Home Diaries series and the album Velatore, also out in 2020.

‘The Edge of Imagination’ is the latest record under The Inventors of Aircraft pseudonym which builds on lush synths and intelligent melodies. The album is an exploration of the space between virtual and the real, the conscious and sub-conscious and somewhere in between reality and a dream. It plays through as a journey, initiated by the opening track ‘Gateway’, which takes the listener in before the subsequent tracks delve deeper and deeper into a cybernetic dreamworld.

There are moments of intensity and near-chaos, mysterious explorative caves and dreamy passages of retro-futurism. We won’t spoil the order of these events in this release text, but the title of the penultimate track is ‘Rescued’, a triumphant piece which precedes ‘Home’. The closing moments of this final piece may well find you back home in the reality of planet earth, as this otherworldly experience closes.“

credits
Written and produced by Phil Tomsett
Mastered by James Edward Armstrong
Photography by Harry Towell
Art and design by Andrew Heath

Out Now! Sven Laux & Fione – Tomorrow Everything Could Be Different

Our June releases are out today and in this edition we have a collaboration between our regular artist Sven Laux, and his fellow Berliner Fione, a pianist and musician. ‘Tomorrow Everything Could Be Different’ is a collection of solo piano compositions that have been adapted into a magical soundtrack of strings, synths and electronics.

Tomorrow Everything Could Be Different is out now in a run of 100 copies! The best way to keep informed about our low-run releases, is to join our mailing list, and we’ll make sure you’re the first to hear!

press release
“With this latest edition to the Whitelabrecs discography, we welcome back composer Sven Laux with a collaboration with fellow Berliner and musician Fione. This record began from a chance meeting at a party after Fione had discussed her improvisational piano performances and how it might lend itself to Sven’s orchestral Ambient music. After over a year, Fione recorded a track and sent it to Sven, who added layers of additional texture and detail; enough to be a catalyst from which they produced an album.

Each original piano composition was adapted one by one, piece by piece, into its magical whole. Fione tells us that for her, the music was always about what could have been, a sort of pain that we feel inside of us that we know we can’t change, because it is impossible to turn back time. Instead, we live with what we know we have to deal with, facing every day with the uncertainty that something might change in a minute, an hour or, tomorrow. From here, Tomorrow Everything Could Be Different’s concept can be gleaned as we contemplate the past, present and future and it can be interpreted differently by the listener.

Quiet moments of reflection weave a pensive environment in which you can either concentrate your thoughts, or allow them to evaporate. The music feels at times as if it is containing and conserving its energy, only for swells of strings and fleeting crescendos to release the tension. It’s a release which reveals either negative, or positive energy, depending on its listener. The artwork from painter Maliana Wang reflects the album’s themes by offering what appears to be storm clouds or crashing waves.

We all see the future in different ways. Tomorrow Everything Could Be Different doesn’t tell you what will change, that things will get better, or worse. The clouds may thicken, or they may disappear.“

credits
Written and Produced by Sven Laux and Fione
Mastered by James Edward Armstrong
Painting by Maliana Wang
Art and design by Andrew Heath

Out Now! Miguel Otero – Brief Tales

Our June releases are out today and in this edition we have an album by Spanish artist Miguel Otero. ‘Brief Tales’ is a collection of classical guitar and synth tape loops, themed around the UK city of Cambridge, tapping into the artist’s fond memories of his time living in this historic city.

Brief Tales is out now in a run of 100 copies! The best way to keep informed about our low-run releases, is to join our mailing list, and we’ll make sure you’re the first to hear!

press release
“Miguel Otero is a multi-instrumentalist composer, sound designer and music producer based in Spain. His multidisciplinary skills include production, post-production, mixing and mastering of his own creations. Otero’s music is characterized by distorted synthesizers, very slow harmonies and processed sound fields of complex textures that the listener can get lost in.

In Brief Tales, Miguel recalls the time he spent in the historic city of Cambridge, UK and the track titles and artwork act as reference points for the music to tell its stories. Each of the tales take us to a oneiric reality, in which Miguel revives memories from this inspiring place, full of harmony and quietness, which is contrasting to the nature of his present. Whilst literally this record is very much attached to a single city, its stories are of the emotions we treasure in our memory for ourselves, of places that we are no longer part of in the here and now.

The core of this album is built around synthesiser loops, classical guitar fragments and tape recorder texture. It’s a fond and heart-warming encounter, navigating the cherished memories of the artist as you overlay your own thoughts. Brief Tales is presented with both an intro and outro, which allow the classical guitar to take centre stage. These two pieces have all the warmth and charm of a spring stroll through quiet backstreets, as a busker serenades you into, and out of a space of memories.“

credits
Written and produced by Anne Chris Bakker
Pre-mastered by Andrew Heath
Mastered by James Edward Armstrong
Packaging design by Andrew Heath

out now! glåsbird – cinéma noir

We usually release new music at the weekends but for this one, we decided to give a traditional Monday morning release a try! In this new digital edition, a departure from our CDr editions and eRecord series, we welcome Glåsbird with an album called cinéma noir, themed around black and white drama film. Each track has a cryptic title, with an accompanying photograph by Peter Nejedly. Along with the music, these sketch out scenes from an un-written movie, yet to be filmed.

cinéma noir is out now in a digital-only format. The best way to keep informed about our releases, is to join our mailing list, and we’ll make sure you’re the first to hear!

press release
“Since the project’s inception in 2018, anonymous artist Glåsbird has amassed a discography entirely dedicated to geographic themes. Each album from the ‘A Sonic Expedition’ series has been composed specifically as an imaginary film documentary, themed around a specific country, region or remote location. This work has led to some film work, such as Return To Sea and Sardinia and Casa Occupata. With this latest record, the music and its close affinity to visuals is the central theme, as Glåsbird explores a non-geographic theme for the first time. It is also the first digital-only album by this artist.

Cinéma Noir is intended to play out the soundtrack to a film that was never made. The track titles are cryptic, as the music sketches out scenes of a noir movie. Some pieces use wide-screened orchestration techniques whereas others use pensive, sprawling or tensioned tones to draw out cinematic moods.

If the track titles are too mysterious, then it may become ever so slightly clearer with monochrome photography by Peter Nejedly, who has provided 10 images; one to accompany each track. These pictures were matched to the track titles and their compositions by Glåsbird, who hopes that your own imagination will form the missing movie scenes.“

credits
Written and Produced by Glåsbird
Mastered by James Edward Armstrong
Photography by Peter Nejedly

Out Now! Anne Chris Bakker – A Sketch in Leaving

Our May releases are out today and in this edition we have an album by Netherlands based artist Anne Chris Bakker. This record follows last year’s collaborative album for Whitelabrecs alongside Andrew Heath, ‘How To Breathe Like A Stone’ and through these twelve tracks, we’re pleased to present ‘A Sketch in Leaving‘ which is a range of piano, synth and experimental compositions, themed around the Scandinavian landscape.

A Sketch in Leaving is out now in a run of 100 copies! The best way to keep informed about our low-run releases, is to join our mailing list, and we’ll make sure you’re the first to hear!

press release
“In this edition we welcome back Anne Chris Bakker, a musician and composer from the Netherlands. Some may recall 2021’s collaboration with Andrew Heath, with their album ‘How To Breathe Like A Stone’ and we are pleased to be able to present this solo record, ‘A Sketch in Leaving’.

Anne Chris Bakker’s music makes use of electro acoustic sound sources, to create minimal and experimental ambient music. Releases have been made available through labels such as White Paddy Mountain, Dronarivm and Unknown Tone, as well as a further collaboration with Andrew Heath on Rusted Tone Recordings. There were also recordings as Kleefstra|Bakker|Kleefstra on labels which include Low Point.

Bakker typically starts with small compositions created with guitar and for A Sketch in Leaving, a new approach was forged by using a piano and samples so that a new experimental path could be explored. Inspiration has been drawn from long walks in the Norwegian mountains and this album is in part based upon these experiences. The immense landscape, battered and bruised by the elements represents change and loss, as well as the emergence of freshly formed details. The titles of the album are mainly of places, people and concepts all set to the vast Scandinavian landscape, which is placed as a focal point within the packaging artwork.“

credits
Written and produced by Anne Chris Bakker
Pre-mastered by Andrew Heath
Mastered by James Edward Armstrong
Packaging design by Andrew Heath

Out Now! Glåsbird – Himalaya

Our May releases are out today and the first sees the next installment of Glåsbird’s ‘A Sonic Expedition‘ series. The next destination on the horizon for this anonymous artist, is the Himalayan mountain range and this album traces a fictitious mountain expedition to the summit, followed by an ascent back down from the peak. The sequence of the tracks trace this journey and the packaging contains imagery from an actual expedition in the Himalayas, provided by climber Jay Whiting. There are also some additional words that give further conceptual insight into this record, provided by Neil McRoberts.

Himalaya is out now in a run of 100 copies! The best way to keep informed about our low-run releases, is to join our mailing list, and we’ll make sure you’re the first to hear!

press release
“Glåsbird’s A Sonic Expedition series continues, arriving at the Himalayas as the destination for the 6th album installment of this global exploration. For those of you who are unaware, this is a project for this anonymous producer to explore far-flung geographic themes over the course of 10 albums. The series began inside the Arctic circle, moved into Scandinavia and surrounding area, onto Siberia and in this second half, it emerges in the highest mountain range on earth. It moves from expansive open landscapes and onto a new theme of treacherous peaks.

Himalaya was created as a fictitious film soundtrack, tracking the struggles and triumphs of a climber as they embark on and summit an unspecified mountain. The album begins with an ancient quietude, follows to snow-damped hikes before it delves into high-altitude ascents, with the music becoming ever more dramatic and at times, triumphant. The album closes with a descent, as the music gradually softens again but it carries with it, a sense of weary achievement.

As usual, Glåsbird has spent hours trawling archive film footage and documentary series’ as well as studying the terrain, through old maps and Google Earth. The album package includes photography by climber Jay Whiting, with the front, inner and rear images taken in the Himalayas during an expedition. Inside the sleeve, you’ll find some words provided by Neil McRoberts which give a poignant reflection on the Himalayas themselves, and the symbolism of mountains as a mammoth challenge. There is much to be discovered from a struggle and we hope that in some way, this record can provide inspiration, encouragement and some kind of peace.“

credits
Written and produced by Glåsbird
Mastered by James Edward Armstrong
Photography by Jay Whiting
Words by Neil McRoberts
Art and design by Andrew Heath

Category: Release