Tag: soundtrack

Out Now! Glåsbird – Pacifica

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Our next release is ‘Pacifica‘ by Glåsbird who is an anonymous artist currently working on a multi-album geographical series called A Sonic Expedition and this is the seventh edition of the series, after previous albums being based on Greenland, Svalbard, the Norwegian Fjords, Novaya Zemlya, Siberia and Himalaya. This album is the most experimental to date, with exotic percussion carved out of cheap instruments, tropical poly-rhythms, tape decay and field recordings. This album will be available officially in a run of 100 CDrs in our signature gatefold vinyl-effect sleeves. The album is out today in a run of 100 copies after a short pre-order. 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
“Glåsbird’s travelogue of sound advances further, with this seventh edition in the series heading to warmer, more exotic climes. The A Sonic Expedition series is this anonymous artist’s armchair exploration of the world around us and it has to date put down roots in Greenland, Svalbard, Norway, Novaya Zemlya, Siberia and the Himalayas. With this latest excursion, the snowy, treacherous peaks of Everest are traded for the tropically vast Pacific Ocean.

As fans of the artist will already be aware, Glåsbird researches each geographic location with great intrigue and fascination, scouring Google Earth satellite imagery, watching documentaries, reviewing vintage maps and reading articles about its history and culture. Whilst the enormity of this ocean was obvious from looking at the globe, what became apparent was the scale of diversity across the thousands of islands in the region, whether it be the landscapes, culture or even the rare species of bird. Studying history revealed some dark tales, of challenging sea voyages, crocodiles and even cannibalism. As always, it also gave the artist opportunity to make new discoveries, such as how atolls are formed from ancient volcanoes and theories on how the Moai of Easter Island were moved across the landscape.

Glåsbird felt that their now signature modern classical style needed to change for this record, as these ambient portraits of the Pacific offer surely the most adventurous sound to date from this artist. Percussive rhythms were carved out of cheap percussion instruments, exotic poly-rhythms glisten alongside sounds of rolling ocean waves and the thriving nature scenes. Sun bleached tape decays atop warm, ebbing bass and synth tones.

In Pacifica, Glåsbird traces a set route from one island to the next, marked by each track on the album. It begins with a view of La Perouse Pinnacle from inside the French Frigate Shoals. This pillar of rock has been known to cause shipwrecks and general confusion amongst seafarers who’d mistaken it for a ship when seen from distance. The journey continues many miles of sea south, to the triangular shaped Kingman Reef before heading off to explore the lake in the middle of Washington Island, also known as Teraina. The journey heads a long way across the ocean in an easterly direction, to the Galápagos Islands and then onto the remote Easter Island, home of the Moai stones. The next leg of the journey returns in a westerly direction, arriving at Mangareva which is the main part of the Gambier Islands. The French Polynesian paradise island of Bora Bora follows, before a stop at the small wooded island of Tafahi in Tonga. Inyeug, the most northerly island of Vanuatu is the next destination, famed for Queen Elizabeth II’s visit back in 1974. The tempo of the percussive loops notches up a little, as the next track represents the Solomon Islands and then this tour ends on the island of Yap, with echoes of Yapese rituals and lapping ocean waves closing the final piece which is called Rumung.“

credits

Written and produced by Glåsbird
Mastered by James Edward Armstrong
Art and design by Andrew Heath

1. Front cover photography is of Tafahi island seen from
Niuatoputapu (Tonga). The photograph was taken in 1969
by anthropologist Garth Rogers and is licenced under the
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International
license.

2. Inner CD photography is a road on Washington Island
(Teraina), Line Islands, Pacific Ocean. It was taken by Dr.
James P. McVey in November 1968 whilst working for the
NOAA Sea Grant Program.

3. Rear CD inset photography is of the palms on Akamaru island
on January 2 2014. The photograph was taken by Fred and
is licenced under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share
Alike 4.0 International license

Coming soon… Glåsbird – Pacifica

Our next release is ‘Pacifica‘ by Glåsbird who is an anonymous artist currently working on a multi-album geographical series called A Sonic Expedition and this is the seventh edition of the series, after previous albums being based on Greenland, Svalbard, the Norwegian Fjords, Novaya Zemlya, Siberia and Himalaya. This album is the most experimental to date, with exotic percussion carved out of cheap instruments, tropical poly-rhythms, tape decay and field recordings. This album will be available officially in a run of 100 CDrs in our signature gatefold vinyl-effect sleeves. The album will be out officially on Saturday the 3rd of March after a pre-order on the 25th of February. If you follow us on Bandcamp (Click HERE) we’ll make sure you’re the first to hear.

press release
“Glåsbird’s travelogue of sound advances further, with this seventh edition in the series heading to warmer, more exotic climes. The A Sonic Expedition series is this anonymous artist’s armchair exploration of the world around us and it has to date put down roots in Greenland, Svalbard, Norway, Novaya Zemlya, Siberia and the Himalayas. With this latest excursion, the snowy, treacherous peaks of Everest are traded for the tropically vast Pacific Ocean.

As fans of the artist will already be aware, Glåsbird researches each geographic location with great intrigue and fascination, scouring Google Earth satellite imagery, watching documentaries, reviewing vintage maps and reading articles about its history and culture. Whilst the enormity of this ocean was obvious from looking at the globe, what became apparent was the scale of diversity across the thousands of islands in the region, whether it be the landscapes, culture or even the rare species of bird. Studying history revealed some dark tales, of challenging sea voyages, crocodiles and even cannibalism. As always, it also gave the artist opportunity to make new discoveries, such as how atolls are formed from ancient volcanoes and theories on how the Moai of Easter Island were moved across the landscape.

Glåsbird felt that their now signature modern classical style needed to change for this record, as these ambient portraits of the Pacific offer surely the most adventurous sound to date from this artist. Percussive rhythms were carved out of cheap percussion instruments, exotic poly-rhythms glisten alongside sounds of rolling ocean waves and the thriving nature scenes. Sun bleached tape decays atop warm, ebbing bass and synth tones.

In Pacifica, Glåsbird traces a set route from one island to the next, marked by each track on the album. It begins with a view of La Perouse Pinnacle from inside the French Frigate Shoals. This pillar of rock has been known to cause shipwrecks and general confusion amongst seafarers who’d mistaken it for a ship when seen from distance. The journey continues many miles of sea south, to the triangular shaped Kingman Reef before heading off to explore the lake in the middle of Washington Island, also known as Teraina. The journey heads a long way across the ocean in an easterly direction, to the Galápagos Islands and then onto the remote Easter Island, home of the Moai stones. The next leg of the journey returns in a westerly direction, arriving at Mangareva which is the main part of the Gambier Islands. The French Polynesian paradise island of Bora Bora follows, before a stop at the small wooded island of Tafahi in Tonga. Inyeug, the most northerly island of Vanuatu is the next destination, famed for Queen Elizabeth II’s visit back in 1974. The tempo of the percussive loops notches up a little, as the next track represents the Solomon Islands and then this tour ends on the island of Yap, with echoes of Yapese rituals and lapping ocean waves closing the final piece which is called Rumung.“

credits

Written and produced by Glåsbird
Mastered by James Edward Armstrong
Art and design by Andrew Heath

1. Front cover photography is of Tafahi island seen from
Niuatoputapu (Tonga). The photograph was taken in 1969
by anthropologist Garth Rogers and is licenced under the
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International
license.

2. Inner CD photography is a road on Washington Island
(Teraina), Line Islands, Pacific Ocean. It was taken by Dr.
James P. McVey in November 1968 whilst working for the
NOAA Sea Grant Program.

3. Rear CD inset photography is of the palms on Akamaru island
on January 2 2014. The photograph was taken by Fred and
is licenced under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share
Alike 4.0 International license

Coming soon… Tapes and Topographies -Floating World – Reflections on 36 Views of Newland

Our new release ‘Floating World – Reflections on 36 Views of Newland‘ by Tapes and Topographies in collaboration with artist Jonathan S Hooper will be available officially in one of our typically low runs of 100 gatefold vinyl-effect CDrs on Saturday the 19th of November after a pre-order for Bandcamp Friday on the 4th of November. If you click here: mailing list, we’ll make sure you’re the first to hear.

press release
“‘Floating World’ is an album by US based artist Todd Gautreau, who records as Tapes and Topographies. It was created in response to a collaboration project called Thirty-Six Views of Newland Island with British artist Jonathan S Hooper. The album follows last year’s ‘Amplitudes’ and is another entry to Todd’s discography, alongside music on labels such as Past Inside The Present, Dronarivm, Shimmering Moods and his own Simulacra Records.
Jonathan S Hooper is a mixed-media artist based in London, who works with paintings, photography, sculpture and film. Thirty-Six Views of Newland Island is an evolving multi-factorial project in which Hooper continues his exploration of ontological concepts of time and space through the landscapes of his native Cornwall. Specifically, the project focuses on a small uninhabited outcrop called Newland Island, which lies just off the Cornish coast in the Atlantic Ocean’s most westerly margins. The project’s title is inspired by Katushika Hokusai’s series of woodblock prints of Mount Fuji, drawing in Hooper’s broader interest in Japan’s artistic heritage. It also adds to the cultural connection between Cornwall and Japan first established in St Ives, in the 1920’s, through the collaboration of master potters Bernard Leach and Hamada Shoji. A collaboration that continued through much of the twentieth century.

A particularly fascinating consideration is that Mount Fuji is an instantly recognisable geographic icon, yet in contrast, Newland Island is unknown to most. This frees the project from the limits of preconception, opening up opportunities to explore further ideas of landscape, and our place within it. Through collaboration with Gautreau (who is based some 5000 miles away), Hooper sought to give creative licence to a composer, in order to encourage another viewpoint. He had first discovered Todd’s music through Elizabeth Alker’s BBC Radio 3 Unclassified programme, and subsequently reached out to invite him to work on a soundtrack, which has now become ‘Floating World’. He sent photographs of his paintings, scans of the polaroids and his studio notes; the work developed organically into a collection of nine soundscapes, in which Hooper sees as independent views of Newland Island in their own right.
Hooper will be working to share this project through galleries and installations and we felt it was apt to assign full creative control over the CD packaging design to these two artists. Todd, also a graphic designer, has pulled together some of the polaroids for the outer and inner sleeves. There is a 16 page booklet included, which contains paintings, further polaroids and text from both artists. This is also included with the digital version of this album.“

credits
Written and Produced by Todd Gautreau
Mastered by James Edward Armstrong
Paintings and Polaroids by Jonathan S Hooper
Design by Todd Gautreau

https://www.jonathanshooper.com/

 

Out Now! Adrian Lane – Missing The Crows


Here’s the second of two new editions for October, with ‘Missing The Crows‘ by Adrian Lane being a fourteen track modern classical album which fuses orchestral strings and piano with a subtle use of electronics. It’s out now in a run of 100 gatefold vinyl-effect CDrs after a short pre-order last week. If you click here: mailing list, we’ll make sure you’re the first to hear.

press release
“Following last year’s release ‘The Fleet’, we welcome back UK based composer and visual artist with a new concept album. Alongside long-since sold-out The Fleet, Adrian also contributed to our Home Diaries series and has recent releases on other UK labels including Preserved Sound and Hibernate. Adrian’s sound is characterised by elegant modern classical arrangements, pairing acoustic instrument textures with a hint of electronics drawing inspiration from composers such as Jóhann Jóhannsson and Max Richter.

In ‘Missing The Crows’ we have what Adrian describes as a follow-up to The Fleet, in terms of the recording process and sound palette used, in that strings and piano dominate. Yet in this new collection of 14 pieces, there is a bit more of an emphasis on synths and light electronic effects. Neither the synthetic, nor the acoustic instrument sounds take centre stage at any given time, with the intention being to paint a coherent whole in which neither taking precedence.

The story behind the title of the album sprang up following regular walks to a local park, where there are always lots and lots of crows. This former Ministry Of Defence land by the sea wall is left to grow naturally and Adrian had decided to go there with his camera to photograph some of these crows, as source material for his visual artwork. On arrival, he realised that he should have taken his telephoto lens, as he kept missing the crows; they’d fly away before he got close enough. He returned on another occasion with the telephoto lens and managed to get some decent images and these appear in the mixed media painting in the album cover artwork.

There is a lot of negative symbolism associated with crows, but they are fascinating creatures; they are intelligent, can problem solve and warn each other of danger. The natural landscape has always been an influence on Adrian’s music and certain specific reference such as the crows appear in the tracks. In another reference, ‘Godeuleum’ (meaning ‘Icicle’ in Korean) was written when it was particularly cold, and his wife (who is Korean) used the word when pointing to them, hanging from the gutters of their home.

Whilst Adrian has never aspired to be a film composer, he does listen to a lot of film/drama soundtracks and he feels this cinematic quality comes across in the music. In film music, themes and phrases are often repeated, with melodies appearing in different forms across numerous tracks. This approach was embraced in sketching out the concept for ‘Missing The Crows’, in the hope that listeners may recognise sections of this album, building a sense of familiarity. The work is both charming and intelligent like the crow, with a character soaring high beyond the mere colour of black and its associated darkness.“

credits
Written and Produced by Adrian Lane
Mastered by James Edward Armstrong
Painting by Adrian Lane
Art and Design by Andrew Heath

Out Now! Sven Laux – What Remains


Here’s the first of two new releases out today on Whitelabrecs. This one’s a cinematic modern classical album called ‘What Remains‘ by Sven Laux, combining piano and strings arrangements with sensitively placed electronics. It’s out now in a run of 100 gatefold vinyl-effect CDrs after a short pre-order last week. If you click here: mailing list, we’ll make sure you’re the first to hear.

press release
“Since 2018 we’ve released five albums from Berlin, Germany based composer Sven Laux, including his most recent collaboration with Fione and solo albums ‘Schachmatt’, ‘ODD’, his Home Diaries edition and 2020 and the extended version, Scattered Fragments of Separation (The Complete Story). Sven’s sound design has found its home in short films, advertisement and in audio branding but he also maintains his discography as an artist, focusing on deeply stirring cinematic themes.

A well-balanced contemporary sound awaits you in this latest edition ‘What Remains’ and you are urged by the title to consider what you think about when something is left over? The record uses a depth of sprawling orchestral timbres, across its at-first cryptically titled tracks, to set out the phases of processing an event. At first there is ‘patience’ and ‘hope’, then there is the passing of the event (‘the goodbye’) followed by ‘what remains’; the now. Memory may serve ‘the return’ and perhaps ‘the cohesion’ and for some, there may be ‘the ending’.

You may choose a past experience to relate with these titles or, you might choose to allow it to relate to the present day. It does not matter whether you think positively about something from the past, or whether you mourn something afterwards in a sad or melancholy way. Whether negative, positive or even indifferent, it is the contemplative environment that each track brings which will allow this record to become a thinking space; a ceremonial framework to process events.“

credits
Written and Produced by Sven Laux
Mastered by James Edward Armstrong
Artwork by Zoë Heath
Art and Design by Andrew Heath

Coming soon… Adrian Lane – Missing The Crows

Our new release ‘Missing The Crows‘ by Adrian Lane will be available officially in one of our typically low runs of 100 gatefold vinyl-effect CDrs on Saturday the 15th of October after a pre-order for Bandcamp Friday on the 7th of October. If you click here: mailing list, we’ll make sure you’re the first to hear.

press release
“Following last year’s release ‘The Fleet’, we welcome back UK based composer and visual artist with a new concept album. Alongside long-since sold-out The Fleet, Adrian also contributed to our Home Diaries series and has recent releases on other UK labels including Preserved Sound and Hibernate. Adrian’s sound is characterised by elegant modern classical arrangements, pairing acoustic instrument textures with a hint of electronics drawing inspiration from composers such as Jóhann Jóhannsson and Max Richter.

In ‘Missing The Crows’ we have what Adrian describes as a follow-up to The Fleet, in terms of the recording process and sound palette used, in that strings and piano dominate. Yet in this new collection of 14 pieces, there is a bit more of an emphasis on synths and light electronic effects. Neither the synthetic, nor the acoustic instrument sounds take centre stage at any given time, with the intention being to paint a coherent whole in which neither taking precedence.

The story behind the title of the album sprang up following regular walks to a local park, where there are always lots and lots of crows. This former Ministry Of Defence land by the sea wall is left to grow naturally and Adrian had decided to go there with his camera to photograph some of these crows, as source material for his visual artwork. On arrival, he realised that he should have taken his telephoto lens, as he kept missing the crows; they’d fly away before he got close enough. He returned on another occasion with the telephoto lens and managed to get some decent images and these appear in the mixed media painting in the album cover artwork.

There is a lot of negative symbolism associated with crows, but they are fascinating creatures; they are intelligent, can problem solve and warn each other of danger. The natural landscape has always been an influence on Adrian’s music and certain specific reference such as the crows appear in the tracks. In another reference, ‘Godeuleum’ (meaning ‘Icicle’ in Korean) was written when it was particularly cold, and his wife (who is Korean) used the word when pointing to them, hanging from the gutters of their home.

Whilst Adrian has never aspired to be a film composer, he does listen to a lot of film/drama soundtracks and he feels this cinematic quality comes across in the music. In film music, themes and phrases are often repeated, with melodies appearing in different forms across numerous tracks. This approach was embraced in sketching out the concept for ‘Missing The Crows’, in the hope that listeners may recognise sections of this album, building a sense of familiarity. The work is both charming and intelligent like the crow, with a character soaring high beyond the mere colour of black and its associated darkness.“

credits
Written and Produced by Adrian Lane
Mastered by James Edward Armstrong
Painting by Adrian Lane
Art and Design by Andrew Heath

Coming soon… Sven Laux – What Remains

Our new release ‘What Remains‘ by Sven Laux will be available officially in one of our typically low runs of 100 gatefold vinyl-effect CDrs on Saturday the 15th of October after a pre-order for Bandcamp Friday on the 7th of October. If you click here: mailing list, we’ll make sure you’re the first to hear.

press release
“Since 2018 we’ve released five albums from Berlin, Germany based composer Sven Laux, including his most recent collaboration with Fione and solo albums ‘Schachmatt’, ‘ODD’, his Home Diaries edition and 2020 and the extended version, Scattered Fragments of Separation (The Complete Story). Sven’s sound design has found its home in short films, advertisement and in audio branding but he also maintains his discography as an artist, focusing on deeply stirring cinematic themes.

A well-balanced contemporary sound awaits you in this latest edition ‘What Remains’ and you are urged by the title to consider what you think about when something is left over? The record uses a depth of sprawling orchestral timbres, across its at-first cryptically titled tracks, to set out the phases of processing an event. At first there is ‘patience’ and ‘hope’, then there is the passing of the event (‘the goodbye’) followed by ‘what remains’; the now. Memory may serve ‘the return’ and perhaps ‘the cohesion’ and for some, there may be ‘the ending’.

You may choose a past experience to relate with these titles or, you might choose to allow it to relate to the present day. It does not matter whether you think positively about something from the past, or whether you mourn something afterwards in a sad or melancholy way. Whether negative, positive or even indifferent, it is the contemplative environment that each track brings which will allow this record to become a thinking space; a ceremonial framework to process events.“

credits
Written and Produced by Sven Laux
Mastered by James Edward Armstrong
Artwork by Zoë Heath
Art and Design by Andrew Heath

Coming soon… Pruski – Moments of Immersion

Our new release ‘Moments of Immersion‘ will be available officially in one of our typically low runs of 100 gatefold vinyl-effect CDrs on Saturday the 13th of August after a pre-order the week before. If you click here: mailing list, 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



Coming soon… Logic Moon & Henrik Meierkord – Inseln

Our new release ‘Inseln‘ will be available officially in one of our typically low runs of 100 gatefold vinyl-effect CDrs on Saturday the 9th of July after a pre-order the week before. If you join our mailing list using the link below, 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, Projekt 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! 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