★Ash International
And the Sky Breaks Open
These works were recorded late at night during long solo improvisations. A small table lamp illuminated the Moog guitar laid flat on a table surrounded by assorted found objects and guitar pedals whose multicoloured lights blinked delicately in the near shadows. Time moved slower. A sense of stillness and solitude provided a quiet contrast to the sounds pulsating around the room. Each take made as if it were an actual performance, the rule being always to finish the set. As much about training t…
आकाश (Äkäsh)
Chandra Shukla (Travelogue, Xambuca +++) has embarked on a debut solo release entitled Äkäsh, that merges his past North Indian classical music training on sitar with modular synthesis, midi control, studio effects and guitar embellishments. All of which can be heard on solo work under his name alone.
“You really get something completely unique and mesmerizingly beautiful. A masterpiece all in itself.” - Jan Willem
The Night the Stars Fell
"The Night the Stars Fell" is a journey that begins in a fire-scarred forest. The trees croak as each new gust of wind passes. Along the way, the remnants of a discovered past emerge; the crashes and bangs of the decaying home and the chorus of a derailed railcar; shortwave radios blaring messages baked in static. Crickets sing their final songs as the world continues to boil. I look for signs of hope, only to find darkness. The fourth album by Ian Wellman, and his Ash International debut, "The …
Mirror Views
*2023 stock* Ash International presents Mirror Views, a new long-form work from LA-based composer Byron Westbrook. While Westbrook’s field recording process has been central for many years to both his composition and installation works, there has yet to be a major release showcasing this aspect of his artistic practice. On Mirror Views, he seamlessly blends cassette field recordings with “faked” synthesizer binaural environments created from noise and unstable tones. The album's four sections an…
The Agnostic
HVH are a duo composed of Touch artists Mark Van Hoen of Locust fame, and violinist Zachary Paul.
Call and Response
Stefan Goldmann's 'Call and Response' has been crafted entirely from artificial reverb and nothing else: historic and contemporary units, responding only to brief electronic impulses (clicks).
Removed
In 2000, The Wire wrote of Richard Chartier’s work: “it’s worth stretching the ears in search of Chartier’s sequences of exquisitely sculpted sonic events, as gorgeous detail bodies forth out of the shadows”… the same holds true today. Formed over the course of 5 years, Removed was a process of removal/erasure. Only trace elements appear from what was. Their interactions merely a ghost of a composition - subtle echoes across the sound spectrum. A glacially paced progression of discreet relat…
Yoiking with the Winged Ones
Immersive field recordings of traditional Finnish chants, or Yoiks, sung by Ánde Somby, recorded and edited by Chris Watson. “Yoiking is the ancient chanting practise of the Sámi People - the indigenous peoples on the top of Europe. Yoiking originates from time immemorial - legend tells that it was the faires and elves of the arctic lands that gave yoiks to the Sámi People. Yoiking was an important element of the religious rituals in pre-christian times and has survived both christianity, imperi…
freq_out 1.2 Skandion
freq_out has been a musical project since 2003, when Carl Michael von Hausswolff was invited to Copenhagen to invent and install a sound-art installation. He divided up the audible sonic register into 12 parts and asked 12 artists, musicians, composers, and architects to each accept one of the 12 parts and compose a sonic piece from it. The result became 12 compositions/artworks that were simultaneously played on 12 different sound systems in the art space of Charlottenborg, thus becoming …
Insomni
Slowdive's Simon Scott swallows us whole with the majestic 'Insomni', his debut for Ash International. As the album title implies, this album deals with sleep, or a lack of it, and most particularly the liminal spaces between light/dark, waking/dreams, and natural/noumenal realms."Couldn't sleep... arose to forage for sound. The hum of the fridge encouraged further investigation of hidden, domestic sounds; the fish tank, DVD player, a broken laptop... Dawn and morning light allowed more so…
I Am Here
Based on the original score for the film I Am Here (2014), written and directed by Anders Morgenthaler, starring Kim Basinger, Jordan Prentice and Sebastian Schipper. Written and produced by Jóhann Jóhannsson and BJ Nilsen. This is the first collaboration between Jóhann Jóhannsson and BJ Nilsen -- very much a mix between their two worlds, you can hear both their signatures, and with the help of additional musicians, including Hildur Guðnadóttir on cello and the remarkable voices of Elfa Ma…
Aun – The Beginning And The End Of All Things
This CD is the soundtrack to the film AUN, directed by Edgar Honetschlger. With stills from the film in the full colour 28 page booklet, the artwork is designed by Philip Marshall. Intention : 'AUN Ð the beginning and the end of all things' tells the story of mankind's quest for the future, his desire to create the tomorrow, his fear of and loathing for the apocalypse. It spins the Faustian theme twice and lays bare open the inexhaustible Judea/Christian believe in progress, which by the…
The noisiest guys on the planet
“The Noisiest Guys on the Planet” were recorded by Jana Winderen, who also provided the illustration. Thanks to: Institute of Marine Research and the crew on Johan Hjort. The decapods or Decapoda (literally means “ten footed”) are an order of crustaceans within the class Malacostraca, including many familiar groups, such as crayfish, crabs, lobsters, prawns and shrimp. Most decapods are scavengers. As their name implies, all decapods have ten legs; these are the last five of the eight pa…