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Tuesday 27 October 2015

Introducing The Collective: 18-20

It's with great pleasure that I can announce we have a second installment of our VA compilation coming out on the 16th of November. The release will consist of work from some new members and act as an introduction to their sounds.

So without further ado, let's meet them.

18. SLEEP MAPS



Sleep Maps is the solo project of California based musician and producer, Ben Kaplan. The project began in Los Angeles before Kaplan moved to Broolyln, NY. There he formed a 4 piece band and released the record 'Fiction Makes The Future' to critical acclaim. Performing live in NY for several years, Kaplan moved again, back to CA where he released 'We Die For Truth' the most ambitious Sleep Maps record yet. Featuring passages of quiet contemplation and sections of brutal heaviness, the Sleep Maps project tries to tread the line between post-rock and metal without straying too far into either. Latest album "We Die For Truth" ponders the question, "With advances in technology, should human beings be allowed to live forever?"

Sleep Maps (Facebook)

Sleep Maps (Bandcamp)

Sleep Maps (Soundcloud)

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19. OSCURITO


Oscurito is the pseudonym of Glaswegian electronic musician, Ciaran McIntyre. Oscurito uses hard grooves and light, uplifting melodies to create a uniquely, dark, but catchy and funk filled take on house and techno. Originally picking up the guitar at the age of just 6, he had been introduced to music at a very early age. By age 14, Ciaran was recording and producing his own rock and metal demos in his fathers music studio just outside of Glasgow. Through these experiences he learned the tricks of the trade and what it takes to make pristine production. Since his formative years he has journeyed through many musical genres until he found that his passion truly lay in electronic music, thus providing us with Oscurito. With gloops of thick textured rhythms and big melodies abound, he's another fine homegrown talent to be able to add to the Bricolage Collective.

Oscurito (Soundcloud)

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20. GLASS MAMMOTH

Glass Mammoth is the alias of Birmingham based producer Peri Mani. Peri is another whose love of music started at an early age, taking up guitar at 14 before progressing onto many different instruments and then onto production at age 18. Now 21, he has become heavily involved in the electronic music scene and is currently working on a full length album. His sounds veer from drum n bass to soundscapes and the more chilled side of electronic music. An exciting combination.

Glass Mammoth (Facebook)

Glass Mammoth (Soundcloud)

Glass Mammoth (Twitter)

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You can expect more introductions to some more new members in the coming weeks leading up to our second compilation. Stay tuned.

Monday 26 October 2015

Fragile X "Console" (bc002)



Bricolage is proud to present our second release on our net label in the form of the "Console" EP from Fragile X. It's a loose concept EP based on and partly created from the start up sounds of computer consoles and operating systems. The sounds have been manipulated via both analogue and digital means and elaborated on with further instrumentation to create intriguing and spacious drone soundscapes. 

It's a sweeping journey through 90's and 00's childhood that transforms into a vast collage of reverberations.

Here's a track by track breakdown

1. Ages

The shortest track on the album. It's a voice that any 90s kids or gamers will know as the "SEGA voice". A regular occurrence at the 
beginning of the Sega Master System start up screen. Here, it's been manipualted into a slow 60 second chant. *Fun Fact* Did you know that the "Seeeeeeegggaaaaaa" audio at he beginning of the original Sonic The Hedgehog game took up 1/8th of the cartridge memory on it's own?

2. x3b6o0x

A quiet echo and a buzz paves a path to allow a slightly somber drone to come to the fore. The Xbox 360 was used in this one.

3. Saturn9ne

A sample of the Sega Saturn here provides huge tension that finally fully expands into a giant encapsulating hum.

4. Dorimukyasuto


Maybe the most gentle of the 6 tracks on the EP. An anxious and atmospheric affair that hums along reflectively. Dorimukyasuto is the Hepburn romanization of the Japanese term
 ドリームキャスト *Or in English, "Dreamcast" which gives you an indication of the samples used in this track.*

5. Stay Patient

From the most gentle track on the release to the most cold, insular and austere track. The longest track on the EP by far. It's the old Playstation 1 start up sound recorded onto and then stretched out manually over a cassette before also being digitally altered to create a truly ominous drone that manages to almost fully disappear at one point before it comes rumbling back in thunderous fashion and finally fades out for good.

6. 
C4BH3-P4J7W-9MT6X-PGKC8-J4JTM

Named after a code for Windows XP, the last track has an almost detached feel from the rest of the EP. It has a brighter and warmer tone than it's predecessors and serves as a fitting ending to the EP.

It's available to stream in full below or at our bandcamp site where you can also grab a free download of the EP.



soundcloud.com/bricolage-collective

soundcloud.com/fragilex

Sunday 25 October 2015

In The Loop: Episode 4

In the 4th episode of In The Loop we catch up on what Lo-Jacker, H.ICH, Jazz Defector and Chairman Cow have been doing recently.



Lo-Jacker is currently working hard on a plethora of new material and 3 weeks ago he shared a new track of his that's currently in the works. "Lemon Cake" has that trademark Lo-Jacker feel. The chiming bells, the glitchy beats, quietly pulsing bass and mellow synth work. Time after time he comes up with crisp production, catchy melodies and hooks that I'll never tire of and "Lemon Cake" is another one to add to my list of LJ favourites. *insert pun about icing on the cake here*


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Yesterday, H.ICH uploaded a clip from a forthcoming track of his titled "Xel. Us". Sometimes it can be hard to tell whether or not you're going to like a song from listening to a 2 minute long clip but not in this case. I was hooked after the first kick. It follows on from where "Holy Tresor" left off. Steady, metallic rhythms and no nonsense bass. A kinda eerie bleep that acts almost like a warning signal soon makes an appearance to add to the tension before the clip comes to an end. I, for one, am looking forward to hearing it in it's entirety.



Hugo (H.ICH) is also a member of the trio "Nord Church" who have a habit of blending electronica, elements of rock and trip hop into one big melting pot of sounds.

Have a listen below to their debut self titled EP and if you like it then head over to the Nord Church bandcamp where you can grab a download at a "pay what you want" rate.



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Jazz Defector has just shared two very short but poignant guitar soundscapes. A live feel coupled with his incomparable sense of melancholy result in "Sketches In Blue 1" and "Theme For An Imaginary Detective Romance Film". Two tracks that are the perfect way to showcase his talent on 6 strings.





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Last month, Chairman Cow shared a long lost track that had been hibernating and trapped in the "untitled" territory for just under 3 years. The track in question was a collaboration recorded by Mr Cow and Fragile X in the winter of 2012. The quiet, delay soaked, guitars at the beginning and placed intermittently throughout were provided by Fragile X and the spoken word whispery samples, heavier tones and drums by Chairman Cow himself. By the time the conclusion of the track comes around both men have traded chunky guitar lines over a riotous wall of sound. This quiet/loud combination created a monster of a post-rock track which has now been christened " Living Beyond His Dreams". After many futile attempts at shortening the track it was decided that it was best left as a 10 minute opus.



Any long time Fragile X fans may recognise one of the guitar lines in the midst of the track. It was subsequently use as the intro to the track "We Stared At The Clouds Until They Burst" from his November 2013 EP "...And When I Opened My Eyes There Was A Thousand Lights".

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Saturday 24 October 2015

Subsequential Effect

Our debut podcast from Lo-Jacker, in September, and the follow up, from Fragile X, for the month of October were both received very well online. It's a pleasure to announce that we have our next two podcasts lined up to take us to the end of the year.


Our next podcast is recorded and good to go for release on the 2nd of November. It comes courtesy of "Subsequent", our Rotterdam native, who has been in the mixing game for 15 years and has served up a real audio treat for next month. It's a special mix indeed and one that you and your headphones will truly appreciate. You'll have to wait till November to wrap your ears around it though!

Until then you can browse through his mixcloud for a few older mixes.

"Abstract Reflections" (below) is my particular favourite.



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Our December podcast is penciled in for the 1st of that month and will come from "get-effect". Knowing what he's capable of producing, I have no doubt that it will bring our podcast series to a fitting ending for 2015 and provide the platform for a big year ahead for the Collective in 2016.

Now, while his previous mixes online point towards an ambient side, there's a lot more to his musical make up than that so expect a potential curve ball..... Either way, his December podcast is sure to be another worthy addition to our mix series.



Tuesday 20 October 2015

In The Loop: Episode 3


It's been a wee while since we updated you on what our members are up to so here's the first of two planned October episodes of "In The Loop".

First off, our October podcast by Fragile X has fared pretty well on Mixcloud and peaked at 4th in the "experimental ambient" charts, 6th in the "dub techno" charts and 47th in the "electronic music" charts respectively.

Fragile X recently uploaded the intro drone to the podcast onto his soundcloud page. If you didn't get the chance to read about how the drone was made then you can here. In short, it's the start up sound for the old Playstation 1 sound but it's been manipulated into an ominous and luring drone called "Stay Patient". A 15 second sound expanded into a 5 minute dusky drone backdrop.





The mix itself is still available for streaming from Mixcloud and is now available for free download from our podomatic account.


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If you've read his bio on here or follow him online you'll know that Paul Randall doesn't just make music under the Mircovolt name. He has a few other aliases. One of them being "Teslacoil321". Yesterday he released his 8th release under that moniker. It's called "A Darker Path" and it veers greatly from his more ambient/drone material that I'm used to with the Microvolt name. "A Darker Path" takes on a more straight forward electronica and dare I say, poppy, tone. The synths sometimes tread, with the lyrical content, into the darker side of things but the sounds still somehow manage to remain warm throughout. A few of the tracks are triggered from nightmares which would explain the darker tone. Either way it's a twenty minutes well spent and as a 'pay what you want' download there's no excuse not to pop over to his bandcamp and grab a copy.





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SlowDeepBreath recently ended a 4 month Soundcloud hiatus in style by uploading new track "Behind The Light". An absolutely majestic 6 minute ambient effort. Full of misty drones, gentle hypnotic drum patterns and field recordings. It flawlessly transports you to a far away world (it made me feel like I had traveled back centuries to Far East Asia) and wraps you up in it's resonance. A spellbinding piece of work from a true ambient visionary.



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Smenell Field is a meadow in Leicestershire and also the title of a new track from International Debris.



I've never been to Smenell Field but if this track is anything to go by then I'd like to soak it up some time. Perfectly placed repetitive guitar notes smothered in background ambience and a soft, comforting vocal occasionally filtering through the void create a lush and absorbing atmosphere. Throw in a spoken audio sample into the mix and it's another beauty from International Debris.

Scrolling a bit further down the International Debris page I happened across "Drifting Consciousness". Think a soft wall of quiet white noise and a ghosting melody reminiscent, but not replicating, of Aphex Twin that moves along slowly which in turn frees up and clears your mind. Another gem.


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Sunday 11 October 2015

An Era That Refuses To End

The Red Road flats spent over 40 years standing tall as an integral, if sometimes forlorn, part of the Glasgow skyline. A definitive landmark in the city and recognised further afield too. At one point they were the highest tower blocks not just in Glasgow but also Europe. Now, for me personally, they were never the prettiest set of buildings to look at but then again not all landmarks have to be. The importance of them leans more towards what they initially provided, their history and the memories that were set to go down, to an extent, with them. They were built after the Second World War as part of a plan to drastically improve Glasgows housing. Around 5000 people called them home when they were first erected. In the years prior to their arrival, families in the area lived in some of the worst "slum" conditions imaginable in Europe at the time. The construction of the flats was seen as a beacon of hope and a chance of better post-war living conditions for 1000's of locals. And at first they did just that but as the years passed the reputation of the flats deteriorated due to violence, drug dealing and crime in general. Regular occurrences of the aforementioned activities culminated in vandals starting a blaze in 1977 that spread through the 23rd floor and caused the evacuation of many, many families and the tragic death of a 12 year old boy. In turn, the fire also drew attention to the asbestos problems within the structure that would plague the image of the Red Road flats right up until their final days. In the 1980s, despite a glimmer of optimism due to the YMCA and student housing, the crime in the area continued to rise. By now the buildings had an unwanted, but probably warranted, tag as "The Towers of Terror". It should be noted that through all of this that most families in the blocks still continued to live their lives and life went on, as it always does in Glasgow.

Towards the end of the century, however, the buildings became slightly more refugee based as people fled from war and violence all over the world, Families from Africa, Asia and Kosovo and the world over came looking for solace and shelter. The subject of refugees is currently a hot topic the world over and I personally believe that the Red Road flats could have came in useful in the current situation but that's a discussion for another time. A few years after the turn of the new millennium the flats were given new ownership in the form of the GHA (Glasgow Housing Association). The next few years were filled with grand plans to repair and restructure certain aspects of the buildings but in the end these plans ultimately failed due to costs and in 2005 it was decided, amid protests, that two of the towers would be demolished. Within another 5 years (in spring 2010) it was confirmed that all eight of the towers would now be gone within a 10 year planned timescale (before 2020) which brings us to todays events.

The Red Road flats stand together before their demolition.
Today I was part of a well prepared and well rounded production team that set out to film the demolition with the idea of documenting it and piecing together a short on the matter. Well, when I say part of the team, what I really mean is that I was there watching, eating pizza, taking pictures on my phone to post on here, picking up and looking at expensive gear like I knew what it was for and just hanging around in general. See, my role in the team is to provide the music and soundtrack (under the Fragile X name) for the short film during and after production. So, this morning, I was there in attendance with them mainly to get a scope of the atmosphere and grasp the feeling of the "event" which will then allow me to transfer and channel that into my music. The rest of the team, of course, did their parts today. Tripods, quadcopter drones and the likes were set up in the back garden of a very kind local family who were more than happy to allow us usage of their premises. We got some good footage and some good sounds, all the while soaking up the tension that was looming due to the delay on the initial planned explosion schedule. Word had got around that there was to be a klaxon that would signal a 5 minute warning, giving us and others with the same intentions ample time to prepare equipment etc. The original demolition process was apparently penciled in for around 11am but, after a more than 4 hour wait caused by local protests and train traffic, it was around 3:18pm that the towers finally fell. There was a loud pop in the distance, almost like a firework (certainly nothing like a klaxon) and then bang 5 seconds (not 5 minutes like we were told) later the process began. The explosion could be felt from where we stood. Feet rooted to the ground about 400m away I felt my bones shudder. Looking up I saw it begin. Falling, crumbling, seemingly in slow motion, right in front of my eyes. And that was that. The flats were gone. No more.

The demolition process begins to take them down.
Or were they? As the dust spread skyward and calmly canvassed the afternoon clouds and slowly advanced on the surrounding houses and schemes, it became apparent that all had not gone to plan. By the time this biege fog had fully settled, and the view was clearer to the naked eye, there was two buildings still defiantly upright. Bruised and battered but still clinging to their foundations. A symbol if ever there was one.

The middle buildings are gone but the tower blocks flanking them remain in position. Damaged but not demolished.
The whole experience provided me with many musical ideas, they ebbed and flowed throughout the day, and I've now already got aspects for the track(s) in my head but I'm looking forward to sitting down in the studio and filtering through all the available footage we have before allowing my brain to process it more and hopefully providing a fitting musical arrangement for the production team. It may be the end of the year, it maybe early next year, it may be later than that but when it's done we'll be sure to share it.

UPDATE: 11pm

A bit of humour, in a relatively serious post, never goes a miss. I conjured up this earlier :)







Monday 5 October 2015

Bricolage Podcast #2 : Fragile X


It's that time of the month again. The first Monday of every month will see a new and exclusive podcast brought to you by our members. Our second podcast comes courtesy of, the Bricolage Collective founder, Fragile X. It's a sonic safari through many different sound dimensions. It starts off with a unique drone (read more about how it was made further below) which leads into dub infused drum and bass before giving way to more glitchier, melodic and experimental sounds. There's a spaced out slow acid jam at the middle which is followed up by more subtle electronic sounds washing over us before ending on the same note that it started on with some dense and tough but somehow mellow dub sounds. With field recordings and samples from the silver screen scattered throughout the mix to add to the atmosphere, this is a podcast that will no doubt merit repeat plays.



Here's a few words from Fragile X on his mix:

"I've always had a thing for intros, they're an important part of any mix for me personally. So I wanted to create a unique one for this podcast. I recorded the old Playstation 1 start up sound through a mic and onto a cassette before stretching it and manipulating the sound several times over to create an emerging, looming drone. The rest of the mix is intended to shed light on the more secluded side of the music spectrum and hopefully provide unknown sounds to new ears. "Phomorian" for example is someone who uses percussion sounds like no one else I can think of so I really wanted to include a few of his tracks. I also like having a centre piece in each mix and the 108 bpm acid of SDOU seemed the appropriate choice for this particular mix. I've never been overly keen on including my own tracks in mixes, unless I'm asked to, but for this podcast I dropped in Lo-Jackers remix of "Glasgow Coma Scale" and also my own track from last year "Each Other". Both seemed to fit in with the direction the mix was taking at certain points. I've littered field recordings and samples in and around the shadows of the mix to add more to the tone of it. I used audio cuts from Flatliners, The Shining, Eternal Sunshine and a few more. I hope you enjoy the experience."

Stream his mix exclusively from our mixcloud account. Or alternatively, listen in the embed below. A download will be available soon.