Last Monday, we introduced you to four of the fresh faces that are making up our new Various Artists compilation next month. This week we introduce another quad of creative artists that will be involved in Volume 5, out on the 12th of June.
60. ALL BUTTONS IN
All Buttons In is a UK based producer whose melodic, glitchy, style combines analogue and digital sounds, hardware/software alongside big beats and experimentation.
Moscow Machina is the alias of an elusive Russian producer/musician. Dima plays guitar in a local band by day and moonlights as an electronic producer whose secret passion is techno. The creations of Moscow Machina are an introspective space designed for the mind of the casual home listener as much as they are for the body of the club dancer. Intelligent and intriguing sounds that are hard to ignore.
No Arrival is an on going project located in Scotland. Based primarily around electronic sounds, though not adverse to the use of acoustic instruments. The ambition of No Arrival is to creatively channel the echo of the universe with small audio pockets of truth and resonant clips.
/Cave initially started out as a visual artist project of Paul Souviron before it began progressing into its current audio nature. The music is sculpted individually with each sound considered a material. The result is texturised electronic music that swings between house and techno with coldwave and tribal influences. Primal ambience and the use of vocal repetitions as rhythms ensure that the outcome is as engaging as they come. Paul is also part of the musical duo, "Bâton", with his brother, Croco.
On the 12th of June we release Volume 5 in our Various Artists compilation series. Once again, we've scoured the electronic terrain to bring you some innovative artists from across the world mixed with some ultra creative home grown talent . Tonight, with 3 weeks until the release date, we start introducing some of the new faces and provide you with a bit more info about them and their respective sounds.
56. BELIAL PELEGRIM
Belial Pelegrim is a Los Angeles born electronic musician and producer whose work covers a blend of dark IDM, avante garde and experimental genres. Taking acid and jazz compositional ideas, the jostling rhythms and hip hop and dub, as well as the twisted sonic mayhem of ambient and drone. Mr Pelegrim explores the periphery of experimental IDM, weaving melody with dissonance and has worked on collaborations with artists around the globe.
Arran Trax is the pseudonym of Martin Grafton, a Scottish producer based in Hamburg, Germany. His passion for music was lit at an early age by tinkering on the synths in his uncles studio. These days he prefers the hands on pleasure of sound design on hardware synths. His upbringing on the West coast of Scotland still resonates through his music and his output can lean towards an one of his various influences, be it Italo Disco, Detroit Techno or Scottish folk music.
After taking an extended break from electronic music, Arran Trax returned in 2016 with vinyl and digital releases on Envy Music and Expressive Waves.
Suncastle is a seven-year long recording project of UK native, George Ernest Evans. A veteran of the Mangled Music Collective, Evans has elected to produce bizarre and unconventional electronica ever since the means to do so became available. Growing up on a diet of weird tunes from the usual suspects; Boards of Canada, Aphex Twin, with a healthy obsession with all things classical.
Suncastle tunes suggest a giddy fascination with erratic melodies and textures that often find themselves chopped and filtered into straightforward pop sounds before the music stops playing. You might hear echoes of happier times and nostalgic flourishes that evoke a feeling that everything is going to be alright. Then again, repeated listens may 'reward' the listener with eerie suggestions of sounds from the dark side. 'Was that a children's choir? Or was it a Manson Family sing-song?' This uncertainty will keep you coming back for more, like morbid curiosity keeps you glued to the silver screen in times of peril.
The casual listener may delight in the ever-so-slightly-fucked-up vibes the Suncastle project has to offer, for those willing to dig a little deeper, that is an entirely different matter.
Blue Notes is an independent electronic artist from Glasgow with a serious love for making noise in general. Everything from IDM to downtempo to drum n bass and gabber is fair game for this producer who enjoys incorporating sample based music which allows him to explore his love of crate digging whilst combining digital and analogue sounds.
Later this summer we release the second EP from Glaswegian producer Oscurito. His debut EP, Octopus, was released on Bricolage in January last year and contained three big house tracks with a psychedelic tinged space theme running throughout. This time out on "Eastern Philosophy", as a much improved all round producer, Oscurito has stuck with the psychedelia mindset but went more a more a varied release featuring some beautiful ambient interludes, Eastern influences and his trademark driving basslines alongside bulkier beats. "Eastern Philosophy" is released on Bricolage on the 24th of July.
The "Eastern Philosophy" EP contains three tracks. "Kunoichi", "The Nihon Shoki" and EP closer "Find Your Centre".
Tonight we're launching a remix competition for "Find Your Centre". You'll find the stems available as a free download through our Bandcamp. All you have to do is head there and grab the components and have a go at remixing the track. There will be two winning remixes, one chosen by Bricolage label head Fragile X and the other, of course, by Oscurito himself. Both of the winning remixes will feature on the EP release in July.
The competition officially launches tonight and will close on the 21st of July, three days before the EP release. This provides a total time frame of almost 9 weeks for any potential remixers.
"Find Your Centre" is in the key of Cm with a BPM of 119. Feel free to change either as you please.
*Once you have uploaded your remix to Soundcloud you should PM the Bricolage page with a link to your track where we will proceed to repost your track and also add it to the specially made remix playlist.*
Twothousandandseventeen. A world full of super computers, mass surveillance, privacy encroachments, corrupt governments, censorship, broken moral compasses, fear mongering and cyber wars. Twothousandandseventeen. The beginning of the end.
"Insert Coins To Continue" is the latest EP from Bricolage label head, Fragile X. It sees him explore themes of futurism, dystopian warnings and the current political climate over the course of 5 new compositions of sprawling digital landscapes, where machines rule the world and humans have dropped to the bottom of the intelligence ladder. Mangled, mechanical, electronics and crunching metallic structures collide as they sit atop a wasteland of glitches, cuts n clicks and futuristic ambience. "Insert Coins..." is the caustic creation of a fractured and twisted cybernated world in which syncopated rhythms clamber over the top of each other, vying for supremacy as they wire themselves together in contorted sonic waves that spread themselves around the electronic web of sounds that is carefully weaved out over the listening experience.
You can stream and download the EP below or at our bandcamp.
If you keep up to date with our social media accounts then you'll know that earlier this week we said that we'd have a few announcements coming this weekend regarding many aspects of a creative summer here at Bricolage. There's new music, guest mixes, a remix competition and a very big collaborative release coming at the end of summer.
First off, we're proud to announce that, after four successful Various Artists compilations, we're officially moving onto our fifth edition of the series with VA5 penciled in for official release on the 12th of June. Once again, we've rounded up a collection of established and creative producers from around the globe. All of them with their own unique sounds and creations to bring to the table. The latest compilation release will be featuring American electronic wizard Belial Pelegrim, Finnish downtempo specialist Sect-ion, the mysterious Suncastle, Edinburgh producer All Buttons In, Glaswegian experimental musician No Arrival and the exceptional work of Devras Plexi to name but a few. It's safe to say that we have another very eclectic Various Artists album coming your way next month. Stay tuned for the standard introduction and bio posts starting on our blog next week, as we welcome the new faces to the Bricolage family. As always, you'll get to learn a little bit more about the people behind the sounds.
To have a listen to the previous VA compilations head to our bandcamp page where you'll find the releases alongside the rest of our back catalogue.
Ever since the inception of Bricolage in 2015 we've ran our monthly podcasts and bi-monthly Headroom mix series to great effect over on Mixcloud. Our artists have consistently provided listening experiences that span across every spectrum of the electronic genre.
For June, we've managed to pull off a coup in getting some one off mixes from some very special guests. Friend of the label, Esef, takes over our podcast for the month. His monthly residents slot, alongside Loui Cleghorn, in Glasgows Flat 0/1 venue is known for it's sweat inducing mayhem and the boundless energy provided by the precise and remarkable tune selection on show.
As someone with a broad range of influences and tastes, Friday night club sets and after party marathons are just the tip of the iceberg with Esef though. A few years back he fused together ever evolving moods of dub, ambient sounds and house music for the very first guest session for the Fragile X "Cult Zer0es" mix series. So who knows what we're in for next month. Either way it's going to be a fun ride.
Be sure to check out his Return To The Cities EP over on soundcloud.
Our second guest mix next month sees Glasgow based powerhouse, Boom Merchant, take the wheel for the latest episode of our Headroom mix series. He's an astonishingly well established all rounder with an unwavering dedication to his craft in terms of both DJing and production. Known just as much for carving his own brand of house and techno as he is for his ability to hold club goers attention from start to finish with his cosmic sets at his very own Tribal Pulse club night. With an extensive and meticulously assembled record collection to choose from we should be in for a huge treat come June. Have a listen to a guest mix for Proton Radio below alongside the latest Boom Merchant release, "Haka".
Last summer we ran a remix competition for Loui Cleghorn's "Waterworks" track, where the two winning remixes got to feature on the title tracks EP.. This summer we're back again with another remix competition, this time for Oscurito. He releases his second EP, "Eastern Philosophy", on Bricolage this July and next Saturday we'll be officially launching the competition for his new track "Find Your Centre". Stay tuned for remix stems and more info coming soon.
Last but definitely not least, to celebrate Bricolage turning two years old in August we've lined up a very special collaborative project.
All of our releases so far have been digital only but thanks to the help of Rick at Dark Fidelity Hifi we've managed to secure a physical release for what should be one of our most ambitious projects to date. A CD run of 200 copies is in the pipeline and if it proves to be a success we'll be looking at more physical releases down the road whether it's CD, vinyl or cassette.
For the August release, we've pooled together an assortment of producers from a bunch of our previous releases over the past 20 odd months and paired them together to collaborate and come up with a track between them for the album. So far we have around 14 musicians on board, with many paired off and already in the early process of production. We're currently still looking for another 6 or 8 names to round off the production team and then it's all systems go.
More details on the physical release as they arrive. When we know, you'll know.
The latest episode of In The Loop is a special entry that looks at some of the albums and EPs released either through other labels or independently by some of our roster and alumni.
April 29th saw The Oscilloscope self release his new album "Secret Chamber". It's a fantastic album from the Swiss based producer, who just keeps getting better and better. By now, it's well known that The Oscilloscope is an advocate of finger drumming and this release sees him sticks to his guns. Well rounded, technical, rhythms are supported by electro undertones and lots of acid variations. The mixture of analogue and digital recording methods brew up a space age style that runs throughout and keeps things interesting.
Listen to Rec B8 below and check out the full album over on his bandcamp.
Edinburgh techno specialist Willy recently released his debut EP, "Organo", through French label Carceres Records. Four tracks of supremely well executed warehouse techno. Thumping, but intricate, perc work and dark techno melodies sit side by side on industrial tinged sound palettes. More than worth checking out.
Sleep Maps released on the label back in 2015. Contributing some stunning post rock compositions to two of our compilations in our first year in the form of "Biologic Trust" on our Various Artists Volume 2 release and again at the end of the year when he specifically wrote "The Brief Sun" as his entry for our special Winter Solstice release. Since then he was quiet on the output front, but it's been worth the wait. March saw the release of his latest album "No More Good Dreams". The tagline is "We Are Not Always Who We Think We Are" and that rings true in an album of deep and evocative post rock soundscapes. A lot of time and effort has went into the release and it's clear to here in the quality of the sounds.
Check out "The Lonelies" below alongside the full album stream
"Seltrac" is the latest offering from International Debris. An album, partly inspired by travelling on the Docklands Light Railway, that was released on Third Kind Records last month. Personally, here at Bricolage, Ross Baker is one of our favourite producers. One that's always able to perfectly find the mark between experimentation and listenability. "Seltrac" does exactly that. The music itself is a stirring concoction of cinematic electronica bursting with enviable synth work and pinpoint melodies that will no doubt invoke feelings of nostalgia in listeners of a certain age. It's available as digital or limited edition cassette through the Third Kind Records bandcamp.
Exactly 18 months to the day since his first Bricolage podcast back in November 2015, today, sees the proficient Dutch selector Subsequent return to the front line for another trek through his collection of mesmerizing electronic music. There's a combination of minimalistic but powerful compositions layered over each other in a steely, broken environment of industrial rumblings and field recordings. Points of abstract tension play out alongside moments of hazy charm and hypnotic beats. Add all that to a "twist" at the end and you've got a creative and borderline avant garde session that will transfix and transport the listener to another portal. Welcome back to the world of Subsequent.
As always you can stream the mix below or over on our mixcloud.
