Bricolage (An Ambient Tribute from Hohm Productions)

For the third part of our anniversary mixes we asked Hohm Productions resident Kinoko to weave together a selection of his favourite ambient based works that we've released over the last two years.

Here's what they had to say:"Recently it was the adventurous electronic net label Bricolage Collective's 2nd birthday and to commemorate this they have ask three artists to mix a selection of their favourite releases (Techno, IDM and Ambient mixes respectively). With this they have bestowed the honour of making an ambient mix to HOHM Resident Kinoko from the tracks released so far which he jumped at the chance to do so here it is and thanks Bricolage for this enjoyable opportunity"

You can stream the mix below or at the Hohm mixcloud.



TRACKLISTING

1. Fragile X - The Outer Circle
2. B-Side Boy - Pissholes In The Snow
3. Liapei - When We Were All So Very Different
4. Merriman's Ghost - Owl
5. Microvolt - A Touch Of The Vapours
6. Neon Idol Lodge - Resonances
7. Mute Branches - (I'm Dreaming Of A) Severe Weather Warning
8. Hiramatsu Toshiyuki - Mountain Call
9. Roy Or Bison? - Eidetician
10. Roy Or Bison? - Night Vision
11. International Debris - Hypogeum
12. ...From The Benthic Zone and Mute Branches - Outlines
13. Sleep, Data - The Drone That You Find In The Back Of Your Mind
14. Fragile X - Saturn9ne
15. Mute Branches - Goon Squad (Part 2)
16. Fragile X - Under The Counter Culture (Leit Motif remix)
17. Slow Deep Breath - The Crow Pheasant
18. The Next Commuter - The Dozen Paces
19. Jazzdefector - Lost Without You
20. Nova Noma - Who Are You?
21. Leit Motif - A Lovers Reincarnation
22. Oscurito - The Nihon Shoki

In The Loop : Episode 18

Episode 18 of "In The Loop" is long overdue and takes a look back at what the artists from our VA Volume 3 compilation have been upto. The compilation was a popular, eclectic, all Scottish affair.

First up is a brand new track from "...From The Benthic Zone". It's a psychedelic, trippy number laced with intelligent percussion and evolving layers of glitchy sounds and effects. There's a lot going on but it never gets too muddled.


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Alpha Skies most recent offering from last month is a peculiar and interesting number. "Palomar" veers in between remnants of funk and jazz with smooth guitar licks serenading their way over a very breakbeat like structure. It's melodic, experimental electronic music in it's element.


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The latest Nova Noma production is a blissed out, soothing ambient piano led piece. "Sleepyhead" starts off with a beautiful piano and some chirping birds before some well placed downtempo beats soon join the fray. Look out for a new EP/album coming later in the year.


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Dreamland Fantasy recently uploaded his submission for the Piano Soundboard Movie Scoring Challenge from late last year. The process was as follows "We were given a selection of short videos with the sound removed and had to compose a piano soundtrack for the one selected".
This short piece shows off the impressive piano range that Dreamland Fantasy possesses.


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Warm house with a tropical flow is the name of the game on the new Night Time Bassline EP "Sanity Before Vanity". All the standard NTB elements are there, upbeat melodies, solid kicks and cosy chords. You can grab the full EP here.


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"The First World" from No!z has a real Eastern flavour at its core. It's another cinematic offering from the Glasgow based Spanish producer. Full of enticing sounds and developing drums.


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Oco is known for downtempo gems and "Let Me Talk" falls perfectly into that category. A slow burning melodious number that picks up the pace half way through with some almost tribal beats working their way into the equation.


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Crae's output over the last 6 months has seen a solid body of work makes it way online. Off the back of his "Injection" EP release on Bricolage, comes another new thumper with a melodic spacey vibe running through out. "Magnetikz" is moody, mean, dramatic techno.


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Willy continues sculpting his own brand of dark electronic music on "Jers". A powerful, no frills techno banger. There's an almost militaristic edge to the drums as they plough their way through the speakers. Hopefully there's more new sounds on the way soon from the young, Edinburgh native.


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"starocean777" from Gregor Garnutsi/Upstanding Monk sees the experimentalist explore the farthest reaches of the galaxy and he's invited you along for the ride. A pulsing beat amid an array of cosmic sounds soon gives way to an ambient implosion. An intriguing composition to say the least.


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On the subject of intriguing compositions......the undefinable Swedgy Bliker returned late last year with the demented "DIC". A melting pot of off beat electronics that never sits still. It'll either puzzle your brain or make it dance. Both are positive!


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Leit Motif released his "Till We Have Faces" EP on Bricolage last November. It was three all out analogue ambient creations. His newest offering is a bubbly electronic effort that sees him come together with Bricolage founder Fragile X on "A-maireach bi e nas fhearr" which translates as "Tomorrow Will Be Better" in Scottish Gaelic. It's a slightly melancholic yet optimistic number that grows and grows into a melodic outpouring before fading out to nothing.


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Replicators latest venture is "Skin Tight" where he puts his smooth word play over the top of the "CVRL" track of the same name. It's unconventional hip hop with a distinctive ambient under current.


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You can grab your copy of VA Vol 3 (featuring all of the above artists) over at our bandcamp site or from the embed below

Nova Noma : Highrise (Audio/Visual)

Bricolage is proud to present a new audio/visual for the track "Highrise" by Nova Noma. It's a short trip with blissed out melodic electronica taking you on a journey from morning to night through a city full of colours, shapes and sounds.



You can stream and download the full "Atlas" album below or at our bandcamp.

Nova Noma "Atlas" (bc016)

"Atlas" is the debut album from Glaswegian producer Nova Noma and what better way to showcase your musicianship than an array of sounds as pristine as this collection. It's a release that swirls and glides it way through chill out territory. Layers of rippling synths, fractured beats, glistening melodies and expertly placed electronic string arrangements. Throw in a selection of deftly used dialogue samples and guest vocals from Vena and you have all the ingredients for a simply majestic debut. "Atlas" is an album that demands your full attention from start to finish, from the prelude of the title track to the postlude closer of "Omega". The production skills and melodic know how on show from Nova Noma are practically flawless. Everything flows, everything fits. The tracklisting order has been set out to perfection and takes the listener on a dream like, upbeat journey. It's positive, thought provoking and uplifting chill out music. Tailor made for a warm summer evenings with your headphones.

The album can be streamed and DL below or at the Bricolage bandcamp page.



The download comes with a PDF booklet of beautiful individual artwork for each track.

In The Loop : Episode 14

July is shaping up to be a big month for the label. It's a jam packed month with every Monday of the month providing you with releases and mixes. There's also a few new audio/visuals coming your way plus the announcement of two new members to our constantly expanding roster and last but not least a remix competition.

We started the month off with our monthly podcast this past Monday. It's a cerebrum challenging journey from Gregor Garnutsi that's full of jazz, ambient, techno and much much more. Have a listen and submerse yourself below or on mixcloud if you haven't already.



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On the 11th of July, label head, Fragile X releases his ambient, tribal EP "Arboreal". It's been over 2 years in the works and is finally good to go. Stay tuned to his soundcloud account for previews coming this week ahead of the release. In the meantime you can preview the artwork below.



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On the 25th of July, we release the full length debut album from Nova Noma. It's guaranteed to be full of his trademark sounds and epic electronic masterpieces. Blissed out, chilled out electronica is to be expected but you can wager on a few more energetic numbers on the release too. Preview "Atlas" below.



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This Friday night (8th July) we unveil our latest audio/visual. It's a summer themed, beach based effort from our visual team "Digi Aye" for the track "Paradise" from our most recent release on Bricolage, the "No Work, Just Play" by Night Time Bassline. Check out the track in question below and be sure to grab yourself a free download/pay what you want copy from our bandcamp.



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Our new arrivals in July come in the form of the recently birthed Glasgow electronic project "futurendeavours" and "Loui Cleghorn". The former consists of two enigmatic and secretive local producers with some huge sounds in the pipeline that they plan to release through our label very soon. Genre defying, 10 minute plus tunes are their speciality. The latter name is a big coup for Bricolage. Loui has released on some excellent and well known labels including German underground titans Traum and Resopal. He brings a wealth of talent and experience to the table both in terms of production and mixing skills. You can expect his first Bricolage EP to drop in August but before that he will be curating Volume 5 of our Headroom mix series to be released this month. You can expect some more info and full introduction posts and bios to our latest label additions next week.



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As for the remix competition, it's based around one of Loui's tracks from his upcoming EP in August. The competition and its details will be aired towards the end of the month and full stems will be made available. The competition is open to all Bricolage and non Bricolage artists. With the two winning remixes joining the EP release. The judges will be Loui and Fragile X.

Stay tuned for more info soon and be sure to keep in touch with all our July happenings via our Facebook page. It's gonna be a huge month :)

In The Loop: Episode 12

Episode 12 of "In The Loop" takes a look back at what some of the artists from the Bricolage Volume 3 compilation have been upto.

1. ...From The Benthic Zone

Two new tracks of laid back, fizzled, electronics and glitchy drums have appeared on FTBZ soundcloud account. Check out 'New Tan 2.0' and 'Pisa Stub' below.




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2. Alpha Skies

In the weeks before our Volume 3, Alpha Skies, uploaded "Colours. A heavy and steady beat interwined with computer game sounds and melodies.



The video for his track "Evergreen Morning" was also recently uploaded to our YouTube channel. It's a relaxing visual interpretation of a remarkably soothing track. Computer error codes mixed with some swirling colours, sunshine and ambient nature scenes.


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3. Nova Noma

Nova Noma has been busy over the last month. 3 tremendous new tracks have surfaced. The first "Atlas" is a short cinematic interlude of sorts. Then there's "Subconscious Impulse", a chilled effort with a hip hop style backbone. Lastly, "Highrise", a slightly more energetic track than what we're used to from Nova Noma. Sweeping synths are still there but the beat is that little bit more biting.






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4. Dreamland Fantasy

"Prelude To The Dream" is a short instrumental piece that was originally intended as an intro to the track "The Mermaids Reverie" which was the DF contribution to Bricolage Volume 3. The intro was discarded from the final version but Francis has stated that he may elaborate on this exquisite 15 seconds one day.



"Catch Ones Heart" is a blissed out piece of electronica and piano that is dedicated to his wife.


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5. Night Time Bassline

"Binary Butterfly" was full of nostalgic vibes and influences. There's two new tracks on the NTB page that follow that recipe. "Stay For The Summer" sounds exactly what you think it'll sound like. Modern house elements infused with an old school disco style. The result is a warm vibrant track perfect for the incoming summer nights.



"Paradise" is the most recent upload and is the more laid back of the two tracks. It moves along at a slower pace but is still full of those appealing signature NTB sounds.


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6. No!z

There's been a plethora of new uploads over on the No!z soundcloud page recently. We've shared a few below. The cinematic "No!z" style and expansive sound are all at the core. The music on show is electronica for the thinking man. Carefully produced and detailed.






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7. Oco

The sun was shining bright in Glasgow all last week and Oco got in the mood by producing a short half an hour mix of chilled out and soulful RnB and hip hop.


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BRICOLAGE: VA: VOLUME 3 (bc011)

Volumes 1 and 2 of our various artists compilations spanned all corners of the globe and provided some fantastic sounds. For Volume 3 we've stayed closer to home and delivered a substantial range of tracks that are all products of Scotland. In sticking with the theme of the previous compilations, the sounds are as eclectic as ever. It starts off with some excellent bleepy electronica before morphing into chilled out and upbeat dreamlike stuff. There's some house and techno after that followed by a few experimental tracks before finishing on a superb ambient number and a spoken word piece. 

It's a showcase of just some of the amazing artists and creativity that thrives up and down the country. 





Huge thanks go to everyone who contributed and made the release possible. 

The album is "pay what you want" or free download above or at our bandcamp with any and all profits going towards potential future physical releases and live shows.

Introducing The Collective 33 - 36

Tonight is our penultimate round of introductions to our new artists in the build up to our VA Volume 3 compilation release.

33. ...From The Benthic Zone



A mysterious Scottish musician that previously played in several Glasgow bands before relocating and turning to the electronic side of things......."...From The Benthic Zone" surfaced in Argyll and then rode the gulf stream south before jumping ship in Dumfries and Galloway. It grew lungs and retreated to the hills in upper Nithsdale. "...From The Benthic Zone" continues to be a melodic, contemplative and playful being.

...From The Benthic Zone (Soundcloud)

...From The Benthic Zone (Bandcamp)

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34. Crae



Crae is a young DJ and producer from Glasgow, having honed his mixing skills by playing regular sets in and around Glasgow (including a resident slot at Secret Rendezvous) he then managed to secure himself gigs alongside techno heavyweights such as "Animal Farm" and "Mark Broom" to name a few. When it comes to the production side of things, Crae has the ability to jump between creating house/techno or kicking back and laying down some more chilled out material. For someone who hasn't really been producing for that long there's a tonne of potential in the music he's currently making.

Crae (Soundcloud)

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35. Leit Motif



Liam Holscyine is an analogue fan with a minimalist approach to making all things ambient and drone. Occasionally there's the added ingredient of some ambient techno flavours in the music but at it's core, it's minimum layered, soothing ambience. As Liam himself states "I like to sleep a lot and make a lot of sleepy music".

Leit Motif (Soundcloud)

Leit Motif (Mixcloud)

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36. Nova Noma



Nova Noma is a Glaswegian producer that specializes in the chill out side of the spectrum. Creating beautiful electronic soundscapes through the use of intriguing melodies and precision drums. Earthy tones and poignant textures are never far from the centre of his downtempo sounds. Music for drifting off with.

Nova Noma (Soundcloud)

Nova Noma (Twitter)

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Our last batch of introductions comes over the weekend, Stay tuned.