Miasmah Records is a Norwegian independent label run by Erik K. Skodvin. Starting life as an MP3 label in 1999, by 2005, the label decided to release full-length albums by a broad range of international artists such as Jacaszek, Rafael Anton Irisarri, Jasper TX, Greg Haines, Elegi & Gultskra Artikler. Carving out a path based around experimenting with theatrical/cinematic atmospheres & visual sounds, Miasmah has been getting extensive attention not just by the label's firm fanbase, but also from media outlets such as The Wire and various respected online blogs. All Miasmah releases come with original design & artwork by Skodvin, who even manages to record music as Svarte Greiner and as part of the Deaf Center duo in what spare time he has left.
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MIA 058LP
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The Pitch is a quartet made up of Boris Baltschun, Koen Nutters, Michael Thieke, and Morten Joh. Founded in Berlin in 2009, they play a hypnotic form of structured improvisation full of acoustic exploration and electronic intervention. On Neutral Star, The Pitch are joined by Australian guitarist/composer extraordinaire Julia Reidy for a record of star gazing electro-acoustic jazz. Reidy's playing and compositional technique between Takoma-style fingerpicking and Glenn Branca-esque microtonality, perfectly complements the loose improvisational framework The Pitch is providing. Accompanied by constant eruptions of vibraphone, clarinet, electronics and double bass punctuation -- while permanently questioned by Reidy's drippingly pearly steel guitar work. The fact that Neutral Star was recorded in one take (by Rabih Beaini in his Morphine Raum studio/venue) in front of a live audience and without overdubs is hard to believe, even for the trained ear. The recording appears to be too multilayered for a single snapshot, with its compositional structures constantly shifting and moving against themselves, counterintuitively and anti-cyclically. Clear LP. Edition of 240 copies. Includes download code.
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MIA 055LP
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Erik K Skodvin's alter persona Svarte Greiner re-appears with another chapter in his "zen music for disturbed souls" series, channeling both spiritual distress and meditation in a live recording from the bunkers of a bombed-out brewery. The first piece, entitled "Devolving Trust" was recorded live in the bunkers of Schneider Brewery in Berlin, 2018. Erik explains: "I was invited to use the vast old cellars located underneath the site for a performance/installation. Wet and hollow with a dark past and long reverb, it was a perfect location to channel a cello and electro-acoustic improvisation in the spirit of my two long-form, meditative albums Black Tie and Moss Garden. As a 30-minute piece, it was left looping in the room for hours after it ended as an echo of the performance, allowing people to walk around and soak up the sounds and empty hallways alone. I am usually not into the idea of releasing a live recording, as there are so many factors that are lost in the translation from being present and listening to it in another space. The eyes, ears and body can often see beyond small mistakes once a live performance unfolds in front of you. The details are usually lost in translating it to a pure recording. I made an exception for this as I feel it translates the live feeling in a way I like. Very personal and full of small mistakes it creates its own life. Also, as an improvisation, I am very happy with it, and have been listening to it on and off since a few years. With this in mind I decided I want it to be another document in my ongoing series of longform, atmospheric pieces following the aforementioned two albums. The second track simply called 'Devolve' is mostly constructed out of fragments from the performance as a sort of minimal, reversed echo, further tunneling into the unknown. These pieces have given me calmness, reflection, and escape from the madness escalating outside of our doors. I hope it can do the same for you." Silver spot color artwork; includes download code; edition of 300.
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MIA 057LP
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Deprived of sanity, Paul Régimbeau aka Mondkopf found new territories of expression with Spring Stories, a collection of post-rapture moods full of glorious chaos, ready to absorb and re-ignite all that is worn. As a phoenix raising from the ashes, Spring Stories captures the earth in full bloom. Darkness and insanity loosen its grips as the roots and fresh leaves creates a slow dance towards the sun. Similarly, sine-wave drones move around exploding electric guitar improvisations as new light beams on shadow cast corners. The album feels like a '60s jam set in the post-world psychedelic underground. Heavy, absurd, beautiful, and ready to sooth burnt out, depleted minds. Paul has citied that he's affected as much by folk improvisors such as Master Wilburn Burchette and Robbie Basho as well as the doom drone of giants Earth and Sunn O))). Spring Stories invokes on these, while feeling like a personal blow-out, coming right from the core. Touching and grand, like spring itself. The album also features Frederic D. Oberland on two tracks playing variously duduk and alto saxophone. Lastly, The Necks drummer Tony Buck shakes and rattles all over the final -- and seriously epic -- piece "Continuation", as the world aligns while the sun rises over its near-dead shape. Turquoise vinyl; includes download code; edition of 300.
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MIA 054LP
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Erik K Skodvin's feature-length score to Thomas Roth's thriller Schächten feels like the epitome of all his musical projects, conjuring a dark cinematic trip through 1960s post-WWII Vienna in a film that touches on topics such as law, justice, and revenge. Releasing a soundtrack as a stand-alone album can be challenging; and Schächten is by no means a typical listening experience. The record contains 24 more or less short pieces evolving through dramatic movements, underlaying menace and deep emotive scenes. One thing that stands out is the linear atmosphere throughout the story which creates a wholeness that keeps your attention to the very end. Set in wintery Austrian landscapes in dimly saturated colors, the film's dramatic events with dark political undertones feels like a perfect situation for Skodvin's atmospheric collages -- perhaps sounding closer than ever to his early works as Svarte Greiner or Deaf Center. Cello, violin, piano, analog synth, and plenty of hardly recognizable instrumentation come together in a record that feels very organic in its subdued tones. The score also features percussion by Andrea Belfi as well as a Chopin piano interpretation by Kelly Wyse to the bizarrely schizophrenic piece "Judenfreund". With the contemporary world sliding into darkness again, listening to the soundtrack feels like coming to terms with one's own anxieties -- something that in the end comes through as a cleansing experience. As quoted in the film "Everyone is their own devil. And we make this world our hell." Short synopsis: "Vienna 1960s -- the young Jewish business man Victor has to witness how the prosecution of a Nazi crime against his family fails. The political and legal system is still virtually run by former Nazis with large parts of society being entangled in the past. When Victor also loses his grief ridden father and his girlfriend's family opposes their relationship and his identity, Victor begins to lose faith in formal justice and takes matters in his own hands." Includes printed inner sleeve; includes download code; edition of 300.
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MIA 053LP
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"Is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream?" This quote from a poem by Edgar Allan Poe sums up the lamenting, primal work that is All That We See or Seem; a project conceived between Finland, England, and Brazil. The self-titled album consists of two long-form pieces of droning mysticism hailing from the trio of Gruth (concept, production, electronics), Ellen Southern (vocals, field recordings, percussion), and Johanna Puuperä (violin, modular synthesizer, additional vocals). The album opens straight into a thousand-yard stare with "Myrskymielellä", adapted from a 1891 poem by the Finnish national poet, Eino Leino, who wrote it at the tender age of 13. Here a blank distant droning of synths and the sounds of flowing water hover underneath like a dark river observed from the air. This is a sound and feeling that will stay constant for the entirety of the piece's thirty-minute duration. It is a trance-inducing composition that slowly unfolds elements of pagan ancestry into its own life. The tranquility of the first half is slowly morphed into a full-blown ceremony as driving ritualistic percussion and a foreboding witch-like presence shifts the piece into a Dead Can Dance-like territory. Here a constant enveloping mixture of violins, modular synths, field recordings and vocal screams creates the feeling of a grand finale. It is an astounding piece of music that develops like a drone symphony for the beginning of time. With the second piece, "A Dream Within A Dream", from Edgar Allan Poe's 1849 poem, you are transported to the shores of an undisclosed island; a place where it´s only you, your thoughts and the endless emptiness. The continual sound of waves is soon brought together with a cloud of synths and mourning violins that will keep a steady dreamlike state during most of the piece's duration. The composition flows like a slow caress of the soul and feels like the spirit twin of Gavin Bryars's "The Sinking of the Titanic" with its lamenting slow movements towards the unknown. Truly a ghost of a record, All That We See or Seem is an experience hard to shake and feels like entering sacred ground. We are in a place surrounded by earth, both ancient and present. Artwork with silver spot color; includes insert; includes download code; edition of 300.
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MIA 020RE-LP
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Ten-year anniversary edition of Kreng's massive Works for Abattoir Férme 2007-2011 four LPs worth of slow, skin-crawling cinematic ambience made for the Belgian theater group Abattoir Fermé. It could hardly be a better time to again dive deep into Kreng and Abattoir Fermé's disturbingly beautiful underground worlds. Through eighth full-length vinyl sides you are transported through the most terrifying, shadow-filled, downright bizarre moments of the subconscious. What could be the sound of your darkest dreams or most surreal fantasies gradually unfolds throughout the three-and-a-half-hour duration. Exactly this is what Abattoir Fermé specializes in, and Pepijn Caudron's scores perfectly reflect and accompanies both this theatricality as well as your own fears and desires in a masterful way. Each extended side is crafted from an arsenal of samples, disintegrating vinyl and corroded tape, and Pepijn Caudron manipulates these sounds in a way that belies the sources. Rather than allow the sounds to emerge, they stay trapped beneath swathes of noise, tape delay, and oppressive bass giving you a composition that emerges like a cross between William Basinski, Jerry Goldsmith (circa Alien), and Henryk Górecki. Works for Abattoir Fermé is not for the faint of heart, but for the rest, it might be just what the doctor ordered... 2022 repress; four LPs with original artwork inside 350g slipcase with silver tone print; includes download code; edition of 300.
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MIA 057CD
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Deprived of sanity, Paul Régimbeau aka Mondkopf found new territories of expression with Spring Stories, a collection of post-rapture moods full of glorious chaos, ready to absorb and re-ignite all that is worn. As a phoenix raising from the ashes, Spring Stories captures the earth in full bloom. Darkness and insanity loosen its grips as the roots and fresh leaves creates a slow dance towards the sun. Similarly, sine-wave drones move around exploding electric guitar improvisations as new light beams on shadow cast corners. The album feels like a '60s jam set in the post-world psychedelic underground. Heavy, absurd, beautiful, and ready to sooth burnt out, depleted minds. Paul has citied that he's affected as much by folk improvisors such as Master Wilburn Burchette and Robbie Basho as well as the doom drone of giants Earth and Sunn O))). Spring Stories invokes on these, while feeling like a personal blow-out, coming right from the core. Touching and grand, like spring itself. The album also features Frederic D. Oberland on two tracks playing variously duduk and alto saxophone. Lastly, The Necks drummer Tony Buck shakes and rattles all over the final -- and seriously epic -- piece "Continuation", as the world aligns while the sun rises over its near-dead shape. Digipak; edition of 200.
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MIA 051LP
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Zelienople frontman Matt Christensen returns to Miasmah with Constant Green -- a record of reverberant country inspired songs that puts the weight somewhere between Johnny Cash and Slowdive. Matt pours out his soul through flashes of life -- small and large. His voice roaming over the guitars in a way which feels like a floating poetic deluge. Appearing fresh from 2020's Zelienople album Hold You Up (MIA 047LP), Matt has made a very personal record that arrives as perfectly as it could be. It is full of beautiful sparse moments that capture the feeling of time standing still while simultaneously flashing in front of your eyes. As a child of the '70s, growing up with country influenced AM rock on the radio, riding around in cars without seatbelts, Matt creates this nostalgic feeling of free riding through the city streets at dusk: a dream world where one can see green as a symbol for humanity and optimism. Not to say the album doesn't have its share of darkness. Christensen always lingers deep in melancholy, driving his fears and anxieties out through music. Visions of being able to move anywhere, picking his mother up from jail, family matters, change, the small things in life -- all outtakes from what he sings about. Although it's hard to pick up on unless you really listen, as his ramblings can at one moment be fully clear while in the next drowned or muffled -- becoming a mere meditative element to the music. Steady collaborators Brian Harding and Eric Eleazer from Zelienople accompanies on pedal steel and keys to further fill the sound into a warm dream, following in the footsteps of Matt's previous Miasmah album Honeymoons (MIA 034CD/LP, 2016). That said, while Honeymoons used drum machines and vast open spaces, Constant Green is another step closer towards the classic singer-songwriter folklore. Timeless gold from an artist that never stops creating. Dark green vinyl; includes download code; edition of 300.
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MIA 052LP
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2022 restock. Neon City is the debut release by Erik K Skodvin and Otto A Totland's Deaf Center project, finally reissued 18 years since its first appearance in 2004. Listening to Neon City in 2022 is like taking a melancholy journey down rainy city streets of the early naughts, made by the then two young Norwegians in their mid-20s after spending time together in a basement full of vintage items. Armed with young optimism and a sense of musical experimentation, they started sampling everything around them, be it an old television broadcaster, tape recorders, a game of table tennis or conversations on film and merging it with pianos, plucked guitar, strings and anything in-between. The record turned out as something unique in the fields bordering post classical and ambient music, though without landing on any set genre. The record was filling a place in music that was barely touched upon and made them further experiment with samples and classical music which landed them on the 2005's classic Pale Ravine. Although Erik and Otto both had been making music solo before, Neon City was the start of their more focused future paths as purveyors of both light and darkness in music that seeps through your soul to battle the anxieties of the world. The record comes with a remix of the opener track "Dial" by Helios aka Keith Keniff, taken from the same original. Remastered featuring new artwork; includes download code; edition of 500.
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MIA 055CD
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Erik K Skodvin's alter persona Svarte Greiner re-appears with another chapter in his "zen music for disturbed souls" series, channeling both spiritual distress and meditation in a live recording from the bunkers of a bombed-out brewery. The first piece, entitled "Devolving Trust" was recorded live in the bunkers of Schneider Brewery in Berlin, 2018. Erik explains: "I was invited to use the vast old cellars located underneath the site for a performance/installation. Wet and hollow with a dark past and long reverb, it was a perfect location to channel a cello and electro-acoustic improvisation in the spirit of my two long-form, meditative albums Black Tie and Moss Garden. As a 30-minute piece, it was left looping in the room for hours after it ended as an echo of the performance, allowing people to walk around and soak up the sounds and empty hallways alone. I am usually not into the idea of releasing a live recording, as there are so many factors that are lost in the translation from being present and listening to it in another space. The eyes, ears and body can often see beyond small mistakes once a live performance unfolds in front of you. The details are usually lost in translating it to a pure recording. I made an exception for this as I feel it translates the live feeling in a way I like. Very personal and full of small mistakes it creates its own life. Also, as an improvisation, I am very happy with it, and have been listening to it on and off since a few years. With this in mind I decided I want it to be another document in my ongoing series of longform, atmospheric pieces following the aforementioned two albums. The second track simply called 'Devolve' is mostly constructed out of fragments from the performance as a sort of minimal, reversed echo, further tunneling into the unknown. These pieces have given me calmness, reflection, and escape from the madness escalating outside of our doors. I hope it can do the same for you." Digipak; edition of 300.
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MIA 035LP
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2022 repress of the extended 2016 Miasmah double LP edition of Pale Ravine, the classic debut album by Deaf Center (Erik K Skodvin and Otto A Totland), originally released on Type records in 2005. More recently Skodvin and Totland are known for solo recordings under their own names on the Sonic Pieces label. Pale Ravine, made back in their mid-twenties, is an otherworldly sound collagé to Norwegian nature, theatricality and old silent films. The two musicians looked deep into their own family histories to piece together a dusty and nostalgic epic, blending elements of classical and electronic music with an array of field recordings and a lot of fog. Full-length album version, includes the tracks that were previously only on the CD edition. Includes a 20 minute side of unreleased material from the same time-frame. Gatefold sleeve; includes download code; edition of 300.
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MIA 050LP
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Master craftsman James Welburn's new LP, Sleeper in the Void, marks the 50th Miasmah release. The six years after his monumental debut have bred six tracks, Welburn brings to fruition with the help of past co-conspirators from the Norwegian underground scene -- Tomas Järmyr (Motorpsycho, Zu, Barchan), Hilde Marie Holsen (Hubro Records), and vocal artist Juliana Venter (W/V, Phil Winter). On Sleeper in the Void, Welburn expands the domain of his sound, unveiling surprises until the very end of the album's 36-minute playtime. While the character of the record is unmistakably his own, the tracks veer into many different territories, including a banging foray to the dancefloor. The LP begins slowly with "Raze", where Järmyr's ritualistic cymbals introduce layers of Welburn's signature sculpted bass drones and noise, building into a heart-wrenching epic of a track. This is perhaps the closest we ever get to Hold (MIA 031CD/LP, 2015), Welburn's previous album. Falling from Time immediately surprises with its subdued mechanical techno beat, stark and cold as a glacier. Welburn's texture-work is the star of the show, creating curious nooks and crannies of drone adorned with eerie melodies straight out of oblivion. This sense of wonder shines through to the album's title track as well, where Welburn and Järmyr build another patient, echoing, and deeply cinematic piece, the drum patterns slowly shifting around a metallic hum that evokes the vision of church bells, ringing out under tons of seawater. Sleeper in the Void feels like a story in two parts, rising lethargically, but with gargantuan power. The second begins with the momentous "In And Out Of Blue", where Juliana Venter's disembodied, spectral dirge takes center stage among the furious drums and bassy riffs, reaching a full crescendo with seconds to go. Parallel marks a release -- Hilde Marie Holsen's nostalgic soundscapes, pristine as glass, meeting the distant thunder of Welburn's strings on the horizon. And finally, "Fast Moon" ends the record in a most surprising way -- a tribal industrialized banger, complete with vile distorted beats and every other spice in demand on a blackened dancefloor. Welburn's Sleeper in the Void is a generous shapeshifter. Every inch of its soundwave breathes emotion and imagery -- an invitation to take a dive and linger. Includes download code; edition of 300.
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MIA 048LP
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Chão Vermelho (Red Floor) is a collection of ritualistic, lamenting pieces influenced by the increasingly dry ground of the surrounding area of central Portugal from where cellist and singer Joana Guerra resides. An environment of experimentation and risk transports you to an apocalyptic scenario in which the extreme dryness of a ground where nothing can grow anymore is accompanied by dramatic, theatrical compositions. As a murmur or a pagan prayer, the pieces evoke the ever imminent possibility of regeneration: "The name of the album is inspired by the area where I live, with muddy soil. It fascinates me a lot, although the drought and its cracks make me feel terrible," explains Joana. Perhaps because the floor covering the earth, like a skin of deep cracks, attests to the tiredness, the wrinkles, of civilization. Small blue-metallic flowers, a white animal about to go extinct, rare stones that only exist in two latitudes, the color red as a warning sign, ecological sound, but also as a sign of renewal, as in women in their blood cycles. All of this makes up the universe of Joana Guerra's Chão Vermelho. And as long as the mycelium feels our presence, perhaps there is hope for this ground and for such a woman who in her cycles of renewal is too earthy to be holy. All compositions are by Joana Guerra who, in addition to cello and voice, her main instruments, ventures on Portuguese guitar, prepared electric guitar and keyboard. She is joined by Maria do Mar on the violin and Carlos Godinho on percussion and objects, as well as the contributions of Sofia Queiróz Orê-Ibir and Bernardo Barata, respectively bass and voice. Brick red vinyl; edition of 300.
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MIA 049LP
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"You know, hyenas aren't the bad ones... These days it's humans you should fear." Erik K Skodvin's first solo film score evokes otherworldly dreamscapes that capture the atmosphere of the film Anbessa (2019), shot in Ethiopia by director Mo Scarpelli. As a "creative" documentary the film follows Asalif, a 10-year-old imaginative boy caught between the ancient and the new, navigating modernization on his own terms. Asalif tries to make sense of things while living in a shed on the outskirts of Addis Ababa with his mom. A place where capitalism and "progress" is closing in on all fronts, and threatening their lifestyle. By becoming a lion (anbessa) he can fight back against the forces outside of his control. Pursuing escapism and moments in sound is something Skodvin has been dedicating his life to the last 20 years, with his various projects: Svarte Greiner, Deaf Center, Miasmah. Often in the darker, shadowy corners of sound, but never without glimpses of light and humanity. Anbessa can at first seem like an unlikely film to be his first venture into solo film scoring, and second in total, after his collaborative score with Raúl Pastor Medall for Birgitte Stæremose's thriller Darling (2017). But somehow, the playful, dreamy character of Asalif fits perfectly with his sound. The choice was made to mix field recordings from the film with the music, which creates a type of audio cinema that fully captures the atmosphere of Asalif's world: screaming hyenas, birds, animals, nature, Asalif repairing found electronic devices, talking and singing, seamlessly blend in with bowed guitars, electro-acoustic instruments, trumpets, long pipes, and clay drums, played by Skodvin and by Volcano The Bear's Aaron Moore. The result is an affecting journey. An escape into something hopeful. For the LP edition, the score is set to one vinyl side, while the other side has a series of lone field recordings with locked grooves that creates an eerie further immersion into the world of Asalif. A photo/screenshot from the film comes with the vinyl. Full-tone artwork. B-side contains exclusive field recordings and locked grooves. Includes insert; includes download code; edition of 500.
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MIA 046LP
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The Log and the Leeway follows a six-year journey of personal exploration and drastic change for Bram Bosteels and his singular Kaboom Karavan universe. What entails is a sound-curiosity of rare format, following a metamorphosis that goes beyond the musical. Early in the process, Bram was struck by the word/concept of a "Leeway": the gradual departure from an intended course due to external influences. Following a boyish fascination for explorers' travel journals, logbooks, and the farfetched corners of the world, he could not have foreseen how fitting of a title he had chosen. Drastically all of a sudden one day, completely unexpectedly, Bram experienced his own father dying in front of him from a rare disease. Shocked and confused by this intense encounter, his perspectives and musical course departed from its original path. But at the same time, it was an enlightenment and a necessary influence for him to realize the initial idea and finish this album, started over half a decade before. The ones familiar with Kaboom Karavan already know that nothing really sounds quite like it. Bram's musical (and non-musical) universe is of the rare breed that seems to be entirely his own. Self-contained, but never opaque. Quite the opposite actually. Bram never pushes us away, instead, by listening to his music we are given view to a synesthetic wunderkammer of images, places, objects, and possibilities. Distant but magnetic, alien but intimately familiar, Kaboom is folk music from another dimension. Listening to The Log and the Leeway is like waking up next to a bonfire in the middle of a swamp wearing somebody else's clothes: you may not know how you got here, but whatever is happening seems to very directly involve you. Note from Erik K Skodvin (Miasmah): "All the sounds, fabrics, instrumentation, and stories that binds The Log and the Leeway together go far beyond what can be touched up in this simple writeup. As someone who have followed this journey since the beginning, and seen it shift from lighthearted fun to the most crepuscular personal experience, heard the stories behind (almost) every field recording and gone through boundless amounts of clips, visual details, notes, and inspirations..." Cover painting by John Lurie. 16-page booklet of illustrations/collagés by Walter Dhoogh and Erik K Skodvin that more or less connects (or confuses) the dots between the music and stories behind. Mastered by Lupo at Loop-O. Edition of 200; includes download code.
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MIA 047LP
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Restocked. For their first album since 2015, Zelienople turns on the current time with a record of low-key decaying songs wrapped in hypnotic, driving rhythms. The Chicago-based trio is back with a stunner of an underground pop album. Their most reverb heavy bombast is gone in favor of pure Earth-bound intimate tunes that feel like they summon the spirit of the late Mark Hollis. Shrouded tribal percussion and rippling vocals are at the forefront, while looped atmospheres echo in the distance. Since the release of their last album, vocalist Matt Christensen has been known for pouring his soul out in countless Bandcamp releases of singer/songwriter, experimental, and ambient offerings. It's hard to keep up with him, but one can't but to admire the dedication and extremely high-quality of it all. Mike Weis on the other hand is less prolific, but has become a focused student of Korean Shaman and Buddhist music, often performing in Zen-based percussive rituals when he's not involved in side projects of improvisational music. Brian Harding is perhaps the most anonymous of the three, yet he is the steady, grounding element on bass that keeps them as one. Together, they create a beautifully realized own voice that feels especially close on their new album. Hold You Up is like a slow walk through a withering world, though one with a sense of refuge. This is music with heart -- navigating darkness through light. Includes download code; Edition of 400.
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MIA 045LP
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The two collaborators Gareth Davis and Scanner, known separately for contemporary electronic music and free clarinet experimentations, team up to create the delirious trip, Footfalls. Two scenes are presented here, seemingly taken from different sides of the same desolated seaside setting, loosely inspired by poet and novelist T.S Elliot and Samuel Beckett. In "Towards The Door", Gareth Davis's bass clarinet breathes slow, wave-like tones that merge with the oft-rhythmic electronic textures from his counterpart. A third of the way in, Robin Rimbaud's synth erupts into a Blade Runner-esque epic harmonic section that disappears as suddenly as it arrives -- leaving ripples of oscillation in its wake, slowly unfolding into the sound of waves, as it arrives back where it begun: as a full circle, drawn in echoes of sound. "Smokefall" begins with the words "Invisible Choirs", subtly spoken by a woman's voice among a blurred distant conversation, as textural sound effects creep forwards to the point where a slow progressing but steady LFO rhythm enters. Water, metal, and smoke are absorbed into a creeping tribal passage, accompanied by long clarinet tones. The piece expands further and further into a state of ecstatic harmonic noise that fulfills all parts of your body -- if played loud. Both artists from here on move into full on crushing electronics, all while Rimbaud's Kilpatrick Phenol synth drives the background with its pulses and repetitive bassline. The piece has an ellipse like rotation that makes one feel a sort of blissful vertigo that reverberates in your mind after the piece has ended. Footfalls is a euphoric trip from two artists that -- although prolific -- manage to arrive at the perfect meeting point to deliver two hard to shake pieces of dizzying electro-acoustic perfection. Metallic pantone spot color artwork. Orange vinyl; includes download code; edition of 300.
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MIA 013RE-LP
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Miasmah present a 2019 repress of Marcus Fjellström's Schattenspieler, originally released in 2010. Swedish composer and multimedia artist Marcus Fjellström's debut Miasmah release followed two critically acclaimed, full-length albums on Lampse -- 2006's Gebrauchsmusik (LAMP 006CD) and 2005's Exercises In Estrangement (LAMP 002CD). In addition, Marcus has had several commissioned works requested, leading to him working with, among others, the Swedish Royal Ballet, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, numerous ensembles, soloists and filmmakers including Salad Fingers creator David Firth. Based in Berlin, Fjellström's compositions often combined aspects of modern classical composition and arrangement and more avant forms of music, be that acoustic or electronic. Schattenspieler (which translates as "Shadowplayer") takes the form of eleven compositions which explore ambience and melody, texture and silence. Haunting synth and orchestral instrument-based audio constructions, flowing from one moment to the next -- the fleeting ghosts of Fjellström's melodies rise, only to be buried under a claustrophobic clutter of percussion and creaking background noise. These pieces do indeed feel like you're listening to something more implied than obviously stated, as if Fjellström wanted only to expose us to the shadow of the music -- the implication being perhaps a more terrifying experience than to be confronted outright -- listen to Schattenspieler and you may find your mind starts to play tricks on you... The undeniably Angelo Badalamenti-esque descending synth strings of opening track "The Disjointed", lay the foundations for Fjellström's Schattenspieler album; music resting somewhere between the unsettling horror soundtracks of Jerry Goldsmith, the elevating melodies of Cliff Martinez, and the subtle audio constructions of Miasmah label mates, Kreng and Jacaszek. Marcus's wide-ranging abilities in composition and his willingness to let go of accepted form and function makes Schattenspieler a perfect choice of release for the Miasmah label. The suspense laden "Antichrist Architechture Management", with its harrowing and tense undertones, weaving synth lines and a wash of static hiss and flicker, is a particular standout track. Despite it's a strangely oppressive sound, shafts of light grace Schattenspieler; pieces such as "Untitled 090616" find gorgeous melodies are boxed in by unsettling arrangements and sparse background ambience. There is a coldness to many of these compositions -- not without emotion, but somehow remorseless. Schattenspieler is, for the main part, a defiantly bleak journey. Includes 12-inch, eight-page booklet with drawings by Marcus Fjellström. Purple vinyl; edition of 300.
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MIA 043LP
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Miasmah present the first vinyl issue of Marcus Fjellström's first album Exercises In Estrangement, originally released in 2005. Listening back to it now only re-confirms the unique mind of the Swedish composer, who sadly died in September 2017, only 37 years old. Marcus was an avant-garde composer and audio/visual artist exploring the edges of classical music. The word "classical" here means nothing in the usual sense, as he would bend the rules to his liking -- and hence create a completely own sound that is hard to define. A student of the conservatory in Piteå, Sweden, Marcus's path was unlike most composers with similar backgrounds. His love for the bizarre and macabre would send him on a descent into the darkest corners of musical experimentation. A trajectory that resulted in some of the most peculiar and fascinating sound documents created in the last two decades. For his debut album, Marcus made a record that not only lives up to its name, but really is a profoundly mind-expanding listen that might sound even more intriguing today than back in 2005. Reflections on everything from spirituality, resurrection, and abstract art is being undertaken, all while adding a big dose of the absurd. As Tiny Mix Tapes wrote back in 2005: "Marcus Fjellström's Exercises In Estrangement is an unsettling, visionary work of modern composition that falls soundly within the idiom of contemporary electronic music yet evokes the darker aspects of the work of many of the more brooding mid- to late-twentieth century European classical composers."Includes 12-inch, eight-page booklet with drawings by Marcus Fjellström; edition of 300.
Marcus worked with the Swedish Royal Ballet, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Sinfonietta Cracovia as well as numerous other orchestras, ensembles and soloists, artists and filmmakers. He spent the last half year of his life scoring the AMC series The Terror. In his works, Marcus often aimed to combine opposites so that they don't contradict each other, but rather fuse into a natural, third element -- "high" and "low" culture, the naïve and the sophisticated, good and bad taste. These are all elements that comfortably blend together in his works. Musical influences range from electronic acts such as Aphex Twin and Autechre to 20th century composers such as György Ligeti and John Cage. Further influences include impressionist composers Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy as well as film music composers Bernard Herrmann, Angelo Badalamenti, and Zdeněk Liska.
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MIA 044LP
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Miasmah present the first vinyl issue of Marcus Fjellström's second album Gebrauchsmusik, originally released in 2006. Gebrauchsmusik is a bizarre sound document that deserves a closer look. Listening back, it only re-confirms the unique mind of the Swedish composer, who sadly died in September 2017, only 37 years old. "Gebrauchsmusik" is German for "Utility Music", and his second excursion into post-classical experimentation is exactly that; thirteen tracks with each one written to suit a certain theme. War, art, festivity, sadness, death, and resurrection are all interpreted by Fjellström in his unique style, taking a classical framework and distorting, confusing, and manipulating them into far fetching scenarios that is only limited by one's own imagination. Includes 12-inch, eight-page booklet with drawings by Marcus Fjellström; edition of 300.
Marcus worked with the Swedish Royal Ballet, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and Sinfonietta Cracovia as well as numerous other orchestras, ensembles and soloists, artists, and filmmakers. He spent the last half year of his life scoring the AMC series The Terror. In his works, Marcus often aimed to combine opposites so that they don't contradict each other, but rather fuse into a natural, third element -- "high" and "low" culture, the naïve and the sophisticated, good and bad taste. These are all elements that comfortably blend together in his works. Musical influences range from electronic acts such as Aphex Twin and Autechre to 20th century composers such as György Ligeti and John Cage. Further influences include impressionist composers Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy as well as film music composers Bernard Herrmann, Angelo Badalamenti, and Zdeněk Liska.
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2LP
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MIA 042LP
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Deaf Center's second album Owl Splinters from 2011 gets a lavish re-packaging as a gatefold, double-LP. It includes the Svarte Greiner re-interpretation album, Twin, as well as new cover art with photos by cinematographer Joshua Zucker-Pluda. Owl Splinters was originally released six years after DC's debut, Pale Ravine. In contrast to their previous work, it was recorded in a studio setting (Nils Frahm's Durton studio, to be exact), and the lo-fidelity, haphazard techniques of their early recordings where all but gone. With the benefit of high-end engineering and analog equipment, Erik K Skodvin and Otto A Totland's murky compositions were transformed from sketches into glorious widescreen spectacles. Eight years later the album sounds as moving, beautiful, and obscure as it did back then. Twin is a 40-minute interpretation of Owl Splinters by Erik K Skodvin under his Svarte Greiner alias. The record takes the long-form, ghostly sections of its parent album and expands them into crushing drone epics. The two parts are cut into four sections, pieced together by used and unused material from the recording session. It first appeared in form of an accompaniment CD that came with the initial 100 LPs of Owl Splinters. This is the first time Twin appears on vinyl. Double LP version; Gatefold sleeve with foil embossing; Includes download code.
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MIA 041CD
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For this from that will be filled is the debut album by Clarice Jensen, artistic director of the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME). The album explores the variable differences between acoustic and electronic sound as well as depiction of the simulated and the unconscious. It was originally conceived as a collaboration between Jensen and the artist Jonathan Turner as an audio-visual work, but is here presented in it's pure audible form. Building on a long and romantic tradition of solo cello repertoire, Jensen expands and confuses the familiar sound of the cello through the use of effects pedals, multi-tracking, and tape loops recorded at variable speeds, presented in works she has written for herself as well as a piece she conceived together with Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson. Also featured is Michael Harrison's "Cello Constellations" for multi-tracked cello and sine tones, written for Jensen, which meditates on long, sustaining tones. With For This From That Will Be Filled, Jensen has made an incredibly strong first album that feels like a surreal and futuristic journey through an alternate timeline. CD version comes in an initial edition of 300; Digipak.
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MIA 041LP
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2023 repress. Silver vinyl; metallic color artwork; edition of 300. LP version. For this from that will be filled is the debut album by Clarice Jensen, artistic director of the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME). The album explores the variable differences between acoustic and electronic sound as well as depiction of the simulated and the unconscious. It was originally conceived as a collaboration between Jensen and the artist Jonathan Turner as an audio-visual work, but is here presented in it's pure audible form. Building on a long and romantic tradition of solo cello repertoire, Jensen expands and confuses the familiar sound of the cello through the use of effects pedals, multi-tracking, and tape loops recorded at variable speeds, presented in works she has written for herself as well as a piece she conceived together with Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson. Also featured is Michael Harrison's "Cello Constellations" for multi-tracked cello and sine tones, written for Jensen, which meditates on long, sustaining tones. With For This From That Will Be Filled, Jensen has made an incredibly strong first album that feels like a surreal and futuristic journey through an alternate timeline.
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MIA 040LP
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Apart is a mini-album containing a set of cello improvisations, conceived during days of solemn recording in the basement of an unused industrial space outside of Bern, Switzerland. Svarte Greiner on the recording process. "In autumn 2015 I was invited to perform and stay for a week 'residency' at the -- as it turned out one off -- Rebirth Festival in Bern, Switzerland. I was staying at an abandoned farm in the hills, half an hour outside the city with the group of young people responsible for the festival. My room was equipped with a mattress on the floor, some strange paintings, and a lot of spider webs. The view outside was straight into an open field with mostly hills, a forest, and some tents, all of which would be covered in fog every morning. By night I was driven to the venue -- an unused industrial building slightly outside of central Bern. Three of the nights there I was given a cello, a sleeping bag, full access to the building, and especially its big open basement space for recording. . . . Most of the rooms were made into some kind of surreal art object, often recalling a sort of Mad Max post-apocalyptic feel. I realised that getting a clean recording here would be nearly impossible, as the building had a tendency for strange noises, clicks and sounds, seemingly turning itself on and off at random. It was also located right next to the train tracks, which meant I had about ten minutes of quiet in which to record in between the thunder of passing trains -- a lot of recordings were ruined. However, all these off elements somehow had their charm. Having such a big empty space for myself, filled with strange installations and sculptures set up for the festival, was both inspiring and eerie. When not playing and just sitting still, it was unnerving. The lights were on motion detectors and would automatically turn off after five minutes without movement, leaving me alone with nothing but a small lamp and my thoughts. Sometimes I wished my imagination would be less vivid, as I´d have an easier time not imagining all kinds of obscure happenings in the shadows. Then again, this is also something that intrigued me so much that I felt no choice but to investigate closer. . . ." Includes download code.
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MIA 039LP
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Miasmah present a reissue of Svarte Greiner's debut album Knive, originally released on Type in 2006. 11 years since its inception, the surreal and darkly romantic Knive still sounds like a mystery and something that's hard to pin down. Svarte Greiner's debut album feels like a trip into the forest at midnight, with all the sounds and impressions that comes with it. Spiritual, horrific, and fragile in essence, its melancholic core is hard to shake off, and feels as present today as it did back then. While starting off the sub-genre of "acoustic doom" back in 2006, it's difficult to say what else to name it now, with its inspiration and elements from countless genres. The record flows through the dissonant cellos and washed-out vocals of "Ocean Out Of Wood" past the introverted church organs of "The Black Dress", distorted guitars and wooden beats of "The Dining Table" to the operatic finale of "Final Sleep". Everything is scattered, with field recordings from crows, branches, walking, sleeping, rain, wind, and who-knows-what. Knive stands on many feet, wherever they may be. Erik K Skodvin's path as Svarte Greiner have since been dwelling more and more into this world, picking each element apart to focus on them, stretching them out or cutting them down, looping, experimenting, and flooding with reverb -- trying to make time stop and night fall. But for now a re-visit to where it all started seems appropriate. Includes download code; Full-tone color artwork; Edition of 500.
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