Grand River — Tuning the Wind
Vinyl LP LTD + DIGITAL
CATALOG UR153 — RELEASE DATE: March, 2025
Concept, composition and production by Aimée Portioli. Wind recordings by Aimée Portioli and Pablo Diserens.
Mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri. Front cover photo by Bárbara Cameán and Aimée Portioli. Back cover photo by Maria Louceiro. Design by Daniel Castrejón.
TRACKLIST LP (36:16)
Tuning the Wind Part I
Tuning the Wind Part II
TRACKLIST DL (36:16)
Tuning the Wind
︎︎ LP+DL ︎︎︎ ANOST ︎︎ LP+DL ︎︎︎ BANDCAMP
Tuning the Wind was created in 2022 as an installation piece. Since then, it has been adapted into multichannel, 4DSOUND, and stereo installations, as well as performed live on numerous occasions around the world. The piece has a duration of 36 minutes and 15 seconds. For the vinyl pressing, it has been divided into two parts.
Tuning the Wind was created in 2022 as an installation piece. Since then, it has been adapted into multichannel, 4DSOUND, and stereo installations, as well as performed live on numerous occasions around the world. The piece has a duration of 36 minutes and 15 seconds. For the vinyl pressing, it has been divided into two parts.
Composer Aimée Portioli, known professionally as Grand River, recorded various types of wind and then reworked them through layering and pitch adjustment to create a musical piece where the wind itself becomes a prepared instrument. At times, the sound of the wind is tuned to the 440 Hz reference, while at other times, the instruments are tuned to the sound of the wind. In Tuning the Wind, nature and music merge seamlessly. Synthesizers and wind recordings become indistinguishable, blending natural sounds with human-made instruments. The boundary between a gust of wind and an instrument-generated sound fades away. Human artistry and nature’s symphony merge to become one.
Wind is air in motion. It makes no sound until it encounters an object. The sounds it produces depend on the strength of the wind and the shape and material of the object it touches. When the wind blows, trees sway, buildings rattle, materials move, and sound waves are generated. Some believe that temperature changes create layers of air, and that the friction between them forms a unique sound—perhaps the true voice of the wind, which birds may be the only creatures capable of recognising. Sometimes the wind howls; at other times, it sings or whistles, shifting from a gentle murmur to an angry roar. The wind’s range of frequencies, tones, and timbres is vast and varied. Tuning the Wind is a piece about the wind, made with the wind—an abstract expression of our ongoing conversation with nature.
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AAAA — X Scroll Era
Vinyl LP LTD (PURPLE) + DIGITAL
CATALOG UR152 — RELEASE DATE: September 12, 2024
All music composed, produced and mixed by Gabo Barranco aka AAAA in Centro Histórico, Mexico City, between January and April 2024.
Mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri at Black Knoll Studio, NY. Photos by Mateo Barbuzzi. Design by Daniel Castrejón.
TRACKLIST (42:00)
01 Capsula C.
02 Slowcore Groove
03 X Scroll Era
04 Refugio
05 Maquinas de Humo
06 Lomas de Sotelo
07 Main Character Syndrum
08 Safe House
09 Fogger 2000
10 You May Rest Here
︎︎ LP+DL ︎︎︎ ANOST ︎︎ LP+DL ︎︎︎ BANDCAMP
Through X Scroll Era, Gabo Barranco, aka AAAA, conducts a rigorous overhaul of the aesthetics and statements of low-profile IDM, trance, and progressive-acid music typical of the early 2000’s. In addition to this inherent and undeniable veneration for the era, the pieces on this album — which originated from recordings and experimental exercises with gear and accidentally became an album — serve also as a kind of retrospective inspection of Mexico City's suburbs (Lomas de Sotelo), with landscapes full of indiscriminate concrete, highways of two and three levels, factories, and parking lots that have supplanted nature with their own detached beauty. It is a sound memory, a specific melancholy that praises skate squads of the area, friends from the past, parties, and substances. It reviews the decline of rave culture but also its resilience and capacity for transformation. What AAAA offers us with X Scroll Era is an almost multigenerational soundtrack, a memory that feels collective and recollects euphoria, ecstasy, and nostalgia.
Through X Scroll Era, Gabo Barranco, aka AAAA, conducts a rigorous overhaul of the aesthetics and statements of low-profile IDM, trance, and progressive-acid music typical of the early 2000’s. In addition to this inherent and undeniable veneration for the era, the pieces on this album — which originated from recordings and experimental exercises with gear and accidentally became an album — serve also as a kind of retrospective inspection of Mexico City's suburbs (Lomas de Sotelo), with landscapes full of indiscriminate concrete, highways of two and three levels, factories, and parking lots that have supplanted nature with their own detached beauty. It is a sound memory, a specific melancholy that praises skate squads of the area, friends from the past, parties, and substances. It reviews the decline of rave culture but also its resilience and capacity for transformation. What AAAA offers us with X Scroll Era is an almost multigenerational soundtrack, a memory that feels collective and recollects euphoria, ecstasy, and nostalgia.
After several LPs and EPs (Acid Test, Omnidisc, Janushoved) and several years active in the dance and contemplative electronic music circuit (MUTEK, BERGHAIN, iii Points, RBMA), X Scroll Era is the first album by Gabo Barranco, aka AAAA, published on the Mexican label Umor Rex.
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Driftmachine & Ammer — Sonic Behaviour
Vinyl LP LTD + DIGITAL
CATALOG UR151 — RELEASED MAY 2024
All music composed by Andreas Ammer, Andreas Gerth, Florian Zimmer; Berlin & Berg 2022—2023. Andreas Gerth / Florian Zimmer: electronics Andreas Ammer: sirens. “Song to Noise” words by Deryn Rees-Jones, taken from Signs Round a Dead Body (Seren) 1998; german translation by Birgit Kreipe; voices: Deryn Rees-Jones & Alexander Hacke “The Siren is a simple device” & “Sonic sculpture” words by Andreas Ammer; voice: Ted Milton.
Artwork by Daniel Castrejón. Mastered by John Tejada.
TRACKLIST (40:00)
01 Song to noise
02 The siren is a simple device
03 Sonic sculpture
04 Song to noise / Version
︎︎ LP+DL ︎︎︎ ANOST ︎︎ LP+DL ︎︎︎ BANDCAMP
Sonic Behaviour by Driftmachine & Ammer is an album exploring the origins of sound, noise, and various music genres. Alongside lyrical declarations of love for noise (“Song to Noise”), the album delves into sonic reflections on how beauty and emotion emerge from mundane vibrations in the air ("A Siren Is A Simple Device"). For the first time, the analog sound researchers of Driftmachine (Andreas Gerth, Florian Zimmer) incorporate spoken language and noise into their sound research. They have collaborated with word and sound artist Andreas Ammer, renowned for his radio plays with Acid Pauli, aka Console (“Spaceman 85”), or FM Einheit (“Radio Inferno”, “Symphony of Sirens”).
Sonic Behaviour by Driftmachine & Ammer is an album exploring the origins of sound, noise, and various music genres. Alongside lyrical declarations of love for noise (“Song to Noise”), the album delves into sonic reflections on how beauty and emotion emerge from mundane vibrations in the air ("A Siren Is A Simple Device"). For the first time, the analog sound researchers of Driftmachine (Andreas Gerth, Florian Zimmer) incorporate spoken language and noise into their sound research. They have collaborated with word and sound artist Andreas Ammer, renowned for his radio plays with Acid Pauli, aka Console (“Spaceman 85”), or FM Einheit (“Radio Inferno”, “Symphony of Sirens”).
In “A Siren is a Simple Device”, the words are spoken by 81-year-old musician and poet legend Ted Milton (Blurt, Loopspool). Despite its simplicity and obvious ability to produce high volumes, the siren has led a marginal existence as a musical instrument. Yet, it is capable of evoking the most intense emotional states in the listener in the shortest possible time, like almost no other sound-producing mechanism. “Sonic Behaviour” capitalizes on this fact. The familiar hypnotic sounds of Driftmachine are accompanied by a siren organ inspired by the revolutionary Russian futurist Arsenij Avranov and built by Andreas Ammer, while the lyrics talk about the simple physical reasons behind the sound chaos that has just been unleashed: A siren ... chops the air into sound.
The core of the album is “Song to Noise,” an electro-acoustic mini-symphony about the beauties of noise and all its producers, which is based on a poem by the British poet Deryn Rees-Jones and spoken by the poet herself and Alexander Hacke (Einstürzende Neubauten, Hackedepicciotto). Driftmachine & Ammer develop a soundtrack that is as powerful as it is loud and danceable (which is why the LP also includes a textless version of the composition).
“Sonic Sculpture” is the zenith of the work: a text/music track spoken by Ted Milton, which creates the possibility of a sound sculpture that encompasses the universe: What if one could imagine the infernal sound that encompasses all conceivable harmonies at the same time? A piano does when you throw it down an earthly staircase (the epitome of music is a piano falling down the stairs) through silent space to the next theoretically life-filled, Earth-like planet, Proxima Centauri B. The radio makes it possible. Driftmachine & Ammer tried it. The result will be heard there in 4.24 light-years. On planet Earth, the time has come on May 2, 2024. On this day, Sonic Behaviour will be released, a conceptual album by Driftmachine & Ammer exploring sound, its creation, and its power.
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Opuntia — Mercurio
Vinyl LP LTD + DIGITAL
CATALOG UR150 — RELEASED MARCH 2024
Music and lyrics by Camila de Laborde (Opuntia). Recorded at Haus, Lisbon; MCO Studios, Mexico City; Firgun Recordings, Fontainebleau.
Mixed by Santiago Rodríguez & Camila de Laborde at Eviltapes Studio, Mexico City. Mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri at Black Knoll Studio, NY.
Cover photo by Manuela de Laborde / Daniel de Laborde. Layout by Daniel Castrejón.
TRACKLIST (47:00)
01 Lake of voices
02 Déjame decir que no
03 Low machine
04 Meketer
05 Carry a rock
06 Hold
07 Howl
08 9 for 9
09 No lo veía venir
10 The starting beat
︎︎ LP+DL ︎︎︎ ANOST ︎︎ LP+DL ︎︎︎ BANDCAMP
Mercurio is the debut album by Opuntia, the solo project of Mexico City producer Camila de Laborde. After three albums with her duo/band, Camila Fuchs (ATP/Felte, etc.), Camila decides to embark on a new path of musical and interpersonal exploration with Opuntia as her new alias, and with the album Mercurio as a statement of metamorphosis and creative process.
Mercurio is the debut album by Opuntia, the solo project of Mexico City producer Camila de Laborde. After three albums with her duo/band, Camila Fuchs (ATP/Felte, etc.), Camila decides to embark on a new path of musical and interpersonal exploration with Opuntia as her new alias, and with the album Mercurio as a statement of metamorphosis and creative process.
Broadly speaking, Mercurio is a direct impact of beautiful melodies, rhythms, and voices that traverse a leftfield electronic pop axis, sprinkled with elegant nods to experimental transitions. In Mercurio, you can sense the spaces, textures, and echoes, akin to a sort of retro Sci-Fi analogy. Bass hits or percussions carry a weight that bursts forth yet delicately dissolves instantly – perhaps another analogy, akin to liquid metal. From softness to fury across the ten songs, Opuntia proposes an artistic reinvention in constant movement. Speeds and spaces change, but the narrative remains consistent from beginning to end – finding a place, a resolved utopia. Mercurio is darkly joyful, with substantial doses of sophisticated pop.
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Andreas Gerth and Carl Oesterhelt — Music for Unknown Rituals
2xLP Vinyl in 4 panel gatefold LTD 300 + DIGITAL
CATALOG UR149 — RELEASED NOVEMBER 2023
All music composed by Andreas Gerth and Carl Oesterhelt. Mastered by John Tejada in Los Angeles. Artwork by Daniel Castrejón in Mexico City.
TRACKLIST (69:00)
01 Derived from the trout mask in a tentative manner
02 The dissolution of time
03 Abdication
04 The alphabet of steps
05 Les cycles extatiques
06 The geometry of rhythmics
07 At the margin of moments
08 Through the deserts of postmodernity
09 Stereometry of moving bodies
10 Suspecting metaphysical symbols
︎︎ LP+DL ︎︎︎ ANOST ︎︎ LP+DL ︎︎︎ BANDCAMP
— Andreas Gerth is one half of Driftmachine, and Carl Osterhelt is part of F.S.K and collaborates with Hans-Joachim Irmler of Faust. Both became connected through their participation in the Tied & Tickled Trio.
After two years, Carl and Andreas present their second album, and once again, it opens up a wide associative space for us. What strikes us initially is the uncommon instrumentation: a church organ, harpsichord, glass tubes, and more. Like their first album (The Aporias of Futurism), it is mysterious and dark. But it also carries a strong touch of rebellion and adrenaline, sometimes quite pointedly. The pieces are now shorter and feature intricate yet irresistible rhythms. The impact is immediate, yet it maintains a sense of solemnity and ceremony. The Apollonian complexity of the rhythms and subtle melodic interweavings is transformed into a Dionysian, ecstatic, hypnotic, and at times tribal context. "Music for Unknown Rituals" oscillates between primitive instincts and avant-garde intrigues.
— Andreas Gerth is one half of Driftmachine, and Carl Osterhelt is part of F.S.K and collaborates with Hans-Joachim Irmler of Faust. Both became connected through their participation in the Tied & Tickled Trio.
After two years, Carl and Andreas present their second album, and once again, it opens up a wide associative space for us. What strikes us initially is the uncommon instrumentation: a church organ, harpsichord, glass tubes, and more. Like their first album (The Aporias of Futurism), it is mysterious and dark. But it also carries a strong touch of rebellion and adrenaline, sometimes quite pointedly. The pieces are now shorter and feature intricate yet irresistible rhythms. The impact is immediate, yet it maintains a sense of solemnity and ceremony. The Apollonian complexity of the rhythms and subtle melodic interweavings is transformed into a Dionysian, ecstatic, hypnotic, and at times tribal context. "Music for Unknown Rituals" oscillates between primitive instincts and avant-garde intrigues.
The process began in Döblitz, a small village on the Saale river in Germany, inside an old church that houses an organ built in 1886 by Johann Adolph Ibach. Carl and Andreas gained access and secluded themselves there for a few days, accompanied by the organ, an instrument made of glass tubes, and a set of modular synthesizers. After recording the basic tracks in Döblitz, the work continued in Munich and Berlin. Carl played electric guitars, harpsichord, bass, metallophone, xylophone, Indian harmonium, and various percussive instruments. Andreas added layers of electronic sounds, noises, and atmospheric drones. He also created percussive structures extracted and derived from recorded material of technical and industrial noises, which contrasted with the acoustic drums played by Carl. The antithetical approach continues with the dichotomous arrangement of the instruments, often panned hard left and right in the stereo field, creating an antiphonic communication. Some parts, especially the use of the electric guitar, evoke memories of the psychedelic sixties. However, this is anything but a nostalgic album—these musical references are merely remnants, set pieces, and fragments used from a contemporary, post-modern, post-youth-cultural, and post-romantic perspective.
Although Andreas and Carl continue on their chosen path of composing music with an almost literary narrative structure, this album is conceptually and formally completely different from their first effort. If “The Aporias of Futurism” was a revolutionary manifesto (in a pataphysical sense), "Music for Unknown Rituals" is more like the implementation in action; it is the practical application of the previous statement. To put it another way, if "The Aporias of Futurism” was the conceptual manifesto of a dark utopia of modernity, "Music for Unknown Rituals" is the staging of free will surrendering to the myths and catharsis of a Greek tragedy. And in response to this, the artwork features a leitmotif of histrionics with hands, the hands being the first and intuitive part of the body to express something: a ritual, a prayer, a defeat...
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