LIGHTS OUT ASIA
Hy-Brasil
MD200
n5MD 2012
12 Tracks. 70mins59secs

Amazon UK: CD | DLD US: CD | DLD Boomkat: DLD iTunes: DLD

Another Atlantis, located somewhere west of Ireland in the Atlantic Ocean, Hy-Brasil is a mythical island, which is said to appear, briefly, on the horizon every seven years, before being submerged again. It is thought that Brasil was named after this lost land, and the sliced blue circle at the centre of its flag is said to be a close representation of how the island was depicted on early maps.

Hy-Brasil is also the title of Lights Out Asia’s latest album, their fifth since 2003 and their fourth for Californian imprint n5MD. Continue Reading »

EX CONFUSION
Embrace
MD196
n5MD 2012
10 Tracks. 45mins24secs

Amazon UK: CD | DLD US: CD | DLD iTunes: DLD

Ex Confusion is the solo endeavour of Japanese musician Atsuhito Omori. Following a debut album published on U-Cover two years ago and handful of EPs released through Heat Death, Somehow, Rural Colours and Twisted Tree Line since, and a spot on For Nihon, a compilation curated by Goldmund’s Keith Kenniff in support of the Japan Earthquake Relief Fund last year, Omori has landed a place on California’s premier electronic imprint n5MD. Deeply atmospheric, warm and textural, Omori’s music is built from heavily processed guitar or piano sequences, stretched and shaped into wonderfully gentle dreamy pieces, and drenched in long slow reverbs. Continue Reading »

MARK HARRIS
An Idea Of North/Learning To Walk
CATMD195
n5MD 2012
05 Tracks. 44mins22secs

Amazon UK: CD | DLD US: CD | DLD Boomkat: DLD iTunes: DLD

West Midland-based artist Mark Harris was originally primarily involved with visual arts, but a keen interest in generative systems led him to develop software applications which consequently used during live performances, and resulted in a spot on Birmingham Sound Matter, a compilation curated by Francisco López published on  Audiobulb in 2009, and in a first album, The Boy Observes The Ocean, released on Hibernate two years ago. Harris is also a member of Birmingham’s audio visual collective Modulate alongside, amongst others, Higher Intelligence Agency’s Bobby Bird.

The recording of this album came about when most of the UK faced an unusually cold and snowy spell over Christmas 2010. Harris found himself snowed him at home and, making the most of the situation, started improvising what would become the centre piece of the record, a sprawling nineteen minute atmospheric formation built from processed field recordings and acoustic instruments. Continue Reading »

PROEM
Enough Conflict
MD179
n5MD 2010
14 Tracks. 50mins23secs

Amazon UK: CD | DLD US: CD | DLD Boomkat: DLD iTunes: DLD

In the ten years or so since he first appeared on the music scene, Proem’s Richard Bailey has contributed releases to quite a few labels, from Hydrant and Monotonik to En:peg Digital and Nonresponse, but he has always returned to California-based n5MD, publishing four albums through them, one of which still only available as a MiniDisc, harking back to the original nature of the label.

One of the main qualities of Bailey’s work is the way he maintains a fine balance between melody and abstraction, yet, his last album, Till There’s No Breath, released last year on Nonresponse, investigated much dark terrains than usual. Continue Reading »

NEAR THE PARENTHESIS
Music For The Forest Concourse
CATMD176
n5MD 2010
12 Tracks. 61mins49secs

Amazon UK: CD | DLD US: CD | DLD Boomkat: DLD iTunes: DLD

Surfing the wave of lush cinematic electronic music, Near The Parenthesis’s Tim Arndt has, in the space of three records, refined a very personal style, which often relies heavily on sumptuous soundscapes and sweeping melodies. With his latest effort, Music For The Forest Concourse, released on n5MD, the San Francisco-based producer and musician has taken this to a very different level, as he adds elegant piano sections to this exquisitely layered compositions to greatly accentuate the evocative power of his music.

While his work as Near The Parenthesis has always been primarily electronic-based, Arndt has, over the years, played guitar and piano in several bands, and has occasionally incorporated some of these in his solo work. Continue Reading »

SUBTRACTIVELAD
Life At The End Of The World
MD173
n5MD 2010
10 Tracks. 63mins14secs

Amazon UK: CD | DLD US: CD | DLD Boomkat: CD iTunes: DLD

Anchored somewhere between the refined ambient work of Brian Eno and the lush hazy guitar motifs of Slowdive, Vancouver-based Stephen Hummel, AKA SubtractiveLAD, has become, in the space of six albums in as many years, one of the most prominent artists to have emerged from the n5MD stable. From his first steps away from his background as a jazz musician back in 2005, he has predominantly been found scouring the outer reaches of ambient electronic music, and while his subsequent record, Suture (2006) introduced a slightly more beat-driven approach, he returned to vast atmospheric soundscapes with No Man’s Lab (2007), this time supplementing his largely electronic set up with a guitar, an instrument which, in extremely treated form, has since become central to his work. Continue Reading »

ANOTHER ELECTRONIC MUSICIAN
States Of Space
MD171
n5MD 2010
10 Tracks. 51mins38secs

Amazon UK: CD | DLD US: CD | DLD Boomkat: CD iTunes: DLD

Once upon a time, electronica was an overwhelmingly faceless art form. With time, the names and faces of those behind the music have become more commonly known. California-based Jase Rex turned this on its head when he adopted the somewhat ultra generic and non-committal Another Electronic Musician moniker for his music project, started while studying physics at university, in 2001. Following a string of web releases, Rex joined the n5MD crew and released his debut album, Use, in 2005, followed by a second, Patience, a year later, and a third, Five, in 2008.

With previous releases, Rex found his feet somewhere between the lush sounds and beats of Detroit techno and more refined forms of electronica, and it is a template that he applies on his fourth album for n5MD. Continue Reading »

FUNCKARMA
Vell Vagranz
CATMD164
N5MD 2008
15 Tracks. 73mins07secs

Having fingers in more pies than one could care to count, Dutch duo Funckarma regularly cover a wide array of styles and genres, but it is with their original project that they remain best known. Formed of brothers Don and Roel Funken, who grew up in The Hague, Funckarma first appeared back in 1999 with their debut EP, released on Rotterdam-based Djak-Up-Bitch imprint. Two more released followed that same year, and an album, collecting some of these tracks, was released the following year. Since, they have dispensed EPs and full length records on an impressive number of imprints, from Neo Ouija and Sublight Record to Highpoint Lowlife and n5MD.

Released on Oakland, CA, based n5MD, their latest missive, Vell Vagranz, is undoubtedly the pair’s most eclectic and varied record to date. Continue Reading »

NEAR THE PARENTHESIS
L’Eixample
CATMD159
n5MD 2008
09 Tracks. 53mins02secs

For his third album, San Francisco-based electronic musician Tim Amdt, who has been officiating under the strange pseudonym of Near The Parenthesis for a few years now, sought inspiration during a trip to Barcelona, and more particularly to the nineteenth century district of L’Eixample, renowned for its modernist architecture, including some of Gaudi’s best known buildings.

Having spent years in various formations through the years, Amdt finally established himself as a solo artist toward the beginning of the decade. His first album, Go Out And See, was published in 2006 on Canadian imprint Music Made By People, and was followed by an EP on Duotone that same year. Signed to n5MD shortly after, the second NTP album, Of Soft Construction, was released in 2007.

With L’Eixample, Amdt returns to the gentle atmospheric postcards that defined his previous outputs and expands on the already rich soundscapes and textures that served them. Continue Reading »