VARIOUS ARTISTS: Physic Or Surgery (Highpoint Lowlife)

themilkman on Sep 21st 2011 01:31 am

V/A: Physic Or Surgery

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Physic Or Surgery
HPLL058
Highpoint Lowlife 2011
28 Tracks. 138mins42secs

Amazon UK: DLD US: DLD Boomkat: DLD iTunes: DLD

The statement is brutal: HPLL058 Physic Or Surgery – The Final Release. In these days where music has become a commodity with often very little value, the demise of a record label, especially one with such an excellent track record as that of Highpoint Lowlife, is a severe blow. Over a period of ten years, the label spearheaded by Thorsten Sideb0ard has consistently found itself at the forefront of contemporary underground electronic music in its many forms, and occasionally beyond, and provided a steady home or temporary shelter for artists as diverse as Fisk Industries, Erstlaub, Si-Cut.db, Bovaflux, , Marshall Watson, 10-20, Dalglish, Like A Stuntman and the Marcia Blaine School For Girls umbrella of projects, including The Village Orchestra and Production Unit. Continue Reading »

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DALGLISH: Benacah Drann Deachd (Highpoint Lowlife)

themilkman on Apr 15th 2011 01:18 am

Dalglish: Benacah Drann Deachd

DALGLISH
Benacah Drann Deachd
HPLL057
Highpoint Lowlife 2011
11 Tracks. 44mins14secs

Chris Douglas has been making music under one moniker or another for the best part of twenty years, but amidst his numerous projects, Dalglish strikes by its resolutely dystopian outlook, served by highly processed oppressive electronic soundscapes, each denser than the previous one. What was already rather intense electronic music on OtHohr (Highpoint Lowlife, 2004) had become even more desolate and complex by the time he published Ideom (Record Label Records), four years on, and Benacah Drann Deachd is undoubtedly cast from a similar mould.

This is not an easy album to get into, its resolutely abstract rendering, lack of conventional musical structure and uncomfortably intense minimalism often leave tracks feeling so seemingly unsubstantial than they at times appear as nothing more than vague sketches. Continue Reading »

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TVO/THE VILLAGE ORCHESTRA: Amid The Blaze Of Noon (Highpoint Lowlife)

themilkman on Apr 7th 2011 10:00 pm

TVO/The Village  Orchestra: Amid The Blaze Of Noon

TVO/THE VILLAGE ORCHESTRA
Amid The Blaze Of Noon
HPLL056
Highpoint Lowlife 2011
01 Track. 64mins04secs

Amazon UK: DLD US: DLD Boomkat: DLD

Ruaridh Law has, from his debut album, released on Highpoint Lowlife six years ago, created a truly unique and individual body of work. In recent months, Law has been busy establishing his new imprint, Broken20, just as one of the labels who have been so supportive of his work, Highpoint Lowlife, is in the process of folding out. It is therefore quite fitting that one of the label’s last releases should be the latest Village Orchestra opus.

Like some of Law’s more recent releases, Amid The Blaze Of Noon is essentially an hour-long piece, but this is more than just one lengthy experiment. Continue Reading »

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ERSTLAUB: Sleepwalking Into The Underworld (Highpoint Lowlife)

themilkman on Jan 5th 2011 01:06 am

Erstlaub: Sleepwalking Into The Underworld

ERSTLAUB
Sleepwalking Into The Underworld
HPLL055
Highpoint Lowlife 2010
01 Track. 40mins35secs

Amazon UK: DLD US: DLD Boomkat: DLD

Scottish musician and sound artist Dave Fyans, who has been officiating as Erstlaub for over five years, returns to Highpoint Lowlife, this time with a full audio-visual project which combines a forty minute film and its accompanying soundtrack, available as a very limited DVD release. Built as one long evolutive piece, where various segments seamlessly slip into one another, their boundaries blurred beyond recognition, and ultimately resulting in one fluid narrative. Similarly, the video takes various black and white footage of bodies of water (rivers, ponds, puddles) and wooded areas, each one roughly corresponding to a defined sound set. Continue Reading »

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ROOF LIGHT: Kirkwood Gaps / What Makes You So Special (Highpoint Lowlife)

themilkman on Jul 9th 2010 01:30 am

Roof Light: Kirkwood Gap Roof Light: What Makes You So Special

ROOF LIGHT
Kirkwood Gap
HPLL052
Highpoint Lowlife 2010
09 Tracks. 40mins05secs

ROOF LIGHT
What Makes You So Special
HPLL053
Highpoint Lowlife 2010
04 Tracks. 19mins45secs

Kirkwood Gap: Amazon UK: DLD US: DLD Boomkat: DLD iTunes: DLD
What Makes You So Special: Amazon UK: DLD US: DLD Boomkat: DLD

One of the most consistent and excellent labels to have emerged from the last ten years, Highpoint Lowlife has very much been the labour of love of one man, Thorsten Sideb0ard, who, in the space of ten years, collected some of the most interesting music, electronic primarily, but not exclusively, around. The label has been a welcoming haven for the likes of Fisk Industries, Si-cut.db, Marshall Watson, Like a Stuntman, The Marcia Blaine School For Girls, The Village Orchestra, Bovaflux, Erstlaub, 10-20 and many more. Ten years is a long time, and Thorsten is now turning his attention to writing and drawing a graphic novel, effectively spelling out the end of Highpoint Lowlife. With quite an exiting release schedule coming up, the label is gearing up for a spectacular

Already spotted on Styrax and L2S Recordings in the last year, Roof Light drops his debut album, Kirkwood Gap, on Highpoint Lowlife. The project of South London-based musician Gareth Munday, Roof Light draws influences from a variety of genres, from classic house and ambient to dubstep and garage, building them into particularly effective compositions. Continue Reading »

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CALIKA: Crooked (Audiobulb Records) / Slack Jaw (Highpoint Lowlife)

themilkman on Dec 9th 2009 12:25 am

Calika: Crooked Calika: Slack Jaw

CALIKA
Crooked
AB024
Audiobulb Records 2009
05 Tracks. 22mins04secs
Format: Digital

CALIKA
Slack Jaw
HPLL043
Highpoint Lowlife 2009
05 Tracks 20mins32secs
Format: Digital

Crooked
Icon: arrow Amazon UK: DLD Amazon US: DLD Boomkat: DLD

Slack Jaw
Icon: arrow
Amazon UK: DLD Amazon US: DLD. Boomkat: DLD

Clearly willing to spread his music to the cream of British electronic imprints, Brighton-based Calika has, in recent weeks, returned to both Sheffield’s Audiobulb and London’s Highpoint Lowlife, offering each label five tracks of fine electronic music compiled on two EPs. Simon Kealoha, the brain behind Calika, has, in the past, released two albums on Audiobulb, worked with Benbecula and contributed one track to Highpoint Lowlife’s excellent Analog For Architecture compilation, published in 2006. Beside his solo activities, he has also worked with Seefeel’s Mark Clifford, with whom he has recorded two albums worth of material, the first, Running Tapper, released through Clifford’s Polyfusia imprint, the second yet to materialise. Continue Reading »

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ALPINE.: Fr:om Harmed Weather To Stark, Micro, Climates (Highpoint Lowlife)

themilkman on Aug 4th 2009 12:15 am

Alpine.: Fr:om Harmed Weather To Stark, Micro, Climates

ALPINE.
Fr:om Harmed Weather To Stark, Micro, Climates
HPLL038
Highpoint Lowlife 2009
06 Tracks. 18mins45secs
Format: Digital

Icon: arrow Download: Amazon UK | Amazon US | iTunes | Boomkat

Alpine. (note the dot as part of the name) is the latest recruit of the Highpoint Lowlife squad, and this EP is his first release. Behind the project is Alex Smalley, already known of Highpoint Lowlife for being one half of Pausal, who published a digital-only EP on the label two years ago, while Smalley’s video work was also featured on the label’s Analog For Architecture compilation released that same year. Fr:om Harmed Weather To Stark, Micro, Climates., also a digital-only released, is made up of six tracks, each track title, added to the previous, forming the full title of this release.

Exploring beautiful ambient musical forms, built around vaporous soundscapes and gentle electronic brushes which have a tendency to evaporate all too quickly, Smalley deploys here a series of nuanced and fragile compositions dotted of a great evocative scope. Continue Reading »

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THE VILLAGE ORCHESTRA: I Can Hear The Sirens Singing Again (Highpoint Lowlife)

themilkman on Jun 23rd 2009 12:18 am

The Village Orchestra: I Can Hear The Sirens Singing Again

THE VILLAGE ORCHESTRA
I Can Hear The Sirens Singing Again
HPLL037
Highpoint Lowlife 2009
01 Track. 58mins36secs

Icon: arrow Buy: MP3

Scotland has long been a fertile ground for electronic music, and one of the country’s best exports is undoubtedly the Marcia Blaine School For Girls collective, whose three members, Bryan Kerr, David Donnolly and Ruaridh Law, have released music on labels such as Benbecula, Unlabel, Static Caravan or Metal-On-Metal, either collectively or individually, for over ten years. It is however on London-based Highpoint Lowlife that the trio have found their natural home, first producing the excellent Some Paths Lead Back Again project four years ago, then their album Halfway Into The Woods two years ago. It is also on Highpoint Lowlife that Ruaridh Law’s seminal solo effort Et In Arcadia Ego, as The Village Orchestra, was published, again in 2005. Continue Reading »

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10-20: 10-20 (Highpoint Lowlife)

themilkman on May 6th 2009 12:46 am

10-20: 10-20

10-20
10-20
HPLL034
Highpoint Lowlife 2009
08 Tracks. 50mins26secs

Icon: arrow Buy: iTunes

Hailing from Devon, in the South West corner of England, the mysteriously named 10-20 is a music producer who has just dropped something of a bombshell with his self-titled digital-only debut album, released on London-based Highpoint Lowlife. In just eight tracks, he sketches an intense, often oppressive, universe, cut from dark soundscapes and coarse electronics which are assembled into complex patterns and applied over broken urban beats. These seem as far removed from the tranquil countryside and wild coastal nature of Devon, anchored instead in some suffocating industrial wasteland, where decay and rust are common currency. Continue Reading »

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KWAIDAN: Kwaidan (Highpoint Lowlife)

themilkman on Dec 16th 2008 01:44 am

Kwaidan: Kwaidan

KWAIDAN
Kwaidan
HPLL030
Highpoint Lowlife 2008
02 Tracks. 23min27mins

Kwaidan is a one-off project from Mat Ronson, who usually officiates under the Fisk Industries banner, released on the ever-excellent Highpoint Lowlife imprint as a digital-only EP, available to buy straight from the label.

With this release, Ronson turns his attention to dark and dense urban electronic by cutting two thick slice of haunting and caustic dubstep-infused techno, each clocking at over eleven minutes. Continue Reading »

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VARIOUS ARTISTS: Magnetism, That Electricity (Highpoint Lowlife)

themilkman on May 7th 2008 12:07 am

V/A: Magnetism, That Electricity

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Magnetism, That Electricity
HPLL026
Highpoint Lowlife 2008
12 Tracks. 74mins46secs

For some time now, the excellent Highpoint Lowlife have refocused their outputs by publishing extremely limited hand crafted CDR editions, but the quality of the music released has in no way waned, as recent releases by Tigrics and Erstlaub have shown. Magnetism, That Electricity is the latest project initiated by label head Thorsten Sideb0ard, and follows the Analog For Architecture DVDR compilation released a year and a half ago. The project was devised primarily to be pressed on vinyl and released as a double EP, with four very different acts from the HPLL stable given the full run of a side each. Answering the call are atmospheric drone rockers Mandelbrot Set and electronic outfits Fisk Industries, The Village Orchestra and The Marcia Blaine School For Girls. Continue Reading »

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ERSTLAUB: On Becoming An Island (Highpoint Lowlife)

themilkman on Nov 17th 2007 05:49 pm

Erstlaub: On Becoming An Island

ERSTLAUB
On Becoming An Island
HPLL025
Highpoint Lowlife 2007
01 Track. 43mins49secs

Second in the Highpoint Lowlife series of exclusive digital releases and very limited CDRs is the latest offering by Scottish artist Dave Fyans, here operating under his Erstlaub guise. Hailing from Perth, on the East coast of Scotland, Fyans has previously been spotted on the excellent Some Paths Lead Back Again compilation put together by the Marcia Blaine School For Girls crew just under three years ago, where he contributed three tracks as Daigoro. More recently, he contributed a remix on the digital-only companion EP to the Marcia Blaine album, and he has self-released a handful of CDR albums. Continue Reading »

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