Ear to Ear
Live Recordings

Shipping from EU: ✅Shipping from UK: ✅The Intergalactic Research Institute for Sounds is proud to present Requiem for Robots. For this latest transmission, Florina Speth aka Schloss Mirabell joined forces with a group of robots that were built by Kay Sievers (versioduo.com). The musical question this record states is: “Who animates what?”The physical body of these robots consists of a wooden cuboid, a single string around which a round, internally strung bow revolves, and a motorized finger which can press down the string. They produce sounds that are very similar to the cello. They display unusual characteristics such as motor noises, infinite sounds or sometimes scratchy and gruff qualities. In addition, there is the extraordinary level of kinetic expression created by the bow circling around the string. Taken together, precisely these peculiarities form a unique instrument profile, a character which is emphasized in the presented project.Florina Speth, born 1983 in the mountains near Salzburg, started playing the cello and piano at the age of 6 and began studying music at the “University Mozarteum Salzburg'' at Clemens Hagen when she was 11. She won several prizes and was part of orchestras such as the Bayerisches Landesjugend Orchester and Salzburger Junge Philharmonie. Always keenly interested in contemporary music, she loves bridging experimental arts with science. She composes and works with cello and cello robots. She regularly collaborates with Dasha Rush, Hüma Utuku, Nicholas Bussmann, Lucile Desamory and Larissa Lackner.

Recorded in Copenhagen, Denmark August 2023
Music By Christian StadsgaardMixed By Christian Stadsgaard and Malthe FischerMastering by Giuseppe Tillieci at EnissLab, RomeFor Helle

Shipping from EU: ❌Shipping from UK: ✅Arguably Christian Kleine’s most comprehensive and colorful release to capture his enigmatic IDM style, originally released on CD in 2020 is now available on Neon Orange 2LP.“You’re heavily inspired by what you love and will do anything to be a part of it when growing up”, says Christian. “The more you create, the more familiar you become as the years move on, and your ambition to perfect it becomes even stronger”.This natural evolution is something Christian Kleine is well versed in and since his first releases in the early 00’s, Christian has been synonymous with perfecting a particular sound that draws from early IDM, breaks and influences as far reaching as Punk music.Touch & Fuse continues the melodic, drum-driven finesse he has become known for, but instead of trying to perfect anything new, different or conceptual two decades later, we’re treated to an album unconsciously inspired simply, by the wide variety of music he likes.The slow waltz of album opener Return of The Underground; the nostalgic synthesizers in Nearfield to Nowhere; the electro-punk undercurrent of Number 6; the acid-tinged Val 2, or the Shoegaze-lulls in album closer Room In The Mirror; Touch & Fuse plays like a trip through Christian’s musical upbringing - snapshots in time, told in a timeless manner.“Touch & Fuse is my way of reflecting where I am and what interests me, in the hope that other people find something for themselves in there as well. For me, music has the power to change my perspectives on time - it can act like a drug pretending I have seen and experienced things I never would have otherwise” - CK.

The concept of naught (Ø) has challenged Salvatore Mercatante throughout his musical career, specifically, trying to understand how the idea of ‘nothing’ fits into the realm of sound, and at the same time, exist in a world of influence at every turn. In the absence of everything, are we able to create something truly free?As a lifelong New York-based musician, Mercatante’s influences and productions run a wide spectrum. Just as happy producing 80s-inspired horror soundtracks as he is refining acute drum patterns over and over again, Salvatore is the first to ask himself, where next? When a musician’s output can be influenced today by so much, and there is no self-defined or perceived artistic goal in mind, how do you start from a place of nothingness, again and again?This approach has born many minimal and experimental albums of note in the past, but with Ø, Salvatore ended up with an almost controlled maximalist approach. Beginning with open spaces and allowing sonic textures to live and evolve past where you may expect, Ø allows the space between notes to become equally as important as the notes themselves. Walls of noise, soaring soundtracks, dense techno, glittering IDM, and minimal glitch, sit side-by-side to present an all-encompassing palette of sonic possibility.Often, even without any intent, what can be born from nothing will somehow transpire back into something more recognizable. It’s human nature after all. A subtle fingerprint, as a sequence, melody, pattern, or drum kick. Whether Salvatore intended for this record to represent his defining sound or not, only time will tell. Mastered by Giuseppe Tillieci @ Enisslab, Rome, Italy. Artwork by Brandon LocherWritten and produced by Salvatore Mercatante

For nearly 40 years, English producer Mark Van Hoen has been making challenging music that eludes easy categorization under his own name, as Locust, and in the groups Autocreation, Scala, and Drøne. While his output has skirted around the fringes of IDM, techno, trip-hop, ambient, drone, and electropop, it has mutated these genres' elements in distinctive ways, revealing a mind always questing for unprecedented sounds.This is Mark Van Hoen’s ninth album as Locust, and an instant classic.Drifting, hanging, holding. Hoping, seeking, searching. And then finding.Mark Van Hoen's ninth album as Locust is a cosmic whisper, a tender touch, where candid songwriting commingles with the afterimage of trip-hop and jungle. Across eight tracks, spectral melodies dance between languid breakbeats, and a formless murmur drifts through the ether, seeking a common thread.Layered in strata, "The First Cause" reveals itself anew with each listen. Delicate tones share space with bass weight. Drums crunch, and rhythms cascade. Voices loop and intone, bodiless. What at first seems melancholy, you may later find reoriented—toward promise.We seek solace in each other, and we seek solace in sound. Kinship isn't easy to come by. When a record offers its kind embrace to us as this one does, without reservation, we should take heed.Written, performed and produced by Mark Van Hoen© Touch Music/Fairwood Music UK Ltd℗ 2023 Mark Van Hoen under exclusive license to Mysteries of the Deepmarkvanhoen.comMastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri at Black Knoll Studio, NYPhotography by Grant AaronDesign by Gabriel BenzurWords by Chris Zaldua

Shipping from EU: ❌Shipping from UK: ✅A showcase of individual tracks from A Strangely Isolated Place’s 2021 labelreleases and a special continuous DJ mix by todos.~~For last year's label compilation, I mentioned how I hoped to invite a guest DJto compile the next edition, and here we are. Of course, it just had to be ourlong-term musical companion, a good friend of mine, and well-respected DJ,todos.I was first introduced to todos through his well-respected Kilchurn Mix series.I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, they remain some of my favoritemixes of all time (listen to them all on the ASIP site when you get a chance).His ability to craft a narrative, manipulate samples and respect the grey areabetween ambient and electronic music, is second-to-none.Since blogging about his mixes all the way back in 2008, and inviting him tocompile a special isolatedmix a few years later, Doug (todos) and I havestayed in touch and connected further after learning we grew up with verysimilar musical trajectories. Doug also coincidentally, ended up living wheremy family are today (and where I spent my life growing up) in a surprisingtwist of fate. And in 2021, after years of speaking online, we finally got tomeet, playrecords (in real life!), and go for a long overdue beer.I always earmarked Doug to be a part of ASIP somehow, so it is my absolutepleasure to hand over the DJ reins for the 2021 compilation edition. Doughad free choice over which tracks to choose, as long as he included one trackfrom each release of the year. The result is a very special mix, taking usthrough the ASIP 2021 release catalog in his unique, signature, todos style.“2021 has been another tough year but the music that has come out of it hasbeen wonderful. With so many excellent releases on the ASIP label, it wasexciting yet challenging to be asked to showcase a few on this mix. Massivethanks go out to Ryan for the opportunity and trust in letting me do this, theartists for their incredible talent and hard work, and lastly all the supportersof this music we love, I hope you enjoy.”- todosI’m excited for 2022, despite what will undoubtedly be a challenging year forall small labels, navigating the ever-increasing vinyl challenges. As you arenow evidently the beholder of the classic CD format and reading this, youmay be excited to learn that a few more shiny discs are coming very soon...ASIP