Vardae
Power of the Tribe

Following their 2021 debut album, ‘Brama’, One MillionEyes return with their highly anticipated second album,‘Iris’, set to captivate us once more through akaleidoscope of rich analog and instrumentalfragments.The inspiration behind the album was born from apowerful symbol—the iris of the eye. Controlling theinflow of light, the iris mirrors the duo's mission for thealbum, “letting light in, even in the darkest of times”.Representing an attempt to shed new insight on theirsometimes indescribable approach, Paolo and Lucianocompare the ambition (and consequent imperfections)throughout their music to that of the imperfect, yetunique array of color found within an iris, in the hope itcan completely entrance and mesmerize.With much of the album recorded live, ‘Iris’ marks arefined evolution in the One Million Eyes sound bornunder their Tempelhof guise many years ago. Infusingorganic sound elements such as voice fragments,acoustic guitar lines, and drum beats at the forefront oftheir compositions, their vast array of analogsynthesizers once again provide added depth andwarmth, resulting in majestic, hypnotic circular motifsthat Paolo and Luciano describe as "Mantras, rising andfalling in volume and intensity."Mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri, and featuring artworkby Ventral Is Golden, ‘Iris’ will be available onNovember 10th, on turquoise vinyl, digital, and streaming.There will also be a limited run of multi-colored ‘Iris’ 12”available directly on the label’s Bandcamp.

For AI-38 Italian duo LF58 (Giuseppe Tillieci and Filippo Scorcucchi) present ‘Radials’. A site-specific concept piece that was recorded live on location in Venice, Radials showcases the powerful and transportive sound world which LF58 have become known for.Radials takes its name from the homonymous exhibition created by the Roman artist group Sbagliato, for the 2023 Biennale Architettura of Venice.Following a landmark renovation of the Fondacoo dei Tedeschi by renowned Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, Sbagliato proposed the spatial transformation of the historic sixteenth-century building that would blur the lines between fiction and the real.The concept, to create unexpected “voids” within the fixed order of architecture, prompts the observer to question the fleeting and subjective nature of the reality that surrounds us. The building’s main loggia - a series of five archways exposed to the Canal Grande - take on a theme of reproduction and multiplication, giving rise to infinite perspectives in a dizzying mise en abyme. Through the portal-like potentialities of the loggia, the visitor enters the gateway to a fluid realm of distorted time and space.LF58 arose to translate the visual concept of Radials into sound, delivered through a special quadraphonic concert performed at the Fondaco dei Tedeschi in October 2023. Quadraphonics, with its four distinct audio channels, were used in direct correlation with the visual elements of the installation to immerse the audience in a dreamlike, multisensory experience.The opening scene of running waters and the cacophony of the bustling city streets quickly dissolves under the chiming of nearby bells, as hidden liminal spaces become revealed. It’s not long before all remnants of the ordinary are left behind, as the listener is submerged into the shimmering frequencies of parallel dimensions.A spatial soundscape of ever-moving forms and colours, Radials descends into ever-deeper waters. As the facade of what was once known falls away, a transportive journey of mind-body alterations begins.

“Music gives us a place to be lost. Washing away thought, place, time and identity. It’s in the falling into the river, the dream, that we find just who we could be”. Classically trained cellist, composer and storyteller Lihla (Lih-Qun Wong) presents her debut album, ‘Socha’ for A Strangely Isolated Place. Combining a vast instrumental skillset of piano, cello, electronics and spoken word, she crafts intensely immersive aural-hallucinatory worlds of intricately shifting landscapes. A deeply personal work, Socha explores the ‘diaspora of time and space, and why we all feel so displaced.' Piano chapters capture the meeting place between memory and longing, while explorational vocal and cello textures invoke and echo the ancient, the feminine, and the otherworldly. Lihla’s voice guides us, weaving through electronics and field recordings of the ‘real-world' to set the path for a poetic and deeply haunting journey through the internal psyche that is truly transportive and escapist. ‘Socha’ will be available on transparent smoke 12” and digital. Written and produced by Lih Qun WongMixed by Sebastian Lee PhilippMastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri @ Black Knoll StudioArtwork by LIHLA and Visions of Akira

Wanderwelle is the Amsterdam-based ambient duo of Phil van Dulm & Alexander Bartels who mint their Maalstrom label with Wat Gebeurde Er Met Sergeant Massuro?, a concept album based around Harry Mulisch's 1957 story of the same name (What Happened To Sergeant Massuro?). The story weaves anti-colonial concepts with the mythical and is sonically brought to life through electronics, field recordings, and acoustic instruments. The duo worked with the author's estate to ensure their musical interpretation reflected Mulisch's ideas with authenticity.

Written, recorded and produced by Matti Bye in Fårö, Sweden 2022 The recordings were made on a 1926 Steinway Grand Piano through the EMS Synthi A, recorded onto tape with Nagra IV S. Photography by Matti Bye Mastered by Giuseppe Tillieci at EnissLab, Rome“The prolific Swedish pianist and composer Matti Bye has long been associated with Northern Electronics, appearing on well-enumerated compilations and collaboration-rich works. This is the first time he presents his own full-length recording with the label.'Between Darkness and White Snow' captures Bye's elemental radiance in four vignettes. Recorded on a 1926 Steinway Grand Piano through an EMS Synthi A, 'Between Darkness and White Snow' renders the perplexity of polarity with a grave assembly of textural phenomena and lyrical figures. As ephemeral harmonic mazes wilt into subdued distortion, we are left with a tentative invitation to gaze into the pooling material of Bye's compositions.”

In 2022 we journeyed to the center of the earth with Agartha, Lasha Chkhaidze's first album. This time we go the opposite direction, and fly towards the outer edge of the atmosphere. Atmos, the latest offering of the young and talented Georgian artist, sees him explore the ether. Subtle and intricate layers are weaved together on the course of six tracks. This ambient album offers a completely different artistic direction compared to his previous work. Where melancholia and piano dominated Agartha, we are throughout Atmos taken into an otherworldly environment. The LP’s atmospheric undertone combined with its glitchier elements brings it into a lightly psychedelic dimension. With its really beautiful soundscapes and subdued intricate ideas, Atmos will undoubtedly please listeners of finely written ambient.Lasha Chkhaidez is a gifted musician capable of crafting evocative music, The Intergalactic Institute for Sound is glad to present his deeply immersive experience to the public.