Kane Ikin - sublunar (2012, 12k)

First solo full-length release from Kane Ikin, who is also one half of Solo Andata, and who recently recorded one album with David Wenngren (Library Tapes). "Sublunar" follows the "Contail EP" (2011).

At first the moist, dense and warm atmospheres of the record made me think of Pan American, but the nearly absence of regular beats and melodies as central driving force made me realize it was somewhat a misdirection.

Stephan Mathieu - coda (for wk) (2012, 12k)

New CD-EP (one single track of 20 minutes exactly) from Stephan Mathieu on 12k.

Sounds source have veen two antique mechanical-acoustic gramophones, fully processed and transformed digitally on a computer later. 

Gareth Dickson - quiet a way a way (12k, 2012)

When folk music meets introspective intimate ambient music you find "Quiet a way a way". With the guitar still playing the first role, so it's mostly a stripped down collection of folk songs complemented with sparse ambient elements in the background, and with some reverb adding a constant foggy blur.

Illuha - shizuku (12k, 2011)

Illuha is a project of Tomoyoshi Date and Corey Fuller, both residing in Tokyo. They met through a common friend, Chihei Hatakeyama, and began collaborating in 2008.

Their debut album, "Shizuku", has been recorded in a church, at Bellingham, WA. While I know their solo releases, "Otoha" for Tomoyoshi and "Seas Between" for Corey Fuller, I'm positively surprised by their artistic organic collaboration. "Shizuku" shows a deep mutual understanding through the exploration of subtle moods.

Taylor Deupree & Marcus Fischer – in a place of such graceful shapes (12k, 2011)

During the last days of autumn in 2010, Taylor Deupree and Marcus Fischer started a long distance collaboration project, exchanging sound files,but after a few rough sketches, limitations and frustrations occurred and a plane ticket from Portland to New York for Marcus solved the problem.

During four intensive days in February 2001, while winter was in full force, they conceived most of the guidelines of this project, from music to pictures.

Marcus Fischer - monocoastal (2010, 12k)

"Monocoastal" fits perfectly in the 12k catalogue as a perfect disciple of some explorations and areas previously opened by Taylor Deupree.

You could sleep peacefully while this record is played, with no risk to be suddenly wakened, a patient morning walk, on your way to work, under heavy fog. 

Jodi Cave - for myria (2007, 12k)

Debut album on 12k for Jodi Cave, a UK sound artist coming from a small town near Sheffield.  Minimalist but not austere, “For Myria” is like a collection of pencil drawings on a blank sheet. 

Handwritten words or sketches you invited to interpret or decode. Textures seem to be more important than narration. The use of microscopic sounds with a natural interface is a kind of continuum – an Arian's thread - on “For Myria”, much more than episodic atmospheric layers.

Sawako - bitter sweet (2008, 12k)

Sawako continues to explore on “Bitter Sweet” what she opened on “Hum” and “Madoromi”. She is not inventing new forms but mostly filling a gap between ambient music and melancholic ethereal songwriting.

There are scraps of songs, ghosts of melodic lines, fragments of atmospheres floating slowly with quiet moving textures. The way she exchanges with invited contributing musicians is perfect, they never invade her universe, she mostly uses their output as a sensitive and subtle ingredient for her own music. 

Taylor Deupree - stil. (2002, 12k)

On “stil.”, Taylor Deupree is exploring electronic music fields explored previously by german artists like Gas or Oval. This album features four long repetitive ambient tracks between 10 and 23 minutes, where he uses waves of sounds, minimal beats, clicks and rhythms for. The atmospheres are quiet, warm and appeasing and at times the use of loops can create the kind of soundscape William Basinski developed.

Taylor Deupree - northern (2008, 12k)

"Northen" follows chronologically the splendid Taylor Deupree reworking of the Eisi album so the fact that this album is less electronic, more intimate, warmer and includes sounds from real instruments or with a more acoustic/analogic feeling than his previous solo works, with the use of electric piano, guitar, melodica or field recordings. "Northern" explorations are minimal and atmospheric, developing complex layers of sound creating evolving textures and ambiences. The album's cover offers a perfect perspective of the nature of its content, with organic construction out of a mineral / digital cold world of snow.

Taylor Deupree - shoals (2010, 12k)

A shoal is defined as a a large number of fish swimming together or as a a submerged sandbank visible at low water and referring to the picture on the sleeve of this alum it's the second one that wins. Like a sandbank, the four tracks on this album have got indefinite structures, are more evolving objects than conscious and strict compositions.