roamin

In 1969, Ettore Sottsass and Perry Kind designed a portable typewriter called «Valentine» for Olivetti. The bright red machine, small in dimensions and a lightweight compared to other typewriters, quickly developed into a cult object with its own dedicated following. The Valentine typewriter was equipped with various type styles for different countries. Among the type styles available for Valentine were «Pica», «Elite» and «Quadrata». The direct reference for the Quadrata font was «Mikrogramma» by Aldo Novarese & Alessandro Butti, and «Eurostile» by Novarese. The letters of the «Quadrata» font were designed by Arturo Rolfo, the designer in charge at Olivetti, in 1962-63 for use on mechanical and electrical typewriters. The «Valentine» fonts were adapted from the original drawings of «Quadrata», in three weights (Light, Regular, Bold), and three italic versions were added to complete the family.

Preview for the upcoming new full length of Stijn Hüwels. "Tomodachi" will be out on March 22nd on limited edition tape and digital. 

On Tomodachi, Hüwels gives us the best of his two worlds by combining his solo studio work with his collaborative efforts: “The starting point for this album was simple. I sent out a question to fellow musicians I deeply respect and whose work I especially like. I know all of them for some time, and they all have a significant influence on my work. 

I asked them to send me 'something', a sample, melody or fieldrecording I could use to create a new piece of music. This exchange of inspiration forced me to approach composing in a different way than I use to do, without abandoning my main gear (guitar and laptop). 

Slowly, I tried to make a consistent story from the different pieces I got. That's how the album was formed and how it got its final shape. I decided to call it ‘Tomodachi’, Japanese for ‘friend(s)’. That's the only thing I can say about the album: it's about friendship and music”. 

List of collaborators (in order of appearance on the album): 

Heine Christensen / Ghost and Tape (Home Normal, Slaapwel) 

Ralph Steinbrüchel (12k, Slaapwel) 

Sylvain Chauveau (Flau, FatCat, Brocoli) 

Yves De Mey (Line, Opal Tapes) 

Yukitomo Hamasaki (mAtter) 

Christoph Berg (Flau, Sonic Pieces) 

Patrick Stevens / Hypnoskull (Ant Zen) 

Dirk Serries (Consouling, Midira Records, Tonefloat, New Wave of Jazz) 

Tomoyoshi Date (12k, Home Normal, Baskaru) 

Ciro Berenguer (Dauw, Eilean Records) 

Artwork by Femke 

Boonville (2007-2008)

Timothy Briner was born in 1981 in Chesterton, Indiana and currently lives in Brooklyn. He is the recipient of the Hallmark Institute of Photography Grant and this project, Boonville, has been supported by Cannery Works. Publications including the Collectors Guide to Emerging Art Photography, Pause to Begin and numerous small town newspapers have catalogued his travels across America. Briner grew up in a small town in Indiana and uses his memories as inspiration for this project that weaves the images of six small towns into Anytown, USA. 

He spent a year traveling from Boonville, New York to Boonville, California making stops in Boonville, North Carolina, Missouri, Indiana and Texas. He would initially camp out or stay in a low budget motel and hang out at the local watering hole until he found someone that would offer free lodging and an entry to the community. From there he would spend about a month or month and a half getting to know the citizens of the town and photographing them and their landscape. The result is a sensitive body of images of the people that exist coast to coast. For more on this series, see this excellent interview with Briner on Too Much Chocolate.

Quonset /by Lost America

The flooded shoreline of the Salton Sea, north of Salton City, about 3AM. This structure no longer exists. Shot in 1992. Night, ambient full moon, red-gelled strobe-flash, 160T film, 8-minute exposure.

Darren Harper / Wind Thru Glass 

From the self-released Suspended Memory 

Dusty drones, fractured textures, broken loops, and micro tones pulled forth from guitar, synthesizer, chimes, Tibetan singing bowls, kalimba, and field recordings. 

Darren Harper has appeared in a number of mixes I’ve posted to this Tumblr, notably Ambientblog’s Invisible Ink, Harry Towell’s Marooned (Volume One), LowLight’s Thru the Field, Frequent Sync’s Garden Level 1, Muttley’s Ships Close to Port, J’écoute’s Whispers & Hums and most recently with Lattice from his Earth Mantra release Whispers.

« Darren Harper is an ambient and electronic musician hailing from the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, in Nederland, Colorado, USA.  Darren began his journey into electronica as a psychedelic trance and ambient producer early in the new millennium as half of the improvisational ambient noise duo Holomovement.  He has released solo psytrance music on Ektoplazm Records, and has also participated in a collaborative ambient project called Frequent Sync, with fellow Earth Mantra artist Jacob Newman.  — Last.fm Bio »

Download Suspended Memory from Bandcamp 

Ambientblog.net / Amnesia (Mix)  

Although it was created in March, this mix shows little signs of Spring. 

« There was no intentional relation, but inevitably the devastating Japan Earthquake, and the frightening nuclear disaster following it, somehow found its way into this mix. The result: a rather dark overall atmosphere, which seems to leave little room for hope. But at the same time, in Europe, winter retreats and daylight returns. Nature shows that it can destroy as well as recuperate. — Peter van Cooten » 

Runtime 01h 00m 00s 

00:00 Porzellan - Vopar Tar [Parvo] Art, 2009, Parvo 007] ··· 02:15 Max Richter - The Vel D'Hiv [Elle s'appelait Sarah, 2010, Editions Jade] ··· 05:12 Colin Potter & Michael Begg - Carnethy [Fragile Pitches, 2010, Omnempathy OMIC1] ··· 08:29 Victor Joaquim - Radio_O [Essays on Radio: Can I Have 2 Minutes of Your Time, 2005, Crónica 020] ··· 09:39 Janek Schaefe - Untitled [49 Years from Gesang der Jünglinge (2005-1958), 2005, Sirr 0020] ··· 13:08 Mikko Tarmia Amb_end_soft [Amnesia, The Dark Descent (Game Soundtrack), 2010, Frictional Games] ··· 13:25 Mikko Tarmia - Amb_extra01 [Amnesia, The Dark Descent (Game Soundtrack), 2010, Frictional Games] ··· 13:40 Jack Wall - Linking Chamber [Myst IV, Revelation (Game Soundtrack), 2005, Ubisoft] ··· 14:12 Mikko Tarmia - Event_hallway [Amnesia, The Dark Descent (Game Soundtrack), 2010, Frictional Games] ··· 14:18 Alio Die & Mariolina Zitt - Lithos (Part II)[La Sala Dei Cristalli, 2010, Hic Sunt Leones HSL058] ··· 16:08 Peter Andersson - Sarkophagus [Music for Film & Exhibition II, 2010, Old Europa Cafe, OECD135] ··· 18:07 Deaf Center - Hunted Twice [Owl Splinters, 2011, Type 080] ··· 22:13 Heitor Alvelos - Had a Scanner been born on the Bopsphorus [Essays on Radio: Can I Have 2 minutes of Your Time, 2005, Crónica 020] ··· 22:48 Max Eastley - Aerophones 5 [Installation Recordings (1973 - 2008), 2010, Paradigm Discs, PD26] ··· 23:14 The Green Kingdom - Velvet Landscape [Hidden Landscapes, 2011, Audio Gourmet AGCD003] ··· 26:10 The Fun Years - Re: We're Again Buried Under [Baby It's Cold Inside, 2008, Barge Recordings, BRG005] ··· 28:17 Steve Peters - Hymne (pour un Fils des Étoiles) [Erik Satie et les Nouveaux Jeunes, 2011, Arbouse ARBOU028] ··· 30:58 Gareth Davis & Machinefabriek - Grower, part 1 [Grower, 2011, Sonic Pieces 010] ··· 37:28 Sussan Deyhim - Pulse [Possessed, 2001, Venus Rising Records] ··· 40:44 Carl Michael von Hausswolff - Life and Death of Pboc [Life and Death of Pboc, 1986, Radium 226.05 RAPH 013-4] ··· (also in the 'Enter the Void' Soundtrack, 2010)]] ··· 42:08 Michel Banabila - The Fall [Alice in Wonderland & Various Other Works, 2010, unreleased] ··· 43:47 Eluvium - Ogives Redistributed [Erik Satie et les Nouveaux Jeunes, 2011, Arbouse ARBOU028] ··· 46:05 Lexithimie - Flesh and Stones [I Rather Die Terrified, 2010, Audio Gourmet AGN018] ··· 47:28 Antonymes - A Fragile Acceptance [The Licence to Interpret Dreams, 2011, Hidden Shoal Recordings] ··· 50:55 Deaf Center - Fiction Dawn [Owl Splinters, 2011, Type 080] ··· 52:21 Chris Watson - Runway O2E [Incidental Amplifications, 2006, Room40, EDRM405] ··· 53:03 Alva Noto - Interim (for Dieter Rams) [For 2, 2010, Line Line_044] ··· 54:00 Pleq - Good Night, Pjusk Remix [Good Night EP, 2010, Basses Frequences BF29] ··· 58:06 Porzellan - Nebuleuse II [The Fourth Level of Comprehension, 2009, Hibernate HB03] · 

Download or stream from Ambientblog 

Gareth Davis · Jan Kleefstra · Romke Kleefstra / Sieleslyk 

From the Rural Colours netlabel release Sieleslyk (RC031) 

« Jan and Romke Kleefstra are brothers, currently based in The Netherlands who have previously collaborated with Machinefabriek and Peter Broderick amongst many others. On Sieleslyk they are joined by British artist Gareth Davis to make some ominous dynamic soundscapes using guitar, clarinet and spoken word. 

Music by Gareth Davis (bass- and contrabass clarinet) and Romke Kleefstra (guitars and effects), words and voice by Jan Kleefstra. The spoken words of Jan Kleefstra are in Frisian, a minority language spoken in the north of the Netherlands. Recorded by Jan Switters at Studio Landscape, Gauw (The Netherlands), February 5/6 2009. Mixed and mastered by Gareth Davis, Amsterdam, October 2010. — Rural Colours » 

Download from Rural Colours or from the Internet Archive 

Mike Jedlicka / Fleeting Desolation 

Optic Echo’s Headphone Commute Mix 

« This vinyl only mix by Optic Echo‘s founder Mike Jedlicka was formulated to represent where the light and dark meet at the first flicker of dawn. You’ve been awake all night with a feeling of a constant undertow pulling the world away, a premonition of something unknown to come. A vague hallucination of old memories and new dreams melding together to form something distinct. Relax, take a deep breath, and get your anxiety in check. Shed your winter skin and embrace the spring with whatever it brings… Check out the latest vinyl on Optic Echo entitled Tabor / NW PAssage EP — Headphone Commute » 

Runtime 54m 

Jóhann Jóhannsson : and in the endless pause there came the sound of bees :: b4 | Black Swan : In 8 Movements :: b | Ben Frost : By the Throat :: a3 | Nixon/Sweetland/De Spain : Hansel & Gretel :: a | Future Sound of London : ISDN :: d2 | The Orb : Orbus Terrarum :: b2.1 | Stars of the Lid : The Tired Sounds of SOTL :: e3 | Boom Bip/Doseone : Circles :: d3.2 | Symptomes :: a3 | Casino vs Japan : Night on Tape : b6 | Lawrence English : A Coulor For Autumn :: b3 | Fennesz : The Black Sea :: b2 | Barn Owl/Infinite String Ensemble : The Headlands :: a1 | Peter Broderick : Roscoe/Games Again 7” :: b1 | Tosca : Opera :: d2 | Swod : Gehen :: b2 

Mixcloud | Optic Echo | Headphone Commute

Download or stream from Headphone Commute 

NorthernShore / Glowing Lanterns On the Old Pavilion 

An Arc of Doves Tribute mixed by NorthernShore 

« Arc of Doves are the Japanese artists Tetsuya Nakamura & Afull. Their 1st release was Impression on Quietus and with it Arc of Doves draw my attention on them. Their sound is amazing and unique with a lot of piano influence and ambient soundscapes. Their melodies and chords are smooth as silk… pure beauty. This mix is my tribute to these talented and outstanding artists from Tokyo. — Matthias Rock » 

Runtime 01h 34m 17s 

01 Interlude / 02 Sarabande / 03 Jupiter / 04 Blue / 05 Vacant Space / 06 After Dark / 07 Megalopolis / 08 Pluto / 09 Lotus / 10 Neptune Dub / 11 Poetry / 12 Arabesque / 13 The End / 14 Wish You Were Here / 15 Reverie / 16 Speak Low / 17 Venus in Pisces / 18 Quasar / 19 Day / 20 Stars 

This mix appears on Mixcloud, and on Soundcloud (where it is offered for download). 

Low Light Mixes / Evening Sky 

Another excellent drift-and-dream mix by Dave Michuda 

« As the days get longer, I am able to enjoy a bit of sunlight when I get home from work. There have been a few days recently where I stopped during a walk to gaze at the evening sky as the color deepens to indigo & the stars first start appearing. 

Being a music geek, I can't help but think of tunes that would make a nice soundtrack for that scene. So while listening to music the last couple of weeks, if I came across a cut that made me think of those walks & the sky, I'd throw them into a folder for later use. This mix, Evening Sky, is the result. It's not meant to change musically as the evening sky changes. It's just a collection of songs that reminded me of the sky as it darkens in early evening. — Dave Michuda  »

Runtime 1h 00m 00s 

00:00 John Murphy Mercury ·· 00:47 The Sleepy Vines Kelp Forest ·· 02:00 Rim Gusts of Sand ·· 04:50 I've Lost Absence ·· 08:00 Emanuele Errante Made to Give ·· 11:45 Pjusk sus ·· 14:55 Brian Eno Late Anthropocene ·· 19:40 Shaula Night & Green Grass ·· 25:15 Marc Barreca Fish Culture ·· 27:50 Frederico Durand Pudu Tu Nombre Es Tobias ·· 32:10 Sonmi451 Green ·· 38:51 Alio Die In the Labyrinth Garden ·· 43:30 Mark Rushton Fieldsketch ·· 46:35 Emanuel Errante Dorians Mirror ·· 51:40 Wixel Cloud Formation 

Low Light Mixes on Mixcloud 

Download Evening Sky from Low Light Mixes