Collaboration

Virlyn & AN MOKU: Of Mirrors

AD088_02“Virlyn and An Moku’s release, ‘Of Mirrors’ has an organic element. Meaning there is a naturalness to the ‘putting together’ of each song. The album is for explorers, while the sounds settle in being extremely meditative, surreal, and ambient. They take old classical instruments and use them as acoustic drones while acquiring and manipulating specific elements of the sounds for each song. Both musicians have an outstanding history from creating theatrical performances of Herman Hesse novels to being part of supporting acts for Whitney Houston, Joe Cocker and several others.
The phrase ‘Nature is beautiful’ is a purveying interpretation for the listener here. As they hear slow waves, and other ‘found’ sound samples, played alongside the dirgeful drones and scattered bits of solemn strings, “Of Mirrors” brings out the beauty in a natural progression. Virlyn and An Moku create the perfect ambience for multiple types of backgrounds by incorporating recordings from the lobbies before a jazz concert, reproducing the sounds of hiking through the woods, and waves rushing and crashing – all tied up with a classical harmony and steady drones. Coming from two countries, Belgium and Switzerland, it’s Virlyn and An Moku’s collaboration, ‘Of Mirrors.’”
Ray Jackson, Already Dead Tapes, 2013

Of Mirrors:
Steelyard blues
Secret place
Dance of the creatures
Mirror (Part1)
The room
Frost

Digital bonus track: Mirror (Part2)

Total running time: ca. 60 min

All music composed and produced by Virlyn and AN MOKU
Mixing and mastering by Virlyn
Electronics by Virlyn
Electronics, instrumental and field recordings by AN MOKU

All instrumental and field recordings captured in Switzerland and Iceland
Ending of ‘Frost’ captured during an orchestral warm up session at Harpa, Reykjavik

Swiss Performers:
Piano by Cornellia Stromeyer
Violin by Orina Zänerle
Cello by Jacki Knöpfel

Modified vocal sample taken from -The Seventh Seal- by Bergman, 1957

Photography:
Dominik Grenzler
Design:
Pan Pan/Joshua Tabbia

‘Of Mirrors’ has been recorded from november 2011 until march 2012.
After finishing it, we kept this album in our secret place until today.
Thank you for supporting us. Enjoy the tape!

Buy here.

Weldroid’s «Protozorq»

tonAtom126_225

it has been a year since weldroid published his second tonAtom release “amateur”. the feedback was extremely positive, leading to two nominations for the schallwelle award. and in the meantime weldroid contributed to several releases here at tonAtom and elsewhere.

it’s spring again and we are proud to see weldroid’s “protozorq” on tonAtom, a release consisting of ten shiny synthetic gems, with seven of them being new original tracks and three remixes by selected artists.
there is a clear line in the works of weldroid leading from his earlier releases on kahvi to this fresh selection of his audio creatures. this time everything seems to be tainted with a slightly darker shadow, with more beats but the same distinctive weldroid atmosphere nonetheless.. and you won’t be missing his characteristic combination of big screen sounds with 8bit-ish textures and agitated rhythms and loops.
three remixes add new colours and aspects, contributed by his long-time collaborator “wolandroid”, by the upcoming french artist “machinophile” and for “AN MOKU”, known to the tonAtom audience as one half of the duo “nation of clang”.

“protozorq” is a refinement of the weldroid sound for 2013 and beyond, suitable for “already fans” and “soon-to-be fans”.

Download: http://tonatom.net/releases/126/

Virlyn’s «Man asleep»

“Man Asleep” is an electronic experiment with a wide variety of instruments. The idea is to deform and reform the classic sounds of various instruments and vocals and to reuse them in an electronic and atmospheric setting. With an emphasis on experimentation the original musical output of the instrument is reshaped and distorted beyond recognition. A second constant is the use of housemade sounds and field recordings, varying from recordings from nature (rain, fire, footsteps in snow) to the use of selfmade wooden and plastic sound reproducing equipment. These field recordings and homemade sounds infuse the soundscapes with a more tangible and less elusive sensation.

Instruments and software: cello, violin, banjo, flute, duduk, percussion, house made sound devices, FL Studio, Audition.

credits

released 23 April 2013
Vocals on ‘Lorelei’, ‘Dawn’ and ‘Kristal’ by Cristiane Silva Corten.
Sax on ‘Dawn’ by Lucas Van Milders.
Duduk on ‘Lilith’ by Lieven Stockx.
Cello on ‘Descent’ recorded by Dominik Grenzler.
Violin on ‘Swan’ and ‘Kristal’ recorded by Frédéric Vanderlynden.
Field recordings by Frédéric Vanderlynden.
‘Mirror’ is part of a collaboration with Dominik Grenzler aka AN MOKU.Artwork by Emma Shoard | www.emmashoard.co.uk

Thanks to Grzegorz Bojanek @ ETALABEL, Dominik Grenzler, Cristiane Silva Corten, Lucas Van Milders, Emma Shoard, Pauline & Anémone Vanderlynden, Hilde Declerck, Mateusz Bąkała @ Widzimisie, Serge Vanderlynden and finally Joannes Truyens for endlessly having to listen to my experiments.

Special thanks to Dominique Grenzler for the musical input.