AIKO TAKAHASHI – THE GRASS HARP
In November 2023, Aiko Takahashi released It Could Have Been A Beautiful as a part of the IIKKI series (the book/CD combinations). She now returns with The Grass Harp on the Spring edition for Laaps Records which, like IIKKI is also curated by Mathias van Eeclo. Van Eecloo specifically asked Takahashi to create ‘a new complete piece of sounds’ for the Laaps label.
Aiko Takahashi resides in Nova Gorca, a city in Slovenia close to Gorizia on the Italian side of the border.
“Just like the line that separates the two cities, divided between two countries yet united as one, Aiko’s
music exists on a boundary. A line that separates silence from peculiar, almost imperceptible sounds. Too quiet to be ambient, too ambient to be sound art.”
The Grass Harp is a perfect release for Spring (Laaps editions are paired with the seasons they are released in), but will also sound refreshing in Summer. Open up your doors and windows, and the sound of birds will become part of this “meditation on decay and silence, blending warm soundscapes with soft, playful melodies”.
Released on vinyl (200), CD (150), and digital. The official release date was June 9, but only a very few physical releases were left then.
PAN AMERICAN & KRAMER – INTERIOR OF AN EDIFICE UNDER THE SEA
Kramer (Mark Kramer, New York-based producer, musician, and owner of Shimmy Disc Records) and Pan American (Mark Nelson, also known as a member of Labradford) previously released a collaboration album in 2024 called Reverberations Of Non-Stop Traffic On Redding Road.
On their second collaboration they present their “further explorations into the deep space of the future/past”, only this time exploring the depth of the earth’s seas, “pulling the listener down beside them as they explore the uncharted currents that fuel the human imagination, fluid, always moving, and always changing.”
It is a unique combination of ‘minimalist’ guitar, orchestral drones, and mellotron. It is ambient in atmosphere, but at the same time it isn’t because of the clear melodies (which are not ‘ignorable’ in the classic ambient sens I mean).
“We fluidly go where the currents take us. Our music breathes the liquid air of Freedom. My hope is that listeners will experience at least some of what I myself feel when I breathe this air, should they inhale deeply enough.”
It’s a beautiful combination, which is immediately clear from the very first track In The Time It Takes To Drown. These “wordless paintings out of thin air” are surely a welcome breath of fresh musical air too.
Available in black or clear vinyl and as a digital download.