CHRISTIAN STADSGAARD (VANITY PRODUCTIONS) HAS BEEN PRODUCING CONTEMPORY AMBIENT MUSIC FOR THE LAST 15 YEARS OUT OF DENMARK COPENHAGEN. OFTEN ASSOCIATED WITH ANALOGUE PROCESSING AND GRAND SOUNDSCAPES, HIS MUSIC SEEMS TO TRAVEL, EVOLVE AND BUILD IN A VERY ORGANIC WAY. OFTEN USING CLASSICAL ELEMENTS SUCH A STRINGS AND ORGAN MUSIC AND RUNNING THEM THROUGH HUGE REVERB AND GRANULAR PROCESSES TO EXPAND SOUNDS THAT PAN SPACE IN AN OMNIPOTENT STYLE. THE DELAYED AND REVERB EFFECTS USED ON SIMPLISTIC ELEMENTS CREATE COMPLEX LAYERS AND HARMONIES ENRICHING THE MUSIC. THERE’S A FEELING OF CONVERSATION BETWEEN EACH LAYER OF SOUND IN CHRISTIANS MUSIC MAKING IT ACOUSTICALLY APPROPRIATE FOR LARGE SPACES LIKE CHURCHES AND OTHER INTERESTING PLACES OF ARCHITECTURE ENABLING THE SPATIAL PROCESS TO EXPAND EVEN FURTHER.
MY INITIAL IDEA CAME FROM THE IDEA OF DISCONNECTION FROM HOME AND THE IDEA OF RECONNECTING THROUGH A PIECE OF WRITING WRITTEN TO FAMILY BUT READ TO ONESELF. ONCE COMPLETE THE LETTER WILL BE BURNED AS AN EFFIGY. PRODUCTION IDEAS WOULD BE USING AMBIENCE AND SPATIALITY AS WAY OF TRANSPORTING THE WORDS THROUGH VIBRATION INTO THE WORLD AND SERVING AS A WAY OF HEALING YOURSELF. THIS IDEA CAME FROM THERAPY TECHNIQUES IVE EXPERIENCED IN THE PAST.
THIS IDEA IS INSPIRED BY A NEW FRIENDSHIP WITH A FILMMAKER FROM HONG KONG CALLED ETIENNE. THIS CONCEPT WILL HOPEFULLY HELP WITH A FEELING OF CONNECTION TO OUR ROOTS EVEN WHEN WE ARE THOUSANDS OF MILES AWAY. OUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH OUR FAMILIES CAN BE COMPLEX, OFTEN WE CANNOT EXPRESS OURSELVES EVEN TO THOSE WHO CREATED AND NURTURED US. THIS METHOD I HOPE WIll FURTHER MY EXPLORATION INTO ALTERNATIVE METHODS OF THERAPY AND SERVE AS WAY OF HELPING ETIENNE TO RECONNECT AND HEAL FRACURES OF TRAUMA.
I LIKE IDEA OF REDEFINING WHAT AN EFFIGY USUALLY MEANS (IN CONTEXT OF PROTEST) – IN A RELIGIOUS CONTEXT AND EFFIGY CAN BE A SYMBOL OF REMEMBERENCE AND VENERATION (GREAT RESPECT). ALSO FOCUSING ON SPACE AS FUNDAMENTAL FACTOR OF THE RECORDING PROCESS THAT CORRELATES WITH ELEMENTS OF PRODUCTION. SOUNDS THAT EVOKE A FEELINGS OF DEVOTION/ RELIGIOUS AWE/ CONTEMPLATIVE AMBIENCE HEARD IN SPACES OF WORSHIP.
HERE I HAVE DOCUMENTED THE PROCESS OF WRITING, RECORDING AND THE CEREMONIAL ACT OF BURNING THE EFFIGY WITH MY RICOH GR CAMERA.
AM KANNGIESER DESCRIBES THEIR CONFLICT OF THOUGHT WHEN IT COMES TO SOUND AND ITS SHORT LIVED NATURE. EVEN WITH THEIR INTEREST IN SOUND, THE DISCIPLINES ITS CLOSELY RELATED TO DON’T ALWAYS CLOSELY RELATE WITH GEOGRAPHY WHICH IS THEIR MAIN FOCUS POINT OF STUDY.
‘’ DESPITE THIS GROWING INTEREST IN SOUND – BECAUSE OF ITS EPHEMERALITY, IN A SENSE – WHILE GEOGRAPHY IS OPEN TO OPEN INTERDISCIPLINARITY, I THINK IT FEELS A BIT TOO HARD SINCE IT MEANS GOING INTO DISCIPLINES THAT ARE NOT CLOSE TO GEOGRAPHY ‘’
SOUND ARTS NOW BY CATHY LANE & ANGUS CARLYE – AM KANNGIESER – MARCH 26 2021 – P.24
Spanish electronic artist Juan Rico (Reeko) usually operates in the sphere of textural, forward thinking techno music. Active since 1997, releasing on a plethora of well respected record labels, Reeko’s approach to sound design peaks among a sea of ever growing producers. Over the last 5 years I’ve really taken an interest in his take on breakbeat/DnB under the Samurai Records label. Known for their innovative approach to breakbeat, Reeko here the on Confront The Serpent track (and Ep) delivers a deep listening experience that feels organic in its growth. The gradual but steady developing percussive elements and morphing bass design creates an atmosphere and distinct timbre not always present in modern Drum and Bass. There are a range of emotions and a use of space in this track that creating a feeling of unpredictability. The spectral movements throughout create a visual image of dissonance and cohesion. Background fuzz and texture closely move closer to forefront helping to drive the sense warping organic sound design and serving to create a marriage between atmosphere and percussion. By the middle of the track, all the elements are working in harmonious mixture of dynamic shifts, tribal reminiscent rhythm and cinematic tone.
CONFIGURATION TEST 1 – AMBIENT LIVEN – ECHO DREAM 2 PEDAL – MAGNETAR BLACK DISTORITION.
NOTES – MAGNETAR SYNTH IS UNPREDICTABLE AND REQUIRES FURTHER PRACTISE/ HAS SOME INTERESTING ELEMENTS OF KICK BASES PERCUSSION/ REQUIRES MORE REVERB AND DISTORTION EFFECTS.
ECHO DREAM HAS PLEASANT AMOUNT OF GRIT AND EXTREME DELAY WITH DISTORTION AND MODULATION BUILT IN/ WILL REQUIRE A LONGER CHAIN OF EFFECTS
AMBIENT LIVEN HAS GREAT QUALITIES FOR LAYER DRONES BUT WILL NEED FURTHER UNDERSTANDING ON THE ARP AND ITS POTENTIAL STRING LIKE QUALITIES ON THE PAD SECTIONS. PROGRAMMING SEEMS ABSTRACT BUT APPROACHABLE AFTER PRACTISE.
IVE RECENTLY BEEN RUMINATING ON THE IDEAS OF THERAPY THROUGH SOUND. SOUND AS A FORM OF THERAPY. A CATALYST FOR DEEP INTROSPECTION INTO THE PSYCHE. A SEQUENCE SET TO TRIGGER A RELEASE IN AN INDIVIDUAL THROUGH A SPECIFIC SET OF QUESTIONS, MOTIFS, EFFIGIES, LIGHT STIMULI AND CEREMONY.
THROUGH RECOMMENDATION OF A FRIEND AND REFERENCES USED IN TERENECE MCKENNA’S SEMINARS POSTED ON YOUTUBE FROM THE EARLY 200’S IVE STARTED TO READ PRACTICAL QABALAH MAGICK BY DAVID RANKINE AND SORITA D’ESTE. A REVISION AND TRANSLATON OF THE ANCIENT JEWISH MYSTIC TEXT OF THE QABALAH. FROM WHAT IVE READ SO FAR ITS AN INDEX OF SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES AND PRACTICES USED TO ALLIGN ONESELF WITH THE ORDER OF THE SEPHIROTH, THE ELEMENTS OF THE TREE OF LIFE THAT COEXIST AND INFLUENCE EACH OTHER LIKE CELLS OF ONE BODY.
MY GOAL OVER THE NEXT FEW YEARS IS TO RESEARCH AND ANALYSE THESE ANCIENT PRACTISES AND HOW THEY CAN CORRELATE TO MY PHILOSOPHY OF EMOTIONAL RELEASE THROUGH SOUND SOUND THERAPY. THE VIBRATORY FORMULA OF THE QABALAH FOCUSES BREATH AND VOICE. THE ACT OF SPEAKING THE ANCIENT NAMES OF THE SERAPHIM INTO EXISTENCE AS A VIBRATION FORCE , A MANTRA OF SORTS, A CALL TO PRAYER, A WAY OF IGNITING BODY AND MIND IN UNISON, A FIRE LIT INSIDE.
TO VIBRATE A WORD YOU NEED TO BREATHE FROM YOUR DIAPHRAGM AND PROLONG THE DURATION OF SYLLABLES. YOU WILL KNOW WHEN YOU HAVE FOUND THE RIGHT PITCH FOR YOUR VIBRATIONS, AS YOU WILL LITERALLY FEEL YOUR RIBCAGE AND POSSIBLY THE REST OF YOUR BODY, VIBRATE THE POWER OF THE WORD YOU ARE UTTERING.
Jason Campbell’s music first came onto my radar through his release on the NYC experimental hardcore label BANK, home to a roster of emerging talent in the industrial electronic scene — including former AnD member Andrew Bowen (Slave to Society) and ex-COIL member Andrew McDowell.
Collector, the one-man industrial hardware project from Campbell, is inspired by the social and economic decay and deindustrialization of his hometown, Newcastle, Australia — once home to BHP Steelworks and a thriving job market. His music captures a film noir–like quality, reflecting a critical cultural and socio-economic shift in Australia’s history.
Industrial techno typically delivers exactly what its name suggests: abrasive elements of fractured, metallic percussion and sounds that mirror the harsh, mechanical rhythms of sleepless factories — the great machines that grind, pound, and never rest. Campbell’s approach, however, takes on a more cinematic dimension. His contrast between soft, dreamlike pads and cold, slow, breakbeat-inspired percussion introduces a new level of storytelling to the genre. The music feels cold yet alive — dance-inducing at moments, but deeply introspective throughout.
My interest in industrial techno first peaked around 2014 with the rise of labels like Ansome’s South London Analogue Material and the French-based TWB (Toxic Waste Buried). A new form of hardcore music was emerging — not yet accepted by the masses or considered club-friendly. Its analogue hardware focus, slower tempos, and emphasis on sound design signaled something fresh and exciting.
As with most underground movements, though, there was always the risk of rapid overexposure, leading to repetition and stagnation. After several landmark releases — such as Perc’s The Power and the Glory (Perc Trax) and Ansome’s Stowaway (also on Perc Trax) — the genre began to fall into predictability, devolving into formulaic machine music. Over time, as we hear today, industrial techno has become increasingly mainstream — often reduced to sample-pack-driven, high-tempo, cookie-cutter hardcore that leans heavily on clichés rather than innovation in sound design and hardware craftsmanship.
Campbell’s work offers a return to form for the genre. His music prioritizes thematic depth, thought-provoking sound design, and historical context — reconnecting industrial techno with its roots in decay, machinery, and human tension. With a steady stream of EPs and albums over the past five years, including Pacing the Perimeter on Steel City Dance Discs and Mercury Bath on Eternal Solitude, Collector continues to inspire a new generation of producers — artists determined to tell stories of looming industrial fallout and the slow descent into inevitable oblivion through the language of the machines.
This month marks the early stages of producing my next album for the Texas-based record label Black Artifact.
Over the last three years, I’ve spent most summers in my partner’s country of Sardinia. These experiences have been deeply grounding, allowing me to think freely and creatively—far from the noise of London. Time spent in the hills of Olbia, deep in rural Sardinia, has provided a kind of isolation that acts as a catalyst for ideas to flow.
One of the most powerful inspirations came from witnessing the pagan festival of the Mamuthones, a pre-Christian ritual of the Mamoiada people of Sardinia. This street carnival involves participants dressed in wooden masks and dark animal furs, with heavy cowbells strapped to their backs. The ritual’s slow procession, accompanied by fire and the precise rhythm of the bells, is performed to invoke protection, fertility, and well-being—a farewell to winter.
Experiencing this ceremony was deeply spiritual. The act of dance and music through community reflects the importance of history, ceremony, and forgotten archaic values. It became the foundation for a new creative direction: to represent the romance of Sardinia’s countryside and the spirit of the Mamuthones through sound.
The album, Olbia, will be created through a process of deliberate limitation—using only two synthesizers and two effects pedals, including the Sonicware Liven Ambient and the Synamodec Black Distortion Synthesizer. The goal is to craft a sound palette of drone and noise, juxtaposing abrasion with vast, expansive soundscapes that evoke the emotional states often found in dream and trance: frenzy, elation, panic, and peace.
In the coming months, I will document this process in great detail.
JEM FINERS LONGPLAYER INVITES THE LISTENER INTO A PASSAGE IN TIME. CONSTRUCTED OF 234 TIBETAN SINGING BOWLS, ARRANGED IN 6 CONCENTRIC RINGS, LONGPLAYER IS A CONVERSATION OF RESONANCE, A MESSAGE OF TRANQUILITY FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS AND A QUESTION ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF THE FUTURE WHILE REFLECTING THE PAST. THE PRIMAUDIAL SINGING OF LONGPLAYER ACTS AS A CATALYST OF REMEMBERING OUR PAST, THE IMPORTANCE OF ARCHAIC VALUES AND THE ECHO OF TIME WE HEAR THROUGH MUSIC AND SOUND. THIS TRANSPORTIVE PIECE OF MUSIC IN WHICH ITS CREATOR JEM FINER, CREATED TO LAST ONE THOUSANDS YEARS, IT’S HOME ON THE DIGITAL ETHER ALLOWS FOR THIS PIECE OF MUSIC TO BE HEARD BY ANYONE AND EVERYONE AT ANY GIVEN TIME.
CURRENTLY HOUSED IN CANNING TOWN, MY FIRST EXPERIENCE OF LONGPLAYER WAS OF SOLITUDE. AS A LIFE LONG FAN OF DRONE AND AMBIENT, LONGPLAYER STARTING TO WORK AS A CANVAS FOR IDEAS, IT ALLOWS SPACE FOR DEEP MEDATIVE THINKING, DISASSOCIATION AND INTROSPECTION. ITS ARRANGEMENT IS CYCLICAL, MIRRORING THE NATURE OF LIFE, AN AUDIBLE OUROBOROS EXPERIENCE OF GENTLE REMINDERS OF THE FRAGILITY OF LIFE YET THE SEEMINGLY INFINITE AND PERMANENT STATE OF THE UNIVERSE, EVER GROWING EVER CHANGING, EVER PERMEATING.
NOW PASSED DOWN THROUGH A LINEAGE OF RESPONSIBILITY THE DAUGHTERS OF JEM FINER ACTS AS ITS AMBASSADORS CARETAKERS. EVEN THOUGH LONGFORM EXISTS PREDOMINANTLY ON THE DIGITAL PLAIN, ITS MESSAGE STILL NEEDS TO BE PRESERVED AND SHARED WITH FUTURE GENERATIONS OF THOSE WILLING TO TUNE INTO ITS NETWORK OF PEACEGIVING REMEMBRANCE. THE IDEA OF CREATING SOMETHING THAT OUTLIVES YOU AND PRESERVES A MESSAGE FOR FUTURE BEINGS HAS ALWAYS FASCINATED ME. IT REMINDED ME OF THE SPIKE FIELD, A CONCEPT CREATED BY SANDIA NATIONAL LABORATORIES AND THE HUMAN INTERFERENCE TASK FORCE OF THE U.S GOVERNMENT. THE IDEA WAS TO CONCEPTUALISE DETERRENTS FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS FROM DIGGING UP DEEP BURIED NUCLEAR WASTE THAT WOULD POISON THE PLANET, A MESSAGE FROM THE PAST TO PRESERVE THE FUTURE. MONOLITHS OF EVERY RECORDED LANGUAGE AND GIANT SPIKES OF CONCRETE ERECTED FROM THE EARTH WERE CONCEPTUALISED TO WARN THOSE OF THE FUTURE. LONGPLAYER HAS THESE QUALITIES OF A DEEPER MEANING, SURE IT COULD BE CONSIDERED JUST A ROTATING AND MORPHING PIECE OF MUSIC THAT SOUNDS PLEASANT AND INSPIRES MINDFULNESS BUT ITS ETHOS IS DEEPER WITHIN THE SOUND.
LONGPLAYER IS A REMINDER OF OUR OFTEN LOST AND MISINTERPRETED ANCESTRY, IT TALKS TO THE INNATE PARTS OF US THAT UNDERSTANDS WITHOUT WORDS. IT RELATES TERRENCE MCKENNA’S NOTES ON ‘’’ARCHAIC VALUES’’ MEANING THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNITY, PRESERVING LIFE AND GAIA AND GIVING BACK INTO SOMETHING THAS GIFTED YOU LIFE ITSELF. WE LIVE IN A DIGITAL FLOOD OF MISINFORMATION AND FEEDBACK, AND WITH THE RISE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, THE TRUTH BECOMES A LOT HARDER TO FIND. THERES A PURITY AND TRUTH TO LONGPLAYER THAT WE ARE LACKING DUE TO THE MUDDYING OF THE WATER BY SOCIAL MEDIA, MISINFORMATION AND IMPENDING DOOM OF POTENTIAL WAR.
LONGPLAYER INVITES SOMEONE TO TUNE OUT OF THE MADNESS FOR A MOMENT AND HEAR TRUTH AND CLARITY, TO ASK THE EXISTENTIAL QUESTIONS THAT MATTER, TO HEAR THE INNER CHILD AND TO GREET THE SHADOW. A MOMENT TO HEAR THE PAST AND THE FUTURE SIMULTANEOUSLY.
