A Number Of Small Things/Labels/Software products

Ford & Lopatin - Channel Pressure 14,99 €

Channel Pressure is the full length debut from Brooklyn-based production duo Daniel Lopatin (Oneohtrix Point Never) and Joel Ford (Tigercity), formerly known as Games. Improvised sessions were instead recorded over 3 months at Mexican Summer’s headquarters and synthesizer legend Jan Hammer’s home studio in upstate NYC. The recordings of these were then spliced, sampled and reconstructed, growing unexpectedly into an imaginary soundtrack for the adventure of Joey Rogers, a kid who gets brainwashed by a gigantic television.Talent was enlisted from childhood pal Al Carlson for engineering, Prefuse 73 for mixing, and guest vocals from friends Autre Ne Veut and Jeff Gitelman of Stepkids. The result is a pristine presentation of chaotic material; layers of glitch, Krautrock, synthpop, ambient, prog-fusion and hardware shredding melded into just 14 tracks of multi-focus post-pop edits. Channel Pressure will be the first release from Software, Ford & Lopatin’s new label imprint on Mexican Summer.

Harmonizer - World Complete 10,49 €

Harmonizer, or as lovingly referred to as HARMO around these parts is the Vermont duo of Toby Aronson and veteran zone shredder Greg Davis, whose explorations into pastoral electronics have been well documented by Kranky, Carpark and his own Autumn Records. The duo’s previous effort, a self-titled cassette on Aronson’s own stellar NNA Tapes label was the definitive “5th World” statement and solidified them with the koan of nu free electronic music shared by the likes of fellow melodic noisers Caboladies and Oneohtrix Point Never. On WORLD COMPLETE Harmo boggles brains via the storied terrain that Jon Hassell once charted, adding sub bass, magic eye loops and some fusion gomf that is makes them decidedly more On The Corner than Aka-Darbari-Java. But who needs to be convinced about a band named after the most dramatic stompbox of the late 20th century. We don’t. Band burns, this EP burns. Sayonara.

Airbird - City vs. Mountain 11,99 €

Airbird is the solo project from Joel Ford, bassist of Tigercity and one half of Ford & Lopatin. After a split-cassette release with Megafortress on The Curatorial Club, Ford releases Airbird’s first single, City Vs. Mountains on his own label Software. On lead track “City Vs. Mountains,”Ω cicadas buzz as Airbird exits Babylon on his computer funk quest back to nature. This 12? is a road dog that packs a lot of punch. Get lost in the production intricacies or don’t and z o n e. There’s a remarkable clarity in the vocals that distinguishes Airbird from the contemporary murk pack, opting to actually belt in a manner befitting of early 80s McCartney or Paddy McAloon. If side A is a night of driving, “Rotating Cloud”Ω marks the day’s return with sparse, delicate high register melodies and pulses which gradually give way to a midi locked safari of wildlife house. Enter zookeeper Al Carlson, Software’s engineer & mix guy yes ”” but he also packs a gnarly Alphabet City avant RIPPP when he wants to, and on multiple saxes.

Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica 16,99 €

Replica is an electronic song cycle based around audio procured from TV ad compilations. These sample-based meditations are as lyrical as they are ecological, featuring re-purposed “ghost vocals” which serve as narration for Lopatin’s signature amorphous, ambient passages. Lopatin’s Juno-60 is still prominent, but Returnal’s placid, synthetic surroundings are accelerated through darker, more unpredictable terrains via Lopatin’s use of samplers, analog filtering, tape-op, piano, plate reverb and sub-bass. The result is a heightened sense of music as part and parcel of an overall sonic terrain.

2nd Vinyl Pressing!

Megafortress - Megafortress 13,99 €

Megafortress is New York musician Bill Gillim. The project was conceived as a series of fictional field recordings, and has transformed into a collection of gorgeous vocal meditations. His debut self-titled release for Software Recording Co., Megafortress is a lucid and open effort combining home-brewed and studio recording elements into a dynamic cloud cover, using only sparsely layered and processed voice, sampled bells, and touches of synthesizer. At times, it feels like Gillim is concocting a new strain of (secular) devotional music; a contemplative, nascent music. Bill’s obfuscated lyrics hint at a resonant, universal sphere where identity is formed but never hardens. Considering how simple and unadorned Gillim’s setup is, the envisage is a testament to how powerful this music is.

Megafortress begins with “My Favorite Girl”, on which Gillim’s veiled falsetto is propelled forward through a hall of delays, accented by simple but completely unpredictable moments of synth vamp, while “Green Child” is the definitive exit music for the vocal segment of the EP, a contemporary dirge that wouldn’t feel out of place if installed at the emotional / architectural nodes of Fallingwater, year 2012.

Napolian - Rejoice 10,49 €

Software Recording Co. is proud to introduce Napolian, 19-year-old producer and chief visionary behind LA-based production crew Renaissance Music Group. His debut release, Rejoice, is stately, direct, and stylistically interwoven. Rejoice runs the gamut of computer funk, ambient, and trance, but always retains a hard, synthetic R&B core.

The same way Napoleon III urged porcelain designers to reflect the historic images of the day as opposed to generic landscapes and classical nudes, our Napolian’s commanding dionysia of electronic music histories are dream-coated in digital resins and fabricated in the manner of a visionary metal worker.

What’s immediately evident in Napolian’s craft are the anthemic leads that tear across the conductor rod of 21st century hardware-based production. Napolian’s cyclonic smack of disparate yet logical influences sets him apart from the contemporary sidechain scene. The Harald Faltemeyer / Dr. Dre continuum on Rejoice’s “False Memories“ or the wormhole connecting Marcus Miller to Alice DeeJay on “Rejoice” represent a couple of the Napolian’s unprecedented stargates.

Airbird - Trust 14,99 €

Software Recording Co. introduces AIRBIRD’s Trust EP. Residing in Asheville, North Carolina via New York City, Airbird is the solo project of JOEL FORD, one half of FORD & LOPATIN. Trust is a 5-song EP featuring a patchwork of Ford's influences. Oblique rhythm schemes, computer-funk, and oceanic pop drift song play off of one another to create a unique look at the contemporary e-music scene.
Obsessed with the dichotomy of big city culture versus the solitude of the American wilderness, Ford vacillates between studio life and the appalachian outdoors. His City vs Mountains 12" was a literal reference, a theme that continues on Trust in the form bisected and jagged elements interlaced with organic motifs. And although the EP feels eclectic, there is a glowing, somber core that fuses his techno pop into something distinctly personal. Edition of 500!

Autre Ne Veut - Anxiety 18,99 €

Anxiety is the full-length follow up to AUTRE NE VEUT’s 2010 self-titled debut, which was for many the definitive post-millennial Failure Pop statement outside of time and style. Autre Ne Veut rivaled other lovelorn "missteps" such as Marvin Gaye’s Here My Dear and Big Star’s Sister Lovers. If you didn't hear the connection, you weren't listening closely enough. Be that as it may, ANV brazenly decided to make it easier for people with his post-canonical return. No longer playing the role of pauper or king, Anxiety is simply his high definition arrival. Born April 20th, 1982 ARTHUR ASHIN is the first of two children and the only son of American ex-patriots living in rural Kenya. He’s struggled with minor bouts of depression throughout his life, but a year of intensive psychoanalysis helped Arthur to realize that anxiety was at the crux of his problems. Anxiety is in some sense Ashin closing a chapter on his adolescence through song-form depictions of his own relationship struggles and ecstasies. There are club bangers on Anxiety, and opening track “Play By Play” rolls out like a slowly evolving Top 40 operetta with nods to Dr. Luke and Patti LaBelle in equal measure. But when experienced as a whole, there is an unfolding sense of confession to Anxiety. The influences on Anxiety range from David Byrne to Lee “Scratch” Perry, Laurie Anderson and Annie Lennox to Katy Perry and Rihanna. But Arthur’s primary influence - and the influence most evident in his music - is of karaoke - the solitary person singing along with their favorite song.