A 20m mixtape, featuring excerpts from my recent collection of weird tales:

1. calma voces v.01
2. fallos v.01
3. la hechicera v.02
4. pequeña maquina v.01
5. dispersion vectores v.03
6. ruidos extraños v.01
7. transmigracion planetaria v.02

The Silent Stars is my “side-project” for exploring (slightly) different directions in music. El libro principal is a “concept album” featuring granular synthesis, microsound tone colors and freeform arrangements. These pieces are my take on post-ambient space music using modern digital methods; an homage to the early electronic music pioneers, post-prog-rock instrumentalists, early New Wave synthesists and proto-New Age experimentalists of my youth.

Production Notes

Granular synthesis and microsound techniques were used for sound generation. Sources include: flute, harp; strings; toy instruments; vinyl records; elementary sound waveforms and more.

Density GS and Pulsaret instruments were the primary instruments. Arrangement, mixing and mastering was done with Ableton Suite. Processing effects were limited to resonant filters, grain delay, reverb and EQ.

Track listing

El libro principal

1. cadenas v.01 – 06m56s
2. el enlace v.01 – 08m53s
3. grana fina v.02 – 09m21s
4. piscinas v.01 – 09m40s
5. s’arpa v.01 – 07m02s
6. masa brillante v.02 – 20m57s

el libro principal by The Silent Stars

1. Amina – AnimaminA EP (iTunes, Amazon) and Kurr (iTunes, Amazon)
2. Dubmood – Atari-Ska L-Attack (Internet Archive)
3. His Name is Alive – Detrola (iTunes, Amazon) and Xmmer (iTunes, Amazon)
4. Ida – Lovers Prayers (iTunes, Amazon)
5. Keren Ann – Keren Ann (iTunes, Amazon)
6. Miles Davis – The Peacocks (Amazon)
7. Miss Kittin – Batbox (iTunes, Amazon)
8. Pole – Steingarten Remixes (iTunes, Amazon)
9. Ras Amerlock – Farther East (Internet Archive)
10. Samantha James – Rise (iTunes, Amazon)
11. Sia – Some People Have Real Problems (iTunes, Amazon)
12. Various – The Dub Club Night (Amazon)
13. Various – New (dub) Excursion (iTunes)
14. Various – Resume (iTunes, Amazon)
15. Vector Lovers – A Field EP (iTunes) and Piano Dust (iTunes)

Blue States – First Steps Into… (Amazon, iTunes), Disrupt – Foundation Bit (Amazon, Boomkat), Faithless – Forever Faithless: The Greatest Hits (Amazon, iTunes), Faithless – To All New Arrivals (Amazon, iTunes), The Future Sound of London – From the Archives Vol. 1 (Amazon, Boomkat), Iron & Wine – The Shepherd’s Dog (Amazon, iTunes), Lusine Icl – Language Barrier (Amazon, iTunes), Mum – Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy (Amazon, iTunes), Radiohead – In Rainbows (homepage), Regina Spektor – Begin to Hope (Amazon, iTunes).

Biosphere – Dropsonde (Amazon, iTunes), Brazilian Girls – Talk to La Bomb (Amazon, iTunes), Clogs – Lantern (Amazon, iTunes), Ensemble – Ensemble (FatCat, iTunes), Johann Johannsson – Dís (Amazon, iTunes), Englabörn (Amazon, TouchShop) and IBM 1401, A User’s Manual (Amazon, iTunes), Kiln – Vaporbend EP (Boomkat, iTunes), Max Richter – Songs from Before (Amazon, Homepage)

Robin Guthrie — multi-instrumentalist, prolific producer and co-founder of 1980s and ’90s seminal alternative/ambient group the Cocteau Twins — and Harold Budd — ambient/avant garde composer and collaborator with Brian Eno — have released several excellent albums in recent years.

In their first new work together since 1985′s The Moon and the Melodies (iTunes), they collaborated on Music from the Film ‘Mysterious Skin‘ (iTunes). Now, they have released the companion albums After The Night Falls (iTunes) and Before The Day Breaks (iTunes).

All four albums feature Guthrie’s ethereal, intricate guitar and Budd’s spacious, brooding piano, and I highly recommend them.