Heart and Soul

SPOTLIGHT: wim (ウィム) It’s rare that I stumble upon an artist...

Mon, 20 May 2013 12:44:11 -0400

It’s rare that I stumble upon an artist while digging through bandcamp and find their whole body of work to be perfectly consistent. It’s even rarer that when I do find an artist like this they don’t have a (relatively) large fan base. That’s what this series of posts is going to (at least attempt to) address and maybe even change. This series of focus pieces gets in depth with an artist and tries to give you an introduction to their discography, explaining the sound they create and who they would appeal to. Along the way I’ll allow these artists to say a few words about themselves and contribute a mixtape highlighting their tastes and influences.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, I’d like to kick off this series with a post on an artist I have been absolutely in love with, Nicholas Krapf, who records under the name wim (ウィム).

I was introduced to wim (ウィム) with his 10 minute ambient piece, lillie’s blanket, a stunning synth guided track that, when played at the right hour and in the right mood, served as more than just a listen. Listening to lillie’s blanket had become an experience, something that struck me as more than just beautiful. It offered an emotionally moving experience that I hadn’t felt in a long time. There was something about the subtle shifting elements in his synth work and the stereo effects he chose. They all added up to make something I don’t hear in a lot of the ambient music I discover. It felt raw and revealing. lillie’s blanket felt like one of the most personal tracks I’d heard in a long time and it was one that I felt like I could relate to. There was some sort of unspoken story in this track and it resonated with me and motivated me to explore his other work. It’s then, when you start digging through this collection of tracks and releases, that you see the true genius of wim (ウィム).

As I started to explore some of these other releases it soon became apparent that Nicholas is extremely versatile, being able to craft soft and beautiful melodies with gentle guitar strums as well as employing flawless use of synthesizers to form huge, lush atmospheres. His discography touches on all the bases you’d look for in atmospheric music and he seems to have mastered all of them.

humming collection shows off Krapf’s ability to effortlessly blend traditional song writing and structures with more downtempo and atmosphere focused elements. It’s the perfect mix of accessible tunes that lead the listener to more explorative music. Tracks like hum (c) offer a repeating vocal line with layered, high movement acoustic guitars that sort of chant and dance around in your head. Other tracks on this release take the more experimental route but the beauty in humming collection is that it all works together. These weirder more experimental tracks don’t feel odd when placed in the same albums as the more traditional tracks and the more you listen the more you see they actually complement each other perfectly. It’s an intelligent album, one that eases you in to a wide variety of textures and musical styles and never makes it feel forced.

On saint / espirit wim (ウィム) manages to take those organic, atmospheric elements that we find in humming collection, and pairs them with lofi synthesizers to create an absolutely blissful sound. Gently tapped guitar strings play off of airy, ambient, synths to create this perfect union. Clearly this isn’t a new idea, but Krapf’s execution is flawless. Songs last as long as they should, never feeling cut off short or running too long. Obivously, like all music, this is a matter of taste, but with an artist as strong as a Krapf, it doesn’t even feel like a matter of taste anymore. It feels like everyone should be enjoying this.

I could go on about every single one of his works as they’re all very special to me at this point, but there’s something that’s much more important that I’d like to announce.

In conjunction with this focus piece Krapf has released his new album, thanks & early feelings. This record is perhaps Krapf’s strongest work to date. On thanks & early feelings the same sort of charm found on humming collection is present, but every element seems to be pushed forward another step. The intelligence and simplicity is still there, as well as the restraint but everything seems richer. It’s a gorgeous record that sounds unlike anything else I’ve heard this year and, obviously, is now one of my favorites to come out in 2013.

Again, I could ramble on about wim (ウィム) but now I’d rather let Nicholas offer some background and thoughts on the project himself.

the music under wim pretty much formed as a result of recording humming collection. i indirectly started that album before the summer of 2011, just kinda recording some things that turned out to sound alike. at the end of that summer i had what i felt was a finished album and decided to put it on the internet to see if other people liked it. that group of songs was pretty much my first successful attempt at making a bunch of songs sound similar along with me being content with it. it’s kinda funny to think about because before humming collection i hadn’t really done that much acoustic music other than this little project my friend jesse whose in lea, jinx, and may did. and i was at a point where i liked the quietness of acoustic compared to electric guitar, so i thought it was something i could continue to work on. as a continuing project though i want my music under wim to embrace a music for music’s sake mentality; i want the songs i put out to be enjoyable in that vein. a small band from peru called callahan i think does this really well. i just want to make music because i like hearing it and i like the process. i’m going to try and not think too much more of it.

Be sure to check wim (ウィム) out on bandcamp and SoundCloud. Grab his new album, thanks & early feelings, right here.

While we’re at it, check out the fantastic mix wim (ウィム) contributed for this feature:

wim (ウィム) Mix from rgrafals on 8tracks Radio.

A W A K E N I N G I made this mixtape over the last couple...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 11:40:00 -0400

A W A K E N I N G

I made this mixtape over the last couple weeks and I’ve been really excited to share it with all of you.

It’s partially a mix to make up for the lack of posts lately but it’s also something I’ve worked on for myself to help me get through all of the stressful situations I’ve had to deal with lately. Hopefully some of you will find a similar use for it.

A W A K E N I N G [A Heart and Soul Mixtape]:

01 - yukon: “yr ghost”

02 - ALAK: “Soul Mates”

03 - elvis depressedly: “weird honey”

04 - Sight Seeing: “Crushed”

05 - Emily Reo: “Peach”

06 - Home Alone: “No One’s Awake”

07 - Cobwebs: “Untitled”

08 - r i o t _ m e a d o w s: “t h i s b r a n c h _ w i l l h o l d”

09 - cry guy: “gumdrop wishes”

10 - Spazzkid: “40 Winks”

11 - Shisa & Choongum: “Coral Reefer feat. Abigail Press”

12 - Yumi Zouma: “A Long Walk Home For Parted Lovers”

13 - Mmdelai: “Much Longer”

14 - Virusse: “Hounding”

15 - CAMP COUNSELORS: “02/05/11”

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starry cat - happiness I’m sure I’ve blogged enough...

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 11:51:02 -0400

starry cat - happiness

I’m sure I’ve blogged enough about Sam Ray and his various projects that by now any one of my readers would know who he is. starry cat is another one of those projects and Sam released this short album on bandcamp just a couple days ago. While the tracks are definitely fantastic, the reason behind releasing the album is much more important.

A note attached to the album reads:

…

however we found out recently that caroline (our viola player/singer) is sick and has to get multiple surgeries soon. that sucks. also she can’t eat cake for like a long time which is awful. caroline’s one of my best friends and one of the most talented people i know and it sucks she has to go through this and it sucks even more because i know it’s a lot of money to get everything she needs done.

i wanted to try and help her with everything so i figured i’d release this album now instead of waiting and hope that if you like it (or wanna be supportive) you’d pay for it. we set it up so whatever money donated here goes straight to carolines paypal to help pay for whatever medical stuff she needs. if you’ve followed me or my music for a while you know i don’t like to ask for money but this is kind of a rare occasion. if you can’t afford anything you can still download it but it’d be rad if you shared it i guess so maybe other people will see it.

idk what to expect from it but honestly anything helps. thanks a lot.

caroline’s original quote was that she was “extremely sad” but she asked me to change it to “i am extremely appreciative to any amount donated, no matter how small”

- sam

Caroline is also one half of Infinity Crush, who has been releasing a lot of amazing material including that flowers single I posted about not too long ago.

Definitely chip in whatever you can to make this easier for her and share the bandcamp link too. It would all help.

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The Bilinda Butchers - Love So Estranged San Francisco dream...

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 12:45:29 -0400

The Bilinda Butchers - Love So Estranged

San Francisco dream pop duo, The Bilinda Butchers, recently dropped a new single, the first bit of new material since their 2012 release goodbyes, and both tracks are excellent. Specifically the B-side, Love So Estranged, has really caught my attention.

On Love So Estranged we’re treated with the same swooping guitar lines that we saw on The Bilinda Butchers’ previous releases, but with a dreamier, more ethereal approach. Those guitars serve more as a background texture on this track, with airy synthesizers taking center stage. It’s ambient and relaxed but never really loses focus. It retains the pop qualities that guide all tracks from The Bilinda Butchers and just spins them in a new direction. Love So Estranged serves as the perfect B-side to The Lovers’ Suicide, which was a much more upbeat track than I was used to from The Bilinda Butchers, though still fantastic.

Purchase the single (only $1) through the link below to grab both The Lovers’ Suicide and Love So Estranged. At that price it’s more than worth it. If you’re not in to buying digital you can grab it on CD on Zoom Lens or on a 7 inch over at Beko.

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Infinity Crush - flowers pt. 2 A while back I posted a track...

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 11:50:25 -0400

Infinity Crush - flowers pt. 2

A while back I posted a track called flowers. At the time it was tagged as a sam+caroline song and was bundled with the teen suicide guest mix for AWD Castles. Since then we’ve learned that this was actually a track from Caroline White’s solo project (turned duo), Infinity Crush. Just this month she finally released both of the flowers tracks proper and they’re easily my favorite tracks of the year.

While flowers pt.1 was a faster moving track with an almost bouncy feel to it, flowers pt. 2 slows things down. A lonely guitar line slowly moves under Caroline’s emotionally charged vocals and is soon joined by viola as well as vocal harmonies from Sam Ray. There’s something about Infinity Crush songs, especially on these two flowers tracks, that feel so personal. I feel a sort of connection with these songs that I haven’t felt with other songs in a good while.

I had the pleasure of hearing this performed live last year as a teen suicide song and had always wondered if it would hit me as strong when it was recorded. I think it’s pretty obvious that it does.

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R.L. Kelly - Woke Up Feeling Sad On R.L. Kelly’s debut,...

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 11:38:34 -0500

R.L. Kelly - Woke Up Feeling Sad

On R.L. Kelly’s debut, Life’s a Bummer, we’re presented with a fantastic collection of tracks that range from choppy, more upbeat songs to slowed down and calming ones like Woke Up Feeling Sad, one of my favorites from the album.

Woke Up Feeling Sad finds the perfect balance between these rumbling synths and low, distorted guitars. Rachel’s voice plays off of these two elements perfectly, feeling right at home in this sea of fuzz and ambiance. Despite the distortion in the guitar, the track still feels peaceful and soothing because of the way Rachel executes those harsher elements. It’s a simple track but it’s a simplicity that plays to Rachel’s strengths. The few elements in Woke Up Feeling Sad are able to shine without being held back by unnecessary complexities and allow us to focus more on the lyrics.

Life’s a Bummer is available for free through the download link below. Be sure to give it a listen. It’s easily one of my favorite releases of 2013 so far.

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hola beach - don’t take it personal I recently stumbled...

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 12:31:50 -0500

hola beach - don’t take it personal

I recently stumbled upon hola beach while digging around bandcamp and their most recent EP, dark place has been on repeat.

On that dark place EP you’ll find don’t take it personal, a perfectly sunny, lofi garage rock track. While the rest of the EP is great, there’s something special about this song. The guitars provide some catchy tunes and the drum patterns following them seem to go hand in hand. There’s just a certain charm in the recording and the vocal delivery feels perfect for the sound that these guys are going for.

I can’t find too much information on hola beach, but they do have a bandcamp with a couple of releases dating back to 2010, so feel free to dig in.

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Fog Lake - extension cord Taken from Fog Lake’s most...

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 11:44:16 -0500

Fog Lake - extension cord

Taken from Fog Lake’s most recent release, farther reaches, extension cord is probably the most stripped down track on this entire album, but at the same time it’s likely the most heartbreaking.

extension cord offers a haunted beauty with its only instrumental element being a repeated, lonely, broken piano line. After a bit of repetition we’re greeted by these distorted and heartbroken vocals delivering some of the most hard hitting lines I’ve heard from Fog Lake. This is why extension cord works so well. With this stripped down delivery we’re forced to pay more attention to these lyrics. I’m almost having trouble writing about this song because it’s something that just needs to be felt and I can’t tell you how to feel.

Listen to it and connect with it. It’s the only way you’ll be able to understand how important this song is.

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Yume - Admire Yume’s latest, Admire, is a simply...

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 11:30:10 -0500

Yume - Admire

Yume’s latest, Admire, is a simply beautiful track that builds up a strong atmosphere while still providing huge energy and excitement.

Admire kicks off with these gorgeous, airy synths and builds this ambiance before a pulsing bass drum kicks in, leading to a climax where the synths and percussion both go all out. The way these synths play off of the stronger percussion here is genius and feels absolutely flawless. I’ve been following Yume for a while now and it seems that he just keeps growing, each track better than the last. Admire is easily his best work to date and I’m excited to hear what he releases next.

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Ricky Eat Acid - I can hear the heart breaking as one On Ricky...

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 11:55:59 -0500

Ricky Eat Acid - I can hear the heart breaking as one

On Ricky Eat Acid’s latest, Sam creates a touching ambient piece that is relentless on the atmosphere and calls for your complete emotional attention.

I can hear the heart breaking as one is simply stunning, proving beauty in simplicity with a loop that grows in atmosphere as it’s joined by synthesizers and more pronounced sampling. The song slowly fades from a hazy blur to something more detailed and complex in sound. Sam is able to make this transition feel effortless and that’s where the beauty in this track lies. There are certain touches in Ricky Eat Acid tracks that aren’t really matched by other ambient artists and this song continues to prove that.

Attached to the track is this note:

i’ve been having this dream that spans a few weeks and each night in my dream it grows less and less dark until the last few nights it stays completely light out even though there’s no sun and at that point i just stop sleeping and on the last night i go outside at 4 am and the sky is blue and i go inside to grab my camera because of the way the trees look against the blue sky and my dad is in my room reading the bible on my bed with my cat sitting on his lap and he tells me that the end is coming soon

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Jackson Scott - Sandy This track hit my inbox about two weeks...

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 11:23:40 -0500

Jackson Scott - Sandy

This track hit my inbox about two weeks ago and I’ve been hooked since it first graced my ears. There’s something about this song that really moves me, even if I can’t exactly put my finger on it.

The hazy, mellow atmosphere that Jackson Scott creates on this track along with the subject matter (the Sandy Hook shooting) combine to create this beautifully emotional song that keeps you entranced for its entirety. The small touches in the production perfect it, with slightly haunting synths backing the chorus, occasional vocal harmonies, and other subtle hints (like the intro) that really drive the mood on this track and give it a genuine feeling. His voice seems very fitting for the music too, which sounds obvious when written out but his range and pitch seem to compliment the songwriting here perfectly.

Jackson Scott recently released his debut album, Melbourne and you can grab it over on his tumblr for free.

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TWOS - With You I’ve been obsessed with TWOS’...

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 11:56:26 -0500

TWOS - With You

I’ve been obsessed with TWOS’ recent EP, Feel, for a good while now. With You, with its passionate vocal samples and mellow atmosphere proved to be one of my favorites from the EP.

The beautiful thing about With You, or even the entire EP in general, is that all of these samples feel so thoughtfully selected. Every effect and pitch shift feels calculated, with a lot of attention to how they would play off of the sounds present on the track. Unlike a lot of young beat producers you find floating around soundcloud, when TWOS uses a vocal sample it doesn’t feel cheap or slapped on, they actually add a whole new level of depth to the song, making it more emotive. Aside from the sampling, the track itself is simply gorgeous, following this hazy mood and carrying it out for the entirety of the song. There are a lot of details and subtleties to TWOS’ production and I feel they really show when you give his material a careful listen.

The download link below takes you specifically to With You, but definitely give the whole EP a listen, released on AURAL SECTS.

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Alphabet Witches - opiates Nineteen year old Steven Coulter hit...

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 11:38:25 -0500

Alphabet Witches - opiates

Nineteen year old Steven Coulter hit me up with his ambient/lofi folk project, Alphabet Witches, at the beginning of the week and it really struck me as something special.

On opiates, Alphabet Witches feels the most pensive, with hesitant guitar plucks and strums playing off of background noise and subtle ambiance. A pitched down vocal recording bridges the gap between a more hollow movement to one with a fuller atmosphere and the transition is seamless. It’s a consistently beautiful track and considering the style of ambient music Alphabet Witches is pursuing, that’s quite the accomplishment. While the general feel here is mellow, there’s plenty of movement, enough to keep things interesting for the entire length of the song, as well as these beautiful textures that blend and glide smoothly between each other.

Be sure to give the rest of his debut, gloomist, a download too. There’s something special about Steven’s music that just needs to be experienced.

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Opaline - Rain Pixel (Riot Meadows’ Prism Leak...

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 11:52:55 -0500

Opaline - Rain Pixel (Riot Meadows’ Prism Leak Version)

Riot Meadows continues to impress with his remixes, taking Opaline’s Rain Pixel and transforming it into a mellow, hazy soundscape.

Whenever Riot Meadows gets his hand on a track for a remix I don’t really expect it to resemble the original at all. His approach to remixing seems to be that he obscures the source material to the point where the remix is more of a complete reinterpretation of the song. His work on Opaline’s Rain Pixel gives the track a much more atmospheric feel. Where the original was sharper, more defined and more detailed in sound, Riot Meadows’ version has upped the ambiance and blended textures to create a free-flowing piece of atmospheric beauty.

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Secret Mountains - Coasting Coasting, the first single from...

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 11:55:23 -0500

Secret Mountains - Coasting

Coasting, the first single from Secret Mountains’ upcoming LP, Rainer, is a beautiful and powerful track that at times feels hypnotic.

Opening with a tribal-feeling drum line, mellow, atmospheric guitars soon enter the picture as Kelly’s vocals wordlessly emote over them. A steady, moving bass soon kicks in and the track hits this flawless groove as all of these textures blend together to create an entrancing track. There’s intensity, there’s strength, and because of this there’s beauty. Coasting is a song that feels rock solid only because Secret Mountains are so good at what they do.

Preorder Rainer here. After listening to the LP a couple of times, I can tell you it’s well worth the purchase.

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Sad Souls - In a Wooded Valley, in a Flurry of Snow It’s...

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 11:55:58 -0500

Sad Souls - In a Wooded Valley, in a Flurry of Snow

It’s been a while since we last heard from Ann Arbor’s Sad Souls (Tom Auty) but he recently dropped Form in the Fog Beside, a beautiful four track EP.

Pulled from this EP, In a Wooded Valley, in a Flurry of Snow immediately forms this impressively lush atmosphere and doesn’t let it go for the entirety of the track. Wafting synths make subtle shifts as they’re surrounded by thick waves of ambiance, creating this otherworldly feeling as you listen. A gentle distortion begins to cover some of the lower pitches in the track, but never really feels harsh; the distortion here is employed in a way that highlights the softness of the preexisting sounds. It’s these production touches, like the intelligent use of distortion on this track, that really highlight Tom’s gift in crafting ambient music.

This song, along with the rest of this EP, is a truly stunning listen. Grab the whole thing through the link below.

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Pretty Heart - Toy Last time I mentioned Pretty Heart it was...

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 11:34:00 -0500

Pretty Heart - Toy

Last time I mentioned Pretty Heart it was after the release of her fantastic EP, Half Asleep. Since then she’s released this single, Toy, a gem that takes all of the factors of her previous releases and expands on them, showing how the talented Morgan Holliger can evoke even more emotion with her music.

Toy opens with Morgan’s pitch shifted vocals creating this sense of dark and twisted beauty, backing these eerie sounds with strong and pounding percussion to push the track forward until it reaches this state of atmosphere formed by spiraling, high movement synths. Those opening pitch shifted vocals serve as a loop throughout the track, offering a platform for Morgan’s emotive and passionate (non pitch shifted) vocals to shine. This creates a beautiful backing track as these vocals add just the right texture to make the track feel complete. Everything contributes to that dark and twisted beauty I mentioned earlier and it seems to be a sound that Morgan is able to craft easily.

Download Toy through the link below and check out the rest of her material while you’re there.

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Campfires - Fortune Teller Portland based Campfires (Jeff...

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 12:00:05 -0500

Campfires - Fortune Teller

Portland based Campfires (Jeff Walls) is back with some more deliciously fuzzy and lofi garage pop on Fortune Teller, from the upcoming LP, Tomorrow, Tomorrow.

Fortune Teller kicks off with this bouncy guitar line before we’re greeted with Jeff’s wonderful, hazy vocals. Throughout the track he keeps the movement in the guitars interesting while a nice, simple drum set backs everything up. It feels like previous Campfires tracks but with a bit more personality and feels more fun, which is clearly a great thing; Campfires has a sound that always seems to work, or at least hasn’t disappointed me yet.

This single is fantastic and I’m looking forward to hearing the LP, which you can preorder right here.

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Heart and Soul 2013 2012 seems to have gone by so fast and I...

Tue, 01 Jan 2013 12:00:26 -0500

Heart and Soul 2013

2012 seems to have gone by so fast and I just want to thank all of you who’ve supported the blog throughout the last year. Whether you’re an artist or you run a label or if you’re a reader, all of your support for this has been amazing and I hope you decide to stick around for 2013.

This year’s going to mark some changes on how I run things around here. Posts won’t be going up as frequently as I want to take more time with the tracks I listen to and share. I’m only going to be sharing the music that really moves me and will stick with me the longest. This will likely create some quality control in my posts and writing as well. On a more positive note, less posts will lead to more mixtapes and hopefully some new approaches to writing as I move forward with the blog. I’m really excited to try and share new things.

To kick off the new year I put together this mixtape highlighting some tracks I’d posted before, and really enjoyed, as well as some stuff I never got to write about.

Hope you all enjoy the mixtape. Let’s try to make 2013 wonderful.

Download (and stream) the 2013 Kickoff Mixtape here.

Track Listing:

01 - mgkrp - [welcome]

02 - Blithe Field - dont want to be here

03 - Infinity Crush - sober + showered

04 - wim (ウィム) - hum (c)

05 - /please/ - not really

06 - infinity girl - even if

07 - Winter - Nothing

08 - GEMS - All I Ever

09 - It is rain in my face. - Moor As Uncle

10 - Patchwork - Cigarettes

11 - Yume - Dreamt Of U

12 - Hazy Mountains - Eavesdrop

13 - Mister Lies - Cleam

14 - Friendzone - CHUCH

10. heroin party - summer made me blue; summer gave me sky 09. Groeni - Groeni 08. Conveyor -...

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 12:19:00 -0500

10. heroin party - summer made me blue; summer gave me sky

09. Groeni - Groeni

08. Conveyor - Conveyor

07. Fog Lake - there’s a spirit, there’s a soul

06. Cemeteries - The Wilderness

05. Riot Meadows - tEMPORAL dRIFT tAPE

04. Elvis Depressedly - Hotter Sadness

03. /please/ - .2.

02. teen suicide - i will be my own hell because there is a devil inside my body

01. It is rain in my face. - It is rain in my face.