Stadiums & Shrines

Atitlán

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Atitlán
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Once dubbed “the most beautiful lake in the world” by German explorer Alexander von Humboldt and “too much of a good thing” by author (and LSD enthusiast) Aldous Huxley, Lago de Atitlán draws many eyes to the Guatemalan Highlands. Baltimore artist Rod Hamilton responded to its pull last summer, and while there composed a collection of crystalline xylophone psychedelia titled Atitlán. The tape makes curious use of track names; “Treppe 3” opens, “Prelude 1” closes, and so on. It’s a code we’re yet to translate, but are having a delightful time in the process. “Dance 1-4” does in fact have four sections, each activated when a new element enters the mix. The piece assembles into carbonated splendor—one not unlike the hypnosis we’d love to imagine follows a deep stare into the blues of Lago de Atitlán.

The album is available at bandcamp.

Clearly

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Clearly
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It’s been a few years since the Kites have sailed at all.

Mario took a break, on his own terms. Eventually, he began composing again… discarding & restarting, until this distance itself became the heart of his new material. A spectrum of circumstances—positive and negative, harmonious and dissonant—lead to Motivated / Unmotivated, the first ever Kites Sail High full-length release. As its title suggests, the album is a very personal statement about the creative process: one that follows a narrative arc. This makes hearing “Clearly” on its own slightly bittersweet; to reveal that ultimate, blissful, cloud-parting moment at the apex without first sulking in the rain. The track is a timeless hybrid—avant pop, ambient, hip hop—deftly lifting from some lost motown of the mind. Inside its sampled lyrics, the autobiographical links are rather direct: an artist flipping his perspective in order to see the world straight again.

Motivated / Unmotivated is out today in tape format on Patient Sounds.

Slow House Virtual

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Slow House Virtual
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Night hangs differently; the bedroom anchored in a slow glow, the neighborhood spins…

Chemists // 化学者 is Virginia-based artist Danny Bozella. To date the project has collected Bozella’s solo experiments away from Rem’s Floating Chandelier. With Slow House Virtual he’s focused in on a sound, fusing wobbly guitar work with atmospheric beatmaking. While still abstract and fleeting, together the sketches make for a rather warm, transcendent little listen here.

Kiss

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Kiss
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Alone; a vibrant desire, a glimmer so high…

The art of floral arrangement known as Ikebana inevitably comes up here when highlighting a project that shares its name, and its principles—”minimalism, beauty in space, calmness…”. The parallels are immediate; “Kiss” enchants with restraint, its chords plucked almost as selectively as its words. The message is sincere, and as focused as its title. The pacing is unforced, its end result reaching somewhere uniquely sublime.

The song appears on the Japanese female duo’s LP when you arrive there, due out July 8th via Flau.