However Passage have been consistently active since it's inception in 2009, making up for the now defunct ambient side of Thinner: Autoplate (though the archive link is now currently inactive??).

But Passage really makes up for it. The releases are exquisite, currently tallying up to a total of 5 - including the likes of Feldmaus, Clouds In My Home, Doyeq and Gaston Arovalo - the latter of which is a particular favourite of mine.

The latest release - 'Strange Dreams' by Slow (http://www.sergeysuokas.ru)- is an artist which I know little about, but who nevertheless provides a beautiful dreamy full length, which is surely one the labels best.

As Suokas describes:  "I willed to make this album sounding a bit lo-fi dried – a little hues from the past, world of dreams and unexplored lands, a little femininity and tenderness, simple and somewhat psychedelic melodies, all in all just for a pleasure listening”.

All in all Passage is a beautiful label, it's quite rare to find such high quality releases that provide the good without even charge a dime. I really look forward to future releases.

Be sure to check it out

ML.

I really love this project. The basic premise is a couple of guys who go camping and take gear to the forest, jamming out in nature, a healthy polar to my more computery Sinuso Dial project. It's interesting the sounds of the environment can have on your playing - out bush we wind up creating a suite of melancholy lullabies.

There should be more recordings of this project released in the future, but for now you can jump over to the audio releases section and check out the tracks, or click on the pics to download the full releases in .zip packages.

There's also a new site called 'Nawlz HQ' which includes a blog, gallery, shop, and a whole host of news feeds including links to Twittery and Facebooky goodness... Get amongst it!

Its a delicious blend of layered frequencies, a real ocean of shimmering ambient electronica. Somewhat reminiscent of Fennesz. For a free netlabel release this one really is a score.

Get it here.

-

Also check out the latest release from Polish netlabel Qunabu:

Their 9th release sees a 4 track offering from UK dubtech artist 'Hoax', with the Insomnia EP. It's a nice driving techno album, and one of the more deeper, slower releases I've heard across the net in a good while. I'm really digging it.

A CD-R version is available via the Qunabu shop, and it's available for free download.

Check it all out here: http://netlabel.qunabu.com/

Also, Qunabu offer a range of other art services which you can find here: http://qunabu.com/

~

m.

As part of the Video Arts Lounge at this years Rainbow Serpent Festival, I'll be presenting a screening of short, abstract video works, predominantly from the Sonic Acts XI Festival: The Anthology of Computer Art DVD...

I'll also be screening my most recent video work 'Airfield' on the big screen, so if you're at the festival be sure to check it out! Tickets to Rainbow Serpent have completely sold out!

Come by the Video Lounge at 11pm on Saturday night for:

THE MATTI LEAF HOUR

Playlist:

'Airfield' - M. Leaf-Tierney
'Space-Modulation' - Bart Vergner
'200 Nanwebbers' - Semiconductor//Double Adapter
'The Peace of Video' - Effekt//Peralin
'ROTOR' - Boris & Brecht Debackere
'From Brown to Green' - Scott Pagano//Twerk (Reline2)
'fortythousand3hundred20memories (excerpt)' - AGF & SUE.C
'CEC 1311 L' - Martijn van Boven
'Iha rgyal lo' - jasch
'Berlin' - Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto
'Reverberating Furnace' - Chris Musgrave

~

SUBAUDIBLE HUM Live A/V Gig - featuring T A N T R U M S and Re:enactment (QLD)

SubAudible Hum Live A/V Gig - the room will be black, there will be a big big big screen, on it will be some very interesting and beautiful video by some very talented people, behind it will be SubAudible Hum. Supports from T A N T R U M S and Re:enactment (QLD) at 9pm.

Features works by C Rodent, Dirty Puppet, Leaf Tierney, Marco Cher-Gibard, ... and possibly Mr.Speaker. This will also function as the much belated launch of the OUR LAST STAND clip launch.

In fact one can struggle somewhat to define 're-' without relying on 're-' itself. In many instances 're-' is an expression of applied will; a conscious act.

This act is replete throughout the history of the arts. Artists from all times continue to explore what at best appears to be the thorough investigation of Re. Artists re-map, re-configure, re-purpose, re-mix, re-act, re-define, re-constitute and re-play.

And play is a crucial word here.

As the video game industry has boomed in recent years, games themselves have now come under close scrutiny of the academic eye. Artists continue to use game elements in their work. But while the games medium seeks to demand respect as itself a 'fine art', much philosophy is bubbling up around the idea of play, it's importance not only in games; play is increasingly being recognised as a core facet in everyday human life.

The exploration of the so-called 'art-games' have been afforded little inspection over recent years - perhaps the closest to the mark is Ian Bogost's Persuasive Games (MIT Press, 2007) - but here, in Mary Flanagan's new book Critical Play, this close magnification on how play has shaped and influenced art for years finally comes to bear.

Track 2, 'Parafern', plays with a Macbook Pro built-in microphone and multi-fx processing in Ableton Live, to create an undulating swell of computational mechanics swathed in a wash of digital processes.

You can download it free here: Sinuso Dial - Airfield EP

Released 15th September 2009.

I was inspired to start using code by video games. To be truthful, I never really knew that programming was how you made video games. It was only a few years ago after attending a conference on game design, and a talk by Jon Blow that it all started to sink in. I was also inspired by the album art visualizations online at thinner.cc, something I hope to do for my future audio releases.

Initially a friend and I started messing around with Python and Pygame, but it really hurt my brain. It wasn't till later the next year that Stu Campbell introduced me to Processing, and I was sold. I wish I'd found out about this language earlier!

From my experience, canvassing many languages, Processing clearly comes in as the one most suited to artists and designers. For me the impetus in learning code was initially to make a video game, and still is, but for now I'm happy for that to sit on the back burner while I familiarize myself with a first language, understanding basic programming concepts, and getting my head around math again.

In the interim I'm excited about using processing as a painting tool, a generator for abstract visuals and a tool for interactive websites. Ultimately I'd love to do some some stuff for the iPhone, or other such multi-touch devices. I'm even considering a move up to Sydney for a while to do a 1 year course in Interaction Design (the first of it's kind in AU).

For now, I'm posting my experiments on openprocessing.org , and will drop updates here as new work goes online. I'm currently polishing up a version of pong I've put together, as well as a new version of the 'dragDraw' painting app. You can check out my stuff via the Processing link up on the main menu.

For now here is a little experiment in basic loop functions, trying to get my head around getting stuff to move in different directions!

Some great reviews for the Feeding the Transmitter compilation are floating about on the web...Really nice to see the release get a review on Neural too! I love that site and magazine...

One particularly nice story on the relevance of CD samplers in the current day is up on Tokafi, with a little mention of the track I had on the compilation... :

"Maps and Diagrams are illustrating the unspent efficacy of sustained flute tones and backwards lines on „Without Illustration“, while „anigma“ by Sinuso Dial feels like a majestic wave of expectation, softly ebbing away on the shores of loneliness and lamentation."

Nice!

Check out all the spots at these links:

Tokafi

Neural

EMM

Vital Weekly

Small Fish

__________________________________________________________________