UK sample sculptor, Birkwin Jersey (or as his parents call him, Graeme Coop) has been hard at work this past year, releasing both an EP and LP on rising digital label Absent Fever. His sound is deceptively honest—organic, self recorded samples that twist and reverse under the precise influence of electronics; it’s a formula that’s setting him apart from other young producers. When I asked Graeme to share with us some of this visual inspirations it came as little surprise that toy camera photography was up his alley. His vision is clear.

In addition to sharing some insight into his sound, which includes some of his own photography, Graeme has gone above and beyond and composed a new track for this feature aptly titled, Think or Smile.

Aesthetically, what attracts you to lo-fi photography?

For me, the imperfections really make the images. There is a certain honesty to them, really capturing a moment that otherwise would have passed in a way that couldn’t be replicated. The colours, even if they have been purposely manipulated, still have that element of chance which really brings the images to life.

Many of the images you’ve selected are double exposures, layering man-made with nature. How does this idea translate to your music?

I’ve always loved that juxtaposition of man and nature living beside one another like tolerant neighbours, like when you see the roots of a tree force it’s way up through the pavement. In that way I like the idea of combining acoustic instruments and found sounds with electronic production. Opposing the natural sounds of acoustic guitars and banjos with constant kicks in a regular pattern with some sloppy recordings of me hitting various objects, but set out in an almost mathematical way, l think it makes a nice balance sometimes.

Light leaks and color aberrations account for some of the ‘look’ of lo-fi, there’s beauty in the randomness. You’ve used many unconventional objects as instruments (lampshades, books, glass) which no doubt behave unpredictably, how important is the element of chance to your creative process?

It plays a pretty big part, so many ideas have started from accidentally moving a bunch of samples or playing a wrong note! In terms of sampling a lot of the sounds I use as percussion on tracks have been offcuts from other takes, like the noise of putting an instrument back or someone knocking on the door, everything has a sound, it’s just a case of recording it (intentionally or otherwise!).

I once sampled my cat purring with an idea to use it in pieces as bass hits in the percussion of a track, but the recording came out totally different, more like slow thunder, which gave the whole song a different feel and a whole new direction. I enjoy that unpredictability, going off on musical tangents gives the process an organic feel, if I actually managed to make the kind of track I originally have in mind it might not be so much fun!

With an overabundance of photo apps and the prevalence of easily accessible recording programs it seems it’s never been easier to get started in the arts, visual and sound alike. What advice do you have for someone just starting out, someone who may still be in search of his or her voice?

I’m still starting out myself so I’m not sure I’m qualified to advise, but I’d say listen to loads of different genres of music, and experiment!

If you’re not sure what kind of direction you want to go down, play around with combinations of styles to see what fits – you may only make a few tracks and then move onto something else but each time you’ll be learning different techniques and developing your sound.

With certain artists I like to think about what it is that really makes them stand out and what makes certain tracks feel the way they do, and try and learn from it. I used to try and avoid using constant kicks in any tracks as I saw it as being kind of obvious or lazy, but listening to the way Four Tet uses them in his tracks to give it a driving force made me realise that as long as it sounds good and fits with the song well there’s no reason not to do anything.

It does seem to be super easy for anyone to do anything creative now there’s an app for everything, but hopefully it will inspire people who enjoy making music or whatever to get involved and make something from scratch.

Thank you Graeme!

You can download Birkwin Jersey’s latest Old Hands EP and his full length Time Doesn’t Exist, Clocks Do for free on Absent Fever’s bandcamp or explore demos and older material on his soundcloud.

Images from top down:

1. Graeme Coop – “Leaves”
2. Graeme Coop – “Poles”
3. Graeme Coop – “Houses”
4. ina nasovich - ”Dryviaty Lake”
5. Amy Fichter - ”deer, landscape”
6. Semen Penya - ”science x art”

Again it is time to bring our collection of specimens in from the cold, and collectively generate enough heat for them to bloom and cross-pollinate.

If you are a regular to this garden you’ll notice a plot missing. Nada, of Friends With Both Arms, has found herself with a bounty of new opportunity that needs her love and attention. Her presence here will be missed but I know she has nothing but good things on the horizon. Follow her progress or say hello @fwba.

Free Music Collection: February 2012

• RxRy – DLTRA: midi generated waves & telepathic filter.
• Bukit Timah – Bukit Timah: collage of lo-fi loops, drum carnage, and found sounds.
• Brainfeeder – Sampler 2012: beats for the price of an email.
• thirtycenturyman – 3CM: 15yr old experiments/succeeds with hip hop and r&b samples. another flashlight tag find.
• Bon Accord – Unknowing EP: melancholic electronic seduction.
• Vyxor – Nocturne Feveron: intercepted R&B transmissions from Saturn.

• Lay Bac – Shortcuts: Deep cuts, and dancy vibes will cut you right to the core.
• PORTALS Mixtape #1: Full of so many good jams you’ll wonder if good music super novas really do exist.
• Beat Culture – Tokyo Dreamer: If beats could be friends, then this album would be full of some of your best. Oh an did I mention there’s enough Beyoncé samples to make you want to put a ring on it.
• Flights – Anywhere But Where I Am: Sounds so sweet for the winter months. These folk introspections are meant for quiet nights and thoughtful mornings.
• Magical Mistakes – Special Friends EP: Birthed in a small village in Japan, and drawn together by the power of the internet, this is some of my favorite electronic sounds around.
• easily suede – Signalling: Drifting in and out of consciousness, these are some experimental sounds that touch the soul.
• Handbook – Nomadic: The prolific producer is back with another album full of some of the sweetest hip-hop inspired beats this side of the internet equivalent of the Mississippi.

• IN INDIA: Almost a year old, this meditative psych-soul set seems to have floated by without reaching nearly enough ears (or minds). Thanks for sharing, Tonje.
• Birkwin Jersey – Old Hands: Graeme Coop’s second release with Absent Fever is another flurry in a very distinct snow globe of electronic.
• Green & Gold: This is the first entry in a monthly No Fear of Pop column curated by Holly Friedlander Liddicoat of Australian blog East To West. Stream and read up on a number of promising artists from downunder, and leave with them all in a zip.
• Coma Cinema – Stoned Alone (remastered): Stoned Alone ages well (it was an S&S favorite of 2010 and remains a very dear and isolated listening experience). Matt Cothran decided to remaster the album “with the intention of preserving the lo fidelity that it was recorded under while making it more vibrant”, so Stoned Alone has now literally gotten better with time.
• Gem Drops Two: 20 forward thinking producers from the west coast beat scene get compiled into “an electric melange of uptempo and downtempo jams, hazy dream melodies, and space station future-flights.” Yes free, but any donations go straight to the American Cancer Society.
• Zebra Katz – Ima Read EP: Ima Read Ima Read Ima Read, in five trance-inducing varieties.
• Software – FADER Mix: Joel Ford and Dan Lopatin showcasing all the progressive sounds their label stands for in one long heady flow. Megafortress, OPN, Airbird, etc…

Support music you love. See shows, buy physical releases, show love.

Note: Due to bandcamp’s terms of service artists are required to charge a minimal price after a certain number of free downloads. If that’s the case after our posting you can always stream it and if it moves you, support them with a purchase.

[field name="iframe"]

Let’s be motionless. We’ll take turns blinking, making certain that not one millisecond is spent in darkness.

[field name="iframe"]

Earlier to today Stadiums & Shrines premiered what you see above—The Birth of Medusa—my inaugural attempt at combining my love of sound, motion, and poetry. It also marks the first (non-live) collaboration with audio researcher and sonic wav manipulator, RxRy as well as, the first film I’ve produced using my own footage. I hope the outcome is as much an experience for you as it was for me during its creation.

The undisturbed soil of 2012 awaits; a new light enters frame, bending our horizon with promise. Instruments calibrate, bodies acclimate; we’re lured by the unheard sound. A series of monthly transmissions back home will chronicle our findings, and this here, is the year’s first:

Free Music Collection: January 2012

• Clams Casino – INSTRUMENTALS: beats sans rappers. dissolve into an uncharacteristic dream-like haze.
• LORN & DOLOR – DRUGS: deep dark beat tape.
• Matthewdavid – Smoke Hustle Mix: 80s VHS playing in the back room. boogie down.
• The Weeknd – Echoes of Silence: the guilty pleasure continues… sex & drug laced neo-soul.
• Blue Hawaii – Blooming Summer (2010): late to the party on this one… but it needs to be shared nonetheless. Raph (of BRAIDS) and Alexander use voice, guitars, synths, drum machines, and other electronics to create a kind of tropical-pop with love ache melodies and experimental club rhythms.
• BOSCO – Pacer EP: pop for a road trip.
• Orion Rigel Dommisse – Chickens: (mellow)drama comprised of electric cello, ukulele, and voice.
• Red Alder – Album Sampler: lo-fi piano and vocal ambiance.
• Similar Objects – Finding Astral Lovers: beat contemplations derived from experiments in meditation and astral travel.
• GHOSTANDTHESONG / CHRIS REHM – UNSCHÄRFE / SHIMMER: static spacial wanderings. for drifting without moving.
• Low Light Mixes – an Icelandic mix: a tribute to a beautiful place that produces beautiful sounds.

• Sean Nicholas Savage – Flamingo: Our favorite Canadian psycho lounge singer finalizes 2011 with his third album. It’s as simple and brilliant as it ever has been.
• Joseph Stallion – White Lodge EP: This mysterious producer appeared out of nowhere. But with tracks like “How I Won The War” we can hope he stays around.
• Kwala – Projectionss EP: A beautiful project introduced to me by my buddy Jake at Speaker Snacks. Gentle free flowing beats for down time or uptime. Mostly just good.
• King Mob – Empathy: A short, but soulful EP from this Denver project. Somehow both electronic and R&B, but most of all, not disappointing in the least.
• Landon Speers – Spooky Mulder: You don’t know you want it, but you want it. It’s quiet, it’s strange, it’s synthetic, it’s beautiful.
• INNIT – Vol. 4: A mix featuring some of Japans most interesting electronic producers, from a collective focusing on these artists. Well worth your time.
• Thrupence – Serenade/Promenade: A beat tape comprised of throw-away sounds made new. And I’m glad they were, cause this is a 30 minute journey I’ve spent a lot of time listening too.
• Cultus Vibes – Together: A year end compilation of some truly great artists. Brought to you by one of the purest-hearted digital labels around. Feel the warmth, and enjoy the family affair that is this compilation.

• Lykke Li – The Lost Sessions: Lykke Li gave away some tracks from “The Lost Sessions” She advises to spread it like a kindlly flu filled kiss. Hmm, ew.
• When You Awake “We All Go Twang” Collaborative Mixtape: Leave it up to me to bring the folk to the FMC! Someone’s gotta. When You Awake is one of my favorite blogs for just that genre: the twangy/acoustic/folk rock stuff. It’s especially fitting for this season. Artists covered everything from Lucinda Williams to Tom Petty to the Magnetic Fields.
• Old Ugly Christmas Compilation: The Edmonton label put out a Christmas compilation featuring artists and friends performing their favorite Christmas jams, including my personal favorite: Jessica Jalbert performing “Until the World Lets Me Go”. It’s stunning.
• Gorilla vs. Bear December 2011 Mix: GvsB final mix of the year, and it’s a goodie!
• RAJA – The October Series, Red: The first first album to be released. It’s chock full of thickly layered old school hip-hop beats and smothered with arbitrary, often hilarious samples. You can hear Madlib and J Dilla influences strong and clear.
• RAJA – The October Series, Which: The second album from the series. Here RAJA takes a distinct turn into his darker side. The tracks are still layered thick, but the tempo is cut in half and beats are dirty and electronic. Think Salem meets Gold Panda.
• RAJA – The October Series, Color: The final album of the trio. The tracks wander around a bit, but are mostly stripped down and littered with beautiful piano fills. Falling along the lines of James Blake and Mount Kimbie, the album is an apparent homage to RAJA’s deceased grandmother.

• Campfires – Slaughter tropes: The pleasant tambourine-backed strum of 60s sun pop in a garage, as heard by the dad sitting in the kitchen.
• Kwala – Shabang: Jarringly pretty little sequences of pennies dropping, and vocals start/stopping, entire tracks cracked open, disassembled. Self-proclaimed post-brostep soul beats.
• Sad Souls – Object of Perception: Another glimpse into a microcosm that loops in perfect symmetry and climate; guitar-based, wordless, endless.
• Friends Records – Friends Records 2011: Nearly two hours of exclusive Baltimore sounds from our friends at Friends. Includes Co La, Future Islands, Dustin Wong, that magnificent imprisoned Flock of Dimes bride, and so many others.
• Catamaran – Catamaran: Air travel via mood ring. A surreal, full spectrum destination: golden reggaeton, teal flare gun haze, and a well-placed sax finale.
• NO MODEST BEAR - Sounds of 2011: A splendid year in blog, summed up by the one and only, Oskar.
• Crash Symbols – Dope Mountain Fuck Vol. 2: A mega-comp of ambitiously scoped, unclassifiably dope, future varieties, 25 total—big time Crash Symbols activity right here.

Support music you love. See shows, buy physical releases, show love.

Note: Due to bandcamp’s terms of service artists are required to charge a minimal price after a certain number of free downloads. If that’s the case after our posting you can always stream it and if it moves you, support them with a purchase.