It seems almost unreal, but since last fall, Affin label owner Joachim Spieth (partly alone, partly in various collaborations) has now released 5 albums. The album “Arcadia”, which was released today in collaboration with zakè and label partner Markus Guentner, provides an interim status...
But back to the beginning...
In October, “Retrace” ushered in the creative phase, an album that dealt with the fusion of ambient sounds and dubby beat structures, and incidentally was also the first work in several years to make use of percussive sounds again. This was preceded by the announcement 10” ‘Recall’, which contained an interpretation by Luigi Tozzi that transformed Spieth's watery beatscapes onto the dancefloor.
Recall
Retrace
Quotes
“An album in which Spieth’s crystal clear compositions find new ground in his ever-evolving world of sound. ” – Sun13
“Perfectly curated as a soundtrack for any time of your day, these seven pieces will guide you back into the meaning of this reality” – Headphone Commute
“Spieth’s compositions should be regarded as several chapters of a single stream of sound, a narrative that has an almost supernatural emotional power, capable of evoking a sense of permanence and infinity” – Radioaktiv
“The result is a short but successful album that recalls the best achievements of glitch dub at the beginning of the 21st century” – Nowamuzyka
After the turn of the year, “Fragments” was a collaboration between Spieth and the Spanish ambient artist Warmth. The album united the two musicians' penchant for melancholy pads and merged all of this into a cloud of music that seemed soft as cotton wool.
Fragments
Quotes
“The joint work by Spieth and Mena consists of seven short recordings which, true to their title, seem like fragments of a larger whole. They are an almost benedictine exercise in discrete modulations of minimalist sound.” – Nowamuzyka.pl
“These contradictory associations serve as a fitting introduction for this immersive, spellbinding album of immersive arctic ambient, which is alternately steamy warm and frosty, soft yet cutting, alien yet somehow earthy and organic.” – Micro Genre Music
“The divisions between the tracks become irrelevant when you fully immerse yourself in the album, which begins to permeate your consciousness” – Radioaktiv.it
“There’s a stunning resonance here, and with both playing off each other’s strengths, the results are something beautifully overpowering” – Sun 13
At the end of January, another part of Spieth's sample library was released with “Textures 4”, a project that began in 2021 and is intended as a starting point for music productions...
Textures [Sound Library 4]
At the beginning of April, Andrew Thomas (a New Zealand-based artist who may be familiar to some from the Pop Ambient series curated by Wolfgang Voigt) and Joachim Spieth came together to explore the musical possibilities of piano sketches and Spieth's ambient soundscapes with Nocturna.
Nocturna
Quotes
“The record is a fresh example of a timeless sound sought by so many ambient and instrumental artists.” – Melted Form
This album sits on the threshold between ambient and contemporary classical music, featuring sound design elements that invite deep, contemplative listening. – Rmas.mx
It is a sonic impressionism, focused not on building a narrative, but rather an impression and mood. – Nowamuzyka.pl
In May, the Overlay album by Guentner | Spieth came full circle, a project that was born in 2023 and was subsequently defined in the form of 10” lathe cuts and the associated remixes... Overlay Reworks was finally released with interpretations by Abul Mogard, Rafael Anton Irisarri, Pole, Karen Vogt / Pepo Galán and Hollie Kenniff.
Overlay Reworks
Finally, the Arcadia album was released today, which marks a musical summer break with its calm sound. We'll be back in the fall...
Arcadia
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