|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
LP
|
|
HTRA 045LP
|
Toronto-based musician and producer David Psutka aka ACT! presents his latest project Face to Face, Day by Day for his own Halocline Trance imprint. This is Psutka's third album proper as ACT! following the release of the "sonic mixtape" Universalist in 2018 and the augmented reality soundtrack Grey Matter AR Snapchat Compositions in 2021 (HTRA 015LP). "Everything on Face to Face, Day by Day began as an improvisation," Psutka says. "Openness to accidents and the emotional complexity that comes from centering them in composition has become important to my work, and helps the music go beyond the possibility of what is playable, imaginable. I also wanted to channel adventurous solo pop records of the 1970s and '80s, like Yasuaki Shimizu, Jon + Vangelis, and Stevie Wonder. These came from an interesting era in commercial music as studio production techniques became increasingly formalized as compositional devices, like AMS RMX16 percussion sounds and early digital stereo effects." In addition to ACT!, Psutka has released music with numerous projects including Anamai, Egyptrixx, and Ceramic TL, and he has collaborated widely with artists such as Junior Boys, Ipek Gorgun, and Kuedo, as well as Jessy Lanza (2016) and an official remix for Massive Attack's Hymn of the Big Wheel (2012). The contributions on this album, from Robin Dann and Ben Gunning, reflect the deeply collaborative nature of the Halocline Trance label and the Toronto creative scene more broadly. In 2015, Psutka launched Halocline Trance as a home for his various sound projects, events and collaborations. Now a creative collective and label, it has grown to include a diverse array of artists including Casey MQ, Xuan Ye, Myst Milano, Colin Fisher, and others. The label is described as "genre-agnostic" and conceptually open, supporting work across a wide spectrum of creative fields including soundtrack recording, AR design and traditional artist albums. Their impeccable roster also includes, theorist/improviser Eldritch Priest, and AR/VR artist Karen Vanderborght.
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP
|
|
HTRA 015LP
|
Grey Matter is a series of Snapchat filters created by artist Karen Vanderborght that explores the poetic and existential potential of AR (Augmented Reality) and social media -- suggesting selfies as self-reflective mirrors informed by the wisdom of our elders. These filters, soundtracked by ACT!, were released exclusively to Snapchat in 2019 and are here now on vinyl. Beginning in 2018 -- Karen filmed and interviewed ten seniors who brought diverse and universal wisdom to some of life's biggest questions. Andrew; an Ojibwe leader who lived through the residential school program, Alf; a church organist who publicly came out as gay at 80, Anne; the first black Senator in Canada -- all the seniors provide unique and profound perspectives on life and aging. See their words, thoughts, and appearances transpose and intersect with your selfie in an edifying engagement on themes of age, memory, time, regret, and resilience.
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP
|
|
HTRA 008LP
|
Universalist is the first album by ACT! Baroque, kaleidoscope electronics; material sound for a disembodied world. The energy is optimistic and positive -- even naive -- a statement of unity in the age of psychic dislocation. Ten tracks of phosphorus MIDI and brittle digital textures feel indebted in spirit to the masters of psychic jazz as much as the physical euphoria of the club. Above all, this album belongs to the catalog of Halocline Trance, yet subtle references connect it to a larger lineage of free sound. The empty, divine heaviness of songs like "Ecstatica / On Patrol" invokes Yusef Lateef's Little Symphony (1987), while the computerized spontaneity of "Lava Valley" feels somehow connected to Yasuaki Shimizu's Music For Commercials (1987). Non-musical sounds and evocative melodies sit side-by-side -- new psychedelia for love and life in the digital jet stream. ACT! is a project from Toronto-based musician David Psutka. Building on a diverse body of releases as Egyptrixx, Ceramic TL, Anamai, and various other collaborations, ACT! denotes a new chapter of creative output from Psutka and the Halocline Trance label. Universalist follows a prolific string of releases in 2017 with Anamai's What Mountain; Ceramic TL + Ipek Gorgun's Perfect Lung; and Egyptrixx's Pure, Beyond Reproach, and synthesizes recurring themes of materiality and the unifying potential of sound.
|