Erstlaub sails Marconi’s Shipwreck for Broken20 and delivers some Restructured Narratives

Glasgow’s Broken20 imprint has had a busy 2012, with releases of such high quality as TVO’s “Red Night”, Penalune’s “Not All Clouds Are White” and Production Unit’s “ICU Tracks” firming up the label’s reputation as a buy-on-sight imprint for those with a taste for left of centre electronica.

Next in line is something a bit special from label art director David Fyans aka Erstlaub in the shape of “Marconi’s Shipwreck”.

Constructed entirely using modular synthesis, the 72 minute long piece retains your attention throughout with snippets of melody and melancholy ambience surrounded by gentle drones and radio fuzz.

Taking influence from a quote by radio pioneer Marconi, the album is a genuinely beautiful piece of work that this clip only hints at, with the true depth of the sound contained within only really unveiled on full listening.

You can grab the album at Boomkat with a DVD also available from the Broken20 store featuring the album’s visual representation also.

As an accompaniment, Erstlaub has put us together an exclusive mix of his own material from the archives entitled “Restructured Narratives”.

It’s a 32 minute gaze into his world and you can download it below and read on for background on the mix from Erstlaub.

Download Erstlaub – Restructured Narratives or stream via Mixcloud below.

This is a mixed selection from the recent archives of works which have been made either as stand alone pieces, experiments or otherwise rarities/oddities from the vaults. While the majority of my released work is produced specifically as longform explorations within a given concept, these works exist independantly and have been compiled here into a new exploratory narrative strand.

Legba – the second in a series of pieces which have seen me exploring the idea of ritual music using modular synthesis as a vehicle in place of traditional drumming. In Voodoo lore, Legba is the intermediary between the Loa and humanity, a keeper of the crossroads. There are tentative plans to produce a much longer exploration in this field of interest.

The Stone Speaks To The Tree About Time – Created on the theme of Radio & Nature for the Air/Ear radio arts space which broadcast in Argentina in June 2012. The piece considers the language of time in relation to non-human/non-verbal relationships and communication.

Barge, Adrift – a sculptural landscape produced in response to a brief for NowhereIsland Radio which was a temporary radio station that broadcast in the Plymouth area to coincide with the arrival of Alex Hartley’s Nowhereisland to the area in August. Conceptually it investigates a sparse Arctic seascape being traversed by a spluttering and rusty barge.

Nostalgia For A Future That Never Happened – A spiritual successor to a piece commissioned last year to accompany screenings of Gair Dunlop’s ‘Atom Town’. Dreams of retro post-futurism, the fading splendour of old technology and a nod to the inevitable Ballardian near future we are approaching.

Comet Ghosts – I actually can’t remember exactly the basis for this track, I get the feeling it was during the period of intense geek love I was having for Dawn’s mission to explore Vesta and the impending approach of Curiosity to Mars. A love song to the wondrous ideas of what gargantuan celestial emptiness everything is constantly hurtling through.

Schuhart’s Burden – I’ve seen Tarkovsky’s Stalker more times than I care to count, it is without a doubt my favourite film of all time. I recently had the pleasure of watching a beautifully scratchy 35mm print of it in a cinema and was moved to make this piece as a tribute to the weight and beauty of the train scene which gives me unadulterated brain static every single time i see it.