Entering the Bleep store over the past week have been two stunning albums from musicians who value collaboration as a means of broadening their spectrum of sounds. On have crafted a record that is highly unique in its approach and whilst it may not be an easy listen, if you take the time to let it form in your ears it will reveal itself as a hypnotic and quite magical album of intricate detail. Tiger Flower Circle Sun is the latest solo record from audio-visual composer and guitarist Christopher Willits. Having worked with Taylor Deupree, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Matmos in the past he draws together a vast array of styles for this record that owes as much to Aphex Twin, as to the psychedelic collage music of Broadcast, Reich’s minimalism and even the Beach Boys.

Lurking behind the band name ‘On’ is a very original idea. Formed by pianist and guitar player Sylvain Chauveau and percussionist Steven Hess, they record improvisations that are handed to a rotating third member to be manipulated and formed into a record. For their third release, On is completed by collaborator Christian Fennesz, who treats the source material with a lightness of touch, creating an emotive album of dronescapes that evoke industrial beauty.

Something That Has Form And Something That Does Notis a collection of long and expansive pieces consisting of seemingly static washes of sound, loops and drones. It is within these linear elements that the music in fact reveals itself in a constant state of flux, teeming with life and energy. Opener The Inconsolable Polymath sounds like an ensemble of rotating helicopter blades, muted alarm bell and pure electronic tones. The title track begins with what could be a duet for morse code accompanied by quiet hum and overlapping loops and builds to include soft synthetic chords, the crackling of a flame and the hiss of escaping air. Hess’s metronomic drumming dominates the foreground and consists of a satisfyingly strange collection of resonant cymbal crashes, drum hits that could be prepared piano and a dry hi-hat.

Much like closing track The Lonesome Poetry of Mark Rothko from On’s previous release, The Sound Of White appears to reference minimalist visual art and emptiness. Similar to the soundscapes that On create, a canvas that appears to be merely a wash of single colour is on closer inspection full of texture and imperfections. The Sound of White depicts the noisy reality of silence, and calls on sensory associations we make with sound. At times there is a sense of being submerged underwater, or in the recording studio hearing the musicians shuffle in their seats. The realism of musique concrete is combined with what feels like the amplified internal bodily sounds we experience as we breathe, suffer tinnitus or hear the liquid beating of our hearts. A beautiful mixture of real and treated sound, this track epitomises the originality of On’s collaborative approach.

With track names such as Sunlight Is You, Green Faces and New Life there is clearly an underlying theme of renewal and light in Christopher Willits’ latest album Tiger Flower Circle Sun. He creates immersive, bleary soundscapes of layered guitar and intricate glitchy textures, collaging sampled fragments to create patterns of interlocking rhythm and texture. His pallet of colours embraces sounds as diverse as electric guitar, horns, synths, glitches, choral vocals and even cow bell to create his ‘holistic universe’ as he describes it, ‘in which all elements are interconnected’.

The album begins with Portal and we are transported to Willits’ world; warm fuzz envelops a series of sustained guitar chords that struggle to be heard beneath waves of distortion and white noise. Sun Body opens with a symphony of clipped guitar glitches before Willits’ vocals melt into minimalist hooks and layers of complex rhythmic patterns. This wonky song feels stuck together like a jigsaw puzzle, yet never disjointed and is a track of hidden complexity. The Hands Connect To The Heart builds as guitar loops and clicks are layered upon a repeated ascending melodic pattern. Gradually a wash of soft fuzz and whirling tone crescendos into the foreground and the song builds to an ecstatic climax- perhaps a party track for robots of the future! Triptych of songs Light Into Branches- Branches Into Flowers- Flowers Into Stardust, embody Willits’ sonic universe of contradictions as an acoustic guitar led folk ditty becomes distorted noise and then celestial ambience. Tiger Flower Circle Sun takes us on an abstract voyage from the sun to the stars and despite its eclectic elements never loses coherence as a whole. Willits has created a truly genre-defying album that is complex and experimental, yet warm, uplifting and full of fun.

Words by Nicole Robson.

Content Assistant
Hours: Part Time (2-3 days a week)
Salary: Depending Upon Experience
Based : Kentish Town – North London
Start Date: ASAP
Application: Send a CV and covering letter to jobs@bleep.com

Bleep is a specialist online music retailer looking for an enthusiastic, dedicated and hard working individual to join the team.

The role:
The role of content assistant has two main functions:
1. Management of Bleep’s musical catalogue and addition of content from physical suppliers to the store. New releases arrive to the store weekly. The content assistant will be responsible for addition of content and inputting all relevant release information onto the store. Addition of content should be prioritized according to the needs to the physical buyers and digital content managers. Candidates must be able to manage a heavy workload and be highly organized.
2. Assisting with the implementation of features and editorial. The content assistant should use their knowledge of the new releases on the store to assist with the creation of features. Written skills and knowledge of music will be important in this aspect of the role.

A successful candidate must be passionate and knowledgeable about a wide range of music. They must have a desire to be involved in online music and see this role as a key part of developing their career in the industry.
Accuracy and attention to detail are essential, as is being able to pick up new skills easily and quickly. Candidates must be skilled with computers. Good writing ability is important and experience in writing about music would be advantageous. Other desirable skills include knowledge of HTML and XML and being able to manipulate spreadsheets of data.

Email:: jobs@bleep.com

Autechre – Oversteps is still available to buy HERE.

Bleep.com is an online music store. As a retailer of music and media from some of the worlds best independent record labels (predominantly electronic music), Bleep has developed over it’s 5 year history culminating in the merging of Bleep.com and Warpmart.com earlier this year.

There are 2 positions that are available.

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Label Relations

Bleep is looking for a bright, enthusiastic intern to join the team for a minimum of 2 days a week for a minimum of 2 months to assist in content and label management. This will involve immersing yourself in the Bleep catalogue and assisting in ensuring it is cataloged and maintained to a high standard. All we require is a genuine passion for music and a desire to work in the digital sphere. However advantageous skills include, a high level of ability using computers including HTML/XML/CSS, a wide knowledge of music and attention to detail.

Applicants should send a C.V. and covering letter to info@bleep.com.

Travel expenses included
Based: Kentish Town – North London

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Marketing Intern

Bleep is looking for a bright, enthusiastic intern to join the team for a minimum of 2 days a week for a minimum of 2 months to assist with online marketing. This will role will be working with the marketing team, assisting with both the weekly running of the store and lending a hand with one off projects and features. We require is a genuine passion for music and a desire to work in the digital sphere. A successful applicant will be both creative andself-driven. However advantageous skills include, a high level of ability using computers including photoshop, illustrator and, HTML, and attention to detail.

Applicants should send a C.V. and covering letter to info@bleep.com.

Travel expenses included
Based: Kentish Town – North London

Bleep have teamed up with those good folk at Field Day to offer you a unique prize. Anyone that buys a ticket for Field Day will be immediately entered into a competition to win the special “Golden Ticket” or to be more specific, “Golden Rosette”.

Brought to you by London’s most daring promoters Adventures In The Beetroot Field, Bugged Out, Bloggers Delight and Eat Your Own Ears, Field Day transform the heart of East London into a Village Fete.

Away from the stages featuring UK festival exclusives from Mogwai and Santigold, plus Little Boots, The Horrors,Fennesz, Toumani Diabate, The Errors, Four Tet, Erol Alkan, and much more, the masses can get into a ‘village mentality’ – a reminder of life’s simpler pleasures with countrified fun and games on the Village Green area.

The Bleep exclusive Golden Rosette will win you a free go on an activity of your choice (Onion Peeling, Giant Pick and Mix, Pea Shelling, the infamous Lucky Dip, etc); a free slice of cake; a set of Field Day tea towels; one potato sack, one real ale voucher and a Warp t-shirt and some Bleep goodies thrown in for good measure.

The lucky winner will be picked from all the people who purchase a Field Day ticket on Bleep and will contacted by e-mail. They will be able to pick up their Golden Rosette on the guestlist door at the event. So go and quickly buy your tickets HERE.

Bleep Showcase Vol 1

We have just put up our first Bleep Showcase compilation… and it’s very good. 11 tracks for £1 and only available for 10 days. Check it out.

We have teamed up with our good friends at Warp to offer a free download album sampler track from new Warp signing Bibio.
We have heard this album, and believe us it is amazing. Available now to pre-order.

Amazing video from Tom Scholefield that designed that recent Hudson Mohawke EP.
The track is by a London producer called Capracara, and we think it is amazing!

Capracara – King of the Witches (DFA) from Konx-om-Pax on Vimeo.

Track naming 

Track naming functionality has now been activated. You can now sign in to the site and go to the “My Account” section to change your track naming preferences. Select any three options from: Track Number, Track Name, Release Name, Artist Name and Label Name and your downloaded files will be named accordingly!

Physical and Digital Pages

You can now browse our picks from the latest downloads and CD’s and Vinyl that are in stock. Just click on the top tabs to view…

RSS

Have you noticed that in the preferences section of your account you can access two special RSS feeds? One of the latest Vinyl and CD’s and one of the latest downloads.

Welcome to the Bleep Blog. The first stop for information about the site and more.