I woke up and got fascinated by the news of Anna’s Archive’s Spotify heist. I also made a mix. Happy holidays.

"Going to Necks shows early on seemed almost clandestine, always holding the thrill of the new. No two shows were the same - only the band’s commitment to slow, patient improvisation was replicated." The Necks — Unknown Measures:

"We’re trying to access something far deeper than mere human emotion." Unknown Measures: A Q & A with The Necks' Lloyd Swanton. Now at the Residence Substack. residenceproject.substack.com/p/the-necks-... Thanks.

Announcing Residence - residenceproject.substack.com

First Impressions 055: A filmy residue of echoes. Featuring - Externalism Briana Marela Stephen Vitiello, Brendan Canty, Hahn Rowe Lagoss & Abagwagwa Civilistjävel! x Mayssa Jallad Ensemble Nist-Nah Always free.

First Impressions 054: Life's a glitch. Featuring claire rousay & Gretchen Korsmo Purelink Imryll Houser : Weathers: Wyche Spectrical felt body Link in bio or 1stimpressions.substack.com to read. Always free. 1stimpressions.substack.com/p/first-impr...

First Impressions 053: Esoteric Brutalism Featuring billy woods Cole Pulice Celestial Leyden Jars Concepción Huerta Devin Sarno 1stimpressions.substack.com/p/first-impr...

First Impressions 052: Slow dance dissolves. Featuring Eli Winter Tara Cunningham Loris S Sarid Poppy H ezmerelda goo

Art for art's sake:LE designs for works by  Fuubutsushi Sam Prekop Chihei Hatakeyama Caterina Barbieri  Find their pieces at the artists' Bandcamp pages.  Cover artworks created by Mark Gowing using NON Fonts from The Letters.

First Impressions 051: Closely guarded things - Featuring perila Eiko Ishibashi Arthur Russell Nico Georis April Magazine Valerie June

Art for art's sake:LE designs for works by Golden Retriever Megan Alice Clune Chuck Jonson and JWPATON Melanie Velarde Find their pieces at the artists' Bandcamp pages. Cover artworks created by Mark Gowing using NON Fonts from theletters.co

First Impressions 050: Reverent and reckless - Featuring Eggy bambinodj Michael Grigoni * Pan•American Joseba Irazoki PremRock Helen Island and Azizam. Always free.

First Impressions 048: Conscious existence in the digital age. Featuring -  more eaze + claire rousay Hirsohi Yoshimura Jefre Cantu-Ledesma Strategy Dumbells Wadada Leo Smith + Vijay Iyer

The graceful arc of Fennesz’ The Last Days of May was inspired by Rowland S. Howard, who he considers ‘one of the greatest guitarists’. On our Bandcamp.

The graceful arc of Fennesz’ The Last Days of May was inspired by Rowland S. Howard, who he considers ‘one of the greatest guitarists’. On our Bandcamp.

IIf love is a dream, then Close Quarters is a reverie holding that ideal close. The pairing of More Eaze and Wendy Eisenberg blends American minimalism and Americana to connect in the name of lasting romance. Enjoy, partake, proceed.

First Impressions 048: Inquiry, instinct, awe and respect. Featuring - Judith Hamann Whatever The Weather Shinetiac Dania + Rosso Polare Joni Void Oksana Linde and 'ambient' music. Always free.

Natalia Beylis' Coy-Koi moves from the known to the unknown. In her imaginary tracing of a fish's journey from tank to pond, Coy-Koi navigates the endless layers of sound that contain untold stories and new possibilities. Listen - buy - support at our Bandcamp.

First Impressions 047: It’s often beautiful inside this black hole. Featuring Daniel Bachman Pink Must Poppy H Patrick Shiroishi + Piotr Kurek Nickolas Mohanna 1stimpressions.substack.com/p/first-impr...

Pitchfork says Fennesz' The Last Days of May is "part of a late-career shift that’s producing some of his most straightforwardly emotional music". If you long for the more overt beauty of Fennesz' guitar playing, listen to this gently epic work. Listen - buy - support at our Bandcamp.

We won’t be doing tour t-shirts much longer. Soon to be vintage! longformeditions.threadless.com

First Impressions 046: Every hallucination has a heart. Featuring - Jules Reidy J.WLSN Gunn-Truscinski Duo Theodore Cale Schafer J Kroppskännedom and Substack. Link in bio or 1stimpressions.substack.com to read.

" . . the end result makes me imagine what might happen if Steve Reich scored a Western." Thanks to Bandcamp Daily for including what's Close Quarters in their Best Ambient for the past month. Listen - buy - support at our Bandcamp.

If you've been underwater and seen the sunlight streaming in patterns above you, that's the feeling Natalia Beylis perfectly captures on Coy-Koi. Her Longform Editions piece was inspired by a fish's grace through water, a simple premise rendered with curiosity, wonder and beauty. On Bandcamp.

Tujiko Noriko's Echoes on the Hem meditates on impermanence and transformation, like a whispered memory. Its subtle melodies evolve in a quietly uplifting tenor, hanging just out of reach but still close enough to feel its presence. On our Bandcamp.

Fennesz' The Last Days of May is a bittersweet ode to summer's slow fade, drawn to be long and lingering in a way that can only be his. Listen - buy - support at our Bandcamp. @zsennef.bsky.social

We are thrilled to offer a surprise final work: Angel Bat Dawid’s score for The Book of Enoch. This ecstatic, spectral jazz suite, rich with electronics and classical flourishes, aims to inspire “a more equitable understanding of our shared human heritage.” On Bandcamp.

Tomorrow.

Andrew Ryce’s Futureproofing is excellent. Thanks to Andrew for his time with us:

First Impressions 045: Swapping Spit for Sugar - featuring Laura Agnusdei Noémi Buchi John Glacier Ali Omar Horsegirl Civilistjävel! and superfans.

Wendy Eisenberg and More Eaze bring maverick spirit and soulful resonance on Close Quarters,lifting Americana towards minimalism, with dueling banjo, guitar, violin, harmonies, and pedal steel, to create a beautiful blend of tradition, modern rush, and connection. On our Bandcamp.

Based in rural Ireland, Natalia Beylis’ work explores the natural sounds and atmosphere of her surroundings. Coy-Koi was inspired by a neighbor’s Koi fish, capturing the airy, somnambulant state of its waterbeds with curling ambience and pillowy waves of warmth. On our Bandcamp.

First Impressions 044: The Strength of Strings, featuring: Voice Actor & squu ragenap+dathon Chihei Hatakeyama Charles Sundborn DOVS Sun Swept 1stimpressions.substack.com to read

Tujiko Noriko has expanded electronic pop music towards a heightened spirit where abstraction and emotion are intimately entwined. Echoes on the Hem luxuriates in a gentle sense of levitation, its delicately gliding textures unfurl like a fireworks display in slow motion at dusk.

The Last Days of May – initially inspired by Australian guitarist Roland S. Howard – is @zsennef.bsky.social’a longest piece to date, a wistful work of sweet melancholy with the course and tempo of a dimming summer’s day, undercut by his trademark sleight of hand in intricate, decaying detail.

Thank you, Philip!

LE42 is now: four works of deep wonder, reflection and grace. Fennesz’s summery day decay; Tujiko Noriko’s quiet, levitating radiance; Natalia Beylis’ aquatic dreaming; whait’s Americana reverie and minimalism. Listen - buy - support at our Bandcamp. Thank you.

With LE42 arriving tomorrow, it's time to give thanks to the artists who brought us LE41, with creations that reflect the rhythm of time and nature and how we connect to the world around us: Sanae Yamada The Nighttime Ensemble Reign of Ferns Jolanda Moletta & Karen Vogt See you tomorrow!

First Impressions 043: Listen to music while the world caves in.  Our first newsletter for 2025, featuring  U.e Cameron Winter eat-girls Pavel Milyakov & Lucas Dupuy Thorn Wych Sicu 1stimpressions.substack.com/p/first-impr...

We are pleased to announce the artists comprising LE42, out next week. Their pieces come from deep wells of curiosity and emotion, rendered with delicacy, care, and warmth. They offer a humbling conclusion to our series. We are grateful for all the kindness coming our way in the last week.

Thank you,Susan.

We return with Longform Editions 40 in a fortnight: our final edition. These four works explore spaces between stillness and motion, capturing fleeting beauty in the abstract to stir deep connection from unexpected places. We look forward to sharing them soon. Thank you.

Reign of Ferns' Out Beyond Is evokes a quiet, intimate space where stillness and vulnerability coexist with curious energy, rumbling deeply between our inner being and the outer world through its surreal, shifting atmospheres. Listen - buy - support at our Bandcamp.

The Nighttime Ensemble's debut, eponymous work slowly draws out the elements of night stillness - ever-present elements that aren't quite connected. A deconstruction of jazz improvisation and avant-garde reach, what emerges is magnetic. A trick of the night, perhaps.

Jolanda Moletta and Karen Vogt shape their luminous voices into a tranquil hymn on Suspended Between Worlds, blending them with coastal birdsong and the rhythm of the ocean, evoking the quiet magic of nightfall Listen - buy - support at our Bandcamp.

Ryan J Raffa and Andrew Weathers’ (pic) Reign of Ferns creates a hazy, dreamlike blend of textures and rhythms that dissolve into shifting atmospheres. Out Beyond Is unfolds slowly, merging environmental sounds and spontaneous composition into expansive, surreal spaces.

The Nighttime Ensemble convened to explore the dead of night and its spell of both nothing and everything, doing so in an epic of simmering jazz deconstruction. This will take hold of you and not let go. Listen - buy - support on our Bandcamp.

This was 2024. Thank you to all the artists who made this year amazing and everyone who supported LE along the way. The threads between you all make it what it is. Best of the season – see you soon.

Sanae Yamada’s Flowering Tree might just be the sound of rejuvenation into new times .. it’s a year-end wonder. Listen - buy - support: on our Bandcamp now.

Longform Editions 42 has been out for just over two weeks. Tis the season to slow down with these works. Take time this weekend. Featuring - Sanae Yamada The Nighttime Ensemble Reign of Ferns Jolanda Moletta & Karen Vogt On our Bandcamp.