Sounds from the forest
Silent Season is a music label influenced by the natural surroundings of British Columbia, Canada.
The sounds of Silent Season grew out of the connection between deep ethereal music and the rain forests of Vancouver Island. A soundtrack to some of the most radiant and aural beauty in the world.
Distributing music through limited edition CD, vinyl records, and digital formats, using recycled materials when possible.
Sharing a vision with a family of artists from around the world, we hope you enjoy what you hear.
Sit back, close your eyes and listen.
Record Releases
- [SSV18] Tomas Jirku - Touching the Sublime
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Tomas Jirku began his career in the golden era of minimal and glitch techno, helping to define the genres through releases on Alien8, Force Inc., Klang Elektronik, and Traum. Over the past two decades, Jirku has built a strong repertoire with his exploratory approach to music, experimenting across genres to develop a sound he can call his own.
Touching the Sublime is the culmination of this work, with material transformed through performance, experience and introspection. Inspired by his explorations of the remote wilderness that surrounds his home in Vancouver, Canada, Jirku evokes the philosophical concept of the sublime, where an overwhelming experience of awe confronts us with the limits of our rational minds. The album is a synesthetic auditory expression of Romantic era prose and stories of early alpinism. Bringing epic orchestral compositions and intimate guitar passages together with Jirku’s unique sense of space and texture, “Touching the Sublime” draws from his most important collaborators and influences to create a uniquely personal result.
The album is accompanied by a limited edition photo book, where, as an accomplished photographer, Jirku has captured the landscapes and vistas that have been his inspiration.
- [SSV17] Night Sea - Still
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Night Sea is honoured to present their first LP to the Silent Season family. The album is the culmination of a two-year journey playing with the relationship between sound, repetition, and impermanence. The slowly evolving musical landscapes of Still are an invitation to slow down and explore the ever-changing facets of one's experience.
- [SSV16] Edanticonf - The Metamorphosis of Plants
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"I cannot tell you how readable the book of nature is becoming for me: my long efforts at deciphering, letter by letter, have helped me; now all of a sudden it is having effect, and my quiet joy is inexpressive." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe to Charlotte von Stein, 1786
"Edanticonf has been a mainstay of Silent Season for many years now, first delivering an album and EP to the Canadian label back in 2012. Since then he's travelled to labels such as M_REC, Wolfskuil, Phorma and Linear Movement, but he's back home to roost with this gorgeous four-tracker that plays on his trademark sound. Rich with melancholic synth work and moving with a purposeful but thoughtful pace, this is exactly the kind of evocative techno that makes Silent Season a buy on sight label. Every track tells its own story, but the starry twinkle of "The Metamorphosis Of Plants" is especially captivating." - Juno Records
- [SSV15] Toki Fuko - Spring Ray
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Silent Season welcomes Russian producer Toki Fuko to the roster for this special versions edition double 12" of deeper soundscapes. Toki Fuko's music can be described as mechanical signals structured in a hypnotic substance with a dub techno groove and rhythm sequences. The Spring Ray vinyl edition features 4 versions of Spring Ray, each unique in their own sense. The versions were specially mastered and cut by Stefan Betke of Scape Mastering.
"Toki Fuko has quietly slipped out some high-grade ambient electronics over the past 10 years, but this double-vinyl drop on the ever excellent Silent Season represents some his most striking work to date. In line with the label's aesthetic, gauzy dub techno atmospheres prevail in the main, as thick billowing clouds of chord drift over submerged, stripped down rhythms. There is also space for other moods to infect the process though - there's a laconic 90s chill-out room groove to "Spring Ray (Outtake)", which then gets reshaped as a pattering percussive meditation on the EP's closing mix. Stunning, immersive approaches from start to finish." - Juno Records
- [SSV14] Submersion & mon0 - Unison // Einklang
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"Silent Season have carried the music of Submersion and Mon0 independently before, but now the dub techno producers have teamed up to take their sound onto new plains of exploration. The sound palette is consistent with both their music and that of the label, but the familiar dancefloor tropes have been jettisoned in favour of a more meditative end result, leading in with the achingly beautiful tundra excursion of "Beginning Of The End". From there the album drifts with glacial motion through a range of finely crafted soundscapes, wielding a world of rumbling, harmonious noise in the middle distance without ever losing that seductive dub techno ambience." - Juno Records
Vinyl | Bandcamp | Album Info | Discogs
- [SSV13] Wanderwelle - Gathering of the Ancient Spirits
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The Amsterdam-based duo Wanderwelle return to Silent Season with their second album. Gathering of the Ancient Spirits is inspired by the last years of the life of Paul Gauguin, which he spent on the islands of French Polynesia. The album tells the alternative history of his search for a land that is untouched by modern society and whose inhabitants were still dependent on the gifts of nature and connected to their ancestors. During his stay, the painter encounters forgotten rituals and the primordial beings which haunt the islands since the dawn of time.
- [SSV12] Mohlao — Landforms
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Dutch producer Samuel Van Dijk, best known for his gorgeous electro work as VC-118A, takes his Mohlao moniker out for an extended stroll on this double pack LP of otherworldly techno for quieter moments. From the barely-there whispers of "Rotar" to the wobbly unease of "Voltool One" this is a masterclass in minimal elements crafted to perfection. Lose yourself in the slow-creeping snow-crunch of "Hue" and meditate to the gentle housey pulse of "Flare" - at every turn this record presents you with just the kind of subliminal techno that Silent Season so dearly love.
- [SSV11] Wanderwelle - Lost In A Sea Of Trees
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Amsterdam-based duo Wanderwelle return to Silent Season for their debut album which is inspired by the mysterious pagan tribes that once roamed across the European woodlands. Lost in a Sea of Trees tells the tale of a lone traveller who enters a dark, ancient forest. Lured deep into the woods by something not of this world as he enters uncharted grounds. Step by step his journey is getting darker as he encounters strange phenomena and beings among the trees.
- [SSX10] Silent Season 10 Year Collection 2007-2017
The Silent Season 10 Year Anniversary collection celebrates a decade of deeper electronic music. This special edition vinyl series features artists whose music continues to inspire the Silent Season journey from 2007-2017.
The SSX series showcases elemental textures found in the nature surroundings of Vancouver Island. The collection features 2 different sleeve colour editions: Dark & Light. The first 5 EPs for Winter share a dark smoke transparent vinyl in a custom 10th anniversary black sleeve emboldened with the Silent Season Tree of Life.
The first 5 x 12"s will be available at Juno and other fine record shops starting Spring 2017. The vinyl series will roll out over the year with the remaining 5 eps coming out in the Fall.
- [SSDB01] Mystica Tribe - Island Oasis
Having come to light on labels such as SD Records and his own Mystica Tribe, Taka Noda heads over to Canadian label Silent Season for his debut album, capitalising on his emergent career in the field of dub-influenced downtempo with his most complete artistic statement to date. From the spacious stalk of "On The Lookout" to the edgy piano delay of "Peek-a-Boo", this is the work of a man who has immersed himself in the tradition of classic dub music, but not at the expense of bringing things up to date. The loose, live and natural feel of the album is testament to Noda's skills in the production department, not to mention his instinct for a killer sub-heavy rhythm.
Limited edition LP color vinyl
Vinyl | Bandcamp | Album Info
- [SSCD20] Segue - Over The Mountains
Vancouver-based Segue is Jordan Sauer, who has become a fixture on the Vancouver Island Silent Season after several releases including 2013's brilliant "Pacifica" LP. His new opus "Over The Mountains" is another deep and dubby ambient excursion of dreamy and hypnotic glory, no doubt influenced by the serene surroundings of the Alberta countryside and his former home British Columbia. The entire album is beautifully consistent and cohesive, allowing you drift away blissfully over its full duration, but if we had to pick some great tracks at random, our suggestions would be the echo-laden glacial dub of "Celestial", "Deep Valley" where Sauer proves his deft hand at sublime and ethereal electronica, or the deep and dusty armchair techno of "Alpenglow".
Limited edition 2x12" Gatefold LP black vinyl
- [SSV10] Edit Select Remixes
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Edit Select remixes Silent Season artists Sonitus Eco and Seraphym Rtym.
Limited edition 300 beautiful black vinyl records
- [SSV09] ASC - Beneath The Surface
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Long-serving Brit in San Diego James Clements dons his familiar ASC guise once more, for a typically atmospheric trip into deep, ambient-influenced abstract techno for Canada's Silent Season imprint. As usual, there's much to admire, from the sparse percussion, glacial electronics and icy melodies of "Deep Freeze", to the minimalist, modular-sounding hum of closer "Raging Seas". Arguably best of all, though, is "Immersion", which sees Clements expertly combine early '90s style dreamy ambient chords, textures and melodies - think Pete Namlook or early Irresistible Force - with scraped metal textures and impeccable IDM beats
Limited edition 350 beautiful black vinyl records
- [SSV08] Refracted - Through The Spirit Realm
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Through The Spirit Realm is Refracted's first LP to date, and it comes Canada's excellent Silent Season, a home to Rasmus Hedlund, Quantec, and ASC, among others. "Enter The Jungle" quickly gives a picture of what's to come thanks to the track's abstract blend of animal sounds, a myriad of noises which is swallowed up the warm and dubby swings of "The Jungle Is Thick" - a Donato Dozzy kinda lick. The whole LP follows a similar string of thought, one that binds stripped back techno together with deep ambience and slow-moving plates of drone; "The Ritual Begins" is simply hypnotic and we could keep it on for hours on loop. It's tribalism at its most cutting-edge, and an altogether fantastic debut performance from this growing techno personality.
Limited edition 2x12" Gatefold LP 180G black vinyl
- [SSV07] Sonitus Eco - The Light Between Oceans
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Limited edition 100 blue and 200 beautiful black vinyl records
- [SSV06] Edanticonf - The Boundary of Nowhere Land
- [SSV05] Segue - Pacifica
- [SSV04] Refracted - Along A Ghostly Trail
- [SSV03] Edanticonf - Planet
- [SSV02] STL & Djorvin Clain - Beats Of Spirit
- [SSV01] Full Circle Compilation
Media
• Netlabels, The Internet, & The Natural World 2020
• MNMT Label Showcase: Silent Season 2018
• Silent Season SSX10 2007-2017
• Second round of ten-year anniversary releases
• Wanderwelle – Lost In A Sea Of Trees Review
• Mohlao and Wanderwelle albums coming up on 2017
• SS starts dub series with Mystica Tribe 2017
• Paral·lel Festival (Spain) September 2016
• Fiber Interview / Mix July 2016
• Electronique.it Interview and Mix November 2015
• #CMKY2015 Artist Spotlight April 2015
• Silent Season Showcase Colorado April 2015
• Megaphone Interviews Silent Season March 2015
• Silent Season Showcase Seattle 2014
Artists & Releases
- [SSD13] Daar - Entire
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“Entire is a journey to the depths or how to use the strength of not hiding weaknesses. A piece described through strong feelings such as fear, sadness, desire to escape and change everything." - Álvaro Aragonés
All tracks written & recorded by Daar
Mastered at Telegraph Mastering by Adam Gonsalves
Dedicated to M.S. - [SSD12] Owl - Infinite Horizon
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- [SS30] Yuka - Moon Song
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Yuka returns to Silent Season for her latest EP, Moon Song is a special EP in celebration of December 4th, 2020, Bandcamp No Fees Day.
- [SS29] Saphileaum - In Distant Terra
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Saphileaum returns to Silent Season for his latest EP, In Distant Terra is a special EP in celebration of June 5th, 2020, Bandcamp No Fees Day.
- [SS28] Beat Pharmacy - Safety in Dub
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Brendon Moeller returns to Silent Season for his latest EP, Safety In Dub is a special EP in celebration of May 1st, 2020, Bandcamp No Fees Day.
- [SS27] Arkaean - Dawnlit Passage
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This first inkling of the great mysteries, their dignity and death as well as their knowability, came to the young man in the coolness of the forest as night moved toward morning and he crouched on the rock above the multitude of whispering treetops. It came to him, touched him like a ghostly hand. - Hermann Hesse, The Glass Bead Game
- [SS26] Saphileaum - The Traveler
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The inspiration behind the album was mainly Gilbert Williams's art, his transparently violet nature full of divine light and calmness. Apart from this, some source of inspiration also was Theosophical teachings and teachings of its masters.
The album illustrates a traveler, with long brown hair and beard, which with the touch of light becomes golden. His light grey eyes reflect the endless universe within. Wearing a golden tunic he travels between etheric worlds with his body of light, visiting different parts of the etheric plane. The Traveler meditates in the most beautiful gardens and forests of the plane, reaching its summits and connecting with gods and deities.
- [SSCD23] Segue - The Island
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"It's rare to find an album that reflects its concept as well as the latest from Vancouver's Segue (born Jordan Sauer). A tribute to our natural prehistory, The Island explores the idea of what British Columbia might have looked like when the first Indigenous people landed on its shores four thousand years ago. It's a world of majestic rainforests and receding glaciers that Sauer captures especially well on this comforting collection of laid-back dub and ambient techno." - Exclaim
The album features an analogue mix down and mastering on tape through a Studer A80, ½ inch tape machine by Stefan Betke of Scape Mastering. The Island is available on limited editions 2x12" black vinyl, CD, and digital formats.
- [SSCD22] ASC - The Waves
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"To listen to ASC’s The Waves is to slip beneath the surface of the familiar and enter a shadowy, mysterious world of oceanic currents and drifts. A world that’s as beguiling and entrancing as it is dark and unknown." - opuszine.us
- [SSX10] 10 Year Collection (2007-2017)
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The Silent Season 10 Year Anniversary collection celebrates a decade of deeper electronic music. This special edition vinyl series features artists whose music continues to inspire the Silent Season journey from 2007-2017.
The #SSX10 artwork showcases elemental textures found in the natural environment around Vancouver Island. The vinyl is a smokey grey colour and comes in a 10 year anniversary jacket with the tree of life. There are two colour editions for the jacket, dark & light.
- [SS25] Martin Goodwin - Hearth
- [SSDB01] Mystica Tribe - Island Oasis
Album Info- [SS24] Faru - Through Darkness Comes Light
Album Info- [SSCD21] ASC - No Stars Without Darkness
- [SSCD20] Segue - Over The Mountains
Album Info- [SS23] Tdel - The Overlook
- [SSCD19] Shaded Explorer - Empatia
- [SS22] Fldexp - W(h)ay Live Extracts
- [SS21] Wanderwelle - Ocean Stories
- [SSCD18] ASC - Fervent Dream
Album Info- [SS20] The Wandering II Compilation
Album Info- [SSCD17] Purl - Stillpoint
Album Info- [SSCD16] Seraphim Rytm - Aeterna
Album Info- [SSD11] Shaded Explorer - Between The Blue
Album Info
"A project so introspective finds its ideal environment in the production of Silent Season, Canadian label deeply influenced by the landscape of British Columbia, as the sounds present in its release reflect the connection between the music deep, impalpable, dreamlike and the green forests of Vancouver Island." Full Article- [SS19] Yuka - Episodes of Yesterday
- "Episodes Of Yesterday has four organic, subdued techno cuts, all made better—and all tied together—by Yuka's found sounds. Tastefully used, they give the release a warm and personal feel. First track "Drumkot" sounds like a departure point, its humming 4/4 kick and sonorous clatters seeming to pass by the voices that occasionally pop into focus, while "First Zoom" keeps moving forward with broken-beat drums, soft but insistent 16th-note motifs and swirling bird calls. "Umrao Is Waiting" is sublime. It's got dense, syncopated kicks and a resonant throb playfully filling up the low-end, and its voices are again fleeting, as lightly teased drones give way to beeping bits of melody and, finally, a rainstorm at the end. Last track "Akasha," whose half-time percussion comes overlaid with a small swarm of birds and tweaked electronics, winds things down with a faintly sinister edge."
- [SSCD06] The Wandering Compilation
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In celebration of 50 releases we are offering the Wandering Compilation as a free download. We hope you enjoy!
- [SSCD15] ASC - Truth Be Told
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Album Info
"There's a stillness to Clements' ambient composition that matches Silent Season's preoccupation with nature. These tracks are like field recordings from some imaginary world. There are rustles here and there, and implacable distant noises—carefully built ecosystems are contained within each one. Clements is a master of creating moods and setting scenes: "Hall Of The Gods" evokes a massive space with its yawning melodies, while the airy "Lucent Vessel" sends a chill through the room." Read More - [SSE01] Mind Over Midi - Polyphony
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Album Info
This special edition CD is constructed of thick black 18pt French Muscletone 100% recycled paper. The jacket is letterpressed with the Silent Season tree in silver metallic ink. Hand assembled, stamped and numbered. Each package includes a Silent Season sticker sent with love from Canada. Read More - [SSCD14] ASC - Time Heals All
- "This is one of the best ambient albums I've heard in a long time. What defines good ambient music is, of course, a matter of taste, but I find too often "ambient" means long-winded pieces with nothing to grab onto. Here, however, we get 18 tracks and two hours of gorgeous ambience that includes melody, texture, and occasional percussive elements. "I Share My Secrets With You" is a definite stand-out for its instantly memorable wordless female vocal hook, but every track here has a personality of its own. The album is well-paced, with tracks ranging from 3-8 minutes, so it never gets dull or overwhelming, despite its two-disc scope (I wish "Array" had been longer, but that's the one fault I can pick out). The cover shows a close-up picture of the moon, and nothing could be more appropriate; listening to this album is like floating in space, adrift from the earth, with all the beauty and melancholy that scenario entails. It seems destined to be an ambient classic, already fetching high prices online due to its limitation of 350 copies, and that status is certainly well-deserved."
- [SSCD13] Segue - Pacifica
- "Like most of Silent Season's beautifully decorated releases, Pacifica is consumed by nature—immense, enveloping nature. It's a tendency common in dub techno: the never-ending quest to capture the sublime. Of course, in the search to encapsulate the rumblings of the planet and the vast shifting of the tides, a lot of it ends up sounding stuffy and self-serious. But with the opener of Canadian producer Jordan Sauer's fourth album, it's immediately obvious that his approach is a little more down to earth than most. "West Coast Rain" eases the album into a lush landscape that's every bit as awe-inspiring, yet strangely inviting, as the incredible scene pictured on the cover."
- [SSCD11] ASC - The Light That Burns Twice As Bright
- "James Clements, better known as ASC, will release an ambient album later this month called The Light That Burns Twice As Bright. The album shows Clements continuing to push the limits of his own style. His usual forte is drum & bass, but even there he rejects the status quo in favor of "the Autonomic sound," i.e. the open-ended style defined by D-Bridge and Instra:mental's erstwhile podcast series—or as Clements puts it, "drum & bass that doesn't sound like drum & bass." On The Light That Burns Twice As Bright he leaves the drums behind altogether, with ten compositions of droning ambiance. The record will be his first on Silent Season, a label whose sound is inspired by its secluded home in the rain forests of Vancouver Island."
- [SSCD12] Djorvin Clain - Pattern of Thought
- [SSD10] Adam Michalak - Returning to Essence
"The whole album is super, track 7 is one of the favs, stops me in my tracks from getting anything else done. On a good system you'll discover the top notch sonics, wide and deep sound stage with pin point imaging. The mastering on this 44.1khz 16 bit album would give hi res a run for it's money. Very enjoyable album to listen to over and over."- [SSD10] Michael Mantra - Mountain / Stream
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Rest in peace Michael Mantra (b.1950 d.2014)
The following text is written by a friend of Michael Mantra on his Facebook page.
"After finding an early cassette release of 'tranquil technology music' i first corresponded with Michael in late '80s; & over many years, received updates & releases, airmailed from his home in Oakland. our friendship grew. i admired & respected his creativity, & wanted the world to hear his music. i interviewed him for magazines & books, & introduced him to many friends in the music industry.
His home was filled with dusty books & analogue equipment, & often, over cups of green tea, he'd tell stories of his family life: his mother baking in the kitchen, listening to jazz on the wireless; his father returning from military service with curious instruments from faraway places; gongs from bali, Indonesia & java.
Michael loved nature, & loved synthesizers. he loved to learn, & loved to share. often he'd send me recipes, photographs, poetry, meditations, with flyers from places he'd performed. in early-mid '90s he'd create ambient environments at raves: "this scene is the only way to create new horizons; to change perception of sound and feeling... the people there are receptive to new technology." the combination of ancient & modern is what makes Michael mantra's music so pleasurable, so rewarding & so effective: simple synthesized melodies, keyboard-derived textures, field recordings from the pacific coast; sounds weaving with metallic vibrations & fusing with soaring tones that seduce the brain, entrancing listeners into the unconscious delta range of dream imagery.
Michael's intention was to “induce a meditative state that synchronizes brain wave frequencies" thereby releasing endorphins (the body’s natural opiates) to make listeners feel “Wholesome, refreshed and relaxed."
Metabolic alchemy, music as medicine, sound as therapy; this was techno-shamanism, & this was the gift Michael mantra gave the world. music that moved from altered to awakened to permanent states of consciousness.
So rest in peace old friend; you're often in my thoughts & i'm sure our paths will connect again, sometime, someplace.."
— Words from Vibration Obscure (Ukraine)
- [SSD08] Mindspan - The Second Cycle
- [SSD07] Edanticonf - Forest Echo
- [SSD06] Sowing Paranoia - Research Music Lab
- [SSD05] Sonitus Eco - It Is Loneliness That Makes The Loudest Noise
- [SSD04] Federsen - Echo Relics
- [SSD03] Purl - Deep Ground
- [SSD02] Axs - Arctic Circle
- [SSD01] Alteria Percepsyne - Intangible Flutter
- [SS18] Blazej Malinowski - Factors
- [SS17] wzrdryAV - Octophase Meditation
- [SS16] Martin Nonstatic - Autumn Movement
Back Catalog 2007 - 2010
- [SS01-SS15]
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[SS15] Sub.Made & Kyle Erich Schulz - Long Distance
[SS14] Mon0 - Sensaura
[SS13] Crepusculo - Being Cleaned
[SS12] Inanitas - Another Spheres
[SS11] Sublime Porte Sigidinum
[SS10] Overcast Changeling
[SS09] Submersion - Cicada
[SS08] Organon - Fragment
[SS07] Vitalis Popoff - Valley Of The Shadows
[SS06] Ohrwert Ranges
[SS05] Electribalt - Beneath The Sky
[SS04] The Wolves Outside
[SS03] Niklas Nummelin - Observations
[SS02] Segue - Nostalgia
[SS01] Rasmus Hedlund - Dubpression