Tag Archives: chill

the shallow margins (the humble bee & fields we found) – tule (quiet details)

Posted by John Lithium on

Label Description: Digital half-price until 30th October x

Credits:
Music by the shallow margins (the humble bee & fields we found)
Mastered by Alex at quiet details studios
Artwork by quiet details in collaboration with the shallow margins
Design by quiet details
© quiet details 2026 all rights reserved

For the next in the quiet details series, pleased to present a collaboration between Craig Tattersall, the humble bee, and Alex Gold, fields we found – here as the shallow margins, with tule.

Craig is an essential part of quiet details, opening our series with qd01 lichen cloak on a white stone, and qd09 the observatories (with Ian Hawgood) frost forms – both quintessential embodiments of the label’s ethos. A legendary figure in the world of the most subtle and thoughtful music – Craig has a wonderful back catalogue on his own Cotton Goods and many other excellent labels.

I’m Alex, making music as fields we found and curating quiet details. It is my great fortune to work with Craig – we’ve know each other for a long time now and he’s a dear friend, and I consider him to be one of the most creative artists working today.

Since recovering from lymphoma a couple of years ago, my outlook on my own music shifted in a deeply positive way, more introspective and free – so the timing was perfect for us to start this project, something much discussed.

Inspired by a mutual love of ecology and fragments of sound, and the margins of our lives – shaped into musical form.

Quiet and textural – these pieces are a view through misted glass, clouded and suggesting a reflection on the layers found within. Emotions conveyed through hand-played instruments, magnetic tape and the patina of many generations of recording.

Sharing sounds back-and-forth – piano, harmonium, field recordings, long free-form experiments from collections of instruments and more.

Recorded and looped on multiple tape machines and old samplers – coaxing out the underlying sonic remnants, and bringing those traces into view.

Endless thanks to Craig for this, and his constant inspiration.

The artwork was made as always influenced by the music and idea behind the album – originating from a photo from the humble bee which was then captured with analogue photography and processed here at quiet details studios.

As usual, the album is presented on the physical edition, a custom six-panel digipack with a separate fine art print too.

The CD also has a special long-form continuous mix of the album, unique and representing the music in its purest form.

thehumblebee.bandcamp.com
fieldswefound.bandcamp.com

The Black Dog – Psychick Youth (DS93)

Posted by John Lithium on

Label Description: I’ve not thought about Psychick Youth for a long time, the anti cult cult, but the reality is I had a great time and met a lot of good people, many of whom I’m still in touch with. Left in the hands of others who just weren’t there, people jumped on the gravy train and ultimately failed to answer any questions. Failed books and failed documentaries followed, where the main priority seemed to be taking the money and hoping for the best.

The press described it as: “Thee Temple Ov Psychick Youth, or TOPY, emerged from Britain’s industrial underground as a strange mix of occult network, performance art project and countercultural movement. Closely tied to Psychic TV and Genesis P-Orridge, it blurred the lines between music, ritual, media manipulation and social experiment. The press often struggled to define it, describing TOPY as everything from an anti cult to an anarchic art movement built on sigils, tape culture and radical ideas about identity and consciousness. Its use of ritual imagery, underground publishing and global ‘access points’ helped build an air of mystery that fed years of fascination and controversy. Writers frequently linked the group to figures such as Aleister Crowley and William S. Burroughs, placing it in a lineage of artistic and cultural disruption. Decades later, TOPY is still seen as one of the most provocative and influential movements to emerge from post industrial Britain.”

That’s about as close as most people got, but we were on the inside and were the ones who eventually closed it down. The mission is indeed terminated.

Ed Herbers – Season Cycle: Winter (Passed Recordings)

Posted by John Lithium on

Label Description:

It is remarkable how a small shift in the sun’s position has such a dynamic effect on the weather. The seasons are experienced differently around the world, and I am fortunate to have lived my entire life in a place that has four distinct seasons: winter, spring, summer, and autumn.

I find the seasons to be a great source of inspiration, and I set out to create a suitable soundtrack for each one. Beginning on Winter Solstice (Dec 21, 2025) and on each subsequent equinox/solstice through 2026, I will be releasing an EP of songs inspired by the corresponding season that “begins” on that date. Season Cycle: Winter is the first EP in the series.

I have mixed feelings about winter. I usually find the long, dark nights and freezing temperatures a little depressing, but I also enjoy the contrast of a warm fire and twinkling holiday lights. We tend to have at least one good snowfall each year, an element of winter that adds a little magic to the cold–there’s something difficult to explain about the way it soundlessly covers the earth, creating temporary, unfamiliar landscapes. I tried to channel the season through somber ambient drones and frozen soundscapes (while also trying to capture some of that winter magic).

I acknowledge that these songs are not representative of how everyone experiences the seasons (my Northern Hemisphere/American Midwest bias is a big factor here). Even if you live in a part of the world where your experience of the seasons is not like my own, I hope that, even if just for a moment, these songs immerse you into the cold of winter, the blooms of spring, the humidity of summer, and the blazing colors of autumn. 


All songs written, mixed, and performed by Ed Herbers. All songs produced in Renoise 3.3.2
Album art & digital booklet photos by Ed Herbers.

Mastered by Exit Chamber (exitchamber.bandcamp.com)

Full Moon’s Light on Fallen Snow first appeared on Passed Winter, from Passed Recordings (passedrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/passed-winter)

Nils Frahm – Wintermusik (Erased Tapes)

Posted by John Lithium on

Label Description: Nils Frahm, born in 1982, had an early introduction to music. During his childhood he was taught to play piano by Nahum Brodski – a student of the last scholar of Tschaikowski. The three instrumentals, which make up his debut ‘Wintermusik’ are piano led pieces, coloured with occasional celeste and reed organ parts. The record’s equal measures of sorrowful refrains and uplifting passages, combined with a real intimacy that makes for an album you’ll want to return to again and again. The songs were originally intended as a Christmas present for friends and family, hence its winter release.