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In September, 2011, 12k released the boxed set by Taylor Deupree and Marcus Fischer titled In A Place of Such Graceful Shapes containing a CD, a booklet of photographs and a clear-vinyl 7”— all carefully designed and integrated. All 500 copies of this box sold out by the beginning of 2012. As a special release to be debuted at the duo’s live performance at the Salvage Vanguard Theatre in Austin, Texas on April 15th, the artists have utilized a limited pressing of unlabeled white-vinyl 7”s and made a new, equally beautiful, release for this project about landscape, texture, and sound.

In A Place of Such Graceful Shapes (Edition) comes packaged in heavyweight folded package housing the white 7” and a download coupon for the full-length project that existed on the original CD. Limited to only 250 copies this is a beautiful object for the first-time listener or for the collector fortunate enough to have a copy of the original box.

[ EXCERPT FROM THE ORIGINAL PRESS RELEASE FOR IN A PLACE OF SUCH GRACEFUL SHAPES]

In the fading days of autumn in 2010, Taylor Deupree and Marcus Fischer, having become acquainted only earlier that year, set out on the sort of cross-country collaboration typically executed via technology and the web. However, having made a few rough sketches, they became disenchanted by the Internet and the machines between them, and quickly realized that the only way forward was via a plane ticket. Marcus left Portland for New York in February of 2011. The two met face-to-face for the first time, and without any hesitation embarked on 4 days of creating music and photographing the bitter cold and deep snow that covered the state.

Buried in a sea of guitar pedals, looping boxes, analog synths, tape recorders, found objects and percussion instruments, Deupree and Fischer settled into the 12k studio and began crafting long passages of music, with no editing, into what would become the single composition on the CD. The creative energy didn’t stop in the studio, however, as the frozen bay and snow-covered hills along the Hudson River became the visual backdrop that brought the project to completion. Intended for quiet listening.

[REVIEW, FLUID RADIO, UK]:
“Over the course of nearly 50 minutes, incidental micro-loops, bell-like sounds, worn-out guitars swells, decayed chord progressions, fragile melodic fragments and warm droning textures are carefully assembled, held suspended for a few seconds and immediately dissolved, only leaving evanescent traces of their past presence to create a very intimate and ephemeral landscape whose boundaries are uncertain and colours always changing. The apparent yet deceptive stasis of the piece create a strong sense of place, akin to a spectral meadow at dawn or an hidden-away sunlit pond, whose aquatic inhabitants are still asleep. More than an elusive echo garden, it’s a sanctuary that Fischer and Deupree patiently create. The short two accompanying tracks ‘Blanketing’ and ‘Cloudline’, pressed on a separate 7” vinyl, sound like miniature versions of that intimate place, as if recalled from hazy memories and condensed into a glistening glass ball – two numbers of exquisite and diminutive beauty that are the perfect companion to the nocturnal sleeplessness.”

There‘s not a lot of artists who had such an important influence on todays ambient music like the outstanding piano player and composer Harold Budd. Albums like his classical „Pavilion of Dreams“ or his cooperations with Brian Eno like „The Pearl“ are well known to many electronic and Ambient musicians and listeners of the last decades. Especially the two fellow musicians Martin Juhls (aka Marsen Jules) and Rafael Anton Irisarri (aka The Sight Below) were often talking about the influence that Budd‘s music had on them and how much respect and admiration they had for him and his work. Out of this came the idea of paying respect to Budd in some way, to give something back to him. „Lost in the Humming Air“ is the result of this thought in form of a musical tribute and it‘s a big honor to release this in the 50th year of Mr. Budd‘s career as a composer. We invited some of our favorite artists to contribute a song that, in some way, resembles the music of Harold Budd or channeles the influence he had on them as musicians. We are very glad that „Lost in the Humming Air“ has turned out to be a special selection of thirteen modern Ambient pieces, with illustrous contributors such as Mokira, Taylor Deupree, Deaf Center, Christopher Willits, Biosphere, Porn Sword Tobacco and Bvdub. While all of the tracks offer a unique perspective on how the now classical sounds of Harold’s music have been an influence in one way or the other, they still manage to maintain a sound that is closely connected to the individual musician. Deaf Center, known for their highly acclaimed albums on labels such as Miasmah and Type, contributed the dark and moody “Plateau”, which was originally the opening track of a rare live performance of the duo in 2009. Our longtime friend and highly respected fellow musician John Xela made an exception of not participating in compilation projects anymore with his sublime home listening piece “The Only Rose”, which resembles his earlier work for labels such as Neo Ouija and City Centre Offices. For the first time ever, Brock van Wey, who has been one of our favorite producers for quite some time now, has collaborated with his mother Criss Van Wey, who played the piano for their heartbreaking elegy “My Father, My Friend”. We hope that, by releasing this record, we can give something back to Harold and maybe also help a younger generation of Ambient afficionados to discover the beauty of his timeless music. If you want to know more about how the individual artists feel about Harold Budd and their contributions to this project, feel free to read the liner notes we compiled on the next page.

All artists who contributed in this release donated their tracks. The profit of this CD will go to a charity project chosen by Harold Budd.

Focux is a collection of recordings by Taylor Deupree originally released around 2001 as a series of limited edition 12″s on the now-defunct Dutch label Audio.NL including 2 unreleased materials from those times.

Over the last decade, Deupree, who founded the 12k label in 1997, has become one of the leading figures in modern electro-acoustic ambient music, but Focux comes from a time when he was balancing between two worlds: one of ambient music and one of minimalist techno.

Focux shows another side of Deupree’s work that used to prevail throughout the early and mid 1990’s where he took the basic 4/4 techno beat and stripped it down to its most basic of elements and then recombined it with microscopic scrapes and blips forming often off-kilter side beats that looped along at a variety of time signatures, playing off of the 4/4 bass drum creating ever-evolving combinations of loops and interactions.

While Focux seems so far removed from what Deupree has become most known for it doesn’t take much to see the connections between this and his more recent output for his 12k imprint. There is a clear sense of space and a fascination for details crafted in minimalist shell. Loops and repetitions are as present as always and even one of his most important themes ― imperfection ― finds its way into the stark, club-inflected work that is Focux.

It is incredible to find the tracks hereunder still sounding fresh even after a decade and how addictive they are.

In the fading days of autumn in 2010, Taylor Deupree and Marcus Fischer, having become acquainted only earlier that year, set out on the sort of cross-country collaboration typically executed via technology and the web. However, having made a few rough sketches, they became disenchanted by the Internet and the machines between them, and quickly realized that the only way forward was via a plane ticket. Marcus left Portland for New York in February of 2011. The two met face-to-face for the first time, and without any hesitation embarked on 4 days of creating music and photographing the bitter cold and deep snow that covered the state.

Buried in a sea of guitar pedals, looping boxes, analog synths, tape recorders, found objects and percussion instruments, Deupree and Fischer settled into the 12k studio and began crafting long passages of music, with no editing, into what would become the single composition on the CD. The creative energy didn’t stop in the studio, however, as the frozen bay and snow-covered hills of a park along the Hudson River became the visual backdrop that brought the project to completion. The fruits of their collaboration could not be realized only with a single compact disc, and grew to become a boxed set containing a CD, a 7” record and a booklet of photographs.

Titled In a Place of Such Graceful Shapes and limited to only 500 copies, the stark and austere package starts with a black box adorned with a monochromatic photograph of a winter landscape, with the artists’ names and the album title only appearing in tiny print on the bottom of the box. Inside, the jacket of the 7” shines in a bright, warm yellow – the only color in the landscape, provided by waterside grasses – and contrasts with the black and white photography (taken by both Deupree and Fischer) inside the booklet. A warm grey tone ties everything together on the CD and outer box to balance the color palette.

The attention to detail and care taken in the packaging is echoed in the music, whose goal was laid out at the very beginning of their collaboration: to create a single long piece that barely touched surfaces, ebbing and looping in stillness and the softest of movements. Intended for quiet listening, In a Place of Such Graceful Shapes is a warmly tactile and human piece of music, free of the computers that turned the artists off in the first place. The almost 50-minute composition builds a complex ecosystem of sounds, with the faintest of baritone guitar, bells, strings and harmonica joined by simple tones from synthesizers and toy keyboards. Even a bundle of sticks picked from the river finds its way into this deeply textured recording.

Using passages of recordings that they did not use on the CD, Deupree and Fischer, in their separate cities, each created one side of the 7” record, using the short format to play against the long-form CD, but creating equally transcendent, melodic works. As with most of the package, the vinyl is unmarked, letting the music and imagery combine in each listener’s own way.

In a Place of Such Graceful Shapes is quintessential 12k – the meeting of minds, the joining of sound and image – and is among the most ambitious projects the label has undertaken. It will be released in September of 2011, nearly a year after the work began, and will be set once more against an autumn tapering into the quiet cold of winter.

The second 12k sampler CD features 12 songs chronologically looking forward to early 2012 and back to the recent releases and clocks in at over 60 minutes. It offers a sneak-peak at upcoming music plus a re-cap of the past year. The CD is being sold for only $4/$6 (USA/INT’L respectively) and that includes shipping. It’s an inexpensive way to familiarize yourself with the latest on 12k.

12k welcomes two new artists to the roster: The Boats (UK) bring their electro-acoustics into song-structured territory with vocals and a rhythm section not often heard in the 12k camp. Illuha (JP) create incredibly tactile, textural music. Their debut CD Shizuku (release October 18, 2011) was recorded in a church in Washington state whose acoustics provide a beautiful spatial quality to their multi-instrumental music. Kane Ikin is a 12k veteran, though not under his own name. He’s one half of Solo Andata and his solo debut on 12k will come in the form of a 7” with extra digital-only tracks. Deep, dark and melodic stuff.

Label owner Taylor Deupree (US) surfaces with two collaborations: one with long-time cohort Savvas Ysatis (GR); this time they use nothing but analog synthesizers and reel to reel tape to create an incredibly layered wall of melodic air. The other collaboration is with one of 12k’s newest and most loved artists Marcus Fischer (US). Their duo culminated in one of 12k’s most ambitious releases to date: a boxed set containing a CD, 7” and booklet of photos all carefully crafted and designed. Fischer also makes an appearance on the sampler with a track from his Monocoastal CD which sold out only a few short weeks after its release.

Two very long-form releases appear as excerpts on Sampler 002: one of the four tracks on Kenneth Kirschner’s (US) epic 3-CD set Twenty Ten appears here in all of its decay and beauty and Moss (US) (a quartet consisting of Molly Berg, Olivia Block, Steve Roden and Stephen Vitiello), a subtle work for clarinet and live instrumentation captured during a live performance also in a church with its wooden interior providing the perfect acoustic setting.

Long-time 12k roster member and favorite FourColor (JP) shows off his talents as a guitar maniuplator with “Iris Familiar” which features the breathy vox of 12k’s Sanae Yamasaki, also known as Moskitoo. And, the well-known Stephan Mathieu (DE) turns old 78rpm records into tonal drones that crackle with complexity and fragility.

The sampler nears the end with a delicate field study of Seaworthy + Matt Rösner (AU) who set up a small studio in a cabin while exploring and recording two lakes in the Australian countryside. Their gentle guitar and electronics blend as one with the expansive nature that surrounded them.

Finally, Murralin Lane (SE) round out the disc with their distressed but beautiful “When I Told You” whose grainy melodies and vocals are stretched on the edge of tension hauntingly lingering until the last seconds of sound fade from the speakers.