Jozef van Wissem (solo lute, NL) & Leaver (album release) 10/09/20

Feels weird to be announcing a concert but here it is. Leaver will be presenting their upcoming album "Hands Like Cages" with a live show on September 10. The very special guest of the show is Jozef van Wissem, one of our drone duo's earliest inspiration. Don't miss out. Tickets are here: https://epaygo.bg/2495910719

RSVP: https://facebook.com/events/734057114115393

Amek Collective Takeover @ Threads Radio

August 21, 2020 (Friday) we are doing a six-hour-long Amek Collective Takeover on the Threads* stream. The show starts at 6 pm (UK time) and features mixes from label heads Angel S. & Martin L., Conjecture, Evitceles, krāllār, V-stók & Phlp. Don't miss out. 

Tune in: www.threadsradio.com

amek045 Nocktern "NoStalgia" CS

Order from Bandcamp

Debuted live during Amek Bummer Nights 2019 and recorded in a single take in February 2020, Nocktern's tape debut for Amek, NoStalgia proves a watershed moment for the project as it is the last recording before its transformation from a solo act into a duo. Careful and precise, yet live and free, the three movements found on the piece herein freely cross and amalgamate disparate genres and aesthetic influences to a result that makes us long for places, feelings and time that will never be. 

 

The opening minutes of NoStalgia are abstract and atmospheric with thick synth layers gradually being introduced to build up to an almost 80s synth wave climax in the middle of the over 20-minute-long piece. With percussive elements darkening the soundscape not unlike in Mind Over Heart, Nocktern’s contribution to Vanishing Standards (2019), the piece slowly fades into its calmest and most poetic part – a delicate piano coda that quietly communicates with the reflections of all transformation the track has gone through before it all disappears in silence.

Written, performed and mixed by Stoimen Stoyanov 

Recorded live at Glitch Lab Studio, Sofia 

Mastering by Marius Costache (Studio 148) 

Artwork by Mild Kiriya

amek043 krāllār "big sad" CS

Order your copy from Bandcamp

We heard the first incarnation of the material on big sad by krāllār during Amek Bummer Nights 2019. The processes, sources and sound treatments of this very physical live show deeply intrigued us and we instantly commissioned a recording session of the material with the idea to see it not only preserved but hopefully expanded in a studio work. That session took place in February 2020 and we’re now thrilled to present big sad – Ivan Shentov’s first krāllār tape release for Amek Collective.

Behind the seven pieces lies a single-take studio recording of intense tape collages, reamping of found sounds, tape loops and an almost Feedbacker-style fuzz worship. Beautiful and vulnerable even at their rawest and noisiest moments, the tracks on big sad see the artist's trademark tape work reaching new planes of emotional complexity and depth. This results in the album being a very honest and touching journey through the mind of its creator. The noise on big sad is as cathartic as poetry.

credits

Writen & performed by Ivan Shentov
Recorded live at Glitch Lab Studio, Sofia
Mixed by Angel Simitchiev
Mastered by Marius Costache (Studio 148)
Artwork by Silvana Ilieva

amek044 Mytrip "Keeper" LP

The new Mytrip full-length album “Keeper” is a work of progress and growth, of pushing oneself out of comfort zones while managing to stay true to a carefully nurtured and developed aesthetic. A continuation of the sound hinted at in “Filament” (Amek, 2016) and Angel Simitchiev’s recent work with other projects, “Keeper” is a more rhythmic and loop-based work that explores and juxtaposes a plethora of atmospheres and moods, thus resulting in a sonically and emotionally complex and mature piece of music that manages to communicate its author’s singular vision.

The backbone of “Keeper” was originally written for a live performance at the Bulgarian National Radio in October 2018. Self-recorded with the intention to be preserved as a live album, most of the music retains the original structure, feeling, and intensity of this first performance but was further explored and expanded during recording sessions and selected live shows throughout the next year. Some ideas were dismissed while others were expanded on. As a result, “Keeper” has become a record that is polished and meticulous, while sounding and feeling utterly real, raw, and immediate.

Written and recorded by Angel Simitchiev between 2018-2020 
Mixed and mastered by Marius Costache (Studio 148) 
Track 04 features textures, mix and mastering by Ivan Shopov 
Artwork photography by Silvana Ilieva 
Live photography by Ivaylo Totev

amex002 Amek Drone Ensemble "Op. 1" (CS)

"Оp. 1” was performed spontaneously during Sofia Drone Day on May 25, 2019, that took place in Fabrika Avtonomia. It's a lengthy improvisational piece of mostly drone music performed on hardware synthesizers, samplers, lap steel guitar and tape loops.


On this recording Amek Drone Ensemble is:

Linus Schrab (V I C I M)
Angel Simitchiev (Mytrip)
Margarit Aleksiev (OOHS!)
Ivan Shentov (krāllār)
Maxim Mokdad (OOHS!)

Not being able to celebrate Sofia Drone Day in 2020 we are now publishing this archival recording to celebrate one year since the 2019 edition. The release is a part of EXPERIENCE, our tape series of live recordings, captured during Amek Collective events.

Recorded live by Martin Lukanov
Mastered by George Anagnostopoulos
Live photography by Silvana Ilieva

amek042 Valerinne "A Ghost Year" (CS)

In "A Ghost Year" Romanian noise rock trio Valerinne are exploring the most distant and atmospheric corners of their music. This drifting and ambient-influenced EP feels is a spiritual companion to their monumental full-length "Desire" and it reveals Valerinne's search for inner rhythm, contemplation and an offers a new chapter in their already quite free-form take on instrumental music.

 Originally self-published as a digital-only release in March 2020, "A Ghost Year" is now given a second life on a limited run of cassette tapes. This version features two exclusive, previously unpublished tracks, which were written during the same sessions. These are the finishing touches in the fragile soundscapes of "A Ghost Year". Equally filled with uncertainty and hope, the EP is the perfect soundtrack for existing among the shambles of normality. Especially when played on loud volume and solitude.

Recorded in isolation between March and April 2020 in Bucharest, Romania.
Written and produced by Valerinne.
Artwork photography by Mircea Smarandache.
Design & layout by Alexandru Das.

RIP young brother.

With heavy hearts we say goodbye to Stoyan Yovchev, whom you may know for his work as Omori. It's crushing and unfair to witness such a young, kind and talented soul's departure from the world. We feel powerless, hurt and angry because we couldn't prevent his untimely end. Our deepest love goes to his beautiful family. Together, and when the time comes, we'll do our best to preserve his music and pass it on to whoever is there to listen. Even if you didn't have the chance to know our brightest star, let his passing be a waking up call. Look around, reach out to those you hold dear. There are people who are not suited for a world that gets uglier every day, we need to be there for them.

Hours before this happened, Tony changed his account name to 'it doesn't matter anymore'. He was wrong, he will always matter and we'll never be forgotten. Rest in power, young brother.

Please, let his music in your life.

*CANCELLED* V-Stók & Mytrip playing Bristol & Birmingham, March 19-20, 2020

Mytrip is cooking a new LP scheduled for April/May while V-Stók just released 'Aquatic Rituals' via Amek. What better reason for them to team up for two shows in the UK while it's still possible to low-key tour there. 

*CANCELLED* Overdriven Dreams (RS) & TFSL Mono

March 13, 2020 will be a day for guitar ambient / psychedelic explorations with Overdriven Dreams (Serbia) & TFSL Mono of course at Fabrika Avtonomia.

RSVP: https://acebook.com/events/272236117089167/

amek041 V-Stók "Aquatic Rituals" CS

'Aquatic Rituals' by V-Stók is an ambient album which explores the human connection to water bodies such as rivers, seas and ponds through sound metaphors in which melodic and rhythmic elements float through dense layers of aquatic noise, atmospheres and chaos. On one hand sybmolising an attempt for ecological coexistence with nature and on the other the human strife to build and look for meaning, harmony and symmetry through the organised chaos and immensity of nature.

Production-wise, 'Aquatic Rituals' employs a combination of methods and tools such as: hydrophone and field recordings (from various places in France, Italy, Bulgaria, Iceland, UK), analog and digital synthesis and electro-acoustic performance.

Written & produced by Valentin Doychinov. 

Photography by Jeremy Bishop. 

Artwork designed by bogomi.

amek040 Omori "Embryogensis" CS

Omori is the youngest artist in the Amek ranks and with 'Embryogenesis' he returns to us with a more mature, refined and deeper offering of his muti-dimensional experimental ambient work. The album unfolds within six abstract pieces, built from morphing pads and drones, vocal cuts, cold dub-influenced basslines and silenced percussion. It's carefully arranged, perfectly paced but still raw enough to feel real and dangerous.

All music written & performed by Stoyan Yovchev.

Artwork by Delyo Dobrev.

a-m_e|k p_83 OMORI (tape release) + XI-N & LATE

Omori returns to Amek with a new tape. Celebrating this with a release show at Fabrika Avtonomia. Special guests are XI-N & LATE. 

RSVP: https://facebook.com/events/222420385447825/

Comfort Club #1 Zine

Comfort Club is an annual zine by Amek Collective. Its aim is to document our activities beyond the internet and social media. Done, in this case, through a collection of interviews we've conducted throughout 2019 with artists who performed during our events in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Get your copy from our Bandcamp store.

Issue #1 features:

 • Interviews with Altrimenti, CIA Debutante, Elvin Brandhi & Daniel Blumberg, Die! Goldstein, Linus Schrab, Niels Geybels

 • Collage works Georgi Ivanov, Niels Geybels, Nikola Kostov, Mild Kiriya

Pro-printed, black and white zine, 50 pages.
Limited to 100 copies.

a-m_e|k p_82 Amek meets Czaszka Records (PL/UK)

Starting 2020 with a very special event. Edinburgh-based tape label Czaszka Records are visiting Sofia. We're having sets on tape, huge distro, a zine launch and chilled out beginning of what we hope wil be another exciting and big year for the whole Amek crew.

RSVP: https://facebook.com/events/480872612572257/