{"title":"Records","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"tides-lp","title":"Tides LP","description":"\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eRecorded in 2013, \u003ci\u003eTides\u003c\/i\u003e is a glimpse into the early phase of what has become Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith’s signature approach to electronic music. Composed and played on a Buchla Music Easel––the modular synthesizer that gives Smith’s music its organic feel––this collection of instrumentals is at once uplifting, transportive and meditational. It comes as no surprise that it was commissioned by Smith's mother to accompany her yoga practice.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eTides\u003c\/i\u003e pulsates and swells like the ocean itself. Field recordings of wind chimes and forest sounds are interspersed throughout much of the album, accentuating the pastoral aspirations of their electronic counterparts. The chirp of a bird might be confused for the elongated intervals of a muted siren, a steam valve opening and closing for the sound of the surf, or a drone for a live organ. The actuality is elusive and secondary to the alchemy at work. Natural and synthetic components become indistinguishable from one another and cohere seamlessly into a unified paean to bliss. Though the ambient nature of these recordings is inextricable, it is belied by an undercurrent of heart-like beats that hint at the visceral force of Smith’s current work.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e-------\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e140g 12\" Black Vinyl \/ 33 RPM \/ 18pt Coated Jacket\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eIncludes free digital download coupon.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eCover art rendering by Sean Hellfritsch, based on a model by George Hart.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e-------\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.touchtheplants.com\/products\/tides-shirt\"\u003e\u003cimg src=\"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0010\/4359\/5324\/products\/tides-shirt_large.png?v=1541545317\" alt=\"\"\u003e \u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.touchtheplants.com\/products\/tides-shirt\"\u003e25% Off Tides Shirt when bundled with Tides LP\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Touchtheplants","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":9536009502780,"sku":"TTP-102","price":22.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0010\/4359\/5324\/products\/tides-LP-cover.png?v=1541539481"},{"product_id":"ever-isles-cocoon-lp","title":"Ever Isles \"Cocoon\" LP","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1041015651\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/tracklist=false\/artwork=small\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"http:\/\/everisles.bandcamp.com\/album\/cocoon\"\u003eCocoon by Ever Isles\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eRecorded in 2009, Ever Isles' \u003cem\u003eCocoon\u003c\/em\u003e is an experimental folk album made by Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith and Jeremy Harris on Orcas Island in an improvised recording studio built from bed mattresses. Smith and Harris, longtime friends, first met in 2004 while attending Berklee College of Music.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eCocoon\u003c\/em\u003e is the only remaining document of the Ever Isles project and offers a unique glimpse at the early work of Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith – an era predating her discovery of synthesis when she was still playing classical guitar.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eJeremy Harris, a multi-instrumentalist and neo-classical composer, engineered and co-produced the record with Smith. In 2016 Harris released \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/gnomelife.bandcamp.com\/album\/ages\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eAges\u003c\/em\u003e via Gnome Life Records.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eTouchtheplants is happy to offer this limited stock of Ever Isles records that was originally pressed in 2011.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eDigital available \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/everisles.bandcamp.com\/releases\"\u003ehere\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSongs Composed by Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eProduced, Arranged, Performed \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eby Jeremy Robert Harris \u0026amp; Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEngineering :: Jeremy Robert Harris on Orcas Island, WA \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMixing :: Thom Monahan in Los Angeles, CA \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMastering :: JJ Golden in Ventura, CA\u003c\/span\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Touchtheplants","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":29867260772412,"sku":"TTP104","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0010\/4359\/5324\/products\/EverIsles_LP_Front.jpg?v=1568734725"},{"product_id":"breathing-instruments-lp","title":"Breathing Instruments Double LP","description":"\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBreathing Instruments\u003c\/em\u003e is a tribute to the breath in its many forms: human and animal respiration, sound patterns and rhythms made by wind, plants, and water, and our attempts to recreate it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFeaturing: Dim Arc, Sunmoonstar, Emily A. Sprague, Fools, Cool Maritime, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, Constant Shapes, Kathryn Shuman, Jeremiah Chiu, Kacey Johansing, Julianna Barwick, Mary Lattimore, Geotic, Andy Strain, Bana Haffar \u0026amp; \u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eÚlfur.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eReleased Worldwide August 14th, 2020\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDouble LP \/ 33 RPM \/ Single Sleeve\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePhotography by \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/chantalanderson.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eChantal Anderson\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDesign + Layout by \u003ca href=\"http:\/\/someallnone.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eSome All None\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 472px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2391602855\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=small\/transparent=true\/\" seamless=\"\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"http:\/\/touchtheplants.bandcamp.com\/album\/breathing-instruments\"\u003eBreathing Instruments by touchtheplants\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p2\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eWe must presume that the very first composed music was a direct human response to the natural world’s myriad rhythms. By this reasoning it follows that the human voice, capable of such deft mimicry, must also have been the first instrument. Repetitive patterns from bird songs to ocean tides to trees swaying and creaking in the wind are all around us, and merely await our attempts to recreate them. Then there are the rhythms of our own bodies, conducted in measure by the beating of our hearts and the respiration of our lungs. When we talk about catching or finding our breath, all we mean is tuning back into the basal rhythms we all possess. It’s logical that we circle back, using the instruments we’ve made, to then mimic the very breath that formed the basis of music in the first place. Newer technologies may have supplanted the prehistoric flutes made of vulture bones, but the elementary action is unchanged.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p2\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eThe directive for the composers featured on \u003ci\u003eBreathing Instruments\u003c\/i\u003e was, in effect, to accentuate the ways in which instruments sound like they are breathing. Some have recreated the literal experience of feeling or hearing the human breath. Others take a more abstract approach, where “breathing” is more motif than object of emulation.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p2\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eHushed pulsations and distant vocals in Kathryn Shuman’s “Objects” create a womb-like environment where a mother’s voice and heartbeat are all that seeps into the amniotic surroundings. The ensuing stage, of course, is birth, and Julianna Barwick’s blissful “Newborn” gives sonic form to the experience of emerging from the womb and taking one’s first breaths. Similarly, Sunmoonstar’s “Sleepy Dragon” is surely how seeing the world for the first time must sound, the fluttering of eyelids embodied by a lullaby of wind chimes. Dim Arc’s ruminative “Breeze Shapes” is an ascendant, spacious affair that answers the question, “what if Thomas Dolby produced an ambient album?”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p2\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eIn “Patience” Andy Strain’s elegiac trombone swells and contracts slowly amid gusts of wind, while Bana Haffar’s “Circulations” inhabits a similarly gusty space tempered with soft modular synth drones. Úlfur’s “Feathered” is kindred to both in its dirginess and introspection.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p2\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eThere is also a striking concurrence of woodland sounds throughout this collection. The ghostly vocal tones of Emily Sprague’s “Flew” are the rhythmic underpinning of synthesized sounds that conjure a forest, humid and glistening after the rain. The neo-Exotica of Constant Shapes’ “Wind Leaf Shimmer” is a stroll through a twittering jungle. “I Can See Your Voice Thru the Trees” by Fools forges an alternate, percussive path through the jungle, creating the heretofore unknown Venn Diagram of Don Ralke and Wally Badarou. If drops of dew wiggling on a fern leaf at dawn emitted sound perceptible to the human ear, “Daybreak” by Cool Maritime and Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith might be it. Jeremiah Chiu’s “Poems One and Fourteen” is a dreamy walk through intervals of rain sheets. Mary Lattimore’s harp in “She Remembers Sitka” is the dynamic foil to a vibrating backdrop of rustling leaves and waves lapping at the shore. Kacey Johansing’s “Whales of Agate” likewise plants us at the shore, as the opening sound of waves give way to lilting acoustic melodies. The undulating seascape of Geotic’s “Uncaught” conjures moments of \u003ci\u003eEvening Star\u003c\/i\u003e by Fripp\/Eno, but supplants that album’s crystalline production with the warm crackle of a vinyl record.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p2\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eIt’s noteworthy that a sense of meditation and tranquility is the most common thread on \u003ci\u003eBreathing Instruments\u003c\/i\u003e. The athletic huffing and puffing of sampled breaths on Kraftwerk’s “Tour de France” would be less of a touchstone here than the soft, circular, steam-valve propulsion of Wolfgang Voigt’s electronic project Gas. The latter is its own direct response to its composer’s psychedelic experiences in the forest as a youth, much as the music on this album takes inspiration from our more verdant environments and their inhabitants. If the oxygen produced by plants is our life force, then distinguishing “nature” from “humanity” is to speak of two parts of a whole in separate breaths. If we’ve learned anything from \u003ci\u003eBreathing Instruments\u003c\/i\u003e, it is that we are inextricable from the natural world. The paradox is that, in mimicking the world’s continuous soundtrack with our breath or our instruments, we are effectively just mimicking ourselves.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p4\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eChris Fallon\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p4\"\u003eLos Angeles\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p4\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e2020\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Touchtheplants","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":34680941412486,"sku":"TTP-107","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0010\/4359\/5324\/products\/ttp-107-vinyl-mock.jpg?v=1594845733"},{"product_id":"sound-wonders-lp","title":"Sound Wonders LP","description":"\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eSound Wonders: A Series of Epics\u003c\/em\u003e is music inspired by the long poems and narrative verse works that have detailed deeds and adventures since the dawn of storytelling.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFeaturing: Elori Saxl, Matthewdavid’s Mindflight, liila, Emile Mosseri, Yialmelic Frequencies, Nailah Hunter, Green-House, Emily Ritz \u0026amp; SK Kakraba.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eReleased Worldwide October 8th, 2021\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLimited Run 12\" LP \/ 33 RPM\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePhotography by \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/waubi_saubi\/\" data-mce-href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/waubi_saubi\/\"\u003eAubrey Trinnaman\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDesign + Layout by \u003ca href=\"http:\/\/someallnone.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eSome All None\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 400px; height: 439px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=955051715\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=small\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/touchtheplants.bandcamp.com\/album\/sound-wonders-2\"\u003eSound Wonders by touchtheplants\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"page\" title=\"Page 1\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"section\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSound Wonders: A Series of Epics \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eis the second compilation from Touchtheplants, the imprint and multidisciplinary creative environment founded by Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith and Sean Hellfritsch (aka Cool Maritime). Following 2020's \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBreathing Instruments\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, the new collection features sonic responses to a new prompt. Like its predecessor (which explored music as an extension of the human body and the natural world), the medium of focus here dates back to ancient civilizations. Smith invited artists to compose music based on the idea of epics: the long poems and narrative verse works that have detailed deeds and adventures since the dawn of storytelling. The musicians — some of today's most exciting practitioners of experimental sound design, instrumentation, and synthesis — took this directive loosely, realizing a series of vibrant and transportive songs evoking wondrous visions, subjects, and locales. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe set begins on a bed of moss in a shaded forest, courtesy of composer Elori Saxl. Reflecting on the experience that inspired \"Moss II,\" she remembers \"feeling like the world was pulsing all around me and I never wanted it to end and also being very aware that it was already slipping away.\" With Robbie Lee on woodwinds and Helen Newby on strings, Saxl re-creates that fleeting sensation. The chamber piece builds and exhales with awe, able to capture the lush and verdant vision, if only for a moment. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOn the next track, Matthewdavid looks beyond the forest floor to engage \"the fungal network that binds all,\" layering flute and textural production into a serene orchestra of spore-like sounds. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNext, Danielle Davis and Steven Whiteley, aka Liila, reach for the infinite sublime. Their composition \"appa wú wéi\" is dynamic, nuanced, and mercurial, gliding buoyantly on a bright, Reich-ian marimba sequence. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEmile Mosseri followed his instincts with the word \"epic,\" pursuing the two vast frontiers that first came to mind, cowboys and outer space. The composer's otherworldly hums and organ keys set the celestial scene as guitar strums converse with fluttering chimes; the effect is pure cinematic majesty. From there, over washes of static and alien chatter, Diva Dompé opens a portal to Yialmel, the cross-dimensional destination of her therapeutic instrumental music project, Yialmelic Frequencies. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTwo vocally-driven songs guide the second half of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSound Wonders\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e. Multi-instrumentalist Nailah Hunter's mystical number, \"Naiad's Lament,\" channels the water nymphs of Greek mythology. She sings of spells; her voice flows in and out of earshot as if echoing across a pond. Emily Ritz's \"Tempest\" cycles soulful, elemental verses above bedroom pop percussion she shaped \"like a big wave in a calm sea or a sudden gust of wind.\" \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBreathing between those moments are two rhythmic instrumentals. As Green-House, Olive Ardizoni contributes an ode to the strange and beautiful phenomenon of starling murmurations. Synth and xylophone tones dance overhead, mimicking the moves of birds grouped in synchronized swoops. The set ends in the vibrational patterns of SK Kakraba playing the gyils, a Ghanaian xylophone. The wooden instrument's distinct buzz resonates to a joyous, frenetic peak, a final entry befitting of this far-reaching compilation. Taken as a whole, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSound Wonders: A Series of Epics \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003esplays out like chapters in a panoramic account of endless possibility, intrigue, and appreciation for all that surrounds us. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDave Sutton \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e2021 \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Touchtheplants","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":39549257351302,"sku":"TTP-108","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0010\/4359\/5324\/products\/ttp-108-VinylRecordMockup.jpg?v=1633639030"}],"url":"https:\/\/touchtheplants.myshopify.com\/collections\/records.oembed","provider":"KAITLYN AURELIA SMITH MERCH","version":"1.0","type":"link"}