In The Greenhouse with Tristan Arp

Music

New York multimedia artist Tristan Arp has a penchant for the rhythmic and percussive. His urge to morph and mould sound into new and exciting forms is illustrated on his Pipeline and Plexi EPs, released via Human Pitch, the label he co-runs with Branson Sanchez aka Simisea.

Now he's gearing up for the release of his debut album Suggested Forms on 14th February, which brings together several of the tracks from his previous EPs, as well as three twisted reworks from Beta Librae, Machine Woman and Kelman Duran.

Ahead of the release, with green spaces in mind, he selects the music that transports him outdoors…

I’m super interested in biomimicry as a creative approach to sound design. Plantlife and natural environments bring a lot of meaning to my life, which carries through to solo work and my collaborative project Asa Tone. Sometimes the dialog is abstract––how can I make my Moog sound like a little forest creature?––and sometimes it’s more physical/direct. Bamboo for example is one my favorite materials, and I like to create new virtual instruments from samples I collect from resonant sources like this. One of the beauties of the laptop, like acoustic instruments, is that it allows me to work outdoors. The following tracks take me outside when I can’t be, and for this I’m grateful.

Buy Suggested Forms. Photo credit: Eric Lopez.

LISTEN

Kilchhofer - Lefu

Modular wizard Kilchhofer builds lush forest-like zones throughout my favorite record of his, Dersu, and the opening track “Lefu” sets the foundation with acoustic percussion and field recordings wrapped around his analog synthesis. It’s an intricate, free-flowing web, with a looseness that’s not easy to achieve in electronic music. What’s fun is how it can become difficult to distinguish bird calls from his modular chirps and the wooden percussion from synthetic models.

Kilchhofer - Lefu

Modular wizard Kilchhofer builds lush forest-like zones throughout my favorite record of his, Dersu, and the opening track “Lefu” sets the foundation with acoustic percussion and field recordings wrapped around his analog synthesis. It’s an intricate, free-flowing web, with a looseness that’s not easy to achieve in electronic music. What’s fun is how it can become difficult to distinguish bird calls from his modular chirps and the wooden percussion from synthetic models.
Rainforest Spiritual Enslavement - Jungle Is A Shapeshifter With Silent Servant

This 34-minute piece works so well in so many life contexts: waking up, falling asleep, cooking, walking my dog, or listening closely in headphones with eyes closed. I find the urge to create variation in durational pieces like this but this track reminds me how subtle change can be more powerful and effective in maintaining a focused state. I think the slowly snaking rhythm helps achieve this too. It’s simple but never obvious, some parts cycling every three beats, some every two. I’ve looped this one for hours and just revelled in its mood – what a gift!
Kate Nv - ??? Oak

Wooden timbres cascading and interlocking throughout this lovely selection from Kate NV’s gorgeous 2018 LP for RVNG Intl. This label can do no wrong and I’ll follow them into every new world they put forth. New York wouldn’t be the same without the RVNG family :~) Kate NV has such a variety of compositional talents, but if you’re a lover of mallets like me this one will sit right at home in your ears.
Minaeminae - Vorwegnahme

One of my favorite projects I’ve worked on for my label Human Pitch with my partner in crime Simisea – MinaeMinae’s Variante was a pleasure to get close with and a teacher above all. MinaeMinae draws on sensory impressions of a world observed with an “innocent eye.” What resonates most with me about Bastian’s work is how operating from this place of pure playfulness and beginner’s mind, a wild complexity can be achieved with a real sense of ease. Was a honor to help bring this one to life. It might sound silly but I do think of running a label sometimes like gardening – watering each project, pruning here and there, and helping it grow into its potential.
Carmen Villain - Observable Future

Plants have given us many instruments, and humans across space and time, independently of each other, all arrived at some kind of flute. How amazing, no?! But arriving at “Observable Future” – Carmen Villain produced a gorgeous record last year for Norway’s mighty Smalltown Supersound. One of its strengths to my ears is Carmen taking more of a production role, inviting collaboration, in this case with Johanna Scheie Orellana on the flute. Now Smalltown has given us remixes of Carmen’s Both Lines Will Be Blue, from the likes of Parris, Yu Su, and DJ Python ‘o’ Again, what a gift.