Quiet Drones 4 is the latest installment in the continuing compilation series of experimental ambient drone music. This edition focuses on the theme of winter cold. The four pieces on Quiet Drones 4, all attempt to create a detached and frigid environment for the listener. The four extended pieces stretch the boundaries of deep listening music, with the average length of each track hovering over the eight minute mark. This is icy music that over time, reveals multiple hidden layers of textures and tones. Quiet Drones 4 presents otherworldly and frozen sounds coaxed from unidentified sources.

Compiled by Heiki Sillaste who has collected exclusive beatless tracks from ATONEMENT, CHROMOSPHERE, dreamSTATE vs. HEIKI and KALTE.

ATONEMENT is the recording project of Heiki Sillaste (Digital Poodle, Kinder Atom) and David S. Faris (Parade), exploring the further reaches of electronic sound and improvised music. Formed in the late ’90s, Atonement is an outlet for uninhibited collaborations, utilizing a variety of electronic gear, primarily analogue synthesizers, drum machines, and an assortment of effects units and guitar pedals, largely steering clear of computers and sequencers. Winter Isolation was recorded partially outdoors, under harsh, Canadian winter cold conditions. The debut Atonement Age of Atonement e.p. has just been released of paper+sound.

CHROMOSPHERE contribute an exclusive new track to Quiet Drones 4 with the sparse Thunder and Snow. Delicate string-like tones fade in and out of the listening spectrum. Chromosphere’s most recent full-length album Spectral Omissions explores much of the similar territory in creating emotive, ambient soundscapes.

When spring arrived, search parties were able to recover sufficient artifacts from the lost dreamSTATE and HEIKI drone expedition of January 2012 to piece together this sonic map of the first leg of their journey to the ice floes. Scientists in the field expect to discover further evidence in the near future and to finally determine their fate. So far, the remains of Scott M2, Jamie Todd and Heiki Sillaste have never been recovered. Archival recordings will soon be released in a strictly limited 250 copy digipack cd format.

Deane Hughes and Rik MacLean of KALTE produce dark and atmospheric soundscapes created almost entirely from natural sound sources that have been digitally altered and re-assembled, resulting in a rich combination of organic and electronic elements. Their track “Offworld” is an experiment in environmental reproduction, a piece that captures the cold feeling of arctic winds and sub-zero temperatures.

The album also includes a bonus seamless 30 minute super ambient mix by Heiki, which further processes and meshes all of the pieces into one continuous drone.

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Listen to Quiet Drones 4

1 Atonement_Winter Isolation
2 Chromosphere_Thunder & Snow
3 dreamSTATE vs. Heiki_Lost Expedition
4 Kalte_Offworld

Buy Quiet Drones 4

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Atonement is the recording project of Heiki Sillaste (Digital Poodle, Kinder Atom) and David S. Faris (Parade), exploring the further reaches of electronic sound and improvised music. Formed in the late ’90s, Atonement is an outlet for uninhibited collaborations, utilizing a variety of electronic gear, primarily analogue synthesizers, drum machines, and an assortment of effects units and guitar pedals, largely steering clear of computers and sequencers. The resulting material ranges from subtle ambient tones to unlikely beat-driven tracks to intense noise manipulations.

Atonement create music that revels in the purity of raw electronic sounds, drawing inspiration from 20th Century electronic music, first wave industrial music pioneers, ambient music, and the adventurous spirit of ’80s cassette culture, among other things.

While Atonement has existed for almost a decade and a half, “Age of Atonement” is the duo’s first official release. Beyond a few obscure live shows and compilation appearances, Atonement has remained under the radar to date. “Age of Atonement” breaks the silence, an e.p. of suitably uncompromising sound explorations and improvisations, drawn from various sessions in different studio environments, and offering a brief glimpse of things to come. Atonement’s debut full-length album will follow later this year on Paper+Sound.

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Clicker 1 opens the e.p. with barely audible tones and subtle hints of sound slowly emerging out of silence. Almost subconscious drones and rumblings provide an undercurrent for a series of unpredictable sonic events, slowly uncoiling and punctuated by static and clicks.

Clicker 2 is the companion piece, similarly abstract and fractured. This excursion is a cluster of crackling, skipping fragments of noise, interwoven with pulsating blips and wide, arcing tones and washes of electronic sound.

Pulse is an exercise in lively minimalism, defining space and movement in a brief sketch. A rapidly flickering electro-pulse interplays with layers of raw noise and texture, fading in and out of the mix.

Dust Static rounds out the e.p., a system music piece comprised of thick, heavy tones and dark drones, in contrast to the earlier tracks. Infused with a sense of menace and a foreboding nocturnal atmosphere, “Dust Static” is a soundfield of analogue synth tones, merged with field recordings from Thailand, courtesy of ambient/experimental artist Dust That Collects. This evocative closing track is drawn from an early Atonement recording session from the late ’90s.

All tracks recorded and produced by Atonement. Mixed and mastered at Wright Sounds, Toronto. Recorded at Plan 11 Studios, The Coach House and on the sauna porch.

Source material on “Dust Static” courtesy of Dust That Collects, from their cassette release “Video Night on Kowsan Road” (1991, Endogenous Productions)

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Listen to Age of Atonement e.p.

1 Clicker
2 Clicker 2
3 Pulse
4 Dust Static

Buy Age of Atonement e.p.

Chromosphere is the solo project of Digital Poodle and Kinder Atom alumnus Kris Helstrom.

Often tightly packed with special guests, Chromosphere is an electro-forum for odd, and sometimes not so odd, musical ideas. Experimental and ubane improvisations jammed loosely
over oozing break-beats most easily describes the sound from within the Chromosphere.

Sister Ship is a continuation and revisiting of an earlier tune called Mother Ship which I released in
the late ’90′s on Plan 11 Records. I made Sister Ship for my older sister on her birthday a year ago.In my formative years, zero through ten, she entertained me, our parents, and even the immediate surrounding neighborhood, with the peals of Glam, Funk and Disco from her vast vinyl collection through the family’s stereo. She’s always dug nearly anything with a HARD four on the floor.

In this Heat!?! was a way to pass a hot summer night. It tries to stay simple and hang on to an easy, lightly jazzed theme. Inaptly named ‘Chill-House’?

Far Away Weather was the conversational subject following the steamy story that my friend Leah begins to relate here. Turns out weather can be sexy…who knew?

At the Sound of the Beep has been a love/hate piece since it’s inception. I was originally trying to put together an offensive out-going message for telesales marketers.

All tracks produced by Kris Helstrom.
Guitar on Far Away Weather by Roland Last.
Recorded at Temple Studios, Toronto.
Mixed and mastered at Wright Sounds, Toronto.
All songs Socan, 2011.

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Listen to Chromosphere e.p.2

1 Sister Ship
2 In This Heat!?!
3 Far Away Weather
4 At the Sound of the Beep

Buy e.p.2

Quiet Drones 3 is the latest and greatest (in our humble opinion) compilation of pure ambient bliss!

Compiled by Heiki Sillaste who has collected exclusive beatless tracks from KINDER ATOM, CHROMOSPHERE, HEIKI, NAW and London Ontario’s NOISE LEVEL.

CHROMOSPHERE open the compilation with a reworked track taken from the Spectral Omissions CD/DL (paplus13), released earlier this year on paper+sound. Drum tracks have been stripped out and sounds have been reprocessed to create a introspective Fundamental State.

NOISE LEVEL is a London, Ontario ethno-ambient, electronic sound project designed to evoke the world of film soundtracks. The Zen Room (ChanFang) is a delicate piece of processed piano and bell sounds and is exclusive to Quiet Drones 3.

CHROMOSPHERE vs. HEIKI is an ongoing ambient battle between the forces of silence and noise. Moog synthesizers buzz while beat up effects peddles create resonant feedback hum.

HEIKI contributes a redone version of his ominous Government Island track. The original appears on his recently issued Sauna Porch Recordings Co. CD/DL (paplus11). Recorded live at Toronto’s long running Ambient Ping nights.

Toronto’s KINDER ATOM contribute their first brand new music in several years.
Naked Mask / Masque Nue is taken from the band’s upcoming e.p. for the nice+smooth label. Minimal pulsing arpeggios of a relentless thud, overlayed with fragments of voices. What’s behind the Naked Mask?

NAW provides a long exclusive piece for QUIET DRONES 3. His contribution, 13 Stories High, is a slight, barely evolving drone, where bell like sounds are dubbed out to infinity.

The album also includes a bonus seamless 55 minute super ambient mix by Heiki, which further processes and meshes all of the pieces into a continuous wall of drone.

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Buy Quiet Drones 3

Buy Quiet Drones 3

Listen to Quiet Drones 3

1 Chromosphere_Fundamental State_StasisMix
2 NoiseLevel_The Zen Room_Chan Fang
3 Chromosphere vs. Heiki_Past Tense
4 Heiki_Government Island_Live@Ping
5 KinderAtom_Naked Mask_Masque Nue
6 naw_13 Stories High_Redux

Heiki (Hey-Key) is a veteran of the Toronto electronic music scene. Since 1987, Heiki Sillaste has released an impressive catalogue of well over 45 synthesizer-based records and made over 150 compilation appearances.

Written and Produced by Heiki Sillaste at Wright Sounds, Toronto.
Bitter Harvest mix remixed by Scott Righteous.
Taperecorder mix remixed by Marc Hug.
Acid mix remixed by Heiki.

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Listen to Making Up Words e.p.

1 Making Up Words (album mix)
2 Making Up Words (Bitter Harvest mix)
3 Making Up Words (taperecorder mix)
4 Making Up Words (acid mix)

Buy the Making Up Words e.p.

Watch the Making Up Words video

Video directed by Heiki.

Track taken from the Making Up Words E.P./Download (paplus07)

paper+sound is a newish Toronto based electronic music label, releasing music under the broad sub-categories of ambient, techno, house, dub, downtempo and experimental sounds.

Sound of Paper 2 is a FREE mixed collection of tracks taken from the three latest releases on the paper+sound label.

The compilation is available exclusively from the paper+sound website as a 37 minute MP3 download.

Sauna Porch Recordings Co. is the latest release by Toronto electronic music scene veteran HEIKI.
It’s a collection of new music entirely composed and recorded on the porch of the rustic sauna cabin his father designed and built in Georgian Bay over 35 years ago.

Climate Adaptive Capacity is another foray into to the psyche of naw’s abstract interpretations of the world we live in. As in the past naw draws in his continued inspiration of the sound ecology of cities, places and spaces he encounters on a daily basis. naw (Neil Wiernik) began composing electronic music in 1988 with explorations in audio art and experimental music.

Spectral Omissions by CHROMOSPHERE is the newest solo project of Digital Poodle and Kinder Atom alumnus Kris Helstrom. Often tightly packed with special guests, Chromosphere is an electro-forum for odd, and sometimes not so odd, musical ideas. Experimental and urbane improvisations jammed loosely over oozing break-beats most easily describes the sound from within the Chromosphere.

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Listen to selections from the Sound of Paper 2 compilation

1 naw_When The Tree Tops Touch The Clouds
2 Chromosphere_Fundamental State
3 Heiki_Külm Järve Vesi
4 naw_Dewdrip
5 Heiki_Friday Man
6 Chromosphere_Gravitation

FREE Download

Chromosphere is the solo project of Kris Helstrom, an alumnus of Digital Poodle and Kinder Atom.
Chromosphere’s third full-length album, Spectral Omissions mostly discards beats, in favour of
highly textured washes of sound. The restrained compositions feature layers of drones sans any
rhythm, save perhaps a pulse to assure the listener that the music is indeed alive.

Exploration seems to still best describe what it is that occurs within this particular
Chromosphere. The Spectral Omissions album is released on paper+sound as a digital download
and as a strictly limited 250 copy edition digipack release.

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Listen to Spectral Omissions

1 Signaling Across The Hertzsprung Gap
2 Landing Instructions
3 Green
4 Fundamental State
5 Orbiting Deneb
6 Flocule
7 Back On Charon
8 Launch Code Accepted
9 Gravitation

Buy Spectral Omissions
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naw Climate Adaptive Capacity CD/DL (paplus12)

climate adaptive capacity is another foray into to the psyche of naw’s abstract interpretations
of the world we live in. As in the past naw draws in his continued inspiration of the sound ecology
of cities, places and spaces he encounters on a daily basis. For this album naw explores the
recent hot topic of climate change and the associated changes, more importantly the adaptations
surrounding these climate changes. Exploring both the planets and human adaptations from
simple observations of ground frost changes to more complex life style changes that are making
in order to continue living on earth to the more morbid thought of an earth that we can no
longer inhabit.

Montreal ex-pat naw (Neil Wiernik) who currently calls Toronto his home, began composing electronic music in 1988 with explorations in audio art and experimental music. Neil’s interest in sound and technology has lead him to a continued questioning and refinement of audio
tools and modes of production resulting in experimentation with altered instruments, modified
devices, and custom software environments. Neil’s music could be described as warm, atmospheric,
and cinematic electronic music. The sound design of naw is firmly grounded in the rich traditions of
dub studio culture but can also be weighed alongside formal contemporary composition. His music
was recently described in “The Wire” as having “…the kind of sharpness and clarity usually lost amid
the murk and decay of clicks and cuts and digital delays.” Neil has released music on various labels
Noise Factory Records for his naw project and on Elevation Recordings for his most recent project
Whisper Room. Climate Adaptive Capacity is his first release on the paper+sound label.

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Listen to Climate Adaptive Capacity

1 ground frost dew point
2 when the tree tops touch the clouds
3 salt water drift
4 summer time snow squals
5 sunglow afterburn
6 tunedown
7 dewdrip

Buy Climate Apaptive Capacity
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Heiki Sauna Porch Recordings Co. CD/DL (paplus11)

Sauna Porch Recordings Co. is the latest release by Toronto electronic music scene veteran Heiki.
It’s a collection of new music entirely composed and recorded on the porch of the rustic sauna cabin
his father designed and built in Georgian Bay over 35 years ago.

Heiki made these recordings by creating a live, chilled soundtrack first, then sitting back and
absorbing the Georgian Bay lake view and natural surroundings for inspiration. Occasionally he
would set up a microphone, record, and then process the natural sounds of the surroundings –
the wind, the birds, the rustling of leaves in the wind, people swimming, or motorboats and canoes
passing by.

Most of the initial music was quickly recorded as loops in the morning then slowly built up over the
course of a day. Songs were then revisited, treated, layered and re-built over the course of a few
weeks (or years, in some cases). Washes of sound were created by processing the field recordings
then layering them with synthesizer tones and sequences, creating a fusion of natural and
synthesized resonances.

Sauna Porch Recordings Co. is released in download format and a strictly limited
250 copy digipack edition.

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Listen to Sauna Porch Recordings Co.

1 Sauna Porch
2 Plink
3 Humid
4 Külm Järve Vesi
5 Rest Assured
6 Cottage Puzzle
7 Friday Man
8 Plink Two
9 Suve Kodu
10 Government Island

Buy Sauna Porch Recordings Co.
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Heiki Sauna Porch Recordings Co. e.p.1 Free Download (paplus10)

Sauna Porch Recordings Co. e.p.1 is a free release from Toronto electronic music scene veteran Heiki. It’s a collection of new music entirely composed and recorded on the porch of the rustic sauna cabin his father designed and built in Georgian Bay over 35 years ago. These three tracks are previews from the upcoming full-length Sauna Porch Recordings Co. CD/DL upcoming on paper+sound.

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Listen to Heiki Sauna Porch Recordings Co. e.p.1

1 Sauna Porch
2 Humid
3 Government Island

FREE Download

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Lorenz Peter is a Toronto based recording artist and comic artist. In 1991, Lorenz began to produce volumes of nightmare ridden, ink drenched, underground comics entitled Side Effect, and along with that came a soundtrack.Noise, effects, space sounds and sci-fi surrealist soundscapes were produced with guitarist K. Adams under the name Ludwig Felicio.

With Adams, Lorenz went on to perform with Mike Nightmare & The Things in 1993. Mike Nightmare was formerly of Toronto’s notorious ’77 punks The Ugly. The group lasted only seven months but the experience lasted a lifetime and inspired Lorenz to write his critically acclaimed Chaos Mission graphic novel.

In 1997, Lorenz joined Corpusse, a perfect combination. A power duo that would influence Toronto’s underground art rock/noise scene for nearly 15 years and record 3 albums together. For almost seven years a Roland SH 1000 and a vintage Ace Tone Rhythm Ace drum box were the only instruments used to create the Corpusse sound.

Since then, Lorenz has also recorded two albums with Toronto based painter Jay Isaac as the Bay of Creatures and one album as the Terror Dancers in 2006. The equipment has changed, but the experimentation continues, as Lorenz teamed up with Heiki Sillaste in 2009 to produce an album and 7″ single of electro-psyche as Les Fontaines.

Duos have been the key in this musician’s history, but this new release is Lorenz Peter’s first solo effort. “Alone At The Foam Party” gives a very complete picture of the artist’s sense of drama, humor and current musical tastes.

“The formula has always been about making use of what is there, whether it be a TV, a bus, a keyboard, or a computer. Found sounds, cassettes, radios, and recycled recordings have always been a big part of the process. On “Cadillac Billy”, I have reworked a song from my “Things” days into something very different and relevant, using what is available on a computer and on the track “Spellcaster”, I used my old analogue equipment, before they expire forever. “Boot Disk” is a cut up of a cassette found on the street, with added programed beats.”

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Buy Alone At The Foam Party

Listen to Alone At The Foam Party

1 Spellcaster
2 Watcha
3 Cadillac Billy
4 Corridor
5 Default
6 Le Man
7 Time Piece
8 MRI
9 Data Is For Me
10 CHWO
11 Boot Disk