Various - Assemblage Sessions 2

Arranging a compilation is a bit like making a mix tape or writing a love letter, a delicate process filled with stops, starts, and re-evaluations. All the rules of mixtape etiquette apply doubly to compilations. Comps can start off with an attentiongrabber, then slow it down a notch, or just the opposite. When trying to make sure the tracks are balanced, you shan't have two songs by the same artist side by side (unless the whole album is like that), you may not want to put too many instrumentals or vocal tracks together, or may not want to leap too erratically from one style to another, hence there are all kinds of little patterns one can follow. Sometimes just deciding on the tracks’ order can be tougher than deciding which tracks to include. For example, there are half finished compilations galore out there fulled up with tunes and with funds to put themselves out, although lacking the decisiveness to figure out a final tracklisting.

In order to avoid these snares and pitfalls, here at ABR, we wish to celebrate diversity and contrast within our first compilation, The Assemblage Sessions Vol 1 lets the songs end up however they want to. It plays hide and seek with itself, as every track gets a chance to count to ten and search for the next. Whereas most comps seek to establish a prevalent mood or theme, Assemblage v1 melds music regardless of style, gender, nationality, or label affiliation. Only here can you audibly witness minimalist Japanese dance music segue into bombastic UK hip-hop whilst good ole boy American idm rides it like pigeons in a mandala, one on either shoulder. That's right, we have some how convinced musicians from around the world to donate tracks to this little sonic outing, even though we're in our earliest stages of development. We’re so underground we’re homeless...

So, either folks are feeling a lot of love this year or those subliminal commands we've been putting in our E-mails are finally starting to take effect. In either event, it is an honor and a privilege to announce that Assemblege will feature new music from the likes of Legs MC, Treewave, Piana, Mr. Cooper, Poison Arrows, Adventure Time and Minamo, as well as all the various and sundry ABR cats you've come to know and love, DoF, Sheveks Masada, Color by Numbers, Set in Sand, and Flowtation Addvice. In addition to the contrast of divergent musical styles, the Assemblage songs represent new approaches for their respective creators as well. For example, DoF demonstrates that he is just as amazing a vocalist as he is a producer, and Color by Numbers adds guitar to his hypnotic hightechery. The combination of fresh approaches from established artists plus the inherent contrast amidst the songs makes the Assemblage Session a truly one of kind aural experience. It’s a strange flavor, like pickles and whip cream, which it might turn the stomachs of some, will tastes great if you’re pregnant with a love of sound.

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