Disappeared

Disappeared(Pepo Galán + David Cordero) Lp(Past Inside the Present, 2022) Composición y producción: Pepo Galán y David Cordero.Masterización: James Bernard / Ambient Mountain House (LA) Fotografía original: George Korunov.Diseño gráfico: Zakè. Galán and Cordero are historically frequent collaborators, and they continue their long-distance partnership with their latest effort titled, «Disappeared». The album came to fruition without hurry, little by little. Their patient approach slowly evolved into the final arrangements heard on this contemplative recording. «Disappeared» delivers on the forementioned qualities and characteristics. A beautiful affair of calm movements and delicate sound production with a graceful hand of exemplary mastering by James Bernard at his California studio. Volver a discografía Comprar

A speechless body

A speechless body (Mi Cosa de Resistance + Ciro Berenguer + Pepo Galán + Andrew Heath) Lp (Whitelabrecs, 2022) Composición y producción: Mi Cosa de Resistance, Andrew Heath, Ciro Berenguer, Hymns57 y Pepo Galán. Masterización: James Edward Armstrong. Artwork: Andrew Heath. Take five ambient composers from around the world. Ask them to create two pieces or chapters each which in turn relate, just as in a book, to the previous chapter but all constructed in two halves as a palindrome and you have an amazing and intriguing ambient work, «A speechless body». Originally conceived by the argentinian experimental musician Mi Cosa de Resistance, it quickly grew to include Ciro Berenguer, Pepo Galán, Hymns 57 and Andrew Heath and became an incredible journey from one place to another and then back again, taking in some beautiful ambient scenes along the way. Diverse? Yes but delightfully so and it’s testament to these artist’s wonderful craft that everything works seamlessly. It guides you along this stunning ambient journey and is finally set into its own cohesive world by the mastering skills of James Edward Armstrong who frames the work perfectly. The stories and narrative within these ‘chapters’ is told through track titles, sound and the album artwork only. The rest, is to your own imagination. Volver a discografía Comprar

Between the leaves

Between the leaves (Pepo Galán + Shinji Wakasa) Lp (Fluid Audio, 2021) Composición, grabación y producción: Pepo Galán y Shinji Wakasa. Masterización: Lee Yi / Rottenman Editions. Diseño de impresión: Craig Tattersall. Diseño packaging: Daniel Crossley. «Between the Leaves» is a slow-burning stunner from Pepo Galán and Shinji Wakasa. In 2019, both musicians decided to collaborate on a new album, one with free experimentation ‘without corrections or technicalities’ first and foremost. At its heart, «Between the Leaves» revolves around Pepo’s improvised minimalist pianos and Shinji’s ambient manipulations and additional tweaks. The ambient atmosphere traces itself around the piano and its cool, washed-out notes, never interfering, only adding (the perfect template for an excellent team). Both of these elements turn the music into something of a magic spell, ‘a journey through…the most hidden forests of Japan to a botanical garden in southern Spain’. Shinji’s field recordings include a toy piano, which was left in a decaying warehouse, as well as the sound of rain beside a small pond and an old guitar. The sounds are like those from a leafy glade, and they’re inextricably attached to the self, chained to a vault of personal and unique memories. Nothing can disentangle a specified sound from its remembered episode. As the mind rewinds, the music starts to play. It could be a song on the radio, triggering a recollection, or a random melody spluttering from a decades-old area of the mind, rising from a graveyard of misheard lyrics and catchy tunes. No matter what it may be, the music is tied to a singular event, and the same is true of Between The Leaves. Textures remain thin throughout the album, with its ambient slivers providing a damp bedrock. Consisting of a leaky piano and subtle, mutating tones, the music is allowed to breathe thanks to its emphasis on experimentation, but it still feels tight and well-managed. Nothing is out of bounds, but that’s not to say that things get too crazy. On the contrary, Pepo and Shinji understand the importance of musical context and the value of consistent tonality. They keep it somewhat restrained in its recollections and evocations, which only adds to its beauty. Volver a discografía Comprar

Contact

Contact (Pepo Galán + Sita Ostheimer) Lp (Past Inside the Present, 2020) Composición y producción: Pepo Galán. Letras: Sita Ostheimer. Sintetizador, violonchelo, guitarras y efectos adicionales: Lee Yi. Violonchelo en «Distance»: Macarena Montesinos. Masterización: Rafael Anton Irisarri / Black Knoll Studio (NY) Fotografía original: Pepo Galán. Cover art: zaké. «»Contact»» is a collaboration between prolific Spanish producer Pepo Galán from Malaga (El Muelle Records) and Berlin-based choreographer Sita Ostheimer. The pair have collaborated in one way or another since 2015; Galan having composed music for her dance creations, and Ostheimer recording her delicate vocals for several of his solo albums. Ostheimer’s evocative vocal delivery is perfectly accompanied by Galan’s mellowed neo-classical tones and restrained flourishes of electronics, for an altogether seductive and poignant listening experience.» (Juno Records) Volver a discografía Comprar

Palettes

Palettes (Pepo Galán + Awakened Souls) Ep (Hush Hush, 2020) Composición y producción: Awakened Souls y Pepo Galán. Masterización: Taylor Deupree / 12k Mastering. Artwork: Pepo Galán. After doing a rework of one of Pepo Galán’s songs (featured on Pepo’s «Soledad» album released in October 2020 by Stereoscenic Records), Awakened Souls reached out to Pepo to see if he would want to collaborate on new original material. Pepo happily sent files of songs and ideas over to James and Cynthia who were immediately inspired by their lush, spacious, and widescreen sounds. The duo then built these foundational sketches into full songs using their own meditative and healing sounds. The artistic approach behind these creations gave the musicians a sense of painting songs into existence, yielding the release’s title of «Palettes». Embedded into «Palettes» rich emotional and romantic streak is the artists’ shared passion for poet Pablo Neruda, his work seeping into the song’s track titles, lyrics, and overarching aesthetics. Volver a discografía Comprar

Reiyā

Reiyā(Pepo Galán + Shinji Wakasa + Warmth) Lp(Archives, 2020) Composición, producción y grabación: Pepo Galán, Shinji Wakasa y Warmth.Masterización: Ian Hawgood.Fotografía original: Alexander Kopatz. Volver a discografía Comprar

As a silent tongue shadow

As a silent songue shadow(Pepo Galán + David Cordero) Ep(Muzan Editions, 2020) Composición y grabación: Pepo Galán y David Cordero.Producción: David Cordero.Masterización: Joshua Stefane.Diseño: S. Grey.Fotografía original: Joshua Stefane. David Cordero and Pepo Galan team up on “As a silent tongue shadow” to craft an album full of contemplative songs that show a sense of nostalgia and fleeting moments of melancholy and hope. “After the pains’” and “We don’t talk” with their haunting piano, swelling melodies and layers of crystal clear soundscapes prepare us for what lies ahead. The moment you start listening to “Deva” you know that you won’t be able to shake off this recurring theme. With “Ghost and Memories” and the album closer “When the light disappears” we drift away into the abyss of our mind. Volver a discografía Comprar

All of a sudden

All of a sudden (Pepo Galán + Max Würden) Lp (Unknown Tone Records, 2018) Composición, grabación y producción: Pepo Galán y Max Würden. Masterización: Südblock Studios. Cover: «Tree of life» (Christine Nguyen, 2016). It was a rainy day in October when the mail man knocked on Max Würden’s door. He had ordered an album from El Muelle Records in Malaga, Spain, but when he opened the package it didn’t contain only Pepo Galan’s album «Stranded», he found a bunch of CDs in there, published by the same label. What a pleasant surprise, and it turned out to be a true cultural survival kit just in time for the following grey weekend full of rain. Having never actually met in person they came to realize that they already followed each others musical projects online for years, a vivid exchange ensued peaking with a question if they shouldn’t work together on an album. 30 minutes later Pepo had sent his first idea, and Max started working on it right away. Musically the two artists had found each other. They immersed themselves so deep into the tracks that at the end neither one of them was able to tell who exactly contributed which sounds to their album «All of a sudden». They also found commonalities in their work processes. Both like to incorporate cassette tapes like Max’s album «Retour» (Kompakt 2016), and they also like to experiment with guitars and other string instruments which form the musical spine for «All of a sudden». Volver a discografía Comprar

Comformity declaration

Comformity declaration Lp (Seattle Dott, 2018) Composición y grabación: Carlos Suero y Pepo Galán. Artwork: Pepo Galán. Comformity Declaration is the first album of songs born from an alliance between two well known friends of us, Pepo Galan and Carlos Suero. This is a collaboration record that surprise since minute one to the listener us it doesn’t reflect what the composers had published before, maybe, and us the name of the album reads; it is a declaration of comformity between both musicians in order to reach a point of middle land, between the electroacoustic ambient from Pepo Galan and the more heavy electronics from Carlos Suero. This piece of work feels like a trip to a obscure destination but with a longside running that let us see the existence of a light at the end of it, like in a road movie style, with reflections of rhythms playing along with physicodelic passages confronting very quite melodies, dirty guitars and catchy synthesisers. Volver a discografía Comprar