i u we records, a new label focusing on ‘the beauty of female diversity in electronic music’, has released their first album, connected #1.

The album was curated by Panic Girl (Martha Bahr) and features nine tracks by modular synthesists from all around the world.

“It is extremely important to us to showcase how many highly talented female composers are out there in electronic music,” notes the label. “All nine tracks of this compilation have been composed with modular synthesizers and explore the extraordinary sonic worlds of Hélène Vogelsinger, Panic Girl, Alissa DeRubeis, Julia Bondar, Anna Wang, Arushi Jain, An On Bast, Yumi Iwaki and Elin Piel.”

You can preview connected #1 via the embed below or at the label’s Bandcamp page:

Tracks:

1. Hélène Vogelsinger – Ascension

The artist herself described this track with the following words from Sri Aurobindo: “The utmost mission of Mind is to train our obscure consciousness which has emerged out of the dark prison of Matter, to enlighten its blind instincts, random intuitions, vague perceptions till it shall become capable of this greater light and this higher ascension. Mind is a passage, not a culmination.”

2. Panic Girl – Unconscious Stream

This composition is the unconscious mind trying to communicate with the listener, in its very own, obscure and unique way. A complex, organic soundscape composed on Panic Girls modular synthesizer that merges with found sounds from everyday life.

3. Alissa DeRubeis – It’s A Parade

This track is titled “It’s A Parade”, because we are all on a quick walk through this world, and we have to decide when it’s time for a parade or a protest, or if we will just be dragged through time, and the difference between being a mean and bitter woman, and standing up for the rights of people. This piece was composed and performed entirely on eurorack modular synthesizers. Samples were sourced from Cher, Audre Lorde, Angela Davis, Ursula Le Guin, Lily Greenham, Andrea Dworkin, Naomi Klein, and a march for justice.

4. Julia Bondar – Dramatique Waters

Julia Bondar works carefully with her powerful and well thought out modular system and feels that everybody should relate to music in a very unique way.

5. Anna Wang – Excursion

Anna Wang named her track Excursion because she composed it at a time when she was in dire need of a mental vacation. In her mind, this track is a relaxing, meandering stroll through a magical forest. Some of the modules featured include the Morphagene, Ripples, Chronoblob, Metropolis, Grids, Plonk, Pico Drums, uBraids, and Rings.

6. Arushi Jain – Moksha

This composition is written in Raag Khamaj. Arushi Jain wants to encourage the listener to remember past moments of victory over self-doubt and fear. “If my mind had an intervention for itself, this is what it would sound like. The melodies are slightly upsetting, the drifting vocals resonant of thought that is hard to escape, and the slowing pace encouraging of contemplation. Eventually, somehow, all the elements fade into stoic state of self acceptance. Moksha, also called vimoksha, vimukti and mukti, is a term in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism for various forms of emancipation, enlightenment, liberation, and release. It refers to freedom from samsara, the cycle of death and rebirth.”

7. An On Bast – How And When

The composition and sounds An On Bast made in “How and When” are connected with her reflection about being peaceful and comfortable in a state of not knowing. It is about not feeding the worries about what will happen, how and when. Good news is, fear is a choice.

The sounddesign for this track comes from her modular synthesizer – a few drum modules and Verbos Complex oscillator as sound sources, Teenage Engineering OP1, Novation Peak, Roland TR8S and a few external effects.

8. Yumi Iwaki – Sardonyx

Sardonyx was recorded like a livejam with Yumis modular synthesizer. Featuring Rings, Plaits, Clouds and Ripples from Mutable Instruments, the Morphagene and STO from Make Noise, Tiptop One and Doepfer A-120 VCF1. Everything was sequenced by Squarp Instruments Hermod. Yumis voice was sampled and sequenced by the OP-1 from Teenage Engineering and then output to Strymon Magneto with other modular sounds. “This song didn’t have the title until Panic Girl asked me. I listened to it again and again, then the orange gradation striped pattern that is not regular came into view. So I named this song “Sardonyx”.

9. Elin Piel – Sunday 8

This track from Elin Piel is about insomnia and when days morph into each other. She used her modular Eurorack system only with OTO Machines BIM and BAM as end of chain. The track is recorded live in one take.

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