New unreleased Northcape track ‘Aquifer’ now on Soundcloud
I’m writing with a brief update – After a (long) gap (since 2018!), I’m finally starting to make music again, and now have a new “unreleased” track up on soundcloud. It’s a 6 minute piece of electronic ambience that has already been described as sounding a bit like a mixture of the sound from ‘Alluvial’ and ‘Glasshouse’.
I’m also planning on gradually putting any new ‘unreleased’ tracks (that reach a certain point) up on the NC soundcloud page. Comments/ feedback are very much appreciated – hoping to do better (more revision of mixing/ mastering is probably needed). Starting music again after a long time is definitely a challenge, and this first (unofficial) release is stressful as a result 🙂 It’s amazing how much I had forgotten, but hopefully it’s starting to come back.
More news coming!, look out for an update later in 2025.
Mastodon
At the end of last year I joined the #twittermigration, and moved my main social media presence over to Mastodon. Later I moved to the mastodonmusic.social server (it’s easy to change between them). From day one I’ve found Mastodon is a much more pleasant experience, both in terms of general atmosphere and increased interactions (relative to number of followers). It has no ads, and of course has the major advantage of eliminating the guilt associated with supporting an immature sociopath billionaire… As Mastodon is a distributed network (part of the ‘Fediverse’ collection of federated servers running a common protocol) there is also no risk of the original founders selling out and the gradual degrading of the user experience driven by the greed for maximum shareholder (not user) value that seems to happen on every ‘walled garden’ social network. I genuinely don’t visit my old twitter page, and really don’t understand why so many people stick with that site given everything that has happened since the takeover. If you want to try Mastodon out, I’d recommend the website here.
UPDATE October 2024: I have recently moved server to linernotes.club, since mastodonmusic.social is unfortunately shutting down. The new mastodon page for Northcape is here: https://linernotes.club/@northcape
May 17th, 2023New track: Settlement
It’s my first new track for a while – a piece of upbeat instrumental electronica. I’m grateful to Reboxed Media for producing a video.
It’s available on soundcloud here:
Hope you enjoy!
July 12th, 2018port-royal remix
Very happy to announce that Northcape was invited to remix a track by one of my favourite groups on the n5md label, Italian electronica/ post-rock collective port-royal, as part of ‘You ware nowhere’, a compliation of remixes from their excellent recent album ‘Where are you now’. Includes 12 tracks including mixes from Arovane and Bvdub! Available now for pre-order.
Interview with Fade To Yellow
I was interviewed by Tom Laird, who is the man behind the excellent Fade to Yellow podcast a few weeks ago and have just got round to posting it here!
My incomplete thoughts below on the new ‘Glasshouse’ EP, the process of composition and how to promote electronic music.
Reviews of “Glasshouse”
“In all it seems Glasshouse is just that, a place where you’ll need to move about carefully to let the sound waves travel unfettered and undisturbed. Leaving a ray of light to shine in and disperse in all manner of color, this audio architect reveals a calmed emotive sound-escape that is serene, polished and quite nostalgic.“
Igloo Magazine
“an abstract yet unfussy sound form that’s warm, evocative, and melodic and whose downtempo ambient-electronic presentation conveys feelings of melancholy and optimism in equal measure.“
Textura
“Something about Northcapes’s new EP attracted me to it before hearing it and sometimes you just know that everything is about to just fit into place. I saw the album cover and title for the new EP some months back and was astonished by the sheer beauty of it…The cross over of ambience and IDM that he brings under Northcape is surprisingly original and individual… I have had the privilege to listen to some great music so far this year, and Glasshouse is up there with some of the best“
Echoes and Dust (Mark Wardale)
“From the first bell like tones of “Capillary Action”, the opening track here, this EP just knocked me over and wowed me. Here we have thoughtful, intelligent, sophisticated electronic music. You could call it ambient except its also full of exquisite (and complimentary) beats. This EP, I think, is a work of art…Its that nostalgic vibe, memories of happy, hot summers long ago when there wasn’t a thing in the world to worry about. “Glasshouse” takes you to that place…Overall this EP is a MUST LISTEN. You need it in your life. If you like synths, ambient music, good songs, Boards of Canada or related things I don’t think you can fail to be impressed by it. Northcape is revealed as a composer with the ability to communicate feeling and create moods. It will certainly lead me to put him in my “artists to watch” list and seek out more of his catalogue. 11/10.”
Geeky Disco
““Glasshouse” by Northcape is a remarkable EP, one where Alastair Brown comes into his own as an electronic musician of note. Whilst his previous output may have brought comparison to the earlier work of Boards of Canada, “Glasshouse” stands alone as a uniquely Northcape body-of-work. It is a robust offering for anyone with a love of warm, unhurried, melodic and memorable electronica… Already a highlight of 2014″
Headphonaught
““Art” is a word variously defined, and sometimes only hesitantly. One definition that has always rung true with me is that of translation and interpretation. How does one take a concept from one medium and bring it to life in another? What do the veins in a leaf sound like? What color is a hot summer day?Northcape’s Alastair Brown could probably tell you. Listening to Alluvial, his previous EP, is like taking a hike along a cold stream well above the tree line. Indeed his last several releases paint increasingly detailed spaces using only instrumentation and a pair of headphones. The easy solution to that challenge of art – for a musician, anyway – would be to lean heavily on electronica’s standard iconography of samples and sound effects; what easier way to place someone in a natural setting than with birdsong, flowing water, or leaves rustling? There is very little if any of this to be found here, and looking at the perfectly aligned cover artwork almost feels like cheating. In this, his most ambitious, evocative, and clearly-phrased release yet, the listener is invited to feel the energy of photosynthesis; the urgency of a seedling pushing through an immense weight of soil above; the retinal burn of bright sunlight through moving branches. Exquisite.“
Brian Roelofs (reviewed on Amazon.com)
Words On Tracks
The excellent Words on Tracks blog recently asked me to put a mix together and it’s now up on mixcloud. It’s electronica, IDM and ambient and contains some of my favourite recent and less-recent music in these genres – unfortunately there was lots of other stuff that I wanted to include but couldn’t either because it didn’t fit in the mix or because I ran out of time…
Words On Tracks /51 feat. Northcape by Words On Tracks on Mixcloud
March 6th, 2014‘Arrive Ruttledge Col’ video
Beautiful abstract video for ‘Arrive Ruttledge Col’…
Thanks very much to Full Color Emotion for putting this together!
January 8th, 2014Another Month On The Trail
Hi, it’s been a while since I’ve done this, but I’ve just uploaded a new unreleased track “Another Month On The Trail” to soundcloud…
It’s inspired by some vicarious travelling I’ve done recently and aims to capture at least part of the feeling of absolute freedom you can occasionally get, if you’re lucky, while travelling. It was written as part of the same process as the ‘Exploration and Ascent’ album but unfortunately finished too late to be included. It may also be the closest that I’ve yet come to the shoegaze genre!
If you have time, any streams/ comments are of course very much appreciated.
Cheers,
NC
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