N Kramer

Pastoral Blend — out now by N Kramer (@n__kramer ) & Magnus Bang-Olsen (@_magnus_opum_ ) Label: @music_from_memory Artwork: Michael Willis (@mwillis.global ) Mastering: @brandenburgmastering Big Thanks to the MfM team for all the support with this release! —————————— Recorded in Berlin between August 2023 and March 2024, ‘Pastoral Blend’ combines Kramer’s improvisational process and mastery of contemporary production techniques with Bang Olsen’s emotive pedal steel guitar playing. The creative process was anchored in capturing various phrases and patterns from the instrument, which were then reshaped, reversed, and layered intricately. This meticulous approach allowed a foundational track to emerge, upon which further arrangements and developments were sculpted. This process, which builds on Kramer’s earlier work as Habitat (with J. Foerster, released on Leaving Records), gives the music a gentle asynchronous flow that feels uniquely live and organic. Merging the warmth and intimacy of instrumental Americana with the glitchy, textural processing reminiscent of early 2000s Max/MSP, ‘Pastoral Blend’ is a textured drift between analog warmth and digital fragmentation. With titles like ‘Harvest’, ‘Agrarian Dawn’, ‘Grasslands’, and ‘Weathered’, Kramer and Bang Olsen evoke a musical vocabulary steeped in themes of landscape, memory, and tradition; a vocabulary that gently alludes to the more familiar and traditional musical structures lying beneath the rich layers of sound. Herein lies the essence of the ‘Pastoral Blend’.

Pastoral Blend is out July 4 on @music_from_memory Artwork by @mwillis.global Niklas: Pedal steel guitar has always been one of my favorite sounds. When Magnus and I started making music together, we quickly connected over a shared love for Americana. This album grew out of that connection—built almost entirely from pedal steel: phrases, loops, fragments—layered and reshaped. At the same time, I was diving deeper into scripting with Norns and SuperCollider. We leaned into the small clicks, cuts, and shifts—all the audio inconsistencies that happen when you start pushing sound around. “Descend”, the first track where it all clicked into place, is out today as the first single. Really excited to start sharing this music. Working with Magnus is so fluid and immediate—grateful we got to make this one together. Big thanks to the @music_from_memory team for all the support around this release. And thank you @mwillis.global for the inspiring artwork. — Magnus: I’ve been a friend of N Kramer and a fan of his music for a long time, and recently had the chance to make an album with him—one that’s soon seeing the light of day. It’s called Pastoral Blend. The sound is built around pedal steel guitar, transformed through custom Norns scripting by N Kramer—a process that still feels a bit mysterious to my analog brain. The result is something we’re both really proud of: soothing, intriguing, and unlike anything I’ve made before. Our first single, “Descend,” is out now. The full album drops July 4. Big thanks to @music_from_memory for bringing this into the world and for supporting my music over the years. And a heartfelt thank you to N Kramer—for this collaboration and, hopefully, many more to come.

our album pastoral blend is out on july 4 on @music_from_memory and we have have a little listening release gathering / listening session coming up thursday ( july 3 ) at @ikii.berlin

UNDER A TREE in Kanazawa — 午後の木陰で音楽を。 ⁡ 令和6年能登半島地震へのチャリティーとして行われたイベント「UNDER A TREE in Kanazawa」。 それは、震災後の状況のなか、美術館の庭に立つ一本の木の下で、音楽を媒介として人々があらためて集い、再び豊かな時間を過ごすための場として形づくられました。 ⁡ 本作は、日本で初めての開催となった「UNDER A TREE in Kanazawa」にて記録されたライブ音源、およびドキュメント映像をもとにした作品です。 ⁡ 音楽は、田村文岳がイベント当日に収録されたライブ音源の断片をもとに、あらたな一つの作品として構成し、 映像は、金沢21世紀美術館のコレクション作家であるさわひらきにより、当日のドキュメント映像を再編集して制作されました。 ⁡ 木陰に集った人々のあいだで共有された音と出来事は、作家の手を経て生まれ変わり、枝を広げるように、それぞれの場へと移行していく。 ⁡ こうしたプロセスを提示するサウンド／ヴィデオ作品です。 ⁡ ⸻ ⁡ UNDER A TREE in Kanazawa — Music in the Afternoon Shade ⁡ “UNDER A TREE in Kanazawa” was held as a charity event in response to the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake. Beneath a single tree in the museum garden, it became a place where people could gather again through music and share meaningful time together. ⁡ This work is based on live recordings and documentary footage from UNDER A TREE in Kanazawa, the project’s first presentation in Japan. ⁡ Fumitake Tamura reworked fragments of the live recordings from that day into a new composition. Hiraki Sawa, an artist in the collection of the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, re-edited the documentary footage from the event. ⁡ The sounds and events once shared in the shade of the tree are transformed through the hands of the artists, branching out as they move into other places. ⁡ This sound/video work traces that process. ⁡ ⸻ ⁡ UNDER A TREE in Kanazawa ⁡ Music Fumitake Tamura (Reworked from recordings of the live performance under the tree) ⁡ Narration Matthewdavid “MD” McQueen ⁡ Editing Hiraki Sawa ⁡ Camera ESSCH Narumi Nakamoto Ayako Fujita ⁡ Title & Graphic Design Ayako Fujita ⁡ Produced by Fumitake Tamura ⁡ In collaboration with Leaving Records ⁡ © 2024 Fumitake Tamura. All rights reserved. ⁡ 主催： 金沢21世紀美術館［（公財）金沢芸術創造財団］、UNDER A TREE ⁡ 後援： 北國新聞社 ⁡ ⸻ ⁡ ・Leaving Recordsについて ⁡ Leaving Records は、アーティストとコミュニティを軸に活動する組織であり、ロサンゼルスを拠点とする多作なレコードレーベルとして最も広く知られています。 インディペンデントかつ実験的な音楽家、そしてそれを支える人々が、より公正で自律的に活動できる経済的基盤の構築を志向しています。 自発性や相互依存、ケアを基盤とした経済のあり方、そしてコミュニティの活性化を重視しながら、アーティストの権利を守る姿勢と、厳選された質の高いフィジカル／デジタル作品の制作とを両立させています。

leavingrecords.com/ant @_and.cs has a new 10song record out today entitled ᵒ˶°´ - it is the first entry in an ongoing series exploring the world of insects and other macroinvertebrates. inspired by a shift in perspective informed by personal experiences with these animals, each song invites the listener into the mind of a bug — to imagine their thoughts, their feelings, their dreams — in hopes of fostering a world where empathy extends from the smallest creatures, even those that may bring fear or discomfort. recorded sporadically during practice sessions and while testing new custom devices for the norns sound computer, the 10 tracks of “ᵒ˶°´” expand from the electroacoustic loop-miniatures of “caught in pointers” & “*” with the addition of analog synth textures & structured songwriting drawing from japanese environmental music & VGM of the 90’s did you know that @_and.cs is a many media artist from the american midwest seeking worlds within media, cognition, and biology during the anthropocene? — — 🔊 “attamyces spore” ft. @___j_foerster & @n__kramer __ __ video, illustration, graphic design @studio.ampersands // ampersands.space — — the cassette edition hits differently: leavingrecords.com/ant

quality time and tones with the @playsuperlative sb01 #sb01 #sh101 #monomenorns

Sundays in Düsseldorf. 📷📹: @larsduchateau Thank you @objectsandsounds @kazunori.yoda @pause_pieces 💙

A Sunday to look forward to.⁠ ⁠ Join us on September 7 at @yoda_hair for live sets by @n__kramer and @boringtables on the sound system of @pause_pieces , alongside a popup by @objectsandsounds .⁠ ⁠ Stresemannstraße 28, Düsseldorf⁠ 15:00 – 20:00⁠ Everyone welcome⁠ ⁠ Thanks to:⁠ Display: @fritz_adamski & @maltevandermeyden ⁠ Ceramics: Fritz Adamski⁠ Candles: Malte van der Meyden⁠ Poster: @letterlik

It’s been a few weeks since Pastoral Blend was released. Thank you to everyone who’s taken the time to listen, share, or sit with it for a while. It’s been great to see where and how it’s resonated. Big thanks to everyone over @music_from_memory

Out Today!! N Kramer and Magnus Bang Olsen’s beautiful album ‘Pastoral Blend’. Eight mellow drifts into a world of sound conjured by Bang Olsen’s Pedal Steel Guitar and Kramer’s textural processing and programming. The perfect companion for your summer journeys this year and beyond. Available now via the MFM webstore and Bandcamp as well as all streaming platforms. Landing in record stores very soon! 🌼🌼

‘Pastoral Blend’ - a gentle journey into ambient Americana courtesy of N Kramer and Magnus Bang Olsen (of The Zenmenn). Pedal steel and softly glitched electronics weaved together with an effortless charm. Out next week on July 4th, and available to pre-order now. Early bird copies via musicfrommemory.com shipping this week 🌼

N Kramer and Magnus Bang Olsen’s’ collaborative album ‘Pastoral Blend’ will be released next month. Based around the unique interplay of Bang Olsen’s pedal steel and Kramer’s electronics, ‘Pastoral Blend’ achieves perfect balance in it’s textured drift between analog warmth and digital fragmentation.    The second single from the album, ‘Limbic Fresco’ is out now, accompanied by this wonderful video from Todd Bieber. The full video is now available on the MFM youtube page, and the single can also be streamed on all platforms.     Full album will be released on July 4th.