Wixel - Clouds (2009) (AWESOME !!!)

Genre : Ambient, Electronica, Electrocoustic, Downtempo
Myspace
Download
or You can listen to/download the record in its entirety (and freely) Here!

Tracklist :

01. Cloud Formation
02. Rising Clouds
03. Cloud Fields
04. In Clouds
05. Fog Rainbow

Wixel is the indietronica outfit of young Belgian Wim Maesschalck. His music can be described as a warm & organic mix of acoustic instruments and gentle electronic treatments with a lot of care for detail and subtle nuances. Comparisons have been made to bands ranging from Hood to Fennesz, from Manyfingers to Sigur Rós.

From Wixel :
This is the second edition - February - of my awesome and/or stupid 2009 project. For those unaware of the project: It’s a challenge in which I force myself to record and release a record within each month of the year 2009. Read the news about the project, here!

Unlike the January edition called “Winter” there were no constraints for this record, but I quickly felt like I wanted to continue with an idea for music I already touched in “The Aesthetics of Clouds” which you can find on “Winter”. Dense yet soft sounds, slowly moving and progressing, a bit like ... clouds. Most of the songs rely heavily on a sort of tape delay plugin I have, which I fed any sound I felt was appropriate for coloring the cloud. Some compositions are more electronic, others more acoustic, but always cloudy. As you guessed by know, the record is titled “Clouds”. Comparing it to other artists is not so easy, but I would guess a mellow Tim Hecker drone might come close, or maybe you can sense a little bit of similarity to a Stars of the Lid or Mountains composition. I tried to make it drone out, lots of fuzzy/blurry sounds with an undercurrent of melancholic melodies. You should probably listen if this sounds a bit vague.

Wixel - Winter (2009) (AWESOME !!!)

Genre : Ambient, Electronica, Electrocoustic, Downtempo
Myspace
Preview

Tracklist :

01. Acoustic Hum
02. The Bergeron Process
03. Winter Waltz #1
04. Dawn Chorus
05. Aesthetics Of Clouds
06. January 4th
07. Stumbling Music #2
08. Melsbroek
09. Winter Waltz #2
10. Vaarwel
11. Stumbling Music #1
12. Aerosan
13. Stumbling Music #3
14. Winter Sun
15. Reading Music

Wixel is the indietronica outfit of young Belgian Wim Maesschalck. His music can be described as a warm & organic mix of acoustic instruments and gentle electronic treatments with a lot of care for detail and subtle nuances. Comparisons have been made to bands ranging from Hood to Fennesz, from Manyfingers to Sigur Rós.

News From Wixel :

Hello there,

As some of you might recall, I had a project this year where I’d be releasing a new record each month. Well.. January comes to an end.. and so I’m happy to say the first record is ready. It’s called “Winter”. Before that: I’ve changed the 2009 project rules a bit. 1) “Record in one month, release in the same”. I thought that would be faster and easier. 2) It’s a limited affair after all, other wise I would get stuck in making extra copies, not having all the materials, worry about that stuff, etc… The limitedness is special though. Each month is limited to the amount of days it has in it. So, that means that for the January record, there are only 31 copies available. At the end of ‘o9, I should have 365 cd’s. :) - I thought that was fitting.

Anyways, without further blabla. You can listen to/download the record in its entirety (and freely) here. There’s the option to pay a little for the high quality download, up to you! Just know that I’m saving every penny I got for a decent pair of speakers. :) - If you want the physical copy, you’re in for a treat. It’s a cd-r in a cardboard box, all hand stamped + an insert + an eight page handmade and numbered booklet with pictures from a snowy belgium during the early days of January. It is really fancy, almost like a coffee table photo book, only a lot smaller. I’m selling them 10 euros a piece (+3 euro shipping). Just e-mail me at wimmaesschalck@gmail.com and we’ll get it sorted. Depending on free time, I’ll make a special page about it etc..

Anyways; below are some pictures of the physical thing + my preferred pieces. Get in touch!

[me]Come on !!! Lets support this awesome artist !!! =)

Wixel - Plays Sonic Youth (2008)

Genre : Ambient, Electronica, Electrocoustic, Downtempo
Myspace
Preview

Tracklist :

1 Expressway To Yr Skull (8:47)
2 Little Trouble Girl (2:17)
3 Shadow Of A Doubt (4:09)
4 Teen Age Riot (2:47)
5 Diamond Sea (3:51)
6 Snare Girl (1:57)
7 Schizophrenia (5:24)

Credits: Performer [Performed By] - Wixel
Written-by [Originally Written By] - Sonic Youth
Notes: Originally written by Sonic Youth.
This is the Golden Pussy limited edition. Limited to 10 ex.

All songs were written by Sonic Youth. I only looked at them from another point of view.
This little object serves as a memory for a lovely evening at Stuk, Leuven.
It is no big deal.
Thanks to stuk for the show and Sonic Youth for teaching me how to play guitar.

Wixel is the indietronica outfit of young Belgian Wim Maesschalck. His music can be described as a warm & organic mix of acoustic instruments and gentle electronic treatments with a lot of care for detail and subtle nuances. Comparisons have been made to bands ranging from Hood to Fennesz, from Manyfingers to Sigur Rós.

2006 saw the release of Wixel’s debut ‘Heart’. The album was well received and resulted in live shows throughout the Benelux and the UK.

Wixel is: Wim Maesschalck - electronica, guitars; Ulrike Dragon - bass; Nil Ramos - drums.

Wixel - Somewhere Between the Sun and the Moon (2008) (AWESOME !!!)

Genre : Ambient, Electronica, Electrocoustic, Downtempo
Myspace
Preview
Buy

Tracklist :

1. Fatigas Del Querer
2. Outside your Locked Heart
3. (vaarwel)
4. You’ll Be a Warming Wind from a Distant Sun
5. Nowhere
6. Burned and Blind
7. I’m Barefoot on the Surface of the Sun
8. Moon
9. On my Way to the Moon
10. Off You Go, Like A Setting Sun

Wixel is the indietronica outfit of young Belgian Wim Maesschalck. His music can be described as a warm & organic mix of acoustic instruments and gentle electronic treatments with a lot of care for detail and subtle nuances. Comparisons have been made to bands ranging from Hood to Fennesz, from Manyfingers to Sigur Rós.

2006 saw the release of Wixel’s debut ‘Heart’. The album was well received and resulted in live shows throughout the Benelux and the UK.

Wixel is: Wim Maesschalck - electronica, guitars; Ulrike Dragon - bass; Nil Ramos - drums.

“Somewhere Between The Sun & The Moon” sounds exactly like the title would suggest. One moment the music sounds like it suffers the most intense fire ever, overwhelmed with warmth, brightness and hiss, the next moment it sounds like the chords are quietly floating, cut off from the world, cold and always distant. Just like the moon. The songs feel like a coherent whole balancing gracefully on the thin line between cinematic soundscapes and the subtle beauty of a melody that’s left innocent and naked. Dense layers of sound where lots of details are tickling your ears, some begging for attention, but the most beautiful ones are all hidden in a wild stream of melodies and sounds made with an acoustic guitar, piano, electronics and an extremely old electrical organ. This record - much more than any other up until now - feels like a record that sounds like wixel. A personal language/introspective painting that’s completely free from boundaries. “Somewhere between the sun & the moon” is melancholic, about parting ways, splitting, leaving (without the ability to say goodbye), being cut off, numbed out. It’s probably what people call a “winter” record or music to listen to when you are on your own.If you do need some names to put this record on a map, you’d come close with a combination of Mount Eerie, Tim Hecker, The Remote Viewer or to sketch this with some more popular names: Helios, Sigur Ros, …