CASS / MAYMIND — Illumina

MAYMIND - Illumina.
CASSETTE + DIGITAL.
Released in October 2017.
United States

"By restricting myself, I feel like I'm connecting with a broader arc of producers across time," explains Leo Maymind. "People who were huddled in a corner of their room with headphones while the rest of the world was out having fun."

After nearly a decade immersed in the DIY scene in Brooklyn, a move to Los Angeles marked a shift in Maymind's focus, limiting his setup to a small tabletop hardware set, sometimes even just a drum machine and a rack effects unit. "Illumina" is Maymind's first full-length release since this change in location and approach, focusing on boundary-pushing and transitional moments within the musical spectrum. The constrained tones in "Illumina" shift and evolve before your ears, each track unfolding at its own pace. Sometimes they reach a resolution; other times, they simply fade into the ether.

"I think the commodification of music and having streaming available at all times has made listeners very impatient," says Maymind, "even when it comes to ambient or drone music." "Illumina" pushes against this, deeply buried rhythms are constantly interrupted by new wandering percussive notes, or gently drawn melodies intersect above, morphing into new textures. Inspired in part by his own stuttering issue, this element of random disruption informs Maymind's skillfully crafted minimalism in "Illumina." "I wanted to make music that reflected life more closely," Maymind says. "Things getting cut off abruptly, life is full of twists and turns."

All tracks written and performed by Leo Maymind in Los Angeles. Mastered by Felix-Florian Tödtloff at Ætherweight in Berlin. Artwork by Daniel Castrejón.

TRACKLIST / 39 minutes
01 time sift
02 rhymes with island
03 dryp enigma
04 lost in maria hernandez
05 microaggression
06 third nord

Umor Rex album page

UMOR REX is a window with a unique vision of experimental music. It's a label worth discovering through the ear, both for electronic music enthusiasts and for those curious about exploring new forms of artistic expression.

Founded in 2006 in Mexico City, UMOR REX is an independent record label with a challenging and experimental catalog, available on vinyl and cassette formats, spanning from ambient to electronic experimentation, dub, and avant-garde. They release the work of artists constantly exploring new sonic territories, such as Felicia Atkinson, Driftmachine, Rafael Anton Irisarri, Gudrun Gut, Siavash Amini, among many others.