Home Diaries is an invitation to artists and musicians to create an album or EP to document their personal experience during the lockdown or social distancing conditions that are upon us, due to the coronavirus outbreak. The series reflects a range of sounds, styles and ideas, as each artist portrays their own reflections uniquely. Each release is digital only for now, as we hope to raise what we can to help keep our label ticking over at this time. The releases feature a recurring polaroid image of a small lonely house, with a coloured filter chosen by the artist for each respective release. We interview each artist and this is included as a bonus PDF with the download. You can also check out the Home Diaries series on Spotify if you prefer, which will be available to stream in due course.
Our penultimate Home Diaries edition is the first and only collaboration as part of the series. UK duo Darkroom - Andrew Ostler and Michael Bearpark - have been active since the late 1990s with releases on Burning Shed and more recently via their Bandcamp site. They are renowned for their extended live performances: rarer following Andrew’s move to Scotland; now even more challenging with the pandemic and resulting lockdown.
Seeking and finding positives through the ‘new normal’, Andrew has been performing as part of streaming event series. Mike was present on these occasions from a distance via guitar recordings transferred to cassette: one from their Edinburgh performance towards the end of 2019, and another, inspired by Scotland, that seeded the recording of their full Whitelabrecs album planned for November 2020. The pieces evolve through multiple shades of colour and dynamics, retaining an open live feel; 'Arrokoth' and 'The Uncut Stones of Night' are very much of their time, yet combine to make a timeless album experience, with a total running time of 40 minutes.
credits
released June 26, 2020
Arrokoth
Original recording for Fuzz Bat Live Stream - 31st March 2020
Guitar: recorded at The Darkroom, 2nd February 2019
The Uncut Stones Of Night
Original recording for More Kicks Than Friends - 29th April 2020
Guitar: recorded at Henry’s Cellar Bar, Edinburgh, 13th November 2019
Recorded by Andrew Ostler
Edited, mixed, and produced by Darkroom
Mastered by James Edward Armstrong
Andrew Ostler - bass clarinet, modular synth, laptop
Michael Bearpark - guitar, field recordings
Special thanks: Stuart Fraser (Fuzz Bat), Ned Rush (More Kicks), Elif Yalvaç, New Horizons, Roy Fuller. Go well, LB
Whitelabrecs is a record label established in 2016, specialising in highly limited runs of vinyl-effect CDrs and occasional
digital-only editions. The discography focuses on contemporary Ambient music, including Drone, Modern Classical and Electro Acoustic....more
supported by 30 fans who also own “Home Diaries 029”
A wonderful musical collection that shows the unity of the whole world and the support of Ukraine during the long war, which will undoubtedly end with the victory of Ukraine. And now the terrible numbers... Only according to official data as of today #russiaisaterroriststate killed 510 children in Ukraine, injured another 1141 children, kidnapped 19546 children. There are many more unofficial victims. And russia remains a member of the UN... desynkro303
Designed to mirror the reverence of meditative spaces, the gentle ambient tracks on the new LP from Alejandro Morse envelop you. Bandcamp New & Notable Jan 8, 2022
supported by 25 fans who also own “Home Diaries 029”
A shimmering thing, and another one, and another one. An artificial garden—arent't they all?—filled to the brim with familiar-sounding beauties. It's so full it almost feels aggressive.
It overshoots its mark, but in that process makes me realise that this place, this bloated garden, truly is as good as any. Any place can be your place of relaxation and recentering if the circumstances and the connections in our brains and the stars align somehow. Gene Hex ● Evening of Light