M.U. PODCAST #149: POLYPORES (JUNE 2023)

Graphic Design by Bruno Lopes (Mundo Urbano) June, 2023. Art by Sol Lewitt, Incomplete Open Cube 6 / 24, 1974.

Polypores (aka Stephen James Buckley) Electronic music producer from Preston, UK, paints music with a modular synthesizer, drawing influence from ambient, new age, and experimental electronics. It soars, bubbles, crackles, and soothes, in ever-shifting, immersive cosmic landscapes. Dream environments and sonic sculptures.

His musical output is both varied and prolific with sold-out vinyl releases on such well-respected labels as Behind The Sky, Castles In Space, Woodford Halse, DiN, and Polytechnic Youth. Notable live festival performances have included the Castles In Space Levitation event, Manchester’s Subliminal Impulse, and the prestigious Future Yard in Liverpool.

Stephen James Buckley’s third album for Frequency Domain "ECCO" came about during the summer of 2022, while working on a live set for his first show in London, supporting The Transcendence Orchestra. Instead of engaging his usual modular setup, Stephen found himself exploring the relationship between the thick, wobbly, somewhat unpredictable analog sounds of the Lyra-8 synthesizer and the crisp digital tones of the 1010 Music Lemondrop granular sampler. 

As is usually the case, feeding into his explorations was his reading material at the time - books by John C. Lilly and Jacques Vallée, concepts from which led him to question the nature of reality as we know it. Recording the tracks in his plant-filled studio during the summer heatwave contributed to the album’s heady, hallucinatory vibe. Released as 11 tracks that segue to form two continuous sides of a cassette, "ECCO" shifts from celestial dreamscapes and expansive pastoral vistas to dense drones and sultry soundworlds. 

M.U. PODCAST #149: POLYPORES (JUNE 2023)

Tracklist:

01. Bea Brennan - Blur

02. PJS - Light Years

03. Nailah Hunter - Quiet Light

04. Moondog - In Vienna

05. Caboladies - Promise Ring Tone

06. Alice Coltrane - Galaxy In Satchidananda

07. Mulatu Astatke - Ené Alantchi Alnorem

08. James Holden - Four Ways Down The Valley

09. DSR Lines - Spoel

10. Polypores - Water Babies

11. Her Majesty's Coroner For Wirral - High Praise To Joy(trad)

12. Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru - Ballad Of The Spirits

Notes: A mix exploring the places where contemporary electronic and cosmic spiritual jazz meet, with a couple of other oddities thrown in for good measure. The overall vibe is one of slightly surreal serenity, of different worlds interwoven.

Thanks,

Stephen