Features
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Mike Hans STEFFL
Born in Munich, Germany in 1959, Mike Hans STEFFLs musical journey began with classical piano training, initially sparked by a Blüthner piano gifted by an American uncle. While formal lessons under strict guidance yielded modest results, a true passion for music blossomed later through self-directed study, transitioning from classical music to the works of the Beatles.
During high school, this passion culminated in joining the Munich-based electronic rock band "SPHINX" as a keyboardist. Driven by youthful optimism, the group tackled complex arrangements from Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. This formative era sparked a lifelong engagement with electronic music, progressing from a self-built WERSI W248TF organ and a Crumar e-piano to a coveted Minimoog synthesizer.
Concurrently, a definitive career path in cinematography emerged. Following training as a photographer in Munich, a distinguished 30 year career as a cinematographer followed. This professional path yielded significant acclaim, including two German Camera Awards, the Bavarian TV Award, and international Film Festival prizes. Despite his success in film, music remained an enduring pillar. In 2018, this dedication culminated in the establishment of a private recording studio equipped with over 28 synthesizers. Emphasizing a DAWless, live performance workflow inspired by pioneers like Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream and Vangelis, the artist has since released 10 CDs, including seven concept albums on the US label AURAL FILMS.
NEW ALBUM: average of the average
What is the idea behind the album?
We live in a society shaped by the pressure to perform, self-optimization, and the desire for uniqueness. The concept album “average of the average” offers a deliberate alternative to this: Through hypnotic soundscapes in the style of the Berlin School and ambient music, it
explores human mediocrity.
In psychology, radical acceptance means accepting reality as it is—without judgment and without inner resistance. This also includes the realization that, in the grand scheme of the world, we are just a small, average part of it. This realization can be painful, but it can also ground us deeply.
The album transforms mediocrity into a safe space. It largely dispenses with dramatic crescendos, intrusive solos, and dominant elements. Instead, everything flows into one another; the sounds envelop the listener like a protective shell. This gives rise to a reassuring message: “You don’t have to prove anything here.”
Therein lies a fascinating paradox: Those who perfectly conform to the mathematical average become unique precisely because of that. A multi-layered work about the art of simply being “okay”—and about the simultaneous longing to escape one’s own mediocrity. A profound sonic space for an overstimulated society.
E-CLARK CORNELL: I’ve been an artist pretty much my entire life. At 13 I had my first professional show with a painting that won an award. Over the years I’ve gone from painting to photography to impossible architectural projects and sculpture to film and video. At a certain point I started to do soundtracks to my video art pieces – this progressed into going completely over into the sonic arena. I have always been and continue to be fascinated by the piano as a conceptual and semiotic instrument.
BREATH is my first collaboration with multi instrumentalist and recording guru Frank Schultz. I’ve done many collaborative projects over the years, and I think this is the most successful one – Frank and I share a vision of very meditative yet intense music. He injects a soulful element into my more dry academic approach. It’s contrast and contradiction of the highest order, and I believe a very beautiful album
NEW ALBUM: Breath
I first heard of Ed from an album review of Kepler's Choice (with Robert Poss) that Chad Radford penned. I was delighted when I got an email from Ed asking me if I would be interested in working with him. While I did not know Ed's music, it was familiar to me when I heard it - not that I had heard it before, but because it resonated with me. This is the 2nd "remote" album I have worked on, the 1st was during covid. The process would go like this: Ed would send me a piece that he had recorded, I would listen to it once, to figure out which instrument and tuning might work best, and then I would record my track alongside of Eds's. With one exception, all my "response" tracks were done one the 1st pass with the complete song. It was eerily similar to improvising with Ed in the room. It has been a great pleasure to work with Ed on this release.-FZ
I had heard of Frank Schultz from some of my friends in Atlanta and went and listened to some of his recording. I was immediately struck by something I hadn’t heard in a long time: soulfulness in contemporary, experimental, improvisational- Music.
I thought my more angular, dryer work would benefit from a mix into something a lot more soulful and emotional. Don’t get me wrong, Frank is an incredible perfectionist- his mastering skill on our project is unbelievable, and at first since I am used to working so quickly made me scratch my head, but, the logic of the situation won out ,and as a result, we have a beautifully crafted album.
And what we came up with was exactly that I’m extremely proud of: this album. -ECC
We speak in a language that transcends distance and normal familiarity. It’s not the typical communication of day to day interaction- it is the pure language of True Art. As such we are beyond “genre and tradition” in what is called Music- we are: 0f The Moment, in our Werk. We are Casting IMAGE NETS - So take a BREATH˚
LUSINE
Lusine's Jeff McIlwain is one of contemporary electronic and experimental music’s most enduring producers, understatedly consistent yet endlessly curious. His expansive catalog balances melodic structure with textural refinement, drifting into techno, avant-pop, and ambient lanes while never squarely in any one of them. Across his extensive discography, Seattle-based and Texas-born McIlwain has maintained an unusually consistent curiosity about sound and structure. Whether working with intricate beats, luminous melodies, environmental recordings, or slowly evolving ambient textures, Lusine’s music finds a balance between meticulous construction and human feeling.
NEW ALBUM: Melting Days
Following 2023’s Long Light, McIlwain returns to his minimalist roots for the towering 10th Lusine full-length, Melting Days, released by Ghostly International. Ten songs in conversation with loss and transition, defined by elemental layers and ascending loops that engulf his signature rhythms and beat patterns in pure radiance. “When you’re moving through grief, it’s as if you’re watching your previous life get foggier and foggier,” says McIlwain. While he didn’t set out to make a journey record, Melting Days takes that feeling to its spiritual end, from catharsis to clarity.
Melting Days, marks a return to the immersive, rhythm-forward ambient territory that has been a defining thread throughout his career, with its evolving textures, looping melodic motifs, and subtle rhythmic frameworks creating a sense of movement between uncertainty and clarity. Longtime collaborator Trent Moorman contributes percussion, while saxophonist Bryan Manzo appears on the album’s opening and closing tracks.
“Lusine has always excelled at making the austere slightly beautiful.” — First Floor
“It demands a kind of attention that most ambient records politely decline to ask for.” — Igloo Magazine
"Album of the day" and "Best of Ambient" — Bandcamp Daily
GEAR: ASM Leviasynth
Leviasynth® is ASM’s all-new 16-voice, 8-oscillator digital / analog hybrid synthesizer. Built to expand on what made the ASM Hydrasynth® a stage and studio sensation. With a rugged solid steel chassis, an enhanced Polytouch® polyphonic aftertouch keybed, and a powerful new hybrid synthesis engine, Leviasynth® is an unflinching instrument of immense sonic potential.
Leviasynth lets loose with its 4-pole analog filter with pre-drive to create bass sounds that thunder, leads that cut with the precision of pointed fangs, and pads that shimmer with warmth and clarity. From evolving ambient textures to driving organs, leads, brass, and bass, Leviasynth® guides you deeper.
At the heart of Leviasynth® is an advanced algorithmic sound engine featuring eight oscillators per voice and seven distinct synthesis types, freely configurable across more than 140 algorithms, including fully user-created designs. Two independent layers can be stacked or split, while voices may be paired into true binaural stereo sets with independent modulation of carriers and modulators for wide, animated soundscapes.
