- Artist
- Biosphere
- ReleaseProduct
- Substrata (Alternative Versions)
- Label
- Biophon Records (Norway)
- Catalogue Number
- 7090029003734
- Release Date
- 14 October 2022
-
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$9.99320 kbps, LAME-encoded
Genres
The entrancing and radiant haze within the music of Norway’s Biosphere was a strong reflection of the project’s icily bright homebase. Ambient as a genre certainly skews elemental in approach, but Biosphere took that idea and ran wildly into the frozen tundra in search of the clearest viewpoint towards those Northern Lights. The Norwegian woods are both barren and beautiful in equal measure, a luminous blur cloaking a treacherous landscape beneath. His music played a similar game of light and shadow, breathtaking sections of modular synthesis made brittle and frantic by the suggestion of ice shelves cracking, radio signal misfires, and the panicked crunch of snow. It wasn’t all doom and gloom though, as cracks of light seemed to burst out of the ice at just the right moments to break up the mood.
Indeed it was Biosphere’s brief pop (or at least pop-adjacent) moments that set his work apart from the despondent scrawl of his contemporaries. This dichotomy was perhaps captured no better than on his 1997 “arctic ambient” masterpiece Substrata, a milestone for an artist who has continued to break ground through his career.
In celebration of Substrata’s 25th anniversary, Biophone Records has compiled previously unheard alternate versions of the album’s 10 tracks on vinyl for the very first time. These alt versions retain Biosphere’s signature solitude and desolation while adding a few new wrinkles in its suggestion of paths not taken. More of the landscape is fleshed out when these rarities are placed alongside their definitive versions, as if the lens is zoomed out further to reveal the full picture. It’s a welcomed perspective shift for an evocative and genre-defining collection that still sounds ahead of its time.
“Substrata is the best ambient album I've heard in an ice age, an album of terrifying, desolate and all-enveloping beauty” David Stubbs — Melody Maker
Written and produced by Geir Jenssen
Mastered by Stefan Betke
Artwork by Joanna John
Digital Tracklist
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1
Poa Alpina (Allternative Version)
4:58
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Poa Alpina (Allternative Version)
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2
Chukhung (Alternative Version)
8:38
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Chukhung (Alternative Version)
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3
The Things I Tell You (Alternative Version)
11:45
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The Things I Tell You (Alternative Version)
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4
Times When I know You´ll Be Sad (Alternative Version)
3:42
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Times When I know You´ll Be Sad (Alternative Version)
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5
Hyperborea (Alternative Version)
3:43
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Hyperborea (Alternative Version)
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6
Kobresia (Alternative Version)
3:45
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Kobresia (Alternative Version)
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7
Antennaria (Alternative Version)
3:20
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Antennaria (Alternative Version)
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8
Uva-Ursi (Alternative Version)
2:07
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Uva-Ursi (Alternative Version)
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9
Sphere Of No-Form (Alternative Version)
8:23
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10
Silene (Alternative Version)
5:19
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Silene (Alternative Version)
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Biosphere
-
- Artist
- Biosphere
- ReleaseProduct
- Patashnik [Decrypted By Sketch]
- Label
- Biophon Records (Norway)
- Catalogue Number
- 7090029004014
- Release Date
- 5 March 2024
- Download
-
- Artist
- Biosphere
- ReleaseProduct
- Inland Delta
- Label
- Biophon Records (Norway)
- Catalogue Number
- BIO39
- Release Date
- 24 November 2023
- LP
- CD
- Download
-
- Artist
- Biosphere
- ReleaseProduct
- N-Plants
- Label
- Biophon Records (Norway)
- Catalogue Number
- 5050580798915
- Release Date
- 27 January 2023
- CD
- Download
-
- Artist
- Biosphere
- ReleaseProduct
- Shortwave Memories
- Label
- Biophon Records (Norway)
- Catalogue Number
- BIO36
- Release Date
- 21 January 2022
- LP
- CD
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-
- Artist
- Biosphere
- ReleaseProduct
- Angel's Flight
- Label
- AD 93
- Catalogue Number
- WHYT037
- Release Date
- 22 January 2021
- LP
- CD
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-
- Artist
- Biosphere
- ReleaseProduct
- Dropsonde
- Label
- Biophon Records (Norway)
- Catalogue Number
- BIO33
- Release Date
- 5 June 2020
- LP
- Download
-
- Artist
- Biosphere
- ReleaseProduct
- The Senja Recordings
- Label
- Biophon Records (Norway)
- Catalogue Number
- BIO31
- Release Date
- 7 June 2019
- LP
- CD
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-
- Artist
- Biosphere
- ReleaseProduct
- The Hilvarenbeek Recordings
- Label
- Biophon Records (Norway)
- Catalogue Number
- BIO25
- Release Date
- 16 March 2018
- CD
- Download
Biosphere
-
- Artist
- Biosphere
- Merch
- Departed Glories Print
- Label
- Smalltown Supersound
- Release Date
- 13 January 2017
Biophon Records (Norway)
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- Artist
- E-Man
- ReleaseProduct
- E-Man
- Label
- Biophon Records (Norway)
- Catalogue Number
- BIOHRLP002
- Release Date
- 26 March 2021
- LP
-
- Artist
- Toshihiko Mori
- ReleaseProduct
- Jinen
- Label
- Biophon Records (Norway)
- Catalogue Number
- BIO35
- Release Date
- 13 November 2020
- EP
- Download
-
- Artist
- The Fires of Ork
- ReleaseProduct
- The Fires of Ork
- Label
- Biophon Records (Norway)
- Catalogue Number
- BIO23CD
- Release Date
- 22 June 2018
- CD
- Download
-
- Artist
- Biosphere
- ReleaseProduct
- Shenzhou [Reissue]
- Label
- Biophon Records (Norway)
- Catalogue Number
- BIO27
- Release Date
- 8 December 2017
- Download
-
- Artist
- Biosphere
- ReleaseProduct
- Black Mesa (Spieltape Remix)
- Label
- Biophon Records (Norway)
- Catalogue Number
- BIO29R
- Release Date
- 15 September 2017
- Download
-
- Artist
- Various Artists
- ReleaseProduct
- For Christian H
- Label
- Biophon Records (Norway)
- Catalogue Number
- BIO34CD
- Release Date
- 15 September 2017
- LP
-
- Artist
- Biosphere
- ReleaseProduct
- The Petrified Forest
- Label
- Biophon Records (Norway)
- Catalogue Number
- BIO30
- Release Date
- 12 May 2017
- LP
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-
- Artist
- Biosphere (feat. Joan Lorring)
- ReleaseProduct
- Black Mesa
- Label
- Biophon Records (Norway)
- Catalogue Number
- BIO29
- Release Date
- 21 April 2017
- 7″
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Ambient and Modern Classical
-
- Artist
- Kelly Moran
- ReleaseProduct
- Moves in the Field
- Label
- Warp Records
- Catalogue Number
- WARPDD362
- Release Date
- 29 March 2024
- LP (special)
- CD
- Bundle
- Download
-
- Artist
- Eli Keszler
- ReleaseProduct
- LIVE II
- Label
- LUCKYME®
- Catalogue Number
- LM107D
- Release Date
- 22 March 2024
- Cassette
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-
- Artist
- Ben Lukas Boysen
- ReleaseProduct
- Music for Falling Into Place (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
- Label
- Erased Tapes Music
- Catalogue Number
- ERATM009DL
- Release Date
- 28 March 2024
- Download
-
- Artist
- Various Artists
- ReleaseProduct
- Piano Day, Vol. 3
- Label
- LEITER
- Catalogue Number
- PD003
- Release Date
- 28 March 2024
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-
- Artist
- Roedelius, Tim Story
- ReleaseProduct
- 4 Hands (Special Edition)
- Label
- Erased Tapes
- Catalogue Number
- ERATP146SD
- Release Date
- 28 March 2024
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-
- Artist
- Loscil & Lawrence English
- ReleaseProduct
- Colours of Air
- Label
- Kranky
- Catalogue Number
- krank236
- Release Date
- 3 February 2023
- LP
- CD
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-
- Artist
- Dylan Henner
- ReleaseProduct
- The Shepherds [official soundtrack]
- Label
- Phantom Limb
- Catalogue Number
- KINO007
- Release Date
- 22 March 2024
- Download
-
- Artist
- Moor Mother
- ReleaseProduct
- The Great Bailout
- Label
- Anti-
- Catalogue Number
- 279801
- Release Date
- 8 March 2024
- LP (special)
- CD