- Artist
- Biosphere
- ReleaseProduct
- Substrata (Alternative Versions)
- Label
- Biophon Records (Norway)
- Catalogue Number
- 7090029003734
- Release Date
- October 14, 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
- March 5, 2024
- Download
-
- Artist
- Biosphere
- ReleaseProduct
- Inland Delta
- Label
- Biophon Records (Norway)
- Catalogue Number
- BIO39
- Release Date
- November 24, 2023
- LP
- CD
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-
- Artist
- Biosphere
- ReleaseProduct
- N-Plants
- Label
- Biophon Records (Norway)
- Catalogue Number
- 5050580798915
- Release Date
- January 27, 2023
- CD
- Download
-
- Artist
- Biosphere
- ReleaseProduct
- Shortwave Memories
- Label
- Biophon Records (Norway)
- Catalogue Number
- BIO36
- Release Date
- January 21, 2022
- LP
- CD
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-
- Artist
- Biosphere
- ReleaseProduct
- Angel's Flight
- Label
- AD 93
- Catalogue Number
- WHYT037
- Release Date
- January 22, 2021
- LP
- CD
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-
- Artist
- Biosphere
- ReleaseProduct
- Dropsonde
- Label
- Biophon Records (Norway)
- Catalogue Number
- BIO33
- Release Date
- June 5, 2020
- LP
- Download
-
- Artist
- Biosphere
- ReleaseProduct
- The Senja Recordings
- Label
- Biophon Records (Norway)
- Catalogue Number
- BIO31
- Release Date
- June 7, 2019
- LP
- CD
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-
- Artist
- Biosphere
- ReleaseProduct
- The Hilvarenbeek Recordings
- Label
- Biophon Records (Norway)
- Catalogue Number
- BIO25
- Release Date
- March 16, 2018
- CD
- Download
Biosphere
-
- Artist
- Biosphere
- Merch
- Departed Glories Print
- Label
- Smalltown Supersound
- Release Date
- January 13, 2017
Biophon Records (Norway)
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- Artist
- E-Man
- ReleaseProduct
- E-Man
- Label
- Biophon Records (Norway)
- Catalogue Number
- BIOHRLP002
- Release Date
- March 26, 2021
- LP
-
- Artist
- Toshihiko Mori
- ReleaseProduct
- Jinen
- Label
- Biophon Records (Norway)
- Catalogue Number
- BIO35
- Release Date
- November 13, 2020
- EP
- Download
-
- Artist
- The Fires of Ork
- ReleaseProduct
- The Fires of Ork
- Label
- Biophon Records (Norway)
- Catalogue Number
- BIO23CD
- Release Date
- June 22, 2018
- CD
- Download
-
- Artist
- Biosphere
- ReleaseProduct
- Shenzhou [Reissue]
- Label
- Biophon Records (Norway)
- Catalogue Number
- BIO27
- Release Date
- December 8, 2017
- Download
-
- Artist
- Biosphere
- ReleaseProduct
- Black Mesa (Spieltape Remix)
- Label
- Biophon Records (Norway)
- Catalogue Number
- BIO29R
- Release Date
- September 15, 2017
- Download
-
- Artist
- Various Artists
- ReleaseProduct
- For Christian H
- Label
- Biophon Records (Norway)
- Catalogue Number
- BIO34CD
- Release Date
- September 15, 2017
- LP
-
- Artist
- Biosphere
- ReleaseProduct
- The Petrified Forest
- Label
- Biophon Records (Norway)
- Catalogue Number
- BIO30
- Release Date
- May 12, 2017
- LP
- Download
-
- Artist
- Biosphere (feat. Joan Lorring)
- ReleaseProduct
- Black Mesa
- Label
- Biophon Records (Norway)
- Catalogue Number
- BIO29
- Release Date
- April 21, 2017
- 7″
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Ambient and Modern Classical
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- Artist
- Jogging House
- ReleaseProduct
- Rendezvous
- Label
- Seil Records
- Catalogue Number
- Seil056
- Release Date
- May 10, 2024
- LP
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-
- Artist
- Adam Wiltzie
- ReleaseProduct
- Eleven Fugues For Sodium Pentathol
- Label
- Kranky
- Catalogue Number
- krank241
- Release Date
- April 5, 2024
- LP
- CD
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-
- Artist
- Grand River and Abul Mogard
- ReleaseProduct
- Dissolvi
- Label
- light-years
- Catalogue Number
- LY005S1
- Release Date
- May 8, 2024
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-
- Artist
- Aïsha Devi
- ReleaseProduct
- Aethernal Score (Live with the BBC Concert Orchestra)
- Label
- Houndstooth
- Catalogue Number
- HTH163D
- Release Date
- May 2, 2024
- LP (special)
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-
- Artist
- Lawrence English
- ReleaseProduct
- A Colour For Autumn
- Label
- Room 40
- Catalogue Number
- RM4225
- Release Date
- May 3, 2024
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-
- Artist
- FUJI||||||||||TA
- ReleaseProduct
- MMM
- Label
- Hallow Ground
- Catalogue Number
- HG2403
- Release Date
- April 26, 2024
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-
- Artist
- Carlos Giffoni
- ReleaseProduct
- Dream Walker
- Label
- Ideologic Organ
- Catalogue Number
- SOMA053DIGITAL
- Release Date
- April 26, 2024
- LP
- CD
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-
- Artist
- Oneohtrix Point Never
- ReleaseProduct
- Again (Blu-ray Edition)
- Label
- Warp Records
- Catalogue Number
- WARPDD365BR
- Release Date
- April 4, 2024
- Download