“The sonic equivalent of enjoying a cigar in your leather-upholstered vintage car while hurtling down the autobahn. Unashamedly nostalgic for the polyrhythms of ’70s Berlin school, yet infused with contemporary drone sensibilities and lifted by soaring solo lines.”
- Milly Manet
Bucking the trend for setting up a complex generative modular synth patch and recording “one take, with no overdubs”, here each sound is patched, played, recorded, and torn down ready for the next one. Many layers are then painstakingly edited up into a coherent whole. On top of all this rides Andrew’s bass clarinet, processed, sometimes looped, but always adding a vibrant contrast to the churning machinery.
Though Andrew has put out many albums over the years, this is his first as simply “Andrew Ostler”, making this a particularly personal release, and one that reflects his own take on what electronic music can be in the third decade of the 21st century.
"Alongside releases under his Os moniker, Andrew Ostler is also one half of Darkroom, the electronic-leaning duo he formed with Michael Bearpark. The Edinburgh-based musician is also a builder of synths, and on 'Crossing The Line', it sounds initially as though he's using one constructed from old transistor radios and haunted seashells.
"However, as the FM turbulence and ghostly echo of the opening moments recedes, Ostler lays down lustrous synth layers that merge into waves of analogue chug, waxing and waning across the album's two titular long-form pieces. Punctuated by patches of irregular tumult, the balance between Berlin School polyrhythms and climactic sounds generates compellingly varied dynamics.
"At its most affecting, as on the motorik ebb and flow of the album's more urgent second half, 'Crossing The Line' recalls Baltic Fleet or Eat Lights Become Lights at their most radiant"
- Electronic Sound, Issue 83
"Last week I reviewed a CD ... and said it was along the lines of early Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze... The man behind the Expert Sleepers label, Andrew Ostler, works with similar inspirations but slightly different results. He says that he works with modular synthesizers, but not 'one, take, no overdubs', which is good news. "Here, each sound is patched, played, recorded, and torn down, ready for the next one. Many layers are then painstakingly edited up into a coherent whole." An interesting addition is the bass clarinet, which he plays, processes and sometimes loops. I must admit I had not heard the bass clarinet in the two side-long pieces of music here, simply part 1 and part 2 of the album's title. The cosmic element is within the bouncing arpeggio, which runs through most of these two pieces of music. On top of those rhythmic lines (... I'd say Ostler dispenses with the use of drum machines), there are some big fat drone melodies spread around. 'Part 1' opens dreamily and spacious, but soon locks in the various lines, and then the spaceship takes off, in the second half drifting in orbit, looking and searching. Now the music is a sea of uneasy tranquillity. 'Part 2' opens with the drones that will stay for pretty much the rest of the piece. There are traces of arpeggio's here, but it needs time to kick of full time. When they do, the piece is flying until the end. I am a big fan of the Berlin School (well, not too openly, of course), and I am very impressed by Ostler's work here. It all sounds great on vinyl"
credits
released October 8, 2021
Andrew Ostler - modular synthesizers, bass clarinet
Composed, recorded and mixed by Andrew Ostler.
Digital version mastered by James Edward Armstrong.
LP mastered by Peter Haigh at Pierhouse Studios.
Design by Carl Glover for Aleph Studio.
How much is my shipping?
Shipping is automatically calculated before you submit your payment information. Simply add items to your cart and proceed to the checkout page, where you'll be offered shipping options and their prices. In the UK it's normally around £4 for order values under £150, and free above that. Shipping to mainland EU is typically between £7 and £20, depending on the shipping method and the size and weight of the order.
Do you ship to my country?
Almost certainly - the site will give you an estimate of shipping costs if you add an item to the cart and then enter your country and postcode. If you have specific requirements (such as if you prefer UPS over FedEx, for example) then let us know in advance and we'll try to work something out for you.
Shipping methods
We use a combination of Parcelforce, DPD, Royal Mail and UPS for the UK, and for international orders it's either Royal Mail, UPS, DHL or FedEx depending on where you are in the world. If you have a particular preference then try to let us know BEFORE you order so we can look into it for you. Please note that there may occasionally be additional shipping charges if you live in a remote area, depending on what surcharges are applied by the shipper. We'll get in touch to discuss this with you in such cases.
Dispatch times
For UK orders, we normally dispatch the same working day if we get the order before 15:00. If you have a really urgent situation then of course drop us an email before ordering and we'll always do our absolute best to accommodate you.
For international orders, we normally dispatch the same day if we get the order before 13:00 but again, occasionally it might be the next day before we can send it out, and sometimes FedEx or UPS may come a little earlier than scheduled which would also push an order into the next day.
Shipping times
Since April 2020 the couriers we use have suspended guarantees for shipping times, so even though we're paying them for priority services - 24-48 hours for most of the world - in practice it's often an extra day on top and sometimes it can be longer.
There is absolutely nothing we can do about this unfortunately. If you are outside the UK and it's a life-or-death situation where you absolutely MUST have that passive mult for the next day then... it may be better to find a local supplier.
Saturday shipping
If you're in the UK and you order before 15:00 on a Friday then we can send something for a Saturday delivery (NB: this applies to UK mainland addresses only). The success rate with DPD is about 95% so it's worth a punt most of the time. Please note that if you select Saturday shipping on an order placed earlier in the week, we'll wait until Friday to ship it.
Pre-orders
If a product is listed as a pre-order, it means we've ordered it from the supplier but it's not physically in stock yet. The product listing will include an estimated shipping date based on the best information we have from the supplier, but do bear in mind this is subject to change and is not a guaranteed date.
If you place an order containing a mixture of in-stock and pre-order items, we'll normally hold off on shipping anything until the pre-order item(s) have arrived, rather than splitting it into multiple shipments. If you need the in-stock items sooner, we'd recommend placing separate orders. As always, please get in touch if you have questions.
Product Overview
“The sonic equivalent of enjoying a cigar in your leather-upholstered vintage car while hurtling down the autobahn. Unashamedly nostalgic for the polyrhythms of ’70s Berlin school, yet infused with contemporary drone sensibilities and lifted by soaring solo lines.”
- Milly Manet
Bucking the trend for setting up a complex generative modular synth patch and recording “one take, with no overdubs”, here each sound is patched, played, recorded, and torn down ready for the next one. Many layers are then painstakingly edited up into a coherent whole. On top of all this rides Andrew’s bass clarinet, processed, sometimes looped, but always adding a vibrant contrast to the churning machinery.
Though Andrew has put out many albums over the years, this is his first as simply “Andrew Ostler”, making this a particularly personal release, and one that reflects his own take on what electronic music can be in the third decade of the 21st century.
"Alongside releases under his Os moniker, Andrew Ostler is also one half of Darkroom, the electronic-leaning duo he formed with Michael Bearpark. The Edinburgh-based musician is also a builder of synths, and on 'Crossing The Line', it sounds initially as though he's using one constructed from old transistor radios and haunted seashells.
"However, as the FM turbulence and ghostly echo of the opening moments recedes, Ostler lays down lustrous synth layers that merge into waves of analogue chug, waxing and waning across the album's two titular long-form pieces. Punctuated by patches of irregular tumult, the balance between Berlin School polyrhythms and climactic sounds generates compellingly varied dynamics.
"At its most affecting, as on the motorik ebb and flow of the album's more urgent second half, 'Crossing The Line' recalls Baltic Fleet or Eat Lights Become Lights at their most radiant"
- Electronic Sound, Issue 83
"Last week I reviewed a CD ... and said it was along the lines of early Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze... The man behind the Expert Sleepers label, Andrew Ostler, works with similar inspirations but slightly different results. He says that he works with modular synthesizers, but not 'one, take, no overdubs', which is good news. "Here, each sound is patched, played, recorded, and torn down, ready for the next one. Many layers are then painstakingly edited up into a coherent whole." An interesting addition is the bass clarinet, which he plays, processes and sometimes loops. I must admit I had not heard the bass clarinet in the two side-long pieces of music here, simply part 1 and part 2 of the album's title. The cosmic element is within the bouncing arpeggio, which runs through most of these two pieces of music. On top of those rhythmic lines (... I'd say Ostler dispenses with the use of drum machines), there are some big fat drone melodies spread around. 'Part 1' opens dreamily and spacious, but soon locks in the various lines, and then the spaceship takes off, in the second half drifting in orbit, looking and searching. Now the music is a sea of uneasy tranquillity. 'Part 2' opens with the drones that will stay for pretty much the rest of the piece. There are traces of arpeggio's here, but it needs time to kick of full time. When they do, the piece is flying until the end. I am a big fan of the Berlin School (well, not too openly, of course), and I am very impressed by Ostler's work here. It all sounds great on vinyl"
credits
released October 8, 2021
Andrew Ostler - modular synthesizers, bass clarinet
Composed, recorded and mixed by Andrew Ostler.
Digital version mastered by James Edward Armstrong.
LP mastered by Peter Haigh at Pierhouse Studios.
Design by Carl Glover for Aleph Studio.
Technical Specs
Shipping Details
How much is my shipping?
Shipping is automatically calculated before you submit your payment information. Simply add items to your cart and proceed to the checkout page, where you'll be offered shipping options and their prices. In the UK it's normally around £4 for order values under £150, and free above that. Shipping to mainland EU is typically between £7 and £20, depending on the shipping method and the size and weight of the order.
Do you ship to my country?
Almost certainly - the site will give you an estimate of shipping costs if you add an item to the cart and then enter your country and postcode. If you have specific requirements (such as if you prefer UPS over FedEx, for example) then let us know in advance and we'll try to work something out for you.
Shipping methods
We use a combination of Parcelforce, DPD, Royal Mail and UPS for the UK, and for international orders it's either Royal Mail, UPS, DHL or FedEx depending on where you are in the world. If you have a particular preference then try to let us know BEFORE you order so we can look into it for you. Please note that there may occasionally be additional shipping charges if you live in a remote area, depending on what surcharges are applied by the shipper. We'll get in touch to discuss this with you in such cases.
Dispatch times
For UK orders, we normally dispatch the same working day if we get the order before 15:00. If you have a really urgent situation then of course drop us an email before ordering and we'll always do our absolute best to accommodate you.
For international orders, we normally dispatch the same day if we get the order before 13:00 but again, occasionally it might be the next day before we can send it out, and sometimes FedEx or UPS may come a little earlier than scheduled which would also push an order into the next day.
Shipping times
Since April 2020 the couriers we use have suspended guarantees for shipping times, so even though we're paying them for priority services - 24-48 hours for most of the world - in practice it's often an extra day on top and sometimes it can be longer.
There is absolutely nothing we can do about this unfortunately. If you are outside the UK and it's a life-or-death situation where you absolutely MUST have that passive mult for the next day then... it may be better to find a local supplier.
Saturday shipping
If you're in the UK and you order before 15:00 on a Friday then we can send something for a Saturday delivery (NB: this applies to UK mainland addresses only). The success rate with DPD is about 95% so it's worth a punt most of the time. Please note that if you select Saturday shipping on an order placed earlier in the week, we'll wait until Friday to ship it.
Pre-orders
If a product is listed as a pre-order, it means we've ordered it from the supplier but it's not physically in stock yet. The product listing will include an estimated shipping date based on the best information we have from the supplier, but do bear in mind this is subject to change and is not a guaranteed date.
If you place an order containing a mixture of in-stock and pre-order items, we'll normally hold off on shipping anything until the pre-order item(s) have arrived, rather than splitting it into multiple shipments. If you need the in-stock items sooner, we'd recommend placing separate orders. As always, please get in touch if you have questions.
