French producer Paulie Jan of Dentelle duo and Container collective immerses us into a 2-hour long intensely hypnotic and emotional ambient journey.

Paulie Jan is the moniker of Parisian producer Nicolas Birot, who is also a resident of the French techno collective, Container. Apart from his musical endeavours Paulie has also worked as a photographer, tackling disparate topics ranging from fashion to war, as well as a social and humanitarian worker. These rich experiences have enriched the sound he creates - Nicolas’ compositions remind thickly painted landscapes, drowning you in their open spaces. They flourish with vividness and also wash you in their multi-layered depths. Dense and hazy ambient clouds shift into the intense yet refined rhythmics of industrialized techno, which still retains a strong atmospheric sensibility. Paulie’s last album, Yukio (A Brief Sonic Evocation) was released on Ritual Process and is dedicated to the Japanese writer Y. Mishima. Each track represents a “speculative narrative milestone in his life.” This release is definitely among Paulie’s best. It is an emotionally gripping, touching and captivating journey unravelling in the form of sublime and majestic ambient.

Secret Thirteen Mix 272 encompasses all of the elements that make Paulie’s own compositions so vividly hypnotic. Fluctuating between blissful ambient, sharp-edged noise, electroacoustic oscillations and IDM sound sculptures, it shows us the diverse forms of how emotions and experiences could be transferred into sonic textures. Thus the names included come from a vast spectrum of experimental music, ranging from Paulie’s own intense soundscapes, to Hanchi’s refined techno, and from Karen Gwyer’s organ-led voyage to the more moody side of Japanese house legend Ken Ishii. Paulie guides us across various textures, landscapes and mental states, but retains a coherence across. As a result, the mix sounds like a touching meta-narrative of some abstract film yet to be made, or a long train journey across picturesque fields and city spaces.

Reveal Playlist

01. Bernard Parmegiani - La découverte de L’Ombre [Magison 1995]
02. Aphex Twin -White Blur 1 [Warp 1994]
03. Naked - Whip [Halcyon Veil 2017]
04. Eszaid - Là-Bas [Collasping Market 2016]
05. Dentelle - Brocart [Part I] [Unreleased 2018]
06. Gérard Grisey - Partiels [Erato 1981]
07. Death Kneel - Two Bodies Communicating One Message [Total Black 2017]
08. Ketev - Women_Animal Skull [Portals Editions 2016]
09. Emanuele de Raymondi - Buyukberber Variations 9 [ZerOkilled Music 2013]
10. AJA - Black Stain [Opal Tapes 2018]
11. Bérangère Maximin - Wax Melody [Atlas realisations 2017]
12. Paulie Jan - Yukio [Ritual Process 2018]
13. Hanchi - Missing Black Seagull [Algebra Of Need 2015]
14. Bjarni Gunnarsson - Portholes [3leaves 2013]
15. FIS - Root Collars [Subtext 2016]
16. Valerio Tricoli - In The Eye of The Cyclone [PAN 2014]
17. Terdjman - Squalid [Tripalium 2016]
18. Bernard Parmegiani - Étude élastique [INA - GRM 1978]
19. Joep Franssens - Movement I [Composer’s Voice 2003]
20. Chaperone - Congratulation Violence [Bastakiya Tapes 2017]
21. Lotic - Trauma [Janus 2015]
22. Paskine - And multiply and multiply [Voxxov 2016]
23. Setter - Parks [Hylé Tapes 2018]
24. Frederic Oberland - La Part Du Feu [Nahal 2018]
25. Karen Gwyer - Nail Bars of the Apocalypse [No Pain In Pop 2014]
26. Kassel Jaeger - Aster [Edition Mego 2017]
27. Miles Davis - Lonely Fire [Columbia 1974]
28. DJ Spooky - 6 Ftp > bundle/conduit 23 [Sub Rosa 2002]
29. Ken Ishii - Kala [Warp 1993]