STM 085 - Pinkcourtesyphone

The author of the mix is Richard Chartier (b. 1971), an American musician, sound artist, and designer, and the founder of the respected LINE records. After his first remarkable mix for Secret Thirteen, Chartier returns with his alter ego project, Pinkcourtesyphone. Over the last two years, this project has released three albums on labels such as Room40, Boomkat Editions, and his own LINE imprint. Chartier’s minimalist digital work explores the interrelationships between the spatial nature of sound, silence, focus, perception, and the act of listening itself.

After releasing more than 30 solo records over a decade under his own name and collaborating with well-known musicians such as William Basinski, Asmus Tietchens, Taylor Deupree, and CoH, Chartier gradually built a solid reputation as an accurate and conceptual artist. His visual and sound installations have been exhibited across the globe, including at ICC (Tokyo, Japan), Castello di Rivoli (Torino, Italy), the Art Institute of Chicago, and The Contemporary Museum (Baltimore, US). Interestingly, Chartier began DJing in 1991, during the heyday of techno, so he carries a vast amount of musical and technical knowledge.

“Secret Thirteen Mix 085” is a smoothly shifting and very specific mix that highlights eclecticism, modernism, and minimalism. Chartier constructed an extremely deliberate and colossal masterwork by connecting 35 diverse and complex records released between 1958 and 2013. By selecting tracks from this broad period, Chartier manages to reduce the tension between compositions and develop a crystal-clear contemporary wholeness. The background of this mix is pretty layered and dense, sometimes even eccentric, but the very accurate mixing creates versatility, richness, and a fascinating mood that clearly maintains the listener's concentration throughout. It feels like Chartier intuitively knows when and how to draw attention by incorporating diverse sound shapes, forming absolutely new characteristic textures of known pieces. Dreamy melodies, scenic atmospheres, and fluid rhythms frequently merge into each other, building a mobile and picturesque musical installation.

From a stylistic perspective, Chartier merges music ranging from experimental, ambient, and abstract to lo-fi, techno, and industrial, but always leaves space for unpredictability. Expressive, timeless works by dexterous artists such as Tod Dockstader, Conrad Schnitzler, CoH, Coil, Pita, Rainforest Spiritual Enslavement, and many other talents will cheer every die-hard music lover's ears. Slightly woven into the mix are four exclusive records by Pinkcourtesyphone itself, which should completely excite curiosity and encourage listeners to explore this high-quality selection.

“Secret Thirteen Mix 085” is like a delicate and monumental abstract painting, "Am 7 (26)" by the well-known Bauhaus artist László Moholy-Nagy. Under its captivating and profound surface, this work holds a strong sense of the early Constructivist movement’s statements and subtle obscurity that undoubtedly awakens each viewer's imagination. Moholy-Nagy's emphasis on colored and mathematical forms creates a reflection similar to Pinkcourtesyphone's bizarre selection. Once again, Chartier proves his constantly growing musical sophistication, scrupulousness, accountable attitude towards his craft, and ultimate experience in finding rare records. Prepare for an influential journey through mesmeric sound architecture and kaleidoscopic soundscapes.