Varying from experimental-ambient, techno, down tempo and electronic dub, Heiki Sillaste has released an impressive catalogue of well over 45 synthesizer-based records and made over 150 compilation appearances, since 1987.
Heiki began his musical career fronting the internationally acclaimed industrial-tekno group DIGITAL POODLE in the late 80’s and early 90’s and ran the now famous Shadow Canada label.
In 1995, Heiki went on to co-found nice+smooth ultramedia, an independent electronic music label that has produced great records by fellow musicians such as Roy Davis Jr., Jordan Fields and Teknostep, as well as Heiki’s own groups KINDER ATOM and LAZER CAPS.
Sauna Porch Recordings Co. is the latest release by Toronto electronic music scene veteran Heiki. It’s a collection of new music entirely composed and recorded on the porch of the rustic sauna cabin his father designed and built in Georgian Bay over 35 years ago.
Heiki made these recordings by creating a live, chilled soundtrack first, then sitting back and absorbing the Georgian Bay lake view and natural surroundings for inspiration. Occasionally he would set up a microphone, record, and then process the natural sounds of the surroundings – the wind, the birds, the rustling of leaves in the wind, people swimming, or motorboats and canoes passing by.
Most of the initial music was quickly recorded as loops in the morning then slowly built up over the course of a day. Songs were then revisited, treated, layered and re-built over the course of a few weeks (or years, in some cases). Washes of sound were created by processing the field recordings then layering them with synthesizer tones and sequences, creating a fusion of natural and synthesized resonances.
Sauna Porch Recordings Co. is released in download format and a strictly limited 250 copy digipack edition.
Heiki’s 12 track Paper+Sound album was his first album as a solo artist. Incorporating elements of techno, ambient, dub and jazz, the album is stylistically divided into two halves. The first half of the album features spacey minimal deep techno with an emphasis on sub woofing baselines and melodic atmospheres.
The second half of the Paper+Sound album explores slower, dubbed-out down tempo rhythms. Rib cage shaking bass and discrete ambient flourishes feature on all of the melodic soundscapes.
Heiki’s collaborative and remix work has been wide reaching, including work with the likes of Solvent, Dead Voices on Air, Technostep, Visionary, Snow, Leahy, seminal ambient composers Rapoon and Zoviet France, and reggae superstars Michael Rose and Musical Sniper.