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Celestial music has a vastly unknown history, the phrase first being coined in the early 70s by Iasos, Greek-American musician who began studying Bossa Nova & Jazz, before he became enraptured by an ambient radio station that began playing in his head. Alan Watts, a friend of Iasos, was quoted in stating “Iasos makes the classical music of the new age” – which gave rise to the musical genre. Music pioneers like Laraaji have found their own center in expressing celestial music, emanating his own aspects of Eastern mysticism & unique forms of meditation, proven to make you bliss out f’days.

In the last few decades we’ve seen celestial music work its way into pop. Vinyl Williams is an LA-based artist that has a history of combining these subtle aspects into harmonious pop music & visionary artwork. Collaborating with like-minded self-producers such as Chaz Bear of Toro Y Moi, Morgan Delt, and Ruban Nielsen of UMO, he’s built a universe of palatial 3D environments, and recorded 5 albums to date. Now onto his 6th, Cosmopolis, Vinyl Williams leads those through his most detailed exoplanet experience thus far.

Coming from a long line of LA-based musicians, Williams follows the feelings of Love, Brian Wilson, Strawberry Alarm Clock, and producer/arrangers like Curt Boettcher and Burt Bacharach to create his own lush sunshine pop paradise. One can also easily notice the many inspirations of Brazilian masterminds such as Arthur Verocai, Lo Borges, Nelson Angelo, as well as British dream pop / shoegaze production of Robin Guthrie and A.R. Kane. The many-riveted layers create a rainbow arch of pure imagination.

Since 2014, Williams has recorded his albums at Non Plus Ultra, one of LA’s last underground music strongholds. You’ll probably see him on a Friday or Saturday night running sound & visuals. His studio’s filled with a barrage of communal music gear, loaned tape machines and synths, making a funky-yet-simple recording setup. The sound he gets is definitely his own distinct textural landscape, turning Casio’s into orchestras and guitars into full choirs, the simple boundaries create the sonic complexities.

2 decades of tinkering with musical instruments can go a lot of different ways and that’s exactly where Christopher Ian Brooker went and is going with Where.Are.We. He wistfully combines elements of ambient electronica, afro beat, and hip hop and stews it with the heat of raw psychedelic rock and roll. Live he lets the material stew a bit more; bringing in moments of improvisation and raw emotion, followed by somber lulls of fading outros. He has graced the stage with the likes of Tobacco, Wax Tailor, and Jel (of Anticon fame) and has worked on countless sessions across Atlanta and the country. The first full length And.Who.Are.All.These.Mystics was named one of the top 10 albums of 2012 by Ohmpark and the new EP Engineer’s Handbook Vol. 1 was honored in Creative Loafing’s Best of Atlanta 2013 and voted Best Trip-Hop Krautrock Pysch-Pop Underdog in Creative Loafing’s Best of Atlanta 2014.