Zach Frizzell (aka zakè) is a well-established collaborator and curator in the realm of analog drone, whose philosophy is centered on open communication and constructive interaction; the creative act, he believes, is most rewarding when shared and embraced among complementary talents. In addition to his solo efforts, duos, and trios, he relishes any opportunity to work with the sounds of those he admires, and on Selected Remixes he offers a collection of these reinterpretations, whose sources range from glitch-pop, to post-rock, to long-form ambient. Under his guiding hand, the results bear many trademarks of his extensive catalog: earth-shaking bass tones, haunting orchestral ephemera, and beds of analog hiss and crackle. It’s a beautiful, cohesive overview that exhibits profound love for his friends and colleagues, and demonstrates an innate talent for transformative sonic alchemy.

On his rework of Benoit Pioulard’s “Xaipe”, Frizzell overlays the main loop in a subtle but affecting distortion of time and melody, while incorporating the grain and clatter of field recordings and adding flourishes of sighing strings, reshaping the original into a deeply moving requiem. The mercurial, alien transmissions of James Bernard’s “II.VII [omnisphere -> glut]” are condensed into a sweeping, powerfully kinetic magma chamber of barely contained dark beauty, threatening to erupt at any moment but fading instead into a fine analog mist.

Pausal have perhaps the most in common with zakè’s own moods and modalities, and their “Nicotiana” is a sprawling quest through different ambient topographies, which here are arranged into a brief version with a luminous, harmonic glow, as well as a longer version (the digital-only, 28-minute “Nicotiana Suite”) that creates a generous space for meditation and deep listening. In approaching the anthemic post-rock of The American Dollar’s “Second Sight”, Frizzell dilates the guitars into pure drone, and adorns them with understated, flitting keyboard melodies, expertly conveying all the same widescreen wonder and emotional poignancy.

Throughout the central section of Selected Remixes, we find long-time Past Inside The Present label affiliates and close collaborators like City of Dawn, Celer, and Dawn Chorus and the Infallible Sea, reimagined with lavish amounts of diffuse haze and drift, and ballasted by subterranean rumbles and gorgeous, ghostly reverberations. “They Come Around”, a standout from Inquiri’s PITP debut See You Someday, is refocused on the melancholy of its plucked guitar line and Lacey Harris’s angelic vocals: “When they come around / I draw another circle / When it comes around / I follow it until I understand”. Her words are particularly striking in the context of a collection so pointedly based on loops and cycles as paths to self-knowledge.

Frizzell’s version of “Desviación” by Matsu foregoes the pulse and swing of the original, instead highlighting the rich, shifting tonal fields of its interior, and resulting in something akin to a forgotten Boards of Canada interlude. Rounded out by the miniature galaxy of “Noctilucent” (originally by Karen Vogt & Rodrigo Stradiotto) and the majestic catharsis of “per:me:ate” (originally by Drum & Lace), Selected Remixes is an exemplary demonstration of zakè’s respect for his craft and fellow craftspeople, as well as his rare knack for carefully selecting the elements of a given work to create a version that becomes thoroughly his own.


Remixes produced, arranged, and mixed by zakè, utilizing source material and stems provided by the original artists. Mastered by James Bernard at Ambient Mountain House. Photography by Benoît Pioulard on Polaroid SX-70 film. Layout and design by zakè. Marketing, distribution, and phonographic copyright: Zakè Drone Recordings. Pressed, manufactured, and assembled in Warsaw, Poland. © 2025 Zakè Drone Recordings. This is ZD-040. zakedronerecordings.com / zakedrone.com / pitp.us / pastinsidethepresent.com. With heartfelt gratitude to all the artists who graciously entrusted me with the opportunity to reinterpret their original works. This record was made possible with the kind and generous permission of each artist selected for this release.

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Ambient innovator make seems to drop something new almost every week. But you won't hear us complain because few have a breadth and depth of sound that matches his lo-fi and absorbing output on his home US label Past Inside the Present. He dropped the first volume of his Orchestral Tape Studies way back in 2019, and finally follows it up now with a second volume. Once again this is a selection of richly layered movements of fragmented orchestral loops that all pay homage to minimalist symphonic composers and orchestras and makes use of field recordings as well as gentle drones to soothe your soul.

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According to the artist himself, zake's first solo album of 2020 was recorded and produced during "a four-day excursion in several secluded areas" in South Carolina. As a result, listeners can expect to hear babbling brooks, birdsong and the gentle rustling of leaves beneath Zake's alluring mixture of enveloping ambient chords, unearthly drone tones, opaque electronics and slowly-shifting, heavily processed neo-classical movements. The results are hugely immersive and undeniably enjoyable, with each of the four tracks delivering a head-in-the-clouds journey that ripples with becalmed, atmospheric intent. In other words, it's the kind of ambient music you can get lost in. More please!

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Tape Hymns is a mesmerizing amalgam of sounds carefully crafted by frequent collaborators zake and City of Dawn. The warm hiss of analog tape as the foundational structure of these arrangements brings forth pastoral mediations with becalmed, atmospheric intent. Tape Hymns mix echoing sonic tones, slow-drifting sounds with immersive low-end frequencies.

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Fromat: 180 gram translucent white & green vinyl LP + download code
Pioneers of slow-evolving minimal drone, zake & City of Dawn transform unadorned inputs into beautiful complexity in their latest effort, 'Pinehaven'. The drone duo is known for their carefully crafted textures, avoiding sudden shifts or abrasive sonorities. Their focus, as heard in previous efforts, offer up the steady ebb and flow of sound, cultivating a profound sense of meditative stasis and explorations of high-fidelity sound.

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Format: limited 180 gram splatterred vinyl LP + download code

Orison is the latest aural exploration between zake & City of Dawn and a predecessor to their previous orchestral effort, 'A Sorrow Unrequited'. Orison is a prayer or plea to a deity. The archaic origins of the term stem from the Latin language simply meaning to 'speak to God'. Patient and solemn symphonic drifts that foster stillness, boundless thought, introspection, and eternal contemplation.

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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
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DE - 22113 Hamburg
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Contact: [email protected]More