A new label for innovative, progressive instrumental music, exploring the sounds of neo-classic, post rock, electronic, ambient and more.

XXIM Records

Latest Releases

Just in for the weekend, Olivia Belli presents her new EP, Of Time.
&#8220;With these 2 new pieces begins a series of my reinterpretations, recompositions, variations on works by J.S Bach but also a personal reflection on the perception of time: how it flows inexorably while remaining unchanged; how differently it is perceived by people &#8211; too slow for those who wait, too fast for those who are afraid, too long for those who suffer, too short for those who love -.
Time does not mark its passage, there is no sign at the beginning of a new month or a new year or even a new century: time is an idea, it is a dimension of the soul.
In terms of &#8220;compositional structure&#8221; I have tried to express this concept by overlapping two or more melodic lines written at different times,&#8221; explains the Italian pianist and composer. Listen <a href="https://OliviaBelli.lnk.to/oftimeLW">here</a>.
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GoGo Penguin continue teasing their forthcoming album, Everything Is Going to Be OK, with a new single &amp; music video, Parasite. Stream &amp; watch <a style="color: #000000;" href="https://gogopenguin.lnk.to/EIGTBOKLW">here</a>.
&#8220;This is a great example of the classic GGP ethos of taking inspiration from the electronic music world and using that on acoustic instruments. The new electronic elements which we&#8217;ve incorporated into our setup never felt like they were struggling for space or feeling like they needed to be included on a track just for the sake of it. When we did include them, they naturally found their place between the piano, bass and drums but sometimes, as in the case of this track, they were just a means to an end, a useful tool when writing and a way of reaching ideas we wouldn’t have found if we hadn&#8217;t experimented with them in the first place.&#8221; — Chris Illingworth
—
Finally, out today is the rework of Hugar&#8217;s track fall done by the Polish composer, pianist &amp; singer Hania Rani.
&#8220;Hania&#8217;s interpretation takes the song to another dimension and we couldn&#8217;t be happier with the outcome. Hania was instrumental in the beginning of our touring career, inviting us on our first tour to Poland, which will always have a special place in our hearts. Takk Hania!&#8221;
Add it to your playlist <a style="color: #000000;" href="https://Hugar.lnk.to/fall_ReworkLW">here</a>.

Friday with Olivia Belli, GoGo Penguin, Hugar & Hania Rani

Icelandic pianist and composer will release her second album, The Light on, May 26. Following on her album debut Bylur and EP Frost, The Light further expands on Evensen&#8217;s expression, presenting her not only as a pianist, arranger, and lyricist but also for the first time as a vocalist.
Evensen cites two underlying themes to The Light: it is a deep reflection on the rough and rugged landscapes of Iceland and how they have shaped her personality, as it is a personal expression of a sense of hope and brighter times following hardship. Both are represented by the theme of light – the inner light that guides us and the natural light, so rare in the dark Icelandic winters. Written from personal experience at a time of relief and closure in her own life, Evensen is passing on here a message of both personal and collective hope and resilience to her listeners that better must come. Having dealt with personal challenges in the very best way she knows how – at the piano, making music, this cathartic experience of intense composition and performance has culminated in this project.
The title of the first single, Tephra Horizon &#8211; released today to announce the new album &#8211; refers to the imprint left on a landscape by volcanic ash from a single eruption. Her inspiration behind this track is her witnessing the Fagradalsfjall volcanic eruption of 2021 with its potentially destructive power and dramatic outcome. In the accompanying video directed by Einar Egilsson, we see Evensen returning to a site near the eruption, dancing on the tephra layer as if claiming the territory as her own.
Evensen also announced her first European tour, to take off in June this year. Get tickets <a style="color: #000000;" href="http://eydis-evensen.com/concerts">here</a>.
Stream &amp; watch Tephra Horizon  <a href="https://eydisevensen.lnk.to/thelightLW">here</a>.

Eydís Evensen announces her sophomore album The Light

Dutch pianist and composer ABBOTT teamed up with Hamburg-based Canea Quartett to create their collaborative EP Elv.
The release includes adaptations of ABBOTT&#8217;s tracks and more pieces written for and performed by Canea Quartett.
The themes on the record are very personal &#8211; from love, self-reflection, and relationship with a father. However, pieces vary from feeling intimate to a more grand, cinematic sound.
All tracks come with performance videos whose filming took place in the middle of the Elbe river on an MS Bleichen ship.
Stream &amp; watch <a style="color: #000000;" href="https://Abbott.lnk.to/elvLW">here</a>.

ABBOTT and Canea Quartett release EP Elv

Combining a shared passion for music and an impressive resume working alongside fellow Icelandic luminaries Björk, Sigur Rós, Ólafur Arnalds and Johann Johannson, the longtime friends began writing music together in 2013 and released their independent self-titled debut album Hugar.

Signed exclusively to Sony Music Masterworks, they’ve released their second longplayer Varða and the soundtrack album The Vasulka Effect &#8211; Music for the Motion Picture. Þjóðlög / Folk Songs marks their first release on XXIM Records, with their third full album projected for release later this year.

Hugar

Icelandic band Hugar, Bergur Þórisson and Pétur Jónsson, have forged a musical lane of their own with a genre-defying sound, mixing classical, electronic and post-rock elements.

Icelandic Band

volt

lost

Fagurt er í fjörðum

Vísur Vatnsenda-Rósu

&#8220;Hania&#8217;s interpretation takes the song to another dimension and we couldn&#8217;t be happier with the outcome. Hania was instrumental in the beginning of our touring career, inviting us on our first tour to Poland, which will always have a special place in our hearts. Takk Hania!&#8221; — Hugar

Polish composer, pianist, & singer Hania Rani shares her take on the original track from Hugar's album "Rift."

fall (Hania Rani Rework)

Gogo Penguin was formed in 2012, and since then, they have released several critically acclaimed projects. Their sophomore album v2.0 has received a nomination for the Mercury Prize. During their time on Blue Note Records, they sold over 300.000 albums, making them the best-selling contemporary instrumental artists on the label. The band composes and performs as a unit, and the band members refer to their music as &#8220;acoustic-electronica.&#8221; Their primarily (but not exclusively) acoustic music draws on break-beats, classical influences, jazz, minimalist piano melodies, powerful basslines, drums inspired from electronica, and anthemic riffs. The combination of &#8220;the human and the machine,&#8221; says Chris Illingworth, the band&#8217;s pianist, &#8220;will remain core to GoGo Penguin&#8217;s MO.&#8221;

GoGo Penguin has toured extensively internationally, performing at International Festivals such as Coachella, Outside Lands, Fuji Rock, Blue Dot, Montreal Jazz Festival, La Vienne, Pukkelpop, North Sea Jazz, and many more and have sold-out venues across the world from The Royal Albert Hall to La Cigale via Paradiso and Bowery Ball Room. In 2015 the trio debuted its own original score for the cult film ‘Koyaanisqatsi,’ performing the show to audiences worldwide.

GoGo Penguin

Known worldwide for their iconic sound and fiery live performances, GoGo Penguin (Chris Illingworth, Nick Blacka, Jon Scott) have been pioneers of genre-blending instrumental music for years, with their unique blend of influences from jazz, rock, electronic, and modern classical music.

British Band

&#8220;This is a great example of the classic GGP ethos of taking inspiration from the electronic music world and using that on acoustic instruments. The new electronic elements which we&#8217;ve incorporated into our setup never felt like they were struggling for space or feeling like they needed to be included on a track just for the sake of it. When we did include them, they naturally found their place between the piano, bass and drums but sometimes, as in the case of this track, they were just a means to an end, a useful tool when writing and a way of reaching ideas we wouldn&#8217;t have found if we hadn&#8217;t experimented with them in the first place,&#8221; explains Chris Illingworth.

The fourth single & music video from the forthcoming album "Everything Is Going to Be OK."

Parasite

Olivia describes her musical education as a &#8220;normal classical background.&#8221; She studied piano to conservatoire level, working her way through the classical repertoire and developing a particular passion for the works of the 20th and 21st century – from Ligeti and Stockhausen to the American experimentalists Cage, Crumb, Reich, and Glass. &#8220;I began incorporating some of these ideas in my own music,&#8221; says Olivia, who has always composed but until recently it was a &#8220;private thing.&#8221;

&#8220;I feel like, as an artist, most of what I do is to observe – the nature around us, how it changes and how the people interact with it. I spend as much time outside as I can. I try to capture the metamorphosis of nature in my music, and how the experience of living in this environment makes me feel,&#8221; explains Olivia. &#8220;I practice transcendental meditation and I feel the same peace through that as I get from rural life.&#8221;

Olivia Belli

Italian pianist and composer Olivia Belli is based in the rural Marche region of central Italy. Reflecting on the nature and the world surrounding her, and on how people find their own place in it, Olivia’s poetic and often optimistic piano music has reached audiences around the world.  

Pianist & Composer

Sol Novo (Live Concert)

The Light Endures

Island II

Grembo

Fingers, Be Rain

Sol Novo

As I Was

Visions To Come

&#8220;With these 2 new pieces begins a series of my reinterpretations, recompositions, variations on works by J.S Bach but also a personal reflection on the perception of time: how it flows inexorably while remaining unchanged; how differently it is perceived by people &#8211; too slow for those who wait, too fast for those who are afraid, too long for those who suffer, too short for those who love -.
Time does not mark its passage, there is no sign at the beginning of a new month or a new year or even a new century: time is an idea, it is a dimension of the soul.
In terms of &#8216;compositional structure&#8217; I have tried to express this concept by overlapping two or more melodic lines written at different times.&#8221; — Olivia Belli

The 2-track EP presents another of Olivia Belli's solo piano variations, directly referencing Bach.

Of Time

Of Time 1 (JS Bach Variation)

Of Time 2 (JS Bach Variation)

&#8220;As soon as I could stand, I was wandering over to the piano, wanting to play,&#8221; she remembers. &#8220;I started piano lessons aged six, then wrote my first piece of music aged seven, inspired by a storm outside.&#8221; By thirteen, she’d recorded a DIY album between classes at school.

Later in life, Evensen spent some time living in London and New York. &#8220;Whatever city I was in, I would find a piano. I needed to. Music has always helped me organise and understand how I’m feeling and release something that maybe I’ve been carrying within.&#8221;

Eydís Evensen

Eydís Evensen is a classically-trained pianist and post-classical composer from the Icelandic North. Her music reflects on the nature she grew up in and her years of travel abroad.

Icelandic Pianist and Composer

Fyrir Mikael

Bylur

Midnight Moon

Dagdraumur

Wandering II

Brotin

The second single from Eydís Evensen's upcoming sophomore album "The Light."

Anna’s Theme

As Billboard called her “one of the foremost new stars in modern classical,” and Noisey described her music as “a contrast of depth and fragility that uncannily resembles the human condition itself.” From an early age, Stréliski was moved by romantic composers such as Chopin, Rachmaninoff and Schumann as much as by film composers like Hans Zimmer, Philip Glass and John Williams. A trailblazing woman in the modern classical scene, her minimalist, emotionally striking music has enthralled listeners the world over.
Debut album Pianoscope (2010), originally self-released with Stréliski&#8217;s mother sending out mail-order copies from her basement, garnered increased momentum over time and built a dedicated fanbase, featuring in Dallas Buyers Club (2013), Demolition (2016), and during the Oscars (2014).

This led Stréliski to sign with Montreal-based label Secret City for her second album, 2018’s INSCAPE. The album was a stunning success, reaching Platinum status in Canada, with debut Pianoscope reaching Gold status simultaneously. INSCAPE went on to win multiple awards including Instrumental Album of the Year at the 2020 JUNO Awards alongside global streaming success. Then, having become a household name in Canada’s vibrant music scene, and with over 300 million audio streams and 140k album sales to her name, Stréliski went back to the drawing board.
In November 2022 Stréliski announced her new partnership with XXIM Records/Sony Masterworks, while Secret City Records continues to release her music in Canada.

Alexandra Stréliski

Alexandra Stréliski is a Montreal based pianist and composer who creates minimalist and cinematic music. 

&#8220;Lumières is about fantasy and story-telling. It&#8217;s inspired by the Age of Enlightenment where people would gather around in French salons and discuss big (and small) ideas,&#8221; explains Stréliski.

Alexandra Stréliski shares the final single before the release of her new album "Néo-Romance."

Lumières

&#8220;Chris and I have been big fans of hip hop and instrumental hip hop albums for many years and it&#8217;s something that we haven&#8217;t had much chance to explore before with GoGo Penguin. Albums such as DJ Shadow&#8217;s Endtroducing were a huge influence on us when we were young and Friday Film Special really tips its cap to the hip hop instrumentals that we&#8217;d grown up loving. We were both into skateboarding as kids and I think we wanted to capture a nostalgic throwback to those times, like the musical equivalent of Super 8 Cine films. Friday Film Specials were a series of films made by the Children&#8217;s Film Foundation and were on TV every Friday in the mid to late 80s. I remember being incredibly young and asking my older brother what he was watching one day, and he said, &#8216;Friday Film Special.&#8217; Even at the time, they felt old because most of them were made in the 1970s, so all the kids were wearing flares. It&#8217;s one of the most retro and nostalgic things I could think of.&#8221; — Nick Blacka

The third single from GoGo Penguin's forthcoming album "Everything Is Going To Be OK."

Friday Film Special

First single from Olivia Belli's upcoming EP "Of Time."

First single & music video from Eydís Evensen's forthcoming sophomore album, "The Light."

Tephra Horizon

&#8220;BORDERS is a hymn for tolerance. A moment of hope for a more unified and less divided world.&#8221; — Alexandra Stréliski

The third single from Alexandra Stréliski's upcoming album "Néo-Romance."

BORDERS

XXIM:EXPO is our exploratory series for outstanding young talents from across the whole spectrum of progressive instrumental music. Each instalment is given to one artist to curate his or her own ideal EP, sharing their own unique musical vision. With XXIM:EXPO we want to give young artists a platform, while mapping out all areas and developments of our wide area of music. 

Friday with Olivia Belli, GoGo Penguin, Hugar & Hania Rani

Eydís Evensen announces her sophomore album The Light

ABBOTT and Canea Quartett release EP Elv

Latest Releases

fall (Hania Rani Rework)

Hugar

Latest Releases

fall (Hania Rani Rework)

Hugar

Parasite

GoGo Penguin

Of Time

Olivia Belli

Anna’s Theme

Eydís Evensen

Lumières

Alexandra Stréliski

Friday Film Special

GoGo Penguin

Of Time 1 (JS Bach Variation)

Olivia Belli

Tephra Horizon

Eydís Evensen

BORDERS

Alexandra Stréliski

XXIM Records

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