The Psymbolic Label represents a select roster of audio, visual and multimedia artists available for bookings and commissions worldwide.

 
  audio
   
  visual
   
  multimedia
   
  organizer


 Aligning Minds
Aligning Minds is the unique collaboration of producers Daniel Merrill and Michael Folk, who use sound to achieve a mutual vision. Ethereal and dubby, uplifting and haunting, their music winds its way through the imaginative souls of its listeners, offering a deep exploration of mood and emotional atmosphere. Focused on unifying electronic music through diverse influence, their sound fuses elements of genres like downtempo, dubstep, breakbeat and idm, but without the need for formulaic restrictions. Through both studio work and live performances, Aligning Minds have been gaining interest and support from all over the global spectrum of electronic music. Intent on reaching a musical standpoint of balance and harmony between stylistic ideas, they move forward as a musical force with an ethic of positive growth and change. Daniel Merrill and Michael Folk are signed artists represented as Aligning Minds via the multimedia label known as Psymbolic.

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 Artificial Life Preserver
artificial life preserver has been working to preserve algorithms that behave like living systems since 1997. Insect-like drones and cell based beats drive environmental mixes of organized time units. Drawing from his experience as a member of Texas psytrance trio Init-String, artificial life preserver brings you abstract, glitchy downtempo that could only come from a mind such as this. artificial life preserver is signed as an artist and released his debut album "automata" with Psymbolic--sounds.


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 Audrey Sica
 Stoptime341
Audrey Sica is a camera op, director, VJ, and owner of Stoptime341 Productions, LLC. Stoptime341 works on the cutting edge of multi-media entertainment, documenting live events, creating custom graphics and live mixing for concerts, fashion shows, and theater. Stoptime341 has designed shows and performed in almost every major city in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. As a VJ, you will find Audrey mixing original video art with an Edirol mixer and Pioneer DVJs. Stoptime341's content spans a vast range of subjects including natural landscapes, cityscapes, time-lapse, dance, retro, 60's Go-Go, graffiti, sci-fi, kaleidoscopic, etc. Taking a more cinematic approach, Stoptime341 creates clear, powerful imagery that evokes an emotional response in the viewer. Audrey considers her visuals an extension of the music and carefully makes her selections to match the aesthetic of the music and heighten the audience's overall experience. She intricately transforms bits and pieces of video art into a unique visual choreography. Audrey began her VJ career in 2004 shortly after she started doing custom installations with Stoptime341 at club venues and underground parties in Chicago. Not having any previous experience, she mentored under the direction of Christopher Andrew. Incorporating her background in dance and keen understanding of musical composition, Audrey quickly began to develop her own style. During live shows, Audrey utilizes live video feeds of the audience and performers in the realtime visual mix. She has taken her experience as a camera operator and editor to develop her own bank of custom visuals to amplify the Stoptime341 visual arsenal. Audrey Sica is a signed artist represented via the multimedia label known as Psymbolic.

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 Benn Jordan
 The Flashbulb
Born in 1978 and raised in the sketchy Ashburn district of South Chicago, Benn Jordan began playing jazz influenced guitar before reaching the age of attending school. Without any proper musical training, his awkward style of inverted guitar playing and composition knew few restrictions and eventually panned out into full blown albums recorded on tape machines in his bedroom in the mid 1990's. Being a one man band, Jordan grew quite fond of electronic instruments, which for a period of a few years dominated his compositions as he gained worldwide notoriety as an avant-garde electronic musician using the name "The Flashbulb". In more recent years (and 30-something album releases later), Jordan has focused his efforts on writing more cinematic pieces and using an instrumental style closer to his roots. On the other side of releasing music and touring, Jordan has become a sought after film and television composer, most notably writing for Dove's viral "Evolution" campaign, and branding trademark melodies for companies such as General Mills and Toyota. These two worlds have merged in his hugely successful album "Soundtrack To A Vacant Life", which is one of the first albums in the genre of cinematic music to receive mainstream attention without being attached to a feature film. Benn Jordan is a signed artist represented as The Flashbulb via the multimedia label known as Psymbolic.

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 Derby
In his life as a traveler, Derby came upon the sounds of psychedelica in Europe. Settling soon thereafter in Chicago, he became a resource that pulled those with similar musical tastes together. Derby has since proven to positively affect the Midwest Psy/Goa music scene by being a driving force behind Touch Samadhi, a founding member of The Chilluminati and an essential programmer within the Psymbolic--sounds label.



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 Galina Shevchenko
Galina Shevchenko is a Moscow born, Chicago based video artist. Galina's live video performance is a cumulative quintessence of her work as an artist, animator, and videographer. She generates all her visual content, both video and animation. She loves to combine vernacular visual elements with archetypical and cultural icons creating exquisite combinations of high and pop, classical and postmodern. Live video processing allows her to immerse into the video substance, magnify the instance both physically and temporally. It becomes an infinite labyrinth of images seductive and provocative, deconstructed and redefined, a never ending rhythm, abstract and suggestive... it intensifies, relaxes, spins and dissolves. Her performances are contemplations on movement and distance, transport and culture, temporal and eternal, spontaneous and composed, video rhythmic clashes, synesthetic collisions, sequential and unpredictable. Galina's visual language coexists across her live video performances, animations, video installations and immersive video environments that she creates for art galleries, theatrical happenings and multimedia festivals. Galina has performed live video at many numerous events. Her most recent video work took the second prize at the Media ART LAB segment of Moscow International Film Festival. Her work has been shown in Berlin at Director's Lounge Video Festival, in New York at Red Shift Film Festival and in Chicago at the Motion Graphics Festival. She is also a member of Chicago based short films collective Group 312 films, Collaboraction theatre company, and she shows her fine art at Moka Gallery. Galina's live video performance and multimedia explorations are represented via the label known as Psymbolic.

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 Gift Culture
Gift Culture resonates a titillating mixture of worldly and astral sounds. The Gift Culture project is based on sounds, imagery, and art derived from DSP technology, analogue synthesis, and computer-based non-linear editing. Gift Culture attempts to share his explorations in this multi-dimensional space; to evoke sonic textures from samplers and synthesizers; a journey to discover their "voices", so to speak, using such techniques as granular synthesis, spectral resynthesis, FFT/IFFT based spectral morphing and interpolation, and whatever other exotic algorithms he can coax out of his myriad machines. Gift Culture is signed as an artist and released his album entitled "Terraforming" with Psymbolic--sounds.

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 Glen Stephani
Glen Jennings AKA Glen Stephani is a digital media artist based in Chicago. He uses the mechanical filter of technology as a lens through which to create his vivid organic imagery. Source material is all generated by "Stephani" himself by an ever expanding variety of processes including but not limited to: video image, vector art, pen and ink illustration, found image reappropriation, digital photography, rotoscope animation and sound to image. Aesthetic inhibitions have contrasted from the lo-fi and damaged to a clean graphic look and are often times influenced by the process of creation itself. Glen seeks out the unintended parameters in all artifices, hardware and applications and manipulates them accordingly. He believes these "hidden g-spots" or glitches reveal the true spirit of the machine and are a symbolic mirror to the resistance within us all. Like the color halftone dots from a dot matrix printer, the unexpected result of a machines design oftentimes become the cutting edge design aesthetic of tomorrow. Do what's unintended of you and discover a realm beyond your intended function. Glen Jennings is a signed artist represented as Glen Stephani via the multimedia label known as Psymbolic.

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 Init String
The String was initialized in 1997 when Josh Meredith and Aaron Anthony met in Fort Worth, Texas. Since both of them worked in tech support at the time working with modems it only seemed fitting to name the project Init String. An Init String is a command to force computers to connect via a modem. Shortly thereafter they began working with Michael (Smiley) Hale of Gift Culture who joined forces deploying his drumming skills with Josh and Aaron's psychedelic rhythms and beats. They soon released two albums, "Feedback Loops" and "Iterations" along with vinyl EP releases under their label Subtle Distortion Records. Multiple compilation tracks were released internationally to labels such as We Records, Nephlim Records, XYZ Distribution and Sundance. All three of them play as solo projects as well. Aaron established his own downtempo project called Artificial Life Preserver and Mike is widely known as Gift Culture. Josh composes music under his name Josh Meredith. Aaron Anthony, Josh Meredith, and Michael Hale are signed artists represented as Init String via the multimedia label known as Psymbolic.

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 Integrated Visions
Integrated Visions, an Atlanta, GA based VJ team, was founded by Michelle Penland Dodson and Bryan Dodson in 2002. After graduating from the art school at the University of Georgia, Michelle and Bryan began experimenting with techniques that would allow them to collaborate with visual art similar to the way Jazz musicians collaborate with sound. This experimentation led them to discover the unlimited possibilities of VJing. In addition to allowing Michelle and Bryan the opportunity to collaborate with each other, VJing has allowed them the opportunity to collaborate with countless artists from different disciplines including musicians, dancers, actors and directors. Integrated Visions specializes in designing fully integrated lighting and video productions for nightclubs, theater productions, dance productions, and restaurants. They create immersive stage designs using multiple screens accented with LED and automated lighting. Using a variety of specialized software, Integrated Visions has created a method of synchronizing multiple visual sources in realtime to the momentous music on many screens and display systems. Michelle Penland Dodson and Bryan Dodson are signed artists represented as Integrated Visions via the multimedia label known as Psymbolic.

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 Kettel
Reimer Eising aka Kettel, a classically schooled pianist from Holland, has been a busy man since his first 7" record on the legendary Planet Mu label in 2003. Passing by labels like Kracfive, Neo Ouija and Clone, Kettel is now an established IDM household name. Kettel has toured through Japan, all over Europe, and USA. Kettel is probably most well known for his striking Depeche Mode and Dash Berlin remixes and the Through Friendly Waters album released in 2005 that topped the charts in Japan. The Kettel liveshow recipe may differ a little from his releases, but also finds melody as the biggest foundation of his brews with a strong focus on beats and rhythm. Kettel is a signed artist represented via the multimedia label known as Psymbolic.

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 KiloWatts
James Watts is the mind behind KiloWatts and his many different projects and styles. His work embraces the bulk of electronic genres, including breaks, IDM, techno, and downtempo. His fluency in piano is evident throughout his work, as is his penchant for jazzy riffs, intelligent structure, wistful melodies, and an often cheeky take on the current state and history of electronic music as a whole. His album "Ground State" is out on Native State Records, home to fellow pioneers Bluetech and Shen. It's a collection of sweaty psychedelic downtempo grooves, churning molasses-thick basslines, and undulating synthetic sonorous mandalas. KiloWatts has albums on Artificial Music Machine that are full of visionary dimensions, fusing together a dexterous knowledge of sound synthesis, deep emotional articulation, and solid melodic intuition. Peppered throughout are releases with quality labels such as Harmonious Discord, Thoughtless Music, and his own outlet, KiloWatts Music, that celebrate his adept technical expertise, often bringing a whirlwind of digital wizardry in the form of glitches and edits. Furthermore, KiloWatts is signed as a Psymbolic--sounds artist of which the explorative A/V art piece entitled "microtakeover" can be viewed.. plus many of KiloWatts albums can be found via the Psymbolic sound shop. He began making music in the early 90s with DOS-based trackers and releasing them on BBSs through the demoscene. He was a driving force in the foundation of Soulseek Records, a netlabel celebrating independent musicians during a time of heavy backlash from the record industry against filesharing. The label helped show that independent electronic musicians can use filesharing to their advantage by promoting and collaborating with eachother. The label was born among a flurry of netlabels, many which still exist today. An ever-growing list of projects and collaborations exists. Skeetaz, with breakbeat cohort Bil Bless brings hard-hitting digital glitched-out psychedelic funk. His collaboration with singer Peter Van Ewijk is a mystical ride with vocals and guitar, nested atop edgy electronica. With Tanner Ross, an eerie style of dark techno is born under the name Voodeux for Dirtybird's techno sublabel Mothership. Fellow Philadelphian MC Amagine delivers consciousness-driven motifs in their digital glitch-hop project called Super Galactic Expansive.

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 Liquid Stranger
Traveling in the uncharted terrains of music, Liquid Stranger's creative output ranges from suggestive ambient soundscapes to movie scores, pop, dub, infernalia, drill n bass, and electronica. Always pushing the sonic boundaries and merging genres, Liquid Stranger consistently creates a soulful blend of unique atmospheres and grooves. Liquid Stranger's debut album The Invisible Conquest was released on Interchill Records in 2007 followed by The Intergalactic Slapstick released late 2009 with his most recent album The Private Riot released on Rottun Recordings. The song "Ripple" hit number 1 on Beatport's top download charts for an extended period of time. Liquid Stranger is a signed artist represented via the multimedia label known as Psymbolic.

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 Mason Dixon
A dropout from University of Texas's Advanced Communications Theory Laboratory, Mason Dixon, then Sfear Bebopanaut, went to work for a small internet start-up, iChat, designing the first version of Yahoo's chat community. After iChat's IPO, Sfear organized a team of hackers to detect vulnerabilities in electronic voting systems before the 2000 presidential election. After 9/11, Sfear changed his name to Mason Dixon and moved to Chicago, where he now resides as an instructor of Motion Graphics at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a director of the Motion Graphics Festival which innovates creative community in the areas of film, music, art, technology, design and culture. Mason's professional career includes a plethora of big name clients and he's designed public sculptures and video performances for museums and various large scale festivals. Mason Dixon's work has investigated the specific subjects of: the moving image as a performance medium; aesthetics and warfare; identity hacking; and public art. In the last 2 years he has produced over 70 exhibitions in 10 US cities and has shown with artists such Mia Liu, Carl Cox, Shepard Fairy, String Cheese Incident, American Analog Set and DJ Spooky. Mason Dixon, also known as Jameson Wallace, is a signed artist represented via the multimedia label known as Psymbolic.

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 Merkaba Visuals
Eric G has been performing live visuals for over 10 years now. Influenced heavily by the scene in southeast Michigan in the late 1990's, Eric set out to emulate and improvise upon the structures of electronic dance music. Eric G joined Merkaba visuals in 2001 at the invitation of Trevor, Cudra and Brian, who had been doing events in Chicago and the midwest for years, working alongside greats like Alibi and the legendary OVT. Merkaba was a unified collective until 2004, when Cudra and Trevor departed for the greener pastures of Maui. Performance material is still shared, but Eric G has been the primary force behind Merkaba visuals in Chicago since then. Eric G's work has always been process based, and has now reached a vast plateau where performance hardware/software, prime content and acquired technique allow for wide exploration and experimentation with the goal of pushing the form forward and making every event memorable. Merkaba has accompanied noted national and international musicians at festivals and has also expanded into theatrical video design. Eric G is a signed artist represented as Merkaba visuals via the multimedia label known as Psymbolic.

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 Michael Una
Michael Una's work investigates how vibrating waves of energy and human consciousness interact. He utilizes traditional musical instruments, handbuilt analog electronics, video processes, digital synthesis, and repurposed objects to build harmonic wave patterns. These patterns are projected into physical space, creating a unique and temporary audiophysical experience. Michael Una is an active contributor to the popular webzine and community site known as Create Digital Music and is a signed artist represented via the multimedia label known as Psymbolic.

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 PakaPaka Lightshow
Near the turn of the last century, video manipulation and montage in real time became possible on a desktop computer, opening up a new world of expression. PakaPaka Lightshow was founded by Jerome Fortier, Reuben Fortier, and Dale Kaminski, a trio of artists devoted to exploring this new media. Jerome and Dale saw that their decades of experience in creating analog psychedelic lightshows could be leveraged with digital computers rather than overhead, aldis, slide, and 16mm projectors. PakaPaka Lightshow congealed organically through contemplation on how to provide visuals for a "historical cabaret" theatrical piece about the culture and happenings of 1968. This unique event led to the opening of many strange and exciting paths and PakaPaka continues to wander them. With every performance, PakaPaka provides a new stream of optical amusements, empathically bonded to the vibration of the moment. PakaPaka Lightshow's live video performance and multimedia explorations are represented via the label known as Psymbolic.

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 Paul Baker
 Cloudform
Beginning with 8mm film, and moving on to 16mm, analog, and digital formats, Paul Baker has accompanied music with projections for 17+ years. His Cloudform Vision System augments dub with media assemblage and accompanies drones with meditative analog patterns. His video vocabulary encompasses a global territory of appropriate manifestations. Frequent collaborations include Sub Oslo, Spaceinvader Orchestra, Furby Youth Choir, and McPullish Soundsystem. Paul explores intensely minimal organic video patterns, and performs as a dub and space A/V selector. Paul Baker is a signed artist represented via the multimedia label known as Psymbolic.

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 Pixylight
Jym Fair aka Pixylight began his VJ-ing career in 1995 when he became aware of the need for visuals within the electronica music scene. Along with Avery Runner aka DJ ElfArrow and Doug Lefae aka VJ Archetype, Pixylight began to produce metapysically based outdoor events, which were the first in Colorado to integrate DJ's, live PA's, and live video mixing. Pixylight expanded to organize such events as the AVit Retreat and the annual Chakra Festival. Pixylight closely works with EarthDance and London-based live video collective inside-us-all, and has furthermore toured the world performing realtime visuals for some of the largest international festivals. Pixylight's VJ work has been exhibited on TV stations from San Francisco to Germany and now Pixylight is mostly interested in creating immersive visual environments. Pixylight is a signed artist represented via the multimedia label known as Psymbolic.

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 Psymbolic--visuals
 V-duo
This catalytic duo (Julee & Troy) are Audio / Visual event engineers that create Live Interactive Visual Environments in which they project evolving expression through their video compositions and the realtime surrounding spectacles. Psymbolic always aims to provide a customized thematic performance with synchronous moments of meaning and inspiration. Psymbolic's theme orientated visuals are composed of customized video modules, in which they have been personally creating and producing by means of animation, compositing and programming since 99. During a live performance they use customized realtime visual software and hardware to synch video loops, camera inputs and effects to the mood of the momentous music. Traveling with a library of custom created content to choose from on the fly... All of which is categorized by genre / style / theme and programmed to multiple keyboards and midi controllers. The macro being; Humanity, Nature, Technology, Imagination... in synch with Sound.

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 Random Rab
Random Rab, a sonic explorer and master of manipulating temporal awareness, will lead you into a seemingly ancient world, where you'll find visible shreds of the future. If you allow, his sound can catalyze your travels into haunting rapture, and you will not return to your same beginning. Playing only his own originally produced music live, the depth and craftsmanship of this offering is remarkable. With an array of drum machines, samplers, sequencers, and instruments, it is a clear devotion to expression and perfection. The beats are smooth, bold, and overwhelming. The original meaningful vocals, melodies and hitting bass merge seamlessly into a tapestry of unique and unexpected journeys. Random Rab is a signed artist represented via the multimedia label known as Psymbolic.

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 Ryan Hartsell
Progressing with new technology and preserving traditional mediums, Ryan Hartsell continues to push the limits of his imagination. He's been making films with long time collaborator, Justin Hilliard through their production company Striped Socks Productions. They have made award-winning shorts and have recently completed their first feature film entitled, "Wednesday", that is highly reviewed. Ryan also continues to work on his own personal art. Currently he is working on a series of digital art called Consumption which has gained global recognition. The series deals with how the human id is inherently selfish and the act of one's self indulgence is at the cost of others. Ryan Hartsell is a signed artist represented via the multimedia label known as Psymbolic.

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 Shulman
The Shulman project, comprised of Yaniv Shulman and Omri Harpaz, is considered one of the leading groups in the psychedelic chill out ambient scene and has performed live at large festivals around the world. Shulman's music is filled with evolving organic layers backed by rich harmonies. Shulman has released four artist albums and numerous releases on compilations by leading labels throughout the world. At the moment, the guys are busy working on several new projects and developing their live performance, advancing electronic music live shows to a new level of musical richness and interest. Shulman represents true innovation of psychedelic chill out and ambient and is known for breaking borders and morphing new sounds. Yaniv Shulman and Omri Harpaz are signed artists represented as Shulman via the multimedia label known as Psymbolic.

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 The Abominable Twitch
Max Glascott is a designer/animator/electronic producer from Chicago. His material has been the result of a number of different mediums and experiments over the years. He spent his early design career coding and designing websites in the earlier days of HTML. As he began to gain confidence in his animation skills he started to apply his photography and photoshop experiments to motion graphics. He spent 1 year interning for Optimus, learning the post production ropes. He was hired and worked just under 3 years as an assistant editor. This outlet allowed him to explore animation as far as time would allow. He has recently won a silver Telly award for his 30 second piece "Happy Ammunition" which aired as part of a local campaign spearheaded by Optimus. After leaving Optimus, he pursued his love of music and composition, while working as a freelance animator and designer. He currently parades the "underground" as The Abominable Twitch. Max Glascott is a signed artist represented as The Abominable Twitch via the multimedia label known as Psymbolic.

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 The Great Mundane
Shaped by DIY culture, Jeffrey Acciaioli was driven by his love of music to create the moniker The Great Mundane. Born and raised in Farmington Hills, Michigan he was exposed and later influenced by genres such as classical, jazz, bossa nova, hip-hop, and electronica. His broad range of favorites and training allow us to enjoy his "one of a kind" sound that is anything but mundane. The Great Mundane's twisting textures, catchy drum whips, and unique soundscapes leave us with a melodic collage that is unlike anything we've heard before. The Great Mundane was first introduced into the Chicago music scene before taking his passion and energy nation wide. Soon international ears were falling upon his unique sounds and requesting his talents. Recognized and appreciated by his untraditional sounds, The Great Mundane worked with Belladonna Records to release two limited time EP's and shortly thereafter signed as an artist to release his debut album "When Falls Arrive" with Psymbolic--sounds.

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 Tim McCall
 Jirah
 Resonant Dawn
Tim McCall AKA Jirah AKA Resonant Dawn is known for creating energetic and atmospheric trance music, although the Jirah name has occasionally been associated with a more downtempo style. Coming from a musical family, he learned many instruments, his favorite being guitar. He grew up listening to a mix of rock and early techno music, experimenting with digital processing from the age of 12. His first exposure to goa/psy music came with the release of the "Blue Room / Trip Through Sound" compilation in 1997, which set him on a direct course into producing his own type of sound. It was during this time that Jirah was born, and over the years Tim's music evolved as he continued to refine his skills. His debut album was released in 2003 on USTA Records, receiving strong reviews and acclaim worldwide. Tim went on to release music on many other labels such as Dragonfly, Aleph Zero, Organic, Harmonia and Spliff to name a few. Since his first live show in 2001, he has played throughout the world, from Europe to Asia to the Americas. In 2005, due to a mixed set of circumstances, Tim decided that he needed to take a break from songwriting and performance. His music continued to be released during this time, and after a three year silence, he is back on the scene with new projects on the way. Tim McCall is a signed artist represented via the multimedia label known as Psymbolic.

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 Tripswitch
A mainstay of the British downtempo scene for almost 10 years, Tripswitch (Nick Brennan) cemented a worldwide reputation as a meticulous and talented producer with the release of his first album "Circuit Breaker" on Youth's Liquid Sound Design label in 2005. With a 4* review in DJ magazine, praise from Anoushka Shankar in the New York Times, BBC Radio 1 airplay as well as support from the likes of Nick Warren (Way Out West), Jose Padilla (Cafe del Mar) and Claude Challe (Buddha Bar), who all picked up tracks for their own compilations, the album was re-released as a double CD package in 2007 with remixes from some of the world's top dance and chill artists. Now heading up his own label Section Records, and with a new album "Geometry" released in summer 2010, Nick is back in full force and will be touring extensively in 2010 / 2011. Tripswitch is a signed artist represented via the multimedia label known as Psymbolic.

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 Julee Psymbolic
Audio / Visual Event Engineer


Live Performance Visual Artist


Multimedia Producer


Director of Psymbolic and MGFest


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 Troy Psymbolic
Audio / Visual Event Engineer


Live Performance Visual Artist


Multimedia Producer


Director of Psymbolic and MGFest


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