Lord of the Pings
No Beats Aloud is a new ambient label which launched in December 2025 and, after a comprehensive introductory compilation, is about to release its first outside artist album from afp.
afp’s Andy Falconer (pictured, above) will be known to more astute fans of all things chilled as a co-producer of The Orb’s classic debut Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld, alongside Alex Paterson, Kris ‘Thrash’ Weston and The KLF’s Jimmy Cauty. More recently, he’s rekindled his working relationship with Paterson, joining forces as Sedibus both in the studio and the live arena, as well as continuing a prolific solo output.
“Andy Falconer has been a huge influence on my musical journey,” says label co-founder Justin Gimblett. “We met at an after show party for The Orb in 2016 and, seeing my enthusiasm, he encouraged me to put together and release DJ mixes. He even mastered my first released mix on Mixcloud, A Spaced Out Orbic Lunar C, and has been my sound guide and a close friend ever since. After I remixed four of his tracks as free downloads for his fan newsletter, the next step was producing my own music.
“It therefore felt natural to ask Andy to support No Beats Aloud – and releasing his album is my way of thanking him for everything he’s done for me. Andy’s approach to ambient is distinctive. He creates pieces that feel like live musicians are playing – combining his amazing piano playing with expert sampling and a beautifully natural sound — and he lets tracks unfold slowly rather than rushing to a hook. Who else, when asked for an album for a new ambient label, delivers just two tracks, both around 25 minutes long? I can’t wait for people to hear how good it is.”
Gimblett says he’d been buying albums on fellow co-founder Martin Boulton’s Touched Music label for years, and when asked him to critique his first self-produced track (as Biophonix), he suggested including it on an ambient compilation he was planning: Touched By Silence 2. The pair pulled together contributions from 36 artists, with profits going to MacMillan Trust and Gimblett also made a companion mix as Biophonix, using sampled dialogue from the Apollo 11 moon landings.
“The ambient releases went so well,” he told us, “the mix we also released on CD and it sold out in days – that we discussed making a sequel for the following year. When the time came, we realised we could aim higher, and No Beats Aloud (NBA) was born. For us No Beats Aloud is a bit tongue in cheek because ask any ambient artist and they’ll say ambient music always has a pulse and percussive elements too, it just doesn’t need 4/4 kick drums. We just wanted the name to get to the heart of ambience and put a smile on our faces at the same time. And with the added benefit we could use the NBA letters to name our compilations in interesting ways!
“It also felt like the right moment to setup a new ambient label – the genre is again enjoying renewed attention after the 90s boom. With everything going on in the world, people need that musical escape more than ever. We wanted a home for the full range of ambient music: delicate piano pieces, glitchy electronica, psychedelic downtempo, sweeping layered synths and deep drones — all under one roof.”
As for future plans, Gimblett says: “The plan was always to follow the compilation with albums from contributing artists. First up is afp (Andy Falconer) at the end of May, followed by David Harrow and then Dub Tractor. Later this year we also have albums from DF Tram (who has supported The Orb on tour), Canopy of Stars, digitalaudiofunktheory and Eric “the” Taylor – which should take us well into 2027. After that, we’ll bring in more label artists such as Cyance, The Inventors of Aircraft, Dan Armstrong, Xavier Morel and Antonymes, and we’re already lining up a few “secret” releases for next year.”
To celebrate the release of afp’s The Further Adventures of Kapitan Ping on May 29, Falconer has created a special ‘Return of the Ping’ edit of one of its two epic tracks, together with a specially, with No Beats Aloud providing a suitably cinematic video for it. Scroll down to read our interview with afp’s Andy Falconer himself.
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Hi and thanks for your time…. First of all, can you tell us where you are right now, and what kind of day you’re having… Been anywhere already or going anywhere interesting later?
Thank you, and it’s a pleasure to be here.
I’m currently half way up a mountain in northern Portugal and it’s been a pretty good day so far. In celebration of completing the build of two new websites for my wife Ashka. We’d hiked up to an exposed stone Neolithic burial site which sits next to a lake at the head of the valley. Rugged beauty and tranquillity up above the clouds, and later on there’s going to be grilled fish.
First of all, tell us about the great video you’re kindly letting us share exclusively with our readers…
From my point of view, the main challenge with the video was producing a five minute audio edit from the album’s very long form tracks. It wasn’t easy finding something that felt representative of the complete work, but I think the “single” edit came together really well.
After that, it was Justin Gimblett from No Beats Aloud who suggested Steve Hyland of Geometriclove as the man for the job. I sent Steve the audio edit and simply said, “Be inspired and do whatever you want.”
The first cut he sent over was already 99% there, and I think he captured the mood beautifully. I only had a couple of suggestions regarding two or three of the transitions, which Steve kindly implemented. I think the end result is a gorgeous visualisation of the music, and I hope everyone enjoys it
And likewise, tell us about the album – it’s two rather epic, 25 minute tracks…
I’m no stranger to producing longer works of around 12-15 minutes, and last year I pushed that boundary further with the release of the ambient trilogy Watching The Grass Grow Volumes 1 to 3. Each track took up the entire side of a vinyl album, forming a suite of six pieces intended to work either individually or as one complete work.
Especially when it comes to pure ambient music, it’s a format that really allows time for the track to evolve and take the listener on an aural journey through distinct phases, with the music revealing itself as it slowly unfolds. So when it came to sitting down to write Kapitan Ping, it seemed only natural to pursue this format further.
From a sound design point of view, the album is a further exploration of the fun I’ve been having combining prominent acoustic instruments such as piano, trumpet, and violin with electronic textures, to produce something very organic in feel.
There are a lot of connections between this album and the work I’ve been doing as part of Sedibus, and I hope everyone enjoys the voyage it takes them on.
The Further Adventures Of Kapitan Ping – interesting title ha ha A friend of yours?!
When it comes to naming albums or individual tracks, I rarely concern myself with anything that seriously attempts to describe the album’s content. It’s more a case of picking interesting words or phrases that appeal to me at the time.
One such phrase was Kapitan Ping, or rather Käptn Peng & Die Tentakel von Delphi, a German band I became aware of a few years ago thanks to my son sending over a YouTube clip of them.
I thought it was a great, slightly silly band name. The kind I love, and at the time of writing the album it popped back into my head. So I thought, why not? Let’s borrow part of it. From Käptn Peng, Kapitan Ping was born. And since the album is an epic musical journey, it seemed only natural to send the good Kapitan on one and name it The Further Adventures of Kapitan Ping.
You’ve been busy with Alex Paterson too – there’s a third Sedibus album in the can, we gather…
Yes, Sedibus 3 is mixed, mastered, and ready to go. I believe the artwork stage is currently coming to a close, and then it will just be a case of Obscure and Cooking Vinyl deciding when best to fit it into their release schedules, hopefully this summer.
Whereas the previous two albums were recorded remotely, this time Alex came over to my studio in Portugal and stayed at the house. As you’d expect, it changed the energy, as it’s always an extra creative buzz when you’re actually in the same room together.
The original plan was for him to come for ten days, have a chilled time, and use the visit to sketch out ideas for maybe five or six tracks, which we would then finish remotely. Even though we kept to the plan of short, relaxed days, we amazed ourselves by completing the album in that time, apart from the mixes. I really don’t know how we managed it in such a short, stress free period, and we actually found ourselves with more material than we needed for a standard album.
And you were part of this year’s annual Orb knees up at the Fox & Firkin in Lewisham… What was that like? Always looks like a top party.
The Ultraworlds anniversary gigs are always a lot of fun to do, and in some ways they’re a bit like a class reunion, with the chance to see those you love and treasure all gathered together in one place.
Due to Alex doing two sets each night as The Orb and wanting to rest in between, I flew solo as Sedibus before joining him and Paul Conboy on stage for the final Orb set to perform ‘Into The Fourth Dimension’. We had a blast, and on the last night it was cool to get Violeta Vicci and her violin on stage to jam on the track. The crowd was fantastic, and a very good time was had by all.
A further result of the Fox & Firkin get together is a new and exciting album collaboration I have in the pipeline, but there will more on that at a later date.
You also co-wrote a track for Buddhist Hipsters and another for an installation in Oulu, Finland, part of their European Cultural Capital status in 2026…. Have you been to visit it?
The Buddhist Hipsters collaboration came about during Alex’s visit to record Sedibus 3. He said he wanted to get me involved, and we originally planned to do something together after the Sedibus sessions were completed.
But one morning I woke up at the ungodly hour of 5am and, instead of rolling over and going back to sleep, I tiptoed down to the studio and got cracking on an idea. By the time Alex came down at 10am, I had something finished for him to listen to. As nothing had been discussed in advance, I’d written an ambient piece that served as a very protracted intro to a reggae track.
He loved what he was hearing and immediately named it ‘Under The Bed’. So I sent the stems straight over to Michael in London for him and Alex to work on at a later date. As it turned out, they preferred to run with just the ambient part, and what a great job they did.
The idea to get involved with an installation in Oulu came about after I was approached by Andrew Melchior, who used to do multimedia work for Massive Attack and Björk. Alongside creating a piece for his installation featuring recordings of fast radio bursts supplied by MIT, there was also the idea of getting us over to perform the track as part of a Sedibus concert. However, due to logistical difficulties, we never managed to get the plan off the ground, and so no, we haven’t been over to visit Oulu.
However, the rather excellent 20 minute track we produced for the European Capital of Culture project was by no means a waste of time. As I mentioned earlier, after the Sedibus 3 sessions we found ourselves in the fortunate position of having too much material for a conventional album. With the addition of the Oulu piece. We suddenly had enough material for a double album, and we’re currently considering whether to release it in the expanded format or not.
What else is next for you in the short/medium/long term? What are you hearing that’s inspiring you? Any more concert, DJ or release action we should know about?
Next up is the aforementioned collaboration album, which I’ll be starting this month, with a view to releasing it on No Beats Aloud early next year.
After that, and by the end of the summer, I’ll be making my next afp album. As I’ve been doing so much pure ambient work recently, I’m planning for this one to be a much more conventional electronic album, more in line with my earlier material. If all goes according to plan, it should be ready for a Christmas release.
Also towards the end of the summer, I should be in Poland headlining a festival in Olsztyn, where I’ll be performing with Ashka as afp.
Finally, late autumn will see me sitting down to record the usual two exclusive albums that I make each year just for my Patreons as their Christmas present. These albums are always fun to do, as they give me an excuse to let myself off the leash and explore genres that I don’t normally work in. For instance, last year was an excursion into jazz, while the year before had more of a House flavour. So far I haven’t decided on this year’s theme. Maybe I’ll pick up some inspiration from Poland?
As for what I’m listening too that’s providing inspiration. The sound of spring as mother nature gets into gear.
Buy Sedibus vinyl here
For more details on No Beats Aloud, including an album listening party at 7:30pm on May 29 visit their Facebook group
