ABOUT
Halocline Trance is a record label + music company based in Toronto. It was founded in 2015 by David Psutka as a home for his creative projects, and in recent years has expanded to include a vibrant mix of musicians and interdisciplinary creative projects.
Genre-agnostic and conceptually open, the label supports work across a wide spectrum of creative fields including soundtrack recording, installation, AR design and artist albums. Halocline Trance is aesthetically fluid, instead unified by its support of innovative artists and their work.
Halocline Trance is aesthetically fluid, instead unified by its support of innovative and unique artists and their work, such as Polaris-nominated rapper/activist myst milano., theorist/improviser Eldritch Priest, and AR/VR artist Karen Vanderborght. In recent years, Halocline Trance has established itself as a platform for many of Canada’s most exciting creative music projects including Stefana Fratila’s I Want to Leave this World Behind - a NASA-facilitated interplanetary sound-design coding project; and Germaine Liu’s Cat’s Cradle - the debut album of experimental percussion compositions from one of Toronto’s most celebrated improvisers.
Halocline Trance’s work also includes commissioned projects such as As Sharing - 10 Ragas to a Disco Beat an improvised ensemble performance presented by Sanjeet Takhar of The Music Gallery, and Colin Fisher’s 2024 solo album Suns of the Heart, produced and engineered by Psutka and released by We are Busy Bodies. The material spans an ever-widening creative terrain, ranging from fluid sound experiments to concise pop songcraft. Many of the releases have received critical acclaim from media outlets such as Pitchfork, Exclaim, Bandcamp and Resident Advisor.
David Psutka is a Canadian record producer and musician. He records and releases music with various projects including ACT!, Anamai, Egyptrixx and Ceramic TL, and is the founder of the Halocline Trance record label.
As a collaborator he has worked widely with artists such as Junior Boys, Jessy Lanza, and myst milano. Stylistically, Psutka embraces innovative compositional techniques such as textural sound, non-musical ideas and expressions of formlessness in much of his work. As a principal musician, he often incorporates elements of new psychedelia and freeform electronics. Much of his practice (whether as principal artist, producer or label head) is collectivist, and often results in new and fertile intersections between Canadian artists.
Many of Psutka’s releases and collaborations have received critical acclaim from media outlets and award bodies such as Pitchfork, Exclaim, The Quietus, The Junos, Polaris Prize and Resident Advisor; as a live performer, he has toured extensively having played at Sonar Festival, Roskilde, Mutek, MOMA PS1 Warm-UP, Osheaga and CTM Festival; and has presented sound installations at various institutions such as Galeria Civica Commune di Modena, DMY Festival Berlin and Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO).
Halocline Trance is a record label + music company based in Toronto. It was founded in 2015 by David Psutka as a home for his creative projects, and in recent years has expanded to include a vibrant mix of musicians and interdisciplinary creative projects.
Genre-agnostic and conceptually open, the label supports work across a wide spectrum of creative fields including soundtrack recording, installation, AR design and artist albums. Halocline Trance is aesthetically fluid, instead unified by its support of innovative artists and their work.
Halocline Trance is aesthetically fluid, instead unified by its support of innovative and unique artists and their work, such as Polaris-nominated rapper/activist myst milano., theorist/improviser Eldritch Priest, and AR/VR artist Karen Vanderborght. In recent years, Halocline Trance has established itself as a platform for many of Canada’s most exciting creative music projects including Stefana Fratila’s I Want to Leave this World Behind - a NASA-facilitated interplanetary sound-design coding project; and Germaine Liu’s Cat’s Cradle - the debut album of experimental percussion compositions from one of Toronto’s most celebrated improvisers.
Halocline Trance’s work also includes commissioned projects such as As Sharing - 10 Ragas to a Disco Beat, an improvised ensemble performance presented by Sanjeet Takhar of The Music Gallery, and Colin Fisher’s 2024 solo album Suns of the Heart’ produced and engineered by Psutka and released by We are Busy Bodies. The material spans an ever-widening creative terrain, ranging from fluid sound experiments to concise pop songcraft. Many of the releases have received critical acclaim from media outlets such as Pitchfork, Exclaim, Bandcamp and Resident Advisor.
David Psutka is a Canadian record producer and musician. He records and releases music with various projects including ACT!, Anamai, Egyptrixx and Ceramic TL, and is the founder of the Halocline Trance record label.
As a collaborator he has worked widely with artists such as Junior Boys, Jessy Lanza, and myst milano. Stylistically, Psutka embraces innovative compositional techniques such as textural sound, non-musical ideas and expressions of formlessness in much of his work. As a principal musician, he often incorporates elements of new psychedelia and freeform electronics. Much of his practice (whether as principal artist, producer or label head) is collectivist, and often results in new and fertile intersections between Canadian artists.
Many of Psutka’s releases and collaborations have received critical acclaim from media outlets and award bodies such as Pitchfork, Exclaim, The Quietus, The Junos, Polaris Prize and Resident Advisor; as a live performer, he has toured extensively having played at Sonar Festival, Roskilde, Mutek, MOMA PS1 Warm-UP, Osheaga and CTM Festival; and has presented sound installations at various institutions such as Galeria Civica Commune di Modena, DMY Festival Berlin and Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO).
