Apart from releasing music as Spheruleus, Harry Towell also curates the Audio Gourmet netlabel, well-known for their now 40+ releases that all can be downloaded for free from Bandcamp (or from Archive.org when the Bandcamp credit runs out, but in that case I’d suggest donating a few dollars to keep them running).
Apart from these “tea/coffee-break” EP’s (all of them somewhere around 15 minutes in length), Audio Gourmet also has released a few full length albums (such as “Hidden Landscapes”).
“In the Bleak Wilderness of Sleep” (released may 2011) celebrates the first year of Audio Gourmet existence. And considering the contents of this compilation, Audio Gourmet has definitely found their place between the yop netlabels in the ambient/electronic/soundscape field!
“In the Bleak Wilderness of Sleep” presents a thoughtful and coherent selection of soundscape artists.
Among them are familiar names like Francisco Lopez, Bartosz Dziadosz (a.k.a.Pleq), Michael Trommer, Small Things on Sundays, Spectra Ciera and (of course) Spheruleus.
Some of them were featured earlier on Audio Gourmet, others are new to the label.
The dark and almost inaudible beginning of the opening track ‘Pushing through Gray” (by Michael Trommer) sets the perfect tone for this collection,“curated and ordered to purposefully induce a state of sleep. Starting off minimally, gradually gathering tone and atmosphere, the experience goes on without ever boiling over or reaching a crescendo. Parts of the album are light and restful whereas traces of it tread darker territory. All in all, the imagery that the album conjurs sits perfectly as a soundtrack to the dreams one experiences during a nights sleep.”
The twelve tracks (73 minutes) on this album merge perfectly without suffering from too much ‘sameness’, indeed suggesting a ‘sleep cycle’ in sound. Avoiding the obvious ambient music cliché’s, this album is a great collection of contemporary Sound Art.
Either asleep or awake, this is an impressive birthday celebration from the label that grew up so quick!
As usual for limited releases like this, the physical edition has sold out quickly (only 7 left at the time of writing). But luckily, digital downloads edition will never run out!
Natalia Noelia Siebula & Bartosz Dziadosz – Ótta og kvíða