Zoharum is a Polish label founded in 2007, specialising in experimental music. Their catalogue, close to 100 releases, is often dedicated to the promotion of Polish artists, new as well as renowned, but they are also releasing works from other artists. New albums as well as re-releases: a wealth of a collection to explore if you’re into ambient, industrial, experimental, electroacoustic, IDM, or all other kinds of music adventurous and unpredictable.
Being a big fan of the Fripp & Eno loop-based recordings from the early seventies, Disproduction (David Hodnett) has managed to re-create a comparable atmosphere with his guitar improvisations, various effects and recurring delays. His experiments were created in the form of a musical diary (originally recorded between 2005 and 2009) which can be found on his four extensive “Loopdiary Archives” albums. A Respectful tribute that can easily claim its own place.
Robert Rich‘s “Somnium” – released in 2001 – was (and still is) one of the landmark monuments of ambient music. Based on his experience playing sleep concerts since 1982, this 7 hour work was especially composed to be your companion during the night, following the natural flow of sleep cycles.
The original Somnium DVD (that was the only format then that could hold such an amount of music) has long sold out now.
But the good news is: there is a successor to this project now: “Perpetual” (and its physical release also contains the original “Somnium” recordings)!
The migration of this blog has taken up some time, so I got a little behind in mentioning some fine album recommendations.
Here is another shortlist to catch up
Shortlist for October 2014: albums by Marconi Union (including ‘the most relaxing track ever released’!), Aquavoice, Amongst Myselves, Looped Exodus and another huge compilation from Future Sequence.
A Winged Victory for the Sullen (AWVftS) is often referred to as a duo consisting of Adam Wiltzie (core member of the legendary Stars of the Lid – guess there’s no further introduction needed) and pianist/composer Dustin O’Halloran. But AWVftS would not be AWVftS without the (now 7-member) string section and the additional modular synth sounds created by Francesco Donadello. Together they present a full orchestral sound with a fascinating balance of string arrangements, melancholic piano melodies and (somewhat unsettling) synth embeddings.
Thomas Köner is perhaps the Jules Verne of ambient-electronic soundscapes: his sounds seem to come from the deepest ocean, the centre of the earth, the vastest spaces imaginable. If you know his work, you will often immediately recognise his sound when you hear it – and maybe feel it before you even hear it.
Knowing his back-catalogue, the choice of a piano as the main instrument for his new album is somewhat surprising. Piano notes are clearly fixed in time, as opposed to the stretched sounds Thomas Köner usually applies. It is, in a way, a bit of a “rigid instrument”.
“A collection that holds twelve works for voice and 1/4″ tape” is a description that immediately grasps my attention, especially when the performing artists is “a trained opera singer, delivering an elegant balance between theatrical and ambient sentiments”.
