This “shortlist” is categorized under “Other Music” which means it’s only loosely related to what we call ‘ambient’.
Listen to reconstructions of Piano Interrupted‘s “Unified Fields”, your Inner Voicings with Dan Kearley and Daryn Cassie; intensely touching music from Bill Seaman; a playful Juxta Phona (which turns out to be Jason Corder) – to finally immerse yourself in the rhythmic patterns of Yamaoka
After they met when working together on Cloud Ensemble, Michel Banabila and Oene van Geel extended their collaboration which resulted in 2014’s “Music for Viola and Electronics”.
Both were so very enthusiastic about the new musical world that they had opened up, that they kept working on “Music for Viola and Electronics II”, which is released this month.
Judging by the (strikingly beautiful!) aerial landscape photography by Gerco de Ruijer on the cover, their collaboration will probably not end here: the crop of the (geometric) landscape on the Volume I cover photo is only partially harvested – by hand, line by line… a difficult, strenuous, but most rewarding work.
Could this be a celebration of the 40th anniversary of Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music?
In fact, it really ís machine music!
Remember ‘Tron’?
I guess this is what Kevin Flynn must’ve felt like.
Imagine Jeff Bridges – or The Dude, if you prefer – sitting right next to your bed, telling you stories like a granddad to his grandson would do … bedtime stories, memories he just seems to improvise on the spot, or even guided fantasies to help you doze off…
Would you be able to fall asleep?
Or would you fight off sleep to make sure you can listen to all he has to tell you?
‘Borderlands’ is an extended meditation for multitracked cellos recorded by cellist William Mace. The composition ‘comprises of six interludes and six extended panels, each comprising twenty-eight short melodic fragments. Each panel uses the same fragments to form new melodies and harmonies.” – but for the listener it feels – and can be enjoyed – as one single uninterrupted piece.
A piece in which every single detail has its place, a piece that conveys that everything is as it should be. A very, very comforting piece.
Haunting dark jazz of Dale Cooper Quartet & Dictaphones, inspired by a Witxes track, and a Witxes track reconstructing an earlier Dale Cooper Quartet track.
Both with a beautiful flow of narrative storytelling, an almost cinematic sequence of ‘tension and release’.
Right from the opening track it’s obvious that “Aerial” is something else, almost beyond comparision!
It took me some time to grow accustomed to this album. It requires some dedicated listening, on the right moment.
But ultimately, the raw beauty of the distictive textural palette grabbed me, and didn’t let go.
Only to leave me wondering why I had not heard of Anna Thorvaldsdottir before.
Bad Sector’s “Kosmodrom” was originally released in 2005 but sold out within a few months. It is dedicated to Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (Russian pioneer of astronautic theory), and shows this dedication by including original Soviet sound devices (like the Aelita synthesizer and the electro-optical ANS), mixed with space mission dialogues and fragments from transmissions of the mysterious spy channel (‘numbers’) radio stations.
Dedicated to all Soviet/Russian cosmonauts – and also recommended to all wannabe astronauts that enjoy drifting away into outer space (while not leaving home)!
Charity compilations come in all forms & sizes, but “Touched Two” is one of truly megalomaniac proportions. I really don’t know where to begin here. This “review” is the very first I ever write without having listened to the album at least a few times. How can anyone éver review a 255 track compilation that presents over 22 hours of music?
