Category: other-music

Benoit Pioulard – Hymnal Remixes

In March 2013 and the months following, Benoit Pioulard (Thomas Meluch) caused quite a stir with “Hymnal“, his fourth release for the Kranky label. Inspired by ‘the ubiquity of religious iconography and grandiose cathedrals’ he had encountered throughout a year spent in southeastern England and on the European mainland, he presented a unique mix of hazy psych-folk songs and ambient instrumental tracks, with the aid of labelmates Felix (Lucinda Chua and Chris Summerlin) and Kyle Bobby Dunn.

Almost one full year later, the 12 tracks from ‘Hymnal’ get extensive re-workings on “Hymnal Remixed“ – a 19-track double album released on the Lost Tribe Sound label.

Steven M. Halliday – A Relation of a Journey

Now there’s a cute little package: a 3″ CD packed in a transparent geographical map, packed in a foldout postcard, packed in a beautiful black embossed paper envelope. Oh, the joys of holding a handmade DiY-artwork packages that is obviously created with love..!

Until now I had not heard of Steven M. Halliday in any way, and not much information can be found about him online, although he has “worn many hats throughout his career from producer to sound designer, musicologist to occasional film composer and consultant”.
Also, I did not know anything about “A Relation of a Journey” – it was just someone’s online recommendation that triggered my interest.

All the greater was my surprise when listening to this little gem: within the short timespan of just sixteen minutes, classical music, ambient drones, field recordings and experimental soundscapes merge into an adventurous musical journey.

"Piano Acts"

Nils Frahm - Spaces

NILS FRAHM – SPACES
Possibly the most well-known artist mentioned here is keyboard wizard Nils Frahm. Whoever has seen him perform live will definitely remember that performance clearly. His music can be extremely melodic, making it accessible to a wide audience, yet he’s not afraid to search for some extremes during the process.
After each performance, people often asked him which of his albums best represented what they had just witnessed. Since such an album did not really exist, “Spaces“ was specifically assembled with that question in mind. And indeed it perfectly captures a Nils Frahm performance.

Michel Banabila – Float

Beginning his career in the early 80’s, Michel Banabila‘s albums covered many different styles.
So many, in fact, that his place in music was a bit difficult to pinpoint which sometimes seemed to confuse critics as well as potential audiences.

His albums presented world music, jazz, theatre play soundtracks as well as electronic music of the abstract or ambient kind – all kinds of genres which Banabila seems to be able to cross over with ease.

Various Artists – Liquified Sky

There’s a big different between ‘just music’ and ‘sound art’ – the latter requiring active participation of the listener/visitor.
A release on Richard Chartier’s Line Imprint label is not something you just take for granted, consuming it playing in the background while being distracted by many other things.
So, it may take some time and serious effort investigating the works presented on “Liquified Sky” before these audio-visual works can be fully appreciated. But it’s worth the effort!

Mark Polscher – The Pomegranate Tree

Imagine this:

A museum dedicated to the ancient Egyptian art, with thirteen rooms (“fields”), divided in seven “areas”, with a 64-channel soundscape accompanying the exibition combining abstract and somewhat haunting electronic sounds with partly edited, partly montaged texts spoken from ancient Egyptian poems (with titles such as The Book of the Dead, The Prophecies of Neferti, The Teachings of Ptahhotep).

Sounds like a soundscaper’s dream, doesn’t it?

Yet, this is exactly what Mark Polscher realised for(/with) the State Museum of Egyptian Art (Munich, Germany) for the project named “The Pomegranate Tree“.

Autumn Trumpets

This year’s fall sees the (somewhat) simultaneous release of three albums that feature the trumpet as their main instrument, pairing its sound to an (ambient-) electronic background.
And here’s this review’s spoiler: if you like one, you’d probably like all three! 

NILS PETTER MOLVAER & MORITZ VON OSWALD – 1/1
On his latest release, “Baboon Moon” (2011), Nils Petter Molvaer explored guitar-based soundscapes, but his latest takes a completely different turn. Of course, Molvaer‘s music has always searched for a delicate balance between the organic, emotional sound of the trumpet and abstract electronics – and Moritz von Oswald (of Basic Channel/Rhythm & Sound fame, to name just two of many) has previously ventured out into jazz areas, especially with the Moritz von Oswald Trio.
But this collaboration brings both artists’ music up to a completely different level.
‘1/1‘ sounds as if Nils and Moritz were destined to work together from the start.

Piano Interrupted – The Unified Field

The collision of different backgrounds can sometimes yield amazing results.
As Piano Interrupted impressively demonstrates with their new album “The Unified Field“.

Tom Hodge (UK) and Franz Kirmann (France) are not only from different countries, but also come from different musical worlds: Tom being a classical and minimalist composer, Franz coming from the world of electronica, pop and techno.
Combining such different backgrounds has of course been done before. Many tried, some succeeded, many failed.
But not often the result was as sparkling and refreshingly original like this.

The Necks – Open


Open

The ambient tree has many branches. In fact it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what “ambient” music is. This has raised many discussions, as the music called ‘ambient’ ranges from strict and almost unchanging drones to techno beats one can even dance to.

As the genre evolves, some borders are crossed. “Ambient” music can sometimes involve introspective (and sometimes psychedelic) folk music, massive guitar chord walls… or even jazz.
Most of the times, ambient music also involves electronic sounds or processing acoustic sounds.
But not always: sometimes ambient music is created strictly using acoustic instruments.
Enter The Necks with their latest album called “Open“.