Category: other-music

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“.

Banabila & Machinefabriek – Travelog


Travelog

It took some time before Michel Banabila and Machinefabriek, both living in Rotterdam, finally met and started working together. But after the release of their first album, they soon decided there would be more like that.
Not just because their first CD was very well received critically, but also (probably even more) because their collaboration was so fruitful that the new ideas started to roll in soon, and simply begged to be continued.

So now, some 9 months after its predecessor, “Travelog“ is presented.

Stray Theories; Rudi Arapahoe; Lucy Claire; Milkweed Assassin Bug; Jeremiah Pena

In the Shortlist sections, I will mention the albums that I enjoyed listening to, but couldn’t find the time (or the right words) for a “full” review for. 
Still, I definitely think they deserve your attention, with or without extra words! 


Stray Theories

STRAY THEORIES – THOSE WHO REMAIN
With his latest release Stray Theories (Micah Templeton-Wolfe) adds another level of refinement to his already impressive (and independently produced) discography.
Micah is a master of widely cinematic arrangements and melancholic compositions, seemingly evolving out of nothing into a melodic hook that sticks with you for a long time.

Sebastian Plano – Impetus


Impetus

‘IMPETUS‘ is Sebastian Plano’s second full album release, the follow-up to his 2011 debut album “Arrhythmical Parts of the Heart“ (which gets a well-deserved re-release for this special occasion, by the way).

Plano’s compositions are somewhat in line with a lot of contemporary ‘post-classical’ composers (like Ólafur Arnalds, Max Richter and Nils Frahm) and will definitely appeal to the same audience. I say ‘somewhat’, because there are some notable difference too.

Ken Camden; Sense; Purejunk; Seabat; 70 Years of Sunshine

‘Electronic music’ sound design is often searching for ‘new’ and (if possible) previously unheard sounds.
But others prefer to look back – back to the time when electronic music was a new frontier to be crossed, the time when the sounds of (analog) electronic music was automatically related to space travel.
Here’s a roundup of some new retro sounds.

KEN CAMDEN – SPACE MIRROR
On this second release for the Kranky label, Ken Camden “allows the listener to be suspended in a gravity free environment”.
You may not immediately recognise it, but his ‘vessel of choice’ is the guitar, electronically modified into pulsating loops and sequences that “could be a soundtrack to an epic 60’s science-fiction film, or a long forgotten grade school educational film strip explaining how humans would be living on Mars early in the 21st century”.
“Back to the Future” is simply the most appropriate description here!


Ken Camden – Antares