Category: other-music

Bruce Gilbert & BAW – Enrico Coniglio – Chris Watson – Felix Gebhard

Field recordings are often an important part of ‘ambient’ recordings. But there are many variations: from heavily processed, almost unrecognisable sounds to strictly natural representation – and everything inbetween.
Some impressive examples: 


Diluvial

BRUCE GILBERT AND DAW – DILUVIAL(*)
(*) – Release date: sept 2 – link will be replaced when available
With the basic material including field recordings from beaches in Suffolk and London (recorded by Naomi Siderfin, half of Beaconsfield ArtWorks), “Diluvial” originates from “local preoccupation with rising sea levels – a work that dwells on the dynamics of flood geology and global warming; creation stories and climate change”.
The basic material may consist of field recording of natural sounds, but the synthesized sounds generated by Bruce Gilbert (founding member of art-punk band Wire and experimental music researcher since 2004) and David Crawforth (the other half of BAW) in response to those recording take it to a completely different electroacoustic level.

Marina Rosenfeld – P.A. – Hard Love

Apart from being an ‘ambient-electronic’ music addict, reggae music- and especially dub music – has been playing a major role in my musical life. There is a distinct crossover area between experimental electronic music and experimental dub reggae, as demonstrated by genius artists like Lee Perry and Bill Laswell (among others, of course).
Dub Music, rooted in reggae, is often very experimental music.

I have heard a lot of ‘ambient’ music cross over to different styles, up to the simple fact that there is no clear definition of what ‘ambient’ music is any more.
But to my own surprise I wasn’t really prepared for Marina Rosenfeld‘s approach on her recent ROOM40 release “P.A. / Hard Love“.

Marsen Jules Trio – Présence Acousmatique


Marsen Jules Trio

Only short after the minimalistic generative soundscape presented on “The Endless Change of Colour“, Marsen Jules displays a completely different musical approach with this album by the Marsen Jules Trio.

As the …Trio indicates, this album presents Marsen Jules’ atmospheric soundscapes with the addition of two other musicians: twin brothers Anwar Alam (piano) and Jan-Philipp Alam (violin), with whom Marsen Jules played tours and festivals across the USA, Canada and Europe.

“Présence Acousmatique” is a stunning synergy of ambient, avant-garde, modern classical and introspective jazz music. It is released on Jules’ own Oktaf label, but stylistically it would have also fitted the ECM (new) series.

Grounding Sounds #7

GS image logo

I am extremely honoured to present a guest mix for the Grounding Sounds series, which, “drawing inspiration from the famous Back To Mine compilations, showcases the music that captured experimental artists and labels”.

But: I must warn you beforehand: this mix contains NO ambient music at all – with a possible exception of the opening track “Spider & I” by Brian Eno.
It is a rather eclectic selection of all kinds of unrelated genres, because I deliberately chose to stay away from ambient music for this ‘classic mixtape-style’ selection of some of my all-time favourites.

Gluid – Metamorphosis; Arpatle – The Day After

Can this be a coincidence?

In the same week I have received two new albums with a remarkable resemblance: both are from Dutch artists, both have a bright ‘lightweight’, almost ‘poppy’, feeling yet are experimental in their creative use of sound samples. Also, both are defying contemporary genres. They’re not ambient, not too experimental, not strictly electronic, not improvised, but definitely not ‘mainstream pop’ either.

Could it be we’re defining a new genre here?


Gluid

Steve Roach & Byron Metcalf – Tales from the Ultra Tribe


Tales from the Ultra-Tribe

Born in 1955 and making music since he was 20 years old (inspired by Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze and Vangelis), Steve Roach has personally helped shape ambient music to become what it is now. He’s one of those extremely prolific artists: his discography boasts about 100 albums at the moment.
He has worked together with many well-known musicians, and though his style may vary on each different release it is also very personal and immediately recognisable.

With 40 years of musical experience, percussionist Byron Metcalf is not exactly a newcomer, either. 

“Tales from the Ultra Tribe” is their latest collaboration (released in conjunction with Steve Roach’s drone album “Soul Tones” , which showcases quite a different side of his music).

The tense and suspenseful rhythms from these seamlessly mixed eight tracks immediately catch hold of the listener and don’t let go until the end, 74 minutes later.

Eivind Aarset – Dream Logic

Norwegian guitarist Eivind Aarset will probably be known by many of you, just for his contributions to the music of artists like Nils Petter Molvaer, Arve Henriksen, David Sylvian.

When reading about his new solo album, the combination of some details made it clear to me that this was a release to look forward to:  

First: it is released on the ECM-label.
Second: it is co-produced and co-composed by Jan Bang.  
Third: it’s title is “Dream Logic” …

Marconi Union; Green Kingdom; Slow Dancing Society; Stray Theories; SRFelix

In the Shortlist sections, I will mention some of the albums that I enjoyed listening to, but couldn’t find the time (or the right words) for a “full” review for. Still, I think they deserve your attention: use the links to find more info and hear previews.

Different Colours

Spotify MARCONI UNION – DIFFERENT COLOURS

“In the ten years of their existence, Marconi Union have released six critically acclaimed albums. Their music has featured on TV, Films, Art Installations, Ballet and various other productions. The most frequently identified strands in their music are ambient, electronica, jazz and dub. However, they draw on many other influences which subtly appear in their music.”
We wanted to create a more soulful record with a greater emphasis on structure and arrangement, whilst immersing listeners in an almost narcotic haze, in a similar fashion to Bernard Herrmann’s Taxi Driver soundtrack.”
With Different Colours, they definitely succeeded!

Incidental Music

Spotify THE GREEN KINGDOM – INCIDENTAL MUSIC

“The heart of Incidental Music is the acoustic guitar: melodies, chords, drones, and percussive sounds sometimes used in a straightforward manner, while at other times abstracted and manipulated to beautiful effect. These minimal themes serve as an apt score to the small scenes occurring around us all the time.”
An audio accompaniment for a spontaneous still life, no matter how seemingly insignificant. Something for those stolen moments when we stop and appreciate the beauty of minutia in the often unseen world all around us.”