Slow Dancing Society is Washington based musician Drew Sullivan.
“Under the Sodium Lights” is his fourth full album release for the Australian label Hidden Shoal Recordings.
Though the music on “Under the Sodium Light” can definitely be “filed under ambient”, it also has a ‘pop music’/’post-rock’ feel that may also appeal to listeners outside the ambient genre.
Since 1993, Susumu Yokota has built an impressive catalogue of more than 30 albums, and numerous EP’s and 12″-es.
On Kaleidoscope he presents 16 new tracks, over 1 hour of music.
Yokota can’t be accused of making it easy for himself. But, even better: his musical ideas are still as fresh as if this was his debut release.
I guess I should start with a warning for regular visitors: this mix is different from what you’re used to.
First: it’s definitely not an “ambient mix”, although there’s quite a lot of ambience involved in this music.
Second: it’s not a compilation mix, but a mix featuring the music of one artist only: Michel Banabila.
Together with the recent release of Rafael Anton Irisarri another recent Room40 release came to my attention: “A Path Less Travelled“ by Minamo and Lawrence English.
An album very well titled, since the five sonic electro-acoustic pieces on this album are indeed uncovering some musical ‘paths less travelled’
Well here’s for something completely different!
Usually, ambientblog is not the platform to promote portuguese electronic pop music – however adventurous it may be. But after releasing Lylac – adventurous electronic cut-up pop music featuring Melissa Veras on vocals, :papercutz main performer Bruno Miguel grew fond of the ambient genre (“much because of my love for movie soundtracks”) – and somehow managed to an impressive list of ambient music artists to rework the music on Lylac.
To get you interested: “Do Outro Lado De Espelho – Lylac Ambient Reworks” contains remixes by folks like Helios, Emanuele Errante, Simon Scott, Taylor Deupree, Autistici, Christopher Bisonnette, Jasper TX – and that’s not even everybody on the list!
Next to Johann Johannsson and Ólafur Arnalds, Max Richter is one of the pioneers of the ‘post-classical’ genre, a mixture of classical music, electronic sounds and rock music influences.
Mostly the compositions in this genre are suble and not too complex, often slightly (ore not so slightly) melancholic – the kind of music that feels and sounds like it’s written to be a (movie) soundtrack.
So it should not be a surprise that Richter’s Infra was originally written as a score for Wayne McGregor’s ballet as performed by the Royal Ballet.
The Samadhisound label, founded and curated by David Sylvian, simultaneously released three impressive titles. Together they present a landmark of the current experimental/electronic/ improv scene.
Be prepared: none of these albums are ‘easy listening’ music – in fact, a lot of this music wouldn’t even be considered ‘ambient’.
Jan Bang‘s album “…And Poppies from Kandahar” is a good start, because it contains the most ‘accessible’ music of these titles.
The Samadhisound label, founded and curated by David Sylvian, simultaneously released three impressive titles. Together they present a landmark of the current experimental/electronic/ improv scene.
Be prepared: none of these albums are ‘easy listening’ music – in fact, a lot of this music wouldn’t even be considered ‘ambient’.
If I would compile a list of all time favourite albums, Akira Rabelais’ Spellewauerynsherde (also released on Samadhisound) would definitely end up in the highest regions.
Thus, expectations were mile-high when SamadhiSound announced the release of a new Rabelais album called Caduceus.
It must be something in the water or in the air over there in Portland, Oregon, resulting in a lot of remarkable music lately. Such as Bridge Carols, by Laura Gibson and Ethan Rose.
It’s labelled as “electro-pastoral music” and I really couldn’t think of a better description myself.
It’s not very often that I hear a new album that gives me the feeling it is exploring completely new territories by tearing down the limitations of existing styles and influences. Bridge Carols did exactly that. It got under my skin from the very first listen and felt like a mystery to be explored.
