Category: RECOMMENDATIONS

Danny Saul – Kinison-Goldthwait


Kinison - Goldthwait

The cover image and title of “Kinison – Goldthwait“ may raise some questions, especially for those not living in America. From the website notes, we learn that “Saul is taking some form of inspiration from the well documented public feud between the American stand up comedians Sam Kinison (foul mouthed ranter), and Bobcat Goldthwait (Zed from the Police Academy films). The dispute (supposedly over who stole whose act) came to a head on U.S. ‘shock-jock’ Howard Stern’s radio show, when a boozy sounding Kinison called up Goldthwait live on air, leading to a rather fiery showdown.”

From what I read and heard about this incident, to me this just sounds like a pitiful, embarrasing moment of horrible, (so-called) shock-radio. So it’s fascinating to find that this particular incident is the source of inspiration of this new Danny Saul album.
As Saul says about this: “The track titles may provide something of an ‘ambiguous narrative’ which the listener can take or leave.”

On second thought, there is a remarkable resemblance between this album and the radio incident it was inspired by.

Wil Bolton – Time Lapse

“Time Lapse” is the first album released under his own name, but Wil Bolton is no stranger to music.
Since 2004, he has been recording as Cheju, but a he also created quite a lot of fascinating site-specific works.
Some beautiful examples can he heard on Bolton’s website (I strongly suggest you take your time to listen to all sound samples provided there!)

Although “Time Lapse is labeled as Bolton’s debut release, every single track (of which there are nine) demonstrates his experience in music and sound design. 
And the power of restraint.

Mystified – A Pale But Lasting Hope


Mystified - APBLH

Mystified is Thomas Park, a classically trained musician originally playing trombone and piano. From 2002 he started releasing electronic ambient music after working together with Robin Storey (Rapoon) and Nigel Ayers (Nocturnal Emissions). 

His discography is quite impressive (nine separate pages on Discogs!), and although his music is mostly categorized as atmospheric ambient/drone music, you’ll also find more industrial sounds and noise among these titles. 

“A Pale But Lasting Hope” is one of Mystified’s latest releases. A diverse 5-track album mastered by the renowned Robert Rich.

Mendel Kaelen – Remembering What Was Forgotten


Mendel Kaelen RWWF

The first minutes of Mendel Kaelen‘s “Remembering What Was Forgotten”  are perfectly in line with its cover image: building from silence, slowly out of nothing, but gradually becoming clearer, crescending into an immersive and overwhelming wave of sound… before fading back to eternal rest.

The near 70 minutes of this album seem to breathe an immersive calm, the sound of nature’s inevitability…maybe also the sound of ‘Satori‘, a Buddhist term for ” a flash of sudden awareness, or individual enlightenment”.

Acrifolia – Lament


Acrifolia Cover

“Lament“ is the first full CD release by Acrifolia: a duo formed by Martin Corral and Duncan Meadows (the latter also joined Marconi Union in 2010). 

There’s not very much information about this duo, apart from the fact that both are using “acoustic and electronic recording techniques to produce an ambient sound world in which traditional instrumentation combines with contemporary soundscapes.”

In fact that sums up Lament perfectly well, too.

Kyle Bobby Dunn – Pour Les Octaves


pour les octaves

Personally, I’m not particular fond of analog storage media. In fact I’m glad we could leave these behind us and go digital.

But since digital music seems to be available anytime, anyplace and anywhere, there’s a counter-trend of releasing music in a storage format that can not be easily copied – and thus appeals to collectors especially. 
Part of me can understand that when I hold an oldfashioned vinyl album cover, but I cannot really understand why anyone would prefer to release his music on audio–cassette only. 
Still, there are quite some cassettelabels releasing music nowadays. 

One of these is Peasant Magik, that recently released a 30 minute (C30) two track casette by Kyle Bobby Dunn, called Pour les Octaves.
 

Ghost of 29 Megacycles – The Hummingbird Dream


hummingbird dream

The Ghost of 29 Megacycles (Australia) recently released a beautiful new EP-album called “The Hummingbird Dream”.

Though this is the second release under this name (following up “Love Via Paper Planes”  from 2009), the main part of this new album is a long drone solo recording by Greg Thaw on guitar, organ and field recording. 

Part 1 of this “delicate two song cycle born from sleepless nights, morning silence and sadness” starts with a guitar based drone, slowly deconstructing – until the morning breaks.

Machinefabriek – Halfslaap

Judged by its title ánd by its music, “Halfslaap”  (Half-Sleep) could have been a new release in the fascinating Slaapwel-series. But, surprisingly, it isn’t. This is part 6 of the Rural Route subscription series, as released by Standardform.org.

All issues of this series have been released on extremely limited (150 copies each) 3″CD’s, including a digital download of the music. 

But, to keep things exclusive (and satisfy collectors), the download option ends when the title is sold out!

Elian – Whispers, Then Silence

If I would simply define “ambient” as “drone“, or as “ignorable music“, then Elian‘s “Whispers, Then Silence” would not really fit in here: this roller-coaster ride of electronic soundscapes is definitely not created for repeated playing in the background!

This is clear from the 15-minute title track opening the album: starting with a minimal vibraphone theme, there’s a sudden atmosphere change in the middle, leading to machines running amok for seemingly endless minutes until the end of the track.