“The November Earth“ is Aqua Dorsa‘s second full album, follow up to “Cloudlands“ (2009).
Sadly, it will also be their last: Gianluigi Gasparetti (better known as Oöphoi), died in april 2013.
The album they were working on was finished by his Aqua Dorsa partner Enrico Coniglio and was released later in 2013.
Therefore,“The November Earth“ has become a fitting In Memoriam album to remember one of ambient music’s finest artist.
The music of Boozoo Bajou (German duo Florian Seyberth and Peter Heider) has always been quite atmospheric.
The three full albums (and numerous 12-inches) they have released since 2001 contained the low-tempo dubby trip-hop often called ‘Lounge’ – the lush kind of sounds that German musicians seemed to master exclusively.
Their latest album, “4“, manages to build on all they did before, and use it as a foundation to create an album that ‘transcends basic categories and expectations’.
No surprise in the title: “No. 2” is the follow up to Christina Vantzou‘s “No. 1” from 2011.
The follow-up to a succesfull debut is often referred to as ‘the difficult second album’ – but not really difficult for Christina Vantzou it seems: the album feels like a natural progression, while at the same time a firm step forward.
A few months ago I wrote some words about Anne Chris Bakker‘s beautiful album “Tussenlicht“, a self released limited edition CD-R. (If you haven’t checked this one yet: the digital edition is still available!)
It’s a pleasant surprise to find that his new (first “official”) album “Reminiscenses“ is now released on Dronarivm, the (Moscow-based) contemporary ambient and modern classical music label curated by Pleq and Dimitry Taldykin.
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 ór without extra words!
CELER – ZIGZAG
It’s quite hard to keep up with Will Long’s incredible output: the Celer discography counts over 100 titles now, of which 8 albums were released in 2013 alone! But it’s worth trying, because his releases (Celer is his solo project since 2009) have a constant quality and a personal trademark sound.
Currently living in Tokyo, it’s only fitting that his latest (or one of his latest) albums is released on the Spekk label.
With a real name for an album title, Kontakt Der Jünglinge (Thomas Köner and Asmus Tietchens – the name being a homage to Stockhausen) break with the naming tradition of the predecessor series released in 2001 – 2003: ‘0’, ‘1’, ‘-1’, ‘N’.
The black color of the cover (in contrast to the white sleeves of the earlier series) suggests that there a more differences: to begin with, “Makrophonie 1“ is not a live set recording but the duo’s first studio album.
Needless to say that the first interesting thing I noticed was the name: Stefkovic van Interesse.
A surname that sounds quite Dutch…
Or, on second thought, German: van Interesse comes from Leipzig, Germany (I was tricked by the ‘van’).
But apart from his name there’s a lot more interesting to this debut album “In the Fields“…
With core members Ian Hawgood (electronics), Danny Norbury(cello), Clem Leek (piano), and Tim Martin (Maps and Diagrams, electronics), Black Elk could be regarded as a post-classical/ambient “Supergroup”.
In 2012, their first album“Sparks“ was released, a beautiful collection of atmospheric tracks in various styles.
For their recent Japan tour (december 2013) a collection of “Sketches” was assembled on five different (CDR) albums, containing outtakes, unfinished tracks, live performances and … sketches!
“The Epic of Everest” is a classic documentary (from 1924!) about George Mallory and Sandy Irvine’s attempt that year to climb the Mount Everest. The fateful expedition was filmed by Captain John Noel in the harshest conditions:
“The pair were last seen when they were about 800 vertical feet (245m) from the summit. Mallory’s ultimate fate was unknown for 75 years, until his body was discovered on 1 May 1999 by an expedition that had set out to search for the climbers’ remains. Whether Mallory and Irvine reached the summit before they died remains a subject of speculation and continuing research.”
The film is also among the earliest filmed records of life in Tibet.
For the BFI restoration of this move, a completely new score was composed by Simon Fisher Turner.
And this score turns out to be an impressive sonic document by itself!
