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.

Chris Weeks; Leonardo Rosado; Orientalism; Drøn; Gavin Miller

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! 

Chris Weeks - Ebb and Flow

CHRIS WEEKS – THE EBB AND THE FLOW
“Staring out to sea. The Ebb & Flow of the tide. Waves of sorrow wash over you; a deep melancholy. Comfortable, a self-aware sadness. Its motives: wistful, romantic, hopeful, not without purpose; absorbing, fuelling creativity, a source of inspiration.”

Various Compilations

Compilation albums are a great – and often low budget – way to find new music and artists that you may possibly want to check out further.
And, of course, that is exactly why they are made.
Check out the compilations below for hours and hours of music exploring (about 10 hours, to be exact!):

Sequence 6

SEQUENCE 6 [Free Download]
This Future Sequence compilation offers 4 (four!) hours of music – 40 tracks, which were chosen from over 160 (!) submissions. The fact that this is the sixth volume in this series of free compilations within two years demonstrates the ambient/experimental music scene is more alive than it ever was.
As with most compilation albums, not every track will probably be to your liking, but even if you leave these out there’s enough left to go on for hours. As in all previous editions of the Sequence compilations, tracks from established artists are juxtaposed with those of emerging artists.

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.

Lyndsie Alguire – Clair Obscur

Most of the time I try to review albums as if they were a debut release, without historical context about the artists involved, and presented without packaging.
It’s arguable, I know, but this way I try to let the music do all the work and listen to it as unbiased as possible.

This is why I wish I had NOT seen the package images for this release of Lyndsie Alguire‘s “Clair Obscur” .
For now I somehow feel like the guy that keeps arguing he ónly reads Playboy Magazine because of its interviews…

Ian Hawgood & Friends – Wolven (A Modern Reinterpretation)


Wolven

In its relatively short existence (almost 4 years), the Hibernate label has presented us with many beautiful releases and positioned themselves as one of the most important independent labels at the very centre of the ‘ambient’ music scene. Or – since it’s increasingly difficult to use the word ‘ambient’ as a genre definition: music “both abstract and melodic but always with a hint of melancholy.”

The Hibernate label kicked off in 2009 with a release that set a high standard immediately: “Wolfskin“, by Ian Hawgood – well-known for his own music as well as from the labels he curates: Home Normal and Koen Music.

Hibernate and Koen Music (KoMu) now present a 2-CD set revisiting the original “Wolfskin” release, called “Wolven – A Modern Reinterpretation”.

Greg Haines – Where We Were


Where We Were

His past catalogue and  (maybe even more) his live performances have shown that Greg Haines manages to combine artistic consistency with surprising changes of directions.

One never knows what to expect, but one can always rest assured it will be good..

On a first listen, “Where We Were“, Haines’ new release on Denovali Records, sounds surprisingly different from what he has done before.

Machinefabriek – Machine Rooms

Lóng before I ever related the sounds to a musical context, I was fascinated by industrial environmental drone hums.
I clearly remember staying with my grandparents as a child during school holidays, fascinated by the steady hum of giant propeller ventilators from a nearby storage building.
This impression has never left me, and I fondly think back to these summer holidays as the fundament of a lifelong addiction to drones of industrial (as well as any other) nature.

Knowing this background, it’s probably not hard to understand why a new release by Machinefabriek, called “Machine Rooms“, released on the Keshhhh label (curated by Simon Scott, and mastered by Rafael Anton Irissari) got my immediate and full attention!

But that is simply not enough to introduce this incredible album.

These are not ‘just’ industrial drones – these are delicate homages to machines that are supporting our everyday life. And continue to do so, even when they are hidden away, put out of use and slowly deteriorating….

Linear Bells, Cass., Lainhart-Menegon, Sun Hammer, Digitalsimplyworld

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! 

Winter Haze

LINEAR BELLS – WINTER HAZE
So this is what happens when I’m way too much behind reviewing albums: currently we are preparing for summer and trying to forget about winter, ánd the limited physical CD edition is already sold out by the time you read this…
Still, no problem: another winter will arrive sooner than you think, and there’s still the digital download version to enjoy!