Jacob Kirkegaard – Conversion


Conversion

Jacob Kirkegaard is well-known for his unusual sonic concepts, “capturing and contextualizing hitherto unheard sounds from within a variety of environments: a geyser, a sand dune, a nuclear power plant, an empty room, a TV tower, and even sounds from the human inner ear itself”.

The sounds he presents are always extremely fascinating, even when heard without knowing about their actual context – but of course it does help knowing where the sounds originally come from.

Capturing the feedback sound from a deserted Chernobyl location may not be easy. This also applies to recording interactive sounds to make the listeners own inner ear play an active part in creating the sonic end result.

But can you imagine concepts like this being translated to a performance of a string ensemble?
I couldn’t. 
Scenatet could.

Jffstnhs; Terje Paulsen; Yugen; Machinefabriek; 3M33S

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.

Broken

JFFSTNHS (JEFF STONEHOUSE) – BROKEN
A haunting and slowly intensifying drone created by Jeff Stonehouse, co-founder of Listening Mirror.On this 22 minute track (presented on a limited edition 3″ CDR on the Cooper Cult label), Jeff Stonehouse visits “darker places than Listening Mirror dared to tread”. The overall sound is dark, indeed, and feels like something is bound to happen soon – illustrated by the Franz Kafka quote (from “The Metamorphosis”) accompanying the track, as well as by the cover image of the test pilot, who “looks sedate and calm, but there is the implication that he is about to do something extremely dangerous”.

Svart Under Is

TERJE PAULSEN – SVART UNDER IS
Similar in length (20 minutes), and similar in atmosphere is this soundscape by Norwegian artist Terje Paulsen, released on Yugen-Art. While jffstnhs‘s release slowly builds up in tension, this mysteriously named track by Terje Paulsen starts heavily concentrated, but slowly unwinds and gives space to percussive, raindroplike sounds. So they’re a perfect match when played together (in this sequence).
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Transits of Mercury – Vostok I / II


http://www.transitsofmercury.bandcamp.com

Transits of Mercury is a solo project of Mike Abercrombie (from Toronto, Ontario) – who is also half of ambient electronic duo North Atlantic Drift (together with Brad Deschamps).

“Vostok“ is a three-part project (2 parts are released now, part 3 will follow later this year), which is introduced with a modest “I’m not sure anyone has heard this material yet, aside from my wife and my cat, and maybe a poor roommate or two- tortured by my endless tape loops.”

I really hope that is not really true. But if it is, this certainly has to change soon, because this music deserves to be heard by you, your cat, and your roommates, too!

Rust (Mix)

The title of this mix is taken from the beautiful soundtrack it heavily leans on: Alexandre Desplat’s “Rust and Bone” (“De Rouille et D’Os”).

“Rust” usually refers to ‘decay’, but in dutch “Rust” simply also means ‘rest‘, (‘tranquil – or ‘repos’ in french).

But – as we say in Holland: “Rust Roest”
– or: “Too much rest will make you rusty…”

In other words: don’t expect just ‘tranquil’ sounds in this mix..
This is nót meant to be your average ‘healing session ambient’ soundtrack… so be prepared…

Tmymtur – Yusei + Kooh

** This post has been edited to add info about the “Kooh” remix version: read below **

Any album that is created using “microscopic particles that were developed by myriads of voices”, and claims to include “many territories of ultra-high frequencies, marking over 20 kHz that human ears are incapable of catching” immediately gets my undivided attention.

Especially when “these ultra-high frequencies are often included in sounds of nature such as the flow of the river, the forest, the waterfalls, and the wind blowing through the trees. Most of these which we consider as comfortable nature sounds include these ultra-high frequencies, and it is also said that these ultra-high frequencies have the effect to make the human brain relaxed.”

Ben Fleury-Steiner; Darren Harper; Max Corbacho; Chronotope Project; Ophion

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.

Ben Fleury-Steiner

Ben Fleury-Steiner – Clearings
The sound of these three tracks are as mysterious as the album cover image – especially in the yearning loop of the opening track ‘Wind Up Bird’s Lament’.
“Ben’s sound (drawn from both electronic and acoustic sources including electric kalimbas, small modular synthesizers, guitar drones and effect pedals) always embraces a sense of “somewhere”, sonically, always warm with tons of layers and subtle details.”

Darren Harper

Darren Harper – Passages for the Listless and Tired
Although the title of this album may suggest you need to feel ‘listless and tired’ to enjoy this album, the truth is that most, if not all, people might benefit from listening to these calm and thoughtful drones. The album starts slow and dreamy, but gradually builds to a wash of noise in the end, as if to wake you up into the real world again.
“Drawing from both electronic and acoustic sources, his compositional output is based entirely on experimentation and improvisation, with a strong emphasis on minimalism, and often reflects a desire for a greater understanding of nature and self, and the relationship therein.”

26 Shades of Darkness (Mix)

The sheer volume of the Headphone Commute’s ‘…And Darkness Came’ compilation – issued as a charity fundraising for the victims of Hurricane Sandy, and boasting 87 tracks (over 6 hours) of music – was also a kind of invitation to create a mix from it.
Presenting a wide range of music from well (and lesser) known artists – covering most of the ambient/electronic/post-classical/improv spectre, the compilation is an overview and ‘who’s who’ of what’s happening at this very moment.
Its diversity of sounds and musical ideas will appeal to everyone with open ears.

Yuya Ota – Arctic April Mother


Arctic April Mother

Presenting “glacial and isolationist ambient”, the Glacial Movements label – run and curated by Alessandro Tedeschi – has presented over 15 albums since 2006, from artists like Lull, Rapoon, Francisco López, BvDub, Loscil, Pjusk, Celer and then some.

Different kind of artists, different kind of sounds, but what they have in common here is the “glacial feel and atmosphere” – which is often described as cold and desolate.

Their latest release (digital only this time)is “Arctic April Mother“by Yuya Ota from Tokyo.

DJ Olive – Balm


Balm

DJ OLIVE (Gregor Asch, aka The Audio Janitor) has been around for quite a while.
He was a founding member of WE (TM), originator of the “illbient” genre tag – but his musical scope obviously is much broader than “just” ambient music. He has been working with people like turntablist Christian Marclay, Ikue Mori, Kim Gordon, Yuka Honda and Jim O’Rourke. His latest release,“Thwis“, featuring vocalist Honeychild Coleman, is a collection of electronic dub tracks. But that is not the release I want to talk about here and now (since it’s not exactly ‘ambient’).
For now, I want to focus on his “Balm” release: presented as “a collection of Sleeping Pills”.