Time Released Sound: the Chocolate Box series

I can’t really decide if I should consider Time Released Sound primarily an art or a music label.

I can drool when watching the incredible (handmade!) art that is created for each initial release. Carefully handcrafted, with regards to every detail, but consequently they also carry a price tag that seems to aim at art collectors more than the average music lover.

These special releases are always very limited and often quickly sell out. Luckily for those of us not fast (or rich) enough, Time Released Sound often immediately re-release these titles as a standard 5″-CD with a regular picture sleeve.

Below are some of the highlights of the latest batch: the “Chocolate Box” series. This, of course, refers to the Deluxe packaging of each individual title. Check the website for more details about that: I’ll leave out the notes about the packaging and will just focus on the music.

Sleep Research Facility – Stealth


Stealth

It’s an interesting aside that the two masters of deep drone, some of the very few artists able to create soundscapes that seem to span the complete universe – Thomas Köner and Sleep Research Facility – release their new album in the same month.  

Five years after his latest album, Deep Frieze, and eleven years after his legendary landmark debut Nostromo, Sleep Research Facility (Kevin Doherty from Glasgow, Scotland) returns with “Stealth“. 

And, like watching the universe at night, the overall view of this album may seem the same – but the difference is in the details.
And the longer you watch, the more details you will see.

Thomas Koener – Novaya Zemlya


Novaya Zemlya

It starts with a deep trembling sound. It’s not thunder, but it does not exactly sound mechanical or man-made either. It may come from somewhere deep inside the earth…a strange kind of sound to break the vast silence.

With sounds like these, it’s not difficult to imagine you are witnessing the birth of New Land – which is in fact the translation of “Novaya Zemlya” (or Nova Zembla in dutch, known for the famous Willem Barentsz expedition in 1594). 

The name also refers to the archipelago in the north of Russia, extensively used for nuclear testing during the Cold War – which creates an entirely different context for the sounds on this album.

Flowers and Bones (Mix)

image by Lidija Hauck

“We were playing Hide and Seek on a Cemetery Hill…
…quiet hiding in the flowers…among the Flowers and Bones…”

Atmospheric drones slowly unfold into childhood memories …
Peaceful melancholic romanticism, but gradually overshadowed by fear of something out of control? 
Remember: all’s well that ends well….

Helios, Porzellan, North Atlantic Drift, Retina.it, Stefan Paulus

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.

Moiety

Helios – Moiety
I don’t think I can add much to the near-legendary status that Helios, a.k.a.Keith Kenniff, a.k.a.Goldmund has already earned – apart from the fact that this Godfather of Cinematic Romanticism offers this album as a free download to all his fans. In FLAC as well as MP3 format. I can only suggest a donation, because this album (and his overall work) deserves it.

Lost Library

Porzellan – The Lost Library
Francis Cazal is a baroque violinist and composer, but – in his own words: “who cares”.
The sounds on this album are definitely more electronic than you might expect from that description.
“This is a bit more than music, but a bit less than something else.”
 Anyway, this album clearly shows the work of a creator. 25 Minutes definitely worth investigating!

Dentistry – Vardogr


_blank

I don’t particularly have very pleasant auditive associations when thinking about my dentist.
Fascinating as  they may be, the high-pitched sound of the dentist drill resonating in my skull, the gurgling drain, and the dentist telling me to relax my muscles – while all of my body tells otherwise….not very reassuring.

So what to expect from an electronic music trio called Dentistry?

Various Artists – Loud Listening


Loud Listening

A lot ambient-electronic have a distinct industrial feel: the hum of giant machines and installations, soothing at some times, ominous – or even threatening – at other. Quiet and reassuring when distant, but loud and agressive when close. 

Though this may not be exactly what you expect of “ambient music”, it definitely is part of the sounds of our surroundings. Until the crisis may stop them, at least.

“Loud Listening” is a free (!) compilation from the Crónica label, based on the environmental recording of four Italian soundscape artists: Allesio Ballerini, Enrico Coniglio, Giuseppe Cordaro and Attilio Novellino. 

Kyle Bobby Dunn – Bring Me The Head of KBD

Like his previous release on the same Low Point label (“A Young Persons Guide to KBD“ from 2010), Kyle Bobby Dunn‘s latest release is a 2 hour double album set with a title suggesting a somewhat bombastic “grandeur”.

But the sound on “Bring Me The Head of Kyle Bobby Dunn“ offers the opposite of what the title suggests.  “Drawing upon a love for emotional detailing and cinematically charged grandeur, these suites offer an apex in romantic, haunting and lonely bliss”. 

Hildur Gudnadottir – Leyfdu Ljosinu

Hildur Gudnadóttir ‘s latest release on the Touch label features two tracks:  the 4 minute introduction (“Prelude”) and the 35 minute title track: “Leyfdu Ljósinu” . 

The track division seems is somewhat artificial, since the “Prelude“ closing chord seamlessly introduces the start of the main title track. 
This recording is in fact a “live” recording (with no audience present. which means no distractive audience sounds).
It’s “just” Hildur performing over her multi-track recordings – no “post tampering” was applied afterwards.