Various Artists – Hidden Landscapes 2
Like its predecessor from early 2011, “Hidden Landscapes“, this second Audio Gourmet/Hibernate compilation offers a stunning palette of contemporary abstract impressionist music.
Listening Mirror – What’s Wrong with Miracles?
A closer look on this latest Listening Mirror album called “What’s Wrong with Miracles?” shows that this is in fact one side of the mirror: there’s no trace of Kate Tustain‘s soft heavenly vocals on this release.
(For that, you may want to check out the beautiful recent compilation overview “Resting in Aspic“ )
Compared to the soft vocal counterparts on the previous releases, Jeff Stonehouse presents a rather dark mirror on this new release.
Mirrorring – Foreign Body
Grouper (Liz Harris) is quite “Hot”.
And with that, I am not referring to the fact that she is female, which obviously is a rare feat in the male dominated world of ambient music (listeners, as well as musicians).
She’s ‘hot’ because she manages to appeal to a (relatively) large audience by merging different backgrounds, combining sleepy bedroom folk with laptop lo-fi and electronic minimalism.
Her recent performance (in my hometown) sold out quicky and raised a relatively fair amount of buzz. In her performance she did not touch any guitar, did not sing any tune – she just shuffled and mixed some cassette-tape recordings into an uncompromisingly minimal, William Basinski-like set of “Sleep” (from “Violet Replacement“).
Looking around and watching a silent (!) crowd (of about 150) listening to this slowly deteriorating piece, most of them with eyes closed, I could not help but wonder why I did not see most of these people at other ambient music performances.
Two days earlier I enjoyed a brilliant performance of Machinefabriek, Celer and Kleefstra-Bakker-Kleefstra – with only some 20 other people in the audience. Which was a shame, because this deserved to be heard by a lot more – I realised that most of this Grouper audience definitely would have enjoyed that performance too!
Most of Grouper’s previous recordings are not as minimal as this performance of “Sleep”. The fact that she’s crossing over from hazy bedroom electronics may very well be the reason why she guides her audience into the deep and sleepy realms of minimalist ambient music. Almost unnoticed..
Until yesterday, I had some doubts about reviewing “Foreign Body”, a new release by Mirrorring (a duo featuring Liz ‘Grouper’ Harris and Jesy ‘Tiny Vipers’ Fortino (these two names together should obviously raise attention), because it’s not an ‘ambient’ album as most on this blog.
But with these thoughts about the recent Grouper performance in mind, I decided this album was well worth the attention, because it will probably appeal to a lot of ambient music listeners, too.
So – how’s that for a lengthy introduction?
Various Artists – Sequence 3
With 41 tracks and over 4 hours of experimental music, the Sequence 3 compilation could be a bit too much to chew at once.
So (unless you simply can’t get enough) it’s probably best to digest it in smaller portions at the time.
Or, create your own sub-selection according to your liking, because, with such a diverse offering, it’s clear that not every track can be for everyone’s taste. But there is so much to choose from it’s easy to compile your own sub-compilation!
Pjusk – Tele
With previous releases by Rapoon, Lull, Skare, Bvdub, Loscil and Stormloop, the Glacialmovements label (founded by Alessandro Tedeschi) has become a sort of quality trademark in itself. A trademark for“glacial and isolationist ambient”.
Pjusk‘s “Tele“, the label’s latest release, firmly establishes this reputation.
For non-norwegians, “Tele” may not have the right associations: it is the Norwegian wordt describing frozen underground water.
“Tele is a journey of snow, ice and cold.”
…and the beauty within, I might add.
Marow; Invisible Hands; Blue Infinite; Illuha; Herve Moire
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.
Marow – Inter
“Marow‘s new 6-track release narrates disappearing structures and delusive fears, whose spirit reveals the beginning of a warm experience. Inter invites your consciousness to rest in a cosy moment for a little while. The breathing soundscapes transform life into a transcendental, peaceful journey ~ no grand wisdom ~ just lovely listening.
[Free download]
Invisible Hands – Non-Rapid Eye Movement Sleep
“Debut from Invisible Hands, an ambient/drone act based in Almere, Netherlands. These three tracks correspond to the stages in sleep called NREM and are designed to be listened while falling asleep or concentrating.”
Solaris Mindset (Mix)
Mentioning Andrej Tarkovsky’s 1972 movie “Solaris” as a source of inspiration has become a bit of cliche somehow. This classic movie (we’re talking the original Russian 1972 version now) has inspired numerous people, in various fields of art, in its 40 years of existence.
The sparse music soundtrack, created by Edward Artemyev, and the overall meditative ambient atmosphere has also inspired a great deal of ambient music artists.
It also inspired this mix-collage.
Referring to Solaris from a mix like this may not really be in the ‘true spirit’ of what Tarkovsky meant to achieve: he originally wanted to make the movie entirely without using music at all, and asked composer Artemyev to orchestrate the ambient sounds as a musical score. The latter proposed subtly introducing orchestral music. (source).
The sparse use of musical background, together with the length and slow pace of the movie (a ‘meditative psychological drama’) has always had a strange effect on me: it puts me in some kind of half-sleep, a kind of state in which where it is difficult to distinguish details, to separate reality from images less ‘real’.
A half-conscious state of mind that perfectly matches the movie’s theme.
This mix includes many different sources. Some parts of the originals Artemyev soundtrack are linked to fragments of the beautiful game soundtrack from Skyrim, by Jeremy Soule. The cinematic parts are alternated with various electronic soundscape fragments – familiar and less familiar.
Together with many tiny fragments from your own memory, a new – and strictly personal- alternate reality may be created, which (like in Solaris) may be hard to distinguish from real life…
Solaris was originally released in march 1972.
This tribute mix is celebrating this inspiring movie’s 40th anniversary!
Celer – Evaporate and Wonder – Tightrope
If you are in any way familiar with ambient music, Celer will probably be familiar too. The discography boasts about 80 titles, most (if not all) of these well worth the listen.
Celer started out as a husband-and-wife duo in 2005. After the tragic death of Danielle Baquet-Long in 2009 (she died of heart failure at the age of 27), Will Long has released music they had previously recorded together, as well as music he recorded later.
“Evaporate and Wonder” was originally recorded in may, 2009, only a few months before Danielle’s death. The source material was limited to improvised synthesizer and field recordings, but two tracks (about 20 minutes each) have all the warm aesthetic qualities that have become the Celer–trademark from the very beginning. A sound well-balanced and harmonically pleasant – ‘utterly devoid of rough edges’.
– (Also on Spotify)
Sun Hammer – A Dream in Blood
“A Dream in Blood” is the second release on the brand new (and very promising) Future Sequence label (or fourth if you count both massive Sequence compilations).
Operating as Sun Hammer is experimental sound artist Jay Bodley, who previously has also recorded as The Setting Sun.
The album title and the cover experience might suggest some extreme dark ambient here, but the album presents a fascinating mix of experimental and adventurous electronic music. I would not call this ‘dark’ ambient myself – though on the other hand I would not call it ‘light-hearted’ either..