Yann Novak; Antonymes + Slow Dancing Society; Pascal Savy; Mental Corridors; Broken Harbour

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.

Presence

Yann Novak – Presence
“The original sound performance for Presence used a mixture of recordings taken with a cell phone of sounds that altered ones perception.  These recordings were then digitally enhanced there unique characteristics. Through the use of digitally enhanced recordings, all chosen for there ability to altered ones perception, Presence moves smoothly through the a number of emotional and physical states. Evenly paced passages drift slowly from one into another, beginning in dissonance and slowly shifting into complimentary over the duration of the piece.”

Antonymes + Slow Dancing Society

Antonymes – We don’t look back for very long
“On his new EP We Don’t Look Back For Very Long, Antonymes has reworked a track from each of fellow Hidden Shoal artist Slow Dancing Society’s four albums,casting radiant new light on the stunning originals. Across almost 30 minutes, Antonymes marries SDS’s glistening atmospheres to his own trademark ambient neo-classical minimalism, creating a completely mesmerizing hybrid”

Christina Vantzou – No.1

This is a great time for those that like the instrumental orchestral music of the Stars of the Lid school. 

Fairly short after A Winged Victory for the Sullen (Adam Wiltzie + Dustin O’Halloran), Kranky releases another beautiful album: Christina Vantzou‘s “No. 1” .

Christina Vantzou‘s name may not immediately sound familiar.

With Adam Bryanbaum Wiltzie she has released the The Dead Texan album (2004) – which quickly became a favourite for Stars of the Lid fans. She has also toured with Sparklehorse shortly. 

Apart from composing and performing music, she’s also a prolific visual artist. (In fact she also designed the ‘Nips and Lips’ cover for A Winged Victory).
A lot of the beautiful videos she created for related artists and friends can be enjoyed on her Youtube channel.

Penjaga Insaf – Sama Sadja

The opening track of ‘SAMA SADJA‘ , ‘Seimbang’, slowly unfolds reminiscent of a vintage Klaus Schulze track, but the similarity does not last for long. The album takes an unexpected turn, delving deep into Indonesian traditional culture, with fascinating and hypnotizing musical result.

It’s definitely no ‘roots music’ from Indonesia. But it’s not your average ambient drone, either!

A Winged Victory for the Sullen

“A Winged Victory for the Sullen”, “Sleep Hills of Vicodin Tears”, “Requiem for the Static King” … If titles like that remind you of the Stars of the Lid, you are right. Almost. 

For this project, Lid’s Adam Bryanbaum Wiltzie teams up with Dustin O’Halloran. No real surprise, since they already worked together on O’Halloran’s latest album (“Lumiere” ). 
 
With the help of some familiar (Peter Broderick, Hildur Gudnadottir) and some less familiar contributors the duo presents “A Winged Victory for the Sullen“ – which will obviously appeal to all Stars of the Lid fans. And a lot more people that probably don’t know this album even exists.

Guy Birkin – Symmetry-Breaking

There are many different ways to create (and enjoy) ambient/electronic music.
On “Symmetry-Breaking”  (Dr.!) Guy Birkin has an academic approach, bringing him and his music somewhat in line with that of music on the raster-noton label. 

In his work for the Nottingham Trent University (UK), Birkin investigates ‘complexity as an aesthetic property, using information theory as an approach to understanding the complexity of artworks’
For his doctoral thesis he studied ‘visual complexity’, but his current research uses his experimental method to explore the complexity of sound and music. 

The question is, of course: does an academic approach like this also produce academic (as in ‘difficult’) music?
After studying the liner notes and trying to get a grasp of the underlying theories and creation techniques, I was almost relieved to conclude that the answer to that is “No, not necessarily.”

Jacob Kirkegaard – Aion (DVD)

“Aion” is the DVD companion to Kirkegaard’s CD release “Four Rooms” (Touch, 2006).
Inspired by Alvin Lucier’s “I am sitting in a Room” , Kirkegaard recorded the sound of deserted rooms: a church, an auditorium, a swimming pool and a gymnasium.

He then re-recorded the sound played back in the same room over and over again, multiple times, until the sound of the room became a constant drone, ultimately revealing what may be the “soul” of the room. 

That is, of course, a fascinating concept in itself. But there’s another dimension to this project.

Nest – Body Pilot


http://www.archive.org/details/ser013

Starting out as a netlabel, distributing free releases such as the original Nest EP, Serein took an unexpected sudden turn and resurfaced as a ‘standard’ label. 
“Re-Told”  – a remastered version (with additional tracks) of the original Nest EP – was their incredible “initial”release and immediately set themselves a difficult high standard.

Re-Told was immediately and widely recognised as a classic release and got sort of legendary status for all those that found it. (To modestly illustrate this: the short review from 2009 has been on top of the ‘most read’ ambientblog list ever since).

(Only) Three other releases have followed since this initial masterpiece – and then, finally, a new Nest release called“Body Pilot”  was announced.

Marcus Mohall; Bvdub; Keith Freund; Anonymeye; Volkan Zorlu

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.


Hinna

Marcus Mohall – Hinna
Sometimes it is amazing to find the most beautiful sounds just floating around to be downloaded for free. Like these two short drone-tracks from the EP called “Hinna”  (“Catch”) by Marcus Mohall, from Sweden. 
Deep, spacious drones, based on field recordings, chords from a Nord Modular G1 and lots of reverb. These EP’s 20 minutes leave you wanting for more.


Bvdub - I Remember

Bvdub – I Remember (Translations of ‘Mørketid’)
“Translations” (not ‘remixes’) of the original 2007 album Mørketid‘ by Netherworld (Alessandro Tedeschi).
80 minutes of multi-layered washings referring to the period of the year “when the Arctic winter cold encases everything and the sun doesn’t rise over the horizon” – so what better label could there be for this release than Glacial Movements?!
The original work is used “as a base, and it is indeed interwoven in the translations, but my translations serve more as my own narratives on the memories and feelings his original work evoked. The translations are about memories… memories of dreams lost, and never fulfilled… but also the beauty in knowing that dreams exist…as whether they come true or not, it’s in their pursuit that life means anything.”

Pleq and Lauki; Jan Kees Helms; Nigel Samways and Ennio Mazzon

Two  releases on the Ephre Imprint label, and a collaboration from the label curator Nigel Samways with Ennio Mazzon. That’s a lot of fascinating material!


Gravity Lens

Pleq and Lauki – The Gravity Lens
Though they have never worked together (as far as I know), there’s a remarkable resemblance between Pleq (Bartosz Dziadosz from Poland) and Machinefabriek (Rutger Zuydervelt from Holland). Both are very prolific artists (their discographies can easily fill a single blog), not afraid to combine gritty electronics with aesthetic acoustic sounds and field recordings, and both are collaborating with a surprising array of adventurous artists. 

On “The Gravity Lens“, Pleq teams up with Lauki (Barcelona), to create a cinematographic “single longform piece which moves through several mournful, atmospheric sections. The arching melodies and harmonics reveal themselves further over time, rising in and out of submerged bass notes and fizzing field recordings.“

Pleq and Lauki – The Gravity Lens (Excerpt)