Neue – The Planets


The Planets

Electronic music has always been closely related to (outer) space – scientific astronomics as well as sci-fi fantasy themes.   

Sometimes quite literally, such as in the 12-CD series created by Dr. Jeffrey Thompson from the original NASA Voyager I & II Space Probe Recordings that was released around 1990.
Although there has been a lot of discussion about the extent of manipulation of these recordings, these ‘pure space sounds’ are about the deepest, most soothing and timeless ambient drones imaginable.

“The Planets“, recently released by Neue – not from Germany as you might think, and not related to the legendary Krautrock band Neu, but an alias of musician and designer Mike Lemmon from Portland, USA – continues this tradition.

Postcards from Hibernate!

The Hibernate recordings label continues to release a steady stream of great music.

One of their project series is the ‘Postcard Series’ – beautiful music on EP albums (about 20 minutes each), attached to limited edition numbered postcards.

One thing you’ll have to get used to, however, is that the physical editions sell out at the speed of light!
But, luckily, download versions of the releases stay available when the physical releases have run out!

[Check the links below for full streams of the album tracks]

Jan Linton – Buddha Machine Music

I guess most readers will be familiar with the Buddha Machine concept by now.
Not only because the Buddha Machine itself now exists in four generations (including the Throbbing Gristle edition), but also because various artists (most notably Robert ‘Monolake’ Henke) have included the recognisable lo-fi samples in their recordings – or created completely new music using them.

One of the latest Buddha Machine-inspired releases is “Buddha Machine Music” by Jan Linton – English musician/composer, working from Tokyo, Japan since 1990.

In the past, he has been working with people like Leo Abrahams and Richard Barbieri . But for his latest project, he chose the (first two incarnations of the) Buddha Machine as source of inspiration.

In the Bleak Wilderness of Sleep


Bleak Wilderness of Sleep

Apart from releasing music as Spheruleus, Harry Towell also curates the Audio Gourmet netlabel, well-known for their now 40+ releases that all can be downloaded for free from Bandcamp (or from Archive.org when the Bandcamp credit runs out, but in that case I’d suggest donating a few dollars to keep them running).

Apart from these “tea/coffee-break” EP’s (all of them somewhere around 15 minutes in length), Audio Gourmet also has released a few full length albums (such as “Hidden Landscapes”). 

“In the Bleak Wilderness of Sleep”  (released may 2011) celebrates the first year of Audio Gourmet existence. And considering the contents of this compilation, Audio Gourmet has definitely found their place between the yop netlabels in the ambient/electronic/soundscape field!

Mathon – Terrestre

Mathon - Terrestre

With their new release ‘Terrestre’, Mathon takes a further step in creating their own unique genre.

Their music is, as always,  consequently linked to geographical locations, describing “the coexistence of nature and civilization and also the contradictions between the two”.
It is mainly created with acoustical instruments and stylistically closely related to the impressionist music known from the ECM-label.

Discouraging Intruders (Mix)

The main theme for this mix (as well as the title “Discouraging Intruders” ) came from the spoken word track by the Dwindlers: “What the Wolves Said”:

“No two of us on the same note, we sound bigger…our harmony discouraging intruders…”

Although generally not sounding like a pack of howling wolves, sometimes the purpose of ‘ambient’ music also is also is to ‘discourage intruders’ (such as unwanted sounds) to invade your environment..

From the opening, this mix slowly dwells into long drone soundscapes – some discouraging, others comforting – only to be interrupted by a climactic eruption from Siddhartha Barnhoorn‘s cinematic ‘Artifacts‘ directly following the enchanting vocals of Fovea Hex, a choir arrangement that seems to be coming directly from heaven by Franz Liszt (from ‘Via Crucis‘, 1879!), followed by a Sibil’La Catalana string theme from the 15th century – and finally to be concluded by the acquiescent vocals from the Terje Isungset track.   

Whether you prefer to be on the inside or the outside is up to your imagination…

Image with kind permission from the Panopticons project.

Wil Bolton, Benjamin Dauer, Savaran, Roger Martinez, Karl Verkade

In this “shortlist” section, 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).

Melt cover

Wil Bolton – Melt
Another great release in the Rural Colours subscription series, perfectly timed for the spring and summer season.
“‘Melt’ is a single long-form track of warm, overlapping tones created with a toy keyboard, a synthesizer, analogue delay and looper pedals, and some minimal laptop processing. Glitches and signal problems were welcomed into the process, shrouding the fragmented yet lyrical keyboard melodies in a gentle mist of fuzz, clicks and hiss.”

Saturation Event

Benjamin Dauer – Saturation Event
“..A series of explorations in tape saturation – that place where the audio begins to slightly fall apart – not harsh digital distortion, but rather, that warm and blurry type of analog distortion only possible w/tape (or tape emulation). As you listen, at times the audio in the lower frequencies might fall apart while the upper register remains crystal clear. On others you might not notice anything but maybe the slightest hint of added analog warmth.”

Akumu – Descent

Akumu - Descent

When music is described as ‘organic’, this will often refer to a warm, almost acoustic and almost  ‘live’ sound.
On “Descent“, Akumu (Deane Hughes, Toronto, Canada) has a different approach in describing organic structures in sound.

The basic material comes from ‘field recordings’ (but do NOT imagine birds or crickets here):
“based on field recordings captured within train stations, banks and other large buildings, these four pieces re-synthesize and reduce those grand structures into the infinitesimal — the real into the abstract.
“Descent” is the continuation of Akumu’s study of resonances and micro-sonics found in our everyday world.“

Loscil – Coast/Range/Arc

Although seemingly operating somewhat below the radar in terms of release frequency, Glacial  Movements  has earned their status when it comes to quality standards.
In the past, they released albums by Rapoon, Lull, BVDUB, Francisco Lopez (among others) – the future will see new releases by BVDUB. Pjusk and Thomas Köner.

Like the name suggests, Glacial  Movements chooses to release albums that thematically deal with vast, deserted (and mostly cold) landscapes:
“Places that man has forgotten…icy landscapes…fields of flowers covered eternally with ice… Icebergs colliding amongst themselves…” “Glacial Movements is a label born to describe and spread these thoughts/images through sound.”

Knowing this, it is no surprise that Glacial  Movements is the label to release Loscil’s latest release,  “Coast/Range/Arc“. It is a perfect match.