Kyle Bobby Dunn; Will Long; Kleefstra+Kleefstra+Davis; Kalte; Bgudna

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, they deserve your attention: use the links to find more info and hear previews.

Ways of Meaning

Kyle Bobby Dunn – Ways of Meaning
“Kyle Bobby Dunn’s new full-length album is a treatise on the resonance of memory; an attempt to harness the finality of meaning as a shared experience.
Some moments recall church and choral music, others are anthemic in their own quiet way, and sadness finds warm overtones to help quell its cold nature. Spatial qualities are examined thoroughly; clarity is reached when viewing one’s surroundings. The environment comes into focus and a reverie encapsulates the listener.”

When You Fall Out of Love

Will Long – When You Fall Out of Love with Me
The title in itself invokes the sad romantic mood for which this 18 minute track is the perfect soundtrack. Celer-style, in case you need any more recommendation.

Sieleslyk

Gareth Davis, Jan & Romke Kleefstra – Sieleslyk
“Jan and Romke Kleefstra are brothers, currently based in The Netherlands who have previously collaborated with Machinefabriek and Peter Broderick amongst many others. On Sieleslyk they are joined by British artist Gareth Davis (bass and contrabass clarinet) to make some ominous dynamic soundscapes using guitar, clarinet and spoken word.The spoken words of Jan Kleefstra are in Frisian, a minority language spoken in the north of The Netherlands.”
The physical edition is part of the Rural Colours Subscription Set, but non-subscribers can download the digital version for free! (!)  

Amnesia (Mix)


Photo: 'Misty Park' by Michel Banabila

Although it was created in March, this mix shows little signs of “Spring”.

There was no intentional relation, but inevitably the devastating Japan Earthquake, and the frightening nuclear disaster following it, somehow found its way into this mix.
The result: a rather dark overall atmosphere, which seems to leave little room for hope.
But at the same time, in Europe, winter retreats and daylight returns.
Nature shows that it can destroy as well as recuperate.

Sister Waize – The Realignment Series

“The Realignment Series Part I, II and III” is a set of over two and a half hour of “Folding Drone Music”, as David Mekler (Sister Waize) himself calls it.

The impressive set is offered as a free download from his website, along with some suggestions on how to listen to this music to possibly achieve ‘a complete sense of separation from your physical surroundings’.

I can heartily recommend to download and listen to this set to anyone even remotely interested in drone music!

Janek Schaefer – Asleep at the Wheel…

Janek Schaefer’s website presents an impressive list of site-location projects that are very interesting to investigate, because they demonstrate Schaefer’s perfect balance of concept, visual and sound.
(A few of them, Unfolding and Extended Play, were presented on Ambientblog earlier).

As the Artist in Residence for the 2010 Milton Keynes International Festival, Schaefer presented “Asleep at the Wheel…’: a location project for which he completely transformed the deserted Sainsbury’s supermarket into a three-lane highway at night, a ‘ghost road of cars’, where the audio is played from the in-car sound systems. From the car seats, visitors could listen to presentations and interviews thematically dealing with sustainability and the future of the earth, and how we can be able to improve that future. 

“The exhibition is a thought provoking and immersive sound installation for multiple car radios, that contemplates our future. Exhibited in a vast disused supermarket, three-lanes of cars dissect the darkened interior, as the multiple hazard lights illuminate the space, revealing the finite road of our consumer driven daydream.”

Antonymes – The Licence to Interpret Dreams

Although it is his debut for Hidden Shoal Recordings,  the new album by Antonymes – “The Licence to Interpret Dreams“ – is in fact his second full album following up “Beauty Becomes the Enemy of the Future” (or third, if you also count “31: Before the Light Fails”, which was a special project in a limited edition of one (!), and only partly available as a digital download after that).

“The Licence to Interpret Dreams“  fits in perfectly with the best of the recent ‘post-classical’ releases and will have immediate appeal to listeners that also enjoy releases by artists like Johann Johannsson, Max Richter, Peter Broderick and Dustin O’Halloran. 
But to leave it at that description would not do justice to the versatility of this album. It is not “just” a collection beautifully constructed post-classical chamber music.

Nigel Samways, Le Berger, Herzog, Ambient Fabric, Seconds Before Awakening

This is the first in a forthcoming series of  “Shortlist”-entries. In these Shortlists, 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.


Nigel Samways - Nine Barrow Down

Nigel Samways – Nine Barrows Down
20 minute EP with a haunting soundscape referring to “a teenage experience of potentially baffling and unexplained origins whilst alone at night in the Dorset countryside.”


Le Berger - Expeditions

Le Berger – Expeditions on the Greyscale
Subtitled “One Tiny, Two Medium and a Grand One”, referring to the length of the four tracks: 00:11, 11:11, 11:11 and 33:33, respectively. 
Beautiful minimal drone/loop set by Le Berger (Samuel Landry  from Montreal, Qc), with obvious references to the work of ‘deteriorist’ William Basinski.

Arno Peeters – The Peeters Principle (Mix)


Arno Peeters

When I started working on this ‘single artist mix’ featuring music and sounds from Arno Peeters, I did not realise that creating a mix-collage based on soundscapes would be more difficult than one based on single tracks.

A soundscape is a collage in itself – and using fragments from soundscapes to build another soundscape is like ripping up a collage and presenting the fragmented details out of their original context, rearranging them to create a new caleidoscopic image.
The original context gets lost, and the result feels like an aural stream of consciousness that may not exactly be “easy on the ears” …. but may prove to be a fascinating exploration of imaginary territories..