Mendel Kaelen – Remembering What Was Forgotten


Mendel Kaelen RWWF

The first minutes of Mendel Kaelen‘s “Remembering What Was Forgotten”  are perfectly in line with its cover image: building from silence, slowly out of nothing, but gradually becoming clearer, crescending into an immersive and overwhelming wave of sound… before fading back to eternal rest.

The near 70 minutes of this album seem to breathe an immersive calm, the sound of nature’s inevitability…maybe also the sound of ‘Satori‘, a Buddhist term for ” a flash of sudden awareness, or individual enlightenment”.

Secret Chords and Apparitions (Mix)

Imagine yourself in deep sleep. Very deep sleep.
Unaware of your surroundings, unable to control images built from memories, unable to distinguish your dreams from impressions originating from the outside world. 

At times, following a gentle sleep cycle, your consciousness slowly raises – almost up to the point of waking up. At these moments, the outside world is more perceptible, you’re vaguely aware of what’s happening around you.

But not for long, because you gradually sink back to the realm of subconscious deep sleep.  

This mix was created in november, 2010. It was ‘premiered’ on Fluid Radio Mixcloud

Acrifolia – Lament


Acrifolia Cover

“Lament“ is the first full CD release by Acrifolia: a duo formed by Martin Corral and Duncan Meadows (the latter also joined Marconi Union in 2010). 

There’s not very much information about this duo, apart from the fact that both are using “acoustic and electronic recording techniques to produce an ambient sound world in which traditional instrumentation combines with contemporary soundscapes.”

In fact that sums up Lament perfectly well, too.

Kyle Bobby Dunn – Pour Les Octaves


pour les octaves

Personally, I’m not particular fond of analog storage media. In fact I’m glad we could leave these behind us and go digital.

But since digital music seems to be available anytime, anyplace and anywhere, there’s a counter-trend of releasing music in a storage format that can not be easily copied – and thus appeals to collectors especially. 
Part of me can understand that when I hold an oldfashioned vinyl album cover, but I cannot really understand why anyone would prefer to release his music on audio–cassette only. 
Still, there are quite some cassettelabels releasing music nowadays. 

One of these is Peasant Magik, that recently released a 30 minute (C30) two track casette by Kyle Bobby Dunn, called Pour les Octaves.
 

Ghost of 29 Megacycles – The Hummingbird Dream


hummingbird dream

The Ghost of 29 Megacycles (Australia) recently released a beautiful new EP-album called “The Hummingbird Dream”.

Though this is the second release under this name (following up “Love Via Paper Planes”  from 2009), the main part of this new album is a long drone solo recording by Greg Thaw on guitar, organ and field recording. 

Part 1 of this “delicate two song cycle born from sleepless nights, morning silence and sadness” starts with a guitar based drone, slowly deconstructing – until the morning breaks.

Machinefabriek – Halfslaap

Judged by its title ánd by its music, “Halfslaap”  (Half-Sleep) could have been a new release in the fascinating Slaapwel-series. But, surprisingly, it isn’t. This is part 6 of the Rural Route subscription series, as released by Standardform.org.

All issues of this series have been released on extremely limited (150 copies each) 3″CD’s, including a digital download of the music. 

But, to keep things exclusive (and satisfy collectors), the download option ends when the title is sold out!

Elian – Whispers, Then Silence

If I would simply define “ambient” as “drone“, or as “ignorable music“, then Elian‘s “Whispers, Then Silence” would not really fit in here: this roller-coaster ride of electronic soundscapes is definitely not created for repeated playing in the background!

This is clear from the 15-minute title track opening the album: starting with a minimal vibraphone theme, there’s a sudden atmosphere change in the middle, leading to machines running amok for seemingly endless minutes until the end of the track.

Le Berger – De Fe’kun. Dus Ad Salus


berger

There’s not gonna be a lot of background information in this review. In fact, I do not know anything about this release – apart from the simple fact that it is created by Samuel Landry from Montreal, creating his minimal ambient using primitive means and scarce source materials.

This album may already be known to few under its working title Odes and Probes (the tracks had different  working titles, too).

It can be downloaded from Bandcamp for any price you care to donate.

Brian McBride – The Effective Disconnect

The fact alone that Brian McBride is one of the founding core members of Stars of the Lid (along with Adam Wiltzie), is enough to raise a lot of interest about this new release on the Kranky label.
Or maybe I should say “buzz”, considering the documentary this soundtrack was created for.

Inevitably, this record bears the mark of Stars of the Lid music: the use of extended string chords combined with electronic, the melancholic, “lamentable” overall sound – anyone familiar with the Stars OTL will immediately recognize this.

But this is not a SOTL album: it is a Brian McBride solo-album (his second, following 2005’s “When the Detail Lost its Freedom).

And this means there are some noticeable differences, too.