Solo Andata – Solo Andata

A few years ago, ‘Ambient Music‘ used to be almost synonymous to ‘Electronic Music‘ in regards of instruments chosen and production process.
But gradually, acoustic instruments crept in, maybe as a reaction to laptop concerts proving to be quite boring – throw in a ‘real’ musician playing a ‘real’ instrument (cello is favourite for its sound) and any live show is far more interesting to watch.  

A lot of this music can hardly be called ‘ambient’ any more. Some of it is modern classical music, some of it has firm roots in ethnic folk music or even folk psychedelica…

Enter Solo Andata. Australian duo (Kane Ikin and Paul Fiocco), creating great ambient soundscapes which are as much ‘electronic’ as they are ‘acoustic’, still definitely also ‘ambient music’.
Their second album (Solo Andata) is released on the 12k label, mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi and with cover art by Taylor Deupree. Any more recommendation needed?

Be Still (mix)


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No special theme for this mix…just flowing, quiet music…

This mix was broadcast paired with ‘Final Sleep‘ in june, 2007.

In this mix the title is taken from the Adrian Klumpes track.

The Lights Galaxia – Global


Global EP

Obviously, since it’s very hard to earn a living (or even a part of it) from creating ambient music, a lot of musicians creating this kind of music offer it for free.
From their own websites,  through netlablels or using archive.org, bandcamp.com or one of the many alternatives for sharing music.

So if you take some time to do a good search you may find quite some nice music (and a pile of rubbish too).

Final Sleep (mix)


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No special theme for this mix…just flowing, quiet music…

The title obviously comes from the track by Svarte Greiner.

(This mix was broadcast paired with ‘Be Still‘‘ in june, 2007, which will be published next week).

Frank Rothkamm – ALT


http://www.rothkamm.com

Frank Rothkamm is a composer as well as a conceptual artists. You can tell when visiting his website, but also when reading the promo text for this new CD: “He cultivates enigmas <…>In fact, Rothkamm is a magician, a prestidigitation theoretician, and a carny all in one”.

Wow. Big Words. Want more? Read [here]!

But luckily he’s not without humour. His discography boasts 21 releases – among which Opus Spongebobicum, a set of piano variations on the first ten notes from the “Spongebob Squarepants” theme song. (Don’t know it, but I’d love to hear it!)

His latest release, ALT is released on the Baskaru label. It is a collection of ‘analog computers & algorithms’, created between 1989 and 2009.

Phill Niblock – Touch Strings

Though he’s not the only one working in this musical area (think of Eliane Radigue, her ‘Trilogie de la Mort’ especially, or Alvin Lucier with his ‘Music on a Long Thin Wire’), I can hardly think of anyone creating drones more ‘minimal’ than Phill Niblock does.

Phill Niblock (born 1933) has a vast catalogue of compositions exploring the essence of sound by asking the listener to zoom in almost indefinitely and forget about time. To the casual passer-by, the music may sound like it’s only one endless chord and if you don’t have the right mindset you’ll probably get extremely bored soon. But if you let the sound grab you, you’ll hear the subtle nuances and interplay of the interacting waveforms.

Greg Haines – Komarovo

Compared to earlier releases on “Slaapwel Records” (Sleep Well Records – the Belgian label dedicated to Music to Fall Asleep To), Komarovo may be the hardest one to fall asleep to, simply because of its dynamic range.

For this 30 minute piece, Greg Haines used sound recordings from a Berlin performance, including piano, tape recorders and the impressive sound of the Grünewaldkirche church organ.

Ring (mix)


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“Ring” is the second part of the  two part auditive “guided fantasy” from 2006 (“Wave” being the first part). A mix of ambient music, soundscapes and other musical surprises, created in 2006.

The first of these four programs was a compilation of the (magnificent) album ‘Spellewauerynsherde‘ by Akira Rabelais, the fourth part was a compilation of music from Iceland. (Since these programs are not ‘ambient mixes’ they are not included in this collection).

The four parts were called “Spelle”, “Wave”, “Ring” and “Sharde”, which together is also the full title of Akira Rabelais’ “Spellewauerynsherde” album. Tracks and fragments of this album are present throughout all four programs. I’m very grateful to Akira for sharing some of the unreleased shardes from his magnificient Spellewauerynsherde project!

BTW – the pictures shown above are from Helga Kvam.
No one ever captured the mysterious Icelandic nature better than she does.

Kleefstra/Bakker/Kleefstra – Wink

If you’re a collector that likes to have your music on a physical CD, times are rapidly getting harder. Especially in the ambient and experimental genre, where more and more releases are handmade do-it-yourself releases in extremely limited editions.

Take Wixel’s 2009 project, for instance: one CD every month, every edition physically released in the number of days of that particular month (but at least these are later rereleased in simpler packaging and available as digital downloads too). Even a relatively ‘big name’ like Thomas Köner releases his latest CD ‘La Barca‘ in a limited edition of 600 copies only.
By the time the news of a new release reaches you, chances are the album is sold out and unavailable physically.

Such is the case with Wink, the new album by Kleefstra / Bakker / Kleefstra.
Although I thought I acted quickly, my handpainted CD (!) and handpainted cover bears the number 90 – of only 100! So I guess it’s sold out the moment you read this…

So what’s the use of this blogpost then?