Seventeen years – and quite a lot of releases – after “Nordheim Transformed”, Geir Jenssen and Helge Sten return to the split-album formula to release “Stator“, built on the same principles: each delivering individual tracks (three by Biosphere, and four by Deathprod).
In the history of ambient electronic music both Biosphere and Deathprod have gained legendary status. “Stator” shows why.
After they met when working together on Cloud Ensemble, Michel Banabila and Oene van Geel extended their collaboration which resulted in 2014’s “Music for Viola and Electronics”.
Both were so very enthusiastic about the new musical world that they had opened up, that they kept working on “Music for Viola and Electronics II”, which is released this month.
Judging by the (strikingly beautiful!) aerial landscape photography by Gerco de Ruijer on the cover, their collaboration will probably not end here: the crop of the (geometric) landscape on the Volume I cover photo is only partially harvested – by hand, line by line… a difficult, strenuous, but most rewarding work.
Could this be a celebration of the 40th anniversary of Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music?
In fact, it really ís machine music!
Remember ‘Tron’?
I guess this is what Kevin Flynn must’ve felt like.
Judged by his output alone, Rutger “Machinefabriek” Zuydervelt must be the ‘hardest working man in electronic showbusiness’.
This is a pick from the latest batch… but chances are that by the time you finished reading this post and listening to the samples his website will already have announced some newer releases…
Next to the recent albums “The Measures Taken”, “Sneeuwstorm” and “Loos”, you’ll also find a beautiful video registration of the Halfslaap performance with the Fox String Quartet at the recent 24 Hour Drone Fest at the LeGuessWho Festival in Utrecht last year.
Featuring tracks from Boduf Songs, Jeff Bridges, The Notwist, Jordan De La Sierra and Sinikka Langeland , the march selection is not only hovering on the borders of sleep, but also on the borders of ‘ambient’ music.
Additional atmospheres created by Lauki, Markus Mehr, Ann Deveria, John Kannenberg, Hessien, Jasmine Guffond, Alphaxone, K. Novotny and Field Rotation.
From ‘mist’ to ‘mystic’ – with a selection of a collaborative improvisation by Ryuichi Sakamoto, Taylor Deupree and Illuha, new albums by Chihei Hatakeyama, Lauki and Sonmi45, and the ritualistic tribal ambient of Steve Roach, Byron Metcalf and Rob Thomas.
Frans Friederich is a dutch trumpet-player, musician, composer and music teacher living in Zierikzee, Holland.
Friederich’s Bandcamp page displays an extensive overview of his work, all compiled by their different styles and downloadable for free (!).
All these compilations present a large array of adventurous experiments, but there are two specific release that justify recommendation here on Ambientblog: “Ambient 2002 – 2013” and “Ambient 2 – 1998 – 2013” , respectively (- you probably guessed thát).
A brand new selection of recommended albums: a strikingly beautiful fundraiser from Loscil, washes of water from Olan Mill and Linear Bells, minimalist thrills from Fabio Orsi and altered dimensions from Alphaxone.
“Distant echoes of ancient monastery, choral voices of lost languages, and musical structures of shifting melodic an textural passages reveal that Holographic Codex is a secret code: a precise and skilfully crafted mantra of hypnotic sonic depth and symbolic fragments.”
