Robert Rich – Perpetual (A Somnium Continuum)
Robert Rich‘s “Somnium” – released in 2001 – was (and still is) one of the landmark monuments of ambient music. Based on his experience playing sleep concerts since 1982, this 7 hour work was especially composed to be your companion during the night, following the natural flow of sleep cycles.
The original Somnium DVD (that was the only format then that could hold such an amount of music) has long sold out now.
But the good news is: there is a successor to this project now: “Perpetual” (and its physical release also contains the original “Somnium” recordings)!
Anjou; Pan & Me; Giulio Aldinucci; Ben Fleury-Steiner; Fossil Aerosol Mining Project – shortlist-
The migration of this blog has taken up some time, so I got a little behind in mentioning some fine album recommendations.
Here is another shortlist to catch up
Marconi Union; Sequence 8; Amongst Myselves; Aquavoice; Looped Exodus – shortlist –
Shortlist for October 2014: albums by Marconi Union (including ‘the most relaxing track ever released’!), Aquavoice, Amongst Myselves, Looped Exodus and another huge compilation from Future Sequence.
Poppy Ackroyd & Lumen – Escapement Visualised
Packed in a beautiful black embossed cover is this remarkable re-issue of Poppy Ackroyd’s 2012 album. For this re-release, “Escapement” is presented in DVD-format with visuals by Lumen (Tom Newell).
A Winged Victory for the Sullen – Atomos
A Winged Victory for the Sullen (AWVftS) is often referred to as a duo consisting of Adam Wiltzie (core member of the legendary Stars of the Lid – guess there’s no further introduction needed) and pianist/composer Dustin O’Halloran. But AWVftS would not be AWVftS without the (now 7-member) string section and the additional modular synth sounds created by Francesco Donadello. Together they present a full orchestral sound with a fascinating balance of string arrangements, melancholic piano melodies and (somewhat unsettling) synth embeddings.
New Site Live
(Subscribe now and win a download code)!
When you read this, the new ambientblog site is live!
To celebrate this, 30 FREE ALBUM DOWNLOAD CODES can be won.
The winners will be randomly drawn from all email subscribers that have entered their address in the first 48 hours (counting from October, 21)
Birthday News: FREE GIVEAWAYS!
On tuesday, October 21, it is exactly NINE years since the very first blog post.
And exactly five years since its name was changed to Ambientblog.net.
It is also the day this weblog (and all of its content) will be migrated to a new software platform.
To celebrate this, I have 30 FREE ALBUM DOWNLOAD CODES to give away!
Thomas Köner – Jana Winderen
Thomas Köner is perhaps the Jules Verne of ambient-electronic soundscapes: his sounds seem to come from the deepest ocean, the centre of the earth, the vastest spaces imaginable. If you know his work, you will often immediately recognise his sound when you hear it – and maybe feel it before you even hear it.
Knowing his back-catalogue, the choice of a piano as the main instrument for his new album is somewhat surprising. Piano notes are clearly fixed in time, as opposed to the stretched sounds Thomas Köner usually applies. It is, in a way, a bit of a “rigid instrument”.