Tag: electronic

ambient music, other-music, RECOMMENDATIONS

Marsen Jules Trio – Présence Acousmatique


Marsen Jules Trio

Only short after the minimalistic generative soundscape presented on “The Endless Change of Colour“, Marsen Jules displays a completely different musical approach with this album by the Marsen Jules Trio.

As the …Trio indicates, this album presents Marsen Jules’ atmospheric soundscapes with the addition of two other musicians: twin brothers Anwar Alam (piano) and Jan-Philipp Alam (violin), with whom Marsen Jules played tours and festivals across the USA, Canada and Europe.

“Présence Acousmatique” is a stunning synergy of ambient, avant-garde, modern classical and introspective jazz music. It is released on Jules’ own Oktaf label, but stylistically it would have also fitted the ECM (new) series.

ambient music, RECOMMENDATIONS

Jffstnhs; Terje Paulsen; Yugen; Machinefabriek; 3M33S

In the Shortlist sections, 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.

Broken

JFFSTNHS (JEFF STONEHOUSE) – BROKEN
A haunting and slowly intensifying drone created by Jeff Stonehouse, co-founder of Listening Mirror.On this 22 minute track (presented on a limited edition 3″ CDR on the Cooper Cult label), Jeff Stonehouse visits “darker places than Listening Mirror dared to tread”. The overall sound is dark, indeed, and feels like something is bound to happen soon – illustrated by the Franz Kafka quote (from “The Metamorphosis”) accompanying the track, as well as by the cover image of the test pilot, who “looks sedate and calm, but there is the implication that he is about to do something extremely dangerous”.

Svart Under Is

TERJE PAULSEN – SVART UNDER IS
Similar in length (20 minutes), and similar in atmosphere is this soundscape by Norwegian artist Terje Paulsen, released on Yugen-Art. While jffstnhs‘s release slowly builds up in tension, this mysteriously named track by Terje Paulsen starts heavily concentrated, but slowly unwinds and gives space to percussive, raindroplike sounds. So they’re a perfect match when played together (in this sequence).
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ambient music, RECOMMENDATIONS

William Basinski and Richard Chartier


Aurora Liminalis cover

With about 60 releases since 2000, the LINE (L-NE) IMPRINT label has built a firm reputation as “a programmatic sound platform with a strong inclination towards the visual arts and multimedia, born from the desire to take the tactile qualities of audio installations from the gallery space to listeners’ living rooms.”

Curated by Richard Chartier, LINE not only releases impressive sound art CD’s, but also DVD’s and Artwork Prints.

With its focus on audio/multimedia installations, mostly electronic by nature, LINE aims at the more ‘serious’ –  investigative – listener: this is definitely no ‘pop-ambient’ label. If you insist on comparisions, the label may be best compared to Raster-Noton, in style and artistic approach.  

At the start of 2013, LINE announced an impressive series of new releases, of which the new collaboration by William Basinski and Richard Chartier may obtain the most attention.
But in fact, the other releases deserve your attention as much. I’ve combined the four latest releases in these two posts, demonstrating the versatile output of the LINE label.

ambient music, RECOMMENDATIONS

Pinkcourtesyphone; Inventors of Aircraft; Julien Demoulin; An Moku; Esa Ruoho

In the Shortlist sections, 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.

Elegant & Detached

Spotify

Pinkcourtesyphone – Elegant & Detached
I had not realised until now that Pinkcourtesyphone is actually Richard Chartier – sound artist and curator of the LINE-label (more about that later).
This is the second full release from Pinkcourtesyphone in 2012, together with “Foley Folly Folio”. Compared to the works he releases under his own name, the Pinkcourtesyphone obviously gives room for some more playful, associative and humorous soundscapes, or “much more open to accident, failure, surprise and emotional/ironic juxtaposition of things” as he stated in the Headphone Commute interview. But that does not mean these soundscapes should not be taken seriously: they are very adventurous and cinematic, so this 70 minute album is a delightful pleasure to listen to.
“The callers voice whispers a wistful yet false love-letter to the cinema of aesthetics from a distant place concerning the things you did… and things you need to have done.”

ambient music, RECOMMENDATIONS

Philippe Lamy + Pleq (3 Titles)


SlowFast

Philippe Lamy (France) is an artist combining various art-forms. He’s a painter, but also teaches ‘plastic arts’ at the School of Architecture in Toulouse. He started creating music about ten years ago, “feeling that his paintings and music resonate together”.
His soundscapes indeed resemble paintings: they are incredibly detailed, almost organic, including a wide dynamic range of sounds.

His latest solo album,“SlowFast“, is recently released, following up two recent collaboration projects with well-known Polish artist Pleq.

other-music, RECOMMENDATIONS

Gluid – Metamorphosis; Arpatle – The Day After

Can this be a coincidence?

In the same week I have received two new albums with a remarkable resemblance: both are from Dutch artists, both have a bright ‘lightweight’, almost ‘poppy’, feeling yet are experimental in their creative use of sound samples. Also, both are defying contemporary genres. They’re not ambient, not too experimental, not strictly electronic, not improvised, but definitely not ‘mainstream pop’ either.

Could it be we’re defining a new genre here?


Gluid

ambient music, MIXES, surround

Broken Lines (Mix)


HAL's eye

If you have ever watched Stanley Kubrick‘s “2001 – Space Odyssey“, you will definitely remember the impressive scene in which the memory modules are slowly taken away from HAL, the ship’s main computer, because it started to disfunction and became a threat to the astronauts and their mission.
Just before his memory fades completely, HAL remembers being programmed to sing“Daisy”, one of his earliest digital ‘childhood memories’.

With this scene (as well as with HAL‘s name), Kubrick directly referred to the IBM 7094 computer (used to control the Mercury and Gemini space flights, as well as the Apollo missions) which was programmed to sing Daisy in 1961 – a remarkable accomplishment at that time!

Computer systems revolting, loss of memory, human utterings that seem to come from lost souls….
I guess you’d better be prepared for a dark and suspenseful listening hour …

If you have listened to this mix, I’m really curious to know what you think, so please let me know!
(and please let your friends know, also… just spread the word and make these mixes heard …  thanks for your help!)

ambient music, RECOMMENDATIONS

Banabila & Machinefabriek


banabila+machinefabriek

First: check my last.fm profile so you know that I’m not entirely ‘unbiased’ when reviewing this release. 

Michel Banabila and Machinefabriek are firmly at the top of my all-time favourite artists chart (well, to be exact: counting of ‘all-time’ started at 2005 when I “went digital” in listening music). 

Both have been extensively featured on this weblog (just do a search on their names to dig deeper) – even if that covers only a small part of their output.
Considering their complete discography, it seems their output is quite different in style – yet their work also has some overlapping areas, especially when it comes to “gritty” electronics. 

Knowing they both live in Rotterdam, it was clear that they should meet sometimes. I’ve been waiting for that to happen, but I had no idea if their collaboration would work and what the result might sound like. 

So imagine my surprise when, without any introduction or announcement, their collaborative album “Banabila & Machinefabriek”  was announced recently.

ambient music, RECOMMENDATIONS

Roach+Serries, L. Nerell, M. Jakobsons, G. Bojanek, F. D’Eybastens

In the Shortlist sections, 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.

Low Volume Music

STEVE ROACH & DIRK SERRIES – LOW VOLUME MUSIC
These two Grandmasters of Ambient music join forces again to create this “introspective musical palette solely dedicated to harmony, integrity and pure beauty.”
“In a world where the noise level of daily life has increased to a fever pitch, this release offers an essential sonic respite from the external distractions. These five delicate sound meditations are built upon a perfect blend of deep ambient characteristics: looping and lush textures and harmonics mixed with subtle, hovering, lattice-like forms. The tracks follow a zen-like flow, bringing the listener’s attention down to a distinct stillness, a single point; gently shifting, sparkling mirror pools of sound are revealed as meditations to reflect upon.”

Slow Dream

LOREN NERELL – SLOW DREAM
“Field recordings from the world of sleep” –  which prove to be Bali and Java (also the inspiration for many of Nerell’s earlier albums)
“Nerell’s four lengthy tracks are all-encompassing sonic environments primarily forged from extremely processed location recordings made during his trips to Bali. Rich drones and shimmering highlights skirt over the organic textures, processed and layered into subtle, delicate resonant spaces.”