Berber Ox is David Rutledge: a Sydney based radio-producer who, according to the sparse information available, “makes music that crosses genres such as Experimental, Drone, Dark Ambient, Power Electronics and Post Industrial often in the same track.”
With a description like that, you at least you have some indication of what to expect when listening to “Limiter“. And that’s a good thing, because you’d better be prepared!
Cello + Laptop first got my attention with their beautiful track, “The Hunt”, featured on the “Escala 2.3” compilation.
This Spanish duo, consisting of Sara Galán (Cello) and Edu Comelles (Laptop) have now released their full debut album on the Envelope Collective label (“The label that is always slipping in the fold of the wave”).
“Parallel Paths“ easily exceeds the (high!) expectation I had based on the single track I knew from Escala 2.3.
When I first read the title of Monty Adkins‘ latest album, “Four Shibusa”, I imagined a Shibusa would probably be some kind of exotic Japanese wind instrument.
I was wrong: it turns out ‘Shibusa’ is a japanese concept ‘describing the inherent simplicity and beauty in everyday objects’.
(Shibusa) “refers to a particular aesthetic of simple, subtle, and unobtrusive beauty, and can apply to a wide variety of subjects, not just art or fashion”.
This description strikingly seems to apply to what most ‘ambient’ music tries to achieve…so there’s a good start for further investigation!
This must be one of the darkest mixes I have created until now.
I recommend headphone listening for this mix, but also recommend to avoid late night listening – unless, of course, you know what to expect.
The atmosphere is immediately set with the first notes, with a threatening (Boduf Songs) howl , and may even get downright frightening in the end climax.
Yet, not all is dark and gloomy.
In the middle section, there are also more optimistic sounds to enjoy, some more comfortable moments.
So: just let the Machinefabriek track (‘Stroomtoon Eén’- about 4 minutes from the start) guide you downward to a lower consciousness level – “Inception” style – and from there let your imagination do the rest….
“Nonparallel (In Four Movements) is composed and arranged entirely from samples from the recordings of avant-garde Western classical composers and computer music released by the Nonesuch label in the 60s and 70s.”
Just that statement alone should be enough to raise your interest for this new album by Damian Valles, just because of the fact that from the early 60’s, the Nonesuch label has been on the forefront of electronic and avant-garde music – releasing classic titles like Morton Subotnick‘s “Silver Apples of the Moon” and Beaver & Krause‘s “The Nonesuch Guide to Electronic Music”
“In working with the material, Valles wanted to enter into its very lineage, to forge a dialogue with it, to both extrapolate something essential from it and contribute to its legacy by using it to create an original work some three decades later.”
It’s quite hard to keep up with Rutger “Machinefabriek” Zuydervelt’s output. In fact, I could easily publish an entire (sub-)weblog dedicated to his releases.
I really try to avoid returning to the same artists with every new release. But the sheer quality of Rutger Zuydervelt‘s music makes it hard to ignore his newest releases.
Every new release seems to bring a new surprise: an unexpected collaboration, or a kind of special touch that makes his music stand out from the mass of other releases.
It may be hard to keep up, but it’s always very rewarding to check his new releases.
Here’s a pick from the latest batch:
I don’t particularly have very pleasant auditive associations when thinking about my dentist.
Fascinating as they may be, the high-pitched sound of the dentist drill resonating in my skull, the gurgling drain, and the dentist telling me to relax my muscles – while all of my body tells otherwise….not very reassuring.
So what to expect from an electronic music trio called Dentistry?
It was a rather casual remark from Pleq, promoting his own track on this set, that led me to “Escala 2.3“ .
Following his advice, I found an amazing set of 3 albums, presented by the Escalared netlabel and Sísmógrapho Radio 3 from Spain.
46 tracks of new ambient, drone, soundscape and electro-acoustic music – over 4 hours of music in a free download package … you can even choose to download it in MP3, OGG or FLAC format!
It’s almost impossible to keep up with the speed of Will ‘Celer’ Long and Rutger ‘Machinefabriek’ Zuydervelt.
By the time I have finished writing this review, I guess probably at least three new releases will have emerged which are all also worth hearing…
Following up their 7″ collaboration (“Maastunnel – Mt. Mitake” ), they recently did a short tour through Holland (and Brussel).
Recordings of these sets have now been released simultaneously with the duo’s second 7″ single “Numa – Penarie“.
And, to conclude this batch: the CDR “Bliksem“, recorded by Celer especially for this tour (in a very limited physical edition of 10) is now also available as a digital download.
