So I'm sat here working at home all day while a couple of guys rip out my deceased furnace and convert a chunk of my savings into a new one. They're the other side of the wall. Couple of hours ago I'm playing Neal Morse - one pops his head round the door, 'had to ask what that is you're playing, that's really cool'. An hour later I'm playing some Emeralds drone, the second guy puts his head round the door, asks the same question. Sent them home with a list of artists. Didn't get me a discount.
I have so many offthesky releases (all of them) that I have to rediscover particular ones every now and then. This is wonderful. And free at the archive.
Craig, Offthesky is the recording name of a single guy called Jason Corder (he records under a few other names too). He experiments in a few different directions - I think he has a basically consistent approach to sound but different releases come off with different atmospheres, so it depends a little bit whether you would like something more "pretty" or something more "difficult". At the pretty end, The Geist Cycles is nice; at the difficult end there's always Fluorescence, his half-hour recording for a Japanese label of the processed sound of a fluorescent light bulb dying :-). (Not one that I go back to frequently).
If you want to dive in and do a little listening (and I recommend immersive listening - some of these really grow on me as sound worlds), the following are free to download and streamable on bandcamp and I think they are in some manner representative of how he goes about things:
Of the pay-for releases, if you have a streaming service try streaming The Beautiful Nowhere or Of Aerial Archetype for two different styles.
ETA: It can't be purchased any more (it was an edition of 50, I think, hand made; yes, I have one :-)) but do take a listen to the first track of iterate i
Andre Canniere is a versatile young New York trumpeter, jazz/classical crossover composer and film-score writer who moved to London in 2008. This is his first UK recording, with local musicians. Listeners to the music of Tim Berne, or Steves Coleman, Lehman or even Reich will recognise the method in these repeating motifs and accumulating rhythm patterns but Canniere also has a rocker's enthusiasm for fierce backbeats, distorted guitars and bendy synths. Structure wins out over fluidity early on, however, and five pieces have to pass before the standout Lost in Translation, which mixes folksy sensuality with a beautifully balanced combination of post-Miles trumpet and close-shadowing keyboards. Miles Davis playing Time After Time is also echoed in the lyrical tenderness of Song for J, against Hannes Riepler's soft guitar vamp. Forward Space is a promising blend of punchy Latin-funk, fusion guitar effects, loop-pattern pieces, sighing horn-led melodies and clever writing, which establishes an exhilarating collective strength.
Kronos Quartet, Music of Central Asia. Released in 2010, new to me via eMu. "Volume 8 in the Smithsonian Folkways series on the music of Central Asia pairs the Kronos Quartent with Afghan rub
Comments
Then
Double Handsome Dragons, Self-Titled EP (the first self-titled EP, not their second one)
Offthesky- Caustic Light
I have so many offthesky releases (all of them) that I have to rediscover particular ones every now and then. This is wonderful. And free at the archive.
Craig
If you want to dive in and do a little listening (and I recommend immersive listening - some of these really grow on me as sound worlds), the following are free to download and streamable on bandcamp and I think they are in some manner representative of how he goes about things:
Caustic Light - bandcamp stream and free download
Studies of Lifeforms in Transit bandcamp stream and free download
Of the pay-for releases, if you have a streaming service try streaming The Beautiful Nowhere or Of Aerial Archetype for two different styles.
ETA: It can't be purchased any more (it was an edition of 50, I think, hand made; yes, I have one :-)) but do take a listen to the first track of iterate i
Solo Andata: Ritual
Dark.
offthesky - evolute of an ion apple.
(image links directly to free download)
This one unfolds very patiently.
Source Guardian
I'm obviously revisiting student days for me this morning - early 1970s!
Porter Records Showcase @ FMA.
(Nate Wooley, Matt Bauder, Katherine Young, Blarvuster)
Kronos Quartet, Music of Central Asia. Released in 2010, new to me via eMu. "Volume 8 in the Smithsonian Folkways series on the music of Central Asia pairs the Kronos Quartent with Afghan rub
#iusedtodiscoverthingsthroughemusic
Craig
Cezary Ostrowski - Trip
ETA Then
offthesky - Hiding Nature
On a roll here.