"This is UK multi-instrumentalist Simon Scott's second album for Miasmah. He might still be best known for his tenure as the backbone of influential shoegazers Slowdive, but after his debut solo effort Navigare in 2009, he showed that there was far more to his oeuvre. With an ease and fluidity that eschews the usual trappings of the genre, he injected Slowdive's freeflowing bliss into the kind of blackened soundscapes the Miasmah label has made its calling card and gave the sound a rich, multi-layered quality that was effortlessly enticing. Bunny sees him take on a plethora of themes and ideas, distilling them into a coherent, well-defined narrative. The overall premise of the record is apparent from the very beginning, and might surprise some with its inspired take on the blackened jazz and smokey Americana heard in Paris, Texas or Mulholland Dr.. It would do Scott a disservice to simply label the music as Lynchian however; his success is to treat the layers of instrumentation (drums, guitars, cello, synthesizers) with a masterful fluidity, allowing the influences to melt into a delicate and delectable whole. Occasionally Scott acknowledges his shoegazing past, nudging the sound towards the blurred haze of his former band, but even these moments are cavernous enough for us to imagine them oozing from a Midwestern jukebox in an abandoned suburban diner. Bunny is an ambitious and daring journey for an artist who refuses to stay still; and it might just be the best road trip you've never taken."
- Forced Exposure.
- "For the past decade or so, Polish musician Michal Jacaszek has been exploring a new, resolutely modern chapter in Eastern Europes long, storied love affair with classical music. His creations are painstakingly crafted collages of electronic textures and baroque instrumentation, harpsichords being swarmed by woolly static one minute and pulled apart by billowing wind the next. Ambient musicif we can generalize unnecessarily for a secondis rarely so sonically challenging.
Jacaszeks latest album, Glimmer, is marked by a noticeable tug between melancholy and beauty, like its hovering in some gaseous grey area between both, at once both insular and extroverted. I tried again to create some fragile beauty glimmering behind the veil of reality, he says. I built a kind of curtain out of dirts and fuzzes, and used pure sound of clarinet and harpsichord playing beautiful melodies as a contrast to its harshness. This winking, push-and-pull tension runs deep and constant throughout the 40-odd-minute journey to the end."
- Ghostly International.
- 9 minutes preview @ Soundcloud.
ETA: Full preview at the Dutch radiostation VPRO.
@brighternow, that Jacaszek sounds great - and is saying unavailable in the US at emusic. :-(. Will have to search further afield.
ETA...it's available at emusic today.
Don't some of you like the Soundway label? They have a $5 sale going on, along with a bunch of labels I don't recognize (well, except for Fat Possum; I recognize that from somewhere).
- "Surface tension is a new "sound sculpture" from renown audio installation artist i8u aka France Jobin. Based on field recordings taken from Canada and the EU, the prolific Jobin freely integrates digital, analog, glitch and drone into a field of aural vision that simultaneously exhibits micro and macro perspectives on a complex, yet inviting, environmental theme. i8u's art is about juxtapositions, analogue to digital, aural to visual, technological to philosophical. Her installations can often be experienced in live events and festivals across the Canada, the United States, South America and Europe."
- Experimedia.
"Sung by a lovelorn psychologist, the songs in Lonely Motel are about perception, self-delusion and ultimately about the isolation created by the attachments we develop to our own fuzzy, personal views of reality.
The music is a dish by and for musical omnivores and while the ingredients have been diced quite finely (and there is no quotation), the songs are seasoned with homages to Dowland, Mozart, Stravinsky, Piazzola, and The Beatles."
- Steven Mackey.
- Nominated for 4 grammies including Best Contemporary Composition and Best Small Ensemble Performance.
The Rustle of the Stars by Richard Knox & Frederic D. Oberland
Another polar expedition project. Nice video on their page for one of the tracks. emusic link
450 km from the arctic circle, 'The Rustle of the Stars' is a phenomenon of austere beauty, a barely audible noise that occurs when the draught from human breath causes multiple collisions among the ice micro-crystals in the air. ... We met on tour when performing in Europe with our respective bands Glissando and FareWell Poetry. We had beautiful times, drinking and talking our common grounds whilst some simple ideas formed in our minds: to compose an album together. To imagine a musical passage through the North Pole explorer diaries. To ask some people and some friends to participate. To record the project in a church. To act quickly.
...We would like to think of this album as a polar journey to the ends of the earth through the arctic sea. We kept in mind the first polar expeditions, Edgar Allan Poe's Dream-Land, the ships trapped or crushed by ice, the point of no-return, the minds sinking, the attempt on the Pole ending in disaster, the quest of the Northwest Passage, Erebus & Terror, the Mercy Bay, Mangazeya, Charles Francis Hall, Beechey Island, the Midnight sun and the Polar night.
Christina Dahl, mezzo-soprano
Niels Ole Bo Johansen, trombone
Wayne Siegel, electronics
Anne-Mette Skovbjerg, guitar
Wayne Siegel (b. 1953) - "Is a Californian composer who settled in Denmark and is a pioneer of the interaction between computers and acoustic instruments. The title work of this CD is constructed solely from the voice of a singer which has been transformed into percussive elements, pitches and melodies. Other intriguing effects on this album include electronic canons, layering and delayed echoes all putting the acoustic solo instruments into new and exciting perspectives."
- Dacapo Records - http://www.waynesiegel.dk/
Out as a lavish box set a few months ago, released digitally today on 12k.
Taylor Deupree and Marcus Fischer, In A Place of Such Graceful Shapes
The attention to detail and care taken in the packaging is echoed in the music, whose goal was laid out at the very beginning of their collaboration: to create a single long piece that barely touched surfaces, ebbing and looping in stillness and the softest of movements. Intended for quiet listening, In a Place of Such Graceful Shapes is a warmly tactile and human piece of music, free of the computers that turned the artists off in the first place. The almost 50-minute composition builds a complex ecosystem of sounds, with the faintest of baritone guitar, bells, strings and harmonica joined by simple tones from synthesizers and toy keyboards. Even a bundle of sticks picked from the river finds its way into this deeply textured recording.
Just noticed Eric Bibb is releasing a new album, "Deeper in the Well" in March. Cedric Watson is one of the contributing artists. He's got a sneak preview on a Youtube official video here:
News from Danish electronic music's "grand old man" with a dream team of Danish musicians:
Musicians:
Kenneth Knudsen: keyboards, grooves, editing, Peter Kyed: grooves, Oliver Hoiness: guitars, Christian Skeel: computers & samples, Palle Mikkelborg: trumpets & fluegelhorn, Marilyn Mazur: drums, percussion, Peter Peter Schneidermann: occasional guitars, Fredrik Lundin: secret soprano & tenor saxophones, Peter Friis Nielsen: secret bass
"Since the launch of the Moog synthesizer in the early seventies, Knudsen has been the most significant Danish explorer of the tonal potential of electronic instruments exclusively, or in combinations with traditional instruments." http://kenneth-knudsen.dk/
New one from DiN label head, more sweeping analog synth landscapes. Streamable at Bandcamp.
Recorded live in April 2011 at the Awakenings series of electronic music concerts the album showcases Boddy at the top of his game. Employing almost exclusively analogue sound sources he crafts a seamless blend of electronica spanning 76 minutes of sonic exploration.
The album opens up with "Amongst Dark Clouds" with it's nebulous, spacey atmospheres and wash of glorious, epic chords. Tracks such as "Crossing The Range" and "Return Vector" see Boddy pulling off the feat of live sequencing and keyboard playing, a difficult task in a solo concert environment. As the tracks build you can literally hear Boddy building the pieces brick by brick to a sonic crescendo before tearing the musical structure down again. A fascinating experience that uses his years of experience using analogue modular synthesisers to the full. Other tracks such as "Parabolic Excursions" & the encore piece "Trip The Light Fandango" use studio created trippy sequencer grooves. Over these Boddy plays a range of subtle keyboard parts which feature his analogue "Ondes Martenot" style controller. These soaring lines are built up using a looping device into beautiful ambient beds and phrases. The title track "Strange Attractors" is an all together different affair. Like some proto-sequencer soundscape it's organic pulsations seem to drift in and out of phase. Overlaid with darkly shimmering ring modulated textures it's dark, unsettling atmosphere is punctuated with beautiful mellotron flutes. Building to an intense climax Ligeti like choral intrusions heighten the sense of unease.
One of Boddy's best and most intense concert performance of recent years "Strange Attractors" showcases one of the UK's leading electronic musicians. With almost 150 concerts under his belt such experience really shines through on the complexity and inventiveness of this live show.
Mentioned this pre-release - it's out now and finally arrived on emusic. Oliveray is a collaboration of Nils Frahm and Peter Broderick, both of whom have some fans on here. Stream some of it here,, and read an amusing and eloquent review here.
New release from The Boats on 12k titled The Ballads of the Research Department.
We wanted to present the ballad in a new form employing sounds as well as words to tell our stories. These stories are not as lyrical as the ballad form of the past and are open to the listeners interpretation. These are ballads of our time that are aware of the past. They are investigations into the uncertainty of our time, love, woe and hope.
They work in these grey areas by combining elements of various musical styles ambient, pop, classical, experimental creating overlaps, gaps and layers, nudging the boundaries in the most sincere and natural of ways. The Boats music is warm, rich and complex but never over-complicated. They rarely rely on any sort of studio trickery instead opting to use the most honest tools to get the sounds they want be it proper recordings of acoustic instruments or recording to analogue tape. This doesnt, however, override a passion for experimentation as they are happy to throw away the rules in favor of the aesthetics of error.
Hesitated for a day over this despite high anticipation of the release, because I couldn't get enthusiastic about the samples on the 12k site. Then decided to embrace the fast-disappearing joy of buying an album without listening to it first, just because the band deserves it. Must say on headphones it's sounding excellent so far. Should have known. 12k have hardly put a foot wrong of late.
This not quite out yet (Jan 31 is release date), but can be streamed in full here. Classical/ambient with a grainy, crackly edge - sounds very interesting. Very interesting indeed. There's also a free bonus track to download here.
ETA This is really worth listening to. It's now on my want list.
- "This album further explores the textures and forms of Muskoxs previous releases under the guise of early 70s progressive rock and the Canterbury scene, bringing to reality the imagined soundtrack of a youth spent immersed in fantasy and science fiction paperbacks. It's been a great pleasure working on this music, and I hope it finds you in good spirits." - http://www.muskoxhq.net/ - Bandcamp.
- "The Songs Trilogy is over, A new chapter entitled "The Broken Man" is about to open and is the most delicate of Elliott's albums to date. The angry noise has all but abated, making way for more fragile melodies and a more subtle approach to intensity to immerse the listener. Ideally listened to in total darkness to discover the hope hidden deep within the guitars, voice, choirs, bells, ethereal trumpets, the howl of the dog beneath the skin, in the sincerity of the music. Inspired by the ghosts of European folk music, the voice often resigned but always expressive."
- http://www.thirdeyefoundation.com/ - Bandcamp - Ici D'ailleurs.
- "After six groundbreaking longplay records under the name of Wovenhand, David Eugene Edwards in conjunction with Glitterhouse Records releases the synopsis of his work titled Black of the Ink. Oral history turns into written history. Black of the Ink is a 110 page hard-cover book that contains the complete lyrics of all Wovenhand records handwritten and illustrated by David Eugene Edwards himself. The elaborate work is accompanied by a six song CD one song off each album in brand-new and exclusive versions."
- Glitterhouse Records - Soundcloud - http://wovenhandmosaic.com/
"Cool dystopian vibes from Leila, unveiling her full-length album follow-up to 'Blood, Looms and Blooms'. Lending a severe sense of detachment, coldwave rhythms icily puncture the surface of her slab of raw mechanised industry. The Knife's distinctive vocal collaborator, Mt. Sims, provides some human depth to Leila's otherwise steely gaze, though we say human in the loosest manner possible - staying true to his aloof and interplanetary signature style."
Gonjasufi - MU.ZZ.LE
- "A brand new mini-album from one the most charismatic figures on the Warp roster. Once again the most hip-hop mystic you will ever encounter brings us this brilliant 10 track release. The album's downtempo strings, heartbreaking soul, reanimated hip-hop and crackling haunting vocal stylings are stitched as a running thread throughout each song like a patchwork quilt. It's a lonely journey that will take you through the innermost thoughts of Gonjasufi's darkest hours. He recorded and mixed it on his own in his home studio surrounded by his family and the stark contrast of the Mojave desert. The end product is his outlet and realization for who he is, a way for him to feel comfortable in his own skin again."
- "Characterised by DJ Food's usual amalgamation of thick fuzz bass and thundering patterns of drum-work, along with a selected array of psychedelic samples, comes the first full length album for around eleven years from the man also known as Strictly Kev. Featuring a number of collaborations (Natural Self AKA Nathaniel Pearn, J.G. Thirlwell AKA Foetus, Steroid Maximus etc and The The's Matt Johnson all appear), 'The Search Engine' is a heady trip through a space full of retro/futurist icons"
- Descriptions from Bleep.
DJ Food's plunderphonic masterpiece "Raiding the 20th Century - Words & Music Expansion (starring Paul Morley and a cast of thousands)"
- is mentioned in the Ubuweb Goodies.
- Fairly new and excellent:
ETA: Oooops, Already posted by B. Thoughts @ the BC/jazz thread, - Well. . . It IS good !
Adam Rudolphs Moving Pictures with Organic Orchestra Strings - Both/And
- Released by Meta Records 17 May 2011.
Adam Rudolph - handrumset (kongos, djembe, tarija, zabumba) thumb piano, bata (itotele), mouth bow, percussion
Ralph M. Jones - hulusi, bass clarinet, alto and c germanic flutes, soprano and tenor saxophones, bamboo trumpet, bamboo flutes
Joseph Bowie - trombone, organic/electronics, vocal, harmonica, congas, bamboo trumpet, percussion
Graham Haynes - cornet, flugelhorn, bamboo trumpet, percussion
Brahim Fribgane - oud, cajon, bendir, tarija, percussion
Kenny Wessel - electric and acoustic guitars, banjo
Jerome Harris - acoustic bass guitar, slide guitar, vocal
Matt Kilmer - frame drums, kanjira, bata (okonkolo), percussion
Organic Orchestra Strings - arrangements and improvised conducting by Adam Rudolph
Violins - Sarah Bernstein, Charles Burnham, Trina Basu
Mark Chung, Elektra Kurtis, Skye Steele, Midori Yamamoto
Violas - Stephanie Griffin, Jason Hwang
Cellos - Greg Heffernan, Daniel Levin
"A four-part composition of dual depth from Oren Ambarchi, displaying an adept sense of musicality in the form of deeply melodic song structures, alongside confidently impulsive moments in the form of spiralling explorations into free-rock and avant-garde minimalism. A highly revered artist in the field of experimental electronics for obvious reason.[/img]
- Bleep Newsletter - Much more @ Touch Music.
- " Marcus Fischer is a musician and multimedia artist currently based in Portland, Oregon. Field recordings, chance, and DIY instruments, coupled with acoustic instrumentation and visual art, define what has become his minimal signature. His uncanny ability to sculpt delicate beauty from the simplest of sound elements results in compositions that are both intimate and expansive.
From January 2009 through January 2010, Marcus kept a blog called Dust Breeding to document the results of his goal to complete one creative project a day for 365 days. These projects included photographs, field recordings, design, illustration, sewing, videos, DIY electronics experiments and music. He reached his goal of one full year of daily entries and has continued to add entries over the last few years, though less frequently.
Each piece on Collected Dust first appeared in its original form on Dust Breeding. After being selected for this collection by M. Ostermeier, each piece was updated and refined further by Marcus. The patient, relflective, and peaceful style found on Collected Dust's seven tracks inhabits a space somewhere near that of his debut CD for 12k, Monocoastal, which landed on many best-of-2010 lists, and his recent In a Place of Such Graceful Shapes collaboration with Taylor Deupree, who mastered this recording."
- Tench Records.
I saw this cover @ the listening thread, wondering what it covered:
Portico Quartet - S/T
- "The brooding, fuzzy glitch-jazz of opener Window Seat sets the mood for the nine tracks that follow, one that is in turns soothing and deeply unsettling. Ruins sounds like a progressive version of The XX, further confirming Portico's assimilation of electronic influences...Rubidium is an eight-minutes and more mini-epic that builds from its seductive Afrobeat-cum-horn intro into a scuttling, euphoric noise. Equally uplifting is the hypnotic, beat-filled Lacker Boo and the rich, evocative City of Glass. Steepless...offers a moment of genuine pop accessibility on an album that is otherwise an exercise in sheer musical abandonment. Listen without prejudice."
- Real World Records.
- "El Tren Fantasma, (The Ghost Train), is Chris Watson's 4th solo album for Touch, and his first since Weather Report in 2003, which was named as one of the albums you should hear before you die in The Guardian. A Radio programme was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Saturday 30 Oct, 2010, produced by Sarah Blunt, and described as "a thrilling acoustic journey across the heart of Mexico from Pacific to Atlantic coast using archive recordings to recreate a rail passenger service which no longer exists. Its now more than a decade since FNM operated its last continuous passenger service across country. Chris Watson spent a month on board the train with some of the last passengers to travel this route. As sound recordist he was part of the film crew working on a programme in the BBC TV series Great Railways Journeys. Now, in this album, the journey of the ghost train is recreated, evoking memories of a recent past, capturing the atmosphere, rhythms and sounds of human life, wildlife and the journey itself along the tracks of one of Mexicos greatest engineering projects."
- Touch Shop.
- "Watson is one of the world's leading recorders of wildlife and natural phenomena, and for Touch he edits his field recordings into a filmic narrative. For example. the unearthly groaning of ice in an Icelandic glacier is a classic example of, in Watson's words, putting a microphone where you can't put your ears. He was born in Sheffield where he attended Rowlinson School and Stannington College (now part of Sheffield College). In 1971 he was a founding member of the influential Sheffield-based experimental music group Cabaret Voltaire. His sound recording career began in 1981 when he joined Tyne Tees Television. Since then he has developed a particular and passionate interest in recording the wildlife sounds of animals, habitats and atmospheres from around the world. As a freelance recordist for film, tv & radio, Chris Watson specialises in natural history and documentary location sound together with track assembly and sound design in post production."
- http://www.chriswatson.net/.
Comments
Simon Scott - Bunny
"This is UK multi-instrumentalist Simon Scott's second album for Miasmah. He might still be best known for his tenure as the backbone of influential shoegazers Slowdive, but after his debut solo effort Navigare in 2009, he showed that there was far more to his oeuvre. With an ease and fluidity that eschews the usual trappings of the genre, he injected Slowdive's freeflowing bliss into the kind of blackened soundscapes the Miasmah label has made its calling card and gave the sound a rich, multi-layered quality that was effortlessly enticing. Bunny sees him take on a plethora of themes and ideas, distilling them into a coherent, well-defined narrative. The overall premise of the record is apparent from the very beginning, and might surprise some with its inspired take on the blackened jazz and smokey Americana heard in Paris, Texas or Mulholland Dr.. It would do Scott a disservice to simply label the music as Lynchian however; his success is to treat the layers of instrumentation (drums, guitars, cello, synthesizers) with a masterful fluidity, allowing the influences to melt into a delicate and delectable whole. Occasionally Scott acknowledges his shoegazing past, nudging the sound towards the blurred haze of his former band, but even these moments are cavernous enough for us to imagine them oozing from a Midwestern jukebox in an abandoned suburban diner. Bunny is an ambitious and daring journey for an artist who refuses to stay still; and it might just be the best road trip you've never taken."
- Forced Exposure.
Miasmah Recordings - Soundcloud - http://www.simonscott.org/index.php - http://simon-scott.blogspot.com/.
Jacaszek - Glimmer
- "For the past decade or so, Polish musician Michal Jacaszek has been exploring a new, resolutely modern chapter in Eastern Europes long, storied love affair with classical music. His creations are painstakingly crafted collages of electronic textures and baroque instrumentation, harpsichords being swarmed by woolly static one minute and pulled apart by billowing wind the next. Ambient musicif we can generalize unnecessarily for a secondis rarely so sonically challenging.
Jacaszeks latest album, Glimmer, is marked by a noticeable tug between melancholy and beauty, like its hovering in some gaseous grey area between both, at once both insular and extroverted. I tried again to create some fragile beauty glimmering behind the veil of reality, he says. I built a kind of curtain out of dirts and fuzzes, and used pure sound of clarinet and harpsichord playing beautiful melodies as a contrast to its harshness. This winking, push-and-pull tension runs deep and constant throughout the 40-odd-minute journey to the end."
- Ghostly International.
- 9 minutes preview @ Soundcloud.
ETA: Full preview at the Dutch radiostation VPRO.
ETA...it's available at emusic today.
I8U - Surface Tension
- "Surface tension is a new "sound sculpture" from renown audio installation artist i8u aka France Jobin. Based on field recordings taken from Canada and the EU, the prolific Jobin freely integrates digital, analog, glitch and drone into a field of aural vision that simultaneously exhibits micro and macro perspectives on a complex, yet inviting, environmental theme. i8u's art is about juxtapositions, analogue to digital, aural to visual, technological to philosophical. Her installations can often be experienced in live events and festivals across the Canada, the United States, South America and Europe."
- Experimedia.
"Sung by a lovelorn psychologist, the songs in Lonely Motel are about perception, self-delusion and ultimately about the isolation created by the attachments we develop to our own fuzzy, personal views of reality.
The music is a dish by and for musical omnivores and while the ingredients have been diced quite finely (and there is no quotation), the songs are seasoned with homages to Dowland, Mozart, Stravinsky, Piazzola, and The Beatles."
- Steven Mackey.
- Nominated for 4 grammies including Best Contemporary Composition and Best Small Ensemble Performance.
http://www.eighthblackbird.org/ - http://stevenmackey.com/ - Cedille Records
The Rustle of the Stars by Richard Knox & Frederic D. Oberland
Another polar expedition project. Nice video on their page for one of the tracks. emusic link
Christina Dahl, mezzo-soprano
Niels Ole Bo Johansen, trombone
Wayne Siegel, electronics
Anne-Mette Skovbjerg, guitar
Wayne Siegel (b. 1953)
- "Is a Californian composer who settled in Denmark and is a pioneer of the interaction between computers and acoustic instruments. The title work of this CD is constructed solely from the voice of a singer which has been transformed into percussive elements, pitches and melodies. Other intriguing effects on this album include electronic canons, layering and delayed echoes all putting the acoustic solo instruments into new and exciting perspectives."
- Dacapo Records - http://www.waynesiegel.dk/
- My two cents: WOW !
Out as a lavish box set a few months ago, released digitally today on 12k.
Taylor Deupree and Marcus Fischer, In A Place of Such Graceful Shapes
Violin: Mari Sawada
Cello: Michael Rauter
Trombone: Florian Juncker
Tuba: Benjamin Gr
Musicians:
Kenneth Knudsen: keyboards, grooves, editing, Peter Kyed: grooves, Oliver Hoiness: guitars, Christian Skeel: computers & samples, Palle Mikkelborg: trumpets & fluegelhorn, Marilyn Mazur: drums, percussion, Peter Peter Schneidermann: occasional guitars, Fredrik Lundin: secret soprano & tenor saxophones, Peter Friis Nielsen: secret bass
"Since the launch of the Moog synthesizer in the early seventies, Knudsen has been the most significant Danish explorer of the tonal potential of electronic instruments exclusively, or in combinations with traditional instruments."
http://kenneth-knudsen.dk/
ETA: @ Youtube: Kenneth Knudsen about the album "May Be" (Official Video) - Fascinating ! - (me thinks).
Strange Attractors by Ian Boddy
New one from DiN label head, more sweeping analog synth landscapes. Streamable at Bandcamp.
Mentioned this pre-release - it's out now and finally arrived on emusic. Oliveray is a collaboration of Nils Frahm and Peter Broderick, both of whom have some fans on here. Stream some of it here,, and read an amusing and eloquent review here.
New release from The Boats on 12k titled The Ballads of the Research Department.
Hesitated for a day over this despite high anticipation of the release, because I couldn't get enthusiastic about the samples on the 12k site. Then decided to embrace the fast-disappearing joy of buying an album without listening to it first, just because the band deserves it. Must say on headphones it's sounding excellent so far. Should have known. 12k have hardly put a foot wrong of late.
ETA This is really worth listening to. It's now on my want list.
Muskox - Invocation/Transformations
- "This album further explores the textures and forms of Muskoxs previous releases under the guise of early 70s progressive rock and the Canterbury scene, bringing to reality the imagined soundtrack of a youth spent immersed in fantasy and science fiction paperbacks. It's been a great pleasure working on this music, and I hope it finds you in good spirits." - http://www.muskoxhq.net/ - Bandcamp.
- Indeed it does !
- "The Songs Trilogy is over, A new chapter entitled "The Broken Man" is about to open and is the most delicate of Elliott's albums to date. The angry noise has all but abated, making way for more fragile melodies and a more subtle approach to intensity to immerse the listener. Ideally listened to in total darkness to discover the hope hidden deep within the guitars, voice, choirs, bells, ethereal trumpets, the howl of the dog beneath the skin, in the sincerity of the music. Inspired by the ghosts of European folk music, the voice often resigned but always expressive."
- http://www.thirdeyefoundation.com/ - Bandcamp - Ici D'ailleurs.
- "After six groundbreaking longplay records under the name of Wovenhand, David Eugene Edwards in conjunction with Glitterhouse Records releases the synopsis of his work titled Black of the Ink. Oral history turns into written history. Black of the Ink is a 110 page hard-cover book that contains the complete lyrics of all Wovenhand records handwritten and illustrated by David Eugene Edwards himself. The elaborate work is accompanied by a six song CD one song off each album in brand-new and exclusive versions."
- Glitterhouse Records - Soundcloud - http://wovenhandmosaic.com/
Leyla - U&I
"Cool dystopian vibes from Leila, unveiling her full-length album follow-up to 'Blood, Looms and Blooms'. Lending a severe sense of detachment, coldwave rhythms icily puncture the surface of her slab of raw mechanised industry. The Knife's distinctive vocal collaborator, Mt. Sims, provides some human depth to Leila's otherwise steely gaze, though we say human in the loosest manner possible - staying true to his aloof and interplanetary signature style."
Gonjasufi - MU.ZZ.LE
- "A brand new mini-album from one the most charismatic figures on the Warp roster. Once again the most hip-hop mystic you will ever encounter brings us this brilliant 10 track release. The album's downtempo strings, heartbreaking soul, reanimated hip-hop and crackling haunting vocal stylings are stitched as a running thread throughout each song like a patchwork quilt. It's a lonely journey that will take you through the innermost thoughts of Gonjasufi's darkest hours. He recorded and mixed it on his own in his home studio surrounded by his family and the stark contrast of the Mojave desert. The end product is his outlet and realization for who he is, a way for him to feel comfortable in his own skin again."
- "Characterised by DJ Food's usual amalgamation of thick fuzz bass and thundering patterns of drum-work, along with a selected array of psychedelic samples, comes the first full length album for around eleven years from the man also known as Strictly Kev. Featuring a number of collaborations (Natural Self AKA Nathaniel Pearn, J.G. Thirlwell AKA Foetus, Steroid Maximus etc and The The's Matt Johnson all appear), 'The Search Engine' is a heady trip through a space full of retro/futurist icons"
- Descriptions from Bleep.
DJ Food's plunderphonic masterpiece "Raiding the 20th Century - Words & Music Expansion (starring Paul Morley and a cast of thousands)"
- is mentioned in the Ubuweb Goodies.
ETA: Oooops - DJ food is on Ninja Tune.
ETA: Oooops, Already posted by B. Thoughts @ the BC/jazz thread, - Well. . . It IS good !
Adam Rudolphs Moving Pictures with Organic Orchestra Strings - Both/And
- Released by Meta Records 17 May 2011.
Adam Rudolph - handrumset (kongos, djembe, tarija, zabumba) thumb piano, bata (itotele), mouth bow, percussion
Ralph M. Jones - hulusi, bass clarinet, alto and c germanic flutes, soprano and tenor saxophones, bamboo trumpet, bamboo flutes
Joseph Bowie - trombone, organic/electronics, vocal, harmonica, congas, bamboo trumpet, percussion
Graham Haynes - cornet, flugelhorn, bamboo trumpet, percussion
Brahim Fribgane - oud, cajon, bendir, tarija, percussion
Kenny Wessel - electric and acoustic guitars, banjo
Jerome Harris - acoustic bass guitar, slide guitar, vocal
Matt Kilmer - frame drums, kanjira, bata (okonkolo), percussion
Organic Orchestra Strings - arrangements and improvised conducting by Adam Rudolph
Violins - Sarah Bernstein, Charles Burnham, Trina Basu
Mark Chung, Elektra Kurtis, Skye Steele, Midori Yamamoto
Violas - Stephanie Griffin, Jason Hwang
Cellos - Greg Heffernan, Daniel Levin
- Emusic
Oren Ambarchi - Audience of One
"A four-part composition of dual depth from Oren Ambarchi, displaying an adept sense of musicality in the form of deeply melodic song structures, alongside confidently impulsive moments in the form of spiralling explorations into free-rock and avant-garde minimalism. A highly revered artist in the field of experimental electronics for obvious reason.[/img]
- Bleep Newsletter - Much more @ Touch Music.
Marcus Fischer - Collected Dust
- " Marcus Fischer is a musician and multimedia artist currently based in Portland, Oregon. Field recordings, chance, and DIY instruments, coupled with acoustic instrumentation and visual art, define what has become his minimal signature. His uncanny ability to sculpt delicate beauty from the simplest of sound elements results in compositions that are both intimate and expansive.
From January 2009 through January 2010, Marcus kept a blog called Dust Breeding to document the results of his goal to complete one creative project a day for 365 days. These projects included photographs, field recordings, design, illustration, sewing, videos, DIY electronics experiments and music. He reached his goal of one full year of daily entries and has continued to add entries over the last few years, though less frequently.
Each piece on Collected Dust first appeared in its original form on Dust Breeding. After being selected for this collection by M. Ostermeier, each piece was updated and refined further by Marcus. The patient, relflective, and peaceful style found on Collected Dust's seven tracks inhabits a space somewhere near that of his debut CD for 12k, Monocoastal, which landed on many best-of-2010 lists, and his recent In a Place of Such Graceful Shapes collaboration with Taylor Deupree, who mastered this recording."
- Tench Records.
Portico Quartet - S/T
- "The brooding, fuzzy glitch-jazz of opener Window Seat sets the mood for the nine tracks that follow, one that is in turns soothing and deeply unsettling. Ruins sounds like a progressive version of The XX, further confirming Portico's assimilation of electronic influences...Rubidium is an eight-minutes and more mini-epic that builds from its seductive Afrobeat-cum-horn intro into a scuttling, euphoric noise. Equally uplifting is the hypnotic, beat-filled Lacker Boo and the rich, evocative City of Glass. Steepless...offers a moment of genuine pop accessibility on an album that is otherwise an exercise in sheer musical abandonment. Listen without prejudice."
- Real World Records.
- "El Tren Fantasma, (The Ghost Train), is Chris Watson's 4th solo album for Touch, and his first since Weather Report in 2003, which was named as one of the albums you should hear before you die in The Guardian. A Radio programme was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Saturday 30 Oct, 2010, produced by Sarah Blunt, and described as "a thrilling acoustic journey across the heart of Mexico from Pacific to Atlantic coast using archive recordings to recreate a rail passenger service which no longer exists. Its now more than a decade since FNM operated its last continuous passenger service across country. Chris Watson spent a month on board the train with some of the last passengers to travel this route. As sound recordist he was part of the film crew working on a programme in the BBC TV series Great Railways Journeys. Now, in this album, the journey of the ghost train is recreated, evoking memories of a recent past, capturing the atmosphere, rhythms and sounds of human life, wildlife and the journey itself along the tracks of one of Mexicos greatest engineering projects."
- Touch Shop.
- "Watson is one of the world's leading recorders of wildlife and natural phenomena, and for Touch he edits his field recordings into a filmic narrative. For example. the unearthly groaning of ice in an Icelandic glacier is a classic example of, in Watson's words, putting a microphone where you can't put your ears. He was born in Sheffield where he attended Rowlinson School and Stannington College (now part of Sheffield College). In 1971 he was a founding member of the influential Sheffield-based experimental music group Cabaret Voltaire. His sound recording career began in 1981 when he joined Tyne Tees Television. Since then he has developed a particular and passionate interest in recording the wildlife sounds of animals, habitats and atmospheres from around the world. As a freelance recordist for film, tv & radio, Chris Watson specialises in natural history and documentary location sound together with track assembly and sound design in post production."
- http://www.chriswatson.net/.