For The Ambient Lovers...review and mixtape archive 001

Charlatan - Equinox

For his second vinyl LP as Charlatan post-”Triangles” on Digitalis, Rose rallies ground shared by synth-fuzz-meisters Tim Hecker and Leyland Kirby. With the grand swell of “Titans”, a more serious epoch than expected. From a moniker depicting fraudster’s Musak, paradox to hand: Rose runs Digitalis, constantly scours for experimental talent. So if we’re to literalise from this work, it’s the sound of respite to an otherwise busy-busy headquarters. In contrast, the merry-go-round mini-revelations of B side 2, “Seed And Light”, like a Malteaser rattling in its box near an inquisitive cat – only for the cat, and you, to find out activity after wasn’t quite as you planned it – has the animated melody creating figurative imagery of a fun fair in full flight. Happy children with candy floss and parents losing their grown-up streak for a few minutes.

http://www.fluid-radio.co.uk/2011/12/charlatan-equinox/

Festive Greetings from Hibernate & Home Normal

1. Antonymes: Snow On Snow
2. Clem Leek - Away in America
3. The Boats with Annabel Keach - Once In A Royal Boats City
4. Offthesky: O Holy Night
5. Daniel Thomas Freeman - In The Bleak Midwinter (from words by
Christina Rossetti 1830 - 1894)
6. Machinefabriek: Silent Night
7. Strom Noir: Icon
8. Good Weather for an Airstrike: O Christmas Tree
9. Konntinent ft. Leyli: Snowfall
10. Anna Rose Carter and Christopher Bailey: Go Tell it on the Mountain
11. Wil Bolton: Coventry Carol
12. Isnaj Dui: Always Close
13. Listening Mirror ft. Alicia Merz: Silent Night
14. The Frozen Vaults: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
15. Upward Arrows: Gaudete
16. Ithaca Trio: God Rest

Proceeds will go to the Archway Foundation, established in Oxford in 1982 by Paul Hawgood to help serve those hurt by loneliness.

http://festivegreetings.bandcamp.com/

Pascal Savy - Fragments (Hibernate Postcard Series)

Pitchfork’s recent feature by Simon Reynolds saw him adapting the tech-speak “digital maximalism”, first coined in the book “Hamlet’s BlackBerry”, to affirm of the developing culture today’s youth are capable in catalysing. And otherwise, he writes, “The combination of computer (infinite flexibility) and internet (infinite ‘inspiration’ can also cause complete artistic paralysis: the impulse of fusion collapsing into con-fusion, the musical equivalent of a gone-too-far collage”. A viable cortege for the Ambient fraternity of “digital maximalism” is to not resort to what Reynolds sees as “minimal / deep / dark” up to recent, but occupy another space where all visitors are taken in and spun upon oneself; a reverse rock, paper, scissors in upwards strength and back, having a ditzy arts and crafts lesson all of its own.

“Transcendental introspection” seems a fitting phrase to constitute adaptability impulse, and traits possible to the muso-intelligentsia and layman alike. Say the artist donates their blood, while bestowing a unique blood type to the world – consider Richard Skelton for his bowed Modern Classical melancholy. Or perhaps William Basinski’s disintegrating loops for territory closer to Ambient’s inner sanctum, meshing genre basis’ so that the forgotten memories become the future gauze. Applied across genres, “transcendental introspection” alludes to postmodernist values of artistic composition – citing relativity as a conduit to alter, and monotony of subject as a course to lease. And transcendental introspection, indeed, is something which Hibernate’s “Postcard” by Pascal Savy has by the bucketload.

A highly prominent sine wave sits behind the furnace on “Passing Light”, pushing electronic spattering and guitar fragments to the forefront. Not only drone – the field recordings levitate with the low end, while meditating with the higher shards. Subtle elements cushion and allure you, bypassing cufflink-esque strangulation in favour of a filtered approach to sound design. So far, so good. “By Dusk” deepens the listener’s interest, revelling in a half-empty sound well: raindrops and morphing melody pulsate with a foreboding calm, locking the door, putting keys to one side. Four minutes pass: field recordings begin enshrouding a sharper constant in timbre and texture. Touch’s BJ Nilsen springs to mind for the highly visceral minimalism that drone music is capable of, however Savy has an ear for consonance that, again, is transcendentally introspective – one loses the regionality of categorisation mentally, and transforms sight to a local grocery store, full of rosy fruits where introspection and inquisitivity collide.

“On Leaving” adopts the dusty patchwork of Improv-drone guitarist Oren Ambarchi, and then drenches the soundscape with a slowly drooling bass lick that seems to go on and on. That’s another perspective to account for in transcendence and introspection together – when you analyse repeatedly, or hear a piece for such a time – sometimes at once, sometimes alone – that your thoughts ferment and freeze to posit a notion, or surplus meanings for what your opinion of that piece turns out to be. Here, as is the overview with whatever gets issued by Hibernate this annum, introspection is brought out of itself to transcend, thrive, and just bleedin’ well satisfy every field recordist and Ambient buyers quota, purist or punter. 20 minutes of bliss from a label and musician that should be high on your radar by now.

“Fragments” is a numbered limited edition 3″ CDr of 100.

http://www.fluid-radio.co.uk/2011/12/pas...fragments/

Xela - Exorcism

Here is the final release from Xela and it's incredible and it's free, go grab it now http://learnwithxela.wordpress.com/2011/12/07/exorcism/

Cheers

I finally listened to Tape Loop Orchestra's "Maybe I Told A Small Lie", and it's brilliant.

Tape Loop Orchestra - Maybe I Told A Small Lie

The music is divided into at least four discrete sections, the shortest being the bright, major-key closing coda, with the third perhaps the longest and also the most melancholy. The impression is therefore less that of a single epic ‘track’, and more that of an orchestral symphony, with a sequence of several distinct parts that nonetheless form a cohesive whole. Continuing the classical theme, it is tempting to interpret the record as an analogy of a lifetime: youth, adulthood, old age, and a final hint at epiphany or rebirth. The string sounds are rich, yet handled with delicacy, tenderness even; melodic lines bring sharper, more vivid colours without breaking the general lush ambience.

http://www.fluid-radio.co.uk/2011/10/tap...small-lie/

The Boats - Do The Boats Dream Of Electric Fritz Pfleumer (Slaapwel Records)

http://slaapwel.bandcamp.com/album/do-th...z-pfleumer

Reviewing that next.

Edit: here we are...

The Boats - Do The Boats Dream Of Electric Fritz Pfleumer

Ever since “Sleepy Insect Music”, Andrew Hargreaves and Craig Tattersal have shown a deft touch – harnessing guitar, violin, beats and tape loops that poke their heads through each others’ doors but never quite get cosy – rather like a depersonalised cog of Ambient sound, rubbing shoulders with Modern Classical, library music and Electronica. Tape loops are the focus on this 36 minute piece from the ever-interesting Slaapwel label. Single tunes from Simon Scott, Greg Haines and Peter Broderick have cogitated their own formula for the ethos, so the middling concept is to have work that creates a half-asleep state, a nearly-there-but-not-quite-paralytic slumber. All releases have been worthy and gratifying so far, so – do the boats sink or swim with “Do The Boats Dream Of Electric Fritz Pfleumer”?

The most poignant observation I can make is that it’s not a strictly sleeping record. While the beginning is lulling and softener-fresh in warmth, sharper elements intrude later, thus the track doesn’t adhere to the basis of a purely functional loop. The primary effect of this: it bridges the ideological continuum of intrusion and comfort. These two protocols are constantly reshaped amongst more alive n’ kicking music of the information age ilk. But as with any reality, there’s a point where normality can turn to agitation. The subconscious flexing a “things don’t seem quite right”. Notions of aggression: rush hour, traffic noise, and loneliness get whacked on your bill if passive in the context of nighttime listening. This consequently leads to a questioning of the dream state as a veritable oasis for release; for the artist, and participant, who wishes to reinterpret these universal signposts of life, and make them good.

Expanding on Slaapwel’s dream-inclusive ethos in their own words, Hargreaves and Tattersal say: “One theory is that dreams act as a way for the brain to discard or use up ideas that were not fully formed in waking life, so that the brain space can be used up the next day for new ideas. It was our aim to convey this theory within music.”. Resulting, they’ve spelt out “shelf life” with this work. Five plays passed and I was still uncovering new nuances. Plenty of them, indeed, are half-realised: a loner’s march of chimes kissing the foreground; uprising tones that heighten sensory perception later; stuttering field recordings speckling like snowdrops on a slate roof. If this is to do their theory any justice, there’s nobility it has translated to music so presentably prim. You can tell a lot of work has gone into this. As such, many of my subsequent listening periods were guided by a common listener’s adage: with records of depth, there’s usually a refreshed perspective to be gained when you return to them.

Verbalising unmooted by hazards relating to the practice of sleep records is tough nonetheless, because a) there’s natural reluctance to awaken out of semi-awake awareness, and b) when you do return to lucid sensory control, the after-effects of this semi-awake state recur less, causing generalised responses to what was experienced. Just as you forget your exam work if you don’t study it often enough, music becomes fodder for forgetfulness when we don’t have the right context for it. Dreams habituate in a central void of these ideas, because it’s your history being recalled in sometimes subconscious, sometimes “wishing to forget” ultimatums. “Do The Boats Dream Of Electric Fritz Pfleumer” is one sound document I won’t be forgetting very quickly, and it can be guaranteed to see in your 2012 with dreamy intent.

http://www.fluid-radio.co.uk/2012/01/the...-pfluemer/

Two superb mixtape picks from November-December:

PvC - November Thoughts



(Photo by Lisa Fanucchi)

In the Northern Hemisphere, the November month is the month of Autumn: the month that summer is definitely over, when cold and darkness slowly creeps in.

(In the Southern Hemisphere, November is a month of Spring - which means this mix will probably not fit your "November Thoughts" at all).

(Northern) November can be rough and harsh, but it's also very beautiful to watch nature prepare for winter and finding ourselves doing the same.

It is also a good month to think November Thoughts.

Playlist
first time is start-time; second time is sample length

00:00 04:30 Christina Vantzou - Prelude for Juan
(No.1, 2011, Kranky Krank159)
03:30 04:36 David Darling - September Mom
(Prayer for Compassion, 2009, Wind over the Earth WE2340)
05:48 03:05 Amiina - Sicsak
(Puzzle, 2010, Amínamúsík Ehf. – AMIINA 5)
07:20 04:30 Runar Magnusson & Thor Magnusson - Kizxju
(Classifields, 2007, Tri Postal Trip 6)
09:22 02:36 Siberische Zelle - Knechte des Tourismus
(Archive 1, 2005, 90% Wasser WCD 003)
09:55 03:07 Alex Durlak - Bellows
(Kanshin, 2011, Hibernate 008]
11:26 03:46 Field Rotation, Mari Solaris - Lament
(Brave New World, 2011, Feedbackloop FBL010)
14:00 03:54 Dadavistic Orchestra - Deep Old Mu
(Dokument.02, 2011, Dust Science Recordings Dustcd025)
15:41 03:25 Brian Eno - Calcium Needles
(Small Craft on a Milk Sea, 2010, WARP warpcd207)
17:40 07:18 Yann Novak - Presence
(Presence, 2011, Hibernate HB35)
21:38 04:39 Peter Broderick - Pause
(SMM Context, 2011, Ghostly International, GI-133)
25:18 03:39 Clem Leek - Origami Soldiers
(Lifenotes, 2011, Drifting Falling DRIFTING023)
26:54 04:09 Antonymes - Endlessly
(The Licence to Interpret Dreams, 2011, Hidden Shoal HSR080)
30:21 01:00 Macu - One Minute for the Stars
(One Minute for the Stars, 2011, SEM 011)
30:45 03:08 Daniel Menche - Hover
(Hover, 2010, Touch Spire 3)
32:23 02:56 Allessio Ballerini - Zeit_Partone
(Music From the Puddle, 2011, Time Released Sound TRS-03)
33:25 02:55 Natalia Noelis Siebula & Bartosz Dziadosz - Otta Og Kvida
(In the Bleak Wilderness of Sleep, 2011, Audio Gourmet Netlabel AGCD05)
35:35 03:39 Erik Carlsson & Steven Hess - Waal
(Bridges, 2011, Machinefabriek self-released)
37:50 03:38 Carl Michael Von Hausswolff - Night
(800.000 Seconds in Harar, 2011, Touch TO:82)
39:09 05:35 Yann Novak - Lullabye
(Cotton Dragon's Eye Second Anniversary, 2011, Dragon's Eye Recording, der003)
43:32 03:21 Sense - Less Than Perfect
(Selected Moments Volume 1, 2011, Psychonavigation PSY046)
46:03 02:53 Janek Schaefer - Unfolding Honey
(10, 2011, Room40 DRM410)
47:49 02:25 Franz Hautzinger - T-Gone
(Gomberg II, 2007, Loewenhertz 018]
48:58 02:52 Kleidosty - Fruited Plain
(Kleidosty, 2011, Loöq Records LQ-1108 )
50:50 03:23 Penjaga Insaf - Pelamun
(Sama Sadja, 2011, Power & Steel PAS27)
52:26 04:23 Runar Magnusson - Useless Feelings
(Mixed Feelings, 2005, Whitelabel)
54:07 03:04 Jean-Francois Laporte - Electro-Prana
(Soundmatters, 2007, 23five 009)
56:55 01:30 Clem Leek - November 11th
(Lifenotes, 2011, Drifting Falling DRIFTING023)
57:30 02:18 Stephan Mathieu, Janek Schaefer - Cosmos
(Hidden Name, 2006, Crónica 027)
58:34 01:14 Jean-Francois Laporte - Electro-Prana
(Soundmatters, 2007, 23five 009)
1:00:00 End

Download @ ambientblog.net

Low Light - Drowsy

I recently had surgery on a broken collarbone & had to spend a fair amount of time laying around, recuperating, sleeping. So I decided to make a mix that would work well with Percocet & Vicodin.

I've produced other sleep mixes before, "I fell asleep at my desk making this mix", "slo mo", "slow & sleepy", and have often relied on them for nighttime listening. Of course most of the mixes found here could work as "sleep" mixes.

This new mix, "drowsy", fits right in with those others. It's a soothing mix of drones & synth washes that will put anyone to sleep.

T R A C K L I S T :

00:00 Benoît Pioulard - Drowsy
04:15 Ex Confusion - Bloom
09:45 Peter James & Disturbed Earth - A Descending Calm
13:45 Steve Roach - Slow Heat (excerpt)
21:05 Aglaia - Milosis
30:45 David Tagg - Wolf Suite II
34:40 Alio Die - Innamorato
42:35 Kyle Bobby Dunn - New Pures
45:35 Loscil - Stave Peak
51:15 Nest - Koretz's Meteor
55:55 Ursula - Un final decepcionante
01:01:01 end

Download @ Low Light Mixes, and also obtain direct links through the tracklist to more sources

My review of Paul Jebanasam's "Music For The Church Of St. John The Baptist" appeared first in Fluid Radio's Facture Highlights 2011. It's their record of the year.

http://www.fluid-radio.co.uk/2011/12/dig...ghts-2011/

http://www.fluid-radio.co.uk/2011/12/50-for-2011/

Umberto - Final Exit (Black Moss) PICTURE LP one-sided / LIMITED TO 150 COPIES

http://soundcloud.com/blackmoss/umberto-...xit-sample

http://umberto.bandcamp.com/album/final-exit

Oh hi
http://soundcloud.com/nayf/nayf-presents...them-close

Oh hey Nayf, glad you posted that. Funny as I just re listened to your last mix a few times in the last week and wanted to hit you up to tell you how amazing it is and probably was overlooked and others should revisit. The in between worlds one, seriously I love it.

Will check this one you just put up.

Also see some new posts in here above I need to check. Great pics too.

Ps listening now, I love the title.

Great selection nayf; what's the track at 1 hour 25 minutes?

Nova Scotian Arms / Motion Sickness Of Time Travel - Crystal Anniversary

An elder’s hand running its fingers through quicksand – trapped by pressure, fighting to form a fist and punch its way out. Re-listening to “Navigation (Devotional)”, it’s the feel, and you relish reading between the grains of drone for pure pleasure, as the sandy textures have spread to permeable structure. But still there’s air of compression, like an hour glass holding that sand, shaken 180 degrees, Christopher Willits & Ryuichi Sakamoto’s “Ocean Fire” buried under similar layers you tried to elude from originally.

The inner grain of Nova Scotian Arms and Motion Sickness Of Time Travel’s split LP, the husband and wife duo of Grant and Rachel Evans, is a release to celebrate their Crystal wedding anniversary, and similarly a quintessential line through further dunes of their back catalogues, suggests unique stylising in plentitudes of scorching phased noise, synth blasts stimulating one’s noggin in fancy fashion, and an undemanding stint in each sonic interval, where a plethora of elements protrude around the psyche to pacify any unease.

For Grant, his role in this LP with the 16 minute opener is something of kismet with his wife’s more melodically prominent pieces. For Rachel, the most prolific of the two producers, she’s got a tough job to follow the brazen lead. But the record washes as a whole – much as Red Bull in the morning clears cobwebs, it’s a case of neurons that fire together, wiring together. Researchers John J. Ratey and Eric Hagerman cite stress as a powerful tool for improving vitality in the book “Spark!”, and it’s applied as an active thinking exciter here.

It can be stressed there’s sonority when anything has a core, especially when it looks inside of itself to bring something new out. Rachel’s Motion Sickness Of Time Travel traces back to the upsurge of 70s New Age on second track “Censer”, rescripted by The Guardian’s Louis Pattison in his October 2009 article “The New Wave Of New Age”. There, Pattison stated “The best of this music was heroic in its commitment to charting new sonic landscapes, but as New Age became a genre, the music’s worst qualities became more apparent.”

Positive words are thankfully afoot for this sequence: the Evans’ manage to mesh the synthesiser experimentalism of Tangerine Dream and flicker lights on and off over actual new ages tendencies – sharpness / loudness / swagger, purported by bands including Emeralds, mentioned in Pattison’s article. “Lotus Flower”, closing work plays synth air hockey with crickets inside the puck, chirping away, bouncing off the walls of the table and fusing all kinds of strange atmospheres – pings, boings, whirrs, the lot.

Back to that quicksand: I never fell foul of it. Luckily for me, I got sucked into this split instead. There’s only a matter of time before you might do too.

http://www.fluid-radio.co.uk/2012/01/nov...niversary/

Daniel W J Mackenzie (Ekca Liena) - Return Written Arrange

http://runningonair.bandcamp.com/album/r...en-arrange

Good Weather For An Airstrike - Underneath The Stars (hibernate)

http://goodweatherforanairstrike.bandcam...-the-stars




Wil Bolton - Silver (hibernate)

http://wilbolton.bandcamp.com/album/silver

Nuojuva - Valot Kaukaa (Preservation)

Formely Ous Mal. From the album Valot kaukaa.

Released February 2012 - pre-order here and get a bonus Ous Mal album:

http://preservation.com.au/releases/nuojuva/

http://soundcloud.com/preservation-1/laakso-by-nuojuva

From The Mouth of The Sun - Woven Tide

Woven Tide is the debut album by From The Mouth of The Sun,
the new collaboration between Dag Rosenqvist, aka Jasper TX, and Aaron Martin.

http://label.experimedia.net/021/


You can also stream the entire album here http://boingboing.net/2012/01/12/from-th...ore-138744

Nova Scotian Arms - Cult Spectrum (DigitalisV035)

The aspect of a hook in work as psychedelic and sugary rich as this could appear lost in the murk, but hooks always worked best in Pop music, and Grant has enough integrity and brunt to perk up the rest of us. A stunning record, and possibly his best to date, “Cult Spectrum” sees Evans again composing with a fertile imagination – long may it continue.

http://www.fluid-radio.co.uk/2012/01/nov...-spectrum/

Portraits LP on Important records out January 24th!

The first official document of the massive group mind project, recorded in Oakland California in 2010 with Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, Evan Caminiti & Jon Porras (Barn Owl), Lisa McGee (Higuma, Vestals), Gregg Kowalsky & Marielle Jakobsons (Date Palms), Maxwell August Croy (En) Steven Dye & Tony Cross (Tarentel alum) and Michael Elrod (Date Palms, Barn Owl & The Alps). Three tracks of long form in the zone drone. Edition of 500 with lovely screen printed jackets.

http://soundcloud.com/jefre-cantu-ledesm...its-d-edit

http://soundcloud.com/jefre-cantu-ledesma/portraits-sa

Ilyas Ahmed - With Endless Fire (Immune)



http://soundcloud.com/experimedia/ilyas-...dless-fire

http://immunerecordings.net/catalog/with-endless-fire/

Another fantastic release im really into, great start to 2012 for releases.

Sonitus Eco - It is loneliness that makes the loudest noise (Silent Season)



http://soundcloud.com/silent-season/soni...loneliness

http://shop.silentseason.com/album/sonit...oise-ssd05

bvdub - The First Day (Home Normal) Feb 17th

http://homenormal.tumblr.com/031

we have a very special mix for you from the label! Featuring new and upcoming releases from many of our favorite and a few new labels, this 80-minute journey across ambient and experimental music is a perfect mid-week surprise! Something that’s definitely needed on this end… Hope you feel the same!

http://reviews.headphonecommute.com/2012...mmute-mix/

FTAL Reviewed 013 - January - February 2012

Hutch Demoulipied - Otherness
Entropy Records 2CD



Going by the total instrument list "Otherness" could be an extraneous mess, and even though the trumpet crumbles like a chocolate cookie over each track, Hutch's deployment is beta subservient, blending polished foundations, where accents dust noodling Jazz debris. Territory nudges the acid style and strong Ambient presence keeps counterintuitive consistence. It's no more certain than on "Herzog", where the sole vocals from Hutch: "I want to make a world / You can come into it" suggest primary intention as not so other after all. An inviting quality develops from therein, but you are continually surprised by "Otherness"' instrumental virtuousity that plays with Terry Riley's Poppy Nogood and Harold Budd's minimalist chips. Although short, Hutch's work is proper cooked, providing amiable trust to CD 2's nine remixes.

http://www.entropy-records.com/release006.htm

Adrian Aniol - Arrhythmia
TQA 020 CD-R



Hue variety doesn't elude Aniol, however monotony sparingly spiced is the order. Light and shade equality, albeit in a noir-esque manner, gives "Arrhthymia" solid grounding in the soundtrack world. The grumbling orchestral hum of "The Permanence" builds Stars Of The Lid's more oblique warmth to deeper heights of a starry night, while "Slowly Downward" enacts a sleepy depressant, left to stretch out, providing the disc a departure into somnambulance. Then, as you're drifting off, razor blade friction-scape "In Control Of All Things" upsets balance, employing screeching horror noise, strings dodging the observer. "The Closing" bookends the record unconventionally, by assuming the longest time - six minutes - capitalising on this aspect by amorphing all of Adrian's torn dichotomies to form something paced.

http://adriananiol.bandcamp.com/album/arrhythmia

Robert Davies - The Alchemy Of Nature
Data Obscura CD / download



Sometimes the denser something is, the longer it takes to penetrate, and "The Alchemy Of Nature" fits this billing entirely. Transcendentally introspective drones of varying statures and sampledelia (birds, hustles, imitation) that imbue a radiant undertone and overtone, causing insatiable immersion that beckons meditative states as well as late night dozery. As a day album, not ideal, since "The Alchemy" is deeply distracting, demanding close attunement. Avid listeners of Ambient's transubstansial forms may find attunement increased the more attached you are to speed, lack of activity and spacing that's natural to Davies in his area; he told Data Obscura of his notions regarding relationship between man and nature, and how we can experience the scientific and organic to a higher level if desired. Top notch job of lasting appeal.

http://www.dataobscura.com/proddetail.php?prod=DO-053

This sounds a goodie:

Birds Of Passage - I Was All You Are (Heat Death Records)

Following a run of critically acclaimed releases, New Zealand’s Alicia Merz returns once again under her Birds Of Passage moniker, joined this time by I’ve Lost – the solo project of US based experimental artist Bobby Jones. While Birds Of Passage is something of a Fluid Radio regular, Jones last popped up on our collective radar all the way back in 2010 with the excellent Dissociative Fugue, appearing on Portugal’s Feedback Loop label (incidentally, Feedback Loop’s curator Leonardo Rosado also created a collaboration LP titled The Dear And Unfamiliar with the ever busy Merz, still available from Denovali).

http://www.fluid-radio.co.uk/2012/02/bir...l-you-are/