Archive for the 'Album Reviews' Category
OK. I give up. There is just no way that I can cover all of the wonderful music out there. There’s just not enough time! But I still want to tell you about all of the amazing releases that come across my desk. So I’m introducing a new feature on Headphone Commute. It’s simple and straight [...]
Filed under: EPs, Sound Bytes | 1 Comment
VA – Pop Ambient 2010 (Kompakt)
Kompakt Records kicks off the new year with the tenth installment of its annual Pop Ambient series — a decade of densely layered drones, tones, and sounds, showcasing the best artists making music in modern classical and ambient genres. The compilations are curated each year by label head and music legend, Wolfgang Voigt (aka Gas), [...]
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Tags: ambient, modern classical
Like a hungry spider, returning to its nest of venomous eggs, the effect-rich sound of Frank Riggio crawls up your skin, and sinks its fangs in to open up a healed scab beneath your scalp. This album is dark, cinematic, enormous and elaborate. It is absolutely impossible not to compare Riggio to Amon Tobin – [...]
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Tags: electronic, glitch, idm
I have to admit that I’m mildly surprised by where my musical preferences are taking me these days. Until recently, I didn’t really have much patience for drone and noise music. I found it intriguing but I couldn’t really wrap my head around it. Now I find myself increasingly gravitating toward these more abstract forms [...]
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Tags: abstract, experimental, minimal
For those of us who have been forced to stem our vinyl intake, it’s nice when a label like Ad Noiseam swoops in and neatly collects a slew of great dubstep 12″s from multiple sources. Terminal Static, featuring tracks released on Ruff, Damage as well as Ad Noiseam, is such a collection — a near-comprehensive [...]
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Tags: breakcore, drum'n'bass, dubstep
Jega – Variance (Planet Mu)
It took almost nine years for Dylan Nathan to return to the scene with his intelligent breaks and glitchy melodies, slapping it across the entire IDM spectrum under his Jega moniker. There were some hiccups in this release – the album leaked back in 2003, and Nathan chose to pull back the tracks, refile the [...]
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Tags: dark idm, glitch, idm
Has Lusine turned almost pop? Well, not quite. If so, then pop music has never sounded so good! But peel back the vocals from the foreground, appearing on a few tracks by Vilja Larjosto and Caitlin Sherman, and we are left with the good old electronic sound of Lusine, known for his lush ambient soundscapes, [...]
Filed under: Album Reviews | 2 Comments
Tags: downtempo, idm, leftfield
Mr. Projectile… He’s back! After a five year silence, Matthew Arnold returns with his fourth full length album, To The West, and thrusts it right back up in our $%@#ing faces. The last time I marveled at Arnold’s intricate IDM production skills was back in 2004, on the beloved Merck label with his release, Sinking. [...]
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Tags: electro, idm
Richard Skelton’s songs don’t tell a story. They describe a place, a landscape. No… that’s not quite right. They’re more like a part of the landscape. On Landings, his remarkable new album, the rugged and earthy texture of the strings, gentle guitars and densely layered assorted acoustic instruments, all played by Richard himself, meld with [...]
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Tags: ambient, experimental, modern classical
After a string of releases and collaborations on various labels over the last few years, London based trio Rameses III released I Could Not Love You More on the always intriguing Type imprint in the fall of last year. It is a soothing and pastoral album full of lush drones and ambient soundscapes. Combining acoustic [...]
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Tags: ambient, shoegaze
On January 12, 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake shook Haiti and devastated the country, with death toll rising over 150,000. Humanitarian efforts quickly took place, to aid on site, and to raise money through charities to help with the relief effort. Betamorph Records has partnered with AmeriCares Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Aid Organization to raise [...]
Filed under: Album Reviews, Compilations | 1 Comment
Tags: dubstep
Producing for over a decade, Ramble Jon Krohn, aka RJD2 is back with his fourth full length studio album, and all of the hype lives up to its expectations! With intricately cut up samples, funky percussion and original soul vocals, Krohn crafts an album full of tracks that have originally captured my attention back with [...]
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Tags: funk, instrumental hip-hop, soul
It’s easy to write about beautiful music. When the ambient pads wash over the gentle picks of a guitar and the distant eavesdropping of radio frequencies, it’s easy to write. When the soft piano chords are smothered in a generous dose of warm reverb, spreading over the field recordings of a rainy city street, it’s [...]
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Tags: ambient, minimal
Talbot & Deru – Genus (Ant-Zen)
The sound is born out of electric static, slowly penetrating through the thick veil of noise until it rolls over a thump. The tremolo affected voices grow into a ten part choir consisting of members of Tenebrae professional chamber choir. The strings provided by The Duke Quartet become rhythmical, accentuated by a pulsing metallic micro [...]
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Tags: ambient, experimental, modern classical
Noël Wessels wants you to think everything’s going to be okay — that the storm has passed, the survivors are carefree and strong, and that, should trouble rear its ugly head again, there’s a good chance of escape. Turns out, the kind locals are killers. And, surprise surprise, the lovable protagonist is secretly mad, and [...]
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Tags: drum'n'bass
Opening in mist, with disassembled activity both hidden and continuous, Seas Between is a work containing the solemnity of temporality, trembling tenderness, and the brightest side of sightless imagination. Corey Fuller was born in the United States, but while still very young, he relocated with his family to Japan, where he spent the next 20 [...]
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Tags: ambient, minimal
It goes like this. I wake up in my abandoned shelter made of found brick and metal scraps. It’s been raining for over a month now. But the water collecting in the corners is undrinkable. It is full of ash and oily fluid. There is only one way out of here. I step outside into [...]
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Tags: ambient techno, experimental, techno
There is something peculiar about soundtracks. This is music composed specifically for the moving images on the screen. But why should it be limited to film, and not accompany the daily scenes of life or stunning visuals behind my eyelids. I close the door behind me and set towards my commute to work. The music [...]
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Tags: cinematic, modern classical, soundtrack
Hold up, hold up. Rewind selector! Before I attempt to sit down and put together my list of favorite albums of 2009, I must pay homage to the music that slipped past me in the year before. I have said this time and again – there is simply way too much music! Every year, I [...]
Filed under: Album Reviews, Compilations, EPs, Exclusive Articles | 1 Comment
It’s not so uncommon to see classically trained pianists turn to electronic music production. After all, it’s not a huge stretch from the piano to a midi controller keyboard. It’s considerably rarer to find producers who are actually cellists and violinists by training. But Rena Jones is certainly not your garden variety producer. She’s a [...]
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Tags: downtempo, modern classical
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