When I first glanced at a cover of Wurdskrieme I had an involuntary reaction… You see, I don’t really like lyrics and prefer instrumental music, painting the pictures without the words. That being said, I was relieved to see that it was not in English, and that perhaps the sound of a foreign language will add to the experience of the album. I wasn’t wrong. When it comes to dialects I can’t comprehend, I prefer the music of the tongue in Japanese, Portuguese, and Finnish. I believe that when the language strips off its underlying message, it becomes an instrument all on its own.

The poetry recited by Jan Kleefstra on the album is delivered in a perfectly paced, accentuated language of his native Friesland, a province in the far North of the Netherlands. Upon further investigation, perhaps I wouldn’t mind understanding the lyrics that much:

I’d like to be a word not alone, I’d like to be immeasurable light
and float around your voice like a sound that flew out because of me
the night only knows it through hearsay that the light then tired
fell like an autumn moth to earth and never got up
- Wurch Ljocht (tr. “Tired Light”)

Besides the words by the above mentioned Kleefstra, the other three members of Piiptsjilling are Romke Kleefstra, Mariska Baars (aka Soccer Committee), and Rutger Zuydervelt (aka Machinefabriek). With haunting abstract paintings on the guitar, strange effects and various noises, the group of musicians create acoustic folktronica for distant lands and desolate places. The poetry comes and goes, drifting into the foreground of experimental sounds, then receding into the shadows of drones.

Wurdskrieme (tr. “Cry of Words”), is somewhat improvisational, somewhat post-processed, and finally mastered by the acute ear of Taylor Deupree. The album explores “serene soundscapes”, “nocturnal atmospheres”, and “emotional abstractions”. Be sure to also check out Machinefabriek and Jan Kleefstra’s earlier collaboration on an album titled Piiptsjilling (Onomatopee, 2008), a 30-minute opus that started this project. Beautifully crafted and highly recommended. A delicate lullaby in a faraway tongue.

piiptsjilling.wordpress.com | experimedia.net

It’s true… I wait until the sun goes down to listen to the second release from Black Swan. I listen to the music the way others watch the movies. Lounging comfortably in my chair, positioned perfectly between my studio monitors, their cones facing towards me, slightly tilted, completing an imaginary triangle. A glass of wine in my hand… my eyes slightly closed… I let the sound envelope and surround me in preparation for a film. Occasionally I drift away, as images begin to swirl behind my eyelids, and this is when the music becomes alive, telling the story through its long growing fingers, gesturing me to follow its essence around the corner, down the corridor from whence the voice comes.

On the last step of the staircase I hear the sounds of a ballroom, drowned in muffled buzzing of a nearby electric transformer. I know that the deeper I go, the harder it will be to come back, but there’s no turning back now… I’ve bridged The Quiet Divide… Somewhere between “Black Eulogy” and “Angel Eyes” I have become aware of the dream. Perhaps the sounds of the Victrola triggered my lucid awakening, and all I can do now, is observe. Here’s what I see: walls made from black velvet inhale air full of soot; pipes covered with mildew wheeze, rumble and hiss; thick putrid fog glows in sweltering heat… there’s no one here… I’m wholly alone…

“Awash with chilling ambience, found sounds and haunting samples, The Quiet Divide reins in the phantasmagoria, examining the blurred in-between, the darkness that lies at the divide. [...] Upon surfacing from the muck and grime, the resulting work is disquieting and poignant, exposing the listener to the inner workings of the desolate in hope that they will never have to plunge themselves into it.”

I don’t remember waking up. I don’t remember returning. In fact, I highly doubt I’ve come back at all. This album has that effect. Subtitled “A Symphony of Misery and Sorrow“, Black Swan’s follow up to the 2010 debut, In 8 Movements, is even darker then before. I remember falling in love with the predecessor, but the subsequent installment in “drones for bleeding hearts” is soul wrenching. And I mean that with the highest possible praise. Co-released by what appears the artist’s own label, Ethereal Symphony, The Quiet Divide is an amazing addition to Experimedia‘s catalog. We now have two full lengths from this elusive artist… the rest is a mystery…

Read Interview With Black Swan

experimedia.net

Starting off from the very first track – the album name, the cover art, and Lisa Isaksson‘s lovely voice – everything suggests that I’m about to enter an epic story, a little medieval, a bit contemporary, and always unique. Defying all categorization, the eight tracks on Meadow Rituals, remind me of old-fashioned stories, lost antique treasures, and ancient simple times, when music was made with voice, strings, and wind. With guitar, flute, and cello dominating the sound palette, this super group of over nineteen musicians (I lost count!), set out to “examine man’s primitive nature”.

“Meadow Rituals presents 8 paeans to unite man’s overwhelming distance from nature and self and a celebration of the reunion. Lilting melodies mix with ambient and new age directions; propulsive swells of strings and effervescent electronics make way for profound vocal harmonies to create a universal and timeless experience.”

This Greek collective appeared seemingly out of nowhere, all thanks to Experimedia, reminding me of the beauty within celtic, pagan, and pastoral songs. On purely instrumental tracks, such as “Roots Growth”, the Lüüp finds itself engaged in jazzy rhythm, performing a piece composed by the group’s lead, flautist Stelios Romaliadis, who also a member of Yellow Elephant Ensemble. My favorite piece, “Ritual Of Apollo & Dionysus” recalls contemporary classical composition saturated in sadness, dread and angst.

Perhaps just as captivating as the album itself is a digital-only bonus release featuring remixes by Aaron Martin, Field Rotation, Hummingbird, Jasper TX, offthesky, Billy Gomberg and Dictionary of Ghosts. Aren’t these all of your favorites? I thought so… Here are another eight amazing tracks, reworking only two songs, “Spiraling” and “Cream Sky“. Yet in each artist’s hands, the pieces take on a new life, uniquely represented within such a fantastic roster of musicians. Worth a separate pressing all on its own! Pick up your collection of rituals directly from the label for this extra gift!

luup.experimedia.net

I feel like 2011 was the year of collaborations. A year when two truly amazing artists combined forces to produce something even more beautiful than they alone could make. Bear with me, and let me demonstrate. There was the stunning collaboration between Ben Frost and Daníel Bjarnason, titled SÓLARIS, the minimally blissed out record by Taylor Deupree and Marcus Fischer, In A Place Of Such Graceful Shapes, an incredible pairing by David Wenngren (aka Library Tapes) and Christopher Bissonnette on The Meridians Of Longitude And Parallels Of Latitude, an absolute perfect match between Hauschka and Hildur Guðnadóttir for Pan Tone, a gorgeous record by Dakota Suite and Emanuele Errante, The North Green Down, and an absolute mind blowing tour de force by A Winged Victory For The Sullen finding Dustin O’Halloran and Adam Bryanbaum producing one of the best records of the year. Whew!

I think I made my point. So could 2012 bring in another batch of matches made in heaven? I think Experimedia is trying to do just that! Kicking off the year with a gorgeous album, Woven Tide, this new duo is hopefully here to stay to keep aching for more. Let me introduce you to the happy couple. From The Mouth of The Sun begins with Dag Rosenqvist who is definitely not a newcomer to the scene. Known mostly for his Jasper TX moniker, Rosenqvist has been producing beautiful ambient landscapes, and sometimes darker drone caverns for labels such as Lidar, Slaapwel, Miasmah, Under The Spire and Fang Bomb.

Aaron Martin is the other half of the group. Martin is an incredibly talented cellist, recording multiple albums for Preservation label, above mentioned Under The Spire, and the very same Experimedia. Martin’s collaboration with Rutger Zuydervelt (aka Machinefabriek), titled Cello Recycling | Cello Drowning for Type turned many heads in 2007. Our eyes (and ears) have been since attuned to his works with Justin Wright, Dawn Smithson, and Part Timer, all just in time to get us excited for this amazing collab with Dag. Well, enough name dropping and catalog clawing, let’s get down to music, ’cause that’s why we’ve gathered here today!

Album Preview:

Gently bowed and carefully plucked strings rise above the humming hiss, lo-fi noise and molded field recordings. Piano chords guide the rhythm as the music swirls towards the light, lifting memory, melody and spirit. There’s something enigmatic and timeless about this journey through the vast landscapes, grieving mountains and abandoned homes. A needle left on a record is forever locked in its groove, clocking off a beat of crackle, clicks and fuzz. Voices sigh in empty cathedrals; the singing bowls vibrate the dust; and vinyl pops melt in the rain. Finally the cello sings. Its solo cry is perpetually lost in an agonizing minor chord, until the guitar strums pick it up. The album comes to its cinematic climax on an eleven minute epic peak, “A Season In Waters”.

“As From The Mouth of the Sun, the duo act as our torchbearers, scrawling messages along the walls of an elongated cave, toiling through the decayed remnants of fetid matter to create eight illuminating pieces. The listener, who has wiled away the hours, will find a door; Woven Tide will be the light out of the darkness.”

This is a very special album that is destined to stay in your mind, heart and soul. Released on Experimedia label, the record is available on CD, digital download, and an LP. A piece from Woven Tide as well as additional music by Aaron Martin appears on a documentary film by Lost Hills, Remember Me, My Ghost. Be sure to check out Jasper TX’s The Black Sun Transmissions (Fang Bomb, 2011) featured on our Best of 2011 list, Music For Bending Light And Stopping Time, as well as his exclusive mix for Headphone Commute, From Midnight To Sunlight. For more music from Aaron Martin pick up Worried About The Fire (Experimedia, 2011) and his collaboration with Justin Wright, Light Poured out Of Our Bones (Preservation, 2011). All are highly recommended.

Be sure to read our Interview with From The Mouth of The Sun

experimedia.net

Imagine yourself riding through the country in your brand new convertible on a summer day… Imagine drifting above the stretching fields following the sunset towards the horizon with warm wind in your hair… Imagine floating above the clouds, climbing to the heights where the air is thin, and then diving off the coast towards the salty ocean… These are the images and feelings that are evoked when listening to Dive, Scott Hansen‘s latest studio album as Tycho released on the remarkable Ann Arbor based (Michigan, USA) Ghostly International.

Hansen first came onto the scene with his 2004 release on Gammaphone, Sunrise Projector. In 2006, he got picked up by the now defunct and dearly missed Merck, where Tycho gained critical acclaim with the expanded version of Sunrise Projector, published as Past Is Prologue. When Merck closed its doors in January 2007, Hansen was one of those musicians looking for a new home. He immediately found Ghostly International to be suitable for his sound with a digital release, The Daydream / The Disconnect. In 2009, Hansen teased us with a Coastal Brake EP on Ghostly, and finally unleashed Dive – a collection of floating melodies, uplifting beats, and dreamy vocals.

Many thoughts and memories well up when listening to Dive. I immediately flashback to the days of electronica when lush textures, warm layers, and upbeat rhythms accompanied me on many occasions. Hansen hints on elements of time in his compositions:

“Nostalgia is a common thread in my work, but this album wasn’t driven by that idea. I see these songs as artifacts from a future which might have more in common with our past than our present.”

It’s nearly impossible to avoid comparisons of Dive to the sonic fields of Boards of Canada, synth soundscapes of Ulrich Schnauss, lounging head nodding of Bibio, childhood longing of M83, and mnemonic washes of Telefon Tel Aviv. Known in the graphic design world as ISO50, Hansen paints his auditory canvas with sun drenched colors and earthy tones. With nearly effortless yet flawless execution, Hansen justifies the long wait, and delivers one of our favorite albums of the year – featured in Headphone Commute’s Best of 2011 : Music For Missed Friends, Barbecues And Turntables.

tychomusic.com | ghostly.com

I somehow stumbled upon Sun Glitters in March and the album hasn’t left my player ever since.  Luxembourg based Victor Ferreira (also known as sug(r)cane) is quite prolific and seems to regularly add to his oeuvre with remixes and stand alone tracks popping up on his bandcamp on a fairly regular basis… Upon initial listening I raved to those who would listen, describing Sun Glitters as “like Boards of Canada making house music” or “probably quite good with Nitrous,” but don’t take my word for it… the official bio describes the sound as such:

“Sun Glitters sound is an ocean of lush melodies, pitch-shifted vocal samples, ghostly digi-diva choirs, warm bass melodies driven by alternately dense and relaxing beatwork combinations between downtempo and wonky beats.”

Having had this music with me for over 9 months, it really has soundtracked some memorable moments of my year… When I went to the Bangface Weekender, this is what we would wake up to in the early afternoon; when I drove to a week’s holiday at the seaside, this was the soundtrack I’d play in the car; when I have to get up at 5.30am to go to work, this shuts out the noise of the London Underground; when I had a summer barbecue, this was the album I played as the sun waned over the horizon. When Headphone Commute asked me to do a podcast mix this summer, it was no fluke that I featured several Sun Glitters tracks and remixes.

With Everything Could Be Fine, Ferreira officially reached his all time high, performing at many festivals, getting interviewed by many journalists, and of course being selected as one of the best albums of the year. The album got picked up by LebensStrasse Records for a CD release, as well as We get By label for a limited edition cassette reprint. Ufolk Records wasted no time and released a 17-track remix album, Everything Could Be Remodeled And That’s Fine, featuring reworks by Blackbird, Space Ghost, :papercutz, and many others. Ferreira also released a four-tarck split EP with South London’s Halls, and his very latest 2012 offering, high ep, released via upcoming label music/is/for/losers.

Sun Glitters – It Takes Me from high ep

sunglitters.com | sunglitters.bandcamp.com

Review by Orangewarrior, originally appearing on clockworkshorts.com. Republished with permission of the author. Additional text by HC.

It seems like an awful long time since Rustie’s Jagz The Smack EP came out on Stuffrecords. Well, 4 years to be precise. Remembering to back then, his bass-heavy “aqua krunk” style of instrumental hip hop left chinstrokers unsure if this was dubstep or something similar. In 2008, I had the pleasure of seeing him and fellow Glaswegian wonky beat-maker Hudson Mohawke dj twice in Barcelona – playing mostly hip-hop with the odd bit of a wobble, but still getting everyone who was paying attention very excited indeed.

Jump forward to 2011 and the electronic musical landscape has changed considerably – HudMo’s Butter LP came out on Warp 2 years ago seemingly leaving Russ in the dust, and bass-based dance & wobble music has evolved at an exponential rate. Quite honestly, I don’t think I was the only person to wonder what had happened to Rustie (despite the odd random quality remix), so it was a great relief to see him finally step up and deliver on the promise of those early productions.

Glass Swords, like all the best electronic albums has one eye on the future, the other on the past, and has then fused both into a sound that somehow manages to sound nostalgic and future-looking in one contemporaneous shard – crystallizing the moment, you might say. Surprisingly for someone whose early works seemed quite moody, there’s a sense of unabashed joy and freedom that permeates each track – dayglo trance drum rolls and hands-in-the-air euphoric rave synths, which are gleefully thrown into the mix alongside what sounds like 1980′s hair metal guitar samples and an infinite play chest of toy percussion.

“[...] Rustie time travels for the cocaine-addled synthesizer washes and searing guitar tones of 1980’s pop, the cash-infused bombast of new-millennium R&B, the pit-of-your-stomach ecstasy high of the most classic rave memories and the bloodshot scowl of white-hot pirate radio broadcasts.”  -Warp Press Release

The sounds themselves are of a strangely fuzzy home-made quality, sounding like an energetic drummer trying to replicate an Essential Mix as he listens to it live on the radio. This is by no means a bad thing, but it does mean that there is something uniquely Rustic about the tracks here that would make them hard to blend into a DJ mix of otherwise polished-to-perfection dancefloor smashers. Whilst appropriating the templates of current musical vogues: dubstep, juke, techno, wobble hip hop, and so on, the album manages to sound like none of them at all, but something beamed down from another plane entirely.

The second track on the album, “Flash Back”, instantly reminded me of Vince DiCola’s synthy score for the 1980′s animated Transformers Movie and I suspect this isn’t coincidental.. a clonky retro-futuristic element is definitely there in the fabric of the music. Meanwhile, neck snapping tunes like “City Star” and “After Light” sound (unexpectedly) like something Afrika Bambaataa might have made, had he grown up on a diet of Irn Bru and fish suppers. It’s yet to be proven, but I suspect you could happily play this album from end to end over a compilation of 80′s sci-fi movies and it would fit perfectly…

warp.net

Review by Orangewarrior, originally appearing on clockworkshorts.com. Republished with permission of the author.

Jamie Teasdale, formerly one half of dubstep duo Vex’d, is now working solo as Kuedo. Fittingly released on Mike Paradinas’ Planet Mu record label, it harkens back to the mid-1990′s Artificial Intelligence series of albums on Warp that led to the somewhat unfortunate genre name of “IDM.” There are certain keywords that appear to be obligatory when talking about this album, so let’s get them out of the way: Vangelis, Blade Runner, Tangerine Dream, Carly Simon, Tony’s Theme From Scarface, Chicago’s footwork, and ‘coke rap’. There we go. Whoops, nearly forgot 808. That’s better.

Severant in some senses shares a lot of DNA with Rustie‘s Glass Swords (Warp, 2011) – there’s definitely a sci-fi element at play here and indeed the 1980′s nostalgia is up front and centre. Wilfully low-fi sounding instrumentation is an element of both albums too – Severant appearing to be almost hand crafted rather than edited together on a computer: I can happily imagine a live band behind a huge bank of synthesizers, 808s and Keytars playing this album to their hearts’ content. Where the two part company, however, is that whilst Glass Swords is like an ADD-afflicted blipvert of influences, Severant is defiantly consistent in its sounds and atmospheres.

“As reality shapes imagination and escapism affects your choices in the real world, there is a strange relational loop between the two and the space in between the two. There’s a bitter sweetness in that gap, it has a certain emotive quality, kind of in between being and non-being. I wanted to capture a really futurist sentiment, kind of melancholy and grand luminescent, so I used the instrument that most evokes that for me – that sweeping Vangelis brass sound.” – Jamie Teasdale

There’s a glacial flow and mathematic, almost architectural precision to the 15 emotive tracks of this album. No track overstays its welcome, and the album as a whole is a brisk listening experience, as well as a wholly immersive one. Tentative, tinkling melodies dapple the big brassy synth washes like plankton dancing around a killer whale; jittery spiders-legs percussive rhythms call to mind a long-forgotten time when Autechre were an act one could relax to. Ultimately, Severant is a beautiful body of work that manages to sound both upfront and horizontal at the same time (I’d be fascinated to see how people react at any live shows). Don’t just take my word for it though, you can stream the entire album on the Planet Mu website.

planet.mu

Review by Orangewarrior, originally appearing on clockworkshorts.com. Republished with permission of the author.

Before I go into the details of this review, I’d like to take a moment and talk about the label. Glacial Movements is an Italian label, specializing in “glacial and isolationist ambient”, founded and curated by Alessandro Tedeschi, also known as Netherworld. The label was launched in July of 2006, with a customary introductory compilation. The second catalog release was Netherworld’s Mørketid (2007), followed by Rapoon‘s Time Frost (2007). The minimalist aesthetic of the dark ambiance and icy drone continued with releases by Lull, Skare, Aqua Dorsa, and Francisco López.

I finally discovered the label with a beautiful album by bvdub, The Art Of Dying Alone (2010), and then kept my ears open for Netherworld‘s follow up, Over The Summit (2011), Loscil‘s Coast/ Range/ Arc (2011), and of course bvdub‘s return for the interpretations on Tedeschi’s above mentioned first release - I Remember (Translations Of Mørketid). It’s no wonder that the label quickly climbed to the top of my favorites, as I tracked down and purchased the back catalog. Here’s an introductory paragraph from the label’s page:

Places that man has forgotten… icy landscapes… fields of flowers covered eternally with ice… Icebergs colliding among themselves… The boreal dawn that shines upon silent white valleys in the Great Northern lands… an explorer lost among the Antarctic glaciers looking for the way home… The cold and silent night that falls upon the glacial valleys… creatures that look for shelter from the Great Northern cold… Glacial Movements is a label born to describe and spread these thoughts/images through sound.

Yes, fans of Biosphere, William Basinski, Deathprod, and the minimalism of Taylor Deupree, Robert Henke, Richard Chartier and Yann Novak will appreciate any and all of the above mentioned albums. Not to mention the most amazing upcoming release schedule from Pjusk, Marsen Jules, Phobos, Aidan Baker & Troum, and Celer!!! Did that get you excited? OK, now back to Snowbound!

Stormloop is the brainchild of Leeds based (England) Kev Spence, who has been producing and self-releasing ambient albums since 1999. There are about a dozen albums available via his bandcamp page, if you get hungry for more. Snowbound* (written with an asterisk), is Spence’s very first release for a record label, and it is a perfect fit for Glacial Movements! Collecting the material recorded during a two-week snow fall in December of 2009, the album tells the story of solitude and detachment through slow evolving sound and straightforward titles such as “Cold Winds”, “Dense Fog”, “Melt” and “A Blizzard”.

Soft layers of synth pads and bass drift through the landscape like a heavy cloud. It is impossible to avoid references to early mist, murky fog and smoky vapor when describing a hazy atmosphere painted by Spence. But unlike the organic ambiance of guitars and strings by some of the above mentioned artists, the music of Stormloop is a little synthetic, spacey and futuristic. As if Snowbound* is a soundtrack for an alien planet, covered in gaseous atmosphere and frozen rock. Wind picks up, but it lacks the oxygen. Instead it is thick with heavier elements that cover the caverns hungry for sun. Just writing these words with the music in the background sent chills down my spine…

Composing usually late into the night, watching the heavy snowfalls was the inspiration for these tracks, and the feeling of been lost in some remote cabin, safe but warm, with good food and drink, staring out at the depths of winter snow that covers the land… These crystalline soundscapes, take us from the cold winter nights, then out towards the bleakness of space. Snowbound* is an authentic full-immersion into the cold, and you can really feel the snowflakes on your skin.

Spence has also released a complimentary album, Snowbound** The Tracks Left In The Snow, as a ten track digital-only download via his bandcamp, recorded during the same sessions as Snowbound*. Photography by Bjarne Riesto is once again featured on this Glacial Movements release, adding to the overall aesthetic of the label that I’m falling in love with… Now I need to go and boil some water for my green tea…

glacialmovements.com

It is difficult to know whether to be more impressed by the sheer size of Brock Van Wey’s portfolio as an artist or the level of quality that he manages to sustain. Regardless, Van Wey, or bvdub, surely stands out as one of ambient music’s most influential figures. His recent collaboration with Ian Hagwood, The Truth Hurts, for Nomadic Kids Republic, reviewed by Headphone Commute in October, and his curation on the compilation Air Texture Vol 1, speak to bvdub’s growing reputation in the industry. His output as a solo artist is showing no signs of slowing down, however, and I Remember is his sixth
release in 2011!

Van Wey’s work is laced with emotion, typically drawing on themes seemingly close to his heart. I Remember epitomizes this, and is, for me, by far the most affecting of his recent solo releases. The theme here is nostalgia, with song titles evoking regret and, ultimately, retribution. Musically this approach has the effect of drawing the listener in to bvdub’s world; this is not ambient music that blends into the background but rather a shared journey. The opener, “This Place Has Only Known Sadness”, sets the stage well. It is less beat driven than many tracks on Tribes at the Temple of Silence (Home Normal, 2011), instead creating an epic soundscape that circles around haunting vocals. “We Said Forever” is similarly crafted and leads in to the album’s highlight “The Promise (reprise)”.

This is an exquisite example of a track that marches to its crescendo, peaking around the eight minute mark, before lingering, and very, very slowly drifting away (think Autechre’s “Piezo” from Amber). It is among the most exhilarating and moving pieces of electronic music I have heard recently and stands out as the centre piece of this album. The remaining songs on the album come together to make this a substantial piece of work, clocking in at just over the hour mark. The final track, “A Taste Of Your Own Medicine”, a bracing send off of soaring intensity and energy, ends this journey into bvdub’s world in thrilling fashion.

[Ed.: I beg your pardon for including Brock's notes on the album verbatim]

“Alessandro Tedeschi, aka Netherworld, has become a dear friend of mine since his kind invitation to produce an album for Glacial Movements last year, and his vision, kindness, and honesty have been an inspiration. He had sent me a copy of his album ‘Mørketid,’ and from the opening notes I was mesmerized – not in a typical way, as his music is far too subtle for that, but on a much deeper level, as the music brought a flood of memories surging forth that I had long thought lost. It took me back to those times when ambient music was so pure, and so true… so when he then asked if I would be interested in doing a translation of the album, I couldn’t have said yes any faster.

I call them translations, as they are not remixes. I used his original work as a base, and it is indeed interwoven in the translations, but my translations serve more as my own narratives on the memories and feelings his original work evoked. The translations are about memories… memories of dreams lost, and never fulfilled… but also the beauty in knowing that dreams exist… as whether they come true or not, it’s in their pursuit that life means anything.

The original album brought back all my memories of my time in the early rave scene, the dreams I (and everyone, really) had for the beautiful utopia that only existed in our minds, and which we were only able to reach but a few times – but also my current surroundings of China, where in a rapidly changing environment, I am constantly reminded of unrealized dreams – deserted buildings that stand as monuments of once-great visions, and echoes of so many voices once yearning to be heard, wanting only for the world to remember them for a moment. And so it has been a strange kind of full-circle experience, as I stand in this place with no connection to my former life, yet in it I realize that every ‘scene’ is the same – we all just want to be heard, by someone – and to be remembered.”

Newcomers to bvdub can be overwhelmed by his extensive catalogue of releases – latest albums include Then (AY, 2011),  Resistance Is Beautiful (Darla, 2011), Songs For A Friend I Left Behind (Distant Noise, 2011), and the very latest, Serenity (Darla, 2012) - but the consistent quality of Van Wey’s work is irresistible. I Remember represents bvdub at both his very best and his most personal, similar to how we found him on The Art of Dying Alone, released by Glacial Movements in 2010. For its emotional intensity and electronic craft, this album comes highly recommended!

bvdub.org | glacialmovements.com

Review by Ben Rutter exclusively for Headphone Commute.

As another year begins, I race to catch up on missed albums from my favorite labels. Israeli Aleph Zero Records has consistently put out some of the most interesting psychedelic, downtempo and IDM albums to date. Previous releases have captured the [hopefully coveted] spot on our Best of the Year lists, with Eitan Reiter’s Places I Miss That I Haven’t Been To in 2010 and Fredrik Öhr‘s Falling Through The Earth a year prior. I have been loyally following the releases by the label since Shulman‘s In Search of a Meaningful Moment (2003), and am always interested in discovering their latest offering.

For their eighteenth album catalog release, Aleph Zero  signs a veteran musician and prolific artist, Simon Heath. Recording under the moniker Krusseldorf, Heath has released numerous albums and EPs on Sofa Beats, Beats & Pieces and Iboga; and that’s not counting half a dozen albums released under his Atrium Carceri alias on Cold Meat Industry; and yet another eight albums in collaboration with Simon Kölle as Za Frûmi on Waerloga Records. A track by Krusseldorf has also previously appeared on Aleph Zero’s last compilation, Dark Room Beats (2010), so I was prepared for the best…

Throughout the album, Heath implements glitchy percussion, processed synth melodies and plenty of IDM elements to craft psybient atmospheres from another world. Listening closely reveals digital structures of spacial textures full of many rewarding moments for fans of stripped down, intimately complex, and micro constructed rhythms. Listening from a perspective of a casual observer, the music takes on a futuristic spacey feel, apt for a science fiction story where planetary spheres slowly revolve around their orbit in a never-ending gravitational fall. The music invigorates your imagination and triggers the retired synapses exercised in fantasies and lucid dreaming.

“The outer reaches of our fragile mind always strive to explore new places both inner and outer. This album was made using a large number of techniques to reach the other side of the looking glass and we greet any listener with open arms that would delve deep enough into our collective psyche to connect and dance with us in the plummeting caves of humanity’s cradle.” (from the liner notes)

Some tracks remind me of the dearly missed music of early-to-mid 00′s, with acts like Neo Ouija’s Geiom, Bauri, Sense, and Seven Ark, with a bit of psychill flavor from Bluetech, Aes Dana, and, of course, Aleph Zero’s own Shulman. This is a great album to chill out (and warm up) to, full of sonic and intelligent delights. Recommended for fans of early morning chill out beats and sparkling psychedelic vibes… Another wonderful release to land on our Best of 2011, Music For Awakened Spirits And Open Minds.

Check out Interview with Krusseldorf

krusseldorf.com | aleph-zero.info

Japanese instrumentalist Taishi Kamiya’s Spectra of Air is the artist’s first studio album. Released by the ever impressive Home Normal, the album is a departure from Kamiya’s previous focus on improvisation. Instead we find a carefully constructed soundscape, rich in steadily built texture and detail. The result is both immersive and intriguing.

The artwork on Spectra of Air’s cover, a gorgeous snow covered landscape, hints at a cold, minimalist album. When opening track “Calm” begins this is indeed the impression created as a solitary, isolated tone slices through the silence. But as the track progresses the sound gradually builds into something more textured and warm. Like the sun rising on a cold winter’s morning, the effect is one of beauty and hope.

The album continues to engage and “Northern Nature” and “Misty Morning” together form the album’s highlight. The first is an expansive, sprawling song that scatters rain drop like sounds over the murmur of electronic drone. It finishes with Kamiy’s saxophone, used here to create a fluttering end to the track. “Misty Morning” follows, and it is a truly exquisite piece. The warmest, most hopeful song on the album, it is an example of perfectly executed ambient music. The following track, “Air”, makes full use of the saxophone, this time creating a sober, brooding piece. The closing track “Drowse” is more deconstructed and minimal. Scattered glitches create a sparse ending that drifts away slowly. The sun setting, perhaps.

Spectra of Air is a fantastic album. It can be cold and remote, even sombre at times, but its scattering of hope and beauty, flickering away between the snowflakes, will draw you in. Like the sight of sunlight on a winter’s day, this album is a rarity and one that is highly recommended. Taishi Kamiya is set to release an improvised work, also on Home Normal, which, judging by Spectra of Air, should be well worth checking out. Meanwhile, there’s a three track EP, titled Moor, released by Twisted Tree Line in January of 2012.

windtail.com | homenormal.com

Review by Ben Rutter exclusively for Headphone Commute.

I first came upon a solo piece from Christina Vantzou when I heard her work on Ghostly‘s SMM: Context compilation. There, her beautiful track, “11 Generations Of My Father”, was comfortably sandwiched alongside some of my favorite modern classical and ambient composers, such as Svarte Greiner, Jacaszek, Goldmund, Manual and Rafael Anton Irisarri. That appearance alone caught my attention. The same year, in 2011, Vanzou contributed a track to yet another fantastic compilation - Keith Kenniff‘s Japan Relief Benefit, For Nihon (Unseen, 2011). In fact, both of the above releases were reviewed alongside each other on Headphone Commute’s Sound Bytes special, Music To Lift The Spirits. So yes, you can be sure that have I noticed her work!

Upon further offline research, I realized that Christina is actually one half of The Dead Texan audio/visual duo, with a self-titled release on Kranky back in 2004. Oh, and the other half is none other than Adam Wiltzie! He’s the chap that’s been capturing our hearts with his work alongside Brian McBride as Stars Of The Lid! He also managed to collaborate with Dustin O’Halloran on A Winged Victory For The Sullen‘s self titled debut on Kranky in 2011 as well! With this background in mind, I set off to listen to Christina Vantzou debut with a trembling anticipation… And I wasn’t let down…

After various collaborations and a short tenure as a touring member of Sparklehorse in the summer of 2007, Christina began composing the music for this album. She worked in isolation over a three year period using synthesizers, samples, and her voice. Then, a long distance collaboration with Minna Choi, director of Magik*Magik Orchestra transformed the sprawling 45 minute single track into a score for a 7 piece orchestra, resulting in a two day recording session with Magik*Magik at TIny Telephone studios in San Francisco. The album was finally mixed in Brussels with production assistance from Adam Bryanbaum Wiltzie (Stars of the Lid).

Full bodied strings envelop the air and wash over the morning like late stubborn rain. Brass instruments announce the approach of serenity, with percussion remaining absent. The clearly audible seven-piece orchestra overrides any synthetic residuals, slowly rising in dynamics as if Vanzou just held down a chord. This purely organic ambiance seeps through the core of the album, transforming this ten-track neo-classical composition into a full-fledged symphonic suite.

Since Christina Vantzou is also a visual artist, she created videos for pretty much every track on the album (one of which is embedded in this review above). With the title like No. 1 Vantzou hints at classical naming conventions (such as Opus 1), and builds up on the promise on many great things to come from this Kansas City born, and now Brussels based, new star of the ambient and modern classical world of music. No .1 has been featured in our Best of 2011 : Music For The Film Behind Closed Eyelids. Highly recommended!

Read Interview with Christina Vantzou

christinavantzou.com | kranky.net

NOTE: ALL ENTRIES ARE LISTED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER BY ARTIST

Josh Varnedore 186,000 Endings Per Second Dynamophone		Leyland Kirby Intrigue & Stuff (Vols. 1, 2, 3) History Always Favours The Winners
Martin Herterich Kustlandet Fang Bomb		Nest Body Pilot Serein | REVIEW
Paper Relics Recovered Artefact Audio Gourmet		Pleq And Marihiko Hara The Dawn Came Behind The Fog Twisted Tree Line
Pole Waldgeschichten Pole		Roel Funcken Fes Bace Eat Concrete
Shaula The Girl In The Clock Time Released Sound | REVIEW		Simon Scott Depart, Repeat Sonic Pieces

Full shrine to the best of 2011 is still under construction, meanwhile here are our Favorite Interviews, Favorite Podcasts, and Best New Labels of 2011

NOTE: ALL ENTRIES ARE LISTED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER BY ARTIST

Access To Arasaka Orbitus Tympanik | REVIEW | INTERVIEW		Antonymes Meets Slow Dancing Society We Don’t Look Back For Very Long Hidden Shoal | INTERVIEW
Bnjmn 141 Svetlana Industries		Burial Street Halo Hyperdub
Clem Leek A Letter hibernate | LABEL PROFILE | INTERVIEW		Demdike Stare Elemental – Parts 1 & 2 Modern Love
Fennesz Seven Stars Touch		Frank Riggio Texturtion EP + Distosolista EP DeepVast | REVIEW | INTERVIEW
Ghosting Season Far End Of The Graveyard This Is Forever		Hauschka Youyoume Serein | REVIEW | LIVE

We’ve got a lot more coverage coming up… Be sure to read Part Two, and check out our site daily for the next few weeks as we’ll be revealing more of our favorite EPs, Podcasts, Interviews, and of course, full length albums! And don’t forget our selections of Best New Labels of 2011 as well as Best Compilations and Mixes in two parts.

NOTE: ALL ENTRIES ARE LISTED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER BY TITLE

116 & Rising Hessle Audio		15 Years Of Drumcode Drumcode
31 Songs For Japan flau		Echocord · Jubilee Comp. Echocord
Four Tet – FabricLive 59 Fabric (London)		Gold Panda – DJ-Kicks Studio !K7
IOTDXI R & S Records		Soma Records 20 Years Soma Quality Recordings
Robag Wruhme - Wuppdeckmischmampflow Kompakt		These Sounds Will Have To Meet Somewhere In Between Signifier

We conclude our favorite compilations and mixes of 2011. If you missed it, here are Part One and Part Two of this feature. Stay tuned for the end of the year thematic lists!!!

NOTE: ALL ENTRIES ARE LISTED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER BY TITLE

Marcel Fengler – Berghain 05 Ostgut Ton		New Blood 011 Med School | REVIEW
Nick Warren – Balance 018 Balance Music		Noah Pred – Era One Thoughtless Music | REVIEW
Painting Pictures On Silence V1 Enig’matik | REVIEW		Pop Ambient 2011 Kompakt
SMM: Context Ghostly | EVENT		Scuba – DJ-Kicks Studio !K7
Sequence1 Futuresequence		Youngsta – Rinse: 14 Rinse

Honorable Mentions are coming up soon… Meanwhile make sure you didn’t miss Part One and Honorable Mentions!

NOTE: ALL ENTRIES ARE LISTED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER BY TITLE

10 Room40 | REVIEW		14 Tracks From Planet Mu Planet Mu
Back And 4th Hotflush Recordings		Dave Clarke – Fabric 60 Fabric (London)
Deep Medi Releases Volume 3 Deep Medi Musik		Emerging Organisms Vol. 4 Tympanik Audio
Fahrenheit Project Part Seven Ultimae		For Nihon Unseen Music | REVIEW
Goldie – FabricLive 58 Fabric (London)		Kanshin Fluid Audio / Hibernate | REVIEW

Check out Part Two and Honorable Mentions…

Adam Wiltzie and Dustin O’Halloran must get on very well. They have combined here to release their first collaborative work, A Winged Victory For The Sullen, and done so in spectacular fashion. Guest appearances by the Icelandic cellist Hildur Guðnadóttir and violinist Peter Broderick only excite our neurons further. Delicate and restrained in its approach, this album is undeniably affecting.

More from the press release on this exciting collaboration:

“The duo agreed to leave their normal home studio comfort zone and develop the recordings with the help of large acoustic spaces, and to hunt down a selection of 9ft grand pianos that had the ability to deliver extreme sonic low end. Other traditional instrumentation was used including string quartet, French horn, and bassoon, but always juxtaposed is the sound of drifting guitar washed melodies.”

Wiltzie, one half of Stars of the Lid, is well versed at producing music that unfolds slowly, gradually enveloping the listener. There are shades of that here, but O’Halloran’s contributions add structure and focus to the experience. On some tracks it is O’Halloran who is in the foreground. “Minuet for a Cheap Piano Number Two” is a beautifully haunting piano led piece that aches with sadness.  But elsewhere we find “Requiem for a Static King (Part 1)”, a song that would not feel out of place on a Stars of the Lid album.

For the most part, though, the album represents new territory for both artists. Their subtle, contemplative approaches combine to form a work that is deeply moving. At times it feels as if I’m listening to the soundtrack to a film about beautiful characters living tragic lives. If this is the effect Wiltzie and O’Halloran were hoping to achieve, they were certainly not in a hurry to do so. The songs seem to take single, often simple, ideas and meditate on them, allowing them to unfold and develop in their own time.  This concept is never more apparent than in the album’s closing, and perhaps strongest, track “All Farewells are Sudden”, where less really is more.

“Their secret to harvesting new melodic structures from the thin air of existence was for the duo to push themselves to live dangerously, realizing that clear thinking at the wrong moment could stifle the compositions.”

A Winged Victory For The Sullen will move most who give it the time and attention it deserves. It represents the perfect blend of two wonderfully gifted musicians who have crafted an album that stands out as one of the very best of 2011. The album is co-released by Chicago based Kranky and London based Erased Tapes Records.

Be sure to read Interview with A Winged Victory For The Sullen

awvfts.com | kranky.net | erasedtapes.com

Review by Ben Rutter exclusively for Headphone Commute.

Well, here’s a wonderful surprise… Few Quiet People is Polish independent label that I haven’t previously been familiar with (until now). Having started off as a net-label, and released five digital-only albums [and the prerequisite sampler compilation], the label moves into a physical territory. The album by Maciej Nejman under his newly devised Keel Keathely moniker (previously known as Nejmano) is released on a CD and cassette! On Ti Morf Raf, Nejman uses reel-to-reel tape recorders to create washed out subliminal passages that barely come up for air from beneath the thick textured surface, only to drown out in the muffled spectrum of sounds again. If the choice of this particular recording instrument evokes a thought of William Basinski, you’d be happy to know that it’s not the only similarity. Nejman uses similar technique of looping tones, drones, and even the sounds of the reels spinning themselves. Although the six consecutively numbered miniatures never disintegrate, a few pieces do  approach a 10 and even a 13-minute mark. Ti Morf Raf is a beautiful album that I can easily play over and over (as I already have), and I’m excited to have discovered this gem in my never-ending pile of promos. Among the many Polish artists appearing on the roster, the readers may recognize Szymon Kaliski (see For Isolated Recollections on Hibernate) and Tomasz Bednarczyk (see Let’s Make Better Mistakes Tomorrow on 12k). Recommended!

New Amsterdam Records, a label subsidiary of Brooklyn (New York) based artists’ service organization, featuring nearly two dozen eclectic acts, classical composers and even small ensembles, releases a third album from itsnotyouitsme. The group is composed of Grey McMurray and Caleb Burhans, a duo who met at Eastman School of Music (Rochester, NY). McMurray is currently a member of The Wordless Music Orchestra, while Burhans is the founding member of Alarm Will Sound, having previously worked closely with Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and John Adams, among the many. On the double-disc, Everybody’s Pain Is Magnificent, the duo explores the timbres of their acoustic instruments paired with minimal effects and gentle post-processing. The pieces put on an organic-ambient slash folktronic slash post-rock slash neo-classical veil, shifting seamlessly between the styles and inevitably creating one of their own. Perhaps the album best occupies the space where electronic and electro-acoustic genres meet, having previously been divided by the academia, and simply create … music. I could immediately see how a missed live performance by the duo can turn an oversight into regret. Listeners may be immediately drawn towards the music driven by percussion-less instrumentation consisting of Burhans’ electric violin and McMurray’s acoustic guitar.

Having previously worked with black metal, grindcore and noise bands, Marc Broude turned inwards, towards solo production of dark ambient, experimental, and drone works. These are the pieces that immediately make you feel, inevitably turning a bright sunny day into a somber affair. Sinister guitar riffs are layered and reversed, unwinding like a demented jack-in-the-box toy, left to rot in a cemented basement corner. Creeping delays swell backwards in time, smothering pitched down melodies, too dark to leave a shadow. Jazzy percussion shuffles with avant-garde stride, reserving its lifetime to minimal sway and presence. Track titles such as “Muerte”, “For the Flies”, and “Face Covered in S**t” only add to the gloomy atmosphere already smeared with music. Released on his very own label, No Zen in 2009, and re-issued again in 2011 by No Zen and Critical Archives, Medicine is an apocalyptic beast that you just can’t hate to love. Although a few adjectives in this album review may sound unpleasant, I assure you that Broude’s music will leave upon you its mark, taking you places you’ve always feared to plummet. See if you can also pick up Broude’s Rights of Zen, a 72-minute ambient piece released on No Zen in 2009. Broude is currently finishing up his next album, NREM, due out in 2012; a 30-minute track, “Maladaptive Dreaming” can be streamed in its entirety on YouTube. Fans of Lustmord, Scorn and Lull will appreciate the journey.