Archive for the ‘Album Reviews’ Category
Ghostly’s got it right. I don’t know who’s talking over there, but someone is definitely listening. Perhaps it’s all in the numbers. Perhaps publishing experimental, ambient and modern classical genres can be a viable business option after all. Of course I’m speculating here, but if the public is listening (and buying!) this music, then why [...]
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Tags: modern classical
Placement Collected Locations The Lime Green Yellow Recording Company An English art-pop group Curtains has released music under a few names – the experimental and ambient-dub side of it records under the name Net, while the ‘locational ambient’ and ‘landscape music’ falls under the Placement moniker. Recorded during 2008-2010, the collection of “rarities, one offs [...]
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Tags: ambient, electronica, idm
Although appearing on our radar in 2012, The Caretaker‘s latest opus was actually recorded prior to his 2011 lauded release, An Empty Bliss Beyond This World, which was featured in Headphone Commute’s Best of 2011 : Music For The Film Behind Closed Eyelids. Released on his very own History Always Favours The Winners, Patience (After Sebald) is actually [...]
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Tags: ambient, experimental, hauntology
There is some music that I save for the night, and then there’s some that I leave for the morning. Windy And Carl‘s latest album, We Will Always Be, is one of the latter. Waking up to a beautiful weekend ahead, I brew up some green tea, open my window blinds and wait for the [...]
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Tags: ambient, shoegaze
It’s already dark and already cold. On my way home I bundle up, wrap my ears in headphones, and cover my head with a hood. Wind is trying to penetrate my sonic shell, but I got a stronger wind inside. Jannick Schou creates torrents of sound capable of silencing the gust. A strong tempest is growing [...]
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Tags: dark ambient, drone, noise
Take a deep breath, press play, and lower the needle. Here’s what happens next. Multiple layers split the frequency spectrum, your own being, and the perceived reality as everything in sight is enveloped in sound. The lowest register appears in the foreground, with deep rumbling bass defining the rhythm and structure. The highs swim below [...]
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Tags: ambient, dark ambient, noise
I suppose it’s that time of the day when it’s appropriate to think about Dead Unicorns, My Sugar Ape, Tears And Fruit Cocktail. Just from the track names, let alone the title of the album, Trainwreck Magnetism, Mike Hayward, aka The Teknoist, sets up the stage for the dark trip into his twisted mind. If [...]
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Tags: breakcore, dark idm, hardcore
Roel Funcken Fes Bace Eat Concrete In 2010, Funckarma‘s member Roel Funcken (the other half is his brother, Don), released his solo debut, Vade on Ad Noiseam. A year later, Funcken moved over to Eat Concrete, where the brothers have introduced their loyal fans to to the Dubstoned series, as well as Roel’s Daze Flextone EP and now the followup, Fes Bace. [...]
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Tags: dark idm, glitch, idm, psy-hop
Welcome to our newly redesigned Sound Bytes column! Today we feature four thematic releases following a trajectory of sound and words through ambiance, minimalism, and drone. In this particular installment we went to focus your attention on a few fantastic labels - Slow Flow, Twice Removed, and Unfathomless. Segue Into The Fall Slow Flow Slow Flow is a [...]
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Tags: ambient, drone, minimal
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 [...]
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Tags: ambient, drone, experimental
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 [...]
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Tags: ambient, dark ambient, drone, experimental
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 [...]
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Tags: ambient, experimental, folktronic, neofolk
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 [...]
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Tags: ambient, modern classical
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… [...]
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Tags: downtempo, idm, leftfield
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, [...]
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Tags: downtempo, electronica, leftfield
Rustie – Glass Swords (Warp)
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 [...]
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Tags: bass, crunk, electro, glitch
Kuedo – Severant (Planet Mu)
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 [...]
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Tags: ambient, downtempo, dubstep
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 [...]
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Tags: ambient, minimal
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 [...]
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Tags: ambient
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 [...]
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Tags: downtempo, idm, psybient
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