Friday, February 29, 2008

Susumu Yokota - Sakura


Label: Leaf
Released: 2000
Style: Downtempo, Ambient

"An album in the classic sense, 'Sakura' is a 50 minute ever-so delicate slow build to a gentle crescendo, weaving tendrils of melody through spiralling loops and heartbeats to complete a watercoloured study in the vagaries of the human spirit. It highlights Yokota's remarkable ability for imbuing ambient sounds with eccentric personality and enveloping warmth and depth. 'Sakura' features the original version of 'Naminote' that made its way onto the deep house 'Mix' EP (DOCK 23)." - PostEverything

Tracklisting:

1 Saku (5:45)
2 Tobiume (4:38)
3 Uchu Tanjyo (3:13)
4 Hagoromo (3:52)
5 Genshi (4:57)
6 Gekkoh (4:59)
7 Hisen (3:48)
8 Azukiiro No Kaori (2:39)
9 Kodomotachi (4:06)
10 Naminote (5:43)
11 Shinsen (4:33)
12 Kirakiraboshi (1:55)

Link

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Victor Bermon - Arriving At Night



Label: Hefty Records
Released: 2007
Style: Instrumental, Future Jazz, Downtempo

"Wonderfully dreamy and hypnotic progressive instrumental music. There are a lot of folks creating this sort of music lately, but very few who are as clearly focused and talented as Victor Bermon. Although some of his tracks have popped up in various places during the past couple of years, Arriving at Night is Bermon's debut album. These thirteen compositions are a pure delight...incorporating many of the best ideas behind ambient, trance, and modern progressive pop. The overall tone of the album is calm and hypnotic...and many of the tunes have a very inviting warm organic sound. Not a lot more needs to be said here...but we should mention that this is one of those CDs that gets better the more you spin it. Smoothly seductive cuts include "Farewell Lunch for Laura," "Unprepared," "On the Way Back," and "On This Night." Great stuff." - Babysue

Tracklisting:

1 Farewell Lunch For Laura (3:48)
2 We Face Each Other (3:57)
3 Photographs Are Not Memories (3:52)
4 Unprepared (6:14)
5 View Of The Islands (3:24)
6 First Encounters (3:16)
7 Portrait (2:05)
8 Famous Discussion (3:29)
9 Theatre Of Signs (4:08)
10 On The Way Back (2:49)
11 Stacked Notebooks (3:12)
12 Prospect Park (4:03)
13 On This Night (3:38)

Link

Susumu Yokota - Grinning Cat



Label: Leaf
Released: 2001
Style: Downtempo, Experimental, Ambient

"After the remarkable 'Sakura' from last year, Yokota returns with another mesmerising excursion for the Leaf label. Spanning the spectrum of sound that takes in Nobukazu Takemura at one end and Brian Eno at the other, Grinning Cat is a deeply mellow excursion into evocation and atmosphere. Cinematic in the rare and true sense of the word, Yokota seems to posses a rare talent for setting moods with almost effortless simplicity. The album is constructed electronically by use of an array of organic sound sources - handclaps, windchimes, heartbeats, acoustic guitar, piano......delicately brought together in a way that never seems pretentious and wholly succeeds in setting the scene for bliss. Highly Recommended." - Boomkat

Tracklisting:

1 I Imagine (2:34)
2 King Dragonfly (4:42)
3 Card Nation (4:00)
4 Sleepy Eye (2:44)
5 Lapis Lazuli (3:49)
6 Balloon in the Cage (1:02)
7 Cherry Blossom (5:25)
8 Love Bird (3:49)
9 Fearful Dream (4:10)
10 Tears of a Poet (4:36)
11 So Red (3:23)
12 Flying Cat (5:52)
13 Lost Child (3:26)

Link

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Kode9 & The Spaceape



Label: Hyperdub
Released: 2006
Style: Dubstep, UK Garage, Experimental

"After the widely acclaimed Burial debut album, Hyperdub throw out another tangential long player, a mutant satellite to the grime/dubstep scenes, this time from label boss Kode9 and resident vocalist Spaceape. Memories of the Future features 14 dread filled flash-backs and flash-forwards from a world trembling in an echology of fear. The future has collapsed in on the present and spaceship earth is on route to nowhere. The album brings together the long sought after Hyperdub debut single 'Sine of the Dub' from early 2004 with other minor classics such as 'Kingstown', recent singles 'Backward' and '9 Samurai' and 10 new tracks of uneasy, sometimes queasy listening. Time scrambling dubtronic poet, Spaceape circulates around the lyrical black hole he calls home with tales of cultural addiction, urban paralysis, bioterror, smoldering flesh and psycho-affective meltdown. Yet they manage to conjure up a strange joy in these hallucinations of dystopia which infect the real present. ‘Glass’ eases you into a false sense of insecurity, a synthetic sea shanty for a spaceship adrift. ‘Victims’ descends down through the dub chamber and resurfaces towards the 'dread pop' of ‘Curious’(featuring debut appearance from Ms.Haptic), and the ‘dread hop’ of ‘Backward’ and ‘Portal’. Spaceape’s dark dictations and demented refrains form the consistent thread through 9’s loping rhythms, deranged melodies and walls of muffled, driving sub-bass. Alongside the singularly infamous 'Sine' are more doses of uniquely sticky, claustrophobic and katatonic bass poetry of 'Nine' and 'Correction'. The album closes with the cold shiver of ‘Lime’ and astro-dancehall of ‘Quantum’. But as Spaceape reminds us in ‘Glass’ – “It’s the beginning, not the end, that we have to reach last.” - Label

Tracklisting:

1 Glass (4:30)
2 Victims (3:51)
3 Backward (4:43)
4 Nine (1:54)
5 Curious (4:58)
6 Portal (4:25)
7 Addiction (3:40)
8 Sine (5:21)
9 Correction (3:15)
10 Kingstown (4:40)
11 9 Samurai (3:40)
12 Bodies (2:26)
13 Lime (1:55)
14 Quantum (3:18)

Link

The Tuss - Rushup Edge



Label: Rephlex
Released: 2007
Style: IDM, Techno, Acid

"Now that the dust has settled on the message board debates and the fake MySpaces, this has all but been confirmed as the new Aphex Twin material fans thought they would have to wait years for after the Analord series. Stylistically, it remains close to the Analords, but pushes the aggression and the programming to a more complex level, much moreso resembling Analord 10 than 1. But amazingly, after 40+ tracks of Acid released over the course of 2006 in the Analord series, Rushup Edge still sounds fairly fresh and in no way a retread. A real feat for Richard, or whoever’s doing his best to resemble him on this record." - The Music Lobby

Tracklisting:

1 Synthacon 9 (6:21)
2 Last Rushup 10 (6:35)
3 Shiz Ko E (3:08)
4 Rushup I Bank 12 (4:40)
5 Death Fuck (6:38)
6 Goodbye Rute (5:21)

Link

Port-Royal - Afraid To Dance



Label: Resonant
Released: 2007
Style: Post Rock, Shoegazer, Ethereal, Ambient

"For those unfamiliar with their debut, port-royal are anything but just another generic epic instrumental outfit; utilising subtle electronics and almost classical arrangements, they create lengthy, expansive, melancholic compositions that often have movements within the individual tracks, constantly evolving and shifting in tempo.

Though "Afraid To Dance" follows the formula that made "Flares" such a success, it also displays sufficient progression to be more than just "Flares pt2"; though the same components are evident, the emphasis has shifted towards the electronic beats and pure rhythm that underpin their sound, bringing them to the forefront while the hypnotic spacerock guitars and synth gently weave melodies beneath." - Label

Tracklisting:

1 Bahnhof Zoo (4:51)
2 Pauline Bokour (2:07)
3 Anya: Sehnsucht (8:50)
4 German Bigflies (5:21)
5 Deca-Dance (9:10)
6 Roliga Timmen (Longing Machines) (4:35)
7 Internet Love (4:41)
8 Leitmotiv/Glasnost (8:56)
9 Putin Vs Valery (7:11)
10 Attorney Very Bad (aka The Worst) (4:32)

Link

Tim Hecker - Mirages



Label: Alien8 Recordings
Released: 2004
Style: Experimental, Ambient

"Tim Hecker’s latest full-length, Mirages, is a lesson of darkness, a midnight whisper revealing its true essence to the listener: an ambient-death-metal classic in waiting.

We hope you find, as we do, Mirages further erodes the vapid predispositions of electronic music, uncovering a terrain where dissonance and melody coincide in a near-bohemian unison. Hecker has certainly developed a unique approach to music in an increasingly overcrowded and generic field. This is a challenging work which reconciles a highly experimental approach to songcraft that is at once beautiful and unnerving. As Mr. Hecker explains: “Mirages is the sound of the ruby-horned deer sharing sweet lies in the night.”' - Label

Tracklisting:

1 Acéphale (4:57)
2 Neither More Nor Less (3:10)
3 Aerial Silver (3:37)
4 Celestina (4:31)
5 Counter Attack (2:13)
6 The Truth Of Accountants (2:21)
7 Aerial Light-Pollution Orange (3:09)
8 Non Mollare (1:10)
9 Kaito (3:08)
10 Balkanize-You (8:37)
11 Incurably Optimistic! (10:40)

Link

Tim Hecker - Norberg



Label: Room40
Released: 2007
Style: Abstract, Experimental, Minimal, Ambient

"Recorded at the Norberg Festival (Sweden) amidst the mineshafts and cluttered buildings strewn throughout parts the city, this 21 minute live piece summarises much of what makes Tim Hecker’s music so vital and compelling. Adept at counter-pointing the most ferocious of distorted platters with smooth beds of ambient sound and potent melodic overtones, Tim Hecker creates music with a vast depth. On Norberg, this depth seems almost endless, as layer upon layer of sound are compiled into a swelling and all together visceral oceanic sound wave." - Label

Tracklisting:

1 Norberg (20:25)

Link

Belong - October Language



Label: Carpark Records
Released: 2006
Style: Noise, Experimental, Ambient

"The collaborative venture of Turk Dietrich and Michael Jones, Belong inhabit a sonic territory that seems perpetually out of sight - giving the same effulgent warmth as standing with your back to a sunset, or glimpsing a blizzard through a frosted window. Understanding that all beauty has an inherent element of decay, Belong resemble a colourful photo left out in the sun to fade - combining an operatic scope akin to Kevin Shields, with an eroded sensibility that flirts with Baskinski and shares a certain predilection with Fennesz or Gas. Constructed with an attention to detail that borders on the compulsive, Belong open with 'I Never Lose. Never Really.'; wherein a camera-obscura approach slowly reveals a static fuzz of sprawling soundscapes and awe-inspiring intensity that shares its scope with Sigur Ros, whilst resorting to none of the orchestral bombast on which they rely. The fact that Dietrich has collaborated with Telefon Tel Aviv (whose Joshua Eustis guests on the title-track) also becomes apparent throughout 'October Language', not so much due to an overt similarity in sound, but more through the wide-screen production and starburst intensity in which they both revel. With the likes of 'I'm Too Sleepy... Shall We Swim?', 'Who Told You This Room Exists' and 'The Door Opens The Other Way' all possessing a corroded elegance that can be interpreted as either majestic or malignant, 'October Language' is a masterclass in dignified disintegration. Phenomenal." - Boomkat

Tracklisting:

1 I Never Lose. Never Really (4:43)
2 Red Velvet Or Nothing (5:40)
3 October Language (5:30)
4 I'm Too Sleepy...Shall We Swim? (5:13)
5 Remove The Inside (5:59)
6 Who Told You This Room Exists? (5:05)
7 All Equal Now (5:31)
8 The Door Opens The Other Way (7:12)

Link

Amon Tobin - Bricolage



Label: Ninja Tune
Released: 1997
Style: Leftfield, Abstract, Jazz Fusion, Jungle

"Amon Tobin's jazz-jungle fusions as Cujo (for upstart label Ninebar) earned him many props, but that began to change with his debut for Ninja Tune. Blurring the already vague line that separates jungle's rhythmic meditations from those of the hottest jazz (Elvin Jones, say, or Jacko Pastorius, Bricolage manages a difficult hybrid of heart, soul, atmosphere, and brain-bending plunderphonics that loses neither perspective nor direction over the course of the albums. Like his preceding EPs Creatures and Chomp Samba (from which a few of Bricolage's cuts derive), the album mixes fast and slow but maintains a solid focus on innovation without sacrificing a sense of purpose. Somehow, Bricolage manages to be both consistent and consistently engaging, a feat few drum'n'bass LPs seem able to manage." - allmusic

Tracklisting:

1 Stoney Street (5:53)
2 Easy Muffin (5:02)
3 Yasawas (5:24)
4 Creatures (5:21)
5 Chomp Samba (6:07)
6 The New York Editor (4:56)
7 Defocus (5:10)
8 The Nasty (4:35)
9 Bitter & Twisted (5:05)
10 Wires & Snakes (5:27)
11 One Day In My Garden (5:43)
12 Dream Sequence (7:19)
13 One Small Step (6:11)
14 Mission (7:08)

Link

White Rainbow - Prism Of Eternal Now



Label: Kranky
Released: 2007
Style: Lo-Fi, Psychedelic, Ambient

"With the release of ...Eternal Now, White Rainbow has surpassed typical solo project territory and is now a virtual elemental force. At a somewhat brief 71 minutes, his kranky debut pulses and flows with mantric chants, clattering percussions, sighing sustains and guitar leads unashamed of their scorching transcendence. He breathes new life into archaic sub-genres such as progrock, new age, and hippie folk incantations, while never stooping to the negative aspects of any of them, and at the same time remaining a step ahead of the technologically crippled and virtuosuo-less looper pedal scene. Prism of Eternal Now leaves behind the bounds of gravity for a free floating meditational headtrip of inner space exploration." - Label

Tracklisting:

1 Pulses
2 Middle
3 For Terry
4 Mystic Prism
5 April 25th 11:14pm
6 Guitars
7 Waves
8 Warm Clicked Fruit
9 Awakening

Link

BJNilsen - The Short Night



Label: Touch
Released: 2007
Style: Field Recording, Abstract, Experimental, Ambient

A follower to 2005's Fade to White [Touch # TO:65], BJNilsen develops his work further, based on field recordings and electronics. This time he adds harsher yet clearer harmonies with musical elements to the compositions, creating a beautifully complex and detailed study. Recorded in 2006-7 with mostly analogue equipment, using up to 50 year-old tapemachines, filters and generators that end up being the soft cushion in these cold location recordings.

Tracklisting:

1
Front (14:24)
2 Finisterre (9:35)
3 Pole Of Inaccessibility (6:33)
4 Viking, Cromarty… (0:06)
5 Black Light (4:16)
6 Icing Station (2:16)
7 Viking North (10:53)

Link

M83 - Digital Shades [Vol. 1]



Label: Gooom
Released: 2007
Style: Ambient

"Regular readers of these pages will no doubt already be all too well aware of our unashamed love for all things shoegaze. We haven't really tried hard to mask our childish glee whenever the names My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive or Ride are mentioned and luckily we have been able to witness something of a renaissance in the sound, what with artists such as Ulrich Schnauss and of course France's M83 updating it for a new generation of listeners. 'Digital Shades' is something of a surprise release from M83, now solely made up of Anthony Gonzalez after former member Nicholas Fromageau left last year. It is (according to what I can find online) the first in a series of releases which are not to be thought of as 'proper' albums, something which becomes evident after only the first few moments of the record. You see, the last M83 album, and the record which made them underground stars 'Before the Dawn Heals Us' was an upbeat, brash affair, something of an electronic reworking on the shoegaze sound but with a poppishness it was impossible to ignore. 'Digital Shades' however is much more low key, the percussion is all but gone and only two tracks feature 'proper' vocals.I would go far enough to say this the album is my favourite from Gonzalez yet, by blending his obvious love of Brian Eno, Tangerine Dream and the Krautrock innovators of the 70s (notably Harmonia and Cluster) he has come up with an album which manages to transcend the influence and become its own animal altogether. A good point of comparison would be ex-Morr Music artist Manual's incredible and subtle ambient album 'The North Shore'. Playing like a film soundtrack or a book from beginning to end, with each track perfectly placed to run fluidly into the next, it is hard to imagine a more peaceful way to spend thirty five minutes, and it's almost enough to make me forget all the traffic roaring outside. This is simply beautiful music, unconcerned with fashion and a faddish desire to sound 'modern', and I hope it achieves the success it deserves. Fans of any of the aforementioned artists should grab this without delay." - Boomkat

Tracklisting:

1 Waves, Waves, Waves (2:30)
2 Coloring The Void (3:27)
3 Sister (Part 1) (2:15)
4 Strong And Wasted (1:56)
5 My Own Strange Path (3:47)
6 Dancing Mountains (5:05)
7 Sister (Part 2) (2:21)
8 By The Kiss (4:03)
9 Space Fertilizer (1:58)
10 The Highest Journey (8:15)

Link

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Philip Jeck - 7



Label: Touch
Released: 2003
Style: Noise, Ambient, Experimental

"Philip Jeck is not your typical turntablist. Like his sometime collaborators Christian Marclay, Otomo Yoshihide, and Martin Tétreault, Jeck attends not to beats, breaks, and scratching but rather to the massing of sound, looping and layering scratchy old vinyl until it settles into a kind of rich humus of hiss - fertile soil for the flowering of unexpected melodic shoots. Using vintage Dansette players, a rudimentary Casio sampler, and effects, Jeck isolates tiny fragments of songs - often slowed down to 16 RPM, they're rendered utterly unidentifiable - and assembles them into dense, shifting structures as inviting as Op Art's moiré patterns. His seventh (not including numerous collaborations) solo LP, 7 - like all of Jeck's work - is nominally ambient, in that it opens up sprawling, immersive worlds best explored blindfolded. Individual moments blur and dissipate, and you're left with the sense of having inhabited a vast, harmonic field where all possibilities co-exist at once." - Earplug

Tracklisting:

1 Wholesome (8:21)
2 Museum (6:52)
3 Wipe (4:11)
4 Bush Hum (4:19)
5 Now You Can Let Go (9:01)
6 Some Pennies (6:27)
7 Veil (10:04)

Link

The Dead Texan - The Dead Texan



Label: Kranky
Released: 2004
Style: Modern Classical, Ambient

"The eleven tracks on The Dead Texan are sonatas to Stars of the Lid's noctambulant fugues. The presence of piano and strings are reminiscent of Zbigniew Preisner's soundtrack work and the feel is suggestive of George Delerue's early 60s soundtracks, but the surreal smear of guitars is Wiltzie's unmistakable contribution. Wiltzie has been living in Brussels, Belgium for the past few years. A decidedly European, filmic sensibility wafts through The Dead Texan as a song title like "La Ballade de Alain Georges" (with its reference to the 1940s French actor) and snatches of dialogue indicate. Tracks vary from the flowing, transparent melody on "A Chronicle of Early Failures - Part 2" to delicate and fleeting vignettes. Combined with the creation of the seven video segments that accompany The Dead Texan, the tracks appear and depart as brief chamber pieces yet still fit into a greater whole." - Label

Tracklisting:

1 The 6 Million Dollar Sandwich (3:02)
2 Glen's Goo (4:07)
3 A Chronicle Of Early Failures Pt. 1 (5:43)
4 A Chronicle Of Early Failures Pt. 2 (5:47)
5 Taco Me Manque (2:37)
6 Aegina Airlines (2:48)
7 When I See Scissors, I Cannot Help But Think Of You (3:59)
8 Girth Rides A (Horse)+ (2:33)
La Ballade D'Alain Georges (6:23)
10 Beatrice Pt. 2 (4:04)
11 The Struggle (5:28)

Link

Biosphere - Dropsonde



Label: Touch
Released: 2006
Style: Abstract, Downtempo, Ambient

"Dropsonde' isn't a soundtrack like the interwoven 'Substrata' nor an episodic journey in the way that 'Autour de la Lune' is. Here Geir Jenssen is pushing new directions towards the jazz colours of Miles Davis and Jon Hassell, whilst re-invigorating the pulse and projection of his signature sound: a hypnotic combination of pleasure and dread.

The spatial aspects some have dubbed "Arctic sound" but it summons strong feelings, or as Exclaim from Canada put it, "in order to climb higher, you must first go deeper". Jon Savage adds: "As with all of the Biosphere albums, the music draws you in and makes you want to listen and feel. Jenssen's work acts on a very emotional level, one that encourages you to drift away into a haze of images and scenes brought to you by the music, where spectacular beauty hides unseen danger. Intense and moving, but comforting and soothing at the same time."' - Label

Tracklisting:

1 Dissolving Clouds (4:28)
2 Birds Fly By Flapping Their Wings (6:35)
3 Warmed By The Drift (6:50)
4 In Triple Time (5:50)
5 From A Solid To A Liquid (5:19)
6 Arafura (5:10)
7 Fall In Fall Out (7:10)
8 Daphnis 26 (6:45)
9 Altostratus (5:11)
10 Sherbrooke (5:55)
11 People Are Friends (10:39)

Link

I'm Not A Gun - Everything At Once



Label: City Centre Offices
Released: 2003
Style: Dowtempo, Future Jazz

"John Tejada requires very little introduction. With releases under his belt for Playhouse, Plug Research, Seventh City, Defocus, Palette and numerous other labels, Mr Tejada has gained notoriety and respect in fields as diverse as Detroit Techno, IDM, House and acoustic experimentation. For his latest project 'I'm not a gun', John has teamed up with his good friend Takeshi Nishimoto - a gifted multi instrumentalist who has created a brand new post-rock slant for the always diverse John Tejada. 'I'm not a gun' features Tejada on drums, guitar and electronics, while Nishimoto adds the licks on blissful guitar and bass reverberations. With airy gestures and a sunny state of mind, they jam themselves into textures which have learned their lesson from the best records of the Chicago acoustic school: jazzrock does not have to be a pretentious monster, but can sing a poem of colloquial communication. As soon as structure wins over the solo, dialogue over technical skills and the lightness of swing over the pathos of improvisation, a new dreamlike soundscape is opened. In a cheerful dizzyness these instrumentals seem to plan themselves, accepting no control from the outside world. Tejada and Nishimoto are just following that stream. ‘Everything at Once“ is music of the inner ear, floating sessions full of lush instrumentation and a reflective yet uplifting formation of texture and melody. You get the feeling listening to this gorgeous album that, while recording each and every track on board, work had nothing to do with effort, the artists creating a new kind of folk music which glides into your soul coated with a sense of bliss. This is the first release this year for CCO, plenty more to follow, but what a starting point! Highly recommended." - Boomkat

Tracklisting:
1 Jet Stream (4:50)
2 Frequent Syndrome (4:48)
3 These Thoughts Break (5:00)
4 Long Division (4:46)
5 Monovision (4:24)
6 Make Sense And Loose (4:33)
7 Search For Sleep (4:59)
8 Drunken Anecdotes (5:12)
9 Dazed In The Moment (4:34)
10 Vacant Sky (3:33)
11 Flash Bang Imagery (4:48)

Link

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