February 2012
3 posts
3 tags
Dustin Wong – Dreams Say, View, Create, Shadow...
2011 has seen a great popularity of looper based guitar and synth improv artists. The overall prominent Mark McGuire or the psychedelic freak-outs of Expo70 are just the tip of the iceberg. Together with the regained attention for redundant release formats such as tapes, it seems there is a vast of people sitting at home with their guitars and their Porta Studios and a handful of pedals layering...
4 tags
Oren Ambarchi – Audience of One
Oren Ambarchi’s entry at Discogs lists 32 albums. The majority of them explore the ideas of drone, minimalistic guitar and bass sounds. His latest release “Audience of One” goes a different route. Compared with the usual hovering single notes stretched out on a dark surface, this album feels like a foray into more song oriented experiments.
“Salt” – the starter of...
4 tags
"Elegy for Seaweed" available as a digital...
If you want the digital version of my latest album “Elegy for Seaweed”, you can grab your copy at my bandcamp page. The copy also includes the poetry in a pdf booklet. Get it here:
Elegy for Seaweed
January 2012
6 posts
4 tags
Radere – I'll Make You Quiet
After two extraordinary compilations, Futuresequence, the web based magazine covering experimental ambient music, dives into releasing records. It is not that much of a surprise that the releases will cover a similar ground as Futuresequence does a web-zine or did with those two compilations. The first one will be from Radere, who is no a stranger to the ambient scene.
His album...
4 tags
Keel Keathley – Ti Morf Raf
This one struck me totally off guard. The promo came out of nowhere and I nearly forgot about this, after i had put it in my iTunes. It came on some weeks later, while I was listening to music on random and left me pretty amazed.
It starts a little slowly and low-key. Some distortion here, some clangs and voice fragments there … nice textures, but nothing to call home about. Anyways, this first...
4 tags
Mark van Hoen - The Revenant Diary
My fondness for the works of Mark van Hoen has a long story and reaches back to the Locust releases on R&S. His idea of stoically beating drum machines beneath swirling textures and pulsating synth lines always fascinated me, since I first heard them. In my head, it always sounded like a long forgotten russian ambient techno release that was lost somewhere in the late 80s. There was this...
my contribution to the latest @disquiet project
AM radio and grainclouds
November 2011
7 posts
7 tags
Leonardo Rosado – Mute words
“Mute Words” is a fragile album. Gentle sounds of field recordings that are sometimes processed to tiny little flickers intertwine with floating drones, fragments of melodies and distant voices to form the eight tracks of “Mute Words”. The voices of Barbara de Dominicis, Alicia Merz and Michelle Seaman – sometimes sung, sometimes spoken – are often not more than a faint...
4 tags
Max6
I guess MaxMSP doesn’t need much introduction around here. For ages computer musician, including me, are using this application for audio and data generation. With the just released version 6 Cycling74 doesn’t primarily focus on new objects (although there are a couple), but more on an enhanced audio engine, workflow improvements and a new addition to the former trinity of Max, MSP...
4 tags
Eyvind Kang – Visible Breath
Eyvind Kang is no stranger within the grey area between experimental Jazz, Drone and Metal. One of his most prominent appearances is as a contributor to Sunn O)))’s “Monoliths&Dimensions” album. His solo work “Visible Breath”, released on Stephen O’Malley’s Ideologic Organ shows him as an avid modern composer and musician with a strong leaning...
3 tags
Pascal Savy – Liminal
Pascal Savy’s “Liminal” has been already out for quite a while now. But as it goes, there was like a hundred of other things that needed to be done first, before I could take care of this. Nevertheless no reason to let this great release pass with any comment. “Falling inward” the first track of the album starts off with beating drones and small delicate bell...
A Lesser Photographer: A Lesser Photographer - A... →
alesserphotographer:
I’m pleased to present my first manifesto for minimal photography, A Lesser Photographer: 10 Principles for Rediscovering What Matters.
Download the ebook here.
Photographers are being bombarded by content that has only further removed them from their creativity (and money). They’re…
4 tags
Jacaszek – Glimmer
To be honest, when Jacaszek “Treny” album was released in 2008, it was one the year’s albums that left me speachless. The whole piece was so dark, yet uplifting – drowning me in pastoral drones and eerie sampling snippets from what seemed to originate mostly from chamber music recordings. Haunting vocal and choral echos flickered between deep cello tones, cembalo pickings and...
October 2011
4 posts
4 tags
Native Instruments Guitar Rig 5
Let me be honest right from the start. Guitars don’t play such a big part in my music. Nevertheless Guitar Rig always amazed me, since I tried out version 1. Sending synth through amps, drowning them in distortion and thickening them up with amps was always something that was quite rewarding with Guitar Rig. Plus the internal modulation system is really thought out and versatile, the...
4 tags
Mark McGuire - Get Lost
Mark McGuire has a strange talent. On a first and quick listen a lot of his stuff always sounds a little too easy and obvious to me. Just like a couple of sketches you’d throw together with some friends or alone on an evening session, but after a couple of spins, the tracks seem to open up and reveal layer after layer of these gorgeous textures. With “Get Lost” McGuire shows a...
3 tags
He Can Jog – Norwood, Wisconsin
As He Can Jog Erik Schoster seems to love the larger than life, wall of sound pop music gesture. The first track of his “Norwood, Wisconsin” album is a breath taking mixture of multi harmonic vocals, layered on top of each other, catchy melodies, thick textures, stuttery granular pads intertwined with more twists and turns than a latin american telenovela. All this sonic madness is...
3 tags
Hungreeman – The Detroit Memoirs
This album struck me out of nowhere. It’s been a while, since I really enjoyed a proper techno album. Although I still have quite huge soft spot for Detroit techno, it is mostly the old releases I enjoy. Hungreeman’s “The Detroit Memoirs” starts off like a Robert Hood piece. Pulsating, stoically bleeping into space not very far away from Hood’s Minus track from the...
September 2011
3 posts
6 tags
Gareth Davies/Jan Kleefstra/Romke Kleefstra –...
If you want to submerge into a deep sea of sounds that perfectly fits to the upcoming autumn, a collaboration between Gareth Davies and the Kleefstra brothers Jan and Romke seems to be a perfect start.
Tongerswell is a dark and brooding album. The first track starts fades in so slowly you’d think the CD is not running at first until the low rumbling proves you wrong. Thick drones are...
3 tags
Angel – 26000
Angel – despite its name – isn’t that nice and easy to digest. Even if one part of the group, Dirk Dresselhaus, who is probably most know for his works as Schneider TM, might give you the impression that it ventures into more pop-influenced territories. The project between Dresselhaus and Ilpo Väisänen from Pan Sonic explores the dark and grim territory of noise, drone and electro-acoustic...
3 tags
Ricardo Donoso – Progress Chance
Ricardo Donoso’s Progress Chance is a synthesizer based, kosmische Musik influenced album that has has everything you could ask for. The tracks burst into spiraling chords, arpeggios and lush pads. If this would be floating above beat patterns, it would perfectly work in an early after-hour set. But also as a pure listening experience the pieces develop an intense hypnotic strength.
This...
August 2011
3 posts
4 tags
The OO-Ray – Astoria
For deep, droned-out soundscapes, the cello seems to be the perfect instrument. The dense textures from Hildur Guðnadóttir are probably one of the most prominent examples of this instrument in contemporary music. The Portland based The OO-Ray works with a similar approach as the well known islandic musician: a cello and a couple of effects for processing combined with a great sense for harmony...
5 tags
Nigel Samways / Ennio Mazzon – E Loops/Trade...
From various releases on labels such as Resting Bell to his latest – and by the way excellent – contribution to the cronicaster series, Ennio Mazzon is no stranger to the experimental electronic music scene. His latest work, together with Nigel Samways, on his own Ripples Recordings label is no exception. His collaborator Nigel Samways can also look back at a beautiful set of releases on labels...
Wogglebug Patched in itself | Nils Quak My new...
July 2011
6 posts
3 tags
Machinefabriek – Sol Sketches
It’s pretty hard to keep up with Machinefabriek’s output. It seems that not a single month passes by without him releasing a new piece of music. So I’m pretty sure i missed a couple of his last releases. But that’s not really a problem, because even if you missed out on a couple of his works, the moment you dive into this stream of releases, you are very likely to find...
4 tags
Mika Vainio – Life (… it eats you up)
To be honest Mika Vainio and Pan Sonic always had a big spot in my heart. From the raw and minimal works such as “A” or “Vakio” to the abstract and multileveled material of his last solo works such as “Black Telephone of Matter” – the releases always absolutely fascinated me. There was such an intense world to discover, as if they made electricity audible.
...
6 tags
Audio Damage Panstation
I like simple things. Especially with instruments and effects, I enjoy it the most, when they are easy and fast to work with. I’d rather use a couple of stomp-box like effects than a bloated piece of software with a large number of sub-menus.
So it’s no surprise, I do enjoy the plugins from Audio Damage, because they are designed thoughtfully with usability in mind. Plus, their...
Clanky Envelopes | Nils Quak Some random modular...
Sinterbecken.aif | Nils Quak My new sounds
5 tags
Fire! with Jim O'Rourke – Unreleased?
With a release from Mats Gustafsson together Jim O’Rourke playing side by side, I was expecting a sonic tour de force free jazz ride through the whole frequency spectrum. But “Unreleased?” offers something different than just simple sonic freakouts.
The opener is a dark brooding track: Saxophones wailing in the foreground, while drums and bass move slowly with their...
June 2011
2 posts
4 tags
Temporal Marauder – Makes you Feel
Spectrum Spools doesn’t stop to release amazing Krautrock and Kosmische Musik influenced eletronic music. Already being on their sixth release they present a piece of work that is surrounded by mysterious explanations about their origins. Whether one believes that the release by Temporal Marauder called “Makes you Feel” is a made up story or that the tracks of these recordings...
May 2011
1 post
3 tags
Download Nils Quak – On Sinking
I’m happy to tell you that the digital version of my “On Sinking” release that is available at Rural Colours as part of their Subscription Pack 11 is now available for download.
<a href=”http://nqmusic.bandcamp.com/album/on-sinking” _mce_href=”http://nqmusic.bandcamp.com/album/on-sinking”>On Sinking by...
April 2011
3 posts
4 tags
Mark McGuire – A Young Persons Guide to
Mark McGuire seems to be a busy person. Not only does he play guitar in the fabulous synthesiser band Emeralds, which has received a lot of love over the last few years, but he also has a prolific portfolio of solo releases that should not be underestimated. Setting aside his stunning release on Editions Mego last year, the recordings within ‘A Young Persons Guide to’ were mainly available as...
5 tags
Bill Gould & Jared Blum – The Talking Book
Besides its public perception it was somehow always clear that Faith No More isn’t just your average run-of-the-mill rock band. Mike Patton’s solo works or his releases with Tomahawk or Fantômas clearly show how diverse the interests of members of the band are. Bill Gould, also a founding member of Faith No More, is no exception in this regard. Together with the sound artist Jared Blum he...
5 tags
Double Review: Fabric – A Sort of Radiance // Bee...
Editions Mego have played a vital role for the return of synthesizer based music in the last year. With the releases of Oneohtrix Point Never’s “Returnal” and Emeralds’ “Does it Look Like I’m Here”, the label have been responsible for two of the most prominent albums playing with the idea of Kosmische Musik in 2010…
With that in mind it was a surprise to see the label starting a new venture...
February 2011
2 posts
4 tags
Ennio Mazzon – Azure Allochiria
Ennio Mazzon is a talented guy. Not only does he run the great Ripples Recordings label but also releases a large variety of experimental music ranging from drones and fieldrecordings to freeform experiments with prepared guitars or laptop improvisation. His latest work “Azure Allochiria” is a testament of his laptop work, which focuses on highly abstract textures and complex sonic...
4 tags
Arturas Bumsteinas – Pastoral
“Pastoral” from Arturas Bumsteinas the latest release on the portuguese Crónica label starts off quite eerie. A haunting piece called “Boletus Satanas” offers exactly what the title suggests: A sonic exploration that oscillates between field recordings, shamanic rituals and drones forming a dark and brooding sound monolith. Voices whisper and mumble in the background,...
January 2011
4 posts
3 tags
Nils Quak – "This Once Silver Sky" Now Available...
My recent album on Ripples Recordings is now available as a digital download. The physical copies are sold out.
5 tags
Peter Rehberg Interview
A great interview with Peter Rehberg. Follow the link below.
Interview
3 tags
Danny Saul – Kinison–Goldthwait
Danny Saul’s “Kinison – Goldthwait” appears to be a conceptual album. The feud between the two comedians Sam Kinison and Bobcat Goldthwait is the backdrop for these sonic explorations that venture more bleak and dark territories. To be honest, the relationship between the track names and material didn’t seem make that much sense to me or at least weren’t really that...
3 tags
Szymon Kaliski – Out Of Forgetting
It’s already been a couple of months, since Szymon Kaliski released his “Out Of Forgetting” on Audiomoves. And it’s already quite a time, since I received this copy and meant to review it. But somehow always something else stopped me from doing so; other work related stuff, too many chores, deadlines, you name it. The albums started to disappear under a pile of new stuff...
December 2010
17 posts
Best of 2010: 01. Gonjasufi – A Sufi & A Killer...
Such a diverse record, from desert rock to hip hop to whatever. This just keeps giving and giving.
Best of 2010: 02. iBreatheFUR/He Can Jog Split...
A drone ambient masterpiece. Nothing more to say about this. I’m not sure, if the cassette is still available, but the digital version still is.
Best of 2010: 03. Emeralds – Does it look like i'm...
Pure Ambient bliss with a strong leaning towards Kosmische Musik.
Best of 2010: 04. Masayoshi Fujita & Jan Jelinek –...
A really free record that isn’t just noodling but very thoughful and sparse.
Best of 2010: 05. Mike Patton – Mondo Cane (Ipecac...
For anyone with just the slightest interest in italo pop, this is a must have
Best of 2010: 06. Blessure Grave – Judged be 12...
Every good list needs at least one Goth Rock entry, right. here it is. Too bad they already split up.