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Hi all at hypnos. 
Apologies for having been away for so long.  Life happened, but I've recently gotten back into deepspace and have released a new album.  It features San Francisco ambient legend Telomere on two of the tracks too, so if you want to hear his lovely serge modular sounds again, have a listen.  It was an honour and a slow-motion blast working with him. It's free and here: http://deepspacehome.com/
Hope you enjoy it, and I'd love to know what you think.

Has anyone here tried apple tv?  We just got one and are really enjoying it.  It's very impressive and fun, but one cool thing I noticed was the internet radio section.  I noticed that as soon as you pop into the radio section, the ambient radio section is right there on the first page.  I think a lot of non-ambient people are going to discover ambient music through this.

I was smiling as I dialled through all of the ambient stations, such as stillstream, dronezone etc.  I'd seen them all before, but the context of seeing them on apple tv was kind of cool.  A bit like seeing your friend on tv.  

Hi,

Sorry if I've been a bit quiet on the forums recently. 

I'm 36 this year, and the last few weeks have been pretty important for me.  I've realised that I've got Asperger's syndrome.  With hindsight, it seems kind of obvious now, and I realise now that I have always been trying to answer the question of why I feel different to everybody else.  I feel like that question has been answered in the past couple of weeks.  My son Luka, who is 6, has been displaying some of the symptoms, and we were trying to get him diagnosed, when the penny dropped.  It really shook my world up a first, but has allowed me to forgive my past, and to accept myself a little more. 

Then I thought, I wonder where I could talk to some more people who might be similar.  I clicked the hypnos link.  
Are there any Aspies here, self-diagnosed or officially diagnosed?  Or self-undiagnosed?

Here's a link of some of the symptoms:

http://www.autism-help.org/adults-diagnosis-aspergers.htm

I had a lot of tics, stutters, anxiety as a child (which I still have, but I can suppress) and some of these symptoms can change to more 'acceptable' versions as an adult.  But I have to say that I don't feel as If I'm broken or anything, I feel a sense of proudness too, because some of these areas, especially the obsession with alienation, dreaminess, with which I have distinguished myself in my own life, are some of the core symptoms of this condition.   

Hello from New Zealand

I've got a rare working connection here, so I thought I'd take advantage of it.  I'm in New Zealand on holiday (I'm normally from Brisbane, Australia), and just wanted to say hello to the hypnos folks.  It's amazingly beautiful here-  We're on the South Island, and so far we've driven from Christchurch, through Arthur's Pass (the most amazing scenery I have yet seen anywhere), Franz Josef, and now we're in Wanaka.  The scenery just gets more and more beautiful as we journey on.

The combination of 3,000 metre high mountains plunging into gigantic Azure lakes (that resemble oceans), as clouds gather and cast shadows on vertical cliff faces....is almost too much to bear.   It's just shockingly beautiful.  It's such a unique looking place- Imagine Switzerland, meets Middle Earth, meets Jurassic Park, and you're getting close.   I experienced a rather sublime moment this morning, kayaking along with my son Luka.  These freakingly huge mountains rising out of the lake....it made me realise how important travelling is, and how I need to do more of it.  I know that some of you climb mountains, and I'm suddenly very jealous.  I'd love to do something like that, but it's a bit hard with kids etc.  Someday.

As some of you might know, the reason I'm over here is to work on some new music (as well as have a holiday).  Well, I've had no luck yet.  I sit down at night with the laptop and keyboard, and....nothing.  I know that when I get back into my little studio at home, the music will start coming out- It's almost as if I won't let myself write music in inspirational settings.    I don't quite understand why that is.  Maybe the combination of being on holiday and trying to write just don't mix.

I see there is another Mirko on the forum!  Hi Mirko!  Well that felt odd.  I'm used to being the only Mirko around.   
Oh, and thank for some of the lovely responses to the album- I really appreciate it!

Anyway, gotta go. 

Mirko

I really enjoyed the first two, and so I wanted to let folks on the forum know Altus has just released a third one in the series.  I'm downloading it now and will post some impressions of it when I get around to listen to it. 

This one features live instruments and voices, and no synths! 

Download it here:

http://www.altusmusic.ca/winterembrace3.html

I'm reading an academic paper by Timothy Richardson called "Brian Eno and the Music of the Spheres: The Possibility of a Postmodern Church."

It's very interesting, and while I'm still getting through it (it's quite heavy going), the basic idea is that culture has, in a way, replaced the role of God in our contemporary society.  The unquestioning reverence that we once had for God has been transferred onto Culture, and we maintain this un-tamable massive "being" (or works) by creating more works of art to feed it.  Think about how we refer to artists or artworks-  there is often a very overt conviction there: One that you could see as approaching the religious.  I can think of many times when I've referred to an artist/work as being "impossibly beautiful" or "sublime" - and I've never been a religious kind of person, so maybe that where that gets an outlet.  Think of teenagers today worshipping their musical deities. 

The paper isn't saying that religion (as in the 'transcendant being' up there in the sky) is gone, but that culture and it's works have assumed this position.  It's like we need to have something unknowable, omnipotent, and unreachable in our lives, in the face of science and the knowledge of almost everything.  We are creating mystery for ourselves.

The paper uses Brian Eno as an example of someone creating this mystery- one example is that his early works were some of the first to completely fill up an LP, spacewise, suggesting that these pieces are only previews of something larger (Steve Roach comes to mind here- and Robert Rich's preview album of his night concerts). 

I'll add some more thoughts from the paper as I get through it.  It's very, very interesting stuff.  I love thinking about why we make this music.  Ambient music I find to be one of the most fascinating genres of all:  why do we make such music?  Is it a response to our society?  What are we saying?  And why now?

Anyone know what the availabilty on these are?  I hear they've been discontinued a few times.  I've started hunting for a new synth, and I've got my sights on this sucker.  Better still, anyone here have one?

Giving Villa Galaxia a good listen now- I daresay that it sounds very different from what I have heard thus far from Saul.  It's poppy, and quite Ulrich Schnauss sounding....and don't anyone dare take that in a negative way, I love Ulrich and will defend his wonderful music with great vigour- I honestly don't understand some of the negative press he gets!  Jealousy I think 

This isn't a review....god forbid I'd post a review after my last post which got me into a spot of trouble by the reviewers who frequent the forum!   but it's more a description of some parts of the album, to whet your appetite if you haven't already got the album:

"Hello Radar" is a great opening track, featuring wide-eyed crispy keyboard sounds, and a nice moody bassline.  I can feel that I'm really going to like this- you know the feeling, when an album taps you on the shoulder and goes, "Are you ready?  we are about to become good friends...."  It happens far too infrequently don't you think.  "Vapor trails"  Slightly melancholy second track- with some great outro key washes. yay.  "Blaze" is completely different and brings the album to a, dare I use the word, "chilled" place with it's slightly more, well, serious and blue feeling.  I really like the big sunny melodies on "Night Painting".  Vibrant, primary colours, sweet sounds.  Fingerpainting.  "Eta Car is a massive Star" sounds like an epic Mario Bros game, full of detail and shimmering pixely effects (I don't know what that means either).  Really lovely.  This is an excellent album that will attract many listeners.  It's full of nooks and crannies and quite delirious.  I like!  Nay, love!

Bravo Saul!

Please add some of your own more coherent impressions of the album.  What do you think?

I just got "Outfolding" and "Vast" today, and have to say that I love Saul's style.  Very hypnotic, but with a really fresh and experimental (in a good way) feel.  I get the feeling that there are no rules, listening to Outfolding- something can happen that is absolutely unexpected and I love that- particularly because it still sounds within the bounds of one distinct style, not just random experimentation. 

It reminds me of some old computer game space rpgs that I used to play.

Any other albums of his I should listen to next?

Hi, I've only just joined the Hypnos forums, and am excited at meeting some of the artists/listeners here.

Allow me to introduce myself:

I write ambient music, and have released three albums and 1 ep since 'debuting' last May 2007.
I've been fortunate enough to have had an interview and review by Phil Derby published in June 2008 issue of Electroambient Space. 
Feel free to have a look if you want to find out any more.
http://mysite.verizon.net/res7m910/electroambientspace222/index.html

If you want to listen to any of my music, try here: http://deepspacehome.com

I look forward to exploring these forums and listening to lots of artists, and meeting people.

Cheers,

Mirko
Deepspace