[ Hypnos Forum ]

Every once in a while, I'll browse Amazon's mp3 section for cheap ambient albums (tracks are usually sold at $0.99 each, even if they're 70+ minutes long). Most of the time, these are cheaply made, simplistic recordings, but I'll occasionally find a few gems.

Recently discovered this album made entirely with singing bowls: http://www.amazon.com/Golden-Bowls/dp/B00171GPSW/ref=sr_shvl_album_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1285859529&sr=301-1. Despite the new-agey vibes the name and artwork give off, it's pretty pure ambient. Quite tasty.

Cello and Dark Wood are brilliant

Agreed.

Been listening to a lot of Bruno Sanfilippo's piano stuff lately, including his two collabs with Mathias Grassow. Really evocative minimalism.

On the non-ambient side, I've been cranking Boris and Russian Circles. The latter are perhaps the only post-rock band that can hold my interest for more than 15 minutes.

I decided to incur the slightly smaller monetary risk of purchasing the mp3s from Amazon, vaguely hoping that maybe they were derived from a source closer to the original recording than the pressed CD (though, given Rudy's response as reported by drone on, this may not have mattered). A fool's hope, I know. Track 2 had the most obvious problems, but I found unwanted noises on all of the first four tracks. It's sad and frustrating, as there really is some good music here. I've resorted to opening the affected tracks up in an audio editor and cutting out out the untarnished pieces (fading them in and out) so I can listen to them undisturbed.

Sadly, I've noticed this issue on the last couple Mathias Grassow/Thomas Weiss collabs as well (Siberian Winter and Farewell); has this happened to others too?

Cormac McCarthy - The Road

Deliciously bleak. I want to eat these sentences. "Borrowed time and borrowed world and borrowed eyes with which to sorrow it."

With beats:

Cell - Hanging Masses
David Helpling & John Jenkins - Treasure
Mathias Grassow, Klaus Wiese, Carsten Agthe - Holy Domain
Temps Perdu? - Terra Incognita
vidnaObmana - Parallel Flaming
Yagya - Rigning; Will I Dream During the Process?

Without beats:

Harold Budd & Robin Gurthrie - Before the Day Breaks (last track has beats/gets louder; may want to skip. Then again...)
James Johnson & Vir Unis - Easting
Mathias Grassow - Elixer
Robert Davies - Garden of Twilight
Robert Rich & Lisa Moscow - Yearning
Rudy Adrian - Moonwater
Thom Brennan - Mist

Gothtronica? A lot of darkwave has a similar vibe (though it usually has lyrics; dunno if you care). Other good instrumental stuff (though a bit more minimalistic) would be anything by Ulf Soderberg or his other project, Sephiroth.

It is indeed a masterpiece. One of my favorite "tribal" (for lack of a better word) ambient albums. "The Colour of Dreams" alone is worth the price of admission.

Now that the two collaberations I've been working on for sometime are complete ('The Martian Chronicles' with Oophoi and 'Lament of a Forgotten God' with Gliese 614), I'll be getting back to some solo music - picking up 'Fractured' again and looking into something new.

Do tell, do tell.

Sorry to hear about the lackluster reception. For what it's worth, I think it's a stunning album and one of my favorites by you. Captures that deep forest (no, not the band) vibe amazingly well. I don't have that many friends who "get" ambient, but I'll try to spread the word about Maalbeek as best as I can.

Best of luck. A new album this year would certainly be tasty.

Robert Rich - 32 releases (including collabs)
Alio Die - 34 releases (including collabs)
Vidna Obmana - 37 releases (including collabs and FFB stuff)
Steve Roach - 62 releases (including collabs)
Oophoi - 66 releases (including collabs and EPs)

...aaaaaaand the winner:

Mathias Grassow - 82 releases (including collabs)