[ Hypnos Forum ]

Robert Rich - What We Left Behind
I finally picked this up after Robert Rich opened his Bandcamp store last week. This feels like a mature release: the mood, the details, and the instrumentation all fit together nicely. Lovely artwork too.
https://robertrich.bandcamp.com/album/what-we-left-behind

Erik Wollo - Stars End 2015
One continuously evolving and flowing journey through space. Love it.
https://projektrecords.bandcamp.com/album/star-s-end-2015-silent-currents-4

No Mask Effect - Nothing Out There
From Psychnavigation's Keith Downey. This release combines urban field recordings with lush, rich synth textures to create some deep and mysterious atmospheres. The first two No Mask Effect releases seemed interesting, but I didn't feel compelled to press the "buy" button. This one was worth it.
https://psychonavigation.bandcamp.com/album/no-mask-effect-nothing-out-there

I love this album. It is so soft and quiet, yet full of fascinating details.

Chris23.

Went to that link.Enjoyed that Remember.Never heard of Vaporwave? I must not be with it.What is it? Much off that label Dream seems pretty generic.

jdh: I don't find the vaporwave genre appealing; much of it is trite and dull. Most of the music is deliberately lo-fi, sample-heavy, and seems to celebrate a by-gone era when people watched Miami Vice, used Windows 95, and thought that phones would would work better if they looked like palm trees.

But the ambient vapourwave / dreampunk arm that has spun off from this fad is really cool. Dream Catalogue represents much of this work (but also caters to dull stuff too). In addition to Remember, here are some of my favorites; you might enjoy these too:

Virtual Dream Plaza
Long-form ambient drones
https://dreamcatalogue.bandcamp.com/album/-

2814
Beat driven and dreamy
https://dreamcatalogue.bandcamp.com/album/--18

 

Remember-  ルートバックホーム
Ambient vaporwave. Beautiful urban soundscapes, with a haunting emotional vibe. There is a lot of garbage in this genre, but this is a true gem.
https://dreamcatalogue.bandcamp.com/album/--22

2 8 1 4  - Rain Temple
Also from Dream Catalogue: New collaboration from HKE and telepath. Great stuff with a nice mixture of pulsed tracks and neon sound collages.
https://dreamcatalogue.bandcamp.com/album/rain-temple

Steve Roach - Shadow of Time
I enjoyed listening to this when it first arrived. But it is a bit one-dimensional. Perhaps it is that simplicity that makes it attractive on a first listen, but there isn't much here to captivate me and draw me back for repeated spins.
https://steveroach.bandcamp.com/album/shadow-of-time

Glad you enjoyed it! It has been playing on repeat around here every night at bedtime.

Porya Hatami & Arovane - Kaziwa
This feels like the soundtrack for a David Lynch film. The primary sound source is piano. The majority of the tracks are slow moving, mysterious loops with subtle manipulations in the background. Great stuff. with a smokey, noir atmosphere.
https://timereleasedsound.bandcamp.com/album/kaziwa

I enjoyed that video. A little bit. He's making some good points, but not connecting them in a way that I find useful.

1. No one cares.  He's right. No one cares about your photographs. No one cares about your music. No one cares about your writing. No one cares about your art.

Granted, some artists are capable of attracting a sizable fan base. But, even in those cases, I think a lot of followers are just bandwagon fans. Very few people will be able to connect in a deep emotional way to anything you produce.

Once an artist fully appreciates that, I think it can be a source of liberty rather than a source of despair.

2. Do work that is meaningful.

Sure. I think everyone strives to do that. The problem is that he is suggesting this as a means to make people care about your work. I think that is a mistake.

I have an Ayn Rand way of thinking about art: The most important critic is yourself, and an artist must always be accountable to that critic.

If you're trying to make a living off your art, of course, then you have to appease others. And that is where the gray lines emerge.

But, outside of commerce, the goal should never be to create art that others will care about. It should always be about creating art that you care about. And one of the joys in life is finding those connections--meeting people who resonate with your art--whether it is visual, aural, or writing--in the way that you do. But that is a bonus; it isn't the endgame.
 

Eternell - Portals
Drifting and floating wisps of sound from Purl. This is fantastic; I wish it were on CD. There are two versions of this with slightly different mixes. I've linked the most recent below.
http://eternell.net/album/portals-meditation

I really like that release, Julio. I ended up buying the digital on Bandcamp. 

So is US Amazon selling a different product than what Boomkat was selling? I almost ordered from Boomkat months ago because the pics looked great. I think I'd flip out if I received a CDr on demand in cheap packaging.
 

murkok - Pangea
Short ambient pieces with acoustic samples. Nice and serene with some drifty atmospherics.
https://murkok.bandcamp.com/album/pangea

Aestrata - Submental Vol. 3
Drones upon drones.
https://el-culto.bandcamp.com/album/submental-vol-3-all-tracks-bonus-track-complete-mixed-album-included