[ Hypnos Forum ]

This sort of atonal, synths-out-of-tune idea has just run out of steam I'm afraid.  Nice cover design, though.  Looking forward to some new ideas from SR.   

I can see why you would say that. I've enjoyed the technique in past works, but 'Afterlight' doesn't excite me so much - either because I've heard a similar process from him before, so I'm more consciously aware of the technical/musical aspects of it than I should be, or because it isn't as effectively structured to my ears as it could have been. 

Still, to have released so many albums over such a long period and to have maintained this level of quality is a huge achievement. And his new material is still very high quality - I'd just be excited to hear him create something a little more active or detailed again. I know his imagination could surprise us as once more as it has done time and time again.

Does Afterlight change and develop substantially over its 74 minute duration (in a way that the Immersions don't)? I understand why they are mostly static, at least on a macro level - and it works for those pieces - but I'm not sure about getting another release of that nature.

The sample does sound very interesting...

The samples for the new one sound great. I'll be getting it for sure.

In case anyone is interested, I've put the title track up on my myspace (though the myspace player has ruined its sound quality more than it usually does, for some reason.) Also, I've noticed Boomkat put samples up of all the tracks for listening, complete with a cute beep every 30 seconds: http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=173043&highlight=173056

A rather lovely review of the album has also been written: http://www.buzzinelectronicmusic.co.uk/robert-logans-electronic-soundscapes-inscape-album-review/432

Ok, I won't bump this thread any more after this. Any feedback would be welcome - things have been quite quiet around this one in general. Never mind! Onwards and upwards and all that.

Hello women and men,

Inspired by Parallel World's threads, I thought it'd be good to let the forum humans know about my own non-Hypnos projects. I didn't do it when Cognessence or Grinder came out, but now that the second Slowfoot album, Inscape, is out, and because its supporting E.P, Accurate Spit Boy spurted out into the world a few days ago, I figured it'd be good time to do a thread on them.

They are all the result of months of obsessive playing, recording, programming, mangling, etc. etc. drawn from anywhere in the environment, from any piece of software or hardware... Musical inspiration includes lots of 20th/21st century classical music, the sort of ambient music we discuss here, Hungarian folk (though that element is often buried) and the more experimental ends of electronic music, as well as dub, grime, dubstep, detroit techno, dancehall, "idm", etc.

I reckon the two albums (rather than the E.Ps) would be of more interest to Hypnos folk - the E.Ps are on vinyl and attempt to aim for the dancefloor (I'm not quite sure how successful they actually are at that, but some creatures will dance to anything. ) 

My myspace is here: www.myspace.com/robertlogan

My ambient myspace is here: www.myspace.com/senseproject 

Here is the page Slowfoot did for Cognessence:
http://www.slowfoot.co.uk/Cognessence

Here is the page they've done for Inscape:
http://www.slowfoot.co.uk/Inscape

And here's some reviews:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/9b54/

http://www.barcodezine.com/revrobertlogancognessence260307.htm

http://www.buzzinelectronicmusic.co.uk/robert-logan-accurate-spit-boy-ep/407

http://www.flyglobalmusic.com/fly/archives/europe_reviews/robert_logan_accurate_spit_boy.html

(and I got some scans of magazine reviews and put them on my myspace blog, here: http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendId=39605485)


Thanks to any of you who have already heard any of my music and shared feedback. I tend to get very self-critical about it, especially once it's out, so that's a real encouragement.




                     

Thanks for this! I look forward to reading the rest of the review. :-)

The Wire just did a rather scathing review of my second Slowfoot album, "Inscape", so this has come as a nice surprise. Their review didn't specify any musical problems with the record or mention any tracks, though - in fact, the first half contains a fairly flattering account of the music. Once their attention turns to the "clunky" concept behind the record, however (though it isn't based on any single specific concept - the press release, which I didn't write, amplified a single piece of inspiration into a central theme), they accuse it of having an absense of "taste" and an "unsettlingly careerist sheen".

Still, any critical perspective is interesting and valid, and I'm thankful to The Wire for reviewing the record at all. I just found the final accusation unfair; I don't think any of us here who are involved in crafting the kind of music we're crafting have careerism in mind - we do it because we love to spend hours, weeks, months moulding sounds, creating potent atmospheres, exploring musical possibilities - and we do it because something impossible to pinpoint drives us to do it. It's an obsession we have that we'll act on whether other people enjoy our music or not (and if other people happen to enjoy the results - that's great.) It can include many frustrating moments, but the process is rewarding enough in and of itself. 

I've done some more listening (I've never really paid attention to him before) and what I don't understand is why he chooses such awful sounds for his compositions. I'll admit he can play the keyboard competently for the style of music he's creating, and I've never seen a live, so maybe I'm missing a better aspect to his career, but really, if he's got lots of nice keyboards, even if he can't be bothered to create new sounds, it would be nicer on the ears of the presets he did choose didn't sound so cheap and sappy. 

Thank you all very much for listening and for the comments!

greglw3, that sounds interesting. I'll have to check it out.

As I said in the other thread, I'm thoroughly enjoying 'Landmass' at the moment, especially the second track. Very powerful, challenging music.

Just listened to this.

At the moment, it could be one of my favorite Steve Roach discs ever. Absolutely magnificent and "wide-screen" sounding (in a good way) and full of life and movement. Beautiful.