Currently listening, part 1

[Dave Michuda]

Darren,

How do you like the new Kate Bush?  I LOVE some parts, but am not wild about others(duet with Elton John).  Generally I like it & am glad she is putting out new music instead re-doing old tunes.

I agree with Darren & jim02 on Maps & Diagrams.  His stuff is consistently excellent.  How many releases does he have this year?  Five?  All are very good.  My favorite might be "Get Lost" on Time Released Sound.  For me, M&D definitely qualifies as ambient artist of the year.

Other recent spins(does the term 'spin' still make sense if your just playing a file?)...

Futuresequence - SEQUENCE2 - A great, free download of a collection of 43 tracks!  Avaialble here SEQUENCE2
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here (Immersion Box Set) - My favorite parts of this are the very early live versions of Animals material.
Diatonis - because words can't take you there - Good space music, has a bit more song structure than most ambient tunes.  I can tell that some of this will make it's way into a stargazing mix someday.
Ex Confusion - you and i - very nice slow & sleepy ambient.

[Seren]

oophoi & seren ffordd - the martian chronicles
(a bit more abstract than i thought, 'Blue Fire' is an incredible piece, if they'd say it's new track from namlook & inoue, i would believe )

Thanks for listening - and the compliment on the music.

Klaus Schulze trip - Irrlicht, Cyborg, Blackdance

[Antdude]

The latest from low light mixes - Drowsy

http://lowlightmixes.blogspot.com/

[darren bergstein]

Darren,

How do you like the new Kate Bush?  I LOVE some parts, but am not wild about others(duet with Elton John).  Generally I like it & am glad she is putting out new music instead re-doing old tunes.

I like it quite a bit, Dave, but only played it through once. It's a *very* different record than she's ever made; imagine her recast as a seedy lounge singer fronting a gothic jazz combo, and you're there. It remains another one of her quasi-'experimental' yet strangely accessible recordings; I'm taken with the surreal impressionism of it all, even the duet w/John - aging 'gracefully' she sure as hell ain't!

.
bass communion - cenotaph
elve (ishq) - emerald
chihei hatakeyama & naph - air
koss - ancient rain

Jim: looking in to ordering that Bass Communion myself, as it's the only one of Wilson's side projects I like (not a PT fan, or care much for anything else he records as). That Elve is fantastic - look in to all the other recent releases on virtualworld as well (just got the new Open System). Both the Hatakeyama/Naph & Koss are highly recommended; Koss works that otherworldly, Yagya-esque ambient dub thang for all it's worth, and the H/N collab could easily fit onto 12k or Home Normal. There's also another Koss out that I have but haven't listened to yet:

http://www.amazon.com/Mollan-Sessions-Koss/dp/B005GSXD9Q/ref=sr_1_3?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1322449163&sr=1-3

And the list continues...

[APK]

Today is a persistently rainy day here in lower Ontario, Canada.

- St Kilda :: St Kilda EP
- Last Days :: Sea
- Paul Bradley :: Anamnesis

with Broken Harbor :: Gramophone Transmissions lined up next,
and some pieces by Alio Die after that.

They fit the mood very well.

[hjalmer]

seetyca | the invention of sorrow
free download from darkwinter

wonderful drones
awaiting bleak landscapes to itunes         h   

[| broken harbour |]

Jim: looking in to ordering that Bass Communion myself, as it's the only one of Wilson's side projects I like (not a PT fan, or care much for anything else he records as).

Heresy!!!  All kidding aside, Cenotaph is really great, SW says its a sequel to Ghosts on Magnetic Tape, but it's quite different.  It sounds old, and actually has a rhythm element to it, I really liked it.

with Broken Harbor :: Gramophone Transmissions lined up next

Funny you should mention that because I was I was sampling a bunch of APK albums last night on the dataobscura website! 

[drone on]

Rush-Sectors 1, 2, 3 box sets:  thoroughly enjoying these, the remastering is excellent.  Good packaging, although during manufacturing most of the CD's were scratched for some reason.  Luckily the price on these sets is very reasonable for what you're getting, working out to between $10-$11 per disc  for each 5-disc box, so I don't mind the scratches as much.  Also some of the lyrics are wrong.  I've noticed this on some other reissues by other bands and it should be embarrassing for the band.      

[drone on]

Correction: 6 discs per box (one is a DVD-audio of one of the albums from each box set)

[drone on]

Max Corbacho/Bruno Sanfillipo-Bioma.  Very Robert Rich like in spots, environmental soundscapes

[Dave Michuda]

A Winged Victory For The Sullen - A Winged Victory For The Sullen - Great melancholic piano & strings.
Julia Holter - Tragedy - from a review..."The atmosphere is thick, husky strings, white noise, harpsichords, fog horns, and crackling opera LPs cohere with mounting pressure."
Chris Watson - El Tren Fantasma - fantastic collections of field recordings

[drone on]

S.E.T.I. (Andrew Lagowski)-"Baikal".  Another interesting and innovative dark space ambient release from Mr. Lagowski.  I'd love to see his upcoming show in Germany with Inade and Herbst9.

Igneous Flame-"Lyra".  Very good space music to float to.  Some of disc 2 reminded me of Sylvian's "Gone to Earth", which I think was the intent to some degree.  (Also another wonderful cover art from Kati Astraeir)

Corbacho/Sanfilippo-"Bioma".  I'd call this an experiment that didn't work.  While some parts threaten to be "music" in a Robert Rich kind of organic way, most of this is birds chirping for an hour.  It can get very shrill and is not relaxing music.  My copy is up for grabs on Discogs if you're into it.

Pink Floyd-Wish You Were Here (Experience Edition).  The bonus live stuff is excellent, and the studio tracks are great too.  Well worth the bucks.

u2-Achtung Baby deluxe.  I likey.

Peter Murphy-Should the World Fail to Fall Apart (remaster/reissue with bonus disc).  Very worthy of a reissue. 

[APK]

- Casino Versus Japan :: Hitori Kaiso
- The New Honey Shade :: Ozark Dream

Such a fine Casino collection, and a somewhat similar but more quirky and variable Honey album.
Good stuff !

[Antdude]

Brian McBride - When The Detail Lost Its Freedom, Effective Disconnect

Lovely, symphonic strings and subtle guitar and electronics. If you're jonesing for some new Stars of the Lid, this is a pretty good substitute.

[drone on]

Bernocchi/Budd/Guthrie-Winter Garden.  This could be subtitled "The Moon and the Melodies 3" after the recent Bordeaux, which was like the follow-up of sorts to M&M.  It's great, yeah, although nothing really new.  Guess I'm a bit disappointed there wasn't more Bernocchi and/or more experimenting going on.  If you don't listen close it's hard to tell it's not just G&B.  Headphone listening recommended to pick up E.B.'s subtleties.  The sound quality is better on this release compared to Bordeaux.   

Koss-Ancient Rain.  Thanks to the tip on this forum, I found this album on Discogs and am loving it.  Yagya fans would dig it due to its extreme beauty and dubby rhythms, although it is a pretty varied album with different styles, including some straight out floating ambient, which he does extremely well.   

[jdh]

Steve hauschildt,amazing sequenced analog sound,short and longer tracks,similar to emeralds,on kranky.
Agree with the rest on floyd,immersion set- got it for the second disc.
Chris Watson,el tren...
I adore budd,Guthrie ,enjoyed harold since 1978 but lost interest many albums ago,the same stuff over and over.
Cabaret Voltaire, Johnny yesno DVD/ cd set.I bought this when it came out on lp in 1982 and these are remixes,not the original but well done by Richard h Kirk.more sandoz than cabs.the DVD is still an original,very VHS the redid version is only ok.

[Mark Mushet]

Bernocchi/Budd/Guthrie-Winter Garden.It's great, yeah, although nothing really new.  Guess I'm a bit disappointed there wasn't more Bernocchi and/or more experimenting going on.  If you don't listen close it's hard to tell it's not just G&B.

I don't think we're ever going to get a serious departure from Robin and Harold. I view their releases as a kind of angelic sonic comfort food that comes along more frequently than I'd ever imagined it would and will be very sad when it comes to an end.

[Paul Vnuk (Ma Ja Le)]

S.E.T.I. (Andrew Lagowski)-"Baikal".  Another interesting and innovative dark space ambient release from Mr. Lagowski.  I'd love to see his upcoming show in Germany with Inade and Herbst9.

Igneous Flame-"Lyra".  Very good space music to float to.  Some of disc 2 reminded me of Sylvian's "Gone to Earth", which I think was the intent to some degree.  (Also another wonderful cover art from Kati Astraeir)

Corbacho/Sanfilippo-"Bioma".  I'd call this an experiment that didn't work.  While some parts threaten to be "music" in a Robert Rich kind of organic way, most of this is birds chirping for an hour.  It can get very shrill and is not relaxing music.  My copy is up for grabs on Discogs if you're into it.

Pink Floyd-Wish You Were Here (Experience Edition).  The bonus live stuff is excellent, and the studio tracks are great too.  Well worth the bucks.

u2-Achtung Baby deluxe.  I likey.

Peter Murphy-Should the World Fail to Fall Apart (remaster/reissue with bonus disc).  Very worthy of a reissue.

Hey Drone On,

Is that the full on expesnive U2 set or just the 2cd version? If its the big box, how is the disc of unreleased outtakes and such?

Paul

[drone on]

Just the 2-CD, no megadeluxe for me these days, can't afford it.

[Paul Vnuk (Ma Ja Le)]

Me either...I just want that stupid disc of outtakes...its my second favorite U2 album