Currently listening, part 1

[1000snakes]

I used to have the Public Image album on vinyl. As I recall, there were some pretty interesting musicians playing on "Rise" including Ryuichi Sakamoto and Steve Vai. Vai turns in some pretty crazy acrobatic whammy bar guitar on the title track.

[SiF]

Various Artists - Pop Ambient 2009 | Vinyl
wow, Vinyl and CD for 10€ in one package .... thats a fucking good deal ....
there is some wonderful music going on here, though tim heckers track is
perhaps the weakest which is a shame

[Scott M2]

Monday morning work starter was Love Cannot Bear by Mr Fripp (Less screechy pitch-shifter than on some of his other Soundscapes series - a nice one)
followed by Tainted Bare Skin by Ron Boots to up the energy into some Berlin-school (last track (in a dance style) had a bit too much NRG)
followed this afternoon by more Berlin - Chris Franke's London Concert which was a pretty darn slick production - I think his producer was the other player at the show.

[Ferngerms]

Today:

Linga Sarira - Nuum
Linga Sarira - Sommiel
Linga Sarira - Concrescence

The drone trilogy as presented by the artist Tim Jackiw and U-Cover records.  Each release gives me a different impression but the use of the word "drone" is by no means correct.  If anything the only accomplished part of the trilogy is Part One..it hints back to Pub's release on Ampoule "Summer".  Besides that don't take your chances....part two(Sommiel) is a decent foray into low grade ambient territory but part three(Nuum) is a complete waste.

Fern

[Undershadow]

I agree with Fern. TJ’s not really a serious Dronemeister, but a decent ambienteer. From memory, I’d say his earlier u-cover cd-r, Criogenesis, had more going for it than Sommeil and Nuum:



A propos of the D-word, I’ve been doing some more Serious Drone-basing with some of the Elevator Bath gang including chief Ethnographer of Rust, Jim Haynes (http://www.helenscarsdale.com/haynes/), Choreographer of the Caustic, Rick Reed (http://www.myspace.com/richardkreed), and head Elevator Bath-er, Colin Andrew Sheffield (http://www.elevatorbath.com/cas.html) - though the one I have, Signatures, is actually on Invisible Birds.
The Reed (Dreamz / Blue Polz) and (especially) the Haynes (Eraldus / Eravaldus) are strictly for the most intrepid, but the Sheffield is more accessible to those of us who still cling to a minimal vestige of something approximating to what our parents would regard as Music. Nice stuff. Overall, I might prefer to recommend the compilation, A Cleansing Ascension, which has more of a balance between ‘music’ (e.g. Adam Pacione and Keith Berry, as well as Sheffield) and ‘textural soundscape’

[APK]

- Francisco López: Azoic Zone

Field-recording collages/drones from back in 1993.
He's a very productive guy. Absorbing material if you like to be engulfed in curious noises.
http://www.franciscolopez.ne

[ffcal]

Count me as another Kinks fan, though for me their heyday was the late 60s and early 70s.  Enjoyed Schoolboys In Disgrace, Soap Opera and Misfits, but my favorites were probably Lola v. Powerman & the Money-Go-Round, and early 70s compilation The Kink Kronikles.  My favorite Kinks tune is probably Apeman, a song that seems to have aged well.  Almost forgot about Muswell Hillbillies; another great song--"Acute Paranoia Schizophrenia Blues"--on that one.

Lately I've been playing the Euphony 2 comp from WWUH (with some familiar ambient names like Steve Roach, Dwight Ashley, Numina and Alpha Wave Movement [I have a track on it, too]), and Kettel's My Dogan, a nicely crafted IDM release on Sending Orbs.

Forrest

[Parallel Worlds]

Thomas P Heckmann - The Lost Tales Vol.1

[jim02]

forrest fang - gongland
to prepare myself for Forrest's upcoming PHANTOMS CD on Projekt :-)
Forrest can you tell us something about this release? i'm anxious for this one!

darwinsbitch - ore
organic, gritty ambiance, in the vein of Chalk/Suzuki & their Ghost on Water project..

super minerals - multitudes
one that i recently enjoy quite a bit. raga-like drenched ambientscapes with a healthy fine dose of improvisation.. deep stuff..

jon hassell - last night the moon came..
he's THE man (and that at an age of 71!), fantastic cinematic, dim-light ambience.

lawrence english - a colour for autumn
still diggin this one.. it doesn't grab me that much so far, but the 1st track is stunning.

[ffcal]

forrest fang - gongland
to prepare myself for Forrest's upcoming PHANTOMS CD on Projekt :-)
Forrest can you tell us something about this release? i'm anxious for this one!

Well, jim02, it's about 70 minutes long, a sort-of second cousin to Gongland, maybe twice removed.  There are more instruments on this one, so it's kind of a cross between Gongland and a much earlier album, The Wolf At The Ruins.  There is one long (23 minute) piece that was inspired by the otherworldly paintings of Taiwanese folk artist Hung Tung, and that is also a loose tribute to the side-long suites of 70s progressive band Jade Warrior.  I started the album way back in 2001, but recorded most of it this past year.  I'm very excited about the release, as I think it contains some of my best work.  The artwork is by none other than Mark Mushet, a frequenter of this forum.

Forrest

[jim02]

that sounds good so far, Forrest.
i think i'm gonna give The Wolf at the Ruins a listen today, it has been while since playing that one, i think it's much less ambient and more like chinese traditionel folk..
as fas as i remember you said you were aiming for a re-issue of The Wolf.. as well..?

[SiF]

Sleepy Town Manufacture & Unit 21 - Pairwise
wow, totally in that Fennest & Sakamoto vein .... adorable stuff, to bad its not used through the whole record

[hdibrell]

Forrest writes:

There is one long (23 minute) piece that was inspired by the otherworldly paintings of Taiwanese folk artist Hung Tung, and that is also a loose tribute to the side-long suites of 70s progressive band Jade Warrior.

That sounds great! I really I really love the old Jade Warrior instrumental music.   Harry

[Ferngerms]

A propos of the D-word, I’ve been doing some more Serious Drone-basing with some of the Elevator Bath gang including chief Ethnographer of Rust, Jim Haynes (http://www.helenscarsdale.com/haynes/), Choreographer of the Caustic, Rick Reed (http://www.myspace.com/richardkreed), and head Elevator Bath-er, Colin Andrew Sheffield (http://www.elevatorbath.com/cas.html) - though the one I have, Signatures, is actually on Invisible Birds.
The Reed (Dreamz / Blue Polz) and (especially) the Haynes (Eraldus / Eravaldus) are strictly for the most intrepid, but the Sheffield is more accessible to those of us who still cling to a minimal vestige of something approximating to what our parents would regard as Music. Nice stuff. Overall, I might prefer to recommend the compilation, A Cleansing Ascension, which has more of a balance between ‘music’ (e.g. Adam Pacione and Keith Berry, as well as Sheffield) and ‘textural soundscape’

Agree....i've had a hard time getting into Jim Haynes and I have pretty much given up on Rick Reed.  I own a few of Haynes discs and I can't say they are bad but for some reason his music does'nt click with me.  In particular his releases on Helen Scarsdale Agency (a label I absolutley love and an excellent distributor of all things obscure) have received repeated listens but no progress.  Sheffield on the other hand is another thing entirely...."signatures" reminds me of Andrew Deustch "The Sun" which was absolutley brilliant when it first came out.  The comp is definetly a must....Keith Berry!!!!!!!

Fern

[Ferngerms]

darwinsbitch - ore
organic, gritty ambiance, in the vein of Chalk/Suzuki & their Ghost on Water project..

super minerals - multitudes
one that i recently enjoy quite a bit. raga-like drenched ambientscapes with a healthy fine dose of improvisation.. deep stuff..

Hell yeah...Darwinsbitch is hot stuff....did you ever get the cassette "Steel Hum"? Powerful bleakness........but yeah I feel the similarities and sometimes I here some Gregg Kowalsky in there....but then again they are a couple I think?

But the Super Minerals is pure bliss...did you get the cassette package?  Killer stuff from the Super Minerals and when you watch them live they seriously know how to elevate the venue.  I highly highly recommend "The Thaw" and "Vooh" beautiful 90 minute cassette's!

Fern

[Ferngerms]

Today I have dedicated my whole day to this rather obscure comp I scored and have finally completed my Keith Berry discography:

Various - Extract: Portraits Of Soundartists - Non Visual Objects

If you see the comp don't waist your money.  Unless you have a thing for Keith Berry!!!!!  the comp is for the most part bland...it features a variety of artists such as Taylor Deupree, John Hudak, Dale Lloyd (a killer track), Steve Roden, Ubeboet, Steinbruchel,....and a bunch of other obscure artists.  It's a nice package for a double CD and a bound book that describes each artist and his intent in creating music.  It cost me about $75 bucks....I don't regret it but if you do decide to purchase the album don't expect much.

Fern

[Celer]

IMO Its a very essential release to have in your collection. I'm not sure if there's ever been a compilation that I've enjoyed every single track from, but this was definitely well put together. Here is a good review of it, also. http://whiteline1.wordpress.com/2007/06/16/various-artists-extract-bookcd-non-visual-objects/

I'll also say that some of the tracks are also my favorites from particular artists, and its not possible to find them elsewhere, which makes it definitely worthwhile and important for my collection.

Today I have dedicated my whole day to this rather obscure comp I scored and have finally completed my Keith Berry discography:

Various - Extract: Portraits Of Soundartists - Non Visual Objects

If you see the comp don't waist your money.  Unless you have a thing for Keith Berry!!!!!  the comp is for the most part bland...it features a variety of artists such as Taylor Deupree, John Hudak, Dale Lloyd (a killer track), Steve Roden, Ubeboet, Steinbruchel,....and a bunch of other obscure artists.  It's a nice package for a double CD and a bound book that describes each artist and his intent in creating music.  It cost me about $75 bucks....I don't regret it but if you do decide to purchase the album don't expect much.

Fern

[ffcal]

that sounds good so far, Forrest.
i think i'm gonna give The Wolf at the Ruins a listen today, it has been while since playing that one, i think it's much less ambient and more like chinese traditionel folk..
as fas as i remember you said you were aiming for a re-issue of The Wolf.. as well..?

Jim02--Actually, I like to think of Wolf as a transitional album.  About half of it was recorded before I started studying the gu zheng, and the zheng is actually only on a handful of pieces.  The electronic portions were more influenced by minimalists such as Steve Reich and Terry Riley.  I'll eventually reissue Wolf.  The original is on an old analog 10-1/2" Reel-to-Reel, and I have not had much luck finding a suitable means for transferring it to digital.  The 10-1/2" machine I had purchased off of ebay for the purpose of making the analog transfer arrived DOA.

Forrest writes:

There is one long (23 minute) piece that was inspired by the otherworldly paintings of Taiwanese folk artist Hung Tung, and that is also a loose tribute to the side-long suites of 70s progressive band Jade Warrior.

That sounds great! I really I really love the old Jade Warrior instrumental music.   Harry

Harry--Yep, Jade Warrior has always been one of my all-time favorite bands, especially the two-person version that recorded the 4 mid-70s albums for Island Records.  IIRC, they used the same engineer (Tom Newman) that Mike Oldfield used on Tubular Bells.

Today, I'm listening to a John Cale compilation (The Island Years) that compiles his 3 albums for Island, plus some bonus tracks.  Great stuff, though Paris 1919 is probably still my favorite Cale Album.

Forrest

[Infraction]

Today I have dedicated my whole day to this rather obscure comp I scored and have finally completed my Keith Berry discography:

Various - Extract: Portraits Of Soundartists - Non Visual Objects

If you see the comp don't waist your money.  Unless you have a thing for Keith Berry!!!!!  the comp is for the most part bland...it features a variety of artists such as Taylor Deupree, John Hudak, Dale Lloyd (a killer track), Steve Roden, Ubeboet, Steinbruchel,....and a bunch of other obscure artists.  It's a nice package for a double CD and a bound book that describes each artist and his intent in creating music.  It cost me about $75 bucks....I don't regret it but if you do decide to purchase the album don't expect much.

Fern

I'm jealous    I slept on this comp when it came out - and now it's the only Berry track I don't have.   The dough is worth it to get an unreleased Keith Berry track though.

Just an FYI for the other 10 Keith Berry freaks out there (myself included), we're working on the reissue of 'the ear that was sold to a fish' along with a 2nd disc of material by Berry entitled "Turn RIGHT a thousand feet from here" (as opposed to the disc on Twenty Hertz in which he was turning 'left').  Should be ready to go by this summer.

Jason
infractionrecords.com   

[Ferngerms]

IMO Its a very essential release to have in your collection. I'm not sure if there's ever been a compilation that I've enjoyed every single track from, but this was definitely well put together. Here is a good review of it, also. http://whiteline1.wordpress.com/2007/06/16/various-artists-extract-bookcd-non-visual-objects/

I'll also say that some of the tracks are also my favorites from particular artists, and its not possible to find them elsewhere, which makes it definitely worthwhile and important for my collection.

[/quote]

I can see where you are coming from....perhaps I was a bit to harsh.  I have been listening to the second disc more intently and have found that the release does have the potential to grow on you.  Next to Keith Berry's track the Ubeboet and Toshiya Tsunoda have blown me away.  Another reason that my bitterness came of to aggresively is that I am never happy when I have to pay big bucks for a CD.

Fern