Currently listening, part 1

[APK]

This weekend
Max Richter :: Infra
Pub :: Do You Remember Pantomime
Alio Die :: Honeysuckle
Loscil :: coast range arc

Doesn't get much better.

[SiF]

Martin Fuhs - Grauton
Wonderful. A nice blend of modern classical, drone-based ambient, and experimental. I'm sorry I didn't discover this sooner.

Thanks for those kind words, Chris. Really appreciated. 

Amplifier - Eternity / HAL (2xLP)
just bought this 2 Days ago at a Gig .... love it

[Anodize DB]

This weekend
Pub :: Do You Remember Pantomime

re, Pub: Just ordered his new release about a week ago...have always loved his work, particularly Summer, which is like Manuel Gottsching mutated, and with soft/hard synths instead of gee-tars...utterly brilliant.

Also a bunch'a Hic Sunt Leones dropping, including issues by Aglaia & Alio Die.

Will be trekking in to Manhattan shortly to pick up the new Pan American and Traversable Wormhole discs, some of which might get debuted on my radio show later this evening...

[drone on]

"Centurion" by Aglaia duly noted!

[Dave Michuda]

Kraftwerk - Ralf & Florian - I can't believe I had never listened to this until recently, I love it.
Francis Monkman - Tempus Fugit - an old library music release on Bruton.  Cheesy but still somehow cool.
Eberhard Weber - The Following Morning - The first ECM album I ever bought, picked it up in college back in 1980 or so.  Still wonderful.
Linear Bells - I Can Dream - A Bandcamp purchase.  Nice drifting, droning ambient.

[APK]

The Following Morning is an all-time favourite of mine. Wonderful indeed 

[jim02]

versalife (conforce) - vantage point
(another Conforce alterego featuring solid ambient techno. this young dutch fellow seems to have a nack for good sounds!)

james johnson & aperus - ecotone
(way better than i thought after hearing some preview samples. all delicate and timeless classic ambient, i especially like the gamelan elements)

robert rich - sunyata & inner landscapes
(nice digipak reissue, classic & deep Rich! curious for the Trances & Drones reissue artwork..)

oophoi - athlit
(very sad to acknowledge that the somehow shadowed master of mystic drone only play his sounds beyond our hearing from now on... Athlit is for me one of Oophoi's highlights, superb mastering by Mike @ hypnos)

kane ikin & david wenngren - strangers
(somewhat under the radar goodness, exquisite drones and textures here, rediscovered it lately with full pleasure)

steve roach - back to life
(have been playing this over the last few days and it evokes new layers and feelings which i didn't have before, that's our Roach!)

aidan baker - aneira
(very good longform drone piece on a 12-string acoustic guitar, the last excellent 12 minutes should have been longer.. )

federsen - phasespace ep
(i wish this' EP was a full album. one of the best new artists in the dubtechno scene i think..)

pan american - cloud room, glass room
(seriously rather heavy sounding album.. in crystal clear production on Kranky)


anticipating;

aglaia - centurion (hic sunt leones) Thanks!
ornah-mental - excursions (gterma)
ashtoreth's gate - s/t (gterma)
harold budd - jane 1-11
mathias grassow - dagaz (el culto)
leonardo rosado - washed away memories (pure wave)
ian hawgood & friends - wolven (hibernate/komu) [CD2 is a full re-work album by Bvdub!] https://soundcloud.com/hibernate/ian-hawgood-and-friends
svarte greiner - black tie (miasmah)

[drone on]

Darla sez Harold Budd's new one is his best to date.  Better than Pearl and Plateaux of Mirror?  Hmmmmm, we shall see....

[jim02]

labels usually say that artists come up with their best work 'on' their label.. :-)
though this Harold Budd track is very nice indeed.

[jim02]

btw. just discovered a most terrific new Live CD by Benjamin Brunn, listen to the samples here;
http://www.kann-records.com/products/benjamin-brunn-live-at-golden-pudel-club-cd-pudel-produkte
had to order it instantly (fairly priced!) :-)
kind of jazzy old-school techno-electro ambient.. yummy!

so now i quit.

[Anodize DB]

btw. just discovered a most terrific new Live CD by Benjamin Brunn...

You're killing me, Jim!

As much as I keep up with just about *everything* that gets released out there in the big wide world of silver diskees (yeah it's about impossible, but I do make a concerted effort), something inevitably slips under me radar. Case in point is that Versalife release you mentioned; found a copy directly via Amazon and ordered it immediately, en route & delivered Thursday. Appreciate the lead.

And now thanks for the heads-up as well on the Brunn - have & love all his work. Just purchased both it and the Map.ache disc via Kann.

Never ends (thankfully)...

[Geophonic Records]

Hey Jim... this is good feedback... I would like to improve the preview samples if possible - can you shed some light on what you thought was good/bad? That would be really helpful! Brian (Aperus).

james johnson & aperus - ecotone
(way better than i thought after hearing some preview samples. all delicate and timeless classic ambient, i especially like the gamelan elements)

[jim02]

hello Brian,
there is no point of criticism here. i think the MP3s are giving a good idea about its overall sound and atmosphere. but after hearing the whole thing quite a few times now, i was rather surprised how good it is!
i'm also glad James got back after all those years.. his signature sound, piano is still there.
it's certainly up there with my favorites recently.

[chris23]

Wouter Veldhuis - Blue Forest
I saw this on Dave's list and, after listening to some samples, was intrigued enough to order it. It is fairly standard done-based ambient. What intrigued me about it (besides the lovely cover) was the claim that "all tracks are made out of captured and processed pre-heard, found sounds and field-recordings. No samples, synthesizers or electronic audio sources were used during the production process." I wouldn't have guessed that from listening to it. And, with that as context, I must say it is a really impressive recording.

Naoki Ishida & Ayato - PHAE
I don't know anything about the artists; as far as I can tell from a web search, these are the names of anime characters rather than the names of recording artists! The album is awesome, for what it is worth. It is very much in the spirit of the ambient/glitch/experimental hybrid that is characteristic of some of the more acoustic Japanese groups, like Minamo, Fourcolor, etc. Highly recommended.

Both of these releases come from the Organic Industries label. The packaging itself is noteworthy. Each disc is housed in a paper casing that frames a lovely, glossy photograph. Impressively, when the casing opens, the disc emerges in an orgami-like sheath. My daughter is impressed. ;-)

[Julio Di Benedetto]

John Foxx : The Complete Cathedral Oceans  What and immersion! Did not expect to like the vocal element....How wrong I can be.
Krill Minima : Nautica Really enjoying this!
Oophoi : Il Silenzio Di Dio Beautiful!

[Dave Michuda]

infinite coil - transmit - some excellent guitar based ambient found on Bandcamp - http://infinitecoil.bandcamp.com/
Cluster - Sowiesoso - Love this!  Last time I posted that I somehow had never heard Kraftwerk - Ralf & Florian.  The same goes for this Cluster album, not sure how I missed it but I'm glad I found it!
Olafur Arnalds - For now I am winter - beautiful orchestral semi classical pieces that can get too pretty for their own good, though overall still a very nice release.
Tessellate Recordings - Earthtones - an excellent compilation featuring 26 tracks & 2 hours of music.  Each artist provided a photo of home or local surroundings that pops up whenever the digital track is played.  Cool.

Also listening to Justin Beiber!  Yes, Justin Freakin' Beiber!  Although it's the 800% slowed down version of Mr. Beiber.  It's pretty good actually.

!

[drone on]

DEAD CAN DANCE--"In Concert"  Original title, eh?  Recently released, recorded on their current world tour.  An excellent recording, with some stonking versions of older material.  My only gripe (lots of other people's too) is a longer version is available on vinyl or download, but it's only a single CD, which leaves off about five songs.  They also could have fit a couple more tracks on the single CD because it's only about 65 min. long. 

STEVE ROACH-Future Flows.  I need some more intensive listening, but it's pretty good.  Lots of abstract drifting here.  A bit louder than "Soul Tones," which you really have to turn up to hear. 

PARIKRAMA-The Silent Bon.  On the Swedish Gterma label.  Very good dark ambient meets Grassow/Parsons kind of vibe.  I believe Parikrama is a collaborative project between Seetyca and another artist. 

ABECEDARIANS-Eureka and THE WAKE-Harmony.  These are two EXCELLENT reissues on CD of post-Joy Division Factory Records artists, with Factory releases in the early to mid-80's.  Abecedarians were from LA but sounded like a UK band with heavy vibe of Joy Division/early New Order mixed with "Faith"/"Pornography" era Cure.  Gloomy, heavily atmospheric, dreamy abstract lyrics, etc.  They opened for Love & Rockets on their "Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven" tour.  The Wake were from Scotland and had extremely heavy Joy Division/New Order influence.  The singer sounds just like Bernard Sumner and the band sounds like Joy Division, although less morose.  The Wake slipped under my radar for all these years and really glad I discovered them.  This is a damn fine CD.  Both these bands are AWESOME if you like the early 80's post-punk/new wave thing.  HIGHLY RECOMMEND both these albums!!

[Julio Di Benedetto]

Been having a bit of a retro journey.....Level 42, Love Games.  I was listening to this about the same time I discovered Eno's Ambient series 1 - 4 in the early 80's.
He is paying respect to Stanley Clark at the beginning, but make no mistake, Mark King was/is a brilliant bass player up there in the ranks.....and damn are they tight and I do Love a bass that drives a song. What else would expert from a drummer.

[chris23]

Kreng - L'Autopsie Phénoménale De Dieu
Dark stuff.  Orchestral, opera, field recordings arranged into eerie and unsettling theatrical compositions. On the Miasmah label.

Current 93 - Faust
More stuff that creeps me out (but I can't turn it off). Layers upon layers upon layers of voices and whispers, often played back at half speed.

[| broken harbour |]

I listened to this back when it first came out, but I sort of rediscovered it today, I forgot how brilliant it is:

Mew - And the Glass Handed Kites



Dreamy, nightmare pop music, absolutely amazing!


Video Game Soundtrack, but don't let that deter you, it's great, a mix of pop, old west country, and trip hop.

Bastion - Original Soundtrack



http://supergiantgames.bandcamp.com/album/bastion-original-soundtrack

The game was great as well.