Let's introduce ourselves -- new Hypnos Forum members especially

[9dragons]

Joseph Uccello here, age 35, to be 36 in March. Was born in rural California, about 40 miles inland from Santa Cruz. Always felt restless, and always wandered. I've been living up here in the Northwest since late 2004, married for over 3 years to a wonderful woman from China. I was a fairly obsessive traveller for quite a while, propelling myself on these journeys mostly by a loaded touring bicycle (a Waterford, which I still own, though its daily journeys are now quite modest.) I've ridden across the US and extensively through the Alps and the Appenines in Europe. Most of my working life has been as a teacher of English as a Second Language. I've done this job in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East for years. After getting a BA in English Lit at San Francisco State University, I just kind of fell into this job by a natural process. It supported and encouraged the nomadic life, spending 9 months to a year in one place, then grabbing a contract in the next place that looked interesting, and blasting off. By the time I found myself living in China for the second time, I was getting a bit burnt out on this life, and of wandering. It might have been the smog and bleakness of Beijing that was getting to me, but I felt a sudden craving for trees, massive amounts of foliage, and fresh air. My brother was then living in Spokane, and I decided to escape there, then to Portland and now the wonderful Seattle. I think it is one of the most beautiful places I have seen, and experiencing it through the seasons is a something I cherish. As for the Hypnos Forum, I first discovered it while in Bejing that last time. It helped me to discover the world of ambient music that I was just getting to know and love deeply. At that time I also enjoyed and benefited greatly from the reviews written by some of the members of this Forum, and I am thankful for that. It was also excellent to be listening to Hypnos releases that had arrived from the distant land of Portland into the totally different environment of a huge city in northern China. I have fond memories of Ma Ja Le's Seed filling up my little apartment, giving me a great sense of peace and arrival. As for what I am doing now, I seem to have fallen deeply in with doing art and design.  I had been drawing steadily during the wandering years, when I could get together a table and pens, but eventually the urge to create art finally took over completely, urged on by various extraordinary occurences and realizations. I decided to move to the Northwest for a complete change, and have found a different kind of joy here, one of seeing the seasons come and go, of getting in to a sedate life rhythm that will allow me to focus on my art. I am constantly doing art and designing graphics, studying ancient art and gaining inspiration from that. I recently was honored by the use of my art on two separate releases of Alio Die, which is something I could not have imagined when I was sitting in distant lands, creating art to the soundtrack of his music. This is a great thing for me personally, and it has inspired me to get deeper into design for music. To this end I am working on various projects for inspiring musicians, and am trying to start up a label with a first release, for which the art is completely designed. The music is by my brother, who is an excellent standup bass player, and becoming a fascinating creator of jazz propelled textural constructions. I have lately begun freaking out in a good way about typography and letterpress printing, and have begun a program in the Publishing Arts, in order to bring my fascination with ink on paper to fuller fruition, and which may even allow me employment other than teaching English, which I am looking forward to. Not that I don't like teaching English, just got a bit burnt out on it. I do eventually hope to do it again, and perhaps even go back out into the world, but who knows...

And I am a huge fan of many espressos, which may explain the rambling nature of this post so late at night. But I am also very much a fan of mightily hopped up Northwest Beer, another of the things (besides espresso and dark ambient music) at which the northwest excels...

Back to the drawing table...

[zzzone.net]

Hey ya'll.  Jim Zachary here.

I'm a 52 year old ambient music nut and physician.  I moved to Austin, Texas a couple of years ago after Katrina destroyed my old hometown, New Orleans.  I had lived in N.O. for 26 years, but basically after K, N.O. was not the city I had signed up for.  My job, my home and my life suddenly became all hypothetical.  I decided to move to higher ground, literally and figuratively.  Austin is a great place to live.  It rocks...literally.  It's a nice mix of urban life and quirkiness.

I run the.zzzone which has been streaming ambient music on Live365 for 8 years now.  My website contains no advertising; therefore I do this as a way of spreading the gospel of ambient music and sharing my extensive collection of music with the world legally.  Some artists and labels give me deals or donate promos which I appreciate, of course.  I have music from every artist that has posted to this thread.

In my profession, I treat infectious diseases and HIV in folks who have no insurance.  I work for the City of Austin's community health clinics.  At my HIV clinic we treat about 2000 patients.  It is interesting to note that our patients get better care in many ways than I do from my own physician.  I am the medical director at the clinic.  We deal with quite a bit of addiction and substance dependence.

I live 5 minutes from the clinic.

I hope 2009 is a great year for everyone.

Jim
http://zzzone.net

[Seren]

I'm Andy, 47 years of age, and record as Seren Ffordd.

I'm married (second marriage) to Glenys. I've no children (having had a vasectomy at 21) but inherited 4 children and 4 grandchildren via both marriages.

I've always liked sound more than music - used to drive my dad nuts making wierd noises before i even discovered elctronic music via Hawkwind, and felt instantly at home. At school I always wanted to do film special effects or be a stuntman as a career, but careers advisor was as useful as a chocolate teapot....

Loved very early Klaus schulze, Tangerine Dream etc. Sequences can be fun, but i could not listen to them a lot. Got into more noisy bands such as Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire and Z'ev when he was throwing the metal around.

was in a band at the time, had a portastudio and Roland 100 synth (now whish I'd kept it...)and released stuff via the cassette scene of the late 70's. Nearly released a record on the Flux of Pink Indian label, but the thought of going into a recording studio to recreate our version of chaos did not appeal...

Spent 17 years not listening to or making music other than drumming (tapping is something else I've done since a nipper) in a south american folk band for two years and drumming for 'ceremonies'/workshops.....

In those 17 years i did a variety of jobs and widened my experience of life a bit.

Currently a social worker in hospital, attempting to get people back home with support or into a home if their level of need make that necessary. Stressful like all social work jobs, but not as scary as child protection which i've also done.

After the end of my first marriage I found my fingers itching to make music and four years ago saw a second hand digital portastudio in a shop and have gone from there.

I love twisting sounds, pulling them apart, turning them inside out etc. 2008 was a quiet year in the sense of album releases (ie none), mainly due to work pressures, but did have a number of tracks appear on compilations. Currently working on a couple of collaberations, another album for possible secret sounds release and another track for a compilation......

hoping to pull 2009 into a more musically constructive year altogether - even thinking of playing 'live' and getting equipment to do so............

[phrozenlight]

Well.....

I am Phrozenlight 
better known as Bert Hulshoff.
I live in the Netherlands.
I am a big fan of space music, especially long floating tracks.
I create my own music which is based on the sounds of very early Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream. My tracks have mostly a playtime of ca 78 min 

Beside being a solo artist I form together with Eppie E Hulshof (not related) "Dutch Space Mission".

I am maybe one of the biggest lurker on the forum.

[Bill Binkelman]

Well.....

I am Phrozenlight 
better known as Bert Hulshoff.
I live in the Netherlands.
I am a big fan of space music, especially long floating tracks.
I create my own music which is based on the sounds of very early Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream. My tracks have mostly a playtime of ca 78 min 

Beside being a solo artist I form together with Eppie E Hulshof (not related) "Dutch Space Mission".

I am maybe one of the biggest lurcher on the forum.

Better than being a lecher, which I can be labeled quite easily these days.

[Hypnagogue]

Funkiest thread ever.

John Shanahan, aka Hypnagogue. 46 years old, married for a second time, with two lovely kids (one from each go-round.) During the day I work as a copywriter for a clothing company. I'm now in my 11th year of making my living solely from the written word. I have written and published short fiction, award-winning trade-press articles for the jewelry manufacturing industry and newspaper columns. These days most of my writing goes toward the stage; I began writing plays in 2002, had my first production in 2003, and since then have had work appear in small theatre festivals all around the US and once (so far) in the UK. My work is included in anthologies from Smith & Kraus, a major theatrical publisher. There are excerpts, if you're interested, at johnshanahan.net.

I am addicted to hot sauces and interesting mustards and I know my way around a kitchen--which is a good thing because my wife doesn't. I like my quiet, and strive to make a bit of breathing space in every day.

Earliest e-music moment is hearing "Oxygene" playing on a record player in front of a Radio Shack. Hooked from there on. Dove into it in the 80s with Roach, Serrie, Stearns, Braheny, etc. Nowadays it's pretty much all I listen to. All that stuff with, you know, "lyrics" just seems cluttered. :-)

No musical talent to speak of other than noodling around a bit with some blues bass, well-intentioned harmonica assays, and poking at GarageBand when work gets boring.

Oh, and I run the Hypnagogue site, better know for excuses and hiatuses than actual reviews.

[phrozenlight]

...
I am maybe one of the biggest lurcher on the forum.

Better than being a lecher, which I can be labeled quite easily these days.

Ok Bill I have correct it 

/lurking mode on again

[Wayne Higgins]

Phrozenlight:  you're ok in my book.  I just always thought you were from Transylvania.  Not kidding.  do I have you mixed up with someone else?

[Dave Michuda]

This thread has been a revelation for me...I am happy to see so many other "old folks" like myself here!  I'm 48.

I live in Wisconsin, just north of Milwaukee.  I somehow manage to raise two teenagers on my own and not mess them up too badly. We have a dog/pony named Jake.  I am a member of the liberal, elite media.  Actually I just edit video for the news on a local station.  I've been there for 14 years, picked a bunch of Emmy's & a Peabody along the way, but the industry is changing/dying so I'd be surprised if I'm still there in 5 years.

I am a long time Hypnos forum member & a looooong time ambient fan.  I remember buying Music for Airports when it first came out & still have the vinyl version of it.  I am not a musician so my only creative contribution to the ambient scene is my ambient mix blog, low light mixes.  I really enjoy making the mixes & hope that some of the artists get a bit of exposure through the downloads.

I hang out at some other online communities, Facebook, LastFM, etc., but the Hypnos forum is still my favorite oasis.

[ffcal]

I recently was honored by the use of my art on two separate releases of Alio Die, which is something I could not have imagined when I was sitting in distant lands, creating art to the soundtrack of his music.

Belated congratulations to you, Joseph.  Your artwork for Alio Die is quite intense and really outstanding.  The attention to detail almost reminds me a little bit of outsider artist Adolf Wolfli (though you're probably a lot saner than he was, of course).

Sounds like a fascinating life route you've taken.

Forrest

[darkenedsoul]

Well I'm Mike Soucy aka Darkened Soul (both login and artist name). I'm from Massachusetts, about 30 miles north out of boston off route 93 (1 mile from Salem, NH border). Been into ambient type stuff since the 80's when I got turned onto Tangerine Dream via the Thief movie.  I used to play synthesizer for Shroud of Bereavement (neoclassical doom/death metal) for 4 yrs. Been out of that for just over a year.

I am a senior software QA engineer for a startup testing their VTL appliance and working on some test automation as time permits in perl to run on windows (sql server, exchange), linux, etc.. I am very much into the underground extreme metal scene and am an avid extreme doom metal fan. I have 2 cats I adopted last year (both males) and they are a riot/handful some times! I like to cook, love italian, mexican, chinese, japanese (cook in front of you stuff). Used to be into off-roading 4x4 when I had my jeep out in california when I was in the navy (9 yrs, can't believe I've been out for over 20 yrs now, that makes me feel OLD!).

Fairly easy to get along with, rude, crude and socially unacceptable, a general all-around nice guy. I've have fun doing music, learning guitar (need to spend a lot more time practicing....), meeting folks in the forum(s) I am on, et. al. Also avid Guild Wars player, anyone playing it can contact me as Madness Kometh (or Pain Kometh) ;-)

Mike

[soma611]

Bill Beck, ancient, lurking these days, but I did do a better job of posting here back in the Stone Age.  Non-musician, but capturer of ambient music in the field (Fostex recorder, a pair of omnis, lots of late night stuff, then dawn transitions), amateur quality nature field recordings, truthfully.  Heard STARS END by accident in the 80s, through a dream, woke up hooked.  A volunteer for the Gatherings concert series, and for XPN answering phones at 3am (when all the weirdos call) during "fundrives."  Been in the newspaper publishing business all my life (currently at an entertainment weekly at the Jersey Shore; small crew, doing a little of this and that, including editing, photography, managing distribution, surviving the economic climes). Just about every spare moment is spent wandering a huge tract of wilderness in the center of the most densely populated state in the nation; New Jersey's pinelands (infinite sameness).   I often carry a camera.  Still think Saul Stokes is a genius.  Jim Cole, magic.  David Parsons, king.  Bring back Jeff Pearce. Avid reader of difficult word arrangements.  Currently gorging upon Pynchon's Against the Day, next Bolano's 2666  ... eh, I'm getting dull.  This is why I lurk.

[phrozenlight]

Phrozenlight:  you're ok in my book.  I just always thought you were from Transylvania.  Not kidding.  do I have you mixed up with someone else?

well I do not know
I am not related to the Count Dracul 

but maybe because

http://www.heathenharvest.com/article.php?story=20080928074548985

I have no connection with this

[jkn]

I've been meaning to post to this thread and haven't carved out any time yet.   

I've been on the forum since a couple days after Mike first set it up and while my user name has "gobal moderator" on it - I don't really have to moderate much anymore since Mike's gotten most of the spam logins blocked.  I've been fortunate to meet a number of very good friends here.

Let's see... what to babble out (those who know me, know I can ramble on with the best of them... ;-)   

My grandma started teaching me piano when I was 5.   She was a wonderful person - and was the church organist at the same church in our little town of 1,000 people for 60 years.    That 60 is not a typo.   She played so many people's weddings and funerals that literally generations of families showed up at her funeral talking about how great she was.  She touched so many people.   

Anyway...  I started learning piano and after awhile grandma turned me over to someone else who turned me over to someone else who turned me over to someone else.    I had talent - piano felt natural to me - reading music didn't.  :-)    I was happier just making 'noise' on the piano.   So I went through a lot of teachers - started lessons - stopped lessons - started again - etc...  I picked up trumpet in 5th grade and became a certified "band geek" by high school.   I wrote my piano solos for contests in high school - I played trumpet in jazz band...  I started borrowing the "bass synth" they had from Radio Shack (essentially a copy of a Moog Rogue more or less).   

Back to grandma (and grandpa)...  they financed my first synth purchase when I was 14 or 15... a Siel DK600.   Which we kept a running tab on exactly how much I owed them as I paid humorously low amounts of money every week from mowing lawns and then from playing gigs.   I joined my first bar band when I was 15 years old - and started playing out immediately.   Everyone else in the band was 10 to 15 years older than me.   How lucky am I for having parents that let me do that?   (It helped that I got good grades...).

Let's fast forward a bit...

By 1992 I was totally burned out from playing in bands for 7 years.    I stopped working my part time job at a music store (which I bought most of my gear from on account and later got my wonderful piano from them) and got my first "real" job.   I married the love of my life.  And my mom died from cancer.   All in all - 1992 was a roller coaster ride of highs and lows.   I put all my gear away until 1996 and mostly stopped buying music at all let alone play it (aside from piano... I never really stop playing that...).    In 1996 I started "discovering" music again - wonderful electronic stuff.   I joined a band with my cousin (which imploded in 1998 - my official retirement from bar bands...) - and started tinkering with my solo music again and with recording on a pc instead of 4-track recorder.

A little after that I started jamming with John (Vir Unis) again - as he'd moved back to town.  John and I have been friends since I was 15.   His wonderful ambient career started to take off - I did a live show with him in 2001 - and helped him (and Green House after that) with their websites.   I started releasing my own music through connections I made at mp3.com - as "Interstitial" - which to me meant "the space between" - the space between different genres of music, the space between so many things...  it fit what I was thinking at the time.   I've since decided to start writing under the name "Relaxed Machinery".

Fast forward a bit further and last year I agreed to co-own AtmoWorks with John and another friend from high school days... Matt McDonough.   I love doing this - it brings me amazing happiness (and the occassional massive frustration!  Ha.)

I've been taking a long break since 2004 from recording (started with another long protracted death in the family which is what started my 1992-1996 musical hiatus...) I guess my way of dealing with death is to stop recording and just play piano. 

Anyway - I'm now 38.  I've been married for 16 wonderful years.   I've worked at my current job for 10 years as an IT Analyst - I do a bit of programming, project managing, etc...  my primary thing in IT has always been taking data and making it useful to people.   My wife and I have had three amazing dogs over the years, however, they've all passed away at this point and we're just not ready to get another.   We've lived in the same house the entire time we've been married (and she had it before I started dating her.)   

I guess that's about it!

John

[jkn]

Oh - forgot a tidbit maybe worth mentioning, or maybe not...

When I was 19 I was taking piano lessons from two amazing teachers - and both polar opposites of the other.    I learned so much it's scary.   I was also playing piano in the college jazz band (a change for me since I'd played trumpet in jazz band through high school.).    So 18 / 19 was a crazy time for me and playing piano - I got amazingly 'good'.   However, my wrists gave out.   They just weren't up to it.   I've had trouble with my wrists ever since - and my career in front of computers has made my wrist problems even more entertaining over the years...   :-) 

One of my favorite piano moments is doing a piano recital with my teacher who had to be like 85 or 90 and couldn't really remember things anymore (she'd teach me the same things over and over - but once you got her going again... wow) - anyway we were playing some amazing piano piece for 2 piano's.    Something Russian or at Eastern European (I'd love to remember what it really was - I never saw the title page - she just copied the music for me).    Anyway - first page turn... I literally missed and threw all 18 or 20 pages into the front row of the audience.   

It was an incredibly complex piece - fast and subtle - 'dualing pianos' I guess...  and I lose all the music on the first page turn.  Amazing.   Thankfully - I had it completely memorized and didn't miss a beat except for the initial smile at losing my 'safety net'.

The other humor was most of her students at this recital were little kids... and here I was probably 19 at the time...     



Oh - here's another tidbit most people wouldn't know about me... I taught piano for 6 years before I "retired".   

[spectral67]

Hello i`m Pete and i listen to and love electronic music/ambient,reggae/dub and anything inspiring,beautiful,intense and strange and well just good music in general.I love films mainly David Lynch,alejandro jodorowsky,darren aronofsky,john carpenter,horror,foreign and anything decent.I`m pretty open minded and spiritual and emotional rather than intellectual,i love playing percussion and electric guitar and anything i can get my hands on and make sounds and noises with.I`m no musician i`m too lazy and undisciplined to learn but i have passion and enthusiasm and a bit of imagination,so i let that guide me.

[Chad Hoefler]

Hi all,

My name is Chad Hoefler, and I have been an ambient music enthusiast for as long as I can remember.  I have two releases of my own work: one on the Hypnos label and another on the Lotuspike label.  A new CD has been in the works for an embarrassingly long time, and progress on it came to a screeching halt about a year ago due to the demands of my professional life.  I sincerely hope to finish this project soon, and I have been saying that for too long.

I'm a 34 year old assistant professor of biology at a small university in the suburbs of Philadelphia, and I cannot express how excited I will be once spring semester is over (end of April). 

I am also a big fan of the community here!

[Mark Mushet]

Mark Mushet. 45. Vancouver, BC.

Photographer and publisher of the Canadian west coast's answer to the New Yorker (National Post) OK. We'll take that (www.vancouverreview.com)! Anyway, we firmly believe a magazine should be more than a polished turd designed solely to further material consumption and self-indulgence.

I do editorial, arts and corporate photography (www.markmushetphotography.com) and often exhibit portraits of favourite musicians. I've done about 20 CD covers (including for Hypnos, Kranky and Infraction artists) and am currently working on a large portrait commission for the Vancouver Museum.

My introduction to true ambient music (not including eary 1970's exposure to Pink Floyd!) came with Eno's ambient series. Plateaux of Mirror (with Harold Budd) and On Land were early faves and remain touchstone works for me in the genre. I saw Eno's touring video installation in 1982 featuring the music that ended up on On Land and on the Mistaken Memories video. Since then my tastes in the genre have been skewed to the European side with Thomas Koner, Biosphere, Cluster et al being favourites.
 
I think Mike does a fantastic job with Hypnos and he's released some of the best ambient works out there. In particular I'm thinking of Robert Rich's Somnium and Humidity releases as well as work by A. Produce and his collab with Mike in the form of Altara. The forum is a wonderful thing for people to compare notes and meet up. Thanks again Mike!

[mgriffin]

Thanks for the kind words, Mark, and also thanks to you and everyone else who has taken part in this topic.  I hope we'll see more and more people introduce themselves. 

 

[Altus]

Greetings from Mike Carss (aka Altus) from Ottawa, Canada.  31 years old.

I've always felt I could express myself better with music than words, hence why I'm usually lurking around not saying much.  But this is a fun thread so I decided to come out my hidey-hole and say hi.

My actual job is in the film and television industry, working with many companies as a consultant, and supporting them in terms of mastering and duplication of their work.  I was planning on starting a film company with another producer, but given our economy, that'll have to wait.

Music has always been a big part of my life, and my need to create music seems to be ever-growing as the years go on.  It's been over 15 years since I started, and I'm finally at a point where I'm completely happy with my work.  So that probably has something to do with my release schedule. 

I'm quite new to your forum (a couple of years), but it's a pleasure knowing all of you.
Here's to hoping 2009 is productive to all of you, no matter how to express yourself.