British dronemeisters

[mgriffin]

Another popular recent topic that was still going strong.

Hey, let's talk about BradleyChalkTateColeclough...and so on.

Undershadow, what say you?

[Joe R]

(Joe substitutes for Undershadow, who's gone at the moment:)

My top 5 discs among the British dronesters that Mike just mentioned:

Bradley/Tate- Sometime Today- very unusual; edgy yet serene; Bradley's drones tie together Tate's random sound effects. Amazing!
Colin Potter/Paul Bradley- Behind Your Very Eyes- something here for everyone in the "dark ambient" mode, ranging from ominous & edgy to smooth & serene.
Andrew Chalk-The River That Flows into the Sands; glassy, shimmering beauty.
Monos- Landscapes; machine-like, but with organic-yet-metallic nature sounds, as though you were exploring the surface of an iron planet.
Chalk/Coleclough- Sumac;  a mellow, comforting drone at low volume, but becomes an assault weapon when you crank the volume.

[rdj]

Another great british drone recording that I'm not sure if Undershadow has mentioned is Murmer & J. Coleclough's "Husk."  In my opinion, probably one of the finest releases of 2006.  The perfect blend of low end drone meeting field recordings.  Just great.

[Joe R]

I sawHusk at Aquarius Records. I'll have to check that out.

Four more that I'd recommend are:

Coleclough/Potter- Low Ground- intense drones and natural forest sounds -birds chirping, crickets, water, frogs- and it's all given the "ominously-creepy" treatment. Sounds like you're in a haunted forest. This is a great one!

Coleclough- Beech, for John and Miho- this is pure drone, baby! -114 minutes of sparkling, mesmerizing drones that twist around each other like strands of rope.

Colin Potter/Phil Mouldycliff- Shellfish in Kettleblack- a strange mixture of drones, static, wind, random voices and odd clanking noises. A surreal and unearthly soundworld. Very fascinating, I've been playing this A LOT lately.

Coleclough- Makruna/Minya- this is well worth it just for the Makruna track. DEEP, slow drones and distant bird sounds. Sounds like a night-time forest. Not as creepy as Low Ground.

[ffcal]

Have been enjoying Paul Bradley's "Cede" 3" this week.  It's a bit more open sounding than "Searching For the Way," and maybe a little more tonal.

Forrest

[Infraction]

Colin Potter & Paul Bradley - Behind your very Eyes (ICR)  IMO one of their best of the collaborative works.  Drone (yes!) dark, but other times it comes to the surface and is a shimmering beauty.

Paul Bradley & Cria Cuervos - Moraines I (ICR)  CDR release if I recall.  Dark and rumbling, almost a bit noisy for the first 8 minutes and then it opens up into these clear gorgeous atmospheres.  And then back to noise and repeat.  Reminds me of some of the best Maeror Tri discs - where you had to work through the noise exterior to get to the ambient inside.   I've read about Moraines part II on either Smallvoices or Silent Place (both are essentially one in the same Italian label) and this new installment includes Andrew Liles as well.  Have not heard it yet though.

Bass Communion - II.  Still my favorite of the BC discs.  Haunting drones by Steven Wilson with contributions on flute and sax by Theo Travis.  Yes, flute and sax actually enhance the ominous feel of this one.

BTW, First post on Hypnos v. 2, hello everyone...

Jason
infractionrecords.com

[Ben Fleury-Steiner]

Paul Bradley - Sophia Drifts - A single long track of soft, rattling din that ebs and flows with delicate restraint...One of the best in the consistently excellent Mystery Sea series...

[Undershadow]

Another popular recent topic that was still going strong.

Hey, let's talk about BradleyChalkTateColeclough...and so on.

Undershadow, what say you?

Mike, er... didn't I say enough about 'em already? 

Well, perhaps I could venture that, Like Forrest, I've spent time with the new Bradley "Cede", and it's a very nice absorbing 20mins of rather melancholic guitar drone - in this respect unlike the "Searching for the Way" 3-inch, which was sort of as near as his work gets to being serene, even blissed-out in places. Moreover, on "Cede" it's recognisably a guitar that's being manipulated - unlike other Bradley guitar-as-source pieces in which the instrument is processed to such an extent its essential 'guitarity' is compromised.

[mgriffin]

Just got the Paul Bradley - Cede mini-discs into the store. 

These (as well as the other Waterscape label release by label-founder Seconds in Formaldehyde) are out of print at the label and it appears these are the last remaining copies anywhere.

I'm not sure how long these will last... we do have 15 copies, which is nearly 1/3 of the full run, but if people can only find them on the Hypnos store, they might be snapped right up.

Link:

http://www.hypnos.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=ws02

and in case anyone is interested in the Seconds in Formaldehyde disc, though this dronemeister isn't British...

http://www.hypnos.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=ws01

[mgriffin]

Just got the Paul Bradley - Cede mini-discs into the store. 

These (as well as the other Waterscape label release by label-founder Seconds in Formaldehyde) are out of print at the label and it appears these are the last remaining copies anywhere.

I'm not sure how long these will last... we do have 15 copies, which is nearly 1/3 of the full run, but if people can only find them on the Hypnos store, they might be snapped right up.

Link:

http://www.hypnos.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=ws02

and in case anyone is interested in the Seconds in Formaldehyde disc, though this dronemeister isn't British...

http://www.hypnos.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=ws01

I've been listening to Cede this afternoon, while I add a bunch of stuff to the Hypnos store and watch the snow outside the window, and I really do like Cede very much.  Bradley has a sound very much his own, which is something I can't say about the great majority of ambient & soundscape artists.  I'll definitely have to investigate him further, and in fact I do have a Twenty Hertz wholesale list here on my desktop, awaiting my more careful perusal.

It's been a nice afternoon's listening, with Paul Bradley, Aloof Proof, and the new Hypnos compilation (for which I'm creating mp3 clips now)

[Brian Bieniowski]

Low Ground sounds great!  Almost like a more "evil" Robert Rich.  Any leads to where I might find this one for purchase?

[Undershadow]

How about discogs, Brian?
http://www.discogs.com/sell/list?release_id=462223&ev=rp

[Joe R]

Brian- or you can try Boxer Music. That's where I got mine, at the same price, I believe.

Okay, after listening to Makruna/Minya properly a few times, with headphones and no distractions, I have a far different opinion than I stated before. It's an insidiously eerie disc. Very subtle, very quiet, but each listen reveals additional strange, previously buried sounds into the soundfield. Seems that there's a distant, uneasy, and indescribable drama going on: faraway voices -sometimes sounding like crying, water rushing, strange hissing, and unexplainable scraping sounds.

The last track is also dramatic in it's own distant way. As far as I can tell, a mix of wailing voices, guitars and synths. Sounds very ghostly!      

[ffcal]

Makruna/Minya's a very strange disc.  I have to be in the right frame of mind to put it on.  The funky disc case is kind of cool.  I like it more than Beech, for John & Miho, which is a little too static for me.  Coleclough's Windlass is a pretty good one, but a little hard to find.

Forrest

[spunknik]

Although he does not drone very much.Andrew Liles is becoming my favorite British musician along with Rapoon who I've loved for years.All the Black discs from A.L. are very interesting to say the least.

[Joe R]

I've been wondering about Andrew Liles. I suppose it's only a matter of time before I dip my toes in those waters, too.

[mgriffin]

I've been wondering about Andrew Liles. I suppose it's only a matter of time before I dip my toes in those waters, too.

I would call Andrew Liles more of an odd sonic experimentalist, than a "dronemeister."  I'd say he's more downstream from Nurse With Wound and Hafler Trio, than following on from Eno and the like.

[Undershadow]

I agree. Don't dip your toe in them waters, Joe, 'less you wanna get nipped by some weird crab or stung by a mutant jellyfish. He's an odd bod, is Liles.
This is much more up your street:

http://www.discogs.com/release/411543

[mgriffin]

That's a great CD, and one I just listened to this weekend, but fairly tough to find now.

[Joe R]

Thanks for the forewarning, guys. Nurse With Wound seems a little "out there" for my taste. Except, of course, for "Soliloquy".

Ya know Alan, I had that CD years ago, and it didn't do anything for me. I ended up selling it, if I remember right, to Mike G himself! Now I'm thinking that I should get it again.