Constance Demby

[mortiis37]

Greetings all.

I just joined this forum, as I saw that it is one which discusses not only Hypnos label artists, but also those of other labels.

Constance Demby is someone I have only recently discovered, even though I have been into ambient and similar genres
of music for many, many years. I have no idea how this lady slipped me by, and I feel almost ashamed for letting that happen!

Coming from New Zealand, a country where ambient music is basically unheard may be one of the reasons, but I live now
in Australia, so hopefully this changes soon (I must say, I have found the Australian ambient music fans to be a lot more
accepting, and genuine).

I guess I just wanted to list my new found love for Constance's music, and ask, perhaps - is there anyone similar?

Some of my favorite artists are:
Steve Roach,
Erik Wřllo,
Vidna Obmana,
Alio Die,
Robert Rich,
Max Corbacho,
Michael Stearns ,
John Serrie,
Lustmord,
Raison d'ętre,
Atrium Carceri.

(As you can tell probably, I like a lot of darker ambient work too - which is weird because Constance is anything but dark, really!)

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Scott

[Castleview]

Kevin Braheny- The Way Home

It's somewhat similar.

I like her 80's work a lot. Sacred Space Music is a classic.

[phobos]

Welcome to the forum mortiis37,
On the dark ambient side of things you should definately check out-
Blood Box- Funeral in an Empty Room and The Iron Dream
Yen Pox - Blood Music
Mulm - The End of Greatness
Kammarheit - The Starwheel

you are off to a good start with Atrium Carceri, one of my favourite Dark Ambienteers

[El culto]

Welcome to the forum mortiis37,
On the dark ambient side of things you should definately check out-
Blood Box- Funeral in an Empty Room and The Iron Dream
Yen Pox - Blood Music
Mulm - The End of Greatness
Kammarheit - The Starwheel

you are off to a good start with Atrium Carceri, one of my favourite Dark Ambienteers

Phobos was so kind and modest not to mention his own music…but if you are into Dark Ambient, thats a definite path to check also!

Greetings,
Tomas

[phobos]

Welcome to the forum mortiis37,
On the dark ambient side of things you should definately check out-
Blood Box- Funeral in an Empty Room and The Iron Dream
Yen Pox - Blood Music
Mulm - The End of Greatness
Kammarheit - The Starwheel

you are off to a good start with Atrium Carceri, one of my favourite Dark Ambienteers

Phobos was so kind and modest not to mention his own music…but if you are into Dark Ambient, thats a definite path to check also!

Greetings,
Tomas

Thank you Tomas, that was very kind of you to say that.

[mortiis37]

Wow,
some very good recommendations already.

To be honest, I have been dabbling myself in FLStudio for YEARS, haven't got a midi keyboard of anything like that (just use my own pc keyboard), but I've never quite got the hang of it, to be honest.
I love playing around with it though ;-0

Atrium Carceri is phenomenal, reminds me of earlier Lustmord in places, which is a great thing indeed!

Phobos, love you check your work out,mate!

[drone on]

Don't forget Oophoi

[LNerell]

Coming from New Zealand, a country where ambient music is basically unheard may be one of the reasons

I'd recommend a fellow countrymen of yours, David Parsons. He's made some excellent stuff over the years. One of my all time favorites.

[Ein Sophistry]

Novus Magnificat was a crucial part of my journey to ambient music. It got me into space music in a big way, and somewhere in my ferreting for similar releases I happened upon Roach's The Magnificent Void. That sealed the deal.

I'll second the recommendation of Oophoi, and I'd add that our own Seren Ffordd has made some wonderful "space ambient" albums. Ydd Hwnt y Seren a Llygedin is a personal favorite. Very, very deep and vast, that one. Needless to say, you should also check out The Martian Chronicles, a fantastic collab between these two artists: http://serenffordd.bandcamp.com/album/the-martian-chronicles

[Ein Sophistry]

Also, Meg Bowles occupies this interesting niche between more melodic space music a la Demby and more purely ambient music. Her newest, The Shimmering Land, is excellent: http://www.megbowlesmusic.com/

[Seren]

Novus magnificat is a wonderful album, I had a truncated version recorded on cassette for a number of years before getting the CD.

Not ambient as it includes a sequencer, but Tim Blakes New Jerusalem track on the album of the same name has always been a classic for me in the same 'vein' as Novus - though you have to allow for general hippiness, new age sprituality and gong like strangeness - also includes vocals......

Oophoi comes very recommended - Athlit is a dark ambient journey available on Hypnos http://hypnos.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=HOS&Product_Code=hyp2236&Category_Code=hypnos

also a decreasing number of Umbra releases to consider  http://hypnos.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=HOS&Category_Code=umbra

You may need to go to google for other sources of any discs still available.

(and a polite thank you for inclusion in the recommendations)

[Castleview]

Phobos and Seren make great music.

I'm also an ambient musician, if you haven't figured out from my sig. I'm too shameless not to plug it myself.

[Steve Lazur]

I too have been in love with Constance Demby's music. I picked up on Novus Magnificat when it was first released. I remember sending a letter to Hearts of Space gushing about Novus. In more recent years, Constance moved to the L.A. Area and I was lucky enough to catch her intimate shows in her own home. Working in aerospace I have experience in metal working, at the shows I saw that she was in need of some work on her Space Bass and I fixed it for her. While talking with her, she pulled out a box of letter and came up with that letter I sent to Hearts of Space some 25 years earlier. Oh, how embarrassing! What a fun and funny women. So talented on the key board. You gotta love her.

As far as I am concerned, nothing comes close to Novus Magnificat, but another one that comes near, for me, is Robert Foxx's The Fire and the Rose.  I highly recommend that. It has recently been re-mastered and re-released. It sounds amazing.

I find Mike Van Portfleet's Beyond the Horizon Line exceptional too.

[Julio Di Benedetto]

What a great story Steve...thanks for sharing and what if I may ask is a space bass?

[Steve Lazur]

Constance with her Space Bass ...

http://www.constancedemby.com/instruments.html

[nels]

I have a very sentimental spot in my heart for the Hearts of Space radio program and music label for which Constance Demby recorded several albums.  After discovering Eno and his fraternity back in the mid 80s, the radio program exposed me to the likes of Steve Roach, Constance Demby, and many others of the American space music scene.  I sort of made it a point a few years back to buy the first 100 albums or so from that label that were recorded and put out over the years spanning 1988 to about 2000 (they were pretty inexpensive to pick up as used albums).  Although there are several New Age albums in that collection that aren't exactly my listening style, the vast majority of the releases are real gems. Whenever I listen to Novus Magnificat, Sacred Space Music, Set Free, and Aerterna it takes me back to that time circa 1990 when I was college student living in Socal.  Good stuff!

[ffcal]

Constance with her Space Bass ...

http://www.constancedemby.com/instruments.html

Cool.  It looks like a large scale version of Robert Rutman's steel cello:

Bob Rutman Steel Cello

Forrest