CD release: Sounds of a Universe Overheard (various artists)

[mgriffin]

CD release announcement from Hypnos Recordings
Title: Sounds of a Universe Overheard (various artists compilation)
Hypnos Recordings (hyp2752)




2007. This is the first compilation project on Hypnos since 1999's  Weightless, Effortless.

Track listing (mp3 sample clips coming soon):
Jonathan Block "The Language of Rocks"
M. Peck "Somna"
Freq. Magnet "Nitrous"
Kirk Watson "Scarecrow"
dreamSTATE "Ghost Nebula"
Seren Ffordd " Strange Attractor"
Dwight Ashley " Behold the Trampled Wheat"
Justin Vanderberg "Infection"
Igneous Flame "Pandora"
Tau Ceti "Float"

Hypnos Online Store listing (sale price $12.99)
http://www.hypnos.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=HOS&Product_Code=hyp2752

[mgriffin]

Gradually getting this pulled-together into a full-fledged CD release announcement.

CD release announcement from Hypnos Recordings
Title: Sounds of a Universe Overheard (various artists compilation)
Hypnos Recordings (hyp2752)



2007. Long-time Hypnos listeners may recall that we released a couple of compilations in the early years, The Other
World and Weightless, Effortless, which included exclusive tracks by some of the great artists of this music scene...
Vidna Obmana, Steve Roach, Jeff Pearce, A Produce, Saul Stokes, James Johnson, Ma Ja Le, Rod Modell, Loren Nerell,
Jeff Greinke, Ron Boots, Robert Scott Thompson, Richard Bone, and many others. Both those compilations were very
well-received by critics, DJs, and all kinds of listeners. So you could ask, and many have, why hasn't Hypnos released
any more compilations recently? Maybe because they're a lot of work, much more work than a regular CD by a single
artist, and time is always a constraining factor when running a small label by yourself. Do you do one compilation
album, or do you spend that time putting together two or three regular CDs? Well now, Hypnos is no longer a one-man
operation, so more time is available, and that has allowed us to take on the task of putting together these compilations.

These two new compilations, released one after the other, cover all sorts of territory in terms of sound, from more
musical and soundtrack-like sounds, to darker ambient, to pure sonic experimentation. The first compilation is
Sounds of a Universe Overheard, a collection of ten tracks available only on this CD, created by a cross-section of
ambient, experimental and soundscape artists from around the world. Included in this diverse group are more
established recording artists who will be known to most listeners to these genres, as well as new, emerging names.

THE ARTISTS

Jonathan Block, better known as Synthetic Block, has released electronic music on such labels as Hypnos/Binary and Gears of Sand.

M. Peck, based in Tennessee, has recently released two collaborative CDs with Mark Mahoney, but his Glacial on Gears of Sand is a great solo debut.

Freq. Magnet is an alter-ego of one half of ambient/experimental duo Austere, working entirely with treated electric guitar, who has two solo full-length CDs, Etoiles du Couvrecle and Principium Somniferum.

Kirk Watson appeared previously on a compilation, Passing Strange, on the short-lived Broad Vista label.

dreamSTATE, a duo from Toronto, Canada, have released several CDs and have been active in collaboration with other artists, and on compilations on such labels as Umbra, The Foundry, Dark Duck, and Atmoworks.

Seren Ffordd is a sound artists working in Wales, who has released several CDs on the Umbra & Penumbra labels, as well as a recent release on Hypnos Secret Sounds.

Dwight Ashley is a long-established ambient composer with several solo CDs as well as well-received collaborations with Tim Story.

Justin Vanderberg is a relatively new name, but his debut CD In Waking Moments on the Hypnos Secret Sounds label has been well-received, and marks him as a name to watch.

Igneous Flame is a British ambient/soundscape artist who has come on very strong in just the last few years, with his self-released albums gaining positive notices.

Tau Ceti is an Italian ambient minimalist, and frequent collaborator with his countryman Oophoi, on whose labels Umbra & Penumbra the majority of Tau Ceti's delicate works appear.

TRACK LISTING, with MP3 sample clips:
Jonathan Block "The Language of Rocks" http://www.hypnos.com/audio/hypnos-v-soauo-01.mp3
M. Peck "Somna" http://www.hypnos.com/audio/hypnos-v-soauo-02.mp3
Freq. Magnet "Nitrous" http://www.hypnos.com/audio/hypnos-v-soauo-03.mp3
Kirk Watson "Scarecrow" http://www.hypnos.com/audio/hypnos-v-soauo-04.mp3
dreamSTATE "Ghost Nebula" http://www.hypnos.com/audio/hypnos-v-soauo-05.mp3
Seren Ffordd " Strange Attractor" http://www.hypnos.com/audio/hypnos-v-soauo-06.mp3
Dwight Ashley " Behold the Trampled Wheat" http://www.hypnos.com/audio/hypnos-v-soauo-07.mp3
Justin Vanderberg "Infection" http://www.hypnos.com/audio/hypnos-v-soauo-08.mp3
Igneous Flame "Pandora" http://www.hypnos.com/audio/hypnos-v-soauo-09.mp3
Tau Ceti "Float" http://www.hypnos.com/audio/hypnos-v-soauo-10.mp3

Hypnos Online Store listing (sale price $12.99)
http://www.hypnos.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=HOS&Product_Code=hyp2752

[drone on]

This is a very good compilation.  My fave tracks belong to Justin Vanderberg (very Vir Unis like a la "The Drift Inside") and Igneous Flame, whose name I had heard on this Forum but was unfamiliar with his music.   

[dwight]

CD release announcement from Hypnos Recordings
Title: Sounds of a Universe Overheard (various artists compilation)
Hypnos Recordings (hyp2752)

I finally got the chance to listen to the entire disc over this past weekend.

Mike you did a great job sequencing this disc. Well made.

-D

[Scott M2]

Due, I suppose, to the holiday mail overload and the grand bog which is Canada Customs,
I haven't received my copies yet. However, after spending some holiday time listening
to the SoaUO mp3s, I came to the same conclusion about the sequencing. It seems to
begin with some unexpected sonic curves before launching into deeper space material
and then concluding with a lovely ambient drift. Very nice! I'll keep watching the post for the real thing. 

[Seren]

Got mine last week and it has been a pleasure to listen to ever track. It is a great job Mike - looking forward to 'message from a subatomic world'

[MPECK]

I finally had the opportunity to listen to this in its entirety and have to agree that the track order is superb. At times while listening I forgot that this was a compilation as the tracks each share a common thread and sonic environment. Well put together Mike, well done indeed.

[jkn]

Enjoying this completely...   I keep getting interrupted by meetings and phone calls so I'm hearing one track at a time more than the whole thing in one sitting (so can't comment on the track order) - but I'm loving the individual songs.

[mgriffin]

Thanks very much, all of you, for your comments.

This Sounds of a Universe Overheard compilation (and its "sister" project, Message from a Subatomic World) represent to me not only a collection of nice ambient atmospheres, but much more.  To me, they also signify a re-engagement by Hypnos in the wider world of ambient music, bringing some new artistic talent under the Hypnos umbrella, and cross-pollinating for everyone's benefit.  It's very gratifying to get to know these artists, some of whom I knew vaguely before, others who were total strangers before this process, and many of whom I believe will be increasingly discussed (not just in the context of this compilation) in the future, on this forum and elsewhere.

Several comments were made about the track sequencing.  I took special care to try to make this disc a unified sound statement, to choose only tracks that I could imagine hearing one next to the other.  In a few instances, I left off material that I liked, but which I couldn't picture working along with the others.  To me, a compilation has the potential to be not just a bunch of pieces stuck together, but more like the ultimate mix-tape (ultimate in the sense of the tracks being exclusive and unavailable elsewhere), with care given to the flow of the experience and the way one piece fits with the next.  This kind of "flow" can be faked a bit, by cross-fading one track into another but I think that's cheating a bit in this format.  My preference was that each track should stand just fine on its own, and should also work very well shoulder to shoulder with the other tracks (or, in the case of the first and last track, just one shoulder was next to someone else's!)

It is this very issue that I'm dealing with right now, with the second compilation, trying to figure out how to integrate a couple of tracks that are very good material but which don't easily settle in with some of their neighbors!  Thing are made a bit more tricky by the fact that some tracks don't work well as a first track or a last track, and the general "feel" of the different tracks suggest that some should be earlier and some should be later.  It's a bit like a jigsaw puzzle with only ten pieces but vague shapes, and fuzzy edges! It should be solved soon, though.

Thanks again, everybody.  I'm gratified to see more and more people ordering this, and the initial reception seems very positive.

[Austere]

I took special care to try to make this disc a unified sound statement, to choose only tracks that I could imagine hearing one next to the other.  In a few instances, I left off material that I liked, but which I couldn't picture working along with the others.

While we've only heard sample so far, our track that'll be on the next comp. would have never fit in anywhere on this one.  Good choice to skip it!

To me, a compilation has the potential to be not just a bunch of pieces stuck together, but more like the ultimate mix-tape (ultimate in the sense of the tracks being exclusive and unavailable elsewhere), with care given to the flow of the experience and the way one piece fits with the next.

If only more labels felt this way, although we do think more do than don't.  It's all about the flow, meng.  The flow....

It is this very issue that I'm dealing with right now, with the second compilation, trying to figure out how to integrate a couple of tracks that are very good material but which don't easily settle in with some of their neighbors!

We suspect our track may be one of the main (if not THE MAIN) offender so if you need to nix it, feel free, yeah?  But if you see it as a puzzle to be solved, maybe you can make it kinda fun enough to be worthwhile?

Cheers!

[Seren]

  It's a bit like a jigsaw puzzle with only ten pieces but vague shapes, and fuzzy edges! It should be solved soon, though.

Sounds like a quantum puzzle Mike, fits the title nicely

[Austere]

[Sounds like a quantum puzzle Mike, fits the title nicely

But if it were, it would be solved the moment it was defined / observed!

[Joe R]

This has nothing to do with the subject, but it's nice to see you Austere dudes around again! Hope yer both doing fine

[1000snakes]

I received Sounds of a Universe Overheard the other day and also have to compliment Mike on the sequencing and mastering. The disc flows smoothly from beginning to end making for a wonderful sonic journey. A great job by Mike as well as the other artists on the compilation. I am grateful to be part of it.
Peace, Kirk

[petekelly]

Have had chance to listen to this properly now, here's some of my thoughts.
I actually think it's quite a diverse compilation (I don't get any 'theme' as such)
There's a high production standard throughout and the artwork is very effective (as is the title).
Well done Mike, a very professional production all round !

The hilight tracks for me are the following:

'Scarecrow' by Kirk Watson - Very interesting sound design / textures

'Ghost Nebula' by dreamSTATE - Probably my favourite track, great use of Tonal colour and texture

'Strange Attractor'by Seren Ffordd - Very dark and very effective as a dark ambient piece - ominous bass !

'Behold the Trampled Wheat'by Dwight Ashley - Builds ominously then concludes with a beautiful outro section

I also particularly enjoyed the M. Peck and Justin Vanderberg tracks.

cheers
Pete

[cantara333]

thanks much to all who have listened to and enjoyed the album. i am so very proud to have contributed my part to make such a wonderful piece of art. I look forward to hearing the follow up!    ~ justin vanderberg

[MPECK]

I too want to express my thanks and appreciation to have been included on this great compilation. And thanks also to Pete for the kind words.
Here's to Volume 3.

[dwight]

Chuck Van Zyl review of Sounds of a Universe Overheard
http://www.starsend.org/update.html

[Hypnagogue]

Hope no one minds if I toss my freshly finished review in here....

The new Hypnos compilation Sounds Of a Universe Overheard is another of those disks that are hard to review cogently because it’s another of those disks where somewhere in the middle you suddenly realize just how far you’ve drifted along the soundcurrent without realizing it. And then, noting same, you try to be more mindful but within a short while you’re floating again, quite pleasantly so, and you wonder how you’re ever going to comment on something you can’t entirely recall, other than to say it was so lulling and lush that you can’t entirely recall listening to it. Hypnos head M. Griffin has done an amazing job not only of culling together from disparate sources a soft and dark blend of slow-moving ambient, but of seamlessly melding them one track to the next. There are no bumps here, no abrupt switches in styles. Griffin opens the disk with the geometic precision of Jonathan Block’s “The Language of Rocks” before fully immersing us in the flow. The listener is carried through the shadow-cave depths of M. Peck’s “Somna” and “Nitrous” by Freq.Magnet, the latter coming dangerously close to inducing a hypnotic state, and on through the descriptive aural text of Kirk Watson’s “Scarecrow” as it glides from its creepy beginning to a more soothing sense. From there, dreamSTATE launches into the spacey drone textures and sighing distances of “Ghost Nebula,” depositing the listener in the nervy, penumbral landscape of Seren Ffordd’s “Strange Attractor,” perhaps the darkest and sparsest track on the disk. The dark continues through Dwight Ashley’s “Behold the Trampled Wheat,” painted as always in the artist’s beautifully murky palette. This track takes the listener briefly out of the drone zone toward the end with some gracefully orchestrated string sounds. Justin Vanderberg dials it all back down with the smooth, drawn-out washes of “Infection.” Glimmers of light peek through the well-drawn shadows across the span of Igneous Flame’s gracefully soaring “Pandora” and Tau Ceti brings the disk to a gentle close with the soft fluidity of “Float.” Universe is dense, rich, and heavily layered with sonic imagery. I cannot call out a highlight here, despite the inclusion of several artists I rank as my personal favorites, because the disk simply has to be taken as a whole—a whole and wholly engaging voyage through a universe which does, indeed, deserve to overheard. Often. Sounds of a Universe Overheard is a Hypnagogue Highly Recommended CD.

[Scott M2]

Wow John, you emerged from your hypnotic state with many choice descriptive phrases.
I think my personal favourites are "sighing distances", "nervy, penumbral landscape" and "well-drawn shadows".
Very nice work. Thanks.