Frank Bretschneider – Komet

Label: Shitkatapult
Released: 2011
Style: Techno, Downtempo, Experimental

"His new album for Shitkatapult is completely dedicated to the flow. Seven tracks, which have been recorded and arranged live at the studio. Seven tracks with an enormous depth and passion and love for detail on a straight beat, manifesting their own version of club music. Basically, Komet is a techno record, but it has been transported into Bretschneider’s cosmos. Komet exudes a light and feathery flow, neither pushy nor notchy. It wins you over with its groove, while cheeping, fluttering and whooshing at the same time. An album of action, worlds apart from all the painful worries about referencing and zeitgeist. Free music. Shitkatapult manages to show how passionate a label can treat electronic music. Komet is another one of these albums, fitting into the circle of favourite producers like Soul Center, Fenin, Tom Thiel and into the label’s history of uncompromising records by Sun Electric, Apparat, T.Raumschmiere and many more." - Label

Tracklisting:

1 Subharchorded Waves (4:14)
2 Like A Little Lizard In The Sun (5:10)
3 Echotron (5:44)
4 Urania (5:32)
5 Flight 09 (5:46)
6 Flutter Flitter (6:55)
7 Twisted In The Wind (5:34)

Link

Les Baxter - Jewels Of The Sea

Label: Trunk Digital

Released: 2011

Style: Easy Listening

"One of the earliest underwater music experiments, and bloody marvelous it is too, by the first composer I really fell in love with (but not in a sexual way)." - Label

Tracklisting:

1 Sunken City

2 Stars In The Sand

3 Sea Nymph

4 Singing Sea Shells

5 Dolphin

6 Dawn Under The Sea

7 The Enchanted Sea

8 Girl From Nassau

9 The Ancient Galleon

10 Coral Castle

11 Dancing Diamonds

12 Jewels Of The Sea

Link

FNS - FNS

Label: Miasmah

Released: 2010

Style: Experimental, Neofolk

"For his Miasmah debut, FNS treats us to a spectacular excursion into the world of psych-folk instrumentals, with a collection of semi-improvised multi-layered pieces, primarily for acoustic and electric guitar and voice. These lo-fi home recordings capture a sense of astral travel, though explorations into drone, raga-styled melodies and layers of guitar feedback. The immediate allure of FNS’s spectral sound is in the understated nature of the performances – it recalls the magnetic interplay between Tom & Christina Carter’s work in Charalambides, the playful free noise of Sunburned Hand Of The Man, the ethereal blues of Loren Connors, and a variety of subtle but undeniable influences from the 70’s progressive UK folk scene.

FNS’s sound is a sorrowful sound – a death-fuzz, a hazy wailing wall of cavernous guitars, doom-freakout and swirling psychedelia, melded into one then drowned in echo and haze. FNS fires forth cosmic transmissions for the mind and spirit…the result, is nothing short of an aural treat. " - Label

Tracklisting:

1 Silence To Say Hello (9:51)

2 Sappélur (4:06)

3 Wooden Leg (9:01)

4 I Think She's Asleep (5:03)

5 Dream (5:37)

6 Flaggermusvingers Vift I Dimmet (11:50)

Link

Asher - Landscape Studies

Label: Room40

Released: 2009

Style: Experimental, Ambient

"A stunning set of micro-acoustic experiments from Asher Thal-Nir, an artist perhaps most notable for his recent release on the and/OAR label and a 2005 release for the 12k offshoot, term. This album sets out to capture the particular characteristics of rooms and spaces - something prompted by Asher's attempt to capture the kind of subtle, incidental noises that would invade the quiet of his home studio. This embracing of minor, ephemeral acoustic events is nothing new in experimental music, but when the end product is as understatedly evocative and as exquisitely poised as the music on this release, it all seems very much worthwhile. The album is underscored by a gauzy, wave-like motion, barely suggestive of chord sequences, but the real focus here is on the more fundamental timbral qualities of Asher's abstract and suggestive sound designs. Superb." - Boomkat

Tracklisting:

1 1 (6:34)

2 1.1 (6:14)

3 11 (6:53)

4 1.2 (6:44)

5 13 (6:17)

6 14 (6:49)

Link

The Advisory Circle - Other Channels

Label: Ghost Box

Released: 2008

Style: Experimental, Electronic, Library Music

"The Advisory Circle bring us more timely advice on issues such as domestic isolation, tranquilliser addiction and the nuclear threat. Sumptuous booklet art by Julian House and beautifully evocative liner notes by Ken Hollings complement what we feel to be the strongest Ghost Box release so far.

Light synthesizer melodies and moments of surreal humour float in a drift of pastoral melancholia and fuzzy music concrete. Fragments of public information broadcasting are filtered through the distorting lens of prescription tranquillisers. Malicious gossip becomes jumbled and confused with continuity announcements." - Label

Tracklisting:

1 Callsign 'A' - The TV Trap (0:18)

2 Civil Defence Is Common Sense (2:53)

3 Mogadon Coffee Morning (2:57)

4 Sundial (3:28)

5 Swinscoe Episode 1 - 'Enter Swinscoe' (1:58)

6 Celebrate Michaelmas NOW! (2:41)

7 Fire, Damp & Air (3:45)

8 Frozen Ponds PIF (0:52)

9 Erosion Of Time (3:32)

10 A Clear Yarn Warning (1:14)

11 Keep Warm, Keep Well (2:48)

12 Eyes Which Are Swelling (2:18)

13 Hocusing For Beginners (3:50)

14 The Coastguard (2:43)

15 Swinscoe Episode 2 - 'Release The Birds' (1:45)

16 Farmland, Freeland (3:40)

17 Everyday Electronics (3:20)

18 The Old Schoolhouse (2:37)

19 Callsign 'B' - Freeland Logotone (0:08)

Link

Senking - List

Label: Raster-Noton

Released: 2007

Style: Abstract, Electronic

"is there beauty in the threatening? with list senking introduces 40 minutes of the darkest matter and reckons: yes.

on list he varies and experiments with a - for raster-noton - frightening diversity of sounds. he reveals the pieces as sound-collages, as quotes, which seem to refer to splatter movie and film noir. following the tremendous plot of his endtime-sujet, he persistently welds together sound spaces in order to compress them later into overwhelming drone-sounds. these as such, then go to serve a fundamental purpose, as an environment for minimalistic themes and melodies, always to be driven by the ever present slow-beat of the pieces. nonetheless the syntax, the destiny of each single piece is highly varied and has the appearance of a much more mature composition, compared to his earlier works."

Tracklisting:

1 Common Business (4:00)

2 Pathogenic Agent (4:26)

3 Come In (4:36)

4 Bohrer (5:35)

5 Great Day (4:41)

6 Gestalt (0:36)

7 Graue Musik (4:24)

8 Mist (4:47)

9 Crevasse (5:04)

Link

Puma - Half Nelson Courtship

Label: Rune Grammofon

Released: 2010

Style: Post Rock, Free Improvisation

'”Half Nelson Courtship” is the third album and the first on Rune Grammofon from this young trio who musically started out as the younger cousins of Supersilent. The new album shows a group with a stronger identity, clearer focus, more mature and fully developed musical ideas and directions. It´s actually not so easy to compare them to anyone, but certain aspects of the 1973 period King Crimson concert improvisations wouldn´t be too far off the mark. But Puma is first and formeost a contemporary and progressive unit making their own path on the ever growing Norwegian experimental scene mixing improvistaion, jazz, electronics and free rock.

Puma is Øystein Moen (synthesizers and electronics), Stian Westerhus (guitar and electronics) and Gard Nilssen (drums). Recorded and mixed by Jørgen Træen." - Label

Tracklisting:

1 Bison Woven (4:02)

2 Half Nelson Courtship (10:09)

3 Last Waltz (6:21)

4 M.E.O.W. (4:14)

5 Gaberdine Lingerie (0:57)

6 Innamorati Osculati (6:14)

7 Knitstep (3:25)

8 East West Horizontal March (3:00)

9 Hachioji Silk Blues (4:07)

Link

Sunroof! - Cloudz

Label: VHF Records

Released: 2003

Style: Abstract, Experimental, Psychedelic

"Bi-annual collection of pillow sound from Bower & Co. Fairly mellow and spacey, ala the "Embroidered Birdsong Nearly Meadows" disc from 2001's Bliss dbl CD. Layers of twinkling keyboard, guitar, unidentified fuzz, short wave, etc. Very much in the style of Harmonia/Cluster in spots. There's a couple of amped-up moments here, including surprise lead guitar action on "tornado rose canoe," and the excellent fuzzgrilled rock of "Primavera." "Best Sunroof Ever" - Neil Campbell" - Label

Tracklisting:

1 Machine (9:33)

2 Grasshopper (3:27)

3 Viva (5:42)

4 Zero (7:58)

5 Universal Acceleration (7:42)

6 Tornado Rose Canoe (7:39)

7 Silver Nazi Suicide (12:23)

8 Primavera (7:59)

9 Silver Zero (7:55)

Link

Alessandro Stefana - Poste E Telegrafi

Label: Important Records

Released: 2007

Style: Experimental

"Poste E Telegrafi is the debut solo album from Italian guitarist Allesandro Stefana. Featuring an allstar cast including Mark Ribot & Leo Abrahams, Stefana creates a dreamy world of instrumental perfection and beauty.

Inspired by the work of Ennio Morricone, Ry Cooder, Simon Jeffes, Steve Reich and Brian Eno, he has created a thoroughly modern Western world within his compositions and arrangements. With constant references to traditional music and rural blues he utilizes electric and acoustic instrumentation with tremendously compelling results. Acoustic, electric, and pedal steel guitars along with banjo, kalimba, baliphones and found objects were all carefully combined with some primitive electronic instruments such as an arpeggiator, omnichord and home made vinyl loops. His sound is entirely original yet clearly rooted in traditions such as Film Music, Blues, Experimental, Ambient and Avante Garde musics.

Stefana manages his cast of collaborators very well. Most tracks on Poste E Telegrafi are duets with these musicians keeping the sound and arrangement simple and pure. Instruments breathe and pulse with life and excitement in this highly original album. To call this a “promising debut” would be to dismiss the tremendous success delivered by Poste E Telegrafi." - Label

Tracklisting:

1 Western Soda (2:50)

2 Semi Tostati Di Cielo (9:16)

3 Motel (3:02)

4 Poste E Telegrafi Blues (4:56)

5 Fiori Campionati (6:16)

6 Whales Cemetery (5:06)

7 Titoli Di Coda (2:58)

Link

Alexander Turnquist - Faint At The Loudest Hour

Label: VHF Records

Released: 2008

Style: Folk Rock, Drone, Experimental

"Faint at the Loudest Hour is the astonishing solo debut by guitarist Alexander Turnquist, part of a young generation of guitar players who have taken their incredible virtuosity and turned it into something actually worth listening to. Like James Blackshaw, Jack Rose, Glenn Jones, etc, this could roughly be described as "raga" guitar, with its long, modal compositions and hypnotic overtone play. Unlike most of his peers, Alex employs a variety of extended techniques ala Hans Reichel, grappling the strings with both hands and using a variety of approaches and attacks on both the steel and wood. There's also a distinct lack of audible "roots" influence here, with Alex sidestepping the Fahey-isms that dominate so much current acoustic guitar music. Along with the 6 & 12 string acoustics, Alex makes subtle use of electronic textures, such as the surprising Fennesz-like dissolve that occurs midway through "amongst a swarm of hummingbirds."' - Label

Tracklisting:

1 Amongst A Swarm Of Hummingbirds (13:29)

2 In The Vein Of Bedlam (11:05)

3 Water Spots Upon My Mind (13:48)

4 White Out (5:02)

5 Mime Fight (10:43)

6 As The Sun Sets, We Think Of Days To Come (3:13)

Link

Dan Abrams - Stream

Label: Mille Plateaux

Released: 2001

Style: Experimental, Minimal

"Dan Abrams is probably better known to most of us as Shuttle 358 or more recently Fenton. This album was his first and only record under his own name and his first for the Mille Plateaux label. Although not hugely different from his work under the Shuttle 358 moniker, it certainly has enough to separate the projects like this. ‘Stream’ is darker and more sparse than Abrams other work, and lacks the deep melodic hit of works such as ‘Frame’ and followup ‘Understanding Wildlife’. However, what we lack in melodic sweetness, we gain in bottom end and this album has a bass growl to it unseen in the rest of his catalogue. Great stuff and another re-surfaced Mille Plateaux gem worth grabbing before it disappears for good." - Boomkat

Tracklisting:

1 Hello (0:11)

2 A Shell (5:44)

3 Academic (6:11)

4 Monsters (4:22)

5 The Theory (4:12)

6 Sim Sun (5:31)

7 Bendy (5:22)

8 Duck Beam (5:35)

9 Freezng (5:12)

10 Stream (4:48)

11 Grammar (4:54)

12 Mr Fish (6:19)

Link

Rafael Toral - Violence Of Discovery And Calm Of Acceptance

Label: Touch

Released: 2001

Style: Abstract, Experimental, Drone

"More oceanic 'calm of acceptance' than 'violence of discovery', these ten Ambient meditations on treated electric guitar, gathered from the last seven years, are like a series of exquisitely poised and iridescent ragas. Hailing from Portugal, Toral's work has been compared to that of Robert Fripp in its exploration of the melodic colour of drones, loops and overtones, using only guitar and analogue equipment. Slow, broadly arcing and snaking coils of sound unfold like a gargantuan reverberating wind chime, or a labyrinth of vast organ pipes. Two or three drones will twist alongside each other, causing harmonic clouds that tremble and melt without setting up much rhythmic interference. The effect is deeply colourist. Whether it climbs its way out of the growling depths, or shimmers into appearance like a scraped gong, each track moves into the same kind of pitch range and lets the Aurora Borealis work its sonic wonders. 'Maersk Line' is more quavering , seesawing and abrasive, and this well judged introduction of movement helps to animate the second half of the album. 'Optical Flow' unexpectedly foregrounds more plucked chimes, falling upon each other like a music box. Other later tracks give a fuzzier feedback edge to the iridescent prowling of the drones, or use the puckered croak of slowly scraped guitar strings to provide stronger textures. The final track steps off into post-rock territory, with, for the first time, a downbeat strumming of plangent chords and a fuzzy background drone (provide, believe it or not, by a recording of 'silence' from a space shuttle mission, broadcast on the Web), which raises the spectre of My Bloody Valentine. Bliss with ballast. " - The Wire

Tracklisting:

1 Desirée (3:58)

2 Measurement Of Noise (6:27)

3 Quiet Mind (4:00)

4 Maersk Line (3:15)

5 Liberté (5:35)

6 Optical Flow (3:51)

7 Energy Nourish (5:15)

8 Hay Que Trabajo Me Cuesta Quererte Como Te Quiero (8:56)

9 We Are Getting Closer (3:57)

10 Mixed States Uncoded (5:00)

Link

Guano Padano - Guano Padano

Label: Important Records

Released: 2009

Style: Jazz, Rock, Western

"This band is tight but they are comfortable enough in each other’s playing to not sound formulaic or over-rehearsed. The music flows in a way that brings to mind the rougher side of surf music, leaving The Beach Boys out in the sun while unkempt youths play their guitars in the shade. The guitar playing of Dick Dale ghosts through this album as the ragged but precise fretwork from Alessandro Stefana provides a treat for the ears. “Epiphany” puts a film noir spin on their music, sounding like Fantômas’ mutilation of Morricone’s “Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion” (Stefana has worked with Mike Patton in the past).

The echoes of Morricone are more than just an influence, “El Divino” and “Bull Buster” feature the whistling talents of Alessandro Alessandroni who is responsible for those whistles in the Sergio Leone films. It is impossible not to think of these Guano Padano tracks as out-takes from the Spaghetti Western soundtracks as the group have created a very authentic sounding Morricone-tribute (“El Divino” may as well have a writing credit for Morricone beside it, so perfect does it sound). Another famous guest pops up on “A Country Concept,” namely Gary Lucas (formerly of The Magic Band and guitarist for countless other artists). Here Lucas plays a resonator guitar to add a more authentic Wild West feel to Guano Padano’s music; his bluesy ambience giving the impression that a gunfight is about to go down.

Yet another strand of influence runs through the album as Guano Padano appear to be as serious about American country music as they are about their other passions. A cover of Hank Williams’ “Rambling Man” makes an appearance later in the album, Guano Padano bringing fresh life to the song. Bobby Solo’s vocals are especially evocative; rich with years of experience, his vocals are like grit being blown against the corrugated steel roof of Stefana’s guitar. It is too bad that Solo only appears on this one song, an entire album like this would be something else.

Recently I have been getting more into surf music thanks to exposure to things like Neil Young’s early group The Squires and having a listen to an old tape copy of the Pulp Fiction soundtrack. However, this renewed interest aside, Guano Padano would have struck a chord with me in any case as they are fantastic on their own. Granted their music is not exactly original but it is refreshing in its whole-hearted embrace of styles usually picked apart by modern bands in search of something new hidden in their corpses." - Brainwashed

Tracklisting:

1 Guano Padano (3:40)

2 A Country Concept (6:38)

3 El Divino (4:36)

4 Epiphany (4:40)

5 Bull Buster (3:28)

6 Ramblin Man (3:37)

7 Jack Frost (5:33)

8 Del Rey (4:21)

9 Danny Boy (5:45)

10 Tromp Valley (3:38)

11 El Divino (Alternate Version) (4:37)

Link

Pan Sonic - Aaltopiiri

Label: Blast First

Released: 2001

Style: Abstract, Minimal, Ambient

"Probably my favourite of all the Pan Sonic albums, this showed a slight departure from their previous efforts. Instead of focussing mainly on distorted technoid beats and extreme sounds, Altopiiri interspersed the hypnotic analogue techno mainstays with gorgeous atmospheric compositions reflecting influences from early electronic composers such as Pierre Schaeffer and Todd Dockstader. These tracks were all made without overdubs - live recordings pitched by Vaino and Väisänen in the studio and improvised as they went on. Listening through the tracks it is hard to hear how they managed such an accomplished finish by working in this way. Many artists never reach the heady peaks of tracks like 'Ensi' or 'Toisaalta' in a lifetime of output, and Pan Sonic manage it in one take. An incredible achievement in electronic music and an essential slice of history, this is an album you need in your collection, minimal or otherwise." - Boomkat

Tracklisting:

1 Ensi (0:38)

2 Vaihtovirta (6:38)

3 Toisaalta (0:31)

4 Johdin (5:46)

5 Kuu (1:26)

6 Ããnipãã (3:49)

7 Arvio (1:24)

8 Liuos (6:16)

9 Ulottuvuus (5:58)

10 Hallapyydys (4:42)

11 Reuna-alue (9:30)

12 Valli (6:19)

13 Kone (4:20)

14 Johto 3 (3:48)

15 Murskaus (1:37)

16 Rasite (0:51)

17 Kierto (6:11)

Link

Walter Wegmüller - Tarot

Label: Kosmische Kuriere

Released: 1973

Style: Krautrock, Prog Rock

"This massive double album is cosmic Krautrock at its finest hour, as visionary Walter Wegmuller leads a tour through the entire major arcane of the Tarot deck while the Cosmic Couriers -- basically Ash Ra Tempel, Wallenstein, and whoever else producer Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser could rope in -- create a remarkable soundtrack encompassing space rock, folk music, funk, psychedelia, and electronic music. Wegmuller's album followed in the footsteps of Timothy Leary's Seven Up, Ash Ra Tempel, and Sergius Golowin's Lord Krishna von Goloka, backed by Wallenstein, the duo Westripp-Witthuser, and keyboardist Klaus Schulze. Tarot, with almost all these musicians on the roster, is the culmination, a bizarre roller coaster ride through sonic soundscapes, while Wegmuller intones in his deep voice, sometimes augmented by more effects, though he often remains silent for long instrumental stretches. From the opening track, a funky number with blazing guitar and rolling piano over which a circus-barker voice announces the band with grand élan, to the side four track's nonstop blast into hallucinogenic after-burn, this one is a monster all the way. Shimmering Ash Ra Tempel guitar freakouts blend with Wallenstein's more rollicking psych rock, Schulze's deep space keyboards, and Westripp's cosmic folk to create strange blitzes of electronic weirdness. This album provide an incredible pallet of styles that all seem to gel in a cohesive mass of pure mystical wonder." - Allmusic

Tracklisting:

1-01 Der Narr (3:55)

1-02 Der Magier (4:39)

1-03 Die Hohepriesterin (4:17)

1-04 Die Herrscherin (4:16)

1-05 Der Herrscher (2:58)

1-06 Der Hohepriester (3:10)

1-07 Die Entscheidung (3:52)

1-08 Der Wagen (5:16)

1-09 Die Gerechtigkeit (3:02)

1-10 Der Weise (4:02)

1-11 Das Glücksrad (3:37)

1-12 Die Kraft (3:28)

2-01 Die Prüfung (4:57)

2-02 Der Tod (1:20)

2-03 Die Mässigkeit (4:47)

2-04 Der Teufel (3:38)

2-05 Die Zerstörung (4:01)

2-06 Die Sterne (6:15)

2-07 Der Mond (2:50)

2-08 Die Sonne (3:03)

2-09 Das Gericht (2:06)

2-10 Die Welt (8:41)

Disc 1

Disc 2

Jon Hassell - Last Night The Moon Came Dropping Its Clothes In The Street

Label: ECM Records

Released: 2009

Style: Jazz, Ambient

"...Last Night the Moon Came Dropping Its Clothes in the Street is Hassell's first recording since 2005's Maarifa Street: Magic Realism, Vol. 2; it's an assembled montage of sessions recorded in France and Los Angeles, and concerts are also woven into the rich fabric here. Hassell's music, even now, sounds alien, beguiling, mercurial, seemingly formless and airy but full of subtle washes, shifts of tone, and polyrhythmic strategies. The ten cuts here are mostly middle-length pieces that range between five and eight minutes, but three -- "Time and Place," "Clairvoyance," and "Scintilla" -- act as transitions segmenting, however seamlessly, the album into roughly thirds.

The band contains a pair of holdovers from his last outing in bassist Peter Freeman -- who doubles on laptop -- and guitarist Rick Cox, who has been augmented by no less than Eivind Aarset on the instrument. The other new players include Jamie Muhoberacon keyboard and laptop, drummers Helge Norbakken and Pete Lockett, Kheir Eddine M'Kachiche on violin, and Jan Bang on live sampling. Together they root and extend the aerial sound of Hassell's trumpet that flows everywhere and anywhere. Check the simple bass and guitar rhythmic attack on "Abu Gil," the album's longest track, where In a Silent Way's "It's About That Time" meets the desert blues feels of "Anouar Brahem" and the Master Musicians of Jajouka meet the noir-ish ambient funk of early Shriekback. The title track, by contrast, is a long, loping, beautiful number where moods of morning, marketplaces, and nocturnal sunsets all loosely entwine around the listener. The obvious postmodern jazz soloist's approach hovers all around the shapes and colors evoked by keyboards and trumpet in "Courtrais," as soundscape, loops, and ambiences all deepen and widen before being grounded by a subtle but unflinching backbone-slipping bassline by Freeman. Hassell moves toward everything -- samples, drifting sonics, hints of melody, and, for such quiet and subtle music, an impressive harmonic palette -- to create a montage that evokes the timelessness of the past with a firm grasp on the unknowable, perhaps even unspeakable, future. His jazzman's sense of time and phrasing is enhanced by his painterly sense of space and shade. This album is further proof that Jon Hassell inhabits a terrain of his own, and reflects the true vibration of poetry as it meets the human ear as something akin to pure sound." - Allmusic

Tracklisting:

1 Aurora (5:22)

2 Time And Place (3:48)

3 Abu Gil (13:04)

4 Last Night The Moon Came (11:15)

5 Clairvoyance (1:05)

6 Courtrais (5:44)

7 Scintilla (0:50)

8 Northline (6:43)

9 Blue Period (7:58)

10 Light On Water (7:59)

Link

Svalastog - Woodwork

Label: Rune Grammofon

Released: 2006

Style: Abstract, Experimental, Ambient

"True story, as told by Per Henrik Svalastog himself: “I found an old Norwegian zither laying around my grandfather´s barn in the mountains. It appeared that he had been a fiddler before he lost all his fingers at the sawmill and convertet to become a hardcore pietist setting down a prohibition against music, dancing, card-playing and television. That made me want to convert as well, from digital medias to real playing. From electronica to folk music. Back to the sources. Heritage and environment.” So it goes that Per Henrik is playing and improvising on archaic folk instruments like the ram's horn and harpeleik, which is a Norwegian zither. He is then processing it all in the computer, resulting in a detailed and accomplished but soothing and quite hypnotic music. Taking the music out of the city and into the Norwegian woods, and not the arctic regions, as is the popular image if you come from Tromsø and is associated with electronic music. Per Henrik Svalastog is also a member of Information who released the excellent “Biomekano” (RCD2024) on Rune Grammofon in 2002. The previous year he did a stunning SPUNK remix for their “Filtered Through Friends” collection (RCD2022), a track that is also available on the “Until Human Voices Wake Us And We Drown” vinyl box set." - Label

Tracklisting:

1 The Wood Metal Friction (5:13)

2 Snow Tracer (6:24)

3 Reconnecting Joints (4:52)

4 Mouse Tracking (5:58)

5 Centerline Reminder (4:18)

6 Reforestation (4:27)

7 Cow Goat Goat (3:17)

8 Slow Blowing Wireless (3:59)

9 White Oak White Pine (3:47)

10 Rework And Out (3:10)

Link

Andy Stott - Unknown Exception

Label: Modern Love

Released: 2008

Style: Techno, House, IDM, Tech House, Electro, Dub Techno, Minimal

"Andy Stott has developed a unique sound since his debut for the Modern Love label back in 2005. His first demos were heavily influenced by the square-bassline techno variations of Claro Intelecto, a longtime friend, mentor and eventually labelmate and collaborator. His first release, ‘Replace’ featured a mixture of disciplines that took in elements of Detroit Techno and Chicago House which fast captured peoples imagination with intuitive, warm melodies and fathomless bass weight. From that point on Stott continued to shift and adapt his sound to take in ever disparate influences, from the driving techno of Dave Clarke’s ‘Red’ series through to Basic Channel, Dubstep, Garage and the minimalism of classic Sahko. His restless shift from traditional Techno blueprints through to the bottom-heavy signatures of dubstep and the steppers arrangements of garage have also placed him at the forefront of the dubstepXtechno hybrid sounds that have started to dominate the electronic music scene alongside the likes of Martyn, Peverelist and T++. This compilation brings together selected tracks dating back to Andy Stott’s debut back in 2005 and reaching all the way to his most recent material – with none of them ever available on cd until now. Tracks feature here from the ‘Replace’, ‘Ceramics’, ‘Handle With Care’, ‘Hostile’, "Bad Landing’, "Fear Of Heights’, ‘Massacre’ and ‘Nervous’ EP’s and stream through his fascination with deep, almost uncontainable basslines and ever inventive percussive shifts. The man really is a bit of a hero round these parts, and we consider ‘Unknown Exception’ required listening for any of you interested in the bass progressions and deviations where Techno, House, Dub and Garage collide to shift things to the next level." - Label

Tracklisting:

1 Fear Of Heights (6:20)

2 Bad Landing (6:10)

3 Handle With Care (4:50)

4 Long Drive (5:27)

5 Credit (7:07)

6 Massacre (6:57)

7 See In Me (6:07)

8 Made Your Point (6:04)

9 She’s Gone Wrong (5:31)

10 Fine Metallic Dollar (6:53)

11 Hostile (6:39)

12 Replace (4:43)

Link

Stephan Mathieu - Radioland

Label: Die Schachtel

Released: 2008

Style: Drone, Minimal, Ambient

"Radioland is Stephan Mathieu's long awaited 5th full length studio work, following his acclaimed The Sad Mac CD from 2004. Exclusively based on real-time processed shortwave radio signals, Radioland takes the listener on a carpet ride across endless, majestic shimmering landscapes. Radioland is a mesmerizing reflection on the bubble of information thats all around us, all the time, by one of the truly unique minds in today's abstract digitalia." - Label

Tracklisting:

1 Raphael (10:04)

2 Gabriel (10:02)

3 Michael (10:08)

4 Promenade (5:06)

5 Auf der Gasse (5:03)

6 Licht und Finsternis zum Auge (8:20)

7 Prolog im Himmel (7:05)

Link

Phonophani - Phonophani

Label: Rune Grammofon

Released: 2006

Style: Experimental, Ambient

"This is a rather beautifully packaged re-issue of Espen Sommer Eide's debut album, originally released in a limited run on Biosphere's 'Biophon' imprint in 1998. I must say although I am familiar with most of the Norwegian artist's output I have never come across this album before, and it is a pleasure to explore the murky depths now, 8 years after it originally landed. Unsurprisingly many tracks here bear relation to the early work of Alog (which recently featured on the killer 'Hold That Totem' collection), but they also manage to retain a life and soul of their own. Deep disorientating basslines punctuating filtered off-world instrumentation to create some kind of ambience, just not the kind of ambience we're accustomed to. I can see why Biosphere issued the record, while not obviously comparable to Biosphere's own output, this music could reside in the same overall ballpark, the same glacial beauty is trapped within Sommer Eide's work as within the work of Geir Jenssen. I think the most successful elements of the album come when Sommer Eide stops relying on electronic pulses and drones and brings in the distant sound of a guitar or another acoustic instrument - the merging of these two worlds becomes utterly involving and occasionally deeply moving. Another fantastic release on the Rune Grammofon imprint, I do wonder occasionally when these guys are going to slip up?? Highly recommended." - Boomkat

Tracklisting:

1 I.F.A. (4:20)

2 Ring (8:54)

3 Zurnas (6:08)

4 No Strangeclock (5:35)

5 Duration-Happiness (4:43)

6 Kaliphoni (3:54)

7 C (4:49)

8 Order Of Disappearance (5:08)

9 Sol (5:45)

10 Minne & Materie (5:36)

11 The Boy In His Bathtub (6:15)

12 Farger Rundt Hvitt (4:18)

13 Kreta (9:36)

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Gavin Bryars - After The Requiem

Label: ECM Records
Released: 1991
Style: Modern Classical, Minimal

"After the Requiem continued Gavin Bryars' journey away from the more experimental work that made his reputation early in his career toward pieces possessing a more melancholic and romantic quality. In two of the works herein, "The Old Tower of Lobenicht" and "Allegrasco," one can hear echoes of his brilliant composing on the Hommages album. But where the romantic elements were stricter and more crystalline on the prior effort, here there is an expansiveness that sometimes succeeds and at other times verges on kitsch. Guitarist Bill Frisell performs on three of the four compositions, but his creamy, sustained chords tend to sound somewhat bland and occasionally subvert some otherwise very attractive melodic material. The standout track is a saxophone quartet number, "Alaric I or II," featuring the surprising presence of Evan Parker. In fact, Bryars' earliest musical ventures were as a member of the British free improvisation community, so the inclusion of Parker has some historical background. The composition is a very enjoyable melange of minimalist technique and references to Gershwin that manages to cohere into a satisfying whole. Fans of Bryars' more substantial work from the '70s or his improvising skills in groups like Joseph Holbrooke may find After the Requiem a little too sweet for their tastes, while listeners who are looking for something a bit meatier than Arvo Part or Henryk Gorecki may find their appetite satisfied." - Allmusic

Tracklisting:

1 After The Requiem (15:48)
2 The Old Tower Of Löbenicht (16:00)
3 Alaric I Or II (15:15)
4 Allegrasco (19:46)

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Tom Opdahl - Black Smoker

Label: Biophon Records

Released: 2001

Style: Techno, Ambient

"Only the second release so far on Biosphere's Biophon label. Tom Opdahl of Bergen - a picturesque town nestled among seven hills on the west coast of Norway, where it always, always rains - is a hitherto unheard name among the plethora of excellent ambient and electronica coming out of that country. But his debut 'Black Smoker' should place him firmly on the map.

To call this music "chilly" would be to fall prey to the cliche about "Arctic ambient". It does however somehow jibe aesthetically with that sound which seems so specific to Norwegian ambient - that low, low pulse that seems almost endemic to the music, the predilection for monochrome tones.

There are unabashedly "Biospherean" moments on 'Black Smoker', but ultimately the work as a whole does not come off as the product of an epigone. Opdahl's compositions are as wonderfully gloomy as the artwork adorning the slipcover, proffering a sense of turning a grand, wild landscape into something claustrophobic, shrouded in mystic mist." - Sonomu.net

Tracklisting:

1 Anthropomorphism (7:04)

2 Epispedural Soup (4:31)

3 Pinepulse (2:55)

4 Hybrid (5:38)

5 Black Smoker (4:04)

6 Mellow Limbo (1:56)

7 Skog (2:18)

8 Naut-O-Pilot (4:50)

9 Lake Vostok (3:15)

10 Pinepulse (Part 2) (1:41)

11 Sundrop (4:48)

12 Mental Xchange (0:57)

13 Dark Little Something (4:28)

14 Pecudesque Locutae (2:44)

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Sickoakes - Seawards

Label: Type Records

Released: 2006

Style: Post-Rock

"Based in Stockholm, Sweden; Sickoakes are a six piece instrumental rock band and Seawards is their long awaited debut release. Since the release of an early recording of ‘Wedding Rings & Bullets in the Same Golden Shrine’ on the Pleasedosomething net-label some years ago there has been a bubbling interest in their next move, so it is an absolute pleasure for us to present their full album, and what an album it is. Taking the finest fragments of the ailing post-rock genre, and infusing this with vibrant orchestral flourishes, Seawards is a slow burning triumph.

Unsurprisingly for such an epic work, the band have based it around some kind of basic narrative. With their travels of the Eastern Bloc firmly in mind, they have realized the album as a kind of telegram; a message to themselves or a series of lonely photos. As non-participating viewers into something isolated and detached they can watch as the world slowly comes to an end, and then tries to pick itself up again. These sentiments are perfectly represented throughout Seawards, which reads from beginning to end flawlessly. Much more than merely seven anonymous tracks, it is a voyeur’s journey into an unconscious world.

The album opens with ‘Driftwood’, a majestic and wistful maritime letter to a long gone lover. This acts as the perfect prologue, short and very sweet before the swooping majesty of ‘Taking the Stairs Instead of the Elevator’ continues the story with cascading guitars, glockenspiels and militant drumming. Before long we reach the album’s clear highlight, ‘Oceans on Hold’ which hits like a freight train without brakes. Although we could go on about more of the epic beauty of this album – the most important thing here is that it rocks, it really rocks. ‘Oceans on Hold’ is simply huge, and the album’s longest work ‘Wedding Rings and Bullets’ which takes up almost half the record in its two parts is simply earth shaking.

This is a very special record for Type Recordings, with a band we have been working with for a very long time now so we urge you to explore the beautiful and peculiar land of Sickoakes." - Label

Tracklisting:

1 Driftwood (4:05)

2 Taking The Stairs Instead Of The Elevator (10:23)

3 Oceans On Hold (10:06)

4 Missiles And Mammals (2:57)

5 Wedding Rings & Bullets In The Same Golden Shrine (Part I) (4:41)

6 Wedding Rings & Bullets In The Same Golden Shrine (Part II) (22:47)

7 Leonine (4:12)

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Food - Quiet Inlet

Label: ECM Records

Released: 2010

Style: Jazz

"Food has defined a new kind of lyrical electro-acoustic improvisation in the course of its twelve year existence. Founded as a quartet in 1998, since 2006 the group has been a core duo of UK saxophonist Iain Ballamy and Norwegian drummer Thomas Strønen joined by guests for diverse projects. At the Molde Jazz Festival and the Oslo Blå club in 2007/8 their guests were trumpeter Nils Petter Molvaer, well known to ECM followers, and Austrian improvising guitarist Christian Fennesz, making his label debut. The resultant music, with melodic improvising, trancelike pulses, and shifting clouds of sound is highly attractive." - Label

Tracklisting:

1 Tobiko (7:08)

2 Chimaera (5:00)

3 Mictyris (5:41)

4 Becalmed (7:51)

5 Cirrina (6:16)

6 Dweller (6:20)

7 Fathom (8:39)

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Ryan Teague - Six Preludes

Label: Type Records

Released: 2005

Style: Modern Classical

"Residing in Cambridge, UK Ryan Teague has grown up with classical music. Learning classical guitar from an early age, and also becoming proficient in clarinet and a number of other obscure instruments, it was not long before Teague tried his hand at composing. However the trappings of standard classical composition were not of any interest to him, and he had already discovered the wide world of electronic music and experimental rock. Taking hold of Arvo Part with one hand and Biosphere with the other, Teague has gone on to create a record that crosses boundaries without ever resorting to genre stereotypes. He has managed to forge a record which sounds both timeless and startlingly fresh.

The opening track ‘Prelude I’ begins with strings enswathed in digital noise and drifting bells, before a haunting choral vocal is introduced into the mix. Bringing together the operatic with electronics in such a way has almost never been achieved successfully, yet Teague manages effortly to blend the genres and emerge with something beautiful and uncluttered. It at once becomes cinematic but never resorts to being over sentimental. As the strings crash and percussion drives our emotion, never once does it feel tiresome and it always keeps the imagination active. On the final track ‘Prelude VI’ it is hard not to bring to mind the finer works of Cliff Martinez as bass bubbles underneath an echoing piano and electronic distortions: a stunning widescreen finale to this captivating story.

It would be right to compare ‘Six Preludes’ to the work of Steve Reich or John Adams, as there are clearly similarities, yet Teague takes his sound to another place entirely. Sitting more closely with the more contemporary ecm catalogue and with artists such as Arve Henriksen or Marsen Jules, this is a marriage of classical and electronic rather than a mere experiment. Ryan Teague has begun a deep excavation into an exciting sound, and it is our hope that he continues to do so." - Label

Tracklisting:

1 Prelude I (5:39)

2 Prelude II (4:16)

3 Prelude III (5:11)

4 Prelude IV (5:12)

5 Prelude V (4:42)

6 Prelude VI (7:19)

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Pendle Coven - Self Assessment

Label: Modern Love

Released: 2009

Style: Techno, Dub Techno

"Since their 2003 debut ‘Trouble At Mill’, Pendle Coven have produced seven exceptional, restless twelves for the Modern Love label, not including work undertaken by one half of the recording duo under the MLZ moniker and a handful of projects produced and delivered under the radar. Typified by an inability to rest on their laurels, Pendle have explored areas of Techno and electronic music as diverse as their interests, taking in early-90’s style ‘ardkore, drone, Basic-Channelisms, Drexciyan electro and warehouse minimalism along the way. This debut album features 7 exclusive and previously unreleased tracks as well as 5 killers from the ’£100 a metre’, ‘marriage of convenience’, ‘hex’ and ‘Iamnoman’ EP’s, spanning the last 5 years. The sound of ‘Self Assessment’ opens with the disembodied guitar treatment of ‘Aged Drone’, paving the way for the stripped menace of ‘Iamnoman’ – the title track of their most recent vinyl-only release. From there we drop in on the staggered proto-dubstep of ‘Unit 6’, an alternate string-driven version of the airy stepper ‘Uncivil Engineering’, the immense stripped reverberance of ’Optimal, pure bass pressure of “MVO Chamber” and, finally, the towering chord crescendos of the Berlin-inspired Exigen. All the tracks here have been lovingly honed and mastered at the hands of Dubplates and Mastering in Berlin, for added bass depth and space." - Label

Tracklisting:

1 Aged Drone (1:37)

2 IAMNOMAN (7:39)

3 Unit 6 (4:29)

4 Uncivil Engineering (Calm Mix) (6:28)

5 Optimal (7:45)

6 Modern Mode (5:40)

7 Chord Calculus (7:17)

8 Nice Moves (5:17)

9 MVO Chamber (8:11)

10 Golden Hadron (5:04)

11 Exigen (7:19)

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Information - Biomekano

Label: Rune Grammofon

Released: 2002

Style: Glitch, Dub Techno, Minimal, Ambient

"Third and easily the best album from these veterans of arctic ambient electronica. A beautiful and razorsharp production with plenty of depth and detail, this is an album that should most definitely appeal to Biosphere fans. Information is Per Henrik Svalastog and Jørgen Knudsen." - Label

Tracklisting:

1 Plot Ratio (Replug) (5:04)

2 Tropical Investigation (Leisure Recycled) (5:08)

3 Every Possible Artificial Condition (2:56)

4 Higher Densities / Maximum Choice (7:07)

5 Stacking Of Different Natures (7:20)

6 Sufficient Sunlight (3:45)

7 A Radical Co-ordination (2:45)

8 This Low-rise City (7:11)

9 Center By Celebrating The Loop (6:01)

10 Biomechanics By Accident (3:08)

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Mark Van Hoen - Playing With Time

Label: Apollo

Released: 1998

Style: Abstract, Downtempo, Experimental, Ambient

"Fifth and best album of elegant electronica from the ex-Seefeel man.

From the breathy and mysterious opener Real Love to the marathon finale Love Is All, Playing With Time displays an impressive range of instrumentation and clever application of technology. Its 10 tracks draw on techno, trance and ambient influences without ever making you reach for the fast-forward button. There's even an extended Bobby Konders-style funky organ workout on Once When I Was Fourteen to stop the whole caboodle getting too airy and rootless. OK, Van Hoen occasionally gets a bit literal with the temporal allusions - music-box noises on Surrounder, clockwork cogs grinding away on Gifts And Prizes - but the results are so damn beautiful they take your breath away. Nine pieces of exquisitely crafted electronica set the scene and then Love Is All glides gracefully by and keeps the old-school ambient heads happy for 36 minutes. There's life in the old circuitry yet. Rob Chapman" - Mojo

Tracklisting:

1 Real Love (7:57)

2 Surrounder (3:15)

3 First Steps (4:18)

4 Closer Than We All Thought (3:42)

5 A More Light Past (2:58)

6 Once When I Was Fourteen (4:36)

7 Gifts And Prizes (4:13)

8 You And Me Inside (4:30)

9 When Tomorrow Comes (5:54)

10 Love Is All (4:45)

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Arve Henriksen - Chiaroscuro

Label: Rune Grammofon

Released: 2004

Style: Future Jazz, Experimental, Ambient

"To get straight to the point, "Chiarsocuro" is probably the most startling and moving album I've heard this year. Arve Henriksen is a founding member of freestyle jazz experimentalists Supersilent, his inimitable trumpet playing and indescribable wordless vocalising has gained him a feverishly dedicated following, sparked off by the release of his debut album "Sakuteiki" back in 2001 and by several live performances that have left his captive audience gasping for breath. "Chiaroscuro" (taken from the Italian for "light and shade") is quite an unbeleiveable listen - cinematic in a way that words cannot describe, a vast panoramic ocean of sound reduced to the most silent, heart-wrenching string arrangements, delicate live sampling (courtesy of Jan Bang) and a whispered sweep of barely audible percussion (from Audun Kleive), hovering around Henriksen unique, mesmerising trumpet playing and broken voice. This is by far and away the most inspiring album I've heard this year, a completely wondrous listen that seems to defy categorisation or description. Sometimes you happen across a record by chance and it ends up changing your musical vocabularly forever - "Chiaroscuro" is one of those rare records. We implore all music lovers to check it out without delay. Incredible." - Boomkat

Tracklisting:

1 Opening Image (4:16)

2 Bird's-Eye-Vie (4:07)

3 Chiaro (3:28)

4 Holography (3:02)

5 Blue Silk (6:30)

6 Parallel Actio (4:38)

7 Circled Take (3:25)

8 Scuro (5:08)

9 Time Lapse (5:07)

10 Ending Image (2:27)

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Robin Guthrie & Harold Budd - After The Night Falls

Label: Darla Records

Released: 2007

Style: Ambient, Instrumental

"A companion piece to 'Before the Day Breaks', 'After the Night Falls' is a gorgeous soundtrack to the twilight hours by two of the most gifted producers of blissed-out music the world has ever known. The last we had heard from Harold Budd was that "Avalon Sutra" was going to be his final album and that he was ready for retirement, but in a typically obtuse fashion we now suddenly find ourselves with two brand new albums from the great man released on the same day. It doesn't stop here either, the now 70 year-old musician roped in his friend Robin Guthrie to lend some effected guitar to the proceedings, and the results are predictably sublime. It's hard to speak about this album without referencing 'Before the Day Breaks', but I must say that the darker focus evident here imbues proceedings with a much welcome aural fog. Maybe I'm just more interested in post-sunlight albums, but there's a haziness to 'After the Night Falls' which is perfectly in tune with that very specific time of day - it's not midnight, it's not pitch black, but night has drawn in. Musically this is the perfect marriage of the sound of two consummate professionals - Budd's piano echoing over Guthrie's signature reverberating guitar sound. The pieces here are almost mirror images of those on the companion album, even down to the track titles, for instance the opening track is named 'How Distant Your Heart' in response to the opening track of 'Before the Day Breaks' which is named 'How Close Your Soul'. This in my opinion makes both discs totally indispensable, it is almost impossible to simply buy one and be done with it - to hear one dictates that you need to hear the other. Basically fans of midnight ambient music, shoegaze or the solo piano perfected by Budd should buy this without delay, it's frankly unmissable." - Boomkat

Tracklisting:

1 How Distant Your Heart (4:03)

2 Avenue Of Shapes (3:27)

3 Seven Thousand Sunny Years (6:19)

4 She Is My Strength (2:52)

5 Inside, A Golden Echo (3:24)

6 Open Book (5:17)

7 And Then I Turned Away (3:30)

8 The Girl With Colorful Thoughts (4:26)

9 Turn Off The Sun (4:58)

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