Weekly Podcast Episode #6 (01-17-2009)

Here is our Sixth Podcast. I decided this week to feature all tracks from the http://www.serein.co.uk Netlabel. You can go there and download their entire discography for free (18 albums and counting).

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This Weeks Tracks:

» marcel turkowsky - still believe in still (night tapes) @ 00:35
» daniel maze - red after image (red after image) @ 04:40
» muhr - an end to none but to all that is still - (poussiere) @ 07:15
» huw roberts - odate in harmonics (tracks in the snow) @ 12:10
» ocp - atmos five (atmos) @ 16:00
» 1000 hours of staring - cosm (tapestry) @ 18:55
» the inventors of aircraft - passing (unknown language) @ 23:40
» nest - kyota (nest) @ 28:40
» stephane leonard - elegy (gloomy monday) @ 33:15
» michael trommer - february lakes (tree line) @ 38:30
» nuef muef - ofcors (it's cold in space) @ 45:00
» konntinent - 3 of 8 of 4 (all lines lead in) @ 49:00
» herzog - my bed is my boay (the autumn ep) @ 54:30

Serein Net Label

It has been ridicolously busy this week... so sorry for the short post. Instead of an album profile, here is a link to an amazing Net Label Serein. It is co-run by a member of "Deaf Center", which is an absolutely amazing group. They have around 18 releases thus far, and I haven;t heard a bad one yet. You can download albums for free, or listen to all their tracks via their player. I think this weekend's podcast theme will be exclusively artists from this netlabel.

http://www.serein.co.uk/

Weekly Podcast Episode #5 (01-10-2009)

Here is our Fifth Podcast. I decided this week to go in a different direction and showcase some nice downtempo tracks.

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This Weeks Tracks:

» Boozoo Bajou - Biwak (Dust my Broom) @ 00:35 Album @ emusic
» Karminsky Experience Inc - Exploration (The Power of Suggestion) @ 02:00 Album @ emusic
» Peace Orchestra - Shining (Peace Orchestra) @ 07:25 Album @ emusic
» Fragile State - The Facts and the Dreams (The Facts and the Dreams) @ 12:05 Album @ emusic
» Craig Armstrong - Hymn 2 (As if to nothing) @ 17:00 Album @ amazon-mp3
» Alpha - Somewhere Not Here (Come from Heaven) @ 21:30 Album @ amazon-mp3
» Blue States - The Winfield Audition (Man Mountain) @ 28:30 Album @ emusic
» Nightmares on Wax - Les Nuits (Carboot Soul) @ 31:45 Album @ amazon-mp3
» Tosca - Busenfruend (Suzuki) @ 37:30 Album @ emusic
» Cinematic Orchestra - Man With The Movie Camera (Every Day) @ 42:05 Album @ emusic
» The Dining Rooms - Fluxus (cinematic Orchestr Mix) (Versioni particolari) @ 51:00 Albums (not this one though) @ amazon-mp3

Space Time Continuum: Emit Ecaps

Let's the the obvious out of the way... reverse the title and it spells "Space Time". This title and the name of the group are things you can really only get away with in the 90s or before (the album came out in 1996, btw), or if you are a bad Goa-Trance producer. With the cheesy titles aside, this is a really cool album that really takes the best of electronica (notice the 'A' after electronic (another cheesy 90s title for Electronic Music)) and ambient music. The first Track "Iform" brings up thoughts of artists such as "Orbital" and "Future sound of London" with their Very synthetic beats, and "Global Communication" and "B-12" with Clean sounding synths delivering catchy melodies. The Second track Kairo, starts off with a ethnic sounding Synth sound that would make "Kraftwerk" proud and then builds throughout from breakbeat to Jazz inspired Drum-n-Bass to straight-up ambient. Kairo, running at 11:49 minutes, is one to put on for a real introspective listen. The rest of the tracks range from 3 minutes to 7 minutes with the same sequencer structure found in a lot of artists during that time period. The structure is very much play a pattern, add another pattern, add another pattern, and so on, while filter modulating. The tracks "Funkyar" and "Swing Fantasy" have interesting chord structures and melodies that really remind me why "Space Time Continuum" and Mouse on Mars" would usually be in the same conversation when discussing music. All in all, this is a great album to really feel what the best of mid 90s to late 90s electronic music sounded like. On the flip side, at times it sounds slightly contrived since it is using a lot of the cliches that proceeded this release. It feels like it is mimicking what really worked at the time instead of exploring any new ground.

Can't Find digital album for legal download
» artist profile @ last.fm

William Basinski: The Distintegration Loops (Vols I to IV)

Instead of me reviewing/recommending one album... I am going to review 4. The reason why is that it is such a great series. This is from the prolific minimal/ambient composer, "William Basinski". He deals mainly in tape loops, drones, and phasing (imagine two drum beats going side by side, now set the temp (speed) of one drum beat very slightly higher or lower, the sound starts to "phase" in and out being synced, creating an interesting hypnotic effect ("Steve Reich"'s Piano Phases is a great example)) . William had a series of very emotive tape loops that were on literally their last play. He decided to take a collection of these very beautiful tape loops and play their swan song and record them. This was made also very poignant in that it coincided with September 11th (He mentions that in his description). "Clip 3" off of Volume II actually made me kinda choked up during the last couple of minutes when the tape was completely deteriorated before my very ears... It was like recording a poetic death (Like those you read in viking stories). Even though I hold this series in very high regards, this is not for the average listener. clip 1.1 goes on with the same pattern for over an hour, it is distorted and doesn't change at all. You really have to appreciate drone and minimal. If you are new to drone and/or minimal music, I recommend first listening to drone artists like "Starts of the Lid" and "Biosphere", minimal artists like "Steve Reich" and "Hauschka" to slowly getting accustomed to these genres of music. If you are ready to plunge into Minimal drone, however, this is a series for you...beautiful, haunting, and original.

» artist albums @ emusic
» artist profile @ last.fm

Vector Lovers: Afterglow

I got this album almost year ago, fell in love with it, and then shelved it for some reason (problem of being a music junkie (too much music, too little time)). My Second Go with this album is really, really nice. It is like rediscovering why ice cream tastes so good. The album starts off minimal and ambient, almost expecting a more "Tim Hecker"/"Biosphere" release. Then all of a sudden, the second track hits, entitled "Far Side of the Tracks"... The sound reminds me of a mixture of the Melodic IDM artists such as "Proem" and "Lusine ICL", but with the emotive and production quality of the electronic artist "Trentemoller". For the most part it goes back in forth between structural and abstract tracks. Sometimes even vocals are inserted in there, the track "Hush Now" comes to mind; it has an indie sensibility about it, but keeps true to the overall tone to the album. The thing I like most about this album (which, ironically, is maybe why I almost forgot about it) is that it doesn't try to prove anything or work to impress you. It is just there. If the artist behind "Vector Lovers", "Martin Wheeler", wants to give you a house-inspired, indie-inspired, or IDM inspired he will... but with his own flavor added to it to keep the overflow theme of the album consistent. Sometimes with artists (Moby comes to mind)... they try to do some serious 'genre-bending' in an album and it just does NOT work. The album here is definitely an exception. I believe the artist is aware of this fine line of varying influences and is able to skate along it very carefully.

» album @ emusic
» artist profile @ last.fm

Weekly Podcast Episode #4 (01-03-2009)

Happy New Year... Here is our Fourth Podcast (and first of 2009) You can:
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This Weeks Tracks:

» Giuseppe Ielasi - 4 (August) @ 2:00 Album @ emusic
» The Dead Texan (When I See Scissors, I Cannot Help But Think of You) @ 7:45 Album @ emusic
» Apparat - Warm Signal (Duplex) @ 11:40 Album @ emusic
» A Setting Sun - Granular Cloud over Setting Suns (Empty Sound) @ 16:30 Album @ emusic
» Jesse Hozeny - Pearls (Niyama) @ 20:15 Album @ emusic
» Ulf Lohhmann - Because Before 9 (Because Before) @ 26:00 Album @ bleep
» iTAL tEK - white mark (Cyclical) @ 29:05 Album @ emusic
» Johann Johannson - Ljosrit (Dis) @ 32:00 Album @ emusic
» Plat - Hverfandi (Vanish) (Compulsion) @ 33:40 Album @ emusic
» Windy & Carl - The Sun (Consciousness) @ 36:45 Album @ emusic
» Helios - Mima (Caesura) @ 40:00 Album @ amazon-mp3
» Greg Davis - Brocade (Rewoven) (Curling Pond Woods) @ 44:45 Album @ emusic
» Christ - Gresham Flyer Dreams (Bike) @ 48:40 Album @ bleep