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).

You can:
» Download It
» Subscribe To It (Feed)
» Subscribe To It (Direct iTunes)

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

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

Happy New Year... Here is our Fourth Podcast (and first of 2009) You can:
» Download It
» Subscribe To It (Feed)
» Subscribe To It (Direct iTunes)

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

Off Land: Blue Narration

I am really enjoying stuff from en:peg digital not only because they have decent selection of music but every release is a mere 2 bucks so I can really listen to new artists without feeling like I made a bad purchase. "Off Land" is no exception to their catalog of artists. The first track "Fog" really sets the tone. (This is, by far, the best track on the album). He utilizes a lot of the organic feel of artists like "Biosphere", yet he still spends time with melody and let the sound of their synths actually stay sounding like synths (like early "Ambient Instinct" artists). The second track "Contrails"'s main pad has almost a soft horn quality to it without sounding too cheesy. In the background, throughout the album, you can hear ambient nature noises such as birds. Let me just say that I really don't know what to feel about sounds of birds in the background of ambient music... maybe slightly a little too cliche for my tastes. The third track "Kites" has a very 80s sci-fi synth feel to it (with more birds in the background (I don't get what a sci-fi feel and bird sounds have in common)!!!). This album is a nice listen for those who really love the late 80s to mid 90s electric ambient artists such as "Human Mesh Dance" and "Global Communication". With that said, don't expect anything to innovative or mind blowing. The artist also need to focus more on his main theme... the nature sounds with the cold synthy feel (albeit nice and relaxing) does not go together thematically very well. In my opinion; if the artists wanted an ambient backdrop noise to fill up the space... they could have chose maybe some nice noise generated rhythms like other artists are doing to fill that void and keep the overall tone the same. It has all the characteristics to make it a good ambient album (and mostly, it is), but the varying ambient textures fight against eachother and make it slightly distracting (which goes against Eno's criteria for ambient music (non distracting)).

» album @ en:peg digital
raquo; artist profile @ last.fm

Below The Sea: Endings E.P.

This E.P. starts off with a delayed guitar repeating a simple three note riff, and through the next 5 minutes on the track it builds to a beautiful organic crescendo. The second track, "Until You Call It Quits", has the same guitar tone as before (reminiscent of the softer shoegaze artists such as "Slow Dive" and "Hammock"), and the percussion is a distorted noise rhythm very similar to what "Pan American" does a lot (though much less obtrusive). The feel of their overall sound makes me think that this is what "Ulrich Schnauss" would sound like if he put down the synths and picked up a Guitar and Bass. This album definitely skates on the fine line that is post-modern ambient and post-rock. At times the melodies of the guitars and bass are familiar to post-rock bands such as "Mono" and "Explosions in the Sky". Though the condensed nature of the tracks and semi-abstract flow of the compositions tend to meld this music more in the background than a lot of Post Rock that is out there. My one gripe is that the play time of this release is a quick 22 minutes; I wish that they would have extended the tracks slightly. I can understand why that chose to refrain from longer songs in order to prevent recundancy. This is definitely a recommend to add to your collection if you are a lover of atmospheric music.

» album @ emusic
» artist profile @ last.fm

Rosy Parlane: IRIS

This album came out from Touch recordings in 2004. Even though this album consists of three tracks, the end time of this album is around 48 minutes. Unlike some of the reviews I have just done, this artist tends to be much more abstract like other contemporary Drone artists such as "Tim Hecker". Though, unlike Hecker's work, his abstract soundscapes are much more soothing for the most part. The first track, aptly named "Part One" ends with a very calming pad and what sounds like an early computer running through its processes, like noises of an early digital tool working intently on finishing it's calculations. The rest of the album shares that similar softness and "gentle mechanics" to it. The next track, "Part Two", has a much more standard minimal drone to it with a padded chord resonating throughout. "Part Three" is probably the most aggressive out of three, yet it is still calming compared to some of the other Drone contemporaries. Definitely worth a listen, not only because it is a great record, but because if you get it though "emusic", it will only consists as 3 tracks (really great if you have a membership and want to use your alotted "songs" of the month.

album @ emusic
artist profile @ last.fm