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

Node: Node

How can an album produced and co-written by Flood (The guy behind production of U2 and Nine Inch Nails) in 1995 of really cool electro-ambient have only 2,250 scrobbles (how many times it was played through last.fm users). I think the problem is distribution (I lucked out and found a used copy at the now long gone "Armageddon Records" in Chicago in 1997). I looked for a link for someone to legitimately download the album and I came up with nothing (Anyone with knowledge where to get it through Internet, lemme know). You can, however, listen to most of the amazing E.P. through last.fm (though three bands show up with the same name, and a bad b-w photo of a metal band is the photo). From the first listen, parallels with Henke's "Monolake" and some of the more experimental "Plasticman" come to mind, but then I think about when it was produced and that makes this album all the more appreciative. The first track starts with ominous electronic percussion and then gradually builds with Alien textures and blips and distorted synths. The mastering and "spacial-ness" is nothing but masterful. This is how electronic albums Should sound and what they need to aspire to. The second track Olivine comes in with tubular and bell noises. Reminds me vaguely of the the Nine Inch Nails album "Fixed" with how the frequencies are panned and how the reverb sounds (which makes sense since both albums came out around the same time and produced by same person). The rest of the album is just as well thought out and produced. "Slapback" is more aggressive to the point of it being almost progressive dance music without the four-on-the-floor drum beat. Levy and Propane are similar to the first two with the cinematic approach (each track is 8minutes+). Try and find this album... or at least listen to it on Last.fm.

» album listen @ last.fm
» artist profile @ last.fm

Hecate vs. Lustmord: Law Of the Battle of Conquest

Since my last podcast was based on the darker side of ambient, I decided this review should go in the same direction. I think I made the right choice in picking this album that came out in 2002. These are both definitely prolific artists on their own. Lustmord is known for his organic, creepy textural ambience. Hecate is known for her absolutely brutal programming. Both bring very dark elements to the table and the mixture works so well. The album starts with the usual Lustmord wall of Evil noise followed by tribal distorted rhythms very typical by Hecate. With a lot of music collaborations, you can usually hear more of one artist than the other. This is a definite exception. It almost feels as if it is an extremely well made mash-up. Both artists really stand out clearly, yet the sounds meld so perfectly together. I highly recommend this E.P. if you really enjoy early industrial (Skinny Puppy, FLA, and a lot of the Zoth omog stuff (leaether strip, etc)), beatcore (Venetian Snares), and/or dark ambient in general. By the end of the album, I felt beat up, worn out, yet yearning for more! It looks like you can preview this entire album at last.fm so definitely give it a listen.

» album @ emusic
» artist profile @ last.fm

Max Richter: 24 Postcards In Full Colour

If I had to have someone/band do a soundtrack to my life, my first choice would be Max Richter. This man captures the slightest emotions and moments so eloquently in his compositions. Even though this album was billed as somewhat of a novelty, it is definitely no exception to his other masterful works. What I mean by novelty is that Max, himself, billed this album as a "ringtone" album; making smaller tracks so you can play them as your, well... ring tones on cell phone. I find it to be so much more than just that. I really see them as tiny glimpses of different times, feelings, and emotions that were recorded at just the optimal time. Besides this album being a smaller format than his normal 7+ minute compositions he normally does, there is a wide arrangement of sound (he tends to relagate mainly to strings/piano with very slight ambient washes used sparingly). Some tracks even go into the realm of complete abstract post-ambient, a-la "Tim Hecker". He sometimes brings in both his conservative and avante-garde writing such as the track, "A Sudden Manhattan Of The Mind"; the playing of a single violin over a wash of ambient noise perfectly puts you in the head of this composer. Another good example is "In Louisville At 7"; it sounds as if you are tapping into a radio transmission of that certain moment only to find it lost as soon as you see it clearly. I would draw comparisons with "Goldmund","Johann Johannson","Eluvium", and even "Benoit Piolard", but his stuff really tends to really stand on its own. I can't recommend this album enough. It is a must have for fans of ambient, modern classical and minimal music.

» album @ emusic
» artist profile @ last.fm

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

Arc_Lab: The_Nineteen_Floors

I can't get enough of the crop of "Melodic IDM" that has been coming out over the last few years. This release is definitely no exception. The album starts of with "Qwert_Ameliorate" (Why do IDM Artists find it necessary to name tracks nonsensically?), it starts with a really nice conservative slinky bass and the typical sound of plucked synths to create a counter balance to the melody line created by the bass. The drums are less prominent in this album that you might here in other artists along the same vein. It is a nice departure to deviate from the Rhythm heavy sound of this genre and focus more on the melody. In no way does this mean, however, that drums are not utilized heavily. You will notice in the Second track "Sveta" that mid way through the drums are quite aggressive, but they are slightly filtered and lowered in the mix. For the most part the album carries this formula throughout. I don't know what to feel about the track "Slow_Down" on this album, for the entire feel deviates and brings in a sampled acoustic guitar and vocals. The overall sound is similar to what Mum does but with the lush sound of the other (more electronic instrumental) songs and the mediocre voice, I could live without it. Thankfully, he doesn't deviate long and head right back to his much more apt sound in "Process_Blocks" and carries on for the rest of the album.

» album @ emusic
» 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

John Beltran: Ten Days of Blue

I decided today to showcase an album that came out in 1995 by John Beltran. This album really captures what I loved about the mid-nineties Electro-ambient explosion (look at all the Warp and Astralwerks release during this time frame). The first track "Flex" start with the chorded pad reminiscent of "B-12" and "Black Dog Productions" but with a much more aggressive rhythm along the lines of early "Aphex Twin"/"Autechre" work. The second track "Collapse of Dreams" has a sublime plucked intro with more soft pads and leads from that era. The rest of the album goes along the lines of the second track with plucked synths and gentle pads creating alternating melodies. The most 'dancey' of the tracks here is "Deluge" utilizing the "ambient house" sound made popular by Alex Patterson from "the Orb", though the dance beat is used only sparingly in the middle of the track for only a couple minutes before flowing into ambience. For those looking for some nice relaxing electronic music, this is definitely it. As far as production goes, it is not as innovative as what "Orbital" or "Aphex Twin" was doing at that same time, yet the end result is still a really nice listen and worth checking out.

» 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

Xurba: Eidetic Visions

This release came last year from the net label "Kahvi". From the first listen, you can't help think of artists like "Boards of Canada" since Xurba seems to really enjoy the same chord progressions and blippy analog feel in the backdrop of the album. The album can be slighly inconsistent in terms of production quality. The tracks "Backouter" and "In Darker Places" have a very polished feel (they are my favorites on the album) and then some tracks such as "X-interstruct" and "Ennui" have an almost preset quality to them. Don't think, however, that due to the almost rushed feel of the production that the tracks are not enjoyable to listen to; the structure of the songs and melodies are still really good. One selling factor to give these guys a fair shake is that you can download their album for free (see link to kahvi.org below) so it is a low risk listen. Definitely check out the other artists on the net-label, There is some really nice chill stuff there.

» album @ kahvi.org
» artist profile @ last.fm

Recue: All the Wrong Places

This album came out in summer 2008 through the Rednetic label. Once you click play (do we "press" play anymore?), it starts with lush, well crafted melodies and textures and doesn't let up at all. The artist, Riku Annala, really has a great grasp on tonalities and full spectrum of sound. For the most part he follows the formula to create good melodic electronic IDM music. Let's go through the list: Glitchy analog beats with sprinkles of 64th beat (really fast) hi hats and glitch in place of hi-hats (check), rolling deep slinky melody driven bass lines (check), ambient pads filling the spectrum throughout each track (check), and interesting counter melodies of the bass played by monophonic leads drenched in verb (check). In other words, if you like artists like "Proem" and "Diagrams of Suburban Chaos", you will not be disappointed in the least bit. The album lacks slightly on innovation, but makes up for really capturing what makes this genre (if you can call it that) one of my favorites to listen to. Standout tracks include "Gbliss" and "Savant". In order to get a copy, you go the label's site for download and then pick the album. You can get his other album (really good too!)Here for free!

» artist site
» album @ rednetic
» artist profile @ last.fm

Loscil: Submers

This Album originally came out in 2002. When it comes to ominous minimal ambient drone albums, this one is truly a must have. The sounds for the most part are synthetic and have quite an analog feel, but with the amount of sustain on the notes and the layer of effects, they come across as quite organic and natural. This artist plays a lot with alternating rhythms pulsing in and out throughout each track. It almost reminds me of "Steve Reich"'s "Music for 18 Musicians" where patterns start phasing in and out of each creating an almost hypnotic feel. Overall it is dark in nature, but in no way does make you feel uneasy (as least for this listener). I would equate it more with "Biosphere"'s moodiness than with some of "Lustmord"'s more Ambient stuff. Every track on this album is a must listen from the minimal house-esque track "Gymnote" to the dubby track "Nautilus". My favorite track on this album is "La Plongeur", it has a beautiful bass line and great harmonies that cascade in and out.

» album @ e-music
» artist profile @ last.fm

Grouper: Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill

The album starts off with electric piano saturated in reverb with a beautiful female voice peeking out of the background. The next song comes in with acoustic guitar and same ethereal reverb drenched vocals. The rest of the album goes back and forth with these three elements: vocals, minimal instrument (be it guitar or e-piano) and reverb. I am listing reverb as an instrument because the drone and decay of it creates interesting ethereal harmonies with the rest of the arrangements. Similarities range from the droney feel of "Stars of the Lid", the vocals of shoegaze bands ala "Perfume Tree" and "seefeel", and guitar work reminiscent of 4AD artists such as "Red House Painters". Standout tracks include: "Fishing Bird (Empty Gutted in the Evening Breeze)" and "Wind and Snow"

» album @ e-music
» artist profile @ last.fm