ambient
EP review: Shida Shahabi – ‘Alvaret (Original Soundtrack)’: Stockholm composer soundtracks a short film of domestic tragedy with drone warmth and acuity
WE LAST encountered that Stockholm-based talent Shida Shahabi in these pages just over a year ago, when she released the soundtrack EP for Jennifer Rainsford’s subtle sci-fi short Lake On Fire; and rather a lovely thing it proved, seeing Shida step away from the piano with which she recorded her 130701 debut Shifts in favour …
See: Matchess invites us to embrace meditative drone and transcend the flesh in the practise of ‘Almost Gone (Excerpt)’
WHITNEY JOHNSON has been releasing albums exploring really gorgeous deep inner space in song and sound for a number of years now as Matchess. Her journey in this guise began in 2015 with the downtempo ambience of Somnaphoria, vocodered vocals, clock-ticking beats, swirls and aural glitter to put The Orb to shame in the cosmic …
See: NONEXISTENT pull you below the surface in the ink-black ambient murk of ‘UNTITLED 3 (AUBURN VACUUM)’
NONEXISTENT is the three-waters-meet of exceptional leftfield talents Astrud Steehouder, otherwise of Opal X and Paper Dollhouse; Alex Tucker, whose work as MICROCORPS and Grumbling Fur we’ve had occasion to be beguiled by elsewhere in these pages; and Mancunian-in-London Luke J Murray, known for his work as and with Grimescapes, Iceman Junglist Kru and Stonecirclesampler. …
See: Grammy-winning Swedish producer Olovson steps into the Satiesque with the airy ‘Paloma Blanca’
A MAN who’s made his name and his fortune behind the scenes as one half of the world-bestraddling production dup Jarami, Jacob Olofsson is a name to be reckoned with behind the faders; but he’s stepping out behind a slightly retooled surname these days, entering the placidity and the calm of the modern compositional solo …
Album review: Joel Vandroogenbroeck – ‘Far View’: a curated, cosmic library set from the Belgian psychedelic scion
A MUSICIAN who ventured far in both life and his chosen creative form, Joel Vandroogenbroeck is maybe not a name that trips with ease from your lips; unless of course, you’re a proper head of the deep psych persuasion. For Joel was both the driving force behind and ever-present in the hard-psych voyagers Brainticket, whose …
News: Roedelius and Tim Story will enter into a four-handed piano conversation for Erased Tapes in January; hear ‘Spirit Clock’
A GENUINE, gilt-edged musical legend, German electronic and ambient music pioneer Hans-Joachim Roedelius, now into his eighth decade with us, is to enter into a two-way piano conversation with American composer and friend of 40 years Tim Story for Erased Tapes in January. The 11-track album, entitled 4 Hands, allows the pair to explore an …
Album review: John Thayer – ‘Supermundane’: a palimpsest of nuanced, intelligent ambience
NEW YORK percussionist, audio engineer and all-round musical polymath John Thayer, fresh from two collaborative, cassette-only albums last year – Untangling The Ghost, on which he sparred with reeds player Stank Zenkov, and Mountain Rumors, in tandem with Craig Schenker – is not about to depart this grinding year of our lord 2021 without dropping …
News: William Basinski to bring his magisterial ‘Disintegration Loops’ to The Barbican next June
INCREDIBLE news for lovers of the drone and the textural; New York sound artist and composer William Basinski is to bring his masterful degrading tape-loop work The Disintegration Loops and last year’s set for Temporary Residence, Lamentations, to the awesome brutalist architecture and superb acoustics of London’s Barbican next summer. The concert will celebrate the …
PREMIERE: Kramer shares video for adaptation of Allen Ginsberg’s ‘At Apollinaire’s Grave’ as he releases ‘WORDS & MUSIC, Book One’
He’s had a hand in producing albums by Low and Galaxie 500, runs a record label and is an esteemed artist in his own right, so having Joyful Noise name Shimmy-Disc owner Mark Kramer (or simply Kramer) as their Artist in Residence for 2020 acted as suitable testament to his capabilities. This year, he’s been …
Album Review: Cluster Lizard – Star Corsair
Overview: Freedom of the Star Corsair “Whoever wishes the eternal, must leave the temporal behind”. Cluster Lizard: While meditating on the concept of our next album, we listened to the soundtracks of our favorite movies and dreamed of composing our music for the films. What could the film be like, what would be the story, …