Alfredo Esparza - Variation of Safari, 2007domingo, 31 de agosto de 2008
sábado, 30 de agosto de 2008
Bent - Programmed To Love [European Edition], (2000)
Date Released: September 5, 2000Origin: United Kingdom
Genre: Trip-hop, Downtempo, Chillout
Label: Phantom Sound & Vision / Pid
Site: http://www.bent-world.com/
Tracklist:
1. Exercise 1
2. Private Road
3. Laughing Gear
4. I Love My Man
5. Butterfingers
6. Cylons In Love
7. Wrong Rock
8. A Ribbon For My Hair
9. Blue
10. I Remember Johnny
11. Swollen
12. B Bishop
13. Exercise 2
14. Invisible Pedestrian
15. Memories
16. Irritating Noises
17. Always
18. Beach Buggy
__________________________________________________
Humour. Not enough of it in electronic music, or so they say. Well, thank goodness for Programmed To Love because as it says on the sleeve notes-"They are Bent".
Obvious innuendo aside, the duo are actually bent in the sense that their approach to making electronic music is seriously skewed. The two are Masters of Whimsy, building lush soundscapes from humorous dialogue, fey electronica and even a few frisky efforts like the thinly veiled metaphor for sodomy that is "Chocolate Wings".
As listening experiences go, the sample-based Programmed to Love is a genuine pleasure. Blankets of melody rise and fall gently over innocuous rhythms, with the odd cosmic sound thrown in for good measure. The duo allegedly locked themselves in a studio for a couple of weeks with just their equipment and a load of vodka for this album, but while some of the tracks bear an amusing, crapulous quality (such as the now classic tune "Swollen", the folkish, almost unearthly "Private Road" (featuring vocalist Zoe Johnston) and the lewd "Chocolate Star"), many of the tracks here are simply enigmatic and charming. From the acoustic chug of "Cylons In Love," the funky "Invisible Pedestrian" and the subtly sweeping feel of "I Remember Johnny", this is a very original and captivating album that posits a genuinely alternative sound to the likes of other downtempo acts like Air, Zero 7 and Royksopp.
Review taken from: http://www.bent-world.com/site2/releases/detail.php?articleId=37
Download link: http://rapidshare.com/files/142680720/Bent_-_Programmed_To_Love__European_Edition_.rar.html
viernes, 29 de agosto de 2008
jueves, 28 de agosto de 2008
Loess - Nomon / Schoen [7" Single], 2003
Date Released: May 13, 2003Origin: United States
Genre: IDM, Experimental, Abstract, Ambient
Label: n5MD
Site: http://www.n5md.com/artists.php?artist=Loess
Tracklist:
1. Nomon
2. Schoen
_________________________________________________
Philadelphia-based Ian Pullman and Clay Emerson have put together a pretty tight two-track 7-inch in Nomon:Schoen. "Schoen" rolls quickly into a layer of nimble rhythm and dark, electrical moans. The rhythm drops out for a breathy throat rumble or two, cutting back in heartrending synth sweeps and resolute bassline. On the B-side, "Nomon" is a little more laid back: a soft, bassy, bleepy techno arrangement that brings the synth in and out to a dramatic crescendo, a track much in the vein of the beated ambience on Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works II. Tasty.
Review taken from:
http://www.n5md.net/discography.php?catno=114Download Link: http://rapidshare.com/files/140687896/Nomon_Schoen.rar.html
miércoles, 27 de agosto de 2008
martes, 26 de agosto de 2008
Loess - Loess (2002)
Date Released: 2002
Origin: United States
Genre: IDM, Experimental, Abstract, Ambient
Label: Toytronic
Tracklist:
1. Chariv Canopy
2. 2nd Twelve
3. Maple Cill
4. Pleuston
5. Alluvium Edit
6. Littoral
7. Tone, 2
8. Spring Street
9. Keflex
10. Mosse
11. 2nd 12 (Accelera Deck Mix)
12. Woven
_________________________________________________
Balance. In black and white photography providing the right balance between "black" and "white" to properly convey desired form is critical. But also just as important are the many shades of grey between the stark blacks and whites. Greys are the threads that hold the composition together. Loess in its purest form is much like the stark black and white photos they use to represent their music the perfect balance of basic black and white form and the essential grey webbing that holds their music together.
Clay Emerson and Ian Pullman started Loess in the beginning of 2000. Previously they were part of improvisational ambient projects including Codec Scovill which they are still active with. They prefer to pronounce their name phonetically as "low-ESS" rather than the various correct pronunciations due to its fitting sound. The actual word loess is used to describe loose, fine grained soils that are thought to have been laid down by wind. This process often creates a characteristic terrain in the form of gently rolling hill slopes. Like the natural process, the qualities of Loess can be seen at both the microscopic scale, in their acute attention to detail, and on a larger scale in their gradual song structures.
Emerson and Pullman spent the first two years crafting their debut self-titled album and 3" CD single which were both released in 2002 on their own Nonresponse imprint. Their Loess debut was included on many journalists' best of lists for 2002 and was a focused ambient album which was punctuated with a perfect balance of skittering textural percussion, subtle melodies, and tactile grey fabric that has become Emerson and Pullman's trademark sound(...)
Emerson and Pullman spent the first two years crafting their debut self-titled album and 3" CD single which were both released in 2002 on their own Nonresponse imprint. Their Loess debut was included on many journalists' best of lists for 2002 and was a focused ambient album which was punctuated with a perfect balance of skittering textural percussion, subtle melodies, and tactile grey fabric that has become Emerson and Pullman's trademark sound(...)
(...)Thirty-six months, six grossly different studios and geographical locations later... What were once mere musical fragments, receive intensive mutations, re-visioning and re-compiling. The results are documented in this self-titled album. Compositions are arranged in a contiguous fashion in order to maintain continuity throughout the album. This material ranges from percussive-driven to rhythm-less pieces sprinkled with drifting melodic content. Arrangement style was purposely left in its natural, childlike form. Maximum focus was placed on crafting sound sources originating from subtractivesynthesis, found sound and digital-fodder inexplicables.
Review taken from: http://www.n5md.com/artists/Loess/Loess_presspack.pdf
Download link: http://rapidshare.com/files/140263798/Loess.rar.html
lunes, 25 de agosto de 2008
domingo, 24 de agosto de 2008
Loess - 3D Concepts Part Two [7"EP], (2003)
Date Released: 2003
Origin: United States
Genre: IDM, Experimental, Abstract, Ambient
Label: Toytronic
Site: http://www.n5md.com/artists.php?artist=Loess
Tracklist:
1. A1 Retinue
2. A2 Sofar
3. A3 Viscer
4. B1 Alt Tone Two
5. B2 Sixt
_________________________________________________
Thanks to some handy returns to the distributor we now have literally a handful of copies of this back in stock! The long-awaited return of the Toytronic imprint, two EP's brought to us in that inimitable and collectable Toytronic sorta way. Some of you may remember the debut offering from Loess on the fledgling Non-Response label, a record that beautifully blended classic IDM stylings with generous helpings of exposed warmth and a nostalgic Boards-ish edge. This Lush 5-tracker sees much development at play, employing ambient principles for a foundation, with rhythmic elements softly extending themselves to enrich proceedings with a beautifully smoothed-over rendition of futuristic sounds. The opening "retinve" strengthens itself with a reliance on only the simplest of principles, a muted industrial percussive line loops itself for background while soothingly stretched synths and whispered basslines surround the rendition for an almost haze-driven listening experience. "alt.tone.two" on the flip suddenly discovers a world of bass, more sparkling night-time ambience sets the scene while a dub-driven revolution of stabs and a skanking pace remind of Denmark's excellent Dub-Tractor, even a carefully employed bit-crusher throws itself in for added metallic effect towards the end. The closing "sixt" also looks towards Scandinavian shores with a very Opiate-ish construction of delicate beat flutters and hovering low-end, supplying us with another moment of reflective understatement. Good stuff from Toytronic, pressed up on marble-effect transparent vinyl, limited to 800 copies for the world only.
Review taken from: http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=10125
sábado, 23 de agosto de 2008
viernes, 22 de agosto de 2008
Loess - Wind And Water (2006)
Date Released: May 16, 2006
Origin: United States
Genre: IDM, Experimental, Abstract, Ambient
Label: n5MD / Iris
Site: http://www.n5md.com/artists.php?artist=Loess
Tracklist:
1. Brumal
2. Greensland
3. Creshiem
4. Lomond
5. Copse
6. Sonde
7. Wiebke
8. Sororal
9. Talus
10. Veld
11. Dasein
12. III6
_________________________________________________
Somewhere between ambient drones and drifting beat programming is the world of Wind and Water, the new release by Loess on n5md. The duo of Clay Emerson and Ian Pullman sought to create a record that paralleled the natural progression of creation and dissolution, and the ebb and flow of the twelve tracks of Wind and Water captures a gentle progression -- both airy and fluid -- that is captivatingly natural.
Seemingly a blend of Biosphere's gentle electronics and Chris Watson's environmental recordings, "Creshiem" finds waves of wind transforming into delicate melodies and ticking percussive motifs; while "Greenland" hums with the echo of bells across frozen tundra and the noisy chatter of digital crickets. Emerson and Pullman fill their organic landscapes with the micro-detritus of IDM arrhythmia, a laconic programming that seems like nothing more than the redistribution of dust and pollen beneath swirling breezes and winds. Squirts of bird noises are caught in the wake of a organ-like melody in "Lomond," a gasping, swaying song filled with the huff and puff of air through air bladders and hoses.
A small group of organs stagger about in a field in "Sonde," trying to keep in some semblance of time with the brisk percussion. One or two keep their tone poems alive while others shudder, swallowing their notes with reflexive decay. Melodies appear to be afraid of being heard, dissolving into inverted echoes of themselves before they are fully realized. "Talus" is a more forceful "Sonde," like woodblocks and a church organ lost in a windstorm, but the decaying quality of the melodies are still there. A flute, carved from wood by the wind and blown with those same lips, lends a Japanese flavor to "Veld," a Shinto meditation on the movement of tree limbs, while the deep and sonorous rumble of mountain streams provides a grumbling undercurrent to the ambiance.
I was surprised at how much of Wind and Water is purely non-environmental. While their source material and artistic inspiration may be natural, the resulting programming is certainly unnatural in its cadence and percussion. That isn't to say that Wind and Water doesn't succeed in evoking a sense of natural rhythms -- it certainly does -- but rather the efforts of Emerson and Pullman are that of restrained pastoralists. The sense of innocence here is not completely akin to Boards of Canada's winsome characterization of childhood, but Emerson and Pullman are more Thoreau-ean lovers of nature than Blake-ean advocates of innocence realized through experience.
The more I listen to Wind and Water, the more I think its sounds are akin to time-lapse photography. These recreations of the natural landscapes are time-compressed, days and years squeezed into seconds and minutes. These are the sounds the world would make if it were living and dying as fast as we were. In an sense then, Wind and Water isn't about motion -- though it is rife with it -- but rather, it is an admonition for non-movement. As "Dasein" fades out, crackling into nothingness, and "III6" glides into my head with its elongated tones (all the rhythms of the preceding fifty minutes have been left behind), I think, "Maybe, I'll just sit here awhile, still as a flower, and feel the breeze on my face."
Seemingly a blend of Biosphere's gentle electronics and Chris Watson's environmental recordings, "Creshiem" finds waves of wind transforming into delicate melodies and ticking percussive motifs; while "Greenland" hums with the echo of bells across frozen tundra and the noisy chatter of digital crickets. Emerson and Pullman fill their organic landscapes with the micro-detritus of IDM arrhythmia, a laconic programming that seems like nothing more than the redistribution of dust and pollen beneath swirling breezes and winds. Squirts of bird noises are caught in the wake of a organ-like melody in "Lomond," a gasping, swaying song filled with the huff and puff of air through air bladders and hoses.
A small group of organs stagger about in a field in "Sonde," trying to keep in some semblance of time with the brisk percussion. One or two keep their tone poems alive while others shudder, swallowing their notes with reflexive decay. Melodies appear to be afraid of being heard, dissolving into inverted echoes of themselves before they are fully realized. "Talus" is a more forceful "Sonde," like woodblocks and a church organ lost in a windstorm, but the decaying quality of the melodies are still there. A flute, carved from wood by the wind and blown with those same lips, lends a Japanese flavor to "Veld," a Shinto meditation on the movement of tree limbs, while the deep and sonorous rumble of mountain streams provides a grumbling undercurrent to the ambiance.
I was surprised at how much of Wind and Water is purely non-environmental. While their source material and artistic inspiration may be natural, the resulting programming is certainly unnatural in its cadence and percussion. That isn't to say that Wind and Water doesn't succeed in evoking a sense of natural rhythms -- it certainly does -- but rather the efforts of Emerson and Pullman are that of restrained pastoralists. The sense of innocence here is not completely akin to Boards of Canada's winsome characterization of childhood, but Emerson and Pullman are more Thoreau-ean lovers of nature than Blake-ean advocates of innocence realized through experience.
The more I listen to Wind and Water, the more I think its sounds are akin to time-lapse photography. These recreations of the natural landscapes are time-compressed, days and years squeezed into seconds and minutes. These are the sounds the world would make if it were living and dying as fast as we were. In an sense then, Wind and Water isn't about motion -- though it is rife with it -- but rather, it is an admonition for non-movement. As "Dasein" fades out, crackling into nothingness, and "III6" glides into my head with its elongated tones (all the rhythms of the preceding fifty minutes have been left behind), I think, "Maybe, I'll just sit here awhile, still as a flower, and feel the breeze on my face."
Review taken from: http://www.igloomag.com/doc.php?task=view&id=1306&category=reviews
jueves, 21 de agosto de 2008
miércoles, 20 de agosto de 2008
Amiina - Seoul [EP], (2006)
.jpg)
Date Released (in UK): May 12, 2006
Origin: Iceland
Genre: Experimental, Modern Classical, Ambient, Jazz
Label: The Worker's Institute
Site: http://www.amiina.com
Tracklist:
1. Seoul
2. Ugla
3. Ammaelis
_________________________________________________
Spending your formative years as a group backing one of the world’s most respected and admired bands isn’t too shabby, and for the girls in Amiina, it was their experience behind the enigmatic shadows of Sigur Ros that allowed them to eventually occupy the stage themselves with their own brand of twinkly, indie pop. The music they create is distinctly hard to dislike. Fragile, and twee to the point of nothingness, it’s sweet without being sugary, but unfortunately acts like a constant appetizer in a meal where the main dish never appears. This three track single for “Seoul”, following their debut EP AnimaminA is a smaller taste of what their ouevre has to offer. It took me multiple listens of this fifteen-minute affair before I got through it without distraction, but just barely. Yet, at the same time, I can’t say why I dislike it other than it simply didn’t hold my attention. There is a music box like quality to their songs that is certainly compelling, and “Seoul” does succeed in building up somewhat effectively to it’s closing melodramatic finish, but the ridiculously cutesy Casio-performed “Ammaelis” washes whatever good tidings were remaining right out. You can buy the disc, but don’t be surprised if the minute it’s over, you’ve forgotten about it completely.
Review taken from: http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/31695/amiina-seoul/
lunes, 18 de agosto de 2008
Amiina ft. Lee Hazlewood - Hilli (At The Top Of The World) [Single] (2007)
Date Released: December 18, 2007
Origin: Iceland
Genre: Experimental, Modern Classical, Ambient, Jazz
Label: Ever Records / !K7 Records
Genre: Experimental, Modern Classical, Ambient, Jazz
Label: Ever Records / !K7 Records
Site: http://www.amiina.com/
Tracklist:
1. Hilli (At The Top Of The World) ft. Lee Hazlewood
_________________________________________________
The lovely ladies of the Sigur Ros string section (and sometime support act) wouldn't seem to be the most obvious musical bedfellows with veteran US country star Lee Hazlewood - particularly as the latter died earlier this year at the age of 78 - but the combination works much better than you might expect.
Hazlewood's gravely baritone kicks off a bizarre fairytale experience, folding neatly into an enchanted forest of strings and electronic minimalism. There's a hint of Lemon Jelly amid the juxtaposition, a gentleness to the music that sits softly beneath the roughness of the vocals.
His last recorded work, this is a fitting end to his career but a great loss to music. A whole album's worth of this would have been more than welcomed - and it's a terrible shame that such a thing will never be forthcoming.
Hazlewood's gravely baritone kicks off a bizarre fairytale experience, folding neatly into an enchanted forest of strings and electronic minimalism. There's a hint of Lemon Jelly amid the juxtaposition, a gentleness to the music that sits softly beneath the roughness of the vocals.
His last recorded work, this is a fitting end to his career but a great loss to music. A whole album's worth of this would have been more than welcomed - and it's a terrible shame that such a thing will never be forthcoming.
Review taken from: http://www.musicomh.com/singles/amiina_1207.htm
domingo, 17 de agosto de 2008
Amiina - Kurr (2007)
Date Released: June 19, 2007
Origin: Iceland
Origin: Iceland
Genre: Modern Classical, Experimental, Ambient
Label: Ever Records / !K7 Records
Label: Ever Records / !K7 Records
Site: http://www.amiina.com/
Tracklist:
1. Sogg
2. Rugla
3. Glámur
4. Seoul
5. Lúpína
6. Hilli
7. Sexfaldur
8. Kolapot
9. Saga
10. Lóri
11. Bláfeldur
12. Boga
__________________________________________
Icelandic quartet Amiina conjure up dreamy, melodic soundscapes suffused with the fairytale mysticism and undulating landscapes of their native…hang about, haven’t we heard all this before?
Indeed we have. Iceland’s musicians – who seem, curiously, to number more than the actual population - seem fated to have their music endlessly described in terms of their physical and cultural landscape.
Intricate melodies are weaved by ‘mischievous elves’; abstract moods are ‘glacial’; anything featuring heavy beats or blistering basslines is like an ‘erupting volcano’ or a ‘tectonic rift’.
Yet to listen to Kurr, the debut album from Amiina - a talented all-female four piece who have been experimenting with music together since meeting at Reykjavík’s College of Music in the 1990s – is to be somehow transported to their homeland.
Part of the reason perhaps is that the album is reminiscent of other Icelandic acts we know and love. You may, on listening to Kurr, recognize the guileless experimentation of Björk, the melodic whimsies of Múm and the emotive introspection of Sigur Rós (whom Amiina accompanied on tour between 2005 and 2006).
But there are major differences. Kurr (revealingly, the Icelandic word for birdsong) holds no truck with rhythmic complexity, artful aesthetics, nor high, ineffable drama. Theirs is a pure, irenic vision that unfurls serenely via a veritable wonderland of instrumentation, everything from violins, guitars and keyboards to wine glasses, bells, metalophones, Celtic harps, water glasses, musical saws, glockenspiels and kalimbas.
The resultant sound is not, as you might expect, clanky kitchen-sink experimentalism; rather, Kurr is a gently rippling stream of enigmatic moods and textures. The individual tracks, though readily identifiable (“Rugla” is uplifting, childlike, “Glamur” is decidedly languorous, “Seoul” pretty and innocent) fit together so organically you’d swear it was one long soundtrack.
It might be tempting for some to dismiss Kurr as fey, maudlin even. But waging journalistic war on a record as tranquil as this would - to borrow a memorable simile from the late Kurt Vonnegut Jr. – be akin to putting on a full suit of armour and attacking an ice cream sundae.
A crime far worse, surely, than quixotic metaphor.
Indeed we have. Iceland’s musicians – who seem, curiously, to number more than the actual population - seem fated to have their music endlessly described in terms of their physical and cultural landscape.
Intricate melodies are weaved by ‘mischievous elves’; abstract moods are ‘glacial’; anything featuring heavy beats or blistering basslines is like an ‘erupting volcano’ or a ‘tectonic rift’.
Yet to listen to Kurr, the debut album from Amiina - a talented all-female four piece who have been experimenting with music together since meeting at Reykjavík’s College of Music in the 1990s – is to be somehow transported to their homeland.
Part of the reason perhaps is that the album is reminiscent of other Icelandic acts we know and love. You may, on listening to Kurr, recognize the guileless experimentation of Björk, the melodic whimsies of Múm and the emotive introspection of Sigur Rós (whom Amiina accompanied on tour between 2005 and 2006).
But there are major differences. Kurr (revealingly, the Icelandic word for birdsong) holds no truck with rhythmic complexity, artful aesthetics, nor high, ineffable drama. Theirs is a pure, irenic vision that unfurls serenely via a veritable wonderland of instrumentation, everything from violins, guitars and keyboards to wine glasses, bells, metalophones, Celtic harps, water glasses, musical saws, glockenspiels and kalimbas.
The resultant sound is not, as you might expect, clanky kitchen-sink experimentalism; rather, Kurr is a gently rippling stream of enigmatic moods and textures. The individual tracks, though readily identifiable (“Rugla” is uplifting, childlike, “Glamur” is decidedly languorous, “Seoul” pretty and innocent) fit together so organically you’d swear it was one long soundtrack.
It might be tempting for some to dismiss Kurr as fey, maudlin even. But waging journalistic war on a record as tranquil as this would - to borrow a memorable simile from the late Kurt Vonnegut Jr. – be akin to putting on a full suit of armour and attacking an ice cream sundae.
A crime far worse, surely, than quixotic metaphor.
Review by Paul Sullivan (13 June 2007), taken from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/release/xpgb/
Download link:
viernes, 15 de agosto de 2008
jueves, 14 de agosto de 2008
Amiina - AminanimA [EP], (2004)
Date Released: December, 2004
Origin: Iceland
Origin: Iceland
Genre: Jazz, Ambient, Experimental, Modern Classical
Label: Worker's Institute / IODA
Label: Worker's Institute / IODA
Site: http://www.amiina.com/
Tracklist:
1. Skakka
2. Hemipode
3. Fjarskanistan
4. Blaskjar
_______________________________
It's safe to assume that anyone coming to this EP with absolutely no foreknowledge about where they came from or what their background was would find themselves thinking, hmmm, there's something very familiar about this, and, once they'd been enlightened, they'd go, oh yes, of course.To those of us hardened hacks who are forearmed with such knowledge, it's difficult, nay impossible, to bring to this listening the kind of exclusive attention we'd bring to a completely new group coming out of nowhere - it's the kids hippopotamus conundrum - you know - you challenge the kids not to think about hippopotamuses, then ask them what they're thinking about.So - can a group of Reykjavik (clue #1) music students who had jammed together as a string quartet at college and were then asked to accompany on tour, as backing instrumentalists, a major Icelandic group (clue #2), two of whose members subsequently encouraged them to make this EP and contributed substantial studio, production, and mastering input really be considered as anything other than a bunch of superlucky young women who've (perfectly legitimately - and good luck to 'em) tried turning themselves from a session band into something else - let's not call it a Sigur Rós concession band, because that suggests something rather manipulative - but if not, what?The honest answer has to be - not yet.There's barely eighteen minutes of music here - four tracks - that begin, in Skakka, with the engagingly wry juxtaposition of a sample of a crackling fire with one of those Iceland-typical tuned-stalactite-sounding music-box-ey melodies that seems to say, ok, we all know the cliché - fire and ice, ice and fire, let's just get that one over with and get on with the music - before moving into track 2 - Hemipode - where an alt.folk tune gets sandwiched, on some double-tracked malleted instrument, in between the stretched tonal extremes of the string instruments - almost screechingly strained violin and abyssally-deep-plucked cello, before the rest of the strings enter to send the tune lilting off along some chilly sheep-track between lava-field and moraine. If the Northern Lights made a sound, it would be something like this third track - Fjarskanistan - an undulating curtain of Steiner-soft sound-colours gently wafting against a tinkling background of stars, and in Blaskjar, the final track, we're back to continuing that Hemipode alt.folk stroll through the meadow where we find ourselves discreetly accompanied by a particularly sweet song-thrush, or some native Arctic equivalent.Aminamina is something that all lovers of the Icelandic Princelings will have to have, as it represents (yet) another aspect of Jónsi and Kjartan's extraordinary capability- a kind of selective Midas Touch from which, for example, The Album Leaf benefited in bucketsful in last year's In A Safe Place. In reality, it's probably something so simple (O to be a fly on the wall at some of these studio sessions), a series of 'why don't we just try this' moments that accumulate into - well - something like this. I don't think it's being disrespectful to the four members of Amina to say this - they, after all, provided the base material from which this EP has been produced - but it's so obviously been touched with the kind of wand that transforms base metals into gold, and it's so obvious whose wand that is and who was waving it.Amina plan to release a full-length in the autumn. Aminamina is a delicious appetiser, meanwhile – simple, modest, unpretentious, undemanding, but as toothsome and distinctive as a plate of ceviche served with warm bread and a shot of firewater.
Download link: http://rapidshare.com/files/137397937/AnimaminA.rar.html
Suscribirse a:
Entradas (Atom)
