Еmеrаlds - Dоеs It Lооk Likе I'm Неre?

Еmеrаlds - Dоеs It Lооk Likе I'm Неre?
Genre : Electronic, Ambient

Listen
Buy it

01 Candy Shoppe
02 The Cycle of Abuse
03 Double Helix
04 Science Center
05 Genetic
06 Goes By
07 Does It Look Like I'm Here_
08 Summerdata
09 Shade
10 It Doesn't Arrive
11 Now You See Me
12 Access Granted

Download

After a glut of super-limited CDrs, cassettes and vinyl pressings, Cleveland, Ohio's Emeralds present their most developed album to date on Editions Mego. Like everyone else (read: maybe you, The Wire, Peter Rehberg, Fact Magazine, so many blogs) we've become big fans of their open-skied and kosmic sound, working our way back from 'Solar Bridge' through sparse reissues, and following through last years stunning self titled LP and 'What Happened' for No Fun, plus the many, many side projects from individual members Steve Hauschildt, Mark McGuire and John Elliot. Yup, they're an annoyingly prolific bunch. Following the trend of recent albums 'Does It Look Like I'm Here?' takes a different approach from their early work, eschewing lengthy improvised jams for a sculpted and highly organised sound which thankfully hasn't lost any of the swirling synth magic they've become known for. As they've matured and developed a stronger sense of identity, the comparisons to Tangerine Dream, Ash Ra Tempel and Popol Vuh are still relevant, but with this album they've harnessed the elemental chaos into well honed and efficient movements, with sublimely intuitive key changes and melting textures skillfully gauged for piloerect impact, defining their art with ever more graceful contours. We're only 2 minutes into the cascading arpeggios and pastoral guitars of 'Candy Shoppe' before they hit us with the first pivotal bliss surge. It's these moments that define their sound and reflect the comparison to "cheesy" new age or kosmiche, moments of open-hearted honesty delivered without ironic discharge. We find these moments scattered across the album, in the spiraling clasp of guitars and burbling synth in 'Double Helix', the breathless ascension of 'Genetic' and the tactile envelopment of 'Goes By'. Their other attribute is one that places them in perfect company on Mego, next to the likes of Fennesz and even more appropriately, Oneohtrix Point Never, that searching sonic futurism, seeking out utterly alien and tinglingly lush harmonic colours that justifies what many may perceive as archaic synth noodling. 'Does It Look Like I'm Here' is a magical accomplishment and should be experienced by any lovers of affecting electronic music, Just remember to turn your euphoria blocker off.

Сhristорher Нipgrаvе- Slоw, With Раgеs Оf Fluttеring Intеrfеrеnсе

Сhristорher Нipgrаvе- Slоw, With Раgеs Оf Fluttеring Intеrfеrеnсе
Genre : Electronic, Ambient

Listen
Buy it!

1. Singularity
2. Everything Slowed
3. Brightening, Multiplying
4. Time And Distance
5. Often Into Dream
6. Shifting Uncertainties
7. Strange Attractor
8. Brushes And Settles
9. Heavy And Pulling You
10. Slow Time
11. Seas
12. Bright And Fluid As Mercury
13. Positive Feedback Escapes Equilibrium
14. Soft Static
15. Disturbing The Patterns
16. Go With The Loops
17. Orphan Drift

Download

Following on from releases on Home Normal and Under The Spire in 2009, ‘Slow, With Pages Of Fluttering Interference’ is the third album from UK composer and sound designer Christopher Hipgrave.

Over the course of 42 minutes, Hipgrave’s sound is one of gentle manipulation, shimmering melodies and an exquisite sense of indistinct fragility. Whilst multiple layers of texture and tone are the main focal point of this album, background hisses, pops and crackles can also be heard which all seem to emanate from some strange electronic machine.

It’s this attention to detail that provides ‘Slow…’ with such warmth and humanity, creating a perfect balance against the structure of the music. Each piece is formed using a bare minimum of sound sources, which are then explored in depth, allowing the tracks to breathe, morph or run until their natural conclusion, resulting in an album of sublime intricate beauty.

Loscil - Versions Ep

Loscil - Versions Ep
Genre : Electronic, Ambient

Listen
Buy it

1. Emma
2. Estuarine
3. The Making Of Grief Point (Instrumental)

Download

The EP is aptly titled Versions and features reworked versions of Emma from First Narrows, Estuarine and The Making of Grief Point from Endless Falls. Emma and Estuarine both feature Dan Bejar on guitar and Josh Lindstrom on Vibes and were first performed as part of New York’s Wordless Music Series in 2009. The Making of Grief Point is an instrumental version of the track from Endless Falls which featured Bejar’s spoken word. All of these tracks compliment the originals quite nicely so I thought it was worth making them available.

Maps And Diagrams :: Cubiculo

Maps And Diagrams :: Cubiculo
Genre : Electronic, Ambient

Listen

1. The Melancholy of the Weavers 04:28
2. Kopangyang 04:16
3. Gnomish Twang 04:35
4. Fragments of a Former Moon

Download

Taking some time out from making music with Charles Sage as Hessien, Tim Martin brings his Maps and Diagrams project to the surface with four exclusive songs for Fluid Audio.

'Cubiculo' features a more structured, loop-based arrangement, drawing attention to a rounded and melodic stencil with focus on subtle, micro-crystalised rhythm, surrounded by a self-assurance and tangled textures with a salute towards the work of Oval and their deconstructed works of the 90's.

'Cubiculo' creates a less-harsh listening environment compared to 'The Giant Woods' album on Yuki Yaki released in December 2009 and this is another steadfast release carefully crafted, interwoven with unfolding elements that makes Maps and Diagrams'
compositions so precisely enduring.

Isan :: Glow In The Dark Safari Set

Isan :: Glow In The Dark Safari Set
Genre : Electronic

Listen
Buy!

1. Channel ten
2. Device
3. Merman Sound
4. Grisette
5. The Axle
6. Greencracked
7. 64 Fire Damage
8. Catgot
9. Dapperling
10. Slurs And Slowly
11. Eastside

Download

Robin Saville and Antony Ryan, two English gentlemen who create music together under the nom de plume Isan, return with their sixth full length album for their spiritual home of Morr Music. It’s been a few years since Isan’s previous outing, the delectable electronic esoterica of Plans Drawn In Pencil, but our heroes haven’t been lazy. “We played some lovely shows on the back of the album and then took an unintentional sabbatical,” explains Robin. “Antony moved to Denmark and then Sweden where he's now learning to be a glass blower. No really”, he deadpans in as good natured a way one close friend can talk about another. Robin also released a critically acclaimed album himself, the agrarian electronica of Peasgood Nonsuch. No wonder it took them a while to finish Glow In The Dark Safari Set. The results, in (ahem) time-honoured Isan tradition, are certainly worth the wait. Opener, Channel Ten, with its Autobahn-assured poise, appropriately prefigures a body of work that is Isan’s finest to date. Inspiration for this came from ‘emancipation’ as Robin elaborates “It was an attempt to jettison the weight of our back catalogue and get back to the fun of making music. This entailed playing with ancient Casios, mangled tape loops and squidgy noises. Very hands-on. Most of the tracks on the album started life away from the laptop” This giddy sense of enjoyment suffuses the album – from the glistening rush of Merman Sound which segues into the soft focus sound world of its own coda seamlessly to the cinematic, techy strut of Grissette or the calmly oscillating and cascading melodies of Greencracked which evoke images of a retro-futurist utopia. Isan have always excelled at fashioning a quietly awe-inspiring music and Glow... is no exception. Even the title suggests a sense of wide-eyed-wonder “We were playing with lots of ideas around fire, embers, bioluminescence and the title popped into my head one day. It seemed to sum up a lot of the things we like - I like to imagine sitting in a darkened room looking at the gentle green glow of 1970s vu meters, then they all come to life and start crawling up the wall” says Antony. Such is the album’s celestial hot-wired circuit board wizardry; Glow In The Dark Safari Set positively throbs, ebbs and flows with electronically refracted ideas and melodies – a digital tone poem sitting somewhere betwixt the cosy experimentation of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and the exotic sonic emissions of a top secret Düsseldorf studio circa 1975. “I think we'd like to see it as a bit of a reset in terms of the Isan canon” concludes Robin. If that’s the case then Isan fans old and new will be delighted to hear that Glow In The Dark Safari Set points to a beautiful future. Bask in its brilliance. - Rich Hanscomb

Aidan Baker :: Liminoid / Lifeforms

Aidan Baker :: Liminoid / Lifeforms
Genre : Electronic, Ambient, Drone

Listen
Buy!

1 Liminoid (Part I) 8:17
2 Liminoid (Part II) 6:35
3 Liminoid (Part III) 7:43
4 Liminoid (Part IV) 15:12
5 Lifeforms 29:21

Download

While Alien8 Recordings has had the pleasure of releasing three full-length albums by Aidan Baker’s ambient doom project Nadja, as well as his collaborative effort Fantasma Parastasie with Tim Hecker, this marks our first solo release with the artist.

Although we consider Liminoid/Lifeforms to be a solo effort, there are in fact no less than eight guest musicians helping out on the recording. These include Canadian noise legend Knurl (a.k.a. Alan Bloor) who has been released three times on Alien8 Recordings prior to this recording, as well as members of Arc, Picastro, Forest City Lovers and Whisper Room.

Liminoid is a composition for large ensemble exploring sonic immersion in drones and textures, rhythms and pulsations. Incorporating composed and improvised segments, the piece uses elongation of sound and layered polyphony in an attempt to create a liminal and/or numinous state. This recording of Liminoid is from its premier at The Music Gallery’s X-Avant Festival in Toronto, October 25, 2008. The piece features a powerful vocal performance with every member sharing the vocal duties. The lyrics have been adapted from 5th-8th century Coptic Christian texts and inspired by the book Ancient Christian Magic by by Marvin W. Meyer & Richard Smith.

The ensemble members for this performance were: Aidan Baker (guitar/voice), Clara Engel (guitar/voice), Nick Storring (cello/voice), Jakob Thiesen (drums/voice), Richard Baker (drums/voice), Tillman Lewis (cello/voice), Laura Bates (violin/voice) and Jonathan Demers (guitar/voice).

Lifeforms is a composition for strings, prepared/effected guitar, and amplified metal works. Likewise incorporating written and improvised material, the piece was originally commissioned and performed by The Penderecki Quartet in 2003. This recording was made in August 2008 at Commonwealth Studios in Toronto. The performers were: Aidan Baker (guitar), Nick Storring (cello), Mika Posen (violin) and Alan Bloor (metal works).

This recording has been both skillfully mixed from multiple recordings and mastered by James Plotkin.

Maps and diagrams :: toopuudus

Maps and diagrams :: toopuudus
Genre : Ambient, Electronic

Listen
Buy!

1. Urschîpfung
2. Glottal
3. KÑsiraamat

Download