In the Shortlist sections, I will mention some of the albums that I enjoyed listening to, but couldn't find the time (or the right words) for a "full" review for. Still, I think they deserve your attention: use the links to find more info and hear previews.

Ben Fleury-Steiner - Clearings
The sound of these three tracks are as mysterious as the album cover image - especially in the yearning loop of the opening track 'Wind Up Bird's Lament'.
"Ben's sound (drawn from both electronic and acoustic sources including electric kalimbas, small modular synthesizers, guitar drones and effect pedals) always embraces a sense of "somewhere", sonically, always warm with tons of layers and subtle details."

Darren Harper - Passages for the Listless and Tired
Although the title of this album may suggest you need to feel 'listless and tired' to enjoy this album, the truth is that most, if not all, people might benefit from listening to these calm and thoughtful drones. The album starts slow and dreamy, but gradually builds to a wash of noise in the end, as if to wake you up into the real world again.
"Drawing from both electronic and acoustic sources, his compositional output is based entirely on experimentation and improvisation, with a strong emphasis on minimalism, and often reflects a desire for a greater understanding of nature and self, and the relationship therein."

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The sheer volume of the Headphone Commute’s '…And Darkness Came' compilation – issued as a charity fundraising for the victims of Hurricane Sandy, and boasting 87 tracks (over 6 hours) of music – was also a kind of invitation to create a mix from it.
Presenting a wide range of music from well (and lesser) known artists – covering most of the ambient/electronic/post-classical/improv spectre, the compilation is an overview and 'who’s who' of what’s happening at this very moment.
Its diversity of sounds and musical ideas will appeal to everyone with open ears.

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Presenting "glacial and isolationist ambient", the Glacial Movements label - run and curated by Alessandro Tedeschi - has presented over 15 albums since 2006, from artists like Lull, Rapoon, Francisco López, BvDub, Loscil, Pjusk, Celer and then some.

Different kind of artists, different kind of sounds, but what they have in common here is the "glacial feel and atmosphere" - which is often described as cold and desolate.

Their latest release (digital only this time)is "Arctic April Mother"by Yuya Ota from Tokyo.

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DJ OLIVE (Gregor Asch, aka The Audio Janitor) has been around for quite a while.
He was a founding member of WE (TM), originator of the "illbient" genre tag - but his musical scope obviously is much broader than "just" ambient music. He has been working with people like turntablist Christian Marclay, Ikue Mori, Kim Gordon, Yuka Honda and Jim O'Rourke. His latest release,"Thwis", featuring vocalist Honeychild Coleman, is a collection of electronic dub tracks. But that is not the release I want to talk about here and now (since it's not exactly 'ambient').
For now, I want to focus on his "Balm" release: presented as "a collection of Sleeping Pills".

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With about 60 releases since 2000, the LINE (L-NE) IMPRINT label has built a firm reputation as "a programmatic sound platform with a strong inclination towards the visual arts and multimedia, born from the desire to take the tactile qualities of audio installations from the gallery space to listeners’ living rooms."

Curated by Richard Chartier, LINE not only releases impressive sound art CD's, but also DVD's and Artwork Prints.

With its focus on audio/multimedia installations, mostly electronic by nature, LINE aims at the more 'serious' -  investigative - listener: this is definitely no 'pop-ambient' label. If you insist on comparisions, the label may be best compared to Raster-Noton, in style and artistic approach.  

At the start of 2013, LINE announced an impressive series of new releases, of which the new collaboration by William Basinski and Richard Chartier may obtain the most attention.
But in fact, the other releases deserve your attention as much. I've combined the four latest releases in these two posts, demonstrating the versatile output of the LINE label.

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AGF - Source Voice
The LINE SEGMENT series is a series of releases on the LINE label "which will highlight some, perhaps, very non-LINE-like works. Works that stray from the norm...(The LINEnorm, that is, because most music on Line itself definitely strays from 'the' norm, too!).
AGF's "Source Voice" is the second release in this Line Segment series.

AGF (Antye Greie-Ripatti, born in East-Germany but now living in Finland) has worked for more than a decade "releasing experiments connecting voice, deconstruction of language, perception, and sound processing".
If her name is new to you, you may have some interesting research to do: she has been working together with artists like Vladislav Delay, Ellen Alien, Gudrun Gut and Eliane Radigue (amongst others),

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In the Shortlist sections, I will mention some of the albums that I enjoyed listening to, but couldn't find the time (or the right words) for a "full" review for. Still, I think they deserve your attention: use the links to find more info and hear previews.

Pinkcourtesyphone - Elegant & Detached
I had not realised until now that Pinkcourtesyphone is actually Richard Chartier - sound artist and curator of the LINE-label (more about that later).
This is the second full release from Pinkcourtesyphone in 2012, together with "Foley Folly Folio". Compared to the works he releases under his own name, the Pinkcourtesyphone obviously gives room for some more playful, associative and humorous soundscapes, or "much more open to accident, failure, surprise and emotional/ironic juxtaposition of things" as he stated in the Headphone Commute interview. But that does not mean these soundscapes should not be taken seriously: they are very adventurous and cinematic, so this 70 minute album is a delightful pleasure to listen to.
"The callers voice whispers a wistful yet false love-letter to the cinema of aesthetics from a distant place concerning the things you did... and things you need to have done."

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Krill.Minima is one of the aliases of Martin Juhls ,who is also releasing as Marsen Jules and Falter, (not to mention his Wildach Sonnerkraut alias.)

From all these aliases, Marsen Jules is obviously the most well-known.
The Krill.Minima music is of a somewhat different kind, but also very dear to Juhls' heart - especially for live performances.

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Philippe Lamy (France) is an artist combining various art-forms. He's a painter, but also teaches 'plastic arts' at the School of Architecture in Toulouse. He started creating music about ten years ago, "feeling that his paintings and music resonate together".
His soundscapes indeed resemble paintings: they are incredibly detailed, almost organic, including a wide dynamic range of sounds.

His latest solo album,"SlowFast", is recently released, following up two recent collaboration projects with well-known Polish artist Pleq.

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Creating music based on well-known originals is not without risk, especially when the original is a part of our 'collective memory'.

It is even riskier to create a full album based on a single composition, one that almost everyone will immediately recognise: Erik Satie's "Gymnopédies No.1".

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Can this be a coincidence?

In the same week I have received two new albums with a remarkable resemblance: both are from Dutch artists, both have a bright 'lightweight', almost 'poppy', feeling yet are experimental in their creative use of sound samples. Also, both are defying contemporary genres. They're not ambient, not too experimental, not strictly electronic, not improvised, but definitely not 'mainstream pop' either.

Could it be we're defining a new genre here?

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Born in 1955 and making music since he was 20 years old (inspired by Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze and Vangelis), Steve Roach has personally helped shape ambient music to become what it is now. He's one of those extremely prolific artists: his discography boasts about 100 albums at the moment.
He has worked together with many well-known musicians, and though his style may vary on each different release it is also very personal and immediately recognisable.

With 40 years of musical experience, percussionist Byron Metcalf is not exactly a newcomer, either. 

"Tales from the Ultra Tribe" is their latest collaboration (released in conjunction with Steve Roach's drone album "Soul Tones" , which showcases quite a different side of his music).

The tense and suspenseful rhythms from these seamlessly mixed eight tracks immediately catch hold of the listener and don't let go until the end, 74 minutes later.

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Exactly 10 years after the original release of David Sylvian's "Blemish", electroacoustic sound artist Stephan Mathieu reworks the original material into a fascinating new soundscape, presenting a different view still perfectly in line with the original material.

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If you have ever watched Stanley Kubrick's "2001 - Space Odyssey", you will definitely remember the impressive scene in which the memory modules are slowly taken away from HAL, the ship's main computer, because it started to disfunction and became a threat to the astronauts and their mission.
Just before his memory fades completely, HAL remembers being programmed to sing"Daisy", one of his earliest digital 'childhood memories'.

With this scene (as well as with HAL's name), Kubrick directly referred to the IBM 7094 computer (used to control the Mercury and Gemini space flights, as well as the Apollo missions) which was programmed to sing Daisy in 1961 - a remarkable accomplishment at that time!

Computer systems revolting, loss of memory, human utterings that seem to come from lost souls....
I guess you'd better be prepared for a dark and suspenseful listening hour ...

If you have listened to this mix, I'm really curious to know what you think, so please let me know!
(and please let your friends know, also... just spread the word and make these mixes heard ...  thanks for your help!)

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When hearing the first notes of "The Eskdalemuir Harmonium" by (Scottish) composer Chris Dooks - created together with Machinefabriek - and reading the album's liner notes, one thing is very clear: a Harmonium is a strange and fascinating instrument.

"If it sucked air past its reeds it might be called a melodeon but this one blows, so it's a harmonium. In a harmonium, the more notes in your chord, the faster you have to pedal, the quicker you reach exhaustion. Also, the more notes in your chord the quieter it becomes and only pedaling much faster will keep up the volume."

"Accumulated dust causes constriction of the tubes, narrowing the airways like an asthma attack. Keys can stick, as can internal mechanics. Things can snap off, rupture. A lung can collapse or be torn open."

"I catch myself assigning human properties or illnesses to it, calling it arthritic and asthmatic. It can also be grumpy and stubborn depending on the weather."

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At the closing of 2012, I'm proud to present this new 'dialogue mix'  (the only other collaboration on ambientblog is the "Division Dialogue" mix created together with Muttley in 2010).

When Christophe Ywaska, creator of the weekly Klankschap radio shows on VillaBota webradio (whose mixes can also be found on Mixcloud, by the way) suggested working on a mix together, I knew we were in for a sonic treat. 
Klankschap mixes are never "just" ambient - or "just" any other genre for that matter. Their tracklistings are a display of a deep knowledge of all kinds of experimental music, both new ánd old.
Due to their nature, they dó require some 'active' listening, though: they're never meant to be 'easy listening' background music.

And the same is true for this mix, "Both Were Moving": this is clearly no 'ambient' mix - it's a sonic rollercoaster ride!

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The announcement of this charity compilation - the very first release of the popular Headphone Commute weblog - has caused quite a buzz in the 'ambient' music community. I't not very difficult to see why.

Boasting a tracklisting of 87 tracks, it seems that almost everyone artist imaginable has contributed to ".... And Darkness Came".
More than six hours of music (and sounds) for just USD 10 (or more, of course) - of which all proceedings will go to Doctors Without Borders and The Humane Society to support those affected by the recent Hurricane Sandy.

How's that for a Christmas present?!

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In the Shortlist sections, I will mention some of the albums that I enjoyed listening to, but couldn't find the time (or the right words) for a "full" review for. Still, I think they deserve your attention: use the links to find more info and hear previews. 

Good Weather for an Airstrike - Lights
"Good Weather For An Airstrike (the name comes from a Sigur Rós piece) is an ambient/post-rock project by Tom Honey from Winchester, Hampshire UK. The idea of the project was to create a collection of relaxing sounds which would help Tom alleviate the issues caused by suffering from tinnitus, which causes a ringing sensation in the ear and can often result in difficulty sleeping. Combining processed guitars, dreamy strings, piano, synths, drums, lulling drones and subtle field recordings, Lights is full of wonderful soundscapes that mix ambient, electronic, post-rock and neo-classical sounds perfectly."

Offthesky & Man Watching the Stars - Afar, Farewell
Experimental violinist Brendan Paxton joins Jason 'Offthesky' Corder on these "five gorgeous tracks of slowly evolving melody on a soft bed of processed guitar, molten strings and Offthesky's deep and quirky signatures".

[read more...]

In the Shortlist sections, I will mention some of the albums that I enjoyed listening to, but couldn't find the time (or the right words) for a "full" review for. Still, I think they deserve your attention: use the links to find more info and hear previews.

Michel Banabila - Sum Dark 12
Available as a digital download for some time, but now also as a strictly limited CDr edition. Contains four tracks that were the basis for Banabila's impressive (at times even terrifying) set performed at the Summer Darkness festival in Utrecht, 2012, as well as a 22 minute live recording from that performance.
Definitely showcasing the darkest of the many sides of Michel Banabila!

Manuel Chantre - Six Mil Antenas
Soundtrack for the first 360 degree 'Satosphere' (Société des Arts Technologiques, Montreal) film, a "Journey in a futurist, psychedelic and non-linear universe", inspired by movies like Enter the Void, Alphaville, The Holy Mountain and then some. This visual experience must be quite overwhelming in itself, but without the images this soundtrack is also very much worth listening.
Fun detail: this album is also offered as a concrete block with USB-port. I did not dare to ask for the international shipment cost of this particular one...



Manuel Chantre also offers another compilation of soundtracks for audiovisual installation on "Memorsion and other Works", which features somewhat more ambient-oriented soundscapes.

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From the very first minutes of "Ivan Hoe and Other Tales", you will realise that this is not gonna be like one of your average atmospheric drone albums.

Starting with a spoken voice recording, taken "from old tape cassettes for English summer homeworks" and telling tales about the ancient Saxons from Sherwood Forest, the album shifts into "a journey into an almost cold, dark and 'aseptic' forest, ending with a come-back to a warm home".

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First: check my last.fm profile so you know that I'm not entirely 'unbiased' when reviewing this release. 

Michel Banabila and Machinefabriek are firmly at the top of my all-time favourite artists chart (well, to be exact: counting of 'all-time' started at 2005 when I "went digital" in listening music). 

Both have been extensively featured on this weblog (just do a search on their names to dig deeper) - even if that covers only a small part of their output.
Considering their complete discography, it seems their output is quite different in style - yet their work also has some overlapping areas, especially when it comes to "gritty" electronics. 

Knowing they both live in Rotterdam, it was clear that they should meet sometimes. I've been waiting for that to happen, but I had no idea if their collaboration would work and what the result might sound like. 

So imagine my surprise when, without any introduction or announcement, their collaborative album "Banabila & Machinefabriek"  was announced recently.

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Norwegian guitarist Eivind Aarset will probably be known by many of you, just for his contributions to the music of artists like Nils Petter Molvaer, Arve Henriksen, David Sylvian.

When reading about his new solo album, the combination of some details made it clear to me that this was a release to look forward to:  

First: it is released on the ECM-label.
Second: it is co-produced and co-composed by Jan Bang.  
Third: it's title is "Dream Logic" ...

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In the Shortlist sections, I will mention some of the albums that I enjoyed listening to, but couldn't find the time (or the right words) for a "full" review for. Still, I think they deserve your attention: use the links to find more info and hear previews.

STEVE ROACH & DIRK SERRIES - LOW VOLUME MUSIC
These two Grandmasters of Ambient music join forces again to create this "introspective musical palette solely dedicated to harmony, integrity and pure beauty."
"In a world where the noise level of daily life has increased to a fever pitch, this release offers an essential sonic respite from the external distractions. These five delicate sound meditations are built upon a perfect blend of deep ambient characteristics: looping and lush textures and harmonics mixed with subtle, hovering, lattice-like forms. The tracks follow a zen-like flow, bringing the listener's attention down to a distinct stillness, a single point; gently shifting, sparkling mirror pools of sound are revealed as meditations to reflect upon."

LOREN NERELL - SLOW DREAM
"Field recordings from the world of sleep" -  which prove to be Bali and Java (also the inspiration for many of Nerell's earlier albums)
"Nerell's four lengthy tracks are all-encompassing sonic environments primarily forged from extremely processed location recordings made during his trips to Bali. Rich drones and shimmering highlights skirt over the organic textures, processed and layered into subtle, delicate resonant spaces."

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Chavela Vargas, "hailed for her haunting performances, and called 'the rough voice of tendernes'" passed away august 5, 2012, at the age of 93.
 
She was an inspiration to many, but obviously also to Jeff Stonehouse,  a.k.a. Listening Mirror: 
"When I awoke, one Sunday morning, to learn of her passing, I took a deep breath, played 'Paloma Negra' one more time in her honour, and reached for my guitar…………” 

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Considering the musical background of the Godfather of Ambient / Generative Music, the introductory notes for Brian Eno's new album "Lux" are extremely short.
Of course: for those interested, Brian Eno does not need any further introduction.

Compared to its two predecessors released on Warp Records, "Small Craft on a Milk Sea"  and "Drums Between the Bells", this release is quite different. No relatively short poppy collaboration tracks this time: "Lux" is a slowly developing, 75 minute composition.
A return to "classic ambient" form, the kind of "music for thinking" Eno has created from the early eighties. A genre that since then has further developed and has diverted into a lot of different branches: drone, dark ambient, dance ambient, improv, soundscapes, field recordings. Each sub-genre with their own leading artists venturing into new territories.  
But, at the very root of it all, there's only one true Master.

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