James Murray; Offthesky; Mute Forest; Ugasanie
There is beauty in darkness – and there is often darkness in beauty.
Both are present in these releases from James Murray, Offthesky, Mute Forest and Ugasanie (ordered by increasing darkness)
Category: other-music
Mauro Beltrán; Tatsuro Kojima; Drawing Virtual Gardens; JesterN
Catching up some more:
an eclectic collection from young spanish composer Mauro Beltrán, ‘tactile’ music from Tatsuro Kojima, fragile yet virtual memories from Drawing Virtual Gardens, and an astonishing (surround) set by JesterN best described as ‘ambient electroacoustic breakcore’.
Gideon Wolf; Michael Begg; Thomas Ragsdale; Variables;
Catching up with some beautiful releases from the past few months:
Albums from Gideon Wolf, Michael Begg (Human Greed), Thomas Ragsdale and a collective of Bigo & Twigetti artists producing their album from scratch in only seven days!
Max Richter – (From) Sleep
“Somehow, in Europe, over the last century, as complexity and inaccessibility became equated with intelligence and the avant-garde, we lost something along the way. Modernism gave us so many stunning works, but we also lost our lullabies.”
Long-form compositions are a challenge to a composer, because he (she) has to deal with the audience’s relatively short attention span: not many people will be able to focus and keep their concentration for 4 hours or even more. For this reason, it is no surprise that long-form experiments are often found in the realm of ambient music. Ánd that they are often dealing with ‘sleep’ – which instantly solves the attention span problem too.
Mike Cooper; J Butler; Tambour; Lunae Lumen
Mike Cooper’s Fratello Mare is a journey you’d better not begin unprepared: it’s exploring the beauty of the Pacific yet somehow also resembles Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas…!?
Furthermore: some music to calm down to: guitar pedal soundscapes by J. Butler, and two short neo-classical EP’s by Tambour and Lunae Lumen
Michel Banabila – Jump Cuts (EP)
On Jump Cuts, Banabila presents a return-to-style to the music that bears his unique personal trademark.
The kind of patchwork sounds he created for previous albums like Voiznoiz and Precious Images – the kind of music that also perfectly fits theatre, dance, documentary or movies soundtracks.
Anne Garner – Be Life
With her previous releases, Anne Garner has secured a very special place, right in the middle of the area where indie folk, singer-songwriter and ambient music overlap.
On Be Life, her latest collaboraton with James Murray, Anne’s otherworldy vocals are even more intense and intimate than before.
This is shamelessly romantic music … as reassuring as a new-found love!
Ebauche; Todd Tobias; Arash Akbari; Darren McClure & Jose Soberanes
Soundscapes from all over the globe: new albums from Ebauche (Ireland, Poland, Cambodia); Todd Tobias (US); Arash Akbari (Iran); Darren McClure (Japan) & Jose Soberanes (Mexico)
Jean-Paul Dessy + Musiques Nouvelles – O’Clock
Jean-Paul Dessy (1963) is a Belgian composer with an impressive track record.
One that is clearly not afraid to cross borders into unknown territories: he has a distinct personal style of composing, which is quite different from other contemporary modern classical composers that often choose the romantic ‘cinematographic’ style. His work is dramatic, extremely dynamic – a roller coaster ride of conflicting emotions.
This is neither classical music as-we-know-it, nor is it rock music disguised as a symphony.
It’s not simply following the current ‘hip and happening’ post-classical style, but completely unique and personal.