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.
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.
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″.
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?
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.
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.
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.”
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?!
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”.
