Michael Bonaventure explores the darkness combining the intimidating sound of the church organ with electronics and samples *** Todor Todoroff explores various parallel universes with a fascinating array of electroacoustic and acousmatic sounds.
The adventurously bright acousmatic soundscape Phonotopological by Robert Scott Thompson is beautifully contrasted by the dark Selva Oscura of William Basinski and Lawrence English.
Take a virtual trip around the world with incredible ambisonic soundscapes by Jonty Harrison, Sound Meccano + Jura Laiva and Chris Watson.
(Headphone listening recommended!)
Discover hitherto unknown sonic regions of Svalbard (Spitsbergen) with the acousmatic compositions from Daniel Blinkhorn, a.k.a. FrostBYte
Available in Stereo as well as in stunning full surround versions.
The title ‘One Dog Night’, refers to ‘an adage once used to describe how cold the temperature could drop at night. If it was a particularly cold night, it may have been appropriate to have one, two, even three of your dogs on the bed with you to help keep you warm as you slept!’
‘Borderlands’ is an extended meditation for multitracked cellos recorded by cellist William Mace. The composition ‘comprises of six interludes and six extended panels, each comprising twenty-eight short melodic fragments. Each panel uses the same fragments to form new melodies and harmonies.” – but for the listener it feels – and can be enjoyed – as one single uninterrupted piece.
A piece in which every single detail has its place, a piece that conveys that everything is as it should be. A very, very comforting piece.
Only short after the minimalistic generative soundscape presented on “The Endless Change of Colour“, Marsen Jules displays a completely different musical approach with this album by the Marsen Jules Trio.
As the …Trio indicates, this album presents Marsen Jules’ atmospheric soundscapes with the addition of two other musicians: twin brothers Anwar Alam (piano) and Jan-Philipp Alam (violin), with whom Marsen Jules played tours and festivals across the USA, Canada and Europe.
“Présence Acousmatique” is a stunning synergy of ambient, avant-garde, modern classical and introspective jazz music. It is released on Jules’ own Oktaf label, but stylistically it would have also fitted the ECM (new) series.
When I first read the title of Monty Adkins‘ latest album, “Four Shibusa”, I imagined a Shibusa would probably be some kind of exotic Japanese wind instrument.
I was wrong: it turns out ‘Shibusa’ is a japanese concept ‘describing the inherent simplicity and beauty in everyday objects’.
(Shibusa) “refers to a particular aesthetic of simple, subtle, and unobtrusive beauty, and can apply to a wide variety of subjects, not just art or fashion”.
This description strikingly seems to apply to what most ‘ambient’ music tries to achieve…so there’s a good start for further investigation!
