Lyken; Andreas Bick; Alessio Ballerini; Machinefabriek; Joseph Curwen

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.

Terrestial Sea

LYKEN – THE TERRESTIAL SEA
“The result of a bio acoustic residency living and working with marine biologists from Aberdeen Universities Lighthouse Field Station in Cromarty, the Black Isle (Scotland). Gathering and utilizing their underwater acoustic research into how environment effects behaviour.”
Four track album (iTunes only?), featuring three instrumentals, and one created from eerie and alienating vocal samples (‘Scar History’). These tracks may fire your sub-aquatic imagination! My download copy also included an extra track (‘Wetland (Hurrel Lyken Mix)’) which isn’t mentioned in the download tracklist but is definitely worth finding.

Eolo

ANDREAS BICK – EOLO
[FREE DOWNLOAD]

“‘Eolo’ is the Italian name for Aeolus, the ruler of the wind in Greek mythology. On La Palma, trade winds carry a constant stream of clouds over the steep mountains and volcanos of the inland, forcing the clouds into erratic movements.”
This Galaverna release has a somewhat unusual format: it consist of a short (4 minute) audio-track and its accompanying video, shot on La Palma, Canary Islands, in 2010. The field recording soundtrack and the time lapse images from the La Palma cloud movements are taken to a completely different dimension by the angelic vocals of Almut Kühne.