VVolk * Claudio F Baroni * Olivia Block
Vvolk may very well be the only ‘ambient orchestra’ in the world * Three works inspired by (perpetual) motion by Claudio F. Baroni * Olivia Block‘s ‘132 Ranks’ will make you feel humble.
Tag: minimal
The Pitch * Ben Bertrand
Slow down time with κασετα from The Pitch, and/or dive into the NGC 1999 Nebula (1.500 light-years from home) with Ben Bertrand
Baker/Goff/Harris * Ze-Ka
Intense improvisations by Aidan Baker/Simon Goff/Thor Harris, and fascinating cellotronics by Ze-Ka
Cut Worms * Michel Banabila * Jeroen Effern
Dutch Roundup (worth international attention): Cut Worms ‘Cable Mounds’, Michel Banabila ‘Stop Motion’ and Jeroen Effern‘s Untitled album.
Christoph Berg * Jeffrey Roden
Two great ‘Contemporary Classical’ albums:
Christoph Berg‘s ‘Conversations’, released on the Sonic Pieces label.
and
Jeffrey Roden‘s Next Level Minimalism on volume 2 of “Threads of a Prayer”
Kid Koala + Emiliana Torrini * Mario Batkovic
A short but refreshing break from the usual ambient soundscapes: Kid Koala and Emiliana Torrini’s collaboration album called ‘Music to Draw To’, and a spectacular reissue of accordeon wizard Mario Batkovic’s ‘Solo’ album.
CEEYS; Poppy Nogood; Joe Frawley
CEEYS play an intimate church live session; music for Mourning by Poppy Nogood; and Joe Frawley captures the spirit of the ‘Cartomancer’ Olney H. Richmond.
Soccer Committee / Machinefabriek: “Soccer Machine Mix”
Around december 2007, I made a mix from Soccer Commitee’s music and music from Machinefabriek.
This mix is never published here before, because it was made for the dutch NPS-Folio radio show broadcast.
I don’t usually post the Folio broadcasts here, but it’s time to make an exception to that rule: a recent social media post about the beauty of Soccer Committee’s album sC made me decide it was time to dust off the 2007 mix and publish it again.
Because it’s still as powerful now as it was back then, almost 10 years ago.
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.