Another sunset without you. How precious were those little moments… how futile are these tardy words. I didn’t get a chance to tell you, although I sensed that you have known. I mourned your soul before departure, while you just smiled and spread the light. And so you’re here, among, within me. This music makes us whole again.
ALL ENTRIES ARE LISTED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER BY ARTIST
In the silent and sad mountains, music speaks without the lyrics. Words escape and rise in clouds, forming vapor, pain and passion. Music, on the other hand, is harmless, floating low above the ground, spreading long and foggy fingers, through the grass and morning flowers. In this dark and lonely winter, snow begins to lightly tumble. There I sit without breathing, watching time pass in the moonlight.
ALL ENTRIES ARE LISTED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER BY ARTIST
Your mind is just a canvas; your life – projected film. Your skull is a museum of memories; your ego – a neurotic guard. Your consciousness is sleeping in this theater, alone and undisturbed. Why not invite some music? There’s plenty of empty space…
ALL ENTRIES ARE LISTED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER BY ARTIST
 Celer Viewpoint Murmur |
 Cindytalk A Life Is Everywhere Editions Mego |
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 Emptyset Recur Raster-Noton |
 Fabio Orsi & Pimmon Procrastination Home Normal |
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 Jack Dangers Bathyscaphe Trieste Primary Numbers |
 Mika Vainio / Joachim Nordwall Monstrance Touch |
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 Richard Chartier & Yann Novak Undefined Farmacia901 |
 Savvas Ysatis + Taylor Deupree Origin 12k |
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 Steve Hauschildt S/H Editions Mego |
 William Basinski + Richard Chartier Aurora Liminalis Line |
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I don’t timestamp music with transitions… I timestamp life transitions with this music… A period here, a semicolon there… Music played for long lost friends, and music that I play for them again right now… Because even if you’re not right here, and you can’t hear these sounds, I know that you are listening. And even though I’ll never admit this out loud, you know I miss you… always will…
ALL ENTRIES ARE LISTED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER BY ARTIST
Music evolution spins in cycles. A new development in sound hoards a following of copycats, too anxious to proliferate the world with the nuclear output of their laptops. There are some that fail. There are some that surf along with the wave before it breaks, emerging from nowhere and receding back to nothing. And then there are some who push the genre just a tiny bit further. Here’s to the pioneers of the continuously evolving bass sound, helping me keep my neighbors far away…
ALL ENTRIES ARE LISTED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER BY ARTIST
For the last three years in a row, I managed to torture myself with a great restraint of releasing these “Best Of” lists at a rate of only one per day. Honestly, I am exhausted. I hope your wallet feels exhausted too! Believe me, there’s nothing more I want, than to share all of this music with you! Especially this particular selection of albums that falls into one of my favorite categories! This is the music that excites every neuron, challenges the ordinary world, and triggers yet another thought. Dark, beautiful, cinematic, glitchy, quirky – these are adjectives that fail to describe the sound once again. How futile are these words, and how beautiful the music! Enjoy!!!
ALL ENTRIES ARE LISTED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER BY ARTIST
For the last four years this music has been haunting my days, then cautiously moved through the ether and entered my blood stream. This is the music of the ghosts lost in between the worlds. This is the music of the sacrificial rites where the dark is not exactly evil. This is the music of that silent breath on your neck following behind in your footsteps. Turn off all the lights. Sit back with your favorite drink. Turn up the volume. And let the ceremony begin…
Good night…
~HC
ALL ENTRIES ARE LISTED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER BY ARTIST
And just like that, without wasting any time, we move into our regularly scheduled programming, with the very first mix of 2014! Saimon Saimonse has previously charmed our listeners with his gorgeous selections for “without you i’m nothing“, “Road to Home“, and of course, “time of brock van wey“. Saimonse’s choices seem to overlap with my favorite quality of the mind – melancholia, nostalgia and sentimentality. But this is not a bleak and desolate state of affairs… Rather a sound of a heavy heart with a slow roll of a tear…
Photography by Bea Konefał-Trzaska
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As hard as I try to keep up with this endless torrent of beautiful music, there are still a few gems that seem to slip through the cracks. After publishing my own Best of 2013 lists, I spend countless hours combing through the internet in search of such treasure. Today I present you with the first part of my discoveries, courtesy of Stationary Travels favorite selections, who I’m very honored to have contribute to Headphone Commute.
 Elskavon Release Anthem Falls Elskavon is the ambient project of Chris Bartels who has several musical irons in the fire, including the indie band Bora York (with his wife Rebekah) and a more experimental electronic venture called Vitamin June. Of all these, it seems Elskavon is the most ambitious and fully realized. Like Elskavon’s debut, Movements in Season (2012), Release is a serene and lovely record catering to a very pure ambient aesthetic, although this time Bartels stretches a little more into drone territory in keeping with the wintry tone he intended to create. Piano and synthesizer based pieces are interwoven to create enough sonic variety to prevent the album from lapsing into blandness, and yet it maintains an appealing calmness throughout. A spring oriented follow-up is expected in 2014.
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 Threethings Antecedent Conditions Rural Colours Antecedent Conditions is the debut recording from Threethings, a solo ambient guitar project of Ben Worth, also of the post rock band Kontakte and the experimental sound project Stenorette (with Ben Dyson). It consists of six tracks of ambient acoustic and electric guitar run through a variety of effects pedals woven into a complex fabric of loops and melodies with occasional field recordings and piano. The press material on the album explains that Worth attempted to “find something beautiful in the imperfect and the accidental, the loops contain incidental sounds purposefully left in to maintain the atmosphere of the recording space.” It is impressive to see such a nuanced and patient recording from an artist who can also generate stadium worthy post rock anthems.
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 Zinovia The Gift of Affliction Tympanik Although this is her debut album as a solo artist, Athens-born Zinovia Arvanitidi has been studying, composing, and performing music since the age of 8 and has had work featured over the years in theatrical plays, films, and various other media as well as collaborating on a lovely album last year with composer Hior Chronik under the moniker Pill-Oh. That explains why this is such a polished and mature sounding record. She has created a set of elegant soundscapes sculpted from cinematic and modern classical elements and masterful incorporation of beats and effects. Surely one of the finest downtempo albums released this year. Out on Tympanik.
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 Off Land Tidewater Pulse Psychonavigation With Tidewater Pulse, New England artist and musician Tim Dwyer delivers his first full length album under the moniker Off Land. The album is a collection of minimalist ambient soundscapes orna-mented with delicate textures and field recordings to create a very meditative mood. As such, it is very unobtrusive and yet, in a subtle way, it is very lavishly textured. The sonic colors are icy cool and the wintry tone is strongly suggested by track titles such as ‘Drift Ice’ and ‘Permafrost’. Alternately tranquil and haunting, this is a beautiful album crafted patiently and will reveal many rewards and nuances to the listener who gives it their full attention.
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Words by Brian Housman of Stationary Travels.
This is a second installment of our Sound Bytes’ Missed Gems column, featuring a few quick roundups of the last year’s overseen favorites, as selected by Stationary Travels. I am definitely enjoying these discoveries, and hope that you will find a little treasure too…
 Siavash Amini Chamomile Vol. 01 Oído I had my first exposure to the music of Siavash Amini when he was featured as a Soundclouder of the day and immediately recognized that this was an artist that I was going to hear much more from. Chamomile Vol. 01 is his contribution to the Botica Música Electrónica series from Oído Records. The motif and phraseology of the label’s description comes across a bit New Age, but the music is richly atmospheric ambient guitar rendered with graceful beauty and deep pathos. This was one of my most often played records during the year. Also note that Siavash has an outstanding track in the Futureseqence Sequence 7 compilation called ‘A Mist of Grey Light’ and a new album expected early next year on Umor Rex records.
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 Simon Bainton Visiting Tides hibernate Visiting Tides is the work of British musician Simon Bainton. As intimated by the evocative title, the seven tracks are each named after different coastal areas that have inspired the artist. The description tells us that “the album draws from an entirely acoustic palette of instruments including piano, acoustic guitar, voice, harmonica, flute, wind chimes and also features the unmistakable cello of Danny Norbury“. On tracks such as ‘Porlock’, Bainton applies very minimal treatment, whereas others are heavily processed into mesmerizing drones, such as ‘Tankah’. The striking cover art is an image of Newborough Dunes, overlooking the Snowdonia mountain range taken by photographer Richard Outram.
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 Stray Theories Those Who Remain Already Dead Tapes and Records Born in Australia and based in New Zealand, Micah Templeton-Wolfe produces beautiful ambient music as Stray Theories. Released over the summer, Those Who Remain is no doubt his best work so far. “A growing-up of dark malignities can at times turn into something bright. [...] Capturing a deep yet delicate shade of color and tone, Stray Theories finds contrast from beginning to end with light and dark feelings.” There is a glassy smooth purity throughout the album, yet it never feels detached thanks to a well-constructed melodic framework and the depth of emotion that permeates each song. Add the mastering of Taylor Deupree to all of this musical craft and you have one very complete and satisfying album.
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 Secret Pyramid Movements of Night Students of Decay Secret Pyramid is the solo project of Vancouver-based musician Amir Abbey and this album was perhaps my favorite drone-oriented recording of the year. I almost passed it over, as some of the descriptions of it I read lead me to expect something dark and forbidding. “Abbey deftly navigates the properties of sleep and unconsciousness, charting a course that is equal parts harrowing and funereal, tranquil and sublime.” A deep melancholy bordering on a sense of loss does indeed haunt all the tracks, but they are also imbued with a transcendent grace so that the album never becomes maudlin or brooding. Instead, I consider it an enthralling, moving, and beautiful record which I can recommend unreservedly.
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Words by Brian Housman of Stationary Travels.
I was musing this morning on the difference between listening to a soundtrack and a whole album. Conceptually, both contain a cohesive body of work, although in soundtracks a particular melody may recur throughout, in its various forms and permutations. The latter adds a theme to an hour-long journey which nicely ties it from beginning to the end. And although a lot of music that I listen to can be classified as ‘emotional’, soundtracks tend to capture more of this feeling, often sending the listener on a roller coaster ride, full of dynamic and rhythmic ups and downs. This is especially true for the latest score by Jon Hopkins for How I Live Now, a 2013 film by Kevin Macdonald, adapted from the same titled young adult novel by Meg Rossoff. It is also interesting to compare this particular release to Hopkins’ latest magnum opus, titled Immunity (Domino, 2013), which has captured many critics’ hearts, as well as a slot on Headphone Commute’s Best of 2013 lists.
The music on the soundtrack is gentle, soothing and even fragile at times. There is plenty of closely-miked piano, strings, shuffling beats and a delicate touch of synthesized and post-processed sounds. The beauty of one melody can slowly recede, dissolve and even blend into another emotion. Suddenly the bass palpitates, and as one thought takes over another, the tempo picks up, along with the heartbeat pulsating in your veins. Soon a whirlpool of sound swallows all sentiment whole, finally releasing the passion in one single sigh, as if one final breath. Now atmospheric darkness cloaks the passage, and somewhere behind a wooden door, the piano shares its troubles with a couple of consoling violins.
Featuring some of his darkest, most nihilistic work to date, the score is built from two contrasting elements – atonal, sub-terrestrial drones with a backbone of pounding rhythms, and sublimely pastoral acoustic piano. These two opposing musical forces guide the viewer through the film, by turns disturbing and beautifully meditative.
I haven’t seen the film or read the book nor know the story, but from the music it is obvious that pure sorrow, agitation, and finally melancholy, dominate the plot of How I Live Now. In a way, the OST feels like an extension to Immunity (which is why I brought it up earlier), and on many of my rotations serves as a follow up in the queue. It’s one of those remarkable feats that clearly demonstrates its single origin of both, sound and mind.
Throughout the recording, Hopkins is always in control of sound. He knows, for example, that no instrument in an entire orchestra can make a rolling frequency thump, and so a deep [somehow organic sounding] bass is used to punctuate the rhythm. The glitchy electronica and dropping beats are replaced with warm organic ambiance and short poetic piano pieces. And yet among the few electronic elements appearing throughout the score, I’d still attempt to classify this work as modern classical in genre. The soundtrack is available on Just Music, an independent label from London, which has already published a few Hopkins works, including the acclaimed Insides (Domino, 2009).
jonhopkins.co.uk | justmusic.co.uk
I’d like to start at the very beginning, if that’s OK. How did you get into composing music?
Wow, that goes way back. Ever since i was a kid, music and sound could totally absorb me. I’m a musical autodidact, so I never learned to make music properly ;-) But I’ve always been very curious and hungry music-wise. I started experimenting with an acoustic guitar when I was 10 and the very first day I had my brand new acoustic guitar, I really fainted from excitement (which also broke my brand new guitar the very first day I had it). I’ve always been very sensitive to sound as well. People that know me, know that I often have difficulties focusing on a conversation, because I’m so distracted by the sounds around me like traffic or animals or whatever environment I’m in. Quiet early I started collecting all these sounds around me with cheap tape recorders. When I later discovered the four-track recorder and realized I could combine these musical elements with my recorded sounds, I was, eh, lost.
What does ‘Kaboom Karavan’ mean and how did you come up with it?
In music I never listen to the meaning of words, I rather listen to the sound and rhythm. So the name doesn’t have a specific meaning to me, but I very much like the sound of the K(a), it appears in many of my song titles (KoliK, KipKap, Karavanserai, ParKa, OmsK…) I also wanted a name that was not too serious and dark. And I have a fascination for caravans.
Tell us about the entire collective. Is it pretty much the same crew, or do you feature rotating musicians?
Well, I don’t really consider Kaboom Karavan a collective. It started as and still is mainly a solo project. But there have been quiet some other nice musicians involved over the years. But they were rotating over the years, and depending from the context (studio / live). In the Barra Barra period we played a lot as a trio live, with Stijn Dickel on guitar and amplified objects and Fred Van de Moortel on double bass. They’re both very good musicians, who brought a nice energy to the concerts (and you can hear them in some tracks on Barra Barra and on the recent compilation track for Dronarivm). But for now I’m back where I started and I’m playing alone a lot and I really like the intensity of these solo-sets. I very much like the speed of working alone and the fact that there’s no need to talk and make compromises. But I also like some interaction from time to time, so I’m quiet sure I’ll work with guests again in the studio and live at a certain point.
Can you reveal some of the most interesting instruments and found sounds used in your production?
That’s a difficult one. I’ve got such a huge collection here in my cellar with all kinds of found or self-made noisemakers. But I totally love the physicality and the cartoonesque sound of a Daxophone, I made a rework of it myself recently. And the very deep bass sounds in Barra Barra come from a really huge ‘bassdrum’ I once found. It turned out to be an enclosure to protect a big military radar, but its construction (a huge resonance box with a stretched membrane) is exactly what a bassdrum is. But because of its giant size, the sound is one of the lowest, deepest I’ve ever heard. And except for the playing children, ‘En Avant !’ is entirely made by rubbing my fingers over a (cassette) tape.
What theater productions have you been involved with lately?
Last year my main priorities were finishing Hokus Fokus and preparing/playing Kaboom solo live sets. Besides that I did some work for film/installation, so unfortunately there wasn’t much time left for theater productions. But some months ago did a nice collaboration with Cie Soit (of the great Belgian director Hans van den Broeck). We did a hybrid of theatre/installation/music/film in an old warehouse in Brussels, together with his companion and crazy drumster Karen Willems and Stijn Dickel on guitar and amplified objects. But for the near future I’d like to work more on theatre projects again, so good theatre directors who read this : I’m open for all good suggestions ;-)
And what about your thoughts for composing a film score?
In terms of collaboration, composing for film is definitely my favorite. Images are very important sources of inspiration for me. Last year I scored “Yuri ( and the frustration of our ponies)”, a too unknown but very good film of Belgian director Liesbeth Marit. The mesmerizing images were so thankful to work with and inspired me to make ‘Kolik’ and ‘Lovzar’ . But this is an exception because in general my approach to composing for film is quiet different from what I do with Kaboom Karavan. And that’s exactly what’s was so educational and challenging about it. When working for film I’m a servant of the director’s universe : that means that I adapt my whole role, my way of working, my instrumentation etc. to the needs of that specific universe. And it’s that universe that tells you what to do, and especially what not to do. Because restriction is definitely the key in composing for film : I’d try to be much more sparse and precise in my instrumentation and more minimal in arranging. While when I work for Kaboom I have the tendency to use many different sound sources and very layered arrangements. When scoring a film a want to look for a maximum enhancement of the image with a minimum of means.
If your life was a movie, and your music its soundtrack, what would be the main character’s story?
Ha, I’ll tell you a true story that happened to me lately. (And according to Erik Skodvin that story is ‘perfectly fitting the whole kaboom world’.) I live in an isolated rural area. One day I was going for a nature walk with my girlfriend. At a certain point we were walking a very long and very very small path. On the entire left side of the path there was a river (with a big ‘sluice’ [a gate in the water channel] a bit further), on the right side there was a field with big black horses. When we walked the path about halfway an extremely big and aggressive horse came up to us (we were only separated by a very thin and low rope). With each small movement we did, the horse became more and more aggressive and really attacked us. We tried to stand still, hand in hand, shaking from anxiety, but the horse got even wilder. The only way out was jumping into the big cold river to the left of us. Which we did (with the risk of ending up in the sluice and dying an adventurous but painful death). To cut a long story short : we survived. (by the way, the day later that same horse attacked another person and really bit off that person’s breast.) Anyhow, I have to agree with Erik : f.e ‘Kartoon Kannibal’ would have been the perfect soundtrack to our journey ;-)
Can you tell us about the cover art of Hokus Fokus?
Oh yes, it’s a painting from Tatjana Gerhard, I’m a huge fan of her work, cause it’s such a unique mixture of bizarre/odd versus dark, concrete versus abstract, but there’s also a lot of humor in her work. And all this is exactly what I had in mind music wise. I found this painting in the very beginning I started working on the album, so that little creature with its cape has been looking over my shoulder the whole time while making Hokus Fokus.
What are you working on right now?
Right now I’m working on a special audiovisual liveset for Mind TheGap Nights, a very nice concert series organised by International Film Festival of Rotterdam and the great magazine Gonzo Circus. For this occasion I’m working together again with director Liesbeth Marit who made some really nice videowork. Also Stephan Matthieu, Keith Rowe, Circle a.o will play there, so looking forward to that. And I also just started preparing a secret project for WMFU Radio. I’ll make a cover for the very first time, of a quiet famous popsong from the eighties. And I’ve got a really nice singer with the perfect voice for that, but it’s all still a bit of a secret.
Read Headphone Commute review of Hokus Fokus
Jon Hopkins has lingered in the outskirts of fame for some time, working with high-profile acts as disparate as Imogen Heap, Brian Eno, and Coldplay in the last ten years. His talents as a producer are varied and refined, as anyone who heard Imogen Heap’s music or Eno’s Small Craft on a Milk Sea (Warp, 2010) can testify [one of the most perfectly executed electronic albums of the last several years], and yet his style is fairly distinct when it comes to his own solo music. His 2009 album under his birth name, titled Insides (Domino, 2009), was a glitchy hybrid of tweaked IDM beats, bass music flare, and sensitive cinematic scoring, but on his follow-up [his fourth solo release up to date], Hopkins has streamlined his sound to focus on a four-to-the-floor beat and a rawer, more physical sound.
The results are staggering, especially when he lets his ideas run free for over nine minutes at a time. “Open Eye Signal” is the first single from Immunity, and after the glitchier swagger of opening track “We Disappear,” its immediacy and urgency make it a real highlight and sign of how tightened up Immunity is compared to Insides. “Open Eye Signal” incorporates a visceral rhythm section with dreamy, swooning synth pads, sounding like Boards of Canada on mescaline. “Breathe This Air” combines his knack for sweet, almost sentimental motifs with a more coarse dancefloor sound; it’s this combination of grit and tenderness that makes Immunity so powerful throughout. The bite of distortion and effects on his drums and bass throbs shifts the mood away from being too syrupy and instead becomes a really provocative push and pull between those worlds. “Collider” picks up where “Open Eye Signal” left off, another really infectious groove that ascends by way of its massive wall of pads that builds over time.
“The first sound on Immunity is that of a key turning, unlocking the door into Jon Hopkins’ East London studio. It’s followed by the noise of the door slamming, then footsteps, and then finally the crisp, clipping rhythms and pulsating bass of ‘We Disappear’ emerge, signposting the most club-friendly music Hopkins’ has made to date. So begins a confident, dramatic record defined by this acute sense of physicality and place…”
The album is certainly front-loaded with these jams, while the second half has more room to breathe. That contrast is actually somewhat of a relief, even if all of my favorites are among the first four tracks. “Abandon Window” drops out the low end completely for some introspective piano that gives way to vibrating pads, a nice palate cleanser that precedes the grimy shuffle of “Form By Firelight,” sounding perhaps most closely aligned with Insides . This skittering combination of seemingly syncopated objects and surfaces with lush cinematic arrangements overhead reflects that same push and pull I referenced earlier; even when the tempo varies and the mood differs, it’s that sweet contrast of juxtaposed sounds that is at the core of such a compelling body of work.
The only overt dancefloor gestures in the second half of Immunity appear in “Sun Harmonics,” a track that lives up to its name, with a brighter disposition that would make Âme proud, tinges of neo-trance coming through like rays of sunshine through parted clouds. At twelve minutes, it’s the longest track, and the one which Hopkins lets things wander most freely, with fairly conventional underpinnings that support its ideas. The title track is a breezy downtempo number, a comforting notion that after all of the emotional turbulence and physicality that’s preceded, “Immunity” is the result — protected and insular.
Hopkins takes us into his world and for an intense ride, but we’re safe from harm in the comfort of his musical ingenuity. Highly recommended. I saw Hopkins bring these tracks to life during his North American tour with Clark and Nathan Fake, and it was well worth it — a moving experience.
jonhopkins.co.uk | dominorecordco.us
Review by Matthew Mercer of Ear Influxion.
 Michel Banabila Float Tapu Beginning his career in the early 80′s, Michel Banabila‘s albums covered many different styles. So many, in fact, that his place in music was a bit difficult to pinpoint which sometimes seemed to confuse critics as well as potential followers. His albums presented world music, jazz, theatre play soundtracks as well as abstract and ambient music. In recent years, his output became more focused on experimental electronica. There were collaborations with Machinefabriek, Scanner, Zenial, Radboud Mens, and multimedia performances with Geert Mul and Gerco de Ruijter (who also created the striking cover image for this album). Float is a compilation album that reminds of Banabila’s distinct way of composing more melodic instrumental pieces of a very different kind. Pieces that often gain extra depth with the contributions of a variety of guest musicians. The album collects tracks from Banabila’s previously released works, but the selection fits together remarkably well, as if all pieces were composed especially for this album. Float may not bring much new music for those already familiar with Banabila’s work, but it’s a perfect introduction to his music if you’re relatively new to his ‘more melodic’ side!
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 Antonymes There Can Be No True Beauty… hibernate To celebrate its 50th release since 2009, hibernate could hardly have chosen any better release than Antonymes‘ There Can Be No True Beauty Without Decay. Not only because Ian Hazeldine’s music seems to represent all of the things that the label stands for (“both abstract and melodic but always with a hint of melancholy“), but also because the inspiration for this album came from his debut, Beauty Becomes the Enemy of the Future (2009), which was originally released in the very same year. Re-visiting his first album, Antonymes composed seven new tracks, and had them remixed by Ian Hawgood, Isnaj Dui, Offthesky, Field Rotation, Wil Bolton, Spheruleus and James Banbury to complete this album. There Can Be No True Beauty Without Decay presents the original and the reworks unpaired. One might be tempted to listen to the originals and the reworks as ‘true beauty’ vs. ‘decay’, but of course it’s not just that simple – since one can’t be without the other. ‘Beauty’ is often presented in Ian’s majestic and melancholic piano themes, while ‘Decay’ may be found in the electronic remix deconstruction, and in the sound of worn-out vinyl grooves, which seems to re-create that familiar but not yet forgotten sound of a different time.
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 Piano Interrupted The Unified Field Denovali The collision of different backgrounds can sometimes yield amazing results, as Piano Interrupted demonstrates with their latest album, The Unified Field. Tom Hodge (UK) and Franz Kirmann (France) are not only from different countries, but also come from different musical worlds: Tom being a classical and minimalist composer, Franz hailing from the world of electronica, pop and techno. Combining such different backgrounds has of course been done before. But not often the result was as sparkling and refreshingly original like this. The combination of cut-up samples, piano, cinematic strings and double bass (Tim Fairhall) works particular well here, because Kirmann and Hodge manage to combine complex arrangements and rhythm changes with a melodic content that immediately captures the listener, just to guide him further on a ‘seductive joyride through a diverse range of emotions’. “The title of the album comes from David Lynch’s book ‘Catching The Big Fish’. In the context of his film-making, Lynch explains that if such a field exists then everything within it interconnects in one way or another, so that scenes and elements that may initially seem disconnected from each other emotionally or in terms of meaning, would in fact eventually make sense. This idea seemed particularly fitting in a musical context also. Drawing upon multiple, varied styles and influences and bringing them into one coherent unifying whole.“
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 Aaron Martin + Christoph Berg Day Has Ended Dronarivm With only a few releases, the relatively new Moscow-based label Dronarivm found its status as one of contemporary ambient music’s most important labels [ed. perhaps it's the curatorial hand of Pleq?] With the release of Day Has Ended featuring eight tracks by Aaron Martin and Christoph Berg, that status is definitely confirmed – if not enhanced. Both Aaron Martin and Christoph Berg (the latter is also known as Field Rotation) are composers renowned for their work crossing the borders of ‘ambient soundscapes’ and ‘post-classical’ music. The track titles and cover image of Day Has Ended immediately set the atmosphere: “This is quiet, intimate music, interfused with daylight and covered by a soft mist of evening dreams. This album spans the course of a day until the point where night falls.” It is a split CD, which means that Martin and Berg did not collaborate in creating these individual tracks, but both perform all instruments on their own for each half of the album. Clearly they knew what kind of album they were aiming for, since there is no clash in style or content – both halves of the album complete each other in describing the course of a single, calm and quiet, contemplative day. “Just close your eyes, be all ears and you’ll feel – the night is not silent. Sweet tune of twilight and darkness full of echo, humming blue, vague voice of the strings and clear gleaming of bright stars in a velvet sky – that is the night.”
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Words by Peter van Cooten of Ambient Blog
 Jóhann Jóhannsson Prisoners WaterTower Music When I first heard Jóhann Jóhannsson‘s soundtrack to Prisoners, I forgot that I have heard it once before. I was sitting in a theater in Seattle, watching this thriller by Denis Villeneuve about an abduction of two young girls. The bleak environment surrounding the sorrow, dread and a peculiar discomfort was punctuated by the orchestral strings transcending tension, angst and heartache. The atmosphere of the music was haunting and even frightening at times. The numerous variations on a prevalent melody were wrought with worry, turmoil and suspense. The textured ambiance took me to a place that I’ve attempted to escape. Except there was no place to run, the sonic storm was moving fast and soon it was upon me. It was only after the film ended that I spied Jóhannsson’s surname in the credits. Ah, but of course! A few weeks prior, this Icelandic composer of neo-classical, electronic, and cinematic music sent me a promo copy of his latest work. In my rushed preparation for a week-long immersion in Seattle’s Decibel Festival, I dropped the files on my iPhone, and listened to the music on my flight to the West Coast. So once the melody broke down and the instruments have wept, back in that theatre in Seattle, I have felt that melancholic touch. And I have felt at home again… In the past decade, besides his critically acclaimed full length releases on labels such as Touch, 4AD and FatCat, Jóhannsson has composed numerous scores for feature films and stage works. The soundtrack to Prisoners is available from WaterTower Music on CD, and via Jóhannsson’s own label, Kitchen Motors, on vinyl.
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 Steven Price Gravity WaterTower Music Gravity was perhaps one of the few truly ambient films that I have ever seen. Relying heavily on visual queues and sonic environments, the viewer is very much alone… in space… left to his own devices. Although there is no real sound in space (because there are no molecules to vibrate), some minuscule waves exist around equipment and compensate for perceived pressure levels. The soundtrack for Gravity by Steven Price is a whole other story. Price has worked as a music editor for two of The Lord of the Rings entries, and composed the scores for The World’s End and Fury (currently in post-production). But Gravity withstands alone. There is a malevolent synthetic theme with various oscillations, quivers and throbs. The score completely lacks percussion, and thus the suspense and drama are built up with variations in tempo, thick layers of textures, and incredible dynamic crescendos. Although the score is mostly dominated by synthesized and DSP-heavy sound, there is a ray of sunshine in the form of stringed orchestra and even a distant voice. “Virtually everything we did was designed to morph between electronic and organic,” Price said. “The droning sound is actually derived from human voices that are pitched down and stretched out.” The surrounding void is conveyed through psychological motifs, occasional machinery bleeps, and finally intense explosions that end in tinnitus and silence. This is an emotional ride, with the sounds circling, approaching and retreating in every direction. If Gravity represents the new sound of space music, then consider me on board! Highly recommended, especially if you’re new to soundtracks!
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 Ben Frost Black Marrow self Ben Frost‘s 2009 album on Bedroom Community, titled By The Throat, introduced his followers to a growling sound of the unknown. On this self-released original score, commissioned by Erna Ómarsdóttir and Damien Jalet the beast is back. The rhythmic abstraction of distorted pulses and tones is submerged in sub-bass frequencies, industrial drone and the din of singing bowls. The animal that haunted many of my nightmares is heaving, growling and retching in the spasms of dying throes. If I’ve ever used an adjective such as “unnerving” to describe his music, than Frost has surely redefined its meaning once again. This is an agitated, turbulent and wild journey, full of static, discord and noise. At one point the creature sounds human, yet I can’t possibly picture its agonized eyes. Somewhere in the foreground some strings brood over the synthetic insects, while the beast is gasping for air. The soundtrack also features the work of Oren Ambarchi, Borgar Magnason, Nico Muhly and Helgi Hrafn Jónson, but amidst the disturbing palpitations I can not possible picture a performance by Chunky Move Dance Company, which Black Marrow is supposed to accompany on the stage. Beyond the adjectives conveying my distress lies the music that simply makes me feel. And when this self-released seven-piece soundtrack ends, I move on to other recent works by Mr. Frost: FAR and Sleeping Beauty. All three are available digitally directly from Frost’s bandcamp.
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 Peter Peter and Peter Kyed Valhalla Rising Milan Having not seen Valhalla Rising by Nicolas Winding Refn, I could still tell that it is a pretty drab affair. This 2009 film follows a Norse warrior, a boy, and a band of Christians in pursuit of a Crusade set in 1,000 AD. The soundtrack, released by Milan Records almost four years after the film, features fifteen tracks, alternating between short soundscapes by Giles Lamb and Douglas MacDougall; and longer cinematic pieces (sometimes approaching the ten minute mark) by the actual composers of the score, Peter Peter and Peter Kyed. The atmosphere rumbles with low frequencies, digital growls, and viking drums. The dark ambient drones are incredibly sinister, sometimes diving into abyssal and infernal depths, where sin and evil suffer in pain. Although I’m missing the visual component of this story, I must admit that its sonic part makes up in full. Auditory images of sacrificial rites, demonology and Norse mythology fill the foreground of this canvas, while track titles, such as “Caged“, “Christians“, and “Into Hell” provide the story behind the film. This is not a piece for the faint-hearted or deep listening at nights, unless, of course, you dare to let the music scare you. If latter is the case, well, come on in, turn off all the lights, turn up you sub (or grab some seriously bass-heavy headphones), and immerse yourself in this cavernous and endless trip, preferably in a horizontal position. Milan Records is a Los Angeles based label releasing favorite scores by Max Richter, Jóhann Jóhannsson and Clint Mansell.
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All words by HC
What’s unique and incredibly enchanting about mixes by Roel Funcken is that he doesn’t simply select and lay out his favorite pieces – he also manipulates them into a gorgeous matrimony of sounds. As a long time producer and member of Funckarma (along with his brother Don), Funcken lightly applies minimal effects to already stunning collection of tracks, and dissipates all sudden spikes in transition. This particular mix is full of beautiful music by the likes of Rafael Anton Irisarri, Rival Consoles, Hior Chronik, Nils Frahm, Arovane, Clark, Burial, Deaf Center and many of this other favorites… I recommend you listen without the below tracklisting and see how many tracks you recognize… Enjoy!
[ STREAM ] | [ DOWNLOAD ] | [ PODCAST ] | [ iTUNES ]
 Esmerine Dalmak Constellation With Dalmak, the Esmerine quartet (Bruce Cawdron, Beckie Foon, Jamie Thompson and Brian Sanderson) deliver their first album since 2011 and what an aural feast it is. Here again, some background on the album’s genesis is important to getting the most from it. “Dalmak is a Turkish verb with many connotations: to contemplate, to be absorbed in, to dive into, to bathe in, to rush into, to plummet. As a title for Esmerine’s new album, ‘dalmak’ refers in a literal sense to immersion in the culture and music of Istanbul but also appropriately evokes the range of music that emerged from this immersion: a collection of songs that shift between meditative pulsing and enveloping restraint to headlong flights into rhythm and groove.” “Lost River Blues”, “Barn Board Fire”, and “Translator’s Clos” form the up-tempo core of the album and the dynamic collaboration with a variety of guest players which are then ensconced between by more subdued pieces such as “Learning to Crawl” and “White Pine”. Superb.
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 Don Peris The Old Century Jamez Mountain I bought the first three Innocence Mission albums upon their release between 1989 and 1995 and then inexplicably lost track of them while they proceeded to create their finest works. Part of the joy of rediscovering them was learning that guitarist Don Peris has also created some lovely solo works, of which The Old Century is the most recent. It is an elegant homage to the guitar on several levels as Peris explains, “I studied classical guitar in college and have spent the subsequent years enamored with the poetic voice of this humble instrument. I also love the atmospheric tone that can be created by the electric guitar. I use a 1954 Gretsch Electromatic hollow-body, a Gretsch 6120, a numerous assortment of 60′s Guild nylon-stringed guitars, my 70′s Guild D44 steel string, a noisy Princeton Reverb amp and a recycled 3/4 size student cello.” Through the album’s 15 tracks, he sketches in both classical and folk idioms to weave a spellbinding web of nostalgia in the warm sepia tones of his instruments.
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 Dalot Ancestors n5MD The latest album from Maria Papadomanolaki, as Dalot, is essentially a modern classical EP complimented by three diverse remixes of the title track. The story behind the album is essential for a proper appreciation of it: “In December 2012, I spent two weeks going through and sorting out the photographs, notebooks and paper clippings found scattered in the drawers of my grandfather’s desk that was left untouched since 1996. ‘Ancestors’ is a reconstruction of fragments, not concerned with the accuracy of images and moments but with opening up the flood of memory mechanics to imagination and transformation… What may sound as a nostalgic look into childhood, in ‘Ancestors’ takes the role of a playful escape from the actualities of ‘now’”. In the hands of Dalot and her collaborators on guitar, cello and vocals, the title track is delicate and beautiful. Then Dryft, Northcape, and bvdub each re-imagine it, expanding the scope of the record deeply into ambient and downtempo territory. All in all, a spellbinding and lovely package.
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 Orbit Over Luna Transit self Earlier this year [in 2013], Shannon Penner announced that he would be taking a break from his Orbit Over Luna project and then surprised us with a summer release that was as beautiful as it was unexpected. Transit is a purely ambient album that came together from a variety of demos and experiments in tone and texture and the artist’s own irrepressible drive to create. There are seven tracks, each with an eloquent and evocative title perfectly suited to the soundscape it represents: ‘the breathing of roots’, ‘saturnine’, ‘chambers of the sea’, ‘sungazing’, ‘Ylla’, ‘un jardin des cieux’, and ‘in the decay of shadows’, and each one unfolds patiently like the unhurried blooming of a flower. Also as a talented graphic artist, Shannon created art for each track, making this a very appealing package and perhaps the most fortuitous musical “accident” of the year. Be sure to check out two other more recent self-released EPs: 京都/奈良 – Kyoto/Nara (2012) and 広暇／宮島 – Hiroshima/Miyajima (2013). It may help to know that these digital-only releases were mastered by Taylor Deupree.
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Words by Brian Housman of Stationary Travels
If you’ve been following, counting, or simply reading the subject, this is the fourth entry in the Missed Gems Sound Bytes column, in which I [desperately] catch up to all the great music of last year that somehow washed out through the cracks. Thankfully Stationary Travels saves the day with hand-picked jewels that caught their ear. Don’t forget to click on the image which will take you on to the album’s page on bandcamp where you can preview the entire album and hopefully will buy! More installments to come!
 Monochromie Colours in the Dark Time Released Sound With Colours in the Dark Wilson Trouvé takes his Monochromie project down a more pastoral path with an album mastered by Wil Bolton centered almost completely around the piano with minimal amounts of additional sonic ornamentation. The tone is melancholic and nostalgic, with a dash of romanticism casting light gently on the grey, though he does add depth and atmosphere to the final three tracks where electronics are brought to the fore. I find the trio of songs in the central part of the album, “Whales“, “Old Times“, and “Łódź” to be especially lovely. This is another great addition to the beloved Time Released Sound, an independent label by Colin Herric which releases gorgeous, limited, and hand-made gems.
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 Porya Hatami The Waning Branches Wist Rec The Waning Branches is a unique concept EP which charts the growth and sudden decline of a single morus tree in Sanandaj, Iran through the mediums of cartography and sound. The sound aspect is comprised of just under 19 minutes of minimal ambient music with subtle elements of drone and field recordings woven into the mix. It is quite lovely, especially in the closing minutes as the tone becomes both ethereal and melancholic. The visual element is part of a very attractive environmentally friendly handmade physical CD package that can be ordered through the Wist Rec label featuring photographs, drawings, maps of the local region, and beet juice ink grown in the assembler’s garden.
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 Ancient Colours Relent Preserved Sound Ancient Colours is the solo project of guitarist and songwriter Simon Allum and his debut album Relent is a warm and lovely record of guitar-based meditations. The influence of guitarists like Jansch and Fahey is evident on tracks such as “The Night Hangs Like A Jewel“, “A Message To This World From That Which Is To Come“, and “I Know You Are Never Coming Home“. Each one is hand-crafted with a sonic patina like burnished wood. And “Pose of a Saint” reminds me of the very best of July Skies – soaked in dreamy reverb and melancholy, it paints a picture in sound of dappled sunlight, golden fields, and autumn afternoons.
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 woodworkings day breaks… Own Records woodworkings is the neoclassical and ambient music of Kyle Woodworth and his latest album, titled day breaks the morning shapes we speak, mastered by Taylor Deupree for Own Records inhabits a lovely space somewhere between ambient and modern classical. It has the organic, woodsy warmth of acoustic guitar and strings tempered by the wintry coolness of ambient electronics and seamlessly blends the two into a gossamer web of melancholic introspection. “The new album is about distance and states — meaning both state of place and state of mind.“ An understated gem of a record that should not be missed.
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Words by Brian Housman of Stationary Travels
Hi Otto… where are you these days and what did you do this past weekend?
Hey! I’m living in Porsgrunn, Norway. A small city about a 2 hours drive from Oslo. I haven’t been up to much this past week. January is a “sit inside do little” kind of month for me, being the darkest and coldest month of the year. Winter came on late but strong.
I love the way you play the piano. What is your musical background? Have you been classically trained by any chance?
Thank you! Well, I did try piano school, a couple of times, when I was very young. But to be honest, I hate the school system. People telling me how to play. Giving me homework: “Go home and learn THIS!”. I always felt naturally drawn to the piano. I didn’t want to kill the enjoyment with piano homework and schooling. I had enough school in my life already. Of course, I like getting tips and inspiration from other pianists – but I want to figure out the instrument myself, on my terms. I don’t know how to play by notes, but I’ve worked a lot with MIDI synths and sequencers. Actually, I started out playing on keyboards and synths only.
Besides working with Erik Skodvin on Deaf Center and Huw Roberts on Nest, you also put out a few digital EPs under your Supine moniker. But what finally prompted you to release a full album under your real name?
Erik has always been my main friend and music partner. I’ve learned so much from him. He’s also the reason I have a name in the music scene. With his netlabel, Miasmah, and activity on IRC – he made a lot of friends. Like John Twells of typerecords.com and Huw Roberts of serein.co.uk. Erik also introduced me to Nils Frahm and Monique of sonicpieces.com. They are all superb people. I remember instantly loving the music Huw Roberts released on Miasmah. It just resonated with me. Huw has an approach to music that is very similar to my own. That was very apparent when we made Retold together. He could continue my piano playing – you cannot hear where I end and he takes over. Good examples are the tracks Lodge and Marefjellet. It felt so natural to build on the tracks he started and I believe also vice-versa. And it’s weird – Huw and me have never met in person. Erik and me are more opposites. But I enjoy working with them both equally. Supine was left behind with the net release on Miasmah. It was natural to use my full name for Pinô.
Pinô contains 18 absolutely gorgeous pieces! How long have you been working on these? Do you remember all of the vignettes by heart or do you actually employ sheet music?
I would say Pinô consists of three types of pieces: Composed (steps, pinô, julie). They could be sheet music. I play them similar every time. Improvised (seveen, bluss, âust). I had not played them before. What you hear is the first time. Piano ambient (open, aquet, flomé). For airy breaks between the more melodic pieces.
When I heard the album, I instantly recognized Nils Frahm’s fragile piano! I even had a sense that I heard him quietly walking in the background. So was this album recorded at the Durton Studio? I know that must have been an easy choice to make, but nevertheless, how did that come about?
Yes! it’s all done in Nils studio. And yeah, you can hear Nils in the background (including coughing, haha). I have high regards for Nils, I liked him instantly when I met him for the first time, doing Owl Splinters together. He has done everything you can imagine. I love listening to his back-catalog of work. He’s into anything and everything. I love that. I am too. He’s genuinely interested in everything music – there is a high degree of quality in everything he does, no matter what style. So to be working with him in his studio is really a privilege. Durton studios is warm, analogue and authentic. It’s built with pure passion and quality… And I feel at home there. He’s a superb host too.
Do you have a piano in your home? If so, can you tell us more about it?
ah, well. Yes – I do have a piano. Sadly, I’m not too fond of it and I need to buy a new one. My piano stands at my parents house – I don’t have space for it in my flat. I use a Clavia Nord Piano 2 here at my flat.
The sounds on the album are extremely delicate. I love to hear the mechanics of the keys and hammers and even some slight, barely audible sounds of your breathing… What sort of aesthetic were you aiming to achieve with this recording, and are you happy with the outcome?
To be honest – I didn’t have any particular aims. I knew the pieces I wanted to record. Nils did all the recording, mixing, effects and mastering. We didn’t add any background noise – Nils opened the window at one point and we let the outside noises leak in. It’s easy to hear on the track ‘julie’. yes, I’m very happy with it. imperfect and humble.
One of my absolutely favorite tracks on the album is “ro to”, where the same theme is transposed a few scales higher and played just a bit slower, and somehow that changes the entire feel of the piece. Can you talk a bit about that?
I agree. It’s like getting two perspectives on the same piece. It was Nils idea and it worked out really nice. I don’t have more to say about it – but I’m happy you liked it.
Do you have a particular approach to composing? I picture you writing these pieces in the dark, with open windows and a slight taste of wine.
I don’t have a particular approach, no. I have these days, when I’m really inspired / emotional, and the basis of a piece just appear. Like I know it. Then I play it over and over and evolve it into a complete piece. Solêr was composed first for the left hand. I used weeks to find the melody I play with my right hand. Every piece have different approaches – some comes effortlessly.
Who are your favorite classical (and neo/modern classical) composers?
so many – but I want to mention these guys: Keith Kenniff: He is superb – both as a composer and a person. His sound is very inspiering to me. Murcof. Mark Dawson (Brambles) and Alex Smalley (Olan Mill), both artists on serein.co.uk. Gonzales and his solo piano 1 and 2. Film music composers like: Yann Tiersen, Angelo Badalamenti and Vangelis.
Stay tuned for an in-depth review of Pinô on Headphone Commute!
There were a few things that I had to do this past weekend. Pay my bills, vacuum the rug in my studio, and oh, I absolutely had to write a review of Otto A. Totland‘s Pinô, because A) it finally came out on Sonic Pieces a few days ago [even though I've listened to the album for the past three months]; and B) I already scheduled an interview to be published with this talented Norwegian musician for Monday morning. But forcing inspiration and the right mood for words is futile. Instead I ended up running around New York city, picking up some rare yellow tea and yes, another pair of headphones, and by the time the Sunday night rolled in, I found myself drowning out the cheer of the Super Bowl with anything but soft piano keys. Then Monday came around… And it snowed… Finally things made sense, as serendipity unfolded on its own. And now I find myself walking through snow-covered streets, and Pinô is more beautiful than ever… Sometimes I should just let life unfold…
Although I prefer to hear most albums through my audiophile grade hifi, there’s something magical about Pinô when listen through a pair of headphones. I often feel as if I am eavesdropping on a late night recording session in Nils Frahm‘s studio, my shadow just around the corner, my presence over Totland’s shoulder, my ear on the piano’s wood. I pick up on each delicate hammer touch, each intricate move of its innards, each barely audible breath of the human behind. How can these sounds flow through those hands? And like a lost apparition I float through the strings and the hammers, through keys and through fingers, through cryptic synaptic responses, into something that’s someone calls “Otto”, into something I can not explain.
“Each silence leads into quick flutters of keys, preparing the listener for a vast terrain of giddy beauty, bleak depths, and true contentedness. Pino quickly recalls deep winter; in front of a fireplace for days on end, you lose how far along you’ve ventured into the [album] without any idea how far is left to go. The experience feels inevitable, with no other option but to curl up somewhere cozy and appreciate the sense of timelessness that Totland has created.”
With eighteen fragile solo piano compositions, indeed recorded at Frahm’s Durton Studios in Berlin, Totland’s Pinô instantly propels to the top of my all time favourite albums. I knew this from my very first listen, and I know it even now, upon its hundredth repeat play. Of course I am familiar with Totland’s past works. There is his work with Serein‘s label boss Huw Roberts as Nest, with Retold (2010) prominently appearing on Headphone Commute’s Best of 2010. And then, of course, there is the celebrated Deaf Center project, with which Otto Totland and Erik Skodvin (also known as Svarte Greiner and owner of Miasmah) delighted the loyal fans and followers of Type with Pale Ravine (2005), Levende (2006) and Owl Splinters (2011) — all highly recommended. But besides the modern classical, cinematic and dark ambient compositions in these two projects, apparently sir Totland also plays, plays well, and oh, so spellbinding and superb!
From these words you can tell that I am absolutely in love with Pinô! And I am especially excited to see this gem appear on Sonic Pieces, a Berlin-based label that has charmed with every single release, from hand-made packaging to an exquisite curation by Monique Recknagel. You barely can go wrong with Sonic Pieces, even if you pre-ordered every upcoming LP right now. Search these pages, and you will find my musings on almost every release. I want to sincerely thank Monique, Nils and Otto for sharing this music with me and the world. It’s more than a score to my daily commute – it’s really the soundtrack to my life! Pinô is a gorgeous full-length as a solo début – an absolute must!!!
Be sure to read my Interview with Otto A. Totland where he reveals that some pieces were completely improvised during the recording!
Words by HC
