Dear friends,

Thanks to your generosity and tremendous support we were able to raise yet another $10,000 [and this is after all the fees by Bandcamp and PayPal] and make two donations in January of 2014 to Doctors Without Borders and The Humane Society. This is a monumental achievement, considering that the compilation was released more than a year ago, as well as an undeniable testimony that music can and will be used for good. Check out this excellent article by Tobias Fischer of Tokafi, titled Powerful Potential, covering this positive force of change, including Headphone Commute’s colossal compilation.

But wait, that’s not all!

Through some serendipitous recourse and perfect timing, we were able to stretch that ten thousand dollars even further!!! The Humane Society was running a special appeal which included a 100% match from another non-profit organization for all donations in the month of December, so of course we jumped on board. Plus, there was yet another drive through HC’s [undisclosed] employer, which pledged a 25% match for all charitable donations within a particular time. Which, if our math serves us right, actually raised a total of $15,000!

And that means that to date, again with many thanks of you, we all have raised a grand total of $35,000!!!

headphonecommute.bandcamp.com

Thank you!
~HC

Matthew Mercer stops by Headphone Commute to revisit a set of his favorite recent releases from the Brooklyn (New York, USA) based Tri Angle label, run by Robin Carolan for this Sound Bytes label special. We hope that you enjoy…

The Haxan Cloak Excavation Tri Angle Tri Angle presents nine new incredibly dark excursions from Bobby Krlic. The concept of this album is the journey of the soul after death — and rest assured, Krlic is not talking pearly gates, angels and harps. This is one sordid set of pitch black tracks. The transition from Aurora Borealis to Tri Angle makes sense by virtue of how much more rhythmically focused this set of tracks is; while cello and strings still appear, they are not the focus of the music at all. Compared to his self-titled debut, this feels more overtly electronic and has more of a low-end pulse to it, with a heavy emphasis on doom. Opening prologue “Consumed” sets the tone with a thunderous low-end letting you know this is pretty intense stuff. From there it really is hard to speak to specifics of the album, as it flows so well as a complete idea. Krlic splits the aesthetic pretty deftly between the dense doom of his debut and more spacious electronic sound, as heard on both halves of “Excavation” or “Dieu.” But he truly strikes gold with “Drop,” the thirteen minute finale. Its melodic synth is a breath of fresh air after so many dense drones and low end exclamations, but the piece has a whole trajectory of its own, shifting focus from melody to something more sinister and rhythmic before it ends. One of the finest albums of the year, hands down.		Forest Swords Engravings Tri Angle The debut full-length from Matthew Barnes incrementally expands on the palette of sounds he’d laid out on his first couple of EPs. Engravings gives a fully formed impression of the ideas from his first releases, with each of these feeling more deliberate and accomplished than their predecessors. Despite having so much in common with his previous Dagger Paths, Barnes has largely perfected his rather unique sound that incorporates tremolo stringed instruments, lo-fi, stripped down homemade percussion, dubby delay, lonely guitar, and manipulated, circular samples of cut-up voices, noise, and crude flutes. The latter is a key element of many tracks, especially “Irby Tremor” with its strange appropriated horn samples and wheezy flute samples over a deep, dubby arrangement. At times that sampling style reminds me of Matt Elliott’s sampling tactics as Third Eye Foundation, where seemingly ordinary instruments become disorienting loops of sound. It all converges with style on the syncopated clatter of “Friend, You Will Never Learn,” the eight-minute finale that combines all of the elements with an emphasis on murky strings, choral stabs, and noodly melodic patterns. While Barnes has far from reinvented himself here, he’s more finely honed his sound and is showcasing his individual sense of style with flair.
FIS Preparations Tri Angle Oliver Peryman migrates over from his abstract dnb on Void Coms to Tri Angle as FIS. These tracks push further into the fringes of downtempo and dance music, with “Magister Nunns” eschewing convention altogether and instead twitching and shuddering for four minutes while a whistle wails overhead. “DMT Usher” is a repress of one of his older tracks, shivering similarly but is anchored by a jerky downtempo groove. Its quivering leads build in strength until it finally all stops while the groove does its thing with some well-deserved clarity. It’s the most conservative of the bunch and not surprisingly the oldest of the set. “Mildew Swoosh” has an FM synthy lurch about it that is as close to a hook as you might get here; meanwhile phased pads swirl overhead like storm clouds. I like that it has all the makings of a more conventional bass-music track but with all of the punch desaturated, coming off more like it’s slightly out of focus. “CE Visions” finishes the EP off with an almost maddening stop/start stumble that is relentless. Saturated, fuzzy bass and skittering sounds percolate in the periphery while a looming fog of reverb obscures the view.		Holy Other Held Tri Angle [Editor's Note: Although Held was released in 2012, I still feel that it's appropriate to revisit this album. I hope that you agree that dates are irrelevant when it comes to music.] Following up the promise of his With U EP, Manchester artist Holy Other presents this concise 35-minute album of new material. Well, mostly new — some of it is actually reworked from the EP, particularly the opening track “(W)here” which is a variation on the same themes of With U’s “Know Where.” Many of the tracks are slow and morose, punctuated by vocal sample snippets, often without context or lyrical content. More so than ever many of these tracks sound not so different from Balam Acab’s Wander / Wonder album on Tri Angle out in 2011, with a sort of disembodied R&B spirit to them. It’s perhaps best not to dissect the tracks of Held but rather to experience it as one long piece — the sound is very consistent from start to finish, which makes its brevity work to its favor. I do quite like it when there’s more of a steady pulse, like on the title track near the album’s end; that steady 4/4 kick really helps lock everything in step in a nice way.

tri-anglerecords.com

Words by Matthew Mercer of Ear Influxion
Additional editorial by HC

When the phone rings I don’t recognize the number. “I’m sorry, who are you looking for again?” It turns out that Robert Raths, the owner and curator of Erased Tapes Records, is in town for a few days. We arrange to meet at WFMU Record Fair, one of the largest vinyl aficionado gatherings in New York. When I get to the venue, I receive a text from Raths informing me that he’s going to be late, and so I dive into a crowded warehouse in search of that one record which will become mine at whatever the cost. While rummaging through a crate of eclectic and rare pieces, I bump elbows with a scruffy young man, with a peculiarly familiar scent of rolled tobacco and mysterious spices. “I know this guy,” I laugh, and tug at his sleeve.

Nils Frahm shows me the records he picked up, as I ask the dealer if The James Brown Show vinyl I’m holding, is indeed $600. I apologize to Frahm for not being able to attend his upcoming performance the next day at Le Poisson Rouge. This would have been my sixth live show, second in the very same venue. The last time I saw Frahm play at LPR, I published a review consisting of empty spaces, ellipsis, and full stops. My nearly void coverage of the performance ended with just one word: “speechless“. It’s no wonder that after each and every show, I would run up to Frahm and beg for an album of his live recordings, since many of the performed pieces have never been previously released in the past. Well… finally… here it is!

There is an immediate difference between a live recording and a studio crafted album. Although a replay on my audiophile grade stereo and headphones does not exactly capture the energy created in the space occupied by this pianist, it does, nevertheless, bring me closer to the feelings that I have experienced in his presence. And that emotion nearly brings me to tears. Even now, as I close my eyes, and the music fills my living room, I can picture Frahm hunched over the instrument, a drop of sweat glistening at the tip of his nose, fingers effortlessly gliding over the ivory keys, making love to the audience through his music. Finally, unable to restrain himself any longer, Frahm begins to hum along with the melody…

Compiled from over thirty live concerts recorded in the last few years (2012-2013), this extremely self-critical and amazingly very modest composer selects eleven pieces for this special Erased Tapes release. Spaces is essentially a collection of Frahm’s favorite and best performances, featuring a variety of room textures, ambiance, recording techniques, and instruments. The recording also captures a unique experience shared between the performer and his audience, no doubt adding a little something to this very special exchange existing in one single rare moment.

If, by chance, Spaces happens to be the very first record which you pick up by Nils Frahm, I must proclaim to be extremely jealous – you have a beautiful and highly rewarding journey ahead of you, my friend. Among the many favorites, I highly recommend that you travel through Wintermusik (2009), The Bells (2010), Felt (2011), and Screws (2012), all available on the wonderful Erased Tapes Records. And of course, be sure to catch Nils Frahm in person, at least once in your lifetime! A standing ovation for Spaces from me – just like at the end of each and every Frahm concert.

Read Headphone Commute 2010 Interview with Nils Frahm

erasedtapes.com | durtonstudio.com
sonicpieces.com

Words by HC
Originally appearing on PopMatters

Today we kick off a three-part Pianorama mix series! Compiled by Cedric as a follow up to his very first installment, the initial journey was just a bit over three hours long, and originally designed to be listened to in one sitting! After much discussion we decided to break up this odyssey into three parts, each section not surprisingly growing in the process even longer. And here we are, presenting the first part, subtitled 2a, almost three months after the initial conception! But enough about the process – it’s all about the music after all…

We hope that you’ll enjoy and support the many featured artists! Stay tuned for 2b going live next week…

[ STREAM ] | [ DOWNLOAD ] | [ PODCAST ] | [ iTUNES ]

Matthew Barlow Sun Showers Preservation Matthew Barlow‘s Preservation début is the second installment in the label’s limited edition Circa 2014 series, which is intended to introduce the listeners to new ‘underground’ artists. This is is precisely the reason why I turn to Preservation for its hard work in ‘unearthing’ new sounds. In the last couple of years, Bandcamp has proliferated the output of independent musicians to the maximum levels of saturation. So it is the independent labels that provide that ‘filtering’ service, if you will, by investing their time [and money] into something truly special, something more than a point and click. Sun Showers is a four-piece album, inspired by “porch life living in the mountain town of Asheville, North Carolina,” featuring meadow field recordings, distant bustling city sounds, and warm palette of ambiance and din. On the title track synth echoes shine through the hazy hues, until a light shuffling rhythm rolls in, reminiscent of early 90s ambiance, à la Trance Europe Express compilations (I’m thinking of The Orb, Pete Namlook and Scanner here). The numerous bird calls are prevalent throughout the pieces, capturing the Southeastern US environment among Barlow’s pensive piano and guitar. The overall atmosphere draws upon many organic ambient elements, which makes Sun Showers a perfect candidate in Preservation’s Circa series. The album was originally released as a two-track limited cassette, and if you’re really into the whole analogue audio tape movement [or rather, why aren't you yet?], be sure to check out Barlow’s own Twin Springs Tapes label, which is “connecting listener with artist, music with experience, and medium with message.”		Talk West Black Coral Sprig Preservation Another new name to my forever growing library [again, courtesy of Preservation label] is a Tulsa based (Oklahoma, US) Dylan Aycock, recording under his moniker Talk West. Like the afore mentioned Matthew Barlow, Aycock has put out a few recordings on cassettes, sprinkling labels such as Avant Archive, Tape Drift, No Kings, and Notice Recordings with his experimental guitar driven meditations. For Black Coral Sprig Aycock again employs his guitar, numerous field recordings, and various atmospheric textures to compose a leisurely unfolding, restrained and subtle soundscapes. The music is soothing, gentle and calm, with the instruments prominently featured in the foreground (instead of completely being drowned out by reverb), and although many melodies fall within a repetitive pattern, it doesn’t sound as if they’re simply software looped. The background tape hiss mixed with a hushed chirping of crickets paints a suburban country environment. On in which I can almost picture myself. At this point in my review I’d also like to talk about the Circa series artwork. The covers feature a unique design by Mark Gowing, “using an abstract alphabet that creates an interlocking grid,” based on each album’s title, artist name or volume, for “something fixed, random and unified across the entire series“. I just love staring at each cover for long periods of time and solving the puzzles and mysteries within. Aside from his design for the Preservation’s Circa 2011 and Circa 2012 series, Sydney based Gowing has covered most of the label’s releases, including albums by Sophie Hutchings, Greg Haines, and Fabio Orsi / Valerio Cosi.
Deep Magic Reflections of Most Forgotten Love Preservation Alex Gray’s latest album skitters and eases itself through the outskirts of the mind, in peripheral antique shops where piles of postcards create an impression of a life that may or may not have happened. It all remains suspiciously familiar. Just prying open the hooked folds of the title reveals a potent somnambulism cloying at the hearts of modern humans. The California-based Gray has many projects (Sun Araw band, D/P/I, his own label Deep Tapes, etc), and Deep Magic has been his platform for a relaxed, almost behind-the-scenes mode of consciousness. Deep Magic’s last release on Preservation, Lucid Thought, was a therapeutic drift through manipulated field recordings, and Reflections of Most Forgotten Love ramps up the textural vivacity. The album’s strength comes in its diversity: an ever-changing space that complements our brain’s holographic nature. This is not an experience walking a linear path, and it is thus difficult to pin down and describe. Languageless voices crumble into bubbly laser beams. A wave of meaty distortion becomes an acoustic stroll in the pram. There is a sense of play and humor, as is delivered by the hollow voice on “Only Me” which muses over something meaningful, only to end up at his utility bill. Any darkness is expressed as curious impressions of the unknown rather than something to fear. Everything else is like fireworks over the spinning coral reef of possibility above our little heads. A lot of folks are calling this album “cosmic” and it’s easy to see where they are coming from. It is, in truth, a very down-to-earth affair. It’s an honest impression of how the mind dances all over the place even when a person is focused and relaxed. It’s quite beautiful the way the music can sincerely emulate the crackling, wobbly edge of consciousness. This is Deep Magic’s most engaging album yet.		Padna Burnt Offerings Preservation Opening like it’s materialising on the Enterprise, Burnt Offerings is a mixture of ambient impressionism, and guitar-centric studies. In some ways, it’s the proverbial mixed-bag – you’re never quite sure which direction Nat Hawks will go in next. “Caphonic Fog” probably arrived too late to fit on many Hallowe’en mixtapes but its combination of overlaid ‘ways of being happy’ voices and ghostly piano tinkling away through the second half is suitably atmospheric and spooky, like wandering through a haunted dancehall. However, it’s followed by the bright “Pelts” where guitars play off against each other, gradually building layer upon layer – starting with a figure that sounds not unlike the snippet of Metallica that DJ Shadow sampled on “What Does Your Soul Look Like” and ending up with Fripp-esque ambient tones and the crunchy sound of concrete waves crashing upon the shore. So, two contrasting styles that emphasize Hawks’ ability to build up atmosphere, but don’t necessarily feel comfortable when placed adjacently. Eventually, it all begins to make sense, whether it’s the strumming of “Shoeg.” backed with all manner of bleeps and burbles that gradually take over and dominate, or the two-part “Never Let Me Go”, the first part of which sounds like it is channelling some Elizabethan melody, before giving way to the lengthy reprise. Rather than offering a brief nod to the original, Padna goes for the slowed-down, dubby approach that is nearly three times longer than part one, and disappears into all manner of cloudy ambience and climatic effects. By attempting to reach the same goal (uneasy ambience) from two starting-off points (guitar or atmospheric synths), Burnt Offerings finally gives the impression of unity to the listener. There’s enough here to warrant repeated visits to unlock the mysteries therein…

preservation.com.au

Matthew Barlow and Talk West reviews by HC
Deep Magic review by Nayt Keane for A Closer Listen
Padna review by Jeremy Bye for A Closer Listen
Reviews republished with permissions of the authors

I find it intriguing when record labels focus very specifically on a particular sound, and in the case of Stroboscopic Artefacts it is minimal techno that veers into dark corners of rhythm and noise, much like the music of the label’s creator, Luca Mortellaro releasing under his moniker, Lucy. A fairly humorless, dark dirge every time, with a variable as to how dancefloor compatible releases are or are not. It’s my opinion that this all traces back to Pan Sonic’s Kulma album from 1997; it strikes me as the genesis for much of this music, though often times there’s an emphasis on dancefloor accessibility that never seemed to interest Pan Sonic all that much (beyond their initial album as a trio).

Dadub’s You Are Eternity is a lumbering beast of an album, but it squarely falls in line with what I’ve just described. All of the tropes are here — dense, drippy atmosphere, thick, punchy, staggered kicks and noise, very little in the way of melody, and only occasional uses of human voice samples to brighten the sonic palette. That said, it’s a pretty fantastic ride. Whether the sound is totally abstract and freeform (“Unbroken Continuity”) or bobbing in time (“Circle”), the vibe of the album is consistently dark and dense; it sounds especially good on headphones with the volume cranked, but this would also sound pretty great on a big PA, with a physicality about its tracks that often is likely to force bodies to move.

“Recorded over a period of two years, but containing fragments and ideas that stretch back a decade ‘You Are Eternity’ has been mixed together to form a continuous piece rather than twelve discreet tracks. The effect? An immersive journey that encompasses the descriptors brutal, ferocious, ambient and aqueous.”

The slow halfbeat of “Transfer,” made in collaboration with King Cannibal, is perhaps the ferocious centerpiece of You Are Eternity, with rhythm that sounds more like a series of fierce collisions than beats. The only misstep for me is “Truth,” which relies heavily on samples of men talking about the stock market, something which somehow seems not only unnecessary but out of character with the rest of the album [editor's note: "Truth" happens to be HC's favorite track on the album, exactly because the darkness of sound mirror's the world's deeper woes]. In contrast, one of my favorite cuts, “Death,” completely soars without the need for any topical sampling; its cloud of drones and punchy syncopation do the work.

As far as techno albums go, this one falls pretty far off from the dancefloor, more concerned with intricate beatmaking, dense atmosphere, and a consistently dark mood. The reason the album works so well is that Dadub [which is actually a duo of Italy natives, Daniele Antezza and Giovanni Conti] is apparently relatively unconcerned with being DJ-friendly and instead freer to explore other less traveled terrain, no less physical or visceral. It’s more like a trudge through the wild, with crags and crevasses and unpredictable foliage — seething with life but decidedly feral. Check out Dadub’s previous EPs on Stroboscopic Artefacts: Way To Moksha (2012), Preternity (2013) and Untitled (2013).

stroboscopicartefacts.com

Words by Matthew Mercer of Ear Influxion

We begin part two exactly where we last left off – with a Clark remix of a track by Nils Frahm dedicated to Peter Broderick - this mix was meant to be a continuous journey after all [a single file will be available after the third part is released]. Traversing styles and genres, Cedric delivers his second installment in the Pianoarama series, featuring many well known electronic musicians, from Underworld to Four Tet to Bonobo to DJ Shadow and Deaf Center, leaving you mesmerized, just in time for part three…

We hope that you’ll enjoy and support the many featured artists! If you missed it, check out the first part, Pianorama – 2a and stay tuned for 2c going live next week…

[ STREAM ] | [ DOWNLOAD ] | [ PODCAST ] | [ iTUNES ]

… if you ever wonder about the intricate process that is involved in selecting the albums that get featured on Headphone Commute – don’t. It’s a convoluted mystery that even I have much trouble solving. Let’s just call it a combination of serendipitous events and pure universal randomness, if you believe in such a thing – don’t. I mostly feel that certain affairs unravel on their own, flow like music, and finally resolve in one last tonal chord. But as the quantity of music appears to increase, so do the complex algorithms in my filtering logic to dampen out the noise. And so, what you get is the utmost culmination of the best albums that I could recommend, which is why a lot of these words often match my end of the year selections… and that’s where you may have seen Luke Howard first.

Seemingly coming out of nowhere, Howard enters the scene with his self-released album, Sun, Cloud. And yet, the output of this Melbourne-born composer is not some low-end bedroom-based production. Recorded over a year in Australia, Iceland and Norway, the piano pieces on the release include the help by a ten-piece ensemble, featuring a string sextet, subtle electronics and a few field recordings. And although Howard manages to delightfully surprise with his musicianship, his curriculum vitae offers entries to backup his skills, including participation in over fifty recordings, and composition for film and theatre. But let’s talk about the music!

In 1802 a chemist and amateur meteorologist named Luke Howard presented a paper recommending a new system of classifying clouds, using the names cumulus, stratus and cirrus.

The ten pieces on Sun, Cloud are totally sublime. Each track evokes a strong cinematic feeling by telling a story (sometimes a very sad story) which often reveals the soul of this composer. For example, on “Family”, a favorite piece on the album [which does not appear on my vinyl copy], Howard opens up with a beautiful solo piano progression which slowly gets enveloped by barely audible reverbed ambient pads, until their sonic fingers stretch into the sky, and suddenly the piece turns into a majestic journey with soaring violins, pizzicato rhythms and gracious chords.

Besides his solo work, Howard also leads the Luke Howard Trio, as well as an ambient group named Magnolia. It’s difficult to compare any one musician to another, but when I listen to Luke Howard I can’t help but think of the first time I heard Max Richter, Jóhann Jóhannsson or Ólafur Arnalds. If there was a [new and unsigned?] musician that a label would ask me to tell them about, I would certainly point them to Luke Howard in confidence that in the next few years we will surely hear from him again. Keep your eyes and ears peeled, kids – this is a composer you must pursue!

lukehoward.com

Words by HC

I first heard BJ Nilsen’s music as Morthound, a deadly serious ambient project that was an early highlight of Sweden’s death-ambient Cold Meat Industry label in the early 90s. Nilsen was only a teenager when he worked on those albums, followed by a more sublime, less horror-tinged minimal drone project, Hazard. Since working under his own name, I haven’t kept up much with Nilsen’s output (his solo releases put out mostly by Touch), and the Eye of the Microphone seems as good a place as any to start.

There is still an emphasis on environment, but rather than the desolate dronescapes of Hazard, Eye of the Microphone falls closer in line with Chris Watson’s hyperrealism field recordings, letting his microphone document his travels through England. “A city without sound does not exist,” writes Nilsen in the press release for the album. His goal was to tirelessly document its streets, sights, and sounds using his reliable microphone, with no real emphasis on route or destination. Rather, Nilsen aims to simply log the aural experience of his surroundings, wherever they may take him. As a result, the three pieces on Eye of the Microphone vary, though they have that unifying tactical thread.

“Sound composition can alter space and time and transform a specific location and experience into an imaginary world.”

My favorite track might be the first one. “Londonium” consists largely of ambient street sounds, the mundane drone of everyday urban life. That I first really listened to this album while out and about walking on the street greatly enhanced the experience. Nilsen juxtaposes the drones of modern living — river boats, a far-off chainsaw — with natural sounds of the Thames and Canary Wharf. It ends with a disorienting blitz of manipulated sound before proceeding into the other tracks. On second track “Coins and Bones,” Nilsen blends field recordings with more manipulated, tense drones, evolving the music into something much greater a role than composite observer.

The third and final piece, “Twenty Four Seven,” features the amplified sounds of natural wildlife as the key elements. “A microphone is both a lark and a night owl,” writes Nilsen. In this final piece, urban life resounds faintly in the distance, and his high-pitched drones add an otherworldliness to the otherwise quite earthly sounds of his recordings. Like his labelmate Watson, Nilsen’s interest in the tiny sounds of natural and urban life shines through these startlingly clear recordings and assemblages. It’s an engaging document of particular places at particular times in which found and created sounds intertwine in ways that complement and enhance one another.

Read also review of BJ Nilsen’s The Invisible City (Touch, 2010)

bjnilsen.com | touchmusic.org.uk

Words by Matthew Mercer of Ear Influxion

Yes, that’s right, we’re still going strong with our Missed Gems series for our Sound Bytes column, in which Brian Housman of Stationary Travels catches us up on all the music that escaped our hungry ears. For this entry we’re especially focusing on releases in the post-rock genre. 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 click the “Buy Now” link – most of them are sold at “Name Your Price” option! We hope that you’ll enjoy!

Lights & Motion Reanimation Deep Elm Lights & Motion is a one-man project from musical phenom Christoffer Franzen, whose work is cinematic in every possible sense. Reanimation is the culmination of vision developed over many long nights in the isolation at studio in Gothenburg, Sweden along with the feedback of a close-knit group of friends and followers who Franzen kept engaged through social media. The music is as amazing and inspiring as the story behind its making. Shimmering tones, gorgeous melodies, and wide screen crescendos make this as breathtaking a debut as you are likely to find in any genre. And this is no flash in the pan. Franzen has already released an excellent follow-up called Save Your Heart as well as a collection of excellent film-score like sketches that hint that we could see his name rolling through the credits of a major film in the not to distant future.		North Atlantic Drift Resolven Polar Seas North Atlantic Drift is the duo of Mike Abercrombie and Brad Deschamps based in Toronto, Canada and Resolven is already their third full length release, part of a trilogy of records that includes Canvas (Polar Seas, 2012) and Monuments (Sound in Silence, 2013). One of the track titles on this album, ‘Obsidian Flows’ is a perfect metaphor for the band’s music, as it conjures an image of both fluidity and opaque, glassy smoothness. This is post rock slowed down to a glacial ambient pace. All of their albums are highly recommended, but this one, mastered by none other than Rafael Anton Irisarri, is an especially lustrous, slow motion beauty. If you end up loving Resolven, be sure to also check out Abercrombie’s other solo project, Transits Of Mercury, for which he has already released a few ambient pieces on the group’s very own, Toronto-based Polar Seas label.
The Echelon Effect Atlantic self With Atlantic, David Walters has delivered the first installment of a dual ocean-themed album, with the second half, Pacific due out in 2014. The approach of splitting the two albums looks to be a smart one, as Atlantic is a very complete and balanced full-length effort which stands beautifully on its own, but also builds anticipation for what will follow. Referencing locations on the southern coast of England as well as the sounds, images and emotions associated with traveling the sea, the album feels more expansive and cohesive than anything he has done before. And the music is enhanced by outstanding percussion work by drummer Steve Tanton and the appearance of guest musicians such as Ciaran Morahan of Codes in the Clouds and Torsten Kinsella of God is an Astronaut.		U137 Dreamer on the Run Deep Elm U137′s Dreamer on the Run is a debut record that does not sound like one. That can be explained by the fact that the band is comprised of two members of veteran post rock outfit Moonlit Sailor. The direction charted for U137 by Adam Tornblad and Oscar Gulbrandsen is a much brighter and more colorful one than the album cover suggests. This is post rock of the ambient and cinematic varieties with a dash of pop sensibility tossed in for good measure. The duo clearly wanted to make the most beautiful sounds they could muster and are happy to wear their passions on their musical sleeves. A standout track here is ‘Pearl Lakes’ which, even as an instrumental, could easily play to an arena of rabid Coldplay fans with no apologies. A very fresh and enjoyable record.

Words by Brian Housman of Stationary Travels

I have to say, I’m incredibly excited that you resurrected The Stranger project. What prompted you to move in that direction?
It felt like it was a great time to explore where I could take The Stranger work in a new direction. I moved to Krakow from Berlin and immediately started working on some darker pieces which became the catalyst for what became the final release. At the same time I was also still working on new Caretaker music, the more personal Leyland Kirby stuff along with some straight electronic work too. It’s great really to hop from one thing to another and also fall through into cracks where nothing seems to fit anywhere. Every day working on things, it’s incredible I am able to do this. Support for what I have been doing has been strong and has enabled me to just hide and work. I’m really thankful for that support as I survive purely off sales of my works.

The sounds of Watching Dead Empires In Decay are somewhat different from your 2008 dark ambient journey across the Northern English moorland” titled Bleaklow. But what is the connection between these two albums five years apart?
The connection is place, the very first album which came out in 1998 was about the dark feeling surrounding northern moors when I grew up. The moors murders were still fresh in people’s minds, so as well as having a bleak beauty it was a place of darkness and mystery. The on going investigation in trying to locate the missing body of Keith Bennett saw regular excavations up there through my childhood. The Granada news of the time was this endless loop of misery. ‘Bleaklow’ was about a similar place, again trying to capture that mood as it is barren up there, mining it further, going deeper. ‘Dead Empires’ to me carries on the place theme. All along I had in mind the title of the album, the cover art then placed it. You can look at it in two ways, the empire could be the flats crumbling. That kind of living in fear in flats stinking of piss and covered in graffiti was its own warped empire and horror. Or you can look at a bigger picture, areas in decay where we get a glimpse of a dying empire whose best days are long gone. Darkness though abounds through all three of the albums. I can only listen to them on grey days. You’re not going to be inviting the girls over on a Sunny day and playing those releases.

And may I ask you about the moniker? I know that The Caretaker had its roots in Stephen King’s “The Shining” (btw, have you read Doctor Sleep yet?) — does The Stranger by any chance come from the same titled novel by Albert Camus?
I chose that name back in 1998 as I felt it fitted the mood of the first release and a rudimentary (in those days) check revealed nobody else had taken it to my knowledge. It fitted the mood though, it’s a shadowy anonymous name which still seems to fit the overall ethos.

So when you’re working on a piece of music – do you already have in mind a particular moniker under which it will be released? Is that choice associated with mood, instrumentation, or something else?
It really depends. Most days I work on music when inspired and only when inspired, from what’s created I have no idea what might be used down the line. What can be perceived as insignificant recordings at the time take on great relevance when time passes, this I am learning more and more – the value of waiting. Everything is painstakingly archived. Usually an idea at a random point will pop into my mind which piques interest and then I go through the archive to see what might fit. I worked intensely though on the Stranger album, in the end it was crazy putting it together as I had around 150-200 tracks to choose from. It was like trying to piece together a jigsaw with a vague idea of how the final picture should look. I went with flow, there’s a flow to it. It’s leading somewhere, possibly round darker corners, possibly into decay itself.

Congratulations on getting signed on Modern Love – their releases have been outstanding throughout the years. How did the release of Watching Dead Empires In Decay come about?
It seemed like a natural and perfect fit for the album. I could have released it on my label but Modern Love have been big supporters of my work and I know Miles and Sean (Demdike Stare) really well and have met Andy Stott a few times who has been producing a lot of solid work of late. Shlom who runs the label has always been very supportive of my work for many years. Maybe Sean too was keen to see me on there as he’s always desperate for me to play live with Demdike and I guess I qualify for a Modern Love showcase now. I think he appreciates the chaos I can randomly bring to situations. A lot of musicians are in/out when it comes to shows, but for me I always like to experience a little more. You know stay around cities and get a feeling about a place, find the local chaos bars and see what happens. My time in New York with Sean and Miles was always one of the many highlights of hitting the road. I last saw them in Innsbruck where I had been out with the locals for three days non stop when they arrived, great times, fabulous memories you don’t get if you just fly in and fly out. I took a whole bar in Innsbruck to my show which meant a lot as it wasn’t their music at all.

What sort of instruments did you use on the production of the album? It sounds as if there are quite a few analog sounds and plenty of time drift in the rhythms…
There was a lot of experimentation which went on, layering of sounds both digital and analogue. I have been reading a lot recently how so many musicians feel overawed by choice so are regressing back to more analogue set ups where it’s easier to focus. I am the opposite, I love choice, the more choice I have the more inspired I am. Right now it’s incredible. I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited about possibilities and directions where sound can go. Every time I do work it’s a new road. Lots of chance is involved and I marry that with experience I have built up now over many years. I have a sixth sense of what might work and a lot of work goes into being able to lay my hands on the right sounds which compliment each other. Decisions are made quickly and if something doesn’t work then there are other options. I read a lot of reviews of the album and a lot of people were trying to second guess the sound sources. Nobody really got close to understanding about what was used to be honest which is great. The sources were varied but always composed. Overall I hope it makes some kind of sense when you go from start to finish. Not every musician has this uniform mentality that we need to be limited with choice to make significant works.

Tell us about the artwork on the album. I believe that’s Guy Denning who you also selected for Deleted Scenes / Forgotten Dreams, as well as Persistent Repetition Of Phrases.
Guy is an amazing person. My friend Jono in Bristol introduced me to his work and Guy was into my V/Vm work at the time. He’s a very dedicated person who for many years was working in the shadows and barely surviving. I used two of his paintings on Caretaker releases and around that time he got some interest from a gallery in London and relocated to France. I couldn’t be happier for him because he’s in a great position now where he can just work on his art with less financial pressure. Interest is very high in what he’s doing which is well deserved. I decided to see if I could use one of Guy’s works for ‘Dead Empires’ as I wanted a different look than Ivan Seal’s paintings which have become synonymous with recent works on my own label. I loved the feeling from the image I chose and the overall sound of the finished work was inspired by this and my surroundings here in Krakow. I recently watched ‘Dekalog’ again and the cover art looks like it could be lifted from a still from that series of short films. Grim and grey, always I have a lot of time for grim and grey vistas.

What other projects are you working on at the moment? Any scores or soundtracks? I’m also hoping to get graced with more music in 2014 by The Caretaker :)
A release of mine has just come out on Apollo (Via R&S) which closes a circle for me that opened in 1989 when I was introduced to the label by Acid Alan via a mix tape he gave me. It’s been great to speak with Renaat who for a long time was a big inspiration to me and great to dedicate a record to Alan too. The final part of Intrigue & Stuff has also been mastered and will be cut soon, to my ears it’s the strongest part and i’m very excited for its release. There are some film possibilities but nothing is confirmed. I know a lot of people are waiting for more Caretaker work, I did some initial experiments last year but have not revisited them for the last twelve months so it’s unlikely anything will come out this year. The response ”an empty bliss” got has really been incredible and interest grows daily still which is incredible as it’s crept out there via word of mouth. I can’t stand really to push things or shout about my work. It’s been over two years since I sent an email to my mailing list.

I will say that I am working on an album which I would intend to be a proper follow on from ‘Sadly, the future’ that is my main focus for the next months now.

There will also be some re-issues of some of my older works for the first time on vinyl including a selection from my long deleted ‘Death of Rave’ project. A lot of people request that constantly from me. The original project was vast, this extremely truncated and limited selection which will appear I have been falling asleep to for the past two years and it’s been re-mastered now which gives it an extra depth. Flashbacks. Ivan Seal has done an amazing cover for it, I’m very excited to be sharing it soon.

Other than that it’s endless audio work in here and trying to survive, sadly due to a longstanding inner ear problem I have been unable to play shows now for nearly 18 months, you would cry if I listed all the offers I have had which have had to be turned down. You know really amazing places all over the World. It’s horrible because you work hard to get these offers and as I still refuse to have an agent or manager it’s even more of an achievement to get such offers. I flip that positively though because not travelling gives me so much time to work and go deeper and with all the possibilities I’m more motivated than ever right now. It’s amazing having no limits and endless options. Not knowing where we are going but being open to all options is the true beauty in life.

Read Headphone Commute review of Watching Dead Empires In Decay

thestranger1.bandcamp.com

Interview by HC

We approach the third and final installment in Cedric‘s Pianorama mix series, and it’s a fantastic conclusion to a four-and-a-half hour sonic trip! Featuring everyone from Nils Frahm to Otto A Totland to Dustin O’Halloran and Jóhann Jóhannsson, it seems that Cedric managed to compile a universe of contemporary musicians, showcasing some of their best works in one single swoop. We hope that you enjoyed this three-part piano exploration, and as always, encourage you to support the featured artists by purchasing their works! As promised, below you will find a link to one continuous mix, comprising of all three parts.

[ STREAM ] | [ DOWNLOAD ] | [ PODCAST ] | [ iTUNES ]

Download entire Pianorama 2 (226 MB)

“We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.”

It is the last line from the final stanza of T. S. Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock that the musician/producer Siavash Amini has chosen to take for the title of his newest album on Umor Rex Records. In fact, the entire album is a musical exploration of the predominant themes, motifs, and emotions found in Eliot’s work – not only Prufrock, but also The Waste Land and The Hollow Men.

The tracks on first half of the album are all titled with phrases lifted directly from the poet’s canon and construct a musical landscape as frozen, wistful, and alienated as the words describe. It begins with Eliot’s allusion to death and water from The Waste Land with ‘The Phoenician’ (“Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead, Forgot the cry of gulls, and the deep sea swell”) and then plunges into emotional depths with one of the most outstanding tracks, ‘Silent Seas’, drawn again from Prufrock and featuring distinctive and haunting ambient guitar sound that Amini has been making very much his own (“I should have been a pair of ragged claws, Scuttling across the floors of silent seas”).

The river sweats
Oil and tar
The barges drift
With the turning tide
Red sails
Wide
To leeward, swing on the heavy spar

A trio of tracks follow, drawn again from The Waste Land, which convey the loneliness and alienation of modern life – ‘The Violet Hour’ (“At the violet hour, when the eyes and back Turn upward from the desk, when the human engine waits“), and ‘The Fog’, & ‘Unreal City’ (“Unreal City, Under the brown fog of a winter dawn”). These tracks are eloquent and delicately layered, but underneath their wintry tone they are churning with pent up and languishing emotion. It would be hard to imagine a more spot on sonic interpretation of silent yearning and muted anguish.

In the second half of the album, Amini alters the gloomy trajectory of the typical outcome for an Eliot protagonist and weaves his own narrative into the sequence. A softer, more ethereal tone is introduced with ‘Yelena’s Theme’. And, although ‘Shade Without Colour’ is taken directly from The Hollow Men (“Shape without form, shade without colour, Paralysed force, gesture without motion”) , a conversation with Amini about the record reveals this track could be seen as a look backwards at Eliotesque feelings before a hopeful step forward. This duality may also be reflected in the title and musical progression of ‘Corridors and Dreams’ (referring perhaps the “contrived corridors” of history from Gerontion?) .

The album concludes with ‘Yelena’ (expanded from a theme to a fully realized song) and ‘The Chair She Sat In’, which could be interpreted less cynically than Eliot intended in the way he used it in The Waste Land (“The Chair she sat in, like a burnished throne, Glowed on the marble”). By the time we have traversed the complete arc, the listening experience is ultimately more redemptive, uplifting and emotionally satisfying.

If you have the good fortune to already be familiar with Amini’s work, you should immediately realize how well suited his style would be to the fertile creative ground he selected and I can assure the music will not disappoint. Till Human Voices Wake Us is a work of depth, finesse, and beauty with a poignant emotional undercurrent that gives it as gripping an immediacy as you are likely to find in a genre that is considered to be characterized by its unobtrusiveness. I have never failed to be delighted and moved by his music, and this album is no exception. Umor Rex will be releasing Till Human Voices Wake Us digitally and on chrome tape cassette packaged on cardboard box 100% recycled, silkscreen printed, and limited to 80 hand numbered copies.

umor-rex.org

Words by Brian Housman of Stationary Travels

For his third album, The Secret of the Sea, composer and musician Bruno Bavota found inspiration in the allure and mystery of the Mediterranean that washes up against the shores of his home town of Naples, Italy. The lyrical romanticism expressed through the piano on his previous albums, Il Pozzo D’Amour (2010) and La casa sulla Luna (2013), is amply present on the new record, but the arpeggiated picking of a reverb-soaked guitar that introduces the opening track “Me And You” lets us immediately know that Bavota intends to broaden his musical canvas. The Secret of the Sea feels warmer and more expansive than anything he has done before.

Whereas the earlier music strikes me much like lovely scenes captured in a sketch or photograph, the pieces on The Secret of the Sea feel more like a collection of poems and vignettes and thus they form deeper connections upon listening. Much credit for that goes to the added elements of acoustic and electric guitar and the rich inspiration of the general theme, but some must also be given to the literary references Bavota has chosen for some of the titles. For example, “Les Nuits Blanches” references the melancholic tale of loneliness and unrequited love by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. And the wonderful solo piano piece “Plasson” refers to the character in Alessandro Baricco’s novel “Ocean Sea” who “paints the sea with the sea”, dipping his brush into the surf to create invisible pictures on a blank canvas.

“…I have always loved the waves, their sound and even more their rocking movements, suggesting to me the idea of the deepest human gesture, the embrace. So immense and familiar at the same time, through the sea you can look into yourself discovering your own inner sea.”.  

While it is tinged with melancholy and an overall reflective mood, there is also a very bright and ultimately uplifting feeling that comes with listening to The Secret of the Sea. This is not the music of ominous, churning ocean depths. It is the music of sunlit blue-green water, gently rocking waves, and the life affirming sound of the surf washing up against the beach. Perhaps Bavota would also agree with author Isak Dinesen who once said, “The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea”.  Certainly, The Secret of the Sea seems to harmonize with those sentiments as it no doubt represents a great deal of creative sweat on the part of the artist, and I would not be surprised if more than a tear or two were shed in the making of this enchanting album.

brunobavota.it | psychonavigation.com

Words by Brian Housman of Stationary Travels

Demdike Stare, one of the UK’s more inspired and wayward electronic acts, have been quietly busy releasing this series of Test Pressings on Boomkat’s Modern Love imprint over the last several months. True to form, these are tracks that exist in the outskirts of convention and genre, pulling in elements from a variety of styles and sounds into something fairly harrowing and unpredictable. “Collision” is a nightmarish mangling of hardstep breaks, like late 90s Panacea with the spins. “Misappropriation” sounds more in line with the duo’s exploration of tribal and hand drumming, but with the same caustic layer of feedback and effects applied to “Collision.” The result is something more raw and industrial than some of their previous output, falling in line with the coarsest, most rhythmic works of Muslimgauze in his heyday.

The second installment continues to explore feedback and noise, but in distinctly different ways. “Grows Without Bound” is aptly named, a droning. anthemic dirge of a track that expands continuously, its feeble rhythm section a far second to its heroic drones. “Primitive Equations” snaps back to reality with some raw midrange breaks that would sound at home on Hessle or Hemlock, drawing inspiration from the golden era of drum n’ bass and substituting any smooth pads or chill-out vibes with a weird swirl of reverbation and noise. There’s even a pleasant surprise in the middle where their sounds suddenly don’t seem half as threatening.

They shift focus considerably on the third installment, abandoning flirtations and mutations of jungle and bass music and instead delivering a rather sweet ode to vintage Detroit and Chicago house. It’s surprisingly clean and melodic, even while it continues their trend of subtly manipulating sounds and patterns. “Dysology,” on the other hand, draws more purely from the harder sounds of Jeff Mills and Joey Beltram, but with an added layer of distortion and reverb in the wings. It gets busier and more layered, a handsome industrial writher for a good portion of its 10+ minutes, ending in a blast of saturated noise.

I find myself less captivated by the most recent edition, though. The fourth release kicks off with a faint hum that builds into a shrill cacophony of clanging and distortion. The progression is fierce but the payoff, three minutes of clanging that feels like tinnitus, is especially difficult to process. On the flip, “Null Results” is built around a stuttering drum & bass break and a heavy kick until about halfway through when zappy synths show up, like some mangled mutation of 90s Metalheadz, Like the A-side, it’s an extended pummel, but it’s less shrill and more infectious.

The four releases show off the duo’s diverse influences while veering more headlong into riddim and noise rather than the deeper spaces between on their albums. The individual EPs are digitally released, but it is the vinyl pressings that fly off the shelves and become instantly sought out, in that Demdike Stare cultish way. The 2010 Voices of Dust pressing is still in the $75 USD range on eBay. As a collection, they provide another unpredictable and unusual entry in Demdike Stare’s growing catalogue of curiosities and treasures.

Be sure to read HC’s Interview with Demdike Stare

modern-love.co.uk

Words by Matthew Mercer of Ear Influxion

World’s new favorite trumpet player returns to Rune Grammofon with Places Of Worship. Followed by experimental ambient, modern classical, and jazz communities alike, this Norwegian shaman of sound bridges the gaps of styles and forms with his unmistakably unique control of the instrument. Arve Henriksen doesn’t simply play the trumpet, the brass is merely an extension of his breath. This observation is confirmed by many Norwegian honors, including the Buddyprisen, Radka Toneff Memorial Award and Kongsberg Jazz Award. Among his numerous collaborations, most notably as a member of the Supersilent supergroup (which features Helge Sten, aka Deathprod, and Stale Storløkken), it is his solo works that I am mostly drawn to, three of which have already appeared on the Oslo based Rune Grammofon.

Perhaps nothing is more striking and enchanting than the opening of the album, titled “Adhān” (the Islamic call to worship, with the root of the word derived from the Arabic ‘adhina’, which means ‘to listen’). Set among a field recording of chirping birds and barely audible and very distant voices of the muezzin, we find Henriksen echo the motifs of the prayer with an instrument whose ambiance is lost among the wind. Suddenly the trumpet gets submerged in beautiful reverb, the strings come in along with orchestral arrangement, and we are fully enveloped by captivating textures. This is where we drown.

Deriving inspiration from various locations of worship, Henriksen composes ten tone poems set around religious buildings, holy places, and abandoned ruins. Although the music does not carry any particular religious connotation, it nevertheless touches on moments of reflection, introspection, and even the sudden fear of the unknown. This exalted sound exudes haunting beauty, spiritual sensitivity, and apparitions of those that have already left.

“Making the aura of these places audible, Henriksen’s haunted horn and idiosyncratic treble vocals carry an air of treading on forbidden territory, stirring up the dust of forgotten spirits.“

Another dazzling element of the album is the reminder of Henriksen’s distinctive soprano voice, which could be easily mistaken for that of a woman’s. It is particularly arresting on “Lament”, where it soars above falsetto range, resembling a flute-like melody with breathy overtones. If words did not contribute to the concept, one would easily draw an immediate parallel of tonal fluctuations between the trumpet and his voice. The moody pieces at times enter a shadow territory of dark ambiance (just as I like it), evoking specters, phantoms and ghosts of temples, churches and mosques, indubitably carrying the history, magnetism and energy of human praise, solitude and angst among these sacred places of worship.

The recording features additional appearances and samples from Jan Bang, Eivind Aarset and The Norwegian Wind Ensemble, most notable of which is the charming singing by Erik Honoré, on the very last track, titled “Shelter From The Storm”. Places of Worship is highly recommended for fans of Miles Davis, Jon Hassell, David Sylvian, Triosk and Fennesz. Be sure to also check out Henriksen’s past releases, Sakuteiki (2001), Chiaroscuro (2004), and Strjon (2007), all available directly from Rune Grammofon. For a quick tour of the label, track down the limited edition 4×10″ box set of favorite various selections celebrating 150 releases by the label, titled Sailing To Byzantium.

arvehenriksen.com | runegrammofon.com

Words by HC

Hi Jóhann, where are you these days, and what have you been up to since the beginning of 2014?
I’ve been working on film music exclusively so far this year. I finished a Danish feature in January called “I Am Here”, on which I collaborated extensively with BJ Nilsen. I’m starting a film called Theory of Everything directed by James Marsh. It’s a dramatic feature about the life of Stephen Hawking. Besides this I’ve been doing quite a few live performances of the Miners’ Hymns. We toured the US last month and this week we’re in the UK, playing the Barbican on Sunday the 9th of March.

We last spoke back in 2011, after you finished The Miners’ Hymns record. Since then you seemed to migrate over to producing scores for Copenhagen Dreams, Free The Mind, and most notably the soundtrack for Prisoners. Was this a conscious decision? How did this progression evolve?
I was getting more and more work in film and I decided to spend a couple of years concentrating on that kind of work. I love writing film music, although I wouldn’t want to do that exclusively. I have done quite a bit of other work over the last few years as well, a 40 minute orchestral piece commissioned by a Canadian symphony orchestra, a piece for Bang on a Can and quite a bit of other work that hasn’t seen the light of day yet. But in terms of released material, it’s only been soundtracks for a the last few years. Some of this recent non-score work will be made public in some way soon, though.

I’m curious about your latter work for Prisoners. How did you get involved with this project?
Denis Villeneuve, the director of the film got in touch through my agent after hearing some of my music. I was offered the project before they started filming, so Denis had my music in his head throughout the whole process of filming and editing. I wrote a couple of pieces early on, which were used in the early stages of editing so there was almost no temp music used which was not mine. We settled on three themes very early in the process, “The Keeper”, “I Can’t Find Them” and “Through Falling Snow”, which became the backbone of the score. Denis had a very clear idea of the atmosphere he wanted and fortunately we very much shared the same aesthetic, so it all came together very smoothly.

How did you prepare for composing music that had so much restrain, suspense and sometimes darkness?
I spent some time on the set in Atlanta, absorbing the atmosphere and meeting the filmmakers. It was important to get a sense of the locations. I listened to a lot of church music, old Icelandic hymns and Renaissance sacred music for example. There was one theme, the opening piece, “The Lord’s Prayer”, which was particularly difficult to get right. I went away to a small island with about 20 inhabitants in the north of Iceland for a week to isolate myself and I wrote about 15 versions of it until I got the one that worked. It’s a really simple theme, but sometimes those are the hardest ones to write.

Of course I’m ecstatic that you chose Thomas Bloch, Erik Skodvin and Hildur Guðnadóttir to play on the soundtrack. Did you have any of these particular musicians in mind when composing the score?
I recorded a session with Erik Skodvin in Berlin while I was writing and we generated a lot of drones and soundscapes which I used in the writing process. Erik is a real master at creating very subtle but extremely unsettling layers of sound. I then took these sounds we created and layered them with orchestral drones and soundscapes. Hildur is a great friend and we work together regularly – we have a duo project which is active intermittently. She plays or sings on a lot of my recent work, both scores and other material. I have been an admirer of Thomas Bloch’s for a long time and this was a great opportunity to work with him. I was writing a lot of organ-like parts, but I didn’t want a normal pipe organ, I wanted something more ethereal that didn’t have the religious associations that a pipe organ has, so I had the idea of layering the Cristal Baschet (a very strange and beautiful instrument a bit like the glass harmonica) and the Ondes Martenot (a monophonic electronic instrument from the 1930′s played with a ribbon instead of a keyboard) to create this kind of floating, dream-like sound.

Lets talk about your latest film score for McCanick – how did that come about?
Josh and Daniel – the director and writer of the film – share the same office with my manager, so I knew them and they knew my work. They sent me a script which I liked a lot and we seemed to share a lot of the same ideas about film and music. So I was very excited about the opportunity to work with them.

I’m glad to see Fordlandia and Prisoners OST on vinyl! How do you choose what medium and albums get released on your own label, NTOV?
NTOV is a home for vinyl-only releases and some of my film score work. I’m a huge fan of vinyl and try to have all my records available in that format. Touch has issued both “Englaborn” and “Virthulegu forsetar” on vinyl and I made a deal with 4AD to issue “Fordlandia” and “IBM 1401, a User’s Manual” on vinyl on the NTOV label. The IBM record should come out later this year.

Your music has always been ‘cinematic’ in nature, but if cinema or theater did not exist, what would be the story in your mind for which you would compose?
A lot of my work has dramatic or narrative elements, there a conceptual element in almost all of my non-score albums, like Fordlandia or IBM 1401. I think this comes from my university background in literary theory and drama studies – I’ve never been interested in music as pure sound or pure structure. I’m always looking for a narrative or a concept to wrap my music around.

Would we see another solo studio album in the near future?
I’m working on something – there’s a lot of different threads being woven at the moment and have been through the last couple of years and hopefully these threads will come together and will see the light soon – maybe not until next year, though.

Read Headphone Commute reviews of Prisoners, Copenhagen Dreams, The Miners’ Hymns and Fordlandia. You should also check out our 2011 Interview with Jóhann Jóhannsson

johannjohannsson.com

Interview by HC

Lightning In a Bottle is a an outdoor music and arts festival, taking place on Memorial Day Weekend (May 22 – May 26, 2014) at the San Antonio Recreational Area in Bradley, California. The festival features many world renown electronic music pioneers, as well as an all-encompassing camping experience focused on sustainability, education, and healing arts. At the center of the festival, the organizers will erect The Lucent Temple of Consciousness, offering yoga, workshops, exotic world music and even body work. Truly combining the broadening of the mind, body and spirit, the festival aims at expanding the positive energy in our daily lives.

For the past nine years, The Do LaB has shattered all conceptions of the modern gathering, producing the most innovative and inspiring events on the international circuit. Lightning in a Bottle is a fusion of electronic music and introspective qualities of installation art, live performance, spiritual workshops, and an overarching embodiment of cultural and environmental consciousness.

And of course, besides the expansive art installations, an interactive Living Village environment, and The Marketplace, the festival offers some of the biggest names in electronic music, such as Moby, Amon Tobin, Little Dragon, Beats Antique, The Gaslamp Killer, Gold Panda, Max Cooper, Tokimonsta, Phantogram, Gramatik, Beats Antique, Random Rab, and over 50+ more performances! Over the course of the weekend, the party-goers would be exposed to a transformative torrent of light, sound, and energy. Check out this newly released video, capturing the magic of the festival:

I am working on arranging Headphone Commute‘s full coverage of the festival, and if the schedule works out, I would publish a detailed write-up on my experiences [there is the MUTEK festival starting literally the day after LIB ends - so I may have to fly from Los Angeles to Montreal to cover both!]. Meanwhile, consider checking out this fantastic festival, which also offers full camping packages. including a premium package featuring a full size bed, indoor furniture, power outlets, and a private restroom — now that’s the way to go!

lightninginabottle.org

Bolder Hostile Environment Editions Mego There are only six tracks on this debut LP from Bolder, a two-member collective consisting of Martin Maischein and Peter Votava. This is a dark, digitally corrosive, and extremely atmospheric exploration of a world “where organic rhythms provide the path among a swarm of foreboding electronics.” At first listen I almost slotted Hostile Environment to be a Raster-Noton release, with its sharp electro percussive stabs, deep-rumbling bass, and surgically precise patterns; but it is thanks to Peter Rehberg’s Editions Mego label that I owe my gratitude for yet another introduction to an artist on the scene. In the past years I’ve been seriously gravitating towards the shadowy spectrum of sound, be it dark ambient, power electronics, or noir-fi. Bolder delivers elements of dun, dusk, and drab to the sterile lab lined with industrial instruments in sanitary form. Of course, music like this doesn’t simply erupt out of nothing – it slowly marinades on the back-burner of explored genres of the past: Maischein brings to the table his beatwork experience from the Heinrich At Hart project, recorded for Position Chrome label back in late 90s; while Votava has released under his Pure moniker throughout the past decade for imprints such as Staalplaat, Crónica and Praxis [he put together that No End Of Vinyl compilation with Miguel Carvalhais]. Recommended for fans of Cindytalk, Lucy and Prurient.		@c Ab OVO Crónica Besides a handful of abstract and experimental musicians, Portugal based Crónica media label is a home to its founders and one of the most interesting acts, @c (pronounced “at-c”). Originally a trio, @c formed in 2000, and is currently made up of Miguel Carvalhais and Pedro Tudela. Their fourteenth (by my count) release is actually a soundtrack to a play, titled OVO, developed by the Teatro de Marionetas do Porto (a string puppet theater) in late 2011. I find it difficult to actually imagine the visual component of this performance, since the six pieces on the album, consecutively titled “98″ through “103″ feature some of the most abstract and complex compositions I have heard to date. Although the music is incredibly theoretical, it is not nevertheless that hard to digest. There are components of noise, elaborate digital manipulation, and multiple conceptual layers that at first seem to be nearly chaotic, yet the mind stays interested and focused, determined to solve the puzzle presented by @c within. The sound twists, warps, and contorts, creating a tangle of obscure themes, as if the puppets themselves are perplexed at the mangled strings attached at their members. Indeed, the published score is not a direct copy of the aural component of play, but rather a reworked portion of the soundtrack, tailored to be detached from the original context.
Ø Konstellaatio Sähkö Now on to Ø (as I pronounce it like the letter ‘o’ as in ‘bird’ in English), or rather Berlin-based Mika Vainio, who was, of course, none other than one half of the influential Finnish Pan Sonic duo (along with Ilpo Väisänen), spinning off in the late 90s a rather rich solo career. It seems that this particular moniker is reserved for releases on Vainio’s own Sähkö Recordings (co-founded with Tommi Grönlund), while his real name graces labels such as Pan, Touch, Raster-Noton, Editions Mego and Blast First Petite. Konstellaatio is a very minimal, experimental, yet accessible album [there's also a big chance that this type of music has really grown on me throughout the years]. The theme is slow evolving, quiet exploration of expansive sound, featuring some familiar digital Pan Sonic percussive elements. The frequency range is immense, and as spacey pads glide towards immeasurable universe, so do the sub-bass drops plunge into its depths. One of the tracks, “Kesäyön Haltijat” begins with four seconds of incredibly high pitch sound [I even ripped the headphones off my head the first time], before it treads into a dark and suspenseful territory of sparse rhythms and scattered synths, as if my ears tune into a colossal and infinite space, where the sound rebounds in void. Composing delicate sculptures and fast engineering feats, Vainio reassures all his loyal followers once more, why this particular space is undoubtedly his. Highly recommended for discerning ears. Make sure to listen on your best sound system! Oh, and there is a new Pan Sonic album, titled Oksastus out on Kvitnu!		Donato Dozzy & Nuel The Aquaplano Sessions Spectrum Spools The very first track on The Aquaplano Sessions begins with a saw-tooth growl which drops with a kick coming in on a second bar (where the snare should be), and I’m immediately thrown off, unable to readjust the clock in my head in sync with the rhythm. This restored collaboration between Donato Dozzy and Nuel is brought to us courtesy of Spectrum Spools imprint, an offshoot of Editions Mego created by John Elliott and Peter Rehberg to release limited edition vinyl from “the finest in forward thinking modern music.” The narcotic rhythms of minimal techno and deep atmospheric ambiance swirls in patterns of slowly progressing pieces, consecutively numbered “Aqua 1″ through “Aqua 8″. The tracks indeed emerged from the reclusive Aquaplano records, an San Felice Circeo (Italy) based studio, originally composed back in 2007-2008. “The influences these Italians were drawing on were rather different, returning to tribal rhythms and ambient textures to sketch out a much more heady, psychedelic form of techno. The results were a perfect balance of hypnotic beats and swirling atmosphere geared for a broken-in dancefloor or the hazy afterhours.” Following this soporific transit I got a bit thrown off by the artist names. You see, a group known by the name Voices From The Lake is composed of Donato Scaramuzzi (that’s the very same Donato Dozzy) and Giuseppe Tillieci (who’s also known as Neel). The latter is different than Nuel, who’s real name is actually Manuel Fogliata. Nevertheless, I highly recommend this welcome flashback!

Words by HC

I often meditate on sound. Not just on the origination thereof, but on the entire process of its perception, mental formations and finally consciousness. Somewhere something makes a “sound” – a wave-like vibration shifting pressure through air. The waves themselves have two main properties: frequency and amplitude. Yet somehow, through the amazing (yet, arguably limited) process of hearing, the human ears can translate that signal and identify its spacial location. What happens after is still a mystery to me. The brain can identify the pattern and associate it with some mental construct as the origin of that sound. This way, a sound of a crumbling piece of paper will always be a crumbling piece of paper (as opposed to a sound of a creaking wood floorboards). But what if that sound was synthesized and perhaps even slightly modified to shed some of its recognizable properties? What happens in the brain after perception and prior to consciousness?

I was meditating on sound during a Shōmyō, a style of Japanese Buddhist ritual chant (performed mainly by Shingon and Tendai sects), during a unique performance by Shōmyō no Kai – Voices of a Thousand Years of Sonbou no Toki (Life in an Autumn). It is during my concentrated listening of these pure, resonant and very human voices that I tried to work out the discernment of the perceived. During this 90-minute a cappella, performed continuously without a break, the twenty priests exhaled long single notes in unison, employing a ‘Yo scale’ (a pentatonic scale of ascending intervals) that often ended in a pitched-up sigh. I tried to figure out the music notation they were holding, but from an accidental glimpse I could only see the Kanji drawn across the paper in some step-ladder intervals, which I assume have specified their pitch. The voices became more intense and almost quadrophonic, as the monks moved up and down the centre isle of the Episcopal parish.

Here I am in the winter of my ears.
Having lived with you since spring
And yet, where did autumn go?

Based on this oldest vocal form of Japanese Buddhism, Sonbou no Toki was composed by Ushio Torikai, reflecting on the events of 9/11. Focusing on the instabilities of the world after this terrible event, the composer questions the struggles and hatred born out of ethnic and religious differences, as well as the ancient thoughts about the nature of life, ethnicity and human civilization. The music explores the original and most primitive instrument of all time – human voice. “More than 3000 years ago,” muses Torikai in his composer’s notes, “people came up with the idea of creating primitive, yet most imaginative stringed instruments with an immense desire to hear sounds that they had never heard before. [...] Music constitutes the ethnic identity of people all over the world. It is an expression of the beauty of the wonderfully varied lives that people live.“

This event took place on March 6th, 2014, at St. Bartholomew’s Church in New York, sponsored by Japan Society and The Mid-Manhattan Performing Arts Foundation. Sonbou no Toki was a very first performance outside of Japan, in a city which the composer and the chanting monks have long hoped to visit after the tragedies of 9/11. I certainly consider myself lucky to be able to witness such a once-in-a-lifetime event, one which will leave me to ponder, reflect, and of course meditate on more properties of sound, human perception, consciousness and the integration thereof.

japansociety.org