Neil Feather - Revelation Of An Anaplumb (Recorded, 1998)

1 Revelation Of An Anaplumb (Excerpt) (60:00)

Pour quelques mots, on regarde l'insert posté...

For a review, look at the posted insert...

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Aidan Baker - Field of Drones (Arcolepsy Records, 2004)

1 Twilight (27:15)
2 Darkness Encroaching (22:20)
3 Shadows (27:30)

Drones de guitare enregistrés live....

Live guitar drones....

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Aidan Baker - I Fall Into You (Basses Frequences, 2002 (2008 reissue))

1 Lapse (7:19)
2 Lysis (24:48)
3 Symbiosis (10:20)
4 Phage (1:15)
5 Lethe (7:16)

Enregistré sur un quatre pistes, utilisant basses, guitares, voix et boucles, Aidan Baker nous fait pénétrer dans son univers, et la phrase qui ouvre le morceau "Lysis", "I fall into you and replicate" s'apllique à merveille à sa musique...

It begins with something that could be the sound of DNA gently floating in a mitochondrial soup, and ends with an ambient texture piece with lyrics culled from a particularly dense passage from Milton's "Paradise Lost." In between lies an intriguing exploration of worlds of tactile sensualism (a topographic map of the skin, as it were) and a deeper look at the inner forces and powerful unseen drives that lurk below. It's a dense and prickly world created on I Fall Into You, by Canadian guitarist, loopist, and lyricist Aidan Baker (he's also worked as a writer of poetry and fiction, and his works in the written word deal with similar inner concerns of language, sensuality and the darker side of the psyche).

The highlight of the whole disc is the mesmerizing two-guitar gamelan of "Symbiosis," a place where wafting, repetitive guitars merge with gently tumescent drumlike sounds until no instrument is truly distinct throughout its 10 ambient minutes. The centerpiece of the five-song disc is the nearly 25-minute "Lysis," which opens with vocalist Naomi Okabe blankly intoning the phrase, "I fall into you and replicate." There's some significance to this multi-layered, seemingly inscrutable lyrical phrase – indeed the lyric itself can be seen as a tool to describe Baker's music. It can even take on different possible meanings with each different listen: the sense one makes of the phrase on the fourth time through the CD can be significantly different from the first time, or the fifth. It's an ambiguity that hangs, that changes and morphs, much like the music itself in all five of these pieces. The title phrase resurfaces again later, during "Phage", a one-minute spoken-word piece that oddly enough recalls the Velvet Undergound's "Lady Godiva's Operation," with two completely different sets of words happening simultaneously in either speaker.

Those who wish to carp might point out that Baker maps out similar terrain as others before, such as Michael Brook, Biota, or even Brian Eno. But the important thing to remember is a lesson that Brian Eno himself explicitly set forth: the beauty and strength of any ambient or instrumental music lies precisely in its alien quality of strangeness and unfamiliarity, its inherent newness to the ears, an experience much like looking at a topographic map of an unfamiliar place, or viewing up-close surface photographs of distant planets that have been beamed to us from faraway spacecraft. There are colossal canyons you've never seen before, unexpected meteorology lighting the skies, and even boring desert vistas that cry out in utter plainness, but even the plainest desert contains an unexplainable beauty just for being so different and unfamiliar. In that sense, I Fall Into You is all about exploring the cartography of an uncharted place: looking around, searching for recognition, or even surrendering to one's surroundings and just taking it all in.

The fact that Baker has done so much with far fewer resources (4-track, sparse equipment, one month of recording) than any of his immediate reference points is in itself a victory for ambient music's inherent Everyman quality. But what's even more impressive, is the fact that Aidan Baker is presenting us with ambient instrumental music that isn't just a map of some exotic fictional Roger Dean-type planetscape, but a view of the darkest parts of the human interior itself.
Dusted Review

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Hammock - The Sleep-Over Series (Volume 1) (Hammock Music, 2001)

1 Moon Through The Branches (4:22)
2 Empty Page/Blue Sky (4:14)
3 Dropping Off (15:07)
4 Just Before Breathing (5:54)
5 Still Point (24:33)
6 No Stopping The Sea (5:49)

De la pureté en musique. Du son seul. Et seulement du son. De l'écoute qui devient absolue. À défaut de l'oreille. De ces sons mêlés à des field-recordings (Still Point) qui sont des points d'ouverture pour une musique aveugle par nécessité. De ces sons qui saturent les écouteurs. À l'exception des auditeurs. De cette musique a-rythmique qui n'a rien de la douceur à laquelle l'atmosphère semble la destiner pourtant. Mais qui, au contraire, gagne sans cesse en puissance à mesure que s'étendent ses plages qui parfois semblent infinies (Dropping Off, Still Point). Et, en un sens, de l'extension de la musique au-delà du seul domaine de l’opposition “musicalité vs. bruit”.

Radicalisant la logique propre à Stranding under endless sky, en tirant les conséquences ultimes qui conduisent à la disparition de toute pulsation rythmique, de toute indication claire de tempo, ce premier volume de [the] sleep-over series s'attache à la surface et au fond des choses. La surface des choses parce que la musique enveloppe tout ce qu'elle approche : elle devient environnement. Le fond des choses parce qu'elle n'effleure pas les sons, mais les inscrit dans l'espace en jouant sur leur matérialité : ce sont des ondes qui se propagent et rencontrent des obstacles qu’elles surmontent parfois.

Radicale donc, la musique de Hammock - quand elle prend à ce point le risque de l'abstraction - l'est assurément. Et, s'il est certain qu'il y a une dimension contemplative (Moon Through the Branches, Empty Page / Blue Sky) dans cette orientation, le plus important semble se jouer moins dans la signification des plages sonores ici présentées que dans leur physicalité proprement dite : les sons émis et leurs effets sur l'auditeur. Or, jouer la physicalité plus que la force d'évocation, c'est aussi s'autoriser à produire du pur son, c'est-à-dire du son qui soit quelque part au-delà de l'opposition musicalité vs. bruit, dans un autre état de la musique qui, s'il a déjà été exploré, demeure encore largement méconnu.

Explorer cet état de la musique, ce n'est pas tout ce que Hammock sait faire, mais à ma connaissance, il le fait mieux que personne.
dMute

The Sleepover Series Vol. 1 is a record of beatless, ambient, atmospheric soundscapes. It's called Sleepover because it is extremely dreamy and contemplative, consisting mostly of ambient guitar with a few keyboards thrown in. Hammock has one track on the record, but the rest was written, recorded and performed by Marc Byrd.
Hammock

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Wixel - Herfst (self release, 2006)

1 Glimlachjes (1:13)
2 Carrot Nose (10:57)
3 Karen Ikea (6:28)
4 Aai (3:30)
5 Troost (2:19)
6 Slaapwel (21:33)

Tour EP réalisé en 2006, 4 inédits, 2 morceaux rares. Herfst signifie automne alors mélancolie...

In support of our 2006 uk tour we are releasing a tour ep called "herfst". It has 6 tracks and clocks in at precisely 46 minutes, ep means extended play so maybe you could call this an "eep". 4 of the 6 tracks are unreleased, "karen ikea" was released on the "stilll compilation" & "slaapwel" was previously released as a limited edition "single".

"Herfst" means "autumn" which is a melancholic season, and there are plenty of reasons to call it herfst including that "herfst" graphically looks a bit like "heart" to which it is a sequel.

The artwork is awesome!! I had three very beautiful girls painting all of the 50 copies. They are all quite different - you can see a couple of them on the left side of this screen. Due to the nature of handcrafting (and me being clumsy) some versions are prettier than others. So we decided to pile up all the cd's and put the most beautiful versions on top! This means; the sooner you order the ep, the prettier your cd will be - i must say; the first one is soooooooooo extremely beautiful! mind you; the others are almost as beautiful as the first one - and the last one, well, it's the last one for a reason ;-) - so be quick if you like your eyes!

"Herfst" will be sold for 8 euro. I know that seems a whole lot - but it's for a good cause: paying our transporttickets and food in the UK. Only that. So if you want to support us, please buy it! We would be very very thankful!
Wixel

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Wixel - Plays Sonic Youth (self release, 2008)

***ultra limited edition: 10 copies. So thanks to the original uploader @folktronica***

1 Expressway To Yr Skull (8:47)
2 Little Trouble Girl (2:17)
3 Shadow Of A Doubt (4:09)
4 Teen Age Riot (2:47)
5 Diamond Sea (3:51)
6 Snare Girl (1:57)
7 Schizophrenia (5:24)

inutile de dire quelque chose...

no need for a review...

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Taylor Deupree & Christopher Willits - Live In Japan, 2004 (12k, 2005)

1 Deupree & Willits - Untitled (24:02)
2 Christopher Willits - Untitled (18:10)
3 Taylor Deupree - Untitled (27:24)

Performance live enregistrée au Yamaguchi Center for Arts le 26 juin 2004...

Taylor Deupree + Christopher Willits Live In Japan, 2004 is the first release in 12k’s new Limited Series. Issued in a numbered edition of 500 cds, Live In Japan, 2004 has been created as a document of Deupree’s and Willits’ performances at the Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (YCAM) in Yamaguchi, Japan during their 2004 tour and is being released to support their 2005 tour of Japan. It will first be made available in Tokyo on June 18th at the Shibuya Uplink Factory and will continue to be sold throughout the 9-day tour. Any remaining copies will then be made available in 12k’s online shop and at future live shows from the artists.

Live In Japan, 2004 features 3 live recordings from YCAM on June 26th, 2004. The first piece is a collaborative improvisational set between the two artists, borrowing textures and styles from each of them, not unlike their previous two critically acclaimed releases Audiosphere 8 (Audiosphere/Sub Rosa, 2003), and Mujo (Plop, 2004). However, new directions are taken into pulsing and repetitive frameworks, more intense than either artist is commonly known for. The second track is Christopher Willits’ own performance capturing his signature live, folded guitar work and the third track is a micro/ambient set from Deupree utilizing not only computer-based sounds but live, processed melodica as well as real-time room recording manipulations.

ChristopherWillits.com

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Alva Noto - Transform (Mille Plateaux, 2001)

A1 m02 (3:37)
A2 m03 (10:05)
B1 m01 (5:50)
B2 m04 (6:23)
C1 m05 (4:43)
C2 m06 (5:37)
C3 m07 (4:59)
D1 m08 (5:28)
D2 m09 (7:45)
D3 m10 (2:42)

Des clicks et des cuts un peu partout saupoudrés de magnifiques nappes aux ambiances dark. Voilà comment résumer en une phrase le second album de l'allemand Carsten Nicolai aka Alva noto.
Oui c'est sûr, Transform n'est pas facile d'accès, tous ceux qui auraient du mal avec Pan Sonic peuvent déjà arrêter de lire cette chronique.
Pourtant, le talent que dégage Alva noto est énorme, des sons de téléphones, de fax ou bien encore de modems vous pénètrent sans cesse le cerveau via vos oreilles... De droite à gauche puis de gauche à droite et parfois en vous remontant tout le corps, ces sons là ne vous seront pas anodins très longtemps.
Bref, une leçon de maîtrise des sons que ce Transform. Indispensable pour les accros du style !!!
dMute

In much the same way as label-mate and colleague Frank Bretschneider, Carsten Nicolai (under his recording guise of Alva Noto) has perfected a strain of clicky minimalism that is increasingly less reliant on the presence of gaps and silence, and instead focuses on the role played by bass pulses and basic groove formation. The components here are distinct and stripped, but the overall construction is not too disimillar to the more accessable compositional tricks of Dub and IDM. Silence, off course, figures in the reflective engineering of the sound space, whereby the ideology is that of space and isolation, but the interpretation is nothing short of accessable. For fans of Ryoji Ikeda and Pan Sonic, Transformation is a standout release that comes across best via headphone listening. Highly Recommended.
Boomkat

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Alexander Turnquist - Apneic (Kning Disk, 2007)

1 Idle Nightmare
2 Electric Lines
3 $130

Trois pièces ambient à la guitare acoustique, au laptop et au sampler...

Three instrumental pieces for a 35 min. release, recorded with an acoustic guitar, a sampler and a laptop, by Alexander Turnquist, a young musician describing his production as “instrumental Guitar/Ambient noise from Idaho”.

The second track and the longest, 23 minutes, stands brightly above the rest and make it difficult to focus on the two others. It's a radiant dronescape, a repetitive and slowly evolving piece using loops, with solar and erosional, warm and slightly euphoric effects, that may recall the better ambient works of Brian Eno, Basinski or Rafael Toral, but with a more emotional and less deep vibe.

“Idle Nightmare” opens the album but is quite colder, even glacial, a good interpretation of the cover picture but with diminishing lights. This track seems to never start, caught by the blizzard, caught by the winter night. “$130” is more interesting, more apneic, like swimming slowly underneath cold water, below a mineral azure sky.

Very interesting debut for Alexander Turnquist, not terribly innovative, but inducing nice atmospheres.
Derives

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Conductive Alliance - Conductive Alliance (self release, 2008)

1 Silver
2 Turtles
3 Harmonics
4 Neko
5 Water Like Mountains
6 KOC
7 Detrimental Effects

Reçu hier un mail de Conductive Alliance, pour demander de poster son nouvel EP...
Ce groupe de Chicago, formé en 2007, mixe musique acoustique et électronique...

Received a mail yesterday from this group to post their new EP...
Conductive Alliance mixes acoustic and electric instrumentation to create a distinctive sound that is rooted within many styles and traditions. This Chicago group formed in 2007, when longtime friends began writing and performing high energy instrumental music. In the Fall of 2007 their debut EP "Wind Up Bird" was released. Soon after recording "Wind Up Bird", bassist Nicholas Hill, and drummer Corey Breker joined the group, building upon and expanding Conductive Alliance's unique sound. Conductive Alliance's latest self-titled EP was recently released, and is widely distributed throughout Chicago.
Conductive Alliance

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Yuichiro Fujimoto - The Mountain Record (Ahornfelder, 2006)

1 Listen To November Steps (2:54)
2 Open Window (For Piano) (3:49)
3 Handwritten Map To Sea (2:36)
4 To Make A Fire In That Old Stove (9:24)
5 Wooden Minimal Music (2:17)
6 Fruit Shapes (3:53)
7 Birds, Cows, Dogs And Bells (3:59)
8 History Of Dreams (4:09)
9 The Tale Of Setting Sun (3:39)

Troisième album du jeune japonais Yuichiro Fujimoto, The Mountain Record continue de creuser le sillon singulier tracé par ses deux prédécesseurs Komorebi (2004) et Kinoe (2005), et transporte l’auditeur aux limites de la musique et de la vie quotidienne, dans une durée marquée par les silences et l’absence d’évènements. Comme sur ses deux précédents disques, Yuichiro utilise quelques instruments de prédilection, guitare, piano, mélodica ou carillons, sur lesquels il esquisse des mélodies d’une simplicité extrême mais d’une grande force émotionnelle. Ici cependant, le propos semble encore plus radical, le dépouillement plus complet qu’auparavant - exception faite du titre final, "The Tale of Setting Sun", très beau duo d’harmonica et de glockenspiel. Cette évolution s’explique par la présence accrue des field recordings, qui font porter l’attention non sur les mélodies mais sur la texture sonore elle-même. Or, celle-ci, du fait de la qualité artisanale des enregistrements, s’avère d’une grande richesse, chaque morceau ayant son propre grain, sa couleur sonore caractéristique. Ainsi, comme autant de haikus, chacun des neuf titres qui forment The Mountain Record parvient à décrire avec justesse les faits les plus banaux de la vie : tâches ménagères sur le titre d’ouverture "Listen To November Steps" et sa mélodie fredonnée, promenade champêtre sur "Birds, Cows, Dogs and Bells"… Ici, les esquisses mélodiques amenées par les instruments forment avec le fond sonore un environnement total, à l’image de "History of Dreams" où la circulation automobile venue pointer le bout de son nez par la fenêtre ouverte s’harmonise spontanément avec les quelques notes de guitare esquissées par le japonais. Si la musique de Yuichiro Fujimoto pourra choquer certains par son aspect d’ébauche maladroite, elle ravira les amoureux de poésie simple et modeste.
Octopus

Much as with other recent Ahornfelder releases, Yuichiro Fujimoto's The Mountain Record is about immense beauty on a small scale. After recently putting out excellent works by Daisuke Miyatani and Wechsel Garland (under his 17 Pictures guise), the label continue to release beautiful sound miniatures bringing delicate acoustic instrumentation together with an understated use of field recording ambience. 'Listen To November Steps' draws on bristling environmental sounds, Fujimoto's lightly plucked acoustic guitar and the apparently incidental, nonchalant humming of a friend caught on tape. This kind of intimate abstraction is precisely what makes this album sound so precious, with following pieces such as 'Open Window (For Piano)' capturing a simple, childlike piano performance set against the low-key bustle of birdsong and distant voices. After a series of tracks exploring different combinations of acoustic instruments and found sounds, Fujimoto virtually dispenses with instrumentation altogether for the sonic landscape painting that is 'Birds, Cows, Dogs and Bells'. It's only for the piece's coda that the artist's hand is revealed, a few chimes ringing out the final moments of the recording. Utterly lovely stuff from start to finish, Fujimoto lets the listener in on a very hushed, private sound world, which despite its quietness leaves makes a hefty impact.
Boomkat

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Akira Kosemura & Haruka Nakamura - Afterglow (Schole, 2007)

1 Azure
2 Calm
3 Garden
4 Delight
5 Drizzle
6 Haze
7 Plus
8 Graf
9 Nostalgia
10 Afterglow

La découverte de ce premier album enregistré par le duo formé par Akira Kosemura et Haruka Nakamura, deux artistes dont on n’avait jamais entendu parlé par ici jusqu’à présent, rappelle celle de Yupi de Kazumasa Hashimoto en 2003.

Faute de connaître la scène japonaise, l’émerveillement était intact et ce disque se permet encore de régulières incursions dans la platine en fin de soirée. Depuis, certaines productions en provenance du pays du soleil levant se révèlent régulièrement séduisantes et il ne faut pas se méfier à l’austérité de la présentation de ces albums et la confidentialité d’artistes aux noms difficiles à retenir.

Afterglow fait parti de ces bonnes découvertes, de ce genre de disque qui dépasse le cadre limité du laptop pour s’égailler dans des champs électro-acoustiques merveilleux. Les deux tokyoïtes allient des claviers aux harmonies tendant vers le piano classique à des habillages électroniques (quelques beats, des parasites...) et des samples ajustés avec pertinence (un cri d’enfant, une sonnette de vélo, ce genre de sonorités du quotidien). Leurs compositions dégagent ainsi un certain onirisme grâce à des mélodies contemplatives surlignées par de petits détails. Un beau disque d’automne.

Autres Directions

Performed largely on piano and electronics, the selections on Afterglow, a collaboration between Akira Kosemura and Haruka Nakamura, provide a rich, resonating meld of opulent and bell-like tones. From here, the ambience of the release widens into a stately panorama of obscure and half-submerged gestures: shards of electronic splinters that sound like the links of a chain uncoiling, rumbling undertow’s, and low end sublimities on the piano, often twinning the aura with the non-homogenous.

It’s this element of the recording that allows it to ring out as a joyful vortex of sound, as something more than pretty ornamentation. Themes crystalize, then undergo serial changes of state as pungent chords blend or clash. What is more, the set as a whole is well measured. The duo shift from hypnotic ambiences, to restrained contemplative pieces, to swirling, insistent yet centreless expressive motifs. In so doing, the terms of the albums development are discernible, and its changes sound true.

Take a track such as “Graf”, for instance: here, melodic flurries arise out of digital squits, tinging the air with a lovely sense of longing and faint hope. Indeed, although a few works fail to achieve any manner of distinction, many ghosts of melody hover in the sinewy webs of this delightfully expressive and genuine work.

Cyclic Defrost

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Kashiwa Daisuke - April.#02 (Onpa, 2006)

1 Do Re Me? (3:31)
2 April.#02 (27:36)
3 Airdrop (6:51)
4 Deepblue (Original Version) (8:05)
5 Rabbit's_Quartet (6:43)
6 The Unexclusive Virus ~Even Our Invincible Religion "Technology" Cannot~ (7:48)

Parfait mariage acoustique et électronique...

Born in Hiroshima, Daisuke started his career as songwriter and the head of his band Yodaka in 2001. Later on their postrocking and psychedelic sound and the influences of Jim O’Rourke, Alva Noto, Maurizio Bianchi and Yoshihiro Hanno made him concentrate on a solo career in the year 2004, in which he now collaborates with artists like Aoki Takamasa- member of the Japanese band Progressive Form, Popmuzik Crew and also Mokira, a Mille Plateaux-Artist.
Daisuke mainly attaches importance to create not only acoustic but also electronic and experimental soundscapes and atmospheres. He mixes up a wide variety of classic instruments, spoken word snippets, crisp beats with a suitable proportion of ambient and builds them all up to one imaginary film made for listen to. It is definitely out of question that april.#02 is an absolute enrichment to the whole international world of music and convinced by this is none other than Ryuichi Sakamoto(Yellow Magic Orchestra) , who features Daisuke’s works in his own radio show Radio Sakamoto on J-Wave Tokyo. Up to now Daisuke has sold some of his tracks exclusively only at his live-gigs in Japan but now he finally releases his first official album on the label onpa whereby he can at last be listened in Europe, too.
Onpa

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Tape - Opera (Häpna, 2002)

1 Bell Mountain (3:34)
2 Fire Made Of Bones (6:02)
3 Feeler (4:24)
4 Summa (4:33)
5 Radiolaria (6:13)
6 Longitude (6:21)
7 Noises From A Hill (3:42)
8 Return To Ship (4:47)
9 Terraces (6:02)
10 Rut (2:19)

La guitare accoustique constitue le fil conducteur de ce premier album de Tape qui va de la musique concrète j'usqu'au folk...

The Scandinavian collaborative group Tape released their first album Opera (literally “work” in Italian) to critical acclaim recently. “Work” is an apt title for this release, as the many meticulously assembled layers that make up the record attest to.

There are a few things that can be mentioned when discussing Opera that may inform readers of something other than its greatness as so-late-at-night-it-might-as-well-be-morning music. It isn’t anything “new” – it draws upon the rich history of many genres and techniques, from Pierre Schaeffer’s musique concrete, to the avant folk guitar of the American Primitives Basho and Fahey, to the “wind through the horn” sounds of improvisers Axel Doerner and Radu Malfatti, and maybe even the ghost of Hannah Hoch's narrative photo-montages. Tape does this, however, with a subtle and organic aesthetic, which is probably one reason why it works.

The acoustic guitar is the narrative thread throughout the album, grounding the electro-acoustic manipulations and field recordings that dart around it in a Fahey-esque (but softer and fluffier) mode, while also reminding one of the first Town and Country album. Despite the prevalence of a perceivable pulse throughout, Tape manages to obscure this pulse nicely, through a multitude of layers and labor-intensive mixing. The sound sources are all very warm and homey, and used sparingly (with the exception of the fifth piece, which is a bit of an oddball – it sounds vaguely like an early Aphex Twin ambient piece, due to a demanding bass vamp that continues throughout, albeit slightly morphed). If one wanted to be a cynical asshole, it could be said that Tape is plumbing the post-Tortoise, post-rock, nice-guys-make-nice-music well – and that may be true – but it is nice music.

Perhaps it is too nice and too precious, though as Opera really doesn’t have a bite – it’s the kind of record that you might well forget is on, and you might not remember you’d heard. For some people, though, that could be just right.
Dusted Review

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Sylvain Chauveau - Nocturne Impalpable (Les Disques Du Soleil Et De L'Acier, 2001)

1 Blanc (2:23)
2 Cet Enfer Miraculeux (2:59)
3 Radiophonie N°1 (2:54)
4 Doucement, Le Grain De Sa Peau (3:41)
5 - (0:36)
6 Ocre (2:47)
7 -- (0:35)
8 Radiophonie N°2 (3:15)
9 Adieu Miséricorde (1:14)
10 --- (0:31)
11 Léger (2:25)
12 ---- (0:40)
13 Le Monde Intérieur (4:01)
14 Arachnéenne Encore (1:29)
15 ----- (0:27)
16 Je Me Suis Bâti Sur Une Colonne Absente (4:04)
17 ------ (0:33)
18 Radiophonie N°3 (2:07)
19 Nocturne Urbain (9:56)

Clairement l'un des plus beaux disques de "musique française" -terme employé par Sylvain Chauveau lui-même- à être paru récemment, Nocturne Impalpable raconte le silence de la nuit, en ville.

Volontiers contemplative, simple et répétitive, la musique de Sylvain Chauveau déroule ses volutes mélancoliques et son piano minimal au gré de 19 compositions, reliées entre elle par le fil ténu d’une ville endormie et d’une nuit régnante. Nocturne urbain, mouvement qui clôt le disque, en est la focale. Le caractère légèrement narratif de l’ensemble est volontiers brisé par quelques écueils et bribes d’expérimentations sonores Cette succession de mouvements est hautement poétique, en raison notamment de la beauté de ses titres (Doucement le grain de sa peau, Arachnéenne encore, Je me suis bâti sur une colonne…). Elle possède également une cohérence toute cinématographique, comme une bande son oubliée d’un film de Bresson, rejouée à l’époque actuelle, comme le laissent entendre les scories électroniques de Ocre.

Le morceau suivant, avec son orgue hypnotique, nous plonge au delà de terres déjà reconnues par Labradford circa Mi Media Naranja. Ce morceau insuffle une profonde émotion humaine et organique à l’ensemble. Les samples que l’on retrouvait sur le premier album solo de Sylvain Chauveau, par ailleurs membre de Micro : Mega et d‘Arca, se sont quasiment tus, remplacés par un silence musical et une mélancolie encore plus vastes. Le Monde intérieur donne le ton de cet album, croisement de Satie et des Rachels dans une salle obscure. "Adieu vive clarté de nos étés trop courts/Demain nous plongerons dans les vastes ténèbres" écrivait Baudelaire. Ce disque constitue à coup sûr la musique de cette descente magnifique, avant de revoir cette vive clarté estivale.

Chronic'Art

It has become somewhat of a cliché to unearth the skeletons of Claude Debussy and Erik Satie when writing about any French composer who takes the path of quiet melancholia. Nevertheless, Sylvain Chauveau's Nocturne Impalpable does borrow a lot from La Mer and the composer of the Gnossiennes and Gymnopédies. The former's delicate touch permeates through the long chords of the string trio (two cellos and a viola) in "Radiophonie No. 1." The latter's sedated piano style is found everywhere on the album, and particularly in "Nocturne Urbain." The running order manages room to breathe in the form of six untitled tracks of field recordings and electronics -- promenades between stations of this night walk. Nocturne Impalpable may be pretty, even touching at times, but that doesn't make it striking.
Allmusic

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Kath Bloom & Loren Mazzacane Connors - Moonlight (St. Joan, 1984)

1 To Love A Man
2 Come Here
3 Can You Find Me?
4 Puccini
5 Turn On Your Head Lights
6 End Of The Night
7 What If I Found Out (Instrumental)
8 You Cleared Up The Sky
9 Breath In My Ear
10 Bicycle
11 Blues Song
12 What If I Found Out
13 Love Makes It All Worthwhile

Dernière collaboration entre Kath Bloom et Loren Mazzacane Connors...

Last collaboration between Kath Bloom and Loren Mazzacane Connors...

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Teenager - Teenager (Second Sun Recordings, 2007)

A1 Honey Oak (1:38)
A2 Poplar Drive Blues (4:08)
A3 Smoke Song (3:38)
A4 Her Hand In Mine (2:03)
A5 Waiting By The Library Stairs (4:09)
B1 Bedroom Blue (1:12)
B2 Main Street Parade (3:59)
B3 Wooden Steps Hum Along (2:23)
B4 Sawdust (3:21)
B5 Lazy Melodies (2:13)
B6 Flowerpot (2:06)

Compilation de compositions folk et blues lo fi par Brian Grainger...

Half an hour of lo-fi instrumental folk and blues guitar songs that Brian recorded as far back as 1997. All of it has been harvested from hours and hours of recordings in various states of wear, most of it on old tapes with little more than a year or a location written on the labels. The sound of Teenager largely reflects the bare-bones acoustic songwriting that has always been at the heart of all of Brian's music, yet nothing this raw and primitive has ever been released until now. The playing is untrained, but melodic and endearing in a very homemade way. Recommended listening for the onset of Autumn and slow aimless driving through the country. This is intimate music that has been steeped in the southern landscape and reaches deep from the fading histories of a poor southern boy.
Second Sun Recordings

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Ilk - Canticle (VHF Records, 2005)

1 A Guiding Principle (9:09)
2 Landsong (Walking) (6:20)
3 Honour's Prospect (4:07)
4 The Weight Of Stars (5:54)
5 Tilling (5:41)
6 Outward & Homeward (7:55)
7 Of Souls (A Pantomime) (2:29)

Seconde réalisation d'Andrew Paine et de Richard Youngs sous ce pseudonyme, un peu à l'opposé des productions habituelles minimalistes de richard youngs, lignée prog rock - psych folk....

Outrageous CD of prog rock from Richard Youngs and Andrew Paine's ILK. Canticle is a long promised follow-up to the group's 1998 CD Zenith, which was released on Richard's No Fans label. Unlike Richard's more "minimalist" solo records, Ilk drapes his songs and voice in thick layers of heavy jams, and then piles on the production tricks, vocal layers, Steve Howe-style leads, synth bleeps, and other racket in beautifully intricate arrangements. Canticle is clearly influenced by the classic UK progressives but unmistakably contemporary. "A Guiding Principle" and "Landsong" marry Richard and Andrew's multi-tracked voices with over the top full rock-band arrangements. "Honour's Prospect" mixes mystical narration with some searing fuzz-guitar leads, and is followed by the bass-heavy march of "The Weight of Stars." "Tilling" shimmers and echoes, leading into the spacey and cosmic "Outward & Homeward." The folky "Of Souls" serves as a fittingly simple epilogue to the suite. Veronica Rennie's cover art (in card folio printed by Stumptown) completes the package in highly appropriate style. 7 tracks, 50 mins.
VHF Records

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Kanalkrank - Kanalkrank (Centre of Wood, 2007)

1 Untitled
2 Untitled
3 Untitled
4 Untitled
5 Untitled
6 Untitled
7 Untitled
8 Untitled

Drones en solo à la guitare électrique réhaussés de beaucoup de reverb et d'écho et de field recordings très lo-fi...

This is the first release by Kanalkrank, an enigmatic one man band oriented to drone sounds made by an electric guitar and lo fi field recordings. His music is a stream of raw and saturated sounds that play like a guitar recorded in a deep cave with a broken amp.
Centre of Wood

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Tom Carter & Vanessa Arn - What Is Here For (A Silent Place, 2007)

1 Points Before Vanishing
2 Means to Another

Album collaboratif entre Tom Carter (Charalambides) à la lapsteel et Vanessa Arn (Primordial Undermind) qui pilote un synthétiseur de fabrication maison...: drones puissants...

Limited Edition of 515 copies. First 110 copies released as coloured (brown) vinyl. Including a small insert. Contains two long and deep duo cuts of univibe-era lap steel/ electronic tone generator improvisation, one side recorded live and stamped w/ the indelible mark (ie, the #15 bus rumbling by) of Bullbabe Studios, Austin TX (the odor of sweat, lone star, and barbeque is palpable). The sounds: monolithic serenity infused with a deep breath from the void, as peaceful and violent as a mountain range. A shame that this configuration is so underrepresented in the discography, as the mesh of T&V's playing is so instantly seismic... Tom Carter is best known for his work with Charalambides, which he co-founded with longtime creative partner Christina Carter in 1991. Since 2002, Carter has also undertaken solo work and collaborations. His 2003 solo tour, centered around the seminal Brattleboro FreeFolk festival, featured unaccompanied solo shows and musical excursions (on stage and tape) with Bardo Pond, Thurston Moore, Dredd Foole, the MVEE Medicine Show, Ian Nagoski, Tower Recordings, and Double Leopards, among others. Vanessa Arn became a member of Boston/California/Texas group Primordial Undermind soon after Tom's brief tenure in the group. The potential for mountainous difference tones between the lap steel and the triwave tone generator (a custom built synthesizer) was immediately apparent to all parties, and Tom suggested a collaboration (which was greatly assisted by the fact that Tom and Vanessa were at the time next door neighbors). A sole performance and a handful of recordings ensued and the results are here for your perusal.
A Silent Place

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