Seconds In Formaldehyde - A Shiver In Red

Released: 2009
Label: Droehnhaus
Style: Ambient, Drone

Finest ambientnoise/ drone - don´t get it wrong, please. Noise here don´t means that harsh burst to your ears, you may think about. It´s more like a crackle in the background supporting those dreamlike harmonies, that Martin Fuhs gives at best!
A masterpiece!

Tracklisting:

1) A Shiver In Red / Desirable Black (15:23)
2) Interlude For Lovers 1 (2:39)
3) A Shiver In White (9:18)
4) Interlude For Lovers 2 (2:41)
5) Love Noise (4:26)
6) Various Colour Movements 1 (4:31)
7) Various Colour Movements 2 (3:38)

LINK
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Kontrolorgan - Sun Shape Mirror

Label:GhostDrome
Catalog#012
Format:Cd-r
Released:2010
Genre:Electronic
Style:Ambient,Experimental,Abstract,Drone

Tracklisting:

1 - Interstellar Frisbee (7:51)
2 - Excavations (4:39)
3 - Beastface (2:29)
4 - Light Mane (3:40)
5 - Voyages and Execrations (10:27)
6 - Triangular Orbit (1:12)
7 - Antumbra (1:53)

Sun Shape Mirror' is a collection of songs recorded in november and december of 2009. It focuses on electronics and psychedelic drones. Some tracks are abrasive and others are soft and pleasing. Sparse, repetitious vocals are buried in the mixes. A few tracks even feature electric guitar. All songs were written and recorded by Kontrolorgan. The artwork was also created by Kontrolorgan. Mastering by Christopher Aaby. It it released on cd-r (25 copies) and mp3.

LINK (Sharebee)
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Infinite Body - Carve Out The Face Of My God

Released: 2010
Label: Post Present Medium
Style: Ambient, Drone, Abstract, Experimental

LA's Kyle Parker, working here under the name Infinite Body, is a tireless performer of blissed-out noise and heavily synthesized powerdrone workouts, which accompany a pretty effective light show triggered by various stepped decibel meters. So the louder Parker gets during a piece, the more kaleidoscopic light floods the stage. Simple, but very effective for what the man does. The Infinite Body sound is also simple but very effective, as we've previously enjoyed a couple of amazing (and limited) LPs and a really great split lp with like-minded beautiful malcontent Emaciator. Parker / Infinite Body is one to take off from the post-MBV practice of burying simple melodies and rudimentary structures deep beneath a hyperdelic surface of tactile white noise. The overall timbre of these sounds is a blinding sparkle of sunburst reflection jacked through rudimentary electronics. Intense for sure, and even violent at times; but there's a rarefied beauty to Infinite Body's work that combined with those elegantly violent allusions into a sound sort of like a deconstructed A.R. Kane, as if the dream-pop womb of sound is to envelop the listener and slowly suffocate him or her with cotton candy. It's not quite what David Keenan had in mind when trying to work out a definition for the American aesthetic of Hypnogogic Pop, but both hypnogogia and pop operate well within the boundaries of this Infinite Body.

Tracklisting:

1) Dive (5:29)
2) A Fool Persists (1:58)
3) What They Wanted To Be Was Useless (3:58)
4) Out To Where I Am (5:08)
5) On Our Own To Fall Off (1:19)
6) Beside Me In The Dawn (2:58)
7) Sunshine (7:12)
8) Lived On Its Knees (For Matt) (1:43)
9) He Runs Without Feet And Holds Without Hands (1:30)
10) Drive Dreams Away (6:57)
11) Carve Out The Face Of My God (2:37)

LINK
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P.D. Wilder – “f/m”

Released: 2008
Label: Gears Of Sand
Style: Ambient, Drone

It’s hard to listen to a disc like this and not feel a bit more glad to be alive. Not that P.D. Wilder’s “f/m” is anything like a joyous affair– if anything, Wilder’s in-credits declaration that these tracks were recorded following a winter visit to Fargo, ND make me wonder if the residents need some sort of outreach program. No, it’s more the sort of “glad to be alive” that comes with a brush with danger, creating a combination of mental fatigue and physical exhiliration.
Now, I’m not going to make any huge claims that drone albums with winter weather as an inspiration aren’t rather easy to come by. It’s not even particularly difficult to find ones done well. And while I can’t back it up, it has long been my belief that emulating the sounds of weather was one of the first aims of music– even in these modern times, weather can quickly find us unprepared, and our occasional brush with nature’s awesome power might help us empathize with the fears our ancestors surely experienced at similar events.

Did Wilder see something in Fargo that left a mark? Listening to “f/m,” I’d guess so. A scattering of short, bleak drones surround the album’s core, “Blizzard/Undefined;” the title itself suggesting as much a physical setting as an emotion. For nearly 30 minutes, Wilder churns out an evocative cloud of densely-layered drones and percussive sounds; the wavelike motion of a total whiteout pummeling a lone individual might be an an accurate description here.

After some time, a secondary effect sets in. I best experienced it walking about in my house, letting the various angles of hallways and rooms alter the sound somewhat, like trees in a forest. I opened the windows, and was surprised to see the sun. Although I was in no real danger, this was certainly a cousin to panic. That’s where these weather-and-drone albums really start to separate themselves– does it make you feel cold? Do you need to throw back the curtains and remind yourself of the season? Recommended.

Tracklisting:

1) Tin Snow (Alektra) (3:57)

2) Toy Machine Ice Ghost (0:17)

3) Frozen Breath House Death (0:53)

4) Bismark (6:56)

5) Barren (0:47)

6) Purple Brings Out the Green (5:07)

7) Blizzard/Undefined (28:55)

8) Foam Ice (1:04)

9) Sheen (10:22)

10) Glacia (1:13)

11) Snowdrift (0:34)

12) Northfield (0:42)

13) Now/Year (8:37)

LINK

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L / M / R / W - Drifts

Released: 2010
Label: Home Normal
Style: Ambient, Drone

Four amazing musicians spread over three collaborations on one release. ‘Drifts’ is an engaging and beautiful work. Three compositions / pieces of music / soundscapes / acoustic structures / audio landscapes are collected on the disc. Are they improvised? Are they composed? Are they structured? A combination of any possibility? Does it matter?

L stands for Leo Fabriek adding harmonium to Birthday and subtle piano touches to Tegendraads.

M stands for Mariska Baars who also composes solo as Soccer Committee but never is shy to engage in a collaboration. The only ’she’ of the gang adds guitar and voice on Birthday and voice on Clay.

R stands for Rutger Zuydervelt (aka Machinefabriek) and is the only one featured on all three tracks adding guitar, sampler, effects and editing to Birthday and Tegendraads. On Clay he seems to control the controls.

W stands for Wouter van Weldhoven who also releases solo compositions. On Birthday and Tegendraads he contributes taperecorders and melodica.

The collaborators, the recordings and the title of the release fit perfectly together. Each track has a distinct and individual approach and voice of it’s own. Track 1 Birthday has an almost static feel. Each sound seems to be frozen and locked in itself and layered over and over each other until new overtones shine through the thick fog of sound creating an almost orchestral density. Track 2 Clay has a more quiet beginning. The sense of a voice fades in and takes over the piece. While the voice changes in pitch the track opens up like wings spreading further in the stereo field. After a peak the sounds slowly seem to be crawling back and hiding in the speakers leaving the voice on it’s own again. Track 3 Tegendraads has a calming effect which lets the listener lean back and breathe while the piano notes drop randomly through the track like raindrops falling from the sky at the end of a storm. A voice speaks to the listener which has a soothing effect.

Tracklisting:

1) Birthday (16:00)

2) Clay (17:38)

3 Tegendraads (13:32)

LINK

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BJNilsen - Defeat

Label:iDEAL Recordings
Catalog#:iDEAL078
Format:Cassette,Limited Edition,C40
Country:Sweden
Released:02 Oct 2009
Genre:Electronic, Non-Music
Style:Ambient,Field Recording,Drone

Tracklist:

1 - Defeat (20:00)
2 - Defeat (Continued) (20:00)

LINK (Sharebee)
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Black To Comm - Charlemagne & Pippin

Label:Digitalis Recordings
Catalog#:ACE026
Format:CD,Album,Limited Edition
Country:US
Released:2009
Genre:Electronic
Style:Psychedelic,Ambient,Drone,Experimental

Tracklist

1 - Charlemagne & Pippin (35:56)

From Boomkat:

Showing all psychedelic dronesmiths how it's supposed to be done, Dekorder supremo Marc Richter presents an expertly realised thirty-five minute slab of musical anaethesia, cavorting with perpetual organ chords, fizzing electroacoustic manipulations and a stealthily incremental trek towards a blistering crescendo. For this occasion Richter enlists the assistance of Renate Nikolaus and Ulf Schutte, who man the various electronic contraptions, percussive devices and textural instruments (shruti box, bells, violin, dictaphone loops) that encase the central, imperious Farfisa drone that drives the composition ever skywards. Once you're immersed you'll barely notice how euphorically overblown and noisy the track gets by its conclusion, representing a considerable distance travelled since its hushed origins.

LINK (Sharebee)
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Amazing Stuff :)

Shaula - Haze

Released: 2009
Label: Under The Spire
Style: Ambient

Another enigmatic addition to Under The Spire’s roster, there’s not a great deal of information floating around the net to reveal any substantial background info on this new artist, although if MySpace profiles are to be believed, Shaula is a lady from Japan. Far clearer and wholly more relevant is the quality of her music, which proves to be outstandingly good, even by the normal UTS standards. As has become conventionally the case with this label in general, the tone of the release converges on a richly melodic electroacoustic ambience, made from processed instrumental passages and more unusual recorded textures. The most successful example of Shaula’s art comes with the ten-minute loop-based drift ‘A Butterfly Deposit’, whose delayed, wraithlike guitar harmonics and feathery hiss sculptures are about as close to unconsciousness as music gets. Elsewhere, the strange, manicured dripping noises of ‘Moss Light’ combine with airy drones to suggest abandoned buildings and decaying spaces and the folded guitar chimes on ‘Ghost Of Me’ overlap with Geiger counter crackle to great effect. Haze seems to have come from out of nowhere, and you’d have an arduous task on your hands trying to shed much more light on the background of its author, but hopefully we’ll be hearing much more from Shaula in 2010

Tracklisting:

1) Moss Light (5:03)
2) A Butterfly Deposit (10:03)
3) ÿþ0 (10:3)
4) Under A Palpebra (4:27)
5) Whisper Of Old Trees (9:09)
6) Ghost Of Me (17:10)
7) Sea Of Trees (4:57)

LINK
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Sister Loolomie - Signals

Released: 2009
Label: Zhelezobeton
Style: Drone, Experimental, Ambient

Sister Loolomie is one of the offspring of [S]ergey (or just [S]), a musician from Moscow region, known for his projects Exit In Grey, Five Elements Music and some others, as well as for his labels Still*Sleep and Semperflorens. The musical style of [S] is notable for its delicate and gentle approach to sound, the keywords for its definition are: ambient / drone / experimental / electroacoustic. In Sister Loolomie [S] utilizes deliberate sonic "digitalizing" and at the same time manages to keep the warmth and cosiness of sound in his own way, resembling tape drone music.

[S]ergey uses guitar, electronics, radio and computer processing in creating his soundscapes, both abstract and sensuous at the same time. The compositions move calmly and slowly, sound loops draw in attention like spirals and dissolve it in their textures. Shivery signal waves and soft generated rasp form an aerial atmosphere, in which crackle the discharges of digital interference, and bright yet slightly melancholic melodies bring serenity and tender contemplative sadness.

Tracklisting:

1) No Final Decision Here (13:53)
2) About Corpuscles (10:07)
3) Prelude And Part About Pink Dream (11:04)
4) Sleep Before The Alarm (6:00)
5) Light And Cold (7:50)

LINK
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Language of Landscape - Memories Fade Under A Shallow Autumn Snow

Label:Phantom Channel
Format:Mp3
Country:Uk
Released:2010
Genre:Electronic
Style:Ambient,Drone,Modern Classical

Tracklisting:

1 - And The Rain Embraced Our Closing
Words (14:48)
2 - Contemplating Departure In Wake of Clear
Light (16:22)
3 - Speaking Between Truth and Denial (14:40)

From Label:

Languange of Landscape is Chris Tenz and Cory Zaradur, two Calgary-based friends whose relationship was borne from a mutual fascination with the music of Last Days, Keith Kenniff, Max Richter and other prominent members of the electroacoustic alumni. 'Memories Fade Under A Shallow Autumn Snow' was initially concepted as a severely-limited monthly series. Just fifteen hard copies of these beautiful sounds exist and Phantom Channel is delighted to dedicate its innaugral 2010 release to this highly talented pair.

LINK (Massmirror)
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Bandcamp

Wereju - The Way Of The Cross

Released:2009
Label: Idrone Park
Style: Ambient, Drone

"Cathal's blurry, eerie drones have a lot in common with Aidan Baker's solo guitarscapes and the massive string tones of Fear Falls Burning, but this is darker stuff than either of those artists. Heavily processed feedback swells in tide-like form, deep and sonorous, and underneath the warbling ambience is a dark soundworld enveloped in shadow".

Tracklisting;

1) He Knows That Time Is Short (15:24)
2) Forsaken (4:45)
3) Halo Wrapped In Thorns (8:56)
4) The Nails Go In (7:55)

LINK (awesome)
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Drowning The Virgin Silence - Beneath The Sulfur Sky

Released: 2009
Label: Reverb Worship
Style: Ambient, Drone

from Normanrecords:

Drowning The Virgin Silence is the musical project of USA based musician Richard Vergez."Beneath The Sulfur Sky" is a super eight track instrumental cd featuring a culmination of musical elements including drone, shoegaze guitar stylings, keyboards and feild recordings.Some tracks merge the sounds of thunderstorms and rain with ambient ethereal guitars and ambient soundscapes and textures.Richard also does his interpretation of a Slowdive track which reminds me of a long lost 1960's spy movie.
Each cover is unique and has been individually spray stencilled.I wanted to come up with an image which suited the title of the cd.I have been inspired by two things.Firstly the wonderous rings of saturn and secondly volcanic activity, especially lava flow and magma.

Tracklisting:

1) We Twist The Sun And Sea (5:52)
2) Riverman (1:59)
3) White Skin Sun (7:30)
4) Birds Fly (4:02)
5) To Reach The Clouds (8:10)
6) The Gospel (3:16)
7) Fiction (2:39)
8) Beneath The Sulfur Sky (10:58)

LINK
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my top 10 for 2009

VA - Hibernate Sampler Vol. 1

Released: 2009
Label: Hibernate
Style: Ambient, Drone

Tracklisting:

1) Porzellan - Rosen (11:21)
2) Ian Hawgood - The Marbled World (5:28)
3) Lexithimie - Scale 1 (4:56)
4) Hakobune - Late Spring (14:33)
5) Storm Noir - Cicada Queen (4:56)
6) Simon James French - Misery (4:28)
7) Tom White - Moredon Cooling Towers (4:20)
8) Northerner - The End OF December (6:03)
9) Chihei Hatakeyama - Gray Hued Sky (4:44)

Link

Herzog - First Summer And The Running Dream

Label:Resting Bell
Catalog#:RB075
Format:5 x File, MP3, 320 kbps
Country:Germany
Released:13 Nov 2009
Genre:Electronic
Style:Ambient,Drone,Experimental

Tracklisting:

1 - Congratulations, Here's Your Mountain (5:20)
2 - Our Friends Save Us From Drowning (2:57)
3 - Don't Be Afraid, We Have Parachutes (5:42)
4 - Things Will Be Brighter (4:03)
5 - Lately I've Been Dreaming Of Drinking Sound
From A Fountain (11:12)

from label:

Resting Bell is really happy to welcome herzog, a.k.a. Bill Bawden and his latest EP “first summer and the running dream”. Bill’s previous releases on Serein were the first netaudio-works I got in touch with. And you also might know him from his fantastic release on 12rec. So what an honour to do a herzog-release here on Resting Bell.“first summer and the running dream” contains 5 tracks with a complete duration of 30 minutes. Compared to his earlier works “first summer…“ has a more droning, a bit distorted character. The sounds are layered very softly and sublime to a very harmonic composition. The overall mood is quite laid-back with noisy, distorted splinters. The noisy elements are getting stronger to the end of the EP but it leaves still a very harmonic picture.

LINK (Sharebee)
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HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Spheruleus - The Disguised Familiar

Label:Earth Mantra
Catalog#:earman076
Format:4xFile,MP3,320kbps
Country:US
Released:Mar 2009
Genre:Electronic, Non-Music
Style:Field Recording, Drone, Ambient

Tracklisting:

1 - As The Warmth Fades (17:02)
2 - A Significant Circle (13:10)
3 - How White The Cerulean Sky (10:32)
4 - Blue Moon (9:35)

Spheruleus, aka Harry Towell, is a British artist who records music under a variety of project names, probably the best known being Audio Gourmet. With this release, he brings us a lovely and peaceful collection of still life portraits captured on a singular winter's day when much of England was blanketed with snow by a particularly heavy winter storm. Spheruleus combines field recordings captured on that day with beautifully conceived ambient drone pieces, creating a sublime collection of some of the most restful pure ambient music we've heard in a while.

LINK (Sharebee)
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HIGHLY RECOMMENDED :)

Epeus Reichenback - Etherized

Label:Sonic Reverie Records
Catalog:003
Format:Mp3
Country:Uk
Released:sep 2009
Genre:Electronic
Style:Ambient,Modern Classical,Experimental,Drone

Tracklisting:

1 - Flames,Curses (05:14)
2 - Watch It, You Brazen Altars (07:15)
3 - Endless Shipwreck (05:37)
4 - Etherized (08:03)
5 - A Second Distance (03:10)
6 - Apartness (03:48)
7 - Gratitude (02:52)
8 - Easy To Forget (07:50)

from label:

Like many things of genuine beauty, the music of Epeus Reichenback can take a while to truly reveal itself. The minimal compositions and overwrought sense of desolation which pervades the album are at times difficult to absorb. Over a few more listens though, the haunting beauty of Etherized becomes more apparent. The minimalism and space between notes allowing the ambience of each track to pour out, almost becoming a separate entity. The slow unfurling of noise, sometimes temporarily obscuring the melody incorporates various styles including flashes of electronica, drone and jazz.There seems to be a certain delight which Epeus Reichenback takes in leading listeners down one path, before suddenly heading in a completely different direction. One moment there is delicate piano music, the next shards of electronic noise, then silence. Instruments are introduced only to leave seconds later. Repeated motifs suddenly break down, notes scattered out of place, before re-assembling. There’s a lot to be observed in the composition of these 8 tracks, and Etherized is an album which really ought to be heard from beginning to end in order to be fully appreciated. For fans of Arvo Part, Morton Feldman or Zelienople

LINK (Sharebee)
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HIGHLY,HIGHLY RECOMMENDED :)

bandcamp

Sean McCann - A Wind In Their Way

Label:Monorail Trespassing
Catalog#:mt71cs
Format:Cassette,Limited Edition,C35
Country:US
Released:Aug 2009
Genre:Electronic
Style:Drone,Ambient

Tracklisting:

1 - Branch Chambers Part I (9:12)
2 - Branch Chambers Part II (8:51)
3 - Cathedral Of Limbs (18:10)

august 2009 release ; two frozen reverb-guitar blowers from sean mccann, closed out by a rather eno-esque piece that sounds like some gorecki, time-stretched, recorded to micro-cassette, then run through a holy stain pedal

LINK (Massmirror)
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HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Inverz - Slow

Label:Phantom Channel
Format:Mp3
Country:Uk
Released:2009
Genre:Electronic
Style:Ambient,Experimental,Abstract

Tracklisting:

1 - Home End (12:56)
2 - Everything In Order (6:56)
3 - Slow (5:04)
4 - New Found Lands, New Found Sounds (14:51)

From label:

Inverz is Thessaloniki-born Savvas Metaxas, who runs the excellent Granny Records stable. Influenced by the likes of Fennesz, Pan American, Alva Noto and My Bloody Valentine, Metaxas utilizes acoustic & electric guitars and an arsenal of pedal effects and field recordings, to create a sound rich in texture and panoramic in depth.'Slow' is the third Inverz release to date, a suite of four meticulously crafted long-form compositions that transcend the standard notions of Ambient/Drone.'Everything In Order' bathes in dreamy reverb, like Labradford or Chihei Hatakeyama at their most thoughtful. The title track tantalizingly weaves fretboard scratches, human breath and flickers of static round cut and spliced guitar recalling Fridge at their most experimental. The slide-rule attention to detail of both book ending pieces ('Home End' & 'New Found Lands, New Found Sounds', on the other hand, shows why Metaxas was hand-picked to collaborate with Greg Haines and perform with Machinefabriek.

LINK (Sharebee)
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HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

bandcamp

Mark Bradley - Dream State

Label:Reverb Worship
Catalog#:RW 082
Format:CD,Limited Edition
Country:UK
Released:2009
Genre:Electronic
Style:Dark Ambient,Ambient,Drone,Abstract

Tracklisting:

1 - Reverb Worship (4:08)
2 - Inner (4:28)
3 - Reverence (2:45)
4 - In The Evening (6:16)
5 - Dreamless (5:57)
6 - Reverie (3:34)
7 - Nurseryrhyme (1:08)
8 - TImespent (5:53)
9 - Lucid (3:04)
10 - All Of My Ghosts (5:03)

It’s been a hell of a year for drone music. Tiny music-producing ‘labels’ continue to go forth and multiply, preaching the prophecy of the changing of the everyday ear into something our grandparents never would have imagined. And like any religion, experimental music sees its share of false prophets and shysters. I can’t say whether Mark Bradley is one of those things, but at this point, I feel awfully persuaded to jump aboard his cult of travelling zealots. Bradley’s “Dreamstate” is a testament to drone music, if there ever was one. Each tune is exactly what the album title says, and during each piece I feel like something great is whispering in my ear, “its alright, fall asleep…and now what do you see?” Well actually that sounds more like some kind of trickery, but really from a careful, prayerful perspective, I feel like he is the real deal.“Dreamstate” opens with synthesizer tones, in a full-bore pan and oscillation, to the effect that with headphones, the first minute or so is nearly disorienting. Actually when I first read the title of the album and before having played any of the music, I was thinking, “hm, probably something a bit billowy, drifting, dreamy…”, and this music definitely is drifting and dreamy, but I feel like the sounds—especially now on this opening number, curiously titled “Reverb Worship”—are somehow cleverly controlled and very masterfully driven forward by Bradley. It’s almost misleading because I expect my dreams to be rather chaotic, random messes of images and experiences from my past life. But here I am in a dream entirely mapped out to the last turn. The third piece has a similar feel, with some kind of synthesizer arpeggios creeping forward throughout. Hell, we’ve left drifting behind now—we’re in pure science-fiction mode now. This dream, appropriately titled “Reverence”, is of blissful white polymers and miles of lunar landscapes.Dreaming onward, there are of course a few more less-organic fields of sound on this album, man-made lakes, the shore of which see sine waves crashing always. But now to the more drifty stuff, because as I’m sure Bradley knows, nobody dreams of just futuristic machinery and landscapes, or of mechanical life. Enter the second piece on the album, what sounds to be a vocal excursion, full of humming monks and reverberating chimes. It’s utterly terrifying if you’re not in the right frame of mind for it, but again, Bradley has a distinct way of managing his sounds, so the tune is really well-mixed and controlled, and if you can keep yourself from drifting off to sleep from this hypnotic five minutes, you will find your ears well-tickled. Bradley does this again on a more obscure level with the track “In The Evening”, which is full of whispered syllables and delay-soaked symphonics and aural film-grain. There are mysterious wind instruments floating on the air of this one, and that’s a funny thing because wind is exactly what this piece embodies.Mark Bradley has not been resting—“Dreamstate” is only one of many of his recent works, but from just this sampling, I think it is safe to say that whatever it is that motivates Bradley to express the things he’s expressing with this strange, droning music, that source is very nearly divine. You might enter into this album with ideas about how states of dreaming are (because we all have our own common haunts when we sleep), but “Dreamstate” will awaken in you a new awareness of the possibilities within your mind. Definitely worth a listen or ten. Or fifty…whatever it takes to get you aslee

LINK (Massmirror)
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Zelienople - Give It Up

Released: 2009
Label: Type Records
Style: Ambient, Drone, Experimental

from label:

Chicago-based three piece Zelienople have been around for quite a while now, and in that time have become staples in the underground music architecture. Percussionist Mike Weis has appeared on recent recordings with alt-folk legend Scott Tuma; Weis, Tuma and guitarist/vocalist Matt Christensen form the band Good Stuff House. Despite all this activity, their passion still lies in Zelienople. Multi-instrumentalist Brian Harding completes the trio which has forged its most essential work to date with ‘Give It Up’, a record which succeeds as a perfect summation of their progress in the last few years.With previous albums the band have garnered no shortage of comparisons to Talk Talk, Slowdive and Bark Psychosis, and while these comparisons still stand, here Zelienople have pushed the influences into the background to reveal a daring and fresh sound. Poppier than its predecessor ‘His/Hers’, ‘Give It Up’ is a collection of rolling songs, from the Bohren Und Der Club Of Gore-esque opener ‘Aging’ to the doomed Americana of ‘All I Want Is Calm’ and the hazy ambience of ‘Water Saw’. As we pass through the effortless percussive shuffle and dream-like riffing of ‘I Can Put All My Faith In Her’, perhaps the closest the band have ever come to writing a pop song, it’s hard not to fall under their spell. It is a record with scope and an enviable restraint, and a record which revels in the band’s experience and pedigree.There is a feeling that the three musicians don’t need to prove anything, and in that we are treated to an album of crystalline, mysterious beauty; it is something which might take multiple listens to truly uncover, but a record which is infinitely rewarding once you do. Cinematic, but startlingly unpretentious, this is music perfectly primed for the colder seasons. Light a log fire and enjoy.

Tracklisting:

1) Aging (7:57)
2) Can't Stop (9:02)
3) All I Want Is Calm (6:01)
4) Water Saw (5:15)
5) I Can Put All My Faith In Her (4:56)
6) Little Lady Eyefull (4:55)
7) Dust Bowl (2:35)
8) All Planned (5:24)

LINK
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