[Music] Departure Street – Two Islands in the Heart

Departure Street is American/French guitarist Allan J. Kimmel.  Reading his bio on the Bandcamp release page, he calls his work neo-folk.  I thought it a strange term, as I normally associate it with dark bands who worked with music that would set well with fans of bands like Death In June, Current 93 and the like.  Giving this a couple of listens, perhaps there is some connection there.  What I hear a bit more strongly is a sound that compares well with contemporary guitarists like Cousin Silas.  This has floaty, pleasant feel to it.  Worth a third or fourth listen, definitely.

From Allan’s Bandcamp page:

Departure Street, AKA Allan J. Kimmel, creates tranquil electric guitar meditations that sprawl and explore like the hungry tendrils of an aggressive ivy.

Kimmel, who hails from both America and France, has filled this record with nothing but vividly surreal instrumental soundscapes, which are comprised purely of his multi-tracked and effects-laden solo guitar. Across the record’s nine tracks, Kimmel takes his unique brand of psychedelic loner-folk, and stirs in elements of reverb-heavy ambient music, cosmic American primitivism and even some Middle Eastern folk traditions. The resulting brew is a heady yet mellow mix that glides along with a pleasant ease.

While the album feels like one large suite, “Ascension” is certainly a highlight. David Gilmour-esque slide guitar coasts through slow waves of spacey, repetitive riffs, all while Kimmel laces melancholic solos across the entirety of the piece. There’s a heavy atmosphere in “Ascension,” and it makes you think about people and places that you’re nostalgic for, or pleasant dreams that you’ve once had. It’s certainly a comforting recording, but there is some sort of loss hidden just below the surface.

Two Islands in the Heart is a complex record despite its minimalist approach, and it’s an unexpectedly emotionally charged one, as well. If you are a fan of Steve Palmer’s latest record, Cian Nugent or David Grubbs, then you need this album.

[Music] This Place to Be, by Steve Roach

How can you go wrong with Steve Roach? His music gives such bliss.

Ambient Landscape

A free (Name Your Own Price) for now download from Mr. Roach

This Place To Be centers in on a sweet spot of serenity with a sense of perfect weightlessness and contentment, nowhere else to be but here.
CD with download and name your price for the a few days on the digital version.

After the run of concerts and the wide range of dynamic releases over the past few years, I am feeling deeply drawn towards a return to home and to my soul tone zone of pure immersion, deep atmospherics and textural healing. That is the best way to describe this work and the place I need to be.

Steve – May 27, 2016

Released May 27, 2016

So . . . sitting around in #QuaratineLife I downloaded this – and then began to tinker with it. I took 2 long sections of the composition, stretched them x…

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[Music] Philippe Simon – Android

This is something of a revelation to me.  Until the good folks at Kalamine Records (run by Zumaia) told me about him, he was off my radar.  This I count as a loss, because Philippe Simon brings a vibrant, updated sound to the Berlin School of electronic music which peaked with artists like Klaus Schulze, Mario Schönwälder and others during the 1980s.  Simon’s sound is a fresh, even better-produced continuation of that tradition.

He has made 200 albums.  I have some exploring to do.

[Music] Virus (Italy) – Eudaimonia

This was a very pleasant surprise.  Virus is, perhaps, not the best choice of band name only because there are so many great bands (including a legendary Austrian one I whose album I was listening to today) who share the monicker, but because it is about as far away from the music as possible.

The music claims to be influenced by bands like Sigur Rós, but I hear elements of New Order, some 80’s funk and pop, and a nearly shoegaze-meets-Gospel music feel.

Quite good!