This release by Sshe Retina Stimulants is one of the most claustrophobic works I’ve heard in some time. This is noise, but done with a way that makes the experience almost magical. I had the feeling of falling down an endless rabbit hole a la Alice in Wonderland. It’s a harrowing release, and one of the most worthy noise releases I’ve heard in some time.
Ambient
[Music] Daiqing Tana – Ongmanibamai
Daiqing Tana is the lead singer of the band HAYA (哈雅樂團 in pinyin), a New Age band who meld Chinese and Mongolian music into an East Asian fusion rock. Extremely pleasant listening.
[Music] Ambient Fields – Ólafsfjörður
A hearty thanks to Geoff Gersh (Ambient Fields) for sending me an album of such spacious, head-filling music that I managed to unwind for the first time in a week. All the effects created in this work are done with a guitar, some effects and a pump organ. Taking inspiration from being in Ólafsfjörður, a small town in the north of Iceland, his location seeped deeply into these compositions. This was a treat to listen to.
[Music] Qualia – Lost
I think ‘cinematic post-rock’ would be an apt way to describe Qualia, a great instrumental rock band led by Dan Leader, who works out of Cambridge, England.
[Music] Robert Scott Thompson – Phonotopological
Since the weather has been hovering near the 10-degree Celsius mark this evening, now would be the perfect time to share a chilly, yet inviting, ambient album courtesy of the blog’s friend, Robert Scott Thompson. Though this release is available through Acousmatique Recordings, he also has his own Bandcamp site worth perusing.
[Music] E.E. Engström & The Twin Street Tree Trunk Love Ensemble – Small Town Curse
Darkjazz goes film noir. E.E. Engström & The Twin Street Tree Trunk Love Ensemble provide a gorgeous soundtrack to enjoy a dry martini with. Imagine the aforementioned Darkjazz mixed with something that would make Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (gone instrumental) proud, not to mention having a twang of creepy country. The vibe is dark, unsettling, and hopefully just a taste of what should be an amazing 2019 for the group.
Should you have a Spotify account, I suggest adding the group here.
[Music] La Maison Dieu – Earth
Only one track on this release, but it’s a winner! La Maison Dieu are a band out of Istanbul, Turkey who combine elements of EDM, old-school lo-fi electronic music and a touch of cheese in the vein of Giorgio Moroder. I’m digging this!
[Music] Astral & Shit -XĤ
Though I’m not a big fan of bands who release new music almost daily, there are a handful whose work I enjoy in small doses. One of these is the Russian project Astral & Shit. Yes, I know, lovely name, but the music is soothing enough to let one drift into the Solaris Ocean when one is feeling a bit exhausted from the daily grind.
With well over 660 releases to their credit, I’m not about to become a completist, but it’s nice to know that there are artists who are putting out high-quantity/high-quality ambient music to keep my ears busy.
[Music] Bandcamp Weekly December 11, 2018
It’s been a while since I posted, thanks to a heavy work schedule ending in a small vacation for me, so I return with this week’s Bandcamp Weekly, featuring Joseph Malik, who went from suffering debilitating mental illness to making a slew of brilliant albums and having a fire inside him to make much more.
Check out this week’s podcast, hosted by Andrew Jervis, here.
[Music] MIKROMATIQUE / Jan-Dirk Platek – Samt | Inner Silence
This particular release by German composers Jan-Dirk Platek and MIKROMATIQUE clocks in at just over five minutes, but it’s a very worthy post-rock, post-ambient, post-modern classical work.
Consider following Platek on Bandcamp. Every now and again, he offers his whole catalog for a very low price, and he tends to release gems.
