August’s Top 10

It seems to get harder and harder each month to select our favourite ten releases. August was no exception to the rule and after much deliberation we finally made our choice with artists such as Goldmund, Noveller, Chris Abrahams and Aaron Martin making the grade…

Goldmund – Famous Places

Keith Kenniff follows up 2008’s “The Malady of Elegance” with the third album under his Goldmund guise. Where Helios, his other key musical alias, takes on long form compositions which blend piano, guitar and electronics, Goldmund has always been about compact, concise piano music. On “Famous Places,” released this August on Western Vinyl, this is no different and may yet prove to be the best Goldmund album to date.

With fifteen beautifully crafted tracks, each around three minutes in duration, the deliberate capturing of piano pedals and hammers and captivating melodies all on display, the classic Goldmund sound is in full effect. Thankfully however Keith hasn’t opted for just more of the same. Instead he has introduced subtle uses of electronic manipulation and light doses of other ambient sounds which, while only minimal in use, add a rich layer of texture to his music. Full info here

Twinsistermoon – Then Fell The Ashes

This is the third Twinsistermoon release since 2009?s The Hollow Mountain LP and Bride of Spirits 7? which were both released on the excellent Dull Knife label…

Following on from these two gems, various obscure self released items and CDs on Digitalis and Students of Decay, Ameziane’s sound has grown somewhat darker at times with this LP featuring nearly 50 minutes of brand new material. The A-side features 6 tracks, where as the B side is complemented with a huge, almost 25 minute track.

The opening track ‘Black Nebulae’ is a gorgeously textured psychedelic drone-based piece, followed by a short, quieter, guitar plucked piece with vocals, but no words, entitled ’1976?. ‘Ghost That Was Your Life’ is a stunning beautiful layered guitar piece with Ameziane’s astounding beautiful vocals shining through. ‘Big Sand’ opens as one of the darker pieces, with an occult feeling to its sound, swirling vocal drones, almost like a choir at times, and in come those stunning warm and distinctive gutar sounds with layered ghostly sound scapes, that haunt much of Ameziane’s solo and NSB recordings. Full info here

Imbogodom – The Metallic Year

“The Metallic Year” is a collection of eerie but affecting tracks, where sound collage and unraveling songs present a haunted world of spooling atmospheres, warped instrumentation, and disembodied voices, generated by the UK’s Alexander Tucker and New Zealand’s Daniel Beban…

The genesis of the project can be traced to the pair’s time at BBC’s Bush House, where Beban worked nights as a world service radio engineer. The basis for the project is manually spliced analogue tape loops, manipulated manually to different speeds, also accompanied by Dictaphones, instrumentation and voices.

The strong impact of the tape loops is incredibly effective, and it brings a imperceptible strength to the record – multiple listens reveal a tangible organic feel that simply would not be present had the same effects been created digitally. It’s the sort of affectionate charm old warped vinyl had – an endearing imperfection that works on multiple levels, if you’re conscious of it at all. Full info here

Chris Abrahams – Play Scar

“Play Scar” by Chris Abrahams is a demanding but rewarding beast, at first inspection appearing to be a collection of disparate and incongruous elements. On further listens it reveals itself as a deft exercise in experimentation and virtuosity…

Abrahams, obviously best known for his work with The Necks, has collected eight tracks of varying length for his second release on the Room40 label, following on from “Thrown” in 2005. Whilst “Thrown” had a more exploratory feel, with a greater emphasis on wind instruments and textures, “Play Scar” is record of considerable weight and focus, worthy of the many listens required to digest it completely.

The overall impression is a collection of vibrant ideas explored fully, recorded outside the context that Abrahams often works in. A great deal of electroacoustic music can often be defined by a few common elements – electronic drones, hiss and strings (to overgeneralize). Not so here – the bulk of the instrumentation is organic and textile, with the instrumentation listed as Hammond, Rhode and church organs, piano, guitar, tambourine, bells, vintage synths and Autoharp. Full info here

Part Timer -  The Runner Remixes

The most recent release from Fluid favorite and Moteer representative Part Timer is a seven tracker featuring multiple remixes of the song “The Runner”, from the forthcoming album “Real to Reel”. If the quality of the material that appears here is any indication, the album will certainly be something to look out for…

The tracks revolve around a central vocal stanza provided by frequent Part Timer collaborator, the fascinating Heidi Elva, who possesses a haunting tone in the same league of a Lou Rhodes or a Beth Gibbons.

The central theme appears to be one of homesickness -

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been home/And I’ve been wishing for the sky to turn grey/So I can hide quietly away/ I run from you/I run from me.”

Seven treatments of the same track could in lesser hands become tedious, so it’s a good demonstration of the skill of all involved that the whole release flows smoothly, consistently and never at any stage fails to engage and draw you in. In fact, the overall effect is one of a Chinese Whisper – the story emerging at the end is still linked to the one told at the beginning, but taken on a life of its own with distinct characteristics still able to be traced from the original.

One of the major strengths of the whole proceedings is the audible DEPTH in the tracks – they all seems to stretch for a mile from foreground to background, and span a long way from left to right. Either a happy accident that everyone involved is a great mixer, or the masterer really has a real knack for soundscapes. There are multiple layers in play at most points, and trying to identify and contextualize them is both rewarding and challenging. There’s a lot of presence from the bottom end, and the top is pretty crisp. Full info here

Aaron Martin – The Night Erased Them All

Aaron Martin’s new record “Night Erased Them All,” is another fine addition to his already expansive body of work. Proceeding “Worried About The Fire” which was released earlier this year, his latest recording is a detailed 30 minutes of sound manipulation and cello wizardry that will be sold as a limited cassette and CD-r release through Sonic Meditations.

On “Night Erased Them All” Aaron designed the tracks to be listened while driving alone at night. Unfortunately I sold my car a few short months ago, so without a means of listening to the record as intended, I set about playing it in different places all which in some way were linked to the road or travel.

On Friday night I took a perfectly timed half hour bus journey through London. Sitting at the front of the top deck, I wanted to connect the music’s sounds with my vision of the road. Typically, being rush hour, the stop start nature of the journey was unlikely to reflect the freeness of the open Kansas highways that this album would have been built around, so I shut my eyes and let my imagination be fuelled by the creative sounds. Full info here

The Green Kingdom – Prismatic

Following the beautiful Twig and Twine (November 2009, Own Records), Michael Cottone returns with Prismatic, his latest work under the moniker The Green Kingdom. The Detroit based sound artist has once again mixed many disparate influences and ideas into a wonderfully creative album…

Opening track Bonfire sets the tone of what’s to come. Unhurried sound manipulation and complex melodies contrast with guitar which at times sounds slightly reminiscent of Fennesz and conjures a similar optimistic spirit which is present on Fennesz’s Endless Summer, but in Cottone’s unique way.

Crystalline chimes open Bells And Thoughts, which then evolves with unconventional beats and delicate guitar, leaving the listener uplifted.

Claudes Ghost is a slow burning number which features a beautiful keyboard riff complemented with field recordings, the effect hypnotic. Mid-way through, the pace changes and the piece begins to ascend, a cacophony of sound seeing out the remainder of the track.

Radiance Reflected begins with an enchanting melody, the wide stereo image helping notes to echo in each ear. Though there’s no simple hook to the track, the artist delights with inventive uses of an arrhythmic beat. – Full info here

Noveller – Desert Fires

When we talk about Ambient music, most people think of music that can be played in the background and ignored. Music that requires zero attention so we can go about our every day tasks without silence….

Noise music; being avant-garde in nature, therefore almost always demands the listener’s full attention, whether through choice or not. It is obtrusive and abrasive. It certainly can create an atmosphere in a room much like Ambient music can, but in a distracting sense rather than a meditative or relaxing sense, such as we require from Ambient music.

For her previous album Sarah Lipstate aka Noveller created something that definitely demanded your attention. It was loud and noisy and at times quite harsh. With her new album “Desert Fires” it feels as though she has attempted to try and reach almost the exact opposite of that. The passages of piercing white noise are gone. The sharp textures are gone. Instead she has created something that is; though still rich in texture and timbre, much more subdued, serene and relaxing. The feeling of anxiety created by the noise on the first record is swapped for a feeling of peacefulness and tranquillity, inner calm and stillness. Full info here

Max Richter – Infra

Genuine OPENING TRACKS to albums are a comparative scarcity in this day and age, something of a lost art. Pieces that slowly introduce tone, mood and the instrumentation, setting the pace for the record as a whole and the stage for the themes to follow. Since the advent of digital distribution, the concept of the album itself is a less important one, and opening tracks seem to have been deemed to be a lesser concern.

So to be greeted with the opener “Infra 1”, from Max Richter’s new album is something of a pleasant shock.

Two shortwave radio loops panned to each side slowly creep up in volume.  Morse code. Feedback squalls. Some faint drone in the background, then some further feedback. There’s a swell of strings, and then – the bottom end drops.

Tape warmth. Immaculate playing. Brilliant arrangements. Clever mixing.

Magic. It’s like being lost at sea.

And as quickly as it’s there, it fades again, the best opening to a record I’ve heard so far this year. The immediate reaction is to try and process the multiple impressions and incredible production, as the strings and piano parts sound as though they’re actually in the room with you. The cinematic sweep and the emotional engagement that are present in all of his previous works are here in spades. I’ve seen it written that the music on this release presents itself in a stronger light without the spoken word work of Kafka and Murakami, and that’s fair comment – the minimalist structures assume the central role that they deserve. Full info here

Field Rotation – Why Things Are Different

Christoph Berg’s most recent release “Why Things Are Different” is a blend of acoustic instruments, field recordings and electronic processing techniques used to construct a small but thoughtful soundtrack to winter; slow, deep drones painted with subtle hiss and texture work…

“When The Clouds Clear” is a simple, ephemeral piece based around a drone that lifts after about two minutes. Some disconcerting micro noise then settles into the far corners after panning around for a few minutes; it then mixes in shuddering metallic tones and peaks upward – all the tracks crescendo before it fades out at about the six-minute mark. Good opener.

“Never Build A Bridge Into Nothingness” is (aside from being a great song title) more demanding – a windy and grey storm that blows through the entire spectrum before the rain hits hard at about the two-minute mark. The tone is oppressive, yet there’s a lot of warmth in the bottom end and this track would come up well for those lucky enough to have good stereos or headphones.

“Sleepless” is a marked change in mood, and the highlight of the outing. Some repeating high tone drones mixed with some guttural and insistent bass texture, with some occasional hiss flares in the peripheries. Halfway in, the introductory tones fade out and you’re left with some interesting and affecting central hovering. Clever stuff. Here the relevance of the title begins to be clear, a hypnotic half state punctuated by the odd burst of hiss across the speakers. Then, returning to the introductory piece to close. Full information here