solipsistic NATION No. 165: Geas features dark ambient music, industrial sounds and abstronica.

Tip: Make this your house’s soundtrack for Halloween and it will scare the kids away and you can keep all the candy.

You can preview the mix below.

Each concert is available separately.

This release comes on the 20th anniversary of the 1989 radio concert in Paris that forms the first of these downloads. Each concert appears mostly in its entirety, lightly edited by Rich to fit under 80 minutes per set when needed. A few technical glitches are repaired, but otherwise all the quirks of live performance remain.

Robert Explains:

So, what is Live Archive, and why am I releasing it now? Live Archive consists of 7 concerts that I really enjoyed, whose recordings had a good sound quality and where I played something different from the studio. These are mixing board dubs, recorded at CD quality with my approval. Several of the concerts were completely improvised and do not repeat any studio compositions. A few of the recordings were available as radio streams, torrents, bootlegs or limited CDRs, so I wanted to give people a chance to get mastered, cleaned-up, full resolution versions of these if they wanted. A few of these concerts represent important pivots in my career, and you can hear ideas in their raw stage of formation.

So why did I wait so long to release some of this music? Well, it’s because of the realities of digital download. Back when a “release” meant a CD, and several thousand dollars invested in manufacturing, marketing, packaging and such, I wanted to keep my releases limited to the latest work. But in retrospect, some of these more improvisational moments of the past have value on their own, as action instead of object, like dance relates to sculpture. The download format also allows for longer durations. Manufactured CDs shouldn’t exceed 74 minutes. Some of these sets were 80-90 minutes long. Even now I faced a challenge to edit them down to 80 minute CDR-compatible lengths, so people could back-up their lossless downloads.

In general, I prefer to keep my release schedule sparse rather than dense. So, I am releasing these recordings all at once. I’ll treat this as a single release, although it’s 7 releases as far as the outside world may see it. Since the concerts are available as 7 separate downloads, people can decide which ones they want.

Here’s a short summary of each volume in the series:

Live Archive Volume 1
Ici et Maintenant: Live in Paris, May 12 1989
(Soundscape SP014)
From Robert’s early Geometry and Rainforest period, with hours of previously unreleased music. Melodic sequencers with swift patterned keyboard improvisation, melting down into slow looping textures and flutes.

Live Archive Volume 2
Due Acque: Live in Umbria Italy, April 1 2000
(Soundscape SP015)
A deep ambient journey performed at a private concert in Italy for fans of Robert’s slowest and most introspective music, previously unreleased.

Live Archive Volume 3
Shamballa: Live in Costa Mesa CA, May 20 2000
(Soundscape SP016)
A dynamic live concert from the era of Humidity, blending moments of pure sonic improvisation with melodic pieces from the Fathom-era catalog.

Live Archive Volume 4
Alien Zoology: Live at Morrison Planetarium, San Francisco, December 9 2001
(Soundscape SP017)
A wide-ranging planetarium concert that opens with modular analog sequences and moves into pieces from Outpost, Bestiary and ’90s Fathom-era material.

Live Archive Volume 5
Live at Cowell Theater, San Francisco, May 12 2002
Soundscape SP018
One of the more melodic concerts in the series, opening with piano and guitar improvisations, then moving into tracks from Bestiary and other rhythmic pieces from the last decade.

Live Archive Volume 6
Lumin: Live at Camerawork, March 6 2008
(Soundscape SP019)
A shimmering improvisatory sound environment, where harmonics blur into waves of pure abstraction, performed live with multiple projections of films by Paul Clipson. New music.

Live Archive Volume 7
Mycosphere: Live on KFJC, May 31 2008
(Soundscape SP020)
A radio performance for Day of Drone, where Robert explores the slow depths with abstract organic soundscapes and glurp. New music.

via Robert Rich

The first podcast features music from:

• Steve Rose
• Ministry of Inside Things
• Mingo
• Sensitive Chaos
• A.R.S.(e)
• Computerchemist
• Dolmen
• Parallel Worlds
• Numina
• Ran Kirlian
• Synthetic Dream Foundation
• Steve Roach

Preview the first episode below:

You can subscribe by adding this Feed URL to your podcast software, such as iTunes:
http://feeds2.feedburner.com/HypnagoguePodcast

via EphemeralRadio

This music video is for Void Ship from The Chordless Chord by Beat Frequency.

The track features Etherwave theremin + Marshall Echohead delay box + Danelectro PB&J delay box. No overdubs, no multi-tracking, no post-production effects, except a little reverb throughout.

iTunes link: The Chordless Chord

“Most pieces are either in the vein of cold void space ambience or the warmer currents of classical ambient drift. The artists’ ultimate aim is to aid in the navigation of various sleep-states by providing the appropriate soundtrack to deep inner journeying.”

The downloads are full mp3 versions of selected tracks encoded at either 128 or 192 kbps.

You can preview the music of Micheal Meara below.

Check out his site for more downloads and info about his albums.

via ambientmusicblog.com

The 2 CD version of Ghosts I – IV is out now in the UK, Australia, Canada and the US.

Other release dates are as follows:

• Benelux: 4/11
• Scandinavia: 4/14
• Poland: 4/14
• Germany: 4/18
• Italy: 4/18

If you ordered from nin.com:

• The standard CD is shipping today.

The Deluxe Package:

• Pre orders made on or before 4/6 will ship 5/1
• Pre orders made 4/7 or later will ship on 5/15

(this due to overwhelming demand and additional order materials arriving later)

Limited Edition Package:

• Will ship 5/1

The set seamlessly fuses three long unfolding soundworlds. Roach reaches into his sonic palette to weave elements drawn from his three definitive styles into a continuous, evolving flow. Rich harmonic chords, spiraling sequences and deep sky soundworlds move fluidly within this 2-hour set.

“This arc represents a trajectory of emotion infused with energy from a radiant, serene core that comes from within the creative moment,” comments Roach.

You can preview a track from Arc of Passion below. More info and samples at Roach’s site.

Disc 1

• Moment of Grace
• Arc of Passion

Disc 2

• Arc of Passion (continued)
• Views Beyond

When a album is truly original, it’s often hard to fit it into a set category or niche. This is certainly the case with No Time For Silence. The label, 1k Recordings, describes the CD as “Epic compositions, potent improvisations, and amazing wordplay from a world collective of poets, artists, and musicians.” The music moves from ambient to downtempo to cinematic, all in the first track, with a dash of David Lynch and Eno Ambient 4 weirdness thrown in, for good measure.

The CD is very atmospheric and experimental, and frequently has an improvisational feel. Motzer uses a wide range of instruments and collaborators, in addition to synths, guitars, loops and effects. Many of the tracks include environmental sound effects, such as the sounds of summer crickets. Other musicians include Jeremy Carlstedt on drumkit, Gloria Justen on violin, Barry Meehan on bass and loops, Enrico Marani on electronics, and Elliott Levin on saxophones, flutes, and voice.

Many of the tracks create dark cinematic backdrops for spoken poetry in several languages, delivered by Ursula Rucker, Rich Medina, Elliott Levin, Kalaf Angelo, and Adriano Englebrech. While much of the album is laid-back ambient music, it’s not going to lull you to sleep. The tracks all have a bit of an uneasy or mysterious feel to them, and the fact that the spoken poetry is often difficult to make out just adds to this feeling.

You definitely won’t fall asleep during To Be Perfectly?.Frank, Deja Vu Dued All Over Again, or Displaced By The Blink Of A Third Eye. These tracks feature Elliot Levin’s ranting beat poetry and avant-jazz sax riffs, over drones and layers of filtered versions of Levin’s poetry.

Highlights of the CD include What Can They Do? and I Am That Little Girl Again. Each features clear, powerful poetry readings over evocative backgrounds. The texts paint oblique character portraits, and the tracks flow together, blurring where one ends and another begins. The music is part jazz kit, part ambient drones and part chamber music.

Secret Voices’ No Time For Silence is one of the most original releases we’ve heard this year. It’s challenging music that demands your attention.

You can preview the CD at the Secret Voices MySpace page.

Tracks:

• The Chain Chant
• Tristan Fragment
• Finally Without Chains
• To Be Perfectly…Frank
• Deja Vu Dued All Over Again
• Displaced By The Blink Of A Third Eye
• A Silence Invades Me
• What Can They Do?
• I Am That Little Girl Again

Digital Music store Fake Science has released three live concert performances by synthesist Robert Rich. The MP3 downloads are sets recorded at concerts in San Francisco.

Rich is one of the pioneers of ambient music. His music has a unique sound that combines home-made acoustic and electronic instruments, microtonal tunings, computer-based signal processing, chaotic systems and feedback networks.

The downloads are $5 each, and previews are available at the Fake Science site.

InTRO

Sanfilippo claims the like of Wendy Carlos, Vangelis and Mike Oldfield as influences. The music of Intro, though, is more reflective and ambient than these influences would suggest.

Sanfilippo describes the tracks on InTRO as soundscapes. Sanfilippo masterfully combines synthesizers, keyboard, environmental sounds and a variety of acoustic instruments to create music that brings to mind the environmental soundscapes of Steve Roach and the dark ambient music of Brian Eno.

The CD collects seven tracks. Each track’s name starts with InTRO and then is completed by a word or phrase that seems to relate to the track. InTROworld, for example, has a world music feel to it, layering pulsing synths with percussion and exotic string melodies. InTROpiano, on the other hand, is solo processed piano, with synth and electronic effects accompaniment.

From the start, InTRO sets a relaxing, reflective mood. While each track on the CD has a very unique feel to it, Sanfilippo maintains a consistent mood, which means the CD makes an ideal sountrack for relaxing and thinking.

Eno has suggested that ambient music must be listenable as well as ignorable, supporting various levels of attention, and the tracks on InTRO are excellent examples of this idea. While the music on InTRO is often beautiful, it doesn’t have the glossy surface charm of some new age music, but a deeper, mysterious attraction.

Highlights of the CD include InTROpiano, which recalls Vangelis Memories of Green and the Brian Eno/Harold Budd classic, The Pearl; and InTROvoices, which uses wordless voice sounds to create a choral and even orchestral texture.

Bruno Sanfilippo’s InTRO is one of the finest ambient releases we’ve heard this year. It’s not widely distributed, unfortunately, but is available via the AD21 Music site, where streaming previews are also available.

Tracks:

• InTROworld
• InTROmental
• InTROsacro
• InTROpiano
• InTROvoices
• InTROvisions
• InTROpassion

Cluster isn’t well known, but their music is important and has been influential over the years. Cluster was formed in the late sixties as “Kluster”. The core of the band, Dieter Moebius and Hans Joechim Roedelius, has been been with the group since that time. Their music tends towards a restrained industrial or dark ambient sound. They collaborated with Eno in the late seventies, and it’s easy to hear elements of their ambient electronic style in Eno’s On Land.

The music on First Encounter Tour 1996 is a set of live performances. Many of the pieces are long. The longest, Portland Oregon #1 is 29 minutes long. The music is completely free of melodies, but still feels like it has a tonal center.

Cluster uses drones heavily, and layers a broad variety of sounds over the drones. Some of the sounds are recognizable as sampled instruments or voices, but most are abstract electronic ones. When a clear sampled instrument does come through, it sounds displaced. On Phoenix Arizona #2, a snatch of mellow saxophone playing appears for a few seconds, and sounds almost like something heard while switching channels on the radio.

The music won’t surprise listeners that have heard previous Cluster releases. On First Encounter, Cluster sounds like the same band that recorded their influential music of the seventies, but more mature and polished.

Cluster gives listeners a generous serving of music with this live collection. First Encounter Tour 1996 is a two CD set, and each of the CDs are over seventy minutes long. Fans of dark ambient music, like Eno’s On Land or Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works Vol 2, will find this music absorbing and inspiring.

There are three cuts on this album. They are each long cuts; the shortest is 11 minutes. They are put together in a classic format: a fast first movement; a slow, reflective second movement; and fast third movement. They come together to make a satisfying listen.

The first cut, Stardancer, starts with swirling percussion, voices and synth sequences. About three minutes in, a pulsing bass line begins, and Schulze solos over this. Stardancer has a bit of an Indian feel the way it starts with a short droning slow section that introduces the “vibe”, and then transitions to a rhythmic section featuring improvisitory soloing.

The second piece, Blanche, is slow and mellow. It features piano that has been treated with echo, giving it a psychedelic feel. It is accompanied by synthesized effects. Synth strings are introduced, along with a slow pulsating sequence. Schulze solos with a heavily echoed lead synth, as tinkling sequences dance in the background.

The final cut is the longest on the album. On vinyl, it took up the whole side, 27 minutes, pushing the limits of what worked on record. P:T:O: starts out slowly, with choral voices (probably Mellotron), synth strings, and the same high-pitched, chime-like sequences fading in and out. Schulze solos over this, in a slow, thoughtful way, allowing the sound to grow and change with each note. 4 minutes into the piece, he introduces a simple, 8 beat sequenced synth line. He accompanies this with “voice” and synth string sounds.

As the piece goes on, Schulze gradually builds up the intensity, and has a pair of lead lines interlock and play off of each other. The music gets more and more intense, building to a sweaty climax at about 20 minutes into the piece. Whew! Then it quickly changes, and there is a sort of musical denouement.

For electronic music lovers and hardcore synth fans, Body Love is a must-have. Maybe it’s psychedelic electronic porn music, but you wouldn’t have read this far if you didn’t get off on that, would you?

Brian Eno originated the modern idea of ambient music. In his series of 4 ambient albums, Eno established the modern idea of a shifting audio environment, free of the constraints of melodies or song structures. His ambient work is not as immediately listenable as that of others, but it has a complexity and depth that supports close listening, as well as background listening.

Ambient 4 – On Land is a test of people’s appreciation for the ambient genre. This is far away from many people’s ideas of ambient music. There’s nothing “new age” about this music.

The cuts on this album are full of sounds and textures that are a little scary. Rumbly synths sound like thunder, or the wind blowing over an open bottle. Throughout the album, it’s rare to hear recognizable instruments. The music is made up of blurps, beeps and textures instead.

Each cut is a soundscape that changes without evolving. By listening, you get a deeper feeling for the type of sound environment that you’re in, but the environment is still static. It’s almost like listening to the sounds of insects and animals in the woods, or in the desert, except that Eno’s environments are otherworldly.

The soundscapes on this album are a little off-putting. This is the type of album that could clear a party. But if it did clear a party, at least the people left would be interesting…

On Land captures one facet of Eno’s unique voice, and is a classic of 20th century music.