Artist: The Remote Viewer Album: I Can't Believe It's Not Better Label: Mobeer Release date: July 2008 Genre: Electronic Style: Ambient Pop/Downtempo RIYL: Epic45, The Boats, Marsen JulesTracklisting: 01. Untitled 02. Untitled 03. Untitled 04. Untitled 05. Untitled 06. Untitled 07. Untitled 08. Untitled 09. Untitled 10. Untitled Total running time: 39' 32" [The Remote Viewer - Open MySpace page in a new window]"It's been over 3 years since the Remote Viewer's last album "Let your Heart Draw A Line" so it's been quite a wait - but from the instant you start playing this amazing set of tracks you find yourself comforted by the familiar yet forever beguiling sound this band makes. Delicate percussive underlays, pops and whirrs, tinkling melodies, banjo strums, loose piano arrangements and an assortment of found sounds mingle in with deep, almost gargantuan basslines that accompany many of the Remote Viewer's finest tracks. There are some surprising treats in store too - with band member Andrew Johnson allowing his singing voice to be heard properly for the first time in years, while faithful family member Nicola Hodgkinson contributes some of her vocal magic to proceedings. With packaging to die for (it took the label endless late nights to get all the elements together - more or less everything has been hand made) we're thinking that this is one of the most beautiful and sublime releases we've laid our hands on in a while." [Boomkat]
Artist: Valgeir Sigurðsson Album: Eqvílibríum Label: Bedroom Community Release date: 10 September 2007 Genre: Electronic Style: Ambient/Modern Classical/Ambient Pop/GlitchTracklisting: 01. A Symmetry 02. Evolution Of Waters 03. Focal Point 04. Baby Architect 05. After Four 06. Winter Sleep 07. Equilibrium Is Restored 08. Before Nine 09. Kin 10. Lungs, For Merrilee Total running time: 49' 10" [Valgeir Sigurðsson - Open MySpace Standalone Music Player] [Valgeir Sigurðsson - Evolution Of Waters - Video Clip] [Valgeir Sigurðsson - Eqvílibríum Preview Trailer #1] [Valgeir Sigurðsson - Eqvílibríum Preview Trailer #2]
"Icelandic musician and producer Valgeir Sigurðsson is best known as a regular collaborator with Björk, having contributed to all her records since Selmasongs, and for recent stints with the likes of Bonnie Prince Billy (The Letting Go) and CocoRosie (The Adventures Of Ghosthorse And Stillborn). He recently set up his own imprint, Bedroom Community, and has published Speaks Volume, the debut album from twenty-four year old American classical composer Nico Muhly and the most recent output from Melbourne’s Ben Frost.
Eqvílibríum, Sigurðsson’s long overdue debut album is an elegant collection of gentle acoustic pieces tainted with orchestral swathes and discreet electronics textures. If the compositions could appear deceptively simple at first, repeat listens reveal complex and intricate formations which explode in colourful ribbons of sounds, textures and emotions to form the backbone of Sigurðsson’s exquisite miniature tales.
Nico Muhly handles the score here and appears in various capacities (piano, synths, celesta, string arrangements), leading an impressive cast, amongst which Guy Sigsworth, another regular Björk contributor, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Faun Fables’ Dawn McCarthy, Nick Cave collaborator Warren Ellis and Machine Translations’ J. Walker are some of the most high-profile intervenients. Sigurðsson makes good use of this constant afflux of energy. He, who is more often found in the background, guides this exotic ensemble through the meanderings of his imagination.
Although the majority of the compositions collected here are instrumental, vocals occasional materialise and bring an element of human tension into this wonderfully detailed and dense patchwork. Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy lends his softly droned torments to Evolution Of Waters and Kin, pushing the two songs into moody corners. Evolution Of Waters especially sounds like a precious stone set against a lush string-laden backdrop of shimmering sub-melodies. There are echoes of Mark Kozelek on Baby Architect as J. Walker weaves surrealist lyrics into Sigurðsson’s wonderful atmospheric pop while Dawn McCarthy brings earthy flavours and emotional grounding to the dramatic Winter Sleep.
As a counterpoint to the rich and vibrant layers of opening track A Symmetry and Focal Points, After Four and even more so Equilibrium Is Restored offer beautiful autumnal textures and melancholic overtones. The latter track is not without recalling some of the ambiences of Ben Frost’s superb Theory Of Machines. The two remaining instrumentals allow for some of the most poignant arrangements and cinematic moments of the record. At just one minute forty, Before Nine serves as an impeccable introduction to the heart-warming Kin, while the intricate shimmering piano and guitar motifs of Lungs, For Merrilee bring this album to a truly inspiring finale.
Despite the many collaborators involved and the ambitious aspect of the project, Eqvílibríum is beautifully understated and subtle and above all deeply poetic. Valgeir Sigurðsson is the most welcoming and thoughtful of hosts and, as he leads his companions through various narratives, he orchestrates one of the most exhilarating and perfect records you’ll hear this year." [source]
Artist: Epic45 Album: May Your Heart Be The Map Label: Make Mine Music Release date: 21 May 2007 Genre: Electronic Style: Ambient Pop/AmbientTracklisting: 01. May Your Heart Be The Map 02. The Stars In Spring 03. Summers First Breath 04. Forgotten Mornings 05. The Stars In Autumn 06. We Left Our Homes For Winter 07. Lost In Failing Light 08. You Are An Annual 09. The Balloonist 10. Winterbirds 11. The Trees And Lanes 12. We Grew Up Playing In The Fields Of England 13. Early 80's Snowfall Total running time: 49' 50" [Epic45 - Open MySpace Standalone Music Player] [Epic45 - They Cut Into The Hill - Video Clip]
"It comes as no surprise to find that Epic45 grew up - and still reside - in a small rural village in the heartland of the English Midlands. Based around the nucleus of 25 year old school friends Ben Holton and Rob Glover, Epic45 have had a varied and fluid line-up since their debut in 1999, releasing a series of highly acclaimed EPs and albums for labels such as Bearos, Awkward Silence and Where Are My Records. The band have also received radio airplay from the late John Peel, Steve Lamacq and Verity Sharp over the past few years.
Inspired by their surroundings, blissful childhood summers and mysterious / inspiring walks the duo have been making music for more than a decade. Their latest album May Your Heart be the Map sees Epic45 concentrating on a more bucolic sound, mixing cyclical acoustic guitars, chiming reverbs and field recordings. Using a blend of analogue tape and digital editing/processing, they create a sense of hazy half-remembered childhood memories yet still reflect the harsher realities of modern life.
The album was originally inspired by 1970s British TV series "Survivors", a fictional account of a plague that wipes out most of the worlds population. The idea of a near-deserted world in which people have to rebuild their lives amid the ruins of the previous civilisation seemed strangely appealing. However, other themes crept in slowly, the 'empty world' began to represent our lives now and inevitably the duo started looking back to childhood and simpler, happier times. The title is simply a rallying call to like minded people, an expression of hope in an uncertain world.
As with previous releases, May Your Heart Be The Map features a collaboration with Antony Harding of July Skies/Avrocar. This time, Harding contributes fragile vocals to the track ‘We Left Our Homes For Winter’.
“Epic45 is about a childhood obsession with hearing ourselves and other sounds played back on tapes, how magical pop music seemed as a child and how it allowed us to escape into our own worlds. It’s become a constant attempt to capture this and turn our memories into sound. This is why we continue.......” Ben Holton" [source]
Artist: Dntel Album: Dumb Luck Label: Sub Pop Release date: 24 April 2007 Genre: Electronic Style: Ambient Pop/Electro Pop/GlitchTracklisting: 01. Dumb Luck 02. To A Fault [Feat. Grizzly Bear] 03. I'd Like To Know [Feat. Lali Puna] 04. Roll On [Feat. Rilo Kiley] 05. The Distance [Feat. Arthur & Yu] 06. Rock My Boat [Feat. Mia Doi Todd] 07. Natural Resources [Feat. Fog] 08. Breakfast In Bed [Feat. Bright Eyes] 09. Dreams [Feat. Mystic Chords Of Memory] Total running time: 41' 19" [Dntel - (This Is) The Dream Of Evan And Chan - Video Clip] [Jimmy Tamborello - Studio Tour]
"Jimmy Tamborello likes to take his time. Thirteen years after starting to work under the Dntel moniker and almost six years after releasing his last Dntel full-length, Life is Full of Possibilities (Plug Research), he has painstakingly built and birthed Dumb Luck, an album five years in the making.
Thick with Tamborello’s signature electronic washes and genius beat placement, Dumb Luck is an album lyrically as much about human distance as connection. With vocal contributions from friends Jenny Lewis (Rilo Kiley), Edward Droste (Grizzly Bear), Valerie Trebeljahr and Markus Acher (Lali Puna), Mia Doi Todd, Grant Olsen and Sonya Westcott (Arthur & Yu), Andrew Broder (Fog), Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes) and Christopher and Jennifer Gunst (Mystic Chords of Memory), the organic instrumentation by Chris Hathwell (drummer, Moving Units) and Paul Larson (guitarist, The Minor Canon) is manipulated, chopped and pasted amidst Tamborello’s skittish beats, house clicks, organ washes and dreamily pixelated symphonies. The result is at once understatedly epic, ethereal and concrete.
Like Mistake Mistake Mistake Mistake (Plug Research), his 2006 release under the name James Figurine, and The Postal Service’s 2003 release Give Up, Tamborello meticulously labored over each element of his bit-crushed compositions in his LA home studio. Fueled by a short attention span, his distaste for working on any one project for extended periods of time meant that this was, like most worthwhile things, a process fraught with redefinition and constant change.
After all, producing, engineering and songwriting initially started out as pre-teen after-school fun for Tamborello, whose early interests were breakdancing music and ‘80s techno pop (and later the sonic tampering of Skinny Puppy and Aphex Twin). In the mid-to-late ‘90s, he played in the post-hardcore band Strictly Ballroom and satisfied his ‘80s techno pop appetite with the (still active) Figurine he also played stints in So-Cal pop groups Further and The Tyde. The myriad of friends Tamborello made along the way informed the collaborative element of Dntel; each vocal is viewed as another instrument in the arsenal, helping to create a warm masterwork that is uniquely his." [source]
This blog does not store any files on its server. The postings are for promotional and preview purposes only. If you like what you hear please support the artists by buying their works.
Want to rant and rave, constructively destruct, suggestively construct, plea for tasteful records, gripe about missing links, object to existing ones? Send all this to: sonicprocess[dot]blogspot[at]gmail[dot]com
DJ Mix
Stig Inge "We Love Netlabelism Vol.1" Stig Inge's deep tech beats take you on a dive deep down into the sea. There you'll find a parallel world of echo sounds, coloured corals and forgotten, sunken cities, just waiting to be discovered and explorerd. [Download]
[Standalone player] [Last updated: 9 December 2008]
Playlist
[Add player to your Firefox sidebar] [Standalone player] [Last updated: 8 October 2008]
