Autumn is the new mini-album/EP by Jannick Schou. It’s a stunning piece of ambient microsound and it flows along in a really pleasant and gorgeous way that really makes you feel like floating. The piece gradually evolves through small and subtle changes in timbre, tonality and dynamic. You’ll hear (what sounds like) melancholic strings fading into uplifting drones and much more! The piece is made using nothing but processed piano and guitar recordings and the overall tone is rather dark. Absolutely superb! Go download!!!!!!
Written and perfomed by Jannick Schou
Cover by Jannick Schou
With a hope from awareness to experience, 'Red Seals' encapsulates the effects of the red tide upon the coastline of the Pacific Ocean, as experienced by its composers.
Recorded in late Spring of 2007, in the coastal hills above Laguna Beach, the oceans were viewed, recorded, and composed, being used entirely as a basis for the driving intensity, and loosening sounds; sounds that have a theme. These strings were recorded at home, driven much farther than possible, and released in sync with the very ocean waves and crests that they were composed for. These are red oceans, where everything begins with field recordings, and ends with nothing but a faint echo.
Spanning two lengthy tracks, this is meant for reflection. Archaic Horizon proudly presents their second release for Celer, the husband and wife duo from California, offering something for the locals; the few who are listening. Despite its serious nature, the longevity extends to the listener such signals as love, togetherness, fragility, perseverance, and reality through its chords. Sincere and grandiose as always, everything ends as merely a memory.
Radere is the nom du plume of Carl Ritger, a Philadelphia-based sound artist who constructs dense drones and flickering ambiences from found sounds and heavily treated guitar loops. Lost At Sea, I’m Never Coming Back marks his first recorded work since A Season In Decline - his well-received sophomore effort for Full Spectrum Records - was released at the end of last year.
Inspired by a pair of field recordings captured during a trip to the shore, Lost At Sea... opens quietly, with softly billowing drones and wind-like currents moving through the mix. The piece gradually builds to a roaring crescendo before melting away to reveal a beautiful lattice of sparkling guitar loops and hauntingly delicate atmospherics. With Lost At Sea..., Ritger
has managed to capture the illusion of being submerged beneath the sea: adrift, but at peace. basic_sounds is honoured to share this musical triumph.
Jon Wheeler of Petal returns to Earth Mantra with another collection of poignant and supremely creative ambient music called "Up From Here".
Fans will remember Petal's previous Earth Mantra foray, called "The Last Season", something that prompted us to label Jon as "one of the most creative and ingenious ambient artists active today". With "Up From Here", Jon takes his music to an even higher level, retaining his breathtaking fusion of Americana and dark ambience, but adding an even more potent dose of bittersweet reminiscence, with even stronger visuals and evocative themes. Where his previous release blended Jon's various influences seamlessly, with "Up From Here", the fusion is so complete that one cannot say with certainty where one influence ends and another begins. It all forms one inseparable innate whole, an assembly of fascinatingly articulate ambience unlike anything else we've heard.
In fact, atop the obvious ambient structure, we would also call this music post-gospel. Not the kind of slick gospel that comes at you from a Hammond B3 or a Wurlie and a polished Stratocaster, but more like Libba Cotten Piedmont gospel, shuffling off into the twilight with two chords and no answers. Simple, sweet, plaintive and sad with the sadness you get when you hit bottom, hopeful with the hope that it's all up from here. Really profound stuff that hits home on multiple levels.
As usual, Jon's process is almost as interesting as the music itself. For many of the pieces, he recorded string band quartet and quintet versions live, straight into the computer, and then decomposed them into ambient arrangements. Others, like "Run to the Rock" were improvisations that happened in the spur of the moment. Regardless of how he created it, the work stands tall on its own, the kind of ambient music that crosses so many boundaries that nearly everyone will find something to love.
So, with great pleasure, Earth Mantra proudly unveils "Up From Here", the latest work by Jon Wheeler of Petal. One of our favorite releases, and certainly one that we think our audience needs to hear. Highly, highly recommended.
