honest words on honest music
In the studio with Roger Eno
“How does anyone judge anything in art? Experience. If the piece ‘lives’ after several months, if it puts me ‘in a place’…”
In the studio with Hania Rani
“… I usually try to bring new elements to the process or deliberately limit myself to one instrument…”
In the studio with Eluvium
“… many of my favorite compositions have been created using pretty simple and relatively cheap tools…”
The Audio CD Flaw
My journey into a rabbit hole of bit-perfect data transfer
Snorri Hallgrímsson
I Am Weary, Don’t Let Me Rest
“… heartwrenching melancholia that walks the scale in search of resolution, peace, and rest…”
In the studio with µ‑Ziq
“… I used to lust after the gear I read about in magazines, but now bundled software seems more than enough…”
How to fall in love with digital music…
All about appreciating the medium from a connoisseur’s point of view…
Poltrock
The Tragedy Of Hanlet (AB Session)
“… quiet and intimate piano and string lullaby inspired by a synth riff…”
Jan Nemeček
On Subtle Horizon
“… revealing hidden depths with low sub-bass, drony mutations and granulated particles…”
“… music is around us all the time… making music is more a matter of selection, less a matter of creation…”
“… shimmering waves of wistful strings subside into a bit of darkness, maybe sadness, and some introspective grief…”
Label Profile
Shimmering Moods Records
A quick roundup of October releases by this boutique ambient label from Amsterdam.
Linus Alberg
Vienna
“… effortlessly fluttering melodies held together by bass, harmonium, and fragile echoes of the breathy trumpet…”
Alva Noto
HYbr:ID II
“… a journey into the realm of intricately manipulated production inspired by resonance and elasticity…”
The second instalment in Casten Nicolai‘s series of dub-infused digital structures, spatial manipulations, and immaculate sound design.
“… the universe and everything in it consists of vibrations… to reach into that river of energy and pluck out ideas is a gift…”
Massimo Pupillo
Horagalles
“… stepping away from these frozen territories of the inevitable future and instead take a look back at the ancestry of the past…”
fatalism
Lanesplitter
“… the rising swell of bleak dynamics splitting the atmosphere from dark to light…”
From the Mouth of the Sun
Valley of the Hummingbirds
“… conveying the tension, the anxiety of the unknown, and the fervent appeal that stirs up into a climax…”
Aaron Martin and Dag Rosenqvist are back with an album on Lost Tribe Sound featuring three long-playing compositions originally written for the same-titled dance performance by Danae & Dionysios.
Dronal
Whilst We Fall
“… a soft and intimate collection of slowly morphing soundscapes […] enveloping the listener and drawing them close…”
A third album under Alex Leonard’s Dronal moniker, investigating the blurred boundaries between the natural world and the one which we have created on top.
Kjartan Holm
Limitless Pt. II
“… transforming the atmospheres in Georg Guðni’s paintings into an ethereal sprawl of textures…”
Onur Tarçın
somewhere beyond the sea
“… capturing the dance of waves, telling stories of distant shores and timeless moments…”
A LAAPS and IIKKI label showcase spanning the last two years, compiled by Mathias Van Eecloo
From Overseas & zakè
Day Will Be As The Night
“… some music reminds me of breathing…”
Sébastien Guérive
Prana
“… once the link has been established, the bodies connect to form a unity…”
Muriël Bostdorp
Resilient
“… each carefully pressed key expresses feelings with its weight […] flowing naturally as an extension of herself…”
A new solo piano offering from Amsterdam-based composer available on Julien Marchal’s Whales Records
“… many notable artists release their music without the attention they deserve, and a lot of silly music has too much space…”
Lisa Bella Donna
Electronic Voyages
“… a garden wall of modular synthesis harvested from this modern master of electronic music…”
A gorgeous offering from the “sonic sorceress” that should be experienced in your headphones, preferably in the dark, in a fully horizontal position.
Roel Funcken
Gorreliann Plasebant [Part 4 of 6]
The fourth part of 9+ hour mix which I am publishing in six parts over the upcoming weeks…
Roel Funcken
Gorreliann Plasebant [Part 3 of 6]
The third part of 9+ hour mix which I am publishing in six parts over the upcoming weeks…
Arrowounds
Therianthrope Series
“… a dark, organic, and textural journey into the sonic abyss… for here it begins and circles back into itself…”
Jim Perkins & Curve Ensemble
A Distant Sun
“… a familiar constant with changing surroundings […] creating a warm and emotionally moving piece…”
Hidden Notes
On today’s episode, Matt chats with Daniel Inzani and Alex Hobbis of the Hidden Notes music festival, which will take place this year in Stroud on September 23-24th.
Rod Modell
Ghost Lights
“… floating through the twilight like a ghost in the city, eavesdropping on sounds and stories untold…”
Another immersive experience courtesy of Ario Farahani Astral Industries imprint with beautiful artwork by Theo Ellsworth.
Roel Funcken
Gorreliann Plasebant [Part 2 of 6]
The second part of 9+ hour mix which I am publishing in six parts over the upcoming weeks…
Roel Funcken
Gorreliann Plasebant [Part 1 of 6]
Traversing favourite ambient and contemporary classical pieces of the day in a 9+ hour mix!
“… I start with great instruments and then mostly leave them be…”
Maxime Dangles
Operate (Pavane Remix)
“… nourished by the feelings of struggle, anger, stress, alienation and hope…”
The Hillside Project
Dizygotic II
“… wandering through a harmonic landscape and landing on an extremely warm and musically satisfying pianissimo…”
Taylor Deupree
Eev
“… the decay and the growth stir tiny, fragile worlds…”
The latest stopover on a slow journey through ambient sound that has brought Duepree acclaim and renown for over two decades.
“… the very edges of the sonic landscape, where beauty and destruction lie on opposite sides of the dynamic spectrum…”
Akira Kosemura
Looking in the Same Direction
“… the human condition is explored on every single track, with a slightly melancholy, quiet tone…”
“… many of my favorite compositions have been created using pretty simple and relatively cheap tools…”
Hotel Neon
Deprivation
“… I could hear everything, together with the hum of my hotel neon… I never felt sadder in my life…”
McKenzie Stubbert
Err
“… a haunting atmosphere of two protagonists trapped somewhere in-between this world and the next…”
zakè & City of Dawn
Ash
“… a sound that encompasses the listener and demands attention… music to get lost in…”
Sound in Silence is a boutique record label from Athens, Greece, founded by George Mastrokostas, aka Absent …
July 16th, 2023
I was going to open up this OUT TODAY column with yet another reflection on the …
Rrose
Please Touch
“… addressing in equal measure the perceptual and the corporeal…”
The second full-length solo LP from one of the masters of advanced techno manipulations
Quiet Places
The Empty View
“… moments of melody amongst the wide landscape of abstract sounds are the only glimpse of reality…”
Olivia Belli
Anima I
“… the beginning of a personal journey searching the essential…”
Tim Hecker
No Highs
“… a beacon of unease against the deluge of false positive corporate ambient currently in vogue…”
“What is the function of music? Is it to serve as a background for a WeWork, efficiency world, for someone who just wants to code? Or is it for driving down a foggy road at night, wanting that experience amplified?”