Wixel dreamed up a project in which he would record an album a month; he followed through, bringing to life twelve albums of music (not all of which I’ve checked out at this point). His album from February 2009 stands out to me, with five tracks at just under thirty minutes. Each track is reminiscent of a certain aspect of atmospheric water vapor grouping; for instance, the first track, Cloud Formation, is a rambling and haunting ten-minute build that puts the evaporative process in sonic form. The second track, Rising Clouds, is a slow paced, smooth yet grating discord of sound that makes you feel as though your floating upwards into the sky. Track three is a disonant mish mash of ambient acoustic guitars backed with meandering sounds that tie it all together. Track four, In Clouds, is a fuzzy bit of static that drones on giving the impression that you’ve arrived in the middle of the cloud layer, about to break through into the sunlight at any moment. And when that moment comes, 3:26 later, you’re in a Fog Rainbow, a melancholic soundscape of cloud-like sounds with an atmospheric vibe.
Category: Music
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Wixel – Clouds
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Farbo – Far Beyond
Farbo is an artist through and through. His paintings and digital designs are colorful and psychedelic, and this carries over into his music as well. Starting out with a delightfully ethereal and haunting track called Insanity Arise, the release picks up the pace with the second track and takes you on a psychedelic electro journey that gets your heart pumping, but then slows you back down on the final track to let you off easy. I classify this release as progressive-electro. -
gradient – seashore
Well, finally after two days of trying, I’ve managed to post this. Seems WordPress puked and died on me a few days ago, so I decided to go ahead and upgrade to the latest version but it required the database to be at 4.1 or higher and of course – it was at 4.0. Gotta love it.So here is gradient, with a release titled seashore. Four tracks, totalling 23:15, of awesome deep house vibes. This release is so smooth, so calm and relaxing. If you liked cie – bonbon then this is another for your collection.
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Hypnagog – Dreaming In Pieces EP
Hypnagog gives us a sweet little EP featuring four tracks of glitched out something or other that I can’t quite classify, but believe me – it scratches the techno itch like you wouldn’t believe. The first track, Still Dreaming, will have you bouncing all over the place with its sine-y synth work and dBlue style glitchy drums, followed by Funkdiddle, a house track with a soul that delivers funk straight into your brain. Track three, Tiny Little Pieces goes into a speculation on what its all about with a nice and airy, relaxing tune. I love Hypnagogs use of sinewaves, jumpy but calming at the same time. Track four, Reflections No. 2, starts out as a cinematic, orchestral audio experience that slowly introduces a great bassline and those awesome sinewaves again and almost giving off an 80’s industrial pop vibe. This EP is a great release for starting off the new year, check it out. -
James Edwards – Christmas Bells
James Edwards plays a mean acoustic guitar, and on this release he offers ten tracks of technically excellent acoustic Christmas music that will make a perfect background for your holiday get-together.Merry Christmas everyone!
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Nic Bommarito – Harp Fragments
Nic Bommarito offers seven tracks on Harp Fragments, a postrock release that is filled to the brim with washy pianos and strings, and great big drum sounds. Not afraid to incorporate any instrument at all, the overall style of the album drifts, but not too far, away from postrock and brushes against bluegrass, folk, and classical. Sometimes quiet and thoughtful, Nic’s music can suddenly burst into a cacophonous explosion of drums only to quickly fade back into a quite anesthetic synth line, all the while keeping it together with distant, echoing guitar patterns. -
Jitney – 86-300
Mix up The Mars Volta, Beck, and throw in a little White Album from The Beatles and you’ll have a close approximation of the Folk Rock that Jitney delivers. A set of eleven tracks full of emotion; it is absolutely astounding the way he seems to channel George Harrison at certain points. Don’t miss this one. -
Brigitte Bijoux – Le Fleuve Profond
Brigitte Bijoux is something of an anomaly in the world of electro. She creates music similar to Hermegerville, but with a more ‘no nonsense’ attitude, as if it is a job that needs to get done and get done right. And get it right she does. Backing the thumping, distorted beats with ethereal sounding strings and samples, and incorporating a sort of down tempo, trip hop feel, this is electro / dj music at its finest. -
Sound Set – Plasma / Venus In Flames
Two tracks totalling 13:29. The ep is a nice, rolling maneuver of gentle bass with continuous, droning synth lines. Caffeinated house music that gets you popping. -
Kilowatts – Six Silicates
This ‘jewel’ of an EP features a funky and upbeat set of six tracks. The first three tracks move you with staccato melodies that mix together to form a grandiose result of sound. At track four, it mellows out into a beautiful mesh of popping, clicking, almost glitch like rhythmic air. Track five picks the pace back up with a sort of electro / distorted guitar sound, but without disturbing the overall ambience of the entire work. The EP finishes up with a dark, mysterious track named Kyanite, a sweet house tune that goes all over the map and has an almost cinematic quality to it. This is a definite fave for the year, don’t miss it.