Lo-fi glitchy dance imprint Audio Dregs‘ recent double negatively-titled, Ambient Not Not Ambient is an excellent compilation of contemporary artists take on sound art. The comp, curated by Portland’s ERock and Strategy’s Paul Dickow (and mastered by Kranky and Carpark’s Greg Davis), is an outsider’s take on ambient music done by a solid contingent of seventeen genre-bending bands. Glancing over the tracklist reveals an impressive list of names: Yellow Swans, White Rainbow, WZT Hearts, Grouper, Lucky Dragons, Valet, Ratatat’s EVax and more paint a cohesive, unified soundscape from beginning to end.
Seventeen tracks of “ambient” music may sound like a monontonous onslaught of background music to the occasional reader and could easily be discarded. However, on Ambient the label successfully brings together acts from different ends of the spectrum, while sequencing the hazy and beatless affair flawlessly. Each track bubbles up diverse characteristics and elements, causing the listener to continuously re-focus on the sounds. It’s not music for ignoring, it’s music for listening…intently.
Ambient is out now on Audio Dregs. Pick up a copy over at Darla and check out Lucky Dragons contribution to the ten year project below.
In the mid-70s Brian Eno reportedly dubbed Harmonia “the world’s most important rock band,” later joining the Krautrock supergroup for several sessions in 1976. The group was founded by three of Germany’s experimental heavyweights, including Michael Rother of Neu! (and early Kraftwerk), along with ambient experimentalists Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedeliu of Cluster. The trio lasted just two years and has a slim back-catalog, but have been highly influential on ambient and electronic music.
On their debut album, Harmonia brought together chugging motorik rhythms of Rother’s Neu! with the ambient music of Moebius’ and Roedeliu’s Cluster. The result was the euphoric, Musik Von Harmonia which appeared in 1974. While staying true to the motorik model, Musik tended to be more smooth and strung out than say, Kraftwerk’s clean frozen soundscapes or Can’s abrasive experimental art rock. The trio’s sophomore effort, Deluxe followed in 1975 and saw the band moving toward more song structure with a pop mentality. The warmth of Musik that spilled over to Deluxe was greatly multiplied as soft pulsating motorik rhythms are perfectly balanced with Harmonia’s chugging electronic drums, droning keyboard melodies, and hypnotic guitar work. After championing the band and being influenced by their first two efforts, Brian Eno joined recording sessions for the third album, Tracks and Traces in 1976. However, the band split up that same year as Rother embarked on a solo career, leading to Tracks and Traces to be shelved until it was finally released in 1997.
Coinciding with the release of the live album Live 1974, Harmonia reunited in 2007, performing live in Berlin for the first time since 1976. The band also recently performed at ATP vs Pitchfork and will be playing live at the stacked My Bloody Valentine-curated ATP New York on September 22nd in Monticello, NY.
The refrain of “There’s no escape from this circling place” on The Notwist’s new track “Where in This World” can be taken many different ways. It can be looked at as the daily routine of life that many of us endure that at times may feel like being stuck on the tumble cycle in the dryer. The soothing orchestral compositions merged with gentle electronic beats and Markus Archer’s innocent uttered vocals on “Where in This World” provide relief from the sometimes cyclical routine of everyday life. Of course there are other interpretations of the lyric as director Markus Wambsganss shows in his video for the track where a young couple that builds a flying apparatus to escape their humble abode. Failed attempts, cold cans of beans, and frustrations don’t prevent this couple from reaching for the sky.
“Where in This World” appears on The Devil, You + Me, which is out via City Slang in Europe in late May and Domino in North America in early June.
Avante-garde post-rock outfit Apse are gearing up for a busy 2008. The last time we checked in with the Cape Cod, MA six-piece was in 2006 on the heels of their elegant LP Spirit. Originally released on Spanish imprint Acuarela Discos, the record will be re-released in May this year (according to the band “60 days from March 5th”) via ATP Recordings.
In addition to the re-release of Spirit, the band will also be dropping a 45-minute EP titled Eras initially in a beautifully packaged vinyl-only format in April and eventually in CD/digital format by mid-summer. The extended EP “will feature new material, covering a range of different kinds of songwriting and experimentation. It has musical ties to Spirit, but is the most progressive, experimental and exploratory record the band as made to date.”
Following the EP, the sextet plans to unleash a brand new full-length in the autumn which is currently in the works with over 30 new tracks. Apse won’t just be busy in the studio though, they have lined up an aggressive European tour that kicks off on April 24th and continues well into May, including a stop at All Tomorrow’s Parties. Here’s to hoping for some U.S. dates (outside of New England would be nice).
The tracklisting for the EP along with some mp3′s to tie you over are below, including the grinding “Up In The Eaves” from the Eras EP.
Yeah, I know. There’s nothing “bright” about this shot. Pairing this picture up with Fuck Buttons “Bright Tomorrow” was erm, inspired (or better yet, blatantly copied) by the video for the track which Pitchfork “exclusively” posted this week. I’ve always loved pictures like this; a moment of life at full speed captured and suspended in time.
The backbone of “Bright Tomorrow” is defined by a trance-y ambient loop a la The Field combined with a chugging, driving beat. To that the Bristol-based duo of Benjamin Power and Andrew Hung add swirling noisy guitars (enter the swirling birds in the video), ethereal melodies, sonic textures, and indecipherable screams. The song manages to be “dark” and “bright” at the same time, with the violent guitars casting a shadowy gloom over the trance beats and blissful organ melodies that reach up toward the sky. Without getting into comparisons (and to use two of this year’s favorites), think No Age meets The Field, or something like that.
Not really sure the picture does the video justice, so be sure to check it out. Fuck Buttons release the full-length Street Horrrsing in February 2008 on ATP Recordings and hopefully tour the U.S. soon after.
One of my favorite artists of the year has been The Field, who’s brilliant From Here We Go Sublime is in the running for the year’s best album (for me, at least). In Rainbows is right up there with it though. In addition to seeing him live while he was on both of his U.S. tours, I’ve made an effort to get my hands on all of Axel Willner’s (aka The Field) recorded output, ranging from remixes to new and old tracks.
The track that I’m sharing today is Willner’s follow up to “Kappsta” from Kompakt’sPop Ambient 2007 and much like that song “Kappsta 2” hangs like a sublime mope-y dream, endlessly looping shards of stuttering female vocals over a 4/4 beat that throbs in your subconscious. The effect is hypnotizing and like most of Pop Ambient 2008 it sends me off into a daydream every time I put it on. I didn’t think it was possible, but Willner improved on the first version of “Kappsta” with his new “Kappsta 2.” In addition to The Field, DJ Koze, Wolfgang, Markus Guenter, Klimek, and others contribute the newest installment of the luscious Pop Ambient series. Another standout track is Klimek’s “The Ice Storm,” which merges orchestral with electronic to create a truly stunning ambience.
Kompakt has certainly saved their best for last (compilation wise), adding another solid release to an already stellar series of music. Highly Recommended.
NOTE: One of the reasons I chose the above picture to accompany this post is because it sort of reminded me of the album’s cover art. For more dreamy landscapes and nostalgic photos, be sure to check out lyrical on Flickr.
