"The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between."
- W.A Mozart
From James Blake, to Peter Broderick and ambient-artists such as Antonymes och Blamstrain, my latest mix is a short story about music, which takes off where I left in previous mixes such as Midvintersol and Kom nu, Vind! (both released in 2015).
My aim was to create a thoughtful collage, honest and simple. I hope you enjoy it.
Today my newest EP just went live. It is called Alpha 3 and is available for listening and purchase through Bandcamp. It represents the pinnacle of my works written during 2012. Rewritten, finalized and mastered 2013.
There has been many, long nights writing these musical pieces. All of these works have been available for listening through my Soundcloud, but the tracks have been rewritten and remastered to fit into this conceptual whole. Feel free to listen to Apha 3, feel free to tell me how it makes you feel. It's audible announcment can be found here.
I found this track over at the Dub techno blog,
and thought it had to be shared. The track Blue feature is created by
the artist Niccolo Machiavelli, a londoner sharing the name of the
italian philosopher made famous by his theatrice Il Principe, in english otherwise known as The prince, which you can read in a translation on Project Gutenberg here.
The track itself starts as an ambient drone, evolving unto a point in which it repeats a recorded quote given 1970 by one Spiro Agnew, former vice president of the US under Richard Nixon.
I've heard this quoted in other electronic music but never did try to pin down its source.
I was surprised to see Agnews name when I did, but his attack on intellectuals as repeated here made more sense as part of certain aspects of US republican ideology. Also, the critique of society moving towards 'an age of the gross' is still being repeated today, listeners should be wise enough to see that it is hardly a new idea to react against parts or modernity as a whole.
Ever since the luddite uprising in England, described and defended among some deep green thinkers still, the back side of modernity has found itself critizised from left to right to front to back. In this aspect, the idea of continous degeneration from a past golden age, is an excellent example of mythic thinking, can be seen touted by thinkers seen as 'traditionalists', like Sufi Muslim René Guneon among others. They themselves repeating and recollecting ideas finding its sources in hindoism, that our age is the last one of four - dubbing it the age of kali yuga.
Despite what you may feel for Agnew, or traditionalist notions, that it is quoted as part of the track Blue Feature gives food for thought, encapsulated in beautiful music. The music lending itself to a meditation on the quote, which can also be read in its entirely via Berkley's Social Activism Sound Recording Project.
This is another review written for VKRS that I choose to cross-post on this blog. This time of the mythical offering of Taskas.
Cold tear records continues their strong form with a curious gem
of melodic dubtechno by artist Véjopatis. An artist who just released
the album Taskas.
Unlike the forms of dub-techno which goes into drone infused ambient territories, like with the excellent artist Mon0,
here we get an artist who blend clear melodic structures mingling with
some of the typical traits of the genré. What first struck me were the
Lithuanian vocals, allegedly this being traditional folk singing which
harmonizes perfectly with the musical world of Véjopatis.
I also enjoyed hearing some recurring themes in this work too, like the beginning track Apejo Saulite and its reprise Sauliute.
It gives the album a thematic touch, making it more then the sum of its
parts. Oft we have a bunch of tracks, hopefully great, but which seems
like nothing linking them together. Not so this time.
As far as I have seen this is the début album of Véjopatis, which
bodes well for this artist, and for us too, as we can hopefully look
forward to more where this came from. While trying to learn more about
the artist in question, I found out an interesting detail about the name
Véjopatis, as it contains references to European mythology. A search
for the name on Google generated a result in the book Indo-european myth and poetry, by author L.M West. In it, it is said that Véjopatis or Véjdievs were the name ascribed by Baltic pagans to their God of the wind.
We know from the world of music that inspiration drawn from myth can
act as a powerful indigrient, and to find this in dub-techno is very
promising. I can only hope that more artists let their own sonic
experimentations mingle with myth and tradition. I enjoy the thought
that the modern is combined with voices past sung. Especially when done
in a honest and thoughtful way, such as it is with Taskas.
I have a DJ mix online via VKRS Radio, which I did a couple of days ago. You can find its release page by clicking here, I've added small player is beneath the image as well courtesy of Sonic squirrel. All tracks are released under Creative Commons, and come from Mime netlabel, Deep in Dub, Insectorama and Cicm sound.
The style is emotinally oriented dub techno.A type of music which I associate with both slow bodily movements, a form of dancing, as well as relaxation. I hope you will draw something meaningful while listening to this.
Playlist:
Para - Flow,
VS/Kurayami - Murano Reduction,
VS/Kurayami - Murano,
Hoax - Iris,
Agoralla - ()()()()(),
Killaherz - Dub for kids,
Killaherz - Ave somebody,
Rob Velasquez - Changing wind,
Rob Velasques, Paralell verse,
Marko Fürstenberg - Falling leaves,
Jon Le Bon - Neptuner,
Haventepe - o 403
Hidden places music Rarely updated but illustrates the saying of "quality before quantity". Tends to focus on psychedelic electronic music.
Aurgasm Cheeky name but a music blog that packs some great content. Very diverse in its selection and therefore carries something for everybody. One of the few "pop"-blogs I read.
Ambientblog.net Great finds in ambient music together with knowledgeable liner notes. Continuously manages to deliver music that I haven't heard of and is a joy to read.
Dub techno blog Highly specialized but good for keeping up to date with Creative commons releases in the realm of dub techno.
I released 12 O' Clock Dubs in June, earlier this year for free. For those who are so inclined, there is now a possibility to buy the release via Vibedeck for 1.5 $.
I signed up with a song for rekkerd.org:s "moving" contest. With over fifty songs / works of art, and a very diverse selection, my song "Moving while Asleep" is one piece among many. It will be interesting to see how people have voted, when the winners are announced.
Another of my favorite entrants are written by the artist Noizefield. Don't miss how the song changes after two minutes to incorporate an orchestral arrangement. The track takes on a completely different level of beauty by adding this layer.
Something very different offered came from artist nkurence. As I wrote on the artist Soundcloud, I'd liken the atmosphere of the sound to "as if someone is chewing, thereby transforming them (the sounds) into pure dissonant artefacts. Very imaginative!"
More of the style of music I tend to listen to nowadays. This time Copenhagen duo Lulu Rouge with their video for Bless you, released in 2008. I didn't see it until the other day, and safe to say: I was blown away by their artistic vision. I immediately found someone on Discogs who sold the album, and got him to ship it to Sweden.
The video in question centers around a young homeless boy whose situation is despited in an unnamed metropolitan city. It is not for the faint of heart. But seeing how much culture has become numbing and basically for entertainment purposes only: I believe that we need more videos such as this one. This is everything but panem et circenses / bread and circuses.
There is a lot of great electronic music that comes from Russia these days. Here is a collection of stunning images to go with the artist Kabana's track Erevan - taken from the album The Sound of Nature vol. 2, out on Cold Tear Records.
Behind the moniker Kabana is Alexey Frolov, from the city of Smolensk.
You can find me elswhere, Facebook is practical (click image)
Now I listen to
Eros Agape Philipa - Sara Parkman (2022)
Sara Parkmans third album combines folk music, electronica with chamber-music into a divergent package about love in all it's forms. Throughly recommended.
