http://deepdrone.tumblr.com/

DEEP DRONE IS BACK

brohloff — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 00:19:34 -0400

Hi, I’m back! I’m going to sort through all the submissions. I look forward to sharing some good ambient and some good drone with all of you.

Thank you : )

vvhitenoise: enhues: freeradicals - deep tides (2) This is the...

brohloff — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 00:18:05 -0400

vvhitenoise:

enhues:

freeradicals - deep tides (2)

This is the second track off “Deep Tides,” the new album by freeradicals, my drone/ambient/noise project. In a lot of ways, it is a follow up to the piece I wrote for my composition thesis at St. Mary’s, “la conscience engloutie,” though I think this work has much more of a subtle sophistication than that piece.

“Deep Tides” takes its name from the track that I used for much of the source material- an old and dusty vinyl of music by Henry Cowell, an early 20th century composer who wrote some of the most beautiful piano pieces I have ever heard. The record has an intense crackle and hiss that almost overcome the music at times, all of which is over in just four minutes . I knew from my first listening a year ago that I needed to take these sounds and transform them into something new, something that captured the intensity with which I was struck by Cowell’s music.

My process was fairly simple for creating this, as it involved me making decisions and changes in real-time rather than doing meticulous editing in the computer (though there was also a fair amount of that towards the end when I started mixing it all). I recorded the vinyl into a tape player at three different speeds- slow (about 2x slower), normal and fast (about 2x). I only ended up using the slow and normal speeds. I would then play sections into my effects chain and create a short loop of 1-5 seconds. I played this loop back, recording to computer while I would ‘perform’ long-form changes with my different effects processors- I would spend maybe 10 or 15 minutes slowly changing delay, gain, distortion, detuning, etc. To create a sense of depth, I would do the same thing again for the same section- create a very similar loop, though different enough so that when the two loops were played together, they would come in and out of phase, syncing up for brief seconds and then parting again. I also added sounds of my own- the reappearing deep droning bass sounds that seem to be on the brink of collapsing.

Tho whole album, an hour long, flows continuously through each section.

You can download it for free from bandcamp:

http://free-radicals.bandcamp.com/album/deep-tides

Each download also includes a copy of Henry Cowell’s original recording.

I’m super happy about the way this album turned out. If you’re at all a fan of ambient/drone, you should download this and save it for a time when you have an hour to spare.

http://free-radicals.bandcamp.com/album/deep-tides

<3

Wowweee, very nice, very fun.

Mister Lies - Hidden Neighbors (For Beverly) Really wonderful...

brohloff — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 10:40:05 -0400

Mister Lies - Hidden Neighbors (For Beverly)

Really wonderful EP, go buy it at his bandcamp, or listen some more at his soundcloud, and I promise you won’t be disappointed. Some very beautiful work. He says it better than I do:

listener,
these four songs are for all those who put up with my drastic changes in the weather. it is certain that all these years we have been living a lie but we are slowly shifting closer to the truth.

from chicago with love,
mister lies

I would not have written it any better myself. Work like this is...

brohloff — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 14:30:05 -0400

I would not have written it any better myself. Work like this is what inspires my love for this music. Warren put together a really, really great mix.

“This mixtape is a collection of some of my favourite instrumental and ambient music that I’ve come across in the past few years. I usually reserve a lot of this stuff for periods when I’m feeling especially stressed and strung out. As I’m sure is the case with a lot of people who enjoy this kind of music, I always find that binging on ambient music helps me to relax and retreat into my own mind and process whatever thoughts that I have endlessly rattling around in my head. I also tried to sequence all these songs in way that would work best for the kind of music that it is and the kind of energy each song has as to not be completely boring. I hope you enjoy these recordings as much as I do and attach your own memories and meaning to each of them.”

- Foxes in Fiction

From http://deeplistening.org/site/content/about:

“Deep Listening is a philosophy and practice developed by Pauline Oliveros that distinguishes the difference between the involuntary nature of hearing and the voluntary selective nature of listening. The result of the practice cultivates appreciation of sounds on a heightened level, expanding the potential for connection and interaction with one’s environment, technology and performance with others in music and related arts.”

1. Memoryhouse – Minor White
2. RxRy – Baulkn Slihts
3. Bradford Cox & Locket Pundt – Urbana Library of Electronic Music
4. Gas – Untitled #4
5. Casino Versus Japan – Untitled
6. Foxes in Fiction – Static Cults
7. Benoit Pioulard - I Emptied My Lungs Into The Dirigible.
8. Balam Acab – Big Boy
9. The Sight Below – Dour
10. K.C. Accidental – Residential Love Song

http://foxesinfiction.tumblr.com
http://www.handsomeclothing.com

Grey Ghost - Hot Mess I picked up this tape in the middle of...

brohloff — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 01:51:12 -0500

Grey Ghost - Hot Mess

I picked up this tape in the middle of last summer and fell in love with it. The album is called ‘Songs to Wake Up To’ and it’s absolutely perfect. In a weird association, the music reminds me most of the soundtrack to the N64 game ‘Body Harvest’ but much more calming. Regardless, it’s because of this association that this music makes me feel especially melancholic. Something perfect to laze about with for a few hours before setting off into the summer heat (which I am beginning to miss in these cold months)

J.D. Emmanuel - Wizards I can’t even remember how I found...

brohloff — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 13:05:05 -0500

J.D. Emmanuel - Wizards

I can’t even remember how I found out about J.D. Emmanuel and his awesome synthesizer work. All I remember is jumping onto his amazing website and seeing the headline: “Time Traveler J D Emmanuel Presents His Electronic Music and Guided Deep Relaxation and Meditation.” from that point on, I knew I was hooked. The only place to grab his work was directly from the man himself, so I’m now the proud owner of 3 J D Emmanuel tapes, the favorite of which is titled, amazingly, ‘Wizards’. If you can, buy some of his tapes/CDs/LPs. He is really gracious, very nice, and definitely a down to earth dude.

William Basinski - The Disintegration Loops (1.1) By chance...

brohloff — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:33:00 -0500

William Basinski - The Disintegration Loops (1.1)

By chance discovery I found William Basinski’s ‘The Disintegration Loops’ way back in High School, before I was even interested in ambient or drone music. I was fascinated with the story behind these pieces, and hearing them was a real experience, unlike any other music I had heard before. They are, in a word, melancholic. Great for a rainy day where you’ve got nothing to do but think.

The perfect Companion Piece to The Caretaker’s An Empty Bliss Beyond This World, which I will post soon.

Eluvium - The Motion Makes Me Last I don’t usually like...

brohloff — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:23:03 -0500

Eluvium - The Motion Makes Me Last

I don’t usually like vocals in ambient music, I think it takes away from the rest of the song. But this. This. I love Matthew Cooper.

Loscil - Brittle One of the first ambient acts I got into,...

brohloff — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 14:25:12 -0500

Loscil - Brittle

One of the first ambient acts I got into, Loscil definitely shaped a large portion of my love for this type of music. I would really like to see him live someday (though I did in some capacity, he is drummer for the band Destroyer). Go get First Narrows, or Endless Falls, or Plume, or Submers, all of his albums are amazing.

Some more info from burialofferings about Gates, an artist...

brohloff — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:14:41 -0500

Some more info from burialofferings about Gates, an artist I’ve featured on this blog + A music video

Gates are a Canadian drone group. They’ve made much of their music available online here: http://gatesritual.bandcamp.com

We’ve collaborated on a music video together a little while ago, and it can be viewed here: http://vimeo.com/28640285 or found on my Tumblr (http://burialofferings.tumblr.com). It’s gotten a pretty good response so far, and Gates themselves have been playing with groups like Merzbow, Wolves In The Throne Room, Kayo Dot, Menace Ruine, Monarch, etc. Bryan doesn’t circulate their stuff online much, so I figured I’d send it over after coming across your blog. Thanks!

Geotherm - Clairvoyance / Hypothetical Environment Leonce Nelson...

brohloff — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:48:05 -0500

Geotherm - Clairvoyance / Hypothetical Environment

Leonce Nelson has been making some pretty awesome drones as Geotherm. I was attracted to these two songs specifically, making up his ‘Distances’ release from June last year. I was on these right when they came out and I still find myself visiting them from time to time. It’s something really great to put on when you’ve 40 minutes laying around. Starting with Clairvoyance, fades lightly into an ambient drone that builds up and up and up. It gains momentum throughout the whole piece and I find it has a really nice energy to it, eventually cresting and folding out to make way for the next track, Hypothetical Environment, which is a much more textural work. It reminds me of being in a swimming pool during a summer rain, the sound of the rain and the water hitting water entirely surrounding you. Then all of a sudden 3/4ths through the piece we plunge underwater and are treated to an entirely different experience. The water splashing on the ceiling above us becomes just an echo. Holding our breath, sinking deeper and deeper as the music fades out.

Kid Counselor - White Fields III (For Sean) My friend Jake Leech...

brohloff — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 02:43:00 -0500

Kid Counselor - White Fields III (For Sean)

My friend Jake Leech apparently has a tradition that, on the first snowfall in STL, he releases some fucking great drone. I like to think of Wisconsin when I hear this. Makes me miss the snow that has so quickly begun to retreat from the Chicago streets. Put it on and think of your own snowed-in paradise. available at the Kid Counselor Soundcloud.

Gates - Frost Some really nice drone/doom/ambient from Ivory...

brohloff — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:43:39 -0500

Gates - Frost

Some really nice drone/doom/ambient from Ivory Antler records. It’s like a giant echo.

Yaldabaoth - Music for unknown ceremonies in abandoned...

brohloff — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:02:33 -0500

Yaldabaoth - Music for unknown ceremonies in abandoned buildings

Our first submission to Deep Drone! This one comes from SacredTeeth, who puts out some great dark ambient as Yaldabaoth. The drums sound like hell itself beating at the crust of the earth (appropriate given the origins of his name). Awesome sound. Reminds me of a way more evil version of En’s ‘The Absent Coast’, in the best possible way.

Thanks for sharing!

Eluvium - New Animals From the Air This song and the album it...

brohloff — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:03:05 -0500

Eluvium - New Animals From the Air

This song and the album it begins are some of the most important ambient pieces in my life. Talk Amongst the Trees is an album that I can continuously return to again and again. Once, when I was playing it on an extended car trip, my grandmother told me it sounded like a funeral. For me this song represents the exact opposite. This is the song that started my interest in ambient. It’s still one of my favorite songs.

Evenings - [I] Softly, We Go.. Everything that Nathan Broaddus...

brohloff — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 10:42:05 -0500

Evenings - [I] Softly, We Go..

Everything that Nathan Broaddus puts out as Evenings is amazing. I implore you to go buy his North Dorm EP and his album, Lately, both available on his bandcamp page. His work makes me very introspective and always calms me down. Great driving music when you have nowhere specific to go, or when you’re riding a bus at night. A little more active than other ambient tracks I post, but trust me, by the time you roll around to that 6:40 mark this song bleeds.

rickyeatacid: so don’t expect a lot of new music from me right...

brohloff — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:03:05 -0500

rickyeatacid:

so don’t expect a lot of new music from me right away this year - i’ve got a lot finished and waiting to be released (an ambient split with malcom from the summer, my band’s ep, the rea + arrange ep, and seeing little ghosts reissue). i’m incredibly excited about all of this, and i’m hoping to play a lot of live shows (teen suicide and possibly rea) this spring/summer. that said, i can’t say for sure when i’ll have new music to release. i haven’t been able to write anything at all lately that i’ve wanted to for ‘ricky eat acid’ and the stuff i have finished (which i’m personally so proud of) certainly isn’t the kind of thing most of you would expect from me. i’m not even sure how many people would be into it.

to put it in perspective - seeing little ghosts was the first time i’ve really been very happy with something i’ve done, and that’s the direction i want to go in. the ambient split with malcom further continues this.

as for right now, i’m going to release probably the only song i’ve been happy with in months. it’s called “so i will not fall deep into the earth” and it’s a 9 minute track comprised only of my voice and, at the very end, some very strange guitar. this track characterizes my own little half-serious genre that i’ve dubbed “spacepunk”

i’ll quote the bandcamp description here

this is spacepunk. it’s a genre. it’s not a serious genre, but it’s a serious genre. there is no point to spacepunk. it’s anti-trendy. there are no driving electronic rhythms - it lacks any post-rave, post-internet, future-pop beats. there’s nothing really. that’s it.
there’s nothing. it’s music that evokes the feeling of floating endlessly and eternally through darkness. it’s inspired as much by the romanticized and unscientific idea of space as it is by sleep, heavy opiate use, and the feeling of being alone in bed, half awake on a rainy day. it’s a very sad feeling. it’s not nostalgic, but it still makes me miss everything.
it’s nothing, really. you could characterize it as drone, sometimes, or ambient. i’m not really sure. it’s fun, but it’s not.
it’s not post-internet, it’s post-life.
“space is the place”

so check it out, check out spacepunk (i know adam and kelsie have both experimented with it too, even getting a few blogs and the like to recognize spacepunk as a “growing movement”), don’t take anything too seriously ever, and please, download this track if you like it. it’s free.

i love all of you guys. i don’t know where i’ll go next and i don’t know how long it’ll take me to figure it out and make it happen, so thanks for putting up with all of this.

i don’t make music to get any kind of attention, make any money, or really do anything else. i make music because i have to make music to survive, and i don’t know what i’d do without it. i’d love to say that because of that i didn’t care what anyone thought, but i do. i want people to like it, i understand when people hate it, and i’m so happy when people love it. that said, it’s not like i’ll ever stop doing it, no matter how discouraged i might get.

i write a ton of music, i realize this, and it probably looks kind of bad to some people, but i don’t do it because i want attention for it, and i don’t release everything i write (i actually release so little of it). i just am always trying to get better at it because it’s something i love, and the only way to improve is to constantly be trying new things and pushing myself.

thanks for putting up with all of this. it’s also 430 am so i realize not a lot of you are even awake, most likely. i’ll try and reblog this again tomorrow sometime.

<3 - ur pal - sam

(click through to download from bandcamp)

Everything that I was going to say was already said, twice over. This is amazing.

Gas - Untitled (Pop #1) Wolfgang Voigt is really really great....

brohloff — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 19:50:28 -0500

Gas - Untitled (Pop #1)

Wolfgang Voigt is really really great. It should go unsaid. Listen to Gas. Listen to Pop, Königsforst, Zauberberg, etc. He’s just great. I want to own this album someday.

White Rainbow - Sea Thru I made a 16mm film last year titled...

brohloff — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 22:39:09 -0500

White Rainbow - Sea Thru

I made a 16mm film last year titled Thanksgiving and I used this song as an accompaniment. It’s one of my favorite drone works, and I will always associate it with the snow and the cold. Since it’s snowed so much today in Chicago, I thought I would share it. Make sure to grab the whole piece at his bandcamp because it’s like 40 minutes long.

From Mapzzz EP08 - James & Evander I love all of the Mapzzz...

brohloff — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:35:35 -0500

From Mapzzz EP08 - James & Evander

I love all of the Mapzzz EP’s so you’ll probably see me posting more of them. First time I listened to this was driving alone in the snow. It puts me in a really good place. You can download this and the other Mapzzz EP’s at their Bandcamp