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 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 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 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.
I implore you to read all the amazing stuff on his site about expanding consciousness and meditating through the use of music. Great stuff.
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 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, 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.
(Source: youtube.com)
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.
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 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.
