I found out on AllMusic.com that Robert Hampson released a new album last month called “Vectors”.
From AllMusic.com:
Better known as a member of Loop, Main , and Godflesh, Robert Hampson here reveals himself as a composer of tape music. Vectors, his first release for the English experimental ambient label Touch, consists of three long electro-acoustic pieces, two of which have been commissioned by the famous electronic music laboratory Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRM) and premiered on their “Acousmonium” (a multi-channel sound spatialization device), while the other was commissioned by Vibrö for a performance inside a planetarium. Take all these elements into account — the commissioners, the contexts of the premieres, the title of the album — and you will grasp that this music is about space and movement within space, all the music consisting of sparse, near-silent sound fields populated by fleeting sonic bodies. The best of the three works is “Umbra,” a dark and shimmering piece in which isolated sounds play hide and seek. “Ahead — Only the Stars” features bleeps of astronaut radio transmissions (dialogues excised), which gives the music a retro-futuristic feel, but some artistic choices, like abrupt cuts and odd non sequiturs, are debatable and mar the listening experience. “Dans le Lointain” (In the Distance), despite using the “traditional” techniques of early tape music, is the track sounding the most contemporary, or at least the closest to the digital ambient electronica scene. It is a fine piece of work, reminiscent of Biosphere’s starker works, but in terms of beauty and refined aesthetics, “Umbra” is the track that stands out.
Out for some months now: In Between Words. I haven’t had the occasion to listen to it (excepts for some samples), but it promises to be a fine release given the quality of Christopher’s debut Periphery. Check out this mini review at Smallfish Records for some info (and also 3 samples). Here is another impression from Goddeau.com, in Dutch.
Lately I have been listening to some albums of Robert Rich. He’s make music of different styles, very hard to categorise. I don’t like all his stuff, but there are certainly some great CD’s.
He is a remarkable guy; some excerpts from his biography: “Rich began building his own analog synthesizers in 1976, when he was 13 years old, …”, “Rich has performed in caves, cathedrals, planetaria, art galleries and concert halls throughout Europe and North America. His all-night Sleep Concerts, first performed in 1982, became legendary in the San Francisco area. In 1996 he revived his all-night concert format, playing Sleep Concerts for live and radio audiences across the U.S. during a three month tour. In 2001 Rich released the 7 hour DVD Somnium, a studio distillation of the Sleep Concert experience, possibly the longest continuous piece of music ever released …”
If you’d like to hear some of his music, check out his MySpace site.
This is from the album “Aeonian Glow”. It’s not an official video, but it is nice together with the music of Vir Unis. If you like this music, you might want to check out Steve Roach and Robert Rich.
Another goodie from Vir Unis: “Primary Space” which is a collection of early works.
More and more I am amazed by the releases by artists under the Kranky label.
To name a few: Stars of the Lid, Brian McBride, Loscil, Christopher Bissonnette and Pan•American.
The latest Kranky artist I discovered is Chris Herbert.
With a rather beat-down setup (an old PC, a minidisc recorder, and a half-broken delay pedal), Chris Herbert has created something more textural and deep than a lot of other ambient artists working with all the latest software.
You can here resemblences with Loscil and Christopher Bissonette, but he definitely has his own style. Check out his site on MySpace to here some tracks.
From the excellent album “The Dead Texan” by “The Dead Texan”. “The Dead Texan” is Adam Wiltzie’s (from Stars of the Lid) solo album. It comes with a DVD containing videos made by Christina Vantzos.
The Dead Texan is the audio/visual duo of musician Adam Wiltzie and Greek video artist Christina Vantzou. Wiltzie is better known as one-half of the ambient project Stars of the Lid, opposite Brian McBride. Vantzou has done work for MTV Netherlands, and a promotional video for the band Interpol. Her work was also featured in the June 2006 edition of Tokion magazine.
As of yet, there has been only one Dead Texan release, a self-titled CD/DVD package. The music is very similar to that of Stars of the Lid: long, droning, ambient soundscapes with Stars-esque instrumentation. The songs on The Dead Texan, however, are generally shorter, and lyrics can be heard at times. Indeed, the songs were initially intended to be released as another Stars of the Lid album, but it was ultimately deemed, as Wiltzie put it, “too aggressive.”
As posted earlier, “Bike”, christ.’s most recent EP was released end october. Benbecula Records gives you the opportunity to can listen to the first track “Round the Rigg” on their website.
For another song from “Bike” and some more new tracks, check out the MySpace page of christ.
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