Ambient 18

Second single from the new Ulrich Schnauss & Jonas munk album, "Eight Fragments Of An Illusion" - out on April 23rd!

Order from: azurevistarecords.bandcamp.com

Ulrich Schnauss & Jonas Munk: "Faint Lights In The Distance"

From the Manual album "Confluence", released in October 2008. Buy the CD here: http://manual.bandcamp.com/album/confluence

Download available from www.darla.com, iTunes, Amazon and many more Places.

Manual - "Oracle Night"

From the Manual album "Confluence", released in October 2008. Buy CD or download directly from Darla Records: 
http://darla.com/index.php?fuseaction=item_cat.ecom_superitem_detail&item_cat_id=52



Manual - "Sanctuary"

Agape out NOW! Available on green/white vinyl and digital download from: azurevistarecords.bandcamp.com

Info: 

"On Agape, pioneers of slow-evolving minimal drone, zakè (a.k.a. Zach Frizzel) and City of Dawn (a.k.a. Damien Duque) transform unadorned inputs into beautiful complexity. The drone duo, based in Texas and Indiana respectively, is known for their carefully crafted textures, avoiding sudden shifts or abrasive sororities. Their focus offer up the steady ebb and flow of sound, cultivating a profound sense of meditative stasis and explorations of high-fidelity sound. 

These six extended pieces are organic and minimalist in nature, but has an ethereal, mirage-like quality to them. Somber, yet incredibly uplifting. Agape is the kind of ambient record that refuses to be reduced to mere background music – the harmonic foundation and the details of the soundscapes are too compelling for that. Frizzell and Duque manage to expand rather simple sonic ingredients into weightless ambient perfection."

zakè & City of Dawn - "Wanderlust"

Title track from the new album out on Azure Vista Records on August 11th! CD and limited edition vinyl shipping now from: azurevistarecords.bandcamp.com

Info:

American ambient masters zakè (a.k.a. Zach Frizzell) and City of Dawn (a.k.a. Damien Duque) return with a mesmerizing follow up to last year's "Agape". The music the two create together reflects the expansive landscapes of their native Texas and Indiana. Slowly unfolding melodies that seem to rise like the sun from a Texas horizon, and drones that resonate like leaves in an endless Indiana woodland. It's a sound that's both beautiful and slightly haunting – a sound that encompasses the listener and demands attention. This is music to get lost in.

Zach and Damien can both be considered veterans of ambient drone by now, and the five composition on Ash present a rarefied ”complex simplicity”. With few means they manage to create sonic and compositional depth, on par with classics of the genre from the likes of William Basinski, Brian Eno and Stars of the Lid.

The CD version of ”Ash” includes the previous album ”Agape”, which hasn't been previously released on CD.

zakè & City of Dawn: "Ash"

From the forthcoming 2CD compilation of remixes, rarities and unreleased tracks entitled "Memory and Matter", coming out on October 7 on Darla Records.

www.darla.com


"Memory and Matter comprises selected remixes and rarities from the past seven years, nine of them previously unreleased and many of them only issued only on hard to find EPs or as Japanese release bonus tracks. Far from being merely a collection of every single oddity, these tracks were carefully selected into a consistent whole that maintains the same high standard of proper Manual albums. This two-disc compilation is also a labor of love.

Like it's predecessor, Lost Days, Open Skies and Streaming Tides, released in 2007, disc one demonstrates Jonas Munk aka Manual's expertise in creating elegantly layered, shoegazey pop, while disc two focuses on minimalist, slow-moving pieces created mostly from processed guitars. The latter adds an excellent postscript to Confluence - an album that has gained near-classic status in ambient/drone circles since it's release in 2008.

Munk's way of remixing other artists usually involves a complete reconstruction of the original piece, rearranging heavily and adding loads of fresh layers of sound to it, which is obvious when listening to his haunting and atmospheric reworkings of Blue Foundation's ballad ”Dressed in Black” or Mice Parade singer Caroline's ”Sleep”, or the Robin Guthrie produced Annie Barker track ”Cruel”. For Manual fans it's a treat to hear Munk's lush signature sound paired up with (often female) vocals. Disc 1 closes with the 17 minute Manual original ”Camellia”, the most new age-indebted piece in the Manual oeuvre, originally created for a digital-only compilation on Attack9. The track's placid sense of drift and delicately weaved harmonies makes it a standout in Munk's entire body of work.

 Disc 2 is darker, more ambiguous in tone, with ”Three Parts” as the center piece – an enigmatic composition originally created for Ghostly International's ambient/drone compilation SMM: Context in 2011. Other notable selections includes  ”Fields”, a meditative collaboration with Jason Kolb from Auburn Lull, and ”Memento”, a somber piece that exhibits Munk's flair for intensive guitar manipulation."


Manual: "Miraparque"

Buy/Stream: https://reflections.ffm.to/duskymmr.pbt 
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Release date: 11 December 2023

Welcoming the fourth instalment of our new ‘Reflections Revisited’ single series, British production duo Dusky present an ethereal, piano-led rework of their 2013 release ‘Mr Man’, originally heard as the standout track on James Grant & Jody Wisternoff’s Anjunadeep 05. 

Asserting themselves as leaders of the UK underground, Dusky have amassed a variety of titles throughout their career, including global headliners, where they have graced the likes of Berlin’s Parorama Bar to London’s famous nightclub Fabric. Since their 2012 breakthrough track ‘Flo Jam’ which saw them signed to Dogmatik, the duo continued to push their sound forward, landing a string of releases on iconic labels such as Anjunadeep and Polydor. Their biggest track ‘Careless’ went down as a cult classic, cementing their place in the scene’s hall of fame. 

Within these formative years, Dusky built up a strong rapport within the Anjunadeep eco-system, releasing their debut album ‘Stick By This, plus a series of EPs and multiple features on Anjunadeep’s annual series, including their 2013 production ‘Mr Man’ on Anjunadeep 05. 

With over 3 million streams on the original, the classically trained duo delve into their more traditional roots, which we have seen glimpses of over the years in the form of stripped back renditions such as ‘Lost In You (Pianopella)’, to present a stunning, moving piano-led rework.

"We have fond memories of making the original version of Mr Man and playing it out in our DJ sets over the years. The track came about from an unlikely pairing between a deep house backing and a piano line inspired by Debussy’s Clair De Lune. 

We’ve been listening to a lot of ambient music recently, and writing a lot too, so with encouragement from the Reflections label team we decided to re-work Mr Man into something beatless. The piano riff came first in the original writing process, so we felt it made sense to take it and completely re-imagine a whole new piano-led piece of music around it."

-Dusky

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Buy/Stream

Dusky - Mr Man (Dusky Revisit)

From the forthcoming 2CD compilation of remixes, rarities and unreleased tracks entitled "Memory and Matter", coming out on October 7 on Darla Records. The album can now be preordered here: www.manual.bandcamp.com

Or directly from Darla: 
darla.com/index.php?fuseaction…il&item_cat_id=43244


Blue Foundation: "Dressed in Black" (Manual Remix)

First track from the new record coming out March 2nd, 2015. It's a vinyl-only release (limited to 500 copies) consisting of three long drone-pieces created from analog synths, piano, organs and fuzzzzzz. Get the LP here: http://www.elparaisorecords.com/releases/jonas-munk-absorb-fabric-cascade-lp

Or the bundle with the Pan reissue here: http://www.elparaisorecords.com/product/jonas-munk-lp-bundle-preorder

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Info:

Second solo LP from Causa Sui guitar player/producer Jonas Munk. These three long pieces aren't defined by Munks signature guitar-approach, but is rather a musical vision of vintage synthesizers, organs, piano and analog electronics elegantly weaved together to create extensive formations of pure sound. The harmonic simplicity and unrestricted dedication to sonic balance and texture is something of a first in Munk's body of work. This is pattern music, characterized by slow builds and subtle, but refined, transformations, where gradual tectonic shifts and tiny harmonic gestures generate vivid emotional responses. Instead of imposing any direct intention or meaning, it's an album that can create a mental environment for the listener to expand and open up into.

Music like this is perceived as incredibly simple and free flowing, but, as is the case with the biological world, reveals textural minutiae and interweaved intricacy once studied close-up. Every tiny detail serves the bigger picture. It's music that's practically vibrating with possibility.

File next to: Terry Riley, Keith Fullerton Whitman, Brian Eno, Popol Vuh.


Jonas Munk: "Absorb"

Taken from the album 'Vertical Land' out now.

DL : https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/vertical-land/id989259810

CD/LP :http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dpopular&field-keywords=vertical+land&rh=n%3A229816%2Ck%3Avertical+land


Vertical Land

David John Sheppard - Seconds, Minutes, Hours

Ulrich Schnauss & Jonas Munk: "Passage" out now on CD/LP (via Azure Vista Records) and digital (via Pedigree Cuts)!

Order here: www.azurevistarecords.bandcamp.com

Info:

Following the release of ‘No Further Ahead Than Today’ last November Ulrich Schnauss (now a member of Tangerine Dream) wastes little time in bringing us the long awaited sequel to his 2011 eponymous collaboration with Jonas Munk.

There's a prismatic, multi-dimensional quality to these 11 tracks, most likely stemming from the fact that these two producers have each worked with a wide range of styles and musicians throughout their 15+ year careers: Ulrich cut his teeth as a drum and bass producer in Berlin, before releasing a string of highly influential neo-shoegaze records on labels such as Domino and City Centre Offices. Since moving to London in 2006 he's been a member of the bands Engineers and Longview, remixed many artists (from Depeche Mode and Pet Shop Boys to Mojave 3) and since 2013, been a member of legendary band Tangerine Dream.

While Jonas initially became known to the electronica community via his Manual albums on Morr Music and Darla Records, he also has a career as a noted producer on the European psych scene, as well as working on film soundtracks and experimental minimalism.

Fans of the first album’s euphoric and blissful moments will find much to love here, but also themes that gradually unfurl into crisp, symphonic soundscapes. The album is perfectly titled - it certainly has the feel of a journey but not in a literal sense. It feels like an ‘emotional passage’ or one that plays out via a series of dreams.

Opener ‘Amaris’ has many of the Schnauss hallmarks that we’ve come to enjoy from his many shoegaze collaborations and Munk is the perfect foil for this side to his oeuvre - the track chimes and sways beautifully before one of his trademark melodies hits and leaves you breathless. Munk introduces a more progressive aspect to the release than previously heard by the pair on 'genau wie damals', which recalls several 70’s guitar based giants, though in 2016 this is somehow a natural diversion for a record bearing Ulrich’s name.
Mst’ is certainly one for those yearning for the open armed rush of the first album will surely embrace - 80’s guitars and electro drums set the scene for some of the most gorgeous sequencing and melodic synth work on the album. In truth though, there’s no shortage of highlights. The retro futurism of ‘Spellbreaker’ is awesomely addictive and modest standout ‘Caffeine blues’ combines tasteful guitar strokes with a standard of Berlin school sequencing that surely only a member of one of the scene’s key exponents could summon.

Ulrich Schnauss & Jonas Munk: "Ao Hinode"

From the new Billow Observatory album "II: Plains/Patterns" out now! 

Get it from www.azurevistarecords.bandcamp.com

Billow Observatory: "Vex"

taken from upcoming DR-49 : Sven Laux - Paper Streets
out on November 3rd, 2017
Pre-order : dronarivm.bandcamp.com

Sven Laux’s “Paper Streets” is a deeply intimate and vulnerable affair. Released on the Russian label Dronarivm, Sven paints minimal landscapes with watercolors in shades of violin, cello & piano; stripped bare & soaked in memory. 

The artist’s works bares a sense of detachment & reflection that usually occurs with the passing of time. Forlorn irony shows itself as it reminds you what feels like to fall in love for the first time, while conjuring ghosts from the last time you shared a gaze. 

A departure from the Sven’s earlier work, “Paper Streets” is an organic, neo-classical journey heard through a cinematic lens. Orchestral notes surge like tides and resonate like heartache. Nostalgia echoes and dissolves with a disarming vulnerability. 

Mastered byTobias Lorsbach

Pre-order CD

TRACK PREMIERE : SVEN LAUX - A Glimpse Of Memory

First track off the new Billow Observatory album, "III: Chroma/Contour", on CD/LP/digital on February 8th! Preorder from: https://azurevistarecords.bandcamp.com/merch

Info:

"III: Chroma/Contour is the third album from Billow Observatory, the collaborative project of Danish producer Jonas Munk (Manual, Ulrich Schnauss collaborator and more) and Michigan native Jason Kolb (Auburn Lull). The album's nine tracks eschew the pulse and rhythm that defined the duo's previous effort (II: Plains/Patterns) in favor of sparse melodic possibilities and a more abstract palette of sounds. Chroma/Contour suggests looking both 20 years forward and twenty years back, while forgetting the present altogether. 

Much of the album plays out as a study in minimalism: the texture and colour of each sound is being explored in miniscule detail, with enough space in the soundfield to allow each sonic constituent to breathe fully. There's a conceptual dimension to several tracks on the album, with guitars, analog synths and voices being mangled by samplers, computer software and a broken dictaphone into pure abstraction. But simultaneously there's a melodic undercurrent, revealing a deeply emotional aspect of the music. Tracks such as Color In The Six, Iris and Soft Logic convey a melancholic sense of awe, a profoundly calming glimpse of the sublime."

Billow Observatory: "Iris"

Billow Observatory - III: Chroma/Contour, out NOW!

azurevistarecords.bandcamp.com

Billow Observatory: "Color In The Six"

This year is already shaping up to be full of amazing music, as many of my favourite labels seem to be saving up all of their best for their “end of the year” celebration. And why shouldn’t we celebrate? We’re entering a whole brand new decade! And now, I am extremely excited to announce [drum roll, please!] a brand new album by the one and only Bersarin Quartett!!! I am most thrilled about this new release from Thomas Bücker mostly because his first three numerically titled albums are still on my heavy rotation, and because, having previewed “Methoden Und Maschinen” before it drops for you on November 29th, I can say with conviction that you’ll simply love it! I don’t even need to use big splendid words [actually, I have much to say about the beautiful album itself, but you’ll have to await my full coverage], so hear for yourself in this exclusive premiere!

"The Bersarin Quartett continues to stand for the outing of a complex musical subconscious. […] Minimalism and bombast go together. Constantly developing and entangling contrasts, paradoxes and contradictions are the motor. Constantly caught between two sides."

Yes, I’m aware, that this single short piece is a teaser for a more rounded gorgeous collection of tracks which you’ll have to await (why not pre-order?) for a couple of more weeks. The album is also available on a splendid turquoise coloured vinyl, as well as on a 12″ and of course, digital and CD, directly from Denovali store. I also recommend that you revisit Bersarin Quartett’s past three albums: Bersarin Quartett (2008), II (2012), and III (2015), as well as read In the studio with Bersarin Quartett. All covered on headphonecommute.com That is all for now, I’ll be back with more on Methoden und Maschinen later!!!

Methoden und Maschinen

TRACK PREMIERE : Bersarin Quartett - Wie von selbst

Jonas Munk: "Minimum Resistance" will be out on Azure Vista Records February 21st! Preorder here: https://jonasmunk.bandcamp.com/album/minimum-resistance

"Minimum Resistance is Jonas Munk's most abstract and minimalist album to date. Ten ambient pieces based on guitars – often processed into soft, slow billows of sound. There's a rare aesthetic clarity in these pieces, allowing each sonic component to breathe and resonate. Here Munk works with a restrained sonic palette and it's an album which demands patience from the listener. Yet, in its bold simplicity, it carries enough emotional weight to be deeply rewarding."

Jonas Munk: "Sabi"

Opening track from the self-titled collaboration album released on Pedigree Cuts in 2011.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/ulrich-schnauss-jonas-munk/id445412902

Ulrich Schnauss & Jonas Munk - "Weightless memories"

Dawn Chorus and the Infallible Sea: "Liberamente" out on Azure Vista Records on October 16! Available on CD/LP/download. Preorder from azurevistarecords.bandcamp.com

Info:

"Second album from American trio Dawn Chorus and the Infallible Sea, consisting of zakè, Marc Ertel and Damien Duque. Together they're creating soft-textured and slowly unfolding sonic landscapes, somewhere between guitar-oriented drone music and modern classical. Liberamente is the kind of album that demands attention and patience from the listener, yet it's ultimately a very rewarding one. 

Stylistically Dawn Chorus and the Infallible Sea sums up several decades of American soundscape and drone music, taking threads from Windy & Carl, Auburn Lull, and Stars of the Lid then weaves them into a contemporary, and sonically adventurous whole. On the surface it suggests simplicity, but dig deeper and the seven pieces on Liberamente reveals a rare compositional dexterity. This is minimalism at its finest."

Dawn Chorus and the Infallible Sea: "Liberamente"

New Ulrich Schnauss & Jonas Munk single out now. Available on Bandcamp, official video on Youtube. Get it here: azurevistarecords.bandcamp.com

"First new music from Ulrich Schnauss & Jonas Munk in four years. "Asteroid 2467" is the first single off the forthcoming collaborative full length (their third), coming out in spring 2021. "Asteroid 2467 (single version)" is an edited version of an album track, whereas "Afterglow" is exclusive to this release.

Ambient and introspective in nature, but with a kinetic, polyrhythmic energy pushing it forward. There's a floating quality to Ulrich's synthesizer washes and Munk's guitar patterns, yet the two tracks are anchored by pulse and compositional direction. The duo brings their individual strengths to the table, yet the music transcends any of their previous work conceptually. There are echoes of blissed-out new age music and kosmische from the 1970s and 1980s, as well as traces of shoegaze-era abstraction and leftfield electronica. But ultimately there's no off-the-rack category that fits it. It exists in its own rarefied space."

Ambient 18

DJS