Pure elevating ambience, textures and just the right touch of pulse in this album. Thank you, guys, for once again bringing forth music to make the world a tad better place to live <3.

Words

Title : Expanses
Artist : The Green Kingdom
Label : Dronarivm
Release Date : January 27th
Catalogue number : DR-18
Format : CD + DL, ltd. 200
Release page: dronarivm.com/2014/01/13/the-gre…-kingdom-expanses/

This album is, for all intents and purposes, is an homage to classic ambient and ambient techno albums of the past (of course filtered through the distinctive sound world of The Green Kingdom). This is not to say that the aim was to recreate or mimic the sound of these recordings, but rather the feeling they create through the use of sustained tones, repetition, melody and texture.

As indicated by the title, these pieces are meant to evoke vast and expansive environments, either real or imagined. These landscapes can often provide a sense of calm and wonder at our relative insignificance in comparison to the majestic grandeur of the larger universe all around us. Although the cover is one example of such a landscape, the tracks remain untitled in hope that the listener might attach their own associations.

Mike Cottone is a graphic designer and musician based in Detroit Michigan. Under The Green Kingdom moniker, he produces minimal ambient music using a variety of digitally manipulated sounds sourced from a variety of acoustic and electronic instruments.

thegreenkingdom.wordpress.com

Digital version of album contains a 2 bonus tracks by Tobias Hellkvist and Segue.

Credits:

Mastering by Tobias Hellkvist 
tobiashellkvist.com
Photos by Russell Burden 
starbathing.com
Curated by Bartosz Dziadosz
Product Manager and Design by Dmitry Taldykin


Buy CD

The Green Kingdom - Expanses (Album Preview)

Porya in the mix with a fine selection of tracks he listens to lately. 

Artistname: Porya Hatami

poryahatami.bandcamp.com
soundcloud.com/poryahatami
facebook.com/porya.hatami
twitter.com/poryahatami 

Porya Hatami (b.1981) is an experimental sound artist based in Sanandaj, Iran. Working in the field of ambient/minimal, his compositions explore the balance between electronics and environmental sounds, utilizing processed acoustic and electronic sources and field recordings.

TRACKLIST:
1 - Richard Ginns - (Fall) -- Fall,Rise (twice removed)

2 - Stephan Mathieu - Small Meloday (FUr Richard) - VA-Small Melodies (Spekk) 7:00

3 - Maps and Diagrams : gamboge - Alluvium (Handstiched) 9:25

4- Tomoyoshi Date - Emergence Of The Forest - Otoha (Own) 14:00

5 - Porya Hatami - Fen - Shallow (Tench) 22:22

6 - The Boats - i'm talking facts, not shit - Tomorrow Time (moteer) 42:24

7 - Markus Guentner - Wanderung - 1981 (Kompakt) 45:35

8 - Gas - untitled #1 - Pop (Mille Plateaux) 52:50

SHM PODCAST #11: Selection by Porya Hatami

Homeworld 2 OST - Mysterious

L'Enfant De La Forêt - Altar

Skeletrix Background Music (20)

Weeping Maples

City of Lights

Taken from his debut album 'Gravity' re-issued by Erased Tapes on June 10.

Order the LP/CD/DL here: www.erasedtapes.com/store/index/ERATP084
iTunes: http://snip.ftpromo.net/gravity
Spotify: http://snip.ftpromo.net/onlyinthedark
Bandcamp: http://snip.ftpromo.net/gravitybc
or any other good record store worldwide

In celebration of their latest signing, Erased Tapes are set to re-issue Ben Lukas Boysen’s compelling debut album ‘Gravity’, alongside new album ‘Spells’ on 10th June 2016.

‘Gravity’ was the first album Ben recorded under his own name, merging programmed piano pieces with live instruments, combining the controllable technical world and the often unpredictable aspects of live improvisation.

From ‘Only In The Dark’ to the two movements of ‘Nocturne’, it’s a serious, solemn listen. And yet, with pieces like ‘To The Hills’ and ‘Eos’, ‘Gravity’ is an exploration of heights, cliffs and vertigoes. With piano lines and choir-like drones, this record suits its title in all its meanings, as the magnetic force takes us deeper towards the core. Marking a new beginning, this debut reveals a touching, and more melodic side to Ben’s body of work, which he previously only hinted at as HECQ.

Friend and fellow Erased Tapes artist Nils Frahm mixed and mastered the album. Ben is not a master pianist like his dear friend, but his sound collages are so meticulously designed that after hearing the result an impressed Nils declared: “from now on, if anyone asks – this is a real piano”.

His intricate, humanised programming – enhanced by drummer Achim
Färber, additional synthesisers played by Nils, and a considerate selection of echoes, delays and compressors – has been used to create a hybrid sound that intends to deceive, question and challenge existing listening habits. Utilising the contrast between reduction and decoration, ‘Gravity’ as well as its successor ‘Spells’ can be seen as a quest to find out how much or how little composition is required to constitute a song. Why the ear can and should be deceived about the authenticity of instruments. What significance these instruments have within this process, and why the personal perception of balance and sound exclude ultimate truths. Linking the two albums are the four movements of ‘Nocturne’, an ever-developing conversation that on occasion flirts with the grandeur of compressed rock drums.

As HECQ Ben has released nine albums since 2003, exploring everything from ambient to breakcore. He has simultaneously established himself as a trusted composer and sound designer, working for a wide array of clients including Amnesty International and Marvel Comics; composing for feature films, games, art installations and convention opening titles.

After embracing this demanding line of work, in 2010 Ben felt the need to explore his roots and early education, which inspired these albums under his own name. Born in 1981 as the third child of opera singer Deirdre Boysen and actor Claus Boysen, his classical music training on piano and guitar began when he was seven years old; the works of Bruckner, Wagner and Bach laid an important foundation. Rediscovering this music shared with his parents – united with the sounds of Autechre, Cristian Vogel and
Jiri.Ceiver to Pink Floyd and Godspeed You! Black Emperor – brought back an understanding of why he wanted to write music in the first place.

“Gravity strips away the cloaked mysteries of electronic music production to expose the tender side of this musician’s mind." — Headphone Commute

TRACKLIST:

01. Only In The Dark
02. Nocturne 1
03. To The Hills
04. You'll Miss Us One Day
05. Gravity
06. Eos
07. Nocturne 2
08. The Behenian Gospel

Gravity

Only In The Dark

Buy LP/CD/DL

Ben Lukas Boysen - Only In The Dark

Out on December 21

release page: dronarivm.com/2016/12/07/chihei-…-above-the-desert/

"Our intention is to affirm this life, not to bring order out of chaos, nor to suggest improvements in creation, but simply to wake up to the very life we’re living, which is so excellent once one gets one’s mind and desires out of its way and lets it act of its own accord".

- John Cage

I recorded this album in the basement studio. 
I recorded the sound output from the guitar amp and the speaker. 
The sound seemed to be blowing. 
In this album I worked underground in the bottom, so I imagined by creating an image of the sky. 
So this album is the theme of desert and sky.

- Chihei Hatakeyama

Chihei Hatakeyama's pure white zen drone is one of those good ways to wake up, probably.

BUY CD

Chihei Hatakeyama - Twilight Glow (from 'Above The Desert' CD)

Kill Bound

"Once there was an explosion, a bang that sent a remix spinning on the internet"

Death Stranding - OST Remix By MAT

from EP 'The Elia Passages', out now on Rural Sounds (RS004).
https://ruralsounds.bandcamp.com/album/the-elia-passages

"Narrated by strings of plucked piano phrases that come and go like afterthoughts, 'The Elia Passages' is either the retelling of a culture that has yet to exist, or the remembrances of one that may never have existed.
The gently wavering carpets of synth conjure up images of houses overrun by greenery, faded fabric, smoke billowing into the night. The muffled sound of bonfires, quiet storms, and running water lend a sense of physical presence to the music, as one might vaguely remember the sound of a place a specific memory  is tied to - but the tales told in the Elia Passages, like most myths, exist outside of time: beyond the sonic environment they present, the space they occupy is that of the imagination."

The Elia Passages

Dilantium - from "The Elia Passages" out on Rural Sounds(RS004)

Disco Elysium - OST - Miss Oranje Disco Dancer - Soundtrack #11

Track 5 from the Hidden Landscapes compilation, which can be purchased via the following link:

http://shop.hibernate-recs.co.uk/product/hidden-landscapes

Music written and produced by Michael Cottone (The Green Kingdom)

The Green Kingdom - Velvet Landscape

Dutch independent label focused on contemporary ambient / modern classical music.

The Green Kingdom - Expanses (Album Preview)

Dronarivm

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