Ambient

my recent mix for Headphone Commute.

for a download and a tracklist go here : 

http://reviews.headphonecommute.com/2014/05/20/roel-funcken-healing-emplinx/

art by Faction 23
www.faction23.com


Roel Funcken_Healing Emplinx Mix

https://ekena.bandcamp.com/track/interior-calm-reprise

Interior Calm (reprise)

A few travels Sweden to France and vice-versa; constant bandwidth; and duo H.U.V.A. Network composed an album of immersive tunes infused with oneiric trip-hop, ambient geometries and morning trance.

[ Ephemeris ] is a deep sonic ground swell, an album of contrasts, 10 tracks structured upon subterranean bass lines, transversal and luminous pads, crisp, crunchy beats. A mesmerizing ensemble of fresh atmospheres and intense, forward driving melodies.

The inspiration for the album title comes from the artists Vincent Villuis and Magnus Birgersson's collaboration process, determined by the patterns of encounter in time and space, the alignment of creative moods and coordination of life's innate forces.


[ Ephemeris ]

Orientations part 2 (Ephemeride 15.43°)

Orientations Part 2 (Ephemeride 15.43°)

حاضر

from 'Foray' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den244
available on all formats at [http://denovali.com/subheim]

Berlin-based musician Subheim composes deep electronic music with acoustic elements. His work is a collage of field recordings, slow evolving drum beats, hypnotic melodies and echoing voices. Drawing from a wide spectrum of genres and influences, from ambient, drone and post-rock to downtempo, lofi, trip hop and even techno, his sonic journeys are there for cold nights, for long train rides, for one to sink into during or after the storm, for the sleepless and the loners.

Subheim's third album, Foray, is not for the faint-hearted.  An attentively crafted LP with emphasis upon clarity and enveloping warmth, Foray is driven by a progressive subtlety, yet supported by an underbelly of sometimes forlorn, and at other times, disturbing emotion. Moving away from the orchestral ensembles and soundtrack explorations of his second album, Subheim pursues a more minimal approach, taking a much darker turn to deep ambient textures blended with the added realism of field recordings.

Foray opens with Bitter, a concoction of wounded cello and illusory vocal recordings: and here we begin an introspective journey. From the sparse beauty of Alone's isolated piano to the aggressive ambience of techno-driven Arktos, we witness Subheim exploring new and diverse musical territories. Red Ridge, with its trip-hop feel, steers the listener through unsuspecting harmonic twists and saturated synth pads reminiscent of twentieth century dystopian film. Much of the material, sourced from heavy experimentation with instrumental, percussive and vocal sampling, remains recognisably Subheim in its core elements including his signature sustains, Middle-Eastern sounds and heavy reverberation. 

Foray is an urban album for winter listening, for loners and for night walks; for immersing oneself in melancholic thought and travelling through uninhabited barren landscapes. There is an underlying and disconcertingly familiar warmth crawling beneath its skin, pulling you forward into its musical arms, yet taking you to a place you'd rather not be.

Subheim has created an emotionally charged selection of works: driven, distant and constantly thought-provoking.

Foray

Subheim - Red Ridge

from 'III' [CD|2xLP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den246
available on all formats at [http://denovali.com/bersarinquartett]

Melancholia. Longing. It is difficult to speak about these moods or states of the mind without invoking stereotypes. In ancient medicine, melancholia was considered to be one of the four temperaments, matching the four humours. In fact, melancholia, meaning "black bile" in Ancient Greek, was thought to be caused by an excess of this very body substance. By contrast, in more modern interpretations, literates and Freudians relate many variations of longing to the one primordial longing, the desire to return to one's mother's womb. In this context, the womb is considered to be the place of absolute comfort and cosiness, of total bliss. Thus it should not be surprising that to many of us melancholia is a mood which we like to invoke and to maintain, we like to envelop ourselves in it like in a warm blanket. Our brain and our sensory systems appear to be made for perceiving and emotionally responding to music in a very immediate fashion. Consequently music is the obvious drug for all of us melancholia-addicts. However, there is a thin line between melancholia and sadness, and music which is meant to be melancholic too often crosses this line by far. Only very few artists succeed in avoiding this crossing, and in creating music which is melancholia in its most pure form. It is safe to say that BERSARIN QUARTETT - the electronic music project of Thomas Bücker - is one of them.

After his successfull selftitled debut in 2008 and the sophomore "II" in 2012 - album of the month in many magazines and in numerous "Best of the year" lists - Bücker returns with his third BERSARIN QUARTETT album "III", due for release 6.11.2015 on Denovali Records. Much like his two predecessors, III is a pure paradox. It is the creation of a perfectionist, an adamant control freak. Every element, be it a note, an ambience layer, a string arrangement, a field recording, a baseline, a vocal (Clara Hill on Track 11) or a beat, is meticulously modified and then assigned its place in Bücker's vast but still minimalistic arrangements. Thus, superficially Bücker's pieces seem to radiate a certain mechanical bleakness. However, there is a unique reduced warmth and liveliness emerging from these stainless compositions and transcending them. This transcendence is precisely the point where Bücker ironically looses control over his creations. In contrast to the first two BERSARIN QUARTETT albums, III offers a few darker shades and succeeds even further in narrowing down the arrangements to the absolute essentials without loosing the characteristic grandeur of Bücker's sound. Whereas BERSARIN QUARTETT's debut was merely a description of melancholia in its most pure form, III maybe even goes as far a defining what melancholia really is. It is the only emotion in the vast spectrum of human states of mind which one can bear forever. 

Bersarin Quartett - Sanft verblassen die Geschichten

Inspired by the great Hopi vibes that visited me recently. Thank you for listening and sharing!
Floyd Red Crow Westerman (1936-2007)
Produced, Mixed, and Mastered by : Stratusphere

Stratusphere - Grandfather

this is the amazing batumi LFO from xaoc devices controlling 4 sine waves on a verbos harmonic oscillator. in addition to the LFOs patched into the verbos sine VCAs there is one controlling the center parameter and three cross-patched signals of the Batumi modulating itself.

it's recorded through a pitch shifting program on an eventide h7600 for further harmonic niceness.



october 20, 2015 (batumi meets the harmonic oscillator)

from 'Saravá Exu Remixes' [LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den236
available on all formats at [http://denovali.com/rd]

In January 2015 we brought you ‘Sarava Exu’ - Ricardo Donoso’s most demanding album filled with arcane musings and rich cinematic majesty highly lauded by international press for its high degree of sophistication. Now, a year later we present ‘Sarava Exu Remixes’ – a collection of reinterpretations’ by some of the most talented musicians working in contemporary electronic music today.
Industrial techno luminaries Orphx take the reins on leading single “Vesperum” and turn its bombastic ‘Zimmeresque’ landscape into a pummeling piece of broken techno in a way only Christina & Rich know how, despite the current swarm of dilettante’s trying to emulate their sound.
John Flynn’s Spaces, responsible for production duties on Björk’s Vulnicura album closer ‘Quicksand’ mangles and lacerates album central point ‘Gallicinium’ to near indistinguishable form with huge nods to early era Warp. Archie Pelago breaks down ‘Matutinum’s dark core and provide a beautiful arrangement for strings & horns including some dramatic accompaniment for the tracks main 11/8 ostinato. Dark ambient pioneer, and label mate, Thomas Köner ends the proceedings with a mind-blowing interpretation of ‘Diluculum’; ‘Sarava Exu’s complex and multi-dimensional closing number into a sophisticated piece of sub glacial tones & atmosphere, focusing instead on the inner side and calm characteristics of a fairly violent tune, recalling his early work for Barooni in the early nineties. A new window into the universe of ‘Sarava Exu’ by some of the most compelling electronic musicians working today.


Sarava_ Exu Remixes

Ricardo Donso - Vesperum (Orphx Remix)

from 'Tiento de la Luz' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den249
available in February on all format at [http://denovali.com/thomaskoner]

Tiento de la Luz

Thomas Köner - Tiento De La Luz 5

For your enjoyment, happyness and mental health.
@Brombaer

Fljóta & Brombaer - Unknown Passage

A beautiful track from Alex Kozobolis dedicated to the memory of Mary Skinner. Free to download.

"I found out recently that someone very dear to me had died. 
Her name was Mary, we first met when I was a youth worker in south London nearly ten years ago. The offices of the charity I worked for were in the back of a church, Mary would sit at the reception desk at the front of the building and improve the world of anyone who entered it. Although previously unreleased - I wrote this piece of music about her in 2011, borrowing the title from a book she'd written much earlier in her life (about her travels to Ecuador and the community she'd become part of there)."

http://www.alexkozobolis.com/



If You Came Here To Live (in memory of Mary Skinner) by Alex Kozobolis

Surreal East - Inside of me

入梅 (Nyūbai) literally means Entering the Rainy Season (tsuyu(梅雨)) in Japanese; the season lasts in Japan from early June to mid July.
_______
Photo: "June Bokeh" by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonnystella/">Jonathan Spence</a>

Halo - Scenes from the four seasons - 2.Nyūbai

HC on the piano covering Clark's (aka Chris Clark) "Black Stone" from his latest album "Iradelphic" out on Warp Records. 
Cover photo from the actual recording session...
See video of the original here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J81reO5htsM

Clark - Black Stone (HC Cover)

Only a week before the official release of 'No Land Called Home', a free, exclusive mix for the exceptional US-based online magazine Headphone Commute is now available at: http://reviews.headphonecommute.com/2010/11/01/subheim-headphone-commute-mix/

01 Subheim – Intro
02 Subheim – Take Me Back [EO3, Tympanik Audio 2008]
03 Subheim – Dunes – [No Land Called Home, Ad Noiseam 2010]
04 Subheim – Untitled – [Unreleased]
05 The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble – Lead Squid [Here Be Dragons, Ad Noiseam]
06 Bersarin Quartett – Mehr Als Alles Andere [Bersarin Quartett, Lidar 2010]
07 Subheim – Between Fear and Love [No Land Called Home, Ad Noiseam 2010]
08 Max Richter – Infra 7 [Infra, Fat Cat 2010]
09 Ben Lukas Boysen – Deadweight [Unreleased]
10 Subheim – Streets [No Land Called Home, Ad Noiseam 2010]
11 Subheim – Dusk [No Land Called Home, Ad Noiseam 2010]
12 Subheim – December [No Land Called Home, Ad Noiseam 2010]
13 Subheim – Hush [Approach, Tympanik Audio 2008]
14 Eraldo Bernocchi & Blackfilm – Mistakes Pt.2 [Along The Corridors, Vital 2009]
15 SE – Mimikry (Subheim remix) [L36, Tympanik Audio 2010]
16 Access to Arasaka – Sys.argv[1_] [void(), Tympanik Audio 2010]
17 Subheim – The Cold-Hearted Sea [No Land Called Home, Ad Noiseam 2010]
18 Mobthrow – Desert City Rising – [Unreleased, Ad Noiseam 2010]

Subheim mix for Headphone Commute

Originally aired 9th November 2008 on Fluid Radio.
Only Solar Fields music in this mix.

Solar Fields - Jupiter Sessions Part 1 (Originally aired 9th November 2008)

Pre-order via Bandcamp: http://tympanikaudio.bandcamp.com/album/accretion . Taken from the Tympanik Audio 5-Year Anniversary Compilation 'Accretion' - released December 4th, 2012 - http://www.tympanikaudio.com/releases/td015

Released by: Tympanik Audio 
Release/catalogue number: TD015 
Release date: Dec 4, 2012 

Subheim: Space Corridor [v/a: Accretion - Tympanik Audio 2012]

Guest mix made for Headphone Commute: http://reviews.headphonecommute.com/2012/12/26/papercutz-dream-scores-part-ii

(Part I: http://reviews.headphonecommute.com/2010/10/17/mix-papercutz-dream-scores)

Dream Scores Part II (Headphone Commute Mix)

Originally Intended to feature on the Birth EP, but did not emotionally fit the structure. So Its a free download instead :)

Enjoy, Share. 

Ambient

EcstaticNoise