Somehow I feel that artists of all media [and particularly, musicians] have always dealt with the concept of the "end of time". Whether it's through the destruction of our own planet, some unknown apocalypse, or the universe as we may never know it, post the inevitable human existence [it all will end, after all, right?]. These thoughts, and the resulting output, are then brought on by a blip in our own very linear timeline that makes us wake up for a moment from the cycle of being and ask, "Is this it?" Perhaps a bit of existentialism never hurt anyone to refocus their energy on what truly then matters. [What truly matters to you?]. We've all experienced this, especially with our own latest global crisis, which still continues to ripple, mutate, and destroy, even as I type out these words [my friends in Shanghai are particularly distressed]. It's no wonder that so much latest output from musicians across the globe has been reflecting this temporary state of humankind [just check out the themes of the many new posts on Headphone Commute, like this Requiem or We Will Live On]. So I'm not surprised, and indeed, a bit delighted, to be bathed in an expression of human extinction by the Montréal-based Tunisian composer, multi-instrumentalist and sound designer Haythem Mahbouli, with his second album for the Japanese Schole label, titled Last Man On Earth. Across the eight pieces, "the album envisions man's final journey on our home planet and invites its listeners to immerse themselves into his last harrowing conquest." This is a beautifully produced and orchestrated journey, which leaves me aching with memories of Jóhann Jóhannsson again [and I do not just mention his name lightly], with its cinematic tendency to blend elements of electronic and modern classical genres, featuring synthetic and organic instrumentation, including a choir by the Budapest Scoring Orchestra. Today I'm giving you a taste of what you can experience on the entire album with this short track, titled "The Great Flood."

Last Man On Earth

Last man on earth

TRACK PREMIERE : Haythem Mahbouli - The Great Flood

Taken from upcoming DR-85 : anthéne - Shelter CD / DL
due out on February 28th
dronarivm.bandcamp.com

Shelter

Artifact

Coming soon on Fluid Audio...

Music: Fields We Found
Mastering: Ian Hawgood
Design: Daniel Crossley

Paths

Fields We Found - Retrieve

I think the collaborative project by Zach Frizzell (zakè) and Damien Duque (City Of Dawn) first saw the light of day back in 2020 when these two ambient artists got together to release Wander on Frizzell's own Zakè Drone Recordings. The duo have also released music as Frizzell & Duque, appearing on these pages numerous times in the last few years, including the addition of Ossa, for the album I picked as one of the best of the year. Last year, Jonas Munk, aka Manual, picked up Agape for his Azure Vista Records, and I have subsequently highlighted the album in my Music For Bending Light And Stopping Time for Best of 2022. All of these opening words, with a brief journey through history, are only here to demonstrate how excited I am about their follow-up release on Azure (co-distributed by Frizzell's Past Inside The Present imprint for the US friends and followers). The title track, "Ash", which I am premiering for you today, is a perfect example of the unhurried, unfurling, and unpretentious ambience that blankets the senses when you need these sounds most. "Their focus offers up the steady ebb and flow of sound, cultivating a profound sense of meditative stasis and explorations of high-fidelity sound." This is the type of slow-evolving minimal music that you want to turn all the way up in volume so that each frequency permeates, saturates, and eradicates all the wrinkles and spikes in your jittery mind. Lovely textures on this one, folks, carefully curated by the mastering touch of James Bernard.

"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."

TRACK PREMIERE : zakè & City of Dawn - Ash

Earlier this year, I launched [or, rather, repurposed] a new column called Flashbacks, in which I revisit music I covered 15, 10, and 5 years ago by going through my archives, selecting a favourite of each month, and updating the relevant content. What has become a bit striking and slightly unnerving about this process is the reflection on the passage of time. I couldn’t believe that many of my favourite albums were already over a decade old! It feels as if only yesterday I discovered a new artist and hailed their debut, but, in reality, it was ten years ago. Ten years! Can you fathom the difference between being 12 years of age and then becoming 22? It feels like a lifetime of memories [during that particular time], which we are all still reliving throughout the years. Ten years ago is when two brothers, Andrew and Michale Tasselmyer, and a friend, Steven Kemner, formed a project they called Hotel Neon, taking its name from a quote in Jack Kerouack’s book “On The Road”. In the summer of 2013, they released a batch of 100 cassettes collecting “a loose collection of minimal drone experiments.” Two years later, the album was remastered by Ian Hawgood and re-released on his Home Normal, which got noticed by Stationary Travels and subsequently, yours truly. Today, I am happy to premiere a track from an upcoming 10-year celebration of this project, with each track being entirely reworked from the ground up to be unique and familiar.

Mastered, this time, by the one and only Rafael Anton Irisarri, the album will be released on July 31st via the beloved Fluid Audio. Please take note that the Book Edition is strictly limited (only 100 unique copies of each!), stamped, hand-numbered, and even scented (!) to create a cherished little package. More details on the contents, and of course, a link to pre-order, can be found on this Fluid Audio page: https://hcdi.gs/44KeNE2

Hotel Neon 10: Reworks

Deprivation

TRACK PREMIERE : Hotel Neon - Deprivation

DR-88 : ARIA ROSTAMI - 'Siren' CD / DL
releases August 4, 2023 

Over the last few years, Rostami has been playing with new ideas using field recordings, improvised piano, and tape processing. Already having made a few records experimenting with these ideas, "Siren" sets itself apart as a concentrated approach to illustrate abstract environments and landscapes through sound. On songs like "Cold Stream" and "The Recent Past" you will hear literal field recordings of nature mixed with composed musical emulations of environments, whether it be a representation of running water or the quiet nostalgia of suburban life. Songs like "Landscape" and "Today and Tomorrow" take field recordings of field recording records played in Rostami's studio space along with multiple recordings of the same piano performance. The piano is recorded with a field recorder, as midi and as a D/I recording and woven together, in and out, blending the soundscapes of field recordings and studio recordings into an undefined grey area.

Music written and recorded by Aria Rostami
Cover image by Dylan Tushar
Mastered by Ian Hawgood
Thank you Pepper, Afshin, Abbas, Nasrin, Dylan Tushar, Daniel Blomquist, Ashkan, Evan Scott, David August, and Sean Raji
license

Buy  CD / DL

The Recent Past

Tracklist

01. Tatsuro Murakami - Swimming in the Dark
02. Taylor Deupree - Something That Looks Like Stars (Sleep Version)
03. Solo Andata - Diffused
04. The Lifted Index - Sinking Backward Toward the Earth Again
05. Danny Clay - Part 5
06. Observatories (Ian Hawgood & Craig Tattersall) - Snow And Stars Danced Through The Night
07. Hummingbird - Alder
08. FernLodge - Telempath
09. Jeannine Schulz - Gm
10. Miguel Otero - The White Swan
11. América Analógica - Cortezas (i)

350. Sleepy Sunday Podcast (Elm Records)

Tracklist

01. Tomotsugu Nakamura - Heliotrope
02. Suisen - Sunken Moon
03. Tapes and Topographies - Reflections in a glass eye
04. The Seaman & The Tattered Sail - Dusk
05. Andrew Tasselmyer - Perspectives
06. Ciro Berenguer - Lago
07. M. Grig - Form
08. r beny -  Echo's verse
09. Simon Scott - Nigh
10. Rafael Anton Irisarri - Daybreak Comes Soon
11. Stijn Hüwels - Tomodachi (patrick)
12. Foresteppe - s01e04

351. Sleepy Sunday Podcast (Elm Records)

Hey, you remember the Icelandic independent imprint called INNI Music, yes? It opened up with Atli Örvarsson's You Are Here back in 2020, and then there was Rose Riebl's Do Not Move Stones in 2021, followed up with Jónsi, Sin Fang, Alex Somers, Kjartan Holm's Sounds of Fischer Vol. 1 a year after, all of which have consistently made to my Best of the Year lists, in every single year. Right. So, yes, this is the same Holm from that Jónsi (of Sigur Rós fame) collaboration, this time with a solo release. Hailing from Reykjavik, Kjartan Holm is a musician and a film composer with half a dozen scores under his belt. This album, titled HORIZON, was originally written for a same-named documentary about the late Icelandic painter Georg Guðni, "whose innovative interpretations of forms and ideas paved the way for a renaissance in Icelandic landscape painting." The music, as conveyed in a piece I am premiering for you today, is capturing the vast and sprawling atmospheres, blending abstract textures with ethereal melodies in pastel haze, shifting tones, and wide brushstrokes. You don't even need to look up the paintings to see the resemblance (but I recommend that you do). Lovely tonalities to get lost in on this one, and I recommend that you pick up the album, in just a few days...

HORIZON

Limitless Pt. II

TRACK PREMIERE : Kjartan Holm - Limitless Pt. II

All This Time

#colliedog #electronica #music #chill #lofi #beats #ambient #experimental #soundtrack #soundscape #relax #inspired #unwind #sleep #

Cinema Chill

some original solo piano pieces...  some mixes from my podcast... some exclusive track premieres...  and some tracks from the albums I review for Headphone Commute... Enjoy!

TRACK PREMIERE : Kjartan Holm - Limitless Pt. II

Headphone Commute

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Grahame Arnold

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