Ambient
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It may be a coincidence that Pepo Galán’s extraordinary new album Human Values Disappear landed today, almost exactly one year after the election of U.S. President Donald Trump. Intentionally or not, he has captured perfectly the bewildering emotions of 2017. The album’s promo sheet describes the work with a dark metaphor: “a boat that travels…
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One of the things that excited people about ambient music in its early days was its unique tendency to absorb whatever other sounds the listener’s environment had to offer. This remains a big part of its appeal. Occasionally though, ambient works are produced that have the capacity to monopolize our attention. Rotterdam-based Rutger Zuydervelt (a.k.a.…
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After yesterday’s post about Sven Laux and his CD’s turn away from distorted electronics, it’s fitting that we move next to an album that makes liberal – and effective – use of exactly that technique. Calgary’s Valiska has a new release for us called On Pause. The LP snaps, crackles and pops like a synthesized…
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Distortion and other techniques used to transform electronics have become such a mainstay of new music that we’re surprised by their absence. To hear a synthesizer played cleanly has come to sound fresh and even a bit startling. A beautiful new recording from Germany’s Sven Laux makes clear there are other ways to build texture…
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Both tracks from this exceptional two-piece album have been featured on the BADD PRESS podcast. “Ascent” kicked off episode 16 on Oct. 8. “Descent” was a part of episode 19 on Oct. 29. There’s good reason for the enthusiasm. Italian sound artist Paolo Mascolini has produced a powerful drone work that delivers a healthy reminder…
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Last week’s post on PS’s fine new album Finding My Own Way Back Home put forward the idea that minimalism’s lack of sound is the only truly innovative thing going in music these days. (Still looking for someone to challenge me on that by the way.) A new disc from San Francisco multi-media artist Marc…
The Moderns 