Colored Mushroom and the Medicine Rocks – Sea Channels 7.0

                Another Emeralds-side project comes to me. I’m glad they have so many, since they literally create a whole new movement of this kind of kosmische music. Sometimes when I think I’ve discovered a new band in this field, it is just another Emeralds side project. 

               Sea Channels really does it well, probably better than a lot of their other projects. Everything’s kept perfectly focused on movement. Yes, it does move, not just in traditional evolutionary forms, but from left to right. There is a lot of panning done on this EP, so if you’re not a fan of such kinds of gracious sweeps of sound, you might not enjoy this that much.

                It is book-ended by two of the longest tracks. “Sea Channels” includes the actual sound of flowing water before breaking into glorious light at the end. The two middle tracks even include a light drum machine; something generally frowned upon around these ambient parts. A slight beat only adds to the rhythm of the sounds rather than turning it into lame ambient with a beat. 

                “When We’re Both Gone” is the saddest piece on here. It has the slowest evolution out of all of the tracks, and for a while you might think it is just repeating endlessly. There’s more going on than what first meets the eye, which makes it a great closer.

                Hopefully John Elliot releases more stuff in this vein. I’d like that a lot.

William Basinski – A Red Score in Tile 4.9

                William Basinski can be thought of as a reverse Brian Eno: whereas Brian Eno created ambiance by building up, William does it by breaking things down. In his greatest work, Disintegration Loops, he even made the process romantic. You could hear and feel those loops breaking down into mere fragments. A Red Score in Tile explores slightly different territory.

                This piece, originally written in 1979, doesn’t break apart. Rather, it mediates on a single theme for 45 minutes. At moments you can detect a slight variation on the theme, a slight bending of pitch. Unfortunately, the amount of work and focus needed for this discovery is ultimately a let-down. Sure, the sound is great, William doesn’t exactly create tasteless recordings, but it feels unusually empty for a composer who deals with larger scale pieces in a more meaningful way.

                Basically a recording like this was inevitable. With so many releases, at some point he would eventually release a dullard. I’d strongly suggest his Disintegration Loops recordings for those with time and patience. That experience is rewarding. For those with less time, Melancholia offers a better presentation of his ideas in a short period of time. But sadly, this piece is not worth the effort the listener puts in. Fine wallpaper music but not something worth engaging on a deeper level.

Chris Rehm – Worries, etc. 7.8

                I’d never heard Chris’s stuff before this. After listening to it, I realize what an egregious error that was on my part. Somehow Chris is able to effortlessly reference ambient, noise, and bits of guitar without seeming crowded. What’s more impressive is he’s able to do this in less than 30 minutes. 

                All of this is technically experimental, but what binds the stuff together is an emotional flow, rather than any sonic kind. This makes it a bit more direct and personal than your average run of the mill experimental release. The passages all indicate a different sort of concern (worry, if you will) and it progresses as such. 

                “Worries” begins as a near whisper. Color is added as the piece develops, becoming warmer and warmer as it reaches its conclusion. It flows perfectly into the next song “Blinders” my personal favorite on the album. Genres don’t exist for whatever “Blinders” might be, but I’d be tempted to call it “Post Surf Rock”. It is the kind of thing you’d listen to on the beach after you’ve finished surfing or swimming. Sun shines on you as you sit, tired but happy staring blankly into the distance. That’s the kind of feeling I get from this expansive song. A melody comes out so sweet out of the distortion in the second part. Maybe the album could’ve begun with this, but it is nice having this as the logical conclusion of the first track.

                 “Silences” uses the effects to create the illusion of a rhythm where none exists. Later on the underlying sounds of “Silences” is used in “Keys” with its treated sounds. Guitars guide you out with the sweet song “Anxieties”. Here you actually are treated to the most straightforward approach, which seems to be distantly related to the earlier song “Vents”. 

                Everything connects well on this large EP/small album. I might need to explore the rest of this guy’s discography.    

Listen to it: Here

Ø – Kantamoinen 6.4

              Think of Pan Sonic devoid of all the tension and violence which makes that project such a thrill. Essentially that summarizes what you have here: sure it is meticulously crafted; all Pan Sonic stuff possesses a certain level of skill. Unlike Mika Vainio’s other stuff, most of these tracks feel like sketches rather than fully-formed ideas.

                Ambiance is the aim here. Barely anything has any sort of distinct beat of any nature. Most of it feels empty, sparse, devoid of anything to sink your teeth into. Instead, this ought to function as some sort of elite music wallpaper. The craftsmanship of the pieces is admirable, but most of the music functions on an emotionless, bland level. It doesn’t experiment enough for this to be readily forgivable.

                Despite these limitations, there are two songs of note on it. “Monneista viimeinen” feels full bodied, with the drama and some of the intensity you might expect from him. The closer “Kotiin” is probably the most emotional the entire album gets, with a nice, wheezy organ sound. 

                Kantamoinen came out a year after the positively massive “Kesto” 4 disc set. Instead of immediately releasing this, he might have felt it would be better to hold off on it until some of the ideas down to a stronger degree. By releasing it so quickly, it feels sort of dashed-off.

Imaginary Softwoods – Imaginary Softwoods 5.6

                 This will be poorly received in some circles but it needs to be said: not every side project of Emeralds is a good one. I know that their fan base verges on obsessive, fanatical even. Some of those projects are pretty amazing as well (Mark McGuire’s stuff in particular). However, recordings like this convince me that perhaps some things are better kept unreleased.

                Attempting to create a zen-like approach to ambient can result in one of two actions: either the artist stumbles upon something truly brilliant (like Eliane Radigue) or as glorified waiting room music. Sadly, I’m here to report that the vast majority of this music falls into the latter category. I’d like to say that this music transports you to another dimension where things are wonderful, but that’s simply not true. Instead, it meditates far too long on a single theme while lacking that subtle hook that brings it into transcending its humble roots.

                Instead, it is stuck music. This is music that reminds you you’re stuck somewhere. It aggravates with its bland scenarios. Focusing harder on the music won’t help; it isn’t interesting enough most of the time to let that be of benefit. 

                Most of the time, it is drab music. A few moments exist on here to help it from being a complete wash, but otherwise it’s a wash. Sorry but music like this gives ambient music in general a bad name as being a bunch of navel-gazing overly sensitive types.

:Zoviet France: Music for a Spaghetti Western 6.1

Zoviet France is one of those elusive bands that are read about more than actually heard. Most of their music falls under industrial ambient, and the sounds are all exclusively analog. Utilizing tape effects and other assorted instrumentation, their prolific output veers between sublime and indulgent.

This particular release, from 85-86 recordings, displays a bit of both, though it does tend to indulge itself a little too much, particularly in the Scene 2. You begin things in the first scene, with a series of well-prepared tape loops. Sadly, a lot of tape experiments age poorly, and this one might have had a bit more captivating in the 80s.

What comes up next is probably my least favorite. Scene 2 goes on for too long, with way too much aimlessness. I understand that their intention is to make this sort of industrial Shaman-like music, an almost spiritual sort of mediation. But here it could’ve been edited down into a really solid 10 minute track rather than sprawling around for a whole half hour. Honestly, at times it feels like the members remembered “Oh shit, we better add some new directions for this”.

After Scene 2 I almost gave up on this, throwing it to the wayside never to hear of it again. But I decided to trough through the Scene 3 and Scene 4. Scene 3 didn’t offer anything exceptional but Scene 4 grabbed me. Its ghostly presence felt completely appropriate. Each little pattern and sound came in at the precisely right time. Had the whole album had this level of quality, of supernatural embodiments of decay, I might have given it a much higher rating.

Sadly though, a lot of this feels very dated or aimless. This is a bit sad since most of what I had heard of early Zoviet France felt far more engaging.