Showing posts with label ambient. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ambient. Show all posts

The Secret Of Your Voice



Contribution to We Invented Nothing - a film by Julija Paskeviciute and Lisa Kovalenko. Bierumer Art Movie Festival, Netherlands 2017/18.

The Rock



The first part of an immersive environment concept for a planned exhibition of sculpture, video, sound and documentation by Bob & Joy Georgeson. The footage was taken at Camel Rock near Bermagui, Far South Coast of New South Wales, Australia. The rocks are 450 million years old. The Great Cormorants are the totems of this special place.

emptywhale - Smashed Light

Much excitement and anticipation about the first new release by emptywhale in over a year. Whether it be a cautious return to the studio or heralding a change in direction, or the smashed light an accident or momentary act of frustration we will never know. Enigma is emptywhale's modus operandi and that ain't gonna change, nor is his capacity to pick you up on the sonic bus and transport you to a destination far from where you had intended to go...Let's hope there is more to follow soon.

This track is part of  touched two, the staggering collection of 255 tracks of contemporary sounds compiled in aid of cancer research and support. Available on Bandcamp here...

super flumina Babylonis



Top of my playlist at the moment is this recent release by Hyaena Fierling (aka Ana Cordeiro Reis). This multidisciplinary artist continues to intrigue me with her mysterious sounds rooted in a deep reflective intellectualism, but please don't let that description distract you from donning the headphones (or slotting out the credit card to support independent creativity)! I was honoured to be able to use her work in the emotive and passionate 'Why is this happening?' video a few posts back. Hope it's not the last collaboration...

You can visit her website here... 

The Lake

These images are all freely downloadable at CD size 640x640 pixels (12x12 cm)...
Simply click on the image to see it actual size then right click and Save Image As...
If you would like a hand with some elegant typography get in touch...

All images available under the Creative Commons license: Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0.



touched



This extraordinary 122-track album featuring some of the world's greatest and most forward-thinking artists (including emptywhale) has just been released with the purpose of raising funds for UK based Macmillan Cancer Support. For 6 quid you can't go wrong...through Bandcamp. Happy holiday listening...when you get sick of listening to Bing sing "I'm dreaming of a..."

black red white



Realization: anonymous waves
Sound: 'Complete' by The Implicit Order

You can download the HD files here...

'Complete' by The Implicit Order is taken from the extraordinary compilation album Classwar Karaoke - 0024 Survey curated by suRRism-Phonoethics and available as a free download from the Free Music Archive here...

More The Implicit Order soundscapes are available on Bandcamp here...

Violette



An audio-visual tribute to author Violette Leduc...

soundscape: Cousin Silas and emptywhale
eyescape: anonymous waves

'Mapping the Void' by Cousin Silas and emptywhale is taken from the album Silas and Friends Volume 1 released on the weareallghosts label. You can find it on the Archive here... 

For the HD downloadable video files go to its page on the Archive here...

No Reason



soundscape: emptywhale
eyescape: anonymous waves

You can watch and download from the Internet Archive here (MPEG2 file and full screen recommended)...

...and the full set of videos can be found here...

As good as it gets...



'Beautiful' was the word that first came to mind when I first heard Some Hollow Lullabies, the third release from UK dark ambient outfit emptywhale. Subsequent listens have not changed my mind. The most integrated album to date shows this enigmatic artist at the height of his powers, defying classifications, and composing and producing a work of sublime beauty and intelligence. Meticulously crafted from start to finish it is quite simply 'as good as it gets'.

From the opening transportation of 'The Boy Who Could Hear Colours', the surprising introduction of melodic keyboard, to the closing fade and hints of where it all began we are left transfixed. Astute listeners may find it an interesting challenge to figure out these influences, but ultimately knowing this will not add to the appreciation because the emptywhale concept is precisely about the mystery. And the mystery ends up being what we (the listeners) experience as we listen...

I have said in the past that I find great humanism in the music of emptywhale. Here we have a man wandering through the British (if not world) landscape acutely aware of history and society and where the technological revolution had taken us, and the impact it has had on interpersonal communications (or lack thereof) . If there is 'darkness' in these soundscapes it is in this aspect of our lives that it is manifest...not through any contrived attempt at being different or trendy.

I must admit I have been critical of the ambient genre at times, finding the lack of individualism frustrating, but emptywhale takes it to a new level. At times orchestral, choral, hints of punk, even prog rock, sinister crackles, there are so many things happening here one is left in awe at the power of the meditative mix.

A track by track analysis is pointless in such a complete creation. All I can say is take 40 minutes out of your life and marvel and enjoy and wonder and appreciate that there are people in the world doing this for free...

And if you do feel compelled to part with some money emptywhale asks that you donate to cancer research...

An essential and permanent part of the collection of anyone seriously interested in contemporary music. The great Duke Ellington, once asked in interview about his composing methods, said "If it sounds good, it is good". Some Hollow Lullabies sounds very, very good...

You can download it here...

emptywhale - Some Hollow Lullabies


An absolutely beautiful work...

Review coming soon when I return to the studio...in the meantime you can enjoy it here...

http://www.weareallghosts.co.uk/

The Implicit Order - Drifters

 
Senseless murder might not be a theme that many musicians would base a work on, but then The Implicit Order (I/O) is not exactly your average concept. Disdaining any attempt at classification I/O is both highly original and constantly defying preconceptions. The most recent album 'Drifters' is dedicated to a young homeless woman called Sherry, who had been befriended by I/O. She ended up being murdered after being picked up by a drifter. So, why put out an album on such a subject?

I/O describes the album as a "cautionary tale to anyone who is down on their luck and looking for a place to belong". Sombre but never morbid the album touches the heartstrings without ever becoming sensationalist. The opening track 'Missing Youth' sets the tone with evocations of children, our children, and then counterpoints with hints of unrest. "Daily Dull Lives" hints at the mentally disturbed among us. Other tracks such as 'Every Year 1000's of Young People Disappear' and 'Small Towns Hold The Biggest Secrets' paint a picture of the darkness inherent in our societies. And the 9 minute 'Sherry (Car Wheels On A Gravel Road)' confronts us with the sadness of the knowledge that all victims leave families behind them. It is their suffering we find it hard to endure...

This is not the sort of music that one would play at a party, it may not even sit comfortably with a second listen, but it certainly is worthy of one serious listen, even if it is to remind ourselves that the world we live in can still be an evil place, and that great art is not just about entertainment, but enlightenment. A courageous, yet sensitive masterwork. Highly recommended...

You can check out The Implicit Order here...

I am no ghost

anonymous waves, Self portrait in Tocumwal, late March 2013, digital photograph

This one is just a little visual joke for some people I know in the ambient music field...

coasts


This one differs from the previous mashups in that it is a meditative piece using my own footage, but again features the atmospheric soundscapes of emptywhale. It is also the first work to be featured on the new anonymous waves netlabel: http://archive.org/details/coasts

The netlabel is evolving into collaborative projects combining art, music, poetry et al by creators who believe in the altruistic if not subversive nature of working in the public domain, and who have the desire to learn, expand and develop creative pursuits and products that present a unique experience for not only themselves but the audience. More on this soon...and if you want to be involved contact us: surrealdada@gmail.com

Leg Show


Been working on another video lately using soundscapes by emptywhale but this one sort of popped out of the blue yesterday using some older footage that had remained dormant until now...