Sunday, October 28, 2012

Aphex Twin - Come to Daddy [320][MP3]





Come to Daddy
Label: Warp Records
Format: CD
Country: UK
Released: Oct 1997
Genre: Electronic
Style: IDM, Abstract, Ambient









It was the titular song that gave me the early impression Aphex Twin was a seriously disturbed individual (no doubt perpetuated by the accompanying music video). Delving further into the CD however will reveal some audio delights. I was expecting more tracks in a similar vein to the first, however, to my surprise the song that immediately follows the single is the complete opposite in terms of style! Slower, softer and more melodic. At only four songs it's still a great sample of Aphex Twin's musical flexibility.


Review by Nepthys [http://www.discogs.com/user/Nepthys]

Password: daddy


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Friday, October 05, 2012

Various Artists - Mixtape Nostalgie.



Hey guys. I liked the way my first playlist was received by the (small) community that visits UG. So my girlfriend made a playlist aswell. Hope you enjoy it as I did.

This is a mixtape about childhood, dreams, good feelings you had once and need a bit of it again, nice moments, special people, special places, and whatever you feel like its worth feeling again.
Hope you guys like it :)
Rocketfalls 

Tracklist
  1. Welcome to Lunar Industries- Clint Mansell
  2. Doppelgänger- Efterklang
  3. Eastern Glow- The Album Leaf
  4. Everything You Do Is a Balloon- Boards of Canada    
  5. Deep Blue Day- Brian Eno
  6. Lazy Calm- Cocteau Twins
  7. Der Tod Wuotans- Burzum
  8. Vanishing- Architecture in Helsinki
  9. Parks- Four Tet
  10. Kaini Industries- Bibio
  11. Lakeside- Bibio
  12. You were the one- False Awakening    
  13. A Ribbon- Devendra Banhart
  14. Needle In The Hay- Elliott Smith    
  15. Prospect hummer- Animal Collective & Vashti Bunyan    
  16. Window Over The Bay- Vashti Bunyan
  17. I Lost Something In The Hills- Sibylle Baier
  18. Three Hours- Nick Drake
  19. Blue Ridge Mountains- Fleet Foxes

Cover photo http://lilabatista.com/
Password: sunrise
Click here to get what you want.
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Sunday, September 30, 2012

Bang On A Can – Music For Airports (Brian Eno) [VBR][Requested]


Music For Airports (Brian Eno)
Label: Point Music
Format: CD, Album
Country: US
Released: 1998
Genre: Classical, Electronic
Style: Modern Classical, Minimal, Ambient









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Album requested by Walt.
You may request your album here.
-

One need not be a fan of Brian Eno's ground-breaking original, "Ambient 1: Music For Airports," to appreciate this exquisite rendition from Bang On A Can, a New York City-based outfit comprised of three classically-trained musicians: Julia Wolfe, David Lang and Michael Gordon. Eno's opus emerged as a textbook example of what has become quite an important genre: Ambient music. What this trio (heirs to another important genre: Minimal music) have accomplished is what might be both the simplest and the hardest task of performing other people's music: they offer their own voice without usurping Eno's original brilliant composition.

In an age of remixes, reworks, dubs and covers, Bang On A Can gently present an acoustic version of the original "loops & tapes" classic. Originally, Eno designed "Ambient 1: Music For Airports" to be continuously looped as a sound installation, with the intent to diffuse the tense, anxious atmosphere of an airport terminal. He conceived this idea while being stuck at Cologne Bonn Airport in Germany in the mid-1970s. Contrast that with the startling presence of Bang On A Can's simply-employed layered instrumentations, which rattle, pluck, drone and twitter expressively, whereas the quiet becomes the space for anticipation of the instruments. So, rather than the steady rolling pulse of Eno's modulations, the subtle use of guitar, winds and even pipa give Bang On A Can's cover a worldly feel that the original soars above. It may even be posited that Eno's original is best expressed indoors while this cover complements an outdoor setting. In fact, a 1998 performance of "Music For Airports" in Central Park serendipitously began with an airline jet passing overhead with an awed audience maintaining a respectful silence throughout the entire concert. In an interview with Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson regarding the fact that they had recently attended this performance, they said they were both moved to tears. Eno was later surprised to hear this, commenting that he had written the music to be without emotion, but that he was pleasantly surprised that people had been affected by the music many years after he had written it.

A succinct review from Steve Tignor distills this album endearingly: "Bang On A Can is an avant-garde ensemble playing the 1978 Brian Eno piece which put ambient music on the map. Eno's idea was to make a series of tape loops into tightly composed Muzak. He wanted a sonic backdrop for bland public spaces that would reward close listening. Bang on a Can, playing acoustic and electric instruments, breathe life into it, making the music's neutrality seem coldly beautiful. The piece is divided into four parts, each consisting of a few gentle, minimal figures, calmly repeated and shifted. Rhythm is eliminated and time seems to stretch. What is revealed is the sensuousness possible in a single note. Music has never been the same. This is the best place to hear where it changed."

Review by Walt [http://www.thisismyjam.com/walt.brown]

Password: airplane


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Sunday, September 02, 2012

Nick Drake – Pink Moon [MP3][320]


Pink Moon
Label: Erased Tapes Records
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: UK
Released: 1976
Genre: Rock
Style: Folk











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A classic. That's what I say about this album.
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Nick Drake was an unknown soldier in the 1970s. Blending lush orchestrations with a bluntly emotional voice, his music would although at the time not become popular, grow to be some of the most influential music of the haven that the ‘70s were for originality. Singer/Songwriters are pretty universally enjoyed; I mean who doesn’t like ‘Flake’ by Jack Johnson or ‘Say Yes’ by Elliott Smith. Usually you’ll find that huge Cryptopsy/Spiral Architect fan talking about how whenever he needs to calm down he throws on Damien Rice’s ‘O’. Well, most of these artists owe their ideas to Nick Drake’s ‘Pink Moon’. Sitting next to Talk Talk’s ‘Laughing Stock’ as one of the most emotionally barren and gorgeous sounding records of all time, Pink Moon encompasses the feelings of despair and isolation so effortlessly it’s a wonder it isn’t more widely respected and known than it is. Although I’m a big fan of the acoustic meanderings of most singer/songwriters, I do find myself usually becoming bored with the sheer playing inability in most of these artists, but with Nick Drake this problem is nowhere to be found. His unique and technical ability behind a guitar is astounding and highly compliments his very ethereal vocals. While some people tend to dwell on the suicide he supposedly committed, I try to remember Nick Drake not for the actions he transpired, but for the wonderful timeless music he created.

‘Pink Moon’ has a cast of ten very similar songs. All of the songs are formed between only two instruments, Nick’s guitar and vocals, except for the title track which features some haunting piano melodies. Most of the songs are done in a way that makes them mildly upbeat and beautiful, but the occasional gloomy dark song is experimented with on the album in the form of ‘Things Behind the Sun’ and ‘Parasite’. While the lyrical messages behind most of the songs are typically depressing affairs, this topic only seems to soak through into the actual musical half of the album in the two dark songs. ‘Pink Moon’ is mostly concentrated in the genre of Folk with most of the songs blending together stylistically, but tracks like ‘Know’ which is based around an extremely simple guitar line and the short interlude ‘Horn’ help make the album more interesting and seem less repetitive. Nick’s voice is very unique in itself due to the fact it has a deep yet very soothing, beautiful sound. Whereas most singer/songwriters reach their moments of beauty with the falsetto sound, Nick like Jeff Buckley on his album ‘Grace’ is able to exude emotion in various ranges of his voice, which also helps establish striking differences in the ten tracks on this album. All in all, the tracks on this album are similar yet different, but always rewarding. Few tracks stand out, because they are all excellent by my personal favorite would have to be ‘Things Behind the Sun’ just because of how elegantly depressing it is. Every song can serve the dual purpose of either being, light and relaxing, or tense and emotional depending on how the listener is relating to it.

‘Pink Moon’ is a simple album made by a talented man that any musician or music listener should enjoy. The accessibility to this album is simple, because it is always representing an emotion or feeling that anyone can relate too. While the album does have some depressing undertones, like most popular music Nick Drake is able to make a musically upbeat and happy sounding song out of what were most likely some of his darkest feelings. This ability to make an accessible, moving piece that is both filled with despair and hopefulness is what makes ‘Pink Moon’ such an everlasting and excellent piece of work. It’s really an album anyone can pick up and really enjoy whether you are a metal, rap, or indie fan and that is where the perfection lies in it.

Review by Sputnik Music [http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/6718/Nick-Drake-Pink-Moon/]

Password: green


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Sinoia Caves – The Enchanter Persuaded [MP3][320]



The Enchanter Persuaded
Label: Brah Records
Format: CD, Album
Country: US
Released: 2006
Genre: Rock, Electronic
Style: Progressive Rock, Ambient








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The Enchanter Persuaded, the debut album from Black Mountain keyboardist Jeremy Schmidt (billed here as Sinoia Caves), is a nice example of the early-21st century's fascination with synthesizers. Unlike his contemporaries, who tend to echo new wave acts, Schmidt draws inspiration from a different pack of synth gods -- bands that boasted cosmic monikers like Tangerine Dream and Hawkwind, musicians who wielded their Moogs and Mellotrons like mighty swords. And as such, this album shouldn't be viewed as a particularly innovative work but rather as an adept tribute to the analog wizards of the mid-'70s and early '80s. The standout tracks here are the soundscapes, which echo Tangerine Dream's Phaedra both in terms of the vast aural territory covered and in terms of actual length. "Dwarf Reaching the Arch Wonder" and "Sundown in the New Arcades (Milky Way Echo)" make for over half an hour of galactic terrain built on sheet after sheet of analog synth and Mellotron effects. There's a definite sense of composition here; every whoosh and drone serves the structure, and Schmidt does a good job of keeping these sprawling compositions under tight rein. Shorter, acoustic guitar and vocoder-knit tracks like "Naro Way" and "Through the Valley" are a nice break from the epic stuff going on elsewhere, and they'll probably draw more than a few comparisons to some of the tracks on Air's 10,000 Hz Legend. From the druggy green cover art right down to the humid, slightly grimy production, The Enchanter Persuaded is a convincing period piece, not to mention a fitting showcase for Schmidt's impressive synth sorcery.

Review by allmusic [http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-enchanter-persuaded-mw0000451923]

Password: synth


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Thursday, August 23, 2012

Various Artists - Underground Stratosphere Mixes Vol. 1


Hello guys. This is my first try on creating mixes. I really hope you liked as I do. It took me some days to compile and organize that.
Enjoy.

Tracklist
  1. Poppy Seed (Boards Of Canada Remix) - Slag Boom Van Loon
  2. Kirlian Changes - The Flashbulb
  3. Shortcuts - The Flashbulb
  4. Strotha Tynhe - Aphex Twin
  5. Evil Ball - Sinoia Caves
  6. Bbydhyonchord - Aphex Twin
  7. (Cherokee Script) - The Flashbulb
  8. Tommib - Squarepusher
  9. Left Side Drive - Boards of Canada
  10. Adrift - Tycho
  11. Olson (WRM Remix) - Boards of Canada
  12. Poppy Seed .... Reprise (Boards Of Canada Remix)  - Slag Boom Van Loon
  13. Rorschach - Loscil
  14. For Years And Years - Helios
  15. At the Edge of the World You Will Still Float - Telefon Tel Aviv
  16. 14 31 - Global Communication


Password: vol1

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Ólafur Arnalds – ...And They Have Escaped The Weight Of Darkness [MP3][320]


...And They Have Escaped The Weight Of Darkness
Label: Erased Tapes Records
Format: Vinyl, Album
Country: UK (CD) & Iceland (Author)
Released: 2010
Genre: Classical
Style: Classical, Electronic, Neo-classical







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As I sit down to write these words I can't help but wonder if there was a time lapse in my memory - haven't I covered this before? I could have sworn I shared my excitement for this album in the past - after all, I hungrily consume everything by Ólafur Arnalds since his 2007 debut on Erased Tapes, Eulogy For Evolution. Well, if I haven't shared my enthusiasm for this release, I apologize... Profusely... Incredibly lovely, sad and beautiful, music from Arnalds will melt the toughest hearts. If melancholy could be wrapped in sadness drenched in longing, then Arnalds captures it all. This is precisely when words loose their meaning, and the music sings... ...and they have escaped the weight of darkness is a second full-length album from this prolific Icelandic modern classical composer. In places uplifting, and always gorgeous, the contemplative passages escaping Arnalds' fingers on the piano, and the crying stringed instruments, leave the listener reflecting on all that is present in this moment, even if its veiled by the past. You absolutely have to pick up Arnalds' masterpiece, Variations of Static, (Erased Tapes, 2008), as well as his 2009 EP on the same label, Found Songs. It is also worth mentioning that Ólafur's 2009 album, Dyad 1909 was selected in Headphone Commute's Best of 2009 : Music For The Film behind Closed Eyelids.

Review by Headphone_Commute [http://www.discogs.com/user/Headphone_Commute/]

Password: lookatthesky


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Sunday, June 24, 2012

Akufen – My Way [MP3][320]

My Way
Label: Force Inc. Music Works
Format: CD
Country: Germany
Released: May 2002
Genre: Electronic
Style: House, Tech House, Minimal, Microhouse, Minimalist







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This is indeed an incredible album, make no mistake. Akufen (Marc Leclair) has a very distinctive aesthetic, and approach to piecing together coherent, even danceable tracks culled from snippets and snapshots of noise, voices, and other odd sounds. It seems though, that this line of musical development (and arguably one of the pivotal steps in "glitch" music) is one that could easily tire of itself. Even the more intriguing pieces (in my view) as Skidoos, Deck the House, and Late Night Munchies are structured by a much more traditional bassline element, and the samples hover somewhere between decorative texture and cut-n-paste melody. From this angle, the album is self -contained as a set of musical ideas. Hopefully, Akufen will prove me wrong by taking the glitch aesthetic to the next stage.

Review by bhbognar [http://www.discogs.com/user/bhbognar/]

Password: yourway


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Nathan Fake – The Sky Was Pink [MP3][320]



The Sky Was Pink
Label: Border Community
Format: Vinyl, 12"
Country: UK
Released: Aug 2004
Genre: Electronic
Style: Leftfield, Progressive House, IDM, Downtempo, Minimal






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Of course, the remix of James Holden is absolutely self-dependent track on this release. With its help the world has got to know the name of N. Fake. Of course, if a moment of inspiration of J. Holden would have concurred with appearance of another track, not Fake’s, the world would have got similar masterpiece. In support of this – Holden’s Techno Tool Remix is based absolutely on Holden’s main remix. The Dancefloor has got a similar example – Timo Maas with his remix of Azzido Da Bass “Dooms Night” (have you ever heard the original version?).But it’s not fair not to keep in mind the Fake’s creation. It should be named here - Original Live Take and Icelandic Version. Beautiful (!) melodic progressive downtempo tracks with especial FX, catchy melodie, exclusive IDM-like production. Master’s at work!

Review by IntelliGiant [http://www.discogs.com/user/IntelliGiant/]


Password: lookatthesky

Tuesday, June 05, 2012

Aphex Twin – Selected Ambient Works 85-92 [MP3][320]


Selected Ambient Works 85-92 
Label: Apollo
Format: CD
Country: Belgium
Released: Nov 1992
Genre: Electronic
Style: Techno, IDM, Ambient, Experimental






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Stop me if this gets sappy. And it might. Because Selected Ambient Works 85-92-- recently reissued by PIAS America-- was the very first electronic music I ever bought, and certainly the first I ever heard over and over again. Long ago, before I was old enough to drive, I would sit in a small, cluttered bedroom in my parents' suburban ranch house, absorbed for hours by the sounds contained on this disc. The creeping basslines, the constantly mutating drum patterns, the synth tones which moved with all the grace and fluidity of a professional dancer, the strange noises that I'd be unable to identify even if I tried. Back then, Aphex Twin was making music like nothing I'd ever heard before.

What's become apparent since is that I probably wasn't the only one affected. After last year's disappointing Drukqs, it's easy to forget that, back in the Warp Records heyday, Richard D. James was to this new breed of ambient and electronic music what Babe Ruth was to baseball. Sure, there were upstarts; \xB5-Ziq, Squarepusher and Autechre were all on the scene by the time this collection hit shelves. But James was still the posterboy, the presumed ringmaster, single-handedly defining a style of music in the minds of many. Now, as a new wave of mostly twenty-somethings step to the forefront of IDM, redefining electronic music for the third time in a decade, it becomes more and more obvious just how far reaching James' influence was.

There's nothing new about this re-release, aside from improved availability and decreased cost. But then, improving on this package would be near impossible. Sure, the music on Selected Ambient Works 85-92 may sound a bit dated (as does, to be fair, most electronic music more than a few years old), but there's no denying it was the defining statement of Warp's early years, and the foundation for the careers of bands like Boards of Canada and Plaid.

The songs here are not ambient in the same way as those on this disc's sequel. Technically, most fall into Brian Eno's broad definition of the style-- it can be appreciated in small segments just as much as in its entirety. The music develops slowly, unafraid to linger on a particularly effective sound for as long as necessary-- the creeping keyboard loop of "Schottkey 7th Path," for example, is continually modified throughout the course of the song, but never once eliminated from the mix-- but James would never be content as a mere follower in anyone's footsteps. His work here serves a model for what would come to be known as traditional IDM. A simpler version of the style we've grown accustomed to, certainly, but IDM nonetheless.

James' early work is heavily indebted to early dance music, filled with beats so eminently danceable as to confuse those who only know him from the spastic drum patterns that came later. There's little of that here, though. Selected Ambient Works 85-92 is, rather, an album stretching back to the days before software allowed for heavy sampling or glitch technology. Drum machines serve as its backbone and synthesized bass and keyboard sounds provide the meat. Most of the songs follow a relatively basic formula as well. One element-- say, a synth melody-- is introduced and repeated, and as new elements are added with each go round, the song gradually builds to a dense, multi-layered swirl. This Ravel-esque approach flavors much of James' older material, and yet, despite the simplicity of his equipment and approach, the songs here are both interesting and varied, ranging from the dancefloor-friendly beats of "Pulsewidth" to the industrial clanks and whirs of "Green Calx."

Indeed, these early works do a fine job of showcasing James' ability to transform even the most seemingly mundane patterns into something unique and interesting. "Hedphelym," for instance, is built around a relentless headache-throb cliché of a house beat. But James surrounds the pulsation with an ethereal feedback that bleeds all over the track, leaving the percussion awash in a murky solution of synth tones, pairing dance music with ambience in ways the Orb never dreamed possible.

Slightly more structured (and equally enjoyable) is "We are the Music Makers," a track which follows a drumbeat and a bassline past a pair of intertwined synth loops and a repeated Willy Wonka vocal sample as simple keyboard melodies pour down from overhead. But the aforementioned "Green Calx" is the closest Selected Ambient Works 85-92 comes to the spastic trickery of which James would become such a pioneer. It matches pitchshifted tones and drum machines with a burbling bassline, assorted machine-gun synth interjections, the slightly effected tones of various pistons, motors, and machines, and even the occasional cartoon spring noise. Moments like these serve to foreshadow both James' later work, as well as the infinitely more complex twists and turns that IDM would make in the years that would follow.

They say next to no one heard the Velvet Underground's first album when it was released, but everyone who did went on to start a band. Listening to Selected Ambient Works 85-92, one can't help but imagine the seeds being planted in the imaginations of the lucky few who were there when it all began. Nestled in these simple, undeniably danceable tracks are the roots of contemporary IDM. And despite its somewhat primitive origins, the final product remains among the most interesting ever created with a keyboard and a computer.

Review by Pitchfork [http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/223-selected-ambient-works-85-92/]


Password: loveeachother

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will. [320][MP3]



Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will. 
Label: Sub Pop Records
Format: CD, Album
Country: US
Released: Feb 2011
Genre: Rock
Style: Post Rock









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Mogwai never seemed like a particularly good bet to age well. They came out of the gate as a band that Meant Something to many people, namely fans of heavy guitar music and rock critics. They established a clear, identifiable, and exciting new sound, but their latest LP-- Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will-- doesn't change the pattern Mogwai have set for themselves on recent, often middling, releases: There are some anthemic guitar blasts, some prettily drifting comedowns, and one or two vocal tracks.

The band has regained none of its prior fierceness, but Hardcore is, importantly, the band's least self-conscious album in ages. There are no attempts to be really heavy, man. There are no stale electronics. The songs that wander out of the band's comfort zone-- most notably the Neu!-indebted "Mexican Grand Prix"-- are the types of genre exercises a veteran rock band of Mogwai's stature should probably undertake. Hardcore feels comfy and lived-in, backhanded compliments only to those who didn't slog through The Hawk Is Howling and Happy Songs For Happy People.

The price for all this hominess is basically any lingering sense of mystery. Mogwai can chime away pleasantly during "Death Rays"-- featuring the band's best guitar lick in years-- but it can't turn "Rano Pano" into "Stanley Kubrick". This is fine, as long as we're willing to admit that we get different things out of Mogwai albums these days. This is a record of savvy rock vets kicking at distortion pedals until something frothy emerges. I'm on board if the results are going to be as page-turning-ly melodic as "How to Be a Werewolf" or as playful as the pitch-shifted "George Square Thatcher Death Party". The mistakes are easy to forgive: "White Noise" is the band's most vanilla opening track ever. The slide-guitar panorama of "Letters to the Metro" will still your blood just as surely as "Like Herod" once boiled it, but it's merely the type of innocuous doodling the band has long padded its albums with.

Mogwai's prior output and general demeanor has made it difficult for them to be a group that fans simply enjoy. The band built its reputation on sonic extremes, and that purview has infected their reputation: deliver a masterpiece-- I don't think they have it in them-- or suffer indifference. On Hardcore Mogwai sound like they're enjoying being Mogwai again. I'm ready to enjoy them being Mogwai again too.

Review by Pitchfork [http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15100-hardcore-will-never-die-but-you-will/]

Password: night

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Biosphere - Substrata [320][MP3]


Substrata 
Label: All Saints
Format: CD, Album
Country: UK
Released: 1997
Genre: Electronic
Style: Ambient, Field Recording





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It rapidly turned into my favorite ambient music album, ever. I'm sad I didn't find this before. It's genius how this guy could transfer the ice, mountain and wind into music. Listen to it in your way back home and a simple walk will transform the place around you into a incredible, nature-driven scenery. A must have for all Ambient fans!

Ripped from pure FLAC.

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This small description will fit it. Everything I'd say about this album wont be enough to describe how genius it is. This album is responsible for the coined term "Ambient music". Nice, isn't it?
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Substrata by Biosphere is one of the all-time classic ambient albums, if not THE all-time classic album. Chilling atmospheric tones with ambient samples of ice, snow, forests, Twin Peaks-samples and Russian radio broadcasts… Substrata is difficult to describe in words alone. This is one album that every ambient fan needs to hear, if not own. For my own part the album is never far from my stereo. From the initial drone of an aircraft high overhead to the rambling monologues of later tracks every minute sends a chill down your spine. 

Biosphere’s work is often described as “dark ambient” but to me this sounds to negative as every piece of music Geir Jenssen composed expresses so much different feelings and his albums are not simply a couple of “drones” thrown together. Neither is Substrata 
Substrata is inhabited by the vast spaces spreading across the artic region, endless nights and midnight sun, sub-zero temperatures and northern lights.

Review by Moanerman [http://www.discogs.com/user/Moanerman]

Password: ice

Brian Eno – Ambient 1: Music for Airports [MP3][320]


Ambient 1: Music for Airports 
Label: Polydor
Format: Vinyl, LP
Country: US
Released: March 1978
Genre: Electronic
Style: Ambient, Experimental







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This small description won't fit it. Everything I'd say about this album wont be enough to describe how genius it is. This album is responsible for the coined term "Ambient music". Nice, isn't it?
-
From Wikipedia

Music for Airports was the first of four albums released in Eno's "Ambient" series, a term which he coined to differentiate his minimalistic approach to the album's material and "the products of the various purveyors of canned music".
Notice of similarly quiet, unobtrusive music had been given on albums such as Another Green World, Evening Star, Discreet Music, Music for Films and Harold Budd's The Pavilion of Dreams (which he produced), but in this album it was given precedence as a full-blown concept.
The music was designed to be continuously looped as a sound installation, with the intent to diffuse the tense, anxious atmosphere of an airport terminal. Eno conceived this idea while being stuck at Cologne Bonn Airport in Germany in the mid-1970s. He had to spend several hours there and was extremely annoyed by the uninspired sound atmosphere.
It was installed at the Marine Air Terminal of New York’s LaGuardia Airport.


Password: ambient

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Dolphins Into The Future – Canto Arquipélago [MP3][320]

Canto Arquipélago 
Label: Underwater Peoples Records
Format: Vinyl, LP
Country: US
Released: March 2012
Genre: Electronic, Non-Music
Style: Abstract, Field Recording, Experimental, Poetry








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This sound will take you out your bedroom for a small trip around windy mounts. I promise you.

"There is something phenomenally enticing about a sequestered island chain, literally bounded by a vast and enveloping sea.Perhaps it’s the romance of discovery – the knowledge that here lies the safety of land within the great seclusion of nature. Perhaps it’s the raw beauty that is simply emerald speckled turquoise.Lieven Moana as Dolphins Into The Future dedicates his latest effort to the Azores, a remarkably beautiful volcanic archipelago that lacks very little by way of inspiration. The ambient conjurer weaves glorious tones and minimal percussion with brilliant and evocative field recording, having spent several weeks on the island cluster for this body of work. "Once an island gets born," Lieven articulates, "it’s a continuous struggle, a continuous dialogue, a learning, a BATTLE and cooperation of influences. The sea starts bashing on it’s shores. Erosion starts the complete demolition of the island. But at the same time, sun and sea give birth and food... Archipelagos have a heavy rhythm."

Quoted from http://underwaterpeoples.com/


Password: wind

Some news

Hi.
I've updated the blog's layout to a darker one. It looks nicer to me.

I've added a Statistics page. I know it's not useful for you but I like to see them sometimes.
The link is here.

I got some free time, I'll be uploading albuns for you and for my later memory. The file sharing services are tumbling around, I hope my files will stay online. If you find any broken link send an email to dayv4n@gmail.com

Last thing, if you have any album sugestion you tell me on my e-mail too.


Thanks,
Dayv4n

Cocteau Twins - Victorialand [320][MP3]


Victorialand
Label: Virgin Schallplatten GmbH
Format: Vinyl, LP
Country: Europe
Released: 1986
Genre: Rock
Style: Ethereal, Ambient, Dream Pop









The premise of Victorialand is really a good one, and a great one for this particular band. It's essentially a concept album, in the best sense since they aren't trying to tell a damned story but rather are making a collection of songs aimed at invoking a concept. The concept is a simple one (as concepts should be), they're making a whole album of songs meant to sound like Antarctica or other polar regions. It's right in the title of the songs and the album itself (Victoria Land is the name of a British portion of Antarctica).Every song here plays toward the theme without exception, and if you know anything about their delicate gorgeous sound you should definitely be nodding your head in agreement that this fits them well. And you know what? They do it pretty proud.

The songs are without exception extremely pretty, and all sound like perfect soundtracks to montages of glaciers and icebergs. It is basically a success. Unfortunately though..... it falls victim to one major issue. That everything more or less sounds exactly the same. Not sort of the same. Exactly the same. All the tracks pretty much could at best be different movements of the same symphony, you could make them fade into eachother with little issue. Sure they have a pretty well defined sound, but nothing about their sound means that the stuff has to be this similar. After all one of the major strengths of Treasure was that every gem on it had it's own personality even if they were basically cut from the same sort of cloth. "Ambient Snowscape Aria" could be the descriptor of damn well everything here.

There's much they could have done to avoid this honestly, namely they could have dared to add percussion? Yeah, there's next to no percussion on here at all. They stick to this very very rigidly. I don't really know why they did either, maybe they thought drums would break the concept?? Beats me. Drums on some of these tracks would have gone a long way toward making some stand out from others. Overall it's a huge shame because the songs are all so gorgeous, they didn't just forget all the genius on Treasure, this is definitely the same band that made that one. Except they've stuck to one note through and through, a really wonderful note, but one note nevertheless. This might be better suited to actually being a soundtrack, a perspective it seems 100% tailored toward. But as an album it can't really be considered great.

This review was made by Zephos [http://rateyourmusic.com/~Zephos]


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Sunday, April 08, 2012

Four Tet - There Is Love in You [MP3][320]


There Is Love in You
Label: Domino
Format: CD
Country: UK
Released: 2010
Genre: Electronic
Style: IDM, Deep House, Glitch, Leftfield









Kieran Hebden first came on the scene in the 1990s as a member of Fridge, a post-rock outfit that to me always looked better on paper than they sounded on record. Whatever you think of his first band, Hebden's subsequent career can be seen as the idea of post-rock done right. His appetite for music, on the evidence presented in his albums, singles, DJ sets, and collaborations, is voracious. But Hebden has a way of transforming and integrating influences rather than channeling them. So if his loose improvised collaborations with drummer Steve Reid captured something of the spirit of the classic late-60s free jazz records on Impulse!, they also managed to carve out a unique and identifiable aesthetic that sounds very much like today. When working with others, like the wooly free-folk unit Sunburned Hand of the Man or the dubstep producer Burial, Hebden knows when to lead and when to get out of the way. But all the while, whatever the context, he's absorbing. And when it comes to his own records as Four Tet, he has a knack for combining sounds from all over and making them his own.

Rounds is the one undisputed Four Tet classic, but all are at least good. It's not unusual for Four Tet records to have a few dull patches, but given Hebden's M.O., that's never a big problem. You expect him to explore a bit, so it's okay when once in a while something doesn't quite gel. Ringer, an intriguing EP from 2008 that throbbed with a minimal pulse and revealed a surprisingly austere side to his music, is a good example. It was the kind of record you wanted to inch closer to, because you had the sense there might be more going on beneath the surface than you'd initially realized. The follow-up album, There Is Love in You, is the glorious sound of those ideas being drawn into the light.
This is the most focused Four Tet album by a huge margin, and for some listeners that could be an issue. Hebden apparently refined this music over the course of a long stint as a resident DJ at the London club Plastic People. He'd play developing tracks in his sets, see how people responded, and return to them armed with this information. And while the result isn't dance music proper, There Is Love in You definitely functions on that plane. This isn't fist-pumping music that toys with the pleasure of pop music, like one of my favorite Four Tet tunes, "Smile Around the Face". And it's not an album that bowls you over with the density and intricacy of its textures. Instead, it's both heady and physical, subtle but powerful music for thinking and moving or ideally doing both at the same time: It's been a while since a brisk walk through the city sounded this good.

Very early in the 2000s, the corny word "folktronica" was sometimes applied to Four Tet's style. It never defined him, but the tag was applied because it described his fondness for samples of sounds that seem to be reverberating in a physical space. He sampled jazz cymbals, guitars, gamelan-style percussion, and voices, mixing them in with electronic squiggles and choppy breaks culled from hip-hop. Hebden's fondness for acoustic sounds caused his music to come over as unusually airy and bright. It made you think of daylight rather than the nocturnal crackle of sampled vinyl. Though Love is a very different album from those earlier records, remnants of the sound palette remain, imparting a similar sense of clarity, brightness, and warmth despite its late-night club-bound inspiration.

Visit [http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13861-there-is-love-in-you/] for complete review.


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Grouper - A I A : Alien Observer [MP3][320]


A I A : Alien Observer

Label: Yellow Records
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: US
Released: April 2011
Genre: Rock
Style: Experimental, Drone, Ambient






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The tools Liz Harris uses to make music as Grouper tend to be pretty basic: piano, guitar, synths, drones, hiss, and lots of reverb. If you've been following along with the twists and turns of noisy ambient music these last few years, this collection of elements may sound familiar, possibly bordering on cliché. But it's all in how you fit the pieces together. Despite sharing characteristics with a lot of other current music, Harris' has a distinctive sound that she pretty much owns. These short LPs, released at the same time and that share an overall aesthetic, sound beamed in from another realm, and they also sound like they could have come from no one else.

Part of the distinctiveness can be traced to Harris' voice, which floats above the music and can sound delicate and shrouded and mist and can also evince an approachable earthiness. Particularly on Alien Observer, she layers her voice in a way that occasionally brings to mind Julianna Barwick, but Harris sounds comparatively distant and less immersive. Her voice haunts these songs instead of leading them; it's a presence and not a personality, and the voice and instruments are in balance, serving each other without any one element becoming more prominent.

The other aspect that sets Grouper apart is an approach to sound that feels somehow both cruder and more sophisticated than the majority of the lo-fi crop. It's crude in the sense that it seems to hearken back to the dark, home-recorded songs of an earlier era. David Pearce's music as Flying Saucer Attack, recorded mostly during the 1990s, was often referred to as "rural psychedelia," and that description would fit this pair of records. This music feels both spacey and expansive and also oddly intimate and grounded, the work of someone who has mastered her tools and knows how to get the most out of them. The sophistication comes from the care in presentation. This music doesn't sound like it was built from mistakes or thrown together, it seems precisely ordered and arranged even while it's often muffled and warbly and distorted. Every sound exists for a reason.

Full review and more please follow this link [http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15332-a-i-a-alien-observer-a-i-a-dream-loss/].