The Album Club: "Famous Places" by Goldmund

~~MicShazam~~ · 07-28-2017, 08:06 AM

I think going with your instinct is the important thing when it comes to music. Maybe you could intellectualize your way out of wanting to listening to it, but that would be silly. I definitely agree that music is all about whether you bond with it or not.

I think that liking or disliking something comes first, then we rationalize our feelings about it afterwards.

Trollheart · 07-28-2017, 03:27 PM

I found this when trying to (and I think succeeding to) review Vangelis's Oceanic. Like all of Vangelis's music, it's a completely instrumental album, so how to review it? Well, I began with the premise upon which the album seems to be set: images of the sea and the ocean. And it works. Some tracks, you can hear the boat coming into harbour in the music, others you can get the crash of the surf as we cleave through the sea, still others have a more ethereal, kind of underwater sound about them. Probably few if any people (including me) would say this album is exciting: it's one for relaxing to, falling asleep to. But the individual tracks are so different from each other than it's easy to follow the journey and pick out the various stops along the way, expressed through the Greek maestro's music. I just didn't get that with this album. To be honest, if it hadn't been Goldmund's intention to represent certain places, I would have said ok, it's basically all one composition (as I think I did): in places it reminds me a lot of Chopin's nocturnes and etudes. But I didn't get a feeling of any sort of cohesive theme running through it at all.

TechnicLePanther · 07-29-2017, 09:43 AM

Goldmund - Famous Places

Boring, bland, background music. It seems like not much thought was put into each of these songs. They're full of cliches and repetition, both of which are horrible given the album is already extremely minimal. There are a couple great tracks; the ones that have a bit more going on as well as some interesting chord progressions, notably "Havelock".

That's really the main problem with this (and really any ambient album). A track is either great or it doesn't work at all. And this album just happens to have mainly tracks that don't work at all. It's not annoyingly bad, but it's certainly not good. 4/10

On my list of "favorite" to least favorite albums:

Radiohead - Pablo Honey
Goldmund - Famous Places
KISS - Destroyer

Anteater · 07-29-2017, 04:22 PM

Goldmund - Famous Places

Rock solid minimalist ambient. The kind of thing that would have been a bestseller on Windham Hill's catalog back in the late 80's / early 90's. It lacks the evocative power of, say, the stuff Harold Budd used to do...but that's just me being nitpicky.

I've got a shortlist of ambient that sits at the top of my queue at any given time, but not sure if this is quite up there. I'll explore more of this dude's output and his other projects though, since I did enjoy Famous Places overall.

7 out of 10

OccultHawk · 07-29-2017, 07:00 PM

I don't think his ambiguous melodies would have caught on big with the Windham Hill crowd. I like a lot of Windham artists. The first two Michael Hedges records, Will Ackerman, George Winston, Liz Story. I do think it's a progression though and the stigmatization of Windham Hill is definitely misguided. Those days of backlash are probably over, however.

innerspaceboy · 07-29-2017, 07:28 PM

I'm really pleased to see so many Windham Hill artists mentioned favorably here. I'm spinning Harold Budd's catalog presently and have numerous releases from all their major artists. Thankfully, their fall from general favor relegated their entire discography to dollar bins nationwide, so building a sizable WH catalog is a snap.

Anteater's position about the evocative power of Budd's music is spot on. I'd be curious to see whether younger generations of listeners have yet been turned on to these artists.

OccultHawk · 07-29-2017, 09:04 PM

My Windham Hill vinyl is still in my collection. Fantastic sound quality.

**Frownland** · 07-29-2017, 09:30 PM

I appreciate OH dropping something different in here, it's cool to get a nice spread of genres for the club.

The album is nice and tame. One thing that would make it a lot better for me would be if the piano was less prominent and if the electronics were a little more in the foreground. This is because the piano on some tracks worked really well (like Bergen), while others had melodies that weren't that great (such as the opener), and the electronics were good across the board. The album works best for me as a handful of tracks than a full album experience due to the monotony. The influence of Eno is obvious on this record, as Goldmund takes an approach to make their music "as ignorable as it is interesting." However, most of the tracks are a little too ignorable for me, while some tracks like Bowen have a more interesting fluid rhythm that's almost akin to a heartbeat.

This album has some interesting ideas spread across some of the tracks, but there's just not enough flavour for me. It's pleasant background music for sure, but there's much more rewarding ambient music out there. 4/10

OccultHawk · 07-30-2017, 07:00 AM

Quote:

The album works best for me as a handful of tracks than a full album experience due to the monotony.

I'm with you. Even as reading background it's going in a long playlist on shuffle. Mixtape fodder rules! FTW!!!1!

The Identity Matrix · 07-30-2017, 08:16 PM

Goldmund - Famous Places

I really enjoyed the majority of this album. Towards the end it got a little boring and "samey" for me, but overall the peaceful and almost nostalgic tone the album took grabbed me right away. I get that it is based on locations that were meaningful to the artist, but it felt like I could relate places that were meaningful to me as well. I found the ambient electronics throughout the album to be great touches. Overall I enjoyed the album, but I understand where most are coming from when they refer to it as boring. The similarities throughout the tracks can be a little numbing at times.

Final Score: 6.8/10

View Poll Results: How much do you like the album? (Voting without a writeup is UNACCEPTABLE)
Loved it	2	20.00%
Liked it	2	20.00%
Meh	4	40.00%
Disliked it	1	10.00%
Hated it	1	10.00%
Voters: 10. You may not vote on this poll

07-28-2017, 03:27 PM	#42 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,994	I found this when trying to (and I think succeeding to) review Vangelis's Oceanic. Like all of Vangelis's music, it's a completely instrumental album, so how to review it? Well, I began with the premise upon which the album seems to be set: images of the sea and the ocean. And it works. Some tracks, you can hear the boat coming into harbour in the music, others you can get the crash of the surf as we cleave through the sea, still others have a more ethereal, kind of underwater sound about them. Probably few if any people (including me) would say this album is exciting: it's one for relaxing to, falling asleep to. But the individual tracks are so different from each other than it's easy to follow the journey and pick out the various stops along the way, expressed through the Greek maestro's music. I just didn't get that with this album. To be honest, if it hadn't been Goldmund's intention to represent certain places, I would have said ok, it's basically all one composition (as I think I did): in places it reminds me a lot of Chopin's nocturnes and etudes. But I didn't get a feeling of any sort of cohesive theme running through it at all. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

07-29-2017, 09:43 AM	#43 (permalink)
TechnicLePanther and the livin' is easy... Join Date: Jun 2015 Location: New York Posts: 1,997	Goldmund - Famous Places Boring, bland, background music. It seems like not much thought was put into each of these songs. They're full of cliches and repetition, both of which are horrible given the album is already extremely minimal. There are a couple great tracks; the ones that have a bit more going on as well as some interesting chord progressions, notably "Havelock". That's really the main problem with this (and really any ambient album). A track is either great or it doesn't work at all. And this album just happens to have mainly tracks that don't work at all. It's not annoyingly bad, but it's certainly not good. 4/10 On my list of "favorite" to least favorite albums: Radiohead - Pablo Honey Goldmund - Famous Places KISS - Destroyer __________________ Many have tried to destroy it... but... true evil never dies. It is only... REBORN *SUGGEST ME AN ALBUM* - I'm probably not going to listen to it but I will if you bother me enough.

07-29-2017, 07:00 PM	#45 (permalink)
OccultHawk one-balled nipple jockey Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Dirty Souf Biatch Posts: 22,006	I don't think his ambiguous melodies would have caught on big with the Windham Hill crowd. I like a lot of Windham artists. The first two Michael Hedges records, Will Ackerman, George Winston, Liz Story. I do think it's a progression though and the stigmatization of Windham Hill is definitely misguided. Those days of backlash are probably over, however. __________________ 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Member of the Year & Journal of the Year Champion Behold the Writing of THE LEGEND: https://www.musicbanter.com/members-...p-lighter.html

07-29-2017, 09:04 PM	#47 (permalink)
OccultHawk one-balled nipple jockey Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Dirty Souf Biatch Posts: 22,006	My Windham Hill vinyl is still in my collection. Fantastic sound quality. __________________ 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Member of the Year & Journal of the Year Champion Behold the Writing of THE LEGEND: https://www.musicbanter.com/members-...p-lighter.html

07-28-2017, 08:06 AM	#41 (permalink)
~~MicShazam~~ Account Disabled Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Aalborg Posts: 7,634	I think going with your instinct is the important thing when it comes to music. Maybe you could intellectualize your way out of wanting to listening to it, but that would be silly. I definitely agree that music is all about whether you bond with it or not. I think that liking or disliking something comes first, then we rationalize our feelings about it afterwards.

07-29-2017, 09:30 PM	#48 (permalink)
Frownland SOPHIE FOREVER Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: East of the Southern North American West Posts: 35,541	I appreciate OH dropping something different in here, it's cool to get a nice spread of genres for the club. The album is nice and tame. One thing that would make it a lot better for me would be if the piano was less prominent and if the electronics were a little more in the foreground. This is because the piano on some tracks worked really well (like Bergen), while others had melodies that weren't that great (such as the opener), and the electronics were good across the board. The album works best for me as a handful of tracks than a full album experience due to the monotony. The influence of Eno is obvious on this record, as Goldmund takes an approach to make their music "as ignorable as it is interesting." However, most of the tracks are a little too ignorable for me, while some tracks like Bowen have a more interesting fluid rhythm that's almost akin to a heartbeat. This album has some interesting ideas spread across some of the tracks, but there's just not enough flavour for me. It's pleasant background music for sure, but there's much more rewarding ambient music out there. 4/10 __________________ Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth. d e a f b o x