Sounds from Innerspace

innerspaceboy · 01-30-2018, 07:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rostasi

^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^^^^
Those bring back memories...

BTW, Hoopla Digital gives you the ability to
"borrow" from their library of 111 ECM titles.

Thanks so much! I appreciate it!

innerspaceboy · 02-07-2018, 05:41 PM

“We wanted to release a very immersive, mind-blowing piece of music that was long and would deeply drench you in it. Lifeforms was redefining ‘classical ambient electronic experimental’ — that was the phrase we used.”

Garry Cobain, FSOL, 2007

For the very first time since its original issue twenty-four years ago in 1994, Universal has reissued Future Sound of London’s masterpiece, Lifeforms, on vinyl. The project was born of a fan-created Change.org petition, and the label responded and agreed to the community’s insistence that the original duo oversee mastering and production of the release.

Much has been written over the years about this iconic recording. Ken Micallef interviewed FSOL for emusician in 2007 and said, “the Future Sound of London helped usher in the modern era of electronic music…” [mixing] “...techno, ambient, jazz, folk and even operatic samples for a sound that would some 15 years later be dubbed “‘folktronic.’”

Micallef noted that the duo “claim influences as diverse as Cocteau Twins, Claude Debussy, A Certain Ratio, Rachmaninoff, Eno and Tangerine Dream.” The album also features Robert Fripp on "Flak," Talvin Singh's tablas on "Life Form Ends," and Toni Halliday from Curve doing a "vocal texture" on "Cerebral" as well as the treated sweeping vocals of Elizabeth Fraser on the album’s eponymous single.

Fun Fact: In November of 2017, the Guinness Book of World Records finally acknowledged FSOL’s “Lifeforms” as being the very first record-label-sponsored internet music download!

Photo Credit: Gaz Cobain. Used with permission.

Add to this stellar concoction the influences of Brian Dougan's father who was involved with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop inspiring Lifeforms’ almost musique concrète feel, and the result is an immersive and engaging album spanning two-discs of provocative abstract soundscapes.

A milestone recording long overdue for reissue, Lifeforms finally returns on vinyl to reawaken our passion for the mysterious, alienesque, and magical futureworld it so expertly painted more than two decades ago. Whether you're discovering the album for the first time or revisiting a beloved classic, Lifeforms is a mind-bending psychoacoustic journey that will reward any listener with a desire to explore.

OccultHawk · 02-18-2018, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by innerspaceboy

On this day in 2012 I'd posted my latest musical musings about Morton Subotnick's A Sky of Cloudless Sulphur and the works it inspired by Conrad Schnitzler.

Even though I’ve been having a very hard go of trying to get guest authors to do reviews of 2016 releases I would like to ask you to please write up something on Con-Struct by Conrad Schnitzler & Schneider TM on Freak Fighter. Thanks in advance either way.

innerspaceboy · 03-21-2018, 10:14 AM

I was incredibly fortunate to be the recipient of Beth Winegarner’s collection of music essays titled, Read the Music as a thoughtful gift from a friend who warmly remarked, “it’s always good when a book finds its perfect owner.” She couldn’t be more right!

In the introduction, Winegarner professes the critical role of music in her life, calling it a “powerful emotionally restorative” and stating that interfacing with music taught her a great deal about her inner landscape to discover herself. This absolutely resonated with my own perspective about music and its impact on my life. Winegarner published hundreds of articles as a journalist in the 90s on musical subjects ranging from Tori Amos to doom metal, so she certainly has some experience in the field that I was eager to explore.

Beth cited a quote from an article from The War Against Silence web column which stated:

“Writing about music without writing about how it affects your life is, to me, an exercise in surreal opacity, like writing about sex or child-rearing without talking about love…” That statement gave me pause to reflect on my own music journalism and to recognize opportunities where I might not have explored a featured recording as personally as I might have, and I’ll bear this in mind for future articles.

Beth’s writing style was enormously satisfying - she has a poetically-descriptive and impassioned flare when describing a piece of music, whether describing Maynard James Keenan’s vocals as, “smooth as blood over milk,” or Jeff Beck’s electric guitar as “bleating like exhaust from a cartoon Jetsons spaceship” or characterizing a string section as “sheer gossamer wings,” Winegarner always paints a brilliantly vivid musical scene for her readers. She even employs some purely poetic devices, like the elegant alliteration of her phrasing of the end of a song which “...comes to its crashing conclusion and is done, leaving us with spiraling spidery filigrees of feedback.” I can’t help but smile at that one.

What makes Beth’s reviews all the more engaging is her penchant for contextual examination. She characterizes artist’s works in relation to their inspiration, spanning a broad range of disciplines from Lovecraft, to Timothy Leary, to Crowley, the Necronomicon, deep listening, the Babylonian draconian goddess Tiamat, the Tolkien universe, the Hendrixian-inspired Sky Church of Seattle's Experience Music Project, the Golden Ratio, Pagan spiritual lore, Tibetan Buddhism, Shamanism, the spiritual vocal technique of konnakol (speaking in tongues), sexuality, Biblical mythology, and hypnosis! The book concludes with two essays on the industrial goth band Nephilim including a track-by-track analysis of the Zoon LP for an impressively in-depth examination of the work’s central themes of The Watchers and The Book of Enoch.

I appreciated the opportunity to learn the perspective of a female music essayist, as that facet of academia is often monopolized by male writers. I’d previously enjoyed reading essays by the great composer Pauline Oliveros and by New York art-pop heiress Laurie Anderson, but Beth’s book was my first glimpse at contemporary essays on rock music of the 90s so it was a real treat. And her impassioned remarks about Tori Amos, Days of the New, A Perfect Circle, and other important artists of the decade did what all great music essayists strive for - they inspired me to dust off my neglected CD shelf and revisit some of these wonderful recordings. The book felt like a thoughtful conversation over coffee with a brilliantly introspective friend.

I want to extend a special thanks to the woman who bestowed the book upon me. Librarians indeed give the best gifts!

OccultHawk · 03-21-2018, 11:13 AM

Quote:

Writing about music without writing about how it affects your life is, to me, an exercise in surreal opacity, like writing about sex or child-rearing without talking about love

That’s something to think about. Recently, I’ve been posting a lot about music from 2016 to the present. Often I’m reviewing music released very recently, sometimes even the same day (thank god for free time). I’ve found it’s much more challenging to write about brand new music because you haven’t had time to build a relationship with it. When I write about Beefheart or Suicide, for example, I have decades of personal history with this music and it’s easy to write about. With the Ramones and Coltrane, however, sometimes it gets more difficult because my love for them is so deep. I don’t just love their music; I love them. It gets so personal it becomes uncomfortable. Naturally, if you’re going to take time to write about music, even if it’s just a hobby on a forum like this, you probably want there to be some purpose. Recently, for me that purpose is to help the reader navigate through new music. She pinpoints something there that’s an obstacle to think about.

Here’s a book I’d like to recommend to you:

Ghosts of My Life: Writings on Depression, Hauntology and Lost Futures

By Mark Fisher

A lot of it is about his relationship with music. The title is a nod to the band Japan, you might have noticed.

innerspaceboy · 03-21-2018, 02:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OccultHawk

That’s something to think about. Recently, I’ve been posting a lot about music from 2016 to the present. Often I’m reviewing music released very recently, sometimes even the same day (thank god for free time). I’ve found it’s much more challenging to write about brand new music because you haven’t had time to build a relationship with it. When I write about Beefheart or Suicide, for example, I have decades of personal history with this music and it’s easy to write about. With the Ramones and Coltrane, however, sometimes it gets more difficult because my love for them is so deep. I don’t just love their music; I love them. It gets so personal it becomes uncomfortable. Naturally, if you’re going to take time to write about music, even if it’s just a hobby on a forum like this, you probably want there to be some purpose. Recently, for me that purpose is to help the reader navigate through new music. She pinpoints something there that’s an obstacle to think about.

Here’s a book I’d like to recommend to you:

Ghosts of My Life: Writings on Depression, Hauntology and Lost Futures

By Mark Fisher

A lot of it is about his relationship with music. The title is a nod to the band Japan, you might have noticed.

Thanks so much for following my little rantings and for the insightful response. I'll definitely look into that book! I'm putting the finishing touches on a special feature due to be published in early May so stay tuned!

innerspaceboy · 04-17-2018, 11:55 AM

2018 has been a year of great personal development and growth, and as such, I’ve found myself time and again seeking warm, familiar tonalities rather than venturing into the unfamiliar and novel territories I’d explored in the years prior. I found it comforting to revisit long-standing favorite composers who created a sense of returning home each time I revisited their catalogs. That is precisely what made this latest discovery such a joy for me at this point in my life.

Harold Budd is unquestionably one of the foremost veterans in the field of ambient composition. His trademark soft-pedal technique is instantly captivating and calming, and while he may not be breaking any new ground in the genre, that's not what his listeners are seeking. Budd commands a mastery of his craft seldom matched in his field, and he’s consistently delivered quality contemplative soundscapes for nearly fifty years.

At 81 years of age, Harold Budd has shown no sign of slowing down. He’s collaborated with numerous artists, including Brian Eno, Robin Guthrie, The Cocteau Twins, Clive Wright, Eraldo Bernocchi, Bill Nelson, Andy Partridge, Daniel Lentz, Fila Brazilla, & U2. Budd retired briefly in 2005 but quickly returned to composition and released ten more albums and this magnificent new acquisition in the years that followed. I’d always wanted a vinyl keepsake of Budd’s music, but much of his catalog was limited to compact disc, including the Budd Box seven-disc set. That what made this discovery an exciting addition to my library.

From the original VinylFactory announcement in September:

Quote:

Translucence, Drift Music and Nighthawks are being released on limited edition 3xLP by Demon Music for the first time.

Translucence / Drift Music is a 2003 double studio album from ex-Ultravox frontman John Foxx and ambient composer Harold Budd. Minimalist composer Ruben Garcia joined the duo to feature on their third album Nighthawks.

The triple vinyl package also features artwork by Jonathan Barnbrook, the graphic designer who created the Grammy-winning art for David Bowie’s Blackstar.

This box set features the complete Budd/Foxx recordings - seminal collaborations of the ambient genre. Nighthawks is dedicated to Garcia, who sadly passed away in 2013. At the announcement of the box set, Popmatters.com noted that, at the album’s 142-minute runtime, you’re going to need a lot of candles. They called the set, “lovely and provocative” with occasional chromatics and discord. "The City Stops for Snow" was described as “painting a picture of urban stillness” with its interplay of tiny overtones over top the many sustains and echoes.

This is the first time these recordings have been available on vinyl, and Demon Records did an exquisite job. The discs are 180g heavyweight vinyl, housed in a rigid slipcase. This release also comes with a limited print signed by John Foxx.

Rateyourmusic user, dvd offered some valuable insight about the impact of this music on the listener:

Quote:

It is very strange: after I listen I find it really difficult to recall any more specific details of the music itself. ... The music is so transparent, like there is nothing to grab onto, and it just sort of drifts in and out on the edge of consciousness on its own. Maybe this is not a bad thing for ambient music, and likely part of what the creators were going for based on the title(s). For all its subtleties, the music still feels like it has some power over my mental state, as if it puts me in sort of a weird trance: something that's vaguely serene and beautiful.

Paste Magazine shared similar remarks about the tranquil calm of this set, calling it “almost unbearably beautiful.” The impressionistic nature of the soundscapes was described as evoking images of “silhouettes of birds cutting across an early evening sky or slowly floating on a quiet, still body of water” and “tramping through a blanket of white on a quiet boulevard.” This is precisely the sort of contemplative music which brings me that feeling of homecoming.

I discovered Budd’s compositions early in my musical journey, initially through his collaborations with Brian Eno. The Pearl and The Plateaux of Mirror were albums I instantly knew I needed to have on vinyl, and they were followed shortly thereafter by an original pressing of his critically-acclaimed collaboration with Cocteau Twins for The Moon and The Melodies. But other than the aforementioned titles and a pressing of The Serpent in Quicksilver, I’d never been able to find a release on vinyl that truly felt like it celebrated and showcased Budd’s best work. And sadly the Budd Box has only been issued on CD. So imagine my excitement at discovering this recently-issued collection of the complete Budd & Foxx recordings!

Mike Powell of Pitchfork fittingly described Harold Budd’s characteristic sound as existing “in that misty place between ambient, new age, and minimalist composition, where everything is gentle and nothing lasts for long.” Powell described Budd’s quietly recognizable style as “intimate and intuitive; fragile but warm; seductive but just a little bit mysterious, like the soft tinkling of a presence in the next room.”

But perhaps the most fitting description comes from the set’s designer Jonathan Barnbrook who explains:

Quote:

These are pieces that I return to again and again. Separate from his (John Foxx) more electronic work, they have a humanity and serenity that only comes with a great musician working in collaboration with others greats in an empathetic, understanding style. The music has a delicate, reflective quality – of human beings that have lived life and realise the beauty of it all, the joy and the suffering. They ask us to stop and consider, and that despite it all we should never desire to change a moment of it.

TheQuietus published a wonderful interview with John Foxx at the launch of this box set. His remarks revealed much about the albums’ composition and his thoughts about their collaboration. Foxx stated that he, “especially wanted to extend the harmonics of the piano strings resonance and sonic decay and use that as a live, real-time expansion of the sound.“ He went so far as to call Budd “a modern-day Satie.”

And describing the production process, Foxx said:

Quote:

We also used another completely unique property of recording - reversed time. By reversing sounds and recording reverbs, then playing them forward and applying further layers of reverberation, you can enrich the already extended harmonics. You also have the miracle of reverberations moving simultaneously forward and backwards in time, and a truly complex interplay and texture going on between them. We took all this layering and multiplying as far as we possibly could, while still observing the delicacy and emotional tone of the pieces. All you have to do is listen and feel.

Allmusic.com summarized Budd's sound as “distinctively dreamy, often extraordinary and occasionally ominous” and likens his technique to that of Erik Satie and Claude Debussy. Budd’s slowly morphing reverberant and shimmering atmospherics certainly have an impressionistic quality, and the parallels drawn to these greats are not inapt.

To those who might precipitously dismiss these works as simple new age music, I’d offer this closing remark from The Brighton Festival’s Guy Morley who said, "I think the impact of Harold is yet to be realised. Tonally, Harold has always come from a very deep and instinctive place. You don't need a degree in composition. Its simplicity belies its originality."

By any measure, this box set is a fantastic keepsake for anyone who enjoys the godfathers of ambient music.

Tracklist:

LP 1 / Translucence

1.Subtext
2.Spoken Roses
3.Momentary Architecture
4.Adult
5. Long Light
6. A Change In The Weather
7. Here And Now
8. Almost Overlooked
9. Implicit
10. Raindust
11.Missing Person
12. You Again

LP 2 / Drift Music

1. Sunlit Silhouette
2. The Other Room
3. Some Way Through All The Cities
4. Stepping Sideways
5 A Delicate Romance
6. Linger
7. Curtains Blowing
8. Weather Patterns
9. Coming Into Focus
10. After All This Time
11. Someone Almost There
12. Resonant Frequency
13. Avenue Of Trees
14. Underwater Flowers
15. Arriving

LP 3 / Nighthawks

1. Down A Windy Street
2. Now That I’ve Forgotten You
3. The Invisible Man
4. Fugitive Desire
5. From Then To Now
6. When The City Stops For Snow
7. The Shadow Of Her Former Self
8. Music For Swimmers
9. Lovedust
10. Nighthawks

innerspaceboy · 05-08-2018, 01:52 PM

Just arrived at Innerspace Labs - Brian Eno's stunning new super deluxe limited edition 9LP vinyl box set, Music For Installations!

“If you think of music as a moving, changing form, and painting as a still form, what I’m trying to do is make very still music and paintings that move. I’m trying to find in both of those forms, the space in between the traditional concept of music and the traditional concept of painting.” - Brian Eno

From the official press release from Astralwerks Records:

‘Music For Installations’ is a collection of new, rare and previously unreleased music, all of which was recorded by Brian Eno for use in his installations covering the period from 1986 until the present (and beyond). Over this time, he has emerged as the leading exponent of “generative” music worldwide and is recognised as one of the foremost audio-visual installation artists of his time.

These highly-acclaimed works have been exhibited all over the globe - from the Venice Biennale and the Marble Palace in St. Petersburg to Beijing’s Ritan Park and the sails of the Sydney Opera House.

The elegantly minimalist set’s packaging was designed by Eno with long-time collaborator Nick Robertson. The set is housed in a 12 x 12 rigid box containing 9 LPs and each album is packaged in a beautiful die-cut sleeve. The collection comprises music from Brian Eno’s installations past, present and future.

For those of you who would challenge the practicality of having to get up and flip 18 sides of ambient music, you’ll be pleased to learn that the vinyl edition includes a digital download of these new and rare selections so you can enjoy Music For Installations anywhere you like, uninterrupted.

Also included in this handsome set is an exclusive 64-page book containing a brand new essay by Eno and which features rare and previously unseen photographs from his various exhibitions from 1997 to the present. The set is ideal for long time admirers and collectors of Eno’s catalog. Even for the fan who already has it all, Installations offers new content never before available to the public.

The press release notes that 50% of the music contained in the box set has never been available in any format and the rest has only ever had very limited CD direct-to-consumer release. See the complete track list below for original release info for all of the featured recordings.

While the set is a wonderful treasure for any lover of Eno's generative or installation music, there were a few omissions that we were sad to see left out of the collection. The set lacks ‘Compact Forest Proposal’ ‘Quiet Club’ ‘Music for the Long Now’ and the extraordinary ‘Extracts from Music for White Cube, London 1997.’ Just the same this is an incredible collectible that should satisfy anyone who has been chronicling Eno's evolution over the course of his illustrious career.

When I tried to pre-order on March 16th, Amazon did not yet have a vinyl edition for sale, and to date lists only one copy as available. But I've always steered clear of Amazon for limited edition internationally-dispatched vinyl sets because they have no standard for packaging and there is a high damage rate for their vinyl fulfillment.

Next I tried https://www.enoshop.co.uk but the site charges an additional $65.87 for international shipping bringing the set to over $300. Thankfully, I found that Bleep.com had the vinyl edition for pre-order, shipping for either $14.05 standard or $22.78 with tracking and confirmation and signature upon delivery, (and I chose the latter). I'm glad I ordered when I did because the set has since sold out from all official distributors.

For the last year I’ve been riding the tail end of the bell curve of vinyl collector fetishism. And so I had to put some serious thought into whether or not to invest in this particular set, especially at its price point. My rational voice cited the impractical nature of the format as an argument against the purchase. But the collection appealed to my emotive side which justified the work as an important historical document from one of my most inspirational artists. It's an ideal collectible for the man or woman who already has everything Eno, and as a limited edition set there is a sense of urgency to pre-order while it's still available or pay a much higher price once the window of opportunity has passed. In the end, it felt like an exceptional piece that was well worth the cost to include in my collection.

This is a proud addition to The Innerspace Labs ambient library and one which I’ll enjoy for years to come!

Track List:

Music From Installations (previously unreleased):
01: ‘Kazakhstan’
Premiered at the Asif Khan-designed installation ‘We Are Energy’ in the UK Pavilion at Astana Expo 2017 in Kazakhstan
02: ‘The Ritan Bells’
Premiered at an installation by Eno at Ritan Park in Beijing, China as part of the British Council’s ‘Sound in the City’ series, 2005.
03: ‘Five Light Paintings’
Premiered at an installation by Eno called ‘Pictures Of Venice’ at the Gallerie Cavallino, in Venice, Italy, 1985.
04: ‘Flower Bells’
Premiered at an installation by Eno called ‘Light Music’ at the Castello Svevo in Bari, Italy, 2017.

‘77 Million Paintings’ (previously unreleased):
01: ‘77 Million Paintings’
Premiered at the inaugural exhibition of ‘77 Million Paintings’ at La Foret Museum Tokyo, Japan, 2006.

‘Lightness – Music For The Marble Palace’ (previously only available as a limited-run CD, via Enostore only):
01: ‘Atmospheric Lightness’
02: ‘Chamber Lightness’
Premiered at the Eno installation ‘Lightness in the Marble Palace’ at The State Russian Museum in St Petersburg, Russia, 1997.

‘I Dormienti’ / ‘Kite Stories’ (previously only available as separate limited run CDs, via Enostore only):
01: ‘I Dormienti’
Premiered at an eponymous installation by the Italian sculptor Mimmo Paladino at The Undercroft of The Roundhouse in London, 1999.
02: ‘Kites I’
03: ‘Kites II’
04: ‘Kites III’
Premiered at an installation by Brian Eno at the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki, Finland, 1999.

‘Making Space’ (limited-run CD previously only available at Eno installations and on the Lumen website):
01: ‘Needle Click’
02: ‘Light Legs’
03: ‘Flora and Fauna’ / ‘Gleise 581d’
04: ‘New Moons’
05: ‘Vanadium’
06: ‘All The Stars Were Out’
07: ‘Hopeful Timean Intersect’
08: ‘World Without Wind’
09: ‘Delightful Universe (seen from above)’
Compiled by Eno for sale exclusively at his installations, this was first made available while guest artistic director of the Brighton Festival, 2010.

‘Music For Future Installations’ (previously unreleased):
01: ‘Unnoticed Planet’
02: ‘Liquidambar’
03: ‘Sour Evening (Complex Heaven 3)’
04: ‘Surbahar Sleeping Music’

OccultHawk · 05-08-2018, 03:24 PM

If I had been your roommate I would have kept the place spotless if you just let me sit quietly in the corner while you play your records. I wouldn’t speak unless spoken to. Listening to all that on vinyl would be like a brain massage.

innerspaceboy · 05-08-2018, 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OccultHawk

If I had been your roommate I would have kept the place spotless if you just let me sit quietly in the corner while you play your records. I wouldn’t speak unless spoken to. Listening to all that on vinyl would be like a brain massage.

Thanks, OH! I've also just scored a jawdropping promo for the limited edition John Cage Trust Sonatas and Interludes archival audiophile edition box set. I'll share it just as soon as I've taken it in and drafted a short feature.

And this morning I stumbled upon an ambient music site I'd always intended to explore, so I scraped 72 hours of their media content and uniformly tagged and structured the files in preparation for a month-long series of listening sessions. I'll share any noteworthy highlights.

I'm just honored that there are people out there who enjoy what I'm spinning.

05-08-2018, 03:24 PM	#599 (permalink)
OccultHawk one-balled nipple jockey Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Dirty Souf Biatch Posts: 22,006	If I had been your roommate I would have kept the place spotless if you just let me sit quietly in the corner while you play your records. I wouldn’t speak unless spoken to. Listening to all that on vinyl would be like a brain massage. __________________ 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