*AR 'Wolf Notes'


Read full review of Wolf Notes - *AR on Boomkat.com ©

*AR is the collaborative project between Richard Skelton and Autumn Richardson. 'Wolf Notes' is their debut long-player. The latter is an apt term, as while the album is split into 5 singular parts, it's best heard in one continuous sitting (as all home listening music should be). 'Wolf Notes' is currently an 'album of the week' over at Boomkat.

Mark Van Hoen 'Truancy'

Apart from making some great music during the past 30 years, Mark Van Hoen is a much-needed myth-buster when it comes to electronica. Flying in the face of the genre's obsession with the new (and the tendency for each generation to claim its sound/scene as revolutionary), you can rely on Van Hoen to point out that the evolution of electronic music is much more complex.

One of the founder members of Seefeel (he's since collaborated with various band members over the years), he released several albums for R&S and then Apollo during the 1990's under his Locust guise, before recording under his own name in the 2000's. Stylistically, Van Hoen (and admittedly many other IDM artists) predated dubstep and other more recent electronica sub strands by several years. If you want an overview of his career and work from Autocreation onwards then head to: http://www.markvanhoen.com

Mark has just released this video to accompany the track, 'Truancy', which he recorded in 1983.

 

The Irresistible Force 'Space Is The Place' (Intergalactic Ambient Mix)

The Irresistible Force aka Mixmaster Morris aka the silver suited bald guy who's peddled a fine line in (way) out there electronica for over two decades. A true visionary, his singles and albums helped define early 90's ambient via labels like Rising High, and later for Ninja Tune (though it's best to avoid asking him about Coldcut). 

1991's 'Space Is The Place' was his second single under his Irresistible Force guise for Rising High, and also featured on the imprint's first Chill Out Or Die compilation. 

Old Apparatus '14:00'

No idea who Old Apparatus are but '14:00' is one of the best pieces of electronica I've heard this year. This is their debut production released in January via the Deep Medi label. Part Namlook, part Burial, and part Schaeffer (see yesterday's post) it comes with a rather fine video from Adrian Nettleship (http://www.adriannettleship.com) who will continue his work for their live shows.

More info (actually nothing other than links and a doctored Victorian photo) and a free promo mix can be found here:

http://www.oldapparatus.org/

Pierre Schaeffer's 'Etude Noire'

If Rephlex had existed back in the late 1940's they'd have released this.
Pierre Schaeffer's early example of musique concrete makes Hudson Mohawke
and Four Tet sound like the Black Eyed Peas.

Looped found sounds, hisses, crackles and various instruments collide over 4
minutes of groundbreaking experimentation. Probably the last thing you want
to hear at 5am though.

Reload 'Le Soleil Et La Mer' (Black Dog Productions Remix)

Before Global Communication there was Reload. Initially a solo project from
Mark Pritchard, the latter was joined by Tom Middleton during the making of
the debut album 'A Collection Of Short Stories'. This album track, 'Le
Soleil Et La Mer', was also released on 1993's Auto Reload Vol. 2 EP, and
remixed by Black Dog Productions.

The original is blissed-out early breakbeat with probably the best melodic
seagull sound you've ever heard. Black Dog drop the tempo, add Autechre's
chattering percussion, and cover it all off with bleeps and orchestral-style
string breakdowns. An emotive edm classic that could even touch the hearts
of Underground Resistance fans.

Brian Eno (and Robert Wyatt) '1/1' from 'Ambient 1: Music For Airports'

I could have started with Satie, Pierre Schaeffer, Terry Riley, Steve Reich or numerous others, but this is the album that's generally acknowledged as the starting point for ambient music, by the man who pretty much created the genre.

'Music For Airports' was the first in a series of four albums from Brian Eno. '1/1' is the album opener and was composed by Eno with Soft Machine's Robert Wyatt and the engineer Rhett Davies. As befits an example of 'classic' ambient, the spaces between the piano notes are equally as beautiful as the keys themselves. 

 

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