Ambient

The brand new 2008 CD by Bass Communion features 4 layered guitar drone pieces, 2 noisy and 2 transcendently beautiful. Aquarius Records say "..expansive and delicate crystalline soundscapes, minimal and hushed, deep and resonant, deep tones, layered low end, all deftly assembled into a mysterious otherworldly droneworld. Instead of hushed and whispery, the opener here is caustic and crumbling, a field of ragged, distorted, blown out tones, a layered expanse of grinding buzz, but beneath it, angelic melodies shimmer and hum, transforming the track into something subtly beautiful, a sprawling prickly sonic squall wrapped around a dreamlike core."

Recorded at DGM Soundworld by David Singleton, with subsequent editing, mixing and mastering by Steven Wilson, Thread comprises nine improvised pieces by Theo Travis and Robert Fripp .

This unique and almost inevitable collaboration has yielded a beautiful sequence of recordings that artfully avoids the clichés routinely associated with “ambient” and “improv”, while wholly encompassing the core elements of both musical forms.

Unfashionably, perhaps, in an era where music is often portrayed as ephemeral or disposable, this is an album that rewards repeated listening, revealing new depths with each play.

React is the third collaboration between American ambient pioneer Robert Rich and DiN label boss Ian Boddy and is a record of their June 2007 performance at the Star’s End Radio Show 30th Anniversary Celebration Concert in Philadelphia.

Two of the founding fathers of the UK Electronic Music (Ian Boddy & Mark Shreeve) scene recording together as ARC create a heady mix of retro style sequencing, quirky melodics and deep space ambience.

Combining elements of contemporary Ambient and Electronica with the influence of Holy Minimalist composers such as Part and Gorecki, over the last decade experimental cellist/violinist Marvin Ayres has created a unique and consistently strong body of work.

Ethereal strings, electronic treatments and meditative piano figures drift across Eccentric Deliquescence's haunted Soundscapes, producing another striking addition to Ayres's impressive catalogue.

"...like some of (Brian) Eno's best work, the atmospheres Ayres creates can comfortably blend into the sonic backdrop, they are also compelling pieces of music that can dominate and transport." All About Jazz

As well as compositional, vocal, and ghost-music input from Clodagh Simonds, you will also find, on this occasion, Laura Sheeran (tortured and semi-hysterical vocals) and Michael Begg (inscrutable audibles), as well as the ineffable and much-loved Fabrizio Palumbo Modonese, whose unsung intonations provide equal portions of chill and warmth. Strangely satisfying all round.

Released in 2003,Transatlantic Collaboration was the result of an ongoing 5 year collaboration between David Cooper Orton and James H. Sidlo of Texan Psychedelic Indie experimentalists Honey Barbara.

Evoking an edgier, more urban, take on Fripp & Eno’s pioneering 1970’s work, the album presents a series of aural landscapes exhibiting a rare combination of beauty and grit.

Now repressed as a double disc including the full length Andrew Liles reconstruction, which SW described as being "even creepier than the original!", this is the third full length album by SW's Bass Communion project and is a one hour work divided into 5 distinct sections. The album is inspired by alleged tape recordings of the dead communicating with the living world, paranormal research most famously practised by scientist Konstantine Raudive in the 1970's. This is a spectral and brooding album, rich with dark clouds of sound, beautiful textures, creepy drones and eerie crackling. It is housed in a beautiful Japanese style thick card gatefold mini LP sleeve. SW considers this to be one of the finest recordings he has ever made.

Many view Nemeton's "Remix 2", the last track on The DAC Mixes, as amongst the highlights of the album. "Remix 2" was picked as being the best of the four remixes submitted by Nemeton, but it was a close call as the band considered all of them excellent.

Rather than have these tracks languishing, unheard, on the Darkroom hard drive, the band decided to put these out as a free download and a subtle advertisement for the original 'The DAC Mixes' album itself (which featured mixes and contributions from Bass Communion, Tim Bowness, Theo Travis, Peter Chilvers and Centrozoon, amongst others).

File Size: 27.9 MB.

A collection of unreleased Darkroom explorations recorded at the
Digital/Analogue Cambridge Festival, 2001, and subsequently put through the mixing mangle by the talented likes of Bass Communion, Rhinoceros, Theo Travis and Centrozoon.

Also contains Butterfly 2, featuring a vocal contribution from Tim Bowness.

The latest album by SW's ambient / drone project Bass Communion is a 2 disc set containing both stereo CD and 5.1 / high resolution stereo DVDA. Packaged in a beautiful thick card gatefold sleeve, with an additional 8 page booklet. A dark and spectral 40 minute work.

Originally released in 1999, 'No Ordinary Man' is an ideal introduction to Theo Travis and Dave Sturt's Cipher project. Inventively fusing live flute, sax and bass with dark and hypnotic layers of looped instrumental textures, Cipher create a seductive and unique Ambient soundworld.

Mixed and co-produced by Porcupine Tree/No-Man multi-instrumentalist Steven Wilson, the album also features guest appearances by synth innovator Richard Barbieri and vocalist Rabbi Gaddy Zerbib.
"This is trance-out music of the highest order." Progression (USA)

Allure is the concluding part of Fovea Hex's remarkable trilogy of EP releases, Neither Speak Nor Remain Silent.

A unique, atmospheric, fusion of folk-derived melodies and electronica featuring contributions from Robert Fripp, Steven Wilson, Donal Lunny and Percy Jones, amongst others.

Cipher's third album Elemental Forces finds the core duo of Theo Travis and Dave Sturt working alongside versatile percussionist Steve Hubback.

Augmenting the band's trademark fusion of ingeniously looped compositional structures and highly melodic improvisations with a more pronounced Eastern meditative influence, Elemental Forces is an exquisite and accessible blend of accident and intention, intensity and beauty.

Echoing the powerful and ambitious 1970s solo piano suites by the likes of Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea, Peter Chilvers' 'Piano' represents a return to the influences and improvisations that marked Peter's introduction to music.

The album's highlights include 'Ghost Town Suite', a linked sequence of seven atmospherically downbeat pieces recorded in a single half hour session.

Tilomo is the brainchild of ace Philadelphia-based producer/guitarist Tim Motzer (Nine Horses, Ursula Rucker).

After his more experimental excursions with Burnt Friedman and Jaki Liebzeit (Can), and his powerful groove-orientated work with King Britt and Ursula Rucker, Tilomo is Tim's first venture into Chill-out/Ambient territory and displays his typically uncompromising and inspired touch.

10 soundtracks, each a world in its own. A seductive soundwomb of soft electronics and fresh ideas.

Trepanation is Markus Reuter’s first release with US electronica label Lotuspike, and is a typically inventive example of his unique compositional style and instrumental dexterity.

Trepanation shimmers with complex layers and contrasts, combining soft atmospheres and pulsing rhythmic guitar textures.

Chiasmata was recorded during Boddy's concert at the planetarium of the National Space Centre, Leicester, UK on 1st November 2003. Boddy has, in the past, often used concert appearances as a testing ground for material that would then see a full studio re-working before release. Indeed this was the original intention with this concert but on listening to the tapes in the post-concert calm of his studio it became apparent that this material had really worked well in the concert environment. There was passion and delicacy in equal measure and a sonic construction to the semi-improvised set that would be next to impossible to recreate in the hard, cold glare of the studio spot-lights.

Elemental is Ian Boddy's new studio album. He has run the DiN label since 1999 and having worked with a diverse stable of musicians he has distilled their influences to startling effect in what is his most rhythmic, melodic and structured set of compostions for quite some time.

White House, Black Ash marks the 21st Century return of Pete Morgan's UXB project.

Pitched somewhere between the more evocative aspects of Moby and the brooding textures of Eno, this high quality CD-R comes with deluxe Carl Glover full-colour artwork.