Tag: ambient

Spreading Roots Episode #5

Mixes

Spreading Roots Episode #5 is out NOW on Ingrown Radio!

This installment of our hour-long radio show features a healthy dose of what I consider thinking music.

Lots of downtempo grooves, melancholy progressions and atmospheric ambience.

Some might call it background music – and it can absolutely serve this purpose. But upon a closer listen, the sounds can be both a tool for meditation and introspection.

Please enjoy this episode of Spreading Roots…

Spreading Roots is a Mix Series Presented by Ingrown Records

Songs selected and mixed by Eternity Tree’s Christopher Hoffmann Jacob (A.K.A. Ohsaurus)

Christopher’s Links – Website  Label  Twitter

Listen and Explore via BNDCMPR!

Tracklist

  1. emptybrother7 – lxvnge
    https://emptybrother7.bandcamp.com/track/lxvnge
  2. Liquid Fin – FACES + PLACES (blasted mix)
    https://liquidfin.bandcamp.com/track/faces-places-blasted-mix
  3. Kriva – Alka-Seltzer
    https://outcasttapes.bandcamp.com/track/alka-seltzer
  4. DJ Presença – AON 25
    https://presenca.bandcamp.com/track/aon-25
  5. Antonello Perfetto & Greg Nieuwsma – T-Bar Cichlid
    https://submarinebroadcastingco.bandcamp.com/track/t-bar-cichlid
  6. LIFE EDUCATION – Canyon Decay
    https://kosmonauten.bandcamp.com/track/canyon-decay
  7. Orvang Halmer – IMAX Waterfalls
    https://ingrown.bandcamp.com/track/imax-waterfalls
  8. gnaarf – Out of Mind, into the Night
    https://gnaarf.bandcamp.com/track/out-of-mind-into-the-night
  9. Multiform Palace – Street Koto
    https://multiformpalace.bandcamp.com/track/street-koto
  10. Scott Thorough – 4PM
    https://scottthorough.bandcamp.com/track/4pm
  11. Sleep Movies – 5G DAYDRM
    https://sleepmovies.bandcamp.com/track/5g-daydrm-2
  12. Lunar Cambridge – The Celestial Mechanic
    https://webelotrax.bandcamp.com/track/the-celestial-mechanic
  13. The Gaye Device – The Other Where The Other When
    https://submarinebroadcastingco.bandcamp.com/track/the-other-where-the-other-when
  14. waavypanda – basophobia
    https://waavypanda.bandcamp.com/
  15. DJ Presença – Enigma
    https://presenca.bandcamp.com/track/enigma
  16. Spooki Tavi – If There Is Then With You
    https://doomtrip.bandcamp.com/track/if-there-is-then-with-you

World Carousel, by Orvang Halmer

Quick Picks

World Carousel by Orvang Halmer is a collection of lovely and playful psychedelic noise tracks.

I found myself drifting deeply into a new world while listening to this one. I felt like perhaps I had become an NPC in some abandoned massively multiplayer realm, left to my own devices long after the player had wandered off. Tones, riffs, moods, energies and flavors all drift in and out of view as I stand firmly in my designated spot.

The sounds themselves are a healthy balance of humble nostalgia and brave experimentation. Synthesized melodies bend and warp around each other, briskly dissolving into the hazy atmosphere.

Lucky for us, the album is available on tape from the family at Ingrown Records! Order yourself a copy or stream the digital version now via Bandcamp.

blood year, by Cyparissus

Quick Picks

Luscious lo-fi drones from Cyparissus – blood year is a 4 track album with a heavy, brooding atmosphere.

The style is hazy and rustic – dusty and crusty textures layered atop waves of melancholy synth pads. The melodies and progressions take a backseat to quite prominent “field recordings” and other textural oddities. From dribbling rain and distant rolling thunder to crunchy and compressed tape sounds, Cyparissus utilizes a vast array of audio cues to evoke some potent emotions.

When the calm pads do overtake the noisy drones, they are quite placid and comforting! This provides a beautiful base for the rest of the textural sounds to stretch their legs.

If you’re a fan of slightly-dark ambient, or you’d like some noisy drone music that isn’t too harsh, I highly recommend checking out both blood year and the rest of Cyparissus’ discography, which is available on Bandcamp.

Fresh Batch – July 2021

Fresh Batch

Hello, music lovers!

This month we find ourselves unintentionally focused on the more experimental side of things.

When it comes to music, experimenting can take many forms. It becomes a very broad umbrella terms for sounds that are created with “less-than-commercial” intentions.

Experimental does not necessarily mean complex. Nor does it mean the sounds need to push the boundaries of creation. While these things commonly happen simply given the nature of experimenting, they are not necessary conclusions.

To experiment with music means to create without boundaries or limits. To create with self-satisfaction as the only goal in mind. Creating and manifesting sounds that provide pure pleasure to the creator, and sometimes the listener as well…

At least that’s the definition we follow here!

How do you feel about the experimental process in music and art? Do you find it makes the underground landscape less accessible, or perhaps more interesting? Let us know in the comments, we would love to hear from you…

Continue reading “Fresh Batch – July 2021” →

Dream Recollection, by Dream Paradigm

Quick Picks

Wholesome and lush ambience is absolutely overflowing from this new release by 夢范例 (Dream Paradigm)

夢迴想 (Dream Recollection) is a 4 track longform ambient project presented by DreamSphere net label.

The album itself is very soft and expansive, like a fuzzy weighted blanket. Foamy synthesizers, churning back and forth between swells of hope and receding melancholy, droning tones inducing a trance-like state…

Despite being only 4 tracks, the projects playtime is longer than most full-length records, sitting at 60 minutes flat. This hearty runtime paired with the incredibly relaxed nature of the sounds makes it a perfect companion for morning coffee or a yoga session.

The style of ambience is truly quite pure – as the label describes, Dreamtone – which is perhaps a new genre, or a self-assigned tag. Whatever the source, it’s a fitting name to bestow such sounds – with a focus on the beauty and the emotional possibilities of subtlety.

You can pickup the album now digitally via the DreamSphere bandcamp page !

Clear Muted Sine Recovery, by Sunplus

Quick Picks

Subtly spooky and subliminal sounds from SUNPLUS.

Brought to us by Submarine Broadcasting Company – Clear Muted Sine Recovery is quite an interesting project, and a fun listen!

Following the mission statement of “the intention of being played quietly“, the sounds have a unique wholesomeness to them. Almost how music created for old video games can instill a sense of claustrophobia – the mix focusing on cramming sounds densely onto a tiny cartridge, only to be looped as background music to a greater adventure.

Within the soft tones and wandering song structure lies some brilliant lo-fi psychedelic sounds. Simply put, it’s non-jazz noodling in the best possible way.

I adore electronic music when it sheds all semblance of structure – shifting the spotlight onto other aspects of the sound. This album accomplishes this and THEN SOME. I found myself doing the opposite of the suggestion advice of listening quietly, instead opting to crank up the sounds in my nicest pair of headphones – soaking in each individual tone and synth patch.

Clear Muted Sine Recovery is an excellent exploration in outsider ambient and experimental electronics – focusing on a soft yet unique palette of sounds. The resulting listening experience is quite thoughtful and sometimes meditative. Dark enough to encourage wandering thoughts, but not enough to feel brooding or manic.

You can pick up the album now both Digitally and on CD via the labels Bandcamp page!

Spreading Roots Episode #4

Mixes

Spreading Roots Episode #4 is out NOW on Ingrown Radio!

Spreading Roots is a Mix Series Presented by Ingrown Records

Songs selected and mixed by Eternity Tree’s Christopher Hoffmann Jacob (A.K.A. Ohsaurus)

Christopher’s Links – Website  Label  Twitter

Tracklist

  1. V@PYD – Dream State
    https://dmttapes.bandcamp.com/album/rain-fire-dmt-956
  2. Dax Pierson – For The Angels
    https://ratskinrecords.bandcamp.com/album/nerve-bumps-a-queer-divine-dissatisfaction
  3. Hunki Dori – Painting by Numbers
    https://ingrown.bandcamp.com/album/reverie
  4. Iyari – Silent Revolution
    https://submarinebroadcastingco.bandcamp.com/album/ayni
  5. 2D – selerom
    https://engramrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/data-45
  6. Lars Haur – Final Encounter
    https://larshaur.bandcamp.com/album/dos-dungeon-days
  7. Storyinsoil – Shifty
    https://ingrown.bandcamp.com/album/passage
  8. Doom Roost – Hammering Gibbous
    https://dontdronealone.bandcamp.com/album/your-scene
  9. El Valerie – Bringing Down The Hammer
    https://elvalerie.bandcamp.com/album/the-condor
  10. Sunplus – Young Bun
    https://submarinebroadcastingco.bandcamp.com/album/clear-muted-sine-recovery
  11. Trajedesaliva – Mama’ es un animal morado
    https://trajedesaliva.bandcamp.com/album/ultratumba
  12. Tyler Holmes – Eden
    https://ratskinrecords.bandcamp.com/album/nightmare-in-paradise
  13. boycalledcrow – Primary Colours
    https://strategictapereserve.bandcamp.com/album/bottletown
  14. F:\PORT_RICHEY – Can’t Get Away from Noise, Can’t Get Away from Light, Can’t Get Away from People… Can’t Get Away from This Future
    https://dmttapes.bandcamp.com/album/our-towns-become-a-city-since-youve-left-home-dmt-951
  15. GameFAQ’s Moderator – Anywhere We Want to Go
    https://dmttapes.bandcamp.com/album/you-can-go-almost-anywhere-with-a-computer-vol-2-dmt-941

Fresh Batch – June 2021

Fresh Batch

Hello, sweet lovers of music!



Last month had some seriously wonderful drops, and the beat goes on!

The amount of music that is created, released and distributed nowadays can be as breathtaking as it is overwhelming. It’s a constant challenge to keep an open eye, ear and heart for new voices in sound.

Whenever I get overwhelmed, I always remind myself of the days when I was younger and it was much more difficult to discover new music. Scraping the various tags and underbellies of websites like myspace and purevolume – to find people pursuing their creative goals with a DIY spirit…

Fast forward! We really are in an amazing era with incredible tools to create, curate and share to a massive audience, which is inspiring in itself! It’s casual thoughts like this that propel me forward.

Anyway, I have rambled enough! Without further delay, enjoy this months FRESH BATCH!

Continue reading “Fresh Batch – June 2021” →

Circle Inside, by Selvedge

Quick Picks

Circle Inside is a full-length textural ambient album from producer Selvedge, presented by Wormhole World Records!

First introduced to Selvedge’s material back in 2019 (thanks to Vivarium Recordings!) – I was excited to see this show up one day. Already anticipating a delicious drone experience, I was not left disappointed!

The album flutters back and forth between noise experiments and atmospheric ambience, doing a fine job of balancing light with darkness. Like a putty, darkness and melody are smooshed and folded in upon each-other, manifesting a very thought provoking experience.

Slight and subtle flavors of electro-acoustics drizzle the extremities of the tracks. Tones leaning towards plucks, chirps, distant bells and fuzzy ethereal choirs ~ however artificial they may be, finding firm and tangible footing in this lush landscape.

Perfect sounds for thoughtful mornings or rainy afternoons. Pick up the digital edition of the album now via Wormhole World’s Bandcamp, and let’s hope we get a second run of CD’s or perhaps a tape edition of this one!

Pessoa, by Distant Animals

Quick Picks

I use the word “satisfying” often when writing about music to help describe a fulfilling feeling without necessarily having a genre or emotion to assign. Yet again I return to that old well to tell you that Pessoa by Distant Animals is a truly satisfying listen.

Pessoa is a longform textural drone composition – a dense and hearty soundscape, populated with peculiar residents. Over the nearly 40 minute track, the listener traverses this alien world, gravitating towards and floating away from points of interest as they crest the horizon.

Hyperbole aside, it’s a carefully thought-out piece of atmospheric ambience. Sometimes dark, occasionally harsh, but overall presenting a mysterious atmosphere of agoraphobia and anticipation. Perfect for adding texture to your immediate atmosphere, or throw on the headphones and lose yourself in a vast expanse of sound.

You can grab the digital version of this one now from Fallen Moon Recordings!