Aube - Triad Thread (Armonika, 2000)

1 Heart Of Gold 20:04
2 Silver Cloud 20:06
3 Phase Bronze Oblique 20:02

All composed, mixed, recorded & designed by Akifumi Nakajima at Studio MECCA Kyoto Japan between September - December 1998 using only the metal as source material.

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Aube - Ricochetentrance (Lunar, 1999)

1 Move From Drop 7:04
2 Ricochet 13:34
3 Flow Into Foam 12:54
4 After The Stream 17:53
5 Entrance 22:02

Japan's Aube (Akifumi Nakajima) has carved out his own niche in the ambient/exploratory listening realm by focusing each of his many releases on a single sound source. His latest (on Lunar, an offshoot of Italy's esteemed Amplexus label) is an exercise in long-running, meditative textures, subtly shaped using water as his source material. Ricochetentrance is by no means his first dip into the aquatic.
His other water-borne recordings include Hydrophobia, Spindrift, Drip, Submerged Tension, Aqua Syndrome, Flush, Healsonar , Across The Water , Spiral Tricle Distillation and more I'm sure amid his vast catalog of many sounds on many labels. (See at least a partial discography here.) And those are only some of the water-sampled works... Nakajima's dozens of additional recordings use other source materials such as metal (see Metal De Metal in this month's Overviews), fluorescent & glow lamps, voltage controlled oscillators, steel wire, cans, magnetic resonance spectroscopy, female voice, the lungs, brain waves-electroencephalogram, heartbeats, glass, telephones, bells, fire and even The Bible.

Bubbly/clunky sounds ooze from the obviously aquatic Move From Drop (7:04); headphones are recommended for this aural bubblebath. Largely formed by binaural metronomic ticks and driblets, Ricochet percolates and grows considerably louder in its course... building, echoing, then abruptly cutting off. After a long fade from silence, Flow Into Foam slowly displays a sonar-like quality which radiates through the gurgly aquasphere, splashed with further accentuating splishes and bloops.

The splattery start-and-stop bursts of After The Stream sound alarmingly like the noises one might hear during a bathroom excursion, though certainly more prolonged! That disturbing notion slightly mars my listening enjoyment, I must say... though the 18-minute track develops further, leaving those "streams" behind, becoming a minimalistic rhythmic cycle which passes through various (rather quiet) phases and subtle forms. The disc exits with Entrance (22:02); hypnotic patterns of drips and blips, eventually coalesce into something like a tiny, tinny, subaquatic techno rhythm.

To further explore this enigmatic recording, I contacted Akifumi Nakajima with three questions and received the following answers.

AmbiEntrance: Aube has used water as a source many times before... How is Ricochetentrance different from the others?

Aube: The water as a source is not so different in all, but in Ricochetentrance, I manipulated it more minimal and rhythmical than before.

AmbiEntrance: What was your goal with this release and how did you achieve it?

Aube: There were not exact goal I wanted to be. It achieved by natural.

AmbiEntrance: Can you give us some insight to the processes/processing you used here?

Aube: I use several analogue & digital effects all the time.
AmbiEntrance

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Mathias Grassow - The Fragrance Of Eternal Roses (Arya, 2000)

1 Through The Void (6:03)
2 Twilight Garden (4:51)
3 From Behind The Shadows (4:45)
4 Soham (11:38)
5 The Fragrance Of Eternal Roses (42:19)
6 Evening Afterglow (4:11)

Your ears will deeply inhale the long, lingering tones and drones of The Fragrance of Eternal Roses. Mathias Grassow cultivates florals of a sonic variety, carefully placing them in a bouquet of slow-motion arrangements which glimmer with subtle shifts of aroma and color.
With a minimum of activity, extended sonic strands softly flow Through the Void, simply radiating with slight pulsations. Lovely serenity fills Twilight Garden with just a hint of motion, though it's still a very tranquil setting; occasional bells and faint breezes are heard in this sweet-scented hideaway. An almost-still-life sound painting, From Behind the Shadows continues in a similar vein, with a few more-choral strands showing through the gleam.

For more than 11 minutes Soham wafts in an impenetrable droning fogbank from which mutedly wailing vocal streams (and perhaps processed bird sounds?) seem to emerge. Broken into three sections, The Fragrance of Eternal Roses (42:19) flatly surges forward with faint movements happening deep within the thrumming strands. Continually streaming, almost imperceptibly evolving drones are eventually infused with more-instrumental tones, keening with organ-like highs and belltone twinkles. Those influences decay into a darker period of rhythmic clatters and ominous-but-beautiful clouds. By the 30-minute mark, the piece is awash in a minor chaos, with fuzzy orchestral waves adding a certain cinematic presence and feelings of isolation. Everything smooooths out again into a warmly humming slur of sound, thinning toward its conclusion.

The synth-symphonic currents of Evening Afterglow (4:11) are underscored by deep, sinuously twisting chords. For a look at the colder and grittier side of Mathias Grassow, take a listen to the frozen otherworlds of True North (with Amir Baghiri).

A drone by any other name would smell just as sweet... at least when it's rendered by sonic artist Mathias Grassow. If you need to have something overtly "happening" in your listening material, you might turn your nose from The Fragrance of Eternal Roses; but those who appreciate the subtleties of finely wrought soundstreams will gladly pluck these thornless 8.6 beauties.
AmbiEntrance

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Loren Nerell - The Venerable Dark Cloud (Amplexus, 1999)

1 Dark Horizon (6:14)
2 Eclipse (8:51)
3 Within The Cloud (3:48)
4 Ablution (2:19)

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Tuu - The Frozen Lands (Amplexus, 1999)

1 Frozen Lands (8:31)
2 Silent Writing (7:27)
3 Gangiri (4:55)

Solo set of pieces using gongs and metal instruments over electronically treated and detuned samples. Based on material I played at the ‘Calls From The Rock’ exhibition by the late Nikki Coe.
Tuu

panoramic, otherworldly vistas….a place of rolling clouds of sound, an unknown area bathed in washes of dark and lightness
AmbiEntrance

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Oöphoi & Klaus Wiese - Wouivre (Aurora, 1999)

1 Nemeton (The Celestial Clearing) (0:25)
2 Llyr (The Dark Stream) (17:40)
3 Taran (The Thunder) (9:03)
4 Llia'g (The Wizard) (6:51)
5 Dheeog Bhair (Hallucinations) (7:17)
6 Guth Ather (Invocation) (18:39)
7 Cruith Ire (The Primordial Harp) (13:40)

Collaboration entre Gianluigi Gasparetti (Oöphoi) et Klaus Wiese qui créent une ambient profonde, subtile et sombre...

Let us begin with something drawn from the inside of the special cover booklet wrapped around the plastic protection sleeve containing the disc. "Stormy winds will fight against each other, and their Sound will reach God's ear" - Merlin. "In Celtic mythology Wouivres the Divine Spirit: like a snake crawling along the ground, the Wouivre runs deep beneath the earth, bringing Life and Fertility. There are places where this hidden and sacred Stream reaches the surface, creating a link between Sky and Earth: on such a place the Templar Knights built the Cathedral of Chartres." A positively enthralling, heady, concept for sacred reverie through headphone listening beckoned at my first reading of these lines. This is where the visions take their shape and the journey begins.

"Nemeton - The Celestial Clearing" is a 0:25 second embarkation piece that opens an inner window to a dimension of startling depth and an immense, all encompassing, voluminous soundscape. The size of the soundstage presented by this piece is alarmingly large and unsettlingly real. This first glimpse of the stage set by the minds eye is incredibly adroit in presenting the spatial concept for what is to follow and hopefully what will come to pass from within the depths of Wouivre.

"Llyr - The Dark Stream" is Oöphoi's solo homage to, and naming of the Wouivre, employing water, Tibetan singing bowls, stones, gongs, and birds. "Llyr" is a definitive study of the world of spacious reverb tails and the endlessly expanding notion of liquidity in sound. Employing dark suggestion "Llyr" is nevertheless a relaxing piece in the purest sense. Readily inducing the contemplation of the myths and mystery that the Earth's elements employ to surround and entertain the inquisitive soul.

Klaus Wiese enters the mix with an upright cello, a bowchime and the monochord as his chosen voice for "Taran - The Thunder". A third voice, that of Rick Rummler, engages the periphery of the soundscape on the bowchime while Oöphoi weaves a spell on electronics, a flute, looping and processing. An extremely organic sounding track that had me casting sidelong glances about the room searching for cues to the impending release of the anticipated peal of thunder. The anticipation was much akin to that which accompanies the sensory overload of a soundtrack that underpins the moment when you as the listener would rather not have anyone open that door or walk in to the open expanse of the waiting glen.

And thus enters the clangorous realm of "Llia'g - The Wizard". A shorter piece in the context of the other tracks but one which is packed with potent visions of being in the presence of one that commands you maintain an unerring eye and keep a watchful vigil lest you be swept away following your bewitched grasp of reality. Track four attempts to focus light on the face of darkness but only magnifies the mysteries cloaked in the unknown by revealing deeper recesses of blackness. "Llia'g" employs the same instrumentation and artists as the previous track minus the monochord yet morphs their sonic identity enough to present a dynamic realm of unearthly voicing.

"Dheoog Bhair - Hallucinations" retains the undercurrent of tension introduced through "Llia'g" with an added dimension of what can only be described as an altered state. Reminiscent of the metallic yet gauze swathed manipulations of sound created by the fever induced hallucinations from the Hong Kong Flu, which I contracted in my youth during an East Coast vacation. The surreal quality created adds another level of tension that is at the same time relaxing and meditative, opening and closing alternative paths to understanding, and also engages ones thoughts in a confusing yet appealing interruption and re-direction of the stream of conscious thought.

"Guth Ather - Invocation" is exactly as the title states. An 18:39 epic wherein I was presented with the possibility of direct contact with, and the inner peace attainable through, the entity of the Divine Spirit.

The closing concept of "Wouivre" is "Guth Ire - The Primordial Harp", also a dedication to Oöphoi's father who is now floating in the "Wouivre". Pastoral and ethereal in its nature "Guth Ire" conjured a corporeal understanding of that which lies within the dimensional planes one usually only postulate's the existence thereof. A voyage beyond yet deep within oneself that was as engaging as it was entertaining. "Wouivre" was an outstanding ride that I plan on returning to again and again. Look not over one's shoulder nor listen to what you cannot hear unless you are ready to reconcile that it quite possibly may be yourself that you encounter within the "Wouivre".
Ambient Visions

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Alio Die & Yannick Dauby - Descendre Cinq Lacs Au Travers D'Une Voile (Aqua, 1998)

1 Descendre Cinq Lacs au Travers D'une Voile (21:19)

Drone, bols tibétains et field recordings d'eau...

Drone, singing bowls and water field recordings....

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