Spheruleus – Forgotten Outland (Resting Bell, 2011)

1 Wilting Bounds
2 Grey Haze
3 Grass Stands Green

The sound-art of Spheruleus is produced by British artist Harry Towell with a previous discography including releases on the likes of Under The Spire, Earth Mantra and Test Tube as well as his own label Audio Gourmet. Intrigued by all things old and rustic, his music is often inspired by the rural Lincolnshire surroundings in which he lives and his first outing of 2011, here on Resting Bell, is intended to really captured this.

A short collection of deliberately loose and degraded instrument samples and field recordings, ‘Forgotten Outland’ is presented as if it were an old record found discarded inside a derelict farm building on disused land.
It comprises of blurred melodic passages and offers a faded insight into times gone by when the farmland thrived. Just like the physical state of the farm itself, the record sounds timeworn, warped and a shadow of its former self.

The instrument leads and various sounds climb over one another as if fighting for a voice. Nothing seems structured or in order, although amidst the deluge of disjointed melody, subtle detail can be focused upon to reveal parts of this purposefully concealed soundtrack.
Resting Bell

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Saffron Slumber – Somnogen (Resting Bell, 2010)

1 Möbius Thought
2 Oak Horn
3 Torsion
4 Onyx
5 Old Growth
6 Oneiric Sun

Kevin Stephens has been writing music under the name of Saffron Slumber since 2004. Originally started as a project to explore ideas in ambient music, the project has continued to evolve over its lifespan to include aspects of noise, drone, and other forms of experimental composition. Former releases could be found on Pocket Change Records, Skrow!Media, Zenapolae, Luxus-Arctica Records International, and Circlesandlines Recordings.

“Somnogen” consists of 6 tracks and has a complete duration of 36 minutes. The first five tracks are three to five minutes long. Beginning with the noisier “Möbius Thought”, it becomes more calm and droning with the following three tracks. Fragile melodies are woven together with meandering, droning sounds and glimmering organic patterns. “Onyx” returns to the noisier, darker ambiance of the beginning and serves as a bridge between its melodic predecessors and “Oneiric Sun” – a massive 18-minute track, slowly breathing and evolving from a dark and mellow foundation to a burning star and back again.

Enjoy this wonderful and warm piece of drone- and ambient-music.
Resting Bell

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Shinobu Nemoto – Melting Loop Trip (Resting Bell, 2010)

1. Trip 1
2. Trip 2
3. Trip 3
4. Trip 4
5. Trip 5
6. Trip 6
7. Trip 7
8. Trip 8
9. Trip 9
10. Trip 10
11. Trip 11
12. Trip 12
13. Trip 13
14. Trip 14
15. Trip 15
16. Trip 16

Shinobu Nemoto is a sound-artist from Kanagawa, Japan. You might know “Summons of Shining Ruins”, his solo-guitar project or “Dark Side of The Audio System “, a tape-loop-experiment. Under his real name Shinobu Nemoto mainly releases guitar-improvisations and field-recordings. He also runs the label “MOUFU-ROKUON“ and did collaborations with Brain Grainger, Jason Adams and Danielle Demos.

“Melting Loop Trip“ is a collection of sixteen loops, each loop between six and thirteen minutes long. Each loop is a beautiful analog picture. Very athmospheric, very warm and very, very meditative. You can fall back into a cloudy bed of hushed noises, shimmering melodies and wonderful echo-structures.

You can go ahead, pick your favorite loop and listen to it on repeat. Or you can listen to the complete release from track to track. In addition to Shinobu’s musical output illustrator Kati Meden created an artwork-concept for the complete release as well as for every single loop based on her colour-alphabet.
Resting Bell

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Christopher McFall – A Long Time Running for The Suicide Strays (Resting Bell, 2010)

1 Crooked Site Winding
2 Exquisite Sender
3 Third Guest
4 Tightrope’s Ailing

Christopher McFall is a well-known name in the experimental music scene, not only because of his CD-releases for Entr’acte, Mystery Sea, Sourdine, 1000füssler, Gears Of Sand, Moving Furniture Records and Unfathomless, but he’s also composed a multitude of netaudio-releases on Test Tube, Earlabs, Clinical Archives, Alg-a, CONV and Impulsive Habitat. What an impressive list of work.

His new release on Resting Bell is a lovely EP called “A Long Time Running for The Suicide Strays“. It consists of 4 tracks with a complete duration of 25 minutes. The EP starts with very rhythmic fragments, bringing to mind notions of old machines covered with dust and then it evolves into a more droning environment. The sound is really dark and harsh. The rhythmic elements seem to be hammering from a distant time and the melodies are haunting through old and frazzled drapery. If I had to describe a room for this music it would be an old abandoned factory-building or vaudeville-theatre. Christopher has assembled all of these elements together very carefully and in a sublime manner. For me it is hard to say whether the source sound materials are derived from field recordings, piano fragments or some saxophone-sounds. As a whole, the EP has a very dense and atmospheric composition.

Enjoy the days of fall with this wonderful release.
Resting Bell

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Peregrino – El Azul Helado Del Alba (Resting Bell, 2010)

1 En una habitación oscura
2 Entre cedros gigantes
3 En la vieja cabaña, la ventana clausurada
4 El silencio de los animales
5 Cientos de luces extrañas iluminan la noche
6 El azul helado del alba
7 La vuelta de los animales

Peregrino is Bernardo Durand’s project. He was born in Muñiz, Argentina in 1982, where he teaches literature to young boys. Bernardo started Peregrino in 2007, when he got his accordion. Bernardo also runs the label “Ahora Eterno”, best known for releases from Pulmon, Sublamp and himself.

“El azul helado del alba” consists of 7 tracks and has a complete duration of 44 minutes, full of warm, athmospheric and organic drone-sounds. All tracks are fitting together very homogenic. There is a metallic shimmering melody-line, a deep droning fundament and hushed strings, all elements combined to a dark, gloomy sound-sculpture. Especially the organic and dusky character of “El azul helado del alba” provides an abyssal listening-adventure. It feels like walking through an old railway tunnel or diving into a deep sea.

Grab your headphones and enjoy the soothing effect of this wonderful work.
Resting Bell

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Guanxi - Graveyard Shift (Resting Bell, 2010)

1 Violin
2 Sea Cucumber
3 Coral Lanterns
4 Sword Lily
5 Lavender Hugs

The Guanxi pseudonym is orchestraed towards ‘a sui generi sound’ through research, investigation and with a hunger to explore a constructed visual and non-subjective disposition.

“Graveyard Shift” contains 5 pieces of complex and playful sounds from guitar, piano, bells, strings, flute, vocals, field recordings and electronics. Some of the pieces have a noisy and harsh character of a musical sketches, others operate with droning elements and a more calm ambience. And some combine both things. If you want to find a category for this, forget it.

For me the most precise analogy would be the sound world of a modern metropolis. You can hear layer over layer of multiple elements which are structured and arranged into a current impression. But it is constantly changing and moving. With every listen you get a different layer of “Graveyard Shift”. One time it seems to be a loud and unorganised cluster of tones, the next time you hear a reduced and humming melody, hidden under other elements before.
Be curious and adventurous, you will be surprised.
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Damian Valles - Bow Echoes (Resting Bell, 2010)

1 Ground Truth 10:27
2 A Bow Echo 6:11
3 Derechos 6:24
4 Debris 1:35
5 A Wake Pattern 6:01
6 Ridge And Furrow 9:44
Video Ground Truth 10:27

Resting Bell is very happy to welcome Damian Valles. Damian is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist who creates ambient/experimental works based mainly on solo guitar. He utilizes a wide range of sources to expand his sound which include a variety of percussive elements, piano, and field recordings. Past releases include a full length on the excellent Under The Spire imprint, and a 3? EP on Standard Form. The latter being the first in a series of limited 3? releases called “Rural Routes” that he is curating for the label.

His work “Bow Echoes” contains 6 audio-tracks with a duration of about 40 minutes and a 10-minute video for the opening track “Ground Truth”. Compared to his other releases, Damian put his focus more on drone- and ambient-scapes; however, “Bow Echoes” still has a very, very strong melodic center. The dominant washed-out and fading guitar-work give the whole release a touch of beauty and sublimity. Blurry shades, dimly lit landscapes, and warm colours layer and fade into each other. In addition, the video for “Ground Truth” perfectly visualises the sound and feel of the complete release.

Enjoy this wonderful release, full of warm drones and melodies, and welcome the spring (at least on the northern hemisphere)!
Resting Bell

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