Jason Kahn - Plurabelle (Cut, 2001)

1 Untitled 7:56
2 Untitled 5:04
3 Untitled 12:37
4 Untitled 4:23
5 Untitled 11:07
6 Untitled 6:08
7 Untitled 5:10

Jason Kahn's third solo recording.
seven compositions for percussion and electronics.

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Michael Delia & Simon Whetham - Live At Školská 28 (Crónica, 2011)

1 Live At Školská 28 23:14

Michael Delia and Simon Whetham collaborative performance recorded at the Školská 28 gallery space in Prague Saturday 20th November 2010.

Simon Whetham was invited to perform at Školská 28, Prague, on 20th November 2010. In addition to playing his signature solo field recording composition, using only recordings captured in Prague in the week preceding the concert, he also requested to be introduced to local musicians in order to collaborate and improvise with them. Miloš Vojtěchovský, Director of Školská 28 put Simon in contact with US artist and sometime Prague resident Michael Delia.

After a brief meeting and an exchange of CD's they played an improvised collaborative set, Michael playing various instruments through effects and Simon playing field recordings and processing some of Michael's sounds.
Crónica

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The Omega Core - Massive Black (Earth Mantra, 2011)

01 - Maleficence Approaches 1:11
02 - They Look Back Upon the Burning 2:17
03 - Trepidation 5:13
04 - Artwork Forbade 4:04
05 - Pending the Morning Sun 3:42
06 - Four Billion Cubic Kilometres of Shining Papyrus 1:30
07 - The Sun Rises 2:15
08 - Clockwork Fascinates 1:48
09 - As it Began, I Looked to the Sky 4:31
10 - Entropy 4:57
11 - Unfathom 2:28
12 - The Greenhouse of Abject Horrors 1:43
13 - Modulation of the Last 4:48
14 - Eons Away, They Looked to the Stars 3:31
15 - Far 1:29

We have oft mentioned how much we enjoy meeting new folks and bringing their music to our listening audience. Today, we have the pleasure of welcoming Matt Shepherd of The Omega Core to our family of artists, with his fascinating release Massive Black.

We find it difficult to categorize this captivating album. Certainly much of the music could be labeled dark ambient, replete with foreboding abstract sound sculpture and baleful waves of texture crashing all around. But much more lurks in this album than darkness, including movements of beautiful melody and radiant light. Somehow Matt found a way to blend all of these disparate elements into a cohesive whole that hangs together in a truly hypnotic fashion.

For this reason, we think that Massive Black will speak to lovers of many schools of ambient thought. Those who seek epic scope and haunting vistas will find much to love here. But likewise, those who eschew the darkness and instead crave concrete musical elements, even melody, will find parts of this album deeply satisfying. For our part, we find this fusion of ambient styles to be a novel and holistic form unto itself, a clever combination of pieces that yields a unity that stands firmly on its own, a whole whose value exceeds the sum of its parts. Truly well done.

Matt himself describes the album thus: "Being a fan of drone, and huge, dreamy soundscapes, I thought I'd have a bash at creating my own. I wanted to make something that would make my spine tingle, even after listening to it countless times during the 'inspiration' sessions. Massive Black isn't exactly that, as it's rather more abstract than I would have ultimately wanted, but an entire album full of ear-bending symphonic ambient might get a bit tiring after a while. You need to have intervals of peace and WHAM, into the climax."

If this album weren't enough, Matt has released a great deal of other music directly through The Omega Core's web site, and we encourage our audience to not only grab Massive Black for your collections, but to investigate his other work as well. Earth Mantra is very happy to bring Massive Black to our listeners, and we certainly look forward to Matt's future releases, both via Earth Mantra and beyond. Highly recommended.
Earth Mantra

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Aairria - Katharsis (Earth Mantra, 2011)

01 - Imipramine 10:20
02 - Amoxapine 9:36
03 - A Waterclock, A Ball-Jointed Doll, A Broken Piano 47:54

After a long time away, ambient prodigy Marcin Drabot returns to Earth Mantra with another collection of fathomless textural music, this time a trio of captivating pieces from his Aairria project called Katharsis.

We will confess from the outset that our admiration for Drabot's music extends very far and very deep. We consider him nothing less than one of the premier ambient artists active today, having created several pieces that we would call classics, essential listening for anyone who claims to love this genre. Needless to say, when Marcin gave us the opportunity to release another album by him, we literally jumped at the chance.

And what a release we have in store for our listeners. Perhaps unlike the artist's excellent 2007 Earth Mantra release Nasti, the music of Katharsis covers a surprisingly broad swath of the ambient landscape, at times dark and mildly foreboding, other times mellow and contemplative, and still other times textural and abstract. Our amazement at Marcin's mastery of so many ambient forms never ceases, and we think Katharsis makes a particularly apt introduction to his music for those who are unfamiliar, as well as a singularly welcome addition to his catalogue for those who have long enjoyed his work. Remarkably well done.

In fact, though we may never cherish anything Marcin produces as much as his magnum opus Inside My Room, Watching The Rain, a release that we consider to be the penultimate ambient composition ever made by anyone anywhere. we find the music of Katharsis to stand up very strongly against even this towering standard. Such a lovely collection of colors, mingled together so tastefully, that we have to say this is one of the best releases Marcin has ever produced. The compositions are especially well crafted, and complement each other aesthetically on multiple levels. This is the kind of music that suspends time, the sort of experience that speaks to a deeper consciousness well below the surface, something that you will want to hear again and again.

So it is with great pleasure that we announce the second release by Aairria on Earth Mantra, the brilliant and evocative Katharsis. It has been much too long since the last time Marcin Drabot has shared his music with our audience, and we hope that it will not be nearly so long until we again have the privilege. Highly, highly recommended.
Earth Mantra

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Oren Ambarchi, Günter Müller & Voice Crack - Oystered (Audiosphere, 2003)

1 Walking Oysters 10:51
2 Briefing Oysters 13:11
3 Grounding Oysters 7:57
4 Oystered 9:47

Debates continue to rage about what to call the ever more important genre of AMM-influenced electronics. Still freely improvised, the music has variously been called lowercase improv, egoless improv, electro-acoustic improv, post-AMM improv, glitch-prov, and more. I don’t know what in the world to call it, but if anyone is even remotely familiar with the genre then the names of the musicians on Oystered will be instantly recognizable. Australian guitar experimentalist Oren Ambarchi – one of the more interesting young players in this scene – met up with Swiss masters Voice Crack (Andy Guhl and Norbert Moslang on "cracked everyday electronics"), who have recently disbanded, and Günter Müller, who plays electronics and selected percussion. Apparently gorged on oysters and wine, they headed into the disturbingly named Big Jesus Burger studio in Sydney. It’s a very rich meeting, comprised of four tracks over 41 minutes, and doesn’t sound much like what one might expect from a Müller/Voice Crack summit.

"Walking Oysters" opens with processed drum throbbing away, a gentle catalyst for some jarring, almost serrated electronic sounds. Perhaps no surprise here, since Voice Crack have always struck me as among the more rhythmically oriented electronics improvisers. The Müller’s and Ambarchi’s strategies work well in concert with this approach – somewhere in this piece it sounds like a helicopter flying above a crowd involved in ritual incantations (with somebody playing a contrabass clarinet). As always with this music, one has very little idea about the source of the sound; that’s part of the intrigue, as is trying to describe it. On "Briefing Oysters," muffles and subdued whines try to keep down flinty scraping noises, but fail beautifully. The slowly changing frequencies – tones being altered in pitch – create some delicious tension, as the crackles and rustles suggest tiny animals clawing their way out of your speakers. "Grounding Oysters" is the most nervous and claustrophobic track, with its insistent pulse and sounds of a robot’s indigestion. On the closing title track, Ambarchi’s processed and treated guitars are very eerie. Though this is a one-off meeting, ultimately the group sounds very coherent, a single-celled sonic organism that might well have emerged from the same muck as the group’s beloved oysters. In general this is subdued music which might appeal to fans of Ambarchi’s work with Keith Rowe, some of Müller’s duets (with, say, Taku Sugimoto or Lê Quan Ninh), or sound artist Ralf Wehowsky.
Dusted Reviews

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Asmus Tietchens - Glimmen (E(r)ostrate, 1999)

1 Sub-H 4 5:25
2 Lumen 6 5:37
3 Lumen 7 5:50
4 Lumen 9 4:40
5 Sub-H 2 8:09
6 Lumen 15 4:21
7 Lumen 11 3:12
8 Lumen 12 2:32
9 Sub-H 5 3:38
10 Lumen 14 3:07
11 Lumen 10 1:47
12 Sub-H 3 3:09

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:sinclair: - 0306 (Earth Mantra, 2011)

Disc 1 - 64:43

01 - Style (8:13, 19.2 MB)
02 - Untitled (6:18, 14.8 MB)
03 - Stalker (9:58, 23.3 MB)
04 - Khomuz (9:49, 23.0 MB)
05 - Linearstone (10:46, 25.2 MB)
06 - Plain (10:08, 23.7 MB)
07 - Reverie (9:31, 22.3 MB)

Disc 2 - 55:31

01 - Didge (8:56, 20.9 MB)
02 - Mantra (7:33, 17.7 MB)
03 - Insurrection (7:48, 18.2 MB)
04 - Tibet (11:00, 25.8 MB)
05 - Water (8:28, 19.8 MB)
06 - Ritus (11:46, 27.5 MB)

Ronny Jung triumphantly returns to Earth Mantra, this time with a truly enigmatic new release from his :sinclair: project called 0306.

Ronny's 2010 :retreat: release Lordes blew us away with its minimal approach to ambience, and with its understated and tasteful sound design. Though the project name has changed, these qualities remain firmly in place in 0306. Indeed, this album contains an immensity of scope and thought that we simply find striking.

Like all of Ronny's music, 0306 studies the very essence of ambient music, the abstract and hypnotic drone that forms the foundation to all meditation and, some might argue, to all consciousness. 0306 indeed plumbs the depths of drone and texture, but feels somehow more active than Ronny's previous work, with slightly more structure and identifiable repeating motifs. Additionally, Ronny embraces tone more so in 0306 than in Lordes, though of a very slow and patient sort. The result mesmerizes the listener thoroughly but adds a keen compositional edge that we find particularly satisfying.

But make no mistake: this music is fathomless, a textbook example of pure undiluted ambience. The listener who dares to experience the two full discs of music end to end will embark on a journey of spiraling contemplation, occasionally achieving states of quiet mind, but also encountering dark and somewhat melancholy places that border on the eerie. This is music that would serve just as well for mood alteration as it would for an art installation, or even as the soundtrack to a deeply psychological suspense film. Exquisite textural ambience with a strange and haunting beauty, from an artist clearly at the peak of his powers.

So we proudly unveil 0306, the sophomore Earth Mantra release by Ronny Jung. An album we strongly recommend to anyone who loves their ambient music detailed, dark, textural, and droney. We hope to hear much more from Ronny in the future.
Earth Mantra

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Marc-Henri Arfeux - Loire Abstraction (DNA Production, 2011)

1 Bleue Transparente Avec Irisations (12:52)
2 Bleue-Grise Aux Accents Jaunes (09:38)
3 D'Ardoise Et Ligne Blanche (08:52)
4 Grande Loire D'Hiver (10:32)
5 Noire Et Or (11:20)
6 Coulées De Loire (12:28)
7 Bleue Sombre Aux Scintillements (09:46)

Since the XVIth century, the river Loire has always been a poetic emblem in French culture and arts, for the beauty of its slow waters and landscapes. In the second part of the XXth century, the great painter Olivier Debré who lived on its banks often refered in his subtle abstract way to its moving lights and colours along seasons and hours.
This album expresses my own tribute to Olivier Debré and his Loire paintings I admire deeply, in the form of a symphonic poem for synthesizers and various electronic devices, divided into seven parts. Each one has a title Olivier Debré could have chosen and conveys into music an imaginary Loire vision he could have painted. Has the most feminine of the French rivers, music is a constant metamorphosis of miraculous unique instants in progress.
Marc-Henri Arfeux

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Small Cruel Party - Islands Of Sleep (G.MB.H., 1998)

1 ...Cette Haine Dirigée Contre Lui Mordait Son Marbre et Sculptait Sa Beauté.
2 ...Montrant L'Envers Délicat Des Pétales.
3 La Voix Possédant Un Oeil Décidé A Percer La Nuit.

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Small Cruel Party - To Have Been Seen (Shirocoal Recordings, 1998)

1 To Have Been Seen

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Rigel Orionis - Variations on Sonic Integrity (Earth Mantra, 2011)

Disc 1 - 66:00

01 - Variation One (14:05, 33.0 MB)
02 - Variation Two (12:02, 28.2 MB)
03 - Variation Three (11:25, 26.7 MB)
04 - Variation Four (11:30, 26.9 MB)
05 - Variation Five (7:19, 17.1 MB)
06 - Variation Six (9:39, 22.6 MB)

Disc 2 - 65:00

07 - Variation Seven (10:47, 25.2 MB)
08 - Variation Eight (3:44, 8.7 MB)
09 - Variation Nine (4:54, 11.4 MB)
10 - Variation Ten (7:04, 16.5 MB)
11 - Variation Eleven (11:10, 26.2 MB)
12 - Variation Twelve (27:21, 64.1 MB)


With our second release of 2011, Earth Mantra has a very special treat for our listeners - and one with a particular significance for everyone who loves electronic music. It is our very great privilege to be able to bring our listeners a new album by none other than Jim Brenholts, aka Rigel Orionis, entitled Variations on Sonic Integrity.

For those who didn't know Jim, allow us to share a little of his story. He never would have let anyone get away with calling him one, but Jim clearly was nothing less than a luminary of the ambient world. Well known and regarded for his incisive reviews and commentary, Jim also developed quite a talent at ambient composition, releasing a variety of albums over the years, both solo and in collaboration. Unfortunately, Jim passed away in 2009, leaving us only with memories and his indelible imprint upon this art form we call electronic music. Fortunately for us, however, he also had completed quite a number of unreleased works, including the mysterious and inspiring album that we proudly present to you today.

And what a release it is. This two-disc bonanza of textural abstract ambient goodness contains twelve variations on a theme, all reinterpretations of a base motif that Jim composed, recomposed, deconstructed, and reconstructed into a variety of drones and sonic journeys. As always with Jim's work, the music demands as much of the listener as it did of its composer, challenging people to not just passively enjoy the music but to actively participate in the experience, to sit up and pay attention lest something important sneak by unobserved. This is not ear candy, folks; this is mind music.

Maybe the best word to use when describing this release is "intense". All of Jim's music seethes with an enigmatic energy, containing an invisible reservoir of power around which the air seems to crackle and shimmer. And Variations on Sonic Integrity certainly has an almost fundamental magnetism to it, as if somehow Jim bottled up the forces of nature into twelve recordings and captured them in stasis for the rest of us to hear. A remarkable piece of sound sculpture, by a remarkable man.

So it is with great pleasure that we unveil Variations on Sonic Integrity. Dark ambient music that we feel is certain to send a chill down your spine and put a smile on your face. We at Earth Mantra miss Jim, and feel very honored to be able to bring his music to our audience.
Earth Mantra

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Rolf Julius - Für Einen Kleinen See (Because Tomorrow Comes, 2003)

1 Lonely Piano Piece 14:10
2 Musik Für Eine Landschaft 17:21
3 Why Pink (Warum Grün) 9:04
4 Hörstück 11:56
5 Brazil 6:25
6 Für Einen Kleinen See 7:10

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Gryphée - The Rotations Project (DNA Production, 2011)

1 Marc-Henri Arfeux & Gryphée - September Visions (07:52)
2 Wehwalt & Gryphée - Rotation I (08:42)
3 Infinite Inertia & Gryphée - Cancroid Astroid (06:42)
4 Demi-Biche & Gryphée - Pulsations (08:57)
5 M.Nomized & Gryphée - Invertion Rotation (06:36)
6 The Ghost Between The Strings & Gryphée - Autoignition (09:45)
7 MaCu & Gryphée - Voyage (06:14)
8 Kadaverik & Gryphée - Primale Rotation (06:43)
9 Fabrice Coltro & Gryphée - Ether (Based On H.Michaux's Poem "L'ether") (04:08)
10 Visoposiv & Gryphée - Rotation V (14:24)

"The Rotations Project" is an European musical project (England / Spain / Austria / France) initiated by Wehwalt and centered around the motorized and remote-controlled guitar conceived by the French musician Gryphée.
Each of the musicians worked this guitar's sample provided by Gryphée in a totally free way, using sonic masses to obtain a final result as eclectic as consistent.
DNA Production

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Peter Wright - Transfusion (Last Visible Dog, 2000)

01 Transfusion

70+ minute track recorded for a gallery in New Zealand; starts off with a lush soundscape of chimes and bells and electronic buzz before it dissipates into a vast expanse of hum and skronk and reverb and lots and lots of S P A C E. Very musique concrete.
Last Visible Dog

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Pharmakustik - Granular Computing (DNA Production, 2010)

01 Granular Computing 01 08:12
02 Granular Computing 02 07:20
03 Granular Computing 03 06:12
04 Granular Computing 04 05:56
05 Granular Computing 05 05:52
06 Granular Computing 06 03:26

"Granular Computing" features radical new techniques in granular transformation of audio-particles, clinical rhythms and robotic voices for a powerful, innovative and harsh electronica-sound-perspective 2011.
The album involves excessive use of new software and imposing plug-in-machinery.
DNA Production

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Nurse With Wound - Soresucker (United Dairies, 1990)

01 I Am The Poison
02 Journey Through Cheese

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melophobia – 10_2 M (Webbed Hand Records, 2010)

1 Calling 1:00
2 Church Love 2:23
3 Euro-Voting 7:37
4 Capitalism Fairplay 10:25
5 Capital Air S/M 2:05
6 Greek-Voting 10:37
7 Bells Are Ringing 6:01
8 Damb 0:27
9 Jz I 0:30
10 Friday Midnight 19:49
11 Jz II 0:35
12 Blck Mgc Wmn (The Third Child Is Sick) 3:12

Melophobia is an artist from Greece whose abstract manipulations of sound are alternately ambient and aggressive.
Webbed Hand Records

“melophobia is the sound of our inside… this project is not about music, not about ideas, not about fun… this is what we hear everyday, apart from music.
we record the sounds we find free out there, then we manipulate them, some guitars or voices may be found live or sampled… our best instrument is a record player and a lot of vinyls stacked there asking for our mercy…
some people found this disc accidentally, we tend to do this…
all the others should use headphones in order to underline all sounds…”
— melophobia

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Christian Doil - Wasser (Earth Mantra, 2010)

Disc 1
01 Dropnotic
02 Dunkles Fluid
03 Fluss der Unendlichkeit
04 Hydrofeel
05 Hypnotischer Regen
06 Liquidation

Disc 2
01 Ozean
02 Regentropfen
03 Strudel
04 Tropfsteinhoehle
05 Watering Meditation

Ambient architect Christian Doil returns to Earth Mantra, this time with a double album of deeply expressive abstraction called Wasser. This starkly beautiful collection transports the listener to a universe of moisture, a detailed study of the effect of aqua upon the world, and not so coincidentally, upon our ears.

Christian has demonstrated repeatedly his exceptional talent for finding the music inside otherwise unremarkable everyday sounds. His previous Earth Mantra release Metall examined the sounds of metal, transforming them into abstract ambience of bewitching elegance. With Wasser, he performs a similar act of sonic alchemy, this time commuting the drips and drops of water into enigmatic and organic music that teases the senses and dances at the fringe of our periphery.

As Christian describes it: "I wanted to create a mental gate for traveling through water, one of the archetypes of elements. Water sounds work like a meditation; maybe our brain identifies the frequency of the water as part of us." Indeed, to the listener, this music feels quite natural and unobtrusive, a familiar and perhaps essential backdrop that soothes even as it fades into the background. Perfect music for meditation, or simply for providing a calming setting for daily life.

As usual, Christian's method of recording is almost as interesting as the music itself. In the case of Wasser, his process was to organize different objects in his bathroom, like glasses, flower pots, plastic bags, and of course the shower itself, as well as to make field recordings of raindrops on his windows. Utilizing this configuration, he produced and recorded a variety of sounds, afterward editing and modifying them into completed aural collages. The resulting music mystifies and entices, loosening the strictures of the mind and allowing the subconscious to emerge free. Old school ambience indeed, the kind of music that we love to listen to while sipping tea in front of the fire while watching the snow fall.

So with great pleasure we unveil Wasser, Christian Doil's latest abstract ambient masterpiece. Another striking album by a sound designer and ambient artist at the utter peak of his talents, and one that we hope leads to much much more from Christian in the future.
Earth Mantra

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Toshiya Tsunoda - Extract From Field Recording Archive #1 (WrK, 1997)

1 Solid Vibration Of The Surface Of A Concreted Wharf Where A Marine Products Market Used To Be 11:11
2 Solid Vibration Of A Glass Bottle At Ship Anchorage Area 8:11
3 Air Vibration Of The Hollow Part In The Middle Of A Buoy Used For Large Ships 9:55
4 Air Vibration In A Bent Pipe 5:27
5 Solid Vibration Of A Steel Plate At A Loading Area 6:46
6 Solid Vibration Of A Support Pillar For The External Unit For A Large Size Refrigerator 6:42
7 Solid Vibration Of An Anchor For Small Boats 9:36
8 Air Vibration Of Elevator Motor Room In Stairwell 13:33

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Krabatof - Sea Of Trees (Just Not Normal, 2010)

01 Intro
02 Jyukai
03 Sea of trees
04 Aokigahara
05 Ki no umi

How these mystical artists find their way into the realms of JNN is beyond me sometimes, but behold; this ‘Sea of trees’ will astound you. But before we talk of this album here, let’s share a previous review of ‘Insect’s Brain’ shared on Touching Extremes;

“a little more than 31 minutes of very interesting “bruit art” by Geneva-based Ludovic Guerry, who manipulates “noises, field recordings and many weird sounds” in seven personal definitions of a peculiar world of embryonic utterances and disembodied dreams about the inhospitality of life.”

While it baffles me to know who might be behind Krabatof, since I’ve read a few different names now I find myself lost in the sounds of the album you see in front of you now. The mysticism to me only ups the anté and I find myself caring less for the creator, but dwell only more the the creation. You should try it yourself too! If you too get lost, try the breadcrumbs option, but beware of the geese.
Just Not Normal

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