Perpetual; by Ryuichi Sakamoto, Illuha & Taylor Deupree

In the wet heat of a Japanese summer, legendary musician Ryuichi Sakamoto was joined on stage by Taylor Deupree and the duo of Corey Fuller and Tomoyoshi Date, known as Illuha. The Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media hosted the event as part of their 10 year anniversary which also included a captivating installation by Sakamoto called Forest Symphony. The days surrounding the concert brought the artists together for food, talk and exploration. Informal but meaningful moods that prepared them for performing together.

The performance, an improvised set for piano, guitar, pump organ, and synthesizers, ended up affecting the artists in a deep way. The four, having never played all together before, were taken aback by the level of listening and restraint that flowed between them. The audience sat in a breathless silence, the music offering a respite from the thick July air. As the last hushed note faded into blackness the artists knew right away it had been a deep journey.

It is a fortunate event when a moment like this is captured, as this concert was ( recorded in high quality DSD). Perpetual, named for the eternal and ageless quality of the music, is presented in three movements that traverse from soft layers of synthesizer and processed guitar, to open, airy sections of prepared piano and silence, to finally coming to rest in a most hauntingly delicate lullaby of lonely piano, crackling found objects and field recordings and tones suspended like mists.

Perpetual not only surrounds us and stretches through time but collects that expanse into a single memory, a record of a brief moment where time stood still and four musicians merged into one. 

released January 27, 2015

Overload Lady, by Mick Harris & Eraldo Bernocchi

From 1997 to 1998, in two years only, Mick Harris has released 3 albums and 2 EPs for Sub Rosa, two in collaboration with Eraldo Bernocchi, one with Neil Harvey (PCM). Overload Lady was created and mixed in The Box, late december 1996, Birmingham, and published in early 1997.

Michael John Harris started out in the 1980s as a drummer working with various punk rock and grindcore bands (most notably pioneering grindcore band Napalm Death); as a drummer he is generally credited with popularizing the blast beat, which has since become a key component of much of extreme metal and grindcore. Since the mid-1990s, Harris has worked primarily in electronic and ambient music, his main projects being Scorn and Lull. According to Allmusic, Harris’s “genre-spanning activities have done much to jar the minds, expectations, and record collections of audiences previously kept aggressively opposed.” While in Napalm Death, Harris also played drums for Doom and Extreme Noise Terror, and participated in a side project with Mitch Harris called Defecation, which produced two records, Purity Dilution and Intention Surpassed, through Nuclear Blast, but this last one just with Mitch Harris.

Eraldo Bernocchi is an Italian musician, producer and sound designer. He created in 1985 the project Sigillum S. Later, he expanded the cadre of musicians he would work with to include people such as Mick Harris, Jim Plotkin and Bill Laswell. These collaborations have up to this day provided an array of releases and shows. Along with the aforementioned artists, the last 15 years have seen collaborations with musicians and artists including Harold Budd, Russell Mills, Toshinori Kondo, Raiz, Almamegretta, Thomas Fehlmann, Zu, DJ Olive, and a host of others. 

Released December 9, 2016

Shine on Beaver Moon!

Friday, November 19: The full Beaver Moon will take place in a 97%-total lunar eclipse — the longest in 580 years!

BYOA (bring your own #ambient!)

#BeaverMoon#LunarEclipse2021#Ambient

Critical; Mass, by Requiem & Simon McCorry

Hush Hush is honored to help present ‘Critical; Mass’ (HH140), a new collaborative release between Washington, DC-based duo Requiem and UK-based experimental cellist Simon McCorry. A masterful fusion of their cinematic and minimal strengths, the album’s three long-form pieces swell and sway between ambient, drone, neo-classical, and psychedelic zones for a sound that’s always beautiful and ultimately hopeful, yet never afraid to touch the ugly side.

Requiem is the musical project of Washington, DC-based musicians Tristan Welch and Douglas Kallmeyer, both accomplished solo musicians known for their cerebral and exploratory sonic tendencies. Tristan is a guitarist with a deep background in Washington, DC’s DIY music scene – originally playing in punk rock bands and noise-based projects before turning his attention to minimalist guitar compositions. Working full-time as a funeral home director, Tristan uses his painterly sonic creations to employ his intimate awareness and unique perspective of mortality through music.

Douglas Kallmeyer is a bit of an audio savant who’s worn multiple hats throughout his bustling music career. Picking up the bass at age 11, Douglas’ love of music led to life as a touring musician straight out of high school, before an obsession with sound systems, audio equipment, live mixing, and production engineering led to touring gigs with the bands Blonde Redhead, Shellac, Rancid, Phantogram, and more. In addition to quietly releasing his own solo music on a plethora of underground labels, Douglas was the driving force behind the independent label Verses Records and has worked for advocacy groups like the Human Rights Campaign, with Bell visuals, to promote awareness of social issues globally and spotlight the healing effects of music for those suffering from depression and PTSD.

Stroud, UK-based artist Simon McCorry rounds out this trans-Atlantic collaboration. Born in London to mixed Indian and British heritage, the classically trained cellist has worked as a composer and sound designer in theatre, film, and contemporary dance. Influenced by the boundary-pushing works of Aphex Twin, Jon Hassell, King Tubby, and György Ligeti, Simon has emerged as a prolific solo artist with a productive 2021 so far that has included the ‘Nature in Nature’ EP for Spanish label See Blue Audio, the stunning album ‘And Where Are You Really From?’ for anthéne’s Polar Seas Recordings imprint, as well as the collaborative album ‘the equation of time’ with anthéne for premiere UK label Whitelabrecs.

Strikingly powerful instrumental music filtered through a prism both haunting and gorgeous, ‘Critical; Mass’ features 3 epic songs by 3 artists following their own instinctual sonic paths. Also the latest in a flurry of long-distance collaborations to find a home on Hush Hush Records, this long-form album provides a potent soundtrack of our transformative early 2020s and further serves as a reflection of the musician’s desire for connection amidst an apocalyptic, harrowing, and dramatically hopeful backdrop. 

credits

released July 16, 2021

Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Requiem & Simon McCorry.

Requiem is Tristan Welch and Douglas Kallmeyer.

Tristan Welch: Guitars, Electronics.
Douglas Kallmeyer: Bass, Electronics.
Simon McCorry: Cello, Electronics.

Contemplation du Rien, by Mathieu Lamontagne & Emmanuel Toledo

The same guys were contemplating the void again, set apart from their time zones (Canada and Finland). There was nothing, no leftovers, stems or compositions, no pre-defined direction, only a new void, shimmering trails from our previous works; it was that time again, we were on a mission, united by a common goal. 

We formed something new and somehow valuable, starting to ‘fill that void’, and the usual back and forth process followed, once again; leading to “Contemplation du Rien” as it is now, the seventh chapter of our remote collaboration. 

All tracks by Mathieu and Emmanuel 
Cover art by Emmanuel 

Mathieu Lamontagne:  arbee.bandcamp.com

Released December 7, 2018

Lawrence English – Observation of Breath

Do you remember the last time you were breathing consciously? Either way, you are likely doing it now. On his new album »Observation of Breath« for the Swiss-based Hallow Ground label, Lawrence English worked exclusively with an organ for four compositions that are exercises in »maximal minimalism,« as their creator himself notes in a nod to Charlemagne Palestine, who coined this term. While it seems somewhat fitting that those four pieces based on a steady flow of air were conceived and recorded in a situation of accelerated standstill caused by a respiratory disease, the Room40 founder is not so much concerned with capturing the zeitgeist than rather incorporating the spirit of time itself. »It is a record about presence and patience,« he explains. Exploring the unique sonic affordances of a singular instrument, »Observation of Breath« is not only devoted to the durability of sound but also to its density. That it marks his debut on Hallow Ground after having shaped its sound by mastering most of the label’s releases in recent years is just as fitting then as its release following albums by Kali Malone and FUJI|||||||||||TA, whose innovative work with organ instruments have facilitated a rediscovery of their possibilities.

English’s compositions however are neither directly indebted nor responding to these musicians. His exploration of the organ’s many facets started a decade ago when the composer was given access to an instrument built in 1889 that is presently housed at The Old Museum in Brisbane. After it had already played a crucial role on his seminal albums »Wilderness Of Mirrors« and »Cruel Optimism,« last year’s self-released »Lassitude« was the first record that English entirely composed and recorded with that instrument. »During the soft lockdowns, I spent many days playing to an empty concert hall, recording the pieces that became ›Lassitude‹ and then, this album,« says English in regards to an unfortunate situation that fortunately provided him with time and space—two major themes but also key qualities of the four new compositions. In this sense, he goes on, »Observation of Breath« resolves a number of the questions originally raised by »Lassitude.«

»The organ is an exercise in the observation of breath,« English explains the album’s title. »It is a physical breath, one that manifests both audible and inaudible waves of vibrations. The sheer scale of the instrument, its weight and the physical length of the pipes involved in producing the sounds we experience is nothing short of mind-boggling.« More importantly, the sound artist is fascinated by the organ’s ability to produce frequencies that exist at the sensory limits of human awareness—it’s at the edges of these limits that fascination can be found, he argues. »The particular organ that I work with comprises four manuals and 45 speaking stops and it has a tubular-pneumatic action,« he explains. »It’s the stops that are the focus of my interest. They are very specific and when manipulated in certain ways and in certain combinations, create a unique set of unsteady timbres that make it a remarkably intoxicating instrument to collaborate with.«

Collaboration is indeed the key word here. The pieces of »Observation of Breath« were recorded in one take in recognition of the co-existence and co-dependence of the human body and mind when brought in unison while working with such a complex instrument. The end results are thus not only marked by longevity but also gripping dynamics. While the six minute-long »A Binding« and the album’s title track explore the sonic qualities of different frequency spectra with long sustained drones, opener »A Torso« and the aptly titled »And a Twist,« only two minutes and 42 seconds long, work with rhythmic elements that create intense moments of structural instability. »The music’s power lies in its density, in the stacking of exhales all breathing in unison and then, at some point, failing to breathe further,« says English. »In these moments a wavering unsteadiness of tone arrives with an elegant uncertainty.« It is precisely this quality that makes »Observation of Breath« such a masterful exploration of the multifold relationships between space and time as well as the body and the mind—it’s a conscious meditation on unconscious processes. 

Credits

Released September 10, 2021

All organ recorded at The Old Museum, Brisbane July-November 2020,
except A Torso’s centre section which was recorded in 2016 on the same organ.
Performed and Produced by Lawrence English
Picture by Juan Valverde de Amusco, 1560
Design by Ruth Stofer and Greenpointless

non_ənamˈbiɡyo͞oəs

non_ənamˈbiɡyo͞oəs (non-unambiguous) | 81:44
experimental ambient / ambient/ glitch / noise

A look back over project playlists gone by & a culling of my favorite soundscapes; re-blended, re-treated, re-layered & reshaped into something all-at-once old, new and . . . different.

I started out with a finite list of mixes over a 6-7 year period, but the project soon grew into a stream-of-consciousness type of hunt & identify exercise that had me inserting excerpts & content about which I had forgotten.

The studio crew crafted a custom Intro & we decided to close out with a brand-new track (not included on any project heretofore).

We hope you find the listening as enjoyable as was the construction.

Listen via Mixcloud

TRACKLISTING::

1. Intro Edit: mashup; Ábris Gryllus, Post_02 & Pan Sonic, Ilma Air
2. Michael Seta – Doesdust (interpolating ‘Ambient Guitar 1 & 2’ by Caveat Auditor & ‘Tesla Coil’ by Motorpig)
3. France Jobin – Solitude 2_
4. Thomas Ragsdale – Time To Go
5. Medley/Opening Gambit:
   Plastikman – In-Side/ Zero Ohms – 2-6 (interpolating Ligeti_ String Quartet No. 2, O3air_D6 & No. 7 Galerie Des Anciennes) w/Angelic Chorus
6. Todd Peck – Into the Mist (treated, layered edit)
7. M Dempsey – Blue Moon
8. Pascal Savy – Ghost Echoes
9. Simon Scott – Baaval
10. åpne sinn – Still Transmitting
11. Jeff Greinke – Metal from the Sky
12. Rag Dunn – the place that hears
13. Bob Ohrum – Elevated 9 (edit)
14. Siavash Amini – Agarthini
15. Svarte Greiner – The Marble
16. Loscil – Weeds

non-unambiguous