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Yesteryear . . .

The Process . . .

#ambient/#experimental/#classical/#techno

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

d a t a

d a t a | experimental/noise/ambient/minimal | 79:23

Engineer Friday: “Just the data, ma’am . . . just the data!”

Aural data: spliced, smoked, codified, dried, refined via audacity and then rendered for your listening pleasure.
This pairs will with White Noise Room, The Vicinity of Blue & 4′ 33.

This began with me enjoying a then recent release by Keys for Eclipse and then tinkering with some of the tracks. I decided to use Landscape Amnesia II, and then built the mix around that — and I had been wanting to delve a little more into Eno’s extended Apollo Soundtracks collective. . .

. . . piece by aurally inspired piece.

As always, our free downloads come with a 100% money-back guarantee!

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01 Richard Bentley – Metalwork (extended edit)
02 Fuantei – て(pt. 2)_extend
03 Monogoto – Iuxta Mare [deletion 5] (excerpt)
04 HRNS – Canadian Rifles
05 Rumforskning – Vagtios
06 Porya Hatami – 2
07 Fabio Perletta – 8_35_
08 Harold Budd – The Twins
09 Lauki – CEO
10 Keys for Eclipse – Landscape Amnesia II (extended edit mix)
11 Bets – Osafune 04 (excerpt)
12 Steve Roach & Robert Rich – Magma
13 Robert Rich & Lustmord – Undulating Terrain
14 Non-Metrical Hombre – Tilapsis Redundancy
15 Richard Chartier – Variable Dimensions
16 Janek Schaefer – Acoustic Ensemble
17 Brian Eno – Waking Up

aufbruch [an emergence]

a u f b r u c h [an emergence] | post-rock/noise/glitch/soft-techno/ambient | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77:29

A remix or, more precisely, a repositioning of several of the tracks from the J. Peter Schwalm/Markus Reuter release (our review of the album can be found here); mixed with some new Robert Fripp/Grid, Rain Dogs (thanks Gareth), Nicola Di Croce (from 901 Editions), Iluiteq (courtesy of n5MD) & several other newer releases (as well as a few older chestnuts) that have hit the studio’s inbox as of late.

The f-l-o-w & installation of music always has to make sense to me: that usually takes the form of slow-to-fast, & softest-to-loudest — and this follows a similarly pattered pathway of aural exploration.

Thanks to Lee @ RareNoise Records for the promo pack that allowed me to steep in this while selecting the five tracks utilized for the project. The goal was to create a tribute to the album, while at the same time crafting a stand-alone mix/podcast; hopefully we have achieved those ends.

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01 Atmospheric Disturbances – Yuichiro’s Pupils Dilated Rapidly
02 Robert Fripp/Ambient Landscape – Water Music (swag+vocal edit)
03 Brian Eno with Daniel Lanois & Roger Eno – Signals
04 J. Peter Schwalm & Markus Reuter – Lebewohl
05 The Rain Dogs – Colour Fields ii
06 The Grid & Robert Fripp – Empire
07 Nicola Di Croce – Tone IV (excerpt)
08 J. Peter Schwalm & Markus Reuter – Von Anbeginn (excerpt)
09 Iluiteq – Glacier Ice Falling into the Sea
10 Robert Fripp & The Grid – Milkwood
11 J. Peter Schwalm & Markus Reuter – Abbau
12 David Torn – O.K. Shorty
13 J. Peter Schwalm & Markus Reuter – Der lange Weg
14 Ümlaut – To Leave it as It Is
15 J. Peter Schwalm & Markus Reuter – Der Aufbruch

Aufbruch (official video)

Video by Daniel Hartlaub | Album info RareNoiseRecords | Purchase Aufbruch

Aufbruch . . . a Review

“Aufbruch” translates from German into “departure” or “emergence.”

In listening to the 9 tracks that make up this new release (July 16th on RareNoise Records) from J. Peter Schwalm & Markus Reuter, what “emerges” is deconstruction; what emerges is fragmentation; and what emerges  are the disjointed pieces of a disunited culture, reassembled into artistically crafted slabs of slightly caustic, slightly melodic & sometimes jarring sound.  

The nine predominantly post-rock/experimental techno aural constructions are seamlessly blended; incorporating Reuter’s touch guitar (and its plethora of sounds, from electric/acoustic to atmospheric drone) & Schwalm’s multiple & leveraged electronic contributions. Some titles (Der Aufbruch, Von Anbeginn, Der lange Weg & Abbau) are painted with a darker perspective, others (Lebewohl & Abschied) are lighter while still others (Ruckzug, Losgelost & perhaps Ein Riss) occupy a “middle ground“ of timbre & tension.

As for my personal favorites . . . the reader/listener will have to wait until after the album’s release, as we’re crafting a mix/podcast to encapsulate our audiological thoughts on this masterwork.

ALL of the futuristic pieces are enjoyable for the experimental/soft-techno & slightly caustic sound-loving sonic aficionado: dark swashes of chaos, subtle bass-like groanings, explosions of gritty sonance, electro-acoustic strumming, fragmented beats and dulled thuds & thumps (along with several instances of angelic vocals) create a realistic look at the present environment while casting a vision & pointing us toward a better, more united & sustainable tomorrow.

The listener will be the final arbiter of what emerges for them – but for this listener a real sense of departure from industrialization to a not totally clear, slightly dystopian future emerges; yet with a glimmer of hope for humankind.

. . . and all that in under fifty minutes!              

~Ambient Landscape, June 30^th, 2021

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File under #MinimalTechno / #DarkAmbient / #PostRock / #TechNoise / #Glitch

Review Rating: 4.5 (of 5)

J. Peter Schwalm: Synths, Pianos, live treatments, electronic percussion and programming
Markus Reuter: Touch Guitars® AU8 and U8 Deluxe, Soundscapes, Electronics
Sophie Tassignon: Vocals on „Lebewohl“ and „Losgelöst“

Aufbruch (samples), by J. Peter Schwalm & Markus Reuter
Bandcamp (pre-order)
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Gyral, by Scorn

An old favorite . . .. right proper minimal techno & experimental ambient; released October 31, 1995

p a r a l l e l

p a r a l l e l | ambient/electronica/experimental | 77:28

Parallel vector derivatives and breach recontextualization merged with scarred hyper-productivity & bi-linear sonic access forms the aural basis for this new mix collective (featuring 2 from Neuro…No Neuro’s new album ‘Object Models‘).

But . . . never mind all that edjamacational rigamarole . . . please enjoy the simple pleasure of listening via your favorite pair of ear-buds!

01 Jon Mueller – Black Glass
02 Michael Peters & Fabio Anile – Secret Forest
03 Music for Sleep – A Kindly Exit
04 The Inventors Of Aircraft – No Returns
05 Neuro…No Nero – Calcified
06 arbee – Moutons Sur le Lac
07 Clarice Jensen – Sleep
08 O Yuki Conjugate – Estuary
09 Neuro…No Nero – All The Missing Words
10 Cinchel – A Defining Pattern
11 Encym – Tender
12 Strië – Man With the Thick Glasses
13 Alessandro Adriani – Make Words Split & Crack (edit)
14 Stefano Giampietro – Inertia (edit)
15 Scorn – SA70 (w/ Trondheim-Gävle intro)

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