A Companion As Glamorous As Sleeping On Wheels
2003 release ** "Not only did Julian Bradley (of Vibracathedral Orchestra) adopt the hilariously cumbersome moniker A Companion as Glamorous as Sleeping on Wheels to use in place of (and/or in addition to?) his own name, he also released this album under his own name, with ACAGASOW as it's title. Lots of shorter pieces here, recorded between 1997 and 2000, released as a CD by the Belgian label Veglia."
Delog
2008 release ** "With the album "Delog" Jaroslaw Wierny continues his journey within the mysteries of tantric Tibetan Buddhism. Conceptually the album looks at the near death experience, where the soul is free to visit other mysterious realms, looking beyond the constraints and boundaries of our own world and perhaps offering an opportunity to find quick enlightenment. Musically this sits somewhere in the borderland between dark ambient and more droney lengthy ambient à la Oöphoi. The music has …
Ambiguity
1990 release (RARE) ** "John Watermann was one of the truely underground sound and visual artists. In the late eighties his name surfaced out of knowhere, when a double CD was released by Walter Ulbricht in Germany. Starting out in Berlin, Germany, where he was born, as a filmmaker and photographer, he found out that he needed soundtracks for his films. He started composing music in the mid sixties and moved to Australia in the early seventies. Although he was collecting sound equipment, his fir…
Slowmotion
2007 release ** "The album starts out with some very slow tempo percussion sounds that are accompanied by synths that come and go and refuse to stick around long enough to develop into anything but further ambiance for the song. I have to point out that the percussion in this song reminds me somewhat of Coil, maybe I’m thinking “Black Light District” or some latter period works… I’m not sure exactly why but the resemblance (for me at least) is most definitely there. The next song starts out with…
Windfahnenamt
2001 release ** "The first release from this German label (who have since released material by HNBjörkk and I Burn Vs. Sshe Retina Stimulants), who are fully dedicated to audiophile pleasures, comes from the Hamburg-based project Windfahnenamt. Entirely constructed with looped and manipulated vinyl grooves, it creates warm, drifting atmopsheres and a perfectly lulling ambiance. Digipak."
Cyber Totem
2007 release ** "Marek Styczyński uses technical achievements to create folk, ethnic music of various kinds - both in recording "in the field", in the studio, and in computer processing. He effectively transfers the world forgotten and rejected by pop culture into the digital sphere, processing it a lot. He writes: "I used sounds as the initial building block for designing sound environments and I completely processed some of them, moving them significantly away from the original". He uses many …
Das Methadonprogramm
2005 release ** Limited to 444 hand-numbered copies.
The 5th Anniversary Compilation
2008 release ** "Depressive Disorder, No Name Desire, Gregory and Mastermind are the main drivers of the small but functional label Monopol Records. The first own retrospective simply named after the publisher's name and the addition "The 5th Anniversary Compilation" brings exclusive tracks not only from them, but also from friendly bands or neighbors in the industry such as Aliens from Bratislava. Fifteen tracks across the spectrum of the Czechoslovak underground electro scene are infectiously …
Blood And Gore
2006 release ** Limited edition of 193 hand-numbered copies.
Drilling Holes In The Wall
2007 release ** "The sounds on Drilling derive mostly from modified toy synthesizers, hooked to a variety of electronic devices such as a film projector or a lamination machine. With these, he constructs pieces that move freely between the worlds of sound art and improvised music. Montgomery works along paths determined by the instruments and appliances he uses, but the overall structure is open. Deliberate variations in density and texture do occur as do climaxes, but the pieces often take unex…
Atoma Exi Mono
2005 release ** Beautifull compilation of best & rare tracks by this retro-futurist elektro lo-fi and eccentric German composer! Several tracks haven't been available for ages because they where hidden on old and rare 7" records...
Indistinction #2
“indistinction #2” comes from the same session as ‘indistinction #1’ and creates the same immersive pull. here, too, rsn works exclusively with his bass and a series of effect devices - no overbuds. everything is created live in the flow and reflects the intensity of the moment. often everything sounds deeply distorted, then it clears up again and metaphorically lets light into the scenery. the mixture of drone and ambient gives “indistinction #2” a broad and balanced sound palette that is best …
Indistinction #1
The game with quiet and loud is not new, but it has not lost its effect. “indistinction #1” proves this impressively, as the three songs on rsn's debut album create a highly immersive moment. they move and yet remain rigid in their depths. they build up and break down. like a current through which you are sucked - wild, yet somehow safe, always moving forward. if you allow yourself to do so, “indistinction #1” is an excursion into your inner self.
Clarity #1
The collaboration between pianist Merle Louise and rsn follows an improvisational approach, as all the songs were created spontaneously and in a flow. while the use of piano is or has become a main element in ambient music, the sound of “clarity #1” is different. instead of reproducing the typical patterns and harmonies of the genre, two styles meet here and interweave at the moment of creation. the drone and ambient soundscapes of rsn are enriched by piano melodies and patterns that are atypica…
Porosity #1
The permanence and recurrence of “porosity #1” by Rsn creates a kind of meditative permeability. the musical maelstrom creates a seemingly endless surface that develops from the two-dimensional to the three-dimensional. but this surface is porous and has loopholes. it is not a fast ride through this soundscape, but rather a walk - and the landscape hardly changes noticeably, but there is a resolution, a small aftermath. “porosity #1” is slow and deliberate, waiting and gentle.
Shift #1
"shift #1" is a collaboration album by the two drone/ambient artists rsn and N. the album comprises three songs that deal with semitone shifts, creating an aesthetic depth of sound on the one hand and building up a long arc of tension on the other. "shift #1" is a musical colossus - sound, structure and length create an immersive sound experience. quiet, rather contemplative sounds gradually develop into an alert sound construct. sometimes, however, it remains calm and inward-looking, meditative…
Air de repos (Breathworks)
A double vinyl and a catalogue that constitute a proper extension of the exhibition with which the Capc in Bordeaux continues to question the forms that the museum can take (here transformed into a temporary breathing assistance machine) by developing the idea of the exhibition as an atmosphere, with the aim of creating a renewed awareness of what it means to breathe, not only on an individual level, but also on a collective one, at a time when the world is living in a climate of generalized asp…
Transmission Fields
2004 release ** "A surprising and ambitious trip from ambient to cosmic paths from Wintersilence - a project established in the late 1990s by Mathias Grassow (here under the alias of Tyler Whitney), Scaai, and Don Castellano. This work has various influences, but all titles have something in common; they all seem to suggest an evocative attitude. Mysterious vocals, acoustic / ethno-ambient sounds, epic post-rock structures with Nordic sensations. Rhythms and melodies cross themselves in a mixtur…