Top 10 Albums For February

Top 10 Albums For February

February 6, 2009, 11:33 pm
Filed under: This Month's Favs | Tags: Concord, Dupois, Ecosphere, Intelligent Toys 5, James Murray, Rumpistol, Slow Cream, Solar Fields, Tenaka, Top 10 Albums For February, Yagya

Dupois – Fallen

Cinematic shape of strings and manipulated organic structures that sounds like the purr of an ancient swampy being unleashed from the underground to walk abroad.
Heavy stories that touches deeply and sets one’s teeth on edge. Aesthetic abysses and imaginary plots that take place only in one’s mind and leave a perceptible impression behind. Thus ‘dupois’ introduces his debut album ‘fallen’!

His style may be described as a hybrid form of neo-dark-ambient that meets subtle electronics. influenced by his past, being a ballet dancer and his daily dealing with aesthetic movements and classical music, he sets the mood in a particular direction, blending melodramatic drone-driven soundscapes with melancholy and emotional intensity.
Welcome to the world of dupois!

Tracks:

1 For Thy Shall
2 The Abandoned
3 A Clone’s Diary
4 Fallen
5 Vulnerable
6 Icq
7 Subtle Conspiracy
8 Panoptic Structure
9 Lord Forsake Me!
10 Vulnerable – K.I.S.kismet Another Day Remix
11 Fallen – Sgnl_fltr Remix

www.dupois.com

Antonio Testa & Susana Beatriz – Alvear

ECOSPHERE is an alchemic project of ancestral sounds full of tribal rhythms, performed for an underground language, creating a balance between biosphere and technosphere.
The sounds, music and dancing make us come back to the past, offering us the view of a world deeply rooted in our unconscious.
The music spreads all its energy and its little/ big melodies; its hidden atmosphere help to find a balance between the electronic and the acoustic sound.
The voice evokes angelical moments between the imperceptible evolution of celestial sound and the ethnic roots of human soul, mixed to world, electronic, ambient, reggae and dub music, creating atmospheres which evoke in our imaginary visions and images of afar places.

Tracks:

1 Rapanui
2 Recuerdos
3 Rajasthan
4 Subterranean Dream
5 Peuls
6 Dance to Bobo
7 Sealand
8 Maya Prayer
9 Tecnosphere
10 Bamouni Dub
11 Joao
12 Spiritualwater

www.myspace.com/ecosphereproject

Tenaka – EPonymously Titled

Tenaka just released an EP for free on their myspace page (Link Below) and have given a nice relaxing sound to January 09. This local act comprising of one man Ronan Carroll has been making waves throughout the land. From BBC radio to websites galore the praises seem to flood in. One listen to the new free EP “EPonymously Titled” makes you understand the hype. The EP oozes a sense of chill out happy factor and transports you to this ambient place full of beats and psychedelic fun.
Ain’t Nobody the opener of the four tracks on the EP is just great, it sounds like Radiohead being backed by Air just a great sound. The four track ep seems to be just an appetiser and I am sure we will hear more from the local lad very soon. Hopefully a gig a tow and a full album! Keep an eye on this one!

Tracks:

1 Aint Nobody
2 Someday
3 Open Up
4 Alaska

www.myspace.com/tenakadrifting

Solar Fields – Movements

Solar Fields drifts back to down-tempo with [ Movements ], a pure electronica ambient in and ex-cursion in the global sound spectrum built upon a crossing of genres, where atmospheric whispers lead to deep rumbling waves, intricate impulsions jump through cleverly crafted beats and layers of organic instrumentations. Vibrant and deeply emotional music flirting with sheer melancholy and hope. The artistry of the album reveals the sound designer’s ability to capture the instant and resonate.
Swedish producer Magnus Birgersson wrote this sixth album in a way that relates the changes in his artistic life at a time when he was composing the interactive in-game score for Electronic Arts video game Mirror’s Edge.
[ Movements ] is composed of 11 tracks floating into each other to create a sense of shift in realities.
As always when discovering any album from Solar Fields, one mustn’t look back but rather open this chapter prepared to be moved to new directions.
Solar Fields will be playing a series of live dates and festivals throughout the winter and spring of 2009.
Details of the [ Movements ] Tour will be announced in due course.

Tracks:

1 Sol
2 Circles of Motion
3 Discovering
4 Sky Trees
5 The Stones are not too busy
6 Dust
7 Das Bungalow
8 Feelings (album edit)
9 Patterns
10 The Road to Nothingness
11 Breeze

www.solarfields.com
www.ultimae.com

Rumpistol – Dynamo

Further reinforcing Rump Recordings’ reputation as one of the very few labels still churning out high quality electronica, comes this latest full-length from Jens Berents Christiansen, whose Rumpistol guise last released an album three years ago. Dynamo marks a triumphant return to the field, filled with warm electro-acoustic timbres and patchwork beat. ‘Mobile’ turns IDM on its head with an .snd-like approach to flinging beats about the place, albeit with a firm grasp on melody and a very tactile handle on instrumentation. While there’s something very upscale, and even grandiose about the Efterklanh-isms of ‘Beito’, tracks like ‘Refleksion’ bring to mind the heyday of that other great Danish electronica institution, Hobby Industries. Exceedingly lovely.

Tracks:

1 Transit
2 Mobile
3 Refleksion
4 Beito
5 Rehux
6 Analog
7 Kocmoc
8 Dynamo

www.experimusic.com
www.myspace.com/rumpistol

V/A : Intelligent Toys 5

After releasing the second volume of Intelligent Toys series we said to ourselves that it is probably the last one in the series. Just because we thought that it is impossible to beat the quality we have created ourselves. And after that we released third volume. Fourth volume wasn’t long to come. And every time we thought the same. Although not all of them were better than previous ones (for some of our fans first volume still remains the best).
So it’s no surprise that this time we also think that it is impossible to make a better compilation. As the matter of fact we aren’t sure about the sixth volume. The reason still remains the same. But this time we have prepared even three hours of various music. As usual we offer you to download all of our intelligent toys and pick the ones that best fit your mood, taste and weather outside your window.
It still remains a mystery for the artists, journalists and for some of our listeners how Sutemos manage to gather so many famous electronic music artists and give their music away FOR FREE. Fifth volume of Intelligent Toys is featuring 39 tracks which were selected from more than 100 pretenders. As the matter of fact we can create couple of awesome compilations from everything that is left. This time we serve you probably the biggest number of highly acclaimed artists that aren’t collaborating with any of the net labels and who thought that giving their music away for free is stupid. Until now.
In this volume you will hear famous German artist AGF which recently produced Ellen Alien’s “Sool” album. We are also delighted that Ulrich Schnauss – an artist has agreed to share his track with you. As usual we just can’t help inviting our own, Lithuanian artists – Leon Somov, Few Nolder and IJO. We hope that you will also enjoy Yagya – a cute dub techno celebrity from distant Iceland, crazy Funckarma brothers (it seems that they just can’t stop making music – 7 different monikers and more than 10 albums in their discography) and intelligent Finnish composer – Vladislav Delay.
This time we also decided to add bonus to our pure Lithuanian virtual gallery – a music video for Sleepy Town Manufacture’s “O Nei” track. This music video was made by no_joy whose art has already because a solid part of our releases. It took more than three months to draw everything by hand and turn to animate it.

sutemos.net/en/player

James Murray – Where Edges Meet

“One of the most highly anticipated albums of the year…Where Edges Meet is a truly pioneering composition that raises the standards of electroacoustic production and sees James Murray leading the way in futuristic sounds”. 10/10
-Fluid Radio

James Murray is a composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist who layers organic and electronic elements to achieve uniquely emotive productions. His passion is for subtlety, ambiguity and that blurry interface between the ‘natural’ and the ‘synthesised’.
Debut album “Where Edges Meet” subtly evokes the rumble and clatter of London’s industrial wastelands, leading us to its secret gardens and wide parks with crystalline, haunting melodies.
As a gifted multi-instrumentalist James has intelligently merged the organic and synthetic realms into delicate and daring soundscapes – all vividly evocative of sense and space.
Where Edges Meet is an intimate and ambiguous album, a wistful playground for broken breakbeats, jazz inflections, sideways dub and avant-garde electronica.
9 colourful tracks to delight your ears and challenge your mind.

Tracks:

1 Awayward
2 Colour Has Its Own Language
3 Outside Context Solution
4 Gaijin
5 Fear of Falling
6 Where Edges Meet
7 Empty Spaces
8 Eleven
9 Invisible People

www.ultimae.com
www.jamesmurray.info
www.myspace.com/whereedgesmeet

Yagya – Rigning

Yagya has made a new album for us. We can’t think of any other way to start this new, promising year as delightful. “Rigning” is the Icelandic word for “rain” and is Aðalsteinn Guðmundsson’s third full-length, the previous one “Will I Dream During The Process?” bestselling on Sending Orbs, the first one “Rythm of Snow” on legendary out-of-print status on Force Inc. Yes, we think this album is a new step forward for Yagya and we think this album has the prettiest and saddest melodies ever on a dub techno/ambient record, but we most kindly invite you to be your own judge. And by buying either the CD or 2×12″, you may even stimulate the Icelandic economy along your way. We’re just confident this is going to be your first great purchase in 2009. – Sending Orbs

Tracks:

1 Rigning Einn
2 Rigning Tvö
3 Rigning þrjú
4 Rigning Fjórir
5 Rigning Fimm
6 Rigning Sex
7 Rigning Sjö
8 Rigning Átta
9 Rigning Níu
10 Rigning Tíu

www.sendingorbs.com

IDMF002 – Concord

Concord is pure sonic experimentation at its finest, an ambient journey of vibrant soundscapes that tear the very fabric of time & space, taking your ears to places you never thought existed. This release will tap into your emotions, put a smile on your face & help you appreciate the sheer beauty that these 14 artists have crafted.
Concord is the much anticipated the second release from the IDM Forums. We have delved deep into the depths of the Ambient & Soundscape genre to bring you 14 tracks of sheer beauty.

Tracks:

1 Halogen – Length and Brecht
2 Kearley – Untitled 3
3 Zygadenus – Falling Fog
4 Son Of Akira – Anteater
5 Sasha Borodin – Asleep Next To Emily
6 Chaotic Pulse – Metamorphosis
7 Grids/Units/Planes – Flickering Fluros (This Brittle Night)
8 Hellscion – Mysterium
9 Atoms of an Addict – Maybe If You Just Listen?
10 O-dio – Nebulous Morning
11 Evelon – Segus Degus II
12 Synaecide – Laid To Waste
13 The Get – Sahel
14 ZXYZXY – The World Doesn’t End

label.idmforums.com/idmf002-concord.html

Slow Cream – Wax on Wall

The album ‚wax on wool’ shows a distinct progression in the work of me raabenstein. it is as if the multi-faceted somewhat intentional random nature of his previous works have made their way, subtlety, of course, into a cycle that retains its originality und unpredictability, yet exists as an entity in and unto itself, with several musical gestures tying the work together. this does not mean that one should listen idly by, expecting the mundane with no surprise. It is still a raabenstein work, after all, and, although the weaving of musical, percussive and spoken elements are done seamlessly, the boring norm this cd is not. The work in its entirety reminds me of a young alban berg, having just learned the principles of twelve-tone music. In berg’s music of this period, one hears elements of the, at-the-time, mainstream romantic approach combined with tone rows, both elements beautifully intertwined. (a feat that other atonal purists never really achieved.) I like to attribute this to berg’s great sense of musicality and style. This is what i mean when i say that the second slowcream album contains elements of pure raabenstein, but with a new, fresh kind of artistic refinement that makes the work a joy to listen to. It is still in the experimental, electronic genre, but it has something new: a definite sense of style. Whereas the genre of modern electronic music within the context of popular culture has been content to pride itself with experimentation mounted upon experimentation, this work shows some natural progression — it is an amalgamation of many different genres, elements, and media, somewhat like a modern work of visual art, which does not shy away from using oils with textiles, or car parts with rubbish. In the same manner which modern art has experimented with varying media, so has raabenstein experimented with sonic layering. ‚wax on wool’ is full of three dimensional musical levels, mesmerizing the listener, piquing his interest, making him curious. This is why this album has a distinct forward motion; it is complete with rhythmic patterns, contemporary electronic minimalism at times, punctuated by tongue and cheek comedy, even taking time to breathe occasionally with haunting musical yearnings. it is the mixture of both microcosmic strengths with those macrocosmic ones that makes the album specific and powerful. one may be able to listen to just the poco allegretto from brahms 3 and be satisfied, but knowing how the entire symphony sounds unadulterated, from its beginning to its end makes one never want to hear just one piece as an excerpt again. so is slowcream’s ‚wax on wool’. once the work is listened to, one understands how it all fits together. when that happens, you won’t want to hear it any other way. joshua farrier (dma) me raabenstein lives and works in berlin, germany.

Tracks:

1 punch indigo
2 into butter
3 in the cave
4 mild mountains
5 luck of the north
6 on carpets
7 wanderlust
8 gwynplaine’s hill
9 asymetric herding
10 creamin’ over
11 sacred knots

www.nonine.com
www.myspace.com/slowcream

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