Holden Into Ryley EP

Many people have a lot of fun distorting sounds from acoustic instruments through electronics, myself included. In a realm riddled with mediocrity, Mark Templeton rises to the top like the cream of the crop. Check out the completely free LP he just released on Anticipate by clicking here. You'll find lots of great sounds manipulated into a completely new artistic vision. Check out the other releases as well--all very good stuff coming from that label.

Goofball EP

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Nope, not another beatless album. A timely up as this dude is playing in Cambridge, MA on Wednesday. This EP is the first release from unfoundsound, and it's mad goofy. I like the 1st and last tracks and hope you do as well.

from unfoundsound: unfound01 is an in-house release, with two members of the (un)foundsound crew in action: three tracks by someone else, aka sean o'neal, and a remix by fusiphorm, aka cyhl. the three original pieces come in someone else's now characteristic style, which have seen him release on labels like musik krause, tuning spork, remains, microcosm and of course foundsound: minimal quirkiness, with groovy basslines and a subtle use of field recordings, always with an eye directed at the dancefloor. the title track is revisited by fusiphorm for his production debut, in a remix that deliberately adds an even housier sensibility to the original goofyness.

Room40: Various Artists Airport Symphony -Virtual Terminal

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As with a lot of my posts, this is best heard with a nice pair of headphones. Here's a free release from Room40 that came out last year.

From Room40.com:
The virtual terminal is a freely downloadable companion edition to the Airport Symphony 2CD. It is available from the QMF website.

As Alain De Botton suggests in his book ‘The Art Of Travel’, the act of transit between social, cultural and geographic circumstance is far more than mere bodily movement. Language, architecture, food, gesture, landscape and sound all play a part in travel and ultimately contribute to the sensations of excitement, exoticism, disorientation and even fear that occupy the daily life of the traveller.

At points of departure and arrival on these journeys increasingly lies an airport. Like business hotels across the globe, the airport acts as a uniform presence – rotating gates, the clunk of baggage, the vague chatter of tourist and traveller alike and the occasional interruption of muffled announcements. Vast halls echoing with the shifting of bodies intent on exodus and return.

As Socrates wrote, ‘Man must rise above the Earth - to the top of the atmosphere and beyond - for only thus will he fully understand the world in which he lives [sic]’. Indeed, as the choreography of pre-flight checks is conducted following the gentle rock of the plane leaving the air bridge to a soundtrack of gentle pressurised drone and air conditioned hiss, a meditation commences. This moment of consideration is heightened, as the reflected sound of the engines scorching the tarmac surface is vacuumed into the void of open air and as the plane leaves the earth there is (in every traveller no matter how experienced) still a sense of silent awe at the marvels of the physics of flight.

Airport Symphony, commissioned by the Queensland Music Festival and Brisbane Airport Corporation, documents and synthesises the experiences of travel. Each piece represents a personal meditation on aspects of travel in the modern age and suggests ways in which we control, augment and ultimately exists in a time where almost no part of the face of the planet is inaccessible. Each of the pieces features a source recording made in and around Brisbane Airport between March and June 2007 –in a raw form or transformed by processing.

Audio diary entries cataloguing the epic possibilities of flight, aero-passage and human bodies in motion and even at rest.

DJ Lab

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I've always been partial to music that is either funky or sneaky. When both are accomplished in the same song, it's a rare treat. Case in point with his 2nd track, Spookers Dub. Fun!

from www.31337records.com:
We are proud to present you our latest release from DJ Lab one of Copenhagens top DJ’s!- Because of the great competitiveness in his city, Anders Brøndum aka DJ Lab has built a high standard of quality for his sets and prooves technical skills in his own productions which he already put out on labels such as echocord or tic tac toe.

Lab’s style took off as straight up banging minimalism but has developed considerably over the years. Today, his arsenal ranges from Detroit techno over trancey Cologne’ism to minimal house and Dub. As long as it’s quality, it’s playable.

From 1998-2000 he was a regular name in the Roskilde Festival lineup – playing for thousands and thousands of ravers at one of Europe’s largest music festivals.

By 2000 his credentials had brought him a monthly residence on the National Radio of Denmark. From 2004 and onwards, he’s upheld a residence at Copenhagen’s largest club, Vega – and since its opening in January 2005, internationally respected electronic club Culture Box has put Lab on the lineup numerous times.

The 30 something ep is packed with 3 beautiful Dub tracks starting off with “Libra” which was the favorite track of all of us including sean o’neil (someone else) on this ep, followed by “Spookers Dub” which is indeed a little spooky, but really unique and funky. The last track called “third shift” is very hypnotic and is more club oriented than the other tracks. all in all a great ep for everyone who is into minimal and dub!

miskate

Here's a fun video courtesy of aesthetic parcel (video), and Miskate (music). The travels of a groovy ladybug, and it's encounter with a dancing jukebox and cowboy ghosts. Good stuff.
zuni lullaby

whatwhat?

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unfoundsound presents a six-track masterpiece courtesy of brooklyn's david last -- featuring three original numbers, plus three remixes by so inagawa (of the suffragettes), ditch and suz. on the whatwhat? ep, david last demonstrates his diverse music-making dexterity and crystal-clean production skills. the ep commences with "animal hybrids" -- a quirky, snippy dancefloor killer fueled by snarling found sounds and snappy percussion that all minimal techno djs can appreciate. then on "where it falls", david last slows the bpm down to a chugging crawl -- yielding a groovy, slow-paced dub tune meticulously doused with blips, bleeps and heady reverbs (somewhat reminiscent of monolake). this is followed by "sporty ankles" -- a minimal masterwork that moves gently with broken beats, pretty vocal stabs, snippy percussion, drenching reverbs and a dubby undertone. then so inagawa reworks "where it falls" into a deep, sample-heavy minimal ass-shaker soaked with goofy found sounds and reverb-drenched timbres. then ditch offers an upbeat remix of "sporty ankles" -- a driving crowd-pleaser with a hard-hitting beat, gritty melodies and funny sound-sculpting. and last but not least, suz offers another version of "where it falls" -- a sexy and heady minimal house ditty doused with chopped up vocal snippets, a rumbling bassline, grainy textures and shuffly percussion. oh yeah! another whoppin' ep!

Anticipate Recordings Summer Tour Remix Volume 1

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One artist I have been listening to a lot lately is Ezekiel Honig, who has a record label named Anticipate Recordings. This label combines elements of ambient, electro-acoustics, slow motion techno, and found house. Over the last several months I have been listening to quite a bit of music from that label, and wanted to throw the most recent web release up here for all a listen.

From www.anticipaterecordings.com:
We're pleased to bring you an exclusive digital release: Summer Tour Remix Volume 1, which, as the title suggests, is a collection of remixes of Sawako's Summer Tour field recordings. 11 tracks from label friends and associates that are all based on the original field recordings, with plenty of instrumental straying from the source…

The concept is simple. Take the sounds from Sawako's Summer Tour field recordings, and make new material with them. That's all the artists were asked to do. The result is a collection that displays the range of artists and the range of approaches. Some use only the original source sounds. Some use them sparingly in the context of a new song. Some add new instrumentation to an otherwise field recording-heavy piece. The common thread is that we love them all. A big thank you to the artists who took the time to participate and bring us such excellent work. Enjoy.