Label Description: An experimental collage of sonic textures, calm, fragmented, and deeply meditative. An exploration that drifts through layers of sound, inviting stillness and introspection.
Tag Archives: drone
Richard Bégin – Déjà Vu (Reverse Alignment)
Label Description:
Déjà vu is a fleeting yet profound sensation, a moment when time seems to fold in on itself, between past and present. It is a phenomenon of memory—both elusive and deeply personal—where recognition and strangeness coexist. Few artistic mediums can evoke this liminal state as powerfully as ambient music, where repetition, decay, and texture shape sonic landscapes that mirror the ghostly presence of the past within the present.
Canadian composer Richard Bégin has been steadily building a reputation in the realm of ambient music for his explorations of memory, crafting soundscapes that feel like echoes from a distant past, lost yet eerily familiar. His latest work, centered on the concept of déjà vu, follows in the tradition of artists like Boards of Canada, Fennesz, Philip Jeck, and William Basinski—musicians who have sculpted time-worn textures, fragile loops, and sonic artifacts to capture the essence of recollection and its inevitable dissolution.
Like Basinski’s Disintegration Loops, which document the slow decay of recorded memory, or Jeck’s ghostly turntable manipulations that awaken forgotten voices from the grooves of old records, Bégin’s music invites listeners into an auditory space where time is fluid. Fennesz’s digital deconstructions and Boards of Canada’s nostalgia-tinted melodies find an echo in Bégin’s work, which similarly embraces imperfection, layering textures that drift between clarity and erosion keeping the listener between the comfort of recognition and the disquieting realization that the past is always just out of reach.
Canadian composer Richard Bégin has been steadily building a reputation in the realm of ambient music for his explorations of memory, crafting soundscapes that feel like echoes from a distant past, lost yet eerily familiar. His latest work, centered on the concept of déjà vu, follows in the tradition of artists like Boards of Canada, Fennesz, Philip Jeck, and William Basinski—musicians who have sculpted time-worn textures, fragile loops, and sonic artifacts to capture the essence of recollection and its inevitable dissolution.
Like Basinski’s Disintegration Loops, which document the slow decay of recorded memory, or Jeck’s ghostly turntable manipulations that awaken forgotten voices from the grooves of old records, Bégin’s music invites listeners into an auditory space where time is fluid. Fennesz’s digital deconstructions and Boards of Canada’s nostalgia-tinted melodies find an echo in Bégin’s work, which similarly embraces imperfection, layering textures that drift between clarity and erosion keeping the listener between the comfort of recognition and the disquieting realization that the past is always just out of reach.
credits
released April 16, 2025
REVIEWS
Avant Music News
avantmusicnews.com/2025/04/20/amn-reviews-richard-begin-deja-vu-2025-reverse-alignment
Ivan Black – Concrete Island (Petroglyph Music)
Label Description:
“Concrete Island” is a novel by J.G. Ballard, first published in 1974. The story explores themes of isolation, survival, and the impact of urban environments on human psychology. It is often classified within the genre of speculative fiction, reflecting Ballard’s keen interest in the relationship between humanity and the modern world.
Main Themes
1. Isolation and Alienation: The setting of the concrete island serves as a metaphor for modern urban life, where people often feel disconnected despite being surrounded by others. Maitland’s isolation forces him to reflect on his life and the choices that led him to this predicament.
2. Survival and Adaptation: The novel delves into the human instinct for survival. Maitland’s journey showcases his physical and mental struggles, highlighting the lengths people will go to endure and adapt to extreme situations.
3. Urban Decay: Ballard’s depiction of the concrete island reflects a critique of modernity. The stark contrast between the vibrant city surrounding the island and the desolation within it underscores the neglect and decay present in urban settings.
4. Psychological Exploration: As Maitland grapples with his circumstances, the narrative explores his psyche. The isolation prompts a deep introspection, raising questions about identity, purpose, and the nature of reality.
Grandbruit – Lys (Florina Cassettes)
Label Description:
The inspiration for this long-form piece comes mainly from hikes around an abbey near the house where we grew up.
In Cistercian silence, countless lilies overlook the walking trails.
Sweet summer memories in a crisp winter.
In Cistercian silence, countless lilies overlook the walking trails.
Sweet summer memories in a crisp winter.
credits
released February 7, 2025
Music by Francis Tremblay
Photo by Pier-Luc Tremblay
Original painting “Portrait of Bindo Altoviti” by Jacopino del Conte (Oil on wood, early 1550s)
Design by Anne-Julie Dudemaine
Bad Sector & Astro – Idio Blast (Self-Released)
Label Description:
Collaboration between Massimo Magrini and Hiroshi Hasegawa
credits
released February 12, 2025CD release by Insofar Vapor Bulk (IVBCD10)
Editors note: This release features a version of the original artwork. Originally released in 2005 by Insofar Vapor Bulk, and distributed by Loki-Foundation (Power & Steel) and Malignant Records.
øjeRum – A Juxtaposition Of Distant Realities (Cyclic Law)
Label Description: The Poetic Abyss of Collage and Vision
Paw Grabowski, known artistically as øjeRum, is a Danish visionary whose work exists in the evocative realms between memory, dreams, and the passage of time. Renowned for his intricate and meditative collages and musical output, øjeRum transforms fragments of vintage materials into timeless compositions that resonate with haunting beauty. His art invites viewers to engage with a dialogue of silence—one that whispers of loss, transformation, and the fragility of existence.
Following the success of Stigma, a powerful synthesis of visual and auditory art that melded øjeRum’s distinct collages with his ambient musical compositions, this second book from Cyclic Press continues to explore his deeply introspective practice. Each piece is a window into a world of layered emotions, where the ephemeral becomes eternal and where simplicity reveals profound complexity.
øjeRum’s approach to art is deeply intuitive, driven by a fascination with decay and renewal. His work often reflects a process of deconstruction and reconstruction, echoing the cycles of nature and life itself. Themes of detachment, transience, and emotional depth permeate his pieces, encouraging viewers to pause and contemplate their own experiences of time and space.
This new collection not only builds upon the foundations laid by Stigma but also ventures into uncharted territories of øjeRum’s creative vision. It is an exploration of the void and the plenitude within; an invitation to lose oneself in the layers of meaning and texture he meticulously crafts. Through these works, øjeRum continues his quest to illuminate the unseen and to honor the stillness at the heart of existence.
Let this book be your guide into the quiet, powerful world of øjeRum—a space where art transcends form and becomes a mirror to the soul.
Hardcover book, thread-sewn binding. 170mmm x 240mm. 104 pages. Matte laminate cover. Includes CD in paper sleeve. 2 Tracks. Running time 60:22min. Limited Edition of 300 copies. ISBN: 9782957938230
Andrew Liles – Without Wisdom (Self-Released)
Label Description: Without Wisdom features 8 new songs based on those anxious moments of anticipation in the dreaded dental waiting room.
In the 1970s when I visited the dentist, the music they played in the waiting room was slow melancholy jazz, jazz featuring the vibraphone. I alluded to this on my recording ‘Bad Vibes Waiting Room’, which appeared on the 2007 album Black Hole.
Teeth. Teeth are not really fit for purpose are they? All my neuroses and fears manifest in my mouth. You have to work at keeping your teeth, it’s an eternal battle. Natural teeth are disjointed, irregular shapes and never brilliant white. They are not neat and shiny and all in a row like a Hollywood grin, unless you are lucky of course. There is no beauty in them, they are ugly, they fail, they rot, they don’t grow back and at some point they will cause unmitigated misery for practically everyone.
I have always had weird teeth. My incisors are Draculaesque. I was ridiculed at school for having them. In later life I have been asked several times where I have had them ‘done’, people assuming I have willingly had them cosmetically altered. I always reply that it’s a congenital deformity. What makes them even more pronounced is the fact that the neighbouring two teeth are, bizarrely, still milk teeth.
I’ve had some terrible experiences at the dentist. I have been in waiting rooms with people running out screaming. Once, the dentist came into the waiting room covered in blood, moaning about patients only coming to him when they were in pain. I have had unnecessary extractions and unnecessary fillings.
I was very much a victim of the ‘heavy metal’ generation. For those who don’t know, in the 1970s, the NHS in the UK encouraged dentists to ‘restore’ teeth, which led to many children receiving extensive and often pointless dental work. The ‘drill and fill’ abuse of the 70s meant that dentists were driven by financial gain rather than the patients’ wellbeing. This resulted in the ‘heavy metal’ generation, creating victims of the predictable and ugly consequences of when money and healthcare coalesce.
A couple of years ago I had a wisdom tooth extracted. It no longer had any socket left to keep it fixed in place and needed to be removed. I asked the dentist if I could keep it.
You can own it… if you like. I am literally selling my own body parts.
Send an email to andrew@andrewliles.com with a price you would like to pay for it.
The highest bidder will win the tooth, which comes in a presentation box with a signed Polaroid.
Images can be found here – www.andrewliles.com/discography/without-wisdom/
Final offers are due by midnight GMT 14th February.
P&P will be added to your bid.
Teeth. Teeth are not really fit for purpose are they?
JANUARY 2025: DESCEND AND DISINTEGRATE
Cousin Silas – Emporium Drone 017 (The Cousin Silas Emporium)
Label Description: Photo by JJ Sproat. Thanks fella.
Slomo – Zen and Zennor (Trilithon Records)
Label Description:
Electric drone stalwarts Slomo return with only their fifth album in 20 years, “Zen and Zennor”; their sonic palette refreshed, their focus again tuned to the spectral otherness of Land’s End. The cover star – Zennor Quoit – is a colossal megalithic structure to be found on moorland above the village of Zennor, 4.5 miles to the west of St Ives.
Primitive melodies and arcane motifs are buffeted by drifting analogue oscillators on lead track ‘Zen and Zennor’, compressing into thick saturated drones before taking a sublime turn into familiar subterranean territory. ‘Zennor Diode’ crackles into manifestation above the moorland, cautioning against – or perhaps encouraging – experiments with exposed electrics in the Cornish mizzle. Complete removal of self (and band) is provided with circuit-closing track ‘Antechamber’, dissolving the Zennor’d-out participants into the hum of the Hummadruz*.
The duo continues to be informed by their work elsewhere; Chris (“Holy”) McGrail recently contributed to Julian Cope’s Dope and Queen Elizabeth projects, while Howard Marsden co-runs Hebden Bridge’s already-legendary Ambient Bowling Club, where experimental music mixes with environmental sounds, low chatter and the soft clank of bowls.
“Zen and Zennor” wraps Slomo’s only constant – immense, eventual catharsis – in a freshness and immediacy that could perhaps suggest a quickening of their notoriously glacial pace. Time will tell.
*Hummadruz refers to a mysterious, low-frequency hum or droning sound, often said to be heard around the ancient sites of Land’s End.
released October 4, 2024
Composted by McGrail/Marsden
Published by Domesday Music
Aidan Baker / Han-earl Park / Katharina Schmidt – Thoughts Of Trio (Cruel Nature Records)
Label Description:
Thoughts of Trio was recorded live at Morphine Raum in Berlin, Germany on February 21, 2024 by Canadian guitarist Aidan Baker, Korean-American guitarist Han-earl Park, & German drummer/percussionist Katharina Schmidt. The group brings together their respective, disparate musical backgrounds to explore the intersections of ambient music, improvisational (free) jazz, and musique-concrète.
releases December 6, 2024
Recorded live at Morphine Raum in Berlin, Germany on February 21, 2024 by Rabih Beaini.
Aidan Baker (bass / guitar)
Han-earl Park (guitar)
Katharina Schmidt (drums)
aidanbakercollaborations.bandcamp.com
katharinaschmidt.bandcamp.com
hanearlpark.bandcamp.com
Limited edition CD available at emerge.bandcamp.com/album/thoughts-of-trio
Music For The Rest Of Us 