[OSI 007] The Boats - The Ballad Of The Eagle CD (Album) 2011

Boats, The – The Ballad Of The Eagle
Label: Our Small Ideas – OSI007
Format: CD, Album, Limited Edition
Country: UK
Released: 2011
Genre: Classical, Electronic
Style: Modern Classical, Ambient

Banjo – Joseph Borreson
Cello, Saw – Danny Norbury
Electronics, Performer [Acoustics], Tape, Effects – Boats, The
Voice – Yasuhiko Fukuzono
This is for the ones we love.
OSI007 A Boats Achievements Book
There are now over 220 Boats titles covering a wide range of subjects and listening ages.
Comes in a handmade and hand-stamped cardboard envelope, and inside the CD in a slipcase.

Tracklist:
1 Invisible Orchestras 3:27
2 Dusty Rooms 3:42
3 If I May Trespass On Your Patience 2:18
4 Omissions For You To Fill In 5:13
5 I Can't Read Your Morse Code Heartbeat 4:04
6 I'm Not A Pessimist, I'm Sad 2:21
7 Chance Meetings At Train Stations 5:04
8 Great Intentions 5:13
9 The Days We Didn't Spend 3:37

http://www.discogs.com/Boats-The-Ballad-Of-The-Eagle/release/3227160
http://boomkat.com/cds/462134-the-boats-the-ballad-of-the-eagle

Perfectly poised for autumnal gratification, The Boats present their first new material in a while with new album 'The Ballad Of The Eagle'. They're still a trio - Andrew Hargreaves, Craig Tattersall and Danny Norbury - and ever refining their craft to a sort of ritual somnambulant magic. For this outing they're also augmented by two special contributions, Yasuhiko Fukuzono's vocals and Joseph Borreson's Banjo, expanding their palette of electronic and acoustic instrumentation to a (very) small orchestra's worth of rich and supernaturally spatialised tones. Travelling through the album, that comforting sense of deepest blue melancholia is omnipresent, but quite often slips beyond their usual boundaries into out-and-out darkness. This mood sets the tone of opener 'Invisible Orchestras' until a swooning cello resolution and the spirit-raising machine-tooled miniature 'Dusty Rooms'. Here on in we oscillate gently between tape-hiss enigmas 'If I May Trespass On Your Patience', to quietly breathtaking, noirish drone-pop 'Omissions For You To Fill In' with sterling vocal input from Yasuhiko and Danny Norbury's Cello to the album centrepiece 'I Can't Read Your Morse Code Heartbeat', a seductively dark piece of keys and sanguine strings swaddled by electro-acoustic pulse patterns. The second half is signalled by the matter-of-fact bleakness of 'I'm Not A Pessimist, I'm Sad', and one of their most beautiful radiophonic techno pieces 'Chance Meeting At Train Stations', concluding with the warbling, edge-of-disintegration keys, drawn strings and tape hiss in 'The Days We Didn't Spend'.

The Boats - The Ballad Of The Eagle - I Can't Read Your Morse Code Heartbeat (our small ideas) by pdis_inpartmaint
The Boats - The Ballad Of The Eagle - Great Intentions (our small ideas) by pdis_inpartmaint
  The Boats - The Days We Didn't Spend by Fluid Radio

download

[hbfs 04] Various – Hibernate Sampler Volume 4

Various – Hibernate Sampler Volume 4
Label: hibernate – hbfs04
Format: 13 × File, FLAC, Sampler
Country: UK
Released: 14 Oct 2011
Genre: Electronic
Style: Abstract, Modern Classical, Experimental, Ambient

Tracklist:
1 Offthesky* – Whittling You Little Lights 4:27
2 Simon Bainton – Arrival 4:40
3 Szymon Kaliski – When Facing North 3:53
4 Caught In The Wake Forever / Karina ESP / Sheepdog – Sadness & Static (Part One) 8:45
5 Field Rotation – And Tomorrow I Will Sleep 7:46
6 Yellow6 & David Newlyn – Miniature 5 2:19
7 Chris Dooks – Horse Island 6:32
8 Adam A. Williams* – A Year Spent Alone 3:54
9 Talvihorros – Alpha 8:09
10 Ed Hamilton (6) – Behind The Clouds (Part 2) 3:36
11 Part Timer – Undead (Part 4) 4:56
12 Spheruleus – Clouds Swarm 7:56
13 Yann Novak – Presence (Excerpt) 4:00

Free download sampler featuring selected tracks from releases April 2011 to October 2011. There are 25 handmade copies to be given away in return for a donation. If you want a higher bit rate format you can make a donation at the hibernate Bandcamp page where you can pick any format you want including lossless.

Tweet toDownload

[moteer::017] Tokyo Bloodworm – Palestine 2CD (Album) 2011

Tokyo Bloodworm – Palestine
Label: Moteer – moteer::017
Format: CD, Album
CDr, Limited Edition
Country: UK
Released: May 2011
Genre: Electronic
Style: Leftfield, Modern Classical, Ambient


Tracklist:
  Palestine
CD-1 Canaanite Coast
CD-2 Pale The Clerics Pass
CD-3 Vesica Piscis
CD-4 People Do It To Each Other
CD-5 Blind Daughters Of Gaza
CD-6 Coiled State
CD-7 The Garden Shined Our Eyes Away
CD-8 Mergers And Occupations
CD-9 Flames Set In Wooden Frames
CD-10 Everything Is Created By The Will For It To Exist
   Palestine Remixes
CDr-1 Pale The Clerics Pass Remix
    Remix – Scissors & Cellotape*
CDr-2 The Garden Shined Our Eyes Away Remix
    Remix – Vieo Abiungo
CDr-3 Vesica Piscis Remix
    Remix – Ian Hawgood*
CDr-4 Mergers And Occupations Remix
    Remix – Part Timer
CDr-5 Blind Daughters Of Melbourne Remix
    Remix – Children Of The Wave 
CDr-6 Flames Set In Wooden Frames Remix
    Remix – Shigeto 
CDr-7 Flames Set In Wooden Frames Remix
    Remix – Sun Hammer
CDr-8 People Do It To Each Other Remix
    Remix – Matt Elliot*
CDr-9 Everything Is Created Remix
    Remix – Ian Hawgood*
CDr-10 Canaanite Coast Remix
    Remix – Peter Stenberg
CDr-11 Mergers And Occupations Remix
    Remix – Remote Viewer*
CDr-12 Blind Daughters Of Gaza Remix
    Remix – Manyfingers 
CDr-13 Canaanite Coast Remix
    Remix – Part Timer 

http://www.moteer.co.uk/

*Initial copies come with a bonus disc of 13 remixes from Part Timer, Matt Elliot, The Remote Viewer, Manyfingers, Ian Hawgood and more* ‘Palestine’, the second album from Arizona duo Tokyo Bloodworm was originally started way back in 2006. The concept behind the record was to drop all electronic or synthesized sounds and go for only original recordings, and this is probably why it’s taken Ryan Keane and R.A. Sanchez so darned long to make the record. Thankfully it’s been worth the wait, and while it might be the final release on the much-loved Moteer label, ‘Palestine’ is a cracking way to celebrate their legacy. With a nod towards the Middle Eastern soundscapes of Muslimgauze as well as a passion for the kind of homespun electronica that came to characterize Moteer, the record is a smart blend of styles; beat driven and pitch black one minute and beautifully introverted the next. Maybe this is down to the very obvious recordings – they were right, the record is mercifully free of the electronic treatments the duo were so adamant to avoid, and the result is something that sounds more akin to latter day Third Eye Foundation or Manyfingers, or possibly even ‘Amelie’ composer Yann Tiersen. ‘Palestine’ is multi-faceted and epic, and with its long list of instrumental collaborators and startling reach through a grab-bag of styles and genres it might just be the best thing to emerge from the Moteer catalogue for some time.

try

Secret Thirteen mix #001 – Pleq

Secret Thirteen mix #001 – Pleq
http://secretthirteen.org/pleq/
facebook
pleq.bandcamp
soundcloud

“Secret Thirteen mix #001” is a mixed compilation that consists of twelve separate compositions created between 2010-2011 by Bartosz Dziadosz, known as Pleq, and his colleagues from Japan, Canada, Spain and United Kingdom.

Author of the mix Bartosz Dziadosz – Pleq is an electro-acoustic artist, based in Warsaw, Poland. By connecting ambient, glitch and modern classic musical elements, Pleq extracts his sincere individuality. After releasing thirteen albums and being represented in more than thirteen record labels he now can be called a major figure in the academic music scene.

“Secret Thirteen mix #001” is a coherent and thoughtful one hour musical line that definitely proves Bartosz complete musical feeling. Extensive piercing atmospheres are drifting through whole work and gently changing their shapes by assimilating even a rustle sounds. Melancholic wide range melodies submerge in the field of contemporary sound while occasionally emerging sublime cello entries and suddenly varying piano chords bring vitality into selection. These delaying field recordings and subtle effects create a perfect fulfillment to the whole.

Pleq creates a significant journey inside your mind and soul where time does not exist. This is an imperishable monument of intelligent sound from the most promising Poland’s musician.

Tracklist
01| offthesky & Pleq – Ashes Of American Fags
02| Unreleased Exclusive
03| offthesky & Pleq – Desert Of Hours
04| Pleq plus Lauki – Part II
05| offthesky & Pleq – Delicate Exit
06| Pleq plus Marihiko Hara – She Is Stell Asleep
07| Pleq plus Lauki – Part V (Poem by Loulwa Beydoun)
08| Pleq plus Hakobune – III
09| Paper Relics – Fading (Pleq Remix)
10| Pleq plus Lauki – The Gravity Lens (Cut)
11| Pleq & Spheruleus – A Journey Through Unfamiliar Places
12| Unreleased Exclusive (Cello by Dave Dhonau)

[MIA CD 016] Kreng – Grimoire CD (Album) 2011

Kreng – Grimoire
Label: Miasmah
Catalog#: MIACD016
Format: CD, Album
Country: Norway
Released: 03 Jun 2011
Genre: Electronic
Style: Modern Classical, Dark Ambient, Drone

Design – Erik K. Skodvin*
Mastered By – Nils Frahm
Photography By – Stef Lernous
Written By, Producer – Pepijn Caudron

Tracklist:
1 Karcist 2:43
2 Le Bateleur 7:29
3 Opkropper 3:11
4 Petit Grimoire 4:21
Piano – Nils Frahm
5 Wrak 9:04
6 Ballet Van De Bloedhoeren 4:36
7 Girl In A Fishtank 3:38
8 La Poule Noire 3:49
9 Balkop 4:57
10 Satyriasis 7:18
Percussion – Eric Thielemans
11 Konker 2:45

Having first entered our lives in 2009 with an album so singularly terrifying that it still gives us nightmares, Pepijn Caudron - the elusive mastermind behind Kreng - plunges even deeper into the heart of darkness with a new full-length offering for Miasmah. The results are just phenomenal, combining a palpably European antique grandeur with cutting edge sound design and a pervasive occult charge (a 'grimoire' is a book of spells, don'tcha know). 'Karcist' is the curtain-raiser, wherein ambiguous midnight ambience soon gives way to hands-around-the-throat dread; 'Le Bateleur' is a zombie waltz of baleful clarinet, muted horns and snares flapping like bat's wings. On 'Opkropper', Kreng's neo-classical ambitions swell to the fore, plangent cello lavishly swelling amid Ligeti-style piano jabs and snatches of soprano opera singing that sound like Edith Piaf trapped down a well. 'Petit Grimoire' is the album's seductive highlight, impish strings hanging off a muffled techno pulse, and 'Wrak' is a veritable symphony of things that go bump in the night: shrill violins and discordant woodwind scrapping and scraping over a steadily iterated, Morricone-esque motif. The stately orchestral vibe returns for 'Ballet Van De Bloedhoeren' only to dissolve into a fetid swamp of the sickest drone; 'Girl In A Fishtank' sounds like one of Leyland Kirby and Philip Jeck's clammiest nightmares, a real Death In Venice dirge, its 1920s pomp racked by the threat of cholera, drowning, forbidden lust and war. 'La Poule Noire is a grimm tale with an almost industrial momentum, its reverbed percussion rolling horribly, unstoppably onwards like a steam train to the death factory. Has gothic minimalism ever sounded this vivid, this all-consuming and three-dimensional? Not to our knowledge.

miasmah | boomkat (LP)

[fluidaudio 008] Various - Kanshin Compilation 2CD 2011

Various – Kanshin
Label: Fluid Audio, hibernate
Catalog#: fluidaudio 008
Format: 2 × CD, Compilation
Country: UK
Released: Jun 2011
Genre: Electronic
Style: Modern Classical, Drone, Experimental, Ambient

Art Direction – Ian Hazeldine*
Hosted By [Kanshin Curated By] – Daniel Crossley, Jonathan Lees
Mastered By – Wil Bolton
Track 2-4 recorded in Gothenburg 2010-2011. Performed, produced and mixed at The 63rd.
Kanshin is a compilation album that has been put together to raise money for the current recovery in Japan following March’s earthquake.
100% of profit from compilation sales will go directly towards the Japan recovery and on-going relief efforts.
Released in a A5 sized cardboard jacket
The Fluid Audio catalog number (008) does not appear on the release. It is, however, mentioned at the label site.

Tracklist:
1-1 Clem Leek – Light Passage II (Grief) 5:08
1-2 Hummingbird (2) – Dancing Shadows 3:58
1-3 Relmic Statute – Lopery 5:02
1-4 Scissors And Sellotape – Heal 3:34
1-5 P Jørgensen & Ian Hawgood* – Isles 3:34
1-6 Wil Bolton – Lost In Transit 4:12
1-7 Field Rotation – A Pondering Silence 4:38
1-8 Caught In The Wake Forever – Lia Fail (At Dawn) 3:34
1-9 Damian Valles – Clime 5:42
1-10 Library Tapes – May (Variation) 1:45
1-11 Yellow6 – Repeat 6:20
1-12 Maps And Diagrams* With Ylid – Again 4:54
1-13 Felicia Atkinson – Chaleur Vacante 8:44
1-14 Hessien – Flightless And Nocturnal 2:42
1-15 Yann Novak – 3 Surfaces Excerpt 5:04
1-16 Offthesky* With Ten And Tracer – Therapy Refuge 7:10
2-1 Orla Wren With Katie English – Swallowtail Yellow 5:16
2-2 Moving Dawn Orchestra, The – We're Here 3:48
2-3 Spheruleus – Residue 4:48
2-4 Silence Set, The – So Will Everything We Love
Performer, Producer, Mixed By – Dag Rosenqvist, Johan Gustavsson 3:46
2-5 Aaron Martin (2) & Machinefabriek – Utsutsu 3:04
Instruments, Recorded By – Aaron Martin (2)
Other [Further Adjustments] – Machinefabriek
2-6 Szymon Kaliski – And Longing 4:55
2-7 Jeremy Bible & Jason Henry – Grainslip 7:34
2-8 Bengalfuel – Gorgon 4:44
2-9 David Newlyn – Landscape (III) 2:02
2-10 Tom White (4) – Bright Rooms 4:04
2-11 Listening Mirror – The Cause Of It All 6:19
2-12 Talvihorros – Perigee 7:49
2-13 Alex Durlak – Bellows 5:40
2-14 Antonymes – Kiotsuketene 2:56
2-15 Kyle Bobby Dunn – Britannia Into Morning 8:00

Kanshin is a two CD compilation album that presents a collection of sound design work from some of the scene's finest artists from across the globe. It has been put together to raise money for the current recovery in Japan following March's earthquake.

As the sensationalist media broadcasters find other things to talk about in the news, a huge recovery operation is still on-going as we speak. Many people have lost everything. So we decided to put together Kanshin so that via Ian Hawgood, 100% of profit from compilation sales will go directly towards the Japan recovery and on-going relief efforts. Ian lives in Japan and his wife is currently working with both the Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support organisation (JEARS)
in Sendai and surrounding areas, as well as the Direct Help for Victims and Animals Rejected from Shelters in Japan group who are going up to areas which are not receiving government support for food, water, basic
supplies, as well as rebuilding and cleaning up. By this means they are able to transport food, clothing and aid directly almost every other weekend and during holidays to areas which are not getting enough or any support.
Ian's wife has also arranged a house as a base in Sendai for volunteers and a temporary home for found animals who are then moved on through JEARS either to foster homes or animal centres. We felt that any funds we can send this way would probably have more of an immediate impact than donating via one of the larger UK charities.

Ian himself has contributed to the compilation in a collaboration with Peter Jørgensen and through 3 hours and some 30 tracks, the line up that comprises this album is surely as exciting as it gets...

Kanshin is curated by Daniel Crossley (Fluid Radio/Fluid
Audio/Facture) and Jonathan Lees (Hibernate/Rural Colours), with invaluable assistance from Ian Hazeldine (Cover art), Wil Bolton (Mastering) and Damian Valles (Digital distribution). This release is made possible by the generosity of all of the artists involved.



Fluid Audio

[Unseen 004] Various – For Nihon Compilation 2CD 2011

Various – For Nihon
Label: Unseen Records
Catalog#: Unseen004
Format: 2 × CD, Compilation
Country: US
Released: 2011
Genre: Electronic
Style: Modern Classical, Ambient

Design [Layout Design] – Luke Twyman
Mastered By – Keith Kenniff
Photography By [Cover] – Irene Suchocki
All profits of this release benefit the Japan Earthquake Relief Fund set up by The Japan Society.

Tracklist:
1-01 Rhian Sheehan – Places In Between
1-02 Arms And Sleepers – Crash
1-03 aus – Daylight
1-04 Christina Vantzou – Your Changes Have Been Submitted
1-05 Dustin O'Halloran Ft. Adam Wiltzie – Opus 43
1-06 Peter Broderick – Quiet Long Enough
1-07 Ryuichi Sakamoto – Kizuna
1-08 Cokiyu – Volar
1-09 Clem Leek – A Light To Guide You
1-10 Biosphere – Inner Ohm
1-11 Last Days – Hanami
1-12 Robin Guthrie & Harold Budd – We Enter The Night
1-13 Goldmund – Nihon
1-14 Amman Abbasi – Fragmented Earth
1-15 Ex Confusion – Chapter 5
1-16 Colin Kenniff Ft. Hollie Kenniff – Wind And Distance
1-17 Hammock – Sora
1-18 Sawako – Lightlit
1-19 Deru – Days Then... (Japan Version)
2-01 Hollie Kenniff – This Time Tomorrow
2-02 American Dollar, The – Near East
2-03 Joseph Minadeo* – Roads
2-04 Bexar Bexar – Gold I
2-05 Ametsub – Opening
2-06 Olafur Arnalds* – Endalaus II
2-07 Nils Frahm & Anne Muller* – Aussenseiter
2-08 Jon Hopkins – Abandon Window
2-09 Rafael Anton Irisarri & Goldmund – Dissolution
2-10 Helios – Sing The Same Song Twice
2-11 Ulrich Schnauss & Mark Peters (4) – Balcony Sunset
2-12 Taylor Deupree – For A Morning When
2-13 Alva Noto – Is Otto Roessler Right?
2-14 Balmorhea – Clamor
2-15 Near The Parenthesis – This Too
2-16 Little Phrase – Time Is Golden
2-17 Ryan Teague – Even Space
2-18 Rob Simonsen – 2.4 Metres
2-19 Max Richter – Bach Mirror

After learning about the tragic events of the Japanese earthquake on March 11th my wife, Hollie, and I were talking about ways to help. We decided to ask a few friends to join a compilation to help raise money. A few quickly became many as we were overwhelmed and warmed by the eagerness of these musicians to get involved.
"For Nihon" features some of the premier names in ambient / experimental music. 100% of the profits from the sale of this album will be donated to the Japan Earthquake Relief Fund set up by New York's Japan Society.

boomkat / unseen

[R-N 132] Alva Noto + Ryuichi Sakamoto – Summvs CD (Album) 2011

Alva Noto + Ryuichi Sakamoto – Summvs
Label: Raster-Noton
Catalog#: R-N 132
Format: CD, Album, Digipak
Country: Germany
Released: 09 May 2011
Genre: Classical, Electronic
Style: Glitch, Modern Classical, Minimal

Grand Piano – Ryuichi Sakamoto

Music By – Alva Noto, Ryuichi Sakamoto

The title "Summvs" refers to the latin word "summa" (eng. sum) and "versus" (eng. towards) serving as a metaphor for the work being oriented towards a collaborative whole.

The tracks "Microon I-III" contain recordings of one of the 15 pianos using a 16th tone interval tuning built by Sauter, Spaichingen/Donaueschingen, Germany. The original "piano metamorfoseador en dieciseisavos de tono" was designed by Julián Carrillo Trujillo.

Tracklist:
1 Microon I 3:00
2 Reverso 6:57
3 Halo 7:10
4 Microon II 2:38
5 Pionier IOO 5:46
6 Ionoscan 4:08
7 By This River 4:08
Written-By – Brian Eno, Moebius*, Roedelius*
8 Naono 11:20
9 Microon III 3:00
10 By This River - Phantom 8:03
Written-By – Brian Eno, Moebius*, Roedelius*

Buy from Raster-Noton or boomkat
on may 09th, 2011, raster-noton. archiv für ton und nichtton releases alva noto and ryuichi sakamoto’s album summvs, the latest result of the unusual creative partnership between the oscar-prize honored film composer ryuichi sakamoto and the fine artist and electronic music pioneer carsten nicolai.

the name of the artists’ fifth collaborative release summvs refers to the latin word ‘summa’ (engl.: sum) and ‘versus’ (engl.: towards) serving as a metaphor for the work being oriented towards a collarorative whole. summvs is the last of a series of five releases that started with vrioon in 2002 and continued with insen (2005), revep (2005) and utp_ (2007).

passages of sparse yet emotionally charged and passionate piano solos are embedded in sine waves or reworked to establish new aesthetics of piano sound. sparse percussions and throbbing bass pulses hover above and below – the music being contemplative and minimal at the same time.

the tracks microon I-III contain recordings of one of the 15 pianos using a 16th tone interval tuning built by sauter, spaichingen/donaueschingen, germany. the original ‘piano metamorfoseador en dieciseisavos de tono’ was designed by julián carrillo trujillo. thanks to the music department of berne university of the arts for making this instrument available.

try

[wh 127] O.E.S. - A Material, A Sound, A Shape 2010

O.E.S. - A Material, A Sound, A Shape
Label: Webbed Hand Records
Catalog#: wh127
Format: File, MP3, 320 kbps
Country: US
Released: 17 Jun 2010
Genre: Classical, Electronic
Style: Leftfield, Modern Classical, Experimental

Tracklist:
1 Steve Layton - Night Lights (Shintaro Sato) 6:54
2 Massimo Croce - Middan Tharir 8:16
3 Steve Layton - Canto Notturno (Giacomo Leopardi) 7:46
4 Imago Meccano & Marco Lucchi - Glitchy Fragment #1 (Curtains Remix) 3:57
5 Giza - O.E.S. Sketch 1 Entia Non (Steve Layton - Canto Notturno) 2:58
6 Giza - O.E.S. Sketch 2 (Onomelotron) 3:11
7 Imago Meccano - Uncertain (Entia Non Remixed) 7:30
8 Giza - O.E.S. Sketch 3 – Celer 5 4 3:30
9 Steve Layton - O Saffo 3:45
10 Angelo Secondini - Evaporate 8:26
11 loALUe - Along The Serpentine, Under The Snow 2:37
12 Lolek - A Material, A Sound, A Shape 5:20

Orchestra Eclettica e Sincretista is a musical collective led by Marco Lucchi.

The concept of this album is group members remixing or constructing pieces from tracks and
samples contributed by other members.
"it is about remixing and reworking each other -- an "internal" project... it concerns the pleasure of a collective and shared work... the title lightly refers to alchemy" - Marco Lucchi.

Features tracks contributed by Steve Layton, Massimo Croce, Loalue, Cometa, Imago Meccano, Giza and Lolek and sounds by Entia Non, Marco Lucchi, Kozo Ikeno, The Onomatopoeian, Celer, Christian Vasseur, Wara Tito Rios, Sonicbrat, Satoshi Arisaka, Naoki Ishida and Harold Nono.
Visit www.musichevirtuali.org for more information about Marco Lucchi and O.E.S.

download

[OKTAF 001] Jules - Yara Remastered (Album) CD 2009

Marsen Jules - Yara Remastered
Label: Oktaf
Catalog#: OKTAF001
Format: CD, Album, Remastered
Country: Europe
Released: 2009
Genre: Electronic
Style: Modern Classical, Experimental, Ambient

Credits: Harp [Fragments] - Meike Rath

Mastered By - Björn Scheuermann

Written-By, Producer - Martin Juhls

Notes: All acoustic material taken from a concert of Yara at club Cosmotopia, Dortmund, Germany.

Tracklist:
1 Yara 01 6:26
2 Yara 02 6:01
3 Yara 03 5:03
4 Yara 04 7:31
5 Yara 05 6:06
6 Yara 06 10:11
7 Harfenklang 4:21
8 Yara Variation 15:07

Marsen Jules' outstanding slice of contemporary classical music, Yara, has been finally issued by the Oktaf label, complete with two bonus tracks that add nearly twenty-minutes of new music. As established fans of this artist's work will already know, Jules (real name Martin Juhls) has forged a creative path through dissecting classical music and reshaping it in a Arvo Part-inspired, looping, minimalist fashion. All the original acoustic recordings used for this album come from the classical trio, Yara, with harp performances by Meike Rath, and despite being heavily manipulated and sliced into loop-shaped fragments, there's a very in-the-room live feel to this record. This manifests itself prominently on the bonus cut 'Harfenklang' through the intimacy of the piece's short, reflective reverb - lending a sense of perspective on the harp sounds - but over the course of the main album, Juhls' focus seems to slowly disintegrate and disperse into the auditorium: from 'Yara 4' through to 'Yara 6' you'll hear the strings, piano and harp starting to vapourise. This ethereal tone is reprised on the closing fifteen-minute 'Yara Variation', which layers the ambience of the performance venue with recordings of crowds and percussive, bell-like sounds. On this piece the string instruments arc and soar from the low-level babble of the space, bringing a miasmic, fluid quality to the composition that obscures the joins in the loops. There's a faded, distant beauty to these recordings that sets it apart from much of what passes for modern classical music these days. Lovely.

Listen via soundcloud
Buy CD From boomkat or darla

try