The uniting factor in Jo Quail's music has always been its all-consuming omnipresence. How it engulfs the listener whether listening loudly or quietly, softly or harshly. Where opener 'White Salt Stag' on this beautifully designed digipak CD edition is earthy and enchanting, closer 'Gold' takes a malleable, shaping of man-made metal angle in the form of Quail's use of electric cello and electronics, and the formulation of solid materials. There is a probability you'll not have a
whisper to it, but a blast, as the mourning strings stretch up through the inner ear and the drones throe-in the low ebb.
I am certainly taken by the 'Five Incantations' theme: take five simple steps, craft five complex tunes with over twice the narrative arcs interwoven. It is spectral music; to borrow Simon Reynolds' term, it creates a "cathedral of sound". A line can be traced like a silken sheet, a thinly woven cloth, a metal wire, all tension and never enough to satisfy in one take. Indeed, the music doesn't sound one take at all. Jo as her name goes knows how to put the work into her rhythms of refuge, her insomniac getaways. The sound art is rife with the kind of aching passion that teased through Greg Haines'
'Until The Point Of Least Resistance' from 'Until The Point Of Hushed Support', 2009. The psychological unease of it all.
Luckily for us there are plenty of moments where the tension reaches satisfying climaxes rather than plummeting us down. This factor makes a good album, in short, especially one that takes mood music so seriously. Mood music has a specific aim:to create that mood, to set one mood, no other mood, and anything else is futile. Resistance from the creator of the music would be his or her achilles' heel in the eyes of a mood music connoisseur. I have spoken of fine lines, and this record
is like a spider diagram, in that respect. Full of bewitching Bjork-esque cello and viola-register harmonies, the genie inside 'Five Incantations' is no fickle spellcaster - that thing has a mind of its own, an organic one, one that grows on you like greed does to a gambling addict. What does this mean? If you have any money left by now, by now, buy it.
www.joquail.co.uk
Mick Buckingham
Cataloguing notable progress of www.subvertcentral.com, with interviews, mixtapes and topical reports.
Featured post
VIDA DE-sign by Michael Buckingham, aka Mick Muttley
Dear friends (yeah really, one of those) I have become a women's wear designer for VIDA! http://shopvida.com/collections/voices/ ...
Showing posts with label new albums. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new albums. Show all posts
Sunday, 31 July 2016
Sunday, 16 November 2014
SubVersion Stop 233: Little Red + Stuart Clark + Gus Hewlett @ Old Fire Station, Oxford, November 14th 2014
"I know Friday night at a folk club is not a normal place to go" posits Little Red songwriter and night promoter Ian Mitchell in the headlining of this All Will Be Well label launch gig. The aching lack of affluence towards intimacy in a hyper-accelerated city creates a cause for discomfort and movement. It's one thing feeling safe in a packed club but another feeling like you really belong, which is a quality Mitchell and co elucidate on my gig of 2014.
Speaking to Ian before the event, Gus Hewlett, a folk guitarist equal parts Bill Frisell and James Blackshaw is said to have drum'n'bass chops, a contrast that couldn't be anything more sonically different tonight. Through a generous 45 minute length Hewlett hacks at his strings in sophisticated fashion, adapting a Bob Dylan piece for his second tune and elsewhere trailblazing an arpeggio wedge to gently impose his semi-auteur ear for a melody. Worthwhile, in short.
Stuart Clark is a commanding presence mid evening, an arpeggio-heavy storyteller in the vein of "Lady Grinning Soul" Bowie with just guitar for company. Disappearance's rhetoric echoes on one of his later tracks, where stop-start rhythms fuse with a folly towards lonely abstraction. It's not all reverbed abandon though, as he swoops and swoons about subjects as broad as nature creating stopgaps between time and place. There is a definite sense of human body spotlighted. Pristine playing, gently crystallising voice over instrumental backbeat. The audience are generally at ease by a paradoxically uneasy set. One to watch.
Opening with drum-free, acoustic "Cures", the vocal interplay of frontman Ian Mitchell, producer Ben Gosling and the elusive female vocalist parries inflections from Finn and more contemporarily Fink, but is sweet-natured enough in lyricism, "names carved in a tree"-esque as they sing to engrave itself onto this reviewer's memory. It's a tale about where two lovers first met, and the usual bushy beard, folk-centric influence in context of there being woods that can lead either lover astray. This leads into "The Garden", the triplet acoustic, vocal assemblages making things "wrong to right" - here the sound carries further than the "face melting" joke Mitchell coyly nods to later in the performance, about the material not being wall of sound enough for the Friday night gurner massive. "What Say You?" resonates stronger, the lead track on "Sticks And Stones", what Mitchell dubs to me as an EP on the night, even though the 9 CD tracks are filled out naturally for full length status.
Little Red definitely sound like a very new band, but instead of amateurish triptych on behalf of the singers and instrument players, they form a cohesive whole not dissimilar to Duotone or XL's Blue Roses. They close post-"Chapters" (a track from their forthcoming record) with "The Boxer", where Ian sings "I'll still be coming back for more" after metaphors for being a broken man. Given the right studio treatment of the exciting live incarnation, Little red could have a rosy future, and close this night so finely.
http://www.oldfirestation.org.uk/event/original-folk-music-little-red-stuart-clark-and-gus-hewlett/
Monday, 12 May 2014
SubVersion Stop 226: What's been happening in the world of Foci's Left (May 2013 - May 2014)
Instead of spam with multiple postings, I'm collecting all of the essential Foci's Left publicity from May 2013 to May 2014 into one post, upon release of my third album, "Derelict Career".
A lot can happen in a year...in reverse chronological order:
Foci's Left - Derelict Career LP (Foci's Left LP 002)
.jpg)
01. Pathological Darkness
02. Anything Becomes Possible With Time
03. Eternal Sands [The Shapeshifter's Reprise feat. Eschaton] (Album Version)
04. Talking With Birds Lament
05. Liez
06. Wandering In A Bright Spot (For Advertisements)
07. The Light You Shine Prevents Me From Being Uptight
08. Seeing The Sights (For Film)
09. Spared Merit (Vocal Version)
10. A Rose In The Desert Wind (Simon Bean Re-model)
Released: 12 May 2014
Price: £5
http://focisleft.bandcamp.com/album/derelict-career-lp
The album is called "Derelict Career". Concept: the ambient music protagonist (me) sees that ambient-exclusive musicians are fit for a "derelict career", as besides Brian Eno, the style has no sustainable capital powering it; it must stay a hobby. Ambient is Eno''s invention and to have success, musicians must look outside their niche to move through different styles. Ambient has been going since the 1950s - it is often mixed with new age as a genre, music for Tai Chi, and healing/therapy medicine. So the point to make is to, jokingly so, try and avoid a "derelict career", in order to progress and have an audience - the most important faculty for me; money isn't important, people are.
The album artwork is an exclusive commission from William Rye, a young artist who curated the Unconscious Volume exhibition in Kent, UK in 2012, in memory of my uncle John Buckingham who died age 45 from Motor Neuron Disease. The image has a special clarity for our family, my father being a painter, as I once was, with the brush being melted into the book representative of my career choice to be a writer, whether of tracks, songs, lyrics or poetry. So far I have been successful at this, with my dream jobs becoming more reality than ever before. With each sale, a percentage is donated to William, and the remainder helps to cover any CD packaging / gear upgrading as I venture further into music production. Thank you immeasurably for your time and support.
Reviews
"The long track is great, as well as those which concentrate on soundscaping. But (as you'd probably expect
)
I don't like the vocal tracks at all. Anyway, just because I don't like
the vocal tracks doesn't mean other people won't". ~ Jonathan Tait,
Subvert Central Recordings owner and published letter writer in The Wire
2013 concerning Meredith Monk.
"Overall it seems you're still searching for a sound, but tracks 1-4, 8 and 10 are the way to go in my opinion. Of course you should not really adapt based on one person's opinion ~ better to collect a group of opinions and go from there!" ~ Richard Allen, www.acloserlisten.com editor and central writer.
"Listening to Pathological Darkness right now - really liking it.
Like how the brighter synth emerges (1:08) as the track progresses but still with the darker sounds infiltrating the mix. It does really make you feel like you're inside a gloomy, distracted mind. Given the title, that's mission accomplished." ~ Code, Subtle Audio label owner (Mary Anne Hobbs / Aphex Twin featured).
"I like the sound design going on" ~ Nic TVG, Pinecone Moonshine owner (Equinox, Icarus, Macc et al).
"I listened. And this remind me even more of The Residents. But much much more spooky. Some scary atmospheres in this one. I notice something interesting in your tracks. You don't start slowly and build the tracks - like most of the ambient/drone artists - but instead from the start you insert the listener into your soundscapes. Eternal Sands (The Shapeshifters Reprise) I like the most so far." ~ Kristian (Fyhwds), Noise For Blues For Noise artist.
Credits
Mick Robert Buckingham - all synths, keyboard work, processing, mastering, except "A Rose In The Desert Wind" which is re-modelled by Simon Rametse.
Artwork commissioned exclusively from William Rye, from the "Unconscious Volume" 2012 exhibition, dedicated to my uncle John Buckingham, who died of Motor Neuron Disease in 2002.
Tags
ambient foci's left label omni music simon bean dark drone electroacoustic emotional pianism second self-released lp third album vocal harmonies yin & yang Oxford
Foci's Left - 15 Minutes Of Fame Pt.1 - I Want To Touch The Sky - Derelict Career Promo Mix (May 2014)
01. 00:00 The Inventors Of Aircraft – Early Morning Trauma (Earthtones Vol.1, Tessellate Recordings, Bandcamp, 2013)
02. 01:40 The Angling Loser – Night (Author Of The Twilight, Time Released Sound, 2013
03. 07:45 Abdul Mogard – Studded Procession (Futuresequence, Sequence 7, Bandcamp, 2013)
04. 07:50 Metatag – One Dream Lost One Dream Found (Transmisson LP, Bandcamp, 2014)
05. 09:20 Eeem – Shores Of Midgard (Futuresequence, Sequence 7, Bandcamp, 2013)
06. 15:40 Foci's Left – Pathological Darkness (Derelict Career LP, Foci's Left, Bandcamp, 2014)
07. 17:00 Boards Of Canada – Reach For The Dead (Tomorrow's Harvest LP, Warp, 2013)
08. 21:20 Grouper – No Other (A.I.A: Dream Loss LP, Yellowelectric, 2011)
09. 23:50 Duncan O'Calleiagh – Low Across Dawn Waters (Distant Voices, Still Lives, Parvo Art, 2009)
10. 23:50 Foci's Left – Anything Becomes Possible With Time (Derelict Career LP / Tara EP, Foci's Left, Bandcamp, 2014)
31:34 end
http://kapsil.net/muttley/2014/Foci%...%202014%29.mp3
Enjoy people.
Mick
http://subvertcentral.com/forum/showthread.php?60487-Foci-s-Left-15-MOF-Pt-1-I-Want-To-Touch-The-Sky-Derelict-Career-Promo-Mix-%28May%29
https://soundcloud.com/subversion-2/...rumental-remix
Foci's Left - Life In A Less Southern Town (Omni Music Ohm Series 02)
http://subvertcentral.com/forum/showthread.php?60331-OUT-NOW-The-Ohm-Series-Foci-s-Left-Life-in-a-Less-Southern-Town-LP-%28Ohm02%29&highlight=southern
#6 in the drum 'n' bass bestsellers one week in March 2014, #32 for the month from hundreds (it's not even d'n'b, it's at best electronica).
#Supported by Niels Roosen (www.jungletrain.net owner), Jonathan Tait (Subvert Central Recordings owner), Simon Rametse (Simon Bean, Omni Music), amongst others.
#Critically acclaimed by seasoned www.nightshift.oxfordmusic.net writer David Murphy in print.
#Collaborative effort with a Brian Eno collaborator - Simon Scott of Slowdive - and Mike Twelve (Seconds Before Awakening / The Giraffe And The Tree).
The LP is based on emotions I experience writing music in the town of Carterton, Oxfordshire; additionally Oxford, as a means to express myself - as opposed to Rochester, Kent, where I could express very little. "Life In A Less Southern Town" runs the gamut of the ambient, drone, synthesizer and modern classical worlds to offer something unique.
"Erratic Pathway" is remixed on the disc by Simon Scott of Slowdive. Scott worked with Brian Eno on the group's "Souvlaki" LP in the early 1990s.
The disc comes with 4 bonus tracks. CDs ship immediately (please put your address in the Paypal notes and I'll send your copy).
Many thanks for your support - an audience means the world to me.
Mick Buckingham (Foci's Left)
www.omnimusic.org
reviews
"There are two sorts of ambient music. One gets you relaxed, and one makes you uneasy; one's a warm duvet and one's a chill breeze; one's a forgiving hug and one's a suspicious glance.
Although the second album by Oxford musician Mick Buckingham covers both ambient strains, it's definitely better when leaning towards the latter. The most satisfying element of this record is its density - where many ambient composers are happy to let things run, Buckingham has created a CD of real sonic depth, with a lush textural variety, from the pitched-up honks at the opening (that remind us of "Galleons Of Stone" by The Art Of Noise) to "In Our Lives, There Have Been Many Terrors", in which distant metallic clanks are borne on zephyrs through crumbling ruins.
Occasionally the sounds are just too well worn, and the ear can't help but associate echoey piano with lachrymose US soaps, and sawtooth synth hums with encroaching Silurians, but in general this is a well-constructed thoughtful slice of musical atmospherica.
Perhaps "Transistory Stringency" - yes, the titles are best ignored, frankly - is thin and meandering, but in general this record marries the amicable bubbling of early Global Communication with the elegant austerity of Tim Hecker or Leyland Kirby.
The record ends with some unexpected drum 'n' bass action, and if the breakbeat tweaking is a little ham-fisted, the mournful Aphex horns underneath embody the record's true, dark heart. Good stuff, in short, but more misery next time, please, Mick; perhaps we should have written a bad review, to get the ball rolling." ~ David Murphy, Nightshift reviewer, April 2014. (www.nightshift.oxfordmusic.net)
"It reminded me of Vangelis. It's better than your first album. :)" ~ Jonathan Tait, Subvert Central Recordings and published The Wire Letters contributor concerning Meredith Monk. (www.subvertcentral.com)
"That's pretty out there man. I didn't dislike it, that's for sure, but the main thing I took from it is it was very adventurous in what it tries to do." ~ ASC on "Love Never Fails", producer mentioned by Joe Muggs in The Wire 2012 Rewind as breaking new ground. (www.auxiliarymusic.com)
"First impression: your music is very strong compositionally and sonically, very well made and beautifully executed. :)" ~ Pascal Savy, Fluid Radio.
"Yes I liked it. You've got a real talent there. I think you're an innovator." ~ Geoff Brooks PhD, clinical psychologist, hypnotherapist and Reiki healer.
"I like the mood of the release, which I would classify as darkly contemplative. It's always good to play to your strengths, so my recommendation would be to continue further down this path." ~ www.acloserlisten.com
"I like it :) Suddenly starts to get moody when the organ comes in." ~ Shiva, Bitrate Music on "With Aid Of The Assertive" [CD-R Bonus Track] (www.bitratemusic.com), attendant of Technicality raves in the ongoing jungle / drum 'n' bass revival.
"I thought is was nicely meandering without losing its focus." ~ Bob Macc on "Love Conquers All", jungle track in 4/4 and 5/4 time signature. (Outsider, Paradox Music, Subvert Central, Breakin, www.subvertmastering.com)
"Sounds like a good lead into a d'n'b track. The arrangement is very pleasant to me." ~ Nic TVG on "In Our Lives, There Have Been Many Terrors" percussion section. (www.pineconemoonshine.com)
"I like the part where the drums start to fall apart the best." ~ Nic TVG, Pinecone Moonshine label owner (Macc, Icarus et al) on "Love Conquers All".
"Nice ECM style album cover as well!" ~ James Sargeant, Moshka promoter, Oxford.
reviews
"Introducing ‘Not Seeing Reality’ – the wayward, often mysterious journey that defines the pathway of what we call life. For many, reality is totally dependent on individual perception. The notes begin their life in innocent infancy, but by their teens they have snaked their way into the more unruly, dissonant territory, interacting with one another until a harmonious chain reaction ensues; one that started off with a primary note – a single heartbeat, the survivor in the battle of selection – but one that quickly brings in a thousand more.
Reality is then able to shape-shift into a sporadic, sparse piano line, accompanied by a gorgeous wave of crimson synth. Only, a line doesn’t quite work; it is bloated enough to feel pregnant with the baby bump of melody, oozing out of the thicker line and then submerging the original, vulnerable piano with new life.
Foci’s Left is the alias of Fluid Radio’s own Mick Buckingham, a name that regular Fluid readers will know very well. Told as a chronological tale, Grumpy Love isn’t nearly as dishevelled or as depressed with the state of things past and present as its grumpy name would seem to suggest. It is, in fact, shrouded by heart-felt sensitivity and deep personality. It is very much the opposite of grumpy. After all, there are two words up there; the oh-so-thin space that divides the first word from the second, ‘love’, is close enough to be considered intimate.
Love never fails. Love conquers all.
Grumpy Love is a beautiful, personalized painting, left to hang at a slight angle on the uneven canvas of life, with both enjoyable and difficult moments that come to claim every man. When linked together, they reach a teenage crescendo. ‘Piano Paint’ introduces some beautiful synths that jut into the piano, coating it with an intoxicating harbour of nostalgia – the nostalgic element traces a radiated line of melody, as if the early memory on which it was based has physically escaped, deceiving what we all thought of as reality and instead containing itself within the music as a precautionary measure. It cocoons itself against the decline that age brings and the mood swing of swift change that can affect our recollections as one decade passes into another.
Saturated in the vintage, ambient warmth of pure tone, when the genre itself was in its infancy, the synths are a mesmerising serenade. It shares the same angelic timbre that made the early Brian Eno classic, Music For Airports, such a lovable listen. You can tell instantly that Grumpy Love is a deeply personal recording just from this synth alone. The later drums seem to propel the passages of life forward, with no pause for reminiscing. That comes later on, because Grumpy Love has some beautiful, open spaces ideal for reflection. Life may, at times, feel like ‘An Upwards Slope’, but listening to the music here is to know that the inner serenity of peaceful ease is always there. Always. Here, a thinner drone is disguised as Cupid himself, but the darker echoes of possible distress lie just beyond the doorway. It is the tense, anxious sound of the unknown; a place where dusty road-signs are always blank with unmarked destinations.
‘For Fluid’ is a loving piece of music that is as much a generous tribute as it is a personal reflection. Grumpy Love narrates the passage of life with painstaking thought. The older hand outlines the black tail of a nurtured note like the embrace between a newborn and a parent. In this picture, the thin brush gives life to the paint. It holds itself in the palmed trust of the future, while taking one last look back at the past – this is the final dedication." ~ James Catchpole, Fluid Radio
www.fluid-radio.co.uk/2013/09/focis-left/
"After the disconcerting dissonance of his last demo (FTAL Attraction), Foci's Left - the solo work of occasional Nightshift contributor Mick Buckingham - casts forth a full album set on a far less turbulent plane.
Nine tracks of stretched-out electro-acoustic ambient pianism and electronic minimalism drift and shift with soporific intent, microtonal drones morphing and gradually mutating with precision-restrained variation. Best of the pieces here is the drone-drift of "Decompress The Magnet", while it's marginally more imposing twin "An Upwards Slope" dovetails into it seamlessly. "Regurgitated Impulses" adds a necessary glitchy interlude, while "Piano Paint" is both light in tone and texture but random enough to be distracting.
Where the album occasionally falls down is a lack of brevity on a few of the tracks - "Piano Paint" for example has run its course long before it concludes - while "For Fluid" is anything but and simply sounds like Mick's plonking random keys on his piano, but beyond such lapses, "Grumpy Love" is a neat enough addition to the ambient drone cannon." ~ Ronan Munro, Nightshift Magazine ed.
(www.nightshift.oxfordmusic.net, October 2013)
"I find you on Bandcamp and I'm listening right now "Grumpy Love". This is strange music so far :) Dark soundscapes and atmospheres but lighten up with childish imagination coming from the piano playing (currently I'm at the ending of the second track). Interesting. " ~ Kristian, Noise For Blues For Noise.
"It is very...interesting :)
Well at times I really like the aesthetic and the goofiness of the sounds. Sometimes it is a tad too much for me I have to admit. Maybe it is something I have to listen to more carefully. But it is very inspiring at times." ~ Nils Frahm, Erased Tapes Records.
"It's pretty amazing. I really like 'Decompress The Magnet' and 'An Upwards Slope', they are my favourites. I'm going to have to burn it to CD for the car." ~ 247, Futurepast Fanzine ed.
"Well done Mick. Congrats!" ~ ASC
"I really like 'Decompress The Magnet' :D" ~ GlassBox
"'Decompress The Magnet' really is outstanding." ~ Roo Stercogburn, Omni Music.
subvertcentral.com/forum/showthread.php?59592-Foci-s-Left-Grumpy-Love-LP-(my-debut-album-OUT-NOW)
"It has a nice flow to it" ~ Roy Buckingham, my grandfather on "For Fluid".
"I am very impressed, the Grumpy Love LP, it really has a lot to offer. 'Decompress the Magnet' has a depth of creativity, emotion and inspiration resonating from it. 'An Upwards Slope' has a feeling of a eternal dose of mystery and passionate adventure of abstract life just breathing in and out through the song... I wish the LP had a fixed price on it because it is of good value. Brillliant work love it!" ~ Simon Bean, Omni Music via Facebook.
A lot can happen in a year...in reverse chronological order:
Foci's Left - Derelict Career LP (Foci's Left LP 002)
02. Anything Becomes Possible With Time
03. Eternal Sands [The Shapeshifter's Reprise feat. Eschaton] (Album Version)
04. Talking With Birds Lament
05. Liez
06. Wandering In A Bright Spot (For Advertisements)
07. The Light You Shine Prevents Me From Being Uptight
08. Seeing The Sights (For Film)
09. Spared Merit (Vocal Version)
10. A Rose In The Desert Wind (Simon Bean Re-model)
Released: 12 May 2014
Price: £5
http://focisleft.bandcamp.com/album/derelict-career-lp
The album is called "Derelict Career". Concept: the ambient music protagonist (me) sees that ambient-exclusive musicians are fit for a "derelict career", as besides Brian Eno, the style has no sustainable capital powering it; it must stay a hobby. Ambient is Eno''s invention and to have success, musicians must look outside their niche to move through different styles. Ambient has been going since the 1950s - it is often mixed with new age as a genre, music for Tai Chi, and healing/therapy medicine. So the point to make is to, jokingly so, try and avoid a "derelict career", in order to progress and have an audience - the most important faculty for me; money isn't important, people are.
The album artwork is an exclusive commission from William Rye, a young artist who curated the Unconscious Volume exhibition in Kent, UK in 2012, in memory of my uncle John Buckingham who died age 45 from Motor Neuron Disease. The image has a special clarity for our family, my father being a painter, as I once was, with the brush being melted into the book representative of my career choice to be a writer, whether of tracks, songs, lyrics or poetry. So far I have been successful at this, with my dream jobs becoming more reality than ever before. With each sale, a percentage is donated to William, and the remainder helps to cover any CD packaging / gear upgrading as I venture further into music production. Thank you immeasurably for your time and support.
Reviews
"The long track is great, as well as those which concentrate on soundscaping. But (as you'd probably expect
)
I don't like the vocal tracks at all. Anyway, just because I don't like
the vocal tracks doesn't mean other people won't". ~ Jonathan Tait,
Subvert Central Recordings owner and published letter writer in The Wire
2013 concerning Meredith Monk."Overall it seems you're still searching for a sound, but tracks 1-4, 8 and 10 are the way to go in my opinion. Of course you should not really adapt based on one person's opinion ~ better to collect a group of opinions and go from there!" ~ Richard Allen, www.acloserlisten.com editor and central writer.
"Listening to Pathological Darkness right now - really liking it.
Like how the brighter synth emerges (1:08) as the track progresses but still with the darker sounds infiltrating the mix. It does really make you feel like you're inside a gloomy, distracted mind. Given the title, that's mission accomplished." ~ Code, Subtle Audio label owner (Mary Anne Hobbs / Aphex Twin featured).
"I like the sound design going on" ~ Nic TVG, Pinecone Moonshine owner (Equinox, Icarus, Macc et al).
"I listened. And this remind me even more of The Residents. But much much more spooky. Some scary atmospheres in this one. I notice something interesting in your tracks. You don't start slowly and build the tracks - like most of the ambient/drone artists - but instead from the start you insert the listener into your soundscapes. Eternal Sands (The Shapeshifters Reprise) I like the most so far." ~ Kristian (Fyhwds), Noise For Blues For Noise artist.
Credits
Mick Robert Buckingham - all synths, keyboard work, processing, mastering, except "A Rose In The Desert Wind" which is re-modelled by Simon Rametse.
Artwork commissioned exclusively from William Rye, from the "Unconscious Volume" 2012 exhibition, dedicated to my uncle John Buckingham, who died of Motor Neuron Disease in 2002.
Tags
ambient foci's left label omni music simon bean dark drone electroacoustic emotional pianism second self-released lp third album vocal harmonies yin & yang Oxford
Foci's Left - 15 Minutes Of Fame Pt.1 - I Want To Touch The Sky - Derelict Career Promo Mix (May 2014)
01. 00:00 The Inventors Of Aircraft – Early Morning Trauma (Earthtones Vol.1, Tessellate Recordings, Bandcamp, 2013)
02. 01:40 The Angling Loser – Night (Author Of The Twilight, Time Released Sound, 2013
03. 07:45 Abdul Mogard – Studded Procession (Futuresequence, Sequence 7, Bandcamp, 2013)
04. 07:50 Metatag – One Dream Lost One Dream Found (Transmisson LP, Bandcamp, 2014)
05. 09:20 Eeem – Shores Of Midgard (Futuresequence, Sequence 7, Bandcamp, 2013)
06. 15:40 Foci's Left – Pathological Darkness (Derelict Career LP, Foci's Left, Bandcamp, 2014)
07. 17:00 Boards Of Canada – Reach For The Dead (Tomorrow's Harvest LP, Warp, 2013)
08. 21:20 Grouper – No Other (A.I.A: Dream Loss LP, Yellowelectric, 2011)
09. 23:50 Duncan O'Calleiagh – Low Across Dawn Waters (Distant Voices, Still Lives, Parvo Art, 2009)
10. 23:50 Foci's Left – Anything Becomes Possible With Time (Derelict Career LP / Tara EP, Foci's Left, Bandcamp, 2014)
31:34 end
http://kapsil.net/muttley/2014/Foci%...%202014%29.mp3
Enjoy people.
Mick
http://subvertcentral.com/forum/showthread.php?60487-Foci-s-Left-15-MOF-Pt-1-I-Want-To-Touch-The-Sky-Derelict-Career-Promo-Mix-%28May%29
Goldfrapp - Stranger (Foci's Left Instrumental Remix)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=MnySVVID3agFree Mp3 download on the SubVersion SoundCloud:
https://soundcloud.com/subversion-2/...rumental-remix
Published on 3 May 2014
Bonus audio from the soon-arriving "Derelict Career" LP by Foci's Left, the solo project of Mick Robert Buckingham from Oxford, UK. Due to respect of copyright this original version is online as a stream and not on the paid download of my third album.
The LP will be available at: www.focisleft.bandcamp.com for an inexpensive £5.
Please buy Goldfrapp's records. "Tales Of Us" is a fantastic record closely followed by their debut "Lovely Head" and then "Seventh Tree". You can find Goldfrapp's music available on Amazon, iTunes, and more reputable stores.
Don't forget to check www.goldfrapp.com
Thanks for listening.
http://subvertcentral.com/forum/showthread.php?60331-OUT-NOW-The-Ohm-Series-Foci-s-Left-Life-in-a-Less-Southern-Town-LP-%28Ohm02%29&highlight=southern
#6 in the drum 'n' bass bestsellers one week in March 2014, #32 for the month from hundreds (it's not even d'n'b, it's at best electronica).
#Supported by Niels Roosen (www.jungletrain.net owner), Jonathan Tait (Subvert Central Recordings owner), Simon Rametse (Simon Bean, Omni Music), amongst others.
#Critically acclaimed by seasoned www.nightshift.oxfordmusic.net writer David Murphy in print.
#Collaborative effort with a Brian Eno collaborator - Simon Scott of Slowdive - and Mike Twelve (Seconds Before Awakening / The Giraffe And The Tree).
The LP is based on emotions I experience writing music in the town of Carterton, Oxfordshire; additionally Oxford, as a means to express myself - as opposed to Rochester, Kent, where I could express very little. "Life In A Less Southern Town" runs the gamut of the ambient, drone, synthesizer and modern classical worlds to offer something unique.
"Erratic Pathway" is remixed on the disc by Simon Scott of Slowdive. Scott worked with Brian Eno on the group's "Souvlaki" LP in the early 1990s.
The disc comes with 4 bonus tracks. CDs ship immediately (please put your address in the Paypal notes and I'll send your copy).
Many thanks for your support - an audience means the world to me.
Mick Buckingham (Foci's Left)
www.omnimusic.org
reviews
"There are two sorts of ambient music. One gets you relaxed, and one makes you uneasy; one's a warm duvet and one's a chill breeze; one's a forgiving hug and one's a suspicious glance.
Although the second album by Oxford musician Mick Buckingham covers both ambient strains, it's definitely better when leaning towards the latter. The most satisfying element of this record is its density - where many ambient composers are happy to let things run, Buckingham has created a CD of real sonic depth, with a lush textural variety, from the pitched-up honks at the opening (that remind us of "Galleons Of Stone" by The Art Of Noise) to "In Our Lives, There Have Been Many Terrors", in which distant metallic clanks are borne on zephyrs through crumbling ruins.
Occasionally the sounds are just too well worn, and the ear can't help but associate echoey piano with lachrymose US soaps, and sawtooth synth hums with encroaching Silurians, but in general this is a well-constructed thoughtful slice of musical atmospherica.
Perhaps "Transistory Stringency" - yes, the titles are best ignored, frankly - is thin and meandering, but in general this record marries the amicable bubbling of early Global Communication with the elegant austerity of Tim Hecker or Leyland Kirby.
The record ends with some unexpected drum 'n' bass action, and if the breakbeat tweaking is a little ham-fisted, the mournful Aphex horns underneath embody the record's true, dark heart. Good stuff, in short, but more misery next time, please, Mick; perhaps we should have written a bad review, to get the ball rolling." ~ David Murphy, Nightshift reviewer, April 2014. (www.nightshift.oxfordmusic.net)
"It reminded me of Vangelis. It's better than your first album. :)" ~ Jonathan Tait, Subvert Central Recordings and published The Wire Letters contributor concerning Meredith Monk. (www.subvertcentral.com)
"That's pretty out there man. I didn't dislike it, that's for sure, but the main thing I took from it is it was very adventurous in what it tries to do." ~ ASC on "Love Never Fails", producer mentioned by Joe Muggs in The Wire 2012 Rewind as breaking new ground. (www.auxiliarymusic.com)
"First impression: your music is very strong compositionally and sonically, very well made and beautifully executed. :)" ~ Pascal Savy, Fluid Radio.
"Yes I liked it. You've got a real talent there. I think you're an innovator." ~ Geoff Brooks PhD, clinical psychologist, hypnotherapist and Reiki healer.
"I like the mood of the release, which I would classify as darkly contemplative. It's always good to play to your strengths, so my recommendation would be to continue further down this path." ~ www.acloserlisten.com
"I like it :) Suddenly starts to get moody when the organ comes in." ~ Shiva, Bitrate Music on "With Aid Of The Assertive" [CD-R Bonus Track] (www.bitratemusic.com), attendant of Technicality raves in the ongoing jungle / drum 'n' bass revival.
"I thought is was nicely meandering without losing its focus." ~ Bob Macc on "Love Conquers All", jungle track in 4/4 and 5/4 time signature. (Outsider, Paradox Music, Subvert Central, Breakin, www.subvertmastering.com)
"Sounds like a good lead into a d'n'b track. The arrangement is very pleasant to me." ~ Nic TVG on "In Our Lives, There Have Been Many Terrors" percussion section. (www.pineconemoonshine.com)
"I like the part where the drums start to fall apart the best." ~ Nic TVG, Pinecone Moonshine label owner (Macc, Icarus et al) on "Love Conquers All".
"Nice ECM style album cover as well!" ~ James Sargeant, Moshka promoter, Oxford.
credits
released 02 March 2014
Mick Robert Buckingham - all synths, instruments and processing, except on "In Our Lives, There Have Been Many Terrors" where Mike Twelve contributes the middle part. All mastering by Foci's Left, except "Love Conquers All" which has additional mastering by Bob Macc (www.subvertmastering.com)
Mick Robert Buckingham - all synths, instruments and processing, except on "In Our Lives, There Have Been Many Terrors" where Mike Twelve contributes the middle part. All mastering by Foci's Left, except "Love Conquers All" which has additional mastering by Bob Macc (www.subvertmastering.com)
tags
license
all rights reserved
Foci's Left - Tara EP (Foci's Left EP 003)
Tara
"Moose" Buckingham, our 16 year old Colly / Alsatian cross, died on
January 9th 2014 of kidney failure. There was nothing more we could do,
it was her time. Me and my close family enjoyed 8 years with her. She
was a rescue dog from the RSPCA.
As a way to mark this loss cathartically, and as a tribute, I present "Tara EP", a four track chronological excursion of Tara into the afterlife ("Anything Becomes Possible With Time"), emotions in lament ("Non-Corrosive String Solution"), the memorandum ("For Tara"), and finally, my belief she may come back as a woman one day ("To The Woman With No Name"). This is an EP of very personal emotions, from the one who was ironically least close to her because of my own illness.
The EP is an inexpensive £3, being sold as a whole, as it is meant to be heard. 50% of proceeds will go to our local Animal Sanctuary shop, where "Moose" as she was infamously called every day (due to her appearance) was took for walks regularly.
I hope you enjoy the music. Here's to you Tara, hopefully we'll speak again someday.
SPECIAL OFFER
Order "Life In A Less Southern Town LP" on CD-R and "Tara EP" for £10. Email mbucki07 at hotmail dot co dot uk or send your Paypal payment to this address clearly labelled "Special offer" and I'll send both releases to you digitally. :)
REVIEWS
"It reminds me of early(ish) Pink Floyd :)" ~ Jonathan Tait, Subvert Central Recordings on "Anything Becomes Possible With Time".
"My favourite artist at the moment...classic releases!" Simon Rametse, March 2014.
"i like it. i wonder what it would sound like if it gets a bit more complex. nice one anyway. " ~ logburner, Subvert Central forum on "Non-Corrosive String Solution".
"it's rhythmic very odd – it sounds as though everything is always slightly behind the beat – disturbing :)" ~ Jonathan Tait on "Non-Corrosive String Solution".
"I like it, very interesting, I'm going to show the rest of the gang and I let you know what everyone thinks." ~ Shiva, www.bitratemusic.com on "Non-Corrosive String Solution".
"It's nice. It sounds like an improvisation :)" ~ Jonathan Tait on "To The Woman With No Name".
credits
As a way to mark this loss cathartically, and as a tribute, I present "Tara EP", a four track chronological excursion of Tara into the afterlife ("Anything Becomes Possible With Time"), emotions in lament ("Non-Corrosive String Solution"), the memorandum ("For Tara"), and finally, my belief she may come back as a woman one day ("To The Woman With No Name"). This is an EP of very personal emotions, from the one who was ironically least close to her because of my own illness.
The EP is an inexpensive £3, being sold as a whole, as it is meant to be heard. 50% of proceeds will go to our local Animal Sanctuary shop, where "Moose" as she was infamously called every day (due to her appearance) was took for walks regularly.
I hope you enjoy the music. Here's to you Tara, hopefully we'll speak again someday.
SPECIAL OFFER
Order "Life In A Less Southern Town LP" on CD-R and "Tara EP" for £10. Email mbucki07 at hotmail dot co dot uk or send your Paypal payment to this address clearly labelled "Special offer" and I'll send both releases to you digitally. :)
REVIEWS
"It reminds me of early(ish) Pink Floyd :)" ~ Jonathan Tait, Subvert Central Recordings on "Anything Becomes Possible With Time".
"My favourite artist at the moment...classic releases!" Simon Rametse, March 2014.
"i like it. i wonder what it would sound like if it gets a bit more complex. nice one anyway. " ~ logburner, Subvert Central forum on "Non-Corrosive String Solution".
"it's rhythmic very odd – it sounds as though everything is always slightly behind the beat – disturbing :)" ~ Jonathan Tait on "Non-Corrosive String Solution".
"I like it, very interesting, I'm going to show the rest of the gang and I let you know what everyone thinks." ~ Shiva, www.bitratemusic.com on "Non-Corrosive String Solution".
"It's nice. It sounds like an improvisation :)" ~ Jonathan Tait on "To The Woman With No Name".
credits
released 02 March 2014
Mick Robert Buckingham - all synths, piano, strings, processing and mastering, except "To The Woman With No Name" which is mastered by Bob Macc (www.subvertmastering.com)
Mick Robert Buckingham - all synths, piano, strings, processing and mastering, except "To The Woman With No Name" which is mastered by Bob Macc (www.subvertmastering.com)
tags
I, Mick
Robert Buckingham first met hypnotherapist and alternative
medicines/therapies specialist Geoff Brooks in 2010, when I was going
through a transition in diagnosis from bipolar and psychotic depression
to schizo-affective disorder. Within 1 session I felt really at ease and
liberated by Geoff's emotive techniques with positive affirmations and
anxiety disorders. He trains in imaginal realities, psychotherapy, dream
work, EFT (emotional freedom technique), hypnotherapy and Reiki
healing.
With 3 degrees with distinctions to his name, I was motivated by my deteriorating 2013 health to seek guidance from Geoff once again. After this particularly resonant opening session to the series - on the subject of dreams and activating their merits - Geoff commented since I was recording these sessions for my personal use if we could make them publically available to be bought on the internet. This not only increases Geoff's audience just by having audio online, but benefits both of us as we split any profits from downloads equally.
The price for the first 51 minute, carefully mastered (by myself) hypnosis session is £15, since Geoff's sessions, lasting roughly 90 minutes each, are £40 each. I hope this gives you a taster into the curated content discussed by me, Foci's Left and Geoff in the session, gives you an insight into what I want to create, a showcase of Geoff's remarkable skills in his respective fields, and maybe motivates you, if you are within reach of Swindon, UK, to look up the Shaftesbury Centre where he works to arrange a session of your own.
With 3 degrees with distinctions to his name, I was motivated by my deteriorating 2013 health to seek guidance from Geoff once again. After this particularly resonant opening session to the series - on the subject of dreams and activating their merits - Geoff commented since I was recording these sessions for my personal use if we could make them publically available to be bought on the internet. This not only increases Geoff's audience just by having audio online, but benefits both of us as we split any profits from downloads equally.
The price for the first 51 minute, carefully mastered (by myself) hypnosis session is £15, since Geoff's sessions, lasting roughly 90 minutes each, are £40 each. I hope this gives you a taster into the curated content discussed by me, Foci's Left and Geoff in the session, gives you an insight into what I want to create, a showcase of Geoff's remarkable skills in his respective fields, and maybe motivates you, if you are within reach of Swindon, UK, to look up the Shaftesbury Centre where he works to arrange a session of your own.
credits
released 05 November 2013
Mick Robert Buckingham (Foci's Left) provides base subject matter, Geoff Brooks (hypnotherapist) weaves a dialogue to New Age background music. Carefully mastered by Mick Robert Buckingham.
Image is a free online take by Bat For Lashes' Natasha Khan of the coastline while she was on a US tour with her band. www.facebook.com/batforlashes
Mick Robert Buckingham (Foci's Left) provides base subject matter, Geoff Brooks (hypnotherapist) weaves a dialogue to New Age background music. Carefully mastered by Mick Robert Buckingham.
Image is a free online take by Bat For Lashes' Natasha Khan of the coastline while she was on a US tour with her band. www.facebook.com/batforlashes
Foci's Left - Dumping The Rock EP (Foci's Left EP 002)
"Dumping
The Rock" is a varied showcase of the Foci's Left sound, but aims
specifically to disperse any aggression of past releases toward
something more mellow and beautiful. You can map different tracks
together in a Foci's Left playlist with this release.
Artwork: "Cyclist" by Antonymes (Ian Hazeldine), who took this picture especially for me upon the release of his album "The License To Interpret Dreams".
Purchasers will receive a bonus Modern Classical piece called "The Calamities Of Confusion [21.12.12] (For Lata S.) in their download.
Total EP running time 13:52.
Artwork: "Cyclist" by Antonymes (Ian Hazeldine), who took this picture especially for me upon the release of his album "The License To Interpret Dreams".
Purchasers will receive a bonus Modern Classical piece called "The Calamities Of Confusion [21.12.12] (For Lata S.) in their download.
Total EP running time 13:52.
reviews
"This is breathtaking man" ~ 247, Futurepast Fanzine ed. on "Overdriven Terrain".
"Love it :)" ~ DJ Trax (Moving Shadow) on "Overdriven Terrain".
"Ah, 'The Calamities Of Confusion' - I like this one". ~ Jonathan Tait, Subvert Central Recordings.
"Love it :)" ~ DJ Trax (Moving Shadow) on "Overdriven Terrain".
"Ah, 'The Calamities Of Confusion' - I like this one". ~ Jonathan Tait, Subvert Central Recordings.
credits
released 19 August 2013
All tracks written, produced and engineered by Mick Robert Buckingham (Foci's Left).
All tracks written, produced and engineered by Mick Robert Buckingham (Foci's Left).
tags
Foci's Left - Grumpy Love (Foci's Left LP 001)
Dedicated to my sister, the beautiful Joanne Buckingham. Modicum: to raise a smile. This is a soundtrack of my llife so far.
Artwork is "Leopards" by Niomi Jackson.
Artwork is "Leopards" by Niomi Jackson.
reviews
"Introducing ‘Not Seeing Reality’ – the wayward, often mysterious journey that defines the pathway of what we call life. For many, reality is totally dependent on individual perception. The notes begin their life in innocent infancy, but by their teens they have snaked their way into the more unruly, dissonant territory, interacting with one another until a harmonious chain reaction ensues; one that started off with a primary note – a single heartbeat, the survivor in the battle of selection – but one that quickly brings in a thousand more.
Reality is then able to shape-shift into a sporadic, sparse piano line, accompanied by a gorgeous wave of crimson synth. Only, a line doesn’t quite work; it is bloated enough to feel pregnant with the baby bump of melody, oozing out of the thicker line and then submerging the original, vulnerable piano with new life.
Foci’s Left is the alias of Fluid Radio’s own Mick Buckingham, a name that regular Fluid readers will know very well. Told as a chronological tale, Grumpy Love isn’t nearly as dishevelled or as depressed with the state of things past and present as its grumpy name would seem to suggest. It is, in fact, shrouded by heart-felt sensitivity and deep personality. It is very much the opposite of grumpy. After all, there are two words up there; the oh-so-thin space that divides the first word from the second, ‘love’, is close enough to be considered intimate.
Love never fails. Love conquers all.
Grumpy Love is a beautiful, personalized painting, left to hang at a slight angle on the uneven canvas of life, with both enjoyable and difficult moments that come to claim every man. When linked together, they reach a teenage crescendo. ‘Piano Paint’ introduces some beautiful synths that jut into the piano, coating it with an intoxicating harbour of nostalgia – the nostalgic element traces a radiated line of melody, as if the early memory on which it was based has physically escaped, deceiving what we all thought of as reality and instead containing itself within the music as a precautionary measure. It cocoons itself against the decline that age brings and the mood swing of swift change that can affect our recollections as one decade passes into another.
Saturated in the vintage, ambient warmth of pure tone, when the genre itself was in its infancy, the synths are a mesmerising serenade. It shares the same angelic timbre that made the early Brian Eno classic, Music For Airports, such a lovable listen. You can tell instantly that Grumpy Love is a deeply personal recording just from this synth alone. The later drums seem to propel the passages of life forward, with no pause for reminiscing. That comes later on, because Grumpy Love has some beautiful, open spaces ideal for reflection. Life may, at times, feel like ‘An Upwards Slope’, but listening to the music here is to know that the inner serenity of peaceful ease is always there. Always. Here, a thinner drone is disguised as Cupid himself, but the darker echoes of possible distress lie just beyond the doorway. It is the tense, anxious sound of the unknown; a place where dusty road-signs are always blank with unmarked destinations.
‘For Fluid’ is a loving piece of music that is as much a generous tribute as it is a personal reflection. Grumpy Love narrates the passage of life with painstaking thought. The older hand outlines the black tail of a nurtured note like the embrace between a newborn and a parent. In this picture, the thin brush gives life to the paint. It holds itself in the palmed trust of the future, while taking one last look back at the past – this is the final dedication." ~ James Catchpole, Fluid Radio
www.fluid-radio.co.uk/2013/09/focis-left/
"After the disconcerting dissonance of his last demo (FTAL Attraction), Foci's Left - the solo work of occasional Nightshift contributor Mick Buckingham - casts forth a full album set on a far less turbulent plane.
Nine tracks of stretched-out electro-acoustic ambient pianism and electronic minimalism drift and shift with soporific intent, microtonal drones morphing and gradually mutating with precision-restrained variation. Best of the pieces here is the drone-drift of "Decompress The Magnet", while it's marginally more imposing twin "An Upwards Slope" dovetails into it seamlessly. "Regurgitated Impulses" adds a necessary glitchy interlude, while "Piano Paint" is both light in tone and texture but random enough to be distracting.
Where the album occasionally falls down is a lack of brevity on a few of the tracks - "Piano Paint" for example has run its course long before it concludes - while "For Fluid" is anything but and simply sounds like Mick's plonking random keys on his piano, but beyond such lapses, "Grumpy Love" is a neat enough addition to the ambient drone cannon." ~ Ronan Munro, Nightshift Magazine ed.
(www.nightshift.oxfordmusic.net, October 2013)
"I find you on Bandcamp and I'm listening right now "Grumpy Love". This is strange music so far :) Dark soundscapes and atmospheres but lighten up with childish imagination coming from the piano playing (currently I'm at the ending of the second track). Interesting. " ~ Kristian, Noise For Blues For Noise.
"It is very...interesting :)
Well at times I really like the aesthetic and the goofiness of the sounds. Sometimes it is a tad too much for me I have to admit. Maybe it is something I have to listen to more carefully. But it is very inspiring at times." ~ Nils Frahm, Erased Tapes Records.
"It's pretty amazing. I really like 'Decompress The Magnet' and 'An Upwards Slope', they are my favourites. I'm going to have to burn it to CD for the car." ~ 247, Futurepast Fanzine ed.
"Well done Mick. Congrats!" ~ ASC
"I really like 'Decompress The Magnet' :D" ~ GlassBox
"'Decompress The Magnet' really is outstanding." ~ Roo Stercogburn, Omni Music.
subvertcentral.com/forum/showthread.php?59592-Foci-s-Left-Grumpy-Love-LP-(my-debut-album-OUT-NOW)
"It has a nice flow to it" ~ Roy Buckingham, my grandfather on "For Fluid".
"I am very impressed, the Grumpy Love LP, it really has a lot to offer. 'Decompress the Magnet' has a depth of creativity, emotion and inspiration resonating from it. 'An Upwards Slope' has a feeling of a eternal dose of mystery and passionate adventure of abstract life just breathing in and out through the song... I wish the LP had a fixed price on it because it is of good value. Brillliant work love it!" ~ Simon Bean, Omni Music via Facebook.
credits
released 19 May 2013
All tracks composed and recorded by Michael Robert Buckingham (Foci's Left), with additional production on "Decompress The Magnet" by Mike Twelve (Seconds Before Awakening / The Giraffe And The Tree).
All tracks composed and recorded by Michael Robert Buckingham (Foci's Left), with additional production on "Decompress The Magnet" by Mike Twelve (Seconds Before Awakening / The Giraffe And The Tree).
tags
license
all rights reserved.
Thursday, 20 February 2014
SubVersion Stop 223: Muttley's Winter 2013/2014 Mixtapes
Muttley - 15 MOF Pt. 69 - Subconscious Junk
Healing the unconscious.
01. -
02. Tim Hecker - Hatred Of Music II (Ravedeath 1972, Kranky, 2012)
03. Wolves In The Throne Room - Prayer Of Transformation (Celestial Lineage, Southern Lord, 2011)
04. Billy The Kid - Drown (The Lost Cause, Lost Records, 2008]
05. Eluvium - By The Rails (The Wire Tapper 33 / Temporary Residence, www.thewire.co.uk)
06. Bat For Lashes - Deep Sea Diver (The Haunted Man, Parlophone, 2012)
07. Transmuteo - Motivational Holography (Motivational Holography, Aguirre, 2013)
08. Max Wuerden - Fulfilled (Or Lost, Ambientmusic, 2013)
09. Beautumn - October Cafe (Northing, Infraction, 2006)
10. Grouper - Living Room (The Man Who Died In His Boat, Kranky, 2013)
Download
Muttley - 15 MOF Pt. 72 - Encounter (February 2014)
A soundtrack for encountering a person, a persona, and the changes in life and experience that result from these cornerstones.
01. 00:00 Slow Walkers - Wake (Slow Walkers LP, Peak Oil, 2013)
02. 00:00 EUS - Amori II (Sol Levit LP, Contradicta, 2013)
03. 04:57 BJ Nilsen & Stillupsteypa - Space Finale 1.2 (Space Finale LP, Editions Mego, 2010)
04. 11:45 Tmmrw - Vision (ENDPR010, Tmmrw Bandcamp, 2013)
05. 13:07 How To Disappear Completely - Still (Still EP, HTDC Bandcamp, 2013)
06. 15:03 Bing Satellites - Encounter (Twilight Sessions Vol.11, Bing Satellites Bandcamp, 2013)
07. 20:23 Secret Pyramid - A Descent (Movements Of Night LP, Students Of Decay, 2013)
08: 25:31 Bat For Lashes - Seal Jubilee (Fur And Gold LP, Parlophone, 2007)
09. 29:01 EUS - Siete (Sol Levit LP, Contradicta, 2013)
10. 30:53 Foci's Left - Transistory Stringency (Life In A Less Southern Town LP, Omni Music Unreleased)
Download (34:16)
If you would like to support what I do, feel free to visit my Bandcamp:
www.focisleft.bandcamp.com
Healing the unconscious.
01. -
02. Tim Hecker - Hatred Of Music II (Ravedeath 1972, Kranky, 2012)
03. Wolves In The Throne Room - Prayer Of Transformation (Celestial Lineage, Southern Lord, 2011)
04. Billy The Kid - Drown (The Lost Cause, Lost Records, 2008]
05. Eluvium - By The Rails (The Wire Tapper 33 / Temporary Residence, www.thewire.co.uk)
06. Bat For Lashes - Deep Sea Diver (The Haunted Man, Parlophone, 2012)
07. Transmuteo - Motivational Holography (Motivational Holography, Aguirre, 2013)
08. Max Wuerden - Fulfilled (Or Lost, Ambientmusic, 2013)
09. Beautumn - October Cafe (Northing, Infraction, 2006)
10. Grouper - Living Room (The Man Who Died In His Boat, Kranky, 2013)
Download
Muttley - 15 MOF Pt. 72 - Encounter (February 2014)
A soundtrack for encountering a person, a persona, and the changes in life and experience that result from these cornerstones.
01. 00:00 Slow Walkers - Wake (Slow Walkers LP, Peak Oil, 2013)
02. 00:00 EUS - Amori II (Sol Levit LP, Contradicta, 2013)
03. 04:57 BJ Nilsen & Stillupsteypa - Space Finale 1.2 (Space Finale LP, Editions Mego, 2010)
04. 11:45 Tmmrw - Vision (ENDPR010, Tmmrw Bandcamp, 2013)
05. 13:07 How To Disappear Completely - Still (Still EP, HTDC Bandcamp, 2013)
06. 15:03 Bing Satellites - Encounter (Twilight Sessions Vol.11, Bing Satellites Bandcamp, 2013)
07. 20:23 Secret Pyramid - A Descent (Movements Of Night LP, Students Of Decay, 2013)
08: 25:31 Bat For Lashes - Seal Jubilee (Fur And Gold LP, Parlophone, 2007)
09. 29:01 EUS - Siete (Sol Levit LP, Contradicta, 2013)
10. 30:53 Foci's Left - Transistory Stringency (Life In A Less Southern Town LP, Omni Music Unreleased)
Download (34:16)
If you would like to support what I do, feel free to visit my Bandcamp:
www.focisleft.bandcamp.com
Tuesday, 3 December 2013
SubVersion Stop 218: For The Ambient Lovers Reviews 021
FTAL021 - December 2013
Various Artists - Sequence 7
Futuresequence Bandcamp Free DL
"Beautiful" is an overused hyperbole-ace in internet journalism, but Michael Waring's Futuresequence 7 compilation demands it. I initially listened to the release in two blocks of 15 tracks each, and found this perfectly fitted pacing of the whole record. First emotional curveball "A Mist Of Grey Light" by Siavash Amini is rich in the textural hues of A Winged Victory Of The Sullen, but goes further than morose, tanning the flesh of 70s Western soundscapes in cinematic territory. Not just choosing a colour that suits your enivronment, then. Instead, Sequence 7 is chock-full of surprises, like the piano and string accompaniments of Good Weather For An Airstrike's "Tides", that flutters with a steadfast drive. Elsewhere, the emotive "Emori IV" by EUS perfectly compliments the sombre, leaf-treading nature of autumnal mystery that surrounds the release. Overall, it's a complete, recommendable package representing a chunk of new and upcoming artists on and off experimental music.
http://futuresequence.bandcamp.com/releases
Slow Walkers - Slow Walkers
Peak Oil LP / DL
As separate personas, Liz Harris and Lawrence English's music has never been confuted with misery. Instead, it relies on solemnity of delivery and patient investment. Their sound as Slow Walkers is permeated by a straddling of outlay with verging into the morose. Take "Wake", the paradoxically-to-title morbid album closer. In unhurried fashion, Harris and English stretch out swathes of guitar reverb into a dense drone. The pacing of the entire work is resolutely sluggish and positively transluscent, like a swan picking up bread from the lakeside but avoiding the hounds of attack that walk in these paths. Through an absence of foreseen optimism in sound, the duo bore holes in the well of ambient music's depth, with a shoegaze bent underpinning. This work never reaches beyond the pace of ice floe, and all the better for it; the transcendental introspection of these producers has yielded much great music over the last decade but in "Slow Walkers", Harris and English manage to convey an accurate biopic of their individual talents as songwriters, and most of all, musicians.
http://boomkat.com/downloads/814173-...h-slow-walkers
36 - Heather Spa
www.astrangelyisolatedplace.com EP DL
"Dangerous Days" comes close to the somnambulant swoon of Aphex Twin's classic "Rhubarb", while the leading title work is a lesson in restraint. "Heather Spa (Burning)" takes a more concentrated, concentric angle. Swirls of synth woozily lifts the listener. The speed is roughly 90 BPM, a rather uptempo slant on the preceding tracks. For the longest length of almost 16 minutes, this works suitably. 36 is no stranger to synth excursions where drones are lilting phrases, tugging at the attention span. His music reflects ambient's nature of relaxing its audience, but always keeping an undertow of mystery in the hold. His first release for the A Strangely Isolated Place blog, the "Places" series will soon see its first vinyl. If the quality is anything like these tracks, it'll be an essential purchase.
http://astrangelyisolatedplace.com/2...6-heather-spa/
Source:
http://subvertcentral.com/forum/showthread.php?56404-For-The-Ambient-Lovers-review-and-mixtape-archive-001/page9&highlight=ambient
Sunday, 27 October 2013
SubVersion Stop 212: Brad Rose's "Tapes Of 2013" - 15 Minutes Of Fame Mix
TRACKLIST
01. The Rainbow Body "Free Sentient Beings #4" (Ginjoha)
02. Virile Games "Steel Church" (Hospital)
03. Tiger Stripe "Prismacolor" (Self-Released)
04. Cream Juice "So Smooth" (Orange Milk)
05. Giant Claw "Wombs Forever" (Tranquility Tapes)
06. DYNOOO "FitzryvA" (Astro:dynamics)
07. Emily Reo "Metal" (Crash Symbols)
08. Wizard Of "Never Die IV" (Rocket Machine)
09. Waxy Tomb "Interchangeable Limb Replacements" (Weird Ear)
10. Attack Bear "Superfucked" (Reckno)
Download
http://www.foxydigitalis.com/foxyd/
Thursday, 24 October 2013
SubVersion Stop 210: Muttley joins www.organicbeats.co.uk with the 'Basal Sounds' article series
Read October 2013's column
Keep updated
Sunday, 21 July 2013
SubVersion Stop 198: Refractive Assuaging Musically Explained
Refractive assuaging = effected experience.
Refractive assuaging = lateral thinking of digits, symbols and time-codes.
Refractive assuaging = flexing and bending a certain set of variables to activate new ones.
This construct arose - like "Transcendental introspection" - from a Fluid Radio review in 2012. The review - "Refractor - Locus Suspectus" - collated a quote, also, from Carl Rogers concerning psychotherapeutic approaches to contact with individuals. I've selected, like last time, three releases to get the basics across in a creative way.
Visage - Hearts And Knives (Pylon Records)
29 years on from their last album seems to have done both vital and vacuous things to Visage. On the plus, they've honed their take on New Wave romantic synth Pop into more than a nostalgic trifle. On the minus, they sound at home with the uber-produced chart Pop of the noughties.
Dedicated to Martin Rushent, who died an untimely death in 2010, Visage's "Hearts And Knives" is the product of a mindset that "if you loved 'Fade To Grey (1980)', you'll at least really like this". It's true. The tree-like symptomatica of Steve Strange's voice on opener "Never Enough" sees "I'm turning the soul / Now I'm out of control / 'Cos it's never enough, never enough no". Whereas "Shameless Fashion" refractively assuages with metaphors like "temptation was born out of envy".
The vocals are thought-provoking and absorbing everything in their path, Steve Strange's traditional C key voice rising and gliding like a dove over the waves in travel to a distant land. "Lost In Static" and its pulse is bracing, the beat and bass that enters after a short introduction avoiding jettison of the shoegaze guitar, also minus the aggression. The assuage here is from the contagious interlocking of synths, guitars, vocals (backing and lead) and overall plodding tempo to create something bigger than the sum.
The sense of bewilderment from constant refraction of yes/no matrixes, right/wrong junctures and yin/yang enumerations punctures the multiple personality interpretation of the vocal themes in "I Am Watching". "There's no reason you should see me / There's no reason you should know / I am here / I don't want to think from you now / I just need to know you're there" predate the paranoid android lurching of "Diaries Of A Madman" ("Needing a shrink, there's nothing wrong with my brain") perfectly. These two tunes are rife with great lyricism that sucks you in, and importantly bends its' light shined upon the listener to reveal more on each listen.
The final breath on "Breathe Life" sounds an impending sigh of relief: Visage still have it - they just kept it under wraps for 29 years. "Be who you are, and say what you feel" / "Those that mind, they don't matter" / "Those that matter, they don't mind" / "If they don't matter, leave them behind" is an excellent wordplay scheming under a casual New Romantic ballad sound, a more sedate Spandau Ballet without the forced hooks. "Hearts And Knives", in culminated opinion, sees Steve Strange and his group venture into new territory while displaying all the hallmarks of classic revolvent retrospectivity. Bravo.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hearts-And-Knives-Visage/dp/B00CBVRGIK?ref=bit_f_bds-p18_serp_ff_uknat_link&tag=bds-p18-serp-uk-ff-21&ascsubtag=
Bat For Lashes - iTunes Festival London 2012 - EP (iTunes Media)
The majority of material on Natasha Khan - aka Bat For Lashes' - iTunes festival session occupies a refractive glow back onto her whole ouevre and mystical demeanour, and the majority comes from her second album, "Two Suns". it's a great introduction and primer for her sound as much as it is a standalone collection of five renditions. "Travelling Woman (Live)" actually manages to sound better than the recorded version - possibly a result of the piano lead being kept traditionally raw and uncut from the production gloss.
Her sound is one of Art Pop carefully reimagined as a children's story dealing with the forces of nature. "Make you tired, tell you lies, make you fall" is a gloriously sung refrain at the back end of the chorus that resonates as an ode to her previous relationship with the "Daniel" that she wrote a song about, travelling between the United Kingdom and New York City. Whoever it's about though, there's enough transcendental introspection to rise anew.
It sounds as if the festival sequencing for the tracklist is meant to juxtapose several angles of Natasha's sound, from the aforementioned ballad, to "Glass (Live)" with its Drum & Bass tempo half-time tightrope walking drama. So you'll hear tunes not sitting uniform with each other - an aspect that refractive assuaging capitalises on when the music is as ephemeral and ethereal as this. The emotional filling is like a set of onion rings and egg: tasty and tasteful, savoury side orders to a gorgeous grilled steak - the steak here being a medium-rare Rib Eye in a kit, backbone for the compositions of having something on your plate.
Natasha's voice is sultry, stylish, never contrived and full of sass. Her rendition of "Horse And I", piece one from her debut album "Fur And Gold" plays powerfully live, the drums shuffling like an angled furniture arranger towards a victorious end. In whatever language, Bat For Lashes are assuaging for your senses - you'd do well to track down any of Khan's albums and, fail to be impressed by it? Not possible, seriously.
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/itunes-festival-london-2012/id571348109
Prevrat - Symbols (Russian Winter)
Ric Gordon's vocal themes require close attention to reap the parametric ostentation bestowed upon them by the gloopy synthesizers and silvery polish. I had several mishearings of lyrics throughout "Symbols" which gives it its own lateral character - and ultimately, a refractive assuage that ingests the vital input from the context and techniques.
Because its sequencing shoehorns A-B traditional phrasing for neo-liberal takes on acoustic fusion, Ric is able to project an ever-changing myriad, collagist outlook to his soundscapes. This works one of three ways. First, it buffers your attention on the uptake. Second, it decreases the moments of dirge. As a final outcome, it formulates honeysuckle Indie sound.
Gordon channels the spirit of Gordon Lightfoot on "Abandoned", the lyrics "You lose your soul to the one that you love" / "While walking the streets to find that you're the only one feeling" / "Never mind spending half of your life" / "Just to find that love will leave you abandoned" approaching an "If You Could Read My Mind" dissolved anarchy. He gets close to Nu-Rave on "Traffic", but the synth Pop-meets-post-punk songcraft keeps the sonic consciousness from bombing out at the last hurdle to glitz and glamour. "A blue car crashes on my mood all the time" is a swell opening/closing couplet to the first verse, the song steeped in Gary Numan's "Cars" reimagined by Cabaret Voltaire and The Teardrop Explodes' Julian Cope.
It's unsurprising on listening that "Symbols", Prevrat's first LP since "Intelligent Discontent" in 2012 has been so well received in the blogosphere, with this the 41st feature of Prevrat's material at the time of writing. For every flight of fancy there's a rockist swoop of new-fangled nerves; for every attempt at dichotomy, there's a veering into the pseud. This angularity and reinvention of the formats Ric carries with him goes very well with a cool beer on a lazy summer's evening. and as far as refractive assuaging is concerned, Prevrat, to quote Rene Zellweger, "Had me at hello".
http://prevrat.bandcamp.com/
Summary
"Refractive assuaging" are transcendent keywords for what affects your experience, in whatever positive way.
The need for putative language in music or even 'fan' journalism negotiates that we're at one or odds with every new trend, and keywords such as this and their malleability give us a certain edge to inject new ideas into conversation.
Music is less and less seen as a transcendent experience the more it fragments. This is because there is less looking at a full circle for the music in question and more putting-in-a-box. Keywords like these do away with this ideal and are intersectional.
I hope you enjoy the releases reviewed. :)
Refractive assuaging = lateral thinking of digits, symbols and time-codes.
Refractive assuaging = flexing and bending a certain set of variables to activate new ones.
This construct arose - like "Transcendental introspection" - from a Fluid Radio review in 2012. The review - "Refractor - Locus Suspectus" - collated a quote, also, from Carl Rogers concerning psychotherapeutic approaches to contact with individuals. I've selected, like last time, three releases to get the basics across in a creative way.
Visage - Hearts And Knives (Pylon Records)
29 years on from their last album seems to have done both vital and vacuous things to Visage. On the plus, they've honed their take on New Wave romantic synth Pop into more than a nostalgic trifle. On the minus, they sound at home with the uber-produced chart Pop of the noughties.
Dedicated to Martin Rushent, who died an untimely death in 2010, Visage's "Hearts And Knives" is the product of a mindset that "if you loved 'Fade To Grey (1980)', you'll at least really like this". It's true. The tree-like symptomatica of Steve Strange's voice on opener "Never Enough" sees "I'm turning the soul / Now I'm out of control / 'Cos it's never enough, never enough no". Whereas "Shameless Fashion" refractively assuages with metaphors like "temptation was born out of envy".
The vocals are thought-provoking and absorbing everything in their path, Steve Strange's traditional C key voice rising and gliding like a dove over the waves in travel to a distant land. "Lost In Static" and its pulse is bracing, the beat and bass that enters after a short introduction avoiding jettison of the shoegaze guitar, also minus the aggression. The assuage here is from the contagious interlocking of synths, guitars, vocals (backing and lead) and overall plodding tempo to create something bigger than the sum.
The sense of bewilderment from constant refraction of yes/no matrixes, right/wrong junctures and yin/yang enumerations punctures the multiple personality interpretation of the vocal themes in "I Am Watching". "There's no reason you should see me / There's no reason you should know / I am here / I don't want to think from you now / I just need to know you're there" predate the paranoid android lurching of "Diaries Of A Madman" ("Needing a shrink, there's nothing wrong with my brain") perfectly. These two tunes are rife with great lyricism that sucks you in, and importantly bends its' light shined upon the listener to reveal more on each listen.
The final breath on "Breathe Life" sounds an impending sigh of relief: Visage still have it - they just kept it under wraps for 29 years. "Be who you are, and say what you feel" / "Those that mind, they don't matter" / "Those that matter, they don't mind" / "If they don't matter, leave them behind" is an excellent wordplay scheming under a casual New Romantic ballad sound, a more sedate Spandau Ballet without the forced hooks. "Hearts And Knives", in culminated opinion, sees Steve Strange and his group venture into new territory while displaying all the hallmarks of classic revolvent retrospectivity. Bravo.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hearts-And-Knives-Visage/dp/B00CBVRGIK?ref=bit_f_bds-p18_serp_ff_uknat_link&tag=bds-p18-serp-uk-ff-21&ascsubtag=
Bat For Lashes - iTunes Festival London 2012 - EP (iTunes Media)
The majority of material on Natasha Khan - aka Bat For Lashes' - iTunes festival session occupies a refractive glow back onto her whole ouevre and mystical demeanour, and the majority comes from her second album, "Two Suns". it's a great introduction and primer for her sound as much as it is a standalone collection of five renditions. "Travelling Woman (Live)" actually manages to sound better than the recorded version - possibly a result of the piano lead being kept traditionally raw and uncut from the production gloss.
Her sound is one of Art Pop carefully reimagined as a children's story dealing with the forces of nature. "Make you tired, tell you lies, make you fall" is a gloriously sung refrain at the back end of the chorus that resonates as an ode to her previous relationship with the "Daniel" that she wrote a song about, travelling between the United Kingdom and New York City. Whoever it's about though, there's enough transcendental introspection to rise anew.
It sounds as if the festival sequencing for the tracklist is meant to juxtapose several angles of Natasha's sound, from the aforementioned ballad, to "Glass (Live)" with its Drum & Bass tempo half-time tightrope walking drama. So you'll hear tunes not sitting uniform with each other - an aspect that refractive assuaging capitalises on when the music is as ephemeral and ethereal as this. The emotional filling is like a set of onion rings and egg: tasty and tasteful, savoury side orders to a gorgeous grilled steak - the steak here being a medium-rare Rib Eye in a kit, backbone for the compositions of having something on your plate.
Natasha's voice is sultry, stylish, never contrived and full of sass. Her rendition of "Horse And I", piece one from her debut album "Fur And Gold" plays powerfully live, the drums shuffling like an angled furniture arranger towards a victorious end. In whatever language, Bat For Lashes are assuaging for your senses - you'd do well to track down any of Khan's albums and, fail to be impressed by it? Not possible, seriously.
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/itunes-festival-london-2012/id571348109
Prevrat - Symbols (Russian Winter)
Ric Gordon's vocal themes require close attention to reap the parametric ostentation bestowed upon them by the gloopy synthesizers and silvery polish. I had several mishearings of lyrics throughout "Symbols" which gives it its own lateral character - and ultimately, a refractive assuage that ingests the vital input from the context and techniques.
Because its sequencing shoehorns A-B traditional phrasing for neo-liberal takes on acoustic fusion, Ric is able to project an ever-changing myriad, collagist outlook to his soundscapes. This works one of three ways. First, it buffers your attention on the uptake. Second, it decreases the moments of dirge. As a final outcome, it formulates honeysuckle Indie sound.
Gordon channels the spirit of Gordon Lightfoot on "Abandoned", the lyrics "You lose your soul to the one that you love" / "While walking the streets to find that you're the only one feeling" / "Never mind spending half of your life" / "Just to find that love will leave you abandoned" approaching an "If You Could Read My Mind" dissolved anarchy. He gets close to Nu-Rave on "Traffic", but the synth Pop-meets-post-punk songcraft keeps the sonic consciousness from bombing out at the last hurdle to glitz and glamour. "A blue car crashes on my mood all the time" is a swell opening/closing couplet to the first verse, the song steeped in Gary Numan's "Cars" reimagined by Cabaret Voltaire and The Teardrop Explodes' Julian Cope.
It's unsurprising on listening that "Symbols", Prevrat's first LP since "Intelligent Discontent" in 2012 has been so well received in the blogosphere, with this the 41st feature of Prevrat's material at the time of writing. For every flight of fancy there's a rockist swoop of new-fangled nerves; for every attempt at dichotomy, there's a veering into the pseud. This angularity and reinvention of the formats Ric carries with him goes very well with a cool beer on a lazy summer's evening. and as far as refractive assuaging is concerned, Prevrat, to quote Rene Zellweger, "Had me at hello".
http://prevrat.bandcamp.com/
Summary
"Refractive assuaging" are transcendent keywords for what affects your experience, in whatever positive way.
The need for putative language in music or even 'fan' journalism negotiates that we're at one or odds with every new trend, and keywords such as this and their malleability give us a certain edge to inject new ideas into conversation.
Music is less and less seen as a transcendent experience the more it fragments. This is because there is less looking at a full circle for the music in question and more putting-in-a-box. Keywords like these do away with this ideal and are intersectional.
I hope you enjoy the releases reviewed. :)
Tuesday, 5 February 2013
SubVersion Stop 173: Billy The Kid + Jordan 'O Shea @ The Cellar, Oxford, Monday 4th February 2013
Support to The Long Way Home tour invites Jordan 'O Shea, a young lad who's been playing on bills with acoustic songsmiths like My Crooked Teeth recently. "Wintervention" gets us going as he tunes into stolen lights, stolen love, "Summer bring her back to me". Performing with a non-waily energy that peaks at just the right points while indebting itself to where the wail ends: with Radiohead, and Foals at their shrewdest. He occasionally loses his grip on the lyricism but when he's in full flow he can sound like bottled Ritz water.
Billy The Kid is also shrewd, but for something else: her track ordering. For instance,"These City Lights", a lovely Country Blues ballad she plays without drums and harmonica accompaniment - just on guitar - becomes greater the centrepiece sounded slightly later in, rather than at the beginning. A pattern shuffling is hence created where you can build your own maps, if you dared. And if you cared to deal with her meaty metaphors like "people as sand / slipping through my hands", you're repayed. One word though: attitude. "If I close my eyes, I worry / do the stars all disappear?" sang Jordan earlier in the show. While Billy Pettinger prefers a toke with her collaborators Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr and R.E.M: "what are you, bummed?" in response to the turnout. It raises a wry smile, but the lasting impression is thus: just because you've played and produced with top artists Billy, don't make you no funstar. Mixed feelings on an evening that should have been teeming.
Billy The Kid: Website
Jordan 'O Shea: Bandcamp
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