The Future Sound of London, Brian Eno, Angelo Badalamenti, Howard Shore, Jean Michael Jarre, Michael Danna, Tangerine Dream, David Lynch, Halo, Andrei Tarkovsky
Sounds Like
Available albums As an Independant(non-profit) artist, albums sales enable me to release new music. If you like my work, please consider helping me release my next album by ordering music here: Shopsonic.
Shopsonic Album Page Features samples of the album and a link to buy it. As always your support is what enables me to release my work, which is greatly appreciated.
Myspace Spotlight
Some personal observations about interesting albums, bands, composers and people I have found right here on myspace.com. If you like what these people make and do; please support them. Not buying or instead downloading their music is really hurting their ability to release regularly or release music at all even.
I first heard the music of Jeff Pearce some seven years ago, browsing the friends list of DreamState back in the day when mp3.com was the best and most concentrated pleace to find new music. Through the ambient music forums at Hypnos.com I even got to talk too the artist and eventually ordered several of his Cd's.
As far as I am able to tell, Jeff Pearce uses a Guitar to make his music which is extensively treated and mixed on most of his albums. His first album however, features the guitar in a less treated form on shorter musical scetches. The flow of the album, something typical of a Pearce release, is what makes the experience. The albums following his first release blend darker and lighter tones well, creating long atmospheric pieces which are never quite devoid of tempo. What makes his music enjoyable is the musicallity of his work. I recognise that this is a somewhat personal and broad statement to make, but what this means to me is that the notes, phrasing and sounds Pearce chooses, never seem wrong and are always perceived as his personal choice. This is an artist making music, not an instrument; his albums and his music are recognisable as his personal work, and that of no one else.
Lingering Light (the album you can hear on his myspace page) circles back to the beginning ans is closer to the untreated sound of his instrument.
I play Jeff Pearce's music when trying to concentrate or having to work on something for a longer period of time. It's the kind of music where I don't feel stuck in something that does not want to evolve, yet his work manages to cloud the passing of time equally. It is somewhat harder to hear samples of his work but if you look at this list and click on the album titles (next to his name) you can find his older music too. Hypnos, by the way, is a great place to support independent ambient music so if you can afford to like his work, pick up a few of his cd's. You'll be amazed how substantial just those few extra sales are, towards the ability for independent artists to release new work.
Gene Williams (aka Mindspawn) introduced me to an obscure little album called Nostromo, three years ago. Insisting that I would like this album by Sleep Research Facility (the name unfortunately didn't say much to me) so I never gave it much thought. It wasn't until I visited Gene that I could hear the music and realise I had missed the release,of what has becomeone of my favourite atmospheric albums. It often playswhen I fall asleep or when I'm working on something not related to sound. For me SRF have an amazing ability, of which I am slightly envious, to create music that instantly provokes the mood I was in when I first heard the album.
Perhaps my fondness of Nostromo comes from that first time I heard it, which happened to be in the most-comfortable-bed-in-the-world in a New York hotel. The rythmic sounds of car's (what is there to horn at 3 am?) and air conditioning providing an extra layer of depth to an already unforgettable evening.
Although categorised as dark ambient, Nostromo is far from being an album full of drones. Nostromo is a carefully woven sound field where every single note and sound are used to their fullest effect. It's quiet, it's restrained and it never ceases to be deliberate and mesmerising. For what I think is a first album release, that's very humbling.
I don't think trying to describe Nostromo any further does it enough justice as it is music best discovered on your own, when you have the time to listen to it.
I hope a re-release is coming soon as it's been out of print for quite some time. Though there is a fantastic alternative as SRF have just released their third album (Deep Frieze) and it seems to pick up just where Nostromo left off. Though more melodic and suggesting to describe a larger area than Nostromo, it too has that telltale SRF ability and hearing a single sound brings you back to where you where, the first time you heard it.
Andrew Cowen conducted in march 2001 for the GrijsGebied limited edition boxset
One commonly held misbelief states that ambient music began in 1975 with Brian Eno lying in his sickbed listening to a recording of 18th century harp music through one speaker with the volume turned right down. This may have been the moment Eno shouted "Eureka!" and started on his career as purveyor of aural wallpaper to the ICA set.
But if you take your definition of ambient as being music of texture, sound shapes and less obsessed with rock-derived scales and timbres, there's a lineage which can be traced back to classical composers, the American avant garde and shamanic world music. While Eno has done much to raise the profile of ambient, too often his music falls into the trap of ear candy, too easy to ignore. The towering presence of modern composer Karlheinz Stockhausen is arguably a greater influence on true ambient revolutionaries. It was Stockhausen who wrote: "I color 'silences' in different layers. So if I take off one of the silent layers, I hear another silent layer. And then I take that second layer and I hear a third one, because there is no absolute silence in the world. I am still trying to expand this relation between nothing and something."
Which brings us, in a roundabout way, to the work of Matthew Florianz who echoes Stockhausen in his relationship with sound and silence: "You cannot create silence," he says. "If you make music, you destroy silence and it is so hard to enjoy no sound." Matthew's new album, GrijsGebied, recorded under the Liquid Morphine alias, is his most impressive stab yet at creating organic electronic environments and it needs to be heard. GrijsGebied is the first release on the HS Recordings label, a new type of record label run by Darren Scott from Warwick, UK. Harnessing the full power of the internet, not just as a marketing tool, but in its purest form as a networking community, HS plans to release a highly desirable catalogue of experimental electronica and ambience, with gallery edition packaging and bonus material which support the main artifact.
GrijsGebied is an important album to a healthy underground ambient scene and its genesis lies in the huge MP3 scene. Although it's a vindication of one young artist's vision, it's strength is also derived from the input of like-minded musicians who first linked up after making contact through the ambient community of original free music pioneers mp3.com. So although the album is actually Matthew's eighth, it's the first to receive the backing for a full release.
It's very existence owes everything to a weekend of musical jamming in Utrecht in which the virtual mp3 community finally came together to play a series of live dates and radio shows spanning everything from twinkling ambience to full-on industrial noise terror. Living in England, we tend tend to think we're at the centre of a credible music scene, when, in effect, we have one of the most blinkered outlooks in Europe. The support for such a colloborative gesture as experienced by Matthew and cohorts simply wouldn't have happened here where venues are only interested in established names or tribute bands and radio shows are content to pump out the hits and nothing but the hits.
"We all met up on September 22, 2000," said Matthew. "Musicians from Holland, England, USA and Sweden all got together to jam. Although there was a lot of difference in our styles, we all shared a common purpose to express ourselves through music."
GrijsGebied is a difficult album to describe in terms of what it sounds like - like the heat from the sun, it's better to define it for what it does. The best analogy I can muster is that of a personal bubble of sound, a portable immersive environment that plays havoc with your synapses. The Liquid Morphine name is apt, GrijsGebied is a musical narcotic capable of inducing meditational shutdown. At the correct volume, it's likely to put you to sleep. This, by the way, is a good thing.
"As my work has evolved, I have become more interested in creating environments for the listener," says Matthew. "Three or four albums ago I realised that there were other ways to communicate. I don't work with intentions or to any particular style. I just want to write music that is immersive and reflects the world around me."
Although Matthew lives in the Dutch city of Den Haag (The Hague), he uses music to escape the noise pollution of suburban living. "I sometimes sit in my room and try and close out all the sounds. There is no silence in the city, but if you try, you can filter it out. And if you really concentrate you can eventually hear your own body. Ironically, if you escape the city, the sounds of nature often sound noisier than the sounds you are escaping."
In common with modern composers, Matthew's preoccupation with ways of hearing makes for some pretty intense records. As with all truly great ambient music, its full appreciation depends on the willing participation of the listener. The abstract grey packaging of the cd does much to set the mood for the music; together they form a work of art. The album has a very European sound: eschewing the British sound of Eno, the Orb or house and dub textures, it's a beatless throwback to an era when rock music's boundaries were much broader. One immediate comparison came to mind when first listening to GrijsGebied: the early work of Tangerine Dream, particularly the pre-Virgin albums Atem and Electronic Meditation. "I'm influenced by classical music, film scores, Eno and Future Sound of London. My first musical hero was Jean Michel Jarre," says Matthew. "But beats and me don't get along very well."
The way Matthew works on a track does much to explain his way of thinking. Like Stockhausen, he's obsessed with deconstructing his work and removing any layers which he deems unnecessary. So, while a track may start with many different parts, by the time it's been through the Liquid Morphine mill, it's a sleek leonine creation that emerges.
"I create music that deliberately doesn't draw attention to itself, that dictates its own structure. If anything extrudes, I'll remove it or fold it back in. I want to leave a specific space for the listener to fill in."
Matthew's music is free-flowing, partly because he doesn't use a sequencer, preferring to play parts into his computer and process them digitally. Surprisingly, he doesn't subscribe to the theory that you need loads of synths and gizmos, preferring to milk his simple Korg 05R for all his sounds. With consummate care at the mixing stage -
Matthew's mixes are recognisable for the movement in the top end and almost physical bass sculptures of the low frequencies - GrijsGebied is a great-sounding album too. "I wake up, do the dishes and make music," he says by way of explaining his working method. "I see what I do as sculpting," he adds, more helpfully.
With no formal musical training, Matthew's one of that breed of composers to whom music is instinctive rather than academic, but at heart he's a fan like the rest of us:
"What I like best is discovering new music to listen to, that's such a joy."
The feeling is most definitely mutual.
Cheers champ, an honour having you here, be well, and do enjoy the library/blog's contents, here's hoping that it'll inspire you, as your creative spirit has inspired mine, sweet dreams then...
I honestly start every workday by listening to Niemandsland. Are any of the "deluxe" versions still out there for purchase? I'd love to buy one. Thanks for the great music! Can't wait for the new one!
Happy New Year! I'll be coming to the Netherlands next week to play two shows-Leiden (Qbus Jan.24th) and Ospel (Cafe De Prins Jan. 25th). I hope that you can make one! Happy Trails, AP
GrijsGebied is a difficult album to describe in terms of what it sounds like - like the heat from the sun, it's better to define it for what it does. The best analogy I can muster is that of a personal bubble of sound, a portable immersive environment that plays havoc with your synapses. The Liquid Morphine name is apt, GrijsGebied is a musical narcotic capable of inducing meditational shutdown. At the correct volume, it's likely to put you to sleep. This, by the way, is a good thing.
