Played, by Palavas

Beautiful and mellow sounds pour from this one, Played by french Novelist and Musician Palavas, presented to us by Wormhole World. Lush and expansive while remaining intimate, Played is quite the unique journey. With structure being cast aside and a big focus on mood, it’s all propelled forward by Palavas‘ vocals – which he uses quite creatively and beautifully – often behaving more like an instrument itself than words being sung, and I adore it. I actually found it to be a more blissful and ambient C. Duncan, a favorite artist of mine from the past few years, it was a pleasant surprise!!

The album deals with themes of hope and healing, the melancholy of existence – Palavas seems to effortlessly convey the complex emotions of helplessness and solitude. The generous use of strings really helps solidify the intention, with a beautiful acoustic palette being utilized, you can easily imagine floating through the sky enjoying a small cup of coffee on the edge of a cloud, watching the world pass below…

The album is available digitally as well as a nice looking Compact Disc – both at an incredibly reasonable price considering the content – Played being 14 tracks of thoughtfully crafted songs, if you’re looking for a great soundtrack for your summer porch chilling, look no further!

October #1

Hello ET readers!

Before I start loading this post up with links, I wanted to take a second to thank anyone and everyone who has supported this project from the beginning – I am inspired every day by seeing artists and collectives still producing and curating amazing content, along with a whole new generation of content creators pulling the underground scene into new directions and uncharted territories.

It is in this spirit that I am announcing a slight shift in the blog format to better accommodate both the current underground climate as well as my own personal habits and responsibilities. Moving forward, I will be focusing on posting “Lists” of recommended listens, opposed to individual “Quick Picks” of my findings. I feel this is a logical step, and also one that will be beneficial to both the readers and the artists featured. So without further explanation or excuse, here is the first list to kick off October 2018 – please enjoy browsing and exploring this batch of recommended underground music!!

 

Last Dayz ov Zummer – by Reflections From Nowhere

Released October 5th, 2018 – DMT Tapes FL

The ever-busy DMT Tapes Florida has graced us with another beautiful, meandering release from Reflections From Nowhere – tinged with a slight melancholy and dystopian vibe, the 13 tracks seem to drip from one to the next, laced with droning synths and keys, dusted with downtempo grooves and textures. The tape on a whole is quite a satisfying listen, as I found myself going back for a repeat listen 2/3 times whenever I pressed play… 🛰

 

Rum River Ramble – by Marcus Eads

Released September 30, 2018 – Self Released

Longtime readers will know that I am a fan of Marcus Eads’ stripped back, “Primitive” Americana compositions – so it is no surprise that I am both excited and pleased with his latest offering, Rum River Ramble. In traditional Eads fashion, the album is a peaceful homage to archaic sounds, featuring vibes ranging from swinging mellow melodies to thoughtful blues. Throughout the record, Marcus utilizes not only the Acoustic Guitar, but a peppering of unique instruments like the Dulcimer and Autoharp! Quite the enjoyable listen for a relaxing morning coffee. ☕️

 

Vault of Glass EP – by Doctor Jeep

Released October 5th, 2018 – Self Released

Dark and atmospheric Drum & Bass from UK’s Doctor Jeep – featuring collaborations with Fixate and Cirrus, with remixes from Hyroglifics and Sinistarr). Wonderfully satisfying dark club grooves with flavors of dub and world sounds. 🌍

 

Mental Disorder – by Hybrid Boy

Released October 5th, 2018 – Self Released

New Belgium producer Hybrid Boy presents us with an energetic and bold 3-track EP as a first release on the scene – each track is packed with atmosphere and energy, utilizing extraordinary drumwork and soundscape crafting. Definitely excited to hear more from this young producer in the future! 🌀

 

• CHOON FINDS – Saint Elsewhere •

“Experimental Trip Hop from Vienna/AT” – Saint Elsewhere strings together chilled electronics, downtempo beats and blissful vocals in a small collection of songs uploaded to Choon. Quite interesting stuff, subtle and worth multiple listens 🤙

Listen: Self-Titled 6 Track Album

Guitar Samples, by DR00

Torontos Legendary Entertainment bring us an interesting new project from producer DR00 – Guitar Samples. An experimental 9 track tape that is, according to the creator, made entirely of guitar samples, sans a few bits of percussion on a track or two. The result is a very organic and interesting listen. The vibe is solid whether the track is pulsing with rhythms like the remixed Oak, or simply blissing out over the possibilities of sonic manipulation on tracks such as Beyond Recognition.

You can grab a CD of the project from Legendary Entertainment, there is also a Cassette release available via Æescape Sounds, but either way you will be doing yourself a favor picking this up!

Whatever it is, Whenever you feel like it, by Heart Eyes

Colorado label Community Radio Tapes presents us with this beautiful little oddity by Heart Eyes, Whatever it is, Whenever you feel like it is a 6 track tape of glazed bedroom ambience with plenty of emotion.

The tape is quite pleasant with some interesting ideas, though there is a lot of weirdness going on it always remains a comfortable weirdness. The kind that you know won’t harm you. However there is an anxiety to some of the tracks, a looming melancholy that sits really heavy! Do not panic however, it’s a very nice listen and ends on a high note.

You can download the album via bandcamp or purchase a cassette copy from the same page!

Good for

• Study Sessions
• Meditation
• Late Night Chill

Favorite Track: I am crying, I can’t talk

Far Away Music, by Benjamin Louis Brody

Far Away Music is an contemporary classical/ambient music project by composer and producer Benjamin Lous Brody, and is his first appearance on UK’s Preserved Sound Label.

The album itself is very subtle; built around churning strings and cavernous tones. The arrangements are dense, yet leave something for the imagination to fill in, resulting in a very rewarding listen. The general feeling seems to balance on the line of melancholy and awe, with the orchestra painting a vast and inspiring landscape around the listener.

Good For:

• Study Sessions
• Late Night Chill
• Meditation

Favorite Track: 2. Floating into Infinity

 

June Apple & Amazing Grace, by Marcus Eads

As a long-time fan of Marcus Eads‘ work, it’s always nice to see something new pop up on his bandcamp! This time we’ve got a little EP featuring two tunes performed on Dulcimer, June Apple & Amazing Grace. Surely the title of the latter is instantly more recognizable, but Marcus’ version in this take is blissfully slow, to the point where the beat and tempo disappear completely, leaving the track feeling more like avant-poetry than anything! Each track has a delicious warm quality, being recorded both indoors and outdoors. You can grab this along with a ton of other goodies via Bandcamp!

Two traditional songs performed on
mountain dulcimer (C-G-cc tuning)

Recorded at home
December 3, 2016

Track 2 contains a field recording taken along
a stream at Goodin Park in Dayton, MN in
November, 2016

June Apple video:
youtu.be/TqYe-V8AmO4

Thanks for listening

Dialog Tapes, by eilean rec.

Dialog Tapes is a project from Frances eilean rec. and Belgian Label dauw. The album contains 14 tracks (7 tracks released per label) by artists from both families. Unique in both concept and sound, the sheer number of artists involved guarantees exploration of all ambient styles. Both lush electronics and graceful acoustics flourish from one track to the next, creating a nice atmosphere that has a constant of relaxation. I have long been a fan of the eilean rec series, and this hybrid-project certainly does not disappoint!

You can download the album now via either labels Bandcamp pages, both have sold-out of the CD/Tape versions though, so we must keep our fingers crossed for a re-press!!

Favorite Track: 5. Twincities + Sokkyō – Straw Bird

_________________________________________________

Date : 09.09.15
Map point : eilean 15
Color : orange / brown / yellow
Season : autumn
Duration : 42.02 mn
Edition : limited to 120 copies

_________________________________________________

“Dialog Tapes is a blend between Eilean Rec. & Dauw in which we linked artists of both labels. It’s the result of true love for each other works. We hope you enjoy this little treasure.”

One year ago, eilean rec. came to Dauw to propose to them if they would be interested in a collaboration between our two labels. after some exchanges of ideas and talkings, we found the guidelines of the project : propose between a selection of the Dauw & Eilean Rec. music artists to choose 2 music artists from the other label and works with them on a piece of sounds.
here is the result of this project :
14 tracks, 15 music artists, 85 minutes of sounds spread on the two labels.

————————————————————–

Artists involved : 

Aaron Martin, Danny Clay, David Andree, Dudal, Leigh Toro, Masaya Ozaki, Miguel Isaza, Monolyth & Cobalt, Ruhe, Sokkyo (Heine Christensen + Ciro Berenguer), Stijn Hüwels, The Humble Bee, Twincities, Wil Bolton.

Geographics 2, by Cousin Silas

The Small Scottish Netlabel of weareallghosts brings us this truly beautiful work of relaxing ambience from Cousin Silas. Geographics 2 is a long-playing 9 track album focusing on soundscapes constructed from guitars and lush atmospheres. The overall tone of the album is both majestic and melancholy. Much like the album artwork suggests, it evokes feelings of misty mornings alone in the wilderness. The tasteful compositions don’t stray too far from traditional ambient styles, which is almost a breath of fresh air with so much weird genre-bending nowadays! For the most part this is an incredibly relaxing work of new age ambience, a highly recommended listen! You can grab the album from Bandcamp or Archive.

Favorite Track. 3 Through Lincolnshire (Spring 1969)

I have a considerable amount of love for Cousin Silas and his music. He is consistently wonderful, as an inspiration and as a friend, and I am proud to present his latest work: “Geographics 2 (waag_rel075)” … the long overdue follow up to “Geographics” on the brilliant Shaun Blezard’s now sadly dormant Earth Monkey Productions.

It was Geographics that got me into Cousin Silas’ music. That and his Ballard Landscapes, which were all on EMP. And it was EMP that got me into Silas by promoting his work. Blezard’s netlabel introduced me to the concept of netlabel and was a key inspiration for me to start weareallghosts.

It seems like we’ve come full circle with waag releasing Cousin Silas’ follow up all these years later.

And what a release it is: mellow, ambient guitar soundscapes. Nothing rushed or overwrought, just simple ambience … the kind that settles the mind.

Here’s to you, Cousin Silas … and to you, Shaun Blezard! Cheers to you both.

A 320kbps version of this release is available over on Archive (archive.org/details/we-are-all-ghosts) for free with a lossless version available on Bandcamp for ‘pay what you want’ which does include ‘free’. If you decide to download this album here for free, and you can with our best wishes, then all we ask is that you please tell people about it.

Tx

—

Volume 1 available here =>archive.org/details/cousinsilas_geographies

—

released 19 September 2015

Music by Cousin Silas
Photography by Johan De Paepe (used with permission)
Design and Logistics by Thomas Mathie for weareallghosts.co.uk

For Shaun the Earth Monkey

Obscured By Beams Of Sorrow, by Hakobune & Dirk Serries

Here is some truly gorgeous and relaxing ambience, courtesy of a small Japanese label, White Paddy Mountain. Obscured By Beams Of Sorrow is a collaborative project washed in deep minimalism and ambient emotion. Utilizing lush electronics paired with layers of guitar, the duo manages to create a complex and profound landscape around their sound. You can download the project via Bandcamp with the option of a physical CD available for a bit extra. Highly recommended listen for relaxing evenings or laid-back mornings!

Obscured By Beams Of Sorrow is the first collaborative recording between Hakobune and Dirk Serries.
minimalistic electric guitar drone sound melody is pulling the listener into imaginary drone world.
this record has atmosphere of a deep bamboo forest with no sense of reality, such as wander.
and listener will see hallucinogenic visuals Somewhere to see scenery Such as the events in the dream and will feel sustained bass drone sound such as the Freudian obsession. Hakobune

Hakobune AKA Takahiro Yorifuji uses layers of guitar to create
the sonic landscapes. Yorifuji is from a small town in Hyogo,
Japan and currently resides in Tokyo.
hakobunemusic.jp

Dirk Serries

Since his first releases in the early 80s, uncompromising Belgian artist Dirk Serries has garnered respect with his wilful and specific minimal music and various experiments from and invitations to collaborate with recognised musicians like Steven Wilson, Steve Von Till, Justin Broadrick, Cult Of Luna, Teun Verbruggen, Colin Webster, Andrew Lisle, Rene Aquarius, Dead Neanderthals and Onno Govaert. He has been commisioned to write works for Dutch national television broadcaster VPRO, the Antwerp Zoo as well as architectural festival Biënnale Rotterdam and worked on stage with the Holland Symfonia orchestra. His discography encompasses stylistically diverse releases on labels like Relapse, Projekt, Conspiracy as well as his current creative partner Tonefloat, an outfit with years of experience in vinyl editions for acts like Porcupine Tree, Robert Fripp, Theo Travis and Anja Garbarek. Over the past thirty years, he has toured extensively through Europe and the USA and performed at some of experimental music’s major venues and concert spaces, as headliner or in support of Low, Mono, My Bloody Valentine, Jesu and others. He currently runs to the Tonefloat’s New Wave Of Jazz label dedicated to his fascination for free jazz and improvisation.

released 03 September 2015

all music written by Hakobune & Dirk Serries
mixed by Hakobune
mastered by Dirk Serries
photograph by Aurélie Scouarnec

The Forest Diaries, by Dag Rosenqvist

Another slice of Eilean greatness, this time Dag Rosenqvist presents us with some hyper-relaxed modern classical goodness. Floating around between drones and fog, The Forest Diaries remains emotional and focused over long 10 tracks. Lots of work here featuring piano as well as other acoustic instrumentation. The entire release is saturated in a subtle, lonely feeling, not in a bad way, but more of a “lonely for a day” sorta way. Whether it makes you relax or reminisce, this is one highly recommended body of work.

Favorite Track: 8. VIII

Date : 07.07.15
Map point : eilean 37
Color : blue
Season : summer
Duration : 42.15 mn
Edition : limited to 180 copies

This music was made for the project The Forest Diaries created by the Swedish choregrapher and dancer Jenny Larsson and made possible with generous donations from Inger Abrahamsson, Dale Andree, Janne Anundi, Irene Arikan, Christine Arleij, Margareta Armbrust, Anita & Svante Arthursson, Åsa Johansson Bagley, Blanca & Chad Bairnsfather, Joanne Barrett, Ayhan Bulut, Tere Alvarez’ Canida, Rachel Carroll, Maria Chinda, Ulrika Daun, Gretchen Denton, Celeste Fraser Delgado, Sophie Olsson Dogruman, Jose’ Manuel Dominguez, Hanna Dorve, Malin Dorsey, Karin DuPlessis, Lena Dyring, Therese Felth, Mariana Harari Froment, Hanna Dermes Gibson, Johan Grinde, Jennie Grip, Ann-Sofi Gustafsson, Caroline Haag, Tina Hanniger, Sara Hedberg, Jill Hoffman, Sandra Höpfner-Buchnitzki, Martina Arthursson Immonen, Britt-Marie Isacson, Mia Karlsson, Serusa Katabami, Sally Lamb, Elana Lanczi, Erik Larsson, Sara Leifsdottir, Mary Luft, Heather Maloney, Kathryn von Matthiessen, von Matthiessenvon Matthiessenvon MatthiessenT Malo, Karen Mikalsen, Charlotte Marthinsson, Felizia Mulchan, Juliana Navarro, Carly Nordström, Christine Nilsson, Mariana Oliveira, Christopher Payen, Karen Peterson, Carlota Pradera, Sandra Portal-Andreu, Ellen Raddum, William Rey, Åsa SeiplaxViveka le Roux, Susanna Robinson, April Sellers, Ellinor Seiplax, Kristina & Anders Sturk Steinwall, Anna Skott, Henrik Skott, Maxine Steinman, Kimber & Petrus Sundevall, Mauricio Tijerino, Tom & Maite Thornton, Kine Halvorsen Thoren, Marta & Frank Torres, Aaron Tuckler, Therese Wagenius ThörnThörn, Maria Wagenius, Daniela Wancier, Seth Warren-Crow.

www.dagrosenqvist.bandcamp.com
www.jennylarsson.org

VIDEO (by Jenny Larsson) : www.vimeo.com/130442694

released 07 July 2015

Written, arranged, performed and produced by Dag Rosenqvist.
Recorded and mixed at The 63rd Link in Gothenburg, 2014.

Mastered by Matthew Collings
Artwork Photography by Martin Vlach (front) &
Liam Frankland (inside)
Inside Photography by Mathias Van Eecloo
Design by Superfluxgrafizm

“Thanks to : Mathias Van Eecloo, Rémi Verdier, Matthew Collings, Liam Frankland, Jenny Larsson. Family and friends.”