Guo Voices, by Morteza Jahangiri

Ethereal, calm and collected sounds from ambient producer Morteza Jahangiri.

Guo Voices is a 4 track project of sublime melancholy atmospherics. Perfect for a meditation session or morning relaxation to start your day a mellow way.

With a varied electro-acoustic palette – Morteza crafts unique soundscapes with a soft, delicate touch. There’s a cinematic feeling to the music, with chord progressions being slightly more bold than other contemporary ambient. Subtle melodies float atop plush synthetic pillows.

It’s a refreshing and hearty journey – feeling a lot longer than the 4 tracks lead to believe. You will likely find yourself coming back to this one, it’s cozy and thoughtful like an old friend. Stream and Download available directly from the artists bandcamp page.

Dimensional Shift, by Andrew Mouge

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Dimensional Shift is a wonderful new long-playing project by Andrew Mouge (ex. Digital Image Plus LTD), released via Vivarium Recordings. Clocking nearly an hour in length, this album is powerful and vast, churning with themes of hope the future, big and thoughtful.

I got a particularly strong adventure vibe from some of the tracks, like Land of Blue Roses, making me feel like I am wandering some dreamlike landscape, attempting to solve inventory object puzzles!

The tracks bounce between post-vaporwave and lush ambient, touches of mallsoft and drone give the project some added depth as well. I often use the word satisfying to describe sounds that make me feel complete, or that help calm the turbulent atmosphere around me – and Dimensional Shift does all of that. Befitting of the name, I feel myself phasing in between dimensions, leaving my worries behind in some faraway place…

Seek Not Your Fortune, by Nonconnah

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Memphis Dronegaze outfit Nonconnah are back to bless us with a small selection of B-Sides, or “Outtakes” as they cinematically refer to them, which were recorded between 2015-2018.

The resulting collection is a subtle and blissful gathering of sounds – with a general uplifting vibe to the work. As always there is a selection of other musicians enlisted to fill-out the sonic landscape, though most of the tracks seem to be produced by the core unit. Overall this one is quite nice, a relaxing little listen, and a pleasant surprise to see pop up in my feed today! Do yourself a favor and give it a spin – you can name your own price for the download via the artists Bandcamp page…

Guitar Samples, by DR00

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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!

The Autumn Elegy, by Glowing Swords

The Autumn Elegy

Incoming drone goodness via collaborative project Glowing Swords, consisting of Zachary Corsa (Nonconnah, ex Lost Trail) and Scott Cortez (Astrobrite, Lovesliescrushing). The Autumn Elegy brings us 10 tracks of soaring, fuzzy noisescapes that are both lush and withering. A thick haze forms over each track, at some points obscuring the senses entirely in pieces such as Calrn which seem to be performed in some otherworldly etherial cavern, then broadcast to the countryside over AM radio. It’s musty and dusty and I love it.

What really grips me about this album is the hidden melodies my brain finds. There is a very therapeutic and rewarding quality to the blissed-out leads that seem to drift in and out of the mix.  It’s often right when I am beginning to succumb to the world the track is building, the moment disbelief is suspended, that these melodies creep onto the canvas and introduce a whole new vibe! These gems are what make this album a good repeat listen in my opinion; being an album that can be enjoyed both subliminally and intellectually.

You can download the album via Bandcamp or purchase a Deluxe CD edition via Wist Records which looks so cool! It’s got tons of additional goodies

Hearth, by Martin Goodwin

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Another blissful EP brought to us by Silent Season Records, Martin Goodwin presents Hearth, a wholesome collection of ambient techno.

The album came along after a trip in east Europe (Bulgaria and Romania) I was inspired by beautiful landscapes and a few moments that blew me away. The project “Onkalo” I’m doing on the side with a group of friends is exploring some ideas, one of them being a visitor coming from space and walking around a deserted earth.

I wanted to illustrate this idea of loneliness which is something we can all experience in our daily life. I personally need that time to think and break from society, go deeper within and explore the endless possibilities of the mind. I hope the music can bring a glimpse of that experience to the listeners.

– Martin Goodwin

released June 8, 2017

Written & produced by Martin Goodwin (France).

Mastered by Giuseppe Tillieci at EnissLab Mastering Studio

Void XII, by Chihei Hatakeyama

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Brilliant new ambience from Japanese Producer Chihei Hatakeyama, owner of White Paddy Mountain Label. Void XII is quite a meditating experience, representing the essence of relaxing yet captivating drone. Grab the digital download via Bandcamp.

Void XII is new songs of chihei hatakeyama.

Chihei Hatakeyama is a sound artist , an organizer and mastering engineer who was born in 1978, and lives in the Tokyo. He has performed for years under his given name and also as one half of the electroacoustic duo Opitope, along with Tomoyoshi Date. Hatakeyama got involved in playing music through strumming a electric guitar in a few rock-oriented bands in his teenage years. Subsequently a laptop computer superseded his bands as his main platform. Hatakeyama polychromes memory- evoking soundscapes with various recorded materials of acoustic instruments such as guitars, vibraphone, and piano; mostly played by hand and processed time and time again via laptop. His first album Minima Moralia was commissioned for release by the Chicago-based label kranky in early 2006.
Since then his many album was released by Room 40, Under The Spire, Hibernate Records, Magic Book Records, Home Nomal, OwnRecords, Spekk, Dronarivm, Constellation Tatsu, Glacial Move- ments Records and his own label White Paddy Mountain. In 2013 Hatakeyama founded the record label White Paddy Montain, which since then has released over 40 recordings by some of the most accomplished musicians and modern ambient musicians, Shoegazer and folk musicians in Japan.
Recent years Hatakeyama continues to evolve his sound by analog synthesizer, modular synthesizer and compact guitar effector. Hatakeyama approaches some modular synthesizer and electric guitar drone project with an expectation of new directions.
www.chihei.org chihei-mastering.com

released May 9, 2017

Mix and Mastering by Chihei Hatakeyama

Waiting for Mint Shower!!, by Shelling

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Blissful new offerings from Japanese label White Paddy Mountain, Waiting for Mint Shower!! is a beautiful 8-track project from Tokyo-based band Shelling. Mellow, emotional, and highly recommended.

shelling is a shoegaze/dreampop band formed in Tokyo. aya(vocal,guitar,compose) and shota(guitar)
“shelling” means to gather shells on the beach.
in February 2010 they released a split CD with IROTTO+
called “before time melts.” on High Fader records.
in February 2013 they released 1st full album on white paddy mountain.

アンビエントとシューゲイズの狭間をいくサウンドで衝撃を与えたShelling(シェリング)の待望の
サードアルバムが遂に完成!今作ではより本家のシューゲイザー、マイブラッディバレンタインを思わせる
美しくも破壊的なエレキギターのサウンドをフューチャー。女性ヴォーカルayaの澄み切った声が幻想の中を
彷徨います。ディストーションの海のような轟音の中に美しいメロディが重なる1曲目の『Unfading Scent』、
まるで90年代のUKロックやスマッシング・パンプキンズなどの美しい曲のような『Shining Pool』。
美しく、儚いサウンドが切なく胸に突き刺さります。
ミックス、マスタリングはChihei Hatakeyamaが担当。ノイズウォール・オブ・サウンドとも言うべき
破壊的かつ叙情的で繊細なミックスに仕上げた。

released April 30, 2017

mixed by Chihei Hatakeyama
mastered by Chihei Hatakeyama

This Is Reverbnetics, by バーチャルボーイA T S U and Lisergishnu

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Adhesive Sounds presents another marvelous project in This Is Reverbtronics, by バーチャルボーイA T S U and Lisergishnu. Lingering somewhere between Vaporwave and Synthwave, Reverbtronics does a splendid job of building an environment using a sonic toolkit. Dystopian and desolate, yet sprinkled with endearing hope.

Everyday, computers around us leave waves of resonance in our
lives. The binary echoes in our minds, from which our affection
to connectivity cannot be hidden.

Plastic cases hold the intrinsic desires of progress, plastered in
electrical traffic encoding our souls. Hidden pagodas which
manage our information highways beneath the soil.

Loneliness can be just an option for those immersed in this clash
of magnetic dissonance illuminating our world.

Those within the reverbnetics.

Sleeve design by Zodiac 1

バーチャルボーイA t s u
soundcloud.com/a-t-s-u
virtualboyatsu8.bandcamp.com

Lisergishnu
soundcloud.com/lisergishnu
lisergishnu.bandcamp.com

AS115

released April 14, 2017

The project is available for download or pick up a limited edition Cassette via bandcamp!

Surrender EP, by Alexia Avina

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Surrender is the latest EP from Québec bedroom artist Alexia Avina. Much like her previous work, this project is glittering with mellow brilliance. Achieving a vibe somewhere between melancholy and hopefulness, its quite a satisfying listen. You can grab the EP at your chosen price via Bandcamp.

And if that wasn’t enough, thanks to Moon Boy Records, you can purchase the project on a split Cassette, featuring a bonus B-side EP from Desert Bloom.

the last months of 2016 for me were a period marked by the practice of surrendering with equal reverence to a complex flood of emotions, difficult endings, and budding beginnings… i’d like to think this batch of songs emerged from that same stream.

available as a * very cute* split cassette with desert bloom at:
moonboyrecords.bandcamp.com/album/alexia-avina-surrender-ep-desert-bloom-ep2

music video by miriam brellenthin:
vimeo.com/208019108

released April 12, 2017

written, recorded, and produced in my bedroom in separate spontaneous bursts on my rc-50.
special thanks to nick scho, tibo, mikael tobias and eric seguin for the ableton tips and tricks.