Solipsistic NATION guest mix

hiddenplacemusic is very proud to present an hour-long guest mix and short interview on an excellent podcast, Solipsistic NATION (episode 79). full playlist with links available on the SN homepage. artists include hiddenplace favorites such as planet boelex, muxu, iambic², lé mepris and nest, as well as some excellent artists who i havent had a chance to review yet.

a very warm welcome to listeners of SN who have taken the time to check out the blog. i have some great releases lined up to review in the coming weeks, but in the mean time, feel free to check out the archives or the 'in the queue' list to the right. enjoy the music!

Algol - Deep Thoughts About Universe

one of the greatest pleasures of internet audio 'crate digging' is finding an obscure netlabel, downloading a few releases with low expectations, and being surprised with some really good quality music.
one of my recent discoveries, Enough Records presents a dauntingly long list of releases by artists nearly all previously unknown to me, but 'Deep Thoughts About Universe' immediately caught my eye because of my endless obsession with space and space music. Siberian composer Danil Kazantsev creates deep, expansive electronic spacemusic which incorporates a myriad of influences, yet never sounds derivative. longform tracks with endless layers of electronic sounds and effects are expertly mixed, constantly shifting and changing, always holding the listener in rapt attention, even through 10 minute+ long tracks. Deep Thoughts would make a perfect soundtrack to a retro chic sci-fi film, a brilliantly composed modern take on classic electronic spacemusic.
the full release can be downloaded on scene.org, or archive.org.

Janne Hanhisuanto - Padmospheres

readers of this blog may know that i am a fan of gentle, floating beatless ambience. as with many forms of art, this style of music sounds deceptively simple, and yet is surprisingly difficult to produce with just the right proportions of sound. most 'ambient' works found on various netlabels veer heavily in the experimental direction-- perhaps interesting to listen to intellectually, but usually not pleasant to the ears.
'Padmospheres' from finnish musician Janne Hanhisuanto is certainly the exception to the rule, and a rare treasure among the vast collection of netaudio ambient. deep floating pads, quiet field recordings and found sound drenched in reverb, delicately simple piano passages, all mixed to perfection... and yet compelling and original enough to not fall into the cheesy 'new age' category. with 4 excellent long-form ambient compositions and beautiful artwork, i gladly add this release to my sadly short list of masterpieces of ambient netaudio.

El zoológico - The Jungle & The Aquarium

at the beginning of the year, i began to lament the lack of interesting netaudio being released, but in the last few weeks have seen an explosion of potentially good releases. as always, see the 'queue' box to the right of the blog page for a sampling of what sits on my mp3 player awaiting a listen..
today hiddenplace music features the second release from the intriguing new netlabel petite&jolie. a very special double ep, The Jungle & The Aquarium is the first 2 of 4 planned eps from puertorican musician el zoológico. here he presents a challenging and captivating collision of electronic and acoustic sounds, bouncing from playful organic glitchyness, to melancholy indie- and electropop, and of course a heavy dose of petite&jolie's trademark 'cutetronica.' its an eclectic & exotic combination of sounds which shouldnt work, but somehow does. enjoy your tour of the zoo!