The Circular Ruins - Retrospective 2009

on an earlier post, i featured an album by Anthony Paul Kerby, aka Nunc Sans. he also produces music under the name The Circular Ruins, and he recently released a free retrospective of tracks from several of his albums under that name. the music is deep hypnotic ambient spacemusic with subdued rhythmic elements. although compiled from albums spanning over several years, the compilation maintains a strong artistic vision and aesthetic. it should be noted that one track features offthesky, a favorite artist of hiddenplace music who will no doubt be well known by many of my readers. in all, this retrospective serves as an excellent introduction to the artist, as well as a thoroughly enjoyable album in its own right.

Tracing Arcs - Fin

put out on the excellent Dusted Wax Kingdom netlabel, Fin by Tracing Arcs is quiet, atmospheric and subtle-- a smoky voice and smooth, flowing jazz textures. a fresh, original sound and top-quality production. in short, simply one of the best triphop albums i've heard in a long time.

via Free Albums Galore

hiddenplace music mix 5: macrocosm

Download mp3 (160kbps, 63MB)

a mix of a few of my favorite deep, spacious ambient tracks from 2008. warm synth waves by Altus, icy winter environments from Shiftless, spaced-out piano by Ben Woods, stunning vocal-based headphone candy by Tertium Auris, spectral desert ambience by Rudy Adrian...

playlist:
(00:22) Altus - Subspherical [Macro]
(03:39) Altus - Wood Grain [Macro]
(06:50) Shiftless - Icicles [ap3002]
(09:10) Coax - Quiet Minds reprise [ap3002]
(11:22) El Zoológico - Nada [pj002]
(12:58) Ben Woods - Realms of Detachment [OWL-33]
(19:12) Tertium Auris - Vox Auris I - III [DHS0040]
(38:21) The Dandelion Council - The Face of the Mountain [ah028]
(39:52) Rudy Adrian - Desert Realms
(47:34) Tone Ghost Ether - Gamelan Moon Landing [earman051]
...

Inna Breeze - Stairway to Heaven

i'm always quite pleased to discover a netaudio release that stands out from the usual electronica and experimental music. the ironically named russian netlabel top40 has already set a precedent of releasing live performances of works by modern classical composers such as Steve Reich and George Crumb. yet even among such distinctive releases, Stairway to Heaven stands out as the first symphony in their catalogue (and most likely the first new symphony to be released on a netlabel).
this amazing work, performed live by a full orchestra with organ, is a melodic and lyrical symphonic tone poem stylistically rooted in the program music of the romantic era, the americana jazz influences of the early 20th century and even modern film scores. brilliantly composed, performed and recorded, Stairway to Heaven is a must-hear for fans of classical music and film soundtracks (btw- the piece certainly has nothing musically to do with the Led Zepplin song of the same name! in the words of the composer, "In my youth I, of course, heard the beautiful Led Zeppelin's song of the same name. But «Stairway to Heaven» is dedicated not to this song nor my youth. I'm implying the different, almost literal meaning to this words nowadays: it's an ascension. The ascension of a whole life. We are all moving «there», one way or another...")

ambienteer

i recently discovered a very interesting ambient music project through a few of my followers on twitter. english producer ambienteer (@ambienteer) creates electronic sound studies every day and posts them on his blog as a sort of sound diary. the style ranges from deep spacious soundscapes to glitchy processed microsound. collections are also posted every 10 days for easy downloading.

Renzu - Across the Threshold

well-sequenced beats and synths, plenty of atmospheric reverb and a few japanese-flavored voice and instrument samples make up an excellent downtempo idm LP from the (apparently) videogame and anime-obsessed 3d animator Renzu. rhythmic and groovy yet smooth and chilled. more detailed info on the artist and tracks, as well as some very nice CG artwork, are available on the release page at bumpfoot netlabel.