summer solstice ceremony

Summer Solstice Ceremony by Hiddenplacemusic on Mixcloud

in every culture on the planet, the summer and winter solstices have marked an important turning point and were cause for celebration, prayer and ritual. it's unfortunate that our modern western civilization has divorced us from such ceremonies and rites of passage. i hope this mix of tribal-inspired ambient music inspires you to breathe deeply and reconnect with the intrinsic rhythms of nature as we enter another cycle in the great turning wheel of time.

tracklist:
1. Andrew Lahiff - Into Willow Canyon
from Cosmic Archaeology

2. Shane Morris - The Earth Speaks
from Equinox

3. Steve Brand - Circular Scriptures
from Circular Scriptures

4. Max Corbacho - The Resonant Memory of Earth
from The Resonant Memory of Earth

5. Steve Roach - begins looking skyward
from Early Man

6. Mystified with Robin Storey - Short Meditation
from Music For Transit

7. Frore - Axis Mundi (edit)

8. Steve Roach , Michael Stearns , Ron Sunsinger - Passage Four" & "The Center"
from Kiva

9. Steve Roach - A Circular Ceremony
from Dreamtime Return

artwork by Smoke Jaguar

Centz - Multiverse

Multiverse, Centz' 2nd release on Dusted Wax Kingdom is a long-player of chilled out downtempo beats with moody clips and samples about the search for the existence of God, and the meaning of life. Its a great album for an evening of relaxed contemplation or abstract creative thinking.

Direct download: ZIP

Makunouchi Bento - Swimé

Romanian producer Makunouchi Bento's newest release Swimé is an ambitious avant garde work containing an exotic blend of organic instrumentation, electronic effects, and a jungle of clicks, buzzes, chirps, screeches, and roars. each movement in the work tumbles through a cavalcade of colorful vignettes. in one passage, an abrasive barrage of chaotic sound design breaks into a soaring string quartet arrangement accompanied by an out of tune toy piano. in another, a wandering accordion is baked by rhythmic splashing water and tropical balinese chimes. Swimé is an album full of surprises and aural curiosities for fans of the cutting edge of sound design and classical composition.

Ergo Phizmiz & Friends - The Faust-Cycle

i interrupt this longer-than-expected pause of hiddenplace music posts to feature what is certainly the most astonishing piece of netaudio i have ever come across. "The Faust-Cycle or, The House of Dr Faustus" is definitively the ultimate piece of sound collage.
completed over a period of 3 years, with a playing time of more than 14 hours(!!), and featuring an long list of collaborators, voice actors and guest musicians, words like "epic" do not even begin to describe the mind-boggling expansiveness of this work.
i usually try to listen to a release several times through before writing a review, but i must admit in this case, i have not yet heard the entire piece all the way through. what i have heard so far consists of surreal, dream-like spoken word narratives, interspersed with even more bizarre sample-based "songs" enveloped in extended passages of sound collage and audio pastiche made from a dizzying array of identifiable and unidentifiable musical pieces and sound sources. the moods range from melancholic to nostalgic, insane to inane, dream-like to nightmarish, classical to common; all unfolding like an opium-induced phantasmagoria played through a dust-covered 1920s phonograph found in an eccentric retired circus performer's attic. this is probably the most inaccessible piece i have featured on hiddenplace music, but certainly a thrilling and epic(?) piece of audio art for hardcore fans of avant-garde sound design.

Proton Kinoun – Apeiron

i actually had several other releases 'in the queue' to write about on this blog, but a new release came to my attention today that is so stunning that i absolutely had to write about it. 'Apeiron' is a new release on Omnitropic, a brand-new ambient and downtempo sublabel of Ektoplazm, who have quickly become one of my favorite new netlabels, as i mentioned previously.
Apeiron, by danish producer Proton Kinoun (aka Kasper Weensgaard), is a breathtaking flight into deep space-- massive slabs of star-dusted ambience, rich, deep, infinitely expanding, and occasionally punctuated by pulsating fractal rhythmic energy. if there was a perfect soundtrack for flying through white-hot, star-forming nebulae, this would be it. an absolute must-have for all fans of organic soundscapes and immersive spacemusic.

Carl Sagan's Ghost - Behind Clouds

according to the composer, the album behind clouds is designed to be listened be listened to as one piece, looped over and over with no real beginning or ending. no mater how you listen to it, the music is beautifully detailed yet subtle and understated- ambient sounds for deep thoughts.

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.

Tertium Auris - Vox Stridens

on Vox Stridens italian composer, conductor, and vocal researcher Marco Tonini aka Tertium Auris presents a startlingly beautiful album of dark abstract ambient pieces composed entirely of vocal samples. hundreds of carefully edited samples of his own overtone singing, choirs, an opera singer, and other experimental vocal techniques are mixed and processed into deep, sonorous soundscapes of fascinating complexity and chrystaline beauty. at once peaceful and unsettling, somber yet angelic, this brilliantly produced album comes very highly recommended for fans of all types of ambient music.

Kaneel - I've sketched it a while ago

french artist kaneel, curator of the petite&jolie netlabel (and owner of a particularly fetching website), has released a fascinating and original work on the super-exclusive Apegenine Recordings. entitled I've sketched it a while ago, this album is particularly remarkable in the post-techno electronic music world because it features almost no bass frequencies at all! besides this curious fact, it contains a plethora of clicks and cuts, skittering frenetic beats, and chimey chiptune-style melodies. admittedly, its not music for everyone-- the endlessly frantic pace can sometimes become a bit of a sensory overload-- but connoisseurs of post-chiptune music, and those who appreciate music of the playfully weird and wacky variety will find the album this album very charming and unique.

with plentiful high frequencies and carefully-constructed details, this sort of music is certainly best enjoyed at full uncompressed cd-quality. and so, this album may be purchased at the aforementioned Apegenine Recordings shop (worldwide shipping available).

as a preview, a fitting music video for a track from the album can be seen here:

Pavel Dombrovski plays George Crumb: A little suite for Christmas

today, another audio treat for fans of the avant-garde: a modern classical(?) piano piece by experimentalist composer George Crumb. presented by the russian top-40 netlabel, this piece is quite a unique find in the netaudio world and will most certainly fascinate those with an interest in classical composition, performance, and sound art. as instructed by Mr Crumb, the performer coaxes a huge variety of sounds from the piano, including many avant-garde techniques such as long periods of silence, heavy tone clusters, and knocking/strumming/plucking the inside of the piano. this piece is full of expressionistic emotion-- moments of quiet ambience are punctuated by violent explosions of sound. i was particularly impressed by a passage where the performer plays chords on the keys and plucks a melody on the open strings, giving a delicate, harp-like effect. dont be fooled by the somewhat cliché christmas titles, this is definitely not your average holiday music!

K.M.Krebs - Symmetries

it has taken me several listens to form a proper opinion of this piece, but the continued dark and moody weather inspired another listen today, and i decided that it is most certainly a noteworthy release. Symmetries comes from one of my favorite new new netlabels, Resting Bell, and is produced by netaudio veteran K.M. Krebs (aka 883-54). at times the combination of processed field recordings and droning, repetitive electronics can seem rather over-worked in the netlabel world, as a large number of releases in a similar 'experimental' style may be found on various netlabels. however, when done with the right amount of careful mixing and skilful attention to detail, the results can be quite fascinating, hypnotic, and even beautiful. a set of three disparate but consistent tonal landscapes are presented here, and with a duration of only about 25 minutes, it is a perfect length for those who are sometimes easily bored by longform ambient drones. all listeners with adventurous ears will certainly find this brief, but deeply textured sonic excursion a worthy pursuit.
for those with an interest in art and design, the album artwork comes from an equally fascinating book of drawings from micro- and macroscopic observations of nature, called Kunstformen der Natur, lovingly scanned and presented by this website.

Camomille 100 - Cycles

hiddenplace music has recently received word that the long-awaited 100th release from the camomille netlabel has been officially released. normally i dont recommend anything without listening to the entire thing first, but with such an impressive array of artists, i know this will be an excellent and fascinating release. a collection of digital artwork has also been included, and along with the 3,5 hrs+ playing time, there is much to explore here. artists included are:
Lackluster, Twerk, Henrik Jose / Bliss, Julien Neto, Khonnor, Ilkae, Talve, Anders Ilar, Hunz, Jemapur, Proswell, Vim, Epoq,ST, Pocka, Troupe, Makunouchi Bento, Tang Kai / Mikael Fyrek, Blisaed / Seathasky, Sense, Transient, Fah, Planet Boelex feat. Lisa's Antenna, Emanuele Errante, Kaneel, Shiftless, The Open Directory Project, Nil, Hofuku Sochi, Kyle Dawkins, Ks, Slash, Muhr, Papercutz, Imtech, Beatslaughter, The Kodama Institute, Mattia Marchi and MigloJE. astute readers might also note my own humble contribution of bizarre flute samples which have been warped and mangled in a most interesting way in a track by abstract ambient maestro Shiftless.
it seems like many netlabels have been holding onto their best material until the end of the year, so, stay tuned and hiddenplace music will provide you with plenty of music to fill your holidays and warm the dark and cold winter days.

Xurba - Music from the Clear Channel

here at hiddenplace music, we tend to feature music which comes free of charge, so when a commercial release recommendation comes a long, you know it must be something special. this release from Kahvi Commercial certainly fits into that category. it may seem presumptuous in the netlabel world of free downloads for a new-comer to restrict his release to paid downloads, but to be honest, every one of the artists i've featured on this blog deserves some support for the excellent music they create. the intricately detailed ambient idm cinematics of the full-length release 'Music from the Clear Channel' by Xurba is certainly a work of audio art created with copious care and attention.
admittedly, this is not music for everyone. the melodies are very abstract-- atonal, even. the beats are fractured, constantly shifting and and heavily processed; the atmospheres lush, deep, yet claustrophobic- and at times unsettling. but fans of intelligent experimental electronica will find much to explore here, and those with adventurous ears will be delighted at the precise mixing and incredible attention to detail. i particularly enjoyed the abrupt shifts in mood between tracks, as if the film editor has made a sudden jump cut to the next scene. even though the music drifts along at an unhurried pace, the constant twists and turns create a feeling of movement, as if we are being hurried to an unknown destination. throughout the trip, we are constantly held in rapt attention; even at the nearly one-hour playing time, the textures are combined in an endless variety-- never repetitive, always providing more to explore and enjoy. at the abrupt end of the LP, we awake from the dream and realise that the meaning was not in the destination, but the never-ending landscapes experienced along the journey.
Music from the Clear Channel will be available for purchase as high-quality mp3 downloads from Beatport on 1 december, and on iTunes in february. expect a little reminder from this blog when it becomes available.

petite&jolie - Pantoufle Tagada

a new netlabel has appeared, with a very interesting array of artists contributing to their debut 'various artists' compilation. charmingly named petite&jolie: a place for cute people, and presenting a fascinating collection of electro-acoustic glitch pop and avant-garde sound art, id say the netlabel is off to a very promising start.
the netlabel curator has labeled the style 'cutetronica' which is certainlly fitting, however i found it to be cute in the way the film 'city of lost children' is cute-- there is quite possibly something dark and sinister lurking behind all the major chords, happy chimes and high-pitched voices...

shoutout to INQ for the news on this one

Phrozenlight

[once again abruptly shifting gears, into dark ambient territory] dutch composer Phrozenlight is one of the most prolific electronic music producers ive come across. typically releasing 2 or 3 hour-long compositions per month, most of his extensive catalogue is available for download at archive.org. this is not music for everyone-- slowly evolving, abstract, dark ambient spaces, usually with little or no harmonic or 'musical' elements. yet for fans of the genre, his music is always excellently produced with consistent quality and careful attention to sound and texture. his recent release, Sunday Afternoon recently provided an excellent soundtrack to one hour of my day with the usual deftly sequenced deep spacey textures, accented by an otherworldly melody which slowly evolves into a berlin school-style analogue sequence-- pleasantly and fascinatingly reminiscent of the classic spacemusic series Dark Side of the Moog by veteran producers Pete Namlook and Klaus Schulze (of Tangerine Dream). when the dark autumn months call for a quiet introspective journey into deep space, Phrozenlight's music fits the bill quite nicely.