Fiktion - Morfint

mournful guitar and gently sequenced electronics are the recipe for the album morfint by swedish musician fiktion aka Gustaf Erik Lundh (available for free download on his website and on Frukt Records). this release is more proof that a simple formula, when well-executed, can be simply sublime. no need for an overly-wordy description here-- this release is best when simply downloaded and enjoyed in peaceful and quiet moments. besides it was already written about in a few other quality music blogs. however, as a service to my own readers, i wanted to make sure it didnt go unnoticed.

Prologue - Prologue

i have to admit that lately, i had begun to get the impression lately that netaudio is burning out. several of my favorite labels have closed or simply fallen silent, and it seems that its becoming more difficult to find the good quality musical art that we expect here at hiddenplace music. it was just at the right time, then, that a release came on the scene with such stunning originality and inspiration that i can once again say that netaudio is most definitely alive and well.
netaudio.ru is one netaudio collective working hard to keep the scene fresh and interesting. operating with a podcast and three separate netlabels with a balanced mixture of accessible and experimental sounds, along with high quality artwork and sound fidelity, netaudio.ru is becoming one of my favorite destinations for intelligent music. and they have outdone themselves with an absolutely brilliant album by the moscow collective Prologue.
upon listening to the first two minutes of Proluge's self-titled release, my sometimes stormy love affair with russian music was instantly renewed. delicate yet expressive female vocals floating over gentle piano, strings (yes, real live strings!), flute and muted trumpet, peppered with gritty downtempo beats and melancholy yet passionate russian language(?) raps. there are many diverse influences here; naturally trip-hop and downtempo music are the dominant flavors, but theres also touches of film music, debussy, berlin-stlye rap, russian folk, jazz, and drum n bass-- all perfectly melded into a cohesive whole. obviously a huge amount of talent and work has gone into this incredible release; there is simply nothing else quiet like it in the netaudio world.
im tempted to give a run-down of every track because each is so remarkable and has its own unique qualities, but the best way to enjoy this album is to find a quiet place, listen to it all the way through and discover every nuance for yourself. and when its over, sit for some minutes in stunned amazement, then press repeat and dive once again into the beautiful melancholic world of Prologue.

bubblegone - somewhere between summer and winter

in late February, the netlabel world mourned the loss of the beloved netlabel kikapu. after 100+ releases, the netlabel quietly announced its closing with a Walt Whitman poem. thankfully, their entire back catalogue is still available for free download, thanks to the wonder of the internets.
one notable release came to me by way of a recommendation from Bazooka Joe at Solipsistic NATION. 'somewhere between summer and winter' is an hypnotic, slow-motion exploration of of the interplay of field recordings and deeply reverberating electronics; layered, processed, re-processed and stretched to infinity. the experience of listening to these infinitely echoing tones while travelling through the city with headphones on makes one see the world with new eyes...

(val)liam - early reflections e.p.

i didnt intend to write about so much ambient music at once, but i tend to listen to a lot of ambient during the dark, quiet days of winter, and i have found a lot of really great releases lately that simply must be shared.
early reflections e.p. by (val)liam is not a particularly new release but it just recently came to my attention thanks to Pete from bleepshow. unfortunately ambient music as a whole lacks suitable adjectives and sub-genres to sufficiently describe it, so i'm placing this one in what i call the 'soft ambient' category-- music that is quiet, peaceful and melodic.. soft pads, gentle echoing guitars, periodic hints of flutes or natural environments.. music which could be placed under the hated 'new age' label, but is not at all cliché or annoying. if you enjoyed the previously featured artists Altus, Algol, or Janne Hanhisuanto, or artists such as Jonn Serrie, Chuck Wild (Liquid Mind) or David Helping, then you will certainly want to add this beautiful release to your collection.

Bosques de mi Mente - Trenes de Juguete

the experimental/noise netlabel Clinical Archives surprised me recently which a beautiful minimal ambient piano release entitled Trenes de Juguete (Toy Trains).
fans of the wistful melancholy piano of Yann Tiersen's Amélie film soundtrack will certainly enjoy this release, which combines simple lilting piano compositions with occasional gently strummed guitars and mysterious radio samples and other found sounds. it becomes a little repetitive at times, but makes for a perfectly relaxing accompaniment to light morning work or an afternoon tea break.
as the dark winter clouds begin to occasionally break with patches of sunlight, we are reminded that spring is approaching..

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!

Crisopa - Medicamentosa

expansive ambient downtempo idm today from spain. in the first track of 'Medicamentosa' Madrid musician Crisopa combines samples from NASA TV with gently unfolding melodic ambience & subtle rhythms. electronic music has no shortage of obscure vocal samples, but i found the choice of sampling NASA's streaming video station to be the perfect compliment to this music. the spacious ambient sounds of this release are artfully enveloped in a field of noise and interference, evoking the experience of watching NASA TV-- the low resolution and high compression partly obscuring some of the most breathtaking images of our planet i have ever seen. a fitting soundtrack for a flight of the mind through innerspace..

Josh Elliott - These Stars, Our Flame

Josh Elliott writes music for the explosive climax of the next psychological thriller film; epic and cinematic are the key words here. Josh plays guitar in the emo/screamo band April Dead, so its no wonder that his recent full-length, These Stars, Our Flame is replete with non-stop blistering emotion. one is sometimes left exhausted, wishing for a few more moments of calm amongst the endless soaring climaxes, but the intricate song structures and excellent production values make for a thrilling 30 minute's listen.
for a shorter trip through more keyboard and guitar-laden soundscapes, dont miss Josh's debut on Lost Children, In Light Passing.

Henrik José

sometimes a simple, heartfelt popsong hits you in just the right spot. so it is with the music of Henrik José. for those of you who havent done your homework, Henrik J. provided vocals for what is possibly my all-time favorite netlabel release, I'll Meet You There by ST, in addition to to his other quality electro/idm/demostyle netlabel releases under the name Bliss. i was quite happy to discover recently that his entire catalogue, as well as some quite excellent new songs are available for download in one place on his brand-new webpage (two of which appear on the afore-mentioned Camomille 100 release). Mr José crafts thoughtful, emotive songs using his voice, acoustic guitar and his demoscene-inspired tracking skills. a somewhat unlikely collision of acoustics and 8bit electronics, but one that works beautifully. Swedish electro-pop to brighten your coldest winters...

Francesco Lettera

normally i really cant stand sequenced orchestral music, but in the case of music by Francesco Lettera, the composition is of such quality that i can forgive the occasionally cheesy sounds (although, on the whole, the sequencing sounds quite good). the digital orchestral sometimes lacks the 'punch' of a live performance, but the composer has done a very admirable job of infusing the music with a great deal of evocative expression and lively capriciousness. Mr Lettra has two quality releases on the somewhat enigmatic netlabel dharmasound: Vertigini, and The wizard of OZ. drawing on a wide range of influences- most notably Danny Elfman, perhaps along with a few cut scenes of Mahler, a flashback to Vaughn Williams, a tiny reference to Prokofiev or Stravinsky- these releases should appeal to fans of music with a grand, panoramic quality.
thanks to the Machtdose podcast for turning me on to these releases.

Planet Boelex - Live at Virus festival Lithuania

once again switching gears back into electronic/ambient/idm territory: a brand-new live set is released this week on monotonik from a favorite here at hiddenplace music, planet boelex. including delicious live versions of new planet b. releases, a few older classics as well as some new surprises, this super-chilled winter set makes for an excellent morning, afternoon, or evening's listen (or perhaps all three!)
also included are some extra treats for trainspotters like me, high-resolution artwork --once again created by yours truly-- and .cue file with track names for cd burning or cue-compatible players.
once again planet boelex's expert mixing skills and careful attention to each delicate detail make for a sublime listening experience at any time of the day or year.

Sasha Ponkratov - Kaleidoscope

i have always had a sort of love/hate relationship with russian music. its frequently ponderous and oppressive moods and its occasionally ear-splitting experimentalism i find both distasteful and fascinating. despite these broad generalisations, there is always more to discover in russian music and i just cant stop listening-- prokofiev, stravinsky and rachmaninoff were staples of my cd collection in my classical music-filled early years, and these days artists such a sleepytown manufacture and unit21, as well as netlables such as electrosound.ru i count among my top electronic music interests.
it is especially interesting to discover a release which breaks the mold entirely. a new release from a blog reader arrived in my inbox the other day and i was pleasantly surprised to discover an eclectic, yet well-balanced fusion of odd acoustic instruments with electronics. the influences are too many to name here- is it early jazz, modern 'post-jazz' or eastern european gypsy music? no matter, a variety of idiosyncratic rhythms and non-traditional scales are employed here with a playful smile and nod, making for another fascinating listen for those with an ear for music which is 'outside the box.' in the coming year, i hope to focus more on musicians who fuse analogue and electronic elements in their music, and Kaleidoscope is a perfect introduction to just that sort of sound.