I started playing around with samples from John Lunn’s Downton Abbey TV theme and this 7-minute piece is what came out. It was done with time-stretches, edits, loops, reverb and other manipulations. The original version is an incredibly lush and harmonically rich piece of music. I was always fascinated by its textural depth and sensed […]
Over my 30 or so years of playing and reviewing other people’s music, I’ve had a lot of approaches from artists and labels to promote their stuff. I could tell you a few stories. But I’ll stick to just one, plus offer a few tips to increase your chances of getting heard. First let me say that I […]
Despite the rise of on-demand streaming services, the world of 24-hour net radio is still with us and the offerings for ambient and downtempo fans are awesome indeed. Here are five of the very best. Has the Spotify glow worn off? Are you sick of organising what to listen to next? And do most of those playlists […]
from Omni Magazine: Science fiction films and ambient music are natural partners. Mike G of Ambient Music Guide rounds up 10 mind-blowing original scores. My own concept of ambient music has always been a broad one. It touches nearly every genre, yet makes its home in none of them. It revels in ideas and mystery. […]
This week I discovered something that had my inner emusic fanboy going berserk: Silent Records – the legendary 90’s ambient dance and electronica label – is back. In fact it relaunched earlier this year and I had no idea until now. Label founder Kim Cascone (aka Heavenly Music Corporation) explained all in an interview with Stillstream.com: […]
I had a curious experience after I started walking daily in the city with crowds of commuters while wearing isolating earphones. In short, the space that I normally give other people around me diminished – without me even realising it. It got me thinking about what an extraordinary human sense our hearing is, and how much we […]
I’m utterly engrossed by the new Marconi Union album Ghost Stations. The UK trio has been doing their melange of rock, ambient, jazz, classical minimalism and electronica for well over a decade now and they really took their time on this one: two years, in fact. Ghost Stations contains four long, episodic tracks. What blows […]
My New Ambient 2016 mix series kicks off with three very contrasting ambient and downtempo mixes. Volume 1: Infinite Meadow Pastoral ambience and hyperreal impressionism from recent releases by Inner Travels, Hybrid Palms, Robert Rich, Sinepearl, Jim Ottaway, Erik Wøllo, Byron Metcalf, Slow World, Miyake and Omni vu Deity (Ishq). Volume 2: Sunshine Grooves Downtempo […]
Short but sweet recent documentary about American new age music pioneer Iasos. From Jacob and Nick @ Far Off Sounds: Far Off Sounds, a webseries about obscure, unusual, and ecstatic musical experiences, presents Iasos, a mini-doc about one of the founding fathers of what is now called new age music. When Iasos performed for […]
Hands up who doesn’t touch their CD collection much anymore? I see plenty of hands. Until a few weeks ago, mine included. I still own a truckload of vinyl and CD’s. But neither has been getting much love from me in the past five years or so. It hardly needs saying, but I’ll say it anyway: file downloads […]
