ambient / experimental
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A few months ago, I reviewed an album from Sheffield, UK based ambient act Autistici (read). I instantly became a fan too, which shouldn't be much of a surprise since I adore ambient music. If done well, ambient can turn ordinary hours into sonic adventures and improve people's moods. Recently, I received this cooperation between Autistici and Lost Angeles based sound artist Justin Varis. It didn't take me long to check it out too.
The album has become a strange collection of soundscapes, noises and drones, a bit too unsettling to be purely ambient but not harsh enough to be a noise album. That being said, don't get me wrong on the 'unsettling' thing. It's not meant to be negative, not at all. But it's not really something for fans of easy digestible ambient music. This is sound art, odd, surprising and highly experimental.
I'm not sure if it's meant to be, but opener 'Light Blue' somehow reminds me of an avant-garde version of 'Ode An Die Freude'. There is just something in those soundscapes that sounds quite alike the classical masterpiece. In a way, that might be an aspect throughout this entire album. I all sounds quite alike acts like Biosphere, Zoviet France or Boards Of Canada but at the same time it's something completely different.
'Violet Green', for example, could be a modern classical piano tune but it's broken down, rearranged and re-imagined. It still is a beautiful track, probably one of my favorites on this album too by the way. 'Orange Red Grey' is a bizarre downtempo track. 'Blue (Heart Of A Diver)' is harsher and sharper than the other songs, a definite attention-grabber. Again, not in a bad way. The whole simply is an abstract epos for trained ears, something truly out of this world.
The eight songs on disc one reappear as remixes on disc two. The remixes were made by respected artists like Wil Bolton, Marcus Fisher and Pillowdiver. Some are recognizable, others are equally abstract but all of them seem a bit more approachable than the originals. Perhaps that's only because, by now, I'm already used to the strangeness and experimental nature of the whole album.
In all, 'Nine' is a museum-piece, an ever-changing installation of soundscapes and noises where new things are to be discovered numerous times. Experimental ambient fans should really check this out because this surely is something right up their alley. Besides, this is over a hundred minutes of musical exploration, what else could you want on a rainy day like this...
Serge
The album has become a strange collection of soundscapes, noises and drones, a bit too unsettling to be purely ambient but not harsh enough to be a noise album. That being said, don't get me wrong on the 'unsettling' thing. It's not meant to be negative, not at all. But it's not really something for fans of easy digestible ambient music. This is sound art, odd, surprising and highly experimental.
I'm not sure if it's meant to be, but opener 'Light Blue' somehow reminds me of an avant-garde version of 'Ode An Die Freude'. There is just something in those soundscapes that sounds quite alike the classical masterpiece. In a way, that might be an aspect throughout this entire album. I all sounds quite alike acts like Biosphere, Zoviet France or Boards Of Canada but at the same time it's something completely different.
'Violet Green', for example, could be a modern classical piano tune but it's broken down, rearranged and re-imagined. It still is a beautiful track, probably one of my favorites on this album too by the way. 'Orange Red Grey' is a bizarre downtempo track. 'Blue (Heart Of A Diver)' is harsher and sharper than the other songs, a definite attention-grabber. Again, not in a bad way. The whole simply is an abstract epos for trained ears, something truly out of this world.
The eight songs on disc one reappear as remixes on disc two. The remixes were made by respected artists like Wil Bolton, Marcus Fisher and Pillowdiver. Some are recognizable, others are equally abstract but all of them seem a bit more approachable than the originals. Perhaps that's only because, by now, I'm already used to the strangeness and experimental nature of the whole album.
In all, 'Nine' is a museum-piece, an ever-changing installation of soundscapes and noises where new things are to be discovered numerous times. Experimental ambient fans should really check this out because this surely is something right up their alley. Besides, this is over a hundred minutes of musical exploration, what else could you want on a rainy day like this...
Serge