Merchants Of Air
  • Home
  • Reviews
    • Albums
    • Concerts
  • Interviews
  • News
    • Poster Wall
    • Audio & Video Zone
    • Varia
  • A Small, Neat Journal
    • Series
    • Bottom Of The Pops
    • Blog
  • Shop
    • Merchants Of Air releases
    • Giveaways
  • About us
    • About Us
    • Writers Wanted
    • Logos and banner
    • Advertise
    • Mailinglist

Autistici & Justin Varis - Nine

11/1/2016

Comments

 
ambient / experimental
Eilean Records

bandcamp

facebook Autistici

Foto
Picture
Support Merchants Of Air Check out our THISISNOTABANDSHIRT collection
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

Comments
    subscribe to our newsletter

    Genres

    All
    Acoustic
    Alternative
    Ambient
    Avant Garde
    Avant-garde
    Black Metal
    Blues
    Children
    Classical
    Country
    Crust
    Dark Ambient
    Dark Jazz
    Darkwave
    Death Metal
    Doom
    Dream Pop
    Drone
    Drum & Bass
    Dub
    Dubstep
    EBM
    Electro
    Electronic
    Ethereal
    Experimental
    Folk
    Folk Metal
    Funk
    Gothic
    Grindcore
    Grunge
    Hardcore
    Hard Rock
    Heavy Metal
    Hip Hop
    Hip-hop
    Idm
    Indie
    Industrial
    Instrumental
    Jazz
    Krautrock
    Martial
    Math Rock
    Metal
    Metalcore
    Neo Classical
    Neo-classical
    Neo Folk
    Neo-folk
    Noise
    Noise Rock
    Noise-rock
    Nu Metal
    Nu-metal
    Opera
    Pop
    Post Metal
    Post Punk
    Post Rock
    Progressive
    Psychedelic
    Psytrance
    Punk
    Reggae
    Rock
    Score
    Shoegaze
    Singer/songwriter
    Sludge
    Soul
    Southern Rock
    Speed Metal
    Stoner
    Symphonic Metal
    Synthpop
    Techno
    Thrash
    Triphop
    Trip-hop
    World

    Archives

    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015

Find us on

facebook
google+
twitter
tumblr
​
minds

About Us

Contact
FAQ
Logos and banners
© COPYRIGHT 2015. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.