Tag: ambient

DECAYCAST Reviews: Gil Sansón “Dunning-Kruger Effect” (Full Spectrum, 2024)

On By AdminIn ReviewsLeave a comment

DECAYCAST Reviews: Gil Sansón – Dunning-Kruger Effect

Gil Sansón’s latest release, Dunning-Kruger Effect, is a adventerous and intellectually provocative venture into the realms of contemporary minimal guitar/voice music. With this album, Sansón not only showcases their impressive versatility of collating minimal sounds together, but the record keeps us listening and engaged for the next sonic event no matter now tiny or hidden.

From the moment the first track, “Illusions of Grandeur,” kicks in, it’s clear that Sansón is not afraid to challenge conventional musical boundaries. The album’s production is marked by a bold and experimental approach, blending elements of electronic, indie rock, and classical influences with a “small but powerful” approach to birthing sounds. The result is a sonic landscape that feels both fresh and familiar, a testament to Sansón’s innovative experimental spirit.

The title track, “Dunning-Kruger Effect,” is a standout piece that encapsulates the album’s thematic core. It’s a complex composition, weaving intricate melodies with dissonant harmonies, plucks ad scrapes to lead the listener astray, but in the best way, reflecting the dissonance between self-perception and reality. T

Another highlight is “Echo Chamber,” where Sansón experiments with layered textures and rhythmic shifts that create a sense of disorientation and introspection. The song’s arrangement mirrors the concept of an echo chamber, with repetitive motifs that build in complexity, symbolizing the entrapment within one’s own echoing thoughts and beliefs.

The album’s production is notable for its meticulous attention to detail. Sansón has crafted a sound that’s rich and immersive, which small and investagative, utilizing a variety of instrumental techniques and effects to create a multidimensional listening experience. The blending of traditional and modern elements results in a sound that is both innovative and accessible, appealing to a broad spectrum of listeners.

With its blend of intricate compositions, thematic depth, and innovative production, it offers a rewarding experience for those willing to engage with its complexity. Sansón’s ability to intertwine profound psychological themes with his music marks him as an artist of considerable talent and vision, and this album stands as a testament to his creative prowess.

-Dr. Decaycast

DECAYCAST Reviews: DECAYCAST Stalwart writer mynameisblueskye Weighs In On Ka’a Davis and Bushmeat Sound System – Dollar Bill Set the World On Fire

On By AdminIn ReviewsLeave a comment

On Ka’a Davis and Bushmeat Sound System – Dollar Bill Set the World On Fire

Each album that Thomas Bushmeat Stanley (aka Bushmeat Sound System) releases is like a more afrofuturistic take on the “jazz body” theory. Whether it be tackling trance music or letting a bit of noise blast through the speakers, the interpretation concerning whether or not to imagine a much more structured or less cacophonous world or let the mangledness be a soundtrack to said heightened cacophony here in America is up to you. Dollar Bill Set the World on Fire is Bushmeat on synths while On Kaa’a Davis assists with improvised electric guitar. Together, they create an almost electronic/psychedelic take on spiritual jazz. As easy as it is to take it as an audio peek into a world that threatens to get even more dystopic, more maddening with time. The mention in the bio of Sun Ra’s “Alter Destiny” also suggests the music to be a sound of a whole newly constructed universe.

To further assist with this album is Thomas Stanley’s interview of Sun Ra named “Alter Destiny– A Survivor’s Guide”, where the two terms are further broken down by Sun Ra. “You have to use an equation and use the vice future, the alter future. You know, in the church they use the altar, a-l-t-a-r. You got to use a-l-t-e-r, alter; that means change. In other words, you substitute a future for the one you got. The one you’ve got ain’t no good,” says Sun Ra. So, the aim may also be to imagine a whole new, much safer world, but to get there you have to travel out of the more frustrating one.

https://eatbushmeat.bandcamp.com/album/dollar-bill-set-the-world-on-fire

“A Side of Heaven that Can’t Be Seen From the Ground” unfolds like a flower with a smell as shar pas it is strong. Sounds swirl, beep, skronk like a person who uses rock n’ roll as a refuge to combat the discomfort off a dirty atmosphere. “Black Swans Coming Home to Roost” is where the dust settles and the clanging noise of static may as well be the sound of a clock ticking faster than its normal speed. The sound of the future as we have always imagined it glitching before our eyes and malfunctioning in front of you. The cacophony continues, and even comes to a head, with the more explosive and epic title track. The second epic “A World Without Any White People” knocks and whirrs like an electro track from the 80s spinning out of control with only the sound of faint radio playing synths to guide the journey. The moment you finally landed, you have distorted bells, blinking synth brass to greet those on board.

A bouillabaisse of distorted noise, ambient, free jazz and rock, Dollar Bill Set the World on Fire can be taken as a soundtrack to the revolution, if you want it to be or it can be an album that sounds like what today’s madness sounds like. Either way, with a sense of imagination and focus, Dollar Bill sounds like a slightly distorted vision of a tomorrow you may or may not ever see. –mynameisblueskye

DECAYCAST Reviews: Departments Of Works, Volume 1 (Submarine Broadcasting Co, 2023)

On By AdminIn ReviewsLeave a comment

In the vast and ever-evolving landscape of experimental music, there are artists who push the boundaries of sonic exploration, challenging our preconceived notions of music itself. “Signs And Signals” ,” the latest offering from the enigmatic artist known simply as Department Of Works , is a remarkable testament to the boundless possibilities of musical experimentation. Blending elements of psychedelia, intricate beats, ethereal synthesizers, and distant vocals, this album takes listeners on a mesmerizing journey through uncharted sonic territories.

The album starts with distant, almost ghostly vocals that seem to float in the air, setting an otherworldly tone. As the song progresses, layers of synthesizers and subtle beats gradually envelop the listener, creating a sense of anticipation and intrigue. It’s a captivating start that draws you in, inviting you to embark on this sonic voyage.

https://submarinebroadcastingco.bandcamp.com/album/signs-signals

“Signs and Signals” immerses the listener in a surreal, kaleidoscopic realm of sound. The psychedelic influences are immediately apparent in the swirling, hypnotic melodies and the use of unconventional instruments. The beats here are intricate and unpredictable, creating a sense of constant flux. The distant vocals, though unintelligible, add an ethereal quality that enhances the dreamlike atmosphere. , crafting lush, nostalgic melodies that evoke a sense of melancholic beauty. The distant vocals are used sparingly, enhancing the introspective mood. This album as a whole showcases versatility of a mood and sonic palette, demonstrating an ability to create both frenetic but distant energy and serene moments of introspection within the same album.s ability to craft otherworldly soundscapes while maintaining a sense of emotional resonance is a testament to their artistic prowess. “Signs and Signals” invites you to surrender to its hypnotic spell and embark on a psychedelic journey that will linger in your mind long after the final notes have faded into the ether.

Short blurb from the label:

The Department of Works album ‘Signs & Signals’ is an extension of previous Glove of Bones & Cousin Silas collaborations that also includes musical parts and contributions from Hans Castrup (whose interventions are profound and skilled), izzyhereyet and his colleagues Ursula, Emma & Elliot from RWCMD. Finally, the masked and anonymous ‘Fawkes’, who prompted the creation of the GoB ‘Fawkes Mask’ album. More about that below.

Order now from Submarine Broadcasting Company

DECAYCAST Reviews: Robert Schneider “Songs For Other Worlds” (Cloud Recordings, 2022)

On By AdminIn ReviewsLeave a comment

mynameisblueskye reviews Songs for Other Worlds by Robert Schneider

The Elephant 6 collective: let’s discuss the legendary psychedelic pop collective for a minute. As the story goes, Elephant 6 is a group of artists and bands who come together to share their love of making music inspired by bands in the 1960s. Elephant 6 is filled with bands who have their own creative spin on the psychedelic pop genre. If i were to ask you which artist is the standout, which one would you say? of Montreal for the endlessly prolific Kevin Barnes tackling idea after idea, genre after genre on a yearly basis? Neutral Milk Hotel for releasing an album that is the most unanimously loved in the inside rock/lo-fi genre, In an Aeroplane Over the Sea? The Music Tapes for Julian Koster’s ramshackle and decidedly lo-fi compositions using instruments such as the banjo or the saw? Any answer will do, but my pick would be that of Robert Schneider.

Robert Schneider is a leader of the power-pop band Apples in Stereo who released an album named New Magnetic Wonder years ago. On said album, Robert Schneider introduced a new musical invention: music composed using the non-Pythagorean scale. To get a better explanation, I suggest searching “Non-Pythagorean Music Scale” where Schneider himself not only breaks down the music, but also demonstrates with a song named “Sun is Out”. (On the same channel, you will also see him composing music using prime time signatures, but I digress.) This year, Robert Schneider himself put together an album of music that uses said non-pythagorean music scale, and  your enjoyment will depend upon your curiosity concerning the many things you can do with music. An curious and experimental ear, if you will.

Out of the gate, “Space Song of the Blue Sky” sounds exactly like music you would imagine if aliens were to have created the music, but is made with circuit bent synths. Largely, the music ranges from atonal ambient (“Composition No. 6”, the classical/synthwave fusion of the title track) to almost the dark end of new age (“Song for Whales”, the droning “Non-Pythagorean Prayer”, which sounds like a more tuneful version of when your ear rings in complete silence). A song like “Clouds on a Mountain” sounds like it would really soundtrack a suspenseful video game, if the opportunity presents itself with how dissonant it all feels and sounds. Oftentimes, such invention does yield bright and uplifting results, such as the luminous and calming “Song for Sea Vegetables”.

Albums like this is likely to be dismissed as a curiosity for those used to more conventional practices, but if you are willing to open your ears up, Songs for Other Worlds will expose to you some interesting musical treasures.https://cloudrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/songs-for-other-worlds-2

-Mynameisblueskye

DECAYCAST Reviews: Giovanni Marks “2 Plaza 2” (2022)

On By AdminIn ReviewsLeave a comment

Giovanni Marks’ 2 Plaza 2

l

Every artist has a set aesthetic that adds to their art, and no one proves this better than rapper/producers. Whether you are the newscaster, the emo kid, the gangsta or anything, rap music has a tendency to have artists that box themselves in and make it hard to really allow complexities within that. Giovanni Marks is a different animal.

Those who hopped aboard the train either during the subtitle or Giovanni Marks phase, whether he was on Briefcase Rockers, Gold Standard Laboratories, or his own Get Crev Labs, will notice his aesthetic/role is of the cyberpunk, the scientist, the afrofuturist, the nerd with the Kid n’ Play haircut and Dracula cape. If hip hop is currently in its punk rock phase, Giovanni Marks is the New Wave/synthpunk with colored hair, jumpsuits and plenty of electronic instruments to hook up on stage. But while that aesthetic can give way to ideas of being introverted or reclusive, 2 Plaza 2 suggests that this spacey, futuristic aesthetic that Marks has been cultivating for years during his time as an MC is a universe that anybody can take part in.

2 Plaza 2 is a project that finds GIovanni Marks taking a backseat from rapping to assist friends like Juan Huevos and pink siifu with the avant-garde production he is known for. Take the opener, for example. A slow red siren rumble of synth bass giving way to an anonymous rewound sound all adding up to a sound that is as musically unsettling as it is fascinating. That is just “Alternative C”, which bears the subtitle of being the “nox-vox version”. While you are busy working out how the vox version would be delivered, singer Joseph Squire transforms a stomping noiresque beat into a seductive R&B track that leaves before you find yourself really falling into the groove.

Friends from art-rapper/multidisciplinary artist Koreatown Oddity, Pink Siifu and Mason Williams all come in to give color to Marks’ production from the rallying “Baby Teeth” to the intergalactic stream-of-consciousness delivery in “all night long” (which is delivered as both a regular track and a “space dub”) to the bounce of “Samuraid Hott” that will surely have trouble evading Shabazz Palaces vibes. They all may sound like fragments of ideas underneath a half-hour, but the shift from style to style is fascinating enough not only to keep your attention, but to likely leave you wanting to revisit such world all over again.

2 Plaza 2 can be described as a front row seat into Giovanni Marks’ world of spacey production, but what is different about this project, it’s that it insists that this electronic/avant-rap universe he has been building for years now isn’t only for him.

Listen/Buy here https://getcrevlabs.bandcamp.com/album/2-plaza-2

– Mynameisblueskye

DECAYCAST Reviews: Mark Tester “Tumbleweeds” (Unifactor)

On By AdminIn ReviewsLeave a comment
https://unifactor.bandcamp.com/album/tumbleweed

Mark Tester’s previous band Burnt Ones was unknown to me before hearing this tape, or any of the other projects he’s involved with now, Unifacitor a label I’ve heard about a lot but not gotten any physical releases until now. I like the uniform aesthetic of this batch of tapes very much, a series of brush stroke images.

Warm, limitless spaces with soft textures constantly receding into the background, great use of negative space and silence to create compositional intrigue and feel like live takes simultaneously. There is a balance of light and shadow on this tape that shines through the reverse  four track elements lurking behind soft patches and occasionally slowly pacing drum beats. 

Tester doesn’t shy from melody or other traditional forms while keeping the experiments, whether they be post production edits that push the material into psychedelic dub territories or phrasing interactions of the synthetic elements that begins to echo “Discrete Music” in some melodic passages from n the first side of the tape.  Tester works with ambient melodic guitar(?) and synth processing that moves around too much too be considered ambient the way I think of it, but damn if there aren’t some beautiful moments of bliss on this slab of oxide as I listen to this tape for the second time after an 11 hour shift.  

  There’s some uniquely compelling textures in this tape that make it a repeat listener for me. It feels like an album over flowing with ideas, but executing the right amount of curatorial succinct approach that keeps the playing techniques moving in different directions.

https://unifactor.bandcamp.com/album/tumbleweed

Worth your listening time. 

-Jacob DeRaadt

DECAYCAST Reviews : PAN DAIJING “TISSUES” (2021)

On By AdminIn ReviewsLeave a comment

DECAYCAST Reviews : PAN DAIJING “TISSUES” (2021)

Let’s go ahead and call this ‘noise-opera’, though enthusiasts of both disciplines will no doubt balk at the suggestion. This is not a lazy application of a loose monikor, however. ‘Tissues’ is a rarity in so far as it seems to engage with opera – and specifically the libretto – in a manner that extends far beyond pastiche, with a precise, meticulous vocal engaging with recognisable operatic techniques and extending them. The voice is used here both as a traditional instrument and a versatile sonic tool, not shedding the past but embracing the wealth of avant-garde composers – the likes of Maricio Kagel, or Esa Pekka Salonen – whose work has managed to puncture the future and straddle the past simultaneously. Nor are we treated to a cursory, dumbed-down invokation of noise-aesthetics. Between the driving, angular synthesis, and the muted distortions that underpin them, the listener is left with a pleasingly refined soundworld, and whilst it is by no means ‘noise’ music proper, it certainly calls upon that horizon, forging a hidden intensity from elements that might simply be functional in the mitt of a lesser composer. Theres probably loads going on here that I’m not picking up, and probably loads I’m getting wrong, but I don’t care – this whole album is awesome, inspiring stuff, the sort of thing you don’t want to get, or might never get, such is its fundamental depth and beauty. If it sounds like I’m smitten, I am. ‘Tissues’ walks a very tricky path – a journey littered with sonic devices that are used often and badly in incalculable inferior works, yet rendered here with precision and granduer, succeeding by virtue of an audible dedication to the minutiae of its material. It’s all excellent, but Part 3 in particular soars, with angry, staccato piano chasing a measured howl through a windy terrain, a brewing storm of buzzing distortion rising to euphoric crescendo, broken only by the emergence of the voice, descending into a dense fog, monotonous and playful, theatrical staccatos balancing against the dying ebb of a fractured tone, the artificial labour of a cello or broken radiator. No one description fits any given sound, each part bleeding into the next, a constantly evolving intensity. 

– Daniel Hignell (Difficult Art and Music, Distant Animals, 7000 Trees)

DECAYCAST Announces Preorder For HAURAS 4/9/21  “Chant For A Broken Chalice” OUT 5/7/21

On By AdminIn news + premieresLeave a comment

DECAYCAST Announces Preorder For HAURAS 4/9/21  “Chant For A Broken Chalice” OUT  5/7/21

HAURAS has crafted a lush and foreboding sonic landscape with “Chant For A Broken Chalice”, their first release for Oakland based imprint DECAYCAST. On “Chant For A Broken Chalice” intentional and otherworldly sounds envelop into a whirlwind of a slow churning concoction of beauty and anxiety. Dense choral envocations pulse over a sea of strings, keys, percussion and voice. HAURAS crafts tense and delicate music concerned with the rapid decline of empathy as intensified through the violent throes of capitalism. Both meditative and a warning, like a distant pulse of a lighthouse gently peaking over the fog as a distant warning of impending doom and collapse, scary and at this point completely unavoidable, but wow the beauty and elegance of the message is not something to soon be forgotten. 

“My work is concerned with the psychology of society at the end of Civilization.” – HAURAS

 The first single “Hold My Hand” takes a psychedelic dubbed out industrial approach to transport the mood and psyche of the listener to a blissful yet slightly unnerving underworld. The vocals glide through the mix like a robotic worm infecting an unknown host. Like most of Hauras’s work; “Chant For A Broken Chalice” holds the listener in an hourglass where time is rapidly and chaotically slipping away.  Intentional, heartfelt, and intense. 

“You’ve heard of the Music of Tomorrow? This is the Music of the Day After

Tomorrow.” – Chris Ryan (Composer, Cerddorion Ensemble,, Tzadik)

“The sonic equivalent of expired film in my Holga.” – Richard Youngs

RIYL: COIL, Psychic TV, The Residents, Snickers 

“Hold My Hand” Public Stream

Tracklisting:

1.  Somnia

2.  On The Morning

3.  Rotagivan

4.  Hold My Hand

5,   Chant For A Broken Chalice

6.   Standing At The Entrance

HAURAS has shared bills with:

Sarah Davachi, Laaraji, Father Murphy, Low, Tom Carter, Common Eider King Eider, Mary Lattimore, Tom Weeks, Lee Noble, Louise Bock, Clarice Jensen, Jonas Reinhardt, Carl Hultgren, John King, Lea Bertucci,

Saariselka, Nels Cline, Jessica Moss

ARTIST PHOTO:

More info / questions / press requests: decaycast@gmail.com

http://decaycastoakland.bandcamp.com

DECAYCAST Reviews : Marsha Fisher “New Ruins” (Full Spectrum Records, 2021)

On By AdminIn Reviews1 Comment

Beautiful new sonic offering from Minnesota-based sound artist Marsha Fisher titled “New Ruins” from the wonderful Full Spectrum Records which released Feb 15, 2021. “New Ruins” plunders a bun of discarded thrift store cassettes mined across the midwest to blissful and conceptually and sonically rewarding looping gifts. “New Ruins” shifts between hypnotic loops and drones done in an almost new age breath of exploration. The intro track is beautiful, crumbling voice textures, like ancient hymns broadcast through a ham radio- crackling as the wind. arrests their sounds and buries them under inches of gravel. On “New Ruins” Fisher acts like a sound archaeologist, pulling disparate loops from the earth and presenting them in a larger delicate breath of sound. Beautiful tones float on the surface as time warps and folds on itself, undecided on it’s. future like a plastic bag adrift in the wind. Sonically evocative of Phaedra era Tangerine Dream, but where the Dream dies Fisher digs deeper into an ambient palette of creation and destruction. Transmissions act like slow warnings to a future civilization, echoed from an uncertain present, the last communication beacon drains the last pulse from it’s batteries as it casts out it’s last bleep of a signal, praying to be discovered.

What could be lazily discarded as “radio static” and “chirping electronics” fade in and out, enacting the listener into a blissful hypnotic style, but n ever completely untethered from their reality, just temporarily detached and floating through a very different and unfamiliar world, that Fisher lays forth droplets of information for that makes this unknown world that much more mysteriously welcoming and desired. Fishers sound. sources appear to vary widely, and sampled of forgotten dust collecting christian alt rock tapes are sampled and manipulated seemingly beyond recognition, another conceptual element speaking to the dichotomies present throughout “New Ruins” .

From the label: “One of the tapes sampled here was a jazz fusion record, another featured instrumental soft rock – conceptually dry and inoffensive cultural documents created by Christian record labels for consumption by God-fearing men and women who perhaps did not want to associate with outlets like Windham Hill or Nadara Productions, who might have been slipping blasphemous ideas into their record, what with their eastern religious iconography and casual dips into spiritual mysticism.“

“New Ruins” is out now via Full Spectrum Records

DECAYCAST Premieres: Home Learning Shares New Video “Let Us Know You Are Here” – Watch Now!

On By AdminIn news + premieresLeave a comment

Home Learning has shared their newest video and song “Let Us Know You Are Here” from their new album released this past December, “The Case for Final” via Healing Sound Propagandist. “Let Us Know You Are Here”– is a beautiful ambient, soothing A/V tone poem exploring slow undulating shifting spaces within a beautiful marriage between image and sound. The track is evocative of sadness, unknowing, maybe even discovery, but within a paused and pregnant framework and the slow moving psychedelic visual eruptions are constantly birthing something new to be contemplated.

“This video for the first track off of Home Learning’s album “the case for final” was put together during the COVID 19 pandemic. It combines footage of suburban mall-sprawl, crowded with shoppers in spite of the health risks, with abstract visuals that evoke chemicals, fire, and a gradual build up of distortion/disintegration. Not everything is bleak…the colors and sounds also bring metamorphosis, slow but significant change, and eventually, light sifts in. “

Ethereal washes of sound and shape blend together like flickering bacteria under a microscope excited by a newfound chemical reaction. Gentle explosions are what come to mind visually, and the track itself brings thoughts of time collapsing between unknown worlds. Sounds delicately drone slightly in the red which gives the recording a slight bit of intensity without compromising the vibe or intent of the morose, and often times blissful offering that is “Let Us Know You Are Here”. Smoke dances across the failed architecture of a forgotten society and we dream and try to dream of a land almost totally forgotten. Very beautiful marriage of parallel moods to create an evocative and intriguing visual representation of the track bringing to the table both uncertainty and emotional resolution. WATCH BELOW NOW!

Home Learning is a long distance collaboration between Tom Schmidlin (Pagination) located in Bentonville, Arkansas. and Edmund Osterman (Screener) in Covington, KY