• About
  • Patrons
  • The Lists
    • Listening History
    • Complete List of Ratings
    • Compositions reviewed on 5:4
    • Composer Map
    • Albums and EPs reviewed on 5:4
    • Festivals reviewed on 5:4
    • Best Albums of the Years
    • The Proms premières – Poll results
  • The Dialogues
  • Mixtapes
    • Mixtapes
    • The Isolation Mixtapes
    • Mystery Mixtapes
    • Podcasts
  • Contact
    • Contact Form
    • Submission Contact Form
5:4
Tag:

ambient

  • CD/Digital releasesFree music

    Gareth Davis, Jan Kleefstra, Romke Kleefstra – Sieleslyk

    by 5:4 January 9, 2023 • 08:24
    January 9, 2023 • 08:24

    To begin my usual January focus on interesting free music, i’m returning to the ephemeral world of netlabels. Rural Colours appeared in 2010 as a tangential off-shoot from parent label Hibernate, which had begun the previous year. What distinguished them both from other netlabels was the fact that their releases…

    Read more
    0 FacebookTwitterPinterestRedditEmail
  • Advent Calendar

    Aphex Twin (arr. Caleb Burhans) – Blue Calx

    by 5:4 December 14, 2022 • 05:00
    December 14, 2022 • 05:00

    In last year’s Advent Calendar i included Patrick Nunn’s instrumental arrangement of the Aphex Twin track ‘Nannou’; today i’m featuring another arrangement, this time Caleb Burhans’ acoustic take on ‘Blue Calx’, the only track on Aphex Twin’s classic 1994 album Selected Ambient Works Volume II to have an explicit title…

    Read more
    0 FacebookTwitterPinterestRedditEmail
  • CD/Digital releases

    Bára Gísladóttir & Skúli Sverrisson – Live from the Spirit Store / Bára Gísladóttir – VÍDDIR

    by 5:4 October 28, 2022 • 09:31
    October 28, 2022 • 09:31

    Over the last few years i’ve been more and more deeply impressed by the music of Icelandic composer and performer Bára Gísladóttir. First contact was at the Dark Music Days in 2020, when i saw her in action with Skúli Sverrisson, forming a complex double bass / electric bass soundworld…

    Read more
    1 FacebookTwitterPinterestRedditEmail
  • CD/Digital releases

    Stefan Węgłowski – PHASE_1_4

    by 5:4 September 14, 2022 • 09:25
    September 14, 2022 • 09:25

    One of my unexpected highlights of 2017 was the album Contemporary Jewish Music by Polish composer Stefan Węgłowski, a mesmerising sequence of electroacoustic responses to a variety of Jewish sources, utterly transforming them while retaining tangible links to their origins. His latest release, PHASE_1_4, makes that album sound like an…

    Read more
    0 FacebookTwitterPinterestRedditEmail
  • CD/Digital releases

    Fia Fiell – Endless Filament

    by 5:4 August 25, 2022 • 14:33
    August 25, 2022 • 14:33

    It’s a good sign when, despite being a passionate believer in the maxim “less is more” in terms of a composer’s output, i still find myself feeling frustrated and impatient waiting for certain artists to create something new. That’s been the case very strongly with Vietnamese-Australian musician Carolyn Schofield, aka…

    Read more
    0 FacebookTwitterPinterestRedditEmail
  • CD/Digital releases

    Orphax – Spectrum

    by 5:4 May 23, 2022 • 10:37
    May 23, 2022 • 10:37

    When it comes to drones, i tend to feel that each listener’s mileage doesn’t merely vary, but is often entirely unique. Nonetheless, from my perspective there are some nice things going on in Spectrum, a new two-track album from Netherlands artist Sietse van Erve, a.k.a. Orphax. The essence of each…

    Read more
    0 FacebookTwitterPinterestRedditEmail
  • CD/Digital releases

    Rohan Drape & Anthony Pateras – The traces of a mistake, the most simple one possible the reactions of even younger children

    by 5:4 October 27, 2021 • 15:26
    October 27, 2021 • 15:26

    Let’s get static – or, at least, steady static. The latest collaborative work from Rohan Drape & Anthony Pateras, The traces of a mistake, the most simple one possible the reactions of even younger children, could be regarded as a development of the processes explored on their outstanding 2018 album…

    Read more
    0 FacebookTwitterPinterestRedditEmail
  • CD/Digital releases

    J. Peter Schwalm & Markus Reuter – Aufbruch

    by 5:4 July 23, 2021 • 17:01
    July 23, 2021 • 17:01

    A few years ago, in a book about ambient music that i co-edited with Monty Adkins, i wrote a chapter where i proposed the possibility of ‘meta-ambient’, the idea that a great deal of music not necessarily immediately heard as being related or even connected to ambient – as it…

    Read more
    0 FacebookTwitterPinterestRedditEmail
  • CD/Digital releases

    David Dunn – Verdant

    by 5:4 May 12, 2021 • 14:45
    May 12, 2021 • 14:45

    It’s rare these days to find new additions to the sphere of ambient music that go beyond being merely extended, superficial, one-dimensional platitudes. So it’s been a relief to spend a mixture of active and passive time with Verdant, a recent album from US composer David Dunn, which taps into…

    Read more
    0 FacebookTwitterPinterestRedditEmail
  • CD/Digital releasesFree musicThematic series

    Christina Vantzou – Nº2 Remixes

    by 5:4 January 21, 2021 • 05:00
    January 21, 2021 • 05:00

    There have been numerous occasions when i’ve previously written about and celebrated the art of the remix. Remixes were an integral part of my developing musical taste and understanding at the start of, and throughout, my teens: i got into the habit of buying both the 7-inch and 12-inch versions…

    Read more
    0 FacebookTwitterPinterestRedditEmail
  • CD/Digital releases

    Liquid Transmitter – Arboreal; Jeff Carey – index[off]

    by 5:4 August 5, 2020 • 15:50
    August 5, 2020 • 15:50

    Despite being located at opposite ends of the aesthetic / behavioural spectrum, i’ve recently been finding that two new releases pose the same questions about the distinction between long- and short-term listening. In the case of Arboreal, the latest album by Canadian musician Jamie Drouin’s alter ego Liquid Transmitter, this…

    Read more
    0 FacebookTwitterPinterestRedditEmail
  • CD/Digital releases

    Liquid Transmitter – Meander

    by 5:4 April 30, 2020 • 05:00
    April 30, 2020 • 05:00

    Another mid-length album i’ve recently been immersing myself within is Meander by Liquid Transmitter, nom de guerre for Canadian sound artist Jamie Drouin. Both the title and the artist’s pseudonym are well-suited to the six tracks on this album. They operate in a way that sits on the cusp of…

    Read more
    0 FacebookTwitterPinterestRedditEmail
  • Lent Series

    Collin Thomas – April Triptych

    by 5:4 April 1, 2020 • 05:00
    April 1, 2020 • 05:00

    The penultimate work i’m featuring in this year’s Lent Series is both the longest and, possibly (depending on your perspective), the simplest. Collin Thomas‘ April Triptych was released nine years ago on the long-defunct, Berlin-based netlabel Resting Bell. There are a number of reasons why the piece is interesting, but…

    Read more
    0 FacebookTwitterPinterestRedditEmail
  • Lent Series

    JLIAT – J; S; A; E

    by 5:4 March 20, 2020 • 05:00
    March 20, 2020 • 05:00

    As COVID-19 gradually succeeds in bringing the entire globe to a depressing standstill, it seems as good a time as any for my Lent Series to look at some large-scale works that, from one perspective, could be said to be doing exactly the same. i’m usually very good at remembering…

    Read more
    0 FacebookTwitterPinterestRedditEmail
  • CD/Digital releasesLent Series

    The Hafler Trio – An Answer

    by 5:4 March 14, 2020 • 05:00
    March 14, 2020 • 05:00

    Let’s turn our attention to drones. The respective roles of time and material are perhaps nowhere more controversial – and polarising – than in drone-based music. Even if you find yourself drawn into the complexities of one form of drone, another can push you away with its relative monotony. For…

    Read more
    0 FacebookTwitterPinterestRedditEmail
  • CD/Digital releasesLent Series

    Chubby Wolf – The Last Voices

    by 5:4 March 3, 2020 • 05:00
    March 3, 2020 • 05:00

    The next piece i’m exploring in this year’s Lent Series is The Last Voices by Danielle Baquet-Long, who released her solo work under the name Chubby Wolf. At 84 minutes long, it’s by far her longest piece, and the more i’ve spent time with it over the years, the more…

    Read more
    0 FacebookTwitterPinterestRedditEmail
  • CD/Digital releasesLent Series

    Kenneth Kirschner – January 1, 2019

    by 5:4 February 26, 2020 • 05:00
    February 26, 2020 • 05:00

    It’s the first day of Lent, and also therefore the start of this year’s 5:4 Lent Series. Three years ago my focus was on miniature works, and for 2020 i’m going in the opposite direction, exploring compositions that occupy larger-scale durations. However, this is not simply about pieces that are…

    Read more
    0 FacebookTwitterPinterestRedditEmail
  • CD/Digital releases

    Roland Kayn – Scanning

    by 5:4 December 14, 2019 • 22:25
    December 14, 2019 • 22:25

    There aren’t many new releases that require you to free up huge chunks of time in your schedule, but then Roland Kayn isn’t like many composers. Two years ago, 14 hours were required to explore the vast expanse of his A Little Electronic Milky Way of Sound, which i ended…

    Read more
    0 FacebookTwitterPinterestRedditEmail
  • CD/Digital releases

    Fovea Hex – The Salt Garden III

    by 5:4 December 6, 2019 • 05:00
    December 6, 2019 • 05:00

    It all began with a trilogy. This was back in 2005 when, over the course of three successive years, Irish musical entity Fovea Hex (singer Clodagh Simonds, together with a changing roster of collaborators) put out the trio of EPs – Bloom, Huge and Allure – that would become collectively…

    Read more
    0 FacebookTwitterPinterestRedditEmail
  • Announcements

    Music Beyond Airports

    by 5:4 July 30, 2019 • 11:12
    July 30, 2019 • 11:12

    In February last year, Monty Adkins and i organised Ambient@40, the first academic conference devoted to ambient music, which took place over two days at Huddersfield University. The conference was designed to explore the history and legacy of the genre forty years after the release of Brian Eno’s pivotal album…

    Read more
    0 FacebookTwitterPinterestRedditEmail
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3

Join 2,149 other subscribers.

Nils Henrik Asheim: Lydkilder Sound and Image: Aesthetics and Practices Music Beyond Airports: appraising ambient music Simon Cummings | 間 Studies vol. 6

  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Rss
  • Mixcloud
Footer Logo

© 2008-2023 Simon Cummings

5:4
  • About
  • Patrons
  • The Lists
    • Listening History
    • Complete List of Ratings
    • Compositions reviewed on 5:4
    • Composer Map
    • Albums and EPs reviewed on 5:4
    • Festivals reviewed on 5:4
    • Best Albums of the Years
    • The Proms premières – Poll results
  • The Dialogues
  • Mixtapes
    • Mixtapes
    • The Isolation Mixtapes
    • Mystery Mixtapes
    • Podcasts
  • Contact
    • Contact Form
    • Submission Contact Form