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5:4
Tag:

ambient

  • 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 …

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  • 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 …

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  • 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 …

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  • 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 …

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  • 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 …

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  • 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 …

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  • 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 …

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  • 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 …

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  • 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 …

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  • 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 …

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  • 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 …

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  • 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 …

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  • CD/Digital releases

    Kyle Bobby Dunn – From Here to Eternity

    by 5:4 May 22, 2019 • 11:40
    May 22, 2019 • 11:40

    Ambient music has been on my mind a lot lately. Monty Adkins and i are nearing completion on our forthcoming book about Ambient that we’re co-editing – following on from the conference we organised last year – and i completed my own lengthy contribution to this just last week. Since …

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  • CD/Digital releasesFree musicThematic series

    Wixel – 2009 Project

    by 5:4 January 26, 2019 • 06:00
    January 26, 2019 • 06:00

    Wim Maesschalk, better known as Wixel, is a Belgian musician who originally set up the label Slaapwel Records, the aim of which, as that name implies, is to provide “music to fall asleep to”. In a way that tells you all you need to know about Wixel, though his music is capable …

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  • CD/Digital releases

    Robert Scott Thompson – Of Natural Magic and the Breathing of Trees; William Price – Rush Hour

    by 5:4 May 14, 2018 • 16:13
    May 14, 2018 • 16:13

    A couple of noteworthy albums of electronic music by US composers have found their way to me recently. Of Natural Magic and the Breathing of Trees by Robert Scott Thompson was released last year and pretty much tells you everything you need to know in that title. Aesthetically, the five pieces contained on this album …

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  • AcademiaAnnouncementsConcertsFestivals

    Electric Spring/Ambient@40

    by 5:4 February 21, 2018 • 09:39
    February 21, 2018 • 09:39

    A quick, last-minute heads-up about Huddersfield University’s annual blow-out celebrating all things electronic, Electric Spring, which starts this evening and runs until Sunday. This year’s programme is typically diverse: Philip Thomas and Colin Frank will be performing works for piano, percussion and electronics, Freida Abtan will present a 21-minute audiovisual work …

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  • CD/Digital releasesFree musicThematic series

    Altus

    by 5:4 January 8, 2018 • 11:56
    January 8, 2018 • 11:56

    i’m going to start 2018 exploring an area that seems particularly appropriate and indeed desirable in January, in the wake of the financial blow-outs many of us will have made in the run-up and perhaps also aftermath of Christmas: free music. This sort of thing used to be primarily located …

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  • AcademiaAnnouncements

    Ambient@40 conference

    by 5:4 November 15, 2017 • 12:45
    November 15, 2017 • 12:45

    Next year will mark the 40th anniversary of the release of Brian Eno’s Ambient 1: Music for Airports, an album that established a manifesto, an aesthetic, an ideology and an archetype for ambient music. This is something i’m intending to celebrate and explore on 5:4 throughout 2018, but beyond this, i’m delighted …

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  • CD/Digital releases

    Monty Adkins – Shadows and Reflections

    by 5:4 November 4, 2017 • 13:31
    November 4, 2017 • 13:31

    An interesting aspect of what i’ve been calling ‘steady statism‘ is the relationship it has with the idea of stasis. What is a musical stasis? Considering that music unfolds in time, isn’t it an oxymoronic idea? Furthermore, is such a hypothetical stasis intentional (objective) or perceptional (subjective) – or both? …

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  • CD/Digital releases

    Fovea Hex – The Salt Garden II

    by 5:4 August 29, 2017 • 17:43
    August 29, 2017 • 17:43

    It’s high time i flagged up one of the standout new releases i’ve been spending time with over the summer. Whenever Irish experimental electronic folk group Fovea Hex put out something new, it’s not just a cause to rejoice but a guarantee of something unique and indescribably wonderful. They’ve been around …

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

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5:4
  • About
    • Other writings
  • Patrons
  • The Lists
    • Listening History
    • Complete List of Ratings
    • Compositions explored on 5:4
    • 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
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