What are you listening to?

[epitome]

Ulrich Schnauss & Mark Peters - Underrated Silence

[Pandemonium]

well... ...

[tryptych]

I lolled

Right now, listening to Solar Quest - Orgship. Absolutely unknown and excellent ambient album from 1994. It's surprising how this has slipped through.. maybe vaguely reminds me of Biosphere, but not as minimalistic and maybe a bit more melodic. Lovely stuff.

Otherwise, pretty random.. just switched on Sad Robots by Stars which is a Canadian pop group which would probably appeal to you if you like shoegaze and/or THAT indie rock sound. Fucking love this band.

[epitome]

well... ...

Ugh, sadly that describes my mentality during my brief forays into trying to make some music. I can't bring myself to use pre-made loops, at least, so then I end up faffing around with making my own, which probably sound much like an existing one I could've just used in the first place.

I'm an idiot, but it keeps me busy

[epitome]

The Orb - Orbus Terrarum

Very cool album, possibly the best Orb album I've listened to so far.

[seedy]

oh heck yes that album rules - it's "the orb's lifeforms" if you will =P



myeah that quote about loops is kind of me as well
being a fsol fan it's weird to hold this position but i guess in many ways to me it comes down to integrity

kind of like abortion - it can be used for the wrong reasons hayooo


i obvs appreciate the many creative ways a loop can be used. i guess to me the biggest offense is just taking a canned loop and using it straight up as your own idk

i'm currently having an internal struggle about this with the drums
i can make beats ok but i'm pretty bad at doing any kind of fills
so many people use loops and groove clips etc to fill this purpose but i feel like i'm kind of cheating and not making it my own music that way

the more i talk about this with peeps the more i get the impression that tons of producers are not creating 100% of their beats anymore. they too are using borrowed loops and fills and then manipulating or what have you.

idk......it's monday and i'm tired and rambling


oh and that solar quest album
what do you know i have that one as well
haven't listened yet tho

[Akkya]

Just watched HALT AND CATCH FIRE.
I might just have to make an 80's style album after watching that.

[Nmesh]

Definitely not EDM! Just middle aged blokes wishing it were still the late '80s and people outside their tiny scene still enjoyed 20 minute synth solos and think £15 is a reasonable price for a home-burned CDr.

Artists like Redshift, Andy Pickford, Ian Boddy, Ron Boots, Rogue Element, Arc, Alpha Wave Movement, Phrozenlight, Air Sculpture, The Omega Syndicate, ARC, Create, REMY... ah, there are loads more.

Omg Ross you hit the nail on the head sir. I'm actually a fan of Red Shift (Bombers In The Desert, look it up!), Ron Boots (Close But Not Touching is epic and incredible), Ian Boddy, AWM... I've bought CDs from all those guys in the past 15+ years, and I know exactly what you're talking about. Overpriced home-burned CDrs lol. Kit Watkins is another one. Lots of middle-aged guys associated in the ambient/synth music scene, on the verge of being lumped into the 'new-age' category. I was exposed to all these artists via Echoes on NPR (an excellent program responsible for half the albums in my collection). They went onto interview Garry which I taped back in '01 as you all know, and I'm still on the lookout for the interview they did with Brian during Alice In Ultraland (yes, they interviewed Brian - see either the first or second EBS mix). I've contacted Echoes about possibly obtaining a copy from their archives - no luck there. Even asked Brian several years back, he said he'd look into it when he got back to the studio, but I don't think it was at the top of his list. Anyways, sorry for going off on a tangent..

[seedy]

probably not the cup of tea for most here, but listening to Pitch Black

super awesome psydub imo

http://pitchblack.bandcamp.com/

i love bandcamps like this where you can just sit back and listen to tons of free music

[epitome]

Bandamp rules

Pitch Black sound pretty cool, I might try and check them out some more when I find time

[Ross]

Omg Ross you hit the nail on the head sir.

Most of the scene these days seems to be angry that they're not getting younger people involved... despite the huge rise in popularity of analog synths and sequencers in ambient/experimental stuff over the last few years. It's such a bizarrely insular group of people who seem to have no interest in paying attention to anyone outside their own circle.
I'm actually on a compilation with RMI and Ron Boots - my two tracks stand out somewhat, haha.

[seedy]

while i admitted i don't know of "these" people - i can surely relate and i think there is a nice blanket term we can put over this:
Aging Hippie



Locked in the 70s with no self awareness.
we see plenty of that with american rock bands etc.


somewhat of an example - i've been looking into the Tangerine Tree projects lately and wondering where the heck they can be found. low and behold a few years ago it seems the fanbase just gave up on emerging technology and called it a day lol.
there are still sites out there extremely detailed of this whole project but with disclaimers "all of this info is outdated"

so here we have this massive free music project and the old hippies taking charge of technology to spread it (using decent transfer/conversion techniques, CDr standards....eventually FTP capability)......and then POOF!
project is over and the distribution of these releases is now a person to person CDr trade

one site mentioned "search sites like isohunt to find some torrents"
lol what?
how did this project go from a massive international effort to just......"ok it's over now, we are tired"
haha this is the impression i get - could easily set up a torrenting network to keep the spirit of this project alive and pumping for absolute years to come. but i think everyone just got old and tired. they are happy with their CDrs and need a nap.

[Ross]

Yeah, that sounds very familiar. I've come across people in the scene who release an album, do no promotion other than sending it to a few friends, and then when there's a lack of worldwide interest they say they're not going to bother doing another album as it's evidently not worth it. Baffling.

[mcbpete]

That's the cubus PR down to a T

[epitome]

I'm listening to some Mogwai b-sides etc at the moment.

Got some Cult of Luna and Orb lined up for later