Screaming Masterpiece on DVD

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Screaming Masterpiece I had been trying for a some time to get a copy of the DVD Screaming Masterpiece via Netflix but it was always unavailable. I finally broke down and ordered a copy from Amazon when I did a quick search and found that it was available again.

Though I ordered on June 9th, I have yet to receive my copy. I think Amazon is trying to convince me to sign up for their Prime program again. In any case, though I can't personally vouch for the quality of the disc just yet, I've read a lot of great reviews and I know some of the readers here might be interested in picking up a copy for themselves.

Soundtracks, Part 3: Cliff Martinez, Solaris

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Solaris, by Cliff Martinez I started this series back in February, and then I kind of ran out of steam. Well, I've been listening to some more soundtracks lately, and so I thought this is as good a time as any to pick back up and put out part 3.

I don't really remember how I came across the Solaris soundtrack, but I've been listening to it for well over a year now and it's one of my favorites. I haven't seen the film, but the music Martinez wrote and produced for it is full of wonderful tension. It feels mostly like something is always rising, and we never really get to the point where anything is resolved.

Despite this fact, I do find it to be a record that's quite comfortable to listen to, whether it's droning away unnoticed in the background, or I'm actively listening to it on a stereo or through headphones. It's particularly nice early in the morning, just before it's completely light out. A real nice listen all around. Highly recommended. Stay tuned for more soundtrack reviews, as I've got a few more queued up.

Related Soundtracks, Part 1: Michael Brook, An Inconvenient Truth Soundtracks, Part 2: Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson & Sigur Ros, Angels of the Universe

Records for May, 2007

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I started doing this months ago, and then let it slide because there was just too much work involved. I think I've found a better process for managing it, so I'm going to try to start back up again. At any rate, below you can find the records that I added to my library for the month of May 2007. The American Dollar, The American Dollar Pan Or Ama, Console Tripper, Efterklang Burning Off Impurities, Grails one, landscape Omns, Lichens The Psychic Nature of Being, Lichens Tangled Wool, Xela

Standing on a Hummingbird, Mark Templeton

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Standing on a Hummingbird, Mark Templeton I'm usually not a big fan of glitchy type stuff. I find it a bit distracting, and for me a big part of good ambient music is that I sometimes don't even know it's playing. Mark Templeton's Standing on a Hummingbird has a fair amount of glitch in it, but strangely I find it to be comfortable. There are melodies and textures weaving around, and just as one is fragmented, the tension is relieved with something altogether different, like found sounds or new instrumentation. It's nice stuff, so please have a listen.

Here's a few mp3 downloads from previous work: Continue Later, Frail as Breath Drama Section, Frail as Breath

More available at fieldsawake.com/media.html

Related Mark Templeton MySpace Profile Mark Templeton Official Site

Amiina

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Kurr, Amiina If you know Amiina, you probably know them as the quirky and whimsical Icelandic band that opened for Sigur Ros. The female quartet mixes bells, harps, even wine glasses and saws, together with electronic and more traditional instruments to create really just lovely sounding stuff.

I don't yet have their latest release, their official debut album Kurr, but I do have both of their previous EP's Seoul and AnimaminA, and I think they're definitely worth your time. It looks like a few of the tracks from the EP's made their way onto the new full length album. I grabbed AnimaminA from eMusic, but unfortunately I had to resort to iTunes and DRM to get my hands on Seoul.

Kurr is set for a June 19th US release, and I'm looking forward to hearing the full thing.

Their record label Ever Records has set up a charming little site to promote the record, where you can stream a few tracks and get a free download of the track Rugla if you provide them with an email address. There's an interesting video to watch as well. Sadly, they've trapped all this content in Flash, so I can't give you any direct links.

Related Amiina MySpace Profile Official Amiina Site Amiina Wikipedia Entry

must you smash your ears before you learn to listen with your eyes, Joy Wants Eternity

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must you smash your ears before you learn to listen with your eyes, Joy Wants Eternity I learned about Joy Wants Eternity from Now Like Photographs, and I've been enjoying their debut EP must you smash your ears before you learn to listen with your eyes for the last week or so. It's intstrumental rock type stuff, and if you like Six Parts Seven or Grace Park Cathedral, you should have a listen to their work.

I don't yet have their latest release, but you can stream complete tracks from their new album You Who Pretend to Sleep at their official site.

Related Official Joy Wants Eternity Site Joy Wants Eternity MySpace Profile

In The Evenings of Regret, Grace Cathedral Park

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In The Evenings of Regret, Grace Cathedral Park A reader turned me on to Grace Cathedral Park recently, and I've got to say they're well worth a listen, if you're into instrumental rock music. Not quite as bombastic and dynamic as Explosions in the Sky, and perhaps a bit more introspective and brooding than Six Parts Seven, Grace Cathedral Park plays nice, long, mid-tempo songs mostly built around winding guitar leads.

And when I say long, I mean there are tracks on their debut record In The Evenings of Regret that clock-in at 15 to 20 minutes.

Related Grace Cathedral Park MySpace Profile Official Grace Cathedral Park Site

Epic Instrumental Night on Now Like Photographs

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I mentioned them the other day, and so it's appropriate to let you know that tonight, June 10th 2007 at 9pm CST, is the first installment in a live event that Now Like Photographs is calling "Epic Instrumental Night." The music will be recorded live from St. Paul, MN and looks to feature the bands Empires, Dreamless, History, and Box Elder. This is a good chance to listen to some bands and music you might not otherwise have heard of.

Related Now Like Photographs Now Like Photographs MySpace profile

Prelude 2, Dustin O'Halloran

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Prelude 2, Dustin O’Halloran

Special Message: If you like Dustin O'Halloran's music, you'll probably enjoy our Ambient Music Blog Podcast, a continuous mix of context specific ambient music available for free.

After logging in to eMusic to grab some links to records for a couple posts, I noticed that there was a new Dustin O'Halloran piece available. It just so happens that I had exactly 2 downloads remaining for the month, so I snatched up the 2 track Prelude 2. The piece was used in a European Audi commercial. The first track is the full work and the second is the shorter edit used in the commercial. It's nice stuff, and definitely worth a listen.

I thought for sure I had posted previously about O'Halloran's Piano Solos, but I haven't. It's a great record of, obviously, piano music. I just realized that he's also released a Piano Solos Vol. 2. It's not currently available on eMusic, so I'm in the process of tracking down a non DRM'ed version.

Here's the Audi commercial [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqjpW-dar2w]

Grab 25 free downloads from eMusic if you don't already have an account!

Related Official Dustin O'Halloran Site Dustin O'Halloran MySpace Profile

Streaming Music & Podcasts

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I don't tend to listen to streaming music all that often. The occasional serendipitous discovery of something worthwhile is almost always rendered irrelevant by the gigantic amount of new age or lounge or down-tempo or dub whatever else it may be masquerading as ambient music. Despite this, I have found a couple places to be a cut or two above the rest. In particular, the Now Like Photographs weekly podcast is a must listen. Now Like Photographs Limbik Frequencies StillStream

Loscil Makes Top Rate Ambient Music

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I've been to Vancouver, CA, and it's a nice place. Scott Morgan is from Vancouver, and he makes really, really very nice records as Loscil. I've been listening to Loscil for quite a while, but I've recently been rediscovering just how fantastic his records are, and how absolutely in sync they are with my taste in ambient music. Long, really long, stretched out drones. All the albums are themed, at least as far as the track names are concerned. And it's really not a stretch to hear the themes coming through in the sounds. These are really like ambient concept albums. If you're reading this Web site, you're no doubt familiar with Mr. Morgan's work. But if you're new to ambient music, or you've heard some of the records but not all, you really should just get a hold of any and all of these. And, if you don't have any Loscil records, today is your lucky day! You can grab mp3's of Stases for free!

First Narrows, Loscil Plume, Loscil

Submers, Loscil Triple Point, Loscil

<a href="http://one.dot9.ca/2/releases.php?id=027"Stases, Loscil

Related Official Loscil site Loscil Wikipedia enrty Loscil MySpace profile

Ambient Music MySpace Blogs, In One Easy Place!

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MySpace.com MySpace is a great resource for music fans to get news and interact with musicians and artists. Unfortunately, the interface and architecture of MySpace leaves a lot to be desired, to be polite. Specifically, it's particularly difficult to create one space where you can keep up to date on things you're interested in. It's also not very good at decoupling the content from its MySpace.com presentation, which makes a Web and information guy like myself fairly uncomfortable.

One way I'm attempting to combat this is by using the little bit of RSS that MySpace makes available. I've begun to aggregate all the feeds of MySpace blogs I'm interested in, with the hopes of staying up to date on news. I've created an OPML file, and while it's not particularly useful for readers at the moment, I'm making it available because, you know, why not? In the future I'm planning on creating a more valuable presentation layer for the content, one that stays up to date and gives you only what you need. For now, there's a raw OPML file, or you can browse the feeds listing at share.opml.org.

Ambient Music Blog MySpace Blog Feeds Ambient Music Blog MySpace Feeds at share.opml.org

Mono, by Console

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Mono, by Console Console is German electronic musician Martin Gretschmann, and another nice recent download is his 2006 release as Console, Mono. It's 11 tracks of relatively short but sweet electronic ambient sounds.

Also worth checking out is his 1997 release, Pan Or Ama. Though a bit more "electronic" and substantially less "ambient," it reminds me of the tech-house stuff you'd hear at warehouse parties from around that same time.

Related Console Wikipedia Entry Official Console Web site Console MySpace profile