Category: Toneshift

12", Bandcamp, Download/MP3, LP, MP3/FLAC, Review, TJ Norris, Toneshift, VinylLeave a comment

Brilliant Days by Michiru Aoyama

TJ Norris

Michiru Aoyama | Brilliant Days Mirae Arts (LP/DL) Broken into two untitled pieces that run just under twenty minutes each per side comes Brilliant Days from Japanese musician/producer Michiru Aoyama. Through and through this is a jewel-toned ambient record with a pace that rings of other traditional music from Japan, mostly meaning that it takes time and care to unfold, to blossom. These are guitar string manipulations that sound like a harp, and may as well be chimes and static as the sounds emanating are powerfully induced by an austere softness that quenches the tired mind. After about ten minutes the piece … Continue reading Brilliant Days by Michiru Aoyama

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Vindodo by The Tonga Boys

Daniel Alexander Hignell-Tully

The Tonga Boys | Vindodo1000Hz (CD/DL) Hailing from the Republic of Malawi, the Tonga Boys wield a sort of frenetic, often humorous take on the sort of ‘African’ drum music to which western ears might typically be accustomed.  ‘World’ music so often takes one of two forms – either it has been almost clinically westernised to make it suitable for a culturally-distanced audience, or it is presented as a naive, traditional presentation of a static and primitive culture. It is a rarity to come across artists that are both distinctly foreign and in any way contemporary, with modern world music … Continue reading Vindodo by The Tonga Boys

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Ritual Practice of Conscious Dying Vol. II by Rudolf Eb.er

Giuseppe Pisano

Rudolf Eb.er | Om Kult : Ritual Practice of Conscious Dying (Vol. II) Om Kult (CD/DL) I got to know the work of Rudolf Eb.er when once I saw he was going to perform a concert in my city. At that time I was very much into noise, but for some reason I could not attend that concert. This occasion, and the will of making up for an opportunity I felt I had lost, made me explore his published works, his extreme rituals, a bit further. After that, other adventures and a certain drift from noise kept me away from his production. What … Continue reading Ritual Practice of Conscious Dying Vol. II by Rudolf Eb.er

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Stereo by Spill

TJ Norris

Spill | Stereo Corvo Records (LP/DL) Spill is a Berlin duo made up of Magda Mayas (piano) and Tony Buck (percussion) and here are their latest full-length improvisations, Stereo. On this record they lay out two twenty minute plus tracks, Magnetic Island and Sway – one per side. They start with an abstract, sporadic arrangement where all is quite pared down. Some is structured beforehand, they also utilize pre-recorded elements intended for a live setting, presented in layers for output through multiple speakers. You can imagine a space where the sound is coming at you from multiple angles, almost sneaking … Continue reading Stereo by Spill

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Ambient Double Take

Darren McClure

Olan Mill | Sounds of a New Father Shimmering Moods Records (CS/DL) Orphax | Dream Sequence #5 Non-Harmonic Multitones (3″ CD-R/DL) Two recent releases of drifting ambient here. Orphax presents the fifth installment of his “Dream Sequence” series, and it’s a meditative piece that ripples and washes by.  The composition was inspired by taking a train to his hometown and watching the landscape pass by, blurring into colours and lines.  The train journey lasts 18 minutes and 6 seconds, as does the track, and I like to imagine as the listener follows the progress of the piece, we’re taking the … Continue reading Ambient Double Take

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Offen by Modelbau

TJ Norris

Modelbau | Offen Barreuh Records (CS/DL) Frans de Waard is a tireless creative, having produced countless recordings under a dozen or so monikers, solo and collaborative, and this past season alone, as Modelbau, four recordings have emerged on various imprints. Offen (in an edition of only 27 tapes) stood out to me for its tight programming and subtleties. Here are four pieces starting with Open Out, which is luxe ambient with strokes of Asian gongs, a melancholic melody and crickets. My only criticism is its over just as I am losing myself within it, though there is barely a second lost … Continue reading Offen by Modelbau

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12", Download/MP3, LP, MP3/FLAC, Review, TJ Norris, Toneshift, VinylLeave a comment

The Next by MAAT

TJ Norris

MAAT | The Next Pacific City Sound Visions (LP/DL) MAAT is an archival nugget from the early 90s, a solo project by Hamburg artist Dörte Marth (Xyramat) – and what a strange delight it is. On wax, this’ll be limited to a total of 280 copies (on Bandcamp it lists as only 100), so if you dig real surprises from the past, that sound like something from the future, I urge you to check this platter out for reasons beyond my understanding – but I’ll try and make a case. That is aside from the fact that she recorded Hunde I, a … Continue reading The Next by MAAT

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