Lend Me Your August

Another month's listening: from Ferkat Al Ard & Rainer Maria to Merry Clayton & Wellesley Braham via The Necks, Ornette & Dylan...

A smattering from August's Bandcamp-able portion: 

 

 

If you do Spotify, the whole thing is here & below:

 

Important: LMYE only makes music available that artists/labels have chosen to share freely. Let us know if something here shouldn't be.

Lend Me Another Week

'Sure, here are some comments on the tracks you mentioned:

Walking in the Rain by Flash in the Pan is a catchy and upbeat pop song that will have you grooving along. The song's infectious melody and relatable lyrics make it a timeless classic.

Let's Be Adult by Arto Lindsay is a quirky and experimental track that is sure to challenge your eardrums.The song's unconventional instrumentation and off-beat rhythms make it a unique and intriguing listen.

 

You Know More Than I Know by John Cale is a haunting and atmospheric song that will transport you to another dimension. The song's dissonant chords and Cale's haunting vocals create a palpable sense of dread.

Samba Dee by The Southern University Jazz Ensemble is a lively and energetic track that will get your feet tapping. The song's infectious groove and upbeat tempo make it a perfect party starter.

Jungle Gods (1977 Version) by William Onyeabor is a psychedelic and otherworldly track that will leave you feeling disoriented and amazed. The song's swirling synths and driving rhythms create a chaotic and exhilarating soundscape.

Jungle Magic by Benni Cletin is a funky and groovy track that will have you moving your body. The song's infectious bassline and catchy melody make it a surefire dancefloor hit.

The Party by Godley & Creme is a playful and lighthearted track that is sure to put a smile on your face. The song's upbeat tempo and catchy lyrics make it a perfect mood booster.

That Rongeng Sound by Leong Lau is a traditional Chinese opera song that is both beautiful and haunting. The song's delicate melodies and powerful vocals create a captivating and immersive listening experience.

Mansion Worlds by Pharaoh Sanders is a spiritual and meditative track that will transport you to a higher plane of consciousness. The song's ethereal melodies and otherworldly textures create a sense of peace and tranquility.

Land of the Lonely by McCoy Tyner is a soulful and introspective track that will resonate with anyone who has ever felt alone. The song's melancholic melody and Tyner's expressive piano playing create a powerful and poignant listening experience.

I hope you enjoy these tracks!'

If you do Spotify, the whole thing is here & below: 

Important: LMYE only makes music available that artists/labels have chosen to share freely. Let us know if something here shouldn't be.

Rocambolesco

It's hardly a surprise from the home of Cosi, Ielasi, Orsi & Ratti, of course. But so much ravishing music emerged there in 2016 that if we were indifferent enough to the category's absurdity Italy would surely be LMYE's Country of the Year...

As our Festive 33-1/3 - out tomorrow, allegedly - will show, some of the 2016 releases that mattered most to these ears are by Italian artists. A number of those that fell victim to our hair-shirted methodology (only one release per label/artist) are too. 

This, ahem, renaissance embraces a host of styles - from post-rock to ultra-minimalism. Given that, is there anything distinctively Italian threading them together beyond nationality? 

Perhaps. Many of the artists below manifest notable care & restraint over their sounds - a commitment to selection & balance that seems rooted in the country's broader culture. Che figata!

Bonus:



Important: LMYE only makes music available that artists/labels have chosen to share freely. Let us know if something here shouldn't be.

Avian circled

A darkly diverting Benoit Pioulard swag bag to follow up yesterday's post on Calder from his new Play Thelma. Besides a preview of this plangent, resonant EP ("Recorded at home throughout spring and summer 2011 with guitar, harmonium, voice, magnetic tape, bowed bells, cello, warnophone, and music box"), below hear a rewarding trio of unreleased workouts - two (including the exceptional, knotty I hate that I have this friendly face) again made domestically but in just three days back in January, & the third a stately, twangy tape loop "created on the first 60 degree day of the year"...

benoit honore pioulard - plays thelma (album preview)


I hate that I have this friendly face by Benoît Pioulard


I count my sins like pearls by Benoît Pioulard


I emptied my lungs into the dirigible by Benoît Pioulard

Important: LMYE only makes music available that artists/labels have chosen to share freely. Let us know if something here shouldn't be.

Low rider

Hailed 12 months ago as our 'new discovery' label of 2009, Low Point is LMYE's label of the year after a near-flawless septet of releases that refined its traditional aesthetic to new levels of intensity & beauty, & moved beyond it with an invigorating boldness. What started life five years ago as a vehicle for Gareth Hardwick (both solo & as Bologna Pony) ends 2010 a benchmark of challenging, compelling music.

Read an exclusive interview with Hardwick below that explores Low Point's "logical progression", as well as vinyl love, streaming strategy & a tasty trio of forthcoming releases.

Low Point's outstandingly open-eared output this year - an unbroken run of that recalls the brilliant sequence that made Type our previous label of the year - ranges fully across the ambient-drone-experimental spectrum the label defines for itself. In the course of just seven records it travels the long & unobvious way from exquisite takes on drone like Kyle Bobby Dunn's post-classical masterpiece A Young Person's Guide To [previous coverage], the flooding, luxurious warmth of Christopher Hipgrave's ravishing Slow, With Pages Of Fluttering Interference & Hardwick's own Of The Sea And Shore to the clattering, loose-limbed vigour of Spartak's Verona [previous] & Ex-Easter Island Head's Mallet Guitars One.

KDB, Hipgrave & Hardwick mark some kind of apotheosis of the classic Low Point sound. Dense, detailed, lulling, even tender, this dominated last year's releases through peaks like p joergensen's To, Celer's Brittle, the Fabio Orsi/Seaworthy encounter Near And Faraway & Hardwick's all-star remix project Aversions.

Of course there were deviations last year, as there have been all the way back to the label's founding. But 2010 carried this to new heights as Spartak & EEIH supplemented the darker metallics of Dag Rosenqvist & Simon Scott's gripping Conformists soundtrack [previous] & the billowing neo-kosmischness of Nickolas Mohanna's Transmission Hue [previous].

How has Low Point developed this year (is this your biggest year for new releases)? Have you done anything different in 2010? Anything new you want to keep doing now it's started?

2010 for Low Point has mainly been about building upon the momentum established towards the end of 2009 where the frequency and unit run for releases increased significantly. I wouldn’t say that anything radically different has changed in the way the label is run, though I would say that the label has adopted a more focused outlook than before as in the past the release schedule was more casually planned out.

Why drone?

Ambient, drone and experimental music are genres that I’ve always been interested in. Beginning initially as a listener, then a musician working in that sphere of music, the reason Low Point was established was a way to self release my own material, so it has all been quite a logical progression.

Is there a Low Point sound or typical artist?

I’d like to think not, though it’s inevitable that artists working within the same genre(s) of music are going to draw comparisons to one another. When an artist submits a demo to the label for consideration, the last thing I want to do is spend the entire time comparing them to other artists who are already on the Low Point roster.

Any Low Point artists you believe merit more attention than they've had so far?

I think it’d be unfair to single out any particular release/artist, though it’s reasonable to say that on a couple of occasions, I have been really disappointed when an album hasn’t received the reaction I thought it deserved. I see each release as a real labour of love (for both the artist and the label), so when a release is overlooked it is something I do find it hard not to take it personally!

How do you see Low Point developing in the future? Any new artists you can mention &/or forthcoming new releases from established Low Point artists? More/less vinyl? Cassettes?

From now on, Low Point is hoping to predominantly produce vinyl releases. Vinyl has always been my preferred format and it seems that the popularity of cds is declining rapidly at the minute. I’m hoping to incorporate some sort of facility for digital downloads as well for the people who are that way inclined.

Personally speaking, I’ve never seen the appeal of cassettes, so it’s doubtful Low Point will ever do a release on that format.

The first three releases for 2011 are:

Tim Catlin and Machinefabriek ‘Patina’ LP

Gareth Hardwick ‘Sunday Afternoon’ LP

Chubby Wolf ‘The Darker Sex’ 7”

Best thing anyone's said/written about Low Point music? Worst?

On the whole I believe that Low Point has been fortunate enough to receive generally positive responses to each of its releases. It’s always flattering when someone has taken the time and effort to write something constructive and complimentary about one of the releases.

It’s inevitable that negative opinions surface every now and again, though in the majority of cases I don’t tend to dwell on them.

What's the thinking behind your use of Soundcloud streams?

In the past I have discovered mp3s of Low Point albums uploaded to file sharing websites/discussion forums literally within days of its release. This thoughtless distribution of music is one of my pet hates, though I’ll save this particular argument for another time.

The use of Soundcloud streams is a flexible way for me to allow previews of a release without the necessity of file sharing. Hopefully it whets the listeners’ appetite so that they will be keen to purchase a release but doesn’t ruin the surprise of listening to an album in its entirety for the first time.

How important is artwork to your releases?

As many of the artists on the Low Point roster either have an involvement in graphic design or are keen photographers, I’d say that the artwork is a key element of each Low Point release.

Though it’s fair to say that the majority of the releases on the label aren’t overly flashy (quite the opposite in fact) when it comes to their artwork, I’d like to think that they are all packaged in an attractive manner.

How challenging a time is this for labels?

To be honest, I’m not sure I can answer that question. The audience that has been interested in Low Point has been quite consistent during the period of time I’ve been releasing records, so fortunately I haven’t experienced any great downturn in sales.

I would say that it’d probably be a completely different situation if I started Low Point in the present day though. There seems to be a significant increase in labels catering for the same people in the last year or so, which would make it more difficult for Low Point to compete.

Discogs / SoundCloud

Christopher Hipgrave > Slow, With Pages Of Fluttering Interference

Gareth Hardwick > Of The Sea And Shore

Kyle Bobby Dunn > A Young Person's Guide To

Spartak > Verona

Nickolas Mohanna > Transmission Hue

Dag Rosenqvist & Simon Scott > Side A excerpt 2

Ex-Easter Island Head > 3rd Movement [excerpt]

Past Hardwick highlights > Lost In The Memory [excerpt] (from Split LP) > High Tension [excerpt] (from Split 10") > Lost In The Memory (Machinefabriek remix) [excerpt] / High Tension (Xela remix) [excerpt] / Carnations (Steinbruechel remix) [excerpt] / Dissolve (Chris Herbert remix) [excerpt] / Last Heights (Library Tapes remix) [excerpt] (all from Aversions)

Important: LMYE only makes music available that artists/labels have chosen to share freely. Let us know if something here shouldn't be.

Cloud preformation

A footnote to a fret - a few survivors of an earlier curatorial attempt: there were twice as many tracks originally, but - in the way of SoundCloud - some are no longer available & I went off one). As before, not a mix but a segue curated from LMYE's SoundCloud stream into some kind of logical or persuasive or otherwise appealing sequence...

Featuring Juv, Pillowdiver, Andrew Hargreaves/Danny Norbury, Damian Valles & Keith Fullerton Whitman.

Juv > Rundgang (via miasmah)

pillowdiver > Drugged on the permafrost

Andrew Hargreaves featuring Danny Norbury > Confusion In Consequence (via Fluid Radio)

Damian Valles > Untitled A.2

keith fullerton whitman > 100911.hopscotch.outro

Important: LMYE only makes music available that artists/labels have chosen to share freely. Let us know if something here shouldn't be.

Below sea level

Typical. You wait months for a new Simon Scott record, only for three to turn up in convoy...in the space of a few days, a contrasting trio of releases linked by their evident sincerity, their richness of detail & depth - an immense & hugely subtle soundtrack collaboration with Dag Rosenqvist (aka Jasper TX: most recent LMYE coverage) on Low Point, an intricate, beguiling solo release for Slaapwel (previously on LMYE) & a touching acoustic/sung 7" for Sonic Pieces (previously).

"‘Conformists’ is a soundtrack album to the short film of the same name composed by Dag Rosenqvist (aka Jasper TX) and Simon Scott.

The origin of the album occurred when Dag was approached by filmmaker Juriaan Booij to provide music for a film he was planning to shoot. Before a single frame was committed to celluloid, the overview provided to Dag was to score a film about how group mentality rules us as humans.

Equipped with only this simple brief, access to a handful of storyboard images and stills from the film set, Dag decided to ask friend and colleague Simon to collaborate on the project. Through the long-distance exchange of files, ideas and half-finished tracks, ten pieces were completed for the film score.

The resulting soundtrack is music rich in subtlety and nuance. Matching the overarching themes of the film, an undercurrent of menace is present throughout, evoking the feeling of half-forgotten memories and imagery drained of its colour.

It should be noted that one of the strengths of ‘Conformists’ is that unlike many film scores, the album also works as an entity in its own right. It was uncertain for a time that the film was going to be completed. As a result of the artists’ creative juices flowing thick and fast, the album was completed as a collaboration based on a film they imagined would be made..."

Dag Rosenqvist & Simon Scott > Conformists [Side A excerpt 1] (via Low Point)

Dag Rosenqvist & Simon Scott > Conformists [Side A excerpt 2] (via Low Point)

Dag Rosenqvist & Simon Scott > Conformists [Side B excerpt 1] (via Low Point)

The Spirit of Gravity

""I fall asleep in the sunshine quite a lot listening to music and this was my initial inspiration for composing 'Silenne'. When I played the guitar loop to Dag Rosenqvist, aka Jasper TX, who was staying at my house in Cambridge he suggested I send it into Slaapwel. I was flattered and pleased he'd heard the narcoleptic qualities within this music which I further developed by adding complimentary sine waves from SuperCollider alongside MaxMSP processed vocals that ebb and flow together in the final mix that Taylor Deupree mastered. It generally takes me 33 minutes to drop off so I cut the loop at this mark hence the length of the track".

NB: Silenne edit featured in this mix of Simon's for Fluid Radio.

NB: Simon contributes "electronics'/programmed textures" to SWWW, alongside the likes of Aidan Baker & Hildur Gudnadottir.

Simon Scott > Dissolving Memories

Simon Scott > process part 153 (Under Crumbling Skies) (via modyfier)

Recent interview. & another. modyfier process series comment.

Discogs.

Previous coverage (also here, here & here).

Important: LMYE only makes music available that artists/labels have chosen to share freely. Let us know if something here shouldn't be.