Tag: Dark Ambient

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Xerxes The Dark – Soundtrack To The Blind Owl

I feel a bit silly admitting this, but for some reason, I thought I had Soundtrack To The Blind Owl previously.  Iran’s foremost dark ambient composer Xerxes The Dark has been active for many years now, and is part of a pretty amazing scene developing in one of the least likely places on Earth.  Then again, with the Internet, I am expecting mind-blowing post-Industrial music to pop out of Togo or Burkina Faso eventually.

To the music.  There are six tracks of ominous drone on this album.  This isn’t a typical drone or ambient album, however.  Xerxes expertly mixes in sounds that would have come from Controlled Bleeding at their harshest point, elements of metal done in a tasteful way, and wrapped in a cinematic vibe that sets it apart from others in the genre.  Creepy is a word I would use to describe the album, but pleasantly so.

This will go down as a genre-defining album for dark ambient and experimental music.  I find Xerxes The Dark’s work challenging and very engaging.

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Various Artists – Anthology Of Exploratory Music From India

India is a country with such an embarrassingly rich musical history that it boggles the mind as to how good it is, and it’s not merely their traditional music.  Jazz, pop, progressive rock, metal and everything else you can imagine seems to flourish there, yet there is only one problem.  There is very little effort exerted to spread their fine music culture outside their borders in the way, say, South Korea or Japan have.

As this blog is focusing more on outside music, Budhaditya Chattopadhyay and our friend Raffaele Pezzella have compiled a list of the best experimental musicians from the Sub-Continent.  All of these are new names for me, so to say this is an exciting release is an understatement, but Unexplained Sounds Group consistently surprise me.

The standout track for me is Ajivika by Hemant Sreekumar.  It reminds me of some of the older ritualistic experimental music I used to enjoy on cassette like Kallabris.  Engaging, weird, a bit creepy at times, but this comp is something else.

Hear Aijivika below:

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Various Artists – Lost Tribe Sound: Salt and Gravity Series

Readers who visit frequently know that I have a few artists and labels who I am happy to champion because they never let me down in terms of quality of music or their curating abilities.  I’m happy to add another label to this list: Lost Tribe Sound.

The label is based out of Wisconsin, and if you enjoy rich, resonating dark ambient music which blends field recordings seamlessly into their compositions, this label is going to keep your attention for a good long while.  The label releases music by such luminaries as Seabuckthorn, William Ryan Fritch and Tony Dupé, and now, they offer a series of releases via subscription.  Take this one seriously, as the music is stunningly rich.

The Salt and Gravity Series is a bundle of eight albums slated for release in October 22, 2021.  This sampler gives you a taste of what to expect.  As I understand it, water seems to be a running theme in this album.  The sounds on each track are rich, but as it stands right now, this particular track stood out for its musical ambience: Stilaan by Belgian composer ‘t Geruis:

The price for the bundle is about $40, but you receive:

• Instant download the songs previewed here
• A Subscription Discount of 10% off our retail price (Normally $50)
• Bandcamp DL codes for all 8 releases (emailed day of release)
• Discount code for 10% off all backcatalog and future releases through the end of 2022.

The curation of this label is phenomenal.  I look forward to hearing much more.

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Various Artists – Unexplained Sounds Group – 7th Annual Report (Mid Year Edition)

Our dear friends at Unexplained Sounds Group release consistently good ambient, post-Industrial and noise music compilations.  As we have reached the mid-point of 2021, Raffaele Pezzella and company have released what they (rightly) deemed to be the best of the year to this point.  From their Bandcamp site:

Unexplained Sounds Group 7th Annual Report (Mid Year Edition) is the Summer edition of USG’s Annual Report series that comes out every year in December, to showcase the best 2021 experimental and avant-garde music. It includes veteran composers alongside younger but equally talented musicians from all around the globe. All musicians here are united by the spirit of pushing the boundaries of music and of charting the new territories thus forged.

The label will, no doubt, continue to produce fine compilations and solo albums for the foreseeable future.  Never believe it when people say there’s no good new music available.  We have the proof!

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Taennya – Natural Serenity

Taennya is Tatyana Maslova, an ambient music composer from Novosibirsk, Siberia, Russia.  The city is home to some of my favorite musicians (including Roman Stolyar and Sergei Belichenko among others), and it looks like I have another musician whose works will be on my playlist for some time to come.

The tracks are instrumental, with big, cavernous washes of sound.  As far as ambient music goes, this gives off a warm, calming feeling without being saccharine.  You will hear beats and voices here and there, and these help to guide you deeper into this enveloping sound.  A very engaging release.

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Cyanosis – Unscathed

Costa Rica, musically, has always been a mystery to me.  The last contact I had was with a brilliant DJ out of San José who hosted a progressive rock radio program, but to find out that there is experimental music coming out of the country is a very pleasant surprise.

Cyanosis is not a stranger to this site, as Efrain Valerio’s work was reviewed when he participated in a split album with our friends Destruktionsanstalt in April.  This is the first chance I have had to hear his own work, and it is as bleak a recording as I have heard in a long time.  This is what power electronics and noise should be.  The sound is claustrophobic, something like being locked in a metal box inside a roaring volcano.  This is literally the first image I had while listening to the album.  It is that brutal, yet it manages to maintain some structure to it, and even has a feeling, in parts that it would have belonged to an Alfred Hitchcock movie had he still been alive during the 2020s.

Very impressive.

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Linn Friberg feat. Zumaia – Oddity Spirale (Remixes) EP

Our dear friend Zumaia has reached the mid-century mark in his life, which is, of course, a wonderful milestone.  We at Music You Need To Hear celebrate his birth, and the exceptional work he does with his label, the Bordeaux-based Kalamine Records.  In honor of this milestone, Linn Friberg, composer and curator of the INTENT series on the label collaborate on a sonic birthday present for fans of the label.

The music is cavernous, full of post-industrial and dark ambient soundscapes.  I would compare the sound to early experimental cassette-based musicians, but the sounds are so utterly crisp that it would do this EP an injustice to compare it to what were, unfortunately, usually muddy recordings.  This resonates deeply in my ears.

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Robert Scott Thompson – Through Circle and Shadow

It’s been a while since I had the pleasure to feature Robert Scott Thompson on our blog, though you will be seeing releases from a label he plays a large role in, Aucourant Records, in the future.

Through Circle and Shadow is a 7-and-a-half minute piece of gentle ambient music which is dark and reminiscent of some Berlin School-related artists, and others like Robert Rich and Steve Roach.  There’s something more cosmic in this release, however, and it sounds magnificent on a set of good headphones.

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Various Artists – Anthology Of Post Industrial Music From Balkan Region

The first of two releases related to our friend Raffaele Pezzella (who performs under the name Sonologyst) for today.

This release from Unexplained Sounds Group is part of a series of compilations of experimental and dark ambient music concentrated in different regions.  This one is particularly special to me as, though my birth city is Los Angeles, those who know me well know that the Balkans has served as a second home to me over the years.  Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Kosovo, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, and Albania all seem to be well-represented, and musically, each track is up to Raffaele’s high standards.  This is a fine travelogue for the region’s best new talent.

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Max Brody – MAXBRODYWORLD TV 2006​-​2007: THE SOUNDTRACK

If you haven’t heard the name Max Brody before, you probably know a lot of the bands he’s worked with: Ministry, the Test Apes, the Butthole Surfers, Scratch Acid, the Big Boys, Lubricated Goat and so many others.  He was a powerhouse drummer in the Austin Industrial music scene, but has since moved to the state of Washington in the Pacific Northwest, where he has been working on projects such as a rock documentary/travel blog which is, sadly, no more.

Of particular interest is the project Fried Smiling which includes my old friend, business partner and a fine video director, Jeffrey Kinart, whose work is influenced by Brian Eno, Jon Hassell and a Fourth World Music vibe in general.  He and Max mesh together quite nicely, and I hope Fried Smiling develops further, as the other tracks are simply solid rock, Industrial and ambient music in general.