Ambient – Page 7 – 7th Level Music

Jon Hopkins and ANNA team up for a “night version” of “Deep in the Glowing Heart.”

Jon Hopkins has revealed a transcendent new collaboration with Brazilian techno producer ANNA, “Deep In The Glowing Heart (Night Version).” The original version of “Deep In The Glowing Heart” is found on Hopkins’ Music For Psychedelic Therapy, released last November on Domino. Talking about the original, Hopkins said there is a feeling that “music can cleanse you, music can guide you through.” Today’s “Night Version” takes you on a very different journey. Evolving over a month-long trans-Atlantic collaborative process, “Deep In The Glowing Heart (Night Version)” feels like an explosive release of energy, inspired by Hopkins’ return to regular DJing this year. With early versions of this track being premiered to huge crowds by both artists at their DJ sets across the world – including ANNA at Coachella and Hopkins at Fabric – “Deep In The Glowing Heart (Night Version)” is now available to hear widely for the first time.

Of the collaboration, Hopkins says: “I first came across ANNA’s music through her track ‘Hidden Beauties’, which I found myself playing in DJ sets all the time and always goes down so well. I then asked her to remix ‘Singularity’ and the results were so amazing I was super keen to work with her again but in a more collaborative way, rather than just handing over stems. We went back and forth a lot and it flowed really well. I love how this one turned out, it’s such a meeting of our two styles.”

ANNA adds: “It is a big honor to be able to create music together with Jon. His music is part of my daily life, part of my meditations, my long walks and contemplative moments. My remix for his track ‘Singularity’ had a huge impact on my career and getting to know Jon better since then, and collaborate on this version of DITGH, it feels like our relationship has come full circle!”

Listen to Jon Hopkins & ANNA’s “Deep In The Glowing Heart (Night Version)”
Music For Psychedelic Therapy was Hopkins’ first full-length since the release of sister albums, the GRAMMY-nominated Singularity (2018) and Immunity (2013), and it was a departure in sound from these records; “an album with no beats, not one drum sound, something that is closer to a classical symphony than a dance / electronica record.”

Listen/Watch/Purchase:
Purchase/Stream Music For Psychedelic Therapy
Watch “Sit Around The Fire” (with Ram Dass, East Forest) Visualizer
Watch “Music For Psychedelic Therapy (Excerpt)” Visualizer

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe while you’re here.]

[Thanks to Ahmad at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Nils Frahm releases “Lemon Day” from his upcoming three-hour-long album, “Music for Animals.”

Renowned composer, producer and performer Nils Frahm releases a new single, “Lemon Day,” from his forthcoming album, Music For Animals, out September 23rd on LEITER. The track unfolds at an unhurried, meditative pace in a celebration of tone, timbre and texture, before building up itself in a complex atmospheric way of playing. While the beginning reveals a dark and thoughtful mood, the dynamic evolves into a warm and light tone.

Listen to Nils Frahm’s “Lemon Day”

Containing ten tracks and clocking in at over three hours long, Music For Animals is an ambitious and compelling set different to anything Frahm’s released to date. In fact, it finds the Piano Day founder declining to use a piano, but at the same time retains many of the qualities that have set the influential musician’s work apart over much of the last two decades. “My constant inspiration,” Frahm explains, “was something as mesmerizing as watching a great waterfall or the leaves on a tree in a storm. It’s good we have symphonies and music where there’s a development, but a waterfall doesn’t need an Act 1, 2, 3, then an outcome, and nor do the leaves on a tree in a storm. Some people like watching the leaves rustle and the branches move. This record is for them.”

As a title, Music For Animals is a tongue-in-cheek nod to the conceptual albums of the 1950s – like Raymond Scott’s Music For Babies – as well as to contemporary playlist habits. “I feel a certain frustration with the functional use of music these days, all these playlists with names like Music for Sleeping, Music for Focus, Music for Masturbation,” Frahm laughs. “Music always seems to need to do something useful. That’s a very client-driven logic: the client needs something, the music should deliver that, otherwise ‘You’re Fired!’ With this album, there was no specific audience in mind, and nor was it adapted to any particular purpose. But in fact, it seemed to please the animals I’ve spent a lot of time with these last months, so, you know: if you can’t beat them, join them…!”

At three hours long, Music For Animals might seem initially intimidating, but the truth is that this substantial collection encourages listeners to bask in its tranquility at their chosen depth, demanding only as much attention as they wish to contribute. As Frahm himself happily points out, “It all comes back to that waterfall. If you want to watch it, watch it. If you don’t, then you don’t have to. It will always be the same, yet never quite the same.” Indeed, that’s Music For Animals’ greatest strength. Instantly recognizable, it’s still like nothing else.

Following a European leg, Frahm will tour across North America in support of Music For Animals. A full list of dates can be found below and tickets for all shows are on sale now.

Listen to “Right Right Right”

Pre-order Music For Animals

Nils Frahm Tour Dates
Buy Tickets
Thu. Sept. 22 – Berlin, DE @ Funkhaus
Fri. Sept. 23 – Berlin, DE @ Funkhaus
Sat. Sept. 24 – Berlin, DE @ Funkhaus
Sat. Oct. 1 – Wien, AT @ Konzerthaus
Sun. Oct. 2 – München, DE @ Isarphilharmonie
Mon. Oct. 10 – Katowice, PL @ NOSPR
Oct. 11 – Wroclaw, PL @ NFM
Fri. Oct. 14 – Brussels, BE @ Nuits Sonores at Bozar
Sat. Oct. 15 – Heerlen, NL @ Parkstad Limburg Theaters
Sun. Oct. 16 – Leipzig, DE @ Gewandhaus
Wed. Oct. 19 – Antwerp, BE @ Queen Elizabeth Hall – SOLD OUT
Thu. Oct. 20 – Amsterdam, NL @ Concertgebouw – SOLD OUT
Fri. Oct. 21 – Aarhus, EK @ Musikhuset
Sun. Oct. 23 – Copenhagen, DK @ Royal Danish Opera House
Wed. Oct. 26 – Frankfurt, DE @ Alte Oper
Thu. Nov. 24 – Prague, CZ @ Prague Sounds at Forum Karlin
Sat. Nov. 26 – Paris, FR @ Salle Pleyel – SOLD OUT
Sun. Nov. 27 – Paris, FR @ Salle Pleyel
Wed. Apr. 19, 2023 – Montreal, QC @ Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier
Thu. Apr. 20, 2023 – Brooklyn, NY @ Kings Theatre
Fri. Apr. 21, 2023 – Boston, MA @ Berklee Performance Center
Sat. Apr. 22, 2023 – Toronto, On @ Massey Hall
Sun. Apr. 23, 2023 – Chicago, IL @ TBA
Wed. Apr. 26, 2023 – Vancouver, BC @ Chan Centre
Thu. Apr. 27, 2023 – Seattle, WA @ Paramount
Fri. Apr. 28, 2023 – Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater
Sat. Apr. 29, 2023 – Los Angeles, CA @ Orpheum
Sun. Apr. 30, 2023 – Los Angeles, CA @ Orpheum
Thu. July 11, 2024 – London, UK @ Barbican
Fri. July 12, 2024 – London, UK @ Barbican
Sat. July 13, 2024 – London, UK @ Barbican
Sun. July 14, 2024 – London, UK @ Barbican

Keep your mind open.

[Get music for your inbox by subscribing.]

[Thanks to Yuri at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Brijean announces new EP out August 05, 2022 and premieres new single – “Shy Guy.”

Brijean announces their new Angelo EP (out August 5th on Ghostly International) with lead single “Shy Guy” and new tour dates. Angelo, named after Brijean Murphy‘s 1981 Toyota Celica, features nine songs Brijean have crafted and carried with them through a period of profound change, loss, and relocation. It finds percussionist/singer Murphy and multi-instrumentalist / producer Doug Stuart processing the impossible the only way they know how: through rhythm and movement.

The months surrounding the acclaimed release of Feelings, their full-length Ghostly International debut in 2021 which celebrated tender self-reflection and new possibilities, rang bittersweet with the sudden passing of Murphy’s father and both of Stuart’s parents. In a haze of heartache, the duo left the Bay Area to be near family, resetting in four cities in under two years. Their to-go rig became their traveling studio and these tracks, along with Angelo, became their few constants. Whereas Feelings formed over collaborative jams with friends, Angelo’s sessions presented Murphy and Stuart a chance to record at their most intimate, “to get us out of our grief and into our bodies,” says Murphy.

Like much of Angelo, lead single “Shy Guy” offers levity and movement in spite of the sorrow, and is a motivational anthem for the wallflowers among us. Murphy sets up the daydream: “We are in junior high, we’re on the dance floor, what’s going down, who is dancing, who is not, how are we gonna make them dance?” The narrator, the MC, hypes up the room as conga-driven rhythms bounce between languid synth and guitar lines. “Show me how to move…I feel something…I know you feel it too,” Murphy sings sweetly, calling back to the opening lines of Feelings, and this time the audience chants it back.

Stream “Shy Guy”

On Angelo, Brijean explores new moods and styles, reaching for effervescent dance tempos and technicolor backdrops, vibrant hues in contrast to their more somber human experiences. Angelo beams with positivity and creative renewal — a resourceful, collective answer to “what happens now?”

In support of Angelo, Brijean will play their first headline shows in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Brooklyn, and make international appearances with Poolside in London, Berlin, and Mexico City.

Pre-order/pre-save Angelo EP

Brijean Tour Dates
Sat. June 25 – Denver, CO @ Color Field
Thu. Aug. 11 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
Sat. Aug. 13 – Los Angeles, CA @ Zebulon
Wed. Aug. 17 – Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere Rooftop
Fri. Aug. 19 – Sun. Aug. 22 – Long Pond, PA @ Elements Festival
Sat. Aug. 27 – Mexico City, MX @ Auditorio BlackBerry

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t be shy. Subscribe.]

[Thanks to Patrick at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Kelly Lee Owens announces new album, “LP.8,” due April 29th.

Producer/musician Kelly Lee Owens announces a new album, LP.8, out April 29th (digital) and June 10th (physical) on Smalltown Supersound, and today presents two of its tracks, “Sonic 8” and “Olga.” Born out of a series of studio sessions, LP.8 was created with no preconceptions or expectations: an unbridled exploration into the creative subconscious.

After releasing her acclaimed sophomore album Inner Song in the early days of the pandemic, Owens was faced with the sudden realization that her world tour could no longer go ahead. Keen to make use of this untapped creative energy, she made the spontaneous decision to go to Oslo for a change of scenery and some undisturbed studio time. Arriving to snowglobe conditions and sub-zero temperatures with the borders closed once again, she began spending time in the studio with esteemed avant-noise Lasse Marhaug (known for his work with Merzbow, Sunn O))) and Jenny Hval).

Together, Owens and Marhaug envisioned making music somewhere in between Throbbing Gristle and Enya, artists who have had an enduring impact on Owens’ creative being. In doing so, they paired tough, industrial sounds with ethereal Celtic mysticism, creating music that ebbs and flows between tension and release. One month later, Owens called her label to tell them she had created something of an outlier, her “eighth album.” In Owens’ words, “For me, 8 meant completion – an album that will ripple infinitely with me personally.”

Watch “Sonic 8” Visualizer
Watch “Olga” Visualizer
Pre-Order LP.8

LP.8 Tracklist
1. Release
2. Voice
3. Anadlu
4. S.O (2)
5. Olga
6. Nana Piano
7. Quickening
8. One
9. Sonic 8

Kelly Lee Owens Tour Dates
Fri. June 3 – Melbourne, AU @ Rising Festival Hub
Sat. June 4 – Sydney, AU @ Motorik [DJ Set]
Wed. June 15 – Milan, IT @ Magnolia Fest
Sun. June 19 – Dublin, IE @ Body & Soul Festival
Sat. June 25 – Bristol, UK @ Bristol Sounds
Sat. July 2 – Roskilde, DK @ Roskilde Festival
Fri. July 8 – Bilbao, ES @ Bilbao BBK Live Fest
Sun. July 10 – Modena, IT @ Artivive Festival
Fri. July 22 – Macclesfield, UK @ Bluedot
Sat. July 23 – Hertfordshire, UK @ Standon Calling Festival
Sat. July 30 – London, UK @ South Facing
Sun. July 31 – Sicily, IT @ Ortigia Sound System Festival [DJ Set]
Sat. Aug. 20 – Hasselt, BE @ Pukkelpop
Sun. Aug. 21 – Biddinghuizen, NE @ Lowlands Festival

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe!]

[Thanks to Jessica and Ahmad at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Alister Fawnwoda, Suzanne Ciani, Greg Leisz, and Ghost Marrow take part in a “Snow Ritual” with their new single.

AKP Recordings is excited to announce the expanded Milan (Deluxe) from Alister Fawnwoda, Suzanne Ciani, Greg Leisz to be released digitally on April 15th. Today the first single “Snow Ritual (feat. Ghost Marrow)” is available and features vocals from singer and multi-instrumentalist Aurielle Zeitler.

Listen to the new single HERE, and pre-save the digital release HERE.

The song opens with a mass of sparkling, effervescent synth arpeggios, flitting through the air like snowflakes. The lush, plaintive pedal steel undulations of Greg Leisz emerge and float past like clouds in the sky, billowing above the electronic crystalline mesh. Deep sub bass undertones rise up from beneath the earth, fortifying this imaginary sonic landscape. Aurielle Zeitler, under the moniker Ghost Marrow, contributes a wash of soft, tranquil vocal layers, imbuing the song with a wordless nostalgia. “On “Snow Ritual,” I wanted to join the “drifting by on a cloud” sensation of the beautiful performances by Greg and Suzanne.” says Zeitler. “I recorded two improvised vocal tracks using a delay/loop pedal in an attempt to contribute to the emotional immediacy that I hear in the song.”

Milan is a bracing and expansive collaboration between generations of musical adventurers. Conceived and led by Detroit-based producer and multi-instrumentalist Alister Fawnwoda, the project includes major contributions from legendary 5 time Grammy-nominated synthesizer pioneer Suzanne Ciani, and Grammy-winning pedal steel maestro Greg Leisz.

Intuitively tracing a slowly evolving journey through time, Milan is deep listening music reminiscent of some of the best work of Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, and Pauline Oliveros.

As Ghost Marrow, California singer and multi-instrumentalist Aurielle Zeitler created a space to process her ongoing struggle with a rare bone marrow disease that both inspired the Ghost Marrow moniker and sequestered her to prolonged periods of isolation and loneliness, feelings palpable in her music.

After several years of writing and touring with Sacramento-based doom/indie band Giant Squid, Zeitler embarked on her solo project and recorded the hauntingly transcendent Ghost Marrow (Untitled) in 2012 before presenting different facets of her artistry by making appearances on Tera Melos’ X-ed Out, Emma Ruth Rundle’s Marked For Death, and serving as touring lead guitarist for Chelsea Wolfe. In 2016, Zeitler returned to the Ghost Marrow project, expanding on the wistful sounds of Ghost Marrow with the dispiritedly tender and delicately interwoven Bunraku Warrior, and synth-driven single “Form-a” in 2020.

Zeitler currently lives and works as a high school therapist in Oakland, California and is finishing a new Ghost Marrow record in 2022.

Alister Fawnwoda melds an abundance of influences into a sound that is expansive, ambitious, and authentic to its core. With a creative practice that flows between painting, production, DJ’ing, and beyond, Alister is committed to exploring the boundaries of his talents and potential. Alister is persistently building his repertoire as he makes a name for himself as one of the most promising artists in the City of Detroit. For lovers of classic house, experimental ambient, and everything in between, Alister’s music presents the possibilities of creative exploration.

Keep your mind open.

[Why not subscribe while you’re here?]

[Thanks to Scott at AKP Recordings.]

Review: Jon Hopkins – Music for Psychedelic Therapy

How do you follow up releasing two records of house music, club beats, and dub tracks? If you’re Jon Hopkins, you do it by releasing Music for Psychedelic Therapy – a gorgeous record of ambient meditations that doesn’t have a single beat on it.

As Hopkins said in the liner notes from the press release I received for this album, “I feel I explored that particular sound (house and club music) as much as I could. Next, I wanted to make something that faced the opposite direction, something very far away from a cosmic party or a set of festival-ready bangers…Something looking inwards, something egoless, with no attempts made to ‘fit in.’ It felt like time for a total reset, to wait for music to appear from a different place.”

I don’t think I can put it better than that, and this album is already difficult to describe. It’s more of an experience than a record. “Welcome” sets you up for chakra alignment and to get you into your meditation space. After that follow three tracks called “Tayos Caves, Ecuador,” which put you into a cool, quiet place suitable for dreaming, sleeping, or the “total reset” he mentioned.

The entire record is a reset for whatever is bothering you at the time. “Love Flows Over Us in Prismatic Waves” feels like light hitting you through a window as you watch a rabbit bounce across your lawn. “Deep in the Glowing Heart” reflects the place we all hope to find and reside in at some point in our lives, hopefully in this plane and the next. These are the first two tracks of a thirty-five-minute uninterrupted journey that continues with the hopeful “Ascending, Dawn Sky,” the cosmic energy-tinged “Arriving,” and the beautiful, tear-inducing “Sit Around the Fire” – in which music is set to a recording of the spiritualist Ram Dass.

It’s a record that’s stunning with its simplicity and subtlety. Let it calm and warm you.

Keep your mind open.

[Why not subscribe while you’re here?]

[Thanks to Jessica at Domino Records.]

Top 30 albums of 2021: #’s 25 – 21

Let’s not waste time. Here are the records that cracked my top 25 (of over 60) that I reviewed last year.

#25: The Beths – Auckland, New Zealand, 2020

This delightful live album from The Beths is full of joy. The band was over the moon, the crowd was ecstatic, and daring to open with “I’m Not Getting Excited” was a gutsy move when everyone in the place was bursting with energy.

#24: Acid Dad – Take It from the Dead

Acid Dad were a band I’d heard a lot about, yet didn’t know much about them. I caught them live about an hour from my house and was sold within two songs. Take It from the Dead is a fine psych-rock record with touches of surf that make it a standout.

#23: Ty Segall – Harmonizer

Ty Segall added a bunch of synths and electronic beats to his already heavy fuzz rock, and the result, Harmonizer, was impressive. He showed his love for krautrock and even dance rock, and that he could pull off both genres as easily as psych jams.

#22: Morly – Till I Start Speaking

Easily one of the loveliest and sexiest albums of 2022, Till I Start Speaking is a great mix of Morly’s vocals, electro-beats, and synths. I hadn’t heard of Morly until this record was sent to me, and it was a pleasant discovery.

#21: Pearl & The Oysters – Flowerland

Speaking of lovely records, here’s another one. Bossa nova, disco, ambient, and house all merge together for an album as pretty and trippy as its cover.

Who makes the top 20? You’ll learn tomorrow!

Keep your mind open.

[Why not start off the year by subscribing?]

Review: Bremer / McCoy – Natten

Natten (“The Night”) is a beautiful album of ambience and improvisation from Denmark duo Bremer / McCoy. Written and recorded straight to tape, with no room for second takes, the album becomes meditations and explorations for the bassist (Bremer) and keyboardist (McCoy).

The title track, written by McCoy as he watched a Swedish sunset, opens the record with groovy organ that reminds one of riding in a taxi from the airport into a quiet city as the night emerges. “Mit Hjerte” and “Gratitude” have bright, shining piano from McCoy. “Hjertebarn” sounds like something Vince Guaraldi might’ve dreamed up one night in his studio.

“Nu og Altid” and “April” are dreamy, drifting tracks. “Aurora” and “Nova,” on the other hand, are trippy, cosmic chill-outs. “Måneskin” effortlessly drifts into “Natten (Part 2)” – a welcome return on our relaxing journey – before we end with the sexy and subtle “Lalibela.”

This whole album blends together for an intoxicating sound that lingers with you for a while after you hear it. It’s a delight.

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe before you go.]

[Thanks to Sam at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Review: Brett Naucke – Mirror Ensemble

Chicago’s Brett Naucke teamed up with two other well-respected Chicago musicians, Natalie Chami and Whitney Johnson, to create Mirror Ensemble – an album that combines synthwave, ambient, and even a bit of indie rock to make a meditative gem.

“Vanity Well” gets things off to a mood-altering start, and then “The Glass Shifting” comes in sounding like something from the new Dune film score. The longest track on the album, “A Look That Tells Time,” takes its time to stretch out and let you relax into it with its temple-like bell sounds and lotus flower-drifting-on-a-lazy-river.

“Catch Your Breath,” at a quarter of the previous track’s length, is a short meditation, while “Parallax” is the sound of sunlight shining through a prism. Trust me, you’ll feel this when you hear it. “Rose Water” is equally delightful, while “Sleep with Your Windows Open” is going to become your new favorite song to put on your bedroom speakers this summer. The closer, “Late Century Reflection,” ends the album with slightly up-tempo beats and synths that rise like a flock of birds from the edge of a still lake.

It’s a lovely record, suitable for meditation, making out, or even just walking around the neighborhood.

Keep your mind open.

[Drift over to the subscription box while you’re here.]

[Thanks to Cody at Clandestine PR.]

E.VAX releases “Karst” ahead of new album due tomorrow.

E.VAX – the project of Ratatat’s Evan Mast – announces his new, self-titled album, out September 17th via Because Music, and today presents a new single/video, “Karst.” Performing as half of Ratatat for more than the last decade, Mast’s music has reached an enormous audience with its bombastic merge of rock and electronic music, as well as through his parallel work as a hip-hop producer for artists such as Kanye West, Kid Cudi, and Jay-Z . His new solo album, E.VAX, is a collection of instrumental songs, dolloped with moments of exploratory dialogue, disembodied moments that are equally disorienting and moving. The throughline between the songs on his new album is not a certain signature sound, but Mast’s feel as a producer. Though one song may lean heavier on snappy drums and another on the coo of an organ, they all share a similar sensibility. The songs are sincere, playful, inviting, curious, and contemplative—all characteristics of Mast himself.

For this album, Mast loosened his attitude towards production, looking to capture some of the excitement of creation. He recorded at home, and then midway through the pandemic he spent time in Montana, recording in a friend’s art gallery. The blank space and isolation after so much studio time in close quarters allowed for a new looseness. He’d play songs at the wrong speed to see how it changed what he heard, or deliberately leave a melody untouched for months and then improvise over it after playing it anew for the first time. Unable to get lost in real life, he got lost in music. “I used to be way more precious,” Mast says about his songwriting. “A lot of this stuff on the record is about trying to skip the brain processes that can get in the way of making something that really feels sincere.”

Following his first offering, “Rabindra,” “Karst” features harp and a vintage drum machine. The accompanying video is made of footage that Mast took in China. “One of my favorite moments over the past few years was riding on a scooter with my brother through a landscape of karst mountains in southern China,” says Mast. “I wanted this track to sound the way that felt. I started recording it in Brooklyn during the most intense part of lockdown last spring, and finished it a few months later in a barn at a friend’s place in Montana.”

The “Karst” video is the second installment in a series of music videos he made for all 12 tracks on the album, shot all around the globe. Made up largely of videos Mast shot while walking around and sewn together so they pan slowly, there is simultaneously a feeling of stillness and motion, which is amplified when you encounter strangers looking at the camera.
Watch E.VAX’s Video for “Karst”

Watch the “Rabindra” Video

Pre-order E.VAX

E.VAX Tracklist
1. Rabindra
2. Karst
3. Always
4. What About You
5. Manila
6. Anything At All
7. Kolkata
8. Pretty Good
9. New Words
10. Little Lung
11. Koko
12. Actual Air

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe before you split.]

[Thanks to Jacob at Pitch Perfect PR.]