bayou version

leslie keffer + nyoka shoje ~ bayou version (shield maiden, 2024)

In usage in the Southern United States, a bayou is a body of water typically found in a flat, low-lying area. It may refer to an extremely slow-moving stream, river, marshy lake, wetland, or creek. They typically contain brackish water highly conducive to fish life and plankton ~ wikipedia

there are many types of drone music ~ from wall-of-sound type and harsh abrasive textures, to mellow tones sustained in the air, pure sound fields of transparency. and that's natural, in the sense that music is a part of nature as well, (a living) being produced by human creatures, which are part of nature as well, want they or not. while most of what we normally consider music is usually an expression of purely human affairs (thoughts, ideas, emotions), drone music always tends to reflect something way more basic. a pure element, refined to complete transparency in almost alchemical sense ~ to see the essence of it. as Maeror Tri, german drone music pioneers stated: "the purpose of this is to reveal primordial forces, the very foundation of consciousness...". "and nature" i should add, because the foundation is common here. 

for example why we should think of a vinyl record as something artificial when it's no different from a tree bark ~ it ages, it can be scratched, it can be destroyed in fire... but it has a history written on it. the only difference i can think of is that every tree has its own history and no bark is the same. nature is very good at making copies, keeping each and every copy unique, but what for? we can follow "the nature" (as some separate object in our mind) by trying to do the same, or we can just accept the fact that through us nature tries the new ways to copy things, to sustain them. and that's why our uniqueness is important, even if it's unseen to the modern eye wearing the market value glasses.  

this album, the first to jump-start a new Shield Maiden label, doesn't try to impress you from the first seconds. it won't be picked up by social media algorithms, it's not something you can impress a party with, only if that's a sleepover party of some droneheads like myself. but this album is meant just to be there. somewhere in the depths of Bandcamp. and i'm glad it exists. because sometimes, late at night or early in the morning, when the life is slow, i can silently enjoy it. not necessarily thinking all the thoughts i had above. maybe not even thinking at all. just being like a tree by a slowly moving stream. soaking some sunlight. and being grateful to be there.

listen ~ support

new management ~ 遠くの見知らぬ人

NEW MANAGEMENT ~ 遠くの見知らぬ人 (experimental records, 2019)

Either it's something of a "the beauty is in the eyes of beholder" kind of case, or it is a true fact, but recently more and more excellent ambient works started to happen in the world of vaporwave music. The specifics of the genre – namely, the fact of not knowing if that's an original work or simply some effects applied an old slowed-down track by a long forgotten artist, – gives an additional dimension to the vaporambient subgenre. You can easily tell what's is going on with more regular kind of songs, but with ambient and drone... It is not clear whether to thank the author for the quality of the work done with the sound editing or for the opportunity to hear something that otherwise would have remained forever in the depths of history... Both, most likely. In any case, the specificity of vaporwave is not to steal someone else's music but to create the right atmosphere using anything you can lay your hands on. Whether it will be a short intro from disco-funk hit or some old elevator Muzak composition. We have enough music gathering virtual dust on the music servers... Why not recycle it?

In the course of the listening to such albums like this one, it is easy to put aside reflections on the topic if the goal justifies the means or not. It's an experience happening right here and now after all.  Soft, enveloping music for subtle immersion into relaxed bliss. A dream disturbed by only slightly strange images, which, however, tend to blur and elude from sight. A sound that dissolves the need to think or to do anything. Sleep potion, gently pulling it into one's arms. Sometimes it may even seem like a sleepy paralysis, an intermediate peace between sleep and reality... An yeah, that's what we used to call hypnagogic some years ago. But there is nothing scary in this state of mind – except, perhaps, the desire to remain in it for as long as possible.

listen ~ support

kyle landstra – unshared properties

kyle landstra – unshared properties vol. I-IV (sacred phrases, 2015)

Quadruple-cassette, limited to 50 copies, will be released on September 25, 2015

When your perception is affected on many levels starting from basic emotion and achieving pure transcendent states of deep meditation experiences – it is a certain sign of good ambient music. What started as an experimentation with lo-fi drone patterns, blossoms now as a gorgeous crystal-clear universe of wide spectrum sounds. Through last few years Kyle's music saw an exponential grow and what we have now presented by always inspiring Sacred Phrases label as a four(!) tape documentation of extensive exploration of variety of synths & effects. Creating different worlds, Kyle Landstra takes us to a journey where astronomical-scaled objects are decorated with exquisite microscopic details and we are constantly moving between them, touching surfaces full of light inside them, feeling warmth of hidden energies and smelling an odours never experienced before. Powerful, but still minimalist sequencing meets here multi-layerness of drones and early-morning pureness of reverberation. Minds are open, all energies interconnected – it's easy to feel the links between Universe and yourself, to travel that way. Ever-unfolding fractal of manifestations that we usually call life. 

In terms of listening, "unshared properties" serves as a powerful tool for consciousness expansion. Usually equal to psychedelic experience it is yet not the same thing. This music isn't hazy or confusing, it has no intention to overwhelm the listener. Instead of that, Kyle creates a state of total awareness, when you can feel everything perfectly clear, when all impressions are perceived simultaneously, but you can easily focus on any selected and move forward watching it evolve without losing attention to any other detail. It's a certain sign of masterpiece and I hope that time will prove this. Meanwhile, we are here and now – probably watching the dawn of a new era in electronic ambient music, and Kyle Landstra works at the forefront of it. 

listen ~ pre-order ~ buy

Braeyden Jae — Turnings

braeyden jae ~ turnings (inner islands, 2015)

The first spring storm died down over city and evening sun caught it quiet, deserted and wet. Sun came out just for a moment to go below the horizon, and the town began to sink slowly into the gray twilight nap. Everything breathed, everything sparkled with some inner light... Trees slowly and gracefully escorted evening breeze with newly greened branches. Young leaves were so bright that even in the falling twillight their color seemed shining as emeralds. You wanted to absorb this color, soak in humidity of air and would stand still on the spot – like a tree, just absorbing all surrounding beauty and freshness, filling with juices in anticipation of a new day... Then time would slow down so that passing passing people and cars would seem like a blurry watercolor brush strokes against a background of other trees. Time has ceased to be something threatening - it would become a best friend. Sunrises and sunsets will be all that would remind of it. And then summer, autumn, winter... Just grow and breathe, grow and breathe. However, this is basic need to not only for trees, but for each of us as well.  

Changing his name once again, Braeyden Jae hasn't changed. The same intimate purity of nature, the giver of magical inspiration that pervades every sound – red thread that permeates all his work from the start. There was change of styles, of approaches, of the sound, but it's just a ripples, reflections on the lake surface... Deep inside, this music carries same heady beautifulness that Softest, Kaliska and WYLD WYZRDZ shared with us. Deeply and sincerely resonating beauty, which may end in experiencing infinite joy or infinite sadness. It all depends on where you direct your attention. The world is built on contrasts, and often it turns out that the sacred places of the world raise their peaks to the Sun not so far from the places where the flooding oil and forest fires destroy all living creatures... Yet, on the highest point of Mr. McKenna's music we can see all contrasts erased – so we can see from the perspective of unite, indivisible universe. Any contradictions are eliminated. Time healed all wounds. Left alone with the latest sounds melting in the air, we cease to perceive time as acute as before. It may be just for a while, but yet it is. We glimpsed into the future and saw that our world is going to be okay. We do not remember what exactly it would be, but clearly feel it. And this is all that matters.

listen ~ buy

paa annandalii

paa annandalii ~ altars (celestial paths ltd., 2015)  

Two excellent celestial journeys guided by Robert Thompson in limited edition of 25 copies each.

Robert Thompson of Quartz Safari and Mohave Triangles fame is returning to shelves of drone lovers with two new titles both exquisite and powerful in terms of deep listening and contemplation. 'Altars' is a closest thing to Mohave's 'Astral Holograms' - synth drone epic that felt like you're going to float in space forever, even when tape will turn into dust inside your deck after centuries of playing on repeat. Dense and think walls of sound combined here, on 'Altars' with lightness, and there are some real magic in doing that. You can dive deeply into the textures of synth flows and then realise that you've gone through them, somewhere to completely different space. It's like flying above the clouds and even higher, to see white sun and black sky on the background. 'Altars' tape proves that sound can be so transcending at some point, that you don't need to know what it was about, when artist recorded it - you just starting to feel and experience something new. And it happens each time when you ready for such experience.

paa annandalii ~ yen pox (celestial paths ltd., 2015) 

'Yen Pox' tape goes to another territories, previously explored by such hermits as Deep Magic, Black Eagle Child and Rambutan - using guitar as source of endless loops forming rainbow-like stairway, but not to heaven (at least in usual meaning), but to higher consciousness levels. Yes, it might be called a 'heaven' of our own self and in that case we can interpret these tracks as mantras or aural mandalas built from brightly shining Nothing. Since the beginning of times people used two main sources of achieving this 'heaven' - sacred plants and music. Both methods are working good, but music is the most exquisite, ethereal and yet powerful. Some sound textures have ability of activating hidden capabilities of mind and our imagination is only first of them. Then goes much more and it gives us much more space of choices, than any psychedelic substance, which impact is usually 'programmed' and predictable. 'Yen Pox' has potential for deepest exploration inside perception and interpretation of our selves and world around. Yet at the same time it may be just nice relaxing music for your evening with book and burning incense. And it's part of this free choice thing. Or free will. As Kyle Landstra once said: 'choose your own adventure type of music'. And what's good - it's a new adventure every time!

listen / download (name your price) / buy cassette

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(hoy damos la bienvenida a un nuevo tree people: Tim Six de Creation VI, autor del blog and you will never learn who is pied paper. y con dos sendas cintas de Robert Thompson :) como siempre, mucha ilusión.)