The Predatory Wasp
Celestial ambient wanderings from Clark that should appeal to anyone who enjoyed last year’s Playground In A Lake. Taken from a compilation of new tracks, unreleased archive material and rarities, collected by the artist to release alongside the remastered reissue of his 2006 LP Body Riddle.
Incredibly chill and glassy ambient from Quiraing, written on an island in Northern Michigan and created mainly from field recordings made on the artist’s journey to reach it. Simple and very effective.
“Don’t judge a book by its cover” etc, but in my experience definitely do judge an album by its cover. Or at least give it a listen. There is literally nothing about the cover of Precipitation’s new album Glass Horizon (or the artist name, or the title for that matter) that suggests I won’t completely love it. And I do! Kinda house, kinda ambient, 100% lush. Sundown in Orgi comes in like Laurent Garnier’s Last Tribute to the 21st Century – all sad pads and longing – before skipping happily off on lo-fi broken beats over a squidgy bassline. Aaaaand… melt.
Composed entirely using his voice, Canadian-based artist Andrew Bennett aka Factor Eight explores mental health and creates a platform to relay his experience with bipolar disorder, with all proceeds being donated to Canadian Mental Health Association Saskatoon. “I hope that through this project, my music might help to inspire a feeling of connection in those who struggle, and sense of compassion in those who struggle to relate.”
There are very few things I enjoy more than discovering an artist I love for the first time; a feeling that is undoubtedly heightened when said artist is also relatively unknown. It’s pretty much the entire reason for this blog: claiming a minute fragment of credit for highlighting incredible music that would otherwise remain unappreciated. Appreciate me, please! Sickening really, but I can’t help who I am. Anyway, If – like me – you hadn’t previously heard of Steve Fors, his new album it’s nothing, but still is some of the best, wistful ambient I’ve heard this year. And I’ve listened to a lot!
https://hallowground.bandcamp.com/album/steve-fors-its-nothing-but-still
A very sad banger from Tomu DJ’s beautiful new album Half Moon Bay. That’s all I’ve got to say about this one: it’s a busy day over at TPW HQ.
Taken from the Canadian ambient musician’s new album Hush Hush, COP26 is one of four pieces that comprise the LP, all of which were created by combining several 16th century choral arrangements that were then altered and spliced together using reel-to-reel machines, before being played live via an array of eight guitar amps. For fans of William Basinski, Stars of the Lid and generally being awestruck while thinking Big Thoughts.
Just listen to those sad chords! Makes me want to cry, in a good way, obviously. This is taken from Planet Mu founder Mike Paradinas’s new album under his µ-Ziq monkier which came out last week. Jungle meets ambient meets hardcore in the prettiest way imaginable.
The Predatory Wasp 