The Predatory Wasp
new forever is the lead single from Hundred Waters producer and multi-instrumentalist trayer tryon’s forthcoming album of the same name, and it’s absolutely wonderful. Less restrained by traditional structures than much of his work with Hundred Waters, it drifts gently – at times recalling the crackling ambience of The Caretaker – with warped vocal textures complimenting beautifully shimmering piano lines.
Yo La Tengo’s latest release is the five-track ambient drone piece We Have Amnesia Sometimes, recorded with a single microphone placed in the middle of the trio. Not that you can necessarily tell that it’s been recorded in this relatively unorthodox way, although there is definitely an all-encompassing quality to the music here; guitars are gently twanged at random, or left to drift endlessly into meandering waves of static and reverb. James gets up… is probably the stand out, and certainly the dreamiest and most relaxing, but it’s worth committing yourself to the album’s half an hour or so running time, and becoming one with the majesty and awesomeness of the cosmos, dude.
I’m only two tracks into The Transcendence Orchestra’s new album Feeling The Spirit, and it’s already a pretty overwhelming experience. Sometimes ambient music can wash over you: enjoyable, but not necessarily something you’re paying much attention to. Hinge Caterpillar manages to be both deeply relaxing and compellingly intense: an experience that grips you throughout, albeit with a touch so delicate you feel as if you could be cast adrift at any moment.
This is taken from Skinned, the new album from Danish artist ML Buch: an electro-pop-ambient hybrid that’s unpredictable, hugely creative and a highly recommended listen. For the majority of its fairly short running time I’m A Girl You Can Hold IRL is nothing more than a vocal and a gentle twanging synth line, before rich, poignant pads rush in for the final quarter, somehow bringing everything that’s come before into even sharper focus.
I’ve loved pretty much everything Julianna Barwick has done over the past decade, so waking up to a new album of hers today was a very welcome surprise. Healing Is A Miracle is everything I’d hoped it would be: immersive, soothing, emotional, fragile, beautiful. Oh, Memory is an early highlight, and further cements my yearning for live shows come back in some form really soon, as if I don’t have the opportunity to listen to this in a church or similarly reverential venue I’m going to be very disappointed.
MDP5 is taken from a pair of EPs Skee Mask released this week that illustrate the two extremes of his music. The first, ISS005 is club-focussed – at times brutal – jungle and breakbeat, while the second ISS006 is entirely beatless, ambient atmospherics, and if you’ve been following this blog for any length of time at all it will be no surprise which of these I’ve gravitated towards.
Listening to any of these tracks in isolation doesn’t really do them justice: as with pretty much all of Skee Mask’s releases there’s a narrative thread that runs though ISS006 that really requires you to listen to it in its entirety to be properly appreciated. But MDP5 nicely illustrates what to expect, and is a marked shift in tone for an artist who, although often dealing in similarly deconstructed electronics, has never gone this stripped-back (or bleak) before.
Like many artists who have unexpectedly had their touring calendars erased by coronavirus, Daniel Avery has been keeping himself busy in the studio, and last week surprise released an entire album of new material, the 14 track Love + Light. “This record has been a real positive force of energy in my life, to the point where it almost formed itself in front of me,” Avery says of the LP. “In that same spirit, I wanted to share it with you now, as soon as it was finished.” Love + Light ranges from full on party techno bangers to hazy, washed out electronic ballads, with the wonderful Fuzzwar occupying a space very much towards the latter end of that spectrum.
The first minute or so of Agency Loop is nothing more than a gently undulating synth line set against the backdrop of some especially tuneful birdsong, and it’s entirely blissful. To be honest, I’m less into the final movement when the drums roll in and it all becomes a bit sub Boards Of Canada, but the tranquility of the that early section is really special. It’s taken from the official soundtrack of Defective Holiday, a trippy indie video game that’s available now on Steam.
Soothing ambient electronics from the New-Age drone duo TENGGER for you today, and I have to say this is the most relaxed I’ve felt listening to music for quite some time. TENGGER translates to ‘unlimited expanse of sky’ in Mongolian, which is incredibly appropriate for the sweeping harmonies and spacious atmospheres conjured by not only this record, but much of their catalogue. Eurasia is from their new album Nomad, which is out now on the brilliantly named Beyond Beyond Is Beyond Records.
While touring her last album There’s Always A Glimmer, Gia Margaret lost her voice, forcing her to prematurely end the tour and spending several weeks at home to recuperate. Initially removing herself from from music entirely, she eventually started playing around with her synthesiser and piano, and had soon written and recorded an album’s worth of (almost wordless) ambient. Mia Gargaret came out last week and is thoroughly beautiful, and 3 movements is just one of many highlights.
The Predatory Wasp 