Showing posts with label dark ambient. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dark ambient. Show all posts

06 March 2013

Akusto, Ben - "Disturbance"

Great electronica (9/10)

Rare "Golden Oldies" saved from c-casettes, dat-tapes and old harddrives. Just counterplay it very loud next time your neighbour downstairs is banging the roof with the broom.

However, these are old and rusty songs made late 90's or in other words 10 years ago. About same time as the two previously published: TeddyBear Trilogee and Ambience Session. I just didn't dare to mix&master any track anyhow (except the Camel Boost just a little bit) - so don't expect too high quality and don't ruin your hi-fi stack. I still hope you like what you hear.

It's not pure ambient. At least it's not so simple and quiet as typical ambient tunes are. Nevertheless it's a very very good album. It's not rusty at all, but colorful and brilliant.

[mirror @ archive.org] | [Artist's Website] | [Myspace]



SUPPORT INDEPENDENT ARTISTS

If you like this album and you can afford it, consider supporting the artist by making a donation on this page - use the button "Donate" in the upper left corner.

Creative Commons License

09 January 2013

Nymphomania - "Unashamed"

Dark ambient of the highest quality (10/10)

From the artist:
Earthy meditation loops of processed voice, bass guitar and wind chime, which resound unceasing throughout my new home by the woods. An album for eating nectarines and grapefruits in the early morning. The sequel to "In Spiral Expression".
From the label:
This is a real trip into mind. The fractal image of the inner self. A kaleidoscope of visions that have a meaning, but you should be sure, because taking the wrong path leads you nowhere. The labyrinth built by one's mind may look confusing, but it gives the hints - just listen. And never touch that green switch!

All instruments programmed and played, vocals, music written and arranged by Josh Landry. Artwork by Mike Winchester.

Dark ambient of the highest quality. With long drones flowing slowly through time and space. Only sometimes strange sounds of ethnic instruments or tribal chants remind you that you are taking part in some kind of a primeval ritual.

This record is hypnotic and repetitive, but never boring like so many bad ambient works. Highly recommended to both ambient fans and people looking for a good introduction to this genre.

The album has been released by the artist himself through his Bandcamp store under the "name your price" scheme. You can download it there in a variety of formats, including a lossless FLAC version. This release is copyrighted.

It has been also reissued by the Russian label USC (United Studios Corporation), under the Creative Commons BY-SA license. On their website you will find links for downloading the album for free from several file storage websites, but only in 320 kbit MP3 format. They inform that "By downloading our files from links below you directly support artists and label". By the way - they release music on physical CDs too.



SUPPORT INDEPENDENT ARTISTS

If you like this album and you can afford it, consider supporting the artist by making a donation through Bandcamp.

Creative Commons License

[Artist's Soundcloud]

06 September 2012

Magnetar / Toltek Industries - "Liftoff"

Mixed feelings... (5/10)

This is a collection of tracks dating from 2000-2004.
I called the project Magnetar.
I have plans on releasing another album of tracks from this period.
Phineous

I have mixed feelings after listening to this album. Some tracks are very good, some are rather boring for me. But overall, the album would earn maybe even 7 points, if not... two issues.

Firstly, the sound volume variations. Some parts are so quiet, you must turn the volume up to the maximum. Then, you are attacked by sounds so loud that you cannot hear your own thoughts. So listening to this album requires constant struggle with a volume slider. It is a very stupid and annoying "feature" of some records, which on this one is pushed to extremes.

Secondly, who in their right mind would name such song as no. 3 on this album "Elven Lore"? What these guitars, drums and dark mood have to do with elves? "Orcish pit" would be a much more appropriate name. If the dear author wants to hear music that fits a theme of elves, I will recommend albums of Enya or "Robin Hood" by Clannad.

Of course I did not really lowered my rating because of the name of the track, but because of the sound volume problem.

The album has been published under the Free Art License, which is more or less equivalent to the CC BY-SA license.



SUPPORT INDEPENDENT ARTISTS

If you like this album and you can afford it, consider supporting the artist by making a donation on this page - use the button "Donate" in the upper left corner.

[mirror @ archive.org] | [Myspace]

04 September 2012

Akusto, Ben - "Ambience Session"

Really great ambient (8/10)

This album was kind of an experimental in 1997. It was never released until now. Some of you have maybe heard the Enharmon in some of my gigs. Once again, thanks to Al Cabaro being with me in these studio sessions as a mental help and co-drinker. And thanks to all my friends for just being there all the time.

Please sit down in a peaceful corner, take a deep breath, relax and press play.

This is a really great album. I recommend it to every fan of the darker side of ambient. I also recommend it to people who think this is a boring genre. It sometimes happen - with bad ambient albums. But Ambience Session definitely belongs to this genre and it is not boring even for one second. Boring ambient is just bad ambient.

[mirror @ archive.org] | [Artist's Website] | [Myspace]



SUPPORT INDEPENDENT ARTISTS

If you like this album and you can afford it, consider supporting the artist by making a donation on this page - use the button "Donate" in the upper left corner.

Creative Commons License

03 September 2012

Subterrestrial - "Goddess of Atvatabar, the"

Interesting but too repetitive dark ambient (6/10)

The debut album from this San Francisco Bay Area artist, The Goddess of Atvatabar is inspired by the 1891 hollow earth adventure novel by William R. Bradshaw and leans heavily on dark ambient, tribal ambient and middle eastern musical themes. The Goddess of Atvatabar is a self-released web album and is available as a free download.

This is an interesting dark ambient recording, although too repetitive for my liking. I like experimenting with dark atmosphere and strange sounds. The drawbacks are the said repetitiveness and absurd sound volume differences, forcing a listener to adjust the level throughout the album. For me the best tracks are nos. 01, 02 and 07, because they are not overly repetitive. If you like highly repetitive type of ambient, you can safely add 2 or 3 points to my rating.

I guess using a word "repetitive" in every sentence, when reviewing a repetitive album is somehow repetitive, I mean, is somehow OK, isn't it?

Apart from Jamendo the album is available at archive.org on Subterrestrial's own "netlabel" channel - possibly in better quality, because Jamendo is notorious for very low quality of their mp3 files. Please note that this edition is governed by a different CC license: Creative Commons License. I guess it means you can choose the one that better suits your needs.

[Jamendo mirror @ archive.org] | [Artist's Website] | [Myspace]

Creative Commons License

11 January 2012

Abogix (J.K.), the - "History Of The Necronomicon, the"

Too ambient for me (6/10)
BITTE SPENDET FUER MENSCHEN DIE AN TOURETTE ERKRANKT SIND! JEDEN CENT WIRD VON MIR AN DIE HILFSORGANISATION "CANNABIS PATIENTEN GERMANY" WEITERGELEITET!
Necronomicon-the book of all evil!
Tja,was gibt's da noch zu beschreiben? Reinhören und die Geisterbahnfahrt kann loshegehen! Ach ja,das Cover wurde auch diesmal wieder von WarMock ...diesmal aber in zusammenarbeit mit mir selbst gemacht...also ich machte die Teufelsfratze auf dem Buch das auf dem Cover zu sehen ist...ja und der rest,der grossteil übernahm dann wieder mal der gute WarMock! Thank's Amigo!

Of course Master Abogix never goes below the certain (high) level. However, this album is too ambient for me - saying ambient I mean calm and monotonous. Not much is happening throughout some tracks, apart from the diabolic speeches - what is another drawback for me. I am definitely not keen on including speeches in musical tunes. It distracts attention from the music itself.

Nevertheless, I encourage you to check it out, because as I said the quality of this recording is still very high and it can appeal to you, if you are an ambient fan and inclusion of speeches is not a disadvantage for you.



SUPPORT INDEPENDENT ARTISTS

If you like this album and you can afford it, consider supporting the artist by making a donation.

Creative Commons License

[Artist's Myspace]

01 April 2011

Keiner, Fabio - "Heavy Waters II"

Extremely calm dark ambient (9/10)

all tracks are remixes and reworkings of free samples provided by JOVICA (www.freesound.org)
with best regards and many thanks to jovica storer!

This is extremely calm and quiet ambient. Totally orthodox (that is - completely devoid of rhythms). I usually don't like such music, as it is often boring - I think it is very difficult to make such music interesting. But Mr. Keiner succeeds. His method of keeping the listener's attention focused is to break long quiet drones with very disturbing, dark sounds. It introduces a disturbing atmosphere to the whole recording, 'cause you listen carefully thinking what lurks around the bend. It's like a sonic version of a scary horror movie. Well done!

Creative Commons License

23 March 2011

Abogix (J.K.), the - "Domino Labyrinth, the"

Masterpiece with a single flaw (9/10)

Abogix at his best... except for the track no. 2. The singer's voice isn't interesting, the melody is dull. The instrumental version (no. 8) is great, so it's the singer, who ruins everything. Experiment failed, Mr. Reznamor. ;-)

But it's the only flaw on otherwise perfect album. Other tunes are great - dark, psychedelic, creative, entertaining. Abogix is a master of such music and this album only confirms this.

You can also buy a lossless version of this album on Jamendo for 10 euros.

[Artist's Myspace]



SUPPORT INDEPENDENT ARTISTS

If you like this album and you can afford it, consider supporting the artist by making a donation.

Creative Commons License

21 February 2011

New Slumber, the - "Cirrus"

Interesting ambient (6/10)
second new slumber release at 49manekiow net-lab

Interesting attempt at mixing ambient with traces of noise, maybe except for a third track "cumulonimbus", which is simply boring.

The album has been released by the 49manekinow.net netlabel and is available for downloading at archive.org in mp3 format.

Licencja Creative Commons