The Periodic Sound Journal: ambient

00:04:00

Chihei Hatakeyama + Corey Fuller - Euphotic

23:57:00

Of Earth And Sun – Uncoiled

Artist: Of Earth And Sun

Album: Uncoiled

Label: Malignant Records

Genre: Ambient, Noise, Dark Ambient

There's something inherently creepy about Of Earth And Sun's music. The sound of the bone trumpets offered on most of the tracks are spooky to say the least! They are the main ingredient of Matthew Hunzeker's music (the guy behind this project) as you can hear them buzzing throughout all the tracks of Uncoiled. Of Earth And Sun's artistic expression is a cross between well recorded harsh noise (and I stress on “well recorded”), dark drone and ritualistic music. All the tracks on the album have been recorded live, which is an accomplishment in itself, especially when you consider all the computer based music that is released nowadays. Maintaining that kind of intensity throughout the nine tracks is impressive, it gives a sens of authenticity to a kind of music that can easily sound generic when produced on computers. Furthermore, the use of acoustic elements really ads texture and depth to the album. Also at play here are oscillators, vocals and a drum machine. While I can clearly distinguish the vocals in the music, the oscillators play a much more subtle role as it seems to be used to reinforced the buzzing tone of the bones trumpets by adding a much needed sub bass to the tracks (as heard on “Antahkarana” and ”Consuming Of The Illusory Body”). On other pieces, the oscillators are used in both the low and high frequency range as it is the case in the sublime “Veil Of Illumination” track. Of Earth And Sun's music could easily be the soundtrack of an horror film featuring cannibal rites. This is deep music that will certainly please drone fans as well as anyone interested in hearing something different and well constructed. If I had one complaint to do, is the similarity between the tracks, which makes a very coherent album but at the same time it lacks a bit of variety. That being said, I think it wasn't the point, the idea here was to create a chilling and intense sonic experience, something that transcend the body to bring you to another place and another state of mind. From this point of view, Of Earth And Sun's Uncoiled is an outstanding success. I can easily picture myself listening to this music while reading 19th century occult books about ghosts and witchcraft. Highly recommend!

23:11:00

Baron Oufo – Dar Al-Hikma

23:07:00

Niton – Tiresias

22:21:00

Mario Grönnert and Mondfish - In two seas

Artist: Mario Grönnert and Mondfish
Album: In two seas
Label: Self Released
Genre: Ambient, Drone

Mario Grönnert is an ambient musician based in Quedlinburg, a small town in the center of Germany. During eight years, he worked with the progressive rock band Aera where he learned to play guitar and bass. The man also has two records released by CongaRecords under his belt. For this short album (36 minutes), he decided to work with Mondfish, a Japanese duo of ambient music composers.

The work of both artists are surprising similar in tone, mixing lush pads with pianos and guitars to create very relaxing and meditative tracks. The first piece of the album, « Of departures », sets the tone for the whole album : synthesizers and electric pianos play together in what we can call new age music, while the notes comes slowly and the beat is absent, we're definitely in ambient territory. If you listen to this album expecting experimental drones, you might be disappointed. The drone part of the music is very light and ethereal. Don't expect any deep low-ends and experimental drone action here, In two seas is closer in style to new age than dark ambient. The approach to the genre is very conventional here, and that's bit of a problem.

While the album is definitely well done and superbly produced, I can't help but feel there's a lack of originality to the whole work. The tracks from both artists are hardly distinguishable from one to the other, which is strange, and the track's structures are very similar too. Only on the Mondfish tracks we can hear short burst of white noise here and there combined with a (well played) guitar, underlining the experimental side of their personalities. But it's not enough to help us differentiate one artist from the other. For this reason, none of the tracks really standout.

As a whole, In two seas couldn't be more coherent and homogeneous. However, the sound production is top notch and the music has a calming effect. If you're looking for ambient music that is on a middle ground between drone and new age, Mario Grönnert and Mondfish offer the goods. Otherwise, it might be a too safe album to really stand out from the crowd.