Digger Dug

Digging archaeologist Mark Walters aka Savaran's Observations, via man of perpetual ambient motion, Harry Towell (previously on LMYE), here playing Audio Gourmet host to this ‘electronic musician, sound designer and sound artist working in the ambient, electronic, electro-acoustic and experimental genres from his small home studio on the Welsh border near Shrewsbury.’ The man they call Saravan is not just engaged in musical archaeologies, but is a professional unearther, whose music, we dig, ‘is inspired by the random daily events that life throws at you, landscapes, environment, atmosphere, astronomy, geology, past cultures, or just the indefinable need to make music.’


“The Jewelled Sea” ‘blends coastal field recordings made on holiday in Scotland with gentle ripples of processed and sequenced synthesizer sounds that provide a background swell for the minutiae of hydrophone derived flotsam and jetsam.’


“Inside Out” ‘was inspired by a rainy Sunday morning in Islington, London observing umbrella clad passers-by from a cosy hostelry and soaking up the sights and sounds of the street scene.’


“Lost in Conversation” is ‘a live improvised piece played over the complex crosstalk of multiple conversations in a busy restaurant.’


“1860 Redux” ‘revisits a phonautogram of the oldest song recording made by Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville in April 1860. The song Au Clair de la Lune was sung by an unknown performer and the original lasts just 10 seconds. The faint warbling voice on the original is lost in a fog of hiss and distortion which makes it quite a difficult listen. I stretched and processed the sound with reverbs to create a gentle wash that fades in and out of this ambient track as a small homage and remix of the original achievement.’ (all extracted from here)



Savaran’s recent Resonances can be freely heard via FeedbackLoop...



...who also freepost his Summerday postcard here.

[FPc009] Summerday by Savaran by FbL soundcards



Also worth exhuming is “Luminosity” on the Futuresequence birthday compilation (FS interview him here), Sequence 1, along with 41 others, many of whom familiar to LMYE frequenters. Not got? Tsk. Freeloading ambience-chasers, over here!



On which, incidentally, anorak-clad cross-referencing LMYErs will note, Harry Meets Bartosz again:

Pleq and Spheruleus - A Journey Through Unfamiliar Places by pleq (bartosz dziadosz)



Back to Savaran, there’s “Hidden Places” on the Flaming Pines compilation Burning Palms, described by label owner Kate Carr as 'a compilation about a small beach in Sydney , Australia called Burning Palms. Accessible only on foot, It is the home of black cockatoos, many palm trees and a natural figure eight rock pool. Most contributers haven’t been there. For them this compilation has been a process of imagination and fantasy, for others it has been one of nostalgia, remembering and forgetting. This compilation is about the process of imbuing a place with meaning, a common theme in ambient music. But rather than aiming to uncover some inner essence of the landscape this compilation looks at how this act can be just as much a work of fiction as one of fact. Tracks by: Broken Chip, Savaran, Kate Carr, Sublamp, All N4tural, Manrico Montero, Adam Williams, Darren McClure, Every Bolt Rumbling. Mastering: 12k' Get it here. While downloading, you can ear’ole the Savaran track and eyeball a pic of the Burning Palms-frequenting pumped-up darkside budgie.

02 hidden places - savaran by Flaming Pines



And if you haven't had your fill of Savaran, you can bloat on his float-on Microcosmos, released by Gradient Audio.

Microcosmos (from Gradient Audio Microcosmos EP) by Savaran

Elysian Fields (from Gradient Audio Microcosmos EP) by Savaran

Solar (from the Gradient Audio Microcosmos EP) by Savaran



Important: LMYE only makes music available that artists/labels have chosen to share freely. Let us know if something here shouldn't be.

When Harry Met Bartosz

“a yearning tumult of haunting quietude” jumps out of the mix - in the blurb accompanying A Silent, Swaying Breath, the musical mission of Harry Towell (Spheruleus and Audio Gourmet) and Bartosz Dziadosz (Pleq), that is. And what, pray, might that mission be?

‘...to curate an album created "by the people for the people", to raise funds for those that has been affected by the recent unrest that ravaged cities across the country.’

Various - A Silent Swaying Breath (A Public Record) (Preview) by bartoszdziadosz

When we last checked Pleq, it was his own musicianly prowess that was the object of LMYE’s verbals. Now, his lot thrown in with Towell, facilitated by SoundFjord, it is their joint choreographing of “a statement and a monument to collaboration and community,” that “brings together works selected from 1-minute, unedited recordings gleaned from artists, musicians and the general public across the globe. Spheruleus and Pleq sensitively weave together an eclectic selection of field recordings, samples, spoken word pieces and instrumentation, creating for the listener momentous emotional landscapes, delicate, tender moments and most of all, a yearning tumult of haunting quietude: a silent, swaying breath.”

Various - A Silent Swaying Breath (A Public Record) (Preview 2) by bartoszdziadosz

12 days ago, they said: “We are currently gathering sounds and samples until 05 September 2011. We are interested in receiving unedited recordings (not finished works). The most appropriate recordings will be process and assembled into an album. For further info on how to participate, please download our info sheet here”

If this is the case, no more sound submissions are being taken, though it’s not clear if the soundclouded version is complete, or a sort of in-progress rough mix illustrating the overall concept. Be that as it may, make a note to watch out for release, and give generously, “All profits raised by sales of this album assisting those that have lost their homes and livelihoods and to help provide opportunities for philanthropy, creative expression and collaboration within local community projects.”

Bartosz

Harry

Important: LMYE only makes music available that artists/labels have chosen to share freely. Let us know if something here shouldn't be.

Can't Buy Me Lull

No expense necessary for The Inventors of Aircraft's Lull, its 3 tracks of fine-grained ambience another eloquent exhibit in the case for the quality of free netlabel releases (see those from Saffron Slumber previously on LMYE here). Airy and inventive craftsman Phil Tomsett’s latest (on young Harry Towell’s reliably tasty Audio Gourmet) is the third excellent release in his TIOA project - all freebies - following on last year's As It Is (Resting Bell) and 2008 debut Unknown Language on the now defunct Serein. Lull is, we're told, 'themed around the sea,' but up here at Earslend Mansions we like to be free too! Free, that is, to hang our own signifieds on these floaty-drifty signifiers. No bones to pick, just that all that programme stuff butters no parsnips with us - and, anyway, what matters surely is that this is one of the finest 15-minute lulls around right now.







Lull was recorded during what turned out to be some fairly intense sessions in Phil's studio between December ’10 and January ’11. Label says: “Through these sessions, around 15 pieces of music were collated at various states of completion and it then became an issue as to which he would choose to fit the bill for a fifteen minute Audio Gourmet EP. Throughout the recording process, Phil became unintentionally aware of some kind of sea voyage theme, with flickering imagery of giant ships hauling themselves away from the quayside and powering through the water running through his imagination. When the sessions were complete and the time came to chose the final three tracks for the EP, the sea voyage theme had remained. This prompted the overiding nautical theme to be written into the track titles and the cover artwork too.”

Oh aye, and it’s partly down to Ian Hawgood’s mastering prowess that Lull is so well turned out, as it was on As It Is.



Hear Resting Bell yell: ““As it is” has an enormous warm and dense sound. You’ll find some elements you know from “Unknown Language” like the repetitive melodic motifs over the foundation of droning, growling sounds. But for me “As it is” also sounds like a massive step forward. And massive is the keyword: The sound is one of the thickest and richest things I’ve heard for a while. When I listen to the pieces the best comparison coming to my mind is the black monolith from “2001: A Space Odyssey”. Or the fantastic sound-design from Danny Boyles “Sunshine”. It sounds like something really elemental and physical. And so it is hard to point out one special track or part. The drones and melodies are moving slowly as one organic flood of magma, crawling further and further. And on top you have little scratches and crackles, shimmering and reflecting like the sunlight.””

The Inventors of Aircraft - The Tower by Resting Bell



Get sorted with a full set of Tomsett by grabbing previous release, Unknown Language.

Sample some below:







Important: LMYE only makes music available that artists/labels have chosen to share freely. Let us know if something here shouldn't be.