Plenty compiled

Late? Indisputably. But we can't let 2020 go without acknowledging a raft of outstanding compilations that, like our recent Festive Twenty, succoured these ears over a challenging year. 

The list numbers a baker's dozen. It mostly comprises conventional collections of a single label's output, though one collects disparate pieces from a single artist. It also includes a mix confined to a single label, which seemed both eligible & worth celebrating too.

Along with two further instalments (initiatives that went beyond a single release & an alternative 20), the list helps broaden the Festive Twenty. As emphasised, the Twenty makes no claims of 'best' but is rather what resonated most with us when we recapitulated the year (subject to the restriction of one pick per label/artist, for each contributor's list of 10). 

Besides the deliberate restrictions to maximise inclusiveness, we no doubt overlooked many compelling candidates.

This is the same. In contrast to the Twenty's democracy, however, this list is largely the responsibility of jl - though with al's helpful input.

Several of the releases benefit health, social & environmental charities. Others simply showcase the work of labels or individual artists - including the ultimate meta release in this territory, a vast compilation of compilation tracks...

The longest pick contains over 100 tracks; the shortest, nine. Most are pay what you want. None is more than $10 (for the digital version, anyway).

One was released on New Year's Day 2021, while another (along with a single artist mix that would also have been included but for the 'one pick per' hairshirt) was originally available as a crowdfunding reward for a 2019 campaign. This list is unflinchingly claiming both for the year just gone, all the same.

Mea culpa corner: LMYE, er, compiled a list of outstanding 2019 compilations too, but failed to publish it at the start of 2020 when life (or death, strictly speaking) got in the way. Still not sure how to resolve that failure, but this list - which features several labels who also graced the unpublished list - is a first down-payment on doing so.  

Building A Better Reality: A Benefit Compilation (JMY) 

Distant Lights Receding (TVO)

Gap In Time (Dronarivm) 

Healing Sounds II: A compilation for those in need (Past Inside the Present)

Home Normal (Home Normal)

homework - year 5 (taalem) 

LINEmix6 (LINE)

Moving Music: sounds from the rocking chair (Moving Furniture)

Mutatis Mutandis (Spire)

Mysteries Compilation | Chapter One (Mysteries of the Deep)

Particle Count (Room40)

Points Of No Return (Beacon Sound)

Solitary Hymns (Vaagner)

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

50 + 50 Compiled

ElevenElevations II by Albient on Mixcloud

At the risk of overplaying the 50s riff, here's notice of another 50 - this being the sum of tracks selected from LMYE's Festive 50 + 50 (lookee here and here) and spun into three assemblages for LMYEers' listening (pl)leisure. Here's the first, ElevenElevations I.

ElevenElevations I by albient

The second, ElevenElevations II, is at the top of this post. The third, ElevenElevations III (see what I did there?), is over on mixcloud or just click below (n.b. it's not so much the Evil Twin as the Beaty Triplet).

ElevenElevations III by Albient on Mixcloud

Have a good trip-tych!

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

Ben and Cobb

Getting high on Ben Fleury-Steiner, Alex Cobb & Aquarelle’s heady deliveries on Low Point, LMYE label of 2010, the former with The Places That Find You, download here and white vinyl LP released tomorrow, the latter with a Split EP, download here, also with LP to follow.

Previously on LMYE, heads were upped to Ben’s Infraction gem, Keep a Weather Eye Open. Now, ‘drawing upon his deep love of minimalism and influenced by the work of Mirror, Jonathan Coleclough and Tim Hecker,’ with ‘a mixture of instrumentation, including the use of the kalimba and the various sounds produced when played in the manner of a prepared guitar, coupled with more modern electronic instruments including effects pedals and synths,’ we find The Places That Find You:

The Places That Find You (Album Preview) by Low Point

Celer’s Will Long words the blurb: “First impressions pull closer, strings and fizzles fall, carrying you, reaching further and ending up in an all-new place. Time is simple and less than a moment, with the lasting habit of a worn-out keepsake but nonetheless you are still immediately there again, inside those open arms and a world you have always dreamed of.
In homage to minimalism and imagination, 'The Places That Find You' by Ben Fleury-Steiner embodies an ultimate trance, the ability to connect directly with the listener and the truth behind the feeling of music from the heart. Far away but incredibly close, the five tracks forming this album never return to the ordinary but move, invert and grow, through time-lapse expressions and faded visions.
Some listeners want to be transported to other places through music, whilst others hear the technical artistry and find inspiration to delve deeper into the creative process. Without any direction and by simply following your own natural instincts, 'The Places That Find You' is a guide that places you instantly, allowing each listener to find more, not only through the music but from inside themselves.”

MDME#40 - Memory from Marco Douma on Vimeo.

The collusion of Alex Cobb & Aquarelle on Split LP is not their first association, with Students of Decay boss Cobb releasing the latter’s last waxing (see your LMYE scribe’s scribblings here, and, while you’re at it, there’s previous here). Aquarelle is sound artist and curator of Rest + Noise, Ryan Potts, originally from Wisconsin and currently a resident of Toronto, Canada. Alex Cobb, previously recording as Taiga Remains, under which alias he gave us Ribbons of Dust one of the finest ever minimal guitar drone albums (clips here, and here), originally separate 3”s on his own Students of Decay, then later collected as a full-length on Root Strata.

Split LP (Album Preview) by Low Point

Sam Landry, aka LMYE mucker Le Berger, with blurb verbiage: “Artists sharing a split record are akin to being roommates, with their share of common spaces yet separate headquarters. Such an undertaking tends to bring about elements of juxtaposition, contrast and union. This Low Point release from Alex Cobb & Aquarelle encompasses these and many more in a seamless fashion, breathing an ease of cohabitation throughout.
One side of the vinyl LP picks up where the other left off and there is a manifest impression of torch-bearing with a common decisiveness within these pieces. Their work may be seen not in opposition, but rather as an alternative to the otherwise microwaved and unimaginative drones steadily filling up the modern musical landscape.
Gracing upon themes of immanence, embodiment and metamorphosis, it embarks the listener into deeply immersive sonic territory. The shades and nuances are undeniably subtle but also rich and vast, which makes entering the dwelling of these artists both a mystifying, yet coherent experience all at once.”



Coming soon to a Low Point near you: another split LP, this from Jefre Cantu-Ledesma (previously) with another friend of LMYE, P Jørgensen; there’s also the promise of further Pointed Lowings from Kyle Bobby Dunn, Nickolas Mohanna. and Ex-Easter Island Head.


Hear some here:

Low Point 2011 Preview by Low Point

And for good measure here’s some more Aquarelle from the SoD release:

With Verticals by Students of Decay



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

Keep a Weather Eye Open

A Gareth Hardwick post pushing current Low Point releases listing Ben Fleury-Steiner forthcoming: prompted harking back to and digging out of lamentably overlooked gem from last year (March 2010 release). Ben's Keep a Weather Eye Open on the estimable Infraction got an ‘Also outstanding’ in LMYE’s Festive 50, but there's been barely a peep from anyone elsewhere on this accomplished bit of ambient-drone gear. Good pretext for bigging it up a bit.



Ben F-S lists among his ‘influences’ "Gavin Bryars, Robert Rich, Celer, and Mystery Sea," and his ‘sounds like’ as “A swell of broken and breaking emotion: beautiful shipwreck.” Sounds about right.



What the label says...

“From the inset, "Tender is the opaque morning" the scene has been set on 'Keep a Weather Eye Open' into a Bryars-esque dip into the sunken Titanic. Gently clattering china on a slow drop to the bed of the ocean, faint light filtering through. The band plays on, the notes become submerged & eventually a hymnal drone emerges repeating over and over in slow cycles. This is not the end however, as unlike the ill-fated Vessel of Sleep, this work re-emerges to the surface and into hazy light. Roughly 2 years in the making for release on Infraction - KAWEO is presented in a digipak with a 12 page color booklet in an edition of 900 copies. In addition the first 250 copies will receive a numbered, bonus 3" CDR, "Vessel of Sleep" (INFX 041) which contains 3 additional unreleased tracks, housed in a 6 panel cardstock folder. KAWEO was mastered by Robert Rich. "...from aft came the tunes of the band..... The ship was gradually turning on her nose - just like a duck that goes down for a dive. I had only one thing on my mind - to get away from the suction. The band was still playing. I guess all of the band went down. They were playing "Autumn" then." - Harold Bride, 1912.”



(What Norman Records says)

Audio samples retrievable “Feedback of Day : Sunlit in Stop Frame - Part 1” and “Vessel of Sleep – Part 3”

Keep A Weather Eye Open is dedicated to Danielle Baquet-Long.



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