Task-trained

Four cheers for Dronarivm's Illuminations II compilation (released today) - as sprawlingly gargantuan as its predecessor a year ago, but this time benefiting a disability charity: 4 Paws for Ability, which 'enriches the lives of children with disabilities by training and placing quality, task-trained service dogs'. 

As before, the collection is fat with contributions from artists in LMYE's pantheon. This geyser of generosity - & creativity - includes Giulio Aldinucci, Anne Chris Bakker, Hakobune, Chihei Hatakeyama, Jacaszek, Loscil, Machinefabriek, Maps and Diagrams, Aaron Martin, New Rome (Tomasz Bednarczyk), Olan Mill & Pausal.

Highlights are headed by the great Machinefabriek's richly detailed Home Choir & Aldinucci's insistent, shimmering Sereno. Loscil's stately Azimuth, Olan Mill's swelling Gray Panics, Pausal's bucolic Quillow, & Bakker's beguiling, whispered Make My Bed in Crystal Waters also stand out, along with subtle pieces by Halftribe & Stefan Wesolowski. 

NB: Pausal's Avifaunal (also on Dronarivm) featured in our recent Festive 33-1/3 - some 30 releases that stood out for LMYE in 2017. 

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

Bells At Boudha

Two exemplary, contrasting releases in support of Nepal: Hibernate's Dayalu / for Nepal & Aaron Dilloway's Sounds of Nepal Volumes 1 - 3. Beneficiaries are the British Red Cross & the America Nepal Medical Foundation, respectively. 

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

The Power of 'Al'

Pausal's hymnal, orchestral, tidal "Autumnal" enchants, the appeal of all these 'als' perhaps subliminal - esp. to a Guy Called Al. Gorgeous and expansive, “Autumnal” trails a forthcoming cassette release of the same name by the cuddly but unfluffy Hampshire duo - due in June (6/7/2011) on Alex Cobb’s Students of Decay (Edition of 100, so look sharp).

Pausal: "Autumnal" by Students of Decay

Their set at The Cube last May was great, putting Chihei Hatakeyama, whom they effectively warmed up for in a somewhat chilly shade.


Hanging halfway-house with Hampshire homies, however briefly, I mentioned to Alex and Simon, not critically, but discursively, talking trajectories of influence and this'n'that'neverything, that their sound had about it more than faint resonances of Stars of the Lid. This was somewhat muttered into (metaphorical) beard, as SotL had kind of become the default knee-jerk referent deployed by Every Reviewer And His Wife in seeking soundalikes for the slow-and-low neo-symphonic upwellings of a new wave of ambient-drone-crones, and it was tired (like SotL's sounds), I knew. But they were happy (tape hiss made them?) to acknowledge SotL’s status as lowlight legends. And undeniably reminiscent this “Autumnal” is, it has to be said, of the cadences of some of SotL’s early-mid period (circa The Ballasted Orchestra / Avec Laudenum).





"Autumnal" sounds very much still in the vein of their acclaimed Barge debut, Lapses (review), and its older smaller relative, Pausal ep (review) (plus, incidentally, see prefiguring autumnal cover below)





While we're here, worth noting that one half of Pausal, Alex Smalley, with sometime string-y contributor, Svitlana Samoylenko, make up Olan Mill, whose fine Pine (on Serein!) is still fragrant.

Olan Mill - An Obedient Ear from Serein on Vimeo.

Olan Mill - A Heavy Leg Cycle from Serein on Vimeo.

Gorgeous Pausal-curated mix (tracklist here) as a bonus for reading this far!

Pausal - Pausal Mix by _type

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