Genre fiction
By quirk of fate, Kim Wilkins’s (see previous post) husband Mirko is a an active creator of one of my other favourite pastimes – ambient music. His output as deepspace is remarkable – guided, abstract and considered. His albums include CDs and some downloadable/last.fm listenable works so there’s a chance to listen before you buy.
It’s kind of cool for me to be a fan of both Kim and Mirko, for different reasons.
Following the wonderful eponymous album on SEM and delicious follow up “Laminae” on The Land Of, The Green Kingdom’s new album “Twig and Twine” is out now on Own Records.
Listeners familiar with Michael Cottone’s work, as The Green Kingdom, from his earlier albums are in for a treat. Twig and Twine is at once a progression from the earlier works but also a compliment to both. Using more complex arrangements and crisper instrumentation this new album highlights Cottone’s skill as a composer with a fine sense of sound and atmosphere. Part of the blurb on the Own Records site describes tracks that “blur the line between soundscape and structure”, and I second that. This is exactly the kind of engaging music that is precise enough to be both background and foreground. I found that listening to it immediately following his previous two albums, it really shines like a kind of capstone. And as a stand alone album, this is one of my highlights from the year.
Well, still processing this APRA business. It looks like it might be as much as $200 to opt out of my APRA membership – whew! That would make me wonder about whether to continue Venus Vulture at all – perhaps its the universe telling me to concentrate on writing …
Well, the APRA/GEMA thing didn’t go away or get smooth as I thought it may have. My releases – Signal Artifacts and phantomshadows – are both unavailable until I can sort that out. Kind of no one to blame, just bureaucracy. I’m trying to get more music up and around. Will update soon. Mood – sad.
The Venus Vulture track Distant Rainfall part 2 from the Heavy Skies EP has been included on Stroll, one of the four best of NTNS radio – AprMayJune 2009 compilations, which also includes tracks from Resting Bell and TestTube labelmates, Phillip Wilkerson, Sylvie Walder & entia non and d’incise. Mark of NTNS has been a great supporter, as well a playing tracks on the radio show, he also included a track from Signal Artifacts on the end of year compilation Sun in 2008.
This is a concept piece comprised of long and short ambient tracks from a half minute to around fourteen minutes – the whole album it 53 minutes long, still a soundscape but with perhaps the most melodic stuff I’ve released so far.
Click here for the Test Tube site and download links.
As the result of some collaboration and encouragement the new Venus Vulture EP Heavy Skies is out now. This includes the track We Heard Distant Rainfall created for the sommeil sleep concert. You can download from bandcamp. Thanks to Craig from TurkbyTone Rekkids and to Tanner Menard, the awesome curator of sommeil.
Download from Bandcamp
Label info TurkbyTone Rekkids
Tanner Menard
Tanner Menard is curating an amazing event – a nine-hour long mix of ambient music to sleep to. The mix will include the Venus Vulture track We Heard Distant Rainfall. See more about the event in the press release at Tanner’s site. “Sleep concerts are all-night events in which the audience is asked to attend the concert with a sleeping bag and pillow and to fall asleep while a slowly unfolding sonic texture evolves over the course of the night and into the morning”. The concert takes place on the night of April 11th, in New Orleans
Triple V Publishing 