REVIEW ON FLUID RADIO, BY ALEX GIBSON:"When dealing with a release structured solely around the concept of physical disintegration, it would be a fair assumption that the material would be foreboding and gloomy – but not so on the album ‘Decompose’ by Spheruleus, recently released on Audio Gourmet. Based around the idea of organisms of all types breaking down into another form over time, the eight tracks are thematically constructed from what appear to have been carefully built loops and layers of field noise. These are in turn deconstructed in a process of “decomposition”, forming new pieces in their own right.
Proceedings open with “Corroding”, which sets the stage for the hour to follow. Both cavernous and aquatic, it introduces the mood and tone of the layers used in all tracks. The texture sounds are gritty without being abrasive, and are used to good effect in creating an environment best appreciated through headphones late at night. What appear to be guitar notes chime in a circular motif throughout, creating a subtle melody blending with well placed layers that rise and fall in both sides of the speakers.
As the process of disintegration is a long and slow one, most pieces are aptly lengthy, most being the best part of ten minutes each – the size of each track really captures the listener, and the album as a whole represents a real journey that envelops and commands attention. It wasn’t until the third or fourth listen that I even registered the absence of a defined bottom end – which is an entirely appropriate decision by the artist, given the subject matter. An exploration of graceful degradation rightly should not carry too much weight?
A few of the standout tracks are “Decay” – an even and percussive pulse which hints at a crescendo never quite arriving, swaying with well placed guitar flares, micro noise and almost perceptible layers. “Disintegrate” conjures an image of time lapse film of fallen birds becoming one with the earth, and “Recycling” alternates between metallic and organic tones – you can hear the fingerprints on the empty drink cans as they’re sorted to be melted down, moving towards the furnace.
Harry Towell and his brother Stuart have developed between them a statement on the ephemeral and transitory nature of the world we move in today.
Audio Gourmet’s recent releases have been based around the concept of “teabreak” length listens, slices of music that can be digested in 15 minutes or less – this represents a move towards “lunchbreak” length portions of music of an hour or more. The teabreak EP’s have been free downloads, however the “Decompose” project is a paid download due to the seemingly considerable time and effort that has gone into producing it. It’s as good a 5 pound download as one could hope to find as well, with striking cover art by French artist Eric Lacombe (Monstror). It’s available in the multiple file types (lossless included) that you’d expect from Bandcamp. It come up well in the 320k MP3 files I grabbed, but would doubtless shine even brighter as FLAC.
“Decompose” sat well in most environments – it was the first thing I listened to in the morning, and steadied my nerves before a demanding day at work – it wiped it away once I was done, and was also worthy of the complete attention given to it late at night. I’m uncertain as to how it was mastered, but it plays well both in headphones and hitting the air. It also displays one of the traits that good records possess – it changes form with every listen, and by concentrating on one particular part of the spectrum, another part displays itself in a way that it hadn’t previously.
As the tracks have been developed out of musical parts that have been treated and broken down, they retain a hint of their former shape. There’s a lot of implied melody, where after you’ve finished listening you’re left with a phrase that wasn’t actually there, but was a combination of parts operating in tandem to create the part in between your ears.
Can’t wait for the next one."
Friday, July 9, 2010
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
'Decompose' was originally conceived as an album project when I got thinking the about method in which I create ambient music. Typically, I would perform or 'compose' a melody on an instrument and record this take when I was happy with it. Then, the next step is to record another harmonically compatible layer with a different instrument. This will continue with up to four or so compositions and then I would begin to 'decompose' them into an abstract ambient/drone soundscape.
As I began to gather the tracks for 'Decompose' my attention turned to the track titles and that's when the concept of the album began to branch out to reference and portray the seemingly endless cycle of the world around us. When an organism ceases, it decomposes and becomes part of something else - it will rot into the soil and the disintegrating fragments will eventually take form as something else. This is not just the case with living organisms; it is also the case with everyday house hold objects, buildings and seemingly everything. The world will naturally recycle - very little disappears completely.
Special thanks to my brother Stuart, who performed the guitar samples that helped form 'Decay' and 'Rots To Nothing?'
Artwork by Eric 'Monstror' Lacombe. Visit http://monstror.blogspot.com/ to view more of his superb artwork. With the album concept in mind, throughout the recording process I would constantly refer to this album cover image for inspiration. I'd like to thank Eric for allowing me to use his work for this album and also, for the artwork on my albums 'Frozen Quarters' and 'Tales From The Labyrinth".
With extra special thanks to friends, labels and fellow artists that have helped support both the Spheruleus project and the Audio Gourmet label
Rural Colours
Just thought I'd inform of a new netlabel/label run by Hibernate Records owner Jonathan Lees. It will contain free high-quality releases focussing on the exerimental folk, ambient and drone genres, available for free download through the website.
There is also a subscription option available, which will buy you a pack of three 3" CDrs and access to mp3s as soon as the masters arrive!
So far, we've had two superb releases from Beginnings and Listening Mirror...
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Movement 1 by Audio Gourmet Netlabel
http://soundcloud.com/user5563922/movement-1
Forthcoming piece by Spheruleus...artwork by Eric Lacombe (Monstror) http://monstror.blogspot.com
Methods:
Recorded and treated compositions of piano and zither.
Additional accent melodies ran through granular synthesis and treated further to create lulling ambient drones
Spheruleus - Marooned (Volume One)
Marooned is a new annual mix CD project from Harry Towell, who is also known for running the Audio Gourmet label www.audiogourmet.co.uk and for his sound design work as Spheruleus.
For Volume One, the Marooned series kicks off with a whopping sixty tracks all mixed seamlessly and harmonically into an immersive ambient collage. It features sections of deep drones, glimpses of modern classical and is altogether a sleepy selection of ever expanding ambient moments. For those who are very much interested in ambient music, this will be a great mix of both familiar and unfamiliar works. For those who are relatively new to ambient music, this should be the perfect introduction to this wonderful style of music. Please support and read up about the artists and labels who have formed part of this mix.
TRACKLIST:
01 Vincent Kuhner “First”
02 Pillowdiver “Eleven”
03 Foci’s Left “Regurgitated Impulses” (David Tagg Remix)
04 Rim “Gusts Of Sand”
05 Michael Trommer “Wallace Stevens”
06 Ian Hawgood “The Marbled World”
07 Arcticology “Forest”
08 IJO “Stomm”
09 Darren Harper “Leaves and Piano”
10 Offthesky “Burning Of Pella Soleil”
11 Jannick Schou “Polar Drone”
12 Damian Valles “Ridge and Furrow”
13 Andrew Thomas “Hazer II”
14 Pausal “Fall On Certain Accents”
15 Parhelion “Forgotten Outpost”
16 Stray Ghost “Part Six”
17 David Velez “Lev”
18 Fabio Orsi “Part One”
19 Jacob Newman “Slow Wave Dreaming”
20 Maps and Diagrams “The Melancholy Of The Weavers”
21 Gareth Hardwick “London”
22 Christopher Hipgrave “Go With The Loops”
23 Warmth Terminal “They Sat Down And Sighed Happily”
24 Rafael Anton Irisarri “Hopes and Past Desires”
25 Pawn “Bottom Of Bottle”
26 Ian Hawgood “Sulci”
27 Hessien “Neroli Orange Blossom”
28 Herzog “Congratulations, Here’s Your Mountain”
29 Exuviae “Luminosity”
30 Heezen “Intro”
31 Christopher Willits and Ryuichi Sakamoto “Umi”
32 Richard Moult “Procyon Over Beinn Airigh Charr”
33 Ennio Mazzon “De La Lutte”
34 Robert Fripp and Brian Eno “Wind On Water”
35 Mark Templeton “Pigeon Hurt”
36 Ibreathefur “Waking Up Sync”
37 Olan Mill “An Obedient Ear”
38 Talvihorros “And Then They Walked Into The Sea”
39 Tobias Hellkvist “Sore”
40 Rameses III “Clouds King”
41 Harold Budd and Clive Wright “Damask, Then”
42 Mountains “Below”
43 Carl Sagan’s Ghost “Hallowed and Hungry”
44 Spheruleus “Opaque”
45 Brian Grainger “Brittle Harvest Memory”
46 Oathless “Der Flug”
47 Taylor Deupree “Snow, Dusk, Dawn”
48 M.Ostermeier “Lost Weekend”
49 Jasper TX “A” (Remix by Xela)
50 Ithaca Trio “Catching Monkeyes”
51 Bohren & Der Club Of Gore “Welten”
52 Shaula “Ghost Of Me”
53 Hiroki Sasajima “Roukoku”
54 Chihei Hatakeyama “Under The Sun”
55 Christopher Hipgrave “Bright and Fluid As Mercury”
56 Letna “Jezera”
57 Jasper Leyland “It Swept”
58 Svarte Greiner “Ullsokk”
59 Svarte Greiner “The Black Dress”
60 Spheruleus “The Tide On Blakeney Point”
Friday, June 11, 2010
Audio Gourmet Netlabel - new site!
Just a very quick announcement - for those who have been enjoying the releases on the Audio Gourmet Netlabel blog...we have a new address! This comes courtesy of Jonathan Lees from Hibernate Records and can be visited here:
http://www.audiogourmet.co.uk/
From now on, the blog will be disused and eventually deleted when the crossover is fully complete. Please use this new address as your first port of call for new releases.
Next up on the label, we've an EP from the SubVersions blog writer under his new production Foci's Left. This features two of his own productions spanning the last three years and a collection of remixes from David Tagg, Darren Harper and Spheruleus.
After this, we have a three track EP from talented experimental jazz guitarist Alvari Lume. This Finnish artist is extremely talented and sees the Audio Gourmet netlabel adding diversity to the music policy as its catalog expands. This EP will be titled 'Ennen', meaning then in Finnish and is a collection of older works from the artist. Forthcoming as a future release will be another EP from Alvari Lume, titled 'nyt', meaning now in Finnish. This is a collection of experimental pieces he is working on now...
http://www.audiogourmet.co.uk/
From now on, the blog will be disused and eventually deleted when the crossover is fully complete. Please use this new address as your first port of call for new releases.
Next up on the label, we've an EP from the SubVersions blog writer under his new production Foci's Left. This features two of his own productions spanning the last three years and a collection of remixes from David Tagg, Darren Harper and Spheruleus.
After this, we have a three track EP from talented experimental jazz guitarist Alvari Lume. This Finnish artist is extremely talented and sees the Audio Gourmet netlabel adding diversity to the music policy as its catalog expands. This EP will be titled 'Ennen', meaning then in Finnish and is a collection of older works from the artist. Forthcoming as a future release will be another EP from Alvari Lume, titled 'nyt', meaning now in Finnish. This is a collection of experimental pieces he is working on now...
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Spheruleus Mix for Hibernate Records
Been meaning to post this one up for a while - I spent an awful long time compiling and mixing together this CD length mix for a recent Hibernate Records night that featured performances from Simon Scott, Machinefabriek, Clem Leek and Relmic Statute. This mix was given away for donations towards the artists on the night and has been uploaded to Mixcloud by Hibernate's label owner Jonathan so that all may listen.
The ideas in my head whilst making the mix were to put together a cross section of ambient music styles that I have particularly enjoyed over the years. These include Drone, Modern Classical, Electro-Acoustic and Field Recordings pieces. The next big thing I wanted to include in this mix was harmonic mix transitions, which allowed me to quickly fade between tracks that were harmonically complimentary to one another. This is an approach that I am keen to build on with another mix lined up. The approach has meant that I have been able to maximise the amount of material used. I made sure that a piece from each of the performing artists on the night was used and have also included a few works from my own production catalog.
I'd like to particularly draw attention to my track 'Feldspar' recorded under my Spheruleus production alias. This is part of a forthcoming album 'Clandestine' that will be released on Hibernate Records at the end of the year.
Anyway, enough waffle - here's the tracklist:
01 Spheruleus (Various field recordings)
02 Clem Leek - "Snow Tale #1" [Experimedia, 2010]
03 Pawn "The Creak Of The Chair" [Cotton Goods, 2010]
04 Ithaca Trio - "Dragon Sleeps Well" [Under The Spire, 2010]
05 Nicola Ratti - "Dew and Curfew" [Anticipate, 2008]
06 Damian Valles - "A Wake Pattern" [Resting Bell, 2010]
07 Seaworthy - "Ammunition 2" [12k, 2009]
08 Spheruleus - "Feldspar" [Hibernate, Unreleased]
09 Inverz - "Slow" [Phantom Channel, 2009]
10 Andrew Thomas - "A Dream Of A Spider" [Kompakt, 2010]
11 Sylvie Walder and Entia Non - "Un Soir D'Octobre" [Resting Bell, 2008]
12 Letna - "Crossing The Bridge (Novisad)" [Zymogen, 2008]
13 Dirac - "Bantu" [Spekk, 2009]
14 Offthesky - "Still Water Tear" [Audio Talaia, 2009]
15 Hildur Gudnadottir - "Elevation" [Touch. 2009]
16 Maps and Diagrams - "Savannakhet" [Yuki Yaki, 2009]
17 Hauschka - "Cardiff" [Karaoke Kalk, 2007]
18 Sawako - "Wind Shower Particle" [12k, 2008]
19 Chihei Hatakeyama - "The Dance Of The Sea" [Home Normal, 2010]
20 Julien Neto - "Farewell" [Type, 2009]
21 Jasper TX - "Harrisburg 2" [Under The Spire, 2010]
22 Asher - "14" [Room 40, 2009]
23 Machinefabriek - "IJspret 1" [Self-Release, 2009]
24 Yui Onodera - "Entropy 2" [Trumn, 2009]
25 Sleeping Me - "Cradlesong" [Hidden Shoal, 2009]
26 Zvezdara - "Le Temps Nest Pas Importanti Ici" [Standard Klik, 2005]
27 Offthesky - "Hand Held Lightly" [Home Normal, 2010]
28 Arve Henriksen - "From Birth" [ECM, 2008]
29 Jasper Leyland - "Taken" [12x50, 2008]
30 Rameses III - "Across The Lake Is Where My Heart Shines" [Type, 2009]
31 Mountains - "Interlude" [Apestaartje, 2007]
32 Akira Kosemura - "Guitar" [Someone Good, 2010]
33 Ryonkt - "Toy Camera" [Experimedia, 2009]
34 Tobias Hellkvist - "Sore" [Home Normal, 2010]
35 Pausal - "One Watery Lens" [Barge, 2010]
36 Simon Scott - "The Old Jug and Drum" [Miasmah, 2009]
37 Fabio Orsi - "Part 3" [Slow Flow, 2010]
38 Kyle Bobby Dunn - "The Tributary (For Voices Lost) [Moodgadget, 2009]
39 Spheruleus - "Moss" [Under The Spire, 2010]
40 Andrey Kiritchenko - "Let Oneself In" [Spekk, 2009]
41 Relmic Statute - "Exploratory Notes" [High Linear Music, 2010]
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