Lusine - A Certain Distance (Ghostly International)

Has Lusine turned almost pop? Well, not quite. If so, then pop music has never sounded so good! But peel back the vocals from the foreground, appearing on a few tracks by Vilja Larjosto and Caitlin Sherman, and we are left with the good old electronic sound of Lusine, known for his lush ambient soundscapes, organic catchy melodies, and solid punchy beats. With his 9th full length album, A Certain Distance, Jeff McIlwain continues to evolve his production skills, articulate composition, and unique staple sound, creating a downtempo album, with a lighter upbeat feel. Jeff has been releasing music on a variety of prominent labels, entering the spotlight since his 1999 debut, L'usine. When his music reaches InterContinentaL barriers, he appends an ICL suffix to his alias. Hence, all of his releases on the German Hymen label are under Lusine ICL, including my absolute favorite ambient marvel, and a top favorite of Headphone Commute's from 2007, Language Barrier (Hymen, 2007). The Lusine moniker appears mostly on all domestic labels, such as Ghostly International. Over the contemplating chord progression and occasional vocoder phrases, familiar elements introduced in the above mentioned Language Barrier, appear in a subliminal field of sound. These are the ambient pads, accented with microscopic percussion bits, creased into crumbled lo-fi beats, and smoothed out on a sonic surface. Just as the vocoder maps the frequencies of sampled voice over synthesized chords, Lusine succeeds in "mapping human emotions via technology". The Two Dots EP released by Ghostly prior to the album, has set expectations for Certain Distance, with its memorable hook completely consuming my auditory memory until I admitted my defeat on Headphone Commute's 20 EPs of 2009. The rest of the tracks on the album, deserve a 12" EP each on their own. Each is a unique exploration of the marriage between organic and laptop, downtempo and dancefloor, tech house and pop. Highly recommended.

Read also Two and a Half Questions with Lusine

myspace.com/lusinespace | lusineweb.com
myspace.com/ghostlyinternational | ghostly.com

The Sight Below - Glider (Ghostly)

Following up the free digital teaser, No Place For Us EP (Ghostly, 2008), The Sight Below graces our ears with a full length, Glider. The album picks up right where the EP left off - majestic flowing ambient pads spreading over endless soundscapes complimented with an ongoing four/four beat. This is ambient techno at its finest. The lush acoustic guitars are drenched in layers of reverb and luscious background chords. All the instrumentation on the album [sans the 808 percussion] was done with a guitar, ebow, viola box, loop pedals, reverb units and a delay box. The lack of transition in the rhythm first may seem to sound almost amateurish (as if a simple kick was stretched out throughout the entire track), until you realize how important this explicitly desired minimalism is for creating a hypnotic atmosphere, resembling a pumping heart beat somewhere deep within your throat. The title of the album triggers a distant memory: I jump off a mountain in Rio de Janeiro, silently hand glide through thick humid air, and land on the beach. The music evokes all the experienced feelings. The calmness of the ocean. The simplicity of falling. The excitement of danger. The Glider is the perfect soundtrack for this flashback. It's a pleasure to see this album on Ghostly International which is currently celebrating its 10-year anniversary with a tour of The Sight Below, Lusine, Grouper, and others along the way (see the label's myspace for tour dates). This Seattle based artist prefers to keep out of the spotlight and stay anonymous (hopefully for the time being). And as long as The Sight Below keeps on making that great music, we don't care. You will absolutely fall in love with this album if you follow Yagya, Echospace, Gas, and Christopher Willits. And don't forget to pickup the free EP!

myspace.com/thesightbelow | ghostly.com/artists/the-sight-below
myspace.com/ghostlyinternational | ghostlyinternational.com

The Sight Below - No Place For Us (Ghostly)

Entering the domain of ambient techno producers, is a newcomer by the name of The Sight Below. Ghostly didn't think twice (and better for it), and snatched TSB for his first three-track EP, titled No Place For Us. The fact that I'm even taking the time to mention a digital single should tell you how excited I am about the upcoming work from this Seattle based musician [yes, I like to pretend that I'm very busy ;) ]. And before I forget to mention - this is a free release, so go download your copy directly from the label's site. During the first track, No Place For Us, the ambient washed out sweeps yawn and stretch in swells of shoegazer's agonizing obsessiveness over thick guitar and pad layers. The tonality of these resonant chords remind me of Lusine Icl's Language Barrier (Hymen, 2007) and Murcof's Cosmos (Leaf, 2007). Soon enough the kick drum comes in over the lazy vapors of sound. Like the soothing whispers of a river flowing through the dry lands, pumped by a steady heartbeat of the earth. I quote when I can't say it better: "The music of TSB conjures half-remembered dreams and soft-focus sentiments with elegiac beauty; his video art works similarly, blurring snippets of film until they're recognizable only as organic objects: black-and-white amoebas milling about, or a sunset rendered in grayscale." The knowledge that the three pieces were performed live, only excites my neurons further. Really looking forward to The Sight Below's first upcoming full length release on Ghostly, so that I can stop looping only these three tracks! Recommended for the likes of Yagya, Gas, Vladislav Delay and Echospace.



myspace.com/thesightbelow | ghostly.com/artists/the-sight-below
myspace.com/ghostlyinternational | ghostlyinternational.com

Kiln - Dusker (Ghostly International)

Kiln returns to Ghostly with yet another album (I lost the actual count of their total releases). A trio out of Michigan (Clark Rehberg III, Kevin Hayes, and Kirk Marrison), pleasantly satisfy my headphone cravings with hypnotic electronic music that bounces, swirls, and clicks in stereo rotations, fuzzy noises and faint, tranquil, and rhythmic beats. The mood of Dusker is upbeat and perfect to turn the gloomy weather into just another whim of nature. Although the sound feels light and airy, there's actually a lot to be processed there. Think of the feel and ease of sailing, yet the complexity of its operation. I've used the album almost as a tool, to calm the dark waters of the chemical imbalance in my brain; to take a deep breath and know that the world still turns, while Kiln is at the steering wheel. Recommended if you like Four Tet, Loscil, and Vladislav Delay. Favorite tracks: Templefrog and Tigertail.

myspace.com/kilnaudio | myspace.com/ghostlyinternational

Cepia - Natura Morta (Ghostly International)

With tracks ranging from downtempo to glitchy breaks to clicky electronica, Huntley Miller releases his first full length record on Ghostly. In the past, Miller has furnished a three track and six remix EP on Sublight, and has played the bass and keyboard for a Minnesota based five-piece band, Suki Takahashi, which provided a track for Merck's Dosage compilation back in 2003. He has also contributed a treatment to Lusine's Flat Remixes. Within repetitive loops and crackling beats, something wobbles and bleeps around the statically discharged sounds, which are at times fragmented and at once familiar. With composition revolving around personal responses during a secluded production period, Miller deconstructs the melodies that hint at the state of our dying nature. Favorite track: Untitled.

myspace.com/cepia