Rameses III - I Could Not Love You More (Type Records)

After a string of releases and collaborations on various labels over the last few years, London based trio Rameses III released I Could Not Love You More on the always intriguing Type imprint in the fall of last year. It is a soothing and pastoral album full of lush drones and ambient soundscapes. Combining acoustic guitar, lap steel, loops, voice, synths, and field recordings of idyllic summer days, Daniel Freeman, Spencer Grady and Stephen Lewis, have composed a relaxing and intimate album reminiscent of Brian Eno, Helios, Mountains, and Klimek. Like all good ambient and modern classical, there’s a sense of weightlessness to Rameses III’s music, yet there’s still an inherent feeling that a band is playing this music — it’s not overly produced, it’s soft and very organic. Tracks like “All Shall Be Well” and “Cloud Kings” play up the trio’s love for sprawling drone, while tracks “Across The Lake Is Where My Heart Shines” and “No Water, No Moon” are more song-like in composition, where the instruments maintain their sonic shape, rather than morphing into a whir of sound. The album conjures up a sense of nostalgia that I cannot quite put my finger on. Listening to it makes me feel a closeness to the past, a nearness, a uniformity even, to a forgotten yearning from years before. The beach side samples in “No Water, No Moon” reminding me of summers come and gone — the soft strum of guitar creating a wall of white nostalgia, visceral feedback reverberating in my ears — as the band’s use of haunting vocals brings me back to the surface of my present, and I realize I’ve just totally zoned out on the streetcar and missed my stop completely. Such is the beauty of music, and such is the aural allure of Rameses III’s I Could Not Love You More, which ranks as one of the best ambient, modern classical albums of 2009. Check it.

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Review prepared by Matt Leslie (Inaudible) exclusively for Headphone Commute.

See also Two and a Half Questions with Rameses III

myspace.com/ramesesiii | ramesesiii.com
myspace.com/typerecordings | typerecords.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

Last Days - Sea (n5MD)

With the world financial markets currently in gloom, the US presidential elections around the corner [and no real positive outlook in sight], and the overall feeling of minor depression, not the least of which could be attributed to the oncoming colder weather, I begin to wonder if these _are_ the last of our days. But the truth is much more cut and dry. Even when everything implodes or blows up, the sun will keep burning, the time will keep passing, and life will go on. That doesn't prevent me from feeling melancholy and turn towards Scotland based Graham Richardson, who, with his two albums on n5MD, explores sadness through music. Using acoustic live instruments, like piano, xylophone, and guitar, Richardson draws out intelligent ambient soundscapes under his solo project name, Last Days. Sea is Richardson's debut album (n5MD, 2006), which he followed up with a sophomore release a year after, These Places Are Now Ruins (n5MD, 2007). The album is a thematic experience in which Richardson tells a tale of a "a person who sails out to sea, becomes lost halfway, and is eventually rescued." The music thus fluctuates in emotion between fear, dread, hope and peaceful acceptance - the common waves in a life cycle of a man, regardless which rough waters he chooses to navigate. Richardson samples the material using the 'lo-fi' approach, degrading the sound digitally when possible, bringing it closer to shoegaze rather than electronic. Richardson plans on releasing his third (almost finished) album, titled The Safety of The North, on n5MD, in the beginning of 2009. (see my Two and a Half Questions with Graham Richardson for more details). For fans of Eluvium, Deaf Center, Porn Sword Tobacco, Opitope, Kiln, and Hammock.



myspace.com/lastdaysmyspace | n5md.com/lastdays
myspace.com/n5mafia | n5md.com

Slow Dancing Society - Priest Lake Circa ’88 (Hidden Shoal)

Hidden Shoal delivers once again! There are instant gems in my collection from this Australian label, including albums by Sankt Otten, Wes Willenbring and now the latest from Slow Dancing Society. To listen to Priest Lake Circa '88, I retreat into my solitary bedroom, fall over the covers, and press play on the player. It's not that I am ready for a nap. But I do want to close my eyes and let the sound swirl around me, like little specs of dust rising towards the ceiling in the ray of sunlight. With my eyes closed I can truly hear. There are no distractions by the scrollies or the blinkies. With my eyes shut I can see the music. And it perfectly blends into an atmosphere of my surroundings. Somewhere a dog barks. A pigeon flutters. And my neighbor is working in his garden. The trees sway in the wind, softly brushing their leaves against my window. Or perhaps it is the sound of a washing waves on one of the tracks, accompanied by a subdued strumming of a guitar. Soon I see the water. Drifting away on my hastily made raft I am slowly approaching the center of the lake. Getting closer with every reverberated feedback, going farther into my saturated dream. Priest Lake Circa '88 is Drew Sullivan's third album on Hidden Shoal, serving as a conclusion to his double-album which began with The Slow and Steady Winter. The main theme of the album speaks of the nostalgic concept of "home", encompassing the things we leave behind and return to, within our short journey into this time slice wer call "life". With Brian Eno serving as the main influence for Sullivan's work, I could attempt to classify the music as abstract ambient meeting experimental shoegaze. Or I could just name a few of my favorite artists that come to mind immediately upon my first listen: Stars of the Lid, Hammock, and Bitcrush. If those are the names on your watchlist, then you better rush out to secure a copy of the latest (and all) from Slow Dancing Society. And let me know about _your_ trip.



myspace.com/slowdancingsociety
myspace.com/hiddenshoal | music.hiddenshoal.com

Bitcrush - Epilogue In Waves (n5MD)

I thoroughly enjoyed Mike Cadoo's previous album, In Distance, under his Bitcrush alias. So I waited for a perfect moment to listen to Epilogue In Waves in a serene place setting. I was especially looking forward to the album after I read somewhere that this may be Cadoo's last release (hence the "epilogue" in the title). The latter rumor is clearly incorrect, and I've got the Two and a Half Questions with Mike Cadoo, to prove that. Plus there is an upcoming re-issue of a long unavailable digital release, Shimmer and Fade, remastered and extended. Epilogue In Waves has received mixed reviews. It may be due to unintended expectations from the ever changing musical approach - Cadoo has morphed between styles for years, from his choppy IDM Gridlock project with Mike Wells, to the d'n'b infused breaks as Dryft. Or it may be due to specific expectations of evolution in sound - anything that has been done before may not be exciting to some listeners. Nevertheless, I wholeheartedly welcome the chilled out production of ambient and post-shoegaze influenced bliss. There are instantly recognizable elements from inspirations like Hammock, Lights Out Asia and This Will Destroy You. And these are the sounds that I can't get enough of. In my opinion, this effortless genre migration demonstrates true musicianship, and should receive all the recognition it truly deserves. Cadoo continues to evolve his sound, and as the owner of n5MD, his label's output, through limitless boundaries of uncaged approach. If you follow the label make sure you also pick up Loess, Last Days and Hologram.

myspace.com/haveyoulostyourway | bitcrush.net
myspace.com/n5mafia | n5md.com

Hammock - Maybe They Will Sing For Us Tomorrow (Darla)

Hammock never fails to dissolve the illusion of time and space, break down the matrix of structured rules, and unplug from the looping pattern of being. Hammock makes me close my eyes and with the flow of sound hear my breathing. I occasionally drift outside of my thoughts while soaring through the vast soundscapes of Hammock's pillow-soft meadows. But when I listen closely, the music speaks in its ambient tongue to the body within. Andrew Thompson and Marc Byrd have been creating their ethereal lullabies since the inception of Hammock Music, and their debut release, Kenotic, in 2005. Four albums later we are rewarded with Maybe They Will Sing For Us Tomorrow. At once in a familiar territory of reverb-heavy guitars, pads, and strings, the progressions are reminiscent of sound left over from Hammock's last masterpiece, Raising Your Voice... Trying To Stop An Echo. This recognition is not a mere coincidence. In 2007 Hammock was asked to play at the Riceboy Sleeps exhibit (the art project of Sigur Rós' Jón "Jónsi" Birgisson and Parachutes' Alex Somers) in a modest loft, in Hot Springs, Arkansas. But this was Hammock's first live PA, with no previous experience or sufficient budget to unleash their layered sonic ocean. A unique Hammock sound had to be created specifically for the live performance of the duo, using only their guitars, pedals, and synths. This stripped down version of Hammock revealed its essence at the core. Although the experience of live sound can never be repeated, its echo is shared with you, in this studio recording of the original music written for the occasion. And maybe... just maybe... they will sing for us tomorrow.

An interesting afterthought by the event's organizer, Chuck Dodson:
Maybe They Will Sing For Us Tomorrow

myspace.com/hammockmusic | hammockmusic.com
myspace.com/darlarecords | darla.com

Sidewaytown - Years In the Wall (Skygaze Music)

Feeling like an outsider, "a stranger on sideways", and inspired by Sigur Rós live performances and their unique constructed language, Markus Baltes builds his own world, calling it Sidewaytown. Instead of brooding shoegaze, Baltes adds edgy guitars and creates Germany’s first skygazing post-rock, layered with his vocals. After years of trial and error, in frustration of previously failed attempts, Baltes thrusts himself into a studio with Markus Stock (Ulf Theodor Schwadorf), to rerecord his opus. At first the album seemed a bit blend to me, but the more I listened, the more I picked out the melodies, and the story unfolded. I definitely prefer to be blown away by an album from the start, but there are also some instances where the intricate details can be marveled upon only after repeated and detailed examination. Like a sip of wine that initially overwhelms, yet upon additional tasting opens its bouquet for your buds to dance to. So does the story of Sidewaytown unfolds. In addition to Sigur Rós, Baltes names My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Oceansize, and David Lynch to be among his many influences. Support the artist by buying the album directly from the official website.

myspace.com/sidewaytown | sidewaytown.com

Port-Royal - Flares (Resonant)

Flares is a 2005 release by a Genoa based Port-Royal on Resonant Records. I have already voted their follow-up, Afraid To Dance, to be one of the best albums of 2007. I bring back this earlier work in anticipation of an upcoming remix project, Flared Up, due out in the spring of '08, with contributions by Manual, Dialect, Skyphone, Stafrænn Hákon, and Ulrich Schnauss to name just a few. In Flares we are graced with beautiful blend of ambient meets electronic meets shoegaze meets post-rock sound, that defies strict categorization and exists only for your earthly pleasures. One needs to put down the caffeinated drink, turn off the blinking scrollies, and pause to appreciate the album's sheer vastness of hazed texture, lush chilled-out soundscapes, and pure tranquility. And here's the best part, folks (I'm quoting from the label's site) - "in preparation for the upcoming remix version, the royals have placed their debut album 'Flares' for free download from their website." So how can you pass this by? Recommended for followers of Hammock, M83, Sigur Rós, and all of the above mentioned artists. Favorite tracks: the three part Zobione.

myspace.com/uptheroyals | port-royal.it
myspace.com/resonantrecordings | resonantlabel.com

The Ansion - That Is The Way Of Things (Skean Dhu)

When Jon Innes is not playing live, he can be found in his Ayrshire (Scotland) studio layering guitar shoegaze with laptop electronica. Innes' composition is undoubtedly fueled by heartbreak with open ended track titles like Her Resistance To The Mind Probe Is Considerable. Paced reverbed piano chords are complimented with vocoder lines over tight and dry 909 kit (that snare is just right) - what an amazing combination! The concoction of instruments and borrowed styles that synergize together, remind us that at the center of each track lies pure music that makes you feel - and that's the memorable component that we take away forever. That Is The Way Of Things effortlessly flows from genres and is an unbelievable trip when absorbed as a complete album. I'm looking forward to more output from The Ansion. Check out his page and buy the tracks directly from the artist! Recommended for the lovers of Ulrich Schnauss' ambient layers, Eluvium's melodies, and The Album Leaf's approach to drum machine intelligent post-rock. Favorite tracks : Die, You Big Fuck Off Spider, Die and as already mentioned Her Resistance To The Mind Probe Is Considerable.

myspace.com/theansion