Ambient Music Links, April 2nd

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There's more where this came from at del.icio.us/ambientmusicblog.

Ambient Music Links, March 24th

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There's more where this came from at del.icio.us/ambientmusicblog.

Ambient Music Links, January 31st

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  • Sounds of seclusion - Music - Entertainment - theage.com.au
    "Almost a decade has elapsed since Dupe - the composer, producer and musician behind the beauteous instrumental soundcraft of Saddleback - left Sydney for the south coast of New South Wales."
  • beaconsfield
    "Ten experimental sound artists are invited to explore in public the principles of self-cancellation in sound through conferencing, workshops and performance in London and Glasgow."

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From the Mailbox

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Here are some things we've received lately in the Ambient Music Blog mailbox, presented for your perusal. Have a look, take a listen. There's a lot of free music you might not have heard here. The Secret Garden Project "We are an assorted bunch of ambient musicians from Australia and New Zealand who decided to put around 80 ambient tracks up for free download."

Sonanaut "I'm an artist from New York working under the name Sonanaut. I've written several albums, the music of which is currently in use in media (TV Radio etc) throughout the world. I've just released my debut commercial CD 'Sinking Upwards' on my own label IVSI Records. It's an album inspired by New York and my experiences here. The style is Ambient/Downtempo/Chillout"

redgreenblue "This is my instrumental project. I consider it a side project despite the fact that I have a finished redgreenblue album, ‘red’, but not a shane king album."

Onderuit Records "We.re a NetLabel from Madrid. All our music is for Free Downloading. We would like you to check our last project: X-Music"

Ambient Music Garden "I would like to let you know about my new site, Ambient Music Garden which is a download site for ambient and chillout music from a range of independent musicians. We sell our music to music lovers and therapists as well as license the music for use as backgrounds for websites, meditation CDs and retail outlets."

Lea Longo "I'm a canadian singer/songwriter and I would love to get a review if you like my music. It's called ZEN Voyage and it's an ambient , mediatative , mantra CD."

Paztech Records "I run a small record label called paztech records. I am now giving my music away for free with the hope of gaining some new listeners. The music i create ranges from ambient, electronic, techno, breakbeat and drum and bass."

Elian Music

Water Mirror, Fourcolor

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Water Mirror, Fourcolor Keiichi Sugimotos' work as Fourcolor on Air Curtain is a great listen while finishing up some work before the weekend on a cold January Friday afternoon. The record was put out by the Apestaartje label based in Brooklyn. They say:

Focusing predominately on the guitar 'water mirror' blends acoustic resonance with subtle precision to create an extremely detailed and restrained listening experience. Sugimoto focuses on the smallest of elements using electronics to accentuate every facit of an already tactile sound pallete. Sugimoto seamlessly blends various threads of kinetic listening in this ever-shifting composition of gradual movement.

I agree. It's a nice, quiet, and slowly building record of tones. Good stuff for forgetting you're actually listening to anything at all.

Related Ambient Music Blog: Air Curtain, Fourcolor Fourcolor Profile at 12k records Cubicmusic.com

12k's Term Offers Free Downloads

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12k Speaking of Taylor Deupree, Term is an interesting "Sublabel" from 12k featuring an "online series of MP3 releases made available for free downloads."

Artists include Sawako, Off the Sky, Sogar, and many more. I've had this bookmarked for quite some time and just hadn't gotten around to listening to any of it. Really nice stuff, and: Free!

Boutique Hotels and Ambient Music

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"Ambient Music" being played in boutique hotels is a bit of a cliche, but the problem is that boutique hotels don't really play ambient music. Over the last few years I've stayed in a number of these hotels, from New Orleans to Chicago to London to Stockholm and etc. The lobbies are all generally Scandinavian, except I think of the places I've stayed recently the hotel that looked least like it lept out of an IKEA catalog was the one in Sweden.

Furnishing aside, the soundtrack is ubiquitous. And it's always the kind of cut-rate, chill-out room at the rave kind of nonsense in all of them. Back in the days when I used to go to parties, we would call it lounge music. It ranges from the slightly more upbeat stuff with a rhythm track down to the spacey, new age fluff those of you who read this blog are probably familiar with.

And every time I've come across this stuff, I think it's just such a missed opportunity. Getting into the elevator, it would just be so great to hear some Eno, or Stars of the Lid, or Loscil, or Taylor Deupree. The experience design of these places would be that much better had someone who knew what they were doing programmed the soundtrack. Unfortunately, despite the high room rates, fancy furniture, and aloof staff, you end up feeling more like you're in a knock-off tshirt shop on 34th street than a world class hotel.

Stil., Taylor Deupree

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Stil., Taylor Deupree I picked up an older release from Taylor Deupree this weekend, this one Stil.. It's 4 tracks of nice, long, quiet pulsing drones and hums. There are a few clicks and hisses of course, it is Taylor Deupree after all, but in all it's nice stuff to stick on in the background and go about your business.

If you're looking for nice ambient work on the electronic end of the spectrum, you could do worse than just picking up anything Deupree's excellent 12k records produces. They don't disappoint.

Related 12k records 12k records at Emusic.com