The Lanthanide Series, Kalte

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A nice set of tracks from Canadian duo Kalte available for free download. From the label's site:

"The harsh Canadian winter served as the backdrop for the creation of these tracks, and while there may be a certain oppressiveness to its roots, the resulting sounds progress from darkness to light."

Stream the tracks below or grap a .zip of everything.

[audio:http://www.ambientmusicblog.com/misc/media/music/The-Lanthanide-Series/SF-6010-lanthanide-01.mp3|titles=Shallow Approach|artists=Kalte] [audio:http://www.ambientmusicblog.com/misc/media/music/The-Lanthanide-Series/SF-6010-lanthanide-02.mp3|titles=Spagyric|artists=Kalte] [audio:http://www.ambientmusicblog.com/misc/media/music/The-Lanthanide-Series/SF-6010-lanthanide-03.mp3|titles=Mariana Arc|artists=Kalte] [audio:http://www.ambientmusicblog.com/misc/media/music/The-Lanthanide-Series/SF-6010-lanthanide-04.mp3|titles=Bremsstrahlung|artists=Kalte] [audio:http://www.ambientmusicblog.com/misc/media/music/The-Lanthanide-Series/SF-6010-lanthanide-05.mp3|titles=Alfvenwave|artists=Kalte]

Brian Eno "Bloom" iPhone/iPod Touch App

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Special Message: If you like the music Bloom makes, you'll probably enjoy our Ambient Music Blog Podcast, a continuous mix of context specific ambient music available for free.

Brian Eno released an interesting little application for iPhones and the iPod Touch that allows users to create generative music. I haven't played around with it yet, but it looks, at worst, like an interesting diversion.

Eno says, "Bloom is an endless music machine, a music box for the 21st century. You can play it, and you can watch it play itself."

What else would you expect him to say?

Download Bloom (iTunes link).

New Fennesz Track "Saffron Revolution" at Pitchfork

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Fennesz has a new track available from his upcoming album Black Sea available for streaming and free download at Pitchfork. In other news, stuff like this is why I don't write about music, I just point to it:

Beginning with some of Fennesz' trademark neo-industrial gurgles, it folds in bits of guitar and strings rather beautifully, creating a cluster of sound that trembles, seeming to wait for something. And that something moves in gradually in the form of a massive cloud of distortion, a fine white mist of harmonics mixed with a dark undercurrent of rumbling bass. The tension between these elements is so well balanced, each individual element remaining in the mix even as the sound field becomes impossibly dense, that it's no surprise that it takes a while to get it just right.

Yow.

Some Cliff Martinez Soundtracks

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A while back, I wrote a post about the Solaris soundtrack by Cliff Martinez. It's good stuff, and I've gone back to it a bit recently, so I thought I'd point to some more of his work. The records below all "sound" like Martinez. Lots of tension and subtle rising. Stretchy strings that drone on and bouncy vibraphone type stuff. Some of the tracks are clunkers, or, more likely, just don't make a lot of sense as either ambient music or outside the context of the film. Nevertheless, have a listen to the stuff below and maybe pick up a track or two. Traffic Soundtrack by Cliff Martinez on Amazon.com MP3 Downloads

Narc Soundtrack by Cliff Martinez on Amazon.com MP3 Downloads

Wicker Park Soundrack by Cliff Martinez on Amazon.com MP3 Downloads

The Kinds of Things I Post Here

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I've gotten a number of emails and (a smaller number of) comments lately from readers who have written to say they are finding music via the site that they hadn't heard of before. This is great, and I'm glad people are finding the posts useful. I also get a fair amount of submissions from artists from all over the world. This, too, is great.

I find it difficult to articulate the particular kind of music I'm interested in here. I also find it not particularly interesting to think and write about how music sounds. And so I'd rather you just have a listen and see if you think something is worth a download or purchase.

That said, I can definitely tell you maybe what kind of stuff I'm not interested in, because I get a number of submissions that are pretty wide of the mark. Here's maybe a checklist:

New-age Mystical Electro Nature-sounds Relaxing Sleep music

Anything with vocals, of almost any type, of which I make an exception for a band or two from Iceland, and only because their music is so goddamn good looking.

Things that sound like they came from outer space.

Chillout music

Anything you might hear at a rave.

I don't want to discourage submissions, but I thought it would be worth all of our time if I tried to talk about the kind of stuff I'm likely to post here, and the only way I can do that is by talking about the stuff I won't be posting here.

Maybe I've missed a few things? If you've got any ideas on expanding the above list, please do drop a note in the comments.