Here’s a quick dive into some sounds you’ll want to hear as we exit October and drift into the colder territory of November…
øjeRum – Selv I Drømme Lyser Den Første Sne
øjeRum, a Danish ambient powerhouse, reaches breathtaking and shadowy beauty on Selv I Drømme Lyser Den Første Sne. The tape features two versions of the same twenty-minute piece, both of which are different enough that they never feel repetitive.
The A-side version of the title track is a sprawling soundscape of slowly oscillating drones that resonate with tender and smooth tones, like that of a glass harp. The entire song exudes a pleasant and deeply relaxing vibe that could coax any listener into a Zen state, no matter what they’re doing.
The B-side of the tape features the accompaniment of strings, which adds an entirely new level to the piece. The waves of somber, reverb-heavy strings (provided by Aaron Martin), makes the entire song ache with a lonesome melancholy. Yet it also becomes stunning, with an almost gothic beauty, like something Gavin Bryars could have concocted with Phillip Glass. It sits as a striking contrast to the version on the flipside, serving as some sort of an emotionally evolved climax.
Complex despite its minimalist approach and sprawling with a cinematic scope, Selv I Drømme Lyser Den Første Sne is a cassette that’ll soothe and astonish you with every listen.
This album comes out on Halloween (TODAY), so be sure to grab it fast from Aural Canyon Records. You can also find out more about øjeRum here.
Zakè – Milieuxia
Zakè’s Milieuxia, another fine tape available as of today from Aural Canyon Records, drifts and hovers like faint cirrus clouds in a peaceful sky.
Comprised mainly of keyboard-based ambient tracks, Milieuxia radiates a glowing warmth that is both healing and inviting, much like the green environment depicted on the cover. It pulls you in with its naturally simplistic vibes, much like a quiet natural scene (again, similar to the cover), and you quickly find yourself mesmerized by the music’s serene energy.
Zakè is behind an entire label dedicated to ambient sounds, Past Inside the Present so you can trust that he’d create only the very finest of spacy soundscapes.
Turn the lights off, light a few candles and allow this tape to take you soaring through the stratosphere. Again, you can grab this today from Aural Canyon.
The Perfect Trip – “Four Seeds and the Laffy Taffy”
The Perfect Trip has returned with another enticingly psychedelic folk track, the whimsical “Four Seeds and the Laffy Taffy.”
Haunted vocals, twanging sitars and backwards instrumentation melt into chiming percussion and pastoral flute in this gorgeous Incredible String Band-meets-Shide and Acorn-like tune.
If you are a fan of the more feral side of the psych-folk spectrum (like myself) then you have got to keep an eye on The Perfect Trip. Check them out on IG at @Theperfectrip) and Soundcloud.
Million Brazilians – Strange Oasis
I find this record to be very difficult to describe, as there’s so much going on at all times. (This is of course, a very good thing in my book).
Million Brazilians, a (surprisingly) Chilean group, combines field recordings with gurgling synths, crooked percussion and odd saxophones (this marks the first time I have reviewed something that utilized a bamboo sax) and then contort them through a variety of cosmic effects. The resulting sound is earthy, bizarre and audaciously original. There is truly nothing else like this record.
The distorted layers of curdled sounds make up a loose instrumental concept album, about a state of consciousness of when an explorer and the elements of his destination become one. The liner notes reference this concept as being described by a Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett while embarking upon an excursion through the Brazilian jungles during the 1920s. The beyond-psychedelic meanderings captured here represent this extraordinary frame of mind and often resemble some sort of unholy union between Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band and Popol Vuh. What’s not to love about that?
If you ever want to feel yourself slip through sanity and the tangles of an impenetrable rain forest, grab a copy of Strange Oasis by Million Brazilians today.
Happy Halloween from Dune Buggy Radio
Lastly, a bit of shameless self-promotion…if you haven’t checked out my Halloween mix on Mixcloud yet, you have a chance to hear it broadcasted live on Dunebuggyradio.com tonight at 8PM EST/7PM CT. Hand out candy, carve pumpkins or summon a few damned souls to these cuts from some of my recent favorite horror soundtracks, dark ambient artists like The Northern Lighthouse Board and the gothic folk explorations of Alison Cotton and Jill Tracy.
-KH
Record Crates United 