#Symphonic Textures

[ariyan24]

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[cfrog]

studio classes will be so good and then Most Uncomfortable Seating Ever. please give me a desk.

Ough sketches. Im on a undertale/deltarune kick rn. Thinking About It

[toast-part-two]

I loveee overstimulating music like yes babygirl block out everything else

[danielpowell]

To know someone like you are home To feel so cold on concrete And even when things get cold you know we still share a scene We still share a scene

[rapha-reads]

IWTV rewatch

Season 2 episode 1 [What Can The Damned Really Say to the Damned] - part 4/4

- And now... Mood shift, setting change, back to Dubai, 2022, and the 77 year-long lie. And lord oh lord, we jump right into it with the shot of the bedroom being a cell and Armand selling Louis' art without even telling him the works are up for sale. Greaaaat. This is gonna be fun.

[Louis] "'Could I see the pages we removed? Of Claudia's diaries?'

[Armand] 'We made an agreement.'

[Louis] 'I don't know what else is blurred or misremembered.'

[Armand] 'My name is in some of those pages.'

[Louis] 'I sit across from him and reckon with the knowledge I don't know what other misrememberings made into it. I won't share them with him but I need to read them again.'"

Brb, need to SCREAM. Oh, the control Armand us exercising over Louis... The way he micromanages every aspect of his life. The way Louis has to bargain for everything he wants, and the way he thanks (thanks!!!) Armand for every breadcrumb thrown his way. The way Armand cares more about his image, his reputation, his grip on Louis, than Louis' well-being and peace of soul and mind. And the way the scene is shot and designed, the bars behind the bed and the skyscraper settling, the lack of any colors and any homey furniture, the huge bed with an ocean separating them, contrasting with the comfy house and room of 1132 rue Royale, and how Lestat and Louis used to sleep entwined in each other's embrace... I will go mad.

- BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA THE ENTRANCE HAND IN HAND, ARE THEY SERIOUS. Oh, this is too hilarious. And how they drop the hands as soon as they're seated, yeah, real convincing, fellas.

- Oh, Devil's Minion's crumb! Armand responding to Daniel by mimicking his "Yeah" and those big eyes looking so amused and fond at that old man. Couldn't care less about the Loumand, I'm here for the Devil's Minion. What a performance, Louis rubbing Armand's shoulder, lmao.

- Daniel shutting down Armand immediately is hilarious. "Sure, sire, you're on the record, but you still haven't made an appearance in the story so for now stfu and wait for your turn". No wonder Armand goes crazy about Daniel, that guy doesn't know how to be afraid. And second shoulder pat, Lou, hon... You're enjoying this, aren't you. You are enjoying the way Daniel puts Armand back in his place, something you haven't managed to do in years, despite what you both like to pretend.

- Oh, I love that piece of music! That one is "The Whole World Was Ready to Return" and it is gorgeous. It's played here, as Claudia and Louis go to Paris, and at the end, when Louis issues his threat/warning to the vampires in Dubai. Very thematic. The music in s2 is different from the music in s1, by the way. S1 soundtrack had very folk/blues undertones, New Orleans style, while s2 is much more orchestral/symphonic, Paris style. The music adapts itself to the setting, and I adore that. It gives so much more texture to the story.

- [Louis] "The war had turned off the lights, stripped its streets of their beauty, sent its avant-garde into exile. But now, the whole world was ready to return, to remake their lives. Pilgrims, on their hopeful way."

Nah, the avant-garde, at least artistic, was there, just, waaay underground or dangerously flirting with censorship and hidden meanings. In Paris itself during the war, there were several plays written and played against fascism while the Gestapo was patrolling the streets. Notably, though conflictingly, Jean Anouilh's famous "Antigone", in 1944, Josephine Baker singing and spying , as well as Sacha Guitry, who was arrested after the Liberation and accused of collaboration without any evidence, but who managed to save a lot of Jewish artists and personalities by playing double agent, or good ol' Sartre (who hilariously makes a cameo later on in the show) who writes a lot of stuff between '40 and' 44. Anyway. There's more but I ain't have time right now to do serious research. Back to Louis.

- [Louis] "'I wanna say something to you. I don't need to hear anything back I just need you to hear me. Hard words and soft words. The hard. Our life is shit. It's been shit. It is shit. It's gonna be shit again. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. No one's watching, no one cares. A shit life beats no life. But where we're going now we can't be running away again. Doesn't mean we forget what we saw. What she did in front of us. I see you going that way I'm gonna pull you back. I don't need that from you. As long as you walk the Earth, I'll never taste the fire, you understand me? We're going to find others like us. Aind if it ain't here, cos life is shit, or I fuck it up again, or you fuck it up, we'll go to the next place. We can't be the only good ones out there. Soft words. If you were the last vampire on Earth... it would be enough. It's you and me. Me and you. You and me. Me and you. You and me.'"

And my hallucination of your dead father.

Anyway that's his child, that's her parent.

Gotta give it to Louis tho, he doesn't lie. Embellishes, obfuscates, but lying, no. As long as Claudia's alive, he's not gonna try the sun. But if she dies... All bets are off.

Also Louis is right and hey, actually needed to hear that right now, thanks bae. Now someone needs to tell him back his own words, I think he needs to hear it back.

Episode insider:

Jacob talking about the heart full of sugar and how he spent the rest of the night on a sugar high is so adorable and hilarious when the part that comes next is Dreamstat. Also hey, "Dreamstat" was coined by Jacob himself, nice!

[Jacob] "Anne Rice's vampires are so human. This is kind of a departure from these sort of beautified, glamorous vampires. It's just really fun." - yeah, I like the glam vamp, but the monstrous vampire, a bit like Mike Flanagan does in Midnight Mass, is also a thrill.

Love Delainey saying she loved doing her stunts and all the physical stuff!

[Assad] "Armand wants to protect himself, but also wants to protect his relationship with Louis, what they have. He feels he has no choice except to come in, sharing the narrative with Louis." - yep. Protecting himself. Protecting what he has with Louis, even at the expanse of Louis' own will. Because what does Armand fear above all else? To be unloved. Not necessarily alone, like most vampires, but to be considered unlovable and unworthy of people's care. So if he can't be sure that people's feelings for him are genuine, he will orchestrate and manipulate them to tie them to himself. That's Armand's schtick.

season 1 masterpost

part 1 | part 2 | part 3

episode 2 | episode 3 | episode 4 | episode 5 | episode 6 | episode 7 | episode 8

[antifascistblackmetalnetwork]

Feminizer - Beneath the Harm (full album, 2023)

Officially, at least here within the network, we are kicking off what is to us, trans week or maybe to steal from G.L.O.S.S., Trans Week of Vengeance. No sorry y’all we don’t have any word on their whereabouts however, we do have something that is just as amazing and just absurdly terrific, Moon is fucking back with a second Feminizer album aptly titled ‘Beneath the Harm’! Y’all remember Feminizer from practically a year ago, yes literally a year ago we got the chance to work with Moon for the first time, and boy howdy was that a pleasure. And this time around Moon is really coming into her own here and her musical strength is just on full display. Feminizer is a force to be reckoned with on ‘Beneath the Harm’. Continuing that warm hug that is a strange and weird thing from dsbm, you do rather expect it to be cold and lonesome, Feminizer embraces you more so with these warm tones without losing anything that has made them such a unique force. Coming off her split with BTAKQ, Moon is still showing that she is growing and pushing herself into new boundaries such as a more symphonic and melodic element added to the repertoire. With these things added Feminizer is able to wield more emotion and texture within all these songs and create a stirring within oneself. Something that Feminizer has been great at and continues to be great at really. Moon takes you to the pain within and the pain from outside. What it can be to be a trans person or even a queer person within the world. ‘Beneath the Harm’ is a perfect album amongst other amazing albums created by trans artists this year such as Lust Hag, Transgressive, Lepra, Hypomanic Daydream, Everson Poe and the list just goes on and on.

[nominalnebula]

when I say I listened to the new starset song literally all afternoon

like I cannot get over the direction starset's sound is evolving, it's so fucking textured between the new harder metal elements and the symphonic elements it's like a fucking physical sensation not to mention the contrast between dustin's singing and his screams and the last spoken line during the bridge - fucking! texture!

[dustedmagazine]

Divide and Dissolve — Systemic (Invada)

Photo by Su Cassiano

Divide and Dissolve continues to provoke, even if some of the questions are becoming a bit familiar: Can instrumental music express a politics? Is there anything intrinsically subversive in the fact of women of color making heavy music? Is doom metal the right (sub)cultural space for indigenous-identified women wishing to promulgate a socially conscious, anti-colonial agenda? Systemic doesn’t provide any evidence or assertions that will settle those issues, even as the band’s public-facing discourse and promotional chatter strike ever more righteous rhetorical stances. This reviewer is down for the politics. The music is a more complicated proposition.

Doom metal is conventionally possessed of feeling tones that seem suited to Divide and Dissolve’s project: misery on tectonic scales, anger that smolders and simmers and then erupts into sudden conflagration. Other bands have coupled that tonal range with left-leaning socio-political messaging; for recent examples, see Forlesen’s ecologically minded folky doom, or Mordom’s application of glacially paced bum-out music to the problematics of dope addiction. Even more relevant are many of the records released by the Body over the last fifteen years — see especially No One Deserves Happiness (2016) or many of the cover songs compiled on Anthology (2011). Somehow the political content of the Body’s music is both more and less didactic than what Divide and Dissolve has succeeded in articulating, and certainly it’s a lot more compelling, aesthetically and ideologically. 

That’s not so damning a criticism, given the Body’s excellence, which is tough for any band to compete with. But it’s worth noting. Divide and Dissolve gets most didactic on Systemic with “Kingdom of Fear,” which includes a spoken word performance from poet Minori Sanchez-Fung. Over the band’s cool drone and occasional stirs of noise that evoke Earth’s more recent work, Sanchez-Fung intones, “In the kingdom of fear, a shadow hovers over my cover of leaves and violets,” and later, “I have pleaded to consult the chorus of night, to hold the strands of moon that tether me to beauty and let me rest.” The language isn’t straightforward enough to stir politicized passions, and while the images sustain a reading that underscores women’s productive powers, they collapse into an earth-mother symbolics that feels dated and a little soft, when a more militant response seems necessary to confront the injustices attending our current conjuncture. 

The record is better when the music does the talking, as it usually does for Divide and Dissolve. “Indignation” commences with a couple minutes of woodwinds, interlaced and gesturing toward symphonic textures, performed by Takiaya Reed. The inevitable, deafening entrance of Reed’s guitar sounds simultaneously like explosion and collapse, which is not easily done, and which is a fitting sonic complement to indignation: the emotion moves toward the world with aggressive rage, and also back into the person feeling indignant, who insists on the overriding validity of her feeling, her ideas, her sense of fairness. That’s the sort of interest that Divide and Dissolve is capable of generating. 

Of course, none of that relative complexity controls what a listener might tend to feel indignant about. Tune into the various permanently outraged talking heads on The Daily Wire, for instance, and you’ll hear a whole lot of indignation: Matt Walsh’s moronic (and always creepy) reactionary chatter about the status of the noun “woman,” or Candace Owens’ latest bit of semi-coherent clickbait (this reviewer was particularly grossed out by her defense of the cause of the American Confederacy on putative social class terms). Perhaps doom metal would not be the first choice to soundtrack those bits of rightwing bilge — but I can hear Moonsorrow’s insipid, Viking-obsessed, musical muscle-flexing whenever Walsh or Josh Hawley start yip-yapping about masculinity. 

But that’s me. Music’s nonrepresentational access to feeling may be its most distinct and its most powerful aesthetic property. In that aforementioned promotional chatter, much is made of Divide and Dissolve’s investment in the unifying power of non-verbal communication, and the undervalued extent of that non-verbal communication’s presence in our lives and experiences. But the non-verbal is still socially constructed and patently representational. See the recent transformation of the thumb-to-forefinger “OK” sign into an emblem for white power, which occurred through the functionality of social media-driven symbolics. Divide and Dissolve make heavy music, and these are indeed heavy times. To intervene effectively, the heaviness may need the iterative and representational power of the verbal. And when it’s invoked, that language may need to be political, focused and forceful. 

Jonathan Shaw

[supercantaloupe]

what is your favorite beethoven symphony?

8!! admittedly i'm biased (i am frequently biased towards pieces i've played before, but not always) but i also think it is so delightful and underrated. beethoven called it his "little symphony" in F (and probably liked it even better than his 7th!), likely to distinguish it from no 6, pastoral, also in F, and because late in his symphonic catalogue and set up against titans like 5 6 and 9, 8 does stand out as being smaller in scale and scope. it's short compared to those others mentioned and it doesn't push the same kind of compositional boundaries like adding a unifying motive/idée fixe (5), connecting separate movements without separation (5 and 6), pseudo-programmatic elements (6), or chorus (9). nevertheless i think it's possible the shining example of a Classical symphony, and still full of the characteristic joy and warmth and depth of beethoven's signature early romantic style. it's got the energy and spirit, it's got contrasting textures, it's got Drama, it's got harmonic complexity without being overwrought or overly dense, everything still feels natural and joyful. and the horn and clarinet solos in the third mvt easily make it my favorite trio in all of beethoven that i've heard so far. listen to the whole symphony for sure (it's only about 26 minutes!) but if you can ONLY listen to one snippet, please listen to the trio...sweet ecstasy

[athetos]

What I’ve been jamming 1/9-1/15: modern grind, punk veterans, and sluggish metal

Instead of doing 10 songs per week, I’m just going to do however many I can based off my schedule and what’s been occupying my mind. I’ll eventually cross-post these to my website once that’s up and running, but for now, here it is!

NOFX - the Decline: 18 minutes may not be an eyebrow-raising song length for a heavy metal band, but for a hardcore punk band that has had as many ups and downs as the world’s most neck-whipping roller coaster, it’s easy to be skeptical that it won’t outstay its welcome, as many believe NOFX itself has. However, this 1999 single is easily NOFX’s magnum opus, and considering the band have finally announced their impending breakup, it both has and will never be topped in the 25 years since. What keeps this jaded anthem from growing stale and repetitive? Fat Mike’s stellar bass lines, a lack of their typical crude humor, and varied tempos and instrumentation that while never goes anywhere completely unexpected, is interesting enough to keep you on your toes. So long, NOFX, and thanks for the Decline.

Gatecreeper - Emptiness: The second longest song on this list, clocking in at a perfectly reasonable 11 minutes, Emptiness is the best doom metal song I’ve ever heard, and it’s not even from a doom metal band. Gatecreeper, hailing from the arid deserts of Arizona, has a reputation as one of the best modern old school death metal bands, but they weren’t content to have mastery of just one genre under their belt. Their 2021 surprise EP, An Unexpected Reality, starts with seven songs of blisteringly fast metal that isn’t quite death, isn’t quite thrash, and isn’t quite grind, but is undeniably catchy and brutal. But it’s Emptiness, the final track, that blew me away three years ago, and still blows me away today. It’s a slow, crushing track that’s saturated with dread and despair, building ever upwards over thick breakdowns and submerged melodies until finally spilling over to glorious catharsis, then fading back into those dreadful depths. It’s powerful stuff, and would have easily have been my song of the year, if there wasn’t competition from the absolute mad geniuses in Archspire and First Fragment.

Aaron West and The Roaring Twenties - In Lieu of Flowers: This song just dropped Friday, and I can’t get enough of it. It’s their first song in a fair while, and Soupy once again proves he’s the undisputed master of writing painfully earnest, heartfelt songs about healing. While their music is ostensibly about the fictional Aaron West and his road to recovery, there’s no denying the truth that it’s grounded in. I was initially surprised, then immediately blown away by the song’s fusion of emo and americana. It’s a triumphant return for one of the scene’s most iconic side projects, and I can’t wait for the rest of the album, especially since the entire thing was recorded with a 16-piece band according to the post they made announcing it. While their music is sonically different from The Wonder Years, veering more into folk rock territory than the mature pop punk they’re famous for, it’s absolutely required listening for fans.

Moonlight Sorcery - To Withhold the Day: Moonlight Sorcery are a band I recently discovered from a “best of 2023” list via BrooklynVegan, and I’m so glad I discovered them. They’re a Finnish black metal band, but this isn’t the lo-fi or harsh sound you’re expecting. They’re easily the most melodic and symphonic black metal band I’ve heard, and they effortlessly blend the discordant, chilling textures of the genre with a dark, catchy, and triumphant atmosphere that at times almost has a power metal bent. Their lyrics bounce back and forth between English and Finnish, and while they of course have the misanthropic and mythological elements found in most bands of this nature, they’re a bit tamer, and a bit more fantastical. Truly a band to keep your eye on, and one I’d recommend for metalheads that don’t particularly like black metal, as it just might change your mind.

Slugdge - Crop Killer: It would be easy to write Slugdge off as just another substanceless gimmick band by looking at the song titles alone, like “Lettuce Prey,” “The Sound of Mucus”, and “Slimewave Zero.” But you’d be sorely mistaken, and missing out on one of the most underrated metal bands of all time. They chose the name Slugdge as a joke after seeing so many sludge metal bands being themed around animals, and created a slug god complete with mythology and lore that they write all their songs around. But don’t be fooled, these guys are anything but unserious. They write haunting and cinematic metal that borrows elements from sludge (obviously), death, black, and progressive metal, and have a sound that’s not quite like anything else out there. Crop Killer is one of their best, who sets the mood right from the beginning with a nauseating 15/8 time signature and a tapped bass riff that’s meant to be disorienting. The mix of clean and harsh vocals really elevates it as well, and makes them stand out from the pack.

Full of Hell, Nothing - Rose Tinted World: I’m pretty sure I talked about the Full of Hell and Nothing grindcore/shoegaze collab a week or so ago, but I just have to bring up this song. The first half is a wall of distortion and beautiful fuzz that’s both punishing and melodic, before the second half takes you to an entirely different place. Radio hosts and weather reports slightly overlap each other as static rises in the background, before enveloping the listener entirely in a muddy mess of screeches and ambient noise. Truly must be heard to be believed, and if I ever did shrooms, I’m absolutely listening to this song on them.

Green Day - One-Eyed Bastard: I haven’t listened to much Green Day in recent years; the last record I ever listened to in full was 21st Century Breakdown, which I purchased at Hot Topic when I was, what, 13? It wasn’t a bad album, and had some great moments, but it was a far cry from their punkier days with albums like Dookie and Nimrod, and didn’t have the same spark that American Idiot had that made it an instant classic of a rock opera. None of the singles released from Uno/Dos/Tres or whatever came after really appealed to me, and I no longer had any interest in paying attention to what they were doing now, especially when I could always listen to their old stuff whenever I wanted. But I’m keeping my eye on this next record, because the singles have been surprisingly listenable, and One-Eyed Bastard is my favorite of the lot. They’re definitely no longer the kids who pelted their audience with mud at Woodstock, at least not sonically, but there’s plenty of value here, with a catchy riff and all the charm and rebellious spirit I’ve been missing from them. Only time will tell if this album earns a proud spot among their legacy, but I’m oddly optimistic.

That’s it! If you have any recommendations for me, or want to chat music in general, send me an ask and lemme know what’s on your mind!

[replicantapologist]

My 6 favourite albums of all time (and of right now)

Thank you very much for the tag, @somebirdortheother!

Oof it's so very difficult to pick only 6 albums, but I'll try...

1 - Opeth - Blackwater Park: it was soooo difficult to pick an Opeth album, so I just went with the one I've been listening to the most recently. BWP has everything I like in music: aggression, drama and vulnerability. And the title track is one of the absolute best songs ever.

2 - Draconian - Arcane Rain Fell: this one is just so... moody and it always makes me feel introspective. I love listening to it on cloudy days (and cloudy days are my favorite). My favorite doom metal album for sure!

3 - Tristania - Beyond the Veil: a classic of the 2000's symphonic/death-doom/gothic metal, and it helped me cement my musical taste, I suppose. It's such an epic journey through the concept and the music. Also, I think this album has the best usage of violin in metal that I've ever listened to. I love every single song in this album, but A Sequel of Decay has a special place in my musical heart.

4 - Lacuna Coil - Black Anima: Veneficium and Layers of Time rule! This is also the album that really got me into LC, which is currently one of my favorite bands.

5 - Epica - The Divine Conspiracy: again, it was very difficult to pick an Epica album, so I went with the one that 1) I've been listening to the most recently; 2) Represents the beginning of the main change in their sound - it's with TDC that their music got a bit more complex, heavier, and when they turned up the contrasting textures up to eleven.

6 - Sepultura - Quadra: A very complete and creative album imo. Not one subpar song, and has a good dose of anger and aggression that is balanced by some moodiness and melancholy at the end.

Tagging: @tremendouskoalachild @heavilycaffeinatedmuffin @gaymothperson @iwonderwh0 and whoever sees this and wants to participate :)

[werewolvesandaccordions]

Today on Russian composers week, I want to look at two names that worked on the same project. When Sergei Diaghilev was putting together the Ballet Russe, he wanted to bring to the Paris audience a “Russian” sound, and the composer he originally looked at was Nikolai Tcherepnin. He showed Tcherepnin the story for the Firebird, and the inspired composer went to work sketching out ideas. Unfortunately, Diaghilev soon discovered the music of Straivnsky, and wanted to work with him instead. But thankfully, instead of tossing out the music or locking it away in a cabinet, Tcherepnin threaded his sketches together into a symphonic poem The Enchanted Kingdom. It feels like a very hazy daydream, wisps of dragonfly wings through the fog haze, and the night is alive. With a language that shows the eerie bridge between late Russian Romanticism and Scriabin’s mystic works, Tcherepnin shows the kind of other-worldly sounds that Russian orchestral textures were going toward. Stay tuned for more Russian composers this week on musicainextenso! – Nick O., Guest Editor

musicainextenso: Today on Russian composers week, I want to look at two names that worked on the same project. When Sergei Diaghilev was putting together the Ballet Russe, he wanted to bring to the Paris audience a “Russian” sound, and the composer he originally looked at was Nikolai Tcherepnin. He showed Tcherepnin the story for…

[pudding-parade]

So I had a bathtub wonderment, one of those odd thoughts that strike me while lounging in my tub. It's about autism, and I have no idea if it's at all sound, so feel free to tell me how wrong I am. Here's the main thought, with more detail behind the cut:

What if being on the autism spectrum is actually typical and not being on the spectrum is atypical?

Look, I'm old, from before it was known that autism is a spectrum. When I was a kid, "autistic" was a description only applied to someone who was completely non-verbal, non-interactive, and constantly banging their head against a wall. Everyone else just had various "difficulties." But now, as An Old nearing the age of 60, the more I learn about the spectrum, the more I notice that I check the boxes and always have.

I have huge sensory issues and get easily overwhelmed by smells (especially) and sound. (Which might seem ironic, given that I am a concert pianist and symphonic musician, but it's chaotic sound, like when a lot of people are talking at once or loud, surround-sound movies with lots of sudden noises, that gets me. Music, classical in particular, is very ordered, non-chaotic sound even when loud, and it focuses me rather than overwhelms me.) I have been known to hide in closets with my hands over my ears at parties and conferences and such when it gets too much, especially so when I was younger and hadn't developed the coping mechanisms that I have now.

Food textures bother me greatly, to the point that I don't like certain foods not because of the taste but because their textures (or their smell, in the case of fish/seafood) make me gag.

I am very gifted in one area -- music, having been a child prodigy -- and completely average or even below in most others.

While I can force myself to be social and outgoing because I've developed coping mechanisms over the years, I greatly prefer to be alone or with just one or two other people who I know very well and can "read" well.

I have very…er, focused…esoteric interests that I will completely nerd out on at length that other people find completely baffling/boring. (Like climates, for instance. :) And dinosaurs, when I was a kid, when they weren't quite as popular as they are now.)

These are, apparently, all "symptoms" of autism, particularly in adults. I haven't been diagnosed and wouldn't seek to be now because, at this point, it doesn't negatively affect my life, but I strongly suspect that I could get a diagnosis, if I pursued one. But the thing is that most people I know in real life seem to check a lot of the boxes, too. Granted, that could just be the company I keep, with like attracting like, but I also notice it a lot online. Which, again, could simply be because people on the autism spectrum feel more comfortable being and communicating online. I don't know. It just seems to me like more people are neurodivergent to some degree than not, yet we've built a world/society that caters to those who aren't.

This could be explained if we, as a species, are gradually evolving toward autism as typical, maybe not in terms of genetics but rather in epigenetic ways brought on by the fact that, for instance, we are slowly becoming more isolated from each other due to things like the development of the concept of nuclear rather than multi-generational families living together as well as by the internet/technology, where it's possible to instantly communicate with people all over the world, even have friendships/relationships with them, and yet never physically interact with them. In such a world, autism actually has advantages, so there might be selection pressure for it and corresponding pressure against what has always been perceived as "normal."

Anyway, that was my thought. I'm not a psychologist, obviously, so I wouldn't be surprised if my thought is a load of hooey. :) But, it was interesting to entertain.

[ousooo]

out now: NOÉMI BÜCHI - MATTER

Release: November 25, 2022 Format: vinyl LP + digital Buy on  Bandcamp / Kudos Stream via Spotify / Apple Music

«Music gives us the illusion that time is not time, but space. It is then that the music transforms from process to object, which I find a very interesting thought; a materialisation of the sound process. Sound is matter.» - Noémi Büchi

Noémi Büchi’s debut album ‘Matter’ captures the tension between growth and decay, consonance and dissonance, mirroring Büchi’s own catharsis through music. Her most personal material to date, ‘Matter’ is an opus of refined, sculpted beauty, one that aims to blur the distinction between ephemerality and physicality. Inspired by late romantic classical music and early 20th century contemporary music, ‘Matter’ is driven by the compositional methodologies of Igor Stravinsky, Alexander Skrjabin, Gustav Mahler and György Ligeti to modern sound forms, adapting and expanding upon their ideas in an awe-inspiring exploration of cutting-edge potency and tactility.

Büchi structures the electronic works that constitute ‘Matter’ in movements, stratifying myriad instrumental parts like the constituent sections of an orchestra. During her work on the album, Büchi engaged in extensive research, obsessively studying specific chords and progressions, and searching for transcendent intonations with resonant properties; complexions of sound with the ability to connect with the listener’s body. Transforming our inner worlds into zones of suspension and levitation, Büchi exposes the listener to intoxicating slipstreams of sound. Prominent voices ascend, tectonic disturbances threaten the foundations, perception and sensation becomes subject to elemental countercurrents and inversions. ‘Matter’ illustrates the fraught pursuit of momentary equilibrium, and makes the fragility of euphoria tangible. Composer & sound artist Noémi Büchi creates electronic, symphonic maximalism. Her music is defined by delicate electronic-orchestral forms and textural rhythms. She strives for a combination of harmonic and dissonant sonorities, to evoke both intellectual and emotional euphoria. Büchi has appeared on the Light of Other Days and Visible Dinner labels, and is now an affiliate of -OUS, releasing ‘Hyle’ her debut EP on the label in spring 2022. As well as her solo output, Noémi Büchi is currently working with Feldermelder on their collaborative project Musique Infinie. Their debut album will also be released via -OUS in the near future. 

___Tracklist

01 - Elemental Fear - 3:43 02 - Screaming At Brutism - 2:38 03 - Causes Of Forgetfulness - 3:06 04 - Measuring All Possibilities - 3:49 05 - Uncertainty Of An Undefined Interdependence - 4:44 06 - Memorizing By Heart - 3:37 07 - Taking The Train With Mr. Shark - 3:53 08 - Prelude For Rational Freshness - 5:12

___Release

Release date: November 25, 2022 Format: 2xLP + digital

___Credits

Written and produced by Noémi Büchi Mixed and Mastered by Manuel Oberholzer VFBM Photography by Jean-Marc Avila Photography / 3D reworked by Mirko Eremita Encor Studio Graphic design by Alfio Mazzei

___Shops

Bandcamp / Kudos / Boomkat / Bleep / Juno / HHV.de / Deejay.de / Beatport / Spotify / Apple Music

[danielpowell]

Hello, I hope your day is going well! I was listening to the instrumental playlist you made for the irons a few months ago, and I'm absolutely smitten with the track 'the shore, it speaks with me' by cloudburn - its been on my main rota ever since. I just really love the field recorded elements of it, and its slow melodic synths. They sound really rich n textured n all that jazz, but tonally it's kind of a rare find? It reminds me a bit of mount shrine in that respect, but it's sparseness sets it apart from a lot of other stuff in the world of ambient music (if that's even the right genre to be looking in).

I've been looking around, and while I poke my head into ambient and instrumental genres, I've never found anything quite like it, and the track's artist doesnt seem hugely active. I wanted to ask if you had any directions you might recommend looking towards to find anything that scratches a similar itch?

honestly, if you have any advice for digging further into instrumental work, in general, it would also be very much appreciated. I have a inkling that I need to explore more from bandcamp.

Which is all to say: Thank you for sharing so many of the playlists you have made. They've opened the door to a lot of new music for me in the last few years, and have been a wonderful source of inspiration and further exploration, both for the artists included as well as the featured subjects.

Wow, this has to be one of the best asks I've ever received, I'm deeply touched ;w;

I completely understand the frustration of a rare find not matching anything in subsequent dig sessions. You are in the right direction, as ambient and field-recording are the terms I would use to describe this particular track.

Strangely enough, I was in the middle of digging for another mix and the soundscape of "The Shore, It Speaks With Me" is very reminiscent of a Claire Rousay album, A Softer Focus. Claire incorporates plenty of field recording in her works and it tends to verge on being solely ambiance with no real musicality; however, this album does have tracks with strings and synth.

I'd also recommend Chihei Hatakeyama's discography, particularly Hachirogata Lake, for the nature soundscape aspect.

Field Works has a lovely selection of field recording focused tracks and you might discover some new favorites in their available works !

I find that dark ambient has more symphonic elements, so maybe Dead Melodies or Atrium Carceri will have something along those lines. That said, dark ambient as a subgenre tends to be... dark.

SVLBRD and Warmth are on the more classically ambient side- this is also the artist behind ARCHIVES and Faint, the former of where I stumbled upon the original compilation that contained our fabled CloudBurn track.

Yes, I became aware of CloudBurn thanks to an ambient soundscape compilation on Bandcamp.

I’ve had a fondness for compilations since I grew up in coffee shops and record stores that would sell compilations at the counters < 3 They are a great place to start when looking into new genres. I also try to steer folks towards supporting local radio stations (especially student / college), but I do not think most offer an ambient format.

If you want to sonically wander, try looking into albums on there tagged with 'ambient' and 'field-recording' on Bandcamp. The best sellers are great in their own right, but the surprise me section might just surprise you !

I encourage music exploration in the way that is best for your personal experience. Ask around, go into a recommended tab rabbit hole, search your local record stores, find creative ways of using a platforms sorting algorithm, delve into a label's offerings, click on stuff with pretty album art, call into a local station, give a stranger's playlist a fighting chance- the world is your auditory oyster.

And my words falter when expressing gratitude. I can assure you that this was really heartwarming to see in my inbox and I'm always so thrilled to learn that my little mixes bring something to others. Thank you for listening, take care !

[houseofchimeras]

👠 and 👂 for the system ask meme!

“👠: how difficult is it for y'all to agree on one cohesive outfit?”

Oh man. It's kind of both easy and difficult at the same time.

Everyone who fronts (regularly) are all some flavor of alterhuman and so we desire to wear things that affirm our identities in some small way. Many of us who front a fair bit have, at the very least, some kind of accessory (or two, or more) that is personally our own. However, our fronting schedule is no schedule at all, and we tend to switch out throughout the day, so wearing the “right” accessory for the right person can be difficult.

However, overall, our system has had a number of negative experiences over our life that make us very self-conscious about physical expression. To make things harder, because of dysphoria buying new clothes regularly is difficult for us. Further, we’re autistic and some of us have texture/touch aversions others in our system, do not. Finally, while we all very in gender, our gender expression leans more androgynous to masculine as it helps with gender dysphoria for the most of us. Those and some other things related to our mental health subdues our comfortability with physical expression relating to clothing choices.

Also, a lot of people in our system don't have a strong preference for clothing choices beyond "it’s comfortable" and "it doesn't take a lot of effort to maintain," so some people just bounce off of whatever everyone else tends to wear.

So, we generally don’t have too much of an issue with clothing.

“👂what kinds of music do you like?”

Overall, our system likes a wide range of music. Of special note is many of us have a love of instrumental music, especially music that has symphonic metal influences. (So, lots of music that could be found searching Youtube for “epic music.”) Paradoxically a lot of us also enjoy LoFi beats and similar (mostly because its something soothing and helps us with our anxiety but also helps by giving us something to listen to without being distracting. Also, it’s kind of a very broad category, but we enjoy relistening to a lot of music from shows/movies/games we like (and also fan-created songs for shows/movies/games we like).

For some kinds of music specific to certain people in our system:

Ocean Watcher, Earth Listener, and Sky Singer are y fans of symphonic metal and power metal bands. (Ocean Watcher and Earth Listener especially like symphonic metal while Sky Singer leans more power metal.)  

Kardegray is a nu metal, heavy metal, and heavy rock fan.

Miushra and One-White-Sock are both country fans (the rest of us like it okay but it’s not our go-to kind of music.)

To name some favorites among some specific people.

~ various