Sound Watching

SoundWatching 3rd Year Anniversary Compilation

2011-11-18T06:13:00.005+01:00

Artist
Various Artists
Album
SoundWatching 3rd Year Anniversary Compilation

It’s that time of the year again. The moment you’ve been impatiently waiting for is finally here. Sound Watching turned three years old few days ago and with just a little delay we bring you another compilation of some of our favorite songs.

First year it was a selection based on numbers of downloads. Last year, on our second anniversary we prepared two separate compilations, each made by one of the contributors here. This year, we put together one larger compilation of 18 songs, solely based on our taste and momentary mood.

Enjoy and hopefully in one year, there will be another one.

01 - Ben Frost - Stomp
02 - Amon Tobin - Goto 10
03 - Burial - Stolen Dog
04 - Pantha du Prince - Eisregen
05 - Kangding Ray - Athem
06 - Lento - Hymen
07 - DJ Shadow - Come On Riding (Through The Cosmos)
08 - 16 Horsepower - Bad Moon Rising (B-Side)
09 - Glen Porter - And Death Of
10 - Oxbow - The Geometry of business
11 - La Dispute - The Most Beautiful Bitter Fruit
12 - Subheim - December
13 - Access to Arasaka - Caeropore
14 - Pianos Become The Teeth - I'll Be Damned
15 - Nit Grit - Squits And Giggles
16 - Burial - Street Halo
17 - Esazlesa - Vyhlídky
18 - Ben Frost - Killshot

Thank you for your support. You can go to sleep now.

verisof & franzfish

The Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt! - Have The Best Day of Your Life!

2011-11-17T16:07:00.007+01:00

Artist
The Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt!
Album
Have The Best Day of Your Life!
Year
2010
Genre
electronic, experimental, pop

Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt is a visual performance, soul- infused party band started in 2005 by college classmates Neil Fridd and Jesse Cooper Levy in New Paltz, New York. Their show consists of lights, costumes (e.g. a suit of stuffed animals), loud party music and audience participation. (Spinner.com)

Really good live shows, kinda like the opposit of Mogwai.

Last.fm, Buy it on Amazon

Glen Porter & Dday One - Wavelengths (Split)

2011-11-16T02:30:00.000+01:00

Artist
Glen Porter & Dday One
Album
Wavelengths (Split)
Year
2010
Genre
Trip-hop, instrumental hip-hop, turntablism

Dday One was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA. He has a double major in hiphop as a turntablist and samplist. He also has a minor in graffiti art (as do most b-boys), noticeable by his signature. His obsession with manipulating vinyl records started in the early 1990’s, when at the age of 11 he began exploring the depths of Los Angeles’ thrift shops and record stores. (Last.fm)

Glen Porter, started flirting with music as a young boy in the 90’s playing the trombone, piano, and guitar. Then one day with the help of his friends, and dollar crates everywhere he fell in love with producing, but not until he started playing live instruments again did he fall into his own. (Last.fm)

Glen Porter’s album Blessed By A Young Death is already on SW.

Glen Porter’s album Falling Down is already on SW.

Dday One’s album Heavy Migration is already on SW.

Glen Porter on Last.fm, Dday One on Last.fm, Buy it on The Content Label

We Made God - As We Sleep & It's Getting Colder

2011-11-08T03:20:00.001+01:00

Artist
We Made God
Album
As We Sleep
Year
2008
Genre
Post-rock, sludge

Artist
We Made God
Album
It's Getting Colder
Year
2011
Genre
Post-rock, sludge

If normal pop music is like watching a sunny day through a passenger window, We Made God’s music would be like riding a monster truck through a blizzard. Violent and adrenaline filled, broken up by the occasional calm eye of the storm.

Their debut As We Sleep has been touted as “Referencing the otherworldly ambient atmospherics of Sigur Rós and Deftones’ driving, muscular riffs” by Q Magazine who gave them a 4/5 for their “audacious debut”. Kerrang magazine was equally thrilled by their debut album, giving them 4 Ks and dubbing it “simultaneously soporific and terrifying” as well as selecting them as one of their Must Hear acts of 2008. (Last.fm)

Sounds like: What the Blood Revealed

Last.fm, Buy It’s getting colder on Avantgarde Music and As We Sleep on Bad Taste Records

Christian Albrechtsen - I Wish All My Songs Were About the Sea

2011-11-06T02:53:00.001+01:00

Artist
Christian Albrechtsen
Album
I Wish All My Songs Were About the Sea
Year
2010
Genre
Electronic, IDM, ambient, folk

Albrechtson’s distinctive, off-the-wall vocal and lyrical stylings share a niche with similarly eccentric artists like Björk, Anthony and the Johnsons or Sigur Ros’s Jón Birgisson and will undoubtedly be just as divisive (Igloomag.com review)

Sounds like: Björk, Sigur Ros, CocoRosie

Last.fm, Buy it on Dynamophone, Friend’s review in Czech language

Dday One - Heavy Migration

2011-10-23T04:45:00.000+02:00

Artist
Dday One
Album
Heavy Migration
Year
2007
Genre
Instrumental hip-hop, trip-hop, turntablism

Dday One was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA. He has a double major in hiphop as a turntablist and samplist. He also has a minor in graffiti art (as do most b-boys), noticeable by his signature. His obsession with manipulating vinyl records started in the early 1990’s, when at the age of 11 he began exploring the depths of Los Angeles’ thrift shops and record stores.

Without a sampler at the time, his first compositions were made by engaging in sessions of “dropping the needle” (placing the needle repeatedly in the same spot of a record to emulate the repetition of a break in a song) and repeatedly looping the desired sample segments on a tape deck. After using this method of creating beats and amassing stacks of records from years of beat mining, he furthered his manipulation of vinyl and love of music by utilizing the sequencing capabilities of a sampler. (Last.fm)

Sounds like: Glen Porter, Mr Cooper, 40 Winks

Last.fm, Buy it on his website

September Malevolence - Tomorrow We'll Wonder Where Our Generation Gets Its Priorities From

2011-10-20T06:43:00.003+02:00

Artist
September Malevolence
Album
Tomorrow We'll Wonder Where Our Generation Gets Its Priorities From
Year
2005
Genre
Instrumental, post-rock

The Silent Ballet Top Rated Records 2005: #4;

“They've been called the Swedish Explosions in the Sky, and you can only take such a comparison as flattery. September Malevolence leads a booming Swedish instrumental scene with moody, slightly off-beat post-rock that has a perfect insight into the quiet/loud approach that has dominated the genre over the past few years. Top-notch songwriting sets Tomorrow We'll Wonder... apart from the pack, and it's a skill like that which is an indicator that this band is not a flash in the pan. Tomorrow We'll Wonder... gets darker than one would expect, but this is complemented well by a gloomy atmosphere that looms over the album. While the dark clouds are briefly cast away throughout the course of the album, it's ultimately a losing battle as the intent of the band becomes clear by the album's conclusion. And with that September Malevolence leaves us craving more.” (Denovali)

Sounds like: Ef

Last.fm, Buy it on Denovali

Hauschka - Salon Des Amateurs

2011-10-17T08:16:00.002+02:00

Artist
Hauschka
Album
Salon Des Amateurs
Year
2011
Genre
Piano, instrumental, ambient, experimental

Volker Bertelmann is a classically trained composer/pianist from Germany who currently resides in Düsseldorf. Having studied classical piano for ten years, his work as Hauschka is based upon a playful exploration of the possibilities of the ‘prepared’ piano - a disruptive intervention into the preconceived idea of the piano as a pure-toned instrument: by clamping wedges of leather , felt or rubber between the strings; preparing the hammers with aluminium paper or rough films; placing crown corks on the strings, weaving guitar strings around the piano’s guts, or pasting them down with gaffa tape - his resulting tracks are composed both originally and charmingly. The results are vivid, unconventional pieces made in a spirit of playful research-enthusiasm.

Rather than striving for any purist academic perfection, Volker’s playing seems as much informed by modern electronica or Indonesian gamelan as it is by any classical cannon. With the aid of his interventions, the piano becomes as much a machine for generating rhythms as it does for melody. Now and again Hauschka utilises additional, non-piano sounds such as synthesizer, drum machine, electric bass, or other acoustic instruments like vibraphone, strings or brass. His pieces may be seen as small rhythmic sound-vignettes or just quiet ballads which have their roots in east-asian harmonies, the minimalism of Reich, Glass, Nyman, etc., and also in Satie or Ravel. (Last.fm)

Sounds like: Sylvain Chauveau, Nils Frahm, Peter Broderick

Last.fm, Buy it on Fat Cat Records

Dale Cooper Quartet & the Dictaphones - Parole de Navarre

2011-10-13T04:19:00.002+02:00

Artist
Dale Cooper Quartet & the Dictaphones
Album
Parole de Navarre
Year
2007
Genre
Dark ambient, dark jazz, doom jazz

Dale Cooper Quartet & The Dictaphones are the quartet made of musicians covering a wide variety of musical styles, creates a music that mixes electronic (samples, cuts, sound treatments) and acoustic (guitars, saxophone, trumpet).

They play moody ballads that sound as if they come out from one of David Lynch’s movies. Like in the Hollywood master of bizarre pieces, there is something like a dark and poisonous colour broken by red thunderlights and blue cigarette smoke. The music spawns some odd characters and landscapes while the listener makes out some more friendly faces that loom up out of this nowhere place: the voice of Zalie Bellaccico, Milanese streets sounds, a lazy flute, some distant breathing swim on the surface of this deep troubled waters.

“Parole de Navarre” is an invitation for opening the red curtain of this Dark Jazz cabaret made of shimmering and whirling walls. (Last.fm)

Last.fm, Buy it on Denovali

Lento - Icon

2011-10-09T13:50:00.011+02:00

Artist
Lento
Album
Icon
Year
2011
Genre
Sludge, instrumental

“The second album of the Italian monsters of slowness.”

Lento is an instrumental collective based in Rome, Italy. The former members joined in 2004 as a quartet and started working out a sort of introspective and implosive approach, taking their cue from a wide range of influences including seminal bands such as Neurosis, Earth and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. (Last.fm)

First one of upcoming posts about bands we saw in Denovali Swingfest 2011. Amazing festival, lineup and overall music experience.

Sounds like: Omega Massif, Ufomammut (cooperation with Lento here)

Last.fm, Buy it on Denovali

Current 93 - Dogs Blood Rising

2011-08-29T21:30:00.005+02:00

Artist
Current 93
Album
Dogs Blood Rising
Year
1984
Genre
experimental, dark ambient

Having established his art on initial releases, Tibet makes a stunning declaration of purpose on Dogs Blood Rising, one of the most frightening, nerve-wracking records ever released. (allmusic.com)

The description on allmusic continues for another 12 pages, but this is the essential sentence.

Sounds like: fun

Last.fm, Buy it on Amazon

Orbital - Octane

2011-08-10T10:10:00.000+02:00

Artist
Orbital
Album
Octane
Year
2003
Genre
Electronic, ambient, IDM

Orbital is an electronic duo consisting of brothers Phil Hartnoll and Paul Hartnoll formed in London, England whose career originally lasted from 1989 until 2004. One of the biggest names in British electronica during the 1990s, Orbital were both critically and commercially successful, being particularly known for an element of live improvisation during their shows, a rarity with techno acts. They were initially influenced by early electro and punk rock. (Last.fm)

Sounds like: Underworld

Last.fm, Buy it on Amazon

Head Control System - Murder Nature

2011-07-24T09:19:00.004+02:00

Artist
Head Control System
Album
Murder Nature
Year
2006
Genre
progressive metal, experimental

Head Control System is a new multinational musical experiment led by Daniel Cardoso (of Sirius and Re:Aktor) and Kristoffer Rygg (Ulver. Ex-Arcturus, Ex-Borknagar). Their music is often described as “heavy groove/rock/metal” but Cardoso once claimed the whole project might be “about girls, serial killers, control and the loss of it”. While the band’s debut Murder Nature was realeased in early 2006, ” Severe Damage On Reason And Equilibrium”-EP was released in the past as SinDRomE in colaboration with Slamo’s Tóbel Lopes as singer. Head Control System is now part of North-American independent The End Records’ roster along with bands such as Voivod, The Gathering, Green Carnation and Ulver. (Last.fm)

Sounds like: Ulver

Last.fm, Buy it on Amazon

Alphawezen - L'apres: Midi d'Un Microphone

2011-07-07T13:45:00.000+02:00

Artist
Alphawezen
Album
L'apres: Midi d'Un Microphone
Year
2001
Genre
Electronic, downtempo, lounge

It's hard to find some nice (and english) description and information about the band. Let's just say it's a good downtempo music, suitable for all you chillout-downtempo-lounge lovers.

Sounds like: Waldeck, Parov Stelar

Last.fm, Buy it on Amazon

Yndi Halda - Enjoy Eternal Bliss

2011-06-26T15:33:00.000+02:00

Artist
Yndi Halda
Album
Enjoy Eternal Bliss
Year
2006
Genre
Post-rock, instrumental

Yndi Halda are a post-rock band from Canterbury, United Kingdom. The band’s music is characterized by expansive, cinematic pieces that have seen the group compared to modern classical and post rock - however, Yndi Halda’s work is usually considered more thematically optimistic or hopeful, and more song-based than artists of those genres.

The self-released edition of Enjoy Eternal Bliss was often reviewed favourably (although the band have boldly copied negative reviews onto their myspace site), and gained a lot of attention because of its distinctive, individualised hand-made covers. (Last.fm)

Last.fm, Buy it on Amazon

Kyoto Jazz Massive - Spirit of the sun

2011-06-23T14:45:00.000+02:00

Artist
Kyoto Jazz Massive
Album
Spirit of the sun
Year
2002
Genre
Nu-jazz, chillout, electronic

Kyoto Jazz Massive is a musical project specialising in broken beat and electronic styles, consisting of the two brothers Okino Shuya and Okino Yoshihiro. Although the brothers have been DJ’s since the late 1980’s, they have been remixing and composing as far back as the early 1990’s. Since they formed Kyoto Jazz Massive as a DJ unit in the beginning of 90’s, they have built a Japanese Jazz Crossover Music scene in Japan and also succesfully built a following overseas. In 2002, they finally released their first album “Spirit Of The Sun” which was received to widespread global acclaim. (Last.fm)

Last.fm, Buy it on Amazon

Nanocycle - Something Burning

2011-06-17T11:11:00.000+02:00

Artist
Nanocycle
Album
Something Burning
Year
2007
Genre
Shoegaze, indie

Shoegaze band based in Tokyo. Their music is nothing so special or progressive, but I like it as it's optimistic and it's a proper shoegaze. The atmosphere is really positive.

Last.fm, Buy it on Nanocycle's MySpace

The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble - The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble

2011-06-15T15:00:00.002+02:00

Artist
The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble
Album
The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble
Year
2006
Genre
Ambient, jazz, dark jazz, experimental, electronic

TKDE started off as an audiovisual project back in 2000, influenced by old silent movie directors such as Murnau and Lang, but also the animations of Jan Svankmeijer or the films of the Quay Brothers.
Jason Köhnen and Gideon Kiers, started creating soundtracks to old silent movies (Nosferatu, Metropolis) and progressively composed new music inspired by these images which eventually became TKDE. (MySpace)

This is a very special music. The more I listen to it, the more I love it and find more and more ideas and compositions. At the first sight it may sound too slow or boring, but after a few listenings you can hear that the atmosphere was built with a great attention. Must have for every ambient lovers.

Sounds like: Bohren & Der Club of Gore, Kammerflimmer Kollektief

The Mutations EP already on SoundWatching

MySpace, Last.fm, Buy it on Amazon

The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa - Watching Black

2011-06-13T10:09:00.000+02:00

Artist
The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa
Album
Watching Black
Year
2006
Genre
Trip-hop, electronic

The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa is a rare band. In their own unique way, they have always attempted to find their own sound and expression with which they have jointly dictated the direction of alternative music in their homeland of the Czech Republic. The band’s cult status there was primarily acquired through strong, emotional music that was open to various influences. (Last.fm)

Beautiful slow and soft trip-hop. Just great.

Sounds like: Khoiba

Last.fm, Buy it on UK iTunes

Colleen - Colleen et les Boîtes à Musique

2011-06-11T09:45:00.000+02:00

Artist
Colleen
Album
Colleen et les Boîtes à Musique
Year
2006
Genre
Ambient, experimental

Cécile Schott was born in France and began making music under the name ‘Colleen’ in 2001, after a friend gave her a CD-R with the ACID Pro music production software contained within. “Colleen Et Les Boites A Musique” hit the shops on October 2nd 2006, and is comprised of 14 short pieces created using only music boxes, originally commissioned by France Culture’s Atelier De Création Radiophonique. (Last.fm)

Sounds like: Library Tapes, Xela

Last.fm, Buy it on Amazon

Simeon ten Holt - Complete Multiple Piano Works CD1&2

2011-06-07T20:13:00.001+02:00

Artist
Simeon ten Holt
Album
Complete Multiple Piano Works CD1&2
Genre
Minimalism, piano, contemporary classical

Simeon ten Holt (born in Bergen, Netherlands, 24 January 1923) is a Dutch composer. Ten Holt studied with Jakob van Domselaer, eventually developing a highly personal style of minimal composition. Ten Holt generally uses consonant, tonal materials and his works are organized in numerous cells, made up of a few measures each, which are repeated ad libitum according to the player’s preference. (Last.fm)

Sounds like: Philip Glass, Erik Satie

Last.fm, Buy the complete box on Amazon

Medusa's Spell - Last X Hours

2011-06-05T20:13:00.002+02:00

Artist
Medusa's Spell
Album
Last X Hours
Year
2008
Genre
Dark ambient, neofolk

The Italian duo Medusa’s Spell is a project born in the winter 2005. It consists of a research of sounds we try to probe with into obscure atmospheres or states of mind, all veiled by a sort of romanticism and refinement.

"Last X hours" is a conceptual album, this time following the ten last tragic hours of a woman who stands accused for witchery. Ten songs, each representing one hour of her last ten in life, from the moments of the trial, - when her body is completely exhausted from pain - until her mind resigned to her fate of death. The lyrics of the first and the last song is a curse! - the true words spoken by a woman falsely accused of witchery and condemned to death in 1428. The witch of Medusa’s Spell is however a symbolic woman representing all women condemned as witches. By infernal torments and torture her mind and tongue slowly converts to the Devil…and her voice becomes finally the voice of the Devil.
Medusa’s Spell has again created a genuine accoustic ritual dark-folk concept. (Medusa's Spell' website)

Sounds like: Les Fragments de la Nuit

Last.fm, Buy it on Cold Meat label

Distance - My Demons

2011-06-01T18:01:00.000+02:00

Artist
Distance
Album
My Demons
Year
2006
Genre
Dubstep, electronic, ambient

Distance (born Greg Sanders) is a London born producer and DJ notable for being a major proponent of the dubstep genre, especially since the release of his debut album “My Demons” in January 2007. He also founded the record label Chestplate in that year to promote himself and other dubstep artists. (Last.fm)

Sounds like: Burial, Skream

Last.fm, Buy it on Amazon

Kruder & Dorfmeister - The K&D Sessions

2011-05-30T09:33:00.000+02:00

Artist
Kruder & Dorfmeister
Album
The K&D Sessions
Year
1998
Genre
Electronic, downtempo, lounge, chillout

Peter Kruder and Richard Dorfmeister are an Austrian duo most known for their downtempo-dub remixes of pop, hip-hop, and drum and bass songs. Their remixes are often flavoured with bossa nova or jazz sounds; some of their better-known works include remixes of Madonna’s “Nothing Really Matters,” Depeche Mode’s “Useless,” Bone Thugs-N-Harmony’s “1st of tha Month,” and Roni Size’s “PlayHeroes.” Many of these are collected on the double album The K&D Sessions. (Last.fm)

Sounds like: Tosca, Peace Orchestra

Last.fm, Buy it on Amazon

Stroon - Ruine Noire

2011-05-26T10:02:00.000+02:00

Artist
Stroon
Album
Ruine Noire
Year
2010
Genre
Dubstep, electronic

Bratislava' s sonic underground is a fertile place giving birth to exciting upcoming electronics projects. Stroon is a multi-faceted musician, with many ties to projects ranging from collective improvisators (Frutti di Mare, Musica Falsa et Ficta) up to the beat-based future-funk collaboration Pollyjoy/Femoxema.

His debut EP is a cinematic ride across genres, a narrative blend of post-dubstep, future garage and wonky. It is a journey across a landscape of human emotions, passions and sins, and like every journey, this one too has its darker, melancholic side. Behind the free-flowing, sometimes almost dishahmonic synth lines, a deep bass is pulsing. Ruine Noire EP is a minimalist emotional snapshot - its 6 tracks are parts of a eternal sonic flux, one that stroon tapped into to include it on this release. (Nocna Hudba)

Last.fm, Buy it on Bandcamp