Łabandzi Śpiew: Past Inside the Present

:instagram:

sobota, 8 stycznia 2022

Christina Giannone - Glazed Vision (2021)

The New York City's Christina Giannone was introduced to the Past Inside the Present label back in 2019 but only now her first LP for them is released. I mean was in the last October when Glazed Vision was released with its drone soundscapes that accumulate like grey clouds over your head.

The whole album is absolutely filled with drone soundscape. The sounds twirl and create layers becoming considerably heavy and thick. But this is a peaceful music, very much leaning towards relaxation and self-reflection. Nocturnal music but without the element of danger and uncertainty. I feel like everything is fine and there's little to worry about when the short (for an ambient album) release is revealing its contents. And it is finished with a remix by worriedaboutsatan, which is a big deal on its own.

Glazed Vision costs 6 USD.

Check: Divinity

Country: New York, US

Genre: dark drone

Label: Past Inside the Present

sobota, 1 stycznia 2022

36 & Duenn - Distance as Power (2021)

Dennis Huddleston, the ambient artist from UK, has such a long discography that it can barely be believed. Only this year he created 4 albums (featuring a collaboration with Awakened Souls). The last one, Distance as Power, is created together with Duenn, a Japanese vocalist, and present a very airy take on drony soundscapes.

The Japanese artist (who frequently works together with Merzbow for instance) provides the ethereal part of the project with the dispersed vocals creating soundscapes on their own. Foggy and mysterious ones. But the further into the album, the more important the role of the dark electronic drones. It's this kind of slow, contemplation-fueling music that is perfect for the long winter nights, especially in the finishing parts of the album when the layers of sound are heavy and leave little space for focusing on anything else than the music itself.

Distance as Power costs 6 USD.

Check: Distance as Power

Country: UK

Genre: ethereal soundscape

Label: Past Inside the Present

piątek, 10 września 2021

Wayne Robert Thomas - Canticles of Bliss and Canticles of B-Sides (2021)

Wayne Robert Thomas of Indianapolis is another fantastically sensible ambient artist whose albums are released via the Past Inside the Present label. Canticle of Bliss is one that shows huge amounts of the most delicate feeling of nostalgia written as a soundscape ambient music.

Thomas recorded the album between 2019 and 2020, but, as he admits, "quite a lot of the tracks [he] made ended up not making the cut and a considerable amount of time was then spent listening to a small selection of songs" - so he settled on the only reasonable way out: releasing a companion B-side album that is at least as good as the main one. And although the overall inspirations taken from the works of Hildegard of Bingen are pretty straightforward, the artist points to the fact that the religious content of the originals is not necessarily present on his album (although some droney moments like Legend of Whispering Hills definitely have those cathedral-like sacral vibes) and the vocals are transmuted into guitar loops that express his own feelings. This results in long, long minutes of beautiful and calm compositions.

Canticles of Bliss costs 7 USD, Canticles of B-Sides costs 5 USD.

Check: Legend of Whispering Hills

Country: Indiana, US

Genre: ambient soundscape

Label: Past Inside the Present

:instagram:

czwartek, 19 listopada 2020

Ausklang - Chronos (2020) EN

Yes, the Berlin-based Ausklang finally released their debut album. I expressed my awe over their single track Abschied already and now we have a nigger dose of their music from the borders of instrumental ambient and post-rock on the album Chronos. And it's a reason to celebrate.

What the band creates definitely can't be called a traditional approach to post-rock. The compositions, as we read on Bandcamp, "trace all the veins of rock, from a grandiose ensemble sound of a cinematic soundtrack to the delicate natures of ambient soundscapes", and I would go further, saying that the music doesn't range from ambient to post-rock but draws from them at the same time. The album begins with the sounds of trumpets only to transform to a piano-saturated peaceful post-rock and further to guitar-based ambient in Tempora.

This track goes further to a very traditionally sounding post-rock but it's one of a few moments like this on the album. What's certain is that the music here requires focus and contemplation and its ambient nature is not just a slogan what's best audible in the finish in Abschied.

Chronos costs 7 USD.

Check: Chronos

Country: Germany

Genre: post-rocking instrumental ambient

Label: Past Inside the Present

:facebook:
:official:

:youtube:

Ausklang - Chronos (2020) PL

Tak, berlińskie Ausklang w końcu wydało swój debiutancki album. Zachwycałem się już ich singlem Abschied, a teraz mamy dużo większą dawkę ich muzyki z pogranicza instrumentalnego ambientu i post-rocka na krążku Chronos. I jest się z czego cieszyć.

Zespół z pewnością nie gra tradycyjny post-rock. Kompozycje, jak czytamy na Bandcampie, "wzorują się na wszystkich rodzajach rocka od pełnego rozmachu kinowego soundtracku po delikatną naturę ambientowych soundscape'ów", a ja posunąłbym się dalej mówiąc, że nie tyle rozciągają się od ambientu po post-rock, a czerpią z obu jednocześnie. Album w ogóle zaczyna się dźwiękami dęciaków by po jakimś czasie przejść do nasyconego pianinem spokojnego post-rocka a potem do autentycznego ambientu zagranego na gitarach w Tempora.

Ten utwór przechodzi z czasem w bardzo gitarowy post-rock i to jest moment najbardziej tradycyjnie brzmiący jeśli chodzi o ten gatunek na płycie. Niemniej, muzyka zespołu wymaga skupienia i kontemplacji, a jej ambientowość nie jest tylko pustym słowem, o czym najlepiej świadczy zamykający ją Abschied.

Chronos kosztuje 27 złotych (7 USD).

Sprawdź: Chronos

Kraj: Niemcy

Szufladka: post-rocking instrumental ambient

Label: Past Inside the Present

:facebook:
:official:

:youtube:

sobota, 10 października 2020

Polar Moon - As Above, So Below (2020) EN

Jonny Radtke is a pianist and neoclassical musician who makes music under the Polar Moon moniker. His, as it seems, debut album, As Above, So Below, was released back in June by the American label Past Inside the Present.

As the project's name suggests, Radtke's music makes a peaceful and atmospheric soundscape inspired by the Far North. His label adds that "from the opening notes (...) the listener can’t help but feel like everything is going to be ok". So it's quite funny that the album's title is also the title of a famous horror movie from before several years. However, this peace and optimism are somewhat weakened for example by the lively and unnervingly industrial electronic backgrounds of Floating. Still, it's mostly that the short tracks mesmerize with the neoclassical beauty of piano and strings like it is in Reminiscent of You, As Above, So Below or Ursa Minor.

And if anybody wants more music, Bandcamp offers the album enriched by every track's remix done by some interesting artists like for example Slow Dancing Society.

As Above, So Below costs 7 USD.

Check: Reminiscent of You

Country: US

Genre: piano neoclassical

Label: Past Inside the Present

Polar Moon - As Above, So Below (2020) PL

Jonny Radtke to pianista i twórca neoklasyczny, który tworzy pod pseudonimem Polar Moon. Jego, jak się wydaje, debiutancka płyta, As Above, So Below, wydana została jeszcze w czerwcu przez amerykańską wytwórnię Past Inside the Present.

Tak jak sugeruje nazwa projektu, muzyka Radtkego to spokojny ale też klimatyczny pejzaż inspirowany daleką północą. Jego label dodaje, że "od pierwszych nut (...) słuchacz nie może nie czuć, ze wszystko będzie dobrze". Także dość zabawne, że tytuł albumu to również tytuł głośnego horroru sprzed kilku lat. Ten spokój i optymizm są czasem jednak nadwyrężane, na przykład przez żwawy i niepokojąco industrialny elektroniczny podkład we Floating. Na ogół jednak niedługie utwory hipnotyzują neoklasycznym pięknem pianina i smyczków tak jak ma to miejsce w Reminiscent of You, As Above, So Below czy Ursa Minor.

A jeśli komuś mało muzyki artysty to Bandcamp oferuje album rozszerzony o remiksy każdego kawałka przez takie osobowości jak np. Slow Dancing Society.

As Above, So Below kosztuje 27 złotych (7 USD).

Sprawdź: Reminiscent of You

Kraj: US

Szufladka: piano neoclassical

Label: Past Inside the Present