Billow Observatory - II: Plains​/​Patterns

I have to admit, I didn't see a follow-up Billow Observatory album coming. Jonas Munk and Jason Kolb's initial self-titled masterpiece was just that - a truly brilliant album - they somehow managed to encapsulate everything that's good about textured, emotional ambient music without a single note wasted. There was no doubting the purpose and vision they formed and executed upon flawlessly. I didn't need anything else. That was until, I heard their follow-up.

If you listen back to the Billow Observatory's ST album, it focuses on the gentle caress of guitars, lulled into oblivion - a colorful dream inducing pallet of superlatives, commonly associated and overused when describing ambient music (I for one am guilty). I'm not sure if Jonas and Jason felt a sense of achievement with the original album, but with this perceived perfection, comes the psychological inability to replicate it. 

II: Plains/Patterns, is a outstanding evolution on their original dreamy, distant sound. 

As described in the album's notes, "II: Plains/Patterns departs from the first LP’s amorphous ambient haze with a more rigid, albeit subtle, underpinning of rhythm and pulse". It's as natural a progression as evolution itself - the best parts remain, and the core essence of the album has morphed into an even richer, textured experience.

From the very first track, aptly named Pulsus, it's evident Billow Observatory have evolved. A stuttering of distorted guitars in Kercheval bring the album back into more familiar Billow Observatory territory, but the echoes of synthesizers in Nulstil remind us you're no longer *just* listening to the deep textures and dream-like murmurs found on their previous album - there's more energy, more light. Glimmers of their past album still however, remain. Guitars take to the foreground on Plains - perhaps the most stunning track from the album - but this quickly shifts back into a glorious ambient phase, reminiscent of early Biosphere pieces. 

The simplicity of Montclair harkens back to some of the earliest addictive textured melodies from Aphex Twin's Rhubarb, or many of Brian Eno's infamous pieces. The shifting beats and glazed static amongst Vex then tease out some additional electronic elements, before album closer Plum perfects the delicateness that I'm now realizing is the Billow Observatory magic. No-matter what elements have been added, they always manage to create this soft, hazy landscape. 

I didn't think there was any way to better their original album other than copy the exact same recipe. But Plains/Patterns has taken their ambient bedding, and added more color, and richness through these additional elements. The title is likely suggestive of the two layers that now form the music here. The soft, textured and dreamy plains, and the new pulses and patterns, add a new depth to Jason and Jonas' music that will go down as one of my favorite albums from either of them yet. 

Available on Bandcamp.

Selffish - He She Them Us

Serein had a successful 2016, focusing on reissues for the labels most successful and defining releases so far (Nest and Brambles) plus a modern classical/ambient compilation that laid down an ambitious statement of intent, 'Orbital Planes & Passenger Trains Vol.1'.

The Welsh label has been synonymous with carefully considered output since its inception in 2005, so it's of no surprise to have to wait a year for a new artist to make an appearance, and it comes in the form of Latvia's Andrejs Eigus aka Selffish.

Releasing on netlabels back in 2002 and 2004, Andrejs emerges with a sound that harkens back to those peak electronica years, refreshed with a layer of refined composition you'd expect from the helm of Serein. Playing numerous instruments himself, Andrejs combines field recordings and precise electronics in a sound that reflects elements of the 00's pioneering electronica labels such as City Centre Offices and Mille Plateaux, with the added elements of piano, double bass, strings, saxophone and guitar. This combination set a defining sound for many of the aforementioned labels, with the late Susumu Yokota perhaps the closest comparison to Selffish's sound.

The juxtaposing metallic knoll and jazz-infused bass in Treijas, or the pensive static and bass licks in Willing Suspension Of Disbelief, both create an immersive atmosphere through purposeful separation and respect for two different sounds. The more fluid and electronic based, As The Leaves Fall, brings gentle keys and melody to the foreground in a manner that Arovane helped define on his album, Lilies. While, I Came To Leave, floats along like one of Air's most beautiful summer soundtracks, as the double bass gently rolls through the crackles undertow.

It's an accomplished album full of surprises, rooted in a true composer mindset, with the appreciation of the very best elements that have defined electronica over the years. All the ingredients are here; field recordings adding depth, flawlessly executed instruments adding style, and a well-found respect for the combinations that work perfectly together. 

He She Them Us will be available April 21st on CD and vinyl, through Serein. Stream our favorite track from the album Willing Suspension Of Disbelief, below and the track I Came To Leave over on Bandcamp.

ASIP readers can also grab an exclusive 15% discount at the Serein store using the code "SERASIP15" at checkout.

Gailes - Seventeen Words

Rafael Anton Irsarri and Benoît Pioulard previously combined as Orcas, in somewhat unexpected fashion with an accessible, gentle ambient post-rock sound - Benoît's soft voice floating on top of dreamy piano pieces and the distant plucks of distorted guitar strings. Rafael and Benoît's newest collaboration moves them deeper into more recognizable textured ambient territory as Gailes. 

Rafael is known as a great manipulator of sound design, sometimes creating pure ambient tracks from just one guitar; slowly degrading, stretching, looping sounds, and then manipulating some of the many pieces of analog equipment found within his studio in the woods of New York. 

Benoît's music isn't too far from this either. Gently shifting colors and static, create a warm press of hands on your shoulders as you slowly immerse yourself in the warmth and degradation to emit from his processed guitars.

Together, Seventeen Words is their masterclass in creating new worlds. The depth and detail felt across the four tracks is a new subterranean level they've yet to reach by themselves. Often with humble beginnings, each track will go on to unveil finer detail. In album opener Requiem For An Airport Television Newsreader, it's the choral wash of vocals wrapping around mountain peaks. In Surface Variations In The Snowfall, it's the dramatic growth and swells of ambience against an unsettling guitar shuffle.

The last track, On Distant Fields, puts a gentle lullaby in the foreground, like listening back to an old country and western tape, as the hiss and textures try to distract you from the heartbreaking string melody and slowly emerging vocal-cry. 

This is music for watching clouds slowly shape-shift. Music for watching ice-sheets slowly disintegrate into the blue abyss, and mountain avalanches in slow-motion. 

Available on 12" and digital through Badabing Records.

Loess - Pocosin

In May of 2015 we managed to persuade the Loess duo of Clay Emerson and Ian Pullman to come out of hiding and put together an isolatedmix. At the time, they acknowledged new material was in the pipeline, but with eleven years since their last full release, it could've easily been another five before we saw anything hit the table. They've become one of those infamous early electronica projects that set in motion a cult following, then went off radar. People still admire and lust over Loess' recordings (albeit when reminiscing over a rare copy of 3D Concepts Part 2, secretly wishing their was more to come...)

Those fine folks over at n5MD must have some serious persuasive power (or more than likely, artists just want to be on an awesome label run by the very best). Not only did the label welcome Arovane back into the fold after a nine year hiatus, but now Loess return to n5MD with another full length, presented on  a choice of vinyl colors, no less. 

Absence has done nothing but make Loess' productions missed even more. Those slow, crunchy, stabs adorned in washes of recognizable Loess synthesizer sounds are back and punchier than ever. If anything, Loess have done what Boards of Canada did upon their return, Tomorrow's Harvest, and go a little darker, maybe even a little more sinister - the apocalyptic rumblings on Kype and the hollowed ambient tracks, Fens, and 17P13.2 seem to signal so.  

The clarity and purposefulness of each production has always been Loess' strength. Similar sound palettes can be heard throughout, but the subtleties; refinement of sequencers;  bass; washes of ambience; tiny clicks; scrapes and micro-clangs of metallics always sound new and innovative when wrapped up this way. It's a style that sounded amazing when we first heard their ST album in 2002, and going by their latest on Pocosin, won't be getting old any time quick. 

Available on n5MD

Alejandro Bento – Ripples Remixed

After releasing his beautiful modern-classical EP, Ripples in late 2016, Alejandro Bento has followed up with seven new takes on his three emphatic solo piano pieces. 

Recruiting a wide range of delicate remixers, the Ripples remix EP keeps a very strong attachment to the original melodies and comes together as its own threaded piece through varying ambient textures and more electronic takes. It's a remix album with plenty of care and consideration put into the contributors, and that consideration is heard throughout. 

Souns (aka Michael Red) adds drama and atmospheric depth, followed by LCC (Las Casicasiotone) who's echoes bounce the original piano piece across slow driving beats. The track doesn't travel too far, but instead creates a pensive backing to the striking smattering of keys.

Berlin's Leeward, continues the progression, with accentuated crackling beats, holding the piano at the forefront of the composition, slowly adding guitar and percussion to form a well-rounded take on Mar. 

Memotone features twice on the album, with the tropical-house infused remix of Heartbeat, and a beautifully drawn out, heartbreaking ambient take as the Regolith Remix; perhaps my favorite of the release as it twists and turns over the three distinct sections.

But there's of course a special place for any Christopher Willits take; layering the original pianos to create an orchestral, epic feel to the original fast-keys in Heartbeat- the perfect curtain-closer.

The surprise on the album however,  is Alejandro Bento's own take under his more electronic alias Axel Toben, turning Mar into the kind of driving electronica you're more likely to find from the likes of Kiasmos, or Gidge. 

Stream Ripples Remixed in full below.  Available here on Subtempo Feb 14th.