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from Sonic Curiosity
written by Matt Howarth
http://www.soniccuriosity.com/sc065.htm
Matt Howarth links:
Bugtown Mall - Sonic Curiosity
VARIOUS ARTISTS: 360 Degrees
(CD on the Foundry)
Conceived and organized by Michael Bentley (aka eM), this 51 minute CD from 2002 is a concept release in which the various electronic musicians contribute an instrumental soundtrack for a science fiction tale (in which a space traveler encounters "something" in the void) told via text on the CD's insert card.
Included in this project are: Rhomb, eM, Jonathan Hughes, High Skies, Mark van Hoen & Seofon, Sketch, Thermal, and Kim Cascone.
Although decidedly "ambient" these tracks display a tad more substance (sometimes even discernible rhythms) than most passive soundscapes. Delicate melodies lurk among these textural compositions, as crackling tones and drifting atmospherics conspire to generate a mysterious sonic environment for the listener. The music throbs with cosmic qualities: chirping radio emissions, oozing radiation fields and the languid drone of interstellar particles as they tumble in the great vacuum. Minimalist abstractions evolve structure, ascension achieves escape velocity, and atonal noise abounds with vague harmonics, frequently applying smooth beats to invigorate the astral soundtrack.
This Foundry project is quite entertaining, excellently capturing the limitless void, elucidating this galactic panorama with unaggressive drama and electronic suspense as the strange tale unfolds.
VARIOUS ARTISTS: Lost and Found, a Foundry Anthology Degrees
(double CD on the Foundry)
This release from 2002 was compiled to document artists on the Foundry label: past, present, and future.
On this double CD, you will find material by: the Apiary, M.Bentley, eM, Jonathan Hughes, Mollusk, Rhomb, Dean Santomieri, and Seofon (with Steve Roach and Vidna Obmana). The first CD features 68 minutes of tracks from older Foundry releases by these artists. The second CD features 65 minutes of material from current and future Foundry releases (in conjunction with the Hypnos label), including a few remixes and previously unreleased tracks by some of these artists.
JONATHAN HUGHES: Trillium
(CD on the Foundry)
This 52 minute release from 2002 features dense ambience, with each track constituting an experiment in 3/4 signature.
As stated in the CD package: "Trillium is neither a radioactive isotope, nor a newly discovered planet--it is a three-pedaled flower in the lily family." Understanding this distinction is quite helpful in appreciating Hughes' music, for the gradual expansion of his electronic textures adopts familiar qualities once the audience can connect the drones and pulsations with a blossoming life force. The dreamy ambience parallels growth, patiently grinding toward maturity with each cyclic loop and ringing tonality. Glitchy and static sounds are compressed into elongated structures that waft in an unheard breeze. More conventional synthesizer noises are employed to glue everything together, patching seams between earth and sky. Huge plants spring to tower in the synthetic sunlight, bending to quasi-atonal stimuli.
Having released several CDs under the name Subspace, Hughes makes his debut solo recording with this abstract release, capturing the lifespan of a simple flower with a mixture of harsh sounds washed in a glittering downpour of fluid electronics.
8/2002