Catching The Waves

Grand Theft Auto 5: Ambient City

I first heard Choc's work at the music production website KVR, where his Mimesis Algorithm knocked the dregs from my clay pipe. It's a click 'n' cut track, full of atmospheric glitches, with a sparse but effective piano and cello accompaniment. The clincher is the bridge, which is the sound of a modem firing up; in the context of the track, it's perfect. If you have a friend who likes classical music but isn't too keen on contemporary stuff, or vice versa, point them to Mimesis Algorithm. I don't think it's available for downloading at present, but you can still hear it at Choc's MySpace.

All of which leads me to Choc's highly downloadable four-track EP, Solstice Urbain, available at Jamendo. But first, a haiku:

8000 albums

All free, no hidden charges

Jamendo calls you

Learn to say this in one breath and repeat it to friends and acquaintances. Your procreation will soar as people discover how cool you are. Back to the review:

Choc is a Frenchman who works in signal processing, statistics and telecommunication, making him eminently suited, I would have thought, to produce ambient electronica. To quote the man himself: "Solstice Urbain is a collection of four songs composed in 2004-5 which reflect the universe of a fictive city." The album could be classified as "industrial ambient minimal" because intimate clanks (oxymoronic, I concede) and rhythmic thumps and thuds abound. Now, I could easily kick a dustbin downstairs and claim to be an ambient artist; the only difference between Choc and me is that he's composed addictive music whereas my effort would still sound like a dustbin being kicked down a staircase. I don't know how he manages to convey emotion through abstract sounds, but I'm happy to listen in dumb admiration.

First off, Choc gently prises your ears open with Resurrection industrielle. Imagine listening to the world's biggest glass harp being played inside a Tibetan monastery's boiler room and you'll get the idea.

Introspection digitale introduces a pulsing bass and a flapping (yes, really) kick drum with feisty interruptions from what sounds like a short-circuiting fusebox. Most high frequency sounds are filtered out, giving the music a muffled feel befitting the track's title. It ends with a heartbeat, Pink Floyd fans.

The third track, Chaos Indus-nat, finds us among leaking pipes, their echoing drips slowly increasing in frequency until we stumble upon a hard-working computer terminal. It's like exploring a sewage system, but in a good way. I release that last sentence under a Creative Commons licence. Do with it what you will.

Misanthropie Numérique follows a classic electronica recipe: glitchy drums, smooth synths and a bit-crushed ending. Like the rest of the EP, I'm sure it contains a subliminal "keep listening" message.

It's perfectly possible to listen to this album while cruising the streets of GTA 4's New York. But I warn you, you might have to pull over, switch the engine off and recline your seat. Let others investigate the city; you're busy exploring sound. And, although it's optional, you can always put something in Choc's parking meter. It might prompt him to correct the typo on his album cover. ;-)

Choc - Solstice Urbain (link to individual mp3s and zipped album)

Choc's MySpace

"Yes, of course I've got my trousers on...oh, damn."

Just when CTW's musical palate was getting a bit furry, along comes the musical equivalent of a wine-tasting session: DVA's Ringtones for Mobile uPhones released on Surreal Madrid netlabel. There are no two-hour ambient drones here - the longest track is a minute long; the shortest, eight seconds. The "songs" range from fruity reds to the driest of whites, and I swallowed them all.

DVA are a boy/girl duo from Hradec Králové in the Czech Republic, who combine electronica (beatbox, loops) with traditional acoustic instruments (saxophone, clarinet, cello, guitar, accordion) and, er, doll. That's what it says on their website. Vocal duties are shared, though the female vocals make my tummy feel funny; ah, the Czech Republic, land of luscious lager and exquisite cheekbones. The country's also renowned for its theatrical and folk music tradition, and DVA (Czech for "two") spring directly from that; they got together during a radio recording of an Isaac Asimov play and have recorded a soundtrack for the classic film, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, and are deeply involved in making soundtracks for theatre performances. They are influenced by the circus, cabaret, beatboxes, the tango, electro-acoustic music, acoustic-electro music and "non-existent languages". Again, that's what it says on their website.

Instead of describing the various ringtones, I'm going to list the main elements of a few of my favourites - Nova Zprava: Cold War clarinets, Tyrolia Ring: yodelling, Alpen Ring: cow bells, Scifiring: jolly saxophone, Harmo Ring: low-fi accordion, Elektroring: glitches, Ping Ring: lots of drugs, Cirkusring: woodwind, Press Ring: typewriter. The last track, Trampring, sounds like a crazy campfire singalong - quirky humour is an essential element of this album.

Now, instead of forcing your phone to pump out the latest aural burp from the latest corporation, why not sluice your mobile phone's taste buds with an ambient ringtone, a dusty accordion ditty, or a glitchy, reverberating slice of out-there electronica? It's a very good sign that most of the tracks feel too short. DVA aren't afraid to experiment - you won't be able to guess what the next track will sound like. Music needs more people like them.

Train users of the world unite - you have nothing to lose but the disinterest of your fellow commuters.

DVA - Ringtones for Mobile uPhones (link to zipped album - it's a small download for dial-up users)

DVA's website

DVA on MySpace

Surreal Madrid netlabel

Lingers On The Palate

DJ Side is a Czech DJ who makes dubstep, grime and hip-hop. "All well and good, and we're very happy for him," I hear you say, "but what about those of CTW's enormous readership who don't want to nod their heads and consort with people of the opposite sex?" Fear not, O basement dwellers. With a surreptitious wink, DJ Side has sneaked an ambient hip-hop EP into CTW's coat pocket. You heard me: ambient hip-hop. Bittersweet Love is a five-track slice of hypnotic audio bliss, released on parole by those unstable people at Surreal Madrid netlabel.

Wikipedia defines dubstep as "distinguished by its dark mood, sparse rhythms, and emphasis on bass," which goes a long way to explain the soundscape you'll hear in Bittersweet Love. What's especially intriguing is the use of ambient sounds in hip-hop rhythms, though the glitches are set at such slow tempi that it's more trip-hop than hip-hop. Standing on the Olympic podium: 1. Lo-fi beats over lengthy delays and reverberations. 2. Deep bass drones. 3. Glitches.

The EP kicks off with Amb Part 2, wherein we discover an electric piano, a snare drum made of stretched white noise (sort of), and a distressed seagull strapped to a dub delay. Hey, it's how I roll. [/Americanese slang]

Clicks is just that, the sound of a dusty record with lots of panned clicks 'n' cuts. It sounds like a fireplace getting its groove on while an ominous, pulsing bass runs around the house and tries to find a way in. It's difficult to make such sparse elements engrossing, but don't worry - a Czech DJ is, er, in the house. Heh.

If the Cold War ever returns to Europe, D33P should be the soundtrack for its newly employed spies as they don mackintoshes, smoke far too many high-tar cigarettes and rendezvous in bombed-out buildings. Bell-like tones haunt the crackly, delayed clicks that run in and out of a lo-fi drum break. The bass sounds as though DJ Side parked a diesel engine in the corner of his studio, threw a thick tarpaulin over it and left it to run while he got on with making music. The track takes its time and thus gets under your skin. It broods. It's deep ind33d.

In Klear you'll hear giant filter sweeps, background thumps and a low, pulsing bass. It's rather like listening to distant warfare while the United Nations deploy a blue-helmeted click 'n' cut groove to keep things almost civilised. Like the rest of Bittersweet Love, it won't grab you on the first listen, but it's detail and rhythmical qualities might eventually win you over; it did me.

Metatron provides an optimistic-ish ending to our aural journey. A plain clap-and-kick beat overlays background noises and snatches of conversation before a muted guitar and lo-fi strings leaven the mix.

I'm not sure if there's much point listening to this fascinating EP on your/my standard crappy PC speakers because much of the intricate detail will be lost. It's definitely headphones territory; either that or play it late at night on a decent sound system. Your neighbours will love you. Trust me.

Perhaps someone will tell me where the album cover image comes from. Donning my deerstalker hat, I've deduced that it's from an Asian gangster film, and furthermore, my magnifying glass tells me that it might include the odd bout of fisticuffs or at least a sharply worded letter deploring misbehaviour in general.

DJ Side - Bittersweet Love EP (link to individual MP3s)

Surreal Madrid netlabel

DJ Side's website

DJ Side's MySpace

Speakers for Earmuffs

Stolen unashamedly from the comprehensive music production website KVR:

Q: "Please recommend an ambient album."

A: "Go for a walk."

Well, it made me laugh. But then, I don't have to go for a walk. I can sit here and get fat and happy because I've already got today's CTW recommendation, he said smugly. I'm new to ambient but I understand it eschews traditional rhythm sections and most melodic elements, preferring to concentrate on disparate and ethereal sounds to form a pleasing, almost hypnotic, whole. (Not a bad analysis, eh? This is all free, you know.)

CTW usually features albums that have been online for an ice age or two, but today's choice, Urlaub auf Balkonien by krill.minima, was released in October on the sainted Thinner netlabel. I'm in danger of getting trendy, but I don't care; this album is so good that it's usurped my vetting procedure like James Bond getting past Customs.

What to expect: white noise, scratches, clicks and pops, echoes, delays, sepulchral reverberation, the most gorgeous otherworldly pads and synths, and an occasional oh-so-cool-if-only-they'd-play-a-proper-blues-phrase-but-actually-this-is-ok electric piano waving hallo. The stunning Strandpalast is like hearing a pebbly beach express itself through music (trust me), and the tempo of the eerie Projektor deviates just enough to unsettle the listener, but if you're wondering whether Urlaub auf Balkonien is your cup of mint julep, try these:

CTW's recommended tracks:

Sommerdellen, a Satie-like conversation between two (sometimes three) notes that will resonate right between your eyes.

Leichtes Glimmen, a track that sounds vaguely industrial until overtaken by a wash of lullaby synths and endless echoes. It's currently my favourite track on the album.

This album is sneaky; before you know it, you've stopped what you're doing and you're swaying in time like a rabbit hypnotised by a snake. The soundscape is so intimate I keep debating whether to strap my computer's speakers to my head. I am normal. Sort of.

Broadband users:  krill.minima - Urlaub auf Balkonien (zipped album)

56K dial-up people: Individual mp3s

Here Be Whales

Dub Jay's four-track EP, Perfectly Ordinary Recorded Noise, sounds as though it was recorded underwater - a cardinal sin for music buffs - except in this case the sound is as clear as a bell. It's just that it could have been made by a school of whale and dolphin dub enthusiasts let loose in an Atlantis recording studio. Dub Jay is from Ohio, if you must know. No seas there. Anyway, his EP is closer to perfect than it is to ordinary.

Ideal listening conditions: soaking in the bath or during a late-night drinking session when you're feeling tired and start to wonder about the meaning of life and why socks go missing. Or you may play it on your iPod while machine-gunning the neighbour's dog. I'm not the boss of you.

The first track, Our Zero, is an ambient wash of moans, bells, shakers, with a mermaid on vocals. The sound is intimate and gentle yet immense, a sort of Soft Dub that echoes and reverberates as Dub Jay pans his carefully manipulated sounds from side to side. It's really slow, as is the whole album. At first you may yawn a little (as I did), say "very nice" (as I did), and reach for the off button before realising just in time that the sound floating from your speakers is achingly beautiful. Everything combines to form a melody that lilts and floats.

Must Show is glacially slow. A deep, deep bass note echoes every now and then in the background as a collage of sighs, hisses, clicks and tones tickle your ears. It's another track that treads the line between boredom and rapture before plumping for the latter.

Sixty Red features what sounds like a mermaid's siren song. Dub Jay backs it with ethereal pads and subtle IDM-ish beats. Bliss. But I think the snare that enters halfway is a little intrusive. Indoor Setup provides a feel-good ending to the EP, with synths and percussion burbling happily away. By this time, you will be burbling happily too - especially if you're enjoying one of those late night drinking sessions.

Recommended track: Dub Jay - Our Zero

Album: Dub Jay - Perfectly Ordinary Recorded Noise

Netlabel: Kikapu

Prickly Heat

ALTA INFIDELIDAD - CACTUS Y VOLCANOES

Your esteemed host is still fairly new to electronic music, so Cactus Y Volcanoes was quite an eye-opener. I can now say that I like Chilean minimalism, ambient, and electronica. Alta Infidelidad are the duo of Christian Dittmann and Jorge Cortés, two South Americans who really understand how to manipulate sound. Each of the tracks on the album feel fresh and mysterious; it's hard to predict what's going to come next, except that it will tease the ear. The album is very restrained - there are no harsh dynamics or raucous sounds at all - but because Alta Infidelidad use such a broad sonic palette they have created a consistently entertaining album. It sounds modern yet timeless. (Trite but true.)

It took me a few plays to get into it. It's an ideal album to play while doing something else so the sounds seep into your consciousness before you know it. My inexperienced ears still expect to hear a tune or a melody when listening to music, but Cactus Y Volcanoes doesn't play that game. Have a listen to Oeste, which starts off with seagulls and the incoming tide...wait a second or two and then your ears will delight in the gentle surge of a synth as it sweeps onto the beach in perfect time with the next wave - and then we move on to an unrelenting but beautifully engineered rhythm. Or try Canción De Cuna, which is like listening to an airport lounge with a spirit of its own.

The album is full of "found sounds" such as railways, bells, sighs, creaks and whistles, but they're all set in service to the music. It's one of the best engineered albums I've heard - everything is just so. I wish I had a better stereo system on which to hear it. Initially, some of the later tracks outstay their welcome (especially if you have to download them on 56K) but sooner or later you'll find that they've all got under your skin. It's a privilege and an education to hear music like this, something I would probably never have bought in a shop because there's always a risk of wasting my money - you may know the feeling. Now I know what this is like, I feel like buying some. Have a listen and see what you think, but remember to give the album time to grow on you - just like a cactus...

Recommended tracks: Rápido, Oeste, Canción De Cuna. (Sorry, no individual links this time.)

But the album (& tracks) is hosted at the wondrous Thinner netlabel: Alta Infidelidad - Cactus Y Volcanoes

Songs floating over grassland

[Originally posted Aug '06. This is the last of the confusing updates, I hope.]

The name's Tundra. Karaoke Tundra.

Karaoke Tundra is a Ukraine-born musician currently living in Bratislava (Slovakia). When you hear KT, if I may be so familiar, you know you're in safe hands. He knows what he's doing. But I don't think anyone else does. He can certainly drop what I believe is known as a "dope" hip-hop beat, he knows his way around electronica, and his music introduced me to the "experimental" genre. Sometimes Karaoke Tundra goes...out there. Really...out..........there. Like I said, he knows what he's doing, even if nobody else does.

He's very talented and there's a lot of sly humour in his work. Most of the tracks are two minutes or less. It's all great stuff. Recommended tracks:

For Reservoir Dogs fans: Mr Pink, one of two free tracks on his Gastarbeiter album from Mufonic.

Getting a little freaky: Damn You from his album Residence on the kikapu netlabel.

Hold my hand now: Audiosmog from Schizopanorama on Surreal Madrid netlabel.

Don't forget his Killing Balls EP, which features a few more tracks from Gastarbeiter.

Is there an echo in here?

[Original post from Aug '06]  Yup, I had trouble sizing the picture. Ahem. I gather that tracks that use a huge amount of echo and reverb are often dubbed as...dub. So it is with some confidence that I state that today's first recommendation, Concentration Dub, is a dub track. Plus it has the word "dub" in the title, thus cleverly reinforcing my ice-cold logic in these matters. Anyway, it's a treat for the ears.

My second recommendation, Single Bullet Theory, is an atmospheric recounting of the Kennedy assassination. Any song that can do that and also mention the discrepancies between the official report and eye-witness accounts, while being both spooky and groovy, man, is definitely providing value for money. Especially when it's free, courtesy of Wavespan (a duo from Santa Cruz, California), their eponymous album, and the Monotonik netlabel. The whole album sounds terrific but you may want to try my recommendations first to see if you like it. If you really like it you could always buy a copy of the CD or make a donation to Wavespan here.

Tracks: Concentration Dub and Single Bullet Theory

Album: Wavespan  (by Wavespan)

Label: Monotonik