Listening to: A Unicorn Masquerade

"There is a cacophony of birds overhead, and the crisp wind they surf on bites through you as October dies and November rises in its place..."

Self-titled debut experimental electronic EP from A Unicorn Masquerade. 

Of the three songs, track 1, "It lingers," is my favorite.

Click below to listen on Bandcamp.

Click here to watch/listen on YouTube (total length: 11:08)

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Listening to: Halloween at High Noon: KULT FM

The newest album from Halloween at High Noon!  

I look forward to their annual releases every year

Click below to listen on their Bandcamp:

Click here to view all streaming options

Listening to: Stumbling Home

By Lunng Fern & Marta Gynku, from the instrumental acoustic guitar and flute album Zwischenraum.  This album is beautiful and melancholic.  "Zwischenraum" translates to English as "gap, the space between two objects".

Stumbling Home is pensive and heartfelt.  When listening, one can't help but imagine walking a dark street, homebound, drunkenly remembering.

To listen to Stumbling Home, click the image below for links to all streaming/purchase platforms:

CLICK HERE to stream the entire Zwischenraum album.

Listening to: Sti.ll

New release from Taylor Deupree.   

Click below for all listening platforms:

More information, from Deupree's Instagram:

    An elaborate, authoritative acoustic re-imagining of Taylor Deupree’s seminal electronic album Stil. (2002), Sti.ll is the result of a multi-year collaboration between Deupree and arranger/producer Joseph Branciforte to bring Deupree’s explorations of extreme repetition and stillness into the world of notated chamber music. 

    Clarinet, vibraphone, cello, double bass, flute, and percussion stand in for the digital loops and granular processing of Deupree’s original, with meticulously notated arrangements preserving the all rhythmic, formal, and textural complexity of these compositions. 

    Transcribed and arranged by Greyfade’s Joseph Branciforte and performed by an ensemble of notable New York creative musicians — Madison Greenstone, Ben Monder, Laura Cocks, Christopher Gross, and Sam Minaie, alongside Branciforte and Deupree themselves — Sti.ll is a landmark recording situated between the electronic and acoustic worlds.

I have been a longtime fan of Deupree and the 12k label as a whole.  As the above description states, Deupree's work often involves the modulation of acoustic loops. One of my favorite 12k albums is Twine, a collaboration between Deupree and Marcus Fischer.  Fischer also created the cover art for Sti.ll.

The album is also available for purchase as a Double 12" LP / Orange Vinyl, which can be purchased on Bandcamp by clicking the image below:

Listening to: “The Last Ride”

Soundtrack by Dave Roland

Click below to listen on Bandcamp

Listening to: Spooky Love

do you want me still?
spooky love that kills

start this heart again
lay me down to rest
you bring me flowers still
spooky love is real

By vhs ghost

This song fits in to a very specific subgenre that is not fully recognized yet. I think it could be categorized as "lo-fi folk"

Click below to listen:

Listening to: “Candyman” Theme

A wicked cover of the Candyman theme by the electronic music trio Magic Sword

Click below to listen on YouTube:

Listening to: Christmas Ambient

I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas! If not, then rejoice in the fact that this stressful holiday season is finally behind us.

Today I enjoyed listening to this ambient electronic album by Ken Elkinson. It features ethereal covers of famous Christmas songs, perfect for that post-Christmas-dinner nap. 

Merry Christmas folks!

Click below to listen to the album

Listening to: Nautical Nights

by Stevan Pasero/Michael Becker

More relaxing music to help me stay sane throughout the week. This song is flowing and drone-y but has a definite melodic structure that implies an amount of mystery that is oddly comforting. It makes me want to go night crawling and discover parts of the city I've never seen before (as was the case when I took this photo)

Click below to listen

Listening to: Twine

The wonderful ambient album Twine by Taylor Dupree and Marcus Fischer. Some much-needed relaxing music after a hectic week of work (and another one ahead).

From their Bandcamp:

"Two artists, two mono tape loops and four acoustic instruments, nothing more. Creating one loop each of different lengths and recording the outputs of the reel-to-reel machines’ built-in speakers with microphones in the room, Deupree and Fischer started to craft their most restrained work yet, focusing on the raw beauty of such a limited system of creation.

The title Twine comes from the idea of the two tape loops as knots, as physical media, combining to form a single, more complex, piece. The seven tracks on the album are highly repetitive yet constantly shifting due to the asynchrony of the loops. All of the warm, tactile and dusty quality of the tape and vintage players is captured in the recordings and the listener can easily get lost in the slow, enveloping cycles."

Click below to listen

Listening to: OUTPOST 31: Night Station

Ambient synthesizer music with the soothing sounds of heavy machinery and Antarctic wind.

Listen below on YouTube

Listening to: you're in an empty place for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

A round-the-clock music livestream of ambient music; a mix of dark, hopeful, melancholic, and relaxing tracks. I'm currently listening to this while writing up a very long haunt theory post, which I hope to share soon!

Listen below:

Listening to: Swinging Wake

From The Haunted Mansion ride.  A short little instrumental motif to the tune of Grim Grinning Ghosts. YouTube incorrectly credits Xavier Atencio as the artist, but he was the lyricist to G.G.G.  Buddy Baker was the composer for the ride's score (this song included).

Listen below

New Original Song: Mile-long Reminder

For best listening experience:  Get drunk. Real drunk. 

Put on your coat and stumble out of your house at dusk.  Look up at the darkening sky, and start walking.  Let your inebriated mind guide your thoughts (and your feet).  Think about the past, even though you know you shouldn't.  Walk until you don't recognize the houses, and then walk a little more. Realize it's getting late, and you should probably head back. Stumble inside and head to the kitchen.  Pour yourself one more drink.  Whiskey, most likely.  Sip and remember, then sip until you forget...

At 20 minutes, it's a much longer track than I normally make, but I wanted to make something pensive and melancholic that you can get lost in.  I think I achieved that effect just fine.

Click below to listen on YouTube:

Listening to: The Facility

By Simon Stålenhag. Music for his art book The Labyrinth.

Click below to listen - (Fixed the link!)

Art by Simon Stålenhag

Listening to: Viral Incubation

New album by Void Stasis, published by Cryo Chamber (a great ambient music label). From their Instagram:

Void Stasis returns with the sequel to their debut album Ruins. A dark gritty and industrial sci-fi album that tells a story of an alien planet expedition gone wrong. Void Stasis is a collaboration from Kristof Bathory of Dawn of Ashes, Scott Denman of Die Sektor and Marie Ann Hedonia.

Recommended for fans of Xenomorphic soundscapes, Sci-Fi horror and gritty alien atmospheres. CD and Digital version comes with a 16 page booklet with logbook excerpts written by Void Stasis.

Love the idea of the logbook.  I'm a big fan of found-artifact horror-mysteries, and the pairing of ambient tracks with readable writings creates an engaging multi-media experience.

Click below to listen and purchase:

New Original Song: Introduction to The City

This track starts slow and dark, eventually building into something a little more heroic.  Trying to capture the feeling of taking a night drive through a new city for the very first time.

Click the image below to take a listen!

Listening to: We Are Not Ourselves

By Halloween At High Noon.  I love how this song captures the feeling of opening your front door to a busy street, full of happy trick-or-treaters. The title of the song reflects the spirit of Halloween, where we can hide behind masks and costumes and be whoever we want to be. 

Then again, for so many of us, it feels like Halloween is the only night when we are ourselves.... 

Click below to listen:

Incredible decorations by @12monthsofoctober

Listening to: Runaway

From The Neon Demon soundtrack by Cliff Martinez (Drive, 2011 [and the Red Hot Chili Peppers]).

Haven't seen this psychological horror, but stumbled across this track today. I may have to watch it for the music alone. 

Click below to listen:

New Original Song: Above The Collider

Just created another track in VCV Rack.

Went for something a little grungier this time around. It starts out with a softer, Interstellar-esque melody but eventually distorts and degrades into harsh electrical warbles.  Going for that gritty synth-y sci-fi sound.  

Click below to listen