On Mend, Geotic reminds of the soundtracks of the more surrealist anime films I watched late at night on the Sci-Fi Channel in the ’90s — melodic, haunting and more confusing than not. The album, and the moniker, is the ambient project of Baths’ Will Wiesenfeld, and demonstrates a painterly grasp of aesthetic beauty in both its looping melodies and saturated, treble-blasted guitar tones. It’s a record of watercolors and tentative hope; he made it in five days. You can download it for free (or make a donation) at the Geotic website.
A frosty new one from electro-man-about-town Baths, who joins the five other artists on this free, fresh EP for an L.A. show on Tuesday. As we’ve discussed, dude can play live. More details here.
Baths’ Cerulean is a bit of a throwback – a nod to the mid-‘00s pre-Justice/blog house intersection of hip-hop, folk and electronica practiced by artists such as Fog and Why. (It’s no coincidence that the album’s being released by left-field hip-hop label Anticon, which has been affiliated with both those artists.) Cerulean blends Shamu-sized beats with gentler melodies and acoustic arrangements, with stuttering, strobe-light production that might earn a chillwave tag – or at least comparisons to fellow young luminary Toro Y Moi. But Baths, luxurious as the band name sounds, hits too hard for mere relaxation.
The band is called Early Songs for a reason: these aren’t just foggy mood pieces. Wind Wound is a record of folk instrumentals led by picked acoustic guitars and airy brushed drums, one full of intertwined melodic voices. “Turn and Face Me,” the disc’s strongest cut, succeeds on the strength of its austerity; while other songs welcome chamber instruments (the next track, “Jul. 23,” brings in strings and piano), it follows a simple, uncluttered verse/chorus structure that lets its guitars breath and explore.
Pantha du Prince makes minimalist house. That’s right. For the longest time I hated house and was under the impression that it meant really dumb, repetitive beats and skinny, sweaty kids doing drugs and waving glowsticks. Apparently I was wrong. This record cruises along at 120 BPM (well, maybe. I have no idea, really. But it’s a medium tempo!) and is content to freak you out quietly — there are no huge samples or drum breaks or instantly recognizable Daft Punk riffs. And it works, because you get so into the synth tones and the spacey groove that when a break does finally come, you are so, so ready for it. As far as electronic music goes this year, this is a much stronger effort than stuff like the Field’s From Here We Go Sublime or Kalabrese’s Rumplezirkus.
Pantha du Prince – “Asha”:mp3 Pantha du Prince – “Saturn Strobe”:mp3
(This Bliss is out now — in Germany. Check out more at Pantha du Prince’s website)
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The Ambient Seriesshowcases the best in electronica, downtempo, drone, folk and other instrumental genres. For more, click below.
Arriving At Night sounds more like Arriving In The Morning With Coffee And Bagels. It’s pretty, jazz-oriented folktronica, to be sure, guitars and pianos and more cut up and spliced together like bits of smoked salmon in a lox shmear. But despite being easy to peg Victor Bermon for pleasant background music, he’s got some rhythm. Many of the tracks have a definite groove to them — not enough to get your hips shaking, maybe, but you may feel the need to snap your fingers. Or at least keep paying attention to the record while you finish up breakfast.
Victor Bermon – “Farewell Lunch for Laura”: mp3 Victor Bermon – ” On the Way Back”: mp3
Hauschka (pronounced “amazing”) is a little off the beaten path of typical Rawking Refuses To Stop! artists. It’s not indie rock, folk or even ambient, really. Instead, Room To Expand is an album of prepared piano — instrumental, modern classical songs performed on a piano fitted with rustling papers and miscalaneous objects between its strings. The quirky qualities they imbue the music with fit beautifully. The horn section that appears on a few tracks is an even more welcome addition. This is the record that, along with Victor Bermon, got me through all the reading I had to do for finals — but it’s two weeks later and I’m still listening.
Stop listening to Junior Boys for a minute — if you’re looking for cool, precise electronic jams, Miwon’s your man. Pale Glitter describes itself aptly: these are not the neon cityscape tracks of the Juniors, but the songs stretched out on street corners the morning after. Undersexed dance music for very sleepy robots.
On Mend, Geotic reminds of the soundtracks of the more surrealist anime films I watched late at night on the Sci-Fi Channel in the ’90s — melodic, haunting and more confusing than not. The album, and the moniker, is the ambient project of Baths’ Will Wiesenfeld, and demonstrates a painterly grasp of aesthetic beauty in both its looping melodies and saturated, treble-blasted guitar tones. It’s a record of watercolors and tentative hope; he made it in five days. You can download it for free (or make a donation) at the Geotic website.
Baths’ Cerulean is a bit of a throwback – a nod to the mid-‘00s pre-Justice/blog house intersection of hip-hop, folk and electronica practiced by artists such as Fog and Why. (It’s no coincidence that the album’s being released by left-field hip-hop label Anticon, which has been affiliated with both those artists.) Cerulean blends Shamu-sized beats with gentler melodies and acoustic arrangements, with stuttering, strobe-light production that might earn a chillwave tag – or at least comparisons to fellow young luminary Toro Y Moi. But Baths, luxurious as the band name sounds, hits too hard for mere relaxation.
