Noteworthy highlights from the past week of music discovery, releases, previews, and other news. Remember daily updates are available on the ST Facebook and Twitter feeds and audio/video links to all tracks featured during the month are available on our Songdrop page.
New Releases
Tracy Chow – Music For Monorails (Aug 8)
Tracy Chow, the guitarist for Florida based collective Book of the Chow Chow, has released a new solo album called Music for Monorails. “Music for Monorails is a journey. Not necessarily a journey to a place, but more of a journey to a place in time. It is a vibe, a feeling, a memory, or an emotion. It is different things to different people, but that is it’s gift. Receive it and share with someone. Or hold on to it for your own safe travels.”. I am at the beginning of discovering both her solo music and that of the band, but I was instantly hooked by the warm atmospheric sounds and looking forward to a deeper dive.
Order: https://chowchow.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-monorails
‘Nil’ by Tracy Chow
Off Land – Accipiter/Coast (Aug 12)
Off Land, the ambient/experimental sound project of Tim Dwyer, is a perennial favorite on Stationary Travels and he has just released a new EP called Accpiter/Coast. It is comprised of two tracks in original and remixed form taken from the sessions that produced his last two albums. “Both tracks didn’t quite fit the feel or vision of their respective albums but both happen to fit together perfectly as an EP that bridges the sonic gap between Voyage/Home (Jan. 2014) and Quinarian (Oct. 2014).” You can always count on Tim to take you on a imaginative aural journey and this is another solid release.
Order: https://offland.bandcamp.com/album/accipiter-coast
‘Coast’ by Off Land
Guy Gelem – Reappearance (May 5 / Aug 11)
Reappearance is a four track album by composer/guitarist/cellist Guy Gelem. It was actually released in May by boutique label Time Released Sound in lovely bespoke packaging and a limited run of 90 copies, but this week it became available on Guys’ Bandcamp site for digital purchase. He has this to say about this exploration of electronically treated cello music: “As are most of my previous releases… this work isn’t a result of any proper plan…but after coming up with a few ideas I decided to work only with the cello this time, and to create music that is influenced from the classical world from all the periods. Music that sounds both raw and natural, and yet melodic. I’m always trying to tell a story that even I’m not familiar with, or to paint something that I’ve never seen before. I let the music I compose express my inner feelings, the feelings that even I haven’t confronted yet.” Highly recommended for modern classical music lovers.
Digital: https://guygelem.bandcamp.com/album/reappearance
Physical: http://timereleasedsound.com/releases/guy-gelem/
‘Movement One (Morning)’ by Guy Gelem
Previews:
Emil Klotzch
Emil Klotzch is a musician and sound designer based in Germany. I first heard him on the Futuresequence 7 V/A compilation with a beautifully textured electronic track called ‘Rhein’. Now Emil has a new album due out September 1 on Twice Removed Records called 14 Arten Den Regen Zu Beschreiben. The first preview track called ‘Beginn’ is a lovely piece of minimal solo piano. What the complete scope of the new album will be is yet to be discovered, but everything I have heard so far has me anticipating it enthusiastically.
Emil Klotzch on the web: http://www.emilklotzsch.de/
More Info: http://www.twiceremovedrecords.wix.com/twiceremovedrec
‘Beginn’ by Emil Klotzch
Chantal Acda
Chantal Acda, known for her work under the moniker Sleepingdog and as part of Isbells, released a solo album called Let Your Hands Be My Guide under her own name last year which she created in collaboration with such artists as Nils Frahm, Peter Broderick, and cellist Gyda Valtysdottir. Next month, Gizeh Records will be releasing Live in Dresden capturing Chantal performing some of these songs in concert with Alan Gevaert (dEUS), Eric Thielemans & Gaetan Vandewoude (Isbells). It is introspective and unhurried music that inhabits a wondrous place between indie, shoegaze, and ambient sensibilities all led by Chantal’s beautiful and sincere voice.
Pre-Order: http://www.gizehstore.com/products/chantal-acda-live-in-dresden
‘Own Time’ by Chantal Acda
Loscil | Fieldhead
Another release due out next month on Gizeh is a split album from Fieldhead and Loscil called Fury and Hecla after the 100 mile long strait in the north of Canada, the home country of both artists. The motif for the album is described this way: “Fury and Hecla is a meeting of worlds. Named after a near mid-point between the residences of artists Fieldhead and Loscil, it explores both the familiar and the foreign. Although not a collaboration in the strictest sense, sounds were shared by each artist allowing for a sort of aural infusion between the compositions. The results are a series of fragments and quotes that appear and reappear – sometimes in ghostly form – throughout each artist’s tracks.” Two complementary styles meet to create a mesmerizing and evocative record with a deep ambient undercurrent and cinematic overtones.
Pre-Order: http://www.gizehstore.com/collections/featured-items/products/loscil-fieldhead-fury-and-hecla
‘Hecla’ by Fieldhead
This Patch of Sky
Post rock band This Patch of Sky, hailing from Eugene, Oregon USA, has a new self-titled album coming out to follow up their stellar 2013 release Heroes and Ghosts. Today they released the first preview, a stunning track called ‘Time Destroys Everything, But Our Foundation Remains’. Since the last album the band has brought on new member Alex Abrams on cello, adding a new layer emotion and elegance to their powerful sound. Pre-orders are now available.
Order: https://thispatchofsky.bandcamp.com/album/s-t
Singles:
Broke For Free | Astronauts
Hollow Ponds is the debut album from Astronauts, a new project from Dan Carney of Dark Captain, Light Captain. It is one of my favorite indie releases of the year and features a delicately poised blend of folk, pop, and electronic elements with an airy acoustic feel. This week chillwave artist Broke For Free released a beautiful remix of the lead single ‘Skydive’. Both the original and the remix are very easy on the ears. Highly recommended.
Astronauts: https://soundcloud.com/astronauts-new-songs
Broke For Free: http://brokeforfree.com/
‘Skydive (Broke For Free remix)’
Monochromie
Monochromie is the musical project of French artist Wilson Trouvé who has put out several fine releases that cover the gamut from post rock to experimental to modern classical. His new single ‘polyhymnia,’ just posted on his Soundcloud page, has a brighter, more electronic feel than his most recent releases. Regardless of whether this is an indication of a new album direction or a single sketch, it makes a great listen and shows his creative versatility.
https://monochromie.bandcamp.com/
‘polyhymnia’ by Monochromie
re•flect•box
re•flect•box is a new project from husband and wife duo Mike and Laura Abercrombie. Mike, along with Brad Deschamps, is part of North Atlantic Drift, another perennial favorite here on ST for their glacial fusion of ambient and post rock sounds, and he has a fine ambient/experimental solo project called Transits of Mercury. With the re•flect•box project, however, Mike and Laura create gorgeous electronic pop confections with a dreamy shoegaze vibe. The atmospheres are well constructed and Laura’s vocals are ideal for this style and rendered quite beautifully. You can get the single ‘Skies Apart’ and a 2-track EP on their Bandcamp site.
https://reflectbox.bandcamp.com
‘Skies Apart’ by re•flect•box
Streams/Podcasts:
36 – The Other Place [Headphone Commute]
One of the most productive and admired ambient/electronic artists recording today, Dennis Huddleston, aka 36, has put together a real sonic journey for the latest Headphone Commute podcast. Follow the link below for more information or go straight to Mixcloud to have a listen. It is a great place for your ears to spend an hour.
Information: http://reviews.headphonecommute.com/2014/08/13/36-the-other-place/
Stationary Travels 