Time to Relax
 

A magnificent weekend! Beautiful, sunny weather, home repairs completed, and now to spend the evening hours awash in sonic bliss (presently Spacemind's psybient mix entitled, Distant Worlds[/URL]) and furiously poring over texts on the history of ambient music, taking note of major works which had previously escaped my radar.



Matt Anniss has just published a breathtaking examination of Ambient House music rich with samples of the works discussed. The write up discusses press documents and mailing list exclusives from the KLF at the dawn of the Chill Out scene, the Land of Oz parties, nights at Trancentral, veterans like Steve Hillage, David Toop, and Manuel Gottsching, the Telepathic Fish and the Spacetime parties, Megatripolis, guest speeches from Terence McKenna, Alan Ginsberg, George Monbiot and Timothy Leary... it is absolutely fantastic.

And Mike Watson (producer of Ultima Thule in Sydney) has done an exquisite job provided a deeper, historical perspective on many of the most significant and influential artists in the field of ambient music on his website, AmbientMusicGuide.com.

A relaxing evening at home, inspiring reading, and a hot cup of coffee. What more does a man need?

http://i.imgur.com/y69EOIpl.jpg

*like post*

Is that your own view of the sunset? It's lovely.

Thank you, Frown. Glad that it was well-received.

And the sunset is a photograph from Ambient Music Conference 2014 in Helsinki.

You can always count on me to post relevant media.

Merry christmas to me!
 

I recently got sick and tired of performing my usual type-intensive activities on my tablet or phone. These include drafting long-form articles on Wordpress, notetaking in Google Docs for my music research, task scheduling in Google Keep and Google Calendar, and additional work in Google Sheets. My Nexus 7 tablet has a Bluetooth mini-keyboard case which made these tasks unbearable. The keys were cheap and had poor action, several stopped working, and the 7" layout was far too small for effective typing.

I thought, given my Google-focused activities, that a Chromebook would be a fair solution. $200 for a 11.6" HP Chromebook 11 G4 seemed like a great value. And 99% of my activities are browser-based so Chrome OS would be well-suited to my needs.

I am so glad that I hesitated, because this evening a fellow Linux user chimed in with a solution that instantly vanquished my Chromebook fantasies.

In 55 seconds... you'll probably want one too.



This simple solution is A. slightly more compact than a Chromebook (and fits into my messenger bag), B. costs a tiny fraction of the Chromebook's price tag, C. gives me the full-size keyboard action I'm after, D. vertically cradles my tablet, freeing me of the now-defunct cheap keyboard case... and E. makes more efficient use of my existing tech re-purposing my tablet for article writing / blogging / etc.

BUT WAIT - THERE'S MORE!

Added bonuses include the increased capabilities of my existing tablet over the somewhat limited functionality of a Chromebook, including access to the full Google Play market and my beloved media server app, AND that it transforms my tablet into a convertible with both touchscreen and full-size QWERTY input.

This device will finally grant me the flexibility to do my work anywhere. Whether in bed or at the cafe, I've got everything I need to complete all my crazy projects. (Sennheisers on standby.) My new keyboard is on its way and I feel like a kid at Christmas.

http://i.imgur.com/PKHcQNjl.jpg

Woo-hoo!
http://i.imgur.com/4BnFkOGl.jpg

Breaking the Fourth Wall (Typographic LPs)
 

http://i.imgur.com/LCHY78dl.jpg

I downloaded the image above from Marshall Watson back in 2005. Marshall used to travel the dirtyforum back in the day and won the Underworld remix contest for his version of "Bird 1"). While in 2005 it was a challenge to identify the single he holds in the shot, times have certainly changed by 2016. Feeding the image into Google’s reverse image search now immediately produces the single’s credits.

The album is Einmusik - "Kleine Nachtmusik" ("A Little Night Music") - minimal tech-house distributed by Germany's famous Kompakt label. I have to applaud this cover for it's ballsy simplicity, even though I know it's been done before. After sampling the single on YouTube eleven years after I'd first spotting the cover I decided it was just the sort of thing I should have in my collection. A few moments later I secured a clean copy from a collector in the US and this evening it arrived at my door. It's amazing how far music collectors have come with the empowerment of the digital age.

Here's XTC's second studio LP from 1978 - Go 2. For those unfamiliar with this record, the text continues and fills the entire reverse side of the LP sleeve.

http://i.imgur.com/WID2FLXl.jpg

Most of the Remixes... by Soulwax is another typographical cover, this one from 2007. The cover clocks in 552 characters of text.

http://i.imgur.com/CpwHbMFl.jpg

Dubstep artist, Skream opted for a humorously post-modern fourth-wall cover for Skream presents The Freeizm Album in 2010.

http://i.imgur.com/gE7CqZUl.jpg

And no feature on typographic covers is complete without mentioning Howlin' Wolf...

http://i.imgur.com/Ru2ZBAwl.jpg

EDIT: A reader kindly informed me that I’d made at least one glaring omission – and I felt it was my duty to correct the error. Here is the fantastic The Faust Tapes from 1973!

http://i.imgur.com/sdb9q21l.jpg

And tonight I'm proud to add "Kleine Nachtmusik" to my collection... eleven years in the making. Here's my newly-acquired copy, fittingly pictured beside an image of Karl Hyde.

http://i.imgur.com/QwfcbPAl.jpg

If you know of any similar covers I'd love to see 'em!

Stay tuned for when I rip that concept off.

Looking forward to it!

Die Welt ist Klang: A Tribute to Pete Namlook (Revisited)
 

http://i.imgur.com/xgOKQKol.jpg

Recently I revisited a lossless archive I’d picked up of the 8CD box set, Die Welt ist Klang: A Tribute to Pete Namlook. The re-visitation was an effort to remedy my terrible neglect of the many large collections I’d acquired but never given the proper, dedicated listen that they each deserved.

As I surveyed the list of artists who’d contributed to the project, It quickly became evident that I had done a particular disservice both to the collection and to my own ears for having passed over something so significant.

http://i.imgur.com/RocozEel.jpg

Die Welt ist Klang is a tribute to Peter Kuhlmann, aka Pete Namlook. Namlook was a prominent ambient and electronic-music producer and composer, and the founder of the German record label FAX +49-69/450464. During the span of his career, Namlook and his label release 135 wonderful albums. Namlook also famously collaborated with Klaus Schulze for the monumental 11-volume series, The Dark Side of the Moog.

After Namlook’s passing in 2012, artists from his label and his fans banded together to produce a tribute album in his memory. This included artists like Bill Laswell, Dr. Atmo (of Silence), and F.U.S.E. (an alias of Richie Hawtin), as well as ambient veterans like Spacetime Continuum, Higher Intelligence Agency, Biosphere, and Oliver Lieb.

http://i.imgur.com/lZ5dFkOl.jpg

Die Welt ist Klang is the result of their efforts. The set comprises four discs of 47 tracks contributed by FAX +49-69/450464 alumni, and four additional CDs of 44 tracks from their fans. About half of the tracks were never before released and several were composed specifically for the set. Die Welt ist Klang is handsomely packaged in a custom wooden box and includes a 24-page booklet.

The set was released by Carpe Sonum Records and distributed by EAR/Rational Music. EAR/Rational was the official North American distributor for the FAX label and Carpe Sonum was created to keep the ambient spirit alive, beginning with this wonderful tribute collection.

http://i.imgur.com/rR3icL2l.jpg

From their official website:

There have been three runs of the tribute set produced to date. There was an initial run of 500 copies sold via bandcamp.com followed by two smaller runs of 100 copies each. Proceeds from the sale of the release go to Namlook's family.

http://i.imgur.com/0ekHBW4l.jpg

I wasted not another moment’s hesitation and secured one of the remaining copies from the label for my own. Some might call it an irrational purchase, as I don’t even own a device with which to play these CDs. But sometimes music is more than the physical object. This collection is an objet d'art - a symbol of the celebration of a lifetime of music - and a collaborative triumph between artists and their fans. It's precisely the sort of album I want in my library.

http://i.imgur.com/wzEVkMKl.jpg

As of the writing of this article, EAR/Rational Music is offering the unsold copies from the third run for auction on eBay. It is a wonderful piece of ambient history and a fitting tribute to a man who did so much for the genre. I’m proud to have added it to my collection.

RIP, Peter Kuhlmann 25.11.1960 - 08.11.2012

http://i.imgur.com/AEZqktvl.jpg

NOTE: All of the images above are official photos from the Pete Namlook Tribute Bandcamp page. Support great music and order your own copy of this box set while they're still available!

Damn. I had no idea he died.:(
I'm not the biggest fan, but I've spent some fun hours listening to the Dark Side Of The Moog series.