Skinwell in Vital Weekly

"All the way from the beautiful city of Montreal comes Skinwell, a duo of Christian Corvellec and Martin Dumais. They already had a release last year called ‘Tunnels’ (which we didn’t review). Seeing this being released by Gears Of sand, this may serve as a clue where we place the music. That is, I think, only partly true. The six pieces captured here display not just an ambient side of music, but in fact go a bit deeper. Obviously dark, obviously atmospheric, these pieces are heavily layered constructions in sound. The cover depicts a city by night, as seen from the air, and that goes extremely well with this music. It has a rough, big city edge, well, perhaps even an industrial edge, which gives this music a lot of internal tension. Somewhere in these black holes, things bump into eachother. Hard to say wether we are dealing here with a bunch of synthesizers, guitars or processed field recordings – no doubt a combination of them all – this is all quite mysterious music. And great it is. A highly successful combination of dark ambient and industrial music, albeit of a kinder brand. See, all is not lost yet when it comes to hoping for some great developments in ambient music. Skinwell shows us that, a fine set of ambient industrial music."


FdW, Vital Weekly #744

Preview: Over Pass by Skinwell

We're back! And in a big way with the soon to be released Over Pass by Montreal's Skinwell. Out of our 50+ releases (and for that mater any release on any other label that traffics in our world of cavernous sound cravings) this may be our favorite in the growing cadre of releases that blend industrial and floaty ambient bliss. Christian Corvellec & Martin Dumais follow-up to last year's Tunnels is a sound that breathes sunlight into the darkest spaces of urban decay: Skinwell turns the term industrial on its genre blown ears. Beyond incessant chatter of the obvious is an endless river of machines that float high above any one life world (never mind the beat, we're talking existential with a capital E). In fact, there is nothing familiar here at all: only six portals into a sound where time is forced to remember what static drone music invariably seems to always forget. A truly mesmeric listening experience that borders on the sublime; Over Pass demands the requisite tool and atmosphere of the serious audiophile e.g., headphones comfortably in place and lights turned low.


Hear sound samples from Over Pass

Fleury-Steiner, Fields, and Mikronesia Live at 1,000 Pulses

Mark your calendars for Saturday, August 7 at 8pm:

Ben Fleury-Steiner, William Fields, and Mikronesia will be playing at legendary music journalist and now live music curator Darren Bergstein's ONE THOUSAND PULSES (OTP). OTP is the northeast's premier electronic /experimental music home concert series.

More info on the series below and check links for connecting to the OTP official website.

One Thousand Pulses is a home concert series featuring artists operating throughout the spectrum of electronic and experimental music. From our base in northeast New Jersey, we provide a truly dynamic, connective, and resonant experience for both performer and audience, the foundation for a broad-based network of similar venues initiated on local, regional, and national levels.

Now available: Dreamwords by Drape

We've been chomping at the bit to release this fantastic work to the masses but, alas, delay, delay has left this waiting in the wings...

The wait is over. And here's the scoop: If you haven't heard of the innovative, incredibly talented duo, Drape, you soon will.

We were lucky enough to be able to release Dream Words-- which was recorded more than two years ago by this Seattle based Ryan Gracey and Spencer Williams-- and another long finished masterwork will be issued by the great Infraction records in the coming months.

What makes Drape special isn't that they can craft drones as deep and shimmering as any other ambient heavyweight on the block (Bissonnette, Kowalski, Bible & Henry, Baker, Hecker etc.). It's their remarkably innovative approach to sound.

Field recordings and other sound sources combine to form a language all their own. Indeed, "Dream Words" rivals any release in our catalog for the most fitting title. The bottom line is if you like expertly detailed ambient compositions to both soothe and engross yourself in then look no further than the shadowy beauty of Drape.

A quote on their website from W.H. Hudson's classic "A Crystal Age" captures the poetic intentions of Drape's deeply realized Dream Words:

"I sat there in the dark, wondering, as men will wonder at such moments, what this tempest of the soul which music wakes in us can mean: whether it is merely a growth of this our earth-life, or a something added, a divine hunger of the heart which is part of our immortality."


Link to Sound Samples & Purchase

Longtime and prolific sound artist Pholde is the ambient side of Alan Bloor, who is also known for his extreme noise project called Knurl. Pholde creates ambient soundscapes by the bowing and scraping of self-created metal sound-sculptures with other metal objects. For the first time on this recoring, Alan introduces the subtle and beautiful accompaniement of violin.



The resulting violin works absolutely wonderfully with signature pholde 'floating metal' ambience. There's a remarkable refinement of composition here as well; improv and open but just the right economy: never do strings sound cliche against the always interesting songs of the prepared metals nor vice versa. The violin is like a siren song wafting in the shadows of the singing scrap yard. The strings play as do the metals--with just the right doses of restraint and space--co-mingling to, as, indeed, a most 'luminous' effect.

Link to Sound Samples & Purchase

http://cdbaby.com/cd/pdwilder

This release from 2009 offers 69 minutes of guitar ambience.

Guitar textures unfurl into expansive structures of ethereal definition.

An edgy form of ambience is achieved by these meandering guitar tones. Notes are hinted at but kept shrouded in shadow. Chords are sustained and bent, then subjected to embellishment by atmospheric tendencies. The sound is vaporous and attenuated toward harmonic streams that slither through the air like gaseous serpents.

Sometimes strumming is almost audible, but the notes intentionally blur into each other, resulting in a hazy presence of gaseous certification.

A chilled environment is conjured by these tunes, remote and austere, exotic in its emptiness, made alluring by its very whiteout.

While the compositions are highly fragile, a certain verve is discernible, albeit relegated to a vantage just beyond the listener's periphery. This elusive quality gives the pieces a yearning character, forcing the audience to complete each with their own psychic input.

http://www.soniccuriosity.com/sc405.htm

The first EP we have ever released. We are typically very reluctant to release anything under an hour, but this intoxicating conceptual work of ambience by one of our favorite artists persuaded us to defy GoS conventions. On Gyokuro, Mirko Uhlig's 6 interconnected pieces comprise an admittedly short but no less realized composition that trigger thoughts of the tranquil, oxygenated tones of the more ambient works of Yui Onodera or even Celer; very minimal tones that are beautifully arranged to captivate the listener in a sea of field recordings and warm, lazy Sunday morning bliss. "Practice" presents a very catchy minimal motiff that begins to buzz and morph into a more abstract but no less enthralling evolution in the form of "Their Songs." "While They" shifts gears into a more haunting melody that recalls Milieu's "Beyond the Sea Lies the Stars" and then a full on symphonic wall of thick and warming cascades takes us deep, deep into finale, "The Gardens of Gyokuro." Mirko Uhlig once again shows his versatility as a sound artist who can craft very abstract, dark minimal compositions as in his recent Mystery Sea release, "The Nightmiller"- sprinkled far more sparsely here-to something unabashedly arcing and, indeed, ecstatic with "Gyokuro." Yes, this is audio ecstasy that conjures a most subtle and utterly sublime space that we find ourselves returning to often.

Link to Sound Samples & Purchase

Timbre by William Fields is Out of Print

One of our favorite works in our catalog of 50+ releases.

Click image below for free download of Timbre

NEW REVIEW OF F/M BY P.D. WILDER IN RECENT FOXY DIGITALIS

"P.D. Wilder is the founder of the Grizzly Adams fan club, a vegetarian extreme baker, and known to his friends by a multitude of nicknames: Chaos Pad, Boss DD3 Digital Delay, Loonytoad Quack, Triple Sod, Shatner’s Bassoon, to name a few.

With live appearances he is nothing if not consistent. With a never-ending slew of dates on his calendar (many of those with instrumental act, Hotel Hotel) it is no wonder that it has taken this long to see a new release from him. The issue of names and his sparse release schedule over the last five years only serves to make his music more enigmatic. On “F/M” – his first solo outing in who knows how long, he adds further mystique.

Spread across thirteen tracks, F/M is like a trip through sub zero temperatures. With track titles such as: “Glacia”, “Snowdrift” and “Foam Ice” F/M is all about the ice. With a guitar and few effects, Wilder traverses every possible mood one could associate with the cold and in doing so, provides a lot of mileage within the album. The atmosphere is one of a musical nomad roaming deserted roads, keeping an audio travel diary through the American Midwest, with periodic stops to document on guitar, whatever weather he experienced at the time.

“Blizzard/Undefined” takes epic to new levels with a sense of anxiety setting-in as the listener is pelted with unrelenting stormy winds in the form of guitar drones stretching over nearly thirty minutes. The track succeeds with its sense of discomfort, to the point I briefly wanted to skip past it and onto one of the more ambient pieces, but eventually I surrendered to the catharsis it induced and the reward it paid off with.

Interestingly enough, there are a few areas of the album where the production is a bit sketchy: “Purple brings out the Green” for example, but the effect is such that thematically it benefits the sounds – as if the frost is gradually eating away the speakers until all but cold wind remains.

As mentioned there are thirteen tracks, some as brief as thirty seconds. Whilst not a complaint, it is hard to know whether they were included as interludes or are portions of unfinished tracks. Depending on the listener this could distract from the overall experience of the album, but I don’t really think so. 8/10 (21 January, 2009)."

Purchase and Sound Samples Click the Image Below

Now available: "Derivative" by Remora

Derivative from Remora one of the many aliases of, Brian John Mitchell, the restless and insanely creative mainmain of the great Silber Records is, in a word, an elusively titled record of gorgeous ambient guitar excursions. In reality there is noithing "derivative" at all about these gorgeously restrained, reinterpretations of 8 engrossing works of ambient guitar expressionism at its best and most evocative. Instead, the title comes from various inspirations the artists has assimiliated into his sonic repetoire over the many years. And not surprisingly it is a diverse group: "misdirection" is inspired by the likes of punk indie legends, Pere Ubu's "Final Solution" while "Love Corrupt" is inspired by the vastly underrated Rock punk anthemists Warrior Soul's "Love destruction." Is it possible to cull the warmth from these anti-drone classics as well as the likes of Journey, Joe Jackson, and Blue Oyster Cult? We think the answer is a surprising yes. Remora embraces his many influences and creates something fresh and deeply atmospheric. We are very excited to release this innovative work on Gears of Sand. It is available directly from us.

Two new releases to kick off 2009

Both of these artists, Dani Baquet-Long aka Chubby Wolf and Mathieu Ruhlmann, are not strangers to one another--having worked together before with their minimal, highly immersive, oceanic collaborative, Mesoscaphe (i.e., Ruhlmann & Celer), released in May of 2008 as one of the highlights in the Spekk label's remarkable year in sound.

Having loved these artists both individually and, this past year, collectively, we found it especially appropriate to release their first soloworks for GoS on the same day. They both stand as high watermarks in our catalog of nearly 40 releases, as they are inspiring to us in their effortless and awe inspiring craftsmanship. We are honored to share these works with you!

Purchase and Sound Samples for L'Histoire by Chubby Wolf Click the Image Below

Purchase and Sound Samples for Fourteen Worms for Victor Hugo Click the Image Below

Now available
the final two in a series of 4 guitar atmospheric releases: Japan's Sato Koji and Australian guitar drone weaver Zac Keiller

GUITAR BY SAITO KOJI

What a tranquil suite of four free floating chordal sculptures. This work deserves the simple title "Guitar," because quite simply it coaxes the most intoxicating and subtle tones we've heard out of the instrument in a very long time; this side of early Jeff Pearce's discs. For those looking for sounds-that-soothe--totally blissed out in the tradition of Aidan Baker's most ambient material--look no further than the young master from Fukushima, Japan...

UNREFINED BY ZAC KEILLER

In a pleasing contrast to Saito Koji, Keiller opts for creating gritty, stretches of drone straight from the outback; the salt flats, the places of untainted, haunting beauty. More than just static low register hum, 'Unrefined' is a shapeshifting amalgam of low flow but also audibly plucked harmonics that are always done with the utmost care and restraint. Think a Low-Fi Fear Falls Burning (minus all the expensive custom pick-ups and the like, that is).

The sounds of the guitar are, that is to say, unrefined but the playing taps our favorite kind of restrained, minimalist escapism.

Prepare to wear your headphone out: You've been warned.

Purchase and Sound Samples for Saito Koji's "Guitar" Click the Image Below

Purchase and Sound Samples for Zac Keiller's "Unrefined" Click the Image Below

Now available
the first two in a series of 4 guitar atmospheric releases from the U.S., Japan, and Australia: f/m by P.D. Wilder and Northern Valentine and P.D. Wilder in collaboration

F/M by the Texas based electric guitarist is a gorgeous, engrossing work the artist recorded in several locations, including the snowy backwater of Fargo, North Dakota. The white out environment serves as a metaphor for both the stilling of time into a ghostly present heard, especially on tracks like the epic "Blizzard/Undefined," and the changing of the landscape on such mesmeric compositions as "Purple brings out the green" and "Now/Year." F/M is an intelligent weaving of icey drones and warm, melodic highs that avoid easy categorization. Perhaps David Segal from Alternative Press, captures Wilder's sound best as “Stratospheric post-rock for sad, sensitive wanderers...powerfully resonant guitar drones evoke densely textured tracts of space.” Wilder's collaboration with Robert Brown, leader of the Philadelphia based Northern Valentine, is another guitar "wanderer" record here forged literally from the inspiration of being on the road: Despite being from opposite ends of the country both Brown and Wilder spent weeks touring around the U.S. together. This work combines new solo compositions by Brown and WIlder with live improvisations they recorded together on tour. The result is a showcase of remarkable improvisational energies and fresh approaches to the popular six string ambient vessel employed by so many before them: Each work is deep and filled with conflicting emotions but when brought together never once do we hear overplaying or one artist crowding the other out of the sonic space. Quite the opposite, in fact, both Brown and Wilder give each other wide, perfectly timed spaces to let warming drones, and slow building chord progressions float and merge harmoniously. And the freedom of expression is even more apparent as the artists bring in various found objects to bring things back to earth in an effortless organic suite of blissed out atmospherics. Overall, a work of exceptional collaborative beauty; both solo compositions and collaborations fit together and provide for endless discovery on the part of artist and listener alike. We here at Gears of Sand have been listening non-stop to these works and feel like we have discovered two rare gems; artists so focused, in tune with each others' approach, and, regardless of the challenge of having to drive hundreds of miles through the early dawn hours to perform, Wilder and Brown remain unabashedly dedicated to their unique, delicate approaches to sound-craft.

Purchase and Sound Samples for P.D. Wilder's "F/M" Click the Image Below

Purchase and Sound Samples for Northern Valentine and P.D. Wilder Click the Image Below

Now available
gos 39: cllpss by stephen bishop

With the secret code of CLLPSS, Stephen Bishop allows the listener entry into two cavernous, wonderfully micro-detailed compositions. But this is more than sound for sound's sake. Bishop has forged for us a fully realized world that induces stunning visuals throughout the listening experience: uncoiling snakes, blazing sun and vast expanses of desert, cities of metal tumbling into a cold and bloodless ocean. The opener "Orch" is particularly stirring and full of depth charged plangent energies--slowly unfolding rattles, creaks, whispersm and hissing circuitry slowly are revealed atop an endless and alluring drone-siren. "Saphrealia (Or Ladders)" is more charged: a hypnotic roller coaster of moods forged in a sphere of splintered caterwaul, ghostly voices, and fractured metallic timbres. Both works create endless possibilities for exploration as Bishop expertly employs numerous sound sources he creates with an array of strange "instruments" (both intentionally musical or otherwise). The result is a refreshingly active and surprisingly subtle approach to sound. Through a careful layering and shifting of textures the audience, like an explorer lost in a strange and bloodless sea, is immersed in a haunting and ultimately boundless listening space.

Purchase and Sound Samples Click the Image Below

'UPDATE: Green & Cold' by Aidan Baker and 'Drifts' by Ben Fleury-Steiner are now officially out of print and soon to be re-released by other labels

Now available
gos 38: simple machines by asher

a striking work of minimal compositions from a rising voice in the atmospheric music world. we are ecstatic to have released this work on gears of sand recordings--it fits our minimalist ethos but also adds a haunting simplicity that has pricked our ears to something captivating and new. we listen to a lot of recordings around these parts and rarely does a work have that sublime energy that just gets under your skin: simple machines does so in spades.
 
**********
Read an exclusive interview with asher in the NEWS section.
**********

Purchase and Sound Samples Click the Image Below

Now available Suchness3: Seconds in Formaldehyde

The latest installment in our live, improvisational series is a work of three flowing drones by Seconds in Formaldehyde. A decadent work of aural escapism recorded live at last year's Auerworld Festival 28 July 2007. This release is limited to 100 hand numbered copies and presented in chipboard boxes with genuine letter pressed text and images by Matt Borghi of The Hand Work Press.
 
**********
Read an exclusive interview with Seconds in Formaldehyde conducted by Tobias Fischer in the NEWS section.
**********

Purchase and Sound Samples Click the Image Below

NOW AVAILABLE VRYASHN BY JEREMY BIBLE AND JASON HENRY

The unique talents of the constantly evolving Bible and Henry are on full display with Vryashn. For one, the well honed laptopist duo turn here to piano as their main medium. While the warmth, spacious piano movements of ambient pioneers Harld Budd and Brian Eno is often drawn upon for inspiration by other artists, few are able to use the instrument in ways heard on Vryashn. Rather than sparse notes played between silences, Bible and Henry use the piano as a launching pad into a sprawling world of minimal piano motifs that build tension and release given a depth through subtle laptop treatments. Vryashn is arguably a definitive statement of Bible and Henry's talents as composers on the cutting edge of an overflowing and arguably oversampled electronic scene. Beyond synthetic 'soundscapes' or 'interesting textures' Vryashn coalesces into an extraordinarily epic journey. Unfolding over two movements clocking in at just over 50 minutes, the work's addictive minimalist motifs pull the listener in only to be washed over--often unexpectedly--by subtle sonorities of breathy fibrillations, pulsing machinery, and radiant drones that intrigue but never serve to take Vryashn off its massive, radiant course. In a word, breathtaking.
 
To purchase and hear sound samples from VRYASHN click the image that appears after this exclusive interview with the artists on the inspiration behind Vryashn.
 
 
INTERVIEW WITH JEREMY BIBLE AND JASON HENRY
 
 
GOS: Where does the title 'vryashn' come from?
 
JBJH: The title Vryashn (which we personally pronounce as you would the word 'variation') is our alpha representation of the pieces. Throughout our body of work we attempt to redirect focus away from titles through misspelling, rearranging, and creating words that come closer aesthetically to representing the feel of the piece. Our focus as sound artists is the communication of emotion and experience which words, being a comparatively vague form of human expression, could never fully express. This method is used to strip the work of the influence a traditional title may have on the listener when approaching the piece. Leaving a blank slate open for interpretation while still allowing one to identify and differentiate the piece from others through its title. Where many use traditional titles to give a sound composition meaning....we prefer to let the sound of the composition give our invented words meaning. One may even conclude that the previous statements contradict the method.
 
GOS: And what were you and Jason's influences for this work?
 
JBJH: The common theme for this body of work is the sensation of dreams within dreams which is something we both experience. Specifically a dream of being surrounded by snow, becoming numb and falling asleep only to awake in the rain in another dream and location. Various phases of such an experience are represented throughout from euphoria to disorientation. In order to achieve this we used a variety eclectic sound sources, piano, recordings of water line pipes, wine glasses, rain on a window, and a garage lamp.

June 22, 2008: Now available "All of the True Things I'm About to Tell You Are Lies" by True Colour of Blood

One of the seminal figures in modern guitar drone music returns with this colossal masterpiece..Read the interview with the man himself (Eric Kesener aka TRUE COLOUR OF BLOOD) in the News section!

Purchase and Sound Samples Click the Image Below

 

NOW AVAILABLE MACHINA MUNDI BY GYDJA

The brilliant New Zealand sound sculptor Abby Helasdottir (aka Gydja) has crafted a complex lifeworld on Machina Mundi. As Abby describes "the original idea was based around Newton's clockwork universe." The listening experience brings to mind vast images of an entire floating planet-- translucent like a post-industrial snowglobe--revealing intricate machines, plant life, and weather systems moving apart, together, in a strange otherworldly ballet.

About the Artist:

Abby Helasdottir has been creating music since 1995 under the name Gydja (an Old Norse word for priestess). Initially, the aim of the project was to create music that could be used for magickal and shamanic purposes. Some of the earliest ideas involved using field recordings, and basing whole pieces on these sounds in a largely unprocessed way. This is still a concern of Gydja, but with more emphasis now being placed on abstracting these sounds so that, whilst they retain a sense of their original source, they become something else entirely. The current style of Gydja differs from the initial intentions of the project, with music of both a mundane and magickal nature being created. And whilst the music is usually linear and could be defined as a soundscape, it is also not necessarily always dark ambient in style, embracing electro-acoustic and experimental techniques. Works designed specifically for magickal use sit alongside explorations of sound for sound's sake; and in a third tier, some exploration of sound contain magickal themes, even if there is no practical magickal application intended.

To purchase and hear sound samples from MACHINA MUNDI click the image below

APRIL 9, 2008: Now available Special Suchness Reissue of "Leopard's Mouth" by Northern Valentine

Recorded primarily in an abandoned sanitarium this collection of melodic ambient fragments is special in its weaving of so many subgenres: Description is somewhat futile. Husband and wife team Amy and Bob Brown make it clear: They are serious listeners of many atmospheric musics. Years of dedicated listening, constant touring, and fearless experimentation has made for a truly unique sonic diary of ghosts; a spiritual paeon of many emotions to the dwellers of the lost sanitarium.

Special packaging done by Matt Borghi of the Hand Work Press. Limited to 100 hand numbered copies all of the text and images on the chipboard sleeves were created using hand engraved dies and a genuine letter press. Purchase and Sound Samples Click the Image Below

MARCH 28, 2008: Now available "Solemn Words for a Fabled Apparatus" by Christopher McFall

A truly unique and captivating release by Kansas City, MO artist, Christopher McFall. This is the first pure field-recording based release by Gears of Sand and we are hopeful that it will not be the last...We asked Christopher to shed some light on this sublime work that caught us pleasantly by surprise here at GoS HQ..Read the interview in the News section!

Purchase and Sound Samples Click the Image Below

 

MARCH 2008: NOW AVAILABLE "Himmelhvælv" by Rumsforskning

We are extremely proud to release this brand new work by one of our favorite groups out there, Rumforskning. Danny and Mads create the kind of sound of impermanence that strike to the core of the GoS aesthetic: minimal, haunting, but always evolving, however subtly....Check the news for more details and an interview with Rumforskning....

Purchase and Sound Samples Click the Image Below

 

JANUARY 2008

Limited copies of Fleury-Steiner's LIGHT OF SHIPWRECK disc released by Crucial Bliss available! Very special packaging in beautiful full color DVD sleeves and insane artwork.
 

Purchase and Sound Samples Click the Image Below

INTERVIEW WITH NORTHERN VALENTINE'S BOB BROWN AND ATMOSPHERIC GUITARIST P.D. WILDER

1. How did you two first come in to contact with each other's music?

p.d.:

I don't remember exactly how we came into contact, i probably found them through myspace and we liked each other's music enough to set up a few shows together when i went on tour back in 2007.

bob brown:

We were both looking to head out on the road and tour in 2007 and I think P.D. found our Myspace page and contacted us about doing a show in our area. It sounded like we had a good musical match and I think we started with planning a show or two, here and there. Before I knew it, we had planned a string of shows over two weeks around mid January 2007.

2. You both seem to have similar approaches to sound but what was it
like playing live together?

p.d.:

we had shared a few of the same bills before we played together, and actually live was the first time we had gotta the chance to play together. we were on tour and didn't have the time to jam before hand. we were playing shows where one night northern valentine would start and the next night i'd start, so we decided to play together in the middle, one of us fading out while the other would fade in and the whole mix was improv. luckily, it all the parts made sense together and we were fortunate enough to have recorded these shows.

bob:

P.D. met us in Pennsylvania and we headed right out on tour and hadn't originally discussed possible collaboartion before we started playing the first shows. Due to work schedules, there were a line of shows where only I (Robert) could perform, and P.D. and I started swapping nights of who would start each show of the tour. I would start a show one night and then the next night P.D. would start the show. Somewhere in all of that we decided to keep it going straight through the night and play together, one of us fading out our set while the other would fade into his set and the whole middle segment of it was improvisational. We were fortunate enough to have recorded a number of those shows on P.D.'s laptop. It was a very freeing feeling and I think we sonically balanced each other well.

3. Were you surprised listening to the recordings of the live performances?

p.d.:

playing improv is usually tricky, you're hoping that the music is coming across in a way that you want, at the very least that the audience is enjoying it. i try to record as many live shows as possible so i can go back and listen to them later and reflect on the parts that makes sense versus the parts that don't.

bob:

Not as much as I thought I would be. Playing improv is definitely tricky, but it felt very natural in this setting and I felt as though it seemed like it was just supposed to happen that way. I am very happy with the two collaborative pieces of music that ended up on the split that Gears of Sand is putting out. I'm glad we captured those moments in time.

4. What inspired the solo contributions to the disc?

p.d.:

I'm really into cds that are full to the end of music, especially if you're a drone, experimental, etc. i usually feel like any thing under 50 minutes is a rip-off. we really liked the songs we did together but felt it wasn't long enough to release alone, so we decided since we lived in different states that we could each record a couple extra tracks in order to have more music on the cd.

bob:

The collaborations were two of my favorite pieces from that tour, and I agreed that I thought they needed to be heard. The solo contributions were included as extensions of the musical thought of what we did on tour, as well as to mirror some of our individual musical paths. They sort of weave the whole thing together in a similar manner as what we did on the tour...one of us would start the thought, we'd collaborate on something in the middle, and the other would finish the thought.

Furthernoise has issued a label overview of GoS in a recent edition.

VRYASHN BY JEEMY BIBLE AND JASON HENRY REVIEWED IN THE WIRE

Several new Gears of Sand releases due for release before the end of October

'cllpss' by stephen bishop
 
And four beautiful new guitar ambient drone records by artists lending their unique interpretations from the U.S., Australia, and Japan.
 
These include:
'f/m' by p.d. wilder (u.s.a.)
'self titled' by northern valentine & p.d. wilder (u.s.a.)
'unrefined' by zac keiller (australia)
'guitar' by saito koji (japan)
 
Soon thereafter, new releases that are all ready to go by:

Pholde
Mirkho Uhlig
Mathieu Ruhlmann

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH THE MYSTERIOUS ASHER THAL-NIR

1. Tell me about the idea behind 'simple machines'?
 
asher: the main idea was trying to get back to working with material in a similar way to the methods used for 'graceful degradation', which was made using many long loops of piano recordings. also, i had recently moved and my work with sound was maybe starting to reflect the new environment with these works. i had borrowed my brother's acoustic guitar and i was playing around with it and recording little things, and the works just developed from that. i formed loops of the material from the guitar and combined them with some recordings from fm radio.
 
2. Tell me about what inspires you to make sound?
 
asher: i think the main thing is just sounds themselves and the ability to work with them directly through the use of recording and playback devices. also, the work of other artists and thinkers have served as inspiration for elements of my own work.
 
3. Have any artists in particular be influential? are they other sound artists or visual?
 
asher: something i have been listening to lately are the works of juan jose calarco, i have been very impressed with his compositions.
 
Also, I'm especially curious how you would be influenced by thinkers?
 
asher: there is not always a direct relationship between an influence and the evidence of it in one of my works; things suggest other things and ideas influence process, and in the end each new piece is made with the experience of past work combined with new thoughts, ideas and materials which emerge in the moment.
****************

SECONDS IN FORMALDEHYDE EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH TOBIAS FISHER

FEATURE INTERVIEW WITH SECONDS IN FORMALDEHYDE IN THE LATEST INSTALLMENT OF TOKAFI


"15 Questions to Seconds in Formaldehyde: At the beginning of 2007, it seemed the last thing the world needed was yet another guitar drone project. Now the year is nearing its end, we're happy Martin Fuhs of Seconds in Formaldehyde didn't care about that estimation. Admittedly, his first full-length releases on Umbra Records and Gears of Sand still owed a lot to his musical hero Aidan Baker: Minimal and looped melodic lines were slowly woven into dense aural carpets, which gradually started pulsating in a polyrhythmic and multiharmonic shimmer. But then came "Suddenly Silence burst my Ear", his third album, which proved to be a first breakthrough: Energetic and raw, yet detailed and refined, it took his music to a next level and offered fans of the genre a true alternative. As it turns out, Fuhs is a man who loves many different styles of music and is gradually integrating his plentiful influences into a personal handwriting. More and more, his artistic background is becoming clearer, as the compositions are turning more complex, harmonically confusing and creative in terms of sound. The pinacle of this development is "Construct", a one-track release on his newly founded Waterscape label, which suddenly offers comparisons to the earliest days of cosmic electronic music, and fuses the abstractions of the clicks n cuts scene with full, atmospheric textures. As 2008 draws nearer, we can't wait for the latest developments from the field of guitar drones.
*******
Hi! How are you? Where are you?

I'm doing fine, thanks for asking. Currently I'm sitting behind my laptop in a small town near erfurt.

What’s on your schedule right now?

Quiet a lot to be honest. I have finished the first release for my new label waterscape records. Its by myself and its titled “construct”. Then i have to finish the second release on waterscape which is going to be by paul bradley. I'm doing this all by myself, so it means that its a whole lot of work, including artwork.Then i recorded new material for a few releases later this year or next year. One Release will be on Small Doses in America and its titled “Injection”. Its a 3”cd-r with quite a bit heavier stuff. There is also going to be a 3”cd-r on Phage Tapes in America. And I'm also planning a few more live gigs. One will be in ilmenau as a part of a big live jam session with other local artists from the electronica scene in November.

What or who was your biggest influence as an artist? Do you see yourself as part of a certain tradition or as part of a movement?

I would lie if i wouldn't mention the name aidan baker. He has a huge influence to my music to be honest. But I'm also influenced by artist's like bohren & der club of gore or tim hecker, even if you wouldn't compare my music to theirs. And I'm a big fan of fear falls burning and oren ambarchi. I don't see myself as a part of a tradition since I'm pretty young and most of these guys have been writing their music for years. But i also don't think that I'm part of a movement, because a movement in my opinion is something that will come to an end. And i see myself doing this music even in 10 years or so. (Hopefully)

What’s your view on the music scene at present? Is there a crisis?

I think we should look at two different scenes. The kind of “pop” scene and the “experimental” scene. As long as i can enjoy listening to releases from the experimental scene i will stay happy. I think a tim hecker ringtone on jamba would cause some sort of a crisis but as long as this doesn’t happen, everything should be fine.

What does the term "new“ mean to you in connection with music?

Showing new aspects of music. New ways of making sounds.

How do you see the relationship between sound and composition?

You need to have a sound to make a composition. So that's the relationship.

How strictly do you separate improvising and composing?

I don't separate them. Most of my music is created out of a improvisation. But I'm also composing music. I think you can't separate them, because they just fit together.

What constitutes a good live performance in your opinion? What’s your approach to performing on stage?

I think a good performance depends on the quality of the music played. The quality of the composition should fit but also the quality of the sound. Video screens would be interesting for me, but in an other way i think they would distract from the music. When I'm performing live, i have a starting point. So all my music is based on that point. The rest is totally improvised and i think that keeps it exciting.

A lot of people feel that some of the radical experiments of modern compositions can no longer be qualified as “music”. Would you draw a border - and if so, where?

I wouldn't draw a border. Its all about the person who is listening to this music. If the person doesn't like the music then that's her musical taste.

Are “serious” and “popular” really two different types of music or just empty words without a meaning?

I would tend to say that they are just 2 words without meaning. Just like the question you ask above, it's all about the person who is listening to this music. Person A could say that it is serious music while person B thinks that it's just popular music. Everything is a matter of musical taste.

Do you feel an artist has a certain duty towards anyone but himself? Or to put it differently: Should art have a political/social or any other aspect apart from a personal sensation?

I don't think that art should have a political or social meaning. But everyone should make up their minds about that themselves.

True or false: People need to be educated about music, before they can really appreciate it.

Yes and no. I don't need to know much of musical history or theory to listen to music. But sometimes a certain education could show you new aspects about the music that you are listening to.

Imagine a situation in which there’d be no such thing as copyright and everybody were free to use musical material as a basis for their own compositions – would that be an improvement to the current situation?

No improvement. There are to many lazy people who would just copy a few things and tell you that they did everything by themselves.

You are given the position of artistic director of a festival. What would be on your program?

Artist list: Aidan Baker (a Solo Set as well as a Set as Nadja), Tim Hecker, Fennesz, Fear Falls Burning, Oren Ambarchi, Isis and Bohren & der Club of Gore. Bohren & der Club of Gore as the closing act. They would play the complete “Sunset Mission” since it's my all time favourite Album. Perhaps a few Projections and that's all. For most of the people it would be a pretty boring festival, but i would love it.

Many artists dream of a “magnum opus”. Do you have a vision of what yours would sound like?

I do dream of a magnum opus, but i think I'm far away from that.

-Tobias Fischer, Tokafi

GREEN AND COLD BY AIDAN BAKER GOING OUT OF PRINT

There are 5 copies of this fantastic disc left!!!

They can be had for the rock-bottom price of $5.00!